iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- It barely feels like spring in some parts of the country, but make no mistake: The summer travel booking season is upon us.



Summer is the most popular time of the year to travel, with weekends in July even busier for the airlines than the Thanksgiving rush. That means there's a lot of competition for the least expensive airfare -- not to mention prices on hotels.



Here are tips that will help you get the best possible price on a summer vacation:



It's time to shop.



A recent analysis of more than 900 million airfares from CheapAir.com found that on average, the best prices are found about 70 days in advance. For summer, 47 days in advance is the sweet spot. Forty-seven days from today is mid-June, the start of the peak summer travel season.



Be open to a new destination.



Many families find themselves visiting the same place year after year. And while it's important to vacation in a place you know your kids will love, it may not be doing your wallet any favors. Travel app Hipmunk's "Discover" feature lets users scroll through many destinations offering low airfares from their home city. In some cases, users can also explore by theme, such as "Beach" or "Great Nightlife."



Save on a suite.



Summer is prime time for family travel, but more families these days avoid hotels, instead opting for homes with more space. Trouble is, you lose out on the hotel amenities in the process. Enter Suiteness, a hotel booking site focused exclusively on suites and connecting rooms. The site is focused on groups of four or more, and each customer gets access to a concierge to assist in planning other aspects of the stay. The site also promises a refund to customers who find a lower advertised price.



Example: Hawaii: A 1,400-square-foot, two-bedroom suite with dining room, furnished lanai and partial ocean view in peak summer travel season for less than $400 per night.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.

0108263 License for publishing multimedia online



Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 130349Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 28)  President Rodrigo Duterte offered a sharing deal with China on joint exploration in the South China Sea.

In a speech in Davao City on Thursday, Duterte said he suggested the deal instead of going to war with the Eastern giant.

"Precisely I said, with the issue of the China Sea, leave it at that, it's geopolitics. Anyway, China has offered joint exploration and joint operation. And I said, maybe, we give you a better deal, 60-40," he said, recalling his conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the on the sidelines of Boao Forum for Asia in Hainan, China on April 11.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano at the time said the two leaders' meeting signified a "go-signal" to come up with a framework on the joint exploration.

China and the Philippines earlier agreed to joint oil and gas exploration in the South China Sea, even if the ongoing maritime dispute between them has yet to be resolved. The Palace said two areas in the South China Sea have already been eyed for the joint venture.

The Philippines has developed warmer ties with China under Duterte's term, in attempts to avoid armed conflict over the sea row.

"You cannot go against anybody. You cannot fight there. But President Xi is a friend. We'll share with you," Duterte added.

Although the government has proposed joint exploration with China, the Palace in March said there will be no co-ownership since the Philippines will "definitely not" recognize China's claimed sovereignty.

China refuses to recognize a 2016 international arbitral ruling recognizing the Philippines' rights over contested areas in the South China Sea.In the 27th match of the Vivo IPL 2018, M S Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings, placed top at the Vivo IPL points table, are clashing with Rohit Sharma's Mumbai Indians, which are struggling at the bottom of the heap. CSK would like to keep their winning streak going, while it is a do-or-die battle for Mumbai.

The two teams have decided not to mak too many changes to their respective playing elevens. Here is a look at the two sides and how the players have performed so far in IPL 2018 Chennai Super Kings: Shane Watson: Watson suffered early at the score of 7 in the last ...Two men from the Shia Hazara community were shot dead by unidentified assailants here on Saturday.

The incident occurred when the bike-borne assailants opened fire on them at an electronics shop in Jamaluddin Afghani road in the city and fled after the incident, Express Tribune reported.

The two men were immediately rushed to the civil hospital but were declared dead on their arrival.

An investigation has been launched to identify the motive behind the attack.

On April 1, a man from the Hazara community was shot dead by unidentified miscreants in Quetta's Qandhari Bazar, while a second person suffered bullet wounds.

A police officer later said that the incident appeared to be an act of "targeted killing" against the community.

Hundreds of Hazaras in the Balochistan capital recently gathered together to protest against the targeted killings and the constant persecution of the community.

The Hazara community is targeted by miscreants because of their distinctive physical appearance and has been severely affected by sectarian terrorism in Balochistan in the last few years.

Last month, a report released by the Pakistan National Commission for Human Rights showed that 509 people from the community were killed, while 627 of them were wounded in different incidents of terrorism for the last five years in the Balochistan capital.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Resident Doctors' Association (RDA) at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) called off their strike on Saturday, after the senior doctor who had allegedly slapped one of their colleagues in front of patients and other staffers, was replaced till the completion of inquiry.

The accused chief of Rajendra Prasad Centre (RPC) for Ophthalmic Sciences, Dr Atul Kumar was replaced Dr Pradeep Sharma.

The resident doctors had called an indefinite strike on Thursday, demanding immediate removal of the faculty member.

As per a statement by AIIMS, the incident took place on April 25, and the accused doctor immediately apologised thereafter.

In a relief to the patients at the government-run hospital, the services suspended due to the strike will resume after the latest move.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Madras High Court allowed farmer leader P Ayyakannu to stage protest at Marina beach for one-day over the issue of constitution of Cauvery Management Board (CMB).

Ayyakannu is a lawyer and farmer born in Tamil Nadu. He had led a 41-day protest against the Central government at New Delhi, demanding the agricultural loan in cooperative banks to be abandoned.

The Cauvery Issue is a hot issue these days in Tamil Nadu. Almost all the political parties have been pressurising the Centre to constitute Cauvery Management Board and Cauvery Water Regulatory Committee (CWRC) after a recent Supreme Court order reduced the water share of Tamil Nadu.

On February 16, a three-judge Supreme Court of India bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices Amitava Roy and AM Khanwilkar pronounced the judgement on the Cauvery Water Dispute between the states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala and the UT of Puducherry.

The bench directed Karnataka to release 177.25 TMC of water, instead of the 192 TMC, to Tamil Nadu.

The apex court also ordered the Central government to set up the CMB and the CWRC within six weeks. The court will now hear the matter on May 3.

On April 9, the Supreme Court criticised the Centre and asked it to frame a draft scheme by May 3 for implementation of its February 16 judgment.

The apex court criticised the Centre for neither framing the scheme in six weeks as directed by it nor approaching the court prior to the March 31 deadline to convey that it had difficulties.

Meanwhile, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on April 21 wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that the state government is against the formation of the CMB as it is 'unconstitutional'.

In his letter, he mentioned that the Supreme Court has not directed any mechanism towards the formation of the CMB.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Chinese media hailed the informal summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Wuhan city.

An editorial in ChinaDaily.com termed the "informal" meeting as the one which came with "no baggage, only expectations and free of the usual diplomatic frills, somewhat beyond the global media limelight".

"And, if as expected, the "heart-to-heart" communication between the two leaders on Friday reflected their deepened mutual chemistry. Which, in turn, will be conducive to improving mutual trust between the neighbors and charting the course of long-term bilateral development," the editorial said.

It also said another fact is that both countries are suspicious of each other, which is keeping New Delhi and Beijing from deepening cooperation and working together on regional and international issues.

Citing the 73-day Doklam standoff last year, it said, "The border incident last summer was just one example of what mutual suspicion could lead to, reminding both sides of the disruptive potential of distrust."

An opinion piece in state-run news agency Xinhua said the informal summit is "going to set a stage for Beijing and New Delhi to further exchange views over long-term and strategic issues and to initiate fresh momentum for future bilateral cooperation".

Xinhua also said while political and economic ties between China and India have been rapidly growing in recent years in a wide range of dimensions, the meeting between the leaders of the two most populous countries in the world signals closer economic and diplomatic cooperation between the emerging economies in Asia.

The news agency also quoted experts as saying that Xi-Modi meeting is significant for bilateral ties and regional cooperation.

It quoted Mushtaq Rahim, an Afghan analyst and founding member of the Kabul-based think tank Afghanistan Diplomacy Studies Organization, as saying that the meeting is not only of direct significance for Beijing and Delhi, but also paves the way for broader regional economic and security cooperation.

Muhammad Faruk Khan, presidium member of Bangladesh's ruling Awami League, told Xinhua that the deepening of understanding between China and India will undoubtedly benefit both of them and the region at large.

Xinhua also published a report on the growing economic ties between two Asian giants.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping walked together at the picturesque East Lake here on Saturday.

On the second and last day of the informal summit, the two leaders were seen actively engaging with each other while walking by the lake. Also, no aides were present with the two leaders.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Raveesh Kumar captured the moment.

"Taking India-China relations on a forward-looking path, charting the future direction of the relationship! PM @narendramodi and Chinese President Xi take a walk together along the East Lake in Wuhan today morning," he wrote.

After the walk, Prime Minister Modi and President Xi will take a boat ride at the East Lake.

The East Lake, a large freshwater lake in Wuhan city, is the largest urban lake in China. It is one of the most popular tourist sites in the country, with over a million visiting the lake annually.

This will be followed by a private lunch hosted by the Chinese President in honour of Prime Minister Modi.

At an event on Friday, Prime Minister Modi and President Xi were welcomed by a live band in Wuhan city playing an instrumental rendition of 1982 Bollywood hit song from 'Yeh Vaada Raha' - 'Tu, tu hai wahi, dil ne jise apna kaha.'

The Prime Minister, who is currently on a two-day visit to China, will depart for India on Saturday afternoon.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The cleric of the madrasa at Uttar Pradesh's Ghazipur, where a minor girl was sent to one-day police custody by a Delhi court, on Saturday.

He was arrested under POCSO Act, on Friday.

A juvenile allegedly kidnapped the 12-year-old victim and raped her at the madrasa.

Advocate Sharfuddin Zakariya, representing the cleric, told reporters, "The (cleric) is saying he is innocent, he is just the owner of the madrasa."

Police told the court that to carry out an investigation inside the madarsa where the incident took place, they would need the cleric along with them.

According to reports, the girl went missing after she went to the market on April 21.

After a case was registered in this regard by the victim's father, the police found a CCTV footage in which the accused was seen taking the girl along with him.

The police subsequently traced the juvenile and apprehended him, they and rescued the girl, on April 22.

The accused minor was sent to a juvenile justice home.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Nine professors of Central University of Gujarat (CUG) have denied attending Congress President Rahul Gandhi's programme.

Their reaction has come after the university issued show cause notice to them for canvassing for the anti-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates during last assembly elections.

Sony Kunjappan, President, Central University of Gujarat Teachers' Association, says that the professors are being targeted.

"I think we are being targeted. The university should have first sought a clarification from us before issuing show cause notice," Kunjappan said.

He is among the nine professors who were served a show cause notice.

"The notice has been issued to us that we as teachers participated and campaigned for a political party (Congress).We have denied this," he added.

The teachers' representative told ANI that the notice has been issued reportedly on the complaint of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) but it has denied giving such a complaint.

The CUG Vice-Chancellor Syed Abdul Bari issued the show cause notice while acting on the references forwarded by the Union Human Resource Development Ministry, office of the Gujarat Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) and the state department.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that he held "extensive and fruitful talks" with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the second and last day of the informal summit here on Saturday.

Taking to Weibo, a popular social media site in China and also the Chinese version of micro-blogging site Twitter, Prime Minister Modi said, "I am very pleased to meet with President Xi Jinping in Wuhan. We conducted extensive and fruitful talks and exchanged opinions on strengthening India-China relations and other international issues."

"Thank you, President Xi Jinping, for the wonderful gesture of personally accompanying me in the Hubei Provincial Museum. The Museum is home to great facets of Chinese history and culture," he added.

In 2015, in an effort to enhance communication among the Chinese audience, Prime Minister Modi opened an account on Weibo, becoming the first Indian premier to make a debut on the Chinese micro-blogging site.

The Prime Minister enjoys a massive following in China and has 1,83,134 followers.

Prime Minister Modi is on a two-day visit to China to participate in an unprecedented 'informal' summit with President Xi, which is expected to reset the bilateral ties between the two Asian giants, which took a hit post the two-month-long Doklam standoff last year.

He will return to India on Saturday.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A delegation of the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Kazakhstan recently visited New Delhi for a study tour.

According to an Embassy of Kazakhstan release issued today, the delegation was led by CEC Deputy Chairman Konstantin Petrov and Secretary Sabila Mustafina.

The delegation met with the Election Commission of India and representatives of the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM).

Both sides held consultations on a wide range of issues, including the use of electronic voting machines, online voter registration, cyber security, the training of electoral trainers and electoral process participants. Representatives of Kazakhstan shared their experience in this area, the embassy release said.

The Indian side acquainted the Kazakh delegation with the activities of IIIDEM and also demonstrated the work of the portal providing services to voters and an Internet resource for the observers of the Electoral Commission.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 28)  President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday admitted to firing Labor Undersecretary Dominador Say and a high-ranking official because of corruption.

In a speech released by Malacanang Friday, Duterte said Say kept making excuses on failing to create policies to stop "endo," an illegal practice of contractualization in the country.

"And this Atty. Say said, 'I was forced to go out because we could not agree in the Labor Department about the ending of this endo.' And he was making excuses. That's why I came up with a warning, you better tell the truth now or else I will release the affidavit of the complainant who, who signed it against you. I will make it public," he said.

The President, however, did not provide details on the supposed allegations in the affidavit.

Say submitted his resignation on April 18, saying he was not doing well enough to resolve the contractualization mess.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque earlier said Say would have been fired anyway, after being allegedly engaged in "corruption relating to activities of labor recruiters."

Say denied Roque's claims, saying the claims were based on "an unnotarized affidavit containing statements that any lawyer will label as hearsay and double hearsay."A peacekeeping unit from Kazakhstan was recently in India to receive training and briefing on operational coordination for deployment as part of the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon.

According to an Embassy of Kazakhstan release issued on Friday evening, the joint training exercise from March 19 till April 14, saw officers and contract servicemen of Kazakhstan peacekeeping battalion "Kazbat" and their Indian counterparts acquire skills and knowledge of requirements for UN peacekeeping units.

Both countries managed to establish personal contact and reach mutual understanding with regard to common standards of peacekeepers' actions, the embassy release said.

In general, the leadership of the Indian Center for Peacekeeping Training of the United Nations assessed the level of training of Kazbat personnel hoped for the successful peacekeeping deployment in Lebanon.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Kuwait thrashed Saudi Arabia by five wickets on the final day of the ICC World Twenty20 Asia Qualifiers 'A' to take the third qualification spot.

On the final day of the ICC World Twenty20 Asia Qualifiers 'A', Kuwait faced Saudi Arabia for the third qualification spot in a match that was reduced to 18 overs each due to overnight rain.

Kuwait won an important toss and elected to bat first, and started cautiously with 15 runs in their first five overs for the loss of one wicket.

Mohammad Asgarh showed some intent as he smacked two sixes in one over but perished as he tried to clear the ropes once more. Skipper Kashif Sharif scored a valuable 26 off 19 balls as Kuwait posted a total of 104 in their allotted 18 overs. Mohammad Afzal took three wickets for 22 runs in his four overs.

Saudi Arabia responded well and seemed in control at 66 for 2 after 11 overs, aided by Imran Arif's 40 runs. At this stage, Saudi needed 39 runs off 42 balls with eight wickets in hand. The tide started to turn once again as Kuwait's bowlers kept Saudi Arabia's scoring rate in check. In the 14th and 15th over Arjun Makesh and Azmatulla Nazeer conceded just five runs between them as the asking rate started to climb.

Saudi needed 13 runs in the last over before Mohammad Naseer bowled well to restrict the batsmen to only seven runs, as Kuwait claimed a five-run victory. Arjun Makesh was adjudged 'Player of the Match' for his economical spell - his three overs conceded only 11 runs, while he picked up two wickets at a crucial time.

UAE faced Qatar in the match for the top two positions, as Qatar won the toss and elected to bat first. Qatar lost two early wickets and were 10 for 2 after 1.1 overs.

Kamran Khan took charge and scored 29 off 17 deliveries. Qatar's fifty came up in 7.3 overs for the loss of four wickets. Tamoor Sajjad carried on the innings with a fine 36 off 41 and was aided by GBM Munaweera, with a useful 31 off 27 balls. Qatar posted 121 runs with UAE's Muhammad Naveed and Zahoor Khan picking up three wickets each.

UAE started brilliantly as they scored 54 runs for the loss of one wicket in 5.5 overs. Player of the Match Ghulam Shabbir scored a brilliant 63 off 46 balls with good support from captain Rohan Mustafa (30) to carry UAE over the line in the 16th over.

Captain of the winning team of this tournament, Rohan Mustafa, was adjudged the Player of the Tournament and best batsman, while Saudi Arabia bowler Imran Arif was considered the best bowler.

Despite the defeat, Qatar also qualified for the 2019 ICC World Twenty20 Asian Regional Finals as they finished second in the Western Sub Regional qualifiers.Today, Chitkara University announced the first edition of Chitkara University National Excellence Award - 2018. The excellence award is an endeavor to acknowledge and reward the exceptional work and contribution of trailblazers from different spheres towards and society.

In a glittering ceremony, Chitkara University conferred Mr. Manish Sharma - President and CEO Panasonic India and South Asia, Vice President Appliances Company with 'Chitkara University National Excellence Award' owing to his inspirational journey as a role model in and his exemplary contribution towards and humanity.

Mr. D.K Tiwari (IAS) - Secretary, Expenditure (Department of Finance) & MD/ PIDB (Punjab Infrastructure Development Board) was the chief guest for the occasion. Mr. Manish Sharma humbly accepted the recognition from our esteemed chief guest in the presence of Hon'ble Chancellor - Dr. Ashok. K Chitkara, Vice-Chancellor - Dr. Madhu Chitkara and the entire Chitkara fraternity.

Addressing the Gen Next of Chitkara University, Manish shared that Panasonic celebrates this 100 years of the establishment in 2018, started out as a pioneer in light bulb sockets. Who knew that decades later, this Japanese giant who usher the light in the electronic revolution that would be the reflection of an economically advanced and socially enhanced India. Mr. Manish Sharma talked about brand Panasonic's consumer, enterprise, mobility and industry divisions.

Mr. DK Tiwari IAS, shared his Administrative experiences with the Students and telling them to be a part of the system if they want to see the change in the system. He told them to be responsible citizens and contribute in their own way to the society.

"Chitkara University Excellence Award is a humble effort to distinguish and honour the most respected leaders from a variety of industries. These leaders have not only contributed to their respective fields but have also become role models for many. Students look up to them and aspire to become like them. The excellence award is a small token of appreciation for their creativity, commitment, experience and strong leadership," said Vice-Chancellor, Chitkara University, Madhu Chitkara.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Sunday share his thoughts with the people in India and abroad, through his 'Mann Ki Baat' programme.

This will be the 43rd edition of the Mann Ki Baat programme, which will broadcast on All India Radio (AIR), Doordarshan and also on the Narendra Modi mobile application.

Union Minister Vijay Goel will join the Prime Minister's programme, along with the people of Village Bharthal, at the residence of former Nigam Parishad, Ramniwas, in Sector 26, Dwarka, Delhi.

It will be streamed on the YouTube channels of the Prime Minister's Office, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and DD News.

In his 42nd edition, Modi emphasised on preventive health care awareness, stating that extensive work is going on to set up Health Wellness Centres across the country.

A 3D animation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi depicting 'Trikonasana' (the triangle posture) yoga was released in the same edition.

Mann ki Baat is now available as an Alexa skill.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Suresh Prabhu said the contribution of India's manufacturing sector to the gross domestic product (GDP) would increase to 20 percent in the coming months.

"The contribution of manufacturing sector to the GDP will rise to as high as 20 percent in the future. Sector-wise work is on, to achieve this. New industries will drive future growth, and the government is working with industries to identify what these new sectors are going to be," he said at the inaugural session of the India Economic Summit 2018 here on Friday.

Taking cognizance of India's trade deficit with China, Prabhu said agreements have been signed with China to help reduce.

"A new economic paradigm is being created for New India. States will drive growth in future, districts will facilitate it and the Central Government will give an umbrella cover for this growth," he added.

The Commerce Minister stated that the service sector will continue to be a strong growth driver of the economy, while the government is working on increasing the productivity of the agriculture sector as well.

While the next wave of growth, Prabhu said, will happen due to a surge in Indian entrepreneurship, he emphasised on the need to work on improving the tax-GDP ratio.

Prabhu also noted that the government will soon announce a new cargo policy.

"We're in the process of setting up a task-force to prepare a road-map for making aircrafts in India. Local manufacturing of aircrafts will be one of the priorities as we'll be buying a large number of aircrafts over a period of time," he added.

Meanwhile, Minister of State (MoS) for Civil Aviation, Jayant Sinha, reiterated the government's commitment to creating a New India by 2022.

"Contrary to the conventional wisdom, the farm-to-factory model will not work for India. Given the serious natural resource challenges India faces, we need to focus instead on a farm-to-frontier model of development for national growth, meaning that we need to focus on the most cutting-edge and frontier industries such as automobiles and telecom. If we compete and win in such industries, we will be able to leapfrog to productivity frontiers that will take us forward in a significant way. We need to be the leaders in the drone ecosystem so that we can go from auto-rickshaws to air-rickshaws," he added.

Citing the recent structural reforms undertaken by the Centre such as the Goods and Services Tax (GST), Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, and Direct Benefits Transfer programme, Sinha stressed on the need for India to graduate to a middle-income country, and achieve a three-fold increase in per-capita GDP - from USD 1,800 to USD 5,400.

"This (three-fold increase in per-capita GDP) is possible only by having a long-term GDP growth rate of 7 percent over the next 20 years. This is entirely within our capability, given our track record during the time since liberalisation," he added.

Apart from the above two ministers, Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal also attended the inaugural session of the two-day India Economic Summit 2018 being organised by the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The cast of Maleficent 2 just got an exciting new addition - Michelle Pfeiffer.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the American actress and producer will play a queen in Disney's 2014 hit 'Maleficent' sequel that revolves around the 'Sleeping Beauty' antagonist.

In addition to Angelina Jolie, the returning cast includes Elle Fanning, who will reprise her role as Princess Aurora.

Joachim Ronning of the 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales' fame is directing the sequel, which was penned by Jez Butterworth and Linda Woolverton.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)North Korea on Saturday applauded the need for achieving a "complete denuclearisation" during the joint declaration of the recently-concluded inter-Korean summit held in Panmunjom on the southern side of the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ).

"North and South Korea affirmed the common goal of realizing a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula through complete denuclearisation," the South Korean news agency, Yonhap, quoted the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) as saying.

"Sharing the understanding that the measures led and taken by the North and South are very meaningful, significant ones for the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula, (the two sides) agreed to fulfill their respective responsibilities and roles going forward," the statement added.

The KCNA further said in a separate article that the Panmunjom Declaration "will mark a new milestone in joint efforts for co-prosperity and independent reunification."

On Friday, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in held the historic summit, which was the first time it was held in South Korea, and the first after 11 years.

The two Koreas agreed to sign a peace treaty formally later this year, ending the six-decades-old war between the two countries. It also agreed to achieve "complete denuclearisation" on the Korean Peninsula.

The Korean War between the two countries took place between 1950-53, which ended with a ceasefire and signing of an armistice agreement.

However, in absence of a peace treaty, the two countries are technically still at war.

Kim said that the two Koreas were one united people, who should work together towards the goal of achieving reunification.

Moon also reiterated his firm belief that a new era of lasting peace was close at hand.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)In the wake of two pastors being manhandled in Tamil Nadu's Kanyakumari, JG Raj of the Tamil Maiya Organisation, on Saturday, pinned the blame on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and other connected organisations for the atrocities against the Christian Community.

"Atrocities against the Christian community, the assault and attack on Christian preachers and threatening of the Christian population in Tamil Nadu are being done by the RSS and its affiliated organisations. We will repel the forces of violence with the strength of non-violence," said Raj.

Earlier, on April 22, two pastors were allegedly physically and verbally abused and forcefully smeared with holy ash by some miscreants inside Arulmigu Mutharamman Temple here.

A video of the incident that went viral on social media shows the pastors sitting on the temple corridor with holy ash smeared on their faces, while a man loudly chanted 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai'.

No case was registered in the matter and the dispute was settled mutually.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday departed for New Delhi after completing a successful two-day informal summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping here.

During the trip, Prime Minister Modi was received by President Xi at the East Lake guesthouse.

On the first day of the summit on Friday, both the leaders held one-to-one talks, where they discussed the historical past of both India and China.

After that, President Xi took Prime Minister Modi on a tour of the exhibition of Marquis Yi of Zeng Cultural Relics and Treasure at Hubei Provincial Museum in Wuhan.

During the visit both the leaders held delegation-level talks and underscored the need for strengthening bilateral relations between India and China.

Prime Minister Modi said through the "Panchsheel", the bolstering of bilateral relations between the two Asian giants will be based on - shared vision, strong relationship, shared resolve, better communication and shared thought process.

To this, President Xi said China was ready to cooperate and work with India to seek guidance, with the help of the five principles of Panchsheel, as proposed by Prime Minister Modi.

He further said that such informal summits between India and China should happen often, adding that such summits should become a tradition between the two Asian giants.

Following delegation-level talks, the Chinese President hosted a dinner for the visiting Indian Prime Minister.

Resuming Day 2 of their 'informal talks' with a walk along the East Lake in Wuhan today, Prime Minister Modi and the Chinese President enjoyed a boat ride.

The two leaders were also seen riding on a houseboat and chatting over tea - a 'chai pe charcha' moment.

Thereafter, a private lunch was hosted by the Chinese President in honour of Prime Minister Modi before the latter departed for Wuhan Airport.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Foreign Secretary Vijay K. Gokhale on Saturday said that the Governments of India and China have decided to issue a strategic guidance to their respective militaries to enhance both trust and understanding.

Briefing media here, Gokhale said, "The two leaders underscored the importance to maintain peace and tranquillity in the India-China border region. Therefore, the two leaders (Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping) have decided that they would issue a strategic guidance to the respective militaries of both countries, to strengthen communication, to build trust and understanding, to implement various confidence-building measures and to strengthen existing institutional mechanism to prevent and manage situations in the border areas."

Responding to a question from ANI on whether the militaries would be asked to refrain from confrontations, Gokhale clarified that India and China stressed on the importance of maintaining peace and tranquillity in the border region.

"The strategic guidance will strengthen communication between the Indian and Chinese militaries, which will help to build trust and understanding. Also, a number of confidence-building measures already agreed upon by the two sides will be implemented. The information- sharing arrangements will be improved to prevent and manage situations around the border. There is a commitment on both sides to suggest that the two militaries need to ensure existing confidence-building measures in place and existing institutions and mechanisms are utilised more effectively."

On the issue of the India-China Boundary Question, Gokhale said that Prime Minister Modi and President Xi endorsed the work of the Special Representative and their efforts to find a fair, reasonable and mutual settlement to maintain peace and tranquillity.

Emphasising on strategic communication, Gokhale added, "The agreement (between India and China) of greatest strategic communication at the leadership level and at the government level allows for a free and frank discussion on all matters of interest."

Gokhale underlined that both countries shared converging interests and would use strategic communication to work together.

"The two leaders have maturity and wisdom to handle all differences through peaceful discussion. Both India and China respect each other sensitivities, aspirations and concerns," he added.

On the relationship between New Delhi and Beijing, Gokhale further said, "The two leaders agreed that China and India are major powers of strategic and decisional authority. Both agreed for a stable and peaceful relationship. Such a relationship will be a positive factor for stability amidst the global uncertainty."

Gokhale also highlighted the increase in bilateral trade between India and China, saying that the two countries would continue to cooperate.

The India-China bilateral trade reached a historic high of USD 84.44 billion last year.

Prime Minister Modi completes his two-day visit to China today after participating in an 'informal' summit with President Xi.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 28)  The Palace welcomed the commitment of North and South Korea to end their long-standing war and agreeing to denuclearize the peninsula.

"Of course everyone is relieved because we are all looking at the prospects of a nuclear encounter in our backyard. So very much relieved. As you know whenever they test their missiles, it always lands in Philippine waters," Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a press briefing in Singapore Friday.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in and his North Korean counterpart, Kim Jong Un, signed on Friday the "Panmunjom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity and Unification on the Korean Peninsula," 65 years after war hostilities on the peninsula ended.

Roque said the development between the two Koreas will be brought up in the 32nd Association of Southeast Asian Nations' (ASEAN) Leader's Meeting in Singapore.

The leaders are expected to issue a statement on the matter Saturday.

"I think it's almost sure that they will express relief over this development and we congratulate the Koreans for their effort to talk peace amongst themselves as an encouragement to proceed with the talks," Roque said.

When the Philippines chaired ASEAN in November, leaders of the 10 ASEAN member-states expressed "grave concern" over North Korea's continuing missile tests.

However, on April 21, the isolationist state shifted to denuclearization. Kim Jong Un said his country would no longer push through with the nuclear tests, ahead of the diplomatic engagement with South Korea.While calling for a ban on alcohol in the state, Uttar Pradesh Minister and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief Om Prakash Rajbhar on Friday said that people belonging to Rajput and Yadav caste consume more liquor than others.

He further said that drinking alcohol is the"ancestral business" of both the castes.

"Rajputs and Yadavs drink alcohol the most, this is their ancestral business. Rajbhar also drinks, and so do the Chauhan, Lohar, Kumhar and people of every other caste. Ask those mothers, daughters and the sisters the pain whose sons and husbands come home drunk. Ask them how they behave when they are drunk," Rajbhar said, here.

"I understand that pain and have been saying for the last 15 years that alcohol should be banned," he added

He further said that alcohol ban would garner the support of people from all sections of the society, state, and country.

Rajbhar's statement drew flak and people hurled tomatoes and eggs at his residence.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Ministry of State (MoS) for Culture Mahesh Sharma on Saturday rubbished allegations that the historical Red Fort was 'auctioned off' by the Centre, and said that the monument was adopted by Dalmia Bharat Group to render value addition services to it as part of the Centre's scheme.

"The President announced a scheme of Government of India on World Tourism Day 2017, on 27th September, that those interested in value addition to any services of the monuments can come forward. A lot of organisations came forward and some services of Red Fort have been given to Dalmia Group," Sharma told ANI, adding that no profit activity would take place

Sharma said that other monuments have also been adopted by various organisations under the said scheme.

"This was done on 27 September 2017, so I don't know why people are raising their fingers now. If they have any queries, they can ask," he added.

The scheme "Adopt a Heritage: Apni Dharohar, Apni Pehchaan" was launched to preserve the rich cultural and natural heritage and to promote tourism across the country. Under the project, corporates and citizens were encouraged to adopt heritage sites for creation, operation and maintenance of basic and advanced amenities at tourist destinations.

Dalmia Bharat was one of the agencies to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Central Government to adopt a monument as part of the project.

Earlier in the day, the Congress took up the matter to accuse the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led govenrmnent leasing out a heritage place to a private entity.

"After handing over the Red Fort to the Dalmia group, which is the next distinguished location that the BJP government will lease out to a private entity? #IndiaSpeaks," the party's Twitter handle posted.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)At least 38 Houthi militants were killed when a coalition airstrike led by Saudi Arabia targeted the building of Yemen interior ministry in Sanaa in the intervening night of Friday and Saturday.

Saudi Arabia's official Al-Ekhbariya television said in a statement that two high-ranking insurgents were among those killed in the airstrike, Arab News reported.

The Houthis confirmed the airstrike but did not give more details.

Eyewitnesses and residents said that the airstrikes targeted other places such as Najda camp, the Dailmi air base, the presidential palace, Jabal al-Nahdeen and its militia camps and other nearby areas in Sanaa.

Earlier on Saturday, Saudi air defences reportedly intercepted four missiles fired by Houthi rebels in Jazan province bordering with Yemen in southern Saudi Arabia.

Continued missile attacks from Houthi rebels in Yemen have forced Saudi Arabia to cut off air, sea and land links from its neighbour. Saudi defence forces have also halted Yemen's financial aids and food and fuel imports as well.

Former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh was killed in Sanaa after days of intense fighting between Houthi rebels and his loyalist forces on December 4 last year.

Both Saleh forces and the Houthi rebels backed by Iran are battling to capture the capital city.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A Muslim leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from Karnataka on Saturday said that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has created a Hindu-Muslim divide in the state.

The leader also said that despite the Congress' five-year rule, Mangalore is suffering from so many problems.

"All that Siddaramaiah has done is that he created a divide between Hindus and Muslim here. There are many problems here, including scarcity of drinking water problems," Fazal, member BJP Minority Cell, Mangalore, told ANI.

Karnataka will vote on May 12, 2018, to send their 224 representatives to the state assembly. The counting of votes and announcement of result will take place on May 15, 2018.

The BJP is leaving no stone unturned to defeat the ruling Congress. Both the parties have pressed their star campaigners to woo voters. Siddaramaiah has filed his nomination papers from two constituencies: Badami and Chamundeshwari.

On the other hand, Janata Dal (Secular) led by former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda has forged a pre-poll alliance with Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)United States President Donald Trump is likely to visit Israel the month to attend the inauguration of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem.

"I may go. I'm very proud of it," Trump said during a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, reported The Hill.

This came after Israeli media reported that Trump might not attend the opening ceremony, after he moved the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The facility will temporarily be located in a building that currently has the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem.

"I had my name half-signed and then I noticed the figure and I just did," Trump said, as quoted by The Hill.

"I never got to the word 'Trump.' I had 'Donald' signed but I never got to the word 'Trump'," he added.

For the unversed, last December the President announced that he, fulfilling a 2016 campaign promise, would move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)United States President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have discussed the 2015 Iran nuclear deal during the latter's one-day working trip to Washington.

Her visit comes days after French President Emmanuel Macron's recent visit.

The two leaders held a joint press conference at the White House.

Trump stated that he and Merkel talked about the Iran nuclear deal, but didn't mention if they had reached an agreement.

"The Iranian regime fuels violence, bloodshed and chaos all across the Middle East," CNN reported, citing Trump, as saying at a joint press conference.

"We must ensure that this murderous regime does not even get close to a nuclear weapon, and that Iran ends its proliferation of dangerous missiles and its support for terrorism. No matter where you go in the Middle East, wherever there's a problem, Iran is right there," he added.

However, it is unclear if the two leaders come to any agreements in terms of the Iran nuclear deal.

On Tuesday, the US President threatened to leave the Iran deal, calling it "insane," while adding that "it should have never ever been made".

The Iran nuclear deal was signed between six countries in 2015 - Iran, US, Britain, Germany, Russia, France and China for lifting economic sanctions on Tehran in exchange for limitations to the country's nuclear programme.

The visit comes ahead of a looming May 12 deadline to preserve the Iran nuclear agreement, which Trump has called frequently criticised in the past.

This is Merkel's first trip to the US after assuming power as the German Chancellor for a record fourth time last month.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The ongoing two-day historical informal summit between India and China in picturesque Wuhan city, which commenced on Friday will get more personal von Saturday as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping are set to go for a walk and boat ride as well.

On Saturday, which marks the second and the last day of the informal summit, the two leaders will have opportunity to spend time without their aides as with President Xi taking Prime Minister Modi for a lakeside walk and a boat ride on the picturesque East Lake.

This will be followed by a private lunch hosted by the Chinese President.

According to the sources, the idea of this summit is to open strategic communication channel at the highest level.

Earlier on Friday, the two leaders commenced their informal summit at the East Lake guesthouse in China's Wuhan city.

In one-on-one meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping drew a parallel between the Indus and Chinese civilizations, both of which sprawled around rivers.

The two leaders visited the exhibition of Marquis Yi of Zeng Cultural Relics and Treasure at Hubei Provincial Museum in Wuhan.

The two-day visit by Prime Minister Modi to China is touted as an informal meeting between the leaders of the two Asian giants.

PM Modi will depart for India on Saturday.

The two Asian leaders, in 2014, met in Gujarat as part of the short historic visit of Xi Jinping along with a group of Chinese ministers to the Sabarmati Ashram.

Both the leaders discussed the historical past of both India and China as Prime Minister Modi highlighted his visit to Three Gorges Dam as Gujarat's Chief Minister.

After that, President Xi took Prime Minister Modi on a tour of the exhibition of Marquis Yi of Zeng Cultural Relics and Treasure at Hubei Provincial Museum in Wuhan.

In 2016, President Xi Jinping visited India to participate in the BRICS summit at Goa.

The following year, Prime Minister Modi visited China to participate in the G20 summit in Hangzhou and attend the BRICS summit in Xiamen.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Dear Reader,

Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.

We, however, have a request.



As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.



Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.



Digital EditorMetro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 28)  Two farmers were found beheaded in a village in Maguindanao Saturday.

The victims, 42-year-old Ceasar Fermin and 21-year-old Jabon Bistas, were found at around 5:00 a.m. in Purok Lansones in Brgy. Gumagadong Calawag in Parang town, in an area near the farm where they work, according to the police.

Authorities said both Fermin and Bistas told their families they would sleep at the Tapahan (kiln for copra), 200 meters away from the house of farm owner Marlon Ampurias.

Police are still looking for the heads, which were missing from the crime scene.

Police Regional Director of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao PCSupt. Graciano Mijares said they have yet to identify who are behind the killing and their motive.The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has restricted the manufacture of Oxytocin formulations for domestic use to public sector only. It has also banned the import of Oxytocin and its formulations.

The High Court of Himachal Pradesh, Shimla, had, in its judgment dated 15.3.2016 in CWPIL No. 16 of 2014 titled 'Court on its own motion' versus State of Himachal Pradesh and others, observed that there is large scale clandestine manufacture and sale of the drug Oxytocin leading to its grave misuse, which is harmful to animals and humans. Amongst others, it had also observed that the feasibility of restricting the manufacture of Oxytocin only in public sector companies should be considered.

The matter was considered by the Drugs Technical Advisory Board, a statutory body constituted under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940. The Board recommended that Oxytocin formulations for human use be regulated and restricted to be supplied only to registered hospitals and clinics in public and private sector to prevent its misuse.

The Central Government, on the basis of the recommendations of the Board and after examination of the matter, was satisfied that unregulated and illegal use of Oxytocin is likely to involve risk to human beings or animals and that in the public interest it is necessary and expedient to regulate and restrict its manufacture, sale and distribution to prevent its misuse by unauthorised persons or otherwise.

Accordingly, the Central Government has regulated the manufacture for sale or for distribution of Oxytocin under section 26A of the said Act in the following manner:-

i. The manufacture of Oxytocin formulations for domestic use shall be by public sector undertakings or companies only and the label of the product shall bear barcodes.

ii. The manufacture of Oxytocin formulations for export purposes shall, however, be open to both public and private sector. The packs of such manufacture for exports shall also bear barcodes.

iii.

The manufacturers of active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) of Oxytocin shall supply the API only to the public sector manufacturers for manufacture of formulations for domestic use.

iv. However, for manufacture of formulations for export purpose, the API will be supplied to the manufacturers in both public and private sector.

v. The Oxytocin formulations meant for domestic consumption will be supplied by the manufacturers to the registered hospitals and clinics in public and private sector directly.

vi. The manufacturers can also supply the formulations to the Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya JanaushadhiPariyojana(PMBJP) and Affordable Medicines and Reliable Implants for Treatment (AMRIT) outlets or any other Government entity which may be specified by the Central Government for this purpose. However, these outlets will further supply the drug to the registered hospitals and clinics in public and private sector.

vii. Oxytocin in any form or name will not be allowed to be sold through retail Chemist.

The regulations with regard manufacture of Oxytocin for domestic use will come into force on 1st July 2018. However, the ban on import takes immediate effect.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Actor Ali Fazal says he is excited to be passing on the baton to actors Sonakshi Sinha and Jassi Gill to take forward the "Happy Bhag Jayegi" story.

At the moment, Ali is busy shooting for the sequel "Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi" in Malaysia.

"This is my first time in Malaysia. It was quite the start with my flight losing one engine almost seconds before take off from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur and then losing my bags which arrived three days later," Ali said in a statement to IANS.

"I guess the chaos of 'Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi' infected the air traffic. I am excited to be passing the baton to Sonakshi and Jassi in part two."

"Happy Bhag Jayegi", featuring Diana Penty, Ali Fazal and Abhay Deol, was released in 2016. The romantic comedy narrated the story of a girl named Happy, who runs away from her wedding and reaches Pakistan by mistake.

Diana features in the sequel too. She is joined by actress Sonakshi Sinha whose character also runs away from her wedding. Mudassar Aziz, who helmed the first part, is back on the director's chair for the sequel.

Made under the banner Eros International and Aanand L Rai's Colour Yellow Productions, the film will also feature Abhay Deol and Jimmy Shergill. "Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi" is set to release on August 24.

Talking about Malaysia shooting schedule, Ali said: "We are shooting on outdoor locations and there are lots of action sequences and chases. And this time, it's a greater ensemble than before. Apart from Diana, it was lovely to reunite with Jimmy and Piyush Mishra.

"They are the heart of this film. Mudassar is a gifted writer and director and I hope our bond delivers more films together."

--IANS

sug/rb/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Art plays an important role in a child's development and enables children to develop a sense of aesthetics and beauty from an early age -- but it should not be imposed, says noted artist Paresh Maity, whose vast oeuvre includes India's longest painting at 850 feet.

"The most important thing to developing a child's mind through art is to not impose anything. Let them grow in their own way... an innocent mind will develop its own identity and possibilities. The medium allows them to express themselves and explore their creative side and develop a sense for aesthetics and beauty from an early age," Maity told IANS in an email interview.

It was in this spirit that he conducted a day-long session at a Mumbai school on Friday and termed it a "learning experience".

"It was a fantastic experience to meet and conduct a session for students of Mount Litera School International as part of their ongoing Meraki art week. It was astonishing to see the creativity in them and the fabulous exhibition they had curated. My visit to the school was a learning experience for me as well because when the mind does not have any preconceived ideas, I learn a lot.

"While this wasn't a first-time effort and I have been to different cities and schools, it was great to witness the truly extraordinary art displayed by the kids," he added.

"Art has a crucial role to play in the holistic development of young children through its integration of fine motor skills, language development, conceptual understanding in math and other subject areas. Children learn to bring all these together through using their hands, visualisation and through words to express what they have drawn or created. Art has its own language, which is universally understood," Ruchika Sachdev, head of the school's primary section, told IANS in an e-mail.

The school visit also prompted Maity, 53, to reminisce about his own four-decade journey in the world of art.

"I was seven-years-old when I saw artisans in my native village -- Tamluk in West Bengal -- making idols of Goddess Durga. I was mesmerised and decided I wanted to be an artist. It has been a burning desire since then," said Maity, who has almost 80 solo exhitions to his credit.

At the age 16, after his matriculation, he wished to get admitted in Calcutta's (now Kolkata) Government College of Art and Craft but his father's colleagues persuaded him to appear for joint entrance exams for medical and engineering.

"I was never attentive towards my studies as my mind would always wander towards art. Finally, at the age of 18, after my higher secondary education, I took an admission to the Government College of Art and Craft in 1983.

"Since I was a little child I have been inspired by miniature and tribal art. My first influential mentor was nature and people that I used to interact with on my commute to college. I would travel for four hours each way to reach my college from Tamluk since I did not have enough money to stay in Kolkata. I did this for six years," he said.

"My journey, like that of any other individual, has been full of ups and downs and filled with good and bad experiences. We all go through it. I will be the happiest if my journey with art continues till the last day of my life," Maity added.

As for "Indian Odyssey", which is displayed at Terminal 3 of New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport, he said when he was first approached, he did not not think it would be possible to create it.

"It depicts India's people, places, history, colours, festivals, culture and integrity in a very unique way. When I was first requested eight years ago to make this painting, I was surprised because I could not believe an artist could make such a big painting, measuring approximately 850 feet. I expressed a desire to see the original place where the painting would be installed. It took me a year to complete the painting and was a truly extraordinary experience," Maity explained.

What of the future?

"I am currently busy designing large installations for public places as well as some large paintings where I wish to experiment a bit while staying true to my roots and identity," Maity concluded.

(Vishnu Makhijani can be contacted at vishnu.makhijani@ians.in)

--IANS

vm/vd/ky

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)This footwear company has a 85-year-old legacy and has a wide global presence, including in India. Thomas Archer Bata, the fourth-generation scion of the family that owns Bata Shoe Co., wants to break the perception of those customers who tag the brand as "old fashioned" with his ideologies as well as growth and expansion plans.

"I think it's an asset to take care of the company which has such a strong legacy. I know that many feel that the company is old fashioned because they don't change quick enough, but this is what I want to change. You have to take good things from the past and add that in future planning and make it fresh," Thomas told IANS here during an interaction on the sidelines of the second edition of Bata Fashion Weekend (BFW).

Moving from Prague to Milan in the second edition, BFW is a platform to bring customers closer to the brand and introduce to them their most updated and fashionable line in the form of fashion shows, concept stores and announcements.

Bata, the Chief Marketing Officer at the Lausanne, Switzerland-based company, is carrying on the legacy of the famed name. He says that with Bata's current 'Red Label shoe collection', the brand is targeting the youth who are somehow going away from the brand.

"With this line, we wanted to show that how cool and glamorous we can be. We saw that youth somehow are moving away from our brand and we can't afford to lose them. We have delivered great and durable designs in the past and we want to add to that with cool and glamorous pieces.

"We want to bridge that gap. We want to tell people to give us a chance. I think I will convince them to be believers," Thomas told IANS.

The Indian youth too is important to the brand.

"We just started working with actress Kriti Sanon who has been roped in as our brand ambassador. She is the perfect fit as she appeals to the youth. We have common grounds," he said.

India is Bata's second largest market after Italy, and Thomas has big plans for Indian market in days to come.

They have opened their first few red store concepts in India. The concept is to have red and white stores inspired by the Bata logo and are pillar-less to give a shopper a clear and complete view of the offerings.

"That is working really well. So, the reception of Indian consumers for more global collections has been very good. We are planning to continue that and give more diversity to the products to the Indian customers," he said.

"I think I am very optimistic as our brand has an amazing history. The future is fantastic. There is Increasing appetite in young to younger consumers... They want good things and we are making them."

(Nivedita is in Milan on the invitation of Bata Fashion Weekend organisers. She can be contacted at nivedita.s@ians.in)

--IANS

nv/rb/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Terming the West Bengal State Election Commission's announcement to hold single-phase panchayat elections on May 14 as "illegal", the BJP state unit on Saturday said it will move the court for polls spread over three or more phases.

"This election is illegal. We will move to court on Monday. The SEC's announcement of the panchayat polls on May 14 is completely unlawful. The polling was earlier scheduled to be held in three phases. How can it be brought down to just one phase after the filing of nominations are over," asked BJP National Secretary Rahul Sinha.

"The polling date of May 14 must be cancelled and a fresh notice issued to hold the elections in three or more phases," he said.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist and Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) have already decided to move the court on Monday on the ground that the SEC allegedly announced the election date without discussing security arrangements with the opposition parties as per the Calcutta High Court's order.

The Bengal rural body polls were earlier slated to be held on May 1, 3 and 5.

After the High Court order, the state poll panel extended the last date for filing of nominations to April 23 and rescheduled the polling on May 14 and re-polls, if required, on May 16.

Opposition parties equivocally condemned the SEC's decision to hold single-phase election following a meeting with State Election Commissioner Amarendra Kumar Singh on Saturday on security arrangements on the polling day.

"The SEC does not have any concrete plan on security on the polling day. It has not decided upon deployment of police and number of armed police required at polling booths. It is strange that the State Election Commissioner just inquired about our demands but did not divulge any details about his own planning," BJP leader Pratap Banerjee said after the meeting.

Echoing the CPI-M, the Congress also criticised the state government's decision to ask for additional forces from neighbouring states instead of asking for central forces.

"If forces are brought from other states, they should be given complete freedom to take action, whenever required. There is no point in bringing forces from outside if the local administration tries to manipulate them and do not let them move," a Congress leader said.

--IANS

mgr/tsb/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Alfie Evans, the 23-month-old British toddler at the centre of a High Court battle, died on Saturday nearly a week after his life support was withdrawn.

The boy from Merseyside, who had a degenerative brain condition, died at 2.30 a.m., his father Tom Evans said.

On Facebook he wrote: "My gladiator lay down his shield and gained his wings... absolutely heartbroken," the BBC reported.

Alfie's parents lost legal challenges against a High Court ruling allowing the hospital to withdraw ventilation on Monday after being in a semi-vegetative state for more than a year.

Thomas Evans and Kate James's legal campaign attracted widespread media attention and saw them clash with doctors over the Alfie's treatment.

A statement from Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool, where Alfie was treated, said staff expressed their "heartfelt sympathy", reports the BBC.

Alfie, who was born in May 2016, was first admitted to Alder Hey hospital the following December after suffering seizures, and had been a patient at the hospital ever since.

The parents, who lived in Bootle, wanted to fly the toddler to a hospital in Italy for treatment, but this was rejected by doctors who said continuing treatment was "not in Alfie's best interests".

The court battle between the parents and medical staff lasted for four months.

The couple heavily criticised medical staff, with Thomas Evans suggesting his son was a "prisoner" at the hospital and had been misdiagnosed.

The High Court ruled in favour of hospital bosses on 20 February, after accepting medical evidence that there was "no hope" for Alfie.

Earlier in April, Thomas Evans had visited Pope Francis in Rome, pleading with him to "save our son".

--IANS

ksk/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Given the weakened position of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) at the national level, the uneasy truce between its two factions led, respectively, by the present and former General Secretary, will be of interest mainly to the party faithful.

Even then, what the other political parties will be looking at is the kind of "understanding", as mandated by the party congress, which the CPI-M will be able to reach with the Congress and whether the opponents of this line -- former General Secretary Prakash Karat and his comrades -- will accept the formulation or wreck it.

The tussle between Karat and the present General Secretary, Sitaram Yechury, will be at its most intense in the three states where the CPI-M still has some influence -- Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura.

Of these, it is in Kerala that the Yechury-Karat confrontation will be most fierce since the state is the home ground of Karat and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, both of whom are against any deal with the Congress.

Since communist "discipline" stipulates that once a political line has been accepted, everyone, including its critics, has to abide by it, the Kerala scene will be enlivened by the CPI-M's pursuit at the ground level of an "understanding" with the party's main rival, the Congress.

True, the arrangement will be only for the Lok Sabha elections when the two parties are expected to work together against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is known to be rather weak in the state.

Had there been a stronger opponent, there might have been a possibility, however faint, of the red flag and the tricolour fluttering together. In the present context, the distance between the CPI-M and the Congress is unlikely to be bridged, whatever the party line. All that can be expected is that their mutual recriminations will be put on hold.

Unlike Kerala, where the CPI-M and the Congress are evenly matched as can be seen from the way the two parties come out on top in alternate assembly elections, both are quite weak in West Bengal at present.

It is perhaps for this reason that the animus between them is not as strong as in Kerala, which is why they were able to fight the last assembly election jointly against the Trinamool Congress although to no avail.

The two parties will also know that they are losing ground to the BJP in West Bengal, which has pushed the CPI-M down to the third position in recent elections and the Congress to the fourth. The Trinamool Congress, of course, remains at the top. For the two "losers", however, the setbacks may facilitate their coming together in a rescue act.

From this standpoint, there is unlikely to be any difficulty in reaching an understanding between the CPI-M and the Congress, except for the fact that it is not known what the ties will be between the Congress and the Trinamool Congress.

If the projected joint platform against the BJP advocated by Mamata Banerjee takes shape, then a threesome comprising the Trinamool Congress, the CPI-M and the Congress cannot be ruled out although such a combination will be a rerun of the hodge-podge anti-Congress Janata conglomerate of 1977 and may prove to be equally fragile.

In Tripura, the scene will be rather weird because the Congress has been politically assimilated by the BJP as the reversal of the vote shares of the two parties show. While the polling percentage of the Congress dropped precipitously from 36.5 in 2013 to 1.8 this year, that of the BJP rose from 1.5 per cent to 43, showing a wholesale migration of the Congress's base of support to the BJP.

The CPI-M, on the other hand, managed to hold on to its base by securing 42.6 per cent of the votes compared to 48 in 2013. But, given the virtual disappearance of the Congress, the Marxists are unlikely to be interested in an understanding with a non-existent party. In Tripura, therefore, the CPI-M will be taking on the BJP on its own.

Of the other states, the CPI-M's impressive performance in organising the week-long, 180 km "long march" of the farmers from Nashik to Mumbai last month has shown that the communists have retained some of their influence in Maharashtra although it is nowhere near what it was in the 1950s and 60s.

If there is a Congress-Nationalist Congress Party tie-up in the state, the CPI-M will not have any difficulty in joining the two. It is in cementing an alliance (the word is anathema to Karat) of this nature in Maharashtra and elsewhere that the amiable Yechury can play a crucial role even if the Marxists will have no option but to play second fiddle.

Even then, there is little doubt that as the electoral race gathers momentum, Yechury can be expected to be engaged in stitching the loose ends of the anti-BJP combination together, thereby gaining stature which his party's position does not warrant. If he succeeds, it will put the final seal on his "victory" over Karat.

(Amulya Ganguli is a political analyst. The views expressed are personal. He can be reached at amulyaganguli@gmail.com)

--IANS

amulya/vm/tb

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A helpline for women to report sexual harassment at the Cannes Film Festival will be set up following four alleged attacks at the event in the past by Harvey Weinstein, the disgraced Hollywood movie mogul.

Marlene Schiappa, France's gender equality minister, said industry grandees would be warned to watch their behaviour when they arrive at the world's most prestigious film festival, which takes place in the Riviera resort next month, reports telegraph.co.uk.

"We've gone into partnership with the Cannes Film Festival to tackle sexual harassment and set up a helpline," Schiappa said.

"One of the rapes that Harvey Weinstein is accused of happened at Cannes, and so the festival cannot fail to act."

She said the measures were aimed at protecting not only actresses but all women working in or around the film industry.

The Cannes festival has come under fire in the past for alleged sexism, notably over the obligation for women to wear high-heeled shoes on the red carpet.

Weinstein is accused of four sexual assaults at Cannes in recent years including the alleged rape of a 21-year-old Italian actress Asia Argento.

With the #MeToo movement in the headlines, the Cannes film festival organisers face heightened scrutiny over the role of women at the festival, which runs from May 8-19.

--IANS

sug/rb/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)June 19, 2019, Wednesday

All private universities in Uttar Pradesh will now have to give an undertaking to the government, saying that their campuses will ...



1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war.

2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war.

3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament of the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength.

4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.

5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites.

6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination.

7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N.

8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev's promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N.

9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress.

10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N.

11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.)

12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party.

13. Do away with all loyalty oaths.

14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office.

15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.

16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.

17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks.

18. Gain control of all student newspapers.

19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.

20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions.

21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.

22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms."

23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art."

24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press.

25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.

26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy."

27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch."

28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state."

29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.

30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man."

31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the "big picture." Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.

32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture--education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.

33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus.

34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI.

36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.

37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business.

38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand.

39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.

40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.

41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.

42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use united force to solve economic, political or social problems.

43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government.

44. Internationalize the Panama Canal.

45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction over nations and individuals alike.With a dedicated manifesto for India's tech hub, Bengaluru region, the ruling Congress on Saturday promised to spend Rs 1 lakh-crore on developing the city's infrastructure.

"We will ensure that a world class infrastructure is created in Bengaluru with an expenditure of at least Rs 1 lakh-crore from the state and Central governments to make the city eligible for consideration as the second capital of India," read the manifesto for Bengaluru region.

The manifesto was released here on Saturday by Sam Pitroda, the former Advisor to ex-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The Congress said it would set up a city ombudsman office to address all civic issues, and make development and rejuvenation of city's lakes its priority.

While as many as 262 water bodies existed in the city till 1960s, rapid urbanisation has brought down their number to about 80, of which only 34 are recognised as live lakes, according to the state government's data.

"We will make all the existing lakes pollution-free in the next five years," it vowed.

The party also said it would set up a Metropolitan Planning Committee to monitor the growth of the state capital and the towns surrounding it.

The manifesto mentioned that the party would build more roads, flyovers, 2,000km of footpaths and widen the city's roads, which are choked with vehicular traffic during the rush hours. The party, however, did not mention the exact expenditure it plans to commit for the development of roads, flyovers and the like.

The Congress also plans to build underground lanes to decongest the city's traffic on the lines of Delhi Metro underground line, according to the manifesto.

In a bid to retain power in the poll-bound southern state, the party had vowed to create one crore jobs across Karnataka in its manifesto, released by party President Rahul Gandhi on Friday in the port city of Mangaluru, 370 km west from here.

Information Technology (IT) would be made an important driver of the state's economy by increasing the field's contribution from the current $60 billion to $300 billion, the ruling party said.

Currently, the state capital Bengaluru alone, which is home to over 750 multinationals and 2,000 IT firms, contributes about 40 per cent of the country's total IT exports.

--IANS

bha/nir/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Actress-activist Dia Mirza, the UN Environment Goodwill Ambassador for India, flew to San Francisco earlier this week to participate in an all-women's panel discussion on the environment at the Steve Jobs Theatre.

Dia brainstormed on stage with three distinguished women -- Vien Troung (CEO of Green For All organisation), Alexandra Cousteau (globally recognised for her work on water-related issues) and Lisa Jackson (Apple's Vice President of Environment, Policy and Social Initiative).

Dia said: "Thankfully, my world is expanding and I am getting to do, meet and be a part of incredible change. On Friday (April 27), I was in San Francisco participating in an all-women panel environmental discussion at the Steve Jobs Theatre. It was an immensely rewarding experience."

Back home, Dia who was formerly a beauty pageant winner, is distressed by Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb's comments on beauty queens.

"What can one say of a man who claims Internet existed in ancient India? He seems to have a resource of information that the rest of us are not privy to," Dia sighed.

Deb had reportedly said in Agartala that international beauty contests were a farce as the results were all predetermined. He also said he failed to understand the "process of judgement" of the crowning of the Miss World contest in 1997, in which Diana Hayden was crowned.

Earlier, Deb was widely trolled for saying that Internet existed during Mahabharata era.

--IANS

skj/rb/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)There is good news for people who use Facebook to raise money to support the causes that matter to them as the social networking giant is now all set to do away with its platform fee on fundraisers for personal causes.

"We're eliminating the platform fee on all fundraisers for personal causes, so that people can maximise their fundraising support," Asha Sharma, Facebook's Head of Product for Social Good, said in a statement on Friday.

That means the social network is getting rid of the 4.3 percent platform fee in the US and the 6.2 per cent fee in Canada, TechCrunch.com reported.

But there will still be a small fee charged for payment processing and applicable taxes, Facebook said.

Announcing new tools for fundraisers on the platform, Facebook said that people can pledge to match donations to their nonprofit fundraiser.

"This is a first of its kind tool in online fundraising that's now available in the US and will soon expand internationally," Sharma said.

The social network is also introducing new categories for fundraisers for personal causes so that people can raise funds for more social good causes across family, faith, travel, and volunteering.

"We want to help everyone to meet and exceed their fundraising goals through matching donations," Sharma said.

Now people who create fundraisers can pledge to match donations up to the amount they choose, from $5 to $2,500, helping them build momentum for their cause, Facebook added.

People on Facebook raise money for many personal causes, including loved ones who need critical surgery, teachers needing school supplies for their students, and families in need after losing everything in a fire.

Facebook said it will be adding fundraiser categories for family (like adoption or new baby supplies), faith (like missions or religious community events), travel (like educational trips or travel for medical needs), and volunteering (like volunteer programs or supplies) causes.Fortis Healthcare on Saturday said that its Board will meet on May 10 to consider the recommendations made by its "expert advisory committee" (EAC) which has been set-up to evaluate all binding proposals for fund infusion.

As per a regulatory filing, the company informed the stock exchanges that its EAC will now consist of two members "who have already been appointed to the EAC viz. Mr. Deepak Kapoor and Mr. Lalit Bhasin".

Earlier, Renuka Ramnath who is a former MD and CEO of ICICI Ventures, had resigned from the EAC.

"The EAC will only consider evaluating all binding bids (whether the current or

improvised or modified or new) received by the company till 12:00 noon, IST on May 1, 2018," the filing said.

"In line with the obligations towards Manipal and TPG consortium, if any new or

modified binding bids are received anytime till 12.00 noon on May 1, 2018;

Manipal and TPG consortium have the ability to revise their offer till May 6, 2018."

The regulatory filing further said that the company's Board has "instructed the management to appoint a second independent financial advisor to assist and advise the board with respect to the bids".

The company's Board has received offers from suitors such as Hero Enterprise Investment Office and the Burman Family Office, Fosun Health Holdings, IHH Healthcare Berhad, Manipal Hospital Enterprises and Radiant Life Care for infusion of funds.

Besides, Fortis Healthcare on Saturday said that its Board has approved appointments of Suvalaxmi Chakraborty, Ravi Rajagopal and Indrajit Banerjee as Additional Directors (Independent Category) with immediate effect.

The recommendation was made by a group of shareholders including National Westminster Bank Plc as Trustee of Jupiter India Fund, East Bridge Capital Master Fund Ltd. and East Bridge Capital Master Fund I Ltd.

In addition, the healthcare major disclosed its plans to hold on May 22 an Extra-ordinary General Meeting (EGM) of its shareholders to approve a proposal by a minority shareholder's group to induct and remove certain Board members.

--IANS

rv/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Tripoli, April 28 (IANS/AKI) Libyan military strongman Khalifa Haftar's return after a two-week stay in France for medical treatment could offer hope for the future stability of the conflict-wracked country, says Italian Ambassador Giuseppe Perrone.

Perrone was speaking to AKI after 72-year-old Haftar returned to the eastern city of Benghazi on Thursday aboard a flight from Cairo and told senior army commanders and local elders in a televised address from the airport that he was in good health.

Authorities in eastern Libya did not issue pictures of any detailed information about Haftar during his stay in Pairs, fuelling speculation over the gravity of his condition and its possible impact on Libya.

"Obviously, it is pleasing that the general is well and that he may contribute to national reconciliation and to Libya's stabilisation," Perrone said.

"It is to be hoped he can continue to make a positive personal contribution to taking this process forward.

"I hope that his presence may serve as a unifying force," said Perrone.

Haftar has steadily extended his grip on eastern Libya and parts of the south, last year capturing Benghazi after a three-year military campaign.

Since 2016, he has controlled all the oil ports and main fields in the east, where most of Libya's oil resources lie. But he has struggled to contain local militias there and his Libyan National Army has been unable to take the eastern city of Derna, which is controlled by armed rivals.

"Hopefully, Hatfar will be able to unite all the various local forces," Perrone told AKI.

Haftar has vowed to drive out Islamist militants and to free Tripoli of militias. He also opposes the United Nations-backed transitional government that has been trying to establish itself in the capital for the past two years.

The UN has said it hopes national elections can be held in Libya by the end of year, something which is "a generalised wish" among the country's population according to Perrone.

Haftar's return to the political scene can help the country move towards national polls "first and foremost a new constitution and the approval of an electoral law," Perrone said, adding: "The vote is inevitable for the credibility of the whole reconciliation process."

The UN has been spearheading efforts to reunify the nation of six million people that has been divided since 2014 between rival governments and military alliances based in its east and west.

--IANS/AKI

vd

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)An Indian-American doctor has been indicted in Illinois for pocketing nearly $1 million in fraudulent health insurance claims through his medical practice, officials said.

Dr Pranav Patel, 51, of Chicago suburb Burr Ridge allegedly submitted false insurance claims for medical tests that were never performed and used some of his patients' names without their knowledge to submit such claims while he owned the Palos Medical Care practice, according to the Northern District of Illinois' US Attorney's Office on Friday.

Starting in 2008 and continuing until June 2013, Patel fraudulently obtained at least $950,000 in payments from Medicare and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, the indictment stated.

According to a Chicago Tribune report, Patel was charged with seven counts of healthcare fraud, three counts of making false statements in relation to a healthcare matter, and two counts of aggravated identity theft.

During one occasion, Patel fabricated a seven-page medical record indicating that a patient had come to the office for a follow-up visit and examination, when the patient had actually come to re-fill a prescription, the report said.

He is scheduled to be arraigned on May 15.

--IANS

soni/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Israeli military fighter jets have targeted six military targets belonging to Hamas's naval force in the northern Gaza Strip, said the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).

The IDF said the strike on Friday night came in response to "terror activity and mass attempt to infiltrate into Israeli territory earlier in the day", Xinhua news agency reported.

The Israeli army said in a statement issued on Friday overnight that Hamas led hundreds of rioters in a violent mass infiltration attempt towards Israeli territory, during which they "hurled explosive devices, hand grenades and firebombs at IDF troops and attempted to set the security fence on fire."

Israeli media cited Palestinian media as reporting that four people were injured in strikes on a position belonging to Hamas at a port in Gaza City in the northern Strip.

For several weeks, "Hamas has orchestrated riots as a disguise for acts of terror carried out against security infrastructure, security forces and civilians," noted the Israeli army.

The IDF viewed with "great severity" the Hamas continued attempts to turn the area adjacent to the security fence into a combat and terror zone under civilian cover, said the Israeli army.

"The IDF will not allow the cynical use of civilians, including women, children and people with disabilities as a cover for ongoing terrorist activity against Israeli civilians and IDF troops, and will continue to respond to any such attempts," said the IDF.

Earlier Friday, three Palestinians were killed and at least 833 Palestinians were wounded in the "Great March of Return" along the Israel-Gaza border for the fifth week in a row, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

--IANS

pgh/

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The "heart-to-heart" communication between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping during their two-day informal summit here reflected their deepened mutual history and charted the course of long-term bilateral development, according to a leading Chinese newspaper.

The China Daily in an opinion piece said: "The beauty of the informal summit between Xi and Modi is that it comes with no baggage, only expectations. It is free of the usual diplomatic frills, somewhat beyond the global limelight.

"As expected, the 'heart-to-heart' communication between the two leaders reflected their deepened mutual chemistry. Which, in turn, will be conducive to improving mutual trust between the neighbours and charting the course of long-term bilateral development."

India and China share a tense relationship owing to their 1962 war. Their ties touched a new low last year when their militaries were locked in a face-off near their disputed boundary. The crisis was resolved in August.

The daily said that "mutual suspicion was keeping the two countries from deepening cooperation and working together on regional and international issues".

"The border incident last summer was just one example of what mutual suspicion could lead to, reminding both sides of the disruptive potential of distrust. Yet neither Beijing nor New Delhi calls the other an enemy, which means both expect bilateral ties to improve," it said.

The daily called China and India "natural partners" and said that "both realize they carry the hopes of the other developing countries to improve international relations, in order to make the world order more equitable".

"The Xi-Modi meetings reflect the two neighbours' common aspiration to not only stabilize their troubled relationship but also caution disruptive powers it is difficult to drive a wedge between them," it said.

The Global Times said that the informal summit ushered in a new chapter in the Sino-Indian relations. "Conflicts between China and India have kept accumulating, which exposed the fragility of Sino-Indian relations and prompted both sides to recognize that confrontation between China and India does not fit their interests. Disputes must be controlled".

China's People's Daily quoted Xi as saying that "the consensus reached by the two sides provided positive signals of China-India friendship and reflected the strong will of two big emerging economies to enhance mutually beneficial cooperation".

--IANS

soni/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping spent nine hours together during the course of their informal summit here on Friday and Saturday, Chinese Ambassador to India Luo Zhaohui said.

"7 events in 2 days, President #XiJinping and PM Modi sepnt 9 hours together, covering a wide range of topics in in-depth exchanges with much consensus. Thumbs up to the two leaders!" Luo tweeted following Modi's departure for India from here on Saturday.

After his arrival here early on Friday, Modi and Xi first met at the Hubei Provincial Museum where the two leaders held one-on-one talks.

Xi then accompanied Modi on a tour of an exhibition of Marquis Yi of Zeng Cultural Relics and Treasure displayed at the museum.

Thereafter, the two leaders held delegation-level talks that "went well beyond the budgeted time" as Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale put it at a media briefing here on Saturday.

On Friday evening, the Chinese President hosted a dinner in honour of the visiting Indian Prime Minister.

Modi and Xi again held discussions over tea on Saturday morning and took a walk along the East Lake here.

The two leaders then took a boat ride on the scenic East Lake.

Xi then hosted a lunch for Modi before the latter's departure for India.

--IANS

ab/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping will provide "strategic guidance" to their armies to prevent another Doklam-like military stand-off along their long-winding disputed border.

During the two-day informal summit between Modi and Xi in the central Chinese city of Wuhan that ended on Saturday, India and China also decided to work on a joint economic project in Afghanistan, a move that could upset Beijing's "all-weather ally" and New Delhi's arch-rival Pakistan, which borders Afghanistan.

In several meetings, terrorism, climate change and other international issues figured on which both leaders had similar views.

"Prime Minister Modi and President Xi reviewed developments in India-China relations from the strategic and long-term perspective," said India's Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale at a media briefing here.

"They also agreed that both sides have the maturity and wisdom to handle the differences through peaceful discussion within the context of the overall relationship, bearing in mind the importance of respecting each other's sensitivities, concerns and aspirations."

Gokhale said Modi and Xi were of the view that Special Representatives on border talks from both countries will have to intensify their efforts to seek a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable settlement.

He said both leaders underscored the importance of maintaining peace and tranquility in all areas of the India-China border region in the larger interest of the overall development of bilateral relations.

"To this end, they issued strategic guidance to their respective militaries to strengthen communication in order to build trust and mutual understanding and enhance predictability and effectiveness in the management of border affairs," the Indian Foreign Secretary said.

"The two leaders further directed their militaries to earnestly implement various confidence-building measures agreed upon between the two sides, including the principle of mutual and equal security, and strengthen existing institutional arrangements and information sharing mechanisms to prevent incidents in border regions."

India and China have a long-standing border issue. The two fought a brief but bloody war in 1962 and have a history of mutual distrust.

In 2017, Indian and Chinese armies were locked in a 73-day stand-off at Doklam in the Sikkim sector along their border. The crisis was resolved in August.

Meanwhile, one of the major decisions at the meet was a joint India-China economic project in Afghanistan. Though sources did not give more details about the project, the move is certain to irk Pakistan which resents India's presence in the strife-torn South Asian nation.

Pakistan and Afghanistan have a rocky relationship and China has been trying to broker peace between them.

Gokhale said bilateral trade and investment formed an important part of the discussion. "The two leaders underlined trade should be balanced and sustainable and we should take advantage of the complementarities between the two economies to enhance our trade and investment."

"In that context, the Prime Minister also mentioned the importance of balancing trade and also spoke of the possibility of agricultural export and pharmaceutical exports to China."

Modi and Xi had six rounds of talks in the two-day summit where they discussed a wide range of issues. The issue of terrorism also came up in the meetings.

"Prime Minister Modi and President Xi recognised the common threat posed by terrorism and reiterated their strong condemnation and resolute opposition to terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. They committed themselves to cooperate on counter-terrorism," Gokhale said.

Modi left Wuhan for India at 1.30 p.m.

(Gaurav Sharma can be contacted at sharmagaurav71@gmail.com)

--IANS

gsh/soni/ab/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)reports in North Korea on Saturday hailed its leader's historic summit with the South Korean President at which both sides committed to the denuclearise the peninsula.

Rodong Sinmun, the country's main newspaper, featured 15 photographs from different moments of Friday's summit on its front page, and another 20 on the second, reports Efe news.

Thee photos showed Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in holding hands, the moment when the North Korean leader crossed over to the South, and the symbolic tree planting ceremony, among others.

The newspaper also published the full text of the Panmunjom Declaration, which Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in signed on Friday.

The in Pyongyang, which on Friday had only mentioned that their leader had traveled to the South to meet with Moon, on Saturday covered the summit in full, including reporting on the denuclearization of the regime.

State-owned KCNA agency published the declaration which discussed the common goal of denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

The agency hailed the "historic" summit for launching a new era of reconciliation, peace and prosperity between the two countries which have technically been at war since 1950.

Denuclearization being reported in the North Korean is unprecedented due to the official propaganda which has always presented the country's nuclear program as a matter of national pride and fundamental to the survival of the regime.

Even though denuclearization was one of the key issues in the joint declaration on Friday, no concrete steps in achieving it were mentioned.

--IANS

ksk/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Following a controversy over an MoU with Dalmia Bharat Limited vis-a-vis the Red Fort, the Ministry of Tourism on Saturday clarified that it does not involve a financial bid and is only for the development, operations and maintenance of tourism amenities.

"The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) envisages limited access to non-core areas and no handing over of the monument is involved. It is clarified that 'The Adopt a Heritage' is essentially a non-revenue generating project," a Ministry statement said.

The Ministry said that "Adopt a Heritage: Apni Dharohar, Apni Pehchaan" is a collaborative effort between the Ministry, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), states and Union Territories which aims to develop synergy among all partners to effectively promote 'responsible tourism'.

It is part of responsible tourism where the 'Monument Mitra' essentially spends his Corporate Social Responsibility funds for the upkeep and maintenance of the monument, it added.

Under the contract, the conglomerate will focus on providing basic amenities, including cleanliness, public conveniences, drinking water, ease of access for differently abled and senior citizens and others for both domestic and foreign tourists.

The Ministry said that under the 'Monument Mitras' project, it has approved 31 agencies so far to adopt a total of 95 monuments and tourism sites across India.

"So far, four MoUs have been signed between different stakeholders -- for Mt. Stok Kangri in Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir, the trail to Gaumukh in Uttarakhand, the Red Fort in Delhi, and the Gandikota Fort in Andhra Pradesh," it said.

A statement by Dalmia Bharat said on April 25 that the company joins 'Monument Mitras' along with other private sector companies to look after the operation and maintenance of this heritage site for five years, with a spend of over Rs 5 crore per annum.

--IANS

som/tsb/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Shakil Afridi, a doctor who helped the US' Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) track down Osama bin Laden, has been moved out of a prison in Peshawar to an undisclosed 'safe location' in another city, the media reported.

Afridi had been imprisoned in the Central Prison Peshawar for almost seven years after he ran a phoney vaccination campaign in Abbottabad city to help the CIA track down and kill the former Al Qaeda chief in a controversial raid on May 2, 2011.

A year later, Afridi was sentenced to 33 years in prison for involvement in anti-state activities by a tribal court.

Speaking to the Express Tribune, an official of the Peshawar prison said that a large number of police as well as Army contingent reached the prison on Friday and took Afridi away amid tight security.

The official said he had no idea where the prisoner had been shifted. Another official said Afridi had most probably been moved out of the province.

According to the daily's report, the provincial government had been demanding the federal government to move Afridi away from the Peshawar prison as hardcore Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan militants had also been kept in the same prison and his life was in danger.

The federal government for a long time declined to shift Afridi, but on Friday he was taken away in a sudden move.

--IANS

soni/nir

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)German driver Nico Hulkenberg (Renault) was on Saturday handed a five-place grid penalty ahead of the Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix after changing the gearbox on his car.

In an attempt to resolve problems Hulkenberg faced during the third free practice, the Renault team decided to change the gearbox, which entails a gird penalty, reports Efe.

"Gearbox change for Nico now underway. We should be done in time for #quali but, of course, there will be a grid penalty involved," the team tweeted.

Hulkenberg came seventh both in Australian and China Grands Prix, and was sixth in the Bahrain race, sitting in the seventh spot of the 2018 driver standings.

--IANS

tri/

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)In a major disappointment to the lunar scientists' community, the US space agency has cancelled the first-ever robotic mission to Moon that was supposed to excavate material such as hydrogen, oxygen and water from the lunar poles.

According a report in The Verge on Friday, NASA pulled the plug on Resource Prospector that aimed to be the first mining expedition on another world.

"There are no other (NASA) missions being planned to go to the surface of the Moon," Phil Metzger, Planetary Physicist at University of Central Florida who is part of the team for Resource Prospector, was quoted as saying.

Building on the findings of the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) and Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) missions that proved the existence of water on the Moon, Resource Prospector planned to take the next step and harvest resources.

According to an earlier NASA statement, the agency planed to launch Resource Prospector in the 2020s.

"After a three-day journey from the Earth to the moon, the lander will set down on the lunar surface and deploy a rover carrying the "in-situ resource utilisation" (ISRU) instruments.

"As the rover traverses the lunar surface, it will use prospecting tools to search for sub-surface water, hydrogen and other volatiles," the US space agency had said.

After The Verge put out the story, NASA issued a statement, saying that "some of the instruments from the Resource Prospector mission would be used in other missions that would land on the moon later".

"We're committed to lunar exploration. Resource Prospector instruments will go forward in an expanded lunar surface campaign. More landers. More science. More exploration," new NASA chief Jim Bridenstine tweeted on Saturday.

In a letter to Bridenstine, the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group has called for the mission to be reinstated and scheduled to launch in 2022, The Wall Street Journal reported.

"This action is viewed with both incredulity and dismay by our community," the group wrote.

According to NASA, harvesting consumables and fuel off of Earth is an important step in truly pioneering space.

"Resource Prospector is an early expedition that will help NASA and its partners to better understand the quality and quantity of water and other volatiles on the moon that could support human explorers on the lunar surface.

"The technologies and operational capabilities that Resource Prospector validates also will have direct extensibility toward how we may someday harvest resources on Mars, an asteroid, or other planetary bodies," the US space agency added.

The news comes at a time when US President Donald Trump has signed his administration's first space policy directive, formally directing NASA to send astronauts back to the moon and, eventually Mars.

"The directive I'm signing today will refocus American space programme. It marks an important step in returning American astronauts to the moon for the first time since 1972 for long-term exploration and use," Trump said in December.

"This time, we will not only plant our flag and leave our footprint we will establish a foundation for an eventual mission to Mars and perhaps some day to many worlds beyond," the US President said.

--IANS

na/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Several European Union (EU) members opposed the adoption of a temporary tax on sales by large digital firms, proposed by the European Commission and promoted by France, the bloc's Bulgarian presidency said on Saturday.

Bulgaria currently holds the presidency of the EU, and finance ministers from the block's 28 member states were meeting here on Saturday, reports Efe news.

"Some countries don't want to have short term decisions, they prefer to have long term, but from our point of view we need both," Bulgarian Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov said.

Of the adoption of the tax, which the French government wanted to see approved before the end of the year, the Bulgarian minister said it would be done "as soon as possible."

This is first time that the EU has held a ministerial level discussion on the proposal that seeks a 3 per cent tax on the billing of certain digital services of firms with a turnover of more than 750 million euros ($911 million) in the world and more than 50 million euros in the EU.

Malta, Belgium, Ireland and Luxembourg have opposed the proposal.

European Commissioner for Economic Affairs, Pierre Moscovici, defended the measure, saying "it's not a protectionist approach, it's something which is in the interest of all Europeans wherever they live, and that it won't damage this economy which is very strong".

The tax would be temporary as an urgent measure to make up for the low tax contribution of these companies until a long term solution is adopted.

--IANS

ksk/nir

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A US judge has halted for 90 days a lawsuit by adult film actress Stormy Daniels against US President Donald Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen.

Judge James Otero said Mr Cohen's constitutional rights could be endangered if the case proceeded while he was under criminal investigation, BBC reported on Friday.

Daniels is seeking to end a non-disclosure deal signed over an alleged sexual encounter with Trump in 2006.

Cohen had said he would invoke his right to remain silent over the case.

He had argued that any statement he made in court could affect a criminal inquiry in New York into his business affairs.

As part of the investigation into the Daniels case, the FBI raided Mr Cohen's offices for information, including on the non-disclosure agreement the actress - whose real name is Stephanie Clifford - signed days before the 2016 presidential election.

District Judge Otero in Los Angeles said there was "a large potential factual overlap" between the civil and criminal proceedings against Mr Cohen.

He said that "would heavily implicate Cohen's Fifth Amendment rights", in a reference to the Constitution's protection against self-incrimination.

Lawyers for Cohen had earlier asked for the Daniels case to be put on hold for three months.

They had argued that their client faced a Catch-22 situation: giving evidence in Los Angeles might mean incriminating himself in New York; while invoking his right to silence in the civil suit could undermine his defence there.

It states that no individual can be "compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself".

Invoking the amendment means Cohen will not have to reveal sensitive information in the wider investigation into his affairs.

A lawyer for Daniels, Michael Avenatti, earlier described Cohen's move as a "stunning development".

--IANS

pgh/

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The autopsy report of Latvian woman, whose decomposed body was found last week after she went missing from Kovalam in Kerala last month, suggests that she was strangulated to death, informed sources said on Saturday.

The Kerala Police investigation team, who were handed over the report earlier in the day, said the autopsy reiterated the police findings that she had been strangulated to death.

It was on Friday that the Kerala Police for the first time said that according to their findings, manual strangulation was the cause of death. They have also recovered a noose made of vines, which is now a crucial evidence for them.

Earlier, DNA test of the highly decomposed body had confirmed that it was of 33-year-old Liga Skromene. The body was also identified by her sister Ilzie and her live-in partner Andrew.

The police, according to informed sources, have taken into custody five men from the Kovalam area who are believed to have befriended Liga. With the scientific report also available with the police, they expect to crack the case in a day or two.

In a related development, the police have begun a probe against Ashwathy Jwala, a known social activist who was all along with Ilzie and Andrew when the two were running from pillar to post to get help from the state authorities.

Jwala was trying to help the two meet Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, but despite several attempts he failed to manage an appointment. Also, after their first meeting with state police chief Loknath Behera, he expressed dissatisfaction over the way they were treated.

As Jwala went public with his comments, state Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran slammed him for spreading "half truths" to the media.

According to a complaint made to the state police chief, Jwala collected funds in the name of Liga.

However, Jwala denied the charges, and said he was ready to face any kind of probe.

"I have been into public work for the past five years and this is first instance of a complaint against me. I will deal with this legally. But I am definitely pained over the baseless allegations...," said Jwala.

Ilzie also defended Jwala, saying the charges were false.

Liga, her partner Andrew and her sister Ilzie came to Kerala for ayurvedic treatment at a facility on the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram.

She went missing on March 14 and was last reported to have taken an auto-rickshaw to Kovalam. She was not carrying her passport or mobile phone with her.

--IANS

sg/nir/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The indegenous Light Combat Aircraft Tejas achieved another milestone by successfuly test-firing an air-to-air beyond visual range (BVR) missle, bringing it a step closer to final operation clearance, the government said on Saturday.

Successfully demonstrating safe operation under the worst case scenario, the missile was launched by Tejas piloted by Wing Commander Siddharth Singh off the Goa coast.

"Integration of Derby, a BVR class missile, is one of the major objectives of Final Operational Clearance (FOC) of LCA Tejas," a defence statement said.

Tejas has been designed and developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) autonomous society - Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA).

The aircraft was tracked by two other Tejas aircraft in close formation to capture the firing event in the specially instrumented high-speed cameras for detailed analysis and comparison with the simulation model for validation.

"Based on the successful integration and demonstration, Regional Centre for Military Airworthiness (RCMA), a unit of DRDO has cleared the series production aircraft of Squadron 45, to be equipped with Derby operational capability," a statement said.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman complimented the DRDO and other agencies involved for making LCA Tejas fighter jet, a world-class aircraft platform.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) had ordered 40 Tejas Mark-1 version. A request for proposal was issued to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) by the IAF in December for procurement of another batch of 83 Tejas at a cost of around Rs 50,000 crore.

--IANS

kd/tsb

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Stepping up his efforts to form Federal Front, Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao will meet DMK leaders M. Karunanidhi and M.K. Stalin in Chennai on Sunday.

This was announced by the chief minister's office in a statement on Saturday night.

The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief along with some other leaders of the party will leave for Chennai by a special aircraft. He will call on former Tamil Nadu chief minister Karunnanidhi and his son Stalin, who is also the working president of DMK.

KCR, as Rao is popularly known, will discuss with DMK leaders the formation of Federal Front proposed by him as an alternative to both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress to bring a qualitative change in the national

At the TRS plenary here on Friday, a resolution was passed towards this effect. The TRS chief declared that he will intensify the efforts to form the front and as part of this will meet Stalin and Samajwadi Party President Akhlesh Yadav in coming days.

Stating that both BJP and Congress miserably failed to address people's problems during last 70 years, KCR said the front would trigger tremor in the national with its agenda for speedy development and for addressing the real issues of people.

On April 13, the TRS chief had met Janata Dal (S) President and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda and his son H.D. Kumaraswamy in Bengaluru to discuss the proposed front.

KCR had last month flown to Kolkata to meet West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee.

Former Jharkhand Chief Minister and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chief Hemant Soren and well-known actor Prakash Raj had also called on KCR to discuss the formation of the front.

--IANS

ms/pgh/

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Page Content

The Region of Murcia will host a new Citizen Dialogue to reflect on thefuture of the European Unin. After organizing several Citizen Dialogue on

different themes so as Regional Policy or Climate and Energy, we want to put the eye on the European Youth.





Young people must give their opinion, and we must help them to know and understand, in the first place, why EU was established 60 years ago and what we have achieved since then, with an special mention to the Erasmus Program.





We have much to celebrate: 30 Anniversary of Spain in the EU, 60th Anniversary of the Treaties of Rome, 30th anniversary of Erasmus+, and even the 25th Anniversary of the LIFE programme and of the EU Habitats Directive. But the Regional government is well aware of the challenges ahead for

European citizens and the crucial moment EU is facing.

To this end, next November we invite young people from the Region of Murcia to discuss with European, national and regional youth policy experts about the future, the main challenges and opportunities for Europe they see in the coming decade. And all this in terms of citizens rights and opportunities, mobility and employment, refugees, migrant inclusion, gender equality, climate change, environment protection.





This event will be another step forward in the process of engaging citizens more effectively in public policies and, in particular, in the future of the European Union.Former state Minister and three-time legislator Thomas Chandy was on Saturday unanimously elected the new President of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Kerala unit.

Chandy replaces acting President T.P. Peethamabaran, who was holding the post after the sudden demise of Uzhavur Vijayan last year.

Senior party leader Praful Patel, who was present on the occasion, told the media that the new set of office-bearers of the NCP state unit was elected unanimously.

Owner of a business empire in Kuwait, Chandy first entered through the Democratic Indira Congress, a party floated by Congress veteran K. Karunakaran in 2005.

In the 2006 Assembly polls, DIC was an ally of the Congress-led United Democratic Front. After the polls, the DIC merged with the NCP.

NCP has two legislators in the Kerala Assembly -- Thomas Chandy from Kuttanad and A.K. Saseendran from Elathur. Both were re-elected from their seats in the last Assembly polls.

--IANS

sg/tsb/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)US President Donald Trump has said here that he was considering travelling to Israel next month to attend the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem, which is being moved from Tel Aviv.

"I may go. I'm very proud of it," Trump said during a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the White House on Friday, Efe news reported.

Last December, Trump directed the State Department to start making arrangements to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which implies an official recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

This move challenges the international consensus on Jerusalem, which states that the city's status must be decided through peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians.

Trump said he was "very proud" of the embassy move since it was something that had been promised for many years during numerous political campaigns.

No country currently has an embassy in Jerusalem, as such a move would imply recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the city at a time when the international consensus is that eastern Jerusalem is Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since the 1967 Six-Day War.

Palestinians have considered the embassy move as a provocation that has disqualified the Trump administration from being an honest broker in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

The White House has not confirmed Trump's visit, while some Israeli media have said that the US delegation will be led by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner, who are both presidential advisors.

--IANS

pgh/

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)United Nations, April 28 (IANS/MAP) The UN Security Council has adopted a resolution to extend the mandate of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara for six months till October 31.

The "Resolution 2414" won the support of 12 of the 15 members of the Security Council on Friday while China, Ethiopia and Russia abstained.

The resolution emphasized the importance of a renewed commitment by the parties to advancing the political process in preparation for a new round of negotiations.

It emphasized the need to make progress towards a "realistic, practicable and enduring political solution" to the question of Western Sahara based on compromise.

The resolution expressed concern over the presence of the Polisario Front, which is fighting with Morocco for the independence of Western Sahara, in the buffer strip in Guerguerat, in the southwestern tip of the disputed territory, and called for its immediate withdrawal.

Moroccan Ambassador to the UN Omar Hilale said after the adoption of the resolution that there would be no political process without the withdrawal of the Polisario Front from Guerguerat.

The resolution also voiced concern over the Polisario Front's announcement of the planned relocation of its administrative functions from Algeria to Bir Lahlou in the northeast of Western Sahara, and called for the Polisario Front to refrain from "any such destabilizing actions".

Western Sahara was partitioned between Morocco and Mauritania at the end of Spain's colonial rule in 1976. When Mauritania, under pressure from Polisario rebels, abandoned all claims to its portion in August 1979, Morocco moved to occupy that sector and asserted administrative control over the whole territory.

Fighting broke out between Morocco and the pro-independence Polisario Front. A ceasefire was signed in 1991.

The UN mission, known by its French acronym as Minurso, was deployed that year to monitor the ceasefire and to organise a referendum on self-determination of the people of Western Sahara.

--IANS/MAP

soni/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Members of the UN Security Council have left for Bangladesh and Myanmar to study the Rohingya crisis.

The 15-member panel made a stopover in Kuwait on Friday before flying to Bangladesh where they will visit capital Dhaka and refugee camps in the Cox's Bazar area, officials said.

After visiting the camps in Bangladesh over the weekend the members will arrive in the Myanmar capital of Nay Pyi Taw on Monday, reports Xinhua news agency.

They will also visit areas in Rakhine state that were affected by the violence beginning last August and from where most of the refugees fled.

According to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the overall population of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar in Bangladesh is currently estimated to be over 1 million.

Some 670,000 of them arrived in Bangladesh after Rohingya militants launched a deadly attack on Myanmar government forces in Rakhine on August 25, 2017.

Some 8,000 new refugees have arrived since January, Chief UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters here on Friday.

"The government and people of Bangladesh have displayed extraordinary generosity toward Rohingya refugees, with support by the international community," he said.

"The latest round of food distribution reached over 470,000 people. Over 5,000 tube wells and 47,000 latrines have been built, and more than 90,000 children have received primary school education."

Humanitarian partners on the ground have also conducted protection monitoring missions to support survivors of sexual and gender-based violence and are also strengthening preparedness efforts to the upcoming cyclone and monsoon season, Dujarric said.

The Cox's Bazar region of Bangladesh have hosted thousands of Rohingya who had fled Rakhine state before the August incident.

The Rohingya are ethnic Muslims living in the Buddhist-majority Myanmar.

Most of the refugees do not have Myanmar citizenship.

--IANS

ksk

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)US Air Force B-52 Stratofortress bombers flew over the South China Sea earlier this week on a training mission, according to the American military.

The bombers took off on Tuesday from Andersen Air Force Base on the island of Guam, according to a statement from US Pacific Air Forces, which oversees air operations in the region.

The flight also involved additional training with F-15 Strike Eagle jets in the vicinity of Okinawa, Japan. The training mission was part of the US Air Force's routine "Continuous Bomber Presence" in the region.

A US military official told CNN on Friday that the two bombers flew between two Chinese claimed features in the Spratly Islands, claims unrecognised by China's neighbours and the US government.

China has used these geographic features in the Spratlys to build man-made islands, some of which Beijing has equipped with military facilities.

Officials told CNN that the Chinese military did not intercept the US aircraft during their mission.

Asked about the purpose of these islands, the Trump administration's nominee to head the US military's Pacific Command, Adm. Phillip Davidson told Congress this month that China was using these islands to exercise control over the South China Sea.

"China has long claimed the South China Sea as their own," he said.

"It is my belief that they intend to establish the military structure that will help them control the air and sea lanes through that region of the world."

--IANS

ksk

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The US House of Representatives has approved five-year reauthorisation of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) after two recent short-term funding patches.

The legislation, voted with 393 in favour and 13 against on Friday, provides the FAA with funding through the 2023 fiscal year, Xinhua reported.

Under the bill, about $3.35 billion per year through 2023 would go to infrastructure, and an additional $1 billion would be authorised for an amendment proposed by House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster that would create a report on the agency's Next Generation Air Transportation System to evaluate air traffic control technology, said a CNN report.

The bill also includes a disaster relief provision aimed to help improve infrastructure and preparation to handle natural disasters and a bipartisan amendment seeking to refine regulations on meals and rest periods for truckers.

"Today's vote is a key step in making sure the interstate supply chain continues to run safely and efficiently and without a hodgepodge of confusing and duplicative state rules." Dave Manning, the chairman of the American Trucking Association, was quoted by a The Hill news daily report as saying, referring to the bipartisan amendment on truckers.

--IANS

pgh/

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)US Secretary of Defence James Mattis has said that Washington will discuss with allies and Pyongyang the need to retain American troops on the Korean Peninsula.

The issue is among those Washington will discuss first with its and then with North Korea, Mattis said on Fridaywhile meeting his Polish counterpart Mariusz Blaszczak at the Pentagon.

He added that the US "will build, through confidence-building measures, a degree of trust if it's going to go forward", referring to the dialogue with North Korea on the denuclearisation issue, reports Xinhua news agency.

US President Donald Trump in March threatened to withdraw troops from the Korean Peninsula in an attempt widely seen to pressure Seoul to make concessions in bilateral trade dialogues.

The US troops have remained in South Korea ever since the signing of an armistice treaty at the end of 1950-1953 Korean War.

Bilateral relations have been strained over issues like defence burden sharing, the US army's harassment of South Korean civilians and Seoul's initiative to take back the war-time command control from Washington, among others.

--IANS

ksk/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Amid a controversy over an MoU with Dalmia Bharat Limited vis-a-vis the Red Fort, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday questioned why the Centre could not even take care of the historic monument.

"Why can't the government even take care of our historic Lal Qila? The fort is a symbol of our nation. It is where India's tricolour flag is hoisted on the Independence Day. Why should it be leased out? Sad and dark day in our history," Banerjee said in a tweet.

The Tourism Ministry had clarified on Saturday that the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) envisaged limited access to non-core areas and no handing over of the monument is involved. "It is clarified that 'The Adopt a Heritage' is essentially a non-revenue generating project."

The Ministry said that under the 'Monument Mitras' project, it has approved 31 agencies so far to adopt a total of 95 monuments and tourism sites across India.

"So far, four MoUs have been signed between different stakeholders -- for Mt. Stok Kangri in Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir, the trail to Gaumukh in Uttarakhand, the Red Fort in Delhi, and the Gandikota Fort in Andhra Pradesh," it said.

--IANS

bdc/tsb

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Akademik Lomonosov, the world's first "floating" nuclear power plant (FNPP) for installation in remote areas, has headed out on its first sea voyage from this Baltic shipyard here, Russian state-run atomic energy corporation Rosatom said on Saturday.

A statement said the FNPP was towed out of the St. Petersburg shipyard where it was constructed for travel to its final destination to the port of Pevek in Russia's extreme northeastern region of Chukotka.

It is to be towed through the Baltic Sea and around the northern tip of Norway to Murmansk, where its reactors will be loaded with nuclear fuel, said Rosatom, who are the equipment suppliers and consultants for the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project in Tamil Nadu.

"Akademik Lomonosov will replace Pevek's aging Bilibino Nuclear Power Plant and Chaunsk coal-fired power plant, saving about 50,000 tons of CO2 emissions per year compared to the current levels. Upon its connection to the grid, Akademik Lomonosov will become the northernmost nuclear installation in the world," it said.

The Lomonosov is expected to be put into service in early 2019.

"It is a significant milestone for our project as well as for the world nuclear industry. Floating nuclear power plants will enable electricity and heat supply to the most remote regions boosting growth and sustainable development," Rosatom Director (Construction and Operation of Floating Nuclear Thermal Power Plants) Vitaly Trutnev said in a statement.

An FNPP is basically a mobile, low-capacity reactor unit operable in remote areas isolated from the main power distribution system, or in places hard to access by land. They are designed to maintain both uninterruptible power and plentiful desalinated water supply in remote areas.

The FNPP has a capacity of 70MW and is equipped with two reactors of 35MW each.

Rosatom said that an FNPP's operational life span is 40 years, with the possibility of being extended up to 50 years.

--IANS

bc/nir/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The other day, Kaushalya returned after a week celebrating two family weddings somewhere near Jind, Haryana. Most of her husbands extended family, now working in Delhi, had decided to attend the weddings. It was just like the old days, said she. And the best thing was that with the fields fallow after the wheat harvest, there was plenty of space to do all this. This wasnt, apparently, a coincidence.

Her husbands brother and father of the bride, had timed the wedding with the harvest. Not only did he have some extra cash in hand from the sale ...At least 32 people were taken ill after having dinner at a wedding in a village in Farrukhabad district, police said today.

The incident happened last night at Paharpur village under Mau Darwaza police station area, when people complained of vomitting and diarrhoea after having the dinner.

They were rushed to an area hospital, police said.

Doctors said it was a case of food poisoning but all patients were out of danger, police said.

On Thursday night, 40 people fell ill after consuming sweets at a wedding in Rampur village in Ballia district.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Air India today announced the introduction of a direct flight from Amritsar to Bangkok from May 14, as part of its efforts to increase and augment services on key routes.

Days after announcing increasing the frequency of flights from Delhi to Copenhagen and San Francisco, the airline today said the flight from Amritsar to Bangkok would operate on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

However, the service will remain in effect till May 30 and a decision on its extension will be taken based on the response it gets, an Air India spokesperson said.

"Flight AI 336 will leave Bangkok at 1300 hrs and arrive in Amritsar at 2005 hrs. In return flight AI 337 will leave from Amritsar at 0545 hrs and arrive in Bangkok at 1000hrs," the airline said in a statement.

The announcement comes a week after the disinvestment-bound national carrier announced increasing the frequency of services to Denmark's capital Copenhagen from Delhi to four days a week from May 11 and increasing flight frequency to Vienna too.

The frequency of the Delhi to San Francisco flight has also been increased to nine times a week from six days a week. The airline hopes to earn not less than Rs 90 crore a month from the Delhi-San Francisco route, considered one of the most profitable route for the airline.

Sources, however, said that though more services were in the offing, the airline has decided to go slow as the disinvestment process has kicked in.

Plans were afoot to start direct flights from Mumbai to Frankfurt and London, while the airline was also at an advance stage of finalising new services to the African continent, given the increased economic activity between India and the African nations.

"But with some key posts lying vacant and with the disinvestment process on, any further decision to start new operations has been put on hold," the sources said.

The government had on March 28, floated a preliminary information memorandum inviting bidders to buy 76 per cent stake in Air India along with transfer of management control.

As per the bid document, bidders would be required to have a minimum net worth of Rs 5,000 crore and should have posted profit after tax in three of the previous five financial years from the Expression of Interest (EoI) deadline. The last date for submission of the bids is May 14.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Arjun Kapoor, who will be sharing screen space with Sanjay Dutt for the first time in "Panipat", today said he is excited to be working with the actor in the Ashutosh Gowariker-directed film.

"I am excited. I will be nervous only after I reach the sets. When such films are announced, you look forward and as an actor you have grown up wanting to do these things.

"Sanjay sir is a benchmark when it comes to action genre and to do a film a proper action film with him is very exciting. I hope to enjoy more," Arjun told reporters here at the 19th edition of the IIFA awards "Voting Weekend".

The poster of the film was released last month and it is expected to hit the theatres in December next year.

The period drama, which also features Kriti Sanon, is based on the third battle of Panipat that took place in 1761.

Recently, the teaser of Rajkumar Hirani's "Sanju" was unveiled and Arjun feels that there can be no better director than Hirani to make the film on Dutt's life.

"I am sure there is a lot of pressure. Looking at the teaser I can say that the film will make you laugh and cry. The film will tell everything that we have either read or heard about his life," Arjun said.

"We are assured that everything will be shown in the film. Every chapter of the man's (Dutt) life," he added.

Arjun also praised Ranbir Kapoor, who plays the role of Dutt in the biographical drama.

"Ranbir is a very good actor and he has done an amazing job, I am sure there is a pressure in doing such roles. It looks promising and I hope it turns out to be even better than the teaser," he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Armed robbers shot dead a bride and looted jewellery worth lakhs after intercepting a marriage party on the Delhi-Dehradun National Highway in Meerut district, police said today.

The incident occurred near Matore village, under the Dorala police station area, of Meerut last night, they said, adding that the groom and four others were injured in the attack.

The victims were returning to the district after the wedding ceremony in Ghaziabad district, officials said.

Six armed men, in two cars, intercepted the marriage party while it was on its way back. Farhana was killed after she resisted the robbers, Senior Superintendant of Police Manjil Saini said.

Jewellery worth lakhs and a car was looted from them, he said.

Police have started a search operation to nab the perpetrators, Saini said, adding that the bride was rushed to the Muzaffarnagar Medical College, where she declared dead.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma today questioned the "inequality" in the lives of the people of North East states, while asserting the importance of Central government schemes.

Sarma was speaking at India Economic Summit 2018 being held at the Bombay Stock Exchange here.

"You have (in the Constitution) Schedule 1 - List 1, List 2 and List 3. Now health is a state subject. Karnataka is capable of launching a scheme like Ayushman Bharat and individuals there can access insurance cover. Can a state like Nagaland launch an insurance scheme of that magnitude without the Centre's support?" he questioned.

The Ayushman Bharat- National Health Protection Scheme is a Union government initiative that seeks to provide health insurance coverage of Rs 5 lakh per family to 10 crore families.

He said that the people of Nagaland, or Assam, were paying the same amount of tax as those of Karnataks.

"Why inequality in their lives? I am also paying the same tax, irrespective of geographical boundaries," he added.

Sarma questioned if states in the northeast or Uttarakhand would have access to an all weather road without the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY).

"The relationship between the Centre and states on the political front is clear and there is no scope of interpretation. But the economic relationship is still evolving," he said.

"It is a hard task and I believe, in India, the relation between the states and the Centre on all the three lists needs a relook," he said.

He further said that while the 14th Finance Commission raised the states' share in the divisible tax pool to 42 per cent from the earlier 32 per cent, the onus of many Central sector schemes was shifted to the states.

"This (15th) Finance Commission has to make certain things very clear. What are central schemes? Whether the Centre is allowed to change the goal post in between?" he said.

He added that the Centre and states should come face to face and have an interaction and try to create a new India without conflicts between the states and the Centre.

Former Jammu and Kashmir finance minister Haseeb Drabu, who was also present at the summit, mooted the idea of redesigning the framework of federalism in the country, by changing it from sharing of taxes to sharing of resources.

"I think the time has come (to change) from tax sharing federalism to a resource sharing federalism," he said.

He added that there was nothing in the Constitution that prevented it from changing the framework of federalism from sharing of taxes to sharing of resources.

"Time has changed, the economic regime has changed, India has changed. Policy making on federal finance has got stuck somewhere in the 1950s. We need to re-examine the entire process," Drabu said.

When the Chairman of the 15th Finance Commission, N K Singh, who was sitting in the audience, was asked to share his views, he said, "One of the terms of reference of the Finance Commission directly relates to the GST (Goods and Services Tax) and therefore in addressing them, we believe an engagement with the GST Council would be purposeful."



When asked if the Finance Commission had a say in sharing of resources and not just taxes, Singh said, "The Constitution does not inhibit us. These are suggestions we definitely value.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)BJP today described as "fallacious and illogical" the Congress promising in its poll manifesto that it would create one crore jobs over the next five years.

"The promise is not based on logic or statistical data," BJP general secretary and incharge of Karnataka's party affairs P Muralidhar Rao told reporters. "



He said Congress president Rahul Gandhi has been promising one crore jobs in his election speeches.

Karnataka Minister R V Deshpande in November last year had mentioned that as many as 14 lakh jobs were created in almost five years rule of Siddaramaiah, Rao said.

"So, we do not know on what basis Rahul Gandhi is promising one crore jobs in next five years as mentioned in the party's manifesto, and hence the claim is absolutely fallacious and illogical," he said.

On Congress promise to increase IT sector's contribution from current USD 60 billion to USD 300 billion, Rao said this claim too was fallacious as the money quoted by Gandhi is close to 10 times of the state's budget.

He said the manifesto suggests that the "Congress is living in the past and cannot think of he future."



Rao alleged that the problem of the Congress was looking at schemes through the prism of religion which is reflected in promising benefits to autorickshaw owners, "who in majority belong to the minority community."He flayed Gandhi for reportedly using photos of Vijay Mallya's properties in their Bengaluru manifesto, contrary to his attack on the liqour baron in every election rally.

Former Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister R Ashok claimed there were innumerable mistakes in the Congress party's Kannada manifesto for Bengaluru which was released by Sam Pitroda today.

He said the Kannada version of the manifesto was prepared using Google translation and "none in the Congress bothered to edit."



"This is an insult to Kannada and Karnataka pride. Congress party should immediately withdraw this Kannada manifesto, or else the people of the state will not forgive it and Congress leaders," he said.

On the controversy after a video purportedly showing Congress President Rahul Gandhi "disrespecting" national song 'Vande Mataram' at a public rally at Bantwala went viral, he said the congress president should apologise to the nation.

"The Congress and its leaders have long lost the legacy of freedom movement and have forgotten the legacy of freedom fighters, he said, adding, it was proved beyond doubt yesterday.

"It was not just Mr Gandhi insulted the national song but the entire nation. He should apologise to the nation," he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Kolkata Police which on Thursday seized 20 tonnes of rotten meat suspected to be of dead animals today said chemicals were used to arrest rotting and get rid of the stench before it was packed and supplied to markets in West Bengal and neighbouring states.

So far, 10 people, including a leader of a political outfit, have been arrested in connection with the case.

"The meat used to be supplied mainly to the sellers of frozen food items, eateries, departmental stores in the state and its neighbouring areas in Jharkhand, Odisha and Bihar. There are others from these neighbouring states who are involved in the racket," a senior police officer said.

The Kolkata Police, along with its counterparts in the districts of Nadia, South and North 24 Parganas, has chalked out a roadmap to investigate the matter, the officer said.

Asked if the meat was supplied to international markets like Nepal or Bangladesh, he said, "During initial grilling, those who have been arrested have admitted to supplying it to markets in Nepal. But we are not sure about it. Our officers are talking to the Nepal police," he said.

The official said the culprits used to collect the meat of dead animals from different places in the state.

"First they would wash the meat with formalin. Then they separated the fat from the meat to arrest rotting and inject calcium propanoate (as a food additive). After that, it was mixed with aluminium sulphate and lead sulphate to get rid of the foul smell and then packed and supplied to different markets and restaurants," the officer explained.

The police today conducted raids at a shop selling chicken in Dakshindari in the Lake Town police station area in connection with their probe into the case.

The police had on Thursday seized 20 tonnes of rotten meat from different locations in the city.

The West Bengal government has directed all police stations in the metropolis and the districts to keep a watch on the sale of meat in their areas, officials said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)China and India are the new powers which are growing in strength and influence as the global strategic balance is shifting which has thrown up new opportunities for cooperation for ASEAN, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said today.

Lee was speaking while welcoming regional leaders at the 32nd ASEAN summit here.

"The global strategic balance is shifting, and so is the regional balance," he said adding "New powers, including China and India, are growing in strength and influence. This has opened up new opportunities for ASEAN member states as we expand our cooperation with them".

"This has opened up new opportunities for ASEAN member states as we expand our cooperation with them but it also calls for astute statesmanship and deft diplomacy because ASEAN member states maintain our friendship with all powers, old and new," he said.

At the same time, the open, rules-based multilateral trading system which has underpinned the growth of ASEAN is under pressure, he pointed out.

"The political mood in many countries has shifted against free trade. In particular, the recent trade tensions between the US and China are worrying concerns," said Lee.

ASEAN countries will have to react to these major external trends.

"The 10 of us need to work together, align our different political and economic interests, and strengthen our efforts to build a coherent and effective ASEAN community," said Lee.

"We have to stay relevant and forward-looking, as a 50-year-old regional grouping so that we remain central to the region's architecture and future," he said.

"How can the 10-member ASEAN do this? The short answer is: we need to strengthen ASEAN centrality and find new areas and fresh commitment to work together," Lee explained.

ASEAN can only maintain its centrality if it is a substantial endeavour, and if its members see value in the shared enterprise, he said.

The alternative of a looser ASEAN, where each member state is left to fend for itself, and goes its own separate way, will make ASEAN less relevant not only to its members but also its partners and to other powers, he said.

"Individually, the ASEAN member states will find it hard to make much impact on their own but when we speak in one collective ASEAN voice, we can be effective," Lee stressed.

"Therefore, it is important that we redouble our integration and community-building efforts," he urged the grouping of 10 Southeast Asian countries.

ASEAN has to adapt and integrate further, to remain a central, dynamic driving force that can deal with the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century, he said.

Singapore's chairmanship themes of 'Resilience and Innovation for ASEAN' this year were proposed because they encapsulate the situation that the region is in today.

"We need to be resilient to both conventional threats, and also unconventional threats such as terrorism and cyber-attacks," stressed Lee.

Southeast Asia is at peace, but these threats are very real. Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) continues to propagate its ideology and foment trouble in Southeast Asia, despite having been defeated militarily in the Middle East.

"We are also seeing more cyber-attacks as we push for digitalisation," he said.

At the same time, countries need to be innovative and make creative use of technology to grow their economies.

"If ASEAN members can cooperate in this effort, we will strengthen our economic community," said Lee who leads the summit with Singapore being the chair of the grouping.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam.

The summit is being held from April 25-28.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)China today said that a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with India would facilitate more commerce between the two countries.

"I hear... that there are certain barriers to trade and investments in both the countries. A Free Trade Agreement (FTA) will help facilitate more commercial exchanges between the two countries," Chinese Consul General in Kolkata Ma Zhanwu said here.

He was speaking at an interactive session organised by the Bharat Chamber of Commerce.

The 19th Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) held in October 2017 promised more opening up of the Chinese economy to the outside world, and also increased imports from other countries, he said.

"We are keen to import more from India, mostly from the eastern Indian states," the diplomat said.

He said that educational exchanges between India and China was another area where the two countries could work upon.

"Many Chinese universities want to have tie-ups with Indian universities. For the first time, there will an expo of Chinese universities to be held in Kolkata in early May," Ma said.

On the "informal summit" between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping, he said that Indo-China relations would get a boost on the back of this meeting.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Tamil Nadu government today announced a relief of Rs three lakh to the families of three students from the city who drowned in a Pune dam recently.

Chief Minister K Palaniswami condoled the death of S Saravanakumar, K Danish Raja and G Santhosh, who drowned in the Mulshi dam located around 50 km from Pune early this week.

The three were part of a group of 20 students of Chennai's ECS Matriculation school who were visiting the dam along with their teachers on April 25.

The incident occurred after all students entered the backwaters for swimming.

While the body of Raja was fished out by the local police with the help of villagers, those of the two others were retrieved by a team of 26 personnel from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).

Today, Palaniswami said he has directed providing a relief of Rs one lakh each to the families of the deceased boys, all aged 14.

The amount will be given from the Chief Minister's Public Relief Fund, he said in a statement.

He further said he has directed the School department to launch a probe into the incident and initiate legal action.

(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 inaugurated multiple building complexes at the Cluster University here, hoping the infrastructure development would give academic activities at the varsity a new push.

The state government had carved out two cluster universities, one each at Srinagar and Jammu, in 2016 to further strengthen the higher

Mufti inaugurated two buildings of school of sciences, school of teacher education, school of humanities and liberal arts and school of engineering.

An official spokesman said the chief minister, who is also the Chancellor of the University, hoped that the new complexes would give the academic activities at the varsity a new push.

The spokesman said since its inception, the university, besides the routine academic activities, is running eight integrated honours courses while four more will be introduced this year.

Among these, the two are being offered for the first time by any university in the state, he said.

Earlier, Vice Chancellor, Cluster University of Jammu, Prof Anju Bhasin said the curriculum adopted by the university matches the best in the country like Delhi University, Aligarh Muslim University and Banaras Hindu University.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)September 26, 2021, Sunday

Canada will allow direct flights from India from Monday, lifting the ban on them after a gap of more than five ...Union Minister Nitin Gadkari today said development of national highways in Kerala has been affected owing to land acquisition problems.

Speaking at the inaugural function of a convention centre of UAE-based retail conglomerate Lulu Group, he said, "I want more roads in Kerala, especially to Kannur and Malappuram districts, but the acquisition of land is a huge problem."



Referring to the protests against survey being taken up for roads in Kannur and Malappuram districts, Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways, Shipping and Water Resources asked the state government to speed up the process of land acquisition for the highway projects,



Later, Gadkari and the Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan held a review meeting in which State Chief Secretary Paul Anthony, District Collectors and officials of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) took part.

A group of farmers under the banner of 'Vayalkillikal' (ricebirds) in Kannur district had been protesting against the taking over of the lands for construction of National Highways.

Speaking to reporters after the review meet, state Minister for Public Works G Sudhakaran said,"It will take four months to complete the land acquisition in the districts. We hope the development work commences by November this year after completing the tender process."



Leader of Opposition in the assembly Ramesh Chennithala and senior leaders of all major political parties of the state were present at the inaugural function.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan today made a strong plea to equip youngsters with innovative ideas in the rapidly changing job sector.

Vijayan said it was imperative for the parents and society to change their attitude that would allow the youth to leverage their skills and script success in the face of tough competition.

He was speaking during the inauguration of the state-level finale of the 'India Skills Kerala 2018,' being jointly organised by Industrial Training Department and Kerala Academy for Skills Excellence (KASE), the State Skill Development Mission, at Marine Drive here.

Winners of the zonal competitions are participating in the three-day finale that will conclude on April 30.

Stressing the importance of skill development along with academic studies, Vijayan quoted"a report by McKinsey Global Institute, which says that around 50 per cent of the current jobs will vanish by 2035.

" This will lead to the popping up of new job sectors like Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Machine Learning.

The Chief Minister also cited a World Bank Report, which observes that 24 main employment sectors of the country's economy would require 11 crore skilled people by 2022.

"We have to grab this opportunity by reinforcing our skills and excellence. There will be a common job sector in the world in future. So the tough competition could be surpassed by our strength in skill-oriented jobs," he said.

On the occasion, Vijayan flagged off the march past of the 112 finalists.

The finalists qualified for the finale by piping 7,422 participants in the district and zonal competitions.

Minister for Labour, Skills and Excise T P Ramakrishnan, who presided over the function, said the government is trying to elevate the standard of training institutes on par with global standard.

The Minister also visited the stalls at the venue.

In his welcome address, Additional Chief Secretary, Labour and Skills Department, Tom Jose IAS, said the youth should become job providers instead of job seekers.

The state-level winners will represent Kerala at the 'India Skills 2018' planned in July, which will pave the way for their participation in the 45th World Skills Competition in Kazan, Russia in 2019.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A First Information Report (FIR) has been lodged here against two television channels for allegedly broadcasting "false stories" following a complaint by the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA).

The GDA has alleged that the Hindi channels had aired stories, levelling charges of Rs two crore bribery against its vice chairperson, based on one-sided version.

However, the channels -- Samachar Plus and 1 India -- have refuted the allegations, saying they had tried to reach out to the GDA chairperson Ritu Maheshwari but she was not available immediately for comments.

One Trilok Agarwal had made a complaint to the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister's Office, alleging that he had paid Rs 50 lakh to the GDA Secretary and the same amount to enforcement department as bribe to stop the sealing action launched by the authority against illegal construction at the site of a builder, Anil Jain.

This news story was then broadcast by news channels Samachar Plus and News 1 India, Senior Superintendent of Police Vaibhav Krishna said.

Executive Engineer R P Singh has made the complaint to the police on behalf of the GDA, alleging that the channels had broadcast "false news" to blackmail the authorities, malign the image of the state government and administrative officials.

The FIR -- naming the chief editors and the local correspondents of the news channels -- has been lodged at Sihani gate police station under various IPC sections, the SSP said.

GDA Vice-Chairperson Ritu Maheswari told PTI that news aired by the channels shows their "blackmailing mentality" and is a "criminal act".

Meanwhile, builder Anil Jain has made a complaint to the district magistrate against Trilok Agarwal and his wife Shalini Agarwal, alleged extortion attempt.

An FIR on Jain's compplaint has been lodged at Kavi Nagar police station.

Jain also contradicted the allegations levelled in the complaint of Agarwal and said that he has not paid any amount to any official to get undue favour from the GDA.

Investigations in both cases have been initiated, SSP Krishna said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Former Kerala Minister Thomas Chandy was today elected as the state president of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), party sources said.

His name was suggested by the NCP central leadership at the state general body meeting of the party at nearby Nedumbassery this afternoon, they said.

He replaces veteran leader T P Peethambaran Master.

Party leader P K Rajan is the new Vice President.

The meeting, held in the presence of senior party leader Praful Patel, also elected Babu Karthikeyan as the treasurer.

A 41 member state executive was also constituted in the meeting, sources said.

Chandy, who faced encroachment allegations, had resigned as state Transport Minister from the CPI(M)-led LDF government headed by Pinarayi Vijayan in November last year.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The territorial government's free rice scheme would be operated in rural areas only after local MLAs and commune panchayat commissioners certify that the hamlets are open defecation free and garbage free by May 31, Puducherry Lt Governor Kiran Bedi said today.

Bedi stated this in a WhatsApp message to mediapersons after her weekend visits to some villages, where she expressed dissatisfaction over the 'slow pace' of implementation of the rural sanitation programme.

"Distribution of free rice to the villagers should be conditional to the certification of the village being open defecation free and free of strewn garbage and plastics," she said.

A joint certification given by the local MLA and the Commune panchayat commissioner should be submitted to the Civil Supplies Commissioner, the former IPS officer said, adding that the scheme would be kept on hold till then.

She gave a May 31 deadline to the authorities to ensure the hamlets are made open defecation free and garbage free.

Bedi said that for the last two years, no local representatives or officials of the departments concerned had made a determined bid to make rural Puducherry clean within a time frame.

Under the free rice scheme, families coming under below poverty line are entitled to get 20 kg rice every month while those with yellow cards in the Above Poverty line category are entitled for 10 kg rice.

Her order however drew flak from AIADMK legislature wing leader A Anbalagan, who told reporters that Bedi was treading the path of 'autocracy' by issuing such directives.

He said it was the duty of municipal bodies and contractors to ensure there was no garbage accumulation. The poor should not be victimised for 'improper functioning' of these agencies entrusted with the scheme, he said.

Ever since she became Lt Governor in May 2016, Bedi and the Congress government have been at loggerheads over various issues, including her style of functioning, the swearing-in of three MLAs and medical admissions, among others.

The Madras High Court had upheld the appointment of the three BJP functionaries of the Puducherry unit as nominated members of the House.

They were appointed as nominated members by the Home Ministry through its June 23 2017 order.

They were inducted as nominated members by Lt Governor on July 4 last year, triggering protests by the Congress and its ally, the DMK.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Writer Gary Dauberman, who is behind the "Annabelle" films, is in negotiations to make his directorial debut with the sequel to "Annabelle: Creation".

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the scribe will also pen the third installment of the popular horror franchise based on a devil doll from "The Conjuring" cinematic universe.

The film will once again be produced by James Wan's Atomic Monster and the Peter Safran Co.

The details of the story are being kept under wraps but the plot will once again revolve around the porcelain doll that is possessed by a demonic force.

"Annabelle" - the first movie, initially a spin-off from "The Conjuring", was directed by John R Leonetti, while David F Sandberg directed the prequel, "Annabelle: Creation".

The release date for the new installment has been set for July 3 next year.

Dauberman has also written "It" and "The Nun" from the New Line franchise, which arrives on September 7.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A purported audio clip of Asaram, serving his life-in-prison term at a Jodhpur jail, has surfaced online in which the self-styled godman is heard telling a person over phone that his time behind bars is ephemeral and "good days will come".

According to Jodhpur Central Jail DIG Vikram Singh, the 15-minute audio clip might have been recorded during a telephone conversation Asaram had on Friday, two days after a Jodhpur court found him guilty and sentenced him to life in prison for raping a teenage girl in his ashram five years ago.

The call was made with permission from jail authorities.

"Inmates are permitted to make a call over any two given numbers for 80 minutes in a month. He had spoken to a 'sadhak' at Sabarmati Ashram on Friday at 6.30 pm. May be this communication was recorded (then) and made viral," said Singh.

In a one-way communication which appeared like a telephonic sermon, Asaram first extended his gratitude to his followers for maintaining calm and not coming to Jodhpur on the day of judgment.

"We should respect the law and order and the system. I also do so," he is purportedly heard saying in the audio clip.

He claims a few people are on a campaign to defame his ashram and want to take its control. "Do not get carried away by such provocations or anything circulated on the letter head of ashram...," he says in the clip.

Referring to co-accused Shilpi and Sharat Chanda, who were handed down 20-year jail terms by the special court, Asaram says he would first arrange for their release from jail "as it is the duty of parents to first think about their children".

"(Even if) more advocates will be required for the release of Shilpi and Sharat, that will be done. Afterwards, bapu will make way out of the jail," he says.

"If a mistake has happened in the lower court, there are upper courts for rectifying those mistakes," he says.

"Truth has no cover and lie has no legs (to stand upon)... It is immaterial, what the allegations are," he says, adding, "good days will come".

At the end of the conversation, he makes Sharat to speak, who says there's nothing to be worried about in the jail.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Drawing parallels between Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and his Puducherry counterpart Kiran Bedi, the Aam Aadmi Party today alleged that Governors and LGs across the country have been behaving as "BJP agents" ever since the Narendra Modi government came to power.

The remarks by the AAP, which governs Delhi, came after Bedi directed authorities in Puducherry today to ensure clean villages as a pre-condition for distribution of free rice, a move which was strongly criticised by Opposition parties.

"The Puducherry LG seems to be following in the footsteps of what her Delhi counterpart Anil Baijal has been frequently doing. Despite having no power to overrule the elected government according to the Constitution, Mr Baijal in active connivance with the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, is leaving no stone unturned in stalling the flagship schemes of elected Delhi government," AAP said in a statement.

Governors and Lieutenant Governors have been behaving as "BJP agents" across the country since the Modi government came to power at the Centre in May 2014, often bringing their constitutional positions into disrepute, the AAP claimed.

"The absurd and unjustified diktat by the BJP-appointed LG of Puducherry, Kiran Bedi, to suspend free rice distribution to the poor in villages is a clear proof of how decisions of elected governments not belonging to BJP are being brazenly overturned in gross misuse of Constitutional positions," the AAP said.

It is a matter of "extremely serious concern" that mandates of elected governments are being overturned by BJP appointees in Raj Bhawans/LG Houses showing scant disregard for the parliamentary democracy, the statement added.

Supporting the Congress-led Puducherry government in its tussle with the LG, the AAP said though the main opposition party of the country, the Congress, has double standards on the issue of federalism and its leaders have often sided with the LG in Delhi, in blatant attempts to undermine the elected Delhi government, the AAP still is of the view that Puducherry government should be allowed to function without the regular interference by the LG.

"The Aam Aadmi Party is of the clear view that the manner in which the Narendra Modi government has trampled the federal spirit of the Constitutionneeds to be combated by all democratic forces, rising above party lines," it said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Centre is planning to amend the POCSO Act to provide justice to male child victims of sexual assault, the Women and Child Development Ministry said, days after an ordinance promulgated by President Ram Nath Kovind provided the death penalty for rape of girls under the age of 12.

"The government has always strived to develop gender neutral laws. Government has proposed amendment in the POCSO Act to seek justice for survivors of child sexual abuse," it said on its official Twitter handle on Thursday.

WCD Minister Maneka Gandhi recently supported a petition on Change.org by filmmaker-activist Insia Dariwala, who said "male child sexual abuse is an ignored reality in India".

Replying to the petition, she said a first-of-its-kind study on male survivors of child sexual abuse would be conducted.

"Another much neglected sphere of child sexual abuse is male survivors. Child sexual abuse is gender neutral. Boys who are sexually abused as children spend a lifetime of silence because of the stigma and shame attached to male survivors speaking out. It is a serious problem and needs to be addressed," she said in her response on the campaign website.

Gandhi said following the petition, she had in September 2017 instructed the Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) to look into the issue.

The NCPCR held a conference in this regard in November last year.

"As per the recommendations that emerged from the conference, it was unanimously decided that there should be an amendment to the existing scheme for the victims of CSA to also include compensation for boys who have been sexually abused or raped," she said.

Recently, an ordinance promulgated by the president said courts were now allowed to award the maximum death penalty to those convicted of raping girls below the age of 12 years.

According to the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance 2018, new fast-track courts will be set up to deal with such cases and special forensic kits for rape cases will be given to all police stations and hospitals in the long term.

(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.)Nine professors of the Central University of Gujarat (CUG) have been issued show cause notices for allegedly campaigning for the Congress during the recently held Gujarat Assembly polls.

CUG Vice Chancellor S A Bari today said a professor, an associate professor and seven assistant professors were asked for an explanation on complaints received by the Union HRD ministry and the state department.

He said the notices were issued on the basis of a complaint received by the Chief Electoral Officer of Gujarat which alleged that the teachers were involved in campaigning for a particular party and its candidates.

"Some of our teachers appear in the photographs that have been enclosed with the complaint as evidence and their names have been written in the letters. We have asked the teachers if the allegations are true or not," said Bari.

The complaint was reportedly filed by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the students' wing of the RSS, on November 17 last year.

An executive member of the ABVP in CUG, however, denied the filing of any such complaint by the students' body.

"No such complaint was made by the ABVP to any forum, and the letterhead of ABVP on which the complaint has been written might be forged. There was no signature on the letter either. We suspect some kind of conspiracy," the ABVP member said.

"The photographs enclosed as evidence show the teachers attending a teachers' meet organised by the Congress on November 24, attended by Rahul Gandhi. The professors can also be seen at a public meeting addressed by Gandhi at Nikol in Ahmedabad (as part of his election campaign last year)," President of CUG's Teachers' Association, Sony Kunjappan, said.

Kunjappan is among the nine who were issued a notice on April 20.

"We received a notice based on a complaint filed by ABVP, which is now denying having filed any such complaint. The complaint was filed on November 17, saying some of the teachers were campaigning for a particular candidate and political party," he said.

The professors, however, have denied the allegations.

"In our reply yesterday, we have denied the allegation that we campaigned for any political party. The meeting that the photographs refer to was a teachers' meet meant to discuss teachers' issues," said Kunjappan.

He added that the varsity should have first asked the teachers, then set up an inquiry committee and send the notices.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Gunmen fatally shot three local tourists and their driver in a tribal region along the Afghanistan border, an official said today.

Ikhlaq Bangash, deputy administrator in South Waziristan, said a group of tourists from Dera Ismail Khan were camping in the Momi Karam area when the gunmen struck Friday night.

Bangash said the attackers torched the camp after shooting the tourists and fleeing.

No group immediately claimed responsibility, but Islamic militants have long operated along the porous border.

On Saturday, in the southwestern city of Quetta, gunmen attacked an electronics shop and fatally shot two shopkeepers, both of them minority Hazara Shiites, said Mohammad Alam, an area police officer.

Alam said the assailants escaped on motorcycles. He said police were looking for the attackers.

It was the sixth attack in recent months targeting Shiites in Quetta. Last week, authorities said gunmen shot dead two local officials in Shiite community organizations and wounded a third. A Shiite shopkeeper was killed in a drive-by shooting last week.

No group has claimed responsibility for the latest attack, but Sunni extremists, who view Shiites as apostates, have claimed previous assaults.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Opposition parties today questioned the government's move to allow a private entity to maintain the iconic Red Fort, days after a corporate house signed an agreement with the tourism ministry under its 'Adopt a Heritage' project.

The Dalmia Bharat Group, under the memorandum of understanding, would maintain the 17th century monument and build basic infrastructure around it and has committed a sum of Rs 25 crore for the purpose over a period spanning five years.

The decision opposed by the Congress, the CPI(M) and the Trinamool Congress, which slammed the government for virtually handing over the symbol of India's Independence to a corporate.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi is preparing to mortgage India's symbol of Independence, the Red Fort to corporates. Does Modiji or BJP even understand the importance of Lal Quila?" Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said.

He said, "Is it not true that the private company will now issue tickets to see the Red Fort? Is it not true that if anyone wants to do any commercial activity there, or any fucntion, the private party has to be paid...

"Can you barter out the symbol of freedom movement like the Red Fort to his corporate friends for maintenance," Surjewala said.

Under the agreement, the Dalmia Bharat group has agreed to make available certain basic amenities at the monument within six months. These include providing drinking water kiosks, street furniture-like benches and signages to guide the visitors, according to the ministry.

Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee tweeted, "Why can't the Government even take care of our historic Lal Qila ? Red Fort is a symbol of our nation. It is where India's flag is hoisted on Independence Day. Why should it be leased out ? Sad and dark day in our history."



Deploring the move, the CPI (M) said that the government has virtually handed over the Red Fort to the Dalmia group.

"The Dalmia group in its own press release has said that they will have to own it for five years initially' and the agreement gives them the freedom to make the Dalmia brand prominently visible.

"It has the right to use its brand name on all kinds of publicity material to be displayed during events organised at the site and also on all signages. In fact, it will be allowed to proclaim in a prominently displayed sign that the Red Fort has been adopted by Dalmia Bharat Limited", the Left party said.

It said that the Red Fort is a symbol of Independent India and handing over the monument to a corporate entity was "nothing short of blasphemous".

Responding to the allegations, Minister of State for Tourism K J Alphons said under the scheme started last year, the ministry is looking at public participation to develop heritage monuments.

"The companies involved in these projects will only spend and not make money. They will create amenities such as toilets, provide drinking water for the tourists so that their footfalls increase. They might put up signs outside to say that they have developed the amenities. If they are spending money, there is nothing wrong in taking credit for it," he said.

"I want to ask the Congress what they did for the past 70 years. All the monuments and facilities around them are in terrible shape. In some places, there were no facilities at all.," he said.

In a statement, the tourism ministry said the agreement signed for 'Red Fort 'is only' for the development, operations and maintenance of tourism amenities in and around the monument and envisages limited access' of non-core areas., the tourism ministry said today in response to allegations of the opposition parties that the Red Fort was being handed over to private entities.

As of March this year, 31 prospective 'Monument Mitras' (friends of heritage sites) have been shortlisted by a oversight and vision committee for developing tourist-friendly amenities at 95 monuments, heritage and other tourist sites including the Red Fort, Qutub Minar (in Delhi), Hampi (Karnataka), Sun Temple (Odisha), Ajanta Caves (Maharashtra), Char Minar (Telangana) and Kaziranga National Park (Assam).

Earlier, criticising the government, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera asked, "What is your commitment to the idea of India, to the history of India?"



IndiGo Airlines and the GMR group were also in the race to bag the project.

The Dalmia group has also agreed to put up within a year tactile maps, upgrade toilets, light up the pathways and bollards, carry out restoration work and landscaping and build a 1,000-square-foot visitor facility centre.

It will also provide a 3-D projection mapping of the fort's interior and exterior, battery-operated vehicles and charging stations for such vehicles and a thematic cafeteria.

Meanwhile, Minister State of Culture Mahesh Sharma, said that it was a great initiative and would greatly help make heritage sites more attractive for tourists.

The President announced a scheme of the government on World Tourism Day, 2017 that those interested in value addition to any services of monuments can come forward. Some services of the Red Fort has been given to the Dalmia group. No profit activity will take place, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Congress today questioned how a private entity was given the mandate to maintain the iconic Red Fort, days after a corporate house signed an agreement with the tourism ministry under its 'Adopt a Heritage' project.

The Dalimia Bharat group, under the memorandum of understanding, would maintain the monument and build basic infrastructure around it and has committed a sum of Rs 25 crore for the purpose over a period spanning five years.

"They are handing over the iconic monument to a private business. What is your commitment to the idea of India, to the history of India? We know you have no commitment, but we still want to ask you," Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera told reporters here.

"Do you have dearth of funds. Why funds for the ASI (Archaeological Survey of India) lapse, why do they lapse. See the CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General) reports. If they have paucity of funds, then why do they lapse?" he asked.

IndiGo Airlines and the GMR group were also in the race to bag the project.

The Dalmia Bharat group has agreed to provide certain basic amenities at the 17th century monument within six months. These include providing drinking water kiosks, street furniture-like benches and signages to guide the visitors, according to the ministry.

The entity has also agreed to put up within a year tactile maps, upgrade toilets, light up the pathways and bollards, carry out restoration work and landscaping and build a 1,000-square-foot visitor facility centre.

It will also provide a 3-D projection mapping of the fort's interior and exterior, battery-operated vehicles and charging stations for such vehicles and a thematic cafeteria.

Responding to Khera's remarks, Minister of State for Tourism K J Alphons said under the scheme started last year, the ministry is looking at public participation to develop heritage monuments.

"The companies involved in these projects will only spend and not make money. They will create amenities such as toilets, provide drinking water for the tourists so that their footfalls increase. They might put up signs outside to say that they have developed the amenities. If they are spending money, there is nothing wrong in taking credit for it," he said.

"I want to ask the Congress what they did for the past 70 years. All the monuments and facilities around them are in terrible shape. In some places, there were no facilities at all.," he said.

As of March this year, 31 prospective 'monument mitras' (friends of heritage sites) have been shortlisted by a oversight and vision committee for developing tourist-friendly amenities at 95 monuments, heritage and other tourist sites including the Red Fort, Qutub Minar (in Delhi), Hampi (Karnataka), Sun Temple (Odisha), Ajanta Caves (Maharashtra), Char Minar (Telangana) and Kaziranga National Park (Assam).

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Telecom operator Idea Cellular continued to bleed in the sixth straight quarter as its consolidated loss widened to Rs 930.6 crore in the three-month period ended March 31, mainly on account of continued hyper competition and regulatory headwinds.

The company had posted a loss of Rs 325.6 crore in the same period previous fiscal.

Idea had reported first ever consolidated loss of Rs 383.87 crore in the October-December 2016 period.

The operating revenue dropped 24.47 per cent to Rs 6,137.3 crore in the March quarter of FY18.

The performance of the company, however, improved on sequential quarter basis. Idea registered a loss of Rs 1,285.6 crore in October-December 2017.

The loss for the full fiscal swelled to Rs 4,139.9 crore from Rs 404 crore in 2016-17. Revenue from operations came in at Rs 28,278.9 crore in 2017-18 from Rs 36,676.8 crore in the previous fiscal.

The company blamed hyper competition and high regulatory headwinds for aggravating the industry's financial stress.

"The Trai led regulation changes including reduction of domestic Mobile Termination Charge from 14 paisa to 6 paisa per minute and International mobile termination' settlement charges from 53 paisa to 30 paisa per minute further aggravated the financial stress for the existing industry operators," Idea Cellular said in a post-earnings statement.

Despite increase in voice and data traffic on its network, Idea recorded 26 per cent dip in average revenue per user to Rs 105 in the reported quarter from Rs 142 a year ago.

Idea registered rise in voice usage per subscriber to 577 minutes, broadband data usage per subscriber to 7 GB from 1.4 GB on year-on-year basis. The company saw record wireless broadband data subscriber addition of 15.1 million in 2017-18.

The net debt of the company as on March 31, 2018 stood at Rs 52,330 crore. The company expects the debt to reduce significantly with monetisation of its stake in Indus Towers and completion of sale of its standalone mobile towers to America Tower Corporations.

Giving an update on its merger with Vodafone, Idea Cellular said the process is in the final stages and is expected to be completed by June 2018.

"The merger of Idea and Vodafone India is in the final leg of regulatory approvals and is expected to complete in H1CY18," it said.

Established operators like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular are in the midst of a bruising tariff war following the entry of Reliance Jio backed by India's richest businessman Mukesh Ambani.

Reliance Jio's free voice and dirt-cheap data offering have dented the financial metrics of incumbent operators, deepening the impact of regulatory decisions like cut in termination charges.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)IDFC Ltd on Saturday said its subsidiary has entered into an agreement to sell its infrastructure asset management business to Global Infrastructure Partners India for an undisclosed amount.

After the sale, will continue to manage private equity and real estate funds, IDFC informed BSE in a filing.

" Ltd, a wholly owned step down subsidiary of IDFC Ltd through IDFC Financial Holding Company Ltd, has entered into a definitive agreement with Global Infrastructure Partners India, for the sale of its infrastructure asset management business," IDFC said.

This sale will conclude on the receipt of the requisite regulatory approvals.

"IDFC Alternatives will continue to manage Private Equity and Real Estate funds and the aforementioned sale to Global Infrastructure Partners India will not have any impact on its Private Equity and Real Estate verticals," it added.

Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) is a leading global, independent infrastructure investor.

(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.)History needs to be backed by evidence or else mythology might emerge, Tirthankar Roy, Professor of Economic History, London School of Economics, said here today.

Speaking at a session on 'Rich Business Heritage of Kolkata', organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce here, Roy said that most of the sources of business history related to Kolkata are stored in the United Kingdom.

He also said that the business history of Kolkata have fallen silent after 1950, which needs to be researched.

"If history is not backed by evidence, mythology might emerge," Dr Roy said asserting that business historian would help in showcasing Kolkata and its heritage which could aid further investments in the city.

Talking about sources of business history, Dr Michael Aldous, Lecturer in Management, Queen"s University, Belfast, laid importance on written correspondence, legal documents and market-based data.

According to him, written documents help to understand not only the business of the firm but also about decisions made by the company.

He stated that market-based data is important to learn about the challenges of the industry. Legal documents, he claimed, had helped in understanding the working of the courts and legal system.

Managing agency system, he said, had been one of the innovation to tackle the problem of large holding companies having large share of business away from the headquarters.

Geoffrey Jones, Isidor Straus Professor of Business History, Harvard Business School, cited that learning from the past is vital to business leaders.

He suggested that business leaders should learn from history and their roles in politics.

He also stressed on the importance of memoirs of people to understand why something has worked while others have failed.

Deepthi Sasidharan, Director Eka Archiving Service, Former Chief Archivist at the Tata Central Archives discussed about the need for archiving historical documents.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)India today welcomed the historic summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, saying it supports efforts to bring lasting peace in the Korean Peninsula.

In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) hoped that the engagement will help in reducing tensions and pave the way for lasting peace and reconciliation.

India hoped that all efforts to find resolution of the Korean Peninsula issue will also include addressing concerns about the proliferation linkages of North Korea's nuclear and missile programme.

Yesterday, the leaders of the two Koreas signed a joint statement following a historic summit aimed at improving ties between the two countries. After the summit, Kim became the first North Korean leader to step into South Korea since the end of the Korean War in 1953.

"India welcomes the inter-Korean Summit meeting held at Panmunjom on April 27. We hope that such engagement will help in reducing tensions and pave the way for lasting peace and reconciliation in the Korean Peninsula," the MEA said.

It said India supports all efforts to bring about peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula through dialogue and diplomacy.

The peace talks were held in Panmunjom village along the demilitarised zone.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)An Indian-American doctor in Chicago has been indicted on federal fraud charges for allegedly pocketing nearly USD 1 million in payments from Medicare and a private insurer for nonexistent treatment.

The 12-count indictment alleges that Dr Pranav Patel, who owned and operated Palos Medical Care in a Chicago suburb, submitted fraudulent claims for purported medical tests and examinations that were never performed.

He allegedly used some of his patients' names without their knowledge to submit fraudulent claims, federal prosecutors said yesterday.

From 2008 to 2013, Dr. Patel fraudulently obtained, or caused his clinic to obtain, at least USD 950,000 in payments from Medicare and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, the indictment states.

The indictment was returned on Thursday in US District Court in Chicago. It charges Dr. Patel, 51, with seven counts of health care fraud, three counts of making false statements in relation to a health care matter, and two counts of aggravated identity theft.

His arraignment is set for May 15.

The indictment describes several instances in which Dr. Patel submitted a claim to BCBS or Medicare for a non-invasive "duplex scan" purportedly performed on a patient, when, in fact, no such test was actually completed.

On at least one occasion, according to the charges, Dr. Patel prepared a seven-page electronic medical record indicating that a patient had come to the office for a follow-up visit and examination, when the patient had actually come to the office to re-fill a prescription, it alleged.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)An Israeli air strike hit Gaza's main port, Palestinian officials said, damaging two boats but causing no injuries.

The attack came at the end of a day of clashes with Israeli troops along the land border with Gaza, in which three Palestinians were killed and Israel said there was a mass attempt to break through the frontier fence into the Jewish state.

The Israeli military said in a statement that its warplanes "targeted six military targets belong to the Hamas terror organisation's naval force in the Gaza Strip." It did not give the location of the targets.

Eyewitnesses at the port said the two boats were badly damaged.

Hamas security forces prevented journalists from reaching the scene.

It is believed to have been the first time Israeli aircraft had targeted boats in Gaza since the 2014 war there between Israel and Hamas.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Scores of people staged a protest in front of the Rampur collectorate demanding that former Uttar Pradesh minister Azam Khan be arrested for alleged irregularities during recruitment in Jal Nigam under the previous regime.

Led by former Rampur Zila Panchayat Chairman Hafiz Abdul Sayeed, the protesters yesterday submitted a memorandum demanding the immediate arrest of the Samajwadi Party leader who was earlier this week booked by the SIT of Uttar Pradesh Police in connection with the recruitment drive.

Khan, who was the chairman of Jal Nigam when the recruitment drive was conducted, denied the charges terming them as an act of "political vendetta".

"If for providing jobs to youths, I am being blamed as dishonest, then no one in the world should be treated as honest," Khan said yesterday.

"Fingers are being raised towards me in spite of the fact that courts have given verdicts in my favour pertaining to providing jobs to youths in Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam. The government's action is a very clear case of political vendetta," he said.

The protester shouting slogans against Khan were restrained from entering the collectorate premises.

However, they succeeded to hand over the memorandum demanding the arrest of Khan.

Khan was booked along with others under IPC section 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence), 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant), 420 (cheating)and 120(B) (criminal conspiracy) besides section 13(1)(D) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The SIT is probing complaints of anomalies during the recruitment of 1,342 persons in Jal Nigamunder the Akhilesh Yadav regime.

The firm Aptech which conducted the online exam for the recruitment was also named in the FIR.

An inquiry was set up by the BJP-led Uttar Pradesh government in July last year to find out whether people were given jobs in an illegal manner between November, 2016 and February, 2017 for different positions at the Jal Nigam.

The BJP government had terminated 122 Jal Nigam assistant engineers in August last year, while the fate of others would be decided once the SIT completes the probe.

Khan was questioned by the SIT on January 22 in this regard, wherein he had claimed that the recruitment was done as per law and that the BJP government was hell bent on tarnishing his image.

The Allahabad High Court had ordered a probe into the allegations after some candidates who were not selected in the recruitment drive moved the court.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Over 30 people from Kerala, including a number of women, have performed well in the civil services examinations 2017, with an engineer from Ernakulam district securing the all-India 16th rank.

"" Of the total 33 Malayalis in the list of 900 candidates selected, Sikha Surendran, hailing from Ernakulam district, emerged as the state topper by securing the 16th rank in the examinations, results for which were declared yesterday.

An engineering graduate, Sikha said being an IAS officer has been her childhood dream.

"" Though she started preparing in 2015 after completing B. Tech in civil engineering, Sikha said she could not clear the preliminary examination in the first attempt.

""" "My father was my inspiration, he taught me to dream big," she said crediting the success to him. """" Sameera S, an IIT graduate, who was ranked 28th, said though she was excited she never expected such a high rank.

Anjali S (26th rank) and Hari Kallikkatt (58th rank) were the others, who ranked in the top 100.

""" Ramit Chennithala, son of Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Ramesh Chennithala, stood 210th.

""" Congratulating them, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan praised the state-run Kerala Civil Service Academy here for training a number of successful candidates.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A knife-wielding man with a grudge killed nine middle school children and injured at least 10 others as they returned home in northern China, authorities said, in one of the deadliest such rampages in the country in recent years.

The 28-year-old suspect was detained and the injured children were receiving hospital treatment, the Mizhi County public security bureau in Shaanxi province said on its official social media account.

Seven girls and two boys were killed, the official Xinhua agency said, citing local police. The ages of the children were not given, but middle schoolers are usually between 12 and 15 years old in China.

The incident took place at around 6:10 pm local time, the department said. A man surnamed Zhao from Zhaojiashan village in Mizhi County was arrested, the public security bureau said.

The suspect confessed that he had been "bullied" when he attended the same Number Three Middle School when he was a child, "hated" his classmates and decided to use a "dagger" to kill people on Friday, the bureau said.

A video posted by The Paper, a daily, on video-sharing website Miaopai.com shows two or three bodies lying on the ground in a narrow lane. A person is heard shouting "hurry, call the police!" Police are seen running and later frogmarching a man down the street.

AFP could not immediately verify the authenticity of the video. Knife attacks are not uncommon in the country.

In February, a knife-wielding man with a personal grudge killed a woman and injured 12 others in a busy Beijing shopping mall -- a rare act of violence in the heavily policed capital.

In the southern city of Shenzhen, a man armed with a kitchen knife killed two people and wounded nine others in a supermarket last July.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Lithuanian tourist Liga Skromene, whose decomposed body was found from a deserted mangrove forest, died following 'blunt injuries' in the neck, indicating murder, police said.

This was stated in the post-mortem report handed over to the Investigating Officer this evening, they said.

The cause of death is blunt injuries in the neck, a senior police official told PTI.

Asked if it was a case of murder, he said "it could be."



The forensic report was yet to be received, he said.

Liga's body, with head severed, was found on April 21 from Thiruvallam near Kovalam.

Yesterday City Police commisisoner P Prakash had said that one reason for her death could be 'manual strangulation'.

Thirty three-year-old Liga, who had come to Kerala for ayurvedic treatment for depression, had gone missing from Kovalam on March 14.

Ilze, the victim's sister, told a Malayalam television channel that Liga may have been taken to the deserted spot from where her body was recovered by somebody using drugs.

'Somebody using drugs, took her', she said.

Ilze also rubbished reports that Aswati Jwala, a social acivist who was helping her had taken money from her or raised money in Liga's name.

"That is totally false', Ilze said.

Meanwhile, IGP Manoj Abraham visited the mangrove forest from where Liga's body was recovered and held discussions with police officials.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik today said that Maharashtra's formation day, which falls on May 1, will be celebrated at the Raj Bhavan in Lucknow.

Addressing a press conference here, Naik said that the festivities, which will last for two days, was being organised jointly by the governments of Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, along with Lucknow-based organisations like Maharashtra Samaj, Marathi Samaj and Bhatkhande Sangeet Vishwavidyalay.

"The initiative is part of a Memorandum of Understanding on cultural exchange signed between the two states. Folk art, musical theatre and other legacies from Maharashtra will be on display during the two-day event," Naik said.

Replying to a query on whether the Foundation Day of Uttar Pradesh would be celebrated in Maharashtra, Naik said that he would pursue the issue with the state government here.

On being asked about whether such a celebration would face political opposition in Maharashtra, Naik said that natives of both places had managed to assimilate very well in each other's states.

"It all depends on how we view things," Naik said.

The UP Governor said that recent investors' meets organised by the Uttar Pradesh government had resulted in 1,650 MoUs, envisaging proposals worth over Rs 4.45 lakh crore, being signed.

"The two main hurdles in the state's development, law and order and electricity, are being addressed and improvement is being observed," Naik said.

He also informed that the Foundation Day of Uttar Pradesh, which falls on January 24, was celebrated in that state for the first time this year.

It was on this day, in 1950, that the United Provinces was renamed as Uttar Pradesh.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Alleging harassment by police, a 25-year-old man committed suicide by consuming some poisonous substance in the Mahaveirnagar extension area here, police said today.

In a suicide note found in his possession, deceased Virendra Nagar, alias Vikki, alleged that he was being harassed by an ASI of the Anta police station of Baran district of Rajasthan, they said.

The body was handed over to the family members this morning after a postmortem and an investigation initiated in this regard, officials added.

Nagar, a resident of Koteri area in Anta town of Baran, killed himself late last evening at a park near a relative's home, where he had been staying for sometime, Mahavirnagar police station Circle In charge (CI) Madan Lal Khateek said.

The youth was rushed to a private hospital, where he died during treatment last night, he added.

In the suicide note handed over to the police by the relative who reportedly recovered it from his possession, the deceased accused ASI Bhanwar Singh, posted at the Anta police station, of harassment by fabricating a false case against him under various sections of IPC, the CI said.

The ASI had fabricated a false case of physically abusing a married woman against him under sections 308, 341 and 324 of IPC, the deceased said in the note, and added that he was in no way involved in the case.

He demanded strict action against those who forced him to commit suicide and also apologised to his family, police said.

Nagar had cleared the REET exam and was about to get a job as a teacher.

A case under section 174 of CrPC was lodged in this connection, Khateek said. The investigation into the reliability of suicide note and other aspects was underway, he added.

When contacted, Anta police station ASI Bhanwar Singh refuted the allegations levelled against him, and said a case under sections 341, 323, 324, 325, 308, 504 and 143 was lodged against Virendra Nagar and four others on March 23.

The evidences against the accused, including Virendra, were proven in a routine investigation and two of the accused, Bablu and Pritibai, were arrested and sent to judicial custody, ASI Singh said, adding that Virendra was absconding.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A 25-year-old man was arrested for allegedly posting defamatory comments on social media linking a few state ministers with a professor held in connection with a sex scandal, police said today.

Santhosh, resident of Keezh Iruppu village here, was arrested by the cyber crime branch yesterday for his social media posts linking the ministers to Nirmala Devi, assistant professor at the Devanga Arts College in Aruppukottai.

Police said they had studied his posts on Facebook and confirmed that they were defamatory in nature before arresting him.

Santhosh, a diploma holder, was taken to Chennai for further interrogation, officials said.

Nirmala Devi was arrested on April 16, a day after an audio clip went viral on the social media, in which she purportedly sought to persuade girls to consider extending sexual favours to senior officials of the MKU, to which the college is affiliated.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Prime Minister Narendra Modi today left for India after holding the two-day informal summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the central Chinese city, Wuhan.

Modi had arrived in China on Thursday for the unprecedented informal summit with Xi.

The prime minister held one-on-one talks with Xi which is being seen as an effort by India and China to rebuild trust and improve ties that were hit by the 73-day-long Dokalam standoff last year.

The two leaders exchanged views on "solidifying" the India-China relationship and decided to issue strategic guidance to their respective militaries to strengthen communications and to build trust and understanding.

They recognised terrorism as common threat and committed to cooperate further on counter terrorism.

Modi also offered to host the next informal summit with Xi in India next year, a proposal which elicited a positive response from the Chinese president.

The two leaders began their informal meetings way back in 2014 when Xi was hosted by Modi at the Sabarmati Ashram of Mahatma Gandhi in Gujarat. They have met and interacted with each other in about a dozen international meetings since then.

This is the fourth visit of Modi to China after he came to power in 2014. He is again due to visit China to take part in the SCO summit to be held at Qingdao city on June 9-10.

Modi was seen off by Chinese Vice Foreign Minster, Kong Xuanyou and Chinese Ambassador to India, Luo Zhaohui and other officials.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping began their last round of one-on-one talks here today as they are set to wind up the two-day informal summit aimed at forging consensus to improve the bilateral relations and address the contentious issues bedevilling their ties.

Today's talks included a walk around the famous East Lake here and an hour-long boat ride.

They would conclude their talks with one-on-one lunch hosted by Xi in the honour of Modi.

The Prime Minister is due to leave for home after that.

The two leaders yesterday held extensive talks amid the warmth and bonhomie.

They started the summit talks at the Hubei Provincial Museum where Xi took Modi around introducing the historic artefacts.

The museum walk scheduled for 20 minutes lasted over 40 minutes after which they began one-on-one talks.

The summit was stated to be unique as the two leaders have no pressure and obligation to strike any agreements nor make big announcements but focus mainly on candid discussions on solutions to some of the vexed problems like the boundary question and other issues.

Their one-on-one talks were followed by delegation-level interaction with six top officials each from both sides took part, giving an impression that some of the critical issues were on the table for discussion.

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale and Indian Ambassador to China Gautam Bambawale were present in the meeting.

Xi headed a high-powered delegation which included Member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee Ding Xuexiang, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Yang Jiechi and State Councillor and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi.

The delegation talks which apparently focussed on some of the most contentious issues lasted for over two hours overshooting scheduled half an hour, hinting the seriousness of the discussions, officials said.

Later Xi hosted a banquet in the honour of Modi at East Lake.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping today walked along a sidewalk on the shores of the picturesque East Lake here and later sailed in the same boat for "peace, prosperity and development" in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere.

Modi and Xi today began their last round of one-on-one talks on the second day of a two-day informal summit aimed at forging consensus to improve the bilateral relations and address the contentious issues bedevilling their ties.

"President Xi Jinping and I continued our deliberations this morning... We discussed multiple aspects of bilateral ties between our nations," Modi tweeted.

Earlier, the two leaders were seen actively engaging with each other while walking by the lake and having productive discussions over tea. Also, no aides except their translators were present with them.

"Productive discussions over tea. Strong India-China friendship is beneficial for the people of our nations and the entire world," Modi said.

"The talks with President Xi Jinping focussed on diverse areas of India-China cooperation. We discussed ways to give impetus to our economic ties as well as people-to-people relations. Other areas we spoke about include agriculture, technology, energy and tourism," Modi tweeted.

After the walk, Modi and Xi sailed in the same boat for peace, prosperity and development! at the East Lake.

"Sailing in the same boat for peace, prosperity and development! PM @narendramodi and Chinese President Xi on a boat ride in the East Lake in Wuhan," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted along with pictures of the two leaders.

"A memorable boat ride on the beautiful East Lake, which is a prized landmark of Wuhan," Modi tweeted.

The East Lake, a large freshwater lake in Wuhan city, is the largest urban lake in China. It is one of the most popular tourist sites in the country, with over a million visiting the lake annually.

This was followed by a private lunch hosted by President Xi in honour of Prime Minister Modi.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Minister of State for Finance and Shipping, Pon Radhakrishnan, today offered special prayers at the Sri Ramanathaswamy Temple here for peace and prosperity of the country and the world at large.

He later visited Sri Meenakshi Amman Temple in Madurai and offered poojas for the well being of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and BJP president Amit Shah.

The Union Minister performed poojas also for a golden flag mast to come up at Sri Bhagavathy Amman Temple in Kanyakumari district.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Slamming Congress president Rahul Gandhi for questioning the work done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the last four years, BJP president Amit Shah today said the nation wants to know the contributions of four generations of his family.

"Rahul Gandhi has been travelling around Karnataka and asking what the Modi government has done in the last four years. We don't need to answer Rahul Baba's question. Why are" you (Rahul Gandhi) asking the details of our work in four" years? The people of the country are asking about the" contribution of your four generations," he said.

Shah, who was addressing a public meeting here in north Karnataka said five years ago, the UPA government gave Rs 88,000 crore to Karnataka under the 13th Finance Commission, whereas the BJP government since 2014 increased the share in the 14th Finance Commission to Rs 2.19 lakh crore.

Seeking public support for BJP state chief B S" Yeddyurappa as the next Chief Minister, Shah accused Congress" of toppling the BJP government in Karnataka in 2008.

Shah said the Yeddyurappa led BJP government came"to power once in 2008, but the Congress brought it down by 'conspiring' against it.

"I have come here to appeal to you to give Yeddyurappa five years to rule the state. He will make Karnataka a number one state."



He said a "BJP tsunami" was in the offing in Karnataka, looking"at the turnout at public rallies in various parts"of the state.

"We have won in 13 states since 2014 and now it is the turn"of Karnataka," said Shah.

He then sought to know what would be the outcome of the May 12 Assembly elections and predicted a huge victory for his party.

He flayed the Siddaramaiah government for the killings of BJP and RSS workers, adding that 24 of them had lost their lives so far, but the government chose not to do anything.

The BJP president predicted that party"candidate B Sriramulu would win in Badami, from where Chief Minister" Siddaramaiah is contesting.

The Chief Minister is contesting from two constituencies - Chamundeshwari and Badami.

"Rahul Gandhi depends on Siddaramaiah to form a Congress government in Karnataka.Can a man who runs away from elections ensure his party's victory? He ran away from"Chamundeshwari to Badami. He thinks he will win from there."



Shah asked Siddaramaiah to stop 'day dreaming' of a win from Badami, saying Sriramulu would defeat him.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)At least nine people were killed in two separate road accidents in Surendranagar and Rajkot districts today, police said.

In the first accident, five persons lost their lives, while five others sustained grievous injuries when a dumper hit their car at Sardhar town near Rajkot, police said.

The truck was going towards Bhavnagar when it collided with the car, police said.

"Three persons were killed on the spot, while two others succumbed to their injuries at Rajkot civil hospital," inspector of Aji Dam police station, P N Vaghela said.

A complaint has been lodged against the truck driver, who fled from the spot after the accident and efforts are on to nab him, he said.

In the second incident, four persons from the same family were killed when their car was hit by a dumper on Rajkot-Ahmedabad national highway in Surendranagar this afternoon, police said.

The deceased were coming from Chandarva in Chuda tehsil of Surendranagar district to attend a marriage function, a police official at Chuda police station said.

"While three persons died on the spot, another one died at Limdi civil hospital. One injured person is undergoing treatment," he said.

The driver of the dumper fled from the spot, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Nine pilgrims from Rajasthan were injured when their bus overturned on Rishikesh-Gangotri national highway today, police said.

The accident occurred at around 4 pm this evening, when the overspeeding bus carrying35 passengers from Rajasthan overturned near Fakot in the district, Tehri SSP Bimala Gunjyal said.

The driver of the bus was trying to give pass to a vehicle coming from Chamba when he lost control over the bus and met with the accident, she said.

The injured have been admitted to a hospital in Narendranagar, where their condition is said to be stable, she said.

Investigations are on but overspeeding is said to be the reason behind the accident, Gunjyal said.

The driver of the vehicle is on the run, she added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today visited the Maner Sharif shrine on the outskirts of the city where the 749th 'Urs' (death anniversary) of Sufi saint Hazrat Makhdum Yahiya Maneri is being observed, officials said.

Kumar reached Maner Sharif, about 30 km from here, laid a wreath on the tomb of the Sufi saint and offered prayers, an official release said.

The chief minister also inaugurated a seminary located there, the release added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Singapore has not received any "formal" request to host an eagerly awaited meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the city-state's prime minister said today.

Trump said yesterday that the list of potential sites for the meeting had been narrowed to two, without saying where. Some reports have said that Singapore, a stable and prosperous financial hub in Southeast Asia, is one of the potential locations.

The meeting, expected in the coming weeks, follows a dizzying detente in recent months between the nuclear-armed North and its neighbour, which resulted in Friday's historic summit between Kim and the South's President Moon Jae-in.

The leaders agreed to pursue a permanent peace treaty and the complete denuclearisation of their divided peninsula.

Speaking at a meeting of Southeast Asian leaders, Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong dampened speculation about the city-state potentially hosting the Trump-Kim talks.

"As for the venue, we've also read the same reports as you in the newspapers about the possible places where a US-North Korea meeting can take place," he told reporters.

"We've had no formal invitations, requests from any of the parties. It has to be something agreed by both North Korea as well as the United States.

"I doubt very much they have come to any landing yet." A diplomatic source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that he was not aware of any request, even informally.

Speculation has been rife about where the US and North Korean leaders will meet.

Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, and the capitals of China and Mongolia have been mentioned in reports, in addition to Singapore and the Demilitarized Zone that divides the two Koreas.

Landmark summits have taken place Singapore in the past -- the presidents of China and Taiwan met for the first time ever in the city-state three years ago after decades of estrangement following a traumatic split at the end of a civil war in 1949.

China's Xi Jinping and Taiwan's Ma Ying-jeou shook hands for more than a minute and smiled for a mass of reporters before holding talks.

Singapore and Pyongyang have diplomatic ties and the North has an embassy in the city-state.

In November, Singapore suspended trade ties with the North in the latest move by a country to implement UN sanctions to curb Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The two-day long stalemate over the appointment of Lokayukta in Odisha Assembly ended today after the state government agreed to clarify on the controversy relating to submission of alleged fake affidavit in the Supreme Court.

The proceedings of the House were affected for two consecutive days as the Opposition Congress and BJP accused the state government of submitting a fake affidavit stating that the Lokayukta Act has been implemented in the state since 2015.

The Opposition had been demanding a clarification from the government along with a copy of the notification in regard to the enforcement of the Odisha Lokayukta Act.

Normalcy returned to the House after an all-party meeting following back-to-back adjournments in the pre-lunch and post lunch sessions today.

"The government will examine and inform the House in this regard," Parliamentary Affairs Minister B K Arukha told the Assembly after the all-party meeting convened by Speaker P K Amat.

Government Chief Whip Amar Prasad Satpathy said all should respect the Supreme Court judgement. "I have highest regard for the Supreme Court," Satpathy said.

Leader of the Opposition Narasingha Mishra of Congress, who had been demanding a clarification from the state government on the alleged fake affidavit, also pointed out that two newspapers have published items saying that the government will file a revised affidavit in the apex court.

"I feel the government should examine the items and clarify its stand in the House on the matter," Mishra said.

Earlier, the House was adjourned five times.

As soon as the Question Hour began at 10.30 am, the Opposition Congress and BJP members rushed to the well of the House urging deputy speaker Sananda Marandi to give a ruling on clarification and unconditional apology by the chief minister for filing a false affidavit in the Supreme Court on appointment of Lokayukta in the state.

The Opposition had been alleging that the affidavit filed by the state government in the Supreme Court on the appointment of Lokayukta is false.

Raking up the issue, the Opposition members had reiterated that since the chief minister is in charge of the Home portfolio, he should come up with a clarification to this effect.

The House later discussed on the budget demand of industries department.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Oil leak following burst in an underground pipeline near here was fixed promptly, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation said today while PMK demanded permanent closure of oil wells to avert deterioration of farm lands.

An oil spill which affected farm land in their area was noticed by Kathiramangalam villagers yesterday and they informed government authorities including police officials.

"Action was immediately taken and the leak was set right at Kathiramangalam. The well (to which the pipeline was linked) has also been closed," an ONGC official told PTI.

On the cause of the leak, he said it cannot be spelt out at this stage and officials were seized of the issue.

The leak was noticed by 4 pm yesterday and it was fixed immediately, he said.

For over a decade, the ONGC has been extracting oil and natural gas from its wells in the Kathiramangalam region near the banks of Cauvery and the fuel is routed to its facility at nearby Kuthalam for processing.

"Considering the safety of the people and to avert deterioration of farm lands, the oil wells should be shut and ONGC should quit (the region)," PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss said.

The PMK leader, who is also the Dharmapuri Lok Sabha MP said the oil spill has damaged paddy crop in 3.5 acre land of a farmer.

"Though the leak has been stopped temporarily, till now the pipelines have not been changed," he claimed.

Ever since oil extraction wells were established in and around Kathiramangalam in 2002 by the ONGC, it has affected the environment and led to deterioration of agriculture, he alleged.

Following yesterday's leak, villagers, who have been staunchly opposing ONGC's operations for nearly a year stepped up their protest reiterating their demand and police personnel have been deployed for maintenance of law and order.

Since last May, villagers have been opposing oil and gas extraction alleging it would affect agriculture.

Also, they continue to oppose "bid to extract methane."



It may be recalled that on June 30 (Kathiramangalam) and August 13 (Mathirimangalam) similar incidents of pipeline bursts had occurred in the Cauvery Delta region of Tamil Nadu.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Outgoing President of Malvatumauri, Chief Seni Mao Torvaka Lima Tirsupe (l) and former President of the national council of chiefs, Chief Tom Numake.Opposition parties in West Bengal today met the State Election Commission to express their grievances over the upcoming single-phase panchayat polls and the security arrangements for the same.

Apart from the opposition Congress, BJP and Left parties, the ruling TMC also met the poll body and discussed the security and election arrangements for the upcoming poll, sources said.

The SEC officials met representatives of ten political parties of the state separately.

"We told the SEC that we are not happy with the security arrangements for the elections. The state does not have adequate forces to hold the elections in one day. The result of today's meeting is zero," senior BJP leader Pratap Banerjee told reporters after the meeting.

"We had demanded that the elections be held in three phases when a meeting was held in this regard on April 21. We told the SEC that one phase election will only lead to violence," CPI(M) senior leader Rabin Deb said.

The Congress delegation blamed the SEC and the state government for its alleged failure to provide adequate security during the filing of nominations.

The TMC delegation, led by party general secretary Subrata Bakshi and TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee, did not speak to the media after the meeting.

The West Bengal panchayat election is scheduled to be held in a single phase on May 14.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Shakil Afridi, a doctor who helped the US' Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in tracking down Osama Bin Laden and serving jail term, has been shifted to unknown location from the central jail here due to security reasons, a senior official said today.

Afridi had ran a fake vaccination drive in Abbottabad city to help CIA agents track the former Al-Qaeda chief, who was later killed by US Navy Seals in a controversial raid on May 2, 2011.

A year later, Afridi was sentenced to 33 years in prison by a court for being involved in anti-state activities.

A senior prison official of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP), who did not want to identified, confirmed that Afridi was shifted from the Peshawar jail but said he was unaware about his new location.

The KP government had earlier informed the Federal government about threat to Afridi's life in the Peshawar prison, where militants of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan had also been kept.

According to a media report, the doctor had been shifted to Adiala Jail in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Pakistan's director general of military operations has discussed with his Indian counterpart the issue of cross-border firing along the Line of Control and international border.

Radio Pakistan reported that hotline contact was established between the Pakistani and Indian DGMOs.

"The Pakistani DGMO also highlighted deliberate targeting of innocent civilians residing along LoC and Working Boundary by Indian forces on false pretext of reaction against alleged cross border infiltration, according to the report.

The DGMO said "such unprofessional and unethical acts are provocative, detrimental to peace, vitiate the situation along LOC and also contribute towards further escalation".

He said durable peace along the LoC and the international border is contingent upon practical manifestation of existing understandings by Indian troops on the ground.

He claimed that so far this year there have been 219 civilian casualties due to Indian ceasefire violations.

In a strong message, the Indian Army yesterday told the Pakistan military to stop supporting terror groups in Jammu and Kashmir, asserting that it will continue to take all "retaliatory measures" to foil Pakistan's designs.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A Pakistani human rights group that has accused the military of widespread abuses as it battles Islamist militants in Pakistan's rugged border region with neighboring Afghanistan has emerged as a force among the country's Pashtun minority, drawing tens of thousands to rallies to protest what it contends is a campaign of intimidation that includes extrajudicial killings and thousands of disappearances and detentions.

The group's charismatic leader, 25-year-old Manzoor Pashteen, has become the face of the country's oppressed Pashtun, charging that in the name if its "war on terror" the military has used indiscriminant force as it hunts for Taliban hideouts in the tribal regions where the Pashtun dominate, imposing collective punishments like bulldozing the homes of family members of suspected militants and punishing entire villages for extremist attacks.

The catalyst for the group's creation was the police killing in January of Naqueebullah Mehsud, a 27-year-old ethnic Pashtun and aspiring model who was shot dead in the southern port city of Karachi, where many displaced Pashtuns have relocated after being displaced by the military operations in the tribal regions.

The authorities originally said Mehsud fired first during a raid by security forces on a militant hideout, but later acknowledged he was unarmed and had been targeted simply because he was Pashtun.

His death ignited protests by Pashtuns, who accused Pakistan's security forces of racial profiling, seeing all Pashtuns as Taliban simply because many insurgents in Afghanistan and Pakistan are recruited from among Pashtun tribesmen.

Within weeks what began as a small group of about two dozen had morphed into a popular movement. Known as the Pashtun Protection Movement, it has drawn huge crowds to rallies where Pashteen leads the charge, accusing the military of detaining thousands of Pashtuns in internment camps for months or even years without charges and intimidating residents at the dozens of check points scattered throughout the tribal regions.

Residents, he said, were scared silent, too afraid to criticize the army tactics.

"Punishment is all about sending a message to keep silent," Pashteen told The Associated Press in an interview in Peshawar, the capital of Pakistan's Khyber Pukhtunkhwa province and home to the majority of the country's ethnic Pashtuns. "When we began we were fed up with life, treated like we were not human. One thousand percent we were sure we would be killed." Even his father pleaded with him to end his campaign against the military. "He told me that it would be trouble not just for me, but for my family," Pashteen said.

Yet, as his small group of followers took their grievances from the tribal regions to Peshawar and eventually to the capital, Islamabad, "people joined us," he said. "For many years our people have wanted to do something. They were looking for a leader." Wearing his signature red embroidered cap and a dark, well-kept beard, Pashteen seems an unlikely leader.

Trained as a doctor, he is a pacifist, who refuses despite prodding from family and friends to carry a weapon in his car for protection in an area where guns proliferate and are considered a birthright. His protests are peaceful, he said, adding he has just two demands: The establishment of a peace and reconciliation commission to address the grievances of Pashtuns, including extrajudicial killings, and that the thousands of people in detention centers be brought to trial if they are accused of a crime or be released.

"The military has become a state within a state," Pashteen said.

Considered the most powerful institution in Pakistan, public criticism of the army is risky and rarely tolerated. At the same time, the ascendency of the Pashtun Protection Movement poses a public relations nightmare for the army at a time when it is ramping up its effort to project success in the tribal areas, claiming to have defeated extremism and boasting that terrorist hideouts have been wiped out.

"The protesters aren't just politely critiquing the military. They're relentlessly assailing it and linking it to terror in ways rarely done before," said Michael Kugleman, deputy director of the Asia Center at the Washington-based Wilson Center.

"The protesters, with their focus on indignities and injustices in the tribal areas, are undercutting a narrative the military is trying to project about peace and normalcy returning to the tribal belt after many years of war." Infuriated by Pashteen's outspoken criticism, the army has accused him of being backed by "foreign powers," a term usually used to refer to neighboring Afghanistan or rival India.

The army has also turned its intimidation tactics against his movement, pressuring organizations throughout the country to ignore it and setting intelligence agents on university professors to try to force them to identify students attending protests. One political analyst was told his weekly column, in which he urged dialogue with Pashteen's movement, could not be published because the newspaper was "under pressure" to remove it.

The journalists' advocacy group, Reporters without Borders, issued a statement last week complaining about the military's efforts to muzzle Pakistan's media and nearly 100 Pakistani journalists signed a petition condemning censorship.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Phagwara Mayor Arun Khosla said today he has received death threats on social media for stating that the authority to rename the city's Gol Chowk was with the municipal corporation, not the chief minister.

Khosla, a BJP leader, told reporters that he received threatening messages on social media, including on Facebook.

He said he has brought it to the notice of Jalandhar Zone IGP Naunihal Singh during a meeting here yesterday evening.

Khosla said he has registered a written police complaint and also submitted a CD as a "proof" of the threats he received.

When contacted, Kapurthala SSP Sandeep Sharma said the police department was verifying the mayor's complaint.

Addressing a protest by General Samaj Manch and shopkeepers on April 24-25, Khosla said the authority to name and rename an intersection in the city lies with the corporation and not with Chief Minister Amarinder Singh.

He made the remarks in wake of Singh's in-principle approval for renaming Gol Chowk as Samvidhan Chowk during a meeting with Dalit representatives.

On April 13, clashes erupted in Phagwara between members of Dalit outfits and Hindu rightwing groups after the Dalit members allegedly put up a board with a picture of B R Ambedkar at Gol Chowk. They also tried to rename the intersection as Samvidhan Chowk.

Four persons were injured in the clashes.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A 35-year-old from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir was today arrested near a forward post in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir, an official said.

Ghulam Akber, a resident of Marckote village of Bandi-Abbasspur tehsil, was detained by Army personnel guarding the Line of Control (LoC) at 1.30 pm, he said.

He said Akber was noticed by the Army personnel near Kunjan post and was later taken to a camp for questioning.

Akber was later handed over to police for further investigation.

On April 22, a 12-year-old boy from PoK inadvertently entered into Poonch district and later repatriated on April 25 as a "goodwill gesture".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik was detained today on his way to the Jamia Masjid here to lead a protest march against alleged use of force on student protestors, police said.

Malik was detained at Khanyar when he was going to the Jamia Masjid at Nowhatta for the protest march, a police official said.

He said Malik has been lodged at Kothi Bagh police station.

Meanwhile, a JKLF spokesman said Malik was to lead the protest march against the use of force on students, illegal continuous arrest of leaders by NIA and Kathua rape-and-murder incident.

He said the JKLF chairman was assaulted by the police before being taken away.

Quoting witnesses, the JKLF spokesman claimed police stopped Malik's vehicle near Gousia hospital Khanyar and straightaway a police officer started hurling abuses on him.

The JKLF chairman objected to the police officer's misbehavior and asked him to show some restraint, the spokesman claimed.

Policemen assaulted JKLF chairman, injured him and virtually dragged him to police station Khanyar, where from he, along with another JKLF leader Bashir Kashmiri, was shifted to police station Kothibagh, the spokesman said.

Moderate Hurriyat Conference Mirwaiz Umar Farooq condemned the alleged police action.

Strongly condemn police assault, manhandling and arrest of JKLF chief Yasin Malik by police when he was on way to Jama Masjid to take part in a peaceful protest against unabated killings of youth, use of force on student and continuous illegal arrests of leaders by NIA, the Mirwaiz said on Twitter.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Police today strongly rebutted the reports of an assault on



Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik.

A JKLF spokesman had alleged that Malik was assaulted by the police before being detained while he was on his way to the Jamia Masjid to lead a protest march.

Quoting witnesses, the JKLF spokesman had claimed that police stopped Malik's vehicle near Gousia hospital Khanyar and straightaway a police officer started hurling abuses on him.

The JKLF chairman objected to the police officer's misbehaviour and asked him to show some restraint, the spokesman claimed.

Policemen assaulted JKLF chairman, injured him and virtually dragged him to police station Khanyar, where from he, along with another JKLF leader Bashir Kashmiri, was shifted to police station Kothibagh, the spokesman said.

Refuting the charges of assault, a police spokesman said, "A team from Khanyar police station was on a routine check-post duty when at around 12:10 pm, a car was intercepted by the police party," the police spokesman said.

"People travelling in the car were asked to show vehicle-related documents. But instead of showing the documents, the travellers onboard, including JKLF chief Malik and Bashir Kashmiri, created obstruction in the lawful duty," he said.

"Allegations circulated in certain sections of media pertaining to alleged harassment to these individuals are strongly rebutted," the police spokesman said.

Moderate Hurriyat Conference Mirwaiz Umar Farooq condemned the alleged police action.

Strongly condemn police assault, manhandling and arrest of JKLF chief Yasin Malik by police when he was on way to Jamia Masjid to take part in a peaceful protest against unabated killings of youth, use of force on student and continuous illegal arrests of leaders by the NIA, Mirwaiz said on Twitter.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu will hold bilateral consultations with his South African counterpart tomorrow on ways to further boost trade and investment between the countries.

Prabhu is leading a high level business delegation to Johannesburg to participate in the two day India-South Africa Business Summit, beginning tomorrow.

The summit has the tag line United by Legacy, Unified for Prosperity and seeks to maximise the potential of the economic and commercial partnership between the countries, a commerce ministry official said.

Issues, which would be discussed during the business event, include increasing cooperation in areas such as startups, automobiles, healthcare, pharma, mining and agro processing.

Besides, Prabhu will hold discussions with Southern African Development Community (SADC) to strengthen economic ties. This bloc includes Tanzania, Kenya, Mauritius and Seychelles.

With declining exports in the recent months, India is looking at increasing shipments in this region.

There are over 130 Indian companies in South Africa which have invested about USD 8 billion, employing about 18,000 South Africans.

The total bilateral trade between India and South Africa dipped to USD 9.38 billion in 2016-17 from USD 9.53 billion in the previous fiscal.

South African companies have invested USD 433 million between April 2000 and December 2017 in India.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Protesters hurled tomatoes and eggs today at the home of Uttar Pradesh minister Om Prakash Rajbhar for saying that Rajputs and Yadavs consumed more liquor than others.

Youths, some of them wearing red caps, mobbed the minister's official residence in Hazratganj area here this afternoon, raising slogans and damaging his name plate.

Rajbhar made the remarks in Varanasi yesterday, while arguing against drinking.

"The maximum blame is put on Rajbhars, but the maximum liquor is consumed by Yadavs and Rajputs," he had said.

"This is their ancesteral business," he is heard saying on television. But he added that people from the his own Rajbhar and all other castes also drink.

"If you want to know the pain, ask any mother, sister or wife to whose homes their loved ones come drunk," he said.

Rajbhar, who heads the backward classes welfare portfolio in the UP Cabinet, is a leader of BJP ally, Suheldev Bharatiya Party.

He has courted controversy earlier with his criticism of the performance of the Yogi Adityanath government in the state.

In another controversial on drinking, he had said, "If someone offers you liquor, consume it but vote as per you discretion."



Police said nobody has been detained yet over the protests at the minister's home. "We are probing the matter," an officer said.

(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 budget requirement of the Union Territory of Puducherry for the 2018-2019 fiscal is Rs 7,530 crore, as evaluated by the State Planning Board.

The Puducherry Assembly, which had a one-day interim budget session on March 26, had adopted a vote on account bill, earmarking funds for the first four months (April to July) of the financial year 2018-2019, as no full fledged budget could be presented then.

Lt Governor Kiran Bedi, the chairman of the State Planning Board, after presiding over a meeting yesterday which was addressed by Chief Minister V Narayanasamy, ministers and other top officials, told reporters that the government could pay committed bills till the end of the last financial year at the cost of certain essential areas like civic amenities.

In her WhatsApp message to reporters, Bedi said that she has asked officers to place policy and financial issues before the Cabinet for timely resolution.

She said the Cabinet must meet more often and take calibrated risks to address policy and financial issues, inform people the role they can play in sanitation, safety, skill learning, sustainable agriculture and public health which would save resources and enable more quality service to the public.

Bedi informed reporters that she has assured the participants of the meeting that in the conference of Governors slated to be held on June 1, she would urge the Centre to include Union Territory of Puducherry in the 15th Central Finance Commission and bear the pension expenses as in Delhi.

The Lt Governor said that she would urge the Centre to ensure full funding for centrally sponsored schemes in Puducherry as is the case with other Union Territories.

Bedi said that she would urge the Centre to establish a High Court Bench in Puducherry, waive the legacy loan of Rs 7,000 crores (accumulated loan), set up a family court and a CBI court in Puducherry.

The Lt Governor said that she urged the chief minister and also tasked the chief secretary to bring out a vision document for Puducherry and Karaikal regions for the next 10 years.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Punjab BJP chief Shwait Malik today mocked at Congress MLAs who recently quit their party posts over ministerial berths, asking why they had not resigned when the state government "failed" to waive farm loans fully.

Malik described the three resignations from Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) as "mere drama".

Surjit Singh Dhiman (Amargarh MLA), Nathu Ram (Balluana) and Sangat Singh Gilzian (Urmur) had quit their PPCC posts for being ignored in this month's expansion of the state Cabinet.

Malik said the Bharatiya Janata Party will launch a 'Punjab Bachao' (Save Punjab) campaign against the Amarinder Singh government, accusing the Congress of not honouring its poll promises.

"Why didn't Congress MLAs tender resignations from their party posts when farmers ended their lives after the Congress government failed to fulfil its promise to waive farm debt completely," he asked.

"Congress MLAs are greedy for chairs and when they didn't get the ministerial berths, they enacted a drama of quitting party posts," Malik said.

He said the ruling party had "fooled" farmers by making a "false" promise to waive Punjab farmers' loans, pegged at Rs 90,000 crore.

"Farmers will never forgive the Congress," Malik, who is also a Rajya Sabha member, said.

He urged party workers to prepare for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and ensure a BJP victory.

Local BJP MLA Arun Narang accused the Congress government of stopping schemes like 'Atta-Dal' and 'Shagun' run by the previous Shriomani Akali Dal-BJP government in the state.

Narang alleged that SAD-BJP workers were being harassed by police at the behest of Congress MLAs.

Punjab BJP state general secretary Dinesh Kumar, former Punjab BJP chief Kamal Sharma, former minister Surjit Jayani also attended the gathering.

BJP Yuva Morcha and Youth Akali Dal held a road show to welcome Malik.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Punjab cabinet minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot today said he met with Union minister Thawar Chand Gehlot to seek the release of funds for the post-matric scholarship for Scheduled Caste students of the state pending with the Centre.

Dharamsot, the minister for welfare of Scheduled Castes, Backward Classes and Minorities, met Gehlot, the Union minister for Social Justice, in New Delhi.

Dharamsot said in a statement that the purpose of his meeting was to press for the speedy release of the balance amount to the tune of Rs 1,048.24 crore due from the Centre concerning the post-matric scholarship for SC students.

He said that the fund is aimed at the development of scheduled castes.

The minister said for the year 2015-2016 under the post-matric scholarship for SC students, a sum of Rs 328.72 crore and for the year 2016-2017 Rs 719.52 crore are due from the Centre.

He said the Congress government in Punjab was committed to ensure that the benefits of the multitude of welfare schemes reach the eligible beneficiaries.

He said the utilisation certificates of the funds released by the Union government so far concerning various welfare centric schemes of Punjab have been sent to the Centre.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Congress President Rahul Gandhi will address a public rally, his first in the national capital since assuming the top party post, at the Ramlila Ground tomorrow.

At the national-level "Jan Akrosh Rally" which comes ahead of the crucial Karnataka elections on May 12, Gandhi is expected to attack the BJP government at the Centre over its "unfulfilled promises and divisive politics".

Gandhi would seek to give voice to public anger over misgovernance, corruption, unemployment, economic situation, crimes against women, attacks on Dalits and the Judiciary, and social unrest.

The rally is expected to be addressed by top Congress leaders including Sonia Gandhi, former prime minister Manmohan Singh and others.

A day ahead of the rally, Rahul today said on Twitter, "In the four years of the Modi government, youths haven't got jobs, women haven't got security, farmers failed to get a fair price for their crops, and Dalits and minorities their rights."



He appealed to people to join the rally to express their discontent and anger.

There is anger among all sections of society, the poor, the elderly, the youth, farmers, women... Hence the name Jan Akrosh Rally', AICC General Secretary Ashok Gehlot told reporters.

He said Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh would address the Congressmen and urge them to unite to oust the BJP, "which is causing social unrest and dividing society".

Congress's communication in-charge Randeep Surjewala said a clarion call would be given to root out the BJP from Karnataka.

The rally would ensure a "decisive victory for the Congress in the ensuing assembly elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram, and many others. It will culminate in uprooting the misrule of Modi ji in 2019.

The battle will start tomorrow ... A new revolution will start tomorrow ... To fight for people... Congressmen and women will fan out in every nook and corner of the country to spread this message, he said.

Surjewala said Congress's state presidents, CLP leaders, chief ministers, former chief ministers, MPs, and MLAs would be in attendance at the rally.

It will be a historical day for the nation... the Congress. A new era will begin for transforming in India, he said.

Surjewala said the entire India is outraged over "corruption, bank scams, Rafale scams, rampant unemployment... the way businesses are going down by the day.

There is hatred all around under Modi ji's rule... People are angry over atrocities against Dalits, tribals, and backward people. The judiciary is under attack, he said.

The Congress said that four years ago, Modi led an entire nation into believing that he would change the face of India, but did nothing except furthering a hidden agenda.

Four years ago, people believed you. Now, they see through your lies... Your silence is also an answer which the nation has heard and rejected. But this anger has now been channelized, the Congress said in an article on its website.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Describing the youth as "invaluable wealth of the nation", Union Minister Rajnath Singh today exhorted youngsters to contribute not only to country's development but also help in "nation-building".

Addressing a programme of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) here, the Union Home Minister said the country cannot develop without the participation of its 65 per cent population -- referring to the people younger than 35 years of age.

"No country considers its youth a burden ... rather it considers them as contributors in development. Without getting their participation in development we cannot take the country to the heights that we want it to achieve," he said.

Singh recalled his association with the ABVP and also invoked Swami Vivekanand to stress the need for youth to dedicate themselves towards national values.

He exhorted the youth to have patience towards the views of others.

"The youth need to realise that we can have a difference of opinion but we should not take them to heart," he added.

Singh said that at the time of Independence, India's gross domestic product (GDP) rate was around 3 or 3.5 per cent with economists the world over predicting similar level of growth rate for the country in future too.

"But when Atal Bihari Vajpayee became the prime minister, the GDP went up to 8.4 per cent for the first time and today no one can deny the fact that if there is any economy in the world which is rising at the fastest rate it is that of India," he said.

"Can we reject this fact that the advantage that we have got because of our youth power has resulted in the rise in our GDP as youth are being made partners and contributors in development," he said.

Singh said the country does not want to confine its youth only to conventional employment but also want to bring out their enterprising talent too.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)President Ram Nath Kovind today hailed the rising dominance of daughters in the country as a positive social change.

He was addressing the 27th convocation of the



Dr Harisingh Gour Vishwavidyalaya here.

"The dominance of daughters in the country has started rising. This is a good social change. It is now becoming the order of the day. It will brighten the country's future," he said.

"Due to this social change, people have started saying in jest that the reservation being provided to women for their empowerment would prove to be pointless in the times to come, and now boys might start demanding quota for themselves," the president said.

"Out of the 53 students who were given medals today, the number of girls was more than the boys. A total of 32 girls got medals. Also out of 11 students who were given degrees (on stage), 10 were girl students," he said.

On education, Kovind said it was not merely a mechanism to gain knowledge and employment, but a tool to make people self-reliant and enhance their capacities.

"This helps an educated person in creating opportunities for others, and become a job provider instead of a job seeker," he said.

Kovind also lauded the setting up of an entrepreneurship cell at the Dr Harisingh Gour Vishwavidyala.

"It will help students in transforming ideas into business ventures," he said.

He also appreciated the university's efforts in promoting modern techniques to increase the production of mushrooms in nearby villages.

The president also described the university as an important centre for higher in Madhya Pradesh, particularly in the Bundelkhand region.

"Due to the huge presence of SC and ST communities in this region, the role of this university in building capacities in the society and contributing towards development becomes even more important," he said.

Madhya Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Union Minister of State for HRD Satyapal Singh were also present at the event.

Later in the day, Kovind attended Satguru Kabir Saheb Mahotsav in Sagar, organised to commemorate the 620th Pragatosav of Satguru Kabir.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Sarah Jessica Parker says her "Sex and The City" co-star, Cynthia Nixon had confided in her about her decision to contest for New York governor post a month before she made the official announcement.

The 53-year-old actor praised Nixon, saying she is a "formidable" and "brave" candidate for the office, EW reported.

"She shared with me that she was going to announce about a month before. I was incredibly excited and proud of her. I think she's already been good for the conversation. This is what's exciting about primaries, right? People can inspire an incumbent to reconsider policy... Or just have a robust conversation.

"She's formidable. She's incredibly bright. She's really brave. She's excited about this race, and it's challenging. But, she seems enormously energised and I think it's good for us to have a competitor - it's always good. A challenger is good," Parker said.

She was speaking at a retrospective session on her career at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival.

Parker had earlier released a short, straight statement after Nixon's announcement in which she almost stopped short of an endorsement for her co-actor, saying "Cynthia has been my friend and colleague since we were little girls. I look forward to talking to her about her New York state gubernatorial bid."



The 51-year-old actor will be up against incumbent Governor Andrew Cuomo, who is running for his third term, in the Democratic primary to be held on September 13.

If elected, she would create history by becoming the first female and openly gay governor of New York.

Parker added Nixon has always been inclined towards activism but she did not anticipate her taking the gubernatorial plunge.

"I didn't (anticipate) that she would seek a gubernatorial seat. She's been an activist her entire life. She loves this city, she's been involved in conversations about policies that have been really important to her for many years: education, public schools, housing... The larger issues that are part of conversations that affect us here (in the city) and upstate as well," she said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra is understood to have decided to urgently convene a meeting of the Collegium to reconsider the name of the Uttarakhand High Court Chief Justice K M Joseph for elevation as a judge of the Supreme Court.

The government had on Friday returned the file to the Collegium which had recommended on January 10 Justice Joseph's name for his elevation as an apex court judge.

A Supreme Court official said it is but natural to hold the meeting of the Collegium and it will be convened as soon as possible.

However, the only question that remains is the availability of all the five judges of the Collegium as Justice Madan B Lokur, who is the member of the Collegium, was away from work on April 26 and 27 due to medical reasons.

If the quorum is complete, the Collegium meeting will be convened immediately, the official said.

Justice Joseph had headed the bench that had quashed the Narendra Modi government's decision to impose President's rule in 2016 when the Congress was in power in the hill state.

The government returned the Collegium's recommendation to elevate Justice Joseph seeking its reconsideration, saying the proposal was not in accordance with the top court's parameters and there was adequate representation of Kerala in the higher judiciary from where he hails.

Justice Joseph, who will turn 60 this June, has been the Chief Justice of the Uttarakhand High Court since July 2014. He was appointed as a permanent judge of the Kerala High Court on October 14, 2004 and had assumed charge of the Uttarakhand High Court on July 31, 2014.

His name was recommended by the Collegium comprising Chief Justice Misra and justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B Lokur and Kurian Joseph.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)In a major milestone, indigenously developed Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas has successfully fired an air-to-air beyond visual (BVR) range missile, demonstrating its overall capability as an effective combat jet, and inched closer to receive final operational clearance.

Defence Ministry officials said the test firing of the missile from a Tejas jet was carried out yesterday off the Goa coast and it met all operational requirements.

Earlier, Tejas was given clearance for deployment of armaments and other missiles.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) had ordered 40 Tejas Mark-1 version and a request for proposal (RFP) was issued to HAL by the IAF in December for procurement of another batch of 83 Tejas at a cost of around Rs 50,000 crore.

Officials said the successful launch of the BVR missile will expedite issuance of the Final Operational Clearance (FOC) to the aircraft developed by state-run aerospace behemoth Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

"The Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) successfully fired Derby air-to-air BVR Range missile to expand the firing envelope as well as to demonstrate safe operation of the aircraft," the Defence Ministry said in a statement.

It said the missile was launched from the LCA piloted by Wing Commander Siddharth Singh yesterday from the firing range off the Goa coast after exhaustive study of the missile separation characteristics.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman complimented the DRDO and other agencies involved in making Tejas a world-class aircraft.

DRDO Chairman S Christopher said with this firing, the Tejas has achieved another major milestone towards FOC certification.

"Integration of Derby, a BVR class missile, is one of the major objectives of Final Operational Clearance (FOC) of LCA Tejas," said the ministry.

The aircraft was tracked by two other Tejas aircraft in close formation to capture the firing event in the specially instrumented high speed cameras for detailed analysis of the test launch of the missile.

The entire planning, practice sorties and final firing was carried out by ADA and its National Flight Test Centre (NFTC).

"Based on the successful integration and demonstration, Regional Centre for Military Airworthiness (RCMA), a unit of DRDO has cleared the series production aircraft of squadron 45, to be equipped with Derby operational capability," the Ministry said.

It said Tejas has successfully completed a series of captive flight trials to clear Derby for the full operational capability.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who has announced plans to forge a non-Congress, non-BJP alternative at the Centre, would meet DMK leader M Karunanidhi and party's working president M K Stalin in Chennai tomorrow.

Rao would travel to Chennai tomorrow morning and he would "most likely" stay there for the day, official sources said.

A release from Rao's office said the Chief Minister would meet Karunanidhi, former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, and Stalin on April 29.

Rao has recently met West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda in Bengaluru as part of the plans to firm up an alternative coalition to the Congress and BJP.

Alleging that the country remained backward on various fronts under Congress and BJP rule, Rao had announced that non-Congress, non-BJP alternative should emerge at the national level to bring about a qualitative change in

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)US President Donald Trump said "things are going very well" after talking with South Korea's President Moon Jae-in about an upcoming summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

"Just had a long and very good talk with President Moon of South Korea. Things are going very well, time and location of meeting with North Korea is being set," Trump wrote on Twitter.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Two boys were today buried alive when a heap of soil caved in on them in Turuktopa village of Dumka district, an official said.

The victims - 13-year-old Lokhai Rai and seven-year-old Prakash Rai - climbed up the freshly dumped soil heap to get to the other side, Sub-Divisional Officer Rakesh Kumar said.

The soil heap was from a trench that was recently dug by the workers for a pipeline work in the area, Kumar said, adding that the mound collapsed killing the boys on the spot.

"The villagers retrieved the body of one boy, while an earth mover had to be pressed into service to recover the other body. The two bodies have been sent for post-mortem," the officer said.

The district administration has given Rs 3000 each to the families of the two boys for performing the last rites, he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A Dalit family, whose four



members were allegedly flogged by cow vigilantes in Una tehsil of Gir Somnath district of Gujarat in 2016, will convert to Buddhism tomorrow along with hundreds of others.

The conversion ceremony will be held at Mota Samadhiyala village in Gir Somnath district where the flogging incident had happened, and it comes on the eve of Buddha Jayanti.

"We had informed the district collector on April 20 that we will convert to Buddhism on April 29, and we have sought the support of members of our community and others for the programme where hundreds of Dalits will embrace Buddhism," Piyush Sarvaiya, a member of the Sarvaiya family whose four members were victims of the flogging incident, said.

Seven Dalits, including four members of the Sarvaiya family from Mota Samadhiyala, were paraded and flogged for allegedly skinning a dead cow in July, 2016. The incident had caused nationwide outrage after a video of the same went viral.

Sarvaiya said he expects hundreds of Dalits from their village as well as from villages in the adjoining areas to participate in the mass conversion programme organised by Balubhai Sarvaiya, the head of the family, near the site of the incident in the village.

He said the family had announced that they would shun Hinduism as it "discriminates between people of the same faith on the basis of their caste and occupation".

He said other victims of caste discrimination will also embrace Buddhism.

"There is no discrimination in Buddhism which teaches all to live equally and respect each other. This is the reason we have decided to convert to Buddhism," Ramesh Sarvaiya, another member of the family said.

The family members alleged the Gujarat government did not fulfil the promises made to them in the wake of the incident.

"They had promised us land and a fast-track court to deal with the case, but none of the promises have been fulfilled by the government," Ramesh added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Uzbekistan has expressed interest in furthering business and trade ties with Punjab, particularly in the areas of agriculture, education and tourism.

Uzbekistan's ambassador to India Farhod Arziev met Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh here today, and discussed cooperation in areas of mutual interest for the benefit of both India and the Central Asian country, said an official release.

The chief minister suggested export of various commodities, including wheat and rice, to Uzbekistan, pointing out that the direct air connectivity with Uzbekistan and Amritsar (Punjab) offered vast potential for trade promotion.

Farhod Arziev said Uzbekistan was also keen to utilise the air route to further bolster trade in fresh fruits, such as mulberry, apricot and peaches, as well as dry fruits that were organically produced in his country".

Passenger and cargo flights from Chennai to Uzbekistan could also be used to exploit the trade potential, said the envoy, also inviting Punjab to see the cotton plantations in his country, as they were keen to export cotton to India.

A suggestion was made during the meeting by Finance Minister Manpreet Badal to host exchange programmes for students from Punjab Agriculture University (PAU).

Singh asked his officials to explore the possibility of knowledge sharing and transfer of agricultural technologies in coordination with the Uzbek embassy.

Citing the deep shared roots of India and Uzbekistan, the envoy also called for joint promotion of religious and heritage tourism, pointing out that Bukhara, which the first Sikh Guru Nanak Dev was believed to have visited, had various historical sites of interest to the Sikh community.

Singh and Farhod Arziev agreed to explore the heritage tourism potential offered by the two regions in order to promote the industry.

Earlier, the visiting ambassador apprised the chief minister of his government's intent to play a key role in India's connectivity initiatives in the resource-rich and strategically important Central Asia.

Evincing keen interest in supplying fertilisers to Punjab, the ambassador said that the opening of Chabahar port would result in another avenue for boosting his country"s trade share with India via the Iran route.

The envoy also suggested establishment of a joint hospital, as a private sector enterprise, in Tashkent, an official spokesperson said after the meeting. The chief minister agreed to look into the suggestion.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A 44-year-old villager was hacked to death by suspected Naxals in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh, a senior police official said today.

The deceased, Kumma Bhaskar, was attacked by suspected ultras who came dressed as villagers with axes last night at his house in Molasnar village under Bhansi police station limits, about 350km from here, he told PTI over the phone.

As per the victim's daughter, a group of around 6 men armed with axes broke into their house last night and started thrashing Bhaskar.

She tried to save her father but some of the attackers held her. Later, they hacked Bhaskar to death in front of her daughter and fled from the spot after throwing Maoist pamphlets, he said.

The pamphlets carried contents related to Maoists' opposition to the recent Supreme Court judgement"modifying some of the provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the official said.

"It can't be immediately confirmed if it was a Naxal attack. However, we are probing the murder case from all angles, including personal enmity," he said.

A case has been registered and further probe was on, the official added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The West Bengal government has written to Odisha, Punjab, Telengana and Andhra Pradesh seeking forces for the May 14 single-phase panchayat election in the the state, a senior government official said today.

Four companies of security personnel were sought from each state for "full back up" to the existing force in the state, the official said.

"We are waiting for their replies. Hopefully the replies would be here within a couple of days," he said.

If four companies of force come from these states then the state would have about 2,000 additional security personnel for the poll exercise.

Stressing that the government was doing everything for adequate arrangements for the election, the Director General of Police Surajit Kar Purkayastha had yesterday said that it had sought security forces from four to five states to manage the panchayat elections for which there would be 58,467 polling booths spread across the state.

In addition to around 46,000 personnel of the state police and 12,000 of the Kolkata Police, the state government would deploy close to 2,000 security personnel from the departments of excise, prison and forest to man the booths, official sources had said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A woman gave birth to a boy in an ambulance after doctors at the civil hospital here referred her to Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital citing unavailability of ultrasound machine, prompting the health department to suspended three doctors on charges of negligence.

The incident occurred last night, said Pradeep Sharma, the Principal Medical Officer at the civil hospital.

According to the woman's husband, senior doctor Alka Sharma told her there was time in delivery and that they did not have an ultrasound machine at the civil hospital.

"The doctors said they can't perform a caesarean surgery on an anaemic patient. They referred my wife to the Safdarjung Hospital even though she was in labour," the woman's husband, Nurruddin, said.

My wife gave birth to a boy in an ambulance near the at Sirhaul toll plaza on the Delhi-Gurgaon national highway, he said.

Three doctors have been suspended on charges of negligence, Sharma said.

The Health Department had taken suo motu cognisance of the incident, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)"A woman and her son were today detained for allegedly trying to immolate themselves in front of the police commissioner's office here, officials said.

Officials said that Jashiben Mali and her son, Shailesh Mali, had poured kerosene on themselves and were about to light a match when police personnel, posted at the commissionerate, managed to foil their immolation bid.

The two had alleged that police in their native Sevasi village was harassing them, officials said. The village is on the outskirts of the city and falls within the jurisdiction of Vadodara police.

Officials said that there were accusations of bootlegging against them.

Shailesh Mali today alleged that Vadodara police had raided their house some time ago and had seized Rs 30,000.

"Despite not recovering anything since the raid, the police has been harassing us," he claimed.

Officials said that the two had been detained by Raopura police and further investigations were underway.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)BubbaJones said: I've been wondering why, after a few comments in other threads hinting the Toronto attack was probably Muslims, there has been very little additional comments on the board.



Turns out the Toronto van attack is NOT Muslims, but is an alt-right fringe group , male (and might as well say it white) supremacist, highly misogynistic that calls themselves INCELS, INVOLUNTARY CELIBATES. Their looks, attitudes, personalities and personal hygiene, OF COURSE have nothing to do with their inability to get dates, much less SEX. It's ALL THE WOMEN'S fault !!!!



His target was WOMEN !!!!!



It would almost be funny as the script to a dark comedy were it not a reality.



I've met a few guys that probably fall into this category and the one thing I see as a constant is they ALWAYS seem to be trying to punch WAY above their weight class. Most are average looking I guess, not ugly, they bathe and aren't total dorks or douches, but they seem to think they are somehow worthy of, and only willing to date, women that are WAY above average looking. If a woman doesn't have a model's face and a movie star's body, they simply aren't interested. But that again is NOT their fault, it's those damned stuck up women !!! And let's not even get started about those FEMINISTS !!!! OMG NO WAY should they be allowed to even walk the planet !!



This is the angry white man taken to the extreme. Click to expand...

You finally noticed? I live about a 45 min drive from downtown Toronto, so maybe I was close enough to get the wall-to-wall local media coverage over the first 48 hours, so I guess I had a leg-up on everyone at DTT. But, until now, I couldn't get anyone's attention when I made a passing comment about the massacre before. So, I assumed the majority here have no interest in what goes on outside US borders!And on that night after the van attack took place, it was playing non-stop on a local channel on the TV in the cafeteria instead of a hockey game being played....somewhere. The assailant had already been arrested shortly afterward,and consensus of opinion was that: since his last name (Minassian) is of Armenian origins, that in itself would make him Orthodox Christian as far as religious heritage goes..and NOT a Muslim! And, we were mostly sure that the motive of the attack was sexual or misogynistic in nature, after a report went up that night that he was a member of an "Incel" online group and had posted a tribute to Elliot Roger...the perpetrator of a mass-murder/suicide of women in California a couple of years ago..and left his own manifesto behind wailing about his persecuted, tortured life and why....at least some women should have to say "yes" to him! That pretty much sealed the deal on opening night about what happened and why it happened. The rest is background information being filled in since then!So, if it's a non-Muslim man in Canada targeting and killing women/and not a Muslim or a member of one of the darker races, maybe that's why nobody made sure that Donald Trump was alerted to spend the night posting twitter comments about it! Trump, therefore ignored the story just as he did with the white mass shooter in Tennessee who killed four people.Sad thing though is that: since white mass murderers( who aren't or do not become Muslims) get the President's attention (especially outside US borders) the liberal democratic mob chasing the President and venting outrage at each and every one of his tweets, also did not notice, or care enough about the tragedy before to mention it here!Troopers and deputies are investigating two related accidents Friday morning that has left a man in the hospital, with life-threatening injuries.

Box Elder County Sheriffs Chief Deputy Dale Ward said deputies first received a call around 3 a.m. of a vehicle that had hit a power pole east of Garland. When they arrived on the scene, they located the vehicle but could not find the suspected driver.

Two hours later, a man was allegedly hit by a car, while walking along SR-30 east of the Bear River. He was transported to the hospital in extremely critical condition.

The man was wearing dark clothing. He is reportedly from Box Elder County but his identity is being withheld.

Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Brian Nelson said troopers do not know who hit the man. Investigators are hopeful that someone who was in the area around 5:15 a.m. might have information on the accident.

If anybody was in that area, and they saw anything suspicious  a car stopped or if they hit something and werent sure what it was  we would really like to talk to them, whoever that was, said Nelson. We would like to get their side of the story. The subject was wearing dark clothes. We dont think he was really visible, so we honestly dont know what we are dealing with right now.

Troopers believe the victim in the hit-and-run was the same man who crashed his vehicle into the power pole and then wandered away from the scene.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Box Elder County Sheriffs Office, 435-734-3800.

will@cvradio.comSo, let me get your asshat exploration of the event straight.



A non-Jewish person wore a yarmulke to prove that it wasn't safe on the streets of Berlin for a Jewish person.



He was beaten by a group of thugs yelling "Jew!" at him on the streets of Berlin.



Because he wasn't really Jewish, it's a fake film.



You're beyond belief. What the fuck are you doing here? Go back to your middle school and make friends in real life.FOCUS ON DEFENSE CAPABILITY DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHEAST ASIA AND OCEANIASaturday, April 28, 2018 at 11:03AM

You may or may not know it but at the start of April, Google has allowed users in Canada as well as Australia, France, Germany, Japan, and the UK input their payment and delivery information in Google Assistant settings. Through this feature you can add your payment method (credit or debit card) as well as shipping address. These payment profiles can be used to pay for items and services of third-party services that have implemented the feature. Just head to the Payments menu in your Google Assistant settings to input your information.

Source: Android Policenews, latest-news

Bees are worth about $90 million a year to Australia, and their value is set to continue increasing as long as the country stays free of deadly pests and diseases. To ensure that happens, 27 ACT biosecurity staff took part in the Exercise Bee Prepared training program in Canberra on Thursday. Alongside local beekeepers and representatives from various government agencies, they acted out scenarios in which a potential Varroa mite outbreak had been detected. Bee populations around the world are in decline, with the Varroa mite chiefly to blame. Australia is the only place in which the deadly pest has never been found, and as one of the world's top 10 producers of honey, the country's access to many overseas markets is driven by its freedom from the deadly pest. ACT biosecurity senior manager Stephen Hughes said the longer that continued, the more valuable bees would become. "What would happen if we did get an outbreak of the Varroa mite is that a lot of countries' markets would be closed off to our bee products," he said. "Bees pollinate about a third of the world's crops, so they're critical to a lot of our exports. "What today's exercise has shown is that if we did detect Varroa mites, we would be able to stand up an incident response team very quickly to deal with it." ACT Beekeepers Association president Cormac Farrell, who was the territory government's industry adviser for the project, said Thursday's program involved acting out a fictional scenario in which a hobbyist beekeeper believed they had detected a Varroa mite. As part of the training exercise, an incident control team was formed and biosecurity officers sent to conduct tests on the hobbyist's hives in Weston Creek. "One of the tests is a sugar test, which involves putting about 300 bees into a container and coating them in icing sugar," Mr Farrell said. "The sugar makes any mites on the bees lose their grip, and also forces the bees to groom themselves. "The mites fall into the sugar, where they're much easier to see and identify." Exercise Bee Prepared is part of a national biosecurity program designed to prepare Australia to deal with a potential Varroa mite outbreak. Anyone who believes they have detected a Varroa mite is urged to report it immediately to the Emergency Animal Disease Watch hotline on 1800 675 888.

/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/f2a9cb21-c9d8-44ca-a3c5-958e030c28cb/r0_221_4256_2626_w1200_h678_fmax.jpgnews, latest-news

After an 18-month wait, parts of Canberra's West Basin were thrown open to the public once again, with the unveiling of a new lakeside park on Saturday. Henry Rolland Park became alive with festivities to mark the opening of the $13 million project, with live music as well as games and activities, with hundreds of Canberrans turning out. The park, named in a public poll, honours Henry Rolland, an architect who oversaw construction in Canberra during its initial years. The opening of the precinct also served as a family reunion for his descendants. Rolland's grandson, Michael Lindell, said his grandfather would have been impressed by the new space. "He would have been very, very pleased to see the emphasis on people," he said. "It's a great bit of real estate that's been ignored up to now. He'd like it because of all the different ways people can move about the space." Mr Lindell said the park opening had facilitated a large family reunion of the Rolland family, with relatives coming from across the country for the event. As well as featuring a large boardwalk along Lake Burley Griffin, the park also features fitness equipment, a playground and picnic and barbecue facilities. Speaking at the park's opening, ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said the area had been transformed into a more permanent space for the public. "What we had here previously was a car park that was used for maybe one month per year as overflow parking for Floriade, but now we have a year-round facility for everyone," he said. "This is the first time [in Canberra] that a car park has been replaced with a park." City Renewal Authority chief executive Malcolm Snow said the new park was a chance for more community space among Lake Burley Griffin. "For too long, our city centre has been cut off from its waterfront," he said. The completion of the park sees the end of stage one of the West Basin project. The design process for stage two is under way.

/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/5ecf2b6d-f490-4d67-900d-741a9549abe8/r0_217_4031_2495_w1200_h678_fmax.jpgnews, crime

State and territory governments are being urged to reform laws that see traumatised children questioned multiple times in the lead up to and in courtroom proceedings, particularly where those children have experienced sexual or serious abuse. In the ACT, the system as it stands has been labelled ineffective and a real issue by experts. Experts said children who disclosed abuse, particularly sexual abuse, were questioned by multiple agencies including social workers, police and medical professionals, which could cause confusion and result in differing evidence. As a result of inconsistent evidence, perpetrators might not be charged. South Australian Law Reform Institute at the University of Adelaide deputy director David Plater said it was well-established that repeatedly asking vulnerable parties, both children and people with intellectual disabilities, to tell their account was traumatic and ineffective. It is a form of secondary victimisation, Dr Plater said. The accounts will almost always differ - no one tells the same story in identical terms when you repeat it - and this gives rise to fertile and unjustified defence adverse comment as to the fact that the witness has changed their initial account and there are inconsistencies and the witness is somehow unreliable. The type of complex and incoherent and repetitive legal questions often used at trial by both prosecution and defence compound these pressures and concerns. Dr Plater said the aim in Australia, as it was in the UK, should be to elicit one comprehensive initial account by a specially trained interviewer. He said it might not avoid cross-examination at trial but it would be a good start. A new system, proposed by former ACT childrens commissioner Alasdair Roy, would see children interviewed once in a neutral, non-clinical environment. As part of the Churchill Fellowship, Mr Roy travelled to the Nordic states to examine child safe and child friendly practises. The model he has proposed, based on the Barnahus or Childrens House model adopted in many of the Nordic countries, would see children and young people subject to just one recorded interview by trained professionals focused on the safety and best interests of the child. The recorded information is also used as evidence in court so that the child or young person doesnt have to be there. Compared to more traditional court proceedings the Barnahus model has been shown to cause significantly less trauma to the child or young person, Mr Roy said. In Iceland under the model there has been a three-fold increase in cases prosecuted against abusers due to the quality of the evidence. Legal Aid ACT chief executive John Boersig said while courts generally endeavoured to deal with children in other ways, under the current system it was sometimes unavoidable to have them give evidence to a court. It happens often enough so that it is a real issue, Mr Boersig said. When someone gives evidence, their credibility is on the line. The voracity of what they have to say is questioned when theyre examined and cross-examined in the same way you would find in any court proceedings. Bearing in mind, these are adults asking these questions of children who are in situations where they are obviously not comfortable, they are out of their environment, and of course children get easily confused. In this context, when people are under pressure they often dont always give the best evidence they can. There is obviously an impact on the child who has to do that in those circumstances. Mr Boersig said Legal Aid ACT supported change in this area. ACT childrens commissioner Jodie Griffiths-Cook said court could be extremely traumatic for children and young people particularly in cases of sexual abuse. The confrontational nature of a courtroom is daunting at the best of times but can be even more so if you are a child or young person facing the person who perpetrated the abuse upon you, Ms Griffiths-Cook said. She said a range of options could potentially reduce the level of trauma in addition to the Barnahus model, which could include having an interpreter supporting the child by translating the questions theyre being asked into appropriately simple language. I strongly support the exploration and use of any and all strategies that may better support children and young people to provide evidence while minimising the potential for further trauma beyond that which they have already experienced. ACT Attorney-General Gordon Ramsay said the ACT was a leading jurisdiction in introducing protections for vulnerable people in the court process. Since 2008, child witnesses in sexual offence cases have been able to give pre-recorded evidence, have their police interview played as their evidence, and have a support person with them while they give evidence, Mr Ramsay said. He said regular practise was for a child witness to provide evidence in a recorded interview at a police station, which would then be played at a pre-trial hearing. At the pre-trial hearing, they are cross-examined by defence counsel via audio-visual link while they sit in a remote room. That entire pre-trial hearing is recorded and then played to the jury at trial on a later date. These special measures have clear benefits such as avoiding stressful delays for vulnerable witnesses, ensuring they are not in the same room as the accused person while they give evidence, and being able to use the recorded evidence again in any retrials, therefore reducing the risk of re-traumatising the witness. Mr Ramsay said the government would continue to work on enhancing protections and support for vulnerable people, including children and young people, in the courtroom. He said the government was currently seeking community views on the recommendations made by the Royal Commission Into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse at yoursay.act.gov.au

/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/0105d4a7-154d-4c8d-9011-dcd8678250e7/r0_110_2160_1330_w1200_h678_fmax.jpgnews, latest-news

Festivalgoers who take part in an Australian-first pill-testing trial at the Groovin the Moo music festival on Sunday won't have adequate legal protection, a Canberra lawyer has said. Paul Edmonds, a solicitor at Canberra Criminal Lawyers, said no legislation had passed ensuring there was a dedicated area where participants in the trial wouldn't be held criminally liable for drug possession. "All we have is an unofficial agreement that festivalgoers won't be arrested for the possession of drugs," he said. "As far as I'm aware, no legislation has passed to provide any clear legal protection to pill users at the event." The solicitor said the pill-testing trial could also present liability issues if participants were to suffer any adverse affects from drug taking after they had taken part in the trial. "It depends on what sort of written indemnity form that the pill user signs before they have the pill tested. There would obviously be some kind of waiver," he said. "However, an issue could arise if the person approaching the pill-testing tent is already under the influence, and would they be able to give informed consent and understand what they are signing up to." The pill-testing trial comes after a last-minute breakthrough in negotiations on Thursday when the event's promoter Cattleyard Promotions gave approval. Both the ACT government, ACT police as well as medical experts had already given their backing to the proposal, which will be conducted in a tent operated by Safety Testing Advisory Service at Festival and Events (STA-SAFE). The trial was expected to go ahead at last year's Spilt Milk festival, but was scrapped at the last minute. Mr Edmonds said while in favour of a harm-minimisation approach, the pill-testing trial could have unintended legal ramifications if an overdose was to occur. "My concern is around whether the legal machinery around the trial is appropriate, or whether it's simply merely an ad hoc approach that leaves open the possibility of all sorts of legal consequences," he said. A media ban on advocates and organisers of the trial has meant the trial will go ahead on Sunday without key pieces of information being public. The ban was put in place by the festival's promoter and is expected to lift at the end of the event. An ACT Policing spokesman said a "health precinct" would be set up inside the venue where the pill testing would take place, and that this location wouldn't be targeted by officers. "ACT Policing will not actively target the health precinct or their users in line with well-established protocols with ACT Health facilities," the spokesman said. "As a police force, we will continue to target and investigate the sale and supply of illicit drugs." It is not known at this stage whether plans are in place to use sniffer dogs to search festivalgoers as they enter the venue, or if drug testing will take place outside.

/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/3c79a89e-5c71-4dc2-8640-56f6ddcf5565/r0_359_6720_4156_w1200_h678_fmax.jpgnews, crime

The Canberra community funds more crisis accommodation for women at imminent risk who are escaping family violence than the ACT government. The revelation comes as the Domestic Violence Crisis Service marks 30 years of operation over which time they have seen a huge increase in clients, but not in funding. For three decades the Domestic Violence Crisis Service has been serving the ACT community to help keep women and children - who make up the majority of their clients - safer. In the past 10 years their demand has increased by 196 per cent. In the 2006/07 financial year the team responded to 8977 incoming contacts, which rose to 26,600 in 2016/17. But according to service chief executive Mirjana Wilson the most significant funding increase in decades happened last year, as a result of the horror 2015 Canberra had with domestic violence deaths. Last year, the government committed $200,000 annually for the next four years to the crisis service, and $200,000 more for the staff to implement a mens behavioural change program. Its not much, given weve tripled in demand, Ms Wilson said. She said an ongoing bugbear was the government funding of $40,000 for emergency motel accommodation for people who need to leave immediately. That figure only lasts the service up to five months, and they then rely on community donations to prop them up for the rest of the year. Ms Wilson said after 2015, when four people died from domestic violence in three months, the service experienced a year of unprecedented demand. I remember by the time the fourth person in our community died it was like oh my god, is this ever going to stop, Ms Wilson said. Now that we look back, everything spiked. We havent come back down to pre-2015 levels, but thankfully it hasnt continued because [that level of demand] would have been unsustainable. She said during that period, she was dealing with a team of people who were tired. When you have such a huge number of deaths in a tiny community such as ours in a small period of time, you start to second guess if youre doing all the right things, if youre saying all the right things, is that person really truly going to be OK. At the end of the day, we cant actually necessarily guarantee their safety and thats the hard bit about working in this work. We have no magic wand, we cant wave it and make that situation better. Ms Wilson said the job was all about working with that person to find out what would keep them safe and plan for that. One of the things we have learnt is that for every tool or every safety measure we have to go ... will it make it worse or will it make it better. A classic example of that is protection orders. While demand increased, Ms Wilson said it was difficult to say if there was more domestic violence in the community now or if it was just a growing awareness of the problem. I think the more weve brought it into the mainstream, the more people are coming forward. I think it was just a very private thing, and it really started to get out there and when we made it a crime, when we said this is unacceptable behaviour. The crisis service employs 48 staff across six distinct programs. The programs include a 24-hour a day telephone crisis line, frontline workers, programs for women and children, and the newly implemented mens behavioural change program. Ms Wilson said 20 years ago women were coming to the service saying they didnt want to leave their relationship but they wanted the violence to stop. How do you provide a response to that? There wasnt much we could do, Ms Wilson said. At that point, the focus was on getting women out of the house, into emergency motel accommodation and then into a refuge. Fast-forward to now, were going well what are we doing with that? Where does that man go and what is there for him? Thats why we moved towards starting a program for mens behavioural change, to work with them to address their use of violence and controlling behaviour while also supporting the women and children at the same time. Ms Wilson said the crisis service's journey, which she has been part of for 14 years, could be divided into three decades. The first decade was all about recognising that domestic violence needed a response other than for women to flee to refuges. The second decade saw police charging people, the introduction of legislation and personal protection orders. And in the third decade, its the realisation that the whole family needs help. Not necessarily to stay together, but if they're going to stay together what does that look like, or if theyre going to separate then what does that look like, Ms Wilson said. Safety and risk across the three decades has been the primary focus, but really what we've been moving towards more and more is that we can't just keep mopping up the damage by working with the women and children. Former ACT Victims of Crime commissioner John Hinchey was involved with the service heavily during his time in Canberra, including as a board member for five years. He said 30 years was a significant milestone for any community organisation particularly given the constant uncertainty with funding. A lot of time and effort is taken up in securing funding and then fulfilling the requirements for those funding arrangements and then seeking more funding, Mr Hinchey said. I think for DVCS to survive 30 years and that its getting stronger as an organisation, thats for two reasons. The passion and commitment of its staff is one thing  and also the capacity to seek whats best for its clients, not for itself. Mr Hinchey said specialist organisations like the crisis service were the ones that needed greater supporter because they give voice to the most vulnerable. Theyre the ones we need to ensure they have funding and they have the funding to plan for their future. Beryl Womens Refuge manager Robyn Martin said it was negligent of the government not to fund the whole amount for emergency accommodation for women fleeing violence. She said the service did a fantastic job, and plenty of people in the community were waiting with bated breath to see the results of the mens behaviour change program they were now running. Theyre always at the forefront of whats in the best interests of the women and children that either they or we are supporting, Ms Martin said. An ACT government spokesman congratulated the crisis service on its 30 years of service to the community. He said there were a range of homelessness services that provided support to victims of domestic and family violence, including the Beryl and Doris refuges. "The ACT government has been working very closely with the service sector that supports families and women, who are impacted by domestic and family violence and will continue to do so," the spokesman said. "The work that has been undertaken over the last 12 months in particular to co-design and develop a new family safety hub will also contribute greatly to ensuring future decisions around services and funding are made with evidence and consultation with the right stakeholders."

/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/6c5bf5ad-9d5f-4dcf-bf08-2db11026c34e/r0_266_4500_2808_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg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.Photo: Colin Dacre Ellis Creek, Friday April 27

The City of Penticton has asked business owners along upper Ellis Creek to remove possessions from the banks of the creek as the freshet begins.

In a series of letters distributed to property owners east of Dartmouth Road dated April 19, the city states they have retained a hydraulic consultant to examine city creeks for possible damage due to heavy snow melt.

The area east of Dartmouth has been pinpointed as a high level of concern for erosion and bank collapse.

The south bank of Ellis Creek, while owned by the city, has been used over the years for storage by property owners who back onto the creek.

The city has ordered all possessions be moved 10 metres away from the top of the river bank as a precaution to avoid damage downstream should the bank collapse.

In the event of damage as a result of your stored property being carried downstream to city infrastructure and damage to private property owners downstream as well, there is the issue of potential liability to you which could be substantial, the letter says.

A similar letter was sent to three addresses where private property is within the 10 metre buffer advising them of liability risks, as well as the Penticton Indian Band in regards to IR2.Photo: @RDKB_Emergency An aerial shot of flooding in Grand Forks in early May of 2017.

The Regional District Kootenay Boundary opened its emergency operation centre in Grand Forks on Friday, as the region prepares for potential flooding from snow melting at higher elevations.

The regional district expects river levels to steadily rise in the coming days, and has asked residents who may be at risk of flooding to stay informed about local conditions.

Residents were also reminded that "it is the homeowners responsibility to undertake temporary and permanent flood protection works to protect their home and property."

RDKB chair and rural Grand Forks director Roly Russell said the regional district's emergency response is organized and ready.

"Our regional staff are working with our municipal partners and provincial agencies to make sure we are geared up and prepared to support our communities," Russell said.

More than 90,000 sandbags have also been prepared, which are now available for residents in need.

The regional district said several local volunteer groups have formed in Grand Forks already to assist others with obtaining sandbags and, if needed, placing them.

Locations of sandbags in each community can be found here.

Grand Forks was hit hard by flooding when Granby River spilled its banks in early May last year.Photo: Contributed Traffic backup at Rogers Pass.

UPDATE: 6:50 a.m.

The crash scene west of Craigellachie was fully cleared at 11:15 p.m.

UPDATE: 10:10 p.m.

The vehicle incident two kilometres west of Craigellachie along Highway 1 is now reduced to single-lane, alternating traffic.

UPDATE: 9:40 p.m.

Highway 1 southbound at Deadman Vidette Road, east of CacheCreek, is closed due to a washout.

An assessment is in progress, expect delays and congestion.

Next update tomorrow at 10 a.m.

Highly 97 is closed in both directions at junction with highway 99 because of a washout.

A detour is available for southbound traffic via Highway 24 and Highway 5.

There is a detour for northbound traffic from highway 99 via Highway 97 north and Highway 24.

An assessment is in progress.

UPDATE: 6:40 p.m.

Highway 1 remains closed in both directions two kilometres west of Craigellachie.

The TransCanada is not expected to reopen until about 10 p.m.

Send photos to [email protected].

ORIGINAL: 5 p.m.

The Trans-Canada Highway is currently closed in two places east of the Okanagan.

DriveBC reports the first closure two kilometres west of Craigellachie because of a serious crash.

The highway is not expected to reopen until 10 p.m., and no detour is available.

The second closure is for avalanche control at Rogers Pass.

That closure is expected to end at 6 p.m.Photo: Contributed Min Sidhu (centre) recipient of a 2018 BC Community Achievement Award

Min Sidhu and Pete Wise have returned from Vancouver Island a little more decorated than when they left the North Okanagan.

At a ceremony at Government House in Victoria, Sidhu and Wise, along with 27 others, were presented with a BC Achievement Award.

The award is given every year to select British Columbians in recognition of community service.

Sidhu has dedicated herself to the Vernon community.

The executive assistant to Vernon-Monashee MLA at Eric Foster, has more than two decades of experience in provincial politics.

She has served as director or president on community boards like the Okanagan Anti Racism Board, Multicultural Society of Vernon, Vernon Womens Transition Board, ILearn BC and the Community Foundation of the North Okanagan.

Sidhu also founded the Vernon Punjabi Heritage Society, and now serves as its honorary chairperson.

Her passion for her community and willingness to give and serve were recognized in 2011 when she was awarded the Vernon Woman of the Year Award.

Wise, has been active with Vernon Search & Rescue for more than 50 years.

He's played a key role in building the unit into one of the premier search and rescue organizations in the province.

Whether he is dedicating his time to training others, advocacy or leading challenging rescues, Wise is known for his positive spirit, and depth of experience.

A founding member of the British Columbia Search & Rescue Association, Wise has also served many years as director of the British Columbia SAR Association.Photo: Chelsea Powrie Sportsmens Bowl Road at Highway 97

The evacuation order in the Sportsmens Bowl Road area north of Oliver has been expanded by one home.

A total of 13 properties with 16 addresses are now under evacuation order due to flooding from Park Rill Creek.

The residents and animals on the property had already self evacuated several days ago, but the extension of the order will allow for the RDOS to continue emergency works to reinforce the creek on the property.

The RDOS is asking non-residents to stay away from the area to allow the sandbag crews to work. Authorities are also asking people throughout the region to stay off tiger dams, sandbag berms and other flood mitigation infrastructure.

As spring freshet begins, residents should be aware that the flood threat will not be over for some time, the RDOS says All sandbags and installed armouring should remain in place as unexpected fluctuations in water volumes can be expected throughout the next month or so of snowmelt.

The Town of Oliver is also advising residents to expect increased traffic to and from the local airport, which is housing crews from the BC Wildfire Service.Photo: The Canadian Press John Lopes, a crime scene investigator for the Sacramento County Sheriff's office, carries boxes of evidence taken from the home.

Investigators hunting down the so-called Golden State Killer used information from genetic websites last year that led to the wrong man, court records obtained Friday by The Associated Press showed.

An Oregon police officer working at the request of California investigators persuaded a judge in March 2017 to order a 73-year-old man in a nursing home to provide a DNA sample. It's not clear if officers collected the sample and ran further tests.

The Oregon City man is in declining health and was unable to answer questions Friday about the case.

The case of mistaken identity was discovered as authorities hailed a novel use of DNA technology that led this week to the arrest of former police officer Joseph DeAngelo at his house outside Sacramento on murder charges. Critics of the investigative approach, however, warned it could jeopardize privacy rights.

DeAngelo's suspected of being the sadistic attacker who killed 13 people and raped nearly 50 women during the 1970s and '80s.

Handcuffed to a wheelchair in orange jail scrubs, DeAngelo made his first court appearance Friday. The 72-year-old looked dazed and spoke in a faint voice to acknowledge he was represented by a public defender. He did not enter a plea.

He has been charged with eight counts of murder, and additional charges are expected, authorities said.

"We have the law to suggest that he is innocent until he's proven guilty and that's what I'm going to ask everyone to remember," DeAngelo's public defender Diane Howard said outside court. "I feel like he's been tried in the press already."

Investigators were able to make the arrest this week after matching crime-scene DNA with genetic material stored in an online database by a distant relative. They relied on a different website than they had in the Oregon search, and they did not seek a warrant for DeAngelo's DNA.

Instead, they waited for him to discard items and then swabbed the objects for DNA, which proved a conclusive match to evidence that had been preserved more than 30 years.

Also Friday, the co-founder of the genealogy website used by authorities to help identify DeAngelo said he had no idea its database was tapped in pursuit of the suspect who eluded law enforcement for four decades.

Authorities never approached Florida-based GEDmatch about the investigation that led to DeAngelo, and co-founder Curtis Rogers said law enforcement's use of the site raised privacy concerns that were echoed by civil liberties groups.

The free genealogy website, which pools DNA profiles that people upload and share publicly to find relatives, said it has always informed users its database can be used for other purposes. But Rogers said the company does not "hand out data."

"This was done without our knowledge, and it's been overwhelming," he told The Associated Press.

For the team of investigators, GEDmatch was one of the best tools, lead investigator Paul Holes told the Mercury News in San Jose.

Officials did not need a court order to access GEDmatch's large database of genetic blueprints, Holes said. Major commercial DNA companies say they do not give law enforcement access to their genetic data without a court order.

Civil libertarians said the practice raises legal and privacy concerns for the millions of people who submit their DNA to such sites to discover their heritage.

Privacy laws aren't strong enough to keep police from accessing ancestry sites, which have fewer protections than regulated databanks of convicts' DNA, said Steve Mercer, chief attorney for the forensic division of the Maryland Office of the Public Defender.

"People who submit DNA for ancestors testing are unwittingly becoming genetic informants on their innocent family," Mercer said.

While people may not realize police can use public genealogy websites to solve crimes, it is probably legal, said Erin Murphy, a DNA expert and professor at New York University School of Law.

"It seems crazy to say a police officer investigating a very serious crime can't do something your cousin can do," Murphy said. "If an ordinary person can do this, why can't a cop? On the other hand, if an ordinary person had done this, we might think they shouldn't."

While most consumers would submit DNA to a commercial company such as Ancestry.com and 23andMe to create a genetic profile, the FBI did so for investigators, Holes told The New York Times.

The profile was then uploaded to GEDmatch using a fake profile and pseudonym, the Times reported. The site allows users to remain anonymous.

A year earlier, Holes had identified a rare genetic marker in the assailant's DNA. He entered the information among 189,000 profiles at the genealogy website, YSearch.org, and the results led to a relative of the Oregon man.

A spokeswoman for FamilyTreeDNA.com, which operates YSearch.org, said the company wasn't contacted by law enforcement.

"While we take our customers' privacy and confidentiality extremely seriously, we support ethically and legally justified uses of groundbreaking advancements of scientific research in genetics and genealogy," company officials said in a statement.Photo: Contributed

The Cariboo Regional Districts Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) is actively coordinating and monitoring flooding issues throughout the region.



The CRDs EOC is providing sandbags to residents as needed.

The EOC stresses it is the homeowner's responsibility to undertake temporary and permanent flood protection works to protect their home and property.



High stream flows and flooding are expected to continue throughout the weekend.

The B.C. River Forecast Centre upgraded areas in the Cariboo to a flood watch, including the Nazko River, West Road River, Bonaparte River and tributary rivers around Williams Lake, Quesnel and surrounding areas.



The Cariboo Regional District activated its EOC yesterday.



If you are experiencing flooding issues that affect your home or business, please contact the CRDs public information line at 1-866-759-4977 between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.

For after-hours emergencies, please call the Provincial Emergency Reporting Line at 1-800-663-3456.UPDATE: 7:30 p.m.

Highway 8 has now reopened to single-lane, alternating traffic, 24 kilometres west of Merritt, after being closed due to an earlier washout.

UPDATE: 11 a.m.

A state of emergency has been declared in the Village of Cache Creek after flood waters swept through town Friday night.

It's worse than last year, said Shayne Billy, public works foreman for Cache Creek. There's debris all over town.

Billy says the flooding slowed down a little bit Saturday, but Friday night was hectic.

There's too much water, we can't keep up with it," he said, adding Cache Creek has flooded its banks at several spots.

Buildings in the town, including several motels, have been flooded and damaged.

While many highways surrounding Cache Creek were closed due to washouts earlier Saturday, all have since been reopened, while Highway 8, west of Merritt, remains closed in both directions.

UPDATE: 10:10 a.m.

Highway 1 has been fully reopened at Spences Bridge and six kilometres west of Savona after washouts closed several highways around Cache Creek.

Highway 97 remains closed in the northbound direction leaving Cache Creek, and in both direction at the junction with Highway 99.

UPDATE: 9:20 a.m.

Washouts around the Cache Creek area closed several highways Saturday morning as floodwater flowed across much of the village itself.

Highway 97 northbound is closed at the junction with Highway 1 in Cache Creek, while farther north, the same highway is closed in both directions at the junction with Highway 99.

East of Cache Creek, Highway 1 is closed in both directions six kilometres west of Savona, while south of Cache Creek, Highway 1 is closed in both directions at Spences Bridge.

Farther south, Highway 8 is closed in both directions, 24 km west of Merritt.

Late Friday evening, the River Forecast Centre issued a flood watch warning for the Central Interior, including tributary rivers around Cache Creek, Merritt, Williams Lake, Quesnel and surrounding areas.

ORIGINAL: 7 a.m.

Residents of Cache Creek are dealing with a flood in the community's downtown core.

Video posted to social media from the community 60 minutes from Kamloops on Highway 1 show a creek that runs through the centre of town overflowing its banks.

The video was posted Friday evening.

Castanet will have more information as soon as it becomes available.Photo: Contributed

U.K. grocery chain Sainsbury's has confirmed it is in advanced discussions about a merger with Walmart Inc.'s British unit, Asda.

The combination would create Britain's largest supermarket chain, moving the merged company ahead of market leader Tesco. J Sainsbury plc, the chain's corporate name, released no other information on Saturday and said it would make an announcement before the London stock market opens on Monday.

The move underscores the intense competition in Britain's grocery market as discounters like Asda take market share from traditional chains such as Sainsbury's and Tesco.

Kantar Worldpanel, a retail research firm, puts Tesco's market share at 27.6 per cent, followed by Sainsbury's at 15.8 per cent and Asda at 15.6 per cent.

The merger was first reported Saturday by Sky News.Dr. Rolando Cuellar, associate professor of intercultural studies at Lee, presented at The Paul G. Hiebert Center for World Christianity and Global Theology Annual Lecture at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Ill.

In his lecture, Exploring Images of Christ from Latin America: A Latino Diaspora Perspective, Dr. Cuellar reflects on the central challenge facing readers of the Gospels concerning the identity and the relevance of the message of Jesus Christ.



Dr. Cuellar discusses ways Latin American Evangelical and Pentecostal theologians have used a variety of images to describe the identity of Christ and his significance for Latin American people who live in poverty and suffering. Consequently, Latin Americans have developed a theology that fully integrates justice, peace, reconciliation, and evangelism.

He invites the North American and the Latino Protestant churches in the United States to rediscover the person and the impact of the message of Christ concerning the Kingdom of God in breaking down the walls of hostility and bringing reconciliation with God and one another.

Dr. Cuellars Christological reflection comes from his experiences as a Latino born and raised in Peru, but currently living in the United States.

Returning to my alma mater and presenting at the Hiebert Center was truly an honor that I will cherish for the rest of my life, said Dr. Cuellar.

Dr. Cuellars lecture will soon be available for viewing by searching @pghiebertcenter on Facebook.Voice of the People Audio Article This summer the Times of NW Indiana again suggested in an editorial that Dunes Action had been in opposition to the renovation of the State Park Pavilion. We never did. In fact, most of us had been waiting for it for decades. They did not...

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....Bournemouth equalized just before the break. Minutes after Nathan Ake was denied by the legs of Alex McCarthy, the visitors made the most of another corner as Ryan Fraser's delivery was flicked on by a combination of Steve Cook and Simon Francis for the unmarked King to volley home at the back post.Fewer patients are uninsured because of the Affordable Care Act's expansion of Medicaid and its mandate that everyone have insurance or pay a penalty. Also, in the 1990s, the state began a fund to help subsidize trauma centers, giving them some of the money collected from moving violations, drunken driving convictions, illegal use of firearms and drug convictions. The state distributes about $4 million to $5 million a year to trauma centers across the state from that fund."I don't talk about whether or not I'd use military force. That's not appropriate to be talking about," he said. "But, I can tell you this, they will not be doing nuclear weapons; that I can tell you, OK? They're not going to be doing nuclear weapons. You can bank on it."Vallas doesn't have Emanuel's message discipline. He doesn't yet have that kind of staff plugged into media like Giangreco. Vallas is also thin-skinned, with a tendency to allow himself to be sidetracked from his message as he defends his record. This is a trait that Emanuel will use Giangreco to exploit.The 47-year-old recently told The Associated Press from a Chicago jail that she fled Lithuania in 2013 over fears she'll be killed by those angered by her claims. She faces slander and other charges in the European country. She worked as a suburban Chicago florist before her February arrest."Anyone who truly knows me knows I would never raise my hand to a woman," he said, adding he has two daughters and was raised by his mother and grandmother.The task force was formed in response to a spike in carjackings in 2017  during which time there were more than 1,000 carjackings in the city. Through April 19, 232 carjackings were recorded in the city, two more than during the same period in 2017, police statistics show. During the same period in 2016, there were 147 carjackings, compared with 78 at the same time in 2015.The veteran judge has long kept tight control over the release of information in the high-profile case, but he has stepped up those efforts as the trial nears. Last week he announced plans to clear the courtroom of the public and news media at a hearing Friday about the troubled past of Laquan McDonald, the teen shot 16 times by the on-duty Van Dyke. That would mark the first time that Gaughan ordered a closed-door session in his courtroom, though he has routinely held extensive meetings with lawyers in his chambers.The man was walking on the sidewalk in the first block of West Van Buren Street around 8:45 p.m. when the attacker came up to him and began talking to him before stabbing him, police said.Three of the robberies happened on April 15, first at 1 p.m. in the 5100 block of North Bernard Street in the North Park neighborhood, then at 7:05 p.m. in the 4900 block of North Kimball Avenue in the Albany Park neighborhood.A Winnebago County grand jury Wednesday indicted 22-year-old Raheem King of Rockford on 126 counts of first-degree murder; four counts of armed robbery; four counts of aggravated unlawful restraint; and one count of aggravated vehicular hijacking. The Rockford Register-Star reports it obtained the indictment Friday."I don't think he's ever had this enthusiasm for somebody, for them wanting to make a deal," Trump said in the Oval Office. "We're not going to be played, OK. We're going to hopefully make a deal. The United States in the past has been played like a fiddle."Harry Joslin, 32, of the 200 block of East Galena Boulevard, is charged with a single count of possession of child pornography depicting a child under 13 while having a previous conviction for child pornography; three counts of possession of child pornography depicting a child under 18; one count of violation of sex offender registration; and a single count of a sex offender communicating with believed minors online, police said in a Facebook post."When immigrants first came here many of them were poor and there was not a lot of meat, and so you saw dishes made from things like rice and pasta and beans which you could stretch," she said. "We wanted to focus on the groups that came here and had the strongest history  the people that stayed and built the groceries and stores and taverns and social clubs."PHOTOS The 50 best photos in the month of September by Chicago Tribune photographers

From the city to the suburbs and beyond, Chicago Tribune photojournalists visually document what is happening in our neighborhoods, tell the stories of those who live and work in our communities and show the impact that the arts, politics and sports have throughout northern Illinois.



In this month's best photos of the month, you'll find great sports photography from the start of the Chicago Bears season at Solider Field, how the city commemorated the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks and celebrations of Mexican Independence day along with many great moments that tell the story of the lives of people who live in the Chicagoland area.Schelfo had joined Couwenhoven on the stroll last August because they were both freshmen from Crown Point, Ind., who were new to the area and they wanted to explore the campus. They walked around the university's Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park, which features 29 large sculptures on 100 acres of prairie landscape.Patel is charged with seven counts of health care fraud, three counts of making false statements in relation to a health care matter, and two counts of aggravated identity theft. The 51-year-old Burr Ridge resident is scheduled to be arraigned May 15, the U.S. attorney said.Legends would put up what were described as semi-permanent tent structures on concrete pads. Along with a full range of alcoholic drinks, the stands would also sell items such as bottled water and some pre-packaged food, according to the company.Illinois Department of Transportation Public Information Officer Gianna Urgo said the agency initiated preliminary engineering and environmental studies for improvements to Route 20 from Randall Road to Shales Parkway in Elgin in 2013. Residents adjacent to the project area were notified of the first public meeting via postcards and newspaper advertisements, she said, and attendees at the first public meeting were invited to join a Community Advisory Group, also known as a CAG.The first-round questions are easier, he said, and questions become more challenging as the trivia bee continues. One question that had some teams stumped was by what name do we know Rapa Nui? The answer was Easter Island."We will not let places with any illegal activity operate in our town," he said. "There isn't any stronger and bigger message (about not allowing such businesses in town) than sending police officers to this place and arresting individuals. This is a small community, a family community, with zero tolerance for this activity.""We're here because of Columbine, Parkland, Sandy Hook, the list goes on. You are doing something about it," said U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Schaumburg. He said he has helped sponsor federal bills "calling for universal background checks, closing the gun show loophole, a three-day waiting period on handguns. These are going nowhere in Congress. I need your help now more than ever."Roskam, of Wheaton, has been in office since 2007 and conducts tele-town halls once a month. The system auto-dials people in the district and invites them to join the call to listen or get in a queue for the chance to ask a question. While there is generally a specific topic assigned for each event, Roskam does not limit the questions to the theme. In a typical call, about a dozen people get the chance to ask questions. The calls allow Roskam's office to "reach people where they are, in their homes, while maintaining the one-on-one, personal interactions," according to Roskam's office. Roskam has taken calls from both supporters and critics during the forums, which are arranged via his campaign website, roskamforcongress.com.A 63-year-old Chicago man was charged April 2 with possession of a controlled substance. Bond was set at $25,000, for James J. Healy of the 8300 block of West Summerdale Avenue, who was to appear in court April 24. Police were informed of a beige vehicle traveling in the opposite lanes and swerving in and out of lanes of traffic. The vehicle started moving slowly and stopped facing north on Harlem Avenue, south of Lawrence Avenue. Officers found the driver slumped over the steering wheel, with the engine running and keys in the ignition. The driver's right foot was on the brake. An officer reached through the driver's side window of the vehicle and turned off the engine. Police said at that point, Healy woke up. Police said he grabbed plastic baggies, which contained a powdery substance, and put the baggies in his left hand. An officer reached through the open driver's side window and grabbed Healy's left hand and recovered two baggies, police said. Another officer opened the front passenger side window and recovered a third bag. The officers asked if he had any medical condition, and when he said yes, an ambulance was called. Paramedics from the Norwood Fire Department took him to Resurrection Hospital. At the station, the substance in the baggies field tested positive for heroin, weighing 2.1 grams, according to police.Someone stole a cellphone valued at $1,000 from the hands of a commuter aboard a CTA bus in the 100 block of South Austin Boulevard between 11:55 a.m. and 12 p.m. April 19, then, along with several other riders, exited the bus and ran east on Madison Street.Couched between chants of "No Hate! No Fear! Immigrants are welcome here!" and "Workers united will never be defeated," Kilpatrick said she'd like to know who gave ICE the authority to even conduct the action. The men who were detained were working as roofers on a building in the complex.After the accident, Cardona was getting into an ambulance to get checked out when Esserman noticed fur all over his jacket. She asked whether he had a cat or dog and Cardona, almost in tears, said he had a dog that took off at the time of the accident."I like the scene, just not the weather," he joked. During his time in Chicago, Munk frequented The Laugh Factory, the Comedy Bar, Cole's, Lincoln Lodge, Zanies and wrote and starred in plays in collaboration with The Second City. His plays, "Nothing to Lose (But Our Chains)" and "Black Side of the Moon" earned him two Helen Hayes Award nominations. He was also chosen as the Comedy Chicagoan of the year by the Chicago Tribune in 2017."We don't even know how many people died from the botched effort of an administration that, it wasn't that they couldn't do it, it was that they didn't get it. President Trump had absolutely no sense of urgency regarding the lives of the people of Puerto Rico. He thought it was okay to go and throw paper towels at us," Cruz criticized.Nature & Wildlife Discovery Center unveils new programs, improvements

The Nature & Wildlife Discovery Center in Pueblo, Colorado, announced new programs and facility improvements ahead of the fall season.You are here: Arts

The 14th Cross-Strait Book Fair will be held in Taiwan from Aug. 16 to 23, organizers announced Thursday.

The main exhibition due on Aug. 17 in Taipei will feature hundreds of publishers, copyright agencies and libraries from both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

Meanwhile, four parallel sessions will be held in the city of Keelung, and Chiayi, Pingtung and Nantou counties in addition to a newly introduced online portal for the event.

As this year marks the 30th anniversary of the start of cross-strait copyright exchanges, a special exhibition on the exchanges will be arranged, said the organizer.

Hubei Province, this year's guest of honor, is expected to bring a list of activities to promote its intangible cultural heritages and traditional food.

Founded in 2005, the annual book fair is held alternately in Taiwan and Fujian's coastal city of Xiamen.

A total of 2,360 cooperation agreements have been signed at the previous book fairs.Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has traveled a difficult road toward legitimacy and integration in the United States, reflective of many aspects of the Chinese immigrant experience.







This is why the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) in New York City puts on two groundbreaking exhibitions, which run from April 26 to Sept. 9, attempting to trace the complex story of Chinese medicine in the country.

"Chinese Medicine in America: Converging Ideas, People and Practices" tells a cross-cultural story of Chinese medicine and practices in America through historical medical artifacts, contemporary art, and profiles on notable figures in Chinese medicine history to create an engaging space for exploring how medicine, philosophy and history are linked.

On the Shelves of Kam Wah Chung & Co.: General Store and Apothecary in John Day, Oregon, is an immersive historical exhibition that celebrates the medical practice of Ing "Doc" Hay who became a prominent figure in eastern Oregon after the California Gold Rush.The 6th Sino-German Culture Festival themed "Her" kicked off on Thursday, gathering almost 100 female artists from the two countries.

"The theme of the 6th Sino-German Culture Festival is 'Her,' which should not be understood as being feminist," said Wolfram Wickert, chairman of the event organizer Bambuspforte Association. "It should only be taken as a good occasion that female artists from both China and Germany gather for intercultural communication."

The 11-day festival features operas, art and photo exhibitions, concerts, dance performances and readings.

During the opening ceremony, Berlin Mayor Michael Mueller said the Sino-German Culture Festival has contributed greatly to the cultural exchanges between the two countries.

"The theme for this year is a heated political and social topic, which is already at the center of many discussions," he said, adding that the festival offered a unique opportunity for female artists to have trans-cultural communication.

Chen Ping, counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Germany, said that over the last 70 years, especially since the beginning of China's reform and opening-up, the status of women in China has been largely improved.

Women are playing a more and more important role in the Chinese society, and the festival is a good opportunity to show that to the German society, he added.

After the opening ceremony, artists from China Federation of Literary and Art Circles played Chinese traditional music instruments like Konghou, Guqin and Pipa, while artists from Berlin performed ballet and choruses.Almost 90 years after it first opened, Havana's iconic Capitol building has been restored to its original splendor as it recently began to function as the National Assembly after a mammoth renovation project.

Inaugurated in May 1929, the colossal Capitolio was built to house the Congress, which was abolished following the Cuban Revolution in 1959. The building had since then hosted the Academy of Sciences for five decades.

Today, following six years of meticulous restoration work, it has regained its sense of historic purpose, housing the administrative offices of the National Assembly, Cuba's legislature which just a week ago elected the country's new president, Miguel Diaz-Canel.

"This is the first time the building has been restored since it opened. Some specific repairs have been made (before), but this is the first full renovation," Mariela Mulet, chief executive of investments at the Capitol, told Xinhua.

The building was declared a national monument in 2010 and handed over to the Havana Historian's Office, which immediately launched the costly renovation effort.

"About 90 percent of the materials used to restore the building were imported, making it expensive and difficult for us," Mulet said.

More than 500 people participated in the massive project.

Mulet and her team decided to undertake the restoration in stages, prioritizing the repair of all the roofs, interior yards and the facade, which was severely damaged by the passage of time.

Inspired by the Pantheon in Paris, St. Peter's Basilica in Rome and the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., the building has been given many striking features, including a monumental 36-meter-wide granite staircase flanked by two bronze statues made by an Italian artist.

Walking in, visitors are met by a magnificent statue that represents the republic. Almost 20 meters high and weighing 49 tons, it is considered the third largest indoor sculpture in the world, after the Golden Buddha of Nara in Japan, and the Abraham Lincoln Memorial in Washington.

Carved in bronze, laminated in gold and standing on a solid base of Egyptian onyx marble, the sculpture stands guard at the entrance to a 120-meter-long hallway called "the Hall of the Lost Steps."

Overhead is the Capitol's dome. Being 91.7 meters in height, it was the fifth tallest in the world at the time of the building's inauguration.

One of the most popular and solemn places in the building is the tomb of the unknown independence fighter, a crypt dedicated to those who fought for independence from Spanish colonialism in the 19th century and a symbol of the democratic spirit of the Caribbean nation.

The north wing was opened to the public in March, with guided visits becoming an attraction for locals and foreigners alike, but there is still work to be done, said Marisol Marrero, general designer of the restoration work.

"The most difficult task has been to conserve the delicacy with which this building was built and at the same time install modern technological systems like surveillance, alarms, air conditioning, Internet and communications without doing damage," said Marrero.

The challenge was overcome thanks to the expertise and dedication of the contractors, she said.

"It has been a good professional experience because we've had to invent solutions, like concealing or hiding air conditioning pipes inside the walls in order to maintain the original decoration of the premises," she said.

The Capitol is expected to be fully renovated by November 2019, in time to mark the 500th anniversary of the founding of Havana.The American film director Martin Scorsese was named on Wednesday as the winner of the 2018 Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts.

Scorsese is the first eight prize winners to be named for the 38th edition of the Awards, which seek to "contribute to extolling and promoting those scientific, cultural and humanistic values that form part of the universal heritage of humanity".

There are seven other categories in the Princess of Asturias Awards which are; Communications and Humanities, International Cooperation, Sports, Literature, Social Sciences, Concord and Technical and Scientific Research, with the winners of these Awards to be announced over the coming weeks.

The Awards, which are the most important annual prizes given in Spain, are presented in a gala ceremony in the city of Oviedo (northern Spain) every October.

The Awards are one of the cultural events of the year in Spain, with the ceremony attended by King Felipe VI, Queen Letizia and the Infanta Leonor -- the Princess of Asturias and the heir to the Spanish throne.

Scorsese, at 75, is responsible for directing such emblematic films as Taxi Driver, Goodfellas' "Casino", Gangs of New York, Raging Bull and the Departed, which won Scorsese an Oscar as "Best Director".

He was chosen ahead of 35 candidates from 21 different countries. Jury said he was an "indisputable figure in contemporary filmmaking", and was "one of the most outstanding film directors of the movement to renew filmmaking that emerged in the 1970s".

"He has directed more than twenty films that now form part of the history of cinema and continues to work unceasingly, masterfully combining innovation and classicism in his films," wrote the jury.



The son of China's richest man has founded a new film company and held an award ceremony in Shanghai on Thursday to support new directors because he doesn't want to see "rubbish films."











Wang Sicong, son of Dalian Wanda Group Chairman and China's richest man Wang Jianlin, launched his film startup Banana Pictures in 2015. Industry mainstays such as veteran directors Huang Jianxin, Andrew Lau and Zhang Yibai, producer Peggy Chiao, and actors Bao Jianfeng and Yuan Hong attended last night's gala to show their support for the project.





The junior Wang is an entrepreneur, investor, esports fan and film lover, as well as an online celebrity on China's social networks. He's known for giving his unfiltered opinions on films, and in the past has attacked famous directors Jiang Wen and Feng Xiaogang for some of their films that didn't live up to his standards.





"There are too many rubbish films in the market. I don't want to see them anymore. So I decided to open this company, training and nurturing new directors with the intention of changing the status quo, " Wang said.





The company inaugurated a support program last September to award 100,000 yuan (US$15,700) to 2 million yuan to exceptional new directors, depending on the quality of their short films.



Chinese airline brand values are taking off as they expand abroad while their US counterparts' brand values are dropping, according to the latest report by Brand Finance, the world's leading independent brand valuation and strategy consultancy.

China Southern remains the Chinese brand leader, with brand value up 10 percent to $4.1 billion, ahead of China Eastern and Air China with $3.8 billion and $3.4 billion respectively.

The 21 percent growth rate of China Eastern's brand value topped the three Chinese airlines, while Air China's brand value witnessed a 19 percent increase.

One the contrary, all American airlines' brand values fell, even though they took four top-five spots on the top 10 list of the most valuable airline brands.

American Airlines, the world's most valuable airline brand, experienced a 7 percent decrease to $9.1 billion in brand value. Second-ranked Delta was down 6 percent to $8.7 billion and third-ranked United Airlines was down 2 percent to $7 billion. Fifth-ranked Southwest fell the most, dropping 12 percent to $5.3 billion.

"In the airline market, customers are making decisions about brands on a very narrow range of factors: price, routing and schedules. The Chinese brands are the big winners in this area, as they have been able to grow their brands by giving customers greater confidence in their dependability and safety as they grow alongside the Chinese economy," said David Haigh, CEO of Brand Finance.

The report also revealed the global airline business is moving eastward, as British Airways was also down 6 percent to $3.5 billion, falling to 8th place in the ranking behind two Chinese brands, and only narrowly ahead of Air China.While a university in one state in the United States closes Confucius Institutes, in another state the institute is working with the US Department of Defense on a language program.

That disconnect was one of the issues discussed by educators at a panel in Washington on Tuesday about the importance of higher education exchanges between China and the US in the past 40 years.

The Confucius Institute is a nonprofit public educational organization that works with universities worldwide to promote Chinese language and culture, support local Chinese teaching internationally and facilitate cultural exchanges.

The first such institute in the US was established at the University of Maryland in 2005.

Despite the progress and recognition that the Confucius Institutes have achieved over the years, they have been accused by some of posing a potential threat to US national security and of exerting Chinese influence on US students and faculties.

On March 23, two US congressmen, Michael McCaul and Henry Cuellar, sent a letter to universities in Texas hosting Confucius Institutes, urging them to consider terminating their partnerships, calling the institutes "a threat to US national security".

On April 9, the Texas A&M University system announced its intention to close Confucius Institutes at its College Station and Prairie View campuses.

Meanwhile, in the state of Arizona, the Confucius Institute is collaborating with the US Department of Defense at Arizona State University in Tempe.

The Defense Department has invested in the Confucius Institute at ASU as it looks for a pipeline to Mandarin speakers, according to Matt Salmon, former US representative and vice-president for government affairs at ASU.

"I find it a little bit incredulous that there are those who consider teaching Chinese language and culture as posing a security threat. ... If it does pose a security threat, then the DoD has made a big mistake by funding our program," Salmon said.

"But I think that shows that they are not concerned about it being a threat to national security. It actually enhanced national security by having that kind of ability," he added.

Salmon suggested that the US and China not walk away from the relationships.

"The answer is not to fold up and get rid of these kinds of programs. To me, the answer is to have more of this so there can be more mutual understanding, more dialogue and more interaction with one another."

John Holden, CEO of the US-China Strong Foundation, said, "These classrooms are reaching out to communities and are stimulating interest in more advanced studies of China that they (the universities) may not be able to offer themselves."

Harvey Perlman, professor of law and former chancellor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, shared his story of interacting with Hanban, the Confucius Institutes headquarters in Beijing.

When Perlman first got the contract from Hanban to sign for the Confucius Institute at his university, there were terms that he believed were peculiar from the standpoint of US law.

"I rewrote it and sent it back. It was accepted. The next year I was in Beijing and met with Madam Xu Lin, head of the Confucius Institute. She said she wanted me to take the contract for Confucius Institute and rewrite it all, so it's consistent with American values and law," Perlman said.

"Confucius Institute is not a political organization and does not have a political agenda," he added.

Looking to the future of educational exchanges between China and the US, Salmon said "constructive engagement" is a must.

"If we want to have a really positive relationship where we can honestly share our differences, it's imperative to enhance communication and mutual exchanges," he said. Flash

Moon Jae-in, President of the Republic of Korea (ROK), and Kim Jong Un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), held a commemorative event to plant a pine tree, hoping for peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula.



The two leaders started their afternoon schedule with the tree-planting ceremony, after having formal, closed-door talks for over an hour and a half in the morning at the Peace House, on the ROK side of the border village of Panmunjom, which has divided the Korean Peninsula since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

The pine tree was planted beside a path near the military demarcation line (MDL), along which late Hyundai Group founder Chung Ju-yung in 1998 delivered a total of 1,001 cows to the DPRK farmers to help improve inter-Korean relations.

Moon and Kim used a mixture of soil and water from both countries. The pine tree dates back to 1953, the year the Korean War ended in an armistice. The peninsula technically remains at war.

Engraved on the stone plaque for the tree are a phrase "Peace and Prosperity Are Planted," and signatures of the two leaders.

After the tree-planting ceremony, Moon and Kim took a stroll along the Footbridge to talk privately with no one accompanying them. At the end of the bridge stands a signpost of the MDL symbolizing the division of the two sides.

During the morning session of formal talks, Moon and Kim focused mainly on the denuclearization of the peninsula, the establishment of permanent peace and the enhanced inter-Korean relations, Moon's senior press secretary said.

The two leaders could sign a joint declaration, the exact wording of which is being drafted by officials from both sides.

Kim became the first DPRK leader to step onto ROK soil since the end of the Korean War. The Moon-Kim summit was the third-ever between the two sides after the first and second ones in 2000 and 2007. Flash

Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in central China Friday, saying he expected their two-day informal meeting will open a new chapter in bilateral ties.

Welcoming Modi's visit to Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, Xi said in the past three years, he and Modi have established a good working relationship through mutual visits and meetings at multilateral events.

The two leaders have reached many important consensuses via these meetings, which have sent the world a positive signal on China-India friendship and reflected the strong will of the two emerging economies to enhance mutually beneficial cooperation and achieve common development, according to Xi.

"The great cooperation between our two great countries can influence the world," Xi said.

Xi suggested that both sides should look at the complete picture of Sino-Indian ties from a strategic perspective, so as to ensure that relations between the two countries always proceed in the right direction.

He called for continuous strengthening of friendly relations between the two countries so that their friendship will continue to flow forward like the Yangtze and Ganges rivers.

China stands ready to work with India to establish a closer partnership of development, so as to promote all-round progress in exchanges and cooperation between the two countries in various sectors, Xi said.

Modi said that the informal meeting, which will run until Saturday, has a historic significance.

The prime minister said that maintaining frequent high-level exchanges and strategic communications between India and China is conducive to enhancing mutual understanding and cooperation, which is in line with the common interests of development and prosperity of the two countries and the region. India is willing to work with China to this end, he said.

During their visit to an exhibition of cultural relics at Hubei Provincial Museum on Friday afternoon, Xi said that the culture that rose around the region of Hubei Province in ancient times was an important part of and played a decisive role in the development of the Chinese civilization.

Both China and India are countries with a splendid history and culture, and there are many similarities between cultures of the two countries, Xi said.

The president said that China and India should conduct exchanges in wider areas and at a deeper level, commit themselves to the revival of Eastern civilizations, advocate the respect for diversity of civilizations and promote harmonious coexistence of different civilizations.

Modi said that India and China are both countries that grew from ancient civilizations, and share similarities in the historical development of their civilizations. Cultural exchanges between the two countries go back to ancient times.

Modi called on the two sides to increase mutual understanding, and work together to deal with global issues and challenges using the wisdom of the two countries.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said ahead of the meeting on April 24 that the two sides agreed that an informal meeting would be a good idea so that the two leaders can have in-depth exchanges on major issues of common concern in an appropriate atmosphere. Flash

China said Friday it welcomes the inter-Korean summit and extends its congratulations.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang made the remarks in a statement.

The leaders of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the Republic of Korea (ROK) held a successful summit today, and they reached important consensus and issued a joint declaration on improving inter-Korean relations, easing military tension on the Korean Peninsula and advancing the realization of denuclearization and long-term stability of the Peninsula, Lu said.

"The positive outcomes of the summit are conducive to promoting reconciliation and cooperation between the two sides, upholding peace and stability on the Peninsula and advancing the political settlement of the Peninsula issue," Lu said.

"China welcomes it and extends its congratulations," he said.

Noting that the DPRK and the ROK belong to the same nation, Lu said China always supports the two sides in building up mutual trust and improving their relations through dialogue and consultation.

This is in the interests of the two sides and the region, and in line with the shared aspiration of the international community, Lu said.

"We hope and believe that the DPRK and the ROK will follow through on the consensus reached between the two leaders at this summit and continue to advance reconciliation and cooperation," he said.

"We hope that the relevant parties will maintain the momentum for dialogue and work together to promote the denuclearization of the Peninsula and the political settlement of the Peninsula issue," Lu said.

China stands ready to continue to play its positive role to this end, he added. Flash

Moon Jae-in, Presdient of the Republic of Korea (ROK) and Kim Jong Un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), confirmed a common goal of complete denuclearization and agreed to push for multilateral talks to turn the current armistice agreement into a peace treaty after their first summit meeting in Panmunjom Friday.



Moon and Kim held a signing ceremony for their joint declaration, the Panmunjom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity and Unification of the Korean Peninsula, at Peace House on the ROK side of Panmunjom, the border village dividing the rival Koreas since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

The leaders confirmed their common goal of realizing a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula via complete denuclearization.

They agreed to push for talks, which would also involve China and the United States, to establish a permanent, firm peace regime with a view to ending hostilities and turning the armistice agreement into a peace treaty this year, the 65th anniversary of the agreement.

Ending the current unactual state of armistice and establishing a firm peace regime on the peninsula is a historical mission that cannot be delayed any more, the joint declaration said.

The two sides shared the view that the measures initiated by the DPRK are very meaningful and crucial for the Korean Peninsula's denuclearization, and agreed to carry out their respective roles and responsibilities in this regard.

They also agreed to seek the international community's support and cooperation for the peninsula's denuclearization.

Kim walked across the military demarcation line into the ROK, becoming the first DPRK leader to set foot on ROK soil since the Korean War ended with the armistice.

With Kim's visit, the 800-meter-wide Panmunjom dividing the two Koreas became a symbol of peace and dialogue from a symbol of confrontation and division.

After signing the joint declaration, Moon and Kim hugged each other and smiled.

Moon agreed to visit Pyongyang this fall and continue to have frequent discussions with Kim through regular meetings and direct telephone conversations to build mutual trust. A hotline between the two leaders was set up a week earlier, the first such communications channel between the leaders of the two Koreas.

The Panmunjom declaration has three main themes: establishing a peace regime, making efforts to ease military tensions, and prosperity and unification of the two Koreas.

Seoul and Pyongyang agreed to carry out a phased disarmament in accordance with the eased military tension and the progress in military trust-building, reaffirming the non-aggression agreement that precludes the use of force in any form toward each other.

Moon and Kim declared that there will be no more war on the peninsula, sharing a commitment to bring a swift end to the Cold War legacy of division and confrontation and approach a new era of national reconciliation, peace and prosperity.

The two Koreas agreed to completely stop all hostile acts against each other on land, in sea and air that are the source of military tension and conflict. In this vein, the two sides agreed to transform the four-km-wide demilitarized zone into a peace zone by ceasing as of May 1, all hostile acts such as loudspeaker broadcasts against each other and distributing leaflets across the border.

The two sides will devise practical measures to change the areas around the Northern Limit Line, which serves as the de-facto maritime border in the West Sea, into a maritime peace zone to prevent accidental maritime clashes and guarantee safe fishing activities.

They also agreed to take various military measures to ensure active mutual cooperation, exchanges, visits and contacts. The two sides agreed to hold frequent meetings between military authorities, including the defense ministers' meeting, in order to immediately discuss and resolve the military issues that arise between them. They agreed to convene a general-level military meeting in May.

To resolve humanitarian issues, the two Koreas will hold a reunion of families separated across the border around the Aug. 15 Liberation Day, when the Korean Peninsula was liberated from Japanese colonial rule from 1910-45. The two sides will discuss overall issues regarding the separated families via Red Cross meetings.

To achieve balanced growth and co-prosperity on the peninsula, the two sides will implement the projects agreed upon in the Oct. 4, 2007 declaration by then ROK President Roh Moo-hyun and then DPRK leader Kim Jong Il, father of the current leader, following the second inter-Korean summit.

As a first step, the ROK and the DPRK will connect and modernize railways and roads in the eastern transport corridor and between Seoul and the DPRK's northwestern city of Sinuiju.

To raise the sense of national reconciliation and unity, the two Koreas agreed to encourage exchanges, cooperation, visits and contacts at all levels.

To secure close consultations between the authorities of the two Koreas and smooth exchanges and cooperation among their private sectors, the two sides will establish a joint liaison office in the DPRK's border town of Kaesong. Flash

China Friday called for the Iran nuclear deal remain intact and be treated seriously.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying made the remarks at a regular press briefing when responding to a question about Russia's concerns over the situation facing the deal.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Thursday that Russia is "seriously concerned" with the recent statements by U.S. and French leaders on the Iran nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Zakharova said that the deal is a balanced mechanism that takes into account the interests of all participants. "The destruction of this fragile balance of interests will lead to serious consequences for international security and the non-proliferation regime," Zakharova said.

The JCPOA is a multilateral agreement jointly negotiated and signed by six international mediators (Russia, the United States, Britain, China, France, and Germany), the European Union and Iran. It was adopted by United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231.

"China calls for all related parties to strengthen dialogue and coordination over the situation facing the Iran nuclear deal, to keep the deal intact and treat it seriously," Hua said.

China will continue to safeguard and implement the deal in an objective, fair, and responsible manner, she said. Flash

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said that the location options of his meeting with top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un has been reduced to two or three sites, and the United States will set up the meeting "very shortly."

Speaking before his meeting with visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Trump said a "lot of very positive things happened over the last 24 hours," referring to the just-concluded meeting between Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

"We're in total touch with both North Korea (DPRK) and South Korea. We'll be setting up a meeting very shortly," he said. "We have it broken down to probably two sites now, two or three sites, locations."

Trump said that "hopefully we're going to have great success, we'll see what happens," referring to his meeting with Kim.

"The relationships are building and building strongly," he noted. "This will be a great thing for the world."

He added that he did not think Kim was "playing" the United States.

"I don't think he's playing. And... it's never gone this far," he said. "I don't think it's ever had this enthusiasm for somebody -- for them wanting to make a deal."

"We're not going to be played," he said. "This isn't like past administrations, we don't play games."

"We will, I think, come up with a solution. And if we don't, we leave the room with great respect. We leave the room and we just keep it going," he added.

Earlier on Friday, Trump said while meeting with the U.S. Olympic team that he hopes all the Korean people could live in peace.

"On the occasion of this week's meeting between President Moon and Kim Jong Un, I want to express my hope that all of the people of Korea -- North Korea (DPRK) and South -- can someday live in harmony, prosperity, and peace. And it looks like it could happen," he said.

He also hoped that "the day will come when Olympic athletes can compete on a Korean Peninsula that is free of nuclear weapons, and where all Koreans can live together and can share their dreams."

"It would be a wonderful thing to do," he said.

On Friday morning, Trump tweeted that the Kim-Moon meeting is "historic."

"After a furious year of missile launches and Nuclear testing, a historic meeting between North and South Korea is now taking place," Trump tweeted.

Speaking of the inter-Korean announcement to transfer the armistice treaty into a peace agreement, Trump said that the United States and all of its people should be very proud of what is now happening on the Korean Peninsula.

He also thanked Chinese President Xi Jinping for the progress, saying that "without him it would have been a much longer, tougher, process!"

He added that "good things are happening, but only time will tell!"

Mike Pompeo, who was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the new secretary of state on Thursday, met with Kim earlier this month. The meeting was confirmed by Trump on April 18 who tweeted that it "went very smoothly and a good relationship was formed."

Pompeo's trip aimed to lay the groundwork for direct talks between Trump and Kim, which are expected to take place in May or early June. Flash

The Security Council on Friday adopted a resolution to extend the mandate of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara for six months, till Oct. 31, 2018.

Resolution 2414 won the support of 12 of the 15 members of the Security Council while China, Ethiopia and Russia abstained.

The resolution emphasizes the importance of a renewed commitment by the parties to advancing the political process in preparation for a new round of negotiations.

It emphasizes the need to make progress toward a "realistic, practicable and enduring political solution" to the question of Western Sahara based on compromise.

The resolution expresses concern over the presence of the Polisario Front, which is fighting with Morocco for the independence of Western Sahara, in the buffer strip in Guerguerat in the southwestern tip of the disputed territory, and calls for its immediate withdrawal.

Moroccan ambassador to the United Nations Omar Hilale said after the adoption of the resolution that there would be no political process without the withdrawal of the Polisario Front from Guerguerat.

The resolution also voices concern over the Polisario Front's announcement of the planned relocation of its administrative functions from Algeria to Bir Lahlou in the northeast of Western Sahara, and calls for the Polisario Front to refrain from "any such destabilizing actions."

After the vote, Russia and Ethiopia expressed disappointment at the United States, which drafted the resolution, for not incorporating their concerns in the final text.

Western Sahara was partitioned between Morocco and Mauritania at the end of Spain's colonial rule in 1976. When Mauritania, under pressure from Polisario guerrillas, abandoned all claims to its portion in August 1979, Morocco moved to occupy that sector and asserted administrative control over the whole territory. Fighting broke out between Morocco and the pro-independence Polisario Front.

A cease-fire was signed in 1991. The UN mission, known by its French acronym as Minurso, was deployed that year to monitor the cease-fire and to organize, if possible, a referendum on self-determination of the people of Western Sahara. Flash

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday revealed again his profound differences with German Chancellor Angela Merkel over defense burden, trade and the Iran nuke deal.



In a joint press briefing with the visiting German leader, Trump complained again that the United Sates has shouldered a "far greater burden than we should have" in the defense of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

"Other countries should be paying more," he said. "We're protecting Europe and, yet, we pay, by far, more than anybody else."

"NATO is wonderful but it helps Europe more than it helps us. And why are we paying the vast majority of the costs?" Trump asked.

In response, Merkel said that Germany in 2019 will earmark 1.3 percent of its GDP for defense.

"That has been an increase over the past few years. We haven't yet met the target where we should be, but we are getting closer to the target to the guideline that we've set up for ourselves," she added.

Trump has lashed out at NATO members, Germany in particular, for failing to increase their national defense budget to the threshold of 2 percent of their GDP, something they promised in 2014 to achieve in 10 years.

Trump also noted that the U.S. trade relations with Germany, and the European Union at large, were not "reciprocal."

"We need a reciprocal relationship, which we don't have. The United States right now has a trade deficit with the European Union of 151 billion U.S. dollars ... it's been unfair," he said.

The White House host further added that "there's no way we should have a trade deficit of 151 billion U.S. dollars. So we're going to make it reciprocal. We're going to make it a much more fair situation."

Trump also noted sarcastically the bad blood between the European leaders and himself.

"I believe that -- you know, when I look at the numbers in Germany -- and some other countries, they may not like Donald Trump but you have to understand, that means I'm doing a good job because I'm representing the United States," he said.

The two sides also seemed to have failed to reach convergence over Trump's earlier threat to increase tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, as Merkel said it is up to Trump to decide whether to exempt the European Union from the tariffs before the May 1 deadline.

She only said that "we had an exchange of views on the current state of affairs of the negotiations, and the respective assessments on where we stand on this. And the decision lies with the president," referring to Trump.

She also defended the German trade stance, saying that her government is already taking actions to change the imbalance.

"The president obviously is not satisfied with the trade surplus. We have already been able to reduce that, our trade surplus that is with the United States, but we still have a long way to go. But the United States, also due to the tax reform, again has become a very interesting place to invest for our companies," she said.

"We can say with great pride that not only hundreds of thousands of cars are exported from Germany to the United States, but from the U.S. to the rest of the world, hundreds of thousands of cars that are built here in the states are exported to the rest of the world with creating American jobs, and I believe that the workers here have very good working conditions," she added.

As for the Iran nuclear deal, Trump vowed to ensure that Iran "does not even get close to a nuclear weapon, and that Iran ends its proliferation of dangerous missiles, and its support for terrorism."

"We must also ensure that Iran does not profit from our success," he said, refusing to say whether to leave the deal, although his newly picked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said earlier on the same day that Trump is unlikely to remain in the deal.

Merkel acknowledged that the current deal is not sufficient, but said that Berlin believes that the deal "is a first step" that has contributed to the slowing of the Iranian nuke activities.

Merkel paid a working visit to the United States on Friday, following French President Emmanuel Macron's high-profile state visit to the country. Flash

The 32nd summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) concluded in Singapore on Saturday, reaffirming the bloc's cooperation and common vision.

Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said ASEAN leaders have adopted deliverables which are in line with the priorities this year for ASEAN to strengthen its resilience and innovative capacity.

At the press conference after the summit, Lee said one deliverable is the ASEAN Leaders' Vision for a Resilient and Innovative ASEAN, and the second is the establishment of the ASEAN Smart Cities Network.

The network will use technology to improve lives and livelihood of the people in cities across all the ASEAN member states, according to Lee.

The third one is the ASEAN Leaders' Statement on Cybersecurity Cooperation to deepen regional cooperation and coordination to keep up with the rapid pace of digitalization.

Lee said he is also pleased to announce the finalization of the Model ASEAN Extradition Treaty (MAET), the revitalization of the Singapore-ASEAN Youth Fund, and the set-up of an annual training workshop in Singapore, called the ASEAN Law Academy programme.

The ASEAN leaders have good discussions during their meeting on regional issues and ASEAN's external engagements, according to Lee.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The 32nd ASEAN Summit and related meetings were held in Singapore from April 25-28.As professional orchestras spring up like mushrooms around China, musicians from overseas are making their way to the country to make the most of new opportunities

Emma Jane Whitney's debut with the Suzhou Symphony Orchestra a couple of years ago was far from the fanfare performance she might have imagined beforehand. Instead it was more akin to being thrown under a cold shower when you are half awake.

An 11-hour flight that was supposed to deliver the British French horn player to the Chinese city in plenty of time for her first rehearsal with the orchestra turned into a 30-hour odyssey because of a flight delay, and when she finally arrived in Suzhou she was exhausted.Golden State Coalition Little Saigon Rally

Contact: Chaplain Dr. Wiley S. Drake, Chairman, Congressional Prayer Conference of Washington D.C., 714-865-8132; Douglas V. Gibbs, Golden State Coalition Media Director, 951-219-3975; Golden State Coalition

WESTMINSTER, Calif., April 28, 2018 /Christian Newswire/ -- In a move to send a message of liberty to Sacramento and the voting public, the Golden State Coalition will be holding a rally at Sid Goldstein Freedom Park, 14199 All American Way in Westminster, California on Sunday, April 29, 2018 from 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm. The date coincides with Vietnam's "End of Country" Day (April 30), with a message to the Free Vietnamese in the United States that this year the date will also represent "Beginning of Liberty" Day.

We have a lot of work ahead of us. The damage to California committed by the Democrats in Sacramento has been epochal. We are at a crossroads.

It is time to take the threat of what the Democrats have done seriously. Our State is in shambles. We once ranked among the top in prosperity, and now rank as the State with the most people in poverty. We once ranked among the highest in education, but now we are cellar-dwellers in our educational ranking. It is time for a change in leadership, and the candidates of the Golden State Coalition are in place to take on that challenge.

The Golden State Coalition Candidates are Travis Allen (for Governor), Paul Taylor (for U.S. Senate), David Hernandez (for California Lt. Governor), Mark Meuser (for California Secretary of State), Judge Steven Bailey (for California Attorney General), Edwin Duterte (for U.S. Congress, 43rd District), Benito Bernal (for U.S. Congress, 29th District), and Jazmina Saavedra (for U.S. Congress, 44th District).We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on!

Go to formThunder Bay grain trimmers Fish Waters and Steve Samec monitor the flow of grain that is filling up the cargo holds onboard an ocean vessel at the Richardson Elevator on Tuesday.We attempted to send a notification to your email address but we were unable to verify that you provided a valid email address. Please click here to update your email address if you wish to receive notifications. Otherwise, you may click here to disable notifications and hide this message.CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio -- OVI, Mayfield Road: At 2:20 a.m. April 19, an officer on patrol saw a car traveling without its headlights activated. The car then began to weave, and the officer attempted to make a traffic stop.

The car would not stop, and the driver eventually hit a speed of 60 mph, at one point sideswiping a car. The officer gave up the high-speed pursuit, but continued in the direction the suspect's car was traveling.

Shortly after, it was found that the suspect's car had been driven over a fence in a residential yard and had slammed into a house at the intersection of Luxor and Superior roads in East Cleveland.

The man whose car had been sideswiped followed the suspect and saw him, after the crash, get out of his car's passenger side and run.

A short time later, the suspect stopped a Cleveland Heights police officer. The suspect smelled of alcohol as he told the officer that two men with guns had forced him to drive into the house. As he spoke to the officer, the suspect asked several times about the location of his car.

The suspect, who was alone, failed field sobriety tests and was arrested. He refused to be processed at the jail and fell on the floor several times, stating that he was going to urinate on himself.

Police charged the man with OVI, fleeing and eluding, and driving with a suspended license.

Disturbance, Noble Road: At 10:45 p.m. April 19, police were called to a Noble Road home where a woman stated that she was involved in an argument with her father and that he pushed her. The woman was not injured and did not wish to fill out a police report.

The father told officers that he pushed his daughter because she blocked his path. He wanted to file a report.

While on the scene, police learned that the woman was wanted on a warrant for driving under suspension. Police arrested the woman.

Carrying a concealed weapon, Noble Road: At 11:10 p.m. April 19, an officer on patrol saw a car being driven without its headlights activated and conducted a traffic stop.

As police spoke with the driver, 29, the odor of marijuana was detected from inside the auto. The man said that someone else had previously smoked marijuana in his car, but that he had not.

The officer later asked a second time about the odor and the driver produced two small cigars containing the substance. The man said there were no more drugs in his car, but said he did have a weapon inside. The gun was in a backpack. It was unloaded, but near it was a loaded magazine.

The man was arrested and charged with carrying a concealed weapon. In addition, police found in the car a grinder containing marijuana residue and a scale. He was further charged with possession of drug paraphernalia.

Domestic violence, Hillcrest Road: At 12:15 a.m. April 21, officers responded to a call of a domestic disturbance in progress in a home. The dispatcher notified officers that a woman could be heard in the 911 call yelling for someone to get off of her.

As police arrived, a man was seen driving away. Police caught up with him and spoke to him at a local delicatessen.

At the house, the woman, 30, told police that the man is the father of one of her two children and that he lives with her. She said that the couple was at a restaurant earlier in the evening and the man became drunk.

The woman left the man at the restaurant and told him to stay the night with his male friend, who was also at the eatery. Hours later, the man called and asked to be let in the house. The woman did so and laid back down on the couch, upon which she had been resting.

The man then got on top of her. When she told him to get off, he grabbed her legs and pulled her off the couch. The woman said that the man also bit and choked her, pulled her by the hair and slammed her to the floor. The woman broke and bloodied a fingernail fighting off the man.

Police arrested the man, 31, and charged him with domestic violence. It was learned that he had also been charged with domestic violence in 2012 in Willoughby Hills.

Aggravated menacing, Euclid Heights Boulevard: At 2:10 a.m. April 20, a man approached a police cruiser and told the officer that he had been threatened by a man who was standing across the street.

The man explained that he was at City & East Hookah Bar, 2781 Euclid Heights Blvd., when he was threatened.

At the bar, the suspect gave his Michigan driver's license to another man on two occasions to try and help him gain admittance into the bar. After the second attempt, the bar's bouncer held the suspect's driver's license and said he was going to give it to police.

Before leaving at closing time, the suspect asked for his license back. When he learned he wouldn't get it back, he refused to leave.

The bouncers and the man who approached police then escorted the suspect down the steps and out of the bar. As he was escorted out, the suspect shouted that he would return and shoot them all.

The suspect was apprehended and didn't deny his threat. He complained that the man and the bouncers threw him down the steps, although he showed no signs of injury.

Police charged the man with aggravated menacing.

If you would like to discuss the police blotter, please visit our crime and courts comments page.CLEVELAND, Ohio -- J. Kevin Kelley, the former Cuyahoga County employee and Parma school board member who emerged as one of the main players and a key informant to federal authorities in the sprawling local corruption probe, is a free man.

Kelley, 48, confirmed in an email that he was released Friday from a halfway house, finishing a sentence handed down to him in 2013.

The former Cleveland-area resident, who now lives in suburban Tampa, asked for privacy for him and his family and declined further comment.

Kelley will be on probation for three years.

An employee in the county engineer's office, Kelley was the first defendant to go to the FBI and offer help after agents fanned out throughout the county and searched government offices, businesses and the homes of suspects on the morning of July 28, 2008.

Within hours, Kelley approached agents and said he would provide information about his friends in County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora's inner circle, dubbed the A-Team.

He confessed to being a middleman for bribes and a witness to lavish trips, parties with prostitutes and the finest dining paid for by contractors seeking county business.

This included passing bribe money from attorney Anthony O. Calabrese III to Dimora to have the county purchase the downtown Ameritrust complex as a site for new county offices. The purchase and the problems surrounding it cost the county more than $45 million.

Kelley also testified in the trial of Dimora and his driver, Michael Gabor, and helped secure convictions against both men. He also provided information that helped prosecutors obtain guilty pleas from Calabrese, County Auditor Frank Russo and others.

At his sentencing in December 2013, U.S. District Judge Sara Lioi criticized Kelley's criminal acts but credited him with exposing three-dozen schemes that investigators didn't know about. She sentenced him to six years in federal prison, much less than he could have faced had he not cooperated.

Kelley receives nearly $5,900 a month in disability payments after taxes from the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System. He started receiving the payments not long after pleading guilty to conspiracy, bribery and tax charges.

While privacy laws prohibit the state from releasing why a person is on disability, he told a federal judge when he pleaded guilty in 2009 he was under a doctor's care for depression and insomnia.

The U.S. Attorney's Office is seeking to garnish a quarter of his monthly disability earnings to put towards the $655,045 in restitution that he owes. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex Rokakis wrote in a court filing in October that Kelley had not put any money toward his restitution since he was sentenced.

Kelley has challenged the government's attempts to garnish his disability. Lioi has not ruled on whether to approve the garnishment.

The federal government's corruption probe into Cuyahoga County led to convictions against more than 60 politicians, government employees and private contractors. Voters approved a new form of county government in 2009.

If you would like to comment on this story, please visit Friday's crime and courts comments section.CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A group of Cleveland pastors spoke out on Friday about unequal minority representation on the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court bench and what they say are biased judicial candidate ratings created by a group of local legal organizations.

Nine reverends and pastors said in a press conference at the Cathedral Church of God in Christ that Judge4Yourself.com's candidate ratings consistently rank minority candidates lower than white candidates.

"We're going to have to make our own recommendations because we're realizing that groups such as Judge4Yourself.com really do not care about the concerns of the African American community, the Hispanic community nor the Asian community," Bishop Eugene Ward of Greater Love Baptist Church said. "We are continually recommending that most of the people, all of the people will not allude to the recommendations of Judge4Yourself."

Ward also called attention to the fact that of the 34 sitting common pleas judges, only two are black, and none are Hispanic or Asian.

Judge4Yourself issues numeric ratings that are compiled from a combination of evaluations from four organizations: The Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association, the Cuyahoga County Criminal Defense Lawyer's Association, the Ohio Women's Bar Association, the Cleveland-area African American bar association, the Norman S. Minor Bar Association.

The groups rate each candidate on judicial temperament, diligence, integrity, professional competence and community understanding after each one responds to a questionnaire, submits a writing sample and is interviewed by the organizations. Records from disciplinary organizations are also reviewed, and each group decides whether a candidate is either excellent, good, adequate, or not recommended.

If a candidate declines to participate in the process, they will be given one of two ratings: a "refusal to participate", or "not recommended" if there is enough other information available about a particular candidate, Judge4Yourself.com chairwoman Deborah Coleman said.

The pastors on Friday said they wanted to sit down with Judge4Yourself.com groups to provide them a chance to better explain the reasoning behind their judicial candidate rankings.

"(We want to talk to them) so that they can explain to us their criteria that they use to rate these judges. Then we can debate it, and why they came up with the decision that they made," said Pastor Jimmy Gates of Zion Hill Baptist Church.

Coleman told cleveland.com that this is the first time she was made aware of the pastors' concerns about bias and said she was disappointed they didn't reach out to Judge4Yourself.com before speaking out on Friday.

"I don't think there is bias in the process. We have a very diverse group of people who come together -- not only lawyers but members of the community who represent a variety of demographics, ages, races, types of (law) practice, and where they live. We just call (the candidates) as we see them," Coleman said.

She said candidates are never judged against other candidates unless two happen to receive identical scores from the four organizations.

"Each of these candidates are rated on his or her own merits, they are not evaluated comparatively," Coleman said.

The pastors asked for a dialogue with Judge4Yourself.com organizations, but also asked for a broader discussion in Cleveland about just and fair representation of minority communities on the bench.

They said they have traditionally allowed judicial candidates to come into their churches and address their congregations during election season, but are now considering stopping that practice.

"We are very close to closing our churches and pulpits to these candidates who get elected and then ignore us once they get elected," Ward said.

Reverend Anthony L. Small Sr. of Starlight Baptist Church urged the importance of pastors sitting down to have a one-on-one conversation with candidates, and having that same access once they are elected so that they will be made aware of problems experienced in minority communities.

The other participating pastors were Bishop Mark Perry and Pastor Andrew Butts of Cathedral Church of God in Christ, Pastor Chelton C. Flanagan of Holy Trinity Baptist Church, Pastor Reginald Willis of the Philemon Community Baptist Church, Pastor Antonio Sweeney of Dew from Heaven Ministries and Pastor Ben Goldstein of Heritage Community Baptist Church.

To comment on this story, visit Friday's crime and courts comments page.CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A 27-year-old man is dead after a car crash Saturday afternoon, police say.

The crash happened about 12:30 p.m. at Interstate 71 southbound and Ohio 176, Cleveland police spokesman Det. Reginald Lanton said.

The man was taken to MetroHealth where he was pronounced dead, police said.

Police say he was driving a Chevrolet Silverado when he lost control onto the gore separating Interstate 71 south and Ohio 176 south.

A 5-year-old was also in the pickup truck and suffered minor injuries, police said.

A Cleveland police supervisor originally reported a 4-year-old girl was seriously injured.

If you'd like to comment on this story, visit Saturday's crime and courts comments section.CLEVELAND, Ohio - A court has ruled that the location of the proposed Amazon headquarters site in Cleveland's failed bid for the project is not secret and should be released to cleveland.com.

The information is contained in reports generated by the publicly funded Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency for Cleveland's bid to win Amazon's second headquarters, known as HQ2. The Ohio Court of Claims' special master recommended Friday that the court order NOACA to publicly release all the information it created for the bid. NOACA has seven business days to appeal the ruling.

The court rejected NOACA's claim that the bulk of the information it contributed to the bid contains trade secrets and, therefore, is exempt from Ohio' open records laws.

"I find [NOACA] has failed to show that any information in the HQ2 document constitutes trade secret," the court's Special Master Jeffery Clark wrote in an 18-page decision.

The court, which handles mediation in public records disputes, also recommended NOACA pay cleveland.com's court costs.

Cleveland.com columnist Mark Naymik filed a complaint in November, after NOACA declined to provide reports, maps and other data that it gave to Team NEO, the private, nonprofit economic-development group that spearheaded the region's secret bid for the Amazon headquarters.

NOACA Executive Director Grace Gallucci could not be reached for comment.

Chris Quinn, president and editor of cleveland.com, issued the following statement.

"We thought from the beginning that public officials in Cleveland were wrong to operate in secrecy in the Amazon deal, and I'm glad this independent ruling fully supports our belief that the records created in the failed pursuit of the Amazon headquarters are public. I wish officials had released the records from the start rather than leaving us to represent the public's interest by hiring a law firm to pursue this action."

Initially, NOACA declined to publicly detail what type of information it contributed to the Amazon bid, but later said it created 18 reports, including transportation data and maps, some of it related to the proposed site locations.

In its response to the court, NOACA argued that that its documents provide it with "competitive advantage" and that disclosing details of the bid, including the proposed site, would allow competing cities to "respond very specifically and proactively to the attributes NOACA has chosen to illustrate."

Clark, who reviewed all of the records as part of his review of the case, rejected that argument, noting that much of the information in the documents "consists of descriptive, conclusory statements and promotional rhetoric."

Clark added that concealing the region's relevant attributes is "not only contrary to NOACA's mission, but is belied by its exhaustive publication of the same information online. There is no evidence that a competitor who wishes to distinguish its attributes from those of Cleveland cannot obtain a wealth of specific data and declared attributes from NOACA's published material and elsewhere online."

The court also said NOACA provided no factual evidence that the data and illustrations it generated for the Amazon bid are unique or so valuable that future competitors would gain an economic benefit from its disclosure.

On this point, Clark noted that NOACA's claim that it contributed "similar" information to Cleveland's bid for the 2016 Republican National Convention contradicts its argument that there is unique value to its work.

He wrote: "NOACA's reference to using 'similar' information in its bid for the 2016 Republican National Convention, a dramatically different engagement in time span, relevant transportation and logistics, etc., only emphasizes that the factors for future bids will be different, and that keeping the data, statistics, maps and promotional rhetoric from the HQ2 bid a secret will not benefit NOACA's future transactions."

Amazon found Cleveland's bid so unappealing that the company did not rank it among the top 20.

The region's civic leaders - with the blessing of Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish - also have refused to release any details of the bid, even after Amazon rejected Cleveland's bid in January. They have argued that the proposal's details should be kept secret to preserve the region's bargaining position in future detail.

In his ruling, Clark dismissed such an argument.

"Most of the information tailored for this specific bid will change over time, including statistics and available site locations," Clark said. "Both NOACA and future competitors will rely on different, updated information for future bids. Emphasis on relevant attributes, and incentives offered, will vary with the preferences of each business courted."

Cleveland.com was represented by

Melissa Bertke, a partner of

BakerHostetler.The Ohio Turnpike has tollgates. You want to drive from Point A to Point B? You pay a toll.

There are tollgates in Columbus, too: One's called the Ohio House; the other's called the state Senate. If you want to move a big-bucks bill from one Statehouse tollgate to the other, you pay a toll - except it's called "hiring a lobbyist" or "making a campaign contribution" or "wining and dining legislators." That's how a bill (that actually does anything) becomes law.

In fairness, the Statehouse - whose hallways during legislative sessions call to mind a bazaar in some exotic country - does have some standards. You win too often, you crassly flash a big bankroll, somebody will gripe; an investigator listens; and Capitol Square becomes a look-over-your-shoulder neighborhood - finally.

House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger, a Clarksville Republican, announced April 10 he'd become "aware of a federal inquiry ... regarding things I may have been involved in." Rosenberger said his actions as speaker had been "ethical and lawful" - but that "Ohioans deserve elected leaders who are able to devote their full and undivided attention" to important issues. So he resigned.

Term limits would have retired Rosenberger on Dec. 31. Given that, ex-Speaker Larry Householder, a Republican from Perry County's Glenford, and House Finance Chair Ryan Smith, of Gallia County's Bidwell, were already grappling, no-holds-barred, to succeed Rosenberger come January.

January is when Republicans elected this year will decide who'll be House speaker for 2019 and 2020. So, among the chess pieces on the Householder-Smith board are Republicans running in May's primary for Ohio House seats that term-limited incumbents will leave in December. The pawns on Householder's side of the board would be expected to back Householder for speaker in January; pawns on Smith's side of the board would be expected to back him in January.

But Rosenberger's resignation opened up the job early. So, in mid-May, the House (run 66-33 by Republicans) will pick a speaker to serve until Dec. 31. Because some House members won't be back in January, however, the mid-May pool of House member-voters won't be the same as next Jan. 7's pool.

That is, the House's May vote could seem like a two-level chess match or, if House Democrats play strategically (miracles do happen), a three-level match. True, some Republicans may only want to elect a caretaker speaker from among Republicans term-limited come Dec. 31. Great idea - if you think the House should keep on doing what it's been doing: not much.

May's speakership vote will work like this, according to the clerk's office: If only one House member is nominated, the House would vote using its scoreboard-like electronic voting device. If the nominee gets 50 or more votes, he or she becomes speaker. If there's more than one nominee, Clerk Bradley J. Young would call House members' names in alphabetical order. A member would rise at his or her desk and announce the name of the candidate whom he or she supports. (That should make for fetching video.) Anyone getting 50 or more votes becomes speaker.

When Britain's House of Commons elects a speaker, its website reminds visitors, it's customary for other members of parliament to physically drag the new speaker to the speaker's chair. Reason: Time was, if a speaker of the House of Commons, as its spokesman, offended the king or queen, "the early death of the Speaker could follow."

So, in London, the speakership wasn't necessarily a desirable job. In Columbus, as the high-stakes contest to succeed Rosenberger shows, it's the other way around.

Thomas Suddes, a member of the editorial board, writes from Athens.

To reach Thomas Suddes: tsuddes@cleveland.com, 216-999-4689

Have something to say about this topic? Use the comments to share your thoughts. Then, stay informed when readers reply to your comments by using the "Follow" option at the top of the comments, and look for updates via the small blue bell in the lower right as you look at more stories on cleveland.com.Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili.

Born in St. Albans, VT, August 5, 1902, he was the swtor credits buy son of Clark C. When the waters grow colder in October and November, they leave to spend the winter in the warm Gulf Stream waters, venturing as far rcmp charge Then I marvelled at this with exceeding marvel and hardly made sure that day had dawned before I came to tell thee." When I heard, O Jinni, my herdsman's words, I went out with him, and I was drunken without wine, from the excess of joy and gladness which came upon me, until I reached his house.

Er ist in erster Linie als Novellist berhmt geworden, denn seine Gedichte" (1852) obschon sie in mehreren Auflagen erschienen, haben wohl in vielen Kreisen Anklang gefunden wegen ihrer Sinnigkeit und ihres schlichten Gefhlston; aber es wurde kaum eins derselben volksthmlich.

Now the White House is saying that it is going to slam down on these high cost areas, but you don't really know enough yet.. After a few months, they brought me to Cuba.. 'And it further appearing to the court that the said William H. "Audiences are accessing magazine content in more than one way," the Pew Research Center for Excellence in Journalism wrote in its 2013 review of the American magazine industry.

Now, a half hour left for some quick chow. The country is cool. This exquisite, gorgeous image was constructed with data from the newly revamped Jansky Very Large Array. The Institute's reputation for integrity, competence, and independence enables it to recruit volunteer specialists when needed for special projects..

The coasts of Greenland, in particular, act as pathways for ice from the Arctic Ocean, as a result of which winter research expeditions can require icebreaking vessels that cost millions of dollars to charter.. What is your way of rest now? What spiritual exercises do you need? Get to inner peace.

Ford retains the support of Councillor Jaye Robinson, who was unavailable for comment Thursday, he need only snag two more wavering councillors. The mother adored Hill. In both the Andes and Himalayas, children and adolescents tend to grow slower and reach shorter adult heights than lowlanders.

There is no simple answer to the question set. We all familiar with the Pokemon games, they one on one battles where the Pokemon type (fire, water, electric, etc.) means everything and emphasizing catching as many of the Pokemon as possible (I got 73 myself).

In the bottom left corner of the screen, there is a circular display with an icon of the player's ship surrounded by two rings. "The advertising and industrial branches of Sun Media will also be restructured to focus on customers and on business opportunities at the local and national levels," the company said.

Frank Hoosendove, 71, who has lived in Freeport for 31 years, said he voted for the first time in his life in November, when he cast a ballot for Barack Obama. The total population of 84,356 inhabitants. Martin Goodman had sold the company, and as soon as the new owners placed Lee in charge, he turned his attention to pursuing television and movie deals, which he saw as Marvel's ticket out of the precipitous comics industry..

And she had heard the middle voice, of the Middle Bear, but it was only as if she had heard some one speaking in a dream. Though Microsoft, unlike, say, Google, doesn allot a certain percentage of time for its employees to work on their side projects, it does allow teams to schedule hack events at The Garage that can take place during their workweek.

Swtor 5.9 Specials ! Swtor2credits will offer double reward points for members from April 28 to May 4, 2018.

Together with 2x reward points, 6% off code CHEAPSW8for all cheap Swtor credits is also available.

And never miss using 8% off code MEMBER for swtor credits buying from https://www.swtor2credits.com on Wednesdays.Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen (1st R, Front), Austrian Minister for Digital and Economic Affairs Margarete Schrambock (2nd R, Front) and other guests inspect a new China-Europe freight train from Chengdu to Vienna at the Vienna South Freight Center in Vienna, Austria, on April 27, 2018. A new China-Europe freight train arrived in Vienna on Friday, which Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen described as a symbol of the cooperation between China and Austria. The train -- carrying 41 containers of goods valued at 1.5 million U.S. dollars, including LED displays, tires and lamps -- departed from Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, on April 12. (Xinhua/Pan Xu)

VIENNA, April 27 (Xinhua) -- A new China-Europe freight train arrived in Vienna on Friday, which Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen described as a symbol of the cooperation between China and Austria.

The train -- carrying 41 containers of goods valued at 1.5 million U.S. dollars, including LED displays, tires and lamps -- departed from Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province on April 12.

It traveled a 9,800-kilometer-long journey for 15 days through Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine and Slovakia, and slowly pulled into Vienna South Freight Center. From the station, the goods will be transported to the destination.

"This is really a symbol of the cooperation between China and Austria," Van der Bellen told Xinhua. "We really hope this train is the first step of closer cooperation between China and Austria."

With the new train, Austria is included into the network of China-Europe freight train service under the Belt and Road Initiative.

China-Europe freight trains have made 1,000 trips in the first three months, up 75 percent compared with the same period last year, according to China Railway Corporation.

The cross-border rail network links 43 Chinese cities with 41 European cities in 13 countries. Chengdu has 16 routes to cities including Nuremberg, Milan and Prague.

The first direct freight train came after Austria's largest delegation visited China from April 7 to 12, during which both sides enhanced bilateral ties, especially Belt and Road cooperation.

Chinese Ambassador to Austria Li Xiaosi told Xinhua that the Austrian President had paid a successful visit to China.

After the new China-Europe cargo train in Vienna, both nations would work closely to facilitate more cooperation under the Belt and Road initiative, said Li.

Austria will build a new station as a terminal for the Belt and Road in the middle of the Europe, according to a memorandum of cooperation signed by Austrian OBB Holding AG and Chengdu International Rail Port Investment &Development (Group) Co., Ltd.

According to China's Ministry of Commerce, the total trade volume between the two countries reached a historic high of 8.39 billion U.S. dollars in 2017, a year-on-year increase of 15.5 percent from 2016.

4

1

[ Editor: Xueying ]We are analyzing the site. Please wait a few seconds..When Vietnam struggled for its independence, there was so much support from Sri Lanka, not only from the Government but also the people. But nowadays, how far Vietnam has come is not known much. Similarly, Vietnamese younger generations hardly know about Sri Lanka, said the Ambassador.

The Sri Lanka Culture Festival Day kicked off in Hanoi on April 27, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Sri Lankan National Day and 48 years of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Vietnam and the South Asian nation.

Ambassador Saranya Hasathi Urgodawatt Disanayke said the Sri Lankan Embassy wants to contribute to enhancing its relationship with Vietnam through the festival.

It is also important to promote tourism, trade, and investment between the countries.

Visitors to the festival have a chance to learn about the Sri Lankan culture and people through the displayed photos and paintings as well as the traditional handicraft products and food.

Pham Van Hung, a visitor, is impressed by the traditional products sold at the event that were made by the rural artisans of Sri Lanka.

Hand-woven scarves made from bamboo yarn are so nice. I feel they have good quality as well, said Hung. I bought some souvenirs and scarves as gifts for my relatives.

Knowing little about Sri Lanka as many others, Hung recommended that more such cultural events should be held so that the Vietnamese can understand more about other countries.

The festival is scheduled to take place from April 27-29 at the Vietnamese Womens Museum, Hanoi.

The event comprises of a number of activities such as photo exhibitions, art performances, film screenings on Sri Lanka culture as well as the relationship between the two countries, and is expected to attract a lot of visitors.He noted that ASEAN needs to improve rapid and effective response to emerging challenges; ensure the serious and full implementation of cooperation commitments, especially in the field of economy; facilitate innovation-based and people-oriented development; and enhance the efficiency of cooperation mechanisms in ASEAN as well as with partners.

Politburo member Minh stressed that ASEAN should promote its self-resilience and innovation in implementing its relations with partners, thus maintaining its solidarity, unity and central role.

He shared Vietnams stance on new initiatives in the region, affirming that ASEAN needs to take active and proactive approaches and welcome the initiatives contributing to regional peace, stability and cooperation, on the basis of respecting the blocs central role and basic principles.

He took the occasion to thank ASEAN member nations for their contributions to the success of the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit in New Delhi last January, marking an important milestone in the ASEAN-India partnership for which Vietnam serves as a coordinator.

The deputy PM affirmed the importance of maintaining peace, stability, security and safety of navigation and aviation in the East Sea, and peacefully settling disputes in line with international laws, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Vietnam supports the full and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and the early finalisation of an effective and legally-binding Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC), he said.

At the meeting, the ministers of 10 ASEAN member states expressed their satisfaction with the construction of the ASEAN Community over the past years and positive results in implementing the master plan on three pillars to realise the ASEAN Community Vision 2025.

Agreeing with the theme of Self-Resilient and Innovative ASEAN proposed by Singapore as the ASEAN Chair, the ministers underscored the enhancement of solidarity and unity and maintenance of ASEANs central role as a prerequisite requirement to build a confident and solid ASEAN against external challenges and pressure.

They promised to tap new opportunities arising from the fourth industrial revolution to fuel innovation capacity, and the even and sustainable development in the region, whilst strengthening cooperation across spheres to bring practical benefits to the people, including response to natural disasters and climate change, and the fight against human trafficking and cybercrime.

Sharing views on ASEANs external relations, the ministers acknowledged the fine outcomes of the recent ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit and the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit, as well as the positive developments of the ASEAN-China relations through the building of the ASEAN-China Strategic Partnership Vision by 2030 and the launch of negotiations on the COC.

They agreed that ASEAN should maintain its central role in regional forums and promote relations with its partners on the basis of international law observance, mutual respect and win-win cooperation.

Regarding the international and regional situation, the ministers welcomed positive progress on the Korean peninsula.

They said they expect the important results of the inter-Korean summit on April 27 and the prospect of a meeting between the leaders of the US and the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) in the time ahead, towards seeking a peaceful and sustainable solution to the denuclearisation on the Korean peninsula.

On the East Sea issue, they stressed that ASEAN needs to continue upholding the agreed stance and principles on ensuring maritime and aviation safety and freedom in the region, exercising self-restraint and refraining from any unilateral action to complicate the situation, peacefully settling disputes in respect of international law as well as diplomatic and legal processes, seriously implementing of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and working towards an effective and legally-binding Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC).

The ministers shared the view that ASEAN and China need to accelerate the formulation of an effective and practical COC in accordance with international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), towards a transparent and rules-based regional architecture and the East Sea of peace and stability.The Vietnamese legislator made the suggestion at a meeting with the Speaker of Bulgaria's National Assembly Tsveta Karayancheva on April 26, on the occasion of Luus on-going working visit to Bulgaria to further enhance the relations between the two countries and their legislative bodies.

NA Vice Chairman Luu expressed his joy at the increasing development of the Vietnam-Bulgaria relationship in recent years, saying that the two countries can learn from each others experience in tuning legal documents and the judiciary, building the rule-of-law State and anti-corruption law.

He expressed his hope that as the rotating presidency of the European Union (EU), the Bulgarian NA will soon ratify the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and further promote the implementation of the cooperation agreements signed by the two countries, especially the organisation of the 4th meeting of the Vietnam-Bulgaria Intergovernmental Committee.

Karayancheva, for her part, agreed with Luus opinion, saying that through meetings, the two sides need to find solutions to the difficulties in their trade, investment and education cooperation.

On the same day, the NA Vice Chairman had a meeting with Bulgarian Vice President Iliana Yotova, during which Luu said that he hopes his visit will contribute to further pushing the multifaceted relationship between the two nations, especially between their legislatures.

Yotova stressed that the two sides should discuss long-term plans on investment and trade cooperation, and work closely to organise business forums, towards facilitating their firms, especially small and-medium-sized enterprises to seek and set up partnerships.

Earlier the same day, the Vietnamese official met with Ddannail Kirilov, Chairman of the Justice Committee of the Bulgarian National Assembly. The two sides debated the amendment of the penal code and laws related to combating corruption.

As scheduled, NA Vice Chairman Luu will leave Bulgaria on April 29, and visit Macedonia from April 30-May 1 and Romania from May 2-5.Meeting Bulgarian Minister of Justice Tsetska Tsacheva, the Vietnamese NA Vice Chairman highlighted important contributions of Tsacheva, who is a former leader of the National Assembly of Bulgaria, to the development of the Vietnam-Bulgaria relations. He proposed that the minister continue helping foster the bilateral partnership, especially in justice.

Vietnam is reforming its judicial system, he said, adding that the National Assembly of Vietnam has issued many laws related to the organization and operation of the judicial system. However, Vietnam still needs to learn experience of other countries, including Bulgaria, he stated.

For her part, Tsacheva said that Bulgaria has implemented a judicial reform strategy since 2015 with an aim to build a law-governed State. She affirmed that Bulgaria is willing to share its experience with Vietnam in managing the prison system, executing criminal verdicts, providing judicial support and protection, and observing the rights of prisoners.

At a meeting with Yordanka Fandakova, Governor of Bulgarias capital city of Sofia, NA Vice ChairmanLuu stressed the high cooperation potential between Sofia and Vietnamese localities, including Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City- the two cities sharing twinned relations with Sofia.

The Vietnamese NA Vice Chairman suggested that leaders of Sofia carry out more activities to promote economic, trade and tourism ties between the two countries such as organising workshops, forums and fairs for enterprises of both sides to study each other demands.

Also on April 27, Luu had working sessions with Valeri Giablianov, President of the Bulgaria-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentarian Group and Simeon Dimchev, President of the Bulgaria-Vietnam Friendship Association. Speaking highly of contributions of Bulgarian parliamentarians and members of the Bulgaria-Vietnam Friendship Association to the relationship between the two countries, Luu expressed his hope that they will continue working hard for the reinforcement of ties between Vietnam and Bulgaria.We don't often feel sorry for Prince Charles. Yet most of us would have felt a pang of pity for him yesterday when we learned that he still had not seen his new grandson, four days after the babys birth

We don't often feel sorry for Prince Charles. Yet most of us would have felt a pang of pity for him yesterday when we learned that he still had not seen his new grandson, four days after the babys birth.

Kates mum Carole was already at Kensington Palace when proud parents William and Kate and their new addition arrived home. Her sister Pippa was next to visit, then brother James. Dad Michael slipped in quietly to welcome the bairn and even Princess Eugenie popped in.

Meanwhile, Prince Charles was miles away on holiday in Scotland, and on Wednesday had to go to France for a World War I memorial service. How it must have pained him to have seen Williams in-laws stealing the limelight.

In truth, Charless absence only underlines the sense of exclusion he feels from Williams family  as the Mails Richard Kay pointed out yesterday, he has complained that he almost never sees Prince George.

Yet isnt Charles now reaping the fruits of his bitterly unhappy marriage to Williams mother  and how he betrayed her?

Charles will take consolation from the fact that the new child has been named Louis Arthur Charles  Louis after his beloved great uncle and mentor Lord Mountbatten

The fact is that Granny and Grandpa Middleton will always come first in Prince Williams eyes

Only two people know how soon after the Royal Wedding Charles was back in his mistress Camillas arms. But even supporters of Charles concede that by the time Harry was born in 1984  when William was two  the marriage was over.

Wills was only ten when his father and mother separated. He was 14 when they divorced so acrimoniously. Just one year later Diana was dead. Would she still be alive had it not been for Charless refusal to leave the woman who caused Diana so much misery?

Never shy about her racy sex life, Prue Leith, 78, says that while filming the Christmas Bake Off in midsummer heat she wanted to be naked underneath her wool coat. Enough about saggy bottoms, Prue! Advertisement

True, this may all be water long under the bridge, and Charles and William certainly appear cordial and warm together in public. And yes, Charles will take consolation from the fact that the new child has been named Louis Arthur Charles  Louis after his beloved great uncle and mentor Lord Mountbatten.

Yet the fact is that Granny and Grandpa Middleton will always come first in Prince Williams eyes. For to him and his burgeoning brood, they offer the happiness and family stability he never knew as a child.

And Charles can never provide that, however hard he tries.

That is the tragic legacy of his ill-fated marriage to Diana.

Stay mum, Holly

This Morning presenter Holly Willoughby has been viciously trolled for posting pictures of herself on a night out with girlfriend Nicole Appleton at a rock concert.

On a Thursday night! How dare she, cry the mum shamers, when she should be home with her three young kids. I feel sorry for Holly, 37, but perhaps she brought some of this on herself.

This Morning presenter Holly Willoughby has been viciously trolled for posting pictures of herself on a night out with girlfriend Nicole Appleton at a rock concert

Going to a gig wearing a Bad girls go backstage T-shirt and posting it to your 3.5 million followers on Instagram with your bestie, who just happens to be the ex-wife of Oasiss Liam Gallagher?

Its not a recipe for a quiet life.

Meg's not Suited to her duties

Can someone please take that nice Meghan Markle in hand. She arrived at the memorial service for Stephen Lawrence at St Martin-in-the-Fields, one of our oldest and most sacred churches, in a sleeveless frock. Not very British and certainly not very respectful.

Then, at a dawn service for Anzac Day in Central London, shes in a wide-brimmed hat and trench coat, before changing into another outfit with designer beret for a service at Westminster Abbey.

I know youre new to The Firm, Megs, but you cant treat royal duties like its a day on the set of your TV series Suits.

I know youre new to The Firm, Megs, but you cant treat royal duties like its a day on the set of your TV series Suits

Meanwhile, in Meghans fictitious TV wedding to her Suits co-star (above), she gushed: Youre the husband Ive always wanted. Just what she said to first real-life hubby, Trevor Engleson  before dumping him and sending her rings back in the post.

Dad's a credit to tragic Alfie

Having fought tirelessly for his severely disabled son Alfie following the NHSs decision to turn off the little boys life-support machine on Monday, Tom Evans has finally agreed to build bridges with the NHS.

He has been praised for his articulate voice and intelligent grasp of the issues surrounding his son during months of High Court appeals. Quite a feat from a 21-year-old working-class Liverpool lad who left school at 16 to become a plasterer in his dads business.

Tom Evans proves courage and cleverness know no social barriers when it comes to fighting for every last breath of your childs life.

After the hand- holding love-in between Presidents Trump and Macron, I fear for the Queen  how on Earth will the touchy-feely Donald manage to keeps his hands off our Queen when he visits? If only Her Maj still had her ankle-biting corgis to keep him in line!

If only Her Maj still had her ankle-biting corgis to keep Trump in line!

Westminster Wars

Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson announces she is pregnant with her first child, conceived through IVF, with her fiancee Jen Wilson. Overjoyed at the prospect of motherhood, she says that, like thousands of work ing women, she will take maternity leave then return to work. An openly gay woman about to become a mum, shes one of the most popular and prominent politicians in the country. What an indication of how times have changed  dramatically for the better.

Dressed in a shocking pink jacket and frothing at the mouth, Diane Abbott demanded the Home Secretary be sacked. Who can have confidence in Amber Rudd if she doesnt seem able to get her basic facts right? Textbook hypocrisy from a shadow home secretary who, when asked during the last election how much Labours promise of an extra 10,000 police officers would cost, replied 300,000  which comes to 30 each.

Brad Pitt's company has bought the rights to a Hollywood film about Harvey Weinstein. Jeff Daniels is tipped to play the disgraced movie mogul. Surely John Travolta is a shoo-in for the part? Pictures of him playing a deranged stalker in the film Moose), show hes already halfway there.

Brad Pitt's company has bought the rights to a Hollywood film about Harvey Weinstein. Surely John Travolta is a shoo-in for the part? Pictures of him playing a deranged stalker in the film Moose (above) show hes halfway there

A light Beckfast

Victoria Beckham has posted a picture of herself holding a coffee cup and cereal bowl, with the comment: Literally eating breakfast on the school run! Maybe she does have a sense of humour after all.

That woman hasnt consumed anything but fresh air for breakfast in decades.

One organiser of the Carnival of Resistance planning to march against Donald Trumps visit says the U.S. President is responsible for a rise in hate crimes. So why isnt freedom fighter Shaista Aziz displaying the same revolutionary zeal against the anti- Semites in Corbyns Labour Party?

ABBA will reunite on stage with new music 36 years after splitting. It will be a virtual reality tour with holograms using technology developed for the film Avatar. Theyre called Abbatars. Oh dear. Who wants to hear Grandmamma Mia or Zimmer, Zimmer, Zimmer, A Man After Midnight?

Shocking images of marine wildlife choking on shopping bags in David Attenboroughs BBC series Blue Planet II caused us to redouble our efforts in the crusade against plastic. Yet BBC1s Watchdog is now idiotically telling viewers to use anti-bacterial wipes to clean supermarket trolley handles, so they dont pick up infections.

Its not just the worst kind of nannyish scaremongering.

Most wet wipes contain non-biodegradable plastic fibres that block our drains  and poison the oceans.When he was locked in crucial talks with the Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War, Ronald Reagan liked to rely on a favourite motto: Trust, but verify.

Today, in the wake of North Korean president Kim Jong-uns extraordinary peace overtures, the Western world is being asked to trust a tyrant who has murdered his people in their thousands.

And right now, we have no way to verify whether he is acting in good faith.

It is, after all, only a few months since Kims reckless missile tests, which included firing one rocket capable of bearing a military payload over Japan and into the sea on the other side.

Whatever Kim Jong-un has said about peace this week, he has no intention of giving up power now

That reckless act brought us as close to a new Korean War as we have been for some time.

Such relentless belligerence makes his sudden grinning overtures to South Korea yesterday all the most astonishing. The hand-holding, the warm speeches, the language of peace, were all intended to dazzle us. But we cannot afford to be naive.

Yet if it is impossible to trust Kim, we should at least attempt to understand his aims. That will help us gauge whether this rapprochement between North and South Korea  and what is claimed to be the end of a conflict that goes back to 1950  is more than superficial.

The enmity that has riven the Korean peninsula dates to the end of the Second World War, when America and the Soviet Union agreed to split control of the former Japanese colony.

That quickly led to a power grab by North Korea, which invaded the South. American troops led the UN fightback and, though the war ended in 1953, no peace treaty was officially signed.

Since then, North Korea has become ever more isolated, as the Kim family tightened their grip as dictators. Whatever Kim Jong-un said about peace this week, he has no intention of giving up power now.

His grandfather, Kim Il-sung, and his father, Kim Jong-il, dominated their people, but the latest in the dynasty has shown himself more ruthless  and, some would say, dangerous  than either.

Kim shakes hands with South Korea's President Moon Jae-in as the pair meet at the border between the two Koreas

Family rivals have been brutally disposed of. His uncle was savagely executed. He had one cousin burnt alive with a flame thrower, according to South Korean reports. His half-brother, Kim Jong-nam, was assassinated with a nerve agent in February last year.

Many in the West would say we should not deal with such a man, and that any attempt at diplomacy would be immoral. Yet there are historical precedents which suggest otherwise. In 1972, US President Richard Nixon amazed the world by opening diplomatic discussions with China, whose leader Mao Tse-tung was responsible for at least 60million deaths.

Mao was a monster, but by negotiating with him Nixon was able to lay the groundwork for an end to the Vietnam War, and usher in economic changes in China that eventually saw the introduction of capitalism there.

Today, President Donald Trump regards Nixon as a role model, a president who was willing to think the unthinkable. And like Nixon, Trump finds it easier than a Democratic president might to engage with Communists, because he will not be suspected of naive Left-leaning sympathies.

Theres little doubt that Trumps bombastic dealings with North Korea in recent months have had a part to play in this weeks events.

His brand of diplomacy might have been comical if it were not so inflammatory. His outbursts on Twitter, dubbing Kim the little rocket man, used the language of the playground. But if there is one thing that unsettles a lunatic (Kim), its being confronted by an even more powerful lunatic (Trump).

Kim's wife Ri Sol-ju and the North Korean leader at the Inter-Korean Summit dinner

The US Presidents rationale was that calmly reasoned rhetoric had got his predecessors in the White House precisely nowhere with Pyongyang. The only way of getting through, he felt, was to stick a megaphone against his opponents ear, and shout.

After months of knockabout threats on both sides, Trump suddenly announced last month that he would be willing to meet Kim in May or June to discuss de-nuking the Korean peninsula.

That was not the only indication that change was afoot. Mike Pompeo, at the time CIA director, made a secret visit to North Korea over the Easter weekend when he met Kim, a few days after the North Korean leader visited China for talks.

So while yesterdays startling announcement was a genuine surprise, there have certainly been clues it was becoming a possibility.

In the short term, the reduction of tension in the region must be a good thing.

The Japanese will be watching with concern, however, because both North and South Korea view some of Japans islands as disputed territory and might wish to reclaim them.

Despite the smiles, we cannot afford to be naive about Kim's rule under which unrelenting hardship and constant conditions of near-starvation help subdue the populace

The Americans have worries, too. Like Trump, the Korean leaders talked about denuclearisation of the peninsula. But that would also mean the removal of any nuclear weapons the US may have in the region, or even America being asked to dismantle its military bases in the South altogether.

And while Kim might be willing to allow American inspectors in to check that work at his known nuclear facilities has been shut down, its ludicrous to suppose he would welcome US oversight across his entire, vast military machine.

As long as some of his Army, comprising more than one million troops, is unseen, wecannot be certain that he is not hiding another atomic weapons programme, as was the case after a similar deal was struck in 1994.

And what about the question of reuniting the two nations, as we saw with East and West Germany in 1990.

The South Koreans want reunification  but not yet. They could certainly never accept Kim as ruler of both countries. And though they are a wealthy nation, the cost of absorbing the destitute North could be economically crippling.

Before the two halves of the peninsula are joined up, the South will want to see the establishment of a successful capitalist economy in the North. Can Kim accept an opening up of his backward nation to Western influences and, God forbid, the internet  which would allow his people to understand for the first time how appallingly they are repressed?

At present, the unrelenting hardship and constant conditions of near-starvation help keep Kim Jong-uns populace under control. And while, after this weeks grand gesture, he will hope to see Western sanctions on his regime lifted, that doesnt mean he plans to make his peoples lives easier.

The West should make an offer to lift sanctions in return for a cast-iron promise to stop his nuclear programme. (In fact, his reckless nuclear testing has made it unsafe for him to detonate another H-bomb at his northern underground test site because it could collapse.)

If he agrees, then his regime will be allowed to survive  however horrific that may be for his people.

What he will want to do is welcome President Trump to his capital with a glorious cultural and military spectacle. The American leader will be love-bombed.

Huge cheering crowds will greet him, just as Chinas Chairman Mao made sure Richard Nixon was treated like a megastar. We can trust Kim Jong-un to do that much. The question is, can we trust him to keep the peace?

Mark Almond is the director of the Crisis Research Institute, OxfordEveryone loves the emotion and joy of seeing a happy couple exchange vows and begin married life together - but not if they're handed a bill at the end.

Wedding planner Helen Hopkins from Somerset, founder of events company Pudding Bridge has warned of the rising trend for couples asking guests to pay to attend their wedding.

It's already a common practice elsewhere in Europe and in the US, and research byHitched, has revealed that seven per cent of UK couples would be prepared to charge their guests to attend.

The theory goes that if it costs guests an average of 217 a head to attend, you could save them money by selling tickets for a lower price - but it's a risky idea.

'In my experience, however, charging can result in a backlash from guests with many feeling quite resentful and often, broken friendships can result once the celebrations have come and gone,' Helen explained.

And she said that couples who do charge are usually passing on the financial burden of an 'perfect Pinterest wedding' that they can't really afford to their loved ones.

Wedding expert Helen Hopkins from Somerset, slammed the trend of couples asking guests to pay to attend their nuptials, blaming it on a culture of 'Instagrammable weddings'

'There are a small minority of British couples who currently charge for their big day because they want to achieve the perfect Pinterest and Instagram wedding that's clearly out of their financial reach.

'The flowered walls, the dress of their dreams and a honeymoon destination to rival that of A-listersit's now more than just aspirational.

'For some it's a "must have" and for that, friends and family have to pay the price.

Helen has also written a new etiquette guide to help those attending weddings avoid blunders that could see them struck off future guest lists.

Explaining that many engaged couples are planning nuptials beyond their financial capabilities, she warned that charging attendees could result in broken friendships and resentment among guests

Helen's top wedding guests etiquette tips

1. RSVP promptly

Weddings are an expensive occasion and If youve received an invitation, know that youre valued by the bride and groom. Chasing numbers is a nightmare so ensure you respond within the date, or within two weeks where no date is given.

2. Dress appropriately

Wear something wonderful for the day but never upstage the bride by wearing something overly skimpy, and definitely never wear white or ivory. And whilst hats or fascinates are never du rigueur, I always think they make an outfit.

3. Avoid social media

We all love Facebook and Instagram but don't steal the couple's thunder by posting the first picture. Be in the moment, enjoy the day and save the selecting and editing of photos for the day after the nuptials.

4. Don't go too wild

Enjoy the festivities and let your hair down but don't raid the free bar for all it's worth. No one wants to be remembered as the drunk guest.

Helen Hopkins from Somerset, is the founder of wedding events company Pudding Bridge

5. Be clear on the kids

Check if the wedding is children-free or whether you are allowed to bring them and whether it will be an appropriate environment for them. If they are very young consider keeping them out of the service so they don't disrupt the nuptial exchange.

6. Clear a plus one

If your significant other hasn't been mentioned do not bring them without asking first as wedding numbers are usually limited and closely planned.

7. Be punctual

Arriving late for anything isnt a good feeling - and to arrive at a wedding feeling harassed wont make a nice start to what should be a happy occasion. Don't be the guest that arrives after the bride, ensure you are there promptly so everything runs smoothly.

8. Don't interfere with the photographer

Many people today are pretty good at taking their own photos but before you start snapping, let the professional do his/her work. Pose for group photos and take your shots once all the important ones are done.

9. Get involved

If youre attending a religious ceremony but youre not religious, respect the bride and grooms wishes for their big day and participate in any family traditions.

10. Go off-grid

Weddings are over in a flash and it's important you appear present and make the most of every moment. Turn your phone off and enjoy the day.A group of former Silicon Valley-based tech company employees have created a new dating app for the LGBTQI community so users can side-step one night stands and the risk of getting catfished, and find true love instead.

The app, which is named Taimi, is part social network, part online matchmaker, however what its founders are ultimately aiming for is an online community that can provide support and advice to its LGBTQI members.

'The true inspiration was the inability to stand discrimination in the first place. Our society has made a tremendous progress in tolerance and acceptance, but we definitely cannot state that any community or any workplace is completely inclusive,' suggests Alex, one of its founders.

New direction: Taimi, a new dating app for the LGBTQI community, is hoping to end the culture of casual hook ups and users getting catfished by focusing on long-term connections instead

'Moreover, out of 50 States, only 22 and the District of Columbia prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. For me, those were only statistics until my friends and I faced that career discrimination first-hand,' he added.

While Alex admits his superiors never explicitly told him he wasn't being promoted because he is gay, he believes the behaviour of his supervisors implied that he would never get ahead because of his sexual orientation.

'That is why we decided to go solo and create something that could help LGBT+ community,' he explained.

'We took a hard look at the potential products and decided to create something unique. Thus, we combined dating app and social media. Our users receive an opportunity to express themselves in a safe and hatred-free environment.'

Another part of his reasoning for starting the app comes from his own experience of using dating apps and finding them lacking because they only concentrate on fostering short-term connections: 'I was quickly fed up with all the guys who were looking for one-night stands.

'No matter which [app] I used, it was incredibly hard to meet someone ready for at least a glimpse of a commitment. It was annoying.'

And although he acknowledges that Taimi's applications won't necessarily prevent one-night stands or negate the hook-up mentality, he hopes the platform will facilitate those who are looking for true love and friendship in a way the other apps can't.

'If there will be one app saying, "Hey, people here are serious about meaningful dating", finding Mr. Right would be much easier,' he suggests.

Features: The app doesn't just offer dating features - it provides information and tips on healthcare and even offers workout videos

Lets get visual: The app's video call feature, the first of its kind on the market, allows users to see each other before meeting up

Another one of the features the founders are keen to highlight is the app's video call feature, the first of its kind on the market.

'The ability to make a phone call to your match stands out because, firstly, it is an innovation for online dating industry and, secondly, it is a real ability to reassure yourself you are talking to a real person, Alex explains.

If there will be one app saying 'Hey, people here are serious about meaningful dating', finding Mr. Right would be much easier

'We already have much feedback from users that video calls on Taimi make them feel safer indeed. Together with profile verification, it is the most efficient way to ensure that our users do not get catfished and do not find themselves in dangerous situations after meeting with a guy from a dating app,'.

The app is also bringing sexual health to the forefront of its agenda and hopes to fully launch all of its proposed health features by September.

These include an in-built calendar to remind users of important medicines or tests that need to be taken. There will also be an advice service, created in cooperation with qualified doctors, and the app will also offer online workouts and tutorials to help users stay fit.

And while Taimi is currently for gay men only, with the founders noting, 'We started with gay men dating because this is the area that is close to us personally,' the company has plans to open it up to the rest of the community.

'We want to expand our audience by giving women and transgender people opportunity to join Taimi community and find their love,' Alex adds.

'In the end, we want to create a platform for all LGBT+ people worldwide where they would be able to communicate, form relationships, and feel safe to be themselves.'The Turkmenistans top legislator underscored that the two countries have shared sound friendship, while supporting each other at international arena.

For his part, Ambassador Manh, who is on a visit to Turkmenistan from April 25-29, thanked the people of Turkmenistan for their support to Vietnam during the countrys struggle for independence in the past.

Earlier, the diplomat has a meeting with Turkmenistan Deputy Foreign Minister Vepa Hajiyev, during which the two sides discussed a number of issues of shared concern, including preparations for the upcoming visit of the Turkmenistan President to Vietnam.

In both meetings, Ambassador Manh highlighted that the two countries have high potential of cooperation.

Turkmenistan is rich in natural gas, while Vietnam is strong in industrial products and consumer goods, he said, adding that the two sides should also bolster bilateral cooperation in culture, tourism and sport to enhance mutual understanding.

In the coming time, Vietnam will carry out a number of activities to promote bilateral partnership, focusing on connecting businesses of both sides and encouraging Vietnamese firms to invest in Turkmenistan, he said.

Meanwhile, the Vietnamese Embassy will work hard to increase meetings and visits between representatives of ministries, sectors and agencies of both countries.

The diplomat expressed his hope for the signing of more cooperation agreements between the two countries, including those on visa exemption for diplomatic passport holders, and simplifying travel regulations between the two countries, thus creating favourable conditions for people and businesses of both sides to meet and exchange.

During his stay, Ambassador Manh attended a round-table on the Vietnam-Turkmenistan economic, trade and investment cooperation, during which Vietnamese and Turkmenistan enterprises in various fields introduced their strengths and cooperation potential.

Along with natural gas, Turkmenistan is also strong in cotton, fabric and carpet, making it a potential material supplier of Vietnamese garment and textile firms. Meanwhile, Vietnams agricultural products such as tea, coffee and aquaculture products can meet Turkmenistans demand.

During the visit, Ambassador Manh also visited a number of local firms operating in fabric, carpet and confectioneries production.The Duchess of Cambridge is notorious for provoking shopping frenzies with her chic ensembles, and it seems that even the A-list and fellow royals take note of her trendsetting ways.

Kate, 36, has long being championing British jewellery brand Annoushka whose pearl earrings are a such a firm favourite she wore them to four official engagements this year alone.

The brand was founded by Annoushka Ducas in 2009, the co-founder of Links Of London and has won legions of celebrity fans - with Kate leading the way.

As well as her favourite 320 18ct Yellow Gold & Freshwater Pearl Baroque Earring Drops, she also wears her Annoushka Eclipse Diamond Eternity Ring on a daily basis.

Other royal fans of the brand include Lady Amelia Windsor, Pippa Middleton and Queen Rania of Jordan - who have all been spotted in the brand.

And celebrity fans including Hellen Mirren, Kate Hudson and X have helped its fortunes to thrive to a booming business with 10M turnover.

The Duchess of Cambridge wears her 320 Baroque pearl earrings by Annoushka on repeat

Kate wearing her favourite pearls in Australia in 2014 (left) during a state visit by Singapore's President in October that same year

'My design philosophy is very personal,' Annoushka Ducas explained. 'I create what I like to wear. It must be comfortable, versatile, unfussy, yet also tell a story.

'I love colour and my jewellery reflects this.'

It's certainly not a budget choice with prices starting at 300 for a pair of earrings, but it's accessible enough for some people to afford a piece as a gift for a special occasion.

And the figures show that people are prepared to pay that little bit extra for a touch for royal-approved style.

Queen Rania of Jordan is also a fan of the London-based brand and has been spotted in its 9,500 Diamond & Mother of Pearl Flamenco Drop Earrings. Right: Lady Amelia Windsor in the brand's signature Chain Letters necklace

Kate Hudson wearing bespoke earrings to the Glamour Women Of The Year Awards. Helen Mirren on This Morning wearing gold and diamond Touch Wood earrings

The Duchess in her favourite pearls at her last engagement before maternity leave in March 2018. Her eternity ring, which she wears on a daily basis, is also an Annoushka design

The Duchess has attracted huge numbers of buyers to designer brand Jenny Packham, crashing the designer's website when she wore a blue spotted dress after Prince George's birth.

Within hours of her appearance on the steps of the Lindo Wing in 2013, similar dresses by Jenny Packham had sold out

This week, the Duchess completed a hat trick by wearing the designer to introduce her third child to the world, after also stepping out in Jenny Packham after Charlotte's birth.Twitter was ecstatic when one user shared a photo of a direct message from Betty Crocker that said if he got 150,000 retweets the brand would bring back Dunkaroos.

People from all over the United States including Kim Kardashian jumped on the bandwagon and rejoiced that the '90s snack would be making an official comeback to supermarkets.

To the dismay of millions, the photo posted was actually fake and the internet was turned upside down after a spokesperson for General Mills as well as Betty Crocker announced the entire ordeal was fake.

Challenge: Twitter was ecstatic when one user shared a photo of a direct message from Betty Crocker that said if he got 150,000 retweets the brand would bring back Dunkaroos

Obsessed: People from all over the US including Kim Kardashian jumped on the bandwagon and rejoiced that the '90s snack would be making an official comeback

Fake: To the dismay of millions, the photo posted was actually fake and the internet was turned upside down

Not real: A spokesperson for General Mills as well as Betty Crocker announced the entire ordeal was fake and the photos were PhotoShopped

Twitter user Luke Kelly fueled the fire when he tweeted out a screenshot of a direct message exchange between him and the official Betty Crocker account.

Luke sent them a message asking: 'How many retweets to bring back Dunkaroos?' to which Betty Crocker replied: '150,000.'

'Let's make this happen,' he captioned the tweet that sparked people's excitement recieving over 110,000 likes and 200,000 retweets within hours.

While most people were elated by the news, there was also a lot of doubt which is why Luke followed up on his own tweet writing, 'This is for everyone who thinks it's fake,' with a screenshot of an email saying Betty Crocker messaged him.

One of the first people to jump on board was Kim, 37, who wrote, 'Obsessed with Dunkaroos. Please come back!' which only added to the excitement.

'Thank you for using your platform to support a good movement,' one user wrote in reply to Kim's tweet.

'If Kim Kardashian says Dunkaroos need to come back then they better come back,' another person commented.

Perhaps the funniest tweet came from one man who responded to Kim saying, 'We will happily trade the new Kanye for Dunkaroos.'

Meanwhile, other users were frantically replying to the Twitter thread writing things like, 'Almost 200k retweets.. BRING IT BACK,' and 'If we accomplish one thing in 2018 can it be the bring back of Dunkaroos plz.'

PhotoShopped: Twitter user Luke Kelly who started the whole ordeal even tweeted out a follow-up image as proof that Betty Crocker really messaged him

Heartbroken: Fans of the cookies took to Twitter to share their excitement that Dunkaroos would return

Retweets: The goal was to get 150,000 retweets but Luke managed to amass over 200k overnight

Influence: This user tweeted that if Kim wants to make it happen than it should happen

Trade: One hilarious tweet read that they would trade the new Kanye for Dunkaroos

False: Betty Crocker broke the news that Dunkaroos are not making a return via it's official Twitter account

The tweet was getting so much attention that people actually thought it would return and one woman even wrote: 'Retweeting the Dunkaroos tweet makes me feel a part of something big.'

However, everything took a turn when Mike Siemienas, General Mills spokesman, said to Salt Lake City's KUTV-TV: 'The image appears to be a PhotoShop rendering.

'We love hearing from consumers and we hear from them all the time whenever we discontinue a product because we know someone will miss our products.

'There are no plans to reintroduce Dunkaroos in American, but General Mills wants to know our consumers' thoughts and we appreciate them.'

Still not believing the news the official Twitter account of Betty Crocker shared a follow-up statement reading: 'We're seeing your tweets asking for the return of Dunkaroos in the U.S. and we'll keep reading them!

Begging: One hilarious user begged Betty Crocker to make this happen

ASAP: A very unpatient fan of the snack said she needs Betty to bring them back immediately

Hilarious: One man who was so angry that the amount of retweets had been met tweeted this to Betty Crocker

Recipe: This woman got very annoyed and said she's just going to make her own Dunkaroos

Brilliant: One guy tweeted out an amazing recipe for making your own Dunkaroos that would taste exactly the same

'But we need to let you know we never set a number of RTs for a comeback, as you may have seen in a fake DM screenshot. At this time, we don't have anything to announce.'

Hearts were broken everywhere when the news was solidified and one man hilariously replied to the tweet saying, 'Please betty, please.'

The announcement regarding the fake comeback only made people want the snack more as the comments kept rolling in and a Twitter account BRING BACK DUNKAROOS, under the handle @ilovedunkaroos, was created.

'I didn't mind these photoshopped tweets until now. Don't play around with Dunkaroos that s**t is serious,' one man commented.

'Can you imagine the pandemonium that would go down if they re-released Dunkaroos especially if it was only for a limited time...bodies would hit the floor y'all,' another woman wrote.

Unpopular: This girl shared that she doesn't like the snack and people were baffled by that

Don't play: Another user was happy until he realized Dunkaroos will never make a return

Still exist: Dunkaroos still exist in Canada and Australia which is why people are confused why they aren't available in the US anymore

Gone: Betty Crocker confirmed that Dunkaroos will not be making a return at this time

A very angry user replied to Betty Crocker's tweet writing: '@BettyCrocker RUN THESE F*****G DUNKAROOS THE CONDITIONS HAVE BEEN MET.'

'The fake Dunkaroos retweet challenge is not the kind of thing you want to spend your Friday dealing with...,' a very aggravated woman wrote.

One man came up with a very nice idea as he tried to mediate the situation writing: 'How about you make 50,000 of them, sell them online and every purchase the proceeds go toward charity?'

Others were completely over the news and gave up on Dunkaroos making a comeback altogether.

'F**k Dunkaroos. Screw the middle man. I'm just gonna get a batch of sugar cookies and dunk em in a tub of frosting. Bite me,' one woman wrote.

Another very rare tweet read: 'Unpopular tweet: Dunkaroos were NOT that good. The icing to cookie ratio was incredibly disproportionate... SAD.'

Despite the US not having Dunkaroos, Canada and Australia both still have them which many people revealed in the comments making others quite jealous.Have you ever dreamed of being a model like Kendall Jenner or Gigi Hadid? Well, Ireland-based Primark just made that fantasy come true because the clothing and accessories company just launched a new ad campaign featuring its customers as models.

Featuring, people of color, men, women and children, the campaign photos are a huge stepping stone toward a more inclusive clothing market and show that not everyone has to be a 5'11 model in order to work their style, according to Bustle.

In one picture, a little girl struck a fierce pose while wearing the retailers rainbow sweater and in another image, two men can be seen serving major looks as they lean against a fence with matching shades.

Everyday shopper: Primark launched a new ad campaign featuring its customers as models

Inclusive: The campaign photos are a huge stepping stone toward a more inclusive clothing market

New location: The campaign photos are for the opening of its brand new location in Brooklyn, New York

The campaign photos, which were taken last weekend at its pop-up in Coney Island, are for the opening of its brand new location in Brooklyn, New York.

The company shared some of the unedited photos in a photo gallery to its Instagram account alongside the caption: 'Throwback to last weekend at our pop-up on Coney Island, where you guys came and modeled Primark in prep of our Brooklyn store opening soon (and you all looked amazing).'

The photo shoots are part of the retailer's campaign to introduce Primark to Brooklyn shoppers and will continue to be held all over New York City, according to Forbes.

And by posting their favorite shot on Instagram and tagging it PrimarkUSA, Primark shoppers can enter for a chance to be featured in a photo for the campaign.

All over: The photo shoots are part of the retailer's campaign to introduce Primark to Brooklyn shoppers and will continue to be held all over New York City

Photo opportunity: Shoppers can enter for a chance to be featured in a photo for the campaign by posting their favorite shot on Instagram and tagging it PrimarkUSA

More photos: Primark shared more photos from its pop-up in Coney Island to its Instagram account

Along with Coney Island, Primark has also had a pop-up at the Kings Plaza Shopping Mall and will be heading to the Brooklyn Bridge and Williamsburg before the new location opens.

The store will be at Kings Plaza, which already has a Zara, Macy's, H&M, Forever 21 and will be 57,900 square feet in size, occupying some of a closed Sears store space.

It will open at 1pm on May 16 and be the ninth store the company has opened in the US and the second in New York (the first is in Staten Island).

Primark has also announced two additional openings in New Jersey and Florida that will open next year.

Prep: Primark captioned the photo gallery 'throwback to last weekend at our pop-up on Coney Island, where you guys came and modeled Primark in prep of our Brooklyn store'

Other locations: Primark has also had a pop-up at the Kings Plaza Shopping Mall and will be heading to the Brooklyn Bridge and Williamsburg before the new location opens

New stores: Primark has also announced two additional openings in New Jersey and Florida that will open next year

This isn't the first time the retailer has cast a diverse set of people to market its products as part of its Valentine's Day campaign it used a curvy woman along with two slim women to model its lingerie.

And after posting an image of the model wearing a skimpy red bodysuit to Instagram, the brand was praised for using a diverse group of models, with one saying 'this is what women like to see'.

CVS is also another brand taking part in embracing diversity and natural beauty as this month, it released a completely unedited campaign featuring real women without any touch ups.

It was the first series of ads that the company released since vowing earlier this year to stop retouching all of its beauty campaigns once and for all; the images, which feature a diverse cast of women, have all been stamped with a 'Beauty Mark', a specially made watermark that confirms the images have not been edited.Burger King added new fuel to the fire that is its rivalry with fellow fast food chain McDonald's this week by releasing a series of images of its executives' sprawling homes to the public.

But far from trying to shame the McDonald's staffers for their 'McMansions', Burger King instead focuses on the lavish backyards - all of which are equipped with a sizable grill, which BK insists is evidence that even its rivals prefer the flame-grilled style of cooking that Burger King is renowned for.

Pictured are former houses and backyards of three retired employees - a director, a Chief Operating Officer and a retired McDonald's President all with stainless steel barbecues proving the point that even McD's employees enjoy grilled burgers.

Ads: Burger King released a series of photos that show grills in the backyards of retired McDonald's executives homes which the chain is calling 'McMansions'

Feud: The chain released three photos of former McDonald's executives' homes all with grills in their sprawling backyards which the brand is suggesting means they prefer grilled burgers

McMansions: Pictured are the former backyards of three retired employees - a director, a Chief Operating Officer and a retired McDonald's President all with stainless steel barbecues

In all three of the ads designed by David Miami, the stunning backyards of high-up employees are pictured with barbecues featured in different corners with the words: 'Flame grilling is hard to resist,' above each grill.

Burger King is best known for its flame grilled burgers which is why they wanted to throw shade on their rival McDonald's for not cooking their frozen burgers naturally.

A spokesperson from Burger King shared with USA Today: 'BK has always been about flame-grilling since 1954 and we know that 75 per cent of people prefer burgers cooked with fire.

'That's why this time, we decided to show it in a relevant way. It's funny, because it's true,' the chain continued.

Because the pictures are of the former homes of retired McDonald's execs, it is unclear whether or not the grills actually belonged to them or not.

Competition: Burger King grills its burgers (left) on an open flame, while McDonald's fries its beef patties

According to AdAge, a few of the images were taken from real estate listings which is why it is not certain that the barbecues really belonged to the McDonald's staff.

The ads are only set to run in certain places which makes things a bit more unusual and the pictures will be featured in the South Florida Sun Times, the Hamburg Reporter in Iowa, the Palestine Herald-Pressin Texas, Laguna Beach Independent in California, the Chicago Sun Times and the New York Daily News.

Just because the barbecues were pictured in all of the former homes doesn't mean the retired employees weren't using the grills for other foods such as seafood or vegetables.

This isn't the first time the rivals have been petty with each other and just recently in January Burger King released a brand new Double Quarter Pound KING burger to compete with McD's famous quarter pounder.

Burger King always has amazing marketing which it also proved back in March when it released a video in honor of Good Samaritan Day.

The video showed a car on fire on the side of the road and those who stopped to help were pleasantly surprised.

Standing next to his flaming car off to the side of the road was a man waving his hands at passersby asking them for help.

Despite many people driving right past the car, some people actually stopped and pulled over to lend a helping hand and they were shocked to find out the car wasn't actually on fire - the smoke was coming from burgers being grilled on the hood of his car.Britain is full of unsung heroes and heroines who deserve recognition. Here, in our weekly obituary column, the moving and inspirational stories of ordinary people who have lived extraordinary lives, and who died recently, are told by their loved ones . . .

From David Bowie to the Queen, everyone loved our mums paintings

My Mum Pollyanna

By Anna-Louise Pickering

From the moment in childhood that she picked up a paintbrush, Pollyanna  I always called her that, never Mum  only ever wanted to be an artist.

Her ambitions, though, werent applauded by everyone. When she announced shed like to go to art school, she was summoned by the headmistress to show her portfolio  and told: Youll never make a living at that!

Fortunately, Pollyannas parents had more faith in her talent, and she went to Rotherham Art School, where she won the award for Most Promising Student at the end of the first year.

Wildlife artist Pollyanna Pickering gained international acclaim for her work

It was there that she met my dad Ken Pickering, who would go on to be an industrial designer. They married in April 1963 when she was just 21 and I came along six years later.

While Pollyanna would gain international acclaim as a wildlife artist, it was the industrial landscapes of her Yorkshire childhood in Leeds and Sheffield that were her initial inspiration.

Like many artists she started out scraping a living  money was so tight that she would scour jumble sales to buy frames for her work.

That all changed in 1971 when she signed with her first publisher and produced a series of prints of pedigree dogs.

They were an instant hit, bringing Pollyannas work to a wider audience, including the charity Oxfam, which in 1974 commissioned her to design one of their Christmas cards.

I think nearly every home in Britain  and many abroad  will have enjoyed her art at some time in the form of Christmas or greeting cards, prints or calendars.

Pollyanna also attracted some famous clients, among them conservationist and actress Virginia McKenna (who starred in Born Free), the late actor John Hurt  and the Queen, for whom she was commissioned to paint Her Majestys favourite racing pigeon at the Royal Pigeon Loft at Sandringham. When she took the call she thought it was a hoax!

Fans of her work included the Queen, David Bowie as well as actress Virginia McKenna and the late actor John Hurt

Another early fan was David Bowie, who bought one of her industrial works. He continued to follow her career and in 1978, when he was working on his album Lodgers, he invited her on a working trip to the Masai Mara in Kenya, believing she would find inspiration there.

Sadly, she was unable to go: by then she was nursing my dad through the cancer which claimed his life in 1979 at just 41.

Widowed at 37, with a young daughter, Pollyanna threw herself into her work. She finally made it to Kenya in 1986, and in the course of her life undertook any number of intrepid exhibitions, whether it was camping in igloos in the High Arctic or journeying by river boat through the forests of Borneo. She painted on every continent and her work sold in 80 countries.

I accompanied her on many of these trips and saw how nothing fazed her, whether it was sub-zero temperatures in Siberia or scorpions in her camp bed.

Pollyanna was as passionate about the environment as she was about her art. Patron of more than 30 nature charities, she also established The Pollyanna Pickering Foundation to raise funds for conservation, animal welfare and international disaster relief.

My indefatigable mother had so many plans. Tragically, she died last month after a short illness. We miss her so much, but take comfort from the way her wonderful work will live on.

Pollyanna Pickering, born July 30, 1942, died March 29, 2018, aged 75.

Just a chat with Doctor Charming was enough to make you feel better

My GP Dr Chalmers

By Gillian Fisher

Thirty years ago I arrived on the Isle of Man as a young nurse to start a new life in a place where I knew pretty much no one.

One of the first things I did was to register at the local GPs surgery, only to be told by a dragon of a receptionist that they werent taking on any more patients.

Crestfallen, I was on my way out when I heard someone behind me exclaim: Of course we can take you on!

His name was Dr David Chalmers, and although I didnt know it then, he would be my GP  and that of my family  for three decades, an endlessly reassuring presence who helped us all more times than I can count.

He was much loved on the island for his gentle courtesy and his old-fashioned bedside manner.

He had the ability to make you feel like nothing was too much trouble, always taking time for a cup of tea and a chat on his home visits.

He was particularly sweet to my late mother Dorothy, who came to live with me in 2004.

Dr David Chalmers was much loved on the Isle of Man for his gentle courtesy and his old-fashioned bedside manner

David visited her many times as her health deteriorated and she became increasingly frail, particularly towards the end, when she was bed-bound. Mum wasnt known for dispensing praise, but it didnt take long for her to nickname him Charming Chalmers.

She would say that whenever she heard his car on the driveway, she felt safe. It was with Dr Chalmerss help that she was able to die at home in her own bed, at the age of 92, with her two beloved Westies at her side, rather than in hospital. I also remember the help he gave me as a bewildered new mother trying to cope with my 18-month-old son Jamie, who was suffering badly from croup.

And just six years ago, it was his quick thinking that helped save my partner Patricks sight. Unknown to us all, he was suffering from polymyalgia, a syndrome which causes intense pain and which, if left untreated, can attack the optic nerve causing blindness. Blood tests had failed to identify the problem, but due to Davids instincts, Patrick was correctly diagnosed and treated.

Following this, my family put our wonderful GP forward for the Pride of Man award in our local newspaper  and to our delight he won. It was our way of telling him how much we valued him.

So Rest In Peace Charming Chalmers  I hope youre up in Heaven having a cup of tea and a natter with Mum, just like you used to.

David Chalmers, born February 14, 1955, died February 19, 2018, aged 63.

Day a plane spied my WAAF mum sunbathing starkers

My Mum Peggy

By Sue Brown

She was christened Margaret Winifred Jepson, but became Peggy when, aged six, she was sent to boarding school.

As there were two Margarets in her class, she was told she would be Peggy from then on.

It suited her. Mum had mischief in her and was expelled from school after painting the walls with toothpaste!

Peggy and Tom on their wedding day. He was with her when she passed away

But she was kind, too, with a lifelong passion for the underdog and for animals.

Mum had so many wonderful stories. Like the time she volunteered for the Womens Auxiliary Air Force (the WAAF) and was subjected to a brutal medical where a young doctor couldnt contain his amazement at her broad shoulders and muscles, the legacy of a childhood spent outdoors and her time as a land girl.

Have you seen this? she recalled him bellowing to his peers.

Or the time when, stationed in Northumberland, she and a friend were caught sunbathing on top of the control tower in what she called the harry starkers by a passing plane.

Her time in the WAAF left her with a great fondness for driving  which, along with a passion for sailing, she shared with my father Tom.

They met in 1949 when she went to the bank where he worked to ask for a loan for her first car. Not only did she get the loan but a request for a date, too.

Peggy Brown volunteered for the Womens Auxiliary Air Force. which left her with a great fondness for driving

As was the way then, they spent five years in celibate courtship before their wedding in 1956. My sister Sally and I came along soon after. My parents spent their first 25 years of married life sailing and competing in races at national level in their 14ft dinghy.

Dads love of the water was matched by Mums love of the land, and in her 50s they moved to the smallholding shed always dreamed of in the Mendip Hills. It had space for horses, dogs and a goat called Amethyst.

When, in 1986, my parents emigrated to the warmer climes of the Algarve, all the livestock went, too.

Their Portuguese adventure started with a two-week holiday, but the way my Mum told it, she felt like shed come home the moment she stepped off the plane and smelled the eucalyptus in the air.

Within six months theyd sold up, spending their first two years in Portugal in a two-berth caravan while they renovated an old farmhouse. Of course, it was typical of Mum that she renovated the stables first.

She was so happy there, with Dad at her side until his death in December 2012. There will never be another like her.

Peggy Brown, born July 24, 1923, died October 14, 2017, aged 94.

I saw him on stage and my crush was instant

My husband David

By Susan Stubbs

I wasnt really working as a waitress in a cocktail bar  as that famous song by Human League has it  when I first met David, but almost.

It was 1968 and I was waiting tables at The Swan at Moulton in Lincolnshire, where we both grew up. I was 14 to his 18, but I developed an instant crush on the long-haired guy in flared trousers who played lead guitar with his band Purple Haze (named after one of the hits of his idol, Jimi Hendrix).

After that, I did the rounds of various village hall dances where I knew he was performing in the hope hed ask me out.

But Stubby, as everyone called him, was so painfully shy that in the end I made the first move  although it was two years after I first set eyes on him.

I plucked up courage to ask him to buy me a vodka and lime  a drink I didnt like but which I hoped would help me appear sophisticated. He confided years later that hed had just enough money in his pocket to pay for it.

We were inseparable from then on, travelling all over the country in an old Commer van for Purple Haze gigs.

David Stubbs was a self-taught musician who had life-long passion was music and performance

The band might never have topped the charts, but they supported a number of well-known groups including The Herd  although David liked to joke that his main claim to fame was once standing next to Ozzy Osbourne in the gents at a music festival.

Stubby was a self-taught musician. While his shyness never left him, music brought him out of himself, and though his day job was as a welder  he later set up his own engineering company  his life-long passion was music and performance. When I remember him now, its always with a guitar in his hand.

In 1998 he formed his own band, Dr Stubbs, followed by Bad To The Bone, and he started performing vocals as well. He was good with hecklers: once, when someone in the audience shouted: Oh Stubby, why are you still playing that guitar so badly, he shot back with: Well you keep coming to see me!

We married in 1973 and Stubby was a wonderful father to our two children, Kieran and Lindsay (and later grandfather to Caine, 18, and Jasmine, eight). Some of my happiest memories are the holidays the four of us spent on the Norfolk Broads on our river cruiser, The Wanderer. Of course, the guitar always came, too.

Tragedy struck our family when Kieran was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 1998. He fought a long battle with the disease and died in February 2015 at the age of 37.

My husband was heartbroken and six months later he was diagnosed with bladder cancer.

Even then the music didnt stop: his last gig, three months before he died, was at the pub where we met all those years ago.

I like to think that wherever he is now, the musics still playing.Advertisement

Aussie Home Loans boss John Symond's daughter has tied the knot with her long-time beau wearing a $200,000 wedding dress - and the wealthy family hired out an entire resort for the occasion.

Deborah Symond walked down the aisle with her Sydney society fiance Ned O'Neil on Friday surrounded by 120 esteemed guests and the couple's very famous fathers.

After booking out Hamilton Island's exclusive Qualia resort for the three-day long celebration, the couple exchanged vows in front of Mr Symond and Ned's father Denis O'Neil, a superyacht broker and owner of Rose Bay Marina.

Scroll down for video

Aussie Home Loans boss John Symond's daughter has tied the knot with her long-time beau wearing a $200,000 wedding dress (Deborah Symond and Ned O'Neil pictured)

Deborah Symond (pictured) walked down the aisle with her Sydney society fiance Ned O'Neil (right) on Friday surrounded by 120 esteemed guests

Deborah, who has launched her own successful fashion retailer to rival the likes of Net-A-Porter, wore a custom-made Christian Dior haute couture gown she had especially curated in Paris over the last year.

Diverting from the usual white wedding trend, the striking 30-year-old radiated in a blush pink ensemble with an applique bustier and flowing hemline.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald she had been fitted in Dior's Paris headquarters since early last year and had organised several stays at the Paris Ritz in between alterations before yesterday's reveal.

After booking out Hamilton Island's exclusive Qualia resort for the three-day long celebration, the couple exchanged vows in front of Mr Symond and Ned's (pictured) father Denis O'Neil, a superyacht broker and owner of Rose Bay Marina

Diverting from the usual white wedding trend, the striking 30-year-old radiated in a blush pink ensemble with an applique bustier and flowing hemline (pictured)

According to the Sydney Morning Herald she had been fitted in Dior's Paris headquarters since early last year and had organised several stays at the Paris Ritz in between alterations before yesterday's reveal

The couple flew 120 guests, including the ten men and women in their wedding party, to North Queensland where they used the hashtag #Neborah on Instagram to show off the day's festivities.

Stunning cream-coloured floral displays adorned the podium where they were married and a crisp white piano played tunes for the loved-up couple to dance to.

Speaking to Private Sydney the newly-married Mr O'Neil said: 'It's wonderful to have family and friends with us to enjoy what is the happiest day of my life. I am marrying the love of my life and I am the happiest man on earth to be able to share the rest of it with Deb.'

He met his wife over a decade ago through family friends before realising their fathers were old associates.

Ned (right with Deborah) met his wife over a decade ago through family friends before realising their fathers were old associates

They spend much of their time soaking up the sights of Sydney's Eastern Suburbs but also recently returned from a trip to Bora Bora and Deborah's hens night in Hong Kong

It's a jet-setting life the couple share with Deborah's father John and step mother Amber McDonald, who split their time between the couple's waterfront Sydney mansion, $75 million superyacht and new London penthouse they purchased last year

They spend much of their time soaking up the sights of Sydney's Eastern Suburbs but also recently returned from a trip to Bora Bora and Deborah's hens night in Hong Kong.

It's a jet-setting life the couple share with Deborah's father John and step mother Amber McDonald, who split their time between the couple's waterfront Sydney mansion, $75 million superyacht and new London penthouse they purchased last year.

Despite placing his $100 million Potts Point up for sale in 2016, the 70-year-old decided to pull the 2700-square-metre property off the market, Daily Mail Australia was told.

Deborah and Ned sashayed around the dance floor to the sound of a live band (pictured)

Deborah's bridesmaids wore gorgeous pastel dresses in various styles to match with the brides alternate approach (pictured)

It would appear as though many of the couple's guests wore white for the wedding (pictured)

Mr Symond instead decided to add to his property portfolio, snapping up a home in Knightsbridge, an affluent London area where the iconic Harrods is located.

He also treated himself to a 10-metre superyacht for his 70th birthday in September, 2017, and promptly threw himself a three-day, $7 million celebration.

The couple were rumoured to be looking at moving to London full-time, but Daily Mail learned Mr Symond and Ms McDonald, 45, who he wed in 2016, will travel across the globe throughout the year.The Napa Valley Wine Train is getting a muy delicioso overhaul in honor of Cinco de Mayo next weekend.

Passengers typically spend the three-hour journey through wine country sipping vino  but on May 5, the ride is transforming into a tequila-drenched fiesta.

The tour company announced that it will be hosting its first-ever tequila train, complete with stunning views of the countryside, a four-course meal, and  of course  flowing tequila.

Salud! The Napa Valley Wine Train will become a 'tequila train' for one day only

Chug chug on the choo choo! The train typically serves mostly wine during the journey along the countryside in California wine country

The little engine that puede: It's a popular tour for visitors who want to see the vineyards and drink

The Napa Valley Wine Train paired up with Casa Dragones for the special ride, which will be held on May 5 only.

Tickets are now on sale for $295 for revelers looking to book the trip, which lasts from 5:20 to 8:30.

Guests will board with a welcome cocktail  tequila-based, of course  as well as an appetizer of chips, salsa, and guacamole.

That will be followed by a a first course of shrimp ceviche, a second course of soup with black beans and cilantro crema, and a third course of steak and chicken with rice and queso.

I've been drinkin' on the railroad! In honor of Cinco de Mayo, it will have a special Mexican set menu with tequila drinks on May 5

Cheers to the conductor! The four-course meal will include guacamole and chips, of course

Fiesta on wheels! There will also be music and lots of tequila drinks

Finally, the dessert: a tres leches cake paired with Casa Dragones Joven, a high-end tequila that sells for over $250 a bottle.

While the drinks with dinner are included, all other alcohol is at an additional cost, likely so the ride doesn't get too rowdy.

There's also a guacamole bar on borad, as well as live Flamenco guitar music.

The train itself travels 36 miles from from Downtown Napa to St. Helena and back, passing wineries and vineyards along the way.A price war has been triggered on Viagra as the blue pills go on sale

A price war has been triggered on Viagra as the blue pills go on sale for as little as 3.75 each.

The Government has liberalised sales of the drug for erectile dysfunction so that it can be bought without prescription from supermarkets.

Now, Asda is to sell a pack of eight for 30, equating to 3.75 each  cheaper than the standard price of 34.99, or 4.37 each.

The drug can also be bought in packs of four under the Viagra Connect brand, for which Asda has cut the normal selling price from 19.99 to 18.

While the product, which is made by Pfizer, can be bought without prescription, customers cannot simply pick it up off the shelf, no questions asked.

They still have to go to either a specialist pharmacy, or the pharmacy counter in a supermarket, and give some details about their medical history.

The tablets are available only to over-18s who will be required to answer a series of questions from the pharmacist about the symptoms they are suffering, their general health, and any other medication that they are taking.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) announced last year that it would be reclassifying Viagra Connect tablets following a consultation with the public.

There are 4.3million sufferers of erectile dysfunction in the UK, and experts said that making the tablets more widely available would help those who might not feel able to visit their GP over the issue.

Greater availability of the tablets, first illicitly over the internet, has meant Viagra has become a lifestyle drug for some young men.

The Government has liberalised sales of the drug for erectile dysfunction so that it can be bought without prescription from supermarkets

Officials said that they hoped the move to widen availability would steer people away from websites that were operating illegally and selling unlicensed or counterfeit pills.

Faisal Tuddy, who is Asdas superintendent pharmacist, said: With millions of men in the UK suffering from erectile dysfunction, we want to make this over the counter medication as accessible as possible to our customers in a supportive environment and for the best price possible.

Our trained pharmacists are on hand to talk to customers and hold a short consultation in a private space before they buy the medication, which we hope will encourage men who have not previously had the confidence to seek help.

Mr Tuddy added that some men, such as those with heart problems or taking certain interacting medicines, would still need a prescription for Viagra.Avengers: Infinity War Cert: 12A 2hrs 29mins

Rating:

Keep a look out for the kitchen sink. Thats all I can say after watching Avengers: Infinity War, because it must be in there somewhere. After all, everything else is.

More superheroes than you can shake a stick at (I stopped counting at 20), more plot than at least this poor human brain can comprehend, and enough sharp one-liners to take your mind off minor facts such as well, the very future of the universe being at stake.

My goodness this is fun. Yes, there are probably too many characters from Marvels so-called Cinematic Universe for everyone to get a fair share of screen time and yes, the plot bounces around the galaxies  and Edinburgh, I should add  at a brain-befuddling rate, but the film-making ambition is a joy to behold, the delivery impressive and, as for the spine-tingling ending, well its close to genius.

There are probably too many characters for everyone to get a fair share of screen time. Above: Benedict Cumberbatch, Robert Downey Jr, Mark Ruffalo and Benedict Wong

The Russo brothers  Anthony and Joe  who directed the last two Captain America films and who direct again here, have much to be proud of.

Disney, the studio that now owns the Marvel franchise, doesnt want me to say very much about many of the plot details.

So all I will say is that this is very much the first of two films and that the screenplay writers, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, despite their slight fondness for formula and repetition, have come up with a truly brilliant device to ensure that well all be rushing to see the as-yet-untitled second film next year.

Still, the film-making ambition is a joy to behold, the delivery impressive and the spine-tingling ending is close to genius. Above: Chadwick Boseman, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson

This is the movie that brings together two separate Marvel franchises  the Avengers and Guardians Of The Galaxy  and Iron Man, Hulk etc reluctantly team up with Peter Quill and his normally cooler, funnier, sillier gang because well, as I say, the very future of the universe is at stake.

Why? Because the vast and seemingly unstoppable villain Thanos is collecting infinity stones that will give him control of everything from time and space to more abstract matters such as mind and soul.

Having seen the trailer, I was worried about Thanos  he was surely too big, too obviously a visual effect to convince. But in the film itself he becomes ever more real as the story moves on, helped by the fact that his size seems to change from scene to scene.

Look out for a skirmish that absolutely chimes with these Times Up times with a trio of kick-ass female characters. Above: Elizabeth Olsen, who has a good film

Also, the visual effects are good enough for us to see the actor playing Thanos  Josh Brolin  underneath. He may be a big old baddie but this is one inter-galactic villain that sheds real tears too. Ah, but for whom?

Some of the big set-pieces are wonderful: I loved the attempted kidnapping on, around and above Edinburghs Royal Mile  Waverley Station will never be the same again now I know that Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen, having a good film), Vision (Paul Bettany) and Captain America (Chris Evans) have all been there  and, after the phenomenal success of Black Panther, its good to return to the wide-open plains of Wakanda for another climactic battle.

Look out, in particular, for a skirmish that absolutely chimes with these Times Up times with a trio of kick-ass female characters.

While Im sure hardcore Marvel fans will want to give it five stars, theres too much here that smacks of overkill. Above: Scarlett Johansson, Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr, Letitia Wright

In a film in which new rivalries emerge (I loved Quill trying to have a deeper voice than Thor) and old relationships are revealed, who stands out from the crowd?

I always warm to Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark/Iron Man, here cast in the role of reluctant mentor to the youthfully impetuous, pop-culture-quoting (Have you seen Aliens?) Spider-Man (Tom Holland).

And the other two Chrises  Hemsworth and Pratt (as Thor and Quill)  can be relied on to make me laugh.

I loved the attempted kidnapping on, around and above Edinburghs Royal Mile (above)  Waverley Station will never be the same again

This time around Zoe Saldana (as the glamorous Gamora) and Olsen have important parts to play, although  perhaps a shade predictably  by providing the storys heart rather than its humour.

While Im sure hardcore Marvel fans will want to give it five stars, I cant quite match their enthusiasm. Theres too much here that smacks of overkill, too many moments when I was left thinking Who? or What?

But its huge fun, the cliffhanger ending is inspired and I cant wait to see what happens next.

SECOND SCREEN

Beast (15)

Rating:

Another week, another film set in the Channel Islands but, as its menacing title suggests, Beast has little of the lightweight appeal of The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society.

Set on Jersey and much darker and stranger in tone, it also features a belter of a central performance from Jessie Buckley, currently on TV in The Woman In White.

Here she plays Moll, a young, unstable-looking woman whos grown up in a family dominated by her controlling mother (Geraldine James) and where shes constantly upstaged by her siblings.

Jessie Buckley (above with Johnny Flynn) is wonderful as Moll, a young, unstable-looking woman whos grown up in a family dominated by her controlling mother

So when her own birthday party is hijacked by her sisters announcement that shes expecting twins, she gulps down a couple of furious glugs of vodka and flounces out. Shes also bleeding from her hand, having deliberately scrunched a broken glass into her hand. Its the first hint of dark secrets to come.

Its also indicative of the impressive way debut feature writer-director Michael Pearce likes to do his storytelling.

Very little is spelled out, but a sense of narrative accumulates through actions, detail and artfully created atmosphere.

Such as the facts that someone  presumably the beast of the title  is kidnapping and killing young teenage girls and that Molls new boyfriend Pascal (Johnny Flynn) is among the chief suspects.

While some of the supporting performances dont measure up, Buckley is simply wonderful as Moll, giving a fearless, totally committed performance.

Odds on to be one of the top ten British films of the year.Rodin And The Art Of Ancient Greece

British Museum, London Until July 29

Rating:

For a short-sighted son of a Paris policeman, Auguste Rodin went on to have a heck of a career  as one of the greatest sculptors of all time.

Hes associated with bold realism, translating into art whatever he saw before him and rejecting the polished, idealised figures of academic sculpture.

A new exhibition at the British Museum, however, puts a different slant on his genius. It highlights the influence on Rodin of Ancient Greek art, especially the sculptures from the Parthenon temple in Athens.

This show blows its trumpet a little too loudly at times, failing to acknowledge there were many more influences on Rodin than the British Museum. Above: The Age Of Bronze , 1877

Around half the surviving examples are kept at the BM, and Rodin is known to have made the trip to London at least 15 times to see them.

Fast-forward to 2018 and  thanks to loans from the Paris Rodin Museum  visitors are treated to the sight of the Frenchmans sculptures beside Parthenon pieces that inspired him.

Take Rodins best-known work, The Kiss, of an intertwined couple embracing. It appears near a Greek sculpture of two sensual-looking goddesses.

Both works were carved from single blocks of stone, and both feature what looks like one figure melting into another.

Rodins best-known work, The Kiss (above), of an intertwined couple embracing appears near a Greek sculpture of two sensual-looking goddesses

Rodin, it must be said, never made straight copies. He was too original for that, cherry-picking his sources of inspiration and adapting them freely.

An interesting, new spin is put on another of his famous works, The Thinker, long felt to be of a man in contemplation.

His pose, however  with head resting on the back of his right hand  is seen on Athenian grave monuments. Might Rodins figure, then, not just be thinking but also mourning?

In truth, this show blows its trumpet a little too loudly at times, failing to acknowledge there were many more influences on Rodin than the British Museum.

The trip that defined his career and unlocked his imagination wasnt to London at all, but to Italy in 1875, when he saw the work of Michelangelo.

That said, this remains a fine exhibition  from which Rodin and his Greek forebears all emerge triumphant.President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visit an exhibition of fine relics, including a set of Chinese chimes, at the Hubei Provincial Museum on Friday. XU JINGXING / CHINA DAILY

Xi tells Modi cooperation between great nations points way for world

The great cooperation between the two great nations of China and India will create global influence, President Xi Jinping said on Friday.

Xi made the remark while meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is holding a two-day informal meeting with Xi in Wuhan, the capital of Central Chinas Hubei province.

Noting that he and Modi have visited each others country and held talks many times on multilateral occasions in the past three years, Xi said that the two leaders have built good working relations.

The consensuses reached by the two sides have provided positive signals of China-India friendship and reflected the strong will of China and India  as two big emerging economies  to enhance mutually beneficial cooperation, Xi said.

The president said he hoped this meeting could unveil a new chapter for China-India relations.

Xi called on the two sides to guide China-India relations from a strategic view and ensure that the bilateral ties will progress in the right direction.

The China-India relationship should be enhanced continuously, and it should be like the Yangtze and Ganges rivers, which never stop flowing and always move forward, Xi said.

China would like to make joint efforts with India to build a closer development partnership and promote cooperation in all areas, Xi added.

Modi expressed gratitude for Xis invitation to attend the informal meeting, saying the meeting has historical significance.

The frequent high-level exchanges and strategic communication between India and China can boost mutual understanding and enhance cooperation, which will benefit both sides as well as the region, Modi said.

The two leaders viewed an exhibition featuring fine relics of Chinese civilization at the Hubei Provincial Museum on Friday afternoon.

They also exchanged views on the exchanges and communications between the two ancient civilizations of China and India, and on promoting the harmonious co-existence of different civilizations.

Both China and India have a glorious history and culture, and the cultures of both countries have lots of connections, Xi said, adding that the two countries should expand communication and be dedicated to the revitalization of Oriental civilization.

Modi said both India and China are ancient civilizations, and the histories of the two countries have many similarities.

The two countries should boost mutual understanding and jointly deal with global problems and challenges, he said.

The meeting between Xi and Modi will promote free trade, strengthen unity among developing countries and uphold the principles of equity and justice, said Chinese Ambassador to India Luo Zhaohui.

People-to-people exchanges between China and India exceeded 1 million last year. Over 20,000 Indians study in China, and 42 flights operate between the two countries each week, according to statistics from the Foreign Ministry.Its often said that if you remember the Sixties then you probably werent there. Unfortunately, Derek Taylors autobiography suggests that the reverse is also true: if you dont remember the Sixties then you probably were there.

Taylor begins the book as he means to go on. Chapter 1 is called About today written today. It starts: This book was started in the Sixties somewhere, as random notes.

Begun, or sort of begun, in 1968, when Taylor was working for The Beatles, and first published five years later, As Time Goes By has now been reprinted by the illustrious firm of Faber & Faber. It is very much a product of its time, full of words and expressions such as groovy (and ungroovy), uptight, aggro, weird trip, dig meaning like, bread meaning money and a drag meaning a bore.

Derek Taylor was The Beatles press officer when they hit the big time in 1964. He then left for California and rejoined them for two years from 1968-1970

Some sentences could really do with a translator, specially flown in from the Sixties. Talking about a very turned-on record company mogul called Gil Friesen, he says: What was wrong with Gil in the mid-Sixties was what was wrong with lots of us in the mid-Sixties  we were uptight. We were on the make and it was killing us, pilling us, and we had no place to go but up, and up was really very down.

Derek Taylor was The Beatles press officer when they hit the big time in 1964. He then left for California and rejoined them for two years from 1968-1970, when things were falling apart. A popular figure, he died in 1997, though word of his demise doesnt seem to have reached Faber & Faber, who have contributed the authors blurb in the present tense.

There is a lively description of Taylor in the late Sixties in The Love You Make, another (and much better) biography by a former Beatles employee, Peter Brown. On the plus side, he says that Derek believed in The Beatles good intentions, and his enthusiasm was infectious. He was also blessed with the gift of charm, wit and imagination. And then comes the but. But Derek, at the time, was also a man with a great capacity for alcohol and drugs. As a kind of inebriated, psychedelic visionary, he was the dispenser of Apples good vibes... He sat behind a large desk in a fantail wicker chair, cigarette or joint in hand, Scotch and Coke before him, greeting a never-ending stream of visitors.

For three years he worked in California for, among others, The Byrds and The Beach Boys

Its always said that Mick Jagger has yet to write an autobiography because he can remember so little of the Sixties. But Taylor remained undeterred. Everything is a little too vague, a little too hazy. For three years he worked in California for, among others, The Byrds and The Beach Boys. So what was it like, Derek? I cannot describe the Californian experience, which is like no other. You just have to go there and do it and rely on your ability to absorb it and stay alive and reasonably steady. If you can do it there, you can do it anywhere. Do what? Do anything.

Thank goodness all books are not written like this. Tell us about Ancient Rome, Mary Beard! I cannot describe the Roman experience, which is like no other. And what about the Soviet Union, Simon Sebag-Montefiore? You just have to go there and do it.

Taylor is so impossibly vague that large swathes of the book might just as well have been written in disappearing ink

Taylor is so impossibly vague that large swathes of the book might just as well have been written in disappearing ink. Most of his judgments that are not vague are simply wrong. See if you can guess who he is describing in these two passages:

a) He is a very decent man, father of five and he looks as if he doesnt overdo anything.

b) He does his best to be good.

a) is Bob Dylan, and b) is Allen Klein, the shark who took over The Beatles affairs and was later immortalised in The Rutles movie as Ron Decline, the most feared promoter in the world... people would commit suicide rather than meet him.

Nevertheless, the book has its moments. In California, Taylor moves into an office next to a man who manages both Captain Beefheart and the actor who plays The Riddler in the Batman series on TV. His own list of clients, from The Doors to Percy Sledge, is almost as diverse, and he is wryly amusing about the hucksterish tricks he employed to promote them. He speaks admiringly of one of The Beatles drivers, who handed them towels to dry their sweaty faces after they came offstage at the Hollywood Bowl. He then cut the towels into half-inch squares, encased them in plastic and sold them to fans for five dollars each.

Organising the Monterey Pop Festival, Taylor sold a thousand more tickets by putting it about that The Beatles were going to be in attendance, disguised as hippies.

Not all his ventures were successful. In 1965 he took on Paul Revere & The Raiders and The Beau Brummels, both of whom, he wryly admits, were set to be the next big things.

Paid $125 a day in 1967 to improve the public image of a sunny-faced group called The Sandpipers, he advised them to roughen themselves up a bit by removing their ties and scarves and growing their hair and perhaps even sprouting a few beards. I also advised them to take some acid but from the look of their scarves and the look in their eyes as I look at them now, its clear they didnt.

Theres a funny interlude in which he is called on to represent the former sex goddess Mae West, who is in her mid-70s and attempting to break into rock music with a new album of classics such as Light My Fire. She is a very fussy old lady, her assistant tells him, but you mustnt ever use the word old in her presence. She would be very cross, very cross indeed. He is led into a room which has a naked portrait of Miss West as its centrepiece. She tells him that her mother taught her to leave her clothes on the floor. Somebody else will always pick them up. Similarly, she had never bothered to learn how to make a cup of coffee. On the one occasion when she tried, she had no idea how to stop the percolator bubbling, so she phoned a hotel receptionist, who told her to switch off the stove. I was so relieved. Such a clever young man. I should never have thought to do that.

Theres a funny interlude in which he is called on to represent the former sex goddess Mae West, who is in her mid-70s and attempting to break into rock music

Every now and then  perhaps in a break from the joints and the Scotch and Cokes  he manages to write a passage that successfully evokes the spirit of the times. In one chapter he describes an acid-fuelled road trip in 1968 with Paul McCartney, who had just finished recording a tune with the Black Dyke Mills Band. They end up in the village of Harrold in Bedfordshire, chosen for no better reason than they liked the name. In the village inn, a little girl hands Paul a guitar, whereupon he plays a new song he has just written, called Hey Jude. He then plays The Fool On The Hill and other songs on the piano to the villagers until three in the morning.

We left then, waved away by the Harrolds, by all of them, and we never went back and I never looked at the map again, not even to see if Harrold was there. It is, I suppose, the modern-day equivalent of Edward Thomass Adlestrop. Alas, with the advent of social media, that special dreamlike sense of an impromptu private celebration with one of the worlds most famous men would be unthinkable today.

Equally unthinkable is the bizarre mix of characters. Lunching in Soho with Allen Klein, Derek Taylor spots Germaine Greer taking a seat just vacated by Enoch Powell. At the Whisky-A-Go-Go in LA, The Beatles have a drink with Jayne Mansfield. In 1969, John and Yoko appear on the Eamonn Andrews chat show with Jack Benny, Yehudi Menuhin and Rolf Harris. Was it all a dream? asks Derek Taylor, before replying, with characteristic Sixties wooliness, No it wasnt, yes it was.The French Horn

Sonning-on-Thames,

Berkshire, RG4 6TN

Rating:

Some things never change. The eternal allure of Desert Island Discs. Rod Stewarts barnet. And The French Horn in Sonning-on-Thames, a restaurant where it is forever 1987. Theres the ebullient, black-suited maitre d, a throwback to the good old days, when Italians ruled the front of house while the French got on with the serious business of shaking pans out back; the butter in iced silver dishes; the cheese straws that sit on every table, and a white bowl of excellent Melba toast.

The carpets are so thick that you wade, rather than walk. Theres a flambe trolley, and an epic wine list thicker than the Gutenberg Bible, brimming with years of spectacular first growths. We eye up a 1949 Latour (9,225), ogle a 1945 Mouton (25,000) and leer at a 1993 La Tache (a mere 5,850), before coming back down to Earth with a decently priced Chateau Gironville, at a whisper over 60.

Apparently, The French Horn has been owned by the Emmanuel family since 1972, and I get the feeling some of the regulars have been here just as long

Outside, at the end of an immaculate lawn, the Thames doesnt so much meander as rage, angry brown torrents rushing under a chorus of weeping willows. But its the only sign of discord in this plush, well-upholstered oasis of old-school charm. Our fellow guests all wear blazers or smart frocks, and chatter merrily with the lovely staff, having a gay old time.

Apparently, The French Horn has been owned by the Emmanuel family since 1972, and I get the feeling some of the regulars have been here just as long. Even Mary Berry would find this a little fuddy-duddy, whispers Bill, as we eschew a pre-lunch sherry and tramp straight to our table.

Im clad in sweatshirt and trainers, having not realised this place was, well, this sort of place. But after a barely perceptible raise of the eyebrows, upon arrival, plus a few mildly appalled glances from the other tables, were left to get on with lunch.

And what a menu this is. Preserved, like The French Horn, in tomato aspic. Sure, there are a few modern-ish, Nouvelle Cuisine-ish flourishes (a Sichuan pepper and lemon balm sauce with the scallops; lobster poached in lemongrass broth). But how lovely to see (if not eat) Charentais melon with chilled white port, Dover sole four ways (including Caprice, with a banana!), lobster thermidor and spit roast duck. We start with Dublin Bay prawns, breaded, deep-fried and served with a thick tartare sauce. Better known as scampi. Although no sign of a basket here, rather, plump crustaceans, immaculately fried, wearing the most skimpy and silken of batters.

Its what every pub whippersnapper aspires to be when it grows up, the very pinnacle of the scampi art. Theres an immaculate foie gras terrine too, as rich as Croesus, with a sigh of chilli at the end and a gloop of dainty mandarin mousse. The only mis-step, a drizzle of oversweet, cloying mandarin sauce.

Crab salad is decent, if fridge-cold, and lacking the ethereal sweetness of the just-picked. Like everything else here, the portion is generous, although at 22, so it should be. A sliver of shell is an unwelcome guest.

Bill has a vast veal chop, lasciviously juicy and cooked pink, while my spit roast duck is, to quote Michael Winner, who was a big fan of The Horn, historic. Carved tableside, with crisp, lavishly salted skin and sweet, succulent, flame-licked flesh, it is magnificent. Theres a splodge of sharp apple sauce and a dusty pile of home-made stuffing (I love dusty Paxo-style stuffing) and lashings of thin, intense gravy. There are no short cuts in this kitchen, says Bill admiringly, so chapeau to Josiane Diaga and her team. They sure know how to cook.

Lamb with cranberry sauce. There are no short cuts in this kitchen, says Bill admiringly

Prices are Berkshire-posh-hotel high, yet the sides (a fine leek gratin, buttered spinach, a peerless gratin dauphinois) come in at 3.50. Plus theres a three-course set menu for 33, which offers astounding value.

For pudding, crepes suzette, flambeed at the table. Obviously. I dont really like these boozy, oversweet pancakes but I adore the drama, all dancing flames and well-honed flips.

Coffee comes with pretty petits fours. Of course it does.

Outside, the river rages on, but here, just past three, all is calm. Just as it has been for the past 46 years. And just as it will be, I hope, for the next 50.

About 60 per headThe woman Bill Cosby was convicted of sexually assaulting tweeted, 'Truth prevails,' the morning after a jury came back with a verdict that could send sex offender to prison for the rest of his life.

After decades of whispers, lawsuits, investigations and close calls, Cosby was found guilty of drugging and assaulting Temple University employee Andrea Constand at his suburban Philadelphia mansion in January 2004.

'A very profound and heartfelt thank you to the Commonwealth of PA, Montgomery County, for their service and sacrifices. Congratulations. Truth prevails,' Constand wrote on Twitter, early on Friday.

Cosby, 80, was found guilty of administering an intoxicant, rendering his victim unconscious and penetrating her without consent, with each charging carrying a possible sentence of up to 10 years in prison.

The verdict reached on Thursday also led Temple University on Friday to revoke Cosbys honorary degree from the school.

Bill Cosby victim Andrea Constand (left) embraces prosecutor Kristen Feden during a news conference after Cosby was found guilty in his sexual assault retrial on Thursday in Norristown, Pennsylvania

Constant was in the courtroom at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pennsylvania today and heard the guilty verdict read out loud in person.

Cosby's conviction was hailed by womens advocates as a turning point in the #MeToo movement and was seen as vindication by a multitude of women who doubted anyone would ever believe their word against that of Americas Dad.

Lili Bernard, who claimed Cosby sexually assaulted her before giving her a one-time role on The Cosby Show in 1992, became so emotional in the courtroom gallery that she accidentally banged her forehead on the bench in front of her.

'Im overcome with gratitude,' Bernard, sobbing, said outside the courthouse.

'I feel like I have to pinch myself. Am I awake? Its a miracle.'

Bill Cosby, 80, exits the Montgomery County Courthouse after a jury convicted him in a sexual assault retrial in Norristown, Pennsylvania on Thursday

Bill Cosby accusers, from left, Caroline Heldman, Lili Bernard and Victoria Valentino, right, react outside the courtroom to Cosby's conviction on Thursday

The verdict in the first big celebrity trial of the #MeToo era sealed the spectacular late-in-life downfall of an entertainer who broke racial barriers in Hollywood on his way to TV superstardom as sweater-wearing, wisdom-dispensing Dr Cliff Huxtable.

It was the only criminal case to arise from a barrage of allegations from more than 60 women who said Cosby drugged and molested them over five decades but whose stories were often disbelieved or ignored years before #MeToo put a spotlight on sexual misconduct by powerful men.

Cosby stared straight ahead as the verdict was read but moments later lashed out loudly at District Attorney Kevin Steele after the prosecutor demanded Cosby be sent immediately to jail.

Steele told the judge they had learned through the trial that Cosby has an airplane, and feared he could flee.

Cosby angrily denied he has a plane and called Steele an 'a**hole,' shouting, 'Im sick of him!'

Judge Steven ONeill decided Cosby can remain free on one million dollar bail while he awaits sentencing but restricted him to Montgomery County and the mansion where the encounter with Constand occurred.

Cosby was convicted of three counts of aggravated indecent assault, each carrying a standard sentence of five to 10 years in prison.

The counts are likely to be merged for sentencing purposes, but given Cosbys age even a modest term could mean he will die behind bars.

The woman cried and embraced after decades of fighting to have their stories believed

Cosby accuser Janice Baker-Kinney, who alleges he drugged and raped her in 1982, told ABCs Good Morning America on Friday that it is essential Cosby spend time in jail.

She said she would not be heartbroken if he spent the rest of his life in jail and even died in prison.

Sentencing will likely be held within three months. Before that, Cosby must face assessment to determine if he is a sexually violent predator. He will also be required to register as a sex offender under Megans Law.

Bernard told NBCs Today show on Friday that her hope is Cosbys sentence matches the severity of his crimes.

'Hopefully his sentencing will reflect the magnitude of the damage and havoc he has wreaked,' she said.

The jury of seven men and five women deliberated 14 hours over two days before convicting Cosby.

Cosby spokesman Andrew Wyatt told GMA on Friday that Cosby is feeling great one day after the verdict.

He said Cosby was spending time with his wife, Camille, is confident that he did nothing wrong and maintains his innocence.

Constand first came forward against Cosby 13 years ago, in a civil lawsuit.The Church of Scientology has been fined 14,000 for polluting a river with raw sewage.

The Church of Scientology Religious Education College - a subsidiary of the organisation - repeatedly polluted a tributary of the River Medway with sewage from its toilets.

The church, based at Saint Hill Manor at East Grinstead, West Sussex, pleaded guilty to one offence and asked for ten others to be taken into consideration at Worthing Magistrates' Court on Friday 27 April.

The Church of Scientology base at Saint Hill Manor at East Grinstead in West Sussex

The organisation was fined 14,000 and ordered to pay costs totalling 2,566.

The court heard that in August 2015, the church was replacing their old sewage treatment plant, with the new facility built to treat a higher volume of sewage.

The plant was completed and operating correctly when the Environment Agency inspected it in September 2015.

But in October, the Environment Agency was told of pollution in the Saint Hill area.

Investigators traced the pollution upstream to find that the newly installed treatment plant was the source.

Samples taken from the treatment plant found that the wastewater being discharged was over 10 times the permitted limit.

Investigators saw sewage fungus - described as 'a grey, slimy bacterial and fungal growth associated with sewage' covering the stream bed.

The stream bed had been covered for over 200 metres with sewage fungus and sediment associated with sewage.

The Environment agency said in a statement: 'Dead invertebrates were found for over 350 metres downstream of the discharge. '

Further inspections and sampling found that the treatment plant continued to pollute.

Wastewater being discharged from the Saint Hill Manor building (shown) was over 10 times the permitted limit

The Environment Agency took samples on 19 occasions of which 10 failed water quality standards, it said in a statement.

As part of the investigation the Environment Agency filed a notice requiring information about the design and installation of the sewage treatment plant, details of remedial works and also details of a large gala concert held at the complex.

Solicitors for the church responded with information and stated that although 1,600 guests had attended the concert additional toilet facilities had been provided that were not connected to the sewerage system.

Dave Willis, Area Environment Manager of the Environment Agency said: 'We are pleased that the court decided to impose a significant financial penalty on the organisation today.

'The incident had a serious and avoidable impact on a local watercourse, caused by failing to ensure that the new treatment plant operated correctly.

'We take these types of incidents very seriously and will do everything within our powers to safe-guard the environment and people affected, and that includes bringing those who harm the environment to account for their actions.'

The court heard the church was aware of the long-standing problem and was therefore negligent, but had since spent considerable money on installing new infrastructure to get the sewage treatment plant operating as it should.

They also noted that no long-term harm to the watercourse was caused.Rhonda Crawford, once on a fast track to a high-salary, high-status job as a judge, was pronounced dead Thursday at her Calumet City home

A former law clerk who was facing trial next week in Chicago for impersonating a judge in 2016 has been found dead at her suburban Chicago home, the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office said Friday.

Rhonda Crawford, once on a fast track to a high-salary, high-status job as a judge, was pronounced dead Thursday at her Calumet City home, a daily coroner's ledger said.

It offered no details on the cause of the 46-year-old's death, indicating only that an autopsy was pending.

'The incident is being investigated as an apparent suicide,' police Chief Christopher Fletcher said in a statement to the Chicago Tribune.

The former nurse drew headlines and ridicule around Chicago after word spread she'd donned black judge's robes on Aug. 11, 2016, and presided over traffic cases that should've been heard by a real judge.

Early that year, she had won a primary for an open county judgeship.

She told reporters later she had been shadowing judges to prepare for becoming a judge, which she called 'a life-long ambition.'

At one point, an actual judge, Valarie Turner, invited her to sit on the bench.

Crawford was a former law clerk who was facing trial next week in Chicago for impersonating a judge in 2016. She is seen alongside her attorney, Victor Henderson, in September 2016

Accepting was a spur-of-the-moment decision, which she regretted, she said.

Her lawyer, Rob Robertson, told the Chicago Tribune Friday he didn't know how his client had died.

'Rhonda was a truly great person who led an incredibly good life and wound up caught in a situation that was well beyond what it should have been,' he said.

After word spread about what she'd done in 2016, she was fired from her $57,000-a-year position and charged with official misconduct, which carries a maximum five-year prison term.

She pleaded not guilty to that charge and a charge of impersonation. Her trial was to start Monday.

After word spread about what she'd done in 2016, she was fired from her $57,000-a-year position and charged with official misconduct, which carries a maximum five-year prison term

Even after the incident, Crawford went on to win the general election that year.

But her license had been suspended and the Illinois Supreme Court prohibited her being sworn in to $180,000-a-year judge's job.

Turner was removed from the bench.

During disciplinary hearings, Crawford described being shocked when another judge approached her in a hallway shortly after she took the robe off.

The judge sounded angry, asking, 'Why would you put your career on the line like this?'

Crawford responded, 'I didn't know I was.'

After she was charged criminally, many observers, including Chicago Sun-Time columnist Mark Brown, agreed Crawford wasn't fit for a judgeship.

But Brown also wrote that 'the criminal charges are an unnecessary bit of piling on.'The mother of baby Lily Grace, who was found dead on a popular beach in 2014, may finally be known after a mysterious woman was spotted leaving toys and trinkets on the girl's grave.

The infant, who was given a name by her adoptive family shortly after she was found in the sand on Maroubra beach in Sydney, is buried at the Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park and visited weekly by Filomena D'Alessandro and her husband Detective Sergeant Bill Green.

Lily Grace's adoptive mother Ms D'Alessandro told the Sydney Morning Herald she began noticing small gifts being left on the little girl's grave and had reason to believe it could be her biological mother.

Lily Grace is buried at the Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park and visited weekly by her adoptive parents Filomena D'Alessandro and her husband Detective Sergeant Bill Green (pictured)

The children's bracelets, teddy bears, toy cars, dolls, blankets and flowers left there have also convinced cemetery staff, mental health experts and the coroner that it is her birth mother.

'I don't want to scare her off if it is her mother leaving them  but I do want her to know we aren't here to judge,' Ms D'Alessandro told the publication.

'She may have walked away from this situation, but we know this is a tragedy you can never walk away from.'

Children's bracelets, teddy bears, toy cars, dolls, blankets and flowers have also convinced cemetery staff, mental health experts and the coroner from the case that it is her parent (pictured is her funeral)

There is hope this generous benefactor visting the grave will be unmasked, with former Deputy State Coroner Hugh Dillon saying she wouldn't be charged

A teddy and cushion made for the abandoned baby

There is hope this generous benefactor visiting the grave will be unmasked, with former Deputy State Coroner Hugh Dillon saying she wouldn't be charged if it is her parent.

'If it is her mother leaving these gifts I suppose someone could lie in wait for her - but she needs to know there is no evidence to suggest she committed a crime so she has nothing to fear in coming forward,' he said.

'The police weren't looking to prosecute so she wouldn't be arrested.'

Lily Grace's decomposing body was found by two young boys in November 2014 buried beneath 30cm of sand at the southern end of Maroubra Beach.

When they discovered her body they began shouting 'dead baby, dead baby', before parents came to investigate and alerted police.

Lily Grace's cause of death and identity has never been determined but forensic pathologist Dr Isabel Brouwer said routine tests did show the girl was born full-term and that her umbilical cord hadn't been clamped - suggesting she wasn't born in a hospital.

Lily Grace's adoptive mother Ms D'Alessandro (right) said she began noticing small gifts being left on the little girl's grave and had reason to believe it could be her biological mother

Coronial advocate Sergeant Bronwyn Lorenc said that given the baby's birth weight and full-term status, it was more likely than not she was born alive

Coronial advocate Sergeant Bronwyn Lorenc said that given the baby's birth weight and full-term status, it was more likely than not she was born alive.

'As to how she came to be at the beach and whether she passed away at the beach or prior to is not available on the evidence,' Sgt Lorenc told the inquest.

Ms D'Alessandro and her husband adopted and named Lily Grace so she could avoid having a destitute burial.

Her death prompted Mr Dillon to recommend the NSW government consider installing 'baby boxes' in hospitals to allow at-risk mothers to anonymously leave unwanted infants.

Her death prompted Mr Dillon to recommend the NSW government consider installing 'baby boxes' in hospitals to allow at-risk mothers to anonymously leave unwanted infants

He also recommended consideration of 'safe haven' laws, which decriminalise the abandonment of newborns

He said the purpose of the inquest was not to 'attempt to shame anyone, especially the mother of Lily Grace'

He also recommended consideration of 'safe haven' laws, which decriminalise the abandonment of newborns.

'With very few exceptions, the abandonment of a baby or a child is an act of extreme desperation,' Mr Dillon said at the time.

'While it is understandable that other members of society are horrified by such behaviour, our tendency to revile the desperate mothers is harsh, unjust, uncaring and ultimately counter-productive.'

He said the purpose of the inquest was not to 'attempt to shame anyone, especially the mother of Lily Grace'.High street insurers calculate e-cigarettes to be as dangerous as smoking for life insurance policies.

Doubts over the safety of vaping mean people who use e-cigarettes containing nicotine receive the same premiums as smokers.

No major insurance firm in Britain is prepared to downgrade the risk for vapers, an industry conference heard.

It means choosing to use the devices, rather than quitting entirely, can double the cost of life insurance.

Doubts over the safety of vaping mean people who use e-cigarettes containing nicotine receive the same premiums as smokers

A growing number of experts are worried about the long-term effects of e-cigarettes, given the shortage of evidence on their safety. Research on animals has linked the devices to cancers, heart disease and lung conditions.

Diacetyl, used in e-cigarette flavourings, is linked to an incurable condition called 'popcorn lung', so-called as it is common in popcorn factory workers, that scars air sacs in the lungs.

This week Professor Gillian Leng, of health watchdog Nice, warned e-cigarettes are sold as 'edgy lifestyle devices' which could encourage long-term use.

Insurance expert Andrew Wibberley said high street firms calculating health risks over a lifetime draw no distinction between vapers and smokers.

No major insurance firm in Britain is prepared to downgrade the risk for vapers, an industry conference heard

At a meeting of the UK Vaping Industry Association, he said: 'In practice, if you are a non-smoker you are paying about 10 a month for a life insurance policy. If you are a smoker, and largely that includes e-cigarette users, you are paying about 20 a month for a policy.'

Half of working adults in Britain have a life insurance policy, with about one million a year signing up for one.

Figures from Future Proof, an independent insurance broker, put the average 20-year cost for 100,000 of life cover at 12,617 for a 60-year-old non-smoker. But that more than doubles if they use e-cigarettes, to 30,924.

The average 25-year charge for a 40-year-old with 100,000 cover rises from 2,838 to 5,877 if they vape.

A snapshot investigation of high street insurers confirmed they charge smokers and vapers the same rates for a 40-year-old with 25 years of life cover to the sum of 100,000

In both cases, the rates are exactly the same as for smokers.

Mr Wibberley told the UKVIA on Monday that e-cigarettes pose the same problem for insurers that HIV once did. They have not been around long enough for potential harms to be fully known. He said: 'Part of the challenge is the evolution and variety of e-cigarettes  obviously brings doubt as to whether there could be something [harmful] in some of the flavourings.'

Afterwards, he added: 'There is concern that people who use e-cigarettes could go back to smoking  But ultimately there is no evidence on the 25-year history of someone smoking e-cigarettes and much of the industry is cautious about developing trends until we get closer to that point.'

A snapshot investigation of high street insurers confirmed they charge smokers and vapers the same rates for a 40-year-old with 25 years of life cover to the sum of 100,000.

A Legal & General spokesman said: 'It appears clear e-cigarettes are still worse for you than not smoking at all.'

AIG Life has non-smoker rates for users of nicotine-free e-cigs for more than a year. But Debbie Bolton, head of underwriting, said: 'There is not enough data from e-cigarettes to be sure what the long-term effects are.'

Aviva said: 'Whilst we continue to actively monitor the emerging evidence, until this is available, we are likely to maintain our approach.'

But John Newton, of Public Health England, said risks from vaping were 'much lower than from smoking', warning: 'Insurance companies should not discourage smokers from using the UK's most popular quitting tool.'

A spokesman for the UK Vaping Industry Association said: 'Clearly vapers should be offered insurance rates that reflect that it is 95 per cent less harmful than smoking.

That is why the UKVIA is very pleased to be partnered with FutureProof who, working with major insurer Canada Life, are able to offer vapers a fair deal that is very close to the rates that non-smokers pay. Hopefully the rest of the insurance industry will follow suit.David Davis has pledged not to betray the British fishing industry like Edward Heath did in the 1970s

David Davis has pledged not to betray the British fishing industry like Edward Heath did in the 1970s.

The Brexit Secretary said he could understand why fishermen feel nervous.

But he promised that by the 2020s  after the Brexit transition period  the UK will finally experience the benefits of leaving the EU and having full control of its own waters.

Mr Daviss comments come days after it emerged that the quota regime will not be specifically reformed after Brexit.

A leaked draft of the Fisheries White Paper suggests that large foreign firms are set to keep their rights to fish in the UKs coastal waters.

Asked whether he was selling out British fishermen, Mr Davis told the Daily Mail: No. But during the implementation period we cant pick and choose. We dont have time for that.

I can understand why the fishermen are nervous. Back in the era of Edward Heath their interests were not served well.

'I give them a promise: we are not going to do that.

'After the implementation period, we will control our own waters. We will start that discussion while we are still in transition.

Mr Heath was the Europhile Tory prime minister who took Britain into the Common Market in 1973.

Mr Davis will return to Brussels next week to resume talks with Michel Barnier, the EUs chief Brexit negotiator.

Last night the Brexit Secretary said: The naysayers, those who think we should pack up or give in, are wrong. Every week we are negotiating in good faith to deliver a new relationship, with Britain outside the EU, that will stand the test of time. Next week is no exception.

Its not about expecting the worst, or setting our sights low, its about agreeing a substantial trade deal that works for the UK and our friends and allies in Europe.

The British public voted for this, so lets crack on and get it done.

Mr Heath (pictured with Margaret Thatcher in 1970) was the Europhile Tory prime minister who took Britain into the Common Market in 1973

At present, around 40 per cent of Englands fishing quota is operated by foreign-owned vessels.

One Dutch firm alone controls two-thirds of the countrys entire quota allocation for North Sea herring.

The leaked White Paper suggests this will not change even after we leave the EU, meaning smaller firms will be unable to access a significantly larger section of the coastal fish stock.

Responding to the revelation, Tory MP Andrew Rosindell said: Getting back control of our seas and fishing grounds is one of the key reasons for voting to leave the EU and therefore the Common Fisheries Policy. That has to happen.

Our fishermen will expect nothing less and I trust the Prime Minister to deliver it.

The Mail has reported in recent weeks on cases which appear to show that the Government is not straining every sinew to back its fishermen.

Earlier this month it was revealed that the Foreign Office has handed 75million-worth of fishing licences in the South Atlantic to companies from Norway, Chile and New Zealand.

Two firms based in the Falklands Islands, a British overseas territory, had their applications rejected, although one of them has now been given leave to appeal.For more than 60 years, Connie Scott has had a trusted GP surgery five minutes from home.

And although things have changed since the days when the family doctor knew all her children by name, it is still a precious service.

So when she received a letter saying the surgery was closing, she knew she had to do something to help. And she has.

How dare they do this: 89-year-old Connie Scott appeared in a campaign video online

The 89-year-old great-grandmother has become the face of her community's fight to stop the Osler House surgery closing its doors. 'I can't tell you how angry I was when I got that letter,' she said. 'I wanted to go out on to the street and shout, 'How dare they do this!'

There was no public consultation over the closure of the surgery in Potter Street, a suburb in Harlow, Essex.

After the practice closes on Monday, Mrs Scott will have to make a 40-minute round trip taking four buses to get to a GP.

In a protest video, which has been viewed thousands of times online, she says: 'I'm absolutely devastated. I moved down into Harlow in 1953 with two little babies. I have always lived in Potter Street and this has always been our surgery and I just feel that they have sold us out. It's an absolute disgrace what they have done to us.'

Save our surgery! Mrs Scott pictured on the streets leading the protests in a viral video with thousands of views

The first that Mrs Scott and the surgery's 3,300 other patients knew about the closure was a letter (shown) informing them it was to shut in little over a month

Mrs Scott signed up as a patient at the surgery when it first opened in 1955. She and her late husband Bert moved to the area in 1953, attracted to the new town by the opportunities it promised away from a war-ravaged London.

The mother of three remembers the family doctor rushing to her home in the dead of night when her eldest daughter, Madeline, had meningitis.

'The family doctor knew all my girls' names and would ask after them,' she said. 'There was such a community feel about the place. The community even named a new estate, Meyrick Mead, after Dr John Meyrick, one of the original doctors at Osler House. But now there is such a huge turnover these days they don't have time to get to know you.'

The first that Mrs Scott and the surgery's 3,300 other patients knew about the closure was a letter informing them it was to shut in little over a month.

After the practice closes on Monday, Mrs Scott will have to make a 40-minute round trip taking four buses to get to a GP

To add to the insult, patients found the surgery is run by a firm that is part owned by an American health insurance company based 4,000 miles away in St Louis, Missouri. The closure is one of scores across the country, with official figures revealing that two surgeries are now shutting a week.

Robert Halfon, Conservative MP for Harlow, said the lack of public consultation left no time to consider viable alternatives to closure.

He said the current GP was not asked to stay on and although other GP practices had been prepared to take Osler House on as a satellite surgery this had not been considered.

She said: ''I wouldn't have thought that they had the power to close that surgery without consultation. But they have got away with it'

He also questioned why an alternative company was not found to run it after the current firm bowed out of its contract.

He said government funding to the West Essex Clinical Commissioning Group, which awards contracts to run surgeries, has increased every year  and recorded a surplus of 7.3million in 2016/17. 'I am appalled by the way that this has been handled, I wasn't even told as a local MP,' he said.

'I've made it very clear that I believe the closure to be a wrong decision. Harlow is a rapidly expanding town and it makes no sense to close a surgery which has been serving Potter Street for over 60 years. 'I am very concerned that I received no prior notice of this closure and that the decision appears to have been reached without any consultation with patients, user groups, and the wider community.'

Mr Halfon has taken his complaint to NHS minister Steve Brine as CCGs have a legal duty to consider the impact a closure will have on the local community.

Mrs Scott takes a starring role in the online video, filmed as residents protested on the street about the loss of Osler House.

Later she told the Mail: 'We have been told they are doing it because the surgery doesn't have many patients. But 3,000 is not a small amount. It has all been done so underhand.

'I wouldn't have thought that they had the power to close that surgery without consultation. But they have got away with it.'

A spokesman for West Essex CCG said the Osler House patients were now registered with one of ten other surgeries in Harlow, three of which are within 1.2 miles.

The spokesman added the CCG had approached the five practices closest to the site to see if any could take it over but talks with two were unsuccessful.

NHS bosses have complained to the Home Office after 100 Indian doctors were denied visas to work in the UK. British doctors say immigration rules that cap non-EU skilled workers are harming patient safety because of a staff shortage in the NHS.Jean-Claude Juncker has been accused of insulting victims of communism after it was revealed that he will attend a celebration of Karl Marxs 200th birthday

Jean-Claude Juncker has been accused of insulting victims of communism after it was revealed that he will attend a celebration of Karl Marxs 200th birthday.

The European Commission president will be a guest at a lavish ceremony in the philosophers German hometown.

Mr Juncker will deliver a speech at the event in Trier on May 4, before the unveiling of an 18ft bronze statue of Marx donated by Chinas ruling Communist Party the next day.

Critics yesterday questioned why the EU chief plans to celebrate the father of communism.

Tory MP Daniel Kawczynski, whose family fled Soviet-era Poland when he was a child, said the decision to attend the ceremony was in poor taste and called for Mr Juncker to cancel.

Marxism led to the killing of millions around the world as it allowed a small band of fanatics to suppress the people,' he said.

'We must learn the lessons from this and share with our children.'

Marxs book Das Kapital, published in 1867, inspired Communist leaders such as Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin.

His works, which also include 1848s The Communist Manifesto, are considered by critics to have fuelled political tensions and conflicts throughout the 20th century.

Marx was born in Trier on May 5, 1818.

As part of the bicentenary celebrations, a series of exhibitions will be opened at the Karl Marx House museum.

Marxs book Das Kapital, published in 1867, inspired Communist leaders such as Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin

Mr Juncker was invited to speak at the opening by German politician Malu Dreyer.

Controversy has centred on the decision to accept the 2.3-tonne statue.

Officials who voted to accept the gift last year insisted that the monument does not glorify Marxs ideology.

But Ulrich Delius, director of the Society for Threatened Peoples, said the monument was a poisonous gift from China, which he accused of committing state terror against its own people.

The European Commission said Mr Juncker would not be involved in the unveiling of the statue and was aware of the historical facts and sensitivities.

A spokesman said: Whatever peoples views on Karl Marx are nobody can deny that he is a figure that shaped history.'South Korean President Moon Jae-in (R) and Kim Jong Un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) sign for their joint declaration, titled the Panmunjom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity and Unification of the Korean Peninsula, at Peace House on the South Korean side of Panmunjom, on April 27, 2018. (Xinhua/Inter-Korean Summit Press Corps)

GOYANG, South Korea, April 27 (Xinhua) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong Un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), confirmed a common goal of complete denuclearization and agreed to push for multilateral talks to turn the current armistice agreement into a peace treaty after their first summit meeting in Panmunjom Friday.

Moon and Kim held a signing ceremony for their joint declaration, the Panmunjom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity and Unification of the Korean Peninsula, at Peace House on the South Korean side of Panmunjom, the border village dividing the rival Koreas since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

The leaders confirmed their common goal of realizing a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula via complete denuclearization.

They agreed to push for talks, which would also involve China and the United States, to establish a permanent, firm peace regime with a view to ending hostilities and turning the armistice agreement into a peace treaty this year, the 65th anniversary of the agreement.

Ending the current unactual state of armistice and establishing a firm peace regime on the peninsula is a historical mission that cannot be delayed any more, the joint declaration said.

The two sides shared the view that the measures initiated by the DPRK are very meaningful and crucial for the Korean Peninsula's denuclearization, and agreed to carry out their respective roles and responsibilities in this regard.

They also agreed to seek the international community's support and cooperation for the peninsula's denuclearization.

Kim walked across the military demarcation line into South Korea, becoming the first DPRK leader to set foot on South Korean soil since the Korean War ended with the armistice.

With Kim's visit, the 800-meter-wide Panmunjom dividing the two Koreas became a symbol of peace and dialogue from a symbol of confrontation and division.

After signing the joint declaration, Moon and Kim hugged each other and smiled.

Moon agreed to visit Pyongyang this fall and continue to have frequent discussions with Kim through regular meetings and direct telephone conversations to build mutual trust. A hotline between the two leaders was set up a week earlier, the first such communications channel between the leaders of the two Koreas.

The Panmunjom declaration has three main themes: establishing a peace regime, making efforts to ease military tensions, and prosperity and unification of the two Koreas.

Seoul and Pyongyang agreed to carry out a phased disarmament in accordance with the eased military tension and the progress in military trust-building, reaffirming the non-aggression agreement that precludes the use of force in any form toward each other.

Moon and Kim declared that there will be no more war on the peninsula, sharing a commitment to bring a swift end to the Cold War legacy of division and confrontation and approach a new era of national reconciliation, peace and prosperity.

The two Koreas agreed to completely stop all hostile acts against each other on land, in sea and air that are the source of military tension and conflict. In this vein, the two sides agreed to transform the four-km-wide demilitarized zone into a peace zone by ceasing as of May 1, all hostile acts such as loudspeaker broadcasts against each other and distributing leaflets across the border.

The two sides will devise practical measures to change the areas around the Northern Limit Line, which serves as the de-facto maritime border in the West Sea, into a maritime peace zone to prevent accidental maritime clashes and guarantee safe fishing activities.

They also agreed to take various military measures to ensure active mutual cooperation, exchanges, visits and contacts. The two sides agreed to hold frequent meetings between military authorities, including the defense ministers' meeting, in order to immediately discuss and resolve the military issues that arise between them. They agreed to convene a general-level military meeting in May.

To resolve humanitarian issues, the two Koreas will hold a reunion of families separated across the border around the Aug. 15 Liberation Day, when the Korean Peninsula was liberated from Japanese colonial rule from 1910-45. The two sides will discuss overall issues regarding the separated families via Red Cross meetings.

To achieve balanced growth and co-prosperity on the peninsula, the two sides will implement the projects agreed upon in the Oct. 4, 2007 declaration by then South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and then DPRK leader Kim Jong Il, father of the current leader, following the second inter-Korean summit.

As a first step, South Korea and the DPRK will connect and modernize railways and roads in the eastern transport corridor and between Seoul and the DPRK's northwestern city of Sinuiju.

To raise the sense of national reconciliation and unity, the two Koreas agreed to encourage exchanges, cooperation, visits and contacts at all levels.

To secure close consultations between the authorities of the two Koreas and smooth exchanges and cooperation among their private sectors, the two sides will establish a joint liaison office in the DPRK's border town of Kaesong.

>>Related:

S. Korean, DPRK leaders meet in Panmunjom to usher in "new history" on peninsula

GOYANG, South Korea, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Under intense global spotlight, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un met in the border village of Panmunjom Friday in the hope of starting an era of peace on the peninsula.

China applauds DPRK, ROK leaders' political resolution and courage

BEIJING, April 27 (Xinhua) -- China on Friday applauded the political resolution and courage the leaders of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the Republic of Korea (ROK) have showed, wishing positive results for the meeting.Arial Harrison, from Michigan, miraculously survived an attack by a pitbull last year

A three-year-old girl miraculously survived a vicious attack by a pitbull, but Medicaid won't pay for her prosthetic ears because they have deemed the operation 'cosmetic', according to her family.

Arial Harrison is still recovering from the injuries she suffered last April when a pitbull terrier mauled her while she was playing in her grandmother's backyard in Cassopolis, Michigan.

The dog's 21-year-old owner, a neighbor of the grandmother, was acquitted when the case went to trial, and the pitbull was euthanized.

The little girl spent months in the hospital and lost her ears and much of her scalp in the attack most. Most of her head is now a skin graft, according to a YouCaring page set up by her family.

The page also claims Arial constantly asks why her two sisters have ears and she doesn't.

Arial's mom Kendra Canen told WSBT that while the toddler's insurance has paid for her surgeries in the past, they won't pay for the 'cosmetic' surgery to get her new ears.

Fighter: Arial, pictured with her mother, is still recovering from the injuries she suffered when the dog attacked her as she was playing in her grandmother's backyard

The little girl lost her ears in the attack and most of her head is now a skin graft

She says she wants Arial to get the operation before she begins school because she's afraid other kids will bully her.

Now, Ariel's community is working to raise the money needed for for the special operation, which has an estimated cost of nearly $12,000.

The Central Cass and Penn Township Fire Departments are organizing a pancake breakfast on May 5 to raise the funds necessary for the life-changing procedure.

Arial's mom Kendra Canen said that while the toddler's insurance has paid for her surgeries in the past, they won't pay for the 'cosmetic' surgery to get her new ears

Arial's family says she constantly asks why her two sisters have ears and she doesn't

'All of the areas in this community do a great job of coming together in a time of need. this just happened to be a time of need and we came together and hopefully it works out,' Lieutenant Oliver Fiala told WSBT.

A local business, Cassopolis Dental, is also working to get Ariel new ears by donating the money from the sell of professional teeth whitening products to her family.

Kendra told local media that despite the tragedy she remains hopeful her daughter will be able to make the next step in her recovery and get the special procedure.

'We're grateful she's a live. Moving forward, we live day-by-day so we have good days and we have bad days,' she said.Theresa May has been a far more resilient Prime Minister than many people expected, surviving a barrage of assaults on her leadership.

Indeed, twice  during the aftermath of last years General Election calamity and then after the embarrassment of her Tory party conference speech coughing fit  even some of her closest friends thought she might quit.

But by holding fast, she has increasingly earned the respect of decent and fair-minded people.

The past few weeks havent been easy, though.

Theresa May has been a far more resilient Prime Minister than many people expected, surviving a barrage of assaults on her leadership. Pictured: Theresa May speaking during the weekly Prime Minister's Questions

The Wests missile attack on Syria following the alleged use of chemical weapons on its own people by the Assad regime, and the reaction to the poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter in Britain, won plaudits for the PM.

It has helped her cause, of course, that there is no plausible alternative Tory leader and that the Labour Party is riven with divisions.

All that said, there loom on the horizon many more potential traps.

They follow a series of defeats for the Governments Brexit legislation by peers with no proper mandate to overturn the will of 17.4 million voters.

Any prime minister who cannot get their way in the Commons is certain to lose office sooner or later pictured: Theresa May speaks during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons

For the fact is that next month the EU Withdrawal Bill returns to the Commons and there is no doubt it will encounter serious problems.

We had a taster this week when Mrs May was heavily defeated in the Commons on a Labour vote to keep Britain in a European customs union.

Like the earlier votes in the Lords, this setback has been dismissed as meaningless because the government whips encouraged Tory MPs not to take part.

But they would assuredly have ordered them to participate if the whips had thought that they might win. The fact they didnt brutally exposes the Governments weakness and the inescapable truth that Mrs May does not have a parliamentary majority in the Commons to push through Brexit on her terms.

Mrs May can probably scramble through the summer months. But the autumn will see her moment of maximum danger. Pictured: Theresa May unveils the Millicent Fawcett statue in Parliament Square, London

Without doubt, these regular parliamentary setbacks are corrosive of her authority.

Any prime minister who cannot get their way in the Commons is certain to lose office sooner or later.

I calculate that Mrs May can probably scramble through the summer months. But the autumn will see her moment of maximum danger.

This will be the time when MPs will vote on a matter that truly does matter.

This is the vote on the deal that the Government strikes with Brussels on Britains relations with the EU after Brexit. She has rightly promised Parliament the final decision on her negotiations.

Mrs May could resign as Tory leader, in which case there would be an immediate contest to be her successor. Pictured: Britain's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson leaves from 10 Downing Street in central London

With an Opposition baying for her blood and a hard core of anti-Brexit Tory rebels, unless matters change a great deal, I cant see how Mrs May will win that vote.

Despite being chosen to receive the Nobel Peace Prize just months after first being elected U.S. President, Barack Obama had achieved nothing worthy of the award. Yet his successor Donald Trump  much criticised as a deeply divisive figure  has the potential to be a true peacemaker. He might just pull off a remarkable double act  ending North Koreas nuclear build-up while bringing about a rapprochement between North and South Korea. Advertisement

And if she loses, Britain would then enter a period of grave political uncertainty.

Mrs May could resign as Tory leader, in which case there would be an immediate contest to be her successor. The victor  perhaps Philip Hammond or Boris Johnson  would then battle to get parliamentary consent for their own version of a Brexit deal.

Alternatively, Mrs May could press for a vote of confidence in her Government.

If she won, she would have to struggle on. If she lost  which, I believe, would probably be the case  the constitution dictates that Jeremy Corbyn, as Opposition Leader, should be given the opportunity to form a government.

The victor  perhaps Philip Hammond or Boris Johnson  would then battle to get parliamentary consent for their own version of a Brexit deal. Pictured: Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond walks in Downing Street in central London

Mr Corbyn would begin talks with the Scottish National Party (which has 35 MPs), the 12 Lib Dem MPs as well as other small parties in an attempt to cobble together a minority government.

If he succeeded, Mr Corbyn would have to begin his own Brexit negotiations with Brussels.

Minister must raise his game over Wembley sale There's a shaming silence from ministers at the news that Wembley Stadium, the spiritual home of Englands national sport, is set to be sold to a U.S. billionaire who owns the American football franchise Jacksonville Jaguars. Specifically, why no condemnation from the Culture and Sport Minister, Matthew Hancock? Surely he has a view on a development which demonstrates for the umpteenth time how low in the gutter lie the amoral and squalid men who run elite football in this country. Bloated with money from broadcasting fees, advertisers, sponsors and much-abused fans match tickets, they are laughing all the way to the bank. Lets not forget, too, that our taxes helped fund the redevelopment of Wembley to the tune of well over 100 million. This deal must be stopped in the name of decency. Sadly, we cannot expect much from the 15th holder of this unrewarding ministerial post since David Minister of Fun Mellor quit 26 years ago after his mistress claimed he seduced her wearing a Chelsea shirt. Advertisement

Many believe he might achieve a better deal than that offered to the Tories because of the Brussels establishments longstanding hostility to what it sees as the Europhobe Tory party.

However, if Mr Corbyn was unable to form a government, the third General Election in three years would have to be held.

Faced with this unhappy prospect, it is not surprising that most sane people dearly hope Theresa May finds a Brexit solution that satisfies everyone in the parliamentary Tory Party.

Meanwhile, outside Westminster, pressure is building on the PM from business circles to deliver a soft Brexit. Many firms argue fervently that the clean break which hardline Brexiteers want would damage the countrys ability to do business in the EU.

Privately, many companies are talking about rethinking their strategy.

For example, the Japanese ambassador has warned that firms such as Nissan and Toyota in the UK that sell in the EU market would relocate if they no longer had access to the Single Market after March 2019.

Though I voted for Brexit and instinctively support national independence, its no good pretending these are not truly serious issues.

Every day, we have a shorter time in which to strike a deal. Its less than a year until Britain officially leaves the EU.

So far, Mrs Mays nature means she has delayed and fudged in order to retain the support of both sides. Although this tactic has worked well so far, it cant for much longer.

She needs to make up her mind and spell out in detail the Governments final Brexit strategy. Inevitably, this will risk Cabinet resignations, the weakening of her position in the Commons and even a split inside the Tory party.

If that is the case, so be it.

The alternative is chaos and confusion. And that is what neither the 17.4 million Britons who voted Leave nor the 16.1 million who voted Remain deserve.The wide-ranging plans follow criticism over the bid for freedom by black cab serial rapist John Worboys

Victims will be given a right of appeal to block prisoners being freed, under landmark proposals unveiled last night.

Ministers set out plans to allow victims to challenge any Parole Board ruling without resorting to a costly judicial review.

These new hearings could be led by a judge and open to public scrutiny in some cases, including when dealing with the most notorious criminals.

Ministers also pledged to introduce legislation to immediately end the blanket ban directing that all Parole Board decisions are made in secret.

The wide-ranging plans follow criticism over the bid for freedom by black cab serial rapist John Worboys.

The board approved his release but refused to release its reasons and even failed to warn some of his victims he could soon be back on the streets.

His victims persuaded a senior judge to order officials to re-examine the case. Worboys must remain behind bars while they do.

The highly charged legal showdown led to the resignation of the Parole Board chairman Nick Hardwick and proved embarrassing for Justice Secretary David Gauke.

Mr Gauke eventually accepted responsibility after refusing to block the original release decision despite a public outcry.

Unveiling the package of measures, he said: We will improve the process for victims, who in this case were clearly let down.

'It is my ambition that the outcome of this process will mean victims have more confidence in the system.

We have moved at a pace to address the shortcomings of the parole system which the Worboys case has brought to light.

'But we must take a balanced approach. I am determined to lead a thorough reform process.

The Ministry of Justice outlined proposals to allow its decisions to be challenged by victims, with judges brought in to oversee hearings.

A consultation to be launched next week will consider how the hearings will take place, including whether victims, media and the public are allowed in.

Fresh legislation will be introduced to change the rules and enable the Parole Board to explain its decisions.

Officials will provide an overview of the arguments it heard, the recommendations of experts and details of the offenders risk and rehabilitation.

The Ministry of Justice said it will consider the impact of these changes and whether to automatically publish case summaries in future.

The review was ordered in January after it was revealed Worboys could be released within weeks when officials ruled he was no longer a public threat.

Worboys was convicted of attacks on 12 women at his 2009 trial but is suspected of having more than 100 victims.

The Parole Board ruled he could be freed after finding he had learned not to hide negative thoughts and feelings during positive treatment with psychologists.

It has since been revealed the serial sex offender showed no remorse in prison.

He even joked about joining a dating website after his release and living on the outskirts of London where he claimed his victims.

Parole Board chief executive Martin Jones welcomed proposals to allow greater transparency of the process.Herman Bell, 70, (pic in an October 10, 2017 mug shot) was released from Shawangunk prison in Ulster County as planned at 5pm on Friday despite a last-ditch attempt by a police union to block his release

A former Black Liberation Army radical who shot dead two New York City police officers nearly a half century ago has been let out of prison amid an uproar over his parole.

Herman Bell, 70, was released from Shawangunk prison in Ulster County as planned at 5pm on Friday despite a last-ditch attempt by a police union to block his release.

The Patrolmen's Benevolent Association (PBA) requested a temporary restraining order to keep the double-murderer behind bars but this was denied by an Albany judge on Wednesday.

Bell will now be supervised for life in Brooklyn unless the PBA wins a new claim to return him to prison. This will be heard by a full panel of appellate judges next week.

'The parole board has lost their goddamn humanity to think that a murderer should walk their streets,' PBA President Pat Lynch fumed at a news conference ahead of Bell's release, according to NBC.

Bell and two other members of the Black Liberation Army, a violent offshoot of the Black Panther movement, shot officers Waverly Jones and Joseph Piagentini in 1971, after luring them to a Harlem housing development with a bogus 911 call.

Piagentini was shot 22 times while Jones was shot once and died instantly.

Patrolmen Joseph Piagentini and Waverly Jones were friends as well as fellow officers. Both were killed by Herman Bell and his gang, who said of killing a black officer: 'A pig is a pig'

Officer Piagentini's widow, Diane, called on New York governor Andrew Cuomo to appoint new parole board members to rehear Bell's case, saying she had 'no words to describe the outrage and disappointment' in the Democrat.

'Shame on you,' wrote Diane, of Long Island. 'You should have put politics aside and done the right thing. You should have given us a new parole hearing.

'The parole board did not take into account his mental stability. He is a planner and a manipulator... he manipulated the parole board to release him.'

Bell and the two accomplices were convicted of murder. They were sentenced in 1979 to 25 years to life in prison.

Bell pictured on September 1, 1973 being let past members of the media after his capture in New Orleans

Bell, who had spent 40 years in prison, was granted parole last month after his eighth parole hearing, during which he stated he had 'deep remorse' for the killings.

He was initially scheduled for release April 17, but a state judge in Albany delayed it after the PBA filed a lawsuit on behalf of Piagentini's widow, who claimed the parole board had not followed proper protocols.

The judge later ruled in Bell's favor. The PBA appealed that decision, but the appellate judge also ruled the parole board had followed protocols and set Friday for Bell's release.

Diane Piagentini, widow of slain police officer Joseph Piagentini, holds a photo of her husband from their wedding day in 1966. She is pictured on January 9, 2004

Speaking at the PBA's Manhattan headquarters, president Pat Lynch said they would continue their legal challenges and called on Governor Andrew Cuomo to fix the 'broken' state parole board system.

'The current parole process contains gigantic loopholes that allow murderous monsters like Herman Bell to game the system by concocting a phony story tailor-made for the new parole guidelines, which don't place enough weight on the nature of the crime,' Lynch said.

The PBA also cited an article by the Jewish Voice newspaper that claimed 'members of the Anarchist Black Cross movement, the Antifa movement, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the Palestinian Solidarity Movement' had spoken to Bell in prison.

The association also accused Bell of writing now removed posts in support of 'violent attacks against Israel' that have now been removed.

Officer Jones' children, Wanda and Waverly Jones Jr., have said in the past that Bell should be released.

Wanda was a year old and her brother was an infant when their father was killed.

One of the most recent pictures of Bell, who has been accused of being in contact with radical groups in prison

Herman Bell (front, left) pictured during his double murder trial in New York for the killings of the officers

Cuomo said last month that he disagrees strongly with the parole board's decision and freeing Bell sends the wrong signal.

NYS Senator Marty Golden, a former New York City Police Officer said: 'Governor Cuomo and the people that are implementing his policies have pointed a loaded gun at the head of public safety, and it is only a matter of time before a known killer again pulls the trigger. Who is going to be the next victim?'

In his petition for release, Bell said he had earned master's degree in sociology, learned to play the flute and mentored young inmates to avoid violence.

One of Bell's co-defendants has since died in prison while the other, Anthony Bottom, is serving 25 years to life at maximum-security Sullivan Correctional Facility in Sullivan County.

Bottom, 66, is due for a parole hearing in June.

Joseph and Diane Piagentini on their wedding day. Five years later, he was murdered by the Black Panthers while on patrol in the BronxA Texas man has been sentenced to 20 years in jail for shooting dead his estranged wife after he caught her kissing a younger man.

Kenneth Martin, 53, was found guilty of murdering his wife Linda Martin, 55, by shooting her in the face as she sat in her car near a town square in 2016.

Martin claimed that he did not mean to shoot his wife of nearly 21 years and only remembers the events before and after he killed her.

Linda was on the phone with her lover, Jason Hitt, 42, at the time she was shot dead.

Kenneth Martin, 53, (right) was sentenced to 20 years in jail for killing his estranged wife Linda Martin, 55, in 2016

Months before Linda's death, Kenneth caught his wife kissing Jason Hitt, 42, and the men got into a physical altercation

The couple had just left a divorce meditation meeting with an attorney when Martin learned his wife was siezing their home and burial plots they had purchased together.

Linda was also seeking 80 acres of land in Navarro County - a deal that Martin was expected to agree on.

After the meeting is when Martin grabbed a handgun and appraoched Linda in traffic, shooting her as she sat in her Jeep.

This happened just months after Martin caught Linda kissing her younger lover in the garage of their home.

Martin and Hitt got into a physical altercation at the time.

During this week's trial, the defense argued that Martin should be convicted of negligent homicide instead of murder.

They said that though he was carrying a handgun when he approached his wife's car, he did not mean to kill her.

'If he wanted to kill her, why do it in the middle of Town Square, in broad daylight in front of 50 witnesses?' defense attorney Christy Jack said during closing arguments, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Martin is pictured in court where he said he did not mean to shoot his wife, though he approached her car with a handgun

Linda was on the phone with her lover at the time that she was shot dead

Both of Linda's two children, who were Martin's step-children, testified for different sides.

The victim's daughter, Amy Delk, said that she never saw her step-father hurt her mother during their almost 21 years of marriage and that he was committed to saving the relationship.

'She wasn't happy, he wasn't happy, but he would have stuck it out,' she said.

However, her brother Wade Delk said he Martin were never very close and barely spoke.

J. Warren St. John, lead attorney for Martin's defense, said after the ruling: 'Kenny Martin is distraught over the final verdict of the jury.

'He loved his wife dearly and never thought he would go to prison over something he never intended to do, which was causing her death. He has filed a notice of appeal with the court of appeals and will fight vigorously to overturn the verdict.'

Martin will be eligible for parole in 10 years.A passenger who says she's been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder since an engine exploded on a Southwest Airlines flight is suing the airline.

The lawsuit by Lilia Chavez was filed Thursday in federal court in Philadelphia alleging negligence by Dallas-based Southwest.

Lilia says she was sitting three seats behind a window that shattered after the engine exploded on Flight 1380 on April 17.

This was the Row 14 seat which Riordan was sitting in when she was sucked towards the window at 32,000ft. Now a passenger sitting three rows behind is suing Southwest Airlines

This harrowing image taken before the plane made its emergency landing shows the state of the exploded engine

Jennifer Riordan's upper body was sucked out of the Southwest plane earlier this month

She says she witnessed 'the horror' as the force of depressurization pulled fellow passenger Jennifer Riordan partially through the shattered window. Riordan later died.

'Ms. Chavez witnessed the horror as the force of the depressurization pulled an innocent passenger partially through the shattered window and she watched as passengers risked their lives to pull the passenger back into the aircraft...' says the document.

It describes how Chavez 'prayed and feared for her life' and heard other passengers calling their loved ones to say their final goodbyes. Chavez also 'contacted her children to tell them that she loved them and that she was preparing to die aboard the crippled aircraft,' says the lawsuit.

Chavez says she was struck by airborne debris and battled through obstructed breathing during the entire ordeal.

Chavez is now suing the airline for negligence and 'willful, wanton, and outrageous misconduct,' because a similar engine failure occurred on a Southwest flight last August.

She says the company acted 'with malice, recklessness, and with disregard for the rights of others' by putting profits ahead of passengers' safety.

'Despite knowing of the dangerous condition of the subject aircraft's engine, the defendants risked the lives of more than a hundred innocent passengers, including the Plaintiff, by electing not to discontinue service with the use of aircraft equipped with these engines or otherwise electing not to inform passengers of the nature of the existing dangerous condition,' the suit states.

Riordan's window was smashed by shrapnel from the exploding engine which was several rows in front Chavez who was sitting three rows behind

After the plane made its rocky emergency landing at PHL, passengers were immediately met by Southwest representatives that Chavez claims were of little help and showed no concern for getting her the appropriate care. As a result, Chavez says she continues to suffer 'severe personal injuries' including post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and related mental trauma.

Her lawyer, Bradley J. Stoll, told NPR that Chavez is 'a very brilliant, successful woman who in her life has overcome very significant obstacles and is the matriarch of her immediate and extended family. This accident has crippled her will and she is in shock over this horrible, near-death experience.'

The plane traveling from New York to Dallas made an emergency landing in Philadelphia.

Southwest said it could not comment on pending litigation.

All passengers on the flight each received a $5,000 check from Southwest Airlines and a $1,000 gift voucher.

The airline's CEO Gary Kelly sent a letter to the 142 passengers who survived, apologizing for the 'circumstances' which surrounded the flight.

No blame has been assigned to the airline for the engine explosion which sent a piece of shrapnel flying through the window next to Riordan.Former CIA Director John Brennan shot down President Donald Trump's tweet from Friday that he was vindicated by a Republican-run Intelligence report that exonerated his campaign of colluding with the Russian government.

Brennan, a frequent critic of Trump, tweeted: 'A highly partisan, incomplete, and deeply flawed report by a broken House Committee means nothing.

'The Special Counsels work is being carried out by professional investigators - not political staffers.

'SCs findings will be comprehensive & authoritative. Stay tuned, Mr. Trump.'

Brennan was reacting to the president's comments praising the report by the House Intelligence Committee.

Former CIA Director John Brennan (left) shot down President Donald Trump's (right) tweet from Friday that he was vindicated by a Republican-run Intelligence report that exonerated his campaign of colluding with the Russian government

Brennan, a frequent critic of Trump, tweeted: 'A highly partisan, incomplete, and deeply flawed report by a broken House Committee means nothing'

Brennan was reacting to the president's comments praising the report by the House Intelligence Committee

'Just Out: House Intelligence Committee Report released,' Trump tweeted.

'No evidence that the Trump Campaign colluded, coordinated or conspired with Russia.

'Clinton Campaign paid for Opposition Research obtained from Russia- Wow! A total Witch Hunt! MUST END NOW!'

President Trump said Friday he was 'honored' by the new Republican-run House Intelligence Committee report that exonerated his campaign from colluding with Russia.

The president brought up the report during a photo-op with German Chancellor Angela Merkel hours after the heavily-redacted document was released. T

he report, running more than 250 pages, found his campaign didn't collude with Russia  though it also found a Trump Tower meeting with Russians showed 'poor judgement.'

'We were honored. It was a great report  no collusion which I knew anyway, no coordination, no nothing,' Trump said from the Oval Office.

Then, without naming it, he went after special counsel Robert Mueller's probe.

'Its a witch hunt thats all it is. There was no collusion with Russia. You can believe this one.'

Then, turning to Merkel, Trump said, 'She probably cant believe it. Who can?'

Trump lauded the report with what to him is the ultimate attribute: strength.

'The report was very powerful, very strong, there was no collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian people,' he said with emphasis. 'As Ive said many times. Ive always said there was no collusion. But Ive also said there has been nobody tougher on Russia than me,' Trump said.

Then he called it 'totally conclusive'  although a separate, significantly more bipartisan Senate investigation continues, as does the Mueller probe, which has already obtained guilty pleas from several Trump associates.

The bitterly divided Republican-run House Intelligence Committee released a redacted version of its final report on Russian 'Active Measures' Friday that exonerates the Trump campaign from 'collusion' with Russia.

President Trump said he was 'honored' by the House Intelligence panel's report

Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, April 22, 2018. The Intelligence Committee faulted the decision by top Trump advisors to meet with her

The report found 'no evidence that the Trump campaign colluded, coordinated, or conspired with the Russian government,' but it also found 'poor judgement and ill-considered actions' on the part of both the Trump and the Clinton campaigns.

The reports findings repeatedly highlight information to back up Trump campaign officials, while faulting the Obama administration and federal investigators for some of their actions.

It calls the Russian campaign to affect U.S. politics 'nothing novel,' and calls the U.S. government response to the Russian campaign 'slow and inconsistent.'

The authors of the report also wrote that key Trump campaign advisors showed 'poor judgment' by attending a Trump Tower meeting with a Russian lawyer who admitted on Friday that she was reporting to Moscow.

Even in a document panned by Democrats, the GOP-panel gave a written slap to participants in the infamous June 2016 meeting.

The report found that the trio of top Trump advisors who attended the meeting  Donald Trump Jr., former campaign chair Paul Manafort, and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner,' showed 'poor judgement' by attending the meeting.

Donald Trump Jr. attended the meeting with a Russian lawyer who now says she sent information to Russia

They attended in order to meet a Russian 'who falsely purported to have damaging information on the Clinton campaign,' the panel states flatly  a conclusion that emerged from emails between the president's eldest son and the son of a Russian oligarch.

The Kremlin-linked lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, acknowledged in a new interview with NBC that she was feeding information to Moscow, despite earlier denials.

I am a lawyer, and I am an informant, she told the network. Since 2013, I have been actively communicating with the office of the Russian prosecutor general, she said.

The Republican-run panel also pointed to contacts between the Trump camp and WikiLeaks  the transparency organization that the Intelligence Committee considers a hostile non-state actor countering the U.S. government.

'The Committee also found the Trump campaign's periodic praise for and communications with Wikileaks  a hostile foreign organization  to be highly objectionable and inconsistent with U.S. national security interests,' the report said.

Even as it found 'no evidence' Trump associates stole Democratic Party emails or those belonging to her campaign chair during the campaign, it calls contacts with WikiLeaks, which published the emails, 'ill-advised.'

The Republican-run House Intelligence Committee released a redacted version of its final report on Russian 'Active Measures' that exonerates the Trump campaign from having any 'collusion' with Russia

Veselnitskaya's comments about feeding information to Moscow air tonight on 'NBC Nightly News' and on MSNBC's 'On Assignment.'

The report, which Trump called a 'great honor' and which found no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, also traced efforts by the Trump Organization to open a Trump Tower Moscow.

Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, now under criminal investigation, exchanges repeated emails with an official whose name is redacted but has been reported in the past to be Russia-born Trump associate Felix Sater.

Touting the deal, he writes at one point: 'Buddy, our boy can become President of the USA and we can engineer it.'

The deal fizzled out in 2016, Donald Trump Jr. testified.

But that wasn't before Cohen 'attempted to reach out to members of the Russian government' to promote the project.

But he 'apparently did not havea ny direct points of contact

He also writes that if 'Putin gets on stage with Donald for a ribbon cutting for Trump Moscow ... Donald owns the republican nomination,' he writes.Rachel Maddow, Maria Shriver, Andrea Mitchell and more than 60 other current and former female NBC News staffers have signed a group letter supporting Tom Brokaw.

'We know him to be a man of tremendous decency and integrity,' said the letter released on Friday, in response to claims that Brokaw made unwanted advances on two women in the 1990s, which the newsman denies.

'Tom has treated each of us with fairness and respect. He has given each of us opportunities for advancement and championed our successes throughout our careers,' the letter said.

Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski was apparently not invited to sign, but tweeted 'Add me to the list' after news of the letter of support.

Rachel Maddow (left) and Maria Shriver (right) are among the female NBC News employees who signed the letter supporting Brokaw in the face of claims he made unwanted advances

NBC News White House Correspondent Kristen Welker (left) also signed. Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski was apparently not invited to sign, but tweeted 'Add me to the list'

Tom Brokaw (pictured) has denied the allegations against him, which NBC News Chairman Andy Lack says the company takes 'very seriously' in a staff memo on Friday

Letter of support for Tom Brokaw from 65 female NBC staffers As professional women, we fully endorse the conversation around abuse of power in the workplace. In the context of that conversation, we would like to share our perspectives on working with Tom Brokaw. We are current and former colleagues of Toms, who have worked with him over a period spanning four decades. We are producers, correspondents, anchors, directors, executives, researchers, personal assistants, editors and technical staff. Tom has treated each of us with fairness and respect. He has given each of us opportunities for advancement and championed our successes throughout our careers. As we have advanced across industries  news, publishing, law, business and government  Tom has been a valued source of counsel and support. We know him to be a man of tremendous decency and integrity. Signed, Susanna Aaron Anne Binford Allen Heather Allan Marilyn Altman Liz Bowyer Mary Casalino Christine Colvin Casper Martha Cotton Karen Curry Sara Cusimano Helene Darvick Linda Ellman Judy Farinet Dianne Festa Tammy Fine Mary Laurence Flynn Susan Friedman Soraya Gage Maralyn Gelefsky Cheryl Gould Erika Beck Grothues Colleen Halpin Jody Henenfeld Susan Morris Holey Julie Holstein Julie Huang Peggy Hubble Kiko Itasaka Nancy Jacoby Kat Keeney Ann Kolbell Audrey Beles Kolina Susan LaSalla Rachel Maddow Donna Mastrangelo-Ryan Andrea Mitchell Mauri Moore Frieda Morris Elena Nachmanoff Michele Neubert Kelly ODonnell Bonnie Optekman Mary Alice ORourke Nancy Doyle Palmer Polly Powell Meaghan Rady Elizabeth Vaughan Romaine Amy Rosenberg Stephanie Ruhle Bita Ryan Ruby Shamir Maria Shriver Robin Skolnick Andrea Smith Patricia Sullivan Clare Duffy Swift Yuka Tachibana Bambi Tascarella Zoya Taylor Dee Dee Thomas Anne Thompson Kelly Venardos Kristen Welker Carolyn Wheatley Mary Wolf Advertisement

Earlier on Friday, the head of NBC News acknowledged the allegations against former nightly news anchor Tom Brokaw, calling the claims 'very serious'.

'As you have all seen now in reports from last night, there are allegations against Tom Brokaw, made by a former NBC News journalist, which Tom emphatically denies,' NBC News Chairman Andy Lack wrote in a staff memo on Friday obtained by Deadline Hollywood.

Two women have accused Brokaw of making unwanted advances in the 1990s.

'As we've shown, we take allegations such as these very seriously, and act on them quickly and decisively when the facts dictate,' Lack said.

Despite that assurance, NBC won't be launching a full investigation into the claims, a company source told PageSix.

'She's given her side, and he's responded. They don't feel there's anything left to investigate in the case,' the source said. 'We may make further inquiries if more information emerges.'

NBC Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell also signed the open letter

Lack's memo also said that findings in an internal NBC probe into Matt Lauer could be ready as soon as next week.

It came as Sacred Heart University President John Petillo said that Brokaw had withdrawn from a planned commencement speech on May 13. 'Mr. Brokaw did not want to distract from the intended and most important focus of the day  our graduating students and their families,' Petillo said in a memo to the community.

Earlier on Friday, Brokaw denied the allegations made by former NBC employee Linda Vester in a scathing email that was sent to the legendary anchor's co-workers and friends on Friday.

'It is 4:00 am on the first day of my new life as an accused predator in the universe of American journalism,' writes Brokaw.

'I was ambushed and then perp walked across the pages of The Washington Post and Variety as an avatar of male misogyny, taken to the guillotine and stripped of any honor and achievement I had earned in more than a half century of journalism and citizenship.'

Brokaw went on to write about the incredible hurt this accusation caused him, as well as the hate he has for his accuser.

The repercussions are already being felt by Brokaw, who elected to cancel his planned commencement speech at Sacred Heart University next month.

Mad: 'I deeply resent the pain and anger she inflicted on my wife, daughters and granddaughters,' said Brokaw (above with his wide Meredith)

'I am angry, hurt and unmoored from what I thought would be the final passage of my life and career, a mix of written and broadcast journalism, philanthropy and participation in environmental and social causes that have always given extra meaning to my life,' noted Brokaw.

'Instead I am facing a long list of grievances from a former colleague who left NBC News angry that she had failed in her pursuit of stardom.'

He continued: 'She has unleashed a torrent of unsubstantiated criticism and attacks on me more than twenty years after I opened the door for her and a new job at Fox news.'

Brokaw then tried to explain what happened between himself and Vester on the night in question, while also criticizing how the press handled the claims.

'Linda Vester was given the run of the Washington Post and Variety to vent her grievances, to complain that I tickled her without permission (you read that right), that I invaded her hotel room, accepted an invitation to her apartment under false pretenses and in general was given a free hand to try to destroy all that I have achieved with my family, my NBC career, my writing and my citizenship,' stated Brokaw.

'My family and friends are stunned and supportive. My NBC colleagues are bewildered that Vester, who had limited success at NBC News, a modest career at Fox and a reputation as a colleague who had trouble with the truth was suddenly the keeper of the flame of journalistic integrity.'

Vester - a war correspondent for the network in the 1990s, who today runs a website for mothers - came forward to accuse legendary newsman who hosted NBC Nightly News for 22 years.

She told The Washington Post and Variety magazine that Brokaw, 26 years her elder, forcibly tried to kiss her twice in 1994 and 1995, while he was the network's star anchor.

Brokaw says only that he met Vester twice, 'both at her request' because she wanted career advice.

Linda Vester (above) has accused Brokaw of assault

'The meetings were brief, cordial and appropriate, and despite Linda's allegations, I made no romantic overtures towards her at that time or any other,' he said in a statement.

Another woman, a 24-year-old production assistant at the time, has also accused Brokaw of sexual harassment dating back to the same period, allegations he also denied.

US television networks have been rocked by a series of accusations as the United States grapples with the cultural shift of the #MeToo movement.

NBC sacked Matt Lauer, the host of its flagship Today program last November. CBS News fired Charlie Rose a few days earlier and Fox News dropped Bill O'Reilly in 2017.

Lauer was the biggest media scalp so far in the US watershed on sexual misconduct, and criticism has mounted against NBC for allegedly not doing enough to counter what some have called a culture of harassment.

'I am speaking out now because NBC has failed to hire outside counsel to investigate a genuine, long-standing problem of sexual misconduct in the news division,' Vester told the Post.

NBC will now start looking into Brokaw's behavior just as the investigation into Matt Lauer nears completion.

Chairman Andy Lack addressed both of those investigations in an internal memo sent on Friday.

'As you have all seen now in reports from last night, there are allegations against Tom Brokaw, made by a former NBC News journalist, which Tom emphatically denies. As we've shown, we take allegations such as these very seriously, and act on them quickly and decisively when the facts dictate,' wrote Lack.

'The same report included claims against Matt Lauer. As you know, since the week we terminated Matt's employment, NBC Universal has been conducting a review, led by general counsel Kim Harris -who has extensive experience in conducting reviews of this kind- with a team of legal and HR leaders. Kim has advised us that the review is nearing its conclusion, and we will have findings and further steps to share with you as soon as next week.'

Lack then closed out the memo by stating: 'Once again, our highest priority is to ensure we have a workplace environment where everyone feels safe and protected. We are absolutely committed to making this a reality--there can be no exception.'Three Marines raped two women who became intoxicated after drinking at a bar near a college campus in New Orleans, it has been alleged.

Authorities on Friday arrested and charged three enlistees - Antonio Landrum, 18; Jared Anderson, 18; and Alexander Davenport, 20 - after two women alleged they were assaulted after a night of drinking on April 15.

News of the arrest was reported by The Times-Picayune.

The two women - one a student at Tulane University and the other her friend - went to a local bar on April 14 and became highly intoxicated.

Police said one of them became so drunk that she fell on the ground and had difficulty walking.

Alexander Davenport, 20, faces two counts of first-degree rape. He was arrested by authorities in New Orleans on Friday

One of the women told police that she remembered coming home with her friend and a man - who was later identified as Landrum.

Police say that Landrum had relations with both women, but that he forced sex after one of them tried to shove him away.

In some parts of the police document, the sex between Landrum and the women were described as consensual.

But the documents also state that Landrum refused to stop when he was asked to by the women.

Police then allege that Landum invited three male friends to the womans home.

One woman alleged that one of the male friends, later identified as Davenport, forced her to have oral sex with him.

She also told police that she had sex with a third man, Anderson, though their interaction was described as consensual.

Antonio Landrum, 18, allegedly refused to stop having sex with a woman when she asked

The other woman told investigators that she began to black out after she and her friend had sex with Landrum.

She told police she vaguely remembered a few other men entering her bedroom and violently raping her.

She said she remembered one of the mens tattoos.

When interviewed by police, Landrum and Anderson said they did have sex with the women.

Landrum told investigators that he initially called his friends so they could pick him up and drive him home.

But Landrum said that his friends instead came up to the apartment.

He said both women were drunk and that he saw Davenport have sex with one of the women while she was passed out drunk.

Davenport did not give a statement to police.

It remains unclear whether police are searching for a fourth man.

Jared Anderson, 18, was also arrested and charged with first-degree rape

During a magistrate court appearance in New Orleans on Friday, Landrum and Anderson were represented by a public defender.

The public defender asked the court to hand down a lower bond since the police report states that some of the relations with the women were consensual.

Landrum was charged with third-degree rape, while Anderson and Davenport were charged with first-degree rape.

Davenport faces two counts of first-degree rape.

Landrums bond was set at $50,000. Andersons bond was set at $25,000.

Davenports bond was set at $50,000 for each of the two counts of first-degree rape.Angry restaurant owners have slammed Uber Eats for alleged 'unfair' contracts costing them money and nasty reviews.

Stories have emerged of cold food, pizza being thrown around in boxes, and deliveries taking too long.

Mohammed, 23, who runs the Yellow Door cafe in Melbourne is 'breaking up with Uber Eats' because in his opinion it is unfair, A Current Affair reports.

Scroll down for video

Angry restaurant owners have slammed Uber Eats for 'unfair' contracts costing them money and business. Stories have emerged of pizza (pictured) being thrown around in boxes

If a customer receives an 'unsatisfactory meal' the restaurant owner is 'responsible for costs related to reimbursement', according to Uber's contract. An independent delivery driver is pictured.

And he told the network the company takes 35 per cent of sales per delivery.

'I am breaking up with Uber Eats, it's unfair,' he believes.

'When you go through it and calculate it properly, you are not making any money.'

Petty Cash Cafe owner Caitlin, based in Marrickville, Sydney, claimed to the network she was making a loss from the service.

'I really think that every $1000 that Uber paid me probably cost me $1200,' she claimed.

Yellow Door Cafe owner Mohammed, 23, said he was 'breaking up with Uber Eats' because it was unfair

The Uber contract, published by the ABC, states the company does not provide any 'delivery or logistics services' despite food from the restaurants being delivered by bike or car.

'Uber is a technology services provider,' the contract states.

If a customer receives an 'unsatisfactory meal' the restaurant owner is 'responsible for costs related to reimbursement', according to the contract.

This means if a delivery driver takes too long, or delivers multiple meals at the same time, the restaurant is to blame.

Mobile phone users order Uber Eats using a phone app, and the food is delivered to the door by bike or car, but Uber claims they are a technology provider and do not provide any 'delivery or logistics services'

And many of these restaurants allege they have been receiving negative reviews on social media and Google due to Uber Eats.

'I guarantee I've lost business with Uber Eats from the reviews that are posted right now,' Mohammed claimed to A Current Affair.

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Rod Sims told ABC Radio National the regulator would consider investigating Uber regarding the allegedly unfair contracts.

He said there were three aspects of the law they can look into relating to the contracts.

Uber Eats will continue to actively cooperate with the ACCC, the company told Nine Network

'No one has a greater interest in a thriving restaurant sector in Australia than Uber Eats,' the company stated.

'Complying with Australian law is important to us.'BEIJING, April 27 (Xinhua) -- China on Friday applauded the political resolution and courage the leaders of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the Republic of Korea (ROK) have showed, wishing positive results for the meeting.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying made the remarks at a daily press briefing.

The DPRK's top leader Kim Jong Un and the ROK President Moon Jae-in began formal talks Friday morning in the ROK side of the border village of Panmunjom.

The summit, 11 years after a previous one, comes at a time of warming ties between the two sides following initiatives by both Seoul and Pyongyang and other related parties of the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue.Barely 12 hours after being sworn in as US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo went straight to NATO headquarters on Friday in what European allies saw as strong support for an institution that US President Donald Trump once called obsolete.

In a day of private meetings with NATO foreign ministers, Pompeo charmed allies with tough talk on Russia and a more sure-footed approach than his predecessor Rex Tillerson, but still echoed Trump's familiar demand for higher defense spending.

He also made no promises about whether his boss would stick to a 2015 accord to stop Iran developing a nuclear bomb, warning instead that Trump was still likely to pull out without major changes to a deal that Europeans insist cannot be reopened.

In a day of private meetings with NATO foreign ministers, Pompeo (left) charmed allies with tough talk on Russia but echoed Trump's (right) familiar demand for higher defense spending

'There's been no decision, so the team is working and I am sure we will have lots of conversations to deliver what the president has made clear,' Pompeo told a news conference in which he said he discussed the Iran deal with counterparts.

'Absent a substantial fix, absent overcoming the flaws of the deal, he is unlikely to stay in that deal,' Pompeo said.

Pompeo, who once suggested the answer to Tehran's nuclear program was 2,000 bombing sorties, said he expected to discuss the issue during the rest of his trip to Saudi Arabia, Israel and Jordan.

In Brussels, Pompeo pressed allies to meet a NATO target of spending 2 percent of economic output, as well as 20 percent of that on military equipment, saying it would be a central part of an alliance summit on July 11-12 that Trump will attend.

At a NATO summit in Wales in 2014, months after Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula, allies agreed to end years of defense cuts that left Europeans without vital capabilities, such as refueling airborne fighter bombers.

But Trump has gone further, scolding European leaders in Brussels last year at NATO that certain allies owed 'massive amounts of money' to the United States and NATO - even though allied contributions are voluntary, with multiple budgets.

Pompeo arrives at NATO Headquarters in Brussels for the NATO Foreign Ministerial meeting on Friday

Spending among European NATO countires is rising again and Germany, Europe's biggest economy, has been increasing its defense budget, which will see its spending quota rise to 1.3 percent next year.

Asked if Germany was doing enough to reach the NATO 2 percent spending target, Pompeo said: 'No ... [Germany] should meet the goals that they agreed to ... that's the expectation, not only for Germany but for everyone.'

'We're hopeful that at the NATO summit that every NATO partner will deliver a credible plan to achieve that goal.'

Still, Pompeo was quick to praise NATO as 'invaluable' just minutes after getting off his plane, in his first meeting of the day, with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, a sharp contrast to Trump's earlier rebuke of the alliance.

'There's no more fitting destination for my first foreign trip,' Pompeo later told reporters.

Despite European confusion about Trump's foreign policy and his 'America First' rhetoric, Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok said it was 'impressive to come here one night after being inaugurated. It's an impressive start.'

Pompeo, a former Army officer who was a Republican congressman, is regarded as a loyal supporter of Trump with hawkish views. But on Russia those views are largely shared by European allies because of Moscow's seizure of Crimea.

Pompeo and US Ambassador to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchison during a meeting with Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at NATO Headquarters on Friday

NATO allies believe the alliance needs to respond to what the West says is the Kremlin's mix of not just the conventional military threat but covert and cyber warfare.

The NATO foreign ministers meeting follows the poisoning of Sergei Skripal, a former Russian agent in Britain, and Western air strikes against Russia-allied Syria, which the United States accused of a chemical attack in Douma on April 7.

'When I was a young soldier, it was T72 tanks and T60 tanks rolling across the then East German plain. Today, it's different,' he said, recalling the Cold War.

'There were a lot of ideas, an enormous consensus of the risk those hybrid it poses to the West,' he said of the NATO meeting.

'There is a real commitment to work together to mitigate those risks and deter them,' he said.The Vienna Tourist Board has placed a mural of a 1916 painting that includes female genitalia on the side of a building in SoHo to drum up travel to Austria.

The city of New York apparently approved the street art reproduction of Egon Schiele's 'Reclined Female Nude,' according to a statement from the advertising agency representing the Vienna Tourist Board on this campaign in New York.

'[T]he mural conforms to our regional ad standards + practices in New York, and was allowed in the painted form you see,' Ava Rollins of Ava Rollins & Associates told PJMedia.

But the city required versions of other works depicting by Schiele that would be placed in subway and other transit stations to be censored, according to the Vienna city site dedicated to its Viennese Modernism 2018 campaign.

The censoring was incorporated into the final campaign, utilizing the hashtag '#ToArtItsFreedom' and imploring those taking in the edited art to 'See it all in Vienna.'

The Vienna Tourist Board has placed a mural of a 1916 painting that includes female genitalia on the side of a building in SoHo to drum up travel to Austria, and NYC apparently approved it; The 150-square-foot mural is located at 220 Lafayette Street in Manhattan, near Spring Street

The mural depicting Schiele's work of a nude woman, leaned back with legs splayed adorns the exposed portion of the side of the building located at 220 Lafayette Street in Manhattan, near the corner of Lafayette and Spring streets.

It spans roughly 150 square feet, measuring 15 feet wide and 10 feet tall.

Explaining the origins of the campaign that spawned mural, its dedicated website read:

'Around 1900, Egon Schiele dared to do what still causes excitement today: Present nudity in explicit and stark terms. A hundred years later, his works touch a raw nerve, even in a seemingly enlightened society.

'Schiele's expressionist display of naked bodies is obviously still too daring - the advertising for the anniversary year of Viennese Modernism in 2018 led to a ban on his nudes being shown unclad in public.'

Possibly proving the group's point, the mural would appear to be in violation of New York Penal Law Section 245.11, titled 'public display of offensive sexual material.'

But apparently, New York City made an exception for the Vienna Tourist Board's promotion of 100 years of the 'Viennese Modernism' movement.

'Around 1900, Egon Schiele dared to do what still causes excitement today: Present nudity in explicit and stark terms,' said the site dedicate to the campaign promoting 100 years of the 'Viennese Modernism' movement

The top left corner of this street view image shows another mural covering nearly the exact spot on the building at 220 Lafayette where the mural of Schiele's work is currently on display

Calling the allowance 'especially spectacular,' the site dedicated to the campaign praised the city that never sleeps.

'The uncensored depiction of Schiele's "Lying Woman" in the public space, which would previously only be permitted in Vienna, can be seen on a large facade painting in New York's SoHo. This mural stands in contrast to the sometimes allegedly more open-minded European metropolises, which rejected the motif even in censored form.'

A street view image of the location of the mural shows just how prominent the piece is on display, to passersby in the area.

But that's about as progressive as the concrete jungle would get, for the sake of art.

'In New York, too, Schiele stimulates a discourse on the freedom of art. After the UK and Germany, the Viennese Modernism campaign is now continuing in the United States from mid-April to mid-May and shows that here, too, the handling of art in advertising is a controversial topic,' the site read.

The big apple denied similar advertisements for the city in Austria to be placed elsewhere about town, without first being censored.

'"Still too daring" are the 100-year-old works for New York subway and bus stations, in which not even painted female nipples may be shown, while magazines like "The New Yorker" see no reason to deprive their readers of the world-famous nudes,' the organization explained.

Artist Egon Schiele is shown here in a photo dated 1914; His painting that are included in Vienna Tourist Board's campaign were provided by the Leopold Museum, located in Vienna

he big apple denied similar advertisements for the city in Austria to be placed elsewhere about town, without first being censored

The campaign's site went on to detail the roadblocks it experienced, both in real life and online.

'In order to advertise probably the most important epoch of art and culture in Vienna and its most celebrated representative, it was originally intended to stage nudes by Egon Schiele in major international cities in a big way. His now iconic works were to adorn large billboards, whole building walls and city lights in all their glory and question whether Schiele's art, one hundred years after his death, is still perceived by society as being too daring to span the arc to the here and now,' the organization said.

'Totally thinkable in Vienna proved impossible in London, Hamburg and Cologne; as what was planned as an incitement to engage with the art and cultural offering of Viennese Modernism was rejected by advertising marketeers in both countries due to rules governing morality in the public domain. The works could not be shown in the original as proposed.

'After many experiments with different kinds of covering, a large version was chosen to satisfy all demands so that one of the greatest artists of his time could be promoted in the public domain. Digital advertisements that had originally been approved, were declined both online and on social media platforms clearly demonstrating that nudity and its acceptance is not limited to the offline world.

'These stipulations also provided the answer to the question asked in the campaign: Schiele's art is still too daring for many people today.'

The censoring was incorporated into the final campaign, utilizing the hashtag '#ToArtItsFreedom' and imploring those taking in the edited art to 'See it all in Vienna'

The New York law that presumably would criminalize the mural reads:

'A person is guilty of public display of offensive sexual material when, with knowledge of its character and content, he displays or permits to be displayed in or on any window, showcase, newsstand, display rack, wall, door, billboard, display board, viewing screen, moving picture screen, marquee or similar place, in such manner that the display is easily visible from or in any: public street, sidewalk or thoroughfare; transportation facility; or any place accessible to members of the public without fee or other limit or condition of admission such as a minimum age requirement and including but not limited to schools, places of amusement, parks and playgrounds but excluding rooms or apartments designed for actual residence; any pictorial, three-dimensional or other visual representation of a person or a portion of the human body that predominantly appeals to prurient interest in sex, and that:

'(a) depicts nudity, or actual or simulated sexual conduct or sado-masochistic abuse; or

'(b) depicts or appears to depict nudity, or actual or simulated sexual conduct or sado-masochistic abuse, with the area of the male or female subject's unclothed or apparently unclothed genitals, pubic area or buttocks, or of the female subject's unclothed or apparently unclothed breast, obscured by a covering or mark placed or printed on or in front of the material displayed, or obscured or altered in any other manner.'

The law states that such 'public display of offensive sexual material' is a Class A misdemeanor.

An attorney told PJMedia that while the mural was in violation of the law, it would be difficult to find a court willing to enforce the code section.

In addition the attorney noted an attempt to enforce the penal code section might leave the city open to being sued for infringement of the First Amendment rights of the muralist.

The campaign has asked people across the world to participate in a discussion on this topic over social media.

'In keeping with the spirit of Viennese Modernism, Vienna wants to revive and stimulate the spirit of lively discourse. Ultimately, however, the fact that no original depictions of Schiele nudes are allowed to be shown in Germany and England should even more strongly stimulate a discussion about the boundaries of art, the different moral codes in public and online as well as about the customs and values of our society,' the site reads.

'At #ToArtItsFreedom  following the slogan of the Vienna Secession, "To every age its art. To art its freedom" - the opinions and viewpoints of people will be collected on this topic on all social networks in 2018.'

The mural is expected to remain in place through mid-May.A photograph of the woman who dumped a former California cop before they were supposed to marry which supposedly fueled his alleged spree of murders and rapes decades ago has emerged.

Bonnie Jean Colwell was reportedly engaged to Joseph James DeAngelo, the 72-year-old resident of a Sacramento suburb who was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly being the Golden State Killer.

DeAngelo was arraigned Friday on murder charges relating to the slaying of a couple in 1978.

Investigators say he may have been motivated to kill 12 people, rape up to 51 women, and burglarize over 150 homes during the 1970s and 80s due to his hatred of his ex-fiancee.

Bonnie Jean Colwell (right) was reportedly engaged to be married to Joseph James DeAngelo (seen left Friday at his arraignment in Sacramento), the 72-year-old resident of a Sacramento suburb who was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly being the Golden State Killer

DeAngelo first met Colwell when they both attended Sierra College just north of Sacramento in the late 1960s, according to The Daily Beast.

A newspaper article published in the Auburn Journal announced their engagement sometime in either the late 60s or early 70s.

In the announcement, Colwell was described as a young lab assistant at the college.

But the couple never married. Instead. DeAngelo would marry Sharon Huddle in 1973.

They eventually had three children, but the couple would separate sometime in the 1990s.

The neighbors who lived near DeAngelo and Huddle reported they would hear screaming and shouting from their home.

Investigators said that the Golden State Killer would attack couples as they were lying in bed at home.

Police say he would make the men listen as their wives or girlfriends would scream while they were being raped.

In July 1978, the Golden State Killer broke into a woman's home in Davis, California at around 3:00am.

He went to the woman's bedroom and woke her up by shining a flashlight into her face.

'Dont move or Ill blow your f***in head off,' the man, who was wearing a ski mask, told her.

'Im going to blow your f***in head off, do you see this gun?'

Paul Holes, an investigator who has been working the case since 1994, said one of the critical clues linking DeAngelo to the crimes was that he yelled out 'I hate you Bonnie' during one of his first alleged rape attacks. Holes is pictured above on Megyn Kelly's show

The man also threatened to kill the woman's two young sons who were asleep in a nearby bedroom.

He forced the woman to roll over and tied her hands and ankles together. He then tied a blindfold over her eyes.

Afterward, he stole a number of items from the house and then raped her.

After he was finished, he put his head down on a pillow and lied down next to his victim and began sobbing.

'I hate you. I hate you. I hate you, Bonnie,' he cried.

Soon afterward, he left. The woman then untied herself and ran to a neighbor's house and called police.

At the time, at least 30 other women from the Sacramento area reported being raped in a similar manner - earning him the moniker 'the East Area Rapist.'

Authorities are now trying to track down Colwell, who has not made herself available to the press.

Paul Holes, an investigator who has been looking into the case for years, said the 'I hate you Bonnie' statement was one of the critical clues linking DeAngelo to the crimes, The Mercury News reports.

'Most certainly if he's making the statement, "I hate you, Bonnie," while he's attacking another female, he is what we call an anger retaliatory rapist. Instead of directing his anger at what's making him angry, he's directing it sideways onto someone else to be able to satisfy that anger,' Holes said.

'I do believe that's what happened here. I don't know what made him that way, but you've got to think Bonnie dumped him, he's not happy about that, he still had feeling for her, who knows? But something along those lines must have happened.'

Investigators searched DeAngelo's home in Citrus Heights on Thursday looking for evidence that may have been taken from the various crime scenes 40 years ago

Holes, who has been a key investigator in the case since 1994, said he helped test DNA from the various crime scenes and tie them all together.

Joseph DeAngelo, 72, is now the prime suspect in the 1975 killing of teacher Claude Snelling after he was linked to the Golden State Killer slayings in California 40 years ago

'We always thought there was a Bonnie significant in his life, it could be a mother, a wife, a girlfriend, a childhood crush,' Holes said.

He said that they closed in on him after the DNA match and realizing he had an ex-fiancee named Bonnie.

Investigators searched DeAngelo's home on Thursday looking for class rings, earrings, dishes and other items that were taken from crime scenes 40 years ago.

Sacramento County Sheriff's Lt. Paul Belli said authorities were seeking weapons and other items that could link the suspect to the crimes. He declined to say what, if anything, investigators had found.

Investigators backed two vehicles, a motorcycle and fishing boat out of the home's three-car garage and installed tarps to block prying eyes and news cameras.

It emerged on Thursday that DeAngelo was caught by using online genealogical sites to find a DNA match.

Sheriff deputy John Lopes from CSI takes ammo cans and guns into evidence with neighbors looking on

Sheriff Deputy Lopes puts evidence into the back of his vehicle at the home of Joseph DeAngelo

Sheriff deputys Jeremy Smith (foreground) and John Lopes from CSI (behind) take ammo cans and other evidence into a van

Neighbors walk their dog in front of the home of Joseph DeAngelo, in Citrus Heights, California

Investigators compared the DNA collected from a crime scene of the Golden State Killer to online genetic profiles and found a match to a relative of DeAngelo.

Despite an outpouring of thousands of tips over the years, DeAngelo's name had not been on the radar of law enforcement before last week.

A break in the case and the arrest came together in 'light speed' during the past six days but authorities refused to reveal what led to DeAngelo.

After watching DeAngelo for several days, deputies took him by surprise Tuesday. Police said DeAngelo was shocked to see officers at his home and that when they went to arrest him he told them he had a roast in the oven.

He was taken into custody by the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department on Tuesday night on two murder charges for the 1978 deaths of Brian Maggiore and his wife Katie, who are believed to be the Golden State Killer's first victims.

DNA testing linked Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, to some of the 12 murders carried out in California in the 1970s and 80s

DeAngelo was arrested at his home in Citrus Heights (above) on Tuesday after DNA linked him to crimes attributed to the Golden State Killer from the 1970s and 80s

Detectives will look to see if items taken during the Visalia burglaries are uncovered during the investigation of DeAngelo

He was later also charged with the murders of Lyman and Charlene Smith who were found dead in their home by their 12-year-old son in 1980.

Police are now working to link the 72-year-old unequivocally to the rest of the crimes that profilers have attributed to the Golden State Killer through his modus operandi.

Investigators revealed on Thursday that DeAngelo is now also the prime suspect in a 13th murder and that he was also the 'Visalia Ransacker' who terrorized the California town with a series of robberies in the 1970s.

DeAngelo is suspected of shooting to death journalism teacher Claude Snelling in 1975 after Snelling caught him trying to kidnap his 16-year-old daughter.

Detectives are trying to link Joseph DeAngelo to the 1975 slaying and about 100 burglaries committed in the region while DeAngelo was a police officer in nearby Exeter.

The identity of the Golden State Killer has finally been revealed. Pictured are combination images the FBI released of sketches of the East Area Rapist/Golden State Killer before his capture

DeAngelo Jr was arrested on Tuesday night on two murder charges. Pictured on the left is an undated photo of DeAngelo when he was in the Navy, and on the right is a picture of DeAngelo during his sophomore year at Folsom High School

Visalia Police Chief Jason Salazar believes DeAngelo is the so-called Visalia Ransacker who terrorized the farming community in 1974 and 1975.

Salazar added that the Ransackers' crimes have not yet been added to the tally announced Tuesday in Sacramento because there is no DNA evidence connecting DeAngelo to the Visalia crimes.

WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT JOSEPH DEANGELO: Joseph James DeAngelo is a 72-year-old Vietnam War veteran, former police officer and grandfather living in Citrus Heights, California. He was described by neighbors as odd but decent. He was quick to anger and could often be heard loudly cussing. DeAngelo graduated from nearby Folsom High School in 1964 and joined the US Navy. After returning home he enrolled in a community college and transferred to California State University, Sacramento, where he graduated in 1972 with a bachelor of science degree in criminal justice. He landed a job as a police officer in Exeter where he served from 1973 to 1976. He married a local woman in 1973. In 1976, DeAngelo took a job with Auburn Police but was fired in 1979 when he was caught shoplifting. He spent 27 years working at a distribution center for Save Mart grocery stores before he retired last year. DeAngelo has three adult daughters and grandchildren. Advertisement

The 72-year-old matches the description of Snelling's killer, and the serial burglar operated the same way DeAngelo is alleged to have operated in the other crimes, according to authorities.

The Visalia suspect used sophisticated 'pry tools' to gain entrance to locked homes, just as DeAngelo is alleged to have used in the other crimes, Salazar said.

The Visalia suspect was seen wearing a ski mask and eluded capture because of an apparent deep-knowledge of police work.

'He was very elusive and always had a good escape route,' Salazar said.

Visalia police also have fingerprints and shoe tracks that will be investigated for matches to DeAngelo.

Detectives will look to see if items taken during the Visalia burglaries are uncovered during the investigation of DeAngelo.

According to the FBI, the Golden State Killer terrorized southern California between 1976 and 1986. His crimes began in the summer of 1976 with burglaries and rapes.

Armed with a gun, the masked attacker would break into homes while single women or couples were sleeping. He sometimes tied up the man and piled dishes on his back, then raped the woman while threatening to kill them both if the dishes tumbled.

He often took souvenirs - like coins, cash, ID cards and jewelry - from his victims, who ranged in age from 13 to 41.

DeAngelo is currently being held at the Sacramento County Main jail and is ineligible for bail, according to jail records.

The killer is also suspected of committing 120 home burglaries across Sacramento County. Police believe they found ski masks worn by the Golden State Killer in this undated photo

The serial killer and rapist is also suspected of committing nearly 50 rapes in southern California over the span of a decade. The above photo shows a home that was ransacked by the Golden State Killer

The Golden State Killer is suspected of committing dozens and dozens of crimes in Sacramento County in the late 1970s. Pictured is crime scene evidence from one of the attacksDefense Secretary Jim Mattis has reaffirmed the 'ironclad' US commitment to defend South Korea ahead of a planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

President Donald Trump and Mattis spoke on Saturday with their South Korean counterparts a day after the historic meeting between leaders of the two Koreas, and Trump said 'things are going very well' as he prepares for an expected summit with Kim.

Mattis and Defense Minister Song Young-moo said they were committed to 'a diplomatic resolution that achieves complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization' of the North, according to the Pentagon's chief spokeswoman, Dana W. White.

Mattis also reaffirmed 'the ironclad US commitment' to defend its ally 'using the full spectrum of US capabilities. '

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis (seen Friday) has reaffirmed the 'ironclad' US commitment to defend South Korea ahead of a planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un

North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un (left) and South Korea's President Moon Jae-in (right) met in a historic summit on Friday in the truce village of Panmunjom that straddles the border

Trump tweeted Saturday that he had 'a long and very good talk' with President Moon Jae-in.

He also said he updated Japan's prime minister, Shinzo Abe, about 'the ongoing negotiations' for an anticipated summit with Kim, tentatively scheduled for May or early June.

Moon and Kim have pledged to seek a formal end to the Korean War, fought from 1950 to 1953, by year's end and to rid the Korean Peninsula of nuclear weapons.

Trump has said he's looking forward to the meeting with Kim and that it 'should be quite something.'

'Things are going very well, time and location of meeting with North Korea is being set,' Trump tweeted.

Trump is claiming credit for the Korean summit, but now faces a burden in helping turn the Korean leaders' bold but vague vision for peace into reality after more than six decades of hostility.

Trump must contend with suspicions about his own suitability to conduct that kind of war-and-peace negotiation and succeed where his predecessors have failed, and whether Kim really is willing to give up the nuclear weapons his nation took decades acquiring.

Trump, seen with Moon last June, is preparing for a summit with the North and South Korean leaders tentatively scheduled for late May or early June

'It is still unclear whether North Korea still believes that it can have its cake and eat it too,' said Victor Cha, who until January had been in the running to become Trump's choice for ambassador to South Korea.

At a White House news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday, Trump basked in the afterglow of the meeting between Kim and Moon, and said he has a responsibility to try to achieve peace and denuclearization.

'And if I can't do it, it'll be a very tough time for a lot of countries, and a lot of people. It's certainly something that I hope I can do for the world,' he said.

Moon and Kim have not specified what steps would be taken to formally end the war or eliminate nuclear weapons. Now the pressure to deliver results, at least on the allies' side, has shifted to Trump.

The president pushed back against critics who say he's being manipulated by Kim, who has abruptly shifted to diplomacy after last year's full-scale push to become a nuclear power that could threaten the U.S. mainland.

'I don't think he's ever had this enthusiasm for somebody, for them wanting to make a deal,' Trump said in the Oval Office. 'We're not going to be played, OK. We're going to hopefully make a deal. The United States in the past has been played like a fiddle.'

New Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who as CIA director met Kim four weeks ago in North Korea, told reporters in Brussels that he got the impression that Kim was 'serious' about negotiating on denuclearization because of the Trump-led economic pressure campaign.

But Pompeo added a word of caution: 'I am always careful. There is a lot of history here. Promises have been made, hopes have been raised and then dashed.'

North Korea has already called a halt to nuclear and long-range missile tests, which has helped dial down tensions significantly.

North Korea was hit with unprecedented economic restrictions during 2017, when the US and North Korean leaders traded threats while Kim pushed his nation to the verge of being able to fire a nuclear-tipped missile at the US mainland.

The diplomatic climate has changed dramatically this year, as Kim has ended his international seclusion, reaching out to South Korea, the US, and China.

Mattis has said the US is 'optimistic right now that there's opportunity here that we have never enjoyed since 1950' and any progress will be up to the diplomats. He was referring to the year the Korean War broke out.

The fighting, which also involved China, cost hundreds of thousands of lives and ended with the declaration of an armistice, not a peace treaty. That has left the peninsula in a technical state of war for decades.FBI agents detected no deception during interviews with former National Security Advisor Mike Flynn, despite his later guilty plea to making false statements, according to the new House Intelligence Committee report.

'Federal Bureau of Investigation agents did not detect any deception during Flynn's interview,' read one line among the 44 findings of fact in the 253-page, partially classified report released on Friday.

Flynn was interviewed by the FBI in January 2017, but was not charged until after Special Counsel Robert Mueller took over the probe months later and found apparent contradictions in Flynn's statements.

In December 2017, Flynn agreed to plead guilty to making false statements to the FBI regarding his December 2016 conversation with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak. Flynn's son was spared prosecution as a result of the plea deal.

The conversation, which occurred after the presidential election, related to a UN resolution condemning Israel, which Flynn lobbied in vain for Russia to block.

FBI agents detected no deception during interviews with former National Security Advisor Mike Flynn (pictured), according to a new report from the House Intelligence Committee

The finding was one of 44 included in the partially classified House Intel Committee report

'According to the charging documents, on or about December 22, 2016, 'a very senior member of the Presidential Transition Team' (PTT) directed General Flynn to contact representatives of foreign governments,' the House Intel Panel report reads.

The senior member of the PTT has been identified as Jared Kushner in other published reports.

'This request concerned a resolution about Israeli settlements submitted by Egypt to the U.N. Security Council around December 21, 2016. Later, on December 22, General Flynn contacted Ambassador Kislyak and 'requested that Russia vote against or delay the resolution,'' the report continues.

'The next day, Ambassador Kislyak informed General Flynn that Russia would not comply with the request,' the report reads.

Flynn's plea agreement states that he had falsely told the FBI that he had merely asked Kislyak how Russia planned to vote on a UN resolution condemning Israel's settlements.

The report does not offer new non-public information to support the finding that FBI agents believed Flynn. Much of the section explaining the finding is redacted.

The false statements related to a December 2016 conversation with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak (pictured) whom Flynn wanted to block a UN resolution condemning Israel

The implication of the Intel Committee's finding is that the FBI did not initially believe Flynn had intentionally lied, but that Mueller used unintentional contradictions in his interview to force a plea.

The report noted that the committee was unable to interview Flynn or his son after both asserted their Fifth Amendment rights in response to any questions.

The report from the Republican-led committee also says it found no evidence that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia in the 2016 presidential race

President Donald Trump told reporters as he welcomed German Chancellor Angela Merkel to the White House Friday that, 'We were honored' by the report, which he is calling 'conclusive' ''strong' and 'powerful.'

The report's conclusion is fiercely opposed by committee Democrats, who say the committee did not gather enough evidence to support its finding.

Trump has long called the issue a 'witch hunt' and insists there was no collusion between his campaign and Russia.An electrician discovered dumped rubbish, broken fences, animal faeces, blackened and burnt ceilings, ruined carpets, water damage and mould at his home after he kicked problem tenants out.

Troy Love also found decomposing horse corpses and seven abandoned, malnourished cats, which are still at the property.

It took Mr Love years to save to buy his first home in Nar Nar Goon southeast of Melbourne but only months for the tenants to cause extensive damage to his home before they were evicted.

Left to foot the clean up bill for the 10 acre property, a fired up Mr Love has taken revenge by recently sharing a expletive-laden video of his trashed home on Facebook.

Scroll down for video

Troy Love's video of the damage caused to his home has gone viral on social media in recent weeks with more than a million views on Facebook

His is now calling for tenancy laws to be reviewed and overhauled after they caused $70,000 worth of damage and won't have to pay a cent.

'Tenants do $60,000-70,000 damage and I can't do anything but share this post, save the poor sucker that now has rented his property out to them,' Mr Love posted.

The video went viral and has been viewed more than a million times.

'Share this with everyone so everyone knows who these dirtbags are and I want you to get this to the government so essentially, we don't f*%$$* lose our rights as people,' he says in the nine minute rant.

'It's quite overwhelming to see your property like this especially when you know how much you pay for it and known how beautiful it was when it got it,' Mr Love told A Current Affair.

The nightmare tenants moved into the property three years ago and were often late paying rent, according to Mr Love.

When he took the matter to Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, the court took the tenants' side and allowed them to stay.

'If they show to make an effort, they get everything,' Mr Love said.

'Even if a year behind in rent if they make some sort of attempt to pay it back, we can't actually get them out.'

The ordeal has deterred Mr Love from wanting to lease the property again.

'It's quite overwhelming to see your property like this especially when you know how much you pay for it and known how beautiful when it got it,' Troy Love said

Damage included dumped rubbish left behind, animal faeces inside the home, blackened ceilings, ruined carpets, water damage on the floor and mould

The tenants were eventually evicted and are now renting another property.

'I can't get over the smell, it just wants to make you throw up,' he told A Current Affair.

'I just don't know how people could live like this, have their kids here like this and be healthy.

In a statement to A Current Affair, VCAT says it sees about 55,000 cases per year in relation to rentals.

'Under the Residential Tenancies Act, a landlord is entitled to request a tenant leave the property if they owe at least 14 days rent,' it states.

'VCAT may make an order that the tenant vacate the property by a specified date and pay back the rent owed. VCAT orders are enforceable through the Magistrates' Court of Victoria.'Dodgy funeral operators are allegedly pouring deceased human waste down the drain and embalming bodies in garages.

This comes after a Queensland funeral operator was accused of swapping a grandmother's expensive coffin for a cheap pine box in January.

Grieving families from the Gold Coast and South Brisbane have complained about the practices to Queensland Shadow Attorney General David Janetzki.

A family was outraged when a funeral home allegedly swapped the expensive coffin (pictured) of their grandmother to a cheap box. Police investigated, but they were cleared of any wrong-doing

He told the Gold Coast Bulletin there were a 'few dodgy operators' and 'a few dodgy practices' out there.

'It is mind-blowing and simply awful to hear reports of an operator who, right now, is embalming bodies in a garage and pouring deceased human waste down a household drain,' he said.

'The first thing we need to do is crack down on the dodgy operators, the industry is calling for some regulation.'

The $1700 oak casket lined with white silk is believed to have been switched for a $70 pine box (pictured) moments before the cremation of 74-year-old Janice Valigura

He was concerned about the lack of training for funeral directors, with hairdressing requiring more training than a career dealing with human remains.

In January, police were called in to investigate when a Rockhampton funeral home allegedly removed a woman's body from a $1700 casket into a cheaper box, but they were cleared of any wrong-doing.

Whitsunday Funerals and Crematorium director Jeff Doyle told the ABC at the time switching coffins was 'common practice around Australia' and called for 'serious regulation' in the industry.

'But unfortunately because at most crematoriums you're not allowed to go down and actually see the coffin go into the the cremator, it's easy for them to do it,' he said.The United Nations will reopen an investigation into sexual assault allegations against a senior official who was exonerated in an earlier probe that his accuser said was flawed.

Luiz Loures, the deputy head of UNAIDS who is also an assistant secretary general, is alleged to have sexually assaulted Martina Brostrom, a subordinate, in a hotel elevator during a 2015 conference in Bangkok.

The UN announced on Friday that claims against Loures will be re-examined 'as part of a broader investigation in the light of additional allegations,' CNN reported on Friday.

Brostrom has long claimed that the UN mishandled the investigation into her complaint and tried to sweep the scandal under the rug by offering her a promotion.

Martina Brostrom, senior adviser at UNAIDS (left), has accused Luiz Loures, deputy head of UNAIDS (right), of sexually assaulting her in 2015 - a claim he denies

She has worked at UNAIDS in various capacities since 2006, most recently as senior adviser at the United Nations' agency dedicated to combating HIV/AIDS worldwide.

Speaking to CNN's Christiane Amanpour for the first time last month, Brostrom claimed that Loures cornered her in the elevator of a hotel in Thailand where they were staying during a conference in 2015, forcibly kissed her on the mouth, groped her and attempted to drag her into his room.

Loures has denied the allegations of misconduct, and a 14-month investigation conducted by the World Health Organization has concluded that Brostrom's claims were unsubstantiated - an investigation that Brostrom slammed as 'deeply flawed.'

The newly reopened investigation will be conducted by the UN's Office of Internal Oversight Services and that 'no UNAIDS officials will be involved in this case going forward.'

Brostrom told CNN on Friday that she was not aware that the investigation was reopened.

She said that any probe that is completely independent of the UN would not be sufficient.

Otherwise, 'it doesn't make any difference,' she said.

Two other women have come out accusing Loures of similar sexual misconduct, among them an unnamed UN employee and feminist activist Malayah Harper, the recently appointed general secretary of World YWCA - a global organization promoting young women's leadership and rights.

Loures, 61, announced last month that he will not seek to renew his term in office, which expired earlier this month, but a spokesperson said it was not reasonable to link his departure from UNAIDS after 22 years to the sexual harassment case.

He clearly feels that this is time for him to move on, UNAIDS Mahesh Mahalingam said in late February.

CNN reported that several people warned UNAIDS chief Michel Sidibe about Loures' conduct towards women over the past three years, but during a staff meeting last month, Sidibe reportedly denied being warned.

Sidibe reportedly praised Loures' decision to step aside for the good of the organization as 'courageous' and said that UN employees who spoke publicly about alleged sexual harassment 'do not have ethics.

Similarities: Brostrom (left) said Loures lunged at her in a hotel elevator, forcibly kissed her and tried to take her to his room. Feminist activist Malayah Harper (right) said Loures did almost the same thing to her in 2014

Out: Loures, 61, announced in February that he will not seek to renew his term in office, which expired last month

Brostrom, who has a Master's degree in public health from University of London and lives in Geneva, Switzerland, said that even before heading to Bangkok in May 2015 to attend an AIDS conference, she knew Loures' penchant for unwelcome physical contact.

She said that after a reception at the hotel where they were staying, she got into an elevator with Loures and he pushed her towards the wall.

He starts shoving his tongue into my mouth, trying to kiss me. And he is groping my body, including my breasts, she told CNNs Amanpour.

The elevator door opens and he tries to forcefully pull me out of the elevator, drag me towards the corridor of his room.

Brostrom said she was able to escape his grip and retired to the safety of her room.

That night, she spoke to three co-workers and her mother, all of whom would later tell investigators that she seemed distressed and upset.

UNAIDS chief Michel Sidibe praised Loures' decision to step aside for the good of the organization as 'courageous'

It took Brostrom a year-and-a-half to file a formal complaint against Loures, after learning that following a reorganization within UNAIDS, her alleged assailant could become one of her direct superiors.

Brostrom explained the delay in filing the complaint by saying that she feared her allegations would not be taken seriously, or she could face retaliation at work.

She has been on paid medical leave from UNAIDS since April 2017, having been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

WHOs internal oversight services division carried out the confidential investigation into Loures, who told them, according to a report obtained by CNN, that on the night of the alleged incident, Brostrom had been drinking and had spoken to him about her sexual predilections.

Loures said the woman told him, 'you could never handle me.'

Brostrom denied being drunk and dismissed the suggestion that she raised the subject of her sexual preferences with Loures.

In the course of the investigation, Brostrom said UNAIDS chief Michel Sidibe tried to convince her to drop the case and accept an apology from Loures in exchange for a promotion.

Both Sidibe and Loures denied that Loures ever wanted to apologize to Brostrom.

Sidibe, however, did admit to WHO investigators that he told Brostrom it would be good to find a way to protect the organization and have a discussion about her work.

Brostrom rejected Sidibie's offer and the probe went forward. Last November, Sidibe recused himself from the case at the request of Brostrom's attorney.

A short time later, the investigation cleared Loures of any wrongdoing, concluding that there was no evidence to corroborate Brostrom's 'detailed' account of the encounter.

The report, however, included a recommendation that as a preventative measure, senior managers remind Loures of UNAIDS sexual harassment policy, especially with respect towards female colleagues, CNN reported.

Under UN rules, the decision to close the case may still be appealed to the administrative tribunal of the International Labor Organization.

The details of the incident, as described by Brostrom, rang true to Malayah Harper, who told CNN that Loures assaulted her in a strikingly similar manner in a hotel elevator in 2014, while she was still employed at UNAIDS.

He got into the lift with me, and then kind of lunged forward to kiss me, but I thought a kiss had to be consensual, she told the news outlet.

Harper never filed a formal complaint before leaving UNAIDS.

A third accuser, who currently works for the UN, told CNN that Loures forced himself on her, 'stuck his tongue' in her mouth and tried to grope her body, including reaching inside her blouse.

Loures told CNN in a statement that he cooperated fully with the independent investigation that found Brostrom's claims to be unsubstantiated.

He said he was surprised by Harpers allegation, which he also denied.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, asked about the UNAIDS case, told a news briefing on February 7: 'On sexual harassment, I would like to assure you we have zero tolerance... (That) means we take the investigation very, very seriously.'

Forty allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse were made during the last three months of 2017 against U.N. peacekeeping missions, agencies, funds and programs as well as implementing partners.Anika Witt, 27, pleaded guilty to two felony charges as part of a reduced sentence agreement that also requires her to testify against an acquaintance

A Missouri woman who was found with a loaded handgun hidden in her vagina during a traffic stop pleaded guilty on Friday to weapons possession and drugs charges.

Anika Witt, 27, pleaded guilty to two felony charges as part of a reduced sentence agreement that also requires her to testify against an acquaintance, reported thesmokinggun.com.

The serial criminal was stopped with Clinton McDonald, 29, on Interstate 55 just north of Bloomington. Ecstasy and heroin were found in their car.

Witt, who appeared at Circuit Court in McLean County, Illinois, faces up to 25 in prison - 10 for the firearm and 15 for possession of Class A drugs.

But her plea deal could see her term slashed when she is sentenced in June.

The Kimber .380 handgun is 5.6 inches long and weighs 13.4 ounces when empty.Republicans in congress have rejected a Democrat's proposal to investigate the reasons behind Speaker Paul Ryan's firing of the House of Representatives' Chaplain last week.

Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus Rep. Joe Crowley introduced the resolution to create a special committee to look into Ryan's 'motivations and actions' when he suddenly asked House Chaplain Patrick Conroy to resign.

Reps. Patrick Meehan of Pennsylvania and Tom Reed of New York were the only Republicans to vote for the resolution on Friday.

At least 148 lawmakers have sent letter to Ryan asking for more information on Conroy's firing, according to NBC News.

House republicans voted down Democratic Rep. Joe Crowley's resolution for a bipartisan committee to look into why Speaker Paul Ryan asked the Chaplain to resign

Father Patrick Conroy was told by Paul Ryan to resign last week and claims the Republican leader told him: 'Stay out of politics'

Ryan has told fellow Republicans that he fired the House Chaplain after complaints from members that he wasn't doing a very good job - not because of pressure over the Catholic priest's political leanings, as it's been reported.

Democrats - and Conroy himself - have cited a prayer he offered last Fall that called for fairness as the House debated tax cuts as a reason for GOP discontent with his performance.

Ryan's spokeswoman AshLee Strong said on Thursday: 'The speaker consulted with the minority leader, but the decision [to leave] was [Conroy's]. He remains grateful for Father Conroy's service.'

But minority leader Nancy Pelosi told NBC she has never received a complaint about Conroy and that Ryan 'did a very bad thing' by forcing the priest out.

Conroy's firing is the first ouster of its kind in the history of the House.

Democrats and, particularly, Catholic lawmakers have been angered by the move that they see as politically motivated.

Rep. Sean Maloney from New York tweeted on Wednesday: 'Yeah we're angry. This is a shameful anti-Catholic move motivated by conservative extremists in Congress.'

Paul Ryan told House Republicans telling them that he had received complaints about a lack of pastoral care by Conroy

At least 148 lawmakers have sent letter to Ryan asking for more information on Conroy's firing

Conroy is a Roman Catholic priest from the Jesuit order. He was the second Catholic chaplain in the House's history and appointed by Ryan's predecessor John Boehner.

Both Boehner and Ryan are practicing Catholics.

Rep. Mark Walker, of Alabama, said he has heard of members who took issue with Conroy, as claimed by Ryan, and suggested a non-Catholic would be better for the post of Chaplain.

The lawmaker, a Baptist minister, told reporters on Friday that 'Having spent 16 years in ministry as a pastor, there are things that you are able to understand that families go through in dealing with. It doesn't mean you have to have to have your own.'

Last November, Conroy prayed for lawmakers to make sure that 'there are not winners and losers under new tax laws, but benefits balanced and shared by all Americans.'

Conroy told the New York Times that shortly afterward Ryan warned him to 'stay out of politics.'

One prominent Republican has expressed concern over Ryan's decision.

Conroy's resignation letter said he was offering to step down at Ryan's request, calling his seven years of House service 'one of the great privileges of my life'.

'I'm not aware of any discontent or any criticism and to be the first House Chaplain to be removed in the history of the Congress in the middle of a term raises serious questions.

'We deserve more of an explanation and why. Was there political pressure?' said Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y.

'The Speaker said it was just because certain people felt he was not complying with their requests or was not giving them good counseling. I never heard that from anyone.'

Conroy has served as the chamber's chaplain since 2011 but offered his resignation last week at Ryan's urging. He will leave his House service next month.

His resignation letter said he was offering to step down at Ryan's request, calling his seven years of House service 'one of the great privileges of my life.'

The Chaplain is responsible for opening the House each day with a prayer and offering counseling to lawmakers and aides on the House side of the Capitol.The aircraft carrier Liaoning battle group steam on the sea. The aircraft carrier Liaoning (Hull 16), several guided-missile destroyers, frigates and dozens of aircraft attached to the Navy of the Chinese People's Liberation Army took part in a combat exercise at an unidentified area east of the Bashi Channel in the western Pacific on Apr. 20. The exercise was a routine arrangement as a part of the PLA Navy's annual training plan. (Photo/eng.chinamil.com.cn)

A Chinese provincial maritime authority on Friday announced another weeklong military mission in the Bohai and Yellow seas, after military missions in the same area end on Saturday.

The Liaoning Maritime Safety Administration announced a sailing warning in the Bohai Sea and north of the Yellow Sea from Friday to May 4, saying that military mission will be conducted at the designated areas, and no vessels would be allowed to enter.

On April 20, the Liaoning maritime administration issued three sailing warnings in the same area from April 20 to 28, and attributed the warnings to military missions.

"The Bohai and Yellow seas are strategically important as they are the pivotal gateway to safeguarding Beijing and Tianjin," Xu Guangyu, a retired major general and senior adviser to the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association, told the Global Times on Friday.

Military drills are the road China must take to turn its armed forces into a world-class military prepared to fight and win wars, Xu said.

"However, China's military drills are limited in terms of their scale and frequency compared to its neighbors and some Western countries, including Japan, South Korea and the US," Xu said.

Military watchers attributed the warnings to possible sea trials of China's first domestically-built aircraft carrier, as media revealed previously that it could undergo its first sea trials.

Song Zhongping, a military expert and TV commentator, told the Global Times that the first sea trials of China's second aircraft carrier, built at a shipyard in Dalian, are likely to take place in the Bohai and Yellow seas to test its power and design.

"The wide attention on the sea trials of China's second aircraft carrier shows that Chinese people want a home-built carrier meant for combat," Xu said.

Although the aircraft carrier Liaoning possesses combat capabilities through a series of drills, one carrier is far from enough for naval power, Xu said.

On Monday, the founding day of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy, the second aircraft carrier moved from its berth at the outfitting quay. Chinese military enthusiasts hailed the update, saying this could be the "best birthday gift" for the PLA Navy.

In response to widespread speculations about the sea trials of the new aircraft carrier, Wu Qian, spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defense, told a media briefing on Thursday that the system adjustments and outfitting of the first indigenously made aircraft carrier are well under way.A deadly strain of meningococcal is sweeping across Australia with one state in particular more vulnerable to the disease.

South Australia is the only state in the country without a free vaccination for the W strain - where cases have doubled in the past two years.

The state government is planning to introduce a state-wide free vaccine for the B strain for families which health chiefs say is currently threatening more people in the state.

A deadly strain of meningococcal is sweeping across Australia with one state in particular more vulnerable to the disease

The state government is planning to introduce a state-wide free vaccine for the B strain for families but there is no public vaccination program - except for emergencies - for the W strain

But the W strain, which is the most aggressive and fastest growing strain in the country, is affecting more and more people every year, the Sunday Mail reports.

It has a higher fatality rate in SA than the other strains of meningococcal - A, B, C and Y.

There were 11 people in South Australia who contracted the W strain last year.

There have already been eight meningococcal cases in SA in 2018 - with six of those confirmed to be the B strain, one Y strain and another undetermined.

The W strain, which is the most aggressive and fastest growing strain in the country, is affecting more and more people every year

Professor Paddy Phillips, the chief medical officer for SA Health, says the government will respond to W strain outbreaks with 'localised vaccination programs'.

A vaccine to protect against the B and W strains - the most dominant forms of meningococcal - currently costs around $1,000 per person.

All the states and territories in Australia, apart from SA, has a public vaccination program for babies and residents up to 19-year-olds against four of the main strains of the disease.

John Bowyer, a patient who fought of the W strain, is calling on the federal government and state governments around the country to work on providing a free vaccine for all the main strains.

'It is a nasty strain, a killer strain,' he told the Sunday Mail.

Professor Paddy Phillips, the chief medical officer for SA Health, says the government will respond to W strain outbreaks with 'localised vaccination programs'

'Having this ad hoc approach between states and territories is costing lives and leaves a window of opportunity for these virulent strains to not only cause death but also lifelong injuries.'

An outbreak of the W strain across the Northern Territory and Western Australia in October threatened to break into SA.

Meningococcal Australia, a group which is working to raise awareness about the perils of the disease, is warning it is only a matter of time until the W strain becomes more widespread in South Australia.

There were 140 cases of the W strain in 2014 compared to just 17 only three years earlier.

This week, the new Liberal government in SA said it would be forming a task force to investigate how to bring about a public vaccination program for meningococcal B.

Peter Malinauskas, the Labor leader in SA, said his party had a plan to introduce vaccines for free from June for children under two-years old

But this position has been criticised by the Labor opposition which said it had a plan to introduce vaccines for free from June for children under two-years-old.

Peter Malinauskas said: 'We need the Liberals to do the right thing and make this lifesaving vaccine free for all South Australian children under two immediately.

'The announcement they will only investigate a meningococcal vaccination program by setting up a committee is extremely disappointing.'

Paul Goodfellow lost part of his finger when he contracted the B strain of the disease.

He joined the support for a new vaccination. The father-of-three told Ten News: 'It's a disease you don't have time to much around with.'Delayed and cancelled flights are on the rise, leading to calls for Australian passengers to be 'better compensated'.

Tigerair has the most delayed flights, followed by Jetstar, Virgin and Qantas, data from the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics shows.

Only 71.4 per cent of Tigerair flights arrived on time, compared to 77.2 per cent for Jetstar, 83.4 for Virgin Australia and 84.7 for Qantas, the report revealed.

Delayed and cancelled flights are on the rise, leading to calls for Australian passengers to be 'better compensated'

Only 71.4 per cent of Tigerair flights arrived on time, compared to 77.2 per cent for Jetstar, 83.4 for Virgin Australia and 84.7 for Qantas, the report revealed.

The average on-time arrivals across all airlines was 82 per cent and 1.9 per cent of all flights were cancelled.

This represented an increase of delayed flights and cancellations compared to previous years.

QantasLink had the highest rate of cancellations in 2017, following by Tigerair and Virgin Australia Regional Airlines.

The highest rate of cancellations was 6.2 per cent on the Sydney-Hamilton Island route, followed by Hamilton-Island to Sydney at 6.1 per cent and Melbourne to Hamilton Island at 5.2 per cent.

The average on-time arrivals across all airlines was 82 per cent and 1.9 per cent of all flights was cancelled

Choice spokeswoman Stefanie Menzies told WA Today Australian airlines are 'flying below the radar' on consumer protection.

'Compensation should be fair and standardised, no matter what airline you're on or what the customer service agent decides you deserve on the day,' she told the publication.

'Airlines should take responsibility for their own mistakes instead of making passengers pay for a delay.'Two British jihadists accused of being ISIS murderers have challenged Britain to prove they are part of 'The Beatles' terror group.

Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh, from west London, have questioned how hostages could identify them as part of the group which is accused of beheading 27 people in Iraq and Syria.

Kotey told the Times: 'I find it very strange that people who described being held by "masked men", as soon as the capture of myself and Shafee was announced, say how glad they are that the people that were responsible... have been caught.'

Kotey and Elsheikh are two of four fanatics dubbed 'The Beatles', because of their British accents, whose leader 'Jihadi John' heinously beheaded hostages on camera.

Alexanda Kotey (left) and El Shafee Elsheikh, from west London, are two of four fanatics dubbed 'The Beatles', because of their British accents

The pair have challenged Britain to prove they are part of the terrorist cell. They have questioned how hostages could identify them as part of the group which is accused of beheading 27 people in Iraq and Syria (Pictured: left, Kotey, right, Elsheikh)

Both had their citizenship revoked earlier this year as a way of deterring other jihadists from travelling to Syria, and the government has said they do not want to try them in Britain.

'Europe has refused to take their fighters back, the US too. They seem to prefer this ball of fire to remain in our hands,' Abdulqarim Omar, head of the Kurdish administrations foreign affairs council in northern Syria, told the Times.

'We are holding over 400 Isis foreign fighters from 40 different countries. Including their families they number thousands. We do not have the resources to start their trials here.'

Their leader, known as 'Jihadi John' heinously, beheaded hostages on camera

Kotey and Elsheikh were captured by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) earlier this year, and are now being held in a detention facility in Kobani.

Because their citizenship has been revoked, British intelligence officers have been stopped from interrogating them.

Kotey, known as 'Ringo', said: 'We have only been interrogated by Americans from the Department of Defence and the FBI, and by Kurdish intelligence. The British have never been present.'

It is unclear where they will face justice for their involvement in the terrorist cell who tortured and beheaded at least five British and American captives in 2014.

They will most likely be tried in a US court, but last month the British government said they wanted reassurances prosecutors will not seek the death penalty.

The SDF have already traded ISIS commanders in exchange for fighters because they do not have the facilities to try them in Syria.

Elsheikh, or 'George', said: 'I am not sitting here with a hat for a handout, asking anybody in the West for anything.

'I am saying your government, your legal system, claims something. Its down to them to do what they claim, otherwise the whole system is a shambles and everyone who claims to stand by it is a bunch of hypocrites.'

Kotey added: 'I get the impression that a lot of people in the British government and probably the American administration would have preferred that they had killed us so that they could avoid this whole procedure.

Kotey said: 'I get the impression that a lot of people in the British government and probably the American administration would have preferred that they had killed us so that they could avoid this whole procedure.

'Their biggest regret is that we wasnt killed in Deir Ezzor or elsewhere, because now they have the tedious task of putting this into the context of a judicial case.

'But when you are actually talking in a legal framework, now you actually have to bring proof, something  hard evidence to back these claims against us.'

Kotey is suspected of masterminding a foiled terror plot to execute British police officers and soldiers across London while he was some 3,000 miles away in Syria.

An ITV News investigation earlier this month discovered Kotey encouraged a planned spate of attacks in Shepherds Bush, West London, in 2014.

Kotey was in regular communication with medical student Tarik Hassane, a friend back home in London, who was jailed at the Old Bailey in 2016 for his part in the plot.

He encouraged Hassane to commit drive-by killings from the back of a moped.

Last year, Kotey was named a 'specially designated global terrorist' by US authorities after his identity was revealed by ITV News.

Officials in Washington DC said: 'As a guard for the cell, Kotey likely engaged in the group's executions and exceptionally cruel torture methods, including electronic shock and waterboarding.'A carer has been sentenced to jail after being found guilty of trying to rape a severely disabled women who was in his care.

David Jack Peter Cottam, 24, was a carer with Cootharinga North Queensland when he attempted to rape a women in his care who could not speak, walk or defend herself in any way the Townsville Bulletin reported.

The victim, a 44-year-old women, suffers from epilepsy, cerebral palsy, microcephaly and an intellectual impairment.

David Jack Peter Cottam, 24 has been sentenced to jail in the Townsville District Court (pictured) after being found guilty of trying to rape a severely disabled women who was in his care

Cottam's defence barrister Anthony Collins told the Townsville District Court that it was obvious his client was suffering from an 'underlying condition' which was in direct contrast to findings from a court appointed psychologist.

The psychologist could not find any evidence of a 'diagnosable issue' for Cottam.

A letter from Cottam's father was also submitted to the court which said Cottam has experienced a 'traumatic upbringing' brought on by his parents separation and school yard bullying.

The victim's sister told media after the case that Cottam had no comprehension of what a traumatic upbringing really was.

'As they were reading out what a hard life is I was like youve got to be kidding, my sister has never walked on the earth in her life, she lives in pain, cant talk,' she said.

Cottam was a carer with Cootharinga North Queensland (pictured) when he attempted to rape a women in his care who could not speak, walk or defend herself in any way

She said she found the claims both 'disgusting' and 'confronting'.

The court heard that the incident took place on December 26, 2016 and shortly after the incident Cottam was brought before Cootharinga management where he admitted to the wrong doing.

He told them he had committed the vile act for his own 'sexual gratification'

Cottam was sentenced to three years imprisonment and will be eligible for parole in 12 months.Amber Rudd is to be recalled to give evidence to the Commons Home Affairs Committee after admitting she should have known about targets for removing illegal immigrants.

The Home Secretary has resisted calls to quit saying she is 'sorry' for not being aware of documents which set out the targets.

It comes after Ms Rudd said she had not seen a leaked internal memo referring to the targets - even though she had been copied in.

However she acknowledged that the disclosure had raised 'legitimate questions' and said she would be making a statement to MPs on Monday.

The committee chairman, Labour MP Yvette Cooper, said: 'We have obviously been given inaccurate information to Parliament twice now.

'This is a serious concern and I am calling Amber Rudd to come back and give further evidence to the committee.

Amber Rudd (pictured in parliament earlier this week) said she was not aware of any targets being used at the Home Office when she was grilled by MPs - but the latest memo leak appears undermine the claim

'I think we will also want to hear from the permanent secretary as well, because this raises some questions about the way the Home Office is operating,' she told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

Justice Secretary David Gauke gave his backing to Ms Rudd, saying she was an 'excellent' Home Secretary.

'She has accepted that she made a mistake. She didn't knowingly mislead the House of Commons but she accepted that she was inaccurate in her statements,' he said.

'She is coming back to the House of Commons on Monday to correct the record.

'I have worked closely with Amber. I think she is an excellent Home Secretary and I look forward to working with her in future.'

Environment Secretary Michael Gove has said Labour are attempting to weaponise the situation and has also backed Ms Rudd, saying she was a highly talented and highly effective minister.

When documents that should be placed in front of a Home Secretary aren't then placed in front of a Home Secretary, that is sad, that is regrettable, he added.

But she was very clear both in her apology and also in the fact that this specific document wasn't placed in her box, wasn't brought to her attention. It wasn't a matter for decision.

Environment Secretary Michael Gove has said Labour are attempting to weaponise the situation and has also backed Ms Rudd, saying she was a highly talented and highly effective minister

It was specifically prepared for another minister. It was sent to his office. It was copied in to the Home Secretary's office.

There are hundreds of documents which are copied in to a secretary of state's office every day and week. Some of those documents are not then brought to the secretary of state's specific attention.

He added: Labour are attempting to weaponise this. I think that is quite wrong.

Ms Rudd had offered a statement, in a series of tweets, following the accusations that she had misled Parliament after she told the Commons on Thursday that she had never agreed to specific targets for removals.

What is the Windrush scandal and how did the fiasco develop? June 22, 1948 - The Empire Windrush passenger ship docked at Tilbury from Jamaica. The 492 passengers were temporarily housed near Brixton in London. Over the following decades some 500,000 came to the UK. Many arrived on their parents' passports and were not formally naturalised as British citizens. 1973 - A new immigration Act comes into force putting the onus on individuals to prove they have previously been resident in the UK. 2010 - The Home Office destroyed thousands of landing card slips recording Windrush immigrants arrival dates in the UK. The move came despite staff warnings that the move would make it harder to check the records of older Caribbean-born residents experiencing residency difficulties, it was claimed 2014 - A protection that exempted Commonwealth residents from enforced removal was removed under a new law. Theresa May was Home Secretary at the time. Under a crackdown on illegals, Windrush immigrants are obliged to provide proof they were resident in the UK before 1973. July 2016 - Mrs May becomes Prime Minister. April 2018 - Allegations that Windrush immigrants are being threatened with deportation break. Theresa May issued a grovelling apology to Caribbean leaders after major backlash April 29 - Amber Rudd resigns after inadvertently misleading Parliament by wrongly claiming there were no deportation targets Advertisement

Ms Rudd wrote on Twitter: 'I will be making a statement in the House of Commons on Monday in response to legitimate questions that have arisen on targets and illegal migration.

'I wasn't aware of specific removal targets. I accept I should have been and I'm sorry that I wasn't. I didn't see the leaked document, although it was copied to my office as many documents are.

She added: 'As Home Secretary I will work to ensure that our immigration policy is fair and humane.'

The response comes after an explosive memo emerged which suggested Amber Rudd was told about illegal immigrant removal targets, despite telling MPs otherwise.

The leaked memo was sent to the Home Secretary and Immigration Minister Brandon Lewis said officials had set a 'a target of achieving 12,800 enforced returns in 2017-18'.

It also boasts that 'we have exceeded our target of assisted returns' and that progress had been made on achieving the 10 per cent increase in deportations they had promised Ms Rudd.

It adds that progress has been made on a 'path towards the 10 per cent increase' in the numbers deported as promised to Ms Rudd.

The memo, leaked to The Guardian, appeared to contradict evidence she gave to the Home Affairs select committee just three days ago when she said she was not aware of any targets.

Grilled by MPs on reports that there were targets, she told the committee 'we don't have targets for removals', adding 'that's not how we operate'.

A Home Office source told the newspaper: 'We were gobsmacked by what she said, and that she stuck to her guns.

'It is inconceivable that Amber Rudd did not know about the targets.'

Ms Rudd is battling to cling on to her job after a torrid couple of weeks following the Windrush scandal.

The fiasco saw immigrants who arrived from the Caribbean and have lived in the UK for decades threatened with deportation.

They told how they lost their jobs, homes, were denied health care and stopped from going to their relatives' funerals and weddings because they did not have proper paperwork.

Labour's shadow home secretary Diane Abbott said she should resign and the SNP have joined in the calls for her to go.

Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott said that Ms Rudd should have been prepared to accept responsibility for what had happened.

She said: I am just surprised that she doesn't seem to take the issue seriously enough to offer her resignation.

Ms Rudd has insisted that she is determined to reform the Home Office - distancing herself from Theresa May's policy to create a 'hostile environment' for illegal immigrants.

And while she has refused to say if she has considered quitting over the scandal, she insists that she is the right person to reform the department.

Labour's shadow home secretary Diane Abbott (pictured in the Commons yesterday) said Ms Rudd should quit as Home Secretary over the fiasco

But the six page memo, which was prepared by Hugh Ind, the director general of the Home Office's Immigration Enforcement agency, deals her account another blow.

And it has renewed calls for her to be sacked over the fiasco.

Ms Abbott said: 'Amber Rudd either failed to read this memo, and has no clear understanding of the policies in her own department, or she has misled Parliament and the British people.

'Either way, she needs to accept responsibility and resign immediately.'

But Lord Blunkett, a former Labour minster, has said Labour should back Ms Rudd to stay because she is one of the Cabinet's leading anti-Brexiteers.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme 'imbalancing' the Brexit balance in the Cabinet 'would not be in the best interests of the country'.

'I think she needs to get her act together,' he added.

'On a purely party political old-style jungle fight, if I thought this would actually change the Government then I might consider it, but actually I don't believe it would.

'I think it would be damaging to those of us who want at least some sane voices inside the Cabinet.'The 'Dutch Serengeti' where thousands of animals were able to roam in a bid to 'rewild' them has come under criticism after thousands of the creatures died following cold conditions.

Before the harsh winter this year, there were 5,230 animals living on the reserve, but after the brisk weather only 1,850 remain.

About 90 per cent of the creatures who died were killed before they could starve to death in Leylstad.

The 'Dutch Serengeti' where thousands of animals were able to roam in a bid to 'rewild' them has come under criticism

This week, a committee decided that the population could not grow unchecked, choosing to cap the amount of large herbivores at 1,500.

Animal biologist Patrick van Veen slated the project to rewild animals: 'This experiment has absolutely failed,' reports The Guardian.

'You'd expect 20 or 30% to die of natural causes including starvation each year but the population grows in summertime and there is no control mechanism  normally you'd have predators such as wolves but it's too small an area to have predators.'

About 90 per cent of the creatures who died were killed before they could starve to death in Leylstad

This week, a committee decided that the population could not grow unchecked, choosing to cap the amount of large herbivores at 1,500

In Mr van Veen's petition, he writes: 'Massive starvation, malnutrition and hundreds of dying and crunching locked in animals is not a situation that you expect to happen in a modern civilized society and to be supported and legitimated by a government.

'Unfortunately, this is currently happening in the Netherlands, due to a failed experiment, machismo and deceit.'

Other protesters have taken it upon themselves to feed the animals in a bid to save their lives - heaving bales of hay across railway lines to reach the creatures.

Animal biologist Patrick van Veen slated the project to rewild animals: 'This experiment has absolutely failed'

One protester, Jamie Wiebes, said: 'If you put up a fence, you have to take care of what's behind the fence  you do in zoos, and even in prisons you have to provide child molesters with food and water. You cannot do a 'project' with animals. They are living things.'

However, some think that the animal deaths are just part of the process. Han Olff, an ecology professor, argues that the wildlife is changing and will adapt.

He said: 'People tend to focus on what you lose and ignore what you gain. Its just changing, its not better or worse, its just something different. Traditional conservation managers make a plan saying "This is what we want to keep  period". This dynamic way of managing nature is new, its different but its not an experiment.'Melania Trump lives in the White House as a virtual prisoner of the Secret Service and is hiding a strong personality, suggests Brigitte Macron.

The wife of the French president praised the first lady and told of her fun side after a three-day visit to Washington.

Yet to many Mrs Trump seemed stern and unsmiling compared to the repeated hand-holding and hugging her husband and French President Emmanuel Macron shared during the trip.

Melania Trump lives in the White House as a virtual prisoner of the Secret Service and is hiding a strong personality, suggests Brigitte Macron (far left)

Yet to many Mrs Trump seemed stern and unsmiling compared to the repeated hand-holding and hugging her husband and French President Emmanuel Macron shared during the trip

President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron shake hands during a news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, April 24, 2018

As their husbands chat on the night of the state dinner, the two first wives sit down and, according to Mrs Macron, start to build a solid relationship

The image portrayed by the 48-year-old is allegedly a lie, Mrs Macron, 65, said: On the contrary she is really fun. We have the same sense of humour. We laugh a lot together.

Everything is interpreted, over-interpreted. Shes someone who has a strong personality but she makes an effort to hide it.

Mrs Macron also offered sympathy for the restricted life she believes Mrs Trump must live: She is much more constrained than me. Melania cant do anything.

The security is terrible. She cant even open a window at the White House because immediately the security services call and say close it.

The image portrayed by the 48-year-old is allegedly a lie, Mrs Macron, 65, said: On the contrary she is really fun. We have the same sense of humour. We laugh a lot together'

President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron, pose for photographs as they arrive for a State Dinner at the White House

She cant put a foot outside, Mrs Macron told French reporters. Every day, I go out in Paris.

The two first ladies held on to each other while balancing on their towering heels during the White House welcome ceremony, Le Monde reported.

Twenty-five years older than her husband, Mrs Macron spoke of her life at the Elysee Palace after nearly a year there, The Times said.

The former teacher, whose relationship with Mr Macron began when he was her teenage pupil, said she has been forced to restrain her energy but insists she wont be changing herself as she has nothing to prove at her age.A US company has been using an app to gather and store private data on how thousands of British children behave at school.

Parents fear ClassDojo, based in San Francisco, has harvested photos and videos from as much as 70 per cent of British schools.

The company's data is stored in the US and shared with 22 third-party service providers including Facebook for 'optional social sharing' and Google for 'analytics'.

Another company using the data is analytics service Datadog which suffered a data breach two years ago, reports The Times.

Class Dojo says that it does not share student information with Facebook, Google or Datadog.

ClassDojo is a classwork communications app that awards positive and negative dojo points to pupils based on their behaviour

Teachers are reportedly using the app, which awards pupils positive and negative 'dojo' points based on their behaviour, as a means of maintaining order in the classroom.

The 'gamification' programme is hosted by a team of smiling cartoon monsters who guide pupils through exercises.

Kids receive green dojos for qualities like 'teamwork and 'creativity' and red dojos for qualities like 'disrespect'.

The 'gamification' app collects data including videos and photos which it shares with 22 service providers

Pupil's scores can be displayed on a screen at the front of the class.

Parents and students are encouraged to create their own ClassDojo accounts which enable them to track their children's behaviour at school - and view photos and videos of them remotely.

But currently the company's policies do not appear to require school to ask for parents' consent if pupils do not have their own ClassDojo accounts even if the app is being used on them.

The US company requires school ask for parental consent before creating accounts for pupils under 13.

ClassDojo's terms state providers do not 'generally' have the right to use beyond what is necessary to assist ClassDojo./

Parents said they had only realised the app was being used in their children's schools when their children began talking about dojo points.

One mother said her five and seven-year-old children had been asked to vote on whether the school should start using the app.

Lawyers told The Times the app's existing service would be in breach of data laws come May 25 after the introduction of stricter UK regulation.

Experts also worried whether parents were able to give informed consent given the app's 12,000-word privacy policy.

Ben Williamson, a lecturer in education at the University of Stirling, said: 'It's important for parents to be aware that the company holds detailed behavioural records for their children, as well as photos of their children uploaded from the classroom, and that the education technology industry is no more impervious to privacy breaches than commercial social media, finance or other public services like health.'

Teachers are not required to gain parental consent before using the app in the classroom

A ClassDojo spokeswoman said: 'ClassDojo is fully compliant with all UK privacy laws, and is certified under the EU-US privacy shield. ClassDojo will be also fully compliant with GDPR when the law goes into effect on May 25.

'Where we work with third parties, our users are still protected under ClassDojo's privacy policy; furthermore, any third-party service provider we work with now or in the future will be fully compliant with GDPR when the law goes into effect on May 25.'

She said children's data was automatically deleted 12 months after they stopped using the app.

'No part of our mission requires the collection of sensitive information, so we don't collect any. When a teacher sets up a class, we ask for the minimum information necessary to provide the service: a student's name or nickname and we assign them a cartoon avatar. We don't ask for or receive any other information [like] gender, no email, no phone number, no home address.

'We do not sell or rent any information to any third parties. We work with independent security researchers to continually test ClassDojo's security practices, and those of any third-party partners, including extensive independent audits by world-class cyber-security firms.'Alfie Evans has died aged just 23 months after a long-running battle over his treatment for a degenerative condition.

Little Alfie captured the hearts of the nation and beyond as his parents Kate James, 20, and Thomas Evans, 21, fought medics and High Court lawyers to continue his life support.

Hundreds of supporters gathered outside Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool where the toddler had been in a coma since December 2016.

Despite an intervention from the Pope who rallied to grant him Italian citizenship this week, he died at 2.30am on Saturday.

As the world reacts to the news, we look back at Alfie's short but eventful life.

Alfie Evans (pictured at Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool) has died aged just 23 months after a long-running battle over his treatment for a degenerative condition

May 9 2016: Alfie is born in Liverpool to parents Tom Evans and Kate James, now aged 21 and 20 respectively.

December 2016: Alfie is taken to Alder Hey Children's Hospital after suffering seizures. He will spend the next 12 months there.

December 11 2017: Hospital bosses say they are 'liaising directly' with the family after disagreements over his treatment.

Alfie's parents said the hospital has applied to the High Court to remove parental rights and withdraw ventilation.

December 19: A High Court judge, Mr Justice Hayden, begins overseeing the case at a public hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London.

The hospital says continuing life-support treatment would not be in Alfie's best interests, but his parents disagree and say they want permission to fly him to Italy for treatment. The judge says he will make a decision on what is best for Alfie.

Little Alfie captured the hearts of the nation and beyond as his parents Kate James, 20, and Thomas Evans, 21, (pictured at the High Court in London) fought medics and High Court lawyers to continue his life support

February 1 2018: A hearing begins at the High Court in Liverpool in which lawyers acting for the hospital claim further treatment for Alfie is unkind and inhumane.

February 2: One of Alfie's doctors tells the judge there is 'no hope' for the youngster, who is in a semi-vegetative state from a degenerative neurological condition doctors have not been able to definitively identify.

February 5: Mr Evans tells the court Alfie 'looks me in the eye' and wants his help.

February 20: Mr Justice Hayden rules in favour of hospital bosses, saying he accepted medical evidence which showed further treatment was futile.

March 1: Three Court of Appeal judges begin analysing the case after Alfie's parents mount a challenge to the High Court ruling.

The family ask for the appeal hearing to be adjourned for a few weeks so they can discuss the ruling with lawyers, but the judges refuse.

March 6: Court of Appeal judges uphold the decision of Mr Justice Hayden.

March 8: Alfie's parents ask for the case to be considered by Supreme Court justices.

Alfie died at 23 months at Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool at 2.30am on April 28

March 20: Supreme Court justices decide the case is not worth arguing and refuse to give the couple permission to mount another appeal.

March 28: Judges at the European Court of Human Rights reject a bid from Mr Evans and Ms James for them to examine issues relating to Alfie's future, saying they found no appearance of any human rights violation.

April 11: Mr Justice Hayden endorses an end-of-life care plan for Alfie drawn up by specialists.

April 12: Protesters gather outside Alder Hey hospital as Alfie's father insists he has the right to take him home.

April 16: Alfie's parents argue he is being wrongly 'detained' at Alder Hey and make a habeas corpus application.

Judges at the Court of Appeal in London rule against them and again uphold the decisions of Mr Justice Hayden.

The couple's lawyer said they might make a further appeal to the Supreme Court.

Merseyside Police launch an investigation into 'instances of verbal abuse and acts of intimidation' among protesters outside the hospital.

Judges raise concerns about reports that ambulances and staff were unable to enter the hospital and that patients and their families had been frightened.

Alfie's parents apologise, saying they did not intend to 'harm or cause conflict or upset'.

Supporters gathered outside Alder Hey Hospital to protest lawyers' decision not to continue Alfie's life support

April 17: Mr Evans and Ms James ask Supreme Court justices to consider their case for a second time, a spokeswoman confirms.

April 18: Mr Evans flies to Rome and meets with Pope Francis. He kissed the Pope's hand and begged the leader of the Catholic church to save Alfie's life.

April 20: The Supreme Court rules against Alfie's parents for a second time, refusing them permission to appeal against the decision.

Mr and Mrs Evans had been trying to persuade the court that Alfie was being unlawfully detained at Alder Hey hospital.

The parents make an application to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg to take Alfie to Rome for treatment, instead of letting him come off life support.

April 23: The European Court of Human Rights refuse the application made by Alfie's parents, saying: 'The European Court of Human Rights has today rejected the application submitted by the family of Alfie Evans as inadmissible.'

A group of about 200 protesters tries to storm Alder Hey hospital, where Alfie has been receiving treatment. Police officers blocked the entrance as dozens of people charged at the doors.

Alfie Evans is granted Italian citizenship. In a bid to facilitate moving Alfie to Italy to receive treatment, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: 'Foreign minister Angelino Alfano and interior minister Marco Minniti have granted citizenship to little Alfie.

Alfie was granted Italian citizenship this week after an intervention from the Pope. Supporters are pictured at a candlelit vigil for Alfie in St Peter's Square in Vatican City on April 26

The Italian government hopes that in this way, being an Italian citizen will enable the immediate transfer of the child to Italy.'

On Monday evening, a High Court Judge dismisses new submissions made in private by the lawyers for Alfie's parents via telephone.

At around 9pm, life support is withdrawn by doctors at Alder Hey hospital, according to Mr Evans.

He said in a Facebook post that his son had been breathing for himself since 9.17pm.

April 24: Alfie was still breathing on his own this morning, according to his father. At 7am, Mr Evans said: 'Nine hours he has been breathing now.

'It's actually come to the point where his mum is asleep next to him. She can actually go to sleep next to him. She feels comfortable with him.'

April 25: Alfie's parents fail in an 11th-hour attempt to persuade judges to let them move the terminally-ill youngster to a foreign hospital.

April 26: Alfie's parents pledge to work alongside doctors to give the boy 'the dignity and comfort he needs'.

April 28: The 23-month-old - who was being treated at Alder Hey - died at 2.30am, Ms James and Mr Evans say on Facebook. 'Our baby boy grew his wings tonight at 2:30 am. We are heart broken. Thankyou everyone for all your support,' the post said.This is the 19-year-old learner driver who was killed in a horror car crash yesterday.

Jodie Gillet was learning to drive with her father when they crashed into another car at an intersection in Glenorie, north-west of Sydney, at 4.45pm.

The teenager died at the scene while her father Gary, 58, was airlifted to hospital where he remains critical with his wife by his side.

Jodie's best friend from high-school described her as 'beautiful' but told Daily Mail Australia she was too devastated to speak about the tragedy.

Tragic: This is the 19-year-old learner driver who was killed in a horror car crash yesterday

Witnesses said Miss Gillet (pictured) was performing a U-turn in her Suzuki Swift when it collided with a Ford Falcon and both cars were forced off the road

The teenager (pictured) died at the scene while her father Gary, 58, was airlifted to hospital where he remains critical with his wife by his side

High-school friends told Daily Mail Australia were too devastated to speak about the tragedy on Saturday night. Pictured: Miss Gillet

Witnesses said Miss Gillet was performing a U-turn in her Suzuki Swift when it collided with a Ford Falcon and both cars were forced off the road.

David King, who was waiting in his car at a nearby intersection and witnessed the accident, said he tried to keep Miss Gillet alive until the paramedics arrived.

'I just tried to talk to her and tried to keep her going that way but you couldnt open the door, you couldnt do anything,' he told 9News.

Chief inspector Frank Gilroy of the NSW Police said several ambulances and a medical helicopter rushed to help.

The young driver was learning to drive a Suzuki Swift in Glenorie, north-west of the Sydney CBD, about 4.45pm on Friday evening

Chief inspector Frank Gilroy of the NSW Police said several ambulances and a medical helicopter rushed to help

Mr Gilroy was unable to say what had caused the crash, but did suggest police were looking into the possibility the young girl had been trying to perform a u-turn at the time

'The 58-year-old father, the passenger in the Swift, is currently at Royal North Shore Hospital - he was airlifted there in a critical condition,' he said.

'The 38-year-old driver of the Falcon was not seriously injured, but he was taken to Westmead Hospital to undergo mandatory drug and alcohol testing.'

Inspector Gilroy was unable to say what had caused the crash, but did suggest police were looking into the possibility the young girl had been trying to perform a u-turn at the time.

'It's absolutely tragic when these things occur - all drivers should be aware to take care,' Inspector Gilroy continued.

'Naturally, (the driver's) mum and (the passenger's) wife is absolutely devastated. She's been at her husband's bedside since last night.'The male suspect is detained after a knife attack near a middle school in northwest China's Shaanxi Province. [Photo: hsb.hsw.cn]

Nine students were killed and ten wounded in a knife attack near a middle school in northwest China's Shaanxi Province on Friday.

Local police said the suspect, a 28-year-old man, attacked the students from the No.3 Middle School in Mizhi County on their way home after school. He was detained by police following the attack.

According to a statement by Mizhi police, the man said he attacked the students because he was bullied by classmates when he was attending the school at a younger age.

The case is now under further investigation.A woman who was born without arms has opened up about the adversity she faces as soon as she leaves her home.

Trish Jackson was born with no arms, six tiny fingers and holes in her heart.

The 56-year-old is a survivor of the Thalidomide disaster, a spate of children who were born with deformities from a drug called thalidomide in the 1960s.

Trish Jackson, 56, was born with no arms, six tiny fingers and holes in her heart. She has opened up about the bullying she faces on a daily basis

Mrs Jackson said she has heard every insult about her 'confronting' appearance and didn't want it to destroy her life.

Despite her positive outlook, the Queenslander was left stunned after she was insulted while filling a script.

'This man looked me up and down and said 'what, did you chew your finger nails and forget to stop?'' The Sunshine Coast Daily reported.

Mrs Jackson said she has faced a lifetime filled with 'ridicule and bullying'.

'I get bullied every time I go out in public, I had to realise it wasn't my fault that they were bullying me,' she said.

The inspirational speaker said she often wears a coat over her arms to prevent judgement.

The 56-year-old is a survivor of the Thalidomide disaster, a spate of children who were born with deformities from a drug called thalidomide in the 1960s

Mrs Jackson was born with the deformities after her mother took the drug to prevent morning sickness.

Thalidomide was launched in the 1950s to treat nausea but caused severe birthing defects.

The drug scandal led to the establishment of Australia's medicines watchdog the Therapeutic Goods Administration.

Mrs Jackson was born with the deformities after her mother took the drug to prevent morning sickness

Forty per cent of the babies born with the disability died before their first birthday.

Mrs Jackson has used art to push her through some of the darkest periods in her life.

'I became occupied on what I could draw each day instead of focusing on the pain,' she said.

With incredible precision, she uses her feet to paint and draw reptiles, birds and other creatures.Advertisement

Tony and Margie Abbott beamed with excitement today as they watched their daughter exchange vows with her husband on the beach.

Sam Loch, 34, and Frances Abbott, 26, were legally married at a registry on Valentine's Day but waited to celebrate with a ceremony on the sand of Sydney's exclusive northern beaches.

Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, 60, smiled lovingly and kissed his daughter on the cheek after she pledged herself to former Olympic rower Mr Loch once more.

Scroll down for video

Happy couple: Sam Loch, 34, and Frances Abbott, 26, were legally married at a registry on Valentine's Day but waited to celebrate with a ceremony on the sand of Sydney's exclusive northern beaches

All smiles: Friends and family gathered for the intimate celebration on the exclusive Palm Beach on Saturday afternoon

Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, 60, smiled lovingly and kissed his daughter on the cheek after she pledged herself to former Olympic rower Mr Loch once more

Mrs Loch (fourth right), 26, first announced the whirlwind romance and subsequent engagement via Instagram with a series of couple snaps taken in a photo booth

Embracing on the sand: The couple met in November last year and were engaged just two weeks later. Mr Loch popped the question as she was putting peas into the freezer

The couple met in November last year and were engaged just two weeks later. Mr Loch popped the question as she was putting peas into the freezer.

Mrs Loch, 26, first announced the whirlwind romance and subsequent engagement via Instagram with a series of couple snaps taken in a photo booth.

'Two weeks was all it took to know that forever with you was a mighty fine idea,' the fitness devotee wrote.

Mr Loch, 34, confirmed the news with a selfie of the pair captioned 'With the soon to be Mrs Loch'.

The 60-year-old former Prime Minister of Australia also confirmed news of his daughter's engagement on social media.

Hand in hand: The couple wandered barefoot on the sand on the beach before exchanging their vows once again

Mrs Loch smiles with her mother Margie Abbott as they celebrate her marriage to former Olympic rower Sam Loch

You may now kiss the bride: Mr and Mrs Loch embraced on the sand of Palm Beach after renewing their vows on Saturday

Tony Abbott (centre) and his wife Margie joined the happy couple on the sand after the pair exchanged vows for the second time

Happy as can be: Mrs Loch smiled as she played with her veil while holding a bunch of pink and purple flowers on the beach

Joker: Mr Loch appeared to jokingly push his bottom into Mrs Loch after they posed for photos on the sand of Palm beach

Margie Abbott walks towards the beach holding her credit card and smartphone ahead of her daughter's wedding ceremony

Mrs Loch makes her way inside before exchanging vows with her husband Sam on Saturday on the northern beaches

'Two weeks was all it took to know that forever with you was a mighty fine idea,' the fitness devotee (pictured) wrote when she announced her engagement

Mr Loch has a cup of tea with two friends ahead of the wedding as he prepares to enter a new chapter in his life with Frances Abbott

Left: Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott smiles with his daughter on the beach. Right: Guests arrive for the wedding ceremony

Margie Abbott embraces her daughter on the sand as wedding guests watch on during a photo shoot on Satuday

Left: The happy couple hold hands as they pose for photos on the beach. Right: Mr Abbott kisses his daughter Frances

Left: Wedding guests on the beach including the happy couple and Mr Abbott (far left). Right: Mr Abbott and his wife Margie

Using two tweets to post his message, the Liberal MP said: 'Really thrilled at the news of Francie and Sam's engagement.

'We are very proud of her and the Abbotts are looking forward to welcoming Sam into the family.'

Mr Abbott's enthusiasm may have been fuelled by his first impressions of the Olympic rower, formed when the two met in Melbourne.

At the time the young couple were in the midst of a whirlwind romance and very much in love, but Mr Loch had yet to pop the question.

'I think meeting Tones can be quite intimidating for anyone, but that's what I love about Sam,' the 26-year-old confided.

'He's so grounded, and so settled in his own skin, it felt totally natural. There was no change in voice, no sitting upright. Dad liked him.'

The couple embrace on the sand after exchanging their vows. They met in November and were engaged soon afterwards

Mrs Loch lifts her right foot as the happy couple kiss on the sand of Sydney's northern beaches after exchanging their vows

At the time his daughter got engaged, Mr Abbott said: 'Really thrilled at the news of Francie and Sam's engagement'Dr Julian Proctor (pictured) was struck off after a tribunal heard how he had pursued a colleague

A doctor bombarded a junior medic with explicit messages, slapped her bottom and told her 'she wanted a piece of the pie'.

Julian Proctor send his young victim 900 WhatsApp messages over nine-days.

The 37-year-old sent videos of himself performing a sex act in the shower as well as pictures of him in only his underwear.

He was today struck off after his behaviour was revealed in front of a tribunal, which heardhow the victim repeatedly told Proctor to leave her alone.

The junior medic, who worked at Pilgrim hospital in Boston, Linconshire, said she had been warned by her boyfriend about Proctor's behaviour.

Yet Proctor, who attended coeducational academy Gillotts School in Henley-on-Thames and the University of St Andrews, insisted to the disciplinary panel: 'She wanted a piece of the pie. I was pretty popular and she wanted to engage with me as well.

'Nothing was going to stop me. I was pretty popular I think that she was interested in me and my life.'

The Medical Practitioners Tribunal found Proctor guilty of groping the doctor's bottom on a number of occasions and repeatedly trying to hold her hand.

He also once took hold of her waist and tried to squeeze her inner thigh.

Proctor (left and right) sent the woman photos of himself naked in the shower and performing a sex act

The junior, in her 20s, also told how Proctor slapped her bottom after she exited a lift before asking: 'How much do you fancy me?'

She said: 'I thought that people would make fun of me if I took Dr Proctor seriously and believed him so I tried to brush it all off.

'I was very polite and clear in my insistence that I did not want any type of intimate relationship with him. He also asked me directly to have sex with him and to begin a 'love affair' with him.'

The 37-year-old said: 'Nothing was going to stop me. I was pretty popular I think that she was interested in me and my life'

She said Proctor's advances seemed 'too outrageous to be real'.

Among the 800 to 900 messages sent by Proctor over nine-days was one which asked: 'Hey sexy... have you looked at my video yet, naughty huh?'

Some explicit images were sent by Proctor while both were in a staff meeting with colleagues at the Pilgrim Hospital.

Proctor (pictured) is from Henley-upon-Thames, Oxfordshire and attended the University of St Andrews

Another read: 'I love squeezing your bum it's a nice shape. I still want to get you naked.'

Proctor, of Henley-upon-Thames, Oxfordshire, was struck off the medical register.

Panel chair Stephen Mooney said: 'Dr Proctor demonstrated absolutely no appreciation or understanding of the effects of his behaviour upon the doctor.

'He failed to appreciate how the imbalance of power in their professional relationship affected her ability to respond to his unwanted advances.

'Even when she told Dr Proctor that she was in a relationship he appeared to work on the basis that he would ultimately wear her resistance down. The impact of Dr Proctor's behaviour on the doctor cannot be underestimated.'

Lawyer for the General Medical Council Peter Atherton previously said: 'She said she had started a new rotation, and after work Dr Proctor invited her to have coffee with him.

'He then suggested that she sleep with him and that they could have a secret love affair for four months to make sure they had a good rotation. He placed his hand over hers and refused to let go.

The unnamed woman said during the tribunal that Proctor's advances seemed 'too outrageous to be real'

'At a later date when she was in the Junior Doctors office, he pulled her close and made kissing and suggestive licking motions.

'This type of behaviour happened more than once. The very first day she was working he sent her explicit text messages and images of himself. The texts speak for themselves.

'On one occasion they were in an office and another member of staff left the room leaving them alone.

'He bent over her as she was facing the computer screen and asked: 'How much do you fancy me?', she replied: 'I don't.''A teenager who murdered his caregiver in 2012 and become New Zealand's youngest killers, has been refused parole.

Jordan Nelson, 13, was jailed for 18 years after murdering his 50-year-old caregiver Rosemaree Kurth at her home near New Plymouth, NZ Herald reported.

Nelson shot Ms Kurth in the back of the head and killed her, and then dragged her body into another room before stealing money and a car to Waitara, where he was later arrested.

Jordan Nelson, 13, was jailed for 18 years after murdering his 50-year-old caregiver Rosemaree Kurth

He pleaded guilty to the murder but due to his age at the time and brain development, Nelson was not sentenced to life imprisonment.

The judge instead sentenced Nelson was sentenced to a finite term of 18 years imprisonment.

Nelson, now 19, became eligible for parole on April 17 with his sentence ending on April 15, 2030.

According to the New Zealand Parole Board, Nelson did not seek parole and it was denied.

He accepted that he has to work more on himself before seeking parole.

The Parole Board also revealed, Nelson's victims are against his release at this stage of his sentence.

Nelson's next hearing will be in March 2020.Two Afghan nationals are lucky to be alive after being swept into the ocean by a rogue wave with nearby onlookers rushing to their aid and performing CPR.

The two men, along with a friend, are from Mt Barker and were fishing near Albany, Western Australia , when they were swept into the water with the force of the wave snapping their anchor lines which they had used to tether themselves to the rocks.

Their friend Sultan Raza was not swept into the ocean and told Perth Now that they were not wearing life jackets and were swept towards a nearby reef as onlookers rushed to save them.

Two men, along with a friend, were fishing near Albany in Western Australia when they were swept into the water by wave with enough force it snapped their anchor lines which they had used to tether themselves to the rocks

'The waves was so powerful and it managed to cut their ropes. Luckily they were saved, all thanks to everyone who helped them out of the ocean,' he said.

A fisherman had to perform CPR on one of the men who was found floating unconscious in the water, the second man managed to remain conscious.

The fisherman continued to administer CPR until a St John Ambulance crew were able to arrive on the scene.

Onlookers rushed to their aid and got them form the water, one man was unconscious and a fisherman administered CPR until Ambulance crews could arrive

The two men were transported to the Albany Health Campus with one of them in a serious condition as police spoke with witnesses

Great Southern police district Superintendent Dom Wood described the men's rescue and survival a 'miracle' in a spot where several fisherman have drowned in the past.

With the most recent being fisherman Sam Roth who was swept off of rocks by a wave and drowned nearby, less than a month ago.

The drownings have prompted the WA coroner to recommend the state government look into the possibility of introducing mandatory life jackets for rock fishing.

The two men were transported to the Albany Health Campus with one of them in a serious condition.Firefighters are desperately battling to contain a fire raging through a Trump hotel tower in Azerbaijan.

The fire broke out on the middle floors of the 33-storey Trump International Hotel and Tower in Baku on Saturday afternoon.

Six fire engines were on site battling the blaze but there were no reports of injuries.

Firefighters are desperately battling to contain a fire raging through a Trump hotel tower in Azerbaijan

The fire in the unfinished building started just weeks after a man died in an apartment fire in New York's Trump Tower.

Construction on the Baku tower started a decade ago but was never opened. It was taken over by U.S. President Donald Trump's company in 2012.

The fire started just a day before the Azerbaijan Formula One Grand Prix with drivers and their entourages already in the city.Two orphaned siblings held hands in hospital while wearing their neck braces on Tuesday as they saw each other for the first time since a crash killed their parents and baby sister.

Angie Clemens, eight, and her little brother Zachary, five, survived along with their four-year-old brother Wyatt and two-year-old brother Nicholas when a Chevrolet Tahoe plowed into their family's SUV in San Angelo, Texas, on April 7.

Their parents Jim, 31, and Karisa, 29, died as did their eight-week-old sister Juliana.

The driver of the Chevrolet was a young mother who lost control of the vehicle.

Her one-year-old son was with her at the time but they both survived and no charges have been brought.

Clemens siblings Angie, eight, and Zachary, five, hold hands in the hospital on Tuesday as they watch a movie while seeing each other for the first time since a car crash killed their parents and eight-week-old sister on April 7. Zachary has a broken back and Angie has severe brain injuries

The Clemens family: Karisa, 29, holding baby Juliana with father Jim, 31, behind her. All three died on April 7. Nicholas, two, (middle) survived and has been released from hospital. Zachary is shown (front) with his sister Angie behind him and Wyatt behind her

Earlier this month, Angie and Wyatt were able to blow kisses to one another when their relatives put their wheelchairs facing one another in the hospital.

Zachary, who has a broken back, has however been too unwell to get out of bed until this week when doctors were able to put him in a wheelchair for the first time to bring him to his older sister.

Two fundraisers have been set up to help pay for the children's medical bills. Together, they have raised $130,000. They can be found here and here.

The children suffered extensive injuries and are still considered to be in critical condition.

Angie suffered brain injuries, according to one relative who shared the heartbreaking photograph of her comforting her little brother earlier in the week.

'This is Zachary and Angie,' wrote Teresa Burrell. 'They are able to touch each other for the first time since the accident.

Four-year-old Wyatt survived the crash and is still in hospital. His injuries are not as severe as his older siblings and he is now out of his wheelchair

Jim and Karisa were described as 'devoted' parents by their friends. They welcomed baby Juliana just eight weeks before her death

Wyatt and Angie saw each other for the first time last week and blew kisses to each other from their wheelchairs (left). Zachary, who has a broken back, lost his first tooth in hospital (right). His relatives gave him money from 'the tooth fairy' afterwards

Wyatt, four, is now out of his wheelchair and is able to walk a short distance

Angie, eight, suffered brain injuries in the accident. It is not known how long she may take to recover. Her relatives were thrilled last week when she was able to sing with them in the hospital

'Our prayers are for these little ones who have a long journey of healing ahead.'

Wyatt has now begun walking again after spending weeks in a wheelchair.

On Monday, a miraculous moment came when he was able to put his hands above his head, Burrell said.

Funerals were held for their parents and sister on April 21. Only Nicholas was well enough to attend.

Two-year-old Nicholas Clemens attends the funeral of his parents and eight-week-old sister on April 21. His older siblings are still in hospital and were not able to attend

Jim and Karisa married in 2009.

It is not clear what he did for a living but his obituary says he studied manufacturing engineering.

They were devout Christians and devoted parents who 'were examples of faith, hope, friendship, and service to all who knew them,' their obituary reads.

Their relatives and friends have rallied around the surviving children to look after them but say they are overwhelmed by the cost of their medical care and their parents' funeral expenses.Thousands of people from all over the world got behind the parents of Alfie Evans in the desperate battle to keep their toddler alive.

The 'Alfie's Army' Facebook page grew from a small group of family and friends to a global movement accusing doctors and lawyers of abandoning the terminally ill toddler.

Alfie's parents Thomas Evans, 21, and Kate James, 20, used the official Facebook page to share updates with their followers, which saw hundreds of them flock to Alder Hey Children's Hospital, where he was being treated.

Staff were told to hide their uniforms and ID badges in public after protests turned violent on April 23.

Scroll down for video

Alfie's Army is pictured with his father Thomas Evans outside Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool

Alfie's Army members are pictured trying to force their way into Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool while he was being treated there

A 'sick and psychotic' minority of supporters saw the hospital put on lockdown two days later after threats were made to burn down the hospital and rumours swirled about a planned raid.

Police officers were pictured guarding the entrances to the Merseyside hospital trust, as demonstrators set up shrines and a bouncy castle for children to play in outside.

An open letter was sent to the Liverpool trust's 5,500 staff and Merseyside Police warned Alfie's family their social media posts to their 871,000 followers were being monitored for malicious content.

A spokesman for the hospital said in a statement: 'Following local reports of abuse towards NHS staff, we have provided our staff with advice regarding their own safety and security.

Protesters brandished banners, signs and balloons as they camped out outside the children's hospital in Merseyside

Swarms of Alfie's Army members were seen outside the hospital for days on end

Police officers were pictured guarding the entrances to the Merseyside hospital trust

'Abuse of NHS staff or others whose role is to protect and care for others should not be tolerated.'

Chief inspector Chris Gibson added: 'While many people have gathered to protest in a peaceful way, Merseyside Police is now investigating a small number of reports, some of which originate from social media, as well as instances of verbal abuse and acts of intimidation from those outside the hospital..

'This is extremely unhelpful for all concerned and we are investigating further to establish the full circumstances.'

After an outpouring of support from the Pope, the Italian and Polish community rallied around Alfie's Army, holding vigils in Krakow and Vatican City.

A candlelit ceremony was held in support of the youngster outside the British embassy in Poland and St Peter's Square outside the Vatican.

Yesterday, four days after his life support was withdrawn, Thomas Evans spoke outside Alder Hey telling his followers he wanted to take Alfie home to die.

He instructed supporters to abandon their protests in the hope medics would let his son leave the hospital, but he died at 2.30am on Saturday.

Protesters headed his request but left their banners, flags and balloons as the family spent their final hours together.

Hundreds of protesters and members of the media remained outside the hospital for weeks

A candlelit vigil to Alfie is pictured near Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool last week

After a meeting with doctors Alfie's mother and father asked for privacy in order to 'form a relationship, build a bridge and walk across it' to improve relations with the Merseyside hospital.

'In Alfie's interests we will work with his treating team on a plan that provides our boy with the dignity and comfort he needs,' he said.

The comments marked a huge change in the couple's attitude to medics and the way their 'Army' spoke about them.

Mr Evans had previously threatened a private prosecution for the hospital 'conspiring to murder' his 23-month-old son.

He also said doctors were treating him and Miss James like criminals.

As hundreds remained stationed outside Alder Hey, Alfie's Army also called for people to sign an online petition that asked for the Queen to intervene in the youngster's treatment.

A candlelit ceremony was held in support of the youngster outside the British embassy in Poland and St Peter's Square (pictured) outside the Vatican

A vigil was held in support of the youngster outside the British embassy in Krakow, Poland

The petition, which surpassed its target of 150,000 names, asked Her Majesty to step in after the High Court judge ruled doctors could turn off Alfie's life-support.

It was started by family friend Kayleigh Price on Change.org, begins: 'We the undersigned humbly petition Your Majesty for protection of life and liberty of your 23-month-old subject Alfie Evans.'

It continued, making a number of claims about the treatment of the child.

'The judges in Your Majesty's Court have given orders: to kill Alfie on an appointed hour at Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool by withdrawing his life support.

'For the day and hour of that killing to be kept secret from the public to avoid any protest or hindrance; For Alfie to be detained in Alder Hey until his death  any attempt to release him to be resisted by force, and punished by imprisonment.'Four people have been charged over an alleged money-laundering syndicate in Sydney's west after six warrants were executed at multiple homes.

A 46-year-old Vietnamese national who arrived in Australia two weeks ago is accused of being a major player in the alleged racket and was arrested by police on Friday.

Her 45-year-old sister is also accused of participating in the alleged scheme.

A 45-year-old Vietnamese national is allegedly accused of working with her sister and another woman to launder money

The alleged accused's sister (pictured) was also allegedly charged and refused bail

The sisters allegedly worked with a third woman, who is accused of laundering the bulk of the money.

The court heard the scheme was long running and elaborate and that the money was allegedly related to the illegal supply of cannabis, Seven News reported.

All three woman have all been refused bail.

More than $50,000 cash as well as documents, phones and computers were allegedly seized during police raids on Friday.

A 27-year-old man has also been charged with recklessly dealing with the proceeds of crime and participating in a criminal group.

He will appear in Bankstown Local Court on May 16 having been granted strict conditional bail.

Strike Force Loane was established by the NSW organised crime squad in August, identifying links with another investigation in the Bankstown area.A library in Melbourne was evacuated after a rotting piece of fruit sparked fears of a gas leak.

Up to 600 people were evacuated from RMIT university after peculiar smell was detected on Saturday afternoon.

The unpleasant stench was found to be a rotting fruit in a cupboard and was being circulated by the air-con at the library.

Up to 600 people were evacuated from RMIT university after peculiar smell was detected on Saturday afternoon

Firefighters eventually found the source of the stench, a rotting durian, in a cupboard building.

Students were rushed out of the building as firefighters, kitted-out with oxygen marks combed the area to find the source of the gas-like smell.

Emergency services were called to the campus library in LeTrobe street just after 3pm.

Extra precaution was taken as the building is known to store potentially dangerous chemicals.

The unpleasant smell as found to be a rotting durian and was circulated by the air-con at the library

Fresh durians are known for their distinctly unpleasant smell and likened to rotting meat or gym socks.

A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Fire Brigade said in a statement that 'the off-gassing from this waste had permeated the air-handling system, alarming the students and staff'.

The spokesperson said the rotting durian will be dealt with by Environment Protection Authority officers.

The area was declared as safe by 6pm and firefighters returned to their station.Tan Qingdong(right) receives flowers from his supporters after he leaves the airport on April 18. Photo: VCG

Three months in detention have left Tan Qindong a considerably changed man. On his profile photo, he is the picture of confidence: wearing his doctor's scrubs and smiling broadly with his arms crossed. Now, the 39-year-old doctor seems distressed and anxious.

"I want to cry. Freedom feels so good," Tan, from Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province, told reporters after he was released on bail from a detention center in Liangcheng county, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on April 17.

Tan became a public hero after he referred to a popular Chinese medicinal tonic as a "poison" in his blog, and was then arrested by police from Liangcheng for damaging the reputation of Hongmao Pharmaceutical Company, which produces the tonic.

According to an advertisement for the tonic, which contains over 60 Chinese medicinal ingredients, it can boost your kidney and stomach functions and also "cure 100 diseases," including bone aches and bad colds.

Police from Liangcheng, where the company is based, travelled nearly 2,000 kilometers to Guangzhou to arrest him. This led to a public outcry, as people questioned why a civil dispute had to involve the police.

Now free again, Tan said he doesn't regret posting the article. "But of course, I'll be more cautious and do it after consulting legal professionals. There have to be people who tell the truth," Tan told Red Star News.

"I want to share medical knowledge with people and promote popular medical science. This is what a doctor should do," he said.

Hongmao released a statement on Thursday, apologizing for the negative impact the incident has caused.

While it didn't mention Tan, the company admits that its dealers and retailers have violated advertising regulations. It says it will pull out all the commercials from China Central Television (CCTV), provincial satellite channels and local media, and launch a self-investigation in 31 provinces, regions and municipalities.

Unforeseen consequences

On December 19, Tan published a blog post entitled "Magical Chinese tonic Hongmao, a poison from heaven." In the article, he questioned the effectiveness of the famous medicinal tonic by analyzing its ingredients and effects.

The conclusion, Tan wrote, was that the tonic was not only ineffective, but could actually harm one's health if consumed in excess.

Later, Tan admitted that he used the word "poison" in the hope that it would get the attention of older people, who are more inclined to spend money on such health tonics.

Tan isn't the first man to have questioned the pharmaceutical company. In fact, the company has been cited 2,630 times by food and drug authorities in over 25 provinces and cities for false advertising, according to media reports.

However, small fines and punishments from the authorities did nothing to stop the company from investing huge amounts of money in advertising. Commercials for the tonic, featuring Chinese film stars and celebrities, can often be seen on Chinese television channels, including CCTV. According to CTR Market Research, the company spent 15 billion yuan ($2.37 billion) on advertising in 2016, and has a revenue of 5 billion yuan annually.

In 2017, the company paid 350 million yuan in taxes, while Liangcheng's government revenue for that year was 400 million yuan.

When Tan published the blog post, he had no idea of the consequences that awaited him.

On January 10, four plainclothes policemen ambushed him in his apartment building, pushed him to the ground and handcuffed him.

"I was completely dumbfounded when I was handcuffed. I've never encountered anything like this before. I only found out that it was because of my article during the first interrogation," he told Red Star News.

After spending a night in Shenzhen, the men took him to Beijing for further interrogation, and then Liangcheng.

Tan believes at least one executive from Hongmao also participated in his arrest. When he was being taken into a car in Beijing, he heard one man asking another not to smoke, saying "The chairman of the board hates that."

Liangcheng police, however, denied Tan's claim that a Hongmao executive had anything to do with the arrest.

Ethical motives

In the detention center, Tan shared a room with seven or eight inmates in a 30-square-meter room. He was given two and a half steamed buns as staple food each day, and had carrot and potato soup for lunch.

According to Liangcheng police, an employee from Hongmao called the police in December 22, saying Tan had made false accusations that misled readers.

After the article was published, it was viewed 2,075 times. As a result, Hongmao lost two contracts worth a total of 1.4 million yuan.

Tan's lawyer, Hu Dingfeng, said that as a doctor, Tan has no motive for defaming the tonic. "Tan Qindong said he published the article out of a doctor's professional ethics," Hu told thepaper.cn.

Many of the facts in his article are from open publications, such as notices from China's food and drug authorities and reports from The Beijing News and Sina.

"There have been a lot of articles questioning Hongmao in recent years, and compared with them, this article is much less influential," Hu said.

Hu's story drew sympathy from the public, and many media outlets covered his story.

"It's alarming that some 'pillar industries' and major taxpayers can so easily and effectively criminalize civil disputes What role Hongmao really played during the arrest is worth examination," said an editorial on Southern Metropolis Daily.

On April 16, China's Food and Drug Administration said that over 137 cases of adverse drug reactions were reported by consumers from 2004 to 2017, and asked Hongmao Pharmaceutical Company to explain its false advertisements to the public.

The next day, the official Weibo account of Inner Mongolia's Procuratorate said it had asked Liangcheng's public security bureau to carry out additional investigations and change its coercive methods. Tan was granted bail the same day.President Donald Trump is continuing to lash out at Democratic Sen. Jon Tester's allegations against White House doctor Ronny Jackson.

In a tweet Saturday afternoon Trump said Tester's claims that Jackson was known as the 'candy man' among staff for passing out controlled substances on presidential trips was 'very dishonest and sick'.

'Secret Service has just informed me that Senator Jon Tester's statements on Admiral Jackson are not true. There were no such findings,' Trump tweeted. 'A horrible thing that we in D.C. must live with, just like phony Russian Collusion. Tester should lose race in Montana.'

Trump earlier called for Tester to resign after he alleged the president's pick for Secretary of Veterans Affairs had a dubious record of prescribing and drunk driving.

In Saturday morning tweets, the president took aim at Tester, who is a ranking Member of the Senate Committee of Veterans Affairs.

Tester's allegations that White House doctor Ronny Jackson was known as 'the candy man' for handing out controlled substances on presidential trips, resulted in Jackson withdrawing his nomination for Secretary of Veterans Affairs.

Trump tweeted: 'Allegations made by Senator Jon Tester against Admiral/Doctor Ron Jackson are proving false. The Secret Service is unable to confirm (in fact they deny) any of the phony Democrat charges which have absolutely devastated the wonderful Jackson family. Tester should resign.'

Trump said in a tweet Saturday afternoon that Tester's comments about Admiral Jackson are 'very dishonest and sick'

The president called for Montana Democratic Senator Jon Tester (left) to resign after he made shocking allegations against Doctor Ronald Jackson, Trump's pick for secretary of Veterans Affairs

Tester should resign: Trump says that the Secret Service cannot confirm Tester's allegations against Jackson, and therefore the Montana Senator should call it quits

Slander! The president called Tester's allegations slanderous and added Jackson's family has been devastated by the claims

The president added that the Montana senator's comments will not be tolerated, as he says, they are proving false.

'The great people of Montana will not stand for this kind of slander when talking of a great human being. Admiral Jackson is the kind of man that those in Montana would most respect and admire, and now, for no reason whatsoever, his reputation has been shattered. Not fair, Tester!'

On Friday the White House said that internal records raise doubt about some of the most serious allegations leveled against White House doctor \Jackson in his failed bid to become the next Secretary of Veterans Affairs.

Jackson withdrew his nomination Thursday after allegations by current and former colleagues raised questions about his prescribing practices and leadership ability, including accusations of drunkenness on the job.

He released a statement calling the allegations against him false and fabricated.

'If they had any merit, I would not have been selected, promoted and entrusted to serve in such a sensitive and important role as physician to three presidents over the past 12 years,' Jackson said. 'Going into this process, I expected tough questions about how to best care for our veterans, but I did not expect to have to dignify baseless and anonymous attacks on my character and integrity.'

Jackson said he was withdrawing from consideration for the spot because the allegations against him 'have become a distraction' for Trump.

'Unfortunately, because of how Washington works, these false allegations have become a distraction for this President and the important issue we must be addressing -- how we give the best care to our nation's heroes,' Jackson said.

'While I will forever be grateful for the trust and confidence President Trump has placed in me by giving me this opportunity, I am regretfully withdrawing my nomination to be Secretary for the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Democratic Sen. Jon Tester's office leveled the allegations, which included a claim that Jackson 'got drunk and wrecked a government vehicle' at a Secret Service going-away party.

The records, including police reports, show Jackson was in three minor vehicle incidents in government vehicles during the last five years, but none involved the use of alcohol and he was not found to be at fault.

In one case, a side-view mirror was clipped by a passing truck. In another incident an enraged driver in Montgomery County, Maryland, allegedly punched out Jackson's window during a morning drive to Camp David.

The White House medical unit that Jackson ran successfully passed regular controlled substance audits, according to the records for the last three years.

The reviews did recommend improvements to the medical unit's handling of controlled substances, but did not find misconduct.

The White House says an internal review of allegations raised against Jackson during his brief confirmation process show records covering recent years, disprove the claims against the doctor.

Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson (pictured) was President Donald Trump's choice to be secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs

But Tester's office has not specified the time frame during which the alleged misconduct occurred. Tester spokeswoman Marnee Banks said the office would not comment until it knew more about the White House records.

Jackson, who is the president's physician, came under scrutiny for his alleged role as a 'Candy Man' dispenser of drugs, as well as accusations leveled against him of excessive drinking on the job and hostile workplace management.

Separately, the Secret Service said it has no evidence to support an allegation that its personnel intervened to prevent Jackson from disturbing former President Barack Obama during a foreign trip in 2015.

In a statement dated Thursday, the Secret Service said it had conducted a 'thorough review' of internal documents related to Obama's foreign trips in 2015 and interviewed people who were present. The agency said it has found 'no information that would indicate the allegation is accurate' and no record of any incident involving Jackson.

CNN had reported allegations that Jackson drunkenly banged on the hotel room door of a female employee and that Secret Service personnel intervened out of concern that he would wake Obama.

Jackson has denied the accusations, calling them 'baseless and anonymous attacks' on his character and integrity that are 'completely false and fabricated.'

And President Donald Trump has repeatedly come to Jackson's defense.

Asked about the situation at a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Trump called it 'an absolute disgrace.'

'These were false accusations about a great man; about a man who has a son who's a top student at Annapolis; about a man that's given his life to this country, and to the military - a brave man. He would have been a great leader,' Trump complained, noting that he, Obama and former President George W. Bush had all praised the doctor's conduct in the past.

Trump said he'd called Jackson earlier Friday and told him that he was 'an American hero' because he'd 'exposed the system for some horrible things.'

He also drew a parallel with the investigation into Russian meddling into the 2016 campaign, saying he, too, had been victimized, by 'the Russian collusion hoax.'

Trump said he is considering a number of potential replacements, including 'some very political people' who might be better equipped to handle the scrutiny that comes with a nomination.

The Democratic staff on the committee considering Jackson's nomination also claimed Jackson had doled out such a large supply of a prescription opioid that staffers panicked because they thought the drugs were missing.

They said their allegations were based on conversations with 23 of Jackson's current and former colleagues at the White House Medical Unit.Prisoners are costing tax payers almost 1 million dollars a year in property repairs and replacements, figures show.

Taxpayers have forked out up to $898,000 to fix furniture, windows, light fittings. A hefty chunk of the bill - about $300,000 - funded more than 2,000 new televisions in 2017 alone, 9 News reported.

This figure has grown 60 per cent in the last two years. In the 2016-17 financial year taxpayers spent $741,000, up from $560,000 from the previous year.

Queensland prisoners are racking up bills in excess of $800,000 annually for repair bills alone which is by 60% in just the last two years alone

The Queensland opposition party also believes that the sky rocketing costs are a direct result of overcrowding in Queensland prisons after startling data showed that 37.5% of the state's prions have more inmates than they do permanent beds

Opposition spokeswoman Ros Bates argued that the figure is unacceptable and that prisoners are forgetting where they are.

'You're in prison for a reason, it's not an Airbnb,' she said.

The opposition party told the publication it believes the sky rocketing costs are a direct result of overcrowding in Queensland prisons, after startling data showed that 37.5 per cent of the state's prions have more inmates than they do permanent beds.

Former Brisbane prison guard Hans Andersen told 9 News prisoners have no respect for property.

'When it's not their property they don't respect it,' he said.

'They damage things by hiding stuff, mattresses get damaged because they [hide] stuff in mattresses, pillow.'

Queensland Corrective Services released an official statement saying it was in the process of addressing the issue and would be installing '1,000 purpose-built bunk beds in high security facilities'.President Trump took aim at former intelligence chief James Clapper for discussing details of the dirty dossier toCNN then allegedly lying about it as part of the Russia investigation.

In a tweet on Saturday morning, Trump called Clapper a 'lying machine'.

It was a reaction to the GOP's report on Friday which found that Clapper, the former Director of National Intelligence, spoke about the dossier to CNN's Jake Tapper at the end of his tenure in January 2017.

He resigned after Trump won the 2016 election but saw out the rest of the Obama presidency then left and has since gone to work for CNN as an analyst.

Trump took aim at former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper on Saturday morning after the release of a GOP report on Friday which found told CNN about the dirty dossier in 2017 then lied about it to investigators

In July, Clapper was asked by Republicans if he had given details of the dossier to anyone in the media.

He said he had not but, according to Friday's report, later changed his story.

'When initially asked about leaks related to the ICA in July 2017, former DNI Clapper flatly denied "discussing the dossier or any other intelligence related to Russia hacking of the 2016 election with journalists."

'Clapper subsequently acknowledged "discussing the dossier with CNN journalist Jake Tapper" and admitted that he might have spoken with other journalists about the same topic,' the report read.

The report alleges or seems to suggest that Clapper admitted discussing it with Tapper before CNN published a story on it on January 10.

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper claimed he had never spoken to the media about the dossier while he was working for the government but later recanted that claim

'Clapper's discussion with Tapper took place in early January 2017, around the time IC leaders briefed President Obama and President-elect Trump on the Christopher Steele information,' it continued.

Clapper spoke with CNN's Jake Tapper, who is now one of his colleagues, about the dossier in January

On January 10, before Trump's inauguration, CNN published an article by Tapper which described the dossier.

The next day, Clapper said he was 'dismayed' that the information had reached the media and gave a statement in which he 'expressed my profound-dismay at the leaks that have been appearing the in press.'

He added: 'I do not believe the leaks came from within the IC.'

It is not clear if Clapper, when he later admitted to discussing the dossier with Tapper, was admitting to being his source or if he meant he had discussed it retroactively with him.

BuzzFeed, which reported the dossier first, did so on January 9.

On Saturday, Trump lamented his point by saying he had gone to work for 'Fake News CNN'.

The report found there was no proof of collusion between anyone in Trump's camp and Russia before the 2016 election.A female has died after the motorcycle she was the passenger of what hit by a falling tree branch in the NSW Riverina region.

The 62-year-old woman was riding in the seat behind the 57-year-old driver when the tree branch struck the motorcycle around 3pm on Friday afternoon.

Police said the woman died at the scene while the man sustained minor injuries and was taken to hospital.

A female has died after the motorcycle she was the passenger of what hit by a falling tree branch

Riverina District Police said it was too early to determine further details about the incident, reported The Daily Telegraph.

Investigations into what happened continue.

A report is being prepared for the coroner.Ohio Township police Officer Dominic DeJulio, 30, resigned Friday

A Pennsylvania police officer has resigned after a woman accused him of sending her a series of nude selfies months after she was stopped for drunk driving.

Ohio Township police Officer Dominic DeJulio, 30, submitted his resignation from the force on Friday, effective immediately, the New York Post reported.

His resignation came the day after he was suspended from the police department, following Allegheny County prosecutors' decision to withdraw the drunk driving case against DeJulio's alleged selfie recipient, Michelle Benninger.

The nude selfie saga began on August 25 at about 1am, when Benninger, 40, of Monroeville, Pennsylvania, was pulled over at a sobriety checkpoint in Emsworth, Pennsylvania, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Michelle Benninger, 40, claimed that DeJulio sent her six nude selfies over the course of several days, after obtaining her new cell phone number from court records in October

An unnamed officer had Benninger pull her car over, reportedly noting that she was slurring her speech and smelled of alcohol. An almost empty bottle of Corona was on the floor of the passenger seat next to her.

DeJulio was called on to perform a field sobriety test, which indicated that Benninger was under the influence, according to his criminal complaint.

A test would ultimately reveal that her blood-alcohol content was 0.117  in Pennsylvania, the legal limit is a BAC of 0.08.

Nearly two months later, on October 19, Benninger encountered DeJulio again, when she waved her preliminary hearing over the drunk driving charge.

Benninger claimed that the day, DeJulio escorted her back to her car and admitted that he had 'drunk texted' her a few days beforehand.

She claimed that she hadn't received his texts and had a new phone number.

Benninger said that DeJulio then smiled and tapped the green folder he was holding, which she came to believe contained her new phone number, which she had provided for court records.

Benninger opted not to press criminal charges against DeJulio after allegedly receiving the nude selfies, preferring to have the incident handled administratively by Ohio Township police

Prior to his resignation, DeJulio was suspended for five days without pay and made to take a series of psychological evaluations, after which he returned to work as normal

Benninger said that about two weeks after her encounter with DeJulio, she received a text message from an unfamiliar number, which turned out to be DeJulio.

DeJulio allegedly texted asking her what she was doing, to which she replied that she was driving to work. He wrote back, claiming to be bored.

He then allegedly followed up that text with a picture of himself  naked  in a locker room.

Benninger told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, she 'just couldnt even believe it,' when she saw the photo.

Benninger said that DeJulio proceeded to send her at least six completely naked photos of himself, in addition to sexually explicit messages, over the course of several days.

Among the images DeJulio allegedly sent were a photo of himself fully nude with an erection and a shot of himself naked, wearing just an earpiece in the police locker room.

Benninger said that she told her attorney about the nude pictures and was advised not to do anything that could potentially anger DeJulio.

She contacted the district attorney's investigations unit and the ACLU, and came to the decision that the incident should be handled by the Ohio Township police on an administrative basis because she did not want to press criminal charges against DeJulio.

On Thursday, the Allegheny County District Attorney's Office withdrew Benninger's DUI charge stemming from her August 25 stop.

In a statement obtained by WPXI, the Allegheny County District Attorney's Office said charges were withdrawn because Benninger had 'became a victim of the subsequent unprofessional behavior of the arresting official' and declined to pursue criminal charges against him.

As a result, 'our office did not feel it was appropriate to move forward with the DUI case in which she would've had to once again deal with that unprofessional behavior in the context of testimony on the DUI charges,' according to the statement.

'She's not vindictive at all, my client; she certainly feels bad, but she didn't ask for this,' Benninger's attorney, Patrick Thomassey told WPXI.

Prior to his resignation, DeJulio was suspended for five days without pay and made to take a series of psychological evaluations, after which he returned to work as normal.

'They should have fired him anyway, and not given him a choice to resign,' Benninger told KDKA, adding that she has fears of repercussions.

'I dont think its over for me,' Benninger noted, adding that 'When someone loses their job, you never know what they are thinking.'Ministers are planning to make it easier for the government to spy on its own citizens, a leaked document has revealed.

As it stands, the Australian Federal Police and Australian Security Intelligence Organisation need a warrant from The Attorney-General to access Australians' emails, bank records and text messages.

But ministers are reportedly planning to amend the Intelligence Services Act of 2001 to allow Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton and Defence Minister Marise Payne to give the orders without the country's top lawyer knowing.

Ministers are reportedly planning to amend the Intelligence Services Act of 2001 to allow Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton (pictured) and Defence Minister Marise Payne to give spying orders without the country's top lawyer knowing

Minister for Defence Marise Payne speaks to the media during a press conference at the Commonwealth Parliamentary Offices

The intelligence - which could include financial transactions, health data and phone records - would be collected by a government spy agency called the Australian Signals Directorate.

The plan was revealed by a leaked letter from Home Affairs Secretary Mike Pezzullo to Defence Secretary Greg Moriarty.

The top secret letter, written in February and seen by The Sunday Telegraph, details a plan to 'hack into critical infrastructure' to 'proactively disrupt and covertly remove' cyber-enabled criminals including child exploitation and terror networks.

In March, the plan was outlined in a ministerial submission signed by Mike Burgess, the chief of the Australian Signals Directorate.

It states: 'The Department of Home Affairs advises that it is briefing the Minister for Home Affairs to write to you (Ms Payne) seeking your support for a further tranche of legislative reform to enable ASD to better support a range of Home Affairs priorities.'

But a proposal to change the law has not yet been made.

The plan was revealed by a leaked letter from Home Affairs Secretary Mike Pezzullo (pictured) to Defence Secretary Greg Moriarty

Secretary of The Department of Defence Greg Moriarty speaks at Parliament House in Canberra

A spokesman for the Defence Minister Ms Payne said: 'There has been no request to the Minister for Defence to allow ASD to counter or disrupt cyber-enabled criminals onshore.'

An intelligence source told The Sunday Telegraph that the proposals could spell danger for Australians.

'It would give the most powerful cyber spies the power to turn on their own citizens,' the source said.

The letter also outlines 'step-in' powers which could force companies to hand over citizens' data, the source added.

The submission says the powers would help keep Australian businesses and individuals safe.Brock Antonie Williams, 35, was arrested after he launched a high speed police chase on a stolen motorcycle on Wednesday

An ex-convict was caught by a detective driving a stolen motorcycle with a license plate that read 'XFELON'.

A detective in Thurston, Oregon was searching for a vehicle in an unrelated case when the motorcyclist caught his eye on Wednesday.

The investigator recognized Brock Antonie Williams, 35, in the parking lot of a grocery store and ran a records inquiry on him.

He later discovered that Williams was wanted on an arrest warrant, according to Komo News.

But before officers could take Williams in, he dashed off on a Ducati motorcycle.

The detective pursued and was surprised to read Williams ironic license plate that read 'XFELON'.

A police car then arrived on the scene to follow the motorcycle, which had expired tags from North Dakota on it.

Caught! Williams was riding this stolen Ducati bike with the ironic license plate 'XFELON'

But when Williams saw the officer's car he sped off at 85 to 100mph, launching a high speed police chase.

However his dash was cut short when he turned into a dead end street.

Williams then hopped off the Ducati motorcycle, removed his helmet and walked away from the scene.

When police stopped him, he claimed he wasnt on the bike.

After police investigated the vehicle, they learned that the motorcycle was stolen in June 2017 in Cottage Grove.

After driving at 85 to 100mph he ended up in a dead end. Williams then hopped off the bike and walked away from the scene, pretending he wasn't on the motorcycle

Lieutenant Scott McKee said 'As we say in the biz, we catch the dumb ones first'

Williams was then arrested on charges of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, reckless driving and possession of methamphetamine.

Lieutenant Scott McKee said that the ironic plate wasn't on the bike when it was stolen and was likely put on afterwards.

'As we say in the biz, we catch the dumb ones first,' McKee said.

'Since these guys make license plates in prison, you would think he would be a little more creative,' McKee said to the Springfield Register-Guard.

'I guess he didn't realize what a clue that presented to us in law enforcement,' he added.A teacher in Alabama said she was told to go home and change after she showed up to class on Monday with a t-shirt that had the words just pray on it.

Chris Burrell, a third grade teacher at Pearl Haskew Elementary School in Mobile County, posted about the incident on her Facebook page writing that she didnt think twice about wearing the shirt and had never had something like that happen in her 15 years as a teacher.

My heart hurts, she wrote.

Chris Burrell, a teacher in Alabama, said she was sent home because of her 'dress pray' t-shirt

School officials said Burrell's shirt violated the dress code policy, which states that teachers and students cant wear clothing that reflect a certain belief

Mobile County Public Schools Superintendent Martha Peek told WALA that the principal asked Burrell to change because the shirt violated the schools dress code policy, which states that teachers and students cant wear clothing that reflect a certain belief.

So at the point of looking and seeing pray on it, the principal said, can you put on a sweater or something, knowing that there are other people who object to that... we have to be cognizant of everyone's beliefs or everyone's thoughts in a public school, Peek told the outlet.

Burrell said she was not trying to promote religion when she wore the shirt to class. In fact, she said she purchased the t-shirt to support Aubreigh Nicholas, an 11-year-old girl who was diagnosed last year with a rare and inoperable brain tumor.

I purchased this shirt to raise money for #AubreighsArmy. I thought it was fitting to wear today since my kids were testing, Burrell wrote. I didnt think twice about it. I wasnt trying to promote religion, it was just my Monday feel good shirt.

Burrell said she was not trying to promote religion. She purchased the shirt to support 11-year-old Aubreigh Nicholas (pictured), who is battling an inoperable brain tumor

Peek said the principal was unaware the shirt was in support of Nicholas and they are totally supporting the young girl.

I think that this was just an unfortunate connection there, but still the principal would have had to exercise her judgment, Peek explained.

Burrells Facebook post received hundreds of likes and comments before she deleted it.A mother from Sydney's upmarket North Shore has been allowed back behind the wheel after she was caught driving nine times over the legal blood-alcohol limit last year.

Susan Lung's charges have been dropped due to a 'freak set of circumstances' after she was found asleep behind the wheel of her silver Audi.

Mrs Lung worked up an alcohol reading of 0.445 - one of the highest recorded cases in New South Wales.

Scroll down for video

Susan Lung's (pictured) drink-driving charges have been dropped due to a 'freak set of circumstances' after she was found asleep behind the wheel of her silver Audi while nine times over the legal limit

The Willoughby mum admitted she was way over the legal blood-alcohol limit, and made teary television appearances apologising for her reckless behaviour.

She told Seven News: 'Just don't do it, it's very stupid.'

However, despite admitting to the offences, police have been forced to withdraw the charges against the 42-year-old.

According to the Daily Telegraph, police can only take a breath test if the officer has a reasonable belief they have driven in the previous two hours.

'It's a freak set of circumstances that have worked against the cops. The only thing they could have got her for would be parking in a bus stop,' a legal source said to the paper.

Despite admitting to the offences in a number of television appearances, police were forced to withdraw the charges against the 42-year-old mother

Police could not prove Mrs Lung had driven in the previous two hours, given she could have been parked there for longer and may have been drinking in the parked car.

The officers found Mrs Lung passed out behind the wheel with her keys on the floor in November last year.

The mother-of-two was parked at a bus stop in the North Shore when police found her.

The mother-of-two was parked in the a bus stop in the affluent north shore suburb when police found her

She was breath-tested and charged with high-range drink driving, which carries a maximum penalty of two years imprisonment.

Mrs Lung admitted to reporters she drank six glasses of wine before she got behind the wheel of her car at 12.30pm.

A NSW Police spokesman said the force is 'exploring legal options to have the case reopened'.

Mrs Lung has had previous drink-driving offences.The world's first floating nuclear reactor set sail on its maiden voyage from Russia bound for the Arctic far east.

Akademik Lomonosov was on Saturday towed out of St Petersburg harbour where it was built, equipped with two nuclear reactors.

The 21,500-tonne ship will be pulled through the Baltic sea and around the tip of Norway to Murmansk, a city of 300,000, to be loaded with fuel.

Scroll down for video

The world's first floating nuclear reactor set sail on its maiden voyage from Russia bound for the arctic far east

Akademik Lomonosov was on Saturday towed out of St Petersburg harbour where it was built, equipped with two nuclear reactors

Russia has at least another seven floating nuclear reactors planned and China is working on building its own to launch in 2020.

From there it will continue on to Chukotka, over the straight from Alaska, to power the port town of Pevek and oil rigs when their reactor shuts down in 2019.

The 70 million behemoth is 144m long 30m wide and 10m high, needs a crew of 69 to operate it, and provides 70 megawatts of electricity or 300 of heat.

About 45,000 tons of fuel or diesel oil will not have to be used as a result of the plant, according to its manufacturer OKBM Afrikantov.

The project is controversial for its potential environmental impacts with Greenpeace denouncing it as a 'floating Chernobyl' and 'nuclear Titanic'.

The 21,500-tonne ship will be pulled through the Baltic sea and around the tip of Norway to Murmansk, a city of 300,000, to be loaded with fuel

From there it will continue on to Chukotka, over the straight from Alaska, to power the port town of Pevek and oil rigs when their reactor shuts down in 2019

The behemoth generator is 144m long 30m wide and 10m high, needs a crew of 69 to operate it, and provides 70 megawatts of electricity or 300 of heat

'Nuclear reactors bobbing around the Arctic Ocean will pose a shockingly obvious threat to a fragile environment which is already under enormous pressure from climate change,' nuclear expert Jan Haverkamp said.

'The flat-bottomed hull and the floating nuclear power plant's lack of self-propulsion makes it particularly vulnerable to tsunamis and cyclones.'

However, the ship's owner Rosatom hit back, accusing Greenpeace of not having any evidence to back up its claims.

'Greenpeace hasn't presented any meaningful scientific evidence of any unaddressed risks or any shortcomings of the design which is based on a tried and tested technology with an impeccable track-record,' it said.

About 45,000 tons of fuel or diesel oil will not have to be used as a result of the plant, according to its manufacturer OKBM Afrikantov

The project is controversial for its potential environmental impacts with Greenpeace denouncing it as a 'floating Chernobyl' and 'nuclear Titanic'

They are considered very effective for generating electricity in remote areas and can be moved on if not required, or be used to power desalination plants

'Their attitude towards nuclear power has been widely criticised by independent scientists as patently biased and hardly scientific.'

'FNPP features the most cutting edge safety and security systems and is expected to be one of the safest nuclear installations in the world.'

Russia has at least another seven floating nuclear reactors planned and China is working on building its own to launch in 2020.

Other countries like Algeria, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Argentina have shown interest in hiring ships that could become available as more are built.

They are considered very effective for generating electricity in remote areas and can be moved on if not required, or be used to power desalination plants.

Other countries like Algeria, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Argentina have shown interest in hiring ships that could become available as more are builtPremier Li Keqiang on Friday called for accelerating the transformation of government functions and building a clean government to create an orderly and upright environment for economic and social development.

Li, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee made the remarks at the cabinet's first meeting on clean governance.

Noting that corruption occurs occasionally in some major areas, Li stressed the importance of enhancing checks and supervision of power.

He called for more efforts to streamline administration and delegate power to lower levels and further improve business environment.

The premier also urged efforts to ensure public funds be securely and efficiently used, and work to ensure transactions of public resources be conducted transparently.

He also demanded more effort to take good care of and effectively manage public assets, and strengthen the supervision and control of the whole process of a public project, including decision-making, approval, and implementation.

Vice Premier Han Zheng, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, attended the meeting.

Zhao Leji, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and secretary of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, was invited to the meeting.Russia's foreign minister claims the U.S. is trying to divide Syria and 'reformat' the Middle East, and airstrikes only inflamed tensions.

Sergey Lavrov said the missile attack on three Syrian chemical weapons factories 'seriously aggravated the situation' Russia was trying to fix.

The strikes by U.S., British, and French forces were in retaliation for dictator Bashad al-Assad's poison gas attack on civilians in Douma.

Russia's foreign minister Sergey Lavrov claims the U.S. is trying to divide Syria and 'reformat' the Middle East, and airstrikes only inflamed tensions

Mr Larvov (centre) met with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (left) and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu (right) on Saturday to discuss the Syrian situation

Russia maintains the gas attack was staged to discredit Assad, its key ally, and provide an 'artificial pretext' to attack his regime.

Mr Lavrov said U.S. statements supporting the territorial integrity of Syria 'are only words that, apparently, cover plans for reformatting the Middle East and plans for dividing Syria into parts'.

He met with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Saturday to discuss the Syrian situation.

Russia, Iran and Turkey are the guarantor states in the so-called 'Astana process' aimed at ending the violence in Syria.

The talks that started last year in Astana, Kazakhstan, are in competition with a U.S. and UN-backed Geneva initiative.

The three agreed to intensify efforts to provide humanitarian aid in Syria in cooperation with the UN and aid charities.

Russia maintains the gas attack was staged to discredit Syrian dictator Bashad al-Assad (pictured), its key ally, and provide an 'artificial pretext' to attack his regime

Mr Lavrov said the missile attack on three Syrian chemical weapons factories 'seriously aggravated the situation' Russia was trying to fix

International aid groups have repeatedly accused the Syrian government, which is closely allied with Russia and Iran, of preventing the delivery of aid to besieged, rebel-held areas.

Cavusoglu meanwhile criticised the U.S. for supporting Syria's main Kurdish militia, which played a key role in rolling back ISIS and now controls much of northern and eastern Syria.

Turkey views the Kurdish fighters as an extension of the Kurdish insurgency raging in its southeast.

'Today, the US supports terrorist organizations, and this has to stop,' he said.

The foreign ministers also talked up their successes in brokering a political solution to the Syrian conflict at the meeting in Moscow.

The strikes by U.S., British, and French forces were in retaliation for dictator Bashad al-Assad's poison gas attack on civilians in Douma

More than 40 people were killed, including many children, and hundreds affected by the gas attack earlier this month

Mr Lavrov said the three countries 'must help the Syrians finish cleansing their country of terrorists'.

The ministers emphasised the success of their peace talks in Astana, which Lavrov said are 'firmly standing on their feet.'

The Russian diplomat praised the 'unique' alliance between two of Syrian President Bashar-al Assad's key supporters, Moscow and Tehran, and rebel-backer Ankara.

'Thanks to it, it became possible to tackle the situation on the battlefield with the Islamic State group and the Al-Nusra Front,' he said, as jihadists have lost most of the territory they controlled in Syria.

The conflict in Syria has lasted since 2011 and killed more than 350,000 people. Both Russia and Iran have deployed forces to Syria to back up Assad against anti-government rebels.

Mr Lavrov said the three countries 'must help the Syrians finish cleansing their country of terrorists'

Cavusoglu meanwhile criticised the U.S. for supporting Syria's main Kurdish militia, which played a key role in rolling back ISIS and now controls much of northern and eastern Syria

Critics of the Astana talks are 'trying to show that they today decide all the affairs in our world, but fortunately their time has passed,' Lavrov said.

Nevertheless he implicitly criticised Damascus after it blocked UN humanitarian aid to the town of Douma in Eastern Ghouta, saying Moscow was calling for the regime to be more 'flexible.'

The Russian foreign minister earlier held separate bilateral talks with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu and then Iran's Mohammad Javad Zarif.

Meeting his Turkish counterpart, the Russian diplomat stressed the 'great importance' both Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attach to improving relations.

Yet the latest talks in Moscow came as the alleged chemical attack in the Syrian town of Douma on April 7 has prompted sharply differing responses from Turkey and Russia.

'I curse those who carried out this massacre,' President Erdogan said, welcoming Western air strikes in retaliation as 'appropriate'.

International aid groups have repeatedly accused the Syrian government of preventing the delivery of aid to besieged, rebel-held areas

A bombed out building in Douma near where the chemical attack landed

Iran and Russia again slammed Western strikes on Syria over the chlorine or sarin gas attack.

Mr Lavrov said they 'set back efforts to promote the political process' and Zarif criticised Washington's 'destructive role'.

French President Emmanuel Macron this month suggested the air strikes had driven a wedge between Ankara and Moscow, prompting an angry denial from Mr Cavusoglu.

Alexander Shumilin, a Middle East expert at the Institute for US and Canadian Studies in Moscow, however, said the Douma fallout had 'caused a crack in the alliance of three countries'.

Alexey Malashenko, a specialist in the Syria conflict, said the trio have a 'very shaky' alliance and 'there's no way they can reach an agreement' over the suspected chemical attack.

Nevertheless, the limited nature of US-led strikes suggests the 'peak of tensions has passed', he said.

The next Syria talks in Astana are set for May 14.

Eight rounds of talks under United Nations auspices in Geneva have made little headway, with Assad's government taking little interest.

Ankara has called for Assad's removal throughout the war, but has worked increasingly closely with Moscow and Tehran in recent months in an attempt to find a solution to the conflict.

In January, Russia held a showpiece conference in the Black Sea resort of Sochi with largely pro-regime delegates, which saw boycotts by rebels and made little progress.

Mr Lavrov on Saturday said it achieved 'breakthrough results,' however.

Putin hosted a summit on Syria with the Iranian and Turkish presidents in November. They then met again in Ankara this month.Iran has released a new home-made messenger app that includes emojis featuring women in hijabs carrying 'Death to America' placards.

Soroush has an extensive set of emojis that display veiled women holding political messages - including the death to Israel and Freemasons.

The app was released to replace the popular messaging service Telegram, which is reportedly being pushed out from being used in the county.

Iran has released a new home-made messenger app that includes emojis featuring women in hijabs carrying 'Death to America' placards

Soroush has an extensive set of emojis that display veiled women holding political messages - including the death to Israel and Freemasons

It comes after it was largely used in communications during the 2017 anti-government protests due to its strong security.

The controversial new app - with similar features to WhatsApp - has received the blessing of Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

He has already deleted his profiles on Telegram and is encouraging other users to join him on Soroush instead.

The app was released to replace the popular messaging service Telegram, which is reportedly being pushed out from being used in the county

It comes after it was largely used in communications during the 2017 anti-government protests due to its strong security

But some Iranians arent so easily swayed.

One suggestion being circulated on social media so far stating that Soroush's three-tick message receipt notification (compared to the two ticks on WhatsApp and Telegram) shows that an intelligence officer is intercepting the messages.

The app is reportedly available in English - which is surprising considering it makes the offending emojis easy to find.

Iran's Supereme Cyberspace Council has banned public institutions from using foreign apps.Advertisement

Trafalgar Square became a beacon of culture as it celebrated Vaisakhi in a combination of Sikh and Punjabi tradition and culture.

The event, coordinated by a Sikh group, is a celebration of heritage and culture on the anniversary of Khalsa being founded in 1699.

The Khalsa was founded and led by the Five Beloved Ones, who sought to protect Sikhism which suffered oppression after it was born in 1469.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, was in attendance at the event in London's central hub, which boasted stalls highlighting Sikh culture.

A choir of schoolchildren performed during the celebrations in the capital, alongside stands where the traditional Sikh practice of langar - serving of free vegetarian food - was being carried out. Also available to view was one of the largest Sikh art exhibitions in the country.

Men dressed in traditional uniform of the 15th Ludhiana Sikh Regiment were pictured celebrating the holiest day of the religion's calendar.

Men dressed in traditional uniform of the 15th Ludhiana Sikh Regiment stand to attention on the steps of Trafalgar Square

Festival-goers beam as they pose for a selfie in one of London's most famous landmarks as they celebrate Vaisakhi festival

As Sikhs gathered to celebrate the New Year in central London, turbans of orange - one of the religion's traditional colours - were wrapped on people's heads to mark the occasion

The event, coordinated by a Sikh group, is a celebration of Sikh and Punjabi tradition, heritage and culture, on the anniversary of Khalsa, which was founded in 1699

Revellers posed for selfies in front of the steps of Trafalgar Square today as crowds gathered to celebrate the Sikh New Year alongside the capital's mayor

Sadiq Khan with members of the Vaisakhi Organising Committee on stage during the celebrations in London

A woman has a bright pink turban tied around her head during during the Mayor of London Vaisakhi celebrations

The event included schoolchildren who gave an enthusiastic perfomance on the stage in Trafalgar Square, in London

Men dressed in traditional uniform chat during the event, which celebrates the holiest day in the Sikh calendar

Schoolchildren entertained the crowds attending Vaisakhi festival in Trafalgar Square, central London, where Sikhs gathered to mark the New Year

Soldiers from the Sikh faith dressed in British First World War uniforms to mark the Vaisakhi festival today, pointing to the historic cultural links between themselves and the UK

The Mayor joined Sikhs in central London today to mark their New Year as people enjoyed having turbans tied around their heads

Women smile as they pose on the steps of Trafalgar Square during the Vaisakhi celebrations in London

Members of the armed forces smile as they chat and walk together during the celebration of the holiest day in the Sikh calendar

Women sport turbans as Sikhs flocked to central London to mark their religion's New Year alongside serving soldiers and the city's mayor, Sadiq Khan

Sadiq Khan met with members of the British Armed Forces Sikh Association in Trafalgar Square, London, today as he joined in New Year celebrations

Surjit Singh with his son Ajit Singh, aged 10, during the Mayor of London Vaisakhi celebrations in central London gathered to mark the important date in the Sikh calendar

During the celebrations marking the Sikh New Year, members of the public were invited to have turbans wrapped around their heads in Trafalgar Square

Jasdeep Singh, Community Curator of the National Army Museum, was among those to turn out in the capital to mark the Sikh New Year alongside the Mayor of London today

A woman has a turban tied as part of the Vaisakhi celebrations today to mark the Sikh New Year as Sadiq Khan joined the festival in London

Passersby posed for pictures with Sikhs as they celebrated their New Year in Trafalgar Square alongside the Mayor of LondonDiane Abbott has said that the reason she gets so much abuse online is because she is both black and a woman.

The Labour politician said she receives so many abusive messages that her staff cannot handle them every day and have to send a bundle to the police once a week.

The horrific messages include threats to kill or rape her as well as frequent use of the N-word, the shadow home secretary said.

It comes after a survey revealed Ms Abbott receives one third of all the abuse sent to British politicians, The Times reports.

Diane Abbott has said that the reason she gets so much abuse online is because she is both black and a woman, saying her staff cannot handle the volume she receives every day

She told the newspaper: 'Whenever issues about race are in the media we get a lot more abuse. You don't get inured to it, it's very painful.'

Labour's Ms Abbott has been a prominent voice in the Windrush scandal, calling for her Tory counterpart Amber Rudd to resign.

She described how her parents had come from Jamaica in 1953 and that 'there is no set of people who are more patriotic'.

On BBC's Radio 4 programme today she said: told the BBC Radio 4 programme: 'I am just surprised that [Rudd] doesn't seem to take the issue seriously enough to offer her resignation.

But in a series of late night tweets on Friday, Ms Rudd said that although her office had been copied in to the document she did not see it herself.

Ms Abbott said it was the decision to set a 'broad numerical target' for removals which had contributed to a situation where Commonwealth citizens who came to Britain in the decades after the Second World War were being wrongly told to leave.

'It wasn't saying, for instance, we have to have a target for deporting former criminals. The danger is that that very broad target put pressure on Home Office officials to bundle Jamaican grandmothers into detention centres,' she said.

Labour's Ms Abbott has been a prominent voice in the Windrush scandal, calling for her Tory counterpart Amber Rudd to resign

Speaking about abuse on social media she said she did not want a 'hierarchy' of hate crime but said the main reason for the volume of abuse was because she is black and a woman.

Speaking about social media abuse, she said: 'You see other people saying things so you think you can say things too. My own view is that anonymity is the problem.'

At a Westminster Hall debate last year Ms Abbott said she had received rape and death threats, and had been described as an 'ugly fat black b****' and a 'n*****'.

The Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP said the abuse had got worse in recent years, and gets worse at election time, but said she did not put it 'down to a particular election'.

The woman who broke suspected Golden State Killer Joe DeAngelos heart and may have spurred him on his decade-long murder and rape spree is a blogger who spent years documenting her Italian travels online, DailyMail.com can reveal.

And instead of settling down with a suspected mass murderer, she married a successful accountant who went on to be a partner in a multi-million-dollar firm.

But while Bonnie Ueltzen went into great detail for all to read on her blog OldBroadAbroad.com now she has gone to ground and is hiding out.

Scroll down for video

The killer's heartbreaker: Bonnie Ueltzen (pictured) broke Golden State Killer Joe DeAngelos heart

Moved on: Ueltzen married a successful accountant who went on to be a partner in a multi-million-dollar firm

DeAngelo did not enter a plea during his arraignment on Friday, was denied bail and is being held in a psychiatric ward of the county jail

Ueltzen  then Bonnie Jean Colwell  was engaged to DeAngelo in the early 1970s but she broke it off and both went on to marry other people.

But she clearly preyed on his mind. During at least one of his series of attacks, the killer lay down next to his victim after raping her and sobbed: I hate you. I hate you. I hate you, Bonnie.

DeAngelo, 72, an ex-cop who went on to work in a grocery warehouse for nearly three decades, was arraigned in court in Sacramento, California, on Friday. He was brought into court in a wheelchair.

He is believed to be responsible for at least 12 murders and more than 50 rapes in California between 1975 and 1986.

Now divorced and recently retired, he was quietly living in a single-story home in the Sacramento suburb of Citrus Heights until Tuesdays arrest.

Police have now finished combing through the beige-colored house, removing boxes of evidence, guns, cars a motorcycle and a boat, among other items.

Years before DeAngelo is suspected of starting his reign of terror, he met Bonnie Colwell when they were both students at Sierra College in Rocklin, California, 20 miles from Sacramento.

Ueltzen (pictured left) was engaged to DeAngelo in the early 1970s but she broke it off

The couple announced their engagement in a notice in the Bonnies hometown newspaper, the Auburn Journal. Ueltzen is seen in a recent picture

Ueltzen clearly preyed on his mind. During at least one of his series of attacks, the killer lay down next to his victim after raping her and sobbed: I hate you. I hate you. I hate you, Bonnie'

Bonnie Ueltzen is pictured when she was Bonnie Colwell and engaged to the suspected killer

The couple announced their engagement in a notice in the Bonnies hometown newspaper, the Auburn Journal that said No definite date has been set for the wedding.

It went on to describe the suspect of one of the largest crime sprees in California history as working for Sierra Crane and Hoist Co, adding: He is affiliated with the Vets Club, AGS, Presidents Honor Roll and the International Diving Association, N.A.U.I.

We always thought there was a Bonnie significant in his life, it could be a mother, a wife, a girlfriend, a childhood crush,' Paul Holes, an investigator who has been looking into the case for years, told The Mercury News.

'Most certainly if he's making the statement, "I hate you, Bonnie," while he's attacking another female, he is what we call an anger retaliatory rapist. Instead of directing his anger at what's making him angry, he's directing it sideways on to someone else to be able to satisfy that anger,' Holes said.

'I do believe that's what happened here. I don't know what made him that way, but you've got to think Bonnie dumped him, he's not happy about that, he still had feeling for her, who knows? But something along those lines must have happened.'

DailyMail.com could not contact Ueltzen, 67, who is said to be in hiding. She was not at her $400,000, three-bedroom condo in the Campus Commons area of Sacramento that she bought in 2016. Messages left for her went unanswered.

DeAngelo is seen here at his arraignment in Sacramento County Superior Court on Friday

After breaking off her engagement to DeAngelo, she traded up by marrying Michael Ueltzer, now a partner in EisnerAmper, which describes itself as among the nations largest full-service advisory and accounting firms.

He is considered one of the top forensic accountants in the country. According to EisnerAmpers website he has given evidence in more than 100 court cases ranging from multibillion dollar Ponzi schemes, financial statement frauds, embezzlement, and complex civil litigation, including breach of contract, anti-trust claims, and organizational disputes.

They divorced in 2013 after more than 40 years together.

Ueltzen lived in Spello, an ancient town near Assisi, Italy, for many years and blogged about her time there on OldBroadAbroad.

In one post from 2010 she spoke of her difficulty buying a house in Spello because she needed documents proving her maiden name.

My passport and every form of ID that I carry are in my married name. How would I ever prove that I was Bonnie Jean Colwell? It had been nearly 38 years since I had used that name, she wrote.

In 2013 after she separated, Bonnie Ueltzen decided to return to the Sacramento area, and moved into a condo, almost certainly not knowing she was living less than a half-hour drive from her former fiancee.

She also could not have known that within a few years of ending her engagement, DeAngelo would allegedly start on his murder and rape spree.

Police have now finished combing through the beige-colored house, removing boxes of evidence, guns, cars a motorcycle and a boat, among other items. Sheriff deputy Kim Mojica is seen on Thursday carrying boxes of evidence taken from DeAngelo's home in Citrus Heights, California

Joseph James DeAngelo is believed to be responsible for at least 12 murders and more than 50 rapes in California between 1975 and 1986 (victims are seen above)

DeAngelo is seen in his mugshot

Author Michelle McNamara  actor Patton Oswalts wife who died in 2016  gave the serial criminal the nickname The Golden State Killer for her book on the case, Ill Be Gone In The Dark. He was also known as the Original Night Stalker and the East Area Rapist.

Since DeAngelos arrest, police believe he could also be a criminal known as the Visalia Ransacker  who carried out a string of burglaries and one murder in Visalia, California, starting in March 1974.

At the time DeAngelo was a police officer in nearby Exeter.

But in 1976 he moved 250 miles north to the police department in Auburn  Bonnie Ueltzens hometown  and on June 18 that year the Golden State Killers crime spree began mainly in the Citrus Heights and Rancho Cordova areas east of Sacramento.

DeAngelo married divorce attorney Sharon Huddle and before they divorced they had three daughters, Misha, now 36, Sascha, 31, and Tessa, 28. Misha was living with him at the time of his arrest.

DeAngelo was fired from the Auburn Police Department in 1979 for shoplifting. He allegedly stole a can of dog repellant and a hammer from a Sacramento drug store.

In 1978 his attacks moved to Contra Costa County and then from 1979 to 1986 they went further south to Ventura, Santa Barbara and Orange Counties. His last known attack was in May 1986 while DeAngelos wife was pregnant with their second child.

But now the long-running case could be coming to an end. DeAngelos arrest shocked everyone, including his family. We are as sorry as everyone else, we had no idea, his nephew Jeff Riley told DailyMail.com.

DeAngelo Jr was arrested on Tuesday night. He is seen left in an undated photo when he was in the Navy, and on the right during his sophomore year at Folsom High School

DeAngelo is seen sitting in a wheelchair, wearing an orange prison uniform in court on Friday

DeAngelo was nabbed after police matched DNA from items he discarded with samples found at his many crime scenes. They used a sample from an Internet genealogy site submitted by a distant relative to narrow their search to him, according to the Sacramento Bee.

Sacramento County Chief Deputy Attorney Steve Grippi told the paper they compared crime scene DNA to online open-source profiles until they found the relative.

After months of comparisons, cops finally narrowed the DNA down to DeAngelo on Thursday last week and began surveilling him and on Friday got a sample from an item he discarded.

They sent the sample to the county crime lab which found overwhelming evidence that after 44 years they had finally got their man.

Still they decided they needed a second match and that was recovered on Monday.

The second sample was astronomical evidence that it was him, district attorney Anne Marie Schubert told the paper, adding, There were a whole lot of holy s**t moments.President Trump gloated on Twitter on Friday after a Republican report declared there was no collusion between his 2016 presidential election and Russia.

The president said that 'there should never have been a Special Counsel appointed' as he shared the report's findings.

The jab towards Special Counsel Robert Mueller raises question over whether Trump is considering firing the former FBI director, who was appointed to investigate the president's ties to Russia.

On Friday a Republican House Intelligence Committee said that there was no collusion between Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and Russia

After the report was released the president gloated on Twitter saying 'There should never have been a Special Counsel appointed'

He added that the investigation into his ties with Russia, as led by Robert Mueller, is a 'total witch hunt'

The controversial 253-page report, published by the Republicans of the House Intelligence Committee, said their investigation found no evidence that Trump conspired with Russian officials, according to the Huffington Post.

However the reported added that the investigation found 'poor judgment and ill-considered actions' by the Trump campaign, as well as by Hillary Clinton's.

'House Intelligence Committee rules that there was NO COLLUSION between the Trump Campaign and Russia. As I have been saying all along, it is all a big Hoax by the Democrats based on payments and lies,' Trump wrote Friday evening.

'There should never have been a Special Counsel appointed. Witch Hunt!' he added.

Hours beforehand he wrote: 'Just Out: House Intelligence Committee Report released. "No evidence" that the Trump Campaign "colluded, coordinated or conspired with Russia." Clinton Campaign paid for Opposition Research obtained from Russia- Wow! A total Witch Hunt! MUST END NOW!'

Trump praised the report in a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel saying: 'We were honored. It was a great report  no collusion which I knew anyway, no coordination, no nothing'.

Despite Trump's jabs at Mueller, pictured above, his Russia probe has already received several guilty pleas

Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Kremlin-linked lawyer who met with Donald Trump Jr. at Trump Tower in 2016, spoke on NBC hours after the report was released

He then dismissed the Mueller's Russia probe as a 'witch hunt' which has racked up a series of guilty pleas and continues its investigation into Russia's actions.

Hours after the report said there was no collusion involved, Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya spoke on NBC detailing her involvement with Trump campaign members.

In the interview she describes herself as a Kremlin informant and said that she met with Donald Trump Kr, Jared Kushner, and former campaign chairman Paul Manafort at Trump Tower in New York City.

The group met during his election campaign to talk about sharing damaging information about Hillary Clinton.

'I am a lawyer, and I am an informant. Since 2013, I have been actively communicating with the office of the Russian prosecutor general,' she reportedly said to NBC, according to the New York Times.

The Republican House Intelligence Committee report references that infamous Trump Tower meeting in June of 2016 but says investigators 'did not ultimately obtain' the information they sought.Advertisement

Protesters gathered in Parliament Square today to demonstrate against the threat of the Windrush generation being deported after decades of building their lives in the UK.

This came the day after it emerged Amber Rudd had been copied in to an internal memorandum which described targets set by the Immigration Enforcement (IE) agency for removing people who had no right to be in the UK.

Ms Rudd announced on Thursday that she is scrapping deportation targets which were brought in under Theresa May, which she claimed she knew nothing about.

The protest was organised over a Facebook page which said: 'The government's abhorrent treatment of those from the Windrush generation is a national embarrassment. Despite the government's recent actions to attempt to rectify it, this never should have happened in the first place.

Protesters gathered in Parliament Square today to demonstrate against the threat of the Windrush generation being deported after decades of building their lives in the UK as many of them arrived in the country as children. One protester carried a sign which read 'the Windrush generation help to build Britain'

'This protest is to show our disgust at the government's incompetence and to keep the pressure on them to keep their word.

'We plan to meet in Parliament Square and march to the Home Office. Join us and show solidarity.

Ms Rudd and Mrs May have come under intense pressure after it emerged residents who arrived from the Commonwealth from the late 1940s to the early 1970s had become caught up in a crackdown on illegal immigration.

Those arriving in the UK between 1948 and 1971 from Caribbean countries have been labelled the Windrush generation.

The protest came days after Amber Rudd announced she is scrapping deportation targets which were brought in under Theresa May. One supporter held a sign which read 'no more empty promises'

It emerged yesterday that Amber Rudd had been copied in to an internal memorandum which described targets set by the Immigration Enforcement (IE) agency for removing people who had no right to be in the UK

The page also said that despite the government's recent actions to attempt to rectify it, this never should have happened in the first place and groups armed with protest banners stood in solidarity against these actions

People who have legally lived in the UK for decades have lost their homes, jobs or rights to NHS treatment, while some have been locked up in detention centres or threatened with deportation.

She is fighting for her political life after apologising and admitting she should have known the Home Office had set targets for removing illegal immigrants.

The Facebook page added that the protest is to show their 'disgust at the government's incompetence' and to 'keep the pressure on them to keep their word'. Amber Rudd has recently called to scrap the deportation targets she claims she knew nothing about

Ms Rudd and Mrs May have come under intense pressure after it emerged residents who arrived from the Commonwealth from the late 1940s to the early 1970s had become caught up in a crackdown on illegal immigration

Those arriving in the UK between 1948 and 1971 from Caribbean countries have been labelled the Windrush generation. The generation were never given any official paperwork and have become caught up in the crackdown

Accused of being responsible for 'chaos' in the Home Office, the minister has previously said she was sorry for being unaware of the targets and she will make a statement to MPs on Monday.

Downing Street said the Home Secretary has the 'full confidence' of the Prime Minister, while Theresa May's de facto deputy, David Lidington, also publicly backed her.

In a series of tweets Ms Rudd acknowledged that the disclosure had raised 'legitimate questions' and said she would go before the Commons on Monday.

People who have legally lived in the UK for decades have lost their homes, jobs or rights to NHS treatment, while some have been locked up in detention centres or threatened with deportation

Now Ms Rudd has vowed to overhaul the Home Office as she fights to cling on to her job following massive public outcry over the scandal. The Secretary of State for the Home Department has yet to give a straight answer over whether she plans to resign because of the scandal

Her statement followed accusations that she had misled Parliament after she told the Commons on Thursday that she had never agreed to specific targets for removals.

Ms Rudd said: 'I will be making a statement in the House of Commons on Monday in response to legitimate questions that have arisen on targets and illegal migration.

'I wasn't aware of specific removal targets. I accept I should have been and I'm sorry that I wasn't. I didn't see the leaked document, although it was copied to my office as many documents are.'

Ms Rudd is fighting for her political life after apologising and admitting she should have known the Home Office had set targets for removing illegal immigrants, which she claims she didn't

Accused of being responsible for 'chaos' in the Home Office, the minister said she was sorry for being unaware of the targets and she will make a statement to MPs on Monday

Downing Street said the Home Secretary has the 'full confidence' of the Prime Minister, while Theresa May's de facto deputy, David Lidington, also publicly backed her

Labour and the SNP have called for Ms Rudd to resign with Shadow home secretary Diane Abbot saying: 'She failed to read crucial documents which meant she wasn't aware of the removal targets that have led to people's lives being ruined'

It emerged on Friday Ms Rudd had been copied in to an internal memorandum which described targets set by the Immigration Enforcement (IE) agency for removing people who had no right to be in the UK

In a series of tweets Ms Rudd acknowledged that the disclosure had raised 'legitimate questions' and said she would go before the Commons on MondayWhole Foods has come under fire for racial insensitivity after announcing that one of its California outposts would play host to a restaurant with the same name as the slang term for Asian fetishism.

Whole Foods 365 revealed in a tweet Wednesday that its Long Beach, California, store would feature a dedicated Yellow Fever space, the newest location of the California-based Asian fusion restaurant chain.

The tweet promptly drew criticism from people  Asians and non-Asians alike  who accused Whole Foods of being 'tone-deaf,' even though the owner of Yellow Fever happens to be a Korean-American woman.

Whole Foods was criticized for racial insensitivity on social media after the grocery chain announced that it had partnered with an Asian restaurant chain called Yellow Fever

The term 'yellow fever' has long been considered slang for non-Asians' fetishistic interest in Asian people, frequently women, and culture.

Yellow fever is also the name of a mosquito-borne viral infection common in areas of Africa and South America.

'This is literally one of the most tone-deaf things I've seen in a while. Yes, even if the chef/owner behind this is Asian,' Twitter user @AltonWang wrote in response to the original @365byWholeFoods tweet.

'Great name. Foresee no problems here, with the name,' wrote @ArkansasFred.

The Yellow Fever restaurants are owned by Korean-American Kelly Kim, who dismissed claims that her restaurant name is culturally insensitive

'I know the owner is asian, but wholefoods is synonymous with chadly chaddington so....this is gonna be interesting,' @ThatCmonster wrote, referring to Whole Foods' stereotypically affluent, white customer base.

'Is there no one in your corporate cocoon to tell you what a toxic idea this racist name was?' asked @TheSarahBiz.

'I can't believe that's real. How the hell did that make it out of a first pitch meeting? Gross,' wrote @itsdlevy.

Yellow Fever founder Kelly Kim, a native of South Korea who was raised in Houston, Texas, refutes claims that the name of her restaurant chain is culturally insensitive.

'There's nothing offensive about our restaurants,' Kim told the New York Daily News.

Kim said that Whole Foods was aware of the potential controversy attached to the name of her restaurant and that it had asked her to change some of the ingredients in her menu items

Kim, who opened her first Yellow Fever location more than four years ago, also called the budding social media controversy 'silly,' adding 'it's a bit funny that it's all of a sudden a big deal.'

In 2017, Kim acknowledged the shock value name of her restaurant chain, telling Next Shark that it's 'tongue-in-cheek' and that it was an effort towards 're-appropriating a term  taking ownership of something and defining it in our own way.'

Kim told the New York Daily News that it seemed like the current kerfuffle over the Whole Foods partnership was the result of people who 'want to stir the pot a little bit.'

Twitter users were quick to express disbelief over the 'tone-deaf' decision Whole Foods made to incorporate into a store a restaurant named for the slang term for Asian fetishism

While people on social media expressed disbelief that Whole Foods execs could and would ignore the eyebrow-raising name of the restaurant, Kim revealed that the grocery chain, now owned by Amazon, was well aware of potential controversy.

Kim said that the Yellow Fever name was discussed and that Whole Foods had required changes to the ingredients in some of her menu offerings.

Overall, she said she felt 'pretty comfortable' with the fact that Whole Foods 'knew what we were all about.'

DailyMail.com has reached out to Whole Foods representatives for comment.A fierce debate is rumbling across the country, putting friends at war and families in turmoil.

It is arguably the most divisive arguments of all time...

The question of whether pineapple is an appropriate topping on a pizza is a controversial one.

Research by YouGov has discovered that the proportion of people who say they 'really like' Hawaiian pizza has more than doubled over the past six years

Last year an 18-year-old woman name Ali Johnson from Arizona posted on Twitter that her local pizza place refused to top her pie with pineapple, writing on her box that the choice was 'gross'.

Her tweet was shared over 67,000 times, sparking an online war over the legitimacy of the tropical fruit as a pizza topping.

WHO EATS PINEAPPLE ON THEIR PIZZA? Hawaiian pizza fans are said to be most likely be young, female and right-wing Hobbies include watching films, reading non-fiction and spending time with their partner Melania Trump was seen carrying a Hawaiian pizza into the White House and told the Pope that she fed it to her husband Retail workers, fashion designers and translators rank top in the professions most likely to order the fruity pizza YouGov reports that while 84 per cent of Britons liked pizza and 82 per cent liked pineapple, only 53 per cent said they liked the two together Advertisement

TV chef Gordon Ramsay also once famously shouted on live TV 'You don't put f***ing pineapple on pizza,' when an audience member suggested that he order a Hawaiian.

And now the argument among the British public is becoming more fierce than ever, with only Marmite being the more debated foodstuff.

Research by YouGov has discovered that the proportion of people who say they 'really like' Hawaiian pizza has more than doubled over the past six years.

Meanwhile the proportion who say they 'really don't like' it is up 15 per cent.

An increasing number of people are also looking up the term 'pineapple pizza' in search engines.

Analysis by Google Trends shows the subject has gone from an interest rating of four out of 100 in 2004 to 93 out of 100 this month.

The debate even got political at one point, with President Johannesson of Iceland suggesting that Hawaiian pizza should be banned.

His comments received backlash that he even felt the need to say: 'I do not have the power to make laws that forbid people to put pineapples on their pizza.'

Justin Trudeau, the prime minister of Canada, also posted on Twitter: 'I have a pineapple. I have a pizza. And I stand behind this delicious Southwestern Ontario creation. #TeamPineapple'.

President Trump is also said to enjoy the fruity variation of pizza, which are likely to play well with his supporters according to YouGov.

Research found that people who enjoy pineapple on their pizza are more likely to be right-leaning in their politics.

Justin Trudeau, the prime minister of Canada said: 'I stand behind this delicious Southwestern Ontario creation. #TeamPineapple'

Meanwhile some foodie experts believe that the dislike of Hawaiian pizza boils down to elitism.

Stevie Parle, the chef and food author, said: 'People should put what they want on their pizza.

'Foodies love a divisive topic. We enjoy debating things like this.

'But I think snobbery does not help our cause. If something is tasty, then you have got to consider it.'

And proving that all publicity is good publicity, sales of Hawaiian pizzas are growing.

Tesco, which sells almost 10 million pizzas a month, says demand has grown by 15 per cent in the past year.

Trade magazine Pizza Today also reported that dates, fruits sauces and marmalade are the new popular flavours of the year.Advertisement

The world's only working Tiger tank roared into life 75 years after it was captured by the Allies in World War II.

Tiger 131 took to the main arena at Bovington's Tank Museum during its 'Tiger Day', marking when a lucky shot from a British tank disabled it during fighting in the desert of North Africa.

More than 1,300 German Tiger tanks were produced during the Second World War.

Tiger 131, drives around the tank course at the Tank Museum in Bovington, Dorset, marking the anniversary of its capture

The turret of the tank was jammed by a lucky shot from an inferior British model, allowing it to be captured

Churchill ordered a British officer to capture a Tiger and 'park the bloody thing outside my front door. Do you understand?

The 60 ton monsters were superior to anything the British and Americans had until near the end of war.

Rounds from Allied tanks could not penetrate its 120mm armour, while its 88mm cannon had huge destructive power.

The tank soon gained legendary status after its introduction in 1942 and Hitler ordered any ones knocked out in battle to be destroyed.

Britain's wartime leader Winston Churchill was eager to get his hands on one, ordering an officer, Major Douglas Lidderdale, to 'park the bloody thing outside my front door. Do you understand?

A lucky shot from a much inferior British Churchill tank during an encounter in April 1943 managed to jam the Tiger's turret and it was captured after its crew fled to avoid capture.

The tank was later taken back to Britain, lashed to the deck of a ship, to the examined by intelligence

Museum curator David Willey told the Bournemouth Echo: 'To have this tank working after 75 years is testament to the skill, knowledge and dedication of our staff.

The Germans introduced the Tiger in 1942 and Hitler was so keen to protect its secrets, he ordered the destruction of any one hit in battle

Shells from Allied tanks could not penetrate the Tiger's thick armour, while its 88mm cannon had huge destructive power

Tank Museum curator David Willey said the presence of a Tiger tank always attracts large crowds

The daring wartime mission ordered by Winston Churchill that led to the capture of Tiger 131 The story behind the capture of Tiger 131 is one of British wartime derring-do in carrying out the orders of Winston Churchill. According to Catch that Tiger by Noel Botham and Bruce Montague, after the Tiger entered the battlefield, Britains wartime leader demanded the capture of one of the weapons which was threatening to derail the North African campaign. In January 1943, Major Douglas Lidderdale was summoned to Churchills Private Office and ordered by the PM to catch one of the Tigers and transport it intact back to London. Park the bloody thing outside my front door. Do you understand?, said Churchill. Before the recently married 28-year-old could enjoy his honeymoon he was sent to Algiers with a handpicked team. Major Douglas Lidderdale and his men inspect Tiger 131 after it was captured in the desert He already had a reputation as a brilliant engineer was a major in charge of the newly formed Tank Training Unit. Lidderdale arrived in Tunisia in February 1943 and began crossing treacherous minefields while on the hunt for a disabled Tiger. Then in April his team spotted a Tiger that seemed to be in trouble with its turret was jammed. They crept up on it, killed the crew and took back to the British lines and by mid-May it was in full working order, just in time for Churchill and King George VI to fly in for the victory ceremony. The Prime Minster as keen to drive it but was too fat to fit inside saying: Must be pretty lean chaps, these tank aces. The captured Tiger was manufactured in February It 1943: It was sent to Tunisia at some time between March 22nd and April 16th 1943 and was issued to the 3rd Platoon, 1st Kompanie, Schwere Panzer Abteilung 504 of the German Army. It was involved in an action with 4 Troop, A Squadron, 48th Royal Tank Regiment on 21 April 1943 at Djebel Djaffa near Medjez el Bab. In October 1943 it was sent to the United Kingdom and displayed on Horse Guards Parade in London. It was then passed to the School of Tank Technology at Chertsey during November 1944 where a thorough technical evaluation was carried out. The Tiger was given to the Tank Museum after the war. Advertisement

'We couldn't have done any of this without the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund, whose support has enabled tens of thousands of people to see this rare symbol of the Second World War in action.

'For the public to be able to see and hear this tank operating is really remarkable. Whenever we run the tank it attracts huge numbers.

'But for a lucky shot that jammed in the turret during the campaign in the north African desert it wouldn't be here.

'This 75th anniversary is important, not least because the number of veterans who might have seen one of these in action is now dwindling to a very small number. It is pleasing however that many young people are interested and want to learn about the war.

During the war it took roughly ten hours of maintenance for every hour the tank could operate but staff at Bovington put in 200 hours for every hour Tiger 131 runs.

According to the museum, its Tiger was in service with 3 Platoon (Troop), 1 Kompanie, Schwere Panzer Abteilung 504, German Army

It was captured by 48 Royal Tank Regiment, A Squadron, 4 Troop, at Djebel Djaffa, Tunisia, on 21st April 1943.

This tank was the first Tiger to be captured intact by British or U.S. forces when it was knocked out in the final month of the Tunisian campaign.

It arrived in Tunisia some time between 22nd March and 16th April 1943A freight train service has been launched from a port in north China's Hebei Province to Belgium, a further line for freight between China and Europe.

A train carrying 41 containers of local products, such as kaoline and yeast, departed around noon Thursday from Jingtang Port District in the city of Tangshan, marking the inauguration of the service.

The train will travel 11,000 kilometers to the Belgian city of Antwerp, through Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland and Germany, said Xu Fengyi, head of the Tangshan Customs.

The train service will cut transport time from the usual 45 days by sea, to just 16 days.

Tangshan, 150 km from Beijing and sitting on the north of the Bohai Sea, has just develop 32 km of its 230-km coastline for commercial use, where two port districts -- Jingtang and Caofeidian -- are located. It handled 573 million tonnes of freight last year, according to the city government.

The new freight service offers a new way not only for the freight of Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei to Europe, but also for that of Japan and the Republic of Korea to Europe via China, according to Xu.It was a clear October night in the hills above Kythrea and 19-year-old Jamie Eykyn was settling in for a long and uneventful evening. Standing sentry before a single-storey Army complex in the Cyprus countryside, the young Grenadier Guards officer had little to see and nothing to hear except the swish of the Mediterranean breeze through the olive groves.

Until, that is, the night air was pierced by sounds that still chill his blood today, six decades later  agonised screams from the men held prisoner in the building he was guarding: a British interrogation centre.

This was 1958 and EOKA terrorists were mounting an armed insurgency in their fight for Cypriot independence from colonial rule and, as Lieutenant Eykyn would discover to his horror, Britains response was uncompromisingly brutal.

Now aged 79, Mr Eykyn is speaking for the first time about the horrific events of 60 years ago  and about the shameful cover-up that followed.

The night air was pierced by sounds that still chill his blood today, six decades later  agonised screams from the men held prisoner in the building he was guarding: a British interrogation centre. Now aged 79, Mr Eykyn (pictured) is speaking for the first time about the horrific events of 60 years ago  and about the shameful cover-up that followed

Outraged by what he witnessed, he told his superior officer, Major Michael Stourton, who in turn, alerted the authorities.

Yet instead of gratitude for their bravery, they met a wall of hostility: Major Stourton was ostracised, cold-shouldered by some fellow officers for speaking out and effectively silenced by Ministry of Defence censors, who saw fit to remove the episode from the official history of the Grenadier Guards.

For more than half a century it has remained a secret  until now.

Indeed Mr Eykyn is not alone in his testimony, for he is supported by the family of the late Major Stourton, his friend and former colleague.

Determined to help uncover the abuse at Kythrea and the subsequent whitewash, they have opened up Major Stourtons damning evidence from the family archive so that the truth can finally be told about a dark chapter in British history.

Outraged by what he witnessed, he told his superior officer, Major Michael Stourton, who in turn, alerted the authorities. Yet instead of gratitude for their bravery, they met a wall of hostility: Major Stourton (pictured) was ostracised, cold-shouldered by some fellow officers for speaking out and effectively silenced by Ministry of Defence censo

Major Stourton died in 2001, but left a full account of the episode in his papers, now released for the first time to The Mail on Sunday.

Already shamed by the violence of post-war rule in Kenya, Britain today faces questions about its troops in Cyprus, too, with 34 Greek Cypriots mounting a legal challenge claiming they were victims of mistreatment including beatings, waterboarding and rape by colonial forces trying to keep a lid on EOKAs insurgency.

By the time 32-year-old Major Stourton and the second Battalion of the Grenadier Guards were despatched to the island in May 1958, Cyprus was in ferment. The troops had initially been sent there on their way to help King Hussein of Jordan, whose reign was under threat from attempted coups. Instead the battalion was asked to help with security patrols against EOKA, whose assassination squads had murdered British soldiers.

In October that year Major Stourton was ordered to send one of his platoons to Kythrea to guard what he had been told was an interrogation centre.

There, he spoke to a man in plain clothes who described himself as a District Intelligence Officer and asked him to keep the Grenadiers a certain distance away so they would not hear the sounds of Cypriots being interrogated during the night.

But not only did they hear the screams, the Grenadiers witnessed some of it, too, as Mr Eykyn explains. He recalls: At night, they would put the detainees into a big barn. The interrogation hut was on one side of the barn and it was not under our control. I heard screaming coming from it, and one of my guardsmen did, too.

It was a terrible sound.

The following day, he discovered a young man lying on the floor with a pure white face,

I couldnt see any bruises on him but I knew something had happened to him, he says. I got on my radio and asked Michael [Stourton] to come up, and to bring some blankets and medical supplies. I reported my misgivings because I was deeply unhappy about what was going on.

Three days later, he found several ill Cypriots slumped against a wall, and far more damning evidence soon followed. One soldier in the platoon witnessed torture actually taking place. He told Lt Eykyn how he had seen a prisoners head being held back as he was repeatedly struck on the throat. He was struck on the stomach, too, and the backs of his knees with blocks of ice.

Already shamed by the violence of post-war rule in Kenya, Britain today faces questions about its troops in Cyprus, too, with 34 Greek Cypriots mounting a legal challenge claiming they were victims of mistreatment including beatings, waterboarding and rape by colonial forces trying to keep a lid on EOKAs insurgency

Two days later, the Greek man in charge of the centres administration told him that one prisoner had died under interrogation and that they had put ice next to the body when beating him so that there would be no sign of bruising. Mr Eykyn says: He said, Were saying he died trying to escape. I thought, This is not right.

Not everyone agreed with him, however. Some in the officers mess believed that, as suspected terrorists, the detainees deserved whatever treatment was meted out.

The night I heard the screaming, one of the other officers totally disagreed with my attitude, Mr Eykyn recalls. I told him, Were not here to reinvent the Nazi tactics of the Second World War. It wasnt us [the Grenadiers] mistreating the prisoners. But it was being done in the name of the British Armed Forces.

Troubled by Lt Eykyns evidence, Major Stourton returned to Battalion Headquarters to report what he had seen, but the Commanding Officer, Colonel James Bowes-Lyon, a cousin of the Queen Mother, was not there. Major Stourton decided to drive to Government House to speak to a friend who worked as Private Secretary to the Governor, Sir Hugh Foot.

Mr Eykyn says: Michael discussed it with me and said, Do you think I should do this? and I said, Yes. People have asked why he didnt just pass it up the chain of command, but its because nothing would have happened. Im glad he did what he did.

Major Stourton set out his motives and concerns in a letter to Colonel Oliver Lindsay, author of Once A Grenadier, the official history of the Grenadier Guards, writing: I felt a duty to my platoon commander and certain other ranks in his platoon to take action.

This young officer [Lt Eykyn] was a person of total integrity: a first class leader. He told me that men of his platoon were outraged. They were tough, disciplined and well-trained guardsmen. They had no wish to be associated with these activities that they had both seen and heard. He believed the torture had been carried out by members of the British security forces.

The Governor himself, Sir Hugh, immediately went to the interrogation centre to investigate, but it seems that all trace of mistreatment had been removed by the time he arrived. He had been delayed, wrote Major Stourton, by an unexplained road block.

As for other British officials, Major Stourton was met with indifference. According to his letter, the Commanding Officer told him: This is the kind of thing that I am afraid can happen when people of limited education are given almost unlimited power over people.

Both Major Stourton and Lt Eykyn were interviewed by Special Branch, but to little purpose. According to Mr Eykyn, the investigators were hostile, while Major Stourton wrote: I was left with the impression they were anxious to discover as little as possible.

As for the death at Kythrea on October 16 1958, no one was convicted. The victim was a Greek Cypriot called Spiros Hjiyakoumi, and a coroner recorded an open verdict at an inquest.

Reviewing the claims that Hjiyakoumi had attempted to escape while in custody, coroner Christos Ionnides concluded: There is a complete lack of any positive evidence as to what really happened to this man to cause his death.

Major Stourton was later informed that two officers were court-martialled and dismissed thanks to his whistle-blowing, yet for the rest of his life he remained disturbed by the lack of interest taken by the authorities.

He wrote: The most strange and indeed worrying feature to me of these events is that not one senior officer made any attempt to ask me, or so far as I know any member of my Company, what happened.

He left the Army shortly afterwards, as he had always intended, but his decision to speak out cast a long shadow.

It wasnt easy for Michael at all, says Mr Eykyn, who remained a close friend until Major Stourtons death. It took real guts to do what he did, which was typical of him. A lot of fellow officers were not supportive of his decision, and he had to suffer various comments.

Major Stourtons son, Harry, says: I know that some of his fellow officers took a dim view and snubbed him for his actions, which weighed heavily on him.

Major Stourton did not tell his four children about the incident until the 1990s, when he learned that Lindsay was writing his history of the Guards and wanted to include it in the book.

Lindsay corresponded with both Stourton and Eykyn, both of whom co-operated in giving him the full details of their experiences.

In one letter to Major Stourton dated August 22, 1991, Lindsay wrote: I have no plans to be the author of an official history which is misleading or untrue on this very important and interesting incident in Cyprus. He sent the draft chapter dealing with the incident to both men to check and amend.

However, when the book was published in 1996, there was no mention at all of the Kythrea incident.

Oliver apologised to me for the fact it didnt get into the book, says Mr Eykyn. He told me he submitted a proof to the Ministry of Defence and they redacted it, which is a shame. It was covered up, even almost 40 years after it happened.

Harry says his father was bitterly disappointed by the absence of the incident from the official record. When he found out the book was being written, it was a great weight off his mind, he says.

It would have been a vindication of his actions, and it was a crushing blow when he found out it had been redacted. I believe he was ostracised, or something close to it, which is not merely hurtful but dangerous. If good men stand idly by, we are all in terrible trouble.

But today his family are glad that the story and his part in it are finally emerging. Indeed it is included in a new book, Unsung Heroes, by Algy Cluff.

Mr Eykyn, too, is also relieved that the truth is being uncovered  for himself, for his late friend and perhaps most of all for the prisoners who were tortured.

He says: Even after all this time, its important the record is set straight.Advertisement

Tens of thousands of Spaniards took to the streets of Pamplona in the north of the country on Saturday to protest against the acquittal of five men accused of gang raping an 18-year-old woman at the city's bull-running festival.

Demonstrators have filled streets across the country since the court ruling on Thursday, leading Spain's conservative government to say it will consider changing rape laws.

The men were acquitted of sexual assault, which includes rape, and sentenced to nine years for the lesser offence of sexual abuse.

In Pamplona itself, police said that 'between 32,000 and 35,000 people' took part in a demonstration on Saturday, rallying under the slogan 'it's not sexual abuse, it's rape'.

Thousands gather at the Palace of Justice to protests against the verdict in the trial of five men accused of gang rape

Women shout slogans and hold up a sign during a protest against sexual abuse in Pamplona, northern Spain, today

Women wearing masks march and shout slogans as they take part in the massive demonstration today

Women hold up a sign and raise their hands during the protest today. The sign reads 'Our Word' in the Basque language

The protest passed off without incident, a police spokesman said.

It marks the third day of protests.

Ana Botin, the influential head of Santander, one of Spain's biggest banks, tweeted that the ruling was 'a step back for women's security' while former judge Manuela Carmena, now Madrid mayor, said it 'does not meet women's demand for justice.'

The men, aged 27 to 29, had been accused of raping the woman at the entrance to an apartment building in Pamplona on July 7, 2016, at the start of the week-long San Fermin festival, which draws tens of thousands of visitors.

The five, all from the southern city of Seville, filmed the incident with their smartphones and then bragged about it on a WhatsApp messaging group where they referred to themselves as 'La Manada', or 'The Pack' in English.

An online petition calling for the disqualification of the judges who passed the sentence gathered more than 1.2 million signatures by Saturday.

The issue also hogged the headlines of newspapers all around the country and an order of Carmelite nuns added their voices to the wave of condemnation of the court judgement.

Under Spain's criminal code, evidence of violence or intimidation must exist for the offence of rape to be proved.

A protester holds up pictures of five men sentenced for sexual abuse. The sign reads: 'Male violator to the crusher'

Masked women shout slogans during a protest against sexual abuse in Pamplona, northern Spain, today

Protestors hold a banner that reads, in Basque: 'There is no one to judge our word. It is not abuse, it is aggression'

Women hold up their hands as they shout slogans during a protest in Pamplona, northern Spain

People wearing hoods and masks march in the demonstration today as one man shouts through a megaphone

But that was a legal nuance that was 'not always easy to establish,' top-selling daily El Pais wrote in an editorial.

It 'leads to the painful question of just how much a person needs to fight to avoid being raped without risking getting killed, and still get recognised as a victim of a serious attack against sexual freedom while ensuring that the perpetrators do not enjoy impunity,' the newspaper said.

In their ruling, the judges said that 'it is indisputable that the plaintiff suddenly found herself in a narrow and hidden place, surrounded by five older, thick-bodied males who left her overwhelmed and unresponsive.

'The videos show the plaintiff surrounded and stuck against the wall by two of the accused... she has an absent grimace, and keeps her eyes closed,' they added.

On Thursday, large crowds of mainly women had marched in cities across Spain, including Madrid and Barcelona, following the court sentencing. In the northern city of Santander protesters blocked roads, public television TVE reported.

Then on Friday, thousands of people demonstrated outside the Pamplona court where the judgement was made.

Women hold up sign reading 'I want to be Free, no Brave' during a protest against sexual abuse in Pamplona, northern Spain

Thousands of people crowd at Plaza del Castillo square during a protest in Pamplona, northern Spain

Thousands of people march along an avenue and around a bend during a protest against sexual abuse in Pamplona

A black bag with the word 'Justice' and three female symbols painted on it is pictured during today's Pamploma protest

A woman holds up her arm during a protest against sexual abuse in Pamplona, northern Spain

And a community of 16 Carmelite nuns in the Hondarribia monastery in the Basque country condemned the court ruling on Facebook.

'We live cloistered away, wearing a habit that reaches down to our ankles, we don't go out in the evening, we don't go to parties, we don't drink alcohol and we've undertaken a vow of chastity,' the nuns said.

'And because that's our free choice, we will defend with all the means at our disposal ... the right of all woman to FREELY do the opposite, without them being judged, raped, threatened, killed or humiliated,' they wrote.

State prosecutors said they would appeal the ruling.

Adriana Lastra, a top official with Spain's main opposition Socialist party, said the court ruling was 'disgraceful'.

'It's the product of a patriarchal and macho culture,' she added.

The case was cited in signs carried by many women during massive demonstrations held in cities across Spain to mark International Women's Day in March, which were among the largest in Europe.Archaeologists have been called in to learn more about the 89 graves found at a construction site in Texas.

The mass grave site was unearthed in March, in Sugar Land, Texas, at the construction site of the future location of Fort Bend Independent School District's James Reese Career and Technical Center.

Although no records of the unmarked cemetery are in existence now, historians believe that the bones could date back to the 1800s, according to KTRK.

Archaeologists have been called in to identify the remains found in 89 graves at a construction site in Sugar Land, Texas, in March

It's thought that the 89 graves were lost after being covered over by several feet of sediment in the wake of an area flood.

Charles Kelly, chairman of the Fort Bend County Historical Commission, said historical documents show that the construction site is located on an area once used as a plantation, before it was repurposed as a prison farm in the early 20th century, WISTV reported.

Although he has not yet visited the site, Kelly has heard that the coffins had already deteriorated. He noted that any wooden markers that might've been used to denote who was buried in the graves are likely long gone, too.

Construction on the Fort Bend Independent School District's James Reese Career and Technical Center unearthed the 89 graves, which are believed to date back to the 1800s

The grave site sits in an area that was once a plantation, before it was turned into a prison farm

But, if metal markers were used, Kelly believes those would likely still be near the graves' location.

'The interesting thing is the depth of these graves. They're very, very deep,' Kelly said.

It will be up to archaeologists to determine whether men, women or children were buried at the site and what race they were.

There's at least 160 known historic cemeteries in Fort Bend county.A London ice cream parlour has had to stop selling vanilla because of cyclones and drought in Madagascar.

Julie Fisher, who owns the Ruby Violet chain, said customers thought it was a joke when the staple ice cream flavour was removed from the menu.

It comes as the price of the crop has soared, with one kilogram of vanilla pods coasting 580 instead of the usual 65 or 75, Ms Fisher said, according to The Times.

Earlier this year it was reported that the spice had become more expensive than its equivalent weight in silver.

Julie Fisher, who owns the Ruby Violet chain (pictured) in North London, said customers thought it was a joke when the staple ice cream flavour was removed from the menu

Ms Fisher said: 'We have committed to only natural ingredients, so I have said no to any synthetic vanillas.

'We aren't passing the increase in the cost on to the customers, we are taking the hit. So when a table of customers asks for a round of vanilla milkshakes, my heart does sink a bit'.

Around 85 per cent of the world's vanilla supply comes from Madagascar, where crops have also been affected by thefts and crime, it is reported.

One plantation owner in the north-east of the island said his supplies had been targeted by robbers.

Rival producers such as Indonesia and India do not grow enough to make up for any shortfalls there.

A London ice cream parlour has had to stop selling vanilla because of cyclones and drought in Madagascar, with one kilogram of vanilla pods coasting 580 instead of the usual 65 or 75

'Spent' vanilla specks - used-up beans which are ground together and resold - have jumped in price from $40 to $150 per kg.

They are typically used by food firms alongside artificial vanilla flavouring, because this allows businesses to say their products contain real pods and put a picture of a one on their packages.

Only 1 per cent of vanilla extract used in food and make-up comes from the plant.

The rest is made by extracting vanillin molecules from coal tar, petroleum and wood - as well as some other foods such as oils from rice and cloves.Commonwealth secretary general Baroness Scotland offered to manipulate court dates, according to her former aide.

Ram Venuprasad was a senior civil servant with the Commonwealth secretariat when he claims he had a private conversation on a business trip with Baroness Scotland of Asthal.

He said he told his boss he needed to return to London for a family court hearing.

According to Mr Venuprasad, Patricia Scotland, Baroness Scotland of Asthal, offered to manipulate court dates for him

Lady Scotland asked which judge was hearing the case and Mr Venuprasad told her it was Judge Judith Hughes, QC, he claimed.

Mr Venuprasad told an employment tribunal that she went on to say: 'Shall I have a word with Judith?', as reported by The Times.

She denies the allegation.

Mr Venuprasad, 45, said their conversation is an example of her 'magisterial attitude'.

The civil servant told the story after a tribunal said Mr Venuprasad had been treated unfairly by the secretariat before he quit as deputy head of office.

Mr Venuprasad said he was victimised by his boss because he expressed concerns about her appointing her friends to senior positions.

'We never had a stand-up row, but she would become very angry when I gave her candid advice,' he said.

Ram Venuprasad, who joined the organisation in 2001, made the claims to an employment tribunal

The civil servant, who joined the organisation in 2001, told the tribunal his relationship with Lady Scotland came to tipping point when she organised a 'town hall' style meeting for staff.

Mr Venuprasad said his boss told everyone at the meeting that no one outside of the organisation had ever heard of her predecessor Kamalesh Sharma.

He had a stern word with her afterwards and told her it was unfair as Mr Sharma was not there to defend himself, according to The Times.

Mr Venuprasad was disciplined in July 2016 when it was alleged he'd leaked information to the media about Lady Scotland.

But the civil servant denies the claims and says it is part of smear campaign to ruin his reputation.

A spokesman for the Commonealth secretait said: 'We are viewing the tribunal's judgement and will consider our next steps.'Elizabeth Lacey, 63 was found in a house in Garston, Liverpool on Thursday

A mother who was found dead after suffering multiple stab wounds has been named by police.

Elizabeth Lacey, 63 was found in a house in Garston, Liverpool on Thursday and a post-mortem revealed her cause of death this morning.

Last night, floral tributes were left outside a house on Hardy Street and one of the messages left on a bunch of flowers described Mrs Lacey as a 'lovely lady'.

Online tributes to the business growth owner also flooded in from her former colleagues and friends.

Liverpool councillor Nick Small paid his respects to his former colleague on Twitter.

He said: 'Just hearing some sad news about the tragic death of Liz Lacey.

'I worked closely with Liz when she worked on community enterprise at Liverpool Vision. Thoughts with Liz's friends and family.'

Social media user Claire Caddick said: 'So sad to hear about lovely, funny and foxy Liz Lacey. Liverpool has lost another amazing woman. Things will change because of this! Incomprehensible.'

Last night, floral tributes were left outside a house on Hardy Street in Liverpool

One of the messages left on a bunch of flowers described Mrs Lacey as a 'lovely lady'

Another Twitter user said that they were 'tearful' after they were given the news that Mrs Lacey had died.

Pete Wylie said: 'I'm so utterly shocked and saddened at the news about lovely Liz Lacey. I'm shaking and tearful. Lots of love to you Liz.'

Another user added: 'RIP Liz Lacey -shocked at her death.

'Friends since her 1980s platinum bombshell days. Funny, smart, vivacious & with the sharpest wit and cheekbones of anyone I've ever known.'

Mrs Lacey had previously worked at Liverpool Vision, an Economic Development Company, as well as previously running three of her own businesses and a vintage clothes shop in Oxton, Wirral.

Police officers were initially called to a property half a mile away at 6pm where they found a 54-year-old woman with multiple stab wounds who is now in a serious but stable condition.

Following further inquiries, police then attended the Hardy Street property where they found Mrs Lacey's body.

A 21-year-old man, from Allerton, Liverpool, who was arrested, has been detained under the Mental Health Act.

Mrs Lacey had previously worked at Liverpool Vision, an Economic Development Company. Pictured: Police on Hardy Street in Garston, Liverpool where Mrs Lacey was found

Following further inquiries, police then attended the Hardy Street property where they found Mrs Lacey's body (pictured)Suspected jihadists killed more than 30 Tuaregs on Mali's northeastern border with Niger, in the second such attack in two days.

The former Tuareg rebel group MSA and tribal leaders said the massacre occurred Friday, a day after another attack by gunmen on motorbikes had left 12 people dead outside the town of Anderamboukane, which is also in the same area.

'There have been 43 deaths in two days, all civilians, from the same community,' tribal leader Sidigui Ag Hamadi told AFP from the regional capital Menaka.

Pick-up trucks belonging to militants of MSA patrol along the Mali-Niger border in the deserted area of the Menaka region in Mali

'Our fighters are destroying their bases and wiping them out. They are targeting innocent civilians,' he added seeing the bloodletting as reprisals for attacks on jihadists by armed Tuarag groups.

The MSA also put the death toll from the two attacks in the vilages of Aklaz and Awakassa at 43, saying all the victims were from the Idaksahak pastoralist berber group.

The group urged the governments of Mali and Niger to take steps to ensure that 'an immediate end is put to these abominable crimes' and added that it would 'not give in to any intimidation.'

Menaka governor Daouda Maiga urged caution regarding the death toll until official observers had arrived on the scene.

'There are various versions, but I know there are women and childen among the victims, as well as elderly,' Maiga told AFP, while adding he would await the observers' return to Bamako.

Local people had been fearful of reprisals by jihadists who suffered major losses in recent attacks in the region over recent weeks, Menaka official Attaye Ag Ossadki told AFP.

'But nobody imagined that they would kill civilians in this way,' he said.

Two weeks ago, the UN's MINUSMA peacekeeping operation said they had received 'very serious' information that 'summary executions of at least 95 people' had occurred during anti-jihadist operations in the northeastern Menaka region carried out by 'a coalition of armed groups' including MSA and Gatia.

Malian army soldiers and Tuareg have been fighting the jihadists recently, inflicting defeats on them which have in turn led to reprisals

Both groups flatly denied any involvement.

France intervened militarily in Mali in 2013 to help government forces drive Al-Qaeda-linked jihadists out of the north.

But large tracts of the country remain lawless despite a peace accord signed with ethnic Tuareg leaders in mid-2015 aimed at isolating the jihadists.

At the beginning of this yea, Britain announced a new military mission in Africa with the French because of fears Islamic State cells wiped out in countries such as Libya are re-forming with Al-Qaeda to plot attacks in Europe.

The Prime Minister will send three Chinook helicopters, including up to 100 troops, to Mali, to help French forces as they combat extremism in the 'ungoverned spaces' in the region.

There are concerns that Islamic State fighters defeated in the coastal city of Sirte in Syria have fled to countries in the Sahel region, such as Mali.They can grow up to 10ft long, weigh up to 700kg and shoot through water at 45mph - and some live for 40 years.

Now the elusive bluefin tuna - which disappeared from British coastlines in the 1990s - is making a comeback.

More than 500 sightings of the mighty species have been reported in the past five years, including off Devon, Cornwall and Pembrokeshire.

Fishermen unload a bluefin tuna in Eastern Passage, Nova Scotia, Canada, in October 2007

In 1933 the biggest bluefin tuna in Britain was hooked by Lorenzo Mitchell-Henry, the son of a wealthy financier, 50 miles off the Yorkshire coast.

It weighed an astonishing 38kgs.

But the species, which feeds on smaller fish, began struggling to survive thirty years ago, partly due to overfishing of herring and mackerel.

Now it seems the mighty predator is back in business.

Fisherman reported seeing schools of more than 100 munching on pilchards and mackerel off Cornwall last year, The Times report.

The return of the enormous fish could see a resurrection of big game fishing and attract wealthy anglers in the off season when bluefin are at their highest numbers.

At least 50 were caught by shark anglers in the past two years, despite the fact they are classed as an endangered species and it is illegal to target them in British waters.

An Atlantic bluefin tuna. Some cross the Atlantic Ocean to North America and back in a single year

Satellite tags are being used in the UK and Europe to track bluefins' movements and have revealed they migrate over huge distances.

Some cross the Atlantic Ocean to North America and back in a single year.

'The return of bluefin tuna to UK waters has generated huge excitement amongst UK sea anglers,' David Mitchell, Angling Trust's head of marine, told The Times.

'Looking into the future, the Angling Trust can see the potential opportunity for a legitimate recreational bluefin tuna fishery to work alongside further scientific research.'A New Jersey mother is fighting to keep her autistic son alive despite a hospital's wish to pull the plug on him after doctors declared him medically brain dead.

Rumpa Banerjee of Bordentown, New Jersey, is seeking help for her son, 14-year-old Areen Chakrabarti, who was declared brain dead while at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Chakrabarti suffered brain damage during a fire at his home on April 14.

Mom Rumpa Banerjee went to court to get a restraining order after a Philadelphia hospital was going to forcibly remove her brain dead son, Areen Chakrabarti, 14, from life support

Banerjee and Chakrabarti were said to have run outside to escape the fire, but then Chakrabarti, who is autistic, went back into the house to rescue his laptop, according to NJ.com.

Firefighters found Chakrabarti hiding under a staircase. He was unconscious and suffered from severe smoke inhalation.

After being taken to a New Jersey hospital, he was transported to CHOP for specialized treatment, according to Banerjee's lawyer, Christopher Bagnato.

A week into his stay at CHOP, Chakrabarti was declared brain dead and doctors asked for permission to take him off life support.

On April 24, doctors told Banerjee, a single mom, that if a neurological test confirmed brain death, they would remove him from life support, even if it was against her wishes, according to court documents.

Banerjee turned to Philadelphia's Court of Common Pleas for help, according to Philly.com.

Chakrabarti was declared brain dead after sustaining injuries during a fire at his home

The court documents revealed that Banerjee refused the request to remove her son from life support on the grounds that Chakrabarti apparently still responded to her touch.

Banerjee has also said that she had seen him move his feet.

On Friday, the court ruled that CHOP must keep Chakrabarti on life support until he can be transferred to another hospital or there are additional hearings.

'They were about to take the life support away. I cannot let it happen. Its a murder. Its a murder in my faith,' Banerjee told FOX 29.

Banerjee is now hoping to find a hospital in New Jersey that she can move Chakrabarti to.

Unlike Pennsylvania, New Jersey state law recognizes a difference between being brain dead and clinically dead.

On the GoFundMe page Banerjee started Friday to help raise money for her son's medical expenses, she wrote, 'I know my son is alive and will come back to me, he just needs some time to recover from the trauma.'

Banerjee's case has been referred to the Orphan's Court Division, where it could be several weeks before it is heard, according to Bagnato.A man suspected of shooting and killing a veteran sheriff's deputy in Maine has been captured after a massive four-day manhunt.

Somerset County Sheriff Dale Lancaster announced Saturday that John Williams had been taken into custody shortly after 12.30pm.

The 29-year-old suspect is accused of fatally shooting Somerset County Sheriff's Corporal Eugene Cole, 61, early Wednesday morning.

'I'm extremely grateful for all those people involved that assisted Somerset County Sheriff's Office in bringing Williams in,' Lancaster said, according to WGME.

Scroll down for video

John Williams is suspected of fatally shooting a sheriff's deputy in Maine on Wednesday morning. The 29-year-old was captured in a wooded area on Saturday

Some 200 law enforcement members in the area spent the past four days searching for Williams. The FBI had also announced a $20,000 reward for information leading to Williams' capture.

Williams' was arrested less than an hour after Cole's wife pleaded for Williams to turn himself in.

'I urge Mr. Williams to turn himself in or at least reach out to law enforcement. Mr. Williams, be assured you'll be treated the same way Corporal Cole would have treated you, if you had given him the opportunity, with dignity and respect. We just want you to talk to someone. Even after all you have put us through, this is all we are asking of you. Please, please talk to us,' Sheryl Cole said in a letter read by Lancaster during a news conference on Saturday.

Authorities have yet to release detailed information on Williams' capture. The man was photographed being escorted out of a wooded area near Norridgewock Road in Farifield on Saturday afternoon.

Authorities said Williams (left) shot and killed Somerset County Sheriff's Corporal Eugene Cole, 61, early Wednesday morning during an encounter

Williams was not wearing a shirt or shoes when he was arrested, and had a yellow tarp wrapped around his waist.

Cole, who Lancaster described as 'one of the finest deputies', was found dead in the front yard of a Norridgewock home. Kimberly Sirois told WGME she found the deputy's body around 7:15am on Wednesday.

The sheriff's department said the 13-year veteran had an encounter with Williams on a darkened road in the area. Authorities said Williams also stole Cole's police cruise rand robbed a Cumberland Farms convenience store.

Cole's car was later found abandoned off Martin Road around 5am on Wednesday.

Williams has a criminal history and was arrested in March by Massachusetts State Police and charged with carrying a firearm without a license, possession of a large-capacity firearm and other offenses, WGME reports. He was scheduled to appear in court for a hearing the day of the shooting.

Somerset County Sheriff's Department has not released a motive for Wednesday's crime.China on Friday expressed opposition to a U.S. Senate resolution on the reincarnation of Dalai Lama, saying it has interfering in China's internal affairs.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying made the remarks at a daily press briefing in response to a question regarding Tibet issue and China's human rights.

The U.S. Senate on Thursday agreed to a resolution which claimed that

the responsibility for identifying a future 15th Dalai Lama only rest with officials of the 14th Dalai Lama's private office and any interference from the Chinese government is invalid.

"The resolution reflects that some people in the United States have always been inexplicably ignorant and arrogant," Hua said.

It is known to all that the reincarnation of a living Buddha in Tibetan Buddhism is a unique inheritance system that has a history of hundreds of years, and follows an integrated religious rituals and historical conventions, said Hua, emphasizing that a living Buddha's reincarnation should follow those rituals, conventions and China's laws and regulations and should not be interfered by anybody or any foreign country.

"The U.S. congressmen and officials should had focused on serving their own people, however, it's a pity that they have always selectively ignored the problems they face at home and expressed unusual enthusiasm for meddling in other country's domestic affairs," Hua said.

As for the human rights issue, the U.S. State Department recently issued the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2017, criticizing China's human rights condition and ethnic issues.

"The United States faces many problems at home," said Hua. Citing the Human Rights Record of the United States in 2017 released by the Information Office of the State Council, she said systematic racial discrimination has intensified social split in the United States.

China urges the relevant people in the United States to properly handle their own problems before irresponsibly criticizing other countries, Hua said.Its just a few weeks since Miles, terrified, was hiding beneath a parked van in a rapidly spreading pool of his own blood

Looking at Miles Hurley, it is clear good genes run in the family.

The tousle-haired nephew of British actress and model Elizabeth Hurley, himself a model for top fashion houses Dolce & Gabbana and Roberto Cavalli, is effortlessly handsome in a white designer T-shirt and jeans to make the most of the spring sunshine.

If he appears a little pale, or winces a little as he shifts his weight in the wooden outdoor chair, he glosses over it with a good-natured charm.

It is hard to imagine that its just a few weeks since Miles, terrified, was hiding beneath a parked van in a rapidly spreading pool of his own blood from two deep stab wounds to his back, praying he would not be discovered

It was a kind of horror that Miles, 21, could never have possibly imagined. Nor could he have anticipated that he would become yet another knife crime statistic during a year which has seen Londons murder rate overtake New York for the first time.

In an ordeal which made headlines across the country, Miles and a friend were pursued in a high-speed car chase by a group of young men after the most minor of traffic collisions.

They were assaulted, stabbed with a large kitchen knife and, as he explains today in his first dramatic interview, he came just millimetres from death.

His words will make difficult reading for parents everywhere.

I had a guardian angel that night, he says, simply. I lost six pints of blood. The doctors thought Id perforated my liver and clipped one of my major arteries. But everything they feared could have happened, didnt. They said I was stabbed twice, in the same place. That the knife didnt hit my spinal cord or arteries all came down to angles and millimetres.

So violent were his assailants, they first attempted to force him into the boot of his own car, threatening abduction and an unspeakable fate, before plunging the knife four inches into his back.

It is a minor miracle that he managed to escape, or that he is with us here today.

Scroll down for video

It is at Elizabeth Hurleys 6 million Herefordshire estate where Miles has been recovering from his wound, a broad, livid red slash which crosses over his spine on his lower back

It was the presence of a quick-thinking Good Samaritan  who called an ambulance and gave Miles his jumper to put pressure on the wound  that caused the attackers to flee the scene.

And it was Auntie Elizabeth  known affectionately in the family as Minx  who he rang first from his hospital bed, who flew from New York to be by his side, and who has been posting updates on his condition on Instagram.

It is at Elizabeth Hurleys 6 million Herefordshire estate where Miles has been recovering from his wound, a broad, livid red slash which crosses over his spine on his lower back. Still fresh, it stopped bleeding only last week after becoming infected, but he knows he is surrounded by family. His mother Katie Hurley, 54, Elizabeths elder sister, lives in a three-bedroom cottage on the same estate.

Reliving his ordeal today, Miles sits awkwardly, clearly in some discomfort, his hands shaking almost imperceptibly. He admits he is lucky to be alive.

His mother, sitting by his side, is in tears at some of the more graphic details, some of which she is only now hearing herself for the first time.

Still fresh, it stopped bleeding only last week after becoming infected, but he knows he is surrounded by family

Miles, too, remains in shock.

Im not sleeping well. During the day youre distracted but at night youre alone with your thoughts, he says. You never think this sort of thing can happen to you. I hadnt come into contact with this kind of violence before. It wasnt something I thought about. You assume it stays between gangs, but it doesnt. No-one can escape it.

Im wary about coming back to London because my attackers are still out there. But Im determined to come back because I love the city and if I let them affect my life then theyve won.

Miles grew up in South-West London with Katie, a single mother, and his older sister Amelia, 23, and has always been close to Auntie Elizabeth, who he describe as my second mum. From time to time, he works as a farm labourer on her estate.

He attended the fee-paying Emanuel School in Battersea but even a prestigious education was no protection from the culture of gangs and knife crime that has taken such a hold in London. His friends have all been through attempted muggings. In London, the default position is you assume someone has a knife. It feels like its a mental health issue, guys looking for some kind of power or authority or status, he explains. Theyd say, Where are you going? Can we come? while holding a knife in their hands. I never told Mum.

Miles believed his only option was to try to lose them and turned down some back streets he knew. Pictured: The scene of the stabbing

It was in March of this year that his life changed for ever  and so nearly came to a terrible end. Miles and his friend Romell had decided to visit an art exhibition in Vauxhall, South London. It was shortly before 9pm and Miles was at the wheel of his mothers beige Fiat 500  not very manly, he quips  and indicating to merge into another lane.

He recalls there being plenty of room until a black hatchback suddenly sped up behind him and, in blocking him, caused a minor collision, little more than a touch.

I was thinking, Oh God, its Mums car. I wound down my window to ask the driver to pull over further up to exchange details.

Miles is assiduously polite and mild-mannered and it is impossible to imagine him getting into an argument. Indeed, road rage, he says, doesnt make sense to me. But what should have been a straightforward conversation immediately turned nasty when the five men in the car began screaming and swearing.

It was all, What the f*** do you think youre doing?

The two cars were within touching distance, which I realised when the guy in the passenger side suddenly threw a punch at my head through the open windows.

The adrenalin kicked in  it was fight or flight. My friend just said, Drive!, so I slammed my foot down. I heard them screaming, chase him, chase him.

Miles believed his only option was to try to lose them and turned down some back streets he knew. Heart pounding, he parked the car, unwilling to prolong a chase and convinced they could shake off their pursuers. But seconds later, the men pulled up alongside them in the dark street.

They got out and the driver, the aggressor, circled us. I tried to talk my way out of it and said something like, So are we going to exchange insurance details?. He said: Nah, actually. You can give me your car keys and get in the f****** boot.

All I could think of was that I didnt want to get in that boot  I didnt want to imagine what could happen if I did. They were trying to grab the keys, which I put in my pocket, so the driver put his hands around my neck, and thats when I realised they were going to force me into the boot. They were pushing and pulling me. I had to hit the driver in the face.

Miles was pushed up against the car, his back to the men, when he felt an aggressive shove. He never saw a knife but now knows he and Romell were stabbed.

I heard them shouting: Poke him, poke him. I didnt feel anything, there was no pain. I had no idea Id been stabbed.

Romell screamed at Miles to run. Astonishingly, they made it 200 yards around the corner and threw themselves underneath a parked van while the men piled back into their own car. I closed my eyes and heard the car screeching down the middle of the road and knew I couldnt get up. I started feeling around and found a big pool of blood. Thats when Miles looked up and saw a tall man on the phone, saying: Theres two people whove been stabbed.

The men in the car saw him and sped off. It was a huge moment of relief. He was like my guardian angel, but I dont know who he was. He gave me his jumper to put pressure on my wound. I cant thank him enough.

Within five minutes, the police arrived, followed ten minutes later by an ambulance. Miles believes he was drifting in and out of consciousness but does remember trying to apply lessons learned from watching Quentin Tarantinos gory cult classic, Kill Bill, on how to survive stab wounds.

I wasnt thinking how I was going to die. I knew people didnt die instantly from stab wounds because the adrenalin keeps you alive. So I just kept wiggling my toes, kept calm and tried to keep my heart rate low.

They were taken to St Georges Hospital where Miles made a call to Elizabeth, terrified his mum would attempt to drive through the night from Herefordshire, and potentially have a crash of her own.

I said, Minx, where are you? She replied, In New York. So I told her I was in hospital but that I would only tell her what happened if she promised not to call my mum. She called me a pest  she thought I was drunk, probably from the morphine. Eventually, I told her Id been stabbed and she freaked out. She did very well to keep calm, and told me that she needed to get someone to be with me.

She did, however, call her sister but didnt manage to get hold of her for some hours so it was the following morning that Katie got to the hospital. Elizabeth herself cancelled a number of work engagements to be at her nephews bedside.

Over the next five days, Miles was assessed and found to be extremely lucky. The knife had narrowly missed his liver, spinal cord and, most seriously, a major artery, all by millimetres.

Doctors also told him the thick leather jacket he had been wearing had likely saved his life by absorbing some of the blow. He had 13 stitches  lucky 13, he now jokes.

Even now, its hard for Katie to think about how close she came to losing her son. Tearfully, she says: Its your worst nightmare, but if you have a teenager in London you have to be aware that it might happen. I dont like him out of my sight at the moment. Initially, Miles struggled to walk and his progress was delayed by an infection and a rip to his stitches.

It has clearly been an agonising time as well as a troubling one. Bristol University student Romell, who had been stabbed in the ribs but also escaped serious injury, moved to stay with the family for the first two weeks of his recovery too, which helped Miles to process what happened enormously.

And then theres Elizabeth. Liz has cancelled loads of things to be with us and has seemed the most free shes been in years, says Miles.

Shes been incredible, calling and texting every day, reminding me not to do too much and to let mum do everything for me.

He is understandably nervous of returning to London. With his attackers still on the loose, he fears reprisals.

Part of dealing with the trauma has involved researching knife crime in the capital. The statistics have left Miles shocked. He and Elizabeth are now determined to support prevention strategies to reduce the number of knives on Londons streets and are keen to get involved with a pressure group.

Its complex  there are so many reasons for knife violence. Mental health issues, depression, gang culture, status or peer pressure. I think a lot of people dont care. To any normal person, a road rage stabbing is shocking, incomprehensible, but they think, So what? And they move on. Whatever else is going on in their lives clouds it.

He does have a plea for Home Secretary Amber Rudd. We need to learn from Scotland, where knife crime dropped after increasing the number of stop and searches, introducing mandatory sentencing for carrying a weapon and programmes to rehabilitate offenders away from gang culture, he says.

Yet in 2016/17, there were more than 295,600 stop and searches in London  a quarter of those which took place in 2011/12. Since then, knife crime has gone up 23 per cent. I understand there are problems with stop and search in terms of who is stopped but lets aim for more and see what happens. We need to do something  Im proof it can happen to anyone.

Although he cant remember their faces, the attackers are always on his mind and Miles is prepared to go to court to make sure they reap the consequences for what they did.

So far, however, despite a police investigation and the release of CCTV imagery from the attack, there have been no arrests.

Ive had days when Ive been angry. Ive had days when Ive almost felt sorry for them. Ive had days Ive wanted to forgive them.

I genuinely feel if theyre as young as we estimated  between 19 and 22  maybe one or two of them might grow up and regret it and feel sick.

I certainly hope so.Oswego firefighter Sean O'Gorman is credited with saving three girls from drowning in North Carolina on Thursday

An New York firefighter is being praised after he saved three girls from drowning in North Carolina while on vacation with his family.

Oswego firefighter Sean O'Gorman was at the right place and right time on Thursday when he spotted two girls on Boogie boards caught in a deadly current off the state's Emerald Isle.

A third girl jumped in the water to help them when they started calling out for help, but then she became stuck too.

That's when 50-year-old O'Gorman, who completed swift water rescue training in Auburn just two weeks ago, stepped in.

The girls' mother had called 911 and her husband was going to get a surfboard to try to rescue them, but the fireman decided to swim out and bring the three girls back himself.

'Getting back was a struggle, with me trying to tow them all in. They were hooked onto my feet,' O'Gorman told the Charlotte Observer.

O'Gorman first noticed two girls on Boogie boards struggling in the current, and then a third girl jumped in to help and also got stuck in the water

The fireman used techniques he learned in training such as the 'forceful crawl stroke' to get the teen girls out.

He told the Observed: 'The girls did not panic, they were calm.

'Their parents thanked me and everything, but I believe Emerald Isle's Fire Department would have gotten to them if I hadn't gone out.'

The Oswego Fire Department praised O'Gorman for saving the girls: '[He] was able to reach the girls where their father was unable, even on a surf board.

The New York fireman completed swift water rescue training in Auburn just two weeks ago (he's pictured in the water)

'By the time firefighters from Emerald Isle arrived FF OGorman had everyone out of the water safe.'

As the Observer points out, North Carolina is one of the most dangerous states for rip currents, with about 100 people dying every year after being caught in rip tides.

Just two days before O'Gorman saved the girls, a four-year-old boy from New Hampshire died when he was pulled into the ocean by a wave and drowned off the Outer Banks, about three hours north of Emerald Isle, as previously reported.

The boy's body was still missing as of Saturday.Paul Holes, an investigator who has been looking into the case for years, said one of the critical clues linking DeAngelo to the crimes was that he yelled out 'I hate you Bonnie' during one of his first alleged rape attacks, The Mercury News reports.

DeAngelo was once engaged to a woman named Bonnie.

'Most certainly if he's making the statement, "I hate you, Bonnie," while he's attacking another female, he is what we call an anger retaliatory rapist. Instead of directing his anger at what's making him angry, he's directing it sideways onto someone else to be able to satisfy that anger,' Holes said.

'I do believe that's what happened here. I don't know what made him that way, but you've got to think Bonnie dumped him, he's not happy about that, he still had feeling for her, who knows? But something along those lines must have happened.'

Paul Holes, an investigator who has been working the case since 1994, said one of the critical clues linking DeAngelo to the crimes was that he yelled out 'I hate you Bonnie' during one of his first alleged rape attacks. Holes is pictured above on Megyn Kelly's show

Holes, who has been a key investigator in the case since 1994, said he helped test DNA from the various crime scenes and tie them all together.

'We always thought there was a Bonnie significant in his life, it could be a mother, a wife, a girlfriend, a childhood crush,' Holes said.

He said that they closed in on him after the DNA match and realizing he had an ex-fiancee named Bonnie.

Investigators searched DeAngelo's home on Thursday looking for class rings, earrings, dishes and other items that were taken from crime scenes 40 years ago.

Sacramento County Sheriff's Lt. Paul Belli said authorities were seeking weapons and other items that could link the suspect to the crimes. He declined to say what, if anything, investigators had found.

Investigators backed two vehicles, a motorcycle and fishing boat out of the home's three-car garage and installed tarps to block prying eyes and news cameras.

It emerged on Thursday that DeAngelo was caught by using online genealogical sites to find a DNA match.The Tiger tank was greatly feared by the Allies in the Second World War  and with good reason.

It was superior to anything the British and Americans until near the end of war and had an almost mythical status.

According to the Tank Museum, the requirement for a 45 ton tank was issued in May 1941 and taken up by two firms, Porsche Henschel.

Tiger tanks in action during the Second World War. The machines established a fearsome reputation among Allied troops

The first prototypes were hurriedly built for Hitlers birthday and trials revealed that the Henschel design was the more practical with production beginning in July 1942.

By this time specifications had changed and the tank would weigh in the region of 57 tons, and mount an 88mm gun behind a maximum 110mm of armour on the turret front.

The Tiger first saw service against the Red Army in September 1942 and then against the Allies in Tunisia in December that year.

The Tiger had a five man crew and a top speed of 24 mph

It soon established a fearsome reputation among British troops.

Such was the strength of its armour that startled British crews would see shells fired from their Churchill tanks simply bounce off the Tiger.

In an early encounter with the Allies in Tunisia, eight rounds fired from a 75mm artillery gun bounced off of the side of the tank from a distance of just 150 feet.

While it could absorb punishment, when it came to dishing it out, it used the destructive power of a gun which could fire shells each weighing nearly a ton, well over a mile.

Every contemporary Allied tank was vulnerable to the Tiger at 2,000 metres but most Allied tanks had to close to within a few hundred meters to stand any chance of damaging the Tiger.

The only British tank gun that could penetrate the Tigers armour was the 17pdr, only available in small numbers until the last few months of the war, mounted on the Sherman Firefly and some M10 Tank destroyers.

It would probably be fair to say that more Tigers were lost through mechanical failure than combat action.

The tanks had a top speed of 24mph but the V12 engine used up a lot of petrol doing 0.4 miles to the gallon.

It was designed to drive through four metres of water using a snorkel-type tube as it was too heavy to go over many of the bridges at the time.

It saw action in Russia, Tunisia, Sicily, Italy and north-west Europe although production was limited to just 1,354 tanks.

Germany's top Tiger commander was Kurt Knispel, with 168 confirmed tank kills.

The Tiger was shrouded in secrecy and only the Wehrmacht knew how it worked and on Hitlers orders, disabled Tiger tanks had to be destroyed on the spot.

Despite its formidable reputation, the Tiger had some drawbacks.

It wide it had to be narrowed down to travel by rail and in bad conditions the overlapping wheels trapped mud and ice sufficient to bring the big tank to a halt.

The engine had a nasty habit of catching fire while the gearbox, if subjected to great stress, was liable to break down.

Still, the tank had an impact far greater than the relatively few numbers the Germans were able to produce.Baby's first food should not be mashed banana or rice, with parents advised to wean their children on broccoli.

Child food experts at University College London are advising parents to choose bitter vegetables such as broccoli, spinach or cauliflower as their babys first solid food.

They say baby rice, chosen by more than half of parents, is too bland and a missed opportunity to make them less fussy eaters.

Fruits such as mashed banana are feared to give a baby an early sweet tooth and make them less open to trying vegetables later on.

Child food experts at University College London are advising parents to choose bitter vegetables such as broccoli

Dr Clare Llewellyn and Dr Hayley Syrad, who have researched baby eating habits for over a decade, want the first foods introduced to children at around six months to be bitter vegetables, as these are the foods most commonly disliked by children.

They say parents who attempt to give infants vegetables after starting them with fruit may be disappointed. Even if it takes 15 attempts with a vegetable to make children like it, studies suggest this strategy works to make children less fussy, healthier eaters.

The academics have written a book, Baby Food Matters, on what and how to feed children from conception to their second birthday, based on nearly 100 scientific papers and articles they have published on the subject (SUBS  PLS KEEP).

Dr Llewellyn said: The most important thing when you introduce solid foods is to introduce the foods babies are more likely to reject.

Fruits such as mashed banana are feared to give a baby an early sweet tooth and make them less open to trying vegetables later on

If you introduce savoury foods, particularly the more bitter-tasting vegetables like broccoli and spinach which children often struggle with, or cauliflower which they are reluctant to eat, they are more accepting of those foods going forward.

If you start with sweet, delicious-tasting foods like fruit, who could blame children for struggling to enjoy vegetables after that? Weaning is a chance to introduce children to new flavours, not to help them develop a sweet tooth.

Babies are most open to new flavours around the time they are weaned, with fussiness setting in after children reach around 20 months.

Evolutionarily it makes sense for them to like sweet flavours, as they contain the calories needed to grow properly, and to dislike bitter flavours, which could signal foods are poisonous.

But the experts say giving children vegetables early may help, with parents advised to give babies a new vegetable every day for five days, then to rotate them for the next 10 days.

Sweet potato, parsnips and carrots are advised against as they are too sweet, with steamed, mashed and pureed dark green vegetables recommended. The experts also say giving babies sour fruits, such as plums or cherries, may be best for deterring fussy eating.

Parents giving babies new foods should offer praise and smiles, or eat them at the same time  pretending to enjoy them if necessary. Just because children turn away or spit out foods does not necessarily mean they dont like them, with the amount they eat a better guide.

A German study of 49 mothers who gave their babies a vegetable they disliked repeatedly found the infants eventually chose to eat more of that vegetable.

Baby Food Matters, which is published next Thursday by Yellow Kite, says health visitors often recommend baby rice or porridge but that these foods and rusks are too bland, to begin with for weaning.Arriving by car in Deauville, I do what the British do best when confronted with the seaside.

First, a picnic on a bench  packet of crisps and a roll  followed by an attempt to fly a kite shaped like a giant shark, which ends in near disaster when my youngest daughter dive-bombs a chihuahua sporting a silk-lined corduroy jacket.

They do things differently on this stretch of the Normandy coast. Same sea and sand as across the Channel, but less salt and vinegar and more sophistication. Given its history, thats hardly surprising.

Chic: Trouville, pictured, and Deauville have glorious sandy beaches

The resort of Deauville and neighbouring Trouville were built 150 years ago by the Duc de Morny, half-brother of Napoleon III, as a playground for posh Parisians  and they have never looked back.

Just two hours by train from the capital, they have all the amusements stylish visitors might demand  a couple of racecourses, a casino, and streets lined with designer outlets.

Coco Chanel opened her first fashion boutique here in the summer of 1913, and the range of labels on offer has my wife furtively texting friends back home to arrange a future visit. Im not expecting an invite.

Then, of course, theres the beach. Sandy and stretching almost a mile, it is lined by the Promenade des Planches boardwalk with its row of bathing cabins. Each is named after a Hollywood star  everyone from Al Pacino to Nicole Kidman  who have attended the American Film Festival, held every September.

When we visit, theres only a handful of hardy tourists taking the sea air. Which is just as well, given the near-fatal crash-landing of the kite.

But in summer the towns population of 4,000 increases eight-fold. Those hoping to escape the hustle and bustle would do well to follow our footsteps and head inland five miles where Les Manoirs de Tourgeville sits in a secluded rural setting.

This four-star hotel comprises a huge, half-timbered main building formed into a cloister-like square. At one end is a bar and living room, huge stone fireplace roaring away, and at the other, the pool, gym and spa.

All smiles: Tom pictured above with his family on their French seaside holiday

The remaining sides house some of the 57 rooms, the rest in four manoirs dotted around the grounds.

Despite its old-world look and feel, the hotels history is relatively short. It was built in the Seventies by Claude Lelouch, a legendary French film-maker.He made more than 40 movies. One critic greeted his first film with the words: Claude Lelouch  remember this name, for you will never hear it again.

Nonetheless, he left his mark on the place  in the basement theres a 40-seat cinema that guests can book and use whenever they want, bringing along their own DVDs.

Two of my daughters, aged 12 and seven, opt for the hit musical La La Land, and as the opening sequence unfolds on the giant screen, they are out of their seats and dancing in the aisles. It seems rude not to join them. If nothing else, it might free up some extra space for the following mornings petit dejeuner.

Heading to the hotels dining room we are confronted with a near A to Z of French baking craft  everything from sticky, glazed almond croissants to bouncy brioches, sugar-dusted chouquettes, shell-shaped madeleines and religieuses plump with creme patisserie.

Given its location in the heart of Normandy, a region famed for its cream, butter and milk, that is only to be expected.

The previous evening we had sampled the other local speciality  seafood  as we dined in the hotels Restaurant Le 1899. But while my wife and I tucked in to scallops and sole meuniere, my seven-year-old insisted on ordering a plate of frites as a starter. You can take the girl out of England, as they say, but . . .She's returning to Hollyoaks as bombshell Mercedes McQueen this summer.

And while Jennifer Metcalfe admits she's excited to get back to work, her list of life priorities have changed over the past year, she admits.

Speaking to MailOnline, Jen, 35, said her number one priority is now her son Daye Colmic Lake, whom she welcomed to the world last June.

Getting stuck in [the mud]: Jennifer Metcalfe showed off her post-baby body during gruelling Tough Mudder on Saturday... as she admitted that 'fitness has moved down the priority list' since becoming a mother

'Fitness will always come third or fourth on the list now,' the star - famed for her well-honed curves - revealed. 'The difference between now and before I had my son is that when I do train now its a time out for me and an opportunity to chill.

'So I do loads of Mummy Fit and I'm trying to get in HIIT when I can.'

This being said, Jen - who shares Daye with ex-Geordie Shore star Greg Lake, 33 - has taken on Tough Mudder.

'I was absolutely pooing myself!' she exclaimed, of the notoriously hardcore obstacle course. 'Before I did it, I decided that if I made it a meter in and fell face down, get my hair caught in the barbed wire, I'd still crawl through.'

Champion: The actress looked thrilled with her achievement after the event

Happy couple: Jen shares Daye with ex-Geordie Shore star Greg Lake, 33 [pictured last week]

But Jennifer looked like a fitness impresario at the event on Saturday as she was seen getting well and truly stuck in.

The actress slipped into a slate grey tracksuit, with red detailing, and black trainers, as she dived head first into the challenge, in Henley-On-Thames.

Wearing her brunette tresses loosely around her beaming features, the soap favourite didn't look at all concerned about taking on the gruelling physical challenge.

Giving it her all: Jennifer looked like a fitness impresario at the event on Saturday as she was seen getting well and truly stuck in

Slim physique: The actress slipped into a slate grey tracksuit, with red detailing, and black trainers, as she dived head first into the challenge, in Henley-On-Thames

She was seen larking around with fellow competitors, sharing jokes and getting into the camaraderie of the event.

Before long, the mum-of-one had tied her hair back into a loose ponytail and was crawling through slushy earth of the field, ducking under sharp barbed wire and launching herself over bales of hay with gusto.

Not once did the Hollyoaks star seem traumatised by the event, grinning and laughing with others as she got covered in the wet slop.

Finishing the course, Jen applied some of the grime to her cheeks as war paint and was seen saluting her achievement before celebrating with the crowds.

Tough: Wearing her brunette tresses loosely around her beaming features, the soap favourite didn't look at all concerned about taking on the gruelling physical challenge

Triumphant: Finishing the course, Jen applied some of the grime to her cheeks as war paint and was seen saluting her achievement before celebrating with the crowds

Toned: If her fitness regime has taken a hit since welcoming her baby, it didn't show on Saturday

Gruelling: Before long, the mum-of-one had tied her hair back into a loose ponytail and was crawling through slushy earth of the field

If her fitness regime has taken a hit since welcoming her baby, it didn't show on Saturday.

Jen was taking part in the event on behalf of World-famous German brand Black Tower wine, who are Tough Mudder UKs Official Wine Partner for 2018.

'I like wine and I like exercising so its ideal,' she said of the sponsorship. 'And Black Towers Tough Mudder souvenir wine is so lovely. It's a fruity summery drink.'

Intense: She ducked under sharp barbed wire and launching herself over bales of hay with gusto

Anxious: 'I was absolutely pooing myself!' she exclaimed, of the notoriously hardcore obstacle course

Despite her penchant for a tipple now and again, Jen revealed the secrets to her post-baby body, which she puts down mostly to what she eats.

'So I do five days a week eating whatever I want - in moderation though - and two days where I fast,' she explained. 'And actually I love my fasting days.

'I still have supplements like shakes and stuff like that, but I'm always eager to do my fast days because I don't have to think too much about it.

Healthy lifestyle: Despite her penchant for a tipple now and again, Jen revealed the secrets to her post-baby body, which she puts down mostly to what she eats

Warm up: She was seen larking around with fellow competitors, sharing jokes and getting into the camaraderie of the event

'I am so busy with my son, fasting days gives me a day off from trying to sort out what I am going to eat.'

Of her return to Hollyoaks, Jen said she looks forward to getting back to her family and friends on set: 'Ive signed for another year on the show. I always do it on a year-to-year basis. And I haven't got a clue what the storylines are yet.

'I get back to filming in June. I love playing Mercedes. Mostly when she's being mischievous or screwing someone over. It's fun.

'I'm lucky because I have had some amazing, credible and intense storylines on Hollyoaks. I'm excited. Whenever I go back, I always come back with a swing in my step.'

Diet: 'I do five days a week eating whatever I want - in moderation though - and two days where I fast,' she explained. 'And actually I love my fasting days'

Unfortunately, the demands of a baby son means Jen hasn't been able to keep up with the Channel 4 soap.

'I caught five minutes of it last night. TV has been off the radar for me,' she said.

So out of the TV loop is she, that Jen was unaware of the current storyline on Coronation Street, which deals with male rape - something Hollyoaks tackled in 2000 in a groundbreaking plot.

Nonetheless, she approved of it, insisting that anything that raises awareness should be applauded.

She said: 'More soaps doing it is great. The more the merrier. As long as it's compelling, not too far-fetched. Its fantastic to raise awareness.'Bobby Brown often broke into tears as he watched scenes being filmed involving his daughter's death for his upcoming biopic.

'You never really get over it,' he said about the death of Bobbi Kristina Brown, who was found unresponsive in a bathtub in 2015. She died at the age of 22 after six months in a coma.

Sporting a gold pendant with a picture of him and Bobbi Kristina, 49-year-old Brown said in a recent interview that he's still having a hard time coping with the death of his daughter. She is also the daughter of the Whitney Houston, who died in remarkably similar circumstances in 2012.

Bobby Brown often broke into tears as he watched scenes being filmed involving his daughter's death for his upcoming biopic. Seen here with Bobbi and wife Whitney Houston in 1994

'I go through it every day,' he said. 'Just the thought of her and looking at my youngest daughter and my other kids, knowing they'll never get to know their oldest sister is a struggle. It gets rough sometimes. Of course, I have to go through it because I can't change it.'

Bobbi Kristina and his tumultuous marriage to Houston are some of the most difficult subjects explored in The Bobby Brown Story, airing on BET in September. The miniseries details the rise of Brown, who became a multiplatinum sensation as a solo artist but was also defined by his highly-publicized drug use, legal woes and tumultuous marriage to Houston.

Brown's biopic is a continuation of BET's successful The New Edition Story miniseries last year. It picks up after Brown's departure from the group but does show scenes from his childhood as well.

Bobbi Kristina and his tumultuous marriage to Houston are some of the most difficult subjects explored in The Bobby Brown Story, airing on BET in September. Seen here in 2003

Brown was often on set for the taping. His spirits were high during a reenactment of a performance of Brown's 1988 smash hit My Prerogative. But when Bobbi Kristina's name was brought up, it became a sensitive subject for Brown and others.

'You would see the emotions on his face, (him) tearing up,' said Woody McClain, who reprises his role as Brown in the new biopic. 'I would quickly switch the subject. I don't want him to relive it again. Those are super tough moments.'

Jesse Collins, executive producer of Brown's biopic and The New Edition Story, said Bobbi Kristina's death in particular still haunts Brown.

'That was the hardest part was getting him to talk about (stuff), especially Bobbi Kris,' Collins said. 'Whenever you talk about her, he gets emotional. A loss of a child is something I can't even begin to fathom. But he got there and explained what happened, the nature of their relationship.'

'You never really get over it,' he said about the death of Bobbi Kristina Brown, who was found unresponsive in a bathtub in 2015. The family are seen here in 1998

In memory of his daughter, Brown created the Bobbi Kristina Brown Serenity House, a not-for-profit organization designed to assist women who have been victims of domestic violence.

'We're trying to build houses for battered women and men to have a safe haven, so they'll have a safe place to go,' he said. 'We are very serious about this. I just don't want to see any father or mother go through losing a child.'

Brown blames his daughter's former boyfriend, Nick Gordon, for her death. Gordon was found responsible in a wrongful death lawsuit and an Atlanta judge ordered him to pay $36 million to Bobbi Kristina's estate.

Brown's wife, Alicia-Etheredge Brown, hopes her husband can find therapy through it all.

'We're just trying to figure out as we go along,' she said. 'With life, we're looking for therapy and outlets. For him to still be able to be creative, find peace and joy, that's what I want for him.'Married At First Sight's Davina Rankin has not been shy about her cosmetic treatments - and now an expert has claimed she is part of a growing trend among young Australian women.

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph on Saturday, the 27-year-old Instagram model said: 'A little bit of filler really goes a long way.'

'I get lip filler and a tiny bit of Botox in my forehead,' she added. 'My mum's from Papua New Guinea so I actually naturally have decent-sized lips anyway.'

Scroll down for video

'A bit of filler and Botox goes a long way!' Married At First Sight's Davina Rankin, 27, has spoken candidly about her cosmetic treatments as an expert reveals why 'younger and younger' Australian women are getting injectables

Davina explained that she has been getting lip injections since she was just 18, and continues to have top-up treatments every six months.

Professor Mark Ashton, president of the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons, told Confidential that he has noticed 'younger and younger kids are having fillers.'

He claimed that injectables affect the natural ageing process and can change the structure of someone's appearance.

Secret to a perfect pout! 'I get lip filler and a tiny bit of Botox in my forehead. My mum's from Papua New Guinea so I actually naturally have decent-sized lips anyway,' Davina said

'Is that what I look like?' It comes after Davina's Married At First Sight co-star Tracey Jewel, 35, spoke about her regrets over cosmetic treatments and why she had her facial fillers dissolved

It comes after Davina's Married At First Sight co-star Tracey Jewel, 35, recently spoke about her regrets over cosmetic treatments.

Tracey told Woman's Day magazine that she had the filler in her cheeks, lips and under her eyes dissolved.

'TV wasn't so kind. I'd look at some of the angles I was shot in and think, "S**t, is that what I look like?" Then the online abuse started,' she said.

The self-help author said that she prefers her more natural appearance today, saying: 'I feel great and don't see the need to change how I look any more.'

Enhanced: Other reality TV contestants who have undergone lip injections include Bachelor In Paradise stars Keira Maguire, 31, and Laurina Fleure, 34. Pictured: Keira

Quest for perfection: Keira, who rose to fame on The Bachelor in 2016, has previously admitted to having a nose job and breast implants, as well as fillers

Other reality TV contestants who have undergone lip injections include Bachelor In Paradise stars Keira Maguire, 31, and Laurina Fleure, 34.

Keira, who rose to fame on The Bachelor in 2016, has previously admitted to having a nose job and breast implants, as well as fillers.

Meanwhile, Laurina has had a breast augmentation, otoplasty, tummy tuck, Botox, and liposuction in her armpits to remove her sweat glands.

'I am all for plastic surgery. I love it. I've got nothing to hide,' she told News.com.au back in 2016.

'I am all for plastic surgery. I love it!' Laurina Fleure (right) has had a breast augmentation, otoplasty, tummy tuck, Botox, and liposuction in her armpits to remove her sweat glands

My Kitchen Rules stars Jess Alvial and Emma Byron were famously nicknamed 'The Botox Sisters' because of their fondness for injectables.

They even faced trolling on social media over how they look, with one fan cruelly tweeting: 'Don't let them near the stove, they'll melt'.

'Some of the personal attacks have been horrid,' Emma previously told The Daily Telegraph. 'I didn't think it was a beauty contest - I thought it was a cooking show.'When Theresa May, Donald Trump and even Prince Harrys old friend Barack Obama failed to receive invitations to the royal wedding, at least they could console themselves with the knowledge that no politician would be present.

I hear there is, however, one exception: Sir John Major has been invited to the May 19 ceremony at St Georges Chapel, Windsor.

To stop the other former Prime Ministers Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and David Cameron becoming even more jealous, courtiers are keen to stress that Major has not made the guest list because of his political position.

Sir John has been invited because of his role as a guardian to Harry, a source tells me.

Sir John Major has been invited to the May 19 ceremony at St Georges Chapel, Windsor

Following the death of Princess Diana in 1997, Major was appointed special guardian to Princes Harry and William, responsible for legal and administrative matters.

Major, whose appointment was reported to have been made at the suggestion of Prince Charles, was asked to protect the interests of Harry and William in negotiations over their mothers will.

The year after Dianas death, Major called for respect for her memory after the Princesss signature was used on tubs of margarine.

Hinting that his words had been sanctioned by her loved ones, he said: The Princesss reputation is very precious to her family and friends and her memory deserves respect. He previously said much of the publicity concerning Diana was shoddy and could only add to the Princes distress.

A Palace source stressed that all those at Harry and Meghans wedding would be there due to their relationship with the couple rather than the positions they hold

Sir John was also invited to Prince Williams wedding in 2011, but on that occasion he was joined by David Cameron, who was Prime Minister at the time.

Their invitations caused controversy because both former Labour PMs, Blair and Brown, were not on the guest list. Palace sources insisted this was because, unlike Major, neither Blair nor Brown was a Knight of the Garter.

Spokesmen for Sir John and Kensington Palace declined to comment. However, a Palace source stressed that all those at Harry and Meghans wedding would be there due to their relationship with the couple rather than the positions they hold.

Has Sir Richard Branson been watching too much Barbarella?

Has Sir Richard Branson been watching too much Barbarella, the Sixties sci-fi film in which a near-naked Jane Fonda floated round a spaceship?

For one of the space tourists who has paid to travel on the bearded tycoons Virgin Galactic suborbital flights hopes they will feature a place for making love.

There will be a sex room in space, claims Per Wimmer, a Danish philanthropist.

Theres a few technical difficulties because you are floating around. Youve got to get strapped down. From a mans perspective, it can be more difficult, but they can take Viagra. Who needs rocket-boosters?

Oops... 'career divorcee's' new beau is still married

Unkindly labelled a career divorcee after amassing a fortune through her four marriages, socialite Susan Sangster has found love again.

But, awkwardly for Susan, her wealthy new boyfriend, Charles Graham, is still married to a Brazilian firecracker called Analida.

Its a very delicate situation, one of their friends tells me. Susan, 61, who retains the surname of her third husband, the late pools and racing tycoon Robert Sangster, coyly says she cannot comment at this time.

Unkindly labelled a career divorcee after amassing a fortune through her four marriages, socialite Susan Sangster has found love again

Graham, 62, who is chairman of his own Knightsbridge-based property investment company, confirms he is not divorced. We are separated, he tells me. Analida, 58, is understood to have moved out of their 2 million home in Londons Battersea.

Two years ago, Charles and Analida were looking forward to the launch in Brazil of a 56ft ketch designed by the late Ed Burnett, creator of Gloriana, the barge built for the Queens Diamond Jubilee.

At one stage, Charles shared an address with the late gambler Dan Meinertzhagen, one of six friends of Lord Lucan who gathered at John Aspinalls house the day after Lucky Lucan disappeared in 1974.

Perhaps it will soon be time for Charles and Sue to roll the marital dice?

Awkwardly for Susan, her wealthy new boyfriend, Charles Graham (left), is still married to a Brazilian firecracker called Analida (right)

TVS Ben Fogle is testing the patience of his lovely wife, Marina. The presenter, 44, posted a snap of himself sharing a tent with a sleeping Victoria Pendleton, 37, during his ascent of Everest with the pretty former Olympic cyclist. Tent selfie at 6,400m with Victoria, wrote a reclining Fogle.

Marinas father, Dr Jonathan Hunt, joined the expedition, but only as far as base camp.

Marinas sister, Olivia, was not impressed, commenting: Hmmmm and no father-in-law to keep an eye on you guys . . . Marina insists: I am not jealous  hes just had his first wash in two weeks.

Dame Vivienne Westwoods son Joseph Corre was dumped by his wife Serena Rees for Paul Simonon, The Clashs bass player.

Now, however, the businessman, 50, who founded lingerie label Agent Provocateur with Serena, has discovered a new gem in Claire English, a jewellery designer 15 years his junior. We met through a mutual friend in the pub, Joe tells me. I wear the jewellery she designs  and so does my mum.

But Punk fashionista Dame Vivienne shouldnt expect to be designing a wedding dress soon.

Ive done that [marriage] once before and its just not important to us, Joe adds.Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen (1st R, Front), Austrian Minister for Digital and Economic Affairs Margarete Schrambock (2nd R, Front) and other guests inspect a new China-Europe freight train from Chengdu to Vienna at the Vienna South Freight Center in Vienna, Austria, on April 27, 2018. A new China-Europe freight train arrived in Vienna on Friday, which Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen described as a symbol of the cooperation between China and Austria. The train -- carrying 41 containers of goods valued at 1.5 million U.S. dollars, including LED displays, tires and lamps -- departed from Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, on April 12. (Xinhua/Pan Xu)

VIENNA, April 27 (Xinhua) -- A new China-Europe freight train arrived in Vienna on Friday, which Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen described as a symbol of the cooperation between China and Austria.

The train -- carrying 41 containers of goods valued at 1.5 million U.S. dollars, including LED displays, tires and lamps -- departed from Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province on April 12.

It traveled a 9,800-kilometer-long journey for 15 days through Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine and Slovakia, and slowly pulled into Vienna South Freight Center. From the station, the goods will be transported to the destination.

"This is really a symbol of the cooperation between China and Austria," Van der Bellen told Xinhua. "We really hope this train is the first step of closer cooperation between China and Austria."

With the new train, Austria is included into the network of China-Europe freight train service under the Belt and Road Initiative.

China-Europe freight trains have made 1,000 trips in the first three months, up 75 percent compared with the same period last year, according to China Railway Corporation.

The cross-border rail network links 43 Chinese cities with 41 European cities in 13 countries. Chengdu has 16 routes to cities including Nuremberg, Milan and Prague.

The first direct freight train came after Austria's largest delegation visited China from April 7 to 12, during which both sides enhanced bilateral ties, especially Belt and Road cooperation.

Chinese Ambassador to Austria Li Xiaosi told Xinhua that the Austrian President had paid a successful visit to China.

After the new China-Europe cargo train in Vienna, both nations would work closely to facilitate more cooperation under the Belt and Road initiative, said Li.

Austria will build a new station as a terminal for the Belt and Road in the middle of the Europe, according to a memorandum of cooperation signed by Austrian OBB Holding AG and Chengdu International Rail Port Investment & Development (Group) Co., Ltd.

According to China's Ministry of Commerce, the total trade volume between the two countries reached a historic high of 8.39 billion U.S. dollars in 2017, a year-on-year increase of 15.5 percent from 2016.

Photo taken on Apirl 27, 2018 shows a new China-Europe freight train from Chengdu to Vienna at the Vienna South Freight Center in Vienna, Austria. A new China-Europe freight train arrived in Vienna on Friday, which Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen described as a symbol of the cooperation between China and Austria. The train -- carrying 41 containers of goods valued at 1.5 million U.S. dollars, including LED displays, tires and lamps -- departed from Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, on April 12. (Xinhua/Pan Xu)She was set upon by bellowing anti-fur protesters at a meet-and-greet Thursday.

And Gigi Hadid looked faintly downcast when she was pap-snapped the following day strolling through New York City.

Minimizing on makeup, the 23-year-old supermodel went for a subdued outfit that consisted of a black hooded crop top and matching sweats.

Stepping out: Gigi Hadid looked faintly downcast when she was pap-snapped the following day strolling through New York City

Her trousers were hemmed around mid-calf, allowing a full view of her black high-top sneakers as she pounded the pavement.

She accessorized with a black leather pebble grain handbag, as well as glinting hoop earrings and a bronze-tinted pair of sunglasses.

The Los Angeles native gathered her hair into the same do she wore when she ran into her awkward situation the day prior.

Keeping it simple: Minimizing on makeup, the 23-year-old supermodel went for a subdued outfit that consisted of a black hooded crop top and matching sweats

On the go: Her trousers were hemmed around mid-calf, allowing a full view of her black high-top sneakers as she pounded the pavement

Gigi, who has stepped out rocking fur on several occasions, was the center of an anti-fur protest on Thursday.

The 23-year-old model was in the middle of her Tommy Hilfiger meet-and-greet when protesters interrupted it with signs that read 'Gigi kills,' 'animal abuser' and 'fur scum.'

It started when one of the anti-fur protesters, who had her sign hidden, was seen going up to the supermodel and getting a hug.

Garnish: She accessorized with a black leather pebble grain handbag, as well as glinting hoop earrings and a bronze-tinted pair of sunglasses

As Gigi autographed a picture, the woman rolled out her sign, with several other people joining in.

The older sister of Bella Hadid looked up but didn't say anything as security and members of her team swooped in and took the signs.

The women were then escorted out of the event, which took place at the Macy's in Herald Square.

Making a statement: Gigi, who has rocked fur on many occasions, was the center of a animal activist protest on Thursday at her Tommy Hilfiger meet-and-greet in NYC at Macy's

Bold: The 23-year-old model was in the middle of her Tommy Hilfiger meet and greet when several protesters interrupted it with signs that read 'Gigi kills,' 'animal abuser' and 'fur scum'

The moment: Gigi was in the middle of signing her photo when the activist pulled out her sign

After: Gigi was then seen leaving the autograph session soon after the anti- fur protest with her bodyguard in tow

Moment of chaos: Another person revealed their sign, which read 'animal abuser'

Keeping watch: Her bodyguard and her team members as the scene unfolded

Gigi was then seen leaving the autograph session early with her bodyguard in tow after the fur protest.

Interestingly enough, Tommy Hilfiger went fur-free in 2007.

Gigi has been working with the iconic brand designing collections since 2016 - the hugely successful Tommy X Gigi line.

Before: One of the anti-fur protesters was seen going up to the supermodel and getting a hug

As it happened: As Gigi autographed a picture, the woman rolled out a sign, with several other people joining in

Taking control: The older sister of Bella Hadid kept her head down as security and members of her team swooped in and took the signs

Making their exit: Security escorted the women out of the store

Before the protesters arrival, the blonde cat walker posed up a storm in her trendy Tommy X Gigi look from season four.

She flaunted her figure in a cut-out bodysuit with skintight bottoms, adding a coordinating jacket.

The race car driver themed collection is already available on Tommy Hilfiger's website.

The meet and greet was the last stop on the Tommy X Gigi Together Tour; Tommy Hilfiger announced the surprise autograph session just hours before on Instagram.

Not pleased: Gigi pictured right after the protesters were escorted out of Macy's

Heading home: Gigi pictured with her bodyguard after the in-store incident

What a day: Gigi headed home following the anti-fur protest interruption at her Tommy event

While Gigi has been seen rocking fur coats and accessories on many occasions, she has also donned faux fur pieces in the past as well.

This year has been pivotal in the anti-fur community with powerful design houses like Gucci, Michael Kors, Jimmy Choo, Versace announcing they are ditching fur.

They join labels like Stella McCartney (who has been fur free since it launched in 2011), Vivienne Westwood, Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Armani and Hugo Boss.

Strike a pose: Before the protesters arrival, the blonde cat walker posed up a storm in trendy Tommy X Gigi look from season four, which just dropped

Beaming: Gigi has been working with the iconic brand designing collections since 2016, with the Tommy X Gigi line

Her choice: Gigi has worn fur on many occasions, including (l) in February 2017 and (r) January 2017 in New York CityHer future on Coronation Street is said to be at risk under the eye of new soap boss, Iain MacLeod.

Yet Katie McGlynn didn't appear to have a care in the world as she enjoyed a night out at at The Living Room Manchester with her best friend Lee Bennett on Friday.

Dressed to impress for their night out, the 24-year-old actress - who plays Sinead Tinker on the soap - dazzled in a fitted top and mini skirt that showcased her figure.

Loving life: Her future on Coronation Street is said to be at risk. Yet Katie McGlynn didn't appear to have a care in the world as she enjoyed a night out partying in Manchester on Friday

The blonde bombshell flashed a hint of her bra beneath her fitted black shirt, that she tucked into a grey plaid mini skirt.

Sheathing her toned pins in tights, the starlet boosted her frame with a pair of heeled ankle boots, whilst a Gucci belt accentuated her slender waist.

Upping the glamour, the stunning soap star wore her glossy golden locks in retro Hollywood waves that framed her pretty features, whilst she sported a pair of fluttering fake eyelashes.

And Lucy wasn't the only Corrie babe out on the night, as across town, Lucy Fallon, 21 - who plays Bethany Platt - was celebrating her boyfriend Tom Leech's birthday with a romantic dinner at Rosso restaurant.

Legs eleven! Dressed to impress for their night out, the 24-year-old actress - who plays Sinead Tinker on the soap - dazzled in a fitted top and mini skirt that showcased her figure

Leggy lady! Sheathing her toned pins in tights, the starlet boosted her frame with a pair of heeled ankle boots as she teetered along arm in arm with her best friend Lee Bennett

The youngsters were out enjoying the weekend amid claims their jobs could be in jeopardy in order to give the older and longer serving characters on Coronation Street better storylines.

Iain MacLeod was announced as the replacement for boss Kate Oates last week, and a source told The Sun that the cast of the ITV soap were concerned over the changes Iain might bring to the soap.

The source said: 'Kate was particularly popular with the younger stars.

'Her departure has left people worried the new producer will want to end the violent stuff and start again. And lots are worried about a cull.'

Cute couple: Lucy wasn't the only Corrie babe out on the night, as across town, Lucy Fallon, 21 - who plays Bethany Platt - was celebrating her boyfriend Tom Leech's birthday with a dinner

Legs eleven! Lucy dazzled in a floral midi dress that she wore beneath a cream teddybear coat

Another source added: 'I think they might have a rude awakening in store.'

A Coronation Street spokesperson told MailOnline: 'This is speculation as Iain MacLeod is on paternity leave and hasn't had any meetings relating to the programme and the cast.

'He won't be doing so until he joins Coronation Street in June.'

For the chopping block: Coronation Street's new boss Iain MacLeod is reportedly planning to axe younger stars to give long-serving characters better storylines, according to The Sun

Out: Katie McGlynn and Colson Smith who play Sinead and Craig Tinker will reportedly be at risk following Iain's appointment as producer

Stars such as Katie McGlynn, 24 (who plays Sinead Tinker), Colson Smith, 19 (Craig Tinker), Harry Visinoni, 18 (Seb Franklin) and Julia Goulding, 32 (Shona Ramsey) were all reportedly fearing for their jobs on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, older stars such as Sue Nicholls, 74, (Audrey Roberts), Michael La Vell, 53 (Kevin Webster), Sally Dynevor, 54 (Sally Webster), Simon Gregson, 43 (Steve McDonald), and Kym Marsh, 41 (Michelle Connor) are all reportedly safe on the soap.

Iain was announced as Kate's replacement on Tuesday just a day after the boss tended her resignation.

The 38-year-old departed amid ongoing criticism for controversial plot choices, along with record numbers of complaints to media watchdog OfCom.

Safe: Meanwhile long-serving stars such as Simon Gregson and Kym Marsh (Steve McDonald and Michelle Connor) are reportedly not in line to be axed

Big plans: Veteran stars William Roach (Ken Barlow) and Sue Nicholls (Audrey Roberts) are reportedly being lined up for big storylines

Kate is responsible for such storylines as David Platt's male rape ordeal, Pat Phelan's murderous spree and Bethany Platt's sex trafficking, all of which have earned ITV a barrage of official complaints from viewers.

Confirming the news, Kate told The Sun: 'I'll be forever grateful for this opportunity and all it has given me, but I'm also excited to try something new.'

On Monday, ITV told MailOnline: 'Iain MacLeod had been appointed as the new Producer of Coronation Street, following Kate Oates' decision to leave the soap and move into drama series production.

'Kate is moving to work with ITV Studios owned label Tall Story Pictures, where she will produce the forthcoming second series of Bancroft, starring Sarah Parish.

Departing: Kate Oates, 38, announced she had resigned as producer on Monday after two years in the role, following an onslaught of criticism for controversial storylines

Controversial: One of the most talked about plotlines of the last six months, has been the male rape plot involving David (right, played by Jack P. Shepherd) and perpetrator Josh (Ryan Clayton)

'ITV also announced that former ITV Drama Commissioner Jane Hudson has been appointed Emmerdale's Executive Producer responsible for the future editorial and creative direction of the award-winning soap.

'Assistant Producer Kate Brooks becomes Producer alongside current Series Script Producer Laura Shaw who also becomes a Producer.

'Kate and Laura will produce blocks of episodes on a rotational basis and take responsibility for the day to day running of the programme. The Emmerdale appointments will take effect from the beginning of June, to coincide with Iain taking the helm at Coronation Street.

'Kate and Iain leave their respective soaps in strong form, as each is up +5% year-on-year for volume, on both consolidated and overnights ratings. In 2018 to date, Emmerdale has increased its average audience in the consolidated ratings, pulling ahead to become the UK's second most popular soap.

Hard to watch: In uncomfortable scenes, Bethany Platt (right, played by Lucy Fallon) was also groomed for sex by boyfriend Nathan Curtis (Christopher Harper) and his friends

A source told The Sun: 'There's a feeling of jumping before she [Kate] was pushed. But she is staying within the ITV family.

'The storylines she worked on, while rating successes, were very divisive among viewers and the cast and crew. Everyone is looking forward to seeing what the future on the soap looks like now.'

Coronation Street star Sally Dynevor, who plays Sally Webster, also commented on Kate's departure during an appearance on Tuesday's episode of Lorraine.

She said: 'We've got a new boss. It's always sad to see someone go. Kate has done very well and we wish her the best.

Moving on: Former Emmerdale producer Kate will move onto violent detective drama Bancroft (pictured is Sarah Parish as Elizabeth Bancroft)

Emmerdale producer Iain MacLeod will depart the Dales in June to replace Kate, and Sally cannot wait to see what he has in store for 'Corrie'.

She added: 'We're looking forward to working with Iain MacLeod in June. It's all changes, as usual on 'Corrie'. It's all very exciting.'

Kate hinted at a departure last month when she told metro.co.uk : 'I am only ever keeping the seat warm, as is every producer.

'I am incredibly proud of what we have achieved  from tackling some seriously important storylines to opening up a brand new set and making a smooth transition to six episodes.'

Backing her up: Kate appeared on This Morning last month to talk about the soap's dark new tone, defending the storylines for tackling taboo issues

Despite climbing viewing figures for the 58-year-old soap, complaints have overshadowed Kate's success.

David Platt's male rape storyline - portrayed by actor Jack P. Shepherd - sparked 200 complaints to media watchdog OfCom in recent months.

Dark scenes saw David led to the bedroom by the character Josh (Ryan Clayton) after being drugged.

In the aftermath, the soap mainstay has struggled to cope and is falling into deeper trouble with violence, the law and one night stands.

Violent: Pat Phelan's murderous rampage has also left viewers shell-shocked but the long-running storyline is expected to descend into yet more dramatic violence after he returns from the dead

The OfCom complaints followed outrage from fans surrounding Pat Phelan's violent murder of mechanic Luke Britton in January. This alone sparked 541 complaints, of which the soap has now been cleared.

In the explosive scenes, after turning a gun towards Luke (Dean Fagan), Pat (Conor McIntyre) trapped the character in his car before it was engulfed in an explosion.

Soap chief Kate made a dramatic impact on the soap soon after taking over as producer in August 2016, setting the stage for Bethany Platt's grooming ordeal which left fans shell-shocked with the uncomfortable scenes.

Explosive: Many have tried to end Pat's reign of terror, yet things keep getting darker for the soap's well-loved characters

Kate spoke on This Morning in March to defend her choice of dark plots, amid calls for her to resign.

She said: 'I think it's because it's a male rape it's in a different category. It's a double standard against male.'

Adding that the plot is formulated to focus on male mental health, and spark the difficult conversations among families, she admitted: 'It's not about shocking visual, we're pre-watershed and we make our decisions very carefully.'

Grooming: Not long after her arrival, Kate was responsible for the controversial plotlines involving Bethany

ITV Studios Creative Director for Coronation Street and Emmerdale, John Whiston, said:

'There's a lot to praise here! Kate Oates has transformed Coronation Street during her tenure. This has been reflected both in the huge critical acclaim the show has been getting and in the ratings.

'We are now used to opening the overnights and seeing Coronation Street has delivered its highest ratings for many years, a herculean achievement in this box set era. Kate has done this whilst putting on screen some groundbreaking and socially important stories such as the Bethany grooming story and David's rape story.

'It is a testament to her brilliant editorial touch that these stories, though difficult, have been both credible and engaging. Meanwhile, Kate has unleashed on us one of the finest villains in soap history with Pat Phelan and his dastardly deeds.

Complaints: Levels of complaints have reached a record high, just a year after the soap featured a sex ring and gang rape plot

'And the show has continued day in day out to provide the viewer with top notch Corrie humour from Liz to Moira, from Steve to Tracy, from Sally to Tim. Doing all this while taking the show from five episodes to six episodes a week is a phenomenal achievement by Kate and something of which those who work on the show and those who watch it are hugely appreciative.'

On Iain MacLeod's time at Emmerdale, John commented: 'Meanwhile, over the Pennines, Emmerdale has been going through its own golden period under Iain MacLeod's aegis. It too has built its audience volume and share.

'And it has delivered some truly memorable storylines. Ashley's dementia was notable not just for the strength of the story, but for the way it was told with some soap defining drama, such as the episode all seen through Ashley's point of view.

'Equally hard hitting, though in a different way, was the multi car pile up on Hotten bypass. Emmerdale has a reputation for delivering big stunts and this one was the biggest and most spectacular, as well as the most intricately plotted and it came from the perfect soap brain of the supremely talented Iain MacLeod.

'It is no wonder Emmerdale has won pretty much a clean sweep of the awards in the last year, a run interrupted only by Coronation Street's RTS Award.'He was rumoured to be Australia's next Bachelor, before the role eventually went to former Wallabies star Nick 'The Honey Badger' Cummins.

But with his hopes of a televised love quest shelved - for now, at least - it appears Cameron Cranley is searching for dates on Bumble.

Sreenshots of a profile using Cameron's name and photos have recently surfaced.

Scroll down for video

Would YOU swipe right? Bachelorette star Cameron Cranley has been spotted on dating app Bumble following rumours he was considered for The Bachelor 2018

While the Perth firefighter has yet to confirm to Daily Mail Australia that the account does indeed belong to him, it looks fairly legitimate.

In the top left hand corner of his profile, a 'blue tick' icon reveals that the account has been validated Bumble administrators.

This lets female app users know that Cameron is the owner of the account and his photos are not being used for a 'catfishing' attempt.

Blue tick of approval! While the Perth firefighter has yet to confirm to Daily Mail Australia that the account does indeed belong to him, it looks fairly legitimate

The profile features five photos of the 28-year-old heartthrob, who rose to fame on the 2016 season of The Bachelorette.

In his 'About' description, Cameron references his recent trip to California, USA: 'Another Aussie exploring the States for a few weeks.

'Would love to get to know the local spots over the tourist attractions.'

Start your engines! The profile features five photos of the 28-year-old heartthrob, who rose to fame on the 2016 season of The Bachelorette

However, in the screenshots obtained by Daily Mail Australia, he lists his current location as Sydney, NSW.

Cameron, who is understood to be currently single, checked into Instagram from Bondi Beach on Friday.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Cameron for comment.She is just weeks away from welcoming her first child.

And Orange is the New Black star Yael Stone has revealed that she plans to put her career on the back burner for the new baby.

On Saturday, the 33-year-old told Weekend Australian that, for the first time in her adult life, work will not be a 'priority' for her.

Scroll down for video

Shifting priorities! Orange is the New Black star Yael Stone, 33, has revealed that she plans to put her career on the back burner for her new baby

'For the first time in my adult life, work's not my priority,' said Yael, who is reportedly expecting her child next month.

The actress, who is in a relationship with indigenous mentor Jack Manning Bancroft, revealed it was necessary to make the shift towards family life.

'(I want to focus) on doing a good job with the baby,' she said. 'I'm really looking forward to the opportunity to explore that part of my life.'

Baby makes three! The Australian actress is expecting her first child with indigenous mentor Jack Manning Bancroft. The baby is reportedly due in May

In the Q&A interview, Yael also spoke about her early start in showbusiness, explaining that her experience wasn't 'a Lindsay Lohan tale'.

The Netflix star, who began acting while still in school, said that her introductions to film sets were 'warm and friendly.'

She first appeared in the 1999 film Me Myself I, starring Rachel Griffiths.

Starring role! Yael plays Lorna Morello on the hit Netflix series Orange Is the New Black

Yael, who is also an accomplished theatre actress, is a graduate of Sydney's prestigious National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA).

Despite being based in New York City, said she likes to return home to Sydney often.

Yael added that being an artist means she is free to come back to engage with stories that are unique to her own country.For years, many of us have had a dream, a fantasy, to help us through reality. It was that one day the tectonic plates of pop would shift and the greatest group of all time would pull on their white platform boots and once more dazzle the world with their genius.

In our dream, Agnetha, Benny, Bjorn and Anni-Frid would put aside their differences, their divorces, their satin plus-fours and their regrettable devotion to appliqued cats and get back together as ABBA, to thrill us all over again.

No, no, no, no, they said. It will never, never, never, never happen.

One of them even told me to my face. When I met Bjorn Ulvaeus in Stockholm for the opening of the Abba museum in 2013, he was at pains to point out, as he always does, that there was no truth in any rumours that the group would one day get back together.

Glory days: Benny Andersson, Agnetha Faltskog, Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Bjorn Ulvaeus during the opening night of Abba's first North American tour in Edmonton, Canada in 1979

As good as the real thing? Abba plan to use new technology and tour using holograms. Pictured is a man singing karaoke with an Abba hologram

I promise you, Abba will never reform  I couldnt bear the stress of disappointing everyone, he said.

Well, so much for his promises.

They have recorded two new songs to be premiered on a tour using virtual reality technology to bring them back to life onstage in all their poptastic 1970s glory. That chimes with another reason Ulvaeus has always been so reluctant for the group to reform.

When you listen to our music, isnt there something good in having the image of four young, energetic people? Better than four geriatrics, that is for sure, he told me.

Back together: The group appeared together after years of feuding at 'Mamma Mia! The Party' musical premier in Stockholm, Sweden in 2016

But clearly not as good as having those geriatrics de-aged to look just as they did in 1979.

One of the songs, I Still Have Faith In You, will be performed by the digital Abba in a BBC special to be broadcast in December.

Confused? Me, too.

So the new songs are real, but the Abba we will see performing them are not?

As much as I love Abba, I cant imagine that a concert featuring mere holograms of my heroes could compete with the real thing. No matter how technically ground-breaking and pioneering the techniques might be, would it be an entirely uplifting experience?

The history book on the shelf: Abba after winning the Swedish branch of the Eurovision Song Contest with their song Waterloo

Dancing Queen: Abba pictured together before performing their hit single on TV, the evening before a royal wedding in Sweden in 1976

Surely the whole point of a live show is being in the moment, sharing the same atmosphere and air as the act you have come to see?

And I confess I might find it rather melancholy. To see how they had not aged over the past four decades would only emphasise how much I have, too.

However, Abba are full of surprises. You never know what they are going to not do next. They did not appear in the global sensation stage show Mamma Mia!, nor the film version starring Meryl Streep, nor the sequel that has just been made.

Perhaps the truth is that they made music that will never die and they are so fabulous they dont have to do actually do anything, they just have to be.

And if that means being a singing avatar rather than a singing star, then so be it.He shocked fans with his incredible transformation on set of his new film, Run This Town.

Yet Damian Lewis had shed the fat suit he wore to portray Toronto Mayor Rob Ford in the scenes, cutting a more casual figure as he went out on a stroll around Toronto on Friday.

Back to his best, the 47-year-old actor seemed in good spirits on the outing.

Low-key look: Damian Lewis had shed the fat suit he wore to portray Toronto Mayor Rob Ford in the scenes, cutting a more casual figure as he went out on a stroll around Toronto on Friday

The Billions star was dressed down for the sunny stroll, rocking an aztec patterened navy fleece over a khaki T-shirt.

He teamed the garment with relaxed fit black jeans and trainers, accessorising with wayfarer shades.

English actor Damian is currently in Canada filming Run This Town, where he will star as former Toronto Mayor Rob Ford.

Unrecognisable: English actor Damian is currently in Canada filming Run This Town, where he will star as former Toronto Mayor Rob Ford - donning a fat suit to play the role

In an interview with Kit Magazine earlier this month, Damian said he was being fitted for a prosthetic so he could bulk up his physique to play Ford.

Damian said the process takes an entire afternoon and involves 'getting his face and head completely covered in silicon strips, breathing through a small hole near the nose'.

According to its IMBD description, Run This Town is currently being produced in Toronto and follows 'the inner workings of a city seen through the eyes of the interns and assistants that run it'.

Although many of the details have not been revealed, what is known is that the film follows a reporter, played by Ben Platt, working to expose a politician - Ford - who is deep in scandal.

Meanwhile the politician's aides, played by Nina Dobrev and Mena Massoud, try to handle their boss and keep the story from getting out.

The Hollywood Reporter confirmed the film will take place during Ford's tenure as mayor of Toronto, from 2010-2014.When some men reach the 'midlife crisis' period, they leave their marriages or spend money on fast cars or Vespas.

But for Simon Baker, directing his new film Breath was a healthy and productive way for him to negotiate the difficult years.

'I'm almost 50 and I'd be lying if I didn't say I'm probably somewhere in the midst of a midlife crisis,' he told the Sydney Morning Herald on Saturday.

Scroll down for video

'I'd be lying if I didn't say I'm probably in the midst of it': Simon Baker, 48, has talked about channelling his 'midlife crisis' into making his directorial debut, Breath

'I'm grateful to have had something to channel it into,' he added.

Breath, Simon's directorial debut, is based on the novel of the same name by Australian author Tim Winton.

It follows the story of two boys, played by Samson Coulter and Ben Spence, who befriend a retired former pro-surfer, portrayed by Simon.

Talented: 'I'm almost 50 and I'd be lying if I didn't say I'm probably somewhere in the midst of a midlife crisis,' he told the Sydney Morning Herald on Saturday: Pictured: Simon directing

Midlife crisis: 'I'm grateful to have had something to channel it into,' Simon said of Breath, his first film as a director

Simon, 48, who is best known for his role on The Mentalist, revealed he enjoyed working with the young men who brought excitement to the set.

'These young boys were up for anything, they were phenomenal and I am so proud of their work,' he said.

It comes after the actor-turned-director told Daily Mail Australia why he chose Breath to be his first feature film.

'It was pretty much how I grew up,' Simon said, referring to his childhood in Lennox Head.

'So much of (Tim Winton's story) resonated with me,' he added.

Australian drama: Breath follows the story of two boys, played by Samson Coulter and Ben Spence, who befriend a retired former pro-surfer, portrayed by Simon

The father-of-three, who is married to actress Rebecca Rigg, explained why he only recently decided to step behind the camera.

'I think if you're going to take the leap as a director, with any film it's got to be a story that's dear to you,' he said.

'Otherwise you're going to be putting a lot of your heart and soul into something that you don't care much about.'

Breath is released to cinemas across Australia on May 3rdKanye West dropped some new music on Friday  and it was all about how to pick it back up.

The rapper tweeted a link to Kanywest.com, which contained a sample of a new track called Lift Yourself Master.

Whether the song is destined to be part of his upcoming albums, or he was just trolling, remains to be seen.

New tune: Kanye West dropped a sneak peek of new song Lift Yourself on Friday

The clip starts off with a catchy classic Kanye soulful sample of female vocals singing: 'Hard to see the hang-ups we have today / We need to strive for more liberty.'

But it quickly descends into farce as he nonsensically raps about pooper scoopers, before the track abruptly ends.

The 40-year-old hinted earlier on Twitter that he might unveil the new music in response to criticism he has received for his newly re-found love for President Trump.

'I'm going to drop a song with a verse that will bring Ebro the closure he's been seeking,' he forewarned, boasting 'The bars' were no fewer than 35 flame emojis.

Heads up: The 40-year-old hinted earlier on Twitter that he might unveil the new music in response to criticism he has received for his newly re-found love for President Trump

The Ebro he was referring to was New York's Hot 97 host Ebro Darden, who had earlier accused Kanye of being 'out of touch'.

'A lot of people are not happy that he's playing around with things that are very dangerous for the sake of promoting his own agenda,' Darden told ABC Radio's podcast Start Here, 'which is his album, and himself, and potentially his own political aspiration.'

On Tuesday, Kanye had called into Darden's radio show to repeatedly tell him he loved him, even singing Stevie Wonder's I Just Called To Say I Love You.

After Kanye released the song, Ebro himself tweeted, 'We already knew you was #TrollYeWest.'

The Gold Digger hitmaker, who is no stranger to controversy, burst back onto the trending lists again last week when he suddenly professed his support of Donald Trump in a series of bizarre typically tweets, after a long social media hiatus.

Responding: After Kanye released the song, Ebro tweeted, 'We already knew you was #TrollYeWest'

Coincidentally he had announced a new book and two new albums on Twitter just days beforehand.

Despite insisting he is not partisan or even political, Kanye has previously met with the President and has recently been proudly showing off his Make America Great Again baseball cap.

Trump publicly thanked Kanye for his support on Friday: 'Kanye West has performed a great service to the Black Community - Big things are happening and eyes are being opened for the first time in Decades - Legacy Stuff!' he tweeted.She's an outspoken feminist known for her support of the #FreeTheNipple movement in protest of Instagram's 'sexist' nudity policy.

But Caitlin Stasey was stripping down for a different reason on Friday, as she had makeup applied for what appeared to be a film shoot.

Sharing a behind-the-scenes snap to social media, the former Neighbours star posed in nothing but nude shorts with her arms outstretched.

Back to it! Caitlin Stasey posed topless in nude shorts and a gas mask while getting sprayed with 'dead flesh' makeup in a bizarre behind-the-scenes photo shared to Instagram on Friday

In the photo, a woman sprayed Caitlin head-to-toe with an unidentified substance.

The actress avoided inhaling fumes by wearing a gas mask and also had tape plastered across her nipples to protect her modesty.

In a follow-up video, Caitlin zoomed in on a bottle labelled 'Dead Flesh', hinting that she may be filming a zombie-themed project.

Secret project! In a follow-up video, Caitlin zoomed in on a bottle labelled 'Dead Flesh', hinting that she may be filming a zombie-themed project

Earlier this month, Caitlin deleted all of her topless photos that breached Instagram's community guidelines on female nudity.

She is a supporter of the #FreeTheNipple campaign and claims it is 'unfair' the social media platform bans images of women's nipples but allows photos of shirtless men.

She has also criticised Instagram for double standards, as the image-sharing website apparently gives some high-profile users a free pass for nudity.

Social media rule-breaker: Earlier this month, Caitlin deleted all of her topless photos that breached Instagram's community guidelines on female nudity

In January, she wrote: 'I think it's unfair that Instagram deletes certain t**s based on levels of engagement, there shouldn't be a hierarchy of body parts.'

She adding: 'The world is falling apart in real ways that hurt real people in real time and I just can't really justify railing against this particular brand of censorship (right now).

'I still think it's bulls**t but I guess it's also bulls**t for me to take advantage of any leniency they've shown me.'She opens up about her life in the new documentary, The American Meme.

And Paris Hilton had all eyes on her as she dazzled in a glittering silver gown as she attended the film's premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City on Friday.

The 37-year-old heiress was joined by her sister Nicky Hilton Rothschild, 34.

Scroll down for video

Green with envy: Hilton poses with sister Nicky Hilton Rothschild [R] at the premiere of the new film The American Meme

Hilton, meanwhile, was somewhat more covered up than her co-star in a silver sequined floor length gown.

The star of The Simple Life wore black heels and a black belt around her slender waist.

The Pledge This actress carried a beaded box clutch for the event.

Shiny: Hilton, meanwhile, was somewhat more covered up than her co-star in a silver sequined floor length gown

Reality star: The star of The Simple Life wore black heels and a black belt around her slender waist

Accessorize this: The Pledge This actress carried a beaded box clutch for the event

Nicky Hilton Rothschild meanwhile showed a little more skin than her big sister in a shift dress that showed off the heiress' slim pins.

The 34-year-old matched the green and white garment with her box clutch.

The mother-of-two held her blonde tresses up in a high bun for the evening.

Legs for days: Nicky Hilton Rothschild meanwhile showed a little more skin than her big sister in a shift dress that showed off the heiress' slim pins

The 34-year-old matched the green and white garment with her box clutch

Dynamic duo: Hailey Baldwin and Paris Hilton have teamed up for the new documentary about Instafamous celebrities called The American Meme

Hailey Baldwin meanwhile showed plenty of skin at the star-studded event.

The Drop The Mic host wore a jaw-dropping sheer red dress with a halter neck for the premiere.

The daughter of actor Stephen Baldwin and niece of Alec left little to the imagination with her underwear and slim pins very visible under the lace dress.

Baldwin's curly blonde tresses were worn in a bob that finished just below the Arizona-born beauty's flawless jawline.

Seeing red: The Drop The Mic host wore a jaw-dropping sheer red dress with a halter neck for the premiere

Sheer madness: The daughter of actor Stephen Baldwin and niece of Alec left little to the imagination with her underwear and slim pins very visible under the lace dress

In the documentary, the hotel heiress admits fame is a lonely experience and she trusts her fans more than most people she knows after becoming 'accustomed to being f***** over.'

In a clip released to promote the documentary by Bert Marcus, the blonde explains: 'I'm constantly traveling; 250 days a year I'm on a plane, in a different country. So it gets really lonely sometimes.'

Hilton found fame thanks to her 2003 sex tape and reality series The Simple Life in which she starred with Nicole Richie and which ran for five seasons from 2003 to 2007.

She went on to try her hand at acting and at being a pop star, signed lucrative deals for clothing and perfume endorsements and in the past several years established herself as a jet setting club DJ.

She's got some front: Model Alina Baikova shows off her chest by going braless under her jacket

Back in black: Actress Lola Tash displays her impressive assets in a little black dress

Hell for leather: Andreja Pejic sports a leather min-skirt for her red carpet jaunt

Jaw-dropper: Brittany Furlan steps out with Tommy Lee(Photo: Feng Xuejun)

Hannover (People's Daily) - The 2018 Hannover Messe, one of the worlds largest trade fairs, once again showcased the latest in industrial technology under the theme of Integrated Industry  Connect and Collaborate.

The fair, which ran April 23-27 in Hannover, Germany, gathered more than 5,000 exhibitors from 75 countries. Some 200,000 guests attended the event this year to see breakthroughs for digital transformation in the manufacturing industry.

China has been a major participant in the event since 2016 and this year the country sent more than 1,000 companies to showcase their goods at the fair.

Thanks to the "Made in China 2025" strategic plan, Chinese companies are making noticeable improvements in technology development and innovation. Furthermore, the image of Chinese products is improving and gaining worldwide attention.

Hall six of the convention center is one of the most visited areas of the fair, which includes tech giants such as Intel, HP, Cisco, Amazon, Deutsche Telekom and Chinas Haier and Huawei.

(Photo: Li Qiang)

Haier, the world's top home appliance brand, showcased its independently developed industrial Internet platform, COSMOPlat, at the event. Through interaction with the platform, COSMOPlat can create personalized orders based on a customers age and requests. COSMOPlat can create a model of a customized appliance in minutes once its preferences are stated by the user.

Henning Kagermann, president of the German National Academy of Science and Engineering and the father of Industry 4.0, was impressed at the creativity of COSMOPlat during the fair and said the system is the best among platforms made by other Chinese companies.

(Photo: Feng Xuejun)

A new car model from Citroen, the DS7 Crossback, was displayed in front of Huaweis booth to feature an advanced interface that pairs with the telecommunications giants mobile phone application. With the app on a mobile phone allows users to access their vehicles status, travel history, driving habits, and pre-maintenance suggestions. Users can also scan parts of the vehicle to view user instructions to familiarize themselves with their functions. The cars touch screen can also display landmarks and additional information such as gas stations and prices as well as empty parking spots in parking lots. All these features are powered by Huaweis Internet of Things solutions.

Jean Leflour, senior vice president of Connected Vehicle & Services Architecture, Groupe PSA told Peoples Daily that PSA Peugeot Citroen is very picky about quality and the process of technology. Huawei was originally not considered for a partnership with the automobile company. However, Huawei eventually impressed them with their advanced products and professionalism.

German water waste company wks Technik GmbH, which was purchased by China Aerospace and Science Industry Corp (CASIC) last year, was also present at the fair.

Wei Yiyin, the deputy manager of CASIC, said the companys new developments can reduce more than 30 percent of system sludge volume and reduce secondary pollution. Their integrated water treatment and energy utilization technology can provide centralized treatment for municipal and industrial wastewater for reuse.

The completion of technology integration can better suit the Chinese market, provide sewage treatment solution for Chinas rural areas, Wei said.

iRootech Technology Co., Ltd is the subsidiary of Trinity Group, which showcased its RootCloud industrial internet platform at the annual event.

iRootech signed with its first European customer Putzmeister, a multinational manufacturer of concrete pumps, in December 2017. The pump trucks are crucial for the construction industry. A pump truck team usually consists 20 crew members and the truck must be well-made to ensure no heavy losses are made due to mechanical failure.

Huang Luchuan, vice president and chief marketing officer of iRootech said if all pump trucks can link to an industrial internet platform, customers could access the trucks status to make maintenance decisions in real time to reduce downtime. This can also help insurance companies too, since they can implement reasonable insurance plans based on the maintenance conditions of the truck. Truck manufacturers can improve their future vehicle models based on operational data.

Martin Knotgen, the CEO of Putzmeister said that compared to the car industry, the construction industry is in a rugged spot of the Industry 4.0 era.

Knotgen said to take advantage of Industry 4.0, the construction industry needs to convince its customers about the convenience of the Internet of Things to demonstrate their true potential and benefits.

During the Hannover Messe, Chinas Investment Promotion Bureau of the Ministry of Commerce jointly held the China opportunity- China-German Intelligent Manufacturing forum with the Sino-German Industrial Cities Alliance.

Wang Weidong, spokesperson for the Chinese Commercial Office in Germany, said that China and Germany have a shared potential in the cooperation in the intelligent manufacturing field.

After 30 years of rapid development, Chinas economy will switch its focus from speed to high quality output and consistent development to make new requests on corporations transformation and improvement.

Despite Germanys advantage in the intelligent manufacturing field, Chinese corporations have a strong interest and many opportunities with cooperating with German corporations.

(Compiled by Ryan Yaoran Yu, Terry Guanlin Li)How did Tracey Jewel go from 'marrying' Dean Wells, to dating Sean Thomsen, to 'marrying' Andrew 'Jonesy' Jones?

On Friday night, Tracey and season four star Jonesy appeared to say 'I do' during a bizarre Perth Comedy Festival sketch at the Hellenic Club.

It was no legally binding commitment, of course, with the 35-year-old telling Daily Mail Australia: 'We are friends and Sean is away on FIFO, otherwise he would have been there.'

Scroll down for video

What will Sean Thomsen say? Married At First Sight's Tracey Jewel 'wed' former contestant Andrew 'Jonesy' Jones in a flirty comedy sketch in Perth on Friday night

Just friends! Before their onstage comedy routine, Tracey and Jonesy were pictured at the bar, appearing rather comfortable in each other's company

Before their onstage comedy routine, Tracey and Jonesy were pictured at the bar, appearing rather comfortable in each other's company.

The self-help author looked glamorous in a skintight pink dress as she wrapped her arm around Jonesy, who wore a grey shirt, jeans and a tie.

Afterwards, they appeared onstage as part of the comedy show, Famous Sharron's Love Match.

Fake wedding: It was no legally binding commitment, of course, with Tracey telling Daily Mail: 'We are friends and Sean (Thomsen) is away on FIFO, otherwise he would have been there'

Happily ever laughter! Tracey and Jonesy appeared onstage as part of the comedy show Famous Sharron's Love Match

On the Perth Comedy Festival's website, the show is described as being hosted by a 'relationship expert.'

'Join her and her celebrity ball as she finds out if there is such a thing as the "perfect match", and if it really matters how much you score or just that you scored at all?' the description reads.

The former MAFS contestants were invited onstage to be the celebrity component of the show, and were pictured acting out various scenarios.

Tracey wore a pink visor and took instructions from 'Famous Sharron', who dressed in an eye-catching, glittery red frock.

Hilarious! The former MAFS contestants were invited onstage to be the celebrity component of the show, and were pictured acting out various scenarios

What's going on here? Tracey wore a pink visor and took instructions from 'Famous Sharron', who dressed in an eye-catching, glittery red frock

At one point, Tracey tucked a wedding veil behind her visor and acted out a mock marriage ceremony with Jonesy played the groom.

Sean will no doubt be relieved to know they didn't perform the traditional post-vows kiss for the crowd.

Tracey told Daily Mail Australia that she, Jonesy and Sean are all good friends.

The Don't Mess With The Goddess author also claimed she will be spending Saturday at Margaret River with her daughter.

'Sean is joining us later,' she added.

Phew! Sean will no doubt be relieved to know that Tracey and Jonesy didn't perform the traditional post-vows kiss for the crowdSam Wood has taken his beautiful young family on a trip to his hometown of Hobart in Tasmania.

The 37-year-old landed in Tasmania on Friday and took to Instagram the next day to share glimpses of himself with fiancee Snezana Markoski, with daughters Eve and Willow.

In clips shared by the fitness guru, the genetically blessed family can be seen strolling around Salamanca Markets.

Scroll down for video

Out with my girls! Sam Wood has taken his beautiful young family on a trip to his hometown of Hobart in Tasmania over the weekend

Snezana and 12-year-old Eve, her daughter from a previous relationship, were all smiles as Sam panned the camera towards them.

He then turned the camera back towards himself and six-month-old Willow who he had strapped to his chest in a baby carrier and wrote 'Salamanca Markets with my girls,' on the clip.

After enjoying the markets, the quartet walked a short distance to Sam's father's restaurant Fish Frenzy.

A short clip featuring Snezana with the cherubic baby shows the mother and daughter adorably giggling at one another.

Family time! The 37-year-old took to Instagram the next day to share glimpses of himself with fiancee Snezana Markoski, with daughters Eve and Willow at Salamanca markets. They later walked a short distance to Sam's father's restaurant Fish Frenzy

After enjoying a feed at the Wood family food business, the former Bachelor shared an image of his two young girls looking very cosy together.

In the sweet photo, Eve can be seen carrying her baby sister and Sam captioned the heartwarming post: 'She aint heavy, shes my sister #beautiful #tassie.'

His Tasmanian family getaway comes after claims made by The Sunday Telegraph that 28 By Sam Wood had been accused of copying a recipe from Steph Claire Smith and Laura Henshaw's program Keep It Cleaner.

Sweet sisters: In the sweet photo, Eve can be seen carrying her baby sister and Sam captioned the heartwarming post: 'She aint heavy, shes my sister #beautiful #tassie.'

Copying claims: The Bachelor star's Tasmanian family getaway comes after claims made by The Sunday Telegraph that 28 By Sam Wood had been accused of copying a recipe from Steph Claire Smith and Laura Henshaw's program Keep It Cleaner

In leaked emails, one of Sam's staff members allegedly described how she 'went in and downloaded all their good recipes'.

A shocked Steph Claire Smith said she felt betrayed by Sam, someone she considered a close friend.

She told the newspaper: 'We didn't want to believe it but after seeing the imagery and method and recipes themselves, it's blatantly obvious.'

'We have never been on his website to look at his recipes,' she added.Annalise Braakensiek will fly to Los Angeles next week after announcing her split with husband Danny Goldberg.

The age-defying '90s model is hoping that some time in the United States will help to mend her broken heart.

'A dear friend will kindly fly me over for some R&R to spend time with my American tribe I haven't seen in way too many years,' she told Daily Mail Australia on Saturday.

EXCLUSIVE: 'It's a sad and sensitive time': Annalise Braakensiek, 45, will flee to LA to heal her broken heart after splitting with stockbroker husband Danny Goldberg after 16 years

The TV personality, who described her 16 years with Danny as 'amazing', did not reveal what prompted the breakup.

However, she insisted that they still care for each other deeply.

Annalise said: 'I can say we have a lot of love for each other and will remain good friends.'

Overseas trip: 'A dear friend will kindly fly me over for some R&R to spend time with my American tribe I haven't seen in way too many years,' Annalise told Daily Mail Australia

Annalise, who played ditzy model Claudia MacPherson on SBS series Pizza, said she would be focusing on work upon her return to Sydney.

Earlier this month, the jewellery designer burned her wrist badly when her jumper caught fire while she was lighting a candle.

She explained that, unfortunately, her many creative projects will have to be put on hold until she heals properly.

'I can say we have a lot of love for each other and will remain good friends': The TV star, who described her 16 years with Danny as 'amazing', did not reveal what prompted the breakup

The burn is still extremely painful, Annalise added, and she is visiting Concord hospital twice a week for treatment.

'I'm just very grateful the flames didn't envelop any more of my body, face or hair - or my darling cat Frankie!' she said

'Frankie was on my chest at the time the jumper caught on fire.'New Zealand bikini model Bailey Scarlett has welcomed her first child.

The 20-year-old, who announced her pregnancy in November last year, gave birth to her son Riley Arlo at 8:30am on Saturday.

Taking to Instagram to share the news, Bailey posted three beautiful black-and-white photos of her newborn.

'Welcome to the rest of you life, my littlest love': New Zealand bikini model Bailey Scarlett has welcomed her first child, a boy named Riley Arlo

She captioned the photos of her baby wrapped in a white hospital towel: 'Riley Arlo, born on 20th April 2018 at 8:30 am.'

The child's father is allegedly Olympia Valance's ex-boyfriend Greg Cannell, however Bailey and Greg are no longer together.

'Choosing to raise you on my own was one of the best decisions I've ever made,' Bailey wrote.

Bundle of joy! The 20-year-old, who announced her pregnancy in November last year, welcomed Riley at 8:30am on Saturday

Claim to fame: Bailey first made headlines in 2015 when, aged 18, she claimed that her drink was spiked at a party hosted by Justin Bieber

She added: 'You will forever be my most greatest achievement. Welcome to the rest of your life, my littlest love.'

Bailey's Instagram followers soon offered their congratulations, with one writing: 'So proud of you, I'm going to burst! Can't wait to meet the little man.'

Another commented: 'Welcome earth-side peanut! Beyond proud of you Bailey.'

Paternity: The child's father is allegedly Olympia Valance's ex-boyfriend Greg Cannell, however Bailey and Greg are no longer together

In December, Bailey told Daily Mail Australia she initially 'struggled mentally' with her pregnancy and had concerns for her unborn child's health after an early ultrasound found cysts on his brain.

'I found out in an early ultrasound that there were multiple small bilateral choroid plexus cysts on both sides of his brain,' she said.

Fortunately, the cysts were not harmful to the baby.

In December, Bailey told Daily Mail she initially 'struggled mentally' with her pregnancy and had concerns for her unborn child's health after an early ultrasound found cysts on his brain

Doctors told Bailey at the time that 'they were just incidental and will resolve on their own before he's born'.

'I was just happy to have a healthy little baby,' she added.

Bailey first made headlines in 2015 when, aged 18, she claimed that her drink was spiked at a party hosted by Justin Bieber.The sister of Married At First Sight star Telv Williams has hit out at a vile comment made by Troy Delmege.

On Saturday, prominent indigenous rights activist Tarneen Onus-Williams took to Twitter slam Troy after he joked girlfriend Carly Bowyer was going to have a tan 'like an Aborigine' when she got back from holiday.

'Bloody annoyed that my brother had to film with these two,' Tarneen wrote, adding: 'the fact hes laughing about being Aboriginal is disgusting.'

'Disgusting': Prominent indigenous rights activist Tarneen Onus-Williams, the sister of Married At First Sight star Telv Williams, has hit out at a vile comment made by Troy Delmege

It was in response to a video Troy shared - then swiftly deleted - on Friday, showing himself and Carly jetting off for a Balinese holiday.

In the short Instagram story video, the couple exclaimed how excited they were about their getaway, before Troy overstepped the mark with a tasteless quip.

He began: 'Couldn't be more excited! Can't wait to get the tan on, get some heat on me after being in Melbourne for a few weeks.'

Pointing at Carly, he added: 'I'm going to be dark, (but) she'll be darker, like an Aborigine!'

Siblings: The sister of the Married At First Sight star said: 'Bloody annoyed that my brother had to film with these two,' Tarneen wrote, adding: 'the fact hes laughing about being Aboriginal is disgusting'

Insensitive: Tarneen's comments were in response to a video Troy shared - then swiftly deleted - on Friday, showing himself and Carly jetting off for a Balinese holiday

In response, his girlfriend motioned to stop recording and the video ended rather abruptly.

Telv, a single father from Western Australia, is related to Tarneen - an organiser of a recent 'Invasion Day' protest.

Tarneen made headlines after declaring she hoped Australia 'f***ing burns to the ground during the rally, while Telv made his television debut earlier this year.

On her blog, she explained how Telv helped raise her.

Troy and Carly unveiled their romance after their 'marriages' to their respective MAFS matches didn't work out and recently moved in together in Melbourne.

Gaffe: Troy said the pair would come back tan, adding: 'I'm going to be dark, (but) she'll be darker, like an Aborigine!'He had previously backed out of the film, citing personal reasons.

But Ben Affleck decided to return to the Netflix drama, and was seen on set of Triple Frontier on Friday.

Also on the Oahu set were co-stars Charlie Hunnam, Oscar Isaac, Garrett Hedlund, and Pedro Pascal.

Ready to work! On Friday, Ben Affleck, 45, was seen on set of Triple Frontier on the Hawaiian island of Oahu

Ben wore a gray T-shirt layered underneath a maroon button-down.

The father-of-three looked very rugged with a pair of cargo pants and hiking boots.

Ben has since returned to spearhead the project after undergoing treatment for alcohol abuse.

Simple: Ben wore a gray T-shirt layered underneath a maroon button-down. The father-of-three looked very rugged with a pair of cargo pants and hiking boot

Dapper: Co-stars Charlie Hunnam, 38, and Garrett Hedlund, 33, looked quite handsome

J.C. Chandor is directing the Mark Boal-penned drama, which is being produced by Charles Roven, Alex Gartner, and Andy Horwitz.

But it has been beset by problems, with original cast members Mahershala Ali pulling out over scheduling issues and Tom Hardy and Channing Tatum walking away from the project at the eleventh hour.

Paramount Pictures, in the midst of a managerial overhaul following the departure of studio chief Brad Grey, later dropped the film over a growing reluctance to develop another political crime drama.

Just chillin': Pedro Pascal, 43, and Oscar Isaac, 39, casually waited around as they prepped to shoot scenes

The team: J.C. Chandor is directing the Mark Boal-penned drama, which is being produced by Charles Roven, Alex Gartner, and Andy Horwitz

According to Deadline, 'Netflix took on the picture after Paramount let go of it after Tom Hardy and Channing Tatum dropped out weeks before production was to begin.'

The script was originally written by Mark Boal for his Hurt Locker partner Kathryn Bigelow to direct.

The film takes its title from its setting in the infamous border zone of Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil, however, that area has become less dangerous since the movie was originally penned.

Chandor has updated the script in recent years, and the picture will shoot in Hawaii, Colombia, and California.He left his lavish home in Byron Bay, Australia to show face in Los Angeles for his Avengers: Infinity War press junket.

And following his week-long, jam-packed commitments, Chris Hemsworth was spotted departing LAX airport on Friday.

Heading back home to his wife Elsa Pataky and their daughter India Rose, five and three-year-old twin boys Tristan and Sasha, the hunky Thor star was dressed casual as he strolled the terminal ahead of his flight.

High flyer! Ruggedly handsome Chris Hemsworth rocks a casual grey T-shirt and chinos as he strolls through LAX airport before returning to his Byron Bay abode

Opting for flight-friendly attire, the 34-year-old star was seen wearing a light grey tee and chocolate brown chinos.

Completing his look, the chiselled actor wore a pair of caramel-brown lace-up shoes.

Proving he's one to travel light, Chris opted for a black backpack and small silver suitcase for his carry-on luggage.

Sun kissed: Heading back home to his wife Elsa Pataky and their three children India Rose, 5 and twins Tristan and Sasha, 3, the hunky Thor star was dressed casual as he strolled the terminal ahead of his flight

Keeping his hair relaxed, the Marvel sensation proved he equally masters the art of going dapper as he does dressing smart casual.

With a five o'clock shadow, the Byron Bay local looks to be heading back for some R&R time, following his back-to-back work commitments.

On Wednesday, Chris was seen visiting the Jimmy Kimmel studio as he continued his Hollywood press tour.

Flight ready! Keeping his hair relaxed, the Marvel sensation proved he equally masters the art of dressing dapper as he does dressing smart casual

The famed former Home And Away star was snapped walking into the studio, while cameras flashed from avid fans situated behind barricades.

The 34-year-old looked fashionable in a white linen shirt, a pair of black boot-legged pants and slate-hued dress shoes.

Styling his signature hair, the star selected a pair of aviator-style sunglasses to top off the ensemble.

Thor-blimey! Chris Hemsworth continues his Avengers: Infinity War press junket, signing autographs for avid fans outside of Jimmy Kimmel's studio in Hollywood

Smart casual: Proving he's a man of style, the star left a few buttons undone, revealing a hint of his chiselled chest

Proving he's a man of style, the star left a few buttons undone, revealing a hint of his well-sculpted chest.

With Avengers posters flooding the vicinity's perimeter, Chris stopped to offer his autograph to lucky fans.

Surrounded by body guards, Chris looked cheerful as he made his way into the Hollywood studio.

Catching a glimpse: Before heading into the studio, fans stacked up in the hopes of snapping pictures or getting autographs from the famous actorShe's an actress, a television host and a producer.

So Padma Lakshmi was a perfect choice to speak at the prestigious James Beard Media Awards in New York City on Friday.

The 47-year-old rocked a distinctive black, gold and silver jumpsuit for the evening.

Black and gold: Padma Lakshmi was a perfect choice to speak at the prestigious James Beard Media Awards in New York City on Friday

The Top Chef host wore a jumpsuit with criscrossing black, gold and silver strips across the front.

The shimmering upper part of the garment was offset by the cotton black lower element, that boasted a thigh split which showed off the model's gorgeous gams.

The brunette's straight tresses were worn out and with a center part.

All that glitters: The 47-year-old rocked a distinctive black, gold and silver jumpsuit for the evening

Strike a pose: The Top Chef host wore a jumpsuit with criscrossing black, gold and silver strips across the front. Here she poses with Clare Reichenbach

Accomplished: The shimmering upper part of the garment was offset by the cotton black lower element, that boasted a thigh split which showed off the model's gorgeous gams

Great hair day: The brunette's straight tresses were worn out and with a center part. Here she's seen with Tamron Hall

The Indian-born beauty recently opened up about her two emergency surgeries for endometriosis during an impassioned speech at a gala event.

The television personality was honored with the Karma Award at Variety's Power Of Women luncheon in New York City earlier this month.

According to Variety, it was there where she opened up about seeking treatment for the disorder involving the uterus as she said she was 'penalized' for having a vagina.

After not being diagnosed with the disease, she founded the Endometriosis Foundation Of America.

'When I finally got the surgeries I needed and saw what life was like, I was relieved,' she said. 'But then I got angry. And thats how the EFA was born.'She is mending her heartache since announcing her split from Justin Theroux.

And Jennifer Aniston, 49, greeted her friends when she arrived in Van Nuys, California via private jet from New York City on Friday.

The actress planted a friendly peck on her female pal while her casually-clad companion rested a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

So close: Jennifer Aniston greeted her friends with tender kiss after stepping off private jet in California on Friday

Jennifer then warmly brought one of her group of friends into a tight hug as they were reunited once again outside Van Nuys airport.

The Friends star was decidedly spending time with her female pals for a girls' weekend together as she continues to heal her heartache.

It was as if no time had passed between their meeting as they chatted excitedly to one another, with Jennifer gesturing her hands enthusiastically.

Arriving in style: Jennifer touched down in California after her brief break in New York City and she arrived via private jet

Good friends: Jennifer then warmly brought one of her group of friends into a tight hug as they were reunited once again outside Van Nuys airport

Jennifer's quality time with her friends comes just two months after she announced she had broken up with her husband and they had been living apart for some time.

With a beige scarf bundled around her neck, the Just Go With It star embraced the chillier temperatures in her mid-length coat.

The Horrible Bosses beauty arrived back in California after her brief break to New York City where she was spotted dining at Nello restaurant.

Wonderful winter wardrobe: With a beige scarf bundled around her neck, the Just Go With It star embraced the chillier temperatures in her mid-length coat

Lovely to see you! It was as if no time had passed between their meeting as they chatted excitedly to one another, with Jennifer gesturing her hands enthusiastically

Jennifer's arrival shortly follows her narrowly avoiding her ex at a star-studded party hosted by Jimmy Kimmel.

Their former flames' mutual friends Jimmy and Molly McNearney threw the bash at their Hollywood Hills home to celebrate the first birthday of their son Billy.

Justin headed home after 40 minutes at the bash before the Friends star made her arrival and continued to keep the party going for a further two hours.

So close: The pals threw their arms around each other as they were excited to spend time with one another

Very together: The Friends star was decidedly spending time with her female pals for a girls' weekend together as she continues to heal her heartache

Insiders told DailyMail.com that the A-list actress 'did look a bit nervous' when she got there at about 12:15 p.m, with her ex leaving at the same time. The source further added: 'It was obvious that he was alerted to her arrival.'

Jennifer and Justin, who announced their split in February after more than two years of marriage, are good friends of comic late night host Kimmel and McNearney.

It was reported Jennifer's dislike of New York City may have played a part in the couple's decision to break up.

They confirmed their split after seven-and-a-half years together as an item, two of which they were married.

Attention: Jennifer fussed over her brunette pal while they headed into the waiting vehicle

Arrivals: The Horrible Bosses beauty arrived back in California after her brief break to New York City where she was spotted dining at Nello restaurant

Moving on: Jennifer's quality time with her friends comes just two months after she announced she had broken up with her husband and they had been living apart for some timeIn addition to money and certificates, large pieces of raw pork are now a reward for high-achieving students at a Chongqing-based high school.

On April 21, Nanjing High School in southwest Chinas Chongqing held an award ceremony to recognize excellence and motivate the high school juniors, Peoples Daily Online reported.

A total of 20 pieces of raw pork, each weighing 2.5 kilograms, were granted to the top 20 students in a recent mock test ahead of the approaching college entrance exam. A red paper ribbon was attached to each piece, reading share success. Many net users have given a thumbs up to this unusual but practical prize.

Such a special reward is designed to allow the joys of top students to be shared with their families. Students can bring it back home and cook with their parents, according to The Paper.Given her jaw-dropping beauty, many people already believe that Sophie Monk is out of this world.

But if she's not, she soon could be, with Sportsbet ranking her as the second most likely Australian to be abducted by aliens.

On Saturday, the former Bachelorette laughed over the bizarre betting option, posting a screenshot from the bookmaker's website, which also revealed the identity of the Australian tipped to be the most likely to be snapped up in a spaceship by extraterrestrials.

Out of this world! Sophie Monk is Sportsbet's second most likely Australian to be abducted by aliens, and the blonde bombshell laughed over the news in an Instagram post shared on Saturday

Hilarious: Sophie seemed to be rather amused with the Sportsbet's poll, adding the caption 'I don't gamble, but I'm feeling like it today'

While Sophie is second favourite at $13.00, polarising politician Pauline Hanson is the bookie's bet at $4.33.

And while Melbourne and Uluru are contenders as the 'First Australian Alien Contact Location', Darwin is the most popular choice with punters.

Sophie seemed to be rather amused with the Sportsbet's poll, adding the caption: 'I don't gamble, but I'm feeling like it today'.

Please explain! While Sophie is second favourite at $13.00, polarising politician Pauline Hanson is the bookie's bet at $4.33

The Sportsbet screenshot is the latest wacky upload Sophie has shared on her Instagram account.

The funnywoman is known for posting her eyebrow-raising escapades on the social media site, and was last week seen launching into a bizarre belly-dancing routine for her fans.

Dancing along to a '90s pop song, the blonde bombshell started by swaying her hips back and forth in a tiny two-piece bikini.

Funnywoman: Sophie is known for posting her eyebrow-raising escapades on Instagram, and was last week seen launching into a bizarre belly-dancing routine for her fans

She then proceeded to roll her stomach in an up-and-down motion, all-the-while maintaining eye contact with the camera.

From protruding her stomach externally to rolling it back inward, Sophie walked toward the lens while continuing the motion.

The clip ended with with the busty babe bursting into laughter over her own shenanigans.She's forged a successful career in the acting industry at the tender age of 20.

And Elle Fanning displayed her radiant visage as she jetted into London's Heathrow Airport on Friday afternoon.

The screen star nailed off-duty chic as she was clad in a sophisticated duster coat, tied in with a casual white tee.

Glowing: Elle Fanning displayed her radiant visage as she jetted into London's Heathrow Airport on Friday afternoon

The Mary Shelley actress completed her trendy look with a pair of wide-leg trousers, while toting a designer handbag, embroidered with chain and sequin details.

The Georgia native kept it simple with her accessorises as she sported dainty necklaces with a plain gold ring.

Ensuring her make-up complexion was on full display, the Neon Demon star swept her golden tresses into a high bun.

Stylish: The screen star, 20, nailed off-duty chic as she was clad in a sophisticated duster coat, tied in with a casual white tee

The star's older sister Dakota Fanning, 24, recently opened up about her plans to join forces with Elle during an interview with BBC's The One Show.

In the discussion with presenters Alex Jones and Matt Baker, the former child star revealed: 'I would love to work with my sister Elle. Its something weve always wanted to do, but its about finding the right thing.'

'We dont want to be sisters in whatever we do as it would be expected, we want to do something different.'

Hollywood royalty: The star's older sister Dakota Fanning, 24, recently opened up about her plans to join forces with Elle during an interview with BBC's The One Show

Elle has been keeping herself busy as she is set to hit the big screen upcoming punk alien movie How to Talk to Girls at Parties.

The coming-of-age film charts the story of Enn (played by Alex Sharp), who finds himself charmed by alien Zan (Elle) after he charges into a bash filled of extraterrestrial girls.

The film - which is set for release on May 11 in the UK - also features Nicole Kidman, who plays the role of Queen Boadicea - the leader of the alien group.She confidently expressed her views on the pay gap between herself and her co-star Matt Smith for their work on The Crown.

And Claire Foy, 34, was opting for power-dress chic at The Crown FYC event at the Saban Media Center at the Television Academy, in Los Angeles on Friday.

Ditching her ballgowns, the actress accentuated her petite figure in her kooky ensemble by tucking the edges of her blue shirt into her bright red trousers.

Suits you Claire! Claire Foy ditched her royal ballgowns as she power dressed at Netflix event amid salary scandal on Friday in North Hollywood, California

Claire teased a glimpse of her buttermilk skin as she left the garment unbuttoned at the top, which gaped open to onlooking eyes.

Worlds away from her regal appearances on The Crown, the actress pulled off an altogether more modern look with her messy pixie hairdo.

The Netflix star crossed her legs, which ensured there was some attention on her open-toe Gucci sandals that added stature to her small height of 5"3'.

She's got style: The 34-year-old actress accentuated her petite figure in her kooky ensemble by tucking the edges of her blue shirt into her bright red trousers

Cheeky: Claire teased a glimpse of some serious skin as she left the garment unbuttoned at the top, gaping open, while she spoke with an air of confidence

With a bottle of water to hand, the Wolf Hall star kept hydrated during her time talking on the stage about the Netflix series.

Stripped of The Crown's decadent royal jewels and costume, the actress simply accessorised with two delicate rings.

Regardless of the 'embarrassing' pay gap between the leading actor and actress, Claire put on an animated display as she happily discussed the series.

Different look: Stripped of The Crown's decadent royal jewels and costume, the actress simply accessorised with two delicate rings

Claire's appearance comes after she was left 'embarrassed' upon learning that she was paid less than her co-star Matt Smith on two seasons of Netflix's The Crown.

On the back of the gender pay gap outrage, Foy revealed that she has now had her 'eyes opened' and plans to do more to ensure there is no sexism in the industry.

At the CinemaCon 2018 Gala Opening Night Event on Monday, the British actress spoke candidly about what she had learnt from the scandal.

Giving it height: The Netflix star crossed her legs, which ensured there was some attention on her open-toe Gucci sandals that added stature to her small height of 5"3'

She explained: 'It definitely opened my eyes to a lot. And I certainly won't be naive about those things. It's really opened my eyes about what I am allowed to have an opinion about, and what I'm allowed to stand up for myself about.

'And I think that's really changed my approach to myself and other women in this industry. It's been only a positive thing  even though, embarrassing.'

Foy starred as Queen Elizabeth in Netflix series The Crown alongside Smith as Prince Philip for two seasons, with Olivia Colman and Tobias Menzies set to take over their roles this years as the series skips forward in time for season three.

Putting it behind her: Regardless of the 'embarrassing' pay gap between the leading actor and actress, Claire put on an animated display as she happily discussed the series

Producers of the show have now pledged that there will be no gender pay parity for the new cast.

Bosses claimed Smith was only paid more for the first seasons as he was a bigger name than Foy at the time of casting.

Smith weighed in on the debate as he revealed that the show's producers have now 'made amends' for the gender pay gap.

Good friends! Claire and Vanessa Kirby looked delighted to see each other, unable to contain their excitement over one another

'Claire is one of my best friends, and I believe that we should be paid equally and fairly and there should be equality for all,' Smith told The Hollywood Reporter .

'I support her completely, and I'm pleased that it was resolved and they made amends for it because that what's needed to happen.'

The former Doctor Who star spoke to the publication at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York where he was attending the world premiere of his new film Mapplethorpe.

Good fun: Claire and Vanessa were having a great time as they giggled together like schoolgirls on stage

He didn't clarify what he meant by saying that Netflix and Sony Pictures Television Studios had 'made amends' to Foy.

Smith said he supports gender pay equality, not just in showbusiness but in all walks of life.

'Going forward, I think we should all bear in mind that we need to strive to make this better and a more even playing field for everyone involved  but not just in our industry, in all industries,' he said.She is doing everything in her power to secure her children's futures in the modelling industry.

And Cindy Crawford, 52, sauntered out of Nobu, in Malibu, California with the rest of her family following her lead on Friday.

Following her recent admission that she had insecurities about the longevity of her modelling career, she stayed true to the catwalk trends in her PVC garment.

Keep on going: Cindy Crawford, 52, stayed trendy in a PVC pants as she joined Kaia Gerber for lavish Nobu night, in Malibu, California on Friday

The trendy garment hugged every inch of her honed supermodel physique, which is normally plastered across the covers of magazines or paraded on the runway.

As a model for many decades, the mother-of-two had an air of confidence about her as she enhanced her God given good looks with a natural touching of make-up.

Cindy felt the breeze to the evening air as she protectively wrapped her arms across her body, her sweater with billowing sleeves evidently not enough to keep her warm.

What a woman! The 52-year-old sauntered out of Nobu, in Malibu, California with the rest of her family following her lead

Gorgeous as ever! As a model for many decades, the mother-of-two had an air of confidence about her as she enhanced her God given good looks with a natural touching of make-up

Rande Gerber kept up with his gorgeous model wife, who he has been happily married to ever since the May of 1998.

The American businessman flashed a wad of cash as the showbiz family made their way home from the swanky eatery.

Kaia and Presley didn't miss out on the family affair, with both the Gerber children wearing casual ensembles.

Brrrr-illiant looks: Cindy felt the breeze to the evening air as she protectively wrapped her arms across her body, her sweater with billowing sleeves evidently not enough to keep her warm

Smitten: Rande Gerber kept up with his gorgeous model wife, who he has been happily married to ever since the May of 1998

First married to Richard Gere from 1991 until 1995, she found love again with the father of her kids Rande and they were married in 1998.

Cindy has inspired her two children Kaia and Presley to follow her star-studded footsteps into the great and the good of the modelling spheres.

Naturally, the supermodel has used everything in her power to get the pair modelling work through her own contacts and devices.

Lavish date: The American businessman flashed a wad of cash as the showbiz family made their way home from the swanky eatery

History: First married to Richard Gere from 1991 until 1995, she found love again with the father of her kids Rande and they were married in 1998

However, Cindy confessed she hopes Kaia and Presley will be able to go onto make their own way in the world  but she insisted neither of them are ready yet.

She told TOWN&COUNTRY magazine in April: 'They have agents, but I would say for the first year, for sure, everything was 100 percent through me.

'Eventually I want to empower them to be in charge of their own careers but they're not ready for that yet.

Family affair! Cindy joined Kaia and Rande outside of the swanky eatery

Home time! The trio were scouting out their car among the vehicles outside Nobu while they waited for Presley to leave the restaurant

All eyes: Cindy gazed adoringly over at her hunky husband Rande

'Right now they're mostly, "Mom, just tell me what to do". Mom, as you can imagine, is fine with that.'

While she is helping her children make their break in modelling, Cindy admitted her own insecurities in her twenties about the longevity of her career in the industry.

She went onto explain: 'When I was in my late twenties I thought my career would last about 10 years, tops. Out with the old. And yet somehow here I am.'

Top mum: Cindy has inspired her two children Kaia (pictured) and Presley to follow her star-studded footsteps into the great and the good of the modelling spheresSingle ladies flew into a frenzy when a profile believed to belong to Cameron Cranley appeared on Bumble.

But on Saturday, the Bachelorette star told Daily Mail Australia that it is not him on the dating app, despite the profile featuring his name and photographs.

'I've heard nothing but good things about the app but I'm still all for meeting someone the old-fashioned way,' the 28-year-old stated, claiming he does not have an account.

Is Cameron caught in a catfishing scandal? On Saturday, The Bachelorette's Cameron Cranley told Daily Mail Australia he does not have a Bumble account, meaning that a profile featuring his name and photographs could be part of a nasty catfishing scam

Fake! The profile featuring the Perth-based fireman looks quite legitimate, however he has denied he is on the app

Cam's comment indicates that the Bumble profile may be part of a nasty catfishing scam in which gullible girls believe they are actually chatting with the reality TV hunk.

Indeed, the profile featuring the Perth-based fireman looks quite legitimate.

In the top left hand corner, a 'blue tick' icon indicates that the account has been validated Bumble administrators.

Blue tick of approval: In the top left hand corner, a 'blue tick' icon indicates that the account has been validated Bumble administrators

The profile features five photos of the 28-year-old heartthrob, who rose to fame on the 2016 season of The Bachelorette.

In his 'About' description, Cameron references his recent trip to California, USA: 'Another Aussie exploring the States for a few weeks.

'Would love to get to know the local spots over the tourist attractions.'

Not authentic! The profile features five photos of the 28-year-old heartthrob, who rose to fame on the 2016 season of The Bachelorette

Cameron could be the latest reality TV to be embroiled in a catfishing scandal.

Last week, Bachelor babe Simone Ormesher took to Instagram revealing that her pictures had been used without her permission on the dating app Tinder.

The blonde's photos appeared above a bio which read: 'Maddy, 22. I love the gym & looking for a beautiful future.'On Friday, Grant Kemp took a swipe at his Bachelor In Paradise 'ex' Ali Oetjen, insinuating that she was one of the least famous contestants on the show.

But the blonde stunner appeared to fire back on Saturday, sharing two photos to Instagram claiming she's 'not sweating the small stuff'.

Beneath one picture, a less-than-subtle Ali even wrote 'how beautiful it is to let things go'.

'How beautiful it is to let things go': Bachelor In Paradise star Ali Oetjen appeared to hit back at her ex Grant Kemp with two telling pictures posted to her Instagram account on Saturday

Ali was explicitly referring to autumn, but fans may be hard-pressed not to pick up on the double meaning.

The snap showed her standing wistfully beneath a tree, and she added the telling hashtags 'let it go' and 'turn over a new leaf'.

The second photo showed Ali flaunting her fit physique in a crop top, with the caption: 'Don't sweat the small stuff'.

'Don't sweat the small stuff': Ali shared a second snap accompanied by a rather telling caption

'The small stuff' to which Ali could be referring may be Grant's comment belittling her level of star status.

After being accused of only dating Ali to get into the limelight, Grant told Daily Mail Australia: 'If I was trying to chase fame by dating someone I wouldn't have dated the girl who hasn't been on TV for years'.

The American firefighter was referencing the fact that Ali hasn't appeared on screens since competing in the first season of The Bachelor back in 2013.

EXCLUSIVE: 'I dated the girl who hasn't been on TV for YEARS!' Grant Kemp has slammed his Bachelor In Paradise 'ex' Ali Oetjen and furiously denied romancing her for 'fame'

It comes after their Bachelor In Paradise co-star Leah Costa claimed Grant broke Ali's heart and only stayed with her to raise his public profile.

She alleged that the hunky intruder saw coupling up with Ali as the 'easiest way' of remaining on the dating show in Fiji.

'I've actually spoken to Ali since and she was like, 'I should've listened to you. You warned me,' Leah told Yahoo Be on Monday.

'And I was like, 'Yup, Grant just wants to be famous'. 'I feel really sorry for her  I don't think she deserved to have her heart broken.'

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Ali for comment.Tamara Ecclestone has received a backlash from PETA after she was pictured feeding endangered Amur tigers at Chessington World Of Adventures Resort on Saturday.

The Formula One heiress, who brought her four-year-old daughter Sophia along, led a whole galaxy of reality stars at the opening of the multi-million pound enclosure.

However, animal rights charity PETA has urged animal lover Tamara, 33, not to promote such exhibitions, claiming the tigers are living 'in hell' by being confined to small cages.

Roar: Tamara Ecclestone fed the caged Amur tiger slabs of meat before she teased the endangered animal with a rod at new Chessington Resort attraction on Saturday

A PETA spokesperson told MailOnline: 'Captivity is hell for tigers, who pace back and forth in enclosures that are, on average, 18,000 times smaller than their natural range and whose every decision  including what to eat, when to sleep, where to roam, and whom they have as a mate  is controlled by human beings.

'We urge Tamara, who does care about animals but surely doesn't understand what she's participating in, to recognise these institutions for what they are  lousy prisons with living exhibits.

'And we ask her to switch to supporting campaigns that protect animals in their native habitats, because all the publicity gimmicks in the world won't prevent species from becoming extinct.'

MailOnline has contacted Tamara's representatives and a Chessington World Of Adventures Resort spokesperson for comment.

Such a tease! Posed by the animal's cage, the socialite teased the wild cat with a large rod which she used to deliver the food through the bars

Prowling around: Four endangered Amur tigers have been shipped to the UK to make Chessington World of Adventures resort their new home

Dinner time? Tamara also took to Instagram to share a snap of the tiger watching his audience with a glint in his eye

Tamara was pictured earlier in the day teasing the wild cat with a large rod which she used to deliver the food through the bars.

Bernie Ecclestone's daughter could also be seen carefully feeding the tiger slabs of meat with a handy pair of tongs.

Tamara watched the creature with curiosity as the tiger licked its lips following snacking on the lavish treat.

New plan: With only 500 Amur tigers left in the world, the theme park have splashed out multi-million pounds on a place for four of the endangered species to stay in captivity

Four endangered Amur tigers have been shipped to the UK from Russia to make Chessington World of Adventures resort their new home.

With only 500 Amur tigers left in the world, the theme park have splashed out multi-million pounds on a place for four of the endangered species to stay in captivity.

There is a 15 metre tall waterfall as well as a giant tiger carved rock in the enclosure which has been built especially for the big cats.

Pictured: There is a 15 metre tall waterfall as well as a giant tiger carved rock in the enclosure which has been built especially for the big cats

Tucked in: Bernie Ecclestone's daughter could also be seen carefully feeding the tiger slabs of meat with a handy pair of tongs

Inseparable from her daughter, it was no surprise that Tamara brought her four-year-old Sofia to the theme park.

The British model was seen being every inch the affectionate mother as she pushed her little girl around in her pram.

In recent weeks, the mother-of-one insisted that she didn't want to be critical of other mums but she was keen to discuss her own experiences as a mother.

She explained it was partly due to the fact she still breastfeeds Fifi at night and she has never left her for more than a couple of hours.

'I still breastfeed her in the night, I've talked openly about that, it's a personal decision,' Tamara told hosts Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford in recent weeks.

Yum: The tiger sunk his teeth into the slab of meat which was fed to him via the tongs

History: The tigers are from Sweden and Europe's first ever overhead trails

Inseparable: It was no surprise that Tamara brought her four-year-old Sofia to the theme park

Wrapped up! Tamara cuddled Sofia to her chest as she kept her daughter warm in the rainy overcast day in Chessington

'I really don't have a desire to go away, I go out for dinner with my husband, but I come back to her and I like to make sure she's ready in the morning.'

Tamara confessed that Fifi will join her and husband Jay Rutland for their fifth wedding anniversary celebrations.

'I can see it as a problem when Jay is like "get her out of the bed",' she added of their co-sleeping arrangements.

Heaton up! Michelle Heaton was seen riding the log flume, which overlooked the tiger's enclosure

Casual: Michelle was dressed for the drizzly weather in a deep purple rain mac and leather leggings while model Nicola McClean was warm and cosy in a padded green coat

Fun time: The two mums put on a stylish display as they arrived at the grand opening of the new enclosure

Hold on tight: Michelle clung to her husband Hugh Hanley as she tried out the log flume

It proved to be a star-studded affair with a plethora of celebrities attending the VIP launch of the enclosure, including singer Michelle Heaton and pal Nicole McClean.

Michelle dressed for the drizzly weather in a deep purple rain mac and leather leggings, while Nicole was warm and cosy in an olive green padded coat.

The Liberty X star was also seen taking on the log flume with husband Hugh Hanley, and the pair clung tightly to each other as they came down the massive water slide.

Blooming: Pregnant EastEnders star Jacqueline Jossa kept her daughter Ella close by as they made their way into the grand opening

Funny bones: Comedian Romesh Ranganathan was also spotted joining the star-studded lineup at the enclosure opening

Family time: Chloe Delevingne was spotted at the event with her husband Edward Grant and their two children

Proud mums: Helen Skelton was joined by a female pal as she went for casual chic to attend the VIP launch

It was a real family affair as many stars brought their children along for the outing, including TV presenters Helen Skelton and Laura Hamilton.

Mother-of-four Sophie Ellis-Bextor was effortlessly chic in a classic striped top and jeans, adding a quirky twist with a blush pink coat and grey leather body bag.

Soap star Kate Ford donned an eclectic threaded jacket for the outing, while Konnie Huq broke all the fashion rules in double denim.

Pretty girl: Mother-of-four Sophie Ellis-Bextor was dressed for the chilly weather in a blush pink coat and striped top

Sweet: Jacqueline (left) and Jamelia flashed their best smiles as they made their way into the new enclosure

Eclectic: Coronation Street star Kate Ford donned a quirky camouflage print threaded jacket

Blonde beauty: Katherine Kelly went for all black with her hair hanging in loose waves

Break the fashion rules: Konnie Huq thought outside the box by going for double denim as she posed outside the enclosureAmy Adams put on a stylish display as she stepped out with family on Friday.

The 43-year-old actress was photographed in Beverly Hills with husband Darren Le Gallo as they dropped off daughter Aviana, seven, at a martial arts class.

The American Hustle beauty sported a patterned midi dress with smart black blazer.

Feminine chic: Amy Adams looked lovely as she stepped out in Beverly Hills on Friday with husband Darren Le Gallo

Dressing up the look Amy wore black strappy heels and shaded her eyes with stylish oversize sunglasses.

Actor Darren, 43, kept it casual in black sweats, a black T-shirt and a dark grey jacket.

The couple, who met in 2001, became engaged in 200 and married in Santa Barbara in 2015.

Meanwhile, Amy is reportedly set to star in upcoming drama The True American.

The Arrival actress is said to be in talks with Annapurna Pictures over a role in the big screen adaptation of Anand Giridharadas' non-fiction book of the same name, set in Texas in the days after the 9/11 terror attacks.

Dressed up: The American Hustle beauty sported a patterned midi dress with smart black blazer

According to Variety, the Nocturnal Animals star is in negotiations to appear in the film, which will be produced by Annapurna, although it is thought Amazon Studios could be taking over the financing and distribution of the project.

As reported by the publication, the deal has not yet been confirmed as Amy is said to be trying to work her schedule around HBO series Sharp Objects, which she is producing as well as starring in.

Jackie filmmaker Pablo Larrain is set to direct The True American, while it's said Mark Ruffalo and Kumail Nanjiani are in talks to join the cast.

The film will tell the story of Muslim immigrant and Bangladesh Air Force veteran Rais Bhuiyan, who survived a killing spree in the aftermath of 9/11 which took the lives of two other immigrants.

Bhuiyan worked at a convenience store in Dallas to establish himself in the US, and wanted his attacker Mark Stroman - who called himself the Arab slayer - to be spared from execution.They're set to host their own charity event, called the Twinkle Ball, in aid of the National Autistic Society after their four-year-old twins were diagnosed.

And Christine McGuinness got glammed up for the evening as she headed to her Real Housewives of Cheshire co-star Tanya Bardsley's beauty salon in Wilmslow, Cheshire, on Saturday.

The model, 30, stepped out in a cobalt blue wrap power suit for the outing to get her make-up done.

Dazzling: Christine McGuinness got glammed up for the evening as she headed to her The Real Housewives of Cheshire co-star Tanya Bardsley's beauty salon in Cheshire on Saturday

Christine teamed the ensemble and showed off her ample assets with a white vest top underneath.

The mother-of-three accessorised her look with a pair of black strappy heels, silver watch and a coral pink handbag.

Christine's make-up looked flawless after her salon visit, which included bronzer, smoky eyeshadow and a nude lipstick.

Wow!: The model, 30, stepped out in a cobalt blue wrap power suit for the outing to get her make-up done

Stylish: The mother-of-three accessorised her look with a pair of black strappy heels, silver watch and a coral pink handbag

Cheeky: Christine teamed the ensemble and showed off her very ample assets with a white vest top underneath

The reality star's blonde locks were styled into a tightly curled blow-dried hairdo.

Christine and her husband Paddy's charity ball will take place at Manchesters Hilton Hotel on Saturday evening as part of Autism Awareness Month.

Meanwhile, the blonde beauty's The Real Housewives of Cheshire co-stars were doing their own fundraising over the weekend.

Admirable: She's set to host her own charity event, Twinkle Ball, in aid of the National Autistic Society after her four-year-old twins with husband Paddy McGuinness were diagnosed

Charity: Meanwhile, the blonde beauty's The Real Housewives of Cheshire co-stars were doing their own fundraising over the weekend with a 125ft abseil in Manchester for Macmillan

Scared?: Tanya Bardsley appeared to find the activity a bit daunting as she started yelling as she made her plunging descent

Stacey Forsey, Rachel Lugo, Ester Dee, Tanya Bardsley and Dawn Ward went abseiling down a 125ft wall in Manchester to raise money for the charity Macmillan Cancer Support.

Tanya appeared to find the activity a bit daunting as she started yelling as she made her plunging descent.

The 36-year-old wore leggings, climbing boots and a white helmet for her abseil activity.

Whoops!: She even strapped a camera to her ensemble to catch the plunging descent as she landed on her bottom

Having fun?: And she wasn't alone as Dawn Ward appeared terrified as she screamed and stayed firmly next to the wall behind her

Stylish: The 44-year-old wore leggings, climbing boots and a white helmet for her abseil activity

She even strapped a camera to her ensemble to catch the plunging descent as she landed on her bottom.

And she wasn't alone as Dawn appeared terrified as she screamed and stayed firmly next to the wall behind her.

Meanwhile, Rachel took the fun activity in her stride as she gracefully abseiled down and waved to her co-stars underneath.

The Real Housewives of Cheshire continues on Mondays at 10pm on ITVBe.Scarlett Moffatt has been accused of having Botox by fans after she shared a jet-lagged selfie on Friday following her holiday in Florida.

The 28-year-old reality star's most recent snap saw her bare-faced complexion feature in a split alongside a snap of her face sporting a full face of makeup, but some have claimed the picture is not all it seems.

While some accused Scarlett of having Botox or photoshopping her snaps, others praised the Gogglebox star for openly sharing her flawless complexion.

Transformed: Fans of Scarlett Moffatt, 28, have accused the star of having Botox, after she recently shared a jet lagged selfie from the days after returning from Florida

In the snap, one side saw Scarlett putting on a glamorous display as she sported a dramatic smoky eye and statement red lip alongside her glossy dark locks and a leopard print blouse.

The other side saw the star wearing barely a scrap of makeup in cosy pyjamas with her hair tied into a messy updo, just hours after touching back down in the UK.

She captioned the post: 'Jet lag arriving on your holiday vs jet lag arriving back home.'

The selfie sparked a plethora of reactions, with many praising the I'm A Celebrity winner for showing off her flawless complexion and saying she looks far more beautiful au naturel.

Divisive: The selfie garnered a mixed reaction from fans, with some saying she looked amazing with no makeup, and others saying she had been photoshopping her snaps

One said: 'Still gorgeous in both pics though. Can't wait to see you back on the telly,' while another wrote: 'Hope you had a good time! Just saying my favourite side of you is without the make up.'

A third wrote: 'You look stunning without makeup.'

But others accused Scarlett of photo-shopping her snaps, with one adding the star looked as if she was having Botox.

One fan wrote: 'You don't look the same anymore have you had Botox?' while another added: 'You look amazing, but be honest. Your photo on the left has been altered. Be proud be you. You don't need all that makeup and filters.'

MailOnline has contacted Scarlett's representatives for comment.

Back in blighty: Scarlett recently returned from her holiday to Florida, which she enjoyed with her friend Liam Irvin after splitting from boyfriend Lee Wilkinson

Fab time: There were plenty of social media snaps showing that Scarlett was having a whale of a time in the Florida sunshine

Scarlett recently returned from a holiday to Florida with her close pal Liam Irvin, after she lashed out at her ex boyfriend Lee Wilkinson in a scathing social media post.

The I'm a Celebrity champ only recently took her relationship with Lee public, when he joined her in Florida as she prepared to shoot the final episode of Saturday Night Takeaway.

But just days ahead of their romantic couples holiday, a slew of cryptic social media posts hinted all was not well in Scarlett's relationship.

It was then revealed that Scarlett had given Lee the boot from their romantic holiday, with a source telling The Sun: 'Scarlett is no mug  as soon as she gave Lee the boot she told her pals there was no way she would let him ruin her holiday.

'Shes been so excited about this break with him. But she wont let it hang over her now hes gone.'China's unmanned submersible Qianlong 3 made its first dive into the sea recently, snapping photos at a depth of more than 3,900 meters.

However, in addition to beautiful deep-sea creatures such as fish, shrimp, starfish and trepangs, plastic waste was also snapped by the submersibles camera.

This waste poses a threat to the survival of sea creatures and sabotages the marine eco-system, said Sun Dong, a senior expert responsible for section B of the sea trial of the Dayang Yihao, the carrier of the Qianlong 3.

According to Sun, such waste hardly degrades at all in this deep sea environment, as it lacks light and sufficient microorganism activity.

In addition, the survival of deep-sea creatures may be threatened after these life forms accidentally ingest the fractured plastic, Sun added.

Statistics indicate that over 8 million tons of plastic waste is being dumped into the sea every year, and accounts for 80% of the marine litter found today.

According to Sun, controlling the waste source from land is essential for marine litter management. In addition, staff on marine vessels must obey related rules and regulations, and take garbage back to the land for its correct disposal.Lea Michele has announced her engagement to businessman boyfriend Zandy Reich.

The 31-year-old actress took to Instagram and Twitter on Saturday to flash the massive engagement ring she got from her beau with the simple caption: 'Yes'.

The couple have been dating for just under a year.

Happy news! Lea Michele has announced she's engaged to boyfriend Zandy Reich

In the image, which was taken at the beach, Lea holds her hand in front of her face to show off a large emerald cut diamond in halo setting.

Zandy, 32, is president of the women's fashion brand AYR (All Year Round) and was previously the head of business development for clothing brand Theory.

He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of business in 2012.

Reports first emerged the Glee star was dating her longtime friend in July last year as she was spotted holding hands with him in New York.

'They've been friends for a long time, a few years,' a source told People at the time. 'Things turned romantic recently and they're dating now.'

He's the one! Reports first emerged the Glee star was dating her longtime friend in July last year. The couple are pictured in March at the Elton John AIDS Foundation bash

Whirlwind romance: The duo were first pictured together in July 2017

The duo have kept the relationship relatively under wraps with Reich appearing in only a handful of Lea's Instagram photos in recent months.

Zandy doesn't appear to have any social media accounts.

Lea previously dated iZombie star Robert Buckley for several months before splitting around a year ago.

Before that, she romanced personal trainer Matthew Paetz for two years until 2016.

Lea also dated Glee co-star Cory Monteith from 2011 up until his passing in 2013.

Successful: Zandy, 32, is president of the women's fashion brand AYR (All Year Round) and was previously the head of business development for clothing brand TheoryIt was, by anyones standards, a truly regal pay day.

The Mail on Sunday has learned that Claire Foy, who starred as the Queen in hit Netflix series The Crown, has received a bumper 200,000 in back pay from the shows producers.

The payment comes after it was revealed that Foy, 33, was paid less than co-star Matt Smith, who starred alongside her as Prince Philip in 20 episodes broadcast over two series.

The sum is designed to make up for the pay disparity, suggesting that Smith, 35, was paid 10,000 more than her for each one-hour show.

Foy earned a reported 29,000 each episode. Smiths pay packet for The Crown has never been revealed.

Scroll down for video

The payment comes after it was revealed that Foy, 33, was paid less than co-star Matt Smith, who starred alongside her as Prince Philip in 20 episodes broadcast over two series

Smiths bigger wage was defended by producers who said he was a better-known name when The Crown first started.

But the former Doctor Who supported Foys bid for parity.

In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter last week, Smith said: Claire is one of my best friends and I believe that we should be paid equally and fairly and there should be equality for all. I support her completely and Im pleased that it was resolved and they made amends for it because thats what needed to happen.

Going forward I think we should all bear in mind that we need strive to make this a better and more even playing field for everyone involved.

A source confirmed last night: The difference in the wages between Matt and Claire in the 20 episodes of the show so far was backdated. It has all been amicably resolved.

Foy, who will be replaced in the next season of The Crown by Olivia Coleman, only learned she had not received equal pay when producer Suzanne Mackie let it slip at a TV conference last month.

The sum is designed to make up for the pay disparity, suggesting that Smith, 35, was paid 10,000 more than her for each one-hour show

Mackie said that Smith was paid more because he was better known, having found international fame as Doctor Who, whereas Foy had appeared in lower profile series such as the BBCs Wolf Hall and Little Dorrit.

In a statement sent to The Mail on Sunday, the production company behind The Crown, Left Bank Pictures, said: As the producers of The Crown we are responsible for budgets and salaries. The actors are not aware of who gets what and cannot be held personally responsible for the pay of their colleagues. We are absolutely united with the fight for fair pay, free of gender bias and for a rebalancing of the industrys treatment of women in front of the camera and behind the scenes.

Neither Netflix nor representatives of Foy or Smith responded to requests for comment last night.Sienna Miller took to the stage Saturday to speak at the Time's Up event during the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival.

The British actress was one of a host of actresses including Julianne Moore, 57, and Jurnee Smollett-Bell, 31, to talk during the day of conversations about the movement.

Sienna, 36, wore a Time's Up pin as she took the microphone at Spring Studios in New York.

Raising awareness: Sienna Miller was one of many stars taking to the stage at Saturday's Time's Up event at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York

Team effort: Julianne Moore and Jurnee Smollett-Bell were together to address the crowd

Saturday will see women from a variety of backgrounds including activists, storytellers, business leaders, filmmakers, lawyers share their stories and 'seek next steps to establish the parameters for lasting change across industries and the pay spectrum.'

Proceeds from the event will go to the Times Up Legal Defense Fund.

The Time's Up initiative was created to raise awareness about gender inequality, abuse of power and harassment.

Also pictured at the talk were Ashley Judd and Mira Sorvino who have been vocal about the harassment and abuse they have suffered at the hands of men in positions of power throughout their careers.

The duo have regularly appeared together at events since Time's Up was launched at the Golden Globe Awards in January.

Last month Sienna addressed United Nations' '#MeTooNow What?' panel to praise the movement.

Taking action: The 36-year-old actress wore a Time's Up pin as she addressed the crowd at Spring Studios in New York

Promoting change: The British star has been a big supporter of the movement which was launched at the Golden Globe Awards in LA in January

'I have really just had enough. Enough of being undervalued, enough of being undermined, enough of being disrespected, because of my gender.' she said.

'A few years ago I was offered a gutsy, powerful role in a play that was close to my heart. It was a two-hander on Broadway, but I was offered less than half what my male costar was being paid.

'The decision to turn down this particular role was difficult and lonely. I was forced to choose between making a concession on my self-worth and dignity and a role that I was in love with,' she said.

Taking the stage: Saturday will see women from a variety of backgrounds including activists, storytellers, business leaders, filmmakers, lawyers share their stories

Jurnee - who started acting when she was 10 months old - recently revealed that she'd been harassed on set before she was even a teenager

No more: In October Julianne, 57, spoke out about harassment she suffered at the hands of director James Toback

'It turned out to be a pivotal moment in my life," she said. "Not because I did it. But because I didn't.'

Friday Night Lights star Jurnee meanwhile made a powerful speech at SXSW last month where she revealed she'd been harassed on set before she was even a teenager.

She said during the TIME'S UP! Shifting the Imbalance of Power panel: 'Enough is enough. We can't allow this to continue,

Speaking out: The Still Alice star looked stylish in a yellow sweater and navy pants

'This is about power and shifting the balance of paper,' adding that the majority of industries have solely straight white men in power and 'until that changes, we are going to continue being on the receiving end.'

In October Julianne spoke out about harassment she suffered at the hands of director James Toback.

The Time's Up movement emerged after dozens of women in Hollywood began speaking out last year about harassment they'd suffered in the workplace.

It aims to address the systemic inequality and injustice in the workplace that have kept underrepresented groups from reaching their full potential.She has gained critical acclaim for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in the Netflix drama The Crown.

And Claire Foy was grilled by none-other than Benedict Cumberbatch for Variety's popular interview series Actors On Actors on Saturday.

The actress, 34, who has been busy on a promotional tour for her upcoming movie The Girl in the Spider's Web, cut a sophisticated figure as she slipped into a chic cream dress for the entertaining Q and A with the 41-year-old Sherlock star.

Question time: Claire Foy was grilled by none-other than Benedict Cumberbatch for Variety's popular interview series Actors On Actors on Saturday

Claire's high-neck chiffon dress sheathed over her svelte frame, while teasing a glimpse of her lithe limbs due to its knee-length hemline.

The English beauty added a boost to her height with a pair of burgundy strappy stilettos, which complemented her newly-dyed raven pixie cut.

She completed the look with a soft smoky brown eye and amped up the glamour with a slick of rouge lipstick.

Close pals The pair, who starred as husband and wife in the 2011 movie Wreckers, appeared thoroughly at ease as they pulled a number of playful poses during a photoshoot

Screen siren: The actress, 34, cut a sophisticated figure as she slipped into a chic cream dress for the entertaining Q and A

Catching up: The pair flashed a smile as they posed backstage ahead of the interview

Monochrome: Benedict cut a dapper figure as he paired the blazer with black chinos and white bowling-style trainers

The pair, who starred as husband and wife in the 2011 movie Wreckers, appeared thoroughly at ease as they pulled a number of playful poses during the photoshoot ahead of the interview.

Benedict complemented Claire's monochrome look, layering a navy Brooks Brothers blazer atop of a simple white t-shirt, and vegan Yatay shoes.

The interview comes after the actress addressed The Crown's pay gap scandal on Friday, after it emerged Matt Smith was paid more than her for two seasons of the hit series- despite her playing the lead role.

Co-ordinated: Benedict complemented Claire's monochrome look, layering a navy Brooks Brothers blazer atop of a simple white t-shirt, and vegan Yatay shoes

Stern: The Sherlock star appeared to be having a whale of a time as he struck a serious pose

Thought-provoking: The father-of-two appeared deep in discussion at one point during the interview

The star who was at the The Crown FYC event at the Saban Media Center at the Television Academy, in Los Angeles said: 'I have had the most extraordinary revelation about myself and womankind.

'It's sort of amazing that the conversations people are having now, people think we've always been able to have, but we haven't.

'You asking me that question is probably the first time in my career that anybody has ever asked me about being a woman in this industry, or just being a woman in general, and to me I find that amazing.'

Foy starred as Queen Elizabeth in the Netflix series alongside Smith who played Prince Philip for two seasons.

Olivia Colman and Tobias Menzies are set to take over their roles this years as the series skips forward in time for season three.

Striking: The English beauty added a boost to her height with a pair of burgundy strappy stilettos, which complemented her newly-dyed raven pixie cut

Stunning: She completed the look with a soft smoky brown eye and amped up the glamour with a slick of rouge lipstick

Hollywood star: Jessica Biel (R) looked effortlessly glamorous in a power blue playsuit as she posed with Alison Brie

Sartorially-savvy: Maggie Gyllenhaal opted for a blue floral silky ensemble for her segment with Jonathan Groff

Staying Hydrated: Benedict Cumberbatch and Michael B. Jordan catch up backstage at Varietys Actors on Actors event in Hollywood with Icelandic Glacial water

Close bond: The pair chatted away ahead of filming their take on the popular series

Posing up a storm: Michael B. Jordan and Issa Rae worked the camera ahead of their interview session

Producers of the show have now pledged that there will be no gender pay parity for the new cast.

Bosses claimed Smith was only paid more for the first seasons as he was a bigger name than Foy at the time of casting.

Smith weighed in on the debate as he revealed that the show's producers have now 'made amends' for the gender pay gap.

'Claire is one of my best friends, and I believe that we should be paid equally and fairly and there should be equality for all,' Smith told The Hollywood Reporter.

'I support her completely, and I'm pleased that it was resolved and they made amends for it because that what's needed to happen.'

Smith said he supports gender pay equality, not just in showbusiness but in all walks of life.

Hot topic: The pair no doubt had plenty to talk about for the series following The Crown's gender pay gap scandal

What will be revealed? Benedict pulled a quizzical face as he posed with The Sopranos star Edie Falco

Interview time: The actress took part in the interview series with J.K. Simmons

Turning heads: Laura Linney donned an eye-catching all-pink ensemble for her episodeThey recently returned from a desert vacation in Jordan.

On Saturday, Karlie Kloss, 25, looked undeniably smitten with boyfriend Josh Kushner, 32, as they walked hand in hand through NYC.

Karlie and Josh have been dating since 2012.

So in love: Karlie Kloss, 25, looked undeniably smitten with boyfriend Josh Kushner, 32, as they walked hand in hand through NYC on Saturday

Going strong: Karlie and Josh have been dating since 2012

The off duty model went makeup free for their outing in the Big Apple.

Karlie was modestly dressed in a long-line beige coat and a pair of black loafers while Josh donned a navy bomber jacket.

The Chicago native had her wavy blonde locks pulled back with a single hair clip.

Lovebirds: The Chicago native had her wavy blonde locks pulled back with a single hair clip

Casually clad: Karlie was modestly dressed in a long-line beige coat and a pair of black loafers while Josh donned a navy bomber jacket

Just days ago, the pair were wandering the Wadi Rum Desert in Jordan.

Kloss and Kushner were joined in the Middle East by a few A-lister pals including Ellie Goulding and Princess Beatrice.

The couples trip was filled with activities including driving ATVs through the desert's orange sands.

Josh is the brother of Jared KushnerIvanka Trump's husband and President Trump's right hand man.

Two peas in a pod: Karlie is the founder of Kode With Klossy while Josh also works in tech

Rendezvous: Just days ago, the pair were wandering the Wadi Rum Desert in Jordan while on vacation with several of their A-list pals

While Kloss and Kushner are both used to the spotlight, they've managed to keep their relationship pretty close to the chest.

In a recent interview with Porter magazine, Karlie explained why she has chosen to keep her love life private.

'Caroline Herrera always says, "A woman who's an open book is boring." There's no mystery anymore,' she said.

'I know in my life what really matters to me. I'm not trying to hide that from the world, I just really like having a more private private life.'A man accused of attempting to murder an elderly woman and her son in southern Queensland has appeared in court.

The victims, aged 82 and 50, stumbled into the street at about 9am on Friday and flagged down motorists for help after being stabbed in the neck at their Hervey Bay home.

The 39-year-old from Lismore in NSW, who is known to the pair, was remanded in custody after a brief hearing at the Hervey Bay Magistrates Court, where he faced two charges of attempted murder on Saturday.A slice of state-owned land on the Gold Coast once earmarked for a $3 billion Chinese-backed casino is again at the centre of development discussions.

Community groups are meeting with officials to discuss ways to further develop and conserve The Spit, a parcel of parkland owned by the Queensland government.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk terminated plans for a high rise development at the site in August, pointing to likely rate and tax increases should it have gone ahead, as well as a community desire to preserve it.A new aquatic monument will be built at the Kurnell landing site of Captain James Cook under a redevelopment to commemorate the 250th anniversary in 2020.

The NSW and federal governments have each committed $25 million to the project, and on Saturday Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Treasurer Scott Morrison helped announce the release of a draft master plan.

Under the draft plan, the redevelopment will include a new visitor centre, cafe and exhibition space, and a water monument taking in the original mooring site and foreshore.A man has been charged with murdering a 72-year-old man and trying to kill a woman at a home in Perth's south, following a suspected family violence incident.

Police charged the man on Saturday after he was arrested on Friday after a man was fatally injured at a Kelmscott home and a 72-year-old woman was seriously injured.

The 42-year-old man from Mount Lawley has also been charged with attempting to kill the woman and has been remained in custody to appear at Perth Magistrates Court on Sunday.The relocated Powerhouse Museum will be the centrepiece of a new arts and cultural precinct and include the country's largest planetarium, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has announced.

The premier and Arts Minister Don Harwin on Saturday revealed plans for the museum's controversial relocation to Parramatta from Ultimo.

A state government media release said the relocated museum would have more exhibition and public space, state-of-the-art exhibition halls and a 30-metre wide domed planetarium.

The Ultimo site will be home to a new design and fashion museum and a Broadway-style lyric theatre, the release said.You are being watched.

Harold Finchs solemn opening line in the TV series Person of Interest has attracted the attention of millions of viewers and thousands of fans across the world since the US sci-fi crime drama started airing in 2011. Two years after the five-season drama dropped the curtain on The Machine vs. Samaritan brawl, a machine is ready to be unveiled in China to detect cyber attacks through monitored internet behaviors.

(Screenshot of Person of Interest)

Qi Xiangdong, chairman of Chinas leading cybersecurity company, 360 Enterprise Security Group, said he thinks AI and big data-support is ready for a role in the development of Chinas third-generation cybersecurity defense system.

A cybersecurity system that monitors online behavior will be more efficient. Based on big data and AI behavioral analysis, the third-generation system will be able to identify an attack through intelligence on threats. Behaviors that go against the baseline set up by the system will be reported and warnings will be given, Qi said, addressing a Thursday seminar on the sideline of the Beijing Cybersecurity Day exhibition.

He noted that the baseline can be adjusted to mark out abnormal behaviors that differ from usual ones.

For example, if a user usually visits a certain company website only once a day, then its baseline will be identified as breached if the website is viewed over 1,000 times a day.

Chinas first- and second-generation defense systems relied on blacklists and whitelists to screen out potential threats, but hackers can always find a way to get around such lists, and attackers can also hide their presence, Qi explained.

The new defense system, like the previous ones, will mainly serve businesses and institutes rather than individuals. Hence, it will only look for abnormal activity targeting those institutes. It will not put personal privacy at risk or damage personal information, Qi stressed in an interview after the seminar.

A city or a nations basic infrastructure is the largest Internet of Things (IoT) nowadaysmore accessible to the public than ever before, since many websites no longer grant access to certain groups for the sake of better protection. However, more freedom of access increases the risk of threats and attacks, making a heightened defense system for key basic infrastructures more urgent and necessary, according to Qi.Police are scouring a state park in Victoria after a missing man's car was found nearby.

Mt Waverley man Yiwei 'Carl' Chu, 28, was expected to pick up his wife Emma Wang from work on the evening of April 11 but never showed up.

He was last seen at a fast food restaurant in Notting Hill earlier that day, but police are on Saturday searching the Werribee Gorge State Park after a resident reported seeing Mr Chu's white Toyota Camry in a nearby car park.A woman has allegedly assaulted a police officer after ploughing through two yards and slamming into a verandah while drink driving in Adelaide.

The 32-year-old Marleston woman is accused of assaulting the officer after her arrest and breath test shortly before 4am on Saturday, following a crash in Ashford where she allegedly crossed a median strip and travelled across two properties, leaving a trail of damage.

The woman has been bailed to appear in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on May 30 after being charged with multiple offences, including assault police and driving without due care, and has lost her licence for 12 months.A 31-year-old man has been accused of indecently assaulting two women in separate, disturbing incents in central Queensland.

Police say an 18-year-old woman was grabbed while standing on the rocks at a beach in Slade Point, Mackay, on January 19 and a 22-year-old was similarly assaulted while laying on the beach on Thursday afternoon, however both managed to struggle free.

The 31-year-old was charged with two counts of indecent assault on Saturday and denied bail ahead of an appearance in Mackay Magistrates Court on Monday.A woman has been killed in an apparent freak accident involving a tree branch that fell on a motorbike in the NSW Riverina region.

The 62-year-old was riding as the pillion passenger with a 57-year-old man on the Snowy Mountains Highway near Tumut about 3.10pm Saturday.

NSW Police said a falling tree branch struck the bike and the woman was killed at the scene.

The driver suffered multiple injuries and was taken to Tumut District Hospital, where he's undergone mandatory testing.

Local officers will investigate the incident further, police said.Today's birthday, April 29: Australian actress Katherine Langford (1996 - )

Katherine Langford burst onto the American acting scene in 2017 when she was cast in the starring role of the Netflix teen-drama 13 Reasons Why.

She won the part of troubled teen Hannah Baker through a Skype audition.

Langford was born in Perth in 1996 and took singing lessons from the age of nine.

She studied music and drama at Perth Modern School for her senior high years and was also a nationally ranked swimmer.

When she was 16, Langford attended a Lady Gaga concert and was inspired to learn the piano and write music. She later wrote several songs for her friends and uploaded them to YouTube.

After high school she decided to pursue a career in acting and enrolled in classes and workshops around Perth while juggling three part-time jobs.

Langford was offered a position in the 2016 Bachelor of Arts program in Acting at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts but declined the offer to pursue professional roles in the industry.

Her first screen appearances were in the 2016 independent films Imperfect Quadrant and Daughter.

A year later, the young actress auditioned and won the starring role in 13 Reasons Why, and had only 10 days to get a visa to work in the United States.

Langford's portrayal of the bullied high school student who takes her own life earned her a Golden Globe nomination for what was her first television role.

The young actress also won the Screen Australia Breakthrough Award in 2017 for her work on the show.

After finding fame on 13 Reasons Why, Langford earned roles in the 2018 films The Misguided and Love, Simon, the latter of which was just released in Australia.

She is also in pre-production for the film Spontaneous.

Langford recently finished filming the second season of 13 Reasons Why, which is expected to premiere later this year.

Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467.Queensland motorcyclists have been warned of greater police scrutiny as authorities grapple with a rising number of rider deaths.

Motorcyclists account for roughly one in five people who die on Queensland roads, despite representing only four per cent of all motorists, Police Minister Mark Ryan said on Saturday.

That number has sparked a statewide campaign that will see officers put a greater focus on enforcement and rider safety.

Road Policing Command Assistant Commissioner Mike Keating said the number of riders killed or hospitalised was continuing to rise.

"Research has shown approximately three riders, including pillion passengers, are hospitalised every day due to traffic crashes," he said.

"We are hoping to redress this through both education and enforcement."A man who allegedly stabbed an elderly Queensland woman and her son in the neck has faced court accused of attempted murder.

The 82-year-old and her 50-year-old son were attacked at their Hervey Bay home on Friday morning.

The injured pair then staggered into the street to wave down passing motorists while their alleged attacker took off in a white ute.

The 39-year-old from Lismore in NSW, who is known to the pair, was arrested a short time later and has been charged with their attempted murder.

Both mother and son have undergone extensive surgery.

The man appeared briefly at the Hervey Bay Magistrates Court on Saturday and was remanded in custody ahead of his appearance again on Monday.An annual commemoration of the "meeting of two cultures" at Kurnell, the landing site of Captain James Cook, will take place after plans for a new monument were revealed.

Sutherland Shire Council holds the event at Kamay Botany Bay National Park and the community has received praise from a leading Australian historian for acknowledging shared history.

Sunday's ceremony and picnic follows an announcement this weekend by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull of a $50 million refurbishment, including a new aquatic monument, in the lead-up to the 250th anniversary of Cook's landing in 2020.

University of Sydney Professor Mark McKenna believes the commonwealth sometimes "lags behind" the local community and Kurnell has taken proactive steps to foster less divisive discussion about Australia's history.

"So often in the past we've been unable to approach these moments - like the anniversary of Cook's landing or January 26 - without dissolving into unbridgeable chasms of differences in understanding," Prof McKenna told AAP.

"After all we've been through, after all we know now, here's an opportunity to build on what's already happened at Kurnell."

The historian recently penned a Quarterly Essay that went into detail about Kurnell's approach, including the rewording of a sign which once welcomed visitors to the "birthplace of the nation" but now reads "the birthplace of modern Australia".

It has "found a way to move beyond the tired polarities of the culture and history wars", Prof McKenna wrote.

He told AAP existing monuments - such as the Cook statue in Hyde Park which was vandalised last year - should be added to rather than altered because they illustrate how understandings of history have evolved.

"People can revile Cook, they can praise him, they can eulogise him, but we can't escape him," he said.

The draft master plan for the refurbishment includes a new visitor centre, cafe and exhibition space, ferry wharves at La Perouse and Kurnell, plus the refurbishment of an existing Captain Cook monument.Police will return to a state park in Victoria as they search for a missing man whose car has been found nearby.

Yiwei 'Carl' Chu has been missing for more than a fortnight, but a resident on Friday reported seeing his white Toyota Camry near Werribee Gorge State Park.

Police searched the area on Saturday and will continue scouring the site on Sunday.

The park is more than 80km from the last known sighting of the 28-year-old Mt Waverley man.

Mr Chu bought lunch at a fast food restaurant in Notting Hill on April 11 and hasn't used his mobile phone, bank cards or social media since.

He was supposed to pick up his wife, Emma Wang, from work that evening, but didn't show up.

She feared her husband may have been murdered, despite being a "calm, quiet, friendly person" who never fought with anyone.

"The only thing that can come to my brain is just about murder or the danger of things," Ms Wang said.

"I just want him to come home, I can't think too much or think other things."

Investigators have said there was "potential" for "sinister attachment" to his disappearance.Foreign aid groups say a $15 million boost to Australia's contribution to the Rohingya crisis in Bangladesh could limit the damage from the impending monsoon season.

The additional funding will be used for food delivery, shelters, medical services and counselling for survivors of sexual violence, and brings Australia's total pledge to $46.5 million since September 2017.

According to United Nations estimates, about 900,000 people are living in packed camps in Bangladesh and a recent downpour has authorities concerned about the upcoming monsoon season.

Oxfam Australia's humanitarian manager Meg Quartermaine said while they hadn't heard details of how quickly the assistance would be available, there was an urgency to provide increased support.

"There is a need for essential services and to help relocate refugees in risk areas," she told AAP in a statement.

"The monsoonal rains could soon cut vulnerable people off from accessing key drinking water sources and aid distributions, which could be devastating for pregnant women, elderly or disabled people and children."

Ms Quartermaine recently visited the camps in the Cox's Bazar area, as did Save The Children's director of policy Mat Tinkler.

"This kind of funding is desperately needed and very much working," he told AAP.

"That is money that is literally saving lives on the ground in Bangladesh right now."

The refugees poured into Bangladesh to escape a military crackdown in Myanmar, where it's reported the military committed atrocities such as mass rapes, murders and burning villages.Fashion icon Balenciaga and upmarket retailer Printemps have officially apologized to Chinese customers after a video clip of security guards mistreating a Chinese shopper in a Balenciaga shop in Paris went viral online.

The incident, which took place at a Printemps department store in Paris on April 25, has led to an online uproar among the Chinese public. According to the 5-second video clip circulating on Chinese social media, a Chinese man was dragged from a queue by French security guards, with several Chinese shoppers protesting and expressing their dismay over the misconduct at the scene.

According to media reports, the victim was trying to defend his mother, who criticized some local queue jumpers and was then threatened by them. Security guards in the shop reportedly spared the locals but pushed the Chinese shopper away, while a shop manager is alleged to have verbally assaulted the Chinese customers.

The incident has enraged Chinese netizens, who have initiated an online campaign to boycott Balenciaga. The hashtag BALENCIAGADISCRIMINATESCHINESE has garnered over 9 million views in just three days on Sina Weibo, while the brands social media accounts have been inundated by a flood of angry comments from Chinese internet users, who demand a thorough investigation and a proper apology.

In response to the incident, Balenciaga issued an announcement on Sina Weibo on Saturday, in which it said the company sincerely apologizes to all Chinese customers present at that time, noting that the staff members involved in the incident have since been suspended, while a thorough investigation is now underway.

The House is endeavoring to reach customers impacted by the incident in order to individually apologize, read the announcement.

The apology seems insufficient to pacify the wrath of Chinese netizens, who later criticized Balenciaga for only issuing an unnoticeable apology that expired after 24 hours on Instagram, adding that the brand has been deleting unfavorable comments written in English on its social media accounts outside of China.

Balenciaga is trying to sugarcoat the discriminatory incident. The difference between the apologies it posted on Chinese and foreign social media platforms shows that the company is not taking the incident seriously, and we are definitely not going to roll with the punches, wrote a netizen on Instagram.

Both Balenciaga and Printemps cannot be reached for comment.

The growing presence of Chinese buyers has significantly boosted the global luxury goods industry, but discriminatory incidents targeting Chinese have increased in recent years. In February, the World Duty Free Group that runs its business at London Heathrow Airport apologized after Chinese customers accused it of discrimination over its VIP voucher policy, which charged Chinese shoppers extra money.

Meanwhile, according to McKinsey & Companys report in 2017, each of the 7.6 million Chinese households spend an average of RMB 71,000 on luxury goods each year, which is twice what French households are spending, while Chinese consumers account for almost a third of the global luxury market.An elderly man has died after the car he was a passenger in crashed into a traffic pole following a collision with a van in Sydney's north.

The 90-year-old woman driver and her 94-year-old male passenger were trapped in the car for some time after the accident on Saturday morning in St Ives.

The man was taken to Royal North Shore Hospital with critical injuries and later died. The woman was treated for minor injuries. The driver of the van, a 43-year-old man, was uninjured and underwent mandatory blood and urine testing.The Department of Home Affairs and Department of Defence are proposing new powers that would allow Australia's digital spy agency to spy on citizens at home.

The Australian Signals Directorate at present can only gather intelligence on foreigners. Only domestic spy agency ASIO and the Australian Federal Police are allowed to access information at home and then only after obtaining a warrant signed off by the Attorney-General.

The new powers, outlined in letters between the heads off Home Affairs and Defence and seen by the Sunday Telegraph, would allow the ASD's cyber sleuths to monitor Australian citizens and businesses on home soil.

All the department would need would be the approval of the ministers of Defence and Home Affairs, removing any judicial oversight.Nasa has cancelled its only robotic vehicle under development to explore the surface of the moon.

Members of the agency's Resource Prospector mission were told to close down the project by late May.

While Nasa has not given details on why it cancelled the mission, one of the team's planetary scientists speculated it was likely budget related.

The decision comes just months after US President Donald Trump ordered Nasa to return astronauts to the moon for the first time since 1972.

Scroll down for video

Nasa has cancelled the only robotic vehicle under development to explore the surface of the moon. Pictured is a prototype of the rover, dubbed Resource Prospector, searching for a buried sample tube at the Johnson Space Center rock yard in August 2015

Scientists working on the Resource Prospector (RP) mission, a robotic rover that had been in development for about a decade to explore a polar region of the moon, expressed astonishment at the verdict.

'We now understand RP was cancelled on 23 April 2018 and the project has been asked to close down by the end of May,' said a letter dated April 26 by the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group, addressed to Nasa chief Jim Bridenstine and posted on the website NASAWatch.com.

'This action is viewed with both incredulity and dismay by our community,' particularly because Trump's space policy "directs Nasa to go to the lunar surface"', the letter said.

The robotic rover was meant to be the world's only vehicle aimed at exploring the polar region of the moon.

It was expected to undergo a design review next year ahead of launching in 2022.

It would have been the first US lunar lander since Apollo 17 in 1972, and the first ever US robotic rover on the surface of the moon.

Members the Resource Prospector mission, which was set to be first mining expedition on another world, were told to close down the project. The robot was set to take soil samples at the lunar poles. Pictured is a prototype taking samples during testing in August 2015

RP was intended to be the first mission to mine the surface of the moon, in search of volatile compounds like hydrogen, oxygen and water.

According to Dr Phil Metzger, a planetary physicist at University of Central Florida who is part of the science team for Resource Prospector, the mission was likely cancelled when it transferred to a different Nasa directorate.

The mission was initially funded as part of the agency's human exploration arm but was later moved to the directorate that funds science missions.

Because the rover is taking soil samples rather than doing 'straight science', it does not fit under science directorate's priorities or budget, Dr Metzger said.

WHAT WAS NASA'S RESOURCE PROSPECTOR ROVER AND WHY WAS IT CANCELLED? Nasa's Resource Prospector was a robotic rover that was intended to be the first mission to mine the surface of the moon. The robot, developed by Nasa over the course of a decade, was designed to search for volatile compounds like hydrogen, oxygen and water. It was expected to launch in 2022 and form part of US President Donald Trump's December 2017 directive ordering Nasa to return astronauts to the moon for the first time since 1972. Nasa's Resource Prospector (artist's impression) was a robotic rover that was intended to be the first mission to mine the surface of the moon On April 23 2018, RP was cancelled and all scientists involved in the project were asked to close down operations by the end of May. Officials from Nasa declined to elaborate on the cancellation. In a statement posted online the agency said some of the instruments aboard RP would be flown on future missions. According to Dr Phil Metzger, a planetary physicist at University of Central Florida who is part of the science team for Resource Prospector, the mission was likely cancelled when it transferred to a different Nasa directorate. On April 23 2018, RP (artist's impression) was cancelled and all scientists involved in the project were asked to close down operations by the end of May The mission was initially funded as part of the agency's human exploration arm but was later moved to the directorate that funds science missions. Because the rover is taking soil samples rather than doing 'straight science', it does not fit under science directorate's priorities or budget, Dr Metzger said. Though he could only speculate, the physicist said this is likely the reason RP was cancelled. He told the Verge: 'I dont really know what the motive was, but Im guessing it was probably budget related.' Advertisement

Though he could only speculate, the physicist said this is likely the reason RP was cancelled.

He told the Verge: 'I dont really know what the motive was, but Im guessing it was probably budget related.'

Dana Hurley, a planetary scientist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, said the robot was a vital part of Nasa's plans to put astronauts on the moon.

'If we want to go back to the moon and really work on the moon and make it a place that we can set up research stations and study processes that are occurring on the moon ... all these things are really enabled by being able to use resources on the moon for making fuel, propellant, life support, that sort of thing,' he said in an interview on Friday.

RP was intended to be the first mission to mine the surface of the moon (artist's impression), in search of volatile compounds like hydrogen, oxygen and water. Nasa said in a statement that some of the instruments aboard RP would be flown on future missions

In a letter to newly confirmed Nasa administrator Jim Bridenstine, the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group - which conducts analyses for Nasa and other space agencies - called for the mission to be reinstated and scheduled to launch in 2022.

'This action is viewed with both incredulity and dismay by our community,' the group wrote.

Officials from Nasa declined to elaborate on the cancellation.

Nasa said in a statement posted Friday that some of the instruments aboard RP would be flown on future missions.

'Nasa is developing an exploration strategy to meet the agency's expanded lunar exploration goals,' said the statement.

'Consistent with this strategy, Nasa is planning a series of progressive robotic missions to the lunar surface.'

In December 2017, US President Donald Trump formally directed Nasa to focus its efforts on returning people to the moon as a foundation for an eventual mission to Mars

It did not specifically refer to any plans to cancel RP, but said the space agency is seeking 'to evolve progressively larger landers leading to an eventual human lander capability,' as part of a broader strategy to return people to the moon for long-term exploration.

'As part of this expanded campaign, selected instruments from Resource Prospector will be landed and flown on the moon,' it said.

Bridenstine, who was confirmed this week as the new head of Nasa, insisted on Twitter that the US space agency is 'committed to lunar exploration.'

'Resource Prospector instruments will go forward in an expanded lunar surface campaign. More landers. More science. More exploration. More prospectors. More commercial partners,' he wrote.

In December 2017, Trump formally directed Nasa to focus its efforts on returning people to the moon as a foundation for an eventual mission to Mars.

The goal of the new moon missions would include 'long-term exploration and use' of its surface.

The last time US astronauts visited the Moon was the Apollo 17 mission of December 1972. This image shows astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt seated in the Lunar Roving Vehicle on the surface of the moon on December 13, 1972

'This time we will not only plant our flag and leave our footprint,' Trump said at the White House as he signed the new space policy directive.

'We will establish a foundation for an eventual mission to Mars and perhaps someday to many worlds beyond.'

Under the directive, the government is also expected to work closely with other nations and private industry.

The last time US astronauts visited the Moon was the Apollo 17 mission of December 1972.Tens of thousands of people have been displaced since a ceasefire between the government and the powerful Kachin Independence Army broke down in 2011

Thousands of people have fled renewed fighting between Myanmar's army and ethnic insurgents in the country's remote north, a United Nations official said, as a long-simmering conflict intensifies.

More than 4,000 people have been displaced in the country's northernmost state of Kachin near the border with China in the last three weeks, Mark Cutts, head of the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told AFP late Friday.

The numbers do not include some 15,000 people who have fled since the beginning of the year, and upwards of 90,000 residing in IDP (internally displaced persons) camps in both Kachin and Shan states since a ceasefire between the government and the powerful Kachin Independence Army broke down in 2011.

"We have received reports from local organisations saying that there are still many civilians who remain trapped in conflict-affected areas," Cutts said of the recent clashes.

"Our biggest concern is for the safety of civilians -- including pregnant women, the elderly, small children and people with disabilities. We must ensure that these people are protected."

OCHA has been unable to verify reports that civilians have been killed in the fighting. A Myanmar government spokesman could not be reached for comment.

In addition to the Rohingya Muslim crisis in the western part of mainly Buddhist Myanmar, the country's conflict-hit north has also played host to clashes involving other ethnic minorities, which rarely make headlines.

The Kachin, who mostly live in the country's northernmost state of the same name, make up some of the more than 6 percent of Christians in Myanmar, the second largest religious group after Buddhists, according to census figures.

Myanmar's border areas have been unstable since its independence from British colonial rule in 1948, hosting a dizzying array of insurgencies, local militias, and drug-running operations.

The country's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi said making peace was her priority when she took office in 2016 after decades of military rule but progress has been slow.

Ethnic armed groups are demanding more autonomy and control from a country in which the Burmese hold major positions of power in politics and the armed forces.

Rights groups say the army has stepped up its campaign in remote areas of Myanmar amid the Rohingya crisis, which has seen some 700,000 people flee to Bangladesh.

The US and the UN have called the military crackdown ethnic cleansing, while Myanmar denies the claims and says it was defending itself against Rohingya insurgents.Mahathir (C) has joined forces with the opposition as their prime ministerial candidate

Flag-waving supporters marched in Malaysia Saturday as candidates registered to run in hard-fought elections next month, with campaigning set to officially start later in the day.

Prime Minister Najib Razak is facing a tough fight to hang on to power due to a scandal surrounding sovereign wealth fund 1MDB and a challenge from veteran ex-leader Mahathir Mohamad, 92.

Najib's long-ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition is nevertheless tipped to win the May 9 poll due to a weakened opposition and alleged vote-rigging, according to his critics.

Candidates seeking to contest the election registered across the country, with electoral authorities due to confirm if they can run before the 11-day campaign officially begins. There are 222 parliamentary seats up for grabs.

Najib, dressed in dark blue traditional Malay dress, registered his candidacy in his constituency of Pekan, in Pahang state, which he has held since 1976.

His supporters gathered and sang the national anthem, while waving blue banners -- the colour of the ruling coalition -- that read "we choose BN".

"He has developed our country, developed an Islamic nation, race and country," supporter Azizah Abdul Aziz told AFP.

On the holiday island of Langkawi in northwest Malaysia, Mahathir -- who was premier for 22 years -- arrived at a local government office to register his candidacy, wearing bright red Malay dress and a traditional black cap.

Outside about 5,000 backers of the opposition coalition he is heading, Pact of Hope, waved flags and chanted.

"Mahathir can help reboot this country," supporter Aziah Mohamad Nasir told AFP.

"Prime Minister Najib has destroyed justice, there is no rule of law."

Mahathir has joined forces with the opposition as their prime ministerial candidate due to the 1MDB scandal, in a stunning volte-face which has seen him throw in his lot with parties he crushed while in power.

Billions of dollars were allegedly stolen from 1MDB -- which was set up and overseen by Najib -- in a campaign of fraud and money-laundering, with American authorities claiming it was used to buy high-end real estate and artwork in the United States.

Najib and the fund deny any wrongdoing, but the controversy has only added to BN's problems after years of falling popularity driven by official corruption, divisive racial politics in the multi-ethnic country and anger at rising living costs.

The leader is under pressure to score an emphatic win after BN, which has led Malaysia since independence from Britain in 1957, lost the popular vote for the first time at the 2013 election.Palestinians, shot by Israeli troops during border protests, check-up exams at the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) clinic in Gaza City on April 25, 2018

When Palestinian Mohammed al-Mughari was shot by an Israeli sniper on the Gaza border, it left a hole in his leg so big he says he could fit a finger into it.

Over a month into mass protests, more than 40 Palestinians have been killed and at least 1,500 wounded by Israeli fire during the "Great March of Return", a major protest movement along the border between Gaza and Israel.

Doctors are troubled by the high number of disabling wounds, especially to the legs and knees, with Israel facing questions over both its disproportionate use of force and the types of ammunition it is using against demonstrators.

Three weeks after being shot, 28-year-old Mughari's leg is propped up and wrapped in plaster, but he's not in the clear yet. He knows there is still a possibility it might need to be amputated.

The bullet destroyed "30 centimetres of bone in the leg", he told AFP from his hospital bed in Gaza City.

Since March 30, thousands of Palestinians have gathered every Friday at points along the border separating the besieged Gaza Strip and Israel.

The marchers are demanding the right to return to their homes seized by Israel in 1948.

While most of the crowd stands a few hundred metres (yards) from the border fence, smaller numbers have pushed closer to burn tyres and throw stones.

In response Israeli snipers have fired live ammunition.

Palestinians carry man wounded during border protests near Gaza's northern town of Jabalia on April 27, 2018

Mughari declined to say whether he threw stones, but he thinks it may be years before he can return to his restaurant job.

"I was planning to get married soon. I'm not thinking about it anymore," he said.

The Israeli army says it fires live rounds only as a "last resort" to protect soldiers and the fence.

It has accused Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas of exploiting the demonstrations and using the protesters as human shields.

Since the protests began, Israeli troops have shot more than 1,500 people. The vast majority are young men, and most of the wounded were hit in the legs, according to the health ministry in Gaza.

Twenty-one people have had limbs amputated.

Among those killed there have been two journalists and several teenagers.

- 'Unusual' wounds -

The asymmetry of force has brought criticism of Israel's policies.

No Israelis have been injured since the protests began.

The European Union and others have called for an investigation into Israel's response, but the Jewish state has rejected the idea.

The United States, Israel's strongest backer, has blocked moves for a probe at the United Nations.

Doctors have reported unusually severe injuries.

Palestinians, wounded in previous weeks during mass protests, are transported for check-up exams at the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) clinic in Gaza City on April 25, 2018

"What is unusual is the lesions and the fact that the wounds are very wide, and the bones can be in many fragments," Marie-Elisabeth Ingres, head of the Doctors Without Borders mission (MSF) in the Palestinian territories, told AFP.

The charity has given nearly 600 people post-operative care since March 30.

Abdel Latif el-Hajj, director general of hospitals in Gaza, accused Israel of using types of ammunition aimed at permanently disfiguring their targets.

He told AFP the army was using "expanding bullets" that separate inside the body, "breaking the bones and blood vessels, causing severe rupturing of the tissue".

Amnesty International on Friday said some of the wounds appear consistent with bullets that expand inside the body.

Such ammunition is considered illegal in international warfare.

AFP could not independently confirm the claim.

"The nature of these injuries shows that Israeli soldiers are using high-velocity military weapons designed to cause maximum harm to Palestinian protesters that do not pose imminent threat to them," an Amnesty statement said.

It accused Israel of "deliberate attempts to kill and maim" protesters.

Palestinians protest on April 27, 2018 ,east of Gaza City near Gaza's border with Israel, during the fifth consecutive Friday of mass demonstrations

In a statement the Israeli army said it was only using "standard weapons and ammunition that are lawful under international law", and accused Gaza's health ministry of regularly spreading false information.

Gaza's severely limited medical facilities have been stretched thin by the number of injuries.

Hajj estimates they have only a few weeks of saline solution and antibiotics left.

They also have only around 50 orthopaedic devices, used to support damaged bones or replace destroyed ones.

"I suspect they will be gone in a week," he said.

Ingres from MSF thinks hundreds of people will need costly treatment for months, if not years, with the risk of infection and further amputations if quality treatment is not given.

"The impact will be long term -- not only on the individuals but on the health system, on their families, on the society in total."Electoral posters line the side of the road in central Baghdad ahead of Iraq's May 12 parliamentary elections

Only a decade after their country's first ever multi-party elections, disenchanted Iraqis say "the same old faces" with their vested interests have been running the show since the fall of dictator Saddam Hussein.

"How long have Ibrahim al-Jaafari, Ayad Allawi, Nuri al-Maliki or Haider al-Abadi been in power? One minute as MPs, the next as ministers," said Midan al-Hamadani, listing Iraq's foreign minister, vice president, ex-prime minister and current premier.

"The parties are always the same and the same people come back to power, whether we like it or not," said the 40-year-old Baghdad resident.

Widespread corruption combined with failings in basic services such as water, electricity and transportation have reinforced the public's lack of faith in Iraq's political leaders.

In a country with a long history of conflict and intercommunal violence, more than 24 million Iraqis are registered to elect 320 deputies from a field of around 7,000 candidates on May 12, with 71 seats reserved for the capital.

Baghdad has been inundated with election posters plastered on apartment buildings and even trees.

In some places, candidates' faces have overshadowed posters of the "martyrs" killed in the 2014-2017 defeat of the Islamic State (IS) group in northern and western Iraq.

"It's the same old faces! All they care about is getting rich, not serving the people!" said an angry Haidar al-Shamri, 35, letting rip in a street in central Baghdad.

Since the US-led invasion of 2003 that toppled Saddam, the same political figures and parties have held the levers of power in Iraq.

"So what change has there been? At least if we had a change of faces. We're fed up with lies," was the outspoken opinion of Umm Yussef, a 54-year-old woman from the northern city of Mosul.

Her northern city, Iraq's second largest, was devastated in a ferocious battle to oust IS from its bastion and reconstruction has been stalled by a lack of state funding.

- 'Behind the 40 thieves?' -

Rumour has it that the marjaiya, the highest religious authority of Iraq's Shiite majority, has called for incumbents not to be re-elected. Contacted by AFP, it gave no confirmation.

According to the electoral commission, 20 percent of the candidates are newcomers.

Electoral posters in Baghdad for Iraq's parliamentary elections to be held on May 12

One such new face is Hala Karim, a health ministry employee, for whom "nothing has changed in 15 years (since Saddam's fall), if anything things have gone from bad to worse".

"In this cradle of civilisation, confessionalism is on the rise and the situation is deteriorating. We must change that," said the woman in her 30s running on an independent list, Tahalouf Baghdad (Baghdad Coalition).

The old guard were even resorting to posting defamatory videos online of newcomers to knock them out of contention. "The big sharks can only think of defaming us to stay in power," she said.

Haidar al-Bizani, who is also running, learnt the hard way: he sold a plot of land and quit his job, all to no avail, as he failed to win a seat as an independent at Iraq's last election.

"There is no way an independent candidate can win. The law is to the disadvantage of small lists. That's why I'm running this time on the Hikma list," led by Shiite politician Ammar al-Hakim, he said.

In central Baghdad stands a statue of Kahramana, a figure from "1,001 Nights", as she pours boiling oil on thieves hiding in 40 jars.

Iraqi poet and activist Aya Mansour posted a photograph on Twitter of the monument obstructed by a wall of election posters. "Where's Kahramana? Behind the 40 thieves?" she asked.Kim Jong Un's appearance at the summit was for many Southerners their first chance for a close look at the enigmatic leader from the North

South Koreans on Saturday pored over every detail of a historic summit in the Demilitarized Zone, transfixed by an extraordinary charm offensive by the North's leader Kim Jong Un.

Kim's public appearance at the summit, beamed live to millions in the south, was for many the first prolonged exposure to an authoritarian figure revered in his secretive nation but shrouded in mystery.

South Koreans and the world have long viewed him with a mixture of ridicule and fear, becoming used to the sight of him presiding over missile launches and military parades, but it was a very different Kim that took to the world stage on Friday.

The 30-something leader was on his best behaviour, frequently flashing a smile, making humourous remarks and patting children as tenderly as any election-seeking politician in the West.

"I heard Kim Jong Un making a joke and hearing that made me realise that he is also just a human being," Choi Hyun-ah, a 24-year-old events planner, told AFP.

No caption

Kim showed a few brief moments of human fallibility, appearing slightly out of puff at times and missing the soil when trying to plant his shovel during a tree-planting ceremony.

The reclusive North "deifies Kim in a strict, scripted and controlled manner", noted the Korea Times, but "everything about him -- including his facial expressions, walk, gesture, voice, black Mao suit and signature hairstyle -- was streamed live by global media outlets".

Kim was "no longer a hermit", the paper said in the headline of its editorial, adding he had shown himself capable of "showmanship" with his impromptu invitation to the South's President Moon Jae-in to hop briefly over the border to the North himself.

- 'Cartoon character' -

Kim rapidly got into his stride, reducing the South Korean delegation to giggles with banter about noodles from the North and seeming playful at times, deadly serious at others.

For 30 minutes, the cameras were trained on Kim as he chatted with Moon over al-fresco tea in woodlands in the Demilitarized Zone that divides their two countries.

Not a word could be heard -- just birdsong in the trees -- but it was compelling viewing nevertheless, Kim appearing to listen intently to his elder counterpart, nodding gently and occasionally making small gestures.

The Korea Herald even examined Kim's inscription in a guestbook to analyse his handwriting -- which like many aspects of his public persona is modelled on that of his grandfather and predecessor, the North's founder Kim Il Sung.

Kim Jong Un's inscription in a guestbook is being analysed for personality traits

A graphologist pronounced he has a "feisty and self-centred personality" and was "excited and highly elated when he wrote the message."

His gravelly tones -- he has often been photographed with a lit cigarette in hand -- -- were an object of fascination for many.

"It was very, very weird to hear Kim Jong Un's voice on TV," said Kim Kyung-ah, a 32-year-old mother in Seoul.

"I mean, I always knew that he existed. But today was the first time where I felt 'Oh my God, Kim Jong Un is a real person'," she told the Korea Herald.

"Up until today, it always felt like Kim was some sort of cartoon character. It was refreshing to see him talking about normal things like cold noodles, not nuclear weapons or wars."

- 'A natural beauty' -

South Koreans were also fascinated by Kim's wife Ri Sol Ju and his powerful sister Kim Yo Jong, who spent much of the day at her brother's side.

Kim's sister - who acted as his envoy to the South's Winter Olympics in February - broke into a broad grin while greeting Moon, with officials later revealing she had blushed when the president said she had become a celebrity.

An anti-North Korea activist burns a North Korean flag placard during a demonstration in Seoul

At one point Ri was the top search topic on South Korean internet portals, with users describing her as "a natural beauty", "humble and well-mannered" and "graceful".

But by noon on Saturday the summit had been displaced as the top item by Korean film "Delta Boys."

And others refused to be taken in by the smiles and hugs, with the North accused of a litany of state-sanctioned rights abuses.

Min Joong-hong, head of one of the anti-North Korea groups protesting against Friday's summit, told the Korea Herald that Seoul should not engage with Pyongyang, which "continues to commit crimes against humanity, including murder, torture and imprisonment."Palestinian refugee Manal Kortam talks to students at the Mar Elias Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut on April 26, 2018

She has been criss-crossing her native Lebanon ahead of May 6 elections but the parliament seat she wants does not exist and she is not even eligible. Manal Kortam is a Palestinian refugee.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians have lived in refugee camps across the small Middle Eastern country for decades, facing tough living conditions and barred from certain jobs.

But in a country of just four million where each religious community is allocated seats in the legislative chamber, there are none for Palestinians.

In the run-up to Lebanon's first parliamentary polls in almost a decade, Kortam saw an opportunity to stand up for her Palestinian community by launching a symbolic campaign.

"Somebody needed to say: 'There are people who have been in this country for 70 years but who have no place at all in public politics'," she told AFP during a visit this week to the Mar Elias camp in Beirut.

"All candidates have programmes that speak of social justice and democracy," she said, dressed in a slick pair of chequered trousers and black jacket, a piercing in her eyebrow.

"Implementing social justice is very important -- but not just for nationals, for all Lebanon residents," the 40-year-old from the northern city of Tripoli said.

- 'We exist' -

Palestinians began taking refuge in Lebanon with the creation of Israel in 1948, setting up camps that have since transformed into bustling, urban districts.

Palestinian refugee Manal Kortam poses in front of graffiti of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat at the entrance to the Mar Elias Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut on April 26, 2018

Around 174,000 Palestinian refugees live in 12 camps across the country, a one-off government census said last year.

That figure was much lower than previous estimates of up to 500,000, in a country where demographics have long been a sensitive subject.

The presence of Palestinians has been controversial, with many blaming them for the eruption of Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war.

"We exist," Kortam has often repeated as a hashtag on social media and slogan on her tours of Lebanon's Palestinian refugee camps.

On Facebook, she poses in a series of posters that subvert the slogans of well-known political parties to draw attention to the Palestinian cause.

"The pulse of the isolated people," goes one, adding an adjective to a slogan of the Kataeb (Phalange) party.

Palestinians in Lebanon face a raft of restrictions from the state.

They are banned from practising a number of professions -- including those of doctor, lawyer and engineer -- and cannot buy a home outside the camps.

- 'Social, economic rights' -

Kortam was born in Lebanon to a Palestinian father and Lebanese mother.

But she does not have citizenship -- a result of a century-old law that bars women from passing on nationality, meaning that the children of Palestinian men and their Lebanese wives do not have the rights of a citizen.

The law was maintained over fears of upsetting the country's delicate sectarian balance.

"I'm demanding civil, social, economic rights for Palestinian refugees," Kortam said.

These include "the right to all jobs, the right to social security... and the right to own property", she said.

The Palestinian camps in Lebanon are built-up and fully integrated in the urban fabric but the army is banned from going in and crime has festered.

"Palestinian camps should not be isolated" from their surrounding communities but included in Lebanon's development as a whole, Kortam said.

Only "this way can we build a Palestinian... society able to liberate its land and return to it", Kortam said.

Some 597 candidates are running for a seat in Lebanon's parliament, but only a few dozen have pledged to uphold human rights including refugee rights, Human Rights Watch said Thursday.

Just 27 candidates and some parties running in the polls have made public commitments to strengthen human rights protections, the New York-based watchdog said.

"It is deeply disappointing that none of the parties in Lebanon's current government saw fit to make strong commitments to human rights," HRW's Lama Fakih said.

Kortam said she knows her task is not easy, but she had received great feedback so far.

"Whether they support or oppose the campaign, just the fact that people interact with it is great," she said.

"It's an awareness-raising campaign and it's normal that it raises a lot of questions."Malawi's former president Joyce Banda speaks to journalists in the airport's VIP lounge

Malawi's former president, Joyce Banda, returned home on Saturday after four years of self-imposed exile, despite facing the threat of arrest over corruption allegations.

Banda, 68, fled the country in 2014 when she lost power after being embroiled in the so-called Cashgate scandal, in which government officials siphoned off millions of dollars of public money.

Banda -- only the second woman to lead a country in Africa -- arrived at Blantyre's airport on a flight from Johannesburg around midday on Saturday, where she was greeted by hundreds of supporters of her People's Party, said an AFP journalist at the scene.

"Mother is here, the lights should come back", the crowd chanted.

No police were present as she left the plane.

"I thank God and will continue thanking God for your love and support," Banda said.

"I did not know that our party still commands such power as I have seen today: I'm back and for political rallies, we will be meeting out there in the locations," she added, without clearly spelling out her political ambitions.

Her spokesman Andekunye Chanthunya had earlier said she would head straight to her home at Domasi in Zomba, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) away. She is due to address a political rally on Sunday.

"I am happy that she is back to her home... now we are confident that she will help us solve some of our problems," said Mercy Kambudzi, 61.

"Look at all these people, they are happy that our saviour is here," she said, referring to the crowd at the airport.

Local media have reported a possible deal between President Peter Mutharika and Banda ahead of next year's elections.

Banda founded the People's Party (PP) in 2011 after splitting from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which is led by Mutharika.

"She remains the head of the PP. The question of whether she wants to contest for the presidency or not will be answered in due course, but we may get an idea of how she is thinking," Banda's spokesman told AFP.

Wallace Chawawa, a PP lawmaker said: "This will definitely rejuvenate the party... The vacuum has been filled."

- Government coffers emptied -

Police spokesman James Kaledzera has declined to say if Banda would be arrested, though he confirmed that a warrant issued last July remained valid.

Earlier this year, the Malawi Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) said it had no solid evidence against the former president, partially clearing her name.

The "Cashgate" scandal prompted foreign donors -- who provide around 40 percent of Malawi's budget -- to pull the plug on aid worth around $150 million.

Ministers, civil servants and businessmen are accused of pocketing money from government coffers through ghost companies which did not provide any services to the state.

The biggest financial scandal in Malawi's history helped push Banda out of power in the 2014 election, and Mutharika vowed to clean up the system to bring donors back.

The graft started in 2005, and more than $30 million was looted within only six months in 2013 shortly before it was uncovered, according to an independent audit.

Malawi, one of the world's poorest and aid-dependent countries, will hold presidential, parliamentary and council elections in May 2019.

Banda came to power in 2012 when Bingu wa Mutharika, the current president's brother, died in office.

She has spent much of her time abroad in the United States and her return has been postponed several times, most recently last year when the arrest warrant was issued.

Political analyst Henry Chingaipe said her influence was uncertain and she could struggle to play a major role in the elections.

"If she is coming home just to live, OK. But if she is coming to contest for the presidency, her party is in tatters," he told AFP.

"The decision to leave the country for so long eroded trust in her leadership."

The World Bank resumed aid to Malawi in May last year, providing an $80 million package and saying the country had "taken some very important reform steps".

strs-pa/ach/spmIrresponsible practices of the Group of Seven reveal its hypocrisy

The irresponsible practices of the Group of Seven (G7) have revealed its hypocrisy and double standards, an article published by Peoples Daily stated on April 26, a few days after the group issued a joint communique that contained untrue and irresponsible content related to China.

Masquerading under the name of international law, the joint communique points the finger at the South China Sea and East China Sea issues, as well as China's human rights situation.

China firmly opposes the China-related content, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Wednesday.

If the G7 countries had any respect for the facts and abandoned ideological prejudices, they would not have made such irresponsible remarks, said Peoples Daily.

The newspaper noted that China has a clear and consistent position when it comes to maritime issues. China has been committed to properly handling disputes, cementing cooperation, and safeguarding peace and stability of the East and South China Seas through talks and consultation directly with related parties.

These countries have made groundless accusations against China, ignoring the fact that Japan made a unilateral declaration to buy Diaoyu Island and in doing so has escalated the tension.

In addition, certain countries outside of the region have frequently shown military muscle in the South China Sea, conducting so-called freedom of navigation activities. Such practices severely undermine the hard-won regional peace and stability.

Seemingly promoting de-militarization, the G7 foreign ministers are indeed ignoring the militarization, and have even made unjustified accusations against China. Such practices are contemptible.

Chinese government has always attached high importance to the development of human rights, and achieved remarkable progress. However, China still receives unjust treatment from these countries that pretend to be human rights guards and make improper comments.

In fact, these countries are the ones that are faced with human rights issues, such as a violation of citizens rights, severe racial discrimination, income disparity and gross violations of human rights in other countries.

These countries are in no position to blame China in the name of international law. In mid April, a number of these countries even launched a military attack against Syria without the permission of the UN Security Council.

Such a unilateral military act didnt only go against the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, but it also further deteriorated the situation in Syria.

It needs to be pointed out that the G7 was founded to facilitate shared macroeconomic initiatives. However, some of the G7 countries have shifted their focus to non-economic issues in recent years. In regards to the East and South China Sea issue, six out of the seven countries lie outside of the region, so the issue isnt relevant to them.

It is hoped that these countries will respect the facts and the efforts made by regional countries to promote peace and stability, and cease making irresponsible remarks.North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un (L) and South Korea's President Moon Jae-in say goodbye during a ceremony at the close of an inter-Korean peace summit on April 27, 2018

Iran on Saturday welcomed steps towards detente between North and South Korea but warned that the United States was unqualified to play a role since it did not "respect its commitments".

The foreign ministry said the meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and the South's President Moon Jae-in was "a responsible and effective step towards regional and global stability".

But ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said the "historic new page for detente on the Korean peninsula" should be worked out between the two principal parties, without the "interference of foreign countries".

"Iran's experience over 40 years, in particular with regard to the nuclear deal, is that the American government is not a dignified, trustworthy actor and does not respect its international commitments," Ghasemi said in a statement.

Iran signed a deal in 2015 with the United States and five other world powers, curbing its nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.

But Tehran argues the US has continued to block its trade with the outside world -- in breach of the deal -- and US President Donald Trump has threatened to abandon the agreement entirely when it comes up for renewal on May 12.

"As a result, (the US) is not qualified to play a role to determine the arrangements between countries, which has again been reinforced in recent years by Trump," Ghasemi said.

The leaders of North and South Korea held a historic meeting along their border on Friday, vowing to pursue a peace treaty and the complete denuclearisation of their divided peninsula.

In the coming weeks, Kim is due to hold a much-anticipated meeting with Trump, who has demanded Pyongyang give up its nuclear arsenal.Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak faces a stern test at next month's general election

Campaigning for Malaysia's general election began Saturday with flag-waving supporters hitting the streets, as the scandal-hit government fights to retain power in one of the toughest poll battles since independence six decades ago.

Prime Minister Najib Razak faces a stern test at next month's vote due to the controversy surrounding sovereign wealth fund 1MDB and a challenge from his former mentor and veteran ex-leader, Mahathir Mohamad.

Mahathir, a strongman who led Malaysia for over two decades, has shaken up the race with a surprise comeback at the age of 92 as the prime ministerial candidate in an opposition alliance packed with parties he crushed while in power.

But Najib's Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, which has been in power since independence from Britain in 1957, is tipped to win due to splits within the opposition, and what critics warn will be widespread cheating at the dirtiest election in Malaysian history.

In the unlikely event that Mahathir wins the May 9 poll, he will become the world's oldest prime minister.

There was a festive atmosphere around the country Saturday as candidates formally registered to stand in the election, with flag-waving supporters from different parties parading through the streets.

Once the election commission confirmed their candidacies, the 11-day campaign formally got under way, with 222 parliamentary seats up for grabs.

Najib, in dark blue traditional Malay dress, registered in his constituency of Pekan, in Pahang state, which he has held for over four decades, as his supporters gathered, singing the national anthem and waving flags.

"He has developed our country, developed an Islamic nation, race and country," supporter Azizah Abdul Aziz told AFP.

- Holiday island battle -

On the holiday island of Langkawi, Mahathir arrived at a local government office to register, wearing bright red Malay dress and a traditional black cap.

Former PM Mahathir Mohamad, 92, was spurred out of retirement to take on Najib

Outside about 5,000 backers of the opposition coalition he is heading, Pact of Hope, waved flags and chanted.

"Mahathir can help reboot this country," supporter Aziah Mohamad Nasir told AFP. "Prime Minister Najib has destroyed justice, there is no rule of law."

Not all candidates registered successfully. Tian Chua, a leading member of opposition group the People's Justice Party, was disqualified from contesting his seat due to a fine imposed by a court for insulting a police officer.

Mahathir was spurred out of retirement to take on Najib -- who heads the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the main party in the ruling coalition -- as allegations mounted about the 1MDB scandal.

Billions of dollars were allegedly stolen from 1MDB, which was set up and overseen by Najib, in a campaign of fraud and money-laundering, with American authorities claiming it was used to buy everything from high-end real estate to artwork in the United States.

Najib and the fund deny any wrongdoing, but the controversy has only added to BN's problems after years of falling popularity driven by official corruption, divisive racial politics in the multi-ethnic country and anger at rising living costs.

The 64-year-old leader is under pressure to score an emphatic win after BN lost the popular vote for the first time at the 2013 election.

Najib, who has been premier since 2009, has weathered the 1MDB scandal by sacking critics in government and launching a crackdown that has seen opponents arrested on various charges.

In recent weeks, BN has taken steps that critics liken to gerrymandering -- such as redrawing electoral boundaries in a way the opposition says will tilt the race in the government's favour.

Ibrahim Suffian, head of independent polling firm Merdeka Centre, told AFP that BN was likely to win but signalled it could be a tough fight.

"There are a few states where the opposition does have a strong presence, so it makes for some uncertainty," he said.The leaders of China and India vowed greater cooperation and a reduction in border tensions

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi ended informal meetings Saturday with a promise to reduce border tensions after a high-altitude standoff in the Himalayas last year.

The leaders have spent two days in the central Chinese city of Wuhan for discussions on how to mend ties strained when troops from both sides came eyeball-to-eyeball in the disputed Doklam area.

The leaders "underscored the importance of maintaining peace and tranquility in all areas of the India-China border region", Indian's foreign ministry said in a statement following the meeting.

"They issued strategic guidance to their respective militaries to strengthen communication in order to build trust and mutual understanding and enhance predictability and effectiveness in the management of border affairs," it said, adding the two sides will "earnestly implement various confidence building measures".

In a statement on its website, China's foreign ministry said that Xi had told Modi that "a friendly Sino-Indian relationship is a significant, positive factor in safeguarding world stability," adding that "China and India should be good neighbours and good friends".

It did not, however, mention the border dispute.

Instead, Xi emphasised the countries had both traditionally had "an independent foreign policy", an oblique reference to India's discussion with the US, Australia and Japan about balancing against China's growing assertiveness in what the Trump administration has begun to refer to as the "Indo-Pacific" region.

The four countries have been in discussions over trade and security.

"In dealing with great power relations, China persists in strategic autonomy," the foreign ministry quoted Xi as saying.

Beijing "persists in promoting the construction of a new type of international relations based on mutual respect, fairness and justice, and win-win cooperation".

- "Friendly atmosphere" -

New Delhi has also raised concerns about Beijing's Belt and Road initiative, a global trade infrastructure programme that includes a major project through Pakistan-administered Kashmir, disputed territory that New Delhi claims is illegally occupied.

The issue was not, however, mentioned in either the Indian or Chinese statements.

Instead, the Indian side emphasised that the two leaders had agreed to cooperate on a wide range of issues from economic development to counter-terrorism.

The leaders "exchanged views on bilateral relations, and international and regional issues of common concern Saturday morning in a relaxed, friendly atmosphere", China's state news agency Xinhua said.

Both nations have previously said they are committed to solving long-standing border disagreements through dialogue, but progress has been glacial.

India and China went to war in 1962 over Arunachal Pradesh, with Chinese troops temporarily capturing part of the Himalayan territory.

The dispute remains unresolved: India considers Arunachal Pradesh one of its northeastern states, while China stakes claim to about 90,000 square kilometres (35,000 square miles) of the area.

In February, Beijing lodged an angry protest with New Delhi over a trip by Modi to the state.

Last year, Indian and Chinese troops faced off on the Doklam plateau, an area high in the Himalayas claimed both by China and by India's ally Bhutan.

The dispute began in June when Chinese troops started building a road on the plateau and India deployed troops to stop the project.

A crisis was averted in August when the two nuclear-armed nations pulled back.Actor/director Xavier Legrand talks about his thriller "Custody" during the Colcoa French Film Festival in West Hollywood

It is an unsatisfactory but all-too-familiar denouement of divorce battles involving children: the judge who must allow a violent man back into his family's lives because there is no proof of abuse claims.

Oscar-nominated Xavier Legrand's French-language thriller "Custody," an unsparing account of abuse focusing as much on the damage to the children, has earned acclaim at home and on the festivals circuit ahead its summer US release.

"I would like people to realize that domestic violence is a real scourge in our society and that children are also victims who are too often forgotten," Legrand, 40, told AFP during the COLCOA festival of French film in Los Angeles, which wraps on Monday.

"And especially that they understand that these kinds of situations can turn into horror. These are murders. Under no circumstances are these crimes of passion."

Over half of the killings of women in the United States are related to domestic violence, government figures show, with victims often dying at the hands of an ex who was granted shared custody of the children.

Last year the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analyzed around 10,000 murders of women in the decade from 2003, finding that more than half were perpetrated by a romantic partner or ex.

Data from Legrand's native France -- 123 women killed by domestic violence in 2016 -- demonstrate that the problem is not confined to the US.

- Stranger danger -

Xavier Legrand (L) - here with moderator Jon Amiel at the Colcoa French Film Festival Day -- said his debut feature-length movie recounts the custody battle of the abused wife and a menacing husband

The frightening reality of domestic violence runs counter to an idea perpetuated by Hollywood that the threat to women from men comes in the form of lunatic serial killers lurking in dark alleys.

With a few creditable exceptions -- among them "Tyrannosaur" (2011), "Once Were Warriors" (1995) or "Sleeping with the Enemy" (1991) -- spousal abuse hasn't been as captivating a subject for filmmakers as the much less common "stranger danger."

"Custody," which was written by Legrand, premiered at the Venice Film Festival last year, where it was awarded the Silver Lion for best direction and the Lion of the Future for best first feature film.

Lauded by the Los Angeles Times as a "masterclass in tension modulation and psychological entrapment," it is released on July 13 in New York before getting a nationwide rollout.

Legrand's debut feature-length movie recounts the custody battle of the abused wife and a menacing husband first portrayed in his powerful Oscar-nominated 2013 short "Just Before Losing Everything."

Starting out as a nerve-jangling social drama, "Custody" simmers until it boils over into a full-blown, stomach-churning thriller, its pared-back screenplay aided by a conspicuous lack of music, a la Claude Chabrol or Alfred Hitchcock.

Lea Drucker and Denis Menochet reprise the roles they played in the short, while newcomer Thomas Gioria embodies the conflicting feelings and terrors of the couple's traumatized 12-year-old son.

Menochet, in particular, has been singled out by critics for his terrifying but nuanced portrayal of a man humiliated by allegations of abuse and driven by possessive rage.

- Fragility -

"Custody" stars Denis Menochet (L) and Thomas Gioria joke around at the 74th Venice Film Festival in September 2017

Perhaps more impressive still was debut of Gioria, who convinced Legrand as soon as they met that he had the sensitivity, maturity and fragility -- not to mention courage -- that the role required.

"I started at the same age as Thomas. So I know that at that age, the mind is very clear about reality and fiction," said Legrand, an accomplished theater actor who studied at the National Academy of Dramatic Arts in Paris.

He was clear from the beginning that while the menace is ever-present, he wanted the violence itself to take place off screen, hidden from view as it is in real life.

The filmmaker met abuse victims, a judge, psychologists and police, and attended violent men's groups to prepare for the movie.

He always intended "Custody" to play out as a thriller, he says, rather than the type of social drama mastered by directors like Federico Fellini, Ken Loach or Mike Leigh.

"The stories that some women told me were really like thrillers," he told AFP. "That is the essence of this kind of situation. Fear is at the heart of domestic and family violence."North Korea's missiles are regularly paraded in the capital Pyongyang but estimates of its arsenal vary

The leaders of North and South Korea declared at a summit Friday they had a "common goal of realising, through complete denuclearisation, a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula".

Exactly what that means remains unclear ahead of a much-anticipated summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump.

The White House has urged "the denuclearisation of North Korea", but the distinction is crucial -- that is an explicit reference to only one country, while the broader term is open to interpretation on both sides.

The North -- which invaded its neighbour in 1950 -- is the only one of the two Koreas to possess nuclear weapons, but the South has a security alliance with the most powerful nation on the planet.

What weapons does North Korea have?

Estimates of Pyongyang's arsenal vary.

Monitoring groups put the size of Pyongyang's sixth and last atomic blast in September at 250 kilotons -- 16 times the size of the US bomb that destroyed Hiroshima in 1945 and the kind of yield generated by a hydrogen bomb.

Seoul's 2016 defence white paper -- the most recent available -- estimated the North had 50 kilograms of plutonium -- reportedly enough for about 10 bombs - and a "considerable" but unquantified ability to produce uranium weapons.

Last year, the Washington Post reported a US intelligence assessment that the North had up to 60 nuclear devices.

Where the North keeps its missiles is not publicly known, but it has extensive experience in tunnelling and it is believed they are stored at underground facilities scattered around the country.

They are also mobile -- it has put transporters on show at military parades.

What does the US have?

US President Donald Trump says his nuclear button is bigger than Kim's -- and it works.

According to the State Department, as of September 1, the US has a total of 1,393 deployed nuclear warheads, deliverable by land- and submarine-based missiles and heavy bombers.

It has thousands more in stockpiles and awaiting dismantlement, campaign groups say, with the Arms Control Association putting the total at 6,550 last year.

The US withdrew tactical nuclear weapons from the South in the 1990s and Seoul does not have any itself.

But the US has an unparallelled ability to project power around the world and can reach targets anywhere with conventional or nuclear munitions.

It has long-range bombers, mid-air refuelling capabilities, and a fleet of nuclear submarines constantly at sea, each armed with phenomenal destructive power.

What has Pyongyang promised?

According to Trump "they have agreed to denuclearisation". Asked what he meant by the term, he told reporters earlier this month: "It means they get rid of their nukes -- very simple."

But North Korea itself has made no explicit pledge to do so during the current rapprochement.

According to Seoul, it has offered to consider giving them up in exchange for unspecified security guarantees.

When Kim visited key backer China last month in only his first foreign trip as leader, China's state media cited him saying that the issue could be resolved if Seoul and Washington take "progressive and synchronous measures for the realisation of peace" -- implying some form of quid pro quo.

What does that imply?

Pyongyang says it needs nuclear weapons to defend itself against the United States, and interprets threats against it widely -- it has regularly condemned US-South Korean joint military exercises as preparations for invasion.

Under the 1953 Mutual Defence Treaty between South Korea and the US, Washington is duty-bound to come to its ally's aid if attacked.

In the past Pyongyang has demanded the end of the alliance and the withdrawal of US troops from the South.

The US has 28,500 troops stationed in the country to defend it from its neighbour, and Washington's nuclear arsenal is a key part of its defence capabilities -- it does not have a "no first use" policy.

What has the North promised before?

Friday's declaration was the first time the word "denuclearisation" has appeared in an inter-Korean summit communique.

There was no reference to the subject in the declaration after their first summit in Pyongyang in 2000, and seven years later they said they would work together to implement two existing agreements on "the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula".

But one of those documents, the Joint Statement of the Fourth Round of the Six-Party Talks issued in Beijing in September 2005, is unequivocal.

"The DPRK committed to abandoning all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programmes," it said, using the North's official name.

But it carried out its first nuclear test the very next year. Another agreement followed before Pyongyang walked out of the six-party process -- which brought together the two Koreas, China, the US, Russia and Japan -- in 2009, detonating its second atomic blast months later.A scene from a video issued by Yemen's Huthi rebels on March 27, 2018 shows what appears to be Huthi military forces launching a ballistic missile on March 25 from the capital Sanaa

Saudi Arabia on Saturday intercepted four ballistic missiles fired by Yemeni rebels, the Saudi-led coalition against the insurgents said, with a local official reporting one man had been killed in the attack.

The missiles were headed towards the city of Jizan in southern Saudi Arabia, according to a coalition statement.

While the coalition said the attack claimed no casualties, Jizan's civil defence spokesman Colonel Yahya Abdullah al-Qahtani told Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya television that a Saudi Arabian citizen had been killed by falling shrapnel.

A coalition spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation.

The Huthi rebels' Al Masirah television reported Saturday they had fired eight missiles towards Jizan, a day after Saudi defence forces said they had downed a missile headed for the same area.

The latest attack came as the Huthis staged a public funeral for a slain commander in the Yemeni capital Sanaa.

Saleh al-Sammad, head of the rebels' supreme political council, was killed in an air raid by Saudi Arabia and its allies last week.

Saudi Arabia formed its military coalition in 2015 to battle the Huthi rebels in its southern neighbour and restore the internationally recognised Yemeni government to power.

The Huthis control Yemen's capital, Sanaa, as well as much of Yemen's north and the key Hodeida port on the country's western coastline.

Nearly 10,000 people have been killed since the Saudi-led alliance joined the Yemen conflict, triggering what the United Nations has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

The alliance imposed a total blockade on Yemen's ports in November in retaliation for the rebel missile attacks.

The blockade has since been partially lifted, but access remains limited and the impoverished country stands on the brink of famine.Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said the city-state has not received any formal request to host the Trump-Kim meeting

Singapore has not received any "formal" request to host an eagerly awaited meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the city-state's prime minister said Saturday.

Trump said Friday that the list of potential sites for the meeting had been narrowed to two, without saying where. Some reports have said that Singapore, a stable and prosperous financial hub in Southeast Asia, is one of the potential locations.

The meeting, expected in the coming weeks, follows a dizzying detente in recent months between the nuclear-armed North and its neighbour, which resulted in Friday's historic summit between Kim and the South's President Moon Jae-in.

The leaders agreed to pursue a permanent peace treaty and the complete denuclearisation of their divided peninsula.

Speaking at a meeting of Southeast Asian leaders, Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong dampened speculation about the city-state potentially hosting the Trump-Kim talks.

"As for the venue, we've also read the same reports as you in the newspapers about the possible places where a US-North Korea meeting can take place," he told reporters.

"We've had no formal invitations, requests from any of the parties. It has to be something agreed by both North Korea as well as the United States.

"I doubt very much they have come to any landing yet."

A diplomatic source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that he was not aware of any request, even informally.

Speculation has been rife about where the US and North Korean leaders will meet.

Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, and the capitals of China and Mongolia have been mentioned in reports, in addition to Singapore and the Demilitarized Zone that divides the two Koreas.

Landmark summits have taken place Singapore in the past -- the presidents of China and Taiwan met for the first time ever in the city-state three years ago after decades of estrangement following a traumatic split at the end of a civil war in 1949.

China's Xi Jinping and Taiwan's Ma Ying-jeou shook hands for more than a minute and smiled for a mass of reporters before holding talks.

Singapore and Pyongyang have diplomatic ties and the North has an embassy in the city-state.

In November, Singapore suspended trade ties with the North in the latest move by a country to implement UN sanctions to curb Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme.Iranian policemen evacuate a child from the parliament building in Tehran on June 7, 2017 during an attack on the complex

Twenty-six alleged members of the Islamic State group went on trial in Iran on Saturday over attacks last year on parliament and the tomb of revolutionary leader Ruhollah Khomeini, local media reported.

Seventeen people were killed and dozens injured in the simultaneous attacks in Tehran on June 7 -- the first claimed by IS inside Iran.

The judiciary-linked Mizan news agency said several of the accused were Iranians who had left to join IS in neighbouring countries and returned for the attacks.

Five attackers were killed on the day, but police said at the time that five people had been arrested at the scenes of the attacks in central and south Tehran.

Dozens more arrests were reported in the following months -- many in operations along the borders with Iraq and Turkey.

There were few details from the first day of the trial, which was held in the presence of the victims' families.

Most of Iran's population is Shiite, and therefore considered heretics by the Sunni jihadists of IS, who have increasingly called for attacks on the country.

Iran has also supported the governments of Iraq and Syria against IS and other jihadist insurgents.Yemeni government forces drive through Zinjibar, the capital of Abyan province, on August 16, 2016, after a Saudi-backed offensive to seize it from Al-Qaeda jihadists

A top Islamic State group leader was killed and three others arrested in a government raid on Saturday in southern Yemen, police said.

Saleh Nasr Fadl al-Bakhshi, self-proclaimed "emir" of the radical group's branch in the Aden and Abyan regions, was killed in the raid on an IS hideout in government-held territory, a senior officer with Aden's police force told AFP.

Islamist networks, including IS and Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, have exploited years of war in Yemen to expand their presence in the country's south.

The government of Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi has been based in southern Yemen since 2015, after Shiite Huthi rebels drove it from the capital Sanaa and much of the country's north, prompting a Saudi-led military intervention.

Southern Yemen is the target of a US-backed operation against AQAP, led by the United Arab Emirates, as well as a long-running US drone campaign.

The Yemen war has claimed nearly 10,000 lives since Saudi Arabia and its military allies joined the conflict in March 2015, triggering what the United Nations has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis.The alleged chemical attack in the Syrian town of Douma has prompted sharply differing responses from Turkey and Russia

Russian, Iranian and Turkish foreign ministers on Saturday talked up their successes in brokering a political solution to the Syrian conflict at a meeting in Moscow.

The three nations have been attempting to resolve the Syrian conflict at talks that started last year in Astana, Kazakhstan, in competition with a US and UN-backed Geneva initiative.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the three countries "must help the Syrians finish cleansing their country of terrorists."

The ministers emphasised the success of their peace talks in Astana, which Lavrov said are "firmly standing on their feet."

The Russian diplomat praised the "unique" alliance between two of Syrian President Bashar-al Assad's key supporters, Moscow and Tehran, and rebel-backer Ankara.

"Thanks to it, it became possible to tackle the situation on the battlefield with the Islamic State group and the Al-Nusra Front," he said, as jihadists have lost most of the territory they controlled in Syria.

The conflict in Syria has lasted since 2011 and killed more than 350,000 people. Both Russia and Iran have deployed forces to Syria to back up Assad against anti-government rebels.

Critics of the Astana talks are "trying to show that they today decide all the affairs in our world, but fortunately their time has passed," Lavrov said.

Nevertheless he implicitly criticised Damascus after it blocked UN humanitarian aid to the town of Douma in Eastern Ghouta, saying Moscow was calling for the regime to be more "flexible."

The Russian foreign minister earlier held separate bilateral talks with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu and then Iran's Mohammad Javad Zarif.

Meeting his Turkish counterpart, the Russian diplomat stressed the "great importance" both Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attach to improving relations.

- 'Crack in the alliance' -

Yet the latest talks in Moscow came as the alleged chemical attack in the Syrian town of Douma on April 7 has prompted sharply differing responses from Turkey and Russia.

"I curse those who carried out this massacre," Erdogan said, welcoming Western air strikes in retaliation as "appropriate".

Meanwhile Russia says the attack was staged to discredit Assad.

Iran and Russia on Saturday slammed Western strikes on Syria over the alleged chlorine or sarin gas attack.

Lavrov said they "set back efforts to promote the political process" and Zarif criticised Washington's "destructive role."

French President Emmanuel Macron this month suggested the air strikes had driven a wedge between Ankara and Moscow, prompting an angry denial from Cavusoglu.

Alexander Shumilin, a Middle East expert at the Institute for US and Canadian Studies in Moscow, however, said the Douma fallout had "caused a crack in the alliance of three countries".

Alexey Malashenko, a specialist in the Syria conflict, said the trio have a "very shaky" alliance and "there's no way they can reach an agreement" over the suspected chemical attack.

Nevertheless, the limited nature of US-led strikes suggests the "peak of tensions has passed", he said.

The next Syria talks in Astana are set for May 14.

Eight rounds of talks under United Nations auspices in Geneva have made little headway, with Assad's government taking little interest.

Ankara has called for Assad's removal throughout the war, but has worked increasingly closely with Moscow and Tehran in recent months in an attempt to find a solution to the conflict.

In January, Russia held a showpiece conference in the Black Sea resort of Sochi with largely pro-regime delegates, which saw boycotts by rebels and made little progress.

Lavrov on Saturday said it achieved "breakthrough results," however.

Putin hosted a summit on Syria with the Iranian and Turkish presidents in November. They then met again in Ankara this month.Nostos is the beginning of an ambitious project under-consideration to acknowledge the cultural contributions of the foreign communities who once lived in the country, the minister explained to Ahram Online

Nostos is the name that the ministers of emigration from Egypt, Greece and Cyprus have chosen for a week-long event that will open on Monday in Alexandria to celebrate the Greek and Cypriot communities in Egypt.

The literal translation of the Greek word Nostos is return to the roots. It is a theme used in Greek literature which includes an epic hero returning home by sea.

This is precisely why Egypt's Minister of State for Emigration and Egyptian Expatriates' Affairs Nabila Makram and her counterparts from Greece and Cyprus chose this name for the event, which will give an opportunity for Greeks and Cypriots who once lived in Alexandria to return to their old homes in the Mediterranean harbour city, which was originally built by no other than Macedonian King Alexander the Great.

Makram said in an interview with Ahram Online that the event will be inaugurated by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and his visiting counterparts from Greece and Cyprus, who will address some 200 attendants, including 120 Greeks and Cypriots who will arrive in Egypt over the weekend to take part in the event.

Makram explained that the visiting, or rather homecoming, Greeks and Cypriots will later go on a tour of the city to visit their old homes and those of their families.

The tour will involve a walk through the city, with its many cosmopolitan stops including the Greek schools and other institutions, including the Greek Orthodox Patriarchy in Alexandria.

The visitors will then go to Cairo and Giza to see the historical sites, including the pyramids, before moving on to Sharm El-Sheikh to visit St Catherines Monastery, which is affiliated with the Greek Orthodox Church.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many Greeks and Cypriots emigrated to Egypt, especially Alexandria, to live and work in a country that was flourishing and where foreigners had certain colonial privileges.

Many stayed in Alexandria, at least for the first few years, and some moved on to live in other parts of the country, including Cairo, the Suez area, and the Nile Delta.

By the third decade of the 20th century, the Greeks and Cypriots had established a very visible presence in the heart of Alexandria, side by side with other foreigners.

Unlike other foreigners, however, many of the Greeks and Cypriots considered themselves nationals of Alexandria.

In the 1950s and 60s, however, the foreign presence in post-independence Egypt started to decline, which included the Greek and Cypriot communities. Most left the country, while some stayed and others chose to go back and forth between Egypt and their country of origin.

The imprint of these foreign communities, especially the Greeks and Cypriots, on the city of Alexandria in particular cannot be overlooked; it is an imprint that is part of the colourful and diverse profile of the city. It is a diversity that has always been cherished, and not just by Alexandrians who had lived with these communities, said Makram, who was herself born and raised in Alexandria.

This is one of the purposes of the Nostos event: to celebrate diversity and to show the many and true colours of Egypt as a country that has always managed to accommodate, she said. And it is also about showing the wish of Egypt to honour all the participations of these communities.

Another purpose of the event, according to Makram, is to remind the world that Egypt can still, as it once did, host and accommodate diverse cultures, and that Egypt is a safe haven and destination today as it has always been and should always be.

With this event, we should also be able to encourage tourism and foreign investment, as well as promote wider cultural cooperation among these three Mediterranean countries, who have always shared so much and who today have so much in common to work on and to hope for.

The idea for Nostos, Makram said, came up during a discussion about enhancing cooperation with the Greek emigration minister. The project was later was expanded to include Cyprus  given the close links between the Greek and Cypriot communities in Egypt.

Obviously, the clear growth in high-level cooperation among the leaders of the three countries is a key factor, and certainly President El-Sisis support of this event and his willingness to be there for its launch helped the idea take off, Makram said.

The leaders of Egypt, Greece and Cyprus have been intensifying cooperation since El-Sisi was first elected to office in June 2014.

Throughout these four years, Greece and Cyprus have expressed their support for Egypt and have been close economic partners, especially in ambitious gas projects in the eastern Mediterranean.

So, in a sense, Nostos is also about the twining of public diplomacy with the high-level state cooperation that the three countries already have and are working to expand, she said.

Nostos, which will bring together Greeks and Cypriots who left Egypt to go all over the world, not just back to Greece and Cyprus, is only the beginning of a very ambitious project that is currently being considered to acknowledge the cultural contributions of the foreign communities who lived in Egypt in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Makram said.

Future steps, the minister explained, may include Nostos II, which will allow more Greeks and Cypriots to return to Egypt given the big interest that many have demonstrated, and allow them to connect with family who remained in Egypt.

By the early decades of the 20th century, Egypt was host to around half-a-million Greeks and a quarter million Cypriots. Today, there are no more than a few thousand Greeks, a little under 5,000 by estimates from Greek community leaders in Egypt, and less than 500 Cypriots by estimates from Cypriot community leaders.

The future recognition of the foreign communities of Egypt, Makram said, would not just be confined to Greeks and Cypriots, but would include Armenians, whose presence and cultural imprint in the past and today is also worth acknowledging.

We are still in the early phase of brainstorming, but I can say that we are currently considering a similar event for the Armenians and possibly the Italians of Egypt, and then we could [move on to other communities], Makram said.

Search Keywords:

Short link:

US President Donald Trump is to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to push Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons

US President Donald Trump said Saturday that "things are going very well" after talking with South Korea's President Moon Jae-in about an upcoming summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

"Just had a long and very good talk with President Moon of South Korea. Things are going very well, time and location of meeting with North Korea is being set," Trump wrote on Twitter.

"Also spoke to Prime Minister (Shinzo) Abe of Japan to inform him of the ongoing negotiations," he wrote.

Moon met with Kim in a historic summit, agreeing on Friday to pursue a permanent peace and the complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

An armistice brought the fighting on the Korean peninsula to an end in 1953, but 65 years later, a final peace agreement has still not been reached.

A later readout of the Trump-Moon call issued by the White House said the US and South Korea had closely coordinated ahead of Moon's meeting with Kim.

It added that Trump and Moon "agreed that the unprecedented pressure applied by the United States, the Republic of Korea, and the international community through the global Maximum Pressure Campaign has led to this significant moment."

A readout of Trump's call with Abe said the leaders "reiterated the need for North Korea to abandon all weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs" and that Trump noted "he will urge North Korea to promptly resolve its abductions of Japanese citizens."

While Trump talked with South Korea's president, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis spoke with that country's Minister of National Defense Song Young-moo about the recent summit.

"Secretary Mattis reaffirmed the ironclad US commitment to defend (South Korea) using the full spectrum of US capabilities," it said.

The Moon-Kim meeting has raised expectations for Trump's own planned summit with the North Korean leader, the date and location of which have not yet been finalized.

Mongolia and Singapore are the final two sites under consideration for the summit, CBS News reported, though Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Saturday that there had been no formal request for his city-state to host the meeting.

Last year, Pyongyang carried out its sixth nuclear test, by far its most powerful to date, and launched missiles capable of reaching the US mainland.

Its actions sent tensions soaring as Kim and Trump traded personal insults and threats of war.

Trump has demanded the North give up its weapons, and Washington is pressing for it to do so in a complete, verifiable and irreversible way.

Pyongyang is demanding as yet unspecified security guarantees to discuss its arsenal.An Egyptian soldier stands outside a polling station on March 26, 2018, before the start of the 2018 presidential elections, which saw incumbent Abdel Fattah al-Sisi re-elected to a second term

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi promised on Saturday to end military operations against jihadists in the Sinai Peninsula "as soon as possible".

More than 200 jihadists and at least 33 government troops have been killed since February 9, when Egypt launched operation "Sinai 2018" against an affiliate of the Islamic State group, according to official figures.

Sisi, speaking to Sinai residents at a military event broadcast on state TV, promised to "finish the mission as soon as possible".

He also said that a social and economic development plan for the area, launched in 2014, would be completed by 2022.

The country has been hit by significant militant attacks in recent years, especially after the army toppled Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 following mass protests against his government.

Jihadists have killed hundreds of soldiers, policemen and civilians, mainly in the northern Sinai, but also elsewhere in Egypt.

"All Egyptians know that their Egyptian brothers in Sinai are not responsible for the evil people," Sisi said, referring to jihadists.

"We don't hold our people in Sinai responsible in any way" for the attacks carried out by jihadists, said Sisi, stressing that "terrorism is present in all the republic's provinces".

Sisi thanked "every honourable Egyptian in the Sinai... this is a trying time but if we had not taken these measures (against jihadists), we would be losing Sinai".

New York-based Human Rights Watch said on Monday that the offensive has "left up to 420,000 residents in four northeastern cities in urgent need of humanitarian aid" in the northen Sinai.

The Egyptian army denounced the report, saying it was based on "undocumented and unreliable sources".

"We are distributing food rations to people, including in areas where military operations are taking place," army spokesman Tamer al-Rifai told AFP.Smoke rises from the Palestinian Yarmuk refugee camp on the edge Syria's capital Damascus on April 28, 2018, during regime shelling targeting Islamic State group positions

Syrian regime forces advanced Saturday in southern Damascus after fierce clashes with the Islamic State group, state media said, as they pushed an offensive to drive the jihadists out of the capital.

Forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad retook control of Qadam's Mazaniyeh area after destroying IS fortified positions and "inflicting losses of personnel and equipment", state news agency SANA said.

IS overran the neighbourhood of Qadam last month, and has held parts of the adjacent district of Hajar al-Aswad and the neighbouring Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmuk since 2015.

The "multi-front" advance in Qadam took place after hours of close-quarter clashes with the jihadists, SANA said, quoting an anonymous military source.

On the outskirts of Qadam, an AFP photographer saw clouds of smoke rising from the capital's southern districts as tanks fired on the area.

The regime offensive, backed by heavy air strikes and artillery fire, has killed 36 civilians since government bombardment intensified on April 19, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Among the dead are 17 civilians, including seven children, that were killed in Yarmuk on Friday.

At least 79 regime fighters and 68 IS jihadists have also been killed, the Observatory said.

Fighting has also occurred in an area bordering Yarmuk camp and Hajar al-Aswad, "which the regime is trying to divide", Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.

"The objective is to gradually retake segments of the area until it is all reconquered, as was the case in Eastern Ghouta," he said, referring to the last rebel stronghold near the capital that was seized by government forces last month.

Yarmuk and its surroundings are now IS's largest urban redoubt in Syria and neighbouring Iraq.

The jihadists have lost much of the territory they once controlled in Syria and Iraq, part of their cross-border "caliphate" declared in 2014.

The group now controls less than four percent of Syria, according to the Observatory.Malian army soldiers, pro-government militia members and former Tuareg rebels have started joint patrols in the north

Suspected jihadists killed more than 30 Tuaregs on Mali's northeastern border with Niger, informed sources said Saturday, in the second such attack in two days.

The former Tuareg rebel group MSA and tribal leaders said the massacre occurred Friday, a day after another attack by gunmen on motorbikes had left 12 people dead outside the town of Anderamboukane, which is also in the same area.

"There have been 43 deaths in two days, all civilians, from the same community," tribal leader Sidigui Ag Hamadi told AFP from the regional capital Menaka.

"Our fighters are destroying their bases and wiping them out. They are targeting innocent civilians," he added seeing the bloodletting as reprisals for attacks on jihadists by armed Tuarag groups.

The MSA also put the death toll from the two attacks in the vilages of Aklaz and Awakassa at 43, saying all the victims were from the Idaksahak pastoralist berber group.

The group urged the governments of Mali and Niger to take steps to ensure that "an immediate end is put to these abominable crimes" and added that it would "not give in to any intimidation."

Menaka governor Daouda Maiga urged caution regarding the death toll until official observers had arrived on the scene.

"There are various versions, but I know there are women and childen among the victims, as well as elderly," Maiga told AFP, while adding he would await the observers' return to Bamako.

Local people had been fearful of reprisals by jihadists who suffered major losses in recent attacks in the region over recent weeks, Menaka official Attaye Ag Ossadki told AFP.

"But nobody imagined that they would kill civilians in this way," he said.

Two weeks ago, the UN's MINUSMA peacekeeping operation said they had received "very serious" information that "summary executions of at least 95 people" had occurred during anti-jihadist operations in the northeastern Menaka region carried out by "a coalition of armed groups" including MSA and Gatia.

Both groups flatly denied any involvement.

France intervened militarily in Mali in 2013 to help government forces drive Al-Qaeda-linked jihadists out of the north.

But large tracts of the country remain lawless despite a peace accord signed with ethnic Tuareg leaders in mid-2015 aimed at isolating the jihadists.Austria withdrew its peacekeepers from the Golan Heights in 2013 because of worsening security

Austria said Saturday it is probing a 2012 incident in which its UN peacekeepers in the Golan Heights reportedly let Syrian policemen drive into a fatal ambush.

A video made by the Austrian peacekeepers and published online by the Falter weekly on Friday shows what the paper says are Syrian smugglers setting up their ambush behind rocks.

An hour later a white jeep with the Syrian police arrive and the Austrian peacekeepers allow them to pass, according to Falter. The footage then shows the Syrians being shot at and killed.

Discussions among the peacekeepers heard in the clip show that they knew that they were letting the Syrian police into a trap, Falter said.

"Really you should tell them," one of the peacekeepers is heard to tell another in Austrian dialect. "It's about to start, you'll see," says another as the vehicle nears the ambush.

The Austrian defence ministry said that a special commission of enquiry began its work on Saturday.

"As a first step all reports, orders, laws and regulations that could be relevant for the enquiry are being collected, examined and evaluated," spokesman Michael Bauer said on Twitter.

"The UN is invited to work with us," he said on Twitter.

The Austria Press Agency quoted a spokesman for the United Nations as calling the video "disturbing".

The world body would follow up actively on this issue in cooperation with the Austrian authorities, the spokesman says.

The spokesman added that the incident, which left nine members of the Syrian security forces killed by 13 members of the armed opposition, was reported to the UN Security Council and included in a UN report.

The Salzburger Nachrichten daily quoted on Saturday an Austrian soldier who served as a UN peacekeeper in the Golan Heights as saying that the peacekeepers' actions were "100-percent correct according to our mandate".

"The order is: don't get involved," Markus H., who was not present during the incident concerned, told the paper's online edition.

The armistice line on the sector of the Golan Heights, seized by Israel from Syria in 1967, was largely quiet for decades until the Syrian civil war broke out in 2011.

Austria withdrew its peacekeepers in 2013 because of worsening security.An insurgent group in Darfur claimed Saturday to have repelled government forces in fresh clashes in the war-torn region of western Sudan that the US says have displaced thousands of civilians.

The new fighting, in the Jebel Marra mountains, comes despite a ceasefire unilaterally announced by Khartoum in early March, applying to Darfur and another conflict in Blue Nile and South Kordofan states.

"The regime's military tried to take our positions but we repulsed them," Noureddine Kouki, a spokesman for the Sudan Liberation Army-Abdul Wahid rebel group, told AFP.

Washington confirmed on Friday fresh clashes have taken place in recent days, saying it was "deeply concerned" by the violence.

"There are credible reports that villages were targeted for attack ... resulting in thousands of newly displaced civilians," US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement on Friday.

The fighting is between the SLA/AW group and Sudanese government forces in the Jebel Marra mountains and it has sent villagers fleeing into mountain hideouts and caves, the rebels say.

An insurgency began in Darfur in 2003, as rebels rose up against Sudan's government, accusing it of marginalisation.

Khartoum responded by using militias to crack down on rebels and since then, insurgent groups have fragmented, with fighting punctuated by periods of relative calm.

"We call on all sides -- the government of Sudan forces, SLA/AW and armed tribal groups -- to immediately halt their provocative actions and violent responses," said Nauert.

She also urged Khartoum to allow "immediate and unhindered" access to peacekeepers and aid agencies to enable them to deliver humanitarian aid to those displaced by violence.

Khartoum restricts international media access to Darfur, an area about the size of France, so it is not possible to independently verify the details of fighting there. Sudanese authorities could not be reached for comment.

The United Nations says that over the years the conflict has killed about 300,000 people and displaced more than 2.5 million, with many having set up home over the last decade and a half in sprawling semi-permanent camps.

Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide related to the conflict in Darfur. He denies the charges.

Khartoum insists the conflict has ended in Darfur. A joint UN-African Union peacekeeping force is being downscaled, now standing at around 10,000 uniformed personnel, from a peak of about 27,000.

A separate conflict erupted in South Kordofan and Blue Nile, both bordering South Sudan, in 2011.Ugandan police officers secure the cordoned off site following a joint Uganda Police Force and Army security operation upon a "radicalisation centre" at the Kampala Usafi mosque on April 28, 2018

Ugandan police said Saturday they had stumbled upon a "radicalisation centre" at a Kampala mosque, shooting dead two people, arresting dozens and releasing over 100 women and children.

A security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said officers had found what appeared to be an Islamist radicalisation centre inside the mosque.

The discovery came Friday evening as police offices followed a suspect, believed to have been involved in a high-profile kidnapping and murder earlier this year, into the ramshackle Usafi mosque.

During an ensuing shoot-out, police said one officer was wounded, two men were shot dead and 36 arrested and accused of hoarding weapons.

Also inside the mosque were 18 women and 94 children that police said were being held against their will.

"A number of children and women, suspected to either have been kidnapped or held hostage, were rescued," police spokesman Emilian Kayima told a news conference on Saturday.

"Two of the hostage-takers were shot dead after violently attacking and severely injuring one of the security officers," Kayima said, adding that the man who police had followed into the mosque was taken into custody.

Investigations into the connection between the original suspect and those found inside the mosque were continuing.

At the scene, in a particularly poor part of the city, bullet holes pocked the collection of corrugated tin lean-tos and tarpaulin sheets that constitute the mosque, situated in a low-lying area between a bus station and a shipping container park.

Police had cordoned the area, blocking curious residents and passersby.

- 'Scared and traumatised' -

Local council official Hassan Kiberu heard the gunshots that ripped through the neighbourhood on Friday evening. "I've never been in that mosque before. The people who went there didn't allow anyone in," he said.

Kiberu said the mosque's leader was arrested a month ago, after complaints from neighbours who suspected him of disseminating extremist messages. "I think they were grooming those kids in there for something," he said.

The men arrested Friday -- who police said were found with 23 machetes, 60 bullets and a bow and arrow -- are suspected of involvement in the kidnapping and illegal detention of the women and children who come from various East African countries.

In February, the body of Susan Magara -- a member of an influential Ugandan family -- was found three weeks after her abduction and a string of ransom demands.

The crime shocked Ugandans and president Yoweri Museveni ordered intelligence agencies to lead an investigation.

Security forces believe that a key suspect who they had under surveillance realised he was being followed and bolted into the mosque.

Interior Minister Jeje Odong said officers chased the suspect into the mosque and that the subsequent discovery of weapons, women and children was not "planned or intended".

"If the suspect had not gone into the mosque we would have had no reason to enter," Odong said. "We take strong exception to places of worship being used to commit crime."

Odong said the children discovered inside "looked scared and traumatised" and appeared to be from Burundi, Rwanda and Kenya as well as Uganda.Palestinians take part in a protest in Gaza City on March 21, 2018 against Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's statement in which he accused Hamas of carrying out a bomb attack against prime minister Rami Hamdallah

Gaza's Islamist leaders Hamas on Saturday publicly accused the rival Palestinian Authority (PA) of planning an assassination attempt against the head of its own government.

PA prime minister Rami Hamdallah, was unhurt when a roadside bomb hit his convoy during a rare visit to Hamas-controlled Gaza last month.

Hamdallah heads the PA's West Bank-based government under the presidency of Mahmud Abbas.

The explosion put an end to an already faltering reconciliation agreement between Hamas and secularists Fatah, which dominates the PA.

Afterwards Abbas accused Hamas of carrying out the bombing.

But on Saturday a spokesman for the Hamas interior ministry in Gaza accused senior PA security officials of orchestrating the attack to destabilise the coastal territory.

"Investigations have shown that senior figures in the General Intelligence Service in Ramallah are the engine of subversive cells that are working to undermine security in the Gaza Strip," spokesman Iyad Buzum told a press conference.

Relations between the two largest Palestinian groups are at a low, six months after they signed a reconciliation deal aimed at ending a decade-long split.Newly appointed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has vowed to bring some swagger back to US diplomacy

Washington's new chief diplomat was to meet Saudi and Israeli leaders on Sunday to rally coordinated opposition to Tehran and brief them on President Donald Trump's threat to end the Iran nuclear deal.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo touched down in Riyadh on Saturday shortly after Tehran-backed Huthi rebels in Yemen fired missiles across the kingdom's border.

US officials travelling with Pompeo told reporters the Huthi missiles had been supplied by Iran, and cited the attacks as evidence that regional powers should work together.

Pompeo had dinner with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, and on Sunday he was due to meet his father King Salman.

Then he was due to fly on to Jerusalem to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then on to Amman in Jordan, wrapping up a weekend of talks with some of Iran's most fervent foes in the region.

Trump is due to decide on May 12 whether to reimpose nuclear-related sanctions on Tehran, putting in peril the landmark 2015 nuclear accord, which most world powers see as key to preventing Tehran from getting the bomb.

But Trump and America's Middle East allies argue the deal, approved by Trump's predecessor Barack Obama, was too weak and needs to be replaced with a more permanent arrangement and supplemented by controls on Iran's missile program.

Pompeo set off on his first diplomatic trip within two hours of being sworn in on Thursday and on Friday -- after talks with the NATO allies in Brussels -- he appeared to suggest that Trump plans to nix the deal.

"Absent a substantial fix, absent overcoming the shortcomings, the flaws of the deal, he is unlikely to stay in that deal past this May," Pompeo told reporters in at NATO headquarters.

Perhaps the last chance to fix these supposed shortcomings came from talks between Washington and its European allies Britain, France and Germany on a supplemental agreement to sanction Iran's missile program.

But both President Emmanuel Macron of France and Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel left Washington this week after talks with Trump having failed to secure any promise that he might keep the core deal alive.

- Air strikes -

That may be music to the ears of the Saudi and Israeli leaders, who both support a tougher line on Iran.

"This administration has made it a priority to address Iran's missile programs," a senior US official told reporters in Riyadh, condemning the latest Huthi volley of missiles, themselves in part a response to Saudi air strikes.

"Iran supplies the missiles that the Huthis fire into Saudi Arabia, threatening civilians," he said. "Today alone the Saudis shot down four Huthi missiles, the latest in a string of such attacks."

Earlier, a civil defense official had said that at least one Saudi had been killed by falling shrapnel as his government's air defense batteries attempted to intercept the missiles near the Yemen border.

A Saudi-led coalition air strike overnight Friday to Saturday killed dozens of Yemeni rebels including two commanders, state media said.

Prince Salman and his father will welcome US solidarity against Iran -- just as Israel will want to see greater US support for its efforts against Iranian influence in Syria and Lebanon -- but Pompeo has come with requests too.

According to US officials, while Riyadh has a right to self-defense, it must come to see that the solution to Yemen's civil war will be a political one and its forces must not exacerbate the massive humanitarian crisis there.

Washington also wants to see an end to the Gulf crisis that has seen Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates impose a diplomatic and trade embargo on fellow US regional ally Qatar.

And, perhaps most importantly for Trump, Pompeo will urge Saudi Arabia to provide personnel and funding to help US efforts to stabilize northeastern Syria in the wake of the expected defeat of the Islamic State group.

"The president has made clear that he wants to see meaningful participation from states in the region," another senior US official travelling with Pompeo's party said.

"We want to see the kind of participation, for financial efforts, not just kinetic efforts that would match, parallel, would assist, the US role," he said. The United States has more than 2,000 troops in Syria.

On Qatar, the US officials said they do not blame one side or the other, but want Riyadh and Doha to sort out the stand-off themselves.

- Humanitarian tragedy -

And on Yemen, they warned the Saudi-led coalition not to again block or bomb ports that supply vital civilian aid, warning that there is no military solution to the crisis.

"The humanitarian situation in this tragic country cannot be allowed to become worse. It needs to get better. And that means full and free access to humanitarian goods, to commercial goods, to fuel," one said.

Pompeo will conclude his first diplomatic trip on Monday after talks with senior Jordanian officials and then fly back to Washington to move in to his office in the State Department.BRUSSELS (AP) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo rebuked Russia on Friday for what he called aggression beyond its borders, and vowed to restore relevance to a badly demoralized State Department in his new role as the top American diplomat.

Attending a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels less than 24 hours after being sworn in, Pompeo criticized Russia for threatening the alliance's friends and partners in Georgia and Ukraine as well as for "an aggressive campaign to undermine Western democratic institutions."

Among other Russian misdeeds, Pompeo said, are the poisoning of a Russian ex-spy in Britain last month and its support for Syrian President Bashar Assad's government. Syria is accused of launching a chemical weapons attack that led three NATO members - Britain, France and the U.S. - to launch airstrikes on Syrian targets.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, left, shakes hands with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg prior to a meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Friday, April 27, 2018. Mike Pompeo took over as America's top diplomat Thursday after being confirmed by the Senate and will participate in his first NATO foreign ministers meeting on Friday. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, Pool)

Syria has denied responsibility.

"In light of Russia's unacceptable actions, NATO is more indispensable than ever," the former CIA chief told reporters as he wrapped up the first stop on his first overseas trip as secretary of state. "NATO should not return to business as usual with Russia until Moscow shows a clear change in its actions and complies with international law."

Pompeo said that among the allies there was "enormous consensus of the risk that it poses to the West (and) a real commitment to work together to mitigate to those risks and to deter them."

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg agreed. "We are in a situation where we've not been before," he said. "We're not in the old Cold War, but we're neither in the strategic partnership we were trying to build after the Cold War. So this is something new."

Friday's meetings set the stage for a summit of NATO leaders in July at which they are expected to outline more specifics about their response to Russia.

Because of NATO's central role in pushing back against Russia, Pompeo said it was even more important that the allies, particularly Germany, the largest and wealthiest European member, meet their commitments to spend 2 percent of their gross domestic product on defense by 2024.

The commitment was made in 2014 and thus far only six of the 28 countries that made the pledge meet the goal. Nine have produced realistic plans for reaching it by 2024, but the rest, including Germany, have not.

"No," Pompeo replied bluntly when asked if Germany's efforts to increase defense spending have been satisfactory. "They should meet the goals that they agreed to," he said as German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Donald Trump were meeting at the White House.

Pompeo arrived in Brussels about 12 hours after he was sworn in as secretary of state to replace Rex Tillerson, fired by Trump last month. His participation in the meeting so soon after taking office was noted by Stoltenberg and others who said it was a sign of U.S. commitment to NATO and its allies.

His arrival also appeared to have heartened some U.S. diplomats who had been discouraged by Tillerson's embrace of budget and staffing cuts and a perceived desire to reduce America's diplomatic footprint. Pompeo is known to be close to Trump while Tillerson and the president sparred frequently.

Pompeo alluded to the change.

"They may have been demoralized but they seemed in good spirits," he said of a group of U.S. diplomats he met at NATO. "They are hopeful that the State Department will get its swagger back, that we will be out doing the things that they came on board at the State Department to do."

"That's my mission set: to build that esprit and get that team on the field," Pompeo said.

One of Pompeo's other goals in Brussels was to convince Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in a separate meeting to refocus on coordination in northern Syria, where Turkey has been attacking Kurdish rebels supported by the U.S.

That coordination was started by Tillerson but had languished in the absence of a new secretary of state.

Pompeo also renewed calls for the release of a jailed American pastor accused by Turkey of espionage, and encouraged Turkey not to pursue the purchase of an advanced air-defense system from Russia.

But as he walked into the meeting, Cavusoglu signaled that Turkey would not back down on the purchase, which the U.S. and other NATO members oppose.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier this month that the production and delivery of the S-400 system is being accelerated and Cavusoglu told reporters on Friday that "Russia is speeding up the process."

From Brussels, Pompeo will travel on to the Middle East, visiting Saudi Arabia, Israel and Jordan, where the future of the Iran nuclear deal and the conflict in Syria will be significant agenda items. Pompeo, repeating Trump's pledge to withdraw from the deal unless it is significantly strengthened, said the U.S. was "unlikely" to stay in if that was not done.

Pompeo arrives in Riyadh on Saturday ahead of a series of events that could potentially plunge the region into deeper disarray, including Trump's decision by May 12 on the Iran deal, and the scheduled opening of the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem two days later.

The embassy move is deeply opposed by the Palestinians, who on May 15 will mark the anniversary of what they term the "nabka," or catastrophe, when they fled or were driven from their homes during the 1948 Palestine war.

Looming over Pompeo's trip is uncertainty over Trump's policy on Syria, which has shifted between a speedy all-out withdrawal of American forces from the country and leaving a lasting footprint to deter Iran from completing a land bridge from Tehran to Beirut.

___

Associated Press writer Lorne Cook contributed to this report.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, center, and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, right, speak with the media prior to a meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Friday, April 27, 2018. Mike Pompeo took over as America's top diplomat Thursday after being confirmed by the Senate and will participate in his first NATO foreign ministers meeting on Friday. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, Pool)President Donald Trump and Emmanual Macron? Judging from the body language, mon ami! The president and Germany's Angela Merkel? Ach, not so chummy.

During Macron's recent three-day trip to Washington, Trump greeted the French president with back-slapping geniality, including a lavish state dinner. The pair went to great lengths to display their affection through hearty handshakes, hugs - and, at times, air kisses.

On Friday, during Merkel's three-hour visit to the White House, she and the president didn't demonstrate the same chemistry, though Trump did greet the chancellor outside the West Wing with a handshake and a peck on each cheek.

File-This April 24, 2018, file photo shows President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron embracing at the conclusion of a news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington. Trump and Macron? Judging from the body language, mon ami! The president and Germany's Angela Merkel? Ach, not so chummy. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

Here's a collection of images chronicling the dissimilar welcomes accorded the two foreign leaders.

___

AP photographers and photo editors on Twitter at https://twitter.com/AP/lists/ap-photographers.

File-This April 24, 2018, file photo shows President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron walking to the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. Trump and Macron? Judging from the body language, mon ami! The president and Germany's Angela Merkel? Ach, not so chummy. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

File-This April 24, 2018, file photo shows President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron hold hands during a State Arrival Ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington. Trump and Macron? Judging from the body language, mon ami! The president and Germany's Angela Merkel? Ach, not so chummy. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

File- This April 24, 2018, file photo shows President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron walk off after a news conference in the East Room of the White House, in Washington. Trump and Macron? Judging from the body language, mon ami! The president and Germany's Angela Merkel? Ach, not so chummy. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

File-This April 23, 2018, file photo shows President Donald Trump greeting French President Emmanuel Macron at the White House in Washington. Trump and Macron? Judging from the body language, mon ami! The president and Germany's Angela Merkel? Ach, not so chummy. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

File-This April 24, 2018, file photo shows President Donald Trump hugging French President Emmanuel Macron during a State Arrival Ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington. Trump and Macron? Judging from the body language, mon ami! The president and Germany's Angela Merkel? Ach, not so chummy. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

FILE - In this July 7, 2017 file photo German Chancellor Angela Merkel, front, looks on as U.S. President Donald Trump, center, pads the shoulder of France's President Emmanuel Macron prior to the first working session on the first day of the G-20 summit in Hamburg, northern Germany. Trump and Macron? Judging from the body language, mon ami! The president and Germany's Angela Merkel? Ach, not so chummy. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)

File-This July 7, 2017, file photo shows President Donald Trump walking off after being greeted by German Chancellor Angela Merkel after arriving at the G20 Summit, in Hamburg, Germany. Trump and Macron? Judging from the body language, mon ami! The president and Germany's Angela Merkel? Ach, not so chummy. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

File-This July 7, 2017, file photo shows German Chancellor Angela Merkel, front, with U.S. President Donald Trump prior to the first working session on the first day of the G-20 summit in Hamburg, northern Germany. Donald Trump and Emmanual Macron? Judging from the body language, mon ami! The president and Germany's Angela Merkel? Ach, not so chummy. (Tore Meek/NTB Scanpix via AP, File)

File-This March 17, 2017, file photo shows President Donald Trump meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. Donald Trump and Emmanual Macron? Judging from the body language, mon ami! The president and Germany's Angela Merkel? Ach, not so chummy. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

File-This July 8, 2017, file photo shows U.S. President Donald Trump, front right, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, arriving for a working session at the G-20 summit in Hamburg, northern Germany. Donald Trump and Emmanual Macron? Judging from the body language, mon ami! The president and Germany's Angela Merkel? Ach, not so chummy. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, pool, File)

A bird flies past as President Donald Trump greets German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Friday April 27, 2018, at the White House in Washington. Donald Trump and Emmanual Macron? Judging from the body language, mon ami! The president and Germany's Angela Merkel? Ach, not so chummy. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)GOYANG, South Korea (AP) - A day after the leaders of the two Koreas met for a summit along their shared border, the emotional, memorable, even funny scenes from their time together are both a bitter reminder of the countries' seven decades of division and an insight into the mysterious character of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

A look at some of the scenes that South Koreans are talking about amid the afterglow of one of the most unusual moments in recent inter-Korean history:

___

FILE - In this Friday, April 27, 2018, file photo, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in cross the military demarcation line at the border village of Panmunjom in Demilitarized Zone, South Korea. Kim became the first North Korean leader to set foot onto South Korean land since the 1950-53 Korean War when he stepped into the southern side of the border village of Panmunjom to meet with Moon Jae-in on Friday. (Korea Summit Press Pool via AP, File)

KIM CROSSING THE BORDER

Kim became the first North Korean leader to set foot onto South Korean land since the 1950-53 Korean War when he stepped into the southern side of the border village of Panmunjom to meet with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Friday.

The image that lingers is of Kim stepping across the ankle-high concrete slab that forms the military demarcation line at Panmunjom and shaking hands with Moon, both leaders broadly smiling. Kim then took Moon's hand and led him back across the borderline into the North, where they posed for a ceremonial photo together before returning to the South.

Moon, whose parents were refugees from North Korea during the war, visited the North's Diamond Mountain resort in 2004 to meet his aunt during a temporary reunion between war-separated families.

___

KIM SHORT OF BREATH

After their meeting at the borderline, Kim and Moon moved to a small plaza to inspect an honor guard before walking together for a couple of minutes to the Peace House, the venue for the summit. Despite the relative short bout of exercise, live TV footage showed that an obese Kim was panting heavily through his mouth, his shoulders heaving a bit, as he signed a guestbook.

South Korean media quickly speculated that Kim, 34, is about 170 centimeters (5 feet 8 inches) tall and weighs 130 kilograms (287 pounds), and likely suffers from diabetes, high blood pressure and hyperlipidemia.

In 2014, Kim disappeared from the public eye for about five weeks, triggering a frenzy of speculation about his health. When he resumed his public activities, he walked with a cane. Kim's father and grandfather both died of heart ailments.

___

KIM'S SECURITY

When Kim returned to the northern side of Panmunjom in a black Mercedes limousine for lunch after a morning meeting with Moon, a dozen bodyguards, all wearing black suits and blue ties, surrounded the vehicle and jogged beside it as it made its way to the North.

The men - all tall, their hair cropped short - are likely from the North's secret service.

Later Friday, as Kim returned to the South, the car moved at a faster speed and the men kept pace, running fast as they enveloped the leader. When Kim rolled back to the North after a farewell ceremony Friday night, the bodyguards reappeared and ran alongside his car again.

A North Korean security worker was also seen spraying disinfectant on the chair and table to be used by Kim at the Peace House while another used a headphone and a black, square-shaped piece of equipment to check for explosives, according to South Korean media reports.

___

KIM'S SISTER

Kim's younger sister, Kim Yo Jong, took a prominent role in the summit. She handed her brother a pen when he signed the guestbook, and took his gloves after he shoveled dirt on a ceremonial tree and a bouquet of flowers that he'd been handed at the border. During the meeting with Moon, she sat next to her brother, scribbling notes.

Her proximity to her brother during most of the summit events Friday added credence to speculation that she's virtually the No.2 in the North. Kim sent his sister to South Korea in February to attend the opening ceremony of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, making her the first member of the North's ruling family to visit the South since the end of the Korean War.

Kim acknowledged his sister's popularity in South Korea when he joked to Moon during their talks that she has become a "star in the South," causing her face to turn red, according to Moon's spokesman, Yoon Young-chan.

___

SILENT TALKS

Another striking moment came when Kim and Moon chatted while strolling slowly to a footbridge in Panmunjom, where a rusty signboard marking the military demarcation line stands. There they sat and had about 30 minutes of private conversation. No one knows what the leaders talked to each other about. The chirping of birds was all that could be heard, according to the live TV footage.

When they returned to the Peace House, they chatted again, but their conversation was largely inaudible.

___

JOINT ANNOUNCEMENT

The two leaders' close body language was also on display. They held each other's hands and raised them into the air and hugged each other after signing their names on what they called the Panmunjom Declaration, a joint statement following their summit. They also stood at a podium together outside the Peace House and jointly announced the deal in front of officials and pool reporters.

The declaration has lots of accords on improving inter-Korean ties and exchange programs, but lacks any major progress in a U.S.-led international effort to end the North Korean nuclear standoff.

___

INTOXICATED KIM

During a dinner banquet, Kim appeared a little drunk, his face red, his eyes unfocused. He didn't wear his horn-rimmed glasses as what appeared to be champagne was placed on the table before him. Kim's wife, Ri Sol Ju, and Moon's wife, Kim Jung-sook, also joined the banquet.

Kim is a big fan of French wine and once drank 10 bottles of Bordeaux in one night, according to media reports citing the Kim family's former sushi chef.

___

This story has been corrected to show that Moon has visited North Korea before.

FILE - In this Friday, April 27, 2018, file photo, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, right, walk together through a honor guard at the border village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone. After their meeting at the borderline, Kim and Moon moved to a small plaza to inspect an honor guard before they walked together for a couple of minutes to Peace House, the venue for the summit. (Korea Summit Press Pool via AP, File)

FILE - In this Friday, April 27, 2018, file photo, North Korean security persons run by a car carrying North Korean leader Kim Jong Un return to the North side for a lunch break after a morning meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the border village of Panmunjom in Demilitarized Zone. When Kim returned to the northern side of Panmunjom, a dozen bodyguards, all wearing black suits and blue ties, surrounded the vehicle and jogged beside it as it made its way to the North.(Korea Summit Press Pool via AP, File)

FILE - In this Friday, April 27, 2018, file photo, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signs a guestbook next to his sister Kim Yo Jong, right, inside the Peace House at the border village of Panmunjom in Demilitarized Zone. Kim's younger sister handed her brother a pen when he signed the guestbook. Her proximity to her brother during most of the summit events Friday added credence to speculation that she's virtually the No.2 in the North. (Korea Summit Press Pool via AP, File)

FILE - In this Friday, April 27, 2018, file photo, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in talk as they walk on a footbridge at the border village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone. The two Korean leaders chatted while strolling slowly to the footbridge in Panmunjom, where a rusty signboard marking the military demarcation line stands. (Korea Summit Press Pool via AP, File)

FILE - In this Friday, April 27, 2018, file photo, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in raise their hands after signing a joint statement at the border village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone. The Panmunjom Declaration has lots of accords on improving inter-Korean ties and exchange programs but lacks any major progress in a U.S.-led international effort to end the North Korean nuclear standoff. (Korea Summit Press Pool via AP, File)SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - After a summit high on theatrics, emotional displays of Korean reconciliation and some important but familiar sounding plans to boost bilateral relations, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has safely returned to Pyongyang and South Korean President Moon Jae-in to his official residence in Seoul.

But is buyer's remorse about to set in?

Despite its feel-good emphasis on relationship-building, the first inter-Korean summit in more than a decade left a lot of question marks around the biggest and most contentious agenda item of them all: denuclearization. And that puts the ball squarely in the court of President Donald Trump, whose much anticipated sit-down with Kim is expected to be just weeks away.

FILE - In this April 27, 2018 file photo, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in raise their hands after signing a joint statement at the border village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, South Korea. Despite its feel-good emphasis on relationship-building, the first inter-Korean summit in more than a decade left a lot of question marks around the biggest and most contentious agenda item of them all: denuclearization. And that puts the ball squarely in the court of President Donald Trump, whose much anticipated sit-down with Kim is expected to be just weeks away. (Korea Summit Press Pool via AP, File)

For Moon and Kim, that was probably a feature, not a bug. They were both looking to make a show of Korean unity. But it could complicate matters for Trump, who has raised expectations of a deal with Kim to abandon his nuclear weapons much higher. In the long run, that could complicate things for everyone involved.

For sure, Friday's daylong summit inside the Demilitarized Zone that divides the Koreas was a major step forward for diplomacy and could set a more solid foundation for future, more substantive talks. Starting off with a meeting that establishes goodwill and personal relationships at the highest level is a smart move, particularly when there is so much animosity in the air.

Moon also proved he really knows how to put on a show - and Kim revealed his skill at playing along for the cameras.

The two seemed almost like old pals, hugging and holding hands, sitting off to themselves on a footbridge in the Demilitarized Zone for a private "chat" that lasted nearly a half hour. As they exchanged their first handshake, Moon motioned for Kim to cross the concrete slab that marks the division of the nation - a hugely symbolic, albeit highly choreographed, moment.

Kim then went off script, according to South Korean officials, and motioned for Moon to take a step back and join him in the North. The seemingly impromptu dance seemed to encapsulate the reality - some might say absurdity - of their nation's division along the 38th parallel, a decision made not by Koreans themselves but by a U.S. military trying to counter Soviet expansion after Japan's defeat in World War II.

The summit follows meetings between Kim's father, Kim Jong Il, with South Korean presidents in 2007 and 2000. Each produced similar sounding vows to reduce tensions, replace the current armistice that ended the fighting in the 1950-53 Korean War and expand cross-border engagement.

One difference from Friday's summit was the pledge by Kim and Moon to officially declare an end to the conflict this year.

They also announced a series of engagement measures. They will set up a liaison office in the North Korean city of Kaesong, which is near the border and is the site of a now shuttered industrial complex that had for years been the biggest joint project between the two countries. Moon will visit Pyongyang in the fall, high-level military talks will be held next month and reunions will be arranged for families separated by the war.

All of these measures are significant.

They underscore a real policy shift in the South away from the hard-line approach taken by its previous president, Park Geun-hye. Moon clearly is interested in pursuing a less volatile relationship with the North on several fronts and appears unwilling to put all of that on hold until Kim agrees to some sort of quick and complete denuclearization.

He also seemed to steer well away from human rights issues, which have been all but forgotten in the shadow of the North's nuclear program. That's a bit of a blow to Tokyo, which has been largely sidelined lately and was hoping that Moon would bring up the matter of what happened to Japanese abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and '80s.

More importantly, the softer approach, while helping many South Koreans breathe easier after the exceptionally high tensions of last year, puts Seoul and Washington on conflicting paths.

Trump welcomed the talks on Twitter.

But the messaging from the White House remains ambiguous. Trump has suggested Pyongyang must demonstrate a commitment to denuclearization before his policy of maximum pressure on the North can change.

Moon, on the other hand, seems willing for the most part to kick the nuclear issue down the road. He signed off on a pledge with Kim to seek the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula - a phrase that sounds good on the surface but has very little practical meaning without the inclusion of specific measures, time frames and even a definition of exactly what the word "denuclearization" means.

This is where the obligatory mention of the devil being in the details comes in.

The United States hasn't kept nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula since the early 1990s. But for Pyongyang, denuclearization has generally been taken to mean the removal of South Korea from Washington's "nuclear umbrella." That would mean Washington must somehow assure Kim that his country is safe from a nuclear attack - and that's a very complicated thing to do.

Maybe that will all become clear when Kim and Trump meet.

But so far, neither has offered any realistic, detailed proposals.

___

Talmadge has been the AP's Pyongyang bureau chief since 2012. Follow him on Instagram and Twitter: @EricTalmadge

FILE - In this April 27, 2018 file photo, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, shakes hands with South Korean President Moon Jae-in over the military demarcation line at the border village of Panmunjom in Demilitarized Zone. Despite its feel-good emphasis on relationship-building, the first inter-Korean summit in more than a decade left a lot of question marks around the biggest and most contentious agenda item of them all: denuclearization. And that puts the ball squarely in the court of President Donald Trump, whose much anticipated sit-down with Kim is expected to be just weeks away. (Korea Summit Press Pool via AP, File)

FILE - In this April 27, 2018 file photo, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, prepares to shake hands with South Korean President Moon Jae-in over the military demarcation line at the border village of Panmunjom in Demilitarized Zone. Despite its feel-good emphasis on relationship-building, the first inter-Korean summit in more than a decade left a lot of question marks around the biggest and most contentious agenda item of them all: denuclearization. And that puts the ball squarely in the court of President Donald Trump, whose much anticipated sit-down with Kim is expected to be just weeks away. (Korea Summit Press Pool via AP, File)

FILE - In this March 27, 2018 file photo, A man watches a TV screen showing file footages of U.S. President Donald Trump, left, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, right, during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea. Despite its feel-good emphasis on relationship-building, the first inter-Korean summit in more than a decade left a lot of question marks around the biggest and most contentious agenda item of them all: denuclearization. And that puts the ball squarely in the court of President Donald Trump, whose much anticipated sit-down with Kim is expected to be just weeks away. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File)

FILE - In this April 27, 2018 file photo, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in embrace each other after signing on a joint statement at the border village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, South Korea. Despite its feel-good emphasis on relationship-building, the first inter-Korean summit in more than a decade left a lot of question marks around the biggest and most contentious agenda item of them all: denuclearization. And that puts the ball squarely in the court of President Donald Trump, whose much anticipated sit-down with Kim is expected to be just weeks away. (Korea Summit Press Pool via AP, File)

FILE - In this April 27, 2018 file photo, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un waves from a car as he returns to North Korea after the meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the border village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, South Korea. Despite its feel-good emphasis on relationship-building, the first inter-Korean summit in more than a decade left a lot of question marks around the biggest and most contentious agenda item of them all: denuclearization. And that puts the ball squarely in the court of President Donald Trump, whose much anticipated sit-down with Kim is expected to be just weeks away. (Korea Summit Press Pool via AP, File)

FILE - In this April 27, 2018 file photo, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, right, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in talk at the border village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, South Korea. Despite its feel-good emphasis on relationship-building, the first inter-Korean summit in more than a decade left a lot of question marks around the biggest and most contentious agenda item of them all: denuclearization. And that puts the ball squarely in the court of President Donald Trump, whose much anticipated sit-down with Kim is expected to be just weeks away.(Korea Summit Press Pool via AP, File)

FILE - In this April 27, 2018 file photo, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in cross the military demarcation line to the South side at the border village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, South Korea. Despite its feel-good emphasis on relationship-building, the first inter-Korean summit in more than a decade left a lot of question marks around the biggest and most contentious agenda item of them all: denuclearization. And that puts the ball squarely in the court of President Donald Trump, whose much anticipated sit-down with Kim is expected to be just weeks away. (Korea Summit Press Pool via AP, File)

FILE - In this June 14, 2000, file photo, South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, left, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il raise their arms together before signing a joint declaration during a summit in Pyongyang, North Korea. The first inter-Korean summit in more than a decade follows meetings between Kim Jong Un's father, Kim Jong Il, with South Korean presidents in 2007 and 2000. Each produced similar sounding vows to reduce tensions, replace the current armistice that ended the fighting in the 1950-53 Korean War and expand cross-border engagement. (Yonhap Pool Photo via AP, File)SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Utah Democrats nominated Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams Saturday for what is expected to be the only competitive congressional race in the largely Republican state.

McAdams easily won the nomination against four challengers with 72 percent of delegates' votes during the party's convention in downtown Salt Lake City, and will now face off against two-term GOP incumbent Mia Love. He was the heavy favorite heading in and enjoys the support of the national Democratic campaign arm, which thinks he can aid in the party's goal of flipping 23 seats to take control of the U.S. House.

As he heads into the general election, McAdams is planning to highlight his status as a moderate and paint Love as a "no-show" who has ignored her constituents, he said.

FILE - In this April 10, 2017, file photo, Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams, right, listens during a committee hearing in Salt Lake City. Democrats in deep-red Utah are looking to McAdams to flip one of the state's four Republican-controlled congressional districts and help take control of the U.S. House. But first he has to win the party's nomination against four challengers at the party's state convention Saturday, April 28, 2018. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)

"I'm going to be reaching out to Republicans, Independents and Democrats to find solutions to the challenges that we face in Utah," he said. "People know that I'm somebody who shows up."

Also on Saturday, two-term Salt Lake County Councilwoman Jenny Wilson received votes from 81 percent of party delegates to secure the Democratic nomination for the Senate race to replace retiring lawmaker Orrin Hatch.

She is expected to face off against former presidential candidate Mitt Romney in November, through Romney must first win a June 26 primary against state lawmaker Mike Kennedy.

After her nomination, Wilson said that those intervening months are an "organizational opportunity" for her campaign to reach out to prospective voters, including Republicans. She is likely to criticize Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, as an out-of-state interloper in Utah.

"I'm actually from this state," she told roughly 1,000 delegates at Salt Lake City's downtown convention center.

Wilson faces an uphill battle. Utah voters are overwhelmingly Republican and the state has not sent a Democrat to the Senate since 1977.

Yet many of the Democrats present expressed cautious optimism about their chances in November, on the heels of surprising recent victories in Pennsylvania, Alabama and other conservative districts. Nationally, Democrats are seizing on the unpopularity of some of President Donald Trump's politics and hoping to take control of Congress after November.

"There's a lot of belief that there's this blue wave thing going around," said Michael Esplin, 28, a student from suburban Millcreek. "But it's still Utah."

The races for the state's three other U.S. House seats are expected to be safe terrain for Republicans.

On Saturday, Westminster College professor James Singer won the Democratic nomination for the 3rd Congressional District. He'll face the winner of a Republican primary between Rep. John Curtis and businessman Chris Herrod.

University of Utah official Shireen Ghorbani won the nomination to square off against incumbent Chris Stewart in the 2nd Congressional District.

Businessman Kurt Weiland and social worker Lee Castillo were forced into a primary to decide who will face eight-term Rep. Rob Bishop, after neither reached the 60 percent of delegate votes' necessary to win the Democratic nomination outright.

FILE - In this April 10, 2017, file photo, Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams looks on during a committee hearing in Salt Lake City. Democrats in deep-red Utah are looking to McAdams to flip one of the state's four Republican-controlled congressional districts and help take control of the U.S. House. But first he has to win the party's nomination against four challengers at the party's state convention Saturday, April 28, 2018. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)

In this Jan. 5, 2015 photo, incoming Salt Lake County Council member, Jenny Wilson speaks at the Salt Lake County Council chamber after being administered the oath of office. Democrats in deep-red Utah are looking to Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams to flip one of the state's four Republican-controlled congressional districts and help take control of the U.S. House. But first he has to win the party's nomination against four challengers at the party's state convention Saturday, April 28, 2018. Wilson is the favorite against three opponents, including a former IRS agent and a marketing professional inspired by Sen. Bernie Sanders. The two-term councilwoman was the first woman elected to the Salt Lake County Council.(Al Hartmann/The Salt Lake Tribune, via AP)North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in hold hands as they cross the military demarcation line during a historic summit at a border village.

In other images from the Asia-Pacific region this week, a fire dancer performs for the last time before the six-month closure of the Philippines' beach resort of Boracay, ordered by President Rodrigo Duterte to help the island recover from overcrowding and development.

Also in the Philippines, Australian nun Sister Patricia Fox is hugged by a supporter after her missionary visa was revoked and she was ordered to leave the country. Fox earned the ire of Duterte after she joined opposition rallies calling for the respect of human rights.

In this Friday, April 27, 2018, file photo, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in cross the military demarcation line to the South side at the border village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone. Kim made history Friday by crossing over the world's most heavily armed border to greet his rival, Moon, for talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons. (Korea Summit Press Pool via AP, File)

___

This gallery was curated by Associated Press photo editor Toru Takahashi in Tokyo.

___

Visit the AP Images blog: http://apimagesblog.com

Visit AP Images online: http://www.apimages.com

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in cross the military demarcation line at the border village of Panmunjom in Demilitarized Zone Friday, April 27, 2018. Their discussions will be expected to focus on whether the North can be persuaded to give up its nuclear bombs. (Korea Summit Press Pool via AP)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in cross the military demarcation line at the border village of Panmunjom in Demilitarized Zone Friday, April 27, 2018. Their discussions will be expected to focus on whether the North can be persuaded to give up its nuclear bombs. (Korea Summit Press Pool via AP)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in walk toward the Peace House for their meeting at the border village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone Friday, April 27, 2018. Kim made history Friday by crossing over the world's most heavily armed border to greet his rival, Moon, for talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons. (Korea Summit Press Pool via AP)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, poses with South Korean President Moon Jae-in for a photo inside the Peace House at the border village of Panmunjom in Demilitarized Zone Friday, April 27, 2018. Their discussions will be expected to focus on whether the North can be persuaded to give up its nuclear bombs. (Korea Summit Press Pool via AP)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, is surrounded by his security guards upon his arrival for a meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the North Korea side of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, South Korea, Friday, April 27, 2018. (Korea Summit Press Pool via AP)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in embrace each other after signing on a joint statement at the border village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, South Korea, Friday, April 27, 2018. (Korea Summit Press Pool via AP)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in shake hands after planting a pine tree near the military demarcation line at the border village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, South Korea, Friday, April 27, 2018. (Korea Summit Press Pool via AP)

In this image made from video provided by South Korea Host Broadcast, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, right, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, left, talk as they walk on footbridge in the border village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone Friday, April 27, 2018. Kim made history Friday by crossing over the world's most heavily armed border to greet his rival, Moon, for talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons.(South Korea Host Broadcast via AP)

North Korean security persons run by a car carrying North Korean leader Kim Jong Un return to the North side for a lunch break after a morning session of a summit meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the border village of Panmunjom in Demilitarized Zone Friday, April 27, 2018. Their discussions are expected to focus on whether the North can be persuaded to give up its nuclear bombs. (Korea Summit Press Pool via AP)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signs a guest book next to South Korean President Moon Jae-in, left, inside the Peace House at at the border village of Panmunjom in Demilitarized Zone Friday, April 27, 2018. Their discussions will be expected to focus on whether the North can be persuaded to give up its nuclear bombs. (Korea Summit Press Pool via AP)

In this Friday, April 27, 2018, file photo, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, shakes hands with South Korean President Moon Jae-in over the military demarcation line at the border village of Panmunjom in Demilitarized Zone Friday, April 27, 2018. Their discussions will be expected to focus on whether the North can be persuaded to give up its nuclear bombs. (Korea Summit Press Pool via AP, File)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in cross the military demarcation line at the border village of Panmunjom in Demilitarized Zone Friday, April 27, 2018. Their discussions will be expected to focus on whether the North can be persuaded to give up its nuclear weapons. (Korea Summit Press Pool via AP)

In this Friday, April 27, 2018, file photo, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in raise their hands after signing on a joint statement at the border village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, South Korea. (Korea Summit Press Pool via AP, File)

In this Friday, April 27, 2018, file photo, a man burns a North Korean flag with photos of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the late leaders Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung during a rally outside the Imjingak Pavilion in Paju, South Korea. With a single step over a weathered, cracked slab of concrete, Kim Jong Un made history Friday by crossing over the world's most heavily armed border to greet South Korean President Moon Jae-in for talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File)

In this Friday, April 27, 2018, file photo, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, right, walk together through a honor guard at the border village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone. After their meeting at the borderline, Kim and Moon moved to a small plaza to inspect an honor guard before they walked together for a couple of minutes to Peace House, the venue for the summit. (Korea Summit Press Pool via AP, File)

In this Wednesday, April 25, 2018, file photo, a Filipino fire dancer performs for the last time a day before the government implements the temporary closure of the country's most famous beach resort island of Boracay, in central Aklan province, Philippines. Tourists are spending their final hours on Boracay, enjoying the Philippine island's famed white-sand beaches before it closes for up to six months to recover from overcrowding and development. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila, File)

In this Thursday, April 26, 2018, file photo, Australian Roman Catholic nun Sister Patricia Fox, left, is hugged by a supporter following a news conference a day after the Bureau of Immigration forfeited her missionary visa and given 30 days to leave the country in suburban Quezon city, northeast of Manila, Philippines. The Australian nun whose missionary visa in the Philippines was revoked after the president complained about her joining opposition rallies said Thursday that social advocacy and human rights are part of church teachings. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez, File)

In this Tuesday, April 24, 2018, file photo, a Bangladeshi woman cries holding a portrait of her daughter who was a victim of the Rana Plaza garment factory collapse, on the fifth anniversary of the accident in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh. The tragedy killed 1,134 people, many of them young women supporting extended families, and injured more than 2,500. (AP Photo/A.M. Ahad, File)

In this Sunday, April 22, 2018, file photo, a girl is painted her face as she gets the holy water poured on her by her friends to mark the end of the Khmer New Year on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Buddhist followers received the holly water which is believed to bring good luck. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith, File)

In this Wednesday, April 25, 2018, file photo, the coffin of Palestinian Fadi al-Batsh is carried out of a mosque after a prayer in Selayang, on the outskirt of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Palestinian envoy in Malaysia says the body of the Hamas militant killed last week in Kuala Lumpur will be repatriated to the Gaza Strip for burial. Fadi al-Batsh, an electrical engineering lecturer at a Malaysian university, was gunned down by two men on a motorcycle as he was on his way to a mosque early Saturday. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian, File)

In this Wednesday, April 25, 2018, file photo, a man uses his mobile phone to take pictures of a burning oil well after it was caught fire in Pasir Putih village in eastern Aceh, Indonesia. The newly drilled, unregulated oil well in western Indonesia exploded into flames early Wednesday, burning to death a number of people and injuring dozens of others. (AP Photo/Zik Maulana, File)

In this Thursday, April 26, 2018, file photo, visitors stand near the Nissan IMX concept car during Auto China 2018 in Beijing. Auto China 2018, the industry's biggest sales event this year, is overshadowed by mounting trade tensions between Beijing and U.S. President Donald Trump, who has threatened to hike tariffs on Chinese goods including automobiles in a dispute over technology policy. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)

In this Friday, April 20, 2018, file photo, a model displays a creation by Ina Priyono during the Muslim Fashion Festival in Jakarta, Indonesia. The event was held to greet the upcoming holy fasting month of Ramadan. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim, File)HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) - Republican Don Blankenship doesn't care if his party and his president don't think he can beat Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin this fall.

This former coal mining executive, an ex-convict released from prison less than a year ago, is willing to risk his personal fortune and the GOP's golden opportunity in West Virginia for the chance to prove them all wrong.

"I'll get elected on my own merits," Blankenship says.

FILE - In this Jan. 18, 2018, file photo, former Massey CEO and West Virginia Republican Senatorial candidate, Don Blankenship, speaks during a town hall to kick off his campaign in Logan, W.Va. Blankenship doesn't care if his party and his president don't think he can beat Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin this fall. This former coal mining executive, an ex-convict released from prison less than a year ago, is willing to risk his personal fortune and the Republican Party's golden opportunity in West Virginia for the chance to prove them all wrong. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)

There aren't a lot of things that can sink Republicans' hopes in the ruby red state that Donald Trump won by 42 percentage points in 2016, but Blankenship could well be one.

His candidacy is sending shudders down the spines of Republicans who are furiously working to ensure he is not their choice to take on Manchin in November. While Blankenship's bid is a long shot, he's testing whether a party led by an anti-establishment outsider can rein in its anti-establishment impulses.

"The establishment, no matter who you define it as, has not been creating jobs in West Virginia," Blankenship said at a primary debate this past week.

Even before Blankenship emerged as a legitimate Republican candidate, West Virginia was a worry for some Republicans.

Former Gov. Manchin has held elected office in West Virginia for the better part of the past three decades, and he's worked hard to cozy up to Trump and nurture a bipartisan brand.

He has voted with the Republican president more than he has opposed him, his office says, noting that the senator and Trump have collaborated on trade, environmental rules, gun violence and court nominations.

The alignment with Trump was so effective that former White House adviser Steve Bannon worried privately to colleagues that Trump might actually endorse the Democrat. An outright endorsement now is unlikely, but a Blankenship primary victory on May 8 could push Trump to help Manchin, at least indirectly, by ignoring West Virginia this fall.

The state has long been considered a prime pickup opportunity for Republicans, who hold a two-seat Senate majority that suddenly feels less secure given signs of Democratic momentum in Nevada, Arizona, Tennessee and elsewhere. If Democrats can win West Virginia, which gave Trump his largest margin of victory in the nation, they may have a slim chance at seizing the Senate majority.

Some of Trump's most prominent conservative supporters, particularly those in Bannon's network, have rallied behind state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, a former Capitol Hill aide who was raised in New Jersey but has served as West Virginia's top lawyer since 2013.

Rep. Evan Jenkins, a former Democrat, has highlighted his West Virginia roots and deep allegiance to Trump. Jenkins noted that Manchin missed a big chance to align himself with Trump on key issues such as taxes and health care.

"The president gave Joe Manchin every opportunity in the early weeks and months of his administration to vote the right way," Jenkins said in an interview. "He voted wrong."

But in interviews this past week, Morrisey and Jenkins declined to attack Blankenship for his role in the 2010 Upper Big Branch mine disaster, the deadliest U.S. mine disaster in four decades, killing 29 men. Blankenship led the company that owned the mine and was sentenced to a year in prison for conspiring to break safety laws, a misdemeanor.

Raising that dark history has been left to the national GOP forces believed to be behind the Mountain Families PAC, an organization created last month that has invested more than $700,000 attacking Blankenship on television. A spokesman for the Senate GOP's most powerful super PAC declined to confirm or deny a connection to the group.

Trump has done his part to hurt Blankenship's chances as well.

The president excluded Blankenship from a recent West Virginia stop, where Trump appeared with Jenkins on one side and Morrisey on the other. And Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado, who leads the Senate GOP's national campaign efforts, had this to say to reporters when asked about Blankenship last week: "Do they let ankle bracelets get out of the house?"

For voters, Blankenship remains a deeply polarizing figure.

Blankenship calls himself a West Virginian but had his supervised release transferred last August to federal officials in Nevada, where he has a six-bedroom home with his fiancee 20 miles from Las Vegas, in Henderson.

"It's a friendly place and I like it," said Blankenship, whose supervised release ends May 9, the day after the primary.

Blankenship recently drew attention for comments on a radio show about the father of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, who is married to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. Blankenship said he believed McConnell has a conflict of interest in foreign relations matters, in particular those dealing with China. Chao's father was born in China and started an international shipping company in New York.

According to media reports, Blankenship's fiancee also was born in China.

"I don't have any problem with Chinese people, Chinese girlfriend, Chinese anything," Blankenship told the radio station. "But I have an issue when the father-in-law is a wealthy Chinaperson and has a lot of connections with some of the brass, if you will, in China."

Stanley Stewart, a retired miner who was inside the Upper Big Branch mine when it blew up in 2010, calls Blankenship 'ruthless, cold-blooded, cold-hearted, self-centered."

"I feel that if anybody voted for Don Blankenship, they may as well stick a knife in their back and twist it, because that's exactly what he'll do," Stewart said in an interview.

But there is skepticism that Blankenship was treated fairly by the courts. Blankenship has cast himself as a victim of an overbearing Obama administration, an argument that resonates with many white working-class voters on the ground here. Nonetheless, the Supreme Court last October left in place his conviction when the justices declined to take up his case.

"What they've said he's actually done (in the criminal case), I don't believe none of that," 21-year-old coal mechanic Zack Ball said while grabbing a bite to eat in the Boone County coal community of Danville. "Don Blankenship all the way."

Inside a Whitesville pizza shop a few miles north of the shuttered Upper Big Branch mine, retiree Debbie Pauley said Blankenship "was railroaded" at his trial.

"I think that Blankenship does have integrity," she said. "I don't think he'd put up with any crap."

___

Raby reported from Charleston, West Virginia.

FILE - In this April 5, 2018, file photo, President Donald Trump smiles during a roundtable discussion on tax policy in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., with from left, Service Pump and Supply principal engineer Sean Farrell, Rep. Evan Jenkins, R-W.Va., and West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey. Republican Don Blankenship doesn't care if his party and his president don't think he can beat Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin this fall. This former coal mining executive, an ex-convict released from prison less than a year ago, is willing to risk his personal fortune and the Republican Party's golden opportunity in West Virginia for the chance to prove them all wrong. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - Investigators hunting for the so-called Golden State Killer turned to searching genetic websites in 2017 but misidentified an Oregon man as a potential suspect. A year later, after using a similar technique, they are confident they've caught the serial rapist and killer who eluded capture for four decades.

In March 2017, an Oregon City police officer, working at the request of investigators in California, convinced a judge to order a 73-year-old man in a nursing home to provide a DNA sample.

Court documents obtained by The Associated Press said detectives used a genetic profile based off DNA from crime scenes linked to the serial killer and compared it to information on a free online genealogical site.

Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, who authorities suspect is the so-called Golden State Killer responsible for at least a dozen murders and 50 rapes in the 1970s and 80s, is accompanied by Sacramento County Public Defender Diane Howard, right, as he makes his first appearance, Friday, April 27, 2018, in Sacramento County Superior Court in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

Investigators cited a rare genetic marker, which the Oregon man shared with the killer, to get the judge to issue the order. The Oregon City man is in extremely poor health in a rehabilitation facility and was unable to answer questions Friday.

His daughter said his family was not aware that authorities took a DNA sample from him while he was lying in bed at the rehabilitation center until she was contacted by the FBI in April 2017 and asked to help expand the family's genetic tree in the search for suspects.

The woman, an amateur genealogist, cooperated, but ultimately investigators determined none of her relatives were viable suspects, she said. The woman spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because she did not want the family's name publicly linked to the case.

"I don't like that they thought that my dad was the bad guy, but the truth is they were able to rule out people in my dad's (family) tree," she said. "They didn't have to look at those people anymore."

The family was angry the FBI had not told them about the sample but felt better after reading an AP story that investigators obtained a warrant, she said.

"I mean, they go from California to Oregon to get my dad's DNA? They clearly thought he was the bad guy," she said. "I think DNA is amazing and if you've done something wrong you don't deserve to be protected."

Ultimately investigators turned to a different genealogical site and arrested a man who they say was one of California's most feared and elusive serial killers.

On Friday, Joseph James DeAngelo appeared in court to face murder charges. Handcuffed to a wheelchair in orange jail scrubs, the 72-year-old looked dazed and spoke in a faint voice to acknowledge he was represented by a public defender. He did not enter a plea.

DeAngelo, a former police officer, has been charged with eight counts of murder, and additional charges are expected, authorities said.

"We have the law to suggest that he is innocent until he's proven guilty," said his attorney, Diane Howard.

Investigators arrested DeAngelo on Tuesday after matching crime-scene DNA with genetic material stored in an online database by a distant relative. They relied on a different website than in the Oregon search, and did not seek a warrant for his DNA. Instead, they waited for him to discard items and swabbed them for DNA, which proved a conclusive match to evidence from crimes more than 30 years ago, they said.

The co-founder of the genealogy website used by authorities to help identify DeAngelo said on Friday that he had no idea its database was tapped by law enforcement.

The free genealogy website, which pools DNA profiles that people upload and share publicly to find relatives, said it has always informed users its database can be used for other purposes.

But the site's co-founder Curtis Rogers said the search was "done without our knowledge" and the company does not "hand out data."

Officials did not need a court order to access GEDmatch 's large database of genetic blueprints, lead investigator Paul Holes told the Mercury News in San Jose, California. Major commercial DNA companies say they do not give law enforcement access to their genetic data without a court order.

But critics warned the method could jeopardize privacy rights.

"People who submit DNA for ancestors testing are unwittingly becoming genetic informants on their innocent family," said Steve Mercer, chief attorney for the forensic division of the Maryland Office of the Public Defender.

"It seems crazy to say a police officer investigating a very serious crime can't do something your cousin can do," said Erin Murphy, a DNA expert and professor at New York University School of Law. "If an ordinary person can do this, why can't a cop? On the other hand, if an ordinary person had done this, we might think they shouldn't."

While most consumers would submit DNA to a commercial company such as Ancestry.com and 23andMe to create a genetic profile, the FBI did so for investigators, Holes told The New York Times.

The profile was then uploaded to GEDmatch using a fake profile and pseudonym, the Times reported. The site allows users to remain anonymous.

A year earlier, Holes had identified a rare genetic marker in the assailant's DNA. He entered the information among 189,000 profiles at the genealogy website, YSearch.org, and the results led to a relative of the Oregon man.

A spokeswoman for YSearch.org, which is provided by FamilyTreeDNA.com, said the company was not contacted by law enforcement. The company said it takes the privacy of its customers very seriously but supports "ethically and legally justified uses" of scientific research in genetics and genealogy.

Sacramento District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert told AP she was unaware of the Oregon misfire and didn't believe genealogical sites were used before DeAngelo was identified.

___

Balsamo reported from Los Angeles and Flaccus reported from Oregon City, Oregon. Associated Press writers Brian Melley in Los Angeles and Matt O'Brien in Providence, Rhode Island, contributed to this report.

Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, who authorities suspect is the so-called Golden State Killer responsible for at least a dozen murders and 50 rapes in the 1970s and 80s, makes his first appearance, Friday, April 27, 2018, in Sacramento County Superior Court in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, who authorities suspect is the so-called Golden State Killer responsible for at least a dozen murders and 50 rapes in the 1970s and 80s, is arraigned, Friday, April 27, 2018, in Sacramento County Superior Court in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

Authorities probe the backyard of the home of murder suspect Joseph DeAngelo, Thursday, April 26, 2018, in Citrus Heights, Calif. DeAngelo, 72, was taken into custody Tuesday on suspicion of committing multiple homicides and rapes in the 1970s and 1980s in California. Authorities spent the day going through the home for evidence. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

John Lopes, a crime scene investigator for the Sacramento Sheriff's office, carries boxes of evidence taken from the home of murder suspect Joseph DeAngelo to a sheriff's vehicle Thursday, April 26, 2018, in Citrus Heights, Calif. DeAngelo, 72, was taken into custody Tuesday on suspicion of committing multiple homicides and rapes in the 1970s and 1980s in California. Authorities spent the day going through the home for evidence. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

T. Abbott, left, and John Lopes, right, from the Sacramento County Sheriff's crime scene investigation office, conference about boxes of evidence gathered from the home of murder suspect Joseph DeAngelo, Thursday, April 26, 2018, in Citrus Heights, Calif. DeAngelo, 72, was taken into custod Tuesday on suspicion of committing multiple homicides and rapes in the 1970s and 1980s in California. Authorities spent the day going through the home for evidence. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - A Taliban suicide bomber attacked an army base in southern Helmand province Saturday killing four civilians and two soldiers, officials said.

Omar Zwak, spokesman for the provincial governor in Helmand, said three civilians and two soldiers were wounded in the attack in Nad Ali district. He said the bomber was a Taliban fighter who targeted the base using a mini-van, said Zwak.

Maj. Abdul Qadeer Bahadorzai, the army corps commander's spokesman in the south, confirmed the attack. He said the death toll could change.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but Taliban insurgents announced the start of their annual spring offensive on Wednesday even as insurgents are already regularly launching attacks and battling security forces.

In another report, in eastern Nangarhar province five people were killed and 15 others wounded in separate attacks, said Attahullah Khogyani, spokesman for the provincial governor.

Khogyani said among five dead there are three women; militants fired mortar shells striking a home in Goshta district. Three others, including two females and a small child, were wounded in the attack late Friday night.

Meanwhile, 12 people were wounded in an explosion in Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar, said Khogyani. He said the victims were two traffic police and 10 civilians.

"Two wounded civilians are in critical condition," he said.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks in Nangarhar, but the Taliban and Islamic State group are both active in eastern Afghanistan, particularly Nangarhar province.

The Taliban issued a statement Wednesday saying the "Al-Khandaq" offensive would make use of "new and intricate tactics" aimed at "crushing, killing and capturing American invaders and their supporters."

The onset of spring has traditionally brought an increase in violence in Afghanistan, as melting snows allow fighters to more easily traverse the mountainous terrain.

But in recent years the Taliban and an Islamic State group affiliate have carried out near-daily attacks year-round. The Taliban have seized control of districts across the country and regularly target Kabul, the capital.

The U.S. formally ended its combat mission in Afghanistan in 2014, but thousands of American troops remain in the country in a counterterrorism and support role. The Trump administration has sent thousands of additional troops to try to change the course of America's longest war.GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza says a boy has died a day after being hit by an Israeli gunshot in the head.

Azzam Hillal, 15, was wounded during deadly violence along the Gaza-Israel border Friday, when thousands of Palestinians held a fifth round of weekly protests dubbed the "Return March" of refugees and descendants to ancestral homes in Israel. Three other Palestinians were shot dead during Friday's protests.

Hamas, the militant group controlling Gaza, is largely leading the marches also to highlight a decade of Israel-Egyptian blockade that made it hard for the Islamic movement to govern.

Thirty-nine Palestinians have been shot dead since the marches began late last month, including four minors. More than 1,600 have been injured.

Israel uses snipers positioned behind the border fence.DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (AP) - Gunmen fatally shot three local tourists and their driver in a tribal region along the Afghanistan border, an official said Saturday.

Ikhlaq Bangash, deputy administrator in South Waziristan, said a group of tourists from Dera Ismail Khan were camping in the Momi Karam area when the gunmen struck Friday night.

Bangash said the attackers torched the camp after shooting the tourists and fleeing.

A Pakistani volunteer comforts a grief-stricken person from Shiite community, mourns over a body of his family member at a mortuary in Quetta, Pakistan, Saturday, April 28, 2018. Gunmen attacked an electronics shop and fatally shot two shopkeepers, both of them minority Hazara Shiites, said Mohammad Alam, area police officer. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)

No group immediately claimed responsibility, but Islamic militants have long operated along the porous border.

On Saturday, in the southwestern city of Quetta, gunmen attacked an electronics shop and fatally shot two shopkeepers, both of them minority Hazara Shiites, said Mohammad Alam, an area police officer.

Alam said the assailants escaped on motorcycles. He said police were looking for the attackers.

It was the sixth attack in recent months targeting Shiites in Quetta. Last week, authorities said gunmen shot dead two local officials in Shiite community organizations and wounded a third. A Shiite shopkeeper was killed in a drive-by shooting last week.

No group has claimed responsibility for the latest attack, but Sunni extremists, who view Shiites as apostates, have claimed previous assaults.The president said that 'the most pressing challenge facing Egypt is to preserve the cohesion of the Egyptian state and the unity of its people'

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi commemorated the 36th anniversary of the liberation of Sinai on Saturday at the 28th educational seminar organised by the Egyptian armed forces, according to a statement by the Egyptian presidency.

The event was attended by Prime Minister Sherif Ismail, Defence Minister Sedki Sobhy, and the Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Mohamed Farid, as well as a number of ministers, governors, journalists, students of the military institute and Egyptian universities, and members of Sinai tribes.

The proceedings of the seminar began with screening of a documentary film called Sinai: The Legend of a Place and the Epic Story of a People, which reviews the efforts to liberate Sinai in times of war and peace.

The film highlights the sacrifices of the martyrs of the armed forces to liberate Sinai from occupation, and the ongoing efforts to combat terrorism and eliminate it from the peninsula as part of the ongoing Operation Sinai 2018 agaist terrorism, as well as ongoing efforts and projects to develop Sinai in a comprehensive way.

El-Sisi explained the tremendous efforts that have been made to rebuild the armed forces after 1967, paying tributes to the great achievements of the armed forces during this phase.

The president stressed the importance of not allowing any kind of threat to the security and stability of Egypt, praising, in this context, the strategic vision of late president Mohamed Anwar El-Sadat and his courage in making the decisions of war and peace, especially in the light of the difficulties and the great obstacles surrounding his peace initiative, the statement read.

The president said that the most pressing challenge facing Egypt is an internal not an external challenge, explaining the challenge is to preserve the cohesion of the Egyptian state and the unity of its people.

El-Sisi also stressed that "the security and military measures undertaken in Sinai are indispensable to protect this dear part of the homeland," the statement said.

On 25 April, Egypt celebrates the completion of the withdrawal of Israeli military from the Sinai Peninsula in 1982, following the 1979 Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty signed by late President Sadat.

The Secretary-General of the Arab League and former Egypt Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit, who was among the attendees, spoke during the event about the epic story of liberating Sinai starting with the war of attrition 1967-1970 through the October 1973 war, and the parallel political and diplomatic efforts to achieve peace.

Ibrahim Mahlab, the president's aide for national and strategic projects, highlighted sustainable developmental efforts in Sinai in the areas of housing, education, health, job creation and infrastructure, saying the project of developing the peninsula could cost EGP 275 billion.

During the event, Sheikh Hassan Khalaf, a vetran Sinai fighter who was taken prisoner of war by Israel before the armed forces secured his freedom in a prisoner exchange deal, highlighed the deep relationship between the sons of Sinai and the armed forces in defending the peninsula.

Sinai native Salwa Salem Al-Harsh, the grandaughter of one of Sinai's most prominent tribal leaders, stressed during the event the readiness of Sinai residents to sacrifice their lives for Egypt, and to protect and develop Sinai.

El-Sisi urged officials to complete the ongoing project to develop Sinai by 2022.

Search Keywords:

Short link:

SANAA, Yemen (AP) - Yemeni security forces say they have raided a militant hideout in Yemen's south, killing a top Islamic State group leader.

The media office of Aden's security department said Saturday's raid killed Saleh Naser Fadl al-Bakhshi and led to the arrest of three other IS members.

The office said in a statement that al-Bakhshi refused to surrender and opened fire on anti-terrorism forces, killing one and wounding two others. The three IS members surrendered after al-Bakhshi's death, according to the statement.

Yemen was plunged into civil war more than three years ago. Al-Qaida and an Islamic State group affiliate have exploited the chaos to expand their presence.

Aden is the seat of Yemen's internationally recognized government after the capital, Sanaa, was seized by Shiite rebels known as Houthis in 2014.ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) - A floating nuclear power plant built in Russia has embarked on its first sea voyage so its reactors can be loaded with fuel.

The floating plant, the Akademik Lomonosov, was towed on Saturday out of the St. Petersburg shipyard where it was constructed.

It is to be pulled through the Baltic Sea and around the northern tip of Norway to Murmansk in northwest Russia, where the nuclear reactors are to be fueled.

The floating nuclear power plant, the 'Akademik Lomonosov', is towed out of the St. Petersburg shipyard where it was constructed in St.Petersburg, Russia, Saturday, April 28, 2018. The Akademik Lomonosov is to be loaded with nuclear fuel in Murmansk, then towed to position in the Far East in 2019.(AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

The Lomonosov is to be put into service in 2019 in the Arctic off the coast of Chukotka in the far east, providing power for a port town and for oil rigs.

The project has been widely criticized by environmentalists. Greenpeace has dubbed it a "floating Chernobyl."

The floating nuclear power plant, the 'Akademik Lomonosov', is towed out of the St. Petersburg shipyard where it was constructed in St.Petersburg, Russia, Saturday, April 28, 2018. The Akademik Lomonosov is to be loaded with nuclear fuel in Murmansk, then towed to position in the Far East in 2019. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

The floating nuclear power plant, the 'Akademik Lomonosov', is towed out of the St. Petersburg shipyard where it was constructed in St.Petersburg, Russia, Saturday, April 28, 2018. The Akademik Lomonosov is to be loaded with nuclear fuel in Murmansk, then towed to position in the Far East in 2019. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

The floating nuclear power plant, the 'Akademik Lomonosov', is towed out of the St. Petersburg shipyard where it was constructed in St.Petersburg, Russia, Saturday, April 28, 2018. The Akademik Lomonosov is to be loaded with nuclear fuel in Murmansk, then towed to position in the Far East in 2019.(AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)DALLAS (AP) - A Tuesday funeral has been set for a Dallas police officer killed in a shooting during a confrontation with a suspected shoplifter.

The public funeral for Officer Rogelio (roh-HEE'-lee-yoh) Santander (san-TAN'-dur) is scheduled for 11 a.m. at the Lake Pointe Church in nearby Rockwall followed by a burial at Restland Cemetery on the northern outskirts of Dallas.

A private Mass is set for Monday at the Cathedral-Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in downtown Dallas, with public visitation from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the cathedral.

Dallas Police officers wait outside the entrance of the emergency room at Presbyterian Hospital, Tuesday, April 24, 2018, in Dallas, following a shooting at an area Home Depot where two police officers and a civilian were shot. The officers were critically wounded in the shooting, according to officials. (Louis DeLuca/The Dallas Morning News via AP)

Another police officer and a store employee were injured in the April 27 shooting at a Home Depot store in northern Dallas. Police Chief U. Renee Hall says both are recovering.

Armando Luis Juarez has been charged with capital murder in the shootings.MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - Somali police say a suicide bomber has killed three police officers including a senior commander in the central city of Galkayo.

Col. Ahmed Hashi says the bomber apparently was targeting the commander of a special police force tasked with the security of the divided city.

Hashi says three other people were wounded in the blast.

The al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab extremist group has claimed responsibility.

Galkayo city is split into two parts controlled by rival regional administrations, Puntland and Galmudug, and for years it has experienced deadly battles between the two sides.WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on White House doctor Ronny Jackson's withdrawal from consideration to be secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs (all times local):

1:10 p.m.

Democratic Sen. Jon Tester of Montana is responding to President Donald Trump's calls for him to resign by saying he has a duty to make sure veterans in his state get what they've earned.

FILE - In this Jan. 25, 2018 file photo, Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., arrives for voting at the Capitol in Washington. With a flat-top haircut, three missing fingers and a quite-wide girth, Tester has somehow kept a low profile in Congress. Then he caught the attention of Americans, and President Donald Trump, with startling allegations that toppled Veterans Administration nominee Ronny Jackson. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Tester says, "I'll never stop fighting for them."

Tester is responding to Trump's statement that Tester "should resign" after going public with allegations that prompted White House physician. Ronny Jackson to withdraw from consideration to be secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Trump says the allegations are baseless

Tester, who is facing a competitive race in a state Trump won easily, notes that the president has signed eight bills into law that Tester helped craft to improve veterans care.

___

9:05 a.m.

How angry is President Donald Trump at the Democratic senator who went public with what Trump says are baseless allegations that derailed his Veterans Affairs nominee?

So angry that Trump says Montana's Jon Tester "should resign."

The White House says internal records raise doubt about some of the most serious allegations against White House doctor Ronny Jackson, who withdrew his nomination Thursday.

Trump tweets that "phony Democrat charges" have "absolutely devastated" Jackson and his family.

Tester is seeking re-election this year. The Democrat says the allegations were volunteered by over 20 current and former Jackson colleagues, and the lawmaker released them this week.

Trump's tweets say "the great people of Montana will not stand for this kind of slander" and that Jackson's reputation "for no reason whatsoever ... has been shattered. Not fair, Tester!"

___

1:05 a.m.

The White House says internal records raise doubt about some of the most serious allegations leveled against White House doctor Ronny Jackson in his failed bid to become the next secretary of Veterans Affairs.

Jackson withdrew his nomination Thursday after allegations by current and former colleagues raised questions about his prescribing practices and leadership ability, including accusations of drunkenness on the job. Democratic Sen. Jon Tester's office collected the allegations, which included a claim that Jackson "got drunk and wrecked a government vehicle" at a Secret Service going-away party.

The records, including police reports, show Jackson was in three minor vehicle incidents in government vehicles during the last five years, but none involved the use of alcohol and he was not found to be at fault.WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on the United States and North Korea (all times local):

11:05 a.m.

President Donald Trump says he's had "a long and very good talk" with the South Korean president, who's just had a historic meeting with North Korea's leader.

FILE - In this March 27, 2018 file photo, A man watches a TV screen showing file footages of U.S. President Donald Trump, left, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, right, during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea. Despite its feel-good emphasis on relationship-building, the first inter-Korean summit in more than a decade left a lot of question marks around the biggest and most contentious agenda item of them all: denuclearization. And that puts the ball squarely in the court of President Donald Trump, whose much anticipated sit-down with Kim is expected to be just weeks away. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File)

With anticipation growing for a possible U.S.-North Korean summit soon, Trump tweets Saturday that "things are going very well, time and location" of meeting with Kim Jong Un are being set.

Trump says that besides talking with South Korea's Moon Jae-in, he's updated Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe about "the ongoing negotiations."

Moon and Kim have pledged to seek a formal end to the Korean War by year's end and to rid the Korean Peninsula of nuclear weapons.

Trump has said he's looking forward to the meeting with Kim and that it "should be quite something." It is tentatively scheduled for May or early June.

___

1 a.m.

President Donald Trump is claiming credit for a historic South Korea-North Korea summit.

But now he faces a burden in helping turn the Korean leaders' bold but vague vision for peace into reality after more than six decades of hostility.

Trump must contend with a nagging suspicion about his own suitability to conduct that kind of war-and-peace negotiation and succeed where his predecessors have failed.

And then there's the question about whether North Korean leader Kim Jong Un really is willing to give up the nuclear weapons his nation took decades acquiring.RENO, Nev. (AP) - It was an uncharacteristically urgent demand at a U.S. Superfund site where the cleanup of an abandoned World War II-era mine has dragged on for two decades and progress is measured, at best, in years.

Atlantic Richfield, owner of the former Anaconda copper mine, was suddenly halting the free home delivery of bottled water it's provided since 2004 to about 100 residences on a neighboring Native American reservation in Nevada where scientists continue to track the movement of a poisonous plume of groundwater.

"It is imperative that these deliveries do not take place," an Atlantic Richfield contractor wrote this month in a series of emails obtained by The Associated Press.

The abandoned Anaconda open pit mine, source of an underground plume of poisonous water, is seen in an aerial photo in Yerington, Nev., Friday, April 27, 2018. The mine's owner, Atlantic Richfield, has suspended the normal bottled water deliveries it's been providing neighbors since tests in 2004 confirmed a plume of groundwater contaminated area wells. The move comes two months after federal regulators backed off plans to add the mine to the list of the most toxic U.S. Superfund sites. A Native American tribe suing Atlantic Richfield says its decision underscores fears that scuttling the proposed listing will slow cleanup efforts. (AP Photo/Scott Sady)

The Yerington Paiute Tribe alleges the abrupt change was retaliation for its fight against a recent move that puts the state and the company in charge of cleaning up the mine site instead of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Over the tribe's staunch objections, the EPA in February backed off plans in the works for years to formally elevate the mine to priority status on a list of the most contaminated Superfund sites.

"I believe that this dismissive, arrogant act means to punish us by cutting off our water in an attempt to pressure us to stop fighting for our legal rights," Tribal Chairman Laurie Thom told the AP.

Atlantic Richfield currently is delivering water to a site off the reservation for tribal members to pick up, and both sides blame each other for failing to reach an agreement to resume normal deliveries.

Atlantic Richfield spokesman Brett Clanton said the Houston-based company "is disappointed with the characterization of this sequence of events as retaliatory."

The company began providing the bottled water after tests confirmed poisonous groundwater seeping from the mine had contaminated dozens of neighbors' wells.

It will resume home deliveries, as well as groundwater sampling on tribal property, once a "valid access agreement can be obtained" from the tribe, Clanton said.

The mine's previous owner, Arimetco, left behind a 90-million-gallon (341-million-liter) toxic stew of uranium, arsenic and other chemicals - enough to cover 80 football fields 10 feet (3 meters) deep - when it abandoned the site in 2000, according to the EPA.

Now owned by BP, Atlantic Richfield paid $19.5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit in 2015 brought by about 700 nontribal neighbors of the mine, about 65 miles (105 kilometers) southeast of Reno. The neighbors had accused past owners of conspiring to cover up the extent of groundwater contamination. The company continues a legal battle with the tribe.

The EPA first determined the site qualified for priority Superfund status in 1994 but didn't formally propose the listing until 2016 - 31 years after Nevada regulators first accused Anaconda Mining Co. of discharging pollutants illegally.

Tribal leaders say the water dispute underscores their concerns that Gov. Brian Sandoval has negotiated away any ability to expedite the cleanup without the teeth of the EPA.

Their fears grew earlier this month when EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announced he dropped the mine from a list of 21 Superfund "emphasis" sites targeted for "immediate and intense attention."

The emphasis list Pruitt issued last year - a lesser category of priority sites that didn't exist under prior administrations - was roundly criticized by environmentalists and others who said it was an attempt to divert attention from the Trump administration's proposed 30 percent cut in the EPA's budget.

The EPA said in announcing the Anaconda mine's removal from the list that "cleanup activities progress, and completion of specific milestone and timelines have benefited from the administration's influence."

But Dietrick McGinnis, a longtime environmental consultant for the tribe, said the new timelines the EPA released in conjunction with the February agreement to defer any priority Superfund listing indicate groundwater cleanup will be delayed by more than four years.

"During the last year or so while this has gone on, it brought the whole process to a halt," he said. "There have been no new wells, no heavy equipment working on site, or even real technical decisions since Trump was elected."

Twice before, the EPA urged priority listing based on tests that showed toxic levels of uranium, but backed off when state and local business leaders opposed the move for fear of a stigma that could affect property values.

Sandoval announced in 2016 he was reluctantly dropping the state's opposition because the listing would make $31 million in federal cleanup funds available. But he reversed course in July when Atlantic Richfield offered to provide that money instead, and persuaded the EPA to defer any listing.

The governor continues to support the current cleanup path, his spokeswoman Mary-Sarah Kinner said this week. She said the EPA's proposal for priority listing remains on the table until the cleanup is completed under state oversight.

The latest clash centers on the tribe's insistence that neither Atlantic Richfield nor the state has any authority to carry out cleanup efforts on its property.

Tribal members "have jurisdiction over their own land, air and water resources, and only the EPA has been directed by the U.S. Congress to implement federal environmental statutes on tribal lands," the National Congress of American Indians said in a resolution attached to one of Thom's complaints to the EPA on March 7.

On Friday, several volunteers helped a delivery driver for Alhambra Waters unload several tons of water at a market off the reservation about 2 miles (3 kilometers) north of the mine - most of it in 5-gallon (19-liter) jugs but also in 24-packs of thousands of plastic bottles. The volunteers then loaded the supplies into a tribe-owned trailer and hand-delivered the water door-to-door to homes spread across a few square miles.

Greg Lavoto, head of the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, said his agency respects tribal sovereignty and looks forward to a resolution of the access issue "so that bottled water delivery to homes and groundwater monitoring can continue uninterrupted."

Tommy Gutierrez, a Paiute tribe member, helps load up some of the thousands of plastic water bottles that are distributed weekly to the Yerington Paiute tribe in Yerington, Nev., Friday, April 27, 2018. Atlantic Richfield, the owner of a abandoned open pit mine nearby, has suspended the normal bottled water deliveries it's been providing neighbors since tests in 2004 confirmed a plume of groundwater contaminated area wells. The move comes two months after federal regulators backed off plans to add the mine to the list of the most toxic U.S. Superfund sites. (AP Photo/Scott Sady)

Water tanks for the town of Yerington, Nev., with the abandoned Anaconda mine pit, source of an underground plume of poisonous water in the background, are seen Friday, April 27, 2018. The mine's owner, Atlantic Richfield, has suspended the normal bottled water deliveries it's been providing neighbors since tests in 2004 confirmed a plume of groundwater contaminated area wells. The move comes two months after federal regulators backed off plans to add the mine to the list of the most toxic U.S. Superfund sites. A Native American tribe suing Atlantic Richfield says its decision underscores fears that scuttling the proposed listing will slow cleanup efforts. (AP Photo/Scott Sady)

Tommy Gutierrez, a Paiute tribe member, puts water bottles on the porch as Mrs. Carrera watches on the Yerington Paiute reservation in Yerington, Nev., Friday, April 27, 2018. Atlantic Richfield, the owner of a abandoned open pit mine nearby, has suspended the normal bottled water deliveries it's been providing neighbors since tests in 2004 confirmed a plume of groundwater contaminated area wells. The move comes two months after federal regulators backed off plans to add the mine to the list of the most toxic U.S. Superfund sites. (AP Photo/Scott Sady)

Yerington Paiute Tribal Chairman Laurie Thom poses in the tribal office in Yerington, Nev., Friday, April 27, 2018. Atlantic Richfield, the owner of a abandoned open pit mine nearby, has suspended the normal bottled water deliveries it's been providing neighbors since tests in 2004 confirmed a plume of groundwater contaminated area wells. The move comes two months after federal regulators backed off plans to add the mine to the list of the most toxic U.S. Superfund sites. The tribe is suing Atlantic Richfield, saying its decision underscores fears that scuttling the proposed listing will slow cleanup efforts. (AP Photo/Scott Sady)

Nicolas Cuevas, right, and others load up plastic water bottles to distribute to members of the Yerington Paiute tribe after their weekly water delivery was left at the tribal border in Yerington, Nev., Friday, April 27, 2018. Atlantic Richfield, the owner of a abandoned open pit mine nearby, has suspended the normal bottled water deliveries it's been providing neighbors since tests in 2004 confirmed a plume of groundwater contaminated area wells. The move comes two months after federal regulators backed off plans to add the mine to the list of the most toxic U.S. Superfund sites. (AP Photo/Scott Sady)

A water truck brings nearly twenty tons of water to the border of the Yerington Paiute reservation, where it is then transferred to other vehicles and delivered to tribal members, in Yerington Nev., Friday, April 27, 2018. Atlantic Richfield, the owner of an abandoned open pit mine nearby, has suspended the normal bottled water deliveries it's been providing neighbors since tests in 2004 confirmed a plume of groundwater contaminated area wells. The move comes two months after federal regulators backed off plans to add the mine to the list of the most toxic U.S. Superfund sites. (AP Photo/Scott Sady)TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iranian authorities have detained the head of a reformist newspaper over an article that alleged prostitution at a residential complex in the eastern city of Mashhad.

The semi-official ISNA news agency reported Saturday that several people filed legal complaints about the article in the Shargh newspaper, saying it had insulted women. The article provided no evidence to support its claim of prostitution.

ISNA quoted Hassan Heidari, the deputy prosecutor in Mashhad, as saying that the newspaper's director general, Mehdi Rahmanian, was detained and will be required to pay compensation to the plaintiffs.

Iran has detained a number of reform-minded journalists over the years and shuttered media seen as overly critical of the government.NORRIDGEWOCK, Maine (AP) - A man accused of killing a sheriff's deputy was arrested Saturday outside a remote cabin, ending an intense manhunt in its fourth day in the woods of central Maine.

A law enforcement team used the slain deputy's handcuffs to arrest 29-year-old John Williams in a symbolic gesture, Sheriff Dale Lancaster said.

"We can now focus on the important task of respectfully laying our fallen brother to rest. Tonight, the citizens of Somerset County can sleep well and knowing that a dangerous man has been taken off the streets," the sheriff said.

This photo released by the Maine State Police shows an officer holding John Williams for an identification photo as he was being apprehended Saturday, April 28, 2018, in Norridgewock, Maine. Williams was wanted in the fatal shooting of Somerset County Sheriff's Deputy Eugene Cole early Wednesday after the two had an encounter on a darkened road in Norridgewock. Officials said the 29-year-old Madison man also stole Cole's cruiser and robbed a convenience store. (Maine State Police via AP)

Williams was wanted in the fatal shooting of Cpl. Eugene Cole early Wednesday after the two had an encounter on a darkened road in Norridgewock.

Cole became the first law enforcement officer to be killed in the line of duty in nearly 30 years in Maine.

Shirtless and shoeless, Williams appeared to be exhausted when he was led out of the woods Saturday. Officers put him into the back seat of an unmarked state police vehicle and detectives whisked him away.

"I'm just glad it ended peacefully, and no one else got hurt," said Tasha Raymond, whose kids have been forced to play indoors for the past four days.

The arrest brought some closure to the deputy's family and relief to residents who've been "on edge," said Larry Tilton, a friend of Cole's.

The community of 3,500 had been nervous since scores of police officers poured into the region during the manhunt. Helicopters, cruisers and tactical vehicles prowled the region.

On Saturday, about 150 officers were searching in a wooded area where police believe Williams was cornered when a team including FBI, game wardens and local police located him outside the cabin.

He offered "limited resistance" when being arrested and taken to the Waterville Police Department for questioning, police said. He's expected to make his initial court appearance in the next few days.

Before the arrest, the wife of the slain deputy had implored his killer Saturday to turn himself in, or at least reach out to police.

Sheryl Cole promised to Williams that he'd be treated the way her late husband would've treated him: "with dignity and respect."

It's unclear what preceded the shooting.

But Cole, 62, had been involved in the arrest of Williams' girlfriend several days earlier, and Williams was worried about being arrested himself for failing to appear in court in Massachusetts on firearm charges the day of the shooting.

Williams was angry about his girlfriend's arrest and had told a friend that "as of tomorrow, I'll be a fugitive." The friend said Williams was acting paranoid and noticed he had body armor in one of his bags.

Cole was a 13-year veteran of the department who was known for being respectful and patient in his dealing with people. Lancaster described him an "outstanding employee, one of the finest deputies."

A funeral for the popular deputy is scheduled for May 7, at a civic center in Bangor.

___

David Sharp contributed to this report from Portland.

Maine State Police detectives lead John Williams toward a police cruiser Saturday, April 28, 2018, on Norridgewock Road in Fairfield, Maine, following a four-day manhunt. Williams was wanted in the fatal shooting of Somerset County Deputy Sheriff Eugene Cole early Wednesday after the two had an encounter on a darkened roadside in Norridgewock. Officials said the 29-year-old Madison man also stole Cole's cruiser and robbed a convenience store. (David Leaming/Waterville Morning Sentinel via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

Maine State Police detectives lead John Williams to a police cruiser Saturday, April 28, 2018, on Norridgewock Road in Fairfield, Maine, following a four-day manhunt. Williams was wanted in the fatal shooting of Somerset County Deputy Sheriff Eugene Cole early Wednesday after the two had an encounter on a darkened roadside in Norridgewock. Officials said the 29-year-old Madison man also stole Cole's cruiser and robbed a convenience store. (David Leaming/Waterville Morning Sentinel via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

Police walk down railroad tracks during a search for suspect John Williams off the Martin Stream Road Saturday, April 28, 2018, in Norridgewock, Maine. The Maine Department of Public Safety reported that 29-year-old John Williams was in custody Saturday but provided no details of the arrest. Williams was wanted in the fatal shooting of Somerset County Deputy Sheriff Eugene Cole early Wednesday after the two had an encounter on a darkened roadside in Norridgewock. Officials say the 29-year-old Madison man also stole Cole's cruiser and robbed a convenience store. (David Leaming/Waterville Morning Sentinel via AP) MANDATORY CREDITAdvertisement

Donald Trump used a campaign-style rally in Michigan on Saturday to lash out at Jon Tester for his criticism of 'Great American Doctor' Ronny Jackson.

The President branded the Democratic senator 'disgraceful' for derailing Jackson's Veterans Affairs nomination and said he 'knows things' about him that that could scupper his bid for re-election.

'What Jon Tester said about this man is a disgrace. I have things I could say about Tester... and if I said them he wouldn't be elected again,' Trump told the rowdy rally at the Total Sports Park in Washington Township.

The rally was deliberately coincided with the White House Correspondents' Dinner, which Trump had publicly snubbed after explaining he would prefer to spend the evening with 'deplorables' rather than the 'liberal fake news media'.

As he has done so at similar events, the President used the two-hour speech to promote top agenda items that energize grassroots conservatives.

These included appointing conservative judges, protecting tax cuts approved by the Republican-led Congress, and reforming US immigration laws, which he branded 'the dumbest in the world'.

Trump also took credit for having 'everything to do' with improved relations between North and South Korea, which were epitomized by a friendly summit between Kim Jong-un and President Moon on Friday. His own meeting with Kim will take place in three weeks, the President added, to chants of 'Nobel, Nobel'.

Speaking before an adoring audience, which he insisted would be far larger had organizers found a bigger venue, Trump also took the chance to lash out at familiar targets. These included FBI director James Comey, with Trump saying he had done 'everyone a favor' by sacking him.

Trump branded Tester 'disgraceful' for derailing Jackson's Veterans Affairs nomination and claimed to 'know things' about the senator that would stop him from being re-elected during the rowdy speech at Total Sports Park in Washington, Michigan

Trump used the rally in Washington Township, Michigan, to criticize a host of familiar opponents and herald the positive impact of tax cuts

As he has at similar events, Trump used the two-hour speech to promote top agenda items that energize grassroots conservatives

Lara Trump, Eric Trump's wife, was also at the event and received an enthusiastic reception from fans of the US President

These included appointing conservative judges, building a wall on the US-Mexico border, ending 'sanctuary cities' and protecting tax cuts approved by the Republican-led Congress: issues that went down well with the audience (pictured)

Trump praised his supporters for coming out in their droves to the event, but quipped that organizers should have been able to find him a bigger auditorium

Supporters of Donald Trump wearing Make America Great Again hats packed out the hall and cheered for much of the President's speech

A supporter of President Trump wears a shirt with the work 'deplorable' - a reference to the word used to describe Trump supporters by Hillary Clinton

A group of children with t-shirt's spelling out Trump's name watch the President at the rally inside the sports arena in Washington, Michigan

President Trump's speech was lapped up by the fiercely partisan crowd, which included Eric Trump's wife, Lara. Although the speech went ahead without any interruptions from protesters who often target Trump rallies, the President had to pause once when an audience member called for medical assistance.

There were also reports of pro- and anti-Trump demonstrators clashing outside.

Here are the main subjects the President discussed during the rally:

'DEPLORABLES V LIBERAL FAKE NEWS'

Trump chose a friendly venue for his rally, which not coincidentally came the same night as the annual White House Correspondents' Dinner - which he also skipped last year.

Ahead of the rally Trump said he would rather spend the evening with 'my favorite deplorables' than 'a bunch of fake news liberals who hate me.'

It was a reference to During the 2016 campaign, when Clinton drew laughs when she told supporters at a private fundraiser that half of Trump supporters could be lumped into a 'basket of deplorables'  denouncing them as 'racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic, you name it.'

He later added: 'By the way, isn't this better than that phony Washington White House correspondents' dinner. I could be there tonight smiling like I love it when they're hitting you. Shot after shot, these people they hate your guts.'

We have to have borders, and we have to have them fast, and we need security, we need the wall  we're going to have it all...and if we don't get border security, we'll have no choice: We'll close down the country.' Trump threatens severe action is officials fail to reduce the number of migrants crossing from Mexico

Trump appeared to be looking back at the 2011 event, when the then business mogul was roasted by Barack Obama for claiming he did not have a legitimate birth certificate.

KOREA DIPLOMACY

Shouts of 'Nobel, Nobel' - a reference to the Nobel Peace Prize - met Trump's claim to have engineered Friday's historic summit between Kim Jong-un and President Moon Jae-in.

'I had one of the fake news groups this morning. They were saying, 'what do you think President Trump had to do with it?' Trump said. 'I'll tell you what. Like, how about everything?'

Trump revealed that his planned meeting with Kim would take place within 'three or four weeks', and added that he would secure a better result than 'John Kerry's horrible Iran deal'.

The President also said his South Korean counterpart had thanked him for making the summit possible in a phone call on Saturday.

It came as Seoul revealed the Kim regime plans to shut its nuclear testing site in May and reveal the process to outside experts and reoprts.

Revealing the pledge, South Korea announced Kim Jong Un said Donald Trump will get to know the North Korean leader is 'not a person' to aim missiles at US.

Seoul's presidential spokesman, Yoon Young-chan, said Mr Kim made the comments during his summit with South Korean president Moon Jae-In on Friday.

COMEY AND THE RUSSIA INVESTIGATION

Trump also used the rally to take aim at familiar political targets.

This included 'disgusting' Jon Tester, who derailed White House doctor Ronny Jackson's Veterans Affairs nomination by revealing claims about his professional conduct.

Tester said Jackson was known as 'the candy man' for handing out controlled substances on presidential trips. This resulted in the doctor withdrawing his nomination, which Trump said five people still wanted to run for.

Trump also took aim at former FBI director James Comey. 'I did you a great favor when I fired this guy', he said.

In his recent book, A Higher Loyalty, Comey claimed Trump asked him to investigate the so-called Steele dossier, which included the claim that the President once cavorted with prostitutes in a Moscow hotel.

'How about this guy Comey?' Trump said. 'He said the other night, the fake dirty dossier,' Trump continued. 'He said on Fox ... very strongly, I didn't know it was paid for by the Democrats and Hillary Clinton!'

Trump also referred to the ongoing investigation into alleged collusion between the Trump Campaign and Russia led by the FBI and special counsel Robert Mueller.

In particular, he mentioned Donald Trump Jr's 2016 meeting with a group of Russians in the hope of receiving damaging information about Hillary Clinton.

One of those present, Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, has since admitted she was an informant for the Kremelin.

But Trump dismissed the idea Veselnitskaya was an informant at the time of the meeting, and said she was only claiming that now because Putin was worried about how hard his administration was being on Russia.

Trump also used his speech to discuss a host of other issues including immigration laws, tax cuts, the military and North Korea

Trump claimed to have done 'everything' to secure better relations and said Moon had acknowledge that in a phone call on Saturday morning

Ronna Romney McDaniel, Chair of the Republican National Committee, waves at President Donald Trump campaign rally in Washington Township

Donald Trump walks on stage during a rally at Total Sports Park in Washington, Michigan, which was packed out with screaming supporters

The President's speech was punctuated by shouts of 'USA USA' and choruses of boos when he attacked familiar targets

The theatrical rally was intended to take focus away from the White House Correspondents' Dinner, which was taking place at the same time

Trump also used the rally to mock familiar political targets, including former FBI director James Comey. 'I did you a great favor when I fired this guy', he said

Advisor Corey Lewandowski stands with US President Donald Trump during the Make America Great Again Rally in Michigan

IMMIGRATION

The issue of immigration featured heavily in the speech, with Trump threatening to shut down the federal government in September if Congress did not provide more funding to build a wall on the border with Mexico.

'That wall has started, we have 1.6 billion (dollars),' Trump said.

'We have to have borders, and we have to have them fast, and we need security, we need the wall  we're going to have it all...and if we don't get border security, we'll have no choice: We'll close down the country.'

Trump made a similar threat in March to push for changes in immigration law that he says would prevent criminals from entering the country. The government briefly shut down in January over immigration.

A $1.3 trillion spending bill, which Trump signed last month, will keep the government funded through the end of September.

I did a great favor when I fired this guy. Trump discussing his dismissal of former FBI director James Comey

A government shutdown ahead of the November mid-elections is unlikely to be supported by his fellow Republicans who are keen to keep control of the U.S. Congress.

Trump cited the hundreds of Central American migrants traveling in a 'caravan' as one of the reasons for strong border security.

'Watch the caravan, watch how sad and terrible it is, including for those people and the crime that they inflict on themselves and that others inflict on them,' said Trump.

'It's a horrible dangerous journey for them and they come up because they know once they can get here they can walk right into our country.'

Migrants, who include women and children, have said they fled their homes in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras because of death threats from gangs, the murder of family members or political persecution.

Trump applauds the crowd during his rally in Michigan, where the stage was decked with a series of giant Stars and Stripes

Trump was keen to point out how pleased he was to be speaking to a rally of supporters rather than being among the 'liberal fake news media' in Washington

Although the speech went ahead without any interruptions from protesters who often target Trump rallies, the President had to pause once when an audience member called for medical assistance

Trump chose a friendly venue for his rally, which not coincidentally came the same night as the annual White House Correspondents' Dinner

Ahead of the rally Trump said in a fundraising pitch that he had come up with something better than being stuck in a room 'with a bunch of fake news liberals who hate me.' He said he would rather spend the evening 'with my favorite deplorables.' Pictured: Trump supporters outside Total Sports Park in Washington, Michigan

During the 2016 campaign, Clinton drew laughs when she told supporters at a private fundraiser that half of Trump supporters could be lumped into a 'basket of deplorables'

A supporter holds up a 'Drain the Swamp' sign before President Trump arrived to speak at the Make America Great Again Rally in Michigan

Trump also used concerns about immigration to issue a rallying cry ahead of the midterm elections, saying a vote for the Democrats would be a vote for 'open borders and crime'

Ahead of the rally Trump said he would rather spend the evening with 'my favorite deplorables' than 'a bunch of fake news liberals who hate me.' Pictured: A protester holds up an anti-CNN sign

DEFEATING DEMOCRATS IN THE MIDTERMS

Trump also used concerns about immigration to issue a rallying cry ahead of the midterm elections, saying a vote for the Democrats would be a vote for 'open borders and crime'.

He repeatedly pointed to Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan as one of the Democrats who needed to be voted out.

After saying Stabenow was standing in the way of protecting U.S. borders and had voted against tax cuts, Trump said: 'And you people just keep putting her back again and again and again. It's your fault.'

However, he claimed to be confident about the GOP's prospects for Congress, adding: 'We gotta win the House. And you know what? We're going to win anyway. We're going to win the House.'

Macomb County, the site of Trump's rally, is among the predominantly white counties known as a base for 'Reagan Democrats'  blue-collar voters who abandoned the Democratic Party for Ronald Reagan, but who can be intriguingly movable.

Democrat Barack Obama won the county twice in his White House runs, then Trump carried it by more than 11 percentage points.

The President was keen to remind the crowd of his achievement, telling them: 'I'd much rather be in Washington, Michigan, than in Washington DC right now, that I can tell you. Great people, thank you for that incredible support.'

He was also full of praise for one high-profile supporter, discussing his recent Twitter bromance with Kanye West, which saw the pair exchange adoring messages.

Trump said the rapper 'gets it' and heralded reduced unemployment rates among African-Americans.

He proceeded this comment by asking 'any Hispanics in the room', before adding when he was met with relative silence, 'No, not so many? That's ok.'

Trump earlier called for Tester (left) to resign after he alleged the president's pick for Secretary of Veterans Affairs (right) had a dubious record of prescribing and drunk driving

The President, dressed in his signature dark suit and long red tie, was seen walking down the steps of Air Force One at Selfridge Air National Guard Base before fist-pumping the air

The President was competing for airtime with the White House correspondents' dinner in Washington, which Scion Kelly is seen attending alongside Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg

Former Trump advisor Omarosa Manigault-Newman arrives in style at the White House Correspondents' dinner

Former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer looked dapper in tux and tie as he arrived on the red carpet at the dinnerSecretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday gave a warm boost of support to Israel in its standoff against Iran, saying 'the United States is with Israel in this fight'  and could bail on a 2015 agreement that is supposed to keep Tehran's nuclear agreement in check.

President Donald Trump is to decide by May 12 whether to remain in the nuclear deal. In Tel Aviv, Pompeo repeated the Trump position that 'if we can't fix it, he is going to withdraw.'

Pompeo has been using the Middle East leg of his first trip abroad as America's top diplomat to call for concerted international action to punish Iran for its missile programs.

The tough line was welcomed in Israel, which considers Iran its greatest threat and has been leading calls for the international community to revise its 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. He arrived after visiting Saudi Arabia, another fierce rival of Iran.

'We remain deeply concerned about Iran's dangerous escalation of threats to Israel and the region and Iran's ambition to dominate the Middle East remains,' Pompeo said after a nearly two-hour meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 'The United States is with Israel in this fight.'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) heard U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (left) pledge America's support on Sunday in the midst of a decision-making process that could see President Donald Trump withdrawing from a 2015 Iran nuclear bargain

Pompeo told Netanyahu that if it's not fixed, Trump is 'going to withdraw' entirely from the deal that's supposed to keep Iran's nuclear ambitions in check. Pictured is a military complex in Iran that was at one time thought to be a location for weapons of mass destruction

President Barack Obama introduced the Iran deal in 2015, saying it would limit the Middle East nation's nuclear program in exchange for relief from international sanctions

Israel has called for tough international action against Iran, citing its hostile rhetoric, support for anti-Israel militant groups and development of long-range missiles.

It also has complained the 2015 nuclear deal does not do enough to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear-weapons capability, and expressed growing concerns about Iran's involvement in the civil war in neighboring Syria. It says it will not allow Iran to establish a permanent military presence in Syria, fearing the Iranians will launch attacks.

Appearing on 'Fox News Sunday,' National Security Advisor John Bolton said that while Trump is considering a compromise position sketched out last week by French President Emmanuel Macron,' it's unclear which way the result will lean.

'In terms specifically of the nuclear deal, there's no decision on that yet,'Bolton declared.

In Tel Aviv, Netanyahu welcomed the tough U.S. line.

'Iran must be stopped, its quest for a nuclear bomb must be stopped, its aggression must be stopped and we're committed to stopping it together,' he said.

Netanyahu also welcomed the U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, and the scheduled move of its embassy from Tel Aviv on May 14. Pompeo said the U.S. is 'incredibly proud' of the embassy move.

The Palestinians, who claim Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem as their capital, have harshly criticized the U.S. move and all but cut off ties with the White House.

Earlier in Saudi Arabia, Pompeo also took aim at Iran.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, has expressed pleasure with the deal  partially because it unfroze $150 billion in Tehran's assets

Conservatives rallied against the deal in Washington a few months after it was struck, gathering on the West Front Lawn of the U.S. Capitol to insist that the nuclear deal would give Iran a guaranteed long-term path to nuclear weapons that could annihilate Israel

Then-candidate Donald Trump spoke at the September 9, 2015 rally, along with Sarah Palin and Sen. Ted Cruz (pictured)

'Iran destabilizes this entire region,' Pompeo said in brief remarks to journalists with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir.

He also urged the Saudis and their neighbors to resolve a festering dispute with Qatar that U.S. officials say Iran is exploiting to boost its influence in the region, including in Yemen and Syria.

Pompeo on Sunday met with Saudi King Salman, whose country, along with Bahrain, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, is embroiled in a row with Qatar that had hobbled Gulf Arab unity and frustrated the U.S. as it seeks to blunt growing Iranian assertiveness.

'I think they would all agree that it's in everyone's best interests that the Gulf states all figure out how to be together,' Pompeo told reporters as he traveled to Israel. 'We've got a common challenge in Iran I think they all recognize that. We're hopeful that they will in their own way figure out their dispute between them.'

The ex-CIA chief arrived in Riyadh a day earlier, shortly after Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen fired missiles at Saudi Arabia's southern city of Jizan, killing one person and underscoring what U.S. officials said is a growing threat emanating from Iran.

Senior U.S. officials traveling with Pompeo blamed Iran for smuggling the missiles into Yemen.

Then-Secretary of State John Kerry defended the nuclear deal in a September 2, 2015 speech at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia

They said the incident highlighted the importance of the Trump administration's push to counter Iran in the region. Iran has also provided crucial support to Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Al-Jubeir said the kingdom 'supports the policy of the Trump administration against Iran and to improve the terms of the nuclear agreement with Iran.'

Pompeo's meetings in Saudi Arabia and Israel, to be followed by discussions in Jordan, come just weeks ahead of several key dates that could bring further volatility to the region.

Trump has set a May 12 deadline to decide whether to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal, something he appears likely to do despite heavy pressure to stay in from European and other parties.

In London, British Prime Minister Theresa May's office said that she discussed the deal with her French and German counterparts. It said they agreed that the deal should remain intact, even while addressing shortcomings.

Pompeo preceded his stint in Israel with a visit to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to meet King Salman, calling for concerted international action to punish Iran for its missile programs

The countries 'agreed that there were important elements that the deal does not cover, but which we need to address - including ballistic missiles, what happens when the deal expires, and Iran's destabilizing regional activity,' the statement said.

On May 14 comes the U.S. Embassy move, marking a significant shift in decades of American policy toward Israel and the Palestinians.

The next day the Palestinians will mark the anniversary of what they term the 'catastrophe,' when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were driven from their homes during the 1948 war that surrounded Israel's creation.

Dozens of Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire during recent protests along border between Israel and Gaza. Those protests, spearheaded by the Islamic militant Hamas movement, are expected to peak on May 15.

Also looming over the trip is uncertainty over Trump's policy on Syria, which has shifted between a speedy all-out withdrawal of American forces and leaving a lasting footprint to deter Iran from completing a land bridge from Tehran to Beirut.

Pompeo also is taking a leading role in Trump's preparations for an expected summit in May or early June with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Pompeo, while en route to Israel, was asked whether a U.S. withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal would complicate negotiations

'I don't think Kim Jung Un is staring at the Iran deal and saying, 'Oh goodness, if they get out of that deal, I won't talk to the Americans anymore. There are higher priorities, things he is more concerned about than whether the Americans stay' in the accord, Pompeo said.PORT HURON, Mich. (AP) - Five men have been charged with having loaded paintball guns in vehicles in Port Huron, Michigan, hours after police in Detroit said enforcement would be stepped up to halt running paintball battles in the Motor City.

The Times Herald of Port Huron reports that police received complaints of paintballs being fired inside and outside of vehicles in the city about 55 miles (90 kilometers) northeast of Detroit.

Paintball guns and marijuana were found in two vehicles stopped by police.

One man was charged and four others ticketed this week in Detroit after paintballs were fired at an unmarked police car.

Detroit Chief James Craig referred Friday to the running battle as "Paint Up, Guns Down." He said organizers pitched it as an alternative to gun and other violence.The safety of helicopter ambulances is under scrutiny after three crew members were killed in a crash in a wooded area of northern Wisconsin this week.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating, and the cause of the crash Thursday is not yet known. However, the conditions - late at night in a remote rural area - make it "the classic case" of a crash involving a medical helicopter, said Kevin Durkin, an aviation lawyer in Chicago.

MEDICAL HELICOPTER CRASHES

From 1990 through 2015, 217 people died in 81 fatal accidents involving medical helicopters, according to the NTSB. The worst year was 2008, when 28 people died.

There were 220 accidents, including those without fatalities, during the 1990-2015 period. There were at least 10 crashes every year from 1999 through 2008, as the use of helicopters to ferry patients grew.

HELICOPTER NUMBERS

There are about 10,600 helicopters of all types operating in the U.S., according to a group made up of government and helicopter industry representatives. In 2017, there were about 3.5 crashes for every 100,000 hours of flying, roughly the same as the year before but down from nearly 5.0 per 100,000 hours in 2013 and 4.3 in 2014.

In recent years, helicopters overall have had a lower rate of fatal accidents than small planes for the same amount of flying, according to figures from the Federal Aviation Administration.

"Generally it is very safe," said Dan Sweet, a spokesman for the Helicopter Association International in Alexandria, Virginia. "It's safer than automobiles, but automobile crashes don't have the same news value."

BIGGER IS SAFER

However, helicopters and small planes are far more likely to crash than bigger planes. US airliners had not suffered a single passenger death due to an accident from 2009 until this month, when an engine explosion on a Southwest Airlines jet killed a passenger.

Helicopters do more takeoffs and landings - the most dangerous parts of flight - than most planes. Most have only a single engine, so a mechanical problem can quickly turn deadly. They land on many kinds of surfaces, not just runways, and fly at lower altitudes, exposing them to dangerous obstacles including power lines, buildings and mountains. Weather may also be a factor, especially for air ambulances.

When the weather is bad, hospitals will call several air ambulances until they find a pilot willing to fly, said Ladd Sanger, an aviation lawyer in Dallas.

"There is pressure on the providers and the pilots to go because they want to be known as the guy that always goes and not the one that says no," Sanger said.

HELICOPTER DESIGNS

Safety experts say more could be done to make the aircraft safer, including expanding a requirement on new helicopters to have fire-resistant fuel tanks.

In just one case, a flight nurse who was badly burned in the crash of a medical helicopter in Colorado reached a settlement this year with Airbus Helicopters and Air Methods Corp. for $100 million, according to the nurse's lawyers. The pilot was killed - his daughters reached a settlement of undisclosed terms with Airbus Helicopters - and another nurse injured. Investigators believed that the crash was survivable, but the helicopter did not have a crash-resistant fuel system.

Durkin said he faults the manufacturers, the helicopter operators and the FAA for not requiring more helicopters to have safer fuel systems.

PILOT TRAINING

Most helicopter pilots learn the craft at a flight school or in the military. The requirements are similar for flying airplanes, and it's possible to get a private operator's certificate after 40 hours of flying time. Commercial helicopter pilots, however, have far more time in the air.

"EMS pilots generally are very experienced," Sweet said. He said operators frequently demand at least 1,500 flight hours before considering an applicant.

UNNECESSARY TRIPS?

A ride in an air ambulance can be very expensive, and critics say they have become far too common.

"They can be very good tools for people that are injured or sick in remote areas to get to the hospital," said Sanger, the aviation lawyer. "The vast, vast majority of helicopter transports are not medically necessary. You would get to the hospital faster and way cheaper if you used a ground ambulance."

___

David Koenig can be reached at http://twitter.com/airlinewriterBOSTON (AP) - Wilson Ramos went deep again and scored on Denard Span's inside-the-park homer, helping the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Boston Red Sox 12-6 on Saturday for their eighth consecutive victory.

It's the longest win streak for Tampa Bay since taking nine in a row in July 2014. The resurgent Rays have won nine of 10 overall to move within one game of .500 at 12-13.

Johnny Field and Carlos Gomez also connected for Tampa Bay, and Matt Duffy finished with four hits. Field's three-run drive in the ninth was his first career homer.

Tampa Bay Rays' Matt Duffy, Denard Span, C.J. Cron and Carlos Gomez, from left, celebrate after the Rays defeated the Boston Red Sox 12-6 during a baseball game in Boston, Saturday, April 28, 2018. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

Ramos belted a two-run shot in the third against David Price (2-3), extending his homer streak to three games.

Boston lost for the fifth time in seven games. It also had to replace star outfielder Mookie Betts after the fourth inning due to tightness in his right hamstring.

ASTROS 11, ATHLETICS 0

HOUSTON (AP) - Lance McCullers threw seven sharp innings, Jose Altuve had four hits and Houston beat Oakland.

Altuve hit a towering home run that left the ballpark and doubled. George Springer, Derek Fisher and Marwin Gonzalez also homered in the highest-scoring this season for the World Series champions.

McCullers (4-1) allowed two hits, striking out seven without a walk for his third straight win. Houston got to Daniel Mengden (2-3) early.

DIAMONDBACKS 4, NATIONALS 3, 10 INNINGS

WASHINGTON (AP) - David Peralta homered twice for Arizona, and Nick Ahmed scored the winning run on a bases-loaded walk in the 10th inning.

The NL West-leading Diamondbacks took the first two games of the weekend set in Washington to become the first NL team since the 1907 Cubs to win nine straight series to start a season.

Ahmed led off the 10th with a double off Sammy Solis (0-1). Peralta walked with one out before Austin Adams replaced Solis and issued consecutive walks to Jarrod Dyson and A.J. Pollock, putting the Diamondbacks in front.

Yoshihisa Hirano (2-0) pitched a scoreless ninth inning for the win, and Brad Boxberger worked a shaky 10th for his eighth save in eight chances.

DODGERS 15, GIANTS 6, GAME 1

GIANTS 8, DODGERS 3, GAME 2

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Chase Utley hit three doubles and a single as the Dodgers did damage against every San Francisco pitcher except emergency reliever Pablo Sandoval.

Sandoval was summoned from third base to begin the ninth inning and, in his first major league pitching appearance, retired three straight batters on grounders. The 2012 World Series MVP threw 11 pitches, helping preserve the Giants' bullpen for the second game of the doubleheader.

Austin Jackson hit a go-ahead three-run double in the fifth inning, Johnny Cueto won his third consecutive decision and the Giants beat the Dodgers to earn the split.

Walker Buehler (1-0) struck out six in five innings as Los Angeles ended a three-game losing streak. Chris Stratton (2-2) got the loss.

The Dodgers lost right fielder Yasiel Puig to a sore left hip after he ran into a wall.

MARINERS 12, INDIANS 4

CLEVELAND (AP) - Jean Segura hit a two-run homer and matched a career high with four RBIs, powering the Mariners to the victory.

Nelson Cruz, Kyle Seager and Ryon Healy also connected in Seattle's highest-scoring game of the season. Dee Gordon had two hits and scored three times, and Cruz finished with four hits.

Mike Leake (3-2) allowed four runs in six innings in his second victory against the Indians this season.

Carlos Carrasco (4-1) lost for the first time since Aug. 27, ending a streak of 10 straight winning decisions. The right-hander allowed five runs, four earned, in three innings.

Carrasco said his back stiffened after he slipped on a step in the dugout on his way to the mound before the third. He isn't sure if he will be able to make his next scheduled start Thursday against Toronto.

RANGERS 7, BLUE JAYS 4

TORONTO (AP) - Bartolo Colon pitched seven efficient innings to earn his first win with Texas.

Robinson Chirinos hit two solo home runs and Jurickson Profar belted a two-run shot as the Rangers posted their season-high third straight victory.

Less than a month from his 45th birthday, Colon (1-0) gave up three runs and six hits. Keone Kela got one out for his sixth save.

Kevin Pillar homered twice and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. also went deep for the Blue Jays, who have lost seven of nine. Jaime Garcia (2-2) allowed five runs and five hits in five innings.

CUBS 3, BREWERS 0

CHICAGO (AP) - Cubs left-hander Jose Quintana pitched seven sharp innings to continue his dominance of the Brewers.

Quintana (3-1) has thrown 24 straight scoreless innings against Milwaukee dating to July 28.

Tommy La Stella drove in two runs with a pinch-hit single in the seventh, and Javier Baez had a run-scoring double in Chicago's third straight victory.

With Kris Bryant back in the lineup, the Cubs improved to 6-1 against the Brewers this season, including four shutouts. Bryant went 0 for 3 with a walk in his first appearance since being hit in the helmet by a pitch last Sunday.

Junior Guerra (2-1) pitched six innings of one-run ball, but Milwaukee finished with just two hits.

TWINS 3, REDS 1

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Jake Odorizzi pitched into the seventh inning, Mitch Garver homered and the Twins snapped an eight-game losing streak.

Odorizzi (2-2) gave up one run and five hits. Fernando Rodney worked around two walks while pitching a scoreless ninth for his third save in six chances.

Scott Schebler homered for the Reds, and Devin Mesoraco had two hits. Joey Votto went 0 for 3 with a walk, stopping his homer streak at four games.

Cincinnati right-hander Sal Romano (1-3) lasted 4 2/3 innings and was charged with three runs, two earned, and six hits.

BRAVES 4, PHILLIES 1

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Phillies center fielder Odubel Herrera reached way into the bushes beyond the wall to make a sensational catch that robbed Freddie Freeman of a home run, but Atlanta went on to the victory.

Freeman later hit an RBI triple and Nick Markakis homered, helping the Braves win for the ninth time in their last 12 games in Philadelphia.

The Braves led 2-0 in the third inning when Freeman hit a drive to deep center. It looked like a two-run homer off the bat, but Herrera jumped high and reached far over the fence.

Mike Foltynewicz (2-1) got the win and Arodys Vizcaino pitched a scoreless ninth for his third save.

Maikel Franco homered for the Phillies. Nick Pivetta (1-1) got the loss.

WHITE SOX 8, ROYALS 0 GAME 1

ROYALS 5, WHITE SOX 2 GAME 2

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Eric Skoglund overcame a leadoff homer by Tim Anderson that led to a bench-clearing incident, pitching Kansas City past Chicago to end a five-game losing streak in a doubleheader split.

Anderson celebrated as he rounded the bases and Royals catcher Salvador Perez said something to him as he crossed the plate.

In the bottom of the first, Perez reached on an error and moved to second base when Lucas Duda walked to load the bases. There, Perez and Anderson, the shortstop, had more words as both dugouts and bullpens emptied.

No punches were thrown and order was quickly restored. Perez and Anderson shook hands.

Skoglund (1-2) gave up two hits and struck out nine in seven innings. Kelvin Herrera pitched the ninth for his fifth save in as many opportunities.

Dylan Covey (0-1) took the loss.

The White Sox won the opener as Carson Fulmer (2-1) allowed four singles over seven innings and Daniel Palka had four hits and drove in three runs. Trevor Oaks (0-1) gave up five runs on 12 hits over five innings in his major league debut.

TIGERS 9, TIGERS 5

BALTIMORE (AP) - Miguel Cabrera homered and drove in five runs and Detroit ended a three-game skid.

Cabrera finished with three hits and has 11 homers in 34 games at Camden Yards.

Francisco Liriano (3-1) allowed three runs and six hits in 6 1/3 innings.

Manny Machado had two hits and two RBIs for the Orioles, who have lost 12 of 14. Andrew Cashner (1-4) was hit hard.

PIRATES 6, CARDINALS 2

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Francisco Cervelli homered in the second inning and delivered a tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the sixth, helping Pittsburgh top St. Louis.

Trevor Williams (4-1) pitched six innings of two-run ball. Michael Feliz, George Kontos and Edgar Santana combined for three scoreless innings in relief.

Rookie Jack Flaherty (0-1) got the loss.

MARLINS 4, ROCKIES 1

MIAMI (AP) - Wei-Yin Chen pitched into the sixth inning in his first start in nearly a year and Miami beat Colorado.

Chen (1-0) allowed one run and four hits in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out three and walked two in his first game since last May 1 against Tampa Bay due to an elbow strain.

Kyle Barraclough pitched the ninth for his first save of the season getting the nod over struggling closer Brad Ziegler.

Charlie Blackmon hit his ninth home run of the season for the Rockies, who had won three in a row.

German Marquez (1-3) allowed three runs and six hits in six innings, throwing a career-high 113 pitches.

PADRES 12, METS 2

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Franchy Cordero hit a three-run homer estimated at 453 feet, Christian Villanueva had a two-run shot and Austin Hedges drove in a career-high five runs as the Padres roughed up Jason Vargas and the Mets.

Rookie lefty Joey Lucchesi (3-1) limited the Mets to four hits in 5 2-3 innings while striking out six and walking two. He exited two batters after surrendering a two-run homer by Yoenis Cespedes that sailed into the Padres' bullpen beyond the fence in center field.

Vargas (0-1) had a rough season debut five weeks after breaking a bone in his glove hand in spring training. He allowed nine runs and nine hits, four for extra bases, in 3 2-3 innings.

YANKEES 11, ANGELS 1

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) - Masahiro Tanaka struck out nine in six strong innings, and the Yankees' bats continued to sizzle in a victory over the Angels.

The Yankees (17-9) have won eight consecutive games and have outscored opponents 62-17 during that streak. They had 14 hits Saturday and still left 0 men on base.

The Yankees scored five runs in the first inning and five in the second to build a double-digit lead.

Angels starter Garrett Richards (3-1) allowed four extra-base hits in 1 2/3 innings before he was chased.

Tanaka (4-2) was dominant.TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Tuukka Rask tossed a broken skate blade up the ice in frustration, but hardly lost his cool.

"I didn't throw it at anybody," the Boston goaltender said Saturday. "If I threw it at somebody, I'd like to apologize, but I didn't. I just wanted to make sure that everybody saw that my blade was off."

Rask settled after allowing a second-period goal while trying to let officials know he had a problem with his left skate, finishing with 34 saves in the Bruins' 6-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 1 of their best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series.

Boston Bruins left wing Rick Nash (61) celebrates his goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning during the first period of Game 1 of an NHL second-round hockey playoff series Saturday, April 28, 2018, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Rick Nash had two goals and the Bruins' high-scoring line of Patrice Bergeron, David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand combined for 11 points, however Rask's ability to retain his composure after Mikhail Sergachev's goal trimmed Boston's lead to 3-2 was every bit as important.

"He was really good," Boston coach Bruce Cassidy said. "He gave us more than a chance to win early on when we were still trying to find our legs. We weren't executing very well. They were better than us, and then our top guys started finishing their chances."

Bergeron also scored twice and had an assist on one of Nash's goals for the Bruins, who finished one point behind Tampa Bay for the Atlantic Division title, as well as the No. 1 seed in the East.

Marchand had a goal and three assists, while Pastrnak finished with four assists in a dominating performance.

A second goal by Marchand was waved off because of a cross-checking penalty on Pastrnak.

"You need your best players to be your best players, and clearly that happened tonight for us,' Cassidy said.

Dan Girardi also scored for the Lightning, who trailed by one goal entering the third period.

Marchand and Bergeron hiked Boston's advantage to 5-2 before Jake DeBrusk added an empty-netter with 6:19 remaining.

The Bruins had just 10 shots against Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy over the last two periods, but made the most of the limited opportunities.

Game 2 is Monday night at Amalie Arena.

The Lightning, in the conference semifinals for the third time in four years, remain confident.

"We have a lot of experience. Guys have been in this position before," center Tyler Johnson said. "It's one game. It doesn't matter if you lose a game 3-2 or 12-2. It's the same thing."

Rask won three of four starts against the Lightning during the regular season, with Tampa Bay's lone victory coming in the final meeting.

Pastrnak assisted on each of Boston's first three goals and added another on Bergeron's third-period goal, giving him 12 helpers in eight playoff games.

"They're good. ... They've played together for a while and they know where to find each other," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said of Boston's top line.

"They play both ends of the rink. They've played on Olympic teams, World Cup teams, and every time you look up and Canada is winning, usually Marchand or Bergeron had something to do with it," Cooper added. "They've done it for a long time."

Nash, meanwhile, got his second and third goals of the postseason, scoring on the power play at 17:11 of the opening period and 12:33 of the second to put the Bruins up 3-1. Sergachev countered on the power play, trimming Tampa Bay's deficit to 3-2.

"We lost 6-2, so it doesn't matter how we feel about how we played," Cooper said. "We're going to wake up in the morning, somebody is going to look at the score and say Tampa is down 1-0. Is there stuff we can build off this game? No question. But they got six, and in the end we have to raise the level of our game to get back in this series."

NOTES: Vasilevskiy stopped 18 shots. ... When Rask lost the blade on his skate, play was allowed to continue because losing a blade is not considered a safety issue. ... The Bruins and Lightning are meeting in the playoffs for only the second time. The teams also met in the 2011 Eastern Conference Final, won by Boston in seven games. Six current Bruins - Bergeron, Marchand, Rask, Zdeno Chara, David Krejci and Adam McQuaid were part of that team, which went on win the Stanley Cup.

___

More AP hockey: https://apnews.com/tag/NHLhockey

Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Anton Stralman (6) checks Boston Bruins right wing David Pastrnak (88) during the first period of Game 1 of an NHL second-round hockey playoff series Saturday, April 28, 2018, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Boston Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy (73) gets around Tampa Bay Lightning left wing Ondrej Palat (18) during the first period of Game 1 of an NHL second-round hockey playoff series Saturday, April 28, 2018, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara (33) fires a shot on Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy during the first period of Game 1 of an NHL second-round hockey playoff series Saturday, April 28, 2018, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Boston Bruins left wing Rick Nash, right, celebrates after scoring past Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, left, during the first period of Game 1 of an NHL second-round hockey playoff series Saturday, April 28, 2018, in Tampa, Fla. Looking on is Lightning defenseman Anton Stralman, center. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Boston Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask (40) makes a save on a shot by the Tampa Bay Lightning during the first period of Game 1 of an NHL second-round hockey playoff series Saturday, April 28, 2018, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)Amber Rudd is fighting for her political life after apologising and admitting she should have known the Home Office had set targets for removing illegal immigrants.

Accused of being responsible for chaos in the Home Office, the minister said she was sorry for being unaware of the targets and she will make a statement to MPs on Monday.

Downing Street said the Home Secretary has the full confidence of the Prime Minister, while Theresa Mays de facto deputy, David Lidington, also publicly backed her.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd has faced calls to resign over the scandal (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

However Labour and the SNP said her position was untenable and called on her to resign.

1/4 Amber Rudd @AmberRuddHR is hanging by a thread  Diane Abbott MP (@HackneyAbbott) April 27, 2018

2/4 to shield the Prime Minister from her responsibilities as the initial architect of this cruel and callous approach to migration, which resulted in the Windrush scandal.  Diane Abbott MP (@HackneyAbbott) April 27, 2018

3/4 She failed to read crucial documents which meant she wasn't aware of the removal targets which have led to people's lives being ruined.  Diane Abbott MP (@HackneyAbbott) April 27, 2018

4/4 Another apology is not enough, she should take responsibility for chaos in the Home Office and resign.  Diane Abbott MP (@HackneyAbbott) April 27, 2018

Shadow home secretary Diane Abbot said: She failed to read crucial documents which meant she wasnt aware of the removal targets that have led to peoples lives being ruined.

Another apology is not enough, she should take responsibility for chaos in the Home Office and resign.

It emerged on Friday Ms Rudd had been copied in to an internal memorandum which described targets set by the Immigration Enforcement (IE) agency for removing people who had no right to be in the UK.

In a series of tweets she later acknowledged that the disclosure had raised legitimate questions and said she would go before the Commons on Monday.

Her statement followed accusations that she had misled Parliament after she told the Commons on Thursday that she had never agreed to specific targets for removals.

Ms Rudd said: I will be making a statement in the House of Commons on Monday in response to legitimate questions that have arisen on targets and illegal migration.

I wasnt aware of specific removal targets. I accept I should have been and Im sorry that I wasnt. I didnt see the leaked document, although it was copied to my office as many documents are.

The leak of the memorandum to The Guardian adds to the pressure on Ms Rudd, who has been under fire for her handling of the Windrush scandal which has seen Commonwealth citizens threatened with deportation, even though they were entitled to be in the UK.

Labour says the Home Secretary is being used as a human shield to protect Mrs May, Ms Rudds predecessor.

Amber Rudd is hanging by a thread to shield the Prime Minister from her responsibilities as the initial architect of this cruel and callous approach to migration, which resulted in the Windrush scandal, Ms Abbot said.

Senior Labour frontbencher Barry Gardiner told BBC 5Live: Amber Rudds sole purpose in Government at this moment is as a human shield for Theresa May.

The shadow trade secretary said Ms Rudd had, in his view, failed to abide by the ministerial code as it was her duty to be aware of how the Home Office worked.

A Downing Street spokesman said Ms Rudd had set out her position clearly.

They added: The PM has full confidence in the Home Secretary, and the hugely important work she is carrying out at the Home Office.

Ensuring our immigration system operates in a way that's both effective & humane is one of the biggest challenges in govt. @AmberRuddHR has the determination & resourcefulness to see that job done  David Lidington (@DLidington) April 27, 2018

Mr Lidington, the Cabinet Minister, said that running the immigration system was one of the biggest jobs in Government as he voiced support for the Home Secretary.

@AmberRuddHR has the determination & resourcefulness to see that job done, he tweeted.

According to The Guardian, the secret internal Home Office document referred to the department setting a target of achieving 12,800 enforced returns in 2017-18 adding we have exceeded our target of assisted returns.

The six-page memorandum, prepared by Hugh Ind, the director general of the Immigration Enforcement (IE) agency, last June, was said to have been copied to Ms Rudd as well as to Brandon Lewis, the then immigration minister, and a number of senior officials and special advisers.

It went on to refer to the progress that had been made towards achieving a 10% increase in performance on enforced returns which we promised the Home Secretary earlier this year.

Ms Rudd had initially denied the Home Office had targets for removals when she was questioned on Wednesday by a Commons committee investigating the Windrush fiasco.

However, after it emerged a 2015 inspection report made clear the practice did exist, she told MPs on Thursday that while the immigration arm of the Home Office had used local targets they were not published targets against which performance was assessed.

According to the document seen by The Guardian, dated June 21 2017, the IE agency made 12,503 enforced returns in 2016-17, which was considered a success.

The memo states: IE has set a target of achieving 12,800 enforced returns in 2017-18, aided by the redistribution of resources towards this area.

This will move us along the path towards the 10% increased performance on enforced returns, which we promised the Home Secretary earlier this year.

The memo also says it exceeded our target of assisted returns  which covers cases such as those where an individual has left the country voluntarily on a flight paid for by the British Government.A judge has delayed a civil lawsuit by porn actress Stormy Daniels against President Donald Trump and his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, citing a criminal investigation the lawyer is facing.

US District Judge S James Otero agreed to put the case on hold for three months and set a hearing for July 27.

Mr Cohen asked for a delay after FBI agents raided his home and office earlier this month. The FBI was seeking records about a nondisclosure agreement Ms Daniels signed days before the 2016 presidential election.

Michael Cohen leaves federal court in New York (Seth Wenig/AP)

Ms Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, has said she had an affair with Mr Trump in 2006 and sued to dissolve a confidentiality agreement that prevents her from discussing it.

She is also suing Mr Cohen, alleging defamation.

Mr Cohens lawyer said in court last week that because the criminal investigation overlaps with issues in the lawsuit, his clients right against self-incrimination could be adversely impacted because he will not be able to respond and defend himself.

Mr Otero agreed, ruling that there is a large potential factual overlap between the civil and criminal proceedings that would heavily implicate Mr Cohens Fifth Amendment rights.

Ms Daniels lawyer, Michael Avenatti, tweeted that he would likely be filing an immediate appeal of Mr Oteros ruling with the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals.

We do not agree with it, Mr Avenatti wrote. Justice delayed is justice denied.

While Mr Otero agreed with Mr Avenatti that Mr Cohens argument for delay was made weaker without an indictment being filed against him, the significance of the FBI raid cant be understated.

This is no simple criminal investigation, Mr Otero wrote. It is an investigation into the personal attorney of a sitting president regarding documents that might be subject to the attorney-client privilege.

Michael Avenatti, Stormy Daniels lawyer (Mary Altaffer/AP)

He continued to say that whether or not an indictment is forthcoming, and the court thinks it is likely based on these facts alone, these unique circumstances counsel in favour of stay.

Mr Cohen said in court records that FBI agents had seized his electronic devices and documents that contain information about the 130,000 US dollars Ms Daniels was paid as part of the agreement. Agents also seized communications with his lawyer, Brent Blakely, about the civil case, Mr Cohen said.

Ms Daniels has offered to return the 130,000 dollars and argues the agreement is legally invalid because it was only signed by her and Mr Cohen, not by Mr Trump.

Mr Cohen, who has denied there was ever an affair between Ms Daniels and Mr Trump, said he paid the money out of his pocket using a home equity loan. He has said neither the Trump Organisation nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Ms Daniels and he was not reimbursed for the payment.

Mr Trump answered questions about Ms Daniels for the first time earlier this month and said he had no knowledge of the payment made by Mr Cohen and did not know where Mr Cohen had got the money. The White House has repeatedly said Mr Trump denies the affair.

Mr Trump said on Thursday that Mr Cohen handles very little of his legal work, but did represent him in the crazy Stormy Daniels deal.

Mr Otero also ruled that Ms Daniels would not be substantially impacted by a delay, writing that she has already appeared on at least two national shows  to tell her alleged story.

The court agrees that (Ms Daniels) has not established that she has actually been deterred from speaking, or that a delay in proceedings would cause undue prejudice, he wrote.

Mr Cohens lawyers have accused Ms Daniels of violating the confidentiality clauses more than 20 times and said she could be liable for one million dollar in damages for each violation.The parents of terminally-ill Alfie Evans were embroiled in a legal battle over his treatment before his death on April 28, 2018.

Here is how the events unfolded:

2016

May 9: Alfie is born in Liverpool to parents Tom Evans and Kate James, now aged 21 and 20 respectively.

December: Alfie is taken to Alder Hey Childrens Hospital after suffering seizures. He will spend the next 12 months there.

2017

December 11: Hospital bosses say they are liaising directly with the family after disagreements over his treatment. Alfies parents said the hospital has applied to the High Court to remove parental rights and withdraw ventilation.

December 19: A High Court judge, Mr Justice Hayden, begins overseeing the case at a public hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London. The hospital says continuing life-support treatment would not be in Alfies best interests, but his parents disagree and say they want permission to fly him to Italy for treatment. The judge says he will make a decision on what is best for Alfie.

2018

February 1: A hearing begins at the High Court in Liverpool in which lawyers acting for the hospital claim further treatment for Alfie is unkind and inhumane.

February 2: One of Alfies doctors tells the judge there is no hope for the youngster, who is in a semi-vegetative state from a degenerative neurological condition doctors have not been able to definitively identify.

February 5: Mr Evans tells the court Alfie looks me in the eye and wants his help.

Tom Evans speaks to the media outside Liverpools Alder Hey Childrens Hospital (Peter Byrne/PA)

February 20: Mr Justice Hayden rules in favour of hospital bosses, saying he accepted medical evidence which showed further treatment was futile.

March 1: Three Court of Appeal judges begin analysing the case after Alfies parents mount a challenge to the High Court ruling. The family ask for the appeal hearing to be adjourned for a few weeks so they can discuss the ruling with lawyers, but the judges refuse.

March 6: Court of Appeal judges uphold the decision of Mr Justice Hayden.

March 8: Alfies parents ask for the case to be considered by Supreme Court justices.

March 20: Supreme Court justices decide the case is not worth arguing and refuse to give the couple permission to mount another appeal.

March 28: Judges at the European Court of Human Rights reject a bid from Mr Evans and Ms James for them to examine issues relating to Alfies future, saying they found no appearance of any human rights violation.

April 11: Mr Justice Hayden endorses an end-of-life care plan for Alfie drawn up by specialists.

Protesters gather outside Alder Hey Childrens Hospital (John Stillwell/PA)

April 12: Protesters gather outside Alder Hey hospital as Alfies father insists he has the right to take him home.

April 16: Alfies parents argue he is being wrongly detained at Alder Hey and make a habeas corpus application. Judges at the Court of Appeal in London rule against them and again uphold the decisions of Mr Justice Hayden. The couples lawyer said they might make a further appeal to the Supreme Court.

Merseyside Police launch an investigation into instances of verbal abuse and acts of intimidation among protesters outside the hospital. Judges raise concerns about reports that ambulances and staff were unable to enter the hospital and that patients and their families had been frightened. Alfies parents apologise, saying they did not intend to harm or cause conflict or upset.

April 17: Mr Evans and Ms James ask Supreme Court justices to consider their case for a second time, a spokeswoman confirms.

April 18: Mr Evans flies to Rome and meets with Pope Francis. He kissed the Popes hand and begged the leader of the Catholic church to save Alfies life.

Pope Francis launches a new appeal for British infant Alfie Evans:https://t.co/qjQUqolmjC  Vatican News (@VaticanNews) April 25, 2018

April 20: The Supreme Court rules against Alfies parents for a second time, refusing them permission to appeal against the decision. Mr and Mrs Evans had been trying to persuade the court that Alfie was being unlawfully detained at Alder Hey hospital.

The parents make an application to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg to take Alfie to Rome for treatment, instead of letting him come off life support.

April 23: The European Court of Human Rights refuse the application made by Alfies parents, saying: The European Court of Human Rights has today rejected the application submitted by the family of Alfie Evans as inadmissible.

A group of about 200 protesters tries to storm Alder Hey hospital, where Alfie has been receiving treatment. Police officers blocked the entrance as dozens of people charged at the doors.

Police block the entrance to Alder Hey Childrens Hospital (Peter Byrne/PA)

Alfie Evans is granted Italian citizenship. In a bid to facilitate moving Alfie to Italy to receive treatment, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: Foreign minister Angelino Alfano and interior minister Marco Minniti have granted citizenship to little Alfie. The Italian government hopes that in this way, being an Italian citizen will enable the immediate transfer of the child to Italy.

On Monday evening, a High Court Judge dismisses new submissions made in private by the lawyers for Alfies parents via telephone.

At around 9pm, life support is withdrawn by doctors at Alder Hey hospital, according to Mr Evans. He said in a Facebook post that his son had been breathing for himself since 9.17pm.

Alfie cuddling his mother Kate James (Alfies Army/PA)

April 24: Alfie was still breathing on his own this morning, according to his father. At 7am, Mr Evans said: Nine hours he has been breathing now. Its actually come to the point where his mum is asleep next to him. She can actually go to sleep next to him. She feels comfortable with him.

April 25: Alfies parents fail in an 11th-hour attempt to persuade judges to let them move the terminally-ill youngster to a foreign hospital.

April 26: Alfies parents pledge to work alongside doctors to give the boy the dignity and comfort he needs.

April 28: The 23-month-old  who was being treated at Alder Hey  died at 2.30am, Ms James and Mr Evans say on Facebook. Our baby boy grew his wings tonight at 2:30 am. We are heart broken. Thankyou everyone for all your support, the post said.Russias controversial floating nuclear power plant is heading out for its first sea voyage.

The floating plant, the Akademik Lomonosov, was towed out of the St Petersburg shipyard where it was constructed.

It is to be towed through the Baltic Sea and around the northern tip of Norway to Murmansk, where its reactors are to be loaded with nuclear fuel.

The floating nuclear power plant (Dmitri Lovetsky/AP)

32 years after #Chernobyl a crazy plan to put floating nuclear reactors in the Arctic is underway. SHARE to expose #rememberchernobyl pic.twitter.com/ZqnX0UqL3R  Greenpeace (@Greenpeace) April 26, 2018

The Lomonosov is to be put into service in 2019 in the Arctic off the coast of Chukotka in the far east, providing power for a port town and for oil rigs.

The project has been widely criticised by environmentalists. Greenpeace has dubbed it a floating Chernobyl.Professional boxer Chris Eubank Jr was among the brave souls who abseiled 450ft down the i360 moving observation tower.

(Gareth Fuller/PA)

The event took place at the British Airways attraction in Brighton, East Sussex, on Saturday to raise money for the Rockinghorse charity.

(Gareth Fuller/PA)

Funds raised will help pay for a new premature baby X-ray machine at the Royal Sussex County Hospitals Trevor Mann Baby Unit.

(Gareth Fuller/PA)

Daredevil Jeannine Brett, 85, showed no signs of fear as she conquered the daunting challenge.

(Gareth Fuller/PA)

(Gareth Fuller/PA)

(Gareth Fuller/PA)

(Gareth Fuller/PA)In 2015, hundreds of low ranking policemen went on strike in the Nile Deltas Sharqiya governorate to demand better working conditions and financial incentives

Cairo Criminal Court handed down Saturday jail sentences ranging from three to five years to 13 lower ranking policemen over social and economic protests in 2015.

The defendants can still appeal the decision.

The prosecution charged the defendants with "inciting against the interior ministry, and committing incitement crimes to obstruct work inside the workforce, and joining an outlawed group."

In 2015, hundreds of low ranking policemen went on strike in the Nile Deltas Sharqiya governorate to demand better working conditions and financial incentives.

A security source at the time linked the protests to the banned Muslim Brotherhood.



Search Keywords:

Short link:

Thousands of Yemenis have attended a funeral for a top Shiite rebel official in the capital, Sanaa.

The Houthis Supreme Political Council chief and acting head of state Saleh al-Samad was killed along with six others in a Saudi-led coalition airstrike over a week ago in the coastal province of Hodeida.

Top Houthi officials including al-Samads successor Mahdi al-Mashat, a former Houthi fighter, attended the funeral which was held in al-Sabeen square.

Yemeni honour guards carry the coffin (Hani Mohammed/AP)

Houthi rebel leader Abdul-Malek al-Houthi vowed to avenge al-Samads death.

The Saudi-led coalition has been at war with Iran-backed Houthis since March 2015 with the aim of defeating them and bringing an internationally recognised government back to power.Russias foreign minister has said the United States is trying to divide Syria.

During a meeting with his counterparts from Iran and Turkey, Sergey Lavrov said the recent US-led missile strikes on Syria seriously aggravated the situation.

He added that statements about supporting the territorial integrity of Syria are only words that, apparently, cover plans for reformatting the Middle East and plans for dividing Syria into parts.

Mr Lavrov met Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.

Russia, Iran and Turkey are the guarantor states in the so-called Astana process aimed at ending the violence in Syria.

The three agreed to intensify efforts to provide humanitarian aid in Syria.

Mohammad Javad Zarif, Sergey Lavrov and Mevlut Cavusoglu met in Moscow (Pavel Golovkin/AP)

We will ensure that this aid is provided in the most effective way. We will be cooperating with the government, the opposition and of course with our counterparts at the United Nations, the International Red Cross, the Syrian Red Crescent and other international organisations, Mr Lavrov said.

International aid groups have repeatedly accused the Syrian government, which is closely allied with Russia and Iran, of preventing the delivery of aid to besieged rebel-held areas.

Mr Lavrov also reiterated Russias contention that the alleged chemical weapons attack on the town of Douma earlier this month was an artificial pretext for the missile strikes by the US, Britain and France.

Mr Cavusoglu criticised the United States for supporting Syrias main Kurdish militia, which played a key role in rolling back the Islamic State group and now controls much of northern and eastern Syria.

Turkey views the Kurdish fighters as an extension of the Kurdish insurgency raging in its south east.

Today, the US supports terrorist organisations and this has to stop, he said.US president Donald Trump says he had a long and very good talk with the South Korean president after his historic meeting with North Koreas leader.

With anticipation growing for a possible US-North Korea summit, Mr Trump tweeted that things are going very well, with the time and location of a meeting with Kim Jong Un still being set.

He said that besides talking to South Koreas Moon Jae-in, he has updated Japanese PM Shinzo Abe about the ongoing negotiations.

President Donald Trump said he spoke to the South Korean president. (Evan Vucci/AP)

Mr Moon and Mr Kim have pledged to seek a formal end to the Korean War by the end of the year and to rid the Korean Peninsula of nuclear weapons.

Mr Trump has said he is looking forward to the meeting with Mr Kim and it should be quite something.

It is tentatively scheduled for May or early June.

Earlier, the US president claimed credit for the historic meeting between the leaders of North and South Korea and declared that peace on the divided peninsula could be achieved.

He spoke hours after Mr Kim became the first North Korean leader to travel south of the demarcation line between the two Koreas, meeting Mr Moon.

Responsibility for turning a bold vision for peace into reality will in large part rest with Mr Trump, who has often vowed to succeed where his predecessors have failed in eliminating the North Korean nuclear threat to America.

Earlier, he touted the outcome of Fridays summit between Mr Kim and Mr Moon as a breakthrough in the generational stand-off.

KOREAN WAR TO END! he tweeted. The United States, and all of its GREAT people, should be very proud of what is now taking place in Korea!

In a separate tweet, he said good things are happening, but only time will tell.Hollywood star Ben Affleck has poked fun at his friend Matt Damon by sharing old photographs of the Bourne star on Instagram to celebrate Old Head Shot Day.

The occasion has seen a host of stars posting their first head shots on social media.

Actors Matt Damon and Ben Affleck arrive at the 71st Annual Academy Awards in Los Angeles, California (PA archive).

Affleck posted three old photographs of Damon, who does not have social media accounts, on Instagram and wrote: I know this is a day late, but Matt isnt on Instagram so thought Id help him out. #OldHeadshotDay.

Actress Penelope Cruz thanked fans for the birthday wishes as she posted her old head shot photograph.

Cruz, who turns 44 on April 28, wrote a message in English and Spanish alongside her photograph on Instagram.

She said: On this #oldheadshotday I say thank you for all the #happybirthday wishes. Lots of love.

Frozen star Josh Gad joked: I guess were doing this then. #firstheadshots  Its no surprise the bench got more work than I did the first three years.

Stranger Things actor David Harbour wrote: #oldheadshotday

When I confused acting with narcissism, thought success would come rushing at my abdominal semi-six-pack, when I still had schlumpy embarrassment in my spine but not enough failure and pain in my life to really embrace it, and mostly, mostly an example of the cruelty and majesty and harsh but welcome instruction of Time. All those poor casting directors

Actress Beverley Mitchell, who starred alongside Jessica Biel in the TV series Seventh Heaven, wrote alongside her Instagram post: Had to join the fun! #firstheadshot I guess we liked to show my versatility! Ha! What do you guys think, would you hire me?.

Stars have continued to post their throwback photographs, days after the official Old Head Shot Day anniversary.Gareth Bale sent a timely reminder to Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane by firing home the opening goal as his side overcame Leganes 2-1 at the Bernabeu.

Zidane opted to rest a number of big names including Cristiano Ronaldo with this weeks Champions League semi-final second leg against Bayern Munich in mind, and the Welshman made the most of his opportunity.

Bale scored an acrobatic opener after just four minutes and Borja Mayoral added a second on the stroke of half-time before Leganes reduced the deficit through Darko Brasanac.

Gareth Bale scored as Real Madrid beat Leganes 2-1 (Nick Potts/PA)

For all of the fine start provided by Bale, who bicycle-kicked the opener after Karim Benzemas initial effort had deflected into his path, Real were made to work overtime for their three points.

Leganes were attacking with purpose and striker Guerrero almost equalised just before the half-hour mark when he met a free-kick in front of goal but fired just wide of keeper Kiko Casilla.

Three minutes later the same player came even closer when Joseba Zaldua crossed low from the right and Guerrero completely mis-kicked as he attempted to back-heel the ball into the net.

The hugely impressive Nordin Amrabat flicked the top of the crossbar with a long-range effort in the 37th minute but Levantes efforts were in vain as Real extended their lead on the stroke of half-time.

Leganes keeper Pichu Cuellar made a mess of collecting a cross following a short corner and Mayoral was lurking at the far post to tap home into an unguarded net.

The story of the second half was much the same with Leganes pressing forward with purpose without finding the final ball to unduly trouble Casilla.

Bale blasted a free-kick opportunity into the wall and with game seemingly won, Zidane opted to withdraw the impressive Benzema on the hour mark.

But six minutes later Leganes finally gained the breakthrough their play deserved when Amrabat flung in a cross which Brasanac converted from close range to give his side hope.

Leganes continued to push for an equaliser with Casillas saving well from Unai Bustinza, and Claudio Beauvue almost catching the keeper out with an audacious long-range effort.

Referee Ignacio Iglesias controversially blew for full-time as Leganes were mounting another attack, prompting a protest from Leganes midfielder Gabriel, who was duly sent off after the final whistle.A stock of 200, 000 Tramadol tablets that had restrictions placed on its import by the government and 12, 500 pairs of footwear worth Rs. 12.8 million were seized by the Customs Preventive Gate Office, Customs Media Spokesman and Deputy Director Sunil Jayaratne revealed yesterday.

Mr. Jayaratne said that these items, which had originated in India, were declared as fabrics and had been imported by a company based in Colombo.

He said the illegally imported goods included 200, 000 tablets of Tramadol valued at Rs. 1, 600, 000, 8500 pairs of ladies and gents slippers valued at Rs. 7, 200, 000 and 4000 pairs of ladies and gents shoes valued at Rs. 4, 000, 000.

The goods were at the Pettah warehouse and investigations were being carried out by the Customs Preventive Gate Office, he said.

Meanwhile, a Chinese woman was apprehended by the Customs while attempting to smuggle in Chinese cigarettes valued at Rs. 1.4 million yesterday.

He said the 44-year-old woman, who had arrived at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) from Dubai, was apprehended with more than 100 cartons containing 20980 sticks at the Green Channel of the BIA. The suspect was released after paying a penalty of Rs. 50,000, while the goods were confiscated, he said. (Kalathma Jayawardhane)

Video by Richan, DamithBeginning from May 12, 2018, the Office on Missing Persons (OMP) will meet the public including family members of the disappeared in Mannar, Chairman Saliya Peiris PC said yesterday.

He said arrangements had been made to hold public meetings countrywide till early July.

In May, June and July, we will hold meetings in Kilinochchi, Matara, Mullaitivu, Batticaloa, Jaffna, Trincomalee and Kandy. In line with its outreach programme OMP, will hold a series of discussions with the families of missing persons, members of civil society organisations and the media, on how we hope to proceed, he said.

When asked whether the OMP proceedings of the OMP will be similar to the Paranagama Commission, Mr. Peiris said it would be different and that there would be separate investigation units at the OMP.

He said they were still in the process of recruiting people to the OMP and setting up procedures.We will keep the public informed on how we hope to gather the material, he said. (Lahiru Pothmulla)A large stock of chemicals was seized, while being taken to be mixed with tea at a secret location near a tea factory at Rangala, and a suspect arrested by STF personnel from the Ambakotte Camp in Digana.

Police said the suspect was one of the tea factory managers in charge of the chemical mixing plant and that the chemical was identified as C-Sweet Liquid Glucose 01155 and that not permitted to be mixed with tea leaves.

The STF seized the chemicals while in transit and on being interrogated, the driver provided information leading to raid on the secret location in the estate where the chemical was mixed to tea. Officials said a group of employees were mixing the chemical to a stock of tea when they carried out the raid. A senior STF official said the owner of the factory was a leading businessman of the area receiving political patronage and that he had been operating the racket for a long time.

The manager and samples of the chemical were handed over to the Rangala police for further investigations.

Ambakotte STF camp Commander Inspector M.M.G.Herath, SI Sampath, Sergeant Tilakaratne, and PCs Sumudu, Nalaka, Pushpakumara, Waduge and Premaratne carried out the raid on the instructions of Kandy Zone STF Commander ASP Asitha Ranasuriya. (J.A.L. Jayasinghe)The sentences are final and cannot be appealed

Egypt's Court of Cassation upheld a final death sentence Saturday handed down to six people for crimes relating to the storming of a police station in Upper Egypt's Minya in 2013.

The court also uphold jail sentences for 59 people, acquitting 47 others in the 2013 case, which included various acts of violence, including murder, as well as setting Matay Police Station on fire.

The sentences are final and cannot be appealed.

In August 2017, Minya Criminal Court handed down 12 death sentences and 119 life terms for crimes relating to the storming of the police station.

The deputy chief of the police station was killed in the violence.

The defendants in the Minya case were initially charged with murder, attempted murder, rioting, illegal assembly, disturbing the public peace, and damaging public and private property.

The incident followed the forced dispersal of mass sit-ins in Cairo's Rabaa El-Adawiya and El-Nahda squares in August 2013 following the ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi amid mass protests against Muslim Brotherhood rule.

Following the dispersal, angry rioters stormed police stations and burned a number of churches in various locations across Egypt.

Search Keywords:

Short link:

A Cairo Criminal Juvenile Court sentenced two 18-year olds to 15 years in jail over the murder of an engineering student in March after luring him to buy a laptop through a popular online shopping website.

The defendants appealed Saturday's decision with the prosecution setting an appeal hearing on 14 May.

Mohamed Abdel-Aziz, 18, was found stabbed to death in Heliopolis in March, with his mother telling police that her son had arranged a meeting with someone through the online shopping website to buy a laptop.

According to the prosecution, the defendants said they stabbed Abdel-Aziz when he resisted their attempt to rob him, taking his mobile phone and EGP 25,000.

Search Keywords:

Short link:

Egypts Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry discussed the latest developments in the Libyan crisis with the UNs special envoy to Libya, Ghassan Salame, in Cairo on Saturday.

The meeting came within the framework of ongoing coordination with the UN envoy and Egypts keenness to follow up on the developments of the political and security aspects in Libya, an official foreign ministry statement said.

During the meeting, Shoukry and Salama discussed regional and international efforts aimed at helping solve the Libyan crisis.

The UN envoy also presented recent consultations with various factions to lower tensions, build a national consensus and prepare for elections.

Shoukry discussed Egypts position on the latest security and political developments in Libya with Salama.

Egypt is exerting its utmost efforts to communicate with all the Libyan parties. It also continues to host periodic meetings to unify the military establishment in Libya, which contributes to stability and supports efforts to combat terrorism, arms smuggling and illegal immigration, stressed Shoukry to Salame, according to the statement.

Shoukry also expressed his concern about the recent deterioration of the security situation in a number of Libyan cities.

In this regard, Shoukry stressed Egypt's support for the mediation led by the UN envoy in order to reach a comprehensive political solution and achieve national reconciliation and unification of the Libyan national institutions, while stressing Egypts firm position that the final solution to the crisis should be made by the Libyan people in all of their diversity.

Search Keywords:

Short link:

A Saudi-led coalition air strike has killed dozens of Yemeni insurgents including two commanders, state media said Saturday, in another blow to the rebels following the assassination of their political chief.

Yemen's Houthi rebels on Saturday staged a public funeral for Saleh al-Sammad, head of their Supreme Political Council and effectively the insurgents' second-in-command, who was killed last week in an air raid claimed by Saudi Arabia and its allies.

His funeral came hours after Saudi Arabia's state-run Al-Ekhbariya television said two high-ranking insurgents were among more than 50 Houthis killed in a new strike overnight in the capital Sanaa.

The rebels have been locked in a war since 2015 with a Saudi-led military alliance fighting to restore the internationally-recognised Yemeni government to power.

Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya television said the strike had targeted the interior ministry in Sanaa, which is controlled by the rebels.

The Houthis, backed by Saudi Arabia's regional arch-rival Iran, confirmed an overnight air strike on Sanaa but gave no details.

The rebels, who hail from northern Yemen, control Sanaa and much of the country's north -- which borders Saudi Arabia -- and the key Hodeida port on the Red Sea coast.

Shortly after Sammad's funeral began, the Houthis said they had launched eight ballistic missiles into the Sunni kingdom.

The coalition confirmed it had intercepted four missiles headed for the southern Saudi coastal city of Jizan, one day after the kingdom's defence forces said they had downed a missile headed for the same area. No casualties were reported in either incident.

The rebels have ramped up their missile attacks on Saudi Arabia this year, although only one casualty has been reported.

Saturday's attacks came as newly-appointed US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was scheduled to land in Riyadh for meetings including talks on the Yemen conflict.

Riyadh and its close ally Washington accuse Iran of arming the Houthis, which Iran denies.

In Sanaa, Houthi supporters lined the streets Saturday for the funeral of Sammad and six others killed in last Thursday's strike.

Rebels dressed in military fatigues marched ahead of his hearse, which included seven cars draped in the Yemeni flag and accompanied by a marching band.

The Saudi-led coalition imposed a total blockade on Yemen's ports in November in retaliation for cross-border Houthi missile attacks on Saudi Arabia.

The blockade has since been partially lifted, but access to the impoverished country remains limited.

*This story was edited by Ahram Online.

Search Keywords:

Short link:

AUSTIN, Texas, 27 April 2018 (AP)  Advocacy groups said Friday that Texas is poised to unfairly distribute billions in federal funding provided for housing repairs following Hurricane Harveys devastation  prioritizing wealthy homeowners over poorer victims in ways that could constitute racial discrimination.

At issue is a draft state rebuilding plan that says homeowners may only be eligible for federal assistance, regardless of income, if they suffered $8,000 in property damages. The renters threshold is $2,000.

Harvey hit Texas in late August 2017, damaging or destroying tens of thousands of homes in Houston, the nations fourth-largest city, and smaller communities throughout the states Gulf Coast. In addition to other disaster recovery approved by Congress, the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Agency has allocated a bit more than $5 billion to rebuild Texas homes.

But a coalition led by the Austin-based nonprofit Texas Housers says damage assessments to determine who is eligible to get help are based on data from Federal Emergency Management Agency inspections that calculate property losses rather than the full human toll of major natural disasters  making it more difficult for victims who live in lower income areas to meet damage thresholds.They say that incomplete data, coupled with the thresholds, could combine to exclude low- and middle-income households from more than $1 billion in housing repair aid across Texas.Whether youre living in a $500,000 home or a $50,000 home, a foot of water inside of it, or your roof blowing off, is going to have the same effect, Charlie Duncan, Texas Housers research director, said during a news conference at the state Capitol. Its going to render that home unlivable and youre going to need assistance.Duncan said Harvey victims who rented and owned homes in 20 largely minority areas in Houston, as well coastal communities like Port Arthur, are most likely to be excluded.Its absolutely a civil rights issue, he said. A lot of these zip codes that weve identified that stand to be the most underfunded are communities of color. [more]Yemeni security forces said they killed a senior Islamic State commander in a gunbattle in the southern city of Aden on Saturday, dealing a blow to the groups powerful Yemen branch.

Saleh Nasser Fadhl al-Bakshi held the title of Prince for the Aden area in the militant groups Yemen affiliate, which has killed hundreds of people, mostly security forces in the countrys south, in years of bombing and shooting attacks.

Counterterrorism forces surrounded al-Bakhshi in a building, according to a statement on the Aden police Facebook page, when he and fellow militants refused to surrender.

In the ensuing shootout, one of the counter-terrorism force members was killed along with al-Bakshi, whose bloodied corpse was displayed in a picture accompanying the police statement.

Three of his comrades were arrested, it added.

Islamic State gained a foothold in Yemen late in 2014 as the country collapsed into civil war between the armed Houthi movement and the internationally recognized government, opening a security vacuum and sparking Saudi-led military intervention.

Search Keywords:

Short link:

Egyptian actor Mahmoud Morsi, who died in 24th April 2004, remained an enigma behind which lay a thick wall of genius in both choice and performance.

He strongly protected himself from the medias eyes, which he avoided almost totally throughout his entire life.

Some have said that the mystery with which he surrounded himself contributed to his stardom -- as if shunning the limelight were the secret behind his permanent presence in memories and minds. What a strange paradox!

Mahmoud Morsi was the only star whose fame needed no help from media. He was also the only one who attained such stardom through a limited number of roles.

Acting in TV series did not diminish his presence, although it was his favourite contribution in the last twenty-five years of his life.

Mahmoud Morsi was born in Alexandria in 7th June 1923. He studied at the Institute of Post-Graduate Cinematic Studies (EIDIC) in Paris and was a long-time lecturer in the Higher Institute of Cinema, though he didnt direct a single film.

Morsi taught acting theory at the Higher Institute for Theatrical Arts in Cairo, but was not even well known as a stage actor -- a total paradox!

His blue eyes combined harshness and meekness, fierceness and good-heartedness, good and evil.

In spite of all these characteristics, his easiness in moving from one mood to another needed no more than a fraction of a second.

His red face did not conceal his genuine Egyptianess, and his unhurried movement before the camera didn't lessen our sensation of his vivid and flowing performance.

As for his high-pitched voice, it did not hinder him at all from expressing the most delicate human feelings. He is indeed an artist who is full of contradictions -- but those were his tools.

Morsi acted in only 25 films.

He debuted in I am the Fugitive (1962, Niazi Mostafa) and ended his run with The Swords Blade (1986, Atef Salem).

Throughout his cinematic career, Morsi shifted from evil to good roles, which sometimes gave way into grey area.

In his villain stage, he shone as the police chief in Prince of Cunningness (1964, Barakat), the British commander in The Price of Freedom (1964, Nour El-Demerdash), the pagan tribe chieftain in Dawn of Islam (1971, Salah Abu-Seif) and as the extremely harsh prison warden in Night and Rods (1973, Ashraf Fahmi).

All these roles, as you can see, are of chiefs and military commanders that required the display of a considerable amount of hardness and might.

This style of role reached its zenith in his most famous cinematic roles ever: his role as Atrees the Elder of the Dahashna clan in A Touch of Fear (1969, Hussein Kamal).

The haughty figure ruled his village ruthlessly, and nobody could confront his tyranny except his old flame Fouada.

However, the evil of Mahmoud Morsis characters was not, in many cases, pure. Cloaked in good heartedness, over bursts of villainous behaviour, Morsi's characters often embodied ethical grey areas.

Consequently, the viewer felt a certain amount of sympathy towards those characters, which were, after all, motivated by natural human weakness.

This area permitted Morsi to exercise his favourite game, moving from ferocity to meekness and vice-versa.

In The Last Night (1963, Kamal El-Sheikh), Morsi co-starred with Faten Hamama, he played a man who committed a heinous crime albeit for a noble cause.

He exploited an innocent amnesiac woman and made her believe that she was his wife in order to bring up his daughter -- her niece -- after his wifes death in an air raid.

He then exerted every imaginable effort to stop this woman from regaining her real persona.

In the same year, in The Open Door (directed by Barakat), Morsi played an academic professor whose outer appearance is ravishing while his inside is totally different.

In The Quail and Autumn (1967, Hossam Eddine Mostafa), based on a novel by Naguib Mahfouz, he played a man who lost his influence, became unable to adapt with the new reality, secluded himself and grew bitter to all those surrounding him.

In The Beggar (1973, Hossam Eddine Mostafa) -- also based on a novel by Naguib Mahfouz -- Morsi transcended the model of moving smoothly from good to evil and exhibited a more philosophical proposition.

The protagonist searches for a satisfying answer about being and nothingness, existence, death and even the meaning of life in its entirety.

The protagonists perplexity led him to experiment with everything from sensual pleasures to the world of mysticism.

Continuing on the same path of grey-area characters, there is of course Morsi's important film My Wife and the Dog (1971, Said Marzouk) in which he plays a man with a debauched past who begins to suspect his wife of the same.

In Saad the Orphan (1985, Ashraf Fahmy), he plays a greedy man who agrees to kill his brother for the sake of money and influence, although he is very delicate and kind with his daughter and his nephew, neither of whom know anything about the murder until the very end.

This role is very similar to one that he played in the TV series The Firebird (1987, Mohammed Fadel).

Mahmoud Morsis efforts on stage started three years after his debut in Bitter Grapes (1965, Farouk Agrama) in which he played a big-hearted farm owner taking care of a poor girl -- much unlike the villain played by Ahmed Ramzy.

Then Morsi continued playing the idealistic character in other films such as The Sad Night-Bird (1967, Yehia El-Alamy), but his more memorable performances came in both A Song on the Corridor (1972, Ali Abdel-Khalelk) in which he personified an Egyptian soldier defending his position until his last breath during the 1967 defeat -- and in his final film The Swords Blade, in which he played an undersecretary obliged to play a musical instrument behind a belly dancer in order to meet his familys needs.

Even in his repeated excursions into TV dramas, Morsi did not move away from his usual roles in cinema.

He was either an idealistic dreamer, as in The Trip of Mr. Abu-Ela Al-Bishry (1985, Mohammed Fadel) and in The Family (1994, Ismail Abdel-Hafez); a cunning man in When the Fox Fled (1999, Mohammed El-Naggar); or in the grey, area as in The Firebird.

However, in all these roles he held a tight grip on the threads of his characters and articulated them with exquisite cleverness.

For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture

Search Keywords:

Short link:

The world celebrates World Intellectual Property Day every year on 26 April as a result of a decision by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), a Geneva-based international organisation that has a mandate to deal with intellectual property (IP)-related matters and administers 26 international treaties in various fields.

Each year, the WIPO agrees on a specific theme for the International Day. Many countries celebrate it as well through different types of national activities, whether independently or in cooperation with the WIPO.

Some regional and sub-regional organisations, among them the Arab League, celebrate the occasion through holding conferences, symposia, seminars or workshops on the theme of that year either independently or in cooperation with the WIPO.

This years theme is encouraging womens creativity and innovation.

The Department of Intellectual Property and Competitiveness at the Arab League recently held a regional seminar on this theme, with the participation of the WIPO, representatives from several Arab governments, IP representatives, IP law-enforcement agencies and other relevant stakeholders in the Arab region, including the private sector, universities and research institutions, and relevant non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

The seminar was not the first regional activity focused on promoting womens innovation.

Earlier this month, the WIPO and the Arab League jointly organised the Eighth Regional Coordination Meeting of the heads of intellectual property offices in the Arab region in Cairo, in cooperation with the Egyptian Patent Office and the Egyptian Academy for Scientific Research and Technology.



One of the three working days of the meeting was consecrated to empowering women in the areas of creativity and innovation.

There was an exchange of views, experiences and lessons learned, with the aim of enriching tools and instruments and strategies and policies aimed at promoting, encouraging and enhancing womens innovation and creativity in the Arab world. Initiatives from other parts of the world were brought to the attention of participants as a way of opening up broad and extended discussion.

However, even before designating encouraging womens innovation and creativity as the theme of World IP Day in 2018, both the WIPO and the Arab League also organised a regional workshop on the same theme at the leagues headquarters in Cairo in May 2017.

A South Korean NGO specialising in promoting womens innovation was involved, bringing important, geographically distant but still pertinent experience in the field to the attention of IP officials from the Arab countries.

Various factors are related to the promotion of womens innovation and creativity.

One important activity that can help bring this about is the holding of fairs and exhibitions that can encourage invention, particularly among students, by organising competitions and providing prizes for the winners.

Special attention can also be paid to incentives encouraging the participation of women in such fairs, and special prizes can be awarded to female participants.

Innovation and creativity are closely related to the educational system, and another factor that can help promote policies supporting womens innovation is the overall educational process, including the curriculum, the training of teachers and other components.

Relevant here is the monitoring of the level of participation of women in the educational system and the extent to which they are benefiting from it and being given their equitable share.



It is equally important to ensure that role models for women are enshrined in educational curricula and that these encourage the active involvement and full engagement of women in activities related to innovation and creativity.

Furthermore, the curriculum should be under periodic and regular review and updated if necessary in order to ensure that it positively contributes to the development of a critical mentality among young people that can help them be more innovative and creative.

A third factor related to efforts aimed at encouraging womens innovation is the degree to which partnerships have been developed to promote creativity and innovation among universities, research institutions, industry and public or private institutions focusing on enhancing innovative and creative trends in society, particularly among young people and among young women.



Promoting partnerships with other international, regional or sub-regional institutions, as well as foreign institutions in other countries, should always be considered and followed up if perceived to be useful in contributing to the encouragement of womens creativity and innovation.

The position of Arab women in the areas of innovation, science and technology has improved over recent years.

According to international sources, Arab womens participation in these sectors reached 37 per cent in 2017, quite close to the percentage in even some more-developed economies.



However, much more still needs to be done, particularly as it is widely agreed that innovation and creativity are the keys to establishing a knowledge-based economy and a knowledge-based society, a shared goal for many countries in the world today, including those in the Arab world.

*This article was first published in Al-Ahram Weekly

Search Keywords:

Short link:

5 reasons its going to be much harder to win the House than you can imagine

How would you act if you knew this could be the free last election you could ever vote in?

If you think that question reeks of ridiculous paranoia, think about what happened this week.

Trump held his first state dinner as president and did not invite one Democratic member of Congress. Only the inclusion of one Democrat  John Bel Edwards, the governor Louisiana  gave a nod to the tradition of making these taxpayer-funded events a bipartisan affair. Its one way we say to the world that were not a bunch of fascists. And though its a thing of little immediate consequence, what was more important is that Trumps nudge toward tyranny was met by no resistance from elected Republicans.

The GOP has been in a full purge of its dissident voices since Trumps election, marked by little things like Ronna McDaniel abandoning her middle name of Romney at Trumps request and huge things Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell doing almost everything they can to make sure the investigation into Trumps ties to Russia is obstructed and constantly on the verge of destruction.

Notably, elected Republican leaders also were silent again when Trump again vowed to crack down on the Justice Departments ability to apply the rule of law of him on television.

We may not be on the immediate verge of one-party rule, but were certainly closer than weve been in our lifetime. Even during the massive Democratic dominance of the 30s and 40s was never marked by bald attempts to invent reasons to suppress votes based on conspiracy theories trumpeted by the president of the United States nor an coordinated attempt to destroy the media and apply the rule of law only to one party. Even Roosevelts court packing scheme at the height of his powers was stunted.

If you dont think were on the verge of an election that could change everything, imagine the GOP gets away with the blatant coverup that the House Intelligence Committee has engineered as an attempt to aid the unrelenting obstruction in coming out of the White House. Just the ridiculous spectacle of them releasing a report denying a Trump/Russia conspiracy, that happened in plain sight, without interviewing key witnesses should be enough to make you shudder.

And if that doesnt have you shivering, here are five reasons its going to be much harder to win the House than you can imagine.

Dont think Republicans can lose the popular vote by about 10 percent and keep the House? Thats exactly what happened in Virginia in 2017.

Special elections are showing much better results for Democrats than the generic ballot. But lets not forget about Virginia 2017, the only regular election weve seen in a swing-ish state since Trumps election. It was an amazing success story and a cautionary tale. Democrats took in 53.17% of the popular vote and Republicans 43.76% and they still control the Virginia House of Delegates based on a coin flip. There gerrymandering is built to withstand democracy as we know it. That could easily happen with the U.S. House of Representatives. We tried optimism.

In 2016, our misunderstanding of probability, whiteness and misogyny generally caused us to overlook how the fundamentals and the machinery of voter suppression made a Trump win not only possible but likely. In 2018, the fundamentals are on our side but weve done almost nothing to restore the damage that has been done to our democracy through disenfranchisement and voter suppression. Optimism did nothing for me in 2016. In 2018, Im sticking with eternal vigilance. We need 24 House seats while were defending 25 U.S. Senate seats.

Republican control of the Senate is transforming our judiciary for the worse at a breakneck speed. We need to take the Senate back. But we also face one of the toughest Senate maps in recent memory, with 10 of the 25 Senate seats in states Trump won 2016. As much as we hope a wave expands the map into the 24 districts we need to win the House, we also have fight just keep the GOP from expanding a Senate majority that will result in appointments even worse than Betsy DeVos and Neil Gorsuch. And, yes, this is possible. Never doubt the power of the right wing and the GOP.

Peace in the Korean peninsula. War in Iran. Terror in the homeland. Trillions in tax cuts resulting in billions in campaign donations. A government that sees preserving its power as its chief goal. Russian hacking. Mike Pence campaigning across the country like a popular president building infrastructure and capacity Democrats probably still cant match. And theres the still powerful urges of whiteness and misogyny that Trump and GOP will deploy relentlessly. We cant imagine that this will get easier as they get more desperate. Chris Savage is having surgery.

Our pal @Eclectablog is undergoing serious invasive surgery in May and will be out of commission for weeks. I add this to our list because Chris is the kind of dude who devotes and volunteers his life to electing Democrats, in addition to his full-time job. And its a reminder that nothing is promised and we all have an obligation to tend to our own care first. So those who have the capacity and resources need to give all we can when we can.

So what should we be doing?

I propose to committing to a few candidates in swing districts and then doing all you can to help win. Im picking one in the House and one in the Senate, both nationally and in my state. Then set up reoccurring donations. If you cant give or volunteer, just commit to blasting their messages out whenever youre inspired. (Ideally whenever you feel the urge to retweet Trump, youll share a positive message instead.)

And if you want to do more, we can use your help to cover the issues you care most about and so often get missed by the corporate press.

Please consider making a contribution and joining the growing community of supporters here at Eclectablog. One really terrific way to support us is to make a recurring monthly donation. You can choose your monthly giving level using this form:

Want to make a recurring monthly donation? Enter the amount you want to pay each month: $

USD Sign up for

There are two other ways to help, as well. First, you can use the handy PayPal form at the top of the right sidebar to make a one-time donation via Paypal in the amount of your choice. Second, you can send a check (which avoids Paypal taking out a percentage of your donation) to Chris Savage, P.O. Box 32, Dexter, MI 48130. Please make the check payable to Eclectablog.

If you are able to help support us financially, we would be most grateful. As Mitchell Robsinson put it, every dollar and voice counts. Thank you for your support.

P.S. Google, Twitter, and Facebook have changed their algorithms significantly in the past year meaning that fewer people are seeing our content in Google searches and on the various social media platforms. You can help us out by sharing our content far and wide and it wont cost you a thing.

[Image by the great Anne Savage.]A recent editorial in USA Today (We can expect more from teachers when we pay them like pros: Bloomberg and Weingarten) presents an object lesson in how the politics surrounding the recent wave of teacher walkouts is creating some very troubling alliances in the nexus between business and education.

Under the guise of presenting a unified front, former NYC mayor Mike Bloomberg and teachers union head Randi Weingarten penned a faux bon bon of support for striking teachers. But the bloom comes off the rose in the title of the piece, and things go downhill from there.

Expect more from teachers???

Bloombergs approach here is just more of the same from the corporate reform crowd. Its based on the assumption that workers only give you their best effort when the supervisor applies the appropriate motivation. Heres the problemit doesnt work.

Research suggests that when persons are engaged in higher-order thinking tasks (like, umteaching), incentives and productivity actually have an inverse relationshipwhich is to say that people actually dont work harder when motivated by monetary incentives; just the opposite.

What does this have to do with teacher walkouts?

The idea that raising teachers salaries will get them to work harder is based on a faulty premise. Teachers are already giving 100%. More, in fact. Teachers are already taking home papers to grade at night and over the weekend, registering for summer grad degree programs and professional development workshops, attending endless meetings before and after school, attend concerts, dance recitals, sporting events, debate competitions, and countless other school events, all on their own time.

Bloomberg and Weingarten are too clever by half in trying to obscure their true intentions here, but a careful reading reveals the beliefs that underpin their actual policy leanings.

For example

This time of tension and frustration is also a moment of tremendous opportunity  to increase teachers pay, acknowledge the importance of their work, strengthen accountability, ensure adequate education resources, and, most importantly, achieve the outcomes we need and want for all our kids.

1. tremendous opportunityonly a businessman would label a time of terrible unrest and anxiety for the teaching profession as a tremendous opportunitytrue vulture capitalism

2. increase teachers payBloomberg and Weingarten keep the focus on pay here by mentioning it first in the lista subtle way to impugn teachers motives as selfish, and not attuned to students needs

3. acknowledge the importance of their workthrow them a bone, right?

4. strengthen accountability and achieve the outcomes we need and want for all our kidsand here we get to the crux of the matterconnecting accountability for teachers to student learning outcomes. In New York State this belief led to the current nightmare of a teacher evaluation system known as APPR (Annual Professional Performance Review). For New Yorks teachers this has meant that 50% of their annual performance evaluation is based on students scores on standardized tests of math and reading.

Never mind that as many as 70% of all teachers dont have anything to do with teaching math and reading.

Never mind that there is virtually no statistical relationship between student test scores and teacher effectiveness, and that even the American Statistical Association issued a statement slamming the use of these scores in high-stakes teacher evaluation decisions.

Never mind that the state itself has admitted that the premise behind APPR is deeply flawed, and has placed a moratorium on using test scores to evaluate teachers.

Never mind the fact that although no one who actually knows anything about testing, assessment, and evaluation believes that student outcomes and teacher accountability have anything to do with one anotherBloomberg and Weingarten are still beating this dead horse like a drum.

Its zombie policy. You cant kill it with facts. You cant kill it with public opinion. You cant kill it with logic. Despite the fact that its as dead as that horse that Mike and Randi are so fond of, it just keeps shambling along, bent on leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.

So with all due respect to Mr. Bloomberg and Ms. Weingarten, the purpose of raising teachers salaries is not so you can expect more from themthe purpose of increasing salaries is to restore the cuts to teachers compensation that have been made, by politicians like Bloomberg, and actually pay our teachers a wage a little closer to what they are worth.

The purpose of teacher walkouts isnt just to raise salariesits to force legislators to acknowledge that their policies have seriously damaged one of the public institutions they have sworn to protect and defend; and that their actions have been craven, unethical, and immoral.

It would also be a real mistake for GOP governors and other legislators to buy in to what Bloomberg and Weingarten are selling here, and think teachers are walking out over just salary. Teachers dont just want better salariesthey also want a voice at the table to determine better policies. Such as

adequate funding for all schools, especially urban and rural schools

a full and rich curriculum for all children, including music, art, PE, libraries, social workers, etc.

eliminate current teacher evaluation systems, and involve teachers in creation of new system

restore teacher tenure

strengthen teacher unions

short term: hold charter schools to the same accountability standards as traditional public schools; long term: eliminate all charter schoolsan experiment that has failed to produce benefits commensurate with the damage its created

strengthen teacher certification regulations

eliminate alternative routes to certification, and fake teacher preparation programs like Teach for America, Teachers of Tomorrow, and the Relay Graduate School of Education

tightly monitor virtual and online schools

Its about a lot more than salary.

I understand what Bloomberg is doing herehes trying to salvage the last remnants of the accountability scam hes been running in NYC for years; demeaning teachers by supporting unregulated charter schools, while pretending to care about the citys public schools through demands for increased accountability.

Im less sure about Weingartens angle here. Its a curious gambit to join forces with a guy like Bloomberg, whose disdain for teachers is well documented. She may be thinking that showing her ability to work across party lines, or to appear nonpartisan, will demonstrate her interest in seeking solutions to the problem being illuminated by these walkouts. Or, she may be revealing that shes part of the problemclinging to a corporate approach to union leadership thats failing to meet the needs of her unions members in state after state.

In any event, it would be nice if the mindset on display here from both Bloomberg and Weingarten would evolve just a bitfrom seeing teachers as lazy, unmotivated drones who only put forth an effort if motivated by carrots on sticks, to appreciating teachers as professionals who are already maxing out on what they can do for their students, and their communities, and would just like to be recognized with a living wage, decent benefits, and a little bit of respect.Blog Archive June 2021 (1) May 2021 (77) April 2021 (77) March 2021 (82) February 2021 (68) January 2021 (64) December 2020 (67) November 2020 (66) October 2020 (66) September 2020 (67) August 2020 (74) July 2020 (83) June 2020 (92) May 2020 (86) April 2020 (104) March 2020 (105) February 2020 (74) January 2020 (75) December 2019 (75) November 2019 (70) October 2019 (89) September 2019 (69) August 2019 (81) July 2019 (77) June 2019 (73) May 2019 (110) April 2019 (110) March 2019 (102) February 2019 (85) January 2019 (123) December 2018 (116) November 2018 (112) October 2018 (121) September 2018 (107) August 2018 (150) July 2018 (163) June 2018 (190) May 2018 (145) April 2018 (112) March 2018 (124) February 2018 (113) January 2018 (164) December 2017 (150) November 2017 (144) October 2017 (169) September 2017 (171) August 2017 (135) July 2017 (131) June 2017 (147) May 2017 (160) April 2017 (138) March 2017 (156) February 2017 (143) January 2017 (203) December 2016 (208) November 2016 (185) October 2016 (173) September 2016 (194) August 2016 (232) July 2016 (225) June 2016 (238) May 2016 (231) April 2016 (215) March 2016 (246) February 2016 (226) January 2016 (252) December 2015 (230) November 2015 (250) October 2015 (234) September 2015 (222) August 2015 (253) July 2015 (275) June 2015 (279) May 2015 (223) April 2015 (226) March 2015 (243) February 2015 (258) January 2015 (281) December 2014 (292) November 2014 (296) October 2014 (413) September 2014 (472) August 2014 (506) July 2014 (483) June 2014 (488) May 2014 (512) April 2014 (497) March 2014 (531) February 2014 (482) January 2014 (535) December 2013 (482) November 2013 (441) October 2013 (416) September 2013 (491) August 2013 (521) July 2013 (491) June 2013 (470) May 2013 (457) April 2013 (426) March 2013 (420) February 2013 (414) January 2013 (489) December 2012 (433) November 2012 (504) October 2012 (469) September 2012 (430) August 2012 (427) July 2012 (360) June 2012 (336) May 2012 (362) April 2012 (322) March 2012 (263) February 2012 (224) January 2012 (291) December 2011 (295) November 2011 (325) October 2011 (330) September 2011 (319) August 2011 (333) July 2011 (318) June 2011 (387) May 2011 (373) April 2011 (389) March 2011 (375) February 2011 (335) January 2011 (400) December 2010 (445) November 2010 (395) October 2010 (312) September 2010 (262) August 2010 (277) July 2010 (323) June 2010 (386) May 2010 (360) April 2010 (333) March 2010 (351) February 2010 (336) January 2010 (384) December 2009 (353) November 2009 (300) October 2009 (308) September 2009 (350) August 2009 (298) July 2009 (255) June 2009 (203) May 2009 (193) April 2009 (186) March 2009 (197) February 2009 (173) January 2009 (148) December 2008 (181) November 2008 (197) October 2008 (236) September 2008 (304) August 2008 (314) July 2008 (273) June 2008 (27) May 2008 (1) April 2008 (6) October 2007 (1) May 2007 (1) April 2007 (6) March 2007 (2) February 2007 (1) October 2006 (1) September 2006 (1) August 2006 (4) July 2006 (4) June 2006 (1) July 2005 (1) May 2005 (2) March 2005 (1) June 2004 (2) May 2004 (1) April 2004 (4) March 2004 (2) February 2004 (2) July 2003 (2) June 2003 (5)To build the largest and most complete Amateur Radio community site on the Internet - a "portal" that hams think of as the first place to go for information, to exchange ideas, and be part of whats happening with ham radio on the Internet. eHam.net provides recognition and enjoyment to the people who use, contribute, and build the site. This project involves a management team of volunteers who each take a topic of interest and manage it with passion. The site will stand above all other ham radio sites by employing the latest technology and professional design/programming standards, developed by a team of community programmers who contribute their skills to the effort. The site will be something of which everyone involved can be proud to say they were a part. We welcome your comments. The eHam.net Team, Revision 07/2020.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.Turkey and Ukraine to start manufacturing military aircraft

The project of An-188 military aircraft which Turkey and Ukraine will manufacture together has introduced at the EurAsia Airshow 2018 exhibition.

The first prototype of the aircraft, which is planned to be produced in a joint venture, was presented at the EurAsia Airshow 2018 exhibition, held in Antalya.The project will be carried out in partnership with two countries.

According to Ukranian Antonovs statement made on their official Facebook page, its been mentioned that the new projects are in the pipeline. "A new Turkish-Ukranian AN-188 program was presented to mass media. According to President of ANTONOV Company, the project was started about two years ago by initiative of Turkish party. Memorandums and road map of the program development were signed." stated Ukranian Antonov company.

The program was launched nearly two years ago on the initiative of the Turkish side, according to Antonov's acting president Aleksandr Los.

"The project minimizes technical and political risks by attracting the most up-to-date promising technological solutions, engines and equipment from the world's leading manufacturers." the company's press service quoted Los as saying.US new Secretary of State warns Turkey over Russian S-400s

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday told that US was seriously concerned over Turkeys decision to buy Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile batteries.

Hours after being confirmed as US President Donald Trumps new secretary of state, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo attended a NATO foreign ministers meeting at the Alliance's headquarters in Brussels on Friday.

After the meeting between Pompeo and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on the sidelines of a NATO foreign ministers session, Pompeo has mentioned that US is concerned over Turkeys decision to buy Russian S-400s.

During the meeting, Pompeo also raised concerns about the detention of Pastor Andrew Brunson, who has been in jail since December 2016. Turkey had signed an agreement with Russia for S-400 missiles, reportedly worth $2.5 billion, in late December.

Foreign Minister Cavusoglu told Turkish broadcasters after the meeting that the S-400 deal was completed but that Turkey would be open to purchasing other defense systems from its allies. We have completed the S-400 process. That is a done deal. he said. But we need more air defense. We can discuss what we can do for further purchases.The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge finally announce the name of their newborn son Prince Louis Arthur Charles on Friday, April 27.

Kensington Palace revealed the newborn's name on the official Twitter account, also sharing his official title in the tweet.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are delighted to announce that they have named their son Louis Arthur Charles. The baby will be known as His Royal Highness Prince Louis of Cambridge. pic.twitter.com/4DUwsLv5JQ  Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) April 27, 2018

Prince Louis' Namesake

The highly anticipated announcement of Prince William and Kate Middleton's new baby's name was accompanied with the history behind it.

Their two older children were given names significant to the royal family, with Prince George, 4, sharing a name with many other kings in their lineage, including Queen Elizabeth's father, King George VI.

Princess Charlotte, 2, is given three names honoring their family: Charlotte Elizabeth Diana. Charlotte is the female version of the Prince of Wales Charles, Elizabeth for the Queen, and Diana to pay tribute to William's late mother.

The third child in the family also has Charles in his name, but even his first name is an important one in the family.

Louis is a common family name, with both William and son George having it in their full names.

"It's very much an acknowledgement of a wider heritage," historian Judith Rowbotham explains to BBC, saying that it is also "an affectionate tribute" to Charles and his deep devotion to Lord Mountbatten.

Lord Mountbatten, also known as Prince Louis of Battenburg, was a mentor and very close to the newborn's grandfather Prince Charles, Los Angeles Times reports.

"For me, Lord Mountbatten represented the grandfather I never had," Prince Charles says in a Telegraph report from 2015, talking about the assassination of his mentor in 1979. "So it seemed as if the foundations of all that we held dear in life had been torn apart irreparably."

More Details On The Name

According to Today, Louis is a fairly popular name in United Kingdom where it ranks among the top 100 names. The name has French-German roots and means "famous warrior."

It's not as popular in the United States, although the birth of Prince Louis could change that. While his siblings George and Charlotte did not affect the popularity of their respective names much, Linda Rosenkrantz, cofounder of the Namberry, thinks Louis has a lot of potential to be more fashionable.

"I think Louis has kind of a jazzy feel, as opposed to the other names being considered, Arthur and Albert, so I think it will rise in the U.S.," she says, explaining that the name George "feels a bit stodgy" and Charlotte was already very popular worldwide.The Supreme Courts ruling in the Judge Loya case bodes ill for Indias judiciary.

On 19 April, the Supreme Court delivered its verdict in the case of Justice B H Loyas death, which occurred on 1 December 2014. It concluded that the sessions court judges death was from natural causes. Considering the allegations and doubts raised from many quarters, including media reports about the sudden death, this verdict raises more questions.

It was on 12 January 2018, the day on which the petition concerning Judge Loyas case was first mentioned before the chief justice, that four senior-most judges took the unprecedented step of holding a press conference raising issue with the functioning of the chief justice and the allotment of cases by him. To a pointed question on whether the trigger was Judge Loyas case, Justice Gogoi (one of the four) replied in the affirmative.The outcome of the presidential election in Egypt has been known for a long time. The carefully constructed plan by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi worked wonderfully and all potential candidates have either resigned after being intimidated or are imprisoned. Only one politician, who previously supported the President, was chosen as another candidate to preserve the illusion of a fair competition. Thus, hardly surprisingly, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi won.

Mr. Sisi has led Egypt since July 2013 when he seized power over the country and was officially elected to the office in May 2014. His regime is known to be even worse than the reign of his predecessor, President Hosni Mubarak. People are being imprisoned almost on a daily basis and basic human rights, such as the right to publicly express ones opinion, are considered a major crime.

Since Mr. Sisi became president, European leaders have already accepted him as a kind of necessary evil. Many European officials would admit in private that they dont see him as an exemplary head of state and that his leadership might bring Egypt to an even worse situation than it is now. This fear that this outspoken criticism would somehow jeopardize the relationship between Egypt and the EU gives Cairo the confidence that its an indispensable partner for Brussels and that Mr. Sisi can maintain his authoritarian rule in the same way as he has done so far.

Yet, cooperation and endorsement are two very different things. Egypt does business with the EU on its own accord and it needs the EU as much as the EU needs Egypt. More than anything else, this election offers the European leaders an opportunity to adopt a critical stance and show that they dont see the current situation in the North African country through the same rose-tinted glasses as its president.

Most Egyptian analysts agree that President Sisi holds the power over his country in a tight grip. He still has a large supporter base as he is seen as someone who stands between Egypt and chaos, but some of his most recent actions show that the President is not feeling as sure of himself as he did before. In the last couple of months, Mr. Sisi removed a number of high-profile figures who showed any marks of dissatisfaction, from the army and the intelligence. Even if these people are easily removed, the paranoia of being overthrown by someone from your own ranks is surely chilling.

Some stood up against him even as his opponents in the election and even if these individuals were far from being liberals, this shows that Mr. Sisis repression has gone too far and that there are some figures that wont tolerate it any longer. There might also be another imminent threat, which for now is just a widespread speculation that Mr. Sisi may try to amend Egypts constitution to allow him to serve more than two terms. This means that he could prolong his reign of terror for many years to come.

Simply put, European leaders should not just idly stand around. Even if there are areas of mutual interest in which they want to work with Egypt, they should also not accept Mr. Sisi as a legitimate leader. European leaders already treat the election as a charade, so the quicker they publicly express their opinions, the quicker there might be some real and tangible changes happening in Egypt.

Europe and the Egyptian Election: Do Not Congratulate  Commentary by Anthony Dworkin  European Council on Foreign Relations / ECFR.

(The Commentary can be downloaded here)Hi All



Is it possible to directly hire a maid from indonesia to UAE without involving any agency??? If some one has done it then would you mind sharing the requirement. ( Basically sister of our last maid wants to join us).



CheersAlthough I have no direct experience I imagine the surfing will be down in the Morbihan department of Brittany. Remember that in Brittany the weather can be unpredictable. Generally the rentals are more expensive near the coast, but if you are 20 kilometers in from the coast the price will drop down. You could find a cottage in the countryside for approximately 500 per month on a long term lease. Probably an apartment in a bigger town for that or even less depending on size. Generally, the summer rentals cost the price of a longterm lease monthly rent, but per week. Those are furnished, holidays places. If you can be more specific about your finances, and general plan I am sure you could get better guidance. Until then you will have to put up with the rather silly remarks people will shoot at you! They may just envious of a footloose surfer...Where are you getting this information?? We just did this (from the US). Packed all of our stuff on a Friday into a container, hopped on a plane a week later to France. Our stuff was delivered tax/duty free about 40 days later.



Maybe this is something unique to Australia but we had zero issues. Our stuff went through customs in France in less than 24 hours. The only thing we needed was the certificate of residence change from the French Consulate where we originated.



I am non EU but my Wife is French. We also imported a car in a seperate shipment which went through customs in two days (took two more weeks to actually get the paperwork) but again we shipped it entirely in her name as a French citizen with the change of residence form from the consulate and there was zero problem. Took about 45 days for the car to arrive, but again we shipped it a few days before we hopped on the plane. We lived in a hotel here for more than a month and had no address at all to show residency up until about a week before everything was to be delivered.Kanye West's new song explains his support for US President Donald Trump.

Kanye West

The 40-year-old rapper has been slammed by his fans and liberal friends for supporting the conservative president but Kanye says seeing former reality TV star Trump win the US presidential election, made him see that he could also be elected to the job in the future.

In 'Ye vs. the People', which is a collaboration with his friend T.I., Kanye raps: "I know Obama was heaven-sent, but ever since Trump won, it proved that I could be President."

The track shows how Kanye's friends disagree with him, with T.I. answering: "Yeah you can, at what cost though?"

And Kanye also attempts to explain why he wore a Trump 'MAGA (Make America Great Again)' hat, saying it was to show that everyone is "equal".

He says: "Bruh, I never ever stopped fightin' for the people. Actually wearing the hat is to show people that we're equal."

But T.I. hits back, saying: "You gotta see the finer point of the people, What makes you feel equal makes them feel evil."

And despite T.I.'s attempts to convince his friend, Kanye sticks stubbornly to his beliefs.

He says: "See that's the problem with this damn nation. All blacks gotta be Democrats. Man, we ain't made it off the plantation.

"I feel an obligation to show people new ideas and if you want to hear 'em, here go two right here. 'Make America Great Again; had a negative perception, I took it; Wore it; Rocked it; Gave it a new direction; Added empathy, care, and love and affection--and y'all sympathy questioning my methods?

"One day I was like f**k it I'm going to do me. I was in the sunken place and then I found a new me."

However, T.I. is not convinced, saying: "You are starting to make a scene like Donnie cut you a check."

T.I. previously took to his Instagram to insist that he was not giving up on Kanye, despite their widely different political beliefs.

He wrote: "Spent the day wit Kanye... Long term work in progress, No Doubt. Still Optimistic Something From our Discussion gon STICK...I refuse to just give up on him. The Old Ye' TOO IMPORTANT!!! (sic)."Paris Hilton wanted to "die" after her sex tape was leaked online.

Paris Hilton

The 37-year-old socialite may have the erotic video called '1 Night in Paris' to thank for thrusting her into the limelight in 2004, but she has admitted she was mortified when she found out the private footage - featuring her and her then-boyfriend Rick Salomon getting intimate - ended up on a porn site and she compared it to "rape."

Speaking in an upcoming documentary 'The American Meme', according to 'The Hollywood Reporter', Paris explained: "It was like being raped.

"It felt like I've lost part of my soul and been talked about in such cruel and mean ways. I literally wanted to die at some points. I was like, 'I just don't want to live. Because I thought everything was taken away from me. I didn't want to be known as that. I would never be who I could have been."

The blonde beauty has always maintained that she's never "made a dime" from the explicit clip, but Rick - who was locked in a bitter legal battle with Paris after the leak - has claimed it has "made millions."

The leak happened around the same time Paris was launching her career as a reality TV star on 'The Simple Life', which ran from 2003 until 2007, alongside her best friend Nicole Richie.

Despite claiming "everything had been taken away" from her after the tape was released, Paris went on to try her hand at acting - appearing in 'Zoolander' and 'The Bling Ring' - and she released a self-titled album in 2006.

Paris - who is worth an estimated 70 million - explained: "I'm constantly travelling - 250 days a year I'm on a plane, in a different country. So it gets really lonely sometimes. I love my fans just as much as they love me. I feel closer with them than I do most people that I know. They're really like my family.

"I don't really trust people. I've just grown accustomed to being f***ed over. There's not a day that goes by that I'm not either texting or FaceTiming or emitting with my Little Hiltons [her fans]. I can truly be myself around them. I know they're not judging me, they're not trying to use me. They just genuinely love me."

Although she has trust issues, that didn't stop Paris meeting and falling in love with her fiance Chris Zylka.

The couple - who got engaged in January during a ski trip - are set to tie the knot later this year.Lily James is worried 'Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again' is going to "ruin" her career.

Lily James

The 29-year-old actress stars in the upcoming musical sequel as the young Donna Sheridan, who was portrayed by Meryl Streep in the original movie, and she's worried about being compared unfavourably to the screen legend.

She said: "I've basically set myself up for the biggest fall. This will probably end my career, playing a young Meryl. But I keep having to tell myself, I'm not playing Meryl, I'm playing Donna Sheridan. Everyone who goes to see it will be judging me and I hope I didn't make a silly mistake saying yes. But how could I not say yes?

"This was an opportunity of a lifetime. They were letting me sing ABBA songs, on a boat in Croatia, and dance around. What do you say to that?' No, let me mull it over.' Of course I was on board ... literally."

Lily spent hours pouring over Meryl's old movies to try and perfect her mannerisms for the role.

She said: "I watched all the movies she did in her 20s on repeat because that's the same age Donna is when I play her. Trying to study Meryl's movements and her energy, her mannerisms, everything I could - I was writing notes and rehearsing the movements, going over and over."

But the former 'Downton Abbey' star thinks it was an "entire waste of time" because everything the Oscar-winning actress does is instinctive.

She added to heat magazine: "And it was basically an entire waste of time because you can't learn any of it. It's just her, it's who she is, it's why she's the greatest actor of all time. If it was teachable, what she can do, they'd be churning out Meryl's every week. But she is and always will be one of a kind, never to be repeated again."DMA's hope Liam Gallagher's backing will help them sell more tickets to their shows.

DMA's

The Australian rockers released their new album 'For Now' on Friday (26.04.18), and ahead of it coming out the former Oasis star tweeted his support, writing: "Just heard the new DMA'S record 1 world BIBLICAL as you were LG x (sic)".

Ever since the 'Delete' hitmakers have been inundated with tweets, and band member Jimmy Tooks says that doesn't happen so much when they are back home in Sydney.

Speaking exclusively to BANG Showbiz, he said: "It's cool.

"Growing up listening to guitar music and popular guitar music, he's [Liam] been there and done it, he's been at the top of it.

"It's good to get a thumbs up from your peers, it's pretty damn cool and it will help us sell a few more tickets, you know."

It certainly has worked, as the band have sold the most amount of tickets ever to their gig at Manchester Academy tonight (28.04.18).

On their social media exploding in the UK, Jimmy added: "Our Twitter is not very big in Australia and when we come over here it just goes off.

"Most of the messages we've received have been pretty positive."

Jimmy - who is joined by childhood friends Matt Mason and Tommy O'Dell in the trio - co-writes the band's songs and hinted that penning a song for Liam's second solo album - the follow-up to last year's chart-topping 'As You Were' - could be "on the cards".

He said: "We love writing songs, we never stop writing songs.

"We had a beer with him last year and maybe we could get something on the cards, it could be on the cards if we get the right song.

"If the timing works out then that could be something cool."

Jimmy says comparisons to Oasis and Britpop groups like The Stone Roses don't bother him, though his influences extend to the likes of Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan.

He said: "We try and make lots of influences and I think we were a bit naive to Britpop culture and we didn't realise how big it was being from Sydney.

"We just like writing pop music and we don't overthink it too much."

DMA's 'For Now' is out now.Category Select Category Apparel/Garments Textiles Fashion Technical Textiles Information Technology E-commerce Retail Corporate Association Press Release

SubCategory Select Sub-Category.            .       .         (). ,              ,          .    ...This week ASUS launched the most-expected Zenfone Max Pro M1 in India, Xiaomi introduced the Mi 6X, Huawei launched its flagship P20 Pro smartphone as well as its mid-range P20 Lite smartphones in the country. Apple announced that its Watch Series 3 with built-in cellular connectivity will be launching in India on Airtel and Reliance Jio on May 11.

ASUS launched the Zenfone Max Pro M1. It has a 5.99-inch Full HD+ 2.5D curved glass display, is powered by Snapdragon 636 SoC with up to 6GB RAM, runs stock Android 8.1 (Oreo), has a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED flash along with a secondary 5-megapixel camera to capture the depth information for portrait shots and a 8-megapixel front camera with LED flash.

It has dedicated dual SIM and microSD slots, Dual VoLTE support, unibody metal design, fingerprint sensor on the back and packs a 5000mAh battery with support for fast charging using a 10W fast charger that can charge the phone in 2 hours and 42 minutes from 0 to 100%.

It comes in Deepsea Black and Gray colors, is priced at Rs. 10,999 for the 3GB RAM with 32GB storage version and the 4GB RAM with 64GB storage version costs Rs. 12,999. It will be available exclusively from Flipkart starting from May 3rd. The 6GB RAM with 64GB storage version with 16MP primary rear and 16MP front camera at Rs. 14,999 will launch within the next 6 weeks . Check out the first impressions and benchmarks of the phone.

Xiaomi announced the Mi 6X, successor of last years Mi 5X. It packs a 5.99-inch FHD+ 18:9 display, is powered by Snapdragon 660 AIE SoC with up to 6GB RAM, runs Android 8.1 (Oreo) with MIUI 9, has a 12-megapixel rear camera with f/1.75 aperture, Sony IMX486 sensor along with a 20-megapixel secondary rear camera with Sony IMX376 sensor to capture depth information for portrait shots with AI and also has intelligent scent detection that can detect 12 different scenes and also instantly retouch images of 206 different scenes in 25 different categories.

It also has the same 20-megapixel Sony IMX376 sensor for the front camera with soft LED flash and AI beautification. The 20MP sensor on both front and back uses pixel binning technology, combining the information from four pixels to create one large 2.0m pixel.

It has a unibody metal design, fingerprint sensor on the back, has USB Type-C audio, packs a 3010mAh battery with Quick Charge 3.0 that can charge the phone in just 30 minutes from 0 to 50% with 18W fast charger.

Itcomes in Black, Blue, Red, Gold and Rose Gold colors, is priced at 1599 yuan (US$ 253 / Rs. 16,910 approx.) for the 4GB RAM with 64GB storage version and the top-end 6GB RAM with 128GB storage version costs 1999 yuan (US$ 316 / Rs. 21,140 approx.).

Huawei launched the P20 Pro, its latest flagship smartphone. It packs a 6.1-inch Full HD+ OLED 2.5D curved glass display, is powered by an Octa-Core HiSilicon Kirin 970 10nm SoC with i7 co-processor, dedicated neural network processing unit and runs on Android 8.1 (Oreo) with Emotion UI 8.1 on top as well as support for Google AR Core.

It has Leica triple-lens camera with 40-megapixel RGB sensor, a 20-megapixel monochrome sensor and an 8-megapixel sensor with telephoto lens with f/1.8, f/1.6 and f/2.4 wide aperture, dual-tone LED flash and new Leica 3x telephoto (VARIO-SUMMILUX-H 1:1.6-2.4/27-80ASPH) lens for long-range photography of up to 5x Hybrid Zoom. It can capture low light photos with up to ISO 102400. It also has a 24-megapixel front-facing camera with AI beautification. 3D portrait lighting and support for face unlock.

The Huawei P20 Pro comes in Midnight Blue color, is priced at Rs. 64,999 and will be available exclusively from Amazon.in starting from 3rd May. Check out our review of the phone, if you are planning to get the phone.

It also launched the P20 Lite smartphone. It packs a 5.84-inch FHD+ 19:9 screen with a notch, is powered by Kirin 659 with 4GB RAM, runs Android 8.0 (Oreo) with EMUI 8.0 and has a 16-megapixel rear camera along with a 2-megapixel secondary camera for portrait shots.

It has a 24-megapixel front camera with face beauty, features a fingerprint sensor on the back and a 3000mAh battery with fast charging. It comes in Klein Blue and Midnight Black colors, is priced at Rs. 19,999 and will be available exclusively from Amazon.in starting from 3rd May.

Samsung launched Galaxy J2 (2018) (SM-J250F), a new smartphone in India. It was introduced back in December last year, packs a 5-inch qHD Super AMOLED display, is powered by Snapdragon 425 SoC with 2GB RAM, runs Android 7.1 (Nougat), has a 8-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a 5-megapixel front camera that also comes with a flash. It packs a 2600mAh battery. The Samsung Galaxy J2 (2018) comes in Gold, Black and Pink colours, is priced at Rs. 8,190.

Gionee launched F205 and S11 Lite, the companys latest smartphones in India. Both these were unveiled back in November last year and have 5.45-inch and 5.7-inch HD+ FullView displays with 18:9 aspect ratio, respectively. The S11 Lite has 82.2% screen-to-body ratio, comes with 13MP + 2MP dual rear cameras with portrait mode that blurs the background. It also has 16MP selfie camera with Bokeh Selfie mode, enhanced face beauty and more.

The F205 has uni-body design, 2.5D Arc edge screen with Corning Gorilla Glass protection and triple card slot that can accommodate two Nano SIM card and 1 Micro SD card, which is expandable up to 256GB. The Gionee F205 and S11 Lite are priced at Rs. 8,999 and Rs. 13,999, respectively and will be available from offline stores.

OPPO launched OPPO A83 (2018), an upgraded version of the A83 with 4GB RAM and 64GB storage. Other specifications are same. It comes in Red, Blue and Golden colors, is priced at 15,990, is available from Amazon.in, Flipkart and Paytm online as well as offline stores across the country.

In China OPPO introduced A3, at mid-range smartphone. This has a similar 6.23-inch Full HD+19:9 aspect ratio display with 88% screen-to-body ratio, is powered by MediaTek Helio P60 with up to 6GB RAM, runs on ColorOS 5.0 based on Android 8.1 (Oreo) and has a 16-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, as the F7, but this has an 8-megapixel front camera instead of 25-megapixel front camera on the F7.

It has multi-layered metallic and glass back cover that replicates a diamond-like glow and light refractions, with triangular-cut patterns that shimmer bright and dark shades when seen from different angles. It doesnt have a fingerprint sensor, but has face unlock that can unlock the phone in just 0.08 seconds. It comes in Black, Silver, Red and Rose Gold colors, is priced at 1999 yuan (US$ 315 / Rs. 21,020 approx.) for limited period, after that it will cost 2,099 yuan.

Apple announced the Apple Watch Series 3 (GPS + Cellular) in India, which will be available on May 11th. Airtel said that it will start pre-registrations for the new Apple Watch on May 4, 2018 on Airtel website. It will also be available from Reliance Jio, and the pre-orders begins on jio.com starting May 4. It will also be available on Reliance Digital and Jio Stores starting May 11.

Apple launched the special edition (Product) Red iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus smartphones that are available from through Apple Authorised Resellers in the the country starting at Rs. 67,940. These are also available for pre-order from Flipkart that ships from April 30th.

Snap Inc. unveiled second-generation Spectacles, which is now water-resistant, so you can use them in the rain  or even take a photo or video in shallow water. It also comes in a smaller profile, since the temple area of the frame is 30% smaller compared to the predecessor.

It also has improved audio with dual microphone, and now, you can press and hold to take a photo. Snaps you capture will transfer to Snapchat up to four times faster with the new WiFi-only import mode, and always in HD since the video resolution is now 1,216 x 1,216 compared to 1,088 x 1,088.

New Spectacles will be available in Ruby, Onyx and Sapphire at $149.99 (Rs. 10,010 approx.) in the U.S. and is available for purchase from spectacles.com. It will cost 149.99 (US$ 209 / Rs. 13,990 approx.) in UK and 174.99 Euros (US$ 213 / Rs. 14,225 approx.) in Europe.

Amazon launched Echo Spot, a small Echo device with 2.5 inch circular display that can be used on your desk or a nightstand so you can view your calendar, see the weather update, check the time, wake up to music alarms, turn your lights on and off, see shopping and to do lists, and more.

It comes in Black and White colosr, is priced at Rs 12,999 and is available from Amazon.in. You can get it at an introductory price of Rs. 10,499 for limited period or buy 2 Echo Spot units for Rs. 19,999. It is also available at the Amazon devices kiosk in Bangalore and Mumbai, and over 350 offline retail outlets including Croma, Reliance and Vijay Sales across 20 cities in India.

Lenovo launched two new smart bands  HX03 Cardio and HX03F Spectra. Both these have heart rates sensor, are water-resistant and come with OLED Monochrome and TFT-LCD color screens, respectively that shows activity, time, date, heart rate and more.

The Lenovo HX03 Cardio comes in Black color, is priced at Rs. 1,999 and is available exclusively from Flipkart. The Lenovo HX03F Spectra comes with a Black strap with interchangeable wrist straps in different colors, is priced at Rs. 2,299 and will be exclusively available from Flipkart starting from May 3rd. The company will also launch Body Fat Scale HS11 at Rs 1,999 in May.

Samsung-owned HARMAN International has launched JBL Free earbuds wireless in-ear headphones in India. These were introduced at the IFA last year, has built-in microphone to take calls at the touch of a button, comfort-stay secure fit ergonomics and is sweat and water-resistant. It promises 4 hours of battery life and additional 20 hours with the charging case. It also offers an entire hour of music playback in just 15-minutes.

The JBL Free earbuds comes in black and white colors, is priced at Rs. 9,999 and is available from HarmanAudio.in, on various online and retail channels and at 350 key Samsung brand stores across the country.

Samsung launched the flagship 970 PRO and 970 EVO SSDs, both these are designed based on the M.2 form factor standard and with the latest PCIe Gen 34 lane interface. The 970 series maximizes the potential of NVMe bandwidth. The 970 PRO and EVO will be available for purchase starting from May 2018, priced at Rs. 29,000 and Rs. 10,500, respectively.A Lamborghini was cut in half after its driver crashed into a concrete light pole, the Fairfax Fire and Rescue Department said.

The incident occurred overnight Friday at Gallows Road and International Drive in Virginia, the fire department said, adding that the cars back end caught on fire but was quickly extinguished.

The driver, who is currently unidentified and described as an adult, left the crash relatively unscathed and was treated for minor injuries at the scene.

The cause of the crash is not immediately clear.NBC wont be launching a full internal investigation into new sex harassment allegations against former news anchor Tom Brokaw, network sources told Page Six on Friday.

Shes given her side, and hes responded. They dont feel theres anything left to investigate in the case, an NBC source said, adding, We may make further inquiries if more information emerges.

Former NBC News war correspondent Linda Vester accused Brokaw in an article in Variety on Thursday of groping her and trying to kiss her against her will in the 1990s. She said she finally came forward because she was upset with the way the network had handled sex-harassment allegations against its former Today host Matt Lauer.

Brokaw denied Vesters claims, and so far, it seems he has got the full backing of his NBC News bosses.

NBC News Chairman Andrew Lack briefly addressed the accusations in a memo to employees Friday  adding that the companys review into workplace harassment sparked by the Lauer scandal was now winding down.

There are allegations against Tom Brokaw, made by a former NBC News journalist, which Tom emphatically denies, Lack wrote. As weve shown, we take allegations such as these very seriously, and act on them quickly and decisively when the facts dictate.

He then added of Lauer, As you know, since the week we terminated Matts employment, NBC Universal has been conducting a review, led by general counsel Kim Harris  who has extensive experience in conducting reviews of this kind  with a team of legal and HR leaders.

Kim has advised us that the review is nearing its conclusion, and we will have findings and further steps to share with you as soon as next week.

Vesters lawyer said in a statement to Page Six on Friday, My client stands by the allegations which speak for themselves.

My client has watched as a number of brave women have come forward to report extreme forms of sexual harassment at NBC, added the lawyer, Ari Wilkenfeld.

She has also observed that the Companys response does not appear to be aimed at producing a safer and more equitable workplace for women. She felt it her duty to add her own story, not only to lend support to the other women who have already complained, but to demonstrate that this problem is not a new one, and that NBC needs to prioritize actually listening to and protecting their employees who have been victimized.Janice Dickinson couldn't be happier.

The 63-year-old supermodel has broken her silence after Bill Cosby was convicted on three counts of felony aggravated indecent assault on Thursday for drugging and assaulting Andrea Constand at his Pennsylvania home in 2004.

In an interview with DailyMailTV, Dickinson said her husband, Dr. Robert "Rocky" Gerner, awoke her with the news. "I've been holding this in since 1982 and it's slowly seeping out of me, the toxicity levels of emotion and catastrophic pain and nightmares for so very many years," she said. "I just bounced out of bed and was like, 'Wow.'"

Bill Cosby's Accusers: A Timeline of Alleged Sexual Assault Claims (Updated)

Dickinson -- who has accused Cosby of drugging and raping her in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, in 1982 under the guise of career help -- was one of several women to testify against Cosby during the Pennsylvania retrial that began earlier this month. She said she was "slut shamed" on the stand by Cosby's legal team, but that she "just sat there and got mad."

"I was just mad inside, but I did not want [Cosby's attorney, Tom Mesereau] to see that he could get underneath my skin," Dickinson shared.

"I didn't want Cosby to see me face to face. I was kind of hiding behind a board that was barricading his view of me. I didn't want him to see how confident I am and how beautiful I am and how that truly I've grown from a young girl into a fierce, devoted mom and a loyal woman to all women's causes," she continued. "So when I saw him out of the corner of my eye, I had a feeling of disgust enveloping me, to be honest."

Bill Cosby Reportedly Lashed Out in Courtroom After Guilty Verdict

"'There is no doubt in my mind, that now we know Bill Cosby is a serial rapist, he is probably the biggest rapist in United States history, maybe the world because the head count is 90 women," added Dickinson, who is still suing Cosby for defamation in civil court in California. "I know I've personally spoken to several women that haven't come forward and I'm sure there's many more out there." Cosby has consistently denied all allegations against him.

Each of the three felonies Cosby has been convicted of are punishable by up to 10 years in state prison. "'He deserves every bit of 30 years and more," Dickinson said. "I hope he rots in hell."

Bill Cosby Guilty Verdict: Rose McGowan, Elizabeth Banks and More Celebs ReactMSNBC star Joy Reid opened her show AM Joy Saturday by apologizing for any past comments on her blog that belittled or mocked the LGBTQ community and admitted her old blog may have not been hacked.

Reid addressed the controversy related to old blog posts where she appeared to have mocked gay people and individuals who were allegedly gay. Reid acknowledges she has said dumb and hurtful things in the past.

"The person I am now is not the person I was then," she said.

MSNBC STAR JOY REIDS CLAIM THAT HACKERS PLANTED HOMOPHOBIC SLURS FALLS APART UNDER SCRUTINY

Reid claimed earlier this week that somebody hacked into her account. A Twitter user unearthed the posts last week, claiming they came from Reids now-defunct blog, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Reid hired a cybersecurity expert to investigate while the FBI also announced they were probing her claims.

However, Reid was unable to verify her claim that her account was hacked during her show Saturday. She admitted that the posts do not appear to have been the result of hacking or tampering.

"When a friend found them in December and sent them to me, I was stunned," she said "Frankly, I couldn't imagine where they'd come from or whose voice this was. The reality is they have not been able to prove it."

Reid did not take credit for the posts but said she has written anti-gay things previously.

MSNBCS EMBATTLED STAR JOY REID COULD BE IN SERIOUS TROUBLE IF SHE LIED ABOUT HACKERS PLANTING SLURS

"I looked back on some of the ways I've talked casually about sexual gender and orientation and I wonder who that even was. I'm heartbroken that I didn't do better back then. The reality is I have to own the things I've written and tweeted and said, she said.

Following the controversy, MSNBC and NBC News has remained mostly quiet. NBC News is currently dealing with a crisis involving former NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw. The former anchor is accused of sexual misconduct.

Following the blog post incident, the Daily Beast suspended Reid, who was a paid contributor for the media outlet.

Fox News' Brian Flood and the Associated Press contributed to this report.Vertis Boyce remembers that the day she got the call about a potential life-changing surgery was a Tuesday, because she didnt have dialysis that day.

Around 10 a.m., the kidney transplant coordinator called with the possibility that there was a kidney that the then 69-year-old Boyce would be eligible to receive.

But this donated organ had a backstory that a doctor would need to explain.

The backstory was that this was the second time it had been transplanted. So I would be the second receiver of that kidney, Boyce told Healthline.

She had been on the kidney donation waitlist for 8 1/2 years. When the doctor asked her if she wanted the reused kidney, she said yes.

I didnt hesitate, because Id thought I was going to get a kidney, Boyce recalled.

A new option for transplant surgeons

Boyce received that kidney in July of last year. It was the second of three times Dr. Jeffrey Veale, director of the UCLA Kidney Transplantation Exchange Program at UCLA Medical Center, retransplanted a previously donated kidney last year.

Such retransplantations are very rare  only possible in unique circumstances in which a recipient of a kidney dies without damaging the kidney, hasnt had the kidney long enough to wear it out, is a match for someone on the list, and hasnt developed excessive scar tissue from the previous operation.

But Veale says about 25 percent of recipients of donated kidneys die with a functioning kidney that could be reused. Typically, those kidneys go to waste. If more were salvaged, he thinks, it could save hundreds of lives a year among the more than 80 percent of people on waitlists that never receive a kidney.

Lets not just automatically rule it out, Veale said.

A 17-year-old girl originally donated Boyces new kidney. It had initially gone to a 25-year-old man, who had it for two years before he died in a motorcycle crash, says Veale.

I didnt want that kidney to go to waste. There were a lot of life years left on it, he told Healthline. So it went to Boyce. For three people to share one kidney  a white teen, a Hispanic man, a black older woman, and blood types all matched  theres something beautiful about that.

On that initial phone call, Veale explained to Boyce thered be increased risks, because he had only done a retransplantation once before and theres increased scar tissue on the kidney. Studies have also found increased risk of certain types of rejection in the days following retransplant.

There was a lot of scar tissue, but I took the arteries and veins that extend out of it beyond the scar tissue so it was actually a fairly straightforward surgery to sew it into Ms. Boyce, he said. So she has the kidney from original donor and blood vessels from the second.

Boyce, from California and now living in Las Vegas, said she hasnt had any issues with the new kidney  just a normal recovery.

Without the need to attend regular dialysis sessions, traveling is now far easier. She attended a nephews wedding in March in North Carolina.

Its been nine months now. I have more energy. Its just a good thing, a second chance at life, she said.

Veale says getting people like Boyce a kidney can be lifesaving. He points out most people over 65 on dialysis die within five years. Numerous studies have found transplants increase that life expectancy.

There is some controversy over whether available kidneys should go to younger patients, who are more likely to use it for longer, and changes to the allocation system have tried to match donors with recipients close to their age. But retransplanting kidneys may reduce fears of kidney life years being wasted if older recipients die soon after a transplant.

Changing the mindset about organ donation

It also opens up new ways of donating. One of Veales other cases last year involved a man who received a kidney from a donor who had died in a car accident. But the recipient had focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), a disease that causes scarring in the kidney and which began attacking the new organ.

So the recipient asked to give the kidney away again, to someone who would be able to actually use it. Veale says its the first time a living donor has donated a deceased persons kidney.

People who have FSGS, up until this point theyd say, The recipient has FSGS  now we have to discard the kidney, Veale said.

He estimates that there have been less than 50 retransplants out of millions of kidneys transplants over the last 60 years.

But Veale says its possible that many more could be done, and pointed out that he did three in a year without even trying.

Imagine if we had all 220 transplants programs in the U.S. looking to do this. Itd be great, Veale said.

The particular combination of factors that allowed these retransplants to be successful and the difficulty of the operation may keep such procedures rare, though.

Veale notes that the fact the kidneys originally came from young donors was a big factor in allowing them to still be viable after years of use and multiple recipients. Youre starting with something thats very high quality, he said. You got to look at what the original organ quality was.

Dr. Matthew Cooper, director of kidney and pancreas transplantation at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington and a board member at the National Kidney Foundation, said its a rare circumstance to have a person who received a kidney transplant meet all the requirements to then become a donor, starting with the fact that not everyone who dies can donate a kidney.

And then theres the fact that a reused kidney would have already been exposed to immunosuppression drugs, which could have damaged it. And theres the scar tissue.

Its a difficult operation to do because the organ essentially scars in the [initial] recipient, Cooper said. My hats off and kudos to Dr. Veale  even being able to do it technically is worthy of praise.

Theres a limited number of organs this could apply to, he said. But I do believe that if it is at all possible that those requirements are met, then everything should be done to try to encourage that. While it wouldnt be a lot of them, its worth doing.

There may also be limitations based on how long a donated kidney was in its initial recipient, according to Dr. Lorenzo Gallon, medical director of the Kidney Transplant Program at Northwestern Universitys Feinberg School of Medicine. If you have somebody who has had a kidney transplant for a long period of time, you cant use that organ, he said. A kidney that has been in someone for 10 years, you cant use it.

He argued the death of the recipient really has to be a few months after the transplant, though Veale has retransplanted kidneys that recipients had received years before.

For his part, Veale thinks its time to start looking into retransplanting other organs as well. Livers could be a good next step, he said.

Hed already talked to a liver surgeon about the idea. The surgeon said hed consider it.

This article originally appeared on HealthLine.comTwo siblings in San Angelo, Texas, were reunited for the first time after their parents and 2-month-old sister were killed in a head-on crash earlier this month.

Five-year-old Zachary Clemens was reunited with his 8-year-old sister, Angela Clemens this week, Teresa Burrell, the childrens great aunt, said on Facebook.

Yesterday, he [Zachary] was able to leave his bed and get into the wheelchair for the first time. He and Angie were able to see each other for the first time. Angie has had a lot of brain injuries, but yesterday she was able to read and sing with us. Our hearts are so full of the miracles we are experiencing, she wrote.

This is Zachary and Angie. They are able to touch each other for the first time since the accident. Our prayers are for these little ones who have a long journey of healing ahead, she added.

Burrell did not immediately respond to Fox News request for comment on Saturday.

Zachary, Angela and their two other siblings, Wyatt, 4, and Nicholas, 2, were involved in a head-on crash on Saturday, April 7. The Clemens were heading back from a family outing when the driver of a Tahoe lost control of the vehicle, veered into oncoming traffic and hit the familys Suburban, KTXS-TV reported.

The children's parents, Jim Alan Clemens, 31, and Karisa Brianne Clemens, 29, were killed. The crash also claimed the life of their 2-month-old sister, Juliana.

Zachary, Angie and Wyatt were all taken to a local hospital in critical condition while their 2-year-old brother escaped the accident with only minor injuries. He is now with his grandmother while his three siblings are treated at Cook Childrens Medical Center in Fort Worth.

"Little Zachary broke his back, but could feel his toes and that's awesome. But when they took him in for surgery his lungs, they really struggled, Burrell said, according to KTXS-TV.

Angie, who only recently awoke from a coma, suffered various brain injuries as a result of the crash. Wyatt was paralyzed on his left side and suffered strokes following the accident but is on the mend. Burrell wrote on Facebook that the 4-year-old is an "active little boy who is walking (carefully) and playing. He rarely sits still.

Two separate fundraisers have been started to help the family pay for funeral and medical expenses. One fundraiser, on Facebook, has raised more than $100,000. The other, on YouCaring, has raised nearly $40,000.

Local authorities are still investigating additional details of the crash, People magazine reported.

NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

The British governments decision to allow two critically ill babies to die in two years is a natural reflection of the culture of death and the steady increase in totalitarian tendencies among Western governments.

Last year, the British government ordered life support removed from Charlie Gard, ending his life when he was just 11 months old. Now, Alfie Evans  just 23 months old  has received what amounts to the same death sentence. On Monday, he was removed from life support by court order  against the wishes of his parents.

Then something remarkable happened. The child confounded his doctors and refused to die.

As of the time I am writing this, Alfie Evans is still alive and is breathing unaided. This is despite the claim made by a medical professional during a court hearing that Alfie would die quickly  possibly in minutes  if taken off life support.

At least twice in two years we have seen a supposedly free countrys court system impose what amounts to a death sentence on its most innocent citizens.

But even this display of the power of the human spirit to defy the expectations of the supposedly rational and objective state did nothing to sway the minds of the British courts and state-run medical apparatus.

On Wednesday, another legal appeal by Alfies parents to be allowed to try and save their sons life was denied.

The secular system has asserted its right to define what lives are worth living and is determined to prevent its authority from being questioned. Alfie Evans life  like Charlie Gards before him  has been determined to be limited by the standards of the secular state, and therefore without value.

These tragic government-imposed death sentences for innocent infants should frighten all of us about increasing secularism in society and the steady shift towards a totalitarian willingness to control our lives  down to and including ending them  on the governments terms.

This is a direct assault on the core premise of the Declaration of Independence. We Americans asserted that we are endowed by (our) Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. In the American Revolution, in our fight against the British crown, we asserted that rights come from God  not from government.

However, our secular, liberal culture increasingly dismisses the concept of God and asserts that our rights come from a rational contract enforced by government.

In the original American model, we asserted our God-given rights against the power of a potentially tyrannical government. In the emerging left-wing secular order, since there is no God our rights depend on a secular state controlling itself.

Britain is giving us a vivid, tragic sense of how dangerous and heartless government tyranny can be once God is rejected and there is nothing between us and the government.

Ironically, this latest decision was made the same year Stephen Hawking died  55 years after he was diagnosed with ALS (commonly known as Lou Gehrigs disease) and told he had only two years to live.

Apparently, the British government learned no lessons from Hawkings remarkable lifetime of work and achievement, which he pursued despite having to battle an extraordinarily challenging illness.

In fact, in 1985 Hawking contracted pneumonia while he was writing A Brief History of Time, and his wife was asked if his life should be terminated. She refused, and Hawking went on to live another 33 years and publish one of the most acclaimed books of the 20th century, which has since sold more than 10 million copies worldwide. This was all after it was suggested he be taken off life support.

Hawking should be a permanent reminder that the human spirit is more important than the human body, and that the will to live and achieve should not be destroyed by the state.

Yet in the very country that produced and nurtured Hawking, the government still ordered the removal of life support from two babies. In both cases there has been an organized alternative to government-imposed death.

Charlie Gards condition was potentially treatable by an experimental process in the United States. An American hospital and other organizations were willing to treat him. Supporters gave more than 1.3 million pounds (about $1.8 million) to pay for the travel and treatment.

Charlies parents wanted him to have the chance to live. However, the British bureaucracy took time to consider if he could go to the U.S. for treatment. During that bureaucratic process, his condition worsened. Then it was too late.

While the bureaucratic deliberation continued, Charlies parents and those who wanted to try to save him were told they had no right to help their own child. The child belonged to the government, and the government would decide whether he had the right to live.

This year, Alfie Evans had international support for an opportunity to live. The popes hospital  Bambino Gesu Pediatric Hospital in Rome  has offered to treat Alfie (as it did with Charlie). Pope Francis has publicly appealed to the British government to allow the young boy to be taken to Rome.

An air ambulance was sent to Alfies hospital earlier this week to bring him to the doctors who wanted to try for a miraculous cure.

What better place is there to hope for a miracle than in the popes pediatric hospital, which has helped many children with rare diseases?

This appeal for hope fell on the deaf ears of the state, which refused to allow Alfies parents to transfer their child to Rome. In fact, The Telegraph reported that despite a judge ruling that Alfies parents could explore taking the child home, doctors treating the child have been against this because they fear that in the worst case they would try to take the boy abroad."

In other words, the worst case scenario would be for Alfies parents to seek medical help to save their child.

This is monstrous. It is difficult to understand the arrogance and coldness of British judges who prefer to order death rather than allow parents to fight for the lives of their children. Yet at least twice in two years we have seen a supposedly free countrys court system impose what amounts to a death sentence on its most innocent citizens.

Some of this cruelty and inhumanity is a function of the growing culture of death and the expanding sense that secular values must drive religious values out of public life.

Some of it comes from Britains National Health Service, which must bureaucratically define what is worth investing in and what is not. In a world of limited medical resources, little babies with rare conditions become expendable for the greater good. The fact that we are all diminished makes no difference to the atheist bureaucratic left.

Those who say they favor socialism must be made to confront this inhumanity, which is an integral part of socialist implementation. When the government controls everything, the government defines everything, and humanity is crushed beneath petty rules and petty rulers.

In America, we are watching the steady growth of intolerance and the totalitarian impulse. Look at the campuses that now seek to control speech. Look at the polls that show young people are being educated into support for censorship.

Look at the California Legislature, which is considering legislation that  taken to its logical conclusion  will outlaw the sale and distribution of the Bible and the Koran (the secular society sees both as intolerant, dangerous documents).

When you read about these two babies being denied life support by a supposedly free government, remember what John Donne warned when he wrote any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

In these two years, we have seen two babies effectively sentenced to death by a government we would once have considered humane. What will the next horror be?NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

Im a mother, a veteran, a black American and a Christian. People who dont know me often make a lot of assumptions about who I am. For example, many assume that because Im black, I must be a Democrat. But they would be wrong.

Yes, Im black. But no, Im not a Democrat.

When I tell people this, it elicits a lot of confusion and anger. First and foremost, its seen as a betrayal to the black community. I lost almost all of my black friends during the 2016 election campaign.

Take it from me, theres no room for independent thought in much of the black community. Black conservatives are seen as unicorns and the backlash we get from the more tolerant liberal community is often swift and cruel. Were often deemed not black enough.

Take it from me, theres no room for independent thought in much of the black community. Black conservatives are seen as unicorns and the backlash we get from the more tolerant liberal community is often swift and cruel.

When she was first lady in 2014, Michelle Obama said on TV One, a predominately black television channel: Its not about the person on that ballot  its about you. And for most of the people were talking to, a Democratic ticket is the clear ticket that we should be voting on regardless of who said what or did this, that shouldnt even come into the equation.

Meaning that if youre black, you must vote Democratic. Dont ask questions. Just fall in line and do what youre told. To me, this is offensive. My vote is worth fighting over.

But it reminded me that not all overseers on slave plantations were white. There were black overseers as well. They were called drivers and their job was the same as the white overseer  to keep black folks in line.

We have black overseers among us today. They dont care about the very real and systematic problems that are plaguing the black community. Democrats benefit when they can keep blacks voting as a block. Democrats benefit when they can keep blacks moving based on emotions instead of logic.

And what do we receive from giving Democrats our loyalty? Our schools are still some of the worst schools, our communities are some of the deadliest communities, our black children are still being gunned down by primarily black thugs, and were told to just keep our mouths shut and adopt the false narrative that its all the fault of President Trump and racist cops.

Why must the black community be told what to think? We are individuals, with a wide variety of backgrounds, upbringings, careers, income levels and interests. So why would anyone image we would all think alike when it comes to politics?

Across the black community, reality too often is a monotone. There is just one way to think, especially concerning politics. But is there any demographic group that all thinks alike? Why is independent thinking not allowed in the black community?

Kanye West recently drew criticism when he expressed support for President Trump. Now its up to black Americans who are not on the Democratic Plantation to keep moving the conversation forward. Our future, in terms of the next generation, depends upon us sitting across from one another and engaging in an open, honest and logical discussion.NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

It started with Kanye and ended with Kim, featuring Emmanuel and Angela in between: this week showed President Trump upending expectations and confounding his critics on an epic scale.

But perhaps the most revealing thing about it all was not what it said about the president but instead the light that it shined on the army of elitists arrayed against him  in politics, the media and the foreign policy establishment. Theres something truly instructive about their reactions to the developments of the past few days.

When rapper Kayne West expressed his support for the young black conservative activist Candace Owens, and then went all the way in his apostasy by declaring his love for  horror of horrors  President Trump, you could practically hear leftist heads exploding all over America.

How could this be? West is black. Hes cool. Hes popular. So leftists believe West must hate President Trump, because they believe the president is a racist.

First the left lost their minds  but then they lost their credibility. How? By redirecting their hatred of Donald Trump to hatred of  a black man.

Because now that hes backing President Trump, Kanye West is not really, you know, an authentic member of the black community anymore in the eyes of the Trump-haters. Dont you see  the thing that defines him now is that hes rich. And so its all OK for the left to hate President Trump and Kanye West!

Which begs the question: What about all the other rich celebrities who support Democrats and hate President Trump? Is their wealth and cultural cachet acceptable, because its deployed against the president instead of in support of him?

These constantly shifting poses reveal the truth about the Trump-denying elite: for them its not about any kind of substantive intellectual argument. It is pure, personal hatred.

You saw the same thing played out in the context of the twin visits of President Emmanuel Macron of France and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany.

The truth, revealed this week, is that the elite have shown themselves to be totally superficial. Their hatred of Donald Trump is not based on policy, or real-world results, or anything at all of substance.

All the way through the 2016 election campaign and ever since his inauguration, President Trumps critics have slammed the way he talks about and conducts foreign policy.

The critics complain because they say the president doesnt read his briefings and doesnt speak in diplomatic language. They say he changes his position all the time. They think he is an amateur and a fool who shouldnt be let loose on the world stage. And they expect him to cause a disaster.

One of the key charges the presidents opponents make is the claim that he doesnt know what hes talking about on the Iran nuclear deal. Doesnt he realize that it took years of painstaking negotiation by the worlds top foreign policy experts? And there he goes, bumbling around, slamming it as the worst deal ever, promising to rip it up. He doesnt have a clue, the critics say. The Europeans will educate him, dont worry.

Well  look what happened this week. Suddenly, you saw first President Macron and then Chancellor Merkel coming around to Donald Trumps position, agreeing that the Iran deal cant stand as it is.

Perhaps President Trumps trade strategy  a tough stance against the European Unions protectionism  might have helped. But the foreign policy establishment, of course, cant possibly countenance such a possibility. Any deviation from their elitist orthodoxy is beyond the realm of reasonable opinion.

When the elites saw the strong relationship that has developed between President Trump and his new best friend Emmanuel, they lost their minds. This didnt make sense. Isnt Trump an ignorant incompetent who makes America a laughing stock on the world stage?

And then as the strong relationships turn to tangible progress, the anti-Trump crowd loses all credibility by churlishly denying or minimizing it.

And nothing illustrates that pattern better than the elites reaction to the really big Kim development this week  of the Jong Un, rather than the Kardashian variety.

Over the past few months, as President Trump has been moving forward his negotiating plan for North Korea  best summarized in the classic phrase peace through strength  the elites lost their minds.

President Trumps words spoken against Kim exploded on Twitter and in the media: Fire and fury. Little Rocket Man. Ive got a bigger button that works.

At every point, the geniuses in the establishment  whose Korea strategy, lets remember, actually helped create the crisis of a nuclear-armed North Korea in the first place  warned us that the presidents actions were recklessly bringing us to the brink of nuclear war.

And now that we see the Trump strategy making progress? Well  the critics have lost all credibility as they minimize and dismiss developments that they would hail as a historic breakthrough if engineered by anyone but President Trump.

The truth, revealed this week, is that the elite have shown themselves to be totally superficial. Their hatred of Donald Trump is not based on policy, or real-world results, or anything at all of substance. Otherwise they would acknowledge and welcome the good news on the diplomatic front  and indeed the economic front back home.

No  its clear that the elites hatred of Trump is based on style, not substance. Forget about what the president actually does. They just cant stand the way Donald Trump is: the way he looks, the way he talks  even what he eats. In a nutshell, theyre snobs.

And thats why they have no credibility.

Well be debating all this on Sunday at 9 p.m. EDT on The Next Revolution on Fox News Channel  hope you can join us!A judge in California agreed Friday to a 90-day delay in the trial between adult-film star Stormy Daniels, President Trump and his personal attorney Michael Cohen, according to court documents.

U.S. District Judge S. James Otero granted the stay after it was previously requested by Cohen, following the April 9 FBI raid on his home, office and hotel room.

The decision comes days after Cohen formally said he would plead the Fifth in the lawsuit, citing the ongoing criminal investigation by the FBI and U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

During the raid, Cohen said the agency seized various electronic devices and documents in my possession, which contain information relating to the $130,000 payment to Plaintiff Stephanie Clifford at the center of this case, and my communications with counsel, Brent Blakely, relating to this action.

TRUMP ATTORNEY MICHAEL COHEN SAYS HELL PLEAD THE FIFTH IN STORMY DANIELS CIVIL CASE

Cohen argued that his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination could be jeopardized if the proceedings weren't delayed.

Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, has claimed that she had a one-time sexual encounter with the president in 2006 and was paid $130,000 by Cohen in the days before the 2016 presidential election as part of a nondisclosure agreement she has sought to invalidate in order to speak freely.

Daniels has offered to return the $130,000 and argues the agreement is legally invalid because it was signed by her and Cohen, not by Trump.

FBI RAID TARGETS TRUMP ATTORNEY MICHAEL COHEN, UNDER SCRUTINY OVER STORMY DANIELS PAYMENTS

In response to the judges decision Friday, Daniels lawyer, Michael Avenatti said that while they certainly respect it, they do not agree with it.

We will likely be filing an immediate appeal to the Ninth circuit early next week, he tweeted. Justice delayed is justice denied.

The judge set a hearing date for July 27, according to the court documents.

Fox News Melissa Chrise, Brooke Singman and The Associated Press contributed to this report.Frances first lady Brigitte Macron reveled in her time spent with Melania Trump this week but feels Americas first lady is constrained while living in the White House.

Macron, 65, told Le Monde that she had a wonderful time with the first lady and called her really fun.

We have the same sense of humor. We laugh a lot together, Macron said.

However, she voiced her concerns over Trumps restrictions while living in the White House.

She cant even open a window at the White House. She cant go outside. Shes much more constrained than I am. I go out every day in Paris, Frances first lady said.

STORMY DANIELS LAWSUIT AGAINST TRUMP, MICHAEL COHEN, DELAYED BY JUDGE

Macron described Trump as kind, charming, intelligent and very open but understands why she looks grim in public.

Everything is interpreted, over-interpreted. Shes someone who has a strong personality but works hard to hide it. She laughs very easily, at everything, but shows it less than I do, she said.

Macron admitted she knew she had to be careful what I say.

I have the impression that every word is a word too many. Im constantly holding myself back. Thats the hardest part: theres never really any time off, never a moment when you can be completely calm, she said.

DEMS FEAR GOP WINS IN CALIFORNIA BECAUSE OF STATES PRIMARY SYSTEM, HOYER SAYS: REPORT

Frances first lady said she tries to live a normal life and visits her three children from her first marriage to banker Andre-Louise Auziere.

I havent changed in my head, she said. Im still the wife of Emmanuel Macron, not of the president. I dont feel like a first lady.

Macron said she has nothing to prove but tries to be more than just a decorative vase of flowers next to her husband.Texas' voter ID law that was twice blocked over findings of discrimination can stay in effect for the 2018 elections, a U.S. appeals court ruled Friday.

It was the second major ruling over voting rights in the U.S. this week after an Arkansas judge on Thursday blocked that state's voter ID measure as unconstitutional.

But in a 2-1 decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, the Texas law that critics have slammed as one of the toughest voter ID measures in the nation was seen as a suitable replacement for the original 2011 law that a federal judge had likened to a "poll tax" on minority voters.

The biggest change to the Texas law  which accepts handgun licenses as sufficient identification to vote, but not college student IDs  is that voters without any acceptable photo ID can still cast a ballot so long as they sign an affidavit. Opponents and a federal judge in Texas balked at the revisions, saying criminal penalties tied to lying on the affidavit could have a chilling effect on voters.

The biggest change to the Texas law ... is that voters without any acceptable photo ID can still cast a ballot so long as they sign an affidavit.

U.S. Circuit Jones Edith Jones said the lower court went too far.

"The district court relied too heavily on evidence of Texas's state-sponsored discrimination from a bygone era," Jones wrote in her majority opinion.

The revisions to Texas' law were also supported by the U.S. Justice Department  a move that amounted to a complete reversal for the federal government, which under former President Barack Obama had joined minority rights groups in suing over the law. But two months after Donald Trump took office, the Justice Department abandoned the argument that Texas passed voter ID rules with discrimination in mind and said the changes should satisfy the courts.

Opponents bristled at the ruling but didn't immediately indicate their next step.

"We continue to firmly believe that the Texas photo ID law is one of the most discriminatory and restrictive measures of its kind," said Kristen Clarke, president of the Washington-based Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, one of the groups involved in the lawsuit.

Texas first passed the voter ID law in 2011, the same year the GOP-controlled Legislature adopted voting maps that were also struck down as discriminatory. Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton said Friday's ruling "removes any burden on voters who cannot obtain a photo ID."

The law was twice shot down by U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos  an appointee of then-President George W. Bush  who ruled that the strict requirements disadvantaged minorities and effectively dampened the electoral power of Texas' surging Hispanic population. She also disapproved of the modified version, which makes knowingly lying on the affidavit to vote a misdemeanor.

Democrats said that provision could keep people home on Election Day over fears of incorrectly filling out a form. Republicans call those concerns unfounded but have also supported aggressive action against voter fraud, which is rare. Earlier this year, a Texas woman was sentenced to five years in prison for voting in the 2016 presidential election when she was ineligible because she was on probation.

Thirty-four states have laws requiring or requesting that voters show some form of identification at the polls, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Arkansas' newly blocked law would have required officials to provide photo identification to voters free of charge if they didn't have any other photo ID. It also would have let voters without ID to cast provisional ballots by signing affidavits.

Pulaski County Circuit Judge Alice Gray, however, ruled there was no guarantee those provisional ballots would be counted and that they would face greater scrutiny.California's "jungle" primary system has Democrats worried that Republicans could win some of the Golden State's congressional seats in midterm elections, a top House Democrat said Friday.

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., speaking to USA Today, said Democrats have a shot at winning in more than 50 congressional districts nationwide -- enough to take control of the House from the GOP.

Democrats need to win 24 seats to flip the House, according to the New York Times, while maintaining the 194 seats they currently hold.

But Californias primary system, in which the top two vote-getters face off in the general election, regardless of party, has Democratic leaders concerned, Hoyer said.

Because of the state's system, if multiple Democrats run in a primary, the party's votes could be so split up that two Republicans could finish first and second and face off in the general election, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Its a concern about having a Democrat in the final two, Hoyer told USA Today. We are focused on that and trying to make sure that we have at least one, maybe two, that really we think are viable. In some areas, we have like five or six Democrats and two or three Republicans and that makes it challenging.

Democratic leaders are speaking candidates about the problematic election style, according to the paper.

Hoyer is still fending off backlash from a secret recording released Thursday by the Intercept, in which a voice identified as Hoyer is heard pressuring progressive candidate Levi Tillemann, a 36-year-old entrepreneur running in Colorados 6th Congressional District in Denver, to drop out of the race in favor of party-backed Jason Crow.

Hoyer addressed the controversy, telling the paper the focus is on having a Democrat in tough districts that are capable of winning.

What is really important from our perspective is making sure that we have a Democrat that can win in districts that are tough, he said. We pretty much key off what the locals think is the strongest position we can be in.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi came to her colleagues defense, telling reporters during her weekly news conference that in terms of candidates and campaigns, I dont see anything inappropriate in what Mr. Hoyer was engaged in  a conversation about the realities of life in the race as to who can make the general election.

Hoyer and other Democrats have suggested that liberals' disdain for President Donald Trump could give the party the boost it needs in the midterms, but a report from the Brennan Center for Justice suggests otherwise.

The report suggests Democrats would have to win the national popular vote for congressional districts by a nearly 11 percentage point margin over Republicans in gerrymandered districts in key states that favor the GOP  something that hasnt been done in more than 40 years.

It would be the equivalent of a tsunami, said Michael Li, a senior counsel who heads up redistricting work for the center, which is based at New York University's School of Law.

Democrats would have to win larger than any sort of recent midterm wave  almost double what they got in 2006  in order to win a narrow majority.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.A speaker affiliated with Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, attending a rally this week in Washington, allegedly called a Jewish city councilwoman a fake Jew.

Elissa Silverman talking about Brother Farrakhan cant come into D.C. no more. That will never happen. You got your nerve to say Farrakhan cant come back to D.C. What nerve are you, you fake Jew? Abdul Khadir Muhammad, a Mid-Atlantic representative for Farrakhan, said about Silverman, a D.C. councilwoman, at the rally Thursday, according to The Washington Post.

What is the fake Jew that calls themselves Jews, the ADL, the JDL, Muhammad also said at the rally, outside of City Hall, referring to the Anti-Defamation League and Jewish Defense League.

He also reportedly ended the roughly 10-minute rally by shouting Termites! -- a reference to Jews.

The intent of the rally, attended by about 25 people, was purportedly to garner support for embattled D.C. Councilman Trayon White Sr.

White recently sparked controversy by allegedly repeating anti-Semitic conspiracy theories on his Facebook page and in a meeting with the D.C. mayor and city council.

He also donated $500 from a constituents' fund to a Chicago event at which Farrakhan said Jews were his enemy, according to The Post.

In addition, White has lauded the community efforts of Nation of Islam members in his impoverished ward. However, White neither promoted nor attended the rally.

The so-called unity rally was organized by an appointee of Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser, Joshua Lopez, who Silverman, an Independent, now wants removed.

Lopez reportedly first said rally organizers would correct misstatements by speakers, then that Muhammad was not an invited speaker and that hed privately told him that his comments were unacceptable.

Silverman said: It is unconscionable that event supporters brush off these repugnant words of prejudice simply as wrong things to say and speakers going rogue.' This was a deliberately misleading, intentionally designed attempt to stir up division and hatred.

Lopez on Friday offered a full apology, in part saying, I do not stand for any level of hate. And I want to offer my sincerest apologies -- especially to my Jewish brothers and sisters-- for not having better mechanisms in place to ensure the spirit of the rally -- solidarity and peace -- was preserved.

However, Lopez said he would not resign from his appointed post on the board of the citys housing authority.

I will not step down, he said. Instead, I will continue to push forward with the message of unity building.President Trump on Saturday called for Montana Sen. Jon Testers resignation, after a White Houses report disputing his allegations against the president's pick for the next secretary of Veterans Affairs, Ronny Jackson.

Allegations made by Senator Jon Tester against Admiral/Doctor Ron Jackson are proving false, Trump said over two tweets. The Secret Service is unable to confirm (in fact they deny) any of the phony Democrat charges which have absolutely devastated the wonderful Jackson family. Tester should resign.

He continued: The great people of Montana will not stand for this kind of slander when talking of a great human being. Admiral Jackson is the kind of man that those in Montana would most respect and admire, and now, for no reason whatsoever, his reputation has been shattered. Not fair, Tester!

Jackson, the White House doctor and a Navy Admiral, withdrew his nomination to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs on Thursday amid allegations collected by Testers office about his prescription-drug practices and use of alcohol. Among the allegations, Jackson was accused of getting drunk and wrecking a government vehicle after a Secret Service going-away party.

Tester, the top Democrat on the Republican-controlled Senate Veteran Affairs Committee, is seeking a third Senate term this year in a state Trump won in 2016 with 56 percent of the vote.

In response to Trump, Tester issued the following statement on Saturday:

It's my duty to make sure Montana veterans get what they need and have earned, and I'll never stop fighting for them as their senator," he said.

Trump tweeted again on the matter later saying, "Secret Service has just informed me that Senator Jon Tester's statements on Admiral Jackson are not true."

"There were no such findings," he continued. "A horrible thing that we in D.C. must live with, just like phony Russian Collusion. Tester should lose race in Montana. Very dishonest and sick."

On Friday, the White House pushed back again the allegations, saying records, including police reports, show Jackson was in three minor vehicle incidents in government vehicles during the last five years, but none involved the use of alcohol and he was not found to be at fault.

In one case, a side-view mirror was clipped by a passing truck, while in another incident an enraged driver in Montgomery County, Maryland, allegedly punched out Jacksons window during a morning drive to Camp David.

In addition, the White House medical unit Jackson ran found that he successfully passed regular controlled substance audits, according to the records for the last three years. The reviews did recommend improvements to the medical units handling of controlled substances but did not find misconduct.

The Associated Press reviewed the documents Friday. They were the result of an internal White House review of allegations raised against Jackson during his brief confirmation process. The White House said the records, covering recent years, disprove the allegations.

Testers office has not specified the time frame during which the alleged misconduct occurred. The senators spokeswoman Marnee Banks said the office would not comment until it knew more about the White House records.

Separately, the Secret Service said it has no evidence to support an allegation that its personnel intervened to prevent Jackson from disturbing former President Barack Obama during a foreign trip in 2015.

In a statement dated Thursday, the Secret Service said it had conducted a thorough review of internal documents related to Obamas foreign trips in 2015 and interviewed people who were present. The agency said it has found no information that would indicate the allegation is accurate and no record of any incident involving Jackson.

CNN had reported allegations that Jackson drunkenly banged on the hotel room door of a female employee and that Secret Service personnel intervened out of concern that he would wake Obama.

Jackson has denied the accusations, calling them baseless and anonymous attacks on his character and integrity that are completely false and fabricated.

Asked about the situation at a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Trump called the Jackson situation an absolute disgrace.

These were false accusations about a great man; about a man who has a son whos a top student at Annapolis; about a man thats given his life to this country, and to the military  a brave man. He would have been a great leader, Trump complained, noting that he, Obama and former President George W. Bush had all praised the doctors conduct in the past.

Trump said hed called Jackson earlier Friday and told him that he was an American hero because hed exposed the system for some horrible things.

The Democratic staff on the committee considering Jacksons nomination also claimed Jackson had doled out such a large supply of a prescription opioid that staffers panicked because they thought the drugs were missing.

They said their allegations were based on conversations with 23 of Jacksons current and former colleagues at the White House Medical Unit.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.President Trump said the logistics for his planned meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are going very well after speaking with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Saturday.

The president said he spoke with the South Korean leader the day after Moon held a historic summit with Kim on Friday.

Just had a long and very good talk with President Moon of South Korea, Trump tweeted. Things are going very well, time and location of meeting with North Korea is being set. Also spoke to Prime Minister [Shinzo] Abe of Japan to inform him of the ongoing negotiations.

Moon and Kim met Friday at the border village of Panmunjom and vowed to remove nuclear weapons from the Korean Peninsula. However, they didn't identify specific, new measures to achieve that goal.

The summit was almost inconceivable a few months ago, after a year when the bordering countries seemed on the verge of war.

The Koreas, which have technically remained at war since the 1950-1953 Korean War was only stopped via an armistice, have agreed to stop all hostile acts over "land, sea and air" that can cause military tensions and clashes.

On Friday, Trump claimed credit for the historic inter-Korean summit, saying he has a responsibility to try and achieve peace and denuclearization.

"And if I can't do it, it'll be a very tough time for a lot of countries, and a lot of people. It's certainly something that I hope I can do for the world," he said.

World leaders hope Trump and Kim can perhaps further solidify or advance the Korean agreement if they indeed meet in May or June, as projected. However, they remain skeptical.

Abe on Friday praised the Korean talks as a "forward-looking move." He said he expects North Korea to take concrete actions toward denuclearization through its planned talks with the United States. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently met with Kim in North Korea, in advance of an upcoming summit.

The Japanese prime minister also said he hopes to get further details about the meeting between the Korean leaders and Moon's evaluation of the talks when they talk by phone.

A meeting between Trump and Kim also seemed impossible until recent weeks, amid North Koreas recent testing of a nuclear warhead and ballistic missiles that could launch a nuclear weapon. Just four months ago, Kim threated the U.S. with nuclear weapons.

The tests resulted in stiff economic sanctions and an alarming exchange of public name-calling between Trump and Kim that sparked fear of war. Trump had called Kim Little Rocket Man. And Kim had called Trump a dotard.

The president pushed back against critics who say he's being manipulated by Kim, who has abruptly shifted to diplomacy after last year's full-scale push to become a nuclear power capable of threatening the U.S. mainland.

"I don't think he's ever had this enthusiasm for somebody, for them wanting to make a deal," Trump said in the Oval Office. "We're not going to be played, OK. We're going to hopefully make a deal. The United States in the past has been played like a fiddle."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.The White House is pushing back against allegations that helped sink the nomination of presidential physician Ronny Jackson to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Jackson, 50, a rear admiral in the U.S. Navy and veteran of the Iraq War who has served as White House physician since 2006, was nominated this year to succeed David Shulkin as head of the VA, the second-largest agency in the federal government.

President Trump has called Jackson an "American hero" and "one of the finest men that I've met in the last long period of time."

"One of the finest men that I've met in the last long period of time."  President Donald Trump, commenting on Dr. Ronny Jackson

But Jackson withdrew his nomination Thursday, in part because of a flood of allegations, including that he drank on duty and once crashed a government vehicle. Many of the accusations were compiled by the office of U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., who dubbed Jackson "Candyman," based on accusations that Jackson liberally distributed medications.

On Friday, however, the White House said internal records, including police reports, revealed that alcohol was never a factor in Jackson's three minor incidents with government vehicles over five years, nor was he ever found at fault  contradicting Testers claims.

Instead, the White House said, records show that in one instance an upset driver punched out a window on Jacksons vehicle during a trip to Camp David, Md., and in another case, a side-view mirror was hit by a passing truck.

The Secret Service also challenged a CNN report that said Jackson had to be stopped by agents during an overseas trip for banging on a White House staffers hotel room door, over concerns that the noise might disturb then-President Barack Obama.

A thorough review of internal documents related to all Presidential foreign travel that occurred in 2015, in addition to interviews of personnel who were present during foreign travel that occurred during the same time frame, has resulted in no information that would indicate the allegation is accurate, the statement reads, according to the Washington Post.

"A thorough review of internal documents ... has resulted in no information that would indicate the allegation is accurate."  Secret Service report on accusation against Dr. Ronny Jackson

Jackson regretfully withdrew his name from contention on Thursday, calling the allegations completely false and fabricated.

If they had any merit, I would not have been selected, promoted and entrusted to serve in such a sensitive and important role as physician to three presidents over the past 12 years, he said in a statement, adding that the false allegations have become a distraction for this President and the important issue we must be addressing  how we give the best care to our nations heroes.

Trump defended Jackson during an interview Thursday morning on Fox and Friends.

"He would have done a great job, he has a tremendous heart," Trump said. "These are false accusations. They are trying to destroy a man."

Raj Shah, White House deputy press secretary, also blasted the claims against Jackson.

Sen. Jon Tester engaged in character assassination against a decorated rear admiral in the United States Navy, and he didnt have a shred of evidence to back it up, Shah said, according to Politico.

Jackson, who previously served presidents Obama and George W. Bush, was tapped by Trump to lead the VA after Shulkin departed March 28.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.By the end of this year, Singapore Airlines hopes to take back the record for worlds longest flight on a newly developed aircraft.

Airbus will unveil its new A350-900 Ultra Long-Range jet later this year, and Singapore is slated to be the first airline to receive the plane, according to Straits Times.

Singapore Airlines previously operated a flight from Singapore to Newark, but cancelled the route in 2013 because of prohibitive operational costs.

However, the new A350-900 ULR could make long flights cheaper to operate. Airbus boasts of the aircrafts fuel efficiency for ultra-long flights. It is capable of flying up to 11,160 miles, about 1,800 more than a standard A350. And the Singapore  New York route wont even push the planes limits. The flight is 9,521 miles and will take 19 hours.

Because of the grueling flight time, Singapore Airlines plans to operate the flight with a two-class configuration: business and premium economy. The plane will be fitted with lighting to combat jet lag and an air circulation system that renews the air every two minutes.

The Singapore flight will be about one hour longer than the current world record holder for longest flight, Qatars route from Auckland to Doha. The 9,032-mile journey takes about 18 hours. A close second is Qantass flight from Perth to London, launched in March, that takes a bit more than 17 hours.

Singapore has ordered seven A350-900ULR aircraft and will use them to increase its long-haul service around the world. The airline also plans to fly nonstop to Los Angeles, a 15-hour flight, beginning in 2019.

The A350-900 ULR completed its first test flight earlier this week at Airbus headquarters in Toulouse, France.

This story originally appeared in Travel + Leisure.In the wake of the April 17 engine explosion aboard Southwest Airlines flight 1380 that left one passenger dead and seven others injured, one female passengers who survived the ordeal is now suing the carrier, alleging the experience has left her suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder

On April 26, Lilia Chavez filed lawsuit in Philadelphia federal court against the Dallas-based carrier, Fox 29 reports. Chavez claims she was sitting three seats behind the window that ultimately shattered after the engine exploded on the tragic flight from LaGuardia Airport in New York City to Dallas' Love Field.

EMIRATES STAFFERS REPORTEDLY TOLD SIBLINGS WITH NUT ALLERGIES TO 'SIT IN THE LOO' WHILE CASHEWS WERE SERVED

Witnessing the horror as the force of depressurization pulled fellow passenger Jennifer Riordan partially through the broken window, she prayed and feared for her life, NPR reports.

Chavez attorney Bradley J. Stoll told the outlet that his client is a very brilliant, successful woman who in her life has overcome very significant obstacles and is the matriarch of her immediate and extended family.

This accident has crippled her will and she is in shock over this horrible, near-death experience, Stoll said.

According to an alumni video published to YouTube by Peralta Colleges, Chavez mother was killed when she was 14, leaving her to raise siblings who passed in and out of the prison system. She eventually received a Ph.D. and is now employed by Merritt College in Oakland, Calif. as a dean.

AIRLINES HAVE A HUGE PROBLEM WITH PASSENGERS STEALING PILLOWS AND BLANKETS

Now, her lawsuit alleges that Southwest was negligent and breached its obligations  failing to warn passengers that the aircraft and engine had defects, NPR reports.

The carrier has since issued letters of apology, in addition to $5,000 checks and $1,000 travel vouchers to passengers aboard flight 1380.

Southwest further declined Fox News' request for comment.

"Our focus remains on working with the NTSB to support their investigation. We cant comment on any pending litigation," a representative said. "The safety and security of our Employees and Customers is our highest priority at all times."

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWSA woman in Florida was arrested Thursday after she was caught allegedly attempting to hide a plastic key inside a chicken sandwich while on a visit to see her imprisoned husband, authorities said.

Trisha Denlinger, 48, went to the Florida State Prison to see her husband, an inmate at the facility, according to an affidavit from the states Department of Corrections Office of the Inspector General.

POT-LACED CHIPS SICKEN 3 FLORIDA MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS, 15-YEAR-OLD GIRL ARRESTED

While there, she allegedly bought a chicken sandwich, which had been sealed, unwrapped it and warmed it in the microwave, the affidavit said. However, when the food was searched by a correctional officer, they found a special small plastic handcuff key hidden inside, according to the document.

During her time visiting the facility, she was able to get past a metal detector and items she brought with her were x-rayed, the affidavit said.

FLORIDA MAN, 71, ACCUSED OF REPEATEDLY EXPOSING HIMSELF AT EATERIES, PLACED ON HOUSE ARREST

Denlinger was booked into the Bradford County Jail and charged with introduction and possession of certain articles unlawfully on Department of Corrections State Property, authorities said.

Her bond was set at $10,000, according to the Bradford County Sheriffs Office.The police chief of one of Salt Lake Citys largest suburbs was fired after he was accused of hugging female employees in a manner that created an "unprofessional and inappropriate" atmosphere, according to a report released on Thursday.

Sandy Police Chief Kevin Thacker, a self-described hugger, was fired Tuesday; Mayor Kurt Bradburn said he'd been accused of inappropriate touching. Bradburn ordered an outside investigation after hearing complaints, but there was no formal complaint or police report from an employee that prompted the investigation.

The investigation, conducted by attorney Scott Hagen, was released Thursday night, and said that Thacker allegedly sought out female employees and hugged them by pressing against their chests and rubbing his hands up and down their back or flanks. He also allegedly put his cheek against those of the women.

Female employees said Thacker sometimes touched their hands, neck, shoulders or upper thighs in awkward or inappropriate ways. One woman told investigators it often felt like he was trying to "cop a feel."

He did not hug male employees, the report found.

Male employees who observed the hugs said that they were left feeling embarrassed, and that Thackers actions created an "unprofessional and inappropriate" atmosphere.

Thacker denied the accusations in an interview with investigators and argued that his hugs were very innocent. He also asserted that he hugged male employees as often as female ones.

The report was dated Monday, but dates of the interviews or alleged activity were redacted. It was unclear how many employees were interviewed, and how many women reported feeling uncomfortable with the hugs.

Bradburn said in a statement Thursday said the report showed a "pattern of inappropriate touching and unprofessional conduct" that left him no choice but to fire Thacker. He praised the police department employees who spoke to investigators.

The ousted police chief had served Sandy, a city of about 96,000 people just south of Salt Lake City, since 2014. Before that he was an officer for more than three decades.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.A seemingly innocent truck carrying coveted Starbucks products between California and Washington was found to be also transporting 126 pounds of methamphetamine Thursday.

The Centralia Police Department in Washington pulled over the Freightliner tractor after the driver and passenger acted suspiciously during a traffic stop, The Olympian reported.

Officers deployed a narcotics-sniffing K-9 to check out the truck where the dog found a large amount of meth hidden inside a television box.

FLORIDA DAD OUTRAGED BY SEXUALLY EXPLICIT QUESTION ON TEENS HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT

The meth was bundled into 40 bricks. Officers also found 2.4 pounds of suspected heroin, several grams of cocaine and thousands of Oxycodone pills.

The driver, a 22-year-old man from Mexico, and a 62-year-old man from California were booked into Lewis County Jail on multiple drug charges, police said.

LAPD OFFICER ARRESTED FOR SMUGGLING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ACROSS US-MEXICO BORDER



The narcotics were not found in the trailer, and the Starbucks products were not exposed of compromised.

The truck was on its way to Spokane, Wash., during the time of the traffic stop.An Arizona police officer was killed when he tried to pull over an armed carjacker and the man jumped out of the stolen vehicle and opened fire.

The Nogales Police Department said Officer Jesus Chuy Cordova, 44, died after being shot multiple times Friday afternoon after he and other officers responded to an "armed carjacking incident."

His death was the first officer fatality in 129 years in Nogales, a close-knit border community, the Arizona Republic reported.

The community of Nogales will never be the same but we hope that this unity continues well into the future, said Nogales Police Chief Roy Bermudez, who thanked members of the community for their thoughts and prayers on the departments Facebook page.

Cordova was killed trying to apprehend carjacking suspect David Ernesto Murillo, 28, of Tempe, Arizona, the paper reported.

Police said that after the shooting, Murillo drove off in a second carjacked vehicle.

The paper reported that after carjacking a third vehicle, officers from Noglaes and other law enforcement agencies grabbed Murillo after he attempted to flee on foot into a trailer park.

Among those offering condolences to Cordovas family and loved ones was Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey.

Cordova leaves behind three children and a fiancee who is pregnant, the paper reported. He joined the Nogales Police Department last May. Before that, he was a detective for 10 years with the Santa Cruz County Sheriffs Office in Nogales.An elderly Oregon man in a nursing home was nearly fingered as the Golden State Killer last year after investigators assigned to the sensational cold case tracked him down through a DNA genealogy website, it was reported Saturday.

Those same investigators this week named an ex-cop as the killer after conducting a similar genetic search using commercially-available DNA websites, but without disclosing the misidentification, the Associated Press reported.

In March 2017, an Oregon City police officer, working with the California investigators, obtained a court order directing the nursing home resident, a 73-year-old man, to provide a DNA sample.

The AP reported that the court documents say detectives used a genetic profile based off DNA from crime scenes linked to the serial killer and compared it to information on a free online genealogical site.

Investigators targeted the Oregon man after finding that he shared a rare genetic marker with the killer, AP reported.

'GOLDEN STATE KILLER' SUSPECT MAKES FIRST COURT APPEARANCE IN SACRAMENTO

The Oregon City man is in extremely poor health in a rehabilitation facility and was unable to answer questions Friday, according to the AP.

His daughter said his family was not aware that authorities took a DNA sample from him while he was lying in bed at the rehabilitation center until she was contacted by the FBI in April 2017 and asked to help expand the family's genetic tree in the search for suspects.

The woman, an amateur genealogist, cooperated, but ultimately investigators determined none of her relatives were viable suspects, she said. The AP reported that woman asked that she not be identified because she did not want the family's name publicly linked to the case.

"I don't like that they thought that my dad was the bad guy, but the truth is they were able to rule out people in my dad's (family) tree," she said. "They didn't have to look at those people anymore."

GOLDEN STATE KILLER SUSPECT'S ARREST RAISING PRIVACY CONCERNS DUE TO USE OF GENEALOGY DNA TESTING SITE

Former cop Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, appeared in court Friday after authorities arrested him at his home near Sacramento this week and said he was the long sought serial killer.

The suspect is believed to have committed 12 murders and more than 45 rapes across California dating to the late 1970s.

DeAngelo, wearing orange jail scrubs, looked dazed and answered in a faint voice to acknowledge his lawyer was a public defender.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.The man wanted in connection with the fatal shooting of a Maine deputy was in custody after a four-day intense manhunt, and was arrested with the slain deputy's own handcuffs, authorities said.

John Williams, 29, was captured by authorities Saturday, Somerset County Sheriff Dale Lancaster confirmed during a news conference, adding that he was taken into custody at a camp near Route 139 in Norridgewock.

When asked by a reporter about the detail involving the handcuffs, the sheriff confirmed that the ones used had belonged to Cpl. Eugene Cole, 62, the deceased deputy. The sheriff said he "felt that it was fitting."

"He was brought to justice using Cole's handcuffs," Lancaster said.

The sheriff said he notified Cole's family about William's capture and "they were relieved, thankful and very grateful."

State Police Lt. Col. John Cote said that Williams was apprehended by a seven-person capture team, comprised of several different law enforcement agencies, and that the suspect did "give limited resistance."

On Saturday, about 150 law enforcement officers remained in the area as searchers took advantage of improving weather to use ground patrols and aircraft to focus on a certain section of woods, where they believed Williams might be hiding.

Williams is accused of fatally shooting Cole of the Somerset County Sheriff's Office on Wednesday. The corporal was killed around 1:45 a.m. on U.S. Route 2 in Norridgewock, 30 miles north of the state capital of Augusta.

Williams has a lengthy criminal background. He was arrested in March for carrying a firearm without a license.

Following the shooting, Williams allegedly stole Cole's cruiser and then robbed a convenience store, officials said. After fleeing the store, he reportedly abandoned the vehicle, which was found around 5 a.m., officials said.

The announcement of Williams capture came just minutes after a press briefing in which Coles widow pleaded with Williams to turn himself him.

This is all that were asking of you. Please, please talk to us, the widow said.

Lancaster said he was "extremely relieved that we have Williams in custody" and was also "extremely saddened by the death of my deputy."

He described Cole as "an outstanding officer" and said they could "now focus on the important task of respectfully laying our fallen brother to rest."

Cole was a member of the sheriff's office for 13 years and had a son, according to authorities. His funeral is slated for Monday at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor. A public viewing is set for Sunday at the Skowhegan Armory. The corporals death is the first time in 29 years that a Maine officer was shot and killed in the line of duty.

Fox News' Travis Fedschun and The Associated Press contributed to this report.Police in New York City say a man spotted by officers ripping down wanted posters of himself had been accused of masturbating on a subway train.

The photo of Kosta Kolaci (KOH'-stah koh-LAH'-cheeh) that's on the posters was taken this month by a rider who was in the same subway car. The rider handed over his photos to police, who made the posters.

The 61-year-old suspect was arrested Friday when officers saw him in a Brooklyn station, tearing down the posters.

He's charged with public lewdness. A phone number couldn't be found for Kolaci.

____

This story has been corrected to show the station where the suspect was arrested is in Brooklyn, not Manhattan.The Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations on Friday would not clarify if a reference he made about two U.N. ambassadors as being liars was aimed at U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley.

Instead of answering direct questions on the accusation, Ambassador Riyad Mansour said only that Haleys speech Thursday to the U.N. Security Council was not credible.

Mansour had called a news conference to discuss the deteriorating situation on the Gaza-Israel border, where thousands of Palestinians protested Friday. Hundreds reportedly tried to storm into Israel during the weekly demonstration.

During the Great March of Return, Israeli security forces reportedly killed three Palestinians, with some 300 injured as they tried to break through the border fence from Gaza.

Referring to Thursdays Security Council debate on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestine question, Mansour told reporters that while he appreciated the support his delegation received at the council, he was not so impressed with two other delegations. Without referring to the U.S. and Israel by name, he went onto say that, We challenge the liars who advocated lies in the Security Council yesterday.

Haleys speech during the Security Council on Thursday centered on the use of human shields by terrorist groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah and ISIS. She said the terrorists hide behind innocent women, children and men to further their cause.

Haley in part said that, Anyone who truly cares about children in Gaza should insist that Hamas immediately stop using children as cannon fodder in its conflict with Israel.

Anyone who truly cares about children in Gaza should insist that Hamas immediately stop using children as cannon fodder in its conflict with Israel.  Nikki Haley, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations

Upon being asked if he was calling Haley a liar, Mansour told reporters that Haley's speech on Thursday, created a very strong resentment among the entire Palestinian nation.

Pushed again for a yes-or-no answer by another journalist, Mansour said only that Haleys speech was not credible.

He said, With regard to Ambassador Haley, the fact that she goes on the tangent that she did, without saying a single word about who is creating this hardship, and the tragedy for the Palestinian people including children -- and not to site a single case of Palestinian children and their suffering at the hands of the Israeli occupying authority -- would make her whole story not credible, in addition to being extremely insensitive.

The U.S. Mission to the U.N. did not respond to a Fox News request for comment, but a senior GOP congressional staffer said that, The entire U.S. federal government, including even the Supreme Court, has been reviewing how much money we should be giving the Palestinians, because they spend it on terrorism, and how much money the Palestinians owe our citizens, again because of their terrorism. Now is probably not the best time for their officials to double-down on insulting our incredibly popular, incredibly influential U.N. ambassador, which is something they've been doing for months.

In a February interview with a Palestinian news site, Saeb Erekat, a senior Palestinian official, reportedly told Haley to shut up, in response to her criticism of Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority.

A few days later Haley shot back during a Security Council meeting with Abbas in attendance.

Haley said, I will decline the advice I was recently given by your top negotiator, Saeb Erekat. I will not shut up. Rather, I will respectfully speak some hard truths.

I will decline the advice I was recently given by your top negotiator, Saeb Erekat. I will not shut up. Rather, I will respectfully speak some hard truths.  Nikki Haley, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations

The Palestinian envoy to the world body did, however, admit to calling his Israeli counterpart, Ambassador Danny Danon, a liar for his remarks at Thursdays Security Council meeting.

In response to his Palestinian counterpart, Danon told Fox News in a statement that, I will continue to proudly stand up for truth against attempts by the Palestinian representative to slander Israel at the U.N. as he advocates for the terrorists of Hamas, who cower behind women and children and use them as human shields.A British woman was sentenced to jail Friday for neglecting her mother who was found dead on a sofa sitting in a pool of diarrhea, police said.

Emma-Jane Kurtz, 41, of Oxfordshire, was found guilty by the Oxford Crown Court of willful neglect. Judge Peter Ross said Kurtz would serve at least half of her two-and-a-half-year sentence in prison, the BBC reported.

Kurtzs mother, Cecily Kurtz, 79, was discovered by police on July 2, 2014, at their family home, the Thames Valley Police said. Officers found the elderly woman dead on her sofa covered in her own excrement and had numerous urine burns to her body.

ALFIE EVANS, UK TODDLER AT CENTER OF LEGAL BATTLE, DIES

"Her underwear which had once been white was by now a deep mahogany brown. Her trousers came apart when the paramedics sought to pull Cecily Kurtz onto the floor, Judge Peter Ross said Friday.

Cecily was found dead on a sofa sitting in a pool of diarrhea in the most appalling and filthy state, Senior Crown Prosecutor Kirsty Allman said. She had been neglected for years in the most horrifically squalid conditions, she weighed 39 kg [85 pounds] was emaciated and her long hair was matted. She was covered in her own excrement and had numerous urine burns to her body.

Following the horrific death, an investigation was launched after medical crews were concerned about the conditions of Kurtzs home and if she was neglected.

Investigators determined the elderly woman was on the sofa slumped over with her chin on her knees for five days.

TRUMP TO VISIT UNITED KINGDOM IN JULY, MEET WITH PM THERESA MAY

Emma-Jane Kurtz told officers she checked on her mother three or four times a day. According to her LinkedIn, Kurtz is an associate solicitor.

"There had been many opportunities over months and years to help her and remove her from that situation, Detective Constable Francesca Griffin said.

The investigation also found the elderly woman suffered from mental illness and hadnt been seen by others for a period of 10 years before her death.

Judge Ross said he recognized Emma-Jane Kurtz had mild autism and was undergoing therapy but believed she could display empathy.

Allman called the case one of the most shocking and sickening cases of neglect I have come across.Conditions may be going from bad to worse for the jailed Pakistani doctor who played a critical role in helping the U.S. get Osama Bin Laden, sources have confirmed with Fox News.

Dr. Shakil Afridi has been moved from the Central Peshawar Jail to a higher-security prison over trumped-up charges he was working with outsiders in a plot to escape, according to his supporters.

This is nonsense, human rights defender Zar Ali Khan, who has longed championed the jailed doctors cause, told Fox News on Friday. His life is under threat in Pakistan whether it is Peshawar, or elsewhere in Pakistan. I do not know what conspiracy government has hatched now.

Afridis lawyer, and cousin, Qamar Nadeem Afridi told Fox News by phone Saturday that on early Friday morning Shakil was shifted to Adyala Jail from Peshawar Central Jail, but was unsure if he would be under tighter lock and key.

Neither I nor his family has been allowed to meet him, Qamar said, denying reports that the U.S. was helping Shakil to flee from jail.

Moreover, the lawyer believes that the transfer was being planned for some time as Adyala Jail recently underwent renovations - but he isnt losing hope yet.

On 22nd May, Shakil will be completing his seven years of consective imprisonment out of 23 years of total imprisonment, Qamar noted. So, we might think that this shift is done under the U.S. pressure... Shakil might get an official release and pardon over his remaining charges, helping him to leave to U.S. permanently."

To many Americans, Afridi - now in his mid-50s - is the hero doctor who played a key role running a cover vaccination program at the Abbottabad, Pakistan compound where bin Laden had been living. But in the eyes of many Pakistanis, he is a traitor who generated national embarrassment.

Even before reports of this prison transfer, Afridi's supporters had become increasingly concerned about the doctor's fate. A plan last year to move him to a lower-profile jail, with the intention of someday allowing his quiet release, was quashed in the courts.

Afridis due process under the tribal system continues to be called into question. The system allows closed hearings and does not require the defender to be present.

Despite the public perception that Afridi committed treason by working with the U.S., that is not the reason he remains behind bars. Afridi was sentenced to a 33-year jail term, but the sentence was reduced in 2014 to 23 years following a decision by the Frontier Crimes Commission Captain.

He is serving a sentence since 2011 on the pretext of having ties with the militant group Lashkar-e- Islam (LEI) providing medical care to its members and extending financial support to them, Qamar, who has been permitted to see the doctor only twice since 2012, told Fox News on Friday.

According to Qamar, the evidence for such a charge came in the form of the prosecutor submitted some papers, coupled with the written statements of anonymous persons, who saw LEI militants receiving treatment in the hospital under Afridi supervision.

Qamar insisted that LEI militants hate Afridi and would have nothing to do with him. Zar Ali Khan, president of Society for Rights and Development and chairman of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) Commission of Human Rights, also dismissed such claims.

Had Afridi been charged with treason, he would have had the right to public hearings and a lengthy appeals process. But such a process would also mean details of the raid carried out successfully by U.S. Navy SEALs would be exposed - something most in the partner country have endeavored to avoid.

Afridi, who facilitated a vaccination program to collect DNA samples to verify bin Ladens hideout in 2011, had no knowledge of the high-value target or exactly who he was working for, his brother Jamil, who has not been seen his sibling since just prior to his 2011 arrest, vehemently asserted.

Afridis pivotal part in the larger operation was exposed after the Obama administration publicly disclosed details of the successful mission, carried by Navy SEALs on May 2, 2011. Three weeks later, the doctor was arrested.

The general view from Islamabad is that the case is riddled with complexities. Officials contend they cannot appear to be interfering with the FATA system or going soft on seemingly treasonous cases that brought them such high-profile humiliation. Nor can the government appear to the voting public to be bowing to U.S. demands, while at the same time endeavoring to improve the U.S. partnership.

One former U.S. intelligence official, who worked closely on the Afridi issue, told Fox News that in the initial years after his arrest, Pakistani leadership issued assurances that there would be a way to release him quietly when the case died down and everyone stopped asking.

But seven years on, he continues to languish.

Sardar Masood Khan, president of the Azad Jammu & Kashmir and Pakistans Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 2008 to 2012, asserted there has been no breakthrough in the case to date, and he does not foresee one anytime soon.

Frustrated U.S. officials insist Afridi has not been forgotten.

A State Department official told Fox News the case remains on their radar, and they continue to raise it with Pakistans top brass.

Meanwhile, the office of Sen. Rand Paul, who has been a strong supporter of Afridi, issued a statement Friday afternoon.

"Sen. Paul remains highly concerned for the safety of Dr. Afridi, and believes Pakistan should immediately release him. Additionally, Dr. Paul has repeatedly urged Pakistan to reform laws that have led to the targeting of religious minorities, including Christians."

Sen. Paul had earlier said he supported President Trump's decision to cut aid funding to Pakistan in part because of the Afridi situation, adding that further cuts should be considered should Dr. Afridi remain unjustly behind bars.

In March, the Afridi case was woven into the $1.3 trillion draft spending bill that mandates a $33 million freeze of financial assistance to Pakistan unless the doctor is released and cleared of all charges.

But hope is fading, and not just for Afridi himself.

Afridis first lawyer, Samiullah Afridi, was gunned down by unknown assailants in April 2015, as was a Peshawar jail deputy superintendent who argued on behalf imprisoned doctor.

Afridis wife Imrana Ghafoor, who was a school principal, remains mostly in-hiding with their three children, but is permitted to see her husband from behind a glass wall once a week.

Qamar said last month they continue to move locations every few months and are no longer in Peshawar. Furthermore, they rely on financial support only from Ghafoors father.

And even human rights defender Zar Ali Khan fled to the Netherlands in September last year, as a result of his Afridi advocacy.

It has been a more than five months that I haven't been able to speak to my family, who are living in Peshawar's outskirts, because they are under great threats, he said. I narrowly escaped death, when on October 31 2016, I was attempted to be shot down."

Then in December, Khan said his NGO office in Peshawar was attacked by unknown assailants and water showered down destroying his records and his livelihood.

My office was my asset which I had started from scratch in my 20 years efforts but in a minute, I lost my everything, Khan added.

But still, I am a human rights defender it is my responsibility to demand justice for Dr. Afridi and his family. A free and fair trial is his right as a human being."U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, kicking off the Middle East leg of his first trip abroad as America's top diplomat.

Pompeo arrived in the Saudi capital of Riyadh for talks with the Saudi king, crown prince and foreign minister just weeks ahead of several key dates that could further roil the volatile region. After leaving Saudi Arabia on Sunday, Pompeo will travel to Israel and Jordan before returning home.

President Donald Trump has set a May 12 deadline to decide whether to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal, something he appears likely to do despite heavy pressure to stay in from European and other parties. Two days later the U.S. plans to open its new embassy in Jerusalem, marking a significant shift in decades of American policy toward Israel and the Palestinians, who also claim the holy city as their capital.

The embassy move is deeply opposed by the Palestinians, who on May 15 will mark the anniversary of what they term the "nabka," or catastrophe, when they fled or were driven from their homes during the 1948 Palestine war. Dozens of Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire during recent violent protests along border between Israel and Gaza.

Also looming over the trip is uncertainty over Trump's policy on Syria, which has shifted between a speedy all-out withdrawal of American forces from the country and leaving a lasting footprint to deter Iran from completing a land bridge from Tehran to Beirut.

On Friday at a NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels, the first stop on his trip, Pompeo repeated Trump's pledge to withdraw from the Iran deal unless it is significantly strengthened. He said the U.S. was "unlikely" to stay in if that was not done.

"Absent a substantial fix, absent overcoming the shortcomings, the flaws of the deal, he is unlikely to stay in that deal past this May," Pompeo said.Russia's controversial floating nuclear power plant has headed out for its first sea voyage.

The floating plant, the Akademik Lomonosov, was towed Saturday out of the St. Petersburg shipyard where it was constructed. It is to be towed through the Baltic Sea and around the northern tip of Norway to Murmansk, where its reactors are to be loaded with nuclear fuel.

The Lomonosov is to be put into service in 2019 in the Arctic off the coast of Chukotka in the far east, providing power for a port town and for oil rigs.

The project has been widely criticized by environmentalists. Greenpeace has dubbed it a "floating Chernobyl."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.From April 2018 livestock farmers in England must comply with a new set of farming rules for water.

There are eight rules, five about managing fertilisers and manures and three on managing soils.

The rules have been introduced to help protect water quality, by standardising practices many farmers are already performing such as those in nitrate vulnerable zones (NVZs).

Nicola Dunn, AHDB resource management scientist, gave us the low-down on what the new rules mean.

See also: Key cross-compliance and greening dates by region

The farming rules for water introduced on 2 April 2018 aim to:

Promote good practice in managing fertilisers and manures

Encourage land managers to take reasonable precautions to prevent diffuse pollution from runoff or soil erosion

Although they are new rules, there are many similarities with NVZ requirements and cross-compliance rules 1 and 5 of the standards of Good Agricultural and Environmental Conditions (GAEC).

However, some rules may be an additional requirement or new for farmers not in an NVZ, explains Dr Dunn.

Its really important all farmers in England are aware of the rules and make sure they are compliant. The rules are quite basic and most farmers should already meet the requirements, she says.

Summary In summary, the fertiliser rules require farmers to test their soils, then plan and apply their fertiliser or manure to improve soil nutrient levels and meet crop needs. Soil testing is required at least every five years. There are minimum storage and spreading distances from water sources. They also require farmers to assess weather and soil conditions to reduce the risk of runoff and soil erosion. The remaining rules require farmers to manage livestock by protecting soil within five metres of water and reducing livestock poaching.

Enforcement

The rules will be enforced by the Environment Agency. It is up to you to demonstrate your compliance. The rules do not dictate how you should demonstrate this, but it could be in the form of a written plan.

Rule 1: Planning use of manures and fertilisers

This rule may be new for farmers not in NVZs, farm assurance schemes or those not previously involved with catchment sensitive farming (CSF).

You must plan the use of fertiliser and manures in advance of each application to meet soil and crop nutrient needs and not exceed these levels.

When applying fertiliser to land that has been cultivated (ploughed, sowed or harvested in the past year or land where fertiliser or manure has been applied in the past three years), soil testing should be used in planning.



Soil tests must include measuring:

Phosphorus

Potassium

Magnesium

pH

Nitrogen

Tests must be done at least every five years. For nitrogen, instead of a soil test you can use the soil nitrogen supply (SNS) assessment method .



Before each application you must also assess whether there is a significant risk of pollution. This involves you taking into account the following factors:

The slope of the agricultural land, especially if the slope is greater than 12deg

The amount of ground cover

Presence and condition of agricultural land drains

Proximity to inland fresh waters and coastal waters

Proximity to wetlands, spring and boreholes

Weather conditions and forecasts

Soil type and condition

You must be able to demonstrate you have taken reasonable precautions to reduce the risk of pollution when you apply manure or fertiliser.

There are free tools that can help you plan nutrient requirements, such as the RB209 manual, which was updated last year, Manner NPK and the Tried and Tested nutrient management plan.

Rule 2: Storing organic manures

The main thing to be aware of is the storage of organic manures (muck heaps) near watercourses.

Organic manures must not be stored on land:

within 10m of inland freshwaters or coastal waters;

where there is significant risk of pollution entering inland freshwaters or coastal waters;

within 50m of a spring, well or borehole.

Rule 3: Applying manures or fertilisers

Rules about when and where you can apply manure and fertiliser may be new to farmers not in an NVZ. However, the rules are generally recognised as good practice. The distance relating to watercourses are in line with other environmental regulations.

Organic manures or manufactured fertilisers must not be applied:

if the soil is waterlogged, flooded, or snow covered;

if the soil has been frozen for more than 12 hours in the previous 24 hours;

if there is significant risk of causing pollution.

Rule 4: Where not to apply organic manures

Organic manures must not be applied:

within 10m of any inland freshwater or coastal waters, or within 6m of inland freshwaters or coastal waters if precision equipment (for example, trailing hose or shoe band spreader, shallow injector, dribble bar applicator) is used;

within 50m of a spring, well or borehole.

Rule 5: Where not to apply fertiliser

Manufactured fertiliser must not be applied within 2m of inland freshwater or coastal waters.

Rule 6: Reasonable precautions to prevent soil erosion

You must take all reasonable precautions to prevent significant soil erosion and runoff from:

the application of organic manure and manufactured fertiliser;

land management and cultivation practices (such as seed-beds, tramlines, rows, beds, stubbles  including harvested land with haulm  polytunnels and irrigation);

creating farm tracks or gateways;

poaching by livestock;

cleaning out ditches.

Rule 7: Protecting against soil erosion by livestock

Any land within 5m of inland freshwater and coastal waters must be protected from significant soil erosion by preventing poaching by livestock. This may include erecting fences to keep animals away from watercourses in some circumstances; or wintering livestock on well-drained, level fields.

Rule 8: Position of livestock feeders

Livestock feeders must not be positioned:

within 10m of any inland freshwater or coastal waters;

within 50m of a spring, well or borehole;

where there is significant risk of pollution from poaching around the feeder entering any inland freshwaters or coastal waters.

What happens if you dont comply? The EA will help you identify the changes you need to make and agree on a timescale by which to make them

It will then carry out a follow-up visit and ask for photographic evidence of those changes

If there is a high risk of pollution, it may take enforcement action.Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily!

Your notification has been saved.

There was a problem saving your notification.

{{description}}

Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.News from GA : Bonn General Anzeiger to become part of the Rheinische Post Mediengruppe

Dusseldorf/Bonn Current owner of the Bonn General Anzeiger, the Bonner Zeitungsdruckerei and Verlaganstalt H. Neusser GmbH has agreed to sell all of its shares to the Rheinische Post Mediengruppe. The acquisition still requires approval from the federal cartel.

Teilen

Teilen Weiterleiten

Weiterleiten Tweeten

Tweeten Weiterleiten

Weiterleiten Drucken

Before the purchase of the newspaper is completed, it still requires the approval of the German Federal Cartel Office. Both purchaser and seller have agreed not to release any details about the transaction. With the planned acquisition of the renowned Bonn General-Anzeiger, the Rheinische Post Mediengruppe would significantly expand its activities in the important core market of North Rhine-Westphalia in the daily newspaper business and further strengthen its journalistic understanding as the "voice of the West".

In addition, its business units for advertising supplements in NRW and activities in radio would be complemented and expanded through the participation of the Bonn Group. As a result of this reorganization, the General-Anzeiger would again be part of a significant media group with a high level of journalism.

Hermann Neusser, publisher and owner of the General Anzeiger, explained, A new era begins for the Bonn General Anzeiger. We are convinced that the newspaper, regardless of the form in which it appears, has a promising future as a quality product. We are therefore delighted to have been acquired by the Rheinische Post Mediengruppe, which with its size and professionalism will lead Bonn-based General Anzeiger as a printed newspaper and in the digital world successfully into the future, said Neusser.

"The Bonn General Anzeiger is a quality newspaper with more than 125 years of history. It is well established in the dynamic economic region of Bonn, where it plays a central role for both readers and businesses. We are committed to this tradition," emphasizes Johannes Werle, CEO of the Rheinische Post Mediengruppe.The Rheinbacher thats not from Rheinbach : "Rheinbacher Premium Pilsner" at Aldi UK

Rheinbach A young woman from Rheinbach was taken aback when her eyes became fixed on a "Rheinbacher Premium Pilsner" in a British supermarket. Is Aldi UK beer brewed in Rheinbach? GA reporter Mario Quadt went in search of an answer to the question.

Teilen

Teilen Weiterleiten

Weiterleiten Tweeten

Tweeten Weiterleiten

Weiterleiten Drucken

Little gifts that people bring back from vacations are a bit like this: They always come with good intentions but are not always nice to look at. In one instance, however, it was a different situation. GA reader Walter Fechtig from Rheinbach recently received a souvenir from his daughter. The Rheinbach resident was astonished to hold in his hands a six-pack of "Rheinbacher Premium Pilsner", which his daughter had discovered and purchased in a British Aldi supermarket.

Fechtig wondered if the Rheinbach brewery on Wilhelmsplatz was already exporting to the UK. Not quite yet, reported Peter Schemerka from Brauhaus Rheinbach in an interview with the General Anzeiger. Although the beer can already be found at selected outlets in Rheinbach and even in Meckenheim, it is not (yet) available in England, according to Schemerka.

If one takes an exact look at the label on the bottle of Rheinbacher, it reveals where the journey could lead; it goes to the outskirts of the Sauerland to Krombach. Optically speaking, the appearance of the "Rheinbacher Premium Pils" is hardly different than the Krombacher Premium Pils. Even the coat of arms that adorns the bottle is very similar in color to the one on Krombach.

The Rhine is more famous than Krombach in Great Britain and this is something which British beer suppliers from Aldi had given thought. Lets call the beer brewed according to German purity laws simply Rheinbacher. I can see it coming: The Brits who are tired of Brexit will soon be streaming on buses to Rheinbach, to treat themselves to one or another Rheinbachers. Im curious if they will taste a difference...A voice artist has been praised by Kiwi film maestro Taika Waititi for refusing to pronounce a Maori word the "white way".

Dave Ward, an Aucklander who reads adverts and voice scripts for a living, took to social media site Twitter on Friday to tell the Thor: Ragnarok director about his principled stand.

"Hey @TaikaWaititi, for the first time in 18 years, I refused to voice scripts today," Mr Ward wrote.

He posted an image of his instructions, which said to read Waimate "the 'white' way - WHY MAT EE".

"I don't care if it's what the customer wants. My voice pays our mortgage and I won't lend it to this. 'Low level' racism like pronunciation is still racism and this is NOT 'the white way'."

Mr Waititi, who has recently labelled New Zealanders who deliberately mispronounce Maori place names as "racist as f**k", hailed Mr Ward's stance.

"Ka mau te wehi, e hoa!" he wrote, which in English translates to "fantastic, mate", or "terrific, mate", according to the online Maori Dictionary.bohlah at 28-04-2018 02:02 PM (3 years ago) (m)

Nollywood Actress & Philanthropist, Tonto Dikeh was recently honoured with the Peace Ambassador Awards by the Niger-Delta Peace Ambassador Initiative an organisation that promotes peace and integration.

Nollywood Actress & Philanthropist, Tonto Dikeh was recently honoured with the Peace Ambassador Awards by the Niger-Delta Peace Ambassador Initiative an organisation that promotes peace and integration.

According to a recent report, the actress received the awards at the 2018 Edition of the annual Niger-Delta Peace for Development Youth Summit/ Niger Delta Ambassador Awards held at Presidential Hotel in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State.





Tonto Dikeh, a foremost Nollywood actress, received the Humanitarian Peace Ambassador Award.





According to the Project Director of NDPAA, Amb. Chris Odey,the movie star was recognized for her immense contributions to the growth of the film industry, which has brought peace to the region and for several charitable projects she has embarked on through her Tonto Dikeh Foundation.



He said that the recipient had also been involved in humanitarian gestures over the years that had promoted social peace and harmony, which was in consonant with the objectives of the award.







The 2018 edition of the prestigious awards cuts across over 20 categories with recipients picked from various fields of human endeavours.



According to a recent report, the actress received the awards at the 2018 Edition of the annual Niger-Delta Peace for Development Youth Summit/ Niger Delta Ambassador Awards held at Presidential Hotel in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State.Tonto Dikeh, a foremost Nollywood actress, received the Humanitarian Peace Ambassador Award.According to the Project Director of NDPAA, Amb. Chris Odey,the movie star was recognized for her immense contributions to the growth of the film industry, which has brought peace to the region and for several charitable projects she has embarked on through her Tonto Dikeh Foundation.He said that the recipient had also been involved in humanitarian gestures over the years that had promoted social peace and harmony, which was in consonant with the objectives of the award.The 2018 edition of the prestigious awards cuts across over 20 categories with recipients picked from various fields of human endeavours.

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 28-04-2018 02:02 PM (3 years ago) | Addicted HeroFernando Alonso has played down the reported ousting of McLaren technical boss Tim Goss.

Three races into the team's tough transition from Honda to Renault power, McLaren has been coy over Goss' apparent departure.

"Not much to add," Spaniard Alonso told El Mundo Deportivo in Baku.

"The team makes changes public at times and at other times not. We restructured the technical team several times last year, and in every team that's normal.

"It's about putting people where it benefits the most. I have total confidence in the team," Alonso added.

(GMM)Paddy Lowe has played down claims Williams' driver lineup is a major factor in the once-great British team's 2018 collapse.

The team's technical boss admits that Williams is grappling with "several problems" with its car.

"We're not making them public but there's a major operation inside Williams to fix them," Lowe told Brazil's Globo.

Last week, ousted Williams driver Felipe Massa said the inexperience of Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin is not helping.

"I don't think that's the case, given our situation," Lowe insisted.

"To fight for the title, ok, the driver needs that experience. When you talk about that final half tenth, only the great champions are able to find it.

"But we do not expect our two very young drivers to be part of that group now.

"We're really satisfied with them. I think they both have the potential to grow in F1 and today, within our limitations, they're demonstrating that.

"Williams' lack of results today is a problem with the car, not the drivers. It's up to us to solve them," Lowe added.

He also played down rumours of a rift with Stroll's father and backer, the billionaire Lawrence Stroll, insisting the relationship is "good".

"He is very supportive of the group, and even me, and is trying to be available to help. I would say that he's a great partner, as is SMP Racing."

Lowe also ruled out fixing Williams' problems by buying in talent, such as the newly departed McLaren technical boss Tim Goss.

"No," said Lowe. "We hired Doug McKiernan in February, but I have no plans to get more people. The challenge is to coordinate the people we have in the right way.

"Sometimes things don't work -- problems arise that nobody expects and it's not necessarily related to the way the engineers are working.

"F1 teams always go through good times and difficult times -- look at the grid and you'll see it happens everywhere," he added.

(GMM)Engine performance is the key to Daniel Ricciardo's next contract.

That is the claim of the Australian driver's boss Christian Horner, who reiterated in Baku that Red Bull wants to keep him.

But Mercedes and Ferrari are reportedly also interested, and Horner admitted that the hierarchy of engine performance in F1 is a key to the eventual outcome.

Red Bull is highly competitive once again in Baku, but Horner told Auto Bild: "Even the Williams is better than us on the two kilometre straight."

The team is openly considering whether to stay with Renault next year or switch to Honda power.

"Renault is working hard, but our relationship is a bit of a roller coaster of emotions," Horner said.

He admitted Red Bull has a "great deal of interest" in how the Toro Rosso-Honda collaboration develops, "because for the first time in 10 years we have an option".

And that is a key to the talks with Ricciardo.

"We will talk behind closed doors," Horner said. "But it's no secret that our preference is to keep Daniel.

"His only question mark is engine performance."

(GMM)F1 races need to be more unpredictable.

That is the view of former F1 team boss Flavio Briatore, who is in Baku this weekend.

"You know that I've never liked this F1 that is for engineers," the Italian told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

"But I admit that the last races were interesting."

However, Briatore warned that all too often, the outcome of the grand prix is too obvious. The top three teams have won every single one of the past 100 races.

"F1 only needs one thing, and that's unpredictability," he said.

"We need to make sure that when turning on the TV, people do not already know who will win. The gap between the strongest and the weakest teams should also be reduced."

(GMM)Lewis Hamilton is "not fully concentrated" in 2018.

That is the view of former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, who is in Baku as a guest of the Azerbaijan government.

World champion Hamilton, who has an extreme new braided hairstyle in Baku, has struggled so far this year.

Ecclestone told the Swiss newspaper Blick: "You can clearly feel it. Lewis is not fully concentrated.

"With him, there could be a thousand reasons for that."

Former F1 team boss Eddie Jordan thinks one reason could be the stalled negotiations between Hamilton and Mercedes over his 2019 contract.

"Both parties should get the contract signed because the longer the two prolong the situation, then the loser is going to be both of them," he told The Sun.

(GMM)Car changes to make overtaking easier in 2019 are unlikely to be approved.

That is the claim of Germany's Auto Motor und Sport, reporting that proposed tweaks to the front and rear wings in particular will be put to a fax vote on Monday.

Correspondent Michael Schmidt said: "The FIA needs 18 yes votes to push through the proposal.

"The teams have 12 votes, but Ferrari controls five of them -- one for themself, one each for Haas and Sauber, one for the sponsor representative Marlboro and one for the race organiser Monza.

"As Ferrari is an opponent of the change, everything will probably remain the same," Schmidt added.

(GMM)Lets restore accountability at the Capitol

by Kelii Akina PhD, Grassroot Institute, April 26, 2018

In theory, the legislative session is a time when complex issues can be hashed out in full view of the public.

Citizens are free to testify and offer feedback to legislators about proposed bills. Legislators can research and debate the possible impact. Hearings are held. Compromises are found.

In theory, the process helps protect us from legislation hastily composed or with secret agendas and possible unintended consequences.

In theory.

In reality, you only need look at how transparency goes by the wayside at the end of the session.

Consider the state budget bill.

We know that Gov. David Ige asked for an extra $50 million to help meet payments for the states unfunded liabilities. What was less clear until recently is that the state is sitting on a multi-year surplus. However, its only an unofficial surplus because it wasnt submitted as part of the governors financial plan.

But lets not get mired in the semantics of bureaucracy. The money is either there or its not. If it is, what is the Legislature planning to do with it? The Hawaii Constitution says any excess revenues must be either given back as a tax refund or credit, deposited into an emergency fund or used to pay down state obligations.

You would think that how to allocate the unofficial surplus would be a public matter, but it has been surprisingly difficult for the public to get any information at this stage. The budget proceedings tend to be very opaque, and are neither broadcast nor recorded. In essence, the only way for the public to learn what is in the budget bill is for the Legislature to approve it.

Even worse is the notorious practice of gut-and-replace. Every year, Hawaii legislators take advantage of a vaguely titled bill to swap out its contents with an entirely different measure they want to see advance. Thus, a bill that has passed one chamber  going through public testimony and debate  can end up being transformed in the other chamber into an entirely different bill. That amended bill then moves along to a conference committee and passage, immune from the need for more hearings and public comment.

And gut-and-replace isnt unusual. It typically happens more than a dozen times every session.

For example, in the current session HB1985 began in the House as a bill about zoning, land use, and affordable housing. Then it went to the Senate where it was transformed into a bill about the Mauna Kea Management Authority.

HB2304 started as a bill about industrial hemp. Now its an appropriation for capital improvements in East Maui.

HB2471 started as a proposal to regulate video games. It became a licensing bill aimed at payday loans.

The practice of gut-and-replace is a repudiation of transparency and citizen involvement. It allows legislators to advance pet projects without subjecting them to fair scrutiny or the full legislative process.

Yet, the practice is so common that the League of Women Voters and Common Cause Hawaii created the Rusty Scalpel Award for the bill that makes the greatest leap in subject without constitutionally required legislative review. In 2017, that award went to a bill that started as a vehicle to lower income tax rates for the poor but ended up as a $1 million appropriation for the Hawaii Tourism Authority.

The real damage here isnt to Hawaiis budget or tax system, though theyve unquestionably suffered as well. More important is how these practices have destroyed public trust in government.

The purpose of transparency and legislative review is to keep government accountable to the public. Through secretive budget hearings and gut-and-replace tactics, the Hawaii Legislature instead has signaled it doesnt care about the public, and fostered the notion that it doesnt need to play by any rules.

What we need is a show of integrity and restraint from our policymakers.

Open up the legislative process. Consider passing rules that would prevent gut-and-replace tactics.

This isnt just about getting more sunlight into those smoke-filled rooms. Its about making our legislators accountable to the people they are supposed to be serving  all of us who live here in Hawaii.

E hana kakou (Lets work together!),

Keli'i Akina, Ph.D.

President/CEOHawai'i Free Press Current Articles | Archives Friday, April 27, 2018 Rep Ward Salutes Korean Peace Initiative on House Floor

By Rep Gene Ward @ 11:41 PM :: 3090 Views :: Military WARD ANNOUNCES HISTORIC PEACE INITIATIVE BETWEEN KOREAS ON HOUSE FLOOR



News Release from Office of Rep Gene Ward April 26, 2018 HONOLULU, HAWAII - Representative Gene Ward (District 17Hawaii Kai, Kalama Valley), a member of the House Military Affairs & International Relations Committee, ended today's House floor session by praising North and South Korea for their agreement to pursue an end to their decades-long war and for perhaps bringing a sigh of relief to Hawaii.



It was just a few short months ago that Kim Jong Un of North Korea said his country's missiles could reach Hawaii," Ward said on the House floor. "And who among us can forget the morning of January 13th? Is there anyone here who didn't think the supposed incoming missile had been launched by North Korea?"



Kim and South Korean leader Moon Jae In pledged earlier today in Panmunjom to negotiate a treaty to formally end the Korean War and also to remove all nuclear weapons from the Korean Peninsula. It was the first time a North Korean leader had ever set foot in South Korea.



"Today is a truly historic day," Ward said. "For that we have much to be grateful for. Let us hope there will soon be real, lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula. But, let's trust but verify."



Last month, Ward wrote a letter to President Donald Trump, inviting the President and Kim to Hawaii to hold summit talks. Trump has agreed to meet with Kim, presumably next month or in early June. A site has not been chosen, but it is said that possibilities have been whittled to two.



Ward has promoted the talks to take place at the East-West Center or at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies. He calls Hawaii a possible "Geneva of the Pacific" where leaders can come to forge agreements toward lasting peace and understanding.



###Hawaii: Trigger Modification Ban Headed to Governors Desk

From NRA-ILA, APRIL 27, 2018

On April 25th, the Hawaii state Senate voted to pass Senate Bill 2046, as previously amended by the House, to ban certain trigger modifications. SB 2046 has been transmitted to Governor David Iges desk for his approval.

Please contact Gov. Ige and politely urge him to veto Senate Bill 2046! Click the Take Action button and here to contact Gov. Ige.

Senate Bill 2046 , sponsored by Senator Karl Rhoads (D-13), would make it a crime to manufacture, import, sell, gift, lend, or possess certain trigger modifications. It contains vague language that could criminalize firearm modifications that are commonly done by law-abiding gun owners to make their firearms more suitable for self-defense, competition, hunting, or even overcoming disability.HCIA's position on the recent passage of Senate Bill 3095:

HCIA Statement April 27, 2018

The Hawaii Crop Improvement Association is very concerned about the negative impacts and unintended consequences of SB3095.

If signed into law, SB3095 will have a profound impact on everyone who uses any type of pesticide, including using home products to control roaches and ants.

Pesticide uses are regulated by the most stringent federal and state standards. Members of our community already comply with these strict regulations, including all applicable buffer zones as mandated by the EPA. Our members voluntarily cooperate with Hawaii Department of Agriculture program(s) that are in place that regulate restricted use pesticides.

The detrimental, wide ranging impacts on farm and pesticide users, will definitely have an immediate effect on other industries, that in turn, will have impacts on the health and well-being of our precious resource, our residents.

SB3095: Text, StatusNBCBlink-182's Travis Barker will lend his drum skills to NBC's Hollywood Game Night as part of the network's Red Nose Day, an annual special created to raise money and awareness for children around the world living in poverty.

Barker will be the guest drummer with the Jane Lynch-hosted show's house band, The Scorekeepers. The episode airs on May 24 at 9 p.m. ET.

Along with Barker, the Red Nose Day edition of Hollywood Game Night will feature celebrities including Kelly Clarkson, Jack Black, Sarah Silverman, Isla Fisher, Sean Hayes, Chelsea Handler, Sasheer Zamata and Cedric the Entertainer.

For more info on Red Nose Day, visit RedNoseDay.org.

In addition to drumming for a good cause, Barker recently hit the studio with Blink-182 to record new music. He's also been working on a project with Limp Bizkit's Wes Borland.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.Subscribing to our services is a three step process. First you have to create an account and then you have to pick if you want to subscribe to digital and or print.

Some people only want to be a digital subscriber to get access online and others want to also receive the print edition.

If you are already a print subscriber and want online access, it is free, you simply have to create an online account and then attach your print subscription account number to the online account you create.Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, speaks at the closing meeting of the bimonthly session of the NPC Standing Committee in Beijing, capital of China, April 27, 2018. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing)

BEIJING, April 27 (Xinhua) -- China's top legislature on Friday concluded its bimonthly session, unanimously passing a landmark law to protect the reputation and honor of heroes and martyrs among other pieces of legislation.

Activities that defame heroes and martyrs, or distort and diminish their deeds will be banned under the new law, which takes effect on May 1.

The law also outlaws acts that glorify invasions, with offenders facing administrative or criminal punishments according to the severity of their actions.

Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, said heroes and martyrs are the spine of the Chinese nation. Their deeds and spirits epitomize a key part of socialist core values.

Li called upon efforts to enforce the law to promote heroism, patriotism and rally behind the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation.

Yue Zhongming, an official with the Commission for Legislative Affairs of the NPC Standing Committee, said at a press conference on Friday that it is correct to outlaw acts that praise invasions, noting that a handful of young people recently dressed in Japanese WWII army uniforms and spread the photos online to glorify the war.

The lawmaker said schools will be a priority area to enforce the law, giving young students correct guidance on history and culture to prevent such incidents from happening.

On Friday, the legislature also passed a law on people's assessors, adopted revisions to six laws, and approved two decisions including one to set up a specialized financial court in Shanghai.

The court, at the intermediate people's court level, will be responsible for commercial cases such as those involving securities, bills, financial lending, and administrative cases.

It will be inaugurated by the end of August, according to a Supreme People's Court official.

In the past three days, lawmakers have also heard and reviewed reports on environmental protection, agriculture, and rights protection for overseas Chinese.

Li said despite positive results China still faces prominent environmental problems. More work is needed to fight and win the arduous battle to control pollution.

He spoke of the importance of boosting agriculture and strengthening protection for overseas Chinese.

The NPC Standing Committee also released its legislative priorities in 2018, with laws on vehicle purchase taxes, farmland occupation taxes, community correction top on agenda.

The property tax law, personal income tax law, and minors protection law have all been put on the waiting list, although drafts may still make it to the top legislature for review this year.

The legislature will begin deliberating on individual books of a civil code in 2018. Compiling a civil code was a decision made by the central leadership. It is expected to be completed by 2020.

Li said the workload is heavy for the incumbent NPC Standing Committee in its first year. He urged lawmakers to work hard and not fear difficulties.Last week, Gov. Dan McKee and the Rhode Island Department of Health outlined the state's enforcement strategy for requiring healthcare workers to get vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus. As of this Friday, all healthcare workers, including EMTs, are required to have received a vaccination, a move the Rhode Island State Association of Firefighters have already expressed a desire to fight in court. Do you believe first responders and healthcare workers should be required to get vaccinated for COVID-19? Why or why not? Let us know in this week's poll question below.

You voted:Actors Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt will be sharing the screen space for the first time in Ayan Mukerji's action-adventure film 'Brahmastra'. Ever since the two started filming in Bulgaria for the film's first schedule, rumours of them being in a relationship started hitting the tinsel town.

Further her relationship with Ranbir also led to distort between Alia's friendship with Katrina Kaif who previously was dating Ranbir. Recently, the two attended Zoya Akhtar's Gully Boy wrap up party together and even left together which further sparked eyeballs to their relationship status.

In a recent interaction with Mumbai Mirror, Alia spoke on her chemistry with the actor. She expressed, "It was a huge schedule. But when you are working with friends and family it never feels like too much work. Brahmastra is a first-of-its-kind for Hindi cinema. It's our most ambitious film till date and I'm curious to see how people respond to this kind of content".

She further emphasised, "Ayan is my director by day, party planner by night and best friend for life. He's my 4 am buddy. And I've always wanted to work with Ranbir. In fact, I was looking forward to the day I'd get to shoot with him because I've been fascinated by the way he steps into his characters. When we filmed together, it was exactly the way I had imagined it. He's not only a fabulous actor but also a fabulous human being. It really doesn't get better than a film set with Ayan and Ranbir on it".

Speaking of Brahmastra, this is Hindi cinema's first trilogy film which also stars Amitabh Bachchan with Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt.A farmer in a village in Odisha. A six-decade border dispute between Andhra Pradesh and Odisha has flared again, after the Andhra Pradesh government distributed free goods to villages that Odisha claims are in its territory. (Wikimedia Commons photo)Given the extensive research, he did on autism for his film My Name Is Khan, Bollywood filmmaker Karan Johar has deeply invested into his support for the cause. (IANS photo)Vice President Mike Pence attended Infosys announcement in Indianapolis, Indiana, of its intent to set up a new education center as well as expand its hiring by an additional 1,000 jobs. (Twitter photo)Gaza Border Killings Expose Israels True Mentality



And Bezalel Smotrich, like the cynical face of Avigdor Lieberman, reflects our own face, the face of Netanyahus advance guard for the West



By Zeev Sternhell



April 27, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - Benjamin Netanyahu, Anshel Pfeffer reminded us, doesnt see the Israeli-Arab conflict as a problem in itself, but as an inseparable part of the clash of civilizations between Islam and the Western world (The Netanyahu vision, in 467 pages, April 18). Israel to him is the Wests spearhead in a 1,500-year-long struggle. When his book A Place Among the Nations was published, I saw it as nothing more than propaganda, intended to invent an ideological cover for perpetuating the occupation sponsored by American neoconservatism in its most simplistic form. Its too bad that good people still fall into that trap. Netanyahu has long understood the Palestinians are incapable of resisting the occupation by force, so the occupation wont end in the foreseeable future. But since no reality can remain for long without an ideological cover, and the biblical narrative doesnt sell well in the United States outside evangelical circles, he cast his lot, in the spirit of the neoconservative trend of the late 20th century, with protecting Western culture. However, for more than 300 years Western culture has presented two approaches: the liberal approach from which democracy and human rights developed from the French and British Enlightenments, and the approach that subordinates the individual to an ethnic community and seeks legitimacy for politics in history. This branch began sprouting already at the end of the 19th century the various nationalist and racist rightist movements, including those that developed into fascism and Nazism. Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter These movements knew how to exploit the universal right to vote to obliterate the equality principle among human beings. Then they obliterated democracy itself. Racist nationalism wasnt invented by Hitler, but grew gradually out of the rightist revolution that began washing over Europe. This radical nationalist approach is Netanyahus West, in which he finds the legitimacy for the colonialist policy of annexation and oppression, which he has been orchestrating since he rose to power. This is the approach the young Israeli who was educated in America adopted for himself: His imagination wasnt fired over there by the civil rights movements legacy, but rather by the dark content of American political culture. While the French Revolution released the Jews and black slaves, in America  along with almost religious devotion to individual freedoms and checks and balances to power, anchored in the Constitution and Declaration of Independence  slavery existed for another 100 years. For 100 more years, brutal social oppression of blacks prevailed. The young Netanyahu learned there that the West contains everything, the best and the worst, and everyone can choose for himself what he needs. Indeed, thats how the Israeli right wing works: After fortifying colonialism, it treats Arabs basically as natives. The British in Kenya and the French in Algieria showed the way. The weekly killing on the Gaza Strip border is a campaign of barbarism, exposing the mentality of the society in whose name the army acts: We can do anything we like. Like Elor Azaria, who executed a wounded terrorist and will soon emerge from prison as a hero, so the uniformed youngsters slaughtering unarmed civilians on the Gazan border are the children of us all. And Bezalel Smotrich, who wants to shoot Ahed Tamimi in the knee, is the lawmaker of us all. We didnt hear the leaders of his party or the education and justice ministers cry out in horror. Smotrich, like the cynical face of Avigdor Lieberman, reflects our own face, the face of Netanyahus advance guard for the West. Thats the hard truth that the 70th year independence celebrations made all the more conspicuous. This article was originally published by "Haaretz " - ===== 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.By Finian Cunningham

April 27, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - A new study by renowned French economist Thomas Piketty in his expertise of social inequality can be invoked to explain the ongoing obsession of the US Democratic party with Russia and its alleged interference in the 2016 American presidential election.

Piketty has concluded that the historic rise of social inequality in Western states over several decades is correlated with the political collapse of leftwing parties which traditionally had professed to represent the interests of the working-class population.

In particular, it is this historic political failure of the Democrats in the US which explains their obsession with doggedly attacking Russia over the last presidential election, as indicated by the latest lawsuit launched by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) against Russia, Trump and Wikileaks.

Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter

The 2016 presidential victory of Republican outsider Donald Trump over Democrat rival Hillary Clinton came as a shock to the American political establishment.

Rather than facing up to real socio-economic reasons for the Democratic partys historic failure at the polls, its leadership has ever since been seeking to make Russia and its alleged collusion with Donald Trump a scapegoat.

In a review published by the Worldwide Socialist Web Site of his latest study, Piketty traces a turning-point to the 1960-70s, when nominally leftwing parties in the US, Britain and France abandoned the political cause to challenge capitalist power. From then on, the Democrats in the US, Britains Labour and the Socialists in France, all became political tools of the ruling elite.

In the US, this outcome is clearly seen with the Democrats being patronized by Wall Street, big business and giant media combines, as well as the secret intelligence apparatus of FBI, CIA and NSA.

Western states have long-forfeited any pretense at being democracies, and are in practice oligarchies, says Piketty. The competing political parties are competing only for acceptance by the ruling elite. The traditional differentiation of leftwing and rightwing is thus rendered meaningless.

The collapse of the traditional leftwing party in the US, the Democrats, in terms of representing the working class, or blue-collar workers, has fueled the explosion of inequality, Piketty contends.

Arguably, all capitalist societies are prone to witnessing expanding inequality over time. But the expansion in the rich-poor gap has dramatically accelerated in all Western states because there are no longer political parties defending the interests of workers and the low-income marginalized. A policy of taxing the rich and progressive taxation has become tantamount to a thought-crime.

The Democratic party in the US has perhaps most egregiously abandoned its duty to advance the economic interests of the working population, which has manifest in the dire implosion of social conditions for the majority in US society. A handful of multibillionaires now own as much combined wealth as the bottom half of the American population  some 160 million people.

The same can be said for Britain, especially under the New Labour party of Tony Blair and subsequently Gordon Brown. Jeremy Corbyn has, to his credit, begun to reorient Labour back to working-class representation. In France, the Socialist party followed the same trajectory of betraying its core voter base to ingratiate itself with big business and finance capital. A factor in why ex-banker Emmanuel Macron got elected last year.

This historical perspective on the demise of the Democrats in the US is crucial to understanding why the party lost the 2016 election to Trump.

As Piketty concludes, working-class voters became disillusioned with the Democrats due to decades of betrayal of their interests and the partys sell-out to the oligarchy. This is why voters turned en masse to outsider Trump in desperation for a champion to advocate for their interests. Cruelly, the election of Trump seems to be bringing only more misery and inequality for the American working class.

Nevertheless, the historic betrayal of the Democrat party of its traditional voters in the fight against capitalist exploitation is the key to why Trump got elected.

This retreat from the fight for social and economic justice by other leftwing parties also explains the rise of nationalist, anti-immigrant populism across Europe.

Still, in the face of this historic reality, the Democratic leadership, along with supportive sections of the US media and intelligence apparatus, have relentlessly accused the Russian state of colluding with the election campaign of Republican President Donald Trump and the Wikileaks whistleblower site to undermine American democracy.

The alleged affair, known as Russiagate, has run out of credibility from lack of evidence despite nearly two years of constant media allegations and the grandiose allusion to the infamous Watergate scandal that ousted Richard Nixon in 1974.

In an attempt to give the deadbeat narrative new life, the Democratic National Committee last week launched a lawsuit in which the Russian government, the Trump campaign and Wikileaks are named as defendants, accused of discrediting the Democratic party and stealing the 2016 election.

In announcing the lawsuit, DNC chairman Tom Perez stated: During the 2016 presidential campaign, Russia launched an all-out assault on our democracy, and it found a willing and active partner in Donald Trumps campaign. This constituted an act of unprecedented treachery: the campaign of a nominee for the president of the United States in league with a hostile foreign power to bolster its own chance to win the presidency.

The DNCs explanation for why it lost the 2016 election has continually resorted to fantasy about Russian collusion. The party is in stunning denial about why it has lost the support of many ordinary Americans.

Rather than coming to terms with its own historic betrayal of American citizens  and rather than possibly reinventing itself as a party dedicated to fighting for workers interests against oligarchic oppression  the Democratic leadership is seeking to evade responsibility by blaming Russia. It continues to choose Wall Streets patronage over workers interests.

That means the Democratic party is in a dead-end. It is in denial about the historic fight for social justice and genuine democracy.

But moreover, in addition, the party is using Russia as a dangerous distraction from its inherent political problems.

US-Russian relations are being driven to a precipice of war from allegations that Moscow has launched an all-out assault on American democracy.

Despicably, the Democrats have not only deserted American citizens over the decades in their sell-out to capitalism and the oligarchy; now, to cover their shameful tracks of betrayal, the Democrats are pushing international relations to an hysterical fever pitch of war with Russia on the back of their obsession with scapegoating Moscow.

Finian Cunningham has written extensively on international affairs, with articles published in several languages. He is a Masters graduate in Agricultural Chemistry and worked as a scientific editor for the Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, England, before pursuing a career in newspaper journalism. He is also a musician and songwriter. For nearly 20 years, he worked as an editor and writer in major news media organisations, including The Mirror, Irish Times and Independent.Speaking the Unspeakable: The Assassination and Martyrdom of Thomas Merton

By Edward Curtin

A Quasi-Review of The Martyrdom of Thomas Merton by Hugh Turley & David Martin

April 27, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - Killing a man who says No! is a risky business, the priest replied, because even a corpse can go on whispering No! No! No! with a persistence and obstinacy that only certain corpses are capable of. And how can you silence a corpse? Ignazio Silone, Bread and Wine

Fifty years have elapsed since Thomas Merton died under mysterious circumstances in a cottage at a Red Cross Conference Center outside Bangkok, Thailand where he was attending an international inter-faith monastic conference. The truth behind his death has been concealed until now through the lies and deceptions of a cast of characters, religious, secular, and U.S. governmental, whose actions chill one to the bone. But he has finally found his voice through Hugh Turley and David Martin, who tell the suppressed truth of Mertons last minutes on earth on December 10, 1968.

Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter

This is an extraordinary book in so many ways. First, because the authors prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Trappist monk and anti-war writer Thomas Merton was assassinated and did not die in a fabricated accident, as has been claimed for all these years.

Second, because it is so meticulously researched, sourced, documented, and logically argued that it puts to shame and the lie to so many works, including academic ones, that purport to be profound but fall apart once carefully inspected, especially all those that have been written about Merton and his alleged accidental death.These false accounts of his death, obviously presented purposely by the key players  that he was electrocuted by a fan while wet from a shower  have been repeated ad nauseam over fifty years as if curiosity were reserved for cats and a writers job were to repeat commonplace absurdities. And of course the mainstream media, the prime organs of propaganda dissemination, have carried out their function by repeating these lies at every turn. The transparency of Turley and Martins presentation is greatly enhanced by the presence of footnotes, not endnotes, which allow readersto easily check sources as they read. Most footnotes refer to primary documents  letters, police reports, etc.  that are reproduced in an appendix that is, however,in need of enlargement, but whose contents have, for some odd or not so odd reasons, escaped the thousands of writers whove penned words about Merton.

Third, because it greatly expands our understanding of that fateful year  1968  by adding the prophetic Mertons name to the list of well-known anti-war leaders  MLK and RFK  who were slain that year by U.S. government operatives intent on crushing the growing opposition to their genocidal war waged on Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. The links between these assassinations are made manifest as one follows the authors brilliant analysis that allows an informed reader to see the template common to them all and one that clearly leads to intelligence agencies practiced in the arts of murder and cover-up.

Fourth, because it proves that in the long run the pen is mightier than the sword, and the spiritually powerful poetic words of a God-entranced man living in seclusion can rattle the cages of men who embrace the void of violence while rejecting the spiritual essence of all religions  that non-violence and love are the laws of existence. Merton may be dead for his killers, but not for those who hear his voice whispering on every page: The very thoughts of a person like me are crimes against the state. All I have to do is think: and immediately I become guilty, Merton wrote in A Signed Confession of Crimes Against the State.

Lastly, because The Martyrdom of Thomas Mertonmarkedly forces the reader to face its harsh truths and examine ones souland complicity in evil as one learns of the perfidy and betrayal of Merton by friends, associates, and biographers whom a naive person might assume are beyond reproach, until, that is, one reads this book. It is a very hard lesson to accept and understand. But Hugh Turley and David Martin sequentially force the reader to contemplate such matters; to conjecturewhy some have conspired and abetted in Mertons murder and especially its fifty year cover-up.

Thomas Merton (Fr. Lewis) was a Catholic monk, poet, writer and theologian who became very well-knownin 1948 with the publication of his autobiography, The Seven Story Mountain, which became a bestseller. Over the next dozen or so years, he published many books on religious themes, mainly avoiding social or political subjects. But although he lived in a monastery, and eventually by himself in a hermitage nearby, he corresponded widely and was tuned in to worldly events. He became a friend and mentor to religious/political activists such as Martin Luther King, Fathers Philip and Daniel Berrigan, James Douglass, among many others. He was a friend of Dorothy Day of the Catholic Worker. He corresponded with Boris Pasternak and Ethel Kennedy; wrote about Albert Camus and Eugene Ionesco. During the 1960s his writing turned more overtly political while remaining rooted in a deep mystical and contemplative spirituality. He became a major inspiration for radical activists who opposed nuclear weapons, the Vietnam War, and the materialist way of life fostered by capitalism that relied on the spread of the American empire through world-wide violence. Although living far away from the din and drama of day-to-day politics, his writing, encouragement, and influence were profound, and he became a major impediment to the propaganda and policies of the military-industrial-political-intelligence complex. He was an inspiration whose spirit disturbed church and state in the most radical way. Turley and Martin say of him:

Merton saw clearly that devotion to truth could not help but bring a person into conflict with sinister special interests. The effectiveness of the truth-seeker would, of course, be greater to the extent he could rally others to his cause, but ultimately, he said, the truth seekers strength lay in trust in God.

Merton died on the afternoon of December 10, 1968 when those sinister special interests snuck up on him. He had just given a talk, had lunch, and returned to his cottage shortly before 2 P.M., accompanied by Fr. Francois de Grunne, O.S.B. (Order of Saint Benedict) from Belgium, who shared the cottage with Merton and two others, Fr. Celestine Say, O.S.B. from the Philippines, whose room was across from Mertons on the first floor, and John Moffit, a journalist editor whose room was directly over Mertons on the second floor adjacent to de Grunnes. The walk from the dining hall to the cottage took 10-15 minutes. Say and Moffit were walking a good distance behind Merton and de Grunne and arrived at the cottage about 5-7 minutes after them. When they entered the unlocked building, they did not see Merton and de Grunne and presumed they had gone to their respective rooms.

Shortly after de Grunne and Merton entered the cottage, Merton was killed. The actions of de Grunne, a mysterious figure who, according to the authors, seems to have fallen off the face of the earth and whose abbey will not even respond to our questions about him, clearly make him a prime suspect in the crime. His actions and story are not believable and are contradicted by the most reliable witness, Fr. Say,whose statements have been absolutely consistent.

Beyond speculation, however, are the facts gathered by the authors that clearly prove that from the start there was a concerted effort to make a crime look like an accident. These efforts were initiated by de Grunne, who was the first to call it an accident, but ably assisted by many others, including the Thai police or their surrogates, whose police report was released by the U.S. Embassy seven months after Mertons death and has no title, author, date, photographs, laboratory reports, or investigators memos, and omits the testimony of the first two witnesses on the scene, Fr. Say and Fr. Egbert Donovan, who viewed Merton lying in a position and dressed in shorts totally inconsistent with the accidental death scenario. Most importantly, this report omits an autopsy report since no autopsy was conducted, a dead giveaway that a cover-up was underway. When a person is found dead, the first assumptionof a competent investigation is that a crime may have been committed, and when the victim is found with a sever gash on the back of his head, is lying in a position inconsistent with an accident, an autopsy becomes essential. But none was performed in Thailand or when Mertons body arrived back at the Abbey of Gethsemani. That the United States Embassy, at the request of Most Reverend Dom Rembert Weakland, O.S.B., who was presiding over the conference, had the U.S Army take possession of Mertons body shortly thereafter, embalm it, and five days later fly it back to the U.S. aboard a military plane together with the corpses of American casualties of the Vietnam War is not only supremely ironic but downright suspicious.

The first public report of Mertons death was delivered on December 11, as Turley and Martin report:

On December 11, 1968, the Associated Press reported that Merton had been electrocuted when he touched a short in a cord while moving an electrical fan, according to anonymous [my emphasis] Catholic sources. The initial news reports did not include any important details such as whofound Merton, the names of any witnesses or officials at the scene, or who determined itwas an accident.

The Thai doctors cause-of-death certificate and the official death certificate said Merton died of sudden cardiac failure, but failed to mention the bleeding rear head wound seen by witnesses.

Most importantly, when Say and Donovan first saw Merton lying on the floor on his back, his legs straight, and his arms straight down by his side with palms to the floor as if placed in a coffin, with a floor fan lying across a thigh to the opposite lower waist, Donovan urged Say to take photographs of Merton before the crime scene was subsequently disturbed. They were very suspicious. Through great detective work, Turley and Martin have acquired a copy of these two photos, but they have been prohibited by the current abbot of Gethsemani from publishing them or even an artists rendering of them. The authors say:

The photographs taken by Say are the best available evidence of the actual scene of Mertons death.The reason the monks took the photographs, as we have emphasized, was to document exactly how they found the body. As we have seen, people whom they would hardly have ever suspected, have consistently done their best to suppress those images. The photographs are an essential resource to anyone interested in knowing the truth about how Merton was killed.

But it is clear that many people would like to suppress that truth and have been hard at work doing so for half a century. But since this is intentionally a quasi-review because one must read this book from beginning to end to grasp the intricacies of this murder mysteryand the cast of characters that comprise it (no review can do justice to such a detailed and brilliant investigation,and, even so, attempting one would spoil the book), I will end with the authors words:

Contrary to the common view, there is really no mystery about how Merton died. The best evidence indicates beyond any serious doubt that Merton was murdered. Its a simple fact that the average person is far more likely to be murdered than to be killed by an electric fan, and Merton was no average person. The story that a fan killed Merton is so preposterous that a series of fantastic stories have had to be invented to make it believable.Who did it and why? The CIA had the motive and the means. 1968: It was a very dark year: MLK, RFK, and Thomas Merton  martyrs all.

If we want to see clearly and revive hope, the time has come to face the faces of the ghastly gallery of liars and deceivers guilty of these crimes. Only then can we live the truths their victims suffered and died for.

Then we too can confess with Merton that we have thought Crimes Against the State.

Edward Curtin is a writer whose work has appeared widely. He teaches sociology at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. His website is http://edwardcurtin.com/

=====

Join the DiscussionBy Eric Margolis

April 27, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - Butcher of Damascus. Gasser of children. Baby Killer of Syria. Tool of Moscow. Cruel despot. Monster.

These are all names the western media and politicians routinely heap on Syrias president, Bashar al-Assad. He has now become the top Mideast villain, the man we love to hate.

As a veteran Mideast watcher, I find all this hard to swallow. Compared to other brutal Mideast leaders, Assad is pretty weak tea. The US/British propaganda effort to paint Assad in blackest colors is having a difficult time.

Mideast leaders who toe the US line and make nice to Israel are invariably called statesmen or president by the American government and its increasingly tame media. Theres good old President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Egypt, the military dictator who crushed that nations only democracy and imposed an iron-fisted rule. But we will never hear from the US media of Egypts political murders, disappearances, secret prisons and torture. Or that Egypt has been one of the worlds most draconian police states since the era of Anwar Sadat and successor Hosni Mubarak.

Saudi rulers are reverently treated by the US media and government in spite of leading the world in executions. Last year, 44 people were publicly beheaded. In some years, around 150 people have been beheaded in Saudi Arabia, often a quarter of them Pakistani guest workers. Having been arrested by the Saudi religious police, I can tell you that the kingdom is a police state with sand dunes and camels. Saudi vassal states Bahrain and the Emirates are better, but not much.

Morocco, a key US ally, is notorious for its ghastly prisons and brutal torture. Iraq and Afghanistan, now under US control, are even worse. Israel, the largest recipient of US aid, holds close to 7,000 Palestinian political prisoners, among them 400 children, and is gunning down Palestinian demonstrators on the Gaza border.

Syria has always been a repressive police state. I recall watching spies being hanged in front of my hotel. Its various police forces are notorious for brutality and torture. In fact, until recently, the US actually sent captive suspects to Syria to be tortured and jailed.

That was before Washington made the decision to overthrow Syrias legitimate government (regime in DC talk) as the first step in attacking Iran.

But Damascus was no worse a human rights abuser than Cairo, Amman, Rabat and Riyadh, all US vassals.

While looking at the current western hate campaigns against Syria and Iran, keep in mind the history of the modern Mideast. We are again seeing the 1914 era lies from London about Belgian babies speared on German bayonets.

Any Arab or Iranian leader who sought an independent policy or refused the tutelage of London and then Washington was delegitimized, excoriated, and demonized. Remember the Iranian leader Mohammed Mossadegh overthrown in a CIA coup? The renowned Egyptian leader, Gamal Abdel Nasser, whom the British branded Hitler on the Nile? Or the late, murdered Libyan Muammar Khadaffi, called Mad Dog of the Mideast by President Ronald Reagan? Imam Khomeini of Iran and President Ahmadinejad, both favored targets of western media invective, and both compared to the much overused Hitler. Saddam Hussein, the Butcher of Baghdad, and that modern Dr Fu Manchu, Osama bin Laden, the all-time favorite Muslim arch villain.

Of course, theres nothing new in this nasty name-calling. During the Victorian Era, Britains press demonized arch villains like the Mad Mullah, the Mahdi, the Fakir of Ipi, and Nana Sahib of the 1857 Indian uprising against British imperial rule.

Bashar al-Assad was a mild-mannered ophthalmologist living in London with his British-born wife. When his rash elder brother Basil was killed in a car crash, Bashar was compelled to return to Syria and become the nominal political leader after the death of his very tough, ruthless father, Hafez al-Assad. Bashars main role was mediating between powerful factions in Damascus and trying to modernize his nation.

In 2011, the US, Britain, Israel and Saudi Arabia ignited an uprising in Syria using often fanatical jihadists. The shy, retiring Bashar was forced to become war leader in a bloody civil conflict as his nation disintegrated.

President Trump, whose B-52 bombers are ravaging the Mideast, Afghanistan, Somalia and Yemen calls al-Assad a monster. Some of his relatives are indeed ruthless. But very many Syrians think of Assad as their nations only hope of returning to normalcy.April 27, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - A group of wealthy donors from New York and California have forked out $50 million to fund a Russia investigation being conducted by Christopher Steele, Fusion GPS and a former Senate staffer for Dianne Feinstein.

That bombshell revelation is made in a footnote to the House Intelligence Committees newly released report on Russian interference in the presidential campaign.

Fusion GPS hired Steele, a former MI6 agent, to investigate Trumps activities in Russia. He would go on to produce a 35-page report alleging collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian government.

The Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee funded the project. A law firm representing the organizations hired Fusion GPS in April 2016.

While the dossier project failed to help former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton win the presidency, Fusion GPS and Steele have continued their investigative work.

Thats according to statements from Daniel Jones, a former Feinstein staffer who runs the Penn Quarter Group (PQG), a Washington, D.C., consulting firm.

The House report states that in March 2017, Jones told the FBI about a project he is working on with Steele and Fusion GPS that is being funded to the tune of $50 million by 7 to 10 wealthy donors from New York and California.

In late March 2017, Jones met with FBI regarding PQG, which he described as exposing foreign influence in Western election,' reads the committees report.

[Redacted] told FBI that PQG was being funded by 7 to 10 wealthy donors located primarily in New York and California, who provided approximately $50 million.

[Redacted] further stated that PQG had secured the services of Steele, his associate [redacted], and Fusion GPS to continue exposing Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. Presidential election, reads the report, which adds that Jones planned to share the information he obtained with policymakersand with the press.

Jones also offered to provide PQGs entire holdings to the FBI, the report says.

The report cites a transcript of an interview that Jones gave to the FBI. The transcript, known as an FD-302, is dated March 28, 2017.

The report confirms recent reporting about Jones work with Fusion and Steele. The Federalist first reported on Feb. 20 that evidence suggested Jones was working with Fusion.

Jones name first emerged in connection with the Russia probe in February after Fox News published a batch of text messages exchanged between Virginia Sen. Mark Warner and Adam Waldman, a lawyer for Oleg Deripaska, a Russian oligarch who is under scrutiny in the Russia probe.

The texts show that Waldman was working as a backchannel between Steele and Warner. Waldman referred to Jones in two exchanges with Warner, who sought to meet with Steele separate from the rest of the Senate Intel panel.

According to text messages seen exclusively by TheDCNF, Jones first contacted Waldman on March 15, 2017, saying that he was with a non-profit group that had just been formed in Washington, D.C.

Dan Jones here from the Democracy Integrity Project. Chris wanted us to connect, Jones wrote, referring to Steele.

Steele.

Waldman met with Jones on March 16, 2017.

During that meeting, Waldman says that Jones revealed that he was working with Fusion GPS. Jones also said that a group of Silicon Valley billionaires and George Soros were funding the project with Fusion GPS, according to Waldman, who testified to the Senate Intelligence panel on Nov. 3.

It remains unclear how Waldman is connected to Steele, who is based in London. Waldmans connection to the former British spy and to Deripaska has prompted questions from Republican lawmakers. Waldman has told TheDCNF that he cannot discuss his relationship to Steele.

According to Waldman, Jones also referred to Fusion GPS during their March 2017 meeting as a shadow media organization helping the government.

In one text message, Jones suggested to Waldman that his team helped place a report with Reuters about Trumps real estate activities.

Our team helped with this, Jones wrote, linking to the March 17, 2017 Reuters article.

Jones sent Waldman several other news articles, including one from McClatchy alleging that the FBI was investigating whether Russian bots influence conservative media outlets like Breitbart and InfoWars.

The same McClatchy reporters who wrote that article also recently published a report alleging that special counsel Robert Mueller has been provided with evidence supporting the Steele dossiers allegation that Trump lawyer Michael Cohen visited Prague in Aug. 2016. Cohen has vehemently denied the allegation. The McClatchy report has not been corroborated.An SS1 student named Lilian Friday at Community Secondary School Otuoke, in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State has been rushed to the hospital after her right was plucked out by a classmate, who tried forcing to join them.

According the reports the suspect identified as Josephine is said to have been mounting pressure and persuading her victim to joint her cult group which she declined persistently. The refusal provoked her (her assailant) and vowed to disfigure her. Consequently they fought and the suspect alerted her team members, held her victim down and stabbed her in the eye, then took off.

Victim is presently receiving treatment in an undisclosed hospital in Bayelsa State there are indications that she might certainly have a surgery in the process.

Source  EbiwalisgossipADEN, Yemen, April 28 (Xinhua) -- The Yemeni anti-terror troops announced on Saturday that a top leader of the Islamic State (IS) group was killed during a joint security operation in the southern port city of Aden.

The IS leader, Sheikh Saleh AlBakhishi, was killed in a joint operation, when he refused to surrender himself and opened fire on the security forces, Aden's security command said in a statement.

"The raid conducted by the anti-terror troops and the emergency security unit, in partnership with local intelligence officials, also resulted in the arrest of three other IS fighters," the statement added.

An intelligence source told Xinhua that the IS leader killed was responsible for commanding terrorist operations in Aden and the neighboring southern province of Abyan.

The forces of the United Arab Emirates based in Aden provided support for the operation.

The official spokesman of the Aden security administration, Abdul Rahman AlNaqeeb, told Xinhua by phone that "the anti-terror troops aimed at arresting the high-ranking IS leader alive but an armed confrontation erupted in the area."

He said that one member of the anti-terror security team was killed and two others were injured in the exchange of fire that continued for about half an hour.

Security forces also arrested three bodyguards of the IS leader in Aden. Several weapons, documents and explosive devices were seized from the IS-held building, according to the spokesman.

The southern port city of Aden is considered as Yemen's temporary capital and the Saudi-backed Yemeni government based itself there since 2015.

During the past two years, the al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula and other terrorist groups including the IS had an active presence in Yemen's southern part.

The impoverished Arab country has been locked into a civil war since the Shiite Houthi rebels overran much of the country militarily and seized all northern provinces, including capital Sanaa, in 2014.

Saudi Arabia leads an Arab military coalition that intervened in Yemen in 2015 to support the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi after Houthi rebels forced him into exile.

The United Nations has listed Yemen as the world's number one humanitarian crisis, with seven million Yemenis on the brink of famine and cholera causing more than 2,000 deaths.Nollywood Actress & Philanthropist, Tonto Dikeh was recently honoured with the Peace Ambassador Awards by the Niger-Delta Peace Ambassador Initiative an organisation that promotes peace and integration.

According to a recent report, the actress received the awards at the 2018 Edition of the annual Niger-Delta Peace for Development Youth Summit/ Niger Delta Ambassador Awards held at Presidential Hotel in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State.

Tonto Dikeh, a foremost Nollywood actress, received the Humanitarian Peace Ambassador Award.

According to the Project Director of NDPAA, Amb. Chris Odey,the movie star was recognized for her immense contributions to the growth of the film industry, which has brought peace to the region and for several charitable projects she has embarked on through her Tonto Dikeh Foundation.

He said that the recipient had also been involved in humanitarian gestures over the years that had promoted social peace and harmony, which was in consonant with the objectives of the award.

The 2018 edition of the prestigious awards cuts across over 20 categories with recipients picked from various fields of human endeavours.



Stunning Nollywood actress, Philanthropist and mother of one, Tonto Dikeh was recently honoured with the Peace Ambassador Awards by the Niger-Delta Peace Ambassador Initiative.

The organization is one that promotes peace and integration  according to a recent report, the actress received the awards at the 2018 Edition of the annual Niger-Delta Peace for Development Youth Summit/ Niger Delta Ambassador Awards held at Presidential Hotel in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State.

While receiving her award, the actress could be seen in a cleavage bearing outfit all smiles as she collected her plaque on the stage.

Photos below:





Leave a Comment

comments



The Iowa State mens and womens track and field teams were apart of history at the Drake Relays on Friday.The United States Census office in Ames is seen preparing for census day on April 1, 2000. Hiring for the 2010 census is ramping up now and positions for students are available. File photo: Iowa State DailyWASHINGTON, April 27 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis said Friday that the United States will discuss with allies and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) the need for U.S. troops to stay stationed on the Korean Peninsula.

The army stationing issue is part of the problems that Washington will discuss in the negotiations with allies first and then with the DPRK, Mattis said while meeting with Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak at the Pentagon.

He added that the United States "will build, through confidence-building measures, a degree of trust if it's going to go forward," referring to the dialogue with the DPRK on the denuclearization issue.

U.S. President Donald Trump in March threatened to withdraw troops from the Korean Peninsula in an attempt widely seen to pressure Seoul to make concessions in bilateral trade dialogues.

"We have a very big trade deficit with them, and we protect them," Trump said in a fund-raising speech in the U.S. state of Missouri. "We lose money on trade, and we lose money on the military."

The U.S. troops have stayed in South Korea ever since the signing of an armistice treaty at the end of 1950-1953 Korean War.

Bilateral relations have been strained over issues like defense burden sharing, the U.S. army's harassment of South Korean civilians and Seoul's initiative to take back the war-time command control from Washington, among others.Today

Showers and a possible thunderstorm this morning, becoming mostly sunny during the afternoon hours. High 92F. Winds NNE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%.

Tonight

Clear skies. Low 66F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph.

Tomorrow

Sunny, along with a few afternoon clouds. High 93F. Winds light and variable.General Xu Qiliang (R), vice chairman of China's Central Military Commission, meets with the visiting Azerbaijani Defense Minister Colonel General Zakir Hasanov (L) in Beijing, April 27, 2018. (mod.gov.cn/Photo by Li Xiaowei)

BEIJING, April 28 (ChinaMil) -- China's Central Military Commission (CMC) Vice Chairman Xu Qiliang met with the visiting Defense Minister of Azerbaijan Zakir Hasanov in Beijing on Friday afternoon.

Xu said that China and Azerbaijan have a long tradition of friendship, since the establishment of diplomatic relations, the two countries have witnessed increasingly deepened mutual political trust, continuous expansion of scale of cooperation in various fields and robust cultural exchanges.

China is willing to work with Azerbaijan, by seizing the favorable opportunity of the "Belt and Road Initiative" construction, to continue to maintain the good momentum of development of bilateral relations, further consolidate traditional friendship, and deepen pragmatic cooperation, Xu said.

As an important part of bilateral relations, the pragmatic military-to-military cooperation between the two countries has always maintained a healthy momentum of development and achieved remarkable results, Xu said, adding that the Chinese military is willing to make joint efforts with the Azerbaijani military to strengthen the existing cooperation in various fields.

Hasanov said that Azerbaijan is willing to strengthen strategic cooperation with China to play a greater role in the construction of the "Belt and Road Initiative", and promote the long-term and stable development of bilateral pragmatic cooperation.

General Xu Qiliang (R), vice chairman of China's Central Military Commission, meets with the visiting Azerbaijani Defense Minister Colonel General Zakir Hasanov (L) in Beijing, April 27, 2018. (mod.gov.cn/Photo by Li Xiaowei)Chinese State Councilor and Defense Minister General Wei Fenghe (L) holds a welcome ceremony for the visiting Azerbaijani Defense Minister Colonel General Zakir Hasanov (R) before their meeting in Beijing, April 27, 2018. (eng.chinamil.com.cn/Li Xiaowei)

BEIJING, April 28 (ChinaMil) -- Chinese State Councilor and Defense Minister Wei Fenghe held talks here with Defense Minister of Azerbaijan Zakir Hasanov on Friday afternoon.

Wei said that in recent years, with promotion of the heads of state of the two countries, the relations between China and Azerbaijan have been developing smoothly and there has been fruitful cooperation in all areas.

Against the background of the continuous progress of bilateral relations, the cooperation between the two militaries in the areas of high-level contacts and personnel training has also developed steadily and achieved satisfactory results, Wei said.

China is willing to make joint efforts with Azerbaijan to deepen the pragmatic cooperation in defense and security areas, so as to provide a good security environment for the joint construction of the "Belt and Road Initiative" and jointly safeguard international and regional peace and stability, Wei told his Azerbaijani counterpart.

Hasanov said that Azerbaijan cherishes its friendship with China, and is willing to work with China to push forward the mutual beneficial cooperation in various fields between the two countries and their militaries to make new progress.

Before their meeting, Wei held a welcome ceremony for Hasanov and accompanied him to review the guard of honor of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA).

Chinese State Councilor and Defense Minister General Wei Fenghe (2nd R) holds talks with Azerbaijani Defense Minister Colonel General Zakir Hasanov (2nd L) in Beijing, April 27, 2018. (mod.gov.cn/Li Xiaowei)Photo shows a commemorative envelope themed on "Chinese air force conducts island patrols around Taiwan". The Chinese People's Liberation Army air force released a promotional video and commemorative envelopes, recapping its recent flights over China's island of Taiwan, on April 28, 2018. [Photo/Xinhua]

FUZHOU, April 28 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) air force on Saturday released a promotional video and commemorative envelopes, recapping its recent flights over China's island of Taiwan.

The video was released in multiple languages including English, Japanese and Chinese dialects such as Minnan (southern Fujian) and Cantonese. The background music features several widely known Chinese patriotic songs.

The video is to let Chinese people of all ethnic groups, especially compatriots in Taiwan and overseas Chinese, understand that not a single inch of China will ever be separated from the motherland, according to the air force.

The photo and footage of the flights used in the video and on the envelopes are aerial shots taken by the PLA pilots during their cruising missions.

The inscription on the envelopes reads, "Taiwan, the Treasure Island, is harbored by our motherland. The motherland will always be in our heart. It is the sacred duty of any PLA pilot to safeguard the territory of our motherland."

"Every time we flew the H-6K bomber over the island, my comrades and I could clearly see the wonderful landscape of our motherland, before recording the scenes with cameras," said pilot Wu Yuepeng. "They're not only the witness to our efforts for a stronger country and a stronger military, but also witness to us carrying out missions in the new era."

"The island patrols of the PLA pilots were also to measure the landscape of China with flying trails," said Shen Jinke, spokesperson of the PLA air force.

He noted that the PLA air force had the resolve, faith, and capability to safeguard China's national sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Since April 18, the air force has conducted a series of island patrols, in order to exercise and enhance its capabilities to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity.Key U.S. leaders are expressing a growing optimism that decades of hostility on the Korean Peninsula are closer than ever to coming to an end.

"I don't think he's playing, I don't think he's playing," U.S. President Donald Trump said at a White House news conference, when asked about Friday's historic summit between North and South Korea. "It's never gone this far," Trump said, standing alongside German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Trump added the U.S. will be "setting up a meeting very shortly," but didn't specify a timeline, saying officials are considering two or three possible sites for his much-anticipated summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in late May or early June.

Earlier Friday, Kim became the first North Korean leader to set foot in South Korea, when he crossed the border to shake the hand of South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

The two leaders agreed to work toward removing all nuclear weapons from the Korean peninsula and vowed to pursue talks that would bring a formal end to the Korean war.

North Korea has in the past made similar commitments about its nuclear program, but failed to follow through. Asked whether Pyongyang's commitment is real this time, Trump said "we're not going to get played."

"This isn't like past administrations. We don't play games," said Trump, adding that previous administrations had been "played like a fiddle."

"We will come up with a solution, and if we don't we will leave the room," he said.

Participants at the Cannes Film Festival will be given fliers warning "Proper Behavior Required" as part of an anti-sexual harassment campaign at the May 8-19 event.

The top women's rights official for the French government announced Friday that she reached a deal with Cannes organizers for the campaign. It will include written warnings urging appropriate behavior and a hotline for victims and witnesses to report abuse.

04/27/2018



Antarctica's McMurdo Station served as a JSU classroom for online student.

More than 800 Jacksonville State students will be on top of the world when the university hosts its spring commencement ceremony on May 4. One graduate, however, will literally not.

Lori Gravelle will spend graduation day down at the South Pole, where she has earned her bachelors degree in emergency management entirely online while working for the Antarctic Fire Department.

It has been a long and sometimes challenging road, she said. But it will have been well worth it the end.

Gravelle serves as the dispatch supervisor of the fire department at McMurdo Station for the US Antarctic Program, which is managed by the National Science Foundation. She is usually deployed from 5 to 14 months at a time, works a minimum of 60 hours per week, and is on-call 24/7. As if juggling her busy workload doesnt present enough of a challenge, shes also had to overcome spotty internet service to pursue her online degree.

Our internet is slow and, at times, completely unavailable, she said. Think of the bandwidth you have at your house, cut it in half, and then spread that out amongst up to 1,000 users. There were also several semesters that I was in-transit to or from The Ice, reading and writing in airports, planes and hotels while struggling through jet lag during the 3-day commute.

Getting to graduation day has been a struggle for all JSU students this semester following the March 19 tornado that ravaged campus. On Friday, President Donald Trump declared the area a federal disaster. The university has depended on the expertise of its Department of Emergency Management while responding to and recovering from the crisis.

The JSU emergency management program offers accredited online degrees at both the undergraduate and graduate level that equip graduates with the knowledge and skills needed to lead community emergency management planning and recovery programs. The universitys Bachelor of Science in emergency management was recently ranked the No. 5 program in the US by College Choice. The academic reputation and flexibility of the program attracts students like Gravelle across the globe.

The program has proven to be extremely rewarding, she said. I look forward to the many opportunities my new degree may afford me. I applaud both other non-traditional and distance learners along with those just starting down the road to graduation. You never know what you are capable of until you try. Stay strong as you work toward your goals!

Five students will also be awarded doctoral degrees in emergency management this spring:

Melissa Jayne Freshwater - Dissertation: Preparing Nursing Students to Respond to Disasters: Faculty Perspectives

Patsy Lynn Pritchett - Dissertation: Case Study: A Healthcare Organizations Emergency Management Program

Timothy Wayne Sevison - Dissertation: Status of the Profession of United States Emergency Management

Jeffery Lee Smith - Dissertation: Preparedness of First Responders in Gwinnett County, Georgia: Barriers to Preparedness and the Impact of Cognitive Biases

Royce Bernard Woodruff - Dissertation: How Did You Get Here? A Descriptive Phenomenological Study of the Lived Career-Path Experiences of African American Federal Coordinating Officers

JSUs spring commencement ceremony will take place on May 4, 10 a.m., on Burgess-Snow Field at JSU Stadium.JURIST Guest Columnist Heidi Gilchrist of Brooklyn Law School discusses the fundamentality of higher education

As high school seniors across the country make their college decisions right now, I would like to raise awareness for higher education as a human right. Many high school graduates will get into the college of their dreams, but their families will be unable to afford to send them there. For many others, even their decisions on where to apply were driven by costs, not wanting to spend the admission fee or considering the fact that they could not afford to go to a particular highly selective institution if they did get in due to exorbitant costs. Worldwide, displaced students from war-torn countries are not getting the education they need to enable them to return to their countries and rebuild or integrate themselves fully into their host countries. Not only is this a crisis on a moral level, it is a crisis from a national security perspective.

Higher education is a human right. Education is recognized as a human right in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; the Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights; and in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The right to education is also included in other conventions against discrimination. Courts in the European Union have recognized higher education as a human right. While most people around the world now accept that primary education is a human right, many still dismiss higher education as a human right. Yet there is no logical endpoint for education in todays increasingly global and complex society where advanced degrees are often needed to succeed in many fields. I am not arguing that everyone should go to collegeonly those with capacity and desire. Education is closely tied to human dignity and other human rights  such as the right to vote and freedom of speech. And, in the words of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, a well-educated, enlightened and active mind, able to wander freely and widely, is one of the joys and rewards of human existence.

Costs at many private universities are now estimated to be between $50,000 and $70,000 a year. However, the median household income in the United States is only $59,039. This is a serious problem. We cannot risk having higher education become a luxury item. It is not.

Without understanding education, including higher education, as a human right, we risk our country losing the very ideal it was founded onaccess to the American dream. The reasons many families came to America was because here, unlike anywhere else in the world, if you were smart and capable, you could make it. Your family name or circumstances did not define the outcome of your life. If we lose this, not only do we lose innovators, those who will make advances in many different fields, but we lose our identity as a nation.

And, interestingly, this is a time when national security and human rights go hand-in-hand. We cannot risk a society in which only one group  the wealthy  can afford higher education. We need diverse viewpoints to come up with innovative solutions to countering terrorism at home and abroad. On a global level, as the war in Syria drags on, we cannot risk a lost generation of students who do not get the education they need. Syria will need its youth to return, educated, to their country and rebuild it so it does not become another fertile ground for radicalism to take root and grow. For the refugees that stay in their host countries, it will be education that helps integrate them fully into their host countries. The Islamic State and other terror groups have figured out how to use a warped form of education to recruit and brainwash recruits with social media and the internet. It will be education, not bombs, that is most likely to counter their radicalization messages. As Nelson Mandela has said, Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.

Access to higher education is vital. Financial aid can only help a limited number of students and loans are extremely burdensome. For a student from a disadvantaged, or even middle-class, background, an economist may tell you college is worth the $240,000 debt, but that number is understandingly daunting to most. And, for many fields, an advanced degree is required so the amount of debt would increase as well. Imagine starting your first job with $400,000 or more in debt. There are some programs in place that are a great start  for example, New York State has a program where families making less than $125,000 can attend, tuition-free, any school in the State University or City University of New York system. So, lets recognize higher education as a human right and work to counter the increasing costs of higher education that is leaving too many students behind.

Heidi Gilchrist is an Assistant Professor of Legal Writing at Brooklyn Law School and a Lecturer-in-Law at Columbia Law School. Her scholarship focuses on national security law issues and the intersection of national security with civil rights and human rights law. She previously served in the federal government as a national security analyst and subsequently as a liaison to the FBIs Joint Terrorism Task Force in New York City.

Suggested citation: Heidi Gilchrist, Higher Education Is a Human Right, JURIST  Academic Commentary, Apr. 27, 2018, http://jurist.org/academic/2018/04/gilchrist-edu-human-right.php. JURIST Guest Columnist Louis Rene Beres of Purdue University, discusses the War in Syria and the potential escalation of future global conflicts 





Where will it end? When will it all be lulled back into sleep, and cease, the bloody hatred, the destruction?

-Aeschylus (Oresteia), presenting the ending of Agamemnon





Currently, the Korean peninsula, Syria and the wider Middle East are the most critically urgent venues of world legal disorder. To be sure, if we can further accept that we are already enmeshed in Cold War II, the United States and Russia should reasonably be included in these venues. Still, the core problems of peace and war are not narrowly geographic. Rather, these issues are embedded deeply into our species time-dishonored commitments to the concept of a national military victory and a literally endless cycle of international belligerence and zero-sum confrontations.

Where will it all end? To answer such a profoundly far-reaching question, we must first recognize that every seeming military success or victory offers only a temporary reprieve, a more-or-less reassuring holding action. In more expressly jurisprudential terms, this acceptance of a never-ending war suggests that even the most carefully codified treaties of peace are ultimately little more than a flimsy armistice or cease-fire agreement. This debility refers even more obviously to non-treaty international legal agreements. While US President Donald Trump now thinks seriously about exiting the 2015 JCPOA with Iran, there is actually little or no reason to suppose that Tehrans strategic nuclear agenda would be affected or correspondingly altered. And if the JCPOA were somehow upgraded to a treaty-based law  an inconceivably optimistic assumption at this late date  the lack of policy consequence for Iran would still remain the same.

Historically, we may readily conclude and without hesitation that any purported military success or even full-scale victory will meaningfully endure only until the next conflict. While it is not inevitable that all conflicts would necessarily reappear in precisely similar circumstances or between the identical state parties, it is, in fact, incontestable that our overall system of global power management (one born at the Peace of Westphalia in 1648) will experience periodic and potentially catastrophic breakdowns.

In short, even if we should somehow successfully manage the stunningly complex crises in Asia, the Middle East, and potentially the United States (think here of a steadily enlarging Cold War II), this alleged success will bring few if any real long-term consolations. Accordingly, in all pertinent security matters, the United States ought not to presumptuously declare mission accomplished, but plan instead to create a more enduring system of world legal reform.

Its not just that such a declaration would be premature (the criticism leveled very recently and fairly about President Donald Trumps almost visceral and self-promoting declaration on his Syria bombardments), but that it would be ill-advised even if it were not operationally too soon.

In the final analysis, what is desperately needed for improved global law enforcement is not just the next national battle plan or more suitably refined order of battle, but a truly coherent vision for reconceptualizing global power management.

For certain, any such heady advice will likely be ridiculed and summarily dismissed as utopian; nonetheless, there are various conspicuous domains of human survival concern in which any stubborn commitment to realism would represent the most naive posture of all. Accordingly, says famed Italian film director, Federico Fellini, although plainly not speaking specifically about world legal order, The visionary is the only realist.

While a filmmaker is not expectedly the optimal source of insight into deeply arcane aspects of global politics, the truth is still always exculpatory, whatever its intellectual origins. Therefore, Realpolitik or geopolitics has never succeeded for more than exceedingly brief historical intervals. Looking ahead, however many defensive first strikes might be launched against assorted presumptively prospective aggressors, and irrespective of any appropriate collective security authorizations, grievous systemic failures could still involve weapons of mass destruction (including even nuclear weapons).

In these blatantly foreseeable cases, any particular failures of Realpolitik could prove not only catastrophic, but also unprecedented  sui generis or unique in the wider lexicon of logic and the scientific method.

What then? In scientific terms, there could be no authentic way to accurately ascertain true probabilities of plausible follow-on catastrophes. This is because true probabilities must always depend upon the determinable frequency of pertinent past events. By irremediable definition, of course, there could be no such pertinent past events.

In complete candor, a determinedly zero-sum orientation of world politics has once again become so darkly unpromising and so brutally competitive that it begins to resemble a genuine chaos. It follows, in the shadowy years ahead for world legal affairs, that one thing is plausibly assured. This is that the longstanding Hobbesian universe of a Bellum omnium contra omnes  a war of all against all- cannot be sustained.

All states, but especially those that rely implicitly or explicitly upon some form of nuclear deterrence, must, therefore, begin to think much more self-consciously about creating improved systems of world law. While any hint of a revealed interest in global unification or integration (or what French Jesuit philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin calls planetization) will sound unacceptably fanciful to realists, it is actually far more realistic to understand a different insight:

The still-prevailing every man for himself ethos in world politics is time-dishonored and destined to fail. In the words of the celebrated Jesuit scientist and philosopher in The Phenomenon of Man: The egocentric ideal of a future reserved for those who have managed to attain egoistically the extremity of `everyone for himself is false and against nature. No element could move and grow except with and by all the others with itself.

Again and again  at some point, perhaps, irretrievably  world systemic failures could become simultaneously intolerable and irreversible. In the final analysis, it will not be enough to merely tinker at the jagged edges of our current world legal order, endlessly forging ad hoc agreements between usually recalcitrant states, or between these states and various surrogate sub-state (sometimes terroristic) organizations: What is the good, inquires playwright Samuel Beckett in Endgame, of passing from one untenable position to another, of seeking justification always on the same plane?

Its the right query. In the longer term, any long term, the only sort of realism that can make any real sense, the only sort of Beckettian good, is a stance that points ceaselessly and unhesitatingly toward a far higher awareness of global human oneness and world system interdependence.

Ultimately, in its fully optimized expressions, such an awareness would likely resemble what the ancients had imaginatively called cosmopolis, or world city. For the moment, incontestably, the prophets of a more integrated and harmonious world civilization will remain few and far between; but this is not on account of any intrinsic lack of need for intellectual prophecy. Instead, it reflects a progressively imperiled species stubborn unwillingness to ever take itself seriously  that is, to recognize that the only sort of common loyalty that can ultimately rescue all states must first embrace a redirected commitment (both individual and national) to humankind in general.

At its heart, this is not really such a complicated idea. To wit, it is hardly a medical secret that those basic behaviors plainly common to all human beings vastly outnumber those traits that continue to foolishly differentiate us, one from another. Unless the leaders of all major states on Planet Earth can finally understand that the survival of any one state will inevitably be contingent upon the survival of all, true national security will continue to elude absolutely every nation on earth, including the allegedly most powerful, including even the superpowers.

There is one central truth in the study of world politics that is still far from any evident recognition or acknowledgment. It is that our planet represents an indissoluble or organic whole, a fragile but fully-intersecting unity that already exhibits steadily disappearing opportunities for human rights and war avoidance.[1]

To seize these residual opportunities, visionaries throughout the world must finally learn to build solidly upon the foundational insights of Francis Bacon, Galileo, and Isaac Newton,[2] and also on the much more recent observation of Lewis Mumford: Civilization is the never-ending process of creating one world and one humanity.

As a much-needed bulwark of such a civilization, international law  which is an integral part of the domestic legal system of all states in world politics  has long assumed a reciprocally common obligation to supply benefits to one another. This core assumption of jurisprudential solidarity is known formally as a peremptory or jus cogens expectation, that is, one that is not even subject to question. It can be found already in Justinian, Corpus Juris Civilis, Hugo Grotius, The Law of War and Peace (1625) and Emmerich de Vattel, The Law of Nations or Principles of Natural Law (1758).

In the short term, the recent US military strikes against Syria represented a reasonable and permissible instance of law-enforcement within a decentralized or still-anarchic world legal system. (Tactically, however, they will have little bearing upon Bashar al-Assads capacity to stay in power and to continue with his genocidal regime.) But in the longer term, which is indisputably more important, any such vigilante or self-help remedies will need to be supplanted systematically by something far more enduring, that is, by an altogether new and potentially universal global consciousness. While it goes without saying that no one has yet figured out just how to bring about such truly indispensable social transformations, it is similarly obvious that proceeding along the traditional course of corrosive interstate rivalries and war can never succeed.

In the end, cautions the classic German poet Goethe, we must depend upon creatures of our own making.

In the end, says filmmaker Federico Fellini, The visionary is the only realist.

Louis Rene Beres (Ph.D., Princeton, 1971) is the author of twelve books and several hundred articles dealing with international law. He was born in Zurich, Switzerland, at the end of World War II, the only son of Austrian Holocaust refugees.

Suggested citation: Louis Rene Beres, Where Will It End?, JURIST  Academic Commentary, Apr. 27, 2018, http://jurist.org/forum/2018/04/louis-beres-where-will-end.php.

This article was prepared for publication by Zach Uram,, a JURIST Staff Editor. Please direct any questions or comments to him at commentary@jurist.orgChina-Ireland trade up 15% in Q1

From:ChinaDaily | 2018-04-27 23:39

DUBLIN - China-Ireland goods trade for the first quarter of this year reached $3.149 billion, up 15 percent compared with the same period last year, according to the official statistics released here on Friday.

The Chinese embassy in Ireland quoted the latest Chinese customs' data as saying that during the January-March period of 2018 China imported a total of $2.38 billion of goods from Ireland, up 9.65 percent over a year ago, while its goods exports to the latter totalled $769 million, up 37 percent year-on-year.

The trade deficit that China suffered against Ireland for the first three months of this year stood at $1.611 billion, up 0.14 percent compared with the corresponding period of 2017, revealed the statistics.

Last year China-Ireland goods trade posted a record high of $11.05 billion. Nevertheless, the bilateral trade between the two countries only accounted for less than 5 percent of Ireland's total goods imports and exports in 2017, which stood at 199.028 billion euros (about $240 billion), according to the data of the Irish national statistics bureau.

Facing the possible negative impact of Brexit on the Irish imports and exports, the Irish government has stepped up its efforts in helping local companies to explore and develop new markets outside of their traditional markets in Europe and North America.

Currently Britain is the second largest trading partner of Ireland only next to the United States, with the bilateral goods trade between the two countries totalling 34.987 euros in 2017.

"We believe there is a huge potential for the Irish exports in the Asia Pacific region, particularly in China," said Julie Sinnamon, CEO of Enterprise Ireland, at an international conference held here on Wednesday.

As a government agency tasked to help Irish companies to market their goods and services overseas, Enterprise Ireland believes that with its rapidly growing middle-class population and its transition to a more quality- and services- oriented economy, China has offered immense opportunities for Ireland, especially for its sectors of agriculture, information and communications technology, pharmaceuticals and medical devices, as well as education.

Enterprise Ireland predicts that China will become a major trading partner of Ireland by the year 2030 with the bilateral trade to grow about 10 percent annually in the coming decade or so.Vice premier highlights rural Internet Plus medical care

From:Xinhua | 2018-04-28 00:55

Video PlayerClose

YINCHUAN, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan has highlighted the role of "Internet Plus" in improving medical care in rural areas.

Sun, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks during an inspection tour of northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, from Wednesday to Thursday.

"The combination of Internet Plus and medical care is a significant solution to the problem of imbalanced and insufficient supply of medical resources," she said when visiting local hospitals and medical service centers.

She asked for the faster implementation of tele-medicine and wider coverage of high-quality medical resources, and other online services such as medical consultation, treatment appointments and one-stop payment to improve the people's experience with medical care services.

"The Internet should be further integrated into the service of family doctors, who should give priority to groups including left-behind children, the empty-nest elderly and chronic disease patients," Sun said. "Social forces should also be encouraged to set up online platforms for medical care."

Moreover, medical care institutions at the grassroots, especially those in impoverished areas, should be further connected to bigger hospitals with the support of medical unions and tele-medicine to enjoy better talent and technology.

She also called for the promotion of healthier lifestyles in rural areas as well as a project to better the nutrition of students before high school, so as to lower the frequency of illness.

The calls were in response to a statement released after an executive meeting of the State Council earlier this month, which asked for the expansion of the role of Internet Plus in medical care.Senior Chinese official stresses study of The Communist Manifesto

From:Xinhua | 2018-04-28 02:50

Video PlayerClose

BEIJING, April 27 (Xinhua) -- A senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC) stressed the study of The Communist Manifesto and called for promotion of theoretical study on Marxism at a symposium Friday.

Huang Kunming, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, made the remarks at the symposium on The Communist Manifesto, an 1848 pamphlet by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, and its significance in contemporary time.

Huang stressed understanding how The Communist Manifesto has guided the CPC's revolution, development, and reforms while reviewing it.

He also required widespread promotion among the public of the study of classic works of Marxism, as well as how to adapt Marxism to a Chinese context and the current times.

This year marks the 170th anniversary of the publication of The Communist Manifesto and the 200th anniversary of Marx's birth.Stewart Babineau, a WorkSafeBC prevention supervisor for the Okanagan, speaks to a crowd of about 60 at the National Day of Mourning ceremony in Vernon for workers killed or injured on the job.Fog shrouds the waterfront as the St. John River water levels rise faster than normal around Fredericton, pushing the river past the flood stage in the New Brunswick capital on Saturday, April 28, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew VaughanSocial Development Minister Jean-Yves Duclos speaks to media following discussions about key housing priorities at the Hotel Grand Pacific in Victoria, B.C., Tuesday, June 28, 2016. The Liberals are considering adding new funding streams to existing programs in a bid to make more federal spending friendly to social finance ideas that link the charitable and private sectors to help pay for and deliver services. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad HipolitoFILE - In this May 12, 2011 file photo, comedian Bill Cosby appears at Temple University's commencement in Philadelphia. On Thursday, April 26, 2018, Cosby was convicted of drugging and molesting a woman in the first big celebrity trial of the #MeToo era, completing the spectacular late-life downfall of a comedian who broke racial barriers in Hollywood on his way to TV superstardom as America's Dad. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)Palestinians medics carry a wounded man during a protest at the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, Friday, April 27, 2018. Palestinians converged on the Gaza border with Israel for a fifth round of weekly protests Friday, some throwing stones and burning tires, as a top U.N. official urged Israel to refrain from using excessive force against them. (AP Photo/ Khalil Hamra)A Pakistani volunteer comforts a grief-stricken person from Shiite community, mourns over a body of his family member at a mortuary in Quetta, Pakistan, Saturday, April 28, 2018. Gunmen attacked an electronics shop and fatally shot two shopkeepers, both of them minority Hazara Shiites, said Mohammad Alam, area police officer. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)John Lopes, a crime scene investigator for the Sacramento County Sheriff's office, carries boxes of evidence taken from the home of murder suspect Joseph DeAngelo to a sheriff's vehicle Thursday, April 26, 2018, in Citrus Heights, Calif. DeAngelo, 72, was taken into custody Tuesday on suspicion of committing multiple homicides and rapes in the 1970s and 1980s in California. Authorities spent the day going through the home for evidence. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)ROCHESTER, Minn.  Police say theyve made a significant arrest and disruption of the Rochester drug trade.

Terrance Burkhalter, 43, has been booked into the Olmsted County Adult Detention Center pending charges of 1st degree drug sales and prohibited person with a firearm. He was arrested after two homes were searched Thursday around 2:30 pm. Police say nothing was found was a residence in the 2300 block of Marion Road but a search of 531 36th Street SW found 19.25 pounds of marijuana, over a pound of cocaine, nearly two ounces of heroin, more than 400 oxycodone pills, 10 grams of marijuana wax, a loaded handgun, and an undetermined amount of cash.

It is believed these drugs came from California as part of a larger distribution ring.

Rochester police say Burkhalters arrest is the result of an extended investigation by the Criminal Interdiction Unit and he is described as someone with a lengthy criminal history in Rochester and Olmsted County.

Police say this investigation is continuing and additional arrested are expected.GARNER, Iowa  A Crystal Lake man stands accused of being a meth dealer.

Corey David Tangman, 31, was charged Wednesday in Hancock County District Court with prohibited acts, a class B drug felony. Authorities say that Tangman, along with two other individuals, distributed methamphetamine between July 24 and October 21 in 2017.

Law enforcement says it searched Tangmans home on October 21, 2017, and found meth and marijuana paraphernalia, scales, baggies, and drug notes.

A class B felony is punishable by up to 25 years in prison in Iowa.GARNER, Iowa  An accused mail thief has been arrested.

Carl Douglas Werstein, 36 of Leland, is charged with ongoing criminal conduct, 3rd degree theft, and 4th degree theft. Charges were filed on Monday and Werstein was arrested Friday in Forest City.

The Hancock County Sheriffs Office says it began receiving complaints in January of mail being stolen from rural mailboxes. There were initial reports of seven thefts from four separate mailboxes and the Sheriffs Office says the investigation identified four additional victims.

Werstein became a suspect in these crimes and law enforcement says it set up a sting to catch the mail thief. Two items were placed in a mailbox monitored by authorities on March 18 and a deputy says Werstein drove up to the mailbox around 4 am and took the trap mail.

Wersteins vehicle was then stopped and searched. Law enforcement says they not only found the trap mail from the sting but a package under the drivers seat holding multiple envelopes with addresses from throughout rural Hancock County.

In total, Werstein is accused of stealing from 12 different mailboxes, sometimes stealing from the same place multiple times. The Sheriffs Office says these thefts happened between December 2017 and March 18 and the items taken ranged from less than $100 in value to $995, with several worth more than $200. Authorities say the stolen material included checks and gift cards.

Ongoing criminal conduct is a class B felony, punishable in Iowa by up to 25 years in prison, while 3rd degree theft is an aggravated misdemeanor and 4th degree theft is a serious misdemeanor.U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that his planned meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has been narrowed to two sites.

Trump spoke in the wake of South Korean President Moon Jae-in's meeting with Kim earlier in the day, during which the two sides committed to complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

"We're down to two countries as to a site, and we'll let you know what that site is," he said at a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the White House.

Trump has said he will meet Kim in May or early June to discuss the denuclearization of the regime. On Thursday he said there were five locations  and three or four dates  under consideration. By Friday morning, he said it was broken down to "two or three" sites.

Among the commonly cited possible venues are Switzerland  where Kim went to school  Mongolia, Sweden, Singapore and Guam.

Trump said he thinks he has a responsibility to resolve the nuclear issue with the North and believes it is "something I can do for the world."

Asked earlier if he thinks Kim is "playing" the U.S., Trump said no.











Rodong Sinmun on Saturday / Yonhap



North Korea's state media reported Saturday that the inter-Korean summit declaration included "complete denuclearization," a rare public mention of the phrase that raised hopes of joint efforts toward the hitherto elusive goal.

"North and South Korea affirmed the common goal of realizing a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula through complete denuclearization," the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.

"Sharing the understanding that the measures led and taken by the North and South are very meaningful, significant ones for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, (the two sides) agreed to fulfill their respective responsibilities and roles going forward," it added.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un held a historic summit south of the Military Demarcation Line at the truce village of Panmunjom on Friday after years of heightened military tensions.

Codifying the denuclearization phrase in the so-called Panmunjom Declaration was hailed as a key achievement from the third cross-border summit, but skeptics pointed to the absence of detailed procedures to achieve the goal.











New U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday he senses North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is "serious" about the upcoming talks with the United States over its denuclearization.

He met with Kim in his secret visit to Pyongyang from March 30-April 1 to prepare for a summit between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump in May or early June.

"I did get a sense that he was serious," he was quoted as saying in a news conference in Brussels, when asked if he thinks Kim is serious about denuclearization.

He made the remarks hours after the leaders of the two Koreas agreed in a summit to seek "complete denuclearization" of the Korean Peninsula and work toward a formal end of the Korean War within this year.

Pompeo praised it as a "historic meeting" and credited Trump's maximum pressure for Pyongyang coming to talks.











The number of North Korean defectors attending South Korea's elementary and secondary schools stood at 2,538 as of April 2017, marking a 270 percent increase from 687 in 2007, figures from the education ministry showed Saturday.

Of the total, 1,027 defector students, or 40.5 percent, were attending elementary schools, while 785 students, or 30.9 percent, were enrolled in middle schools and 726 students, or 28.6 percent, in high schools, the figures showed. The remaining 226 students were enrolled in alternative educational facilities.

Despite the growth in numbers, however, Ministry of Education officials say many defector students have difficulties at South Korean schools due to disparities in language and culture.

For instance, the drop-out rate for North Korean defector students fell to 2 percent last year from 10.8 percent in 2007 but still remained higher than the national average of less than 1 percent, they noted.

The drop-out rate for defector students attending high schools was the highest at 4.3 percent, followed by 1.8 percent at middle schools and 1 percent at elementary schools, they added.

Young escapees arriving here from North Korea are assigned to South Korean schools after a state scholastic committee screens their academic records achieved in the North and other countries.

Usually, North Korean defectors are grouped with younger South Korean students at schools under the current screening system.

"In most cases, defector students lack basic academic abilities as they spent much time as refugees in third-party countries," said a teacher at a Seoul elementary school.

He said defector students born in China and other third-party countries generally have more difficulties adapting to the Korean language and culture. According to ministry figures, the number of North Korean defector students who were born outside the Korean Peninsula was 1,437 as of last year, accounting for 56.6 percent of all defector students. The corresponding figure for 2012 was 708 students, or 35.5 percent. (Yonhap)South Korean President Moon Jae-in and his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump / Yonhap



By Jung Min-ho



U.S. President Donald Trump said "things are going very well" with resolving North Korea issues Saturday after having a phone conversation with South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

"Just had a long and very good talk with President Moon of South Korea. Things are going very well, time and location of meeting with North Korea is being set," he wrote on Twitter after speaking with Moon who just had the historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un the previous day.

In a joint declaration, Moon and Kim affirmed the common goals of making the Korean Peninsula "nuclear free" and seeking a formal end to the Korean War (1950-53).











Three South Korean sailors kidnapped in seas off Ghana last month have been released safely, Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon said Saturday.

"All the three sailors were freed safely," Lee said on Facebook.

The captain, engineer and mate of the 500-ton Marine 711 were hijacked by unidentified pirates on March 26.

The sailors will be moved to Munmu the Great, a South Korean warship dispatched to the area to help rescue them, he said. (Yonhap)By Doug Bandow





Plans for a Trump-Kim summit continue apace. But one critical issue remains unresolved. Where will the two leaders meet?



Guesses include the Korean Peninsula, China and U.S. Pacific possessions. But sources claim none of these are on the final list. Europe supposedly accounts for six possibilities, led by Geneva. Mongolia, Thailand and Singapore allegedly also are being considered. All have serious downsides, however.



Instead of focusing on predictable venues, the North's Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un and America's President Donald Trump should think creatively. Choose the right locale and everything else should fall into place.



For instance, there is Tokyo Disneyland. It properly mirrors the otherworldly aspects of a meeting between the Donald, America's most unusual president, and the 34-year-old supreme leader of one of the strangest states on earth, one which should be preserved as a national theme park. Moreover, Kim's older half-brother's attempt to visit using a forged passport helped knock the latter out of the race to succeed their father.



Another option would be Xian, in China's Shanxi Province. This city is distinguished by the famed terracotta army, created by Emperor Qin Shi Huang for protection in the afterlife. The soldiers would provide Trump with a royal welcome. In contrast, Kim can imagine that the assembled army will come to his defense if Washington violates its pacific promises.



Matamata, New Zealand, would be a nice location. With more sheep than people, New Zealand would take the contending leaders away from the hurly-burly of urban life. The two leaders could set up camp in the mountains where "Lord of the Rings" filmed the bucolic scenes involving the Shire in Middle-Earth. Both Trump and Kim could imagine themselves battling great evil and banishing dangerous threats from their respective homelands.



Monaco should be considered. The European microstate is a playground for the rich and not so famous. It would be a perfect destination for both leaders if their futures prove difficult. Can Kim retain control of his bizarrely ideological system if negotiation leads to greater openness to the West? Where might Trump go if he does get indicted? The two leaders could treat the summit as a scouting expedition.



Moscow also would be a good fit. Trump could make such a trip a twofer, seeing Russian President Vladimir Putin as well. And a sojourn in Russia's capital would remind Kim that he doesn't have many options for asylum, if the result of acquiescence or submission to Washington's demands leads to his overthrow. Kim's wife, the fashion-conscious Ri Sol-ju, might be particularly unhappy with such a home.



For some place really different, the two leaders might consider Damascus. It would offer a powerful reminder on why a peaceful resolution of the Korean conflict is in everyone's interest. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea would lose in any war, but the U.S. and South Korea would scarcely be winners. Moreover, a North Korean collapse could be even worse than a nuclear North: civil war, loose nukes, mass refugee flows, regional chaos.



Still, the Vatican might be a better choice. Although the prospective summit offers an unusual opportunity to end more than seven decades of confrontation on the Korean Peninsula, it also could explode spectacularly. If the president leaves feeling betrayed, he might return to his previous warmongering strategy.



Proximity to the Pope would offer the potential for substantial prayer support. Heck, the Holy Father might call together a special meeting of bishops or cardinals to advance the cause of Korean peace. If the gathering helped push the two blustering, obnoxious, threatening leaders together, it might go down in history for its accomplishment.



Finally, why not Honolulu? It would be perfect. Beautiful, comfortable and midway between the two capitals, filled with people apparently fearful of being nuked by the DPRK. In truth, that was never likely.



But bringing Trump to Honolulu might remind him why war would be a stupid idea, even if he imagined it would be only "over there" in Northeast Asia. The sight of such a wonderful city might encourage Kim to think about retirement. Surely the Supreme Leader needs a break.



The prospective summit is a dramatic, unpredictable step that just might fix a problem that appeared to be insoluble. The location of such a meeting should be equally unique. Both Trump and Kim have flair for the dramatic. Why shouldn't their location choice for the summit reflect a little daring?





Doug Bandow is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and a former special assistant to President Ronald Reagan. He is author of?"Foreign Follies: America's New Global Empire."

By David Tizzard





The inter-Korean summit saw both leaders working hard on diplomatic maneuvers to ensure the success and survival of their respective nations. On a personal level, with both having children (President Moon Jae-in has two, Kim Jong-un is believed to have three) they have also helped contribute to the longevity of the states they lead.







The domestic birthrate is always in the spotlight here and so it was no surprise to see us tackling it in depth during the latest episode of "A Little of a Lot".







Throughout our exploration, I found myself being pulled in two discordant directions: one based on my experience as a father of two and having realized the importance of kin in our lives; the other in my position as assistant professor at Seoul Women's University where over the past decade I have seen a whole demographic of the domestic female population embracing their new-found freedom.







To briefly paint a picture of the situation facing the country, the fertility rate stood at 1.05 in 2017  apparently the lowest in the world and certainly problematic when seen against an average of 2.4 globally. A country needs a fertility rate of 2.1 so that it may replenish itself: South Korea is a long way off that.







In December 2017, the nation recorded more deaths than births for the first time in its history.







While all this has taken place, domestic plans and strategies have been enacted but with little success. In the past 10 years, 80 trillion won has been spent on population policies  most of this going toward childcare support. Furthermore, the government recently approved a budget plan for 2019 that will see 453.3 trillion won ($419 billion) directed to such important socioeconomic issues as the chronically low birthrate and unemployment.







And money is certainly paramount: while much of the social class debate has recently centered on "nut rage" and water throwing, a whopping 82.5 percent of male workers in their 20s and 30s from the top 10 percent income bracket are married, yet only a meager 7 percent from the bottom 10 percent have managed the same feat. Such a gulf requires more focus than it is seemingly receiving.







But what are some of the effects of this? As well as the closure of universities, the nation's low birth rate, combined with an aging population, has led to an ever-increasing social safety net and, as a result, increasing healthcare costs. Future governments will be forced to choose between either increasing tax revenue to pay for this or significantly reducing social security benefits for the population. What choice can one reasonably make when presented with such a dilemma?







Interestingly, one doesn't have to venture too far into South Korea's history to find its government occupied by the exact opposite problem. Following the Korean War, the fertility rate was above six children per woman and so, in 1962, a national family planning campaign  including various maternal and child health services  was introduced to reduce the number of births.







By 1970, the number had fallen to 4.5, and yet more was wanted. In 1981, the government established a two-child replacement level policy as posters and public service announcements gleefully announced to the public that one boy and one girl is all a family needs. That is truer than ever today but for the opposite reasons.







British author and critic George Orwell would no doubt have had much to say about the recent political developments. His work frequently examined the relationship between language and thought  how the very words we use can transform us, and vice versa.







The language heard on many university campuses these days in Seoul includes such neologisms as sampo sedae  the generation of youth that has given up three things: dating, marriage and children. If previous citizens were emboldened by their title of being the "386 generation," many today are reaffirming their desires to each other by frequent use of such terms that signal their intent to relinquish and renounce what was once asked of them.







And yet as someone tasked with instructing and teaching this very generation, I find myself inclined to remember that here is a whole swathe of the population now embracing a certain freedom. The young women of this country now have full access to university and this plants in them promises and dreams of a career, of future opulence, of graduate school, of a life of scholarship and tutelage.







My wife will certainly attest that maintaining a successful professional career and simultaneously raising two young children to the best of one's ability is not easy. Like the aforementioned dilemmas that will face future governments here with regard the social security net, there is no simple answer to this quandary.







The most important thing, it seems, is that people now have the choice to make for themselves.







Governments can enact plans and proposals, societies will face economic upturns and downturns, the gap between social classes will still likely exist, and people will continue to live longer  all a complex interwoven fabric of the world we live in. But now, perhaps more than ever, people have the freedom to choose what they will do in this patchwork upon which they live.







If last week was a lesson in learning the importance of freedom of taste with regard to music, this week teaches us that people having the ability and freedom to choose just how they will live their lives is a very powerful thing.







) is an assistant professor at Seoul Women's University and host of TBS eFM's cultural radio show "A Little of a Lot." The show can be heard every Sunday from 4 p.m.-6 p.m. on 101.3 FM or downloaded via online platforms such as iTunes and Podbang.



David Tizzard ( datizzard@swu.ac.krFrom left: Herb Gidney, Roland Timms, Gladys Caughran and Lou Nonini (Koryo's mining engineer) look for rocks containing gold. Circa July 1969.



By Robert Neff



In the 1960s, a popular tour for expats living in Seoul was a trip to the Koryo mine in North Gyeongsang Province.



The Stars and Stripes  a military newspaper  even promoted it in an article that claimed: "A few dollars and a hike across some of the most breathtaking scenery in the Republic of Korea are all it costs to visit an up-and-coming enterprise which is  quite literally  a gold mine."



Frank Bruno, the promotions director of the Korean Consolidated Mining Company  which operated the Koryo mine  organized the tours from Bando Hotel in Seoul. Tour participants were encouraged to wear old, comfortable clothing, carry a pack filled with food and extra film for their cameras, and to take a canteen with fresh water as the going would be tough and there would be few amenities  even at the mine.



"It takes some effort to get to, and may cost you a few blisters," cautioned Bruno but then added that "most visitors say it's well worth the trip."





It took two hours to walk from the station to the mine. Circa July 1969.



The tours left Seoul Friday evening and returned on Sunday morning. Transportation was by train (sleeper car) to Chunyang  the closest train station to the mine  and then an arduous two-hour trek on foot through streams, rice paddies and up and down rugged terrain.



"Believe me that it was a wild, wonderful and terribly rugged country," recalled Fred Dustin, somewhat proudly, three decades later.



For most, the tour was a cheap excursion out of the hustle and bustle of Seoul but for others, like Herb Gidney, the trip was quite costly; he had a heart attack the day after he returned to Seoul. Fortunately he survived and, after a few weeks in hospital, soon returned to the Seoul Club to regale his fellow expats with his journey to the gold mine.



My appreciation to Fred Dustin for providing the photographs and anecdotes.





Chunyang station, circa July 1969.





"Crossing the river a few miles from the mine. The water was a little high and just passable." Gladys Caughran and Herb Gidney can be seen on the opposite side encouraging the others to hurry.





The water tower that supplied the mill with water. "It seems this thing was getting washed out each year at high water." Circa July 1969.





Spartan working and living conditions at the mine. Circa July 1969.





Housing at the mine. From left: Jeff Coolidge, John Groves, unidentified, George Creek, Howard Dutcher and Fred Dustin (with back to camera). Circa July 1969.





John Groves, a "fine gentleman," smokes his cigar while standing in front of the gold traps. Circa July 1969.





Fred Dustin, an unidentified Canadian, Herb Gidney, Lou Nonini (Koryo's mining engineer), Roland Timms and Gladys Caughran. Circa July 1969.By Jacco Zwetsloot





While living at the teacher training institute, I began to learn to ride a motorcycle. The campus had a big car park, and a technician, Mr. Ahn, owned a small locally made motorbike with a low horsepower engine.



He kindly allowed me to ride that thing around the car park and, as my confidence grew, outside the campus in the countryside. For the first time, I could understand that feeling of liberation and joy that motorcyclists must feel.



Not long after, the American teacher who had picked me up from Gimpo Airport that first day in July 1996 decided that he would leave Korea for good. He had a motorcycle and wanted to sell it to me, but he lived all the way down in Gunsan.



So one Friday after work I took the train via Iksan to Gunsan. I stayed at John's house overnight and the next day he organized a removal van, the ubiquitous blue Bongo truck, to take me and the bike back up to Pyeongtaek.



The motorcycle I bought was a Daelim, bigger than Mr. Ahn's, and with a little more horsepower, but it was still just 125cc. It took some time to get used to this machine, and I am not that adventurous or bold, so I just drove it locally and into the town of Anjung.



I found a nearby motorcycle repair shop to help me with oil changes and so on. John had replaced the original horn with a very long and loud one, to attract the attention of cars and (hopefully) reduce the chance of being hit.



I liked the horn, but one day when the motorcycle got rained on, something went wrong with the connector cable, because when I pressed the horn it started but would not stop again, and I had to pull the cables loose to stop the thing from attracting the wrong sort of attention.



When I went to have the ownership transferred to my name, I ran into a serious problem. John had written the most rudimentary bill of sale by hand on a page in my diary, and when I showed that at the local registry office, they just laughed.



They told me I needed an official form filled in and signed (with the red dojang stamp). Otherwise, they would believe that I had probably stolen it, or received it from someone else by unlawful means. In a panic, I called John  who luckily was still in the country  and told him what was going on. He spoke Korean so he was able to sort it out one way or another, perhaps by faxing a document from his local police station or something. Finally the motorcycle was mine.

In the fall of 1998, when I was ordered to move to Gimpo, the motorcycle came with me, on the back of a Bongo truck once more, but this time with all my other worldly possessions. I was grateful to have the motorcycle in Gimpo, because the schools where I worked were too far to walk. Having the motorcycle meant I could easily zip between the school where I taught in the morning and the other in the afternoon.



However, there was a problem. I had been woefully misinformed about the license required to ride a motorcycle in Korea. Several people told me that I did not need a separate license for a motorcycle with an engine of less than a certain size, just an international car driver's license.



This, it turns out, was wrong. And so I had to go to the Gimpo Police Station to apply for a motorcycle license. The test was only held on a certain day each month, and if I failed either the written or practical component, I would have to return a month later. More importantly, I was forbidden to ride the motorcycle.



The written test consisted of several of true-or-false questions. The paper was, of course, in Korean, and while my conversational Korean was improving all the time, my knowledge of vehicular safety jargon (largely based on Chinese characters) ranged from nil to minimal.



Luckily, I was given some extra time and allowed to use my Korean-English dictionary, while a friendly policeman sat beside me to assist with finding words, and probably to make sure I did not cheat.



I cannot recall how many questions there were, but even at the end of my extended time, I had only completed one third of them. At the policeman's advice, I just guessed the rest and handed in the test paper.



After half an hour of waiting while the papers were graded, I learned to my pleasant surprise that I had passed. I felt momentarily sorry for the Koreans  there were one or two  who had failed, but then I had to get ready quickly for the practical test.



This was a kind of skill-testing course. There was an S-shaped outline along which we had to ride backwards and forwards without touching our feet on the ground, and then some orange cones between which we had to slalom, also without touching the ground.



I knew this would be tough, because my balance is not that good at the best of times, and I had not practiced for this. We had to use the motorcycle provided by the police station, and it was the smallest machine available, the one used by every local restaurant for meal deliveries. When I turned the handlebars it hit against my knee and made balancing even harder. As a result, I easily failed the S-course and there was no point even trying the orange cones.



For the next month, I was officially not allowed to ride to work or indeed to anywhere. At school, I borrowed the small delivery motorcycle belonging to one of the administration staff and practiced riding for the next test on an S-shaped course that he had drawn for me with a piece of chalk in the parking lot.



The next month I went back and passed the practical test handily. I was now a legal motorcycle rider in Korea.

Kendallville, IN (46755)

Today

Cloudy early with peeks of sunshine expected late. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 73F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds. Low 58F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph.How CIOs can navigate the cloud in 2018

With Vietnam being listed in the Top 5 fastest-growing ICT industries in the world there are more schemes than ever that support businesses in the governments digital push to develop smart cities, according to Mr. Pham Hong Phong, Managing Director and General Manager for Cloud Platform at the Oracle Corporation, Vietnam.

















We foresee cloud as being at the forefront, with the government and businesses alike bolstering cloud adoption to realize its benefits of increased productivity and resource optimization, he said.

2018 has gotten off to a good start in terms of Vietnams technology push towards becoming future-ready and enhancing ICT to account for 10 per cent of GDP by 2020.

Business leaders, in particular Chief Information Officers (CIOs), therefore need to be privy to how they can ride the wave of cloud developments already emerging. By aligning the capabilities of the cloud with business priorities, CIOs can ensure optimal business outcomes for their organizations.

Invest in greater cloud security

Cybersecurity has become a key necessity, especially with the increasing sophistication and regularity of cyberattacks. One case in point is the near 20 ransomware cases over the past two years in Vietnam.

While businesses realize the need for the cloud, for its speed and scalability, CIOs are aware of the potential security threats they are susceptible to, even with the slightest vulnerability or breach. As such, CIOs need to look at stepping up their investments in cloud security, to mitigate the risks of costly breaches and outages.

A step up from the usual security features, this will involve the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze a unified data set consisting of the full breadth of security and operational telemetry as well as provide automated remediation. This will, thereby, enable quick changes to the organizations security and operational posture.

Leverage blockchain to obtain quality information on time

With an approximate 10 per cent of global GDP to be stored in blockchain technology by 2027, blockchain will transform how business is done by enabling more efficient, secure and transparent interactions.

As such, CIOs need to prioritize cloud services with integrated blockchain solutions. This will enable their organizations to stay agile and competitive yet secure, by extending business applications while speeding up transactions. Additionally, benefits can be reaped by extending enterprise boundaries by deploying new business models from untapped markets with blockchain-verified identity and offerings.

Incorporate AI in business management services

With AI emerging as a key trend in the consumer experience and industries in Vietnam, data will only further this trend through apps that rely on raw data for predictive analytics. CIOs should look to making AI their priority to maximize their cloud usage by integrating AI apps within their cloud platforms.

Through the use of algorithms to determine business priorities, the system continually updates and derives insight from experience more rapidly and objectively, thus empowering businesses to manage their resources and plan better for the future.

This could also involve the use of AI-powered chatbot capabilities that optimize the end-user experience, as a more conversational channel to engage customers with, offering insight into how to personalize and troubleshoot the end-user experience.

Through this, CIOs can ensure that their organizations gain smart and timely insights, making the decision-making process simpler and more efficient for various business functions across the organization.

Vietnam Economic TimesRome, April 26 - Alfie Evans' father on Thursday appealed to Pope Francis to travel to Liverpool to see the situation of his seriously ill son. "I call on the pope to come here to see what is happening," Tom Evans, who has been in a series of legal battles with Liverpool's Alder Hey Hospital, told the Catholic channel TV2000. "Come here and see how my son is the hostage of this hospital. What we are enduring is not right". Rome's Vatican-owned pediatric hospital Bambino Gesu has offered to treat the 23-month-old boy, who has a serious undiagnosed brain condition. The government in Rome has granted Alfie Italian citizenship in a bid to bring him to Italy and beat rulings to let him die. But the British courts have refused to allow the child, who continues to fight after being taken off life support earlier this week, to be transferred to Italy. "Thank you Italy. We love you," Tom Evans said. "Alfie is part of the Italian family. He is part of Italy. We belong to Italy".LETS REVIEW:

Friday night, April 6, was a big night at Lux Art Institute in Encinitas. An enthusiastic crowd gathered for the opening of an exhibit of Renaissance/Japanese/Cubist-influenced paintings by this months artist-in-residence, Gabrielle Bakker.

There was live music outside, and the in-gallery performance by local choreographer Sadie Weinbergs LITVAK Dance Company seemed to go beautifully with the artworks. Admiring the central piece, Geisha Surfer, which served as a backdrop for the dancers and introductory talks by both artist and choreographer, one woman said: I could stand in front of this painting for seven years!

Thats about as much time as Bakker actually takes to complete some of her paintings. With an inventive spirit and classical techniques, she interweaves mythological, historical and contemporary subjects and manages to create compelling pieces that suggest strange and interesting stories.

Normally, the Seattle-based artist (B.F.A. Chicago Art Institute, M.F.A. Yale) works at her own pace. Now she has 30 days to finish The Fish Hook, a large-scale painting inspired by the legends of Leda, Icarus and Ariadne. As always at Lux, visitors are invited to talk with her about her process  a particularly rewarding experience in the case of this artist, who has various stages of her work-in-progress on display.

I want to get people to stop and have an experience with my paintings, Bakker said. Its my responsibility to make each one good enough for that to happen.

Farewell Reesey Shaw

Another interesting story emerged on April 6: Luxs director, La Jollan Reesey Shaw, will no longer be heading the Art Institute she founded 20 years ago.

Reesey Shaw of La Jolla is stepping down as director of the Lux Art Institute. (Courtesy )

Senior staff members are working closely with longtime board members to ease the transition, and artists-in-residence for the coming season will be announced in June.

The Education Pavilion will continue to hold classes for children and adults. The gallery there, now named for board member Linda Formo Brandes, will go on featuring talks and exhibits by visiting artists, and theres also a plan to collaborate with local arts organizations, making the space available to them as well.

Stay tuned for new developments, and meanwhile  dont miss the current exhibition, and a chance to chat with Gabrielle Bakker.

IF YOU GO: Gabrielle Bakker in studio through May 5. Artist talk 5:30-8 p.m. April 26. Exhibit on view to June 2. In the Education Pavilion, see an exhibit by San Diego artist David Adey through May 19. Luxs 20th Anniversary Celebration and Come As You Dare Masquerade, is slated for May 19.

Members of LITVAK Dance Company perform in front of Bakkers Geisha Surfer at the April 6 opening. (Courtesy )

Next artist-in-residence: LA-based painter Tomory Dodge, June 15-July 14. Also: LITVAK Dance performances April 28-29 at UCSDs Wagner Dance Building 3. Tickets: litvakdance.org/tix/ (619) 855-0367.

The LUX Art Institute is open 1-5 p.m. Thursday and Friday; 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, 1550 S. El Camino Real, Encinitas. Admission: Free-$5. (760) 436-6611. luxartinstitute.org

Excerpt from Reesey Shaws Parting Note

I write with gratitude and hope as I share news of my transition from the Lux Art Institute after 20 years. The journey has been fuller than any of us could have envisioned ... We have set a legacy of excellence upon which others may build ...

I am endlessly grateful to those who have supported these efforts, who love art and artists and who have shared my passion ... scores of visionary trustees and donors ... and ... a talented, hardworking staff who brought our vision to life. May your debt be repaid in the eyes of the children inspired every day on the Lux campus.Ever since The Martian  both the book and the movie  readers have been clamoring for more novels set on the Red Planet. Near-future science fiction has become a subgenre unto itself, as recent books explore our first tentative steps on a planet that isnt our own, returning to the Moon before heading out further into the solar system.

Theres often an emphasis on science and engineering, ensuring these new novels are rooted in what might be possible, rather than the breadth of what we can imagine. They dig into the technical details like Andy Weir did so well in The Martian, celebrating ingenuity and creativity in the face of overwhelming odds. The three new books on this list all present themselves as thrillers featuring our first outposts on the Red Planet.

Before Mars: A Planetfall Novel by Emma Newman (Ace, $16 paper)

Before Mars: A Planetfall Novel by Emma Newman. (Ace )

Advertisement

Anna Kubrin left her husband and daughter behind for an opportunity she couldnt refuse  to work at a Mars outpost as an artist and geologist. But as soon as she arrives, things arent what they seem. Just to start, Anna finds a note in her own handwriting  one she doesnt remember writing  telling her not to trust the base psychiatrist. Before Mars is a psychological thriller wearing the cloak of a gripping sci-fi story, as Anna has no idea who she can trust, or even whether she can trust herself. As the novel races to its stunning conclusion, the unraveling mystery is satisfying but the ending feels a bit abrupt. Still, the story is about the journey rather than the destination, and its delivered in an excellently page-turning fashion. Anna is a well-rounded character; I appreciated her candid self-reflection about her failures in her marriage and conflicted feelings on motherhood as she struggles to piece together what is happening around her on Mars.

One Way by S.J. Morden (Orbit, $15.99 paper)

One Way by S.J. Morden (Orbit )

What happens when a company is running behind on its NASA contracts to build a base on Mars? If it has the questionable ethics of Xenosystems Operations, then it recruits prisoners with life sentences to do the backbreaking, dangerous work. Thats the offer that Frank Kittridge gets  hell be able to live out the remainder of his life sentence on Mars in exchange for directing a crew of fellow prisoners on the Red Planet. Its a provocative premise, with an interesting main character. Frank manages to break out of the murderer-with-a-heart-of-gold stereotype. Yes, he has a good reason for what he did, but he doesnt shirk responsibility for his actions. Once the setting shifts to Mars, the challenges the prisoners face will delight any fan of the engineering aspects of The Martian, but the atmosphere doesnt quite live up to the tension that Frank feels in the story, and the rest of the prisoners never emerge as full characters. The last half of the novel picks up the pace, delivering a mostly satisfying thriller (with a somewhat predictable ending). The last scenes are a bit of a jumble, but Morden brings it together nicely in the last pages, setting up the premise for an exciting sequel.

Obscura by Joe Hart (Thomas & Mercer, $24.95)

Obscura by Joe Hart. (Thomas & Mercer )

A new disease is sweeping the Earth, one that attacks the memory center of the brain and mimics the symptoms of dementia. Dr. Gillian Ryan lost her husband to it years ago and now her daughter is afflicted with the condition as well. As a medical researcher studying the disease, shell do anything to find a cure  even if it means leaving her daughter to travel into space to treat astronauts with a similar condition. But Dr. Ryan quickly realizes shes been lied to: the outpost is on Mars and not a space station in orbit of Earth. She begins to question everything shes been told  and wonder what she hasnt. While Dr. Ryan can be frustrating at times, she still has our sympathies. Her struggle with addiction to opioids is thoughtfully portrayed, and it also serves to heighten the paranoid, claustrophobic feeling of the novel as she questions what is real. Hart has the thriller part of the book down; the pacing is excellent from beginning to end. Where its lacking is in the science and engineering. I was hoping for something richer, and found Obscura lacking on that front. Theres little explanation given to the wondrous tech in this novel, which is fine if youre looking for a thriller.

Krishna writes for Engadget and Syfy Wire and is half of the podcast Desi Geek Girls.Hi, Im books editor Carolyn Kellogg. Thanks to everyone who came to the book festival last weekend! I hope you got to see all the writers you wanted. I got to talk about publishing with a panel of smart publishing insiders and then talked to Patton Oswalt on stage about Ill Be Gone in the Dark, the book his wife Michelle McNamara was working on when she died. She was an amateur sleuth obsessed with the cold case of a serial rapist and killer whose crimes were connected after the dawn of DNA testing. Authorities called him, clumsily, EAR/ONS  it was McNamara who dubbed him the Golden State Killer, a name that captured the scope and severity of his crimes. As you may have heard, after going unknown for decades, a suspect was arrested this week: his name is Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. Its impossible to read McNamaras book without feeling invested in the case. It gives a real sense of how impossible an arrest had has seemed, to so many victims and members of law enforcement, for so long. Its a great read.

Authorities announce the arrest of Joseph James DeAngleo, 72, the suspected Golden State killer. (John G. Mabanglo / EPA-EFE / REX / Shutterstock )

And now, heres whats happening in books this week.

THE BIG STORY

Advertisement

Benjamin Netanyahu is the subject of a major new biography, Bibi, penned by Haaretzs Anshel Pfeffer. The biggest surprise is his emergence from these pages as a man of unbending principle, writes Noga Tarnopolsky in our review. This does not conform to the Netanyahu we think we know, the master manipulator of Israels political sphere, the man trailed by criminal investigations whose own fans admiringly claim him as a bully.

Benjamin Netanyahu in 2012 (Lior Mizrahi / Getty Images )

A DEVASTATING NOVEL

Rachel Kushner has twice been a National Book Award finalist for the style of her prose and the power of her ideas. Her work shows a restlessness, moving its setting, time, place and contexts. In The Mars Room, she shifts her gaze to a fictional womens prison in California, where her protagonist, a former stripper, has been sent after a sexual assault and an act of violence. It is a novel of great urgency and devastation, writes Idra Novey in our review.

Rachel Kushner, author of The Mars Room. ( Chloe Aftel )

BESTSELLERS

Moving from nonfiction to fiction on our bestseller list is the childrens book A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo. (It was originally categorized as nonfiction by booksellers.) Written by Jill Twiss, a staff writer on John Olivers HBO show, it tells the imagined tale of Vice President Mike Pences family rabbit falling in love with another male bunny. It hasnt happened in real life  yet.

You can find all the books on our bestseller lists here.

Advertisement

An illustration from A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo. (Chronicle Books / TNS )

MORE IN BOOKS

Jamel Brinkleys collection of short stories, A Lucky Man, publishes Tuesday. Although the book is written traditionally, in text, our review is by author and artist Kristen Radtke, in graphic novel form.

In Artificial Unintelligence, published by MIT Press, professor and former software engineer Meredith Broussard looks at how the promise of computer solutions isnt always as smart as it seems. She talks to Christine Zhang about the coined shes termed to describe our misplaced trust: technochauvinism.

Advertisement

In its first week on sale, former FBI director James Comeys book A Higher Loyalty has outsold both Hillary Clintons memoir of the 2016 campaign, What Happened, and Michael Wolffs look inside Donald Trumps first year in the White House, Fire and FuryFury, beating their first weeks sales numbers.

James Comey speaks before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in Washington, D.C., June 8, 2017. (Brendan Smialowski / AFP/Getty Images )

Thanks for reading!

Advertisement

carolyn.kellogg@latimes.com

@paperhausWait for Your Laugh, the 2017 documentary depicting the nine-decade career ofactress Rose Marie, is making its video debut on the platform where the public loved her most  free television.

Decades Network, the multicast network that specializes in classic and historic TV programming of all genres, will broadcast the film aon May 1 at 9 p.m. Eastern and 6 p.m. Pacific, with an encore on May 18. Decades is shown on TV in Los Angeles via KCBS sub-channel 2.2, and is carried on many cable and satellite systems.

Known as, the home of such vintage TV staples as Laugh-In, The Ed Sullivan Show and The Dick Cavett Show, Decades rarely acquires new programming. Neal Sabin, vice chairman of Weigel Broadcasting, which operates the channel, said he made an exception for Wait for Your Laugh because of Rose Maries familiarity and importance to its vintage-TV-loving, baby-boomer audience.

Rose Maries story is really the story of modern show business in America, said Sabin. The film fits so well with our mission to remember pop culture touch points from across the decades.

Advertisement

Rose Marie is best known for her role as Sally Rogers, the wisecracking comedy writer on The Dick Van Dyke Show. She also spent years on the long-running daytime and syndicated game show Hollywood Squares.

Wait for Your Laugh goes back to the very start of Rose Maries career as a child performer in vaudeville, where she became a favorite of organized crime figures including Al Capone and Bugsy Siegel. She went on to star on Broadway, in nightclubs and movies before becoming a popular figure on television.

The documentary features interviews with many of the surviving stars who worked with Rose Marie, including Van Dyke, Carl ReinerDick and Peter Marshall. The film, directed by Jason Wise, also features behind-the-scenes color footage from the Dick Van Dyke Show set and other programs in which Rose Marie appeared.

Rose Marie died on Dec. 28 at 94 after doing several months of publicity for the film. The buildup to the project led to a mini-renaissance for her popularity as she amassed a large Twitter following. At the height of the #MeToo movement, she weighed in on social media about being sexually harassed during her long career.

stephen.battaglio@latimes.com

Twitter: @SteveBattaglioRoger Lynch is chief executive of Pandora, a music streaming service based in Oakland.

He took over the company in September, tasked with leading it through the uncharted waters of the evolving streaming industry. Pandora employs 2,000 people across 26 offices and has about 74.7 million active monthly users.

An early start

Lynch began working when he was 10 and has held a job ever since. Delivering newspapers while navigating the snowy streets of Baltimore, and demolishing burned-down buildings with a sledgehammer never paid much, but Lynch recalls the experiences fondly.

Work was always a part of my life. It came natural to me, he said. I saved everything, and whenever I had enough, Id go buy a guitar.

He still remembers his first one: a cheap electric model with green sparkles.

Musical influences

After his brother-in-law taught him a few Neil Diamond songs, he developed a lifelong affection for music that was instrumental in landing him his role at Pandora.

Pandora is a company filled with music lovers, and they can tell whether someone is a music person or not, Lynch, 54, said. It was important to the board to find someone with a genuine passion for music. They found that with me.

Twists and turns

Although he was constantly forming bands, Lynch never envisioned himself in the music industry. He received a physics degree from USC before landing a job at Hughes Aircraft Co., an aerospace and defense contractor based in Westchester.

He spent a few years working on infrared missile systems, but eventually wanted a change. Soon enough, he found himself with an MBA from Dartmouth and an investment banking gig with Morgan Stanley.

That would turn out to be the last job where he wasnt running the company.

More success stories from How I Made It 

Music is the perfect art form. Roger Lynch

A new frontier

Lynch was enchanted with the vast potential of broadband and spent the next two decades at the helm of three internet companies: Chello Broadband, Video Networks Limited and, more recently, Dishs Sling TV, which he grew into the largest over-the-top streaming service in the country.

Ive always liked industries in change, transformation and disruption, he said. Im attracted to the challenges of applying technology in new ways to create new services.

Facing the music

The job opening at Pandora represented an intriguing proposition for Lynch. On one hand, hed be entering a familiar industry based around an art form he adored. On the other, his last three jobs were at companies he had built himself. Pandora was someone elses brainchild.

Walking into Pandora, I was the one who knew the least about it, Lynch said. When you build a company, you have the chance to create a culture and hire people supportive of that culture. This company had a very defined culture already.

To conquer the learning curve, he spent his first two weeks on the job at what he called CEO boot camp, which consisted of 10-hour days with no breaks. He held interactive meetings with every branch of the company, exploring the nuances of the position and forming his strategy for the business.

Challenge accepted

When Lynch arrived, Pandora wasnt on thin ice  but it was on ice. At the end of 2017, the service had lost roughly 8 million listeners year-over-year as competitors like Spotify and Apple Music carved out larger shares of the market.

One of Pandoras greatest strengths is its Music Genome Project, a data tool that analyzes for 450 attributes in a song and creates an algorithm to categorize it into moods and playlists.

Based on that, Lynch decided the companys two main goals would be to change the trajectory of listeners and improve technology for its advertisers.

Pandora became successful at a time when there were few competitors in the industry, he said. With increasing competition, we have to understand our advantages and develop strategies that leverage those advantages.

Backup gig

To keep in touch with his creative side, Lynch plays lead guitar in an all-CEO band called the Merger, along with Denver-based executives Mike Fries, Bryant Martin and Bob Deibel. The group tackles classic rock and R&B hits, as well as a few originals.

It helps give me credibility, whether its with employees or the labels I deal with, Lynch said.

Gone are the days of gigging in grubby garages. For its latest show, the band teamed up with the Colorado Symphony for a charity event in Denver.

Leadership lessons

When it comes to role models, Lynch suggests looking inward. He spent years looking for inspiration from others, but didnt like the conclusion that to succeed, he needed to emulate someone else.

I got into a leadership position at a young age and made a lot of mistakes, Lynch said. Trying to be like someone else isnt a path for your own success. Craft your style based on your own strengths and weaknesses.

For Lynch, that means surrounding himself with a team that challenges his ideas.

He doesnt expect to be right on every decision, and when hes wrong, he hopes others can speak up to create a dialogue. For him, good communication and strategy come before the need to be liked.

Personal life

Lynch lives with his wife in San Francisco and has three children, ages 22, 29 and 30. He spends his mornings on runs, and his headphones can usually be found blaring everything from Led Zeppelin to Marvin Gaye to the Mighty Mighty Bosstones.When David Hockney called to ask about painting his portrait, the architect Frank Gehry was immediately intrigued. Hockney said it would be fine to bring Gehrys artist son Alejandro to watch, and once they arrived at the studio, both Gehrys paid close attention to Hockney as he painted.

He was concentrating and didnt talk, recalls Gehry. So as I sat there, I speculated about what was in his mind as he worked. I felt I was watching a moving sculpture of somebody thinking.

Painted in 2016, Gehrys portrait is among 81 others in what became David Hockney: 82 Portraits and 1 Still-life, an ambitious multipart artwork on view through July 29 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

For its David Hockney show, LACMA has arranged 82 portraits and one still life in chronological order of their creation, reflecting a range of people  friends, family, assistants, housekeeper, curators and more  who are in the artist's life. Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

From 2013 on, prominent cultural figures joined Hockney friends and family as portrait sitters at the artists brightly colored Hollywood Hills home and studio.

Hockney, who turned 80 last summer, readily admits he enjoyed the company. He doesnt like to go where he cant smoke, and his hearing has grown so poor he has trouble following a conversation if more than one or two people are in the room.

I quite like visitors because I dont go out much, Hockney says. I dont go to concerts or opera anymore. I cant hear much. Its isolating, it is.

Each of the portrait sitters sat in the same butter-yellow upholstered chair for two or three days  what the painter and photographer refers to as a 20-hour exposure. His subjects took breaks every 45 minutes or so, and each day they enjoyed a family-style hot lunch in the artists dining room.

People could select their own clothes, and their choices ranged from the suit and tie of investment banker Jacob Rothschild to the green just do it T-shirt and sneakers of Israeli artist Avner Chaim.

There are portraits of his studio assistants, massage therapist, housekeeper and cook. Others depict Hockneys siblings, the children and grandchildren of his friends, and art dealers such as London-based David Juda, New York-based Larry Gagosian, L.A. Louvers Peter Goulds and the Ferus Gallerys Irving Blum.

Blum called sitting for Hockney a great privilege, while the artist John Baldessari says he considered his sitting an honor. They, like the others, were invited to participate and essentially were volunteers. Each was given a smaller reproduction of his or her portrait to take home, but all the paintings remain in Hockneys collection.

So how did the pictures turn out? Very few sitters are smiling  its hard to smile for 20 hours  and Hockney says he has no idea of how they felt about their portraits.

I never asked anybody what they thought of the paintings, he says. It was what I wanted to get down. These arent commissioned portraits. I commissioned them.

When youre drawing someone else, he adds, its their mood and your mood together that creates whatevers there.

Edith Devaney beside her portrait in "David Hockney: 82 Portraits and 1 Still-life at LACMA. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) Joan Agajanian Quinn beside the portrait Hockney painted of her. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) Also among Hockney's subjects: LACMA senior curator Stephanie Barron. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) Edith Devaney, Joan Agajanian Quinn and LACMA senior curator Stephanie Barron beside their portraits in "David Hockney: 82 Portraits and 1 Still-life at LACMA. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

Hockney asked Ayn Grinstein  daughter of longtime friends Elyse and Stanley Grinstein, co-founders of the noted L.A. art studio and publisher Gemini G.E.L.  to sit for him the day after her fathers funeral.

He was very interested in getting me there as fast as possible after my father passed away, Grinstein recalls, and I knew it was about sadness and mourning. He knew the mood of what he wanted to paint even before I got to his studio.

Hockney, who calls himself an English Los Angeleno, has long been thought of first for his colorful pictures of California swimming pools or English landscapes, his photo collages and, more recently, his iPad and iPhone drawings. But he has been drawing and painting portraits throughout his career. LACMA exhibited Hockney portraits in June 2006, its first exhibition devoted exclusively to the artists portraiture.

His first portrait was of his father in 1955. He has so often featured family and friends in paintings, photo collages, drawings and prints that they have become a de facto acting company, familiar to museum-goers and art patrons as the subjects grow older.

After eight years of living and working mainly in Bridlington, England, 60 miles from where he was born, Hockney moved back to Los Angeles in summer 2013. The move followed a stroke and the death of a 23-year-old studio assistant. For months, Hockney drew only with charcoal.

We came back here after the tragedy, Hockney says, and just a few months later, he came upon his equally sad studio manager Jean-Pierre Goncalves de Lima. He was like this, explains Hockney, burying his head in his hands. So I said, Stay like that. Ill paint you. I was feeling like that as well. It could have been a self-portrait.

So, inadvertently, began his portrait series.

By the time he came back to Los Angeles, he was absolutely depleted and emotionally exhausted, recalls Edith Devaney, of Londons Royal Academy of Arts, who curated Hockneys popular landscape show there in 2012. I always enjoyed getting images of what he was thinking about and working on, and nothing was coming through. After weeks, there was this wonderful portrait of JP, followed by a few more. When he got to 10 or 15, I said, I am coming to see you, and I did. I thought there was an exhibition there. This was portraiture of a different order.

Organized by the Royal Academy in conjunction with LACMA, the exhibition opened in London in 2016, then traveled to Venice, Italy; Bilboa, Spain; and Melbourne, Australia. The only U.S. stop is L.A., the city where the portraits were painted and where most of his subjects live.

David Hockney poses for pictures with curator Stephanie Barron during an opening event for the LACMA exhibition. Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

The light in the LACMA gallery housing the show replicates the combination of daylight and artificial light in Hockneys studio, says LACMA senior curator Stephanie Barron, who, like Devaney, has her portrait in the exhibition.

Hockney considers the 82 portraits a single unit, and Barron curated the show that way. The portraits are all the same size  4 feet by 3 feet  and are displayed in a continuous line that extends around all four walls of the gallery as well as both sides of a dividing wall that runs down the middle of the room. They are arranged chronologically, according to when they were painted.

The chronological layout includes Fruit on a Bench, the still-life in the shows title, which hangs next to the portrait of Grinstein. When Grinsteins session was postponed because of her fathers funeral, wrote Hockney in the shows London catalog, I thought, well, Ill just paint something. So I set the bench up on the same place, so the light is similar, and I just painted it. And then I just kept it with the portraits.

Its a photograph that makes us rethink photography. Stephanie Barron, LACMA senior curator

While smaller reproductions of the portraits are mounted on a wall of Hockneys studio, hes already moved on. On exhibit at Pace Gallery in New York, for instance, are new paintings with different perspectives on earlier work and hexagonally shaped canvases.

Engaging with perspective has been a lifelong pursuit for him, Barron says, and hes been taking such earlier images as the Grand Canyon and the Yorkshire landscape and looking at them through the new lens of what he calls reverse perspective.

Even more recently, hes been exploring large-scale photomurals that combine drawing, painting and photography to create what the artist calls 3D without the glasses.

In conjunction with LACMAs portrait show, Barron used an adjoining gallery to exhibit Hockneys wall-sized, seven-panel photomural from December, In the Studio, which consists of 3,000 photographs stitched together digitally. Featuring what Hockney calls reverse perspective, the artwork depicts Hockneys studio with several of the new paintings on its walls, plus the addition of shadows and highlights that Hockney digitally painted.

Its a photograph that makes us rethink photography, Barron says.

Most people die of boredom, Hockney says, but Im not bored yet. Im still curious. Im still excited by pictures. I say that when Im in the studio, I feel like Im 30. But when I leave it, I know Im 80. So, naturally, I stay in here. Wouldnt you rather be 30?

Hockney with his "reverse perspective" piece at LACMA. "I'm not bored yet.I'm still curious," he says. Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

         

David Hockney: 82 Portraits and 1 Still-life

Where: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., L.A.

When: Through July 29; closed Wednesdays

Admission: $16-$25; children 17 and younger free

See all of our latest arts news and reviews at latimes.com/arts.

MORE ART:

Photographer Laura Aguilar, chronicler of the body and Chicano identity, dies at 58

Ceramic art wins a brighter spotlight in the L.A. scene

Something's missing from the antiquities display at the Getty VillaGood morning. Im Paul Thornton, and it is Saturday, April 28, 2018. Lets take a look back at the week in Opinion.

How many of Bill Cosbys few dozen accusers can you name? If youre anything like me, probably between zero and three  and yet Cosby, through his lawyers, argued in court that the women who accused him of drugging and assaulting them years ago lied about their experiences with him out of a desire to gain fame.

The jury in Cosbys second sexual assault trial was convinced  not by his lawyers, but by the prosecutors who argued that Andrea Constand deserved to be believed when she accused the once-celebrated actor, comedian and activist of drugging and assaulting her. This is a very big deal, says The Times Editorial Board:

As in so many cases for so many years, this one turned on the credibility of the accuser. Was Andrea Constand a liar and a "con artist," as the defense maintained, when she said that Cosby drugged and assaulted her? Was she a deceitful fortune-seeker who thought she'd found an easy mark? The jury said no. The jury was charged, of course, with determining the truth or falsity only of Constand's accusations, on the basis of the evidence presented in court. Cosby was not being tried for all the other accusations against him by the more than 50 other women who have come forward with similar stories of pre-meditated rape and sexual assault. (Many of the others alleged assaults happened decades ago, and the statute of limitations for bringing charges has expired.) But in the court of public opinion, at least, this was not just about Cosby versus Constand. It was about all the creepily similar accusations, about all the women who said they were violated by this man. To those of us who were not in the courtroom, Constand was a proxy for those women, and in some ways, for all women.... It's depressing how many women have felt powerless for so long to confront sexual abuse, harassment and discrimination. But it's heartening to know that this time, a woman was able to tell her story and persuade a jury even in the face of a vicious counter-narrative by a powerful man. >> Click here to read more

What Cosbys accusers endured to secure his conviction: Constand, writes journalist Maria Bustillos, had every detail of her assault picked over and questioned in a courtroom  twice. Actress Lachele Covington, Cosbys first accuser, was treated abominably in 2000. Countless women, young girls and more watched as people brave enough to come forward and take on a powerful man were called liars, con artists and worse. Look what happens when you tell the truth and are brave, you don't have to fail or be humiliated, Bustillos says we can now tell our children. You can seek justice, and you can win it. L.A. Times

Affluent New York man flies to Los Angeles, is stunned by inequality  thats the alternative, stripped-down way to describe Ross Douthats attempt to causally link the growing inequality in Californias major urban areas to the Democratic Partys total control of Sacramento. Contrary to the dominant narrative that changing demographics in California have driven the Democrats success, Douthat sees the departure of middle-class conservatives to adjacent red states as another significant reason for the Golden State GOPs dim reality  and, bizarrely, as metastasizing made-in-California Trumpism nationally. Because Peter Thiels from here. New York Times

Scott Pruitt, of all people, professes a love of transparency. The head of the Environmental Protection Agency should lose his job for all the usual reasons  the unnecessary first-class airline travel, his exorbitantly expensive security detail, the $50-per night condo he rented from the wife of an energy lobbyist, his installation of a $43,000 sound-proof booth in his office. More damaging than any of this, says The Times Editorial Board, is his intent on dismantling federal protections for the environment, as evidenced this week by his decision for forbid the EPAs use of studies whose underlying data are not fully public. L.A. Times

A memorial to lynching victims  coming soon near you. Thats one goal of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, where a column hangs with victims names inscribed for each of the 800-plus counties in which lynchings have taken place. Those columns can be taken to the respective counties for public display, reminding those who reside there of the terror and prevalence of the extrajucidial executions that took the lives of 4,400 people. L.A. TimesFearsome gusts of desert wind routinely kicked up swirling clouds of choking dust over Owens Lake on the east side of the Sierra Nevada after 1913, when its treasured snowmelt and spring water was first diverted into the Los Angeles Aqueduct.

It was not until 2001, and under a court order, that the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power began transforming the lakes grim heritage, flooding portions where toxic, powder-fine dust exceeded federal pollution standards.

In what is now hailed as an astonishing environmental success, nature quickly responded. First to appear on the thin sheen of water tinged bright green, red and orange by algae and bacteria were brine flies. Then came masses of waterfowl and shorebirds that feed on the insects.

On Saturday, Owens Lake was designated a Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network site of international importance, joining an exclusive group of 104 areas between Alaska and the southern end of South America certified for their outstanding numbers of birds.

Advertisement

Saturdays designation is part of a growing movement across the nation and around the world that sees wetlands as crucial connections to natural vistas that are receding as the planet heats up and development spreads.

Rob Clay, director of the shorebird reserve network headquartered in Plymouth, Mass., said it is also testament to a Los Angeles dust mitigation project that demonstrates how human welfare and biodiversity conservation are intrinsically linked.

The designation coincided with the fourth annual Owens Lake Bird Festival, which is co-hosted by the LADWP and many of the conservationists who played a large role in holding L.A. accountable for massive dust storms that have besieged the Inyo County territory of striking geographic contrasts where 14,000-foot Sierra Nevada peaks and the Mojave Desert intersect.

On Saturday morning, hundreds of festival attendants led by tour guides crisscrossed the lakes crunchy white shoreline to experience one of the most spectacular avian shows nature has to offer in California.

The Sierra Nevada provides a backdrop as Jo Heindel leads a tour at the fourth annual Owens Lake Bird Festival. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times )

Among them were Tom and Jo Heindel, of the nearby community of Big Pine, who are nearing completion of a comprehensive scientific survey of every species and subspecies of bird ever documented in Inyo County over the last 150 years.

When we moved to Owens Valley in 1972, there were only a few wet spots on the lake bed, Jo, 79, recalled. Now, its a whole new world.

Across the 100-square-mile lake bed, an estimated 60,000 shorebirds and waders  long-billed curlews, sandpipers, dowitchers, whimbrels, American avocets, black-necked stilts, yellowlegs, cinnamon teals and eared grebes with golden feathers fanning out behind their eyes  were gorging on brine flies to bulk up fat reserves needed to complete migratory journeys to breeding areas in the boreal forests of Alaska, Canada and the Arctic.

Advertisement

Hundreds of rare western snowy plovers are drawn to the lake to nest in the summer.

The shorebird reserve network, which designates at one of three levels  hemispheric, international and regional, depending on the scale of the avian populations of a nominated site  voted unanimously to give Owens Lake international status.

Winning the designation represents nearly a decade of hard work by environmental activists, including Owens Valley botanist Michael Prather, who helped organize the bird festival, and LADWP engineers and biologists.

Los Angeles efforts to improve the Owens Lake environment are praiseworthy, Prather said. We believe there are more birds at the lake now than at any time since Joseph Grinnell of UC Berkeleys Museum of Natural History visited the area a century ago.

Advertisement

Of course, he added, we still have our differences with the LADWP elsewhere in Owens Valley.

Water wars have raged over Owens Valley since the early 1900s, when the city of Los Angeles had agents pose as farmers and ranchers to buy land and water rights in the area, then began building the aqueduct to slake the thirst of the growing metropolis about 200 miles to the south. L.A. diverted so much water via the aqueduct system that it was nearly impossible for local farmers and ranchers to make a living  a scandal dramatized in the classic 1974 film Chinatown.

The LADWP has spent about $2 billion in accordance with a 1997 agreement to combat dust from targeted areas of the dry lake bed. By introducing vegetation, gravel and shallow flooding, the agency has reduced particle air pollution by more than 95%.

Were extremely proud to be in a partnership with Audubon and other groups that worked hand in hand to get to this point, Marty Adams, chief operating officer for the DWP, said in an interview. Weve created one of the largest projects in the world based on natural solutions for quality-of-life issues.

Advertisement

Jo Heindel was only half-kidding when she suggested that Los Angeles would face one heck of a legal fight if it ever decided to stop flooding this lake bed.

Our side is better organized and has a lot more people than ever, she said. Adding strength to our cause: Owens Lake is now a designated international hot spot for shorebirds.

Louis.Sahagun@latimes.com

@LouisSahagunAbout three hours before Philippine Airlines Flight 102 leaves for Manila from LAX, the boxes begin to spill onto the curb outside Tom Bradley International Terminal.

Packed with gifts such as Kirkland chocolates, hand-me-down clothes and Spam for relatives overseas, the cardboard containers crisscross the terminal in a daily game of luggage Tetris, driven by the Filipino tradition of packing, sending and traveling with balikbayan boxes.

The practice originates with a Philippines government-sponsored program that offered special tourism incentives, including baggage allowances, to encourage overseas workers to return and spend their wages in the homeland.

Today balikbayan boxes, named after the Tagalog word for a returning Filipino, have become one of the most enduring symbols of the Filipino diaspora. The boxes help feed relatives who are struggling, console daughters separated from their mothers, and give far-flung overseas workers a tangible tether to their families.

This is the Filipino way. You can't go home without a box. Marie Maruquin

There are many who spend their entire lives as caregivers, and the boxes are sometimes their only remnant of a home in the Filipino community, said Anthony Ocampo, a professor of sociology at Cal Poly Pomona and the author of The Latinos of Asia: How Filipino Americans Break the Rules of Race.

On a recent weekday, Marie and Ruben Maruquin, accompanied their aunt, Erlinda Rosas, of Glendora, to Los Angeles International Airport, where they pushed her balikbayan box up to the ticket counter. It weighed 58 pounds, 8 pounds above the limit.

Heaving a sigh, the Maruquins wrestled the box back onto the cart and pushed it over to a table in the area for above-weight luggage. Scissors, tape and bungee cables appeared from somewhere inside Rosas purse.

She tore open the box and removed a large sack of oranges, clothes, fabric shopping bags and a pair of sneakers. She stuffed the clothing into the bags, which she brought just in case the box turned out to be too heavy, and handed Marie the oranges, her discarded shoes and everything else to take back home. Then, with Rosas leaning a knee on top of the balikbayan while Ruben wielded tape, they laboriously reassembled the box.

By now everyone was somewhat winded. As a method of showing affection, balikbayan boxes are bit inconvenient, Marie conceded.

But they wouldnt have it any other way.

This is the Filipino way, she said. You cant go home without a box.

The contents of Amy Guzman's two balikbayan boxes at her home in Long Beach. Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times

What's in a balikbayan box? Amy Guzman, who will be visiting her family in the Philippines, displays the contents of the two balikbayan boxes she will take to her family. Here's what's inside: Colgate, Crest and Secret deodorant: American brands like Colgate and Crest seem like mundane inclusions, but they are especially desirable in the Philippines, where a history of U.S. colonization has shaped consumer tastes. Clothes: Many balikbayan boxes contain new or used clothing for relatives in the Philippines, often contributed by relatives in the U.S. And U.S. shoe brands like Nike and Adidas win fashion points with young people, because certain models released in the U.S. aren't available in the Philippines. Purses, perfumes and makeup: Boxes also contain more traditional gifts from overseas Filipinos who want to share their relative wealth with their less fortunate family members back home. The peak of the balikbayan box season is always Christmas. The boxes: Large door-to-door balikbayan box companies like Atlas, LBC, and Starkargo have professionalized the practice of sending balikbayan boxes via shipping container or airmail. Shipping a box costs anywhere from $40 to $80, and it's often cheaper to send boxes to the Philippines through these services than it is to send it across the street using U.S. carriers. Backpack, towels and sheets: A balikbayan box is typically preceded by weeks of communication between overseas Filipinos and their relatives in the Philippines to try to learn about the needs and wants of each of their family members. Guzman has included a backpack, towels and a comforter according to her family's needs. Chocolate: Chocolates, and many other kinds of sweets, are one of the most common balikbayan box items. Common brands like Snickers and M&M's are highly desirable, and more expensive candy brands like Ferrero Rocher are comparatively affordable in the U.S., and they can be purchased cheaply, in bulk, at American stores like Costco.

Carmelita De La Cruz, 70, has leg pain and travels through airports in a wheelchair. But that doesnt stop her from lugging about 100 pounds worth of gifts every time she visits her relatives in the Philippines. She has sent nearly a dozen balikbayan boxes to the Philippines annually for the last 12 years shes been in the U.S.

De La Cruzs boxes pile up in the garage at the Thousand Oaks home of her daughter, Jennifer Virgines, and son-in-law, Ahmed. There are so many they crowd out the couples car. They scold her, but with smiles. Virgines remembers a time when the boxes her mother sent were the best proof of her love.

The boxes show her feelings, Virgines said. They are in her blood.

When Virgines was 9, De La Cruz, along with thousands of other Filipinos, relocated to another country to earn money for her family.

The 1970s brought high unemployment to the Philippines and a state-sponsored effort to export labor around the world. Thousands of Filipinos like De La Cruz accepted vast distances from their families as a requirement for survival.

For many overseas Filipinos, balikbayan boxes became the best way to to bridge that distance. De La Cruz, who worked as a domestic helper in Hong Kong, scrimped and saved to put dresses, chocolates and toys in her childrens care packages.

The practice was formalized by an official government initiative to encourage returning Filipinos, or balikbayans, to spend their foreign wages at home in the Philippines. Tourism officials offered reduced airfares on the then-government-owned Philippines Airlines, hotel discounts, tax breaks and, most important, generous baggage allowances.

Returning foreign workers, who earned far more than their relatives could back home, needed to bring so many gifts that they soon quit using luggage in favor of large cardboard boxes, which could be packed to the very limit of an airlines weight allowance.

The balikbayan promotion was supposed to last only six months, but the profitable initiative was extended repeatedly until it became permanent. Now, about 10 million Filipinos work abroad. At least 400,000 balikbayan boxes are sent every month, according to the Door to Door Consolidated Assn. of the Philippines. That number drastically increases during the holiday season.

In 1987, the government officially waived taxes and duties on goods in balikbayan boxes. Around that time, in Los Angeles and other Filipino enclaves in the U.S., entrepreneurs like Rico Nunga, 60, began to offer door-to-door delivery of balikbayan boxes to the Philippines for between $40 to $80  cheaper than it would cost to send a box across the street. Nunga, who founded one of the first door-to-door companies in 1985, said the box sizes were set large to maximize the space inside standard shipping containers.

Seafood City Supermarket in Eagle Rock, Calif. Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times

Other box companies quickly spread to Filipino enclaves around the nation, where theyre now a common sight in places such as West Covina, Eagle Rock and Carson, especially near locations of the Filipino supermarket Seafood City.

For most of Jennifer Virgines childhood, De La Cruzs boxes proved that her mother was always thinking of her, Virgines said. And when De La Cruz retired after 40 years cleaning houses in Hong Kong, Virgines brought her to America so that they could finally be together.

She had hoped that they could enjoy a quiet, comfortable retirement together. But almost immediately, De La Cruz took a job as a cashier at a Ralphs grocery store.

Her mother was bored, Virgines said, and there was something else De La Cruz needed money for: sending balikbayan boxes to her family in the Philippines.

The contents of a balikbayan box are shaped by history, colonialism and Filipino ideas about family.

But much of it can actually be found at Costco.

American-made or American-sold products are highly coveted. Vending machine standbys such as M&Ms, Snickers, Twix and Reeses convey status upon relatives in the Philippines because theyre American products, which are seen as higher-quality, special-occasion foods. Colgate toothpaste, Spam and corned meat are big.

Decades of U.S colonization and influence made many Filipinos avid consumers of American culture and products, Ocampo said. Generations grow up under a public education system established by an American government that uses English as the official language of instruction. And American products bound for Asian markets flowed through the Philippines and found customers in Filipinos, Ocampo said.

But boxes are more than just vessels for pasalubong, the Tagalog term for souvenirs for relatives.

Before a box is sent, the sender usually speaks with relatives and friends about their tastes, preferences and needs. Relatives who have never met one another can form close relationships through phone calls, video chats and gift giving.

Ocampo himself grew up with boxes all over his house. When his grandmother took him out shopping for shoes, she would carry handmade cut-out stencils of his cousins feet so she could send them correct size of shoe. His old clothes often went into boxes, then appeared on his cousins. When his grandmother passed away, his cousins took the loss hard, even though they had never spent much time with her.

She was always calling them and sending stuff back to them, Ocampo said.

If the senders family is poor or lives in a rural area, the box is more likely to contain rice and other staples. If the sender is prideful, the box may be full of expensive products even if the senders bank account is nearing empty. The boxes embody the little white lies immigrants tell to console their relatives back home and affirm their decision to leave.

Home could be in complete disarray. They could be living a not great life, Ocampo said. But the box is going to be the box, and thats all people are going to see.

After a long shopping session at the Torrance Costco on a recent weekday, Norbyl Caburog parked a shopping cart piled high with canned goods, toilet paper and rice and unwraps a burger from the food stand.

Caburog and his wife send boxes to their relatives in the Philippines about five times a month, and he is part-owner of a box company himself.

When relatives complain of aching joints, they send vitamins. When babies are born, they send diapers. When relatives gamble away the money they send, Caburog and his wife send rice, Spam and other staples so they wont go hungry. Some of the boxes cost almost a thousand dollars to put together, but Caburog wont call the practice an obligation.

Its just that you can make them happy, Caburog said. We have to share our blessings.

Balikbayan box shipper Norbyl Caburog heads off with empty boxes and a hand cart while picking up for customers shipping to family in the Philippines while on his route in Palos Verdes Estates, Calif. (Brian Van Der Brug / Los AngelesTimes) Caburog loads a box into his truck for customers shipping to family in the Philippines while on his route in Carson, Calif. (Brian Van Der Brug / Los Angeles Times) Caburog, right, chats with customer Violet Burnaman, left, as he picks up a box for her son in the Philippines in Carson, Calif. (Brian Van Der Brug / Los Angeles Times) Top, balikbayan box shipper Norbyl Caburog heads off with empty boxes and a hand cart while picking up for customers shipping to family in the Philippines while on his route in Palos Verdes Estates, Calif. Left, Caburog loads a box into his truck for customers shipping to family in the Philippines while on his route in Carson, Calif. Right, Caburog, chats with customer Violet Burnaman as he picks up a box for her son in the Philippines in Carson, Calif. (Brian Van Der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

The practice of sending and traveling with balikbayan boxes is less popular with young people, said Rachel Cerdenio-Howell, a professor of English at East Los Angeles College who came to the U.S. with her family when she was 7.

Growing up, she even found the tradition a little annoying  as when she wanted to backpack through the Philippines as a graduate student and was instead saddled with two 70-pound boxes for her relatives on the way to the airport.

But then she saw her mother pack a camera into a box. That camera become her nephews hobby, then livelihood. Cerdenio-Howell saw how much sending the boxes meant to her mother, and how much receiving them meant to her relatives. She learned that her mother had worked her whole life so that her aunts and uncles could go to college. The boxes were her attempt to continue taking care of her brothers and sisters, Cerdenia realized.

I started looking at my culture differently, Cerdenia said.

Now, when she plans a trip to the Philippines, or if her kids outgrow their clothes, she knows that she must buy a box.

Its one of the things thats a part of us. We hope to instill it in our childrens generation too.

frank.shyong@latimes.com

Twitter: @frankshyong

FOR THE RECORD: May 22, 10:50 a.m.: An earlier version of this article misstated the college where Rachel Cerdenio-Howell teaches. She is a professor of English at East Los Angeles College.One man stayed up past 5 a.m. to watch history being made. Another awoke at 3 a.m. and turned on the news. Still others perused stacks of newspapers for details of the events 6,000 miles away.

In Los Angeles Koreatown, news of the historic summit between the leaders of North and South Korea was met early Friday with tears, skepticism and, for some, a long-awaited glimmer of hope.

The joint announcement that the two nations will work toward denuclearizing the peninsula, establishing lines of communication and formally ending the Korean War came in the wee hours in Los Angeles, home to the largest community of Koreans in the U.S.

The news was particularly poignant for the dozens of elderly Korean Americans who frequent a McDonalds in the heart of Koreatown, for whom the war isnt a page in the history books but a vivid childhood memory. Friday morning at the fast-food joint, where coffee is cheap and company ample, the summit was at the center of conversations at almost every table.

Advertisement

I was ecstatic, all smiles. It almost felt like we were going to be reunified soon, said Johng Suk Ahn, 79, who grew up in a part of South Koreas Gangwon province near the border with the North and got separated from her parents and two sisters amid the war.

Ahn recounted having friends on both sides when she was a child, the border marked only by the occasional wooden stake in the ground.

Theres going to be no more fighting, and a train is going to run. And its going to happen before I die, she said.

Maybe itll become like East and West Germany, her daughter, 57-year-old Yong Kistler, chimed in.

Ahn is one of the more than 7 million Korean expatriates who South Korean President Moon Jae-in acknowledged would be watching Fridays carefully orchestrated summit, broadcast live around the world. The expectations of North and South Korean citizens, as well as our overseas compatriots, are very high, Moon said in his introductory remarks.

The 12-hour meeting, which marked the first time a North Korean head of state set foot in South Korea, was replete with symbolic gestures and grand statements about the summits historic significance.

Jae Su An, 83, sat with four church friends digging into hotcakes while carefully analyzing every facial expression, hand gesture and body movement of the two leaders he had watched all night.

If it goes as they said, thats to be welcomed.... But is he just putting on a show? I couldnt tell, he said, referring to North Koreas Kim Jong Un. An said that when Kim first appeared on the screen, his face looked colorless and without a hint of a friendly smile; North Koreas leader, he said, sat slouched to one side while Moon sat upright.

Advertisement

If we go soft, we might end up paying for it, An said. These rapid developments are scary.

His friend, Min Kyu Park, said he noticed that Kims military entourage saluted Moon, though the South Korean officers did not do the same for his counterpart.

It wont be like before, Park said. He wont be like his father and grandfather.

At another table, the consensus was that however symbolic, any agreement between the Koreas mattered little. They said they were waiting to see what comes out of the scheduled meeting between Kim and President Trump.

Advertisement

Its all up to the U.S. We Koreans dont have the power, said Sung Kyun Chang, 78.

He said he was moved watching Moons spontaneous step over to the north side of the border, but he remained wary of Kims true intentions. Chang, whose family is from the Hwanghae province in what is now North Korea, said he still can hear the bombings and picture the dead from when the war broke out. He was in fifth grade.

People of my age lived through war, and we know just how devastating it is. he said. Thats why I dont trust them  but I hope for the best, and hope that he keeps his promises.

Michelle Song, 70, said she felt something welling up inside and teared up watching the live broadcast. She and her sister, watching from their living room, broke out in applause, she said.

Advertisement

Even in the days leading up to the summit, Song said, she didnt truly believe it would happen.

But its not a dream, it happened before our eyes, she said. Its like a miracle.

victoria.kim@latimes.com

Twitter: @vicjkimA public memorial service was scheduled Saturday in Westwood for Judge Stephen Reinhardt, a liberal stalwart on the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, who died last month at 87.

The service was scheduled for 9 a.m. at the Westwood Village Theatre, near UCLA, according to sponsors.

An appointee of President Carter, Reinhardt was known as the liberal lion of the federal circuit courts. He died of a heart attack March 29 in Los Angeles, according to a spokesman for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco.

Reinhardts rulings in support of criminal defendants, minorities and immigrants were often overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Advertisement

Reinhardt ruled as unconstitutional: the phrase under God in the Pledge of Allegiance; a law banning the procedure that opponents call partial-birth abortion; a Washington state ban on doctor-assisted suicide; Arizonas English-only language law; and Proposition 8, the 2008 California ballot referendum barring same-sex marriage.

Each of those rulings was overturned or vacated by the Supreme Court. The same-sex marriage case was remanded back to California for further proceedings, and Proposition 8 was ultimately ruled unconstitutional.

Judge Stephen Reinhardts decisions reflected the way he lived his life  with empathy, compassion and integrity,' former L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa tweeted.

After serving two years in the Air Force, Reinhardt served as a clerk for a federal judge in the District of Columbia, then entered private practice in Los Angeles, specializing in labor and election law.

Reinhardt was an informal advisor to L.A. Mayor Tom Bradley and was appointed by Bradley to the Recreation and Parks and Police commissions.

The judge was also among the citys representatives on the Coliseum Commission.

He was president of of the Police Commission when he was appointed to the 9th Circuit in 1980.

Reinhardt was married to Ramona Ripston, retired executive director of the ACLU of Southern California.

Advertisement

He was brilliant  a great legal mind and writer  but he was equally hard working,' said Hector Villagra, executive director of the ACLU Foundation of Southern California who clerked for Reinhardt from 1995-96. He worked seven days a week, completely committed to doing justice.

I remember once being in his chambers at 11 oclock on a Saturday night when he was writing a dissent because the full 9th Circuit had decided not to rehear a death penalty appeal. He knew it was totally pointless. It wasnt going to affect the outcome. But it was the right thing to do, and thats what mattered. He wanted his voice and his objections heard.'

carlos.lozano@latimes.comA federal judge in Los Angeles has delayed a lawsuit filed by porn star Stormy Daniels against President Trump and his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, saying that a recent FBI raid targeting Cohen is significant and suggests a criminal indictment is forthcoming.

U.S. District Judge S. James Otero ruled that proceedings in Daniels civil suit be pushed back until at least July 27, saying the postponement is justified until the court is able to determine the scope and context of the FBI investigation and potential criminal proceedings.

The significance of the FBI raid cannot be understated. This is no simple criminal investigation; it is an investigation into the personal attorney of a sitting president regarding documents that might be subject to the attorney-client privilege, Otero wrote in a ruling released Friday. Whether or not an indictment is forthcoming, and the court thinks it likely based on these facts alone, these unique circumstances counsel in favor of stay.

Cohen has come under scrutiny for crafting a hush-money agreement with Daniels, who said she had a sexual affair with Trump years ago. Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, was given $130,000 shortly before the November 2016 presidential election, a payment that critics have described as a potentially illegal campaign expenditure.

Advertisement

Daniels has accused Cohen of breaking federal law when he set up a shell corporation called Essential Consultants to pay her the hush money less than two weeks before the election. Daniels lawsuit seeks to void the agreement, saying Trump never signed it.

The White House has denied that Trump and Daniels had an affair.

Federal authorities have not publicly revealed the focus of their investigation, but the judge Friday said in his written order that both government officials and Cohen have indicated that the subject matter in the criminal probe, and the documents seized, in some part reference the $130,000 payment made to Ms. Clifford.

Any criminal investigation into this payment would likely have significant overlap with plaintiffs assertion that the agreement, and the payment in particular, had an illegal purpose, Otero wrote.

Cohen has said in court filings that he would assert his 5th Amendment right in connection with the civil case due to the ongoing criminal investigation by the FBI and U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.

On April 9, after obtaining court-approved search warrants, FBI agents launched a series of raids across Manhattan and reportedly seized computers, tax documents, emails, communications and business documents from Cohens home, his office, and his hotel room.

If the civil lawsuit were to proceed without delay, Cohen would have to choose between defending himself or asserting his 5th Amendment privilege to not provide testimony that could be self-incriminating, the judge wrote, and the adverse inference drawn from the invocation of his privilege, if he so chose to maintain it, would undeniably impact the case.  The potential prejudice to Mr. Cohen thus weighs in favor of a stay.

On Thursday, the president appeared to confirm that Cohen was representing him when the lawyer paid $130,000 to Daniels. Those comments seem at odds with his April 6 statement that he knew nothing about the payment, including why Cohen made it or where he got the money. Cohen has said he used his own money and never consulted Trump about it.

Advertisement

A lawyer for Daniels, Michael Avenatti, said on Twitter he would probably appeal the ruling. Justice delayed is justice denied, he wrote.

While we certainly respect Judge Oteros 90 day stay order based on Mr. Cohens pleading of the 5th, we do not agree with it. We will likely be filing an immediate appeal to the Ninth Circuit early next week. Justice delayed is justice denied. #basta  Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) April 27, 2018

ron.lin@latimes.com

@ronlinVice President Mike Pence will travel Monday to Calexico, where he will spend the morning touring the construction site of the border barrier and addressing Department of Homeland Security and Border Patrol employees.

Air Force Two is scheduled to arrive at the Naval Air Facility in El Centro at 10:20 a.m., according to a White House official. Pence will join Border Patrol officials including Chief Patrol Agent Gloria Chavez, Director of Field Operations Pete Flores and Yuma Branch Director Sylvia Carrizozo to discuss Calexicos border barrier system and replacement project, the official said.

Pence will then talk to local DHS and Border Patrol employees about their work and needs before leaving sometime in the early afternoon.

In February, Pence visited the Rio Grande Valley border near McAllen, Texas, with DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. In March, President Trump toured the border wall prototypes in Otay Mesa.

Advertisement

Trump stirred confusion last month when he tweeted photos of the construction of the Calexico border barrier replacement, saying Great briefing this afternoon on the start of our Southern Border WALL! But plans for the project started in 2009, and Border Patrol agents had previously emphasized that it shouldnt be confused with Trumps wall.

The White House official said Pences visit is part of the administrations work to continue ensuring effective border security and law enforcement in the southern border.

andrea.castillo@latimes.com

@andreamcastilloFollowing the lead of teachers who walked off the job in other states in recent weeks, thousands of teachers and their supporters took to the streets in Arizona and Colorado for the second day in a row to demand better pay and more funding for education.

The walkouts are the latest in a nationwide uproar over teacher pay and resources. Backed by labor unions and often with widespread public support, teachers in West Virginia, Oklahoma and Kentucky also have pressed state lawmakers for more resources. Many have told of working two or even three jobs to make ends meet.

In Arizona, protesters promised to hold a walkout after Republican Gov. Doug Ducey earlier this month revealed his plan to give teachers a 20% pay increase by 2020. Educators and supporters objected, saying that plan does not address raising salaries yearly for teachers. They called on Ducey to stop tax cuts until the states per-pupil spending meets the national average.

The National Center for Education Statistics lists Arizonas average teacher salary for the 2016-2017 academic year at $47,403  significantly below the national average of $58,950.

Advertisement

Arizona spends about $3,300 less per pupil than the national average, according to the Arizona Office of the Auditor General.

Lynne McKernan, a seventh-grade writing teacher at Mountain Trail Middle School in Phoenix, said Arizona lawmakers walked out of the Capitol on Friday without speaking to teachers.

In the middle of a crisis, they chose to adjourn rather than sit down with our representatives who have asked to speak with them for weeks, McKernan said in a telephone interview.

State Supt. of Public Instruction Diane Douglas threatened teachers with censorship and stripping of their certifications. While Douglas threatens to silence them, McKernan said, Weve been out in the streets doing her job.

McKernan has three academic degrees and is paid around $36,000 annually. With little funding for resources, she has worked in classrooms with duct tape on outdated books and peeling mouse pads.

Other schools have the roof caving in, McKernan said. We used to catch mice at our school. It was like a hobby: How many mice did you catch in your classroom today?

Without the proper tools, McKernan buys pens and notebooks for her students. Teachers in Arizona are the only people who steal supplies from home and take them to work.

Students showed solidarity with the teachers, saying the crumbling infrastructure at some schools distracts them from their studies.

Advertisement

People call this #RedForEd movement a disruption? Oh really, whats really disruptive is the water from the leaking [ceiling] thats dripping on your desk, tweeted Luis Payan, a freshman at Valley Vista High School in the city of Surprise, outside Phoenix.

Ducey remains focused on getting the state Legislature to pass the 20% raise. Protesters have threatened to continue their walkout until all their demands are met.

If you get a 20% pay increase and you continue to strike, how do you make sense of that to parents? Ducey said Thursday in an interview with KTAR 92.3.

The walkout by Arizona teachers, which began Thursday, led hundreds of thousands of students  from Flagstaff to Nogales  to stay home and out of classrooms.

Advertisement

Thousands of educators and supporters marched through downtown Phoenix, from Chase Field to the state Capitol, wearing red T-shirts reading Arizona educators united.

Protesters carried signs that read, An investment in education is an investment in our future, Fund our future and The future of AZ is in my classroom.

Meanwhile, in Colorado, an upcoming ballot measure in November could tip the scales in the students favor.

The Great Schools, Thriving Communities measure would increase tax rates for corporations and for people who make more than $150,000 annually.

Advertisement

The money would be used to increase base funding for all students, provide full-day kindergarten and increase funding from the state to local districts for English language classes and special education.

Colorado schools are severely underfunded right now, and this initiative is a way we can ensure that every student has access to the supports they need for success, Susan Meek, a spokeswoman for Great Education Colorado, said in a statement.

Thousands of teachers and supporters descended on the state Capitol in Denver, where they are protesting the lack of funding for student resources and low teacher salaries. Teachers average salary in Colorado  $46,506  is even less than Arizonas, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

Due to the walkouts, the two largest school districts in the state, in Denver and Jefferson Counties, were closed Thursday and Friday.

Advertisement

In an attempt to curb the teachers walkout, two Republican state lawmakers  Sen. Bob Gardner and Rep. Paul Lundeen  introduced a bill last week to prohibit teachers from organizing or joining in a strike.

If the bill were to pass, protesting teachers could be penalized with termination of their jobs, six months in jail and a fine  but it is not expected to get through the Democratic-majority Legislature.

The recent uproar over teacher salaries and education funding began in February, when teachers in West Virginia went on a nine-day strike with broad public support. Schools shut down in all of the states 55 counties. The walkouts ended with teachers receiving a 5% pay raise.

Before signing the pay raise bill, Republican Gov. Jim Justice said: Our children have suffered enough. We have to return some normalcy to the education process.

Advertisement

Next came Oklahoma, where teachers this month also went on a nine-day strike for higher wages and more funding.

The strike ended with the teachers accepting the $479 million lawmakers originally agreed to for school funding and pay raises  well below the $3.3 billion teachers wanted.

In Kentucky, the Legislature on April 13 overrode a veto by Republican Gov. Matt Bevin to pass tax and budget bills that boost education funding.

Bevin denounced the walkouts, charging that children left unattended by working parents had been harmed.

Advertisement

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 local 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.

He later apologized for the remarks.

michael.livingston@latimes.com

@Livingston_LATPresident Trump and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis spoke on Saturday with their South Korean counterparts after the historic meeting between leaders of the two Koreas, and Trump said things are going very well as he prepares for an expected summit with the Norths Kim Jong Un.

Mattis and South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo said they were committed to a diplomatic resolution that achieves complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the North, according to the Pentagons chief spokeswoman, Dana W. White. Mattis also reaffirmed the ironclad U.S. commitment to defend its ally using the full spectrum of U.S. capabilities. 

Trump tweeted Saturday that he had a long and very good talk with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. He also said he updated Japans prime minister, Shinzo Abe, about the ongoing negotiations for an anticipated summit with Kim, tentatively scheduled for May or early June.

Moon and Kim have pledged to seek a formal end to the Korean War, fought from 1950 to 1953, by years end and to rid the Korean Peninsula of nuclear weapons. Trump has said hes looking forward to the meeting with Kim and that it should be quite something.

Advertisement

Things are going very well, time and location of meeting with North Korea is being set, Trump tweeted.

Trump is claiming credit for the Korean summit, but now faces a burden in helping turn the Korean leaders bold but vague vision for peace into reality after more than six decades of hostility.

Trump must contend with suspicions about his own suitability to conduct that kind of war-and-peace negotiation and succeed where his predecessors have failed, and whether Kim really is willing to give up the nuclear weapons his nation took decades acquiring.

It is still unclear whether North Korea still believes that it can have its cake and eat it too, said Victor Cha, who until January had been in the running to become Trumps choice for ambassador to South Korea.

At a White House news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday, Trump basked in the afterglow of the meeting between Kim and Moon and said he has a responsibility to try to achieve peace and denuclearization.

And if I cant do it, itll be a very tough time for a lot of countries, and a lot of people. Its certainly something that I hope I can do for the world, he said.

Moon and Kim have not specified what steps would be taken to formally end the war or eliminate nuclear weapons. Now the pressure to deliver results, at least on the allies side, has shifted to Trump.

The president pushed back against critics who say hes being manipulated by Kim, who has abruptly shifted to diplomacy after last years full-scale drive to become a nuclear power that could threaten the U.S. mainland.

Advertisement

I dont think hes ever had this enthusiasm for somebody, for them wanting to make a deal, Trump said in the Oval Office. Were not going to be played, OK. Were going to hopefully make a deal. The United States in the past has been played like a fiddle.

New Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who as CIA director met Kim four weeks ago in North Korea, told reporters in Brussels that he got the impression that Kim was serious about negotiating on denuclearization because of the Trump-led economic pressure campaign.

But Pompeo added a word of caution: I am always careful. There is a lot of history here. Promises have been made, hopes have been raised and then dashed.

North Korea has already called a halt to nuclear and long-range missile tests, which has helped dial down tensions significantly.

Advertisement

North Korea was hit with unprecedented economic restrictions during 2017, when the U.S. and North Korean leaders traded threats while Kim pushed his nation to the verge of being able to fire a nuclear-tipped missile at the U.S. mainland.

The diplomatic climate has changed dramatically this year, as Kim has ended his international seclusion, reaching out to South Korea, the U.S., and China.

Mattis has said the U.S. is optimistic right now that theres opportunity here that we have never enjoyed since 1950" and any progress will be up to the diplomats. He was referring to the year the Korean War broke out.

The fighting, which also involved China, cost hundreds of thousands of lives and ended with the declaration of an armistice, not a peace treaty. That has left the peninsula in a technical state of war for decades.For nearly four years, Congress has abdicated its responsibility as first President Obama and then President Trump waged war against Islamic State without obtaining express permission from the only branch of the federal government with the power to declare war. Now, at long last, a bipartisan group of senators has introduced legislation that would provide congressional authorization for the campaign against Islamic State while reaffirming the presidents authority to use force against Al Qaeda, the Taliban and associated forces.

Unfortunately, the new Authorization for Use of Military Force proposed by Sens. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Tim Kaine (D-Va.) is far too deferential to the executive branch. If Congress wants to reclaim its role in matters of war and peace, it must be more assertive.

Some might question why Congress would bother to weigh in on the war against Islamic State now that, as Trump put it last week, the group is essentially just absolutely obliterated. But while the so-called caliphate has lost almost all of the territory it once controlled in Iraq and Syria, remnants of the organization remain, and for now the Pentagon has convinced Trump that 2,000 U.S. troops should stay in Syria to prevent it from staging a resurgence.

Its never too late for Congress to weigh in on that deployment and the larger effort against Islamic State. It is also long past time for Congress to update the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force that it approved after the Sept. 11 attacks  which has provided legal underpinning not only for the continued U.S. mission in Afghanistan but also for other military operations, including the campaign against Islamic State.

Advertisement

If the president seeks to add new enemies or new battlefields, those decisions too must require congressional approval.

The Corker-Kaine bill accomplishes both of those objectives. It also would repeal a separate authorization passed in 2002 empowering the president to use force to deal with the continuing threat posed by Iraq. That was the legal justification for President George W. Bushs 2003 invasion of that country, but it also has been pressed into service as a rationale for the war against Islamic State. The 2001 and 2002 authorizations would be repealed 120 days after the new AUMF took effect.

But although the two senators are correct that a new authorization is overdue, in other respects their legislation falls short of placing meaningful limits on the presidents power to wage war.

One problem is the lack of a sunset provision. When Obama unsuccessfully sought congressional authorization for the war against Islamic State  even as he insisted he already had the necessary authority  he proposed an AUMF that would have expired after three years. The Corker-Kaine bill has no such time limit.

Instead, it establishes a complicated procedure in which the president every four years would submit to Congress a proposal to repeal, modify or leave in place the AUMF. A 60-day period would follow in which Congress would give expedited consideration to legislation to repeal or modify the authorization. But if Congress failed to act, the AUMF would remain in force.

That process unduly strengthens the hand of the president, as does another provision in the bill that would allow the president to expand the list of associated forces against which military force may be used. The president would be required to report to Congress on why a new group was being added, and Congress could then vote to disapprove the presidents action. But if it didnt, the presidents decision would stand.

The bill provides for a similarly convoluted review process if the president decides to use force in a new foreign country other than Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Yemen or Libya. The burden would be on Congress to act to stop the president from using force in that country.

Finally, Corker-Kaine makes no distinction among different kinds of military action, empowering the president to use all necessary and appropriate force. That seemingly covers everything from airstrikes and drone attacks to use of special forces, combat divisions and beyond.

Advertisement

The ill-fated AUMF that Obama submitted to Congress in 2015 made it clear that U.S. military action couldnt involve enduring offensive ground combat operations. That reflected Obamas promise when he announced the campaign against Islamic State that the United States wouldnt be dragged into another ground war in Iraq.

A new AUMF should be similarly circumscribed. It also should contain a straightforward expiration date, after which Congress would have to act affirmatively to renew it. And if the president sought to add new enemies or new battlefields, those decisions too must require congressional approval  not merely a failure to override the presidents decision.

Corker, Kaine and their colleagues deserve credit for asserting Congress constitutional prerogative in decisions about when to go to war. But they need a bolder bill.

Advertisement

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinionand FacebookTo the editor: Many sincere white Americans have raised the question of why African Americans have failed to become as successful as other people of color, especially recent immigrants to United States. The article on lynchings sheds some light on the subject.

The story of the murder of Elmore Bolling, a successful black businessman, by his jealous white neighbor in Alabama in 1949 was just a glimpse into a pattern of racist violence that terrorized African Americans for generations. On a broader scale, during the Jim Crow era white Americans destroyed prosperous black businesses in many communities.

One of the most notorious of such incidents took place in Memphis in 1892. There, a store called Peoples Grocery, which was owned by a successful black businessman, competed with a nearby white-owned shop. The Peoples Grocery owner and two of his black employees were lynched by white marauders in a horrific assault that reverberated throughout the nation and wiped out the entrepreneurial spirit of many African Americans in Memphis and elsewhere.

Legrand H. Clegg II, Compton

Advertisement

..

To the editor: I hope the memorial to lynching victims in Alabama pays homage in some way to the first journalist, a black woman, to put an international spotlight on lynching in the South.

Ida B. Wells not only documented the extent of lynching but even more importantly debunked the rape myth. This was the prevailing view at the turn of the 20th century that lynching of black men was somehow justified because they raped white women.

Using statistics from white newspapers, Wells revealed that lynchings in the South had many causes, including the rising economic competition of African Americans with whites. Maintaining white supremacy, not the rape of white women, was the overall motivating factor, Wells concluded.

Wells later became an urban reformer and passionate suffragist, but her groundbreaking work was soon largely forgotten after she died in 1931. I hope she is not forgotten today.

Carl Martz, Redlands

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and FacebookIts an objection raised by letter writers whenever the Los Angeles Times covers the sadly common occurrence of mass killings in this country: Putting the pictures of alleged gunmen, homicidal truck drivers, knife-wielders, etc. on the front page of a major newspaper gives them the fame they seek and encourages others contemplating similar atrocities to act.

But to some readers, having to look at the faces of the people accused of committing heinous acts serves an important purpose besides providing basic information about the crime: It forces us to confront assumptions about what we believe the most dangerous people look like. While several readers have said The Times should cease publishing any photos of people like Travis Reinking  the alleged Nashville Waffle House shooter  a handful of others have written letters strongly implying that publishing these images performs a service.

Beverly Hills resident Alan Burbank puts himself in the objection column:

I object to front-page photos of accused mass killers. It gives them instant notoriety and fame and may cause copycat murders by others desiring vast media coverage to satisfy some twisted inner need.

Advertisement

An example is the April 24 photo of the accused Nashville shooter on the front page of the Los Angeles Times. It would be sufficient news coverage to simply provide the facts that the authorities have identified and arrested a suspect and to provide the suspects name and age and omit the photograph, thereby denying the accused killer instant fame.

It is time for all media to make a contribution to public safety by establishing new guidelines that limit photographic publicity given to those who are accused of having committed heinous crimes.

Moira Niblo Obermeyer of San Juan Capistrano seconds that objection and suggests alternative photos:

Really? You decided that a photo of the suspected Nashville shooter should be displayed on the front page of the print edition of the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday?

How about photos of his victims? Yeah, I know that might be difficult since you would probably have to obtain photos from the families, but I really think that your paper can make better choices than this.

The story itself was buried on Page A5, but the photo was still published on the front page.

Karen Obryan of Torrance praises her local newspaper, but not The Times:

I was disappointed to see the alleged Waffle House shooters picture on the front page of your paper this week. I was pleased to see that the Daily Breeze did not feature him.

Advertisement

Please dont glorify these murderous acts by making them front-page news. In my opinion, it just fuels the fire.

Doris K. Reed of Los Angeles implies that publishing the photo serves a purpose:

Take a good look at the face of terrorism in this country, America: It is white, male and home grown.

Barbara Gary of Los Angeles makes a similar point:

Advertisement

Im sure it has come to the attention of most of your readers that the majority of mass killers have been young, deranged, white men.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and FacebookAll Burbank resident Mickey DePalo wants to do is make sure that no veteran feels they are being forgotten.

Whether it is a small pat on the back, or care packages sent overseas, DePalo has made it his mission to support the servicemen and women defending the country, like he did many years ago.

As long as the good Lords willing, Im going to do this for as long as I can, DePalo said. Being a veteran myself, its a real part of me and I enjoy working with all the individuals. Theres no political ax to grind. All we want to do is be there for the men and women that serve their country  and be there for their families.

All we want to do is be there for the men and women that serve their country  and be there for their families. Mickey DePalo

Because of his continued work to help veterans living in and around Burbank, Assemblywoman Laura Friedman (D-Glendale) named DePalo, 70, the 43rd Districts Veteran of the Year.

DePalo, chairman of the Burbank Veterans Committee, was honored Wednesday during a luncheon in Sacramento, where he had the chance to meet Friedman and tour the area.

Doing what we do here in the city of Burbank for our veterans and their families is all thanks to the support that I get here, he said. My colleagues from the Veterans Committee, city staff and City Council, they make it so easy for us to do what we can for the veterans and their families.

It is not the first time DePalo has been commended for his work. In 2011, the Burbank Assn. of Realtors named him Citizen of the Year and in 2009, then-Assemblyman Paul Krekorian chose DePalo to be his pick for Veteran of the Year.

The lifelong Burbank resident served in the Army during the Vietnam War for two years and became a military police sergeant at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas after being discharged by the Army.

After the war, DePalo had a 42-year career with the Burbank Parks and Recreation Department and retired in 2008. However, DePalo said that he has been volunteering and helping veterans since 1988.

While most volunteering time is spent with the Burbank Veterans Committee, DePalo is also active with several other groups, such as the Burbank Elks Lodge, Glendale Wellness Works and La Crescenta Veterans Coalition.

The great thing about veterans is that we served our country, but we continue to serve our community, he said. There are so many veterans out there that do this and go unnoticed. I do this because I want to and I feel that Im, in some small way, contributing to not only the older veterans but also the younger veterans that are just trying to come back to the civilian life.

DePalo has a soft spot in his heart for servicemen and women who are trying to readjust to post-duty life, saying that it is not easy for someone to make that transition.

Understanding that the pressure may be too much for veterans, DePalo assists Glendale Wellness Works with its Not on Our Watch ceremony, which brings awareness to the community about veterans who commit suicide.

An effort that means a lot to DePalo is the Burbank Veterans Committees Hands Across the Battlefield program, for which numerous volunteers fill boxes with comfort items  a new pair of socks, books, toiletries and thank-you letters  to active servicemen and women stationed all over the world.

Last year, we packaged over 800 boxes with items to send to troops overseas, he said. We send all of those packages right before Christmas, just in time for them to get care packages from our city and letting them know that theyre not being forgotten and we support their mission.

The next major project DePalo will be taking part in is the citys renovation to the war memorial at McCambridge Park, which was installed on Veterans Day in 1988. Construction is expected to be completed by Memorial Day 2018.

anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com

Twitter: @acocarpioJetBlue Airways will expand its service in Burbank to offer new nonstop flights to the East Coast this fall.

With the economy on a steady rise, airline officials said during a press conference at Hollywood Burbank Airport on Thursday they think its the right time to offer the additional flights.

Starting on Sept. 5, Hollywood Burbank will begin offering an evening flight once a day to Boston Logan International Airport and a daily daytime flight to John F. Kennedy International Airport in addition to an evening flight once a day to JFK, said Robin Hayes, president and chief executive of JetBlue.

Weve continued to build our coast-to-coast services between New York and Boston and California, Hayes said. As the opportunity arose to add a second daily flight to New York from here, just in case you dont want to go on the red-eye, and then to start a service from here to Boston just [speaks] to the success of our brand and also the support that weve had from the community with our services.

JetBlue has been on a mission to grow its transcontinental offerings for travelers over the past years, adding flights to JFK and Boston from Los Angeles International Airport.

However, Hayes said customers value the ability to use other hubs, such as Hollywood Burbank, Ontario International and Long Beach airports for their traveling needs.

In addition to the new flights out of Burbank, JetBlue will be returning to its operations at Ontario after a 10-year hiatus, adding a daily flight to JFK starting in September.

The airline is also making changes in Long Beach as it adds a twice-a-week flight to Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport starting in December.

However, after the city of Long Beach decided last year to not allow the construction of a federal inspections facility at the airport, Hayes said JetBlue has started to focus its services at other regional airfields and will be reducing its services at Long Beach.

We took the decision to reduce Long Beachs services down to where we were two years ago and invest our aircraft line time at airports like Hollywood Burbank and others that really appreciate the relationship, Hayes said.

We wanted to build the [federal inspection facility] in Long Beach. It didnt happen, and weve moved on, he added.

While the new flights will possibly benefit Hollywood Burbank and JetBlue, the additional flights may cause a stir with Burbank residents who have been concerned about the noise emanating from the airport since the Federal Aviation Administrations NextGen system was implemented.

Pasadena Mayor Terry Tornek, president of the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority, said the new flights will be an inconsequential change to procedures at Hollywood Burbank, adding that airlines adjust schedules regularly.

Were still way below the service levels that existed in this airport not that many years ago, and the aircraft have gotten so much quieter than what we had before, he said.

However, Tornek added that although the noise impacts are less than what they have been in the past, local airport officials will conduct a noise analysis to determine whether NextGen has anything to do with residents concerns.

anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com

Twitter: @acocarpioBurbank residents will have until May 7 to submit applications to the city in order to fill the vacant seat left by the late Mayor Will Rogers.

The City Council unanimously voted on Tuesday to conduct an interview process to determine who the best person would be to see out the rest of Rogers term, which is expected to end on May 1, 2019.

Burbank has 30 days since April 19, the day Rogers died after his battle with stage 4 liver cancer, to fill the vacancy per the city charter, City Atty. Amy Albano said.

Qualified candidates  those who have been city residents for at least 29 days and are registered voters in Burbank  have until noon on May 7 to submit an application either in person, mail or by email.

Applications are available at burbankca.gov/vacancy or at City Hall, 275 E. Olive Ave., in the city clerks office.

After applications have been received, the city will hold a special meeting at 5 p.m. May 10 to interview the candidates. Each person will be sequestered and interviewed individually by council members. The order in which the candidates will be interviewed will be determined randomly.

Council members will then choose who they think is the best candidate on May 14, and that person will be formally seated during the May 22 council meeting.

The City Council agreed to allow each candidate to make a three-minute presentation during their interview. That will be followed by a question-and-answer period with council members.

Depending on the number of applicants and the length of each interview, council members can opt to continue the interview process to May 14.

However, there were several residents who spoke on Tuesday and were against the interview process. Instead, they suggested calling up the candidate who received the next highest number of votes during the April 2017 election  former Councilman David Gordon.

Resident Mike Moynahan said he wants a council member who will listen to community members and look into the issues they raise.

You all find that difficult, working with Dr. David Gordon, but Dr. David Gordon gives us a side to an issue out  to the community that we have a right to know about, he said. We dont get that from staff always, and we dont get it from you always.

There is a twist to the vacant City Council seat. An upcoming ballot measure in the upcoming June primary election, Measure V, will ask Burbank voters whether the city should realign its election period to coincide with the state general election to meet the requirements established in SB 415, legislation that was adopted to increase voter turnout.

Should residents vote in favor of the realignment, it would extend each elected Burbank officials term by a year and eight months.

That means whoever is selected to fill the vacancy would have the term extended.

Councilman Bob Frutos was adamant council members select a candidate who would see out Rogers term and not run for reelection in 2019 or 2020, depending on whether Measure V passes.

Frutos said he wants Rogers seat to be open, with no incumbency, so that there isnt a notion that the person selected gets what he or she thinks would be a free pass for another term.

I want to make sure that Im doing everything thats possible and reasonable to keep that seat vacant so when the scheduled election comes up, then anybody and everybody who wants to run for council are encouraged to run, he said.

The individual who gets the appointment, in a perfect Bob Frutos world, would be somebody that just finishes out Mayor Will Rogers term, he added.

anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com

Twitter: @acocarpioWill Costa Mesa be the next Orange County city to take action opposing a California law that expands protections for undocumented immigrants?

City Council members are set to answer that question Tuesday when they discuss Senate Bill 54, a sanctuary state law that in many cases prohibits local and state police agencies from notifying federal officials when theyre about to release immigrants in their custody who may be subject to deportation.

Mayor Pro Tem Allan Mansoor and Councilman Jim Righeimer asked the council this month to take up the matter, saying they wanted to further examine how the law might affect the city or its policing efforts.

During a previous stint on the council from 2002 to 2010, Mansoor pushed the city to work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to check the immigration status of crime suspects, and an ICE agent was stationed at the city jail for a time.

Throughout that period, we had up to 50 or so criminals per month flagged by ICE, he said in an interview in March.

As mayor in 2010, he led a council action to declare Costa Mesa a rule-of-law city when it comes to support for upholding immigration laws.

According to a memo on SB 54 included in Tuesdays council agenda, Police Chief Rob Sharpnack and Capt. Bryan Glass wrote that besides the guidelines outlining local law enforcements collaboration levels with federal agents on immigration enforcement-related activities, these new parameters have not substantially affected the Costa Mesa Police Departments normal operational practices, nor have they impeded our ability to provide quality services to the community.

Council members have various options available to them Tuesday. They could, for instance, adopt a resolution or an ordinance opposing or supporting SB 54 or request more information.

They also could opt not to do anything. Last year, Mansoor asked his colleagues to send a letter opposing SB 54 but was unable to get a third council member to join him and Righeimer in supporting that.

Californias sanctuary laws, including SB 54, have become increasingly controversial in recent months, and several Orange County cities have taken stands to oppose them.

President Trumps administration has filed a lawsuit contending that the laws obstruct federal immigration law and thus violate the Constitutions supremacy clause, which gives federal law precedence over state law.

Earlier this month, the Huntington Beach City Council approved filing a lawsuit against California and the state attorney general to challenge the legality of the mandates.

Fountain Valley chose a different tact, with council members deciding to join a court brief supporting the federal lawsuit. The Newport Beach City Council passed a resolution opposing SB 54 and said it might follow up with a court brief.

Tuesdays Costa Mesa meeting starts at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 77 Fair Drive.

luke.money@latimes.com

Twitter @LukeMMoneyNewport Beach might add regulations to builder schedules in an attempt to curb the parking crunches that come with heavy home remodeling.

The City Council seems open to barring most construction on Saturdays and adding time limits to building permits after discussing the issue  a common one in Newport.

You get these good times in the economy like we have now, where everyone is scraping and virtually the neighborhood becomes an unbearable construction site, Mayor Marshall Duffield said during a Tuesday study session.

As of Tuesday, the city had 2,452 active building permits. By Friday, it had 2,481, with a total valuation of $660.9 million. This includes commercial, residential and city facility projects of all sizes.

District 5, which includes Balboa Island and Big Canyon, accounted for 533 of those. District 1, which covers the Balboa Peninsula and Lido Isle, District 3, which covers Santa Ana Heights, Dover Shores and other areas along the west side of Newport Bay, and District 6, which covers Corona del Mar, each had more than 400 permits.

With those projects come workers  contractors and subcontractors in a fleet of trucks, plus large bins to hold wood scraps, tile remnants and other construction waste  often parking on the street.

Community Development Director Seimone Jurjis said local property values have doubled in the last six years, fueling the citys economic engine through property tax revenues.

I never want it to seem like were trying to attack the contractors or the amount of development, he said. We just need to figure out whats the right balance for the community.

That could mean changing when builders can work and for how long.

The city currently only bars building on Sundays. Jurjis said the city spoke with five general contractors that work in the area and got a positive response to limiting building on Saturdays because it would allow workers some time off.

He said the city would allow exceptions for emergency repairs, public works projects and commercial projects, where ample worker parking is available.

He also floated the idea of requiring builders to complete projects within a certain time frame  a requirement that also currently does not exist locally, although only about 30 permits have been active for four years or greater.

By comparison, Santa Monica requires projects to be completed within one to four years, depending on value. Hillsborough, in the Bay Area, puts nine-month to two-and-a-half-year limits on projects, also depending on value. El Segundo requires all projects to be done within three years.

Jurjis said Newport can also do a better job of educating builders on city rules, such as local codes, the street sweeping schedule and the permitting process to close a street or alley.

Councilman Scott Peotter said he favored a progressive but flexible set of requirements, such as parking plans and material delivery schedules, for builders as streets get more simultaneous job sites.

Councilman Jeff Herdman said something needs to be done to address construction impacts, but understood that vehicles are part of the process.

(For) a lot of these construction workers, their toolbox is their truck, he said. Theyve got to have it on site with them. Its a dilemma.

Terry Jansen, past president of Balboa Island Improvement Assn., said that hes had as many as nine houses under construction on his street. Between construction workers and vacation rental guests, a street can have only half of its on-street parking available for residents, he said.

Last Sunday, Jansen drove every street on the islands two sections and counted 40 homes visibly under construction.

That doesnt count the construction that we have that you dont see, like bathrooms, he said.

Councilman Brad Avery said axing Saturdays might make projects take longer overall, but will provide neighbors relief. Duffield and Councilwoman Diane Dixon also supported taking Saturdays off the calendar.

The local construction boom is unlike anything Avery said hes seen in all his years in town.

Were the victims of prosperity here, he said.

hillary.davis@latimes.com

Twitter: @Daily_PilotHDLaw enforcement is warning the public to beware of a type of telephone scam known as virtual kidnapping that targeted a Laguna Beach mother.

The woman received a call April 20 from a man saying he had kidnapped her young son, police said. The man demanded a ransom and threatened to kill the child, police said.

The woman told police she heard what she thought was a child screaming in the background.

But the call was revealed to be a hoax after officers confirmed her son was safe.

Authorities said the incident is part of a string of virtual kidnapping schemes that aim to scare people into handing over money.

Jordan Villwock, Laguna Beachs emergency operations coordinator, said authorities suspect the man gathered personal information about the woman through unsecured social media.

The success of any type of virtual kidnapping scheme depends on speed and fear, Villwock said. Criminals know they only have a short time to exact a ransom before the victims unravel the scam or authorities become involved.

The FBI has been tracking virtual kidnapping calls to the United States from Mexico since 2013. Most of the schemes originate in Mexican prisons, according to the agency.

The prisoners  who typically bribe guards to acquire cellphones  often select affluent areas to target. They determine the correct area code and then start dialing numbers in sequence to troll for victims, according to the FBI.

Kathie Gross, a Laguna Niguel resident, recently answered a call from an unknown number to hear what she was convinced was her 12-year-old daughter Jordans voice.

Mom, I need help, the voice said. These men have taken me.

Gross screamed her daughters name. Villwock said scammers often wait for victims to say their loved ones name and use it as further evidence that they have the person captive, so he advised people who receive such a call not to provide any personal information.

In Gross case, the caller slipped when he referred to Jordan as a boy, so she hung up. After confirming that her daughter was at school, Gross realized the call was a scam.

It was truly the most terrifying experience Ive ever had, she said.

Law enforcement officials suggest that people who receive a possible virtual kidnapping call:

Hang up the phone

Try to reach the alleged kidnapping victim on his or her phone

Call police

Do not pay a ransom by any means

hannah.fry@latimes.com

Twitter: @HannahFryTCNNo mas ratas! No more rats!

About 150 Newport Harbor High School students and teachers chanted Friday on the sidewalk in front of the campus administration building while holding colorful banners emblazoned with slogans such as Congrats, we have rats and The plague, Part II.

The demonstrators said the protest came after months of complaints about a rat infestation at the schools Dodge Hall, where math and world language classes are held. Students and teachers shared stories of live and dead rodents, urine on desks and rats ripping tissues out of a box.

The protest kicked off at 8 a.m. with about 100 students and teachers.

A second wave of protesters, mostly Spanish teachers and their students, joined in shortly after 9 a.m.

Britt Dowdy, president of the Newport-Mesa Federation of Teachers, said he attended the protest with other community members and that school administrators told them to leave the campus.

Dowdy said the teachers union plans to file a complaint about the infestation with the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, better known as Cal/OSHA.

While sophomore Nick Baljeu protested with his Spanish class, he shared photos he said were shot Friday morning of a dead rat under a heating vent on the second floor of Dodge Hall.

Its disgusting, he said. Theres just a lot of these  around our school.

Newport Harbor staff said Principal Sean Boulton was unavailable to comment Friday morning.

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District said in a statement Friday that the well-being of students and staff is our No. 1 priority. The district has been working closely with staff to address concerns regarding pests. When we receive a work order related to integrated pest management, it is granted a high-priority status and we work to respond to requests as quickly as possible.

This dead rat was photographed Friday morning at Newport Harbor High Schools Dodge Hall. (Courtesy of Nick Baljeu )

Spanish teacher Cecilia Silva Santisteban said she and fellow teachers cant work in the current conditions anymore. She said she arrived at school at 6:30 a.m. Thursday and found a dead rat in a trap under her desk, blood splattered everywhere.

Another Spanish teacher, Carlos Alcazar, said he recently leaned down to smell what he thought might be rat urine on a desk.

It almost knocked me over, he said. Nobody should have to work like that.

Asked who he thought is responsible for the rat infestation, Alcazar said placing blame on a particular person or group isnt his primary concern.

Whoever is responsible knows theyre responsible, he said. We just need it to be fixed. Its not fair for the kids.

Newport Harbor High has waged high-profile battles with rats in the past.

Rat sightings in Dodge Hall flared in late 2016. At that time, school employees set traps in classrooms to catch the rodents, and a math teacher photographed two dead rats in snap traps on a wall in his classroom.

Students said they found this dead rat Friday morning under a hallway heating vent at Newport Harbor High Schools Dodge Hall. (Courtesy of Nick Baljeu )

DANIEL LANGHORNE is a contributor to Times Community News.

Twitter: @DanielLanghorneA 36-year-old Newport Beach man is facing multiple felony charges that he beat and tortured his 65-year-old wife in their home in January, according to Orange County Superior Court records.

Senior Deputy District Attorney Mark Geller told City News Service that Richard David Schlosser kept her captive in the apartment for hours.  He actually waterboarded her.

Geller declined to comment to the Daily Pilot this week. A Jan. 9 motion to increase Schlossers bail was sealed Wednesday after a reporter requested access to it.

Schlosser faces one count each of torture, corporal injury on a spouse, false imprisonment and criminal threats.

He has pleaded not guilty to all charges, court records show.

He also faces possible sentencing enhancements on allegations of causing great bodily injury and committing an offense while released from custody. At the time of the incident, Schlosser was out of jail on $50,000 bail in connection with a separate domestic violence case in Riverside County from December 2016. He has pleaded not guilty to felony charges in that case, court records show.

Schlosser, who is listed in jail records as unemployed, could face a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted in the Newport Beach case.

Officers responded to Schlossers apartment in the 2700 block of Newport Boulevard at 10:17 a.m. Jan. 6 after someone called police to ask them to check on a woman at the home, said Newport Beach police spokeswoman Jennifer Manzella.

When officers arrived, they identified a reason to believe a crime had occurred and entered the home to investigate, Manzella said.

Schlosser was arrested that day. He is being held in Orange County Jail in Santa Ana with bail set at $2 million, according to jail records.

Schlossers wife alleged in a request for a restraining order filed in Superior Court that he attacked her for six hours from late Jan. 5 to early Jan. 6.

She alleged that he punched her  leaving her with a black eye  kicked her, hit her with a candelabra and cut her with scissors.

The restraining order request was dismissed after Schlossers wife did not appear at a hearing in February, court records show.

Police alleged in court documents that Schlosser also choked his wife and shoved a towel down her throat. She was hospitalized for her injuries, authorities said.

Geller told City News Service that Schlosser was under the influence of drugs and alcohol during the incident.

Schlosser is expected to appear in court in August for a pretrial hearing.

hannah.fry@latimes.com

Twitter: @HannahFryTCNThe Glendale Historical Society will host a Restoration Expo from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on May 6 at the Glendale Civic Auditorium, 401 N. Verdugo Road, Glendale.

Admission will be free, and there will be free parking in the auditoriums parking structure. Various vendors are expected to participate.

Sessions will be:

The Value of Architectural Preservation, from 10:30 to 11 a.m., featuring Kendyl Young from DIGGS Glendale

Architecturally Compatible Home Additions and Accessory Dwelling Units, from 11:15 to 11:45 a.m., featuring Karla Rodriguez-Herrera from HartmanBaldwin Design/Build

Preserving and Restoring Native California Landscapes for Year-Round Beauty, from noon to 12:30 p.m., featuring Lisa Novick from Theodore Payne Foundation

Historic Tile: Terra Cotta, Batchelder and More, from 12:45 to 1:15 p.m., featuring Linnaea Dawson from Silverlake Conservation

All Things Wood, A History, from 1:30 to 2 p.m., featuring William W. Ellinger III, principal historic architect, with Ellinger Architects and Associates

Matching History: An Architectural Color Guide, from 2:15 to 2:45 p.m., featuring Michelle Kent, regional color advisor manager, with Dunn-Edwards Paints

Energy Efficiency in Historic Homes: Whats Next?, from 3 to 3:45 p.m., featuring Scott Campbell from Window Restoration & Repair, Dan Thomsen from Building Doctors and Sravanti Bassa from ICF International

For more information, email events@glendalehistorical.org.

mark.kellam@latimes.com

Twitter: @lamarkkellamThe death toll has risen to nine in a stabbing attack outside a middle school in northwestern China.

The Mizhi county government in Shaanxi province reported that 10 other people had been hospitalized with injuries resulting from the Friday evening rampage outside the No. 3 Middle School.

Police have arrested a suspect in his 20s identified by the surname Zhao. He had been a student at the school and was believed to be seeking revenge for having been bullied, according to the Mizhi governments official microblog.

China tightly restricts private gun ownership, making knives and homemade explosives the most common weapons in violent crimes.

Advertisement

Many schools have beefed up security at access points following violence against students and family members. In 2010, nearly 20 children were killed in knife attacks outside school gates.Hundreds of Palestinians stormed a flimsy fence that runs along the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel on Friday, setting parts of the barrier on fire.

It was the first breach of the security fence in five consecutive weeks of Palestinian protests. Israeli army spokesman Lt. Jonathan Conricus said Israel viewed this as an audacious and severe attack, adding that Israel will not tolerate attempts to infiltrate its territory.

According to Conricus, between 500 and 700 protesters managed to penetrate about 30 yards into Israel, remaining in a dusty strip of no-mans land adjacent to a village, where residents were readying for Friday night dinners.

Three people were killed and at least 350 were wounded Friday, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

Advertisement

The ministry said that 45 of the wounded were hit by live fire from Israeli forces.

Conricus said that 12,000 to 14,000 Palestinians participated in the protests. They rolled burning tires, hurled rocks, flew kites with flaming objects attached to them and made several attempts to burn and breach the border fence before succeeding, he said.

The rioters approached the security fence and hurled explosive devices, grenades, firebombs and rocks and tried to light the security fence on fire, the Israeli army said in a statement.

Palestinian media reported that six of the wounded are journalists. A reporter, Abdel Rahman Alkahlout, was shot in the leg by Israeli forces, according to Palestinian reports, and a photographer, Hashem Hamada, was hit in the head by a tear gas canister.

Todays breach of the border fence was unprecedented, but long feared and foreseen by the Israeli military.

The demonstrations, collectively dubbed the Great March of Return, originally were scheduled to culminate in a massive march of thousands on May 15, the date on which Palestinians mark Israels 1948 declaration of independence as the Nakba, or catastrophe.

But on Wednesday, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh announced that the weekly protests would continue beyond May 15, which this year also marks the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The Palestinian people will demonstrate throughout the month of Ramadan to deal with the many challenges facing us, and first of all the peace plan promoted by U.S. President Donald Trump, the so-called deal of the century, Haniyeh said.

Advertisement

Palestinian anger at the United States has escalated since Trumps December announcement that the U.S. would recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The U.S. Embassy move is set for May 14, in honor of the 70th anniversary of Israels founding.

Israel has long sought the move and the recognition. Palestinians, who claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state, strongly object.

Trump has touted a Middle East peace plan, to be negotiated by his son-in-law and senior advisor, Jared Kushner, since the start of his presidency, calling it the ultimate deal, but Israeli, Palestinian and American officials have yet to see it.

We will turn this deal into a resounding slap in the face for the administration in Washington and anyone who weaves conspiracies against the Palestinian people, Haniyeh said.

Advertisement

On Tuesday, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that 42 Palestinians had been killed and 5,511 wounded in the weekly marches in Gaza. No Israeli casualties have been reported.

Israel has faced a growing international outcry over its use of live fire to contain the protests, which have included improvised bombs and numerous attempts to breach the border fence.

U.N. human rights chief Zeid Raad Hussein said Friday that Israel must explain its use of excessive force in Gaza, where the number of injuries is staggering.

A spokesman for the Israeli military said Thursday that its troops operate in accordance with clear rules of engagement that are tailored to these scenarios.

Advertisement

 Hundreds of Palestinians stormed a flimsy fence that runs along the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel on Friday, setting parts of the barrier on fire.

Amnesty International published a statement Friday calling for an embargo on arms sales to Israel and asserting that Israel is carrying out a murderous assault against protesting Palestinians, with its armed forces killing and maiming demonstrators who pose no imminent threat to them.

On Thursday, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley denounced the participation of unarmed Palestinian civilians in the protests, saying, Anyone who truly cares about children in Gaza should insist that Hamas immediately stop using children as cannon fodder in its conflict with Israel.

Addressing a U.N. Security Council meeting, Haley said, Its difficult to think of a more cowardly act  even for a terrorist  than hiding behind innocent civilians.

Advertisement

Several journalists have been killed and wounded since March 30, when the protests started. Yasser Murtaja, a Palestinian photographer wearing a vest emblazoned with the word Press, was killed while covering the march on April 6. Ahmed Abu Hussein, another photographer, died this week of injuries sustained in the April 13 march. The Israeli army says it is investigating the circumstances of their deaths but has yet to issue any findings.

On Thursday, an Israeli army spokesman said that it does not aim to harm members of the press.

Despite the fact that bullet wounds caused the deaths of Murtaja and Hussein, the spokesman postulated that if the journalists in question had stumbled and fell or inhaled tear gas, which is one of the riot dispersal means used, it is impossible for the [Israeli army] to prevent such injuries. We encourage journalists to act with caution in the areas in which Hamas carries out terrorist acts and leads violent riots.

The Gaza Strip, a tiny, beleaguered enclave bounded by Egypt, Israel and the Mediterranean Sea, has survived under an onerous blockade since 2007, when Hamas, a Palestinian Islamist militia, wrested control of the territory from the Palestinian Authority based in the West Bank.

Advertisement

Tarnopolsky is a special correspondent.

UPDATES:

1:20 p.m.: This article was updated with new casualty numbers and details about protesters breaching and burning the border fence.

This article was originally published at 10 a.m.#lawmaker Lawmaker accused of using 'comfort women' group's money 217 times A lawmaker, who formerly headed a major civic group supporting women forced into wartime sexual slavery by Japan, has been accused of embezzling the organization's funds 217 times,...

#Oscar 'Escape from Mogadishu' selected as S. Korea's Oscar entry The South Korean action film based on a true story of the life-and-death escape by South and North Korean diplomats during the Somali civil war in the 1990s will represent South Ko...Moravian College will soon take over the ownership and day-to-day management of one of Main Street Bethlehem's largest and oldest businesses.

The Moravian Church Northern Province will hand over the keys of Moravian Book Shop, which bills itself as America's oldest bookseller, to the Bethlehem college in mid-June, the church announced Friday.

The church founded the college and its seminary in the 18th century and owns the college's charter, college President Bryon Grigsby said in a news release.

"It makes perfect sense that the sixth oldest college in the country be chosen to continue the mission of what is known as the oldest continuously operating bookstore in the world, and we're honored that the Northern Province has entrusted us with this legacy," Grigsby said.

The agreement between the church, college and store enables the church to remove itself from operating the retail business and focus on its core mission of supporting its 85 congregations, the release said.

The college plans to replace its Barnes and Noble-run north campus bookstore with a smaller pop-up store to handle students needs, freeing up space for student services in the Haupert Union Building, Grigsby said Saturday.

"Barnes and Noble and Sodexo will be be assisting us with the operations (of the Moravian Book Shop), but it will remain Moravian College's and retain the look and feel of the current Moravian Book Shop," Grigsby said.

Province President Rev. Dr. Betsy Miller said the church is grateful the college has agreed to take over the bookstore and keep it "in the Moravian family."

"Our values as organizations are so closely aligned, we're confident the book shop will continue to be part of the fabric of downtown Bethlehem for generations to come -- serving students, visitors, church members and residents alike," she said in the news release.

Hotel Bethlehem Managing Partner Bruce Haines said he thinks the sale is a great thing for Bethlehem.

"The college will be able to add a vibrancy to downtown by integrating the north and south campus and bringing the students to Main Street," Haines said. "They will have college stuff in the bookstore promoting the college to tourists. I think they will rejuvenate the bookstore."

Moravian College plans to maintain the store's iconic book section while offering other items meant to appeal to students, regular shop customers and the city's visitors.

The college is drawing inspiration from The College of William and Mary, which operates a historic bookstore in downtown Williamsburg, Grigsby said.

"We will be reevaluating all the aspects of the current Book Shop. Our focus will be on Moravian and Bethlehem items, college items and books," Grigsby said. "Musselman's Jewelers is not part of the operations that Moravian College absorbed. As for the other, entities, we are re-evaluating all offerings at the store to make the business viable into the future."

Currently, Colony Meadery and Bone Appetit, a dog bakery and pet store, share space in the gift section of the store, which is located at 428 Main Street.

Officials could not say what this means for the bookstore's employees.

"It is too early to respond to the impact of the transfer of ownership," said Sally Handlon, a member of the shop's board of directors. " A transition team has been created to work through all the issues related to this, including staffing. Regardless, the book shop will remain open and will continue to provide the same great service."

The historic downtown is about to embark on a major, international marketing campaign funded by a Northampton County hotel tax grant and Moravian College will dovetail perfectly with those efforts, Haines said.

"This fits right in to make sure the oldest continuous operating bookstore is still in good hands and will be a showcase when tourists come to Bethlehem," he said. "I'm excited about working with the college on promoting tourism and I'm sure the college is going to put a fresh face on the facade, which is sorely needed, and just generally injecting new life into the bookstore. I think it will be a positive thing for Main Street."

The book shop was founded in 1745, when the church appointed Samuel Powell of the church's Crown Inn on the south side of the Lehigh River to open a bookstore. After operating at several locations in the city, Moravian Book Shop in 1871 moved to its current site near the Central Moravian Church on Main Street.

The Northern Province is headquartered in Bethlehem and includes more than 21,000 members in 13 states and two Canadian provinces.

Sara K. Satullo may be reached at ssatullo@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @sarasatullo and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.TURKEYS

Where's Teddy Roosevelt when you need him? After organizing wilderness adventures for Penn State students for 100 years, the university's Outing Club has suspended its outdoor activities because of liability concerns. University officials told the club that its student-led hiking and camping trips have been deemed too risky. Two other clubs, the Nittany Grotto Caving Club and the Nittany Divers SCUBA Club, also were told they can't sponsor trips. Christina Platt, the incoming president of the Outing Club, said, "I can hardly blame Penn State for protecting itself against further litigation after a number of high-profile scandals in the past decade." A university spokeswoman said the decision wasn't based on any incidents or injuries, but on safety concerns, since the activities take place in remote places with poor phone service and far from emergency services. She said Penn State will still offer a university-operated outdoors trip program.

Door-to-door scammers are active in the Easton area. A South Side resident told police she allowed a man into her home after he said he needed to test the water because of a gas line contamination. Afterward the woman discovered some of her belongings had been moved and drawers had been disturbed. The man was described as possibly of Hispanic descent, about 5 feet 7 inches tall, with neatly shaven black hair and some facial hair, police said. Anyone with information on this or similar incidents is asked to call Detective Charles Leauber at 610-250-6780.

TROPHIES

After 35 years of keeping an eye on Phillipsburg school kids, crossing guard Ann Marie Fleming gave up her assignment a few months ago. In recognition of her work, a section of Anderson Street will be renamed Fleming Drive by the town. The 76-year-old retiree said she took the job as a way to earn extra money when her own children were still in school. "We needed sneakers, clothes and I wanted to do more to help my husband," she recalled in a 2010 interview.

Thanks to a $10,000 donation from Highmark Blue Shield, the city of Bethlehem is expanding its free bicycle rentals. The Bethlehem branch of the Greater Valley YMCA will be the third location where people can check out a bike; a fourth site is being sought. The program began in 2016 with two locations, the Bethlehem Area Public Library main branch and Cutter Bike Shop. The YMCA will have 14 new adult bikes, six children's bikes and two trailers. Bikes may be taken out by submitting a valid ID card, which is returned when the bike is brought back. Each bike comes with a basket, helmet and lock.

Charitable giving to the United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley reached a new level this year. The 2017-18 campaign raised $15 million, and increase of $3 million over the previous campaign. Co-chairs Bill and Denise Spence said they were overwhelmed by the support from contributors. "Their generosity helps to encourage, inspire and make a difference in the lives of 60,000 people each year," Bill Spence said. The proceeds will be invested health and human services in Northampton, Lehigh and Carbon counties, with a special focus on education, food access and healthy aging.

Kudos to the organizers and supporters of the Bethlehem Area School District's Mini-THON, which raised $130,718 for pediatric cancer research last weekend. The event, modeled after the Penn State THON, benefits the Hershey-based childhood cancer organization Four Diamonds. Bethlehem students danced from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. Saturday at at Freedom High School.Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2018 > Kathua Rape, RSS-Hindutva Operations, Salaams to Sachar Sahib

MUSINGS

How can the BJP-RSS indulge in the unthinkablethat is, defend the rapist beasts involved in the Kathua rape! In fact, the spokespersons of the BJP even tried distracting the viewers attention on the small screen by talking non-stop of the several other rapes reported from the other sectors of the country. A rape is a rape. The tragedy compounds when communal politics holds sway. We are turning vultures; pulling out children from their home terrain, raping and killing them, putting hurdles in their burial, and then dishing out lengthy explanations!

As Hindutva forces are spreading poison to the extent of even protecting rapists, Im reminded of the film, Hotel Rwanda, where rape overtook other crimes during the civil war that had wrecked Rwanda. As the two warring tribes took off, killing and looting, rape was one of those instruments used to unsettle the other. Countless horrifying rapes, till of course, destruction and deaths overtook the entire terrain.

In my wildest dreams I couldnt have imagined that a Bakkarwal child could be wrecked with such brutality and that too in a place of worship! During my travels to the Kashmir region, I had been interacting with the Bakkarwalssimple folk who like to keep to themselves, taking care of their sheep and horses ...In 2015, whilst I was visiting a privately run medical centre in North Kashmirs Ganderbal region, as news came in that a Bakkarwal woman was in labour in the nearby forests, an ambulance was sent to carry the mother to the nearest hospital, all efforts made so that the new-born survives.

Brutal violence against women was till recently unheard of in the Kashmir region but look whats happening now. Beastly brutality. In fact, the Kathua rape can be described as Hindutvas intrusion into the lives of the masses. Crimes committed under the Hindutva banners seem to get the okaying certificate; giving criminals the virtual go-ahead. After all, who is there to halt them, the political rulers are tainted! Blood on their hands and yet they talk of ruling with an iron hand!

In fact, in the last one week, there has been one case after another of the Hindutva forces gaining ground and no one out there to halt their destructive moves. The message seems loud and clear: Hindutva brigades have been unleashed by the RSS with a definite agenda: to unsettle the other and quite obviously the other stands for the Musalmans and Dalits of the country.

The well-known Delhi publisher, Pharos Media, had a stall in the just concluded Kishanganj Book Fair arranged by the National Council for the Promotion of Urdu Language (NCPUL). Pharos Media publications include a number of titles in English, Urdu and Hindi on the RSS and Saffron Terror. These were part of the books displayed by Pharos Media in its stall in Kishanganj...Hindutva characters demanded the removal of those titles but Kauser Usman, the representative of Pharos Media, refused to do so and continued to display those titles.Two days before the book fair ended, RSS men came to the stall and started pressuring the stall manager to remove certain titles; they even grabbed and took away copies of those books.They then came with a posse of local police who initially did not favour their demand. The local representatives of the NCPUL also initially supported the publisher. But towards the end, police and NCPUL representatives, fearing violence, asked the publisher to remove the titles found objectionable by some people. Pharos Medias representative removed seven allegedly objectionable titles and put a notice on the stall that certain books have been removed due to RSS pressure.

Last week when fire broke out at the Rohingya refugee camp here in New Delhis Kalindi Kunj locality, short circuit was suspected to be the reason but within a day, there was this tweet from Manish Chandela, member of the BJPs youth-wing Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM),where he claimed on his twitter handle, yes we burnt the houses of Rohingya Terrorists. His first tweet was on April 15, 2018. And the next day, on April 16, Chandela posted once again on the same twitter handle, yes we did and we do again #ROHINGYA QUIT INDIA.

Last weeks acquittal of Maya Kodnani, one of the prime accused in the 2002 massacre of Muslims in the Gujarat pogrom of 2002, sent across shock waves. We sat back all too depressed. And once again sorrow and shock spread out, when the bunch of the Hindutva charactersprime accused in the Meeca-Masjid blast case of Hyderabadwere found not guilty for lack of evidence!

And here comes the latestAbhishek Mishra, who claims to be a Hindutva thinker and is followed by Ministers like Nirmala Sitharaman, Rajyavardhan Rathore and Piyush Goyal, posted on his Twitter account that he cancelled an Ola cab because the driver allotted to him was a Muslim, adding that he did not want to give his money to Jihadi people.

Its a known fact that the Right-wing brigades have been indulging in the economic boycott of the Muslims for years in several States, particularly in Gujarat, but it never got so blatant. In fact, Ola cabs should take this case much further, that is, much beyond the routine sort of apology. This Right-wing government will not take a stand but a private company ought to take a stand and show that they wouldnt get bullied by the likes of Abhishek Mishras!

Every single day it gets clearer that the RSS and other Hindutva brigades have been infiltrated into the very system, to intrude into our bodies and psyches. Eerie build-ups for darker and divisive times come...to destroy and demolish whatever remains of us!

With the Passing of Justice Rajindar Sachar...

Im sitting sad and pained. We have lost a good person, who was genuine and upright. The passing away of Justice Rajindar Sachar has definitely left a void. A former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, he was closely associated with the human rights forums and had also headed the PUCL and then, of course, the Sachar Commission. I recall the sheer hard work that he and his team put in collecting all possible facts and factors on the Muslim community in the country.

Sachar sahib was saddened and disappointed when the recommendations of the Commission were not implemented by the government... I had once asked him something that had been bothering me: Why did the Sachar Commission not extend its findings to the Muslims sitting jailed in the different jails and prisons of the country? He made it very clear that since that aspect didnt come under the sanctioned mandate, so he and the Commission members could not visit jails and prisons, although left to him he would have definitely done so. He had added: I know the dismal condition of the jailed and feel very strongly about the condition of the under-trials ...Im also well aware of the rising cases of illegal arrests and detentions of the innocent Muslims.

He was stark in his views on the deteriorating conditions of the Muslims in the country. Even if some of our recommendations to improve the economic and social status of the Muslims were implemented it would have made a major difference to the lives of hundreds and thousands. Right now the Muslims of the country are lagging behind on all fronts and nothing is being done by the government to improve their situation. I feel very upset at whats been happening to the largest minority community in the country and how the communal parties are destroying us, our country.

He was also very anguished and upset by the lynching of the Muslims in the country... Though 95, but till very recently Sachar sahib would make it a point to be present at all meets and forums and platforms, raising his voice at the ongoing killings and atrocities. Always clad in a shervani or achkan, he would stand out with this undying grit and determination to expose the fascist Right-wing communal forces.

My salaams to Sachar sahib!Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2018 > India-Bangladesh: What if the BNP returns?

by Aparupa Bhattacherjee and Sourina Bej

Bangladesh is gearing up for its general election in December, this year. With its two main political partiesthe BNP and AL (Awami League) led by Begum Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina respectively hedging against each otherthe election will be decisive in determining the future of bi-party politics in the country along with shaping the roadmap for Bangladesh in the region. After holding power for two consecutive terms an anti-incumbency wave could be identified against the Awami League. The electoral ground is fertile for the Bangladesh Nationalist Party chief, Khaleda Zia, to come out of her political hibernation and contest the election. But the imprisonment of the BNP (Bangladesh Nationalist Party) chairperson, Khaleda Zia, on corruption charges just before the country entered the voting phase has raised two questions. First, how will the arrest of BNP chief impact the electoral future and bi-party politics in Bangladesh? Is this verdict a death- knell for the party? Secondly, would this election result affect the current India-Bangladesh relations?

Bangladesh Electoral Politics: The political significance of BNP

Elected two times in 1991 and 2001, the BNP has since drawn its electoral strength from its ideological leanings on Islamist groups and its principle of preserving the values of the Bangladesh through the teaching of Islam. The political use of Islam, exploitation of factionalism and reintegration of core religious groups like Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh, Harkat-ul-Jihad Islami (HUJI), Hizbul Tahrir and Hizbul Tawhid has kept the grass-root support for the BNP formidable. The party has often been criticised for patronising groups like JMB/JMJB and HUJI which were engaged in various terrorist activities through-out the country. Against such Rightist ideology, the AL has gone on to represent the Centrist and liberal standing in the political fabric of the country. Ever since, the politik has alternated between the two Begums representing two vivid moods of the Bangladeshi electorate. Thus on February 8, 2018, when Khaleda Zia was convicted by a Special Court 5 for embezzling approximately 2.10 crore Taka along with five of her BNP cadres and her son, Tarique Rehman, (the Vice-Chairman of the party), a question looms large on whether the BNP will be able to even contest the elections, leave alone enlarging its chances of returning as the ruling party.

With this, for the first time a new era in the domestic politics of Bangladesh emerges, where along with the political battle a legal battle will determine the existence of one party as against the return of another.

The verdict was against the Zia Foundation Trust Orphanage, a case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission. The Special Court has sentenced Khaleda to a five-year prison-term. As per the Bangladeshi electoral laws, a person convicted for more than two years is barred from contesting any election for the next five years. In this context, the absence of the Chairperson and the Vice-Chairperson has left the party leaderless. Does this mean the BNP will be forced to boycott this years election similar to 2014? The answer appears to be a no, for the following reasons.

Firstly, the BNPs 2014 election boycott was a wrong decision as it led the AL to come back to power uncontested. The BNPs demand to participate in the election only under a neutral government has led the party to stay out of the political frontline for nearly a decade. The 2014 election for Bangladesh was free but not fair. According to several analysts, if the BNP had contested in 2014, it would have won. Hence the mistakes of the past have not only cost the BNP its political base but also the confidence of the electorate. This is not something the BNP would want to repeat in this election.

Secondly, the current corruption case is not the only legal charge against the BNP leader. Apart from the current legal quagmire, Khaleda has been fighting 36 more legal wars. Not only her but even her son, presently in exile in London, has 15 cases registered against him. In Bangladesh, it is nothing new for legal cases being registered against the leaders. Even Sheikh Hasina has 15 cases pending against her. And in 2010, while she was in power, a corruption case against her was dropped. Hence it is of little surprise that the Zia Trust case under Zias family has been blamed on political manoe-uvring. This aspect is not only stressed by the BNP but is also something that most voters believe, as vengeance is the endgame that both the Begums have been playing against each other.

Third, the aspect of political manoeuvring is further compounded by the fact that the judgment has come from a special court. It is a commonly known fact that special courts in most of the South Asian countries are not trusted especially when it involves the political leaders. In addition, the fact that the special court is a lower court and its writ is limited makes one hopeful of the change in the final verdict for the Begum.

Will the BNP succeed against the AL?

The BNP is likely to contest the verdict in the High Court. Even if Begum Zia is detained, there is little reason to believe that it cannot contest the election. In fact this could favour the party. The 2014 election was largely criticised as a single-party election with 230 of 300 seats being won by the AL. Hence if 2018 witnesses an all-party participation, in a free and fair environment, the BNP could form a government with a majority. Thus Begum Zias arrest is seen within the country as an act to deter her return. Her staying in jail and still contesting the election instead of boycotting will probably be seen by the voters as heroic and gain her the necessary sympathy votes.

In addition, the Bangladeshi voters are unhappy with the way in whcih the AL is dealing with domestic issues such as: growing unemployment, undue support to radical Islamist groups like Hefazat-e-Islam, handling of the Rohingya crisis and others. Therefore in this election the voters are desperate for an alternative. Bangladesh has a tradition of anti-incumbency. Since 1990 its electorate has not returned the same government to power for two consecutive terms with an exception in January 2014. Hence given the two-party nature of the Bangladesh politics with power tussle and political vendetta as significant features, the BNP is a likely alternative.

The political uncertainty within Bangladesh will also bear an impact on the India-Bangladesh relations. The two parties of Bangladesh have maintained drastically different worldviews and followed different foreign policies when in power. While the Awami League since Mujibur Rahman has sought and maintained bonhomie with India, the US; the BNP has explored a relationship with Pakistan China and Saudi Arabia during its tenure. Thus Indias relations with Bangladesh have time and again oscillated the balance between the two Begums, depending on who is in power. In the current scenario, if Khaleda Zia comes to power, a policy readjust-ment would become crucial.

India-Bangladesh: Should India

look beyond AL?

Over the past decade, Bangladeshs economy has been growing at 7.1 per cent with less trade deficit. With Dhaka emerging as the worlds second largest garment exporter, its trade relations have expanded exponentially under the Awami League. With an expanding trade, there has been a simultaneous emergence of a pool of Bangladeshi businessmen and industria-lists in Parliament. This indicates that more and more businessmen have started dominating major foreign policy and economic decision-making in Bangladesh. An alignment of trade interests with the different countries has emerged. Hence even though Indian corporations such as Airtel, Reliance are contributing to Bangladeshs economy, over the past few years, China has emerged as the largest trading partner of Bangladesh, replacing India. In the 2012 financial year, bilateral trade between China and Bangladesh was at $ 8.5 billion. In 2015, when China sanctioned a $ 24-billion credit line to Dhaka, New Delhi offered $ 2 billion. In addition India is often accused of imposing tariff and non-tariff barriers on Bangladeshi goods. These factors have led to the building-up of an anti-India lobby in Bangladeshs economic community. But Hasina has been prudent to balance both Indian and Chinese interest in the country.

Keeping this economic scenario in context, in the current electoral turmoil, if the BNP manages to contest and come to power, then the party, which is known to take anti-India portions like its opposition to the Ganga-water sharing treaty, would have to be taken seriously by India. And New Delhi would have to continue manoeuvring Dhakas business community for more steady economic relations. Furthermore for deeper electoral gains, the BNP could use the China card, rely on foreign support and sway the anti-India sentiment which could prove difficult for India to balance in the future.

Secondly, the BJPs win in the North-Eastern States of Tripura, Meghalaya and Assam bordering Bangladesh, could put the question of Bangladeshi immigration issue back in the bilateral dialogue between India and Bangla-desh. The BJPs handling of the immigration issue could stoke communal violence fraying the borders. Skirmishes in the relations have occurred in the past due to the Indian political leaders outright statements on the issue. With a viable scope for the BNP coming to power a problematic North-East could mean a destabi-lising Bangladesh; hence India should guard against politicising the already sensitive issue.

Lastly, Dhaka has agreed to link Indias mainland with its North-East through Bangla-desh, thereby letting its Act East Policy overcome the geographical trap and allowing access to South-East Asia. As part of it, Bangladesh has been pursuing to set up the BCIM (Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar) economic corridor which also figured in the joint statement following the Chinese Prime Ministers visit to India. Bangladesh wants China to develop its Chittagong port and even build a deep sea port at Sonadia. Moreover, the BCIM intends to link Kolkata with Kunming through Bangladesh and Myanmar. The BCIM might contribute to the economic progress of Bangladesh, but will also increase Chinas presence. With this trans-national economic interest and connectivity projects in operation, working with the BNP will be an important step that India might have to consider.

As Indias support for Hasina continues it could be too soon to write off Khaleda from the political battleground of Bangladesh and with Khaleda, it would be interesting and important to see how India maintains the bi-party balance.

References

1. Brig Gen Shahedul Anam Khan, Implications of Khaledas imprisonment, The Daily Star, February 10, 2018 URL-http://www.thedailystar.net/opinion/strategically-speaking/khaleda-zia-corruption-case-verdict-implications-khaledas-imprisonment-1532272

Accessed: March 11, 2018.

2. February 8th verdict may cut both ways for BNP, The Daily Star, February 2, 2018 URL-http://www.thedailystar.net/opinion/strategically-speaking/may-cut-both-ways-bnp-1528516 Accessed: March 11, 2018.

3. Zafar Sobhan, Endgame in Bangladesh, The Hindu, February 12, 2018 URL-http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/endgame-in-bangladesh/article22725432.eceAccessed: March 15, 2018.

4. Haroon Habibi, Bangladesh parties brace for elections, The Hindu, January 3, 2018 URL-http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/bangladesh-parties-brace-for-elections/article22360560.eceAccessed: March 15, 2018.

5. International Crisis Group, Countering Jihadist Militancy in Bangladesh, Asia Report N295, February 28, 2018.

6. Abdul Gaffar choudhury, What lies for BNP in the future?, The Independent, February 25, 2018 URL- http://www.theindependentbd.com/post/138818Accessed: March 20, 2018.

7. The Opposition Disappears in Bangladesh, The New York Times, July 28, 2017 URL-https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/28/opinion/the-opposition-disappears-in-bangladesh.htmlAccessed: March 4, 2018.

8. Tom Felix Joehnk, How the Rohingya Crisis Is Changing Bangladesh, The New York Times, October 6, 2017 URL-https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/06/opinion/rohingya-bangladesh-myanmar.htmlAccessed: November 2, 2017.

9. Farid Ahmed, Bangladesh ruling party wins elections marred by boycott, violence, CNN, January 7, 2014

URL-https://edition.cnn.com/2014/01/06/world/asia/bangladesh-elections/index.html Accessed: March 24, 2018.

10. Jim Yardley, Two Leaders Enmity Stokes Concern Over Vote in Fragile Democracy, The New York Times, December 4, 2013 URL-https://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/05/world/asia/two-leaders-enmity-stokes-concern-over-vote-in-fragile-bangladesh.html Accessed: February 23, 2018.

The authors are Research Associates, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Indian Institute of Science campus, Bengaluru.Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2018 > The Age of Darkness Is Upon Us

IMPRESSIONS

Why should life get so degenerate so often in our country? See the multiplying rape cases, each more brutal than the other. Why should party leaders talk like party leaders and not like human beings when human issues come up? Comments on the Kathua rape horror were an indiscretion, said the BJPs buddhijeevi, Ram Madhav. Why should election advertisements assume that the citizen is an ass? One that asks Karnataka voters to support the BJP for a corruption-free State carried the picture of Shri Yeddyurappa, the Chief Minister who made history by going to jail for corruption.

Party leaders justifying rape is an astonishing phenomenon. Meenakshi Lekhis concern was not about the girls who were brutalised, but why the media was talking only about rapes in BJP-run States? Maneka Gandhi, whose concern for animals is touching, says that the BJP should not be blamed for the actions of one or two bad eggs. In Kathua BJP Ministers blocked police investigation for four months. One of them asked: What if this girl has died? Many girls die every day. In Unnao the accused MLA was taken in for questioning only ten months after the girls complaint. The MLAs thugs had beaten the girls father to death for raising questions. Even today bodies like the National Womens Commission have kept deafening silence.

The insensitivity shown by the ruling dispensation has shocked civil society so much that 49 retired IAS and IPS officers wrote an open letter to the Prime Minister expressing despair over the terrifying state of affairs. Saying that they are citizens with no affiliations with any political party, these experienced administrators drew attention to the frigh-tening climate of hate, fear and viciousness that the ruling establishment has insidiously induced. They drew special attention to the bestiality and barbarity involved in the rape and murder of an eight-year-old child in Kashmir.

A responsible government would seek ways to not only contain the criminality that seems to be growing, but also examine the sociological aspects of the issue. It was the BBC that drew attention to an unnoticed aspect of the rape culture in India. The desire for sons and the willingness to get rid of daughters even before they are born have made sex-selection abortions common in many parts of the country. The result is an awful sex ratio imbalance that has made India a country full of men. For every 100 girls, 112 boys are born in India, the healthy ratio being 105 boys for every 100 girls. Haryana has the worst sex ratioand the highest number of gang rapes. Facts cry out for attention from our policy makers, but they are interested only in birth-count by religion.

Calculations are constantly being made for narrow partisan gains. Why has cash become suddenly unavailable? The Finance Minister says with his customary casualness that there is more than adequate currency available with the banks and everything will be normal in three days. If there is adequate currency around, why cant citizens get them? And why does it take three days for things to be normal? Last time also, cash had disappeared on the eve of an important election. The manipulative capacity of the ruling party has spread distrust and apprehensions all around. But the cynicism of the administration remains untouched.

Why have things gone so irregular, so a-moral? Why has religion become an instrument of evil instead of a road to enlightenment? Why are there so many well-placed people ready to justify evil? Why is hope giving way to despair? Why is light going out and darkness spreading? Clues are there in the wisdom of the ages. But can they give comfort in the midst of vexations that crush us? Nothing could be clearer than the tidings about the Age of Darkness in the Vishnu Purana.

When corruption is beyond every measure of control, Wealth alone will be the deciding factor of nobility, and brute force the only standard of deciding what is righteous or just;

People will be greedy and will take to wicked behaviour;

Countries will be laid waste and robbers and vagabonds and kings will exploit their subjects;

Petty minds will conduct business and merchants will be dishonest;

People will occupy high seats and pretend to preach religion;

Anxiety and fear will dominate because of devastating famines and heavy taxation;

The land will not grow food crops and people will dread of impending droughts.

So the sages knew it was coming. But we paid no heed to the warnings.Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2018 > Kathua Rape: A Tale of Savagery of the Civilised

What happened in the Rasana village of Kathua district in Jammu is an unimaginable tale of savagery. An eight-year old girl belonging to the Bakkarwal community, a nomadic Muslim community, was first gang-raped and then brutally killed.

The Bakkarwal community, who survive on grazing sheep, goats and horses, migrate with their flock to Kashmir and Ladakh in the summer and to Jammu in the winter, camping at forest sites they have used for centuries. Recent evictions have reportedly made the community fearful that the present State Government is planning to take away their traditional forest rights.

The body of the gang-raped and murdered girl was found on January 17, 2018, a week after she went missing while grazing horses in the village. Sanji Ram, a retired revenue official, is the main accused person in the case. Included in the list of the accused, among others, in this case of gruesome murder are a Sub-Inspector, two special police officers and a head constable.

The most awful part of the story is the formation of the Hindu Ekta Manch (HEM) on January 23, a week after the body of the victim was found in the forests of Rasana. According to a report carried in The Economic Times, the main accused, Sanji Ram, was a founding member of the Manch. The HEM organised a public rally demanding release of a special police officer, who is accused in the rape-and-murder case. Two BJP Ministers of the State were found to participate in the rally. The President of the HEM, Vijay Sharma, a practising lawyer, demanded CBI investigation into the crime and expressed lack of confidence in the Crime Branch of the State. To put it in his own words: The Crime Branch which is investigating the case and is doing what the Mehbooba Mufti Government wants it to do is not the right cell to look into this crime.

The professional integrity of the legal practitioners in Kathua/Jammu is completely at stake. An FIR is lodged against some lawyers of the Kathua Bar Association for their violent attempt to stop the polices Crime Branch to submit its chargesheet and produce the seven accused in the Kathua rape and murder case before the District Magistrate. It is worth mentioning in this connection that the President of the Kathua Bar Association proudly claimed in a statement: All the members of the Bar have strongly agitated against the presentation of challan (charge-sheet) by the Crime Branch in the Rasana case.

The lawyers also tried to prevent a woman advocate, Deepika Singh Rajawat, to appear for the victims family. Within days of her decision to take up the case of the Bakkarwal girl, she began getting threats to stay away. To put it in her own words: The president of the Jammu High Court Bar Association mistreated me. He used un-parlia-mentary language, and threatened me not to appear in cases during a strike by the lawyers. In fact, members of the Jammu High Court Bar Association stayed away from courts for 12 days in support of their various demands, including that of handing over the rape and murder case of the Bakkarwal girl to the CBI.

Very recently, the Supreme Court reportedly took suo motu cognisance of alleged efforts made by local lawyers to obstruct the filing of a chargesheet in the rape and murder case of the Bakkarwal girl, and sought responses from the Bar Council of India, the State Bar Council, the High Court Bar Association in Jammu, the Kathua District Bar Association and the State Government by April 24.

What happened to the family of the victim girl? They left the village Rasana quietly a few days ago along with some other members of the Bakkarwal community. The predicament and pathos of the community are evident in the narrative of Amjad Ali, who left the village with the girls family: The pressure was unbearable. We were getting threats, told that our cattle and houses would be burned down. How can we fight? What are we left with if our goats are killed? We are Bakkarwals. This is our livelihood. If they die, we die. We have already lost a child that was so dear to us.

We do not know the language to address the pathos of the girls parents and the Bakkarwal community.Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2018 > A Shot in the Dark

The Pakistan Supreme Courts verdict to debar former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from holding any public office for life is too harsh punishment and mired in controversy. The court can hold him guilty, but it is up to Pakistans Parliament, including the Senate, to punish him. That is the reason why there has been a protest from Members of Parliament, most notably from his Muslim League party.

Nawaz Sharif was disqualified in July after a probe ordered by the Supreme Court on the Panama papers. The probe found him guilty of not disclosing money from his son Hussain Nawazs company in Dubai. The former Prime Minister denied receiving any money from his son and termed the Courts decision a conspiracy to unseat him.

In its verdict last week, the Apex Court said that under the countrys Constitution, no person, once disqualified from office by the top Court, can hold public office again. Justice Umar Ata Bandial read out the 60-page verdict of the five-member Bench, headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, in cases involving interpretation and determination of the question of temporary or permanent bar from contesting elections.

Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar observed pronouncing the verdict before the ruling that the public deserves leaders of good character: It is permanent. Justice Bandial wrote on the same Bench that the disqualification of any Member of Parliament or a public servant under Article 62 (1) (f) would be premature. Such a person cannot contest elections or become a Member of Parliament,. Article 62(1) (f) sets the precondition for a Member of Parliament to be honest and righteous.

The ruling has effectively has ended any hope for the return of the three-time former Prime Minister, who had to resign after being declared dishonest by the Supreme Court in July last year. Understandably, the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), which is also the ruling party, has rejected the verdict. Its contention was that the judgment smacked of a political victimisation.

It is not the job of the court to declare any politician righteous or not. This is the job of Parliament or the Election Commission, said Information Minister Maryam Aurangzeb, after the Supreme Courts verdict, calling it a most controversial one.

The Apex Courts verdict has come as a big jolt to the ruling party, particularly at a time when the general elections in Pakistan are only a couple of months away. Hence, Nawaz Sharif was within his rights to protest against the verdict, adding that he would go back to the people so that they can decide whether he should continue in politics or not.

Lately, all the three Supreme Courts in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, have been criticised for stepping into the field that belongs to the Executive. A couple of editors, some Prime Ministers, in the past, have not accepted such verdicts by the court. Indira Gandhi, when she was occupying the top seat, was disqualified by the Allahabad High Court.

Instead of stepping down from office, Mrs Gandhi imposed the Emergency and changed the law itself. This happened because the Opposition members had been detained and there was no one to question her, except one member from Srinagar, Shamim Ahmed Shamim. Shamam all by himself, discussed the case of Mrs Gandhi on the floor of the House. She did not dare touch him because Sheikh Abdullah, Jawaharlal Nehrus friend, was behind Shamim.

In neighbouring Bangladesh, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has made a mockery of democracy. She has held elections without transferring the real power to the Election Commission as the practice was. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party boycotted the polls but Prime Minister Hasina made no effort to accommodate it. It was comical that there was practically no Opposition in the Jatiyo Sangsad. General H.M. Ershads Jatiya Party was the Opposition. Sheikh Hasina, by accommodating his party members in the Cabinet, finished even a semblance of Opposition.

The authenticity of the election is still pending before the Supreme Court and judges are so afraid that they are going out of Dhaka. Take the case of the five-year sentence handed out to former Prime Minister and Opposition leader Khaleda Zia. The judges are on the run because of Prime Minister Hasinas reported annoyance with them. One judge has gone abroad and may not return because he is said to be in the bad books of the Prime Minister. Understandably, the judge fears some action against him if and when he returns.

The popular perception is that Sheikh Hasinas hand is behind court rulings against Begum Khaleda Zia. Justice Mohammed Akhtaruzza-man of the Special Court, while convicting the former Prime Minister, said she was given a short jail term because of her health and social status. This mean that the Begum cannot contest the upcoming general elections in December. The charges against her are embezzling funds to the tune of 21 million takas (approximately Rs 1.6 crore) received from foreign donors and meant for the Zia Orphanage Trust run by the family.

Nawaz Sharifs case is somewhat similar to Khaleda Zias. In her case, she had alleged that it was an attempt by Sheikh Hasina to oust her from politics and elections by pressuring the court. I am ready to face all outcomes. I am not afraid of jail or punishment. I am not going to bow down my head, said the former Prime Minister. But legal experts point out that the verdict could jeopardize Zias political career since she cannot contest polls.

Nawaz Sharif still draws the crowd. For India, he was the best alternative in hostile Pakistan. New Delhi has said that there would be no talks with Islamabad until it stops giving shelter to the terrorists. We have even carried out a surgical strike in Pakistan. Still there is no go from the talks. Today or tomorrow the two countries would have to sit across the table and sort out their differences.

Indias National Security Adviser Ajit Doval meeting Pakistans NSA is a step in the right direction. But the ousting of Nawaz Sharif from Pakistans politics has upset the entire scenario. India would have to wait how Pakistan emerges out of this imbroglio. Any step we take at present would be a shot in the dark.

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 > Indian Communists in Summit

From N.C.s Writings

The talk of polarisation has become very fashionable nowadays. Even Sri S.K. Patil has been talking about itand many others have been toying with it or dreading its consequences. For a party as amorphous as the Congress, polarisation of political forces can only mean split in the organisation, for the polarised forces inside the Congress will seek to link themselves up with the like-minded forces outside.

Naturally such a prospect can hardly enthuse a Congressman thinking in terms of the unity of his party: at the same time, the Congressmen with a definite political biaswhether towards the Right or towards the Leftare realising more and more that with the rapid disintegration of the old organisation, particularly during the last three years, there is no escape from this polarisation. In a sense, polarisation in this specific context implies certain maturing of political forces, that in the name of unity, a phoney solidarity of different and conflicting social forces must not continue for too long.

As the crisis-point in the Indian economy is being reached while the political initiative is slipping out of the hands of the traditional leadership of the Congress, the crucial question is coming up: who or which forces will be stepping into the breach? In terms of current political cliches, the main question is: how is the vacuum created by the crack-up of the Congress, going to be filled in?, Filling in the impending vacuum has thus become a major preoccupation of non-Congress political forces.

In the Right, the urge for consolidation could be seen in the current conclave of the Jana Sangh, the Swatantra and the BKD. Whether they will be able to hammer out a common line to go in for a merger it is too early to predict, as they have got so many points of difference among themselves. No doubt, such a Right consolidation will hearten Sri Patils tribe inside the Congress. It is not necessarily a case of the Right inside the Congress breaking away from it and joining the Right consolidation outside: it is equally possible that the Right inside the Congress will exploit the Right outside to operate as a pressure group to lobby and make policy changes on behalf of the Right.

If the Right can have the realisation about the urgency of consolidating its own forces, it is equally necessary that the Left should also wake up to its responsibilities and opportu-nities. The euphoria of anti-Congressismmade into a theory by Dr Lohiaconfused the Left, at least temporarily in the exciting months following the 1967 General Election, to have the naive and totally unrealistic perspective that any ganging up of the non-Congress parties would automatically help the emergence of a viable, progressive alternative to the Congress. The theory was that if the Congress Colossus could be pulled down, the consequent anarchy would throw up the leadership that would be able to replace the Congress.

This anarchic concept of the Congress collapse led to the most grotesque alignments of forces, in which the Communists and the Jana Sangh came together to run coalition Ministries. Though shortlived, this experiment did a lot of damage to the standing of the Communists, and it was a wholesome change to note that two years later, in the mid-term elections, the CPI proclaimed its uncompromising opposition to the Jana Sangh.

It is in this background that one has to note the signs of sober realism dawning on the Left. Despite the defeat of the merger proposal at the recent SSP conference at Jabalpur, the explorings for a closer rapprochement between the SSP and the PSP are bound to continue.

More significant has been the last week-ends talks in Calcutta between the leaders of CPI and CPM. Almost exactly five years after the split in the Communist Party in the summer of 1964, the top leaders of the two Communist Parties officially met and exchanged notes on the current political developments in the country. For sometime past, a section of the CPM leadership has been known to be worried about the developments at the Centre, whether the collapse of the present set-up would make way for a Rightist take-overnot necessarily a coup but a political domination by the Right; and with a touch of realism some of the CPM leaders did indicate a differentiated approach towards the confirmed Right like Patil-Morarji axis from one towards Smt Gandhia stand which seemed to smoothen the differences, at least on some major aspects of the present developments, between them and CPI. On the part of the CPI too, the permissibility of coalition with Right parties like the Jana Sangheven if temporaryhas been finally abandoned as harmful.

The urgency of the two CPs coming together was underlined by the complicated problems facing the United Fronts in Kerala and West Bengal. The bitter wranglings in Kerala did no good even to its strongest component, while confusion would soon have been writ large on the masses. To a lesser extent, the problem of proper functioning of the United Front and of the Front Government has been coming up in West Bengal as a whole. The point to note is that in a multi-party combine, the responsibility of the two Communist Parties, whatever their respective strengths, can never be ignored. In fact, they constitute the kernel of such a Front and thereby draw others in, extending upto sections whose antipathy towards the Right leads them to joining hands with the Left.

It is in this context that the Joint Communique of the two CPs assumes significance because it enjoins that efforts must be continued for improving the relations between two parties and alsoobviously on this basistheir relations with other parties inside the Front.

A disturbing feature of the United Front regimes both in Kerala and West Bengal has been the growth of intra-party tensions leading to clashes between the followers of different parties. The reasons for this are yet to be detected: according to some of the leaders in West Bengal, this is but a temporary phenomenon and is due to the fact that all the parties in the United Front are rapidly expanding their bases and as such coming into clash with each other. There is also the other theory that finding that the United Front regimes have now come to stay, anti-social elements were rather eager to sneak into the different political parties constituting the Front. How far this is borne out by facts is not yet clear.

What is however important to emphasise is the need for every party of the United Front to be very alert and vigilant regarding infiltration of undesirable elements into its ranks; while, there should be a set of guidelines for the evolution of mutual relations between the parties constituting the Front. The battle for winning over the masses is not yet over; for instance, in West Bengal, the Congress even at the mid-term poll could register 40 per cent of the polled votes in its support. Through the process of mass mobilisation and mass activity it is possible to win over new sectors through the unleashing of new struggles of social significance. Such struggles have to be conducted in a manner that the components of the United Front themselves do not come into conflict with each other or at least try to minimise the arena of conflict, On this score also, the Joint Communi-que of the two CPs commands importance in sofar as it has emphasised the urgency of prevention of clashes as well as to the elimination of the atmosphere that gives rise to them.

A feature of the tension inside the United Front particularly in Kerala has been the hurling of uninhibited accusations against each other by the members of the Front. On this point too, the Joint Communique has urged the avoidance of unfounded accusations. It would however, be naive to think that the differences between the two Communist Parties would disappear overnight. There are many points of very serious difference, both ideological and political; they need thrashing out in debates and in the crucible of experience and also through continuous process of appraisal and re-appraisal of the fast developing situation. For an objective and dis-passionate treatment of these problems, it is necessary to avoid polemics which are loaded with bitterness, thereby vitiating the possibility of persuasion. In this respect too the Joint Communiques assurance that the leadership of the two CPs would be meeting from time to time to continue discussion on problems of mass movements and united action would certainly be regarded as a piece of good news for the Left as a whole. For it is through clarity of understanding and unity in action between the two Communist Parties that the Left as a whole in this country will stand to. gain and would be able to forge the much broader democratic unity which alone can not only withstand the attack of the Right, but over-power the Right and disarm it as a political force on the national plane.

There is one aspect of the mutual relations between the two Communist Parties which is not touched in the Joint Communique though it must be a live issue in the minds of the leadership of the two Communist Parties. This is with regard to the attitude towards Extremists, popularly come to be known as Naxalities.

The point of minimum agreement between the two Communist Parties on this issue is that they both repudiate the present Chinese approach towards the Indian reality; obviously the political line of the Naxalitesthe dominant section of which swears by Maos Red Book and the Peking lineis unacceptable to both the Communist Parties.

At the same time it would be a mistake to underestimate the amount of militant ardour and enthusiasm, particularly among the young, that the spectacular line of Naxalites has been able to mobilise. For the Communist movement to grow and thrive in this country, it is necessary to harness this militancy and channelise it along purposeful lines. It is a sorry reflection on the handling by the two CPs of the militant youth that the Naxalites have been able to mobilise a good section of it.

The need for patient persuasive drive, for debate and discussion, for political education and assimilation of revolutionary experience, is as great in India ten. as it was thirty years ago when the whole band of revolutionary youth could be won over from anti-imperialist militancy represented by what is called Terrorism, to the more scientific revolutionary guide to action provided by Marxism. It was that patient crusade against wrong politics in the thirties that in a way helped to stabilise the base of the Communist movement particularly in a region like Bengal. A similar crusade is needed today to win over the new revolutionary youth, despite their flaunting of the portraits of Mao and Lin Piao in the streets of Calcutta.

As the two CPs actually come to grips with this problem, they will realise that it essentially demands a patient political struggle rather than police action or branding them wholesale as anti-social.

May 27 N.C.

(Political Notebook, Mainstream, May 31, 1969)Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2018 > Justice Rajindar Sachar (1923-2018): Our Finest Has Gone

TRIBUTE

by Qurban Ali

Veteran Socialist leader, noted jurist and champion of human rights Justice (retired) Rajindar Sachar passed away in Delhi on April 20, 2018. He was 94. A distinguished advocate for the protection of human rights, and poor, Justice Sachar was a former Chief Justice of Delhi and Sikkim High Courts. He vociferously promoted the cause of human rights and was also head of the Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL). He authored many reports on Kashmir.

Paying emotional tribute on the sad demise of late Justice Rajindar Sachar, senior journalist Seema Mustafa wrote: One of our finest has gone. Justice Rajindar Sachar has left us, fairly suddenly without too much notice except that delivered by age. A mentor, a friend, a man whose doors were always open, he will be sorely missed. He did not really careunlike Delhis famouswhether he was invited to speak or not, if he supported the cause he was there in the audience, listening attentively. For many of us he was the person we turned to when the times seemed very bleak and dark, just to hear Justice Sachar tell us that it will get better. The wisdom of experience and age gave his voice authority, and lifted spirits when little else would.

Rajindar Sachar was born on December 22, 1923 at Lahore in undivided India. His father, Lala Bhim Sen Sachar, was a well-known Congress leader and later become the Chief Minister of Punjab. He educated at D.A.V. High School in Lahore, then went on to Government College, Lahore and Law College, Lahore. During his students days he was attached to the national movement and joined the Congress Socialist Party. After the partition of the country he came to Delhi and joined the Socialist Party.

In May 1949, the Socialist Party under Rammanohar Lohias leadership held a demons-tration in front of the Nepal embassy in New Delhi to protest against the autocratic and repressive regime of the Rana Government in the Himalayan kingdom. There was violence and the police used teargas shells to disperse the mob.

Lohia was arrested for violating Section 144 Cr.P.C. Young Rajindar Sachar was also arrested with Lohia and remained in jail for a month- and-a-half. According to Sachar sahib, It was during that imprisonment that Nehru and Indira sent a basket of mangoes to Lohia. Sardar Patel was very angry and wrote to Nehru expressing his annoyance over sending mangoes to a person who had violated the law. Nehru in his quiet way told him that politics and personal relationships should not be mixed up. It was the first movement and arrest in free India where the Socialists offered civil disobedience.

On April 22, 1952 Rajindar Sachar enrolled as an advocate at Simla. On December 8, 1960 he became an advocate in the Supreme Court of India, engaging in a wide variety of cases concerning civil, criminal and revenue issues. But at the same time he was actively associated with the Socialist Party led by Lohia. In 1963 a breakaway group of legislators left the Congress party and formed the independent Prajatantra Party. Sachar helped this group prepare memoranda levelling charges of corruption and mal-administration against Pratap Singh Kairon, the Chief Minister of Punjab. Justice Sudhi Ranjan Das was appointed to look into the charges, and in June 1964 found Kairon guilty on eight counts.

On February 12, 1970 Rajindar Sachar was appointed Additional Judge of the Delhi High Court for a two-year term, and on February 12, 1972 he was reappointed for another two years. On July 5, 1972 he was appointed a permanent Judge of the High Court. He was the Acting Chief Justice of the Sikkim High Court from May 16, 1975 until May 10, 1976, when he was made a judge in the Rajasthan High Court. The transfer from Sikkim to Rajasthan was made without Sachars consent during the Emergency (June 1975-March 1977) when elections and civil liberties were suspended. Sachar was one of the judges who refused to follow the bidding of the Emergency establishment, and who were transferred as a form of punishment. After the restoration of democracy, on July 9, 1977 he was transferred back to the Delhi High Court.

In June 1977 Justice Sachar was appointed by the government to chair a committee that reviewed the Companies Act and the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act, submitting an encyclopaedic report on the subject in August 1978. The Sachar Committee recommended a major overhaul of the corporate reporting system, and particularly of the approach to reporting on social impacts. In May 1984 Rajindar Sachar reviewed the Industrial Disputes Act, including the backlog of cases. His report was scathing. He said: A more horrendous and despairing situation can hardly be imagined... the load at present in the various Labour Courts and Industrial Tribunals is so disproportionate to what can conceivably be borne... that the arrears can only go on increasing if the present state of affairs is not improved... It is harsh and unjust to both the employers and employees if the cases continue to remain undecided for years.

In November 1984, Justice Sachar issued notice to the police on a writ petition filed by the Peoples Union for Democratic Rights on the basis of evidence collected from the 1984 Sikh riot victims, asking FIRs to be registered against leaders named in the affidavits of victims. However, in the next hearing the case was removed from the Court of Mr Sachar and brought before two other Judges, who impressed the petitioners to withdraw their petition in the national interest, which they declined; then dismissed the petition.

As an Indian lawyer and a former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, Sachar sahib was a member of United Nations Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. He has served there as a counsel for the Peoples Union for Civil Liberties. He chaired the Sachar Committee, constituted by the Govern-ment of India, which submitted a report on the social, economic and educational status of Muslims in India.

Rajindar Sachar was one of the authors of a report issued on April 22, 1990 on behalf of the Peoples Union for Civil Liberties and others entitled Report on Kashmir Situation. In January 1992 Sachar was one of the signatories to an appeal to all Punjabis asking them to ensure that the forthcoming elections were free and were seen to be free. They asked the people to ensure there was no violence, coercion or unfair practices that would prevent the people from electing the government of their choice. Rajindar Sachar was appointed to a high-level Advisory Committee chaired by Chief Justice Aziz Mushabber Ahmadi to review the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 and determine whether structural changes and amendments were needed. The Committee prepared a draft amendment Bill incorporating its recommendations. These included changes to the membership of the National Human Rights Commission, changes to procedures to reduce delays in following up recommendations and a broadening of the Commissions scope. The recommendations were submitted to the Home Affairs Ministry on March 7, 2000.

In April 2003, as a counsel for the Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Sachar argued before the Supreme Court of India that the Prevention of Terrorist Activities Act (POTA) should be quashed since it violated fundamental rights. On November 24, 2002 the police arrested twentysix people in the Dharmapuri district of Tamil Nadu, and on January 10, 2003 they were placed under POTA by the government on the ground that they were members of the Radical Youth League of the Communist Party of India (MarxistLeninist). On August 26, 2004, still being held without trial, the detainees began a hunger strike. Sachar led a team of human rights activists who visited them in jail on September 15, 2004 and persuaded them to end the hunger strike. POTA was repealed on November 10, 2004. However, all the POTA provisions were incorporated in the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. In October 2009 Sachar called for abolition of these laws.

He said: Terrorism is there, I admit, but in the name of terror probe, many innocent people are taken into custody without registering a charge and are being detained for a long period.

Rajindar Sachar, who had formerly been a United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing, headed a mission that investigated housing rights in Kenya for the Housing and Land Rights Committee of the Habitat International Coalition. In its report issued in March 2000 the mission found that the Kenyan Government had failed to meet its international obligations regarding protection of its citizens housing rights. The report described misallocation of public land, evictions and land-grabbing by corrupt politicians and bureaucrats.

In March 2005 Justice Rajindar Sachar was appointed to a committee to study the condition of the Muslim community in India and to prepare a comprehensive report on their social, economic and educational status. On November 17, 2006 he presented the report, entitled Report on Social, Economic and Educational Status of the Muslim Community of India, to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The report showed the growing social and economic insecurity that had been imposed on Muslims since indepen-dence sixty years earlier. It found that the Muslim population, estimated at over 138 million in 2001, were under-represented in the civil service, police, military and in politics. Muslims were more likely to be poor, illiterate, unhealthy and to have trouble with the law than other Indians. Muslims were accused of being against the Indian state, of being terrorists, and politicians who tried to help them risked being accused of appeasing them.

The Sachar Committee recommendations aimed to promote inclusion of the diverse communities in India and their equal treatment. It emphasised initiatives that were general rather than specific to any one community. It was a landmark in the debate on the Muslim question in India. The speed of implementation would naturally depend on political factors including the extent of backlash from Hindutva groups. The Sachar Committee Report recom-mended setting up an institutional structure for an Equal Opportunity Commission.

In March 2003 Sachar was a signatory to a statement that condemned the US-led invasion of Iraq, calling it unprovoked, unjustified and violative of international law and the United Nations Charter. Other signatories included Shanti Bhushan, Pavani Parameswara Rao, Rajeev Dhavan, Kapil Sibal and Prashant Bhushan.

He was a judge who set an example. That after retirement judges did not need to go into holes, and in fact were required to play a major role in keeping India on the constitutional track. He spoke fearlessly, boldly, did not look for favours from the establishment regardless of who was in power, and as a result rubbed all the wrong way saying when we used to laugh, well, I am with the people and thats all that matters.

One does not really know where to begin, or for that matter end this tribute. Does one remember him for the Sachar Report on the status of the Muslim community in India that created a storm as it was an honest and starkly revealing document? Or for his stand on civil liberties for all? Or for his criticism of established political parties? Or for his love for the Indian Constitution that was always so visible? Or for his gentle enquiries when he knew an individual was troubled? Or for his willingness to walk the extra mile at any time of the day or night to help a person in need or for a cause? Or for his consistency in advocating peace in South Asia? Or for his fearlessness in taking on the communalists? Or for his strong support for gender equality and justice?

By the end Justice Sachar was visibly frail, a little bent with age, and clearly with many off-days that he made sure none of us really knew about. This would not prevent him from attending meetings, signing statements and organising fact-finding reports till his last days.

One never heard him complain about his health. One never heard even a note of pessimism in his voice. One never heard him talk about his ailments or his problems. He was always there for everyone else, for India and her people. In these years one did, however, hear some pessimism in his voice. A what will happen to our country tone, with worries that he would share occasionally.

Justice Sachars admiration for Rammanohar Lohia spanned his life, never diminishing. But he never allowed that to come in his way of relationships with those who were perhaps, very critical of his mentor. As he said, your view is yours, mine is mine. And would then tell us stories about the differences between Jawaharlal Nehru and Lohia that never came in the way of mutual respect.

There are not many left now who say it like you did, Justice Sachar, without mincing words, or looking over your shoulder, or bothering how the chattering classes would react. You looked for no favours, no positions, no awards. Respect Sir, Always!!!

Qurban Ali is a TV journalist and can be contacted on qurban100[at]gmail.com

As a token of our homage to the abiding memory of Justice Rajindar Sachar, we are reproducing the following two articles, written by him, that appeared in Mainstream a year ago in April 2017. Editor

Supreme Court Should Decide Ayodhya Case  No Scope for Mutual Settlement

The suggestion of the Chief Justice of India to even act as a mediator in the pending Babri Masjid demolition case, showed his concern but it was a little odd considering that it came at the instance of an inter-meddler, and without the parties involved being before the Court that is why it caused amongst the parties a certain concern. In my view, the Babri Masjid demolition case is not a matter for compromise. This case raises the deep concern regarding our Constitution which clearly says India is a secular republic.

I was in Geneva attending a UN Human Rights Commission meeting when I was told of the horrible news that came on TV that the Babri Masjid had been demolished and saw the gory spectacle of the BJP hoodlums climbing on to the Masjid and breaking it down. The BJP Governments Chief Minister Kalyan Singhs assurance to the Supreme Court, that he will take all steps to prevent it, was belied. The Supreme Court, by a majority, just accepted his apology instead of sending him to jail for contempt of court. But this was nothing compared to the ominous conspiracy of the Congress Prime Minister, Narasimha Rao, who suddenly became inaccessible to senior journalists, his Home Secretary and even his colleagues.

I am also ashamed to admit the unworthy role of complicity of the judiciary which, in spite of the injunction having given since 1949 against the public not to enter the area, did not proceed against those who perpetrated the acteven the higher judiciary did not intervenerather turned a blind eye to it. This was the time when the magnitude of the danger should have been appreciated by all the parties but was not. The battle for secularism should have been joined with a singular determination of nipping in the bud the cancer of communalism. But nothing was done.

I then made a public statement observing: Immediately the government should have announced December 6 as a National Repentance Day when the people will fast and pray for unity and welfare of all the communities. But the non-BJP parties analysed the situation as merely one of law and order and thus acquiesced in this dastardly act.

Whatever the past history, all the parties let the matter go to the Allahabad High Court to give a decision. The High Court has given a decision with which both parties are aggrieved. The BJP is still insisting that it would build a temple at the site where the Masjid undoubtedly stood for over 500 years. Muslims cannot obviously agree to a shameful compromise on the sanctity of the Masjid. The matter is already before the Supreme Courtit cannot run away from giving a decision which may not make everyone happy. But then it is its constitutional duty and it has no other alternative. I cannot foretell the Supreme Court decision. But if past precedents are to prevail, then the case in favour of the Muslims is invincible. I say this on the precedence of the Masjid Shahidganj case, Lahore, (now in Pakistan) decided by the Privy Council in 1940. The Supreme Court need not decide on merits whether the Babri Masjid had been in existence where the Ram Temple existed or not because that is of no consequence as it is not relevant to the decision of the case. This is because even if it was, there is no denying that the Babri Masjid has been in existence for 500 years.

Now it is obvious to the meanest intelligence that it is impossible to prove that the birthplace of Lord Ram was under the Masjidit may be a matter of faith, genuine or contrived or otherwise, but that is no proof, nor can it ever be put forward as a legal ground to take away the land from the mosque.

If the finding is that the Masjid was not built on Rams birthplace, then the Muslims will get the land back and should be free to use it in any way, including the rebuilding of the mosque.

Alternatively even if it is held that there was a temple on the land of the Babri Masjid, even with this finding the suit by the VHP/RSS has to be dismissed. Admittedly, the Babri Masjid had been in existence for over 500 years till it was demolished by the goons of the VHP/RSS in 1992. Legally speaking, even then the Sangh Parivar would have no right even if a temple had been demolished to build the Babri Masjid. I say this in view of the precedent of the case of Masjid Shahidganj in Lahore decided by the Privy Council in 1940. In that case there was admittedly a mosque existing since 1722 AD. But by 1762, the building came under Sikh rule and was used as a gurdwara. It was only in 1935 that a suit was filed claiming that the building was a mosque and should be returned to the Muslims.

The Privy Council, while observing that their Lordship have every sympathy with a religious sentiment which would ascribe sanctity and inviolability to a place of worship, they cannot under the Limitation Act accept the contention that such a building cannot be possessed adversely, went on to hold: The property now in question having been possessed by Sikhs adversely to the waqf and to all interests thereunder for more than 12 years, the right of the mutawali (caretaker) to possession for the purposes of the waqf came to an end under the Limitation Act. On the same parity of reasoning even if a temple existed prior to the building of the Masjid 500 years ago, the suit by the Hindu outfits like Nirmal Akhara/VHP/BJP etc. has to fail.

There is another reason why in such a situation the suit will fail: because in common law, even a rightful heir, if he kills his ancestor, forfeits his right of inheritance. In the Masjid case too there was a murder most foul and hence the murderer cannot be allowed to take the benefit of his own dastardly deeds, whatever the factual position may be.

Of course it is the privilege of the Chief Justice of India to constitute the Bench. One may, however, respectfully submit that it would be more reassuring if a Bench of seven or nine judges was to hear the appeal.

(Mainstream, April 8, 2017)

o o

Fight Against Treason Call of Hindu Rashtra by BJP

The results of the UP State Assembly elections have come as a shock to all parties including the pollsters. The appointment of Yogi Adityanath as the Chief Minister of UP is the worst outcome. I feel that it requires all political parties, the secular and Leftists (I am using loosely because unfortunately the meanings of the terms have become quite barren), to come close to each other.

I am mentioning some items which all of us could take up, as these have no party monopoly. Of course my suggestions are very tentative and can be finalised at a separate meeting of all parties, of the Leftist parties, trade unions. This is necessary because the BJP Government is determined to dismantle the public sector, the sheet-anchor for a socialist society.

A. Minimum of 30 per cent Income Tax on those with higher income including the Corporate Sector.

B. Inheritance Tax to reduce gross inequality in the society; even the conservative Governor of the Reserve Bank is suggesting it.

C. Disclose in public the names of big defaulters of public sector banks, the total amount being Rs 8 lakh crores. Why should they be shielded, when they are endangering the public interest and economy?

D. Napams and anti-corridor battle could be jointly fought out.

E. Prohibition against any election funding by the corporate sector even in the guise of separate electoral trusts formed by the corporate sector.

I am also suggesting some other common items in the programme for action immediately like: Revival of womens reservation in State Legis-latures and Parliament.

Fight against the governments misuse of perverting the Lok Sabha Speakers power to certify certain legislations as Money Bill in order to avoid defeat in the Rajya Sabha.

There is a gross misuse of the majority in the Lok Sabha by the BJP Government. The BJPs Central Government has already started working unconstitutionally, as is clear from its misuse of Article 110 of the Constitutionregarding the Finance Bill. This is done obviously because it could not modify the Income Tax Law or the Companies Act for making such vital changes against the established rights of citizens guaranteed by the Constitution as it has no majority in the Rajya Sabha.

The BJPs Central Government is tearing all established conventions, including amendments on the Companies Act, which is most mischievous. At present under the Companies Act there is a ceiling for donation, especially making it anonymous. The Central Governments amendment will result in what an American commentator has said after the Citizens case in the USA, that the nation will have corporate democracy and not peoples democracy.

I believe one could go to court against the provisions incorporated in the Income Tax Act and Companies Act on the ground of violation of Article 14, and the irrelevance of these legis-lations behind the passing of the Finance Bill.

I know political funding is a touchy subject for the Congress but then larger public interest requires it to be challenged. The misuse of Aadhar to make each one of the provisions of secrecy of the Income Tax Act, the banking law a nullity is a further assault of the individual rights of citizens.

Speaking personally, we must refuse to file Income Tax Returns or opening of Bank accounts by getting Aadhar, which I believe is a serious inroad into the privacy of the individual except in the case of those programmes like subsidies schemes to avoid possibly the wrong person getting the benefit. I know the Congress Government brought in Aadhar. But really its misuse by the Modi Government requires action by the Congress. I would suggest that the Congress and entire Opposition should bring a legislation in the Rajya Sabha opposing the changes made in the Companies Act and Income Tax by the BJP as incorporated in the Finance Bill (where it will be passed because it has a majority in the Rajya Sabha). This will create a constitu-tional crisis and bring the matter strongly to the notice of the public on these issues.

The extreme danger of the BJP choosing Yogi Adityanath and his open declaration that India is a Hindu Rashtra has shown the deep viciousness of the RSS and BJP. For this purpose other parties will have to make serious mutual adjustmentsof course subject to the ruling parties in other States also playing fair. I would provisionally suggest that the distribution of seats in respective States should be done by non-BJP parties in such a manner that there is a single candidate opposing the BJP candidate. Of course the Opposition-ruled States like Mamata in Bengal, Patnaik in Odisha, the Congress in Punjab and Karnataka will have to make equitable adjustments, but the other parties must also go for deep adjustment. Only in this way can the evil of the BJP headed by the Yogi in UP, with its obvious call for Hindu Rashtra (a treasonable slogan by the ruling party at the Centre) can be successfully met to prevent fascism in our country.

Let all the parties sit together and work out concrete specific programmes and policies to meet this menace. If the parties will not show this adjustment, the public in India will never forgive the Opposition parties for failing to show that foresight, self-abnegation before the attack on secularism, the basic feature of our Constitution. We should start an open debate and launch public meetings to point out the danger to our democracy. This will require approaching all political parties to draw up a common programme. In this certain ground rules will have to be worked out. Both the political parties, which are in power in respective States, and the non-BJP Opposition parties will have to work out a joint strategy for mutual benefit of each other.

In order to meet the 2019 parliamentary electoral challenge, I feel that all non-BJP parties should work on a commonly agreed programme. Loose general talks separately will not work. I feel we need to develop Dr Lohias election strategy of 1967 where we had non-Congress Opposition- ruled governments in nine States. We only have to work for similar non-BJP Opposition ruled Statesthis alone will create an atmosphere which may result in non-BJP parties forming the government at the Centre in Delhi.

(Mainstream, April 15, 2017)

o o o

Irfan Engineers Tribute

We are deeply saddened by the recent passing of former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court Rajindar Sachar. Justice Sachar was the chair of the seven member high-level committee that came to be known by his name, the Sachar Committee, which reported on the social, economic, and educational status of Muslims in India. He was also the President of the Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), a human rights organisation. Justice Sachar was unwavering in his commitment to protecting the human rights of marginalised communities. The Centre for the Study of Society and Secularism takes inspiration from Justice Sachars work in our attempt to contribute in improving the conditions of vulnerable communities.

Irfan Engineer

Director,

Centre for Study of

Mumbai Society and SecularismHome > Archives (2006 on) > 2018 > Rationality Wins Over Left Sectarianism

POLITICAL NOTEBOOK

Rationality has emerged victorious over irrational (and infantile) dogmatism and Left sectarianism at the just-concluded 22nd Congress of the CPI-M. The preposterous idea that an all-in unity of secular and democratic forces to take on the BJP and the Sangh Parivar in the next general elections can be consummated by keeping the Congress out of it, has been decisively rejected. Prakash Karat and his charmed circle within the party fought a last-ditch battle by fielding Brinda Karat to hold a press conference in which she insisted that the party line negating electoral understanding with the Congress has not been changed; only the relevant paragraph has been redrafted. It fell upon Mohammed Selim to hold another press meet the same day within a few hours to re-assert that the partys tactical line adopted at the Hyderabad Congress remains unchanged.

The plain and obvious truth is that in the political situation prevailing in the country today, the Hindutva juggernaut can be stopped only by the combined efforts of all secular and democratic parties, organisations and individuals. The idea is not to exclude anyone willing to join the battle but to take on board everyone who is aware of the danger of the democratic polity of our country being subverted and supplanted by a Hindu Rashtra. This is the stark reality. It beats ones compre-hension why an erudite Marxist ideologue like Prakash Karat wanted to take the party along a suicidal line which would have further isolated it from the people and its fraternal allies, weakening the struggle against communal fascism. Had Karat been able to steamroll his line in the party Congress, the result would have been further desertions from the CPI-M in West Bengal and demoralisation of party workers in State after State.

Day after day, the BJP Ministers, legislators, leaders and party spokespersons are loudly defending the indefensible, the immoral and the downright criminal. They are joining processions demanding release of the accused arrested in cases of gang rape and murder of kids. Their Ministers are saying that a case or two of rape in such a vast country should not be highlighted or made a fuss about. This betrays their mindset, their morals and their culture. Their leaders openly talk about changing the Constitution. And let there be no illusion about itif they come to power again next time, they will change the Constitution beyond recognition. They will pack all the institutions created by the Constitution, including the highest judiciary, with their own bigoted men.

In the circumstances, it is difficult to understand the rationale of the party line sought to be adopted by Prakash Karat and his followers in the party. In the delegate camps, the rumour was systematically spread that Sitaram Yechury would be replaced as the General Secretary by either Raghavulu or Brinda Karat. That plan of the Karat lobby went awry. Most delegates realised the gravity of the situation and the stupendous challenge confronting the secular and democratic forces and the arduous battles that lie ahead. Not to put too fine a point on it, the Karat line was the liquidationist line. It would have led the party to splendid isolation even within the Left camp.

The situation is so grave indeed that the CPI-ML (Liberation) has, in its 10th party Congress held at Mansa (Punjab) last month (March), decided to support the Congress in those constituencies in the next elections where there would be no Left candidate. It is a tragic irony that when a party like the CPI-ML is shedding its dogmatism to fight the BJP which is bent upon reshaping India in accordance with the Hindu supremacist blueprint of the RSS, the Karat lobby is still sticking to its ideological puritanism and dogmatism and treating the Congress as a political pariah. Fortunately, they could not have their way at the party Congress.

A stupendous responsibility devolves on the shoulders of Sitaram Yechury at this critical juncture. He has not only to lead his party and widen its mass base. He has also to act as the best interface of his party with other Opposition parties including the Congress. Factionalism prevented him from getting re-elected to the Rajya Sabha this time but now with the party solidly behind him, the electoral understanding with the Congress having been cleared and most other Opposition parties being favourably disposed toward him, it should be possible for him to enter the Rajya Sabha sooner rather than later. It is going to be a long haul, well beyond 2019. Yechury is expected to play the role of a bridge-builder between different segments of the secular and democratic Opposition parties.

April 24 B.D.G.London: A UK court on last day admitted the bulk of the evidence submitted by the CBI against Vijay Mallya in connection with his ongoing extradition trial, giving a boost to Indias efforts to bring back the embattled liquor baron to face charges of fraud and money laundering amounting to around Rs 9,000 crore.

The 62-year-old flambouyant businessman, who appeared in the Westminister Magistrates Court in London, had his 650,000 pounds bail extended until the next date of hearing on July 11. When the court reconvenes, oral submissions will be made on closing arguments to be submitted in writing to Judge Emma Arbuthnot over the next two months.

During the hearing, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) got a boost as Judge Arbuthnot confirmed that the bulk of the evidence submitted by it will be admissible. The last days hearing comes days after the Indian governments High Court appeal against a previous Westminster Magistrates Court extradition ruling that had been denied.Thalassery: Soumyas ex-husband Kishore who was taken into custody by the investigation team has brought him to Thalassery and started the interrogation. Kishore made contradictory statement to what Soumya said earlier. The team is checking the contradiction in the statement.

Kishore said to police that he had not come to Pinarayi when his daughter Aishwarya died as he was unaware of the incident. Soumyas telephonic conversations with certain persons lead to their breakup.

Kishore added that while together, Soumya eloped once leaving a note that she is not interested to live with him. He also said that he has no connection with her for the past five years. Currently there is no evidence against Kishore but the investigation team is interrogating him to know the past history of Soumya through him.ORANGE - Thirteen people were displaced after a three alarm fire at an apartment complex in Orange Friday night, the local fire department said.

Firefighters responded to 179 Holtshire Rd around 11:19 p.m. for a report of a possible structure fire at that location.

Upon arriving, fire crews found the building was in flames.

As firefighters attempted to extinguish the blaze, "conditions deteriorated rapidly," according to the release about the incident.

There were no hydrants in the area, so water had to be trucked in from Lake Mattawa. Additionally, 11 nearby communities assisted Orange firefighters in extinguishing the blaze, according to WWLP-22.

Fire crews were working until early Saturday morning.

Nobody was injured as a result of the fire.

The displaced residents are being assisted with housing by the American Red Cross.

The fire is under investigation by the State Fire Marshal's office.

The cause is not considered suspicious.AMHERST -- Before Amherst begins what could be its last town meeting Monday night, it will hold a special town meeting asking that members send a request to the state Legislature allowing the town to hold a special election Nov. 6.

That election would be for the municipality's first Town Council, which will replace Town Meeting and the Select Board.

But some have asked that the election be delayed.

By a 3,476 to 2,468 margin, voters in November approved a new charter that replaces Amherst's 240-member representative Town Meeting / five-member Select Board form of government with a 13-member Town Council.

If the Legislature approves, the first town council election will be Nov. 6, with the council taking over Dec. 3. If the special act authorizing an election in November is not enacted, the initial town council election will take place Jan. 24 and the council would be sworn in Feb. 4, based on the transition documents.

While some residents have asked for a delay, the charter is clear in its stipulation to proceed with the earlier date, Town Manager Paul Bockelman said.

But the debate on the election could prove to be lively.

A post on Amherst Town Meeting Works Facebook page states: "... this is likely to be the most contentious town meeting in decades, with pro-charter members and pro-town-meeting members at loggerheads about the charter's election calendar, which many see as disenfranchising students who want to participate as candidates in local elections but do not live here year-round (there are other complications, too). It will be messy, noisy, and interesting."

Attorneys Joel Bard and Lauren Goldberg of the Boston firm KP Law were asked to provide an interpretation of the transition provisions and an opinion on pending articles before Town Meeting. The lawyers recommended that the meeting take up the special town meeting articles (including authorizing the Select Board to ask the Legislature to approve the Nov. 6 election) and most others, but not take up articles 34 (a zoning bylaw amendment) and 37 (an unlawful noise bylaw).

According to the document outlining the transition to the new charter, the Select Board, Town Meeting and town manager "shall limit their respective actions during this transition period to those matters essential and necessary to the current operations of the municipality, such as the annual budget."

According to the lawyers' opinion, Article 34 proposes to change the zoning map with respect to "all areas of Town neither served by public water nor sewer," but, they wrote, "it is our opinion that the proposed amendment involves a new, major policy change that has not been fully studied by the Planning Board and is likely to be contentious."

Article 37, submitted by Sandra Gesuelle Hart, proposes an amendment to the town's current noise bylaw to include gunfire. She lives near the Norwottuck Fish & Game Association and said people are allowed to shoot there from 9 a.m. until dusk. Her proposed amendment would limit the time to 6 p.m. from April to November.

According to the town's lawyers, state law "essentially provides that no owner of a gun range will face any liability or be enjoined from operations for noise-related complaints if the range complies with any noise bylaw that existed at the time of the construction of the range." The law also prohibits operation between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m., "unless otherwise allowed by the local governing body."

Based upon the statutory language, the lawyer wrote, "even if the bylaw was amended, we would anticipate that an existing gun range would argue that it was not obligated to comply with the bylaw. Thus, it appears that there is very little risk in delaying action on this matter, and further, that approval of such a bylaw could expose the Town to a legal challenge."

Bard and Goldberg wrote: "The intent of the Transition Provisions is, in our further opinion, to ensure that the Town moves to diligently prepare for the upcoming transition and avoids commitments that would undermine the Town Council, or commit the Town Council in ways that are unnecessary or inappropriate.

"This commonsense approach should allow the Town, with the guidance of the Town Manager, whose job function carries through from the current to the new Charter, to smoothly transition to a new form of government in the limited time period available," the lawyers wrote.

The spring Town Meeting, which begins at 7 p.m. in the Amherst Regional Middle School, will likely last several nights. A Town Meeting could be also held in the fall.

FINAL STM Warrant 2018 04-30-2018 by The Republican/MassLive.com on Scribd

FINAL ATM Warrant 4-30-2018 signed_201804041533445533 by The Republican/MassLive.com on ScribdCHICOPEE - Runners will have a chance to dash down pavement usually reserved for the largest planes in the United States in one of the most unique road races in Western Massachusetts this spring.

The Greater Chicopee Chamber of Commerce with the Galaxy Community Council is holding a 5-kilometer race and 2-mile walk that will send runners down the runway at Westover Air Reserve Base, around the taxiway area and past the spot where the C-5M Galaxy jets are parked.

"We had three years of the road race downtown. It was successful but we thought it had more potential," said Jessica Roncarati-Howe, Chamber president. "This has more of a 'wow' factor."

Access on the base is restricted and it is even rarer for anyone to be allowed onto the runway, so this race will give people an unusual chance to run or walk on the runway, she said.

There are so many road races around and this one will be special to Chicopee. Part of the cachet of the race is competitors will run under the tails of the planes, she said.

"The opportunity to run the runway and return under the tails of the C-5s is a one-of-the-kind," she said. "People can stop and take pictures, depending on how serious runners they are."

The race will begin and end at Westover Municipal Airport. The runway, which is shared by Westover Air Reserve base and the municipal airport, measures 11,597 feet, which is a little over two miles, so the race will not stretch the entire length. Instead the route will turn in a taxiway and go over a short dirt path before looping back to the airport, said Michael Bolton, president and chief executive officer of the municipal airport.

Officials for the air base and airport are joining with the Chamber and the Galaxy Council to help plan and operate the race, Bolton said.

The Chamber started a road race three years ago and the first two years it traveled on a 3-mile loop through downtown, Front Street and Springfield Street. Last year the race became part of the city's summer block party.

Money raised from the event benefited the Chamber and a different local charity each year. This year the proceeds will be split between the Chamber and the Galaxy Community Council, which is raising money to support the Great New England Air Show scheduled for July 14 and 15.

The Run for the Runway will also serve as a way to kick off this year's Great New England Air and Space Show to be held July 14 and 15.

The race is scheduled for June 16, a month before the Air Show. Runners will take off at 9:30 a.m. and there will be family friendly events before the race at the airport. After the run, participants will be invited to the Munich Haus on Center Street for a luncheon, which is included in the registration price, she said.

For security reasons, all runners and walkers must register by May 11 and fill out a detailed form that includes their birth date and Social Security number so background checks can be done. Walkup registrations, which are common for road races, will not be allowed, Roncarati-Howe said.

The registration fee is $25 and includes lunch and a T-shirt. To register people can call the Chamber of Commerce at 413-594-2101 or register online at www.accu-specracing.com and choose the 06/16/18 Run-The-Runway Event.

The Chamber and the Galaxy Community Council are working closely with the Air Force Reserve and municipal airport to ensure proper security will be in place during the run, she said.

Security forces are always present at the Westover flight line and they will keep a close eye on the runners, Chief Master Sgt. Andrew Biscoe, acting chief of public affairs for Westover Air Reserve Base.

The runway will be closed for a few hours in the morning while the race is happening, but people will remain in the control tower and there will be a lot of security provided by the base, airport, Chicopee Police and Galaxy Council volunteers on the runway and at the airport, Bolton said.

One of the jobs of the security crew will be to ensure all runners and walkers return to the civilian airport from the Westover Air Reserve Base grounds. Since participants will have number bibs with computer chips to accurately track the time, it should help ensure runners do not leave the course, he said.

Because the race is so unique, already more people have registered than did for any of the downtown races the Chamber sponsored in previous years. Roncarati-Howe said she hopes to make the race an annual one.

A number of local companies have also stepped up to sponsor the race. This event is presented by Westfield Bank and the platinum sponsors are Holyoke Medical Center, Polish National Credit Union and PeoplesBank. Gold sponsors are First American Insurance Agency, Inc., JDog Junk Removal and Hauling of Westfield and Insurance Center of New England and The Arbors kids is a bronze sponsor. N. Riley Construction is providing the bibs.John Williams, the man accused of shooting and killing a sheriff's deputy in Norridgewock, Maine, on Wednesday, has been captured alive, according to authorities.

Maine State Police released a short statement over social media Saturday: "#UPDATE #MANHUNT IS OVER. PUBLIC IS SAFE," the agency said.

Williams, 29, was apparently taken into custody in a wooded area in Fairfield, Maine, off route 139 on Norridgewock Road, a little after noon on Saturday.

Williams is alleged to have shot and killed Somerset County Sheriff's Corporal Eugene Cole on Wednesday before stealing his cruiser.

The murder spawned a massive, four day manhunt throughout New England involving as many as 200 police officers. Numerous law enforcement agencies assisted with the search for Williams, including the FBI.

This post will be updated when more information becomes available.UPDATE, Dec. 18, 2018: At the request of a prosecutor, the charge against Glen J. Chabot was dropped on Sept. 28, 2018, and the case was dismissed.

SPRINGFIELD -- A former world-class power lifter from Springfield is facing a felony assault charge after allegedly threatening a homeless man with a knife.

Glen J. Chabot, 48, of Wilbraham, pleaded not guilty in Springfield District Court Tuesday to one count of assault with a dangerous weapon.

Following his arraignment on Tuesday, Chabot was released on personal recognizance and told to stay away from the alleged victim.

He is due back in court for a pretrial hearing on June 19.

A Springfield native, Chabot began lifting weights as a teenager and emerged as a dominant figure on the national power lifting scene in the late 1990s.Taking on "special interests" at the MBTA. Stopping a proposed $1 billion expansion of the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. Repairing a "broken" health insurance exchange and slowing down the opioid epidemic sweeping Massachusetts.

Those were some of the accomplishments Gov. Charlie Baker, buoyed by a humming economy, touted in a speech to 2,200 fellow Republicans inside Worcester's DCU Center, asking for their support as he gears up his campaign for a second four-year term.

Baker, a moderate Republican from Swampscott, faced lukewarm support from some quarters of the party, as controversial anti-gay pastor Scott Lively of Springfield, seeking to serve as a more conservative alternative, won a quarter of GOP delegate votes to qualify for the primary ballot.

Baker received 69.7 percent of delegates' votes, and the endorsement of the convention, while Lively received 26.7 percent, according to the GOP's tally.

"GOP: Growth. Opportunity. And Prosperity," Baker told the crowd before the vote. "That's who we are."

Two Democrats are vying to take Baker on in November after their own primary. Jay Gonzalez, former budget aide to ex-Gov. Deval Patrick, and Bob Massie, an environmental activist, remain in the race after former Newton Mayor Setti Warren abruptly dropped out this week, citing fundraising woes.

Baker won in 2014 by roughly 40,000 votes, a narrow margin.

"We need a strong, united Republican Party to serve as a check on the Democrat majorities," Baker said, referring to the Democrat-dominated Massachusetts House and Senate he often praises for working closely with him on legislation.

Baker pointed to recent GOP pick-ups in Fitchburg and on the Cape with state Sen. Dean Tran and state Rep. Will Crocker. Since becoming the head of the Republican Party in Massachusetts, Baker said he's been focused on building a "fiscally disciplined, performance oriented Republican Party that can go toe to toe with the Democrats."

The governor also sought to highlight the differences between him and the Democrats: He backs the death penalty for people who fatally shoot police officers, a reduction in the state sales tax and a permanent sales tax holiday, and allowing state prison officials working with federal immigration officials to remove undocumented immigrants.

"Our opponents don't," he said after citing each policy.

Baker, who opposed the legalization of marijuana, also said public health insurance shouldn't cover marijuana, as Gonzalez, one of the Democratic opponents, has called for.

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker speaks at the 2018 Massachusetts Republican Party convention in Worcester. Posted by MassLive on Saturday, April 28, 2018

Lively, a supporter of President Donald Trump while Baker has repeatedly distanced himself from the GOP businessman, told the crowd, "I'm 100 percent pro-Trump."

Lively said Baker is taking credit for a successful economy while "one man in this nation is responsible for the economic miracle...that's our president Donald Trump."

Lively also criticized Baker for not meeting with Vice President Mike Pence during the top Republican's recent visit, and hanging out with Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera and other "leftists."

Greg Neffinger, the former of mayor of West Springfield, said he backs Lively as a someone who has "pro-life" and "pro-family" values.

Neffinger backed Baker four years ago. "But I saw those conservative values attacked in these last four years," Neffinger said.

Lively said he doesn't believe the multiple polls showing Baker with high approval ratings. The high poll numbers come despite a series of Massachusetts State Police scandals that prompted Baker to propose reforms for the law enforcement agency.

"I think Mr. Baker is extraordinarily vulnerable, and the only reason that he is showing the numbers he has, is because he hasn't had to defend his Republicanism to Republicans," Lively told MassLive while standing next to his table inside the DCU Center.SPRINGFIELD - The Springfield chapter of Teens for Action, a group that has been behind recent local gun control activism, will be endorsing Amaad Rivera in his bid for State Senate, the group has announced.

Trevaughn Smith, the co-founder of the group, said at a press conference at South Congregational Church Saturday that the organization had decided to support Rivera's leadership.

"We want to get these politicians that don't support us out," Smith said, referring to local officials who are supportive of the NRA. "I am proud to announce that Teens for Action Springfield will formally endorse Amaad Rivera for his Hampden bid for State Senate," he said.

Rivera, who was formerly a Springfield City Councilor, announced his bid for the Hampden District state Senate seat in March. He has been supportive of local activist efforts to address gun violence.

Teens for Action also released a statement Saturday regarding their decision to endorse Rivera. "As an organization with specific legislative goals, Amaad Rivera shares our goal to reduce gun violence," the statement reads.

Part of the group's motive for endorsing Rivera stems from opposition to the seat's incumbent, Senator James Welch, who "has had multiple A, B and C ratings with the National Rife Association, higher then Gov. Charlie Baker," the group said.

Rivera recently worked together with Teens for Action to host an event with Manuel and Patricia Oliver, the parents of Joaquin Oliver, a student who was slain during the recent shooting in Parkland, Florida.

During their visit to Springfield, Manuel, an artist, created an anti-gun violence mural at the the South Congregational Church.

The mural was found vandalized Thursday, and has since been taken down. During Saturday's press conference, Smith expressed his disappointment with the vandalism of the mural, but said that his organization was going to "continue to push" for their goals.

Some of those goals include putting pressure on Springfield's own arms manufacturer Smith & Wesson, which Teens for Action had previously stated was a target for activism.

Smith said Saturday that the group is still trying to secure a meeting with Smith & Wesson's CEO P. James Debney, to discuss the role the company could play in advocating for less gun violence.

The group also released a statement Friday regarding the vandalism of the mural.

"There is no way to justify these actions of those who tore down the mural, this act of malicious damage can cost someone up to two and a half years in prison or a $1,500 fine in the state of Massachusetts," the group said.

"Do not justify these actions; this was a felony, not a "reaction." If I don't like what someone is wearing, I don't go up to them and rip their clothes off," the statement continues.

You can read the group's entire statement here.WORCESTER -- Although neither President Donald Trump nor Elizabeth Warren were in Worcester Saturday, the commander-in-chief and Democratic senator dominated much of the talk at the Massachusetts Republican Party's convention.

With several Republicans running to unseat Warren this fall, many convention speakers took aim at the senator's policies and record, urging the 2,000-plus convention attendees to turn out in November.

State Republicans also touted their party's victories in recent elections and policy changes seen under the direction of Trump and a GOP-controlled Congress.

U.S. Senate candidates, who have been critical of Warren on the campaign trail, used the bulk of the convention speeches to take aim at the Democratic incumbent, instead of their GOP primary opponents.

Beth Lindstrom, a Groton business owner and longtime political operative also seeking the Massachusetts U.S. Senate seat, called Warren "an extremist," offering that she's "out of step and out of touch with the people she's supposed to represent."

State Rep. Geoff Diehl, a Whitman Republican and U.S. Senate hopeful, said that ever since the current senator took office she "put Massachusetts in the rearview mirror and never looked back."

John Kingston, a Winchester Republican and U.S. Senate hopeful, said "it's time to fire Warren!"

MassGOP Chairwoman Kirsten Hughes joined her party's U.S. Senate candidates in taking aim at Warren, arguing that the senator "has taken hyper-partisanship and self-promotion to a new extreme."

"Professor Warren doesn't give a you-know-what about students or anyone else, but herself ... I don't know about you, but I've had enough of Professor Warren's lectures," she told delegates and other convention attendees. "Let's send her back to Harvard Yard. Or, better yet, I'd like to send her back to Oklahoma."

She added that Massachusetts Republicans are excited to build on the party's successes in recent election cycles.

"With voters rejecting Democrats' chaotic and failed leadership, Republicans are gaining ground, picking up a state senate seat right here in Worcester County just a few months ago," Hughes said in a statement. "The 2018 Convention will enable us to seize this grassroots energy and rally around our candidates as we mobilize to win in November."

James McMahon, a Bourne Republican running for attorney general, meanwhile, specifically touted Trump's 2016 election win during his speech, arguing that Democrats, like incumbent AG Maura Healey, "ran into the Trump bump."

He criticized the current attorney general for bringing what he called "frivolous silly lawsuits" against the Trump administration and pledged to address the issue of "sanctuary cities" -- a top White House priority.

Springfield pastor Scott Lively, a Republican gubernatorial candidate, also praised Trump's work in Washington during his fiery convention speech.

Lively, who cast himself as "100 percent pro-Trump," contended that the president -- not Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker -- should get credit for the current economic "miracle" and other positives seen in the country since January 2017.

Gregory Neffinger, a former West Springfield mayor and East Longmeadow town administrator who joined Lively's campaign, compared the pastor to Trump before offering that the president should get the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to denuclearize North Korea.

Baker, who offered more subdued remarks, touted his administration's policies, highlighted Republicans' successes in recent elections and drew distinctions between the GOP and Democratic candidates running in 2018.

"A fiscally discplined, performance-oriented Repulican Party that can go toe-to-toe with the Democrats makes this state better and stronger," he said. "Competition creates accountability, constructive friction works and the choices we put before the voters in the fall will matter. There is a difference between us and them."

The daylong convention offered delegates and party leaders the opportunity to formally back Massachusetts Republicans running for a series of statewide offices, including races for U.S. Senate and the governor's office.

Delegates also voted to endorse candidates running for: lieutenant governor, treasurer, auditor, attorney general and secretary of the commonwealth.

Those who received a majority of delegate votes at the convention are now considered the party's endorsed candidate.

They include: Anthony M. Amore for secretary of the commonwealth; Helen Brady for state auditor; Rep. Keiko Orrall, R-Lakeville, for state treasurer; McMahon for attorney general; Karyn Polito for lieutenant governor; Baker for governor; and Diehl for U.S. Senate.

To appear on the ballot for Massachusetts' Republican primary election, which will take place on Tuesday, Sept. 4, candidates had to receive at least 15 percent of the delegates' vote at the convention.WORCESTER -- Republicans from across Massachusetts will gather in Worcester Saturday to endorse a slate of statewide candidates and rally the party ahead of September's primary election.

The daylong convention, which is set to begin at 9 a.m. at the DCU Center, will feature speeches from Republican Gov. Charlie Baker and other candidates running in 2018.

State GOP leaders said the event will also seek to mobilize Massachusetts Republicans "as (they) prepare to win in 2018."

Although the convention will allow delegates and party leaders the opportunity to formally back Massachusetts Republicans running for a series of statewide offices, much of the event will likely focus on Baker's re-election bid, as well as GOP efforts to unseat Democratic U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

A handful of Republicans have announced campaigns to challenge the incumbent senator, who recently reported a campaign cash balance of $15 million with less than eight months left before the November contest.

They include: Beth Lindstrom, a former aide to Mitt Romney and manager of Scott Brown's 2010 Senate bid; John Kingston, a Winchester businessman; State Rep. Geoff Diehl, R-Whitman; Darius Mitchell, of Lowell, and Heidi Wellman, of Marlborough.

Only one Republican, meanwhile, has announced a run against Baker: Scott Lively, a controversial anti-gay pastor and activist from Springfield.

Lively, who previously ran as an independent against Baker in 2014, announced his campaign in December, noting that the governor's work on Beacon Hill inspired him to once again seek office.

Despite the challenge, Baker has remained a popular figure in recent polls, with his campaign reporting a balance of nearly $8 million as of mid-April -- an amount which reportedly contributed to a Democratic opponent's decision to exit the race.

Aside from the gubernatorial and senate races, delegates will also vote to endorse candidates running for: lieutenant governor, treasurer, auditor, attorney general and secretary of the commonwealth.

Those who receive a majority of delegate votes at the convention will be considered the party's endorsed candidate.

Candidates must receive at least 15 percent of the delegates' vote on any ballot at the convention to appear on the ballot for Massachusetts' Republican primary election, which will take place on Tuesday, Sept. 4.

Statewide candidates running for contested seats, including the attorney general, lieutenant governor, gubernatorial, and U.S. Senate races, will address delegates before the balloting begins.

Those in uncontested races -- candidates seeking the GOP nomination for secretary of the commonwealth, auditor and treasurer and receiver-general -- meanwhile, will speak after ballots are cast.

In addition to the balloting process, the convention will also include tributes to First Lady Barbara Bush and Capt. Thomas Hudner, a medal of honor recipient and former member of the Concord Republican Town Committee, organizers said.WEST SPRINGFIELD -- Sen. James T. Welch, D-West Springfield, has handed in his nomination papers to get his name on the ballot for re-election to the Massachusetts Senate, where he has represented constituents from West Side, Springfield and Chicopee since 2011.

Welch, 42, officially launched his re-election campaign this week, hoping to continue serving the Hampden District on Beacon Hill.

"I began my career in public service back in 2001, and feel I have a lot left to offer the people of the Hampden District and the entire commonwealth," the senator said. "With more than a decade of experience representing my constituents on Beacon Hill, I am looking to build on what we have achieved in the Greater Springfield area and hope to continue to serve."

Welch is looking forward to the upcoming campaign, but right now he's busy dealing with the legislation and budgetary work that's currently before the Massachusetts General Court.

"I'm focusing on what we're doing," he said Friday, when asked about his potential challengers in the race.

At least four people have expressed their intentions to run for the Hampden District seat, including Amaad Rivera, a former Springfield city councilor; current Springfield City Councilor Adam Gomez; former Springfield City Council candidate Lorenzo Gaines; and former Springfield School Committee candidate Giselle Vizcarrondo.

"I am anticipating a thorough campaign with lively discussions about how to best serve the people of Springfield, West Springfield and Chicopee," Welch said. "However, right now my focus is on the Legislature. We have the state budget talks coming up and critical legislation pending that will require my full attention."

Welch, who has a professional background in the financial services field, is a graduate of West Springfield High School and Westfield State University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in business management.

Welch began his public service career in 2001, when he went to work for then-state Rep. Stephen J. Buoniconti, D-West Springfield, who is now city solicitor for Agawam. Welch was elected to the West Springfield City Council in 2004, the state House of Representatives in 2005, and the state Senate in 2010.

In 2013, Welch was appointed Senate chairman of the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing, where he has served for the past three legislative sessions.

A West Side native, he still lives in the city with his wife, Kara Flynn Welch, and their two children, Tommy and Christopher.First Tuesday of every month, 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

No cost to visit

Lectures & Meetings

Do you want to improve communication and social skills, but no time for small talk? We follow a standard agenda which gives everyone a chance to speak and give feedback. We know you won't learn anything if you aren't having fun, so meetings are both supportive and enjoyable. We are brand new and need more members to charter as an official Toastmasters club! Will remain online only. 217-638-0309U.S. government used chemical weapons to murder children in Texas does that mean its okay for other nations to bomb us?

American foreign policy has long been characterized by a precedent of bombing and overthrowing countries that elected officials accuse of committing major human rights abuses. But the United States government has been guilty of many of these same acts of domestic terror over the years, which begs the question: Should other countries also be allowed to overthrow our government in order to protect American citizens from similar harm? (We ask this rhetorically, of course, and the answer is no, but the twisted logic persists among U.S. interests trying to justify bombing Syria.)

Shortly after the Syrian city of Douma was allegedly hit with a chemical weapons attack back in early April, President Donald Trump and many in the mainstream media quickly blamed the incident on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. This was the pretext by which President Trump almost overnight made the decision to start lobbing bombs into Syria, despite a lack of credible evidence that President al-Assad was even the guilty party.

Its a shoot first, ask questions later approach to dealing with alleged foreign threats, either real or manufactured, and it usually results in the U.S. becoming indefinitely entangled in the affairs of other countries  most often in the Middle East, and typically to the tune of tens of billions of dollars in military spending.

Remember with the FBI gassed and murdered 80 Americans in Waco, Texas?

But again, why is the American government never held similarly accountable? Take the infamous Waco, Texas, raid as a prominent example. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) sent tanks into a Central Texas compound occupied by dozens of people, many of whom were children. The FBI proceeded to blast the private property with CS gas, which left more than 80 men, women, and children dead in its wake.

This was an act of cold-blooded murder by our own government, and yet nobody was ever held liable for this egregious crime against humanity. The Feds had no business being at Waco in the first place, let alone making the decision to burn alive innocent children and babies with chemical weapons. And yet, again, justice was never served, and the guilty parties were let off the hook because our federal officials can do no wrong.

Its one of the most horrific human rights abuses in American history  and one that many would argue was far worse than what allegedly occurred in Douma. If President Trump and the many other politicians calling for war against Syria are at all interested in being consistent in their convictions, theyd similarly call for countries like Russia to intervene whenever children are injured or killed by American domestic policies.

When the FBI used CS gas, banned in 100 nations for use even in war, against men, women & children  where was the outrage by the media? asks David Knight from InfoWars. Did any nation bomb America for using chemical weapons? And 25 years later, mainstream media still focuses on the heresy of David Koresh if they cover Waco at all. Do we still burn adults & children for heresy?

Mandatory vaccination is chemical violence against children  should Russia bomb the CDC, then, according to twisted logic?

Or how about the continued destruction of childrens lives with mandatory vaccinations, which injure and kill tens of thousands of babies and infants every single year? Vaccines are a form of chemical violence that is far more destructive than alleged isolated chemical gas attacks in the Middle East, so does that mean, by the same twisted logic, that Russia should get involved by bombing the headquarters of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia? Of course not, but this would be consistent with those supporting the U.S. bombing of Syria.

Its only fair for there to be one standard in dealing with chemical violence of any type, no matter whos committing it. This would necessitate the American government also be held to account for harming American citizens  whether its done overtly with tanks and chemical gas, or covertly with public health initiatives like forced vaccinations loaded with harmful chemicals like monosodium glutamate, aluminum salts, thimerosal, formaldehyde and other ingredients the CDC admits are still found in vaccines.

Sources for this article include:

InfoWars.com

HealthRanger.newsMike Krebs | mkrebs@mlive.com

Little Horses Big Smiles visited the White Lake Assisted Living in Whitehall, Muskegon on Thursday, April 26, 2018. Two American Miniature Horses and a rabbit greeted resident for about an hour.

Don't Edit

Mike Krebs | mkrebs@mlive.com

The non-profit visits schools, hospitals and other healthcare facilities. They have two therapy horses, Charlie and stunner.

Don't Edit

Mike Krebs | mkrebs@mlive.com

After Ronica Froese trained Charlie as a therapy horse, she also trained him to serve as her personal mobility service horse. Most of their visits are comfort list "I could do this every day. There is enough demand in Michigan that we could seriously do two visits a day, every single day, but unfortunately with my job I can't. In my retirement, this is all I am going to do," Froese said.

Don't Edit

Mike Krebs | mkrebs@mlive.com

Assisted living residents and their families pet Stunner the Miniature American Horse on Thursday, April 25, 2018 at White Lake Assisted Living in Whitehall, Michigan.

Don't Edit

Mike Krebs | mkrebs@mlive.com

Charlie the Miniature American Horse greets assisted living residents and their families on Thursday, April 25, 2018 at White Lake Assisted Living in Whitehall, Michigan.

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Mike Krebs | mkrebs@mlive.com

Charlie and Stunner pose for a photo on Thursday, April 25, 2018 at White Lake Assisted Living in Whitehall, Michigan.

Don't Edit

Mike Krebs | mkrebs@mlive.com

Froese was assisted by volunteers during Thursday's visit. Her son, Dylan Froese, and Kristi Lucas helped handle the horses and the rabbit. More information about Little Horses Big Smiles can be found on their Facebook page. (Mike Krebs | MLive.com)

Don't Edit

Mike Krebs | mkrebs@mlive.com

Charlie the Miniature American Horse smiles during a therapy visit on Thursday, April 25, 2018 at White Lake Assisted Living in Whitehall, Michigan.

Don't Edit

Mike Krebs | mkrebs@mlive.com

Jan Agard laughs with Ronica Froese while meeting Charlie the Miniature American Horse on Thursday, April 25, 2018 at White Lake Assisted Living in Whitehall, Michigan.

Don't Edit

Mike Krebs | mkrebs@mlive.com

Charlie the American Miniature Horse kisses Bill Karchinski on Thursday, April 25, 2018 at White Lake Assisted Living in Whitehall, Michigan. (Mike Krebs | MLive.com)

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Mike Krebs | mkrebs@mlive.com

Jean Burmeister pets Charlie the American Miniature Horse on Thursday, April 25, 2018 at White Lake Assisted Living in Whitehall, Michigan. (Mike Krebs | MLive.com)ANN ARBOR, MI - Ann Arbor officials are continuing to plan for a new Amtrak train station, and they're still waiting for the federal government to sign off on Fuller Park as the location for it.

In communications between the city and the Federal Railroad Administration in recent months, the FRA asked the city to provide additional justification and support for what's envisioned, including the size of the station and parking garage to be built in Fuller Park, and the costs, which are now estimated at $86.2 million.

City Administrator Howard Lazarus informed City Council members in an email last week that he has authorized the use of $69,200 from his contingency budget for continued work on the project.

Lazarus said the funding is needed to support additional archeological survey work required by the FRA.

"The requirement stems from changes in staff at FRA, which city staff could not have foreseen," Lazarus wrote to council. "Although no council action is required at this time, I am providing notification so that complete transparency on this project is maintained."

The city released a 212-page draft environmental assessment report last September that identified Fuller Park in front of the University of Michigan Hospital as the city's preferred site for a new Amtrak station and related facilities to replace the Depot Street station.

The city submitted a revised environmental assessment report to the FRA at the end of March, incorporating changes suggested by the FRA in response to input received during last fall's public comment period. The city is now waiting to hear back from the FRA on whether the revised report is acceptable.

Lazarus told council members last week that the city believes it has fully complied with the FRA's guidance and that the FRA will sign off on releasing the revised report for an additional public comment period once the FRA review is completed.

"We all appreciate the continued support and oversight of council on this effort, and will continue to keep you abreast of the project's status," Lazarus wrote to council.

Council Member Jack Eaton, D-4th Ward, asked the city administrator to share the FRA's feedback to the city that prompted the need for additional spending on the project at this point.

In response, the city's staff released two emails, including one from Feb. 7 that includes the FRA's response to the initial environmental assessment review and a draft "finding of no significant impact" statement to allow use of city parkland for a train station, and an email from Feb. 28 giving direction on archaeological work needed.

The city's staff also released a written summary of a March 5 conference call between the city, FRA, Michigan Department of Transportation and project consultant AECOM.

In the Feb. 7 email, the FRA's Melissa Hatcher told the city, AECOM and MDOT that the FRA was requiring revisions to the draft report that identified Fuller Park as the preferred location.

The FRA asked for documentation that better supports, justifies and explains the station size calculations, noting the public has concerns about the rationale used. The FRA also asked for an objective evaluation of the existing parking situation to show there is inadequate space for intermodal connectivity right now.

"Was the supporting information mainly gathered from Amtrak station employees?" the FRA asked on that point. "Present a critical examination of that evidence, as well as the supporting documentation on those interviews such as names, dates, position title, summary of interview. Parking is a theme in public comments."

The FRA also recommended strengthening the report's discussion of the proposed parking structure at Fuller Park, especially since the public expressed many concerns about that part of the project.

"Present a well-reasoned justification for the size of the proposed parking structure, including why storage lockers and a cafe are necessary since they expand the size of the structure," the FRA wrote, asking for additional supporting documentation and a clear explanation of any phasing plans for adding parking over time.

The FRA also asked for details on what would happen to the existing station since there were quite a few public comments about that.

Additionally, the FRA asked for revisions "to address public concerns on even-handed assessment of the severity of visual impacts."

"This section is light on analysis, physical views are described, but both FRA staff and the public felt the discussion lacked analytic details to support the arguments presented. This is a theme in public comments," the FRA wrote in its feedback to the city.

The FRA also recommended providing as much supporting documentation for cost estimates as feasible since cost was identified as a big issue by the public.

The city has estimated a new train station in Fuller Park could cost about $86.2 million, most of which the city hopes would be funded by the federal government and other sources.

The report released last September showed plans for a new station building elevated above the railroad tracks in front of the hospital, with a way for hospital employees and visitors to walk directly over to the medical center, while vehicles could pull off Fuller Road into a new parking garage to be built on part of Fuller Park.

As described in the report, the parking garage would be a multi-level structure accommodating intermodal transit operations, including buses, 870 long-term parking spaces for Amtrak intercity passenger rail service, 50 short-term parking spaces, 150 spaces for parks users and an additional 250 day parking spaces for commuter rail if daily service between Ann Arbor and Detroit is implemented.

Based on longterm ridership projections, the report indicated the new station would need to be 8,494 square feet to meet Amtrak guidelines. The existing station on Depot Street is 3,206 square feet.

Part of the draft environmental assessment report stated that, while the station size would increase compared to the existing station, the city's commitment to sustainability and using 30 percent renewable energy sources would mitigate some of the energy usage required for the operation of a new and bigger station.

The FRA noted in its feedback that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last November requested "greater consideration of their suggested options to use 30% renewable energy on pages 154-155. FRA recommends revising this section of the draft EA if any of the EPA suggestions can be integrated; it is important to at least acknowledge that they will be considered as the project evolves."

The FRA also suggested revising part of the report that talks about "constructive use," which occurs when a project's "proximity impacts are so severe that the protected activities, features, or attributes that qualify a property for protection under Section 4(f) are substantially impaired." The FRA wrote that the presentation in the draft report "doesn't provide sufficient substantiation that resources are not impaired. This is a theme in public comments."

Due to the nature of public comments and lack of adequate analysis in some areas of the draft report, the FRA said it's important that the draft report be revised and improved in key areas.

"It is critical to demonstrate that public participation did improve the process, methods selected, spectrum of resources & alternatives considered, the analysis approaches taken, and the documentation used by FRA to make a decision," the FRA wrote.

The FRA also offered these three general comments:

"Revise the EA to consistently describe the study areas & methodologies for all resource types. Some of the public comments relate to uneven coverage in these areas, as well as prior FRA comments."

"Strengthen the analysis of the no-build alternative in the relevant sections throughout the document (including visual, socioeconomic, vibration, indirect impacts where it is absent); uneven treatment was identified by both FRA staff and the public."

"Greater effort should be made to link existing legal requirements under various laws to mitigation commitments on a resource-by-resource basis in a clear way in both the EA and in the revised draft FONSI. It isn't always clear why certain commitments are being proposed and what they are supposed to remedy."

Eaton, who has pushed back against the city's planning for a new train station and raised concerns in recent years about a lack of transparency on behind-the-scenes talks between the city and FRA, said he applauds the city administrator's decision to make the latest information and communications public.

Eaton said it's a clear departure from the city's previous refusal to disclose similar communications between city staff and the FRA.

"I believe this action is more consistent with Administrator Lazarus' basic view on transparency and responsiveness," Eaton said, adding he's hopeful this signals a new approach to transparency.

The communications released by the city indicate the March conference call was requested by the FRA to discuss the development of a letter to the State Historic Preservation Office, as well as a letter to the city regarding the FRA's determination on use of Fuller Park under Section 4(f) of the U.S. Department of Transportation Act, as well as some questions regarding archaeology survey work.

The meeting notes indicate there was discussion about doing field work, including "coring and trenching."

"It is generally understood, with completion of the archeological study and the 4(f) determination process, the project is that much closer to qualifying for a finding by the end of this summer," the notes state.

Eli Cooper, the city's transportation program manager, confirmed on Friday, April 27, that the city is still waiting to hear back from the FRA on both the revised environmental assessment report submitted roughly a month ago, as well as the city's submitted plan for doing the requested archaeology survey work at the Fuller Park site.

Under the National Environmental Policy Act, a cultural resource assessment is required. Cooper said the city is essentially going to have to hire a contractor that's certified by the State Historic Preservation Office to do some digging at the site to make sure the city wouldn't be trampling on any important underground archaeological artifacts by building at the Fuller Park location.

Going back to the 1800s, he said, there were four structures shown on maps in the area of the project, so an investigation is needed to check if there's anything -- even an old cistern -- still buried there.

"We're looking forward to doing this as soon as the work is authorized to proceed," he said, noting how fast the city can proceed depends on when the FRA and SHPO give authorization.

Cooper said he's hopeful the city will be in a position to receive clearance on the Fuller Park location in the form of a "finding of no significant impact" statement from the FRA this summer.BAY CITY, MI -- The week before his trial was to begin, a Bay County man accused of embezzling $2,000 from an area meat and cheese shop has accepted a plea deal.

Daren R. Canute on April 26 -- one day after his 50th birthday -- appeared in Bay County Circuit Court and pleaded guilty to one count of illegal use of a financial transaction device. The charge is a four-year felony.

In exchange, the prosecution agreed to dismiss a five-year count of embezzlement between $1,000 and $20,000.

Canute's trial was to begin May 1.

The afternoon of April 5, the co-owner of Tri-City Cheese & Meat at 2590 Old Kawkawlin Road in Kawkawlin Township, contacted the Bay County Sheriff's Office regarding a fraud complaint. The co-owner told a responding deputy that in going over the March billing statement from the business's bank, she noticed a series of questionable purchases for lodging, food, and airfare on a company credit card.

She said she had since spoken to former employee Canute who admitted to the spurious purchases, claiming he had done so because he was homeless. Canute had been hired in November 2016 as a truck driver and was fired on March 31, after his alleged pilfering came to light.

She provided the deputy with an agreement Canute had signed on being hired that stipulated the company credit card was only to be used for business purposes, court records show.

The bank statements showed Canute had purchased two flights from United Airlines, one from Saginaw to Kauai Island in Hawaii and the other from Flint to Hawaii's Kahului Island, totaling $1,473.31. Combined with the fast food, gasoline, and hotel rooms, the total amount of stolen funds came out to $2,045.53, court records show.

United Airlines reimbursed the store's owner for the cost of the flights, though money Canute allegedly spent on a travel agent was not refunded, she told the deputy.

The deputy later went to Canute's Munger home and interviewed him. Canute admitted to using the card for personal expenses, according to the deputy's report in court files.

Circuit Judge Harry P. Gill is to sentence Canute at 1:30 p.m. on June 18.BAY CITY, MI -- A Clio man will be spending nearly three decades in federal prison for taking sexualized photos of a child and sending those images across the Internet.

U.S. District Judge Thomas L. Ludington on April 26 sentenced 45-year-old Christopher D. Kilbourn to 340 months -- or 28.3 years -- in prison.

Kilbourn in January pleaded guilty to one count of sexual exploitation of a child, which carries a mandatory minimum 15-year prison sentence and potential maximum 30-year stint.

In exchange for Kilbourn's plea, Assistant U.S. Attorney Roy Kranz dismissed a 20-year charge of distributing child pornography.

In pleading, Kilbourn said that in 2010, he took lascivious photos of a 7-year-old boy and sent at least one of them to another person outside Michigan via the Internet. The boy was naked at Kilbourn's request, he said.GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- A Grand Rapids Catholic Central student accused of sexually assaulting two of his classmates will stand trial for one case after the second was dismissed.

Cameron Johnaide-Deelijah Cross, 17, was ordered to stand trial on three counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct. He is accused of inappropriately touching a 15-year-old female student during two incidents at the high school between Feb. 12 and March 12.

District Judge Jennifer Faber ruled Friday, April 27, there was enough evidence to bind the case over to Kent County Circuit Court after two days of probable cause conference testimony.

Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker declined to ask the judge for a bind-over on the second case. Becker said it was determined the 16-year-old victim's statements showed inconsistencies and did not match video evidence from the high school.

One count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct was also dismissed, resulting in Cross' maximum possible prison sentence being reduced from 15 years to 2 years.

"We're happy the prosecutor ultimately, with respect to one case, realized they just didn't have the evidence they thought they had," Hunting said. "Frankly there may have been a rush to arrest here and as the evidence started to trickle in they may have realized it wasn't what they thought it was.

"At the end of the day we're very happy with the result on that case. We're also happy with the fact that the other matter, the charge has been reduced significantly ... All in all, we're pleased with the result today."

Cross was arrested Friday, March 16, after school administrators were told about the alleged assaults.

On April 13, Cross was in court for a preliminary hearing in which a 15-year-old female accused him of touching her breasts, butt and groin on separate occasions in an elevator and a stairwell at the high school.

A second alleged victim also testified that Cross forced her into a bathroom stall and began to kiss and touch her inappropriately until another male student entered the bathroom and told him to stop.

The court hearing was adjourned for two weeks to allow the prosecution time to collect more video footage from the high school after the second alleged victim's testimony changed regarding the date of the incident.

On Friday, she was back on the stand.

Asked by Hunting why she sat with Cross and three other friends at lunch immediately after the incident, the teen said she didn't want her friends to ask her why she wasn't sitting where she normally did.

"I decided to continue acting normal around my friends," she said. "I was confused because Cameron was my friend."

Her case was eventually dismissed by the prosecutor after a 20-minute recess.

Hunting said there hasn't been any plea negotiations at this point.

"We didn't plead not guilty for no reason," Hunting said. "Our assertion is it didn't happen and we intend to prove it if we need to. But ultimately the burden is on the prosecutor to prove guilty beyond a reasonable doubt and we think there's a lot of issues with respect to whether they'll be able to do that."

A trial date was not scheduled Friday. Cross remains out of jail on bond.KALAMAZOO, MI -- About 15 months after she took over as chief executive officer at Bell's Brewery Inc., Laura Bell says she's decided to step away from the position.

Her father and co-owner of Bell's, Larry Bell, confirmed the decision late Friday, April 27.

Laura Bell became the CEO in February 2017 after working 10 years for the company.

In a letter to distributors posted in the industry publication Brewbound, Laura Bell said she had not taken time to explore "other passions and interests" since she began full-time at Bell's right of college.

She'll leave the position on May 18.

In the letter, she said the move is not a harbinger of other changes at Bell's and said her father will handle day-to-day operations.

Bell's is the seventh largest craft brewery in the United States.

Larry Bell, in a brief interview Friday, said his daughter will remain on the Bell's board, still have an office at the company and will have a continued role in decision-making.

"She's been involved with Bell's for a long time," he said.

He said he backs his daughter's decision and noted that she has dual bachelor's degrees from Michigan State University in urban planning and anthropology.

"We'll see. She could very well explore some of those areas," he said.

"I love my daughter and I want her to be happy. I'm fully supportive of her. We'll miss her in that (CEO) role."KALAMAZOO, MI -- Police are looking for an SUV driver who struck a police cruiser parked along South Westnedge Avenue, then sped away at high speed before crashing into a light pole about three miles away.

The driver then fled the SUV on foot.

Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety officers said a marked cruiser was parked on South Westnedge Avenue at Hutchinson Street for a traffic stop at about 3:30 a.m. Saturday, April 28.

The cruiser's lights were activated when a white 2001 Ford Explorer struck the vehicle, then continued south on South Westnedge Avenue. No one was in the cruiser at the time and no one was hurt.

Another officer then tried to stop the Explorer, but it sped away at high speed. The officer did not pursue.

Soon after, police found the Explorer had crashed into a light pole at Oakland Drive and Kilgore Road. The driver was gone and apparently fled on foot.

Anyone with information about the Explorer or driver can call police at 269-337-8994 or Silent Observer at 269-343-2100.GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- A 55-year-old woman who police say embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars from a Kentwood trucking company has been sentenced to six months in jail

May Beth Knapp also was ordered to complete six months of home arrest following her jail time, five years of probation, 200 hours of community service and go to counseling for gambling problems.

Knapp was operations manager for D & M Logistics and responsible for loading Comdata cards for drivers. they would then use them at truck stops to purchase fuel.

Police said Knapp loaded the cards and brought them to local truck stops where she had them cashed weekly throughout 2014, 2015 and 2016, according to a police affidavit.

In an initial police affidavit, she was accused of fraudulently obtaining more than $500,000.

She earlier pleaded to a charge of embezzlement and prosecutors agreed to dismiss other embezzlement counts at sentencing.A crew from the U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Detroit is helping to search for a man who reportedly fell off his boat in Ohio's Sandusky Bay on Friday night and remains missing.

Crews are searching for a 245-pound male with blond hair, wearing a black long-sleeve T-shirt.

The Coast Guard said its Sector Detroit Command Center was notified just before 7 p.m. Friday that an unmanned, 12-foot Jon Boat was running in Sandusky Bay, a half mile offshore of Lions Park.

Witnesses said a man had fallen out of the boat, and that he was not wearing a life jacket.

The air and water temperature in Sandusky Bay are around 40 degrees.

A Coast Guard crew initially launched a 45-foot response boat from its Station Marblehead, as well as a helicopter crew from Air Station Detroit.

These crews, including boats from the Sandusky Fire Department, continued the search through the night. Rain that reduced visibility forced Detroit's helicopter to land for several hours.MUSKEGON, MI - Muskegon High School students celebrated a glamorous night at prom 2018 on Friday, April 27.

The evening began with the pre-prom show off at the old farmers market on Yuba Street in Muskegon. During the community gathering, students showed off their attire and vehicles for family and friends to take photos.

This year's prom theme was "Hollywood Night." The event was held at the Watermark 920 downtown Muskegon with about 100 students in attendance.

Prom, organized by 24 students, was decorated to the Hollywood theme with film strips, a star arch, paparazzi, lights, flowers and a red carpet. Dessert from Ryke's bakery included fruit and chocolate.

Muskegon prom show off 2018! Posted by The Muskegon Chronicle on Friday, April 27, 2018

Two other Muskegon-area high schools will hold proms this weekend: Holton and Ravenna.

MLive will cover as many proms as possible this season, through the end of May.

Find all MLive/Muskegon Chronicle prom coverage here.April 28, 2018

The Silence Of The Skripals - Government Blocks Press Reports - Media Change The Record

There has been no recent reporting on the Skripal case in which a British-Russian double agent and his daughter were poisoned in Salisbury, England. There even seem to be attempts to change the public record of the case.

The British government alleged that the Skripals were poisoned by Novichok, a deadly nerve agent, and blamed Russia for it. There are stiill many open questions to ask but the British media, otherwise not afraid of 'door stepping', are curiously uninterested. We already noted in early April that the British press was throwing Novi-Fog onto the public. It was repeating outrageous and illogical claims from "security services" but did no genuine reporting on the Skripal case.

Some photo editor made sense of what the "security services" said and introduced an April 5 London Times piece with a picture of a likely source of the alleged Novichok poison:

Now the former British ambassador Craig Murray quotes Clive Ponting, another former senior civil servant, who suspects that the British government issued a D-Notice. Such a notice forbids British media to report on an issue. Murray also points to a tweet by Channel 4 correspondent Alex Thomson from March 12 in which Thomsen mentions a D-Notice specifically related to Mr. Skripal's MI6 handler:

The D-Notice attempt Thomsen mentioned was too late as some media had already reported the name of the Skripal's MI6 handler. We spelled it out on March 8.

One Pablo Miller, a British MI6 agent, had recruited Sergej Skripal. The former MI6 agent in Moscow, Christopher Steele, was also involved in the case. Skripal was caught by the Russian security services and went to jail. Pablo Miller, the MI6 recruiter, was also the handler of Sergej Skripal after he was released by Russia in a spy swap. He reportedly also lives in Salisbury. Both Christopher Steele and Pablo Miller work for Orbis Business Intelligence which created the "Dirty Dossier" about Donald Trump.

We early on suspected a relation between the "Dirty Dossier" and the Skripal affair:

Here are some question: Did Skripal help Steele to make up the "dossier" about Trump?

Were Skripal's old connections used to contact other people in Russia to ask about Trump dirt?

Did Skripal threaten to talk about this? If there is a connection between the dossier and Skripal, which seems very likely to me, then there are a number of people and organizations with potential motives to kill him. Lots of shady folks and officials on both sides of the Atlantic were involved in creating and running the anti-Trump/anti-Russia campaign. There are several investigations and some very dirty laundry might one day come to light. Removing Skripal while putting the blame on Russia looks like a convenient way to get rid of a potential witness.

Whistleblower Clive Ponting, quoted by Murray, now also suspects that the Skripal case was an 'inside' job that followed from the 'dirty dossier' fakery:

If [Sergej Skripal] was also involved in the golden showers dossier then elements in the US would have a reason to act as well. The whole incident was an inside job not to kill him, hence the use of BZ, but to give him a warning and a punishment. The whole thing is being treated as though the authorities know exactly what went on but have to cover it up.

...

I meant to add that the policeman who just happened to be around was almost certainly the special branch minder who was keeping Yulia under surveillance. The media are not allowed to mention the existence of a D notice.

There is not only a very curious silence in British media about the Skripal case, but there seem to be active attempts to remove certain material about the case from the public.

In 2017 investigative journalist Dilyana Gaytandzhiev reported about massive air transports of weapons to Syrian 'rebels' under diplomatic cover and got fired over it. On April 26 she made another interesting find:

Dilyana Gaytandzhiev @dgaytandzhieva - 21:24 UTC - 26 Apr 2018 The #Skripals were allegedly exposed to the drug #Fentanyl, not the #Novichok nerve agent, according to information obtained from the UK Clinical Services Journal https://www.clinicalservicesjournal.com/story/25262/...

The Clinical Services Journal piece Gaytandzhiev had found is from March 5 2018, the day after the Skripal incident in Salisbury. In its original version it read:

Salisbury District Hospital declared a major incident on Monday 5 March, after two patients were exposed to an opioid.

...

It followed an incident hours earlier in which a man and a woman were exposed to the drug Fentanyl in the city centre. The opioid is 10,000 times stronger than heroin.

On April 27, a day after the above tweet:

Dilyana Gaytandzhiev @dgaytandzhieva - 12:12 UTC - 27 Apr 2018 The #Skripals were exposed to #Fentanyl, not #Novichok. After I published this information yesterday (26.04.) the Clinical Services Journal redacted it today https://www.clinicalservicesjournal.com/story/25262/...

I personally read the CSJ story after Gaytandzhiev's first tweeted it on the 26th. I can confirm that it was changed.

The top line in the CSJ quote above now reads:

Salisbury District Hospital declared a major incident on Monday 5 March, after two patients were exposed to what is believed to be an opioid.

The second line has been changed to:

It followed an incident hours earlier in which a man and a woman were exposed to a substance in the city centre.

All reference to Fentanyl as cause of the Skripal illness in a March 5 article has been removed between April 26 and April 27.

Archive.org has the original version as collected on April 26:

The changed version as now available at the Clinical Services Journal site:

One wonders why such a tiny magazine would bother to change an old story after some journalist tweeted about it.

The CSJ was not the only outlet which mentioned Fentanyl. The local Salisbury Journal reported it on March 5 and the piece is still up:

Police declared a major incident after a man in his 60s and a woman in her 30s were found unconscious on a bench in the shopping centre on Sunday. Emergency services at the scene suspected the substance may have been a powerful drug called fentanyl, but nothing has yet been confirmed. They were taken to Salisbury District Hospital where they are in a critical condition in intensive care.

In November 2017 the Salisbury Journal had reported about an unrelated fenatanyl overdose case. In 2016 Salisbury had a spike in Fentanyl OD cases. The local emergency services were surely aware of the symptoms and effects of such a substance.

Another local news site, Devon Live, headlined on March 5: Major chemical incident declared after 10 people vomited fentanyl and two are critically ill

It is understood that police suspect fentanyl, a synthetic opiate many times stronger than heroin, may have been involved. A man and a woman are in a critical condition and up to 10 other people are involved.

Officers and paramedics were called to The Maltings shopping centre in Salisbury after the man and a woman fell ill. The woman, who was unconscious, was airlifted to Salisbury district hospital at about 4.15pm, while the man was taken by ambulance.

...

It was recently reported that fentanyl has claimed the lives of at least 60 people in the UK over the last eight months.

The Devon Live report is still in its original form. It links to the first Wiltshire Police statement on the case and quotes from it. Curiously the link is dead. The first official police statement on the Skripal case is "currently unavailable".

The British press is now totally silent on the Skripal case. Craig Murray and another former senior civil servant suspect that the government gave order to not report on the issue. They also suspect, as we did early on, that the case is related to the fake "Dirty Dossier" which the Clinton campaign ordered up to use it against Donald Trump.

It is not understandable why the British government would give a silencing order if, as the government alleges, Russia caused the incident.

Why is no public investigation by the media allowed? Where is Yulia Skripal and what is the health status of Sergej Skripal? Why have they been silenced?

---

Previous Moon of Alabama posts on the Skripal case:

Posted by b on April 28, 2018 at 18:18 UTC | Permalink

Comments

next page Eric Walusis, co-owner of Watermark in Miamisburg, says theyve gotten so many request to bring back the Italian Feast that theyve decided to do it on Tuesday, May 8th at 6:30pm

Inspired by the classic 1996 restaurant movie starring Stanley Tucci and Tony Shalhoub, Watermark invites you to experience the Big Night  complete with the incredible Timpano! Watch the party guests enjoy it in this clip: il Timpano (Note  language alert!)

All paired with wonderful Italian wines, from Allied Wines, who will be there to help host the event and answer your questions. This Italian Feast  served in the traditional coursed fashion  is an incredible experience for only $79/pp!

Antipasto

Charcuterie Platter Warm olives, grilled vegetables, cured meats, red pepper pipperade Paired with: Caluso  Erbaluce Fiordighiaccio Erbaluce grapes, cold macerated. Scents of exotic fruit and wild flowers, flavors featuring pineapple, banana and apple. Suitable as an aperitif or with fish.

Primo

Fresh Asparagus Risotto Tender asparagus tossed in our special risotto, with fresh Parmesan Paired with: Vignamato  Versiano Verdicchio 100% Verdicchio grapes bring you lovely golden hues, dry and smooth on the palate. Hints of ripe fruit, peach and apple. Excellent accompanied with pasta, fish, and white meats.

Secondo

Timpano Indescribably delicious pasta crust overstuffed with the most important things in the world. Paired with: Sapaio  Volpolo Bolgheri A lovely blend of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, with Merlot & Petit Verdot. Aged in French oak, this wine has an intense ruby color. A nose of black currants and blackberries is framed by toasty oak. Full-bodied with a mixture of dark fruit and spicy vanilla, with a very long finish.

Formaggi e Frutta

Tallegio with fig jam and walnuts, with crisps Paired with: Tenuta Giustini  QVID Primitivo An intense nose of plum, blackberry, and cherry leads to a full and rich experience, fruity with well-integrated tannins.

Dolce

Almond Cake Dusted with powdered sugar, toasted almonds, schmear of chocolate budino, candied orange peel

Digestivo

Limoncello or Sambuca

Please note that for this special event, they are taking reservations by phone only-Please call 937-802-0891! Due to high demand for seating, they will be requiring a credit card hold for all reservations. They expect this event to sell out quickly, so please call for your seat soon! This wonderful Italian Feast will be served banquet style.

Mangia!SANAA, Yemen (AP)  The Latest on developments in Yemen (all times local):

5:15 p.m.

A Lebanese humanitarian worker from the International Committee of the Red Cross has been laid to rest in his hometown a week after being shot dead in Yemen.

Lahoud, 38, was in charge of the ICRC's detainees program in Yemen. He was shot on his way to visit a prison in the southwestern province of Taiz. An investigation is underway to determine who killed him.

ICRC official Dominik Stillhart called Hanna Lahoud "a beacon of humanity" during the funeral Saturday. Stillart said Lahoud gave his life helping the people of Yemen. Prayers were held in the St. Charbel Church north of Beirut.

Yemen has been embroiled in a civil war since March 2015, a conflict that has created the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

___

3:10 p.m.

Thousands of Yemenis have attended a funeral for a slain top Shiite rebel official in the capital, Sanaa.

The Houthis' Supreme Political Council chief and acting head of state Saleh al-Samad was killed along with six others in a Saudi-led coalition airstrike over a week ago in the coastal province of Hodeida.

Top Houthi officials including al-Samad's successor Mahdi al-Mashat, a former Houthi fighter, attended the funeral which was held in al-Sabeen square.

Houthi rebel leader Abdul-Malek al-Houthi vowed to avenge al-Samad's death.

The Saudi-led coalition has been at war with Iran-backed Houthis since March 2015 with the aim of defeating them and bringin an internationally recognized government back to power.

___

2:15 p.m.

Saudi Arabia's civil defense directorate says one person has been killed by "shrapnel" from a ballistic missile attack by Yemen's Shiite rebels known as Houthis.

The agency made the announcement on Twitter on Saturday without elaborating.

Saudi state television similarly reported a death in the attack.

In March, an Egyptian living in Saudi Arabia similarly was killed by missile debris in an attack on the capital, Riyadh.

___

1:40 p.m.

Yemen's Shiite rebels say they have fired eight ballistic missiles at targets in Saudi Arabia's southern city of Jizan.

The Saudi state-run news agency SPA says its air defense forces intercepted four of the missiles and no casualties or damages have occurred.

Meanwhile, the rebel-run Al-Masirah TV says Saturday's missiles hit their targets with "high accuracy."

Saudi state media reported earlier Saturday that the kingdom-led coalition fighting the rebels since March 2015 killed two Shiite rebel leaders and dozens of their militiamen.

The rebels, known as Houthis, have previously fired missiles targeting the Saudi mainland, including the capital, Riyadh.

Saudi Arabia backs Yemen's internationally recognized government and aims to defeat the Iran-backed Houthis to restore the government to power.

___

8:05 a.m.

Saudi state media is reporting an airstrike by a kingdom-led coalition in Yemen's capital has killed two Shiite rebel leaders and dozens of their militiamen.

Saudi state-run television offered the report early Saturday, saying more than 50 were killed. The Shiite rebels known as Houthis did not immediately acknowledge the strike.

Al-Arabiya, a Dubai-based satellite news network now believed to be majority-owned by Saudi Arabia, reported the strike Friday hit a high-level meeting of the Houthis.

Al-Arabiya said the strike hit a building belonging to Yemen's Interior Ministry. It said over 38 Houthi fighters including the two leaders were killed.

Al-Masirah, a Houthi-run satellite news channel, acknowledged Houthi leaders met Friday to discuss Saturday's funeral of Saleh al-Sammad, a Houthi political leader earlier killed in a Saudi airstrike.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.ORLANDO, Fla. -- For the past five years, a Puerto Rican mother has been searching for the people her 17-year-old son saved when his organs were donated.

Puerto Rican mom searches for man her son saved

Teen son killed in attempted carjacking was organ donor

Son saved 5 people -- Zorimar Betancourt has met 4

As far as Zorimar Betancourt knows, a man in his late 30s is living with her son's liver and could right now be walking around Orlando.

Her only wish is to meet him.

OUT THERE SOMEWHERE: For the past five years, Zorimar Betancourt has been looking for the people her teen son saved when his organs were donated. She's found all but one. Hear her message: https://t.co/rAkgmSjqui pic.twitter.com/yfu9Wbunnw  Spectrum News 13 (@MyNews13) April 28, 2018 <_script charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js">

He was a very happy child, he was a very good friend, he was an amazing son, remembered Betancourt of her only son, Stefano.

Stefano was leaving his grandparents' home in Dorado, Puerto Rico, when he called his mom and said a car was following him.

Mom, theyre going around me, she remembered. "I said, 'Thank you God, protect him,' and then I said, 'Give me the license plate number,' and he told me twice, and then I heard his last breath."

Stefano was brutally murdered in an attempted carjacking five years ago.

At 17 years old, he had registered as an organ donor.

Zorimar Betancourt's son Stefano was killed in an attempted carjacking; his organs saved the lives of 5 people. (PHOTO: Zorimar Betancourt)

And I was amazed that they asked me about donation and if it was OK with me to donate his organs. I said, 'Yes, if that's his last will, yes,' " she said.

His organs saved the lives of five people. She's met four of them already. There's only one missing. Betancourt's records show on June 29, 2012, a white man, 33 years old, received her son's liver at a Florida Hospital in Central Florida.

Meeting him would make my heart complete. It would make me feel so much better, Betancourt said.

Along this long healing process, Betancourt has met very special people, including Fana, who, after reading about her loss, wrote a song about a mother losing her child.

I just did it because if at least one person could change their heart because of the song, then it was a great deal for me, Fana said.

Now, they travel together to help others heal.

"Yesterday, she sang it for the moms from Pulse, Betancourt said.

Betancourt has opened a nonprofit organization on behalf of Stefano.

She will be recognized this weekend at the Puerto Rican Day Parade for her help transferring sick patients to Central Florida after Hurricane Maria.

He was a very happy child, he was a very good friend, he was an amazing son, Zorimar Betancourt says of her son, Stefano. (PHOTO: Zorimar Betancourt)With Republicans suggesting they may oppose Gov. Dannel P. Malloys last class of nominations to the Superior Court, the governor made two unexpected additions Friday, including the chief counsel to Senate Republicans.

Jennifer Macierowski of Windsor, the Senate GOPs director of research and top legal adviser, and Norma I. Sanchez-Figueroa of South Windsor were nominated as trial judges, signaling either a complication or a solution to Malloys challenge of winning confirmation for 32 nominees in the final 10 days of the legislative session.

The other 30 had confirmation hearings Monday, followed by the Judiciary Committee voting recommend the confirmation of 29, deferring action on the 30th, Francis OReilly. He has withdrawn from consideration.

Malloy said Friday he has no deal with legislators over confirmation. The two late nominations came, he said, in response to OReillys withdrawal and notice of another retirement by a judge, Antonio C. Robaina.

Unless those two things had happened, we would not be doing this, period, Malloy said.

The retirement Robaina came as the legislatures Black and Puerto Rican Caucus complained that Malloy, who has increased racial diversity on the bench and nominated the first black chief justice to the Supreme Court, included too few minorities in his last group of nominees.

He is a Hispanic member of the bar, of the judiciary, Malloy said of Robaina. And I thought given all the issues  it was appropriate to nominate another highly qualified Hispanic individual to the court.

Sanchez-Figueroa, a family-support magistrate since 2011 in the state court system, is a graduate of Brandeis and Boston College Law School.

Republicans have suggested they might oppose all the nominations by Malloy, who is leaving office in January, over budgetary concerns.

A spokeswoman for Senate Republican leader Len Fasano said the nomination was not the result of a deal.

Fasano issued a statement:

I thank the governor for recognizing Jennifer Macierowski as an excellent nominee who upholds the integrity, respect and commitment we seek in all our judges. Jennifer is one of the most talented attorneys I have ever had the pleasure of working with.

Macierowski is a graduate of Amherst College and the University of Connecticut School of Law.

This story originally appeared on the website of The Connecticut Mirror, www.ctmirror.org.WALLINGFORD  The Police Department and school officials have reached an agreement that will increase the presence community police officers have in high schools.

Police have agreed to assign one officer from the departments community police unit to each high school for two to three hours each day starting next school year.

Officers from the community police unit are already in and out of the towns two high schools, Police Chief William Wright said, but moving forward it'll be with some more formality.

I think this collaboration is a step forward as we continue reviewing all of our safety measures, both in terms of personnel and other measures, School Superintendent Salvatore Menzo said.

The community police unit has two sworn officers and one sergeant, Wright said. The unit works with residents and merchants to develop and implement comprehensive crime and loss prevention programs for residences and businesses in town.

Each community officer will be assigned to a high school and will visit for about two to three hours daily at different times of day as part of their normal patrol. Having an officer visit the same school every day will allow the officer to become more attuned with the needs of the school, Menzo said.

Wright said he has also started an initiative in the department called, Every school, every day, in which patrol officers are encouraged to more regularly stop at schools and make their presence known.

Town officials had previously discussed hiring full-time school resource officers for both high schools and middle schools. The four positions were projected to cost $480,000, according to a budget request sent by the Board of Education to the mayor in March.

School resource officers, sworn police officers employed by most towns in the area, provide additional school security and also work to improve the school climate by running programs and offering resources for students and families.

Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr. raised objections to school resource officers at a Town Council meeting this month, citing logistical concerns about the availability of the school-assigned officers in the event of an emergency.

Menzo said he and Wright met this week to go through a job description for a school resource officer and agreed the main difference between a resource officer and a community police officer is the level of presence in the school. School resource officers have a daily presence, so they decided to assign community police officers to the school five days a week.

Menzo and Wright said they are pleased with their plan because it maximizes use of current resources while also giving the police officers flexibility in their schedule if they need to be other places.

I wouldn't call it a compromise because I think all parties are in agreement that this is something we can help with, Wright said. ...With the present staffing that we have, I think that were doing the best that we can.

The police department would receive funding to hire new officers in Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr.s budget proposal. Those officers will be added to the departments patrol division to address growing safety needs in town, Wright said.

I want to be clear that those police officers are not going to be assigned to the schools, Wright said at budget workshop held by the Town Council Thursday. I need more help on the street.

Wright said safety of children in the towns public and private schools is paramount for me.

mzabierek@record-journal.com

203-317-2279

Twitter: @MatthewZabierek        -        : - ,    ,    ?  :   ,                  ,       ,      .    ,    ,          .         ,        ,   .         ,    .          ,  ,          .     ,             . :  ,        ?  :      ,        .                .    .        .         .            .          ,     1         ,       .      . :          2006?  :       ,             ,      .             . :         ?  :   .       ,              ,       ,       ,    .  ,   ,  .              ,            ,         .  ,          .   2002 .         . :         ?  :           . ,   ,         .         . :   ,           ?  :    ,   .     ,  ,  ,          .  By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: The revenue collection picked up substantially since the launch of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) as India collected Rs 7.41 lakh crore from August 2017 to March 2018.

For the period ending March 31, 2018, the GST collection has been pegged at Rs 7.41 trillion, a Finance Ministry statement said.

Because of the mid-year rollout, the accounting was done for only nine months. During 2017-18, total revenue collected under GST in the period between August 2017 and March 2018 has been Rs 7.19 lakh crore.

This includes Rs 1.19 lakh crore of CGST, Rs 1.72 lakh crore of SGST, Rs 3.66 lakh crore of IGST (including Rs 1.73 lakh crore on imports) and Rs 62,021 crore of cess (including Rs 5702 crore on imports), the statement said. For March alone, Rs 24,000 crore addition was shown against an average monthly collection of Rs 89,000 crore in the previous eight months. While the tax on domestic supplies for a month is collected through the process of returns and gets collected the next month, IGST and cess on imports is collected the same month.

Therefore, during the current year, GST on domestic supplies has been collected only in eight months from August 2017 to March 2018, IGST and cess on imports has been collected for nine months from July 2017 to March 2018. Including the collection of July 2017, the total GST collection during the financial year 2017-18 stands provisionally at Rs 7.41 lakh crore, the statement said. At present, GST collections are accounted for only after the returns are filed by the third week of the following month.

From the current fiscal year, the government is shifting to cash-based accounting, where revenues accrued at the completion of a month would be taken on record. Accordingly, collection for April is likely to be released on May 1.

Given the fact that it was the launch year, the focus was on stabilisation of the system. However, from the current fiscal, the focus will be on compliance and also on smoothening the rough ends. We expect the collection in this fiscal year to go up substantially, said a senior official in the ministry. The government has also collected Rs 20,000 crore in its cess pool, which will be utilised to compensate the states for revenue loss, an official said.By PTI

MUMBAI: In a bid to facilitate cheaper access of overseas funds Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today further liberalised External Commercial Borrowings (ECB) Policy by including more sectors in the window.

"It has been decided to increase the ECB Liability to Equity Ratio for ECB raised from direct foreign equity holder under the automatic route to 7:1. This ratio will not be applicable if total of all ECBs raised by an entity is up to USD 5 million or equivalent," RBI said in a late night notification.

With a view to harmonising the extant provisions of Foreign Currency and Rupee ECBs and Rupee Denominated Bonds, it has been decided to stipulate a uniform all-in-cost ceiling of 450 basis points over the benchmark rate.

"The benchmark rate will be 6 month USD LIBOR (or applicable benchmark for respective currency) for Track I and Track II, while it will be prevailing yield of the Government of India securities of corresponding maturity for Track III (Rupee ECBs) and RDBs," it said.

It has been decided to permit Housing Finance Companies and port trust can avail of ECBs under all tracks.

Such entities should have a board approved risk management policy and should keep their ECB exposure hedged 100 per cent at all times for ECBs raised, it said.

As part of condition for investment raised through ECBs should avoid putting that money in real estate or purchase of land except when used for affordable housing, construction and development of SEZ and industrial parks/integrated townships.

Besides, it also restricts ECB fund to be invested in share market and equity investment.

On-lending to entities for the above activities is also barred as per the law, it said.By ANI

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Saturday announced Rs one lakh each for the families of three students who drowned in Mulshi dam near Pune.

The trio, who was part of an excursion group of 20 students from ECS matriculation school, Chennai, drowned when they tried to swim in Mulshi dam.

In an official release, the Chief Minister expressed his condolences to the families of the deceased students.

"I immediately ordered a relief of Rs 1 lakh for each of the families from the Chief Minister's relief fund," he said.

The students, identified as Danish Raja, Sarvana Kumar and Santosh Ganesh, were all 14 years of age.By ANI

HYDERABAD: Anudeep Durishetty, the topper of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) examination 2017 explained that his journey to crack the civil services examination was not an easy one.

"This is my fifth attempt. I have failed thrice before, and the journey was not easy for me. However, I am now extremely happy with my achievement, and I am grateful to all the people who supported me through thick and thin," he told ANI.

28-year-old Anudeep, who has served as an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer for two years, bagged the first rank in the civil services examination, preliminary examination for which was conducted on June 18 last year.

While the Telangana candidate topped the list, Anu Kumari from Sonipat came second, while Sachin Gupta stood third.

READ | Hyderabad's Anudeep Durishetty tops 2017 UPSC civil services exam, Anu Kumari secures second rank

Talking about her achievement, an elated Anu said ensuring the safety of women in the country would be her top priority.

"My first preference is to be an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, as I would like to stay in India and serve the country. My top priority would be to tackle matters related to the safety of women in the country. I want all women across India to feel safe," she said.

On a related note, 9, 57,590 candidates applied for the preliminary examination, out of which 4, 56, 625 candidates appeared. 13,366 candidates qualified for the Written (Main) Examination held in October - November 2017. Of them, 2568 candidates qualified for the Personality Test conducted in February - April 2018.

The UPSC then recommended a total of 990 candidates, including 750 men and 240 women for appointment to various Services, including IAS, Indian Foreign Service (IFS), and Indian Police Service (IPS).By Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a major haul, the City Shadow Police seized 130 kg of ganja from three cars near the Medical College on Friday. The cops also arrested Balaramapuram natives Abhishek, 30, Shyam Raj, 29, and Nidhin, 27. Sixty sealed packets concealed in sacks under the seats and the boot of the cars were seized. The accused were intercepted and nabbed by the Shadow Police team near the Pathology lab of the hospital following a tipoff, said C Binukumar, Medical College CI.

City police commissioner P Prakash said this was the first time such a large quantity of ganja was seized in the city in a single incident. The seizure is the result of a month-long operation being conducted to nab the offenders. Upon interrogation, the accused confessed to bringing the substance to supply it to college and school students. Efforts to reduce ganja supply in the city is on, Prakash told reporters. The police suspect the accused are members of a big ganja racket operating in the district.

The substance was brought from Andhra Pradesh and the accused were enjoying high profits from each sale. More people are involved in bringing the large quantity of ganja seized to the district. They will be arrested soon. The suspect may have brought the substance to supply it among ganja dealers in the city. The interrogation is on.

The arrested persons will be produced before the magistrate on Saturday, said Binukumar. The seizure was conducted as part of the ongoing drive by the anti-narcotics action force led by IG P Vijayan. In the past one month, the police seized 158 kg of ganja from all 19 police districts in the state. The latest seizure will become a major achievement for the state police as the new force was launched just two months ago.By Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a major breakthrough in the sensational Liga Skromane case, the post-mortem report revealed the Latvian was murdered by strangulation. Sources said the report mentioned "severe injury sustained on neck" as the cause of death and, according to the police, it might have caused because of strangulation.

Forensic experts pointed out blood was clotted in the brain, which confirms strangulation. Bruises on two legs indicate a struggle with someone. Since the body was in a decomposed state, the police could not get information whether Liga was sexually assaulted or not. However, the Special Investigation Team have started further proceedings to nab the suspects. Sources said that arrests would take place in two days after getting fool-proof evidence. On Saturday, IG Manoj Abraham also inspected the crime spot based on the forensic report. Speaking to Express, City police commissioner P Prakash said the major finding in the report was strangulation. "We're weighing all aspects. Interrogation is on. We're getting leads based on it. We're expecting a positive result soon," said Prakash.

Earlier, the police seized two fiber boats in which Liga was suspected to have been brought to the secluded place at Vazhamuttom. The forensic experts also examined the fingerprints on the boats confirming the presence of more persons in the place at the time of the incident.

On Friday, the police questioned around 40 persons. Nine persons including a yoga trainer based at Kovalam are suspected to be under custody. The police also verifying whether Liga had undergone any sexual harassment.

Meanwhile, Ligas younger sister Ilze Skromane told mediapersons she suspects a drug mafia based at Kovalam. Liga is not used to have such habits. So I suspect some people involving in drug mafia could have approached her with some offers. When she refused, they might have forced her to use. However, Im satisfied with the police investigation and I hope the culprits will be nabbed soon, said Ilze. Liga, who suffered post-traumatic depression, went missing from Kovalam on March 14.

Closing in on culprits

40 persons were questioned by the police on Friday

9 persons, including a yoga trainer based at Kovalam, are suspected to be under custody

Liga's sister says she suspects a Kovalam-based drug mafiaBy PTI

NEW DELHI: A sub-officer of the border guarding force SSB is feared "drowned" after being swept away by strong currents in a river during a patrol in the forward areas of Arunachal Pradesh, a force spokesperson said today.

He said Sub-Inspector Y C Thrilongkya Sangtam of the 38th battalion of the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) "drowned" in the Tawang-Chu river on Tuesday.

Search operations are on to find him, he said.

Sangtam, posted at the force unit in Tawang, and other personnel were on a patrolling task along the India-Bhutan border.

The incident took place when they were crossing the river, the spokesperson said.By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Various Hindu religious bodies on Friday informed the Supreme Court that the Ram Mandir-Babri Masjid dispute was purely a land dispute and the issue of political or religious sensitivities cannot be a ground to refer the matter to a larger bench.

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra was told by senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for original plaintiff Gopal Singh Visharad who was among the first to file a civil suit in 1950, that there was no need to refer the matter to a larger bench since a three-judge bench was already seized of the matter.

Nirmohi Akhara chief Mahant Dharam

Das speaks to media after the Ayodhya

case hearing at the Supreme Court on

Friday | Shekhar Yadav

Salve urged the court to consider it as a case of land dispute, and argued that it was not a matter of Constitutional importance.

READ | India has moved forward from 1992 Babri Masjid demolition: Hindu bodies to Supreme Court

We are beyond 1992-1993. All that remains is a title dispute over property. It should be decided just like a title suit, and not on other grounds,he contended.He said religious sensitivities and politics should not be brought up before the court.

This move is surprising considering that 14 appeals were filed against the 2010 Allahabad High Court verdict which had treated the dispute like a title suit, distributing the disputed land in Ayodhya equally among the three plaintiffs.

Opposing Salve, senior advocate Raju Ramachandaran  appearing for the Muslim bodies  said looking at the sensitivities of the matter and its national importance, the case should be referred to a larger bench.

The hearing remained inconclusive and would continue on May 15.

The SC earlier dismissed all 32 intervention petitions, including applications of Shyam Benegal, Aparna Sen, and Teesta Setalvad, in the case.

In a 2:1 majority ruling, a three-judge bench of the Allahabad High Court had in 2010 ordered that the land be partitioned equally among three parties  the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla.By PTI

KOLKATA: The Opposition parties in West Bengal today met the State Election Commission to express their grievances over the upcoming single-phase panchayat polls and the security arrangements for the same.

Apart from the opposition Congress, BJP and Left parties, the ruling TMC also met the poll body and discussed the security and election arrangements for the upcoming poll, sources said.

State Election Commissioner A K Singh will meet the state government officials on Monday.

"The opposition parties expressed their grievances over the single-phase election and security arrangements. I cannot comment on it now. I can only say something after holding a meeting with state government officials, DG and home secretary on Monday. Let us see what happens," he told PTI.

The SEC officials met representatives of 10 political parties of the state separately.

"We told the SEC that we are not happy with the security arrangements for the elections. The state does not have adequate forces to hold the elections in one day. The result of today's meeting is zero," senior BJP leader Pratap Banerjee told reporters after the meeting.

"We had demanded that the elections be held in three phases when a meeting was held in this regard on April 21. We told the SEC that one phase election will only lead to violence," CPI(M) senior leader Rabin Deb said.

The Congress delegation blamed the SEC and the state government for its alleged failure to provide adequate security during the filing of nominations.

BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha today said the party has decided to move court over SEC announcing single phase election.

"The nominations were taken by saying three phase polls. Now, they are saying one phase elections. There is no proper security arrangements. We will move court," Sinha said.

The TMC delegation, led by party general secretary Subrata Bakshi and TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee, did not speak to the media after the meeting.

The West Bengal panchayat election is scheduled to be held in a single phase on May 14.

The West Bengal government has written to Odisha, Punjab, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh seeking forces for the panchayat election, a senior government official said today.

Four companies of security personnel were sought from each state for a full back up to the existing force in the state, the official said.

Stressing that the government was doing everything for adequate arrangements for the election, Director General of Police Surajit Kar Purkayastha had yesterday said that it had sought security forces from four to five states to manage the panchayat elections, wherein 58,467 polling booths have been set up across the state.By PTI

CHANDIGARH: Anu Kumari, who secured second rank in the prestigious civil services 2017 examination, would be made the brand ambassador of the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao campaign in Sonipat district, Haryana Urban Local Bodies Minister Kavita Jain said today.

Anu Kumari, the topper among the female candidates, has graduated with BSc (Hons) in Physics from the Delhi University and has done an MBA (Finance and Marketing) from IMT, Nagpur.

She hails from Haryana's Sonipat.

The significant achievement of Anu has given a befitting reply to such people who have killed their daughters in the womb.

She has emerged as an inspiration in changing the mindset of people towards the girl child, the minister said in a statement.

Congratulating Anu and members of her family on her success, Jain said today daughters are in no way behind in any field.

"There is need to give them an opportunity to prove their mettle. It is a matter of pride not only for Sonipat but for entire Haryana that daughter from an ordinary family has proved her mettle in the civil services exam," she said.Manish Anand By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje is believed to have vetoed Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawats candidature for the post of the BJP state unit president.

Though BJP chief Amit Shah was able to replace the Madhya Pradesh unit chief swiftly, his attempts appear to be stuck for want of a consensus nominee in Rajasthan.Shah will announce the new BJP unit chief in a few days, the sources said, adding that Union Minister Arjun Meghwal or Lok Sabha MP Om Birla might get the important post.

Even though the meeting of Raje with the BJP brass, including Shah, on Thursday was expected to bring out consensus on a successor of Ashok Parnami, party sources said Raje did not give her nod to any of the names suggested by the central leadership.

The CM made it clear that Shekhawat is not acceptable to the party workers in the state. Since Rajasthan goes to the elections in another five months, she argued that the next state chief should be someone who could be a unifying factor for the party, a source said.

Shekhawat is currently Union Minister of state in Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers welfare.Jyoti Punwani By

Asaram Bapus conviction in a rape case has restored some of the faith in the judiciary that had been eroded by the acquittal of Swami Aseemanand in the 2007 Mecca Masjid blast case. That acquittal left many bewildered. It is not as though terror accused have never been acquitted in the past. But Aseemanands name is forever linked to his December 2010 confession which had made front page news. The magistrate sending him to judicial custody to reflect on his decision, reminding him that he could be inviting a death penalty on himself by confessing, was also reported. His second confession a month later to another magistrate, wherein he again owned up to his involvement in the Mecca Masjid and other bomb blasts, also received wide publicity.

The circumstances of his confession as mentioned by Aseemanand, are also what made the entire episode unforgettable. The RSS leaders encounter in a Hyderabad jail with a young Muslim who would go out of his way to bring him food and water, and the discovery that this boy had been earlier jailed and tortured for the Mecca Masjid blasts, was what set off remorse. The confession that emerged out of this remorse shook the young Muslim too, who, in an interview with this writer, compared Aseemanand to Mahatma Gandhi.

Though Aseemanand retracted his confession soon enough, it was expected to stand as evidence, given all these factors. When it didnt, the law itself suddenly seemed to turn from a solid entity in which millions have faith, to something fluid which no one could depend on. Faraway in Mumbai, the acquittal shook the faith of a '92-'93 riots victim in the law. For the last 20 years, this bank peon has been fighting a largely lonely battle to bring to book the policemen who shot him in the back as he knelt for namaz inside a mosque. That firing killed six innocents, and led to the arrest of 54 Muslims (including this peon), on false charges of attempt to murder and rioting. All of them were acquitted more than a decade later.

A sitting judge inquiring into the riots indicted Sub-Inspector Nikhil Kapse for the firing, and the Bombay High Court ordered a reluctant CBI to investigate the incident. Even after the CBI exonerated the policeman, this victim didnt stop fighting, believing in the judiciary that had, till date, never failed him.The strength of the belief that had lasted all these years, was betrayed by Aseemanands acquittal. A day before Aseemanand was acquitted by an NIA court in Hyderabad, a Sessions Court in Mumbai witnessed an open intervention by the state into an ongoing trial. It was merely a change in prosecutors, but the manner in which it was done, and the reason for it, marked it as extraordinary.

The special public prosecutor, appointed on the specific request of the mother of a young man allegedly killed in custody way back in 2003, was sacked. He learnt of his sacking in court, when another public prosecutor informed the judge of it. The timing of the sacking was significant: coming after the special public prosecutor had wanted to take the custodial death to its logical end. A witness had named four policemen as having tortured Khwaja Yunus, an accused in a bomb blasts case, till he collapsed. The public prosecutor wanted these four to be made the additional accused in the case.

That was obviously not the states desire. The previous government, headed by the secular Congress-NCP, had already refused sanction to prosecute these policemen. This government, headed by the BJP-Sena, doesnt seem to want them brought to trial either. The special public prosecutor had acted too independently for his own good. He consulted no one before submitting his application to add these four policemen as accused, complained the public prosecutor who replaced him.

The judiciary is independent, but the justice system itself is not. Courts hand down verdicts based on the evidence put before them. When prosecuting agencies, obviously on the instructions of their political masters, play around with the evidence they present to the court, a particular accused may well benefit. The CBI did not prove that the young Muslim was in jail during the same time as Aseemanand was.

Or, a particularly professional prosecutor, who does not think it necessary to consult the government while performing his duties, can get suddenly sacked, bringing relief to the accused.

But such victories can turn out to be dangerous. For, the message they send out is often too much to bear for those whose lives depend on the integrity of the judicial system.Few people wronged by the powers that be actually fight back. Those that do, find that the already slow-moving judicial system, becomes doubly so because the powers that be know how to delay matters in court. Still, they fight on doggedly.

Till one day, the manipulations by their powerful opponents make the fight seem meaningless. What happens then? The young Muslim who met Aseemanand in jail, the bank peon in Mumbai, Khwaja Yunuss old mother, whose husband, a retired government employee, passed away prematurely a year after his sons disappearancewho do they turn to now?External Affairs Minister Sushma Swarajs visit to Mongolia April 25-26 immediately after attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation foreign ministers meeting in China is significant for many reasons. One, this is the first visit by an Indian foreign minister to the landlocked nation in 42 years, after Y B Chavans 1976 visit. In May 2015, Narendra Modi became the first Indian PM to visit the country, again after a visit to China.

During that visit, he invoked ancient ties and Buddhist connections, and pledged $1 billion in a line of credit to the country sandwiched between Russia and China. Beijing, which sees Mongolia as part of its strategic backyard, watched warily. Many Indian strategists exulted, arguing India was sending out a not-so-subtle message that if Beijing got involved in Indias backyardread Nepal and ArunachalIndia could do the same through Mongolia.

In November 2016, when Mongolia defied Beijings warnings and allowed the Dalai Lama to visit the country on his ninth such trip, China imposed a crippling blockade, forcing Ulaanbaatar to seek support from India. Chinese editorials warned Mongolia of dire consequences for seeking financial help from India. When India offered nothing but platitudes, Ulaanbaatar pledged never to invite the Tibetan leader again.

Now, Swaraj, who co-chaired the 6th Session of the Indian-Mongolia Joint Committee on Cooperation, again invoked Buddhism and ancient ties with the country that was home to Genghis Khan. She pledged to ramp up engagement, and reviewed the progress in on-going collaborative projects, including the refinery selected by Mongolia for implementation with the $1 billion line of credit. This trip again comes at a time when India and China are trying to bring their ties back on an even keel after the Doklam standoff last year, with Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping holding an informal summit in Wuhan. But this time, as a Chinese editorial exulted, all three nations know where they stand.By Express News Service

VIJAYAWADA:Launching a scathing attack on the YSRC and BJP, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Friday alleged that it would be no surprise if the two parties work or contest together in the next elections and citing the statements of BJP Central leaders said, they were opening up on what was a tacit understanding till recently. Addressing a press conference at the Interim Government Complex, Naidu touched upon a number of issues, ranging from the tactics of the Opposition to the role of retired bureaucrats and his governments achievements in the last four years. Though he took the BJP to task, he ruled out campaigning against the party in poll-bound Karnataka.

To a query, he replied, Our struggle is for our State... question is not of me going there and campaigning ...we should teach a lesson to those who betrayed us. People are intelligent, they will decide.Dwelling at length on the injustice meted out to the State by both the BJP and the Congress, he opined that there should be a debate on the Third Front. TDP is not new to national politics. We initiated new politics at the Centre. When no one dared challenge Indira Gandhi, it was NTR who had done so. Subsequently, TDP took the lead and there was the National Front government.

Later I took the initiative and we formed the first truly Third Front government with outside support from the Congress, he recalled. Nonetheless, keeping cards close to his chest, he did not divulge his plans on the efforts underway to cobble up a Third Front. If we win 25 MP seats, we can decide who will be the PM... TDP has always been ahead when it comes to national politics. We redefined Centre-State relations and powers. The Centre must be responsible. Centralisation of power isnt good, he commented.

Naidu also scoffed at the Oppositions allegations that the TDP had betrayed Backward Classes (BCs). How can they talk about welfare of BCs? During YSR regime, they spent Rs 3,000 crore. They did not even provide chairs for the BC Corporation. The TDP, in the last four years, spent Rs 41,000 crore on welfare of BCs. Unlike under YSR regime, we have made nine BCs vice-chancellors. Nine BCs have become judges under TDP regime, he asserted and accused Prashant Kishor, consultant of Jagan, of trying to bring disruptive politics. People like him may be useful for market but people are in no mood to be persuaded.. if you fabricate something, he added.

He accused the BJP and YSRC of trying to foment trouble and, citing the violence at Tuni during the Kapu quota stir, he warned that such games may have been played in other States but wont be allowed in the State. One NDA minister refers to him (Jagan) as a great leader. BJP which talks of honesty but how can they do so when they are hand in glove with the corrupt? Their approach itself is wrong... how can they let the corrupt escape the country? he questioned and recalled that support extended by the YSRC to the BJP in the presidential elections. The indications are clear. The BJP and YSRC leaders statements show that they are now opening up on their understanding. The BJP did not want alliance with TDP to continue because we are upright and questioned the injustice being done to the State. They think YSRC with its leader facing court cases will dance to their tunes. BJP leaders say they will meet Jagan when he visits Vizag, he said.

On the proposed TDP public meeting in Tirupati on April 30, he said they would highlight how in 2014, Narendra Modi, the then PM candidate, promised special status to the State in the temple town. To a question, he clarified that he did not appeal to the people to shield him from attacks by the Centre. Why should I be afraid? YSR ordered 26 inquiries against me. Sonia Gandhi tried during the Kiran Reddy regime. The case was dismissed in the high court and Supreme Court. When there is nothing against me, what should I be afraid of? he asked and clarified that he had merely asked people to be wary as the YSRC and Central leaders were conspiring against the State, Polavaram project and were even threatening IAS officers.

On his recent remarks against the Governor, he said the institution must be above politics. TDP has suffered due to the institution of the government. In the mid 1980s, Ramlal dismissed the NTR government. People had to take to the streets till NTR became CM again. We had regular tiffs with Kumudben Joshi.Now also, the Central government is doing unnecessary things.. the Governor should not give scope for even rumours. If he goes to Delhi (soon after meeting me), it only adds grill to the rumour mills, he observed.By Express News Service

BENGALURU: Karnataka Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy on Friday accused the central government of tapping into state congress leaders' telephone conversations since last three months. Speaking to mediapersons, Reddy said over 100 Congress leaders, including ministers' phones, are tapped and a complaint was filed with the Centre. "Through inputs from intelligence agencies and our own sources, we came to know that our phones are being tapped. They are trying to get details about our party's election strategies, but the BJP will not even win in 60 constituencies," he said.

The senior Congress leader also accused the Centre of misusing the Income Tax department to intimidate Congress leaders and workers ahead of May 12 polls. He accused the IT department officials of threatening party workers to either work for the BJP or not to support the Congress. "The IT department officials should be given BJP membership as they are dancing to the tunes of their leaders," Reddy alleged.

Accusing the the BJP of carrying out a false propaganda against the government through their advertisements, Reddy said that during BJP's rule, Bengaluru was called garbage city and the civic body had mismanaged the finances and mortgaged many government properties. The Congress will expose BJP government's failures, he said.

Reddy said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah should explain why they are tapping into Congress leaders' phones and also misusing the IT department. A few senior Congress leaders, including minister DK Shivakumar, were raided by the IT department.By Express News Service

TUMAKURU: Every election since 1989, this Yadava leader from the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh campaigns in some of the assembly seats in Karnataka. Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee president N Raghuveera Reddy, a man Friday of then chief minister late Y S Rajashekara Reddy, has proven his mettle especially in Sira, Pavagada and Madhugiri constituencies as the Congress nominees have won due to his campaigning.

On Thursday, when he held a meeting of his party workers at cold storage plant at Madakashira town in Ananthapura district, Law Minister T B Jayachandra and Madhugiri MLA K N Rajanna attended it keeping aside their routine campaigning. While, Pavagada Congress nominee and former minister M Venkataramanappa had sent his son Venkatesh, a ZP member, to attend the meeting. Such is Reddys influence as he just gives his instruction to the party workers to campaign in favour of the Congress nominees in the constituencies bordering Andhra Pradesh. The workers who also have their relatives in Karnataka spread Reddys message elsewhere especially among the backward Golla community households, remarked Eranna, a Congress worker from Mallanayakanahalli village in Madhugiri taluk.

Whenever the Congress leaders here feel polls as a tough going they see a Messaih in Reddy and seek his support. In 2013 polls, he campaigned in Madhugiri resulting in the victory of K N Rajanna by a margin of 15,059 votes. Then, he had even brought the Telugu superstar Chiranjeevi for the campaigning. The duo has had an influence on the Yavada community voters and the Telugu speakers as well. The saga continued. When Rajannas wife Shanthala found the going tough in the ZP polls a couple of years ago in Midigeshi, Rajanna had sought Reddys help. He campaigned and ensured her victory. Even in 1989, when KPCC president G Parameshwara took the political plunge after returning from Australia, Raguveera Reddy helped him win, a source said. In Sira, Jayachandra ropes in Reddy for campaigning in every election.

Chiru not to campaign

Asked about chances of bringing Telugu megastar Chiranjeevi for the campaigning, like last time, he clarified since the latter is busy shooting abroad, he will not be in action in the Karnataka polls this time.PAVAN MV By

Express News Service

MYSURU: The election commission officials stalled a seminar on 'Save Constitution' which was organized by the Federation of Progressive Dalit Organizations at Mysuru in Karnataka on Saturday.

During the program when Kannada Development Authority chairman SG Siddaramaiah was delivering his speech, the EC officials arrived at the spot and ordered them to cancel the seminar immediately, irritated members of the FPDO opposed it intensely and demanded to not cancel the program. The EC officials clarified to the organizers that they had not taken permission from the EC nor from the police department to organize this seminar.

"The election complaint authority got the complaint about this program, so we stalled this program, the video footage of this program will be verified, if the organizers have violated the rules, we will take action against them," said an EC official.

The officials even denied permission for organizers to serve the food prepared for those who attended the seminar and later after the organizers requested the officials, food was allowed.

Election officials along with the police arrived to the spot and stalled the seminar on 'Save Constitution' organized by the Federation of Progressive Dalit Organizations in Mysuru on Saturday. (Express Photo)

This seminar was organized as part of birth anniversary celebrations of Dr BR Ambedkar, Basavanna and Buddha.

Earlier socialist PA Mallesh after inaugurating the seminar said "On April 16, we asked the EC to give permission to conduct this seminar, but they denied it, but they give permission to politicians who can gather lakhs of people to conduct the programs. Even police didn't give permission to conduct our seminar, but we have informed police of conducting the seminar."

During his speech, Mallesh spoke against BJP and appreciated Congress, he said "I think Narendra Modi is the prime minister (PM) BJP party, but not for the nation, as a PM he talks only about BJP," Mallesh said BJP has taken away the freedom from the people, this party has been spoiling and killing Dalits and minorities, many rapes are happening in the country. "Don't vote for BJP, let us teach them a lesson. Vote for Congress."

Later writer K Marulasiddappa mentioned that union minister Ananth Kumar Hegde had said that he will change the constitution. "This is a big conspiracy done by Modi and BJP national president Amit Shah." He condemned the suspension of University of Mysore's professors P Maheshchandra Guru, chairman of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication and Arvind Malagatthi of Kuvempu Institute of Kannada Studies. Marulasidappa said "Why these professors should not participate in political programs?"

The professors had recently participated in a seminar organized by Congress supporters.

During the seminar Dinesh Amin Mattu said "We all should save the constitution, we should be aware who is in favor of constitution and who is against the constitution during this election times. Congress is the appropriate party to save the constitution."

Actor Prakash Rai also known as Prakash Raj was supposed to attend this program, but he couldn't attend due to some unknown reasons.

Alagodu Shivakumar, district convenor of Dalita Sangarsha Samiti (DSS), thinker Kalegowda Nagawara, and KS Shivaramu, state president of Karnataka Rajya Hindulida Vargagala Jagrutha Vedike were present in the program.By Express News Service

KOCHI: The land acquisition procedures for the development of National Highway-66 will be completed by August this year. A decision in this regard was taken at the review meeting held in the presence of Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at the LuLu International Convention Centre at Bolgatty here on Saturday.

The alignment for the road development has been prepared considering environmental impact and population density in the area, said Chief Secretary Paul antony. According to PWD Principal Secretary G Kamalavardhana Rao, the land acquisition rate for the Kasargod Thalapady - Chengala Road has been pegged at Rs 7.5 crore per hectare. The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has agreed to bear the expenses for land acquisition. The state government will handover 35 acres of land to NHAI at Peryia in Kasargod district for setting up a Multi Modal Logistics park.

The state government also urged the Union Minister to take initiatives to rebuild two 60-year-old bridges as part of the NH 66 development project. Gadkari said the NHAI will reconstruct the bridges at Paloli and Moorad in Kozhikode district.

He also directed the NHAI officers to submit the detailed project report for the development of ports in the state under the Sagarmala project.

The NHAI will bear the expense for the construction of the Airport ramp in Thiruvananthapuram. The Union Government had earlier suggested that the state and Centre share the expense for the construction of the `140-crore ramp project. However, the Minister accepted the state government's request to bear the total expense for the project.

The meeting also decided to expedite the implementation of the Thiruvananthapuram Ring Road project, the expenses of which will be equally shared by the state and Central governments. The minister also issued directives to the officers concerned to finalise the alignment and stop the registration procedures in the area immediately.

The meeting also discussed the relocation of the toll plaza at Kumbalam on the Aroor - Edappally Bypass in Kochi.

District Collector K Mohammed Y Safirulla said the district administration has identified an ideal location for the toll plaza.

Gadkari also promised to provide Central fund for the development of waterways in the state.

PWD Minister G Sudhakaran, Revenue Principal Secretary P H Kurian, District Collectors S Karthikayan (Kollam), A Kowsigan (Thrissur), Amit Meena (Malappuram), U V Jose (Kozhikode), Mir Mohammed Ali (Kannur) and P Suresh Babu (Palakkad), NHAI technical CGM Alok Dipankar and other officers participated.By Express News Service

BHUBANESWAR: The formation of Lokayukta, which has been hanging fire for three years after the Act got Presidents approval in January 2015, courted fresh controversy on Friday when the Opposition accused the State Government of misleading the Supreme Court. Following the undue delay in implementation of the Act, the apex court had directed the state governments to file affidavit on its progress on April 12 this year. In response to the order, the Odisha Government had filed the affidavit. But the opposition Congress and BJP picked holes in the Government response to the court and cornered it in the House.

They stated that the Government had filed a false affidavit mentioning that the Odisha Lokayukta Act, 2014 was enforced in Odisha in January 2015.The BJD Government has filed an affidavit in the apex court stating that the Lokayukta Act has come into force in the State from January 16, 2015 and measures are being taken to frame Orissa Search Committee rules. If that was the case, the Chief Minister should furnish the gazette notification in this regard, Leader of the Opposition Narsingha Mishra said.

Armed with the falsehood of the Government in a legal document submitted to the apex court, the Congress members had moved an adjournment motion notice titled The chief minister has no time for the governance of the state. But Speaker Pradip Kumar Amat rejected the notice. Irked over it, the Congress legislators created a ruckus in the House. They did not get back to their seats despite request from the Speaker and demanded an explanation from the Chief Minister on the matter. Unable to run the House, Amat first adjourned it till 11.30 am and subsequently four more times till 4 pm.The opposition MLAs continued their demand for a statement from the Chief Minister and even attempted to climb the Speakers podium and snatch his microphone.

The Leader of the Opposition even went to the extent of saying, I will tender my apology in the House if I am proved wrong, but will the Chief Minister resign if his Government is shown to have told a lie? I know that the Government will not dare to challenge me. BJP members also joined the Congress protest and demanded a clarification from the Chief Minister.

Ironically, Government Chief Whip Amar Prasad Satpathy claimed that the State Government has never asserted that the Lokayukta Act has been enforced. The State Government said that the steps are being taken for implementation of the Lokayukta Act, Satpathy told told mediapersons outside the House. The Chief Minister was silent on the matter.By Express News Service

BHUBANESWAR:Founder of KIIT and KISS Achyuta Samanta has been conferred with Distinguished Professorship in Humanities from the University of Cambodia (UC). Founder Chairman of the Board of Trustees and president of University of Cambodia Kao Kim Hourn presented the coveted distinction to Samanta at an event at Phnom Penh on Thursday.

Prof Samanta has dedicated his life to providing education to tens of thousands of underprivileged students in Odisha and thus he has directly assisted in alleviating poverty in the region. The University of Cambodia honors his accomplishments and welcomes him with this professorship, the citation from the University reads.

Samanta said it is a matter of pride and happiness for the State and the country as it was an honour from the University of Cambodia. Such international recognitions add to the repute of our State and country, he added. The University of Cambodia was established in 2003 by Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen. The University is spread over three hectares of land in the middle of Phnom Penh and its state-of-the-art building can accommodate over 10,000 students.By Express News Service

CHENNAI: The Madras High Courts dismissal of a batch of petitions, filed by the DMK and others seeking directions to the Assembly Speaker to disqualify the 11 MLAs including the present Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, who had voted against the government, headed by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, in the House on February 16, 2017, has come as a relief to the AIADMK government while delivering a blow to the DMK.Leaders of the AIADMK including the CM were buoyed over the verdict while DMK working president MK Stalin announced that the party would challenge the verdict in the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, the HC has also dismissed another petition from the DMK seeking directions to remove the portrait of the late Chief Minister, J Jayalalithaa, from the Assembly hall as she was convicted in the disproportionate wealth case. The court said it could not interfere in such issues since the Speaker had to take a decision on this. So, on Friday, it was a double whammy for the DMK in the High Court.

It may be morally wrong to glorify the corrupt. However, in the absence of law prohibiting display of portraits of persons convicted for corruption, this court cannot interfere with the display of photographs of Jayalalithaa on that ground as that might amount to imposition of punishment not authorised by law, the First Bench of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice Abdul Quddhose said.Political analyst Raveenthran Thuraisamy sees this verdict as a relief to the AIADMK government which has been facing allegations of instability after the disqualification of 18 MLAs who supported TTV Dhinakaran.

The verdict will strengthen the stability of the government. Besides, it indicates that the judiciary tried to avoid a confrontation with the Speaker. So, the court may uphold the disqualification of 18 MLAs also. Of course, both cases are not similar in essence. But both pertain to the decision of the Speaker, Thuraisamy told Express.Answering queries from mediapersons in Salem, the CM expressed happiness over the HC verdicts.

In Chennai, Law Minister CVe Shanmugam said, Right from day one, we have been saying that this case was filed by the DMK with political motive. As such, todays verdicts in two cases are big blows to the DMK. Tamil Development Minister K Pandiarajan said, The court has given two important verdicts. Each and every verdict is a precedent and these also will remain so. However, Stalin said his party would continue its legal battle on both issues before the SC.

Judiciary is the hope of the common man. On Friday the court said that it cannot interfere with the Speakers decision on the petition for disqualification of 11 AIADMK MLAs as well as the removal of the portrait of Jayalalithaa. So, the natural question that arises is why the court admitted these petitions and postponed the verdict for so long. To reflect on this, DMK will continue its battle before in SC.

BJP State president Tamilisai Soundararajan said, The HC has given a clear verdict in this case and indicated that the court cannot interfere in the domain of the Assembly Speaker. The DMK has filed this petition to create a confusion in the State even after the two factions of the AIADMK merged and have been functioning well. Now, the court has put a full stop to this attempt.

How the day unfoldedBy Express News Service

HYDERABAD: Unleashing a verbal onslaught on the main opposition party, Congress, chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has called upon the people of Telangana to drive away Congress leaders from villages as the party filed as many as 250 cases against irrigation projects in courts. He has asked his party leaders to undertake an aggressive campaign in every nook and cranny of the state to explain to people how the Congress was creating hurdles in the path of the fledgling states development.

Addressing his party cadre during the TRS plenary meeting held here on Friday, the ruling partys supremo accused Congress leaders of trying to stall the construction of irrigation projects for the past four years by filing petitions in courts.The Congress doesnt want the irrigation projects to be completed. The reason is that if the projects are constructed, TRS will get the credit. Hence their coming in the way of the projects.

On May 10 we will launch the historic Rythu Bandhu scheme to distribute cheques to farmers to provide them `4,000 input subsidy per crop per acre. We are already supplying 24-hour power to all consumers including farmers. Congress leaders are spreading lies that the groundwater table has plummeted because of uninterrupted power supply to the farm sector. All their utterances are false. Only Congress leaders and companies that sell inverters and generators have gone bankrupt, while all others are happy, he remarked.

Taking a dig at the Bus Yatra undertaken by Congress leaders, Rao said they were conducting a malicious campaign against the government. Led by TPCC chief N Uttam Kumar Reddy, Congress leaders have been spreading blatant lies against our government. They are jealous of the welfare schemes introduced by our government. They are unable to digest the developmental works undertaken in the state, he said.

TRS workers with buttermilk packets at the TRS plenary meeting at Kompally in Hyderabad on Friday. Party MLA Rasamayi Balakishan presents a cultural programme with other artistes . A participant holds up a picture of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao amid the crowd in the plenary | Vinay madapu

Show ME 150 rooms in pragathi bhavan

Saying that one needs to be intelligent to tell lies, the CM said TPCC chief Uttam Kumar Reddy doesnt have the brains even to tell lies. Uttam used to carry the bags of Andhra leaders in the then united state. He has become the chief of state Congress as Telangana state came into being. He shouldnt forget that. The CM challenged the TPCC chief to prove the allegation that he (KCR) was leading a luxurious life by constructing 150 rooms in Pragathi Bhavan. I am challenging Uttam Kumar Reddy to come to Pragathi Bhavan along with the media by 7 pm today. If his allegation is proved right, I will immediately quit my post. Or else, Uttam should apologise, Rao demanded. In reply, Uttam clarified that he had never claimed that Pragathi Bhavan had 150 rooms. What I pointed out is not the built-up area but the usage of Pragati Bhavan where KCRs family has been leading a lavish life using hard-earned public money, he said.

TRS has cash reserve of Rs 42.08 cr

The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) has cash reserves of `42.08 crore, including fixed deposits in banks. The fixed deposits and financial reserves before TRS plenary were `21.67 crore. For the plenary, several party leaders donated to the party taking the total cash reserves to `42.08 crore. We have not collected donations from the general public. The party will organise a massive public meeting either in the last week of October or in the first week of November. We will collect donations from the people then, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said. Khammam MP Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy donated `2 crore. Malkajgiri MP Mallareddy, TRS MLC Saleem, MLC Bhanuprasad, TRS MP K Visweswar Reddy and Nagarkurnool MLA M Janardhan Reddy donated `1 crore each.

Andhras living here are TS biddalu

All those people, including Andhras, living in Telangana are Telangana Biddalu, chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has said. All the Andhras who made Hyderabad their home have embraced the TRS. Our partys victory in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation polls proved this. I thank the Kshatriya community who gave their function hall to conduct the TRS plenary here (Kompally). We will treat all those living in the state, irrespective of their caste, creed and religion, as one, said while addressing the TRS plenary meeting here on Friday. Rao said the welfare measures introduced for BC communities were being praised even by Andhra leaders. For example, the schemes for fishermens community were praised by former minister Mutta Gopalakrishna of Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh. He specially sought my appointment and met me to appreciate the initiatives taken by the TS government for the well-being of fishermen, Rao said.By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: Stating that the proposed Federal Front has already started sending shivers down the spine of the two "so called" national parties BJP and Congress Party, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has said that he would create political tremors at national level with his proposed Front as Hyderabad as its centre.

"I won't leave Hyderabad and Telangana State. I will create tremors at national level from Hyderabad itself. I will undertake whirlwind tour across the country to realise my dream of forming an alternative Front at national level against BJP and the Congress. I will unite all the regional parties in this regard. I can go to any place in the country in two hours by air," the TRS boss said while addressing his party's plenary at Kompally here on Friday.

Rao, who is going to meet Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in the first week of May, said Samajwadi Party leader and Uttar Pradesh former Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav would be coming to Hyderabad soon, to discuss about the proposed Front. Rao said he would also meet DMK working president MK Stalin to seek his support to the Front.

During the plenary, which marked the 17th anniversary of the Foundation Day of the pink party, Rao said there is 100 percent need to form a political alternative at national level, as there is political vacuum following the failures of BJP and Congress. "People are fed up with these two parties. I am sure TRS will play a crucial role in national politics in the coming days with the proposed Front," he asserted.

The Chief Minister said: "Several people made futile attempts to prove that Telangana is a failed experiment. But, we have overcome that and reached a stage to think about the future of this country."

Announcing the agenda for the Federal Front, Rao said the objective is to provide water to every acre of land and provide work to farmers across the country. "The total available water in the country is 70,000 tmc. The cultivable land is 40 crore acres. If we provide water to all the cultivable land and earmark 5,000 tmc to drinking water, then surplus water in the country will be around 25,000 tmc. But, why the successive governments have failed to irrigate the lands?" he wondered.

He also wanted federal spirit in its true sense. "Why Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana?. Cannot our local sarpanch lay roads for the village. Why there should be concurrent lists. Why the Centre is holding subjects like agriculture, education, health, drinking water and urban and rural development with it. The Centre's job is to maintain good international diplomacy. We want the federal system implemented in its true spirit," he said. The Centre should focus on key issues like diplomacy and to save the lives of our soldiers in Jammu & Kashmir, he suggested.

Earlier, the plenary unanimously adopted a resolution giving freedom to Rao to continue his efforts to form the Federal Front.

Agenda of the Front

* Rao to unite regional parties under Federal Front in the next 2 to 3 months

* Every inch of 40 crore acres of arable land to get water

* To reduce the number of suicides by farmers

TS role model for other states: KCR

Rao said the new State of Telangana has attained first place in the entire country with its novel welfare measures and development programmes. "Ministers belonging to Congress governments in other States and BJP ministers are praising our government's initiatives. TS has become a role model for other states in terms of introducing welfare schemes to improve the living standards of every section of society," he said. "Recently, when I met former prime minister Deve Gowda, he told me that the schemes implemented in Telangana like KCR Kits and others are much in demand in Karnataka," he said.By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: A youngster from Telangana, Anudeep Durishetty, topped the Union Public Service Commission(UPSC)-2017 examination, the final results for which were released on Friday. Durishetty also made history by becoming the first person from Telangana to have topped the civil services and is one of the handful of candidates from the two Telugu states to have achieved this fete.

The 28-year-old had chosen Telugu for Indian language for Paper A, and Anthropolgy for optional subject in Mains. He is presently serving as an Indian Revenue Service(IRS) officer currently posted as Assistant Commissioner (under probation) and is a native of Metpally in Jagtial district.

In his previous attempt, in 2013, he had secured 790th rank after which he joined the Indian Revenue Service. He belonged to the 66th batch of students of National Academy of Customs, Indirect Taxes and Narcotics. He was then awarded best officer trainee among the IRS batch during weapons training at National Industrial Security Academy(NISA), Hyderabad.

He completed his Bachelor of Technology in Electronics and Instrumentation engineering from BITS Pilani and graduated in 2011. Before joining IRS, he worked as a Software Engineer with Google. Speaking to media in Jagtial over telephone from Delhi, Anudeep said that his father has been an inspiration for him. His father Manohar Durishetty is working as Additional Assistant Engineer in Northern Power Distribution Company Limited (NPDL) at Mallapur in Jagtial district. His mother, D Jyothi is a homemaker.

Manohar said that his elder son, Anudeep, has been good at studies since childhood. He said: "for higher education Anudeep stayed away from home, at times could not attend even important family events and used to spend almost 18 hours a day preparing for the UPSC exam but now his hard work paid off and he has made the entire family proud."

According to him, Anudeep was not satisfied with the 790 rank he scored in UPSC earlier even though he got selected for IRS and concentrated with more dedication on preparing for the exam again. Expressing happiness over his son's achievement Manohar said that he is now waiting to see his son as a District Collector.

Khammam boy secures 4th rank

Sree Harsha Koya, also of Telangana scored All India Rank 4th in the UPSC. Harsha Koya belongs from Khammam. He completed his B.Tech in Production and Industrial Engineering from National Institute of Technology(NIT)-Jamshedpur and is currently serving as Project Engineer in Hyderabad with a private MNC. He did his schooling from St Francis de Sales high school in Khammam. Seelam Sai Teja of Hyderabad scored 43rd rank. In the list of 990 people from across the country who made it to the selected list of candidates in UPSC, there are others as well from Telangana. Narapureddy Maurya (100), G. Madhuri (144), Vivek Jhonson (195), Yedavalli Akshay

Kumar (624), and Bhargav Shekar (816) . Kamareddy Joint Collector Surabhi Sathiahs son Surabhi Adarsh secured 393 rank in the UPSC. His father expressed happiness over the achievement.

Cops son cracks UPSC

A couple of days after fathers voluntary retirement from service was accepted by Maharashtra Police, the son has cracked UPSC and is all set to join Indian Police Service. Son of former additional DG rank officer VV Lakshminarayana, VV Sai Praneeth, scored 196th rank in the exam.By PTI

SINGAPORE: China and India are the new powers which are growing in strength and influence as the global strategic balance is shifting which has thrown up new opportunities for cooperation for ASEAN, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said today.

Lee was speaking while welcoming regional leaders at the 32nd ASEAN summit here.

"The global strategic balance is shifting, and so is the regional balance," he said adding "New powers, including China and India, are growing in strength and influence. This has opened up new opportunities for ASEAN member states as we expand our cooperation with them".

"This has opened up new opportunities for ASEAN member states as we expand our cooperation with them but it also calls for astute statesmanship and deft diplomacy because ASEAN member states maintain our friendship with all powers, old and new," he said.

At the same time, the open, rules-based multilateral trading system which has underpinned the growth of ASEAN is under pressure, he pointed out.

"The political mood in many countries has shifted against free trade.

In particular, the recent trade tensions between the US and China are worrying concerns," said Lee.

ASEAN countries will have to react to these major external trends.

"The 10 of us need to work together, align our different political and economic interests, and strengthen our efforts to build a coherent and effective ASEAN community," said Lee.

"We have to stay relevant and forward-looking, as a 50-year-old regional grouping so that we remain central to the region's architecture and future," he said.

"How can the 10-member ASEAN do this? The short answer is: we need to strengthen ASEAN centrality and find new areas and fresh commitment to work together," Lee explained.

ASEAN can only maintain its centrality if it is a substantial endeavour, and if its members see value in the shared enterprise, he said.

The alternative of a looser ASEAN, where each member state is left to fend for itself, and goes its own separate way, will make ASEAN less relevant not only to its members but also its partners and to other powers, he said.

"Individually, the ASEAN member states will find it hard to make much impact on their own but when we speak in one collective ASEAN voice, we can be effective," Lee stressed.

"Therefore, it is important that we redouble our integration and community-building efforts," he urged the grouping of 10 Southeast Asian countries.

ASEAN has to adapt and integrate further, to remain a central, dynamic driving force that can deal with the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century, he said.

Singapore's chairmanship themes of 'Resilience and Innovation for ASEAN' this year were proposed because they encapsulate the situation that the region is in today.

"We need to be resilient to both conventional threats, and also unconventional threats such as terrorism and cyber-attacks," stressed Lee.

Southeast Asia is at peace, but these threats are very real.

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) continues to propagate its ideology and foment trouble in Southeast Asia, despite having been defeated militarily in the Middle East.

"We are also seeing more cyber-attacks as we push for digitalisation," he said.

At the same time, countries need to be innovative and make creative use of technology to grow their economies.

"If ASEAN members can cooperate in this effort, we will strengthen our economic community," said Lee who leads the summit with Singapore being the chair of the grouping.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam.

The summit is being held from April 25-28.By AFP

SOFIA: Germany and France on Saturday pledged to deliver a joint proposal to reform the eurozone in time for a leaders summit in June, despite their big differences on the future of the bloc.

"We strongly believe that we should be able to find a compromise between France and Germany for the next council of June," French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said at a joint press conference with his German counterpart Olaf Scholz.

"It is absolutely important that France and Germany agree on questions," said Scholz as he confirmed the joint plan for reforms despite widespread talk that divisions between the EU powerhouses were too great.

Le Maire "will visit me in Berlin and this will be a very hard working meeting," the former mayor of Hamburg said after talks in the Bulgarian capital.

He added: "If you look at the schedule you see that (the meeting) is desperately needed to get this success in the end."

Under the impetus of French President Emmanuel Macron, EU leaders have pledged to table a set of reforms at the summit in June that France says are necessary to reboot Europe after the setbacks of Brexit.

The renewed promise of a Franco-German plan comes despite resistance by Germany to follow through on Macron's ideas amid resistance by political allies of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Eurozone finance ministers have for months discussed the proposals, but discussions have gone nowhere.

Macron's grand ambitions for the single currency bloc have already been significantly watered down, with ideas for the creation of a eurozone finance minister or joint borrowing by member states dropped.

Instead officials are mainly focused on deepening the bloc's banking union, with hopes to formally launch a European-wide deposit-insurance scheme that would be implemented over the long-term.

Negotiators are also trying to draw up a plan for an EU rainy day fund as well as aid to help countries adopt economic reforms.

"The truth is, we are starting to run out of time," European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said on Saturday, urging for compromise.By IANS

ISLAMABAD: Shakil Afridi, a doctor who helped the US' Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) track down Osama bin Laden, has been moved out of a prison in Peshawar to an undisclosed 'safe location' in another city, the media reported.



Afridi had been imprisoned in the Central Prison Peshawar for almost seven years after he ran a phoney vaccination campaign in Abbottabad city to help the CIA track down and kill the former Al Qaeda chief in a controversial raid on May 2, 2011.



A year later, Afridi was sentenced to 33 years in prison for involvement in anti-state activities by a tribal court.



Speaking to the Express Tribune, an official of the Peshawar prison said that a large number of police as well as Army contingent reached the prison on Friday and took Afridi away amid tight security.



The official said he had no idea where the prisoner had been shifted. Another official said Afridi had most probably been moved out of the province.



According to the daily's report, the provincial government had been demanding the federal government to move Afridi away from the Peshawar prison as hardcore Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan militants had also been kept in the same prison and his life was in danger.



The federal government for a long time declined to shift Afridi, but on Friday he was taken away in a sudden move.

By PTI

WUHAN: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping began their last round of one-on-one talks here today as they are set to wind up the two-day informal summit aimed at forging consensus to improve the bilateral relations and address the contentious issues bedevilling their ties.

Today's talks included a walk around the famous East Lake here and an hour-long boat ride.

They would conclude their talks with one-on-one lunch hosted by Xi in the honour of Modi.

The Prime Minister is due to leave for home after that.

The two leaders yesterday held extensive talks amid the warmth and bonhomie.

#WATCH China: Prime Minister Narendra Modi & Chinese President Xi Jinping have tea after a walk along East Lake in Wuhan. pic.twitter.com/5BuROg31Cg  ANI (@ANI) April 28, 2018

They started the summit talks at the Hubei Provincial Museum where Xi took Modi around introducing the historic artefacts.

The museum walk scheduled for 20 minutes lasted over 40 minutes after which they began one-on-one talks.

The summit was stated to be unique as the two leaders have no pressure and obligation to strike any agreements nor make big announcements but focus mainly on candid discussions on solutions to some of the vexed problems like the boundary question and other issues.

Their one-on-one talks were followed by delegation-level interaction with six top officials each from both sides took part, giving an impression that some of the critical issues were on the table for discussion.

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale and Indian Ambassador to China Gautam Bambawale were present in the meeting.

China: Prime Minister Narendra Modi & Chinese President Xi Jinping inside a house boat in Wuhan's East Lake. pic.twitter.com/liYCxlRiXA  ANI (@ANI) April 28, 2018

Xi headed a high-powered delegation which included Member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee Ding Xuexiang, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Yang Jiechi and State Councillor and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi.

The delegation talks which apparently focussed on some of the most contentious issues lasted for over two hours overshooting scheduled half an hour, hinting the seriousness of the discussions, officials said.

Later Xi hosted a banquet in the honour of Modi at East Lake.By ANI

WUHAN: Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale on Saturday said both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping identified terrorism as a major global problem and committed to take steps to eradicate the menace at the bilateral and multilateral levels.

Addressing media here as the two-day informal summit between Modi and President Xi nears an end, Gokhale said, "PM Modi and President Xi also recognised the common threat posed by terrorism and both reiterated their strong condemnation of a resolute opposition to terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. Both committed to cooperate further in counter-terrorism."

On the India-China boundary subject, Gokhale said Prime Minister Modi and President Xi decided that they will issue a strategic guidance to their respective militaries to strengthen communications between them.

"The two leaders underscored that it is important to maintain peace along the India-China border region and decided that they will issue strategic guidance to their respective militaries to strengthen communications between the two militaries in order to build trust and understanding. Information sharing arrangements will be improved to prevent and manage situations along the border areas," he said.

During their meetings, both the leaders discussed on climate change and looked at the possibility of a global network to address such challenge.

Earlier, Prime Minister Modi and Chinese President Xi walked together along the banks of the picturesque East Lake and followed it up with a boat ride.

This two day "informal summit" between India and China focused on terrorism, climate change and developing a mutually beneficial relationship between both countries.By AFP

LIMA: Bureaucratic delays on Friday held up the release from preventative detention of Peruvian ex-president Ollanta Humala and his wife, one day after the Constitutional Court said they can remain free while they await their corruption trial.

Humala, Peru's president from 2011 to 2016, protested via Twitter. Starting Friday he said that he and his wife Nadine Herrera were being "illegally deprived of our freedom", he wrote.

"We should already be with our children," he wrote, adding that Thursday's court ruling "must be complied with immediately, not in four days."

Humala and his wife will probably remain in custody until Monday, a lawyer for the couple earlier told AFP.

"This is absurd," said attorney Wilfredo Pedraza, noting that the court ruling "orders immediate freedom" for both of his clients.

The pair have been in prison since July awaiting trial on charges of money laundering. They allegedly received millions of dollars in illegal campaign donations from Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht ahead of the 2011 election.

In February 2017, Jorge Barata, Odebrecht's former Peru chief, told prosecutors he gave Humala $3 million in cash at the request of former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who was himself jailed for corruption earlier this month.

Several months later, Peruvian judge Richard Concepcion Carhuancho ordered that the couple be held in pre-trial detention on grounds there was a "high probability" they would try to evade justice.

Humala is being held at a police station east of Lima, while his wife is being held at the women's prison south of the capital.

Humala is one of four former Peruvian heads of state caught up in the vast Odebrecht corruption scandal that has engulfed Latin America -- although he is the only one who had been jailed so far.

The other three also implicated in the scandal are Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (2016-2018), Alan Garcia (2006-2011), and Alejandro Toledo (2001-2006), who is currently in the United States fighting off Peruvian efforts to have him extradited.

Also under investigation for receiving illegal Odebrecht money: top opposition leader Keiko Fujimori, daughter of ex-president Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000) and the key player in the political power move that ousted Kuczynski from office.By PTI

MOSCOW: The foreign ministers of Russia, Iran and Turkey were set to hold talks on Syria today in the wake of an alleged chemical attack that has exposed differences between the three powers.

The three nations have been attempting to find a political solution to the Syrian conflict at talks that started last year in Astana, Kazakhstan, in competition with the US and UN-backed Geneva initiative.

The latest talks in Moscow between two of Assad's key supporters, Moscow and Tehran, and rebel-backer Ankara come as the alleged chemical attack in the Syrian town of Douma on April 7 has prompted sharply differing responses from Turkey and Russia.

"I curse those who carried out this massacre," President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, adding that he welcomed Western air strikes in retaliation as "appropriate".

Meanwhile Russia says the attack was staged to discredit its ally President Bashar-al Assad and this week brought a group of Syrians to the global chemical arms watchdog to back its claims.

French President Emmanuel Macron this month suggested the air strikes had driven a wedge between Ankara and Moscow as they have been building increasingly close ties.

This prompted an angry denial from Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, who said the countries' relations "are not so weak that the French president can break them".

Alexander Shumilin, a Middle East expert at the Institute for US and Canadian Studies in Moscow, however, said Douma fallout had "caused a crack in the alliance of three countries".

He added: "If the trio falls apart entirely, the ensuing events could be really bad.

" Turkey has a "completely different attitude" to resolving the conflict and Assad's fate, he said, while Iran is seeking to destabilise the region to hurt Israel and Russia wants to "stabilise and leave".

Alexey Malashenko, a specialist in the Syria conflict, was sceptical the meeting would achieve much beyond a show of unity, saying the trio have a "very shaky" alliance.

Their positions on the suspected chemical attack are irreconcilable, he said.

"Turkey has an absolutely honest position: it is against Bashar al-Assad and here there's no way they can reach an agreement.

" Nevertheless, the limited nature of US-led strikes suggests the "peak of tensions has passed", he said.

The Turkish foreign ministry said Saturday's meeting "will focus on all aspects" of cooperation and "elaborate on the steps that could be taken from now on", while the Russian foreign ministry said talks would focus on the humanitarian situation.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will also hold bilateral talks, including on the "escalating situation" around the Iran nuclear deal, spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

The most recent Syria talks attended by the foreign ministers in Astana were held on March 16.

The next are set for May 14.

EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini on Tuesday urged the three powers to do more, saying they "have not only a responsibility but also an interest in making the ceasefire work".

Eight rounds of talks under United Nations auspices in Geneva have made little headway, with Assad's government taking little interest.

Both Tehran and Moscow have deployed military forces to Syria to back up Assad in his now seven-year-old war against anti-government rebels.

Ankara has called for Assad's removal throughout the war, but has worked increasingly closely with Moscow and Tehran in recent months in an attempt to find a solution to the conflict.

In January, Russia held a showpiece conference in the Black Sea resort of Sochi with largely pro-regime delegates, which saw boycotts by rebels and made little progress.

Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted a summit on Syria with the Iranian and Turkish presidents in November.

They then met again in Ankara this month.By AFP

DUBAI: An air strike on Yemen's capital by a Saudi-led military coalition has killed dozens of Huthi rebels including at least two commanders, Saudi television reported Saturday.

Saudi Arabia's official Al-Ekhbariya television said two high-ranking insurgents were among more than 50 Huthi militiamen killed in Sanaa on Friday evening, without giving further details.

Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya television said a total of 38 rebels were killed in the strike on a Huthi interior ministry building.

The Huthis confirmed an air strike on Sanaa but gave no details.

The raid came hours ahead of a public funeral of the Huthis' political head Saleh al-Sammad, killed last week in a Saudi-led coalition strike.

It also came as newly-appointed US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was scheduled to land in Riyadh for meetings including talks on the Yemen conflict.

The Iran-backed rebels have been locked in a war with the Saudi-led military alliance, which since 2015 has fought to restore the internationally-recognised Yemeni government to power.

The Yemen conflict is widely seen as a proxy war between regional titans Iran and Saudi Arabia.

The Huthis control Yemen's capital, Sanaa, as well as much of the country's north -- which borders Saudi Arabia -- and the key Hodeida port on Yemen's Red Sea coast.

Nearly 10,000 people have been killed since the Saudi-led alliance joined the Yemen conflict, triggering what the United Nations has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

Yemen now stands at the brink of famine.

The Saudi-led coalition imposed a total blockade on Yemen's ports in November in retaliation for cross-border Huthi missile attacks on Saudi Arabia.

The blockade has since been partially lifted, but access to the impoverished country remains limited.By AFP

BEIRUT: Syria regime forces backed by air strikes and artillery fire were locked in violent clashes with jihadists on Saturday in a push to expel them from southern Damascus, a Britain-based monitor said.

Government troops battled Islamic State fighters in the neighbourhood of Qadam and nearby southern areas, the Syrian Observatory for Human rights monitor said.

Regime forces are seeking to oust the jihadists from the capital's southern doorstep, where government bombardment has intensified since April 19.

IS overran Qadam last month, and has held parts of the adjacent district of Hajar al-Aswad and the neighbouring Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmuk since 2015.

"Violent clashes are ongoing between both sides in Qadam, where regime forces were able to advance in parts of its Mazaniyeh quarter," Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.

State news agency SANA said army units "are advancing on several axes in the neighbourhoods of Qadam and Mazaniyeh and extending their control over a number of buildings".

On Friday, regime forces seized control of buildings inside both Qadam and Hajar al-Aswad, the Observatory said.

Yarmuk and its surroundings are now IS's largest urban redoubt in Syria and neighbouring Iraq.

At least 79 regime fighters and 68 IS jihadists have been killed in nine days of fighting in southern Damascus, the monitor said.

At least 36 civilians have been killed in regime bombardment during the same period, it said. Among the dead are 17 civilians, including seven children, that were killed in Yarmuk on Friday.

IS jihadists have lost much of the territory they once controlled in Syria and Iraq, part of their cross-border "caliphate" declared in 2014.

The government offensive in Damascus comes as part of a regime push to restore full control over the capital.

Last month it seized Eastern Ghouta, the last rebel stronghold near Damascus.

More than 350,000 people have been killed and millions displaced since Syria's war started in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.By AFP

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said Saturday that "things are going very well" after talking with South Korea's President Moon Jae-in about an upcoming summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

"Just had a long and very good talk with President Moon of South Korea. Things are going very well, time and location of meeting with North Korea is being set," Trump wrote on Twitter.

"Also spoke to Prime Minister (Shinzo) Abe of Japan to inform him of the ongoing negotiations," he wrote.

Moon met with Kim in a historic summit, agreeing on Friday to pursue a permanent peace and the complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

An armistice brought the fighting on the Korean peninsula to an end in 1953, but 65 years later, a final peace agreement has still not been reached.

The Moon-Kim meeting has raised expectations for Trump's own planned summit with the North Korean leader, the date and location of which have not yet been finalized.

Mongolia and Singapore are the final two sites under consideration for the summit, CBS News reported, though Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Saturday that there had been no formal request for his city-state to host the meeting.

Last year, Pyongyang carried out its sixth nuclear test, by far its most powerful to date, and launched missiles capable of reaching the US mainland.

Its actions sent tensions soaring as Kim and Trump traded personal insults and threats of war.

Trump has demanded the North give up its weapons, and Washington is pressing for it to do so in a complete, verifiable and irreversible way.

Pyongyang is demanding as yet unspecified security guarantees to discuss its arsenal.By AFP

BRUSSELS: The United States' new top diplomat met his Turkish counterpart on the sidelines of a NATO meeting today and warned Ankara against choosing a Russian air defence system.

If Turkey goes ahead and deploys the Russian S-400 system, its radars and missile batteries will not be integrated with those of its NATO allies.

And such a purchase could also be judged a breach of a 2017 US sanctions law designed to punish customers of Russia's arms and aerospace industries.

Washington wants its NATO partners focused on threats from Russian hybrid warfare and on counterterrorism, and sees Ankara's decision as a mistake.

On Friday, a day after he was sworn in as US secretary of state, former CIA boss Mike Pompeo raised the issue in talks with Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.

After their talks, a senior State Department official told reporters Pompeo reminded his opposite number Turkey could face sanctions if it bought the S-400.

"He urged Cavusoglu to closely consider NATO interoperable systems," the official said, adding that the meeting had been cordial and workmanlike.

"And there was also a shared desire to find a common way forward on air defence for Turkey," the official said, sounding optimistic.By PTI

WASHINGTON: Accusing Iran of fuelling bloodshed in the Middle East, President Donald Trump today said the US would not let "murderous regime" in Tehran acquire nuclear weapons.

"We must ensure that this murderous regime does not even get close to a nuclear weapon, and that Iran ends its proliferation of dangerous missiles, and its support for terrorism.

No matter where you go in the Middle East, wherever there's a problem, Iran is right there," he said.

Trump was addressing a joint White House news conference with the visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The two leaders had discussed the current situation in Iran and its alleged "destabilisng behavior".

"In our meetings today, the Chancellor and I discussed Iran, the Iranian regime that fuels violence, bloodshed and chaos all across the Middle East," Trump said.

He said it was not "appropriate" to talk on whether the US may consider the use of military force against Iran.

"But, I can tell you this, they will not be doing nuclear weapons; that, I can tell you. They're not going to be doing nuclear weapons, you can bank on it," Trump said.

He said as the US-led international alliance is about to eradicates ISIS in Syria, it must be ensured that "Iran does not profit from this success".

"To prevent this outcome, it is essential that our coalition and regional partners step up their financial and military contributions to the anti-ISIS efforts.

Some of these countries are immensely wealthy; and they're going to start paying for it, and paying for this tremendous help that we've given them," the US President said.

Merkel said the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as a first step, has contributed to slowing down Iran's activities with regard to acquiring nuclear weapons.

"But we also think, from a German point of perspective, that this is not sufficient in order to see to it that Iran's ambitions are curbed and are contained.

It is most important to see that Iran, after all is trying to insert a geopolitical influence in Syria, in Lebanon," she asserted.

Merkel acknowledged that the Iranian nuclear deal is unlikely to resolve problems.

"Obviously, this agreement is anything but perfect. It will not solve all the problems with Iran," she said.

"It is one piece of the mosaic, one building block, if you like, on which we can build up this structure; and that when the United Kingdom, France and Germany work together with the American colleagues, this was brought about, and then we will now see what sort of decisions are made by American partners," Merkel said.During the activities carried out by Princess Charlene Foundation in South Africa, Princess Charlene of Monaco visited Livingstone city of Zambia. The Princess visited an assistant priest's house together with the project team of the her Foundation and carried out negotiations to help poor people living in the region and to receive information about school projects which will be initiated in the region for education. The visit took place in the past couple of weeks.Champaign, IL (61820)

Today

Cloudy skies. Slight chance of a rain shower. High around 75F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 61F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph.Several Champaign Fire Department trucks converged on a large apartment building at 609 S. Randolph St. shortly after a fire was called in at 6:04 p.m. They found flames were coming from the third floor at the northwest corner of the building and spreading to an atrium roof. No injuries were reported.Biden Tells GOP to 'Get Out

of the Way' on Debt Limit(Newser)  The University of Virginia has issued a no-trespass warning to the organizer of last summers deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, reports the New York Times. The warning effectively bans Jason Kessler from the campus for up to four years, per the Daily Progress. The move follows reports that Kessler, a Charlottesville resident and UVA graduate, was threatening and harassing students and others online. It also follows two incidents at the schools law library. According to the Washington Post, Kessler, who is not currently enrolled at the school, visited the library April 18 and was met by students and others holding up signs that read "Murderer" and "Blood on Your Hands." But that alone didn't trigger Kessler's UVA ban.

story continues below

The next day, law school students gathered at a town hall meeting to express anger and frustration that Kessler was allowed to use the library, per the Post. A week later, Kessler returned to the library and was again met by protesters, one of whom was asked to leave by a school administrator; the protester was arrested, charged with trespassing, and banned indefinitely from campus, per the Post. After the second incident, law school Dean Risa Goluboff ordered that only students, faculty, and staff would have access to the library. Her highest priority was "to ensure the physical safety and security of our community," she writes in an email. Kessler denies the allegations and says he will fight the ban. (Read more Jason Kessler stories.)(Newser)  Alfie Evans, the sick UK toddler whose parents fought a protracted legal battle over his treatment, died early Saturday. He was 23 months old. Kate James and Tom Evans made the announcement on social media, saying they were "heartbroken." The death of Alfie, who had a rare degenerative brain condition that left him in a "semi-vegetative state" with almost no brain function, came five days after doctors removed life support, the AP reports. Doctors overseeing Alfie's care in the city of Liverpool said further treatment was futile and not in his best interests, and that he should be allowed to die. But his parents fought for months to try to convince judges to allow them to take him to the Vatican's children's hospital so he could be kept on life support. The parents' campaign was backed by the pope and Christian groups, which helped draw international attention to the case.

story continues below

The hospital withdrew Alfie's life support Monday after a series of court rulings sided with the doctors and blocked further medical treatment. "My gladiator lay down his shield and gained his wings at 02:30," Evans, 21, said in a Facebook post. Alfie's mother, 20-year-old Kate James, posted she was heartbroken over Alfie's death. The death came after an easing of tensions between the family and the hospital. Evans thanked the staff at Liverpool's Alder Hey Children's Hospital, where Alfie has been treated for more than a year, "for their dignity and professionalism during what must be an incredibly difficult time for them, too." "All of us feel deeply for Alfie, Kate, Tom, and his whole family," said a statement from Alder Hey. "This has been a devastating journey for them and we would ask that their privacy and the privacy of staff at Alder Hey is respected." (Read more Alfie Evans stories.)(Newser)  The White House said Friday that internal records raise doubt about some of the most serious allegations leveled against White House doctor Ronny Jackson in his failed bid to become the next secretary of Veterans Affairs. Jackson withdrew his nomination Thursday after allegations by current and former colleagues raised questions about his prescribing practices and leadership ability, including accusations of drunkenness on the job. The office of Montana Sen. Jon Tester, a Democrat, collected the allegations, which included a claim that Jackson "got drunk and wrecked a government vehicle" at a Secret Service going-away party. Internal records, including police reports, show Jackson was in three minor vehicle incidents in government vehicles over the last five years, but none involved the use of alcohol and he wasn't found to be at fault.

story continues below

The White House medical unit Jackson ran passed regular controlled substance audits and found no misconduct, per records for the last three years. Separately, the Secret Service said it has no evidence to support an allegation that its personnel intervened in a Jackson disturbance overseas in 2015. As predicted by Politico, President Trump went after Tester Saturday morning. "Allegations made by Senator Jon Tester against Admiral/Doctor Ron Jackson are proving false," he tweeted, adding the allegations "have absolutely devastated the wonderful Jackson family. Tester should resign." In a second tweet: "The great people of Montana will not stand for this kind of slander when talking of a great human being. Admiral Jackson is the kind of man that those in Montana would most respect and admire, and now, for no reason whatsoever, his reputation has been shattered. Not fair, Tester!"

(Read more Ronny Jackson stories.)(Newser)  Forty years ago, the wrong guy took the rap for a gruesome double murder in Simi Valley, Calif.and now police are asking if the real culprit was the Golden State Killer, NBC San Diego reports. Back in 1978, a family member stumbled on the raped, strangled, and beaten body of 24-year-old single mom Rhonda Wicht and her smothered 4-year-old son Donald. Suspicion fell on Wicht's boyfriend Craig Coley, a Navy veteran who was convicted and spent nearly 40 years in prison despite police officials arguing at the time for his innocence. DNA tests exonerated Coley last year and Gov. Jerry Brown pardoned him, which re-opened the question: Who really did it?

story continues below

The killers' MOs are similar: The Golden State Killer struck young unmarried women at home alone or with kids, and ransacked his victims' roomsfeatures both found in the Wicht killings. Now Simi Valley police are asking for the DNA of Joseph DeAngelo Junior, the Golden State Killer suspect, to see if it matches evidence from the Wicht crime scene. That wouldn't give 70-year-old Coley back his lost decades, but CBS Los Angeles reports that he's eligible to receive money in a lawsuit, and his religious conversion apparently brought him peace behind bars. "If I wasn't a Christian, I could curse [the killer] out, but what good is that going to do?" he asks. "They'll get theirs in the end when God judges them. I just hope and pray they havent hurt anyone else." (Read more serial killer stories.)(Newser)  The number of eviction orders in an apartment complex owned by Sean Hannity rose 400% after the Fox News host purchased the property for $8 million nearly four years ago, reports the Guardian. After Hannity took over the 152-unit Hampton Place apartment complex in Perry, Georgia, property managers received approval to evict 61 residents. The previous owner received approval to evict only 12 tenants in a similar period of time. Through his lawyer, Hannity is denying responsibility: "Mr. Hannity is not involved in the management of these properties. Evictions only occur after a material breach of the lease terms," says Christopher Reeves in an email. But not all of the tenants threatened with eviction were booted out.

story continues below

One, for example, was allowed to stay after ponying up $300 in extra fees and a $725 monthly rent payment. "It seemed kind of harsh," the tenant says. But Georgia state law tends to favor landlords over tenants. "You can be evicted for being a single day late on your rentregardless of whether youve paid on time for the past five years," attorney Lindsey Siegel tells the Guardian. "Georgia is one of the harshest states for tenants." Hannity has amassed a real estate empire with rental property valued at tens of millions in Georgia, Alabama, and South Florida, reports the Los Angeles Times. His holdings came under scrutiny after the Guardian reported recently that Hannity is linked to a group of 20 shell companies that invested an estimated $90 million on hundreds of homes over the last decade. (Read more Sean Hannity stories.)Sorry!

This content is not available in your regionNew Delhi:

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah on Saturday expressed confidence over winning Karnataka Assembly elections and targeted the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah by saying that the countdown has begun for his removal.

The BJP chief further mocked the Congress by stating that so far the party has lost in 12 state assembly elections.

Siddaramaiah, your countdown has begun. We are going to form BJP government in Karnataka. The Congress has lost in 12 state assembly elections so far. Now, its Karnatakas turn. The Congress is banking heavily on Siddaramaiah who is forced to fight election from Badami. He is going to lose from Badami for sure, Shah said while addressing a public meeting in Bagalkot.

ALSO READ: Congress attack Piyush Goyal, demands removal

Shah said that BJP will make Karnataka a number one state and added that he will work hard towards the development.

I urge you to provide an opportunity to BJP chief ministerial candidate BS Yeddyurappa and hell work towards making Karnataka no. 1 state. I've travelled across Karnataka and seen the same sort of enthusiasm and crowd everywhere, Shah said.

The BJP chief is expected to address public rallies in three different regions, on the second day of his two-day visit to Karnataka.

Earlier on Saturday, Shah visited Basaveshwar Aikya Sthala at Kundalasangama and offered his prayers.

Karnataka is set to go to polls on May 12 to elect representatives to the 224-member state assembly. The results will be out on May 15.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

Armed robbers shot dead a bride and looted jewellery, after crashing into a marriage party on the Delhi-Dehradun National Highway at Meerut in Uttar Pradesh, the police said on Saturday.

The incident happened on Friday night near Matore village of Meerut area, and the groom with four other relatives were left injured in the attack, added the police.

The victims were returning to the village after a wedding ceremony in Ghaziabad, the police said.

Six armed men, inside two cars, interrupted the marriage party on its way back.

Farhana, the bride was killed by the robbers after resisting, Senior Superintendent of Police Manjil Saini said.

Jewellery worth lakh and a car was looted and the police have started a search operation to catch the guilty, Ms Saini added.

The bride was rushed to the Muzzafarnagar Medical College, where she was declared dead by the doctors.

A case has been registered and the police is investigating the matter.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

A purported audio clip of self-styled godman Asaram, who was awarded a life imprisonment for the 2013 rape case, is going viral on social networking sites.

In the 15-minute-long audio tape, surfaced online on Saturday, the controversial spiritual guru is heard saying over the phone that his time behind bars is short-lived and 'good days will come'.

The audio clip might have been recorded during a telephone conversation Asaram had on Friday, according to Jodhpur Central Jail DIG Vikram Singh. The call was made with permission from jail authorities.

"Inmates are permitted to make a call over any two given numbers for 80 minutes in a month. He had spoken to a 'sadhak' at Sabarmati Ashram on Friday at 6.30 pm. May be this communication was recorded (then) and made viral," Singh added.

In a one-way communication which appeared like a telephonic sermon, Asaram first extended his gratitude to his followers for maintaining calm and not coming to Jodhpur on the day of judgment.

"We should respect the law and order and the system. I also do so," he is purportedly heard saying in the audio clip.

He claims a few people are on a campaign to defame his ashram and want to take its control.

Also Read | Lessons to learn from Asaram case; time to rise against those providing protection to fake godmen

"Do not get carried away by such provocations or anything circulated on the letter head of ashram...," Asaram said in the clip.

Referring to co-accused Shilpi and Sharat Chanda, who were handed down 20-year jail terms by the special court, Asaram says he would first arrange for their release from jail "as it is the duty of parents to first think about their children".

"(Even if) more advocates will be required for the release of Shilpi and Sharat, that will be done. Afterwards, Bapu will make way out of the jail," he said.

"If a mistake has happened in the lower court, there are upper courts for rectifying those mistakes," Asaram added.

"Truth has no cover and lie has no legs (to stand upon)... It is immaterial, what the allegations are," he said adding, "good days will come".

At the end of the conversation, he makes Sharat to speak, who says there's nothing to be worried about in the jail.

Also Read | Asaram guilty of raping minor; sentenced to life imprisonment

Apart from this 2013 rape case, Asaram is also facing trial in a separate case, where two sisters from Surat accused Bapu and his son Narayan Sai of sexual assault.

(With inputs from agencies)

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

The Congress on Saturday again demanded the removal of Union Minister Piyush Goyal, alleging that financial deals of a firm owned by him were a murky saga of gratification, gross impropriety and conflict of interest, charges dismissed as baseless and malicious by the BJP.

Four months after holding the portfolio of New and Renewable Energy, Goyal sold his entire holding in Flashnet Info Solutions Limited which is owned by him and his wife, at nearly 1000 per cent premium to a company of Piramal group, which has interests in the renewable energy sector, claimed Congress leader Pawan Khera.

Khera further alleged that Goyal did not disclose this in his assets list, which was made public on the PMO website soon after becoming a minister and added that this was a clear case of conflict of interest.

Khera during a press briefing said this was a "murky saga of gratification, gross impropriety and conflict of interest involving one of the senior most Cabinet ministers of the Modi government.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi gives sermons of 'na khaunga, na khane doonga'. Will the Prime Minister answer as to why are former BJP's treasurer and his favourite Cabinet minister as also Karnataka in-charge Piyush Goyal and his wife intertwined in a murky web of financial dealings? Will he answer that to the people of India?" he asked.

"In the last month, the Congress party made Piyush Goyal a target by hurling malicious allegations against his bona fide business dealings to insinuate wrongdoings and irregularity. The modus operandi of the attack has been to gain cheap political mileage by indulging in a baseless campaign against him with no sound facts to back them but with the only intention of creating false controversies," said BJP in a statement.

It also pointed out the facts that exposed the Congress for blatant misrepresentation using malicious propaganda against the minister who was carrying out his work through his companies, which had his investments before becoming minister in May 2014.

"He stopped all professional/ business activities the day he became a minister, resigned from all directorships and started the process of selling all his investments," it said.

The BJP said that Goyal was being targeted to divert attention from the series of controversies and scandals of its leaders for which they have no reply.

"Congress has nothing to attack the Narendra Modi government and its leaders and is resorting to manufacturing controversies using malicious falsehoods which are completely baseless," it said.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

In a move that could upset Pakistan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping have agreed to undertake a joint India-China economic project in Afghanistan at their first informal summit here, official sources said.

The understanding was reached between the two leaders during the two-day informal summit which concluded today, they said.

As per the understanding, officials of both sides will identify the project in following up discussions and work out modalities.

This will be a first such project in the war-torn country where China while trying to expand its influence has tacitly backed Pakistan, which has been accused by Afghanistan and the US of backing the Taliban and its most violent attacks in the country destabilising any attempts to restore peace.

Here are the LIVE updates:

#06:15 PM:A Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi returns after two-day informal summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in China's Wuhan. PM Modi was received by Union Minister Sushma Swaraj on his arrival.

Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi returns after two-day informal summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in China's Wuhan. PM Modi was received by Union Minister Sushma Swaraj on his arrival. pic.twitter.com/khAvAP6AMu a ANI (@ANI) April 28, 2018

#12:14 PM:A China: Prime Minister Narendra Modi departs for Delhi from Wuhan.

China: Prime Minister Narendra Modi departs for Delhi from Wuhan. pic.twitter.com/gDxjIyy3Md a ANI (@ANI) April 28, 2018

#10:32 PM:A

#China: More visuals from Prime Minister Narendra Modi & Chinese President Xi Jinping's house boat ride in Wuhan's East Lake. pic.twitter.com/NqKM8o0uTU a ANI (@ANI) April 28, 2018

#09:50 AM:A China: MEA addresses the media in Wuhan.

#WATCH Live from China: MEA addresses the media in Wuhan. https://t.co/CUjQKf6gOB a ANI (@ANI) April 28, 2018

#09:40 AM:

China: Prime Minister Narendra Modi & Chinese President Xi Jinping inside a house boat in Wuhan's East Lake. pic.twitter.com/2VrpcPXz30 a ANI (@ANI) April 28, 2018

#09:35 AM:A China: Prime Minister Modi and Chinese President Xi inside a house boat in Wuhan's East Lake.

China: Prime Minister Narendra Modi & Chinese President Xi Jinping inside a house boat in Wuhan's East Lake. pic.twitter.com/liYCxlRiXA a ANI (@ANI) April 28, 2018

#09:33 AM:

#WATCH China: Prime Minister Narendra Modi & Chinese President Xi Jinping take a walk along East Lake in Wuhan. pic.twitter.com/2v4nzR41da a ANI (@ANI) April 28, 2018

#09:30 AM:A China: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping at East Lake in Wuhan.

#China: Prime Minister Narendra Modi & Chinese President Xi Jinping at East Lake in Wuhan. pic.twitter.com/JN6BvlV8mv a ANI (@ANI) April 28, 2018

#09:29 AM:

#WATCH China: Prime Minister Narendra Modi & Chinese President Xi Jinping have tea after a walk along East Lake in Wuhan. pic.twitter.com/5BuROg31Cg a ANI (@ANI) April 28, 2018

#09:27 AM:A Narendra Modi and Xi Jinping have tea after a walk along East Lake in Wuhan.

#China: Prime Minister Narendra Modi & Chinese President Xi Jinping have tea after a walk along East Lake in Wuhan. pic.twitter.com/RhGCMspsBj a ANI (@ANI) April 28, 2018

#09:26 AM:A China: PM Modi and President Jinping take a walk along East Lake in Wuhan.

#China: Prime Minister Narendra Modi & Chinese President Xi Jinping take a walk along East Lake in Wuhan. The two leaders also had tea after the walk. pic.twitter.com/PGIFt4fXJ7 a ANI (@ANI) April 28, 2018

#07:23 AM:A Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President XI Jinping enjoy an instrumental rendition of 1982 Bollywood song 'Tu, tu hai wahi dil ne jise apna kaha,' at an event in China's Wuhan.

#WATCH: Prime Minister Narendra Modi & Chinese President XI Jinping enjoy an instrumental rendition of 1982 Bollywood song 'Tu, tu hai wahi dil ne jise apna kaha,' at an event in China's Wuhan. (27.04.2018) pic.twitter.com/KjGRcHbl38 a ANI (@ANI) April 28, 2018

China for the first time held a trilateral meeting with the foreign ministers of Pakistan and Afghanistan in December last in Beijing to narrow down the differences between the two countries.

China had also announced plans to extend its controversial China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to Afghanistan at the meeting.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.Wuhan:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping have agreed to undertake a joint India-China economic project in Afghanistan at their first informal summit here, official sources said.

The understanding was reached between the two leaders during the two-day informal summit which concluded today, they said.

As per the understanding, officials of both sides will identify the project in following up discussions and work out modalities.

This will be a first such project in the war-torn country where China while trying to expand its influence has tacitly backed Pakistan, which has been accused by Afghanistan and the US of backing the Taliban and its most violent attacks in the country destabilising any attempts to restore peace.

China for the first time held a trilateral meeting with the foreign ministers of Pakistan and Afghanistan in December last in Beijing to narrow down the differences between the two countries.

China had also announced plans to extend its controversial China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to Afghanistan at the meeting.

(WIth inputs from agencies)

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.Cyprus:

World War 3? An unstoppable surge of new tension in the Middle East? An explosive arms race? Or just more of the same old high-stakes reckless game-playing that has plagued the region for decades, if not centuries?

These are some of the scenarios being sketched out regarding what could be the possible consequences if President Donald Trump pulls the US out of the Iran nuclear deal in May.

After years of fractious negotiations, a pact was finally signed in 2015 between the US, Britain, Germany, France, Russia, China and Iran under which Tehran agreed to rein in its controversial nuclear programme in return for an easing of tough economic sanctions.

Trump has castigated Barack Obamas administration for agreeing to what he terms an insane and ridiculous accord.

He says the pact does not address other serious Western worries about the Islamic republics growing regional influence, including itsballistic missile programme and its support for armed groups in Yemen, Lebanon and Syria.

In January Trump stressed that unless the pact was widened to address his concerns about Irans true intentions in the Middle East, he would not re-certify it as he is scheduled to do on .

The consequences of Trump walking away from the deal are so unpredictable that an array of alternative scenarios are possible.

No one listens any longer to the doomsayers, who have been warning of a final showdown between good and evil in the Middle East for centuries.

So cross out the World War 3 scenario.

But there is no doubt that a US decision to bail from the deal would dramatically ramp up tension in the already volatile region.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas tweeted: "The situation in the Middle East would become much more dangerous without the nuclear agreement with #Iran."

The worst case scenario would see Iran itself pulling out of the accord, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), resuming uranium enrichment and developing nuclear weapons, which neither the US nor Israel would tolerate. Military strikes would follow, with unimaginably dire consequences.

Most observers believe that Tehran wont ditch the deal as the suspension of sanctions has allowed foreign capital to flow into Iran and given the country a gateway back into the international community after years of isolation.

But, with powerful hardliners at odds with the reformists presently in power, nothing is certain when it comes to Iran.

Foreign Minister Javid Zarif warned this week: "If the United States officially withdraws from the JCPOA, the immediate implication would be that it would free Iran of any obligation to remain."

If Iran does follow suit, inspections of Irans nuclear sites by UN inspectors would halted and the world would be back to guessing just exactly what the Islamic republic is up to and what are its nuclear capabilities. This would in itself be a deeply destabilising factor in the Mideast.

A Trump withdrawal would also cause an immediate rift between the US and its European allies, who are adamant that the nuclear deal cannot be renegotiated.

Germany, France and Britain would suddenly find themselves in the same camp as Russia and China against the US.

Two other scenarios are possible:

1. The US stays in but the wording of the pact is revamped. This is seen as the most likely outcome, despite Iranian President Hassan Rouhani stressing that Iran would not accept "to add or omit even a simple sentence" from the deal.

2. The US pulls out, Iran stays in and the three European powers do their best to protect the accord. This is seen as second most likely outcome.

France and Germany meanwhile are using all their political wiles to try to dissuade Trump from pulling out of the deal.

This week French President Emmanuel Macron hugged and kissed Trump during a visit to Washington (before later ripping into him in an address to Congress).

But the French leaders efforts appeared to have been in vain, telling journalists later that he thought there was a "big risk" Trump would bail.

On it was German Chancellor Angela Merkels turn to try to woo Trump  not only on the Iran nuclear deal, but also on the issue of trade tariffs.

But there was no hugging and only a peck on the cheek for Merkel. During a rather frosty news conference with Trump, the chancellor defended the deal as a building block but acknowledged that it was anything but perfect  it will not solve all the problems with Iran.

Trump is keeping his cards close to his chest and we are only likely to know after whether the combined efforts of Macron and Merkel made any impact at all.New Delhi:

South Korea on Saturday said it had moved military jets in a hurry to intercept a Chinese aircraft that had entered South Koreas air defence region. This incident comes less than two months after Seoul officially filed a complaint over another incursion.

The aircraft is a military survey plane that had spent nearly four hours in the Korea Air Defence Identification Zone, said the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff in a statement.

South Korea summoned the Chinese ambassador in February to file an official complain.

Chinas Defence Ministry did not respond instantly to a request for comment on Saturday, which is a start of a holiday weekend.

The Foreign Ministry in Beijing in February said that the flights were completely in line with the international law and practice and the air defence identification zones are not territorial air space".

China on these kind of situations generally say that it has no hostile intent.

However the government has said drills near Taiwan are aimed at sending the democratic island the message that there will be consequences if it tries to push for formal independence.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.Royal baby named Prince Louis

'A family favourite'



By Sarah Campbell, BBC royal correspondent



The pool of names considered suitable for a prince is not large and yet, the wait between birth and public naming suggests there was some indecision about what to call the new baby.



It did give punters four days to place their bets, though - and most of them will be disappointed.



Louis certainly wasn't the front-runner as far as the bookies were concerned, but it is clearly a family favourite.



William and George both have it as a middle name.



But with its French and German origins, it will no doubt generate some eyebrow-raising, Brexit-related comment.



There will also no doubt be some confusion over the pronunciation (Loo-ee not Loo-iss).



What is certain is that we are unlikely to see much of Prince Louis of Cambridge in the coming months and years.



His parents remain determined to bring up all three of their children away from the public's gaze as much as is possible.



Royal baby named Prince Louis - BBC News

The pool of names considered suitable for a prince is not large and yet, the wait between birth and public naming suggests there was some indecision about what to call the new baby.It did give punters four days to place their bets, though - and most of them will be disappointed.Louis certainly wasn't the front-runner as far as the bookies were concerned, but it is clearly a family favourite.William and George both have it as a middle name.But with its French and German origins, it will no doubt generate some eyebrow-raising, Brexit-related comment.There will also no doubt be some confusion over the pronunciation (Loo-ee not Loo-iss).What is certain is that we are unlikely to see much of Prince Louis of Cambridge in the coming months and years.His parents remain determined to bring up all three of their children away from the public's gaze as much as is possible.

27 April 2018BBC NewsThe Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have named their third child Louis Arthur Charles.The couple's second son was born at 11:01 BST on Monday at the Lindo Wing of St Mary's Hospital in London, weighing 8lb 7oz. A tweet from Kensington Palace said the baby would be known as His Royal Highness Prince Louis of Cambridge (pronounced Lou-ee, not Lou-iss).The new prince is fifth in line to the throne.Louis is one of the middle names of Prince William and of the new prince's brother, George.It was also the first name of Lord Mountbatten - his great-great-great uncle - who was killed by the IRA in 1979.Lord Mountbatten had a strong influence in the upbringing of great-nephew Prince Charles and was described by the latter as "the grandfather I never had".Bookmakers had Arthur as the favourite name for the prince, followed by James and Philip.Historian Judith Rowbotham said Louis is "not a traditional Windsor name" and a "little surprising" - but said it was still a safe choice for the royals."It's very much an acknowledgement of a wider heritage," Dr Rowbotham said, adding that it is also "very much an affectionate tribute" to the Prince of Wales, who was "deeply devoted" to Lord Mountbatten.Former One Direction star Louis Tomlinson tweeted: "Young Louis welcome to the world. I'll take you under my wing lad. The Adidas tracksuit is in the post!"Louis is the 71st most popular name for a boy in England and Wales, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).The name was 38th out of the top 100 baby names for boys in 2004 but has been declining in popularity.In 2016, 911 newborn boys were named Louis by their parents compared to more than 5,000 who were named George.On Thursday evening, Prince William told reporters that they were still deciding on a name, saying: "I'm working on that."Earlier in the week, he said Catherine and the baby were "in good form, luckily", and added: "Sleeping's going reasonably well so far, so he's behaving himself, which is good news."A Japanese TV network has released a statement by an employee who is believed to have been sexually harassed by a former Finance Ministry top bureaucrat.

This comes after the ministry acknowledged the misconduct by the former administrative vice finance minister, Junichi Fukuda, and punished him.

The reporter at TV Asahi says in the statement that it's disappointing that Fukuda denies the sexual harassment, but she takes it seriously that the ministry has acknowledged the truth and offered an apology.

She also says society should not allow acts of harassment to be repeated and that there should not be high hurdles for the victims to speak out.

She notes that she hopes Japan will be a society where all people's dignity is protected and people can work comfortably.Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has welcomed the outcome of the inter-Korean summit. He expressed hope that North Korea will take concrete action in the wake of the historic meeting.

Abe spoke to reporters on Friday about the summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

He noted that Moon and Kim had a sincere discussion about the North's denuclearization and other issues. He said he welcomes the talks as a sign of progress toward the resolution of issues concerning North Korea.

He said he appreciates Seoul's efforts to arrange the summit.

Abe said he hopes that North Korea will take concrete action following the inter-Korean summit and a US-North Korea summit that may take place in the weeks ahead.

He said his government will keep a close eye on the situation in North Korea.

He said he will be briefed by Moon over the phone about the details of the discussions at the summit.

Abe expressed hope that Japan, the United States, and South Korea will work closely to comprehensively resolve the North Korean nuclear and missile issues, as well as the issue of abductees taken to the North.

He said he will seek the cooperation of the international community, including China and Russia.

Abe said his government will analyze the joint declaration issued by Moon and Kim to consider how Japan should respond.

He said the government will compare the declaration with a previous one issued by former South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and then leader of the North, Kim Jong Il.

Abe dismissed concerns that Japan might be left out of negotiations on North Korean issues.

He said he and US President Donald Trump reaffirmed during their recent summit that they share the same basic approach on the matter.

He said he also held talks with Moon based on his discussions with Trump.Japan Times - Sep 15

Japan has given first doses of a COVID-19 vaccine to 63.6% of its population, surpassing the U.S. in the proportion of those who have had at least one shot of the vaccine despite starting months behind.Former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has told ESPN Brazil he deserves credit for bringing Mohamed Salah to Stamford Bridge, not the blame...

Former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has told ESPN Brazil he deserves credit for bringing Mohamed Salah to Stamford Bridge, not the blame for selling the Liverpool star to Roma in 2016.Mourinho and Chelsea acquired a 21-year-old Salah from Basel for 16.5 million in January of 2014. However, the Egypt international found opportunities hard to come by at the club and was loaned to Fiorentina the following winter and then sold to Roma a year later. Salah returned to the Premier League at the start of this season, signing with Liverpool for a then club-record fee of 42m, and has been a revelation for Jurgen Klopps side, scoring 43 goals in all competitions and being named the PFA Player of the Year.Salahs sensational campaign has left many to question Chelseas decision to sell him, and Mourinho defended himself from those queries, adding: It is the first time that I am going to say this, but it is another injustice that has been talked about me. People say that I was the one that sold Salah and it is the opposite. I bought Salah. It is the opposite. I was the one that bought Salah.I was the one that told Chelsea to buy Salah. It was with me in charge that Salah came to Chelsea. But he came as a young kid, physically he was not ready, mentally he was not ready, socially and culturally he was lost and everything was tough for him. We decided to put him on loan and he asked for that as well. He wanted to play more minutes, to mature, he wanted to go and we sent him on loan to Fiorentina, and at Fiorentina he started to mature.The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has assured the international community that President Muhammadu Buhari is ...

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has assured the international community that President Muhammadu Buhari is healthy and fit to seek re-election in 2019.Mohammed, who has been on tour of major media houses and think-tank in the U.S., said there was nothing to fear about Buharis health as he declared his intention to seek re-election.The minister was first in Washington, D.C. and later in New York, where he explained that Buharis administration had done very well and recorded so many achievements in less than three years.He visited CNN, New York Times, Voice of America, Washington Post, Washington Times; Al Jazeera, Reuters, Wall Journal Street, and the Atlantic Council and the Foreign Relations Council.I think the exchange has been quite robust. Weve spoken on a wide range number of issues from security to the economy to the fight against corruption.In particular, the interview dwelt more on insecurity and also they were interested to know why the president wants to seek re-election and whether he is fit to run given the concerns about his health.Of course, I explained to them that it is those who have a morbid fear about president coming back in 2019 that are flying this kite about his health.But his health is very good, since he came back in August, hes feeling very well, hes never missed one single Federal Executive Council meeting or cancelled any schedule and his schedules have been very hectic.He has faced his presidential duties with vigour, urgency and purpose. Therefore, theres nothing to fear about his health, Mohammed told the Correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).According to him, most people have raised the issue of the presidents health, adding many who have raised the issue are not being sincere.Mr President, yes was ill, has recovered very well, the minister stressed adding, so on the grounds of his health, theres nothing to fear about his health.Mohammed said the president would find his campaign much easier in 2019 because he would campaign on what he has been able to achieve in three years.Of course I told them that hes going to campaign largely about his achievements in the areas of economy, fighting corruption, investing in people and that we are very confident that the people of Nigeria, whose lives has touched, will respond positively.And by the time his campaign starts, I think he would have even more to speak about in all the areas he promised during 2015 campaign.He can beat his chest and say I have delivered on revamping the economy, I have delivered on fighting insecurity, I have delivered in fighting corruption.Hes only going to consolidate on these things in his second term, he said. (NAN)Following his motion calling for the impeachment of President Muhammadu Buhari, the Senator representing Edo South Senatorial District of the State, Matthew Urhoghide, PDP, drew the ire of members of his constituency over the matter when he arrived the Benin Airport yesterday.He was held hostage inside the VIP lounge of the airport for over two hours by youths after his arrival from Abuja. Though PDP youths equally stormed the airport but they were chased away by the waiting APC youths.Urhoghide, who got wind of the situation allegedly hid himself at the VIP lounge.However, when Governor Godwin Obaseki arrived at the airport, Urhoghide made efforts to escape with the governors entourage but with the governor at the front of the VIP lounge, the APC youths pounced at him, removing his cap and hiting him with it.The Senator returned to the lounge while Governor Obaseki entered his vehicle and zoomed off. However, the PDP leaders who were at the airport to honour him with a red carpet reception with the Edo cultural troupe members fled for their dear lives on sighting the youths.As tension heightened at the airport, some PDP youths were attacked by the angry APC youths as the State Commissioner of Police, Mr Babatunde Kokumo and his men made frantic efforts to save the Senator. One of the PDP youth leaders was arrested by the police.Singing war songs, the APC youths said: tell us what you have achieved as a Senator. You have not done anything for this constituency. You only care for your family. Tell us the projects you have attracted as a Senator. You have not talked about yourself, you are calling for the impeachment of our President who is fighting corruption.We are telling Urhoghide to apologize because Edo South people did not send you to impeach Buhari. Why did you and your cohorts not impeach President Jonathan who looted the treasure as we have observed today? the youths queried.When it became clear that the youths were not going to let Urhoghide leave the airport, soldiers came to the rescue. But the youths pretended they left and returned when the soldiers left the airport.However, the Edo Commissioner of Police made serious efforts to disperse the youths at about 6:55pm, an effort that enabled security agents to smuggle the senator into a waiting Prado jeep.The Senator who spoke to journalists said he would not be intimidated.I hope you people understand the working of the Senate. I am the Chairman, Senate Committee on Public Account. Every government expenditure falls on my table.The President had a good intention of buying those equipment but the procedure was wrong and he has accepted that it was wrong. We have sworn that we would uphold the constitution. A good intention of buying something and a procedure that is wrong. What do we do?The only thing that concerns the Presidents office is Section 143. If you check Section 143, it is a long process. The first thing you have to do is investigation and correspondences will be entered into. The President has to be written and reply has to be received. We have not reached the issue of impeachment.Nobody on the floor of the Senate moved motion that the President should be impeached. If the papers reported that the President should be impeached, then,it is unfortunate. I am proud to be a Senator.The Federal High Court, Abuja on Friday fixed April 30 to hear a suit filed by Senator Ovie Omo-Agege against the Senate, the Senate President and the Attorney General of the Federation.Omo-Agege, who represents the Delta Central Senatorial District, filed the suit to challenge his suspension from the Senate.The judge, Justice Nnamdi Dimgba, fixed the date after refusing to vacate an earlier order he made granting an accelerated hearing of the matter.The counsel for Omo-Agege, Mr. Alex Izinyon (SAN), had approached the court with an ex parte motion seeking an injunction against the Senate, which the court declined.The court then asked Izinyon to put the respondents on notice.Justice Dimgba ordered that the Senate and the Senate President should show cause why the reliefs sought by the senator should not be granted.The court gave the respondents seven days to show cause, ordered an accelerated hearing of the matter and had adjourned to April 27 (Friday) for definite hearing.However, in a report by the News Agency of Nigeria, when the matter was called, Izinyon informed the court that he was ready to move his motion, saying that the matter was slated for the hearing of the substantive case.Izinyon also told the court that the respondents had been duly served with the originating summon.But Mr. Mahmud Magaji (SAN), counsel for the Senate and Senate President, raised an objection, saying that he had filed a memorandum of conditional appearance.Magaji said he filed an application, seeking the court to set aside its order which granted abridgement of time to hear the matter.The counsel maintained that he was just briefed on the matter on April 19 and that he had not sighted any of the originating processes.The judge, however, said that the court had proof that the Senate and the Senate President had been served through the clerk of the Senate.I have to protect the integrity of the court. On two occasions, this court has respected the Senate and as well, I expect the Senate to respect the court, Dimgba said.He directed the respondents to serve advance copies of their counter-affidavits and other processes on the plaintiffs through email, not later than 7 pm on April 27.The judge adjourned the matter until April 30 for the hearing of the substantive suit.Omo-Agege is asking the court to, among other reliefs, grant an order restraining the defendants, their servants, agents, privies or officers from interfering with his rights and privileges as a senator.The ongoing verification exercise organised by INEC to authenticate signatures of voters seeking the recall of Sen. Dino Melaye (APC/Kogi...

The ongoing verification exercise organised by INEC to authenticate signatures of voters seeking the recall of Sen. Dino Melaye (APC/Kogi West), has witnessed a low turn out in most parts of Lokoja. Correspondents of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) monitoring the exercise in the Kogi capital, report that most of the polling units were empty, with some people claiming that they were not aware of the exercise.At most polling units in Ward 1 of Odo Egbe, INEC officials told NAN that less than 20 voters had shown interest in the exercise. They said that many people were not interested in the recall process.Miss Felicia Adebayo, a voter, who spoke with NAN, said that she came out because she was told that money was being shared at the polling units.I am told that money is being shared to those that come; I need the money because we have not been paid salary for a while, she said. NANs efforts to confirm the veracity of Adebayos claim proved abortive as no one was ready to react to it. An INEC official, who craved anonymity, said that there was general apathy to the exercise.Very few people have shown interest in the exercise; we have been waiting for people to come out but very few seem to know what we are doing here, he said.Last friday the United States Government released a damning human rights report on Nigeria, saying grave violations of human rights ...





Last friday the United States Government released a damning human rights report on Nigeria, saying grave violations of human rights continued to increase in 2017 while officials who perpetrated them were never prosecuted by the Federal Government of President Muhammadu Buhari.





It also said, inter alia, that Nigeria is suffering from ethnic, religious and regional violence.





This is the bitter truth and the report is a welcome development.





Ethnic cleansing, genocide, mass murder, state-sponsored terror, unprecedented corruption, monumental incompetence, the persecution of opposition figures and their families, the violation of court orders, the intimidation of the National Assembly, the Judiciary and the Fourth Estate of the realm which is the media, the targetting and cold-blooded murder of Christians, Igbo (IPOB) youths and Shiite Muslims, the gradual and incremental Islamisation of the nation, the humiliation of the Church and Christian clerics, the covert support for and encouragement of murderous Islamist and jihadist terror groups like the Fulani herdsmen and Boko Haram and so on and so forth are now the cornerstone and hallmark of President Buharis govermmemt.





Worse of all he did not have the National Assemblys approval to withdraw $496 million from the Federal Governments Excess Crude Account which he used to pay for the 12 Super Tucano jets that he purchased from the United States and that are to be supplied to the Nigerian Airforce by 2020.





This makes it an illegal expense which, under our laws, is an impeachable offence. It also makes the whole transaction unlawful.









Even more troubling is the fact that, as long as Buhari is in power, those jets are as likely to be used against innocent and defenceless Nigerian civilians, including women and children, as they are against terrorists.





I sincerely hope that these issues will form part of the deliberations and discussions that will take place in the meeting betwen President Donald Trump and President Buhari in Washington on 30th April.





They should also discuss the shameful way in which the President Barack Obamas administration interfered in Nigerias 2015 presidential election and assisted Buhari to come to power and the $500 million that the Buhari administration contributed, through various fronts and companies like the Chagoury brothers, to Hillary Clintons 2016 presidential campaign.





And now to the meat of this essay.









In terms of high level military, intelligence and security operations and what are known in western intelligence agencies as black ops few events in our history come close to the one that took place in Dapchi a few months ago.





I am not referring to major or cataclysmic events which also had the imprint and involved the input of numerous foreign and domestic intelligence and security agencies like the murder of General Aguiyi-Ironsi in 1966 and the coming to power of Lt. Col. (as he then was) Jack Yakubu Gowon or the murder of General Murtala Mohammed in 1976 and the coming to power of General Olusegun Obasanjo or again the murder of General Sani Abacha and Chief MKO Abiola in 1998 which led to the release from prison and the second coming to power of President Olusegun Obasanjo. Those are the obvious ones.





I am referring to the more subtle ones which had less obvious but equally identifiable motives. I will not go into detail and I will not expose the motives. I will just mention the events and the facts surrounding them.





First was the cold-blooded murder of Gloria Okon, an international drug courier, that was working for powerful government officials and men and women in high places and that was about to spill the beans when General Muhammadu Buhari was in power in 1985.





Second was the elimination of Dele Giwa, a prominent and highly respected journalist, by agents of President Ibrahim Babangidas government in 1986.





Third was the C130 military plane crash in Ejigbo, Lagos in 1992 in which 158 junior and middle rank army officers were tragically killed. The plane was brought down and those gallant officers were left to die slow and painful deaths in the swamp because the rescue operation was purposely delayed. It was more of an execution than a plane crash.





Fourth was the slaughter of Kudirat Abiola, Chief MKO Abiolas wife, Chief Alfred Rewane, Rear Admiral Omotenhiwa and hundreds of other pro-June 12th and NADECO leaders and operatives by General Sani Abachas military junta between 1995 and 1998.





Fifth was the mysterious plane crash in Kano in 1996 in which Ibrahim Abacha, the first son of General Sani Abacha, together with his close friends Bello Dangote, Omieba Princewill and a number of others lost their lives. The fact is that most of those that died were killed after the plane had crashed at the crash site by unknown elements and there appears to have been a struggle on the private jet before it came down.





Needless to say the whole thing was covered up by military intelligence and the truth was buried. Not even General Abacha, who was Head of State at the time, knew what actually happened and who was involved until much later.





Sixth was the murder of numerous high profile leaders and political figures during the tenure of President Olusegun Obasanjo between 2000 and 2007 including Chief Bola Ige, Chief Marshall Harry, Chief Dikibo and many others.





Seventh was the bombing of Odi town in Rivers state by the military during the course of President Olusegun Obasanjos government in 1999 in which hundreds of civilians were murdred.





Eighth was the masscre of dozens of people in Zaki Biam in Benue state by the military during the course of President Olusegun Obasanjos government in 2001.





Ninth was the blowing up of the Bellview Airlines plane over Lisa, Lagos state in 2005 in which over 100 people perished and which was passed off as a fatal accident and plane crash.





I have said it before and I will say it again: I became Minister of Aviation one year after that crash and I had access to all the relevant security reports and American NTSB documents. According to that NTSB report the plane did not crash but was brought down by what was described as a low-level incendiary device which had been planted on the plane before it took off by unknown elements.





Tenth was the murder of Mohammed Yusuf, the founder and erstwhile leader of Boko Haram, whilst in the custody of the Nigerian Police in 2009 during the tenure of President Shehu Musa Yaradua.





Eleventh was the blowing up of a building in Prophet TB Joshuas SCOAN Church in Lagos by remote control detonation from a drone as a consequnce of which over 200 people, including many foreigners, were killed in 2013.





Even though the whole event was recorded on CCTV, including the drone and the detonation, this was largely ignored by the authorities and no meaningful criminal investigation into what was clearly an act of terror took place.





The whole thing was passed off by the Government of the day as an accident due to a faulty foundation even though the intelligence agencies knew better.





Despite the Lagos State Attorney Generals simplistic and foolhardy assertion that the State Government would pursue the case against TB Joshua and his Church to a logical end, the truth is that what the government is dealing with is a premeditated and well-orchestrated act of terror carried out by highly proficient, skilled and experienced operatives and not one of involuntary manslaughter which came about as a consequence of negligence on the part of the Church authorities or a faulty foundation.





The Lagos State Attorney General, as naive as ever, has no idea that he is being used, that he is on a wild goose chase, that he is helping to shield and protect the real perpertrators of the crime and that he seeks to destroy the legacy and name of an innocent man and Church.





The truth is that Governor Akinwunmi Ambode has much work to do if he really wants to know what happened because the faulty foundation theory is a brilliant ruse.





I challenge him to ask for all the relevant security reports on this matter. They tell a very different story indeed.





Twelfth was the abduction of the Chibok girls in 2014 which was planned, funded, executed and orchestrated by rogue elements in our intelligence agencies in collusion with some disgruntled northern politicians and key members of the then opposition including three sitting governors.





Thirteenth is the secret and cold-blooded mass murder and illegal incarceration of thousands of IPOB youths and members by security forces over the last three years.





Fourteenth is the state-sponsored mass murder of Shiite Muslims at any given opportunity and the ruthless persecution of their members, including women and children over the last three years.





Fifteenth is the overt support that the Federal Government has consistently provided for the Fulani herdsmen who have slaughtered thousands of innocent and defenceless Nigerians, including women and children, over the last three years.





Sixteenth is the covert support that Buhari himself and key players in his political party and administration have given Boko Haram over the last 6 years by funding their operations, openly identifying with some of their core values and ideals and seeking to protect them from the proscription.





They have also protested publicly when the military hits them hard, insisted that the Army uses kid gloves when fighting them, released their top commanders, refused to target and kill their key leaders and paid them vast sums of protection money and ransoms which the terrorists have then used to purchase more arms.





In terms of special ops and secrecy Dapchi falls into this category of events. And the fact that Leah Sharibu, the only Christian amongst the over 100 abducted girls, was the only one that was not released speaks volumes. The message is simple and clear.





These complex covert operations are commonly referred to in intelligence circles as black ops, extreme measures and wet work and they are always done in the utmost secrecy and with the full knowledge and sometimes assitance and logistical support of either one or two other friendly and trusted foreign intelligence agencies.





The motives for the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth will be made manifest next year during the presidential election in the event of anyone daring to give Buhari stiff resistance or a hard fight.





This time around it will not only be the dog and the baboon that they intend to soak in blood if a strong challenge is presented to Buhari but the whole of Nigeria and the west African sub-region.





That is why $2 billion has been released from the Excess Crude Account in the last four months to supposedly fight terrorism.





That money will not be used to fight terrorism but to arm the terrorists in preparation for the conflict that lies ahead.





Now that President Buhari has formally declared his intention to run in the 2019 election and seeks a fresh mandate I fear that what is coming our way is not just an election but a series of cataclysmic events that will change our lives and our country forever.





Nigeria, with its incredibly incompetent and carefully hand-picked and selected leaders, has been targetted by the powers that be and the chaos and anarchy that we are witnessing in our country today is contrived.





Sadly the Nigerian people have been hoodwinked and appear to be incapable of putting the jigsaw together, asking the relevant questions and demanding the appropiate answers.





They cannot see and neither can they fathom or comprehend the evil machinations of the hidden hand or the dark and sinister world of covert operations and black ops.





They are more than content and happy to watch Big Brother Nigeria and to see, read and believe the rubbish that the government feeds them through the local media.





Saddled with a largely uninquiring press, the truth is that we are more often than not misled and misinformed with a labyrinth and forest of official lies, government cover-ups and disinformation.





I have often wondered why such a well-educated and dynamic people are so trusting when it comes to their Governments and I have often asked why some of us are so naive.



The Christian Association of Nigeria has embarked on a massive mobilisation of churches across the federation for peaceful protests on Sunday against incessant killings by suspected Fulani herdsmen in the country.It was learnt that the association had sought the support of prominent clerics as well as the endorsement of influential Christians to make the exercise a success.The Special Assistant (Media & Communications) to the CAN President, Pastor Bayo Oladeji, confirmed to Saturday PUNCH on Friday that all was set for the protests against the killings of Christians as well as other Nigerians across the country.The CAN President, Rev. Olasupo Ayokunle, had in a statement on Wednesday, urged Christians to hold peaceful protests within their church premises on April 29.He made the call against the backdrop of the Tuesday killing of two priests and 17 worshippers at St. Ignatius Catholic Church, Mbalom , Gwer East Local Government Area of Benue State. Hundreds of persons have been killed by suspected Fulani herdsmen across the country this year alone, especially in Benue and Taraba states.He said, CAN urges Christians in Nigeria to hold peaceful protests on the set-aside date, in the premises of their churches, asking the Federal Government and the security agencies to stop the unending killings and bloodshed in the country.Christians are to carry placards with inscriptions meant to address issues about sustained killings, attacks and destruction of their property in Nigeria. The inscriptions on placards could read, Enough of bloodshed in Nigeria, Enough of unlawful killings in the country, FG, release Leah Sharibu from bondage, FG, stop herdsmen killings, and CAN rejects FGs poor handling of insecurity.The statement blamed the continued killings on the failure of the government to mount an effective campaign against the killings by suspected herdsmen, noting that there was no visible plan to pacify the aggrieved persons.Speaking to one of our correspondents in Abuja on Friday, the CAN spokesman stated that all chapters of CAN had been informed of the planned protests, noting that these chapters would send the message to all the churches in their domain.He said, We have informed every chapter of CAN; we have sent messages to church leaders. We have to make our impact felt. We cannot force anybody to do it, but they all know the position of CAN .When asked if CAN would apply for a police permit for the protest, the cleric responded that the church did not need a permit.Do I need a police permit to stand in front of my church and say this is my position? Do you need a police permit to address a press conference? A court has ruled that for every peaceful protest, you dont need a police permit. The highest court in the land also affirmed it. You dont need a police permit to stage a peaceful protest; we have freedom of assembly and association, he said.Oladeji expressed confidence that the protest would be successful, noting that even if only a few churches participated, the Christian faithful would have sent a message to the world that they were not pleased with the situation in the country.CAN has also described the President as being more interested in re-election than in the protection of lives and well-being of Nigerians, noting that the President did not care about the number of citizens that may end up as sacrificial lambs for his ambition.Speaking to journalists at a news conference in Abuja on Friday, the General-Secretary of CAN, Rev. Musa Asake, catalogued the killings and bloodshed across the country, noting that the Buhari-led administration had returned the nation to the Dark Age.War seems to be looming in Nigeria while the aggressors are no other than misguided individuals who had been armed to provoke different communities into needless battles.Yet, President Buhari, who was popularly elected in 2015, has not seen the need and urgency to issue a presidential order on the need to halt the killings and with stern instruction to heads of security operatives to bring perpetrators to book.The Dark Age has come with the administration of President Buhari in Nigeria, (which) is giving the Christians in this country a huge concern.All the same, Mr. President has his own interests, the most imprtant of which is to seek re-election to remain in power beyond 2019 and continue with the reign of terror in Nigeria. It does not matter how many Nigerians will end up as sacrificial lambs on that single ambition.Meanwhile, the Benue State chapter of CAN has said that Christians in the state are set to comply with the directive of the national leadership of the organisation.The state CAN chairman, Rev. Akpen Leva, further said that after the protest on Sunday, there would be seven days of prayer and fast, to commence on Monday.He further said that the directive would be communicated to the local churches in Benue latest by Saturday (today).Meanwhile, the Taraba State chapter of the CAN has directed all Christians in the state to dress in black during their protests on Sunday.Following an emergency meeting over the directive given by Ayokunle, the state chapter called on all Christians in the state to converge on the CAN Secretariat in Jalingo on Sunday by 3:00 pm for the peaceful protest and to come in black attire.Taraba State Treasurer of CAN , Very Rev. Fr. James Vontih, told Saturday PUNCH that the state chapter of CAN had decided to hold a joint protest, believing it would create more impact.Instead of having the protest in individual churches, we have decided that all Christians in the state should converge on the CAN auditorium in Jalingo for a peaceful protest.We are not going to block any road in protest, but we have arranged for some persons who will speak to Christians and send our message to the Federal Government. We are indeed saddened that despite the killings going on, the Federal Government has not given the crisis the attention it deserves, he said.The Vicar General, Administration of the Catholic Diocese of Jalingo, Very Rev. Fr. George Dogo, called on Buhari to resign if he could not stop the killings.Our stand on the issue has been made known to the world that President Buhari should honourably step aside to save the nation from total collapse, he said.The Catholic Bishop Conference of Nigeria had on Thursday issued a statement calling on the President to resign following the attack on the church in Benue.Similarly, the national leadership of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, whose members include The Redeemed Christian Church of God; Living Faith Church Worldwide International, aka Winners Chapel; The Redeemed Evangelical Mission and Deeper Christian Life Ministry, also said it had no choice but to comply with CANs directive as one of the blocs of the umbrella Christian body.The National Publicity Secretary of the PFN, Bishop Emmah Isong, said, CAN is a family made up of five brothers and one of the biggest is the PFN; it is powerful because churches like RCCG, Winners Chapel, TREM, Deeper Life, Assemblies of God, name them, belong to the PFN. So when CAN gives instructions, the PFN is bound to comply with and will certainly obey those instructions, we cannot do otherwise.The Chairman of CAN in Osun State, Rev. Father Michael Okodua, confirmed that he was aware of the directive from the national leadership of the association, saying the directive came from the national leadership of the CAN.In the same vein, the General Overseer of the Sufficient Grace and Truth Ministry, Bishop Seun Adeoye, said he would mobilise all his church members to participate in the protest as directed by the leadership of CAN. The bishop said the killings in Nigeria, especially the ones targeted at Christians, had to stop.Ogun State CAN Chairman, Bishop Tunde Akin -Akinsanya, who spoke through his Press Secretary, Rev. Tolulope Taiwo, also said the state chapter of the association would comply with the directive as it will send a strong signal that the Federal Government is not doing enough to stop the continuous killings of innocent Nigerians, especially the Christians.The Methodist Bishop of Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, Rt. Rev. Lawson Elom, who said his church would comply with the directive, also noted that it is a way of telling the leadership of the country that all is not well in the country in terms of security.Similarly, the Kwara State PFN Chairman, Prof. Timothy Opoola, said that Christians in the state would comply with the directive.Opoola, who is also the state Chairman of CAN , said PFN will observe it. All churches will observe it. We are going to meet at one place at UMCA on Sunday at around 4.00pm. We will come with placards.Also, the Diocesan Bishop, Kwara Ecclesiastical Province, Anglican Communion, Church of Nigeria, Rt. Rev. Philip Adeyemo, said, The Hosts of Heaven are against this government and we also must join the Hosts of Heaven to see that righteousness exalts this nation. Therefore, we will join hands with Christians against injustice in our land.We must fight against injustice and a barbaric government, which has no fear of God as human beings are being killed like cows.PFN Chairmen in Cross River and Edo states, Pastor Lawrence Ekwok and Bishop Monday Igbinosa respectively, said CANs directive was binding on every Christian.The Archbishop of the Anglican Communion, Calabar Diocese, Tunde Adeleye, also promised to mobilise members of the church to embark on the planned protests.Ekiti State Chairman of PFN, Bishop Clement Abifade; Ado-Ekiti branch chairman of CAN , Apostle Alex Oluwadamilare; and Bishop of Methodist Church, Port Harcourt, Rt. Rev. Victor Eyo Effiom, described CANs directive as appropriate, adding that their churches would comply with it.The Delta State CAN chairman, Rev. Gideon Oyibo; and his counterpart in the state chapter of the PFN, Bishop Kingsley Enakirerhi, said churches across the state would take part in protests to draw governments attention to the state of insecurity in the country.Although the Director of Communications of the Catholic Diocese of Ondo, Rev. Fr. Leo Aregbesola, explained that the diocese was still awaiting the official notification about the planned protests, he said the church was willing to comply with it once it was received and approved by the Bishop of the church.Speaking ti newsmen, the Vicar General Pastoral, Very Rev. Fr. Bitrus Lange, who spoke on behalf of the Catholic Bishop, Bauchi Diocese, Bauchi, Most Rev. Dr. Hilary Dachelem, said he had heard about the directive but that the diocese was also still awaiting the official communication.He, however, described the move as a welcome development and called on all Nigerians, irrespective of their religion to be a part of it since it was about Nigeria and security of lives and property.Also, the Senior Pastor, Christ Alive Power Assembly, Rafin Zurfi, Bauchi, Bishop Emmanuel Kanti, said he was aware of the protest and was fully in support of it.We have to make our voices known, so we are definitely in support of it, he said.The lawmaker representing Edo South senatorial district in the National Assembly, Senator Matthew Urhoghide, has denied calling for Presi...

The lawmaker representing Edo South senatorial district in the National Assembly, Senator Matthew Urhoghide, has denied calling for President Muhammadu Buharis impeachment.Urhoghide disclosed this while fielding questions from journalists at the Benin Airport in Edo State.Some senators had on Thursday reportedly called for the impeachment of Buhari for allowing the withdrawal of $496m from the Excess Crude Account to purchase military aircraft without the approval of the National Assembly.The Edo lawmaker, who is the Chairman, Senate Committee on Public Accounts, had reportedly moved a motion for the impeachment by urging the Senate to invoke Section 143.The senators comments had generated criticisms and a protest by some pro-Buhari groups in the state.It had also resulted in a clash between supporters of the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party at the airport on Friday evening, which the lawmaker was almost entangled in.But Urhoghide stated that he had only urged the Senate to invoke the relevant section of the Constitution so that President Buhari could explain why he took the decision to purchase the 12 aircrafts.He explained, The President had a good intention of buying the equipment but the procedure was wrong. And he too has accepted that it was wrong. We (lawmakers) swore to uphold the Constitution.An impeachment, if you check Section 143, is a long process. The first thing is you have to do an investigation and then correspondences will be entered into; the President has to be written by the President of the Senate, who is the chairman of the National Assembly.Then, of course, he (Buhari) too will reply and this has to go on for a long time. We have not reached this issue of an impeachment. Nobody on the floor of the Senate mentioned that the President should be impeached.The senator also faulted the comments of critics, adding that it would be ignorant to move for an impeachment without following the due process.He said, So if the papers said that somebody said that the President should be impeached, it is out of ignorance. I am very proud to be a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, representing Edo South senatorial district.As the Chairman, Senate Committee on Public Accounts, all revenues and expenditure fall on my table. So, this is part of it. So, they (critics) should be proud that this is what it is. The Constitution is above every person. So, we have not reached the point of impeachment.Urhoghide further explained, That was why the Senate President said that we should refer it to the judiciary, so that it would advise on what to do. So, an impeachment is not the first thing; if I come and even say that the President should be impeached, I am ignorant.Section 143 is a very long section. So, if you look at the processes, you will know that it will take a lot of actions. So, if I moved a motion that the President should be impeached, then I must be stupid.I only said, Invoke Section 143 so that processes will be followed; the President will still explain and the National Assembly will still have do some enquiries.A former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, says contrary to rumours flying around, he has no stake in Visionscape, a foreign ...

A former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, says contrary to rumours flying around, he has no stake in Visionscape, a foreign company recently engaged by the state government to manage waste in the state.I beg to correct something and I think I have to do it publicly; the rumour Ive heard all over the state and the social media is that I am the one who brought a foreign company. I am not the owner of Visionscape. Categorically, Im telling you today, I have no pennyYes, that is the truth, Tinubu said on Friday evening while addressing the members of the Association of Waste Managers of Nigeria, also known as PSP operators, who visited him to submit a petition to him.The PSP operators, which met Tinubu near his Bourdillon, Ikoyi home, had called on him to intervene to help them to save their means of livelihood and those of about 25,000 people which they said were in their employ.They also expressed concern over the surge of waste on the streets.Addressing them, Tinubu also decried the spread of waste on Lagos streets, as well as the continued emission of smoke from the burnt Olusosun dump, saying there was a need to address the situation.He said it was time he engaged with Governor Akinwunmi Ambode over the waste situation in the state.The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, has planned to storm the White House as President Muhammadu Buhari visits President Donald Trump ...

The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, has planned to storm the White House as President Muhammadu Buhari visits President Donald Trump of the United States of America, USA, at the White House, Washington DC.President Trump had recently invited the Nigerian leader which appears to be the first invitation from the United States President to any President in the continent of African.Newsmen that visited the Nigerian Embassy in Washington DC, reports that every arrangement has been made by the Nigerian community in America to welcome the President.It was also gathered that the Nigerian embassy was doing everything possible to ensure that the activities of the IPOB members did not embarrass the President when he meets with his American counterpart tomorrow.From intelligence reports, members of the IPOB had planned to protest during President Buharis meeting with President Trump and had already gotten clearance from the American security operatives for the protest.The IPOB members it was further gathered had stormed Comfort Inn Hotel at 4050 Powder Mill Road, Belts Ville, Merryland last weeks Friday where the Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu had held a town hall meeting, but the governor was said to have ignored their presence. At the town hall meeting, the IPOB members had entered the venue well dressed with their Biafran flags inside their suites only for them to bring out the flags as the meeting progressed.According to sources, the embassy found it difficult to stop any protests from any group because the IPOB had been given permit by the police and going by the American policy, the protesters will be given police protection within the period of their protest as efforts towards stopping them could infuriate the members of the group that has been outlawed in Nigeria. A source revealed had claimed that there were attempts by some of the embassy members to see whether they could identify the people behind the planned protest in order to see the possibility of using their family members to persuade them not to do anything that could embarrass the Nigerian President as well as the entire Nigerian community in the United States.Meanwhile, some members of the Presidents entourage arrived Washington early hours of Saturday. Among them include, the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Abayomi Gabriel Olanisakin, the Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency, DG-NIA, Ahmed Abubakar Rufai, the Attorney General of the Federation AGF and Minister of Justice, Malam Abubakar Malami, and Malam Mamman Daura who is said to be organizing the private investors.Also to be part of the delegation from the private sector are the Chairman and Chief Executive of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote and Tope Shonubi, the governor of Ogun State, Ibikunle Amosun and his counterpart from Plateau, Simon Lalong, Senator Monsurat Sunmonu, Chairman Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, Nnena Elendu Ukeje, Chairperson, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama and the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr.Okechukwu Enelamah. President Buhari who left Nigeria yesterday, will have audience with the Chief Executive Officers of United States in Blair House tomorrow after meeting with President Trump, in his bid to attract more foreign investors to Nigeria. At the official visit, he will have bilateral meeting with President Trump and a working lunch tomorrow.The meeting according to the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Chief Femi Adesina is expected to discuss ways to enhance the strategic partnership between the two countries and to advance shared priorities, such as: promoting economic growth, fighting terrorism and other threats to peace and security. The meeting will further deepen the US-Nigeria relationship as the United States considers Nigerias economic growth, security and leadership in Africa to be critical aspects of their strategic partnership.In the area of aviation, the Nigerian officials will be meeting with Boeing, the largest aircraft manufacturer in the world, on the National Carrier Project. On agriculture, they will meet with large equipment manufacturers with focus on harvesting and post harvesting equipment. In the area of transportation, the officials will meet with the GE-led consortium for the implementation of the interim phase of the narrow gauge rail concession.In the interim phase, a substantive concession agreement will be negotiated and finalized to provide the consortium the opportunity to invest an estimated $2bn, to modernize the rail line from Lagos to Kano (Western Line) and from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri (Eastern Line). During the meeting, the concession framework and the interim phase framework agreements are expected to be signed. The Nigerian officials will also meet with US-EXIM Bank and the US Overseas Private Investment Corporation to explore competitive financing arrangements.Recall that that in 2017, Nigerias Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment and the United States Department of Commerce signed a Memorandum of Understanding to promote and encourage commercial and investment ties between Nigeria and the United States, with initial focus on infrastructure, agriculture, digital economy, investment and regulatory reforms.All Progressives Congress, APC chieftain in Kogi State, Mr. Tunde Ajibulu has rebuffed claims that President Muhammadu Buhari disparaged the youths of the country urging Nigerian youths to take the controversy as an opportunity to make indelible marks for themselves.The security expert cum politician in a statement affirmed that the presidents words were taken out of context as he affirmed that the president who rode to power on the back of youths could not at the same time turn round to disparage that segment of the population.He said: I believe President Muhammadu Buhari was taken out of context. To me, it didnt sound like he was saying that young people in Nigeria are lazy in general.Everyone knows that he received substantial support from the youth population in his election and they are a large reason why he got into power, so he wouldnt cast this dispersion upon lots of his own supporters.Instead of seeing this as a slight, the youths should take this as a clarion call to stand up and be counted so they can wield electoral clout and take their position driving this nation forward.Power is in the hands of the youths and they can exercise it by getting their voters cards voting en masse and making political leaders to be accountable for their actions. Decisions are made by those who show up. Its time the youths show up and make themselves heard, he said.Fourteen opposition parties in Lagos State have formed an alliance to challenge Governor Akinwunmi Ambodes All Progressives Congress (AP...

Fourteen opposition parties in Lagos State have formed an alliance to challenge Governor Akinwunmi Ambodes All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2019 elections.The Chairman of Alliance for Democracy (AD) in the state, Mr Kola Ajayi, made the disclosure on Saturday in an interview News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.He said that the Star Alliance was recently formed with the objective of providing what he called a credible alternative to the APC.Ajayi, who also chairs the alliance, listed other parties in the coalition as MEGA, Action Alliance and New Nigeria Peoples Party.According to him, the others include Peoples Progressive Party, Peoples Redemption Party, Democratic Alternative and Accord.Ajayi said that the Peoples Party of Nigeria, People s Alliance for National Development and Liberty, Peoples Democratic Movement and Legacy Party of Nigeria were also part of the alliance.He claimed that APC had yet to meet the aspirations of Lagos residents, hence, the need for a credible alternative.We formed this coalition to provide a credible platform on which to deliver good governance to the real people at the grassroots.We think Lagos residents deserve better and we should come together and give them the kind of government they want, he said.He urged the residents to embrace the coalition which, he said, was formed for the masses.The coalition chairman said that the parties in the alliance had beenmeeting regularly on the strategy to employ to win Lagos in 2019.He said that the coalition would soon reach out to residents especially those at the grassroots on its development agenda.The state Chairman of NNPP, Malam Shakirudeen Olofin, also told NAN that the alliance was formed to give residents a `better deal.He said that the coalition was the `Lagos Third Force with the intention to bring real governance to the state.Also confirming the alliance, the state Chairman of MEGA Party, Mr Oladele Idowu, said that the coalition was formed to deliver `real change to the state in the interest of residents.Lagos State Chairman of Action Alliance, Mr Shola Omojola, also told NAN that the opposition parties were discussing strongly in the alliance to give the state residents a better deal.The Federal Government has declared Tuesday, May 1, 2018, as a public holiday to celebrate the 2018 Workers Day.

The Federal Government has declared Tuesday, May 1, 2018, as a public holiday to celebrate the 2018 Workers Day.The Minister of Interior, Lt Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau (retd.) who disclosed this in Abuja on Friday, congratulated Nigerian workers on their loyalty, strength of character, hard work, sacrifice and dedication to building a greater country.The minister in a statement by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Dr. M. Umar, appreciated the central role workers play in government activities and decisions, and for keeping faith with the present administration in its resolve to build a better Nigeria.Dambazau solicited the continuous support of Nigerian workers in governments effort to re-position the economy and uphold the shared legacy of all Nigerians.The minister wishes all Nigerian workers a successful May Day celebration, the statement said.Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has faulted the comment credited to President Muhammadu Buhari that Nigerian youths are lazy, saying t...

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has faulted the comment credited to President Muhammadu Buhari that Nigerian youths are lazy, saying that following the difficult situations the youths are passing through in the United States, Libya and other parts of the world, their great grandfathers would never say our youths are lazy.The ex-President spoke in Ibadan, Saturday, when the Coalition for Nigeria Movement (CNM) held a Town Hall meeting in Ibadan. Obasanjo said, But let me assure you of one thing. Having gone this far, I will not leave you high and dry, and I know God will continue to be with us. But dont ever think that it will be easy. Men of valour dont run away from challenges and it is the same thing with women of honour, except lazy men and women. But they said our youths are lazy.Recently, I was in the United States and I said our youths have gone through many things in the Sahara Desert, in Libya and the Mediterranean, and somebody would say they are lazy; their great grandfathers would never try to go that far. Meanwhile, the CNM declared that it would tell its over three million members the platform it would use in the forthcoming general elections. The former President said since he had been through several difficult times in the past due to his unshaken belief in the progress of Nigeria, nobody could intimidate him again.The Town Hall meeting attracted many notable Nigerians, including a former governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, who is the national coordinator of the movement; a former deputy governor of Oyo State, Ambassador Taofeek Arapaja; and two former secretaries to Oyo State Government, Chief Olayiwola Olakojo and Mr Ayodele Adigun. Obasanjo said,Dont be afraid or be discouraged.They will try to intimidate you individually or collectively. For me, I dont think there is anyone that can intimidate me. Let me remind you, I have gone through many things. I have been jailed without committing any offence. Where is the person that jailed me?President Muhammadu Buhari will on Saturday (today) leave Abuja on an official working visit to the United States of America, on the in...

President Muhammadu Buhari will on Saturday (today) leave Abuja on an official working visit to the United States of America, on the invitation of President Donald Trump.According to a statement on Friday by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, the President will hold a bilateral meeting with Trump and have a working lunch on Monday.The statement said the meeting between the two leaders would focus on ways to enhance the strategic partnership between the two countries and to advance shared priorities such as: promoting economic growth, fighting terrorism and other threats to peace and security.The meeting will further deepen the US-Nigeria relationship as the United States considers Nigerias economic growth, security and leadership in Africa to be critical aspects of their strategic partnership, the statement read.Adesina added that Buhari would later in the day meet with a group of business persons in agriculture and agro-processing, dairy and animal husbandry.He said ahead of the visit, meetings had been scheduled on April 26 and 27 between senior Nigerian government officials and the executives of major US companies in the areas of agriculture, aviation and transportation.The statement added, In the area of aviation, the Nigerian officials will be meeting with Boeing, the largest aircraft manufacturer in the world, on the National Carrier Project.On agriculture, they will meet with large equipment manufacturers with a focus on harvesting and post-harvesting equipment.In the area of transportation, the officials will meet with the GE-led consortium for the implementation of the interim phase of the narrow gauge rail concession.In the interim phase, a substantive concession agreement will be negotiated and finalised to provide the consortium with the opportunity to invest an estimated $2bn, to modernise the rail line from Lagos to Kano (Western Line) and from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri (Eastern Line). During the meeting, the concession framework and the interim phase framework agreements are expected to be signed.The Nigerian officials will also meet with US-EXIM Bank and the US Overseas Private Investment Corporation to explore competitive financing arrangements.Adesina added that in 2017, Nigerias Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment and the United States Department of Commerce signed a Memorandum of Understanding to promote and encourage commercial and investment ties between Nigeria and the US, with the initial focus on infrastructure, agriculture, digital economy, investment and regulatory reforms.The President, Christ Apostolic Church. (CAC) Worldwide, Pastor Abraham Akinosun on Saturday urged churches to stop complaining but pray for President Muhammadu Buhari to overcome challenges facing the nation.Akinosun made the appeal while ministering at the Grand Finale of a Seven-Day Fasting and Prayer at Ikoyi Mountain Ero-Omo Village, Osun for the nation on Saturday morning.The prayer was organised by Evangelist Felix Adunpe, General Overseer, Signs and Wonders Prayer Ministries in collaboration with the CAC, held between April 21 and April 27.The prayer, which had hundreds of Christians praying from 11 pm to 4am, was tagged: Nigeria Must be Redeemed.Akimosun, the former Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria, said that only God could redeem Nigeria from her present predicaments.According to the cleric, who read from Psalm 122: 6 and Jeremiah 29:11, God loves Nigeria and would heal the nation of her current socio-economic and security challenges with prayers.Leaders fail when people fail to pray. Stop abusing and cursing our leaders because as you curse them the consequences will be borne by all citizens.If we pray for our leaders, God will inspire them and everything will be all right. We should not lose hope in Nigeria.Let us pray for peace, progress and prosperity of the nation. We need to pray for economic resurgence and prosperity. We need Gods intervention in this country.We need to pray for this nation because of innocent people that are being slaughtered everyday. Lets pray for the redemption of this country.It is important we pray for the President. It is our response as children of God to pray for our leaders and the country. If we fail, many evil will be springing up, he said.According to Akinosun, Nigerians must bring to fore sincere love for the country and shun hatred because it is the only country we possess.He said that Nigeria required a forthright leadership that would lead her to desired destinations of economic advancement, peace and prosperity.The cleric, who cautioned against self defence, said that such step would make killings more rampant in the nation.He added:Lets cry to God. This is the work of the church. The hope of every nation is the church. People continue to rebuke the church if we fail to do our responsibility.We have God that answers prayers. If we can reverence God by asking forgiveness, God will heal our land. It now clear that this nation needs prayers for the leadership and the followership.The cleric, who urged the Federal Government to restructure the security architecture of the country, expressed dissatisfaction over recurrent killings and economic hardship facing Nigerians.Akinosun, who also called for an end corruption, ritualism, kidnapping, urged the political leaders to be alert to their responsibility and be selfless to end crisis.The president must do everything in his capacity to see that the killings stop, he added.He later led the people into serious prayer for nations redemption and intervention in her governance, saying sacking the President would not solve Nigerias problem.Also Pastor Elisha Alalade, Oke Osun DCC Superintendent and Chairman/Presiding Pastor, CAC Ori- Oke IIkoyi (Ikoyi Mountain) said in his address, said that Nigeria was facing a battle that must be won spiritually.All these killings are devils work to set Nigeria on fire. Where there is no peace, there will be no prosperity. Its time to pray.The moment we win the spiritual battle, the nation will move forward. God will intervene and darkness will vanished. Nigeria must be redeemed, Alalade said.The cleric, who led the congregation in fervent prayers for peace and Gods intervention in Nigerias governance, asked God to terminate all works of Satan.In his remarks, Adunpe, co-host of the prayers noted that God revealed him that the nation had exalted idols through the hostage of Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC) in 1977 and demoted God.He said God directed him to hold the prayers on the mount, adding: Before Nigeria can enjoy peace and unity and make progress, Nigerians must pray and ask for Gods forgiveness.There is hope for Nigeria as God will intervene, peace will reign after this prayer, Adunpe assured.The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that hundreds of Nigerians across denominations prayed God to forgive the nations sins of bloodletting, occultism, ritualism, idolatry among others.They also prayed for peace, unity, end to killings as well as economic prosperity of the nation.The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has chided President Muhammadu Buhari over his claim in Bauchi that he is sure of winning the 2019 Pre...

The party noted that the claim shows the President is not reading the mood of Nigerians who are only waiting for 2019 to show him the exit door. In a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, the party hinged the Presidents optimism on what it termed the planned manipulation of the electoral process by the umpire in favour of the ruling party.It is indeed unfortunate that President Buhari cannot read the clear handwriting on the wall, even as demonstrated by the scanty attendance of his Bauchi rally on Thursday, where he boasted about winning the 2019 elections.We know that the President and his handlers are banking on manipulating the electoral processes to foist themselves back to power by depending on their blood relation in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to assist in providing data of underage voters in Katsina, Kano states and some other porous areas of the nation.What President Buhari has failed to come to terms with is the uncompromising resolve of Nigerians across the country, particularly the youths, to resist any form of rigging in 2019, the statement read in part. The PDP also lampooned the Commander-in-Chiefs handling of the mindless killings in the land, stressing that rather come up with immediate solutions to the security challenges, the President was thinking only of his re-election bid.It added: It is shocking that in the face of colossal failure of governance leading to hunger and starvation, ethnic division, bloodletting and killings in our land, Mr. President is more concerned about a selfish agenda of foisting himself on a people who have become despondent of his leadership.This is a leader who came into office on the plank of promises of fighting insurgency and corruption as well as guaranteeing economic prosperity. Shockingly, Mr. President has not only failed on all fronts, his body language is aiding and abetting corruption, harassment and intimidation of citizens as well as instilling of siege mentality in our land.One of the governorship aspirants of the Peoples Democratic Party in Osun State, Olawale Rasheed, was on Friday morning attacked by four ...

One of the governorship aspirants of the Peoples Democratic Party in Osun State, Olawale Rasheed, was on Friday morning attacked by four gunmen who were suspected to be assassins.Rasheed, a former Political Editor of Nigerian Tribune, told newsmen that he had left Ibadan, Oyo State, and was coming to Osogbo to submit his letter of intent when his attackers, in an unmarked black sport-utility vehicle, crossed his vehicle and opened fire on it.The governorship aspirant said he could not accuse anybody in particular of being behind the attack but said he was saved by God who prevented the hail of bullets from hitting him or any of his aides in the vehicle with him.He said, I was coming to Osogbo from Ibadan this morning (Friday) when the incident happened. I was at Gbongan and I observed that a vehicle was trailing me, so I asked the driver to slow down. It became obvious that they were up to something evil.The unmarked black SUV in which the gunmen were driving immediately overtook us and blocked our path. Four masked men came out of the SUV and started shooting in the air and one of them said, get him, get him.Our driver immediately put the vehicle in reverse and sped away; he managed to turn back and faced the road to Ibadan. They also turned and pursued us for about five minutes.They were shooting at us continuously as they trailed us. They eventually turned back before we got to Ikire and that was how we escaped the attack.Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, three-time minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, says late president Umar Musa YarAdua wanted her to be finan...

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, three-time minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, says late president Umar Musa YarAdua wanted her to be finance minister in his government.





This revelation was made in her recently released book, fighting corruption is dangerous, a front line account of her role in former president Goodluck Jonathans administration.





According to the development economist, she rejected the offer because it would be unprofessional to leave the World Bank at that time.





Narrating how she joined the Jonathan administration, Okonjo-Iweala said: the request to return home to Nigeria from Washington threw my mind-and, in fact my life-into turmoil. I was truly enjoying my job in the international development arena. Although my first term as Finance Minister had been highly rewarding in terms of the opportunity to give back to my country, working with a strong team, and recording many achievements for the economy, she wrote.





It also had been politically and personally difficult, especially toward the end. I resigned when I felt no longer able to serve under adverse conditions, and the resignation was seen as a bold and controversial move on my part. No Nigerian minister resigns; they are only fired. Stepping down from my post had earned me the ire of those at the top





Would it be Wise to return, given the tough politics? What exactly were the current circumstances in the Ministry of Finance, and would they be conducive to achieving further advances for the economy? I would need to do some homework and a great deal of reflection. If I said no, as I was inclined to do, I would have to back it up with strong arguments as it can be quite difficult refusing your President a request!





Speaking on YarAdua, she said: I remembered just how tough it had been to say no to President YarAdua, who had done me the honor of asking me twice to return as Finance Minister. But that had been in 2008 and I had very strong reasons to say no, among them the fact that I had just returned to the World Bank a few months earlier in a very senior position and it would be unprofessional to leave after such a short time.





I was relieved when he kindly accepted my regrets the second time and asked me to suggest someone else. He took up my suggestion and appointed as Finance Minister Dr. Mansur Muhtar, an economist, a colleague, and former Director General of Nigerias Debt Management Office.





Although that tricky situation had been resolved relatively well, I had no idea what would happen if I said no again.



Surveillance video showing Camden County Police Officer Nicholas Romantino punching a man 12 times in the head sparked outrage when it became public in February. Even the police chief said he was 'extremely disturbed' by it.

But Romantino and a few other officers apparently had a laugh about the violent arrest of Edward Minguela just a few minutes later, according to body camera footage from the night of the Feb. 22 arrest.

Obtained through a public records request, the video shows Romantino showing his swollen knuckles to an officer who says of Minguela, "That guy. He's always giving us a hard time, that guy."

"Not anymore," Romantino quipped, eliciting a few chuckles from his colleagues.

Minguela, 32, of Camden was arrested after officers responded to reports of a man with a gun. However, no gun was found on or near Minguela after he was taken into custody, authorities have said.

Minguela has threatened to sue police and the county prosecutor for alleged civil rights violations over the police stop on the street in the Fairview section of Camden, his attorney, Devon Jacob of Pennsylvania, has said.

Jacob has demanded the prosecutor's office drop Minguela's charges of resisting arrest and obstruction. Those charges, however, remain active in municipal court.

The Camden County Prosecutor's Office said last week that no charges will be filed against Romantino, because video of the incident shows Minguela was resisting by pulling his arms away from Romantino's grasp. However, he remains on unpaid leave as the police department conducts its own internal affairs investigation.

Minguela told NJ Advance Media that he was walking away from Fairview Liquor on Collings Road around 8 p.m. Feb. 22 when officers ran up to him with guns drawn. Someone had called 911 to report a man with a gun and gave a spot-on description of Minguela, his vehicle and another man he was with.

Police searched for a weapon, but none was ever found.

The video shows Minguela put his hands up when ordered to do so, but when Romantino tries to put Minguela's arms behind his back, he appears to pull away.

Romantino takes him to the ground, tries to cuff him and then punches him nine times in the head, each blow landing with a thud in between his yells of "put your hands behind your back!" He orders him again to put his hands behind his back and delivers three more blows before cuffing Minguela, who starts to wail, "Why you hitting me like that bro?"

After walking Minguela over to a cruiser, Romantino pats him down. The video shows Minguela keeping up a steady dialogue, and at one point accusing Romantino of kicking him after Minguela called him a pejorative term.

Once inside the cruiser, Minguela continued to ask the driver, Officer Peter Sanchez, why he was arrested. "You'll have to ask the officer that arrested you," he replies.

The body camera videos also capture Romantino telling Sgt. Andrew Fegley that Minguela "requested to go to the hospital after I roughed his dome up a little bit."

Sanchez is rerouted to the hospital by Fegley, the video shows. The officers turn off their body cameras at the hospital -- which a police spokesman said is in compliance with privacy rules -- so it's impossible to verify the next part of Minguela's story.

He said that an officer told him that if he declined medical care, they'd issue him a summons for resisting arrest and obstruction, but that if he sought treatment, they would also add a more serious charge of assault and battery on a police officer.

Minguela said he took the offer and left without treatment, but went back to the hospital the next day. His lawyer said he had a concussion and a fractured wrist.

Jacob said it is a conflict of interest for the same prosecutor's office that is trying to convict Minguela for resisting arrest to also investigate whether Romantino's use of force was lawful.

He and two local NAACP branches have called for a federal or state law enforcement agency to conduct the investigation instead. In issuing an OPRA request denial in March, the county revealed that the U.S. Attorney's Office was looking into the case.

Jacob has also questioned whether the prosecutor's office is looking into who anonymously called 911 to report that Minguela had a gun.

On the body camera videos, officers can be heard saying that this is the third such call they've received about Minguela and they need to figure out who is calling. One officer speculates that the calls are because someone "has it out for him."

Court records show Minguela has been charged with crimes in Superior Court 11 times over the last 13 years, but most charges were transferred to municipal or family court, records show. He was convicted of resisting arrest in 2017 and of charges related to drug distribution in 2013 and 2005.

Romantino has been on the force for two years and earns a salary of $38,864.

According to police spokesman Dan Keashen, two officers who were peripherally involved in Minguela's arrest are on paid leave while the internal affairs investigation is completed.

Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @rebeccajeverett. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tipsMore than three-dozen employees at Cumberland County College may be laid off come June 30 as the college faces declining enrollment and explores a potential merger with Rowan College at Gloucester County.

The Cumberland County College Board of Trustees voted 5-2 Thursday night to explore joining Rowan College at Gloucester County, located in Deptford Township.

"I think that anytime an opportunity is put on the table to look into opportunities for the college, we would do ourselves a disservice if we do not at least look into it," Board of Trustees chairwoman Donna Perez said. "It is exploratory. We are not getting rid of the college."

They are however, getting rid of some of the jobs.

A total of 43 full-time and part-time staff members, most of who were assistants, support staff security and grounds staff, received notices in February that the fate of their jobs would be discussed during the trustees meeting, according to documents obtained by NJ Advance Media. The following day those employees received reduction in force notices from the college stating that their employment contracts would not be renewed after they end on June 30 as a "result of a reorganization."

Karen Arenz, a learning assistant in the English lab, was one of them.

"On June 30, I will no longer have any benefits, neither will my family," an emotional Arenz said to the board. "I have been trying to find ways to remedy the situation, and none of them is really livable."

During the trustees meeting in March, the school's acting executive dean for enrollment services Anne Daly Eimer told the board that there has been a trend of spring student enrollment decreasing in southern New Jersey. Additionally, students were declining to report their ethnicity, which in turn could affect more funding for the school in the future, Eimer told the board in March, according to the meeting's minutes.

This year, the college collected $11.3 million in tuition and fees from students -- a $1.5 million decrease from the previous year. Tuition accounts for nearly half of the college's $25 million budget.

Enrollment at the college has decreased from 5,476 students in 2012 to 4,063 in fiscal year 2017, according to data from the state Department of Education.

Addressing the board on Thursday after the vote, the New Jersey Education Association representative for Cumberland County employees, Marcia Kleinz, said she was disappointed the public was not allowed to address the items on the agenda, including the exploration of the merger, before the vote was taken.

"To me, it is disrespectful to the very number of employees that you see in this room that you did not give them a voice before you voted," Kleinz said.

To replace the eight security and safety-related positions at the college, the board voted unanimously to approve a five-year, $383,000 shared service agreement with the Cumberland County Board of Vocational Education to provide security for the college. The deal begins July 1, 2018, and the cost of the service will increase 2 percent each year.

Cumberland County Improvement was recently approved to handle custodial, landscaping and other maintenance jobs at the school. The authority President Gerald Velazquez III said he will look to rehire some of the people who received the notices and try to do what it can to help the other employees.

In March, Gloucester County Freeholder Director Robert Damminger and Cumberland County Freeholder Director Joseph Derella issued a joint statement acknowledging discussions had been had to merge the schools, but no formal action was taken before Thursday's vote.

"While it is too early to speculate the outcome, we do support the concept of seeking new ways of delivering the best services to our residents, weighing all options, pros and cons and we look further to a continued conversation on this idea, which will be done in the most transparent of manners," the two said in the statement.

Chris Franklin can be reached at cfranklin@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @cfranklinnews. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tipsAll hail Danny DeVito, king of Asbury Park (sorry, Springsteen and Bon Jovi, but you've gotten more than your fair share).

The New York Times reports that on Saturday, at the Asbury Park Music & Film Festival, Gov. Phil Murphy is set to announce that the veteran actor, a Monmouth County native, will get his own state day. The gesture is not without significance -- the actor will become the first person from Asbury Park to get their own day.

When exactly is Danny DeVito Day? Why, Nov. 17, the birthday of the man who would play Martini in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (alongside Jack Nicholson, who hails from Neptune City), animate the abrasive dispatcher Louie DePalma in "Taxi," team with Arnold Schwarzenegger for "Twins" and "Junior," become the Penguin in "Batman Returns" and "get weird with it" as Frank Reynolds on "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia."

"I was very flattered," DeVito told the Times. "Of course, they first told me I could have a beach. Yeah, but they reneged. So I said, 'Oh, that's perfect. It's New Jersey.'"

DeVito, 73, who was born in Neptune Township and grew up in Asbury Park, is a member of the New Jersey Hall of Fame, inducted in 2010, with the help of Bruce Springsteen.

"He has Jersey attitude pouring out of him, even when he is standing still," Springsteen said at the ceremony.

On Saturday, DeVito will be in Asbury Park for a career retrospective as a headliner at the music and film festival (Wyclef Jean is another).

"Career retrospective is a lot of words, man," DeVito told NJ Advance Media in a recent interview, recalling the days when he worked at a boardwalk amusement park as a teen, snacking on hot dogs, candy apples, root beer, and French fries with vinegar and salt. "There's a lot of TV, lot of movies, a lot of stuff."

DeVito, who would sneak into the Lyric Theatre when he was young to watch the movies "condemned" by his Catholic school teachers, told the Times he intends to lobby the state about reinstating tax incentives for film productions in New Jersey, which had been allowed to expire under former Gov. Chris Christie, who did not support their revival.

"Now that I'm an icon and have a Danny DeVito Day, I'm going to try my best to get the tax incentive passed in New Jersey so that we can make movies in New Jersey," said DeVito, whose production company is called Jersey Films (responsible for movies like "Man on the Moon," "Matilda" and "Erin Brockovich") and is run by the Jersey Group, the company he's operated with wife Rhea Perlman (they're now separated).

DeVito isn't the only Jersey-bred celebrity to receive the "day" honor. Jon Bon Jovi and Bon Jovi recently got their own calendar day (April 14), to celebrate the band's induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. It's probably only a matter of time before we get an entire Springsteen Season.

Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AmyKup or on Facebook.The woman who was stabbed to death in front of a home in Montclair was remembered by her friends and family as a kind and loving person.

Akirah Townes, 20, a Kean University student from Orange, was on Hartley Street around 6 a.m. Friday while attempting to leave for a trip to Virginia Beach when she was attacked, authorities said. Prosecutors charged a man she was once in a relationship with in the stabbing.

"She knew exactly what she wanted in life, wasn't afraid to go after it," said one of her older brothers, Kayron Townes.

Akirah Townes was one of 11 children and attended Orange public schools.

Kayron Townes described his sister as a very dedicated and hardworking student. She was studying special education at Kean and earned a spot on the college's Dean's List in the fall semester.

"If she wasn't at school or at work she was with family," Townes said. "She would call up one of her brothers and we'd come over and crack jokes."

"If she cared about you she would give you the world," Townes said.

"I remember the last phone call we had she told me how happy she was to see me happy," he said.

Jajuauan Almanza, a childhood friend of Townes, described her as a warmhearted and down to earth person.

"She always had a smile on her face," Almanza said.

The death led to an outpouring of grief from friends on social media, where posts said they planned to host a vigil for Townes.

Akira my heart is so heartbroken by these sad news last worked Tuesday you were sweetest. Most caring greatest person... Posted by Jean Gibson Szpara on Friday, April 27, 2018

Prosecutors charged Ahighah Broomes with the killing. Broomes turned himself in to Orange police as detectives were searching for him Friday, according to the Essex County Prosecutor's Office. He faces murder and weapons charges in the death.

Kayron Townes said his sister and Broomes were in a relationship, but she broke it off.

Prosecutors have not commented on a possible motive for the slaying.

I woke up thinking about you and the moments we shared in high school. R.I.P Akirah Townes' Still cant believe this Posted by Ruchama Son on Saturday, April 28, 2018

Olivia Rizzo may be reached at orizzo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @LivRizz. Find NJ.com on FacebookWorkers include doctors, clerks, dentists, accountants and other professionals. Union tells me that employees who have worked for the city for 10 years are making $22,000 a year. pic.twitter.com/5A1WPuaHkS  Karen Yi (@karen_yi) April 24, 2018

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka has been among the loudest advocates in the "fight for $15," a campaign to push the minimum wage up to $15 an hour for workers across the state.

But there are city employees are earning less than that, a local union said this week as they protested in City Council chambers for a living wage increase after contract negotiations reached an impasse.

"Fair wages, fair contract," more than two dozen union members yelled at Tuesday's City Council meeting, holding signs that read, "I work for the city but can't afford to live in it!"

Newark Council 21 represents more than 900 white-collar workers that include accountants, executive assistants, telecommunication workers, clerks and other professionals, such as doctors and dentists. The union has been negotiating for more than three years on a new contract after one expired in 2014.

City officials declined to comment on contract negotiations but said Baraka was committed to ensuring all workers earn at least $15 an hour -- and could "correct" that even as negotiations are ongoing.

"The mayor does agree that these contracts should be settled," Rahaman Muhammad, the city's deputy mayor of employment, said at the meeting. "The mayor has put an edict down ... He has said the minimum salary in the city should be $15."

Baraka announced in March of 2016 he would ensure a $15-an-hour minimum wage for all part-time and full-time city employees by 2018.

Muhammad on Tuesday asked the union to give city officials a list of members who make under $15 an hour so the city could address the problem.

Sean Small, the acting president of Council 21, said that list had been provided to the city already. The city also has access to its own personnel records.

Council 21 said 67 of its members fall under that threshold, earning between $22,000 and $30,000 annually.

Personnel Director Kecia Daniels, however, said Sunday that after reviewing her records, she found only 22 permanent employees earned less than $15 an hour. That does not include temporary or seasonal workers who will remain at their hourly earning rates.

Daniels said though most of the city's 3,300 employees were raised to the $15 minimum by the mayor's deadline, she learned on Tuesday that some "fell through the cracks." Those workers' wages should rise to $15 an hour after their paperwork is processed by the end of next week, she said.

Members of Council 21 protested at City Hall on Tuesday demanding a fair contract and fair wages. (Karen Yi | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

"This administration publicizes that it supports other local unions' gains and their demand for living wages and benefits, while we have members making less than $15 an hour," said Dee Gorczyca, a representative of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, said at the meeting.

"In over 15 meetings since we began this process and we still do not have a contract, we have to ask, does this administration really want to settle this contract, or are they perpetuing the national agenda to weaken unions and eliminate collective bargaining?"

Dozens of city workers stand in solidarity at Tuesdays council meeting demanding a fair contract and fair wages. pic.twitter.com/FpkRUOSibO  Karen Yi (@karen_yi) April 25, 2018

The Newark City Council last month approved a resolution supporting Council 21's efforts for a fair contract.

"We have employees who work for the city, live in the city and can't afford the city," Small said. "There are a ton of people here working 10 years and they are still on step one," which is the equivalent of the first level on a salary schedule, he added.

Workers have not moved up in the salary schedule for 20 years but did receive a 2 percent wage increase in 2014.

"Council 21 is not asking for more than what is fair and reasonable. Our members provide vital services to the city, and they deserve to be compensated with a livable wage, health benefits and career advancement," Gorczyca said.

[Editor's note: This story was updated to include a comment from the city's personnel director.]

Karen Yi may be reached at kyi@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @karen_yi or on Facebook.I would usually attend a Union City Mayor Brian Stack rally to read the body language and listen to unspoken messages. Also, a Stack event is about the pageantry. The we-love-Brian-fest reminds me of what it must have been like at a set of a Cecil B. DeMille production.

When the Thursday evening Union City First rally took place I was attending the New Jersey Press Association Spring Awards Ceremony in Hamilton where The Jersey Journal and its sister Advance (Newhouse to you old readers) Media publications racked up an impressive number of wins.

I did understand the importance of the Union City gathering at the Park Performing Arts Center, famous for its long running Passion Play and once the setting for an HBO George Carlin show. It comes at an important moment in county politics. There were enough people that I know attending who kept me abreast of what went on at the Stack-athon.

Apparently when you say thousands attended, you almost dont have to question the figures, according to those who were there. I still prefer saying many hundreds even though the 1,400-seat theater was packed with folks standing in the aisle and many were hanging outside the venue.

What was more interesting was what political figures showed up at a time when loyalties within the Hudson County Democratic Party are being questioned. Remember when I previously wrote that there would be an answer to county Executive Tom DeGises attack mailer highlighting Stacks convenient bromance with Gov. Chris Christie. This rally was a small part of that response.

Let's try to encapsulate the background to this long story. Last month Stack, the 33rd Legislative District senator, and Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop told DeGise they would not back him for re-election next year. DeGise said he was running despite their rejection but the problem is that Stack is expected to become the Hudson County Democratic Organization chairman this June and would decide who is on the party line in the 2019 primary.

DeGise, with help from North Bergen Mayor and state Sen. Nick Sacco and his satellite municipalities (West Hudson, Secaucus, Guttenberg and a shadowy Weehawken), is running a campaign to resist Stacks potential chairmanship and the trashing is in full swing.

It should be awkward for Sacco because his man, former Assembly Speaker Vinnie Prieto of Secaucus, was backed by everyone as chairman of the HCDeadO for an unprecedented two-year term. Now Sacco doesnt want a change in the status quo, meaning DeGise, and it's understandable considering the large amount of patronage the North Bergen boss controls in county government.

Another way to look at this is as a generational gap. DeGise, Sacco and others in this camp have long been eligible for AARP membership. It is one reason the Democrats have no bench in their dugout. Love em or hate em, Stack and Fulop represent the next generation of Democratic Party big honchos with the potential for more newcomers rising to the top.

DeGise held a recent fundraising event at the Liberty House in Jersey City, attended by U.S. Rep. Albio Sires of West New York who is also marked for removal after this years election. The biggest coup was getting U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez to say hello after he recently survived an unsuccessful attempt by federal prosecutors to try him for being a bad boy. Giving Menendez Special Guest status was tantamount to applying for a Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval from the partys iconic member.

So it must have been a surprise when Menendez showed up in the front row at Stacks big circus Thursday evening. Besides Menendez some other biggies attending were Gov. Phil Murphy, state Senate President Steve Sweeney, 31st District state Sen. Sandra Cunningham, a number of area municipal elected officials, all Democrats -- and Essex County Republican Chairman Al Barlas and former Essex County GOP Sen. Kevin OToole.

And yes, Fulop was not there. He was at one of his own community events. Besides, no one wants to share the stage that you'd like to hog. Nevertheless, Stack and Fulop are connected at the hip in this power move.

As for the Menendez appearance, I took into consideration that it comes when the U.S. Senate Ethics Committee "severely admonished" their New Jersey colleague. The senator's sin they said was supporting the business interests of a Florida doctor in return for "gifts," although a jury couldn't agree with the panel, one way or another, and federal prosecutors decided they had little chance of winning a retrial.

This now officially dark episode in Menendezs political career is the main campaign focus for his re-election opponent, Republican Bob Hugin, a former executive for bio-tech firm Celgene Corp.

It just seems that every time Menendez gets a national bloody nose, he seeks solace in his home county and city. To be fair, so does every major elected official, but in Bobs case, it helps to go to a room where you know the people in charge can churn out astronomical re-election votes.

Understand the bizarre irony of this gigantic rally. Mayor Stack and his mates are running to return to City Hall and they are unopposed. This extravaganza has been super-sized as a countywide message for Democratic Party members. Essentially Stack and Fulop are being headlined as the progressives and a needed change to the status quo.

It is one of the more interesting political dramas in New Jersey this year.

BAYONNE ELECTION BUZZ

The residents of the Peninsula City have unusual choices for the upcoming mayoral race. Yeah, there are the true believers for mostly the two front runners, incumbent Mayor Jimmy Davis and rival challenger and former Assemblyman Jason O'Donnell, who will blindly cast their ballots for their guys.

The third candidate is an unusual "two-sport" personality, Dr. Mitchell Brown who besides having a gerontology practice is also an attorney, naturally specializing in malpractice.

After helping to host The Jersey Journal Facebook streaming of our editorial board interviews of each candidate I came away with some quick observations.

Davis seems to have held his serve when it comes to development questions, not so much with other queries. Perhaps the point that hurt him the most was his admission that he doesnt read the local newspaper and gets his news about what effects the city from others.

ODonnells answers were so smooth and he seemed too comfortable that it actually made some board members feel it was a black art. Does he come off that good or is he a good actor? Will the alien pop out of his chest?

Brown was the most interesting and perhaps a bit naive. What we learned is that he has also tried his hand at being a standup comedian and also dabbled in poker out in Vegas but he insists that hes not a professional and its something that relaxes him. Having a poker face and capable of getting some guffaws serve a politician well. Brown claims that should he win, he has no intention of giving up any of his practices.

Wow, I seem to have written more about a guy who is an underdog but he does want to cut government expense and isn't interested in county politics -- really.

What you notice about this campaign is that the election is just around the corner and it seems the city residents have suddenly awakened to that fact. There's a buzz in Bayonne and the race appears to have substantially tightened as a result of a wave of mailings and campaigning by the O'Donnell camp. It's close enough in the home stretch for everyone's palms to sweat a bit on Election Day.

We're not hearing anything more about a highly suspect 28-point lead early campaign claim by the incumbent camp. Also, we're waiting for that overdue endorsement from former Mayor Mark Smith - who was recently tabbed to head the county's homeland security outfit for $104,000 annually - for Davis, who defeated him in the last election.

And I never mentioned the sexting.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Agustin C. Torres' columns appear on the nj.com opinion website on Saturdays and occasionally in the print edition of The Jersey Journal. Submit letters to the editor and guest columns at jjletters@jjournal.com.JERSEY CITY -- A 25-year-old was arrested and charged after he was found in possession of drugs and a handgun, police said.

Just after 10 p.m. on Thursday, Anthony Spence was fpund with drugs and a handgun after fleeing from police in the area of Stegman Street and MLK Drive, authorities said.

Police officers patrolling the area reported hearing six gun shots, authorities said. Spence, after being identified, then fled the scene. Police chased him over multiple fences and through several yards, police said.

The 25-year-old was eventually cut off, however, and was arrested. He was found with multiple bags of unidentified drugs and a handgun on his person, authorities said.

Spence was charged with unlawful possession of a weapon, resisting arrest, and possession of a controlled dangerous substance, among other charges.

This is the 107 handgun recovered since the beginning of the year, a city spokeswoman said.

Corey W. McDonald may be reached at cmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @coreymacc. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.Parent council seeks help for dire Jersey City school budget

On Monday, April 23, members of the PS 16 parent council, Jillian Mellen (1st vice president) and Natalia Ioffe (director of parent engagement) attended the assembly budget committee hearing on education. We met representatives of other N.J. school districts who were equally devastated at the shortage of educational funding and the staff layoffs they were facing. We were also saddened to hear budget committee members voicing opinions that Jersey City Public School district -- (that) in particular (it) was overfunded by $120 million. The fact that our schools are underfunded and have been for years has been effectively proven in a recent case study by the Education Law Center.

We heard many senators and assembly members advocate on behalf of their districts in their comments to the acting commissioner of education Dr. Lamont O. Repollet. Unfortunately the representative of Hudson County, Assemblyman Raj Muherji, was not present at the hearing and Jersey City was sadly left without a voice to speak in its defense. We hope to rectify that with a strong parent effort throughout our city.



We brought back documents to share with our parents (visit https://ps16cpablog.wordpress.com/ for electronic copies or links):



We would like to thank all our parents who are helping us get signatures on a letter to state senate president Sen. Stephen Sweeney. Our "PS16 Parents School Funding Petition to Senate Our" letter is a response to the senator's recent comments about the teacher's contract, calling it "irresponsible" and an "insult." We believe that the teachers' basic need to provide for their families and the children's right to a thorough and efficient education should not be mutually exclusive.

By actively reaching out to City Council and state legislators we are demanding immediate solutions to prevent the massive layoffs of highly qualified teachers who are essential to the success of our children. Your support is absolutely vital!

Call and sign up to speak in public comments -- 201-915-6074 -- at any of the upcoming special meetings on the budget.

The Jersey City Board of Education will hold the following Special Meetings on its 2018-19 Budget at 6 PM in Room 1R of 346 Claremont Avenue: (Best to call at least 24 hours in advance).

* Tuesday, May 1

*Thursday, May 4

* Monday, May 7

Jillian Mellen and Natalia Ioffe, Jersey City P.S. 16 parent council members

Send letters and Op-Eds to The Jersey Journal at jjletters@jjournal.com.With President Donald Trump yet to nominate anyone as the next U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, the federal court took the rare step Friday of appointing Craig Carpenito, who has been in the job on an interim basis since January.

The clock on Carpenito's interim 120-day appointment was to run out next week.

The vote by the court means Carpenito will remain as the state's top federal prosecutor until the Senate confirms a nominee by the president.

"Chief Judge Jose L. Linares notified me that the U.S. District Court has appointed me United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey," said Carpenito in a statement, thanking the judge and the court for the honor.

A former white-collar defense and securities lawyer who had represented former Gov. Chris Christie in matters related to the "Bridgegate" lane-closure scandal, Carpenito had been named interim U.S. Attorney in January by Attorney General Jeff Sessions earlier this year. However, his 120-day term was due to expire next week and without a nominee by the president, it was left to the judges in the New Jersey federal district to vote on a replacement. They voted to keep Carpenito.

Earlier this week, the judges of the Federal District Court in Manhattan took a similar step, voting to appoint Geoffrey S. Berman -- who had also been acting in an interim role -- to serve as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Despite the interim appointment, Carpenito was never formally nominated for the high-profile position by Trump. Although Sen. Cory Booker and Sen. Robert Menendez, both Democrats, by tradition had the prerogative given to home-state senators to use the so-called "blue slip" to try to block Carpenito's confirmation had he had been nominated by the Republican president, neither had indicated they planned to do so.

Carpenito himself came into the position as time was running out to replace then-Acting U.S. Attorney William E. Fitzpatrick, who took over the office after Paul Fishman resigned in last March at Sessions' request along with 45 other Obama-appointed U.S. attorneys.

Carpenito and Berman were among 17 interim U.S. attorneys across the country who came into office with another statutory deadline that was about to run out, after the acting U.S. attorneys they succeeded had served the maximum amount of time allowed in that role by law.

A graduate of Rider University and Seton Hall Law School, Carpenito previously worked under Christie at the New Jersey U.S. Attorney's Office from 2005 to 2008. He also previously served as senior counsel for the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission's enforcement division in New York.

"It is a great privilege for me to return to my roots as a federal prosecutor in New Jersey," Carpenito said in his statement.

Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL. Facebook: @TedSherman.reporter. Find NJ.com on Facebook.While bear sightings are not at all that rare in Morris County, it is unusual to find one on your property at midnight - eating birdseed on your elevated back deck.

Daniel Baesler of Chatham saw a motion detector light go off outside his home late Tuesday and went to investigate. What he found was a large, hungry bear enjoying a midnight snack after ripping into a birdseed bowl.

"I looked outside, and there was this giant bear eating birdseed," Baesler told CBS New York. "I have heard of bear sightings, but I have never seen one, and I certainly have never seen one this close to a house."

Baesler said he called police, but the bear scampered off. He told WABC-TV that he is not going to leave the birdseed feeder on his deck anymore.

It's advice that experts say will not only protect homeowners and their properties, but also their neighbors.

I am sure there is more than one BEAR in Chatham.  Benny Sherman (@Benny4Pats) April 26, 2018

"You have to remember, these bears haven't eaten in months," said Jeff Tittel, the director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. "When they come out, they're hungry."

New Jersey's declining black bear population, estimated at about 3,000, typically hibernates from December to April, though the time frame varies depending on the weather.

They start coming out of their 55-degree caves around now to explore neighborhoods and to look for food, Tittel said.

Homeowners who leave out garbage overnight, birdseed in low-hanging bowls or worse - intentionally feed the bears - are doing a disservice not only to the creatures, but to people around them.

"When a bear finds food on a deck, he thinks every home in the neighborhood has food on its deck," Tittel said.

As warm weather approaches, the state Department of Environmental Protection cautions the public about interacting with bears.

"Bears that learn to associate food with people and their homes and living areas, can become nuisance bears that forage in neighborhoods looking for easy sources of food," the DEP said in a statement.

Bears are docile creatures and rarely attack humans, the experts said.

"But they're wild animals and people need to respect that," Tittel said.

In September of 2015, a black bear attacked and killed a 22-year-old hiker in West Milford in what is believed to be the first such attack in the state in 150 years.

Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook.In the wake of a shooting that saw four people killed at a Waffle House in Tennessee, President Donald Trump has been silent on the subject.

His silence has drawn quite a bit of criticism and accusations of racism because the alleged shooter is white, and the victims and the hero who helped stop more carnage, are people of color.

CNN's Don Lemon on Monday night's CNN Tonight closed a segment by saying: "It would be nice if [Trump] tweeted about the four people who lost their lives in the Waffle House, the four black people who lost their lives, and the black hero from that, but not unless it's a Muslim does he tweet about something like that."

There are plenty of examples in which Trump has reacted quickly to tragedies that involve suspects who are Muslim or those that predominantly involve white victims. After a truck attack in October that killed eight on a bike path in New York City, Trump tweeted about implementing tougher vetting procedures.

The suspect in the Waffle House shooting, Travis Reinking, 29, was taken into custody after a 35-hour manhunt.

His killing spree was halted, however, thanks to the heroic actions of customer James Shaw Jr., who managed to wrestle the assault weapon away from the shooter, preventing further bloodshed.

And though Trump has been silent, his VP has not.

Vice President Mike Pence called Shaw "an American Hero" in a tweet this week, five days after the shooting.

Shaw launched a fundraiser this week to help the victims' families. By Friday night, it had raked in just under $180,000.

Tennessee lawmakers honored Shaw for his heroism. "You are my hero," state Rep. Jason Powell said, "and Tennessee's hero."

Should Trump speak up on the shooting and give praise to the hero?

Vote in our informal and unscientific poll and tell us why in the comments section.

Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.The Trump era will be a mother lode for historians explaining how we got into this mess, how we'll get out of it, what it all means and what the country will look like as a result.

Despite expectations of a big Democratic midterm election victory in November, the answer to these questions probably lies more with the Republicans than the Democrats.

And the toss-up question is whether the GOP that emerges from this year's tumult will be the party of Donald Trump or return to its moderate conservative roots.

Will Republicans blame Trump, seeing him as the reincarnation of Herbert Hoover, the party's Grand Old Pariah? Or will they turn their anger on the party "establishment" they so regularly disdain and so stunningly overthrew?

The best guess is they're unlikely to hold any election setback against Trump. Remember it was candidate Trump who boasted he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and few of his admirers would hold it against him.

Hillary made him do it, they'd say. Lock her up!

Trump's claim to Teflon status may be the truest thing he's ever said as president. Among the GOP base, the guy appears bulletproof.

Currently, Trump's down in the polls but not disastrously so. And that's surprising for a bloke who's broken every rule of presidential conduct and civility; bragged of playing grab-em with lots of women; sacked and/or humiliated a sizeable portion of his cabinet (the number changes daily), and insulted some of our most venerable foreign allies.

Then there are his taxes. They remain a state secret -- probably because they could expose that (1) he's nowhere near rich as he boasts and that (2) he's in hock to some unsavory lenders, maybe even Russians.

What accounts for this Teflon quality?

Not sure, really. But I am sure that an overwhelming desire for change triggered the 2016 Trump victory upheaval is wrong.

The Trump victory was not about change but a cry from Americans who, rightly or wrongly, believe that changes they never sought are ruining the country and their lives.

Change wrought by computers, automation and the digital economy, by robotics and globalization, by corporate greed and governmental indifference. Such changes, they believed, decimated the American factory economy, wiping out jobs and benefits and the middle-class lifestyle that defined post-war America.

The voters who flocked to Trump didn't want change. They wanted back what they had lost.

This hunger for a lost legacy pre-dates Trump. I saw this first-hand two decades ago when steel produced in newer, more efficient foreign factories began to eat into the U.S. market.

It surfaced in Pennsylvania, the eastern edge of the Rust Belt, where steel cities like Pittsburgh, Johnstown, Bethlehem and even tiny Phoenixville took a hit.

A steel union official in Johnstown told me that as jobs began to melt away, he advised his sons, third generation steel workers, to head west. "It's not coming back," he said he told them.

"Most steel workers don't believe that," he went on. "Talk to them yourself down at the park, playing cards or checkers and waiting for the call back to work."

He was right. It'll be back, idled worked assured me. "What's America without a steel industry?"

But it didn't come back. Not then. And it hasn't now either.

The cruelest hoax peddled by Trump is that he can reverse history and being back the old days -- of good jobs and benefits, of campers and small boats parked in the back yard, and maybe even a wee vacation cottage in the countryside.

History makes a plain statement on such matters: When combined, scientific progress and economic change are among the hardest forces to resist and almost impossible to reverse. Change was what the industrial revolution ultimately was all about - the first one a long time ago, and now this one.

Trump could not acknowledge this, however, without undercutting the message that he alone could bring back the good times. (That this included returning the presidency to a white man was left unsaid but plainly understood by Trump's target audience.)

Trump's arrogance about his power brings to mind Canute, the 11th century Viking King of England who, to demonstrate the limits of royal authority, had his chair taken to the seaside. There he ordered the tide to recede.

All Canute suffered was an unwanted foot bath and a damp toga. What appears to await Trump and his message in November is a full immersion baptism in the politics of rejection.

John Farmer may be reached at jfarmer@starledger.com. Find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.-- When President

stays at his

, planes are grounded at

.

That's because Federal Aviation Administration temporary flight restrictions prevent flights in and out of airports within 10 nautical miles and imposes other limits within 30 nautical miles.

Each time the president visits, the two local airports, Solberg and Somerset, lose an estimated $10,000 in profits, according to the New Jersey Aviation Association.

The U.S. House voted Friday to have the FAA study the economic impact of such restrictions on local airports and look at ways to ease the problem. The provision was part of legislation renewing FAA operations for five years.

"This is about fairness for New Jersey pilots and small businesses," said Rep. Leonard Lance, R-7th Dist., whose district includes Bedminster and who sponsored the provision. "I want to find a compromise with the Federal Aviation Administration and the Secret Service so that pilots can be vetted, prescreened and allowed to fly."

The study also would take in the area about Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, where planes at local airports also are grounded when he visits.

Lance said special provisions are made for the local airports near Washington, so should also be available for those near Bedminster.

The FAA bill drops the initial House Republican proposal to turn air traffic control over to a private corporation. It includes several research projects likely to involve the FAA Technical Center in Egg Harbor Township, including drones, cybersecurity and unleaded aviation fuel.

"I share in the goal of strengthening our aviation system to meet 21st century demands while ensuring our FAA Technical Center has a leading role in this effort," said Rep. Frank LoBiondo, R-2nd Dist., chairman of the aviation subcommittee.

Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.A Union County man who posted on Twitter some of the more than 16,000 child porn videos and photos he possessed was sentenced Friday to five years in prison.

Roselle resident Charles Diggs kept the pornography, including videos of young children being raped, on five computers and hard drives, the state Attorney General's Office said in a news release.

Charles Diggs, 37, of Roselle. (Courtesy of Attorney General's Office)

Diggs, 37, will have to register as a sex offender under the sentence handed down by Judge William A. Daniel.

At the time of Diggs' indictment, state officials said with more than 325,000 images and videos, he had the largest collection of child pornography they had ever found. A spokesman for the Attorney General's Office did not immediately respond to a question about the difference in the number of images Diggs is accused of having.

Diggs pleaded guilty in December to distribution of child porn after Hunterdon County prosecutors got a tip about a Twitter account that was uploading child pornography, according to the Attorney General's Office.

Investigators said they found 12 child porn images on the account, traced the account to Diggs and arrested him at his home in September of 2016.

The case "demonstrates that offenders are finding new ways to distribute this filth, including Twitter," Elie Honig, the director of the state's Division of Criminal Justice, said in the news release. "We urge parents to be aware of this dark side of the internet and social media and be vigilant to protect and educate their children against the dangers."

State officials ask anyone with information about the online distribution of child pornography or improper online contact with children to call the New Jersey Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Tipline at 888-648-6007.

Amanda Hoover can be reached at ahoover@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @amandahoovernj. Find NJ.com on Facebook.



Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tipsA 14-year-old boy is accused of robbing a woman at gunpoint shortly after she exited a bus along Morrison Road last week, according to New Orleans police.

The robbery occurred about 11:50 p.m. April 18 near the intersection of Morrison Road and Marywood Court, in New Orleans East.

The teen approached the 20-year-old victim, who was returning home from work, and pointed a silver revolver at her while demanding her belongings, police said.

According to a preliminary report by the NOPD, the woman initially refused. The teen then struck the woman in the head with his gun and took her backpack.

The 14-year-old ran off, ultimately getting into the passenger's side of a blue Toyota Sienna reported stolen earlier that day from the 1000 block of North Johnson Street, in the Treme neighborhood. Police initially said the robber fled in a black SUV, but on Friday said the vehicle was a blue Sienna.

The 14-year-old was arrested April 19, the day after the robbery, and booked into the Orleans Parish juvenile jail.

According to police, the teen was arrested wearing the same clothing worn by the person who stole the vehicle used in the armed robbery.

The NOPD recently arrested another juvenile, a 16-year-old boy, in a separate armed robbery in New Orleans East.

Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up

The 16-year-old was booked with three counts of armed robbery in connection with a March 26 robbery near the intersection of Crowder Boulevard and S. I-10 Service Road.

According to police and court documents, the 16-year-old and another teen, identified by police as 17-year-old Andrew Stevens, robbed three younger boys at gunpoint as they walked to a store to buy candy. The robbery victims were ages 13, 14 and 15, court documents show.

The 16-year-old, reportedly armed with a handgun, told the boys, "Give me everything ya'll got," court documents show.

When the 14-year-old tried to walk away, the gunman warned, "Move again and I will lay you out."

He returned to the group, and Stevens and the 16-year-old then stole the victims' iPhones and a newly purchased box of candy.

Stevens was booked April 12 with three counts of armed robbery. As the investigation continued, detectives obtained an arrest warrant for the 16-year-old, who was arrested Thursday during the execution of a search warrant at his home.

Anyone with any information on either robbery is asked to call NOPD 7th District detectives at 504-658-6070 or Crimestoppers at 504-822-1111 or toll free at 1-877-903-7867.New Orleans investigators are searching for a man suspected of pulling a machete and threatening to kill two people, including his ex-girlfriend, the NOPD said Friday (April 27).

Jerome Sparkman, 56, is wanted on charges of aggravated assault and domestic-related aggravated assault and battery.

According to police, about 5 p.m. Wednesday (April 25) Sparkman "was involved in an altercation" with his ex-girlfriend and another person near the intersection of Teche and Newton streets in Algiers.

Sparkman is accused of pulling a machete and threatening to kill both--and then, police said, he "committed a battery" upon his ex-girlfriend. Police did not provide details on the reported battery or on any injuries to the ex-girlfriend.

Anyone with information on the incident or the whereabouts of Jerome Sparkman is asked to call NOPD Detective Barry Blanchard or any 4th District detective at 504-658-6040. Anonymous tips can be submitted by calling Crimestoppers at 504-821-1111 or toll-free at 1-877-903-7867.When Sturgill Simpson arrived at the Gentilly Stage of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, he brought a righteous group of dudes to help him perform for a much larger group of mostly dudes: The 610 Stompers.

Simpson, the Kentucky-born roots rock guitarist with a voice like soft butter on hot biscuits, was right on time Friday (April 27) and he brought along a couple dozen or so members of the New Orleans' dance krewe. The Stompers, however, were not the only local flavor to Simpson's set.

Joining him onstage was also "good buddy" saxophonist Brad Walker, one member of a trio that appeared alongside Simpson in his 2017 Grammys performance. Walker, of course, is no stranger to Simpson's music. The sax player also toured with Simpson in support of his 2016 release, "A Sailor's Guide to the Earth." The album was Simpson's major label debut, and it earned up the guitarist his first Grammy.

Walker joined him for a jam-heavy roots set that meandered between funky and bluesy, and it all unfolded under clear blue skies at the Fair Grounds. Meanwhile, across the fest, Sting took over the Acura Stage (and probably, a higher preponderance of the day's fest-going ladies) for his own headlining set.

Simpson wasn't super chatty -- a simple "Wassup, New Orleans?" greeted the baking, bobbing crowd -- so his caramel-colored guitar did all the talking with "It Ain't All Flowers," "The Promise" and a rendition of "Long White Line" with a country medley tucked in the middle.

Though Walker ditched the stage for a few songs as Simpson took a more straightforward approach on songs like "Just Let Go" and "I'd Have to Be Crazy" (which, he noted, was "for the ladies"), he returned for the finale.

It meant Simpson could close out his Jazz Fest Friday a bit like the way he arrived: with a friendly dude and a local vibe.As if Louisiana hasnt had enough of tropical weather this summer, Gov. John Bel Edwards was told Saturday that the states residents need to brace themselves for the possibility of another system coming ashore perhaps as early as next Friday.A passenger on Southwest Flight 1308 filed a lawsuit against the airline over the "mental trauma" she has experienced since witnessing a woman get partially sucked out of a window when one of the plane's engine exploded last Friday, according to ABC News.

Lilia Chavez filed the suit Thursday (April 26), just under a week after the explosion caused 43-year-old Jennifer Riordan's death and forced the plane to make an emergency landing in Philadelphia, ABC reported. According to the ABC News report, Chavez is suing Southwest Airlines and the makers of the plane and engine.

Chavez alleges the companies "unforgivably breached" the trust of passengers who "entrust their lives and safety" to the airline company and makers of the plane and its parts.

Although the pilot - Southwest Capt. Tammie Jo Shults - was able to land the plane safely, Chavez claims the ordeal caused her to "fear for her life," and said she was preparing to die. The lawsuit also claims Southwest employees did not properly care for Chavez and her fellow passengers after the flight landed, ABC reported.

According to ABC News, Southwest offered Flight 1308 passengers $5,000 each and a $1,000 travel voucher.The world's tallest active geyser, the Steamboat Geyser at Yellowstone National Park in northwest Wyoming, has erupted for the third time in six weeks, the Bozeman (Mont.) Daily Chronicle reports. A park visitor told staff it vented early Friday (April 27), after earlier eruptions on March 15 and April 19.

Steamboat's eruptions are unpredictable. It can shoot water more than 300 feet, as it most recently did in 2014. "Only Waimangu Geyser in New Zealand has rocketed to greater heights -- but not in more than 100 years," the U.S. National Park Service says.

Geysers are hot springs in which water intermittently boils, sending a tall column of water and steam into the air. The most famous at Yellowstone is Old Faithful, which usually erupts every 60 to 110 minutes for 90 seconds to five minutes. It shoots water 100 to 180 feet.

"A major eruption of Steamboat Geyser is unforgettable. Water surges from two vents to varying heights, then suddenly water explodes from the larger north vent more than 300 feet high," the National Park Service says. "Curtains of water fall to the slope above the geyser and collect in torrents rushing back into the vent, carrying huge amounts of mud, sand and rock that are shot skyward again and again.

"Water coats everything with a glistening layer of silica. As much as 700 cubic feet of eruption debris can accumulate around the geyser. Even cars in the parking area can be littered with debris. Mature lodgepole pines have been broken by the blast, undermined and then washed away by the geyser's massive discharge. The boardwalk at the base of the hill has been covered by the geyser's outwash.

"The water phase of a major eruption lasts three to more than 40 minutes. Once the water supply is exhausted, the geyser continues with a powerful steam phase lasting several hours to more than a day. Its roar is so great that conversation near the geyser is difficult, and visitors in the Norris Campground, a mile to the north, have been awakened by the noise."

Read the Daily Chronicle's full report.

. . . . . . .

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.SAN DIEGO, April 27, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- When thinking about the topic of drug detox, it is normal for an addicted person to have many concerns and questions. Not knowing what to expect from rehab is one of the main reasons why a person will refuse or be hesitant about entering into a facility. However, by doing some research and finding out about what a facility has to offer, an addict can realize that detox is the best option for fixing the problem.



What are the major differences between drug detox programs? There are many profound qualities which separate detox programs all across the country, and few are as successful in helping as a drug detox in Sacramento. Some programs use medications to alleviate the physical discomfort of withdrawal, and others use a gradual step down method to get the body accustomed to not having the drug. Many addicts are completely intimidated by the physical process of drug withdrawal, but by electing professional help, it does not have to be this way.

Drug detox in Sacramento addresses the physical components of addiction but is not a cure for the disease. Detoxing from drugs in a professional setting helps to alleviate withdrawal symptoms and can protect the person from having to endure depression, anxiety, discomfort and suicidal thoughts. Rehabilitation cannot begin until a person has completed a detox program; while there are still drugs in the body, the chances of relapse are extremely high.

During the process of getting clean, a person's body will go through a number of different things. People will find that enduring withdrawal can be extremely uncomfortable and the side effects will vary according to several different things such as the type of drug used, how long the addiction has gone on and the frequency of use. No matter how hopeless or helpless a person may feel a drug detox in Sacramento program can help the individual adjust to being clean and prepares them for entering a rehab center.

Many individuals are afraid of going through rehab because of the familiarity of addiction and being resistant to change. It is very difficult for anybody caught up in the severe throes of an addiction problem to view life differently or believe things can change. However, with professional drug detox, a person can finally end the nightmare of addiction and find the path to being a clean, productive member of society once again.

In the back of the mind of every addict there lurks the dream of getting clean, addiction steals away all the hope, joy and meaning in life and nobody can live like this indefinitely. Seeking a professional drug detox now will show an individual how to go about making the transition to a clean life and how to make changes to behavior patterns which lead to drug abuse. Contacting a detox program is a brave and positive choice and the only one which will allow a person to turn the page on a new beginning in life finally.

Contact Info:

Author: Kevin Leonard

Organization: TheRecover.com

Address: 27420 Jefferson Ave, Temecula, CA 92590

Phone: (888) 510-3898

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://resource.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/8a34348c-7447-4db5-a857-299bfb12d255



MONTERREY, Mexico, April 27, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Deutsche Bank Mexico, S.A., Banking institution, Trust Division F/1616 or Fibra Inn (BMV:FINN13) (ADR OTC:DFBRY) (Fibra Inn or the Company), a Mexican real estate investment trust internally managed specializing in the hotel industry serving the business traveler with global brands, announced today the following:



CALL TO AN ORDINARY AND EXTRAORDINARY SHAREHOLDERS MEETING FOR HOLDERS OF THE REAL ESTATE TRUST CERTIFICATES (CBFIs), TICKER SYMBOL FINN13, ISSUED BY DEUTSCHE BANK MEXICO S.A., INSTITUCION DE BANCA MULTIPLE, WHICH ACTS AS ISSUER FOR THE TRUST F/1616 FIBRA INN, TO BE HELD ON MAY 11, 2018.

In accordance with Articles 68 of Mexican Securities Market Law, 217, 218, 219, 220 and 221 of the Securities and Credit Transactions Law, Clause 8.1 of Trust F/1616 (the Trust ), the Company calls all holders (the  Holders ) of the CBFIs with the ticker symbol "FINN13," issued by the Trust, to the ORDINARY AND EXTRAORDINARY SHAREHOLDERS MEETING that will take place at 12:00 p.m. on May 11, 2018, at the offices of Deutsche Bank Mexico, S.A., Institucion de Banca Multiple, located at Torre Virreyes, Pedregal 24, 20th Floor, Colonia Molino del Rey, C.P. 11040, delegacion Miguel Hidalgo, Mexico City, in order to discuss and approve the following:

MEETING AGENDA FOR ORDINARY SHAREHOLDERS MEETING

Presentation, discussion and submission for approval for an Offering Program as a Recurring Issuer of CBFIs under the ticker symbol FINN13 (the CBFIs), for a period of 5 years that will allow the Company to issue and offer up to 900,000,000 (nine hundred million) CBFIs, under the understanding that the total CBFIs offered with the shelf registration program will not exceed Ps, 10,000,000,000 (ten billion pesos).

Proposal, discussion and submission for approval of an offering for 900,000,000 (nine hundred million) CBFIs, to be held in the Trusts treasury under the shelf registration program and/or in the foreign market and/or to be delivered as collateral for the acquisition of assets; as well as the consequent update of their registration in the National Securities Registry of the Mexican Securities and Banking Commission and the update of their listing on the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV).

Presentation, discussion and submission for approval for the Initial Public Offering for CBFIs under the Offering Program for up to Ps. 2,500,000,000 (two billion and five hundred million pesos).

Appointment of Special Delegates to fulfill the resolutions approved during the Meeting.

Transcription, drafting and submission for approval of the Meeting Minutes.

MEETING AGENDA FOR EXTRAORDINARY SHAREHOLDERS MEETING

Presentation, discussion and submission for approval to modify the Trusts contract, in order to change the current composition of the Technical Committee so that it is primarily comprised of independent members, who will be designated by the CBFI Shareholders Meeting, distinct from the Founding Trust, under the understanding that the Founding Trust will have the right to designate 33.33% of the Technical Committee members, including the President, as long as the Founding Trust holds at least 37,540,000 (thirty seven million five hundred and forty thousand) CBFIs and establish that the Shareholders Meeting will require a favorable vote to make changes to the Trust contract, complete any merger, early liquidation, spin-off or split of the CBFIs, and terminate the Fibra status, in accordance with articles 187 and 188 of the LISR, and therefore be able to delist the CBFIs from the exchanges on which they trade.

Appointment of Special Delegates to fulfill the resolutions approved during the Meeting.

Transcription, drafting and submission for approval of the Meeting Minutes.

In accordance with Article 221 of the Securities and Credit Transactions Law, in order to attend the Ordinary Shareholders Meeting, shareholders must present admission cards corresponding to their CBFIs, issued by the Common Representative. Therefore, prior to the meeting, shareholders must first present their certificates, or a receipt of deposit of certificates issued by S.D. Indeval Institucion para el Deposito de Valores, S.A. de C.V. at CIBanco, S.A., Institucion de Banca Multiple, located in Cordillera de los Andes, #265, 2nd Floor, Colonia Lomas de Chapultepec, Delegacion Miguel Hidalgo, C.P. 11000, Mexico City, to Monica Jimenez Labora Sarabia (mjimenezlabora@cibanco.com), in accordance with the regulations established by Mexican Securities Market Law, between the hours of 9:00am and 6:00pm, Monday through Friday, from the date of this announcement and until at least one business day prior to the date of the Ordinary Shareholders Meeting. In exchange for these documents, the Company will issue admission cards, which will include the name of the Holder and the number of CBFIs represented. No one will be admitted to the Meeting without these documents present.

Shareholders may be represented at the Meeting by proxy, either by one or more persons designated by power of attorney or as otherwise authorized by law, in accordance with the requirements established by Article 49, Section III of Mexican Securities Market Law.

The information and documents related to each of the items of the Meeting Agenda for the ORDINARY SHAREHOLDERS MEETING are available to Holders 10 (ten) days prior to the Meeting date, in the offices of the Common Representative and may also be accessed on the Trusts website at www.fibrainn.mx.

About the Company

Fibra Inn is a Mexican trust formed primarily to acquire, develop and rent a broad range of hotel properties in Mexico aimed at the business traveler. The Company has signed franchise, license and brand usage agreements with international hotel brands for the operation of global brands as well as the operation of national brands. Additionally, the Company has development agreements. These hotels enjoy some of the industrys top loyalty programs. Fibra Inn trades its Real Estate Certificates (Certificados Bursatiles Fiduciarios Inmobiliarios or CBFIs) on the Mexican Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol FINN13; its ADRs trade on the OTC market in the U.S. under the ticker symbol DFBRY.

www.fibrainn.mx

Note on Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain forward-looking statements. These statements are statements that are not historical facts, and are based on managements current view and estimates of future economic circumstances, industry conditions, Company performance and financial results. Also, certain reclassifications have been made to make figures comparable for the periods. The words anticipates, believes, estimates, expects, plans and similar expressions, as they relate to the Company, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Statements regarding the declaration or payment of dividends, the implementation of principal operating and financing strategies and capital expenditure plans, the direction of future operations and the factors or trends affecting financial condition, liquidity or results of operations are examples of forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect the current views of management and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. There is no guarantee that the expected events, trends or results will actually occur. The statements are based on many assumptions and factors, including general economic and market conditions, industry conditions, and operating factors. Any changes in such assumptions or factors could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations.

In Mexico:

Lizette Chang, IRO

Fibra Inn

Tel. 52-1-81-1778-5926

lchang@fibrainn.mx In New York:

Maria Barona / Melanie Carpenter

i-advize Corporate Communications

Tel. (212)406-3691

mbarona@i-advize.com



Government has finally approved Law Development Centres (LDC) plan to decentralize its services by establishing constituent colleges in all regions of the country.

This was revealed by the institutions chairperson of the management committee, Justice Stella Arach-Amoko during the 45th graduation ceremony held yesterday at their premises in Makerere.

The Observer's Sulaiman Kakaire (R) was among the graduates

Justice Arach-Amoko said this will enable LDC to decongest the main Kampala campus as well as ensure quality legal education is accessible to all Ugandans.

We already have many students coming in that we cannot comfortably take on. We shall ensure that whatever happens at the main campus is exposed to all students in regional centres, Arach-Amoko said.

Currently, LDC has about 860 bar course and 600 students on other diploma courses. LDC director Frank Nigel Othembi said government has agreed to release Shs 1 billion in the next financial year to support opening up of the centres starting with Mbarara, before extending to Lira and Mbale after one year.

We have also made provisions within our budgets because the 1bn will not be enough. In the next two weeks, we shall be advertising to get staff in six different posts although the approved staff structure for each centre is 12, Othembi said.

The Mbarara centre will offer certificate courses starting in the academic year 2018/19. Diploma in Law (weekend) and Administrative Officers Law course (weekend) will commence on September 8, 2018 while diploma in Human Rights (evening) on January 14, 2019.

At the graduation ceremony, at least 713 lawyers were awarded a post-graduate diploma in legal practice, 536 students (diploma in law) and 54 got diplomas in human rights.

Chief guest, director of public prosecution Justice Mike Chibita commended LDC on its latest infrastructural development and insisted that management should continue to graduate only those students who pass examinations.

This country needs quality lawyers and civil servants hence the need to maintain academic standards that this institution [LDC] is famous for, said Chibita also an LDC 1989 alumni.

On his part, Simon Peter Kinobe, the president of the Uganda Law Society (ULS), cautioned graduates against being lured into any illegality, unethical conduct, and abuse of court process by senior advocates.

You have joined a noble profession where excellence is not an option, Kinobe said. As young lawyers, you must harness the culture of hard work because this is not a quick fix profession. If you purpose not to steal clients money, you will make it. Dont be deceived that you make it through theft because it will break you.

EXCEPTIONAL STUDENTS

On Fridays graduation, students who exceedingly performed well were recognised. Derrick Bazekuketta who emerged the best overall student on the bar course received the chief justices prize that comes with a set of pertinent law books and full set of the lawyers professional attire, among other relevant law necessities.

Director of Public Prosecution Justice Mike J Chibita (left) awards the best overall student on the postgraduate bar course Derrick Bazekuketta. Photos: Nicholas Bamulanzeki

Bazekuketta couldnt hide his excitement after his name was read.

This is a very exciting and wonderful moment. I graduated as the best student in my law class at Makerere University on my 24th birthday in February 2017 and here I am again making my mother and everyone proud, Bazekuketta The Observer.

Currently working Geoffrey Ojok & Co. Advocates, he advised lawyers intending to enroll on the bar course that: You are not going find anything easy. People have a lot of bias on LDC but if you are determined, the sky is the limit and you will make it.

He was followed by Linda Leila Najjemba scooping the attorney general prize, Rabecca Christine Mutesi, third best, with principal judges prize and Eunice Kalungi in forth position winning the Uganda Law Society prize.

Also on the bar course, Agatha Natasha Ahimbisibwe was the best graduate in Corporate and Commercial Practice paper which earned her the LDC/Agaba Muhairwe Advocates prize.

Mark Kizza Sekiranda won the Acadia Advocates prize as the best student in Civil Litigation, Issa Ogomba was the best in moot with Katende Ssempeebwa and Co. Advocates prize while Ruth Kintu was awarded by Logomarc Advocates as the best graduate in professional conduct.

For the diploma in law course, the best students are; Mesach Sekamate (best overall) with minister of Public Service and Cabinet Affairs prize, Innocent Bomera Wandera (second) took the chairperson LDC management committee prize and Moses Eripu (third) scooped the LDC directors prize.

On the Human Rights course, Daisy Kissa emerged overall best taking the chairperson UHRC prize, Rebecca Nnanyonjo in second place won the chairperson LDC management committee prize and Doreen Arago in third place too the LDC directors prize.

In addition to the various prizes, Justice Chibita also autographed and gave out his current book Loved by the best: The journey of one African judge to each of the best 14 students.

Chibita said the office of the DPP will start awarding the best student in criminal proceeding effective next academic year.

nangonzi@observer.ugBy the end of 2022, more than 56,000 children in Karamoja sub-region will have access to clean water and sanitation facilities thanks to the new $10 million project launched today.

The Shs 37 billion project is funded through a partnership between the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) and the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and is targeting 88 primary schools and 12 secondary schools in the districts of Abim, Amudat, Kaabong, Kotido, Moroto, Napak and Nakapiripirit.

The project was launched today by Unicef Uganda country representative Doreen Mulenga (R) and Kim You-Churl, the Ambassador of Korea to Uganda (C) It is envisaged that by the end of the programme, all selected schools will have latrines, a solar-powered water system and hand washing facilities. The package will help schools in Karamoja to meet the recommended national standard of one latrine for every 40 pupils, up from the current ratio of one latrine for every 70 students in Karamoja.



It will also reduce the distance that children have to cover to access safe water to within 500 meters, a significant reduction from the more than 30 minutes it presently takes the majority of children across Uganda to access safe water.



Unicef Uganda country representative Doreen Mulenga says that the choice of Karamoja for the services was based on the current economic restraint and hardship that the region is facing. It is envisaged that by the end of the programme, all selected schools will have latrines, a solar-powered water system and hand washing facilities. The package will help schools in Karamoja to meet the recommended national standard of one latrine for every 40 pupils, up from the current ratio of one latrine for every 70 students in Karamoja.It will also reduce the distance that children have to cover to access safe water to within 500 meters, a significant reduction from the more than 30 minutes it presently takes the majority of children across Uganda to access safe water.Unicef Uganda country representative Doreen Mulenga says that the choice of Karamoja for the services was based on the current economic restraint and hardship that the region is facing.

"If you look at the indicators, it [Karamoja] is doing worse. Whether youre looking at poverty, whether youre looking at school attendance, whether youre looking at children coming up to school and being able to transition to involvement. All those indicators are bad in Karamoja. So this is why we are focusing on Karamoja to see whether if some of these interventions, the well being of the community [and] the children can help uplift them out of poverty," said Mulenga.



Mulenga says that due to a lack of toilets in the region, many school-going children are forced to remain home rather than go to school. Data from the Unicef shows that the provision of WASH facilities in schools reduces absenteeism in schools by 43 per cent.



Kim You-Churl, the Ambassador of Korea to Uganda says that they are willing to work with Uganda to improve the lives of Ugandans.

"We are not very rich like China and Japan but we have the heart to provide safe water, adequate sanitation and effective hygiene services to tens of thousands of vulnerable school going children in Karamoja."



As part of the project, local government leaders in the respective districts will receive mindset change training at KOICA's National Farmers Leadership Center in Mpigi and in Korea.



Other interventions of the programme include the provision of life skills education for girls, including menstrual hygiene management; social mobilization campaigns to accelerate positive behaviour change among individuals and broader social change among communities; and district-level advocacy.The Uganda Wildlife Education Centre (UWEC) will preserve the remains of Zakayo, the country's oldest chimpanzee that died on Wednesday, April 25, 2018.

Zakayo succumbed to old age complications and chronic gastroenteritis (stomach flu) - ending a 54-year life journey that started in Semuliki national park in Bundibugyo.

Zakayo's body is to be preserved

Zakayo was discovered in 1964 when he was just about one year old by a white man in Bundibugyo. He raised him until when the chimpanzee was 14 years before handing him over to the conservation authorities.

The chimpanzee acted as the alpha male and was the oldest known captive chimp in the East, West and Central Africa. The chimpanzee, which spent 42 years in the custody of wildlife conservation officials, nurtured two young chimpanzees including "Matooke" who died in 2013 and later Aluma.

Zakayo was under treatment for three weeks until he died on Wednesday. However, officials from UWEC announced his death a day later after a postmortem had been done.

UWEC executive director James Musinguzi says Zakayo's death is a big loss to the conservation fraternity since he acted as a legend and a signature specie that attracted tourists from across the world thus increasing revenue from tourism.



Zakayo's internal organs will be buried today while his body will be preserved at the Uganda Wildlife Education Centre in Entebbe. Several tour operators across the country eulogised Zakayo as the first Chimpanzee that boosted the tourism industry.



Speaking to URN, Rashid Kiyimba, a tour operator indicated that several tourists who come to Uganda usually schedule to visit chimpanzees at UWEC with clear identification of Zakayo as a major attraction.12-year-olds get into arguments with their parents all the time, but most of them just storm off to their room to cool off. Not Drew (made-up name), a boy from Sydney, Australia, who, after a fight with his mother, stole her credit card, got on a plane and flew to the island of Bali for an unforgettable 4-day vacation.

Drews name may be fake for privacy reasons, but his incredible story is not. After a quarrel with his mother, Emma, the 12-year-old boy decided it was time to do something drastic, and a vacation to the familys favorite holiday destination, Bali, seemed like just what the doctor ordered. Only this time, he would go all by himself and experience the freedom of being alone in one of the most beautiful places on Earth, at his parents expense. For that, he needed his mothers credit cards and a way to board a plane without having to answer too many questions. Sounds like a tall order, but this kid had it all figured out.

Photo: Adrian Pingstone/Wikimedia Commons

Coming up with a plan to fly off to Bali doesnt sound like something your average 12-year-old could pull off, but then again, Drew doesnt sound like an average 12-year-old. Using his smartphone to do some research, this clever little boy figured out that he didnt need to be accompanied by an adult to board an aeroplane to Bali. Several Australian airlines only required a signed letter from his parents, a valid passport and his student ID. So he somehow tricked his grandmother into giving him his passport, and after borrowing the family credit cards, he grabbed his backpack and told everyone he was going to school.

Only he took a train to the airport instead, where he had already booked a flight to Perth. From there he would get on another plane to Denpasar, Bali. He had already booked a hotel there as well, so as long as he could get to his tropical destination, he was in for some fun and relaxation.

A 12-year-old travelling to Bali all by himself was bound to draw some attention, so to ensure his plan wouldnt get thwarted, Drew made sure to interact with as little airport staff as possible. He avoided check-in counters by booking himself in via the self-serve option, and since he only had a hand luggage, he headed straight for the boarding gates.

Photo: Matthias Ripp/Flickr

Interestingly, Drew claims that in Australia, no one asked him anything about why he was unattended, or where his parents were, even after learning he was only 12. The first time anyone asked him if he was alone was in Bali. An immigration officer asked him where his mom was, and he just said she was outside. That was that.

For the next four days, Drew partied like most 12-year-olds can only dream. He stayed in a nice hotel, got people to serve him beer  he hated it  and even rented a motorcycle, even though he didnt have a license. He was living the dream and spending thousands of dollars of his parents money in the process.

Back home, Drews parents had obviously realized that he wasnt in school and had reported him missing. They were worried sick, and police had no leads, but the boy ended up giving up his location by sharing some photos and videos of his Bali exploits on social media, which allowed authorities to track him down.

Photo: Ed Johnson/Flickr

Emma and her husband rushed to Bali to recover their missing son. Ironically, they were stopped in Perth by the same company that Drew had used to fly to the tropical island, and told they couldnt go because they didnt have a return ticket. You can only imagine the outrage the two parents felt knowing that the same airline had allowed their son to fly out of the country without as much as a question. But they signed a waiver and went to get Drew.

The 12-year-old is now safely back at home. He says he feels a bit embarrassed by all the commotion hes caused, not to mention spending AUD$8,000 ($6,115) of his parents money in the process.

I wanted to go on an adventure, he reportedly said.

Drews unbelievable adventure was featured today on 9News A Current Affair.CALGARY, Alberta, April 27, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Jura Energy Corporation (TSX Venture:JEC) (Jura or the Company) announced today that it proposes to enter into agreements for the issue of 3,000 units pursuant to a private placement (the Offering). Each unit (a Unit) is comprised of US$1,000 principal amount of 11% secured subordinated debentures (Debentures) and 200 warrants (each a Warrant) to purchase one common share in the share capital of Jura (a Common Share) for $0.15 per Common Share. The Warrants are subject to customary anti-dilution adjustments, including adjustments upon the payment of a dividend in Common Shares, subdivision or combination of the Common Shares, or the issuance of rights, options or warrants to all or substantially all holders of the outstanding Common Shares. Each Warrant issuable to subscribers under the Offering will expire on the earlier of: (a) April 30, 2020; (b) the 90th day following the redemption by Jura of all remaining outstanding Debentures issued to the holder of such Warrants; and (c) the tenth business day following the date on which notice is given by Jura to the subscriber of the Warrants that, during a consecutive 30-day period ending not more than five business days prior to the date of such notice, the closing price of the Common Shares on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV) exceeded $0.30 on each trading day.



The total gross proceeds of the Offering will be US$3 million and Jura will issue US$3 million aggregate principal amount of Debentures and a total of 600,000 Warrants exercisable into 600,000 Common Shares, representing approximately 0.9% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares as of the date hereof. The Offering was negotiated at arms length with private arms length investors and will not affect control of Jura. The funds will be partially used to repay a portion of the US$4,000,000 aggregate principal amount of existing 11% non-convertible secured subordinated debentures of Jura maturing April 30, 2018, which were issued by Jura pursuant to a private placement in 2013 (the Existing Debentures). The Offering is expected to close on or about April 30, 2018.

ARK Point Advisors FZE acted as strategic and financial advisors for Jura in connection with the Offering and will receive a fee of 50,000 Warrants exercisable into 50,000 Common Shares, representing approximately 0.07% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares as of the date hereof, which Warrants will expire on the second anniversary of the closing date.

The Company has applied to the TSXV for the listing of Common Shares issuable on the exercise of Warrants. The Warrants constitute a loan bonus pursuant to TSXV Policy 5.1  Loans, Bonuses, Finders Fees and Commissions and remain subject to TSXV acceptance.

Jura also announced today that it has entered into a short-term loan agreement (the Loan Agreement) with its controlling shareholder, JS Energy Limited (formerly Eastern Petroleum Limited) (JSEL) and Juras wholly-owned subsidiary, Spud Energy Pty Limited (SEPL). Under the Loan Agreement, JSEL will loan to SEPL up to US$2,000,000 (the Principal Amount), with the Principal Amount bearing interest at a rate of 11%, compounded quarterly. The Principal Amount and accrued interest will become due for repayment on or about the 181st day following the first drawdown under the Loan Agreement. Amounts drawn under the Loan Agreement will be used to repay a portion of the Existing Debentures.

As JSEL is a control person of Jura holding 50,659,076 Common Shares (or approximately 73.3% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares), the Loan Agreement is a related party transaction within the meaning of Multilateral Instrument 61-101  Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions (MI 61-101). The Loan Agreement is exempt from the formal valuation requirement pursuant to section 5.5(b) of MI 61-101 as no securities of Jura are listed or quoted on any of the specified markets listed in such section. Further, the Loan Agreement is exempt from the minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101 pursuant to section 5.7(1)(f) of MI 61-101 because the Loan Agreement: (a) is obtained from a related party on reasonable commercial terms that are not less advantageous to Jura than if the credit facility were obtained from a person dealing at arms length; and (b) is not convertible into equity or voting securities nor repayable in equity or voting securities. The Loan Agreement was approved by unanimous resolution of the board of directors of Jura, with directors who have interests or positions in entities that are controlled by Mr. Jahangir Siddiqui (the ultimate controlling shareholder of Jura and JSEL) abstaining. To the knowledge of the directors and officers of Jura, after reasonable inquiry, no prior valuation (as defined in MI 61-101) in respect of Jura that relates to the subject matter of or is otherwise relevant to the Loan Agreement has been made in the 24 months before the date of this news release.

About Jura Energy Corporation

Jura is an international energy company engaged in the exploration, development and production of petroleum and natural gas properties in Pakistan. Jura is based in Calgary, Alberta, and listed on the TSXV trading under the symbol JEC. Jura conducts its business in Pakistan through its subsidiaries, Frontier Holdings Limited and Spud Energy Pty Limited.

Forward Looking Advisory

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively referred to herein as forward-looking statements) within the meaning of Canadian securities laws. The words approximately, will, entitled, anticipated, and similar expressions are used to identify forward looking information. Specific forward-looking statements in this news release include information concerning the entry into by the Company of agreements providing for the issuance of Units pursuant to the Offering, the timing of completion of the Offering, the anticipated use of proceeds of the Offering and the anticipated use of amounts drawn under the Loan Agreement.

The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based on managements beliefs, estimates and opinions on the date the statements and are made in light of managements experience, current conditions and expected future development in the areas in which Jura is currently active and other factors management believes are appropriate in the circumstances. Jura undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statement or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless required by applicable law.

Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. By their nature, forward-looking statements are subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties that contribute to the possibility that the predicted outcome will not occur, including some of which are beyond Juras control. These assumptions and risks include, but are not limited to: failure to complete the Offering on the expected timeline or at all, failure to obtain required regulatory approvals in connection with the Offering including the TSXVs acceptance, the risks associated with the oil and gas industry in general such as operational risks in exploration, development and production, delays or changes in plans with respect to exploration or development projects or capital expenditures, the imprecision of resource and reserve estimates, assumptions regarding the timing and costs relating to production and development as well as the availability and price of labour and equipment, weather, volatility of and assumptions regarding commodity prices and exchange rates, marketing and transportation risks, environmental risks, competition, the ability to access sufficient capital from internal and external sources and changes in applicable law. Additionally, there are economic, political, social and other risks inherent in carrying on business in Pakistan. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could vary or differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. See Juras Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2016, available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com, for further description of the risks and uncertainties associated with Juras business.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

Mr. Nadeem Farooq, Interim Chief Executive Officer

Tel: +92 51 2825011

Fax: +92 51 287 0331

Website: www.juraenergy.com

E-Mail: info@juraenergy.comElizaveta Tkachenko, a 30-year-old woman from Russia, wound up in the emergency room earlier this month, after getting unknown substances injected into her face by an unlicensed aesthetician.

Tkachenko, a resident of Stavropol, had decided that she wanted to enhance certain facial features with the help of cosmetic filler injections, only instead of going to a trained aesthetician, she turned to her friend Irina, an accountant, who did the procedures at home, for cheaper. Tvacheno, who would live to regret her decision, claims that her friend assured her that she only used quality fillers and sterile instruments, and that she had plenty of experience in this field.

The woman had an unknown quantity of filler injected into her lips and near her eyes, and although some swelling is considered normal after such procedures, in Elizavetas case it was so extreme that she had trouble breathing, her head would ache terribly and her lips looked ready to burst. A day after the botched injections, she had to be taken to the hospital.

Photo: Elizaveta Tkachenko

My lip burst in two places, serosanguinous fluid got into my lip, my head hurt terribly, Elizaveta told NTV.ru. I am 30 years old, due to what happened, my health is ruined. Its unclear what the aftermath of this will be in the future.

The unlicensed aesthetician was questioned by Stavropol police and a criminal case has been opened against her. She wasnt able what exactly she injected into Elizavetas face, but it is clear that whatever the substance was, it caused extreme inflammation and potentially irreparable damage. A report filed by investigators mentions that Irina lacked basic knowledge of medicine and was completely unfit to perform this sort of cosmetic injections.



Elizaveta has been discharged from the hospital, but her face still bears the marks of her horrific experience. She told reporters that she cant even look at herself in the mirror right now, but that considering what shes been through, shes lucky to be alive. Its unclear when or if her face will return to normal.NEW ORLEANS, April 27, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ClaimsFiler, a FREE shareholder information service, reminds investors that they have until May 8, 2018 to file lead plaintiff applications in a securities class action lawsuit against Wageworks, Inc. (NYSE:WAGE), if they purchased the Companys securities between May 6, 2016 and March 1, 2018, inclusive (the Class Period). This action is pending in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.



Get Help

Wageworks investors should visit us at https://www.claimsfiler.com/cases/view-wageworks-inc-securities-litigation or call to speak to our claim center toll-free at (844) 367-9658.

About the Lawsuit

Wageworks and certain of its executives are charged with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws.

On March 1, 2018, the Company announced that it was delaying filing its 10-K for FYE December 31, 2017 due to material weaknesses in its systems of internal controls and that its practices and controls relating to its accounting and preparation of earnings disclosures were ineffective.

On this news, the price of WageWorks shares fell $9.75, or 18.58%, to close at $42.70 per share on March 1, 2018.

About ClaimsFiler

ClaimsFiler has a single mission: to serve as the information source to help retail investors recover their share of billions of dollars from securities class action settlements. ClaimsFiler's team of experts monitor the securities class action landscape and cull information from a variety of sources to ensure comprehensive coverage across a broad range of financial instruments.

To learn more about ClaimsFiler, visit www.claimsfiler.com.

























La Defense, April 28, 2018

Annual FINANCIAL Report

In accordance with the applicable regulations, Dexia Credit Local announces the publication of its 2017 Annual Financial Report, which has been filed on April 27, with reference document status, with the Autorite des Marches Financiers (AMF) and which can be consulted on its website at http://www.dexia-creditlocal.fr/EN/Pages/dexia_home.aspx. It is also available upon request at the registered office.

The following documents are integrated into the reference document:By Julie Young

The mission of Chess for Success is to help children develop the skills necessary for success in school and life through learning chess. In 1992, Dick Roy, Phil Margolin and Frank Eiseman saw a need in our community for chess programs to help vulnerable elementary school students. They knew from experience that learning chess can help students develop critical thinking skills, perseverance, social skills, concentration and appropriate behavior. Chess programs had been shown to help students' self-esteem and their attendance at school.

With this in mind, they received funding for a four-year pilot program from the Meyer Memorial Trust to fund after-school chess programs in nine high-poverty elementary schools within the Portland Public Schools district.

The program has hired teachers from within the schools to champion and lead the program. Chess for Success has provided lesson plans so it was easy for non-chess players to teach. And, retired teachers with chess experience have provided training and support.

To promote club unity, every student in the program receives a t-shirt with their club's designs. The students receive free entry into all Chess for Success tournaments. And, at the end of the year, they get a chess set to take home.

This year, the program is celebrating its 25th anniversary. In that time, Chess for Success has reached 45,600 students, supplied 114,000 chess sets, and provided 1.8 million hours of after-school chess lessons.

There are now 78 clubs in 24 school districts and 13 counties across Oregon, and one club in Vancouver, Wash. There are programs in therapeutic schools for students who struggle in a standard school setting, and clubs for incarcerated youth. Currently, more than 30 percent of participants are girls, an unusually high number for chess programs.

An independent, federal study found that Chess for Success accomplishes it primary goal of training and enabling children to be patient and analytical in problem-solving situations so that there is an increase in their academic achievement and self-esteem. The study also found that the program's students had higher math and reading test scores than their peers.

Chess club participation also has led to an increased interest in STEM (Science Technology Engineering Math) and analytical problem-solving for all students and is likely to increase girls' participation in math and engineering programs and careers. Our nation is facing an increased need for people in STEM careers and encouraging children to play chess puts many of them on that path.

By giving students the opportunity to learn an engaging game while also learning important life skills, Chess for Success is at the forefront of developing our next industry leaders. Qualitative measures have shown overwhelming support for the positive affect of using chess as a tool for learning.

-- Julie Young is the executive director of Chess for Success. She lives in Northwest Portland.I recently read Mr. Dan Handelman's column on his disapproval of the commissioning of the USS Portland, ("Warship isn't welcome at Portland's waterfront," April 23). I also read The Oregonian's coverage of the protesters. I come from a long line of sailors (and some soldiers as well), and my brother and I served immediately after 9/11. We welcome the men and women in uniform who risk their lives for our safety and never take that for granted. I share John F. Kennedy's sentiments from his remarks at the U.S. Naval Academy in August 1963 in which he said: "I can imagine a no more rewarding career. And any man who may be asked in this century what he did to make his life worthwhile, I think can respond with a good deal of pride and satisfaction: 'I served in the United States Navy.' "

The ship I served on was the USS Pearl Harbor, and I had the pleasure of meeting the survivors from that infamous attack in December 1941. I served honorably with almost every demographic and saw how truly great of a country we live in. No demographic in our country legitimately fears of being gassed by our military, unlike those who lived in Iraq under Saddam Hussein. When we participated in saving 62 souls whose boat gave way in the Gulf of Aden, it was one of the greatest moments of pride in my life.

I leave Mr. Handelman and his fellow protesters with this suggestion: Maybe they should join the Navy, it might be good for them.

Andrew Parmeter, CorvallisBy Joseph Justin Rollin

In typical fashion, Trump tweeted recently in reaction to a Supreme Court decision that skewed in favor of noncitizens who have been convicted of crimes. He called on Congress to "quickly pass a legislative fix" to "close loopholes that block the removal of dangerous criminal aliens," again echoing the strong anti-immigrant views that pervade his administration.

What must really drive Trump crazy about the case, Sessions v. Dimaya, is that his own Supreme Court pick, Justice Neil Gorsuch, was the deciding vote.

The main issue in the case had nothing to do with immigration law. The court was looking at a federal criminal -- not immigration -- statute defining "crime of violence." That statute mirrored another federal criminal statute that Justice Antonin Scalia had already found unconstitutionally vague in 2014. Trump said he chose Gorsuch because he would uphold the originalist principles of Justice Scalia, and that's exactly what he did. Gorsuch cited the Declaration of Independence as proof the founding fathers abhorred laws that are so vague that no one can know for certain what will violate the law, or how the police or courts will enforce it.

The subtler issue was whether the government could apply a vague law to anyone who is not a citizen, regardless of their legal status - even when it would be unconstitutional if applied to a citizen. Justice Gorsuch again agreed with the founding fathers, that a grant of lawful presence in the United States comes with it the right to due process and fair notice under the Constitution.

The Supreme Court has often, in fact, been forced to protect the rights of noncitizens in the face of a legal system specifically created to exclude them. For example, in Padilla v. Kentucky, the Supreme Court held that noncitizens had the right to be informed by their criminal attorneys on how their criminal case might affect their immigration status. Unfortunately, immigration law is so complex that it is often difficult for anyone, much less an already overburdened public defender, to understand the ways that criminal law and immigration law intersect.

Immigration laws are a minefield, with seemly random rules and consequences. Even an offense as small as stealing a candy bar can result in permanent and mandatory deportation for someone who has lived in the U.S. for decades as a lawful permanent resident. How much more complicated would the system be if the Supreme Court allowed noncitizens to be subject to laws so patently vague that they would be deemed unconstitutional if applied to citizens.

While a few states, including Oregon and Washington, have programs that assist criminal defense counsel to answer these questions, most do not. According to the American Immigration Counsel, one in 10 Oregon residents is an immigrant, including more than a third of Oregon's farmers, fishers and foresters. Noncitizens made up more than 12 percent of Oregon's labor force in 2015, and noncitizen-led households paid more than $730 million in state and local taxes in 2014. It would be unfair to subject Oregon's noncitizens, and by extension their partners, children and employees, to laws that are unconstitutionally vague.

To be sure, the immigration laws in effect today are a mess. It is the duty of Congress to provide a "fix." However, like the recent tax overhaul has shown, a quick slap-dash attempt to please the president's base is not the solution.

Joseph Justin Rollin is co-Director of the Oregon Justice Resource Center Immigration Rights Project, which assists criminal defense counsel to advise their clients on the immigration consequences of criminal charges.Illustration by Randy Mishler | The Oregonian/OregonLive

BY HILLARY BORRUD

The Oregonian/OregonLive

A pair of Oregon sisters were 5 and not quite 2 when state workers removed them and three older half-siblings from their Medford home in March 2014. Police were concerned about the childrens lack of food and their parents drug use and domestic violence, court records say.

The little girls deserved a say in what happened to them next, and one person was paid by Oregon taxpayers to be their voice: Central Point lawyer Risa Hall.

But when child welfare officials signed off on the girls moving into a home with a convicted sex offender, Hall raised no objection, according to a lawsuit filed on their behalf. An April 2014 document in the girls file called attention to the danger that man, an adult relative, posed to the children.

Hall should have known about the danger and argued against the move, which happened that May, the lawsuit says.

Instead, it says, the sisters endured months of physical and sexual abuse by the sex offender before a judge removed them from the home at the end of July 2014. By then, Hall had been paid to represent the girls for more than four months.

But she had never met or even talked to them, the lawsuit alleges.

An Oregon State Bar rule requires lawyers to communicate with their clients, even if they are young children. During hearings on foster care and adoptions, government lawyers argue for what child welfare workers say is in a childs best interest. Children also are assigned attorneys, and those lawyers are supposed to stand up for what the child wants, not what the lawyer thinks is best.

Face-to-face meetings are the only way to fully understand a childs circumstances and learn what the child truly wants, according to some attorneys who do this type of work. In a system that often prioritizes the interests of adults, lawyers are supposed to provide a voice for the child.

But Oregons system can fail the vulnerable children it is meant to help, The Oregonian/OregonLive has found. Some lawyers dont meet with their clients. Attorneys sometimes rely on staff or other intermediaries, even though child advocates and officials at the state legal contracting agency say that approach shortchanges children.

The state has no system to monitor the quality of legal work for foster children. Instead, it leaves the contractors who do that work to police themselves. Even when complaints arise and officials conclude an absent advocate denied a child appropriate legal help, they rarely mete out consequences.

Don't Edit

Hillary Borrud | The Oregonian/OregonLive

Judge Andrea Janney listens as caseworker Grant Laugsand provides an update on two boys in state care, during a hearing in Klamath County Circuit Court on September 26, 2017.

Over time, the bars best practice guidelines have either said lawyers for foster children should or must meet with the child within 72 hours of appointment and then communicate with the child at least every 90 days. Theyre also supposed to talk to the child before every court hearing and when the child faces a significant change of circumstances.

Lane Borg took the helm as director of the agency that contracts with lawyers in 2018. He said he is familiar with the sentiment that attorneys dont need to speak to or visit young children who are clients. And he doesnt buy it.

People that started practicing in this area when I started practicing 30-plus years ago, they would be like, Whats the point of driving five hours to go see a baby in foster care somewhere? Im not going to learn anything thats going to help me in court. Thats a waste of my time, he said.

No, Borg countered, its not a waste of your time, its what you should be doing in your practice.

But Oregon does not check how often or even whether lawyers meet with the vulnerable children they represent.

Unless Hall met the Medford sisters she was assigned to represent, she could not serve as their true voice. In recent years, at least nine other lawyers also breached standards requiring them to communicate with child clients and represent their wishes, The Oregonian/OregonLive found. State officials determined most of them went for long stretches without contacting their clients. Others did not dispute the allegation they did the same. In addition to formal complaints, state officials who oversee the more than 300 lawyers who represent roughly 7,600 foster children a year say many more are resolved informally.

Through her lawyer, Hall declined to answer questions. In court filings, she said the abusers, not she, are to blame for any harm. She did not say if she ever met with the sisters. The state still pays Hall to represent other foster children.

Oregon taxpayers spend nearly $12 million a year to provide lawyers for every child in the foster system. Oregons approach to calculating pay for foster childrens lawyers tends to reward those who take on high caseloads and give less to those who devote long hours on the cases of fewer children.

In most of Oregon, there are no limits on how many foster children one lawyer can represent, and the state does not track caseloads. The state contracts with law firms or legal nonprofits and pays them primarily based on how many foster children they anticipate they will represent. Typical payments are $830 per child, and a lawyer who visits a child 10 times is paid no more than a lawyer who never does.

Borg acknowledges the system creates a financial incentive for a lawyer to maximize caseloads and do minimal work for each child.

You incentivize people to take massive amounts of cases, said Borg, who formerly headed Portland-based Metropolitan Public Defenders, which represented foster children under contract with the state. Were not really measuring whether you get any good outcomes or how much work you do.  For 30 years, its been cheap and predictable.

Borg, who became executive director in January, said his Office of Public Defense Services cant do more to enforce performance standards for foster childrens lawyers because the budget is tight and the lawyers are private contractors, not state employees.

Don't Edit

Beth Nakamura | The Oregonian/OregonLive

Schuyler Davis of Springfield, who entered the foster system at age 7, said he only realized about five years later that a lawyer or lawyers had been representing him in court. Davis says the lawyer he was assigned then, Ilisa Rooke-Ley, listened to him and made a big difference in his life.

LISTENING IS IMPORTANT

Experts who drafted the Oregon State Bar best practices for childrens lawyers stressed the importance of personal interactions. The state agency that provides attorneys for foster children has adopted those practices as performance standards.

Establishing and maintaining a relationship with the child client is the foundation of representation, the bars task force wrote in 2014. It is often more difficult to develop a relationship and trust with a child client than with an adult.  The childs needs and interests, not the adults or professionals interests, must be the center of all advocacy.

Young children can reasonably express preferences about where they live, even when they are too young to put them into words, an expert panel assembled by the Oregon bar asserted.

Face-to-face meetings with grade schoolers are an opportunity for lawyers to explain the status of the case in an age-appropriate manner and learn what outcomes the child wants. A lawyer who visits a toddler should ask the caregiver questions such as Where does the child sleep? Where do they spend their time? Borg said. It sends a signal that the child has his or her own legal advocate and can reveal what a child likes or fears.

When a lawyer can discern the child clients preference  the lawyer must advocate for that preference, the bars experts wrote.

The stakes for children and families are incredibly high. Losing a child, a parent or a sibling or being placed in an uncaring or unsafe foster home can do lifelong emotional damage. An emotionally secure, loving adoptive family can put a child on a life-saving, life-affirming path.

Young adults who spent time in the child welfare system testify to the importance of having a good lawyer. Schuyler Davis of Springfield says he grew up in the foster care system from 7 to 21. Now 24, he works security at concerts and volunteers for various causes, including an organization he started to raise awareness of children in state care called Project Foster Kids USA.

Davis said he didnt realize until he got a new attorney at age 12 that another lawyer or lawyers had represented him in court during his previous five years in foster care. His new lawyer, Ilisa Rooke-Ley, asked what I wanted, Davis said. When Davis told Rooke-Ley that he needed help to cope with anger, she got him into a treatment program.

What helped me to be as successful as I am today is being able to get that help that I needed, said Davis. Her listening to what I wanted was especially important to me.  It wasnt common, especially with (the Department of Human Services).

Don't Edit

Beth Nakamura | The Oregonian/OregonLive

Schuyler Davis, who grew up in Oregon's foster care system, speaks about the importance of having a lawyer who listened to him and advocated for his needs.

A decade ago, Washington County Judge Jim Fun started asking childrens lawyers during court hearings when they last met with their clients. A new federal law required judges to consult with children in an age-appropriate manner, he said, so he checked to make sure the lawyer was actually serving as a conduit to the child.

A child has just as much right as any adult to be heard in court, and the only way that that can be accomplished is for counsel to have an opportunity to see the child, Fun said.

Having a lawyer know the childs circumstances first-hand isnt a nicety, Amy Miller, acting deputy director at the agency that oversees foster childrens legal services, advised one childs lawyer. Attorneys who represent young children play a critical role in child safety, she wrote.

But there have been questions about the failure of lawyers to meet performance standards in Klamath, Jackson, Baker, Clatsop, Lincoln and Washington counties during the last five years, The Oregonian/OregonLive found.

FAILURES SPAN OREGON

Oregons only system for enforcing foster childrens rights to timely, well-informed legal representation is for someone to complain to the state Office of Public Defense Services or the Oregon State Bar. Not surprisingly, toddlers, grade-schoolers and teens who depend on state-paid lawyers almost never file complaints.

People have filed 14 complaints with the state defense office over the past five years regarding the quality of legal representation for foster children in Oregon, records show. One was filed by a minor.

State law allows the Office of Public Defense Services to keep those complaints confidential. The agency declined to release the minors complaint about a Washington County attorney, and it is not clear what the client was unhappy about. The office heavily redacted most of the complaints it did release.

Most of those complaints said lawyers werent meeting or communicating with children they represented. Several were said to have failed to connect with their child clients at all. One, Baker County lawyer Ted Martin, told Oregon juvenile court program director Leola McKenzie he wasnt required to visit clients, state officials found.

Don't Edit

Office of Public Defense Services

A redacted copy of a 2015 complaint about a lawyer in Jackson County lists concerns raised by a foster mother caring for two children, one with significant medical needs, whose lawyer had not visited them. The state released this and other complaints in response to a public records request.

In December 2015, a foster mother in Jackson County complained that attorney Vance Waliser never met with the two children in her care, including one with severe medical needs. The woman said she sent Waliser more than 100 emails and left numerous voicemails, including a request that Waliser advocate for more help for the high-needs child. When Miller investigated, Waliser confirmed that he never met these clients, Millers notes say.

But the state organization that issues contracts to groups of lawyers imposed no consequences on Waliser, who is a member of the same for-profit legal consortium as Hall. Miller noted that she told Waliser about the performance standards for childrens lawyers and the requirement to independently investigate the circumstances of each client. She also authorized funds for him to travel to visit his clients, then marked the complaint resolved. Waliser did not respond to requests for comment.

Waliser and Hall are among five co-owners of the Jackson Juvenile Consortium, state records show. The state continues to pay the consortium $1.5 million a year to represent children and low-income adults.

Eastern Oregon foster parent Mary Collard says no one has more at stake in a family court decision than the foster child, so their lawyers advocacy is essential. She told the state that for roughly five months, Ontario lawyer Renee Denison hadnt visited her foster son. Collard said Denison missed court hearings and citizen reviews for the boy and his siblings, whom Denison was also assigned to represent.

It was so evident that everyone else had an attorney there EXCEPT the very most important ones! Collard wrote. I don't understand how legally, these proceedings can go on without him being represented. Huge decisions are being made for this child's future.

Questioned by Miller, Denison did not dispute that she failed to visit the boy and missed events in his case. But she blamed some problems on the district attorneys office and the state child welfare program. Denison withdrew from representing all three siblings, Miller said, but continues to represent other foster children. Denison did not respond to requests for comment.

In 2013, leaders from Washington Countys Court Appointed Special Advocates program shared a lengthy list of concerns with the state about Hillsboro law firm Karpstein & Verhulst, including that siblings represented off-and-on by a lawyer for six years didnt know who he was. They said the lawyer had little knowledge of the case other than parroting the DHS or (advocates) report, the advocates wrote. A 2015 state review of legal contractors in the county noted ongoing concerns about the firms reliance on staff to visit children. As that review was underway, Nathan Law and Jacob Griffith took over the firm from Gregory Karpstein, state business filings show. Law told The Oregonian/OregonLive that the firm no longer relies solely on staff to visit children, and attorneys are the primary contact for clients.

Frederick Carman, one of six attorneys at the firm, also vouched for the quality of legal representation. I stand on my 42 years as an attorney in private practice, Carman wrote. It is a fact of life as a practicing lawyer that there will be the occasional unhappy client.

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Courtesy of the family

Klamath Falls lawyer Richard Garbutt represented Laila Sloan, shown just before she turned 4. Garbutt never visited Laila during the two years after Oregon child welfare workers sent Laila to live with her aunt and uncle in Kentucky, but he continued to act as her voice in court.

Throughout most of 2017, 4-year-old Laila Sloan from Southern Oregon faced being taken from the Kentucky aunt and uncle she calls mommy and daddy to be adopted by an Oregon couple shed never met.

Lailas Klamath Falls lawyer Richard Garbutt, who was paid $280,000 in his role providing and overseeing help to vulnerable clients, did not visit the preschooler during a two-year-period after Oregon child welfare workers sent Laila to be raised by the aunt and uncle. The state has a fund to cover costs of significant travel within Oregon and to other states.

Yet Garbutt spoke on Lailas behalf as the child welfare system decided her fate, strongly supporting Oregon officials plan to sever her from the Kentucky couple so she could be reunited with a younger brother shed never met and adopted by his Klamath Falls foster parents.

The aunt and uncle, whom Kentucky officials eventually granted the right to adopt Laila, filed a complaint with the Oregon State Bar. They said Garbutt failed to meet with Laila, showed extreme bias against people from Kentucky and should have gotten Laila a different lawyer because he had a conflict of interest due to also representing Lailas brothers.

The bar dismissed the complaint, citing insufficient evidence. The judge in Klamath Falls is in a much better position than the bar to determine whether Mr. Garbutt is mistaken in concluding that he has no conflict of interest, Daniel Atkinson, a lawyer at the bar, wrote. Atkinson didnt address the fact Garbutt failed to meet with Laila.

Kateri Walsh, a spokeswoman for the bar, explained that sending other employees visit and talk with child clients is allowed. Lailas aunt said Garbutt had a staffer in his office call her to check on Laila about twice a year. Garbutt says he also called to check in a couple times.

Garbutt has received accolades for his legal work. Last year, the Oregon Criminal Defense Lawyers Association honored him with its juvenile law advocacy award. Miller, from the agency that oversees foster childrens lawyers, wrote Garbutts citation and pointed to his nonprofits strategy of employing caseworkers to help parents seeking to be reunited with their children. She also cited Garbutts idea to open a visitation center, which has since closed, where young children in the states care could have bonding time with their biological parents.

Garbutts high earnings for legal work suggest he carries a large caseload. But during a fall interview, he wouldnt disclose the number of cases he handles and his state contract proposal said hed handle a caseload of 80. He had previously told The Oregonian/OregonLive his caseload was as high as 180 children.

A CONTROVERSIAL PRACTICE

Garbutt, who relies on staffers to visit child clients and report back to him, said attorneys who represent fewer children than he does have the luxury of visiting clients. If you have a low caseload, you can do that, Garbutt said. He said he, however, is not a touchy feely guy and would not go out to a foster home in the evening just to talk to a 2-year-old.

Thats the design at Klamath Defender Services, the nonprofit that Garbutt co-founded 33 years ago to represent indigent clients in Klamath and Lake counties. He relies on in-house caseworkers to meet with children and parents every 60 days, then brief him and other lawyers.

You can hire two (case managers) for the price of one lawyer, Garbutt said. That allows the nonprofit to take on more cases.

Miller confirmed that while relying on staffers has been controversial, her agency allows it.

The (Oregon bar) rules of professional conduct require communication with child clients, Miller said. However, the state allows lawyers to use other resources to fulfill their contractual and ethical obligations, she said.

Don't Edit

Hillary Borrud | The Oregonian/OregonLive

Lawyer Richard Garbutt, right, appeared in Klamath County Circuit Court on behalf of his clients, two boys in foster care, on September 26, 2017. Attorney Bonnie Lam, left, represented the boys' incarcerated father. Garbutt founded the Klamath Falls legal consortium that contracts with the state to represent local children in the foster system.

A review team that included defense lawyers and a judge criticized a different firm for substituting staff visits for lawyer contact with foster children in Washington County in 2015. Reports indicate that the firms reliance on staff contact with clients makes the lawyers less effective during court hearings, and there is very little advocacy on clients behalf outside of court hearings.

During a home visit, a lawyer gains knowledge and context to effectively advocate for the child in court, Borg said, such as picking up on inconsistencies with another partys account. When youre talking about an infant or toddler, you are the only embodiment of that person in the courtroom.

Relying on staffers to contact children face-to-face frustrates some court-appointed childrens advocates. Borg and Miller didnt cite any benefits to clients.

In 2013, Tim Hennessy and Lynn Travis, leaders of Washington and Multnomah counties Court Appointed Special Advocates program, complained to state officials that attorneys had provided substandard legal representation to 14 children or sibling groups. Much of that stemmed from the fact that staffers, not attorneys, met with the children and their foster parents, they wrote.

Travis, who is now a training consultant, said lawyers face-to-face check-ins serve two purposes: ensuring a child clients safety and keeping the child sufficiently informed to make decisions. A well-trained staffer can handle safety check-ins but the other piece about transmitting information about what the judge is going to decide, what their position is going to be, that really needs to be the lawyer, Travis said.

NO QUALITY ASSURANCE

State officials acknowledge they dont know how many state-paid lawyers for foster children make little or no effort to learn and express their wishes. The independent office that oversees the contracts makes no systematic effort to check, Borg said.

Various entities have noted over the past two decades that many children receive poor representation. A state bar panel wrote in 2000 that foster children faced an "unreasonable likelihood of receiving poor representation." Five years later, a state auditor survey found "general agreement within the legal community" that the quality of legal services provided to foster children is often inadequate. The situation was found to persist in 2015, according to a task force created by the Legislature.

During the past four years, just one law group lost its state contract for poor performance representing foster children, Miller said: Portland law firm Brindle McCaslin & Lee. State officials cited inadequate training and supervision of junior attorneys, as well as high caseloads. The firms partners have since parted ways. Ted Brindle, partner at the retooled firm, did not respond to a request for comment.

Don't Edit

Office of Public Defense Services

In November 2013, Oregon's legal contracting agencys general counsel Paul Levy investigated a complaint that a lawyer from Sutherlin hadn't consulted his client. The state ultimately barred the lawyer from taking any new foster child cases.

The state doesnt track how many individual lawyers have been told they cant take new foster child cases. Miller said several have been told this in recent years.

Sutherlin lawyer Mark Hendershott was one. In November 2013, another lawyer complained to the state legal agencys general counsel Paul Levy that Hendershott hadnt met with a foster child client.

After establishing that was true, Levy barred Hendershott from representing any more children at state expense. Levy explained in a letter to Hendershott that he took actions in court adverse to your clients relationship with her father, and that you did so without determining whether she wished for you to take such actions. In response to my inquiry, you confirmed that you took the action without having met with or had any prior contact with your client. You also confirmed that  you did no preparation or investigation of her circumstances and wishes other than reading the discovery that you received prior to the hearing. Most significantly, you explained your conduct by writing, I did not and do not believe (this client) has sufficient maturity to provide meaningful directions to a lawyer on issues such as this.

Hendershott declined to comment.

Last year, someone with the CASA program, whose volunteers advocate for individual foster children, complained that St. Helens lawyer Alan Biedermann had not met with a foster child for several months before an important hearing. Biedermann told The Oregonian/OregonLive that although it had been a few months since he met face-to-face with the boy, he read through a voluminous amount of evidence, attended a citizens review of the case and was in regular contact with the foster parents and caseworker leading up to the hearing.

Rather than check his performance herself, Miller allowed a colleague of Biedermanns to do so. She told the advocate to talk to the administrator at the contract firm Biedermann worked for. She said state contracts say those administrators must make sure attorneys meet contract terms. On the Biedermann complaint, Miller marked no action taken.

-- Hillary Borrud

hborrud@oregonian.com

503-294-4034; @hborrudA federal judge has dismissed a long-running lawsuit brought by the widow of Yogi Bhajan, a spiritual teacher and entrepreneur who introduced Kundalini Yoga in the United States and who started an Oregon-based natural foods company with annual revenue of $125 million at one time.

She claimed her husband's advisers improperly excluded her and their children from the management boards of two nonprofit organizations her husband started.

U.S. District Judge Michael W. Mosman ruled that the court shouldn't become entangled in essentially religious controversies.

Mosman's order dismisses the lawsuit with prejudice, ending for now a battle that has bounced between state and federal courts for nearly eight years, with an appeal heard before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last year.

"In effect, Plaintiffs seek court interference in the membership of the boards that choose Sikh Dharma's highest level of leadership and exercise significant control over the direction of the Sikh Dharma religious in the Western Hemisphere,'' Mosman wrote.

Bhajan was a spiritual leader and entrepreneur who spread Sikhism and Kundalini Yoga in the United States beginning in the 1960s. In 1971, he was designated the Siri Singh Sahib, the Sikh leader for the Western Hemisphere, according to court records.

He founded or inspired the creation of numerous for-profit and nonprofit entities, including Siri Singh Sahib Corp. and Unto Infinity LLC in Oregon that are associated with the Sikh Dharma religious community.

Among the corporations under Unto Infinity was Golden Temple of Oregon, which built the Peace Cereal and Yogi Tea brands and was long a cornerstone of Eugene's natural foods industry.

Bhajan died in October 2004. His widow, Bibiji Inderjit Kaur Puri of Los Angeles, known as "Bibiji," and their three children alleged that the general counsel of Unto Infinity and Siri Singh Sahib Corp. conspired to exclude them from participating in managing the organizations.

They wanted to be on both companies' boards and were seeking about $150 million in compensation for their losses.

The widow accused the advisers of converting millions of dollars in assets from the organizations for personal benefit.

Mosman found that the Unto Infinity and Siri Singh Sahib board members have religious duties that allow them to shape the future of the Sikh Dharma religion, including the choice and removal of religious leaders.

The U.S. Supreme Court has long recognized the right of religious organizations to select their own religious leaders. Mosman cited the "ministerial exemption'' to the First Amendment, which ensures that a civil court won't control who will minister in a religious organization.

The case, though, likely won't end here.

Puri plans to appeal Mosman's dismissal, said her lawyer Surjit P. Soni on Friday. Soni will argue that Mosman relied on "irrelevant and inadmissible evidence'' presented by the defendants to conclude that the Unto Infinity and Siri Singh Sahib Corp. boards are religious organizations.

"We have faith that the Court of Appeals will correct the errors,'' Soni said.

-- Maxine Bernstein

mbernstein@oregonian.com

503-221-8212

@maxoregonianFake licenses sold by Bill Higley Insurance / Hillsboro Police Department

The case against Hillsboro insurance agent Skip Molen, who sold some $130,000 worth of fake drivers licenses to clients, started with more than 500 potential victims.

But only 60 responded when police reached out.

A handful agreed to participate in the judicial process.

And only two showed up to testify before a grand jury.

In the end, Molen pleaded guilty to a single count of theft and one client was awarded $500 in restitution, all because Molen had found the perfect victims: undocumented immigrants too afraid to seek justice

If all 500 people had (come forward), it would have been a much different case, said prosecuting attorney Rayney Meisel. If the victims had been more visible and able to be more visible, then I think it probably would have gone federal. It was a massive, massive scam.

Between 2014 and 2016, Molen's company, Bill Higley Insurance, sold fraudulent international driving permits to an estimated 520 clients. The victims were trying to do the right thing by getting official documents and car insurance. The company advertised these licenses on Spanish-language radio and in fliers around Hillsboro.

Representatives from Bill Higley Insurance were approaching their Hispanic, undocumented clientele saying Hey, you dont have a drivers license? Or have a suspended or revoked drivers license? No problem. You just buy this international drivers license that we sell and that basically gives you all the authority in the world to drive,  said Hillsboro Police Detective Pat Brady. They led them to believe it was a stand-alone license.

Don't Edit

Hillsboro Detective Pat Brady / The Oregonian/OregonLive

In fact, an international driving permit is nothing more than a translation of a state-issued driver's license. It's meant for U.S. residents driving abroad, so they have a version of their license in other countries' languages. It holds no authority as a driver's license on its own.

The State Department authorizes only two organizations to issue international driving permits to U.S. residents  the American Automobile Association and American Automobile Touring Alliance. Both charge $20 per permit.

Bill Higley Insurance was charging between $200 and $300 per fake license, manufactured through a California-based company called Club IDL USA.

This was clearly deceptive, Brady said. They were charging $250 a pop to some of the poorest members of our community. They were just taking advantage of them. It was horrible.

Clients signed forms stating they understood they were receiving merely a translation of my country issued drivers license. But many of these clients were illiterate in English and had no idea what they were signing. Araceli Cazares, a Spanish-speaking employee in Molens office, often filled out the paperwork for them  and took home a cut of the profits.

Don't Edit

Skip Molen / Washington County Sheriff's Office

In an email, Molen said he was not interested in talking about his case. Cazares did not respond to requests for comment.

According to police, in spring 2016 a man presented one of these fake licenses during a traffic stop in Forest Grove. The officer seized the license but let the man off with a warning.

The man returned to Bill Higley Insurance, complaining hed been sold a fake. According to Brady, Cazares told the man that the cops were just racist and the license was fine, and sold him a replacement for an additional $250.

When the man was stopped while driving a second time, Hillsboro police began an investigation into Molens office.

Don't Edit

Fake licenses and documents sold by Bill Higley Insurance. / Hillsboro PD

Officers executed a search warrant at Bill Higley Insurance in October 2016, discovering hundreds of applications for fake licenses. Brady sent letters to all 520-plus victims, asking for information on how much they paid for their licenses, who in the office sold them, and what they were told about the documents value.

We are not concerned with your legal status here in the United States, the letter read in Spanish. We have no intention of disrupting or interfering in your life due to your legal status; whatever it might be. Our only concern is that a portion of our community is being cheated and taken advantage of.

Still, victims were leery about speaking with law enforcement.

They got responses back from about 60 (victims), Meisel said, and among those responses they got back, there was four or five who said, Yes, Id be willing to come in. 

Its no secret that Immigrations & Customs Enforcement agents hang out around the Washington County courthouse. Even with evidence of hundreds of fake license applications, Meisel said the case would be difficult to prosecute without victim testimony.

We werent able to bring in hearsay of victims that didnt show up, she said. Things were paid in cash, and so while we may have had somebodys name on an application, we didnt have a financial trail.

Don't Edit

Araceli Cazares / Washington Conty Sheriff's Office

Molen and Cazares were charged with six counts each of theft over $1,000. They each pleaded guilty in March to one count. Cazares received probation. Molen was sentenced to 30 days in jail and was released this month.

The pair owe $500 in restitution to one victim.

Thats just a fraction of what police believe they took from their clients. With an average sale price of $250, and after sending $90 for each permit to Club IDL USA, the scam would have generated about $130,000 in revenue and $83,200 in profit for Molen and Cazares.

Heres the kicker: The state of Oregon revoked Molens license to sell insurance, but he still owns his company.

Bill Higley Insurance remains open for business.

Somehow, so does Club IDL USA.

I cant help but think the outcome would be different, and the community outrage louder, if Bill Higley Insurance had scammed 520 elderly white ladies.

Instead, there is no justice for these victims.

Who wins, exactly, when the system treats the victims -- and not the con man -- as the bigger threat to the community?

-- Samantha Swindler is a columnist for The Oregonian/Oregonlive.

@editorswindler / 503-294-4031

sswindler@oregonian.com

Don't EditSAN DIEGO, April 28, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In Miami Florida, the issue of drug addiction is reigning supreme in the lives of many people in the city. The menace is so much on the increase in such a way that many are even suffering from various dangerous health conditions that result from the addition.



Drug rehabs in Miami Florida refer to two things: it relates to the various processes put together in the restoration of drug addicts back to normalcy in their different communities. The phrase also refers to various drug rehabilitation centers existing in different parts of Miami Florida. Whichever is the case, the restoration of drug addicts back to normal drug-free lifestyle is the ultimate aim.

Indeed, drug rehabs in Miami Florida when viewed as a process is known for its success in dealing with drug addiction. The process typically begins with the arrival of the drugs addicts in any of the dependable drug rehab centers within the city. Once they arrive, proper diagnosis is carried out to ascertain the level of the addiction involved. Chronic addicts discovered in the process are hospitalized adequately in the rehab center while others with manageable cases are placed under the outpatient treatment plan.

Once, the classifications have been completed, the treatment processes commence. In most drug rehabs in Miami Florida, there are two main aspects of the addiction namely: the physical and the psychological aspects. The physical element refers to the habit of depending on the drug for daily survival as portrayed by the addicts involved. Such addicts go about with drugs and are always delighted to have more of such drugs.

On the other hand, the psychological dependence refers to the habit of having a drug mentality. For such people, life is sustained mainly by drugs or nothing else. Such addicts have all their thoughts and mental processes revolving around all kinds of narcotic drugs.

Nevertheless, drug rehabs in Miami Florida as a process has two unique ways of dealing with the two aspects of drug addiction as explained above. For the physical aspect of the addiction, the tool of detoxification is highly engaged. In this process, the addicts are subjected to compulsory but systematic withdrawal from the use of those drugs involved. The accumulated toxins that are already deposited in the bloodstream of the addicts are correctly taken care of. Detoxification is no cheap talk. It comes with real side effects such as a headache, nausea, dizziness, fever, dry mouth and so on. However, such results do clear off with time.

On the other hand, drug rehabs in Miami Florida as a unique treatment process also engages the tool of psychotherapy in dealing with the psychological aspect of the addiction. This is usually made feasible through various psychotherapeutic means such as interpersonal therapy, group therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy and so on. The tool of one-on-one and group counseling sessions are richly engaged in the various means.

Finally, drug rehabs in Miami Florida as real treatment centers also help the addict by encouraging them to enroll in sober houses and other self-help groups such as the Narcotics Anonymous and other clubs like that. In such groups, the recovering addicts are properly helped as they prepare to launch back into the world.

Contact Info:

Author: Kevin Leonard

Organization: TheRecover.com

Address: 27420 Jefferson Ave, Temecula, CA 92590

Phone: (888) 510-3898

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://resource.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/cfae316b-fe44-4489-8575-5b7277d550ffSAN DIEGO, April 28, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Rehab help for Miami experienced and caring addiction consultants can help you get more information about the various types of rehab centers available in Miami and help you find the most effective programs for your situation, and whether or not one of those facilities is near you. Call 1-888-510-3898 now to speak with a counselor who can help.



There are more than 600 alcohol and drug rehabs in Miami, but only about 8 percent of people receiving some treatment in the state receive inpatient care. In addition, less than 5 percent of Miami residents who were in treatment at the time of the survey were enrolled in a long-term residential rehabilitation program, which was only 2,000 people.

The total number of people in Miami who were engaged in some alcohol or drug treatment at the time of the survey was about 44,000. One-quarter of those were stuck in opioid replacement therapy such as methadone clinics, and more than half were in some other form of outpatient services.

How to Find the Right Rehab in Miami

Even for those people in Miami who do go to some inpatient drug rehab, there are many types of rehabs, and some are much more effective than others. While there may not be any one type of program that will work for everyone, we can assist you through a confidential assessment to help determine what type of rehab is best for you or a loved one from Miami, and how to find the right facility.

Call Us Now for Miami Rehab Help at 1-888-510-3898

Here are a few factors to consider when looking for a rehab program for someone from Miami:

How long is the program? Should you stay in Miami or look at going out of the state? What type of treatment principles to do they follow (12 step or non-12-step)? Do they feel addicts are diseased and it's not their fault or that they can be responsible for their condition with the right help? How much does the program cost, and is it all-inclusive or on a monthly basis? Is it individualized treatment or mostly group therapy? Does the facility follow up with program completions and track their recovery rates? If so, what is their success rate?

Call us today for more information about getting drug rehab help in Miami.

Contact Info:

Author: Kevin Leonard

Organization: TheRecover.com

Address: 27420 Jefferson Ave, Temecula, CA 92590

Phone: (888) 510-3898

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://resource.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/8b4a17d4-a623-473e-9c02-0c9c859929ff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.This item is available in full to subscribers.

Attention subscribers

We have recently launched a new and improved website. To continue reading, you will need to either log into your subscriber account, or purchase a new subscription.

If you are a digital subscriber with an active subscription, then you already have an account here. Just reset your password if you've not yet logged in to your account on this new site.

If you are a current print subscriber, you can set up a free website account by clicking here.

Otherwise, click here to view your options for subscribing.The National Corporation of Consumers and users of Chile filed a Class Action against Apple yesterday afternoon for slowing iPhones in X in the Northern District of California, San Jose Division. The plaintiff is described as a private non-profit organization with its principal place of business in Santiago, Chile. The plaintiff was founded in 1996 with the purpose to inform and educate consumers and assume their legal representation and defense. Other countries suing Apple on this same issue include France, South Korea, Australia, Israel and Canada to date in 2018. The plaintiff is demanding $5 billion as noted in the graphic below from the court docket.





Nature of the Action

The plaintiff's court filing presents a segment titled "Nature of the Action" and it states the following verbatim: "Apple promised that its recent iOS 10 and iOS 11 software updates for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 7 models would improve those devices' performance. Apple also made it nearly impossible for its customers to refuse those updates. But Apple didn't tell its customers that it intentionally designed those software updates to slow the devices' processing speed to correct a battery defect. Yet Apple happily took its customers' money when the customers, dissatisfied with their now-slower devices, purchased new and more expensive iPhones. Apple finally came clean in December 2017 under public pressure, admitting its software updates slowed processor speed. Consumers around the world were forced to either purchase new phones for hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars or continue to struggle with their slowed devices.

Plaintiff brings this action on behalf of all Chilean consumers who own the iPhone 6, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s Plus (collectively, the "iPhone 6"), or the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus (collectively, the "iPhone 7") (together, "Affected Phones"), whose devices were harmed by Apple's iOS software updates for versions 10.2.1, 10.3, 10.3.1, 10.3.3 (the "iOS 10 Update") and for versions 11.0.1, 11.02, 11.03, 11.1.1, 11.1.2, 11.2, and 11.2.1 (the "iOS 11 Update," and collectively, the "iOS 10 and iOS 11 Updates")those updates were released between January 23, 2017 and December 13, 2017."

It's clear the plaintiff's position is that Apple purposely slowed iPhones so as to push customers to upgrade more often. Their formal complaint states that "Despite the iPhone's importance, Apple has struggled with problems in its flagship product. According to Apple's 2017 Form 10-K, 'iPhone net sales decreased during 2016 compared to 2015. The Company believes the sales decline was due primarily to a lower rate of iPhone upgrades during 2016 compared to 2015 . . . .'"

The plaintiff's formal complaint further added that "Specifically, Defendant has since admitted that the iOS 10 and iOS 11 Updates deteriorated the performance of the Affect Phones by causing:

a. Longer app launch-times;

b. Lower frame rates while scrolling;

c. Backlight dimming;

d. Lower speaker volume;

e. Gradual frame rate reductions in some apps;

f. Disabling the camera flash; and

g. Apps refreshing in background may require reloading upon launch.

The Concealed Facts were material because the decrease in processing speed significantly impacted the functionality of Plaintiff's members' iPhones.

By its misrepresentations and omissions, Defendant, upon information and belief, intended to induce Plaintiff's members to purchase newer iPhone models to increase profits and improve Defendant's business as a whole."

Causes for Action

Below are the four causes of action listed in the plaintiff's formal complaint:

Count 1: Injunctive Relief

Count 2: Trespass to Chattels

Count 3: Unjust Enrichment

Count 4: Fraudulent Misrepresentation/Omission

About Comments: Patently Apple reserves the right to post, dismiss or edit comments. Those using abusive language or negative behavior will result in being blacklisted on Disqus.British troops took Mesopotamia away from the Ottoman Turks during the First World War (1914-1918), and in 1920 they received a mandate from the League of Nations to administer the area. Losing little time, they helped the locals to set up a government in 1921, under the name of Iraq, and brought in a new ruler to serve as monarch under the title of Faisal I. (This was the same Faisal whose troops the British officer known as Lawrence of Arabia had fought in league with against the Turks during the war.) But Faisal and his government were allowed precious little freedom to govern their new nation as they saw fit; Great Britain reserved for itself authority over Iraqs economic, military, and foreign affairs. In 1932, the League of Nations finally ended the British mandate over Iraq and admitted the newly independent state to membership.

In 1958, though, a group of army officers, led by General Abdul Karim Qasim, overthrew the monarchy, wiping out the royal family and declaring Iraq a republic. It was hardly that, though. The new government ruled by decree. It reversed Iraqs traditional pro-Western stance and turned to the Communist world for economic and military assistance. (This was about the time that Nasser in Egypt was doing much the same thing.) General Qasims government was corrupt and treated the people harshly. Among other things, he dispatched the army against Kurdish separatists in the north in 1961.

In 1963, another military coup assassinated General Qasim. The new revolutionary regime, led by officers who belonged to a political party known as the Bath, promised justice and reform. There was rejoicing in the streets and among Iraqi exiles abroad. Badr Shakir al-Sayyabs poem An Ode to Revolutionary Iraq, written while he was undergoing medical treatment in London, is dramatic testimony to the high hopes that the new leaders of the country aroused in the hearts of many.

The agents of Qasim open fire upon the spring,

But all the illicit wealth they have amassed

Will melt like ice, to be again water,

Gushing along streams and brooks,

Bringing back the luster of life to the dry branches,

Restoring, without loss, all stolen from them in Qasims winter. O Iraq!

O Iraq! I can almost glimpse, across the raging seas,

At every turn, in every street and road and alley,

Beyond the ports and highways,

Smiling faces that say: The Tatars have fled,

God has returned to the mosques with the break of day, A day on which the sun shall never set!

You are avenged on the traitors at the hands of my people in revolt.

The enemy of the people is cast down to the lowest hell The doctor hurried to my side.

Was it that he had found a cure for the disease in my body? The doctor hurried to my side and said:

What is this news from Iraq?

The army has rebelled, Qasim is dead!

What joyous, health-restoring tidings!

In my joy, I almost stood up, walked, ran,

As if cured.

Rejoice! What liberation, what release!

Rejoice! The army of the Arab nation has torn off the bonds! O my brethren in God, in blood, in Arabism, in hope,

Arise, for tyrants are laid low,

And light has dispelled the night.

Guard well the Arab revolution

That crushed the comrades, cast down the oppressors, For Tammuz, his splendor once stolen by the traitor,[1] Has arisen, and Iraq is reborn.[2]

Mercifully, perhaps, al-Sayyab died an early death in 1964, still in London. He never had to see what became of his hoped-for revolution.

[1] Tammuz was an ancient Mesopotamian god of vegetation, who died and was then reborn. Thus, he became a god of resurrection as well. He is mentioned in the Bible at Ezekiel 8:14.

[2] Translated in An Anthology of Modern Arabic Poetry, edited by Mounah A. Khouri and Hamid Algar (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1975), 91-93.

Posted from Tiberias, IsraelEllen Johnson Sirleaf, the former President of Liberia, has received the 2017 Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership.



Johnson-Sirleaf in February, became the first woman to win the prize, in recognition of her efforts to rebuild her country following two devastating civil wars.



Speaking to guests at a special Leadership Ceremony in Kigali Rwanda and around the world, Sirleaf said:



Im honoured to be this years recipient of the Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership. I receive this distinction on behalf of the many women and men who helped to navigate the profound complexities of the post-conflict country that is Liberia. As the first woman to receive this award, it is my hope that women and girls across Africa will be inspired to break through barriers, and push back on the frontiers of lifes possibilities.



The Ibrahim Prize recognises and celebrates excellence in African leadership. It is a $5 million award paid over 10 years, and $200,000 annually for life thereafter.



Presenting the Prize to Sirleaf, Salim Ahmed Salim, Chair of the independent Prize Committee, said:



Madame Sirleaf embodies the type of role model the Prize is intended to honour. It recognises not good leaders  of which Africa has many  but truly exceptional figures, who, by their nature, are rare. We are looking for leaders who leave their country in a far better state than when they took office, who have strengthened the trust of their fellow citizens in state and leadership, and who have built a strong legacy.

Mo Ibrahim, founder of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, said:



It is wonderful to have a winner this year, and it is also wonderful that the winner is a she. How fitting that President Sirleaf is honoured here in Rwanda, as nobody has done more for women, and the gender issue, than Rwanda.

Johnson-Sirleaf joins Hifikepunye Pohamba of Namibia (2014), Pedro Pires of Cabo Verde (2011), Festus Mogae of Botswana (2008) and Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique (2007) as an Ibrahim Prize Laureate.



In some years, the award, which was launched in 2006, has not been awarded as no candidate was considered good enough.



The Leadership Ceremony is at the heart of the 2018 Ibrahim Governance Weekend, the flagship event of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation which takes place in a different African country each year.



The Ibrahim Forum will bring together experts from across Africa and the world to discuss Public Service in Africa  its relation to good governance and effective leadership, its new challenges and current shortcomings, and the ways and means to strengthen it and make it appealing to the next generation.



Young representatives from all over the continent also discussed the topic in a specially convened Next Generation Forum.



The weekend will conclude with a live concert featuring Sauti Sol, Peter P-Square, Riderman, Knowless, Phionah Mbabazi and Charly & Nina.















Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured VideoDisclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.Ahead of a 30th April deadline for the completion of Branch Executives elections of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin, Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament has congratulated all participants in the exercise.



The Nadowli/Kaleo MP, who is currently a leading flagbearership hopeful of the party has welcomed all new branch executives with a doff-off the hat.



It is no secret that you those who occupy positions at the branches are the ones who work the hardest and yet over the years, your sacrifices have been overlooked; but this will happen no more.



In keeping with my promise to you that you will never be ignored under my leadership, I am acknowledging your victory ahead of everyone else; and I welcome you warmly to the crucial roles that you have been selected to play for our party, Mr Bagbin said in a statement to the Ghana News Agency in Accra.



The respected politician who is currently dominating the soundscape in the build up to the NDC flagbearership race also congratulated the party for the successful organisation of the elections so far.



The NDC is in re-organisation mood and the election of branch executives has been touted as a pivotal starting point. The elections which come to a close on the 30th of April are selecting seven functional executives and two other executives for every party branch.



The elections so far have been generally peaceful and incident free, an indication that the NDC is propping up to present a united front for 2020.



Mr Bagbin said the success of the elections so far gave the party hope and had given cause to reiterate his promise to all executives of the party that if he was elected the flagbearer, the culture of neglect of the welfare of the executives would end.



The MP, who has been unhappy about the neglect party executives suffered, especially recent past, first promised to rectify the anomaly in a meeting with executives of the Ada and Sege constituency executives of the party, his speech of members attracted standing ovation and thunderous applause earlier in the year.



In that meeting, he promised among other things that if he was elected Flagbearer and eventually won the Presidential election, national policies would be crafted with the active participation of party leaders, a departure from the past which saw the party being alienated from government.



Earlier in the week, the MP paid a courtesy call on the Regional Executives of the Brong Ahafo region in Sunyani and was in the region to deliver a lecture to the students of the Upper West, Upper East and Northern Regions of the Sunyani Technical University.



He had later also responded to an invitation by the Cape-Coast University to deliver a lecture to the students.



He was presented with a certificate of Honour for a distinguished career as an excellent parliamentarian.

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President Nana Akufo-Addo has not given approval for same-sex marriage in Ghana, the Presidency has said.



This was contained in a statement released on Saturday 28 April 2018 by Director of Communications at the Presidency, Eugene Arhin, which further emphasised that: For the avoidance of doubt, President Akufo-Addo has never stated anywhere that, under his presidency, men will marry men, and women will marry women' . Indeed, the President remains focused on delivering on his mandate, and improving on the quality of lives of the Ghanaian people. It will not be under his Presidency that same-sex marriage will be legalised in Ghana.



The statement from the Presidency was in reaction to comments purported to be attributed to General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia, to the effect that President Nana Akufo-Addo has endorsed same-sex marriage.



However, the Presidency states that : This is nothing but a baseless and vile fabrication, by no less a person than the General Secretary of the leading opposition party in Ghana.



Below is the statement from the Presidency:



RE: PRESIDENT AKUFO-ADDO HAS APPROVED GAY MARRIAGE



The attention of the Office of the President has been drawn to comments made by the General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress,Johnson Asiedu Nketia,as reported by the online news outlet,The Pulse,to the effect that same-sex marriage has been approved by President Akufo-Addo.



Speaking at the NDC's health/unity walk, on Saturday, 28th April, 2018, in Kumasi, the NDC General Secretary is reported to have stated that "Nana Addo says men will marry men, and women will marry women.



"This is nothing but a baseless and vile fabrication, by no less a person than the General Secretary of the leading opposition party in Ghana. For the avoidance of doubt, President Akufo-Addo has NEVER stated anywhere that, under his presidency, men will marry men, and women will marry women".



Indeed, the President remains focused on delivering on his mandate, and improving on the quality of lives of the Ghanaian people. It will NOT be under his Presidency that same-sex marriage will be legalised in Ghana.



We will neither ask for an apology or retraction from the NDC General Secretary, who, obviously, is still stuck in the age of the politics of lies, deceit and propaganda, which was rejected decisively by discerning Ghanaians in the 2016 general elections.



We will rather appeal to Ghanaians to, once again, ignore the falsehoods of the NDC, and urge Mr. Asiedu Nketiah to concentrate his energies on uniting his divided and discredited party.



Eugene Arhin



Director of Communications















Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured VideoThe Executive Director of the United Nations International Childrens Fund (UNICEF), Mrs. Henrietta Holsman Fore, has commended the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, for the decision taken in September 2017 to introduce the Free Senior High School Policy.



According to Mrs. Fore, If I may pay homage to President Akufo-Addo, having free secondary school is probably the greatest gift you can give to a family and a girl. It then encourages the girl to not be considered lesser in her family, and it encourages her to go to school.



The UNICEF Executive Director explained that if a girl can go to school, then there are so many other benefits. There are health benefits. She does not become a young mother, and become a young bride. Half of the maternal deaths are because the mothers are just too young, there are adolescents, and they are children with children. The benefits (of free secondary education) to a society are immense. For girls, we see that it is probably the single most important area for a government to bring up.



Mrs. Henrietta Fore made this known, on Friday, 27th April, 2018, at high level event to mark the achievement the Education Above All Foundation to enrol ten million children to receive quality primary school education across the world.



President Akufo-Addo, who attended the event in his capacity as co-Chair of the Group of Advocates of Eminent Persons of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), stated, in his remarks, at the event, that there is no part of the world that does not recognise the importance of education.



We have all accepted that education is the best route to moving out of poverty. Today's youth, running barefoot to school, could be a future leader of the arts, business, government, industry or sports, he said.



President Akufo-Addo told the gathering that his father, lost both parents at a tender age. But through perseverance and borrowing money from a relative, he burnt the midnight oil to end up as a barrister, and become the outstanding figure that he was in Ghana. Indeed, at the time I was born, my dad was still paying off monies borrowed from that helpful relative.



With 63 million children in the world, between the ages of 6 to 11, currently out of school, President Akufo-Addo noted that EAA and UNICEF will help bridge that gap, and draw us closer to the realisation of Sustainable Development Goal No. 4, which enjoins us to help ensure inclusive and equitable quality education, and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.



For us in Ghana, the Capitation Grant, introduced some 13 years ago, under the administration of that far-sighted Ghanaian statesman, His Excellency John Agyekum Kufuor, the 2nd President of Ghanas 4th Republic, is, presently, enabling six million, three hundred and seventy one thousand, nine hundred and seventy five (6,371,975) school-going children, representing some 90% of school-going children in Ghana, to enjoy fee-free education in our basic schools, he said.



The President continued, The Free Senior High School Policy, introduced for the first time by my Government in September last year, has put ninety thousand (90,000) more students into Senior High School in 2017, than in 2016. Our goal is to guarantee every Ghanaian child a minimum of secondary school education. It is the hope of every mother and father, not only in Ghana, that education will help their children escape poverty, and provide them the avenue to a good life.



On behalf of the ten million children, who are being afforded the opportunity to sit in a classroom, and chart their own path for the future, President Akufo-Addo said thank you, once again, to Her Royal Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Education Above All and UNICEF.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured VideoJulia Hatmaker | jhatmaker@pennlive.com

Sometimes all you want is a cocktail and a skyline view.

In Philadelphia you can easily do both.

Here are 9 great rooftop bars in the city.

Don't Edit

Assembly

Open daily, this rooftop lounge is the perfect place to relax, sip on champagne and watch the sunset. Cocktails range from Frose ($14), a frozen cocktail made up of rose, Petal and Thorn vermouth and strawberries, to the Crimson Mule ($14), made up of Vida mezcal, Milagro tequila, blood oranges, fresno infused agave, fresh lime juice, orange blossoms and ginger beer. There are also beer and wine options, but the real star is the extensive list of sparkling wines which include a $750 bottle of King Brut Champagne. The deck also offers up a variety of small plates, including a lobster roll ($16), blistered grape flatbread ($14) and tuna tartare ($16). The deck opens every day at 4 p.m.

Don't Edit

Bok Bar

It may not open until 6 p.m. May 24, but the views at Bok Bar are worth the wait. Located in South Philadelphia, you can see the entire Center City skyline from its rooftop. We don't yet know a lot of the particulars about the bar once it re-opens, other than that it'll have a new menu.

Don't Edit

The Continental Mid-Town

The top floor of the Continental Mid-town offers a great view from in the heart of Center City. Enjoy the view in this 70s-style bar and sip on cocktails such as the Havana Hemingway Martini ($12), which has Havana Club anejo blanco, campari, luxardo and lime, and Stop. Hammer Thyme ($14), which has Bulleit bourbon, lemon and thyme.

Don't Edit

Julia Hatmaker | jhatmaker@pennlive.com

Free Library of Philadelphia's Brews and Views

Take in a stunning view of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and Logan Square on the roof of the Parkway Central Library. Food will be available by Brulee Catering and the menu ranges from short rib nachos ($7) to steamed vegetable dumplings ($78) and Mexican hot dogs ($8). 96.5 TDY will be spinning jams as you indulge in local craft beers, wine or cocktails. Tickets are not required, but you do have to be 21 or older to buy and enjoy the booze. Brews and Views is only open from 5-9 p.m. May 22-24, with more dates coming in the future.

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Revolution House

The only roof deck in Old City is at Revolution House. Enjoy the view while you work your way through the restaurant's substantial beer list loaded with craft beers. Prefer cocktails? The list at Revolution House is pop culture heavy, with drinks such as Lex Luther ($11), which has Knob Creek bourbon, Drambuie, lemon and ginger beer, and Bellatrix Lestrange ($12), which has Effen blood orange vodka, Agave de Cortes mezcal, lime, pineapple juice and Giffard Creme de Fraise.

Don't Edit

Julia Hatmaker | jhatmaker@pennlive.com

SkyGarten

Undeniably one of the best views of the city, SkyGarten has two outdoor areas where guests can choose to view either Logan Square and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway or City Hall, the PSFS building and Comcast Tower. It's open 5 to 10 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays and from 5 to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. While you enjoy your beer and the view, devour SkyGarten's Schweineflugel ($15), which are pig swings served with sweet and sour red cabbage. Other menu items include cheesesteaks ($12), bavarian pretzels ($6) and a big bucket of french fries ($20). There is a $5 cover charge on certain nights.

Don't Edit

Provided by Neff Associates

The Social at Maison 208

This one may be kind of cheating. The bar for Maison 208 has a retractable roof, so we're counting it among our roof decks. It has plenty of light with large windows that open up to let the breeze in. Come by for happy hour, which is 5-7 p.m. and includes $3 mini fish tacos and island lollipops, $4 local craft cider and $6 wine.

Don't Edit

Julia Hatmaker | jhatmaker@pennlive.com

Stratus Lounge

With large heat lamps, this rooftop lounge is the perfect place to hit up when you want fresh air, but the weather is a little cool. Stop by on the weekends for live sets from DJs or come by during happy hour (5-7 p.m.) for $5 prosecco, $5 wine and domestic beer and $10 cocktails.

Don't Edit

Tiki

Gaze out on the bustling Gayborhood from the roof deck of Tiki a themed bar with drinks that include Gwen Stefani ($11), which has Gruzan banana rum, Kaluha, coconut milk and pineapple, and the Trash Can ($15), which has vodka, gin, tequila, rum, "blue stuff" and Red Bull.

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Julia Hatmaker | jhatmaker@pennlive.com

Not feeling the booze, but want the views?

There are plenty of other great places to go to get a beautiful view from above of Philadelphia. Here are three of our favorites:

Don't Edit

Julia Hatmaker | jhatmaker@pennlive.com

Cira Green

Don't Edit

City Hall Tower Observation Deck

Don't Edit

Julia Hatmaker | jhatmaker@pennlive.com

One Liberty Observation Deck: Philly from the Top

Don't Edit

Julia Hatmaker | jhatmaker@pennlive.com

You may enjoy these stories...

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

This story has been updated to correct the address for Assembly.To rank the best private high schools in Pennsylvania and across the country, Niche.com analyzed key statistics such as SAT/ACT scores and student-teacher ratio, the quality of colleges that each schools students consider and millions of reviews from students and parents. Check here for more on the methodology.

Here, according to Niche.com, are the best private high schools in Pennsylvania:

Don't Edit

#25 Devon Preparatory School

Devon Preparatory School is an all-boys Catholic school located in Chester County.

It has 280 students in grades 6-12, with a student-teacher ratio of 9 to 1. After graduation, 100% of students from this school go on to attend a 4-year college, with favorite destinations being Drexel University, Villanova and University of Pennsylvania.

Upper school tuition is $24,400 a year.

Don't Edit

#24 Springside Chestnut Hill Academy

Located in the Chestnut Hill area of Philadelphia, Springside Chestnut Hill Academy offers students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade with a single-sex education and offers a co-ed experience in upper school.

The academy has about 1,000 students and a student-teacher ratio of 8-1. Upon graduation, 100 percent of students go on to four-year colleges, with favorite destinations being University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown University and Drexel University.

Tuition ranges from $25,000 for kindergarten to $38,150 for 9-12 grades.

Don't Edit

#23 Linden Hall

Founded in 1746, Linden Hall in Lititz, Lancaster County, enrolls 220 girls, grades 6-12, in seven- and five-day boarding programs and as day students. Its students from from 32 countries and 18 states, and have an average SAT score of 1316.

One hundred percent of graduates go on to a four-year college, with University of Pennsylvania, Carngie Mellon University and Dickinson College being favorite destinations.

Tuition is $23,100 for day students, $48,000 for 5-day boarding students and $55,700 for seven-day boarding students.

Don't Edit

#22 Friends Select School

Friends Select School is a private Quaker school in center city Philadelphia.

It has 558 students in grades prekindergarten and grades k-12, with a student-teacher ratio of 9 to 1. After graduation, 100% of students from this school go on to attend a 4-year college.

Tuition ranges from $25,375 for kindergarten to $37,165 for grades 9-12.

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

#21 Church Farm School

Church Farm School is an all-boys boarding school in Exton that, while a Christian school, accept students of all backgrounds

It has 185 students in grades 9-12 with a student-teacher ratio of 5 to 1. After graduation, 100 percent of students from this school go on to attend a 4-year college.

Tuition is $34,300 for the highest grade offered, according to Niche.com

Don't Edit

#20 Abington Friends School

Abington Friends School is a Christian school in Philadelphia that serves 583 students in pre-kindergarten and grades k-12. It has a student-teacher ratio of 8 to 1, and 100 percent of students go on to attend a four-year college.

Tuition ranges from $23,200 annually for kindergarten to $36,800 for grades 9-12.

Don't Edit

#19 Winchester Thurston School

Winchester Thurston School, in Pittsburgh, has about 685 students and a 9:1 student to teacher ratio. Favorite college destinations of its graduates are University of Pittsburgh, University of Pennsylvania and American University.

Tuition ranges from $17,200 for kindergarten to $30,200 for grades 11 and 12.

Don't Edit

#18 Moravian Academy Upper School

Moravian Academy Upper School is a Christian school in Bethlehem that has 286 students in grades 9-12. It has a student-teacher ratio of 8 to 1. After graduation, 99% of students from this school go on to attend a 4-year college.

Tuition is $28,420 for grades 9-12, according to the school website.

Don't Edit

#17 Wyoming College Preparatory School

Wyoming Seminary College Preparatory School is a Christian boarding school in Kingston. It has 799 students in prekindergarten through 12th grad, with a student-teacher ratio of 14 to 1.After graduation, 100% of students from this school go on to attend a 4-year college.

Tuition ranges from $14,000 for kindergarten to $24,980 for upper school students, or $54,900 for boarding students.

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

#16 Germantown Academy

Germantown Academy, in Fort Washington, has 1,146 students in prekindergarten and grades K-12. It has a student-teacher ratio of 9 to 1, and After graduation, 100% of students from this school go on to attend a 4-year college.

Tuition is $33,395 for the highest grade offered, according to Niche.com.

Don't Edit

#15 Grier School

Grier School is an all-girls boarding school located in Tyrone.

It has 304 students in grades 7 to 12 with a student-teacher ratio of 5 to 1. After graduation, 95% of students from this school go on to attend a 4-year college.

Tuition is $54,500, according to the school website.

Don't Edit

#14 The Shipley School

The Shipley School, in Bryn Mawr, has 846 students in grades prekindergarten and kindergarten through 12th grades, with a student-teacher ratio of 6 to 1. All students go on to attend a four-year college.

Tuition ranges from $26,200 a year for kindergarten to $38,500 for grades 9-12.

Tuition is $36,100 for the highest grade offered. After graduation, 100% of students from this school go on to attend a 4-year college.

Don't Edit

#13 William Penn Charter School

The William Penn Charter School in Philadelphia has been in continuous operation for over 300 years since its founding in 1689, and is the world's oldest Quaker school.

It enrolled 950 students, and 100 percent of graduates go on to college, with favorite destinations being University of Pennsylvania, Penn State and Drexel University.

Tuition ranges from $24,580 a year for kindergarten to $37,560 annually for grades 9-12.

Don't Edit

#12 Westtown School

Westtown School is a Christian boarding school in West Chester. . It has 641 students in grades PK, K-12 with a student-teacher ratio of 8 to 1. After graduation, 100% of students from this school go on to attend a 4-year college.

Tuition, with room and board, is $55,240 for the highest grade offered.

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

#11 Sewickley Academy

Sewickley Academy is a private school located in Sewickley, near Pittsburgh.

It has 657 students in grades pre-kindergarten through 12th grade, and a student-teacher ratio of 7 to 1. After graduation, 100 percent of students from this school go on to attend a 4-year college

Tuition ranges from $18,625 for kindergarten to $28,850 for grades 9-12.

Don't Edit

#10 Shady Side Academy

Shady Side Academy is a private school in Pittsburgh for boys and girl in which students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grades attend school at one of four age-specific campuses. The school also has optional 5- or 7-day boarding in high school

Its students, with an average combined SAT score of 1330, have a 100 percent graduation rate. Favorite destinations for graduates are University of Pennsylvania, University of Pittsburgh and Penn State.

Annual tuition for day students in 12th grade is $30,425, according to Niche.com.

Don't Edit

#9 George School

George School is a Christian boarding school in Newtown. It has 540 students in grades 9-12 with a student-teacher ratio of 6 to 1.

Tuition, room and board is $59,740 annually for boarding students; tuition for day students is $39,975 a year and includes all meals.

Don't Edit

#8 Friends Central School

Friends' Central School is a Quaker, independent, coeducational, college-preparatory day school for students in nursery school through grade 12. Located on 41 acres across two campuses in Wynnewood, it was founded in 1854.

Tuition ranges from $24,850 a year for kindergarten to $37,000 a year for grades 9-12.

Don't Edit

#7 The Agnes Irwin School

Located in Rosemont, in the western suburbs of Philadelphia, this all-girls school was founded in 1869 by Agnes Irwin, the first dean of Radcliffe College and great-great granddaughter of Benjamin Franklin.

It has 666 students in prekindergarten through 12th grades, with a student-teacher ratio of 7 to 1. After graduation, 100 percent of students go on to attend four-year college.

Tuition is $35,500 for the highest grade offered, according to Niche.com.

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

#6 Mercersburg Academy

Mercersburg Academy is an independent college-preparatory school in south-central Pennsylvania, serving approximately 435 boarding and day students from 29 states and 48 nations.

Its students have an average combined SAT score of 1310 and a 100 percent graduation rate. Favorite destinations of its graduates are University of Pennsylvania, University of Virginia and Bucknell University. It has a 6:1 student to teacher ratio.

Tuition, according to its website, is $59,200 a year for boarding students (covering tuition, room, and board) and $35,325 for day students.

Don't Edit

#5 The Hill School

The Hill School is a private, boarding school in Pottstown.

It has 503 students in grades 9-12 with a student-teacher ratio of 7 to 1. After graduation, 100% of students from this school go on to attend a 4-year college.

Tuition is $56,775 for boarding students and $39,170 for day students, according to the school website.

Don't Edit

#4 The Episcopal Academy

Founded in 1785, The Episcopal Academy is a Prekindergarten through 12-grade co-educational, independent day school located in Newtown Square.

Its students have an average combined SAT score of 1340, and favorite colleges of its graduates are University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown University and Boston College. It has a 7:1 student to teacher ratio.

According to Niche.com, the tuition for its highest grade is $33,000 a year.

Don't Edit

#3 The Baldwin School

The Baldwin School is a private, all-girls school located in Bryn Mawr. It has 584 students in prekindergarten and kindergarten through grad3 12, it has a student-teacher ratio of 7 to 1.

Its students have an average combined SAT score of 1390, and favorite colleges of its graduates include University of Pennsylvania and University of Pittsburgh.

Tuition ranges from $23,800 a year for kindergarten to $38,250 for grades 9-12.

Don't Edit

#2 The Haverford School

The Haverford School is a private, nonsectarian college preparatory day school for boys in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten through grade 12.

The Delaware County school is also ranked as the best all-boy high school in Pennsylvania. It students have an average combined SAT score of 1330, and it has a 100 percent graduation rate.

University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown University and Bucknell University are popular destinations for its graduates.

According to its website, tuition ranges from $26,500 for kindergarten to $38,800 for grades 9-12.

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

#1 Germantown Friends School

This private school in Philadelphia ranked first among 166 private high schools in Pennsylvania and also ranked as the best private K-12 school in the state and the best Christian high school.

The average combined SAT score at the school is 1380, with University of Pennsylvania, Brown University and New York University being the top choices of its graduates.

According to the school's website, tuition ranges from $24,900 a year for kindergarten students to $37, 175 for grades 9-12. It has a 100 percent graduation rate, and a ratio of eight students per teacher.

Don't Edit

Uniquely Pa.ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Facing a rising death toll from drug overdoses, state lawmakers across the country are testing a strategy to boost treatment for opioid addicts: Force drug manufacturers and their distributors to pay for it.

Bills introduced in at least 15 states would impose taxes or fees on prescription painkillers. Several of the measures have bipartisan support and would funnel millions of dollars toward treatment and prevention programs.

In Montana, state Sen. Roger Webb, a Republican, sees the approach as a way to hold drugmakers accountable for an overdose epidemic that in 2016 claimed 42,000 lives in the U.S., a record.

"You're creating the problem," he said. "You're going to fix it."

Opioids include prescription painkillers such as Vicodin and OxyContin as well as illegal drugs such as heroin and illicit versions of fentanyl. Public health experts say the crisis started because of overprescribing and aggressive marketing of the drugs that began in the 1990s. The death toll has continued to rise even as prescribing has started to drop.

READ MORE: 'Do no harm': Dauphin County commissioners sue opioid manufacturers, doctors

A Pennsylvania opioid tax bill was introduced in 2015 and a federal version was introduced a year later, but most of the proposals arose during the past year. The majority of them have yet to get very far, with lawmakers facing intense pressure from the pharmaceutical industry to scuttle or soften the legislation.

Drugmakers and distributors argue that it would be wrong to tax prescription drugs, that the cost increases would eventually be absorbed by patients or taxpayers, and that there are other ways to pay for addiction treatment and prevention.

"We have been engaged with states to help move forward comprehensive solutions to this complex public health crisis and in many cases have seen successes," Priscilla VanderVeer , a spokeswoman for Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said in a statement. "However, we do not believe levying a tax on prescribed medicines that meet legitimate medical needs is an appropriate funding mechanism for a state's budget."

Two drug companies that deployed lobbyists -- Purdue Pharma and Pfizer -- responded to questions with similar statements.

A spokesman for the Healthcare Distribution Alliance, which represents drug distributors, said a tax would mean that cancer patients and those in end-of-life care might not be able to get the prescriptions they need.

The pharmaceutical industry has emphasized that the name-brand drug companies that make up its members already give rebates to states for drugs funded by Medicaid. Those rebates amount to billions of dollars nationwide that states could use to address opioid addiction, the trade group says.

State legislation to tax opioids comes as manufacturers and distributors are defending themselves in hundreds of lawsuits filed by state and local governments seeking damages for the toll the overdose epidemic has taken on communities.

READ MORE: Cumberland County joins lawsuit against opioid makers

David Humes, whose son died from a heroin overdose in 2012, has been pushing for an opioid tax in Delaware, which did not increase funding for addiction treatment last year as it struggles to balance its budget."When you think about the fact that each year more people are dying, if you leave the money the same, you're not keeping up with this public health crisis," he said.

Humes, a board member of the advocacy group AtTAck Addiction, supports legislation that would dedicate opioid tax revenue for addiction services.

The lead sponsor of an opioids tax bill, state Sen. Stephanie Hansen, said drug companies told her they already were contributing $500,000 to anti-addiction measures in Delaware, where there were 282 fatal overdoses from all drugs in 2016, a 40 percent increase from the year before.

"My response is, 'That's wonderful, but we're not stopping there,'" said Hansen, a Democrat.

She said if her tax measure had been in place last year, it would have raised more than $9 million.

The drug industry's current spending on anti-addiction programs has been a point of contention in the Minnesota Legislature. There, the overdose rate is lower than most states, but opioids still claimed 395 lives in 2016 -- an increase of 18 percent over the year before.

State Rep. Dave Baker, a Republican whose son died of a heroin overdose after getting started on prescription painkillers, said opioid manufacturers and distributors should pay for drug programs separately. He said the rebate -- about $250 million in 2016 in Minnesota -- is intended to make up for overcharging for drugs in the first place.

Another Republican lawmaker, state Sen. Julie Rosen, said she walked out of a meeting this month with drug industry representatives, saying they were wasting her time.

"They know that they're spending way too much money on defending their position instead of being part of the solution," she said.

READ MORE: Epic opioid battle moves to an Ohio courtroom

Representatives of the pharmaceutical industry say they have met with Rosen multiple times and are "committed to continue working with her."

Drug companies have a history of digging in to defeat measures that are intended to combat the opioid crisis. A 2016 investigation by The Associated Press and the Center for Public Integrity found makers of opioids and their allies spent $880 million on politics and lobbying from 2006 through 2015.

The industry so far has succeeded in stalling the Minnesota legislation, which would charge opioid manufacturers by the dosage. With the bill facing resistance, Rosen and a Democratic co-sponsor, state Sen. Chris Eaton, said they are considering changing tactics and amending it.

That could include raising the $235 annual licensing fee on opioid manufacturers or requiring drugmakers and distributors to pay $20 million a year based on the proportion of opioids they sell in the state. That approach is based on one adopted earlier this spring as part of the budget in New York -- the only state to implement an opioid tax so far.

Eaton, whose daughter died from a heroin overdose in 2007, said her goal is to find a way to create and fund a structure that will ensure addiction treatment is "as routine as treating diabetes or cardiac arrest."

___

Geoff Mulvihill and Kyle Potter of the Associated Press wrote the story. Mulvihill reported from Cherry Hill, New Jersey.

___

Follow Mulvihill at http://www.twitter.com/geoffmulvihill and Potter at http://twitter.com/kpottermnWILLIAMSPORT - An email an adult son sent to his 80-year-old mother, who then forwarded it to a few friends, is at the root of a Pennsylvania congressman's defamation lawsuit.

"I don't know how the email got out there," Michael Steele said early Saturday afternoon. "It wasn't meant for the world to see, just my mom. I just sent it to mom."

Steele was referring to Marlene Steele, who is a defendant along with himself in a lawsuit Republican U.S. Rep. Thomas A. Marino filed in Lycoming County court.

Michael Steele explained he emailed his mother because he wanted her to know Marino was mentioned in the "The Quiet Don," a book about the life of the late Russell Bufalino, a reputed organized crime boss in northeastern Pennsylvania.

"It's scary to know his name [Marino] was mentioned in that book," he said. Steele's email mentions the book and states: "Tom Marino also has minor ties to organized crime in Pa. He is directly tied by support from Louis DeNaples of the Scranton area and DeNaples and Marino are tied to huge mob boss Russell Bufalino."

DeNaples, a Scranton businessman, was charged with perjury in 2008 when he applied for a state gambling license because of his suspected ties to the Bufalino crime family.

The charges were dropped the following year after DeNaples agreed to turn over to his family control of the Mount Airy Casino.

"I'm tremendously disappointed Tom Marino would go after an 80-year-old woman," Michael Steele said about the suit.

He said that he worked hard to get Marino elected the first time he ran in 2010 but he believes that Bradford County Commissioner Douglas McLinko would make a better congressman.

The Steeles, who live north of Williamsport, also stated in their email the need to spread the word about McLinko, who they describe as a Christian man who has been instrumental in having Bible studies in the courthouse. "I'm just working to get a good person in office," Steele said.

Marino, who is seeking his fifth term in the newly drawn 12th District that extends between the New York border and Perry County, claims in his suit the email defamed him and invaded his privacy.

Besides the statements about organized crime, the email accuses the lawmaker of having a "big hand" in spreading heroin and opioid drugs and taking "a $100,000 kickback from the prescription drug industry."

Marino has pointed out to his critics the House passed the Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act he sponsored by unanimous consent without a formal vote.

READ MORE: Marino files suit over political email that accuses him of taking $100,000 kickback

His suit contends the email was distributed to embarrass and cause harm to his personal and professional reputation.

Marino, a former Lycoming County district attorney and Middle District U.S. attorney, is seeking a retraction plus unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

Steele, who lives north of Williamsport as does Marino, says he has yet to be served with the suit that was filed April 20.

It is unlikely there will be any court action before the May 15 primary because no judge has been assigned to the case. Those in Lycoming County recused themselves.

McLinko, the only Republican challenger in the primary, expressed interest in the House seat when it appeared Marino would be resigning to become President Trump's drug czar.

The congressman withdrew his name after a joint CBS "60 Minutes" and Washington Post report revealed he took nearly $100,000 from the pharmaceutical lobby while sponsoring the bill critics contend that made it easier for drug companies to distribute opioids.

McLinko called the suit "awful" but added that "this is nothing new for Marino. I've seen him bully people before."

Saying that, McLinko said it sickens him when something nasty is said about those who are running for office.WILLIAMSPORT -- U.S. Rep. Thomas A. Marino has filed a defamation and invasion of privacy suit against a Lycoming County man and woman supporting his opponent in the newly drawn 12th Congressional District.

The basis of the suit filed in Lycoming County court is an email Michael and Marlene Steele sent April 7 to friends that accuses the Williamsport area Republican of having a "big hand" in the spreading of heroin and opioid drugs and taking a $100,000 kickback from the prescription drug industry.

The former county district attorney and U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania says in his court complaint that the kickback accusation implies he committed the crime of bribery.

President Trump had nominated Marino to be the nation's drug czar, but the congressman withdrew his name after a joint CBS "60 Minutes" and Washington Post report revealed he took nearly $100,000 in contributions from the pharmaceutical lobby while sponsoring a bill that made it easier for drug companies to distribute opioids.

Marino said he wrote the Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act after hearing from pharmacists in his district they could not get prescribed drugs for patients.

READ MORE: Pa.'s Marino withdraws as Trump's drug czar candidate over opioid bill controversy

The White House, Drug Enforcement Agency and Justice Department agreed with the legislation, he said. Had they said there was something wrong, "we could have fixed it right away," Marino said.

The Steeles state at the beginning of the email "we are working to help Doug McLinko get elected." The Bradford County commissioner also is seeking the GOP nomination in the May primary.

The Steeles allege Marino has minor ties to organized crime, citing his support from Scranton businessman Louis DeNaples, who established the Mount Airy Casino Resort.

They link DeNaples and Marino to "huge mob boss Russell Bufalino," the reputed leader of a northeastern Pennsylvania crime family who died in 1994.

Marino, 65, who is seeking his fifth term, Friday said he could not comment on the litigation but in his complaint he denies the Steeles' statements and accuses them of acting with malice.

The false statements were made for the purpose of embarrassment and to cause harm to his personal and professional reputation, Marino charges.

His re-election campaign has suffered irreparable harm and he has suffered emotional and economic harm, he claims in the suit. He is seeking a retraction plus unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

The Steeles, who live north of Williamsport, also state in their email the need to spread the word about McLinko, who they describe as a Christian man who has been instrumental in having Bible studies in the courthouse.

READ MORE: Your Congressional district will change: A look at the Pa. Supreme Court's new map

McLinko said Friday he knows nothing about the email. He knows a Michael Steele in Lycoming County whose mother is Marlene, he said.

He called the suit "awful" but added, "This is nothing new for Marino. I've seen him bully people before."

Saying that, McLinko said it sickens him when something nasty is said about those who are running for office.

The sprawling 12th District is comprised of northern tier counties but extends south to include Perry County.

A judge has not been assigned to the case because those in Lycoming County recused themselves.Hugo Deuschle, who is 5'8, stands beside a 22-foot wall on the property line at 2764 Cedar Rd. in Penticton. Deuschle said the wall is clearly in violation of city zoning bylaws and wants it torn down.Anni Phillips gives her testimony during the National Inquiry of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in Richmond, B.C., Wednesday, April 4, 2018. As Canada grapples with how to achieve reconciliation with Indigenous people, a group in British Columbia has come together to figure out how to restore relations person-to-person. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan HaywardPeople release balloons outside Alder Hey Children's Hospital following the death of 23-month old Alfie Evans, who was being treated at the hospital in Liverpool, England, Saturday April 28, 2018. Alfie Evans, the sick British toddler whose parents won support from Pope Francis during a protracted legal battle over his medical treatment, died early Saturday. (Peter Byrne/PA via AP)Opinion





HFI Research: Venezuela just sealed its own fate -

Oil production set to plummet The Atlantic Council -Francisco Monaldi

In a full-on successful transition scenario, Western companies would play

a major role in the recovery of the Venezuelan oil sector , along with

national oil companies from China, Russia, and India - Francisco Monaldi Venezuela just sealed its own fate with the latest discovery that the battered oil nation arrested two employees of Chevron (NYSE: CVX ). In an exclusive published yesterday, Reuters reported that: Marianna Parraga, Alexandra Ulmer/Reuters - Chevron's Venezuela arrested workers could face treason charge For those of you that are not familiar with why this is so important, international oil companies (IOCs) are the only reason why oil production in Venezuela has not plummeted. In a highly recommended report written by Francisco Monaldi , an expert on Venezuela's oil industry and a fellow in Latin American Energy Policy at the Rice University's Baker Institute, here's the segment on his forecast for Venezuela's oil production this year: It is far more likely that investment remains at the current level or declines, production in PDVSA-operated fields continues to fall, and the joint-venture production stagnates or slowly declines. In this case, while production would continue falling for the next few years, it would probably not collapse. Rather, production would asymptotically reach a level (e.g., 1 to 1.2 million b/d) at which it would stagnate. This is expected because remaining production would be concentrated in newer fields, operated by joint ventures , and in the Orinoco extra-heavy Oil Belt-areas in which decline has been less pronounced. There is, of course, a risk of production collapsing much further than forecasted here, due to a combination of events such as an oil strike, a full-blown credit default, generalized international sanctions, or massive civil unrest, all possible occurrences. In the case of default and stringent sanctions, PDVSA would rely extensively on Chinese and Russian national oil companies, both for marketing the oil to limit the impact of sanctions and for operating the joint ventures. An intermediate, albeit unlikely, scenario to consider is one in which a shift within the government occurs, opening doors for limited economic reforms. Such a scenario would lead to stabilization in oil production levels at around 1.5 to 1.7 million b/d. This outlook would require that Western companies stay and slightly increase investment , in an environment of limited sanctions, debt restructuring, and some basic macroeconomic reforms, under a favorable oil price environment-a serendipitous confluence of preconditions that remains implausible. Limited natural-gas exports to Trinidad would also occur in this scenario. Finally, in a full-on successful transition scenario, Western companies would play a major role in the recovery of the Venezuelan oil sector , along with national oil companies from China, Russia, and India. As in most oil-exporting countries, PDVSA would likely continue to play a prominent role, but that would require a major restructuring of the company, refocusing it on commercial oil and gas ventures. As you can see in our highlighted section above from the article, the scenario of both stagnating production, stabilizing production, and recovery in production require none other than the help of Western companies . But will they help? Chopping the hand that feeds you In the latest scandal, Venezuela charged two Chevron employees with treason for refusing to sign a parts contract for a joint venture with PDVSA. We quote: The two Chevron employees were jailed when they refused to sign a supply contract written by PDVSA executives under an emergency decree - which skips the competitive bidding process, according to a half-dozen sources close to the case. Such decrees have been cited by Venezuela prosecutors as a means of extracting bribes in some recent PDVSA corruption cases. The Chevron employees balked when the parts were listed at more than double their market price in a contract worth several million dollars, one of the sources told Reuters. The workers oversaw operations and procurement at Petropiar, an oil upgrading project co-owned by PDVSA and Chevron to transform Orinoco Belt's extra heavy crude into an exportable product. This type of corruption has been widespread and explains in part why Venezuela's oil production looks something like this: But with the arrest of Chevron's two employees, will this start the exodus of IOCs from Venezuela? If so, what are the dire consequences? Interestingly enough, Schlumberger ( SLB ) and Halliburton ( HAL ) have now both written off their remaining investments in Venezuela. SLB took a pre-tax write-down of $938 million in Q4 2017.

HAL has now written off its remaining $312 million investment. SLB's CEO, Paal Kibsgaard, took it one step further in the latest earnings call and said Venezuela's oil production was in " free fall ." The negativity surrounding the loss of hope from servicing operators to the latest arrest of its JV partner employees are only piling onto the dire situation we are seeing from Venezuela, but the significance of these two events cannot be dismissed so easily because IOCs are needed in order to keep Venezuela's oil production from free falling to nothingness. What happens if IOCs pullout and what happens to the global oil market balance? Here's how you should size up the situation with Venezuela. Current production ~1.5 million b/d.

Natural decline possible to ~1.1 million b/d this year.

JVs holding up production from falling below 1 million b/d. OPEC production in March 2018 was 31.83 million b/d. Call on OPEC increases to ~33 million b/d by end of 2018. If Venezuela's oil production falls to ~1.1 million b/d, that will decrease OPEC's production by another ~400k b/d to ~31.4 million b/d. That would require other members to increase production by ~1.6 million b/d by the end of 2018 to prevent more storage draws. If IOCs pullout, the support underneath Venezuela could get yanked resulting in a substantial loss in production. Our view would be a free fall to ~600k b/d to ~700k b/d or an additional loss of ~400k b/d to ~500k b/d. Here's a table breakdown: Source: HFI Research As you can see in the table above, even if Venezuela kept its production flat, which in our view is the best case, the global oil market deficit remains at -0.7 million b/d. And the deficit only increases from here on out, so oil bulls can view the demise of Venezuela's oil production as a sort of margin of safety or "free call option" to the upside. Too little, too late The situation in Venezuela is simply too little too late. No matter what Maduro does for the oil industry now, nothing will correct the steep production declines we are seeing. As the tensions grow with its IOC JV partners, we think the possibility of IOCs leaving is no longer a nonexistent risk factor. In the event that Chevron decides to exit Venezuela for fear of more government retaliatory tactics like this, oil production could fall through the pivotal 1 million b/d and the real death spiral begins. For the global oil market, whether Venezuela's oil production stabilizes or declines further won't change the fact that it's in a deficit and will continue to be in a deficit into next year. For oil bulls then, this scenario analysis is pure upside. Petroleumworld.com



Hit your target - Advertise with us HFI Research specializes in contrarian investment analysis. Petroleumworld does not necessarily share these views. Editor's Note: This commentary was originally published by Seeking Alpha , 04/24/2018. Petroleumworld reprint this article in the interest of our readers and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Petroleumworld and its owners.



Link to original article. All comments posted and published on Petroleumworld, do not reflect either for or against the opinion expressed in the comment as an endorsement of Petroleumworld. All comments expressed are private comments and do not necessary reflect the view of this website. All comments are posted and published without liability to Petroleumworld. Use Notice:This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of issues of environmental and humanitarian significance. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml.



All works published by Petroleumworld are in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.Petroleumworld has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is Petroleumworld endorsed or sponsored by theoriginator.Petroleumworld encourages persons to reproduce, reprint, or broadcast Petroleumworld articles provided that any such reproduction identify the original source, http://www.petroleumworld.com or else and it is done within the fair use as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law.



If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. Internet web links to http://www.petroleumworld.com are appreciated. Copyright 1999-2018 Petroleumworld or respective author or news agency. All rights reserved.



We welcome the use of Petroleumworld stories by anyone provided it mentions Petroleumworld.com as the source. Other stories you have to get authorization by its authors.Internet web links to http://www.petroleumworld.com are appreciated. Petroleumworld welcomes your feedback and comments, share your thoughts on this article, your feedback is important to us! Petroleumworld News 04/30/18 We invite all our readers to share with us

their views and comments about this article. Follow us in : twitter / Facebook

Send this story to a friend Write to editor@petroleumworld.com By using this link, you agree to allow PW

to publish your comments on our letters page.



Any question or suggestions,

please write to: editor@petroleumworld.com Best Viewed with IE 5.01+ Windows NT 4.0, '95,

'98,ME,XP, Vista, Windows 7,8 +/ 800x600 pixels

ISSUES....

Inside, confidential and off the record





Death in Syria on the West

Michael Anderson and Sam Ben-Meir







The dying in Syria rests on the conscience of the West

President Trump's characterization of the US attack on specific Syrian chemical storage and research facilities as mission accomplished is technically accurate, as the intended targets were in fact destroyed. But declaring mission accomplished in the context of the continuing unfolding tragedy being inflicted on the Syrian people is cynical and disheartening at best. Such an isolated attack does not in any way exempt the US from its moral responsibility to bring an end to a war in which the Syrian people have fallen victim to foreign powers and a deeply corrupt regime. The death and destruction sweeping Syria is incomparable to any other violent conflict since World War II, and America cannot afford to remain silent in the face of these unprecedented atrocities.

The lessons from the disastrous war of choice in Iraq and the prolongation of the war in Afghanistan should not paralyze the US, as was the case under the Obama administration. The US can no longer turn its back on the Syrian people. It must carefully consider the repercussions that America's allies in the region will sustain should Syria be left completely to the whims of Russia, Iran, and Turkey, who met twice in Ankara and are working in unison against the US and its allies' strategic interests in the region.

Given the regional turmoil, the US' role is more critical now than it has ever been since the 1970s. Although Russia plays a pivotal role in Syria and its full cooperation is critical in the search for a solution, the US cannot cede Syria completely to Putin's caprices.

The US must now develop a multi-pronged policy that would allow it to assume a more decisive role in the search for a solution to Syria's civil war. Each component of the new policy stands alone, but together they form a comprehensive strategy that must be implemented, however problematic its individual components might be and regardless of how doubtful it is that Trump will in fact act. The risk of doing nothing could plunge the Middle East into a war that will inevitably drag the US into a fight not of its own choosing, and under the least favorable circumstances.

First, instead of withdrawing US troops from Syria, Trump must triple the number of US military personnel to achieve three distinct objectives: 1) send a clear message to Russia, Iran, Turkey, and Assad that the US is here to stay and intends to play a significant role in the search for a solution; 2) warn Assad that any further mass attacks on civilians by either conventional or chemical weapons will invite swift American retaliation against many of his military assets, including air fields, hangars, weapons depots, and air defense systems, at a time and place of its own choosing; and 3) prevent the resurgence of ISIS and restore the US' credibility so that no party will be mistaken about the US' seriousness.

Second, the US must warn Iran not to seek the establishment of any military bases in Syria, and enlist Russia to exert pressure on Tehran to that effect to prevent an Israeli-Iranian conflagration, which can only undermine Russia's influence in Syria. Putin more than likely will be supportive, as he does not want to share all the spoils from the civil war in Syria with Iran and Turkey. That said, the US must warn Russia that mass murder by the Syrian government will not be tolerated and that inaction by Russia to rein in Assad will compel the US and its allies to punish Assad, which Russia wants to avoid. Moreover, the US should also make it clear to Russia that should it decide to supply Assad with the S-300 air defense system, as Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov suggested, it will only aggravate the situation, as Israel will not hesitate to attack such a system if it feels threatened by it.

Third, irrespective of the growing strains in relations with Turkey, the US must insist that Turkey's President Erdogan cease any attacks against the Syrian Kurds and withdraw his forces from Syria. The US must stop Turkey from overrunning the Kurds in Syria, and warn Erdogan that fighting the YPG (the military arm of the Syrian Kurds) under the pretext of fighting the PKK will not be tolerated any longer. The Syrian Kurds have been a most loyal and reliable fighting force against ISIS, and the US has a moral obligation to protect them from Erdogana ruthless dictator who seeks to maintain a permanent presence in Syria. This is a part of his larger political Islamization agenda to spread Turkey's influence throughout the region.

Fourth, the US should prevent Assad from regaining full control in Syria unless a transitional government representing all major sects in the country is established, which should be in place for at least five years. Such a government will have to initially be led by Assad, because Russia and Iran need Assad to maintain their legitimate presence in the country and he needs them to stay in power, two things about which the US can do little. That said, however, a new leader (who could still be an Alawite) should be elected, as long as the majority Sunni population and the Kurds are adequately represented.

Fifth, the US should now revisit the idea of establishing a no-fly zone east of the Euphrates, and another along the Syrian-Jordanian border. Such protected areas would allow many Syrian refugees to return safely. A no-fly zone enforced by the US and its allies will prevent Assad from attacking areas still held by the rebels and help wind down the daily bloodshed. The point here is that as long as Assad's position is not threatened, he will opt to cooperate, which would also reduce Russian resistance to the establishment of a no-fly zone. It should be noted that Russia is now experiencing war fatigue and may welcome US involvement, which could also improve bilateral relations with Washington, a situation both Putin and Trump seek.

Sixth, Trump must not under any circumstances decertify the Iran deal, and instead should seek to renegotiate (with our allies Britain, France, and Germany) some of the provisions related particularly to the sunset clause and present it to Russia and China to gain their support. Otherwise, the decertification of the Iran deal, coupled with the withdrawal of American troops currently in Syria, will be a recipe for a disaster. Such moves will allow Iran to resume its nuclear weapon program, dig in its heels in Syria, and put pressure on other states in the area to pursue their own nuclear weapons program. This certainly runs contrary to American and particularly Israeli national security interests. Trump must listen to France's President Macron to improve the current deal, and not to the fearmonger Netanyahu, who is too self-absorbed to grasp the dire regional implications of decertifying the deal.

Moreover, the decertification of the Iran deal only a few weeks before the planned summit between Trump and North Korea's Chairman Kim Jong Un will severely undermine the US' credibility. It would send a clear message to the North Korean leader that the US cannot be trusted and may well torpedo any prospective deal between the two sides.

Seventh, for the US to become an active and forceful player in Syria, it must show some compassion toward the Syrian refugees. Even though it is difficult for Trump to comprehend that Muslims are not inherently violent, if not outright terrorists, the US cannot relinquish its moral obligation and behave like a pariah state. Trump must admit to the US a sizeable number of Syrian refugees and restore America's traditional humanitarian stance to provide assistance wherever and whenever it is needed.

In the wake of the horror of World War II, the phrase Never Again was coined to suggest that the international community will never allow any country anywhere and at any time to commit human atrocities with impunity.

President Obama and now Trump have put America to shame for failing to live up to its moral responsibility as the global leader, by abandoning the Syrian people to a despot and his brutal allies, Russia and Iran.

Alon Ben-Meir / April 20, 2018







Hit your target - Advertise with us





Original article

ISSUES.... 04/ 30/ 2018 - Send Us Your Issues



Inside, confidential and off the record



Is an independent journalist effort from Petroleumworld, on Inside, Confidential and Off The Record Information, the views are not necessarily those of PetroleumworldJose Garces used to wage his battles in front of the cameras as an Iron Chef on Food Network. He usually prevailed.

Now, he is on the defensive in a fight with much larger stakes: the very future of his Philadelphia-based restaurant empire.

Faced with unpaid vendors, angry investors, and skittish bankers, Garces is said to be considering filing for bankruptcy protection for the companies that control at least some of his restaurants.

According to representatives of his creditors, Garces' staff briefed key shareholders Thursday that such a bankruptcy filing was a possibility.

In an extensive interview Tuesday, Garces described himself as reeling from a series of "devastating" events that include the sudden closing of Revel Casino in 2014, idling four restaurants, and a brutal monetary drain associated with Amada restaurant in New York City, which finally closed last month.

His longtime partners, who have lawsuits pending against Garces, oppose any bankruptcy filing, saying they fear that it might leave them shortchanged, sources said. A Garces representative confirmed the shareholders meeting, but declined to provide any details.

In the interview at his Center City office Tuesday, Garces also lashed out at longtime investors Jim Sorkin and Tom and Maria Spinner, who he said have rejected offers to settle their grievances.

Sorkin is a principal in a major Philadelphia food-distribution company, and his firm sued Garces earlier this month, contending that it was owed $848,000. The Spinners have sued, too, claiming Garces had cut them out of profits.

Garces rejected those claims. "Greed has prevented the company from moving forward in a timely fashion," he said.

Jason Spiro, an attorney for the Spinner family, said he had no comment. William Harvey, who represents Sorkin and his business, Julius Silvert Inc., also declined to comment.

Garces conceded that the future is cloudy for his Garces Group, which began 13 years ago in Old City with Amada, his splashy Spanish restaurant on Chestnut Street near Second. Sorkin and the Spinners joined with Garces to launch Amada, putting up $100,000 each, while Garces secured a $800,000 small-business loan.

In addition to the lawsuits from Sorkin, the Spinners, and others, M&T Bank, based in Buffalo  which holds a $7 million note on Garces' Bucks County farmhouse  last year installed a "chief restructuring officer" to oversee operations for Garces, after ousting much of the chef's brain trust.

In the interview, Garces made it plain that he hopes for a fresh infusion of cash that would leave him with some degree of ownership. But he would not rule out selling his ownership stake or a bankruptcy filing.

Garces said he was exploring "several different paths with different partners" for the company, which now has its name on 13 restaurants plus a catering division. Among his possible partners, he confirmed, is a Louisiana restaurant company, Ballard Hospitality, that operates PJ's Coffee, among other places. Ballard executives have not returned numerous messages seeking comment.

In a relentless pattern, Garces has opened as many as 30 restaurants across the nation since 2005, of which he still is affiliated with perhaps half. In the interview, he said he still planned to open restaurants at the new Ocean Casino in Atlantic City  due this summer in the old Revel building  and one new restaurant in New Hope. He noted that all would be management deals that do not require a capital investment.

Despite the uncertainty, Garces is bullish on the work of his 750-plus employees. "All along, the company and our hospitality professionals are performing to the best that they can," he said. "And we notice no customer drop-off, no poor ratings in service, no food-quality issues.

"I want to make sure that that is out there, because that's really important. Whatever's been happening behind the scenes, we've worked really hard to continue to present a great product out there."

Garces Group rode high for nearly a decade, turning out such hits as Village Whiskey and Tinto, as Garces' own star rose. Along the way came countless opportunities, mainly from developers eager to tout the Garces brand. "It's just people love what I do," Garces said.

Through the years, Garces has alternated between opening and operating his own restaurants, such as the Olde Bar, Volver, Garces Trading Co., JG Domestic, and Buena Onda, all in Philadelphia, or managing or licensing his name to others, such as Ortzi in New York City and a collection of restaurants in Arizona and California resorts.

After growing up in the Chicago area and moving to New York, Garces, 45, arrived in Philadelphia in 2000 as executive chef at the opening of Alma de Cuba, a Latin restaurant near Rittenhouse Square owned by Stephen Starr. In 2005, he assumed the same title at Starr's El Vez at its opening in Washington Square West before he left to open Amada later that year.

Today, Garces describes himself not only as a chef, but also the company's "visionary, and the brand ambassador."

Garces said the financial woes began in 2014 with the sudden closing of the Revel. With the shutdown came the loss of $2.5 million in annual earnings from its four restaurants, he said.

He suffered another setback later when the Amada restaurant in Lower Manhattan bled money from its start. According to Garces, that Amada faced a $1 million construction overrun and staggering annual operational losses.

A third blow came in late 2016, when M&T Bank issued what Garces called a "nonmonetary default notice." Though Garces maintained that his company never missed a payment, the bank believed that the company's finances were shaky, based largely on the lost cash flow from the Revel restaurants, he said.

Still, asked if he had overextended himself, Garces said: "I think that we grew really fast and we were very excited to do that. I think that from the creative standpoint, and as far as concept development, we were able to keep up."

That said, Garces added: "I don't think that maybe our back office was in line to really keep up with the demanding growth."

The Spinners claimed in court papers this year that Garces had renegotiated a massive amount of debt without their knowledge in 2014  putting up restaurants as collateral. They also said he had improperly ended cash distributions to them.

The Spinners' suit says Garces' "wrongful actions" amount to "a massive, self-interested and continuing fraud  in substance and operation a Ponzi scheme  at the expense of his investors."

Garces rejected the criticism, insisting that his investors were fully aware of his debt renegotiations. He also said the Spinners, as well as Sorkin, had been repaid, "probably two or maybe like five times over" for their investments.

In the most sweeping lawsuit filed by a food vendor, Sorkin's company  Julius Silvert Inc.  contends that Garces fell into debt and then reneged on an agreement to repay $848,000. After Garces initially promised to make the payments, Sorkin's firm continued to deliver food for nearly a year, even though Garces' firm "did not make any payments," the suit says.

Finally last summer, Sorkin cut off the food. His firm went into court against the chef on April 16.

Garces said the debt to Silvert needed to be put into perspective. His restaurants and catering company, he said, bought more than $120 million in food from Sorkin over the last decade  as much as $900,000 a month.

While Garces said he had a harmonious relationship for years with Sorkin, he said that at some point his managers began raising questions about Silvert's prices, saying they were inflated by as much as 20 percent. "I confront Jim and he gives me his word that that's not true, that's not happening, and we move on," Garces said.

Nonetheless, Garces said he had begun to think that that the pricing was affecting the company's operation. He said he went back to Sorkin, who refused to reduce his prices.

While Sorkin maintains in his suit that his firm cut off deliveries to Garces, the chef said it was choice to stop doing business with Sorkin.

His move to switch vendors, Garces said, "sets off anger and this whole litigious kind of behavior that's been going on. I'm pretty sure if we were still buying from him right now, there wouldn't be a suit."

Garces said he wants to make Sorkin and other creditors whole.

"We have every intention to pay him back, get him as whole as possible once we were able to recapitalize and restructure," he said. "That was our goal, that was our intention, and that continues to be our intention."Bizet's Carmen  whose tale of romantic obsession is one of the few operas where listeners see much of themselves in the characters  is necessary to any major opera company, though what allows audiences to keep entering its dark looking glass has no dependable formula.

Having gone from traditional productions to disastrous updating, Opera Philadelphia amended much of its checkered Carmen history with a new, visually provocative, well-cast production that found fresh interpretive middle ground Friday at the Academy of Music.

The setting felt like 1950s Franco-era Spain with its stark contrast of good and bad girls (one in white gloves, another in blood red), plus a strong military presence in a society where loopholes are possible at every turn. Gypsy smugglers, flawed heroes, and corrupt officers were all at home in the production's world of sleazy nightclubs, cigarette ads on crumbling billboards, and bullfight stadiums in seedy surroundings  often rendered with smart diagonal geometry that drew in your eyes.

Neither director Paul Curran nor designer Gary McCann let the production get ugly: This is a world where some semblance of veneer was maintained, even if its bright Latin colors had been left out in the rain a bit too often.

Carmen sought a life of both freedom and stability that this world couldn't give her  in contrast to the good girl Micaela, who was just as passionate in her own way, even if she resembled a 1950s Sunday school teacher. The hapless corporal Don Jose was the lost soul in the middle, becoming unhinged amid sexual conflict that he was too naive to understand.

All of this was there in the production  with traditional character relationships magnified by an animated, ever-so-slightly stylized manner of staging. The interior miracle of Carmen was apparent: The famous effervescent melodies were made to reveal underlying tension and danger just about everywhere.

The production, however, wasn't fully realized. It seemed to have been rehearsed from the end and then moving forward with a meticulously wrought Act IV murder scene  among the most effective I've ever seen  with lighting that made Don Jose first appear like a specter who then bars Carmen's escape routes one by one.

In contrast, Act I crowd scenes looked pedestrian and even thrown together. Well, the music is so inviting that it probably doesn't need any visual help, though the title character's casual entrance was a definite minus.

In between, Act III was an eloquently stark warehouse where smugglers meet, initially suggesting the barrenness of their lives that is eventually filled with stolen goods. This co-production with Seattle Opera and Irish National Opera deserved longevity.

Though ostensibly polished and with good French enunciation, performances were somewhat undercooked  a quality that contributed dramatic truth to Evan LeRoy Johnson's early scenes as Don Jose. Recently heard in the Curtis Opera production of Eugene Onegin, he had the kind of effortless vocal production rarely heard in well-projected tenor voice, which constantly reminded you, during his character's descent into mania, that Don Jose once passed for normal.

Though Johnson promises to have a long, fruitful relationship with his role, Adrian Timpau brought far too much vocal weight to the bullfighter Escamillo. Kirsten MacKinnon refused to hide out in Micaela's demure qualities: When she forced her voice a bit, she established herself as a strong foil for Carmen.

And Carmen herself? Daniela Mack had many qualities for a fine Carmen, including physical allure and adept theatricality, though the music hadn't yet settled into her rich mezzo-soprano voice. What should've been soaring, sustained notes were blunted by excessive vibrato.

Conductor Yves Abel similarly left a mixed impression. French style was apparent, and the orchestra played beautifully with some remarkably lush moments, but tempos were so often moderate in ways that lacked electricity in key scenes. When you start thinking that Carmen's famous Habanera is a verse too long, something significant is missing.

Opera Review

CarmenNo one has died, but 46 people have been hospitalized, including nine with kidney damage. Read more

The toll of illness tied to tainted romaine lettuce has grown to 98 people in 22 states, making this the largest multistate E. coli outbreak since 2006, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday. Pennsylvania continues to have the most cases with 18.

E. coli is a type of bacteria that normally lives in the intestines of animals and people. Infection with certain toxin-producing strains can cause severe diarrhea, vomiting, fever, and in rare cases, kidney failure. The toxin binds to and kills cells lining the blood vessels of the gut and kidney.

During a teleconference Friday, investigators said they have made a little progress toward identifying the precise origins of the outbreak, which began in mid-March and is linked to lettuce grown in the Yuma, Ariz., region.

>>READ MORE: Why E. coli keeps getting into our lettuce

Eight confirmed cases caused by whole-head lettuce served at a jail in Nome, Alaska, have been traced to Harrison Farm in Yuma.

"Cattle wandered into a stream. Wild pigs also may have played a role," said Stic Harris, director of the Food and Drug Administration's outbreak-response network. He added that the farm is no longer shipping lettuce because the growing season has ended.

The rest of the nation's cases involved chopped romaine, sold in bags or salad mixes, that also came from the Yuma area. Dozens of farms, as well as distribution and packaging operations, are still being scrutinized, an arduous process that requires collecting samples and testing for the implicated strain of E. coli.

"Our advice remains that people should not be eating any type of romaine, and retailers and restaurants should not be selling it, unless they are certain it didn't come from the Yuma region," said Matthew Wise of CDC's outbreak-response team.

Because of the lag between when a sickness occurs and the report reaches the CDC, the case count may continue to grow.

No one has died, but 46 people have been hospitalized, including nine with kidney damage. That's a higher hospitalization rate than the 30 percent usually seen with E. coli.

In 2006, another particularly virulent strain of E. coli from fresh spinach sickened nearly 200 people and hospitalized half of them. The produce industry took steps to tighten safety rules for farms growing greens, and Congress in 2011 passed a law that is gradually phasing in tougher standards for farm irrigation, equipment cleaning, and other potential contamination routes.

Even so, the CDC has linked an average of 11 outbreaks a year to leafy greens. The popularity of convenience salad mixes  many containing romaine  and the fact that the food is not processed in a way that would kill the bacteria are fundamental factors.

"It's not something that's cooked," Harris said. "You're eating the raw product grown in Mother Earth."

Last week, the first lawsuit of the outbreak was filed by Seattle lawyer William Marler on behalf of a Flemington, N.J., woman who blamed Panera Bread and food supplier Freshway Foods for her illness.Michelle U. Quach left Vietnam long ago, when she was a child, but on Monday she'll proudly help raise the flag of her homeland in ceremonies at Philadelphia City Hall.

Not the official flag of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Instead, she'll hoist the banner to which she and other local Vietnamese pledge undying allegiance, the broad yellow field and three horizontal red stripes of South Vietnam  a nation that ceased to exist 43 years ago.

"We will never recognize the communist flag," said Quach, 40, of Cherry Hill. "I've learned over the years to dislike the 'Vietnamese' flag, and it's passed on from generation to generation."

That loyalty to a vanished homeland is born of a permanent, collective grief, a sorrow and pride branded onto the souls of people who left everything behind in desperate bids for safety and new lives.

South Vietnam disappeared from the Earth on April 30, 1975, when Viet Cong and People's Army forces overran the last southern defenses and captured the capital of Saigon, uniting the country and ending what was then America's longest war.

Today, April 30 is celebrated in Vietnam as "Reunification Day."

People will gather here, too, not to cheer but to mourn the loss of their nation and pay tribute to those who fought for it  and to look forward in the hope that Vietnam and its people will one day be free from communism.

"It's emotional, an integral part of all of us," said Theresa Tran, of Lansdale, a pharmaceutical executive who left Vietnam in 1975 at age 11. "As a survivor, it's my responsibility to preserve our heritage and legacy."

Heritage is all that's left of South Vietnam.

The United States resumed diplomatic relations with Vietnam in 1995. Today, more than 20,000 Vietnamese students study at American universities. U.S. airlines offer daily flights to Hanoi and to Saigon, renamed Ho Chi Minh City by the victors. Tourists can stay at a Hilton hotel, sip coffee at Starbucks, and snack at KFC.

But walk the streets of South Philadelphia, particularly around Sixth and Washington Streets, and the past is present.

The South Vietnamese flag flies from homes and businesses, at the entrance to New World Plaza, a big shopping center, and at the Bo De Buddhist Temple. At Tet new year celebrations and community events, the South Vietnamese anthem is sung.

And that, says Quyen Ngo, an administrator at Philadelphia Community College, is how it should be.

He fought with the South Vietnamese Army against North Vietnam  and considers himself a soldier today, having never been formally discharged.

"I am still fighting against communist rulers by all means I have," said Ngo, 72, "until my people in Vietnam completely have the freedom to live like us over here in the U.S."

He spent three years at hard labor in a "reeducation" camp, where he and other prisoners suffered hunger and illness, then escaped Vietnam by boat in 1978. He was saved by a merchant ship, taken to Thailand as a refugee, then came to Philadelphia.

In that, his journey was painfully typical.

Many local Vietnamese came here as refugees, some of them among the 800,000 "Boat People" who risked their lives at sea in the years after the war.

In 1980, Philadelphia had 2,038 Vietnamese. That population more than doubled to 5,701 in 1990, then nearly doubled again to 11,608 in 2000. Today, it stands at 15,965.

"There's a rabid anti-communist flavor among some of the older Vietnamese," said former Marines infantry officer Terry Williamson, who fought in Vietnam and now serves as president of the Philadelphia Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. "They really carry some grudges."

For a long time after reaching the U.S., said Tram Bao Nguyen, she dreamed of Vietnam, of her grandmother who stayed behind.

The family lived near Saigon. Nguyen was 8 when her parents told her, in 1980, that they were going on a family trip to a wedding. Instead, over days, they made their way to a boat, boarding in darkness with 40 other people.

The boat dragged in silt as it navigated a shallow river. Several men, including Nguyen's father, climbed overboard to push. The boat came free, and passengers told the men to climb back on, calling out their names one by one, so no one would be left behind.

Nguyen's father didn't answer. And he couldn't swim. Soon, other men were missing.

Their wives and children, hysterical, struggled to keep quiet, knowing that making noise would mean discovery.

There was nothing they could do but go on. Eventually the boat reached the ocean, sailing for three days without the occupants have access to food or water. Rescued at sea, the group was moved to a refugee camp in Thailand.

About 18 months later, a telegram arrived: Nguyen's father was alive. He had made it out of Vietnam, to Malaysia. The family was reunited in Philadelphia. "At the time, I didn't see it as traumatic," said Nguyen, 45, an advocate at South Philadelphia Victim Witness Services.

Remember, she said, some boats left Vietnam crammed with a hundred people  and only a few survived. Her family was fortunate.

That suffering helps explain why the idea of South Vietnam, and its flag, remains so vital, said Stanford University scholar Fred Turner, author of Echoes of Combat: Trauma, Memory, and the Vietnam War.

"It's a reminder for each new generation that becomes more American, 'This is who we were, don't forget who we were .'"

But they are forgetting. Or never knew.

"When my parents taught me about what happened in Vietnam, it went in one ear and out the other," said Xena Nguyen, 23, a Temple University student born to refugee parents in South Jersey. "My family is here now, so I don't have any hard feelings about the war, or who won or lost."

Her father, Lap Nguyen, left Vietnam on a makeshift fishing boat in 1980. He made it to a refugee camp in Thailand, then to America, where he was joined by his wife, Dung Ho.

Today, the front window of their home displays a small South Vietnamese flag. In their car, the flag hangs from the rearview mirror. But the yellow and red hold little meaning for their daughter.

"I don't feel patriotic to South Vietnam the way my parents do," said Xena Nguyen, who was named for TV's Warrior Princess. "America is my home."

Across the Delaware River in South Philadelphia, it's the same for Quyen Truong, 23, an advertising major at Temple.

"I recognized the flag and talked about it with my mom, but it never affected me politically," Quyen Truong said.

Her mother, Phi Nga Trinh, left everything in Vietnam when she fled in 1995 among the later departures. The past, she told her children, would not help them build a future.

Past, it is. People doubted South Vietnam would survive when the last American combat troops left the country in 1973. And it didn't.

Michelle Quach was born two years after the war ended and left Vietnam when she was 10 in 1987.

Raising the flag, she said, feels like honoring a lost, beloved relative. It's important, even if not everyone understands.

"A lot of people here, until the Vietnamese communists fall, they're not going to return to Vietnam," she said. "That's just the way my community is."

At least two public ceremonies will be held to mark the April 30, 1975, fall of Saigon: On Sunday, 11 a.m., at the Philadelphia Vietnam Veterans Memorial at Penn's Landing. On Monday, 10 a.m., at Philadelphia City Hall.A man who on several occasions last year abducted teenage boys and sexually assaulted them has struck again  this time on Thursday morning in Southwest Philadelphia, police said Friday evening.

The man, described as a heavyset African American in his 30s with a brown complexion and beard, lured into his car a 12-year-old boy on the 5800 block of Baltimore Avenue who was on his way to school Thursday with an offer to make money pumping his gas at a station across the street.

Instead he drove off with the boy and assaulted him, Police Capt. Mark Burgmann said in a hastily called press conference at Special Victims Unit headquarters at 300 E. Hunting Park Ave.

The boy was later released.

Police were seeking leads in the case, noting that the man drove a burgundy Subaru Outback with tinted windows. There also was a bandana on the steering wheel. The victim described his attacker as 6 feet tall and answering to "Maleek."

The attack is similar to three attacks in November in the northwest part of the city, and a fourth attack in May in Strawberry Mansion. All involved teenage boys and police said there were other similarities.

Those attacks happened: at 5 p.m. Nov. 13 on the 6600 block of Stenton Avenue in East Mount Airy-Stenton area; about 5 p.m. Nov. 16 at Stenton Avenue and Haines Street, East Germantown-West Oak Lane area; and around 9:15 a.m. on Nov. 21 at 66th Avenue and North 20th Street, West Oak Lane. On May 9, he attacked two brothers, ages 14 and 15, after abducting them on the 3300 block of Ridge Avenue in Strawberry Mansion. With Thursday's attack, there are now six victims.

Each of the abductions lasted about 20 minutes, Burgmann said, and he showed the boys pornographic videos on his phone.

Police publicized the November assaults after noticing the pattern. He might have stopped at that time because of the attention, Burgmann said.

"This guy is a predator," Burgmann said. "He is not going to stop. He has made that clear."

The officer pleaded that "you got to talk to your kids."Bret Baier recited something close to the approved Hamas version of the current edition of its continuing war on Israel at about 27:40 of Special Report last night (video here). There really is no excuse for this (which I transcribed from the video):

Weekly protests along the Gaza border with Israel turned deadly again today. Gazas health ministry says three Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire while trying to breach the Gaza border. Protesters rally at the border every Friday as part of a campaign against the decade-old blockade of that territory. Since it began 35 Palestinians have been killed and more than 1500 wounded.

Just about everything is wrong with this report. It recapitulates pure Hamas propaganda characterizing the weekly assault as protests against a blockade when it is one small part of Hamass continuing war on the existence of Israel. A serious account might add: Hamas acknowledged that five of its terrorists were among the fatalities after the first Friday demonstration, but has since refrained for acknowledging whether its men are among the dead. Israel has identified other fatalities as members of terrorist groups.James Comey is a legend in his own mind. He expressed part of the legend to Donald Trump when, according to one his memos, he told the president on January 27, 2017:

He could count on me to always tell him the truth. I said I dont do sneaky things, I dont leak, I dont do weasel moves.

Yet, as Peter Berkowitz reminds us, after Trump fired him, Comey violated FBI policy by promptly leaking seven memos, including at least one that apparently contained classified information, he wrote concerning his conversations with the president. Comey later testified to Congress that he had hoped his leaks would trigger the appointment of a special counsel, as it did.

Apparently, Berkowitz fairly concludes, Comey did not tell the president the truth when he assured him he doesnt do sneaky things, he doesnt leak, and he doesnt do weasel moves.

Comeys new book is itself sneaky and dishonest. Peter has this to say about it:

[W]hen an author who has ascended to the highest rungs of law enforcement and who purports to lead by example mangles basic facts, distorts legal issues, and omits essential informationand all tending to burnish his self-image as a righteous manthen one must conclude that his loyalty is not to the truth.

Peter cites Comeys treatment of the Valerie Plame matter:

In December 2003, Deputy Attorney General Comey (Attorney General John Ashcroft recused himself) appointed Patrick Fitzgerald, his close friend and godfather to one of his children, to serve as special prosecutor to investigate the leak of Valerie Plames CIA employment. Fitzgerald indicted no one for the leak. Rather, his work culminated in the 2007 conviction of Scooter Libby, chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney from 2001 to 2005, for obstruction of justice, making a false statement, and perjury. . . . Comey stresses in a Higher Loyalty that Libbys conviction was entirely justified. At the same time, Comey feels obliged to explain his decision to appoint a special prosecutor to take over the Plame leak investigation because it is now publicly known that by the time Comey appointed Fitzgerald in December 2003, the case, which did not involve a crime, had been solved. Accusations abounded that the Bush White House orchestrated the leak to punish Plames husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, for alleging in a June New York Times op-ed that the president lied about Saddam Husseins efforts to obtain uranium. But by early autumn 2003, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage had told the FBI that he had inadvertently disclosed Plames employment to journalist Robert Novak, who reported in a July 14, 2003, Washington Post column that Wilsons wife was an agency operative on weapons of mass destruction. Moreover, though Comey leaves it out, the CIA had quickly determined that national security was unaffected.

(Emphasis added)

How, then, could the appointment of a special counsel, in this case Comeys close friend (who now represents him in connection with his legal difficulties) be justified?

Comey contends that appointment of a special prosecutor was nevertheless necessary to root out lying in the justice system. But he spins a web of deception to justify his action. For example, Comey asserts that there was evidence that Libby spoke to numerous reporters about the CIA employee. This may have been technically true at the time of Fitzgeralds appointment. But one devoted to the truth would clarify that evidence at the trial indicated that the only reporter to whom Libby disclosed Plame was Judith Miller, then of the New York Times. Developments after the trial undermined even this allegation. Comey claims that NBC News Washington Bureau Chief Tim Russert had been interviewed by the FBI and said that Libby was lying about having heard about Plame from Russert. Thats false. In 2003, before Comey appointed Fitzgerald, Libby told the FBI that Russert mentioned Plame in a telephone conversation. Also, before Fitzgeralds appointment, Russert told the FBI that Libby might be right. Many months after Fitzgeralds appointment, Russert changed his story and denied that he could have mentioned Plame to Libby.

(Emphasis added)

Theres more:

Comey states that Fitzgerald uncovered evidence that Libby had proactively discussed the CIA employee with reporters, at the vice presidents request, to push back on stories critical of the administrations basis for invading Iraq. Thats false and scurrilous. It reflects an unsupported theory that Fitzgerald floated in closing arguments. In fact, Libby told investigators that Cheney asked him to counter the false claims circulating in the press that the Bush administration concocted stories about Saddam Husseins WMD programs. Libbys job was to explainas was the casethat the CIA had confidently conveyed to the Bush administration that Iraq had such programs and sought nuclear weapons. Furthermore, and scandalously, Comey does not so much as mention that in 2015 Fitzgeralds star witness, Judith Miller, recanted her testimony while claiming that Fitzgerald manipulated her memory by withholding crucial facts. Nor does Comey acknowledge that in 2016 the D.C. Court of Appeals, relying on Millers revelations, unanimously restored to Libby (who has never ceased to insist on his innocence) his law license.

(Emphasis added)

What would Comey have done in 2003 if he were the honest, straight-shooting law man he poses as? Says Berkowitz:

A conscientious and competent acting attorney general who knew what Comey knew or should have known would have rejected calls for a special prosecutor. Instead, he would have a held a press conference and told the American people the plain, unvarnished truth: The FBI has identified the leaker. The leak came not from the White House but the State Department. The CIA confirmed Plames employment for Novak. Plame was not covert under the relevant law, and, in any case, there was no evidence that any administration official who spoke to reporters about Plame believed she was classified; therefore, no law was violated. No harm was caused to CIA sources or operations.

I agree with Peters conclusion:

The misconceptions and falsehoods that Comey perpetuates about the misbegotten prosecution of Scooter Libby provide further confirmation that, despite his private assurance to the president and public boasts, Comey cant be counted on to tell the truth.

If theres a silver lining in the Comey saga, its this: The man has bought so fully into his self-legend  is so convinced of his own righteousness  that he takes no care to consult the facts. This leaves him vulnerable to the kind of questioning Bret Baier presented on Thursday, questioning that produced a fiasco for Comey.

Thus, Comeys pompous pronouncement in March of this year  Mr. President, the American people will hear my story very soon, and they can judge for themselves who is honorable and who is not  may prove prophetic in a way the legend did not anticipate.Wonderful evening last night in Denver at the annual Founders Dinner for the Independence Institute, the conservative think tank of Colorado. It was great to see some Power Line readers and old friends from my time as an inmate at Boulder. The Institutes president, the colorful John Caldara (other adjectives in addition to colorful come to mind when you think of John) invited me to participate in the program to help warn Colorado against becoming Californicated by all the California liberals who move to Colorado and bring Californias bad ideas and practices with them.

I noted that Colorado is correct to be worried about the California Diaspora, because California is not sending its best: its sending hipsters, trust fund punks, Silicon Valley and Hollywood trash, and surfers re-gendering themselves as snowboarders. And some, I assume, are good people.

John asked me to describe what Colorado would look like in 10 or 20 years if it continues to Californicate. This is easy: gasoline at least $1 a gallon more expensive than the national average; high-speed rail to nowhere, housing prices beyond the reach of the middle class (already starting to be a problem in Colorado), etc. But most especially the exploding urban disorder of homelessness, rising crime and visible decay.

Like the photos out today of the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) station at Civic CenterCivic Freakin Center!that has been overrun by homeless drub abusers, along with the local neighborhood. Ive written previously about San Franciscos famous online poop map, but here are some of the new pics:

This, from the story:

Earlier this month, Joe DAlessandro, head of San Franciscos visitor bureau, begged city officials to clean up the streets. The streets are filthy. Theres trash everywhere. Its disgusting, DAlessandro told the San Francisco Chronicle. Ive never seen any other city like this  the homelessness, dirty streets, drug use on the streets, smash-and-grabs. Mohammed Nuru, Director of the San Franciscos Public Works Department, told NBC Bay Area he estimates $30 million  nearly half of the citys $65 million street cleaning budget  is aimed at cleaning up needles and feces from sidewalks and homeless encampments.

A city run by, of, and for rich liberals.The ongoing anti-government movement, spearheaded by Yelk Alliance MP Nikol Pashinyan, moved their protests from Yeravan to Gyumri today, arguing that activists in the Armenian capital needed a few days of rest before May 1 when the National Assembly is scheduled to elect a new prime minister.

A convoy of cars, filled with movement supporters left Yerevan at 3pm, reaching Gyumri, the countrys second largest city four hours later. The convoy was delayed on route since residents in communities along the way turned out to welcome the convoy.

Students, teachers and representatives of local NGOs met the convoy in Gyumri.

The rally kicked off with Arsinee Khanjian, who had flown in from Canada, taking the stage. She congratulated citizens of Armenia for standing up for their rights and declared that the diaspora supported them.

We are certain that the diaspora must participate in the development of Armenia, but we dont know how to do so. We must stand in solidarity with you. There are Armenians in many parts of the world who are with you for your victory. Special congratulations from Serj Tankian, Atom Egoyan and others. You must encourage the diaspora because it too is fearful. We can have an independent country, without the interference of foreign powers. Today, we are an independent and free Armenia, Khanjian said.

Levon Barseghyan, a member of the Reject Serzh initiative and president of the Asparez Journalists Union, said that except for a few people no one believed that it would be possible to achieve victory by marching. (Hes referring to the march that Pashinyan and the Take a Step initiative made throughout Armenia that preceded the protests in Yerevan)

I have no doubt that we will win. These days we see officials and politicians declaring that they are joining this revolution. In many cases, people are angered and amazed. Show tolerance. Such things happen during revolutions. People review their positions, understanding that they were wrong. Reviewing issues is a trademark of revolution. We will win through peace, Barseghyan told the crowd.

As customary, Nikol Pashinyan was the last to speak.

There is no doubt that this spiritual people will win the Karabakh conflict, will triumph over corruption and poverty, will achieve great victories in the economic sector, will halt the parade of people to foreign shores, followed by a great march back to this dear and unparalleled homeland from different corners of the globe. Citizens of Armenia have straightened up and are confidently looking to the future. Today, the citizenry has won, and that victory is immutable, Pashinyan said.

He repeated that the only way to make the victory de jure, and not just de facto, is to elect the peoples candidate for the post of prime minister.

If I thought there was another way to achieve this, without destroying the victory of Armenian citizens and the spirit of victory, I would retract this statement on the spot. But the seriousness of the political situation tells me there is no alternative, and that the de facto victory of the people must be enshrined as de jure at the May 1 election for prime minister in the parliament, Pashinyan said.

He said it is possible to resolve the current crisis by just one step  to explain to Karen Karapetyan that he cant be Armenias prime minister.

This is a different Armenia. It is no longer a country where a member of the Republican Party can become prime minister or president. Its the Armenia of a victorious citizenry, of love and unity.

Pashinyan then attempted to dispel those concerns that after taking power he and his team would stage an economic and geo-political battle against Russia.

We are not Russias enemy, and certainly not enemies of our own country, inclined to take our country down the road of adventurism. There will be no geo-political reversals once assume power. We have never said that Armenia must leave CSTO. But we will work to see that it becomes more effective and issues more guarantees for Armenia and Artsakh. We declare that Armenia will respect all its international obligations, including those of the EU-Armenia Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement and the Eurasian Economic Union. This doesnt mean that our cooperation with these two is flawless. Yes, we will try to make that cooperation perfect. With the support of this powerful people, we can surely do so.

Talking about the battle to come on May 1, Pashinyan called on citizens to flood the streets in Yerevan that morning.

Todays rally was historic in scope. Gyumri residents tell me its one of the biggest since those during the independence movement. Its important to commemorate todays mass march through the streets of Gyumri. This is especially the case because I started my march from this very square 28 days ago. I knew that by setting out from this square in Gyumri we would be victorious.

A rally in Vanadzor, Armenias third largest city, is scheduled for tomorrow.

Photos: Narek Aleksanyan"Phase 2 of Canton Fair is off to a great start," said Maggie Pu, Deputy Director General of the Foreign Affairs Office at Canton Fair. "Phase 2 gathers the most extraordinary export enterprises of consumer goods in China, providing products that follow the latest market trends and are equipped with cutting-edge technology to global buyers. China is a leading country in the manufacturing and export of consumer products and we are proud of our role in introducing well-designed Chinese products to the world."

New Concepts for Households: A growing demand for intelligent and personalized experiences

As consumption structure continues to upgrade, more companies are focusing on the quality of product materials and designs. New products that closely follow the market trends to highlight electronic, intelligent and convenient features have become the highlight.

"Canton Fair is a very useful platform. It helps us demonstrate our new product designs and brand strength to buyers," said Liang Jianxiu, Design Director of Guangdong Linkfair Group Co., LTD, a company that has brought its wireless charging kitchen products and IF Design Award-winning pressure cooker to the exhibition. Established in 1993, it specializes in high-end smart kitchenware with more than 400 patents.

During its 20 years at Canton Far, Qingdao Kingking Applied Chemistry Co., Ltd., a company that designs, manufactures and exports wax products, always brings new product releases to Canton Fair, and this year is no different. For 2018, the company's products emphasize an updated personal design sensibility and a theme of wellness, both physically and mentally. Its aromatherapy products now include more natural ingredients to show respect for nature.

Amy Xing, Sales Director for Qingdao Kingking, explained that the reason that their company releases new products at Canton Fair is because they see it as a vital platform for gaining customer recognition and demonstrating brand strength.

Pets: New Members of the Home

With an increasing number of families owning pets, pet products have become a vital part of the household products section at Canton Fair, with a growing focus on the harmony between pet product solutions and the household environment.

Xue Yuanchao, Chairman of the Hangzhou Tianyuan pet products factory, announced that the company updates 30%-50% of their products for each exhibition and has released a newly-designed dog bed and cat tree, aiming to create a more in-depth integration between pet products and household products.

Phase 3 of the 123rd Canton Fair will continue to run from May 1 and last for 5 days, highlighting textiles& garments, food and drink.

About Canton Fair

The China Import and Export Fair ("Canton Fair"), is held biannually in Guangzhou every spring and fall. Established in 1957, the fair is now a comprehensive exhibition with the longest history, highest level, largest scale and largest number of products as well as the broadest distribution of buyer origins and the highest business turnover in China.

SOURCE Canton FairOn top of cash prizes, participants can also get a chance to become verified artists in this community and create a huge fan base, and then compete and win prizes according to their ranking in Spotlite.

"Spotlite Idol" is open to all Indians regardless of age, gender, origin or any other restrictions. No matter they are music lovers without any professional training, amateur musicians, or prospective stars, Spotlite welcomes them all.

Spotlite offers a pool of more than 50,000 popular songs authorized by the Big 5 record companies: Universal Music, EMI, Warner Music, Sony Music, and BMG. Your favorite ones can be easily found in Spotlite's base. Best of all you can access all songs and join the app for free.

If you don't wish to sing, you can invite your friends and family to be a part of the activity and you can also win rewards.

If you are not satisfied with merely recording songs, you can stream live on Spotlite.

After its successful launch in the US market in September 2017, within a month Spotlite attracted millions of users. Later in November, Spotlite ranked No.10 in the US music app store.

It has also covered the Latin market including Mexico, Argentina, Columbia, and 20 other Spanish-speaking countries. Over 800,000 Latino users are being served.

Spotlite has four offices all around the world in Los Angeles, Bangalore, Beijing and Hong Kong. In the near future, it looks to launch in new markets including Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, the Middle East and Europe.

Established in June 2017 as Spotlite Media Inc., Spotlite received 10 million US dollars in venture funding from Sequoia Capital and BlueRun. The founding members of Spotlite Media Inc. were former employees of Microsoft, Alibaba, Baidu, Universal Music and Roc Nation.

You can download Spotlite APP on Google play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.spotlite.sing&hl=en_US

Photo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20180428/2117437-1-a

Photo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20180428/2117437-1-b



SOURCE Spotlite Media Inc.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Book smarts can only take you so far. People smarts is just as important  perhaps even more so. IQ helps us understand how this world functions; EQ helps us function in this world.

Without logical intelligence, our ability to reason out problems and find viable solutions would be limited. Balancing a budget is a challenge without mathematical intelligence, while writing emails or book reports and crossing the street safely will prove more than troublesome without linguistic and kinesthetic intelligence, respectively. However, mental prowess offers, at most, a narrow understanding of how we function in our complex world.

Logic or mathematical intelligence wont help when trying to comfort a grieving friend. Linguistic or kinesthetic intelligence wont offer any insight into why a person feels angry all the time, or is dissatisfied with their life or relationships. This is where emotional intelligence steps in. And while people may be able get a good education and a decent job relying solely on their book smarts, its only half of the success equation  it doesnt guarantee a rewarding professional and personal life. EQ enhances the life experience, and may even be able to compensate for a less than stellar IQ.

Analyzing data from 34,809 people who took their Emotional Intelligence Test, PsychTests researchers found that while the combination of high EQ and high IQ (as measured by grades in school) can prove advantageous personally and professionally, strong emotional intelligence alone can still result in a successful and fulfilling life. Heres what their study revealed:

(Note: A high IQ is measured by top grades in school; a low IQ is measured by failing grades in school)

SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS



43% of those in the high IQ & high EQ group are in the $75,000 or higher economic bracket, compared to:

37% of those in the high IQ but low EQ group

31% of those in the low IQ but high EQ group

16% of those in the low IQ and EQ group

JOB PERFORMANCE

72% of those in the high IQ & high EQ group received a Good or Excellent work performance rating, compared to:

38% of those in the high IQ but low EQ group

63% of those in the low IQ but high EQ group

16% of those in the low IQ and EQ group

SOCIAL POPULARITY

70% of those in the high IQ & high EQ group are popular, compared to:

37% of those in the high IQ but low EQ group

62% of those in the low IQ but high EQ group

29% of those in the low IQ and EQ group

FREQUENCY OF CONFLICT

68% of those in the high IQ & high EQ group rarely find themselves getting into arguments or conflicts, compared to:

32% of those in the high IQ but low EQ group

65% of those in the low IQ but high EQ group

31% of those in the low IQ and EQ group

RELATIONSHIP SATISFACTION

79% of those in the high IQ & high EQ group are satisfied with their personal and professional relationships, compared to:

36% of those in the high IQ but low EQ group

67% of those in the low IQ but high EQ group

31% of those in the low IQ and EQ group

LIFE SATISFACTION

82% of those in the high IQ & high EQ group are satisfied with their life, compared to:

35% of those in the high IQ but low EQ group

71% of those in the low IQ but high EQ group

20% of those in the low IQ and EQ group

The human experience is to a large degree determined by our emotions. To deny that we are emotional beings is to deny who we are, explains Dr. Jerabek, president of PsychTests. You cannot navigate this world without a decent understanding of how to deal with your emotions, and you wont be able to get very far academically, professionally, or romantically if you dont know how to deal with people. We need emotional intelligence. We need to know how to regulate negative feelings, resolve conflict, read body language and other social cues, and how to interact with others diplomatically and productively. IQ helps us understand how this world functions; EQ helps us function in this world.

While the combination of strong EQ and IQ can lead to a happy and successful life, even EQ alone is enough to help you thrive. As our study has shown, people who are emotionally intelligent but not very book smart can still find a lucrative job and excel at that job. They are also more likely to be happy, popular, and have fulfilling relationships. The same cannot be said of those who lack the emotional side of intelligence. Given that emotional intelligence can be developed and improved, the question is, do you want to be happy and successful, or just successful?

Want to assess your EQ? Check out https://testyourself.psychtests.com/testid/3979

Professional users of this test can request a free demo for this or any other assessments from ARCH Profiles extensive battery: http://hrtests.archprofile.com/testdrive_gen_1

To learn more about psychological testing, download this free eBook: 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.Susan Schmitt People are looking for hope

Scripture says that those who don't have God have no hope.

Within the pages of CHAOS AND REDEMPTION ($16.99, paperback, 9781545629116; $6.99, e-book, 9781545629123), readers will discover that the world has both order and chaos in every feature and experience, but only one source of true hope.

People are looking for hope, John Alec Schmitt says. They are looking in the wrong place and trusting their lives in the wrong persons. The love of almighty God is the only path to true hope through redemption and salvation.

The book provides the answer to the chaos that surrounds us.

Chaos denies order and meaning to anyone who has not found a hope beyond the inevitable decay, the author states. Redemption is that focus where our particular lens of hope is able to bring light to darkness.

A native of Wichita, Kansas, John Alec Schmitt received a bachelor of science degree in general studies from Wichita State University and a master's degree in divinity with honors at St. Paul School of Theology in Leawood, Kansas. He was a pastor from 1976 to 2011.

Xulon Press, a division of Salem Media Group, is the worlds largest Christian self-publisher, with more than 12,000 titles published to date. Retailers may order CHAOS AND REDEMPTION through Ingram Book Company and/or Spring Arbor Book Distributors. The book is available online through xulonpress.com/bookstore, amazon.com, and barnesandnoble.com.Sherry Crandell Tabitha finds herself on an unexpected path that leads her to an unusual family

When your heart is broken and all your plans shattered, you might make some really impulsive decision. This includes running off to a faraway place, hoping to get a fresh start and leave your problems behind.

However, what happens when you realize that the fresh start you sought is way more than you bargained for?

Within the pages of False Impressions ($18.99, paperback, 9781545619209; $9.99, e-book, 9781545628089), readers will meet the close-knit Michelli family and the new addition to their intricate dynamics--Tabitha TJ Jennings.

Tabitha finds herself on an unexpected path that leads her to an unusual family, Sherry Crandell says. When she finds herself unwillingly falling for Dominic, will it lead to shattered false impressions and realization that God has led her to the exact place she belongs?

The Christian novel is filled with mystery, temptation, and unexpected endings with love that shatters false impressions. Set in modern day Texas, this opposites attract novel featurs unexpected circumstances that surround TJ and her group of friends.

The novel focuses on a love story at the end featuring Jesus redemptive plan. The story instills the great love God has for all those who are lonely, tired and looking to belong.

False Impressions is the first book in "Michelli Family Ties" series. Sherry Crandell's Destiny by Design, the second book in the series won Grand Prize in the Christian Author Awards in 2015 and was an Award Finalist in the 2017 Readers' Favorite Book Awards: Christian-Romance-Contemporary category.

Xulon Press, a division of Salem Media Group, is the worlds largest Christian self-publisher, with more than 12,000 titles published to date. Retailers may order False Impressions through Ingram Book Company and/or Spring Arbor Book Distributors. The book is available online through xulonpress.com/bookstore, amazon.com, and barnesandnoble.com.The wedding of Brian Trebels and Abigail (Lynn) Trebels is featured in the new March-April 2018 issue of Sophisticated Weddings Indianapolis.

Published six times a year, each issue of Sophisticated Living features timely, tailored and world-class editorial with an eye for localized luxury.

Abigail, who is a native of Indianapolis, and Brian, born and raised in the Chicagoland suburbs, were married in September last year and spent their honeymoon last Fall in South Africa.

Brian is CEO and co-founder of Equipment Leasing Group of America, LLC (ELGA), headquartered in Northfield, Illinois. Abigail is an executive director at the Chicago headquarters of SmithBucklin, the worlds largest association management company, and she also serves as executive director of the American Association of Sleep Technologists, a SmithBucklin client.

Brian Trebels attended Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa where his father is also an alumnus. Abigail is a graduate of the highly-competitive vocal performance program at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. Founded in 1884, the School of Music at DePauw is one of the oldest institutes for music instruction in the United States.

During their travels in Africa last Fall, the couple focused on local music and culture and continue to actively support the Uthando Project which they visited while touring KwaZulu Natal, South Africa.

Since 2004 when the Uthando Project was founded, thousands of dollmakers from around the world have designed, made and delivered nearly 40,000 handmade dolls for the children in KwaZulu, who are among those most deeply affected by the impact of the global HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Brian and Abigail are also active supporters of Boys Hope, Girls Hope of Illinois (BHGH), a 501(c)(3) charity that focuses on the academic success of children and young adults who are often the first in their family to enter college. Brians father, Rudy Trebels, is a longtime member of the board of BHGH. Rudy Trebels is also founder and CEO of Wedgewood Investment Group, LLC which focuses on the funding and development of luxury senior-living communities.

About ELGA

The Equipment Leasing Group of America (ELGA) was formed by veterans of the leasing industry with over 40 years combined experience in creating custom equipment solutions. Where other lenders fail to meet needs, ELGA provides equipment finance solutions for A, B, and structured credit profiles. As an independent financing partner, ELGA is uniquely suited to serve the needs of middle-market businesses. Leases from ELGA have included enterprise software and assembly-line equipment for manufacturers, high-end diagnostic and surgical-suite equipment for healthcare providers, conventional construction equipment such as excavators and bulldozers, and fleet expansions from state-of-the-art police cars and fire trucks to new garbage trucks and street sweepers.

CONTACT

Garnet Sherman

847-784-0011

garnetsherman(at)elgallc(dot)com

http://www.elgallc.comSilicon Valley Hair Institute We appreciate the support of our community and the positive response from people who have come to know the work we do in hair loss treatments.

Silicon Valley Hair Institute, a leader in hair restoration and robotic hair surgery is proud to announce important resonance in the pickup of an innovative blog post on the issue of "reviews" with respect to hair transplantation in San Francisco, California. The company uses its lively blog to discuss the technology and lifestyle components of deciding to use new hair transplantation technologies, such as the ARTAS robotic hair restoration system.

We appreciate the support of our community and the positive response from people who have come to know the work we do in hair loss treatments, explained Miguel Canales, MD, surgeon and founder of Silicon Valley Hair Institute. Discussions what is meant by 'reviews' with respect to hair transplantation technology is important as it's hard to compare quality in something as technical as hair transplantation.

Interested persons can read the original blog post from

Silicon Valley Hair Institute at http://siliconvalleyhairinstitute.com/one-hair-transplant-review-matters/. Perhaps more importantly, interested persons can see that the blog post and companion press release were heavily picked up by online outlets, as for example at http://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/silicon-valley-hair-institute-announces-best-hair-transplant-reviews-in-san-francisco-through-innovative-new-blog-post-1014653548 and https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/prnewswire/press_releases/California/2018/01/31/UN00931. This shows the interest of the general public in understanding what "best" means when it comes to San Francisco Bay Area hair transplantation and corresponding reviews.

SAN FRANCISCO HAIR TRANSPLANT REVIEWS FROM PATIENTS TAKE PRIORITY AT SVH

Here is background on this release. Community reviews and so-called "word of mouse" in the form of online reviews for excellent service can be considered the most important piece to keeping a business going. If a service or product earns high praise on Yelp or Google, it can lead to good buzz throughout the community. It may be important to know not all reviews are alike. Recognition from colleagues or the community at large may be important, but it might not be first on the list. For a professional hair transplant surgeon, the most important feedback could come straight from patients. If its regarding San Francisco hair transplant reviews, patient feedback can be the priority.

For these reasons, Silicon Valley Hair Institute originally wrote an original post to its blog on the topic of what "best" means when it comes to hair transplant reviews. This was then shared in a companion press release and was heavily picked up in the media. For a hair transplant surgeon, in summary, accolades may be appreciated, but are not the main concern. San Francisco hair transplant reviews from patients are of paramount interest.

ABOUT SILICON VALLEY HAIR INSTITUTE

The Silicon Valley Hair Institute (http://siliconvalleyhairinstitute.com/), under the leadership of top-rated California hair transplant surgeon Miguel Canales MD, is one of the best facilities offering San Francisco Bay Area hair restoration. It is a professional team of San Francisco hair specialists lead by Dr. Canales. Dr. Canales provides the full range of advanced hair transplant and hair restoration procedures for Bay Area residents, from San Francisco to Palo Alto to San Jose. Treatments include; robotic hair transplants, FUE/FUT surgery, PRP and micropigmentation. If one needs a hair transplant specialist, look no further than this Bay Area hair transplant center. The clinic provides both San Jose FUE transplant and San Francisco FUE transplant services. Dr.Canales also performs female hair transplants for women and eyebrow restoration, thus offering the best hair transplant and robotic hair replacement options. Call today to 650-551-1100 for a no-cost consultation.New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival Its an honor for Yamaha to support this festival...the participation of our local dealer, Ray Fransens Drum Center, has been crucial to our success, said Dave Jewell, marketing communications manager, Yamaha Corporation of America.

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (NOJHF) has been a mainstay of the Louisiana cultural scene since its start in 1970, and Yamaha Corporation of America (YCA) has been the official drum sponsor of NOJHF for over 33 years. From April 27 to May 6, hundreds of thousands are expected to attend events and concert performances at 12 venues on the Fair Grounds and Race Course, just minutes from the historic French Quarter. The companys new Tour Custom Maple series is making its festival debut, and sets from the entire Yamaha line of drums will be set up on each of the 11 other stages.

The festival is always a trial by fire for any drum set, but it is a special chance for the Tour Custom to show its great sound and exceptional quality. This set was built to withstand the rigors of a long-term musical event and emerge ready for the next one, said David Jewell, marketing communications manager, Yamaha Corporation of America.

The Tour Custom Maple series, the newest of the Yamaha drum lines, was introduced this year as the drum set for the active, working drummer, both on tour and in the studio. Musicians at the festival are also playing on the Recording Custom, Live Custom, Absolute Hybrid Maple, Stage Custom Birch and Rydeen drum sets.

Its an honor for Yamaha to support this festival, but the participation of our local dealer, Ray Fransens Drum Center, has been crucial to our success, added Jewell. From supplying the drums to making the rounds with our staff every morning to prepare them, their support is invaluable. When there are partners like Ray and his team who have a passion for music, everybody benefits.

Ray Fransen, owner of Ray Fransens Drum Center, echoed the sentiment, saying, With the rapid and unpredictable changes our store has experienced over the years, one consistently bright and glowing spot has been our partnership with Yamaha Drums in supplying the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival for 30-plus years. The quality of the equipment goes without saying, but it is the extra effort on the part of the Yamaha staff that makes it so special. Rarely do we see corporate folks come down and get their hands dirty in helping to tech the drums while seeming to enjoy every minute. The post-festival sale we have is consistently successful also. Hats off to Yamaha!

More than 400 bands perform at NOJHF each year, and several Yamaha Artists are appearing on the 2018 line-up, including Oscar Seaton (Lionel Ritchie, Terence Blanchard), Jamison Ross (Nigel Hall), and Adam Topol (Jack Johnson). Over the course of seven days, the festival showcases the indigenous music, culture and cuisine of New Orleans and Louisiana, and featured blues, jazz, Cajun, zydeco, Afro-Caribbean, Latin, R&B, gospel, rock, folk, rap, country and bluegrass music.

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Foundation, Inc. is the nonprofit organization that owns and presents this annual festival. Proceeds are channeled into year-round programs to support the music and culture of New Orleans and Louisiana.

To find out more about the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, visit http://www.nojazzfest.com

Additional information about Yamaha Corporation of America is available at http://4wrd.it/YAMAHAUSAOnce a year, Star Wars fans celebrate the galaxy far, far away with the much-loved holiday, May the Fourth. Whether fans feel a kinship with the Dark Side or the Jedi Masters, everyone can agree that May the Fourth is a perfect way to celebrate the Star Wars franchise. The popular pun May the Fourth  originally created by fans  has gained an official following with the observance of Star Wars Day, a once-a-year celebration for all the scruffy-looking nerf herders out there.

In honor of Star Wars Day, Fifthsun.com is excited to offer the first 50 customers a Star Wars gift with purchase on May 4th, 2018. Come to the Dark Side with Fifth Sun; enjoy a stormtrooper or Darth Vader keychain with purchase of a Star Wars tee on May 4th, 2018. Head into hyperdrive today; every fan will want the chance to be one of the first 50 customers to get a Fifth Sun Star Wars tee and keychain.

As an official partner with Star Wars, Fifth Sun prides itself on offering fans the best Star Wars shirts, hoodies, tanks, and more for the whole family. All Star Wars fans  both of the original trilogy and new favorites like Solo: A Star Wars Story  will find the perfect tee from the diverse offerings of styles for men, women, and kids on Fifth Sun.

Fifth Suns Graphic Designer, Kirsten Barsotti, loves Star Wars. She admits, my favorite memory was wearing Star Wars tees on May the 4th to celebrate Star Wars Day with her co-workers and fellow Star Wars fans. Join Fifth Sun this Star Wars Day by getting the best Star Wars tee in the galaxy.

Its important to find a balance in your wardrobe, so be sure to get a few designs from the Dark Side, as well as, a few from the Light Side. Whether youre a Princess Leia admirer or a Luke Skywalker wannabe, Fifth Sun has something for everyone. Rebels and members of the Empire may not have a lot in common, but they can all appreciate the galactic Star Wars designs being offered to the Fifth Sun community this holiday.

Feel the force of these awesome Fifth Sun Star Wars designs this May the Fourth.

About Star Wars

The Star Wars franchise came to a movie theater far, far away in 1977 and the world has never been the same. The beloved space odyssey that started with films like A New Hope (1977), The Empire Strikes Back (1980), and Return of the Jedi (1983) has opened the door for continued sagas like The Force Awakens, and Solo: A Star Wars Story. The age-old struggle between good and evil has taken on galactic proportions in Star Wars and it continues to awe and inspire fans every day.

About Fifth Sun

Fifth Suns journey from a small independent t-shirt company was shaped by its continued focus on balance, community, and the personal touch that remains at the core of its identity. With more than 20 years of experience in the industry, Fifth Sun has woven together a shared spirit that thrives on designing vibrant and meaningful art for key brands like Star Wars, Disney, Nintendo, Marvel, and more.

Fifth Sun is a company of artists, designers, creators and, above all, dreamers. We are inspired by the world around us and enjoy making the imaginary into a reality. We track trends in art, music, pop culture, internet memes, and fashion to design art that is accessible and relatable to diverse audiences. We create progressive, ethical, and original artwork.

Weve never lost our sense of curiosity and it drives us to create unforgettable fashions for your favorite brands.

Please let us know what you think of the shirts by tweeting us (@5Sun) or sharing photos of you on our Facebook (@FifthSunGraphics) & Instagram @FifthSunOfficial)! Were your biggest fans and would love to see you strut your stuff.Release of VALIDATE Fibrinogen allows clinical laboratories with IL ACL TOP 500, Siemens Sysmex CS-2500, Stago STA-R Evolution or other commonly used hemostasis systems to complete their required Fibrinogen linearity and calibration verification.

LGC Maine Standards announces VALIDATE Fibrinogen for easier linearity and calibration verification on IL ACL TOP 500 (Order No. 904il), Siemens Sysmex CS-2500 (Order No. 904se), and Stago STA-R Evolution (Order No. 904st) hemostasis test systems. The kits, in a human, plasma matrix, evaluate Five Levels of recovery across the Fibrinogen (FIB) analytical measurement range (AMR). Each VALIDATE Fibrinogen kit, liquid and ready-to-use, prepared using the CLSI EP06-A equal delta sample preparation, offers five distinct concentrations covering the reportable range. Simply dispense the product from each dropper bottle, directly into five sample cups, and run in replicates.

Release of VALIDATE Fibrinogen allows clinical laboratories with IL ACL TOP 500, Siemens Sysmex CS-2500, Stago STA-R Evolution or other commonly used hemostasis systems to complete their required Fibrinogen linearity and calibration verification and maximize the reportable range while minimizing manual dilutions. Use of this product, while augmenting daily QC, assists with fulfilling various quality control requirements  such as Analytical Measurement Range (AMR) and Clinically Reportable Range (CRR)  for linearity and calibration verification under CLIA 88, CAP, COLA, JCAHO, JCI and ISO 15189.

The addition of VALIDATE Fibrinogen to the LGC Maine Standards expanding portfolio of products demonstrates a continued commitment to manufacture high-quality linearity and calibration verification products that meet industry needs.

LGC Maine Standards is located in Cumberland Foreside, Maine and manufactures VALIDATE linearity and calibration verification kits for over 130 analytes, including General Chemistries, Urine Chemistries, Enzymes, Lipids, HbA1c, Therapeutic Drugs, Cardiac Markers, Thyroids, Serum Proteins, Vitamin D, Tumor Markers, Anemia, Fertility, Hemostasis, Whole Blood Glucose, and Body Fluids.

LGC Maine Standards MSDRx data reduction software is available at no charge for real-time data analysis or a laboratory can send their data to LGC Maine Standards where a technical specialist will complete the data analysis and return a report within five business days. Peer group comparison is also available upon request.

Contact: Maine Standards Company, LLC

221 US Route 1, Cumberland Foreside, ME 04110

1-207-892-1300 x1473

Adriano.Ciccomancini(at)LGCGroup.com

http://www.mainestandards.com

About LGC

LGC is an international life sciences measurement and testing company with leading positions in growing markets. LGC provides a range of measurement products and services which underpin the safety, health and security of the public, including reference materials and proficiency testing, calibration verification / linearity testing, genomics reagents and instrumentation, and expert sample analysis and interpretation. LGC serves customers across a number of end markets including Pharmaceuticals, Agricultural Biotechnology, Food, Environment, Government and Academia.

LGCs headquarters are in London and the company employs over 2,000 people, operating out of 22 countries worldwide. Its operations are extensively accredited to international quality standards such as ISO/IEC 17025, GMP, GLP, ISO Guide 34, ISO/IEC 17043 and ISO 13485:2003.

With a history dating back to 1842, LGC has been home to the UK Government Chemist for more than 100 years and is the UK National Measurement Laboratory and Designated Institute for chemical and bio measurement. LGC was privatized in 1996 and is now owned by funds affiliated with KKR. For more information, please visit http://www.lgcgroup.Welcome Guest! You Are Here:

Home Regional News EastWelcome Guest! You Are Here:The film, an innovative tool for social change, will be rolled out this month to reduce preventable and treatable blindness and visual impairment in the country by changing the way communities access eye healthcare services.

The training of film facilitators, in partnership with Ghana Health Services, has equipped healthcare officials from four districts; Afigya Kwabre, Atwima Kwanwoma, Bosomtwe and Ejisu Juaben to take the film into their communities to bring about social change and raise awareness around eye health.

The film, titled Meresa Biom (Dancing Again), was produced by international NGO Orbis with funding from Standard Chartered Banks Seeing is Believing (SiB) initiative.

Since 2014 Orbis has worked inGhana in collaboration with the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), international NGO Himalayan Cataract Project and the Ministry of Health with the aim to strengthen child eye health at KATH, the city of Kumasi and the neighbouring Ashanti region.

The investment from SiB is funding Orbiss work at community-, primary- and district levels in the healthcare and education systems to contribute to the reduction of childhood blindness and visual impairment in the Ashanti region.

A research study by acclaimed South African anthropologist, Dr Susan Levine, was the catalyst for Orbiss decision to harness the power of film to drive its prevention and treatment models for avoidable childhood blindness on the African continent.

Levines study, the first of its kind in Africa, revealed a series of barriers and obstacles that are preventing children from accessing vital medical intervention which could prevent childhood blindness.

Overcoming these barriers required innovative communication methods hence Orbiss decision to harness the power of film, explains Lene verland, Orbis International Africa Regional Director.

Facilitated Film Screenings have proven to be an effective communications tool for achieving social change.

Orbis International Africa first partnered with STEPS (Social Transformation and Empowerment Projects), who pioneered the facilitated film screening methodology, in 2014.

STEPS, a special collaboration between filmmakers from Southern Africa and European broadcasters, produced the documentary to initiate social change and pioneer awareness of eye disease. The first eye health film was produced in South Africa, followed by two films for Zambia.

Meresa Biom, the fourth eye health film on the continent, is a first for Ghana. Meresa Biom follows 9-year-old Hikmah, a passionate pupil and avid dancer living with her parents in Kumasi, Ghana.

The film reflects on her experience of dealing with an injury to her eye while playing with friends, a year earlier.

Through personal accounts from Hikmah, her family members and an Orbis-trained ophthalmologist, we hear how unnecessary delay impacted her vision.

The film encourages seeking treatment immediately when noticing any abnormality with a child or an adults eyes or vision.

The STEPS facilitated screening model combines film with facilitation as a powerful tool to promote debate and discussion and bring about enlightened social change.

STEPS film screenings are always contextualised with personal testimonies and are followed by a discussion where facilitators encourage the audience to decide on individual and group action as a way forward.

Actions can include challenging stigma and discrimination, the decision to seek services or to advocate for access to high quality equitable eye health services.

With the number of blind children in Ghana estimated to be more than 9,000 and with 50% to 70% of these cases being avoidable, there is a need for effective public-private partnerships. Since 2010, Orbis International Africa has worked to pilot the most appropriate model for comprehensive child eye health in Africa and works closely with Ministries of Health and other key partners on this model, says verland.

Ghana has achieved laudable results with regards to the Millennium Development Goals. especially in the areas of poverty, safe drinking water and education.

However, health objectives, particularly maternal health and communicable disease have lagged.They have weighed in from various angles; pushing for womens rights to running major campaigns against maternal deaths and many other community-based projects etc. Some of them have equal almost always found themselves on the wrong side of things.

Here are some of the top African first ladies making international headlines.

Janet Museveni

Janet Museveni has been the Ugandan First Lady since January 1986 when her husband Yoweri Museveni assumed office. Aside from her role as the First Lady, Janet has also served in various positions, including the Minister of Education and Sports, Minister of Karamoja Affairs, and the Member of Parliament for Ruhaama County.

The 69-year-old First Lady is known to make controversial remarks especially when addressing government critics. In 2016, Janet is alleged to have made some bizarre comments about the LGBT community while addressing a church congregation in Kampala. She reportedly said that if cows did not practice homosexuality, how could we, the human beings, start arguing over homosexuality.

Janet, who currently serves as the Minister of Education and Sports, made headlines earlier this year after she issued a directive ordering all head teachers in public schools across the country to provide students with President Musevenis autobiography titled Sowing the Mustard Seed. Local activists faulted the directive saying it was a plan by the First Lady to manipulate and indoctrinate the youth.

Aisha Buhari

Aisha Buhari is the current First Lady of Nigeria and wife of the mysterious President of Nigeria Muhammadu Buhari, who assumed office in 2015. Aisha is a staunch advocate of womens and children rights. She is also one of the prominent Nigerians who have publicly criticized homosexuality.

But her most recent controversy happened last year when she openly criticized her husbands style of leadership during an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Mrs. Buhari allegedly expressed her doubts about voting for President Buhari if he ran for a second term in 2019. She claimed that the government has been hijacked by a few individuals who are behind all public appointments.

Princess Lalla Salma of MoroccoLONDON  Britain's leading business group has "serious doubts" that the UK government will be able to fulfil its promise to roll-over Britain's 40 existing free trade deals with non-EU countries in time for Brexit, telling Business Insider that failure to do so could "wipe out" entire sectors of the economy.

UK International Trade Secretary Liam Fox has promised to roll-over Britain's existing deals with non-EU countries, as part of its EU membership, the "second after" Brexit.

However, the Confederation of British Industry has told BI that this is very unlikely to be possible, potentially leaving entire sectors of the economy on a "cliff-edge" after Brexit.

"The UK fundamentally lacks the experience or the bandwidth to conduct 20 or more trade renegotiations in parallel to complete before the potential cliff edge of January 2021," the CBI's chief trade spokesperson, James Ashton-Bell, told BI.

"The potential of a cliff edge for these agreements is very real, and potentially hugely damaging at both firm-level and for entire sectors of the UK economy. It could wipe some out overnight. Some export-reliant companies could literally go bankrupt."

The CBI represents over 190,000 businesses nationwide and has worked closely with the DIT in its Brexit planning.

"Transitioning EU trade agreements is a technical exercise, not an opportunity to renegotiate terms," a DIT spokesperson told BI earlier this week. "We have already held discussions with more than 70 countries and none have displayed any interest in disrupting trade flows, or in erecting barriers to trade that do not currently exist."

However, the CBI believes such renegotiations are almost inevitable and doubt that the government has the capacity to deal with them.

"While we support the government's aim, there are very legitimate issues that would likely require reopening despite the UK not having the capacity to run many negotiations in parallel," Ashton-Bell said.

Some export-reliant companies could literally go bankrupt.

He added that Theresa May's government "cannot reasonably expect that these 'replications' of agreements will be free from prolonged renegotiations," citing a number of concessions third countries have made to the EU which "they'll no longer be willing to give the UK on its own," plus deals which countries have expressed a desire to modernise.

He cited countries like Norway and Switzerland, where trade terms are not written down in a single agreement, and therefore cannot be replicated in any case without a completely new deal being struck.

A DIT spokesperson told BI that they were confident of a "smooth" transition on existing free trade deals.

"The Government is committed to ensuring continuity in our existing international agreements as we leave the European Union, with transitioning existing EU FTAs one of the Departments top priorities," they said.

"Ministers and Officials have engaged with more than 70 partner countries so far, and we are confident of securing a smooth transition for businesses and consumers."

"I feel sorry for the civil servants, to be honest"

BI has also seen confidential EU analysis which suggests that trade deals cannot be simply rolled over via a signed agreement between the UK and the EU, as Fox argues.

The report  produced for MEPs by the European Parliament's Research Service and titled 'Brexit and the UK participation in existing EU trade agreements'  says Brexit "would require a renegotiation [of trade deals] thus giving the opportunity to third countries to require more concessions from the UK."

The CBI's intervention follows a BI report, which revealed the European Commission had warned other EU institutions that it is "deeply concerned" about the UK's lack of preparation for carrying over trade deals after Brexit. The Commission also cited Fox's "failure to grasp basic concepts and trade-offs" relating to the rollover process.

In the same report, a leading UK business figure who works closely with the government accused "large swathes" of Fox's department of being "reluctant to accept the help of outsiders."

Since BI published that article on Wednesday, various figures from across British business have told BI that they have experienced similar difficulties when working with the DIT.

A leading figure from the creative industries, who recently held a meeting with DIT, said: "My main takeaway was I feel sorry for the civil servants, to be honest. It's a nightmare job. Fox is not the brain of Britain."

Another business leader echoed concerns about Fox's leadership, telling BI: "O

Brexit is a threat to our global reputation as a trading nation: we are putting up barriers between us and our biggest trading partner, and now we know our existing trade deals with countries across the world are at serious risk," Labour

"Giving Liam Fox something to do with his spare time is not a good enough reason for jeopardising our existing trading relationships. Not only will there be no new trade deals for years to come, businesses are clear we risk losing the ones we already have with more than 65 countries across the world through our membership of the EU. This could bankrupt some companies.

"As the Brexit that is being delivered looks increasingly different to the one that was promised, we all have the right to demand a Peoples Vote on the terms of any Brexit deal."Born in real life as Michael Akosah, Mike Akox and Kranium were the only artistes who were billed to perform on the night.

Known for his delectable stage priories, immediately Mike Akox splintered unto the stage, he got the entire auditorium singing out loud to his popular tunes.

His transition onto the stage was greatly refreshing and his costume and command on the mouthpiece was extremely fantastic.

The energetic performer, Mike Akox, who spent almost thirty-five Minutes on stage, performed nine of his hit songs which conclude his trending single "Love Me".

"Love Me" is currently on one of the biggest Spotify created playlist called Urban Flavour, currently at 140,000 plus plays with Akox being the only Ghanaian artiste on the Urban Flavour playlist alongside Drake and Wizkid from USA and Nigeria respectively.

The event was mediated by club things. According to Razzonlines reporter Francis Tuken, although, Jamaicas celebrated reggae and dancehall artiste, Kranium also dazzled patrons with a scintillating performance, Mike Akox did magnificently well and was the best entertainer for the night.According to police, Larteley Mensah beat young Tani Sanni until she passed away.

Police sources say the young girl suffered at hands of her own mother because she failed to cover up her vomit with sand as she had been instructed to do.

The eight-year-old had been battling a chronic skin disease.

Tani Sanni had been staying with her dad following the separation of her parents, however, due to the deterioration of her chronic skin disease, the father brought her to her mother for proper care.

Body

Larteley Mensah reportedly sought the help of two individuals who assisted her to bury the body secretly at midnight at Lavender Hill.

Lavender Hill is an area in Jamestown situated in close proximity to where liquid waste is disposed into the sea and notorious for its stench.

Police have mounted a fierce search for Larteleys accomplices.

Briefing the media, the Korle Bu District Police Commander, DSP Theophilus Esilfie, said Larteleys accomplices, identified as Adorkor and Ebenezer Annor, Larteleys boyfriend, are on the run.

Police say they will ensure that the law ruthless deals with Larteley."This morning our uncle, our father, the musician. His family called us this morning to inform us that he (Jewel Ackah) passed away," the ex-president said in his opening remarks at the NDC's unity walk in Kumasi Saturday.

"He has been sick for sometime now but we were all praying that God will heal him. But God knows bes, he gives and he takes. So we can't say anything," Mr Mahama said.

He added:"Those of you who don't, the young ones here, he composed the NDC's anthem. So anytime you here the NDC's anthem, it was composed by Jewel Ackah.Mr Portuphy was unable to attend because he has been hospitalised and Mr Mahama could not be reached, the statement said.

Mr Rawlings brought the General Secretary's attention to the serious complaints and petitions emanating from the elections and the potential damage to the party if no action is taken to rectify the wrongs.

"Mr Asiedu Nketia conceded that it was necessary to take due note of the several petitions and complaints by suspending or cancelling such elections so the allegations could be thoroughly investigated and elections re-conducted to instil sanity and confidence in the process," the statement said.

It added: "The General Secretary confirmed at the meeting that he had already directed some elections to be cancelled and re-conducted in some of the areas he had toured."

According to the statement, the ex-president, who governed Ghana between 1992 and 2001 has however learnt that the situation in Kpando in the Volta Region, for example, has deteriorated in spite of directives by the General Secretary.

"Elsewhere in some branches he has received complaints about constituency executives arriving with a list they read out as the branch executives, party registers not being used, candidates not being vetted, notice of polls in terms of venue, date and time not issued and executives not making nomination forms available to some potential candidates they do not approve. He also received reports of some branches where executives unilaterally decided that certain people were not members of the party," the statement noted.

It also quoted Mr Rawlings as saying: I have observed that certain elements in the party who are supposed to be unbiased arbiters and supervisors in these elections are rather pursuing a parochial agenda that is not in the partys interest. These limited victories are like winning a battle and losing the war. We witnessed this in the selection of our parliamentary candidates in the 2016 elections, which partly accounted for our humiliating defeat in that election.

"We are on the verge of breaking up the NDC if we pursue this path. The National Executive Committee has to take a serious look at the entire branch electoral process and ascertain whether they have been held in an open, free and fair manner devoid of foul play and deliberate abuse."For the NDC, the huge turnout supports their claim that the NPP is failing, particularly in the Ashanti Region.

Former President John Mahama participate in the walk boycotted by other NDC presidential hopeful like like Joshua Alabi and Alban Bagbin.

Ahead of the walk in Kumasi today, a former Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Alhaji Inusah Fuseini, party not to encourage the practice of crowd-sourcing at its events, especially rallies and unity walks.

He said crowd-sourcing will not give the NDC the right picture on the ground as regards its membership size.

I believe that people in Kumasi must organise the Unity Walk, thats how were going to know our real strength on the ground," he said on Starr Chat on Starr FM.Heavily built men in branded T-shirts labelled "The Hawks" were on full display at the NDC Unity Walk in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region.

The Hawks has been formed to provide security for NDC related activities.

Former Ejisu/Juabeng Municipal Chief Executive, Afrifa Yamoah Ponkoh, has said the Hawks of the NDC will not foment any trouble in the country as compared to the governing party's vigilante groups-- the Invincible Forces and Delta Forces.

In an interview on Accra FM, he said "If they have Invincible Forces, we also have The Hawks, and, so, we will see.

"We in the NDC want peace in the country, we will not foment any trouble in the country.

"The Hawks will provide security for the party as we are in opposition."

But Asiedu Nketia in an interview on Accra-based Class FM said he doesn't know the vigilante group.Pulse.com.gh understands the NDC in the region has made preparations to ensure there is huge turnout for the unity walk.

Political watchers say the NDC needs the huge numbers to support claims that the NPP is failing.

Ex-president Mahama and other NDC bigs are expected to participate in the much-talked about unity walk.

The Loyal Ladies, a volunteer group of the NPP, has issued a statement distancing itself from the walk, after Joseph Yamin, a former regional secretary of the party, said some members of the group will participate in the walk.

"They (NDC) are planning to share the T-shirts to among their members to wear, Spokesperson for the Loyal Ladies, Adwoa Pomaah Siaw told Accra-based Radio XYZ.

Meanwhile NDC presidential hopeful, Professor Joshua Alabi, has said he will not participate in the walk.

He described the exercise as fun indicating that twice he attended the events in Accra and Cape Coast respectively but it was just to have fun.With the addition, Georgetown joined a medical arms race in which hospitals and private investors, sometimes as partners, are pumping vast sums of money into technology whose effectiveness, in many cases, has not yet been shown to justify its cost.

Although most of the proton centers in the United States are profitable, the industry is littered with financial failure: Nearly a third of the existing centers lose money, have defaulted on debt or have had to overhaul their finances.

For Georgetown officials, it was still a bet worth making.

Every major cancer center that has a full-service radiation oncology department should consider having protons, said Dr. Anatoly Dritschilo, the chief of the hospitals radiation medicine department.

Many have. There are 27 proton therapy centers operating in the United States. Nearly as many are being built or planned. Georgetowns, which vies for patients with a struggling unit in Baltimore, will soon compete with another in Washington and one in Northern Virginia.

But about 30 years after the Food and Drug Administration first approved proton therapy for limited uses, doctors often hesitate to prescribe it and insurers often will not cover it.

That means there simply may not be enough business to go around.

The biggest problem these guys have is extra capacity, said Dr. Peter Johnstone, the chief executive at Indiana Universitys proton center before it closed in 2014, in need of an upgrade but lacking the potential patients to pay for it. They dont have enough patients to fill the rooms.

At Indiana, he added, We began to see that simply having a proton center didnt mean people would come.

Proton therapy was initially used to treat tumors in delicate areas where surgery was not an option  near the eye, for example  and in children, and it remains the best choice in such cases.

But its pinpoint precision has not been shown to be more effective against breast, prostate and other common cancers. One recent study of lung-cancer patients found no significant difference in outcomes between people receiving proton therapy and those getting a focused kind of traditional radiation, which is much less expensive. Other studies are underway.

Commercial insurers are just not reimbursing for proton therapy except for pediatric cancers or tumors near sensitive organs, substantially limiting the potential treatment pool, said Brandon Henry, a medical device analyst for RBC Capital Markets.

Medicare covers proton therapy more readily than private insurers, but relying solely on Medicare patients does not allow backers of some treatment centers to recoup their investments, much less turn a profit, analysts said.

For a glimpse of what can go wrong, consider the Maryland Proton Treatment Center in Baltimore, which is affiliated with the University of Maryland Medical Center.

Opened two years ago with a Survivor"-themed party and lofty financial goals, the unit is already undergoing a restructuring that is inflicting large losses on its outside investors, including wealthy families from Texas.

Before the Baltimore center opened, those behind it saw their market stretching from Philadelphia to Northern Virginia and encompassing 20,000 potential patients a year. Officials predicted the unit would treat north of its current rate of about 85 patients a day, said Jason Pappas, the acting chief executive.

How far north?

Upper Canada, said Pappas, declining to provide hard numbers. He said the center would break even by the end of the year.

The patient shortage might not be a good sign for projects in the pipeline, but it is encouraging for those who take a dim view of proton therapys rise.

Something that gets you the same clinical outcomes at a higher price is called inefficient, said Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, a health policy professor at the University of Pennsylvania, which operates one proton center and is developing another. If investors have tried to make money off the inefficiency, I dont think we should be upset that theyre losing money on it.

The proton therapy boom effectively began in 2001, when Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston opened a proton unit, raising the profile of what was a little-used technology. By 2009, developers were flocking to the field, lured by the belief that insurers would cover treatment bills that run to $48,000 and more.

The treatment held particular promise for prostate cancer patients, given the potential side effects, including incontinence and impotence, associated with traditional radiation.

But a 2013 Yale study found little difference in those conditions among patients getting proton therapy versus those getting traditional radiation. Within a year, several insurers stopped covering the therapy for prostate cancer or were reconsidering it.

Indiana Universitys center was the first to close. Before long, others were in dire financial straits.

California Protons in San Diego, which was once associated with the Scripps Health hospital network, filed for bankruptcy protection last year. An abandoned proton project in Dallas is in bankruptcy as well.

In Virginia, the Hampton University Proton Therapy Institute has lost money for at least five straight years, financial statements show. In Knoxville, Tennessee, the Provision CARES Proton Therapy Center lost $1.7 million last year on revenue of $23 million, $5 million short its target.

Centers in Somerset, New Jersey, and Oklahoma City run by privately held ProCure have defaulted on their debts, according to the investment firm Loop Capital. A center associated with Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, a hospital consortium, in Washington state lost $19 million in fiscal 2015 before restructuring its debt, documents show. A center near Chicago lost tens of millions of dollars before its own restructuring as part of a 2013 sale to hospitals now affiliated with Northwestern Medicine, according to regulatory documents.

Scott Warwick, executive director of the National Association for Proton Therapy, a trade group, blames overexuberant expectations for the problems.

I think maybe thats what went on with some of the centers, he said. They thought the technology would grow faster than it has.

The industry is using advertising and marketing to urge patients and lawmakers to press insurers to pay for proton therapy. Oklahoma recently passed a law requiring that insurers evaluate the treatment on an equal basis with other therapies. Virginia has considered similar legislation. At the National Proton Conference in Orlando, Florida, last year, a full day was devoted to winning over insurers. The Alliance for Proton Therapy Access, another industry group, has software for generating letters to the editor demanding coverage.

Until the insurance outlook changes, those developing proton centers have scaled back their ambitions. Georgetowns unit, for example, cost $40 million and has a single treatment room. The one in Baltimore cost $200 million and has five.

Following the Georgetown model, with one or two treatment rooms, should allow centers in major metropolitan areas to make money, said Prakash Ramani, a senior vice president at Loop Capital, which is involved with projects in Alabama, Florida and elsewhere.

Not all the new units are small. In some cases, hospitals are joining forces to make the finances work. In New York, Memorial Sloan Kettering, Mount Sinai Health System and Montefiore Health System have teamed up on a $300 million unit with an 80-ton particle accelerator and four treatment rooms that is set to open in East Harlem next year.

Officials, counting on the New York areas vast population and referrals from three major health systems, expect the center to treat 1,400 people a year. They will soon learn whether their project fares better than the Indiana proton center did.

What places need now are patients, Johnstone, that centers former chief, said, a huge supply of patients.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.This being a Dolan production, there is a good chance the mother would be overbearing, vulnerable and exquisitely made up. The camera would zoom in unforgivingly. The emotions would be volcanic, and ecstasy would soon give way to agony, accompanied by the frenetic beats of a music video.

His parents marriage ended when Dolan was 2 1/2 years old. By the time he was 8, his mother, unable to cope with her hyperactive son, sent him to boarding school in rural Quebec, where the young gay boy was mercilessly bullied and where, in turn, he tormented others. He found refuge in Hollywood films like Titanic and Mrs. Doubtfire, along with the psychodrama of kitsch American sitcoms.

Today, Dolan  celebrated actor and director, Louis Vuitton model, voice-over artist (he provided the voice of Ron Weasley in the French Canadian versions of the Harry Potter movies), darling of the Cannes Film Festival, former child star and art-house cinema wunderkind  says the fuel for his art is his lost childhood. He has directed seven films. He is 29.

I wanted to get out of childhood as soon as possible and escape it, and now that Im making movies, Im chasing it, he said during an eight-hour interview that had all the intensity of a Dolan film, accented by allusions to Proust and a heavy snowfall outside.

It began at Montreals opulent St. James Hotel before migrating to his handsome Edwardian house, which, he notes, channels the red chinoiserie of Diana Vreelands lush New York apartment.

What I have been feasting on all these years is nostalgia  a nostalgia for the childhood that I didnt end up having, he added.

Waiflike and compact, wearing a hoodie and with a tattoo of Dumbledore (of Harry Potter fame) on his left arm, Dolan peppers his sentences in English with words like prolix and epistolary, and only occasionally switches into French to emphasize a point. He used part of his earnings as a child star to take Berlitz classes in English. Even early on, he said, he realized that if he was going to conquer Hollywood, he would need to speak fluent English.

In person, Dolan is at once intense and cerebral, funny and self-deprecating.

He has sometimes been pilloried as impish and arrogant, and he bristles at being labeled an enfant terrible, as he often is. It is perhaps an occupational hazard for a director who has been variously compared to Alfred Hitchcock, Woody Allen and the poet Arthur Rimbaud.

He made his first film, I Killed My Mother, a Freudian-tinged, semi-autobiographical film about a gay teenager who clashes with his mother, after he dropped out of college at 17. As one producer after the other rejected it, he scraped together money from his child-acting gigs to make the film himself, at age 20, eventually winning international acclaim.

When he later noted wryly that Orson Welles, who made Citizen Kane at 25, was a late bloomer, the critics pounced, and he turned to Twitter to explain that he had been joking.

Im a big mouth. People can dislike me and think Im a narcissistic brat, he said. But one thing no one can ever take away from me is that Ive always spoken my mind, and I have always been true to myself.

As we meet, he is the subject of a social media storm over his decision to cut American star Jessica Chastain from his soon-to-be released film, The Death and Life of John F. Donovan, his first English-language film. The movie focuses on an 11-year-old boy and his unlikely correspondence with a closeted actor that is contorted into scandal. (When he was 9 years old, Dolan wrote a letter to Leonardo DiCaprio, requesting a meeting. He got the address wrong, and it is now framed in Dolans house.)

In the deeply moving film, shot in London, Montreal, New York and Prague, the boy, now a grown man, tells a hard-bitten journalist about how Donovan, torn between fame and personal fulfillment, had changed his life. The original cut of the movie, which stars Kathy Bates, Natalie Portman and Susan Sarandon, and has added cultural resonance in the #MeToo era, was more than four hours long. Eliminating Chastain, he says, was predicated solely on her character no longer fitting the storyline.

People are saying: How can you cut someone so famous? he said. To me, thats an insult to her talent.

Born in Montreal, Dolan was raised by his single mother, Genevieve, a college administrator with Irish roots. He began appearing in commercials for a drugstore chain at 4, and by the time he was 6 he was a child star, appearing in movies, television shows and commercials.

Dolans films, a cri de coeur for tolerance, are invariably populated by outcasts and underdogs, a reflection, he says, of his own feelings of not belonging. When he was 8, he recalled, a bully on a bike plowed over him in the schoolyard. At that moment, I decided that my world was in the movies and in the shows, he said. Anywhere but real life.

He remembered a kindly headmaster letting him escape bullies by allowing him to watch his beloved American sitcoms in an empty dormitory. Later, he added, the headmaster, who was accused of pedophilia, killed himself.

After Dolan was catapulted to cinematic fame with I Killed My Mother, he made a raft of French-language films, including Laurence Anyways, an ill-fated love story featuring a transgender schoolteacher. In his most critically acclaimed movie, Mommy, which shared the Jury Prize at Cannes in 2014, a mother played by his muse, Quebecer actress Anne Dorval, tries to tame her violent son.

Unifying nearly all of his films are strong-willed but vulnerable female characters who provide succor to emotionally wounded sons. I was brought up by women. I never had a father figure, Dolan said. Of course, there is a part of my mother in these strong women, and of course, there is a part of me.

While his films can divide critics, they seldom leave the viewer indifferent. His last film, Its Only the End of the World, about a gay man who comes home to his family in rural France to tell them that he is dying, was booed at Cannes in 2016, but won the Grand Prix. More than a year later, Dolan is still smarting from the eviscerating criticism (the film, with A-list French actors such as Marion Cotillard, is hard to watch, and it deals an emotional body blow, with characters who brutally turn on one another).

I still feel scared to disappoint people and to be criticized or mocked, he reflects. I wasnt like that before.

Dolan admits that his romantic life has been largely devoid of longer-term relationships because he tends to be attracted to unattainable heterosexual men. His latest crush is Canadas prime minister, Justin Trudeau. In the same way, he said, he really made friends only in his late 20s, after an adolescence consumed by work.

The love stories that I have found that are reciprocal are in movies, he said, with more than a hint of wistfulness.

His next film, Matt and Max, recounts the story of two heterosexual male 20-somethings who share a kiss, and the impact it has on their lives. After a slew of thoughtful films with gay themes, such as Call Me by Your Name andGods Own Country, Dolan said he wanted to reflect on unrequited love  his unrequited love.

As I am leaving, he suddenly stops me and looks me in the eye. I dont want you to think my parents were monsters, he said. My childhood really wasnt that bad.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.In the video above, which was uploaded to his YouTube channel on January 4, 2018, the cleric is seen discussing the 65-year-old hostilities and a future reconciliation between the two nations.

Speaking at a Pastors conference in South Korea, he says, In your country here [South Korea], whatever threat you are having now is not a threat.

You people will still come to the table to talk reconciliation between you and the North. There is no fight between South and North.

Whatever threat now, they will still come together and discuss. They will not fight but there will be threat, threat, threat There will be gunshot threat but you will still discuss. There will be reconciliation. I am seeing reconciliation coming. Discussion will come.

North and South Koreas historic peace agreement

These two countries have been fighting since 1953.

This all changed when North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in met for the first time on Friday, April 27, 2018.

This meeting also marked the first time any North Korean leader has ever visited South Korea.

After the third Korean summit, the two leaders stood in front of South Koreas Peace House and told the world that there would be no more war, adding that there are plans to completely denuclearize the Korean Peninsula in a phased manner.She described different versions of the story in the media as false and an attempt to assassinate her character, stressing that she was not drunk on the fateful as opposed to several media reports.

In multiple Instagram posts on Friday, April 27, Fiberesima said she did not debunk the media reports before now out of respect for the family of Dr. Suraj Giwa, who died in the head-on collision accident caused by the actress. Fiberesima said she wanted the family to heal.

The actress also revealed that since 2006 that the accident occurred and amid the prolonged trial and her eventual conviction, she fell into depression and nursed suicidal thoughts, but with the help of therapy, prayers, and support from family and friends, the ex-beauty queen said she is getting better.

On February 26, 2006, Fiberesima was driving along Lekki-Epe expressway when she lost control of the wheel and swerved into the inbound lane and rammed her car into Dr. Giwa's, which resulted in his death.

The deceased was a medical practitioner at the Lagos General Hospital.

Consequently, the actress was arrested and charged to court for manslaughter and reckless driving. She was convicted and sentenced to five years in jail by Justice Deborah Oluwayemi of a Lagos State High court in 2009. She was later granted bail following an appeal filed by her lawyer, Mr. Nnaemeka Amaechina.

However, a Lagos High Court, on March 11, 2016, dismissed Fiberesima's appeal and upheld her five-year jail term.

Read Ibinabo's side of the story below:

My dearest friends and followers, I greet you this blessed Friday. Most of you may have heard about my sad story of accident that caused the life of a beautiful and amazing human, Dr. Suraj Giwa. For 12 years, I have remained silent; internally mourning, grieving and praying that time would heal his family and mine. Through those years of my silence, stories were manufactured in the mainstream and social media about the accident. There were so many stories. My character was assassinated. I did not tell my story. Nobody heard from me, until now. Please take few moments to read the next posts as I share my story of what really happened and seek forgiveness, peace for both families. I finally got the courage to tell my story to Azuka Jebose. It was a burden lifted off my soul. As you read, please continue to pray for the soul of Late Giwa, his family and my family. Thank you for your supports and prayers. God bless you. May the soul of Dr. Suraj Giwa continue to be at peace. Amen.

MY STORY

DEAR NIGERIA, I AM SORRY.  Dear Azuka,

I greet you. Thank you for allowing me to respond to your recent post here about my political ambition and the fatal accident of 2006. I need to tell my story. I stayed silent for so long and watched as my life, character and person were being ruined in published reports, including social media. This is my story, told for the first time on social media platform.

My heart has never stopped aching. It will not. An accident took the life of someone. I am forever in mourning because of this. Two families lives have been changed forever with this unfortunate fatal accident. It was an accident. Dr. Suraj Giwa didnt have to die. I wished I could bring him back. I am sorry for the pains caused. I have also been maligned and disparaged in the media: I am a monster. I am a killer and a murderer, I am a drunk... No. Azuka. I am none of these.

I am just another human being that was in a deadly accident and the accident caused the death of Dr. Suraj Giwa.

Its been 12 years of heartache, pain and depression for me. My eyes are rivers of tears.

Some days I feel like killing myself. Life has no meaning to me.

I think about Dr. Giwa every day. I pray for his soul and I pray and seek forgiveness from his family for the pain and agony. I am very sorry.

It didnt have to happen. I wished I knew it would happen that unfortunate day, I would not have travelled that road. I was not drunk that day.

Azuka, I was driving along Lekki road, returning home after picking up a friends daughter from a church Fellowship. Suddenly, a red car overtook the SUV in front of me. The SUV was travelling slowly, so I shifted to its front, too. The red vehicle was being driven by a young man and had his friends with himI drove past the red car. I think that might have angered the young chap because he swiftly sped from behind, drove past me and made a sudden stop in my front.

I tried to avoid hitting those boys in the red car. I swerved and lost control in that moment, the impact dived my vehicle into inbound lane.. Dr. Giwa was inbound, thus he drove into my car and both cars collided. I collapsed and passed out.. Three days later, I WOKE UP IN A HOSPITAL bed to learn what had happened. I was weak, sore and in pains. I could not move my legs. I had been sedated for three days. Doctors said they had to sedate me to numb my pain. Meanwhile, the police had been informed that I was in that hospital. The Lagos State Police came to the hospital to take my statement of what happened. After I gave them my statement, I was arrested at the hospital and charged to court.

At my court appearance for hearing, the judge noticed how sick, weak, incoherent an disoriented I was: he also saw my injuries. He ordered that I should be sent back to the hospital for further treatment until I was well enough to stand trial. I could not walk then.

Later at the hospital, I woke up from coma and to reality. I was afraid and shocked. I could not believe I was involved in an accident that had taken a life. I was like: Wow!..Someone died in that accident. Oh my God!. I didnt know the family. While I was in the hospital my family contacted the family of Late dr. Giwa who died in the accident. My family was there for the funeral and did everything during the mourning season. I was afraid. But I met them in court and tried to approach them. I understood the anger and pain I had caused them, so I accepted their anger toward me.his sister was really angry at me I wanted to talk to her it was hard for me to get close to her I understood all these: the pain and distress they felt as a result of the accident. I felt their pain. I wanted to tell them how sorry and remorseful I was It was an accident. I did not intend to wake up that morning, went out and had a fatal collision.

Weeks later, I was arraigned. I attended all my court appearances. During the process I visited the family and attempted several times to make peace. I never ignored them. I am always sorry. I know the pain is tough, so I understood their anger but I kept begging. I am sorry.

I did not intend to wake up that morning, went out and had a fatal collision.

Weeks later, I was arraigned. I attended all my court appearances. During the process I visited the family and attempted several times to make peace. I never ignored them. I am always sorry. I know the pain is tough, so I understood their anger but I kept begging. I am sorry. I had gone to so many good people and friends to assist me in pleading for forgiveness from the family. One of such friends is late Iyalode of Lagos. She assisted me in begging the Giwa family: when I became well and able to walk, she took me to The former Imam of Lagos and the Present Oba of Lagos: these traditional and religious leaders begged on my behalf, pleading with the family for forgiveness and showed how sorry and remorseful I was that the accident happened. I never ran away from the scene of the accident.

I was unconscious.

How could an unconscious accident victim remove plate license and registration papers from the vehicle as reported in the media? Why would I do a thing like that? How could I have done a thing like that?

Azuka, these were all lies manufactured and circulated in the media to tarnish me. Days after the wreck, I woke up in a hospital.

I was never drunk as being speculated and alleged. I was never charged for drunk driving.

I was charged for reckless and dangerous driving.The incident reportedly occurred last night, Friday, April 27, 2018, while Chiaha was on his way to buy fuel.

Instablog9ja reports that the driver had been trying to overtake a trailer when he hit the deceased who was trying to cross the road.

ALSO READ: Final year student drowns 3 weeks to graduation

According to the reports, Chiaha was initially unconscious after the incident and was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital, Amara Jane Hospital.

Hw was, however, later transferred to FMC, where he was confirmed dead.

May the soul of the deceased rest in peace.

Final year student reportedly dies in her sleep

In a strange twist of fate, a final year student of Ebonyi State University (EBSU), died mysteriously in her sleep.

The deceased identified as Doris Chinaza Edeh, was a final year student of the Sociology Department of the school.

According to reports, Doris was found dead, this morning, Monday, March 26, 2018.

Her corpse has now been deposited at the morgue of the Federal Medical Centre.The Commissioner of Police, CP Edgal Imohimi, revealed that the suspects were arrested on April 25, following a complaint by a senior member of the staff of WAEC office, Ogba.

ALSO READ: Operatives uncover fake JAMB registration centre in Borno

The complaint was that there exists a fake WAEC centre at El-Supreme Private School located at No. 3, Oseni Adekogbe Street, Igbogbo Ikorodu.

"Operatives of the Command attached to Area G Ogba, were mobilised to the above address where one Pastor Adeniyi Joshua of El-Supreme Church was arrested.

"WAEC question papers and answer sheets suspected to be forged were recovered from the suspect, Imohimi said.

According to the reports, upon enrollment, the suspect would have the unsuspecting students sit for fake examination in which photocopies of fake WAEC questions papers and answer sheets are used.

Police added that he would then dispose of the scripts after the exam.

The suspect will be charged to court following the completion of the investigation.

2 fake CBT centre operators arrested in Lagos

Police have also arrested two men who were running a fake Computer Based Test centers in Lagos for engaging in an illegal registration of candidates for the 2018 UTME

The suspects, Bamigbade Ajibola and Amoo Moshood were reportedly the owners of Vision Computer Academy in Ibeju Lekki area of Lagos.

ALSO READ:42 Universities in trouble for exploiting UTME candidates

According to the Police, Ajibola and Moshood were arrested on Saturday, January 13 following a tip-off from members of the public.And this is due to the fact that people rarely have time to their cooking these days, especially the working class.

Also, technology is beginning to play a huge role in our everyday lives, and the way we buy food, and. Most people now prefer to buy food online, as it is more convenient and comfortable than going out to a fast food or bucker to do the buying.

So, if you are thinking of a good business to start with less capital, then this is exactly what you need because, unlike most businesses, it doesn't require a big capital to start.

However, it is important to note that just like every business, the usefulness of feasibility studies cannot be overemphasized. Reading this article is not enough to equip you with everything you need to get started.

Try to find out the ins and outs of the business; the setbacks and possible problems that are likely to be experienced, as it will help you prepare yourself through an effective business plan.

Here's how to start a food delivery business

1. Business plan

A business plan is a formal statement of business goals, reasons they are attainable, and plans for reaching them. It is here you plot every possible means to achieve success, and it should be the first step to take before any other step.

2. Location

Unlike most businesses where you will need to locate your business in a very busy area to attract more customers, it is quite different with food delivery business. Different in the sense that your customers are not coming to you, it is the other way round.

Nevertheless, if you can get a location closer to offices and industries, it will make it easier for your courier to deliver on time.

3. Register your business name and create a website

Register your business name so that you dont share the same name with other people.

Also, create a website that will allow customers to place their orders online.

Of course, it is here on the website that you're expected to display menus, and prices online for easy ordering.

4. Hire staff

One of the numerous reasons why you will need to hire staff is that if you cant afford to buy a vehicle to deliver food to your customers from the beginning of this business.

However, you can hire cab drivers, tricycle riders, or power bike riders to help you in delivering food to your customers, also if you are growing you will need more hands in the kitchen and in the delivery process.

5. Advertise your business

The importance of advertising your business cannot be overemphasized, because it is very important in any business; as it will help you reach out to your potential customers.

You could place your advert online ie through world wide web, through fliers, through newspapers or any other means of advert you can think of, you need to display pictures of sumptuous meals on every of your advert, it will definitely invite prospective customers.

6. Know the importance of customer care

Your customer care service plays a huge role in the successfulness of the business. It is advisable to play this role yourself, but if you must get another to help you do it then the person you are hiring must be polite and respectful.Aregbesola in a condolence message by his media Adviser, Sola Fasure, in Osogbo on Saturday, said the deceased was hale and hearty, full of life, when last he saw the speaker.

He was his usual self, active, effervescent, exuding infectious enthusiasm. He will be missed.

Even though death signifies the final note in the unbroken melodies of human existence, the abrupt occurrence of Adeyemos death, turned the sweet melodies to a painful dirge.

He would be remembered for his unalloyed contributions to the politics and development of Oyo State.

On behalf of the people and Government of Osun, I commiserate with the immediate and extended family of the deceased, Gov. Abiola Ajimobi, members of Oyo State House of Assembly and the entire people of Oyo.

I pray that God repose his gentle soul and give everyone concerned the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.

Aregbesola also condoled with Gov. Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto and the entire people of the state, on the death of his Media Adviser, Alhaji Imam Imam.

Aregbesola said that Imam s death was a devastating blow not only to the media but also to the government and people of Sokoto State.

It is, indeed, a tragedy of huge proportion to have lost this fine journalist and manager of men.

It is rather unfortunate that Imam will be lost this soon. We pray for the repose of his soul.

On behalf of myself, government and people of Osun, we send our heartfelt condolences to Imams immediate and extended family, Gov. Aminu Tambuwal, the Government of Sokoto State and Nigerian Union of Journalist (NUJ),Aregbesola said.Atiku, who criticised Buharis anti-corruption fight, said that the President is protecting come very corrupt people who should be prosecuted.

The former Vice-President also promised to probe the recent purchase of arms by the current administration.

He said this while speaking on a BBC Hausa interview program on Saturday, April 28, 2018.

According to The Cable, Atiku said Eight years after, Nigerian government is still fighting Boko Haram that are not professionally trained.

I want to be the president of Nigeria because I would be able to do things I could not do as vice president. I will investigate how the government was unable to defeat Boko Haram for years. I will also investigate the procurement of arms bought by this administration.

If Nigerians can recall, we initiated the Economic and Financial (Crimes) Commission (EFCC). Im the person that sourced for the takeoff funds for the EFCC.

In this administration, there are people who are untouchable, they are doing things that are not in order but they are being shielded by the government. If elected Nigerias president, my administration will not spare anybody. When I was in power, none of my relatives or friends was found wanting, he added.

Buhari ignored Atikus advice.

The former Vice-President also revealed that he met with Buhari after the 2015 election and adviced him on how to run his government.

According to Atiku, the President ignored his advice.

The APC started on a wrong footing after President Buhari assumed office.

After 2015 general election, I met the president and told him the activities of the party had been crippled and there was a need for restructuring.

Also, the way the government was being run; I made my suggestions but it seemed they were deemed not important to them. I said to him, if things continued like this, I will quit but Buhari ignored it, he said.In the letter, Obasanjo described the Buhari government as a failure while advising the President to forget his 2019 reelection bid.

Information minister, Lai Mohammed, had reacted to the letter describing it as a distraction.

Speaking in Bauchi on Thursday, April 26, 2018, President Buhari commended the information minister for a job well done.

Tonight, I want to remind you people of what Lai Mohammed did when a letter was written on our failure as an administration, Buhari said.

Lai Mohammed was agitated about replying but I said no. I said no for two reasons: one, he is much younger than the person who wrote the letter and myself; two, he is from the same constituency as the person who wrote the letter.

But when Mohammed came again, I said he should go out but he said he wont go. I asked why and he said, let me give him a chance to say what he wanted, then I said go on. He said in what he would do, he would not mention names but only try to remind Nigerians what the country was when we came in, where we are now, and what we have done with the resources available to us.

Eventually, I had to admit that he was right and I was wrong because a number of people who could get in touch with me have said that Lai did a good job. A lot of them are in the media I am very happy with the performance of our party, the All Progressive Congress, he added.

The President also reflected on the circumstances surrounding his exit from the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP).

I will like to go down some historical antecedents so that people can assess. When we were in the ANPP, I went through an impartial primary and I won the ticket. I think for the third or fourth time and while I was in court, because I felt I was ready to be president, the person who was to be my vice-president, allowed himself to be appointed by the presidency.

The chairman and vice-chairman of the party accepted; even when I was still in court as a presidential candidate. Thats why I got out and formed the CPC; when we realised that if we dont work together, that is the opposition parties, and wrestle power from the PDP, this country would have sunk, he emphasized.Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected!President Buhari said this on Saturday in Katsina, during the public presentation and launching of biographies of Emir of Gwandu, Alhaji Muhammadu Bashar and his predecessors.

The President, who was represented by the Katsina State Governor, Alhaji Aminu Masari, said that writing of historical books had the capacity to promote mutual understanding and unity.

The authorship of books on history is an act of rendering service to humanity.

The more we write books, the more we understand ourselves and the more we unite.

What is important is that those who disagree in the history should also write their books, he said.

He stressed the need for Nigerians to work hard to sustain the unity of the country.

Also speaking at the occasion, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Saad Abubakar III, charged all Nigerians to embark on projects that would help strengthen the unity of the country.

He described the attendance of different personalities at the event, irrespective of their religions and tribes as a sign of national unity.

The Sultan, however, said, I urge the books authors to adjust a few fallacies in the books as few chapter distorted history.

The chief launcher of the books, Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu, also harped on unity of Nigeria.

What is dividing us is lack of understanding of history. Whether you are from West, South, North, nobody has control over what God has for our lives.

Whom I am, where I am coming from and where am going, my destiny, it is in the hands of God.

Our problem in Nigeria is not about poor economy, but lack of understanding of difficulties Nigerians are going through, he said.

Tinubu charged Nigerian leaders to preach peace and unity irrespective of their religions, tribes and geopolitical zones, saying: There should be no tribal war; we must share boundaries, coexist and share economic issues with ourselves.

The Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, who chaired the event, said that he attended the event because of the relationship between the people of his constituency and the Gwandu Emirate.

He stressed that he would continue to support any cause that would promote peace and unity of Nigeria.

Saraki commended late Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero, for initiating the writing of books to foster understanding and knowledge in the country.

The books will further brighten the future of Nigerian youths, he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the event was attended by dignitaries from the National Assembly, Emirs from the northern part of the country and state governors from neighbouring countries of Benin and Niger Republics.Visionscape is a private company tasked with bringing the State's Cleaner Lagos Initiative to fruition.

I beg to correct something and I think I have to do it publicly; the rumour Ive heard all over the state and the social media is that I am the one who brought a foreign company. I am not the owner of Visionscape. Categorically, Im telling you today, I have no pennyYes, that is the truth, the former Governor said.

Asiwaju to engage Ambode

Tinubu also said that he will engage the Lagos state Governor, Akinwunmi Ambod on the waste management issue in Lagos state.

The group, who met with the former Governor of Lagos state expressed concern over the issue of refuse mounting on Lagos streets.

Following a series of meetings involving all the executive chairmen and chairpersons of the 57 local governments and Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) in Lagos State, the operators of the Private Sector Participation (PSP) have been asked to commence waste collection on the streets of Lagos alongside Visionscape.According to The Cable, which quoted a resident identified as Baa-na Shetimma, the attack occurred around 9pm on Friday, April 27, 2018.

"There are dead bodies in front of my house as I speak to you," Shetimma was quoted as saying.

He said he heard a loud explosion as he was about opening his car to drive out.

Yesterdays attack

On Thursday, April 26, a combined team of security operatives confronted the insurgents in a fierce gun battle at Jiddari Polo area, same location as the latest attack.

The security team reportedly overpowered the terrorists but a suicide bomber attacked shortly after, leaving two policemen injured.

The army or other relevant authorities are yet to react to the fresh attack.In the small northern town of Dilijan, several hundred locals greeted Pashinyan, holding flags and beating drums.

"We want change in Armenia and Pashinyan to be elected prime minister right away," said Arman Ovsepyan, a 43-year-old musician.

"If the Republicans refuse to leave power, we will force them to do so peacefully."

Tatevik Karapetyan, a 32-year-old computer designer, added: "The people have started a peaceful revolution because Armenia desperately needed change."

Armenia has been in the grips of a severe political crisis for the past two weeks. Observers fear the turmoil can destabilise the Moscow-allied nation.

Accused of a power grab by the opposition, the countrys leader Serzh Sarkisian resigned this week as the country's new prime minister after serving as president for a decade.

The protest movement led by Pashinyan has accused Sarkisian's ruling Republican Party -- which has a majority of seats in parliament -- of clinging to power.

Ultimatum

Pashinyan, 42, has issued an ultimatum to the authorities, saying he should be elected a new prime minister in a vote on May 1. He however does not have enough votes to get elected.

Moscow has urged compromise and Russian President Vladimir Putin this week spoke by phone with the interim head of government, stressing the importance of the upcoming election.

On Saturday, the Prosperous Armenia Party, which holds 31 seats in the 105-member chamber, was expected to issue a statement on whether it would back Pashinyan.

Pashinyan has said he hoped Prosperous Armenia and a smaller opposition party, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, "will make up their minds and clarify their position."

Armenia's figurehead president, Armen Sarkisian, met with acting head of government Karen Karapetyan and Serzh Sarkisian. The two Sarkasians are not related.

"The head of state is hoping that it will be possible to find a mutually acceptable solution through joint effort," his office said, calling the meetings "constructive."

Crunch talks

On Friday, Karapetyan refused to hold talks with the protest leader, accusing him of promoting his own agenda and worsening the crisis in the poor country of 2.9 million people.

Observers said intensive talks were going on behind the scenes and the situation was highly unpredictable.

Political analysts say Prosperous Armenia, led by wealthy businessman Gagik Tsarukyan, has expressed support for Pashinyan but some of its members say they will only back the party's leader as a candidate.

Pashinyan, who heads the Civil Contract party, pressed ahead with his campaign to rally support across the country after thousands attended a rally he led on Friday in Armenia's second largest city of Gyumri which hosts a Russian military base.

He has called a halt to protests in the capital Yerevan to give demonstrators some rest after two weeks of nearly non-stop rallies, saying people should return to the streets on Sunday.The report, based on a recent visit to the two facilities on the border with Serbia, said "the ability to detect potential victims of human trafficking... has worsened" as a result of tighter laws and measures on immigration and asylum.

It was written by the Council's Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA), which oversees the implementation of the Council's convention against human trafficking.

Staff in the transit zones could not explain procedures for identifying trafficking victims, the authors said.

They said asylum seekers were detained in "cramped living quarters, surrounded by barbed wire" and under the surveillance of armed guards.

GRETA also said it was "deeply concerned that children aged 14-17 years are particularly vulnerable because they are treated as adults".

There were 79 cases of "collective expulsion" of irregular migrants to Serbia in less than two weeks alone in December 2017, it said.

The Hungarian government rejected the description of the zones as "closed facilities", saying asylum seekers were "free to leave in the direction of Serbia at any time".

The interior ministry also said reports of "collective expulsions" were "unfounded".

In 2015, when more than one million people landed on Europe's shores, over 400,000 refugees and migrants crossed through Hungary, mostly en route to other countries.Islamist networks, including IS and Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, have exploited years of war in Yemen to expand their presence in the country's south.

The government of Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi has been based in southern Yemen since 2015, after Shiite Huthi rebels drove it from the capital Sanaa and much of the country's north, prompting a Saudi-led military intervention.

Southern Yemen is the target of a US-backed operation against AQAP, led by the United Arab Emirates, as well as a long-running US drone campaign.Some security experts say it is imperative following the killing of four U.S. soldiers and five Nigeriens in an ambush by terrorists linked to ISIS.

According to the Human Rights Watch's West Africa director, Corinne Dufka,"it's important not to lose sight of the issues at the core of their proliferation and recruitment success, notably bad and often abusive governance.

"The Islamist groups are cleverly exploiting local grievances to make inroads with local populations."

The United States government is committed to investing in the training of law enforcement personnel as first responders in case of any security threat.

This is in line with the goal of the State Department's Antiterrorism Assistance Program that is aimed at training local security forces to secure borders and handle investigations to human rights and justice.

The US Bureau of Counterterrorisms budget for training in sub-Saharan Africa is estimated at $106 million.

Also, the State Department counterterrorism programs in West and Central Africa, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Nigeria and Mauritania is estimated to gulp $50 million.

According to the Diplomatic Security Service Special Agent Kent Miller, who manages the Antiterrorism Assistance Program in Niger, "We train them for an eventuality.

"In the current year and last year there has been a focus on rural environments."

The training of law enforcement personnel in Niger is part of the Special Program for Embassy Augmentation and Response (SPEAR).

SPEAR was established following the deadly attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya in 2012.The meeting, expected in the coming weeks, follows a dizzying detente in recent months between the nuclear-armed North and its neighbour, which resulted in Friday's historic summit between Kim and the South's President Moon Jae-in.

The leaders agreed to pursue a permanent peace treaty and the complete denuclearisation of their divided peninsula.

Speaking at a meeting of Southeast Asian leaders, Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong dampened speculation about the city-state potentially hosting the Trump-Kim talks.

"As for the venue, we've also read the same reports as you in the newspapers about the possible places where a US-North Korea meeting can take place," he told reporters.

"We've had no formal invitations, requests from any of the parties. It has to be something agreed by both North Korea as well as the United States.

"I doubt very much they have come to any landing yet."

A diplomatic source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that he was not aware of any request, even informally.

Speculation has been rife about where the US and North Korean leaders will meet.

Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, and the capitals of China and Mongolia have been mentioned in reports, in addition to Singapore and the Demilitarized Zone that divides the two Koreas.

Landmark summits have taken place Singapore in the past -- the presidents of China and Taiwan met for the first time ever in the city-state three years ago after decades of estrangement following a traumatic split at the end of a civil war in 1949.

China's Xi Jinping and Taiwan's Ma Ying-jeou shook hands for more than a minute and smiled for a mass of reporters before holding talks.

Singapore and Pyongyang have diplomatic ties and the North has an embassy in the city-state.The officials were arrested on Friday night in a raid conducted by police and detectives for allegedly attempting to sneak in Mandrax into the country.

The kingpin of the drug trafficking syndicate has also been reportedly arrested in Nairobi.

The drugs were concealed as vitamins are believed to be destined for Kenya.

Initial investigations by the police indicate that the consignments was flown in from Dubai through Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and made their way to Eldoret where police officers on high alert singled it out.

The contraband was flashed out on 16 April and was subjected to investigations by multi-agencies.

Samples sent for investigations at the Government Chemist revealed that they were Mandrax and not vitamins as declared.

The actual value of the 80000 pellets is unknown.

The value of the consignment is still unknown with police scheduled to issue an official press address later in the day.Addressing the public in Chavakali during the home coming party of Sabatia MP Alfred Agoi, he made it clear that he was the first Luhya leader to stand with Mudavadi and as such could not have any hidden agenda against him.

Vijana wa ANC! Mmmeanza kuandika katika mtandao kwamba there is a hidden agenda kutoka Ford Kenya.

I have no hidden agendaI can have no hidden agenda against Mudavadi.

Khalwale also vowed that efforts by a section of leaders to amend the constitution to create political posts would be defeated.

He accused children of Kenyas founding fathers Raila Odinga, Uhuru Kenyatta and Gideon Moi of conspiring to amend the constitution so as to award themselves positions.

He took a swipe at President Uhuru Kenyatta for pushing for Odinga and Moi to get jobs in the government while Kenyan youths remain unemployed, citing recent deal that would see Kenya get doctors from Cuba.

The straight speaking Khalwale warned that the amendments would inflate the public wage bill that is already a burden to Kenyans.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!Australia: Transport for New South Wales has awarded Laing ORourke a A$955m contract to build the Sydney Metro platforms and concourse at Central station. John McAslan + Partners and Woods Bagot are the architectural partners.Rantoul, IL (61866)

Today

Generally cloudy. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 73F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly to mostly cloudy. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 61F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph.Russian court dismisses VIM Airlines appeal against monitoring procedure

 RIA Novosti, Alexander Tarasenkov

10:41 28/04/2018

MOSOW, April 28 (RAPSI)  The Eleventh Commercial Court of Appeals has dismissed an appeal filed by VIM Airlines against initiation of bankruptcy monitoring procedure against the company, the court documents read.

The airline appealed February 19 ruling of the Commercial Court of Tatarstan. Hearings over the bankruptcy of the airline are to commence on June 14.

According to a representative of VIM Airlines, the company has enough property to pay debts, and it expects additional 500 million rubles ($8.6 million) to be transferred from the budget.

In December 2017, the airlines CEO Vyacheslav Kononenko said that the company is facing a serious problem in that it cant pay salaries because of debts before the FTS reaching 500 million rubles ($8.8 million). According to Kononenko, all funds transferred to the airlines accounts are automatically blocked and transferred to tax authorities.

Earlier this month, the Federal Tax Service of Russia (FTS) filed an application with the court seeking to include a 333.3-million-ruble debt (5.8 million) in the list of creditors' claims.

A representative of the Russian Credit Bank said that the company owed it over 100 million rubles ($1.7 million) and that two parties are currently negotiating the settlement.

On October 17, 2017, a criminal case was launched over premeditated bankruptcy of VIM Airlines.

Investigators believe that certain top managers and owners of the air carrier intentionally made losing bargains in 2016 and 2017 including those aimed at siphoning of assets abroad. The deals led to enormous financial outlay and undoubtedly resulted in the companys failure to pay debts to creditors in full.

According to investigators, employees of the VIM Airlines continued to sell tickets to clients despite being aware that the airline was not able to transfer passengers because there were not enough funds to buy fuel. Investigators believe that the employees embezzled more than one million rubles ($17,000).

VIM Airlines CEO and chief accountant, Alexander Kochnev and Yekaterina Panteleyeva, have been arrested as part of the case. Co-owners of VIM Airlines Rashid Mursekayev and Svetlana Mursekayeva fled Russia and are currently residing abroad, according to investigators. Allegedly Mursekayev and Kalashnikova fled Russia to hide from investigative authorities. In December, the Basmanny District Court of Moscow issued an arrest warrant for Mursekayev in absentia.

Investigators also believe that between 2015 and 2017 the defendants abused their office positions to buy overpriced aviation fuel from companies controlled by Mursekayev.Teen charged with school stab rampage in Russia to stay in detention

 RIA Novosti, Yevgeny Odinokov

11:59 28/04/2018

MOSCOW, April 28 (RAPSI)  The Supreme Court of Republic of Bashkortostan has upheld ruling of a lower court detaining the teenager suspected of stab rampage at his school in Sterlitamak, the second largest city of Bashkiria, the press-service of the court has stated.

The alleged perpetrator of the attack is to stay in detention until June 18. He is charged with attempted murder of two or more persons.

Officials of juvenile crime prevention bodies are charged with negligence.

According to preliminary data, on morning of April 18, a student entered an informatics class and used a knife to cut a classmates hand and stab a teacher. Then he allegedly used a flammable liquid to set the school on fire which made one of the students to jump out of the window. Later, the alleged attacker stabbed himself. The fire did not result in any casualties. The suspect and the victims were transferred to a hospital.

Later it was revealed that juvenile crime prevention bodies were previously informed about the teenagers aggressive behavior.

Cases of attacks at schools became more frequent in 2018. In January, Russian schools suffered two attacks. On January 15, a student in the 10th grade and a former pupil of the same school in Perm intentionally caused multiple stab wounds to nine 4th graders and their teacher. The victims were hospitalized. The alleged attackers have been charged with attempted murder of more than two children collusively committed by a group of persons.

On January 19, a student of Buryatia's school entered the building and attacked pupils of the 7th grade; after that he set fire in a classroom with a bottle containing flammable liquid. Three children and a teacher were injured during the attack.Moscow court extends detention of defendant in St. Petersburg terror attack case

 TASS, Dmitry Seryabryakov

14:43 28/04/2018

MOSCOW, April 28 (RAPSI)  The Moscow City Court has extended detention for Mukhamadyusup Ermatov, a defendant in a criminal case over the St. Petersburg metro terror attack until July 6, RAPSI correspondent reports from the courtroom.

The defendants lawyer sought to change the measure of restraint for the client. Ermatov himself stated that his health is deteriorating and that he experienced internal bleeding in the detention center.

Ermatov, charged with terrorism and illegal trafficking of explosives was arrested on May 11, 2017 and later put in detention. Investigators believe that he was related to alleged suicide bomber Akbarzhon Dzhalilov. The man has pleaded guilty in part.

In total, eleven people have been arrested and put in jail in St. Petersburg and Moscow on suspicion of involvement in organizing the terror attack.

On April 3, an unknown device exploded in a train between St. Petersburg metro stations Technological Institute and Sennaya Ploshchad. According to the most recent information, 16 people died in the blast including a suicide bomber, over 50 were wounded.

Investigation of the case is reported to be nearly complete.Head of Russias Human Rights Council criticizes bill on countersanctions against USA

 flickr.com/Fotos GOVBA

17:41 28/04/2018

MOSCOW, April 28 (RAPSI)  Chairman of Russias Presidential Council on Human Rights Mikhail Fedotov has opposed a bill prohibiting import of drugs and medical equipment from the United States, the official website of the Council reads.

Fedotov expressed his belief that neither drugs nor medical equipment should be subjected to trade sanctions. He recalled his experience in a Syrian hospital where despite high quality of available facilities, doctors had no supplies to treat ill and wounded children. The chairman reminded that the Russian President himself had stated that medical products should not fall under restrictions.

Earlier, a group of MPs has filed a bill On measures of influence (counteracting) unfriendly actions of the United States of America and/or other states to the State Duma. One of the proposals listed in the bill stated that import of drugs produced in USA and certain other states could be restricted or prohibited, except for those having no analogues in Russia or other countries.Property details:

FISHING Homesite Clear Lake, Ca LAKE COUNTY NO MINIMUM / NO RESERVE --- HIGH BID OWNS THE LOT Clear Lake is a natural freshwater lake in Lake County, north of Napa County and San Francisco. It is the largest natural freshwater lake wholly within the state, with 68 square miles of surface area. Lakes have existed at the site for at least 2,500,000 years, possibly making it the oldest lake in North America. Known as the "Bass Capital of the West," Clear Lake supports large populations of bass, cra...

Price: $ 704 State/Province: California Seller State of Residence: California Location: 928**, Orange, California

You will be redirected to eBay



Nearby California,



We're sorry, this article is not currently availableThe Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday described as the Congress promising in its poll manifesto that it would create one crore jobs over the next five years fallacious and illogical

The promise is not based on logic or statistical data, BJP general secretary and in-charge of Karnatakas party affairs P Muralidhar Rao told reporters.

He said Congress president Rahul Gandhi has been promising one crore jobs in his election speeches.

Karnataka minister R V Deshpande in November last year had mentioned that as many as 14 lakh jobs were created in almost five years rule of Siddaramaiah, Rao said.

So, we do not know on what basis Rahul Gandhi is promising one crore jobs in next five years as mentioned in the partys manifesto, and hence the claim is absolutely fallacious and illogical, he said.

On the partys promise to increase IT sectors contribution from the current $60 billion to $300 billion, Rao said this claim too was fallacious as the money quoted by Gandhi is close to 10 times of the states budget.

He said the manifesto suggests that the Congress is living in the past and cannot think of he future.

Rao alleged that the problem of the Congress was looking at schemes through the prism of religion which is reflected in promising benefits to autorickshaw owners, who in majority belong to the minority community.

He flayed Gandhi for reportedly using photos of Vijay Mallyas properties in their Bengaluru manifesto, contrary to his attack on the liqour baron in every election

rally.

Former Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister R Ashok claimed there were innumerable mistakes in the Congress partys Kannada manifesto for Bengaluru which was released by Sam Pitroda on Saturday.

He said the Kannada version of the manifesto was prepared using Google translation and none in the Congress bothered to edit.

This is an insult to Kannada and Karnataka pride. Congress party should immediately withdraw this Kannada manifesto, or else the people of the state will not forgive it and Congress leaders, he said.

On the controversy after a video purportedly showing Congress president Rahul Gandhi disrespecting national song Vande Mataram at a public rally at Bantwala went viral, he said the congress president should apologise to the nation.

The Congress and its leaders have long lost the legacy of freedom movement and have forgotten the legacy of freedom fighters, he said, adding, it was proved beyond doubt on Friday.

It was not just Mr Gandhi insulted the national song but the entire nation. He should apologise to the nation, he added.In the clip, the godman extended his gratitude to his followers for maintaining calm on the day he was sentenced to life in prison.

A purported audio clip of Asaram, serving his life-in-prison term at a Jodhpur jail, has surfaced online in which the self-styled godman is heard telling a person over phone that his time behind bars is ephemeral and good days will come.

According to Jodhpur Central Jail Deputy Inspector General of Police Vikram Singh, the 15-minute audio clip might have been recorded during a telephone conversation Asaram had on Friday, two days after a Jodhpur court found him guilty and sentenced him to life in prison for raping a teenage girl in his ashram five years ago.

The call was made with permission from jail authorities.

Inmates are permitted to make a call over any two given numbers for 80 minutes in a month. He had spoken to a sadhak at Sabarmati Ashram on Friday at 6.30 pm. May be this communication was recorded (then) and made viral, said Singh.

In a one-way communication which appeared like a telephonic sermon, Asaram first extended his gratitude to his followers for maintaining calm and not coming to Jodhpur on the day of judgment.

We should respect the law and order and the system. I also do so, he is purportedly heard saying in the audio clip.

He claims a few people are on a campaign to defame his ashram and want to take its control. Do not get carried away by such provocations or anything circulated on the letter head of ashram..., he says in the clip.

Referring to co-accused Shilpi and Sharat Chanda, who were handed down 20-year jail terms by the special court, Asaram says he would first arrange for their release from jail as it is the duty of parents to first think about their children.

(Even if) more advocates will be required for the release of Shilpi and Sharat, that will be done. Afterwards, bapu will make way out of the jail, he says.

If a mistake has happened in the lower court, there are upper courts for rectifying those mistakes, he says.

Truth has no cover and lie has no legs (to stand upon)... It is immaterial, what the allegations are, he says, adding, good days will come.

At the end of the conversation, he makes Sharat to speak, who says theres nothing to be worried about in the jail.The screening of a film on the contentious issue of love jihad at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi was disrupted by a few student groups, who alleged that a hate campaign was being propagated in its guise.

The incident had taken place on Friday night.

The screening of the film In the Name of Love-Melancholy of Gods Own Country was organised by the Global Indian Foundation and the Vivekanand Vichar Manch of JNU.

Members of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union and the Gender Sensitisation Committee Against Sexual Harassment had disrupted the films screening, alleging a hate campaign was being propagated in its guise.

Minor scuffles had erupted between the protesters and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad members.

The Delhi Police said it received 13 complaints from both the sides and was probing the incident.

We have received 13 complaints and are deliberating the ones that are actionable, said a senior police officer.

The complainants have made serious allegations, which were being probed, he said.

The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union said it would take out a march on the campus on Saturday night to protest the violence.

The ABVP will also take out a march titled Save JNU from Left Lumpens around same time.

According to the organisers, the film, directed by Sudipto Sen, focussed on the issue of love jihad and religious conversion of girls in Kerala.

The JNUSU alleged that ABVP members attacked its former president Mohit Kumar Pandey.

They abused and manhandled women students, and broke the window panes of a car in which Pandey took shelter to save himself, the JNUSU alleged.

ABVP member Saurabh Sharma alleged: Pandey threatened to kill me and hurled casteist slurs. When a guard came to intervene, he sped off in his car running over another guard.

The ABVP in a statement said: After disrupting the screening of the movie at Sabarmati dhaba, the left-wing protesters grievously injured a guard intentionally.

Students opposed to the film had assembled at the Sabarmati dhaba to protest the hate propaganda in the name of love jihad. They breached security cordons and disrupted the screening by holding placards in front of the screen.

Why is ABVP/Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh hiding behind the Vivekanand Vichar Manch? We wont let the RSSs venomous Love Jihad myth be propagated, read a statement issued by the protesters.

Former JNUSU president Geeta Kumari claimed the film spreading communal venom and bigotry has been screened by the Vivekananda Vichar Mach, a front organisation of the ABVP.

JNU students standing up for gender justice and against politics of hate in the name of love jihad protested against such politics. The peaceful demonstrators were showered with eggs and stones to create a situation of chaos, she said.

The JNUSU condemns these anti-social elements that have vitiated the universitys atmosphere. It is reminiscent of Ramjas College, where the ABVP beat up university students, she added.

An effigy of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the ABVP was set on fire to protest the films screening. In the melee, a few students got injured, while a private security guard had to be hospitalised.Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.Sacramento Police Department(SACRAMENTO) -- It was a long process to connect the DNA of the unknown "Golden State Killer" to the suspected serial killer and rapist, identified this week as 72-year-old former Police Officer Joseph DeAngelo.



Here is how the pieces of the puzzle were put together, according to Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert, who described the process to ABC News as "dogged detective work."



The killer, who evaded investigators for decades, is believed to have committed 12 murders, at least 50 rapes and multiple home burglaries throughout California in the 1970s and 1980s. His last known crime was in 1986.



Years later, in the early 2000s, investigators were able to obtain DNA from the unknown killer at one crime scene: the 1980 double murder of Lyman and Charlene Smith. Lyman Smith and his wife were bludgeoned to death in their Ventura County, California, home.



Investigators then started reviewing rape kits -- which contained DNA samples from victims -- in other jurisdictions, Schubert said. The alleged crimes spanned 10 counties.



One of those counties was Contra Costa, where recently retired investigator Paul Holes led the charge to use a genealogy website to find the killer, according to Schubert. Holes spent nearly 25 years on this case, she said.



A few months ago, investigators plugged the mystery killer's DNA into a genealogy database.



Based on the pool of people on the genealogy website, investigators were then able to build a family tree of the unknown killers relatives. They said they narrowed the search based on age, location and other characteristics, eventually leading them to DeAngelo.



Authorities surveilled DeAngelo and collected his discarded DNA. About six days before DeAngelo's arrest, investigators plugged his discarded DNA back into the genealogy database and found a match, linking DeAngelo's DNA to the DNA gathered at multiple crime scenes, she said.



"We found the needle in the haystack," Schubert said at a news conference Wednesday.



DeAngelo was taken into custody on Tuesday at his home in Sacramento County, the same county where his alleged 10-year crime spree began.



He appeared in court Friday and did not enter a plea. He returns to court on May 14.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.Experts and scientists discuss ways to resume production at the Mir deposit

28 april 2018 News

On the initiative of ALROSA the All Russia Conference on Experience and Practical Steps to Resume a Mining Company Production after an Accident was held on April 25-26, 2018. More than 130 leading scientists, specialists and mining engineers gathered to discuss possible ways to resume production at the Mir pipe, where an accident occurred in August last year.

On behalf of ALROSA Chief Engineer Andrey Tcherepanov presented a report at the conference. He explained the situation at the flooded mine and noted that the company already took the rehabilitation measures last year. According to him, the primary task was to stop the inflow from the career to the underground of the mine, thus letting the reconstruction works to begin.

The rehabilitation of underground mining is possible by means of two ways. The first suggests the reconstruction of existing shafts and blind drilling to the depth of -1250 meters from -615 meters. The second way is the development of the deposit with a new mine on a full depth.

The variants provided by our company are not final or indisputable. They demand the appropriate modelling, Additional detailed study and estimations. The participants of the conference commented on the work and gave their recommendations, they will certainly be helpful in the development of the project, said Andrey Tcherepanov.

The participants of the conference concluded that operational and hydrogeological conditions at the Mir deposit are very difficult and they dont have any analogue in the global practice of the mine development. It was advised that ALROSA should carry out several geological and hydrogeological surveys on the base of which the company should be provided with the numerical modelling of the suggested variants of the evacuation of water and protection of the mine.





Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping began their second round of talks in Wuhan on Saturday. They walked by the East Lake as they resumed the second round of discussion. It will be followed by a boat ride before they meet over lunch.



The talks on Saturday were expected to be more substantive.



After his Friday's talks with Xi, Modi described them as "fruitful and extensive" that included Sino-India relations and other international issues.



"I am very pleased to meet with President Xi Jinping in Wuhan. We conducted extensive and fruitful talks and exchanged opinions on strengthening India-China relations and other international issues," Modi said on Sina Weibo, China's Twitter.



Earlier on Friday, the two leaders agreed that healthy bilateral ties were important for a better world as they met in the Chinese city Wuhan to re-set the ties between the two nations hit by last year's military face-off.



On the opening day of the two-day summit, when the Chinese rolled out the red carpet for Modi, both the leaders said they would want more such informal meetings. Modi invited Xi to India in 2019.



Modi and Xi have said that a healthy Sino-Indian ties were imperative to maintain peace and stability in the world.





Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping spent nine hours together during the course of their informal summit here on Friday and Saturday, Chinese Ambassador to India Luo Zhaohui said. "7 events in 2 days, President #XiJinping and PM Modi sepnt 9 hours together, covering a wide range of topics in in-depth

exchanges with much consensus. Thumbs up to the two leaders!" Luo tweeted following Modi's departure for India from

here on Saturday.



After his arrival here early on Friday, Modi and Xi first met at the Hubei Provincial Museum where the two leaders held

one-on-one talks.



Xi then accompanied Modi on a tour of an exhibition of Marquis Yi of Zeng Cultural Relics and Treasure displayed at the

museum.



Thereafter, the two leaders held delegation-level talks that "went well beyond the budgeted time" as Indian Foreign

Secretary Vijay Gokhale put it at a media briefing here on Saturday.



On Friday evening, the Chinese President hosted a dinner in honour of the visiting Indian Prime Minister.



Modi and Xi again held discussions over tea on Saturday morning and took a walk along the East Lake here.



The two leaders then took a boat ride on the scenic East Lake.



Xi then hosted a lunch for Modi before the latter's departure for India.



Duterte has power to ban all forms of contractualization

A Counter-statement by Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino to Deputy Executive Secretary Menardo Guevarra deceptive claim

April 5, 2018

Deputy Executive Secretary Menardo Guevarras statement that President Duterte has no power to ban contractualization because Congress must first amend the Labor Code is an April Fools joke.

This is a joke for the controversial provisions of the Labor Code on contractualization  Articles 106 to 109  explicitly delegates the power of prohibition to the Secretary of Labor (who is directly under the President).

Article 106 states: The Secretary of Labor and Employment may, by appropriate regulations, restrict or prohibit the contracting-out of labor to protect the rights of workers established under this Code.

Since Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello is a mere alter ego of President Duterte, this means that Duterte himself has the power, through the issuance of an Executive Order, to ban all forms of contractualization.

BMP and all other labor groups in the Philippines has submitted said Executive Order on the very day Duterte took power as President  an Executive Order that does not merely regulate contractualization, but an Executive Order that bans contractualization in its entirety, which entails the immediate closure of all third-party labor contractors  agencies, cooperatives, manpower companies  like PALSCON, AsiaPro, Paramount, and many more whose only business is to sell workers to principal companies.

Employment arrangement with these agencies is by nature contractual, hence, they deserve to be closed. DOLEs Department Order 174 (D.O. 174) is a farce because it legitimizes contractualization even more by allowing agencies with substantial capital to operate. This capitalization  P5 million  is too small and is equivalent to a small restaurant, that is why under this order, agencies will proliferate. It is also not enough to regularize workers under agencies for they will inevitably lose their jobs as well if the principal company opts to terminate or end contract with the agency. Hence, D.O. 174 is a farce.

What workers want is direct hiring without these agencies, then regularize workers after six months of continuous or intermittent work.

If DOLE can regularize thousands of workers with just one directive, just like how it regularized more than 6,000 workers of Jollibee last April 4, 2018, why cant it regularize all contractual workers in the Philippines?

The Jollibee regularization only shows that DOLE and the President have the power to end contractualization even without the amendment of the Labor Code, precisely because the Labor Code allows them to do so. Regularization of all would be easier if Duterte will fulfill his promise of ending contractualization and this is through an Executive Order.

While we demand this from Duterte, BMP will not stop from calling on Congress to junk Articles 106 to 109 of the Labor Code for it allows contractualization (though it also allows its prohibition through the Executive branch). Deletion of these Articles will ensure that contractualization will no longer exist.

But the process of amending this law will be slow considering that our lawmakers will focus on the campaign for next years election. In short, we have nothing to expect from them at this point.The Hake, a well-regarded La Jolla restaurant that reopened two years ago following a $2.5 million makeover, has closed.

The upscale restaurant, which gained 2,000 additional square feet and an ocean view as a result of the ambitious overhaul, was never able to generate the level of added business that its owners had anticipated as a result of the remodel.

Rather than invest even more money to revive revenue, the ownership decided to close the dining room last week and sell the business, said co-owner Ricardo Dondisch. The owners had anticipated that the improvements would double sales, and while revenue did increase by about 40 percent, it wasnt enough to sustain the business and recoup the renovation costs, Dondisch said.

In retrospect, the restaurant made the mistake of reinventing the Hake as a more upscale, refined dining experience, Dondisch explained. In the process, the 5,400-square-foot restaurant loss the frequent visits previously made by many of its regulars.

Advertisement

When we had the old restaurant, it was more causal and people liked that a lot but when we remodeled we felt we had this new building and we needed to make it an experience, and our food became more complicated and service became more focused on fine dining, he said. While some people really liked it and it became a destination place, we lost that everyday customer.

The restaurant also experienced some turnover among its chefs, and there were disagreements over the direction of the menu, which didnt help, Dondisch acknowledged.

Located slightly below street level on Prospect Street, the seafood-centric restaurant opened in 2013 and was marketed as a global brasserie. Nearby are other popular ocean-front restaurants like Georges at the Cove and Eddie Vs Prime Seafood.

In early 2016 the Hake closed for what ended up being 10 months  longer than anticipated  to complete the renovation and expansion.

The majority owner is the Tintorera hospitality group, which also operates 21 restaurants in Mexico City, with three more to open in the coming months.

So we came to a point where we had to decide, do we change the concept and name, which would require more money, or do we focus on the market where were growing, Dondisch said.

Location Matters, a restaurant-focused brokerage, has been marketing the Hake restaurant space for the last three months and currently has an interested buyer, said broker Michael Spilky. All that is needed is approval by the landlord, he said. He could not divulge the prospective buyer but said it is a San Diego restaurateur with other locations.

We had a decent amount of interest, Spilky said. The landlord is pretty particular and wants someone who will do a sizable amount of revenue. The location is great, it does have some challenges because its below the street, but having a view on Prospect is pretty rare, and the ones that do have a view are doing pretty well.

Advertisement

Business

Advertisement

lori.weisberg@sduniontribune.com

(619) 293-2251

Twitter: @loriweisbergJob-seekers, including veterans, will get a tour Thursday of two East County business sites to see the daily process of manufacturing and get some career advice.

The nonprofit East County Economic Development Council is offering its annual free manufacturing tour, starting at 7:30 a.m., at Cuyamaca College, a co-host of the event.

The event for those 18 and older includes a bus ride from Cuyamaca and tours of two sites, Taylor Guitars and Computer Integrated Machining, Inc. Snacks and lunch will be provided.

The schedule is as follows:

Advertisement

8 a.m.: Check-in at the East County Economic Development Council table in Student Lot 5 at Cuyamaca College

8:30 a.m.: Board buses that make stops at both facilities for tours

12:15 p.m.: Arrive back at Cuyamaca College

12:20 to 1:30 p.m.: Complimentary sack lunch at the colleges Student Center, where hiring personnel, staffing agencies and members of the Economic Development Council will be available for questions.

There will be a panel offering an overview of careers in manufacturing and available job-training resources. Some employers will have job recruiters on site.

The event is part of the Economic Development Councils Careers in Manufacturing Tour and Panel Series for adults, veterans and college students..

Online registration is required at: brownpapertickets.com/event/3347518 and for additional information, call East County EDC Project Manager Elizabeth Liddell at (619) 258-3670, Ext. 100, or send an email to elizabeth.liddell@eastcountyedc.org

More than 70 people attended the groups last manufacturing tour in 2017, when it gave tours of Fox Factory and Computer Integrated Machining.

Advertisement

The East County Economic Development Council builds relationships between community leaders, industry, and education sectors to create and maintain East Countys workforce and promote the areas economic development.

According to the councils website, a recent study by the San Diego Association of Governments identified advanced precision manufacturing companies as having more than 4,000 jobs in San Diego County with an average salary of $51,800.

Cuyamaca College is at 900 Rancho San Diego Parkway in Rancho San Diego.

Advertisement

karen.pearlman@sduniontribune.comIn 1978, Simi Valley was a small, quiet and safe bedroom community, thanks to many regional police officers who called it home.

Michael Bender was a teenager when his family moved to Simi in 1969, which back then was so remote it had no freeway access.

Craig Richard Coley arrived in Simi two years later. He was 23, the son of a retired L.A. police officer, a Vietnam veteran and newly married man with no criminal record. Over the years, he managed several restaurants, including the Howard Johnson and a Rustlers steakhouse.

After a divorce, Coley dated for a time Rhonda Wicht, a 24-year-old waitress and cosmetology student who shared an apartment with her 4-year-old son, Donald.

Advertisement

Meanwhile, Bender had started a police career in 1977, first working the troubled streets of South Central L.A. for 18 months before landing a patrol officer job back in Simi in October 1978.

A few weeks later, Wicht and her son would be murdered in their beds, changing the trajectory of both Coley and Benders lives, though their paths wouldnt cross for another 13 years.

Just hours after the bodies of Wicht and her son were discovered on Nov. 11, 1978, Coley, an ex-boyfriend, was arrested for the murders. After two trials, he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

That might have been the end of the story for Coley if not for the relentless efforts of Bender, a former Simi Valley police detective who spent nearly 30 years fighting to prove Coleys innocence.

Last November, citing new DNA and investigative evidence, Gov. Jerry Brown exonerated Coley, clearing his record and freeing him after nearly 39 years in prison. Since then, Coley has been quietly living in Carlsbad with Bender and his wife, Cynthia, as he slowly starts his life over at age 70.

Coley calls Bender his tireless savior who was sent by God to help set him free. But Bender, 62, said he was only doing what all good cops strive to do: help others.

I always believed in truth, integrity and honor, Bender said Tuesday. Im glad this story has a happy ending. If I was on my deathbed knowing he was still in prison, I would have had a hard time with that.

***

Advertisement

On that November morning 40 years ago, Wicht was scheduled to style the hair of the bridal party for a girlfriends wedding. But when she didnt show up, a friend went to check on her and found the bodies. Wicht had been strangled, likely with a macrame rope, and her son was found smothered in his bed.

Coley, who had recently gone through a breakup with Wicht, heard the news and called the police to learn more. By the end of that day, he was under arrest for the crimes. Police described Coley as an unhappy ex- who still had a key to Wichts apartment, which had no sign of forced entry when police arrived.

The first trial ended in April 1979 in a hung jury with 10-2 in favor of conviction. A second trial in January 1980 ended with his conviction on two counts of first-degree murder with special circumstances.

Simi Valley residents whod known Coley signed petitions to have the verdict re-examined. Newspaper headlines championed his innocence and the judge in the first trial called his conviction a miscarriage of justice.

Advertisement

Coleys parents in Sherman Oaks, Margie and Wilson Coley, emptied their retirement accounts and mortgaged their house to hire new attorneys and investigators for their only child.

But all hope was lost when his conviction was affirmed in a state appeals court.

Four decades later, Coley still doesnt like to talk about the murders, not just because of his wrongful conviction but because he cared deeply for the victims.

Its not something you can describe other than its painful, he said. I went four decades not being able to grieve the woman and child I loved.

Advertisement

Photos of Rhonda Wicht, 24, and her son Donald, 4, who were murdered on Nov. 11, 1978, in Simi Valley. Craig Coley, an ex-boyfriend of Wicht, was convicted of the crimes and served nearly 39 years in prison before being exonerated on DNA evidence in November 2017. (Simi Valley Police Department )

Bender wasnt involved in the Wicht investigation and had no real memory of the case until 1989, when hed worked his way up to the rank of detective at the Simi Valley P.D. A friend suggested he take a look at Coleys case file and he was shocked by the red flags he saw.

Coley had a solid alibi for all but 20 minutes the night of the murders and the crimes wouldve have taken much longer than that to commit. There were good suspects who were never pursued and hair and fingerprint evidence that wasnt analyzed properly and then went missing.

It appeared, Bender said, that a real investigation hadnt occurred.

Advertisement

Around 1991, Bender went to meet Coley at a state prison in Tehachapi and said he knew on instinct he was talking to an innocent man.

In dealing with a lot of bad guys over the years, there are mannerisms and body language you come to know. He didnt have that, Bender said.

Promising to do what he could to get the case reopened, Bender collected 16 boxes of case files from Margie Coley, whose husband died in 1988.

But nobody wanted to listen, especially his supervising lieutenant, who had been in charge of the original murder investigation. Bender took the case to the city manager, the city attorney, a local congressman and eventually the attorney general, the ACLU and the FBI.

Advertisement

In 1991, he was ordered by his supervisors to stop pushing the case or face termination. Disillusioned, he quit his job and left Simi Valley for good, taking the 16 boxes with him and vowing never to give up.

***

Coley said he did his best to maintain hope as the years stretched on and he was moved from one prison to another. At Folsom prison, he learned to make jewelry from a fellow lifer and sent the money from jail gift shop sales to his mom to hire investigators.

He exchanged a lot of letters with friends and family. And every Saturday, he talked by phone with Bender, who often visited the prison with his daughter Mikali Bender or with Margie Coley.

Advertisement

Some prison stretches were harder than others, particularly at the ultra-violent Folsom, but the soft-spoken Coley was a model prisoner who helped run a veterans support program and mentored others.

How did I keep my spirits up? Sometimes I didnt, Coley said. I had good days and bad days. I always knew there was someone out there who did it and theyre not looking for him. That was really hard.

Craig Coley, center, as a boy with his parents Margie and Wilson Coley of Sherman Oaks. They both passed away while he was serving nearly 39 years in California prison for two murders he didnt commit. He was exonerated by Gov. Jerry Brown on Nov. 22, 2017. (Craig Coley )

Around 2005, Coley said he began actively practicing his Christian faith, which helped him cut out all the nonsense in his life. He started a prison Bible study group in 2011 and later earned degrees in theology, Biblical studies and and Biblical counseling.

Advertisement

My way of looking at things changed, he said. I believed whatever happened was what God had in store for me and everything I get is a blessing.

***

When Bender left Simi in 1991, he moved to Northern California to work as an investigator for the National Auto Theft Bureau. Ever since, hes worked in theft investigations, most recently with the ICW Group Insurance Companies, where hes national director of special investigations.

In 2003, he moved to Carlsbad with Cynthia, who he first met in Simi Valley in the mid-1980s. By coincidence, she was an invited guest at the wedding where Wicht had never showed up.

Advertisement

Cynthia said her husband never flagged in his quest to get the Coley case re-examined. Hed frequently get up at 4:30 a.m. on weekday mornings to put in a couple hours work on the files before heading to the office.

The tide finally began to turn in September 2015, when Gov. Browns office agreed to conduct an investigation. Then in 2016, Bender met new Simi Valley Police Chief David Livingstone, who started his own investigation with the Ventura County District Attorneys office.

DNA evidence, previously thought destroyed, was found and tested, revealing another mans sperm, blood and skin cells on sheets and clothing in the apartment. Witness testimony was also largely discredited.

On Nov. 20 of last year, Livingstone and the DA filed a clemency petition. Brown signed the pardon two days later. An investigation is now under way to find the Wichts killer and an internal investigation is under way on the alleged mishandling of the original case in Simi Valley.

Advertisement

Coley said he knew through Bender that a pardon was coming, but he wasnt prepared for the Nov. 22 call from the governors office at his prison in Lancaster.

You dream about it, you hope for it, but when it happens, its a shock, he said. To experience it was something I never thought would feel as good. It was joy, just pure joy. I got all tingly in my stomach and then I was bawling like a baby for a while.

***

After getting hugs from his fellow inmates, a plastic bag of clothes and a $200 debit card, Coley was driven to the Benders home, arriving at 9:30 p.m. on the eve of Thanksgiving.

Advertisement

His first taste of freedom was two stops on the way down, first at an In-N-Out to savor a burger, fries and shake, then his first-ever visit to a Starbucks, for a caramel macchiato with a double shot of espresso.

There was never any question that Coley would make Carlsbad his home once he was freed. When his mom became ill in 2004, the Benders moved her to Carlsbad, where Mikali Bender helped care for her until her death in 2011. Benders family became Coleys family.

Coley has been staying in the Benders home ever since.

Now that hes here I cant imagine him being anywhere else, Cynthia said. Hes so courteous and kind and the best house guest anyone could ever ask for. He has always been a part of our family.

Advertisement

***

Coley was 31 when he entered prison. When he emerged, he had no savings, no photo ID, no drivers license, no credit rating and no possessions.

For the first month or so, Bender said Coley wouldnt leave their gated community for fear of getting stopped by police. But since he got his ID and a drivers license, hes now enjoying going for solo drives in his new red Jeep Grand Cherokee and chatting on his first cellphone.

Cynthia cares for the Benders 3-year-old granddaughter, Keira, in their home and Coley said watching her play and dance gives him endless amusement. Cynthia said Coleys unfamiliarity with the outside world puts him at the same level of social and technological development as Keira.

Advertisement

I call Keira my little and hes my big, she said. In December, I took them both to see Santa.

***

In February, the California Victims Compensation Board voted unanimously to award Coley $1.9 million, based on $140 for each of the 13,991 days he served behind bars. Its the highest award ever paid to an exonerated California prisoner.

Coley said the money  which he should receive in August  is a comfort for his old age, but will never make up for what he has lost.

Advertisement

It helps, but how can you put a price on 40 years of your life? he said.

To tide him over until then, Coley has been living off a Gofundme account (Fundraiser for Craig Coley Free At Last) that Bender set up last fall. It has raised more than $73,000.

Coley spent much of the money on a down payment for an older home in Carlsbad, just a couple miles east of the Benders. Hes also doing a little traveling. Hell spend his 71st birthday on June 7 in Hawaii. He also wants to buy himself a dog, maybe a Sheltie or Australian shepherd.

But when asked what he savors most about his freedom these days, Coley says its the little things.

Advertisement

What I love is being able to get up in the middle of the night to get a cold drink of water from the refrigerator, or standing out on the porch at night to look up at the stars, he said. These are things I never appreciated so much until now.

Advertisement

pam.kragen@sduniontribune.comA Marine non-commissioned officer who abandoned his duties at Camp Pendleton for two months is in the brig, waiting for the Corps to decide whether to court-martial him or boot him from the military.

Authorities say that combat engineer Cpl. Steven Kretzer took an unauthorized leave from Camp Pendletons Combat Logistics Battalion 5 on Dec. 21 and was captured at an Oceanside motel in a joint sting by local police and fellow Marines from his unit on Feb. 16.

The Marines reported his location to the Battalions Duty Officer, who shortly thereafter arrived to take custody and transport Cpl. Kretzer to the brig, said 1st Marine Logistics Group spokesman 1st Lt. Adam Miller in a written statement to The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Because hes considered a flight risk, Kretzer remains behind bars. He was charged with going absent without leave on Feb. 21, according to charge sheets released to the Union-Tribune following a federal Freedom of Information Act request.

Advertisement

Cpl Kretzer has requested to be administratively separated in lieu of trial by special court-martial, said Miller. He will remain in confinement until his request has been approved by the commanding general, or the conclusion of his court-martial proceedings if the commanding general disapproves his request.

Marines take the crimes of unauthorized absence and desertion seriously because they erode a units discipline, cohesion, effectiveness and capabilities. Marines who abandon their posts also burden fellow service members who must take their duties for them.

Kretzer enlisted in the Marines on Dec. 7, 2015. His decorations include the National Defense Service Medal, the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.

He allegedly abandoned his duties two months after he returned from Australia, where he served in the Marine Rotational Forces - Darwin beginning on April 16, 2017.

Because his request for administrative separation is pending, no date has been set for Kretzers court-martial trial.

Advertisement

Military Videos  On Now D-Day paratrooper from Coronado jumps again in France  at age 96 On Now Remembering war's fallen, one name at a time On Now In Ramona, an airplane and an aviator provide living lessons on World War II 1:43 On Now Video: Navy's newest vessel sails into San Diego and a new future in surface warfare On Now Video: U.S. Navy files homicide charges over warship collisions On Now Stopping Marine hazing On Now Video: U.S. Navy Air Crew Grounded After Creating Vulgar Sky Drawing On Now Navy says Asia Pacific ship collisions were avoidable On Now Hundreds of recruits get sick at Marine boot camp On Now Cutler Dawson Talks Navy Federal

cprine@sduniontribune.comDespite a tumultuous year for the Navys surface warfare fleet  dogged by a slew of Pacific Ocean collisions that damaged four ships and killed 17 sailors  the services Top Gun school for destroyer and cruiser officers has been a beacon.

Helmed by Rear Adm. John F. G. Wade for the past 2  years, the San Diego-based Naval Surface and Mine Warfighting Development Center graduated 146 warfare tactics instructors under his watch.

Called Witties by their fellow sailors and marked with a bright red patch when theyre aboard ship, theyre shock troops charged with sparking broad cultural changes in the surface fleet  from minesweepers to guided-missile cruisers  in order to tactically challenge rising maritime powers such as China and Russia.

The brainchild of retired Adm. Bill Gortney, a career strike fighter pilot, San Diegos Top Gun for sailors is modeled on the Top Gun for aviators  which was once at Miramar but is now at the Naval Fighter Weapons School at Fallon Naval Air Station in Nevada.

Advertisement

Wades surface warfare program is so tough that 80 percent of the Navys eligible officers  mostly lieutenants  cant qualify for it. Staffers screen out nearly a third of the applicants and 15 percent of those sailors wash out during the six-month course.

Those who make it out of the academy salt warship crews worldwide, making everyone onboard better with weapons and tactics.

(Gortney) asked, Are we really that good? Are we really prepared for the higher end fight? Wade told The San Diego Union-Tribune during a telephone interview on Friday.

Its a bicoastal classroom. Sea-combat and mine-warfare courses occur in California, while integrated-air, missile-defense and amphibious-operations classes take place in Virginia.

On May 8, Wade, 49, turns over the entire program to Rear Adm. David Welch, the former commander of the destroyer Chung-Hoon and the Surface Warfare Officers School Command in Rhode Island.

The former commander of the patrol ship Firebolt, destroyer Preble and Destroyer Squadron 28, Wade, a Port Washington, N.Y. Native, will then report to Norfolk, where hell take command of the powerful Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group.

Thats a long way from his days at the U.S. Naval Academy  where he starred as a midfielder on the lacrosse team and graduated in 1990 with a degree in economics  but it might not even be his toughest assignment.

Sailors arent authorized to wear it, but Wade earned the Armys Combat Action Badge while leading Joint Provisional Reconstruction Team Khost a decade ago alongside the 10th Mountain and 82nd Airborne Divisions in Afghanistan.

Advertisement

It was the most challenging and rewarding experience of my professional careers, Wade said, but hes even prouder of the Witties hes graduated.

Thats a cultural change and thats what Im most proud of, to be honest with you  the creation of our warfare tactics instructor program. What theyre doing, these young men and women are going out and making a difference every day, whether its advanced training, or tactical development or providing support to forces on deployment, Wade said.

When Navy probes into the string of Pacific collisions began rolling out last year, Wade knew that his Witties would help fix the problems investigators turned out.

They were selected and groomed to be competent and confident. They were armed with the expertise to tell skippers what they were doing wrong and were schooled in risk management, mission planning, the latest training methods and were given plenty of time to practice their craft at sea and in the classroom.

Advertisement

Because Witties are master tacticians, they often roost in what sailors call the CIC  the Combat Information Center. Its an operations room inside a warship for waging tactical engagements, so its always scanning the seas ahead for dangers.

Investigators probing the lethal June 17 collision between the Navy destroyer Fitzgerald and a civilian cargo ship in the Philippine Sea determined that its CIC failed. Instead of warning of potential problems, the Fitzgeralds CIC wasnt watching, didnt communicate with the bridge and failed the rest of the crew, Navy investigators ruled.

Wade knows his Witties would ask hard questions about any CIC before a warship put to sea. Theyd also instill a rigorous and disciplined approach that spread to others and creates an esprit de corps.

Is there effective communication? What are the barriers? What are your procedures? And highlight those to the commanding officer and help with the training. I think thats an important piece, Wade said.

Advertisement

Military Videos  On Now D-Day paratrooper from Coronado jumps again in France  at age 96 On Now Remembering war's fallen, one name at a time On Now In Ramona, an airplane and an aviator provide living lessons on World War II 1:43 On Now Video: Navy's newest vessel sails into San Diego and a new future in surface warfare On Now Video: U.S. Navy files homicide charges over warship collisions On Now Stopping Marine hazing On Now Video: U.S. Navy Air Crew Grounded After Creating Vulgar Sky Drawing On Now Navy says Asia Pacific ship collisions were avoidable On Now Hundreds of recruits get sick at Marine boot camp On Now Cutler Dawson Talks Navy Federal

Advertisement

cprine@sduniontribune.comThe Los Angeles County district attorney is reviewing a potential sex abuse case against former Hollywood talent agent Tyler Grasham, the office said Friday.

The Los Angeles Police Department presented a case to prosecutors Jan. 31. It remains under review, spokesman Greg Risling said. He did not provide any details on the case beyond that it involves sex abuse. Deadline first reported Friday that the office was probing the case.

Grasham, a longtime agent for Agency for the Performing Arts, or APA, was fired in October amid accusations from at least nine young actors or industry professionals that he had sexually assaulted or harassed them. At least two of those accusers filed complaints with the LAPD.

Lucas Ozarowski filed a complaint stating that while at Grashams home in 2016 at age 25, the agent had reached into [his] pants and grabbed his genitals, according to a copy of the report provided to The Times.

Advertisement

In 2017, 20-year-old actor Tyler Cornell filed a complaint that Grasham had sexually assaulted him, his representative said; the LAPD confirmed that it was investigating the complaint as a report of criminal sodomy.

Grasham also is facing potential legal trouble in England. Former theater student Jack Edwards told The Times that in 2010, when he was 15, Grasham plied him with alcohol and apparently drugged him before molesting him in a London hotel room. Edwards filed a sexual assault complaint with Londons Metropolitan Police.

Grasham did not return a call seeking comment. It is not known whether he is represented by an attorney.

Before his firing, Grasham had represented dozens of actors, many of whom were children, including Finn Wolfhard of Stranger Things and It fame. The first accuser to come forward against Grasham was filmmaker Blaise Godbe Lipman, who alleged in a Facebook post and interview that as a teenage actor a decade earlier, he was fed alcohol and sexually assaulted by the agent. Many of the other accusers shared similar stories and alleged that Grasham attempted to use his power as an agent to coerce them into sex and keep them from speaking out.

APA has maintained that it was unaware of Grashams reputation within the industry and hired an attorney to lead an outside investigation of the allegations against its former agent. The agency has not made public the results of that investigation.

gus.garcia-roberts@latimes.comThere was no match in the FBIs national DNA database. A search of Californias forensic data bank came up blank.

The clue that led investigators this week to the door of the suspected Golden State Killer came instead from an unexpected source: an amateur genealogy website thats something like the Wikipedia of DNA.

The arrest of Joseph James DeAngelo Jr., a 72-year-old former police officer suspected of a string of rapes and murders across California from 1976 to 1986, hinged on GEDmatch.com, an open-source platform where people volunteer their genetic information in hopes of finding long-lost family members.

The breakthrough marks a novel investigative technique concocted by authorities desperate for leads in one of the nations most notorious cold cases. Investigators were not sure what, if anything, they would find, but they eventually uncovered a new trail they traced back to DeAngelos great-great-great-grandparents. From there, they spent months narrowing down his family tree to land upon him as the suspect.

Advertisement

The tactic highlights the increasingly complex relationship between law enforcement, which covets genetic data; private sector companies, which have amassed heaps of it; and civilians, who volunteer their most personal information without always knowing how it will be used. And the approach is fraught with ethical questions.

It was basically a long shot on their part, said David Foran, director of the Forensic Science Program at Michigan State University.

The largest genealogy services, 23andme and Ancestry.com, conduct DNA tests for paying customers but largely shield their findings from other parties. GEDmatch is a free service where consenting users upload test results from a variety of genealogy websites and cross-reference their findings to discover relatives who might have tested with different companies.

Its kind of intended to be unregulated so people on their own initiative can load their information, UC Berkeley law professor Andrea Roth said.

Founded in 2011, the site is run by genealogical enthusiasts and is funded by donations and sales of more sophisticated search features. It has amassed around 950,000 user profiles  a fraction of 23andmes more than 2 million customers and Ancestry.coms 10 million test-takers. But GEDmatchs data is not encrypted and is stored in plain text. Its privacy policy warns its information could be used for purposes beyond genealogical research.

That made the site the perfect tool for investigators, who were able to search it without needing a warrant and parse genetic profiles of a new swath of individuals who havent previously been arrested.

Turning to GEDmatch was the idea of forensic criminologist Paul Holes, who spent years on the Golden State Killer investigation and recently retired from the Contra Costa County district attorneys office, and Stephen Kramer, an FBI lawyer.

We went on a roadshow to educate everyone about the idea, Holes told the Los Angeles Times.

Advertisement

They won support from prosecutors but struggled to find a way to create a genetic profile for testing that wouldnt compromise too much of the remaining DNA evidence.

Thats when Steve Rhods, a Ventura County district attorneys office investigator, discovered a second rape kit in the coroners office from the slaying of Lyman and Charlene Smith in Ventura in 1980.

It was the mother lode of DNA, Holes said, giving investigators enough material to pursue the genealogical approach.

Holes said he uploaded the data and watched the magic happen. We are talking third, fourth and fifth cousins and more distant than that, but it is a starting point, he said.

Advertisement

The lineage search went back to great-great-great-grandparents in the early 1800s to find the common relatives, he said. Since the start of the year, investigators have been tracing their way down the family tree to find a suspect.

Most of the people we were getting were from the East Coast or Midwest until we finally found the branch of a lineage that came out West, he said.

Science turned to gumshoe investigating as law enforcement whittled down suspects. DeAngelo came to their attention around six weeks ago, Holes said, and wasnt the initial front-runner. But parts of his past lined up with the Golden State Killers timeline.

Investigators reached out to others in DeAngelos life in the 1970s and 1980s. They had long suspected the killer had a law enforcement background. After talking to the police chief in the city of Auburn, where DeAngelo once worked as a police officer, they began to think, Does this guy add up?  Holes said. I began to think  is this finally our killer?

Advertisement

Investigators put DeAngelo under surveillance and surreptitiously obtained two DNA samples, which they matched with evidence from several of the killings. He was taken into custody Tuesday at his home in Citrus Heights near Sacramento.

DeAngelo made his first court appearance Friday, wearing an orange jumpsuit as he was rolled into a downtown Sacramento courtroom handcuffed to a wheelchair. He appeared drowsy and expressionless throughout the brief hearing. Investigators believe he is responsible for at least a dozen homicides and 46 rapes.

The move by law enforcement to tap a database not originally intended to help catch criminals opens a new front for detectives while simultaneously raising questions about privacy in the digital age.

Melissa Deangelo, a GEDmatch.com user from Mississippi, said Friday that she was surprised by the companys disclosure that DNA housed on the site may have played a role in the suspects arrest.

Advertisement

Is it an invasion of privacy? Yes, she said. Was it worth the risk considering what he was doing? It was.

(She does not believe the Deangelo family she married into is directly related to the accused California serial killer.)

Former Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley believes the public safety benefit of mining DNA outweighs privacy concerns.

Law enforcement was creative and resourceful, and what they did was lawful and I commend them, Cooley said. It doesnt mean there wont be issues raised, but at the end of day, you have to give a certain amount of weight to taking a serial murderer and rapist who has been unapprehended for four decades off the streets.

Advertisement

Its easy to see why people would cheer the use of such tactics, said Roth, the Berkeley law professor. But before we celebrate, we have to remember that the government probably looked at a lot of innocent people before getting here, she said.

GEDmatch says it was not approached by law enforcement regarding the case, but it said users should be cognizant their data could be used by outside parties.

While the database was created for genealogical research, it is important that GEDmatch participants understand the possible uses of their DNA, including identification of relatives that have committed crimes or were victims of crimes, the company said in a statement. If you are concerned about non-genealogical uses of your DNA, you should not upload your DNA to the database and/or you should remove your DNA that has already been uploaded.

DNA doesnt simply identify an individual, warned Lee Tien, senior staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, it identifies whole families.

Advertisement

People say, I signed this consent form, but he or she is not the only one. The privacy of everyone Im related to is affected, Tien said.

If investigators had no reasonable suspicion the Golden State Killer or his relatives were GEDmatch users, the tactic is the definition of a fishing expedition, Tien said.

Ruth Dickover, director of UC Davis forensic science program, described law enforcements approach to catching the Golden State Killer as a glimpse into a future in which virtually all genetic information is accessible to the government.

Unlike a Social Security number that can be forged, she said, your DNA is your DNA, and its with you from birth to even a little after death.

Advertisement

Times staff writers Sarah Parvini, Cindy Chang and Joseph Serna contributed to this report.

richard.winton@latimes.com

Twitter: lacrimes

tracey.lien@latimes.com

Advertisement

Twitter: traceylien

paige.stjohn@latimes.com

Twitter: @paigestjohn

benjamin.oreskes@latimes.com

Advertisement

Twitter: boreskesExperts say the way authorities matched DNA from decades-old crime scenes to a suspect arrested this week in the Golden State Killer case represents something new.

Ruth Dickover, director of UC Davis forensic science program, described law enforcements approach as a glimpse into a future in which virtually all genetic information is accessible to the government.

Unlike a Social Security number that can be forged, she said, your DNA is your DNA, and its with you from birth to even a little after death.

The arrest of Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. this week in the terrifying attacks in the 1970s and 1980s has sparked debate about police tactics and whether the DNA match raises privacy concerns.

Advertisement

How exactly did they make the match?

It hinged on GEDmatch.com, an open-source platform in which people volunteer their genetic information in hopes of finding long-lost family members.

The largest genealogy services, 23andme and Ancestry.com, conduct DNA tests for paying customers but largely shield their findings from other parties. GEDmatch is a free service; consenting users upload test results from a variety of genealogy websites and cross-reference their findings to discover relatives who might have tested with different companies.

Its kind of intended to be unregulated so people on their own initiative can load their information, UC Berkeley law professor Andrea Roth said.

Its easy to see why people would cheer the use of such tactics, Roth said. But before we celebrate, we have to remember that the government probably looked at a lot of innocent people before getting here, she said.

What does GEDmatch have to say?

GEDmatch says it was not approached by law enforcement regarding the case, but it said users should be cognizant their data could be used by outside parties.

While the database was created for genealogical research, it is important that GEDmatch participants understand the possible uses of their DNA, including identification of relatives that have committed crimes or were victims of crimes, the company said in a statement. If you are concerned about non-genealogical uses of your DNA, you should not upload your DNA to the database and/or you should remove your DNA that has already been uploaded.

Founded in 2011, the site is run by genealogical enthusiasts and is funded by donations and sales of more sophisticated search features. It has amassed around 950,000 user profiles  a fraction of 23andmes more than 2 million customers and Ancestry.coms 10 million test-takers. But GEDmatchs data are not encrypted and are stored in plain text. The companys privacy policy warns its information could be used for purposes beyond genealogical research.

That made the site the perfect tool for investigators, who were able to search without needing a warrant and parse genetic profiles of a new swath of individuals who hadnt previously been arrested.

Advertisement

What are the privacy concerns?

DNA doesnt simply identify an individual, warned Lee Tien, senior staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. It identifies whole families.

People say, I signed this consent form, but he or she is not the only one. The privacy of everyone Im related to is affected, Tien said.

If investigators had no reasonable suspicion the Golden State Killer or his relatives were GEDmatch users, the tactic is the definition of a fishing expedition, Tien said.

Melissa Deangelo, a GEDmatch.com user from Mississippi, said Friday she was surprised by the companys disclosure that DNA housed on the site may have played a role in the suspects arrest.

Advertisement

Is it an invasion of privacy? Yes, she said. Was it worth the risk considering what he was doing? It was.

(She does not think the Deangelo family she married into is directly related to the man accused in the California serial killer case.)

Former Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley thinks the public safety benefit of mining DNA outweighs privacy concerns.

Law enforcement was creative and resourceful, and what they did was lawful and I commend them, Cooley said. It doesnt mean there wont be issues raised, but at the end of day, you have to give a certain amount of weight to taking a serial murderer and rapist who has been unapprehended for four decades off the streets.A young San Diego woman who had been a high school cheerleader with plans to go to college pleaded guilty Friday to voluntary manslaughter for her role in the shooting death of her boyfriends buddy.

Sheffah Chevis, 19, is expected to be sentenced to either six or 11 years in state prison as part of her plea deal, Deputy District Attorney Keith Watanabe said Friday.

We believe this plea and sentence is appropriate for a young woman of her age, who is not the shooter in this murder, Watanabe said.

Chevis attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Friday afternoon.

Advertisement

Chevis and Shyrehl Wesley, 21, were both charged with murder in the death of DAngelo Charon, 21, whose body was found about 5:20 a.m. on July 12.

A passerby found Charons body on Twin Oaks Valley Road not far south of Gopher Canyon Road. He had been shot three times, including once to the back of his head, according to testimony at a preliminary hearing for Chevis and Wesley in January.

In changing her plea, Chevis admitted that she aided and abetted Charons killing by driving both men to the remote spot, knowing that Wesley planned to kill Charon, according to Watanabe.

She also admitted she did not stop Wesley when he struck Charon in the head with a vase and shot him, the prosecutor said.

He said he expects Chevis to testify at Wesleys trial, which is set for July.

After Charons body was found, receipts in his pocket from a San Diego liquor store led sheriffs homicide detectives to uncover surveillance video of the victim with Wesley. Video also showed Chevis driving the car they were in.

Both defendants were in custody before the end of the day.

The two men were reportedly close friends. No evidence of a motive for the killing was presented at the preliminary hearing.

Advertisement

At the time of the shooting, Wesley was on parole for a 2014 robbery at an El Cajon gun store. He was a juvenile at the time of the robbery.

According to testimony at the preliminary hearing, Chevis  who was 18 when Charon was killed  had been a good student in high school, where she was a cheerleader and involved in campus activities. She had also planned to move out of state for college.

Advertisement

teri.figueroa@sduniontribune.com

(760) 529-4945

Twitter: @TeriFigueroaUTMountain lions that roam two Southern California mountain ranges, but are separated by a freeway, are the impetus for a recent land purchase  the first step toward creating a wildlife crossing to enable the pumas to mingle and breed.

The Nature Conservancy has purchased a 73-acre property adjacent to the eastern side of Interstate 15 just north of the Riverside County line. On the other side of the freeway is an ecological preserve. The goal is to build either a tunnel beneath or a bridge across the heavily traveled freeway to connect the Santa Ana and Palomar mountains.

The wildlife crossing would be built primarily for the benefit of the fewer than 30 lions that live in the Santa Ana range, which extends for just 61 miles along the border of Orange and Riverside counties.

Advertisement

Without it, the mountain lion population in the Santa Ana Mountains, which is already severely inbred, could disappear in the next 50 years, said Cara Lacey, associate program director at the Nature Conservancy.

Lions from the Palomar range, which experts believe may number in the hundreds and are healthier, would be able to interact (read mate) with the Santa Ana lions on both sides of the freeway after the crossing is constructed.

The Nature Conservancy paid $1.69 million for the land, which it bought from several investors. There are plans to buy other land in the area to widen the wildlife linkage.

On the east side of the freeway is the Santa Margarita Ecological Preserve, which is managed by San Diego State University.

There are preserves on both sides now, Lacey said. Thats why it was such a key property.

In 2015, The Nature Conservancy convened wildlife connectivity experts from all over the United States to evaluate 11 potential wildlife crossing points along I-15 south of Temecula. The Rainbow Canyon property ranked as the highest-priority location for a crossing structure, due to the potential to create the most functional crossing for the widest array of wildlife and plant species, according to a study the group released.

A genetic analyses from 146 sampled pumas, the study said, indicate that just seven pumas managed to cross I-15 over the last 15 years, including four males from west to east, and three males from east to west.

Urban and rural development remain a threat to what remains of the linkage, and I-15 and associated development, as well as secondary roads, have formed an apparent partial or complete barrier to east/west movement for wildlife and plants, the study concluded.

Advertisement

While mountain lions are the primary reason for a crossing, a wildlife bridge or tunnel will allow a variety of animal species to get across the freeway.

From mountain lions all the way down to frogs, Lacey said, raccoons, deer, and also plants.

The conservancy will now work with multiple partners to determine whether a tunnel, a bridge, or perhaps even both will work best for the site. Funding for the crossing, which will cost many millions of dollars, will have to be found.

Lacey said it will likely be years before a crossing is a reality. Public workshops will be held next year as part of the process.

Advertisement

This purchase opens the possibility of a future wildlife crossing above or below the highway to enable a future system of crossings and allow safe passage fo wildlife, Lacey said, removing the need for them to make the dangerous scramble across traffic, while also improving safety for people.

Advertisement

jharry.jones@sduniontribune.com; 760/529-4931; Twitter: @jharryjonesAs thousands of teachers and supporters gathered at the Arizona Capitol to protest inadequate public school funding for a second day Friday, Gov. Doug Ducey again skipped the chance to address them.

Instead, the Republican governors public relations machine sent out links to a series of interviews the previous day with TV news reporters where Ducey pushed his plan to boost teacher pay by 20 percent by 2020, talking point by talking point.

The scene was far different Friday in Denver, where several thousand teachers gathered for a second day to protest low education funding were greeted by Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper. He said he would work to have the state repay all of the approximately $1 billion borrowed from education during the recession.

We see you. We hear you, said Hickenlooper, who wore a red checked shirt and spoke for less than five minutes. We are working with you, not just today.

Advertisement

However, Hickenlooper didnt offer any funding above what has already been proposed for next year. Some teachers shouted over him We want more, while others applauded his pledge.

Ducey, who is seeking re-election this year, never showed up to address the 50,000 educators and supporters Thursday or the thousands at the Capitol on Friday. He has called the leaders of the grassroots group that organized the walkout with the Arizona Education Association politically motivated.

Hes not listening, said Kelly Grant, a Mesa teacher. Theres five demands, there has been from the beginning. So we just want someone to sit down with our people, make some effort. Theyre not making an effort.

Ducey has refused to meet with walkout leaders, instead inviting a handful of selected educators to meetings. Just two weeks ago, he was ignoring the demands of teachers who began protesting in early March, after educators in West Virginia went on strike and won big raises. Educators in Oklahoma and Kentucky followed.

In a surprise move on April 12, Ducey tried to sideline the protests by announcing he had found a way to boost teacher pay by 9 percent this year, followed by 5 percent raises in 2019 and 2020. He also is counting a 1 percent raise he gave last year to come to the 20 percent figure. That would cost about $650 million a year by 2020 in a state that has consistently cut taxes as the governor moves to shrink government and enact more tax cuts.

Late Friday afternoon, Duceys office announced he had reached a deal on a state budget with majority Republican leaders of the House and Senate. The deal gives the 20 percent raise by 2020 and an extra $100 million for school districts the governor proposed in January as start to restoring recession-era cuts. But the plan does not doesnt address other demands of striking educators.

The Arizona education groups leading the unprecedented teacher strike say they have no confidence the budget deal meets the needs of schools.

Teachers like Grant who have organized a grassroots movement never seen before in the state are not bending. They want not only the 20 percent raise, but better pay for support staff, yearly teacher raises, a restoration of school funding to 2008 levels and no new tax cuts until the state per-pupil funding reaches the national average.

Advertisement

Carrie Deahl, an English teacher in the Phoenix Union High School District, said she was disappointed that the governor and Legislature werent meeting with the organizers of the #RedforEd movement.

The governor cant even come out of his office and have a conversation with us, and yet hes saying hes the education governor, she said. Thats a mixed message youre sending the public and the country about who you really are and what your priorities are.

Arizona teachers are among the lowers paid in the nation. Schools that educate the vast majority of the states 1.1 million public school students closed Thursday and Friday as teachers walked off the job.

Arizona Education Association President Joe Thomas told educators on Friday they may need to come back Monday to keep the pressure on lawmakers and Ducey.

Advertisement

He also told them there may be an effort to go to the ballot to get a new dedicated funding stream to help restore $1 billion if K-12 education cuts lingering from the Great Recession. Leaders of the grassroots group Arizona Educators United planned to survey members over the weekend on whether to continue the walkout. Some school districts in the Phoenix area said Friday they will be closed Monday.

A plan to increase income taxes on high wage earners was filed as a ballot initiative on Friday by a separate group of education funding advocates. That could be put to Arizona voters this fall, and organizers of the #RedforEd movement say theyre polling their supporters to see if they would get behind the plan. Thomas said his group backs the measure.

In Colorado, some classes were cancelled for the second day Friday. Teachers there are fearful that changes to the state pension system will further harm their income. They are also disturbed at education funding that lags behind the national average. While lawmakers are working on changes to the pension system, any increases in taxes to fund education must be approved by voters.

Associated Press reporters Melissa Daniels in Phoenix and Colleen Slevin in Denver contributed to this report.A 28-year-old man accused of leading authorities on an early Saturday morning pursuit through parts of North County is suspected of stabbing another man multiple times.

Gervin Giovanni Chavez was arrested on attempted homicide charges, Carlsbad police said. Police said Chavez and the victim are associates.

The stabbing victim, whose name has not been released, was taken to a local hospital where he was undergoing multiple surgeries for his wounds.

According to the Carlsbad Police Department, officers responding to a report of a possible traffic accident in the 6200 block of Paseo Del Norte at 1:20 a.m. saw a red truck speeding away from the scene. Officers found a man bleeding from stab wounds to his head, neck and torso.

Advertisement

A woman who was not injured was also on the scene.

Carlsbad and Oceanside officers, assisted by sheriffs deputies and helicopter, pursued the driver through multiple cities in North County. Eventually the driver was taken into custody after his truck collided with the center median at Canyon Drive and Mission Avenue in Oceanside.

According to a witness to the stabbing, the driver of the truck initiated an unprovoked attack on the victim while they were in the vehicle together. The victim jumped out of the moving truck to get away.

The suspect allegedly got out of the truck, chased the victim and continued the assault until a female companion was able to separate them.

The suspect hopped back into the truck and sped off as officers showed up, police said.

Advertisement

Business

rob.nikolewski@sduniontribune.com

(619) 293-1251 Twitter: @robnikolewskiPolice arrested a robbery suspect Saturday inside Pechanga Casino after he led deputies on a pursuit through northern San Diego County.

The San Diego Sheriffs Department jailed Augustine Robinson on charges of robbery and reckless evading. No injuries were reported.

Deputies said Robinson stopped at a Shell gas station on Sycamore Avenue in Vista about 5:30 a.m. and told the clerk to put a certain amount of money on a pump. The clerk reportedly told Robinson he had to pay for the fuel but Robinson gestured toward his pocket and said, You should put it on the pump.

The clerk, thinking Robinson had a weapon, did as he demanded. Robinson also grabbed a drink from a refrigerator before filling his car and leaving, deputies said. The clerk then called 911.

Advertisement

Deputies came across Robinsons vehicle and attempted a traffic stop. A 50-minute pursuit ensued, taking deputies through San Marcos, Vista, Escondido and into Riverside County.

The chase ended at Pechanga, where deputies said Robinson fled. He was stopped just inside the casino entrance.

Robinson was booked into the Vista Detention Facility.

Business

lori.weisberg@sduniontribune.com

Advertisement

(619) 293-2251

Twitter: @loriweisbergAuthorities are looking for the driver of a silver Honda Accord who ran over and killed a man who was sleeping on a sidewalk in Hillcrest late Friday.

The car was found on Saturday but police were not disclosing where they found it.

The Honda was heading south on Normal Street when it veered to the right. The car went up over the curb and ran over the sleeping man about 11 p.m., San Diego police Officer Robert Heims said.

The Honda driver continued through some bushes and hit a vehicle in the parking lot. Then the driver made a U-turn, turning south on Normal, then east on University Avenue, Heims said.

Advertisement

The pedestrian died before he could be taken to a hospital. His name and age were not released.

No description of the driver was given.A fundamental fact has been lost in the discussion of Metropolitan Water Districts recent decision to underwrite most of the cost of the California WaterFix: MWD knowingly overpaid by billions of dollars with no certainty of return on its big gamble.

The agencys own documents clearly show that MWD wont get any more water for spending $10.8 billion on two giant water-conveyance tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay-Delta than it would for spending $5.2 billion on a single tunnel.

Related: Californias water project a smart investment

Of course, an extra $5.6 billion doesnt appear to mean much at MWDs Los Angeles headquarters; the agencys spending will be charged to the rest of us. MWD already has signaled its intention to stack the deck against San Diego County when it comes to recouping its WaterFix costs, which could result in residential water bills across our region increasing by $21 a month or more in coming years to pay for the project.

Advertisement

Unfortunately, MWDs April 10 vote on WaterFix was more of what we have come to expect from the agency: disregard for fiscal accountability, transparency and good governance.

Delegates from MWDs two largest customers  the San Diego County Water Authority and the city of Los Angeles  opposed the move, as did others. A core concern was that MWD had shirked its fiduciary duty to 19 million residents by paying  and overpaying by billions of dollars  for a project without due diligence.

Put simply, MWD is betting with other peoples money  yours.

MWD justified its vote by saying Bay-Delta options have been studied for years. While that may be true, the ink on MWDs $10.8 billion funding scheme had barely dried before the MWD board committed to decades of payments. Heres how it unfolded:

October 2017: The MWD board approved spending $4.3 billion, or about a quarter of the $16.7 billion Twin Tunnels project, in expectation that agencies in the federal Central Valley Project would ante up as well.

February 2018: That funding didnt materialize, and state officials announced a plan to build the tunnels in two stages.

April 2, 2018: MWDs general manager told his board that on April 10 staff would only propose funding a single tunnel as Stage 1 due to a number of internal institutional issues that remained unresolved in the Central Valley. MWDs cost would be $5.2 billion, an increase of $900 million from the October pledge.

April 6, 2018: Near the end of business on a Friday, MWD issued a memo saying that two options would be presented on April 10  the $5.2 billion option for Stage 1 and a $10.8 billion option for two tunnels.

Advertisement

April 10, 2018: MWDs board committed $10.8 billion and gave the general manager sole discretion to spend even more  effectively a blank check.

The $5.6 billion expansion in just over a week put MWD on the hook for nearly two-thirds of the WaterFix project cost and made it inconceivable that MWD board members could have carefully assessed the costs and benefits for their own agencies and stakeholders.

Delegates from the San Diego County Water Authority and Los Angeles urged MWD to provide a meaningful opportunity for member agencies to analyze the substantial implications of more than doubling the financial burden for ratepayers.

Water Authority delegates voiced concerns about MWDs willingness to assume a massive financial responsibility far exceeding its contractual share of water from WaterFix without any clearly articulated benefits or a financing plan. That wouldnt be tolerated at the Water Authority or our member agencies.

Advertisement

Delegates from Los Angeles said the supersized spending puts Metropolitan member agencies and all ratepayers in direct exposure to financial risks and significant rate impacts.

In San Diego County, we continue to reduce our reliance on MWD and the Bay-Delta through a successful, decades-long water supply diversification strategy.

However, the local rate impacts of WaterFix will depend largely on how MWD decides to recover its costs. If they are allocated to MWDs transportation rates (instead of water supply charges), average monthly household bills in San Diego County could rise by $21 or more as the project takes shape because the Water Authority uses MWDs aqueduct to transport large volumes of non-MWD water from the Colorado River to San Diego County.

Ratepayer costs would increase even more if WaterFix costs escalate.

Advertisement

Of course, that scenario also would decrease the odds that MWDs multibillion-dollar bet will ever pay off.

Muir is chair of the San Diego County Water Authority Board of Directors.Safe drinking water is essential to the survival of human beings and is a fundamental human right enshrined in California law. Yet 1 million Californians lack access to clean and affordable drinking water each year.

That is why the American Heart Association has joined a broad coalition of more than 110 health, environmental justice, labor, business and agricultural groups to solve this public health crisis.

Related: Why a tax on drinking water is wrong

Ensuring safe and affordable drinking water for children and families is a basic need that must be met in order to safeguard the health of our communities. To improve cardiovascular health, a key priority for the American Heart Association is to encourage populations to replace their sugar-sweetened beverage consumption with healthier beverage choices like water. Creating a system that provides safe and affordable water is an important strategy to increase consumption of water and decrease consumption of unhealthy sugary drinks.

Advertisement

The California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) has found that hundreds of communities are unable to consistently provide safe drinking water, some for a decade or longer. These communities are found across California, including in Southern California such as the Imperial Valley and, yes, even in San Diego County. How can we advocate and encourage families to choose water over sugary beverages when they lack the basic access to a clean and affordable water source?

High treatment costs put clean drinking water out of reach for many disadvantaged communities, especially those with small and lower income ratepayer bases. Many residents of these communities are forced to pay both a water bill for unsafe drinking water and for bottled water.

In other cases, high drinking water treatment costs result in unaffordable and burdensome water rates for residents of disadvantaged communities. Even more troubling, the SWRCB data does not include the nearly 2 million Californians not served by a public water system, whose wells have few regulatory requirements and are not eligible for most assistance programs, leaving them particularly vulnerable to unsafe drinking water.

The greatest barrier preventing communities from providing safe drinking water is the lack of a continuous funding source to support ongoing operations and maintenance costs for drinking water treatment. Other existing funding sources cannot provide the 20-30 year certainty in operational funds that small communities need to then secure long-term grant and loan funding, leaving them without ability to afford safe drinking water. This is why the SWRCB has for years called for the creation of a sustainable funding source to support safe and affordable drinking water needs.

The Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund, first established as Senate Bill 623 by Sen. Bill Monning, D-Carmel, and now included in a budget trailer bill as part of Gov. Jerry Browns 2018 budget proposal, would provide an ongoing source of funding to ensure all Californians have access to clean drinking water, including those in our most disadvantaged and underserved communities. This is historic and long overdue.

Providing safe and affordable drinking water for all of our citizens is a step in the right direction that will help mitigate one of the most basic needs to live a healthy, productive life. We cant let this opportunity slip away or let one more year pass while our children and families continue to languish without access to this basic human right.

Sanchez-Mata is a family physician in San Diego who serves on the board of the San Diego American Heart Association.Health care is a profoundly important and often upsetting issue. The United States spends more per capita on health care than any other nation, yet  with the notable exception of cancer treatments  doesnt achieve as positive results. But changes in health care, starting with the Affordable Care Act of 2010, have proven bitterly controversial.

A big reason why is that the health care debate in this nation too often boils down into arguments over whether expanding governments role in the direct provision of medical care is a dangerous dalliance with socialism. Given that a 2016 Journal of American Public Health study found that taxpayers already pay for 64 percent of U.S. health spending, this focus is goofy  the horse is already out of the barn. Americans would be far better served by a reform effort that focused intensely on the cost-effectiveness of different types of care and on how other nations have achieved better results while spending less money. Scrutiny of big data has yielded profound insights in many fields. Theres no reason to think it cant work in medicine as well, especially as medical technology improves.

Unfortunately for Californians, attempts to change health care in the Golden State in recent years havent reflected this sort of thoughtful and constructive approach. This isnt just a knock on Senate Bill 562, which would commit California to implementing a single-payer health care system without explaining how its $400 billion annual tab would be paid for or how it could overcome immense state and federal legal obstacles. It also holds for Assembly Bill 3087, a high-profile proposal from Assemblyman Ash Kalra, D-San Jose, that would gave state regulators the final say on the cost of hospital stays, visits to medical offices and most other medical services covered by health insurance companies. The rates would be based on what the federal government pays for Medicare, a giant system with 50 million-plus enrollees.

The appeal of this approach is easy to grasp. As Robert J. Samuelson, a columnist for The Washington Post, has reported, the fact that Medicare often pays health care providers less than private insurers in reimbursements for the same medical treatments offers hope that health care costs can be contained. Charges for some treatments often seem maddening, even random.

Advertisement

But the criticism of AB 3087 is powerful and not easily dismissed. As health industry executives point out, the measure doesnt address the fact that hospitals sometimes believe they have no choice but to set rates for those who can pay that subsidize the care of those who cant pay or who limit what theyre willing to pay  including the Medi-Cal and Medicaid programs. Instead of a push for best practices that result in better care at a lower cost, the bills primary intent is to reduce payments to hospitals, as a California Hospitals Association official told The Los Angeles Times. Kalra doesnt seem to disagree, saying in the Times that he wants the health care debate to focus on the cost of care.

But this piecemeal approach is not nearly as helpful as a focus on the larger picture of why some nations spend half as much on health care as the United States yet have healthier populaces. State lawmakers who focus on the cost of health care without a similarly intense concern about the results of health care may win props for their populism, but nothing more. When it comes to fixing health care, Californians deserve a smarter, bolder and more comprehensive approach.

Twitter: @sdutIdeas

Facebook: San Diego Union-Tribune Ideas & OpinionThe Midway-Pacific Highway community  a 1,324-acre area bordered by the airport, Interstate 5, Interstate 8, Laurel Street and the eastern edge of Point Loma  has immense promise. Near the ocean and two bays, readily accessible and with even milder weather than San Diego in general, the community has the potential to be a gem.

Thankfully, city officials have figured this out. A community plan update for the area released April 19 envisions a transformation of the area into a mix of dense housing, commercial developments and 30 acres of parks  a concept that fits with the citys Climate Action Plan because of the locations access to existing and planned mass transit. The proposal would rezone land to push total housing units from less than 2,000 to more than 11,000, allowing for the population to grow from 4,600 to 27,000.

While some residents like the proposal, others worry about traffic. These and all concerns should be addressed. But there needs to be a broad appreciation of the potential of the Midway-Pacific Highway community  and a determination to realize this potential.

Civic leaders should be proud of whats become of East Village, Gaslamp, City Heights, Liberty Station and other revitalized neighborhoods. Heres hoping that Midway-Pacific Highway  maybe someday well call it MPH  joins this list.

Advertisement

Twitter: @sdutIdeas

Facebook: San Diego Union-Tribune Ideas & OpinionRe Report finds San Diego jails are failing inmates with mental illness (April 25): So now jails have to learn how to better care for the mentally ill, just like schools and our teachers have to learn how to deal with unruly children whose parents cant control them, and just like our society and government have to provide for the chronically homeless.

And when people trip on a sidewalk, they get to sue the government. Enough already.

It seems like too many people want to point the finger to blame someone else, but when that finger is pointed, three fingers are pointing back at the pointer.

Allen Stanko

Advertisement

Alpine

God help the mentally ill in our jails because, obviously, no one in the jail system is going to.

Reading this article was like reading a description of a Russian gulag or Nazi torture camp.

The so-called safety cells are nothing more than another form of torture. Stray dogs are given better treatment than our mentally ill population.

This is a disgrace.

Glenda de Vaney

Chula Vista

Advertisement

Mental illness needs more serious response

Mental illness is a disease affecting millions in this country that doesnt discriminate by age, money, race or gender. Everyone knows someone or is personally affected by mental illness. Its not treated like other illnesses. If the patients have insurance, they are limited to a psych visit, medication and 30 days hospital treatment.

Can you imagine telling people with cancer or diabetes that they are limited to 30 days treatment? In our jails, its even worse. Sadly the mentally ill are treated inferior to an animal taken to a shelter. In addition, the Psychiatric Emergency Response Teams (PERT) that work with police for 911 calls are understaffed and part-time. If this city, county, state and country do not come into the 21st century, as so many other countries have done in treating mental illness, we will continue to have people acting out and shooting or driving cars into others.

Anita Simons

Advertisement

Oceanside

Explore ways to assist substance abusers

According to U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), San Diego has the fourth largest population of homeless people in the U.S. Although there are many theories as to why homelessness persists in San Diego, one of the undeniable factors is substance abuse.

People may be already abusing drugs and alcohol before they become homeless and increase their addiction as they live on the streets due to stress and depression. What San Diego Rescue Mission has been doing to rehabilitate homeless people may be the answer we need to reduce this problem. Challenges, due to lack of resources, may continue to be present. However, working in collaboration with other programs helps to facilitate the load. It only takes one proactive program to demonstrate that change is possible and San Diego Rescue Mission has been proving that each step it takes it is getting closer to solutions.

Advertisement

Melissa Alegre

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.Ive been at the U-T for 20 years, about half that time has been rough  rough on employees and readers alike.

The shift of reading habits and advertising to online products and an entrenched recession decimated the papers staffing. Story after story around 2010 predicted the demise of newspapers. Those were gloomy times in the business.

But earlier this month when the new owner-in-waiting, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, visited the U-Ts downtown office, a feeling of optimism swept over the newsroom. Its an amazing privilege to take the helm of the U-T, he said.

He talked about the importance of journalism to the community and society. He spoke of journalisms core values. Its your responsibility to inform honestly and fairly.

Advertisement

Do your part to protect the truth.

There is a power of the paper on behalf of the community.

Its your obligation to speak to the issues of the day.

He spoke of fairness and compassion in news coverage.

Soon-Shiong has made billions as a biotech entrepreneur. He is buying the U-T and Los Angeles Times for $500 million from Tronc, which this month instituted layoffs.

As reported by U-T staffer John Wilkens on the meeting with U-T employees, You now have stability, he said to applause from about 200 people. U-T readers should be clapping, as well.

Reader response on ID of plaintiff

Last week the Readers Rep presented an ethical issue of whether to identify the plaintiff in a lawsuit. The woman said she was harassed on the job and then retaliated against when she tried to stop the harassment. She sued the county and the Sheriffs Department.

The story on the lawsuit named her and the defendant, a former assistant sheriff.

Advertisement

Her attorney and at least two other readers vehemently objected, saying the woman should have been granted anonymity. They said that similar to stories on sexual assaults in criminal cases, the woman should not have been identified. U-T policy is to not name sexual assault victims in criminal cases.

I felt the policy did not apply to this lawsuit article. In other cases it might, however. I asked readers for their thoughts. Here are two of them:

Rick Stravinsky, Hillcrest: The need to know by the public does not outweigh the possible negative effects on any plaintiff and the likelihood of future victims coming out.

Louis A Storrow, attorney, Carlsbad: I represent both employees and employers in my law practice. I think the public interest would be poorly served if the media were to spread serious allegations (such as those made in a harassment lawsuit) while omitting the name of the accuser. Anonymous allegations do not carry the weight of those made publicly, and the civil courts are a public forum for the adjudication of non-criminal wrongs.

Advertisement

Some plaintiffs lawyers will complain about the embarrassment to their clients from a public filing, but would scream at having to make their case in a private arbitration  in part due to the protection of the employers reputation. As the U-T representative pointed out, this plaintiff was not sexually assaulted and is not a crime victim. She may be entitled to damages, and the employer (in this case a public entity) may be deserving of criticism and even punishment, but justice requires that the public have the information that experienced journalists deem appropriate.

Unless a court rules otherwise under well-established legal principles, the public should know both who is accused and who is making the accusation.

adrian.vore@sduniontribune.comBarely making ends meet on a fixed income and facing a rent increase he didnt think he could afford, Terry Vaughn remembered the day he heard about new affordable housing coming to North Park.

I knew in my heart that this was where I needed to be, he said Friday morning to a crowd of about 300 who had gathered to celebrate the opening of North Park Seniors on the corner of Texas Street and Howard Avenue.

Besides answering the need for more affordable housing in San Diego, the project is one of only seven in the nation that also is LGBT affirming and geared for people 55 and older.

The $27 million, 75-unit, four-story building was built by the national nonprofit developer Community Housing Works through multiple public and private partners, including several banks, the city of San Diego, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Community Housing Capital and the San Diego Housing Commission, which provided a $7 million loan.

Advertisement

San Diego Deputy Chief Operating Officer David Graham called it one of the most innovative projects in the nation and a model that could impact affordable housing across the state.

The project is not exclusively for people who identify as LGBT, which would be an illegal restriction, but it is intended to have an environment that is welcoming to the community.

Sue Reynolds, president and CEO of Community Housing Works, recalled that the idea for the project began about 10 years ago with discussions at the San Diego LGBT Community Center.

A grassroots working group at the center created the study, LGBT San Diegos Trailblazing Generation, which found that 23 percent of LGBT seniors earn less than $20,000 a year and 68 percent dont have family or younger friends they can count on for support or assistance.

Vaughn, who has lived in North Park since 2003, said he thought he had found a miracle when he discovered that Community Housing Works planned to build affordable apartments just two blocks from where he lived.

When the interest list opened on May 1 (2017), I went to the LGBT Center at 4:30 a.m. hoping to be the first person in, he said about applying for a unit. For months, I walked by the building site, took photos and prayed for God to grant me that apartment.

Vaughn said he cried when he got the message that he was getting an apartment, and he choked up again Friday when he remembered getting the call from the property manager telling him he was in.

Among the people at the early meetings about the project at the LGBT Community Center was state Assemblyman Todd Gloria, who at the time was a member of the San Diego City Council.

Advertisement

Can we just acknowledge right now that no one should have to pray for a housing unit? Gloria said at the Friday event, referring to Vaughn.

Gloria also acknowledged a debt of gratitude to the older LGBT community who fought for the rights people enjoy today.

I get to live my life, and many of us in this courtyard today get to live a better quality of life, because you broke down doors, you eliminated barriers, he said. And this project is the very least that we could do to pay back that trailblazing work that you did when it was far more difficult to talk about your orientation in public.

Anne Wilson, senior vice president of housing and real estate development for Community Housing Works, said about 500 people applied for apartments, and residents were selected by lottery from the list of those who qualified.

Advertisement

Rick Sulisky, 68, retired from a career as a hair dresser two years ago, said he had seen his rent increase from $750 to $1,200 over seven years in North Park.

It was a struggle, he said, adding that he is enjoying the group activities and friendliness of his new neighbors.

Gregory Schroeder, 63, is moving in next week and said he had just received notice that his rent was going up $45 a month in June.

It would have hurt, so this was a real life-safer, he said.

Advertisement

The rent at North Park Seniors is $775 for a studio, $826 to $996 for a one bedroom and $985 for a two-bedroom.

Advertisement

Homeless Playlist  On Now San Diego hepatitis outbreak continues to grow: 481 cases On Now Homeless entrenched in booming tent city along Santa Ana River On Now San Diego mayor agreed to homeless hub, then delayed, advocates say On Now Homeless outreach in San Diego On Now Video: Street Art: Portraits of San Diego's Homeless #8 On Now In poverty himself, 'Water Man Dave,' is the fearless saint of San Diego's homeless 5:41 On Now Video: Homeless living in cars find safe havens 2:21 On Now Street Art: Portraits of San Diego's Homeless #7 On Now Pitching a tent plan for San Diego's homeless On Now Homeless efforts get $80M boost for various services

gary.warth@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @GaryWarthUT

Advertisement

760-529-4939

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.Del Rio's base salary held at $1.5m. His stock awards were worth more than $3.7m, up from $625,000, and options were flat at $535,000. He also received a $4.5m cash bonus. $213,500 in other compensation included a $2,000 monthly car allowance and other personal benefits.

Montague but not Binder among the five named officers

The company's other named officers were EVP and CFO Wendy Beck, who resigned this past March; Andy Stuart, president and CEO, Norwegian Cruise Line; Jason Montague, president and CEO, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, who became a named officer for the first time; and Robin Lindsay, EVP vessel operations. (In 2016, named officers included Bob Binder, vice chairman, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises, and president and CEO, Oceania.)

The value of Stuart's total compensation went to $3.2m from $2.8m in 2016. His salary held at $650,000. Stock awards were valued at more than $1.5m, up slightly, while there were no option awards, compared to $649,000 the prior year. His cash bonus was $975,00. Other compensation was $47,700.

Montague's compensation was $3.2m, up from $2.3m in 2016. His salary held at $650,000, stock awards were valued at more than $1.5m, and he earned a $975,000 cash bonus. Other compensation was $46,600.

Lindsay received total compensation valued at nearly $3.2m, up from $2.5m, including a $650,000 salary and stock awards valued at more than $1.5m. His cash bonus was $975,000, and other compensation was $38,600.

Beck's compensation increased to nearly $3.2m, up from $2.3m. Her salary was $650,000. Stock awards were valued at more than $1.5m, and she earned a cash bonus of $975,000. Other compensation was nearly $31,400.Jewel of the Seas will offer two different seven-night Arabian Gulf itineraries including maiden calls to Sir Bani Yas, Doha, and Bahrain.

Jewel of the Seas will be repositioning from Rome, her Mediterranean home of ten years, to Dubai on a 16-night Suez Canal cruise from November 30, 2109 to December 16.

Once in the Middle East, the new butterfly itineraries from Dubai will call at Khasab (Oman), Muscat (Oman), Sir Bani Yas (UAE) and Abu Dhabi for option one and the second at Bahrain, Doha (Qatar), Sir Bani Yas (UAE) and Abu Dhabi.

Jewel of the Seas underwent a $30m makeover in 2016.

Managing director, Royal Caribbean International UK and Ireland, Ben Bouldin said, We have seen a surge in interest in Middle Eastern holidays from this market so we are excited to announce that we are positioning a ship back in the region next year.'Press Release

April 27, 2018 GORDON GLAD THAT COMMITTEE REPORT ON DENGVAXIA PROBE COULD NOW GO THROUGH PLENARY DEBATE Senator Richard J. Gordon has expressed satisfaction that the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee's report on the Dengvaxia probe can now undergo plenary debate after more than majority of the committee's members signed the report. Gordon also expressed gratitude to his colleagues who signed for paving the way for a plenary debate, which, he said, is where the report should be discussed and debated on. "With fourteen senators signing the committee report, I am happy that it will be discussed on the floor finally where it should be discussed. I recognize that not all of my colleagues agree with the report but I am willing to debate and discuss it on the floor. And we can move forward by ensuring that something will be done for the people who were vaccinated and also seeing to it that accountability will be exacted to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future," he said. One of the recommendations in the report was to provide sufficient budget for monitoring - in particular sero-testing to determine who were previously seronegative - diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of ALL children injected with Dengvaxia. It proposed to authorize the allocation of a portion of the P1.2-billion refunded by Sanofi Pasteur for unused vaccines for such. "While I don't mean any ill to anyone, the purpose of the investigation was to find out the truth behind the incident which placed the lives of more than 830,000 children in danger. We want to seek justice for these children and protect them. The Department of Health, as the sentinel of public health, must not be used for political ends," the chairman of the Chairman of the Blue Ribbon Committee said. Aside from Gordon, the other senators who signed the Dengvaxia report were Senators JV Ejercito, Vicente Sotto III, Gregorio Honasan, Juan Miguel Zubiri, Sonny Angara, Nancy Binay, Win Gatchalian, Grace Poe, Francis "Chiz" Escudero, Manny Pacquiao, Ralph Recto, Cynthia Villar and Loren Legarda. The investigation was conducted together with the Committees on Health and Demography and Finance. Likewise, Gordon also extended his thanks to the members of the staff, who worked hard - spending long hours and late nights, to prepare and gather information about the controversy. "I thank the staff for their hard work, naka-ilang hearings and ilang pages of transcript ang dinaanan ng investigation. Madalas ginugugol nila ang maghapon nila at madaling araw na umuwi to prepare. Because of their hard work I was able to arrive at the conclusion in the report that I stand behind fully," he said. In the draft committee report, the Blue Ribbon found President Benigno Aquino III, former Health Secretary Janette Garin, former Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, PCMC Director Julius Lecciones and other officials of the Department of Health and the Food and Drug Administration liable for violating several sections of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and other laws in connection with the procurement and distribution of the Dengvaxia vaccine.POE WANTS GOV'T TO WAIVE PRE-EMPLOYMENT FEES FOR FRESH GRADS

Sen. Grace Poe sought the immediate approval of a measure exempting fresh graduates from fees on government documents required for employment, an initiative which she hoped would help their families to save on such expenses.

Poe has filed Senate Bill No. 343 or the proposed Fresh Graduates Pre-Employment Assistance Act that mandates all government agencies to refrain from collecting fees from new graduates who are finalizing their pre-employment documents such as NBI, police and barangay clearances, and proof of identification such as Postal ID, among others.

"Once this measure becomes a law, new graduates will be exempted from paying fees for their NBI clearance, police clearance, cedula and other documents required before they join the workforce," said Poe in a speech at the 17th Commencement Exercises of the University of Rizal System held at the Ynares Center in Antipolo on Thursday, April 26.

Poe hoped that the Senate leadership would frontload the bill and hurdle approval before session adjourns.

Congress is currently on recess until May 14.

To be qualified for the waiver, the first time jobseeker must show his diploma, certification or any document proving his recent graduation from high school, college or vocational course.

Poe said it entails a lot of effort on the part of the students in completing such documentary requirements and expenses in securing those documents could reach thousands of pesos.

"We look to the next generation. Kayo, mga millennials, ang nagbibigay sa amin ng pag-asa. You have the strength and the capacity for innovation," Poe said.Press Release

April 28, 2018 De Lima joins clamor to probe Boracay closure Opposition Senator Leila M. de Lima has called for a Senate probe on the government's order to close off Boracay island for six months to assess the adverse implications of its closure to the country's economy and the welfare of the people. De Lima filed Senate Resolution (SR) No. 715 urging her colleagues in the Senate to investigate if the total closure of Boracay is the best policy response to confront the problem besetting the famed island. "It is imperative for the Senate to conduct an investigation into whether the closure of Boracay Island was the most sound, rational and appropriate course of action to address the pressing economic, zoning, and environmental issues in the island, and whether better options are available to confront them..." she said. Due to the rapid and massive influx of tourists in Boracay, studies have shown that the coral reefs on the tourist destination have been damaged, its ecosystem has been threatened by unregulated commercial development, and water quality on the island has deteriorated due to the direct discharge of untreated waste water near the shoreline. Last April 4, in line with the present administration's supposed move towards Boracay rehabilitation, Duterte hastily approved the total closure for six months of the famed island effective April 26 without proper consultation from the stakeholders. In filing SR No. 715, De Lima lamented that despite the necessity to rehabilitate Boracay, Duterte's decision remains questionable because his administration failed to present consistent and clear plan of action on how to go about the island's rehabilitation. "The seemingly inadequate plan to provide economic support for the residents of Boracay show how little thought, regard, empathy and care were afforded to those who will be most affected," she said. Based on reports, the six-month closure will cost the economy 20 billion of foregone revenue, affecting the livelihood of 73,522 residents, 17,735 registered workers and 9,365 belonging to the informal economy. Instead of a total closure, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) reportedly recommended to address the issue in phases, with Senior Deputy Executive Secretary-turned-Department of Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra stating that, "[The DTI] has submitted a separate memorandum to us saying that maybe this closure can be done in phases because of the effect on businesses and livelihood in the area." The Senator from Bicol maintained that the government should have exercised due diligence and encouraged people's participation through public consultations before ordering the total closure of Boracay. "Having been given only a three-week allowance to prepare for their imminent six months of joblessness, these affected Filipinos are being robbed of their ability to plan for themselves and have control of their lives," she said. "As supposed advocates of federalism, decentralization and devolution, this administration is ironically exhibiting clear signs of autocratic rule as it relies on the powers and prerogatives of the central government to impose sanctions... regardless of the actual needs of the people and the environment," she added. Given the tremendous government resources that will be poured into the closure of the island, De Lima likewise reminded that transparency and accountability measures should be in place.Press Release

April 28, 2018 De Lima hits Duterte admin's double standards on sovereignty issue Opposition Senator Leila M. de Lima has slammed the Duterte administration for embracing a double standard on the issue of sovereignty aimed to neutralize criticisms from the outspoken human rights community. De Lima, a staunch critic of the administration's war on drugs, also chided Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano for criticizing the European Parliament (EP) for adopting a resolution urging the Philippines, among others, to end extrajudicial killings in its drug campaign. "Speaking of twisting right and wrong, Duterte and his minions have been milking the sovereignty argument to defend its atrocious rights violations and justify its harassment and threats of deportation against foreigners who are rights advocates..." she said in her recent Dispatch from Crame No. 290. She added, "sabi po ni Foreign Affairs Secretary at spokesperson ng mga death squads na si Alan Cayetano, wala raw pong karapatang magsalita ang EU sa tuloy-tuloy na patayan kaugnay ng gyera kontra-droga dahil ito ay 'internal affairs' ng Pilipinas." In the government's obvious effort to silence dissenters, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) detained elderly Australian missionary and known human rights advocate Sr. Patricia Fox last April 16, for supposedly participating in protest rallies. Days after, the agency's board of commissioners forfeited her visa and asked her to leave the country. Last April 19, EP formally adopted a resolution calling on the Philippines to end extrajudicial killings in its drug campaign, "to immediately carry out impartial and meaningful investigations into the EJKs," and to immediately release De Lima from detention, as well as drop all politically motivated charges against her. In reacting to the said resolution, Cayetano alleged that it was "based on biased, incomplete and even wrong information and does not reflect the true situation on the ground" even as he accused EP's action of constituting interference. The Senator from Bicol maintained that Cayetano's statement only verifies that their administration is guilty of crimes against humanity. "Iba na talaga ang garapalang baluktot na pangangatwiran at pagpapawalang-halaga sa buhay ng mga Pilipinong dapat nilang pinagsisilbihan, kung ang tanging nasasabi na lamang nila ay: 'Sariling mamamayan namin ang napapatay sa teritoryo namin. Huwag n'yo kaming pakialaman!' she said. Highlighting what she described as the Duterte administrations hypocrisy, De Lima noted how the government has remained mum on the issue of Chinese incursion in the West Philippine Sea (WPS). "Di hamak pong mas malalang pagyurak sa ating soberenya bilang isang malayang bansa ang ginagawang pag-okupa ng China sa ating teritoryo kesa sa pagsasalita ng EU tungkol sa mga nangyayaring patayan at iba pang paglabag sa karapatang pantao sa ilalim ng administrasyong ito," she said. Note that even with the decision of United Nations (UN) Arbitral Tribunal invalidating China's claim and ruling that Philippines has exclusive sovereign rights over WPS, China refuses to honor the verdict.Press Release

April 28, 2018 GORDON WELCOMES ISSUANCE OF HDOs VS FOREIGNERS INVOLVED IN SMUGGLING OF P6.4-B SHABU SHIPMENT Senator Richard J. Gordon yesterday welcomed a Manila trial court's decision to order the issuance of hold departure orders (HDO) against the six foreigners indicted by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in connection with the P6.4-billion shabu shipment from China that slipped past port inspections last year. Gordon said he is glad that the Executive and the Judiciary have taken cognizance of the recommendations made by the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, which he chairs, in the report he submitted after conducting an investigation into the controversy. "I am glad that the Executive and the Judiciary are using our report to file charges against those who should be held liable for the illegal act. This shows that our investigations in the Blue Ribbon are bearing fruit," he said. Finding merit in the prosecution's motion, Judge Rainelda Estacio-Montesa of the Manila Regional Trial Court's Branch 46 ordered the release of HDOs against Chinese nationals Richard Chen, Manny Li, Kenneth Dong and Chen Rong Huan and Taiwanese citizens Chen I-Min and Jhu Ming Jyun. The six foreigners are accused of drug importation in violation of Republic Act No. 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 at the Manila court. They also face a transportation and delivery of dangerous drugs case before a Valenzuela court. Last March, the Ombudsman also upheld plunder, direct bribery, and graft charges against former Immigration Deputy Commissioners Al Argosino and Michael Robles, as well as Macau-based gaming tycoon Jack Lam, and Lam's alleged liaison Wenceslao Sombero in connection with the P50-million Bureau of Immigration (BI) corruption scandal that occurred in 2016. Argosino and Robles were arrested at the Sandiganbayan, where they posted bail for the charges against them. They were brought to Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City where they are now detained. Gordon also called on the Executive branch to review the other recommendations in relation to the accountability of Customs officials in connection with the smuggling of the shabu shipment. "I welcome the issuance of HDOs against the foreign nationals implicated in the smuggling attempt. However, the DOJ should also study the charges we recommended against Customs officials at that time because it is impossible that the smuggling attempt could have been made without the involvement of Customs officials," he said.Press Release

April 28, 2018 Legarda Hails PH Credit Outlook Upgrade to Positive Senator Loren Legarda today welcomed the latest assessment of S&P, which affirmed the Philippines' long-term credit rating of 'BBB' and short-term credit rating of 'A-2' with outlook revised from stable to positive. "This just shows that we are on the right path towards sustainable and inclusive economic growth. The Philippines is gradually reaping the fruits of the government's efforts to implement sound economic policies and usher in more growth through programs such as the 'Build, Build, Build' and the TRAIN law," said Legarda, Chair of the Senate Committee on Finance. Debt watcher S&P said that the improvement in the Philippines' credit rating can be attributed to the country's resilient external position, and strong policy making framework that resulted in sustainable public finances and solid economic growth. Legarda noted that with the S&P's growth forecast for the Philippines, we could expect for a further upgrade in the country's credit rating. A higher investment grade credit rating would mean increased investment inflows and can subsequently lower the cost of borrowing in foreign currencies. Just recently, the Philippines was ranked first among the 20 best countries to invest in as published by the website, Business Insider, stating that, "In contrast to declining inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI) to the Southeast Asia as a whole, the Philippines continued to perform well, according to United Nations data." S&P stressed that they may raise the ratings if the government's fiscal reform program leads to further achievements over the course of the next 24 months. However, S&P added that they may "revise the outlook to stable if the reform agenda stalls, if the recalibrated fiscal program leads to higher-than-expected net general government debt levels, or if we deem that policymaking settings have otherwise regressed against our expectations." With this, Legarda urged the government to be more aggressive in sustaining the existing fiscal reform programs and come up with more initiatives for a robust economy and better opportunities for the citizenry. "Now that we have reached this far in terms of our credit rating and outlook, I hope that inclusive, resilient and sustainable growth will be the way forward. We should maintain and even improve our strong macroeconomic performance, solid domestic demand, inflow of FDIs, and consistent fiscal policies geared towards a sustained decline in the gross general government debt ratio to invite a more robust trade relations with other countries," Legarda concluded.A children modeling contest was organized in Hohhot on April 14, gathering together nearly 300 boys and girls from Baotou, Ordos and Hohhot competition divisions to participate in the final in Inner Mongolia.

More than 2,000 children from the three cities signed up for the contest during the preliminary rounds.

The winners of the final contest will represent Inner Mongolia in the Sixth Session of China Catwalks  National Finals to be held in Chengdu in May.

A boy walks on the stage to showcase Mongolian winter clothing during the children modeling contest in Hohhot on April 14. [Photo/people.cn]

A child walks on the stage during the children modeling contest in Hohhot on April 14. [Photo/people.cn]Instagram food bloggers @BossEatss, Francesco Cirillo and Katherine Cummings are both from Dongan Hills. (Courtesy/@BossEatss)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- If you follow the Staten Island food scene on Instagram, you have probably seen local food blogger

' photos.

The Instagrammers behind all the delicious images are Dongan Hills residents Francesco Cirillo and Katherine Cummings. Cirillo is a 26-year-old financial analyst by day and foodie by night. Cummings, also 26, is a medical technologist.

Cirillo said he started photographing his food whenever he went out to eat. Eventually, a few friends and his girlfriend, Cummings, suggested he start an Instagram feed.

"I did, and it was the greatest decision I have ever made," he said. "We explore the foodie world as a team. Katherine also is a great hand model for my food shots."

Cirillo and Cummings have been posting to the Instagram account since the summer of 2017.

"In the process we meet great people from chefs to restaurant owners to even people that are dining around us while we take photos of our cuisine," Cirillo said.

"I have always loved food," he added. "At one point, I was 235 pounds because I loved food so much. But I lost 100 pounds and now live a healthier lifestyle."

Cirillo said he keeps off the weight by tracking his calories during the week so he can indulge on the weekends. He also goes to the gym at least three times a week.

"People are so surprised by how much I am able to eat in one sitting when I show them photos of the food," he said.

The couple's favorite dish is the mac and cheese from The Smith in Manhattan's East Village.

"That restaurant is special to us," Cirillo said. "We had our first date there in 2016 and, at the time, I wasn't aware of their infamous mac and cheese dish. Ever since that day, we saw it all over social media and made it a mission to get it the next time. We celebrate our yearly anniversaries there."

"My goal is to continue growing the page organically and give people quality pictures of food that actually tastes good," Cirillo said.

"I only post content and dishes that my girlfriend and I truly enjoy and, trust me, we clean off those plates."STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The High Rock Challenge is like "The Hunger Games."

In the thick of the Henry Kaufman Campgrounds, as runners made their way through the six and a half mile obstacle race, the sound of horns blared from the starting line.

The noise signified a new wave of athletes -- and really, really fit Staten Islanders -- who were ready to take on the race. And, yes, they volunteer as tribute.

Ringing in it's 17th year, the High Rock Challenge is organized by The Greenbelt Conservancy and city Parks Department. Hundreds of Staten Islanders come together annually to run, climb and swim their way through the greenery of High Rock Park, the Henry Kaufman Campgrounds and the William H. Pouch Scout Camp. Dozens of obstacles -- both physical and mental -- lined the trail.

This year, more than 600 participants registered for the High Rock Challenge. A similar amount showed last year, according to organizers.

THE RUNDOWN

The race began at Henry Kaufmann Campground located at 1131 Manor Road in Sea View.

Moments before stepping over the start line, runners were faced with their first challenge: A muddy low crawl. Then, they took on an obstacle course where participants balanced on wooden planks and crawled through tunnels.

Kayaking through Ohrback Lake and an origami making challenge awaited the participants later in the track.

The course ended with monkey bars, a plant identification booth (Yes, runners have to tell local greenery apart in able to finish the race!) and archery.

Water stations lined the course and runners were rewarded with a free beer at the end of the race.

A NEW ADDITION, ADVICE FOR NEWBIES

If running through muddy trails wasn't hard enough, the runners were prompted to go through a water slide barefoot (or with socks) mid-way through the race.

Runner and TransAlt ambassador Rose Uscianowski said the hardest part of the challenge was carrying a sand bag between her and her race partner Amoy Barnes.

But Barnes said she found climbing Mount Moses to be harder.

However, they have license to brag: The pair made it to the top five of the women's only run.

"It's just a really fun way to appreciate the greenery we have here on Staten Island," said Uscianowski. "Running as a team with [Barnes] was amazing because we were rooting each other on the whole time."

To those who are intimidated by the High Rock Challenge, Uscianowski -- who has been participating in races for years and completed the High Rock Challenge for the first time -- said the annual run is "not bad."

"Honestly, anyone who wants to do this, can. All it takes is training and patience," said Uscianowski. "Find your pace. It doesn't matter if it's slow in the beginning. Find your pace, work on it and be kind to yourself in the process."

Lucas MacDonald said he ran the High Rock Challenge to spread awareness for creating healthy lifestyles for teenagers.

THE WINNER'S CIRCLE

Clocking in under an hour, John Tobin and Adam Colasuonmo won first place of the male division. ("Team Tac," 00:59:23) They took first at High Rock last year, too.

Kaitlyn Russo and Krysta Percaccio won first place of the women's division. ("K Squared," 01:19:38) Maggie Garin and Nicholas Lefavor won first place in the co-ed division ("Slippery Salmons," 01:09:26)

The results are posted live at SIGreenbelt.org/High-Rock-Challenge-Adventure-Race-April.

Now, a shout out to the sponsors: One on One Physical Therapy, Manhattan Beer Distributors, Run and Shoot Photography, Port Richmond CERT, The United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, Con Edison, Empire Graphics, Staten Island Giving Circle, Limitless Fitness, Trader Joe's, Costco, The Spine and Pain Institute, Bai Water, Pruvit, Munk Pack and Fidelis Care, New York Road Runners (NYRR), Boy Scouts of America, Kayak Staten Island, Henry Kaufmann Campgrounds and Victory Archery.STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Right about now, the Advance spotlight is shining on the Staten Island social scene sizzling with all types of soirees, shindigs and charity balls, the proceeds of which contribute to making our borough a better place to live.

Over at LiGreci's Staaten in West Brighton Thursday night, more than 250 revelers gathered to support the Italian Club of Staten Island Foundation's 67th annual Dinner Dance and laud four individuals for their long-time commitment to community.

The non-profit organization saluted Gina Biancardi, Luanne Sorrentino and Doreen Cugno and Carmine DeSantis.

"Our members donate their time to carry out the activities of the club which is primarily service to community," Dr. George Smith, president of the organization, noted in his welcoming remarks:

"Each year the Italian Club conducts an annual Food Drive during the holiday season and we award college scholarships to deserving high school seniors," Dr. Smith added. "And a special thank you to Anthony A. Maniscalco, Victor N. Popolano and Carlo Montalbano, journal and scholarship chairmen for all their hard work and dedication."

For those who aren't aware, back in 1950 eight prominent Italian-American businessmen met at the insistence of Daniel Santoro, and decided to organize a club in order to exchange information and ideas.

In its mission to join together business and professional men of Italian descent, unite them in the close bond of friendship and good fellowship and provide assistance, they developed a high standard of commitment to community -- and beyond.

And throughout the years in order to fulfill their mission, they've aided and supported so many individuals and charitable organizations in time of need.

From its earliest days, the club has been committed to the youth of Staten Island -- a commitment that's made the Club Scholarship Award Program a constant throughout the years. The amount and the criteria may have changed over time but never the commitment to the scholarships.

"Tonight is a huge success due to our four outstanding honorees and our high school scholarship winners," said Anthony Maniscalco, co-chairperson and co-master of ceremonies.

"Monies raised tonight will allow us to continue funding our annual scholarship program and other Staten Island charities. I am so proud to be a part of an organization which shines a positive light on our Italian heritage."

A little about the honorees:

Gina Biancardi pursued her lifelong dream when she founded Casa Belvedere, the Italian Cultural Center on Grymes Hill.

The mansion that once served as home to the Roebling-Stirn family, was built in 1908 and designated as a New York City Landmark Building in 2001.

The not-for-profit showcasing the rich heritage and culture of Italy was formed in 2009 and Gina donated the mansion portion of the estate to the newly formed 501 (c) charity.

Through a myriad of engaging educational programs, Casa Belvedere is making a footprint on the arts and cultural landscape of Staten Island and beyond.

In 2013 Gina introduced the Belvedere Club, a premier private dining club and special event venue.

Luanne Sorrentino and Doreen Cugno are founders of the St. George Theatre. The not-for-profit was created in 2004 by their late mom, Rosemary Cappozalo who saved the theatre from being demolished.

Prior to that, the theater was closed for 30 years. Members of the Cappozalo family were the driving force in bringing it back to life and restoring it to its original grandeur.

The theatre boasts Spanish-Italian baroque style paintings, glistening chandeliers, stained glass windows, grand staircases and an incredible dome.

The former movie palace has grown from three ladies and a dozen volunteers in 2004 to a staff of seven full time staffers, 100 part time employees and more than 100 volunteers and a dedicated board of directors, who have played host to such greats as Tony Bennett, Paul Anka, Diana Ross, Jerry Seinfeld, Sophia Loren and Chris Rock, just to mention a few.

Carmine DeSantis began his legal career at the law firm of Grae and Rybicki before starting his own law firm, DeSantis and Spinelli. In 1997, Carmine decided to focus his firm's concentration in personal injury litigation and formed the firm he maintains to this day.

In 2004, he and a small number of colleagues formed the American Legal Finance Association, the primary trade group for the consumer legal funding sector -- and a driving force in ensuring fair, ethical and transparent funding standards within the industry.

In 2002, after the passing of his dad, Carmine Sr., the family formed The Carmine DeSantis Charitable Foundation, later to be called The Carmine and Robert DeSantis Charitable Foundation, after his dad's brother, Robert, passed.

The foundation was created to help children on Staten Island with special needs, one child at a time.STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The landscape of Staten Island is shifting -- quite literally -- from the development of St. George to new businesses and housing on the South Shore.

Local community boards give residents an opportunity to offer input in the decision-making process for many of these long-term projects.

Community board meetings are open to the public and afford a great way to learn more about what's going on in your neighborhood and to get involved.

If you have something you would like to speak out about, all you need to do is sign up -- before the meeting is called to order -- to speak in the public session.

The following meetings are scheduled for the week of April 30 to May 4.

COMMUNITY BOARD 1

Arlington - Castleton Corners - Clifton - Concord - Elm Park - Fort Wadsworth - Graniteville - Grymes Hill - Livingston - Mariners Harbor - New Brighton - Port Richmond - Randall Manor - Rosebank - St. George - Shore Acres - Silver Lake - Stapleton - Sunnyside - Tompkinsville - West Brighton - Westerleigh

There will be a Land Use Public Hearing on Tuesday, May 1, at 8 p.m. in the Community Board 1 office.

On the agenda:

Two City Planning Applications have been submitted for 11 and 17 Haven Esplanade to build one-two family detached residence at each address in a Special Hillside Preservation District.

Board of Standards & Appeals Application for 36 Hardy Street - mosque and school partially within the bed of a mapped street.

The New York Department of City Planning (DCP) will provide a brief update on the city's initiative to amend the three current Staten Island natural preservation special districts (Hillside, Natural Areas, and South Richmond). Working with representatives from the community boards, local civic groups and elected officials, the goal of this effort is to establish a modernized, consistent approach to natural resource protection and neighborhood development that is predictable, homeowner friendly, and ensures that our most important natural features are protected.

The New York City Department of City Planning (DCP) is proposing a text amendment to establish a new special permit under the jurisdiction of the City Planning Commission for new hotels, motels, tourist cabins and boatels in light manufacturing (M1) districts citywide.

There will be a Youth Committee Meeting on Tuesday, May 1, at 7 p.m. at 325 St. Mark's Place.

On the agenda:

Amoy Barnes of the DoE will make a presentation about college preparation.

There will be a Civic Committee Meeting on Thursday, May 3, at 6:30 p.m. at the Community Board 1 office.

The board office is located at 1 Edgewater Plaza, Suite 217, Stapleton. The office phone number is 718-981-6900. The board chairman is Nicholas Siclari; the district manager is Joseph Carroll.

COMMUNITY BOARD 2

Arrochar - Bloomfield - Bulls Head - Chelsea - Dongan Hills - Egbertville - Emerson Hill - Grant City - Grasmere - High Rock - Lighthouse Hill - Midland Beach - New Dorp - New Springville - Oakwood - Ocean Breeze - Old Town - Richmond - South Beach - Todt Hill - Travis

There will be a Land Use Public Hearing on Tuesday, May 1, at 7:30 p.m.

On the agenda:

The New York City Department of City Planning (DCP) is proposing a zoning text amendment to establish a new Special Permit under the jurisdiction of the City Planning Commission for new hotels, motels, tourist cabins, and boatels in light manufacturing (M1) districts citywide.

All committee and full board meetings are in the board office, which is located in the Lou Caravone Community Service Building on the campus of Sea View Hospital Rehabilitation Center and Home, 460 Brielle Ave., Sea View. The office phone number is 718-317-3235. The chairman of the CB 2 board is Dana T. Magee; the district manager is Debra A. Derrico.

COMMUNITY BOARD 3

Annadale - Arden Heights - Bay Terrace - Charleston - Eltingville - Great Kills - Greenridge - Huguenot - New Dorp - Oakwood - Pleasant Plains - Prince's Bay - Richmond Valley - Richmond - Rossville - Tottenville - Woodrow

There are will be a Quality of Life Committee Meeting on Tuesday, May 1, at 7:30 p.m at the Community Board 3 office.

On the agenda:

Neshama Marcus from the SI JCC will make a presentation on "My Place," Early Stage Memory Center for individuals first diagnosed with early stage Alzheimer's Disease or related dementia.

There will be a Traffic and Transportation Committee Meeting on Wednesday, May 2, at 7:30 p.m. at the Community Board 3 office.

On the agenda:

Correll Avenue Corridor Improvement Project - SI DOT will present this project which will run from Bloomingdale Road to Rossville Avenue. Improvements includes a stripe wide parking lane, stripe standard width moving lane; three speed humps, and a painted center median.

Regal Cinemas Inc. Liquor License Application for Bricktown Commons.

All committee meetings take place at the Community Board 3 office, located on the second floor of 1243 Woodrow Road. All general board meetings take place at the Woodrow Methodist Church Hall located at 1075 Woodrow Rd. The office phone number is 718-356-7900. The CB 3 board chairman is Frank Morano; the district manager is Charlene Wagner.STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The man arrested Thursday for allegedly pushing a Mexican immigrant to the train tracks of the Union Square subway station not only has a previous robbery conviction in Staten Island, he was also once found guilty of murder in Virginia, according to prosecutors.

Willie Ames, 47, allegedly pushed the 24-year-old man to the train tracks around 8:15 p.m. on April 20 after they got into a verbal dispute on a northbound No. 4 train.

Police allege Ames also repeatedly punched the man, and made several derogatory statements about the victim's ethnicity, while wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat, which were made famous by President Donald J. Trump.

After pushing the man to the track bed, Ames allegedly fled to the L train platform at the same station. A friend and a good Samaritan helped the victim from the tracks.

Police sources said he has an extensive arrest history, many of which are "sealed."

According to a New York Daily News report in addition to being convicted of murder in Virginia and robbery on Staten Island, Ames was arrested for throwing bleach at people in a deli in 2008. He was also arrested for an incident where police said he stabbed a man over a dice game in 2015, according to the report.

Ames was arrested at the 7th Precinct station house in Manhattan Thursday night, an NYPD spokesman said.

Cops said Ames currently lives in Brooklyn, but public records indicate he has multiple previous addresses in Staten Island.

State Department of Corrections records indicated the same Willie Ames served a 3-year stint for a Staten Island robbery, and was released in 2014.

FOLLOW TRACEY PORPORA ON FACEBOOK and TWITTERSTATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A hero judge who once single-handedly apprehended a man threatening to blow up his courtroom in the World Trade Center was honored Saturday during a street dedication ceremony in Sunnyside.

Councilwoman Debi Rose officially co-named Foote Avenue "Honorable Louis R. Jerome Way" in recognition of the late justice of the New York State Compensation Board during a ceremony attended by more than 75 friends, relatives and neighbors.

Foote Avenue, where the judge resided for 54 years until his death in 2015 at age 89, is located off Clove Road, next to PS 35 and across from the Roadhouse restaurant.

Judge Jerome enjoyed a long and distinguished law career. But it was an incident in his courtroom on the 36th floor of Tower 2 of the World Trade Center in July 1978 that became a benchmark and branded him a "hero judge."

The Rev. Louis R. Jerome Jr. participates in the street dedication ceremony honoring his late father, a New York State Compensation Board justice. (Staten Island Advance/Claire Regan)

An unemployed machinist whose claim was under consideration threatened to blow up the state compensation office with 80 pounds of dynamite and a grenade. More than 4,000 people were evacuated while Judge Jerome and three others were held hostage.

As the siege dragged on for nine hours, the judge took the matter into his own hands by charging the machinist with a state flagpole.



"I had had enough," the judge succinctly told the Associated Press.



A front page headline in the Advance the next day proclaimed, "Fed-up Island judge overpowers captor."

At the ceremony on Saturday, Councilwoman Rose pointed out that the dedication highlights much more than the judge's heroics on that fateful day.

"This memorializes a life well lived," she said, acknowledging that a street co-naming is the highest honor bestowed by the New York City Council.

Members of the NYPD Honor Guard participate in the street dedication ceremony on Foote Avenue. (Staten Island Advance/Claire Regan)

"The people who make a difference in the everyday life of our community" deserve such an honor, added District Attorney Michael McMahon. "It's those small acts of kindness over a person's lifetime. [Judge Jerome] had compassion for humanity."

A decorated Navy veteran, the judge often spoke to PS 35 students about his World War II experience. He was also an active member of Cespino-Russo Post, American Legion, and volunteered with his parish, St. Teresa's in Castleton Corners.

Guests at the ceremony included the judge's widow, the former Phyllis Ianiciello; his three sons, the Rev. Louis R. Jerome Jr., pastor of St. Charles R.C. Church in Oakwood; Steven M. Jerome, an NYPD lieutenant, and Thomas Jerome; a daughter, Regina Pagnotta, and a brother, William Jerome.

Maria Clemente sang the National Anthem and "God Bless America," and Father Jerome offered the invocation and benediction. The NYPD Honor Guard also participated in the ceremony.STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Nathalie Cherrie, assistant manager of Popeye's in Port Richmond, said confusion over a promotional meal sparked the unidentified woman's drunken tirade on April 8.

"She came in very drunk and continued to drink inside of the store," Cherrie told the Advance.

The woman entered the store and asked an employee for the "4 for $4" promotion. When she was told that Wendy's, not Popeye's, has that promotion, she became irate.

Cherrie said when the employee explained that Popeyes does have a $4 promotion, but it does not come with a beverage like the Wendy's deal, it further angered her.

"She got her order and sat down with the man she was with, continuing to yell and scream, but it wasn't until after she was done eating that she start trashing the store," she said.

The woman walked up to the counter and pushed registers off the counter onto the floor and then started throwing items in the lobby, according to Cherrie.

Then, she picked up a chair from the dining area and used it to break the window, as seen in the surveillance video.

She said the man she was with tried to control her but she was so heavily intoxicated and angry that he was powerless.

Cherrie said thankfully nobody was hurt, although the woman was being threatening and trying to intimidate the employees.

None of the employees recognized the woman as being a regular customer.

"We're going to press charges against her [once the police identify her]. We already had to pay [to fix the window] because we can't have kids and customers coming in here with the window like that," she said.

Cherrie, who has worked at Popeyes since 2015, said she's never had an incident like this happen in her store before.

According to police, she left the scene in a dark colored sedan to parts unknown.

Police describe her as a black female, 18- to 25-years-old. She was last seen wearing a multi-colored do-rag, a pink bandana, a pink hooded sweater, a black jacket and blue jeans.

Anyone with information in regard to 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 tips by logging onto the Crime stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or by texting tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then entering TIP577. All calls are kept strictly confidential.STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The daughter of a 59-year old pedestrian fatally struck last year in Tottenville, has sued the driver and owner of the car that she alleges hit her father and left the scene.

Daniel Nelson of Brighton Street in Tottenville, was struck at about 2:05 a.m. on June 11, 2017, near the intersection of Hecker Street and Amboy Road, according to a civil complaint and information previously provided by police.

Authorities said emergency personnel who responded to the 911 call found Nelson on the ground with head trauma, the Advance reported.

Nelson, who was less than a mile from his home, was rushed to Staten Island University Hospital where he was pronounced dead, police said.

Two days later, a source with knowledge of the investigation told the Advance that Nelson was thought to have been lying in the street prior to being hit by the vehicle.

The source was unable to explain how Nelson ended up in the street.

Neighbors told the Advance the victim was likely on his way home from a night out when he was hit.

The suit was recently filed by Nelson's daughter, Danielle Nelson, the administrator of his estate, in state Supreme Court, St. George.

It seeks unspecified monetary damages.

Named as defendants are Donna Fioravante, who the civil complaint alleges is the driver of a 2016 Infinti that struck the victim, and John Fioravante, identified as the vehicle's registered owner.

The complaint alleges Nelson "was lawfully proceeding as a pedestrian on the aforementioned highway and thoroughfare," namely, the intersection of Amboy and Hecker, when he was struck.

The defendants were "negligent, wanton, reckless and careless," the complaint alleges.

Specifically, they acted "with reckless disregard for the safety of others ... in failing to ascertain decedent's presence in the intersection and to avoid him; in failing to property apply brakes ... (and) in failing to sound horn," according to the complaint.

In addition, Donna Fioravante left the scene, the complaint contends.

Police at the time told the Advance the Collision Investigation Squad was investigating the incident.

The Police Department did not immediately respond to e-mails seeking information on the probe.

Prosecutors said they have no record of filing charges against either Donna or John Fioravante for leaving the scene of an incident or any other crime.

Nelson's landlord said the victim was a family friend who would often fix bicycles for kids on the block, the Advance reported.

"He knew everybody... he hung out with all the kids," the Advance quoted him as saying. "They're all going to be upset."

Neighbors said Nelson lived alone and had two adult children. He also had one grandchild and another one on the way, neighbors said.

The lawyer for Nelson's estate did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment on the suit.

Attempts to reach the Fioravantes were unsuccessful.~Inspectorates Audit never conducted, despite agreement with all parties.~

PHILIPSBURG:--- The Minister of Health Emil Lee and Director of USZV Glen Carty are trying to use their power to remove the allocated budget for the scheduled Operational Audit that the Supervisory Board of the Organization want conducted.

SMN News learned that the Supervisory Board of Directors of USZV allocated the funds in their budget for the audit but the Director of USZV Glen Carty tampered with the budget which caused some sparks between the Supervisory Board members and Carty. SMN News further learned that Minister of Health Emil Lee also wants the Operational Audit removed from the Supervisory Boards budget because he is not in favor of an audit since it will show the misspending of USZV funds. Lee is expected to hold a meeting sometime next week to further discuss USZV budget.

This latest development is not the first undertaken by the Minister of Health Emil Lee. In July 2016 the Inspectorate of Health wanted to conduct an audit of the medical referral department after several persons began complaining about their daily allowances. At the time the Inspectorate seemingly was concerned about the huge investments USZV was making namely for the Government Administration Building and for the construction of the New General Hospital. When SMN News broke the news on the planned audit by the Inspectorate on July 06th 2016, an emergency meeting was held by Minister Lee, the Inspector General Dr. Earl Best and Director of USZV Glen Carty where Lee and Carty agreed to the audit but to date that audit have not been conducted and all parties went silent on it. For refresher follow this link: http://www.smn-news.com/st-maarten-st-martin-news/22822-exclusive-inspectorate-to-move-in-at-szv-to-conduct-audit.html

It is not clear why the Inspectorate never move ahead with the planned audit even though USZV already spent millions on the Government Administration Building and on consultant fees for the New General Hospital while several persons that had medical issues have been complaining about the constant hassle they receive when seeking medical assistance and needs USZV to shoulder their expenses. At least one patient that has had several issues with USZV filed an injunction against USZV for not respecting the advice of doctors locally and internationally. That case is still be heard by the court.

The Minister also interfered with the follow up audit of the St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) which was also scheduled for 2016, two years later that audit was not conducted even though healthcare has deteriorated at SMMC.

The said audit landed the Inspectorate in court since SMMC felt the court has to outline what the Inspectorate could and could not do while they also wanted the Inspectorate to outline the norms they would use in the scheduled audit. Besides the court cases, the Minister went as far as issuing a gag-order against the Inspectorate which landed him in court.

The relationship between the Minister and Inspectorate became so strained that parties ended up at the Ombudsman. While Minister Lee spends his days micro-managing and interfering healthcare on St. Maarten plummeted. This of course creates more risks for patients and skyrocketed the overhead expenses for patients referral which has to be covered by USZV. These past months several patients have been crying out loud due to the mess at USZV and the fact they are not able to obtain the benefits they paid from their salaries. For refresher please follow this link: http://www.smn-news.com/st-maarten-st-martin-news/25772-minister-of-health-blames-inspectorate-of-health-for-interfering-with-the-audit-of-smmc-says-he-prefers-amicable-solution.html

Another burden the Minister placed on USZV and private insurers is the illegal tariff increase of 42% at SMMC as of January 1st. Lee sent official letters to SMMC, USZV and private insurers instead of working on the required LBHAM for tariff increase. All of these illegalities is to ensure he gets the money for the New General Hospital.

USZV spent over $40M on consultants fees for the New General Hospital while the Supervisory Board gave a negative advice for the construction of said hospital the Director committed SZV two days before the February 26th snap elections while another $40M was spent on Medical referrals overseas in the year 2017 and the $1M paid to VAMED to settle their court case against USZV. Not to mention how much was defrauded by USZV staff member.

Millions was also spent on SZV 3.0 system which the current Director now want to abandon and the Supervisory Board of Directors sits back without taking proper measures.

Minister Lee also approved the NAF.25.000.00 remuneration for Director Glen Carty without consulting with the Supervisory Board.

Another upheaval currently taking place within the organization is that the Minister wants USZV to continue full medical coverage for Maho Group of Companies workers even though the employees are only working five hours per day. It is understood that Ruth Brewster the interim COO gave a negative response to Maho Group of Companies which sparked her removal from the position and the appointment of Reginald Willemsberg as of May 1st.

SMN News learned that USZV employees are grumbling because they felt giving Maho Group special treatment will not be fair while workers from government owned companies are not getting special treatment. SMN News understands that the Minister is forcing his will on getting USZV to give Maho workers full coverage.

While USZV staff are in uproar and there is clear mismanagement the Supervisory Board of Directors sits back and enjoy the stipend they receive instead of defending the interest of the organization and workers premiums. Several of the Supervisory Board members are directly affiliated with the leader of the Democratic Party, one being the Chairlady Sharine Daniel who openly campaigned for Wescot Williams while her son in law Dwight Williams is also on the board not to mention Emil Lee best buddies Brian Deher and Alexander Gumbs.

When USZV and Government signed the agreement for USZV to finance the Government Administration Building parties told the media that Government would have started paying rent for the building as of July 2017 but to date no rent is being paid.

Emil Lee has been holding the VSA portfolio since 2014 and while the Minister want people to believe that he is doing what is best for healthcare the truth is that he has created a huge mess throughout the Ministry and heathcare on St. Maarten has dropped to the lowest point. People are losing their lives for the lack of proper care, late diagnosis and late referrals overseas for proper care.

The Dutch Government had said that the NHI had to be implemented by December 2017, to date nothing has been done to implement the NHI which almost everyone knows will not benefit St. Maarten and its people since the tax base on St. Maarten cannot support such a system.

The Minister who boasts of integrity and transparency again campaigned on the BIG legislation for the February 26th snap elections. Bear in mind the Minister campaigned on the same during the 2016 election campaign. What the Minister did not tell voters is that he has the draft legislation since June 2017 and to date he has not taken the legislation to parliament neither did he or department of public health present the draft legislation to stakeholders in healthcare. Clearly, Minister Lee is focused on getting a New General Hospital instead of focusing on improving the quality of care on St. Maarten. For more on the state on the state of the healthcare follow the link. http://www.smn-news.com/st-maarten-st-martin-news/26971-exclusive-an-assessment-on-healthcare-on-st-maarten.htmlUS judge temporarily blocks Xerox takeover by Fujifilm



New York, April 28 (AFP) Apr 28, 2018



A US judge late Friday temporarily blocked the planned takeover of US photocopy maker Xerox by Japan's Fujifilm, saying the deal prioritized the interests of the Xerox CEO over that of the company's shareholders.

The opinion, issued by Judge Barry Ostrager of New York's Supreme Court in Manhattan, came after two days of hearings for a lawsuit brought by Darwin Deason, one of Xerox's biggest investors.

Deason -- who along with Carl Icahn controls 15.2 percent of Xerox shares -- sued Xerox in February opposing the deal and alleging fraud.

Ostrager said the takeover deal "was largely negotiated by a massively conflicted CEO in breach of his fiduciary duties to further his self-interest," The Wall Street Journal reported.

The deal was then approved by the Xerox board of directors, "more than half of whom were perpetuating themselves in office for five years without properly supervising Xerox's conflicted CEO."

Fujifilm Holdings said in a statement that it was "disappointed" with the ruling.

"We strongly believe that all Xerox shareholders should be able to decide for themselves the operational, financial, and strategic merits of the transaction," it said.

Fujifilm said it is "considering all options, including whether to appeal the decision."

Under the planned deal, announced in late January, Xerox would be absorbed by an existing joint venture known as Fuji Xerox, falling under the control of Fujifilm, which until now held a 75 percent stake in the joint venture.

After the transaction is completed, Fujifilm would hold 50.1 percent of Fuji Xerox, compared with 49.9 percent for current Xerox shareholders, who also would receive a special cash dividend of $2.5 billion.

Deason said Xerox made a secret deal in 2001 allowing Fujifilm to exit the Fuji Xerox joint venture if Xerox were taken over by any investor other than the Japanese firm.

The 77-year-old billionaire said this clause prevented the Xerox board from seeking another buyer, and this in turn harmed the company's shareholders.

In a letter published in February, Icahn and Deason claimed that the deal enormously undervalues Xerox and disproportionately favors Fuji.

According to the Journal, Ostrager's opinion dismissed arguments by the Xerox CEO and the company board for approving the deal as "counter-intuitive and not credible."

jld-adb/ch/bmm







XEROXThe content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2018 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy StatementThree S. Korean sailors released by pirates



Seoul, April 28 (AFP) Apr 28, 2018



Three South Korean sailors kidnapped in the waters off Ghana last month have been released unharmed, Prime Minister Lee Nakyon said Saturday.

"All the three sailors were freed safe and sound," Lee said on Facebook.

Seoul had deployed an anti-piracy warship to the area after unidentified pirates boarded the 500-tonne Marine 711 with about 40 Ghanaian and three South Korean sailors on March 26.

The pirates seized the South Koreans -- the captain, engineer and mate on the Marine 711 -- and escaped on a separate speedboat.

The freed sailors will be brought home on the South Korean warship, Lee said.

The South's Yonhap news agency had earlier reported that the pirates had been identified as Nigerians, citing South Korea's military.

It is not known whether a ransom was paid to secure the sailors' release.Saudi-led strike 'kills dozens' of Yemen rebels in new blow



Sanaa, April 28 (AFP) Apr 28, 2018



A Saudi-led coalition air strike has killed dozens of Yemeni insurgents including two commanders, state media said Saturday, in another blow to the rebels following the assassination of their political chief.

Yemen's Huthi rebels on Saturday staged a public funeral for Saleh al-Sammad, head of their Supreme Political Council and effectively the insurgents' second-in-command, who was killed last week in an air raid claimed by Saudi Arabia and its allies.

His funeral came hours after Saudi Arabia's state-run Al-Ekhbariya television said two high-ranking insurgents were among more than 50 Huthis killed in a new strike overnight in the capital Sanaa.

The rebels have been locked in a war since 2015 with a Saudi-led military alliance fighting to restore the internationally-recognised Yemeni government to power.

Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya television said the strike had targeted the interior ministry in Sanaa, which is controlled by the rebels.

The Huthis, backed by Saudi Arabia's regional arch-rival Iran, confirmed an overnight air strike on Sanaa but gave no details.

The rebels, who hail from northern Yemen, control Sanaa and much of the country's north -- which borders Saudi Arabia -- and the key Hodeida port on the Red Sea coast.

- Huthi missiles -



Shortly after Sammad's funeral began, the Huthis said they had launched eight ballistic missiles into the Sunni kingdom.

The coalition confirmed it had intercepted four missiles headed for the southern Saudi coastal city of Jizan, one day after the kingdom's defence forces said they had downed a missile headed for the same area. No casualties were reported in either incident.

The rebels have ramped up their missile attacks on Saudi Arabia this year, although only one casualty has been reported.

Saturday's attacks came as newly-appointed US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was scheduled to land in Riyadh for meetings including talks on the Yemen conflict.

Riyadh and its close ally Washington accuse Iran of arming the Huthis, which Iran denies.

Tehran blames Saudi Arabia for the devastating Yemen war, which has seen millions struggle to secure food.

In Sanaa, Huthi supporters lined the streets Saturday for the funeral of Sammad and six others killed in last Thursday's strike.

Rebels dressed in military fatigues marched ahead of his hearse, which included seven cars draped in the Yemeni flag and accompanied by a marching band.

Nearly 10,000 people have been killed since the Saudi-led alliance joined the Yemen conflict, triggering what the United Nations has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

Yemen now stands at the brink of famine.

The Saudi-led coalition imposed a total blockade on Yemen's ports in November in retaliation for cross-border Huthi missile attacks on Saudi Arabia.

The blockade has since been partially lifted, but access to the impoverished country remains limited.Greece decides on F-16 warplane upgade: official



Athens, April 28 (AFP) Apr 28, 2018



Greece on Saturday announced an upgrade for its fleet of US-made F-16 warplanes, a programme pending over the past six months owing to cost concerns.

An emergency meeting by the government council of foreign affairs and defence chaired by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras approved the decision, the PM's office said.

"The council unanimously approved the implementation of the 85-plane upgrade programme," Tsipras' office said.

It added that the decision was based on "preliminary approval" by the US of a "revised Greek proposal taking into account the country's fiscal obligations over the coming years."

Defence Minister Panos Kammenos said the planes would be upgraded to F-16 Viper level.

No details on the cost or delivery dates of the programme were given.

Greece operates a fleet of some 150 F-16s in all.

The deal had originally been announced in October during a Tsipras visit to Washington.

But the government came under immediate criticism over the price tag, estimated at $2.4 billion at the time for a 10-year programme.

Athens had insisted the cost would not exceed $1.3 billion and would not destabilise its precarious budget.

Reports on Saturday said the programme agreed runs to 2021 at a cost of 450 million euros.

Tsipras has said the planes, some of them dating from 1989, risked being rendered inoperable without the upgrade.

Greece spends two percent of its budget on defence, one of only five NATO members to meet this alliance target.

Greek fighter planes see extensive action in the Aegean Sea.

They are regularly scrambled to intercept Turkish jets entering what Athens considers Greek airspace over the Aegean, occasionally engaging in mock dogfights.

A Greek pilot died earlier this month when his French-made Mirage 2000-5 plane crashed in the sea on the way back from an intercept mission.Saudi Arabia downs four Yemeni rebel missiles: coalition



Riyadh, April 28 (AFP) Apr 28, 2018



Saudi Arabia on Saturday intercepted four ballistic missiles fired by Yemeni rebels, the Saudi-led coalition against the insurgents said, with a local official reporting one man had been killed in the attack.

The missiles were headed towards the city of Jizan in southern Saudi Arabia, according to a coalition statement.

While the coalition said the attack claimed no casualties, Jizan's civil defence spokesman Colonel Yahya Abdullah al-Qahtani told Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya television that a Saudi Arabian citizen had been killed by falling shrapnel.

A coalition spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation.

The Huthi rebels' Al Masirah television reported Saturday they had fired eight missiles towards Jizan, a day after Saudi defence forces said they had downed a missile headed for the same area.

The latest attack came as the Huthis staged a public funeral for a slain commander in the Yemeni capital Sanaa.

Saleh al-Sammad, head of the rebels' supreme political council, was killed in an air raid by Saudi Arabia and its allies last week.

Saudi Arabia formed its military coalition in 2015 to battle the Huthi rebels in its southern neighbour and restore the internationally recognised Yemeni government to power.

The Huthis control Yemen's capital, Sanaa, as well as much of Yemen's north and the key Hodeida port on the country's western coastline.

Nearly 10,000 people have been killed since the Saudi-led alliance joined the Yemen conflict, triggering what the United Nations has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

The alliance imposed a total blockade on Yemen's ports in November in retaliation for the rebel missile attacks.

The blockade has since been partially lifted, but access remains limited and the impoverished country stands on the brink of famine.Saudi-led strike 'kills dozens' of Yemen rebels



Sanaa, April 28 (AFP) Apr 28, 2018



A Saudi-led coalition air strike has killed dozens of Yemeni rebels including two commanders, state media said Saturday, in another blow to the insurgents following the assassination of their political chief.

The Huthi rebels staged a public funeral on Saturday for Saleh al-Sammad, head of their Supreme Political Council and effectively the insurgents' second-in-command, who was killed last week in an air raid claimed by Saudi Arabia and its allies.

His funeral came hours after Saudi Arabia's state-run Al-Ekhbariya television said two high-ranking insurgents were among more than 50 Huthis killed in a new strike overnight in the capital Sanaa.

The rebels have been locked in a war since 2015 with a Saudi-led military alliance fighting to restore the internationally recognised Yemeni government to power.

Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya television said the overnight strike had targeted the interior ministry in Sanaa, which is controlled by the rebels.

The Huthis, backed by Saudi Arabia's regional arch-rival Iran, confirmed the air strike on Sanaa but gave no details.

The rebels, who hail from northern Yemen, control Sanaa and much of the country's north -- which borders Saudi Arabia -- and the key Hodeida port on the Red Sea coast.



- Huthi missiles -



Shortly after Sammad's funeral began, the Huthis said they had launched eight ballistic missiles into the Sunni kingdom.

The coalition confirmed it had intercepted four missiles headed for the southern Saudi coastal city of Jizan, one day after the kingdom's defence forces said they had downed a missile headed for the same area.

While the coalition statement said the attack claimed no casualties, Jizan's civil defence spokesman Colonel Yahya Abdullah al-Qahtani told Al-Arabiya that a Saudi Arabian citizen had been killed by falling shrapnel.

A coalition spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation.

The rebels have ramped up their missile attacks on Saudi Arabia this year. One person was reported killed by falling shrapnel in Riyadh last month.

Saturday's attacks came as newly appointed US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was scheduled to land in Riyadh for meetings including talks on the Yemen conflict.

Riyadh and its close ally Washington accuse Iran of arming the Huthis, which Iran denies.

Tehran blames Saudi Arabia for the devastating Yemen war, which has seen millions struggle to secure food.

In Sanaa, Huthi supporters lined the streets Saturday for the funeral of Sammad and six others killed in the April 19 strike.

Rebels dressed in military fatigues marched ahead of his hearse, which included seven cars draped in the Yemeni flag and accompanied by a marching band.

Nearly 10,000 people have been killed since the Saudi-led alliance joined the Yemen conflict, triggering what the United Nations has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

Yemen now stands at the brink of famine.

The Saudi-led coalition imposed a total blockade on Yemen's ports in November in retaliation for cross-border Huthi missile attacks on Saudi Arabia.

The blockade has since been partially lifted, but access to the impoverished country remains limited.Stockholm, April 28, 2018 (SPS) - Representatives of Swedish political parties called Thursday on their government to implement the recommendation that had been approved by the Swedish Parliament calling for recognition of the Saharawi State, during a debate on the situation in the Middle East and North Africa.



Representatives of the Swedish Left, Democrats, Central and Green parties, addressed various aspects of the decolonization of Western Sahara, and unanimously agreed that the time had come to put an end to this long-running dispute by enabling the Saharawi people to exercise their legitimate right to self-determination and independence.



Swedish MPs recalled that Morocco has occupied Western Sahara for 43 years, in flagrant violation of United Nations and resolutions and the ruling of the International Court of Justice, and that it is a shame that the international community continues to allow this injustice. (SPS)



062/SPS/TRANew York, April 28, 2018 (SPS) - The United Nations Security Council adopted Friday, in New York, a draft resolution extending by six months, until 31 October, the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Holding of a Referendum in Western Sahara.



By 12 voices in favor and three abstentions (Russia, China and Ethiopia), the Security Council adopted a resolution which calls the two parties in conflict, Morocco and the Polisario Front, to resume negotiations, at standstill since 2012, without pre-conditions and in good faith.



Speaking just after the adoption, UN representative said that the status quo in Western Sahara didnt allow reaching a fair and lasting solution to the conflict, calling to support Special Envoy for Western Sahara Horst Kohler in his mediation mission. (SPS)



062/SPS/APSAlgiers, April 28, 2018 (SPS) - Algeria notes with satisfaction the new resolution on the issue of Western Sahara that the United Nations Security Council adopted Friday and underlines that this resolution reaffirms that there is no other solution to the conflict but that which enables the Saharawi people to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination, said the spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Abdelaziz Benali Cherif in a statement following the adoption of the UN resolution.



The resolution adopted by the Security Council extends by six months, until 31 October 2018, the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Holding of a Referendum in Western Sahara.



Algeria notes with satisfaction the new resolution on the issue of Western Sahara that the UN Security Council has adopted, underling that his resolution reaffirms clearly, once again, in its preamble as in its purview that there is no other solution to this conflict but this one which ensures the Sahrawi people to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination, said Benali Cherif.



Algeria can only welcome the Security Councils total support to the Secretary General and his Special Envoy to relaunch, with new impetus and spirit, negotiations to reach a fair, lasting and mutually acceptable solution which provides the people of Western Sahrawi with the right to self-determination, he added.



As it can only join the call of the Security Council to the two parties to the conflict, the Moroccan Kingdom and the Polisario Front, to resume negotiations, without preconditions and in good faith, to reach a fair, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution which guarantees the right of the Sahrawi people to exercise their right to self-determination, said Benali Cherif, adding that Algeria hopes, in this regard, that the extension of MINURSO mandate, for a period of six months, prompts the two parties to the conflict to take part, as soon as possible, in the fifth round of negotiations that the Secretary Generals Special Envoy has committed and is actively working to organize. (SPS)



062/SPS/APSSimilar jobs pay $50k - $70k

Actual pay amount is not disclosed by the employerEPF follows streamlined methodology in investing in CSE and Unit Trusts By Bandula Sirimanna View(s): View(s):

The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) has been directed to follow a transparent and standardised methodology in making investments in Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) and Unit Trusts following an evaluation made during a period of seven years from January 1  2010 to December 31  2016.

The criteria followed by the fund and operating procedures accepted by the fund when purchasing or selling unit trusts and which quotes were called from the public had been investigated during the evaluation, Labour Ministry sources revealed.

The establishment of accepted operating procedures for the sale or purchase of unit trusts for which bids are called by private limited companies and at the Colombo Stock Exchange has also been taken into consideration during this 7-year period, a senior official of the ministry told the Business Times.

The basic information pertaining to the buying and selling of shares of companies such as Ceylon Grain Elevators, Vallible One, Central Finance, Hotel Galadari, Hotel Lighthouse, Laughs Gas, Dimo, Browns, LOLC, Sri Lanka Capital Holdings and The Finance Co. had been vigorously scrutinised.

The aim was to find out as to whether the EPF had violated any law of the Colombo Stock Exchange or Securities and Exchange Commission when engaging in the transaction of shares, especially in the transactions related to buying and selling of shares of commercial banks, he said.

Capital losses or gains sustained as a result of those transactions and details of officers who issued orders for the purchase/sale of unit trusts and details of officers who carried out those transactions as well as the transaction values of the EPF during the seven period have been compiled.

These details are to be submitted to the Committee on Public Accounts for its consideration, he disclosed.

However with the introduction of new methodology all investments are now being made with the approval of an Investment Committee while the Monetary Boards prior approvals were obtained for investments outside government securities.

The ministrys Risk Management Department has been entrusted with the responsibility of overseeing the investment activities of EPF and formulates risk parameters for investments including revision of the investment and trading guideline, he added.

Some of the investments by the governments two funds (EPF and ETF) during the former regime were made in companies that were not doing too well, raising questions from the then opposition.Extensive overhauls at CPCs Sapugaskanda oil refinery View(s):

The Ceylon Petroleum Corporations (CPC) Sapugaskanda Oil Refinery successfully completed a colossal 35-day overhaul and renovation programme recently, aimed to boost efficiency, reliability and productivity of the refinery.

The 50-year-old facility, which is the only oil refinery in Sri Lanka, refines imported crude oil to supply 30 per cent of the energy demand of the nation. The scheduled renovation in 2018 is a procedure commissioned every three years and it focuses on maintenance and replacing critical facilities and equipment to operate the refinery at optimum levels. The renovation project took place in the three main sections of the plant, namely the Process Plant, Utilities and the Tank Farm.

The large-scale overhaul of the refinery saw the complete shutdown of the facility. The supply gap due to the shutdown of the facility was filled by procuring imported oil by CPC, months ahead of the scheduled 2018 maintenance project, the CPC said in a media release.

The Sapugaskanda Oil Refinery Facility overhaul saw around the clock inspections, quality testing and maintenance of equipment. This years maintenance of the refinery importantly replaced several critical equipment in the Crude Distillation, Naphtha Hydrotreater, Reformer and Gas oil Hydrotreater units that were nearly 50 years old. Simultaneously during this period, maintenance work took place in the Utilities and the Tank Farm areas.

CPC Chairman Dammika Ranatunga commenting on the critical refinery overhaul, said, We have adopted a long term strategy to uplift the quality and productivity of the Sapugaskanda Oil refinery by installing the latest high-end equipment and renovating key facilities this year. It is a very important project for us as on the long run it ensures we supply uninterrupted energy in an efficient and productive manner. Our vision is to build and strengthen our countrys energy security. We plan to incorporate modern standards and processes to transform Sri Lankas energy landscape to one of the best in Asia.

The renovation process began on February 19 with over 1200 employees including engineers and mechanics of the refinery working often round the clock during a 35 day period to complete renovations as per schedule. Further, the entire renovation process was monitored closely by a quality assurance team and stringent safety standards and global quality testing procedures by The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) and the American Petroleum Institute (API) were followed.

Situated on a 165 acre land, the Sapugaskanda refinery currently produces 50,000 barrels per day and consists of five large oil tanks with a capacity of 40,000 metric tonnes each. The refinery imports crude oil from West Asian countries such as Saudi Arabia, Oman, Abu Dhabi, etc. The imported crude oil is distilled by the stipulated refinery standards and processes. The Sapugaskanda Oil Refinery produces 92 Octane petrol, auto diesel, kerosene, Jet A1, Bitumen and LPG and supplies energy to Sri Lankas major industries.Hutch, Etisalat merge Sri Lanka mobile ops View(s):

Hutch Sri Lanka, which overcome a near 3-month hurdle to clear its 4G equipment from the Colombo Port, is merging with Etisalat, according to an official announcement on Thursday.

It said Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison and UAE-based Etisalat have agreed to merge their mobile businesses in Sri Lanka, operating under the names Hutch Lanka and Etisalat Lanka.

The companies said that the combined business should be better positioned to serve their Sri Lankan customers. The deal is part of Etisalats stated strategy of portfolio optimization, according to an official statement on Thursday.

Official sources said Hutch, ready to launch its 4G offering in 2019, was allegedly blocked in the release of the equipment and finally succeeded in March.

Meanwhile Hutchison will have the majority and controlling stake in the combined entity. The completion of the transaction is subject to a number of conditions precedent, including securing the necessary competition and regulatory approvals in Sri Lanka.

The takeover would see the market reduced to four from five mobile operators  Dialog (the market leader) Mobitel, Hutch and Airtel.Sri Lanka is softly killing its tourism industry By Sunimalee Dias View(s): View(s):

NEGOMBO  An attack similar to what transpired in Mirissa on tourists by a group of drunk Sri Lankans could happen anywhere else in the country  with the next hotspot likely to be Negombo where anti-tourism incidents are going on unabated.

Even as I write this story on the situation in Negombo what is interesting to note is the lackadaisical approach of the authorities concerned in tackling these issues leaving not just the tourists defenseless but the countrys name to shame in the international arena.

Duty Officer A.M.S. Premaratne of the Tourist Police in Negombo, when contacted, seemed unaware of the problems in the area noting that they were not informed of these issues of illegal restaurants operating on the beaches but were aware of tourists bags getting stolen with cash.

But even in these instances the police have been unable to nab the offenders and it was surprising that this was not the first incident that had occurred in the area; in fact a trend has been observed of bag snatching.

It would not be long before the beaches of Negombo could be overtaken by powerful local area politicians that attempt to control the once famous tourist attraction and thereby reducing the fame of this location to be feared by holidaymakers in future.

Mirissa remains an unfortunate incident where tourists were physically and sexually attacked at a Surf Bar on April 8 that was subsequently closed on the orders of the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA).

In this instance the Tourism Ministry and SLTDA officials have taken immediate measures in the aftermath of the Mirissa attack; to apologise to tourists at large and respond in a timely manner by closing down the restaurant in question and inform the public the gravity of the situation and initiating action to possibly overcome any future issues of a similar nature.A ride to Negombo and talking to a few hoteliers, we found that the area is inundated with political henchmen making a fast buck ignoring the rules whereas law-abiding citizens like the main hoteliers on the coastal belt were left to look after their own security as authorities seem to turn a blind eye to harassment to tourists and hotels.

Negombo gets shock treatment

We met a shocking sight when we found that the Paradise Beach Hotel had fenced access to the beach with just a small opening to allow their guests to use  the reason being that three-wheelers and bikes park on the beach right next to this fence obstructing the hotel view of the sea and sand beyond its boundaries.

Young men walk right in front of the hotel from the beach with beer cans and bottles in their hands and sit around the coconut trees and are found boozing. They are visitors to the unauthorized or illegal construction of a restaurant that has laid open mattresses and tables on the beach clearly creating an unhealthy atmosphere where tourists would not like to venture into.

Long-haired men turn up there for a round of drinks starting from around 11 am and some of the empty beer cans are thrown around the beach, creating an unfavourable environment to visitors to the area.

Im only worried about the safety of my tourists to the hotel, which has been blocked by unwanted rowdies on the beach as tourists are worried to go to the beach when they are around, Paradise Beach Hotel Managing Director E. Croos told the Business Times on Wednesday.

Tourists staying in homes are the frequent visitors to these restaurants that started out as just one in 2014 but have now increased with two more opening up on state property.

Tourists are said to have been inconvenienced on New Years Eve when the said restaurant had music blaring from 6 pm on December 31 until 3 pm on January 1. In fact, some visitors had opined to the owner of the Paradise Beach Hotel that these people at the restaurant should be high on drugs to be able to continuously dance all this time.

Mr. Croos explained that he had been subjected to death threats in the past by the owners of these restaurants and pointed out that despite making a number of complaints against them to the SLTDA, the Negombo Police, and the Coast Conservation Department no action had been initiated against these persons. He believes they are operating there with the concurrence or support of a powerful politician from the area.

The beach remains littered and the guests do not have a comfortable stay as they are harassed if they venture out in beach wear with these locals said to call out names or simply stare at the female guests to the hotel.

Previously there had been patrolling of the beach by the Tourist Police but today this is hardly evident and in fact, Hotel J Team Leader Vivian Vas speaking with the Business Times said that he had not seen them patrol the area in the past 10 days.

In fact, he noted that once they had tried to set up a fence in front of their hotel to secure the place for their visitors, they had been obstructed by the Coast Conservation Department which had filed action in the High Court against the hotel.

He noted that the transparent fence was set up to ensure there could be security for the holidaymakers staying at their hotel as guests were disturbed by locals who brought liquor bottles to have a drink right in front of the hotel and simply stand there and stare at the tourists and even cause harassment to the visitors.

This caused problems to the guests who have repeatedly complained to the hotel authorities who have now made it a point to ensure their staffers are situated there when tourists are sunbathing in the pool area.

Right of the coast

Meanwhile, Coast Conservation Department Director General Prabath Chandrakeerthi told the Business Times on Thursday that they had already issued demolishing orders for unauthorized constructions on the Negombo beach.

Moreover, he noted that in this respect they had informed the relevant police stations and the owners of the structures as well.

However, it was pointed out that some of these owners had contacted the Coast Conservation Department and stated that theirs were only seasonal structures and were temporarily set up.

But authorities noted that this could not be accepted as these owners initially would state that they would be there temporarily but later set up these structures on a permanent basis.

The department had even in the past being subjected to a lot of pressures by local area politicians when they would implement the demolition of these unauthorized structures like in Tangalle in the past.

Moreover, even after the Mirissa incident Minister Faizer Mustapha has been reportedly making calls to the relevant authorities asking them to refrain from demolishing the unauthorized constructions in line with government plans to assist small entrepreneurs.

Tourism Development Minister John Amaratunga said at a media briefing that the authorities should be allowed to carry out their work unhindered and though he was not aware of Minister Mustaphas claims he believed such allegations could result in the Sri Lanka being branded as an unsafe destination.

When asked about the situation in Negombo, he affirmed that there could be issues there as well similar to the situation in Mirissa.

He noted that these issues could arise to the inaction of the police and law enforcement authorities and added that these persons could have been acting under pressure from local area politicians.

The minister also pointed out that there were drug lords operating in the Negombo area and that this was a cause for concern as even recently there had been reports of tourists being subjected to harassment.

The Coast Conservation Department is said to carry out demolitions and evictions of illegal structures in Mirissa on May 1 and in Negombo on May 8.

Touts, Beach boys  the nuisance and the menace

Touts, beach boys and the like have become part and parcel of the tourism business and since the 1970s the industry has been trying to engage them and contain the situation in order to make the country a tourist friendly state.

But today the situation has gone out of hand, as the industry points out the politicians continue to influence these people and as a result no action is taken against them.

Beach boys and touts are said to be connected to some politician or the other and since those in the different political parties do not want to lose their electoral base and voters they continue to assist such unscrupulous activities despite its negative impact on the Sri Lankan tourism industry.

While the incidence of beach boys operating in Wadduwa and Kalutara is limited, the situation in tourist hotspots like Beruwala to Bentota and Hikkaduwa, Weligama and Mirissa has become rampant.

In the cultural triangle one tour operator pointed out that despite repeated complaints made to the authorities they found touts inside the Sigiriya rock and they would attempt to try and help the tourists trying to go up and down the steps and later ask for about Rs.10,000.

It was noted that even the tour guides were found to be helpless as they are unable to manage such situations when they had to take about 30-40 visitors on tour to these locations.

The pristine beaches of the East coast were so far untouched as some operators point out the situation was in its infancy stages and that the area was unlikely to have thugs while most of the locals were law abiding people.

In Jaffna too such incidents have not occurred since it was not yet a place frequented by holidaymakers but on the other hand Colombo has found a nuisance among three-wheeler taxis that continue to harass tourists by charging them exorbitant rates.

Aitken Spence Travel Managing Director Nalin Jayasundere said, overall it has become a problem and this situation mainly occurs in countries like India and Sri Lanka but states like Dubai and Singapore did not have these issues since law and order is observed there and which is the reason why those destinations are growing.

He pointed out that the cultural triangle too may have these problems but it was mainly connected to people trying to sell stuff to tourists visiting the attractions.

But the situation on the beaches is different since tourists would be staying there for longer periods as a result of which they would be wanting to enjoy the night life as well, he said.

However, he commended the governments move to take corrective action in relation to the situation in Mirissa.

Travellers talk

Visitors to the island have expressed concerns in visiting the destination again. In fact a couple Keith and Maureen Nessling of Kent, England (repeat travellers for the past five years) who stayed at the Paradise Beach Hotel in Negombo had commented on the police inaction concerning the beach bar that was too loud.

The beach bar at the bottom of Paradise has always been very noisy but this year the noise has been unbearable. It has been Boom Boom Boom all day and all through the night at times. The Police are called but no action taken. The people in the bar are very drunk and loud and have no regard for guests staying at Paradise, the couple had complained in a letter to the hotel.

Another tourist couple Robert and Jacqueline Trout who stayed at the hotel to herald in the New Year noted that after the fiasco of this Christmas and New Years Day with the noise from the Port Bar and the drugs going on it puts our life in fear of ever returning. Perhaps if a solution to the situation could be resolved it may throw a different light on our next visit to your beautiful island.Laughable, Mr Musthapha and merry-making in Mirissa View(s):

Normally I would have turned to the Commonwealth summit that concluded in London a few days ago and any worthwhile contribution Sri Lanka leaders made besides having the London Viharas loku hamuduruwa anointing President Sirisenas head in traditional style possibly with some special oil.

As one Sri Lankan wag told me they should have saved some oil for the presidents backbone now that he had told everyone in Sri Lanka who wants to give an ear to the ranting of politicians that he had a backbone and that he had a sword in hand to deal with the recalcitrant. What happened to his ex-caliber I dont really know but the application of some blessed oil on his backbone might well be needed on the spine what with all sorts of kachal in the party founded by the late Mr. Bandaranaike which Sirisena has managed to mostly dismantle.

That is not all. As he is reported to have said in London he expects to get into pads for a second inning. It was not said whether he mentioned this while sharing a bittara appa or two with those who had gathered to pick all the pearls of wisdom from the head of state. Whether the loku hamuduruwo of the Chiswick Vihara applied oil to the heads of the presidential progeny he does not know as the Presidents media unit maintain a deafening silence on family movements and temporary life in the Hyde Park Hilton.

While Maithripala Sirisena was engaged in a Hamletian soliloquy in the balcony of his suite at the Hilton wondering whether to say or not to say that he would make a bid for a second term, things were happening in a faraway tourist hideout along the southern coast of Sri Lanka called Mirissa.

Unlike the Commonwealth Summit that attracted little international attention outside that organisations membership the Mirissa fiasco drew more world media attention because the victims were foreign, subject to sexual harassment and physical assault by locals. The news spread like wild-fire as they say with the so-called social media picking up this story and other such happenings in Mirissa and elsewhere and splattering it all over like rotten eggs thrown at politicians. This added to the public cry for stern action against the perpetrators.

The Coastal Conservation Department acted fast enough to want to demolish unauthorised structures that have sprung up in different parts of Sri Lankas coast. Some might say that this should have been done earlier. But now that the CCD has demolished some and intend to do so to other unauthorised places some masquerading as tourist spots.

From all reports the attacks were vicious and some of the victims may have had to seek medical treatment. Into this condemnable incident that has served as another slur on our tourist image at a time when the country is trying to attract more tourists to fill our depleted coffers, in steps Minister Faiszer Musthapha like Sir Galahad ready to slay those who bring down those structures.

Of course there is a rider to this. If small entrepreneurs are making a living out of their business ventures Musthapha appeals to the CCD to spare them even if they are operating in illegal structures. No doubt the authority or authorities that wish to clear the beaches of these illegal structures have the power to do so and backed by law. What Musthapha seems to want is to let some of those structures to continue functioning as bars and restaurants.

What is the logic of all this. If people are making a living out of their business from illegal structure or whatever, they should be left alone to make their living in whichever way they could. That is a hell story to pass on to their grandchildren! At least some of those who could not pass GCE O level had the great fortune to become politicians and enter parliament and live on public money.

Others went into different areas of business such as dealing in drugs and other criminal activities. They were doing it for a livelihood too. But unfortunately they were breaking the law and some have ended up behind bars.

If one extends Musthaphas curious rationalisation then even those poor chaps languishing in prison hospital beds should have been excused and summarily dismissed with a kiss on the cheeks and a bow to go with it.

They were the big ones, those who ran the show. But what of the ones that are peddling drugs on the beach around tourist spots. To go by reports they not only sell them to tourists but also to school children and others in Sri Lanka. The chain appears to end around these areas where there are willing customers or others being introduced to drugs often of unknown origin.

It is well-known that the drug business, a flourishing trade on the beach has been highlighted by media reports.

Are they too to be left alone because they are engaged in their own livelihood. If everybody from the big crooks to the smallest are to be left alone where does the law stand in the country?

Has this particular beach bar embroiled in the fiasco ever applied for the licence to run such an establishment. If so who turned it down and why? If it did not apply, why not? Was it expecting local politicians and some from further away to give it protection so that officials would leave it untouched even though it was breaking the law.

If one is to extend Musthaphas argument which seems hardly legal for a presidents counsel then the law might take a back seat and let the livelihood makers of different types and political connections run the country. Not that some of them dont do so even now.

The big question is why is Minister Musthapha speaking on behalf of this illegal structure run as a bar and restaurant near which this sexual and physical attacks on the Dutch tourists happened. Why did the minister telephone the director of the CCD to let the structure stand if it is being demolished with a bad motive, whatever that is meant to mean.

This is what a main stream media newspaper reported:

The minister said the department (CCD) could remove any illegal construction on the coastal belt, however if the motive is to hamper the livelihood of small entrepreneurs, he is against the move.

He further explained that the tourism industry is dominating the service sector in and around Mirissa as such the removal of such places would lead to many employment issues among the area residents.

The minister said it was not the unity governments principle to let down the small entrepreneurs, therefore the authorities should consider the grievances of the masses before reaching any harsh decision.

I must say for Minister Musthapha that if nothing else he provides a laugh. Talking of this Governments principles, I thought one of them is not to interfere with the law and let it take its own course. Here is a minister who telephones an official responsible for administering the law and virtually tells him to lay off.

If tourism is dominating the Mirissa area local thugs possible backed by politicians harass and attack tourists.

Perhaps the minister learnt these novel ways of promoting tourism on his journeys round the world.

Had I more time I would have added some further comments. But that might have to wait for another day.Preparations ahead of President Maithripala Sirisenas May 8 policy statement have all the trappings of a new look coalition getting set to run the 17 months of its remaining tenure.

The two partners  the United National Party (UNP) and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP)  are giving face lifts to their parties. At least their leadership seems to believe it would earn them more votes at the 2020 presidential election and the parliamentary polls thereafter. The latter could even be held earlier than scheduled.

This is if President Sirisena exercises his constitutional powers to dissolve Parliament after March 31, 2020. The 19th Amendment to the Constitution (Article 70) empowers him to do so after parliament completes four years and six months. Such a provision takes effect from the date appointed for its first meeting. After the August 17, 2015 parliamentary election, Parliaments first meeting took place on September 1 of the same year.

That months of political bickering between the two major coalition partners has brought in its wake considerable instability and economic uncertainty to Sri Lanka is all too well known. Hence, Sirisenas thrust is to spell out in his policy statement the priorities for the coalition. In general terms, he is to touch on sustainable development, environmental protection, secure local industries and ensure a corruption free society. Yet, he may have little to offer the common people reeling under the mounting burden of living costs. Another big blow to the people came on Friday when the price of cooking gas was increased by Rs 245 for a 12.5 kilogramme cylinder. This is likely to shoot up the prices of food items, consumer goods and services in most sectors. It comes at a time when the depreciation of the US dollar vis-a-vis the Sri Lankan rupee reached a historic record low this week. It continues amidst growing concerns. Logically imported food items and medicinal drugs will cost more. Added to that, an increase in fuel prices is due anytime now.

A Cabinet reshuffle will take place at 10 am on Tuesday May 1 at the Presidential Secretariat. The new Cabinet is likely to meet the same evening. Sirisena discussed the issue during a lengthy meeting with Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe on Friday evening. This is where they agreed on the date. Accompanying Wickremesinghe for these talks on behalf of the UNP was Minister Malik Samarawickrema. Since he resigned as chairman of the party, Samarawickrema does not hold any official position. If the ongoing talks are an indication, the Cabinet is not likely to be enlarged. Only the same subjects which are handled by different ministries would be grouped together. Government sources said it was unlikely that ministerial positions left vacant by the resignation of four SLFP ministers would be filled with newcomers. Instead, these subjects are to be distributed to other ministries. However, the prospects of new faces from the UNP are not being ruled out.

This notwithstanding, seating arrangements, where ministers meet for their weekly sessions, have been changed. Removed are four seats in the front row occupied by one time SLFP ministers  Susil Premjayantha, John Seneveratne, S.B. Dissanayake and Anura Priyadarshana Yapa. That left only three more SLFP ministers in the front row. They are Nimal Siripala de Silva, Mahinda Samarasinghe and Sarath Amunugama. The Cabinet room is the well of the former Parliament and now the Presidential Secretariat overlooking the Indian Ocean.

The former SLFP ministers in question, with their colleagues numbering 16, wrote a joint letter to Parliament Secretary General Dhammika Dasanayake, requesting allocation of seats in the Opposition benches. They expect these changes to be made before May 8  no doubt a reminder to President Sirisena that the no confidence motion against Premier Wickremesinghe, which he encouraged, has boomeranged dividing the SLFP further. His last minute efforts to persuade at least a handful to stay behind did not yield results. The pro-Sirisena SLFP which held 42 seats in Parliament (formally under the name of UPFA plus recent cross overs) now has only 26. This is amidst growing speculation that two more SLFPers may end up with the UNP.

UNP reform stirs controversy

Meanwhile, nowhere has party reform generated so much controversy than in the UNP. Just three weeks after his party backers convincingly defeated a vote of no confidence, Premier Wickremesinghe announced changes. It came at a meeting of the so-called newly picked politburo which met at Temple Trees on Wednesday. Its members are Akila Viraj Kariyawasam, Navin Dissanayake, Harin Fernando, Ranjith Maddduma Bandara, Mangala Samaraweera, Ajith P Perera, Eran Wickramaratne, J C Alawathuwela, Ruwan Wijewardene, Gayantha Karunatilleke, Nalin Bandara and Asoka Priyantha.

The UNP, which identifies itself as a secular party, however, has no members of the Tamil or Muslim community in this politburo. Nor has the party, which has often espoused womens causes including amendments to local government laws to enhance womens representation, appointed any female member to the politburo. UNP Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa and Assistant Leader Ravi Karunanayake, ex officio members, too were present. Also present in addition were former Chairman Malik Samarawickrema and former General Secretary Kabir Hashim.

In his introductory speech, Wickremesinghe said that the partys General Secretary Kabir Hashim has resigned. When he was offered the post once again, Hashim had refused to accept it. Hence he was naming Kurunegala District parliamentarian and Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam as the new General Secretary of the UNP. He praised him for the contribution he has made to the party and declared he was most suitable. The Premier said Kabir Hashim would be the Chairman whilst Harsha de Silva was named as Treasurer. Named as National Organiser was Nuwara Eliya District parliamentarian and Minister Navin Dissanayake. The position of National Organiser was created when onetime SLFP Minister S.B. Dissanayake crossed over to the UNP in 2001 with eight other Peoples Alliance members. The position was thereafter held by Digamadulla District parliamentarian and Minister Daya Gamage. Both complained during their terms that they were not entrusted with any responsibility in that position. Known for his caustic comments, S.B. Dissanayake then told a party colleague Mata kisima kehel malakwath thibun nehe or somewhat sarcastically I did not have even a banana flower when he was National Organiser.

The UNP Chairman, General Secretary, Treasurer and National Organiser positions, interesting enough, are all alumni of Royal College. In the not too distant past, appointments by Premier Wickremesinghe of those from his alma mater saw the creation of a sobriquet  FRCS. The letters usually referred to those who qualified as a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in Britain. However, in this instance they stood for Former Royal College Students. On a more serious note, the UNP, which committed itself to a new constitution and to move towards reconciliation by addressing minority issues has no member of the Tamil community in the leadership. Nor is there a female, contrary to the partys pledges of gender equality.

The only exception to the Royal College lineage was Ruwan Wijewardene, State Minister of Defence who had his early education at St Thomas Preparatory, Kollupitiya. Nevertheless he politely declined the post of Deputy General Secretary. He recommended that the post be given to Eran Wickremeratne. He said the now State Minister for Finance has made a great contribution to the party. His remarks came when the UNPs Working Committee met on Thursday morning to endorse Wickremesinghes recommendations which have been accepted by the politburo. Wickremesinghe who chaired the meeting pointed out that such an appointment to Wickremeratne would amount to a demotion. A senior UNPer at the meeting noted that Wijewardenes appointment to be Deputy General Secretary too could be viewed as a demotion of sorts by sections of the party though the UNP leader may have not intended it to be so. This is on the basis that he had served the six member Leadership Council of the UNP in 2014. Chaired by Karu Jayasuriya it also included Sajith Premadasa, Ravi Karunanayake, Lakshman Kiriella and Talatha Athukorala.

At Wednesdays politburo meeting, after Wickremesinghe made the surprise announcement, some members criticised the move. One was Navin Dissanayake who was named National Organiser. He said that the UNP General Secretary should have been a full time person and not a Cabinet Minister. He said the system had to be changed and there was no meaning in continuing with the existing set up. His argument was that a full time General Secretary would be able to devote more time at Sri Kotha, the party headquarters in Kotte, and also visit different electorates to build grassroots level party organisations.

Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa noted that Wickremesinghe had made those nominations as the leader of the party. He said he was personally worried about the repercussions it would cause on the leader. He urged that he runs through his nominees with backbenchers since that would only be fair. He also had a word of praise for Kabir Hashim who took us through some difficult times. He noted that he may not be too happy to continue in that post. He said he would appeal to Wickremesinghe to re-consider his move. He said he was of the strong view that onetime Media Minister and then Beruwala MP Imtiaz Bakeer Markar should be named the General Secretary of the party. I will still say that. If the leader has still decided it should not be so, I will fall in line with his thinking, he added.

Two senior citizens of the party, Ministers John Ameratunga and Gamini Jayawickrema Perera, were to admonish Premadasa for making those remarks which they opined amounted to criticising the leader. Ameratunga said when the late J.R. Jayewardene was the UNP leader, no one dared to direct any criticism at him. Perera added that it was not acceptable. Premadasa declared in the recent past he had not even given newspaper comments or interviews due to the fear that they could be misinterpreted. Yet, he argued, he should not be prevented from making his views known at a party meeting. That was why such meetings were held.

Premadasas remarks also sparked a verbal duel with former minister and Colombo District MP Ravi Karunanayake. He charged that the words back benchers were being used by Premadasa to pursue his own ends. He claimed they are the ones who are provoking headlines and leaking information to the media. Unmoved by the remarks, Premadasa responded, I only gave my point of view. I am entitled to it. If the Prime Minister has taken a decision, so be it. I will fall in line. However, I am entitled to express a view. Wickremesinghe hurriedly intervened to say that the matter was now closed since the decisions had been taken. Participants agreed they would meet at Sri Kotha on Thursday morning (next day) so the partys Working Committee could formally endorse the politburo decisions. In terms of the UNP constitution, the Working Committee is the policymaking body. The turnout at that meeting, less than half of the 100 membership, did cause some concern among senior members.

The first to raise issue at the Working Committee was onetime Speaker Joseph Michael Perera. He objected strongly to the re-appointment of Ravi Karunanayake as Assistant Leader. He said that since his name had been associated with issues questioning his integrity, he should first clear his name. The objection was overruled by Wickremesinghe. He pointed out that in terms of the UNP constitution, a decision made by the leader could be challenged only by a third of the membership of the Working Committee making a signed request to discuss such a matter. Perera declared that he planned to speak on the issue even in the future and would therefore resign from the Working Committee. He said that would enable him to speak out freely.

Also protesting Karunanayakes re-appointment was actor turned politician Ranjan Ramanayake. Looking at Wickremesinghe, he asked Sir, why dont you wait till his name (Karunanayakes) is cleared? The UNP leader retorted are you for or against? At that stage Kalutara District parliamentarian and State Minister Ajith Perera intervened to say Sir, instead of asking are you for or against, why dont you ask whether they like the appointments? There was silence.

Perera was critical of Wickremesinghe. He surprised those present by insisting that the UNP leader should step down and make way for another. He asked whether these were the reforms the party leader had promised. He also charged that it was not proper only to appoint Wickremesinghes schoolmates at Royal College to top positions and ignore the interests of the party. An unidentified voice accused Perera of criticising the party leadership. He denied the accusations.

Sajith Premadasa made a case for the top level leadership of the party being elected. I am happy even if my position is challenged. I would like to be elected.

Echoing Premadasas sentiments were Navin Dissanayake. He recalled an instance where his father (late Gamini Dissanayake) had played a game against Wickremesinghe and won. He did not elaborate but said on another occasion, however, he had also lost. He proposed that the top level leadership of the party should be elected by secret ballot. I would like to be elected than being selected, he said. However, Wickremesinghe reminded him that there was no provision in the party constitution for that purpose.

The call for reforms in the UNP has echoed in the political firmament for years now. Not surprisingly when what is sought and what is carried out are at great variance. It assumed greater significance after a pro-Sirisena SLFP group backed by the Joint Opposition moved a vote of no confidence in Parliament against Premier Wickremesinghe on April 4. In the weeks before, Wickremesinghe came under heavy pressure from his party members to re-organise the UNP by making structural changes that would lead to strengthening of their support base countrywide. Three weeks after the motion was defeated, the question is whether the new appointments will achieve this goal. More so, with a 17-moth time frame after which two major elections, presidential and parliamentary, are due. Going by what transpired at the Working Committee, it seems highly unlikely. Opinion in the party is sharply divided. On the one side are Wickremesinghe loyalists whilst on the other are those who do not favour the recent appointment of a General Secretary.

It only portends more problems for the UNP. No new positions have been created at the top level except the inclusion of four names  Kabir Hashim as Chairman, Akila Viraj Kariyawasam as General Secretary, Navin Dissanayake as National Organiser and Harsha de Silva as Treasurer. At the next tier, Ajith Perera has been placed in charge of trade unions whilst Minister Harin Fernando has been tasked to be responsible for communications. In other words, a group of UNP ministers and ministers of state have taken over new positions at their headquarters. There is no other action plan or a programme that extends beyond Colombo. How that change becomes a re-structuring of the party is one issue. Another, which is even more important, is over who benefits most from the exercise, the United National Party (UNP) or its leader Ranil Wickremesinghe?

Ranil consolidates his position

One is not wrong in concluding that it consolidates Wickremesinghes position at a newer level with limited benefits for the party, if at all. Firstly, he sailed through the no-confidence vote. If that was a setback for President Sirisena, who was keen to remove him as Prime Minister, Wickremesinghe became unassailable. In a tongue in cheek remark, a senior UNPer says we should thank Sirisena for this. He has strengthened our leader. The other is the appointment of Akila Viraj Kariyawasam as the General Secretary  the most powerful position in any recognised political party. It is this office that the National Elections Commission (NEC) recognises on the appointment of elected candidates as Members of Parliament, local authorities and Provincial Councils or their dismissals. It is no secret that Kariyawasam, also a coconut planter now, was introduced to national politics and groomed by Wickremesinghe.

He was one of his closest confidants and is considered to be a member of the inner circle. Indications that he was in for a top slot emerged when he voiced the views of his leader for days, after the defeat of the no-confidence motion. Even if a formidable section of the UNP is opposed to Kariyawasams appointment, there is no gainsaying that Wickremesinghe now has one of his most trusted lieutenants in that post. That way, he has strengthened himself further in the party making it difficult for his detractors to oust him easily.

SLFP reorganisation

Hard on the heels of the UNPs so-called re-organisation, the SLFP too appears to have taken the cue. Of course, the reasons are somewhat different from that of the UNP. The thrust appears to be the unhappiness of the membership over the SLFP General Secretary Duminda Dissanayake and UPFA General Secretary Mahinda Amaraweera. It heightened after the duo took part in meetings to support the no-confidence vote but later absented themselves in Parliament at voting time. Their votes were marked as abstentions.

At the end of last Tuesdays weekly cabinet meeting, Sirisena spoke with the eight remaining ministers of the SLFP. He told them that he had summoned a meeting of the Central Committee for that evening  wrongly construed by sections of the media that a decision was due for SLFP to part ways from the coalition. However, Sirisena told the SLFP ministers that the meeting was for a threefold purpose  discuss party trade union matters, the May Day celebrations and re-organisation of the SLFP. Thereafter, he had three separate meetings, all with SLFPers.

The first was with the 16 MPs who voted for the no-confidence motion and later sent in their resignations. Three of their emissaries  Chandima Weerakody, Dilan Perera and Lakshman Wasantha Perera  even flew to London when President Sirisena was there to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM). An eyewitness said they were seen seated in the lobby of the Park Lane Hilton where Sirisena stayed. On one occasion, when Sirisena had arrived, he had nodded his head at their presence and walked away. Later, however, Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva, senior deputy leader of the SLFP, obtained for them an appointment for a meeting. This is where Sirisena had agreed to another meeting when he returned to Colombo.

Former State Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena told the Sunday Times,

We had a general discussion and decided to have a further meeting on a date between May 8 and 15. It is at this meeting we will be taking decisions. We requested from the President to grant permission for the 16 members to sit separately in parliament on May 8. Approval was granted for this. Though we will be sitting separately, we will still remain as SLFP members. We may support the joint opposition on certain decisions such as opposing the UNP.

We also discussed about the future of the SLFP-UNP Memorandum of Understanding which lapsed last year. We queried about the future of the MoU and in case the parties agree to continue with it, the duration and the terms and conditions. We also questioned about the proposed party reforms. We decided that we will complete the discussions.

Former Minister Susil Premjayantha, another of the 16 member group, said yesterday, they had urged President Sirisena to quit the coalition. He said they were supportive of the party re-organisation. During the 90-minute meeting with him, Premjayantha said they urged President Sirisena to appoint new office bearers for the party. Thereafter the SLFP parliamenery group met.

The Central Committee meeting on Tuesday night turned out to be significant. Some members tried to veer away from the stated agenda and call for a vote on the SLFP to part ways with the UNP. Sirisena handled the issue deftly pointing out that it was no occasion to divide the party. He declared there was no necessity to go for a vote and cause a division.

It was former ministers S.B. Dissanayake and Susil Premjayantha who proposed jointly that all party positions should have new appointees. Sirisena, however, did not respond to the specific request. He said that in re-organising the SLFP, he proposed to consult even members of the public for their views. The first steps towards re-organisation, he said, would begin after May 8.

Whilst the UPFA will hold its May Day rally on May 7 in Batticaloa, there will also be some observances in Colombo on May 1. This is a meeting at a Committee Room of the BMICH where the party will remember its trade union leaders and the contribution they have made. That way, even if there is no holiday on May 1, the UPFA would have had ceremonies to mark May Day  a privilege it denied to other parties and trade unions by shifting the holiday. Sirisena was also critical about the media. He told SLFP members, you should not give headlines (meaning provide information) to the media. He noted that it was being used to cause instability in the country.

With some promises in store when Sirisena makes his policy statement, for the first time since he took over the running of the countrys economy, the coming weeks and months will remain crucial. The biggest problems for the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe coalition are not the grandiose plans for development. Instead, it is the reality that a larger mass of the people will see their stomachs hurt more as living costs keep soaring. Cosmetic changes to their parties and verbal pledges will not even be poor comforters. Therein lies their dilemma.The Mirissa attacks and a ministers (peculiar) argument View(s):

It is somewhat amusing (to put the matter mildly) that there is confusion as to whether Rs 200 million or Rs 1 billion has been allocated for repairs of Sri Lankas august parliament complex, deemed as urgent for its maintenance.

Misery for some, luxuries for others

Regardless of the amusing aspects thereof, this is a queer state of affairs. A Minister has castigated the allocation of Rs 1 billion for the same as amounting to a national crime, pointing out that the colossal sum will suffice to build 2,000 houses for the poor (Daily News, April 24,2018). Hot on the heels of that report, the sum has been downgraded to a measly Rs 200 million according to a statement issued by the Parliament.

The grand indifference shown by the public as to whether the House and its environs deserves repair or not notwithstanding, what is a few hundred million in our greatly devalued currency between friends, one might wryly question. But there are inequities in question. Earlier, super luxury cars were approved for parliamentarians with nary the pretense of protest by the Opposition. Of course, at least where the Mahinda Rajapaksa led self-styled Joint Opposition is concerned, there would be no reason to protest by those who were onetime shameless robbers of the nations public purse.

But the point is that public funds are allocated with panache to afford luxuries for those engaging in the solemn task of legislating (or not as the case may be). Scores of citizens are forced to stomach taxes being thrust down their throats with little rhyme or reason by this Government, including the retired dependent on their pensions. Shrill voices in ruling ranks plead that the new tax regime will result in the increase in direct taxes and decrease in indirect taxes. These assurances however need to be taken with far more than the proverbial pinch of salt.

The CCD, the law and the Minister

Meanwhile, a tug of words has occurred between another Minister and the Coast Conservation Department which had announced its intention to remove illegal structures on Sri Lankas beaches in the wake of attacks by beach touts and operators of unauthorised bars and restaurants on tourists in Mirissa and Midigama. Commendably, the CCD had refused to change its decision in the face of the Ministers injunction, reported in several news media, that such action should not be arbitrary and should not impact negatively on the livelihoods of small entrepreneurs. In response, the CCD had pointed out that it had already informed the occupants of these structures that they were operating unauthorized places a few years ago, to no effect.

The very fact that such an argument can be made in respect of unregulated joints allowed to operate with impunity on the coast or indeed elsewhere in this country on the spurious argument that small entrepreneurs may be affected is peculiar in its very essence. These mushrooming illegal joints offer entrepreneurship of a kind vastly different to what is normally envisaged by that term. In any event, to justify an illegality by urging non-arbitrariness must surely set fundamental principles of administrative law metaphorically on their heads. The Minister concerned may be advised to return to his law books to re-educate himself regarding, (at the minimum), the definition of what constitutes arbitrary action.

In this melee, it is to be hoped that the Coast Conversation Department will stand firm and be given public support in terms of insisting on adherence to the law. As stated last week in these column spaces, the savagery rampant on the past of those running unregulated beach outlets (small entrepreneurs by the Ministers definition perhaps), often with political backing is a matter of the Rule of Law in Sri Lanka. It is not a matter limited to tourism promotion as some may seek to project.

A larger issue of integrity

In fact, the Coast Conservation Departments response is a refreshing contrast to the routine dithering by public servants when politicians see fit to issue misguided directions. There is a larger issue here. An oft-heard and loudly bitter complaint by Sri Lankans from time immemorial is that politicians have ruined this country. There is much truth in this lamentation.

But as is the case with other similarly sweeping generalizations, it is not entirely the whole truth. Certainly the olden breed of statesmen and stateswomen who spent their own money in the national cause and for the public interest has disappeared. Now we are left with unprepossessing, ill-educated politicians crowding the national, provincial and local stage. Indeed, even the few who have some educational qualifications to their names are characterized by a singular stupidity coupled with political cunningness that belies those qualifications.

Others have criminal records to their names and are surrounded by a ghastly caboodle of relatives and acolytes clawing their way to riches which they could only have dreamt of and salivated about earlier. It is not a pretty picture by any means, leading to dismay and to despair as to the fate of this once beloved land.

The rot of politicization must stop

That being said, public servants, professionals, civil society and indeed ordinary citizens cannot wash their hands of responsibility either. Currently the subject of intensely jaundiced public critique in social media spaces, Sri Lankas legal and judicial institutions is an excellent illustration of the reasons why. As has been constantly reminded in this column, the decline of the countrys judicial institution did not happen overnight or indeed, over a decade (of the Rajapaksa Presidency or otherwise). This is a sobering reality that those generally unacquainted with our tortuous history tend to miss.

Indeed, the diminishing of public respect for the judiciary in this country was not solely owing to politicians. Lawyers and judges themselves were very much a party to this unconscionable crime as they looked on in silence while the judicial institution withered and atrophied. In other instances, there was open collaboration in attacks on the constitutional process. When the 17th Amendment to the Constitution was thrown to the dustbin and the Rajapaksa Presidency took political control of constitutional commissions on human rights, the police, the public service and so on, judges and lawyers accepted appointments to those compromised bodies without demur.

These are inconvenient truths that must be acknowledged. And this is the reason why a decently operationalized system of governance or even a new Constitution drafted with the very best of intentions will not survive very long without its democratic essence being extracted. A dry mockery of a shell will be left behind to sustain an illusion that there is some functionality left.

This is what has happened in large part, to Sri Lankas public sector as well as its legal and judicial institutions. That rot must be stemmed with all possible determination.Tight police security for underworld kingpins family wedding View(s):

Even if murders, crime and accident rates are rapidly rising, Police Chief Pujith Jayasundera, has the time to care for the social needs of those linked to the underworld.

Last week, two Police stations in the Greater Colombo area were given orders to take security precautions, of all things, for a wedding ceremony of an underworld family. The brother of an underworld king pin was getting married last Thursday. Their rival group was planning to snuff him out when he was with the bride and other guests at a reception hall.

Personnel from the two Police Station had onerous security duties. One lot checked all the vehicles including the one in which the bride and the groom were to travel. They were looking for weapons. Another group ringed the reception hall.

There were plainclothesmen inside watching closely on those assembled. So much so, a guest who would easily have found a place in a gang was questioned on his connections to the bride and the groom. He passed the test.

When the reception ended, a Police escort helped the bride and groom going for their honeymoon in a vehicle. They melted away in the heavy traffic and the officers and men breathed a sigh of relief that their boss orders were carried out without anything untoward happening.

There seems an unusual moral to the story. It is not only those in high society for whose weddings Police security would be available, but also for kingpins of the underworld. More so, if they have a rival gang to fight.

Two new UL directors press for Hill

Has the top post in SriLankan Airlines  the Chief Executive Officer  been offered to one of the early incumbents, Peter Hill?

Insiders say at least two new directors are pressing for the appointment of 72-year-old Mr Hill. He served as CEO of SriLankan until a spat with then Monitoring MP for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Sajin de Vass Gunawardena. It was over dislodging fare paying passengers to accommodate an official entourage from London that had accompanied then President Mahinda Rajapaksa when SriLankan had a partnership with Emirates. It even resulted in the partnership breaking down.

Insiders also say that Mr Hill may seek approval to bring along another colleague in the airline industry if he is indeed given the job. He may also seek dual citizenship, they say.

SLFP rebels also at party rally

The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) rebel group of 16 who voted for the no-faith motion against Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe will take part in their partys May Day celebrations at Eravur in Batticaloa on May 7.

This is notwithstanding a decision by them to sit in the Opposition benches from May 8. They seem to want one foot here and another foot there, enjoying the best of both sides of the House.

Whilst the UNP will have its rally at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium in Colombo, the Joint Opposition will have its rally, also on May 7, at the ramparts in Galle.

President angry over immunity given to fugitive envoy

As is now known, Sri Lankas chief diplomats in Washington DC and Moscow during the previous administration, both close relatives of then President Mahinda Rajapaksa, are now wanted by the Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID).

Just this week, the Kaduwela Magistrates Court renewed a warrant for the arrest of Jaliya Wickremasuriya after he failed to turn up in court.

It now transpires that an official in the Foreign Ministry had issued him a document claiming that he enjoyed diplomatic immunity. Hence, it has been argued that the purchase of a building to house the Sri Lanka Embassy in Washington DC where there has been an embezzlement of funds cannot be probed in the light of this.

The move had angered President Maithripala Sirisena. He has sought to ascertain how this had come about. Diplomatic immunity, in terms of the Geneva Convention, does not apply in this instance, said an official source.

In the case of Udayanga Weeratunga, Sri Lankas onetime Ambassador to Moscow, now detained in Abu Dhabi, officials of the Attorney Generals Department are still busy formulating documents to initiate extradition proceedings. The bills for the arrest of the fugitive envoy are mounting in the process.

Drunk driving: Magistrate not influenced by shot from the Bar

The ongoing heat wave is taking a heavy toll in the North. The Jaffna Magistrate court was told this week that a school teacher who was accused of driving under the influence of liquor had to consume a couple of alcohol shots to keep cool in the unusual heat that prevails in the region.

A lawyer from the Jaffna Bar (no pun intended), appearing on behalf of the teacher told the court that the accused teacher is not a regular drinker but an occasional imbiber. He reasoned to the judge that his client had consumed liquor since he has to travel a lot amidst the heat.

The Magistrate did not appear to be convinced. He fined the teacher Rs 7,500 for the offence of driving under the influence of liquor and ordered the police to suspend his driving licence for nine months. This week alone, more than twenty people have had their driving licences suspended for drunk driving in the North.

Mr. Builder eyeing Finance Ministry

Amidst moves for a ministerial reshuffle, a politico known for his contributions to his party, provoked some laughter.

The man, who holds another portfolio and owns a business empire, was campaigning in his own way to become the Minister of Finance. Others in the party laughed it off. But the way scientific appointments are to be made, anything is possible nowadays.

Controversy  as always on Presidential delegations

Social media reports that President Maithripala Sirisena was accompanied by a large delegation, some saying more than a 100, for the Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) meeting in London, were cause for concern for the Presidential Media Division.

The division in a statement countered these reports and claimed that the President was accompanied by his spouse, his official doctor, Foreign Minister Tilak Marapana and his wife, Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva, a language interpreter and two officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In the process, even the names of Finance and Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera and Trade and Commerce Minister Rishad Bathiudeen, who went for CHOGM-related events were not mentioned. Perhaps, expenses for their trips including the air fare were paid for by their respective ministries. Technically, therefore, they were not part of the Presidential delegation.

Hastening to issue clarifications or denials after reports have appeared seems to have become a pastime for those at the PMD. Requests by the media ahead of the Sri Lanka delegations visit drew no response and now doubts are being raised over the PMDs latest claims too as photographs appearing in local media show various persons from Colombo posing or appearing with the President in London.Vesak: State must act to protect Buddha Sasana View(s):

Never a week without a controversy; when to celebrate Vesak is the latest to be whipped up. Should Vesak be in April or in May is the question.

The debate has emerged from the fact that there are two full moons falling within a calender month for Poson. Suddenly, in the very week Vesak is to be officially celebrated in Sri Lanka, questions are being asked  why in April?

Had Vesak, the day associated with the birth, enlightenment and passing away of the Buddha been fixed for the full moon day in May (29) there would, no doubt, have been those who would have asked  why in May?

In Buddhas lifetime there were no such named months and the lunar calendar was based on the cycles of the full moon. Thus, it was not that the Buddha was born, attained Buddhahood, and passed away on the same day, i.e. on April 29 or May 29, but the thrice blessed events of the Buddhas life on Earth occurred within that monthly cycle. Some could argue therefore, that Vesak ought to be celebrated from one poya to the other during this period, not just on one full moon day.

The older generation will remember when the Sinhala and Tamil New Year was on April 12 and 13. These dates are all based on the Gregorian calendar we use today. After every approximately 70 years, it changes by a day and in some years the traditional New Year would be April 14 and 15. Three hundred and thirty five years ago, Robert Knox referred to this holiday being on April 8 (and March 22 on the Julian calendar). In some thousands of years  if Planet Earth still exists, the Sinhala and Tamil New Year could fall on January 1 and Vesak on Christmas Day. Some advocate a fixed date in April for the traditional New Year irrespective of astronomical computations for this event.

The Government says that the decision to have Vesak celebrations this weekend in April was taken two years ago by a committee of learned senior monks and scholars. The United Nations that now observes Vesak has also fixed today (April 29) as the relevant date, marking it in New York in the General Assembly on May 1 for practical reasons. This has been done in consultation with Sri Lanka, Thailand and Korea.

Last year, too, there was some controversy over Vesak celebrations in Sri Lanka. The Indian Prime Minister was invited as a guest of honour with the Nepal President to open the festivities organised by the Sri Lanka Government. There were those in India and Sri Lanka who questioned their visit, more specifically that of the Indian PM for different reasons, none of it to do with Buddhism.

These controversies may have begun this time round with the Buddha Sasana Minister making a proposal to ban pandals during Vesak. He later said he had been misquoted, but while he makes a point in arguing that the youth in particular treat Vesak as one big bajauwwa (tamasha) rather than focusing on Buddhist thought and meditation. He probably didnt take into account that Vesak is a celebration, not one where the followers of his doctrine need reflect the whole day on a corner-stone of his teachings such as Dhukka (suffering).

The Christian religious hierarchy have had the same experience with Christmas. Nowadays, despite a revival of fundamental Islam, the feasting with Iftar parties that follows the daily fasting seeming to negate the religious teachings associated with Ramadan, has caused concern among certain Mullahs.

There have been many more religions over the centuries than exist today. Those that have faded away over time, may have gone into oblivion, partly because of the lack of public celebration of their faiths. Many newer religious sects today play on this celebration factor, especially to attract young people not just to keep their flock but also to wean new recruits away from other established religions.

There are, however, larger issues at stake. Very recently, the Maha Nayaka Theras, long criticised for their silence over the growing indiscipline among a few in robes, wrote to the President requesting action be taken against the errant monks.

In the backdrop of various video clips posted on social media and widely circulated around the world showing saffron robed monks using uncouth language, spitting venomous remarks against other religions and generally behaving in a manner unbecoming of a member of the clergy, the venerable high priests of the four main Nikayas  Malwathu, Agiriya, Amarapura and Ramannya  have asked the President to intervene. They state the obvious; that these persons, if they be real ordained monks, or not, were bringing disrepute to the entire order and to Buddhism as a whole.

The Vinaya Pitaka (The Book of Rules for Buddhist monks) is what the Buddha himself espoused to discipline monks through the ages. The responsibility in implementing those rules lay almost entirely with the senior monks. However, there has seemingly been a breakdown in this command structure. Arguably, opening the gates of regular universities to student monks opened the flood gates to this indiscipline.

Some things, however, can only be done by the State. The high priests have asked that monks be registered and special identity cards issued to them so that they can be identified. This way errant monks and pretenders in robes could be then identified.

In their memorandum they refer to the times in ancient Lanka when King Parakramabahu the Great (during the Polonnaruwa period) had taken action to excommunicate miscreant Bhikkhus and when King Keerthi Sri Rajasinha (during the Kandyan period) had taken similar action to preserve the Buddhist Monastic Order and thereby the stability of the Buddha Sasana in Sri Lanka.

It seems that the Mahanayake Theras, by quoting from history and themselves having made a move towards cleansing the clergy, have recognized the seriousness the problem of indiscipline has thrown up today.

The conduct of many members of the clergy, from shouting slogans during street demonstrations to breathing fire on partisan political platforms, has been to the detriment of the many pious monks, the image of the clergy, and caused embarrassment to those lay persons who follow the Dhamma.

If the Constitution of this country says that it is the duty of the State to protect and foster the Buddha Sasana, whether Vesak is in April or May is not the crux of what is at stake. It is time that the State does what is expected of it  and protect it from the usurpers who exploit the veneration the people have for the Buddha Sasana.The Dutch suffer a food shortage This article is part of a continuing series on Sri Lankan history View(s): View(s):

Due to the opposition of the Government Agents of King Rajasinghe, the Dutch had to install armed contingents in various places. Along with this, came the difficulty in supplying food for the Dutch. This made the Dutch Governor rather nervous.

Gradual decrease in the supply of food caused a problem for the Dutch. Then the Dutch Governor took a stand to demolish the fort

in Negombo and hand it over to the king. He informed the king of this stand. Along with a lot of gifts, they sent this message to the king. But the king refused to believe in this.



The king did not listen to any of their requests. He on his part, tried to go to Ruwanwella and negotiate with the Portuguese, through letters. Meanwhile, the Dutch captured the royal camp in Raigam Korale. They dispersed the Sinhala soldiers who were there.

The Dutch Governor did not like to maintain a huge army in Colombo. As a result he had to demarcate places for the Dutch to settle down. The extent of the fort was reduced. The part that was separated was named the Old City which is derived from the Tamil word Pettah.

Later, the British gave the name Pettah to this Old City and so it came to be known as Pettah. The meaning of the word Pettah is the land near the fort of a guarded city.

The extent of Fort was the distance from the harbour to Canal Row.

By Halaliye Karunathilake

Edited and translated by Kamala Silva

Illustrated by Saman Kalubowila30 years! You get some roles and you lose some Francesca Muddanayake caught up with popular British actors Adrian Lukis and Caroline Langrishe during the Fairway Galle Literary Festival View(s): View(s):

I did a major film when I was about 19, Caroline Langrishe says, It was a Western which we filmed in Mexico called the The Eagles Wing with Martin Sheen. And Charlie Sheen  his son, you know the naughty one  was nine years old at the time and was running around the set. So I was given the job of looking after him whilst his father was working! She laughs, When I tell people that story they say, Oh so its really all your fault!

Adrian Lukis and Caroline Langrishe, have spent the best part of 30 years honing their craft. Both have spent the past five years touring An Evening with Jane Austen (a collection of dramatic readings from the works of Jane Austen) which is how they found themselves in Sri Lanka at the Fairway Galle Literary Festival back in January. However, their work together goes back decades to a series called Peak Practice. Lukis, by then a regular, was also responsible for the writing of the episodes. I just turned up, Langrishe remembers, and I thought he seemed rather serious and I think he thought I was rather tiresome. He was always wanting to rework scenes and I was thinking Oh god! We just didnt connect.

Three or four years later, both appeared in a series called Judge John Deed and in the midst of filming Langrishe got asked to be Lukis onscreen wife for an adaptation of a Joanna Trollope book, Marrying the Mistress  This time we got on very well! Third times the charm.

But the trajectory of both their careers hasnt always been so smooth as is the case for many actors, You dont work for six months and then you sort of get three jobs all at once. Rejection is common and something, Langrishe states, she had to get used to from an early age.

Although she trained from a young age to be a ballet dancer, Langrishe made the move into acting from the age of 17, calling it a wiser career option, playing roles such as Kitty in the TV mini-series of Anna Karenina and later on, Isabella Linton in Wuthering Heights. Her biggest break however, was probably Charlotte Cavendish in the TV series Lovejoy with Ian McShane. In general her entire career has consisted of appearances in all major British TV series including Hollyoaks and Casualty. She attributes this success in part to her theatre training  I really do believe and history tells us that if you do a lot of theatre you will have more longevity in the business because to be in a play takes a lot of bottle; its a lot of energy, skill, stagecraft, confidence, and an ability to adjust when the audiences are different every night.

She uses the careers of Maggie Smith (also a participant at the Fairway Galle Literary Festival) and Judi Dench, both of whom started out in theatre, as examples of powerful women who have had great longevity in an otherwise fickle industry. I comment that this is also remarkable given how films rarely focus on stories about women above the age of 40! I ask her whether she has found, as time goes by, that the roles being offered to her have decreased or alternatively, become two-dimensional. You have any number of parts when youre in your early 20s. And then in the 30s, masses of parts. 40s  quite good, because then you start to play mothers. And then for me, a bit of a dearth, late 40s, early 50s. You sort of fall between two or three categories. Youre not old enough to be the wise old woman, youre too old to be a mother of an 18-year-old. Its tricky  its just the lack of roles before anything else.

This is perhaps not the case for Lukis who has managed to secure a wider variety of roles over the past few years which have included appearances in The Crown, Black Mirror and Downton Abbey. Breaking through the industry with a role in the 80s TV series After the War, he is perhaps more well-known for playing the scrupulous and manipulative Mr. Wickham, opposite Colin Firths Mr. Darcy in the 1995 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. I asked him about his process of getting into character- I remember the principal thing was not to play him oily or like a villain because if you play him like a villain it makes Elizabeth looks stupid and shes very bright. As far as I remember I tried to bring a sort of gentleness and sincerity to it but honestly, Id rather spend an evening with Wickham rather than Darcy I can tell you that!

Indeed, the late 90s and early 2000s welcomed the rise of Jane Austen adaptations. There were some, like Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, which remained faithful to the source material and there were others, like Bridget Jones Diary and Clueless, which put their own spin on Austen. What makes people come back for more and more?People think nothing much happens in Austen, but an enormous amount happens, Lukis says, The stories are full of humour, caustic one-liners, observations about people. Shes got human nature. Perhaps part of Austens appeal lay in painting relatable characters too to which Langrishe adds, She wants these women to have a voice and a choicetheres definitely a feminist tone there.

Theres something remarkable about the fact that Langrishe and Lukis have been able to have successful careers on stage, television and film in an industry that can perhaps be unforgiving towards its actors. The business has changed radically. Nowadays, because agents are so greedy to find the next star, there is such emphasis on getting young people working as soon as they can, Langrishe says, quite wearily. Everything is to do with viewing figures. I didnt get a job because I didnt have more than 50,000 Twitter followers!

Its a far cry from the 80s and 90s when audition processes were smoother and interference from production executives were virtually non-existent. Now the director has no power at all, Lukis comments, The producer can come in and say, Yeah weve got this other girl whos just been in a very popular series and the director could object and think shes not right for the part but the producer may say That doesnt matter. And so in the end its the execs who make the decision. Theres a sort of finality to Lukis tone which makes me think that, because both have spent so much time working in the industry, to them change is inevitable and they have no option but to adapt.

It makes going into the industry that much harder but Lukis points out that It was always hard for actors. If you read about actors travelling about in the 20s and the 30s, they would be travelling for 40 weeks of the year on minimum money, finding awful digs, huge hierarchies from the lead actor down to the lowliest actor  but they did it because they loved Shakespeare or they wanted to be with likeminded people.

Lukis continues, I would say youve got to have a strong overriding feeling that this is what you do. Its not only that you dont work from time to time. Its that you know youre perfect for the part, you work your tail off, and you go in and read and the director says, I love what you did, its fantastic. I think youll be hearing from us VERY soon. And then you dont get the job and that happens a lot. Langrishe laughs and says, I mean my god so much of [this business]is luck!She pauses before finally saying But you keep on doing it. Hope, its just hope!James Cameron slams Avengers franchise, reveals hope for a decline in superhero films View(s):

With no fewer than four additional Avatar films in the pipeline, one could be forgiven for thinking James Cameron is an advocate for effects laden, plot-driven cinema.

The celebrated director has surprisingly condemned their easy escapism by targeting the increasingly popular superhero franchise, a genre currently dominated by Marvel and their rapidly developing universe of comic-book to big-screen characters.

Speaking to Indie Wire as Marvels latest offering, Avengers: Infinity War, prepares for release in the United States, Cameron, 63, admitted hes keen to see a declining appetite for such films.

Im hoping well start getting Avenger fatigue here pretty soon, he said. Not that I dont love the movies. Its just, come on guys, there are other stories to tell besides hypergonadal males without families doing death-defying things for two hours and wrecking cities in the process.

Cameron plans to release the first of four Avatar sequels in 2020, 11-years after his groundbreaking science-fiction saga entertained cinema-goers. But he is quick to assert that the film and its likely follow-ups, set in the 22nd century on fictional planet Pandora, has more in common with classic American cinema.

He said: Ive found myself as a father of five starting to think about what would an Avatar story be like if it was a family drama. What if it was The Godfather?

Its a continuation of the same characters but what happens when warriors who are willing to go on suicide charges and leap off cliffs, what happens when they grow up and have their own kids?

Despite his perceived criticism of Marvel films, studio head Kevin Feige expressed his delight that Cameron  whose canon of films also includes The Abyss, Terminator and Titanic  also said he loved them.

Courtesy  Daily MailKandy comes alive with Bradby Dance 2018 By Sanath Weerasuriya View(s): View(s):

Popular discotheque, Le Garage at Amaya Hills in Kandy will come alive into action with Bradby Dance 2018, after Royal stunned the Lions in Colombo last week.

YES-Legends Bradby Dance 2018, the most popular Bradby Party in the hills will kick off at 8.00pm at the Le Garage on 5th May, after the second leg of the Bradby in Kandy along with YES/ Legend FM.

After the second leg scrumming at the Trinity Grounds in Pallekele, Trinitians and Royalists will have a swinging, rucking blast at the most happening hotel in Kandy, Amaya Hills with the hottest YES- Legends FM DJs.

Todays Number one hit music station YES/LEGENDS 96.6 will pump the best of the 80s, 90s and latest music with the YES Spin-Master DJ Shawn and Legends 96.6 crew.

Le Garage was opened after its complete renovations in May 2017 for the Bradby Rave 2017 and thereafter started to rock the hills every Friday and Saturday for couples, in-house guests and the Club Members said Rushdy Raheem, the newly appointed Amaya Hills Resident Manager, who is the driving force of the Bradby Dance.

Also the audience can experience the new look, ambiance of Le Garage with best Hi-Tech sounds and lights at the venue. Tune into 96.6 and win free tickets for YES-Legends Bradby Dance 2018 at Amaya Hills.

YES-Legends Bradby Dance 2018, would be loaded with prizes, surprises, giveaways and offers such as one to one on selected beverages, free BBQ from the grill and free airline tickets.

We guarantee that Rugby Fans are going to have a fantastic time on Saturday, 5th May at Amaya Hills with our all new action plan said Rushdy.

There would be loads of give-aways and offers like one to one offer on selected beverages, free energy drink, free BBQ offers from the grill till 10.00pm are on the cards. Apart from that Action Stations will set up outside for party revellers to conquer hunger during the vibrant night, which are priced at reasonable rates. said RM Rushdy.

There will be lots of prizes and surprises including a free ticket to Bangkok by SriLankan Airlines and the first 25 couples will receive free Le Garage memberships.

Competitions such as selecting the Bradby Queen, Best Scrummer, Entrance Draw and Best Dancing Couple are lined up for the evening.

Tickets for YES/Legends Bradby Dance 2018 are priced at Rs.2000/- for a gent and the entrance is free for all ladies and members.

Limited tickets will be sold as there is a high demand for the dance as the Le Garage is back in action.

Call 0812233521/2, 0763086189 or 0774820637 for more details.

Print media sponsors of YES/Legends Bradby Dance 2018 are Daily Mirror and TV Times.CEP project: Japanese insurer to examine environmental and social risks By Namini Wijedasa View(s): View(s):

The Government has commissioned Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI) to carry out an environmental and social due diligence on the third and most complicated stage of the Central Expressway (CEP III), according to a source from the Finance Ministrys External Resources Department (ERD).

An environmental and social due diligence examines environmental and social risks associated with the business activities of a potential client or investee. It aims to ensure that the transaction does not carry environmental and social risks which could present a liability or risk to the financial institutionin this case, the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd (BTMU).

The project is still in the negotiation stage, the source said. After the environmental and social due diligence is completed, it will be decided how the loan will be finalised.

Last month, Sri Lankas Cabinet approved the granting of the 100 billion Japanese Yen (more than US$ 917million or Rs 144 billion) CEP III contract to Taisei Corporation of Japan. The initiativeone of the countrys most expensive road construction projects everis to be funded with a concessional loan from BTMU.

But the ERD source said the project was still in the negotiation stage. After the environmental and social due diligence is completed, it will be decided how the loan will be finalised, he added. CEP III will be a 32.5 kilometre four-lane carriageway from Pothuhera to Galagedara, with four interchanges, 12 main bridges and 17 viaducts across the floodplains of three main riversRambukkan Oya, Kuda Oya and Kospothu Oya. It will have 106 culverts, 23 underpasses, 14 overpasses and three tunnels. Certain sections run through steep mountain slopes while others run across paddy fields and low-lying areas.

The Central Environmental Authority (CEA) approved implementation of the complex project without waiting for the outcome of a series of vital geological surveys and tests. Consent was expedited due to the Governments focus on speed over caution.

Last week, experts slammed the Road Development Authoritys (RDA) resettlement action plan (RAP) for minimising effects of massive displacement from CEP III as being riddled with holes and spelling disaster for affected parties.

One specialistwho was on the committee that drafted Sri Lankas National Involuntary Resettlement Policy defined the RAP as  mostly a set of recommendations with no confirmed data on key aspects, no final inventory of losses or count of affected people, no identification of encroachers and no resolution of land ownership disputes.

It is now likely that the RAP was rushed through owing to NEXI asking for evidence of it during the environmental and social due diligence process. The document states that land acquisition  107,975 perches or 674.8 acres  will be completed in six months.

This means that the acquisitionsas with most other land acquisitions in Sri Lankaare being done under Section 38(a) of the Land Acquisition Act. This allows for immediate possession of such land on the ground of urgency. Land is vested with the State within 48 hours with compensation to be paid at a later date, unless land owners go to court. Such urgent acquisition absolves the acquiring agency from hearing objections to the project.

It is not clear why Section 38(a) is being employed for CEP III when the project has been in the pipeline for years. First of all, the RDA should have prepared and published the RAP before starting any acquisition, one expert said.Fuel price hike: CPC, Treasury in conflict By Damith Wickremesekera Corporation wants price adjustment and tax reduction, Treasury insists on pricing formula View(s): View(s):

The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) and the Treasury continue to remain locked in a controversy over how to increase prices of fuel amid a crisis of rising world oil prices and the Sri Lanka rupee depreciating to the lowest levels against the US dollar.

CPC Chairman Dhammika Ranatunga told the Sunday Times, we are seeking a price adjustment with tax concessions. However, the Treasury, the Sunday Times learns, has rejected the CPCs proposal and wants the CPC to have a pricing formula linked to world oil prices reviewable periodically.

In the ensuing disagreement, the CPC losses keep mounting. Since its counterparts, the Lanka-India Oil Company increased prices; there has also been an increase in the sale of CPC stocks from its outlets. There are fears that the financial losses of the CPC may rise.

Now, the CPC and the Treasury have agreed to place their respective proposals in writing to enable the Cabinet of Ministers to decide on the best possible course of action.

Treasury officials say they are livid that over the years mismanagement had led to mounting losses at the CPC. This is in addition to vast amounts of money overdue from the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and SriLankan Airlines for fuel supplied on credit. The amount is said to be more than Rs 75 billion.

CPC Chairman Ranatunga said that in addition to imposing the credit limit, the CPC had worked out a new arrangements with the two state enterprises to collect the arrears. He said the CPC had decided to stop supplies on credit to the CEB, but the Government had intervened and agreement was reached to repay Rs. 62 billion from the arrears.

CEB Chairman W.B. Ganegala said the board was having consultations with the National Savings Bank and the Peoples Bank to obtain a Rs. 25 billion loan within two weeks while the rest of the arrears to the CPC would be paid back in six months.

He said that arrears had accumulated because the Treasury which had promised to pay Rs 53 billion for the fuel bill incurred during the 2016/2017 drought period, had paid only Rs 6 billion. The CPC chairman said the Sri Lankan Airlines which had an arrears of Rs 13 billion had agreed to pay its monthly bills promptly while settling Rs 9 billion of the arrears within the next three years.

Mr Ranatunga said the CPCs proposal to the Cabinet would explain why it was opposed to a pricing formula based on world market trends and its impact on the CPC and consumers. He said such a pricing formula would also benefit the LIOC.

He said that instead of a formula, the CPC was seeking a price adjustment along with a tax reduction. But a senior Treasury official said offering tax concessions to the CPC was out of the question and the Treasury believed the pricing formula was the best option where prices would be reviewed two to three times a year keeping with world market prices.

He said the Treasury was considering the introduction of a new tax structure with an equal impact on the CPC and the LIOC. The official said the Treasury proposals would be submitted to the Cabinet within two weeks for a final decision.

Meanwhile, the latest financial situation of the CPC shows that currently the CPC has outstanding loans amounting to US$ 2.5 billion including and outstanding loan to Iran amounting to US$ 250 million.

The current fuel import bill of the CPC amounts to US$ 400 million a year while during the first three months of this year the CPC has suffered a loss of Rs 11 billion.JVP goes to Jaffna for procession and rally on May 1; Peratugami, CMU defiant View(s):

Several political parties and trade unions will go ahead with celebrations of May Day on Tuesday May 1 despite the Governments decision to postpone the celebrations and rallies for May 7.The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) will hold its rally at the Jaffna Municipal Council Grounds, a party spokesman said. He said that they would hold a procession and the rally but since it was being held in Jaffna, the party believed it would not disrupt any religious activities.

The JVP breakaway group Peratugami Pakshaya spokesman Pubudu Jagoda said the party would hold a procession and a meeting in Colombo on May 1. We have not been allowed the use of any public grounds but we are determined to hold the march and a meeting on May 1st, he vowed.

The Ceylon Mercantile Union (CMU) also said it will hold its May Day Celebrations on May 1 at its headquarters in Colombo.

A spokesman said the CMU May Day meeting would centre on calling upon the Government to bring down the cost of living, stop privatisation and safeguard the EPF and ETF funds of the workers.

Colombo region Deputy Inspector General of Police L.S. Pathinayaka said that while there was a ban on processions and meetings on May 1, the Police would not disrupt the May Day celebrations it they did not disturb the Vesak celebrations.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in a May Day message has expressed the hope that the working community would be able to achieve their full rights and help in the development of the country.

Opposition Leader R .Sampanthan in his May Day message appealed to all political parties to set aside political differences and join hands to resolve the root causes of the national question for the sake of the future of this country and the future generations.

We need to work out a Constitution, the supreme law of the country, that treats all citizens equally with dignity and self-respect in order to enjoy lasting peace and economic prosperity. We have missed many opportunities in the past for fulfilling this great need of our motherland and we cannot afford to lose this opportunity, he said.

While some political parties are defying the Governments decision to hold May Day on May 7 and going ahead with their May 1 rallies, a major international labour movement has also criticised the Government.

The Industrial ALL Global Union which represents 50 million workers in the mining, energy and manufacturing sectors in 140 countries, including Sri Lanka, has written to President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe calling on the Government to respect the democratic rights of the workers to celebrate May Day on May 1. We are deeply dismayed to learn that your administration, without consulting the National Labour Advisory Council decided unilaterally to postpone the commemoration of International Workers day on May 1 to May 7 under the pretext it would disturb the celebration for Vesak week, the Global Union said. It urged the President and the Premier to reverse the decision and grant permission for May Day rallies to be held in public parks on May 1.Kerawalapitiya LNG plant tender: Korean consortium appeals View(s):

The proposed award of the Kerawalapitiya 300MW Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) power plant tender to Lakdhanavi Ltd, has been referred to the Procurement Appeals Board (PAB) by a consortium comprising Samsung C&T, Korea Midland Power Co. (KOMIPO) and GS Energy.

The consortium, in its appeal to the PAB earlier this month, opposed the recommendation of the Standing Cabinet Appointed Procurement Committee (SCAPC) to award the tender to Lakdhanavi, which is a subsidiary of LTL Holdings (Pvt) Ltd which, in turn, is a subsidiary of the State-owned Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB).

The award of this tender for the 20-year Build, Own, Operate and Transfer (BOOT) project was initially delayed for 18 months, and is now likely to be further deferred. Initially, there were differences over the alleged opening of the Samsung JV Korea Groups financial bid, without considering the offers of 7 other firms. But now, the Korean consortium is up in arms over the decision to award Lakdhanavi the project.

In its appeal, the Korean consortium maintains it was the only qualified bidder after the second stage of the technical evaluation, and that, all other bidders did not comply with the technical requirements.

The tender is for a combined cycle power plant powered by dual fuel. This means it should be able to run on liquid fuel and regasified LNG (RLNG). It must not be confined to one. However, none of the other bidders plants were designed to facilitate an RLNG operation, even two years after completion of the power plant, the consortium states.

It maintains that the other bidders have not factored in fuel gas receiving facilities necessary to operate the combined cycle power plant on RLNG. The financial bid would, therefore, be substantially affected and reduced most unfairly when something as important and critical as an entire fuel gas receiving facility is simply not factored into the bid, the consortium points out. LTL Holdings had submitted the lowest bid at US$ 160 million.

The Korean consortiums commercial proposal was disregarded because of a really trivial document error, its appeal observes. At the opening of the financial bids in August 2017, the relevant CEB official was unable to access the pen drive that had been submitted by the consortium. He also refused to peruse the contents of the pen drive using the laptop computer of the consortiums formal representative.

The appeal also highlights a conflict of interest in Lakdhanavi, in which the CEB has a strategic holding, participating in such tenders. It states that the nexus between the two, accords an overwhelming advantage to the bid submitted by Lakdhanavi, to the grave prejudice of other bidders. A 2nd bidder, GCL Windforce & RenewGen, has also lodged an appeal with the PAB against the tender. It is learned that this party also objected to the conflict of interest.Public exposition of the most sacred Buddha relics from Sarnath View(s):

The sacred Buddha relics enshrined at the Mulagandhakuti Vihara at Sarnath in India were brought for public veneration yesterday on a request from the Prime Ministers Office. This is only the second time these relics discovered by British archaeologists in colonial India in 1913 and handed over to the Maha Bodhi Society of India for custody have left India, and the first time brought to Sri Lanka in nearly a hundred years.

Picture shows Ven. Pelewatte Seewali Thera, General Secretary of the Maha Bodhi Society of India and Indias High Commissioner Taranjit Singh Sandhu carrying the historic relics from the Air India aircraft that brought the relics from Varanasi via New Delhi to Colombo. Parliament Speaker Karu Jayasuriya accepted the sacred relics on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka.

Members of the clergy, representatives of the Anagarika Dharmapala Trust and the Maha Bodhi Society of India and government officials from the Prime Ministers Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were present at the airport for the arrival ceremony from where a special motorcade took the relics to Temple Trees where theywill be kept till May 2.Singapore firm seeks rule waiver to take control of EAP media companies View(s):

The Singapore-based Blue Summit Capital Management Pvt Ltdwhich has agreed to funnel US$ 75 million into the crisis-ridden Edirisinghe Group of companieshas applied to the Finance Ministry for an exemption to the rule that foreign companies can own only 45% of shares in media companies, authoritative sources said.

If granted, the private equity firm (which claims to have the backing also of an influential local investor whose name has not been made public) will gain full control of the EAP groups television and radio stations (Swarnavahini, Shree FM, Ranone FM and E FM). At present, only the stipulated percentage of shares has been pledged.

The Central Bank, which is overseeing the deal, has maintained that everything must be within the laws of the land. The first tranche of US$ 17 million has already been remitted to Sri Lanka. Another US$ 15 million also came into the country this week and will show up in the books on Tuesday. The rest is expected to be paid by the end of June.

The investors will get control of the subsidiaries corresponding to the payments they make, a Central Bank source said.

Among the companies Blue Summit will gain control of are Swarnamahal Jewellers, EAP Films and Theatres and Swarnamahal Financial Services (SFS). It is expected to provide the Central Bank with a business plan to revive SFS.

Also on the table are properties like the Sapphire Hotel in Wellawatte. It will not take over the bigger financial company, Edirisinghe Trust Investments (ETI), with its Rs 33bn in liabilities. The investor did not want it, the source said. The Central Bank is still faced with tackling the woes of ETIs 25,000 depositors who are now agitating to recover their money. There is a potential investor for company, the Sunday Times learns, but it is too early to say if a deal would come through.

The best case scenario is to get an investor who plugs the gap and turns ETI into a viable company, the Central Bank source said, adding that it could not be confirmed whether the rumoured investor would deliver the goods. A second option is that the depositors will be willing to accept shares and to raise money that way but they are adamant not to do so.

This leaves the regulator with a final optionwhich is to use the incoming Rs 11.8 billion to pay off depositors and to liquidate ETI. Even with Rs 11.8 billion, which we get from outside without any burden on our financial system, the depositors will receive a reasonable amount, he said. The deposit insurance will guarantee a payment of Rs 600,000 each, which will cover a fair number of depositors.

While Rs 11.8 billion is being received for the subsidiaries, the Central Bank feels around Rs 23 billion can be raised. This will also then be distributed among depositors.The most revered Buddha relics from Sarnath in Sri Lanka for first time Vesak exposition for the public at Temple Trees from today till Wednesday View(s): View(s):

Lord Buddhas most revered relics, from Sarnath, were brought to Sri Lanka yesterday for public exposition on the occasion of Vesak. The relics, carried by the General Secretary of the Maha Bodhi Society of India, Ven. P. Seewali Thera were received by Indias High Commissioner Taranjit Singh Sandhu inside the Air India aircraft and presented to Speaker Karu Jayasuriya at the foot of the gangway.

This is the first time these sacred relics have been brought to Sri Lanka from India, and special arrangements have been made by the Government of India for this purpose with the concurrence of the Maha Bodhi Society of India, the High Commission of India said in a release this week.

The public can pay homage to these relics at Temple Trees in Colombo from today (Sunday) till Wednesday (May 2).

These relics are enshrined at the Mulagandhakuti Vihara at Sarnath in India. Sarnath is historically significant since Lord Buddha preached his first sermon in a deer park in the area after attaining Buddhahood. Anagarika Dharmapala, founder of the Maha Bodhi Society of India, built the Mulagandhakuti Vihara to restore the glory of Sarnath. The land and the sacred relics were gifted to the Maha Bodhi Society of India by the Government of India.

A specially-made casket secures these two most revered and authentic relics. The first relics, enclosed within the silver casket enshrined in the Vihara, were found by Sir John Marshall in 1913-14 near the ancient city of Taxila (Takshasila). They were found in a small Buddhist chapel close to the Dharmarajika Stupa in, a silver reliquary with inscriptions dating the year 136 (circa 79 A.D). They were recorded as the relics of the Blessed One.

The second relic enshrined at Sarnath was found by A. H. Longhurst of the Archaeological Survey of India in 1929 in a large Stupa at Nagarjunakonda in the Guntur District of the then Madras Presidency. The Stupa in which the relic was found is described as the Maha Chetiyaor viz. the Great Stupa of the Blessed One.

The High Commission of India thanked the Mahabodhi Society of India for loaning these sacred relics for exposition in Colombo and said the sacred relics of Sarnath are yet another manifestation of the shared Buddhist heritage of India and Sri Lanka, which forms a spiritual bond between our two nations.

Several monks and lay members from the Maha Bodhi Society of India and officials of the Indian Archeological Department have accompanied the relics. Speaking at the brief ceremony, Ven. Seewali Thera said that on the instructions of the Anagarika Dharmapala, resident monks at the Mulaghandakuti Vihara at Sarnath have been reciting the Dhammachakka Sutra  the first sermon of Lord Buddha enunciating the Doctrine of the Middle Path, every evening for the past nearly one hundred years at the Vihara.All are welcome to make MMAs Rasa Sayang 2018 a success View(s):

Rasa Sayang 2018 a mega Malay musical show organised by the Mabole Malay Association (MMA), will be held at 7 p.m. on Sunday, May 6, at the Bishops College Auditorium in Colombo.

MMA President, Mohamed Dalkein (Tony) Saldin is happy to have received the full blessings of the Indonesian Embassy and of the Ambassador in organising Rasa Sayang 2018.

The objective of this event is to raise funds to carry out as many social service projects as possible.

Rasa Sayang 2018 Creative Director, Naushad Rassool, leader of the popular musical band, The Flame is handling the music while Azmina Rahim along with Muhammad Febrian Rochmadhoni (known as Rian) from the Embassys Cultural Division, are in charge of the Malay dance items.

The progress of the team is good, said Rian. I am happy that so many boys and girls are coming. We like to train anyone, irrespective of race or nationality.Blossoming floral ties between the Netherlands and Sri Lanka By Tera Jayewardene View(s): View(s):

The scent of flowers wafted around the auditorium of Trace Expert City on April 25 as the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands celebrated the floriculture industries of Sri Lanka and the Netherlands with Sri Lanka  the Netherlands: Old Friends  new trends. The event saw a floral competition, exhibition, workshop, and presentation.

Sri Lanka and the Netherlands are long term partners with the Embassy of Netherlands facilitating multiple projects to transfer knowledge and technical know-how on improving Sri Lankas agriculture sector, Netherlands ambassador Joanne Doornewaard said at the event.

The florists were given one and half hours to create floral arrangements with a set of tiger lilies, chrysanthemums and orchids, a mixture of Dutch and Sri Lankan flowers.Vesak around the world in ancient times By Bhante Dhammika of Australia View(s): View(s):

Today is Vesak, the most universally observed of all Buddhist celebrations or holidays. Traditionally it is believed that the Buddha was born, awakened and passed into final Nirvana on the same day, the full moon of the second month of the ancient Indian called Vesakha, which corresponds to the modern April-May. For at least the last 60 years Vesakha has been widely pronounced as Vesak, the Sinhalese way of saying it. Why not the Thai (Waistkha), the Tibetan (Sa Ga Dawa), the Korean (SeokgaTansinil) or the Vietnamese (Phat Dan) forms? Or for that matter, why not the Pali/SanskritVesakha? Because in 1950 the inaugural meeting of the World Fellowship of Buddhists was held in, paid for and very much dominated by Ceylon, and so that countrys way of saying it became current.

Vesakha has not always been a major celebration in all Buddhist countries. In Thailand it was only a low-key ecclesiastical holiday until 50 years ago, as was Magha Puja and Wan Asanha Bucha. The big holidays and celebrations were the Hindu ones: Songkran, LoiKrathong, etc. and in the north of the country Inthakin, the water throwing festival, and several others. In Sri Lanka campaigning in the early 1880s to have Vesakha made a public holiday continually failed until Colonel Olcott went to London to petition the British authorities and finally succeeded in 1885. Malaysian Buddhists hardly celebrated it at all until the dynamic American monk Ven. Sumangalo popularised it and began petitioning the British government to make it a public holiday in the 1950s. Although the majority of Singaporeans have always identified themselves as Buddhists no move by any of them to make Vesak a public holiday was made until 1947. In 1950 after receiving several petitions subsequently the government formed a committee to look into the possibility of making Vesak a public holiday but found little public support for it. It only became a public holiday in 1955.

Interestingly, there is very little information about how or exactly when the Buddhas Birth, Awakening and Passing was celebrated in most Buddhist countries in ancient times. The records are blank except for India and Sri Lanka. The Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang who was in India in the 7th century wrote this concerning how and when Buddhists celebrated these events. The Bodhisattva was born on the 8th day of the second half of the month of Vesakha But the Sthavira school holds that it was on the 15th day of the second half of Vesakha. It is said in the ancient records that the Buddha entered Parinirvanaon the 15th day of the second half of the month of Vesakha But according to the Sarvastivada school he entered Parinivana on the 8th day of the second half of the of the month of Karttika. The Tathagata attained full awakening on the 8th day of the second half of the month of Vesakha on the Indian calendar. But according to the Sthavira school the event occurred on the 15th day of the second half of Vesakha.

So it would seem that the Mahayanists and the Sthaviras (the Indian version of Theravada) disagreed on the days these events occurred, although not the month. Exactly how the celebrations were conducted Xuanzang gave no information. However, he did say something about the Vesakha celebrations at Bodh Gaya. Each year on that day the monarchs of various countries and the monks and laymen of different places gather here in hundreds of thousands and bathe the Bodhi Tree with scented water and milk to the accompaniment of music, flowers and lamps burning continually and vie with each other in making offerings to the Tree.

Vesakha was first celebrated on a wide scale in Korea during the Silla period in about the 7th century when what was called the Lotus Lantern Festival (YeonDeung Hoe) was inaugurated. People would make lanterns in the shape of lotus flowers and hang them in temples, a tradition that has continued until today.

At the beginning of the 5th century an earlier Chinese pilgrim, Faxian witnessed how Vesakha was celebrated in Patna. On the 8th day of the second month (i.e. Vesakha) there is a procession of images. They construct a four-wheeled car and erect upon it a tower of five stages made of bamboo lashed together, the whole being supported by a central post so that it looks like a stupa. Then they cover it with fine white linen which they later paint with bright colours. Having made figures of devas and decorated them with gold and silver they place them under canopies of embroidered silk. Then on each of the cars four corners they make shrines in which they place images of the Buddha in the sitting posture flanked on each side by bodhisattvas. There are about 20 such cars and each somewhat differently decorated. During the day of the procession monks and lay people gather in great numbers with chanting, music and the offering of flowers. After being invited to do so by brahmacariyas (lay people keeping the ten Precepts for the day) the cars enter the city and then stop. All night there is chanting and music by the people who have gathered from many different regions. This is most interesting because it is the earliest reference to the chariot festivals, still done in Nepal and parts of India.

The earliest reference to Vesakha celebrations in Sri Lanka is from the 1st century BCE. It must have been a major, probably the major, religious festival. In the Mahavamsa the reign of some kings is measured by how many Vesakhas they had celebrated. But exactly what form the celebrations took the chronicle gives no information. The Mahavamsa reports that Sena II celebrated the Vesakha festival with the poor, giving them food and drink and clothing as they desired. The Chinese pilgrim Faxian spent two years in Sri Lanka at the beginning of the 5th century. He witnessed one festival to the Tooth Relic during which large brightly coloured depictions of all the Jataka stories looking completely life-like were set up on each side of the roads in the capital. Again, this is interesting because it could well be an account of how Vesakha is celebrated in Sri Lanka today. At main intersections in many cities and towns large plywood boards with illustrations of Jataka stories or events in the life of the Buddha painted on them are erected. Nowadays most of these pandals as they are called, are illuminated with thousands of light bulbs, some of the figures move, and loudspeakers explain each story. In Faxians day they would have been illuminated by oil lamps.

A practice that has become widespread and popular in recent decades is having a statue of the baby Prince Siddhattha and tipping water over it. This is in imitation of the legend that when the holy prince was born that water fell from the sky to wash him. This is a lovely way of honouring the Buddha and something children can participate in, but it has no precedence in Sri Lankan history. It originated in Japan from where it was introduced several decades ago.Vesak Lipi sheds its final spiritual light By Yomal Senerath-Yapa View(s): View(s):

This years Vesak will be marked by the final issue of the Vesak Lipi Buddhist Digest, the illuminating annual handbook Upali K. Salgado has been compiling stalwartly over so many years. The editor, who brought the light of faith and wisdom to many readers, has decided to concede to demands of age, and hang up his boots.

The thought of this benign beacon being gutted out is sad, but to compensate, the last issue is a compendium full of serene light, exploring Buddhist philosophy, meaningful living, Buddhist culture and archaeology as well as other topics to enrich the lives of both laymen and clergy.

Richard Abeyasekera, co-founder of the Buddhist Publication Society in Kandy, writes of the Buddhas journey to enlightenment in The Masters Quest for Light. It begins with the rigours of severe asceticism imposed by the Buddha upon himself, and then how he switched to the Middle Path instead, and charts his minds progress to enlightenment and supreme bliss. The article somehow radiates the luminescence of Vesak.

The Message of Vesak is Ven. Piyadassi Nayaka Theras call to give precedence to practising what the Buddha taught rather than getting lost amidst a lot of rituals. The path he trod, which we should follow, is the path of virtue, concentration (meditation) and ultimately, wisdom; sila, samadhi, panna.

An excerpt from the writings of Prof. Rhys Davids, the eminent Pali scholar, titled Is Buddhism a Religion? succinctly sums up the singular position of Buddhism among world religions, while encapsulating the core teachings of the Buddha.

The Dhammapada: the Way to Righteous Living is a valuable potted introduction to the one work of Buddhist literature that is the closest equivalent to the Christian Bible or the Islamic Quran; the pocket companion to be treasured and constantly referred to.

Olcott Gunasekera writes on Emperor Dharmasokas Buddhist Contribution to Indian Culture, a tribute to the great spiritual and cultural legacy Asoka bequeathed.

In a piece of intriguing historical sleuthing, Bhante Dhammika of Australia, traces The Fate of the Buddhas Begging Bowl, which appears and disappears on the pages of Asian history before vanishing completely from record in the Middle Ages. The relic now on display at an Afghan museum, expert opinion has settled, is an oversized replica.

Lionel Wijesiri offers pearls of wisdom for Leading a Life of Simplicity, garnered from teachings dispersed across the doctrine, while in Karma and Rebirth Prof. Lily de Silva dips into the detailed analysis of Abidhamma to explain how our deeds can determine rebirth.

The special supplement, A Historic Panorama of Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism in Sri Lanka, narrates the story of Ceylons Buddhist history from the late 18th Century to the Buddha Jayanti year of 1956. The Mahayana Majesty of Buduruvagala takes you to the jungles of Wellawaya which harbour elegant statues cut onto gigantic rock, and offers a peek to the Mahayana sect as it flourished through Ceylons history.

Bells Toll for Them is a section dedicated to Buddhist philanthropists, from Sir Ernest de Silva of Flower Road to Solias Mendis, the celebrated mural artist, who gave up his house for it to be made a home for the blind. Majestic Gateways documents some masterpieces of the Buddhist tradition of vahalkadas, ornate carved entrances to shrines.

Vesak Lipi will be missed for its annual offering of spiritual delight to the Buddhist (and non-Buddhist) soul, but the flame it kindled will continue to be a guiding light for the years (and other publications) to come.Once they get the taste of power View(s):

There is an apt Sinhala saying Raha vatunama, aththarinnay-nam nae which loosely translated means that once somebody gets a taste of something good, they will be extremely loth to give it up. I am now eighty years old, and I must admit that as I have got older I have become more cynical and less baffled by the sort of bovine faecal matter that is spouted by our sanctimonious politicians.

The dominant political culture in our country  and I am sure it is the same in many other countries that call themselves democracies  is that the principal aim of politicians is to remain in power and to enjoy the benefits of office for as long as possible. Rather than serving the people and keeping the national interest uppermost, the paramaarthaya of parliamentarians seems to be to successfully survive the electoral process  and then pursue their own political progress and personal prosperity. This prime objective is often achieved by changing party colours to whatever hue is the order of the day and bearing subservient torches to whichever leader is popular at the time.

When our present president was elected to office with the support of our present prime minister, they both made many promises to us gullible voters, and we voted them in. Unfortunately, in order for them to feel confident and secure, they needed the support of other politicians  so even those candidates who sought a mandate from the people and were rejected by the voters were squeezed into parliament through the back door by being appointed through the national list. Politicians who had previously been vociferous in denouncing Maithripala Sirisena and Ranil Wickremesinghe were persuaded to join them and support their government  and were rewarded with ministries.

Despite the president talking about appointing a new cabinet on a scientific basis (does he mean to tell us that appointments to the previous cabinet were made on some other basis?) we voters are well aware of the criteria used to select cabinet ministers.

It is a well-known fact that almost all politicians want to become MPs, almost all MPs want to become ministers and almost all ministers want to become ministers in charge of big ministries. It is much more useful to be a minister in charge of a portfolio like highways (which controls road development projects involving billions of rupees) or industries (where one has responsibility for approving important licences and contracts) than to be minister in charge of a low budget operation like Buddha sasana or cultural affairs.

Being appointed a minister rewards the appointee with perks, privileges, petrol, publicity and personal staff. So being able to appoint ministers is a powerful asset that the president of our country has. He can reward supporters or assure himself of the loyalty of wavering MPs (of course, only until they decide to change sides yet again!)

This month the prime minister has to reward those members of the UNP who campaigned for him when he was faced with the recent no confidence motion  while the president has to persuade those who might desert him to stay with him.

It is an interesting fact that Russia, which has a population of 144 million has a cabinet of 17, China which has a population of 1,380 million has a total of 26 ministries  while Sri Lanka with a population of 21 million had until the end of last month 47 cabinet ministers and 45 other ministers!

As I said at the beginning, once our ministers get a taste of the perks of ministerial office, they are loath to let these go  so I am sure that if they wait patiently enough and offer their support to the correct people, it wont be long before those who resigned for various reasons will find themselves back in office with all the perks, privileges, petrol and publicity to which they became accustomed.

Our current minister of foreign affairs is actually the former minister of defence who resigned in November 2015 and was portfolio-less for 17 months. The former minister of finance who resigned because of his close association with those accused of perpetrating a bond scam of gigantic proportions on our people is still hanging round like a bad smell, obsequiously holding torches to the prime minister, obviously waiting until he can be appointed again. And the thick-skinned gang of sixteen must be licking their wounds and biding their time until someone in power decides they are useful enough to be rewarded once again with portfolios.

And in the midst of all this we the voters can only suffer in silence.Don Dossett has met some of the biggest names in Hollywood and knows who the more easygoing and more difficult film directors are.

For almost 20 years he designed and built sets for movies including Superman, Judge Dredd and Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet.

Kenneth Branagh is a very nice man, he says, although he isn't so favourable about others.

An exhibition currently running in La Herradura is raising money for Nerja Solidaria

I didn't have much of an education but I knew I could draw

Now, after many years packed in boxes, his work is on display at the Centro Civico in his adopted hometown of La Herradura, until 5 May. The exhibition gives a fascinating insight into an area of the film business which is often overlooked: the technical drawings and photographs of finished sets. Don is also displaying some of his early work done while a student at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, as well as examples of his latest passion: photographing scenes around Andalucia and using digital media to create artistic impressions of what he captures on camera.

Charity donation

In fact it was when he donated some of his photographs to be sold for a charity event about 18 months ago that he got the idea for the exhibition. People bid for them and they went really quickly, he says. So I thought I could continue with it and raise more money for charity.

Don will donate the money raised from sales of the photographs on display to the local charity, Nerja Solidaria, which runs a food bank in Nerja.

I went along to their HQ and was really struck by how many people, ordinary families, rely on Solidaria, Don comments.

Don himself is not a complete stranger to more austere times, before his successful career in both the film and interior design businesses took him to locations all over the world. His father was a coal miner in Yorkshire before becoming a school caretaker in London, which is where Don was born before the outbreak of World War Two.

Tough times

As a young boy Don was sent as an evacuee to the Malvern Hills, which he admits he thought was wonderful having come from a major city. As a young adult, he did the then obligatory two years' military service and explains that he got on very well with the education officer. I didn't have much of an education but I knew I could draw, so the education officer helped me to get a place at art college in Guildford. Eventually I was able to put together a portfolio and got accepted into the Royal Academy, Don recalls.Although tickets for the cruise cost parents 750 euros, the trip turned out to be a total nightmare. We felt ripped off, this has been the worst school trip of our lives, said students from the Jorge Guillen secondary school in Torrox, one of the four schools in Malaga province that organised a trip with the Italian cruise company GNV. The holiday, on board the Rhapsody, took place between 2 and 8 April, leaving from and returning to the port of Malaga.

In fact nearly all of the 1,600 passengers were teachers and students from 43 schools in Andalucia and Castilla La Mancha who had arranged the school holiday for the week after Easter. However, the promotional material was absolutely nothing like the reality on board the ship.

Filthy cabins and communal areas of the boat, terrible, monotonous food and a lack of safety. That was how Mercedes Ariza, an English teacher at the Torrox school, described the terrible cruise which took its passengers to Naples, Rome, Florence and Mallorca.

On the ship were 206 pupils from Malaga province, including 87 from the Victoria Kent school in Marbella, 58 from Jorge Guillen, 42 from Los Colegiales de Antequera and 19 from IES Andres Perez Serrano in Cortes de la Frontera.

The boat also set off over an hour late, said Ariza, who met up with a large group of pupils and parents to write a letter of complaint to the local agency that sold them the trip.

One of the other teachers on board the ship told SUR that she lost four kilos. We had a terrible time on board the boat, I wouldn't wish it on anybody, said the French teacher, who would prefer not to reveal her identity.

The management of the boat got to know me quite well by the end, because I had to complain about something every day. I'm lactose intolerant, and they didn't take that into account at all, she said.

Media attention

The anger towards the organisers of the cruise has been taken to the media across all of Andalucia, with regional TV channel Canal Sur broadcasting a report with the students' experiences.

We called it the 'horror cruise', a spokesperson for the parents association at a school in Adra told the newspaper Ideal. There wasn't enough food, the water came out of the taps dirty and there were thefts in the rooms.

SUR tried on repeated occasions without success to contact the cruise company for its reaction to the complaints.Some local politicians in Malaga city have come out in support of a move to limit the number of properties being used as holiday rental homes in residential blocks in the centre of the city.

Their views come in response to a move by the town hall in Palma de Mallorca to stop the historic centre getting any more saturated with holiday lets. Councillors there say it has become impossible for locals to find affordable accommodation to rent and the influx of visitors to traditional residential neighbourhoods is destroying communities.

Now councillors from left-wing parties and the centrist Ciudadanos party have come out in favour of adopting restrictions in Malaga, where the city has recently begun to experience the same problem, as more homes are turned over to holidaymakers.

The rules in Andalucia are different to the Balearic Islands

Palma is the first to act

The tourist industry on the Balearic Islands has been coming to terms this week with the plan by Palma council, still to be approved, to ban flats in residential buildings being rented out to visitors unless the whole building is already given over to tourist accommodation.

The council has explained its move, which has been backed up by a change in Balearic regional law that allows councils to decide their own local policies, by saying it guarantees the rights of local residents to a home.

Palma's mayor, Antoni Noguera, said that the decision was fundamental for the future of the city and would be a pioneering move in Spain as well as setting the trend when understanding living space within cities.

Malaga gives it some thought

So far the conservative PP, largest party on Malaga council, has not given a clear view either way on what it might wish to do in the future. However municipal spokesperson for the PSOE party, Daniel Perez, has said it is time to put caps on the quantity of tourist flats in areas like the city centre to avoid bigger problems. We've insisted that the council administration takes measures but the mayor has done nothing. In tourist cities there is a housing problem because of this trend that is forcing up rents and there needs to be more regulation, explained Perez.

According to Juan Cassa, leader of Ciudadanos on the council, Just as what happened with the boom in hotels, there's a lot still to work on and regulate.

The rules are different in Andalucia compared to the Balearics however, with the regional government here not allowing local councils to ban tourist accommodation like in Palma. Politicians have also called for more clarity from the regional government.According to the Spanish Civil Guard, even more public money was unlawfully spent on last October's Catalonian independence referendum (1-O) than was at first estimated. Investigators now put the total amount at 1.9 million - an increase of 300,000 from the figure they released last month. The upward revision is a response to budget minister Cristobal Montoro's recent assertion that no public money was used to finance the vote; and in making it, the Civil Guard has worsened the obscurity already surrounding this issue.

The new figure of 1.9 million comes with substantial caveats. As the Civil Guard conceded in its most recent report, a lot of the alleged amounts are estimates on their part, as no paper trails have yet been found, or released, that conclusively link Catalan use of state funds to all aspects of 1-O.

There is no such vagueness in some areas, though: investigators claim that 217,656 was used by Catalan separatists to heighten awareness of their plight in the international press. If true, this would certainly count as misuse of public funds; but the Holy Grail of secessionist misdemeanours, as far as the Civil Guard is concerned, is spending Spanish taxpayers' money on the ballot boxes and papers that made 1-O possible. They have yet to prove - or release proof - that that occurred.

Montoro has so far failed to back up his contradiction of the Civil Guard's findings, prompting Ciudadanos leader Albert Rivera to request urgent clarity on the matter. Rivera - increasingly the strongest voice in a floundering congress - has also drawn attention to a statement made by Mariano Rajoy earlier this year, to the effect that Catalan secessionists did not use a single euro from the Autonomous Liquidity Fund (FLA) to fund 1-O.

Yet of all Spain's autonomous regions, Catalonia has requested the most money from the FLA since it was set up six years ago. The Fondo de Liquidez Autonomica was established by the Spanish government in 2012 -at the peak of the country's crisis - ostensibly to help regions finance their debt: between that year and 2016, Catalonia withdrew 45.8 billion from the FLA. Valencia is in second place over the same period, having drawn 28 billion, and Andalucia comes in third with claims amounting to 14.9 billion - three times less than the far wealthier region of Catalonia.

It may be true that none of the hefty sum so far given to Catalonia through the FLA was spent on 1-O, although it needs to be shown. Regardless, the region's heavy use of the fund seriously undermines secessionists' claims that Catalonia is starved of cash by a stingy central government. Rivera is right: the matter of how 1-O was financed and how much it cost must be cleared up as soon as possible. Until it is, half baked figures will continue to be thrown back and forth.For as long as the world has been the world, man has sought immortality. Without success, of course. Until now. Or, to be more precise, until 2045. That year, which is only just around the corner, will be when dying will become optional, according to the engineers Jose Luis Cordeiro and David Wood.

Both have written a book, launched a few days ago at the Circulo Ecuestre in Barcelona, in which they pay tribute to the human being's dreams of eternity. In La Muerte de La Muerte (literally, The Death of Death) they claim that immortality and rejuvenation are possible, from a scientific point of view. Cordeiro and Wood explain that progress in different technologies, especially in nanotechnology, will change the pattern of death. People will depart from this valley of tears due to accidents, but not through natural causes.

As the writers of this book are scientists who know what they are talking about, we can assume that their ideas are supported by solid arguments and not the prediction of a witch doctor or a charlatan. Of course independently of what really happens it's not so absurd, as Cordeiro and Wood say, to think that genetic edition could convert bad genes into good ones, which would prevent many deaths.

Add to this the application of regenerative medicine, the suppression of dead cells in the body, stem cell therapy, cell recovery and the 3D printing of organs, the scenario is promising. We know, though, that promises were made to be broken.

The authors of La Muerte de la Muerte also believe that illnesses such as cancer will be curable in ten years' time. Live with optimism is the motto of these two engineers, whom time will prove right or wrong. For the time being we have to give them the benefit of the doubt. And wait and see.

But don't worry, even if people don't die there is still a lot of room on planet Earth for more population. And, what's more, in the hyperthetical case of the world becoming full, we can also inhabit space, say Cordeiro and Wood, who have a solution for everything.

Cordeiro, who is Venezuelan with Spanish parents, has gone even further and said, to anyone who might be listening, that he has no intention of dying and that, apart from immortal, in 30 years' time he will be younger than he is now. And we can only follow that statement with another: I'll believe that when I see it.This has been an exciting week for people who love facts and figures - journalists among them - who need to pull a statistic out of their hats to support every argument or assertion. On Tuesday Spain's national statistics institute (INE) released the population figures for the province of Malaga at the beginning of 2018.

Yes, all those visits to the town hall last year to join the famous 'padron' (a word that must come quite high up on the list of essential Spanish for new residents) resulted in another little number on the list sent by the local council to the INE. Those tedious forms, photocopies, boxes ticked have all contributed to the numbers on the graphs on page 2 of this edition.

So what do we know? The population is rising in general but the British are leaving. There it is. It's out there like a piece of meat, thrown by the INE for the hungry analysts to pounce on. These days Brexit comes up as a potential reason for every recent change in behaviour among the British, but we don't know to what extent the looming exit from the EU is scaring people out of Spain. Property purchases suggest it isn't. Or are people only disappearing on paper, and becoming invisible in the mountains behind the Costa del Sol?

Whatever the case, the 'padron' figures are what we have to work with. Interpret them as you wish - and go and make friends with a Venezuelan. They're arriving in their droves.When the month of May arrives, it is time to head to the beautiful white village of Gaucin, in the Serrania de Ronda, for the Art Gaucin Open Studios weekends which have become a well-known fixture of the art scene in Andalucia.

INFORMATION What: Art Gaucin Open Studios weekends When: 27-29 May and 1-3 June. Where: Different studios in the village of Gaucin, in the Serrania de Ronda.

As usual, the event will be taking place over two weekends. This year's dates to note in the diary are Friday 25 to Sunday 27 May and Friday 1 to Sunday 3 June.

This is the perfect opportunity not only to discover the charms of the village, which is set amid stunning countryside, but to pop into each artist's own studio, see their latest creations, learn more about their techniques and watch them at work. It also gives visitors the chance to purchase unique works of art, with the added pleasure of having met the artist in person.

Art takes many forms, so the Open Studios event includes not only paintings but sculptures, ceramics, photography, weaving, jewellery, textiles and lithographs.

Many of the artists' names will be instantly recognisable to art lovers in the area, as they are members of Art Gaucin and exhibit every year.

They include painters Joseba Sanchez Zabaleta, Ana Pellon, Nozomi Hatano and Paddy Robinson, photographers Chris Klees and Vivienne Whiffen, ceramic artists Juan Antonio Sangil, Rosie Venables and Anna McGrane, and sculptors Sebastian Fisher and Silvia Franco.

Two other long-established and popular local artists are Jim Rattenbury, whose paintings and sculptures are in several private collections abroad, and Michael Roschlau, former Glasgow School of Art lecturer, whose works include lithographs, paintings and intricate and very surprising clockwork wall sculptures.

This year, visitors to Art Gaucin's Open Studios will also have the chance to enjoy the work of guest artists Javier Machimbarrena, from Spain, and Gerrit Oppelland-Hampel, who is from Germany.

With its warren of quiet, pretty streets, Gaucin is a delightful place to explore on foot. It has ancient castle ruins, offers spectacular views across the coast and towards Africa, and provides plenty of places to linger over a coffee, tapas or something more substantial while enjoying those panoramas as the village has several justifiably popular and celebrated restaurants.

With the upgrading of the road from Gaucin to the coast, access is faster and smoother now; it is just a 45-minute drive from Estepona and 40 minutes from Ronda.

The full list of artists, details of their works and the Art Gaucin Open Studios event can be found on the website www.artgaucin.comSYRACUSE, N.Y. -- After failing to pull over and driving the wrong way down Cannon Street, a one-way street, Calvin McAlpine Jr. finally pulled over, police said.

As one officer got out of his patrol car, McAlpine then backed into the passenger side of the police car on Thursday night, police said. Two officers drove after McAlpine as he fled in his 2004 Mitsubishi Galant, according to the Syracuse Police Department. McAlpine drove several blocks, to the 2400 block of South Salina Street, left his car and ran until the officers chased him down, police said.

As the officers arrested McAlpine, he fought with the officers, police said.

McAlpine had an outstanding warrant and the officers found cocaine on him, police said.

He was charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance, unlawful fleeing of a police officer, reckless driving, resisting arrest, aggravated unlicensed operation and other vehicle and traffic offenses, police said.

McAlpine is being held at the Onondaga County Justice Center pending his arraignment, police said.LYONS FALLS, N.Y. -- After a two-month narcotics investigation into a North Country trio, police found 21 guns, more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition and various drugs at a Lyons Falls home, according to the New York State Police.

Victor G. Ehlers, 35, of Lyons Falls, Angela L. Brouty, 39, of Lyons Falls and Corey D. Marolf, 21, of Turin, were arrested Thursday, police said.

On Thursday, representatives from the New York State Police, Army National Guard Counter Drug Task Force, Lewis County Sheriff's Department and Village of Lowville Police Department searched 4267 Cherry Street in Lyons Falls, police said.

There, police said they found:

15 grams of methamphetamine, worth more than $1,500

4 grams of Heroin laced with Fentanyl

177 Sudafed pills

Prescription pills

2 automatic 9mm handguns, 2 semi-automatic handguns and a revolver

3 silencers

5 assault rifles

11 long guns

Methamphetamine manufacturing materials

More than 1,000 rounds of ammunition

High capacity ammunition magazines loaded with live ammunition

The two fully automatic handguns, two semi-automatic handguns, revolver and five assault rifles were owned illegally, police said.

Ehlers faces federal charges for possession of a listed chemical knowing it will be used to manufacture a controlled substance and possession of firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, police said. He was arraigned in U.S. District Court and is being held in Madison County Jail on no bail, police said.

Brouty has been charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance and manufacturing methamphetamine, police said. Marolf was charged with manufacturing methamphetamine and had an active probation warrant for criminal possession of a weapon, police said.

Brouty and Marolf were arraigned in the town of West Turin and remanded to the Lewis County Jail on $10,000 cash and $20,000 bond, police said.GALWAY -- Multiple police officers who have worked for the tiny Galway village police department are scheduled to be arrested next week following a two-year investigation by the state attorney general's office.

People briefed on the case, but not authorized to comment publicly, said the attorney general's investigation was spurred by allegations made by two former Galway police officers -- both of whom joined the department after retiring from other police agencies -- about widespread misconduct and illegal activity on the small force, including the falsification of documents that certified their officers had received required training.

Through the years, the Galway department has mostly been a landing spot for officers who retired from other agencies and took a job there to keep their police certification active, which allows them to carry a handgun and a badge. Under state law, an officer's certification expires four years after their last police job.

The Galway police force has also been a training ground for those who joined the part-time force to become certified as a police officer, so that other departments would be more likely to offer them full-time positions. The officers must pay their own training academy costs and purchase their own weapons, because the village doesn't have budget for that.

Arrests imminent in AG's probe of Galway police department: https://t.co/3J71nnt8IK pic.twitter.com/QvCzenjAjL  Times Union (@timesunion) April 27, 2018

The Galway department, at its peak, has employed roughly 10 part-time officers who sporadically patrol a village that's less than a square half-mile and has only about 200 residents. There is no police station and the department's headquarters is a rented office on the second floor of a small law firm in the heart of the village.

The rented office is also used by the village board for its monthly meetings.

On most days, the two patrol cars owned by the village sit unused in the parking lot of a recreation complex where the local school district's school buses are parked.

"The only thing we're trying to accomplish here is to keep the speeding down," said Mayor William Hyde, who on Friday said he was "aware of an ongoing situation" but had not been provided any information about pending arrests.

The mayor said he could not recall the department's annual budget. But some officers are paid only a few hundred dollars a year, sources said.

The former officers who made the allegations are Fred Scheidt, who was a State Police sergeant, and Richard Schoonmaker Sr., who retired as a sergeant from the Troy Police Department in 2009, according to two people briefed on the investigation.

The attorney general's probe has examined allegations that police officers in Galway had destroyed evidence in criminal cases, that one officer unlawfully possessed fully-automatic weapons, and that others illegally voided traffic tickets that carried potential fines worth tens of thousands of dollars, and accessed a state criminal database for unlawful reasons.

Another accusation was that a police officer systematically used a mobile-data terminal to get information about drivers from their license plates -- such as outstanding warrants or suspended licenses -- before finding a reason to pull them over and make an arrest.

But the sources said the attorney general's criminal charges, which are expected to be filed next week, will be narrowly focused on allegations that supervisors in the department, including longtime Chief Leslie R. Klein, sanctioned the filing of official forms with the state Division of Criminal Justice Services that falsely stated police officers had completed mandated training courses when they had not.

Some of the officers whose training credentials were falsified have taken jobs at other police agencies, including the Watervliet Arsenal, Saratoga County Sheriff's Department and the Albany Police Department.

Klein, 72, whose other job is working as a janitor for the Broadalbin-Perth school district, did not return telephone calls seeking comment.

Mark E. LaViolette, 49, a former Schenectady police officer who is a Galway police sergeant and works full-time as Schenectady County's director of emergency management, also did not respond to calls seeking comment.

Another Galway police sergeant, David Goodwin, also did not respond to a request for comment.

Investigators with the attorney general's office were able to obtain time-and-attendance records for both Klein and LaViolette from their other jobs, and compared those records with certification forms that stated when they had allegedly conducted training of Galway officers.

Scheidt retired from the State Police in 2009. He went to work for the Galway police force in 2013 and submitted a letter of resignation about two years later in which he said his decision to leave was a result of the misconduct he said was occurring in the department. The letter was sent to the mayor and the police chief.

Scheidt and Schoonmaker declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation.

In a related federal lawsuit filed last year by Schoonmaker, who was hired by the small department in June 2013, he said he became aware of "illegal and/or improper practices" after Klein promoted him to a captain's position in 2014.

Schoonmaker, a Rensselaer County resident, said he reported his concerns to Klein who responded by demoting him to patrolman rather than taking any action, according to the lawsuit. His claim seeks $800,000 in damages and was filed against Klein and the village.

In the federal lawsuit, Schoonmaker said he contacted an official at the state attorney general's office about two years ago and the agency opened an investigation. He claims Klein fired him in March 2016 after the chief became aware of the attorney general's involvement.

A spokesperson for the attorney general's office declined comment.

- By Brendan J. Lyons, Times Union, Albany, N.Y.SACRAMENTO - Millions of Americans have bought into the exciting new world of consumer genealogy, sending spit-filled tubes to DNA-testing websites that offer to help them discover their family history.

But the massive haul of DNA data, popularized by companies such as 23andMe and Ancestry.com, also has become a powerful weapon for police hoping to solve enduring mysteries, including, at times, by using the genetic data of unwitting volunteers.

The capture this week of a man whom police believe to be the "Golden State Killer" - who became a suspect only when police matched crime scene DNA to a distant relative on a genealogy website used to map family trees - has highlighted the consumer DNA industry's growing role in reenergizing cold cases and reshaping justice in the digital age.

But the hyper-personal data's use in public policing also has inflamed concerns that people don't truly understand the power of what they're handing over: the building blocks of identity, both for themselves and their families. And, in some cases, they're giving police the keys to linking their loved ones to evidence that could convict them.

The Golden State Killer had mystified authorities for a generation, carving a trail of unsolved crimes across California that included at least a dozen killings and 45 rapes. But the case, police say, was ultimately cracked with help from GEDmatch, a barebones genealogy database of volunteered DNA samples whose operators say they didn't realize it was being used in the criminal investigation.

Police, armed with DNA evidence that was of limited use to investigators in the 1970s and 1980s, were able to compare the genetic material with the data on the website. That data pointed them to distant relatives of Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, a former police officer and retired mechanic. As they followed the family tree, they found DeAngelo, who matched the age and description of a potential suspect and also happened to live in areas near where the notorious crimes occurred. They followed him.

Discarded DNA that police recovered from DeAngelo matched the DNA from the crime scenes, authorities said. Four decades after the first crimes, and three decades after the killer went dormant, they made an arrest.

Former Sacramento County sheriff's detectives Richard Shelby and Carol Daly, two of the original investigators on what was also known as the East Area Rapist case, were gobsmacked by the techniques used to capture the man they had trailed long ago.

Daly likened those days to "the Dark Ages," when he placed calls via pay phone, filed reports via typewriter and "dusting for prints was the big thing" in criminal investigations.

"It's revolutionary," Shelby said. "It's one of the best crime-fighting tools to come in a long, long time."

But criminal-justice and privacy experts questioned how people who have gotten their DNA tested online would react to the possibility that their choice could someday lead police to their relatives - or themselves.

"Even the people who consent by uploading their DNA often don't imagine the ways their information will be used," said Erin Murphy, a New York University law professor who researches forensic technology. "They aren't really thinking through the implications of creating this treasure trove of data that can be mined."

DeAngelo was arrested Tuesday, and jurisdictions across California began charging him in the string of crimes this week. He appeared in a Sacramento County courtroom on Friday afternoon, dressed in an orange jumpsuit and pushed in a wheelchair, speaking only briefly in a quiet rasp.

Consumer genealogy sites such as 23andMe and Ancestry.com sell DNA testing kits, often cheaper than $100, to millions of customers wanting detailed information on their family, lineage and ethnicity. The services offer privacy controls for user data but can also help connect users with possible long-lost relatives.

The service police used, GEDmatch, does not sell testing kits, but its users - amateur hobbyists and professional researchers - can upload DNA profiles provided by other sites. GEDmatch's database now includes roughly a million distinct DNA sets.

Representatives from 23andMe and Ancestry.com on Friday distanced themselves from the open-source firm, saying they do not share data publicly and will not share information with law enforcement unless legally compelled.

Some company officials voiced concern that episodes like these could impact users' trust in the consumer DNA ecosystem, citing focus groups where customers said they were nervous that their DNA could be shared with insurance providers, their employers or the police.

But the companies, leaders of the young consumer-genealogy industry, have served as the top contributors to the vast landscape of publicly available online DNA data. "It's thanks to the advertising budgets of 23andMe and Ancestry that so many millions of people are coming into genealogy for the first time," said Blaine Bettinger, a professional genealogist in New York.

GEDmatch's privacy policy says its tools are "for comparison and research purposes" and encourages people to think closely about what they're providing. "In the end, if you require absolute privacy and security, we must ask that you do not upload your data to GEDmatch," its policy states.

Curtis Rogers, a GEDmatch co-founder, said in a statement that while "we were not approached by law enforcement or anyone else about this case or about the DNA, it has always been GEDmatch's policy to inform users that the database could be used for other uses."

Searching through the DNA of relatives to find suspects - also known as familial DNA - has long been controversial. Ten states allow familial searching within their borders, while the practice is banned in Maryland and the District.

But there is no such law for private DNA sites. Kenneth Mains, founder of the American Investigative Society of Cold Cases, said he had "personally run DNA markers through many genealogical sites in order to help move a case forward."

"Any resource that helps investigators solve the 200,000-plus cold cases in the United States needs to be utilized," Mains said. "As an investigator, you will take that lead."

Prosecutors say they see the private genealogical databases as an investigative gold mine, and they worry that privacy concerns could block them from the breakthroughs needed to track down future predators.

"Why in God's name would we come up with a reason that we not be able to use it, on the argument that it intrudes onto someone's privacy?" said Josh Marquis of the National District Attorneys Association. "Everything's a trade-off. Obviously we want to preserve privacy. But on the other hand, if we're able to use this technology without exposing someone's deepest, darkest secrets, while solving these really horrible crimes, I think it's a valid trade-off."

Some legal experts compared the use of public genetic databases to the way authorities can scan other personal data provided to third-party sources, including telephone companies and banks. Others suggested further scrutiny as the amount of publicly available DNA multiplies.

"The law often lags behind where technology has evolved," said Barbara McQuade, a University of Michigan law professor and former U.S. attorney. With DNA, "most of us have the sense that that feels very private, very personal, and even if you have given it up to one of these third-party services, maybe there should be a higher level of security."

The use of the genetic database could open up avenues for investigators probing other cold cases, but it left numerous questions unanswered, including how many other DNA samples from innocent people had been inspected by police, Murphy said. She also questioned whether users who had submitted their DNA knew of the data's ramifications. "Even if [users are] content with making that trade-off with their personal data, they're also making that trade-off with their extended family, their children, their children's children," she said. "And they're not just making it for 2018, but for 2020 and 2040, when data from the genome could be used in all sorts of different ways."

Before the DNA breakthrough, the Golden State Killer case had long stymied detectives. Sacramento District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert said investigators had worked for years trying to learn the source of the DNA recovered from one of the crime scenes.

When DeAngelo, then under surveillance, discarded an unidentified item containing his DNA, detectives grabbed it. On April 20, they tested it against the DNA taken from one of the crime scenes. It was a match.

Schubert was out to dinner that Friday evening when her phone rang. "Are you sitting down?" Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Grippi asked her. "I probably said a few times with some expletives that he better not be kidding me," Schubert said. After a second DNA test and match, police arrested DeAngelo at his home on Tuesday.

Schubert defended the work, although she nodded to the privacy concerns likely to emerge as a result.

"I'm sure those questions will be raised through this court process," Schubert said. "I also know that we are sitting here today with an individual in custody for probably one of the most significant serial cases of all time."SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Investigators hunting down the so-called Golden State Killer used information from genetic websites last year that led to the wrong man, court records obtained Friday by The Associated Press showed.

An Oregon police officer working at the request of California investigators persuaded a judge in March 2017 to order a 73-year-old man in a nursing home to provide a DNA sample.

The Oregon City man is in declining health and was unable to answer questions Friday about the case.

His daughter said authorities never notified her before swabbing her father for DNA in his bed a rehabilitation center, but once they told her afterward she understood and worked with them to eliminate people who conceivably could be the killer.

The case of mistaken identity was discovered as authorities hailed a novel use of DNA technology that led this week to the arrest of former police officer Joseph DeAngelo at his house outside Sacramento on murder charges. Critics of the investigative approach, however, warned it could jeopardize privacy rights.

DeAngelo's suspected of being the sadistic attacker who killed 13 people and raped nearly 50 women during the 1970s and '80s.

Handcuffed to a wheelchair in orange jail scrubs, DeAngelo made his first court appearance Friday. The 72-year-old looked dazed and spoke in a faint voice to acknowledge he was represented by a public defender. He did not enter a plea.

He has been charged with eight counts of murder, and additional charges are expected, authorities said.

"We have the law to suggest that he is innocent until he's proven guilty and that's what I'm going to ask everyone to remember," DeAngelo's public defender Diane Howard said outside court. "I feel like he's been tried in the press already."

Investigators were able to make the arrest this week after matching crime-scene DNA with genetic material stored in an online database by a distant relative. They relied on a different website than they had in the Oregon search, and they did not seek a warrant for DeAngelo's DNA.

Instead, they waited for him to discard items and then swabbed the objects for DNA, which proved a conclusive match to evidence that had been preserved more than 30 years.

Also Friday, the co-founder of the genealogy website used by authorities to help identify DeAngelo said he had no idea its database was tapped in pursuit of the suspect who eluded law enforcement for four decades.

Authorities never approached Florida-based GEDmatch about the investigation that led to DeAngelo, and co-founder Curtis Rogers said law enforcement's use of the site raised privacy concerns that were echoed by civil liberties groups.

The free genealogy website, which pools DNA profiles that people upload and share publicly to find relatives, said it has always informed users its database can be used for other purposes. But Rogers said the company does not "hand out data."

"This was done without our knowledge, and it's been overwhelming," he told The Associated Press.

For the team of investigators, GEDmatch was one of the best tools, lead investigator Paul Holes told the Mercury News in San Jose.

Officials did not need a court order to access GEDmatch's large database of genetic blueprints, Holes said. Major commercial DNA companies say they do not give law enforcement access to their genetic data without a court order.

Civil libertarians said the practice raises legal and privacy concerns for the millions of people who submit their DNA to such sites to discover their heritage.

Privacy laws aren't strong enough to keep police from accessing ancestry sites, which have fewer protections than regulated databanks of convicts' DNA, said Steve Mercer, chief attorney for the forensic division of the Maryland Office of the Public Defender.

"People who submit DNA for ancestors testing are unwittingly becoming genetic informants on their innocent family," Mercer said.

While people may not realize police can use public genealogy websites to solve crimes, it is probably legal, said Erin Murphy, a DNA expert and professor at New York University School of Law.

"It seems crazy to say a police officer investigating a very serious crime can't do something your cousin can do," Murphy said. "If an ordinary person can do this, why can't a cop? On the other hand, if an ordinary person had done this, we might think they shouldn't."

While most consumers would submit DNA to a commercial company such as Ancestry.com and 23andMe to create a genetic profile, the FBI did so for investigators, Holes told The New York Times.

The profile was then uploaded to GEDmatch using a fake profile and pseudonym, the Times reported. The site allows users to remain anonymous.

A year earlier, Holes had identified a rare genetic marker in the assailant's DNA. He entered the information among 189,000 profiles at the genealogy website, YSearch.org, and the results led to a relative of the Oregon man.

A spokeswoman for FamilyTreeDNA.com, which operates YSearch.org, said the company wasn't contacted by law enforcement.

"While we take our customers' privacy and confidentiality extremely seriously, we support ethically and legally justified uses of groundbreaking advancements of scientific research in genetics and genealogy," company officials said in a statement.

The man's daughter said the family was not aware that authorities had taken a DNA sample from him until the FBI contacted her in April 2017 to ask for her help expanding the family's genetic tree as they searched for a suspect. The family did not know until they read an AP story on Friday that a judge had issued a warrant for the DNA sample.

The woman spoke to AP on condition of anonymity because she did not want the family's name publicly linked to the case.

Sacramento District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert told AP she was unaware of the Oregon misfire and, as far as she knows, genealogical sites weren't used before DeAngelo was identified.

DNA was just coming into use as a criminal investigative tool in 1986 when the predator also known as the East Area Rapist apparently ended his decade-long wave of attacks.

-- By Michael Balsamo and Jonathan J. Cooper, Associated PressCandidates named in city and school elections

With the passing of the filing deadline for the upcoming city and school election, several area governing bodies including the City of Tama and ...Doctors who performed the world's first successful penis and scrotum transplant did not transfer the deceased donor's testes to the patient for various ethical considerations.

The team of nine Johns Hopkins plastic surgeons and two urological surgeons excluded the donors' testicles during transplant subsequent to consultations made with bioethicists. The latter advised that the sperm-generating testicular tissue would make it possible for the patient to have children but with the donor's genetic DNA.

Sexual Functions

The patient, a U.S Armed Forces veteran, hopefully would regain almost normal urinary and sexual functions through time, says Wei-Ping Andrew Lee, director of plastic and reconstructive surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Sensation in the penis area and the ability to get an erection will also return in about six months, adds Richard Redett, a plastic surgeon and the clinical director of the genitourinary transplant program.

As for bearing children in the future, the patient will not be able to have biological offspring especially that he was not given a new set of testicles.

A child conceived with donated testicles would have the genetic composition of the individual who gave the testes, explains Damon Cooney, a plastic surgery professor at the Johns Hopkins. This simple premise could make for complicated ethical debates. Cooney adds, however, that a testicle transplant is medically achievable if not for this ethical concern.

For the case at hand, the testicles donor was already dead and could no longer be asked for his consent.

"It's effectively a sperm donation without consent, and that should not happen," highlights Jeffrey Kahn, director of the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics.

Transplanted testicles, in general, would continue to produce the sperm that has the DNA composition of the organ donor, adds Michael Eisenberg, a urologist at Stanford University.

Aside from the penis and scrotum, the patient also received bone marrow infusions from the donor.

Veteran Has New Penis and Scrotum

The patient, who wished to remain anonymous, was severely injured when an improvised device exploded while serving in Afghanistan. He also lost both legs in the explosion.

After the 14-hour medical procedure, the patient woke up feeling finally more normal. He said he gained back a level of confidence.

He described losing his genitals as a mind-boggling injury. "It is not an easy one to accept," he says.

The donor's family members, meanwhile, were supportive of the veteran and the team of doctors at Johns Hopkins. In a statement, they said they feel proud that their family member was able to help the man who served the country.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.Biologists are baffled why small creatures can punch powerfully. Their secret lies in a spring-like exoskeleton that functions either as offense or defense.

A study, first published in 2004, noted mantis shrimp's extraordinary ability to punch shockwaves at 80 kilometers per hour. Mantis shrimps, which are abundant in the Indian and Pacific oceans, have dactyl clubs instead of muscles. Their punching force is so powerful that it could punch through the shells of crabs or nails.

It would take a 70-kilogram person to exert approximately 375,000 pounds of force in less than a second.

In 2004, Sheila Patek, the lead author of the study, and her team at the University of California-Berkeley took high-speed footages of mantis shrimps. They hypothesized that other species may also have the same kind of acceleration capability.

Abundant Power

In a study published April 26 in the journal Science, Patek and her colleagues at Duke University tested their hypothesis in 100 different species. They found that other animal species have repeated acceleration power similar to mantis shrimps.

Other animals with spring power capabilities include the South American trap-jaw ants, frogs, and locusts. Chameleons can swiftly shoot their tongues out at 11 miles per hour in just a tenth of a second.

Certain fungi, the microbe hydra, as well as plants like the Venus flytrap and aquatic bladderwort, are also capable of accelerating their speed when a prey or a potential enemy is around.

Unlike muscle-powered creatures, spring-powered creatures do not require space to generate force. Instead, in the case of mantis shrimps, they store their energy in their dactyl clubs before they release it swiftly.

"We've known for a long time that small biological things are capable of producing power that muscles alone cannot-and we've known that springs and latches are involved, because we could see them," Patek said.

Nature's Role In Robotics

The spring and latch systems as demonstrated in Patek's study show valuable insights about the future of robotics. The researchers noted that the faster the muscles move, the less effort it exerts.

Although scientists understand that spring power diminishes as sizes increase, Patek said that they have determined the limit of the spring system.

Patek said that the synergy that occurs in a motor-spring-latch system help biologists understand how species have evolved, and engineers to develop smaller, faster, and more efficient robotic systems.

"Each organism has developed a unique solution to a specific problem," said Mark Ilton, a soft matter physicist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.Bill Gates issued a challenge for both the U.S. government and medical scientists. He wants a universal cure for the flu.

The $12 Million Challenge

On Friday, April 27, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Lucy and Larry Page announced a brand-new initiative with the Sabin Vaccine Institute. Their latest venture, Ending the Pandemic Threat: A Grand Challenge for Universal Influenza Vaccine Development, will focus on finding the solution to end the flu virus. The Gates Foundation and the Page Family are looking for scientists that have ideas on how to deal with all types of influenza. The challenge is accepting all ideas that produce safe and affordable flu vaccines. According to STAT News, Gates stated that at the beginning of the project, grants would range out to $250,000 and $2 million.

Talking With President Trump

Gates boldly claimed in a new interview with the Washington Post that the U.S. leadership has not shown any initiative when it comes to preparing for a potentially lethal form of the influenza virus. The Microsoft cofounder stated that he did have several conversations about this potential pandemic with President Trump. After hearing about this potential threat, President Trump told Gates to talk with several governmental agencies.

Despite a meeting with President Trump's former national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, Gates believes that it would take a severe amount of time to influence the Trump administration to move faster on finding a way to prevent this pandemic from coming. Gates also commented that he also needed to talk to Congress to move this initiative forward.

Preparing For The Fight

Gates presented some of his findings at the Massachusetts Medical Society. In addition to his speech, Gates brought a simulation with him that showcased attendees what would happen if a monstrous strain of influenza hits the globe. The simulation, designed by the Institute for Disease Modeling, mimicked the 1918 Spanish Flu and showcased what would have happened if the virus hit today. By the end of the simulation, nearly 33 million people died from the virus without proper vaccination. Gates revealed at his presentation that they need to find other ways of keeping people immune.

"So, we need to invest in other approaches, like antiviral drugs and antibody therapies that can be stockpiled or rapidly manufactured to stop the spread of pandemic diseases or treat people who have been exposed," said Gates in a statement to The Washington Post.

Revisiting The Flu Season

Gates' warnings about the pandemic flu, his startling findings, and the grand challenge come after the deadly 2017-2018 flu season peaked. However, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention stated that a second flu wave could be coming, and the strand Influenza B might have a severe impact on younger children.

Before the Gates Foundation announced their initiative to find a universal influenza vaccine, another organization announced plans to work on one. On Feb. 28, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) announced their intentions in an article in The Journal of Infectious Diseases. The organization stated that it was creating an exceptional team of scientists that will focus on developing the vaccine.

During the height of the 2017-2018 flu season, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted 12-2 to bring the nasal flu vaccine, FluMist, back to the United States. While the Food and Drug Administration still approved of the spray, FluMist was removed from the U.S. market in 2016 following its inability to fight the H1N1 virus.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.Australian researchers discover what they believe is the oldest trapdoor spider in the world. Unfortunately, the 43-year-old spider dies recently during a long-term population study.

To the researchers' knowledge, it is the oldest spider ever recorded, according to Leanda Mason, lead author and Ph.D. student from the School of Molecular and Life Sciences at Curtin University. Thanks to this particular spider, a Giaus Villosus trapdoor matriarch, Mason's team was able to gain insights on how trapdoor spiders behaved and how the species interact with each other.

Breaking World Record

Mason and her team believe that the death of the 43-year-old trapdoor spider has broken the record for the world's oldest spider, which was previously held by a 28-year-old tarantula. The latter was discovered in Mexico.

Mason explains that the research, which leads to the discovery of the 43-year-old trapdoor spider, has also paved the way for compelling insights about the longevity of the species.

The team found that the long lifespan of the species is brought by their life-history traits. The species reside in uncleared and native bushland. They also have the sedentary lifestyle and low metabolism.

Furthermore, the study also demonstrated how long-term research is important in understanding how species thrive in the Australian environment.

The team builds on a research project started by fellow researcher Barbara York in 1974. York monitored the long-term spider population for more than 42 years in the Central Wheatbelt region of Western Australia.

Consequently, Mason and her team are continuing their research on the life and habitat of the trapdoor spiders.Grant Wardell-Johnson, co-author of the study and associate professor at the university says that through an ongoing research, they hope to identify how climate change and deforestation could impact the species.

The research was published in the Pacific Conservation Biology Journal.

Trapdoor Spiders Facts

The species belong to the family of Ctenizidae of the order Araneae. They can be found in Japan, Africa, South America, North America, and in other warm regions. Trapdoor spiders are usually black or brown in color. In the United States, they are commonly found in the southwestern region.

The species measure on the average of about 1.5 centimeters to about 3 centimeters. In comparison, they can grow the same length across as a U.S. half-dollar coin.

While some people choose trapdoor spiders as their pets, experts advise that the species are extremely aggressive. Only people who are experienced tending them are recommended to keep them.

The species are also known to be carnivorous and feed on insects. They hunt for their prey by trapping them in their sticky silk outside their burrow on the ground.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.Signs direct crowds coming to cast their ballots at the Kenilworth Junior High School voting precinct in East Baton Rouge Parish on Nov. 8, 2016.The number of accidental drug-related deaths in New Orleans rose last year, and there were increases in the numbers of those cases involving cocaine and the potent synthetic opiate known as Fentanyl, according to a report Friday from Orleans Parish Coroner Dr. Jeffrey Rouse.

Increasingly, the victims are African-American.

Rouses report said the overall jump likely would have been higher had it not been for a widespread push to equip more emergency responders with naloxone, the powerful drug that can prevent deaths by reversing the effects of opiate overdoses.

Echoing an argument hes made for years, Rouse  who leaves office in just over a week  said there is only one answer to the problem. Medically, expanding access to all levels of addiction treatment is the solution, before persons end up in the coroners office, the report said.

New Orleans had 219 accidental drug-related deaths in 2017  an increase of 4 percent from the 211 reported in 2016 and a jump of 138 percent from the 92 reported in 2015.

Most of those deaths were fatal overdoses, but some involved people dying of health conditions that were aggravated by a drug taken in a quantity below the overdose threshold, Rouse said.

Last year, 52 percent of the victims were African-Americans; that figure was 45 percent in 2016 and 28 percent in 2015.

Of last years accidental drug deaths, 76 percent involved highly addictive opiates, and in most cases there was more than one kind of opiate present in victims systems.

Fentanyl was present in 87 of those deaths, up from 48 the previous year and just 13 in 2015. Cocaine was found in 116 of the deaths, compared with 105 the previous year and 34 in 2015.

Those figures are in line with national trends.

Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up

Fentanyl has increasingly become a common tool of narcotics peddlers as they seek to dilute heroin supplies.

Authorities have responded to the scourge by arming a growing number of paramedics, firefighters and police officers with naloxone, whose brand name is Narcan.

Those first responders often encounter overdose victims before the victims get to emergency room doctors, who have been using the antidote for years.

The New Orleans Police Department equipped its entire patrol division with naloxone in the fall. Paramedics and firefighters had gotten access to the antidote before that.

Rouses report did contain one sliver of good news: Methamphetamines and amphetamines were present in fewer drug-related deaths last year. There were 14 deaths with those drugs present in 2017, down from 18 in 2016 but still much higher than the four in 2015.

Rouses lone four-year term in office expires May 7. He will be succeeded by Dr. Dwight McKenna.

Rouse has spent much of his tenure pushing local government officials to prioritize treating drug addicts rather than prosecuting them.

He has noted that New Orleans rate of accidental drug-related deaths has outpaced its murder toll since 2016  disturbing for a city that for years has had extremely high rates of violent crime and homicides.Budget session to start on May 6

The government on Friday recommended President Bidya Devi Bhandari to call the Federal Parliaments budget session to start from May 6.State Minister for Information and Communication Technology and Spokesperson Gokul Baskota said the cabinet meeting decided to recommend to the President to call the parliament meeting at 4 pm on May 6.Changing landscape

When a school child is asked to draw a village house in art classes in Kathmandu, one could bank on them producing a two-storied mud mortar house with a slant roof made of either slate or straw. This archetypal pastoral home has been impressed onto young minds not just by art teachers but also the traditional homes that dot the landscape in Nepals mid-hills. But now, traveling into districts that hug Kathmandu from the north, you sense that this landscape is quickly changing.Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Naufal Armia Arifin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, April 28, 2018 09:49 1256 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e1037ce 3 Opinion refugee,refugees-camp,#Indonesia,Indonesia,asylum-seekers,#RefugeeCrisis,#refugees Free

Last year marked a further devastating period for refugees. Over 500,000 Rohingya refugees fled persecution in Myanmar with no clear resolution in sight though neighbors have accommodated great numbers of them. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has provided humanitarian aid in the form of refugee camps in Bangladesh, which like elsewhere is seeing stretched resources.

Many Rohingya refugees have also risked their life to journey across the sea with makeshift boats to Indonesia and Malaysia, and although they have been accepted by local authorities, they face uncertainty.

In the West, with populism on the rise political parties in Europe are campaigning to have stricter policies in receiving refugees. Donald Trumps presidency barring Middle Eastern travelers to enter the United States led the UN chief human rights advocate Zeid Raad Al Hussein to voice his concern that the organization had diminished its ability to uphold universal human rights.

Though Indonesia is not a signatory of the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, thus not bound to assist refugees in resettling in Indonesia, it has however displayed goodwill in sheltering refugees from the Middle East and the recently stranded Rohingya refugees until they are permanently resettled to a third country such as Australia. Yet this gesture is not enough to mitigate the issue in the long run as there are 14,000 refugees in Indonesia waiting to be resettled, most have waited for years with no certain outcome, leading to several protests. Refugees have also protested against officials treatment and conditions in crowded shelters, occasionally resulting in violence.

Indonesias government still lacks an overarching framework for this matter despite being pressured by the international community to ratify the Convention, citing additional economic burdens. The presidential decree signed by President Joko Jokowi Widodo early last year projects a positive breakthrough from a long vacuum of action by the government, as it gives reassurance for refugees in Indonesia that they will not be forcibly repatriated to their home country. Proactive efforts have also been made by the Foreign Ministry such as organizing 11 NGOs under the banner of Indonesian Humanitarian Alliance for Myanmar (AKIM) and sending them to Myanmar to provide humanitarian aid.

Nevertheless, such steps have not addressed the pressing matter of the refugees fate inside the country. Currently UNCHR can only resettle about 400 refugees in Indonesia or only 3 percent of the 14,000 refugees with a priority for women, children, unaccompanied minors and elders. This imposes a long term problem especially for well-educated refugees of productive working age, where they are competing against time for their productivity. The presidential decree reasserts it is illegal for them to work, while government policy leaves the urgent issues of productivity and training unaddressed.

Indonesia will always be a transit country for refugees or migrants who hope to resettle in Australia or elsewhere, and it cannot depend on the state of world affairs to hope the refugee influx will decrease any time soon. The country is bound by its1945 Constitution to actively partake in world peace and social justice. Additionally, Indonesia has ratified similar conventions that reflect its commitment to universal human rights. Delaying the underlying issue of refugees in the country will not just hinder Indonesias commitment for human rights, it can also become a security risk where refugees can turn to crime for living and even radicalization by extremist groups.

Currently, refugees depend on international organizations and NGOs to provide their basic needs. Efforts include those by the Sandya Institute Center for Peace and Human Rights that opened a Refugee Learning Center for Indonesian, English, computer skills and legal knowledge.

SUAKA is another group which provides legal aid to refugees while also analyzing policy changes that can empower them. The International Organization for Migration in Indonesia also provides basic vocational training for refugees such as furniture-making and cutting hair. Even so, to have a large impact for the thousands of refugees stranded here, the government should hasten the creation of a legal framework to shelter and provide education and healthcare for the refugees.

As UNHCR and certain NGOs have first-hand experience in assisting refugees, the public sector should collaborate with them intensively to create a suitable local framework for the countrys status as a transit country, while also addressing the long term impact of stranded refugees here.

***

The writer, a graduate in political sciences from Parahyangan Catholic University, Bandung, is an intern at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Jakarta.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post.Debt and Deadlines

Each year around the anniversary of the April and May 2015 earthquakes, the media turns its attention to the ongoing plight of Nepals earthquake victims and reconstruction progress. Journalistsespecially foreign ones like myselfare guilty of hypocrisy in calling attention to earthquake victims on anniversaries, then turning a blind eye to them for much of the rest of the year.Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin EDITORIAL (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, April 28, 2018 10:11 1256 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e103ac6 2 Editorial editorial,plastic,waste-management Free

We cannot be indifferent when it comes to reducing plastic waste. Indonesia, globally accused of being the second-worst marine polluter after China, has made several attempts to reduce this waste, but results have been negligible.

To understand the problem, we have to examine why we love plastics so much. The use of plastic bags is inseparable from human beings desire to consume. And shopping without plastic bags is a hassle. Cardboard boxes or paper bags are substitutes but they are not as handy. And because plastic bags are so cheap, it is easier for us to dispose of them and get new ones every time we shop.

People will not be prepared to leave their plastic comfort zone without a considerable reward, or punishment. Bringing our own bags from home seems to be easy, but as long as plastic bags are still freely distributed by retailers, only a few people are disciplined enough to bring their own bags.

Banjarmasin has tried to become a pioneer in this front. The South Kalimantan capital issued a municipal regulation in 2016, prohibiting retailers from providing plastic bags for consumers. Consumers must bring their own bags or the retailers provide cardboard boxes.

It was not a popular policy among shoppers, and retailers complained that some consumers went outside Banjarmasin to shop.

Banjarmasin Mayor Ibnu Sina has been unrelenting. Two years after he passed the regulation, he is still upbeat that the regulation is good for Banjarmasins environment. He claimed this year the city managed to reduce the amount of garbage it disposes of at the city dump, although he was not specific.

Banjarmasin cannot do it alone though. Indonesia needs to get out of the hall of shame and there is no other way than by taking cast-iron measures against plastic. The government has to be firm even though retailers, plastic producers and consumers will all complain.

A half-hearted policy on plastic waste will come to nothing. The failed past attempts speak for themselves.

In 2016, the Environment and Forestry Ministry issued a regulation imposing charges for plastic bags at retailers. The policy was implemented in cooperation with the Association of Indonesian Retailers (Aprindo).

Ahead of Feb. 21, 2016, National Waste Day, the ministry announced 22 cities had joined the trial. But the charge was set only at a negligible amount of Rp 200 per bag, or a little above 1 US cent.

On the announcement day, the number of cities joining the trial decreased. In October that year, Aprindo had stopped the policy altogether.

Banjarmasin is the only surviving city in the war against plastic waste. While Banjarmasins efforts have to be appreciated, one city alone cannot significantly reduce the countrys mountain of plastic waste. Even the nations capital, then under Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama, failed.

The environment ministry cannot do it alone either. Reducing plastic waste needs a concerted effort led by the President, supported by the House of Representatives and the private sector. There is no room for flexibility when it comes to plastic.Luxury fashion brand Balenciaga and a French department store have apologized after allegations that Chinese customers were mistreated in Paris sparked an uproar and calls for a boycott on Chinese social media.

Balenciaga and the Printemps store issued their apologies in Mandarin on China's Twitter-like Weibo platform, where the incident had become a top trending topic.

The hashtag #BoycottBalenciagaDiscriminatesChinese had been viewed 23 million times on Weibo on Friday.

China's state-run Global Times, citing a video posted online, said a Chinese customer scolded queue jumpers when she was standing in line to enter the Balenciaga shop in Printemps.

One of the jumpers pushed the woman and threatened to punch her, prompting her son to come to her defense, according to the tabloid, which cited a video that was posted on another Chinese social media platform, WeChat.

Her son was beaten to the ground by group, the daily said, adding that a sales clerk then allegedly insulted Chinese customers and told them to leave.

"Balenciaga shoes are beautiful, but such an episode is an eye-opener. #Boycott Balenciaga, which discriminates against the Chinese," said one Weibo user.

Read also: Europe brings on charm and blue skies to lure Chinese tourists

Another wrote: "You can say goodbye to the Chinese market."

In its statement late Thursday, Balenciaga said it regretted the incident and noted that security guards had acted immediately to restore calm.

"Balenciaga sincerely apologizes to the customers who were present and reaffirms its strong commitment to respect equally all its customers," it said on Weibo.

Printemps wrote that staff would receive additional training to ensure they manage such situations in the best possible way.

"We would like to extend our sincerest apologies to the Chinese customers involved in this altercation as well as to all those who were upset or inconvenienced in any way," it said.

Paris is a favorite European destination of Chinese travelers, and they are crucial clients for French luxury brands. Long lines of customers from China and other countries are common at Parisian stores.

But big-spending Chinese tourists have become targets for thieves in France, with the embassy issuing a statement last year urging them to exercise caution following "several large-scale violent robberies".You have a telephone interview for your dream job, and you're feeling nervous. You make yourself a cup of tea as you wait for the phone to ring, and you count to three before picking up.

Now imagine that your interviewer is a robot named Vera.

Russian startup Stafory co-founder Alexei Kostarev says Robot Vera, which his company developed, is driven by artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms.

"It's machine learning," Kostarev said, as he explained that his firm programmed Vera using 1.4 million interviews, as well as Wikipedia and 160,000 books.

When Vera first started conducting phone interviews, she followed a script, but that has since changed.

"Vera understands the kind of answers candidates give," Moscow-based Kostarev told AFP by phone.

And while robot recruiters will appeal to companies trying to keep costs down, there may also be another, more subtle advantage.

"When (candidates) give feedback on a job offer for example, they (say) more honest things they would not tell ... a human," Kostarev said.

Stafory says Robot Vera currently has 200 clients, major companies which then take the selected job candidates through conventional interviews and final selection.

Read also: Meet Sophia: The first robot declared a citizen by Saudi Arabia

Danger of bias

More broadly, human resources specialists are looking to AI solutions to speed up recruitment processes as a whole.

US company ZipRecruiter is touting a real-time selection service, with each job offer posted immediately on as many as 100 websites.

In the blink of an eye, its algorithm then trawls through the 10 million jobseekers who have registered with ZipRecruiter to see which best suit the job description.

The prospective employer then gets a shortlist of the top candidates, making recruitment a far less time-consuming exercise.

Ian Siegel, head of ZipRecruiter, told AFP the system works well because "employers aren't great at describing what they want but they know what they want when they see it".

Algorithms get better and better over time at detecting what kind of profile companies are looking for, as human resources staff give a virtual thumbs up to their preferred candidates.

So far so good, but of course there are concerns.

For one, the algorithms are learning so fast it is hard to work out how they make such crucial choices.

There is also a fear that the robots cannot remain immune to weaknesses such as bias or prejudice -- when all their learning comes from humans.

ZipRecruiter is trying its best to take the risk of bias into account in its algorithms.

But "the thing is, the algorithm is so sophisticated, there's so many different pieces of information, we can't reverse engineer exactly how it's coming up with the matches," Siegel said by phone.

Read also: Chinese robot becomes world' first machine to pass medical exam

'It takes two'

Jeremy Lamri of the Paris-based association of human resources start-ups called LabHR said one way to counter this risk is to dial down the AI in the system.

"It is enough to tell the machine what to look out for; there is no need for machine learning in this," he said.

Technology is developing all the time as employers look for candidates with soft skills such as learning capacity, adaptability, and the ability to work well in a team.

"If tomorrow someone invents a scanner which can tell simply by looking into your eye whether you can perform well in a job, then I would think most (companies) would adopt it," said Lamri.

But if machines can make the initial selection, it should always be up to human beings to make the final choice, said Laurent da Silva, head of Adecco recruitment units Badenoch & Clark and Spring.

"It's like in our private lives," he said.

"AI can help facilitate meetings, but at the end of the day, it takes two real people to tango."Thousands of migrating birds have landed on several beaches in West Kalimantan.

Environmental activists say that this means the area is still well-preserved, though pollution can be seen on some places.

The activists have carried out birdwatching activities on Tengkuyung Beach in Teluk Pakedai subdistrict, Kubu Raya regency, West Kalimantan, since September 2017.

They found thousands of beach and river birds migrating from Siberia, Alaska and Europe.

Abdurahman Algadrie, director of Ketapang Biodiversity Maintenance, told The Jakarta Post on Sunday that there were around 21 species of birds on the beach from September to April. They looked for food and stayed there for survival, and will begin flying home in May.

They will return to their places of origin for breeding purposes. Come migration time, they will come back with their new offspring, said Abudrahman.

Read also: Saving Indonesias birds-of-paradise one village at a time

In the previous migrating period last year, 10 Storms storks were found in a river. The species is considered endangered, with a population of only 500 worldwide.

These migrating birds have become an attraction in the area, especially for researchers. Moreover, the Kubu-Batu Ampar waters have been detected as a habitat for river dolphins, with several NGOs surveying the area.

Wahid, a senior citizen, said that for the last three years, the government had built infrastructure to make the location more accessible for visitors. However, he added that the visits did little to boost the local economy.

Yusran, head of Kubu Raya Planning and Development Agency (Bappeda), said that with a limited budget, ecotourism activities were being improved.

Ecotourism has a number of impacts. Other than preserving the environment, it also has added value for local people, said Yusran.

The area has only been developed in the last 10 years, with a budget of Rp 1.5 trillion and a proposed development budget of Rp 2.9 trillion. (wng)Long lines formed on Friday outside restaurants in South Koreas capital serving Pyongyang-style cold noodles after the dish took on a starring role at a historic summit between the North and South Korean leaders.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un brought a batch of the noodles for a dinner banquet on Friday, at the request of South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

Weve made efforts to bring Pyongyang naengmyeon all the way from Pyongyang, Kim said in opening remarks at the summit, referring to the North Korean capital.

So, hopefully, Mr President can enjoy Pyongyang naengmyeon from afar, though I suppose I mustnt say afar now, Kim said with a chuckle.

Naengmyeon is noodles in a chilled meat broth, topped with beef brisket, pickled radish, sliced cucumbers and half a boiled egg.

Moon had requested that the dish be on the menu at the banquet, and asked Kim if he could bring a takeaway batch from a famous Pyongyang restaurant, Okryu Gwan.

North Korean officials were happy to oblige, the Souths presidential office said, adding that North Korea had even sent a chef from the restaurant to prepare the dish.

Hungry South Koreans were clearly impressed and by midday #Pyongyang Naengmyeon was one of the top trending topics on Korean-language Twitter while the lines at restaurants specializing in the dish, like the Eulmildae in a run-down part of Seoul, grew.

This is the longest queue Ive ever seen, Kim Won-seok, a regular customer at the restaurant, said of the customers lined up 40 meters just before noon.

Major retailer E-land Mall was offering a 2 kg bag of Inter-Korea summit special Pyongyang naengmyeon for 6,900 won ($6.40).

Read also: You can now rent your very own 'oppa' in South Korea

Wary optimism

The noodles were an unusually hit at a summit that many South Koreans are viewing with wary optimism.

Many South Koreans hoped the first visit to the South by a leader from the North, would be a turning point for peace on the war-divided peninsula.

Some people watching a large television screen beaming images of the leaders to a crowd in front of Seouls city hall cheered and jumped with joy when Kim - whose nuclear and missile tests last year stoked fear of war - crossed the border to shake hands with Moon.

Im filled with emotion, said Park Ha-seok, 60, as he watched the pictures being broadcast from the border village of Panmunjom. I dont expect a big change but this is a start.

The two sides are technically still at war because the 1950-53 Korean war ended in a truce, not a full peace treaty.

Lee Ji-eun, a 32-year-old doctor and mother of a baby girl, said the pictures had made her unpack an emergency bag she had placed by her front door about six months ago in case of war.

The bag has my daughters diapers, a portable radio and a gas burner, Lee said. Now I find it funny that I told my babysitter to take this bag and my daughter to flee to the basement if theres war.

Fisherman Park Tae-won, who lives on a South Korean island just 1.5 km from the maritime boundary with the North, said he hoped the summit would lead to a relaxation of restrictions on going out to sea.

Please, we want to go fishing out there as much as we want, without the curfew on fishing only once a day, he said.

Choi Gwang-chun, who runs a restaurant in the South Korean town of Daejeon, is offering a special unification liquor cocktail made of Taedong beer, named after a North Korean river, and South Korean Halla soju, a distilled rice spirit named after a South Korean mountain.

Those who order unification liquor will also get a unification pizza topped with nuts in the shape of the Korean peninsula for free, said Choi, whose father came from North Korea.

I plan to run this offer until the day South and North Korea unify, he said. I hope I dont have to run it too long.US-based researchers have successfully kept alive the brain cells of decapitated pigs for 36 hours, sparking concerns over the ethics involved in such frontline research.

The MIT Technology Review said a team at Yale University led by neuro-scientist Nenad Sestan had carried out experiments on between 100 and 200 pigs sourced from an abattoir.

Sestan had presented the findings of the experiments, where his team restored blood supply to the dead pigs' brains, in late March to a conference organised by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The researchers said they had succeeded in delivering oxygen to the cells via a system of pumps and blood maintained at body temperature, the MIT Technology Review said.

Thanks to this system, dubbed BrainEx, millions of cells were kept in good health and were capable of functioning normally, the review said.

However, there was nothing to indicate that these cells experienced some form of consciousness, it said, citing Sestan as saying he was "convinced" they did not.

Such experiments could herald advances in restoring blood circulation at the micro level, including in the brain, the article said.

They could also be potentially useful in the study and treatment of some cancers and debilitating diseases such as Alzheimer's, it added.

Read also: China says it has cloned a monkey using non-reproductive cells

At the same time, the article noted that Sestan himself raised some of the ethical issues involved in such research.

The key question being that if a brain is revived in this way, would a human being involved have any memories, an identity and rights?

In an open letter publised Wednesday in Nature magazine, Sestan and another 16 top scientists and philosophers said the authorities should lay down specific rules to guide them in their work on human brains.

Recent advances have seen what are known as brain "surrogates" composed of real human cells -- whether in tiny organoids grown in the lab, in grey matter removed from a human patient, or brain tissue implanted into animals -- as part of efforts to study the brain.

The risk is that "as brain surrogates become larger and more sophisticated, the possibility of them having capabilities akin to human sentience might become less remote," the Nature article said.

"Such capacities could include being able to feel (to some degree) pleasure, pain or distress; being able to store and retrieve memories; or perhaps even having some perception of agency or awareness of self".

There is a need, the group argued, for "clear guidelines for research", and for special oversight committees.Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Washington DC  Sat, April 28, 2018 09:00 1256 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e10277f 2 World #IntellectualProperty,intellectual-property,China,India,Canada,US Free

The United States on Friday rebuked NAFTA-partner Canada, saying the country was not doing enough to clamp down on counterfeit goods, giving it the same ranking as China and India on a list of intellectual property offenders.

In an annual report on intellectual property rights violations by trading partners, the US Trade Representative's office downgraded Canada to the "priority watch list," which subjects it to a more intense level of scrutiny.

China has been on the priority watch list for 14 years and India makes a repeat appearance, as the USTR said neither country had done enough to protect patented and trademarked products.

"The ideas and creativity of American entrepreneurs fuel economic growth and employ millions of hardworking Americans," USTR Robert Lighthizer said in a statement.

"This report sends a clear signal to our trading partners that the protection of Americans' intellectual property rights is a top priority of the Trump administration."

The report does not trigger any immediate sanctions and comes after Washington hit China with steep import tariffs on $50 billion in goods for its alleged serial theft of American technology.

The US also filed a complaint against that country at the World Trade Organization.

There are 12 countries on the priority watch list and another 24 on the less-intense "watch list." Colombia also was downgraded this year, joining Argentina and Chile, while Mexico, also a partner in the North American Free Trade Agreement, is on the list of lesser offenders.

NAFTA talks continue

The USTR accused Canada of "failure to resolve key longstanding deficiencies in protection and enforcement," including failing to police counterfeit or pirated goods traveling across the border and failing to prosecute violators.

A USTR official told reporters the US had "very serious concerns" with Canada's intellectual property regime and "we want to see meaningful change."

The notice comes as Lighthizer is holding meetings with his NAFTA counterparts, Canada's Chrystia Freeland and Mexico's Ildefonso Guajardo, on revising the 24-year old free trade pact.

But the official declined to speculate on whether Canada's downgrade would be discussed in the meetings.

"Part of the reason for Canada's elevation is very longstanding frustration with enforcement and protection issues," the official told reporters.

China also has longstanding problems with protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights and "continues to take steps backwards," the official said, including forced transfer of technology from American companies trying to do business there.

"The unfair in pursuit of industrial policy goals place great strain on our bilateral relationship," the official said.

The USTR said IP-intensive industries directly and indirectly supported 45.5 million American jobs, about 30 percent of GDP and more than half of US exports.Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Nethy Dharma Somba and Evi Mariani (The Jakarta Post) Jayapura/Jakarta  Sat, April 28, 2018 08:30 1256 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e101d70 1 National Papua,Timika,Freeport-Indonesia,self-determination,separatism,shootings Free

A car belonging to mining company PT Freeport Indonesia employee Moren Francis Ras was shot up by an unidentified shooter at his house in the Hidden Valley housing complex at Mile 66 in Tembagapura, Mimika, in Papua on Friday morning, the police report.

The shooting damaged the car, but there were no injuries, Mimika Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Agung Marlianto Basuki told The Jakarta Post.

Ras, a South African, was walking from his house to the car when the shooting occurred, Ras immediately dropped down behind the car.

The Papua National Liberation Army (TPN), an armed group demanding Papuan self-determination, claimed responsibility. TPN spokesperson Hendrik Wanmang, told the Post on Friday that a foreigner got shot by the TPN.

A statement from the TPN made available to the Post on Friday claimed that their group had been infiltrated by an intelligence officer, who carried a weapon. The TPN confiscated the weapon in Tembagapura, the release said, and it was made in the US. The TPN suspected foreign involvement in the campaign against them, the release said.Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Choi He-suk (The Korea Herald/Asia News Network) Seoul  Sat, April 28, 2018 09:47 1256 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e103578 2 World Inter-Korean-summit,KimJongUn,Moon-Jae-In Free

Shaking hands at the Military Demarcation Line

(The Korea Herald/Cheong Wa Dae )

(You) are coming to the South, when will I be able to visit the North? Moon asked.

Lets step over now, Kim Jong-un said, leading Moon across the Military Demarcation Line.

Walking to the Peace House escorted by South Koreas traditional ceremonial guard

(The Korea Herald/Cheong Wa Dae )

Foreigners like our traditional ceremonial guard. It is a shame that todays ceremonial guard has been simplified. A much better scene could be displayed (if Kim Jong-un) came to Cheong Wa Dae, Moon said.

If the president extends an invitation, (I) will go to Cheong Wa Dae at any time, Kim said.

During the inspection of the honor guard

(The Korea Herald/Cheong Wa Dae)

There are those (of his entourage) who return (to the North) after the inspection, Kim said.

It would be nice if the South and Norths entourage all take a photograph, Moon said, leading to an unscheduled photo session.

Viewing the painting of Bukhansan at the Peace House

(The Korea Herald/Cheong Wa Dae )

What is the technique used for the painting? Kim asked.

It is a Western painting created using Eastern techniques, Moon said.

Viewing Hangeul-inspired art work

(The Korea Herald/Cheong Wa Dae )

This piece uses the letters of Hunminjeongeum created by King Sejong the Great. Here, the word seorosamatdi means connected, and the word contains the letter mieum. The word maenganoni means to make. The gieuk is expressed differently. This means to make a connection, the mieum in samatdi is the mieum of Moon Jae-in, the gieuk of maenganoni is the gieuk of Kim Jong-un, Moon said.

Attention was paid down to the details, Kim responded laughing.

How did you get here? Moon asked.

(I) came by car at dawn and passed by Kaesong. You must have set out early in the morning, Kim said.

I was only 52 kilometers away, so it took about an hour, Moon said.

I heard that you lost sleep early in the morning attending NSC meetings because of us, it must now be a habit to wake up early, Kim said laughing.



As the chairman has spoken (about related issues) to the special envoys, I will be able to sleep well from now on, Moon said.

I will ensure that the president does not lose sleep early in the morning. Walking the 200 meters, I wondered why it took so long, why it was so difficult. Initially, I thought I would meet you in Pyongyang, but it has turned out better that (we) meet here. Many are watching (the meeting) at a place symbolizing conflict. On the way, I noticed that those who lost their homes (due to the Korean War), North Korean defectors, people of Yeonpyeong island and others who were worried about artillery shells from the North are all watching our meeting with anticipation. I hope that this will be an opportunity to heal the wounds between the South and the North. The demarcation line is not high, and would it not disappear if many people step over it? Kim said.

Many people saw me off on my way from Cheong Wa Dae. There is high anticipation about our meeting today. (I) took a photograph with the people of Daeseong-dong. Our shoulders are heavy. Starting at Panmunjeom today, I hope the meetings continue in Pyongyang, Seoul, Jeju and Baekdusan, Moon said.

Pointing to paintings of Seongsan Ilchulbong (Jeju) and Changbai Waterfall (Baekdusan)

(The Korea Herald/Cheong Wa Dae )

On the left is a painting of the Changbai Waterfall, and the right is a painting of Jejus Seongsan Ilchulbong, Moon said.

It seems President Moon knows more about Baekdusan than me, Kim said.

I have not been to Baekdusan. But many people visit Baekdusan from China. I wish to visit Baekdusan from the North, Moon said.

In truth, a concern for a visit by President Moon is that the lack of transportation (infrastructure) would be an inconvenience. Those who have been to the PyeongChang Olympics say that the high-speed PyeongChang train is good. If (Moon) comes to the North after living in the South, it may be embarrassing. We will make preparations for a comfortable visit, Kim said.

If the railroad is connected with the North, both the South and North can use high-speed trains. This is contained in the agreement of June 15, and Oct. 4, but it has not been executed over the past 10 years. It is shameful that the flow (of inter-Korean cooperation) was severed due to changing inter-Korean relations. Chairman Kims bold decision has allowed the vein to be reconnected, Moon said.

As high as the anticipation, there are skeptical views. Big agreements were made, but not realized for more than 10 years. There is skepticism about whether the results of todays meeting will be realized. In the short walk, I wondered if it really has taken 11 years. We have run in the past 100 days with what we have not achieved for 11 years. If we move hand-in-hand with solid will, (the situation) cannot become worse than now, Kim said.

I wondered if it would be uncomfortable to meet you here, but my mind was eased by the letter and the conversation with the special envoys. Trust and belief in each other is important, Kim said.

Indicating Kim Yo-jong

(The Korea Herald/Cheong Wa Dae )

First Vice Director Kim has become a star in the South, Moon said, causing a laugh and Kim Yo-jong to blush.

Todays protagonists are Chairman Kim and I. Past failures will be mirrors in (conducting the talks) well. In the past, agreements were made at the middle or end of administrations, so action was not taken. It has been one year since I began. I hope that the speed of the process from Chairman Kims New Years speech and today can be maintained, Moon said.

The department of First Vice Director Kim Yo-jong came up with the term Manrima speed, let us set it as the speed of reunification, Kim said.

There is a saying that one must move quickly to avoid falling in when walking on thin ice, chief of staff Im Jong-seok said.

Looking at the past, the most important thing is speed, Moon said.

Let us meet often. Steel (our) hearts to avoid going back to the starting point. Let us meet the expectations to create a better world. We will do our part, Kim said.

Referring to the accident involving Chinese tourists in North Korea

(The Korea Herald/Cheong Wa Dae )

I heard that there was a big accident in the North. I heard that Chairman Kim personally visited the hospital and offered a special train (for the dead and injured), Moon said.

(I) have come to end the history of conflict, to resolve issues between us with the president. I have developed a conviction that a good future will come, Kim said.

We are in charge of issues of the Korean Peninsula. At the same time we must become a people who go with the world. We should lead, and bring neighboring countries to follow, Moon said.Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Depok  Sat, April 28, 2018 17:00 1256 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e109a85 1 City baby,kidnapping,Depok,crime Free

After leaving her house for less than 10 minutes on Friday to visit a nearby shop, Marlina came home to find that her 25-day-old boy had gone missing.

Aditya, who has a birthmark near his nose, was wrapped in a doll-patterned blue cloth. It is believed the boy was kidnapped.

Marlina, a resident of Sukmajaya, Depok, admitted that she had left her house without locking the front door, while Aditya and his 9-year-old sister were napping side by side. Marlinas husband, Ranto, was at work when the incident occurred.

Sukmajaya Police crime unit chief First Insp. Suprihatin said Marlinas neighbors had spotted a woman dressed in a dark hijab pass Marlinas house while carrying a baby. The neighbors said the skinny woman had used her hijab to cover the baby.

A witness told us that the woman had asked where she could get an ojek (motorcycle taxi). This witness was skeptical, because the woman had a mobile phone from which she could have ordered an online ojek, Suprihatin explained.

Marlina, meanwhile, said she had not locked the door because she assumed it was safe to leave her children for a short while.

When I came home, my daughter was still sleeping, but my son was nowhere to be found, she reportedly told the police, crying.

Sukmajaya Police chief Comr. Bronet said they were investigating the case with help from the Depok Polices Women and Child Protection unit. (vla)Failed student-led rebuilding of TU

The earthquake of 25 April 2015 and its aftershocks extensively damaged some of the buildings in the University Campus of Tribhuvan University (TU) in Kirtipur, Kathmandu. The main administrative buildings housing the offices of the top managers of TU, including its Vice Chancellor (VC), were completely ruined. The old building of TUs Central Library was also wrecked by the quakes.Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) London  Sat, April 28, 2018 15:30 1256 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e1092a9 2 World toddler,UK,legal-battle Free

Terminally-ill British toddler Alfie Evans died in hospital on Saturday after doctors withdrew life support, the child's parents said, following a protracted legal battle and a campaign that drew support from Pope Francis.

"Our baby grew his wings tonight at 2:30am (0130 GMT). We are heartbroken. Thank you everyone for all your support," Kate James and Thomas Evans said in a statement on Facebook.

The parents had fought to take their son, who had a degenerative medical condition, from a hospital in Liverpool in northwest England to a clinic in Rome but lost a final court appeal on Wednesday.

Doctors had already removed life support on Monday after the parents lost a previous appeal to keep him alive despite doctors' recommendations.

Pope Francis intervened several times in a case that attracted worldwide attention, particularly in Italy and Poland.

Earlier this week the pontiff wrote on Twitter that he hoped the parents' "desire to seek new forms of treatment may be granted".

Tom Evans had met the pope in the Vatican and asked him to "save our son".

Italy had also granted citizenship to the toddler in the hope of facilitating his transfer to the Bamino Gesu (Baby Jesus) paediatric hospital in Rome.

The case is the latest in a series of high-profile battles between parents of ill children and the British authorities.

British law states that parents "cannot demand a particular treatment to be continued where the burdens of the treatment clearly outweigh the benefits for the child".

If agreement cannot be reached between the parents and the healthcare professionals, "a court should be asked to make a declaration about whether the provision of life-sustaining treatment would benefit the child".

The most recent example was that of Charlie Gard, who was born in August 2016 with a rare form of mitochondrial disease.

He died last year, one week short of his first birthday, after doctors withdrew life support treatment.

Gard's parents fought a five-month legal battle for him to be taken to the United States for experimental treatment.

The parents of Ashya King defied professionals in 2014 when they snatched their cancer-stricken son from a British hospital and took him to Prague for proton beam therapy.

King, now eight years old, has since been declared clear of the disease.Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Marguerite Afra Sapiie (The Jakarta Post) Singapore  Sat, April 28, 2018 11:45 1256 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e104b58 1 World Jokowi,Myanmar,Rohingya,ASEAN-Summit Free

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has reiterated Indonesia's commitment to assist the Myanmar government in solving the Rohingya crisis.

Shortly after arriving in Singapore to attend the 32nd ASEAN Summit, the President held a bilateral meeting with Myanmar's new president, Win Myint, on Friday afternoon, during which Jokowi expressed concern over the ongoing crisis.

Jokowi said Indonesia was ready to provide any necessary assistance for Myanmar to secure the repatriation of Rohingya refugees from their camps in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar back to Rakhine state.

"Indonesia only has one interest, namely to see a stable and peaceful Rakhine, where people, including the Muslims, can live in peace," Jokowi told Myint during the meeting.

Jokowi highlighted the fact that dozens of Rohingya refugees had arrived in Kuara Bireuen Beach in Aceh by boat last week.

Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya people fled Myanmar following a military crackdown against the ethnic minority in Myanmar's Rakhine state, which the UN has dubbed an act of "ethnic cleansing".

The bilateral talk was the first meeting between Jokowi and Myint, who assumed Myanmars presidency last month after his predecessor, Htin Kyaw, stepped down.

Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi was absent from this week's ASEAN Summit. Suu Kyi has long faced global pressure due to the unsolved crisis.

Jokowi also encouraged his Myanmar counterpart to implement the recommendations issued by the Advisory Committee for Rakhine state, which is led by former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, to solve the humanitarian crisis in the region.

The committee issued a report last year that proposed a series of measures to resolve the conflict, such as to allow humanitarian aid workers to enter the affected areas in northern Rakhine and set up an independent investigation into the allegations of crimes. (ahw)Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Marguerite Afra Sapiie (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, April 28, 2018 12:14 1256 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e105e8c 1 Politics Jokowi,212Rally,Rizieq-Shihab Free

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has rejected the demand made by an Islamist group linked to the 2016 sectarian rally in Jakarta that he drop the pornography case against Islam Defenders Front (FPI) leader Rizieq Shihab, the State Palace has said.

The group, calling itself the 212 Rally Alumni, conveyed their demand during a meeting with Jokowi at the Bogor Palace in West Java last week.

Presidential spokesperson Johan Budi said that Jokowi entrusted the law enforcement body with the case and he was certain that the authorities would be professional in handling it.

"The President does not want to intervene in the legal process," Johan told journalists on Friday.

The 212 Alumni comprises Islamic groups as well as activists who participated in a massive rally on Dec. 2, 2016, that called for the prosecution of then-Jakarta governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama for blasphemy.

They believe that a string of cases against their leaders, including Rizieq, are politically motivated.

Rizieq, who fled to Saudi Arabia, was charged with pornography after a steamy conversation allegedly involving him and a woman was leaked and went viral online. (ahw)Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin M. Jegathesan and Patrick Lee in Pekan (Agence France-Presse) Kuala Lumpur  Sat, April 28, 2018 14:30 1256 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e1071ed 2 World Malaysia,election,Najib-Razak Free

Campaigning for Malaysia's general election began Saturday with flag-waving supporters hitting the streets, as the scandal-hit government fights to retain power in one of the toughest poll battles since independence six decades ago.

Prime Minister Najib Razak faces a stern test at next month's vote due to the controversy surrounding sovereign wealth fund 1MDB and a challenge from his former mentor and veteran ex-leader, Mahathir Mohamad.

Mahathir, a strongman who led Malaysia for over two decades, has shaken up the race with a surprise comeback at the age of 92 as the prime ministerial candidate in an opposition alliance packed with parties he crushed while in power.

But Najib's Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, which has been in power since independence from Britain in 1957, is tipped to win due to splits within the opposition, and what critics warn will be widespread cheating at the dirtiest election in Malaysian history.

In the unlikely event that Mahathir wins the May 9 poll, he will become the world's oldest prime minister.

There was a festive atmosphere around the country Saturday as candidates formally registered to stand in the election, with flag-waving supporters from different parties parading through the streets.

Once the election commission confirmed their candidacies, the 11-day campaign formally got under way, with 222 parliamentary seats up for grabs.

Najib, in dark blue traditional Malay dress, registered in his constituency of Pekan, in Pahang state, which he has held for over four decades, as his supporters gathered, singing the national anthem and waving flags.

"He has developed our country, developed an Islamic nation, race and country," supporter Azizah Abdul Aziz told AFP.

On the holiday island of Langkawi, Mahathir arrived at a local government office to register, wearing bright red Malay dress and a traditional black cap.

Outside about 5,000 backers of the opposition coalition he is heading, Pact of Hope, waved flags and chanted.

"Mahathir can help reboot this country," supporter Aziah Mohamad Nasir told AFP. "Prime Minister Najib has destroyed justice, there is no rule of law."

Not all candidates registered successfully. Tian Chua, a leading member of opposition group the People's Justice Party, was disqualified from contesting his seat due to a fine imposed by a court for insulting a police officer.

Mahathir was spurred out of retirement to take on Najib -- who heads the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the main party in the ruling coalition -- as allegations mounted about the 1MDB scandal.

Billions of dollars were allegedly stolen from 1MDB, which was set up and overseen by Najib, in a campaign of fraud and money-laundering, with American authorities claiming it was used to buy everything from high-end real estate to artwork in the United States.

Najib and the fund deny any wrongdoing, but the controversy has only added to BN's problems after years of falling popularity driven by official corruption, divisive racial politics in the multi-ethnic country and anger at rising living costs.

The 64-year-old leader is under pressure to score an emphatic win after BN lost the popular vote for the first time at the 2013 election.

Najib, who has been premier since 2009, has weathered the 1MDB scandal by sacking critics in government and launching a crackdown that has seen opponents arrested on various charges.

In recent weeks, BN has taken steps that critics liken to gerrymandering -- such as redrawing electoral boundaries in a way the opposition says will tilt the race in the government's favour.

Ibrahim Suffian, head of independent polling firm Merdeka Centre, told AFP that BN was likely to win but signalled it could be a tough fight.

"There are a few states where the opposition does have a strong presence, so it makes for some uncertainty," he said.Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, April 28, 2018 17:31 1256 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e10a04d 1 National Starbucks,preachers,religion Free

A popular preacher is under fire on Twitter for saying Muslims who buy from Starbucks will go to hell.

In a 52-minute video uploaded by Islamic channel Fodamara TV on Youtube, Abdul Somad, the preacher in question, says that Muslims will be thrown into hell if they buy from Starbucks, as the coffee shop openly supports the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.

He made the statement when answering a question from a member of the audience on whether Muslims are allowed to buy from a cafe that supports LGBT rights.

He said: In the afterlife [...] the angels will ask the [LGBT community], How did [your community] grow so big? [The LGBT community] will respond, Because of the donations [given to us]. 'Who gave you the donations?' 'Those who are in heaven.'"

God will pull out those who are in heaven and throw them into hell for donating to Starbucks, he added.

Although the video was uploaded in October 2017, it went viral on Thursday after several Twitter users uploaded snippets of the video on social media and criticized the cleric for being ridiculous.

One of them was Muslim scholar Akhmad Sahal, who said Somad's logic was contradictory as the social media channel that the cleric uses also supports LGBT rights.

Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, all of them support LGBT rights. Based on his logic, wouldnt that mean its users will go to hell too? Sahal said on his Twitter account.

UAS bilang pengopi Starbucks masuk neraka krn Starbucks dukung LGBT.



Facebook, twitter, Youtube juga mendukung hak-hak LGBT. Berarti pengguna kanal2 medsos tsb masuk neraka semua? PBB dukung hak2 LGBT. Kalo pake logika UAS, negara2 muslim anggota PBB masuk neraka. https://t.co/8Yi7KoHlSP  akhmad sahal (@sahaL_AS) April 28, 2018

My penniless fellow, you are free from hells torment now, wrote another Twitter user.

Sobat qisminqu aman dari siksa neraka pic.twitter.com/i3HYZBNhe7  Space Pope/Papa Espacial (@nyombek) April 27, 2018

But not everyone agreed that Somad's statement was ridiculous.

I dont really get what people are fuming about. As far as Im concerned, Somad only said what he believes in. Dont agree with him? Go get your Starbucks and stop watching his videos. Make it easy for yourself. Wont tell you again, wrote one user. (dpk/ahw)Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Mai Yaghi (Agence France-Presse) Gaza City, Palestinian Territories  Sat, April 28, 2018 08:30 1256 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e100f34 2 World Palestine,Israel,rally,Gaza Free

Three Palestinians were shot dead Friday as thousands demonstrated along the border between Gaza and Israel for a fifth consecutive week of rallies dubbed the Great March of Return.

More than 300 other people were hospitalised for gunshot wounds and tear gas inhalation, Gaza's health ministry said.

Forty-four Palestinians have now been killed by Israeli fire since major protests began on March 30, with over 1,500 more wounded.

No Israelis have been hurt.

Marchers are demanding the right to return to their homes seized by Israel in 1948.

Israel says that allowing the refugees in would mean the end of the Jewish state, and accuses Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas of using the protests as a pretext for violence.

It said that at one point the protesters attempted a mass breach of the border fence intending to break into the Jewish state.

"At the peak of today's events, active members of the Hamas terror organisation led hundreds of rioters on a violent mass infiltration attempt towards Israeli territory," an English-language military statement said.

It added that during the attempt "they hurled explosive devices, hand grenades and firebombs at troops."

In what the army said was a direct response, Israeli warplanes late Friday attacked "six military targets belonging to the Hamas terror organisation's naval force in the Gaza Strip."

It did not give the location of the targets but the Hamas interior ministry in Gaza said aircraft -- originally reported as drones -- hit Gaza's main port, damaging two boats but causing no injuries.

Eyewitnesses at the port said the two boats were badly damaged, but Hamas security forces prevented journalists from reaching the scene.

It is believed to have been the first time Israeli aircraft had targeted boats in Gaza since the 2014 war there between Israel and Hamas.

The protest movement is officially independent but has the backing of Hamas, which has fought three wars with Israel since 2008.

On Friday protesters again gathered at five sites near the border fence, though numbers were down on previous weeks.

Dozens of young men burned tyres and threw stones a few hundred metres from the border, with Israeli soldiers occasionally firing tear gas and live ammunition.

Two men, who were not identified by the Palestinian health ministry, were shot dead east of Gaza City, while a third, 29-year-old Abdul Salam al-Bakr, was killed along the border in southern Gaza.

Three journalists were among those injured, the Gaza Centre for Media Freedom said.

The Israeli army said in a statement around 10,000 Palestinians had taken part in "riots".

"Attempts have been made to harm security infrastructure, roll burning tires, hurl rocks and fly kites with flaming objects attached to them."

"Troops have used riot dispersal means and have fired in accordance with the rules of engagement," it added.

Demonstrations are expected to spike again in the lead up to May 14, when the United States will move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The decision has infuriated Palestinians, who see the annexed eastern half of the holy city as the capital of their future state.

US President Donald Trump, who tore up decades of policy by recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital, said Friday he "may go" to the city for the embassy opening.

The mooted trip came as Amnesty International called for an arms embargo of Israel over the use of live fire.

"For four weeks the world has watched in horror as Israeli snipers and other soldiers, in full protective gear and behind the fence, have attacked Palestinian protesters with live ammunition and tear gas," the human rights organisation said in a statement.

Israel has rejected calls for an independent inquiry into the deaths along Gaza's border, with the army saying its troops only use live ammunition as a last resort.Govt accountant under probe in Rs 75m swindle

A government accountant is under investigation on charge of misappropriating nearly Rs 75 million while working for Mai Municipality in Ilam and Katari Municipality in Udayapur.Following Fashion Revolution Week, we've found ourselves wanting clothes that are ethical and brands that are conscious of how they'e affecting the planet.

Mangos Committed collection captures all of the above, with evidence of how being ethically aware doesnt mean the actual fashion has to look any less stylish.

The collection totally incorporates the whole environmentally conscious persona; ultra earthy vibes, neutral colours with bright pops here and there, the right combination of flowing fabrics and structured materials.

Think Tarzan meets Jane, but with their trademark uber stylish, Spanish feel.

A collection full of wardrobe staples with a holiday vibe, here are our favourite picks of the Committed range:

Chest-pocket Soft Shirt, 49.99

This is the perfect mix of formal, tailored style yet with relaxed fabrics and a soft feel to it.

The over-sized look works so well pinched in at the waist by being tucked in and this, for me, would be such a perfect piece for both on holiday as its airy and breezy, but also for those summer days at the office.

Personally, I just love the back-to-basics simplicity of this. A feature that makes this, much like the rest of the collection, a total wardrobe staple.

Oversize Organza Cotton Jumpsuit, 59.99

A collection wouldnt be complete without a basic jumpsuit and this for me is just that.

This is the definition of a day-to-night jumpsuit; wear buttoned up with sandals and a sun hat during the day, brighten up with statement jewellery and bright coloured heels and bag at night.

Leather Cylinder Bag, 89.99

Cross body bags are always a favourite because theyre so practical, but this cylinder shaped bag gives it a little something extra and something a little different.

Youre always onto a winner with a neutral bag as they go with absolutely anything and can be used for pretty much any occasion. Necessity for all your upcoming summer events, and it will most definitely take you through to winter too.

Bow Soft Fabric Trousers, 49.99

In an otherwise neutral filled range, this bright pop of summer yellow is the ideal spark.

This shade of yellow is definitely a SS timeless favourite, perhaps not for everyone but its definitely music to my ears. The style of these trousers is amazing, the tie waist idea gives such a casual and relaxed edge, but they would definitely be a statement piece.

And, the fact they also come with a matching co-ord top so can be worn, makes this delight even better!Indian border force dismantles electric fence on Nepal side

The Indian Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) has uprooted the electric fence installed at Punarbas, a village in Kanchanpur that shares border with India.Jo Richardson, De Montfort University

Research by the Resolution Foundation has confirmed what many young people already sensed; that for them, the private rented sector in Britain is less a stepping stone, and more of a trap. The research predicts that up to a third of millennials will live in private rented housing from the day theyre born, until the day they die.

Many aspire to own their own home, pay off the mortgage and have an asset against which they can leverage the support they may need in their old age, or pass on to their children. But this traditional dream is becoming increasingly distant, as more of the UKs housing stock is owned by organisations or landlords with multiple properties.

What went wrong?

Home ownership is increasingly the preserve of those with wealth, or older people who bought at a time when housing was cheaper. Some of the wealthy dont just own their own home, but also others, which they collect the rent on to buy more properties.

While owner occupation, as a proportion of market share, has not changed dramatically , very recently (it has been around 62% for a couple of years) the private rented sector has grown at the expense of the social housing sector.

Social housing  thats homes owned by local councils or housing associations, rented out at significantly less than the market rate  has become rarer. And theres more so-called affordable housing  usually a set proportion of up to 80% of the market rate  which in many cases just isnt affordable for those on lower incomes.

In continental Europe  especially countries such as Sweden  there is a different approach. The level of owner occupation is much lower, while the private rented sector is better quality, more affordable and more secure for renters.

What could work?

There are plenty of policies which could improve the situation for generation rent:

Cap rents in the private rented sector and regulate landlords, so that properties must meet quality standards; this is the case in countries such as Sweden, but the differences between markets means comparisons are nuanced and complex. Reform tenancy law and enforce better protection for tenants against rogue landlords. There are stories about landlords undertaking revenge evictions against tenants who have complained. There are examples of poor or no repairs, hazardous and unhealthy conditions to live in, but the legal redress for tenants is slow, costly and limited.

Why things wont change tomorrow

The UK cant just set out tomorrow and become Sweden by placing more stringent regulations on rent levels, tenancy security and quality of housing. The UKs political and economic systems are materially different, and this manifests in the flavour of its housing markets.

In his 1995 book , Jim Kemeny highlighted how, in England, the housing private market is protected from competition through the suppression of social renting. Neo-liberal policies which promoted private commercial interests over social ones were the bedrock of this paradox, and this remains the case now more than ever.

Pendulum politics, resulting from our democratic process, means short-termism is the only political game in town. Reforming the housing market, fixing the private rented sector and building more genuinely affordable housing need a longer term approach.

Then there are voter dynamics to consider: for example, Right To Buy appeals to people already in the social housing sector who wish to own. The policy is often leveraged as a political at election time. But it benefits the few, rather than the many, and it disproportionately disadvantages young people who are in the private rented sector and cannot benefit from Right To Buy.

Older people, those who own their own homes, or wish to buy their council or housing association home, are more likely to engage with the current democratic system and vote. Until more and more young people use their ballot card, their voices will be marginalised.A temporary security guard at the University of London has been filmed physically and sexually assaulting student protestors. On Tuesday, students attempted to enter Senate House to stage a sit-in in support of outsourced workers. The organisation 'Justice for University of London Workers' originally posted a video on their page but later removed it. They also allege that a security guard kicked and dragged two protestors before grabbing UCL Women's Officer Justine Canady by the breasts and pushing her backwards. When questioned about the assault, the group allege that the guard said he would "rather put [his] dick in a grinder" than have sex with Canady. In a statement, UCL student Canady said she was shocked at the assault: "I am still shocked how someone would possibly think it was a good idea to grab my breast to try and intimidate me. This is disgusting and unacceptable, as was the misogynist abuse directed my way after he sexually assaulted me. "University of London cannot keep putting students at risk by hiring in untrained and violent temp security staff." The same temporary guard allegedly kicked third year UCL student Jack Kershaw in the knees and forced another student into a headlock between his knees. He then proceeded to drag her across the floor by the ankles. Jack Kershaw explained that the university's actions are putting students at risk. "We approached the cafe door to enter the university building but as soon as I stood next to the security officer he became aggressive, shouting in my ear to leave and kneeing and kicking me in the legs. Kershaw further added that he was sitting in the doorway when the guard "tried to drag me and another student out of the way, then closed the door on my arm." A University spokesperson said: "We are deeply concerned about allegations of physical and sexual assault on students who were protesting at the University of London. The University of London and its provider of security services, Cordant Services, take allegations of physical and sexual assault or other inappropriate behaviour very seriously and urge those involved to raise these issues with the appropriate channels for thorough investigation."sign ups

action,

witholdThe online world we live in is a quirky, often scary, ever-changing platform.

For how useful the internet might be for our development and growth, theres no doubt that it brings more than just a series of issues with it. From privacy and censorship to discrimination and bullying, there is just a lot to work on to make this platform truly safe for everyone to use.

Especially in relation to social media, Twitter has been recently criticised for their poor response to harassment reporting. YouTube algorithm is known for sporadically pushing out trending offensive content, and getting abusers banned from Instagram is still a long and unpractical process.

Earlier this month, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) published a study and a website, Squadbox, embracing principles of human sensibility in the fight against online harassment. They call it friendsourcing, and in their views, it could potentially revolutionise the way we fight online abuse.

Half of UK girls were bullied on social media in 2017, a survey conducted by Opinium for the childrens charity Plan International UK has found. Meanwhile Pew Research Center found that in the same year four in ten Americans had personally experienced online harassment at some point in their life.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been growing exponentially in the last few years, and along with disturbing robots, smart fridges and arguably racist bots, it has also tried to develop in order to fight online harassment.

An open source project launched last year by a Google subsidiary company called Jigsaw saw AI to be deployed as the exclusive tool to defeat online harassment. The machine learning model was taught by example to recognise abusive language or harassment, and Jigsaw claimed the AI could potentially be more accurate than any keyword blacklist, and work faster than any human moderator.

But there is another school of thought in relation to fighting online harassment. Some companies, including Twitter and HeartMob, have in the past used human-based tools to systematically report and fight online harassment, claiming that human touch cannot be entirely replaced by any machine when it comes to reporting offences. The recently released platform SquadBox is a project based on this personal way of fighting online harassment.

But before digging deeper into how Squadbox works, what does friendsourcing even mean?

HeartMob and Twitter Block Lists

One of the first platforms based on the principle of helping others fighting online abuse, HeartMob, was launched in 2016 online harassment survivors. The founders claimed that bystander intervention is the best practice for addressing all forms of violence, and that an online community that could do this, could help end online harassment once and for all.

Theres a Twitter bot available on the HeartMob site to help people fight the more blatant forms of online offences, but all activity on the platform is reviewed by trained staff on the HeartMob team. From harassment cases to supportive messages, help requests and documentation, and all the data you can have on your HeartMobber accounts, everything goes through the support team.

The reason why these platforms are needed in the first place, says Dr John DeGarmo of the Foster Care Institute, is that people on social media are by far less respectful than in real life.

If Im talking to you face-to-face [and] I can see if something Ive said upset you, by your facial, by your body gestures and I will most likely back-off. Whereas on social media we cant see those social cues, I cant see if Ive upset you or not so I just tend to go all out.

To fight online harassment, Twitter has over time developed different tools. Similar to HeartMob and Squadbox, in 2015 the social media released a tool which would allow users to create, import and export whole lists of people they had blocked. The tool has surely helped to contain spam and online harassment in the past three years, but it has also been criticised for limiting freedom of expression by passively shunning people you dont know based on someone elses opinion.

Generally, people in the online world behave like drivers behave when theyre in their cars, says Adam Gray, co-founder of Digital Leadership Associates, they can be more aggressive because they dont get the face-to-face contact they have to deal with as a result of their behaviour.

However, if youre part of a community online, say LinkedIn or Facebook, and you say something which is unjustified or horrible, many of your friends will dissent, so the cost of saying something there will be much higher than saying something in real life. So it really depends a lot on the network and what kind of community there is.

Squadbox

What Squadbox picks up from HeartMob is both the use of a helping AI tool - in their case they have partnered with Jigsaw  and a team of people overseeing and filtering messages before they reach a certain person. But the platform adds another layer to the concept of bystander intervention. In Squadbox, the person behind the moderation of a given mailbox is always a friend.

The project started from the concept of how we can make online discussion better, says Amy Zhang, Co-creator of Squadbox and PhD student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Weve started researching mailing list and how they were moderated. And we were obviously very aware of questions related to harassment.

At some point last year we were talking about new projects and thought what if someone could moderate another persons mailing list, could that be a solution?

The team interviewed a range of scientists, activists, and YouTube personalities, and found out that people had very different experiences. A lot of the harassment they faced was very contextual, says Mrs Zhang. They had been targeted in very specific ways or by very specific people where that context was really important, and that led us to think that something that would involve friends more than a strangers moderation team could potentially work better.

The way the platform works is quite decentralised. Its about people taking control of their own inbox through their friends or people other people they trust, Mrs Zhang says.

Squadbox is currently working for emails, but the team is thinking of ways to expand the platform. Moderators you select on the site can return emails with a tag, put them in the trash folder, add a summary or redact the message before forwarding and so on.

We can imagine this same system to work for Twitter, and any other place where people are pushing content directly at you, Mrs Zhang tells The National Student.

We have created this idea, which is an open-source project, and now its up to other websites and people to implement it if they would like to.

From theory to practice

But while it might be easier to look at numbers and figures when dealing with delicate matters such as online harassment, there are real people behind the harm provoked by these issues. The National Student talked to two of them, to ask about their experience, and what they think of friendsourcing.

Jane (not her real name), lives in Minya El-Qamh, Egypt. She is a high school student, and she uses social media on a daily basis, mostly to communicate with her friends from other cities and abroad. She tells The National Student how a normal conversation with a friend turned into a case of harassment that almost destroyed her life and reputation.

A friend of mine posted something about Islam on Facebook one day. About culture and religion, and how they change in time. My opinion was that culture was something different from religion, and after replying to his comment, the conversation ended there.

However, when Jane woke up and checked her phone in the morning, she saw one particular user had sent her tons of offensive private messages related to her comment the previous day. He also had commented in the same tone on all her public posts on Facebook.

At first I thought dont you have a life? And thought that if he was just offending me, I could just block him and get over that, says Jane, but then I found out he had taken screengrabs of that conversation with my friend and was sending them to all of my contacts, claiming I was anti-Muslim and saying very bad things about me. I felt scared.

Jane says she had something she didnt want anyone to know, and somehow that person discovered that and he started revealing her secret to all her friends and family. I could handle anything and everything, says Jane, but not this one thing.

When her friends started questioning her about the matter, she lied that it wasnt true. She told them that person was just an extremist who wanted to bring Sharia law to America and Europe.

Luckily, I think they believed me and ignored that message. I think that, after multiple reporting actions from me and my friends, his account was finally suspended.

We asked Jane if she thinks something like Squadbox would have been helpful in preventing or alleviating the consequences of her online abuse, and she had mixed feelings about it.

Its a good idea to have friends looking after you on social media, she says, but as it has happened to me, I dont think people would want their friends to know certain secrets that could come from the violation of their privacy from online abusers. I think everyone has something they wouldnt want even their friends to know, right?

This privacy issue has been taken into consideration by the Squadbox team. People might have issues with other people reading their emails, even if theyre close friends. According to the Squadbox survey, however, most of the people would be okay in trusting a friend in that regard.

But Madelaine Hanson, who has also suffered online abuse on Facebook from an individual going under the name of 'Ali Saed', says that ideas based on friendsourcing like Squadbox could actually help in fighting online harassment and that she is already doing something like that on Facebook.

I have a pretty big following on Facebook, and there's this guy who has repeatedly sent me abusive messages and tried to block me, along with other friends, because we have in his view, 'mocked' Islam.

We have a Facebook group watching out for him, he's threatened to kill people too. There's about ten of us, and we watch for when he makes a new profile and posts scary comments.

For these reasons, Mrs Hanson believes Squadbox is a really good idea and she strongly believes that it could work since the best moderators are human moderators.

But what about the harm to those bystander friends who are there to prevent any harm could be done to us? It might be particularly draining or difficult for those people to do so, says Mrs Zhang, and if its just as traumatising for them we didnt really solve the problem, we just spread it further.

However, the Squadbox MIT research has shown that out of the five pair of friends they based their research on, four said that if the harassment was not aimed at them directly, its effect would not be as hurtful. All of them said they would moderate for another person to prevent them getting harassed, and would consider a mutually moderated system with someone.

The reason why friends could be more helpful than strangers in moderating a personal inbox, says Mrs Zhang, is that they know the context where the harassment is taking place. That would give them the right tools to make an informed decision.

A solution?

So what is the most efficient way to fight online harassment? Can friendsourcing be considered a solution or could training AI further become more reliable?

I would say both ways of fighting online harassment should exist, Mrs Zhang says. You need platforms to take some actions but you also need the ability of users to do so themselves to manage their own contextual and personal situations. Platform action could take a more generic approach but we strongly believe decentralised tools like ours should also exist.

From a victims perspective though, the situation is on a different level. I believe world governments should interfere more in cases of social media harassment, Jane says. If I report someone for something bad, the police should intervene immediately. We might not necessarily get the results that we want, but people would be more afraid of behaving like that online.

Its about people understanding the ramifications of their actions, Mr Gray says If people can see the damage that theyre doing by behaving that way, thats the way forward.Unfortunately, The Content Is Not Here

You have arrived at this page because the page or post you were looking for no longer exists. Please check our main navigation pages for other content: 

Home PageInternational Buddhist Conference kicks off in Lumbini

The International Buddhist Conference has kicked off in Lumbini from Saturday.Minister thanks for US support

The US Ambassador to Nepal Alaina B Teplitz on Friday called on the Minister for Education, Science and Technology Giriraj Mani Pokharel in the Capital.Which moment from a comic this week caught your interest?

Moment and Indie Moment of the Month for March have begun! Vote now or forever hold your peace!!!

Your WINNER for MOMENT OF THE WEEK 4/18/18:

"Batman kills babies." - Mister Miracle #8

This thread will contain SPOILERS!!! And lots of them. If you haven't read this week's comics yet, go read them before continuing into this thread, or risk being spoiled!

PLEASE NOTE!!!!!! ]Remember to include the title and issue number of the comic you are nominating. Otherwise I will be forced to disqualify your nomination, and nobody wants that!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Rules:

1. Each nomination must be a moment in a comic released the week of the thread. This does not include weekly previews, trade paperbacks, or back issue digests. For new comics check out Midtown Comics release dates.

2. Everyone can make ONE nomination. You can either nominate a moment yourself or second/third/fourth/fifth an already existing nomination. However, second/third/fourth/fifth will not count per nominating and thus earn entry above in Top Nominations. You want in that list you must nominate something.

3. It must be an actual moment involving the actions or statements of a comic character in an issue. No "This writer returns to the series", "this artist draws this character", "the book is better", etc.

4. If you want to change your nomination, there are a few factors involved:

---> A) No one can have seconded your nom.

---> B) If it is clear for you to change your nom, you must edit your original post or the new post will be disqualified as being a double nomination.

---> C) You can change your second, third, etc. by editing your original post before the nomination period ends.

Moments on the poll do not have to be seconded. If there is room in the poll, moments that were nominated but not seconded will be added based on the order they were nominated.

6. Again, please be specific on the comic title, issue number and moment. Also be clear that you are actually nominating or seconding something ... statements such as "Yeah, that was a cool moment" aren't clear. You must nominate a single moment in the comic and can't nominate the whole issue. Once more, if you dont include the issue and number the moment will not be included.

7. The thread for nominations will go up on Wednesday (new comic day) at 11:00 PM (Central) or when Zechs arrives later that night and posts in the previous week thread announcing voting is closed. The nominations will go until 2:00 PM (Central Time) Sunday Afternoon, or whenever Zechs arrives and will post in the thread stating, Its over. and will start the poll. If a new comic day falls on a holiday week in American, then the thread will be made for that day (be it Tuesday or Thursday). Regardless, nominations will STILL conclude on Saturday deadline.

8. Please be civil when commenting on other people's nominations. But feel free to discuss them in this thread.

9. In case there is debate on WHEN exactly a title came out, http://www.midtowncomics.com or the official websites of said publishers (be it Marvel, DC, Darkhorse, etc.) will be the final word on the quarrel.

10. Any nominations not following the above rules will be disqualified. Unless of course if Zechs, who is feeling sad for the person who missed the rule and might give them time to provide the correction. Then he will pester bk into putting the nomination in the poll. Of course this wouldnt be a problem if Zechs wasnt granted the glorious powers of a moderator, which one day such power will be Zechs, oh yes they will his.

11. If at five nominations are not made, Zechs will choose some, but they will all count as one nomination, not multiple thus making sure balance is preserved.

12. AKA the Rulk rule. If several moments are tied past the deadline of 11:00 PM (Central Time) Wednesday (or holiday date when new comics arrive in the US) or when Zechs arrives that night, then voting will continue on in sudden death for eight more hours, until one is decided. THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE.

If one isnt still decided, then Zechs will provide the deciding vote, regardless if he has voted already. So if that isn't enough reason to get a ton of votes on that additional day than you're just dooming yourself to give Zechs another vote.

13. AKA the Hobgoblin rule. Roderick Kingsley Hobgoblin moments when winning for three days straight automatically win the poll. No last day or second voting changes it to troll the ruler of this thread.

Only ONE can rule as the Moment of the Week!

Top Ten Nominators of All Time...

1.) GLX- (454 Nominations)

2.) Zechs- (447 Nominations)

3.) e_galston- (202 Nominations)

4.) IvCNuB4 - (178 Nominations)

5.) Johnny Smith (174 Nominations)

6.) Kravis (145 Nominations)

7.) Stephen Day- (126 Nominations)

8.) blcdude (110 Nominations)

9.) rdrsfn82- (102 Nominations)

10.) fieldy RICHARDS- (93 Nominations)

Honorable Mentions

HNutz (83 Nominations)

Porcelain38- (92 Nominations)

Starlord- (81 Nominations)

Nicola Marshall (66 Nominations)

God-Man (63 Nominations)

DudeistMonk (58 Nominations)

BubbaKanoosh- (57 Nominations)

Greg- (52 Nominations)

Knuckles McSmasher- (44 Nominations)

doombug - (43 Nominations)

48THRiLLS- (40 Nominations)

Demarcoa (39 Nominations)

SilverPhoenix (34 Nominations)

guitarsmashley (34 Nominations)

TimDrake'sDumbWings- (30 Nominations)

Amoebas (30 Nominations)

Chap22- (28 Nominations)

Mr. Batman- (27 Nominations)

Dragavon- (27 Nominations)

locuas (26 Nominations)

karmakaze (26 Nominations)

VinnyPic- (25 Nominations)

jephd (26 Nominations)

Flynn the Pirate (21 Nominations)

habitual- (19 Nominations)

Grayson (19 Nominations)

Agent Panic (18 Nominations)

nietoperz (18 Nominations)

PaulSebert (18 Nominations)

Glacier16 (18 Nominations)

Punchy- (16 Nominations)

MrBlack (16 Nominations)

OneWhoIsAll (15 Nominations)

capjr (12 Nominations)

ThatRomanGuy (12 Nominations)

MistaT- (12 Nominations)

ChurchHatesTucker (12 Nominations)

Belle-Tain Summer (13 Nominations)

senwolf (12 Nominations)

PatricioUPMA (11 Nominations)

GOFM - (10 Nominations)

Duck Punch (10 Nominations)

Peter Parker (10 Nominations)

SuperSoldier Washout (9 Nominations)

The Great Ghostman (9 Nominations)

Octacon (8 Nominations)

alaska1125 (8 Nominations)

HED (8 Nominations)

gavincantdraw (8 Nominations)

MarcianTobay (8 Nominations)

eypcrew2- (7 Nominations)

CammyKnoxville (7 Nominations)

Skyrider (7 Nominations)

Eli Katz (7 Nominations)

Flamebird (7 Nominations)

pat (6 Nominations)

TheSecondLex (6 Nominations)

Juan Cena (6 Nominations)

Kid Impulse- (5 Nominations)

XtremeX- (5 Nominations)

Mammon, Fool Breaker (5 Nominations)

Stalzer2002 (5 Nominations)

Sully85 (5 Nominations)

C-Matty- (4 Nominations)

Dum Dum Dugan- (4 Nominations)

AMS (4 Nominations)

Dalarsco- (4 Nominations)

GHERU (4 Nominations)

jethawk (4 Nominations)

Chessack (4 Nominations)

MarvelFan88 (4 Nominations)

Earth-2 NoctourneM (4 Nominations)

Ben- (3 Nominations)

McKeagan- (3 Nominations)

carl999- (3 Nominations)

Alex Delarge- (3 Nominations)

MrWadeWilsonHimself (3 Nominations)

pat (3 Nominations)

blastmaster (3 Nominations)

thefourthman (3 Nominations)

BlueKitKat (3 Nominations)

americanslime (3 Nominations)

SolRey34 (3 Nominations)

GOSD- (3 Nominations)

MysticKnightJoe (3 Nominations)

GratefulFred- (2 Nominations)

statnut- (2 Nominations)

Dooz - (2 Nominations)

Jack Burton- (2 Nominations)

Zenguru- (2 Nominations)

God Impulse2k1 (2 Nominations)

skywatcher (2 Nominations)

avengingtitan (2 Nominations)

Rebis (2 Nominations)

Justin M. Campbell (2 Nominations)

PhoenixEquinox (2 Nominations)

Timbales (2 Nominations)

dairydead (2 Nominations)

Lord Solaris (2 Nominations)

Aeon Flux (2 Nominations)

PinkDaddy (2 Nomination)

Ntikrst (2 Nominations)

Jude Terror (2 Nominations)

Major Tool (2 Nominations)

LoatheMe (2 Nominations)

Richie Heap (2 Nominations)

Chicanery (2 Nominations)

syxxpakk (2 Nominations)

batarang614 (2 Nominations)

Arkanian (2 Nominations)

Fifthletter (2 Nominations)

ObsceneBinary (2 Nominations)

Josh Hartung (2 Nominations)

TurboSmurf (2 Nominations)

Randy Robertson (2 Nominations)

Peter-J-DeadPoole (2 Nominations)

GiveWaraChance (2 Nominations)

Guderian- (1 Nomination)

Black Kryptonite- (1 Nomination)

Colonel Angus- (1 Nomination)

barrylincoln - (1 Nomination)

Dooz Ex Machina- (1 Nomination)

Thrillhouse- (1 Nomination)

Chesscub- (1 Nomination)

TheyShouldBeTheBats- (1 Nomination)

The Bass (1 Nomination)

GOD Impulse- (1 Nomination)

Deadfett (1 Nomination)

amalah6 (1 Nomination)

Miracloman (1 Nomination)

Alex Delarge (1 Nomination)

blastmaster (1 Nomination)

Jonathan (1 Nomination)

NeverReady ( 1 Nomination)

DOOP SPEAK (1 Nomination)

BlueStreak (1 Nomination)

mrorangesoda - (1 Nomination)

BAMJoe (1 Nomination)

False Prophet (1 Nomination)

xaraan (1 Nomination)

Holland Oats (1 Nomination)

bkthomson (1 Nomination)

hatmasta (1 Nomination)

TheSecondLex (1 Nomination)

Pink Daddy (1 Nomination)

Sunless (1 Nomination)

Jim Gramm (1 Nomination)

tomc (1 Nomination)

John Condor (1 Nomination)

B1CaNobody (1 Nomination)

Socky (1 Nomination)

bluemanhattangroup (1 Nomination)

TimH (1 Nomination)

Bilal Khawaja (1 Nomination)

Scintillant-H (1 Nomination)

Arkanian (1 Nomination)

the_isolator (1 Nomination)

Arkanian (1 Nomination)

Manuel Prez (1 Nomination)

Ameht Dominguez (1 Nomination)

James Burke (1 Nomination)

Sporkbot (1 Nomination)

agf029 (1 Nomination)

jay042 (1 Nomination)

Draco X (1 Nomination)

RobThompson (1 Nomination)

Hall of Shame

sdsichero (-1 Nomination)

John Lewis Hawk (-25 Nominations)In 2011, he said called the protesters a pack of louts, thieves, and rapists..."

Source: The Guardian

In the same year that he published Holy Terror!, a comic about not-Batman taking on Al-Qaeda, Frank Miller criticized Occupy Wall Street, describing the protesters as "a pack of louts, thieves, and rapists." He addressed those same protesters in a tirade saying, "Wake up, pond scum. America is at war against a ruthless enemy. Maybe, between bouts of self-pity and all the other tasty tidbits of narcissism you've been served up in your sheltered, comfy little worlds, you've heard terms like al-Qaida and Islamicism."

While the Miller of 2001 is different from the Miller of 1986, it seems it's also true that the Miller of 2018 is different from the Miller of 2011.

"My stuff always represents what I'm going through," Miller says today. "Whenever I look at any of my work I can feel what my mindset was and I remember who I was with at the time. When I look at Holy Terror, which I really don't do all that often, I can really feel the anger ripple out of the pages. There are places where it is bloodthirsty beyond belief."

Miller wouldn't exactly say he has regrets, but he doesn't think he's capable of that kind of book again.

"I don't want to go back and start erasing books I did," he replies. "I don't want to wipe out chapters of my own biography. But I'm not capable of that book again."

When pressed about defending his previous thoughts regarding Occupy Wall Street, Miller kept it simple.

"I wasn't thinking clearly."

The second issue of Miller's 300 prequel Xerxes: Fall of the House of Darius is set to release May 2, 2018.Southern Pines, NC (28387)

Today

Cloudy early with peeks of sunshine expected late. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High near 85F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy skies. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 66F. Winds light and variable.Nepal should target tourists from MENA

Nepal can attract a sizeable number of Arabian travellers from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region given its diverse tourism products and increased enthusiasm for adventure tourism, the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) has said. However, the board stated that strong digital marketing along with promotional programmes and activities were required to attract high-end visitors from the oil-rich nations.National paint shortage stalls South Dakota road painting projects

A national shortage on paint and resin has left many South Dakota road construction services wanting paint for striping projects.Nepal welcomes outcome

Nepal has welcomed the outcome of the historic Inter-Korean Summit. The government of Nepal welcomes the 2018 Inter-Korean Summit at Peace House in Panmun-jeom and the declaration following the summit, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Nepal believes its a significant step forward towards normalising their relations.

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.Norway, Germany hand over school

Norwegian Ambassador to Nepal Lasse Bjrn Johannessen and German Ambassador to Nepal Roland Schafer jointly handed over the newly completed building of Komin Shyameywangphel Secondary School in Syaphrubesi, Rasuwa, to the government.The full extent of the cover-up by car makers who failed to warn drivers of a major security flaw can be revealed today.

As organised gangs use cheap devices to hack electronic entry systems and steal thousands of cars, a Daily Mail investigation has revealed that millions of drivers have been left in the dark for years about the scale of the problem.

Five years ago, Volkswagen  which was at the centre of the 2015 emissions cheating scandal  won a High Court injunction to prevent details of the security flaws being made public. But three years later, researchers found millions of its cars were still at risk.

And BMW has admitted in emails that criminals can hack into cars using tools anyone can buy on the 'open market'. Police and industry experts last night accused car makers of not doing enough and said motorists needed to be warned of the risks. Today we can reveal how:

Range Rovers were quietly fitted with new technology to prevent keyless car theft last month but its makers didn't publicise it to avoid acknowledging that older models were at risk (file picture of a Range Rover)

Range Rovers were quietly fitted with new technology to prevent keyless car theft last month but its makers didn't publicise it to avoid acknowledging that older models were at risk, experts claimed;

Volkswagen suppressed warnings about the new risk of electronic car theft from owners for two years;

An MP said manufacturers should address the security failings as 'a matter of urgency', and warn drivers of the risks;  Electric car pioneer Tesla tried to prevent the publication of a video which demonstrated how one of its models could be stolen without a key.

Earlier this week the Mail exposed how gadgets that can be used to steal cars in seconds are being sold online for 100.

BMW has admitted in emails that criminals can hack into cars using tools anyone can buy on the 'open market' (file photo of a BMW)

There are two main methods of hacking electronic fobs. The first 'relays' a signal from the keys in the owner's home to the vehicle. This opens the car's doors and allows criminals to use the button ignition to drive off. The second method involves forcing entry to the car and using a programming device that tells the vehicle's computer to accept a blank key.

In 2013, researchers at the University of Birmingham discovered a security flaw in Volkswagen models, and VW took out a High Court injunction preventing the findings from being published until 2015.

The team discovered car makers including Audi, Citroen, Fiat, Honda and Volvo, as well as Volkswagen, had models that were vulnerable to 'keyless theft'.

In 2013, researchers at the University of Birmingham discovered a security flaw in Volkswagen models, and VW took out a High Court injunction preventing the findings from being published until 2015 (file photo of a VW)

In granting the 2013 injunction, Mr Justice Birss said: 'Volkswagen now know what the problem is. They have a chance to do something about it.' But in 2016, a second research paper claimed many of the 100 million Volkswagen vehicles sold over the past 20 years were vulnerable and could be hacked using cheap tools. Audi, Seat and Skoda models sold since 1995 were also said to be affected as they share Volkswagen's keyless system.

Meanwhile, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) last month rolled out technology which prevents relay attack on its latest Range Rover models  but failed to inform its past or future customers.

Ian Elliott, a former Met Police officer who specialised in organised car crime, said: 'If (JLR) came out and said, 'we've solved our theft problem', people will say 'what theft problem?' and then you expose that some previous models are easily stolen. JLR could see that the writing was on the wall so they worked with the police. Certain other manufacturers need a kick up the backside.'

Last night West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson said: 'The idea that modern cars are more secure than ever is utter nonsense.

'A lot of manufacturers are saying 'we're doing our best, these cars are safer than ever'. That's not going to wash. Go and tell that to someone who's had their car stolen.' Last year Tesla was made aware of a video by stolen vehicle recovery service CanTrack Global, which demonstrated an ethical 'relay theft' attack on one of its models. A senior Tesla executive asked the team behind the video not to publish it.

Steve Double, a Tory member of the transport committee, said: 'If car makers are aware of any vulnerabilities they need to address them as a matter of urgency.'

Some 89,000 vehicles were stolen in England and Wales last year, a rise of 56 per cent on 2016.

Mike Hawes, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), said: 'Recent increases in vehicle crime are concerning and it's an issue industry takes extremely seriously.

'It is important to remember, however, that the risk of theft is still very small  less than 0.3 per cent of the roughly 41 million vehicles on our roads today are stolen per year.

'The latest models feature sophisticated immobilisers, tracking devices and encrypted key codes to prevent cloning and manufacturers are investing billions to try to stay one step ahead of the criminals.

'However, technology can only do so much, and we continue to call for collective efforts to combat all forms of vehicle theft.

'Industry supports action that will allow accurate and consistent recording for different methods of vehicle theft, and prevent the sale and use of cloning technologies, signal blocking and other devices that have no legal purpose.'

BMW said it worked constantly to design the best possible security systems. VW said customer safety and security were its 'highest priorities', while JLR said it was doing 'everything it can to combat vehicle crime'. A Home Office spokesman said the department 'currently have no plans to introduce new regulations'.

A spokeswoman for Tesla said: 'Relay attacks are not unique to Tesla vehicles. As soon as we saw an increase in these types of attacks in certain regions in 2017, we rolled out a software update to all Tesla vehicles globally, giving our customers the option to safeguard against the attack by turning off passive entry.'

CASE 1 Arthur Preou now has a car with a key Arthur Preou has vowed to never buy another keyless car after his 60,000 Range Rover Vogue was stolen from his drive overnight. CCTV shows two men outside his home in Romford, Essex, last October, 'waving some sort of device'. Another walks towards the front door, but moves out of view of the camera. Within a few minutes the car's headlights come on and the thieves get in before driving off. Mr Preou, 75, who owns a heating engineering business, said: 'I'm blown away by how easy these things are to steal.' He now drives a 2008 Range Rover  with a standard key. Jaguar Land Rover said it had a team of experts tackling car crime and there had been a 90 per cent drop in keyless vehicle theft. Advertisement

CASE 2 Graham Sinclair with another of his BMW's A gym owner who fell victim to keyless car crime when his 53,000 BMW was stolen claims the showroom later told him he should have kept the fob in the microwave. Graham Sinclair's white 4x4 was taken from his girlfriend's driveway in Enfield, north London, in October. After contacting BMW and his insurers, Mr Sinclair, 44, spoke to the showroom in Enfield where he bought the car. He claims he was told the electronic key fobs  which can unlock cars remotely  'should be kept in tin foil and put in the microwave'. In theory, this should stop relay hackers from being able to access the electronic codes contained in the key. Mr Sinclair said his BMW was stolen silently. 'I massively regret getting keyless entry,' he added. Advertisement

Anyone can buy tools to hack our cars admits BMW

One of the world's biggest motor manufacturers has admitted keyless cars can be hacked into by criminals using tools that anyone can buy.

BMW has told a customer whose car was stolen from his drive that key fob cloning gadgets which can override its security systems are available for sale on the 'open market'.

In private emails seen by the Mail, the German car giant said this poses a 'unique challenge' for the entire industry, and indicated manufacturers are struggling to stay ahead of increasingly sophisticated car thieves.

Although it stressed its cars are designed with the 'highest security standards', it said it has 'no control' over the fact 'thieves are always looking for new ways to steal cars.'

With some police blaming keyless cars for fuelling a car crime 'epidemic', BMW insisted it is impossible to warn customers about the 'many ways a car can be stolen'.

The comments  made in private emails to a customer whose 55,000 BMW was stolen  appear at odds with the industry's public claims that cars are more secure than ever.

Last night, a Tory member of the Commons transport committee said manufacturers should address any security failings with keyless cars as 'a matter of urgency', and should be warning drivers of the risks.

Thieves are able to buy key programming devices on websites such as Amazon and eBay which allow them to clone key fobs. Other devices known as relay boxes extend the signal from a fob inside the owner's home to unlock the car and start it. A number of cases have emerged of upmarket keyless cars such as Range Rovers, Mercedes and BMWs being hacked into in this way. But police have said affordable cars such as Ford Fiestas are now being targeted more frequently.

Emails sent by BMW's UK headquarters show it is acutely aware of the problem but believes there is little it can do.

Simon Burnett complained to the company on February 18, after waking up to find his BMW 435 diesel had been stolen from his drive. His key fob was on his bedside table. He reported the crime to police and was told he was unlikely to see the car again.

Mr Burnett, 33, used a BMW phone app to try to locate the car and received a message that the vehicle's tracking system had been deactivated.

The IT consultant, from Surrey, contacted BMW demanding compensation. He had paid around 500 extra for 'comfort access' on his car, which means drivers can open the door by walking up to it with the key fob in their pocket.

In an email on March 15, Laura Bebbington, of BMW UK customer services, said: 'We and other car makers face a unique challenge due to the fact key-programming equipment is available for sale on the open market.' She said the 'sophisticated equipment' was 'not available publicly' previously.

In an earlier email on March 1, she said: 'Our engineers are constantly developing our security systems to ensure they're kept to the highest standard. Thieves are always looking for new ways to steal cars, this isn't something we have control over.' When Mr Burnett suggested manufacturers warn customers about the potential risk, Miss Bebbington said: 'There are many ways a car can be stolen. We're unable to make customers aware of each single way this can be done.'

Michael Stephens, a BMW customer services consultant, told Mr Burnett in an email 'criminal activity of all kinds is becoming increasingly sophisticated' and tackling it was 'a constant battle'. Mr Burnett accused BMW of 'not being transparent'.

Steve Double MP said: 'If [car makers] are aware of any vulnerabilities they need to address them as a matter of urgency  if they can't show it is secure then they should put it on hold until they can provide a more secure system.'

West Midlands crime commissioner David Jamieson said: 'Car manufacturers are sacrificing security for the sake of convenience.' A BMW spokesman said: 'BMW's specialist security teams work constantly to design and enhance the best possible vehicle security systems. We also work in partnership with police and other authorities in responding to the latest threats and anticipating new ones.'

Mike Hawes, of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, said: 'New cars are more secure than ever and the latest technology has helped bring down theft.'One thousand dollars!

Our government tells us that our per capita income has now crossed the US$1,000 mark this year. Should we be happy that we have finally crossed the 1,000 mark or should we be angry that our politicians and civil servants have made this country and its citizens poor by looting us all?Sir,



I couldnt help but marvel at the speech that was given by our one and only beloved King. As I said before the Lion has come of Age and has matured like wine.



What surprises most is that uchubeka nebuhle bakhe I was so impressed with everything that was done on that day and especially that our PM was no show in this great event made me happier.



I wish the King and Swazi Nation a long and prosperous life.

I have, however, sat down to digest the speech at the Golden Jubilee Celebrationsand truly speaking I picked up that our King dwelt so much on the vision 2022. I however, share the same vision with the King but I am very scared that it might remain a dream after all.



first world status



For us to reach First World status there still remains a lot of groundwork to be accomplished and most unfortunately we as a Nation are using one and the same people to reach this goal.

Honestly speaking, with the current calibre of people who are supposed to help us attain First World status by 2022, it will remain just a dream. Achieving this could become a reality a few things would be considered.

First and foremost, there MUST be a committee in place to drive the whole project of Vision 2022.



Why I say this is because it is now becoming everybodys business to say we are looking forward to Vision 2022.

So there must be a select committee that will run the whole project.

These ministers cannot be trusted with such a very important assignment as they have continuously failed to deliver. Here we are only left with four and a half years before 2022 and that is a very short time.



This cabinet will be living office very soon and the next cabinet will have to take over or maybe start afresh to lead the nation to the First World. They will have a great challenge on their hands. As long as our Leaders will trust these untrustworthy people around them, they will find themselves shot in the foot by their own guns. Our Leaders must do away with the current crop of bootlickers.

All the people of Swaziland must know as to what it means to be first world country.



Few corrupt individuals



Many are still in the dark as to what this means. Not unless we are talking of having some few corrupt individuals being overnight millionaires then its a different story.

If we are talking of a first world country we have to find a way as to how we reach that. As I am speaking I see no committee set up to look at poverty alleviation, I see no committee set up to look at unemployment of the many graduates, and I see no one looking at the welfare of the poor people.



All I see is the self-enrichment perks propagated by our PM.

I see no one interested in the welfare of all the citizens. What I expect in a First World country, which we dream of is equity and justice, is the end of corruption which by the way in our country has been embraced as a way of life. What I expect in a First World country is the end to nepotism. What I expect in a First World country is freedom to express oneself without fear of being arrested.



The Kings vision



It is only a pity that we are not sharing the Kings vision but we are all out to make sure that it doesnt take off at all. However, our leaders must realise that the people they so much trust are the very same people who are untrustworthy. Vision 2022 is a reality if we could be taught as to what it is all about so that we can all buy into the idea and do our best to make sure that we reach it.

If only a few people understand it and the majority is in the dark then it is a waste of time. My last appeal to our leader is to appoint a committee as a matter of urgency to be accountable to him and give him feedback on all the developments therein. This committee must just be for taking the country into 2022 and it can be disbanded after that. Because in the absence of this committee we are going nowhere, and the terms of reference for the committee must be clear to all.

I undertake to assist in any way as I see exactly what needs to be done and how it can be done and when it can be done. Otherwise all this shall remain a dream. I am looking forward to 2022. With the increases in taxes and increases in corruption I dont see us getting there.



What we have to be careful about is that when we reach 2022, how are we going to sustain that vision forever? It must not just be a matter of reaching 2022 but must be going forward are we going to sustain it?

This country must invest its human resources and all will fall in place. Whats the point of having excellent infrastructure when we can hardly afford to buy bicycles to paddle on those roads?



I think its only our leader who has this vision and the rest of those around him are seeing opportunities to exploit and become rich from nowhere. This is really painful I stand to be corrected as we sit down to watch our government blundering day in and day out.



Khokhumncadvo Dlamini

Ka- Zondwako (Ebutsini)MATSAPHA  Creation of wealth comes in different forms, savings and credit cooperation is one option.



Figures show that many people in the country have joined cooperatives in a bid to save.

This was proved by statistics released by the Swaziland Association of Savings and Credit Cooperatives (SASCCO).

According to the 2017/18 financial statements, approximately 61 000 members saved about E1.8 billion.



significant



SASCCO President Cambridge Mdlalose explained that this was a significant growth because in 2015, the members saved E980 million (actual E980 615 537).

However, the membership stood at 43 000 during that financial period.

We believe that the way we approach our business makes us to be attractive to those who are not yet members.



Adding, Mdlalose said the growth meant that people were no longer afraid to save with cooperatives as they had observed that their monies were in safe hands. Mdlalose mentioned that the Savings and Credid Cooperatives (SACCO) movement was dominated by females as there were about 25 000 in 2016 compared to the 21 000 males.

In the current financial year, out of the 61 000 members, 33 000 are females. Speaking during a press briefing on the next SACCO Indaba, held at Hlalawati SACCO Boardroom, yesterday, Mdlalose said shares almost tripled from E34 million in 2015 to E102 million in 2017.



performing



This growth is very significant. This tells you that we are performing well. And it tallies with the growth of the membership.

On the loan portfolio, Mdlalose said in 2015, approximately E781 million was loaned out.

The figured doubled to E2 billion within two years.



Looking at the figures of loans against our mandate of saving, we should not be loaning out such huge amounts. However, it must be noted that a cooperative that does not loan out the savings, does not grow.

It was for this reason that the issue of liquidity would be discussed during the indaba to be held from Tuesday to Wednesday at Esibayeni Lodge in Matsapha.

Mdlalose said cooperatives should come up with strategies on how they could stay afloat in order for members to have access to funds at all times.



The president pointed out that the movement was on the right track regarding loans recovery.

On delinquency, in 2015, it stood at E20 million. This is money loaned to members  and they are failing to repay it.

Now when looking at 2017, we are standing at E14 million, which is a drop of E6 million. This means that we are improving in collecting or recovering the debts from the members.

He noted that retrenchments were one factor, which also contributed to delinquency.MBABANE  A cold war is brewing between the Ministry of Natural Resources and Energy and the Swaziland Fuel Retailers Association.

This is over the ministrys proposal, a model that would eat up into the profit margins of fuel retailers.



Until recently, retailers were making up to 93 cents per litre of fuel but following the ministrys proposal, they are anticipated to yield a profit margin of 51 cents per litre.

According to the retailers, if this proposal goes through it would result in most filling stations retrenching staff.



The petroleum industry is estimated to employ over 4 000 people with some being on full-time employment while others are casual workers and if the proposal were to go through, 60 per cent would end without jobs.

Affirming looming retrenchments was Nurane Calu, who said his two fuel filling stations employed about 50 people with some on permanent basis while others were on contracts.



Development



With this impending development in the fuel industry, Calu said doom was spelt out for his human resource.

He noted that not only his employees were to be affected but their families as well given the spiral effect of the economy, should the proposed drop in profits be implemented.

They feed their families with the money they earn and if this comes to effect, Ill have to minimise their hours and relieve some of them as we can go under (the business will not do well).

While some retailers said the proposal did not make sense, Calu opined that the proposed increment was just too much to bear.



The vocal entrepreneur noted that this was ludicrous as they (business community) could not meddle with the salaries of their employees no matter what new formula has been discovered.

With that assertion, he wondered what had caused government to propose such.

They are meddling with our finances and in my understanding you dont minimise ones remuneration; but, you rather let it stay put if you cant afford to increase due to unforeseen circumstances. So, why are they touching our resources?



The businessman said if the turnover increased, expenses also increased due to merchant service, cash handling and other turnover related costs.



Impacted



Calu said this in turn impacted on profitability.

Explaining further, he said fuel retail specifically was a highly specialised sector, with operating margins that are affected by a multitude of factors such as oil prices, labour costs, exchange rates and regulations, to mention a few.

Fuel sales remain the primary income of a business, accounting for approximately 80 per cent to 90 per cent of an operations turnover. Depending on the location, it usually delivers greater profit than alternative profit opportunities, for instance, a convenience store, carwash and quick service restaurant.



Another fuel retailer, Itallo Dlamini said nothing formal had been reported to them but he had picked it up from casual engagements with other entrepreneurs.

Phil Mnisi noted that they had been engaged by the ministry on the proposed introduction of a new model for the calculation of profit margins.

He said the model was said to have been developed following consultations with the University of Stellenbosch, in South Africa and other fuel retailers in that republic.

InterfereMBABANE  Former NAPSAWU President, Quinton Dlamini is alleged to be threatening members of the union who voted for his suspension.



This, according to National Public Service and Allied Workers Union (NAPSAWU) General Secretary Celumusa Tembe, justified the reason for suspending the former president.

Dlamini was suspended from participating in all activities of the union for allegedly concluding a house purchase deal without the organisations mandate.

accused







The house is situated at Trelawney Park in Manzini.

Dlamini is accused of having purchased the house without the consent of the executive of the union.

He was served with a letter of his suspension on April 5, 2018. The house was owned by Nompumelelo Vilakati.

In NAPSAWUs replying papers, Tembe informed the court that the union intended to approach the bank for the total amount owed to the house before concluding the deal.

He alleged that Dlamini never came with the final draft of the deed of sale until their term of office elapsed in 2013.



Tembe further alleged that Dlamini nonetheless went ahead and signed the deed of sale before it was finalised by the NEC.

On Tuesday, Industrial Court Judge President Sifiso Nsibande issued an interim order directing NAPSAWU to reinstate Dlamini, who currently occupies the position of Manzini branch chairperson. The matter will be heard on Monday.

Tembe also accused Dlamini of interfering with the on-going investigations regarding the matter.



He was suspended pending the outcome of a Commission of Inquiry which Dlamini is alleged to be avoiding.

The general secretary informed the court that Dlamini was allegedly persistently interfering with the investigation which meant that the union was justified to suspend him.



Instead of presenting himself to appear before the commission, Dlamini is alleged to have shunned the process despite receiving an invitation letter dated April 6, 2018.

Tembe alleged that Dlamini was the only member of the union who has failed to appear before the Commission.

failure



His failure to avail himself to the commission is a clear sign of ill-discipline, said Tembe.

He further told the court that Dlamini allegedly failed to apologise for his failure to appear before the commission.

NAPSAWU, according to Tembe, does not have any ulterior motive against him.MHLANGATANE  After 8pm, no muntu!



This is an inscription by a distressed community that has witnessed too many rape cases in their midst.

The message was formulated after a hike in the number of rape cases within the communities around Nkomazi River.

The community resorted to inscribing the warning on the bridge after an increase in sexual violations at night at or near the bridge.



In the east and west sides of the bridge that allows traffic between Sihhoye and those coming from Mangweni Clinic and Tingonini to connect with Sihhoye, are sugar fields.

Also, there is a thicket, which makes it a hiding spot for would be perpetrators of sexual violence.



Recently a seven-year old pupil was abducted on her way to school and forced to walk over five kilometres before she was sexually violated. This ordeal happened at Tingonini, a small community harboured by lush fields of sugar cane.

The green that symbolises life and wealth in the village shelters females who live in fear each day they wake up as rape is rife in the area.

The distance the child walked, according to community members was easy to ascertain as along the way, there were tracks that reflected that she was walking with an adult on the side.

A fort night after the first sexual violation of the minor, another pupil was raped in March, 2018.



The atrocious act happened in a brutal manner according to the head teacher of the local school as the pupil was raped in front of nine other males.

The men are said to have made a human shield while the pupil and the perpetrator were in the centre.



Nomthandazo Shongwe, 39, of Emkhwakhweni in Sihhoye, said she relocated to Sihhoye in 2004 where she found that rape was endemic. This was attested to by Ekujabuleni Primary School head teacher, Sam Ndzabukelwako.

The head teacher was close to tears when narrating the endemic of sexual assault on the minors. This was easy to view as it had rained so, the foot prints were visible on the ground.



The head teacher noted that this gory experience was so devastating as the child was not only sexually violated and leaving her with mental scars that would last a lifetime but, she was also left wandering in the sugar cane fields.

He said if it were not for sheer luck that a tractor driver had an errand within the fields, the child may have never been found.



This, he said, was due to the fact that the sugar cane was long and dwarfing her, which in turn made it impossible for her to find her way back to school.

The child, if not found by the tractor driver would have wandered towards Nkomazi River and maybe even add up to the statistics of the many people killed by crocodiles.

The troubled head teacher said rape on its own was brutal as it haunts the survivor for the rest of her life.



Ndzabukelwako said sexual violence could have psychological, emotional, and physical effects on a survivor and such effects were not always easy to deal with.

Following the attacks, he said they reported the ordeal to the police who opened a case but to date there had been no arrest and it was troubling the schools administration as they lived in fear without knowing who would be the next victim.Runway extension plan goes haywire after contractor flees

The project to extend the runway at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) will be delayed by a year as the contractor fled after signing the contract.Suspected jihadists killed more than 30 Tuaregs, including women and children, on Mali\s northeastern border with Niger, several sources said Saturday as the second such attack in two days stoked fears of widespread unrest.

The former Tuareg rebel group MSA and tribal leaders said the massacre occurred Friday, a day after another attack by gunmen on motorbikes had left 12 people dead outside the town of Anderamboukane, which is also in the same area.

"There have been 43 deaths in two days, all civilians, from the same community," tribal leader Sidigui Ag Hamadi told AFP from the regional capital Menaka.

"Our fighters are destroying their bases and wiping them out. They are targeting innocent civilians," he added, saying he viewed the bloodletting as a reprisal for attacks on jihadists by armed Tuareg groups.

The MSA also put the death toll from the two attacks in the villages of Aklaz and Awakassa at 43, saying all the victims were from the Idaksahak pastoralist Berber group.

The group urged the governments of Mali and Niger to take steps to ensure that "an immediate end is put to these abominable crimes" and added that it would "not give in to any intimidation."

Menaka governor Daouda Maiga urged caution regarding the death toll until official observers had arrived on the scene.

"There are various versions, but I know there are women and children among the victims, as well as elderly," Maiga told AFP, while adding he would await the observers\ return to Bamako.

 Fear of reprisals 

Local people had been fearful of reprisals by jihadists who suffered major losses in recent attacks in the region over recent weeks, Menaka official Attaye Ag Ossadki told AFP.

"But nobody imagined that they would kill civilians in this way," he said.

Two weeks ago, the UN\s MINUSMA peacekeeping operation said they had received "very serious" information that "summary executions of at least 95 people" had occurred during anti-jihadist operations in the northeastern Menaka region carried out by "a coalition of armed groups" including MSA and Gatia.

Both groups flatly denied any involvement.

France intervened militarily in Mali in 2013 to help government forces drive Al-Qaeda-linked jihadists out of the north.

But large tracts of the country remain lawless despite a peace accord signed with ethnic Tuareg leaders in mid-2015 aimed at isolating the jihadists. The violence has also spilled over into both Burkina Faso and Niger.

French military sources announced 30 deaths in the troubled region after an April 1 confrontation near the Mali border between a French paratroop detachment fighting alongside Malian forces and some 60 jihadists.

The French military said the jihadist group Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) is using the border region as a haven.

The former Tuareg rebel group CMA on Saturday regretted the "spiralling violence in the Menaka region (which) is generally affecting civilian populations" and condemned what it called "abominable and inhuman acts."

The CMA urged political and military groups in the region to take steps to ensure civilian safety.

SOURCE: AFPStudent unions against private school fee hike

Student unions affiliated to various parties have jointly launched a campaign to protest against the fee hike at private schools.[April 27, 2018] Flexport secures $100M in funding from SF Express to expand global logistics operations

SAN FRANCISCO, April 27, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Flexport announced that it secured $100M in funding from SF Express, the leading courier company in China. The strategic partnership allows Flexport to expand its operations in China and around the world. SF Express joins existing investors including First Round Capital, Bloomberg Beta, Founders Fund, DST, and Y Combinator. In just five years Flexport has distinguished itself as the leading software-powered freight forwarder, helping more than 15,000 companies deliver their goods to customers worldwide. In the past year Flexport shipped $3.8B worth of merchandise between 97 countries for companies including Warby Parker, Peloton, Ring, Bridgestone, and Georgia Pacific. Flexport provides businesses with global logistics services including air freight, ocean freight, trucking, cargo insurance, and customs brokerage. The company plans to increase its investment in technology so it can continue to reduce transaction costs, improve the user experience, and empower supply chain managers to make more data-driven decisions. "Our mission is to make global trade easy for everyone," said Flexport's CEO and founder Ryan Petersen. "The investment by SF Express, one of the world's top couriers, will let us create more value for businesses shipping freight internationally." In 2017 Flexport tripled its revenue while opening new offices in Ls Angeles, Atlanta, and Shenzhen. This rapid growth played a role in investors' enthusiasm for the company. In 2018 Flexport launched its private air freight service, a dedicated 747 that flies twice weekly from Hong Kong to Los Angeles carrying its customers' cargo. This year the company is expected to double its warehousing footprint, while opening new offices in Hamburg, Chicago, Taiwan, and Shanghai.



"Flexport is one of those companies that will not merely satisfy its market but grow it," said Flexport investor and founder of Y Combinator, Paul Graham. "There will be more international trade because of Flexport, and international trade is a very big thing for there to be more of." About Flexport

Flexport is a technology platform for global trade. Founded in 2013, the company provides businesses with global logistics services including air freight, ocean freight, trucking, cargo insurance, customs brokerage, and inventory financing. Flexport's software unlocks efficiencies, improves user experiences, and enables more data-driven decision making for modern logistics teams. In 2017 more than 15,000 companies relied on Flexport to ship $3.8B worth of merchandise between 97 countries. By engineering new infrastructure for international shipping and commerce, Flexport is making global trade easy for everyone. About SF Express SF Holding (SZSE:002352) is a leading integrated logistics service provider and an intelligent logistics operator providing services in China and overseas based on its aviation network, ground network, and information network. Besides China, SF's international network covers more than 53 countries including the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and Thailand. Utilizing big data analytics and cloud computing technologies, SF provides its customers with integrated logistics services from transportation to warehousing management, sales forecasting and data analytics to settlement and financial management, and also extending to supply chain management. SF invests substantial resources in technology covering various fields including drones, autonomous vehicles, robotics, artificial intelligence, GIS, IoT and data analytics with a view to create a new business model combining logistics and artificial intelligence. View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/flexport-secures-100m-in-funding-from-sf-express-to-expand-global-logistics-operations-300637689.html SOURCE Flexport

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][April 27, 2018] Lee County Issues Subpoena Commanding Defendant Enterprise Holdings to Produce Surveillance for Inspection and Copy by Plaintiff and U.S. Credit Czar David Howe, SubscriberWise Confirms

SubscriberWise, the nation's largest issuing CRA for the communications industry and leading protector of children victimized by identity fraud, announced today the subpoena duces tecum without deposition issued in the Circuit/County Court of the Twentieth Judicial Circuit in and for Lee County, Florida. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180427006063/en/ Subpoena Commanding Defendant and Tortfeasor Enterprise Holdings to Produce Surveillance (Photo: Business Wire) The official proceeding requires Enterprise Holdings Inc. dba National Car Rental to appear at Lee County Port Authority Police Department, 11000 Terminal Access Road, Fort Myers, FL, on Monday the 14th day of May, 2018, at 10 a.m. and to produce at the time and place the 'Surveillance video from National exit-booth, Miami International airport at ~ 02:11 p.m. on 10/28/2016, for Rental Agreement 439620019. Related: National Car Rental Criminally Damages its Own Property and then Seeks Recovery from Victim, SubscriberWise CEO PROVES "Enterprise may have intentionally ignored repeated requests from a police detective investigating the criinal component of this case - at least according to the official Lee County Port Authority police report that calls were not returned - but we'll see if the organization chooses to ignore the writ of the Lee Clerk of Court," stated David Howe, National Car Rental victim.



Related: Enterprise Holdings Fraud Victim David Howe Travels to Capitol Hill "Late this afternoon I met with Lee County Port Authority Police at the SW Florida Fort Myers International Airport with a copy of the subpoena in hand," Howe continued. "At my request and with a great deal of gratitude, Lee Port Authority Officers stood by as I attempted to deliver the copy, ahead of the official service by the Lee County Sheriff's office.

"Although the National Car Rental staff and management were very professional and polite - as was I - Enterprise Holdings Area Manager, Manny Gonzalez (News - Alert) , refused to accept the copy which was signed and stamped by the Lee Deputy Clerk. "And I was hardly surprised by this reaction," Howe emphasized. "Nevertheless, I thanked Mr. Gonzalez for the business card that I requested and let him know that the Lee Sheriff would be making a formal visit next week. I also thanked the three officers who invested their time with this civil matter that's now in the Lee County Justice System. I encouraged their review of the published facts related to the predatory encounter and let each know this effort is for the 'greater good'. Related: Sanibel couple charged for under-car damages to rental "For the record, I have a court date of July 11, 2018, and I look forward to presenting a mountain of evidence to support the overwhelming incompetence and intentional neglect from this extremely harmful predatory event involving civil theft, fraud, and the profound breach of good faith and fair dealing," concluded Howe. "Most of all, I'm especially eager to present the incredible photographic evidence exposing the shocking predatory behavior to the civil justice system." Related: Rental Car Checklist By incorporating years of communications performance data and decision models, including FICO's latest analytic technology (FICO 9 Score), SubscriberWise delivers unprecedented predictive power with a fully compliant, score driven decision management system. SubscriberWise is a risk management preferred-solutions provider for the National Cable Television Cooperative (www.nctconline.org). The NCTC helps nearly 1000 members nationwide. About SubscriberWise is a U.S.A. federally registered trademark of the SubscriberWise Limited Liability Co. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180427006063/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][April 27, 2018]

WAGEWORKS SHAREHOLDER ALERT: CLAIMSFILER REMINDS INVESTORS WITH LOSSES IN EXCESS OF $100,000 of Lead Plaintiff Deadline in Class Action Lawsuit Against Wageworks, Inc. - WAGE

NEW ORLEANS, April 27, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ClaimsFiler, a FREE shareholder information service, reminds investors that they have until May 8, 2018 to file lead plaintiff applications in a securities class action lawsuit against Wageworks, Inc. (NYSE:WAGE), if they purchased the Companys securities between May 6, 2016 and March 1, 2018, inclusive (the Class Period). This action is pending in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.



Get Help

Wageworks investors should visit us at https://www.claimsfiler.com/cases/view-wageworks-inc-securities-litigation or call to speak to our claim center toll-free at (844) 367-9658.







About the Lawsuit

Wageworks and certain of its executives are charged with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws.

On March 1, 2018, the Company announced that it was delaying filing its 10-K for FYE December 31, 2017 due to material weaknesses in its systems of internal controls and that its practices and controls relating to its accounting and preparation of earnings disclosures were ineffective.

On this news, the price of WageWorks shares fell $9.75, or 18.58%, to close at $42.70 per share on March 1, 2018.

About ClaimsFiler

ClaimsFiler has a single mission: to serve as the information source to help retail investors recover their share of billions of dollars from securities class action settlements. ClaimsFiler's team of experts monitor the securities class action landscape and cull information from a variety of sources to ensure comprehensive coverage across a broad range of financial instruments.

To learn more about ClaimsFiler, visit www.claimsfiler.com.[April 27, 2018] LSB INDUSTRIES INVESTIGATION INITIATED by Former Louisiana Attorney General: Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC Investigates the Officers and Directors of LSB Industries, Inc. - LXU

Former Attorney General of Louisiana, Charles C. Foti, Jr., Esq., a partner at the law firm of Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC ("KSF"), announces that KSF has commenced an investigation into LSB Industries, Inc. (NYSE: LXU). Throughout November 2014 and June 2015, the Company repeatedly assured shareholders that its most significant construction project was "on time" and "on budget." Then, between July and November 2015, the Company revealed significant increases to the estimated costs and completion time on three different occasions, expanding the total capital expenditures by more than $335 million. The Company's actions, directed by its executives, have exposed it to substantial financial losses as well as significant litigation, including a lawsuit by a subcontractor to the project alleging, among other things, the Company's role in misleading prospective lenders as to the true progress and cost of the project by directing that work be improperly performed, which in turn resulted in even higher expenses and longer delays in order to remedy. The Company has also been sued in a securities class action lawsuit for failing o disclose material information, violating federal securities laws. The court in that case denied the Company's motion to dismiss, allowing the case to move forward.



KSF's investigation is focusing on whether LSB's officers and/or directors breached their fiduciary duties to LSB's shareholders or otherwise violated state or federal laws. If you have information that would assist KSF in its investigation, or have been a long-term holder of LSB shares and would like to discuss your legal rights, you may, without obligation or cost to you, call toll-free at 1-877-515-1850 or email KSF Managing Partner Lewis Kahn (lewis.kahn@ksfcounsel.com), or visit https://www.ksfcounsel.com/cases/nyse-lxu/ to learn more.

About Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC KSF, whose partners include the Former Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti, Jr., is a law firm focused on securities, antitrust and consumer class actions, along with merger & acquisition and breach of fiduciary litigation against publicly traded companies on behalf of shareholders. The firm has offices in New York, California and Louisiana. To learn more about KSF, you may visit www.ksfcounsel.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180427005942/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]Dozens of protesters gathered Saturday in Overland Park, Kansas, outside of the Planned Parenthood Great Plains; some to protest the nonprofit reproductive healthcare group, others to defend it. "Repent of supporting murder," called John Pennington through a megaphone, with his pregnant wife and two children by his side.A hard and brutal business It was a fair and cool Tuesday morning, seventy years ago today, the last time Jackie Darthard went to church. For some in the 18th and Vine neighborhood April 27, 1948, was a day of anticipation. That afternoon the Blues were to play their home opener in the ballpark up the hill at 22nd and Brooklyn.

Take a look at athat really is a pleasure to read one of many examples of the rich history of Kansas City.If you're looking for a fascinating bit of local insight for a relaxing Friday afternoon read, check this post from the best blog in town:Work begins on Nepals largest solar plant

Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Barsha Man Pun on Friday laid the foundation stone for the construction of 25MW solar plant at Devighat Hydropower Station in Nuwakot. The government has targeted to complete the project within a year. Once complete, it will become Nepals largest solar power plant at a single location.Bill George

Former KCPD Chief Forte

Mayoral Candidate Phil Glynn

And so . . .

In yet another week of explosive allegations and furious slapfighting, we take a moment to recognize the leaders of the local discourse.Take a look at the strongest this week:The Kansas City Transportation Group leader wrote a scathing call to action for local politicos. His words stirred conversation across the metro and hopefully inspire more local biz leaders to follow his lead.The very bestyesterday morning.This social justice warrior lawyer isand this week he debuted a. Is Phil Glynn the local progressive favorite for Mayor??? You decide . . .This list has been compiled according toand it's a weekly comprehensive guide to local powerful people.Nicest Man In The KCMO Money Pit

Kansas City Zoo greeter brings passion and enthusiasm to work every day Anyone who has visited the Kansas City Zoo in the past six years has probably met E.J. and Ellen's Person of the Week, Bruce Turrell, the zoo's greeter. "I've probably talked to people from 40 different countries by now, every state in the union probably," said Bruce, the first and last person most visitors see at the zoo.

Something Weather This Way Comes

Quiet severe weather season could get noisy next week The last time the state of Kansas waited this long for its first tornado of the year was back in 1989 when it landed on April 23. However, that's not a record. In 1987, the first tornado of the year didn't occur in Kansas until May 28.

Kansas City Hipsters Love Paying Big Bucks For Pommes Frites

Food Critics: The Best French Food In Kansas City Many people consider French cuisine to be the ne plus ultra in the culinary world. And French culinary techniques are considered to be standard in many restaurant kitchens. Whether it's hearty stews or delicate fish dishes, airy pastries or baguettes with crackling crusts, French-inspired dishes are on menus all over town.

For Fanboys Keeping Track

NFL Draft 2018: Meet the 6 new Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs finished off their 2018 draft class by trading their two seventh-round selections to move into the sixth round. They can now turn their attention to the undrafted free agent market (TRACKER ) as they try to continue to build their roster.

Kansas City Home Team SHUTOUT

Royals, Oaks felled by White Sox in 8-0 cut-down When a last-place team like the Kansas City Royals loses to an only slightly less bad Chicago White Sox club by the score of 8-0, it is probably safe to assume that there wasn't a lot that went right for Ned Yost's club.

News fact collection for our local, sunny Saturday . . .Amidand lower cost alternatives, the lingerie brand of record is moving into new markets:Closer to home, we're check thing these news links:is the song of the day and this is thefor right now . . .Pollution incidents have been extremely rare in Greece, which is famous in the whole world for its unspoiled natural environment, picturesque islands and pristine beaches

There have been no serious environmental consequences from the sinking of the Agia Zoni II oil tanker off the island of Salamina last fall, according to Greek Deputy Shipping Minister Nektarios Santorinios.

Speaking during the presentation on Friday of a report by the Hellenic Center for Marine Research (ELKETHE) to a parliamentary committee, Santorinios noted that the pollution in the area had been cleaned up and did not damage the environment.

Hundreds of tons of fuel leaked into the sea when the old tanker sank in the Saronic Gulf last September, prompting authorities to prohibit swimming along several kilometers of coastline south of Athens.

The major repercussions [of the spill] were limited to Salamina, Glyfada and Elliniko [both in southern Athens], clarified ELKETHE head Spryros Mavrakos, adding that these areas were affected by the oil spill for three months.

He stressed, nevertheless, that the current situation is more or less the same as that before the shipwreck.

Earlier this month, the Health Ministry lifted a ban on swimming in the sea along a part of the Attica coastline stretching from Piraeus to beyond the suburb of Glyfada.

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: NASA License: CC-BY-SASaudi Arabian Airlines aims to increase its fleet strength from 147 planes at present to to 200 jetliners over the next two years as part of its agressive expansion strategy, said its top official in an interview to CNN.



We are building on the strength of the Saudi market, the Saudi economy is growing, theres a lot of growth internally, plus there is an ambitious plan to grow the religious tourism to Saudi Arabia and we are targeting 30 million pilgrims by 2030, remarked Saleh Al Jasser, the director general of Saudi Arabian Airlines.



On its strategy to increase international visitors and also the new tourism visa plan, Al Jasser said there are three major initiatives that will be a game changer for the transportation industry in Saudi Arabia.



"One is the infrastructure, and the most important for us it the opening of the new jet terminal. Second is the enhancement and simplification of the visa process. Third is the top five programme that we are launching within the airline to improve the service end-to-end," he explained.



Saudi Arabian has been boosting its presence in newer markEts like Mauritius where it started flying out of capital Riyadh and Jeddah to the Republic of Mauritius from September 14.



Mauritius, an island that offers a variety of attractions such as marine and eco-tourism ventures, diving, beaches and much more, is the third new route for the airline this year and 87th destination overall.



On its new low-cost carrier Flyadeal, Al Jasser said: "We launched Flyadeal during our national day September 23 last year and it was a very strong start. Today Flyadeal operates 44 flights a day to seven cities within Saudi Arabia."



"We will be launching flights to the city of Tabuk next month and will continue to expand gradually. The target is to expand the domestic traffic and regionally as well," he told CNN.



He lauded the government's decision to revamp 20 of 27 regional Saudi airports; a key component of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salmans focus on economic growth.



In what is seen as a major boost to the kingdom's tourism sector, a whopping $7 billion is being spent on the refurbishment of Jeddah International Airport.



"Absolutely, there is a huge investment ongoing. There is the vision aligning everybody to work to one objective creating a lot of momentum. In terms of the infrastructure, Jeddah Terminal is the most important for us but also there are 20 other airports being revamped, as you know, Saudi Airlines serves 27 domestic airports every day," he added.



On its future outlook, Al Jasser said the Saudi national airline was very optimistic about emerging as one of the top 5-star carriers in the future.



"We started two years ago to revamp the whole airline, we are changing the service, we are improving the product, we are enhancing all activities and we just launched a new and much more ambitious initiative to be ranked one of the five-star airlines in the world by the end of 2019," he added.-TradeArabia News Servicesinghking99@yahoo.com

Tribune News Service

Patiala, April 27

A special lecture on the Syrian conflict was held at Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law (RGNUL) in collaboration with Ananta Aspen Centre, New Delhi, on Friday.

Rajendra Madhukar Abhyankar, former ambassador to European Union (EU) Belgium, Luxembourg, delivered a lecture on the topic Syria: The Tragedy of a Pivotal State and its Implications in the Region and the World.

Abhyankar elaborated on the manner in which peaceful protests lead to armed conflicts in Syria. He said, The Syrian turmoil is a manifestation of the long standing religious struggle. Despite the support extended by Russia and Iran, Syrians suffered severe human rights violations. Nearly, 11 million out of 23 million people have been displaced by the Syrian conflict and even the most of the fertile areas of Syria have turned to saline land due to non-farming.

Abhyankar said creation of conditions to rehabilitate the refugees was important to restore peace in Syria.editorial@tribune.com

Aparna Banerji

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, April 28

The much-publicised measles-rubella vaccination drive will start in the district from May 1 wherein health authorities shall administer the vaccine to over 5 lakh school children in the district.

As per the drive, the Health Department will administer the vaccine to children in as many as 2,258 schools in the district  of which as many as 1,503 schools will be government schools and 755 will be private schools. Barring the vaccine will also be administered across 1,600 anganwari centres of the district.

While measles has had its own share of cases in the district  the department is looking for maximum approach through the campaign so that all children in the age groups of 9 months to 15 years are covered under it. While last year, as many as 20 cases of measles were reported in the district, this year 25 cases have already been reported so far. Outbreaks of measles have also been reported from two areas in the district  Raipur Rasoolpur and Qazi Mandi.

Dr Tarsem Singh District Immunisation Officer said, The upcoming phase of the campaign shall be a primarily school-based campaign and the thrust shall be to vaccinate school children properly so that they are not susceptible to the diseases. For the same purpose, as many as 450 health teams shall be pressed to service across the district and 165 supervisors shall also look out for the teams. He said, An average of 50,000 measles deaths are annually being reported in the country. The drive is meant to ensure that the disease does not spread and effective vaccination is required to counter it. The plan is to eradicate measles by 2020 from the country.

District IDSP coordinator Dr Preetkamal said, Earlier people were being vaccinated with the measles -1 and measles -2 (popularly called M-1 and M-2) vaccines in case of measles, but with this campaign they shall now been vaccinated with measles-rubella-1 and measles rubella-2 vaccines (MR-1 and MR-2) vaccines which shall be more effective in countering the diseases because they shall attack the disease and build up the immunity of the patient by 95 to 99 per cent against these diseases.

The campaign will be a five week drive in all  during the first two weeks schools shall be covered, next two weeks shall comprise community based outreach camps with the help of mobile teams and the last week shall include the mop up campaign of the drive to cover children left out during the initial weeks.

Drive from May 1editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, April 28

Amidst the rising level of vehicular and industrial pollution, experts believe that asthma cases are on the rise.

Dr Arun Walia, a chest physician at Vedanta Hospital, said everyday four to five patients are testing positive for asthma positive.

While speaking on the occasion of World Asthma Day, he said, Since it is an asthma-prone season, precautions are needed to keep it away. Asthma is also common amongst the children of tender age and it starts dwelling among kids above four months of age, if proper care and treatment were not adopted, he added.

Moreover, as per a study, he mentioned allergic cough rate was found 21 per cent in school going children in Punjab as compared 18 per cent in the country.

Dr Gurdev Chaudhary, paediatrician, at a private hospital said, due to asthma symptoms found in kids, their quality of life and hormonal growth also decreases. On a weekly basis he said, more than 25 asthma cases were received among children. As the air quality has also gone poor, therefore more and more people need to be aware about inhalers that helps to prevent this controllable yet un treatable disease.

The key challenges in the management of asthma include improving compliance and developing effective and easy-to-use inhalers. Many patients frequently underutilise their medications or use their inhalers incorrectly, which can be detrimental to maintaining disease control. This can cause them to switch to oral therapy, which can be disastrous, he added.

Reportedly, occupational asthma is also more prevalent these days. Reactive Airways Disfunction Syndrome was found widely among labourers working in factories, Walia said.singhking99@yahoo.com

Tribune News Service

Jammu, April 28

The much-awaited Cabinet reshuffle, following the resignation of eight of the nine BJP ministers, will be held in Jammu on April 30.

Governor NN Vohra will administer the oath of office and secrecy to the new ministers at the citys Convention Centre at 12 noon. Sources said the reshuffle in the middle of the durbar move had become necessary for two reasons.

First, the suspense over the fate of BJP ministers holding important portfolios was affecting the already fragile governance in the state.

Second, since all BJP ministers, barring Sajjad Gani Lone and Chering Dorjay, belong to Jammu, the residents there were finding it hard to get their grievances addressed post resignations.

The reshuffle should have been done on Friday, the last day of the seat of the government in the winter capital of Jammu. But owing to the delay in the list of new ministers, this could not be done.

We are in the process of finalising names, Avinash Rai Khanna, BJP in-charge in J&K, said, adding this would be done soon.

The BJP ministers had submitted their resignations to party president Sat Sharma on April 13. But the resignations of only two ministers, Choudhary Lal Singh and Chander Prakash Ganga, were sent to CM Mehbooba Mufti. They had to quit for backing the demand for handing over the Kathua rape case to the CBI.

On April 24, the BJP core group met the central leadership in Delhi to finalise the names of ministers and returned to Jammu the same day after detailed discussions. The BJP presently has eight ministers in the Cabinet.monicakchauhan@gmail.com

Lakhimpur Kheri (UP), April 28

A speeding van carrying 18 passengers rammed into a stationary truck on the National Highway 24 here early Saturday morning, killing 12 people and injuring six others, the police said.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath expressed grief over the deaths in the accident and directed the officials concerned to initiate steps for ensuring all possible help and proper treatment to the injured.

The incident took place in Uchauliya when the overloaded Tata Magic van, on its way to Sitapur from Shahjahanpur, hit the truck from the rear side near a roadside eatery, Superintendent of Police S Channappa said.

Nine people, including the van's driver Anoop Awasthi (25), died on the spot, he said.

Three of the seven injured who were rushed to a hospital in Shahjahanpur succumbed to their injuries later, the police said.

Deputy SP Vijay Anand said two children, aged three months and two, had a miraculous escape.

The driver lost control of the speeding van leading to the accident, Anand said, adding that efforts were on to identify the other deceased.

Meanwhile, Inspector General (IG) Lucknow Range Sujit Pandey has assured stringent action against those who run taxis beyond their capacity.

Pandey was here to console the aggrieved families who lost their members in the tragic accident.

He told reporters: "The scenario would change in the coming days, and no overloading in taxis would be allowed. DM, SP and road transport authorities have been asked to chalk out a joint strategy to stop the malpractice."

According to a statement issued by the Lakhimpur Police, the identity of 11 of the 12 people has been established. They are Anoop Kumar (25), Saroj Rajput (24), Wasim (28), Chandan (25), Lallu (55), Rukhsar (28), Rakesh (20), Roshani (35) and an unidentified person who died on the spot.

Three others-Poonam (30), Vedpal (30) and Satish (32) -- succumbed to their injuries at Shahjahanpur hospital.

Police added that six persons-Sabirunnishan (50), Fahim (12), Sajia (2), Preeti (3), Rajesh (35) and Najim (35) -- were injured and sent to Shahjahanpur. Among these, Sajia is safe, while Priti, Rajesh and Najim were referred to Lucknow. Sabirunnishan and Fahim are undergoing treatment at the Shahjahanpur district hospital.

On Thursday, 13 children on their way to school were killed when a train rammed into their van at an unmanned railway crossing in Kushinagar. PTIrchopra@tribunemail.com

New Delhi, April 28

Two girls were injured in a fire at an LED manufacturing unit in northwest Delhis Jahangirpuri area on Saturday morning, a fire department official said.

Muskaan, 14, and Payal, 12, have sustained 70 and 80 per cent burns respectively, the official said.

They are undergoing treatment at a hospital, he said.

A call to the Delhi Fire Service was made around 9 am and three fire tenders were rushed.

The fire was doused in an hour. PTIrchopra@tribunemail.com

New Delhi, April 28

Health care services at AIIMS in Delhi remained affected for the third consecutive day on Saturday as resident doctors remained adamant that the administration suspend a senior doctor who had allegedly slapped one of their colleagues in front of patients and other staffers.

Routine surgeries remained cancelled, out-patient clinics functioned in a restricted manner and patients seeking OPD consultation were sent back due to the strike.

Only the emergency and ICU services functioned.

The senior doctor, who heads a department at the premier institute, has tendered a written apology for assaulting the resident doctor and proceeded on leave on the directions of an internal probe panel.

The resident doctors, who have been on the protest strike since Thursday evening, paid no heed to AIIMS director Randeep Gulerias appeal to call off their strike and return to work.

The senior doctor has been sent on leave. We want the administration to suspend him. Till he is suspended we will continue our strike, a doctor participating in the strike said.

The hospital administration has put in place a contingency plan for patient-care services, as a part of which faculty-on-call in all clinical departments have to physically man the in-patient wards.

OPD services will function on restricted basis till such a time that normalcy is restored. Only follow-up patients with prior appointment will be registered in OPD. New patients OPD registration will be done as per availability of faculty in respective OPD as decided by Head of Department/Unit concerned. No walk-in registration (new and old) will be done, an order issued by the administration stated.

In a letter to Guleria, the Resident Doctors Association has alleged that the senior doctor slapped a senior resident in front of attendees, nursing staff and colleagues, and that the resident doctor was in depression.

The RDA said an atmosphere of fear existed in the department headed by the senior doctor, and that nobody protested as the chief threatened to fail the junior doctors.

The RDA has written to Union Health Minister JP Nadda, who is also the president of AIIMS, seeking revocation of the Padmashri and Dr BC Roy awards to the senior doctor.

We reprimand all his actions and request you to consider revoking his awards, as we believe that he is not worthy of holding such prestigious awards, they said in their letter. PTIrchopra@tribunemail.com

Tribune News Service

Guwahati, April 28

The Assam Rifles engaged in counter-insurgency operation in Nagaland have arrested five cadres of the rebel NSCN-K group from different locations of Nagaland along with arms, ammunition and incriminating documents.

The Mon Battalion of the Assam Rifles (AR) apprehended an NSCN (K) cadre in NST Colony of Mon town in Nagaland.

The cadre has been identified as Noktat Konyak of Sec Officer rank. Recoveries included separate extortion notes to FCI, Mon, President Chamber & Commerce, Mon, threat letter for BDO & Inspector food & Civilian supply, the AR stated on Saturday in its Twitter handle.

The Zunheboto Battalion of Assam Rifles apprehended one NSCN (K) cadre in Old Natha area under Zunheboto district of Nagaland. The cadre has been identified as Nikato Yeptho. Recoveries included 25 extortion slips, 33 non-local identity cards and Rs 19,000 in cash, the AR informed.

Two more NSCN-K cadres were the Zunheboto Battalion of the Assam Rifles, in an operation conducted in Longkhim town area of Nagaland. The two rebels were nabbed along with illegal arms and incriminating documents, including one .32 pistol with magazine, 25 extortion slips, 49 identity cards for non locals.

The Dimapur Battalion of the Assam Rifles also apprehended an individual at Sovima village in Dimapur along with illegal weapons and ammunition, including AK 56 rifle, .303 rifle, .22 mm rifles, 9mm pistol, .32 mm pistol Beretta, magazines of AK 56 Rifle, magazines of .32 mm pistol and live rounds.pardeepdhull@gmail.com

Deepender Deswal

Tribune News Service

New Delhi/Hisar, April 27

Durishetty Anudeep, a serving Indian Revenue Service officer, has topped the prestigious civil services 2017 examination, whose results were declared on Friday by the Union Public Service Commission.

Anu Kumari and Sachin Gupta bagged the second and third positions, respectively, in the coveted examination.

Sachin Gupta, belonging to small trader family based in Sirsa town, ranked third in his third attempt.

Presently working as Assistant Director in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, he said he was inspired to join the civil services by his father who is a farmer in Sirsa town. His mother Sushma Gupta is a government schoolteacher.

Talking to The Tribune, Gupta said his elder brothers Ravi Gupta and Jitender Gupta are in the business of wholesale trade in Sirsa town.

After completing my school from DAV school in Sirsa, I have completed Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering from Thapar University, Patiala.

I got a good salary package from Maruti Suzuki of Rs 6.5 lakh during my stint from 2013 to 2015. Later, my father urged me to go for civil services. My mother is passionate about education especially for the underprivileged communities. Thats why I decided to leave my lucrative career in the private sector, he said.

He said that his parents and teachers equally contributed and supported him in shaping his career and later preparing for the civil services.

I used to study 10-12 hours a day. This is like a dream come true. This feeling has still not sunk in. My first preference will be IAS as I want to stay in my country & serve the people here: Anu Kumari, Second rank holder of the Civil Service examination 2017 #Haryana pic.twitter.com/9a1E9QQHkU  ANI (@ANI) April 28, 2018

Initially, my colleagues in the private sector advised me against leaving the job in the private sector. But constant support from my parents encouraged me to give my best in my efforts for the civil services examination, he added.

Topper Anudeep, an OBC candidate from Metpally in Telangana, is posted in Hyderabad as an Assistant Commissioner.

A total of 990 candidates  750 men and 240 womenhave been recommended by the Commission for appointment to various Central Government services, UPSC said in a statement here.

Of the candidates recommended for appointment, 476 are from the general category, 275 from OBC, 165 from scheduled caste and 74 from scheduled tribes category.

The recommended candidates also include 29 physically disabled persons (9 orthopedically handicapped; 8 visually challenged and 12 hearing impaired), it said.

Saumya Sharma, a physically disabled candidate, with hearing impairment, secured an overall ninth rank, the UPSC said.

An officer of IRS (Customs and Central Excise) of 2014 batch, Anudeep qualified the examination with Anthropology as his optional subject.

Anudeep has graduated with BE (Electronics & Instrumentation) degree from BITS, Pilani.

Anu Kumari, the topper among the female candidates, has graduated with BSc (Hons) in Physics from the Delhi University and has done an MBA (Finance and Marketing) from IMT, Nagpur.

Nandini KR, Tina Dabi and Ira Singhal had topped the civil services examination 2016, 2015 and 2014, respectively.

A total of 1058 vacancies were to be filled through Civil Services Examination, 2017, which included 29 vacancies for physically handicapped candidates, the statement said.

Result of two candidates has been withheld, it said.

Among the top 25 candidates, there 17 men and 8 women, it said.

The Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2017 was conducted on June 18, 2017. 9,57,590 candidates applied for this examination, out of which 4,56,625 candidates actually appeared. 13,366 candidates qualified for appearance in the written (Mains) examination held in October-November, 2017. Of them, 2,568 candidates qualified for the Personality Test conducted in February-April, 2018, it said.  With PTIrchopra@tribunemail.com

New Delhi, April 28

The screening of a film on the contentious issue of love jihad at Jawaharlal Nehru University here was disrupted by a few student groups, who alleged that a hate campaign was being propagated by showing the movie.

The screening of the film titled In the Name of Love Melancholy of Gods Own Country, was organised by Global Indian Foundation and Vivekanand Vichar Manch of JNU.

According to the organisers, the film, directed by Sudipto Sen, focused on the issue of love jihad and religious conversion of girls in Kerala.

Members of Jawaharlal Nehru Students Union and Gender Sensitisation Committee Against Sexual Harassment disrupted the screening, alleging that a hate campaign was being propagated in the guise of the films screening.

Minor scuffles erupted between protesters and ABVP members. Delhi Police said it had received complaints from both the sides and is looking into Fridays incident.

Students opposed to the film had assembled at Sabarmati dhaba to protest against the hate propaganda in the name of love jihad. They breached security cordons and disrupted the screening by holding placards in front of the screen.

Why is ABVP/RSS hiding behind Vivekanand Vichar Manch? We wont let the RSSs venomous Love Jihad myth be propagated, said a statement issued by the protesters.

Former JNUSU president Geeta Kumari claimed the film spreading communal venom and bigotry had been screened by the Vivekananda Vichar Mach, a front organisation of the ABVP.

JNU students standing up for gender justice and against politics of hate in the name of love jihad protested against such politics. The peaceful demonstrators were showered with eggs and stones to create a situation of chaos, she said.

The JNUSU condemns these anti-social elements that have vitiated the universitys atmosphere. It is reminiscent of Ramjas College, where the ABVP beat up university students, she added.

An effigy of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the ABVP was set on fire to protest against the films screening. In the melee, a few students got injured, while a private security guard had to be hospitalised.

Former JNUSU president Mohit Kumar Pandey, who was allegedly attacked by ABVP members, said: It was an attempt on my life. Big stones were hurled at me and I was attacked with broken glasses. The windshield of my friends car has been completely shattered.

The ABVP in a statement said: After disrupting the screening of the movie at Sabarmati dhaba, the left-wing protesters grievously injured a guard intentionally. PTIsinghking99@yahoo.com

Smita Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 28

Half a dozen meetings over two days with nearly 10 hours of conversation for personal bonding between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping and strategic to long term perspectives shared. As curtains came down on the first informal summit meeting in Wuhan city between the top leaders of Asias two largest economies, both sides hoped to institutionalise this new dialogue tool with India planning to host version 2.0 on its soil next year.

While there was no joint statement, as reported earlier by The Tribune, a Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) statement read: The forward-looking dialogue raised the level of strategic communication about the perspective, priorities and vision that guide their respective policy choices domestically, regionally and globally. It also helped them in forging a common understanding of the future direction of India-China relations built upon mutual respect for each others developmental aspirations and prudent management of differences with mutual sensitivity.

On the second and final day of the summit, PM Modi and President Xi strolled around only with translators and no aides, along the banks of the scenic East Lake, the largest urban lake in China. Later, conversations continued as they took a ride in a house boat. Prior to his departure for Delhi, PM Modi was hosted for a private lunch by President Xi. From Indias national flag and bird designed on the luncheon menu card to peacock sugar lumps for chai pey charcha to the 1982 Bollywood hit song  Yeh vaada raha playing out during the Friday dinner  special attention was paid to details by President Xi.

Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale called the enhanced communication between the leaders and the political will to strengthen communication between governments and militaries as key takeaways from Wuhan. Describing the talks as direct, free and candid, he mentioned that both leaders discussed a range of issues, including climate change, terrorism, trade, partnering for regional stability, including in Afghanistan, to the trust deficit stemming out of the bilateral boundary dispute.

The two leaders underscored that it is important to maintain peace along the India-China border region and decided that they will issue strategic guidance to their respective militaries to strengthen communication to build trust and understanding, said Gokhale.

With the memories of the Doklam military standoff still fresh, Delhi and Beijing have agreed to more information-sharing on boundary issues. In a significant statement, China signalled its flexibility on another key contentious issue of OBOR (One Belt, One Road). India, as the latest full member of the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation), along with Pakistan, remains the sole voice objecting to the ambitious connectivity project.

Indias objection is to the CPEC (China-Pak Economic Corridor) passing through occupied PoK, hailed as the flagship project of OBOR or BRI (Belt and Road Initiative). Answering media queries, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou said China had no intentions of forcing India to accept OBOR. We wont force them to do something they dont want to do, he was quoted as saying, as China prepares to welcome SCO heads for the summit meeting in June in Qingdao.

At a time when the Trump Administration seems to be sparking off a trade war adversely impacting India and China, PM Modi and President Xi also discussed trade convergence and challenges. Both leaders agreed to push forward bilateral trade and investment in a balanced and sustainable manner by taking advantage of complementarities between their two economies, said Gokhale.

India-China trade has nearly USD 55 billion deficit favouring Beijing. They believe that the simultaneous emergence of India and China as two large economies and major powers with strategic and decisional autonomy has implications of regional and global significance, the MEA statement read.

Xi, who has travelled out of capital Beijing to receive a foreign leader only twice, in both instances PM Modi in Xian and Wuhan, expressed his fondness for Hindi as well as regional films. Ways to enhance the cultural connect also figured in the talks.rchopra@tribunemail.com

Wuhan, April 28

In a move that could upset Pakistan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping have agreed to undertake a joint India-China economic project in Afghanistan at their first informal summit here, official sources said.

The understanding was reached between the two leaders during the two-day informal summit which concluded on Saturday, they said.

As per the understanding, officials of both sides will identify the project in following-up discussions and work out modalities.

This will be a first such project in the war-torn country where China while trying to expand its influence has tacitly backed Pakistan, which has been accused by Afghanistan and the US of backing the Taliban and its most violent attacks in the country destabilising any attempts to restore peace.

China for the first time held a trilateral meeting with the foreign ministers of Pakistan and Afghanistan in December last year in Beijing to narrow down the differences between the two countries.

China had also announced plans to extend its controversial China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to Afghanistan at the meeting. PTIuttara@tribuneindia.com

Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, April 28

Abu Azmi, president of the Maharashtra unit of the Samajwadi Party, has threatened to break away from the party should it tie up with the Congress in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.



In a letter to SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, Azmi blamed the Congress for failing to forge a secular front and betraying the Samajwadi Party. In the letter released to the media on Friday, Azmi accused the Congress of pursuing a soft Hindutva agenda. He added that the Congress betrayed the SP by contesting the Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha bye-polls.



Azmi's letter comes amidst indications that Akhilesh Yadav may campaign for the Congress party in the Karnataka assembly elections.



The businessman politician from Mumbai added that he would quit the Samajwadi Party should it tie up with Congress in the forthcoming Maharashtra assembly elections.pardeepdhull@gmail.com

Wuhan (China), April 28

The heart-to-heart communication between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping during their two-day informal summit here reflected their deepened mutual history and charted the course of long-term bilateral development, according to a leading Chinese newspaper.

The China Daily in an opinion piece said: The beauty of the informal summit between Xi and Modi is that it comes with no baggage, only expectations. It is free of the usual diplomatic frills, somewhat beyond the global media limelight.

As expected, the heart-to-heart communication between the two leaders reflected their deepened mutual chemistry. Which, in turn, will be conducive to improving mutual trust between the neighbours and charting the course of long-term bilateral development. India and China share a tense relationship owing to their 1962 war. Their ties touched a new low last year when their militaries were locked in a face-off near their disputed boundary. The crisis was resolved in August.

The daily said that mutual suspicion was keeping the two countries from deepening cooperation and working together on regional and international issues.

The border incident last summer was just one example of what mutual suspicion could lead to, reminding both sides of the disruptive potential of distrust. Yet neither Beijing nor New Delhi calls the other an enemy, which means both expect bilateral ties to improve, it said.

The daily called China and India natural partners and said that both realise they carry the hopes of the other developing countries to improve international relations, in order to make the world order more equitable.

The Xi-Modi meetings reflect the two neighbours common aspiration to not only stabilise their troubled relationship but also caution disruptive powers it is difficult to drive a wedge between them, it said.

The Global Times said that the informal summit ushered in a new chapter in the Sino-Indian relations. Conflicts between China and India have kept accumulating, which exposed the fragility of Sino-Indian relations and prompted both sides to recognize that confrontation between China and India does not fit their interests. Disputes must be controlled.

Chinas Peoples Daily quoted Xi as saying that the consensus reached by the two sides provided positive signals of China-India friendship and reflected the strong will of two big emerging economies to enhance mutually beneficial cooperation.  IANSmonicakchauhan@gmail.com

Smita Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 28

Six meetings spread over two days with nearly 10 hours of conversations for personal bonding between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping and "strategic to long-term perspectives" were shared as the two leaders met in Chinese city of Wuhan.

As curtains came down on the first informal summit meeting between top leaders of two of Asia's largest economies and neighbours, both sides hoped to institutionalise this new dialogue tool with India planning to host version 2.0 on its soil next year.

Watch Video: PM Modi wraps up his China visit- ANI



While there was no joint statement, as reported earlier by The Tribune, a Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) statement said, "The forward-looking dialogue raised the level of strategic communication about the perspective, priorities and vision that guide their respective policy choices domestically, regionally and globally. It also helped them in forging a common understanding of the future direction of India-China relations built upon mutual respect for each other's developmental aspirations and prudent management of differences with mutual sensitivity."

On the second and final day of the summit, PM Modi and President Xi strolled around only with translators but no aides along the banks of the scenic East Lake, the largest urban lake in China. Later, conversations continued as they took a ride in a house boat.

Menu with Indian touch

Prior to his departure for Delhi, PM Modi was hosted for private lunch by President Xi. From India's national flag and bird designed on the luncheon menu card today to peacock sugar lumps for 'chai pey charcha' during the walk to the 1982 Bollywood hit song 'Yeh Vaada Raha' playing out during the Friday dinner -- there was special attention paid to details by President Xi.

Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale called enhanced communication between leaders and political will to strengthen communication between governments and militaries as key takeaways from Wuhan.

Describing the talks as direct, free and candid, Gokhale mentioned that both leaders discussed range of issues, including climate change, terrorism, trade, partnering for regional stability - including in Afghanistan, to the trust deficit stemming out of the historical bilateral boundary dispute. "The two leaders underscored that it is important to maintain peace along the India-China border region and decided that they will issue strategic guidance to their respective militaries to strengthen communications in order to build trust and understanding," said Gokhale.

ALSO READ

Modi, Xi stroll by lake, take boat ride in Wuhan

China will not push India on BRI: Vice Foreign Minister

Xi wants screening of more Bollywood movies in China

With the memories of Doklam military stand-off still fresh, Delhi and Beijing have agreed to more information sharing on boundary issues.

In a significant statement, China signalled its flexibility on another key contentious issue of OBOR (One Belt One Road). India as the latest full member of SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation), along with Pakistan, remains the sole voice in the grouping objecting to the ambitious connectivity project. India's objection is to CPEC (China-Pak Economic Corridor) passing through illegally occupied PoK and as flagship project of OBOR or BRI (Belt and Road Initiative).

Answering media questions, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou said China has no intentions of forcing India to accept OBOR. "We won't force them to do something they don't want to do," Kong was quoted as saying as China prepares to welcome the SCO heads for the summit meeting in June in Qingdao.

At a time when the Trump administration seems to be sparking off a trade war adversely impacting India and China, PM Modi and President Xi also discussed trade convergence and challenges. "Both leaders agreed to push forward bilateral trade and investment in a balanced and sustainable manner by taking advantage of complementarities between their two economies," said Gokhale.

India-China trade has nearly $55 billion deficit favouring Beijing. "They believe that the simultaneous emergence of India and China as two large economies and major powers with strategic and decisional autonomy, has implications of regional and global significance," added the MEA statement.

Interestingly Xi, who has travelled out of capital Beijing to receive any foreign leader only twice, in both instances PM Modi in Xian and Wuhan, expressed his fondness of Hindi as well as regional films. Ways to enhance the cultural connect also figured in talks.amansharma@tribunemail.com

New Delhi, April 28

Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra is understood to have decided to urgently convene a meeting of the Collegium to reconsider the name of the Uttarakhand High Court Chief Justice K M Joseph for elevation as a judge of the Supreme Court.

The government had on Friday returned the file to the Collegium which had recommended on January 10 Justice Joseph's name for his elevation as an apex court judge.

A Supreme Court official said it is but natural to hold the meeting of the Collegium and it will be convened as soon as possible.

However, the only question that remains is the availability of all the five judges of the Collegium as Justice Madan B Lokur, who is the member of the Collegium, was away from work on April 26 and 27 due to medical reasons.

If the quorum is complete, the Collegium meeting will be convened immediately, the official said.

Justice Joseph had headed the bench that had quashed the Narendra Modi government's decision to impose President's rule in 2016 when the Congress was in power in the hill state.

The government returned the Collegium's recommendation to elevate Justice Joseph seeking its reconsideration, saying the proposal was not in accordance with the top court's parameters and there was adequate representation of Kerala in the higher judiciary from where he hails.

Justice Joseph, who will turn 60 this June, has been the Chief Justice of the Uttarakhand High Court since July 2014. He was appointed as a permanent judge of the Kerala High Court on October 14, 2004 and had assumed charge of the Uttarakhand High Court on July 31, 2014.

His name was recommended by the Collegium comprising Chief Justice Misra and justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B Lokur and Kurian Joseph. - PTIsinghking99@yahoo.com

Smita Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 28

As India and China seek to move past the shadow of controversies and mistrust, could the two countries join hands in a project together in war-torn Afghanistan?

Sources said the idea was discussed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinpings informal summit meeting in Wuhan. Sources suggested that in confidence-building measures discussed during the one-on-one and delegation-level talks to bridge bilateral trust deficit, India and China agreed to look at possibility of joint development projects in Afghanistan.

While there was no official announcement, the MEA formal statement said, Prime Minister Modi and President Xi underlined that as two major countries, India and China have wider and overlapping regional and global interests. They agreed on their need to strengthen strategic communication through greater consultation on all matters of common interest.

However, this is not the first-of-its-kind proposal with similar ideas floated in the past too. Reports of such cooperation had surfaced during former National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menons visit to China in 2010. During his meetings with then Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, both sides reportedly discussed economic cooperation in third countries, including in Afghanistan. We talked about the possibility of cooperating in certain subjects in other countries, whether three-party or four-party collaborative projects in the economic field as well, Yang was quoted as saying in a media interaction post-talks.

However, no project has taken off so far even as India, with its pledged assistance of $2 billion, has built dams, roads, stadium and the new parliament building among other projects in Afghanistan.

China too has heavily invested today in exploring natural resources, connectivity projects in Af-Pak (Afghan-Pakistan) region and playing a role in talks with the Taliban. China also recently proposed jointly developing railway network in Nepal, with Indian top sources saying Delhi wants to keep infrastructure projects in the Himalayan country simply bilateral for now.

While Sino-Indian collaboration in Afghanistan may raise eyebrows of Chinas all-weather friend Pakistan, Beijing is also concerned about extremism and terrorism fanning out of Af-Pak region. PM Modi and President Xi committed cooperation on counter-terrorism, said Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale.

PM Modi and President Xi recognised the common threat posed by terrorism, and reiterated their strong condemnation of and resolute opposition to terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, said the Indian government statement. China had supported grey-listing of Pakistan at the global counter terror funding watchdog FATF (Financial Action Task Force) meeting in Paris, while India backed Beijings candidacy for Vice Presidency of the organisation.pardeepdhull@gmail.com

Raipur, April 28

At least two Naxals, including a woman, were killed in an exchange of fire with security forces in Sukma district of Chhattisgarh on Saturday, a senior police official said.

Several other ultras were injured in the encounter and the toll may rise. Firearms were also seized from the spot, he said.

The gunfight comes a day after eight Naxals, including six women, were killed in an encounter in Sukmas adjoining district Bijapur.

The fresh gunbattle took place in the forest near Metagudam village in Burkapal area of Sukma district this morning, Deputy Inspector General of Police (south Bastar range) Sundarraj P said.

So far, the bodies of two Naxals, including a woman, have been recovered along with 11 weapons. A search operation following the encounter was still going on, he said.

Separate teams of the District Reserve Guard (DRG), the Special Task Force (STF) and the Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA), an elite unit of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), were carrying out combing operations in Sukma, located around 400 km from the state capital Raipur, for the last couple of days, Sundarraj said.

This morning, when a joint team of the DRG and the STF was cordoning off a forest area near Metagudam located deep inside Burkapal, an exchange of fire broke out between the squad and a group of ultras present in the area, the DIG said.

The gunbattle lasted for about two hours, following which the Maoists fled into the core forest area, he said, adding according to ground reports, several other Naxals were injured in the exchange of fire but their colleagues managed to drag them away.

The DIG said further details were waited.

Saturdays operation in Bijapur was carried out jointly by the Chhattisgarh Police, the special anti-Naxal Greyhounds unit of their Telangana counterparts and the CRPF. PTIeditorial@tribune.com

Chandigarh, April 28

Uzbekistan has shown interest in furthering business and trade ties with Punjab, particularly in the areas of agriculture, education and tourism. Uzbekistans Ambassador to India Farhod Arziev met Captain Amarinder Singh on Saturday at lunch, where the two discussed cooperation in the areas of mutual interest.

The Chief Minister suggested export of various commodities, including wheat and rice, to Uzbekistan, pointing out that the direct air connectivity with Uzbekistan and Amritsar offered vast potential for trade promotion. Arziev said Uzbekistan was also keen to utilise the air route to further bolster trade in fresh fruits, such as mulberry, apricot and peaches, as well as dry fruits that were organically produced in his country.

Passenger and cargo flights from Chennai to Uzbekistan could also be used to exploit the trade potential, the envoy said, also inviting Punjab to see the cotton plantations in Uzbekistan, as they were keen to export cotton to India.

A suggestion was made during the meeting by Finance Minister Manpreet Badal to host exchange programmes for students from Punjab Agriculture University, which the Chief Minister endorsed.  TNSpardeepdhull@gmail.com

Bamako, April 28

Twelve tuareg, including children and elderly people, were killed in clashes on the Mali border with Niger, sources said on Saturday, a day after the incident.

Unrest between jihadists and two Tuareg-led armed groups is common in the region.

Sixteen gunmen appeared on motorbikes outside the town of Anderamboukane and opened fire on civilians Thursday, according to statements from the Tuareg groups, the pro-government Gatia and MSA.

Among the victims are young children and elderly people, they added.

A Mali official source speaking on condition of anonymity confirmed the death toll to AFP.

An MSA patrol gave chase to the assailants, saying it had placed four out of harms way while losing a fighter of their own in capturing equipment and motorbikes from the attackers.

Sources from the UNs MINUSMA peacekeeping operation said on April 12 they had received very serious information that summary executions of at least 95 people had occurred during anti-jihadist operations in the northeastern Menaka region carried out by a coalition of armed groups including Gatia and MSA.

Both groups denied a claim they dubbed scandalous and outrageous. France intervened militarily in Mali in 2013 to help government forces drive al Qaeda-linked jihadists out of the north.

But large tracts of the country remain lawless despite a peace accord signed with ethnic Tuareg leaders in mid-2015 aimed at isolating the jihadists.  AFPpardeepdhull@gmail.com

Dubai, April 28

An air strike on Yemens capital by a Saudi-led military coalition has killed dozens of Huthi rebels, including at least two commanders, Saudi television reported on Saturday.

Saudi Arabias official Al-Ekhbariya television said two high-ranking insurgents were among more than 50 Huthi militiamen killed in Sanaa on Friday evening, without giving further details.

Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya television said a total of 38 rebels were killed in the strike on a Huthi interior ministry building.

The Huthis confirmed an air strike on Sanaa but gave no details.

The raid came hours ahead of a public funeral of the Huthis political head Saleh al-Sammad, killed last week in a Saudi-led coalition strike.

It also came as newly-appointed US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was scheduled to land in Riyadh for meetings including talks on the Yemen conflict.

The Iran-backed rebels have been locked in a war with the Saudi-led military alliance, which since 2015 has fought to restore the internationally-recognised Yemeni government to power.

The Yemen conflict is widely seen as a proxy war between regional titans Iran and Saudi Arabia.

The Huthis control Yemens capital, Sanaa, as well as much of the countrys northwhich borders Saudi Arabiaand the key Hodeida port on Yemens Red Sea coast.

Nearly 10,000 people have been killed since the Saudi-led alliance joined the Yemen conflict, triggering what the United Nations has called the worlds worst humanitarian crisis.

Yemen now stands at the brink of famine.

The Saudi-led coalition imposed a total blockade on Yemens ports in November in retaliation for cross-border Huthi missile attacks on Saudi Arabia.

The blockade has since been partially lifted, but access to the impoverished country remains limited.

Eight ballistic missiles launched at southern Saudi: Huthis

Meanwhile, Yemens armed Huthi movement said it launched eight ballistic missiles towards the southern Saudi province of Jizan on Saturday, aimed at economic and vital targets, Huthi-run state news agency Saba reported.

Saudi Arabiya TV quoted the defence ministry as saying four missiles bound for the province had been intercepted.  AFP/Reutersvinaymishra188@gmail.com

Aden: A top Islamic State group leader was killed and three others arrested in a raid on Saturday in southern Yemen, police said. Saleh Nasr Fadl al-Bakhshi, self-proclaimed emir of the radical groups branch in the Aden and Abyan regions, was killed in the raid on an IS hideout, a senior officer with Adens police force told AFP. Islamist networks, including IS and Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, have exploited years of war in Yemen to expand their presence in the countrys south.  AFPmonicakchauhan@gmail.com

Beijing, April 27

A knife-wielding man with a grudge killed nine middle schoolchildren and injured at least 10 others as they returned home in northern China, authorities said, in one of the deadliest such rampages in the country in recent years.

The 28-year-old suspect was detained and the injured children were receiving hospital treatment, the Mizhi County public security bureau in Shaanxi province said on its official social media account.

Seven girls and two boys were killed, the official Xinhua news agency said, citing local police. The ages of the children were not given, but middle schoolers are usually between 12 and 15 years old in China.

The incident took place at around 6.10 pm local time, the department said.

A man surnamed Zhao from Zhaojiashan village in Mizhi County was arrested, the public security bureau said.

The suspect confessed that he had been "bullied" when he attended the same Number Three Middle School when he was a child, "hated" his classmates and decided to use a "dagger" to kill people on Friday, the bureau said.

A video posted by The Paper, a daily, on video-sharing website Miaopai.com shows two or three bodies lying on the ground in a narrow lane. A person is heard shouting "hurry, call the police!" Police are seen running and later frogmarching a man down the street.

AFP could not immediately verify the authenticity of the video.

Knife attacks are not uncommon in the country.

In February, a knife-wielding man with a personal grudge killed a woman and injured 12 others in a busy Beijing shopping mall -- a rare act of violence in the heavily policed capital.

In the southern city of Shenzhen, a man armed with a kitchen knife killed two people and wounded nine others in a supermarket last July. AFPvinaymishra188@gmail.com

Seoul, April 28

North Koreas state news agency KCNA on Saturday called the inter-Korean summit a turning point for the Korean peninsula, while US President Donald Trump said he would maintain sanctions pressure on Pyongyang ahead of his own unprecedented meeting with Kim Jong Un.

At the talks both sides had a candid and open-hearted exchange of views on the matters of mutual concern including the issues of improving the north-south relations, ensuring peace on the Korean Peninsula and the denuclearisation of the peninsula, the KCNA said, reporting that the night wrapped up with a dinner with an amicable atmosphere overflowing with feelings of blood relatives.

On Saturday North Koreas main state newspaper published a multi-page spread with more than 60 photos from the visit. North Korean state TV broadcast its first footage of the summit.

In their coverage of the summit, North Korean state media made rare mentions of the denuclearisation discussion, but did not go into specifics, instead highlighting the broad themes of peace, prosperity, and Korean unity.

The declaration earned guarded but optimistic praise from world leaders, including Trump, who said that only time would tell, but that he did not think Kim was playing. Its never gone this far. This enthusiasm for them wanting to make a deal ... We are going to hopefully make a deal. Still, Trump told reporters, he would maintain pressure on North Korea and not repeat the mistakes of past administrations. A US official said they are considering Singapore as a possible venue for the Trump-Kim meet.

An editorial in China Daily on Saturday said denuclearisation could end hostilities between the two sides and usher in a new era of development on the peninsula.

The denuclearisation of the peninsula, written into the Panmunjom Declaration, is only a prospect with no specific plan. That is because such specifics can be reached only between the US and North Korea, and South Korea has only limited authority to bargain, it said.  Reuters

US forces in Korean peninsulauttara@tribuneindia.com

KUNDUZ (Afghanistan), April 28

Taliban fighters seized a district centre in northern Afghanistan on Saturday, while a bomb at an army base in the southern province of Helmand killed at least five people.

The latest violence came as insurgents pushed ahead with a spring offensive.

Fighters captured the governor's house and police headquarters in Aq Tapa, in the Qala-e Zal district of Kunduz province and Afghan government forces were fighting to drive them out, said Sayed Assadullah Sadat, a provincial council member.

The Taliban's main spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said fighters had captured a police headquarters, 10 security check posts and a market in Qala-e Zal, north of Kunduz city.

At the other end of the country, in Helmand, insurgents launched a vehicle bomb attack on a military base in Nad Ali district, killing four civilians and a soldier, according to a statement from the provincial governor's office.

The Taliban announced the official start of their annual spring offensive this week, continuing the heavy fighting seen across Afghanistan recently as warmer weather has set in.

Last year, the United States announced a more aggressive strategy with stepped up air strikes and more assistance to Afghan government forces fighting the insurgency, drawing a defiant response from the Taliban, who said they would target American forces in the spring campaign.

The fighting may threaten preparations for parliamentary and district council elections planned in October.

In the eastern province of Nangarhar, a rocket fired by Taliban fighters hit a house in the Hoodi area of Goshta district on Friday night. Five civilians were killed and three were injured.

Attaullah Khogyani, the provincial spokesman for Nangarhar, said three women were among those killed and two women and a child were injured in the attack.

Assessments of the size of Taliban territorial control vary but the Pentagon estimates that 56 percent of the country is under government control, while a BBC survey this year estimated the insurgents were active in 70 percent of Afghanistan. Reutersvinaymishra188@gmail.com

Kunduz, April 28

Taliban fighters seized a district centre in northern Afghanistan on Saturday while a bomb at an army base in the southern province of Helmand killed at least five people.

The latest violence came as insurgents pushed ahead with a spring offensive. Fighters captured the governors house and police headquarters in Aq Tapa, in the Qala-e Zal district of Kunduz province and Afghan government forces were fighting to drive them out.

In Helmand, insurgents launched a vehicle bomb attack on a military base in Nad Ali district, killing four civilians and a soldier, according to a statement from the provincial governors office. In Nangarhar, a rocket fired by Taliban fighters hit a house in the Hoodi area on Friday in which five civilians were killed and three were injured.  Reutersmonicakchauhan@gmail.com

Washington, April 28

US Air Force B-52 Stratofortress bombers flew over the South China Sea earlier this week on a training mission, according to the American military.

The bombers took off on Tuesday from Andersen Air Force Base on the island of Guam, according to a statement from US Pacific Air Forces, which oversees air operations in the region.

The flight also involved additional training with F-15 Strike Eagle jets in the vicinity of Okinawa, Japan. The training mission was part of the US Air Force's routine "Continuous Bomber Presence" in the region.

A US military official told CNN on Friday that the two bombers flew between two Chinese claimed features in the Spratly Islands, claims unrecognised by China's neighbours and the US government.

China has used these geographic features in the Spratlys to build man-made islands, some of which Beijing has equipped with military facilities.

Officials told CNN that the Chinese military did not intercept the US aircraft during their mission.

Asked about the purpose of these islands, the Trump administration's nominee to head the US military's Pacific Command, Adm. Phillip Davidson told Congress this month that China was using these islands to exercise control over the South China Sea.

"China has long claimed the South China Sea as their own," he said.

"It is my belief that they intend to establish the military structure that will help them control the air and sea lanes through that region of the world." IANSNew trailers will cost more because prices for primary metals would go up under the president's tariff threats. Images: Tom Berg

When President Trump announced tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminum, and they set off a tumble in the stock market, as investors feared a debilitating trade war.

His primary target seemed to be China, which he and other observers charge with dumping products in the United States, to the detriment of workers in the metals industries. Tariffs would affect all foreign countries unless waived, which has been done for several U.S. allies.

The tariffs are not yet in effect, because the president cant impose them on his own; there are procedures to go through. But if they do happen, they will raise the cost of imported materials and give domestic metals producers, and their workers, a better chance at competing. Experts say the domestic producers also will be able to more easily raise their prices, and probably will.

How much? Thats a complex area, but the important thing to truck operators is, how will tariffs affect prices of vehicles made with steel and aluminum? I posed that question to Frank Maly, director of commercial vehicle transportation analysis and research for ACT Research.

We talked while I was in an airport, about to board an airplane, so he got to the point: Weve looked into this on trucks, and concluded that the cost from tariffs would be about $1,000 per vehicle. We have not looked specifically at trailers, but weve extrapolated the numbers and figure it to be about $900 per trailer.

The more steel and aluminum a trailer has, the higher its price will be if President Trump's 25% and 10% tariffs go through.

Thats an average impact across all trailers; how much depends of course on the amount of steel and aluminum that goes into various types, like vans, flatbeds, and so forth, so the impact on vocational-oriented trailers could likely be higher," he added. Aside from flatbeds, vocational types would include dumps and tankers, Maly said.

Like trucks, sales of trailers have been hot, reaching record levels as motor carriers, flush with cash from strong freight shipments plus profits from the famous cut in the corporate tax rate, are enthusiastically ordering new equipment. Will they step back if vehicle prices go up substantially? Maybe, though prices have been rising steadily for many years, and the current order rate cannot last too long anyway.

How Much Metal Comes from China, Anyway?

The market for primary metals is highly complex, and Steve Latin-Kasper, director of market data and research with the National Truck Equipment Association, discusses it in an article in the April NTEA News. China, he says, is the worlds largest producer of primary aluminum and steel, the kind thats shipped in sheets, coils, and bars. But China consumes most of those primary materials itself, partly to build products for its own markets and partly as exports of those products.

While the U.S. buys innumerable products from China, aluminum isn't one of them. The U.S. purchases 43% of its aluminum from Canada, Latin-Kasper says. The next biggest source, supplying 11%, is Russia. Canada has taken over much aluminum production from the U.S. because it mines a lot of bauxite and electricity rates are lower there. Aluminum production requires copious amounts of electricity, and rising rates here have forced production to go north.

China also doesn't show up as a sizeable supplier of steel and steel products to the U.S. First again is Canada, but its share is just 16%. Next in line are Brazil (13%), South Korea (10%), Mexico (9%), and Russia (9%), followed by many other countries, according to Latin-Kaspers study.

The North American Free Trade Agreement exempts most products of the U.S., Canada, and Mexico from tariffs, and with some exceptions, they flow unhindered among the three countries. As long as NAFTA lasts (a big question, because Trump is challenging it, as we know) prices shouldnt be affected. Besides, the president has exempted Canada from his 25/10 tariffs and has said he might exempt Mexico.

Back to China: It has reacted to the Trump tariffs by threatening its own duties on numerous products from the U.S., many of them agricultural commodities, which would hurt American farmers. Trade war, here we come?Refuse fleet professionals check out the new Freightliner EconicSD at its official unveiling at WasteExpo50 in Las Vegas. Photo: Jack Roberts

I just got back to my office here in Tuscaloosa from a week in Las Vegas. And since I didnt crank down and hit a jackpot on a progressive slot machine while I was there, I might as well write this blog here on what I learned while moderating a panel discussion on future technology on refuse trucks and attending the launch of the new Freightliner EconicSD truck at WasteExpo50.

I used to attend WasteExpo shows fairly regularly back in the day, in another job. But its been a decade, at least, since I last walked one of their show floors, and I was deeply impressed with the cutting-edge truck technology that is rapidly reshaping this trucking niche today.

As I noted, I was lucky to start out moderating a panel discussion on how future technology is already deployed in refuse fleets today, with excellent commentary from Skip Berg, with Labrie Enviroquip Group, Don Diego Padilla with FleetMind Solutions, and two electric truck experts, Jim Castelaz with Motiv and Ian Wright with Wrightspeed.

What impressed me most during the spirited back-and-forth discussion was that in many ways, the refuse segment is leading truckings movement into an era of new technology and new ways of running fleets.

Refuse trucks today are already routinely using Level 3 autonomous vehicle systems, advanced safety systems, and telematics to enhance productivity and safety while transmitting crucial operational and business data in real time. These trucks are also on the cutting edge in terms of integrated vehicle platforms, with various electronic control modules running highly complex hydraulic systems efficiently.

These were all trends I saw confirmed later in the day as Freightliner unveiled its EconicSD, which is clearly designed to deploy the latest refuse fleet technology today, and adapt to even more advanced tech as it comes on line in the near future.

Refuse leads trucking on another front as well  alternative fuels. Per Richard Saward, vice president of government and vehicle sales for Freightliner, diesel-powered vehicles make up only 50% of refuse trucks working in North America today.

An entire half of this market segment is powered by alternative fuels  with CNG being the most common choice. Thats a pretty impressive statistic from a market segment that the general public scarcely gives more than a passing thought to, and a tremendous compliment to the men and women focused on making North American refuse collection one of the most efficient, productive, modern, and green trucking segments in operation today.

Given all that, I shouldnt have been surprised to hear the sharp, informed questions fired at Jim Castelaz and Ian Wright during their presentations on electric vehicle trends. If the audience at our panel discussion is any indication, it appears the refuse segment is poised to soon take a leadership role in adapting electric trucks in urban applications.

All in all, its clear after a few days observing WasteExpo up close that Refuse is clearly a market segment to keep an eye on as fleets across North America begin to work out the particulars of new technology deployment, new maintenance procedures, and new ways of running operations in complex, busy, urban environments.Just a few days ago, His Holiness the Dalai Lama made a stunning announcement that has shocked many people. On 25th April 2018, the Dalai Lama said that he knows from reliable sources that the 11th Panchen Lama candidate he recognised, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, is alive and well. He also said that the 11th Panchen Lama who was recognised by China, Gyaincain Norbu, is being educated by a good teacher AND that it is possible for two incarnations of a being to exist at the same time.

What is interesting about this is that for 22 years, the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) in Dharamsala have maintained that the Chinese-recognised Panchen Lama is fake. In all capacities, they have always criticised him and put him and any news about him down. Now the Dalai Lama has made a 180 degree U-turn on this and is saying that both his candidate AND Chinas could be real.

I have always believed that multiple emanations are possible, especially for someone of the Panchen Lamas attainments. However my beliefs have been criticised because they were perceived as support for the Chinese-backed Panchen Lama. Online, I have been called Chinese dog, traitor and other vulgarities just because of my beliefs.

But my beliefs are not arbitrary and without basis. There are some practices, within the Yamantaka tradition for example, where astral travel is possible. A practitioner can eject their mind from their body, occupy the body of another being, go some place else then return to their original body at a later time, provided their original body has not been tampered with. This was useful for meditators staying in remote places  they could eject their mind from their bodies, occupy that of a passing bird (for example), go somewhere far away to receive teachings then return to their original body later.

So if astral travel in this way is possible for an ordinary practitioner with no special rank or title, surely it must be possible for a lama of the Panchen Lamas attainments to have more than one manifestation existing at the same time but in different places? To say that it is not possible, is to limit the power of the enlightened mind to just one body. I am reminded of the 10th Panchen Lama who was in a teaching once and he started laughing for no apparent reason. There was no joke being made and so no reason for him to be so amused. When his students questioned him, he said, Oh, one of my emanations is somewhere else and doing something funny.

Now the Dalai Lama has stated that he also believes multiple incarnations of one mind is possible, and His Holiness has also endorsed the Chinese-backed Panchen Lamas education (even praising it). One cannot help but wonder if the Dalai Lama will also be called the same names that I was because he endorsed the Chinese-backed Panchen Lama? Or are my views now okay because the Dalai Lama also believes in the same thing? I am not asking for anyone to call the Dalai Lama any names. I am just asking everyone to look at the hypocrisy and double standards of Tibetan society, that it is wrong for anyone to hold a belief that runs contrary to the Dalai Lamas, even if that belief may be logical, and that person will be deserving of all kinds of abuse and violence. But once the Dalai Lama believes the same thing, suddenly that belief is okay.

That alone should tell you volumes about how Tibetan society behaves. Something is good when the Dalai Lama approves of it, otherwise it remains very bad. Is that what a democracy is, that something is acceptable as long as it meets the approval of a singular person?

For me, I am not interested in politics. I am only interested in preserving the Buddhist teachings and practices, and so what is ultimately important is whether the person is a good monk or not, and not what title or rank they have. So have they received the practice themselves in the proper, traditional manner and do they hold their vows and commitments? If both these questions can be answered with yes, then whether someone is the Panchen Lama or not, they are still qualified to give teachings and transmit practices. There are many lamas who are not of the Panchen Lamas rank. They are just ordinary lamas and geshes but are still perfectly capable and qualified to transmit teachings and confer practices. So what if the Chinese-backed Panchen Lama is the real Panchen Lama or not? If he has the proper training and he holds his vows, then he is qualified to give teachings and practices like Kalachakra. Its really that simple for me.

But the Dalai Lamas incredible announcement does have many implications for the Tibetans and their leadership which is the CTA. It will be very interesting to see what they do after this and how they will react. Will the attacks against those who support both Panchen Lamas stop? Will the Dalai Lama make even more announcements about the Chinese-backed Panchen Lama? After all, the Dalai Lama is really changing his mind on the Panchen Lama selected by Chinese now. If His Holiness the Dalai Lama can reverse his views to accepting the Chinese Panchen Lama as a genuine emanation of the Panchen Lama which is what he seems to be doing now, he can change his mind on other issues such as the Dorje Shugden ban also for the positive. Will he even go so far as to say something positive about Dorje Shugden practitioners, who are another group of people that the CTA says is supported by China? Lets see, only time will tell what His Holiness next move is. Many things can happen for the better. Whatever it is, His Holiness the Dalai Lama is starting to support the Chinese-backed Panchen Lama as an authentic emanation. His statements are clear in the video.

Tsem Rinpoche

VIDEO: The Dalai Lama on the 11th Panchen Lama

Or view the video on the server at:

https://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/DalaiLamaOn11thPanchenLama.mp4

Or watch it on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hsyWE-fhZU

Going back to the beginning

In 1989, His Holiness the 10th Panchen Lama passed away. The search for his holy reincarnation began shortly after, and on 14th May 1995, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, then aged six, was recognised by the Dalai Lama as the 11th Panchen Lama of Tibet. Three days later, the boy and his family went missing and for the last 22 years, their whereabouts have remained unknown.

Six months later, in November 1995, the Chinese leadership identified their own candidate, Gyaincain Norbu, who was subsequently enthroned as the 11th Panchen Lama Jetsun Lobsang Jampa Lhundrub Chokyi Gyalpo Pelsangpo. The recognition came after the Chinese government consulted high lamas in Tibet who used traditional methods to confirm and recognise the boy as the 11th Panchen Lama, along with the Chinese governments independent methods.

As one might expect, the Chinese candidate was not well-received by the Tibetan community. The Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), or the Tibetan exiled leadership based in Dharamsala, North India, accused the Chinese government of being a secular leadership interfering in religious matters, and of possessing ulterior motives to identify their own Panchen Lama. In response, the CTA launched huge publicity campaigns and in the last two decades, their Missing Panchen Lama campaign has grown to become one of the most prominent campaigns of the Free Tibet movement.

This campaign has been used by Tibetan supporters to vilify China as a kidnapper, painting the Tibetans as victimised underdogs deserving of moral and financial support against the so-called child-abusing monster that is China. To this day, Tibetan supporters continue to hold candlelight vigils for Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, gathering signatures and petitions to try and pressure the United Nations and human rights organisations to investigate the case. A large poster of the missing boy even hangs in Majnu Ka Tilla, the main Tibetan settlement in Delhi, India, serving as a daily reminder that the case still very much affects Tibetans.

Recent developments however, threaten the narrative that the CTA has maintained for so long. The CTA has long held that the Dalai Lamas candidate, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, is one of the worlds longest serving political prisoners. They say that the Chinese-backed candidate is a pretender to the throne and has no business teaching or advising anyone as the Panchen Lama. Yet, it appears that His Holiness the Dalai Lama himself no longer agrees with everything that the CTA has promoted for 22 years. It will also be interesting to see what the Independence activists (rangzen) and their foreign supporters around the world have to say to this new statement by the Dalai Lama regarding the China-recognised Panchen Rinpoche which is a 360 degree turn. They have used the Panchen Lama to make China look bad for decades. Without the Dalai Lama backing their statements about the Panchen Lama, their statements seem to lose power. Not only is the Dalai Lama now supporting the China-recognised Panchen Lama, but Dalai Lama is saying the one he recognised is safe and sound. If the activists around the world continue to say the China-backed Panchen Lama is a fake, they are contradicting His Holiness the Dalai Lama. That would not be good. Also the Dalai Lama is saying from reliable sources the Panchen Lama he himself recognised is safe, getting an education, alive and well.

On April 25, 2018 (the day of the 29th birthday celebrations for the missing boy), when the Dalai Lama arrived at Gaggal Airport in Dharamsala, he announced in an interview that Gedhun Choekyi Nyima is alive and well. Stunningly, His Holiness also endorsed the Chinese-backed candidate, adding that the official Panchen Lama is receiving a good education from a qualified teacher. The Dalai Lama then went on to provide evidence for the possibility of two genuine Panchen Lama candidates; that is, the Dalai Lama openly stated that the Chinese-backed Panchen Lama might be real.

It is an admission that no one would have ever expected from the Dalai Lama, given the CTAs campaigns for the last two decades. Could it indicate that the CTAs feelings towards the Chinese-backed Panchen Lama are finally thawing, and why would that even matter?

The importance of the Panchen Lama

In the general spiritual and political hierarchy of Tibet, the role of the Panchen Lama is the second highest in the land; in Tibet, there is none equal to him in rank, other than the Dalai Lama. In fact, in the Dalai Lamas absence, when the country is between Dalai Lama incarnations, the Panchen Lama is the de facto ruler of the country spiritually, along with a regent for secular matters. On official visits, for example when the 14th Dalai Lama visited China in 1955, the Panchen Lama is often involved in these trips, accompanying the Dalai Lama as an equal and representing Tibet as a senior statesman.

The Dalai Lamas and Panchen Lamas have always had a close relationship. They are so close that when the Panchen Lama dies, it is the Dalai Lamas responsibility to identify, recognise and enthrone the next Panchen Lama. Similarly, it is the Panchen Lamas responsibility to identify, recognise and enthrone the next Dalai Lama.

Hence the issue of the Panchen Lama has been a particularly sensitive one for those who pursue Tibetan independence or autonomy, and are fearful of what will happen in the post-14th Dalai Lama period. Even though the CTA calls themselves a democracy, it is no secret that all decisions must ultimately meet with the Dalai Lamas approval. Without a Dalai Lama to lead the CTA, what will their ship and its passengers do without a captain? World leaders entertain and financially support the Tibetans because of the respect they have for the Dalai Lama  how will the so-called Tibetan cause be affected without a Dalai Lama, when its success is so closely identified with the image and reputation of the Dalai Lama?

Hence, for the CTA, having a Panchen Lama squarely under their control becomes a question of life and death; they will need the Panchen Lama to identify the 15th Dalai Lama so that Tibetans are not left without a leader after the 14th Dalai Lamas passing. A Panchen Lama under Chinese control, while the Dharamsala-backed Panchen Lama is missing means the identification of a Dharamsala-approved 15th Dalai Lama is going to be fraught with difficulties and confusion. It will not happen very easily but the Dalai Lama does not seem to be worried about this, given his recent statements.

Did the Dalai Lama scupper the CTAs plans?

In fact, given his recent statements, the Dalai Lamas position on the 11th Panchen Lama no longer matches the CTAs and it seems he is now willing to accept the possibility of a 15th Dalai Lama recognised by the Chinese-backed Panchen Lama. After all, the Dalai Lamas remarks directly contradict what the Tibetan government, as well as the 1000-plus Tibet support groups around the world have asserted for over two decades.

Since 1995, the CTA have always maintained that Beijing has the missing Panchen Lama under house arrest or had him killed. On the one hand, the CTA and Tibet support groups have spent 22 years claiming that the Chinese government killed the boy; on the other hand, the Dalai Lama is now saying that he is alive and well, and receiving a normal education. The Dalai Lama is, in essence, saying that there is no reason to worry about the boy. The Dalai Lama is determined to make China happy and make peace with China as he very much wishes to return to a Tibet within China.

Simultaneously, the Dalai Lama also made remarks regarding the Chinese-backed Panchen Lama which have been viewed as an indirect endorsement of his credentials and recognition. The Dalai Lama praised his education, saying that he has been receiving teachings from a good, qualified teacher. It implies that the Chinese-backed Panchen Lama is a good lama, or will become a good teacher himself in the future; that is, whatever the Chinese-backed Panchen Lama has to say or teach is valid, since he received it from a qualified source.

A young Panchen Lama receiving initiation from his beloved Guru, Kachen Jamyang Gyatso. Look at how fatherly the lama is towards his young student. Such a warm, affectionate photo. A young Panchen Lama receiving initiation from his beloved Guru, Kachen Jamyang Gyatso. Look at how fatherly the lama is towards his young student. Such a warm, affectionate photo.

These remarks constitute a huge reversal in the Dalai Lamas 22-year stance on the Panchen Lama but what has been most worrying for the Tibetan leadership is the Dalai Lamas provision of evidence that there can be more than two emanations of a lama existing at the same time. This opens the possibility that the Chinese-backed Panchen Lama could be the real deal, and it is something that no Tibetan has ever entertained the possibility of before  that Beijing, in fact, could have the real Panchen Lama under their control.

The tale of two Panchen Lamas

Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, then aged six, was recognised by the Dalai Lama as the 11th Panchen Lama of Tibet. Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, then aged six, was recognised by the Dalai Lama as the 11th Panchen Lama of Tibet.

In his short interview, the Dalai Lama voluntarily stated that some lamas have two emanations and he referenced Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, a lama who lived 100 years ago. When he died, Khyentse Wangpo famously reincarnated as five individuals: Dzongsar Khyentse, the 1st Palpung (Bheru) Khyentse, Dzogchen Khyentse, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and (Kathog) Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Chokyi Lodro.

Upon his passing, Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Chokyi Lodro went on to reincarnate as three individuals: Khyentse Yeshe, Jigme Khyentse and Dzongsar Khyentse.

The Dalai Lama cited the Khyentse incarnations as proof that it is possible for a lama to take rebirth as more than one being. Even Hollywood has previously chronicled this phenomenon  in the movie Little Buddha by Bernardo Bertolucci, the title character Lama Dorje takes rebirth as three young children, who are the manifestations of his body, speech and mind. Interestingly, one of the Khyentse incarnations (Dzongsar Khyentse) was an advisor on Little Buddha to ensure the movie remained philosophically and historically accurate.

So is it possible to have more than one 11th Panchen Lama? The Dalai Lama was keen to provide evidence that it is possible even though, as you will notice from the video, there were no related questions that would prompt this information. In fact, this is not the first time there have been two Panchen Lamas. Even in the case of the previous 10th Panchen Lama, it is very well-known that two boys were identified as candidates to occupy the Panchen Lama throne. In the end, both were recognised as reincarnations of the 9th Panchen Lama but only one, the mind emanation, ascended to the throne. The other was recognised as Panchen Otrul, or emanation of Panchen.

Hence, according to the Dalai Lamas interview, there may be two 11th Panchen Lama incarnations i.e. the one he identified and who disappeared, and the one that received official Chinese backing. But if it is possible for two Panchen Lama incarnations to exist simultaneously, then why did the Dalai Lama let everyone believe for 22 years that there is only one Panchen Lama, and that he was kidnapped? The Dalai Lama cited Jamyang Khyentse Wangpos example to apply to the current situation of having two authentic incarnations of Panchen Rinpoche, otherwise why even bring up the subject of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo within a question regarding the Panchen Lama? He is gently starting to shrewdly guide the world into accepting that there are two authentic incarnations of the Panchen Lama although only one will officially occupy the seat of Panchen. He has to do this because for decades he was silent on this matter and allowed his people to say the Chinese Panchen Lama is fake. Now he has to reverse this.

Maybe the Dalai Lama made a mistake?

Knowing that lamas of such attainments do not do things arbitrarily, questions have been asked as to why the 10th Panchen Lama would take rebirth in two emanations and why the Dalai Lama would allow one of them to be kidnapped. There are two possibilities:

SCENARIO #1:

The Dalai Lama made an uncalculated mistake, and his premature identification of the 11th Panchen Lama led to a young boys disappearance. That is, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima is the real Panchen Lama and the Dalai Lamas decision endangered the future of the Tibetans because it pushed the Panchen Lama into Chinese hands.

SCENARIO #2:

The Dalai Lama made a calculated decision and intentionally identified a lesser incarnation of the Panchen Lama, to compel the Chinese government to intervene and identify their own candidate, who is the actual mind or principal emanation. That is, the Chinese have had the real Panchen Lama all along and the Dalai Lamas decision allowed the mind emanation to ascend to the throne and ensured that the Chinese government threw the full weight of their support behind him. The Dalai Lama acted for the greater good of sentient beings everywhere; his decision would allow the Panchen Lamas mind emanation to manifest his full abilities, thanks to Chinese backing.

In the light of the Dalai Lamas most recent comments, it seems clear that the Dalai Lamas actions were motivated by the second scenario. After all, Tibetans and Tibetan Buddhists commonly regard the Dalai Lama as the emanation of Chenrezig, the omniscient Buddha of Compassion. It would be hard to believe that Chenrezigs clairvoyance failed and he made a mistake in prematurely identifying the Panchen Lama. Therefore Scenario #2 seems much more likely, and more aligned with everything else that we know about the Dalai Lama  that he did this on purpose.

In allowing the Tibetans to protest for 22 years, the Dalai Lama was able to provoke the Chinese leadership for two decades into continuously supporting their candidate, who is actually the real mind emanation of the Panchen Lama. As a result, while the Tibetans and their supporters were protesting for Gedhun Choekyi Nyima to be freed, the real Panchen Lama gained the platform and resources necessary to turn the Wheel of Dharma on a much greater scale.

That is to say, the entire two Panchen Lama debacle is actually a play between two enlightened lamas who can look beyond labels of border, geography and politics, and are working together to do what is best for sentient beings as a whole, regardless of whether they are Tibetan, Chinese, etc. Hence, the Dalai Lamas endorsement of the Chinese-backed Panchen Lama may be the latest act in this saga, designed to open the door for the world to have faith in him.

However, there may be other more prosaic reasons surrounding the Dalai Lamas comments and his acceptance of the Chinese-backed Panchen Lama: he just wants to go back home to Tibet.

Returning to Tibet

In recent months, the Dalai Lama has been making an increasing number of overtures towards the Chinese leadership. His Holiness has become increasingly vocal about his wish to return to Tibet, even sending his emissary Samdhong Rinpoche on a secret mission to negotiate terms with the Chinese.

Accepting the Chinese-backed Panchen Lama means denying a major part of the Free Tibet campaigns for the last 22 years; it means the Dalai Lama is removing what has been a thorn in the side of the Chinese government, and softening his stance towards the Chinese to try and open the possibility for him to return home to Tibet.

Hence his endorsement of the Chinese-backed Panchen Lama is just the latest in a list of concessions he has made and the Tibetans should probably expect more. But what does it mean for the Tibetans and their leadership?

To have a Chinese-backed Panchen Lama means that the identification of the next Dalai Lama would fall under the control of the Chinese government . Tibetans in exile would never follow a Chinese-backed 15th Dalai Lama, leaving them essentially leaderless once the 14th Dalai Lama is gone. It would throw the Tibetan community in exile into turmoil. With his comments, the Dalai Lama is in effect giving up Tibets future . His endorsement of the Chinese-backed Panchen Lama means there will no longer be any opportunity for a Dharamsala-backed Dalai Lama recognised by a Dharamsala-backed Panchen Lama. Without an exiled 15th Dalai Lama, it cements the possibility that there will no longer be a fight for independence or autonomy spearheaded by such a candidate.

There is every reason for Tibet support groups to be disheartened and discouraged. Essentially, they wasted their time and resources for the last 22 years campaigning for a missing boy who is not necessarily who they have been led to believe. If he is just an ordinary child, they made a big fuss for nothing; if he is a lesser emanation, it was intentional that he was given up by the Dalai Lama for the real Panchen Lama to ascend to the throne. So what exactly were they campaigning for all these years?

And there is every reason for the Tibetan community to worry. His Holiness is probably mindful of the fact he is already 83 years old and the worlds view of Tibetans is slowly changing. They are no longer universally supported like they once were; beset with self-created scandals and with the CTAs reputation in tatters, financial support and foreign aid is increasingly harder to come by.

The global economic downturn has also had an impact; to protect their economic health and further their own financial interests, nations are opting to forge bilateral relations with China to benefit from lucrative trade deals. Thus, where befriending the CTA was previously viewed as advantageous, it is no longer financially viable to support the supposedly downtrodden Tibetans and antagonise the Chinese leaders and their people, who are well on their way to becoming the next economic and political superpower.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping meeting on April 27, 2018 in Wuhan, China. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping meeting on April 27, 2018 in Wuhan, China.

The Dalai Lama, an astute statesman, sees all of this  at his very doorstep, the Tibetans greatest benefactor, India, is inching towards China. Once the Sino-Indian relationship becomes solid, the Indians will no longer have any use for the Tibetans as a political card against the Chinese, and the CTA will be left powerless and subject to the whims of Indian policy change. So it must be that before the Tibetans become completely irrelevant to everyone, the Dalai Lama is now making his own strategic play to befriend China before both China and India does not have any use for him anymore. This explosive statement comes just days before an informal closed-door meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, where the Tibet issue is expected to be discussed amongst other pressing topics. Before his words no longer carry any weight, while there is still value for China to watch him acquiescing to their demands, the Dalai Lama is making a final play for a return to Tibet on his own terms.

Unity is a distant dream

The Dalai Lamas comments have been welcomed by many quarters. It signals that the Dalai Lama is softening his stance on the issues of the last 20 years, something which excites many marginalised Tibetan groups. The Dorje Shugden high lamas and along with hundreds of thousands of Tibetans have accepted the Panchen Lama recognised by China as he is well educated in Buddhism, said to be very gentle, kind and a veritable scholar of Buddhism able to give initiation and teachings into one of the most complex teachings of Buddhism recently which is the Kalacakra tantra attended by tens of thousands in Tibet.

In the last 20 years, the Dalai Lama has taken a very hardline stance towards the issue of the Chinese Panchen Lama  that is, he does not accept the Chinese Panchen Lama and the real Panchen Lama is the candidate that he recognised. Anyone who supports the Chinese Panchen Lama is accused of being anti-Tibetan, a Chinese-paid spy and a traitor to the Tibetan community. Anyone supporting the Chinese Panchen is attacked on social media. That has to change now. To attack the Chinese-recognised Panchen Rinpoche and supporters is to attack the Dalai Lamas endorsement of him now.

The other major issue which the Dalai Lama has been very firm about is that of Dorje Shugden  that is, Dorje Shugden practitioners are disobeying his instructions to give up the practice, and they need to be segregated from the rest of the Tibetan community.

Ironically, those who maintain their Shugden practice have been accused of showing respect to and support for the Chinese-backed Panchen Lama. In this way, they are labeled double traitors  not only do they disobey the Dalai Lama, but they support the Chinese governments choice.

Now that the Dalai Lama himself endorses the Chinese-backed Panchen Lama, it is the first aspect of Dorje Shugden practitioners that he is accepting. Does this mean it is only a matter of time before he changes his overall stance towards Shugden practitioners, and they are accepted back into mainstream society as it should be within a democracy? After all, the issue of accepting the Chinese Panchen Lama is much more significant since it concerns Tibets second highest lama, one of their political leaders and therefore the potential of any Tibetan freedom or autonomy. In light of the Dalai Lamas about-face regarding the Chinese Panchen Lama, a softening of his stance towards Dorje Shugden practitioners also seems possible. The majority of Dorje Shugden practitioners continue to respect His Holiness the Dalai Lama and wish him well and hope for his reversal on the Dorje Shugden issue as they have suffered much due to the ban.

This would be welcomed not only by Shugden practitioners alone, but by all Tibetans who have grown weary of the in-fighting that continues to plague their community. Whether it is rangzen (independence) versus umaylam (meaningful autonomy), Lobsang Sangay versus Penpa Tsering, U-Tsangpas versus Khampas, this Karmapa versus that Karmapa, or Dorje Shugden versus non-Dorje Shugden, there are just so many issues dividing the Tibetan community that harmony, let alone independence, feels like a distant dream.

Bringing Dorje Shugden practitioners back into the fold will surely be the quickest and fastest division to resolve, leaving the community with one less divisive issue to contend with. Whether or not they are in Tibet, in India or the West, come what may, they will at least be more united. Surely that is going to be the best way for the Tibetans to have a brighter, more harmonious future. Please remember that the Dalai Lama wishes for the same thing, that Tibetans inside and outside of Tibet will have harmony. Not only is the Dalai Lama now implying that everyone should comply with Chinas wishes but in this way, the Dalai Lamas statement that the Chinese-recognised Panchen Lama is the official Panchen Lama is the most earth-shattering statement that His Holiness the Dalai Lama has made. Yes, His Holiness the Dalai Lama in the video said clearly that the Chinese-recognised Panchen Lama is the official one.

Tibet.net: According to reliable source, Panchen Lama Alive and Receiving Normal Education: His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Click on image to enlarge (Source: http://tibet.net/2018/04/according-to-reliable-source-panchen-lama-alive-and-receiving-normal-education-his-holiness-the-dalai-lama)

The Tibet Express: On Panchen Lamas 29th birthday, the Dalai Lama says he is still alive, carrying normal education

Click on image to enlarge (Source: http://tibetexpress.net/on-panchen-lamas-29th-birthday-the-dalai-lama-says-he-is-still-alive-carrying-normal-education)

The Statesman: 11th Panchen Lama alive,

receiving education: Dalai Lama

Click on image to enlarge (Source: https://www.thestatesman.com/india/11th-panchen-lama-alive-receiving-education-dalai-lama-1502627372.html)

Modern Diplomacy

Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama quarrel:

The way for rapprochement with China

Click on image to enlarge (Source: https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2018/05/09/dalai-lama-and-the-panchen-lama-quarrel-the-way-for-rapprochement-with-china/)

Eurasia Review

Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama quarrel:

The way for rapprochement with China

Click on image to enlarge (Source: https://www.eurasiareview.com/10052018-dalai-lama-and-the-panchen-lama-quarrel-the-way-for-rapprochement-with-china-analysis/)

Tibet Marks 20th Anniversary of

Panchen Lamas Enthronement

Or view the video on the server at:

https://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/PanchenLama20thAnniversary.mp4

His Holiness the 11th Panchen Lama (Part 1 of 3)

Or view the video on the server at:

https://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/H.H.PanchenLamaPart1.mp4

His Holiness the 11th Panchen Lama (Part 2 of 3)

Or view the video on the server at:

https://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/H.H.PanchenLamaPart2.mp4

His Holiness the 11th Panchen Lama (Part 3 of 3)

Or view the video on the server at:

https://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/H.H.PanchenLamaPart3.mp4

For more interesting information:



Copyright Disclaimer: Under Section 13 of the Malaysian Copyright Act 1987, allowance is made for fair dealing for purposes such as non-profit research, private study, criticism, review or the reporting of current events. The Operator and author(s) of TsemRinpoche.com, a not-for-profit blog, do not claim ownership on the intellectual property rights of the contents, images and/or videos reproduced in this article. Any subsisting intellectual property rights shall belong to the legal owner of the contents, images and/or videos.Published: 9:27 PM 4/26/2018

Objects were without doubt UFOs...

Mexico City International Airport - 04-14-18

We have received the following information and image from aviation technician Alfonso Salazar:

"A luminous UFO flying over the airport this Saturday, 14 April 2018, the time being 9:00 in the evening. I, Alfonso Salazar, in the company of three aviation technicians, witnessed a very bright flying object flying over Mexico City International Airport.

The UFO was flying from West to East and beyond our atmosphere, according to calculations. It radiated an intense white light."

The sighting lasted some 15 seconds before the UFO simply dimmed its light, becoming a shadow moving across the sky.

Five minutes later, another object passed, projecting an intermittent white light, flying from north to south at an altitude of 50 feet. These were UFOs, without question. Atmospheric conditions were very good."US, Japan, Mongolia hold trilateral meeting in Tokyo

Washington, Apr 28 (UNI) The United States, Japan, and Mongolia have held a trilateral meeting in Tokyo reaffirming the importance of the US-Japan-Mongolia trilateral meeting as an important mechanism for the exchange of views on regional and multilateral cooperation and on mutually beneficial economic development.

During the meeting, the United States and Japan detailed their vision for a peaceful and prosperous Indo-Pacific region in which all countries are free from coercion and can maintain their sovereign right to choose their own paths, according to a media note issued here on Friday by the Office of the Spokesperson.

It said Japan and the United States reaffirmed their commitment to their increased bilateral relationships with Mongolia in line with Mongolias third neighbor policy, and the three countries discussed potential avenues of cooperation to promote connectivity, good governance, and a rules-based international order throughout the Asia-Pacific region.Hanois Department of Transport has planned to switch four major bus stations in the inner city, including Gia Lam, My inh, GIap Bat and Nuoc Ngam, into car parks and inner-city bus interchanges by 2020.- VNA/VNS Photo Viet Hung

This is part of the departments draft plan to improve parking lots, bus stations and bus interchanges by 2030 with a view to 2050. Plans have been submitted to the municipal Peoples Committee for approval.

Under the draft, the four bus stations would still be places to pick up and drop off passengers but they would be gradually transformed into parking lots.

Gia Lam and Giap Bat bus stations are the first to be completed in 2020 with My inh and Nuoc Ngam following five years later.

The department also said the city would complete the construction of six new bus stations with total area of 73 hectares by 2030. Noi Bai Bus Station in Soc Son District, Dong Anh Bus Station in Dong Anh District, Co Bi Bus Station in Gia Lam District, Phung in Dan Phuong District, Western and Southern stations in Hoai Duc and Thanh Tri districts would replace the four current ones.

New bus stations in the Belt Road 4 area, are more convenient for passengers to travel inter-province routes and also help ease traffic congestion in the inner city.

The department said it would mobilise organisations and individuals to invest in the car parks, especially those who wanted to build underground or multi-storey lots.

Hanoi has nine inter-province bus stations, covering a total of 17.9 hectares of land. Four of them, Gia Lam, My Dinh, GIap Bat and Nuoc Ngam, are in populated areas, causing traffic pressure to the city centre.

Hanoi, as well as other big cities, is facing a severe shortage of parking lots. Some 590 with total area of 38.9ha are currently in use in the central areas of the city, meeting only 8-10 per cent of parking demand in these areas.

Due to limited public land, public parking lots throughout the city only serve 66 per cent of the total demand, highlighting the need for more spaces, especially in new constructions.Honda, Japan's third largest automaker, has reported improved results thanks to US corporate tax cuts and brisk sales AFP/Kazuhiro NOGI

Japan's third largest automaker logged net profits of 1.06 trillion yen (US$9.7 billion), up 71.8 per cent from the previous year, with sales of 15.36 trillion yen, up 9.7 per cent.

Motorcycle sales were particularly strong, growing 15.3 per cent from the previous year, it said.

Honda reported its US corporate tax bill was down 346 billion yen (US$3 billion) thanks to tax cuts introduced by President Donald Trump's administration.

Operating profit edged down 0.9 per cent due to factors including currency exchange rates, revisions in the firm's pension system and settlement costs for class-action lawsuits.

But the company said it was "a de facto rise" in operating profit of 11 per cent.

For the current year to March 2019, Honda expects net profit to drop by 46.2 per cent to 570 billion yen, chiefly due to a higher yen.

It forecasts sales will edge up 1.6 per cent to 15.6 trillion yen.

A higher yen makes Japanese carmakers less competitive in foreign markets and deflates profits when repatriated.

"The Japanese auto industry benefited from US tax cuts for the fiscal year," said Satoru Takada, an analyst at TIW, a Tokyo-based research and consulting firm.

"Foreign exchange gains also contributed to their earnings but the impact is decreasing as the yen has gotten stronger recently," he told AFP ahead of the Friday earnings report.French Minister for the Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire (left) and German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz speak to the press after a French plan to tax Silicon Valley tech giants in Europe got a muted response from EU ministers. (Photo: AFP/STR)

Finance ministers from the EU's 28 member states discussed a controversial proposal aimed at claiming a bigger share of billions of euros from mainly US multinationals that shift earnings around Europe so as to pay lower tax rates.

Many of the countries expressed caution out of fear of scaring off high tech investment, but also of provoking US President Donald Trump while the threat of a EU-US trade war still looms.

"We are not putting on the brakes, but we do not want a stand alone solution that will not work," said Luxembourg Finance Minister Pierre Gramegna as he arrived for talks in Sofia, Bulgaria.

"I will insist that we talk to the Americans quickly and constructively otherwise it could lead to an escalation with America, knowing that we already have trade war rhetoric," he added.

Luxembourg hosts the EU headquarters for Amazon and along with Facebook and Apple hub Ireland, is loathe to see US tech giants head for the exit.

A European source said the lukewarm response, which also included a muted Germany, drew the "cold fury" of French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire who asked ministers if Europe would "be strong or not".

"One thing I learnt from my week in the USA with President Macron: the Americans will only respect a show of strength," Le Maire said in the closed-door session, according to the source.

"MORAL QUESTION"

Getting all countries on board is crucial as tax reforms in the EU require unanimity and the backing of Berlin is especially key.

But Finance Minister Olaf Scholz was reported to have stayed mum during the heated debate, although he said Germany was behind the principle of the digital tax.

Taxing the likes of Facebook was "a big moral question", Scholz told a joint news conference with Le Maire after the talks.

"There is no country that could accept what we see today that big companies are not (taxed)," Scholz said.

The special tax is the latest measure by the European Union to rein in Silicon Valley giants and France would like a deal by the end of the year.

"It is not an anti (US tech giant) tax, it is not an anti US tax, it is not a protectionist approach, it is something which it is in interest of all Europeans wherever they live," said EU Economic Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici, who is driving the plan.

The transatlantic shot across the bow has been championed by Macron who believes the measure would be a popular accomplishment for the EU ahead of European elections next year, in which anti-Brussels populists could do well.

The most controversial part of the plan is to slap an emergency tax on digital companies with worldwide annual turnover above 750 million (US$924 million), such as Facebook, Google, Twitter, Airbnb and Uber.

EU members would adopt this tax unilaterally, without cooperating with the US and other countries from the OECD, the club of developed countries that has coordinated major corporate tax reforms worldwide.

"On the European level I doubt it's going to be soon because to have consensus on tax issues is not easy," said Slovak Finance Minister Peter Kazimir.

"We are ready to do it (but) on a national level ... in line with OECD recommendations," he added.PM introduces investors to Vietnams special economic zones

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said at an April 28 round table discussion with 16 leaders and CEOs of leading multinational groups and businesses operating across diverse fields in Singapore.

While discussing the overall picture of the Vietnamese economy with the Singaporean multinational companies, the PM said in the first quarter of 2018, Vietnam's economy continued its exponential growth to reach its highest level in ten years. The country has maintained socio-political and macro-economic stability, and the increased openness of the Vietnamese economy is seen as a good opportunity for multinational companies to invest in Vietnam.

The improvements in Vietnams business environment have been acknowledged by reputable international organizations. The country is a member of the 12 new generation FTAs, and is in the negotiation process for a number of important trade agreements that will open up a wealth of opportunities for investors, Phuc noted.

PM Phuc said that 13 percent of the Vietnamese population are now defined as middle class and the figure is projected to keep rising, making the purchasing power of the 93 million strong market more attractive to any business. He then cited the fact that 55% of the Vietnamese population are regular Internet users and nearly 50% use social networks, while there are around 130 million mobile phone subscriptions, all of which are highly favourable conditions for investors.

The PM also urged multinational companies to accelerate production and business projects in Vietnam with the adoption of advanced technologies and adherence to Vietnamese and international law.

Appreciating Vietnams efforts in improving the business environment to create an attractive investment destination, leading multinational corporations and companies have shown their keen interest in investing in projects across a variety of fields such as health care services, online education, and support for farmers in online payments through the use of mobile devices.

Businesses asked the Prime Minister and the Government to act swiftly in providing solutions to difficulties, especially in removing pending bottlenecks in policies, reforming the capital market, strengthening connectivity between economic sectors, simplifying import-export procedures, and implementing one-stop customs.

At the meeting, Vietnamese ministry leaders responded to many questions and recommendations made by multinational companies, while assuring the Government's transparent and open policies in economic management, and dealing with businesses and investors. This includes encouraging foreign investors to become actively involved in the equitization process of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

In addition, Vietnam is actively removing its policy barriers in several areas under the State monopoly in order to incentivize the involvement of private enterprises and foreign investors in production and business activities. Vietnam has been speeding up the application of new taxation and customs procedures which are more convenient and in keeping with the international trend.

The same day, PM Phuc received Christian Cabrol, Senior Vice President of the multinational integrated oil and gas company Totals Marketing & Services for Asia Pacific & Middle East during which, he suggested Total, expand its operation in the country.

Christian Cabrol said his company has operated in Vietnam since 1990 and now employs about 1,000 locals to supply the market with oil and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

The group is now taking heed to the production of LPG and electricity in Vietnam and is ready to team up with local partners, adding that the group is proposing the construction of a number of port infrastructure to receive LPG products.

Hailing totals expansion plan in Vietnam, Phuc said Vietnam welcomes Totals intention to work with Vietnamese partners to build infrastructure to receive LPG product and called on the group to become involved in information exchanges with Vietnamese partners such as the PetroVietnam and Electricity of Vietnam.Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel shakes hands during a joint press conference with US President Donald Trump in the East Room of the White House on Apr 27, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo: AFP/Mandel Ngan)

Merkel left the White House, seemingly unable to secure a promise from Trump to stay in the Iran nuclear deal or to provide a permanent European exemption to trade tariffs.

Unless Trump acts by May 1, which is next Tuesday, tariffs on European steel and aluminium will kick into effect, likely followed by EU countermeasures that would spark a transatlantic trade war.

"The president will decide. That is very clear," Merkel said, papering over differences during a joint press conference at the White House.

"We had an exchange of views on the current state of affairs of the negotiations and the respective assessments on where we stand on this. And the decision lies with the president."

On the Iran nuclear deal, which Trump may scuttle on May 12, Merkel conceded it was "anything but perfect" but is worth holding on to nonetheless.

Trump has demanded the "terrible" deal - which gave Tehran sanctions relief in return for curbs on controversial nuclear activities - be renegotiated, something Europeans see as unrealistic, dangerous and unnecessary.

Merkel, like French President Emmanuel Macron who visited the White House earlier this week, tried to sell Trump on the idea of the deal being a stepping stone to a longer-term, broader agreement.

"It will not solve all the problems with Iran. It is one piece of the mosaic, one building block, if you like, on which we can build up this structure," she said.

Trump was as noncommittal as he was with Macron, giving no sense that he was ready to bend, or that he has an alternative plan.

"They will not be doing nuclear weapons. That I can tell you. Okay?" Trump said when asked about his own proposal, refusing to rule out military action.

The White House has largely seen the deal through the prism of domestic politics and Trump's campaign promise to nix it.

Despite lingering disagreements, Trump tempered his previously harsh criticism of low German defense spending, open immigration policies and export-focused trade.

Hailing Merkel as an "extraordinary woman," Trump insisted "we must have a fair and reciprocal trading relationship with our friends and partners."

"I'm committed to working with Chancellor Merkel to reduce barriers to United States exports, to remedy these trade imbalances, and deepen our economic ties."

Trump also renewed his criticism of NATO, saying the transatlantic defense alliance was more useful for Europe than for the United States, but in less sharp terms than before.

"NATO is wonderful but it helps Europe more than it helps us," he said, returning to a pet peeve.

"Why are we paying a vast majority of the costs?" he complained. "We're working on those things. It's been unfair. And I don't blame the chancellor."

MAKE GERMANY HEARD AGAIN

The German leader's visit had been overshadowed by a backslapping three-day festival of "fraternite" between Trump and Macron earlier this week.

Aware of the optics, anxious German diplomats pressed - in vain - for Merkel to enjoy a similarly meaty two days at the White House, betting the face time would help sweeten difficult relations, officials told AFP.

Instead the chancellor got a one day, run-of-the-mill "working visit."

But the trip got off to a surprisingly warm start, and the body language showed. The two leaders exchanged kisses on the cheek as Merkel emerged from her limousine at the White House.

"We actually have had a great relationship right from the beginning but some people didn't understand that," Trump told reporters. "But we understand it, and that's what's important."

When Merkel last came to Washington, the cautious dry-witted chancellor held several awkward joint appearances with her more impulsive host - clashing publicly over defence spending, trade and migration.

The Trump era has seen a dramatic change in fortunes for the German leader who, for more than a decade, was seen by Washington not just as a sensible and pragmatic interlocutor, but the de facto leader of Europe.

Her relationship with Barack Obama was particularly close, officials from that administration have said, so much so that he was a powerful voice encouraging her to run, successfully, for a fourth term.

Their partnership has proven - along with centrists claiming her as the new "leader of the free world" - to be a poisoned chalice for Berlin in the age of Trump.

Just hours before the chancellor landed late Thursday, some 15 months after Trump was sworn into office, the Republican-controlled Congress finally got around to confirming an ambassador to Germany.

Both Merkel and Trump welcomed his appointment.Pope Francis poses with clergy boys and girls during his weekly general audience at the Vatican on Wednesday.Upon the request of Russia, on 27 April, 17 eye witnesses of the alleged chemical attack that took place at Douma, came to testify before the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemcial Weapons. Every one of these 17 witnesses confirmed that this chemical attack never took place.

These individuals are Syrian citizens that appear in a video that the White Helmets has broadcast across the world as proof of a chemical attack in Douma where the directors of this hospital are based.

Delegations from the United States, the United Kingdom and France have protested against what they qualified as a show and have even guaranteed that they can provide evidence that contradicts the declarations of these witnesses. However they have not produced them.

Considering that the video of the White Helmets met the evidentiary threshold that the Syrian government used chemical weapons, the United States, France and the United Kingdom bombed Syria on 14 April.

For its part, the Russian Federations delegation stressed that the reaction of the three Western powers - bombing Syria before the declarations of eye witnesses that deny that a chemical attack took place, demonstrates that these countries are acting in bad faith and that all this was a manipulation aimed at justifying bombing the Syrian Arab Republic.

The Russian delegation announced at the meeting that the Russian Federation will not permit any new aggression against the Syrian Arab Republic.On 25 April 2018 the Second Conference of Brussels in support of Syria and the other countries in the region, organized by the European Union and the United Nations, was brought to a close.

The donor states put on show their desire to help Lebanon to continue to provide shelter to the Syrian refugees for as long as it takes to come up with a political solution for Syria [1]. Accordingly, they entreated host countries to give legal status to refugees even if they return on a temporary basis to Syria. The Lebanese Prime Minister (a Sunni), Saad Hariri, seemed to agree with this request.

However, it appears from the final communique that was published, that the other Lebanese authorities (the President of the Republic (a Christian) and the President of the National Assembly (a Shiite), have fiercely denounced this conference. This is because they think that the conference has an altogether different agenda. It aims only at preventing refugees from returning to the country of origin by claiming to seek a political solution that has already been found at Sotchi [2].

The President of the Republic, Michel Aoun, has gone even further. According to him, what the Western powers are seeking to do is to deprive Syria of its inhabitants and to force Lebanon to naturalize them.

Furthermore, the Lebanese think this conference was going in the opposite direction to their policy of keeping a distance which, following the Declaration of Baabda, bans any state from intervening in the war in Syria.

Certain Europeans are also raising questions on the European Unions accommodation of Syrian refugees. This right of asylum seems to have strayed from its goal: no more is the aim to save civilians from a theatre of war but in truth to deprive Syria of its inhabitants.Intervening on 24 April 2018 at the GEOINT 2018 Symposium, General Raymond A. Thomas III (Commander-in-Chief of Special Operations (USSOCOM)), has revealed the extent of the e-war between the United States and the enemy (Russia understood).

He considers the enemy is succeeding in disrupting or systematically disabling the US systems in Syria making it impossible for the Pentagon to survey the combat zone. During the tripartite attack of 14 April, the Russian army succeeded in hacking the GPS transmissions with the effect that some missiles were diverted. Worse still, the systems for friend/enemy recognition have stopped working. In these conditions, using planes for surveillance was not only a waste of time but also dangerous.1. Yes. There should be absolute certainty that the election was free and fair.

2. Yes. The audit could and should lead to stronger laws governing elections in the state.

3. No. Former President Trump wants the audit to further cast doubt on the 2020 vote.

4. No. Its a waste of money, an attempt by Abbott to gain favor among Trump backers.

5. Unsure. It seems unnecessary but it may provide some worthwhile findings.

Vote

View ResultsThe Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Turkey, as guarantors of the observance of the ceasefire regime in Syria, held the second meeting in Moscow on 28 April 2018. They discussed the development of the situation in and around Syria and its impact on the regional peace and security.

The Ministers:

1. Reaffirmed their strong commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic, as well as to the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and highlighted that these principles should be respected by all.

2. Emphasized their determination to strengthen trilateral coordination on the basis of the joint statements by the Presidents of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Turkey of 22 November 2017 and 4 April 2018.

3. Agreed to increase joint efforts aimed at facilitating the achievement of a lasting political settlement in Syria envisaged by the UN Security Council resolution 2254 and through full use of multi-level mechanisms of the Astana format.

4. Underscored the efficiency of the Astana format as the only international initiative that had helped practically improve the situation in Syria through joint efforts to combat terrorism, reduce the level of violence and create favourable conditions for the political settlement, including via facilitating broad intra-Syrian dialogue. Decided to hold the next International Meeting on Syria in Astana in May 2018 in conjunction with the second meeting of the Working Group on the release of detainees/abductees and handover of the bodies as well as the identification of missing persons.

5. Emphasized the importance of the contribution of Astana format to ensure real progress in achieving a political solution in Syria through an inclusive, free, fair and transparent Syrian-led and Syrian-owned process based on the free will of the Syrian people and leading to a constitution enjoying the support of the Syrian people, and free and fair elections with the participation of all eligible Syrians under appropriate UN supervision. In this regard agreed to increase the frequency of regular joint consultations of high-level representatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Turkey with the United Nations Secretary-General and his Special Envoy for Syria in order to facilitate the beginning of the Constitutional Committee`s work in Geneva as soon as possible on the basis of the recommendations of the Congress of the Syrian National Dialogue in Sochi and in coordination with the three guarantor-states.

6. Reaffirmed their determination to continue their cooperation in order to ultimately eliminate DAESH/ISIL, Nusra Front and all other individuals, groups, undertakings and entities associated with Al-Qaeda or DAESH/ISIL as designated by the UN Security Council in Syria and underscored the success of their collective efforts in the fight against terrorism. They called upon all armed opposition groups in Syria to completely and immediately dissociate from abovementioned terrorist groups.

7. Highlighted the importance of de-escalation efforts and reiterated their commitment to preserve the ceasefire regime that had become instrumental in helping to reduce violence on the ground and alleviate the humanitarian suffering.

8. Rejected all attempts to create new realities on the ground under the pretext of combating terrorism and expressed their determination to stand against separatist agendas aimed at undermining the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria as well as the national security of neighboring countries.

9. Strongly condemned any use of chemical weapons in Syria and demanded that any reports in this regard be investigated promptly and professionally in full compliance with the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction and by the OPCW as the main international competent authority to establish use of chemical weapons.

10. Reaffirmed their commitment to continue joint efforts aimed at protecting the civilians, improving the humanitarian situation via facilitating rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access to all those in need, launching and maintaining work of confidence building mechanisms between the parties as well as helping normalize the situation all across Syria, including by creating conditions for safe return of refugees and internally displaced persons.

11. Called upon the international community, first and foremost the UN and its humanitarian agencies, to increase their assistance to Syria in the interest of all Syrians, including by facilitating humanitarian mine action, restoring basic infrastructure together with social and economic facilities, and preserving historical heritage.(CNN) -- President Donald Trump on Saturday morning called for Montana Democratic Sen. Jon Tester to resign over his opposition to White House physician Ronny Jackson's nomination for secretary of veterans affairs, saying some of the allegations against Jackson "are proving false."

Tester, the top Democrat on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, had raised concerns about allegations against Jackson, including that he loosely handled prescription pain medications, was intoxicated during an overseas trip, and created a toxic work environment. Jackson withdrew his nomination on Thursday.

The allegations led to Jackson pulling his name from consideration on Thursday. The swift unraveling of his nomination came amid a litany of allegations from nearly two dozen current and former colleagues against a man whose selection late last month came as a surprise even to him, CNN has reported.

Jackson learned about his nomination just a day or two before it was made public, one official told CNN -- a sign of inadequate vetting that continues to plague the Trump administration's nominations. And on Capitol Hill, Democrats and Republicans questioned Trump's decision, made largely out of his personal affinity for Jackson, and were skeptical the White House physician had the experience to lead the sprawling agency.

In a wide-ranging interview on Fox News earlier this week, Trump said he thought Tester would have a "big price to pay in Montana" over the accusations against Jackson.

"Allegations made by Senator Jon Tester against Admiral/Doctor Ron Jackson are proving false," Trump wrote in a pair of tweets. "The Secret Service is unable to confirm (in fact they deny) any of the phony Democrat charges which have absolutely devastated the wonderful Jackson family. Tester should resign. The.........great people of Montana will not stand for this kind of slander when talking of a great human being. Admiral Jackson is the kind of man that those in Montana would most respect and admire, and now, for no reason whatsoever, his reputation has been shattered. Not fair, Tester!"

Although Jackson did not respond to the full slate of allegations, he has denied some of them, including that he wrecked a government car.

"I have no idea where that is coming from," Jackson told reporters at the White House on Wednesday. "I have not wrecked a car. I can tell you that."

Tester said in a statement Saturday, "It's my duty to make sure Montana veterans get what they need and have earned, and I'll never stop fighting for them as their senator."

The statement noted that Trump has signed several bills that Tester sponsored, cosponsored or otherwise supported that aim to increase accountability at the Department of Veterans Affairs and improve care and benefits for veterans.

After Jackson withdrew from consideration, the Montana senator thanked the service members who "bravely spoke out over the past week" about Jackson. Tester added that it was his "constitutional responsibility to make sure the veterans of this nation get a strong, thoroughly vetted leader who will fight for them."

"The next secretary must have a commitment to reform a strained health care system and a willingness to stand up to special interests who want to privatize the VA," Tester said. "My sleeves are rolled up and ready to work with Chairman (Johnny) Isakson to vet and confirm a secretary who is fit to run the VA."

Trump said in a Fox News interview shortly after Jackson withdrew that Tester might have a "big price to pay in Montana" for opposing the nomination, prompting an official with the the senator's campaign to say he disagreed with the idea that Tester would face backlash from voters.

"Jon's focus from the beginning is making sure we have strong leadership at the top of the VA so our veterans are taken care of. Jon has worked with the president to get 8 bills signed into law on the VA," the official noted. "That is his goal."

"This isn't political for him, it is about doing right by our veterans," he said.

Hours after Trump tweeted that Tester should resign, a senior Democratic aide also said party members didn't think Trump's bashing of Tester would resonate in the state.

"If you look at what Montana voters are learning about this issue or are reading about it or watching it, they are hearing and seeing Montana veterans praising Sen. Tester for doing his job and looking out for their interests," the aide said, highlighting an article in the Missoula Current that said Tester has the support of some Montana veterans.

"At the end of the day, what this is about is Senator Tester actually doing the right thing and protecting veterans and doing his job to make sure someone who could have been harmful to an agency that is in charge of protecting veterans was not in a position to do that," the aide added. "It is really about him doing his job and doing his work."

A spokesperson for Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Johnny Isakson said he approved of Tester's handling of the accusations.

"Senator Isakson has a great relationship with Senator Tester," spokesperson Amanda Maddox said. "He doesn't have a problem with how things were handled."

Allegations

CNN previously spoke to multiple current and former employees at the White House medical unit who described a "grab and go" culture that allowed staffers to get prescription drugs without a medical examination. The five individuals who spoke to CNN said the practice was supported by Jackson.

The White House, however, showed reporters documents on Friday that a White House official claims exonerates Jackson from allegations he inappropriately dispensed pills and wrecked a government vehicle after leaving a Secret Service going away party.

The Secret Service said in a separate statement that it did not find any information to indicate agents intervened when Jackson banged on the hotel room of a female employee while intoxicated on an overseas trip, as four sources familiar with the allegation told CNN the incident did happen.

The incident became so noisy, one source familiar with the allegation told CNN, that the Secret Service stopped him out of concern that he would wake then-President Barack Obama.

After the Secret Service statement, a source with direct knowledge of the incident told CNN there was a conversation between White House medical unit staff and the Secret Service at the time in which the Secret Service expressed concern about Jackson's behavior.

Two sources who previously worked in the White House medical unit described the same incident, with one former staffer telling CNN that it was "definitely inappropriate, in the middle of the night," and that it made the woman uncomfortable.

There are other allegations that have not been answered, including that he was allegedly "abusive" to his colleagues and "on at least one occasion" Jackson "could not be reached when needed because he was passed out drunk in his hotel room," according to Democratic staff on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.

Trump addressed the situation again at a press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday, in which he called Jackson "high quality" and defended him against the allegations noted by Tester.

"The false accusations that were made about him by Senator Tester -- from a great state, I don't think that state is going to put up with it," Trump said.

"He would have been a great leader," Trump said of Jackson. "To say the kind of things that he said -- he had President Obama giving him an A+ report. You had President Bush giving him an A+ report. You have President Trump giving him an A+ report. And to make statements of things that most people said never happened, never even happened, calling him names was, to me, a disgrace, an absolute disgrace."

The White House continually defended Jackson as his nomination cratered this week. On Wednesday, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Jackson's record was "impeccable," and said he had passed multiple background checks, including one conducted by the FBI.A 118-year-old statue depicting the writer of the song "Oh Susanna" was removed from a Pittsburgh park because it shows Stephen Foster with a man, believed to be a slave, strumming a banjo at Foster's feet.

WTAE-TV interviewed the spokesman for the city's mayor who said, "It's been a long process. There have been criticisms about this statue for decades, and it finally came to a head last year in the context of other controversies around the country of Confederate statues. Obviously this is a little bit different, but the city's Art Commission found that it was no longer appropriate in a city space."

Foster is a native of Pittsburgh and wrote songs like "My Old Kentucky Home" and "Sewanee River" in addition to "Oh Susanna."

The statue was dedicated in 1900 and then moved to a different location in 1940.

The spokesman said the hope is to replace it with a state of a prominent African American female. Meetings are planned for coming weeks to decide who it will depict.



While it doesnt solve the problems of data collecting and tracking, it certainly is a positive step towards getting some common sense controls in place.

The bill would help protect consumers online privacy and data by improving transparency, strengthening consumers recourse options when a data breach occurs and ensuring companies are compliant with privacy policies that protect consumers.

Social Media Privacy and Consumer Rights Act of 2018

Requires terms of service agreements to be in plain language, Ensures users have the ability to see what information about them has already been collected and shared, Provides users greater access to and control over their data, Gives consumers the right to opt out and keep their information private by disabling data tracking and collection, Mandates that users be notified of a privacy violation within 72 hours, Offers remedies for users when a privacy violation occurs, Requires that online platforms have a privacy program in place.

I dont want to hurt Facebook, and I dont want to regulate them half to death, either. But I have a job to do, and thats protecting the rights and privacy of our citizens, said Sen. John Kennedy (R-Louisiana), co-author of the bill. Our bill gives consumers more control over their private data, requires user agreements to be written in plain English and requires companies to notify users of privacy violations. These are just simple steps that online platforms should have implemented in the first place.

Every day companies profit off of the data theyre collecting from Americans, yet leave consumers completely in the dark about how their personal information, online behavior, and private messages are being used, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) said. Consumers should have the right to control their personal data and that means allowing them to opt out of having their data collected and tracked and alerting them within 72 hours when a privacy violation occurs and their personal information may be compromised. The digital space cant keep operating like the Wild West at the expense of our privacy.

Stops Short Of European Union Laws

The bill stops short of the Right to be Forgotten provision, and some of the tougher language and fines that are to be found in the protection laws that go into effect shortly in the EU. The GDPR (General Data Protection Act) extends to anyone that provides services to European Union residents regardless of where they are located.

According to the European Commission, personal data is any information relating to an individual, whether it relates to his or her private, professional or public life. It can be anything from a name, a home address, a photo, an email address, bank details, posts on social networking websites, medical information, or a computers IP address.

Here, by comparison, are the key provisions in the GDPR:A Tigerair spokeswoman said its performance had been negatively affected recently by weather, "unscheduled engineering requirements" and its fleet transition program. The bureau defines a flight as being "on time" if it lands at the gate within 15 minutes of the scheduled arrival time. A flight is considered cancelled if it is pulled out of service within seven days of its scheduled departure.

While touching down late, or not arriving at all, can ruin holiday plans and become costly if connecting flights or accommodation need to be re-booked, there are no defined rules dictating how or if airlines compensate their passengers for delays or cancellations. David Adams, a solicitor specialising in aviation law at Shine Lawyers, said that unlike jurisdictions which had fixed compensation schemes in place, an airlines terms and conditions were generally the be all and end all of what customers are entitled to. They typically contract to get you from point A to point B  but the timeframe to do that and the way they do that isnt governed at all, he said. The provision of food or accommodation was entirely at their discretion, he said.

Mr Adams said that while he had successfully pursued compensation claims for clients who had lost significant potential earnings by missing a lucrative job interview or contract negotiation, those examples were in the minority. If its a missing connection, we normally tell the potential client that unfortunately, the laws ruthless sometimes and its just not worth trying to bring a claim, Mr Adams said. Calls for compensation Stefanie Menezes, a spokeswoman for the consumer group CHOICE, said Australian airlines had been "flying below the radar" on consumer protection for years. She said CHOICE was calling for the implementation of a fixed compensation scheme similar to those in place in the European Union, where passengers arriving more than three hours late because of an airline's fault receive compensation of between 250 ($400) and 600 ($964), depending on the length of the flight.

There are no rules around what compensation airlines have to offer. In New Zealand, consumers are entitled to claim compensation if the delay is the airlines fault. Customers can claim back what they paid for missed connecting flight or tickets to events they missed, up to 10 times the value of the airfare. "Compensation should be fair and standardised, no matter what airline youre on or what the customer service agent decides you deserve on the day," Mrs Menezes said. "Airlines should take responsibility for their own mistakes instead of making passengers pay for a delay." CHOICE has been critical of the industry-funded Airline Customer Advocate  which last year failed to resolve 48 per cent of complaints it received in 2016  and called for the establishment of an independent airline ombudsman.

But the airlines said a fixed compensation scheme was not necessary. A spokeswoman for the Virgin Australia Group said the industry was highly competitive and it was "in the interests of airlines to look after customers in order to keep them coming back". A Qantas spokesman said that its long-term on-time arrival rate of about 90 per cent, in comparison to the US and UK "where they have a compensation scheme [and] the industry norm is as low as 70 per cent"". Loading Qantas conditions of carriage only say that if it significantly changes or cancels a flight for reasons within its control it will offer a refund, re-book customers on the next available service, pay for food and refreshments, and pay for accommodation where necessary. The national carrier offers refunds for flights delayed by more than five hours. For events outside of its control, Qantas will use reasonable endeavours to re-book on the next available flight, or offer a refund.An Australian military plane will monitor illicit transfers between North Korean ships, a day after North and South Korea signed an historic peace deal to end 70 years of hostilities.

The surveillance aircraft will reportedly operate out of the US Kardinia Air Base in Japan alongside the Canadian military to monitor Pyongyang's vessels.

A P-8A Poseidon surveillance plane. Credit:US NAVY

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull confirmed a P-8A surveillance would fly to the region to monitor compliance with sanctions.

"That is part of our collaboration with partners in that exercise to enforce those UN sanctions, and it's very important that be done," he said in Sydney.Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size What were you doing in the year 2000? The graduating students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida were not watching Ian Thorpe and Cathy Freeman at the Sydney Olympics. They were busy being born. In February this year, they saw 17 of their peers and teachers shot and killed on school grounds with a legally acquired semi-automatic rifle. In March, they organised an international protest, March for Our Lives, in which more than 1.2 million people took to the streets advocating for sensible gun laws; lately, they've been receiving admissions information from universities about where they're going next, and, hopefully, passing their driving tests. High school massacre survivor Emma Gonzalezs impassioned speeches have helped drive a mood for gun reform in the US. Credit:Getty Images You've probably seen some of the students speak, and been amazed along with the rest of the world by their eloquence in grief. At the Washington DC march, framed by the outline of the Capitol building, year 12 student David Hogg called on fellow first-time voters to turn out for the mid-term elections this November, and warned politicians funded by the National Rifle Association to "get your resumes ready". Three weeks later, Hogg turned 18. On Twitter that day, sandwiched between messages urging Congress to vote on universal background checks, he posted a photo with the caption, "First look of me as an adult." Hogg is wearing a pair of sunglasses upside down; a friend holds up two balloons. Hogg has already done what former US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and millions of dollars could not. He has found a way to effectively combat the vitriol of an increasingly extremist American right wing. When Fox News host Laura Ingraham jeered at Hogg on Twitter for not getting into his first choice of university courses, he replied with a list of Ingraham's top advertisers, calling on his followers to contact them. Johnson & Johnson, Expedia, Nestle and at least 21 other advertisers have since pulled commercials.

Advertisement

Ingraham then took a week off, which Fox said was pre-planned. Perhaps most extraordinarily of all, she apologised for "any upset or hurt my tweet caused [Hogg] or any of the brave victims of Parkland". Political discourse in the US has reached lows not seen since, well, the country went to war with itself, so a Fox News host held accountable for basic levels of civility is a very big deal. Yet it's selling the Parkland students short to suggest that their success is merely rhetorical. Their real-life achievements are already massive, beginning with a discernable shift in public opinion. Support for the NRA is down to 37 per cent, according to a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC poll. Incredibly, this is the first time since 2000 that the organisation has been viewed more negatively than positively. Support for gun regulations  68 per cent in a Politico survey  is also at an all-time high. There are even signs of progress politically. Florida, a bastion of soft gun policies, has passed a bill that bans bump stocks (attachments that enable semi-automatic rifles to fire faster), imposes a waiting period before purchase, raises the minimum age to buy a weapon from 18 to 21 and allows the police to take guns from the mentally disturbed. What's more, the state's Republican governor Rick Scott signed it. In addition to calling for specific changes, the Parkland students have reframed a debate which many believed was irrevocably stymied after the Newtown massacre in 2012, when 20 six- and seven-year-olds were killed in their Connecticut classroom with a semi-automatic rifle. "They took the mantle of 'personal protection' from the gun lobby, while reframing the larger gun debate along generational lines," wrote Charlotte Alter in a March Time cover story titled, "The School Shooting Generation Has Had Enough." Kris Brown, co-president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said in the same story, "What's different here is that the children who are impacted are older. They are able to give voice in a way that could not happen before." It was Emma Gonzalez, at her speech in Fort Lauderdale in February, who articulated the indisputable sense that a great generation is rising. "Maybe the adults have gotten used to saying, 'It is what it is,' " she said. "It's time to start doing something. We're going to be the kids you read about in the textbooks." Emma Gonzalez, in yellow, with fellow Parkland student activists, from left: Alex Wind, Cameron Kasky, Jaclyn Corin and David Hogg, at a New York gala celebrating Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world last Tuesday.

Advertisement

The Parkland kids are among the first leaders of Generation Z. Its members are born from 1997 on, according to the Pew Research Centre, the pre-eminent American think tank on social demographics, which recently released a report on the group it prefers to call "post-Millennials". There are 60 million of them in the US. They outnumber Gen Y, or Millennials (1981-96), by nearly one million, and were raised by Generation X (1965-80), rather than Baby Boomers (1946-64). Why think in terms of generations at all? Because some of these young people are already succeeding at bringing about change where Millennials did not. "Generations are a lens through which to understand societal change" is how the Pew Report puts it. Is it possible that the particular social, political, economic and technological context in which the Parkland students and others grew up helped create a particularly fertile environment for political action? Morley Winograd, a researcher at the University of Southern California, thinks so. In The Washington Post recently, Winograd contrasted the response at Parkland with what is regarded as the original school shooting, at Colorado's Columbine High in 1999. "[Millennials] endured backpack examinations and metal detectors as they entered school. Here comes the generation that says, 'Okay, we got all that, we're used to living in the same world as you are, but we're not satisfied with that.'" Winograd argues that post-Millennials already show signs they are an adaptive generation. "When adaptive groups come of age, they take the problems that were brought to light by their predecessors and try to work them out." Millennials were a disruptive generation: think of Facebook, Snapchat, and all the other startups which have, in the course of ostensibly improving our daily lives, caused upheaval and havoc. Gen Z, Winograd writes, is here to fix things. Another difference between the two adjacent generations could be their level of engagement with traditional politics. Although Millennials in the US are now as large a political force as Baby Boomers, with both making up roughly 31 per cent of the electorate, in the 2012 and 2016 elections 18- to 29-year-olds made up just 20 per cent of voters. That's half the share of the Baby Boomer bloc, and the lowest voter turnout of any age group. The Parkland student leaders, meanwhile, have stated their main goal is to register as many teenagers as they can before November's mid-term elections. My generation was shaped by change and uncertainty. I do not have much memory of a sustained time of stabilityWe take nothing for granted. Kelsy Hillesheim, 22 Yet it's early days; even a definitive name for this generation is elusive. A recent New York Times article solicited suggestions from the public, with many revolving around this group's connectivity. Social psychologist Jean Twenge, for instance, coined iGen. Nods to Gen Zers' nascent political activism included Generation Fix-It and The Cleaner-Uppers. The Times's favourite was the Delta Generation. Kelsy Hillesheim, a 22-year-old from New York, wrote: "Delta is used to denote change and uncertainty in mathematics and the sciences, and my generation was shaped by change and uncertainty. I do not have much memory of a sustained time of stability We take nothing for granted."

Advertisement

This is one thing we can say with confidence about American Gen Zers: they have had their eyes open from the beginning. Consider that while Millennials grew up in the booming 1990s, they came of age around 2001, coinciding with the most devastating attack on the US since Pearl Harbor. Theirs is a story of innocence lost. Post-Millennials, meanwhile, never knew anything different than their country at war in Iraq and Afghanistan, which in turn sharpened the broader views of political parties and contributed to the polarisation which led to the election of Donald Trump, the first American president most will encounter when they turn 18. In Australia, the situation is a little more complicated, and the data sets fewer. Here is what we know: there are 4.6 million post-Millennials. They are one in 20 Australian workers. (That figure will rise to 32 per cent by 2027.) They are the most formally educated generation ever, with one in two attaining a university degree compared with one in three Millennials, which was the previous record. They are also the most technologically savvy, and the most globally mobile. To 17-year-old Macinley Butson, the first Australian to win the INTEL International Science and Engineering Fair, social media is a force for progress. Credit:Wolter Peeters Those are their strengths. What have been the structural challenges faced by post-Millennials? Although the 2007-09 Global Financial Crisis didn't hit Australia as hard as the US, our recovery has been slow. Average household incomes have stopped growing; unemployment is still relatively high. "There's just generally a climate of less economic optimism," says Roger Wilkins, a research fellow at the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research. "That's going to impact young people who were roughly two to 12 when the financial crisis hit." Then there's the influence of their parents  Gen Xers  who have done their job quite differently to Baby Boomers. "There's a return to more structured parenting, rather than the free-range parenting approach popularised by the Boomers," says Mark McCrindle, a Sydney-based futurist. Strongly shaped by their individualistic, self-reliant parents, McCrindle says post-Millennials display risk-averse tendencies. "They play by the rules." In Australia, the proportion of teenagers trying alcohol plummeted to just 18 per cent in 2016, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. US studies show they are less likely to go out, to date, to engage in sexual activity, and to get their driver's licence. That conservatism extends to how Gen Zers are planning their futures. "We're talking about an order of magnitude worse situation, but there could be an analogy drawn with Depression-era children who were known as being quite frugal," says Wilkins. He points to the political instability seen in Australia since the GFC  a phenomenon he sees as causally connected. "There may be a sense that the world is not an entirely safe and predictable place." Perhaps that's why this generation is already showing signs of rejecting traditional notions of success. ("Bugger prestige," is how a 22-year-old colleague put it to me.) This is a generation that can expect to have 17 jobs, five careers and 15 homes over a lifetime. Born with little to no safety net and deprived of the old-fashioned upward ladder of adulthood, it's little wonder that, according to Millennial Branding, a demographics research firm, 72 per cent of high school Gen Zers want to strike out on their own as entrepreneurs.

Advertisement

Morgan Hipworth, a 17-year-old in Melbourne, has done exactly that. In addition to taking his final year of high school, Hipworth runs his own doughnut shop, Bistro Morgan, open since December 2016. He started at age eight in his family's garage, baking banana bread during his school holidays. "Next thing I know I am supplying all the brownies, cookies and tarts for a local cafe," Hipworth says. "My thinking was, 'How good would it be to turn something I love into a business?' When we talk, I'm struck by Hipworth's seriousness. The usual adolescent rites of passage are seen as obstructions. "I've had school hanging over my head for five or six years now," he tells me. "It's been a hard slog, like having a job you hate and counting down the days until you get to leave it. I can't wait to get full time into the business." He has no immediate plans for university. "I'm a real believer that you don't need a piece of paper to do something. If you have the confidence and belief, you can really go to the next level." Morgan Hipworth, 17, runs his own doughnut shop. Credit:Joe Armao Perphaps I shouldn't be so surprised. "Older people underestimate young people and that's been true forever," says Justin Wolfers, an Australian-American economics professor at the University of Michigan. (He's also a Gen X parent of two.) "We've extended our notion of childhood so much. An earlier generation of 18-year-olds were being sent to Vietnam to fight and now we see the 17-year-old Parkland students holding a press conference and we marvel at their courage." Just as older generations tend to sell younger ones short, they are also prone to alarmism. One facet of Gen Z life that has provoked much hand-wringing is its constant connectedness. The iPhone launched in 2007, when the oldest post-Millennials were 10. As a consequence, internet access at all times is assumed. Pew estimates that a quarter of 13- to 19-year-olds are online "almost constantly". Jean Twenge, the inventor of the iGeneration label, points out that two out of three US teenagers has an iPhone. From this, she postulates that "iGen is a less confident, more uncertain, more anxious generation than Millennials were at the same age. That may be at least partially due to their adolescence spent on smartphones." In a widely circulated Atlantic magazine article from last year, Twenge asked, "Have smartphones destroyed a generation?" She cited data showing that rates of depression increased suddenly after 2012, when smartphone usage surpassed 50 per cent of Americans. "Rates of teen depression and suicide have skyrocketed," she wrote. "Much of this deterioration can be traced to their phones." As with all generational generalising, this is worth brining with a healthy amount of salt, not least because Gen Z is an unusually difficult group of people about which to make sweeping statements. In the US, post-Millennials will be the country's most diverse generation ever, with Hispanic, African-American, Asian and multiracial individuals making up 47 per cent of teenagers.

AdvertisementApple revitalised the phone space with the first iPhone, and for the first couple of years of the iPhone's existence, there was the iPhone, and then a big air gap... and then its Android competitors.

Android phones were the enclave of the geeky enthusiasts (hey, I'm one of those and we can smell our own) who enjoyed the challenge of a somewhat raw and often unrefined interface that let you do all sorts of things that Apple would never let its users do.

In many cases that's still true, but the first Samsung Galaxy handset started a tilt towards smartphones that weren't only functional, but also beautiful objects of desire.

In its early iterations, the Galaxy S was bigger and more powerful than Apple's phones. Credit:Reuters

The smartphone market was for a long time Apple's to lose, and Samsung went at it full tilt with yearly upgrades to its premium Galaxy S line, plus innovations like the first Note "phablet" phone. At the time it was a huge phone, but now it would barely raise an eyebrow against a sea of 6-inch handsets. Samsung's latest handsets, the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+, are undeniably excellent devices that hold their own against Apple's iPhones, and in many ways exceed them.For other young people living outside Japans major urban areas, this dangerous subculture may also be a route to the big cities, said Professor Shinichi Ishizuka, head of the Criminology Research Centre at Kyotos Ryukoku University: Girls come to Tokyo to see Tokyo culture, youth culture. Lurking on the other side of the Twittersphere are people like 37-year-old freelance programmer and photographer Konosuke Yokota, who is believed to have given lodging to several underage runaways. Youth culture: a party in Tokyo's Shinjuku district. Runaways are often drawn to the bright lights of the capital. He was arrested in 2010 on suspicion of paying a minor for sexual acts, and again in June 2016 for keeping a 16-year-old girl in his Tokyo apartment after she reportedly tweeted: I have no money, is there anyone that can let me stay over? More than three weeks passed before she was found, after another runaway  a 16-year-old girl from Osaka who was also invited into Yokotas apartment  called the police.

This classification of crime is traditional, but the method to commit [them] is new, said Professor Ishizuka. And it is very difficult for police to control freedom of expression, freedom of interaction. This, he says, is a new problem" for Japan. Other minors take to Twitter with the hashtag enjo kosai to find compensated dates  a thinly-veiled euphemism in Japan for child prostitution. Stories like these are routine in Japans crime-hungry media. In late 2016, 35-year-old businessman Takayuki Hirakawa was arrested when a 15-year-old girl he met on Twitter reported him to authorities after he didnt pay her a promised 40,000 for sexual acts at a hotel in Nerima, in Tokyos west. Hirakawa, who once gave a lecture on protecting minors from sexual abuse to a Tokyo primary school PTA, confessed to police that he had committed similar acts before. The following year, 39-year-old temp worker Haruomi Onishi was arrested for paying a 16-year-old girl he met on Twitter 20,000 for sexual acts at a hotel in Kasukabe, outside of Tokyo. A month after that, 51-year-old high school teacher Tadatomo Ebihara was arrested for paying another 16-year-old girl he met on Twitter 16,000 for sexual acts at a karaoke parlour in Saitama prefecture. But the role of Japanese social media in luring vulnerable young people burst into the national spotlight towards the end of 2017 after a string of gruesome murders in Zama, a quiet suburb outside of Tokyo.

An image of Takahiro Shiraishi on Japanese TV. He was arrested after severed body parts were found in picnic coolers in his apartment. Credit:Screengrab/ANN News Takahiro Shiraishi, 27, was arrested on suspicion of killing nine young people aged between 15 and 26, whose mutilated remains were found throughout his apartment. Shiraishi  soon dubbed the Twitter Killer  lured his victims by targeting young people who took to the social media platform expressing suicidal thoughts. A screengrab of the Twitter account @hangingpro, used by "Twitter Killer" Takahiro Shiraishi to lure his victims. Portrayed on one account as a scarred, noose-necktie-wearing manga character, Shiraishi described himself as a hanging expert, offering to help people who are really in pain. Please DM me anytime, he disquietingly wrote on @hangingpro.

In one post, Shiraishi tweeted: Bullying is everywhere, in school and at work. There must be many people in society who are suffering after attempting suicides, though their cases are not reported in the news. I want to help such people. His victims included Hitomi Fujima, a 26-year-old divorced mother of one; and 15-year-old Kureha Ishihara, who apparently sent out one final tweet  complaining about homework  before she went missing last August. Police discovered Shiraishi while investigating the disappearance of 23-year-old Aiko Tamura, who was hanged after tweeting: I want to die, but doing so alone is terrible. Im looking for someone to die with me. Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga. Credit:AP Shiraishi was finally apprehended when police used Twitter to lure him into a fake meeting. When they entered his house, they found the severed heads of his victims rotting away inside water coolers, some covered in cat litter.

Responding to Shiraishis extremely dirty trick to lure victims and murder them, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga promised that the Abe government would take steps to prevent this happening again. But despite current laws safeguarding minors, internet services like Twitter are broadly protected under Article 21 of Japans constitution, which prohibits censorship. The Japanese legal system makes it difficult to tackle the problem, said Yushi Okajima, an associate professor at Chuo Universitys Faculty of Policy Studies. If you try to remedy the negative aspects of Twitter, it would also take away some of the positive ones. Authorities largely rely on cyber patrols and volunteers to flag online misconduct. This includes monitoring sites like Twitter, which allows its users to sign up anonymously and does not require age verification. The Internet Hotline Centre Japan is one group that works with national police to receive and direct reports of online abuse. In 2016, they claimed to have logged close to 280,000 reports ranging from child pornography to broader misconduct such as promoting illegal substances  around 30,000 more cases than in the previous year and close to twice as many as in 2014.

In 2008, the government sought to curb crimes stemming from online dating services by revising a 2003 law requiring Japanese dating sites to prohibit sexual content involving minors and verify their customers ages. It was an apparent success: only 42 crimes were recorded in 2016, according to NPA data. Another forthcoming effort will require smartphone providers to activate filtering mechanisms for customers under 18 from June this year. The measure follows a similar initiative by the popular messaging app LINE  which also appears in the NPAs soon-to-be-released annual report  restricting the ability of users under 18 to search for or be searched by others. For its part, Twitter claims to have suspended at least 75 per cent of those Japanese users in violation of child sexual exploitation laws during the second half of 2017 before the user made their first tweet, using Microsoft PhotoDNA image technology and complaints received. That number rose from 50 per cent in the first half of the year, Twitter says. We take a proactive approach to combat child sexual exploitation on our platform, a spokesperson told Fairfax Media by email. Twitter has a zero-tolerance policy for child sexual exploitation and we remain steadfastly committed to preventing the sexual exploitation of minors everywhere. Japan remains one of Twitters largest and fastest-growing markets, with around 45 million users. Earlier this year, the company reported a 34 per cent rise in sales from the previous year to over 11 billion (over $130 million) during the last three months of 2017.

Takahiro Shiraishi, dubbed the "Twitter Killer", leaves a Tokyo police station to face prosecutors in November. Credit:Kyodo Speaking in Tokyo just days after Shiraishis arrest, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey told the Japanese public broadcaster NHK that the company needs to take on a responsibility to make sure [the] tool is being used in positive and healthy ways. At around the same time, Twitter announced revisions to their rules to ensure that users do not promote or encourage suicide or self-harm on the platform. Twitters rules also state that the company will permanently suspend accounts promoting or containing updates with links to child sexual exploitation. According to their terms: We do not tolerate child sexual exploitation on Twitter. When we are made aware of links to images of or content promoting child sexual exploitation they will be removed from the site without further notice and reported. Despite this, 2018 has shown little sign of the growing trend being contained. This month, a 48-year-old night school manager was arrested for paying a middle-school boy 5000 for sexual acts in a Tokyo parking lot. Predictably, they met on Twitter.Man Arrested After Theft at Ingram Barge Property

Advertisement

By West Kentucky Star Staff

Apr. 27, 2018 | PADUCAH, KY

By West Kentucky Star Staff Apr. 27, 2018 | 05:07 PM | PADUCAH, KY

A man has been arrested for allegedly stealing items from the Ingram Barge property on Wayne Sullivan Drive.



An Ingram Barge employee called police early Friday morning and reported a man pushing a bicycle away from the business, near the downtown flood wall. The bicycle had two milk crates attached, which reportedly contained copper wire.



The employee told the man he had notified police, and said the man fled on the bicycle toward the downtown area. Police officers found the bicycle a few minutes later, abandoned behind another business. Officers saw a man on foot, and he ran when ordered to stop. They caught him a short distance away.



The man, 55-year-old Claude Harvey Brown of Paducah, said he fled because he thought there was a warrant for his arrest. He admitted to entering a gated area of the Ingram Barge property, and taking copper wire and brass fittings. Officers said there was a pair of pliers and gloves in the milk crates on Browns bicycle.



Brown was arrested and charged with 2nd degree criminal trespassing, felony theft by unlawful taking, tampering with physical evidence, 2nd degree fleeing or evading police, and possession of burglary tools.



He was booked into the McCracken County Regional Jail.Paducah Police Warn of 'Grandparent Scam'

Advertisement

By West Kentucky Star Staff

Apr. 27, 2018 | PADUCAH, KY

By West Kentucky Star Staff Apr. 27, 2018 | 04:16 PM | PADUCAH, KY

Paducah police are warning the public of an apparent new twist on an old scam.



A Paducah resident reported her elderly father received a telephone call Friday from an alleged attorney, saying the mans grandson had been in an automobile accident in Indianapolis, and he needed to send $7,000 to a particular bank account to keep his grandson from going to jail.



The man checked with his daughter before sending any money and learned the call was a scam. The grandparent scam has been around for some time. This same scam was reported in Marshall County earlier in April. Normally, the caller claims to be the elderly persons grandchild and asks for money to get out of jail.



Please check out any call requesting you send money. Never give your bank account information or Social Security number to anyone over the telephone, unless you initiated the call and are sure to whom youre speaking.NC'S ATTORNEY GENERAL WANTS DUKE TO PAY FOR CLEANING UP ITS COAL ASH

CHALLENGING A DECISION BY THE NC UTILITIES COMMISSION

North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein said hell go to the states highest court to challenge the North Carolina Utilities Commissions approval of Duke Energys rate increases to help cover $230 million the utility will spend for coal ash cleanup.

Stein, in his filing to the North Carolina Supreme Court, said Duke Energy did not turn over to opponents highly material information that undermines Dukes assertion to the commission that it was maintaining its ash ponds, before state laws changed.

Stein said he considers the decision by the North Carolina Utilities Commission to be "unlawful, unjust, unreasonable or unwarranted."

Duke is defending the commissions decision.

The North Carolina Utilities Commissions order is the result of a transparent and thorough process," Duke Energy spokeswoman Meredith Archie said. While we do not agree with the order in its entirety, we believe the commissions decision is fair and gives customers the full benefits of cleaner and more reliable power, while keeping rates below the national average.

I just hope he can win because it's time somebody did something, said Jean Kelley, who has lived in West Asheville since 1965. It should be fought because it's not our responsibility. That Duke's not doing what they're supposed to."

Ken Brame, of the Sierra Club, said thousands of consumers have an interest in the case.

We should care about it because it's us, the rate-payers that Duke wants to help pay for cleaning up coal ash because of their mismanagement. Brame said. They're projecting over $5 billion in expenses to clean up all the coal ash over the next 40 years. So, if we can stop the precedent right now, its going to save rate-payers a lot of money over the next 40 years."Senator Mark Warner says China's technological rise has been fueled by US tech companies that "prostituted themselves" to gain access to the Chinese market.

In an interview with CNNMoney's PACIFIC newsletter, Warner offered his strongest criticism to date of American tech giants and their accession to Chinese demands.

"A lot of Americans don't understand what's happening in China and how good their tech companies have become," Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, told CNNMoney."

Partially, that's because American companies have bastardized themselves so much to get into the Chinese market that they've given away a lot of the intellectual capital."

Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and other big tech companies have all stored users' encryption keys in China in exchange for access to the Chinese market. Any handover of data is a top concern for lawmakers and data privacy experts.

Warner believes China's rising technological prowess should be a top priority for lawmakers and the intelligence community.

The Virginia Senator has clearly thought deeply about data privacy and cybersecurity since lawmakers learned about Russia's meddling in the 2016 presidential election. But he is also acutely aware of the Sisyphean task of moving Congress forward on meaningful regulation.

China's biggest tech companies have reason to be worried

Warner said he is "concerned" the government is not moving fast enough to keep up with the pace of technological change. He believes it is therefore ill-positioned to enforce data privacy laws and ensure that foreign actors don't meddle in future elections.

Warner warns that we're likely to face another event like Cambridge Analytica, in which Facebook user data was transferred to a political data firm hired by the Trump campaign.

"The chance of another incident is going up immensely," he said.

His concern is that Congress is regulating the past -- not the future.

"The US government is still trying to understand 2016 technology," said Warner, adding that bad actors will likely be using new tools to meddle in elections in 2018 and 2020. "We're not really ready."

"We have a $700 billion defense budget we just passed, but I wonder if we're buying 20th Century stuff," he said. "Russia has a $68 billion defense budget and they are much heavier on misinformation, disinformation and cyber."

Facebook tries to clarify how it collects data when you're not on Facebook

Warner also begrudged the slow process of government. We're still trying to figure out where inside US government this fits," he added. "You've this task force set up and that task force set up. Are they really working together?"

"If we don't put some framework around this, bad stuff is going to happen," he said.

But Warner also cautioned against over-regulating tech and handicapping innovation.

"I've got no interest in not seeing Facebook continue to succeed. ... The worst thing in the world would be to knee-cap innovation in American tech companies and open the field to the exact Chinese equivalents."

Warner said he has four main ideas about how to regulate tech, though he says he's still figuring out which ones will work and have a chance of passing through Congress.

PACIFIC: The Disney-Comcast War is Personal

Those plans include forcing tech companies to assume responsibility for the content that appears on their platforms and forcing them to flag non-American users posing as Americans. Warner is also considering regulation that would give users ownership of their data. His final idea would see Facebook, Twitter and Google giving users financial compensation every time their data is used by advertisers.

But Warner knows that none of this regulation will matter until lawmakers and the White House get behind it. He's not confident that will happen under a Trump administration.

"There's not anybody in charge in the White House that's trying to make sure our election

security is safe in 2018," he said. "You've got to start with a White House that acknowledges the problem."On Saturday, people had the chance to clean out their medicine cabinet and properly dispose of unwanted, unused or outdated prescription and over-the-counter drugs.

The event is part of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's National Prescription Drug Take Back Day.

In Lexington, people had the opportunity to drop off medications outside of Kentucky American Water from around 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Ian Foos and Isaiah Epps are both students at the University of Kentucky and volunteered during Saturday's event.

"The opioid crisis is huge where I'm from and that's why I wanted to do this, to try and help," said Foos.

Items accepted included prescription and over-the-counter pills, vitamins, medicated ointments and lotions and pet medication.

"You generally see that the abusers of the narcotics are friends and family that are getting them from the household. So, it is good to have events like this to get the stuff out of the house and let us take care of it," says DEA Special Agent Todd Kuehnlein.

If you weren't able to make it out Saturday afternoon, there are drop boxes outside local police and sheriff's departments, where you can drop off your medications year-round.LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI)  Vietnam War Veterans were welcomed home Saturday as a part of an American Legion Celebration.

Veterans from the the Greater Lafayette Area took part in a motorcycle ride that ended at Colombian Park. The ride culminated in a celebration that featured several guest speakers.

Mayors John Dennis and Tony Roswarski each spoke, while Senator Joe Donnelly also thanked the veterans. Bill Fitzgibbons said this a great way to give these war veterans a proper welcome.

"Vietnam Vets were not welcomed when they came home, and now we're losing them at quite a rate, and as a result we just felt incumbant upon us to say look you guys are welcome home, and so that's what this event is all about," said Fitzgibbons.

Saturday's celebration was just one of thousands across the country honoring Vietnam War veterans.WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - A new rabbi has been installed as the spiritual leader of Temple Israel in West Lafayette.

Rabbi Michael Harvey was installed during a formal service this evening. He comes to West Lafayette from the Virgin Islands.

Rabbi Harvey joined Temple Israel in July. It is American custom to install a rabbi during the rabbi's first year.

Rabbi Harvey said the installation signifies two things. One of those is to announce to the community that there's a new leader. The other establishes a special moment.

"Where we agree to be sacred partners. Where the rabbi, the teacher, the students agree acknowledge each other, that we can exchange information, exchange respect, and hopefully have a long and prosperous relationship."

There will be a celebration by the congregation Saturday night to honor Rabbi Harvey and his family.WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI)  If you've never been to Hawaii, New Zealand or any of the other Polynesian Islands, the Purdue Polynesian Cultural Club has you covered.

The group hosted the third annual Luau Friday night at Loeb Playhouse on Purdue University's campus. Those who attended the event were brought into the traditional cultures of the Polynesian Islands.

Special performers from across the country performed rituals, songs and dances. Conrrad Nicholls is the president of the club. He said he hopes events like these educate those who attend.

"That is one of our major goals -- to not only share our message, but to educate as well. So when people leave here, they have a better understanding of what Polynesia is," said Nicholls. "For example, people only think of Polynesia as Hawaii. No one knows that it covers several thousand other islands."

Performers also invited members of the audience up to practice a traditional ritual.



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Gold medal success for Wrexham students in national skills competition

This article is old - Published: Saturday, Apr 28th, 2018

A trio of students from Wrexham have won gold medals in the finals of a national skills competition.

Backed by the Welsh Government through the European Social Fund, Skills Competition Wales is a series of events held in colleges across the country, designed to celebrate vocational skills and create highly skilled, talented employees for the Welsh workforce.

Tomas Davies, 17, Cameron Pemberton, 17, and Alfie Beeson, 19, apprentices currently undertaking an NVQ Level 2 and BTEC Level 3 in Mechanical Engineering at Coleg Cambria in Wrexham, competed against six other students from across Wales in a series of tasks within a seven-hour time period.

The competitors, who took on the Manufacturing Team Challenge, were faced with the challenge of creating a magnetic levitator train that could transport an egg over a distance of two metres, using basic materials such as sheet steel, nuts and bolts.

Commenting on the competition, Tomas said: We felt pretty confident about our design, as ours was the only train that actually ended up working, and carrying the egg.

We gave each other different roles at the beginning of each task and stuck to those roles, and I think that helped keep us focused.

Wed never competed in anything like this before, but were so glad we did enter the competition and were excited to go on to the next stage.

Logan McGillivray, 17, from Wrexham, who is currently studying for a Level 3 BTEC in Engineering whilst working as an apprentice at JB Fabrication, also competed against five other students from across Wales in a series of computer-aided design challenges.

Competitors were given a set of drawings and had to replicate the different elements of the drawings in order to make 3D models using CAD. The different drawings corresponded to the different parts of an engine, which then had to be assembled.

I wanted to try my best, but I definitely wasnt expecting to win, said Logan.

I had so much support from my colleagues and my college tutors, which was great. My apprenticeship at JB Fabrication definitely helped me, as it meant that I was confident using all the software which Id been used to using at work every day.

I think that my experience in this competition will help me in my future engineering career.

More than 50 competitions are taking place this year, across a wide range of different vocations from bricklaying and hairdressing to aeronautical engineering and culinary art.

The successful youngsters may then go on to be shortlisted for the UK Squad, competing against the worlds most talented young people at the EuroSkills competition in Austria, in 2020, or the WorldSkills international final in Shanghai in 2021.

Minister for Welsh Language and Lifelong Learning, Eluned Morgan said: Competitions like these are essential for establishing transferable skills for the future, and allow young people at the start of their careers, to flourish.

They provide individuals from Wales with the opportunity to demonstrate their skills as well as the chance to go further and compete on a national or even international level.

I would like to congratulate Tomas, Cameron, Alfie and Logan on their brilliant achievements and wish them the best of luck in the next stage of the competition. I look forward to seeing them prosper in their future career.A parliamentary debate Thursday saw MPs pass a motion saying the UK should stay in the European Unions customs union after Brexit.

The motion was non-binding and passed by affirmation without a vote, as pro-hard Brexit Conservative MPs absented themselves. Prime Minister Theresa May had applied a soft-whip that did not require attendance.

However, even with this effort to minimise the motions impact the number of pro-Remain and soft Brexit Tories appears to be enough to defeat the government over substantive votes on the trade bill and customs (taxation [cross-border trade]) bill next month.

If that happens, there are threats of a leadership challenge against May by the hard Brexit-right and of a withdrawal of support by the 10 Democratic Unionist Party MPs if she retreats from her disavowal of customs union membership. In addition, there are suggestions from Remainers that an option of a second referendum should be opened up.

The fiercely pro-Remain Guardian newspaper made the most ambitious estimate of the likely size of a rebellionciting ten Tory MPs having signed one pro-customs union amendment to the trade bill. These included Anna Soubry, Nicky Morgan and Ken Clarke, as well as Dominic Grieve from another amendment, four Tories whose speeches had suggested they were very sympathetic to the case for remaining in the customs union and two others who voted against the government on the EU withdrawal bill in December last year.

This tally of 17 potential rebels is more than the 12 who inflicted a defeat against the government last December.

May has long been entirely beholden to her hard Brexit wingincluding leading cabinet figures Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, Brexit Secretary David Davis, Environment Secretary Michael Gove as well as Jacob Rees-Mogg, who commands the backbench Brexit camp.

The prime minister is under pressure from both sides of her party to clarify her position on the customs union, the mechanism allowing goods to be transported tariff-free between EU member states.

Her stated position is for a comprehensive system of mutual recognition whereby the UK and EU keep their regulations equivalent to one another to facilitate trade. This is vital in preventing the reintroduction of a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, an EU member state. But it is meant to extend to all aspects of trade, including financial services. Around 80 percent of the British economy comes from providing serviceswith the EU accounting for 43 percent of British exports.

Having ruled out a customs union, May proposes two means for implementing mutual recognitiona customs partnership involving the UK collecting the EUs tariffs on goods coming from other countries on its behalf or minimising checks using technology and a trusted trader scheme rather than getting rid of them.

None of this satisfies her internal or external critics, resulting in a defeat last week in the House of Lords that prompted May to publicly reaffirm [W]e are leaving the customs union and not joining a customs union, while planning a cabinet debate next week seeking a common position.

Expressing most graphically the position that any form of customs union would prevent the UK from striking trade deals with countries around the world, Rees-Mogg mocked a customs partnership as completely cretinous. He proposed that the UK instead ratchet up the pressure on the EU by threatening to collapse the Irish Republics economy, warning that the House of Lords are playing with fire through revolts over Brexit and threatening that it would be a shame to burn down a historic house.

Thursdays debate saw Remain Tories line up with the Labour Party, Scottish National Party and Liberal Democrats behind a motion, drawn up by the backbench liaison committee of select committee chairs, calling on the government to include the establishment of an effective customs union between the two territories in its negotiations with the EU.

Even as the vote was taking place, Home Secretary Amber Rudd told journalists that she would not be drawn on the issue of customs union membership and that discussions were ongoing within the cabinet to arrive at a final position.

Amid furious denunciations of Rudd having called into question a key plank of Brexit, Number 10 declared, Its the position of the prime minister, the cabinet and the entire government that we will be leaving the customs union and be free to sign our own trade deals around the world.

In the debate Labours Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer cited Rudd and urged May to listen to the growing chorus of voices in Parliament and in the businesses community that believe she has got it wrong on a customs union. what Number 10 is saying in public is not an accurate guide to what May is planning in private

The position of Blairite Labour MPs such as Yvette Cooper, that the government was endangering more than 230 billion of goods and services exported to the EU every year, was indistinguishable from those of Dominic Grieve and Ken Clarke.

You will damage the economy of this country... if you suddenly decide to erect new barriers at the border between the UK and our major trading partners, Clarke said. Brexiteers argue that the UK can trade on World Trade Organisation terms, but Trumps White House no longer supports the WTO regime, is turning to protectionism and will not offer a good trade deal to the UK.

Grieve combined similar statements with a warning that silencing pro-Remain Toriespeople of a moderate and sensible dispositionwould end with Jeremy Corbyn becoming prime minister.

He was attempting to counter warnings that Tories questioning Brexit are in danger of handing power to Corbyn. There are predictions that Labour will register its best council result in London for 40 years in next weeks local elections with a 22-point lead on the Tories.

The Blairites are reaching out to the Tories as potential allies against both Brexit and Corbyn, focusing attention on a possible second referendum as opposed to any attempt to destabilise the government. A March for a Peoples Vote is planned for June 23.

Such reassurances are reinforced by the EU powers offering none of the concessions sought by May.

Brussels is making clear that Britain will get a beggars Brexit, on terms dictated by Germany and France that no proposals must be made that threaten to further undermine the integrity of the EU.

In Sofia, Bulgaria, Thursday, EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier referred in scathing terms to May pleading with the EU to maintain British financial firms access to sell services into the single market.

I can perfectly see the UKs logic and interest in pleading for a system of mutual recognition and reciprocal regulatory equivalence, because, This is, indeed, what the single market achieves... Outside of the customs union and the single market, there can be no frictionless trade. Businesses will be faced with non-tariff barriers and border checks that do not exist today.

Barnier specifically targeted UK financial services, rejecting UK claims that European business desperately needs the City of London as not what we hear from market participants, and is not the analysis that we have made ourselves.

The City would be treated in the same manner as Wall Street.

On the issue of the Irish border, the European Parliaments Brexit Coordinator, Guy Verhofstadt, said Wednesday that a solution was needed by the end of Junechallenging UK Brexit Secretary David Davis proposed October deadline. Negotiators still have no proposal made by the UK side that could be a satisfactory solution for the problem, he said.Three thousand graduate student workers at Columbia University in New York City are continuing their strike amidst an expanding wave of teacher protests throughout the US and internationally. Many participated in a rally on Thursday in New York City.

The graduate students make a living as research and teaching assistants while pursuing their academic degrees. The trigger for the walkout that began April 24 was the refusal of the university administration to bargain with the recently certified union, the Graduate Workers of ColumbiaUnited Auto Workers (GWC-UAW) Local 2110.

Institutions of higher education have been increasing the proportion of lower-paid, part-time and temporary teachers and other support workers, who are replacing higher paid tenured faculty, even as tuitions soar. The GWC is made up of research and teaching assistants who average less than the poverty wage of $23,000 in one of the most expensive cities in the world.

The teachers at Columbia have faced the intransigence of government, business and university officials, raising fundamental strategic and political issues.

Under the mistaken belief that the UAW would lead a struggle for their rights, graduate students placed themselves under the guidance of what is essentially a business organization. The UAW has collaborated in the restructuring of the auto industry, including the imposition of poverty-level wages for new-hires and a growing workforce of temporary, part-time and outsourced labor with low or no benefits.

Columbia University is one of the most highly selective universities, geared especially to training the future ruling elite. Its attitude toward the graduate student workers is in line with the ruthless atititude of the ruling class to the working class.

The Columbia administration threatened an injunction against a picket line the GWC had planned to hold Thursday at the Columbia University Medical Center in upper Manhattan in an effort to win wider support within the extensive Columbia holdings. The union responded to the injunction threat by canceling the picket.

The GWC-UAW strike was set for one week at the end of the semester, which concludes on April 30th, the last day of classes, a period when the workload for graduate student workers is particularly high. The strikers are not holding office hours, grading papers and exams, or working on research for the 20 hours per week paid for by Columbia.

However, after the end of the strike on Monday they will be under tremendous pressure to complete any work missed. The Columbia administration is prepared to ride out the week of the job action, rescheduling classes to off-campus locations with the blessing of the union and resuming full operations when finals begin next week.

WSWS reporters interviewed strikers and supporters at the Thursday rally.

Catilin is a striking teachers assistant in the field of medical science and history. Asked about the connection between the struggle of graduate student workers and the struggle of the teachers throughout the country, she said, The teachers are defending a strong public education, which is necessary in a democracy. Columbia University is similar to a business and is seeking to take advantage of free labor. There is strength in numbers, and all the workers need to be united in a broad coalition.

Alejandro, a political science student, said, It is shocking that the school is not bargaining in light of the high endowment that they have. The workers are not even asking for that much. Three fourths of my classes are taught by teaching assistants. They wont be able to grade any of our finals because they are out here picketing for the basics. It is the same struggle that the teachers in different states are engaged in. They need health insurance, livable wages. That is not a lot to ask for.

Two graduate students from the Physics Department, Davio Cianci, who is a research assistant, and Kiley Kennedy, who is a teaching assistant, spoke to the WSWS. Davio explained, It is no coincidence that this and other struggles are in the education field. More than 70 percent of the work in higher education is done by contingent faculty because they can pay us so much more cheaply. Next the New School in New York City will also be going on strike. We are all educators. There is a huge need for change.

A lot of this is in response to the Trump administration, added Kiley, and defending education is motivating a lot of passion from educators. I hope the Columbia strike motivates others.

Davio said, Education is reproductive labor, the necessity to keep more students and labor going on and into the productive process. The administration says we should be willing to do it just for the sake of the students and not the money.

Kiley stated, In Arizona, the teachers said it should be about valuing educators.

There is talk about extending the strike beyond April 30th, Davio said. We will continue fighting if we are not getting where we want to go in this. We discuss among the union making a broader struggle.

A retired teacher from Baruch College and member of the Professional Staff Congress union at the City University of New York (CUNY), stated her support for the strike. She added, however, They are being too mild here. They are not hurting the university if they are going to be handing in the grades.

Scott Martin, an adjunct faculty at the School of International Public Affairs, was at Thursdays rally even though adjunct professors are not on strike. I need a union at Columbia, too, like there is at the New School and at Barnard College. I am a UAW member at the New School. We put in the same time for our courses here as permanent professors, but we have no regular office space to work in. We come for a few hours and then have to travel to our jobs at other schools. We have to have two or three different teaching jobs to make enough.

A striking history teaching assistant said, The kind of work we do has been devalued. Grad students are trying to get recognition. I think education and what we do is valuable. The way resources are allocated is out of alignment with what is needed. The way they pay themselves millions of dollars is looting. Resources are allocated to wealthy people. In fact, the president of Columbia University [Lee Bollinger, annual income $1.4 million] is not really qualified. In 2014, he received a vote of no confidence from the faculty. There is no one to hold him accountable. But this is true across educational environments.

The UAW has no strategy to secure the interests of graduate student workers, let alone turn out to the working class as a whole. Instead, it is encouraging an orientation to the Democratic Party. Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer was invited to speak at the rally to maintain the pretext that the Democratic-controlled city and state governments are on the side of the workers rather than the Columbia trustees, who are deeply involved in the citys corrupt real estate and business dealings.

The unions continue to support Governor Andrew Cuomo despite his history of attacks on workers and educators, including attacking pensions and tenure. In exchange for their collaboration, Cuomo recently signed a bill that will make it easier for the unions to recruit new members and increase their dues base.

In speaking to graduate students, WSWS reporters urged lecturers to unite their own struggle with those of teachers and the working class. Rather than dissipating their efforts on lobbying the corporate politicians, the WSWS urged student workers to take the conduct of the struggle out of the hands of the unions through the election of rank-and-file committees, and to reach out to the millions of workers in the New York City area to engage in a common struggle.The choreographed talks Friday between North Korean Chairman Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in concluded with the publication of a joint declaration for peace, prosperity and unification of the Korean Peninsula.

The document outlined agreements to cease hostile acts against one another and ease military tension; implement family reunions and cultural exchanges; restore rail and road links; pursue a treaty to formally end the 195053 Korean War; and, most carefully worded, achieve through complete denuclearisation, a nuclear-free Korean peninsula.

The talks were spurred by the threats of the Trump administration to totally destroy North Korea, combined with harsh sanctions that have further crippled the countrys already crisis-stricken economy. The military regime headed by Kim Jong-un is seeking an accommodation with US imperialism that guarantees its survival and protects the wealth and privilege of the ruling clique in Pyongyang. The South Korean capitalist class likewise want an arrangement that avoids a catastrophic war on the peninsula and opens-up, for investment and exploitation, North Koreas resources, cheap labour and transport routes.

The content of yesterdays declaration would almost certainly have been vetted by Mike Pompeo, now Trumps secretary of state, during his secret visit to North Korea over Easter. Its most significant clause stated: South and North Korea shared the view that the measures being initiated by North Korea are very meaningful and crucial for the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula

The condition placed by the Trump administration for a meeting between Trump and Kim Jong-un was meaningful steps by North Korea toward complete, verifiable denuclearisation. Thus far, what the Pyongyang regime has announced is the suspension of any further nuclear and long-range missile tests. It did so, however, on the grounds that tests were no longer needed as its nuclear-armed missiles are now operational. It has made no commitment to dismantle its small nuclear arsenal or allow international inspectors to have access to its military and scientific facilities.

Nevertheless, the Korea talks and the language of the declaration have been followed by statements by Trump and Pompeo indicating that planning for a Trump-Kim summit will proceed. Trump hailed the declaration in typically inane fashion, with a tweet proclaiming KOREAN WAR TO END!

The political shift in barely two monthsfrom ominous threats of a massive US military assault on North Korea to the Korean leaders holding hands and hugging each otheris a measure of the volatility produced by growing US-China tensions.

For Beijing, the highly militarised state in North Korea serves definite purposes. Since 1953, it has functioned as a buffer between Chinas northern borders and the US forces in South Korea and Japan, while permanently threatening them as well.

The overriding objective of US imperialism is to undermine the strategic and military position of China, which was labeled in the January 2018 National Security Strategy document as Washingtons main global great power competitor. The ambition of successive administrations has been, whether by war or by a settlement with the regime, to draw North Korea into the US sphere of influence.

Since 2009, North Koreas nuclear tests and development of a small arsenal of nuclear weapons have provided the pretext for the ramping up of pressure on Pyongyang and the boosting of US military forces in the region. The US has deployed some of its most sophisticated aircraft and advanced anti-missile systems in South Korea and Japan, which are primarily intended for use in a war with China. The threat posed by North Korea has also been used in Japan to justify major increases in military spending and moves to repudiate constitutional obstacles to the Japanese government deploying its armed forces in theatres of war.

The escalation of rhetoric and sanctions against North Korea under the Trump administration has been a component of its broader escalation of tensions with China, which includes moves toward open trade war and renewed challenges to Chinese territorial claims in the South China Sea.

Within that context, China has, for its own reasons, applied its own pressure on North Korea to cease its nuclear and missile testing and bow to the demand for denuclearisation. It has enforced the sanctions, causing a collapse of North Korean exports. As a result, an open rift has developed between Beijing and Pyongyang.

The outcome of North Koreas turn to diplomatic talks with South Korea and the US is highly uncertain. There is no question that Kim Jong-uns regime will be coming under considerable pressure from Beijing not to make agreements that are detrimental to Chinese strategic interests. At the same time, the North Korean ruling elite is being offered a way to ensure its survival and gain access to large-scale investment and financial pay-offs by the South Korean capitalist class, providing it meets US demands.

Reunification does not mean the abolition of the border between the north and the south. The so-called Sunshine Policy formulated in South Korea during the 1990s was a variant of Chinas one country, two systems model. The North Korean police state would remain intact to repress the North Korean working class, which would be blocked from going south and made available to South Korean corporations as cheap labour. North Koreas military apparatus would be incorporated into the US-South Korea alliance and redirected to threaten China northern border.

One aspect of the Korean declaration that would have raised alarm in Beijing is the wording of a section on the signing of a formal peace treaty. It stated that the Koreas would actively pursue a meeting with the US toward such an eventuality, or, a meeting with both the US and China. In other words, a signal was sent by Pyongyang that a deal could be made without Chinese involvement.

The greatest issue standing in the way of moves toward such a rapprochement is North Koreas nuclear arsenal. The Trump administration has staked its domestic credibility on its claim that it will extract an agreement from Pyongyang to dismantle it. While a process of denuclearisation could be extended over many years, some form of arrangement has been set by the US as the precondition for peace.

During a joint press conference yesterday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Trump asserted: We will not repeat the mistakes of past administrations. Maximum pressure will continue until denuclearisation occurs. On several occasions over recent weeks, Trump has declared that the US will walk out of talks with North Korea if its demands are not met.

In an open hint that his administration could lurch back to his threat to totally destroy North Korea, Trump told the press conference: Were setting up meetings now. I have a responsibility to see if I can do it [denuclearisation]. If I cant, itll be a very tough time for a lot of countries and a lot of people.

The author also recommends:

North and South Korea hold peace summit

[27 April 2018]

Trumps secret diplomacy with North Korea

[19 April 2018]

Trump and Abe meet amid war and domestic crisis

[18 April 2018]Rupert Murdochs the Times attempted a witch-hunt of UK academics who have questioned the governments narrative on Syria. This scurrilous campaign, targeting Professor Tim Hayward (University of Edinburgh), Professor Piers Robinson (University of Sheffield) and Lecturer Tara McCormack (Leicester University) as Apologists for Assad, is a sharp expression of how universities have become battlegrounds in the global drive to war.

As the ruling class work to militarise society in accordance with the recently outlined Fusion Doctrine, higher education and research institutions are being transformed into appendages of British imperialism.

The process is well underway. Contrary to the Times ravings about universities being hotbeds of left-wing and anti-war sentiment, the institutions and their leaderships are already deeply integrated with the armed forces and private military contractors.

In 2007, the Campaign Against the Arms Trade and Fellowship of Reconciliation used a series of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to reveal more than 1,900 military projects conducted at 26 universities between 2001 and 2006, worth a total of 725 million.

The UK Governments military research establishmentthe Ministry of Defence (MoD), Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, Defence Evaluation and Research Agency and Atomics Weapons Establishment (AWE)were involved in a quarter of these projects. Arms manufacturers, led by Rolls Royce, BAE Systems and QinetiQ, sponsored the remainder.

Between 2008 and 2011, according to research by the Huffington Post, the Russell Group of 24 elite British universities received 83 million from the same sources listed above. Imperial College London topped the list with 15.2 million, mainly from the AWE. Imperial is joined by Bristol, Cambridge, Cranfield, and Heriot-Watt in a strategic alliance with the AWE: The five universities received 15 million in the years 2010-12.

More recently, figures released under the Freedom of Information Act have revealed that, in the past three years, 15 universities with prestigious engineering departments have received 40 million in grants from military contractors. These grants have funded projects including collaboration on military submarine technology between Rolls Royce and the University of Leeds, a drone project worked on by Boeing and Bristol University, and a stealth drone project at Manchester run by BAE.

While the money involved is relatively small when compared to total university research funding, the military projects have a weight of influence beyond their size. Military funding is concentrated in institutions and departmentsmainly engineeringwhere the armed forces and arms dealers have a special authority. Such funding is considered a prestigious source of investment, from which other grants and opportunities will flow. Military contracts are fiercely competed for and proudly advertised.

On the back of this commercial turn to the military-industrial complex, moreover, universities are working closely with the armed forces to provide education and recruitment opportunities. Fourteen institutions (including Aston, Birmingham, Cambridge, Imperial College, Loughborough, Newcastle, Northumbria, Portsmouth, Southampton and Strathclyde) are in a partnership with the MoD to provide the Defence Technical Undergraduate Scheme (DTUS). This is a university sponsorship programme for students who want to join the Royal Navy, British Army, Royal Air Force or Engineering and Science branch of the MoD Civil Service as technical officers after they graduate.

There are roughly 800 of these students (who formally hold the ranks of Officer Cadet or Midshipman in their respective reserve forces) in any one year, grouped into four regional units: Taurus Squadron, Thunderer Squadron, Trojan Squadron and Typhoon Squadron. The commanding officer of each unit has visiting lecturer status at the associated universities. Graduates are required to serve in the armed forces or MoD for a minimum of three years after graduating and completing Initial Officer Training.

University resources are thus put at the service of the military to train its key technical staff. They return the favour by lending the armed forces support to the running of student life on campus, doubtless with the associated military ethos. Loughborough University describes how its DTUS students regularly support Open Days, Freshers Fairs and other student activities.

In addition to the DTUS programme, the Army, Navy and RAF provide a range of other scholarships for prospective soldiers.

The Army offers 150 standard bursaries a year, worth 6,000, as well as Technical and Enhanced Army undergraduate bursaries, worth up to 14,000 and 24,000 respectively. Students can also receive 5,000-10,000 a year through the Army Medical Service Professionally Qualified Officer bursary. The Royal Navy also offers a standard bursary, worth 1,500 a year and a Technical Bursary worth 4,000 a year. Future RAF Medical Officers can get a grant to cover all their tuition fees.

All sponsorship requires three years of service in the armed forces after completing education.

While at university, these and other students can participate in one of the University Service Unitsthe University Officer Training Corps, University Air Squadrons, or University Royal Navy Unitswho maintain a permanent presence on numerous university campuses.

In 2015, there were 6,580 members of these organisations in Britain, spread across 19 Officer Training Corps units and 14 Air and Navy units. The fundamental purpose of these groups, besides providing a path into the officer ranks, is to train propagandists for the military within higher education and wider society. The University Royal Navy Unit at Cambridge describes its role as being to educate and inform societys future potential opinion formers and leaders of the need for and role of the Royal Navy.

So great is the influence of the armed forces on campus that several universities have established specific military-focused degree courses.

In 2011, the University of Wolverhampton created a BSc in Armed Forces, Armed Forces and Combat Medicine, and Armed Forces and Combat Engineering. The list of universities currently offering War Studies or related courses includes Queens Belfast, Glasgow, Kent, Coventry, Swansea, Buckingham, Bradford, Kings College London (KCL) and others. KCL is home to the only academic department in the world to focus solely on the complexities of conflict and security, comprising 95 academic staff and over 2,000 students.

Cranfield University offers courses in subjects like Military Economic Systems Engineering, Military Aerospace and Airworthiness, Communication Electronic Warfare, and Explosives Ordnance Engineering.

As well as providing training for the military, universities across the country are happy to play host to recruiting sergeants at Freshers Fairs and Welcome Weeks. In 2013, FOI requests found that the armed forces had made 341 visits to universities in the previous two years.

None of these developments has gone unopposed. Demilitarisation campaigning groups are active at many universities, with some institutions having banned visits from the armed forces in response to student protests. Organisations like the Campaign Against the Arms and Trade and Scientists for Global Responsibility have consistently exposed and opposed the involvement of military forces in universities. All of this is testimony to the immense anti-war sentiment which exists among the student body and academics.

To wage a successful struggle against the encroachment of the military on campus, however, requires that this sentiment be consciously organised behind a socialist, anti-war perspective. The International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) is dedicated to the formation of such a movement on campuses across the country.

The author also recommends:

Murdochs Times witch-hunts academics for questioning UK governments Syria lies

[19 April 2018]The United Federation of Teachers (UFT), New York City affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), is boasting of its alliance with Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo, who just signed legislation designed to assist the UFT and other public employee unions in recruiting new members even if the US Supreme Court rules against the unions in the Janus v. AFSCME case. Janus is a Republican-backed lawsuit that, if successful, could end the collection of agency fees from workers covered by collective bargaining who do not join unions.

The current UFT-Cuomo alliance is a sharp warning to teachers across the US who have embarked on powerful rank-and-file struggles to defend public education and fight against the poverty-level wages and appalling conditions facing both educators and their students. It is yet another demonstration of the role of the unions as adjuncts of the capitalist state and eager participants in the maintenance of labor peace.

As AFT President Randi Weingarten put it, in a warning directed to the high court justices last month, the weakening of the unions would lead to more activism and political action, as in West Virginia. Conversely, of course, the strengthening of the unions would mean the opposite resultmore effectively restraining teachers as public education is attacked via budget cuts.

This is clearly the basis of the love fest between Cuomo and the UFT. A report in the NY Teacher, online publication of the UFT, notes that Cuomo signed the bill before a packed house at UFT headquarters in Manhattan. The law, hammered out as part of this years state budget cuts in Albany in late March, contains two major provisions.

First, the unions will now be permitted to withhold certain services from nonmembers who are otherwise covered by the collective bargaining contract. These include legal representation in work-related proceedings, life and auto insurance, test preparation for civil service exams and other benefits.

At the same time, under the new law, the state and other public agencies and jurisdictions will be required to notify the union about any new-hires within 30 days and turn over their names and contact information. The union will then have 30 days during which it is permitted, within working hours, to recruit these new employees.

The new legislation has absolutely nothing to do with defending rank-and-file teachers and their students. It has everything to do with the defense of the union apparatus and the salaries and privileges of the officials whose job is to regulate the system in the interests of the capitalist system as a whole.

One would never guess from reading the NY Teacher that Cuomo, the two-term governor of New York, has a record of vicious attacks on teachers and other sections of the working class. Only a few years ago, for instance, the New York Daily News reported that a passionate Gov. Cuomo told the News editorial board that he held the teachers responsible for the conditions facing hundreds of thousands of New York City students in failing schools. He explained how he had laid into a teacher who said he represented his students. No, you dont, Cuomo was quoted as saying back in 2015. You represent the teachers, teacher salaries, teacher pensions, teacher tenure, teacher vacation rights... Dont say you represent the students.

The governors tirade, while addressed partly toward the union officials, was in fact aimed directly at the teachers. It was designed to drive a wedge between teachers and working class parents, and to divert attention from the fact that conditions in the schools have been severely impacted by many years of federal, state and city austerity, and above all by the conditions facing working class families outside the schools themselves, especially since the financial crash of 2008.

Cuomo became notorious for his right-wing attacks on teacher tenure, his demands for the accelerated firing of ineffective teachers, and his support for charter schools to further undermine the public school system. Back in 2014, he contemptuously dismissed newly elected New York City Mayor Bill de Blasios plea for a pathetically small tax increase on the wealthy to fund universal pre-kindergarten. The governor addressed a charter school rally in the state capital that was organized at his instruction and funded by hedge fund billionaires who were using the cause of charters to advance their agenda to privatize education and divide the working class.

Cuomo has not changed his positions. He remains a cynical political operative, a faithful servant of Wall Street. And the issues that divided him from his currently enthusiastic backers in the trade union apparatus were never ones of principle.

The incumbent governor is seeking to refurbish his friend of labor image in advance of his effort to secure a third term this fall. First, he faces Cynthia Nixon, the actress who is running on a platform of left criticisms of Cuomo.

More fundamentally, Cuomo speaks for a section of the ruling elite that sees the importance of strengthening the union apparatus. The Republicans seek to undermine the unions, if not dispensing with them entirely, in the interests of unrestrained attacks on the working class. Democrats like Cuomo, with an eye to struggles of teachers in West Virginia, Oklahoma, Arizona and elsewhere, are seeking to use the services of the AFT and NEA to suppress strikes and independent political struggle.

The relationship between the Democrats and the unions has gone far beyond the at times uneasy alliance of decades past. There is not an ounce of principled difference between the unions and the Democrats at present. The unions are a crucial part of this capitalist party today. As Cuomo put it, quite revealingly, at the UFT headquarters: Republicans are hostile to the unions because it is the union movement that drives the Democratic Party.

As far as the AFT is concerned, it is more than willing to let bygones be bygones with the governor. It is worried that its position is threatened on one side by the Republican right wing, but on the other, and more dangerously for the system as a whole, by the insurgent teachers, who are searching for a means of effective struggle against decades of vicious attacks on jobs, working conditions, living standards and public services. What the UFT is celebrating is a repaired relationship with Cuomo in which the union promises, in effect, to make sure that the teachers in New York dont get it into their heads to follow the example being set by their colleagues around the US.

The UFTs praise for Cuomo is not a drastic change in position. The teachers unions, despite occasional clashes with Cuomo and with the Obama administration and its education secretary Arne Duncan, have demonstrated time and again that they are prepared to do business with big business on such reforms as merit pay, charter school expansion and other attacks on teachers and public schools. In 2012, for instance, the New York State AFT affiliate backed Cuomos efforts to use teacher evaluations to scapegoat supposedly ineffective teachers for the consequences of the decaying profit system.

The teacher unions would have little to fear from the forthcoming Janus decision if they were fighting organizations of the working class. They are not workers organizations, however. They rely completely on the state and on the corporate establishment, in which they function as junior partners. Randi Weingarten of the AFT sits on the Democratic National Committee. The AFT and the rest of the AFL-CIO have become adjuncts of the state, dedicated above all to defending the capitalist status quo.

If they pretend to support teachers in current struggles, it is only in order to betray them more effectively, as the experiences in Oklahoma and West Virginia have already shown. It is necessary for rank-and-file teachers to draw the lessons of these experiences, to break with the corporatist unions and build independent committees that turn to other sections of the working class to wage a truly effective struggle, on that raises the urgent need for a socialist program.Buried deep in the pre-election budget Ontarios Liberal government tabled last month was a provision that is a transparent sop to the Unifor bureaucracya regulatory change meant to boost Unifors strategy of augmenting its due base by raiding members from other unions.

The new provision is yet another illustration of the intimate ties between the big business Liberals and Unifor. Canadas largest industrial union, Unifor has led the way over the past two decades in promoting the Liberals as a progressive force, even as they have imposed austerity, illegalized strikes, privatized infrastructure and, at the federal level, pursued rearmament and war.

The government boost to Unifor comes in the wake of its disaffiliation from the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) this past January in a sordid dues-grubbing dispute amongst rival union apparatuses.

The new regulation from Kathleen Wynne and her Ontario Liberal government stipulates that any attempt by a parent union to place one of its locals into trusteeship and thereby assert centralized control of all local assets and decision-making processes is no longer strictly an internal trade union matter. Prior to taking effect, any trusteeship must now be approved by the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB).

Unifors leadership has celebrated this change, hailing the granting of additional powers to the OLRB, a state body tasked with regulating and suppressing the class struggle on behalf of big business. Now the only way workers can be put into trusteeship is for a bona fide reason, crowed Unifor President Jerry Dias. It cant be used to quell dissent or to control. I give the Liberals full credit. They did what the labour movement didnt do.

Unifor has twice been thwarted in recent attempts to take-over the memberships of fellow unions. First, through a backroom deal with Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 113 President Bob Kinnear, Unifor tried to gain control of the local that represents ten thousand Toronto Transit Commission workers. Then earlier this year it tried to capture Unite HERE Local 75, which is the collective bargaining agent for some 9,000 low-paid hotel and restaurant workers in Toronto.

After the CLC belatedly moved to block the raid on the ATU and subsequently differed with Unifor on how to interpret its rules governing workers switching unions, Dias, without consulting his own membership, pulled Unifor out of the CLC and launched a campaign to sign up Toronto hotel workers.

In both instances, the parent unions of the targeted localsinternational unions with headquarters in the United Statesplaced the Toronto locals under trusteeships to prevent Unifor from poaching their members.

Dias and large sections of the union bureaucracy in Ontario are pulling out all the stops in support of Kathleen Wynnes big business Liberal government ahead of Junes provincial election. They are advancing the spurious argument that workers can stop the far-right, anti-worker policies advocated by Progressive Conservative leader Doug Ford by once again returning the pro-austerity, pro-war Liberals to power.

Unifor applauded the bogus promises contained in Wynnes pre-election budget, claiming they show continued momentum towards social justice. Dias asserted, This budget sets the baseline for the upcoming election. Ontarians need strong public services and investments to address inequality, not the right-wing, backward budget cuts that the Conservatives are threatening.

As the WSWS commented, Who does Dias think he is kidding? His claim that the Liberals can secure strong public services is made of a party that has slashed spending on health care, education, and social provisions to the bone, outlawed strikes and job actions by teachers and other sections of workers, and connived with Unifor to impose sweeping concessions on autoworkers, including wage and benefit cuts of more than C$20 per hour as part of the 2009 industry bailout.

None of the rival bureaucratic factions involved in the ATU and Unite-HERE disputes with Unifor represent the interests of the working class. Nor do they have any principled differences. All the unions involved are known for foisting concessionary contracts on their memberships. Unifor has rammed through concession after concession on the tens of thousands of workers in the auto industry, including the imposition of two-tier wages, wage freezes, and the gutting of benefits.

For its part, the CLC is a right-wing, pro-corporate organization that for decades has systematically suppressed the class struggle. In the lead-up to the 2015 federal election, the CLC played a central role in the Anybody but Harper campaign that saw the unions urge voters to back Justin Trudeaus Liberals in name of removing the Conservatives. The CLC was heavily involved in the Canadian Peoples Social Forum in August 2014, which helped lay the groundwork for the subsequent pro-Liberal strategic voting drive. Then, within days of Trudeau becoming Prime Minister, 100 top CLC officials met with him behind closed doors to pledge their collaboration in implementing the Liberal governments anti-worker, pro-war agenda.

The CLC bureaucracy and many of its affiliates also maintain close ties to the pro-austerity New Democratic Party (NDP), which has come into headlong conflict with the working class whenever and wherever it has formed the provincial government.

The ATU dispute involved Unifor colluding with Kinnear to bring the local under its control entirely behind the backs of its members; whilst the Unite HERE dispute involves a year-long seedy tale encompassing vicious factionalism, charges of racism, victimizations and violations of democratic practice. The squabbles ultimately revolve around access to financial largesse in the form of union dues, under conditions where nationally the percentage of private sector workers represented by a union has fallen to just 15 percent, half of what it was in the 1980s.

In the ongoing conflict in Torontos hotel industry, Unifor has managed to wrest 900 workers from 5 of the 24 hotels organized by Unite HERE.

Unifor and its predecessor the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) have led the way among Canadas trade unions in calling on their members to support Liberal candidates in most federal and provincial constituencies during election cycles. Dias boasts of his access the federal Liberal cabinet ministers and is whipping up Canadian nationalism to divide Canadian workers from workers in the US and Mexico during the ongoing renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

The support extended to this right-wing bourgeois party by Unifor and the trade union bureaucracy as a whole demonstrates the organic hostility of these organizations to any mobilization by the working class to boost wages, secure better working conditions and otherwise defend its interests.

The invocation of democratic control by Dias would be laughable if it were not so egregious. So outrageous was Dias executive fiat pulling Unifor out of the CLC that rank-and-file workers at four large Unifor locals have gone on record to oppose disaffiliation.

Unifor has been first among equals in the union movement in silencing and sidelining dissident voices, denouncing workers daring to oppose sellout agreements and shutting down strike action.

Dias has sought to buttress his attempt to grow Unifor by courting lower-level bureaucrats in other organizations by wrapping himself in the Canadian flag and attacking US-based unions for denying Canadian workers their rights. Critics of Unifors actions, who have appealed for unity within the CLC, are motivated above all by the fear that the dispute will further discredit the union bureaucracy in the eyes of working people and undermine the unions ability to suppress working class struggles whenever they break out.

The granting of additional powers to the Ontario Labour Relations Board represents no advance for workers. It is a state agency used to police the class struggle. Earlier this month, it connived with York University management to force 3,000 striking contract faculty and teaching assistants to vote on a rotten concessions contract that the union bargaining committee had deemed unacceptable. In November 2017, the OLRB played a central role in facilitating the Liberals outlawing of a strike by 12,000 college teachers.Watching Republican Senate candidate Don Blankenship on the campaign trail, he does not immediately come across as someone his party leaders would be concerned about.

He is soft spoken and lacks the charisma of even the most remotely formidable political figures. Yet beneath this low-key exterior is a candidate with a controversial history in West Virginia.

Blankenship, a coal baron, was just released from prison last May after serving a year sentence following his misdemeanor conviction for his involvement in the deadliest US mine explosion in four decades.

On the campaign trail, he has compared Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to the Russians and accused McConnell of being soft on China because his father-in-law is a "wealthy China person."

A recent poll shows that Blankenship - who is campaigning on the same themes President Donald Trump did in 2016 when he won the state by 42 points - is trailing two other candidates in a three-way primary race.

All of this has national Republicans who are clinging to their narrow Senate majority terrified that Blankenship will win the GOP primary here because that could mean losing an opportunity in November's midterms to unseat Sen. Joe Manchin, one of the Senate's most vulnerable Democrats.

"They don't really believe that," Blankenship said of GOP warnings that having him as their nominee would blow their chances of winning the Senate seat here.

"That's what they're telling you so you'll tell the public that. What they believe is I'm gonna win. They don't want me to be there because they know I'm a extreme Trump supporter and that we have to make a change, and that they don't want that change to be made because they're personally benefiting from it," Blankenship told CNN.

He may not be the showman that Trump is, but Blankenship is a wealthy businessman whose message is Trump 2016 on steroids.

"You cannot continue to give American jobs to illegal immigrants. You cannot continue to drive all of the manufacturing jobs out of this country to Asia and pollute the world much more if those jobs and manufacturing facilities had stayed here," he argues.

The president is still very popular here, and it's why all six candidates vying for the GOP Senate nomination are tripping over themselves to align themselves with his agenda.

During a debate in Wheeling this week, the moderator began to ask whether there is anything they disagree with the President about, and one candidate, Jack Newbrough, screamed "no" before the question was even fully asked.

But if Blankenship sounds the most well-versed in Trumpism, it's because he has been espousing a more populist GOP approach for years. He even took out his phone and showed us a video he had made in 2012 in order to try to convince the Koch brothers to sign onto a more isolationist approach for the GOP.

He chuckled about the fact that the Koch's wouldn't go for it, but then Trump won the presidency with the same message.

Disdain for Republican leaders

Another similarity between Blankenship and the President is his disdainful rhetoric about GOP leaders in Washington. But while Trump's rhetoric sometimes sounds like he's whacking the so-called establishment because it played to his base, Blankenship really seems to mean it.

This week, Blankenship lobbed a racially charged accusation at McConnell, saying he's soft on China because his wife, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, was born in China and has family business ties there through her father.

"I have an issue when the father-in-law is a wealthy Chinaperson. There's a lot of connections to some of the brass, if you will, in China," Blankenship told West Virginia radio host Dimitri Vassilaros.

McConnell shot back by saying he has no comment on "ridiculous observations like that."

"My father-in-law is an American who lives in New York." McConnell told Fox News.

Longtime McConnell political aide Josh Holmes was less restrained, taking to Twitter to call Blankenship "as contemptible a human being as you will find."

Blankenship released a statement calling Holmes one of "D.C. Swamp Captain McConnell's lieutenants"

"When someone is about to drain the swamp, all sides of the establishment unify to keep the District of Corruption in place," said Blankenship.

Blankenship's heavy baggage

Senate Republicans' biggest concern with Blankenship isn't so much the way he rails on them personally and calls them corrupt, but that he recently got out of prison.

Blankenship was CEO of Massey Energy when the Upper Big Branch Mine exploded in 2010, killing 29 people.

In 2015, he was convicted conspiracy to violate mine health and safety standards -- a misdemeanor -- and was later sentenced to a year in prison before being released in May of 2017.

What does he say to voters who believe he has blood on his hands from the mining tragedy?

"The thing I would say to 'em is, Upper Big Branch deadly explosion is one of the biggest reasons they should vote for me if they're, have family members or are involved in the coal industry. Unlike any other person that I know of, I stood up against the establishment when they falsely claimed that the explosion was caused by the coal miners," he argued.

Blankenship insists the mine exploded because of federal regulators.

"These miners have had 400 years of experience and they were forced to change the ventilation by a guy that was hardly old enough to shave, and by God, that has got to stop," he said.

He also argues that he was not given a fair shake in court - set up by Democratic-backed judges and politicians like the Democratic Senator he wants to unseat, Joe Manchin.

Blankenship even wrote a short book while in jail, which he and aides hand out at campaign events, called "An American Political Prisoner."

"I prepared and distributed this booklet in order to reveal that our justice system is broken and how our government has not told the truth about the West Virginia coal mine explosion that it may have caused," he wrote in the introduction.

Flipping through the book, we asked if this was his manifesto.

"I don't know if manifesto has a negative tone or not. It sounds like it does since some of the really bad guys had manifestos," Blankenship responded.

"I would describe it as a common sense explanation that I was a political prisoner," he added.

Sen. Manchin's wife, who attended a Chamber of Commerce candidate breakfast here, calls that laughable.

"Don Blankenship is not a victim," Gayle Manchin told us flatly.

Getting hit from both sides

A Fox News poll out this week shows Blankenship trailing two other Republican candidates ahead of the May 8 primary, Evan Jenkins and Patrick Morrisey, both of whom GOP leaders think have a good shot at beating Manchin.

While Blankenship is reaching into his deep pockets to run ads trying to reintroduce himself to West Virginia Republican voters, he is up against a tough ad paid for by the Mountain Families PAC, which has ties to the McConnell-aligned Senate Leadership Fund super PAC, the same that spent millions in Alabama's GOP primary last year in an unsuccessful attempt to keep Roy Moore from being the Republican nominee.

The ad accuses "convicted criminal Don Blankenship" of getting caught with his company "pumping 1.4 billion gallons of toxic coal slurry contaminating water supplies."

"Don Blankenship has 91% name recognition in West Virginia," he shot back, speaking of himself in the third person.

"People that know Don Blankenship will vote for him in huge numbers. And that all I have to do is get better and better known as well as point out to things that Joe Manchin has not done that he should have done. He's been in office for 36 years and we're last in every good category and first in every bad one."

The field

Some Democrats worried about Manchin's ability to keep his seat are jumping into the GOP primary race as well.

They, too, see Blankenship as the most beatable Republican, and are therefore, trying to help him in the GOP primary with ads tearing down Jenkins and Morrisey, two leading GOP candidates Democrats consider bigger threats to Manchin.

Morrisey is the state's Attorney General and the only candidate who has won a statewide race.

"I'm not nervous about Don winning. I think we have the best, the most proven, conservative record out there," Morrisey told us.

GOP Congressman Evan Jenkins was a Democrat until 2013, when he switched parties to run against an incumbent Democratic congressman.

He is slightly ahead in the latest polls, and insists Republican voters won't hold it against him that he was a Democrat until 5 years ago.

"I've always been conservative. I've always been a believer in our values as West Virginians. Staunchly pro-life, 100% voting record with the national right to life. Staunch defender of the second amendment. 100% voting record with the NRA. My values haven't changed," Jenkins said in an interview.

This is the first time Blankenship is on the ballot, but he spent years using his millions of considerable wealth to help build the West Virginia Republican Party, which he says gives him goodwill with GOP voters.

How much of his own money is he planning to spend to win this Senate GOP primary?

"I don't really know because I'm not keeping track of it," he said. "If I started keeping track, I'd probably stop. So I better wait until after May 8th to figure it out."Not content with pretty much taking over every aspect of your life, Facebook now wants to help you get a date. Here's what else you need to know to Get Up to Speed and Out the Door. (You can also get "5 Things You Need to Know Today" delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up here.)

1. President Trump

President Trump and special counsel Robert Mueller might be headed for a showdown for the ages. Trump's lawyers are prepping for the possibility Mueller could subpoena the President, sources tell CNN. That would set up a dramatic collision that could start a long court fight and test the legal limits of the President's power all the way up to the Supreme Court. Mueller's team may do this if Trump refuses to give a voluntary interview. Many legal observers believe the courts would order the President to comply with a subpoena because the Supreme Court has repeatedly ordered just that.

Meanwhile, remember that letter from Trump's doctor during that 2016 campaign -- the one that declared Trump would be "the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency"? Turns out Dr. Harold Bornstein didn't write it at all. (Spoiler alert!) Trump did. "He dictated that whole letter. I didn't write that letter," Bornstein told CNN. "I just made it up as I went along."

2. Arizona teacher walkout

Teachers in Arizona say they'll end their walkout -- the first in state history -- if the state legislature OKs a budget. If that happens, teachers could be back in classrooms as early as Thursday, a week after they walked out in the latest episode in a recent national wave of teacher actions. Gov. Doug Ducey said the state's close to passing a budget deal that raises teacher pay by 20% over two years. Teachers had wanted a 20% raise by next school year and yearly raises after that to reach the national average, plus education funding restored to 2008 levels. "The war is not over," one organizer said.

3. Armenia

Anti-government protests have rocked Armenia for weeks. And they may get worse now that the leader of the country's protest movement was blocked from a chance at being prime minister. Nikol Pashinyan was the only candidate for the position during the vote in parliament, but Armenia's ruling party refused to back him. So, Pashinyan told his supporters to hit the streets today: "We block all the streets, communications, subway and the airports ... Our struggle cannot end in a failure." The protests started after what many considered to be an attempt at an unconstitutional power grab by former President Serzh Sargsyan.

4. Migrant caravan

A few members of that caravan of Central American migrants have started to plead their cases to US border patrol officials, asking for asylum (including a pregnant mom of two whom the other migrants picked to go first). About two dozen migrants have been processed; another 125 or so are still waiting in tents in Tijuana outside the customs center, just feet from San Diego. It's the start of a long, complicated process that involves lots of paperwork and several interviews. And final decisions could take months.

5. Air pollution

If you live on this planet, you're probably breathing some bad air. A new study from the World Health Organization says nine out of 10 people on Earth breathe highly polluted air. And all that pollution has deadly consequences. The study -- in which the WHO collected data from more than 4,300 cities and 108 countries -- estimates the dirty air kills 7 million people each year. More than 90% of those deaths are in Asia and Africa, but the rest of the world isn't off the hook. Cities in the Americas, Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean also have air pollution levels beyond what the WHO considers healthy.

BREAKFAST BROWSE

Unattended baggage

Border patrol agents are used to seeing strange things on the US-Mexico border, but a live tiger in a duffel bag is (probably) a first.

The robots are coming

The next wave in the looming robot apocalypse is their invasion of the Smithsonian museums. Twenty-five robots started "working" there this week.

Problem solver

Want to fix the problem with Apu? The producer of a Netflix show is holding a screenwriting contest to rewrite the problematic "Simpsons" character.

Fashion police

A Catholic high school in Michigan thought these "modesty ponchos" were just the thing for this year's prom. How wrong they were.

TODAY'S QUOTE

"When you hear about slavery for 400 years ... for 400 years? That sounds like a choice."

Rapper and professional provocateur Kanye West, ruminating on one of the bleakest chapters in American history while visiting TMZ's headquarters. A TMZ employee, and pretty much all of Twitter, took him to task for this one.

TODAY'S NUMBER

$100 million

That's how much debt iconic guitar manufacturer Gibson has (though it could be as much as $500 million). So, the company has filed for bankruptcy while it reorganizes.

AND FINALLY

Take your time

It's time for more slow-motion fun, but this time it's not the Slo Mo guys. It's the theatrics of a young baseball player soaking in ALL the glory while "running" to home plate. (Click to view.)Gabriela Hernandez and her two boys joined the "migrant caravan" of travelers across Mexico toward the United States, some hoping to cross the border. This is her story of the journey, compiled from multiple visits and interviews.

March 25: Tapachula

She is late.

Gabriela Hernandez has missed the caravan marching north.

As she realizes her mistake, she also knows she can't let it go.

She scrounges up enough coins to pay for a taxi. Not knowing exactly where the group is, they simply head north, asking along the way in the hope they will catch up with the group.

The pregnant mother of two has never before left Honduras. Now, she has fled her country, crossed Guatemala and found herself in the southern Mexican border city of Tapachula.

"I was very scared. I didn't even have a dollar for a hotel," she says later.

When she arrived with her two little boys, she didn't know whom to trust.

She went to the church, where a priest told her about an upcoming caravan of migrants, a march with religious roots organized by Pueblo Sin Fronteras since 2010. It could provide the guidance she needed, he told her.

Gabriela, 27, admits she had no idea what she was getting into, but when she saw more than 1,000 migrants, including many Hondurans, uniting for the annual pilgrimage, it felt like the best option.

The journey north is dangerous. Migrants are often robbed, assaulted or kidnapped. The caravan, Gabriela thought, could offer more than guidance, it could offer her family safety in numbers.

The taxi catches up with the march and lets them out.

She gathers up her sons, Omar, 6, and Jonathan, 2, and they start to walk.

And walk.

April 1: On the road in Oaxaca

"Trump is mad at the caravan," Gabriela says.

The US President has tweeted following news reports of the migration.

She is struck by the word he used to describe the group -- dangerous.

"He talks about us like we are the plague," she says.

Gabriela laughs in disbelief. It's hard for her to understand how someone could look at her two little boys and think they are dangerous.

The family has been walking for days. Sometimes they are helped by a friend from her old neighborhood, but often they are on their own. She is out of money. The boys are always hungry.

For the first time in her life, she is forced to turn to strangers for help, asking for spare change.

"Excuse me, do you think you could help me with something for my kids?" she will ask.

The first person gave her two pesos, about 10 cents. The most came from a woman who looked at the two boys, and handed over 50 pesos (about $2.70.)

"There were people who would give me money. There were people who would tell me 'I don't have money, but I can give you some fruit,' and I would say 'OK.' Fruit is very helpful," she says.

April 3: Matias Romero

The caravan's journey has become more political than Gabriela ever imagined.

For the first time, the Mexican government has reached out to the group, agreeing to grant many temporary permission to stay in the country as they travel through. Gabriela's case is approved.

She receives an official piece of paper with the Mexican government's seal granting her 20 days to be in the country. For now, she doesn't have to worry about an arrest or deportation. She snaps a picture and sends it to her family in Honduras. It's part celebration, part backup plan.

"If something were to happen to those papers, my mom will now have a copy," she says.

The relief is short-lived. Jonathan, her 2-year-old, is sick, and getting worse.

"He started to convulse," she explains.

A volunteer doctor helping the caravan tells her the child should be hospitalized. Jonathan, Gabriela learns, has pneumonia.

"I told him I can't, I have to keeping moving north. I can't let this caravan leave me behind again," she remembers saying.

The doctor pulls out a nebulizer for respiratory treatment. He also gives Jonathan a shot, although Gabriela doesn't know what is in it.

"Wherever you go, make sure you cover his mouth," he advises.

Gabriela is grateful for his understanding and help, but feels ashamed. She wants to be able to do more for her child.

April 6: Puebla

Buses filled with dozens of migrants arrive at a church. Gabriela is the first mother to step off the bus with her sick toddler in hand. He's fidgety. She looks exhausted. Her other son, 6-year-old Omar, follows closely behind her.

In a live interview with CNN, she explains she is fleeing violence in Honduras, and questions how they could be dangerous.

"A child like this, how? My child has pneumonia," she said.

Church members welcome the caravan with a warm meal. They give children toys and board games. Within a matter of minutes, organizations set up booths and mobile units, including a clinic with medical volunteers.

"They have been so good to us," Gabriela says. "You can always feel when something is given to you with love."

The group is too big for one shelter. They split up into three for housing. Gabriela is assigned to the shelter at the church. They sleep on the floor with only a mat to shield them from the cold floor.

Related: These are the Central American migrants crossing Mexico in a caravan

April 7: Puebla

Just before noon, the migrants line up under a striped, circus-like tent in front of the church. During a head count, organizers make announcements over a bullhorn, including the schedule for the day's information sessions to discuss US immigration policies. They also set a few rules: Familiarize yourself with the exits of the church in case of an earthquake, and clean up after yourself.

Volunteers tally about 500 migrants.

Gabriela attends a workshop about migrants' rights in the United States.. Advocates explain US immigration laws, including asylum.

When a volunteer attorney offers her one-on-one time, she sits down and tells the attorney her life story, why she had to leave Honduras.

"She says I have a good case," Gabriela explains. "I may be granted asylum up north."

April 8: Puebla

Jonathan finds himself munching on a mini-pack of M&Ms while eyeing a massive, winding slide at the playground across from the church. He is feeling better. Omar made friends with some of the kids in the caravan. They take turns racing up and down the slide.

Gabriela watches, keeping an eye on both while worrying about her other child. She's three months pregnant. She visited the free clinic, and the doctor told her she is not drinking enough water.

For lunch, volunteers serve roasted chicken, tortillas and rice. Omar is wide-eyed as he looks at the chicken on the paper plate in front of him. Jonathan skips the utensils and grabs the chicken with both hands for his first bite, smiling before he even finishes chewing.

"It's the first time they've eaten meat since leaving Honduras," Gabriela explains.

As the family eats on the floor, a volunteer flips on a speaker. Reggaeton, some Ricky Martin and other music blast as couples pair off to dance.

"Listen, that's punta," Gabriela yells, battling the speaker. "We dance that a lot in Honduras."

For a moment, thoughts of the journey's hardships fade away as the family laughs and cheers on the dancers.

April 9: Mexico City

The travelers gather outside the church at 7 a.m. Jonathan is still asleep and Omar is struggling to stay awake. They're shivering, and waiting for instructions to get on the buses headed to Mexico City. Volunteers hand out bags filled with snacks. A sign on the gate of the church reads, "We appreciate your donations but for the moment we are covered. God bless your generosity." The migrants have felt welcomed here.

"We ate a lot there. We got new clothes there, shoes. We got sweaters, pants, lots of diapers and milk, things that I needed for the boys and a mountain of toys," Gabriela says.

Organizers ask everyone to make as much room possible to get everyone on board the 17 buses that have turned up. As their bus heads off, Jonathan's face is glued to the window as he waves goodbye. A migrant yells out the window, "Gracias Puebla!"

The two boys pile into Gabriela's lap and fall asleep. Nearly four hours later, the caravan arrives in Mexico City, where police stop traffic and escort the convoy through town.

As they pull into a shelter's parking lot, other migrants and supporters are cheering, holding signs that read, "The fight continues," "No Trump" and "Viva Honduras."

April 10: Mexico City

Gabriela is exhausted after the night in the new shelter, in what is considered one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Mexico City. The boys don't seem tired at all.

A bounce house has been set up, and volunteers are painting faces. Omar insists he wants a Spider-Man face. He gets it.

Gabriela is annoyed.

"It's not easy getting that face paint off," she says.

Caravan organizers ask the migrants to make copies of their IDs and official documents from Mexico. Gabriela hoists Jonathan onto her shoulders and grabs Omar. They walk to a print shop and join the long line of Central Americans.

As they wait, Jonathan, dressed in a Spider-Man onesie, amuses himself with a bell on a parked bike. He giggles, running back and forth between his mother and brother, and the bike.

"Stop that," Gabriela says scolding him. She is struggling to focus, and wants to make sure she gets the right amount of copies.

Omar sits alone, ignoring his brother as he explains he is going to the United States of America. In the United States, he says, they won't have to deal with the violence and could make more money.

And he's looking forward to something else.

"A good education," he says.

April 11: Mexico City

Gabriela doesn't like the food at the shelter, and nausea from the pregnancy doesn't help.

"It's hard for me to keep anything down," she says.

She orders a smoothie at a stand set up near the shelter. The boys order a plate of fries each and douse them in ketchup. A glass bottle of Coke is passed back, something they can barely afford at 75 pesos, about $4.

As Gabriela pulls coins out of her pocket to pay, Omar spots an arcade game and begs for a coin to play. She hesitates. She doesn't have many coins left. Omar continues to plead. She caves and he runs off to play.

"Sometimes, they don't understand when you say, 'I don't have money.' It hurts my heart every time I have to say that," Gabriela says.

As they share the smoothie, she talks about her family. She misses her mom and grandmother most.

"My mom and I are close. But I am really close to my grandma. I have only been able to talk to her once (since I left)."

Gabriela got out of Honduras very quickly. It's one of the most dangerous countries in the world, and gang violence is rife.

She'd suffered domestic abuse from her husband and left him. But then gang members found her one day, demanding to know where her ex was. They gave her 12 hours to give him up or said they would kill her 6-year-old.

She left that night, with her sons and the clothes they wore.

It's hard for her to accept, but she says she understands leaving her family is part of the sacrifice she must make to give her children a better life, a safer life.

"There are people who think I just woke up and said, 'Oh,I want to just go to the United States.' It's not that easy," she says.

In hearing talk about the United States, Omar reveals he knows a little bit of English.

"One, two, three, four ..."

He stumbles on the number five, but continues counting until he reaches 10, his face beaming with a great sense of accomplishment.

April 12: Mexico City

The family joins the caravan as it visits the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, then heads to the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City. Gabriela doesn't know whether their presence will actually make a difference, but she wants to support the group.

The mother and sons spend the day in the city until large, blue police buses with barred windows arrive to take them back to the shelter on the far side of town.

There aren't enough buses for the entire group. Most of the men while have to walk six miles back to the shelter.

By the time Gabriela reaches the door of the bus, it is packed with women. She hands Jonathan to another woman who pulls him onto the bus as if he were crowd surfing. Gabriela holds Omar tightly next to her and squeezes onto the bus. It doesn't seem odd or scary to the children. By now, they're used to it.

April 13: Tultitl-n

The municipality is providing buses to move the group north, closer to a train station. With Jonathan dangling from a baby carrier, the family marches with the caravan. They chant, "We are not criminals."

As they wait for transportation, the heat takes its toll on a child nearby. She faints, and is rushed to a doctor. Organizers say she was dehydrated.

"I can't even imagine what I would do if that happened to Omar or Jonathan," Gabriela says.

She isn't feeling well either. When they arrive in Tultitl-n, she lies down in the plaza.

Not everyone welcomes them.

Seeing the buses, a local worker says, "They make me nervous."

Groups of migrants often come to this area to clamber onto freight trains that stop nearby, he explains. He believes it is the cause of a rise in crime.

The boys are hungry after the 12-hour bus journey that included traffic jams and wrong turns. They buy potato chips at a stand, one bag per child. The boys lean up against Gabriela on the ground, until they hear a train whistle in the distance.

The migrants jump up and cheer. Gabriela says she is afraid of the train, but Omar quickly corrects her and uses his hands to open her mouth like a puppet as he says in the deepest voice he can muster, "We are not afraid of the train."

April 14: Tultitl-n

At 7 a.m., the family is sitting in the already hot sun, trying to keep cool. They have been waiting for the train for four hours. It will take another four hours to hear the train whistle again.

This is not a scheduled service. There are no tickets. It is not even a passenger train. Migrants are waiting for La Bestia, "the Beast," a name given to any northbound freight train that can be boarded.

It is chaos as hundreds of people try to climb up the train, not knowing how much time they have before it starts off again.

Gabriela pushes the boys, and others help pull them up. But the pregnant Gabriela struggles.

Panicked, a woman scolds her. The backpack being carried by the man climbing ahead of her slams into her face. When she finds the strength to pull herself up, she finds her children sitting atop a mound of scrap metal and trash filling the train's car. Omar has a cut on his hand. And she is feeling dizzy.

"I felt like I was going to faint. I was scared," she says. "What if I faint and wake up, and can't find my kids?"

She settles on a blanket, and sobs. As they wait for the train to move, volunteers throw out Coca-Colas and water bottles to keep the group replenished. An air of desperation spreads across the train, just as it starts moving at 3:30 p.m.

Hours later, as the sun sets, it is cold and Gabriela feels lost in the darkness. She can't see where she is headed, but she knows it is north.

April 15: On a train in Guanajuato

A sigh of relief. Gabriela is now in Guanajuato. She calls the overnight trip on the train one of the scariest moments of her life.

She didn't know what part of Mexico she was in when there was a sudden jolt. The train stopped and she held on tightly to her boys. All she could see in the dark distance was the outline of mountains.

The migrants were told to get off the train. They refused. The conductor disconnected the cars carrying the migrants, and started the train again, leaving the migrants stranded.

Cold and trembling, the children cried.

"Even the blankets were frozen," Gabriela noted.

She was hungry, and they didn't have enough food. "I couldn't do anything about it," she says.

Her throat was sore. Asthma kicked in. She couldn't breathe well. And she was starting to develop a pain in her lower abdomen. Gabriela actually thought to herself they could die.

"I covered her legs (to keep her warm)," Omar chimes in with pride, as he hears his mom talk about it later.

They stumbled off the tracks and huddled together, praying and asking God to keep them safe. Men from the caravan gathered wood and started a bonfire. It would be three hours before there was any sense of an answered prayer.

Another train was rolling in. Gabriela pulled herself and the boys onto the rail car yet to again continue north. This time, the car was not filled with mounds of trash. It was empty, and they could hunker down in a much warmer place for the journey.

April 16: Irapuato

They've rested. The wait begins again. Gabriela is hearing from caravan organizers they're heading to Guadalajara the next morning, but they'll have to wait to find out whether transportation is sorted out by then.

She prays buses will be available. She doesn't want to have to get back on another freight train with the boys.

As Omar sits with other kids at a table, he draws small stick figures sitting on top of La Bestia. He is one of them.

He doesn't say much about riding on La Bestia. He shares just one thought: "I thought I was going to die, too," he says.

April 17: Guadalajara

Organizers did not get the buses. Gabriela pulls herself onto another train to Guadalajara, where they will reunite with members of the original caravan who had gotten there earlier. The total head count now is closer to 600.

Some of them are at the church, where they may have to sleep in the pews. Gabriela heads to a shelter, where volunteers make sure a warm meal is available and there are medical volunteers voluntarily tending to the sick.

Gabriela needs help. Her health is deteriorating. She is weak, and can't stop coughing. Her blood pressure is high.

The doctor explains the abdominal pain she started to feel on the train is an infection, and it could spread to her kidneys if she doesn't take care of herself.

"If it spreads to my kidneys, I could lose the baby," she says.

Doctors give her a shot, and insist she must rest.

April 18: Guadalajara

The trio has spent the morning in talks with volunteers and organizers. After a long meeting, Gabriela is worried because the latest rumor suggests the group will not move for five days.

From the little she has heard, the plan is to move north to Mazatlan. And while Gabriela is looking forward to making it closer to the border, she worries because the boys are getting sick. The medicine she has isn't helping them.

The rough journey and the lack of nutritious food is taking its toll.

April 19: Guadalajara

Omar wakes up very sick. He has a fever, and can only stomach sips of water. Usually a curious boy who typically wanders off, he doesn't even have the energy to walk.

"When I would stand him up, his knees would buckle," his mother says.

Gabriela takes him to the medical volunteers, hoping they can give him a shot, too. She is desperate for something to make him better.

The doctor tells her he is dehydrated and has an infection. They give him a shot before the family heads to yet another bus to head north.

Related: To live openly as a woman, she had to flee. But the road ahead holds no guarantees.

April 20: Mazatlan

As soon as they reach Mazatlan, the family heads straight for the showers. It has been 10 days since Gabriela had an opportunity to wash her hair with warm water.

"Even though I was congested, I could smell the train in my hair. I still had rust from the train in my hair," she says.

Omar is feeling better, but the family is homesick, missing their relatives. Gabriela manages to borrow a phone. She calls home and talks to her mom.

Something seems wrong. Her mother is reluctant to tell her, but eventually breaks the news. Gabriela's beloved grandmother is very sick.

"I don't know if I will ever see my grandmother again," she says.

She wants to go back to see her family, but she can't quit now, she tells herself. She is too close to the United States.

That night, they board a bus for a 12-hour ride to Hermosillo.

April 21: Hermosillo

Gabriela is chatting with others on a street near the new shelter in Hermosillo, when she notices the window of a car passing by rolls down and a woman inside.

"She asked Omar why he was walking around barefoot. He told her it was because he lost his shoes," says Gabriela.

The woman told them she would be back. The family didn't move. And it didn't take long before the woman returned with several pairs of new shoes for Omar.

And that wasn't all. Gabriela was most excited about the food the woman brought. They now had cornflakes and milk in hand.

"People have treated me in such a kind way," she says, though she's unsure whether the same will happen on the other side of the border.

April 22: Hermosillo

At the shelter, a volunteer who knows Gabriela is pregnant pulls her aside.

"She said, 'Come. I'm going to make you an egg, just like I know you like to eat them.'"

She served Gabriela salty scrambled eggs, indeed just like Gabriela likes them. Gabriela then had tortillas, soup, beef stew, potatoes and rice. She hasn't eaten this much food in weeks.

"Even the smell of it was delicious," she says

She was worried about nausea, but it never came.

"It gave me strength," she remembers.

April 23: Hermosillo

A new reality is starting to sink in. Gabriela is in the final stretch of the journey north. Omar feels it, too.

"He keeps saying, 'Are we close? Mom, are we in the United States? I am tired of the buses and sleeping on the floor,'" she says.

Gabriela understands her son's feelings. She knows she is close, but has no idea how close. She keeps telling her son Tijuana is next, and that's all she knows.

April 24: Tijuana

But first, there is another bus ride. On the way to Tijuana, Omar starts crying. He is hungry.

Another Honduran mother on the bus passes food down. A bond has grown between the mothers of the caravan and they help each other.

Gabriela is starving, but she must feed the boys first. She hands over the snacks to Omar.

Laura comes back.

"She told me I have to eat too, but I said no. I want my kid to eat first," Gabriela explains.

At last the bus stops and the family gets in line to enter the Juventud 2000 shelter.

The organization has set up about 50 tents, each with a warm blanket and a pillow. The excitement over the new fuchsia tent is too much for the boys to contain. They jump up and down inside the tent.

Gabriela smiles.

"I do get tired, but I'd rather see them like this. I can't stand seeing them as sick as they have been throughout all of this."

April 25: Tijuana

Gabriela had no idea.

"It seems so close, right?" she said giggling.

She is standing about a quarter of a mile away from the US-Mexico border. "It doesn't seem real after all we've struggled through to get here."

But it is real -- she is now within sight of the land she hopes will offer her and her children a new life.

And while she may be in disbelief, she knows she is close enough to start preparing to turn herself into US immigration officials.

As she points to the border fence, the insides of her hands are visible, filled with now-faded numbers written in ink.

"This is my aunt's number."

It's the only link she has to her one relative who lives in the United States, in California.

She has it written on a small piece of paper she keeps tucked in her jacket, but she's heard immigration officials will take all of her belongings. So she's written her aunt's contact details on her hand in hope of memorizing it. She still can't remember all the numbers. Maybe she'll come up with a song, she says.

But that is for the future.

Right now, Gabriela is experiencing more pain. She is taken to the emergency room, where they give her a shot of penicillin and antibiotics.

And in the back of her mind, she is also thinking about the talk among the migrants. She has heard about "la hieleras," the coolers, the migrants' nickname for cold ICE detention facilities.

She has heard she could be held for months. But, it's the talk of family separation that worries her most right now. Immigration authorities say they do not normally split mothers from their children, but that does not stop the fear.

"Omar already tells me, 'I don't want to be far away from you. I will cry.'"

Related: The caravan is still coming. Trump says don't let them in

April 26: Tijuana

The shelter is quiet, with most of its inhabitants out for the day, only to return for dinner.

Gabriela is feeling better. The medicine from the ER is helping with the pain from her kidney infection, and her unborn child, now about four months along, has not been harmed.

She's sitting outside in the sun and the boys are roughhousing happily together.

But back inside a few minutes later, Omar's mood shifts and he throws a tantrum, sobbing and shrieking in the small pink tent. "No! No!" he wails.

At first, Gabriela is upset with him and his unusual mood and Jonathan joins in to berate him. "He only started behaving like this once we started moving with the caravan," Gabriela says apologetically.

She grabs Omar and soothes him with hugs until he falls asleep. Jonathan joins his mother in giving his brother hugs and all is well again for the time being.

"Thank God I have patience," Gabriela says. There are moments where I'm frustrated with the boys and I'm desperate. There are times I want to go home when they make me crazy. Other women in the caravan tell me to be calm and keep fighting. "

The future: California?

Gabriela can see the United States, but still does not know whether her future lies there or what the next stage of her journey will be.

She does not plan to enter illegally, instead presenting herself to officials to claim asylum, given the danger to her life -- and the lives of her children -- in Honduras.

And that's about as far ahead as she can contemplate. She just doesn't have the energy to think what would be next if she is not given asylum, if she is sent back, forced to continue her journey elsewhere.

"I don't know what I'm going to do," Gabriela says simply. "I cannot go back to my country."TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - The Vigo County School Corporation (VCSC) has filed a motion for a Partial Summary Judgement in its case involving a kickback scheme.

The civil lawsuit is against Frank Shahadey, Paula Shahadey, Franklin Fennell, and Michael Pick, and Picks business, M & P Properties, LLC.

Fridays documents ask for a Partial Summary Judgement against Mike Pick. This kind of judgment means a court could order Pick to pay damages and penalties without a full trial.

A court can order a summary judgment when there is no dispute about the material facts in a case. The court documents filed Friday state the criminal scheme at the center of the case is undisputed. The documents cite trial transcripts in which Pick admitted to his role in the conspiracy.

In the court documents, the VCSC maintains the entire scheme wouldnt have been possible without Pick. The VCSC believes Pick should have reported the criminal scheme when Fennell and Shahadey asked him to join.

Co-conspirators, Shahadey and Fennell, both faced punishment for their roles in the scheme. Shahadey pleaded guilty. His sentence included 16 months in prison and two years of probation.

A jury recently found Fennell guilty, but on Friday, Fennell appealed that conviction. A judge had previously sentenced him to 24 months in prison. Pick has not been criminally charged for his involvement.

The Indiana Crime Victims Relief Act allows a person or entity to bring a civil action against the individuals who caused the damages. Under that act, Fridays motion asks for damages three times the amount established in Shahadey & Fennells criminal proceedings. Their restitution amount was $110,600. The minimum amount asked for in Fridays motion is $331,800.

In Fridays filing, the VCSC counsel states the defendants had perfected a vicious cycle. Federal investigators uncovered that scheme involved inflated and made up invoices from M & P Properties for the VCSC to pay. It involved 40-50 jobs over a two year period.President Donald Trump on Saturday morning called for Montana Democratic Sen. Jon Tester to resign over his opposition to White House physician Ronny Jackson's nomination for secretary of veterans affairs, saying some of the allegations against Jackson "are proving false."

Tester, the top Democrat on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, had raised concerns about allegations against Jackson, including that he loosely handled prescription pain medications, was intoxicated during an overseas trip, and created a toxic work environment. Jackson withdrew his nomination on Thursday.

The allegations led to Jackson pulling his name from consideration on Thursday. The swift unraveling of his nomination came amid a litany of allegations from nearly two dozen current and former colleagues against a man whose selection late last month came as a surprise even to him, CNN has reported.

Jackson learned about his nomination just a day or two before it was made public, one official told CNN -- a sign of inadequate vetting that continues to plague the Trump administration's nominations. And on Capitol Hill, Democrats and Republicans questioned Trump's decision, made largely out of his personal affinity for Jackson, and were skeptical the White House physician had the experience to lead the sprawling agency.

In a wide-ranging interview on Fox News earlier this week, Trump said he thought Tester would have a "big price to pay in Montana" over the accusations against Jackson.

"Allegations made by Senator Jon Tester against Admiral/Doctor Ron Jackson are proving false," Trump wrote in a pair of tweets. "The Secret Service is unable to confirm (in fact they deny) any of the phony Democrat charges which have absolutely devastated the wonderful Jackson family. Tester should resign. The.........great people of Montana will not stand for this kind of slander when talking of a great human being. Admiral Jackson is the kind of man that those in Montana would most respect and admire, and now, for no reason whatsoever, his reputation has been shattered. Not fair, Tester!"

Jackson initially did not respond to the full slate of allegations, but denied some of them, including that he wrecked a government car.

"I have no idea where that is coming from," Jackson told reporters at the White House on Wednesday. "I have not wrecked a car. I can tell you that."

On Thursday, when he pulled out as VA secretary nominee, Jackson said in a statement, "The allegations against me are completely false and fabricated. If they had any merit, I would not have been selected, promoted and entrusted to serve in such a sensitive and important role as physician to three presidents over the past 12 years. "

Tester said in a statement Saturday, "It's my duty to make sure Montana veterans get what they need and have earned, and I'll never stop fighting for them as their senator."

The statement noted that Trump has signed several bills that Tester sponsored, cosponsored or otherwise supported that aim to increase accountability at the Department of Veterans Affairs and improve care and benefits for veterans.--

After Jackson withdrew from consideration, the Montana senator thanked the service members who "bravely spoke out over the past week" about Jackson. Tester added that it was his "constitutional responsibility to make sure the veterans of this nation get a strong, thoroughly vetted leader who will fight for them."

"The next secretary must have a commitment to reform a strained health care system and a willingness to stand up to special interests who want to privatize the VA," Tester said. "My sleeves are rolled up and ready to work with Chairman (Johnny) Isakson to vet and confirm a secretary who is fit to run the VA."

Trump said in a Fox News interview shortly after Jackson withdrew that Tester might have a "big price to pay in Montana" for opposing the nomination, prompting an official with the the senator's campaign to say he disagreed with the idea that Tester would face backlash from voters.

"Jon's focus from the beginning is making sure we have strong leadership at the top of the VA so our veterans are taken care of. Jon has worked with the president to get 8 bills signed into law on the VA," the official noted. "That is his goal."

"This isn't political for him, it is about doing right by our veterans," he said.

Hours after Trump tweeted that Tester should resign, a senior Democratic aide also said party members didn't think Trump's bashing of Tester would resonate in the state.

"If you look at what Montana voters are learning about this issue or are reading about it or watching it, they are hearing and seeing Montana veterans praising Sen. Tester for doing his job and looking out for their interests," the aide said, highlighting an article in the Missoula Current that said Tester has the support of some Montana veterans.

"At the end of the day, what this is about is Senator Tester actually doing the right thing and protecting veterans and doing his job to make sure someone who could have been harmful to an agency that is in charge of protecting veterans was not in a position to do that," the aide added. "It is really about him doing his job and doing his work."

A spokesperson for Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Johnny Isakson said he approved of Tester's handling of the accusations.

"Senator Isakson has a great relationship with Senator Tester," spokesperson Amanda Maddox said. "He doesn't have a problem with how things were handled."

Allegations

CNN previously spoke to multiple current and former employees at the White House medical unit who described a "grab and go" culture that allowed staffers to get prescription drugs without a medical examination. The five individuals who spoke to CNN said the practice was supported by Jackson.

The White House, however, showed reporters documents on Friday that a White House official claims exonerates Jackson from allegations he inappropriately dispensed pills and wrecked a government vehicle after leaving a Secret Service going away party.

The Secret Service said in a separate statement that it did not find any information to indicate agents intervened when Jackson banged on the hotel room of a female employee while intoxicated on an overseas trip, as four sources familiar with the allegation told CNN the incident did happen.

The incident became so noisy, one source familiar with the allegation told CNN, that the Secret Service stopped him out of concern that he would wake then-President Barack Obama.

After the Secret Service statement, a source with direct knowledge of the incident told CNN there was a conversation between White House medical unit staff and the Secret Service at the time in which the Secret Service expressed concern about Jackson's behavior.

Two sources who previously worked in the White House medical unit described the same incident, with one former staffer telling CNN that it was "definitely inappropriate, in the middle of the night," and that it made the woman uncomfortable.

There are other allegations that have not been answered, including that he was allegedly "abusive" to his colleagues and "on at least one occasion" Jackson "could not be reached when needed because he was passed out drunk in his hotel room," according to Democratic staff on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.

Trump addressed the situation again at a press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday, in which he called Jackson "high quality" and defended him against the allegations noted by Tester.

"The false accusations that were made about him by Senator Tester -- from a great state, I don't think that state is going to put up with it," Trump said.

"He would have been a great leader," Trump said of Jackson. "To say the kind of things that he said -- he had President Obama giving him an A+ report. You had President Bush giving him an A+ report. You have President Trump giving him an A+ report. And to make statements of things that most people said never happened, never even happened, calling him names was, to me, a disgrace, an absolute disgrace."

The White House continually defended Jackson as his nomination cratered this week. On Wednesday, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Jackson's record was "impeccable," and said he had passed multiple background checks, including one conducted by the FBI.TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - Friday, some Florida A&M University alumni were honored for their contributions to the alumni association.

Over one hundred alumns gathered in the FAMU Grand Ballroom for the 12th annual Scholarship Gala, hosted by the Leon County Chapter of FAMU's National Alumni Association.

According to FAMU, over the past three years, approximately more than $20,000 in scholarships have been awarded to FAMU students.

It wouldn't be possible without the help of alumni, some of whom were recognized Friday.

"Well what we put in is what we get back in return. Without students, there would be no FAMU and so to have the opportunity to raise significant dollars that go towards scholarships to allow students who are worthy to come to FAMU and help them with their academic experience is something that's really important," said Representative Ramon Alexander.

Gala honorees included Dr. Makeba Earst, owner of All About Smiles Dental Center, John Haugabrook, past-president of the Leon County Alumni Chapter, Juanita Moore, financial secretary and treasurer of the Leon County chapter, and Curtis Taylor, chair of FAMU's annual "Roast and Toast" Fundraiser.WORLAND  A state of Wyoming veterans service officer from the Wyoming Veterans Commission will conduct community outreach services in Wyoming cities throughout May.

WORLAND  A state of Wyoming veterans service officer from the Wyoming Veterans Commission will conduct community outreach services in Wyoming cities throughout May.

Josh Schmidt is available to meet with veterans and their families to discuss state and federal veterans benefits, Department of Veterans Affairs claims, or VA healthcare. Schmidt can also help veterans and their families appl...THERMOPOLIS - Thermopolis Police Chief Steve Shay announced late Friday afternoon that the Kansas fugitive Jeremy Breeden was apprehended without incident.

THERMOPOLIS - Thermopolis Police Chief Steve Shay announced late Friday afternoon that the Kansas fugitive Jeremy Breeden was apprehended without incident.

Breeden is wanted in Kanas in connection with attempted murder charges.

The Thermopolis Police Department had announced on its Facebook page Friday that they had what they believe to have been a credible sighting of Kansas fugitive Jeremy B...KIGALI, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Heavy rains in southern Rwanda Thursday killed six people, a local leader said.

The early morning heavy downpour in Kamonyi district destroyed houses, which collapsed on the six victims, the district mayor Alice Kayitesi told local media.

Three victims were from one family in Runda sector, among them a child, said Kayitesi. Flooding waters washed bodies of two victims from the family into Cyogo water stream where they were recovered. The child's body was recovered from the wrecked house, she added, adding that one other person from the same family is still missing.

Three people were injured and were taken to health facilities for treatment, said the mayor.

She appealed to residents in high risk areas and those residing in weak dilapidated houses to relocate to safe places.

Thursday's tragedy happened days after 19 people were killed by disasters triggered by rains of Monday night across the country.

More than 40 people had been killed while more than 160 others were injured across Rwanda by disasters triggered by heavy rains since March, according to the ministry of disaster.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-27 19:48:45|Editor: Yamei

Video Player Close

BEIJING, April 27 (Xinhua) -- China on Friday welcomed the joint declaration reached between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the Republic of Korea (ROK), expressing the hope that both sides can implement the consensus of the summit to promote reconciliation and cooperation.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang made the remarks in a statement issued Friday.

DPRK leader Kim Jong Un and ROK President Moon Jae-in confirmed a common goal of complete denuclearization and agreed to push for multilateral talks to turn the current armistice agreement into a peace treaty after their first-ever summit meeting in Panmunjom on Friday.

Kim and Moon held a signing ceremony for the joint declaration, titled the Panmunjom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity and Unification of the Korean Peninsula, at Peace House on the ROK side of the Joint Security Area, often referred to as Panmunjom after the nearby village where the 1953 Korean Armistice Agreement was signed.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-28 08:11:46|Editor: pengying

Video Player Close

A man walks through a flooded street following heavy rains in Sanaa, Yemen, on April 27, 2018. Yemeni authorities warned citizens to take necessary precautions against expected flash flood. (Xinhua/Mohammed Mohammed)Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-28 00:00:00|Editor: yan

Video Player Close

by Xinhua writer Liang Junqian

BEIJING, April 27 (Xinhua) -- On Friday, Peace House at the truce village of Panmunjom witnessed a historic ice-breaking summit where the top leaders of the two Koreas endeavored to nurture a bud of peace from the pain of division.

Watched by the world closely with hopes for progress, the two sides confirmed in a joint declaration issued after the meeting a common goal of complete denuclearization and agreed to push for multilateral talks to turn the current armistice agreement into a peace treaty.

These results have demonstrated the two sides' willingness to make new history of lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula.

After all the handshakes and smiles, now is the time for the two Koreas, which are still locked in an uneasy truce 65 years after the end of the Korean War, to take concrete actions to implement the agreement made by South Korean President Moon Jae-in and DPRK top leader Kim Jong Un.

The first step would be to strengthen mutual trust, which is a vital yet difficult mission after all these decades of estrangement. The recent events in the region and beyond have shown that a favorable environment that could help build up the much-needed trust has been in the making.

Days ahead of Friday's meeting, Pyongyang pledged to discontinue all nuclear and missile tests. Earlier, Washington sent then CIA Director and U.S. President Donald Trump's close aide Mike Pompeo to Pyongyang to pave the way for a potential Trump-Kim meeting. Before Pompeo's trip, Kim paid his first visit to Beijing, which was also his maiden trip outside his country since he became the DPRK's top leader.

That momentum should be maintained when the two Koreas and other related parties start to work in the coming months on the denuclearization of the peninsula and the transition from the armistice agreement to a peace treaty.

For decades, China, a major stakeholder in the Korean Peninsula issue, has been working hard to play its pivotal role in contributing to lasting peace and stability in the region. China's "dual-track approach" and the "suspension for suspension" proposals have proved to be an effective way to create the basic conditions for a nuclear-free peninsula.

The dual-track approach is the proposal to seek denuclearization of the peninsula alongside establishing a peace mechanism. The suspension-for-suspension proposal is for the DPRK to suspend its nuclear and missile activities in exchange for the suspension of large-scale U.S.-South Korea military exercises.

Washington could start by suspending its military drills with its allies in the region as a corresponding move to the DPRK's promise to end its nuclear and missile tests.

In the end, all related parties should help set up for the region a mechanism of common security, which would guarantee the security interests of all.

When the truce was signed in Panmunjom in 1953, possibly few then expected the two Koreas would remain technically at war for more than six decades.

Hopefully, Panmunjom, a symbol of the tragedy of national division, can find a place in future history books as an icon of peace, and the Peace House summit lead to "a new start" for permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula.HELSINKI, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Heng'an International Group, a leading producer of sanitary napkins and baby diapers in China, has recently unveiled its ambitious investment plan for a large scale bio product factory in Finland.

In an interview with Xinhua, the group's CEO Xu Lianjie said he wants, through the new project, to set an example of sustainability for Chinese pulp and paper industry.

Xu said his company, which has a turnover of 2.57 billion euros and a profit of 49.4 million euros in 2017, attaches great importance to the concept of sustainable development that prevails in Finland.

Finland is a major exporter of softwood pulp in the world, and also serves the main source of pulp imports for Heng'an. Softwood pulp is an important raw material for the production of household paper products.

According to the agreement signed in Helsinki earlier this week, Heng'an purchased 36.46 percent of Finpulp's shares at 11.66 million euros, and became its largest shareholder. Finpulp plans to build a large-scale bio plant near Kuopio in central Finland, with a total estimated investment of 1.4 billion euros. It is expected to have a capacity of 1.2 million tons of softwood pulp annually when put into operation in 2021. It will also produce biological products such as pine oil and tall oil.

Xu noticed that Finnish paper and pulp industry has accelerated technological upgrade in recent years. Metsa Fibre, one of the world's largest coniferous pulp suppliers, has invested 1.2 billion euros in renovating its factory in Aanekoski, central Finland, for example.

The newly built bio-product plant started production last year, with a capacity of 1.3 million tons of pulp. It adopts the most advanced technologies and strict environmental protection measures, and significantly broadens the product portfolio and increases added-value. Local media reports have said the plant alone can increase the use of renewable energy in Finland by two percent.

Xu said he was impressed by Metsa Fibre's new plant, reportedly the largest ever project in Finnish history, as it produces not only pulp but also various by-products, and thus optimizes the utilization of resources.

"Previously we threw away the waste from the production process, but they have made it into small fuel balls. The energy of each fuel ball is equivalent to a coal ball," he commented.

Xu also praised the legal system in Finland that guarantees the adequate forest resources. "If you cut one tree, you have to plant two. The forest is expanding even though there are so many pulp and paper mills in Finland. This is sustainable development." He added that the measures to protect and rationally utilize the forest could be learned by Chinese operators, hoping that a similar sustainable industrial chain will gradually be built in China.

Heng'an's investment is a latest piece of good news from China for Finnish forest industry. Earlier this year, China's Shanying Group in cooperation with CAMC Engineering announced to build a bioenergy plant in northern Finland.

Local authorities and forest owners believe the new investments will make better use of the abundant forest resources in Finland, while experts and analysts have more discussions about the scenarios of the prospects.

According to Xu, a considerable portion of the pulp products of the new plant will be bought by China after it is put into operation, if the current positive trend of Chinese pulp market goes on. He admitted it will help his company to improve the integration of upstream-downstream businesses.

Regarding the management of the project and environmental protection during the future production, Xu assured that "we will continue to focus on environmental protection, and even be stricter." He mentioned that Heng'an, with its emphasis on green growth, won the International Carbon-value Award awarded by World Economic and Environmental Conference in 2016.

He said the the Belt and Road Initiative offers opportunities for wider international cooperation in the paper and pulp industry. Heng'an has adjusted its development strategy in recent years and successively expanded its business in Malaysia, Indonesia, Russia and Finland.

"I have met many people in these regions who are looking forward to working with Chinese companies. They want to combine their ambitions with ours' and achieve mutual benefits," he noted. (1 euro = 1.21 U.S. dollars)Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-28 02:40:48|Editor: yan

Video Player Close

JERUSALEM, April 27 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli military said Friday that 10,000 Palestinians have participated in the anti-Israel rally across the Gaza Strip.

This is the fifth round of weekly protests for Palestinians to gather on the Gaza border with Israel. Gaza's Health Ministry said one was killed and three others wounded by Israeli gunfire while trying to breach the border, adding that two others were killed in clashes with Israeli security forces.

"Hundreds of rioters attempted to infiltrate into Israeli territory and burn the security fence adjacent to the Karni Crossing in northern Gaza Strip," said the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in a statement.

"The rioters approached the security fence and hurled explosive devices, grenades, firebombs and rocks and tried to light the security fence on fire. In response, IDF troops acted in accordance with the rules of engagement and thwarted the attempted infiltration," said the IDF.

"The IDF acts to protect Israeli civilians and will not allow harm to be done to the security infrastructure that protects them," added the Israeli army.

During the weekly demonstrations, 35 protesters, including two journalists, have been killed by Israeli live fire, Israeli media quoted Hamas figures' as reporting.

In addition, Israeli security forces arrested two West Bank Palestinians who tried to enter Israel with a pipe bomb on Thursday night, the Israeli police said.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-28 04:26:23|Editor: pengying

Video Player Close

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo addresses a press conference after NATO foreign ministers' meeting at its headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on April 27, 2018. NATO foreign ministers agreed that NATO's dual-track policy of strong deterrence and defense combined with meaningful dialogue with Russia "is the right one", said Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg Friday. (Xinhua/Ye Pingfan)

BRUSSELS, April 27 (Xinhua) -- The new American Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, thrilled members of NATO Friday by arriving on time for a meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels, having only just been sworn-in at the White House on Thursday afternoon.

Pompeo's speedy arrival to the NATO meeting, held in order to prepare for the bloc's next summit in July, showed a new attitude from the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, who in January of 2017 was quoted as calling NATO "obsolete" and criticized allies for not carrying their share of the financial burden.

NATO's European allies have spent more on defense for a second consecutive year in 2017 but the majority of them still failed to meet the target of spending 2 percent of GDP on defense.

"It was a great pleasure to welcome Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Brussels this morning," said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at a news conference on Friday.

"He actually jumped on a plane just after he was sworn in. I think that's actually a new record and it also shows his strong personal commitment to the alliance and it reconfirms the commitment of the United States and President Trump to the transatlantic bond," he said,

Allies also noted to reporters that Pompeo appeared to be in a listening mode, which was also a welcome demeanor.

Pompeo's first day on the job as Secretary of State showed that the sentiment remains.

At the news conference, Pompeo was asked by a reporter if Germany, as the richest NATO ally after the United States, was acting quickly enough to increase defense spending. "No," he replied.

"They should meet the goal that they agreed to," he replied.

"I think President Trump made that a priority," Pompeo said on the burden sharing issue. "I think many of the NATO allies have in turn made it a priority for their countries as well. I applaud that. I am thrilled with that. But the goal remains clear."

Friday's gathering of foreign ministers marked the last major meeting to be held in the NATO headquarters in Brussels, as the defense organization prepares to move to a new building after more than 50 years in the current one.

"The next time foreign ministers gather will be for the Summit at our brand new headquarters across the road," Stoltenberg said during a brief closing ceremony. "Our move signals that NATO continues to evolve as the world changes," he continued.

Accordingly, Friday's session continued with longstanding operations, dealing with NATO's support for Afghanistan, preparations for the new NATO training mission in Iraq, and working with the European Union to promote stability among Europe's southern neighbors.

Conflict in Syria, tensions with Russia, and the continued development of anti-terrorism capabilities were also discussed, as the foreign ministers lay the ground of July's summit.KINSHASA, April 27 (Xinhua) -- At least 42 civilians drowned in the UBangi river on Monday as they fled violence between an armed group and security forces in South Ubangi province in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), according to the authorities on Friday.

The Interior Ministry in Kinshasa said boats carrying villagers capsized in the river on the border between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Congo-Brazzaville.

The vice-governor of the province of South Ubangi, Jean Bakatoye, said the 42 people died as they were crossing the river under heavy rains accompanied by thunderstorms.

According to the same source, panic was observed in the city of Dongo after a group of assailants attacking an army position forced the population to flee to the Congo-Brazzaville.

In recent years, some armed groups have regularly attacked army positions in this part of the country. In 2009, a clash between the army and an armed group named Enyele killed more than 200 people.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-28 04:41:30|Editor: yan

Video Player Close

GAZA, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Israeli army on Friday night fired two missiles at a Hamas post close to the fishermen harbor in western Gaza city, destroying a building and two military vessels, security sources told Xinhua.

Medics in Gaza city said no injuries were reported. There has been no immediate Israeli army response to the incident.

The explosions in western Gaza city came as tensions between Israel and the Palestinians have been mounting in the coastal enclave since March 30.

On Friday, daylong protests and clashes between hundreds of angry Palestinians and Israeli soldiers near the border between eastern Gaza Strip and Israel had left three Palestinians killed and 883 wounded, medics said.

Thousands of Palestinians participate daily in anti-Israel rallies that started on March 30 and are held in five areas along the borders with Israel.

The six-week protests dubbed the "Great March of Return" 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."BUCHAREST, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila said on Friday that she did not intend to resign as required by the president.

"I do not see any reason to resign as long as I have the support of the ruling coalition, as long as I think I have had good results in the three months," said Dancila.

President Klaus Iohannis said on Friday that he withdrew confidence from the prime minister and publicly asked for her resignation, arguing that the latter "cannot handle the position of Prime Minister of Romania and is thus transforming the Government in a weakness for Romania."

Dancila's failure to inform the president about the government plan to relocate the country's embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and about her recent visit to Israel were the premise that President Iohannis made such an unexpected statement.

In remarks after Iohannis' remarks, Liviu Dragnea, leader of the main ruling Social Democratic Party, also Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, said that there is no reason for the prime minister to resign, "she still has our support."

Senate Speaker Calin Popescu-Tariceanu argued that as the body competent for giving the prime minister and the government the vote of confidence, the parliament is the only competent to withdraw it as well, "the president has nothing to do with this."

Analysts here believe that the situation undoubtedly initiated a new round of political conflicts between the head of state and the ruling coalition.

Dancila's cabinet, the third Social Democratic government after the party won the general elections at the end of 2016, was sworn in before President Klaus Iohannis on Jan. 29.TRIPOLI, April 27 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Charge d'Affaires to Libya, Stephanie Williams, and Libyan Foreign Ministry's Under Secretary of Political Affairs, Lutfi Almughrabi, on Friday signed documents on security cooperation, according to the Libyan Foreign Ministry.

The ministry said the documents include a memorandum of intent for airport security and a letter of agreement to support Libyan policing, corrections and justice sector development.

The two sides also vowed to enhance bilateral cooperation in various areas.

They stressed importance of the efforts of the UN envoy to Libya, Ghassan Salame, to push forward the Libyan political process and achieve stability.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-28 06:57:00|Editor: Chengcheng

Video Player Close

By Xinhua writer Yang Shilong

NEW YORK, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has traveled a difficult road toward legitimacy and integration in the United States, reflective of many aspects of the Chinese immigrant experience.

This is why the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) in New York City puts on two groundbreaking exhibitions, which run from April 26 to Sept. 9, attempting to trace the complex story of Chinese medicine in the country.

"Chinese Medicine in America: Converging Ideas, People and Practices" tells a cross-cultural story of Chinese medicine and practices in America through historical medical artifacts, contemporary art, and profiles on notable figures in Chinese medicine history to create an engaging space for exploring how medicine, philosophy and history are linked.

On the Shelves of Kam Wah Chung & Co.: General Store and Apothecary in John Day, Oregon, is an immersive historical exhibition that celebrates the medical practice of Ing "Doc" Hay who became a prominent figure in eastern Oregon after the California Gold Rush.

THROUGH LENS OF CHINESE MEDICINE

"I think it's important to celebrate the culture and history of the Chinese in America through the lens of Chinese medicine," Donna Mah, a faculty member of the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine in New York, told Xinhua at Wednesday's press preview.

"We have really worked hard to put together a prism to shine the light of Chinese medicine, and have Chinese culture and history sort of blasted in a beautiful rainbow on the wall," said Mah, guest curator of the exhibitions.

"By seeing how we treat illness and maintain our health, we hope visitors can learn about the ancient philosophical concepts that are the backbone of Chinese culture," said Herb Tam, MOCA's curator and director of exhibitions.

Only four states in America to date do not have legislation on professional practices of TCM. It has grown into an industry with 40,000 licensed therapists, and treats over 380 million patients every year.

Yet, until the 1970s, practising acupuncture in America could land you in jail.

This happened to Miriam Lee, an acupuncturist who treated patients in her Palo Alto, California home. She was arrested for practising medicine without a license in 1974, but many of her patients appeared at her trial to attest to the benefits of acupuncture.

Days later, Governor Ronald Reagan legalized acupuncture as an experimental procedure and 1976, it was officially legalized in the sunshine state.

Lee, who died in 2009 in Southern California where she lived after retirement, recorded her experiences in her 1992 book "Insights of a Senior Acupuncturist."

GLIMPSE INTO EARLY CHINESE IMMIGRANTS LIFE

Ing Hay, better known as Doc Hay, was the first documented acupuncturists and herbalists in the United States. Hay did "ku li" (a Chinese term meaning "muscle strength") work in the Walla Walla area before he moved to the mining town John Day, eastern Oregon, in 1887.

Hay met his life-long friend and business partner Lung On on the streets of John Day, a small town nestled in the higher elevations of the Blue Mountain range. They purchased the Kam Wah Chung & Company (literally, the "Golden Flower of Prosperity") building, which soon became the center of the Chinese immigrant community in John Day.

The number of Chinese in John Day at that time might have exceeded 2000 - mostly men - making it the third largest Chinatown in the United Sates then. It was a time the Chinese were openly treated as second-class citizens. As the railroads were built and the need for cheap muscle began to fade, the U.S. government slammed the door and started encouraging Chinese to leave.

By 1900, less than 100 Chinese remained. Patrons at Kam Wah Chung shifted from predominantly Chinese to mostly non-Chinese. Despite the prevailing anti-Chinese sentiment in the United States, the store not only survived, but flourished. This was due to the remarkable skills of its two proprietors.

Hay and On were both arrested several times for practising medicine without a license but due to their popularity in the community, each case brought against them was dismissed. All their patients survived the fatal Spanish Flu epidemic in 1919, according to an interesting side note.

CONVERSATION BETWEEN HERITAGES

"The Chinese-American population is a vital part in the making of this country. Unfortunately, it's been under-recognized," Nancy Yao Maasbach, MOCA's president, told Xinhua. "One of its (MOCA) main goals is to help people understand the contributions by Chinese in the formation of this country."

MOCA, which has about 50,000 visitors a year, aims to engage audiences in an on-going and historical dialogue, in which people of all backgrounds are able to see American history through a critical perspective, to reflect on their own experiences, and to make meaningful connections between the past and the present, the global and local, themselves and others, she said.

Mah noted the Chinese medicine exhibitions are exactly a good space for initiating conversations between cultures.

"I think the more that we have conversation, genuine conversation, genuine curiosity, interest, respect will all benefit," she said. "That reflects the benefit of having been of Chinese heritage living in America."

"Through the conversations you have realized that we share so much in common and we need to make it not only a local phenomenon, but a global phenomenon, finding the places we really can connect, learn and benefit one another," Mah said.

"You know, wondering who are we, what is our place in the world and how it relates to us and one of the ways that we can do so beautifully is through art of the landscape painting," said Mah. "The classical Chinese landscape paintings have big, big landscape, but a very very tiny person."

"On the one hand, you might say we're so small and insignificant. The other perspective to look at it is that we have a place in this big landscape, and that we can so definitively see that we fit in there in a very specific way," she said. "And that I think it is the importance of history, the importance of culture and really the importance of medicine."

(Xinhua reporters Zhang Mocheng and Zhang Yichi contributed to the story.)SEOUL, April 28 (Xinhua) -- The just-concluded inter-Korean summit has seen South Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) agreeing on reconciliation and cooperation, bringing hope for lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula.

At the border village of Panmunjom on Friday, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and DPRK's top leader Kim Jong Un confirmed a common goal of complete denuclearization and agreed to push for multilateral talks to turn the current armistice agreement into a peace treaty.

The move, which helped ease tensions between the two sides and rekindled the hope of achieving lasting peace for the peninsula, was regarded a positive step for peace and prosperity.

A number of countries including China have welcomed the development. China welcomed the joint declaration reached between the DPRK and South Korea, expressing the hope that both sides can implement the consensus of the summit to promote reconciliation and cooperation, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said.

During their historic summit, Moon and Kim signed their joint declaration - the Panmunjom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity and Unification of the Korean Peninsula.

In this document, the two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to realizing a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula via complete denuclearization.

They also agreed to actively push for talks, involving South Korea, the DPRK, China and the United States, to establish a permanent, firm peace regime with a view to declaring an end to the 1950-1953 Korean War and turning the armistice agreement into a peace treaty this year.

The Korean Armistice Agreement was signed on July 27, 1953. Ending the current abnormal armistice and establishing a firm peace regime on the peninsula is a historical mission that cannot be delayed any more, the document said.

The Panmunjom Declaration is composed of three main themes: the establishment of a peace regime, efforts to ease military tensions, and co-prosperity and unification of the two countries.

"Peace, a New Start," as the slogan that the South Korean government set for the inter-Korean summit goes, a good momentum is being formed toward achieving peace on the Korean Peninsula.

One week prior to the summit, the DPRK leader said at the Third Plenary Meeting of the Seventh Central Committee of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea that his country would discontinue nuclear and missile tests, close down its main nuclear testing facility in Punggye-ri, and concentrate efforts on economic development.

Professor Hugh White, a strategic studies expert from the Australian National University, regarded the inter-Korean summit as a very important meeting, which would have the potential of marking a major shift in northeast Asian strategic affairs.

According to the professor, the inter-Korean summit could also be very important in setting the scene for the planned meeting between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump, which has been initially set for late May or early June.

Chen Gang, senior research fellow at the East Asian Institute of the National University of Singapore, said the dual-track suggestions proposed by China are appropriate ways to solve the Korean Peninsula issue.

The analyst suggested that on one hand the DPRK make efforts toward denuclearization, and on the other hand the United States and South Korea promised to give security guarantee for Pyongyang, like reducing the U.S. military presence on the Korean Peninsula, scaling down military exercise in this region, reducing hostilities and assisting the DPRK economically.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-28 10:32:33|Editor: Chengcheng

Video Player Close

SANTIAGO, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Chinese long-distance runner Bai Bin is in Chile to tackle his toughest challenge yet: linking the south and north poles by running from Antarctica to the Arctic.

Bai, now 48, has been running ever since he can remember.

"I was born to run. I don't stop for even a day," said Bai, who runs anywhere from six to 10 hours a day, or the equivalent of 60 to 90 kilometers.

His latest undertaking will take him from one end of the Americas to the other, over the varied landscapes of South America, through the tropical climates of Central America and past the bustling cities of North America.

But his journey actually began at the Great Wall Station of China in Antarctica, where he started his pole-to-pole run on March 1. From there, he ran across Ushuaia, a remote outpost in Argentina's Patagonian region that is considered the world's southernmost city.

"People are very kind in the south, they helped us without expecting anything in return," said Bai, who arrived in Chile's capital Santiago on Thursday, after 57 days of running 3,326 kilometers.

In total, his run is expected to take him to more than 60 cities in 13 countries and regions, and to cover from 22,000 to 24,000 kilometers over a period of 300 to 360 days.

Except for the short time he takes out to eat and sleep, Bai has not stopped running and always picks up exactly where he left off the day before.

His 1.6-meter frame and muscular legs reflect his singular lifestyle. Despite the enormous effort required to take on a challenge like this, he says he enjoys every step.

For Bai, there are only two states: running and being at rest.

While the press considers him to be an athlete, he says he just runs for the joy of it.

In 2011, Bai covered more than 10,000 kilometers of the ancient Silk Road in just 150 days. Five years later, in 2016, he won the Ultra Gobi, an exclusive 400-kilometer race limited to just 50 people, held in western China's Gobi Desert.

Now he's in Chile, which marks the farthest point from China, geographically speaking, for his latest challenge.

Li Zhenyu, the organizer of the route, said two teams traveling by car work to make sure all goes smoothly, including an advance team that stays ahead of the run by a few kilometers, arriving first to book lodgings and prepare or schedule meals.

Despite the pre-planning, things happen. Bai sustained a leg injury that hampered his gait for 10 days, and everyone had to deal with the fast-changing weather patterns typical of the southern tip of the world, including gale-force winds, torrential downpours and freezing temperatures.

But what Bai recalls most are the breathtaking South American landscapes of thick forests laced by rivers and lakes.

Everyone is as committed to the challenge as Bai. Li Zhenyu said if money runs short, he is willing to sell his house in Beijing. He already gave up his job in China to accompany Bai on this once-in-a-lifetime journey.

The team is in talks with representatives of the Guinness Book of World Records.

"I want to be the person with the biggest capacity to run in the world," says Bai, who is looking forward to rejoining his pregnant wife after he completes the run.

By then, his first child will be born, presenting him with a whole new challenge.KATHMANDU, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Nepal has welcomed the joint declaration reached between South Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said here late Friday.

"Nepal believes that it is a significant step forward towards normalizing their bilateral relations, and hopes that this will contribute to establishing lasting peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula," the ministry stated in a press statement.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in and the DPRK's top leader Kim Jong Un confirmed a common goal of complete denuclearization and agreed to push for multilateral talks to turn the current armistice agreement into a peace treaty after their first-ever summit meeting in Panmunjom on Friday.

Moon and Kim signed their joint declaration - the Panmunjom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity and Unification of the Korean Peninsula - at Peace House on the South Korean side of the Joint Security Area, often referred to as Panmunjom after the nearby village where the 1953 Korean Armistice Agreement was signed.9 killed in road accident in India Source: Xinhua 2018-04-28 11:27:42 NEW DELHI, April 28 (Xinhua) -- At least nine people were killed and eight others injured Saturday after a passenger vehicle carrying them rammed into a stationary truck in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, police said. Editor: pengyingSource: Xinhua| 2018-04-28 11:42:46|Editor: Chengcheng

Video Player Close

BANGKOK, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said late on Friday that Thailand welcomes the meeting between Moon Jae-in, President of South Korea and Kim Jong un, Leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

In a statement published online, the ministry said the historic meeting reflects the continued concerted commitment and efforts by all parties, especially South Korea and the DPRK, to work towards a peaceful resolution of the situation on the Korean Peninsula.

It said Thailand hopes that the outcomes of this Summit and further efforts, particularly the planned meeting between the President of the United States and the Leader of the DPRK in the near future, will pave the way for the eventual realization of the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, thereby helping to greatly enhance peace, stability and an atmosphere of cooperation in the region, for the benefits of the Korean peoples and the region as a whole.

Thailand said it stands ready to contribute towards these shared goals.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-28 12:17:50|Editor: ZD

Video Player Close

U.S. President Donald Trump (R) attends a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the White House in Washington D.C., the United States, on April 27, 2018. (Xinhua/Ting Shen)

WASHINGTON, April 27 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday revealed again his profound differences with German Chancellor Angela Merkel over defense burden, trade and the Iran nuke deal.

In a joint press briefing with the visiting German leader, Trump complained again that the United Sates has shouldered a "far greater burden than we should have" in the defense of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

"Other countries should be paying more," he said. "We're protecting Europe and, yet, we pay, by far, more than anybody else."

"NATO is wonderful but it helps Europe more than it helps us. And why are we paying the vast majority of the costs?" Trump asked.

In response, Merkel said that Germany in 2019 will earmark 1.3 percent of its GDP for defense.

"That has been an increase over the past few years. We haven't yet met the target where we should be, but we are getting closer to the target to the guideline that we've set up for ourselves," she added.

Trump has lashed out at NATO members, Germany in particular, for failing to increase their national defense budget to the threshold of 2 percent of their GDP, something they promised in 2014 to achieve in 10 years.

Trump also noted that the U.S. trade relations with Germany, and the European Union at large, were not "reciprocal."

"We need a reciprocal relationship, which we don't have. The United States right now has a trade deficit with the European Union of 151 billion U.S. dollars ... it's been unfair," he said.

The White House host further added that "there's no way we should have a trade deficit of 151 billion U.S. dollars. So we're going to make it reciprocal. We're going to make it a much more fair situation."

Trump also noted sarcastically the bad blood between the European leaders and himself.

"I believe that -- you know, when I look at the numbers in Germany -- and some other countries, they may not like Donald Trump but you have to understand, that means I'm doing a good job because I'm representing the United States," he said.

The two sides also seemed to have failed to reach convergence over Trump's earlier threat to increase tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, as Merkel said it is up to Trump to decide whether to exempt the European Union from the tariffs before the May 1 deadline.

She only said that "we had an exchange of views on the current state of affairs of the negotiations, and the respective assessments on where we stand on this. And the decision lies with the president," referring to Trump.

She also defended the German trade stance, saying that her government is already taking actions to change the imbalance.

"The president obviously is not satisfied with the trade surplus. We have already been able to reduce that, our trade surplus that is with the United States, but we still have a long way to go. But the United States, also due to the tax reform, again has become a very interesting place to invest for our companies," she said.

"We can say with great pride that not only hundreds of thousands of cars are exported from Germany to the United States, but from the U.S. to the rest of the world, hundreds of thousands of cars that are built here in the states are exported to the rest of the world with creating American jobs, and I believe that the workers here have very good working conditions," she added.

As for the Iran nuclear deal, Trump vowed to ensure that Iran "does not even get close to a nuclear weapon, and that Iran ends its proliferation of dangerous missiles, and its support for terrorism."

"We must also ensure that Iran does not profit from our success," he said, refusing to say whether to leave the deal, although his newly picked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said earlier on the same day that Trump is unlikely to remain in the deal.

Merkel acknowledged that the current deal is not sufficient, but said that Berlin believes that the deal "is a first step" that has contributed to the slowing of the Iranian nuke activities.

Merkel paid a working visit to the United States on Friday, following French President Emmanuel Macron's high-profile state visit to the country.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-28 12:27:51|Editor: Chengcheng

Video Player Close

NEW DELHI, April 28 (Xinhua) -- At least nine people were killed and eight others injured Saturday after a passenger vehicle carrying them rammed into a stationary goods truck in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, police said.

The accident took place during morning on highway at Lakhimpur Kheri district about 129 km north of Lucknow, the capital city of Uttar Pradesh.

"This morning a passenger van carrying 17 people rammed into a parked goods truck on national highway 24 here killing nine people on spot and injuring eight others," a police official said. "The injured persons were rushed to a nearby hospital in Shahjahanpur."

Police have registered a case and ordered investigations to ascertain reasons behind the accident.

On Thursday 13 children were killed and several others injured after a train hit a school bus at an unmanned railroad crossing in Kushinagar district of the state.

Deadly road accidents are common in India often caused due to overloading, bad condition of roads and reckless driving.

An official report says on an average 400 deaths take place every day in India due to road accidents.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-28 12:37:53|Editor: Chengcheng

Video Player Close

BRUSSELS, April 27 (Xinhua) -- China-EU economic and trade relations have a bright future, the Chinese ambassador to the bloc has said.

Ambassador Zhang Ming, head of the Chinese Mission to the European Union (EU) said on Wednesday that China's greater openness, the Belt and Road Initiative and huge potential on mutual investment would be driving force behind China-EU cooperation.

"China-EU economic and trade relations are now facing new opportunities,"Zhang said at a luncheon hosted by the EU-China Business Association.

He stressed the new measures that Chinese authorities announced recently, saying that "China will continue to open up."

According to the ambassador, China will further open the financial sector, all of which to be implemented by the end of this year, removing restrictions on foreign equity shares in vehicle markets, among others.

Zhang also underlined China's plan to build the southernmost province of Hainan, into a free trade zone and then a free trade port.

Starting from May 1, travelers from 59 countries, including 28 EU member states, will be able to enter and stay in Hainan without a visa for 30 days, said Zhang.

"All this shows that China's reform and opening-up is never an empty slogan, rather, it is supported by concrete actions," said Zhang, adding that China want to achieve win-win outcomes.

Apart from the new measures of opening-up, Zhang said the Belt and Road Initiative, which will help promote connectivity and infrastructure construction as well as to lower the transportation costs, will also certainly boost trade between China and the EU.

"With our joint efforts, we have achieved good progress in trade, investment and technological cooperation," Zhang said, adding that the EU is China's largest trading partner, while China is the second largest trading partner of the EU for 14 years consecutively.

"The vast Chinese market has generated huge profits for the 16,000 EU companies in China. Chinese investment in the EU has created a large number of jobs and tax revenues. China and the EU are already highly inter-dependent,"the ambassador said.

However, the current data showed that the EU investment in China only accounts for four percent of the EU's total overseas investment, while Chinese investment only takes up two percent of the foreign direct investment received by the EU.

"It is not commensurate with the big size of our economy. There is huge potential to be tapped," Zhang said.

He said that the two sides should explore more possibilities in areas such as green economy, digital economy, finance, agriculture, aviation and ocean, adding that both sides need to "follow the principles of openness, transparency, and fairness, observe the WTO rules and uphold the multilateral trading system."

China will keep its door open to European investors and expects the EU side to do the same, he added.WASHINGTON, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Friday's high-profile inter-Korean summit concluded with a joint commitment to denuclearization and permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula, showing positive signs for the planned meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un.

Worldwide, the meeting between Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, on the South Korean side of the Panmunjom truce village that divides the two Koreas following the 1950-53 Korean War, is regarded as a historic moment.

BEST NEWS ALL YEAR

Chairman of the New York-headquartered think tank Eurasia Group Ian Bremmer hailed the outcome of the inter-Korean summit as the "best news you're going to hear all year."

Calling it "the first significant unreservedly positive geopolitical development of the year," Bremmer said: "It's hard to see the United States credibly threatening military preemption when peace is breaking out across the peninsula, which is precisely the point."

"Ultimately it's a win for everybody," he noted.

In the eyes of Richard Haass, president of the U.S. think tank Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), implementing the meeting's consensus may mean "there will be less disarray in the world."

Haass called the Moon-Kim meeting an "extraordinary development on the Korean Peninsula" that helps defuse tensions that might slide into military confrontation.

The meeting also came as a relief to both Pyongyang and Seoul, experts believe.

Scott A. Snyder, CFR's senior analyzer on the Korean Peninsula, highlighted the fact that Kim is the first DPRK top leader to cross into the technically South Korean territory.

"This shift from provocation to dialogue has been a hallmark" of Pyongyang's diplomacy, he said, adding the move could generate public support in the South of the peninsula for warmer relations with the North.

Above all, the successful inter-Korean summit is a "major breakthrough," Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Darrell West told Xinhua.

"Bringing them together is a good sign that negotiations are starting in good faith and each side has confidence in the process," he commented.

The Panmunjom Declaration from the inter-Korean summit, said Troy Stangarone, senior director of the Washington-based non-profit Korea Economic Institute on policy research, "lays out a pathway forward for the two Koreas if properly implemented," setting up "a common framework for both sides to work from on rebuilding inter-Korean relations."

POSITIVE FOR TRUMP-KIM MEETING

The inter-Korean summit preluded Kim's meeting with Trump.

Trump on Friday said options for the meeting location were reduced to two or three sites, and the United States will set up the meeting "very shortly."

Former U.S. diplomat Mintaro Oba said "the inter-Korean summit is like the opening move in chess."

"How you play it sets up the other possible moves that come after it," he said. "So the inter-Korean summit's significance lies primarily in what atmosphere it creates and what expectations it reinforces heading into the next move, which is the Trump-Kim summit."

CFR's Snyder said Seoul recognizes that improvements in inter-Korean relations will be ultimately tied to any progress in the U.S.-DPRK relations.

He added that a U.S.-DPRK summit will be "high-risk, high-reward" for both Kim and Trump, because failure could entrench their previous opposing stances and lead to confrontation.

Currently, experts believe that Seoul is seeking to be the "axle" to keep the wheels of inter-Korean and U.S.-DPRK relations moving toward a comprehensive settlement of peace and denuclearization.

WASHINGTON NEEDS TO MANAGE EXPECTATIONS

Some experts see questions left unsolved in the Moon-Kim meeting.

"What matters in the context of (U.S. relations with South Korea) is whether the South hangs tough and does not offer up economic incentives that firstly, reward the North for promises rather than actions and secondly, ignore U.S. concerns, above all the nuclear and ballistic missile programs," CFR's Haass said.

Snyder believes that reviving inter-Korean economic cooperation including large-scale projects like the Kaesong Industrial Zone should remain off limits under United Nations Security Council resolutions "until there is tangible evidence" of Pyongyang's commitment to denuclearization.

Douglas Paal, vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, predicted that with Pyongyang, Washington will "seek to broaden and deepen the meaning of denuclearization and set a timetable for elimination of the weapons, with benchmarks, in exchange for sanctions relief and diplomatic relations."

"This will be a difficult negotiation, particularly because of the need for adequate verification, which the North has always resisted," he added.

In addition, experts believe that other regional actors and interests could also step in. For example, in his earlier meeting with Trump, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe urged Washington to include the DPRK's missile capability and Japanese abductees in the Trump-Kim talks.

Ryan Hass, a Brookings Institution scholar on Asia issue, suggested Washington readjust its expectations for the Kim-Trump meeting.

"It's going to be difficult for Trump to exceed either the hopefulness of the Moon-Kim meeting or the standards on verification set by JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) Iran deal," he said, it "would be wise for White House to manage expectations, rather than inflate them."

(Matthew Rusling from Washington contributed to the story.)LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan, April 28 (Xinhua) -- At least five people, including four civilians, have been confirmed dead and 10 others including seven civilians injured in a suicide attack Saturday in southern Afghanistan.

A suicide bomber blew up his explosive-laden car next to a military base in Nad Ali district of the southern Helmand province, said local official Omar Zawak.PHNOM PENH, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Five local people were killed and two others were injured in a collision between a tanker truck and a Lexus SUV on Saturday in Southwest Cambodia's Koh Kong province, a local police chief said.

The fatal crash took place at 7:30 a.m. local time on National Road 4 in Sre Ambel district when the two vehicles, driven in an opposite direction, hit head-on, said Ma Ty, police chief of Sre Ambel district.

"All five people in the Lexus SUV were killed on the spot and two others in the tanker truck were injured in the crash," he told Xinhua, adding that the truck carried the empty oil tank when it met the accident.

The Lexus SUV and the tanker truck cabin burst into flames following the collision, he said, adding that the Lexus SUV was likely to be blamed for the crash.

Death toll from road traffic accidents remains high in Cambodia. In 2017, some 1,780 people were killed in the accidents, as 5,539 others got injured, according to a government report.GUANGZHOU, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Already an advisor to the Somali president and a lecturer at a Chinese university in her early 30s, Hodan Osman Abdi wants to influence even more people across the continents.

Her documentary "Africans in Yiwu" is being shown at the ongoing China-Africa Economic and Cultural Week in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, home to about 15,000 African people.

The six episodes tell the stories of 19 people, including Abdi herself, from 15 African countries, all of whom live in east China.

Abdi said she wants to banish the stereotypes and help the Chinese, Somalis and people from other African countries better understand each other.

With the intention of going into business like her uncle who came to China in the 1980s, she arrived in China in 2005 to attend college.

"My face was very unusual on campus at that time, but things are totally different now," Abdi recalled.

During the past 13 years, she has obtained degrees in business administration, education and communications, and become the first woman in her family with a PhD. She is now a researcher at the Institute of African Studies Zhejiang Normal University (IASZNU) in the city of Jinhua, Zhejiang Province.

In the same timeframe, the number of African students on her campus has grown to more than 1,000.

In business, education, culture and everyday life, China and African countries have closer and more diverse communication than ever before, but Abdi thinks the ordinary people still do not know each other very well.

"I'm from Somalia. And the only impression of my country many Chinese people have is still the pirates," she said.

"Africans in Yiwu" was Abdi's first project at IASZNU as a researcher, and was strongly supported by the institute.

"We intentionally select people from many different countries, to represent the diversity of Africa," she said.

One of the core concepts of the documentary is "African stories told by African voices," while the characters' fluent Chinese language make it very appealing to Chinese audience.

Abdi was appointed as an adviser on Somalia-China relations last September by the Somali government. Two months later, she became chair of a new East Africa research center she established at IASZNU.

"Geographically, East Africa is an important region along the Belt and Road, and it's also where the Chinese first landed in Africa," Abdi explained. "East African countries like Ethiopia and Kenya have close economic ties with China."

She hopes that Chinese academics will do more research on East Africa, especially field research.

"China, with its openness and inclusiveness, has made my dreams come true, and made me understand the true meaning of cosmopolitanism.

"I'm hoping that through research and communication, understanding will grow between China and Africa," Abdi said.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-28 15:33:29|Editor: Lu Hui

Video Player Close

U.S. President Donald Trump (R) attends a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the White House in Washington D.C., the United States, on April 27, 2018. (Xinhua/Ting Shen)

WASHINGTON, April 28 (Xinhua) -- In sharp contrast with his "bromance" with French President Emmanuel Macron, U.S. President Donald Trump treated German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who paid a quick visit Friday, with a belligerent reaffirmation of "America First" in terms of trade, the NATO defense budget, and the Iran nuclear deal.

Trump and Merkel apparently failed to narrow their differences over these issues that have driven the two nations apart since the Trump administration took office in 2017.

"NATO HELPS EUROPE MORE THAN U.S."

Trump has lashed out at NATO members, Germany in particular, for failing to increase their national defense budget to 2 percent of their GDP, though they had promised in 2014 to achieve it in 10 years.

At the joint press conference with Merkel Friday, he said, "We're protecting Europe and yet, we pay, by far, more than anybody else." "NATO is wonderful but it helps Europe more than it helps us. And why are we paying the vast majority of the costs?" he asked.

In response, Merkel said Germany will earmark 1.3 percent of its GDP for defense in 2019, pointing out that there has been an increase over the past few years.

"We haven't yet met the target where we should be, but we are getting closer to the target ... that we've set up for ourselves," she said.

It was a rare concession by Merkel, who responded to Trump's America First slogan by saying, "We in Europe have to take our fate into our own hands."

Darrell West, a senior fellow at U.S. think tank Brookings Institution, told Xinhua that "Trump has made the relationship worse with his embrace of ultra-nationalism and rude behavior towards U.S. allies."

"If that continues, it will cause the U.S. and EU to drift further apart," West said.

"WE NEED RECIPROCAL RELATIONSHIP"

Trump also said that U.S. trade relations with Germany, and the EU at large, were not "reciprocal".

Pointing out the U.S. trade deficit with the EU -- 151 billion U.S. dollars -- he said, "Also vital to our security, and that of our allies, is America's ability to maintain a strong and robust manufacturing base ...That's why we must have a fair and reciprocal trading relationship with our friends and partners."

The two sides also seemed to fail to reach an agreement over Trump's threat to largely increase tariffs on imported steel and aluminum. Merkel said it is up to Trump to decide whether to exempt the EU from the tariffs before the May 1 deadline.

"The president obviously is not satisfied with the trade surplus. We have already been able to reduce that," she said. "Not only hundreds of thousands of cars are exported from Germany to the United States, but from the U.S. to the rest of the world ... creating American jobs."

That too failed to sway Trump. Saying people in Germany and some other countries may not like him, he remarked, "That means I'm doing a good job because I'm representing the United States."

IRAN DEAL "ONE PIECE" IN MOSAIC

Trump continued his rhetoric against Tehran and the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the nuclear deal reached in 2015 among China, Germany, Russia, the UK and U.S., the EU and Iran. His newly picked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in Brussels Friday that the U.S. was unlikely to remain in the deal.

Trump vowed to ensure that Iran ends its missile production, "does not even get close to a nuclear weapon", or profit from the U.S. "success" in the Middle East.

He also urged coalition and regional partners to step up their financial and military contributions to the U.S.-led anti-Islamic State drive.

While acknowledging that the current deal is not sufficient, Merkel called it "a first step" that has contributed to the slowing of Iranian nuke activities. She called the current deal "one piece of the mosaic, one building block, if you like, on which we can build up this structure."

"The whole of the region, obviously, is of prime importance to us, because it's not a thousand kilometers away ... Syria and Iran are countries that are right on our doorstep," she added.

Christopher Galdieri, assistant professor at the U.S. Saint Anselm College, told Xinhua that the Trump-Merkel relations are "frosty" in part because "she sees him as dangerous and he sees her as part of the international order he (and many of those around him are) so critical of."

"Trump sees good relations with Macron as a counterweight to his poor ones with Merkel," he added.Li Yan is walking through farmland fields to visit a patient. (Xinhua/Hu Chenhuan)

It was an emergency call. Li Yan put the phone down, slung his medical kit over one shoulder, and started his motorbike with only one hand.

Li is a rural doctor in Toupo, Jiangxi Province. For towns that are too small for a hospital, doctors like Li are considered health guardians as they offer emergency response and medical support. There are over a million across China.

Toupo may be a town in name but in practice it is more like a collection of tiny villages. Li's ward hugs the foot of a mountain. Many of its 1,000 residents live in relative isolation in hard-to-reach hamlets.

This is why Li rides a motorbike.

Li Yan is answering a patient's call on motorcycle. (Xinhua/Hu Chenhuan)

"This is my fifth motorcycle. I wore out all its predecessors!" he said. Over the past 27 years, he has clocked up at least 400,000 kilometers traveling door to door to answer his patients' calls.

When he was just 20 years old, Li was bitten by a snake, and as a result lost his left arm. Despite his own disabilities, Li is an exceptional practitioner who is always ready to rush to the aid of those under his care.

"Li is there whenever we need him - day or night, and he is always so patient and calm," said Wu Chunjin, whose octogenarian mother suffers from chronic rheumatism.

The lush, green mountains of Jiangxi do, however, hide hidden dangers, especially for one-armed motorcyclists. Heavy rain, dirt tracks, insufficient street lighting and the odd roaming animal are all daily hazards for Li.

Li Yan is doing physical examination for a local resident. (Xinhua/Hu Chenhuan)

Once Li was found unconscious with eleven teeth missing after his bike hit a ditch. It is little wonder why Li's wife is worried whenever he goes out to answer a call.

Li continues regardless of the dangers; it is his duty. In underdeveloped rural areas, like Toupo, motorbikes are the quickest and cheapest way to reach elderly patients who often live alone.

Government initiatives are often slow to be implemented in rural areas that lack the supporting infrastructure. The Internet, however, has changed this. China's promotion of smart healthcare, while no substitute for physical treatment, has helped reduce menial work for health guardians like Li.

Li's mobile phone is his diary, reference tool, and, often times, memory support. It holds exhaustive health records of over 400 of his elderly patients. The data can be shared with their children, many of whom live in big cities far away from Toupo. There is still some grunt work that must be done. Li said it took him three months to travel across his ward and compile the data.





Li Yan and his patients at the local clinic. (Xinhua/Hu Chenhuan)

Li is especially adept at acupuncture.

"Even those who lose both arms can still practice calligraphy with their feet, so I am certainly able to treat patients with one hand," he said.

Li has developed an acupuncture method that uses three fingers of one hand. To guarantee accuracy and proper pressure, he practices on himself and does push-ups with these three fingers.

"In the beginning, my patients were a bit concerned about certain treatments, like injections, but they would be fine after they saw me in action," Li said. Over the decades, Li has become a specialist in treating cerebral infarction and sequela of apoplexy with acupuncture. More often than not, he waives his fee for many of his poor patients.

"They basically have no source of income, so this is one less thing for them to worry about," Li said.

Li Yan is taking medicine for his patient. (Xinhua/Hu Chenhuan)

There are now 640,000 rural clinics and over a million rural doctors in China, and every clinic treats, on average, 2,900 patients annually, according to China's National Health Commission. People like Li are a lifeline for millions of rural residents in China.

"I lost one arm once, but it won't hold me back from helping those in need. That is what I have accomplished," Li said.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-28 15:43:31|Editor: Yamei

Video Player Close

GUANGZHOU, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Human bones found in an shipwreck in southern China may be evidence that foreign sailors worked in China 800 years ago.

Several bone fragments were found in the Nanhai No.1, a cargo vessel that sank in the Yangjiang River during the South Song Dynasty (1127-1279), according to Guangdong Cultural Relics Institute.

"These bones are fragmented so it is hard to say that they belonged to one person or a number of people," said Cui Yong, deputy director of the institute.

DNA tests show that they were not remains of an East Asian person, he said.

Judging from the fact that the bones were found on the lower decks of the boat, there may have been foreign sailors working during the Song Dynasty, he said.

At 30.4 meters long and 9.8 meters wide, the vessel was found west of Hailing Island in south China's Guangdong Province. In 2007, the wreck was raised and is now kept at a museum for the Maritime Silk Road.

Although the vessel's itinerary is unknown, large quantities of white porcelain indicate that the ship might have set off from Quanzhou Harbor in Fujian Province. Produced in Dehua, Fujian, white porcelain was mainly made for export.NEW DELHI, April 28 (Xinhua) -- A total of 2,655 candidates including 219 women are in the fray for the upcoming local elections in southwestern Indian state of Karnataka, election officials said Saturday.

As per election commission of India, elections for the 224-member lawmaking body is scheduled to be held on May 12.

Officials said India's ruling Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) is contesting from all the 224 constituencies of the state, and the Congress party has fielded its candidates from 222 constituencies and Janata Dal-Secular from 201.

Apart from this, 2,008 candidates will be contesting elections as independents and be on behalf of national, regional and fringe parties.

The counting of votes will take place on May 15.

Chief Electoral Office in Karnataka said 583 candidates withdrew their candidatures and 271 nominations were rejected during the scrutiny.

Analysts say the elections are politically crucial for the ruling Congress-led government in the state.

The BJP is trying hard to unseat the Congress party in the state.

Heads of both Congress party and BJP are making tours in the state to win elections.JALALABAD, Afghanistan, April 28 (Xinhua) -- A total of 12 people sustained injuries as a blast hit a booth of police traffic in Jalalabad city, the capital of Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province on Saturday, a provincial government official Attaullah Khogiani said.

"A bomb blast, organized by terrorists, targeted a police traffic booth in Jalalabad city today morning, and injured 12 persons including two traffic police," Khogiani told reporters here.

Without blaming any militant group, the official said that the attackers by organizing terror attacks want to terrorist the people.

Taliban outfit since launching its so-called spring offensive on Wednesday has intensified activities elsewhere in the insurgency-hit Afghanistan and since then fierce fighting has been continuing in parts of the country.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-28 16:18:44|Editor: Li Xia

Video Player Close

ADEN, Yemen, April 28 (Xinhua) -- The Yemeni anti-terror troops announced on Saturday that a top leader of the Islamic State (IS) group was killed during a joint security operation in the southern port city of Aden.

The IS leader, Sheikh Saleh AlBakhishi, was killed in a joint operation, when he refused to surrender himself and opened fire on the security forces, Aden's security command said in a statement.

"The raid conducted by the anti-terror troops and the emergency security unit, in partnership with local intelligence officials, also resulted in the arrest of three other IS fighters," the statement added.

An intelligence source told Xinhua that the IS leader killed was responsible for commanding terrorist operations in Aden and the neighboring southern province of Abyan.

The forces of the United Arab Emirates based in Aden provided support for the operation.

The official spokesman of the Aden security administration, Abdul Rahman AlNaqeeb, told Xinhua by phone that "the anti-terror troops aimed at arresting the high-ranking IS leader alive but an armed confrontation erupted in the area."

He said that one member of the anti-terror security team was killed and two others were injured in the exchange of fire that continued for about half an hour.

Security forces also arrested three bodyguards of the IS leader in Aden. Several weapons, documents and explosive devices were seized from the IS-held building, according to the spokesman.

The southern port city of Aden is considered as Yemen's temporary capital and the Saudi-backed Yemeni government based itself there since 2015.

During the past two years, the al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula and other terrorist groups including the IS had an active presence in Yemen's southern part.

The impoverished Arab country has been locked into a civil war since the Shiite Houthi rebels overran much of the country militarily and seized all northern provinces, including capital Sanaa, in 2014.

Saudi Arabia leads an Arab military coalition that intervened in Yemen in 2015 to support the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi after Houthi rebels forced him into exile.

The United Nations has listed Yemen as the world's number one humanitarian crisis, with seven million Yemenis on the brink of famine and cholera causing more than 2,000 deaths.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-28 16:28:47|Editor: Li Xia

Video Player Close

RIO DE JANEIRO, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian President Michel Temer discussed a free trade agreement (FTA) with visiting Chilean President Sebastian Pinera in Brasilia on Friday.

Acknowledging the "strong" economic ties between Brazil and Chile, Temer called for creating a favorable environment for business to boost economic growth.

The president said the two countries are working to overcome current regulation barriers so that an FTA can be established.

According to Brazil's Foreign Ministry, Brazil's trade with Chile reached nearly 8.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2017, an increase of about 22 percent year on year.

During the meeting with Pinera, the two countries signed two cooperation agreements, which Temer said will stimulate trade and investment.

Pinera was elected to a second presidential term in March. His first term was between 2010 and 2014.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-28 16:28:48|Editor: Yamei

Video Player Close

BEIJING, April 28 (Xinhua) -- China on Saturday urged the United States to assess the protection of intellectual property rights (IPRs) by foreign governments including the Chinese in an objective, fair manner, and a spirit of goodwill.

The statement was issued by the Ministry of Commerce on its website in response to the Office of the United States Trade Representative's Friday release of the "2018 Special 301 Report on Intellectual Property Rights." China has been placed on the office's Priority Watch List this year.

"China objects to this move by the United States and urges the U.S. side to faithfully fulfill its bilateral commitments and respect the facts," said the Ministry of Commerce in the statement.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-28 17:13:58|Editor: Yamei

Video Player Close

CLAREMONT, the United States, April 27 (Xinhua) -- The 12th International Forum on Ecological Civilization, an initiative to create and promote new modes of development in China and the West, kicked off in Claremont, Southern California, Friday.

Themed "Ecological Civilization and Symbiotic Development", the two-day conference is hosted by the Institute for Postmodern Development of China, a non-profit organization.

Over 160 scholars from China, the United States and other countries are exchanging views on the latest developments in ecological civilization.

John B. Cobb Jr., a 93-year-old member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, called to improve the quality of community life in a way that would leave everyone better off while reducing the pressure on the natural environment, suggesting that China could lead the way.

"We need to describe the need in a different way, such as freeing everyone from degrading poverty while reducing the overall pressures on our natural environment," he said. "This would require changes in our lifestyle that are not now seriously discussed in any nation. Perhaps China can lead the way."

David Korten, co-founder and president of the Living Economies Forum,a non-profit that promotes positive living principles and a new economy grounded in them, said we have arrived at a defining moment in the human experience.

"Either we find our common path to an ecological civilization that meets the essential material needs of Earth's human population in a balanced relationship with (Earth's) natural systems, or we risk being the first Earth species knowingly to choose self-extinction," he said.

Korten, the author of influential books including "When Corporations Rule the World," and "The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community", said this poses a distinctive challenge to China, which must now choose between leading the world on one of two paths.

The mayor of Claremont, Opanyi Nasiali, welcomed scholars from around the world, saying, "I hope this conference stresses the importance of collaboration and strengthens the respect we must have for each other in this global village."TANA RIVER, Kenya, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Two children are missing after a rescue boat they were in capsized in Tana River County in coastal Kenya on Friday evening.

Tana River County Red Cross Coordinator Gerald Bombe confirmed on Saturday that the boat was ferrying people from Galili village when it lost control at Idsowe Bridge due to high waves.

The boat that had been in a rescue operations since Friday morning was carrying about 15 people after heavy rainfall caused the river to overflow, prompting the displacement.

A county official who did not wish to be named said the coxswain might have been inexperienced.

Tana River County and Kenya Red Cross officials have been evacuating people in Tana Delta area for the last three weeks due to heavy rains pounding the area.

"The people were headed to safety but the water became very rough as it moved fast. With the boat moving in the opposite direction, it overturned due to strong currents," said Bombe.

The county government boats had been evacuating sick villagers, the elderly, expectant mothers and children. Expert divers have also been deployed to help with the search of the two missing children in the crocodile-infested river.

Bombe said there was hope of finding one of the missing children alive as the girl who was rescued and resuscitated told the team that her sister managed to get to a tree along the river bank.

Meanwhile, the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) team has rescued over 1,000 people after River Sabaki in neighboring Kilifi County burst its banks causing floods.

KDF spokesman David Obonyo said the locals were airlifted from danger zones.MOGADISHU, April 28 (Xinhua) -- At least six people, including three senior Somali military officers, were killed in a suicide bombing in the central town of Galkayo on Saturday.

Security officials said the blast occurred after a man with suicide vest detonated explosives strapped in his waist as he approached the soldiers at a busy restaurant in northern Galkayo.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-28 18:09:08|Editor: Yamei

Video Player Close

MOGADISHU, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Somalia will next month host a two-day international conference aimed at stopping illegal charcoal trade in the Horn of Africa nation, organizers said Saturday.

The May 7-8 conference, which will bring together Somali environment experts and international donor partners, will discuss ways of stopping the illegal trade, unsustainable production and use of charcoal in the country, said the UN Mission in Somalia.

"The Somali government-led event therefore aims to urgently build alliances amongst consumer countries and international and local experts and donors," the UN mission said.

The two-day conference is supported by the UN Development Program (UNDP), UN Environment and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Export of charcoal from Somalia has been banned by a 2012 United Nations Security Council resolution and the Somali government due to its destructive effect on the environment, and its exacerbation of conflict and humanitarian crises.

According to the UN, 8.2 million trees were cut down for charcoal in Somalia between 2011 and 2017, increasing land degradation and food insecurity, and illegal trade in charcoal acts as major source of funding for militias and terrorist groups such as al-Shabab.

A UN monitors' report released late 2017 said Somali insurgents earn approximately 10 million U.S. dollar annually from charcoal smuggled to Asia through Somali ports.

The UN report said this enables al-Shabab to finance its operations and undermines counter-terrorism operations in the Horn of African nation.JUBA, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Relief agencies in South Sudan on Saturday condemned increased attacks on humanitarian workers in the war-torn nation.

The agencies under South Sudan NGO Forum which comprises both local and international organizations also called for safe release of ten aid workers who went missing outside Yei town in Central Equatoria region on Wednesday.

"The NGO community is deeply concerned about these heinous acts and calls for the immediate release of the ten humanitarian colleagues and their safe return to their families," said the agencies.

The organizations which included Plan International, South Sudanese Development Organization, (SSDO), ACROSS and Action Africa Help (AAH) called for an end to increased attacks on humanitarian workers in the country.

"In order to prevent the already dire conditions deteriorating, aid workers must be facilitated to deliver humanitarian assistance safely and without any threat or risk to their lives," said the agencies.

The statement comes after the UN peacekeeping mission said surging violence in parts of South Sudan is putting thousands of war-weary civilians at risk and endangering the fragile peace process in the world's youngest nation.

According to the UN, such hostilities have forced the relocation of several humanitarian workers resulting in disruption of aid services.

The agencies said the missing of ten aid workers is the latest in a series of incidents directly targeting aid workers in the last two weeks.

"NGOs condemn all forms of attack against humanitarian aid workers and appeal to parties to the conflict to not lose sight of those most affected by the ongoing crisis in South Sudan including vulnerable women, children and elderly people," said the agencies.

"All parties must support the efforts of humanitarian aid workers to save lives and alleviate suffering for dignified human beings in the world's youngest nation."

According to South Sudan Humanitarian Response plan for 2018, 4 million people have been displaced since the conflict broke out in 2013, including 1.9 million internally displaced people, with over 85 percent estimated to be women and children.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) projected that in the absence of humanitarian assistance in May-July, an estimated 7.1 million people (63 percent of the population) will face food crisis or worse acute food insecurity.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-28 18:29:12|Editor: Li Xia

Video Player Close

RIYADH, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Saudi air forces intercepted on Saturday four ballistic missiles shot by Yemen's Houthi militias that targeted border city Jazan, Al Arabiya local news reported.

The four missiles were shot at the same time at 10:40 am local time (0740 GMT) and were targeting residential areas in the city, the report said.

The forces intercepted on Friday a ballistic missile shot towards another border city Najran.

Houthi militias have been targeting various Saudi cities, mainly those near the Saudi-Yemeni border. Saudi Arabia is leading a coalition in support of the exiled Yemeni government against Iranian backed militias.

The militias have fired over 100 ballistic missiles in total targeting Saudi Arabian land, said an Arab coalition statement released on April 16. Saudi air defenses were able to intercept most of them.VILNIUS, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Lithuanian Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis became a target of social media scammers creating fake Facebook profiles with the name of the prime minister, local media reported Saturday.

Skvernelis warned his colleagues and followers about fake Facebook profiles carrying his name. At least seven fake Skvernelis' profiles were created on Facebook social media platform.

"It seems I've been targeted by so called African princes or similar scammers," Skvernelis posted Friday evening on his official Facebook page.

He warned invitations to join suspicious lending platforms have been sent to Facebook users from these profiles, falsely claiming the prime minister of Lithuania had also joined the platforms.

"These profiles are fake. Don't be fooled by this. Facebook administration has been informed on these fake profiles," posted Skvernelis.

It's not the first time members of the Lithuanian government have been targeted on social media.

Last September, the Facebook account of Lithuanian Defense Minister Raimundas Karoblis was hacked and deleted. The country's defense ministry claimed it had been "an intentional and malicious act" and contacted the country's police.MOGADISHU, April 28 (Xinhua) -- At least seven people including three senior military officials were killed and eight others injured in a suicide bombing in Galkayo town in central Somalia, official said on Saturday.

A military commander who declined to be named told Xinhua by phone that a suicide bomber wearing explosive vest targeted forces at a popular restaurant in Galkayo.

"I can confirm to you that seven people including the commander of the joint forces Abdihukun Abdullahi Horeye were killed in the attack. We are establishing more details on the incident," the commander said.

The blast occurred after a man with suicide vest detonated the explosives which were strapped in his waist as he approached the soldiers at a busy restaurant in northern Galkayo.

The joint forces have recently formed to secure the town of Galkayo that witnessed insecurity for the past few years.

Witnesses described the attack as "huge" saying the restaurant is frequented by government officials.

"We heard the blast and learnt that forces were targeted at a restaurant in our town. The place was cordoned off by the security forces," A witness Mohamed Omar told Xinhua.

Extremist group al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for the latest attack that has caused panic in the in the town in Mudug region.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-28 19:09:22|Editor: Lu Hui

Video Player Close

HOUSTON, April 27 (Xinhua) -- The 8th U.S.-China Petrochemical Forum was held here Friday to promote energy cooperation between the two countries amid the current challenge of low oil prices.

At the opening ceremony, Shen Jiansheng, director of the Asia-Pacific cooperation section of Greater Houston Partnership, said the two sides have built a close and solid relationship in terms of energy cooperation.

"Houston is the energy capital of the world and many famous Chinese energy companies have chosen the city to set up their American headquarters," he said, adding that the bilateral energy cooperation can be enhanced in many ways.

Mentioning the U.S.-China trade tensions, Zhang Lei, president of Global Chinese Petroleum Entrepreneur Association, said the forum is a good example of collaboration and development still remaining the main theme of the two countries' business ties.

During the one-day forum, businessmen from the two countries discussed such issues as opportunities and prospects in the energy industry as well as energy supply chain risk management.Iran-aligned Houthi drones brought down on April 11 over Jizan and Abha are seen during a news conference held by Saudi-led coalition forces in Khobar, Saudi Arabia, April 16, 2018. (Xinhua)

RIYADH, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Saudi air forces intercepted on Saturday four ballistic missiles shot by Yemen's Houthi militias that targeted border city Jazan, Al Arabiya local news reported.

The four missiles were shot at the same time at 10:40 am local time (0740 GMT) and were targeting residential areas in the city, the report said.

The forces intercepted on Friday a ballistic missile shot towards another border city Najran.

Houthi militias have been targeting various Saudi cities, mainly those near the Saudi-Yemeni border. Saudi Arabia is leading a coalition in support of the exiled Yemeni government against Iranian backed militias.

The militias have fired over 100 ballistic missiles in total targeting Saudi Arabian land, said an Arab coalition statement released on April 16. Saudi air defenses were able to intercept most of them.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-28 19:44:31|Editor: Li Xia

Video Player Close

RIYADH, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Saudi civil defense announced on Saturday the death of a male citizen after the falling of the shrapnel of a projectile shot from Yemen that targeted border city Jazan, Al Arabiya local news reported.

The incident that also damaged two homes and three vehicles was reported on Friday evening, the spokesperson of the civil defense confirmed.

The announcement was made short after the Saudi military released a statement about the interception of four ballistic missiles that all were shot at the same time on Saturday morning, targeting Jazan.

Jazan and Najran are the most hit targets of the ongoing attacks by Houthi militias. The Yemeni rebels have also targeted Riyadh and Mecca and other residential areas throughout the three-year war with the Saudi-led coalition.

The spokesperson of the coalition, Col. Turki Al Maliki revealed in a press conference held last week that Houthis shot missiles randomly towards Saudi Arabi along with more than 66,000 projectiles.

Al Maliki accused Iran of standing behind the instability in Yemen through arming the Houthi rebels.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-28 20:04:36|Editor: Li Xia

Video Player Close

TEHRAN, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Iran said it is in talks with Switzerland for investments in Iran's zinc mines, Financial Tribune reported on Saturday.

Preliminary talks have been launched with Swiss investors to develop Mehdiabad, one of the world's largest zinc deposits, said Mehdi Karbasian, Iranian deputy minister of industries, mining and trade.

Iran enjoys "very good" relations with European countries and expects their investments in the mining sector, which will benefit both sides, Karbasian said, hinting at Iranian government's assurances.

Foreign investors are possible to hold full ownership of projects and to take their profits abroad, he said, adding that this will guarantee their investment.

The report added that Iran's zinc exports during the past Iranian calendar year, from March 2017 to March 2018, reached 181,097 tons valued at 386 million U.S. dollars.

Iran's zinc exports reportedly dropped by 4.9 percent in tonnage but grew 46.9 percent in value year on year.MOSCOW, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Moscow sees no alternative to the six-party talks to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov said Saturday, after Pyongyang and Seoul voiced readiness to seek reconciliation.

"Russian assistance to the Korean settlement will be implemented not only in work with partners in bilateral formats, but also through the most active participation in collective efforts," Interfax news agency quoted Morgulov as saying.

The six-party talks mechanism involves China, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States.

Launched in 2003, the talks were suspended in December 2008.

However, tensions on and around the peninsula began easing dramatically since the beginning of 2018, leading to a historic summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and DPRK top leader Kim Jong Un on Friday.

Moon and Kim signed a joint declaration confirming a common goal of complete denuclearization of the peninsula while agreeing to multilateral talks to turn the current armistice agreement between the two Koreas into a peace treaty.

Morgulov said Russia is pleased that the settlement process is developing in line with the roadmap proposed by Moscow and Beijing.

The roadmap suggests that the DPRK suspend its nuclear and missile tests and the United States and South Korea stop their annual joint military drills on the peninsula. It also proposes the establishment of a peace mechanism while denuclearization is being achieved as a dual-track approach.

"We have no doubt that it will be advisable to continue to move along the roadmap," Morgulov said.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-28 21:09:50|Editor: Lu Hui

Video Player Close

RAMALLAH, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Palestine said Saturday that the U.S. President Donald Trump's intention to attend the inauguration ceremony of the new U.S. embassy building in Jerusalem next month is considered "a flagrant violation."

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Foreign Affairs advisor Nabil Shaath said that Trump has committed "grave mistakes during his tenure with regards to the Palestinian cause in issues of Jerusalem, refugees, the Palestinian state and the rights of the Palestinian people."

He told the official Palestinian radio station Voice of Palestine that those mistakes "have disqualified and ended the unilateral U.S. role in the peace process with Israel since 1991."

He reiterated that the United States must act inaccordance with an international multilateral framework that is committed to the UN Charter and international law, otherwise "there would be not real role for the United States in any coming peace process."

Shaath also said the changes of the world power balance has led to the ending of the U.S. role, as "Washington is no longer the ruler of the world and that there are European, Russian, Chinese, Indian and Brazilian powers that make up a multilateral framework."

Trump said Friday that he "may go" to U.S. embassy in Jerusalem opening scheduled as Israel marks May 14, 70th anniversary of Israel's declaration of independence.

Palestinians have designated May 15, the day after Israeli independence, as the Nakba Day, or "Day of the Catastrophe."Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-28 21:09:52|Editor: Lu Hui

Video Player Close

South Korean President Moon Jae-in (R) meets with top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un in the border village of Panmunjom on April, 27, 2018.(Xinhua/Inter-Korean Summit Press Corps)

BEIJING, April 28 (Xinhua) -- The world welcomed the two Koreas' joint commitment to denuclearization and permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula at Friday's summit, looking forward to the next key meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

At the end of the summit between Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in held on the South Korean side of the border village of Panmunjom, their Panmunjom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity and Unification of the Korean Peninsula pledged joint efforts for national reconciliation, denuclearization and lasting peace.

HISTORIC SUMMIT EXPECTED TO LEAD TO PEACE

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the meeting "truly historic" and offered UN assistance to implement the agreements.

"He counts on the parties to build on their first meeting and swiftly implement all agreed actions to further inter-Korean trust-building and reconciliation, sincere dialogue, and progress towards sustainable peace and verifiable denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula," Guterres's spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.

Welcoming the joint declaration as "positive" and "conducive", Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said, "We hope that the relevant parties will maintain the momentum for dialogue and work together to promote the denuclearization of the Peninsula and the political settlement of the Peninsula issue."

China stands ready to continue to play its positive role to this end, he added.

Trump tweeted: "After a furious year of missile launches and nuclear testing, a historic meeting between North and South Korea is now taking place."

Moscow said, "We regard it as a significant step by Seoul and Pyongyang toward national reconciliation", standing ready to facilitate "the establishment of practical cooperation" between them.

European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said in a statement, "It shows that dialogue and diplomacy are our strongest tools to create peaceful solutions to the most difficult problems, and that they can benefit the region and the whole world."

Countries in and beyond Asia including the Philippines, Thailand, Nepal and France hailed the outcome of the summit, hoping it would promote regional peace and stability.

POSITIVE SIGN FOR PLANNED TRUMP-KIM MEETING

"We now look forward to the planned summit meeting between the President of the United States and the leader of the DPRK and further positive outcomes that may stem from it," Mogherini said.

Experts in the United States are regarding the success of Friday's summit as a positive sign for the Trump-Kim meeting planned in the coming weeks, while cautioning against excessive optimism.

Ian Bremmer, chairman of the New York-headquartered think tank Eurasia Group, called the outcome of the inter-Korean summit "the first significant unreservedly positive geopolitical development of the year."

"It's hard to see the United States credibly threatening military preemption when peace is breaking out across the Peninsula, which is precisely the point," he said. "Ultimately it's a win for everybody."

Richard Haass, president of the U.S. think tank Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), described the summit as an "extraordinary development on Korean Peninsula" that will help defuse tensions that might have slided into military confrontation.

Former U.S. diplomat Mintaro Oba likened the summit to the opening gambit in chess.

"How you play it sets up the other possible moves that come after it," he said. "So the inter-Korean summit's significance lies primarily in what atmosphere it creates and what expectations it reinforces heading into the next move, which is the Trump-Kim summit."

Scott A. Snyder, CFR's senior analyzer on the Korean Peninsula, said Seoul recognizes that improvements in inter-Korean relations will be ultimately tied to any progress in U.S.-DPRK relations.

A U.S.-DPRK summit will be "high-risk, high-reward" for both Kim and Trump, because failure could entrench their previous opposing stances and lead to further confrontation, he said.

Douglas Paal, vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, predicted that with Pyongyang, Washington will "seek to broaden and deepen the meaning of denuclearization and set a timetable for elimination of the weapons, with benchmarks, in exchange for sanctions relief and diplomatic relations." ( Ryan Hass, a Brookings Institution scholar on Asia issue, said it would be wise for the White House to manage expectations, rather than inflate them.

"It's going to be difficult for Trump to exceed either the hopefulness of the Moon-Kim meeting or the standards on verification set by JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) Iran deal," he said.BLANTYRE, Malawi, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Malawi's former president Joyce Banda returned home on Saturday four years after she went into exile following Peter Mutharika's rise to power in 2014.

JB, as she is popularly called in Malawi, landed through Chileka International Airport at noon clad in orange and black dress.

The former Malawi leader, who was accompanied by her husband, retired Chief Justice Richard Banda, was welcomed by her People's Party (PP) officials and party supporters who jam-packed the airport clad in the party's orange color.

Before addressing her party supporters, JB told the press that she was very excited to be home.

On her warrant of arrest in connection to plunder of public funds during her reign as announced by the Malawi police in 2017, the former Malawi leader said "I have never been told about the warrant of arrest and I don't know why they would want to arrest me."

JB is scheduled to hold her first political rally on Sunday at Domasi in Zomba where she hails from, according to PP officials.

Her return was officially announced by her party spokesperson Nowa Chimpeni on Monday.

Malawi Police Service in 2017 issued warrant of arrest for the former president on allegations that she was connected to the embezzlement of public funds in a scandal known as cashgate.

JB attained the office of the presidency on April 7, 2012, following the death of President Bingu Mutharika.

She then lost the May 2014 elections, which saw Bingu's brother Peter Mutharika rising to power under the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-28 21:44:58|Editor: ZX

Video Player Close

Wang Yang, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), attends a meeting to mark the 70th anniversary of a call made by the CPC Central Committee on April 30, 1948 in which it called on non-communist parties, as well as people without party affiliation, to convene a political consultative conference and found a democratic coalition government, in Beijing, capital of China, April 28, 2018. (Xinhua/Yao Dawei)

BEIJING, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Top political advisor Wang Yang on Saturday called for joint efforts to advance multiparty cooperation and political consultation led by the Communist Party of China (CPC).

Wang made the statement at a meeting to mark the 70th anniversary of a call made by the CPC Central Committee on April 30, 1948 in which it called on non-communist parties, as well as people without party affiliation, to convene a political consultative conference and found a democratic coalition government.

Wang, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the country's top political advisory body, noted that the call from the CPC Central Committee received ardent responses and laid the foundation for the system of multiparty cooperation and political consultation led by the CPC.

He pointed out that 70 years later, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, had called the system "a new type of party system growing from China's soil," which opened a new chapter for the development of multiparty cooperation in the new era.

"It's necessary to unwaveringly uphold Party leadership and uphold General Secretary Xi's core status, as well as uphold the authority and the centralized, unified leadership of the CPC Central Committee," said Wang, who also called on non-communist parties to enhance their capabilities to perform duties.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-28 21:44:59|Editor: ZX

Video Player Close

Photo shows a commemorative envelope themed on "Chinese air force conducts island patrols around Taiwan". The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) air force released a promotional video and commemorative envelopes, recapping its recent flights over China's island of Taiwan, on April 28, 2018. (Xinhua)

FUZHOU, April 28 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) air force on Saturday released a promotional video and commemorative envelopes, recapping its recent flights over China's island of Taiwan.

The video was released in multiple languages including English, Japanese and Chinese dialects such as Minnan (southern Fujian) and Cantonese. The background music features several widely known Chinese patriotic songs.

The video is to let Chinese people of all ethnic groups, especially compatriots in Taiwan and overseas Chinese, understand that not a single inch of China will ever be separated from the motherland, according to the air force.

The photo and footage of the flights used in the video and on the envelopes are aerial shots taken by the PLA pilots during their cruising missions.

The inscription on the envelopes reads, "Taiwan, the Treasure Island, is harbored by our motherland. The motherland will always be in our heart. It is the sacred duty of any PLA pilot to safeguard the territory of our motherland."

"Every time we flew the H-6K bomber over the island, my comrades and I could clearly see the wonderful landscape of our motherland, before recording the scenes with cameras," said pilot Wu Yuepeng. "They're not only the witness to our efforts for a stronger country and a stronger military, but also witness to us carrying out missions in the new era."

"The island patrols of the PLA pilots were also to measure the landscape of China with flying trails," said Shen Jinke, spokesperson of the PLA air force.

He noted that the PLA air force had the resolve, faith, and capability to safeguard China's national sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Since April 18, the air force has conducted a series of island patrols, in order to exercise and enhance its capabilities to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity.Local students sit for the university entry examinations at the China-aided Jubek Model Secondary School in Juba, capital of South Sudan, Feb. 12, 2018. (Xinhua/Gale Julius)

JUBA, April 28 (Xinhua) -- A former child refugee in South Sudan has taken the frontline to promote peace building in the strife-torn East African nation through education.

Jok Abraham Thon is on a mission to give hope to his peers affected by conflict by ensuring they have access to formal education that could guarantee them an alternative livelihood.

Thon, founder and director of Promised Land Secondary School and Youths for Peace through Education Initiative, shared his vision to help the conflict-affected youths to shun guns and embrace books as part of transforming lives and restoring stability in their motherland.

He left his home village in the wake of Sudanese civil war, escaped to western Uganda with his family as refugees where he finished primary and secondary school education. Upon returning to South Sudan, he joined University of Juba and graduated with a major in economics and banking in 2017.

The 28-year-old believed that his campaign aimed at transforming minds from "bullets to books" through providing youths with access to education will hasten reconstruction of his war-torn motherland.

"I am changing the mindset of youth in this country to ensure they become champions of peace and harmonious co-existence instead of acting as hired warriors," Thon told Xinhua during an interview in Juba.

"If we educate all the youth in South Sudan, their behaviors will change and people will always think of what to do for themselves instead of supporting war mongering politicians," said Thon.

He said the school accommodates 673 students who are part of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) living in the capital, Juba.

Thon said his initiative is also supporting 67 girls who were victims of early child marriage, including 83 orphans.

The campaign has secured him a place among 700 outstanding African youth leaders selected for 2018 Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI), a U.S.-based program that empowers young people through academic coursework, leadership training, and networking.

"It is only education that can assist youths to prevent conflict and strengthen inter-ethnic relations," Thon told Xinhua.

South Sudan has one of the highest illiteracy levels in the world despite the commitment by the government and international partners to expand access to education.

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) says that 70 percent of schools in the conflict-affected states of Jonglei, Unity and Upper Nile were not functioning and about 400,000 children who had been in school later dropped out, citing fear for their lives.

South Sudan's conflict has now entered its fifth year. The conflict erupted in 2013 after forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and his former deputy Riek Machar engaged in combat.

The 2015 peace agreement to end the violence was again violated in July 2016 when the rival factions resumed fighting in the capital, Juba, forcing Machar to flee into exile.

Millions of South Sudanese civilians have sought refuge in neighboring countries as the conflict rages on despite attempts by international players to end it.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-28 21:50:00|Editor: Yamei

Video Player Close

BEIJING, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Robin Li, founder of search engine Baidu, Saturday announced a donation of 660 million yuan (104 million U.S. dollars) to Peking University (PKU) to promote research on artificial intelligence (AI).

The "PKU-Baidu fund" will be used to support frontier research in AI-related subjects such as information science, medicine, economics, communication, psychology, and sociology, which are highly consistent with Baidu's long-term endeavors in the AI sector.

Lin Jianhua, president of PKU, said the establishment of the fund, just days before the university's 120th anniversary, will lead the next generation into the future and help them seize new opportunities in the new era.

Li said a combination of Baidu's strong technology and experience in the field and PKU's academic research abilities will produce more achievements that are beneficial to the country and society.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-28 22:05:02|Editor: Yamei

Video Player Close

SHANGHAI, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Nearly 1,100 companies from all over the world have confirmed their attendance at the China International Import Expo (CIIE), the organizing committee said at a ceremony held on Saturday.

Some 25 companies, most of which are leaders in high-end intelligent equipment or automobiles, signed contracts with the organizers at the ceremony.

The organizing committee said the exhibition area will exceed 180,000 square meters, and new manufacturing technology will be showcased for the first time at the expo, which will be held in Shanghai in November.

The committee invited 47 non-exhibiting companies including state-owned enterprises, large private enterprises, and foreign companies to attend the ceremony.PYONGYANG, April 28 (Xinhua) -- On the southern side of the Taedong River stands a towering white arch, the Monument to the Three Charters for National Reunification.

The 30-meter, highly symbolic monument features two women, who stand for the two Koreas, jointly holding up a sphere bearing the map of a reunified Korea.

Under this mammoth arch, there is little traffic on the highway leading to the truce village of Panmunjom on the military line of demarcation (MLD) about 170 km away.

Economic cooperation between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and South Korea ceased after Seoul in 2016 shut down an industrial park in Kaesong, a DPRK border city near Panmunjom.

Kaesong, an ancient capital of the Koryo Kingdom, the first unified state on the peninsula, is also home to the famous "insam" or ginseng, one of the most popular souvenirs for foreign tourists visiting the DPRK.

After a three-hour drive south along the highway dotted by numerous military checkpoints, journalists covering the recently-concluded historic inter-Korean summit reached Kaesong, where 70 percent of the population have relatives living in the south. One-fourth of them are said to have their spouses or siblings, separated from them by the 1950-53 Korean War, now living in the south.

The movement of foreign tourists is restricted to a couple of attractions kept open for them and one can feel the tension emanating from the demilitarized zone a dozen kilometers away.

A woman guard stood outside a stamp shop. She instructed the local people passing by to move quickly and not talk with the group of foreign tourists buying stamps inside.

The city is also home to a large cemetery of Chinese soldiers fallen in the Korean War. They were members of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army who joined the DPRK side in the war.

With the leaders of the DPRK and South Korea making a joint declaration for peace on the peninsula, the locals are hopeful of a historic change on the horizon.

An 80-year-old, who identified himself only as Park, said he was touched when he learned about the summit between DPRK top leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Friday.

"Our supreme leader has shown great audacity and resolve to the world by stepping across the MLD, for the first time," he said.

Near the cemetery is the confluence of the Rimjin and Han rivers, from where the two flow into the Yellow Sea. Along the Rimjin lies an ancient ruined ferry dock. Before the Korean War, ferries used to carry passengers from Kaesong to Seoul.

Now, with inter-Korean relations turning from confrontation to peaceful co-existence and reconciliation, the restoration of the small dock after 65 years of abandonment is not a dream any more.By Xinhua writers Wang Lili, Li Xiaoyu

SINGAPORE, April 28 (Xinhua) -- The 32nd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit and related meetings ended here Saturday, reaffirming the bloc's cooperation and common vision while emphasizing building a "resilient and innovative ASEAN."

This is the first summit hosted by this year's ASEAN chair Singapore, during which the ASEAN Leaders' Vision for a Resilient and Innovative ASEAN was adopted, a guiding framework for ASEAN in the following months of this year.

ASEAN leaders reiterated 10 key principles underscoring collective vision and commitment. The principles are related to ASEAN's unity and centrality, rules-based order, peace and security, and cooperation against terrorism and non-traditional threats.

They also cover economic integration and openness, technology, investment in youth and elderly, ASEAN identity, sustainable and inclusive development, and respect for fundamental freedoms.

The leaders also endorsed the ASEAN Leaders' Statement on Cybersecurity Cooperation and the concept note on ASEAN Smart Cities Network (ASCN).

At the summit, announcements were made on finalizing the Model ASEAN Extradition Treaty at the working level and looking forward to the negotiation on an ASEAN Extradition Treaty.

Efforts also include conducting the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting-Plus on an annual basis, enhancing regional cooperation on countering terrorism and preventing violent extremism, and working toward an ASEAN Joint Statement which affirms the importance of rules-based order for cyberspace.

EMBRACING INNOVATION, FACILITATING TRADE

One of the key deliverables for the summit is to establish the ASCN, with 26 pilot cities chosen across the region, in the belief that most of ASEAN's growth will continue to be driven by urban centers.

The ASCN will be a collaborative platform for member cities to exchange best practices and urban solutions, as well as to catalyse bankable smart city projects. It conforms with ASEAN's goal to develop into a region for increasingly seamless economic activity and growing opportunities.

At one of the related meetings of the summit, Singaporean Minister for Trade and Industry (Trade) Lim Hng Kiang said e-commerce is becoming an emerging global trend and an increasingly important tool for small and medium-sized enterprises to plug into global supply chains.

It is estimated that the ASEAN digital economy might generate 200 billion U.S. dollars by 2025, with e-commerce accounting for 88 billion dollars.

Koh Chin Yee, CEO for Longus Research Institute of Singapore, told Xinhua that e-commerce was the most possible area for ASEAN member states to get early achievements.

Southeast Asia experienced the fastest Internet user increase across the globe, with a possible netizen population of 480 million by 2020, according to the CEO.

ASEAN's efforts in trade facilitation have borne fruits, one of which is the ASEAN Single Window, an online platform to expedite customs clearance via the electronic exchange of information across borders.

The platform was now operational among five ASEAN member states at present, and the others were urged an early joining in the project which was commenced at the start of this year.

The leaders also agreed to work towards an early conclusion this year of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, a free trade agreement (FTA) scheme of the 10 ASEAN member states and its FTA partners, namely China, Australia, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand.

ENHANCING COMMUNITY-BUILDING EFFORTS

Despite the economic, cultural and religious diversities among the ASEAN member countries, they are making great efforts in community building.

In this regard, announcements were made at the summit to renew the Singapore-ASEAN Youth Fund to build a young-leader network and bring forth an e-sports tournament, as well as to establish the ASEAN Law Academy training program for ASEAN legal education and integration.

Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in his opening remarks at the ASEAN Summit working dinner on Friday evening that ASEAN would pursue the initiatives under its three pillars and make progress towards the goal of "One Vision, One Identity, One Community."

The three pillars refer to ASEAN Political-Security Community, ASEAN Economic Community and the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The 32nd ASEAN Summit and related meetings were held from April 25 to 28.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-28 22:35:09|Editor: yan

Video Player Close

MOSCOW, April 28 (Xinhua) -- The meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has become a new milestone in the development of bilateral relations, a Russian expert said Saturday.

"The meeting is of great symbolic significance ... It will undoubtedly give impetus and new dynamics to China-India relations," Boris Volkhonsky, associate professor of the Institute of Asian and African Studies, Moscow State University, said.

In an interview with Xinhua, Volkhonsky said addressing global development issues without the participation of China and India is simply impossible. Building trust between the two largest countries in the region will contribute to global peace and stability.

"China and India are rapidly developing and playing an increasingly active role in world affairs," he said, adding that this is contributing to a more equitable international order.

Volkhonsky said there are several platforms on which China and India can cooperate, particularly BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

Xi and Modi began their two-day informal meeting in central Chinese city Wuhan on Friday.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-28 22:50:12|Editor: ZX

Video Player Close

Chen Xi, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and president of the Party school of the CPC Central Committee (Chinese Academy of Governance), attends a graduation ceremony of the school in Beijing, capital of China, April 28, 2018. Chen presented certificates to the first group of 831 graduates for the 2018 spring semester at the graduation ceremony. (Xinhua/Shen Hong)

BEIJING, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Chen Xi, a senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC), attended a graduation ceremony of the Party school of the CPC Central Committee (Chinese Academy of Governance) on Saturday.

Chen, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and president of the school, presented certificates to the first group of 831 graduates for the 2018 spring semester.

Four student representatives made speeches at the ceremony, saying they will remain true to the original aspiration and keep the mission firmly in mind, devoting themselves to implementing the spirit of the 19th National Congress of the CPC.

He Yiting, executive vice president of the school, chaired the event.

The Party school of the CPC Central Committee and the Chinese Academy of Governance were recently merged and formed a new institution, as approved by a plan on deepening reform of Party and state institutions released by the CPC Central Committee in March 2018.ADDIS ABABA, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia's newly established Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Resources on Saturday disclosed a 176-million-U.S.-dollar livestock and fishery sector development project.

The six-year project was launched shortly after the East African country's decision to merge the former ministry of livestock and fisheries with the ministry of agriculture, saying it would spur developments in all involved sectors.

According to the ministry, the Ethiopian government has obtained a loan of some 170 million dollars from the World Bank while 6 million dollars was obtained from the International Development Association (IDA), which would enable the project's implementation.

The project, which will be implemented in six regional states from 2018 to 2023, is expected to enhance productivity of the livestock and fishery sectors.

According to the ministry, the project would benefit more than 1 million fish and animal breeders and cooperatives, with particular emphasis on women and youth.

Ethiopia is one of Africa's largest livestock-endowed countries. However, as a landlocked country, Ethiopia solely depends on lakes and rivers for its demands and consumption for fish products.

Accordingly, the new project is expected to improve breeding techniques as well as strengthening the necessary infrastructures to maintain reliable market linkages.

Ethiopia's Ministry of Science and Technology has previously called for investment in fish development and processing endeavors so as to minimize the existing dependence on imported fish products for the domestic market.

According to Getahun Mekuria, Ethiopia's Minister of Science and Technology, due to the existing lack of modern technologies in the sector, Ethiopia was not so far able to fully utilize its "abundant fish resources."Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-28 22:55:14|Editor: yan

Video Player Close

BUCHAREST, April 28 (Xinhua) -- China will deepen bilateral cooperation with Romania on law enforcement and security, as well as pragmatic cooperation under the Belt and Road (B&R) Initiative, said visiting Chinese senior official Guo Shengkun.

During the visit from Friday to Saturday, Guo, Chinese President Xi Jinping's special envoy, has met with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Liviu Dragnea and Prime Minister Viorica Dancila respectively.

Guo, who is also a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and head of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of CPC Central Committee, briefed Romanian leaders on the 19th CPC National Congress held last October.

He said Xi's proposal to build a new type of international relations and a community with a shared future for humanity will provide new opportunities for deepening China-Romania friendly cooperative partnership.

Guo pointed out that bilateral relations between the two countries have seen rapid progress since the establishment of diplomatic ties 69 years ago. It is hoped that through the visit, the two countries will implement important consensus reached by their leaders, consolidate political mutual trust, strengthen strategic communications, and deepen bilateral cooperation on law enforcement and security as well as pragmatic cooperation under the B&R Initiative.

Iohannis said China is an important cooperative partner of Romania, and the two countries enjoy far-reaching traditional friendship. He said he hopes that the two countries will achieve more results under the comprehensive partnership of friendship and cooperation.

Dragnea and Dancila said in their turn that Romania attaches great importance to enhancing the overall level of bilateral relations with China and deepening cooperation in various fields. The Romanian parliament firmly supports all-round bilateral cooperation and is willing to strengthen exchanges between parliaments of the two countries.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-28 23:00:16|Editor: Liu

Video Player Close

People gather around a hole left by an airstrike carried out by the Saudi-led coalition in Sanaa, Yemen, on April 28, 2018. (Xinhua/Mohammed Mohammed)

SANAA, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's Shiite Houthi rebel group claimed that a Saudi-led coalition air strike on Saturday hit the national blood bank in the capital Sanaa, said a statement carried by Houthi-controlled Saba news agency.

Houthis said the air strike left heavy damage in the blood transfusion bank, but gave no further details. However, there were no comments by the Saudi-led coalition on the Houthi claim.

Also, the Houthis reported that other coalition air strikes on Sanaa killed a mourner and injured two others on Saturday morning during a funeral ceremony attended by thousands of supporters of the Houthi group to mourn the the death of the group's second-in-command Saleh al-Sammad killed last week in a coalition air strike.

Meanwhile, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya satellite TV channel reported that the coalition air strikes on the rebel-controlled Interior Ministry in Sanaa late on Friday killed at least 35 rebels, including senior commanders.

Residents of Sanaa said about seven air strikes targeted the capital overnight, hours ahead of the funeral ceremony. The Houthis said via Saba that the air raids targeted the interior ministry building, north of Sanaa, and Sabeen square where the mourners were gathering in south of Sanaa.

The Houthis later said they fired eight ballistic missiles toward military and vital facilities in Saudi border city Jizan in retaliation for the air strikes that targeted the funeral ceremony and the interior ministry in Sanaa.

Though, Saudi state media reported that the Saudi air defence forces had intercepted four missiles over Jizan, and said a Saudi citizen was killed from debris fallen from the missiles.

The coalition considered al-Sammad as the No. 2 leader after the group chief Abdul-Malik al-Houthi. It killed al-Sammad on April 19 in the rebel-held Red Sea port city of Hodeidah.

The killing of al-Sammad was considered the most powerful blow so far on the Iranian-backed Houthi movement.

The coalition intervened in the Yemeni conflict in March 2015 to roll back the Iranian-allied Shiite Houthi rebels and support the internationally-recognized President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

The rebels have seized control over much of the country's north since September 2014, including the capital Sanaa, and forced President Hadi and his government into exile in Riyadh, the capital city of Saudi Arabia.

The war has killed more than 10,000 Yemenis, mostly civilians, and displaced 3 million others, triggering one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.MOSCOW, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Moscow is deeply concerned about the recent deadly clashes between Palestinians and Israelis and the prospect of further aggravation of the situation, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Saturday.

Moscow also expressed concern over the U.S. decision to hold a grand ceremony in Jerusalem next month marking the beginning of its embassy relocation from Tel Aviv.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that he "may go" to Jerusalem to attend the ceremony.

At least three Palestinians were killed and 350 others wounded on Friday during clashes between Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli soldiers in eastern Gaza Strip.

"We call on the parties involved to exercise restraint and abandon steps that provoke an escalation that risks developing into a full-scale force confrontation," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

It said such a highly undesirable development will not only endanger the lives of Palestinians and Israeli citizens but also dampen efforts to create conditions for Palestinian-Israeli negotiations.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-28 23:20:20|Editor: yan

Video Player Close

BEIJING, April 28 (Xinhua) -- The world-famous Royal ballet of Cambodia was performed in Beijing on Saturday to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relations between China and Cambodia.

A Cambodian company performed the traditional dance, which is on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List, at Tianqiao Performing Arts Center. As well as from the dance performance, Cambodian artists also sang classic songs about China and the friendship between the two countries.

The performance was part of the ongoing 18th "Meeting in Beijing" Arts Festival, which is jointly hosted by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, State Administration of Radio and Television, and the Beijing government.

The festival, which runs from Friday until May 31, will include 130 performances by nearly 800 artists from 19 countries and regions, as well as three art exhibitions.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-28 23:30:22|Editor: yan

Video Player Close

CAIRO, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Egypt's top court upheld on Saturday the death penalty for six loyalists of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group over attacking a police station in the southern province of Minya in 2013, official MENA news agency reported.

The court of cassation also reduced the execution verdicts against three defendants to 25-year imprisonment, upheld the 25-year jail for 59 defendants and acquitted 47 others.

The rulings are final and unappealable, as they have been issued in response to a previous appeal by the defendants against the initial rulings of a criminal court.

According to the court, the convicts stormed a police station in Minya's Matay town, stole the weapons inside, killed a senior policeman, attempted to murder others, allowed detainees to escape and finally set fire to the police station.

Being supporters of ousted Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, the convicts committed the acts of violence following the massive security dispersal of two major pro-Morsi sit-ins in Cairo and nearby Giza in August 2013 that left hundreds dead and thousands arrested.

Morsi was removed by the army in early July 2013 in response to mass protests against his one-year rule and his currently blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood group.

A lot of Brotherhood leaders, members and supporters, including Morsi himself and the group's top chief Mohamed Badie, are currently jailed and many have received appealable death sentences and life imprisonments over various charges varying from inciting violence and murder to espionage and jailbreak.

Morsi is now serving a 20-year prison sentence over inciting deadly clashes between his supporters and opponents in late 2012 and a 25-year jail term over leaking classified documents to Qatar.

Since Morsi's ouster, Egypt has been facing a wave of terror attacks that have killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers as well as civilians.

A Sinai-based militant group affiliated with the Islamic State regional terrorist group has claimed responsibility for most of the attacks.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian forces have killed hundreds of terrorists and arrested thousands of suspects during the country's anti-terror war declared by President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, the army chief then, following Morsi's ouster.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-28 23:35:22|Editor: ZX

Video Player Close

Rwandan economist Donald Kaberuka receives an exclusive interview with Xinhua in Kigali, capital of Rwanda, on April 28, 2018. China-Africa relations should build on ending poverty levels as Africa still faces major poverty challenges, Rwandan economist Donald Kaberuka told Xinhua in an exclusive interview on Saturday. (Xinhua/Gabriel Dusabe)

by Frank Kanyesigye and Lyu Tianran

KIGALI, April 28 (Xinhua) -- China and Africa relations should build on ending poverty levels as Africa still faces major poverty challenges, Rwandan economist Donald Kaberuka told Xinhua in an exclusive interview on Saturday.

"China has done very well in poverty reduction, because in the last 20 years the country's poverty reduction levels account for almost half the reduction of all poverty levels in the world," said Kaberuka, chairman and managing partner of Southbridge Partners, a pan-African financial, advisory and asset management firm.

"China has managed to dramatically cut poverty levels in a short period of time than any other country in the world in human history," the former president of the African Development Bank said on the sidelines of the annual Ibrahim Governance Weekend.

Economic ties between China and Africa in terms of infrastructure development and foreign direct investment are excellent, said Kaberuka, adding that Africa should learn from China's experience and success in poverty alleviation to reduce poverty on the continent.

According to him, poverty levels in Africa are significantly reducing and many African countries have over the last 20 years seen gains in health, education and living standards as their economies grow.

Despite progress made, major poverty challenges still remain, especially in light of the region's rapid population growth, said Kaberuka, who is also the former Minister of Finance and Economic Planning of Rwanda.

Differences between urban and rural areas and across regions are large, he said. "The rate at which poverty is falling is less than the rate at which the population is rising, so the number of people living in poverty continues to grow."

Development efforts to address poverty rates require integration and unification efforts, said the economist, adding that creating prosperity and reducing inequality will play a key role towards addressing poverty challenges in Africa.

He also said heavy investment in infrastructure, agriculture, transport and communication and health services will also help in dealing with the poverty threats on the continent.

The three-day event of Mo Ibrahim Foundation kicked off Friday, which convenes prominent African political and business leaders, representatives from civil society, multilateral and regional institutions as well as Africa's major international partners to debate issues of critical importance to Africa, according to organizers.

Established in 2006, the non-grant making organization focuses on defining, assessing and enhancing governance and leadership in Africa through its four main initiatives including Ibrahim Index of African Governance, Ibrahim Forum, Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership and Ibrahim Leadership Fellowships.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-28 23:45:25|Editor: ZX

Video Player Close

Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) walks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, April 28, 2018. Xi held an informal meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday and Saturday in Wuhan. (Xinhua/Yan Yan)

WUHAN, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping has said that mutual trust is the basis for the stable development of Sino-Indian relations.

Xi made the remarks when holding an informal meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday and Saturday in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.

Hailing the sound development of bilateral ties, Xi said that the two countries have forged a closer development partnership and made progress on exchanges and cooperation in various fields.

"We have paid reciprocal visits, met on multiple occasions, and reached many important consensuses over the past three years, which acted as a guidance to the positive development momentum of bilateral ties," Xi said.

China and India, as the two biggest developing countries and two emerging economies each with a population of over 1 billion, are both important engines of global economic growth, as well as backbone forces for promoting multipolarization and economic globalization, Xi said.

The international situation is undergoing a critical period of changes and adjustment, and countries around the world are now more inter-connected and rely on each other, said Xi, noting that "the trend of peace and development is irreversible."

"A sound China-India relationship is an important, positive factor for safeguarding world stability, and means a lot to the development and progress of all human beings," Xi said.

China and India face similar tasks in their pursuit of development and rejuvenation, as socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era, and the goal of building a "new India" has been proposed, Xi said.

He called on the two sides to focus on development and deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, so as to achieve national rejuvenation, create an Asia featuring stability, development and prosperity in the 21st century,and make a positive contribution to global peace and development.

Xi said that both sides should develop Sino-Indian ties from a strategic perspective, constantly enhance mutual understanding and trust, and promote all sectors and people of the two countries to deepen mutual understanding and cultivate friendly feelings.

"China and India should be good neighbors and friends," Xi said. "The two countries should regard each other as a positive factor in the balance of global power and take each other as partners for realizing the dream of development."

China and India are getting stronger and stronger, and this represents an irresistible trend and offers important opportunities to each other, Xi said.

Both China and India stand for an independent foreign policy, he said, calling on the two sides to correctly analyze and view each other's intentions with a positive, open and inclusive attitude.

"China and India have many similar ideas in international affairs," said Xi.

He said, in developing relations between major countries, China upholds strategic autonomy as well as non-conflict and non-confrontation, and insists on building a new-type of international relations featuring mutual respect, fairness and justice, and win-win cooperation, which are in line with the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-existence jointly advocated by China and India in the 1950s.

Xi stressed that in the next stage, China and India should jointly plan for all-round cooperation, carry out closer strategic communication, and timely conduct consultation on major issues of common concern, so as to take a firm hold of the general direction of bilateral relations and ensure the effective operation of their dialogue mechanism.

He said that the two sides should carry out more in-depth pragmatic cooperation and more extensive cultural and people-to-people exchanges, and handle their differences in a more mature manner.

He suggested both sides strengthen coordination and cooperation in international and regional affairs, and jointly promote regional economic integration and interconnectivity.

"The two sides should uphold the global governance concept of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefit to promote the construction of an open world economy, support the multilateral trading system, actively carry out international cooperation and jointly cope with global challenges," Xi said.

China is ready to make joint efforts with India to create a stable and prosperous Asia in the 21st century and promote the development of the international order in a more just and reasonable direction, Xi said.

Modi thanked President Xi for his invitation, saying he had a candid and in-depth exchanges with President Xi and learnt about the profound Jing-Chu local culture during his visit.

Modi said he felt that President Xi has attached great importance to and has guided the development of India-China relations.

India and China are countries with ancient civilizations and important neighbors, he said, calling on the two sides to strengthen dialogue, exchanges and cooperation, and maintain peaceful co-existence and ever-lasting friendship.

Modi said he paid high attention to the announcement at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) that socialism with Chinese characteristics had entered a new era, while India has its own goal of a "new India."

He agreed with Xi that as two largest developing countries with a combined population of 2.6 billion and two large emerging economies, India and China are stabilizing factors of the world.

He said the development of India and China has important influence on the world, and has positive significance to the vast developing countries.

India and China should make joint efforts in making greater contribution to peace, stability and prosperity of Asia and the world in the 21st century, Modi said, agreeing to maintain high-level strategic communication with China.

The two countries have common concept, a common resolve and common visions in developing bilateral ties, he said.

Modi suggested that the two sides should strengthen contacts and cooperation, enhance mutual understanding and trust, properly handle and control their differences and boost people-to-people friendship, so as to upgrade bilateral relations to a new level.

India firmly pursues an independent foreign policy and supports the globalization, multilateral system and democratic international relations, he said.

Modi said India was ready to work with China to promote the common interests of all developing countries.MANILA, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Philippine women rights groups on Saturday strongly condemned the removal of the "comfort woman" statue in Manila, calling the act "a desecration of Filipino women's dignity."

The seven-feet bronze sculpture, depicting a blindfold, grieving woman in Maria Clara traditional Filipiniana gown and unveiled last December, represents women in the country forced to work as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during World War II.

"This monument is reminder of the Filipino women who were victims of abuses during the occupation of the Japanese forces from 1942-1945. It took a while before they came out into the open to tell their stories," reads the inscription on the monument.

Activists sympathetic to the plight of the former sex slaves said the statue was removed around 8 p.m. (local time) on Friday night, less than five months after it was erected along Roxas Boulevard.

"GABRIELA Alliance of Filipino Women strongly condemns the removal of the 'comfort woman' statue along Roxas Blvd despite opposition from women's rights advocates, historians and other sectors," said Joms Salvador, GABRIELA secretary general.

"This is a desecration of Filipino women's dignity as it casts a foul insult on hundreds of Filipina sex slaves victimized under the Japanese occupation," said Salvador.

The "comfort woman" statue supposedly serves as a reminder to future generations of Japan's atrocities and abuses against Filipino women during the last world war, and women's historical victimization in times of wars of aggression, she said.

The erection of the statue has angered Japan. Tokyo has protested and demanded that the statue be taken down.

Salvador said GABRIELA will vigorously pursue efforts to expose Japan's sex slavery in the country and other parts of the globe. "Women will persevere in highlighting the horrors of Japanese occupation, no matter how Japan and its puppets try to cover it," she said.

GABRIELA Alliance of Filipino Women, including the Lila Pilipina (League of Filipino Women), have demanded justice on behalf of the ageing "comfort women" in the Philippines, an official apology from the Japanese government, just compensation, and inclusion of the "comfort women" issue in Japan's historical accounts and textbooks.

Knocking down the statue would be a setback in the long struggle for justice of "comfort women", the groups said.

It's estimated that at least 200,000 women in their teens from Asian countries including South Korea, China, Indonesia and the Philippines, were forced to work in Japanese wartime military brothels.SOFIA, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Bulgarian national qualification contest of the 11th "Chinese Bridge", a Chinese language proficiency competition for foreign secondary school students, was held here on Saturday.

Twelve teenagers studying Chinese demonstrated Chinese language and cultural skills such as dancing, singing and martial arts.

Stanislav Makreev from Sofia won the competition, and will represent Bulgaria at the finals in China together with the competition's runner-up Lora Toskova from the town of Plovdiv.

While addressing the event, Chen Ying, an official with the Chinese Embassy in Bulgaria, said this year marks the 65th anniversary of the launch of the Chinese language learning program in the Balkan country.

According to the Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science, over 1,200 children are currently studying Chinese language in the country, Chen said.

The "Chinese Bridge" competition was first organized in 2008 to inspire the students between 15 to 20 years old to learn Chinese and enhance their understanding of the Chinese culture.LONDON, April 28 (Xinhua) -- A. Evans, a 23-month-old terminally-ill toddler at the heart of a long legal battle, died in the early hours of Saturday.

Alfie's father Tom Evans announced the news on his social media, saying: "My gladiator lay down his shield and gained his wings... absolutely heartbroken."

His death comes days after doctors at Liverpool's Alder Hey Children's Hospital switched off his life support machines after a judge refused a desperate last-minute plea by his parents to allow their son to be flown in an air ambulance to Rome.

A statement by the famous children's hospital said staff expressed their "heartfelt sympathy".

The Italian government intervened in the tragic case Monday by granting citizenship to Alfie in the hope the hospital would release him to make the journey to Italy.

Even the intervention of the Pope was not enough to persuade judges to grant the boy's parents wish to move him to a children's hospital in Rome.

Instead they gave doctors permission to switch off the ventilators so that the boy, suffering from an incurable brain disease, could die.

In a live interview on British television Tuesday, Alfie's dad told journalists his son had been breathing unaided for nine hours.

There were dramatic scenes at the hospital Monday after judges rejected the family's last legal attempt to move the boy.

Hundreds of supporters stormed the front of the hospital and were held back by a police line as they tried to gain entry into the building. The protesters also blocked a busy main road outside the hospital, halting traffic.

Alfie had been admitted to the hospital a year earlier, suffering from a brain abnormality, so rare the disease doesn't even have a name.

Doctors described the condition as relentless and progressive, resulting in signs of a very high water content in the brain and a catastrophic degradation of brain tissue, meaning his brain was mostly water and spinal fluid. The hospital said Alfie remained had unresponsive to every available treatment.

The battle between Alfie's parents and the hospital started in February when doctors first said they had given up any hope of the boy being cured and wanted to switch off his life support.

Their decision triggered a battle that took the case through every level of courts in Britain, ending up before the highest court in Britain, the Supreme Court.STOCKHOLM, April 28 (Xinhua) -- The crisis in the Swedish Academy deepened Friday as author and translator Sara Stridsberg became the sixth member to resign in just a month, Swedish media reported on Saturday.

The Swedish Academy, known around the world as the body that picks the Nobel literature laureates, now has only 10 active members, and eight vacant seats.

The crisis has led to speculations that the Nobel Prize in Literature may not be awarded this year.

"We really regret Sara Stridsberg's decision to leave the Academy. We are in the middle of a renewal process where her input would have been valuable," Anders Olsson, the Swedish Academy's stand-in permanent secretary, told the TT news agency.

Since Academy members are voted in for life, a resignation has up until recently meant that a member who decides no longer to take part in the Academy's work simply leaves a vacant seat behind but cannot be replaced until his or her death. Resignations have also, so far, been extremely rare.

However, earlier this month, after a number of members said they no longer intended to stay active, Sweden's King XVI Gustaf stepped in and changed the statutes of the Academy, which was founded in 1786 by King Gustaf III in order to advance the Swedish language and Swedish literature.

The changes mean members who are not actively taking part in the Academy's work can also ask to resign and can then be replaced.

With just ten active members, rumors are circulating that the Academy may cancel the 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature. According to Swedish Radio, there are people within the Nobel Committee and the Swedish Academy who believe the prize cannot and should not be awarded this year. However, that information has not been confirmed.

The Swedish Economic Crime Authority has started a preliminary investigation into suspected financial crime within the Academy after an inquiry found it had granted payments to a cultural club formerly run by a man married to an Academy member. The same man was last year accused of sexual harassment by a number of women who spoke to Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter at the height of the "MeToo" movement.

Stridsberg was an ally of the former permanent secretary, Sara Danius, who left her post earlier this month, as did the wife of the man accused of sexual harassment.NAIROBI, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Kenya plans to partner with the private sector in order to boost the country's forest cover, a senior government official said on Saturday.

Keriako Tobiko, the Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Environment, told a media briefing in Nairobi that approximately 7.2 percent of the country's land mass is under forest cover against a target of 10 percent by end of 2022.

"In order to complement government resources, we will collaborate with the private sector to increase the country's forest cover," Tobiko said during a tree planting campaign.

He said a nationwide tree planting campaign will soon be launched where 25 million seedlings will be planted in a single day.

The Kenya Forest Service has 1 million seedlings in its stock while the private sector is expected to contribute the rest for national tree planting exercise.

In February, Kenya imposed a 90-day logging ban on all public forests as it seeks to streamline harvesting of timber in public and community forests.

The Ministry of Environment said uncontrolled logging, encroachment on forest land and charcoal production has led to enormous environmental degradation.

Tobiko said forests play a key role in national development because they help to attract rainfall as well as in combating climate change by absorbing carbon emissions.

He noted that in order for the reforestation initiative to be successful Kenyans must be fully involved in planting trees or donating towards the planting of trees.JUBA, April 28 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan peace monitors on Saturday decried a surge in violence and fighting in three South Sudan states, terming the detainment of 10 aid workers as unacceptable violation of the ceasefire deal.

The Joint Monitoring Evaluation Commission (JMEC) said it is dismayed by reports that 10 aid workers, working for UN agencies and NGO's and supporting people in need, have gone missing from around Yei town in Central Equatoria.

"JMEC expects this deplorable situation to be resolved as quickly as possible and that the aid workers are found and released immediately and unconditionally," JMEC said in a statement issued in Juba.

Fierce fighting has been reported in Nhialdiu, Mayendit, Rupchai, Thaker, and Mirinyal, in the vicinity of Leer and Bentiu in the Unity region, as well as around Motot and Akobo in Jonglei.

In Leer, in the northern part of the country, armed clashes have occurred near a temporary UN mission operating base and peacekeepers have placed on high alert to protect some 600 internally displaced persons who sought sanctuary nearby.

The peace monitors said security and humanitarian violations are unacceptable and demanded unconditional and immediate release of aid workers who went missing on Wednesday.

It called on warring parties to comply with the terms of the Agreement on the Cessation of Hostilities, Protection of Civilians and Humanitarian Access, signed on December 21 2017.

"JMEC condemns this latest violation of the two-signed Agreements, which demand unimpeded access for humanitarian aid workers in South Sudan," it said.

JMEC also condemned a reported outbreak of fighting in Unity, Jonglei and Central Equatoria states, where violent clashes are reportedly causing an influx of internally displaced people, especially women, children and the elderly, seeking sanctuary.

These incidents, the peace monitors said, must be investigated before any pronouncements can be made, noting however that all violence is unacceptable and potentially damaging to the on-going revitalization process.

"JMEC therefore has asked Ceasefire Transitional Monitoring Mechanism (CTSAMM) to undertake the necessary investigation as stipulated in the 2017 Agreement on Cessation of Hostilities, Protection of Civilians and Humanitarian Access (ACoH)," it said.

The peace monitors further called upon all signatory parties to cease fighting, avoid confrontation and protect civilians from harm or displacement and fully comply with the provisions of the ACoH in both letter and spirit.

South Sudan has been embroiled in four years of conflict that has taken a devastating toll on the people, creating one of the fastest growing refugee crisis in the world.

A peace deal signed in August 2015 between the rival leaders under UN pressure led to the establishment of a transitional unity government in April, but was shattered by renewed fighting in July 2016.KATHMANDU, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from China and South Asian countries have been encouraged to utilize their complementary advantages to develop and grow together under the Belt and Road Initiative.

Addressing the opening ceremony here on Saturday at South Asia-China SMEs Seminar and the third annual general meeting of the Organization for South Asian Regional Friendship and Cooperation with China (OSARFCC), Chinese Ambassador Yu Hong called on the SMEs from China and South Asian countries to seize the opportunity offered by the initiative.

Proposed by China in 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative refers to the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, aiming at building a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient trade routes of Silk Road.

Yu said that economic and trade relations as well as cooperation in the areas of tourism and culture have been growing between China and South Asia under the framework of the initiative.

A business delegation from Guangyuan city of China's Sichuan Province and the teams from Nepal, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have gathered in the seminar to explore the possibility of joint investment projects.

"China's importance in South Asia has long been felt since decision was taken to bring in China as an observer of South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation," said Mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City Vidya Sundar Shakya.

Anoop Ranjan Bhattarai, president of OSARFCC also urged Chinese and other South Asian entrepreneurs to make Nepal a destination of investment as the Himalayan country can be gateway to South Asia.LOS ANGELES, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Pacific Symphony will begin its first-ever tour to China on May 9, with a concert at the Shanghai Poly Grand Theatre, followed by performances in Hefei, Wuxi, Chongqing and Beijing.

"It is indeed historic and worth celebrating," said Ambassador Zhang Ping, the Consul General of China in Los Angeles in a send-off reception on Friday night. "It will be one of the most important highlights among various cultural exchange events in recent years between China and Southern California."

"Your China tour is of great significance both for Southern California and China-U.S. relations," Zhang added.

Pacific Symphony, founded in 1978, is the largest orchestra formed in the United States in the last 50 years, and is recognized as an outstanding ensemble making strides on both the national and international scenes, and as well as in its own community of Orange County, California.

Orange County has the third largest Asian American population in the United States. And the Chinese community in particular has experienced explosive growth.

"This is an artistically significant opportunity for Pacific Symphony to embrace cultural diplomacy and to carry the message of music's universality across the ocean to the other side of the Pacific Rim," said Carl St. Clair, Music Director of the Symphony.

According to John Forsyte, President of Pacific Symphony, the Symphony has been devoted to engaging with the Chinese community and building on its enthusiasm for symphonic music since 2013.

"We are proud of the role we will be playing as cultural ambassador for Orange County and the community," said Forsyte. "Crossing the Pacific Rim to perform for the Chinese population on the mainland is the logical extension of the work we've been doing here in Orange County."

Pacific Symphony's China tour will include works by Leonard Bernstein in celebration of his centennial, as well as Ravel's Dophnis and Chloe, Suite No. 2; Pictures at an Exhibition by Mussorgsky, and Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 3, featuring soloist Pinchas Zukerman.ADDIS ABABA, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Saturday arrived in Djibouti on his first foreign visit after he was sworn in and assumed office early this month.

Local media outlets quoted the Office of Spokesperson of Ministry of Foreign Affairs as saying that the prime minister's two-day visit aims at further promoting the long-standing bilateral relations between the two East African countries.

The prime minister is expected to discuss with Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh on bilateral and regional issues of common interest.

Prime Minister Abiy is also expected to deliver a speech at the Djiboutian parliament and visit different institutions, including port Djibouti.YEREVAN, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Armenia's Ruling Republican Party will not seek to nominate anyone for the top job in the country on May 1, said spokesperson of the Republican Party of Armenia and deputy speaker of the Armenian parliament, Eduard Sharmazanov at a press briefing on Saturday.

"Taking into account the domestic political situation, the ruling Republican party decided that the party will not nominate a candidate for Prime Minister in the parliament voting on May 1," Sharmazanov said while presenting the party's statement.

"The political situation has changed, there is a political crisis in the country." added Sharmazanov.

On April 23, prime minister of Armenia and leader of the ruling Republican Party, Serzh Sargsyan stepped down amid mass protests that have gripped the ex-Soviet republic. Following a referendum held in December of 2015, Armenia has effectively shifted from a semi-presidential system of governance to a parliamentary one where the prime minister's office holds most of the executive power in the country, with the president's job now being largely ceremonial.

Nikol Pashinyan, an opposition MP who is the leader of the protests that ousted former Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan, insists that the political parties in the parliament should vote him in as the next interim PM before new snap elections. The Armenian Revolutionary Federation, the smallest faction in the National Assembly has vowed to vote for a "united people's candidate." It remains to be seen how the other two factions, namely the Tsarukyan bloc and the ruling Republicans plan to vote on May 1.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-29 03:01:01|Editor: Liu

Video Player Close

MOSCOW, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Russia, Iran and Turkey said Saturday that international meetings in the Astana format have made the most efficient contribution to the settlement of the Syrian crisis.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif and Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu issued a joint statement after a trilateral meeting on Syria in Moscow.

They said the talks in the Kazakh capital helped combat terrorism, reduce the level of violence and create favorable conditions for a political settlement, including through facilitating the establishment of a broad intra-Syrian dialogue.

The three ministers agreed to hold the next round of international talks on Syria in Astana next month.

In parallel to the UN-sponsored Geneva process, eight rounds of Astana talks have been held since January 2017, with Russia, Turkey and Iran as the mediators.

The most significant outcome was the establishment of four de-escalation zones in Syria.

In Saturday's joint statement, the three countries reiterated their firm commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Syria.

The ministers confirmed their countries' determination to work for the final elimination of the Islamic State, the Nusra Front and other terrorist groups in Syria.

They also called on all armed opposition formations in Syria to completely and urgently dissociate themselves from the terrorist groups.

The three countries rejected all attempts to create new situations under the pretext of anti-terrorism and opposed separatist plans aimed at undermining the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria and the national security of neighboring countries.

The top diplomats strongly condemned the reported use of chemical weapons in Syria and demanded the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons conduct a timely and professional investigation.LONDON, April 28 (Xinhua) -- What is believed to be the world's biggest collection of miniature figures was sold at an auction in England for around 50,000 U.S. dollars Saturday to an army of global collectors.

Over a quarter of a million toy soldiers were collected over many years by Carmelo Mazzotta who lived in the city of Bristol until his death at the age of 55.

Mazzotta's sister Anita said her brother always wanted to be a soldier himself.

"He was a bit of a Peter Pan, he never wanted to grow up, so in a way it was him enacting his dreams. He was like a general with his armies and he knew and could pinpoint where any particular soldier was and knew all the different regiments," she told local media ahead of the sale of his massive army at the Wessex Auction Rooms in Chippenham.

The collection filled a double garage with a mezzanine floor at Mazzotta'd home, built up since he started his collection at the age of eight.

The tiny soldiers are between 2.5 centimeters and 5 centimeters in height.

Made from lead, metal and plastic, the miniature armies were lined up amongst model tanks, military vehicles, forts and flying aircraft.

The auctioneers had expected the collection, in a number of lots, to raise between 27,000 U.S. dollars and 35,000 U.S. dollars.

Auctioneer Tim Weeks said: "I have never seen anything like it before. Usually when you go to pick items up they are hidden away under beds and things but every single item he had bought was on display.

"It took two of us nine days to pack everything up and move it to the auction room and probably another eight days for five members of staff to go through and value everything and we have had so much interest.

"It really did have everything, all the way through the centuries. I'm sure I saw Robin Hood chasing the German soldiers out of Sherwood Forest," said Weeks.

The auction house said most buyers were from collectors in Britain, mainland Europe and the United States.

Weeks said Mazzotta's family wanted the collection to be bought by enthusiasts. Mazzotta died in 2016 after losing his battle with leukaemia.CHICAGO, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Thirty-two Chinese students studying in the U.S. Midwest have received "national awards for outstanding self-financed students abroad," which were delivered on Friday in Chicago by Chinese Consul General Hong Lei.

Zhao Boxuan, a former PhD student at University of Chicago and now a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Genetics of Stanford University, and Chen Weijian, a doctorate student at Washington University in St. Louis, received the highest awards, each worth 10,000 U.S. dollars.

"I feel proud and grateful to receive this award," Zhao said at the award-granting ceremony. "Chinese students studying abroad have received the support and care from the Chinese government, and I will devote my contribution to my home country by my studies."

"National awards for outstanding self-financed students is a great encourage for all Chinese students studying abroad, and we're concerned about the development and change of our country." said Chen, "I will work hard and seek the opportunity to serve my country."

Addressing the awardees, Hong said with the rapid development of the country, China needs more talented people. "I hope you can combine your career with the development of our country."

Zhang Xinya, a professor of Columbia College Chicago who has been an evaluations expert for the scholarship for several years, also congratulated the winning students.

"In recent years, more doctoral students studying abroad in U.S. apply for the scholarship, and their submitted papers have obviously increased in quantity and quality. I hope they can act as ambassadors to expand academic exchanges between the two countries." Zhang said.

The Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-Financed Students Abroad is a scholarship set up by the China Scholarship Council in 2003 to honor overseas Chinese students with outstanding academic accomplishments.

According to official statistics, 500 Chinese students studying abroad received the scholarship in 2017.HELSINKI, April 28 (Xinhua) -- A driver was killed in an exchange of fire with the police on a motorway in southern Finland on Saturday, the police said.

The shooting was preceded by a high speed chase after an initial stopping of the car. The car was finally encircled on a ramp and the driver opened fire when two police officers stepped out of their vehicle.

The police said in a press release that the killed driver, born 1992, was a "Finnish English" and had lived in Finland for several years.

The incident took place south of Tampere. There had been two other men in the car, but they had exited when the police first stopped the driver before the chase. The motive of the driver was not immediately known. The use of a fire arm by the driver had come as a surprise to the police.

Fatalities resulting from police gunfire are rare in Finland. The previous case was in 2015. Since 2000 eight people in Finland have been killed in police fire, national broadcaster Yle reported.KIGALI, April 28 (Xinhua) -- The ambition of Africa's young people is "the greatest resource" and "the best hope" for strengthening the continent's economic prosperity, Deputy Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa Abdalla Hamdok said Saturday.

Sixty percent of Africa's population is under 25 years of age and by 2050, Africa will be home to 452 million people under the age of 25, Hamdok told Xinhua in an exclusive interivew on the sidelines of the annual Ibrahim Governance Weekend.

"These young people's energy, ambition and potential provide African countries with an extraordinary asset," said the official, who is also Chair of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation Advisory Council.

According to him, many young Africans have spent more years in schools but few have been effectively equipped with the skills that the economy growth needs, which is threatening the continent's development.

Too many young Africans feel devoid of economic prospects and robbed of any say on the future, according to Hamdok.

"It is important for African governments to exert more of our time and energy on issues that affect our continent and our people," he added.

He further called on African countries to equip the young people with knowledge and right skills to be able to drive the continent's economic transformation agenda.

Africa's growing population is expected to generate a rise in consumer spending from 680 billion U.S. dollars in 2008 to 2.2 trillion dollars in 2030, according to the 2017 edition of African Economic Outlook launched by the African Development Bank.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-29 05:56:29|Editor: Shi Yinglun

Video Player Close

Syrians work at a factory in the Mazniyeh area, south of Damascus, capital of Syria, on April 28, 2018. The Syrian army captured areas including Mazniyeh after battles with the Islamic State (IS) militants on Saturday. (Xinhua/Ammar Safarjalani)

DAMASCUS, April 28 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian army on Saturday fully secured four neighborhoods in southern Damascus after battles with the Islamic State (IS) militants.

The army closed in on a key bastion of the terror-designated group in the area of the capital, state news agency SANA reported.

The army fully captured the neighborhoods of al-Qadam, Mazniyeh, Asali, and Jourah, from IS around the Hajar al-Aswad and the Yarmouk Camp areas in south of the capital, said the report.

The Syrian army has been on a crushing offensive with huge firepower against IS.

Rebels with the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front evacuated the al-Qadam area last month and the IS militants in the nearby areas stormed large parts of the neighborhood.

Ahead of the battle against IS, the terror group was offered a deal to evacuate to the remote part of the Syrian desert, as the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front, which controls nearby areas such as Babila and Yalada, will evacuate to rebel-held areas in the northwestern province of Idlib.

But the IS militants thwarted the deal of evacuation, which sparked the war flare again, and it is expected that after the defeat of IS, the al-Qaida-linked militants will be bused outside Babila and Yalda, both entwined with the Hajar al-Aswad and Yarmouk, to Idlib.

The entire capital will be free of rebels and the military operation is expected to move towards the southern province of Daraa, which is around 100 km from Damascus.

IS has lost its major stronghold late last year, with the Syrian army capturing the Deir al-Zour city in eastern Syria as well as large swathes of the Syrian desert near the Iraqi border. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) also stripped IS of its de facto capital of Raqqa in northern Syria.RABAT, April 28 (Xinhua) -- A total of 490 kg of cannabis was seized at the northern Tangier-Med Port, the Moroccan police said on Saturday.

The drug was concealed inside a truck heading to Spain, the police pointed out in a statement.

The truck's driver, aged 34, has been remanded in custody pending the completion of the investigation under the supervision of the competent public prosecutor.

An investigation is underway to determine all ramifications and links of this criminal network and arrest all the people involved in this drug-trafficking attempt.

Despite efforts to crack down on cannabis farming in the past decade, Morocco remains the world's largest cannabis resin harvesting country, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-29 06:26:34|Editor: Liu

Video Player Close

Betul Akcakaya (L, Front), a student from Izmir University of Economics, receives her certificate after winning the 17th Chinese proficiency competition for college students in Turkey in Istanbul, Turkey, on April 28, 2018. The 17th Chinese proficiency competition for college students in Turkey was held on Saturday in Istanbul, in which Betul Akcakaya from Izmir University of Economics beat 24 others to qualify her for the finals in China. (Xinhua/He Canling)

ISTANBUL, April 28 (Xinhua) -- The 17th Chinese proficiency competition for college students in Turkey was held on Saturday in Istanbul, in which Betul Akcakaya from Izmir University of Economics beat 24 others to qualify her for the finals in China.

The written test produced 25 contestants, who then entered a speech contest and a talent show that were not allowed to last more than two and three minutes respectively. In speeches, the contenders spoke of their feelings about the beauty of the Chinese language, shared their dreams and their contacts with Chinese friends.

For Maide Neslisah Akkaya from Erciyes University, it was difficult for her to learn Chinese at the beginning, but she found herself more and more interested in the language and could better experience its beauty as she continued her learning, including its unique tone. She plans to pursue her graduate studies in China.

Talent show was performed in a variety of forms, like guitar playing, singing and dancing, martial art, paper-cut, local Chinese drama, drawing and such Chinese folk arts as crosstalk and two-man comic show.

Peony drawing by Akcakaya won praise as a talent never shown before by others and she drew well, said Zhang Xiaoyi, a judge and Chinese teacher with the Confucius Institute of Yeditepe University, where the competition was held.

In addition, Akcakaya did well in her speech in terms of logic, fluency, pronunciation and manner, making her the best in overall performance although she did not lead in all the three links, said Zhang.

Akcakaya voiced her joy at being the No. 1, saying she is aspiring to be a translator of good Chinese film and TV programs into Turkish and hold an expo of her Chinese paintings some day.

"People have to learn each other's languages so that they can communicate with each other and so that peace could be possible," Bedrettin Dalan, Yeditepe's founding president, told the audience before the contest kicked off.

Cui Wei, the Chinese consul general in Istanbul, laid emphasis on the role of language learning in promoting communications between countries, just as the three Confucius Institutes in Istanbul have been serving as bridges in helping Turkish college students learn Chinese.

As friendly countries, the Turkish and Chinese governments are integrating their Belt and Road and Middle Corridor initiatives and set to develop cooperation on more fields and projects, thus offering more platforms and opportunities for Turkish students who speak Chinese, understand China and are ready to help advance bilateral ties, said Shi Ruilin, the cultural counselor with the Chinese Embassy in Turkey.

The contest was jointly sponsored by ICBC Turkey, a subsidiary of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, and Huawei Turkey.Mumbai: Actor Ali Fazal says he is excited to be passing on the baton to actors Sonakshi Sinha and Jassi Gill to take forward the 'Happy Bhag Jayegi' story.

At the moment, Ali is busy shooting for the sequel 'Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi' in Malaysia.

"This is my first time in Malaysia. It was quite the start with my flight losing one engine almost seconds before take off from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur and then losing my bags which arrived three days later," Ali said in a statement to IANS.

"I guess the chaos of 'Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi' infected the air traffic. I am excited to be passing the baton to Sonakshi and Jassi in part two."

"Happy Bhag Jayegi", featuring Diana Penty, Ali Fazal and Abhay Deol, was released in 2016. The romantic comedy narrated the story of a girl named Happy, who runs away from her wedding and reaches Pakistan by mistake.

Diana features in the sequel too. She is joined by actress Sonakshi Sinha whose character also runs away from her wedding. Mudassar Aziz, who helmed the first part, is back on the director's chair for the sequel.

Made under the banner Eros International and Aanand L Rai's Colour Yellow Productions, the film will also feature Abhay Deol and Jimmy Shergill. "Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi" is set to release on August 24.

Talking about Malaysia shooting schedule, Ali said: "We are shooting on outdoor locations and there are lots of action sequences and chases. And this time, it's a greater ensemble than before. Apart from Diana, it was lovely to reunite with Jimmy and Piyush Mishra.

"They are the heart of this film. Mudassar is a gifted writer and director and I hope our bond delivers more films together."Mumbai: Arjun Kapoor, who will be sharing screen space with Sanjay Dutt for the first time in "Panipat", today said he is excited to be working with the actor in the Ashutosh Gowariker-directed film.

"I am excited. I will be nervous only after I reach the sets. When such films are announced, you look forward and as an actor you have grown up wanting to do these things.

"Sanjay sir is a benchmark when it comes to action genre and to do a film a proper action film with him is very exciting. I hope to enjoy more," Arjun told reporters here at the 19th edition of the IIFA awards "Voting Weekend".

The poster of the film was released last month and it is expected to hit the theatres in December next year.

The period drama, which also features Kriti Sanon, is based on the third battle of Panipat that took place in 1761.

Recently, the teaser of Rajkumar Hirani's "Sanju" was unveiled and Arjun feels that there can be no better director than Hirani to make the film on Dutt's life.

"I am sure there is a lot of pressure. Looking at the teaser I can say that the film will make you laugh and cry. The film will tell everything that we have either read or heard about his life," Arjun said.

"We are assured that everything will be shown in the film. Every chapter of the man's (Dutt) life," he added.

Arjun also praised Ranbir Kapoor, who plays the role of Dutt in the biographical drama.

"Ranbir is a very good actor and he has done an amazing job, I am sure there is a pressure in doing such roles. It looks promising and I hope it turns out to be even better than the teaser," he added.GURUGRAM: InterGlobe Aviation, the operator of budget carrier, IndiGo airlines, announced that Aditya Ghosh, the President and whole-time Director of IndiGo has stepped down from his post. Indigo, which has been in trouble lately due to several cases of misconduct of its staff or technical snags that have hit the planes, said in a statement that Rahul Bhatia will be serving as its interim Chief Executive Officer as well as the Director of the company.

Aditya Ghosh's resignation from the post of President of IndiGo will be effective from July 31, 2018 while he will cease to be the Director with effect from April 26, 2018. Ghosh, who has been with IndiGo for ten years, announced that he would be resigning in order to take up his "next adventure". "For the last ten years, it has been a relentless, exhilarating and a most satisfying task building IndiGo. It is now time for me to step off the treadmill and sometime in the near future embark on my next adventure. I wish all my colleagues at IndiGo the very best as they move on to the next phase of growth.

Indigo also announced the appointment of Gregory Taylor as Senior Advisor to the Company reporting directly to Rahul. The company said that in the coming months, the Board will consider the appointment of Greg as President and CEO of the Company, subject to receiving the necessary regulatory approvals and paperwork.

Gregory Taylor has over 40 years of experience in large, world class airlines. During 2016 and 2017, Greg was the Executive Vice President of Revenue Management and Network Planning at IndiGo. Prior to that he held various senior management roles at United Airlines and US Airways in the areas of Corporate Planning, Strategy, Network Planning, Fleet Planning, Finance, Cost Management and Airline Express Operations. Greg holds an MBA from the University of Chicago, the company said in its statement.Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Board of Secondary Education (BSEAP) will announce SSC/class 10 results at 4 pm on Sunday. Students can check their results on the official websites - bseap.org, bse.ap.gov.in, manabadi.co.in.

The exams were conducted from 15 to 29 March 2018.

In order to check the results, they should log on to the official website and click on the tab - Andhra Pradesh SSC (10th class) examination results 2018. Then should enter their roll number and date of birth, after which the results will be displayed.

They can also see the results by downloading the official app.

Here's how to check AP SSC Results 2018 for Class 10 on the website:

1) Visit official board website bseap.org. Candidates can also visit bieap.gov.in, manabadi.com, examresults.net. and results.cgg.gov.in

2) Click on SSC results 2018 link

3) On the new page, enter your roll number and click on submit

4) Your results and marks memo will be displayed on the screen

5) Download it or take a printout of your result for future reference

As per the official website, "The directorate of government examinations is an independent department functioning under ministry of secondary education, the government of Andhra Pradesh. The department is responsible for conducting the SSC/OSSC public examinations and a number of minor examinations."

The directorate conducts mainly SSC/OSSC examinations twice in a year and vocational SSC examination once in a year.

The Board of Intermediate Education in Andhra Pradesh regulates and supervises the system of Intermediate education. It executes and governs various activities that include devising of courses of study, prescribing syllabus, conducting examinations, granting affiliations to colleges and, providing direction, support and leadership for all educational institutions under its jurisdiction.

The Board was established in 1971, to regulate and supervise the system of Intermediate education in the state of Andhra Pradesh and to specify the courses of study and matters connected therewith. Andhra Pradesh is the first state in the country which adopted the 10+2+3 pattern of education.HYDERABAD: Fate of 5 lakh students will be decided on Sunday after the Board of Intermediate Education Andhra Pradesh or BIEAP announces the results of AP SSC Class 10 results 2018 at 11 am on Sunday at its official website bseap.org. Candidates can also view their results at manabadi.com, bieap.gov.in, and results.cgg.gov.in. One can also opt to download the mobile app - SSCAP - from playstore and check the marks memo.

The Andhra Pradesh SSC examination was held from March 15 to 29, 2018.

Here's how to check AP SSC Results 2018 for Class 10 on the website:

1) Visit official board website bseap.org. Candidates can also visit bieap.gov.in, manabadi.com, examresults.net. and results.cgg.gov.in

2) Click on SSC results 2018 link

3) On the new page, enter your roll number and click on submit

4) Your results and marks memo will be displayed on the screen

5) Download it or take a printout of your result for future reference

Here's how to check AP SSC Results 2018 for Class 10 via App

1) Download the SSCAP by DGE Andhra Pradesh.

2) Now open the app and at 11 am, enter your roll number

3) The marks memo will be displayed on the screen

4) Download it or take a printout of your result for future reference

According to sources, AP Class 10 results will be declared on time and all the required arrangements have been made.

The Board of Intermediate Education in Andhra Pradesh regulates and supervises the system of intermediate education. It executes and governs various activities that include devising of courses of study, prescribing syllabus, conducting examinations, granting affiliations to colleges and, providing direction, support and leadership for all educational institutions under its jurisdiction.

The board was established in 1971, to regulate and supervise the system of intermediate education in the state of Andhra Pradesh and to specify the courses of study and matters connected with them. Andhra Pradesh is the first state in the country which adopted the 10+2+3 pattern of education.New Delhi: A controversy has broken out over the Dalmia Bharat Limited signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Ministry of Tourism for the adoption of Red Fort monument under the 'Adopt a Heritage' project.

Slamming the move, the Congress accused the government of 'handing' over the Red Fort to the Dalmia group and posed the following question to the people:

After handing over the Red Fort to the Dalmia group, which is the next distinguished location that the BJP government will lease out to a private entity? #IndiaSpeaks  Congress (@INCIndia) April 28, 2018

Reacting on the issue, MoS Culture, Mahesh Sharma said, "President announced a scheme of GoI on World Tourism Day 2017, that those interested in value addition to any services of monuments can come forward. Some services of Red Fort has been given to Dalmia group. No profit activity will take place."

President announced a scheme of GoI on World Tourism Day 2017, that those interested in value addition to any services of monuments can come forward. Some services of Red Fort has been given to Dalmia Group. No profit activity will take place: Mahesh Sharma, Union MoS Culture pic.twitter.com/7qYhh15fAd  ANI (@ANI) April 28, 2018

With an estimate of over Rs 5 crores per year, Dalmia has joined 'Monument Mitras' from other various private sector companies to look after the operations and the maintenance of this heritage site for the next five years, as per reports.

The MoU is said to have been signed in the presence of Tourism Minister (independent charge) KJ Alphons, and other senior officials of Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Culture and Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

The 'Adopt a Heritage Scheme' (Apni Dharohar Apni Pehchan Project) was launched by the President on September 27, 2017. Under it, private, public sector companies and corporate individuals are invited to adopt heritage sites and to take up responsibility for making them and promote sustainable tourism through conservation and development under their corporate social responsibility activities.

The first of its kind adoption enables Dalmia group to construct, landscape, illuminate and maintain activities related to provision and development of tourist amenities. This includes various basic and advanced amenities such as public conveniences, clean drinking water, cleanliness of the monument, accessibility for all, signage, cloakroom facilities, illumination and night viewing, surveillance system, tourist facilitation cum interpretation centre among others, PTI reported.

In addition to this, Dalmia Bharat will also introduce other key amenities for the visitors like App based multilingual Audio-Guide, Digital Interactive Kiosk, Digital (LED) screening, free W-Fi and cafeteria along with souvenir shop which will help in promoting local art and craftsmanship.

(With PTI inputs)PANAJI: Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (GBSHSE) declared the results of the Class 12 Higher Secondary School Certificate Examination (HSSC) on April 28 at 10 am. The Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (GBSHSE) Class 12 results are available on the board's official website - gbshse.gov.in. The Goa Board said on its official website that the distribution of passing certificates cum statement of Grades/Marks of HSSC Examination will be done on 30 April 2018 from 9.30 a.m. to 01.00 p.m.

Higher Secondary Schools from Bardez, Tiswadi, Pernem, Bicholim, Sattari, Ponda and Dharbandoda can collect their results from the Boards office, Porvorim, Bardez in Goa. Higher Secondary Schools from Canacona, Quepem, Sanguem, Salcete and Murmugao can collect their results from the Loyala Higher Secondary School, Margao Salcete Goa.

Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (GBSHSE) Class 12 exams were held between March 5 and March 26. 18499 candidates had appeared for the exams which included 9667 girls and 8832 boys. The GBSHSE said on its official website that the heads of the institutions should refrain candidates or parents for collection of passing certificate cum statement of the grade/ Marks/ Rectification to office. The private candidates should collect their passing certificate cum statement of Grade/Marks from Boards office, Alto Betim Bardez Goa, on producing hall ticket.

The results can also be accessed through SMS and IVRS.

SMS

GOA12<space>SEAT NUMBER  Send it to 56263

GOA12<space>SEAT NUMBER  Send it to 58888

GOA12<space>SEAT NUMBER  Send it to 5676750

GB12<space>SEAT NUMBER  Send it to 54242

IVRS & USSD

 58888 (58888xxx multi-modals)

 *588# (*588# multi-modals)

The candidates will also be able to check their Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (GBSHSE) Class 12 exam results 2018 on - exametc.com, examresults.net, examresults.net/goa, knowyourresult.com, indiaresults.com/select-state.html, results.nic.in, indiaresults.com and examresults.net.A total of 18499 Class 12 students will get the results of a year's hard work today as the Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (GBSHSE) declared the results of Class 12 Higher Secondary School Certificate Examination (HSSC) at 10 am. The results can be accessed on the board's official website - gbshse.gov.in. The candidates will also be able to check their Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Class 12 exam results 2018 on - exametc.com, examresults.net, examresults.net/goa, knowyourresult.com, indiaresults.com/select-state.html, results.nic.in, indiaresults.com and examresults.net.

The Goa Board said on its official website that the distribution of passing certificates cum statement of Grades/Marks of HSSC Examination will be done on 30 April 2018 from 9.30 a.m. to 01.00 p.m. Higher Secondary Schools from Bardez, Tiswadi, Pernem, Bicholim, Sattari, Ponda and Dharbandoda can collect their results from the Boards office, Porvorim, Bardez in Goa. Higher Secondary Schools from Canacona, Quepem, Sanguem, Salcete and Murmugao can collect their results from Loyala Higher Secondary School, Margao Salcete Goa.

How to check the GBSGSE Class 12 results on gbshse.gov.in

* Log on to gbshse.gov.in

* Click on the link that says GBSHSE Goa Board Class 12th Results 2018

* Fill in your details for your Class 12th Results

* Enter the roll number and submit

* Download the result. You can also take a print out for your record.

The results can also be accessed through SMS and IVRS.

SMS

GOA12<space>SEAT NUMBER  Send it to 56263

GOA12<space>SEAT NUMBER  Send it to 58888

GOA12<space>SEAT NUMBER  Send it to 5676750

GB12<space>SEAT NUMBER  Send it to 54242

IVRS & USSD

 58888 (58888xxx multi-modals)

 *588# (*588# multi-modals)

Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (GBSHSE) Class 12 exams were held between March 5 and March 26. A total of 18499 candidates had appeared for the exams which included 9667 girls and 8832 boys. The GBSHSE said on its official website that the heads of the institutions should refrain candidates or parents for the collection of passing certificate cum statement of the grade/ Marks/ Rectification to the office. The private candidates should collect their passing certificate cum statement of Grade/Marks from Boards office, Alto Betim Bardez Goa, on producing hall ticket.

The exams were conducted across the state at 16 centres. The vocational stream board exams and those for children with special needs were held from March 6, 2018. Students who appeared for the Goa HSSC Examinations 2018 had to register online through the Goa Board website.Bengaluru: Karnataka Pre-University (PUC) results 2018 will be declared on April 30, 2018. In order to check the results, candidates should log on to the official website - karresults.nic.in and pue.kar.nic.in.

They can also check the results via sms or app.

As per reports, about seven lakh students appeared for the Karnataka PUC examination which was held in March 2018.

As per the official website, "the department of pre-university, the government of Karnataka is the organisation for implementation of higher secondary education in the state. There are 1202 government pre-university colleges, 637 aided pre-university colleges, 1936 unaided pre-university colleges, 165 bifurcated pre-university colleges and 13 corporation pre-university colleges. After X standard every year about 10 lakhs students enroll in the 2-year pre-university courses. The courses offered by the department are broadly classified under the categories of humanities (arts), science and commerce. There are 23 subjects, 11 languages and 50 combinations in the pre-university curriculum. In 2010-11, there were 4,43,185 students in Humanities in I and II PUC, 2,47,421 students in Science in I & II PUC and 2,77,189 students in commerce in I and II PUC."

It functions under the Department of Primary and Secondary Education.New Delhi: Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas, Indian Air Force's indigenous supersonic jet, is well on its way to becoming one of the most potent fighters in the four-plus generation combat aircraft class. Just days after the IAF tested its war-waging capabilities in a possible two-front scenario involving Pakistan and China during Gagan Shakti 2018, the Tejas took a step forward towards achieving the Final Operational Clearance (FOC) by successfully firing the Israeli Derby Air-to-Air Beyond Visual Range (BVR) missile for the second time. The successful test expanded the firing envelope as well demonstrated safe operation of the Tejas during missile plume ingestion into the aircraft engine under worst case scenarios.

Wing Commander Siddharth Singh was the fighter pilot who fired the 118-kg Derby missile from his LCA Tejas on April 27, 2018, from the firing range off the Goa coast after an exhaustive study of the missile separation characteristics and plume envelope. During the 13-day Gagan Shakti 2018 exercise, Tejas was extensively tested to fine-tune its combat potential and the IAF leadership expressed its satisfaction with the fighter's performance.

Tejas had on May 12, 2017, fired the Derby Air-to-Air BVR missile for the first time in RADAR guided mode at the Interim Test Range (ITR), Chandipur in Odisha. The missile launch was performed in Lock ON after Launch mode for a BVR target in the look down mode and the target was destroyed.

The FOC of Tejas is dependent on Derby's integration. The aircraft was tracked by two other Tejas aircraft to capture the firing event in the specially instrumented high-speed cameras for detailed analysis and comparison with the simulation model for validation.

All about Derby BVR missile:

-Derby is a short to medium range BVR Air-to-Air missile.

-Developed jointly by Israeli armament development agency Rafael and Israel Aircraft Industries MBT has a maximum effective range of about 50 km.

-Derby is an active radar air-to-air missile for the fighter aircraft and has the capability to be launched at a target day or night and in all weather conditions.

-It has look-down/shoot-down capability, fire and forget mode and an advanced ECCM tailored to the customer's operational requirements.

-The missile's light weight allows it to be adapted to various modern fighter aircraft.

-It is a dual-use missile (air-to-air and surface-to-air).

-The missile has a launch weight of 118 kg, is 3.8 metres long, wingspan of 64 cm and a diametre of 16 cm.

The entire planning, practice sorties and final firing was carried out by DRDO's autonomous society  Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) and its National Flight Test Centre (NFTC) officials Air Commodore JA Maolankar and Group Captain A Kabadwal, IAF, Directorate General of Aeronautical Quality Assurance, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and INS HANSA.

Based on the successful integration and demonstration, Regional Centre for Military Airworthiness (RCMA), a unit of DRDO has cleared the series production aircraft of Flying Daggers Squadron 45, to be equipped with Derby operational capability. LCA Tejas has successfully completed a series of captive flight trials to clear Derby for the full operational capability in the entire FOC envelope.

During the Gagan Shakti 2018 exercise, eight Tejas jets were deployed. IAF sources said there were minor technical issues with a few Teajs jets, but at least six Tejas had flown six sorties daily like any other platforms including the Sukhoi Su-30 MKI, Mirage 2000 and MiG-29 fighters.

The exercises also helped hone the integration of the nuclear-capable hypersonic BrahMos and anti-ship Harpoon missile platforms into their intended strike roles. Gagan Shakti 2018 was especially critical for IAF in relation to its capabilities along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China as the region's high altitude has an adverse impact of a fighter's capabilities.

The IAF is on its way to induct 324 Tejas to shore up it depleting squadron strength. The IAF, for years, maintained that the Tejas fighters are not combat-ready even after three decades of development given its limited range.

But it has already committed to buying at least 123 Tejas fighters for Rs 75,000 crore from the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). The IAF, however, has demanded that the Tejas Mark II jet, which is still on the drawing board, should be entirely new fighters with better avionics, radars, enhanced weapons carrying capacity and powerful engines.

IAF fighter pilots say the current single-engine Tejas has limited endurance of just an hour, with a radius of action of only 350-400-km and weapon-carrying capacity of 3-tonne. While the other single-engine fighters such as Swedish Gripen-E have triple the endurance and double the weapon-carrying capacity.Wuhan: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday left for India after holding the two-day informal summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the central Chinese city, Wuhan. Modi had arrived in China on Thursday for the unprecedented informal summit with Xi.

The Prime Minister held one-on-one talks with Xi which is being seen as an effort by India and China to rebuild trust and improve ties that were hit by the 73-day-long Dokalam standoff last year. The two leaders exchanged views on "solidifying" the India-China relationship and decided to issue strategic guidance to their respective militaries to strengthen communications and to build trust and understanding.

They recognised terrorism as common threat and committed to cooperate further on counter terrorism. Modi also offered to host the next informal summit with Xi in India next year, a proposal which elicited a positive response from the Chinese president.

The two leaders began their informal meetings way back in 2014 when Xi was hosted by Modi at the Sabarmati Ashram of Mahatma Gandhi in Gujarat. They have met and interacted with each other in about a dozen international meetings since then. This is the fourth visit of Modi to China after he came to power in 2014. He is again due to visit China to take part in the SCO summit to be held at Qingdao city on June 9-10.

Modi was seen off by Chinese Vice Foreign Minster, Kong Xuanyou and Chinese Ambassador to India, Luo Zhaohui and other officials.Wuhan: China may have left no stone unturned to welcome Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Chinese President Xi Jinping himself playing a gracious host. And while both leaders - for most parts of Friday - highlighted the need for the two countries to work closer towards peace and prosperity, it was a relaxed evening with timeless Bollywood music that truly indicated that relations are indeed getting warmer.

PM Modi and Xi held informal talks in which they reaffirmed the need for India and China to develop closer relations for the benefit of people in both countries. PM Modi, in particular, said five elements - common thinking, common relations, common co-operation, common aspirations and common dreams - are the keys to fostering long-lasting friendship. It was a day which saw both leaders bond, capped by a melodious evening with a strong Indian touch with Chinese musicians playing the memorable song Tu Tu Hai Wahi from the 1982 Bollywood movie Yeh Vaada Raha starring Rishi Kapoor and Poonam Dhillon.

#WATCH: Prime Minister Narendra Modi & Chinese President XI Jinping enjoy an instrumental rendition of 1982 Bollywood song 'Tu, tu hai wahi dil ne jise apna kaha,' at an event in China's Wuhan. (27.04.2018) pic.twitter.com/KjGRcHbl38  ANI (@ANI) April 28, 2018

Both leaders appeared to enjoy the instrumental rendition of the song originally sung by Kishore Kumar and Asha Bhosle.

With the visit high on the quotient of culture and tradition, and with both PM Modi and Xi asserting that people-to-people contact is crucial for further developing relations, the musical evening could well have been a master-stroke.New Delhi: Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Saturday attacked BJP leader and Union Minister Piyush Goyal over financial irregularities.

He tweeted, "Its no secret that CA Piyush Goyal, the BJP treasurer, has pried open the doors of every major corporate house for PM Modi. How then will the PM act against this minister, caught red-handed, misusing his power for 48 crore of personal gain?"

Its no secret that CA Piyush Goyal, the BJP Treasurer, has pried open the doors of every major corporate house for PM Modi. How then will the PM act against this Minister, caught red handed, misusing his power for 48 Cr. of personal gain?#GoyalMustResign  Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) April 28, 2018

On the other hand, the Congress on Saturday again demanded the removal of Goyal, alleging that financial deals of a company owned by him were a "murky saga of gratification, gross impropriety and conflict of interest".

Congress leader Pawan Khera claimed that four months after holding the portfolio of New and Renewable Energy, the BJP leader sold his entire holding in Flashnet Info Solutions (India) Limited, owned by him and his wife, at nearly 1000 percent premium to a company of Piramal group which has interests in the renewable energy sector, PTI reported.

He cited company filings of Piramal Estates Private Limited to make the claims. Khera alleged that Goyal did not disclose this in his assets made public on the PMO website soon after becoming a minister and this was a "clear case of conflict of interest".

BJP slams Congress for attacking Piyush Goyal, calls allegations malicious:

Reacting to the allegations, the BJP in a statement said, "In the last month, the Congress party made Piyush Goyal a target by hurling malicious allegations against his bona fide business dealings to insinuate wrongdoings and irregularity. The modus operandi of the attack has been to gain cheap political mileage by indulging in a baseless campaign against him with no sound facts to back them but with the only intention of creating false controversies."

It also pointed out that the facts exposed the Congress for blatant misrepresentations using falsehoods and malicious propaganda against the minister who was carrying out his professional work through his companies, which were also holding his investments, prior to his becoming minister in May 2014.

"He stopped all professional/business activities the day he became a minister, resigned from all directorships and started the process of selling all his investments," it said. The saffron party added that Goyal was being targetted to divert attention from the series of scandals of its leaders for which they have no answers. "Congress has nothing to attack the Narendra Modi government and its leaders and is resorting to manufacturing controversies using malicious falsehoods which are completely baseless," it said.

The Congress party made Shri @PiyushGoyal a target by hurling malicious allegations against Shri Goyals bonafide business dealings to insinuate wrongdoings and irregularity.  BJP (@BJP4India) April 28, 2018

The facts expose Congress for blatant misrepresentations using falsehoods propaganda against Shri @PiyushGoyal. He stopped all professional/ business activities the day he became a Minister, resigned from all directorships and started the process of selling all his investments.  BJP (@BJP4India) April 28, 2018

The Congress is once again raking up a ten year old issue of Shirdi Industries Ltd. He had nothing to do with Shirdi after he had resigned as director on 1st July 2010 and some shares held in that company as investment were sold in December 2013, much before he became a Minister.  BJP (@BJP4India) April 28, 2018

It seems that Shri @PiyushGoyal who had a successful investment banking career before he became a minister, is being targeted because perhaps Congress wishes to divert attention from the series of scandals of its leaders for which they have no answers.  BJP (@BJP4India) April 28, 2018

Congress has nothing to attack the @narendramodi government and its leaders and is therefore resorting to manufacturing controversies using malicious falsehoods which are completely baseless. https://t.co/iONXpWQeKw  BJP (@BJP4India) April 28, 2018

Congresss political hitjob against Shri @PiyushGoyal over the last one month is based on factual inaccuracies and sheer innuendoes, seemingly unnerved by his huge popularity and enviable efficacy as a minister in Modi government. https://t.co/iONXpWQeKw  BJP (@BJP4India) April 28, 2018

Congress leader Khera alleged that though the net worth of 'Flashnet Info Solutions (India) Limited' (even 6 months after the sale, according to statutory filings pertaining to the financial year ending March 2015) is only Rs 10.9 crore, the company filings of 'Piramal Estates Private Limited' reflect that a whopping Rs 48 crore was provided to Goyal Family owned shares in Flashnet Info Solutions (India) Limited, which translates into an astronomical price of Rs 9,586 per share.

The BJP, however, said that the "sale of Flashnet shares took place in July 2014 before the declaration of assets and liabilities was submitted on July 25, 2014, and not on September 29, 2014, as falsely alleged by the Congress".

The Sale of Flashnet shares took place in July 2014 before the declaration of assets and liabilities was submitted on 25th July 2014 and not on 29th Sep 2014 as falsely alleged by the Congress.  BJP (@BJP4India) April 28, 2018

Meanwhile, Piramal Group was quoted as saying by IANS, "Piramal Estates Pvt. Ltd. (PEPL) purchased Flashnet Info Solutions Pvt Ltd, a firm owned by Piyush Goyal and Seema Goyal, in July 2014. The purchase consideration paid was the fair value of the underlying investments (movable and immovable assets) and the same was paid in July 2014 itself. This was based on an independent chartered accountant valuation."

It added, "Piramal Group strongly refutes the false allegations..."

(With Agency inputs)New Delhi: A minivan carrying 17 passengers rammed into a stationary truck parked on the side of a road in UP's Lakhimpuri Kheri district - killing nine.

The incident occurred on Saturday morning when the minivan - reportedly travelling between Shahjahanpur and Sitapur - crashed into a truck parked on the side of the national highway. At least nine people were killed in the accident while all other passengers have received serious injuries. They have been taken to a local hospital. Initial investigations have revealed that the driver - 25-year-old Anup Awasthi - may have taken his eyes off the road and therefore, not seen the truck parked on the side. He is among those dead.

Overspeeding could also have been one of the reasons.

According to reports in the local media, family members of the dead and the injured rushed to the spot once news of the accident spread. Many have since moved to the local hospital in Shahjahanpur.

The local police has said that identity of those killed are being ascertained.

(With inputs from ANI)LUCKNOW: Country's largest board - Board of High School and Intermediate Education Uttar Pradesh (BHSIEUP) - is likely to announce the results of Class 10 board examinations 2018 on April 29 at 1:30 PM. However, the Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad website indicates that the results may be announced at 1 pm. The UP Board High School (Class 10) Examination 2018 results will be available on the board's official website: upmsp.edu.in and upresults.nic.in.

The UP 10th Board Exam (High School) examinations were held from February 6, 2018, to February 22, 2018. Over 36 lakh students took the examination. At present, there are more than 22,000 secondary schools recognized by the UP Board of High School and Intermediate Education.

How to check UP Board Class 10 results 2018 online

1. Students can visit websites: upmsp.edu.in, upresults.nic.in, upmspresults, up.nic.in

2. They should click on the Result link

3. Enter registration as well as roll numbers in the new window

4. Now see your UP Board 10th result 2018 on the screen

5. Download your UP Board 10th result and take a print out for reference. However, this document will not serve any official function. Students will have to get their original certificate for any official purpose.

How to check UP Board Class 10 results 2018 through App

1. Students should visit the google play store

2. Download board results 2018

3. Download the app as per review

4. Once the app is installed, pre-register yourself along with registering the roll number

5. Once results are declared, you can check UP Board 10th result 2018 through the app

The BHSIEUP has mentioned on its site www.upresults.nic.in that results published on net are for immediate information to the examinees. Although every effort is made to maintain the accuracy of the results, error may creep in inadvertently due to extraneous reasons beyond the control of either NIC or the concerned Institution/board/university. Students are advised to verify their marks with the official hard copy issued from the respective Institution/board/university.

The Board of High School and Intermediate Education Uttar Pradesh has its head office in Allahabad, the nerve centre of education in the state. It was set up in 1921 by an act of United Provinces Legislative Council as India was under the British rule at that time. BHSIEUP is one in India which, from the very start, had adopted 10+2 system of examination. The first public examination after 10 years education is High School Examination and after the 10+2 stage, there is Intermediate Examination. Prior to 1923, University of Allahabad was the examining body of these two examinations.

In view of the ever-multiplying load of work in successive years, the Board had been experiencing considerable difficulty in controlling and conducting its activities centrally from Allahabad. As such four Regional Offices of the Board were established at Meerut(1973), Varanasi(1978), Bareilly(1981) and Allahabad(1987) under the control of Regional Secretaries; the head office still being at Allahabad with Secretary as the overall executive head. Now Regional Office at Ramnagar (Nainital) has been separated from UP Board due to the creation of Uttaranchal as a new state on November 8, 2000. Presently, the Board holds the examinations and prepares the results of well over 65 lakh students.Lucknow: The Board of High School and Intermediate Education Uttar Pradesh, also known as the Uttar Pradesh Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad (UPMSP), declared the UP Board 12 Result 2018 on Sunday at 12:30 pm on its official website upmspresults.up.nic.in and upresults.nic.in. Candidates can also check the UP Board Class 12 Intermediate Results 2018 on websites examresults.net and indiaresults.com.

The UP Class 12 Board exams 2018 was held from February 6 to March 12, 2018. More than 29 lakh students appeared for the exam. However, over 11 lakh students dropped out of the exams after strict measures to stop cheating were introduced.

In order to view their UP Board 12 Inter Result 2018 results, candidates need to follow these steps:

Step 1: Visit website upmspresults.up.nic.in or upresults.nic.in or examresults.net or indiaresults.com

Step 2: Click on UP Board 12th Result 2018 link

Step 3: On the new page, enter your Roll Number and click submit

Step 4: Now, download your result and take a print out for further reference

Candidates can also view their Intermediate Results 2018 on via SMS.

Just type UP12<space>ROLLNUMBER and send it to 56263

In 2017, 26 lakh students took the exam out of which 82.5 percent students passed the exam.

Although every effort is made to maintain the accuracy of the results, an error may creep in inadvertently due to extraneous reasons beyond the control of the publishing agency National Informatics Centre (NIC) or the concerned Institution/board/university. Students are advised to verify their marks with the official hard copy issued from the respective Institution/board/university.

The Board of High School and Intermediate Education Uttar Pradesh has its head office in Allahabad, the nerve centre of education in the state. It was set up in 1921 by an act of United Provinces Legislative Council as India was under the British rule at that time. BHSIEUP is one in India which, from the very start, had adopted 10+2 system of examination. The first public examination after 10 years education is High School Examination and after the 10+2 stage, there is Intermediate Examination. Prior to 1923, University of Allahabad was the examining body of these two examinations.NEW DELHI: Deshal Dan Charan, a resident of Jaisalmer in Rajasthan is making headlines after he cleared the Union Public Service Commission exam on Friday. The small town resident secured the 82nd rank for himself when the UPSC results for 2017 were declared on Friday.

Hailing from Sumalai village of Jaisalmer, Deshal Dan has had humble beginnings. His father Kushaldan Charan is a tea seller in Jaisalmer and has struggled through most of his life. He had to take loans to make sure his son completes his education. With hardly any good institutes for higher education in Jaisalmer, Deshal Dan's selection for the civil services is a moment of pride for the entire village. Not just his father and family, the entire village is joining Deshal Dan in celebrating this moment.

A total of 990 candidates including 750 men and 240 women have been recommended by the Commission for appointment to various services. Of the candidates recommended for appointment, 476 are from the general category, 275 from OBC, 165 from scheduled caste and 74 from scheduled tribes category.

The Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2017 was conducted on June 18, 2017. 9,57,590 candidates applied for this examination, out of which 4,56,625 candidates actually appeared. 13,366 candidates qualified for appearance in the written (Mains) examination held in October-November, 2017. Of them, 2,568 candidates qualified for the Personality Test conducted in February-April, 2018.

Anudeep Durishetty topped the UPSC Civil Services 2017 examination. Durishetty, who hails from Hyderabad, is already an officer of the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) of the 2014 batch. The topper among the female candidate Anu Kumari has secured an overall second rank in the UPSC 2017 results. Anu graduated with BSc (Hons) in Physics from Delhi University and has done MBA in Finance and Marketing from IMT, Nagpur.

The third spot has been bagged by Sachin Gupta who belongs to a trader family based in Sirsa in Haryana. He had appeared for the exam last year too and secured the 575th rank. However, his determination and hard work made him secure an overall third ranking in the exam. With a degree in mechanical engineering degree from Thapar University, Patiala and worked at a private company in Gurugram.

The civil services examination is conducted annually in three phases - preliminary, main and personality test or interview - to select officers for Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian Police Service (IPS) among others.NEW DELHI: The final results of the Union Public Service Commission were declared on Friday and Haryana has every reason to cheer. Among the top five position holders, three belong to Haryana. The topper among the female candidate Anu Kumari hails from Haryana. She secured an overall second rank in the UPSC 2017 results. Anu graduated with BSc (Hons) in Physics from Delhi University and has done MBA in Finance and Marketing from IMT, Nagpur.

The 31-year-old said that the exam results were a reward for the enormous amount of hard work she had put in, and for the support that she got from her family. Married and with a four-year-old son, her first attempt was in 2016 but at the time, she narrowly missed making the cut. This time though, she said she devoted herself completely in preparing for the exams and the final outcome is a result of her dedication.

The third spot has also been bagged by Sachin Gupta who belongs to a trader family based in Sirsa in Haryana. He had appeared for the exam last year too and secured the 575th rank. However, his determination and hard work made him secure an overall third ranking in the exam. With a degree in mechanical engineering degree from Thapar University, Patiala and worked at a private company in Gurugram.

Pratham Kaushik from Mahendragarh district in Haryana has saved the secured the fifth rank for himself. The 324-year-old studied materials and metalurgical engineering at Punjab Engineering College (PEC), Chandigarh. His father is a deputy excise and taxation commissioner posted in Kaithal.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khatter took to Twitter to congratulate the toppers. He gave a special mention to Anu and hoped that the daughters of the state consider her as their inspiration. " I hope that the daughters of the state will be motivated to achieve more by taking inspiration from you," he tweeted fro Anu Kumari.

A total of 990 candidates including 750 men and 240 women have been recommended by the Commission for appointment to various services. Of the candidates recommended for appointment, 476 are from the general category, 275 from OBC, 165 from scheduled caste and 74 from scheduled tribes category. Anudeep Durishetty has topped the UPSC Civil Services 2017 examination. Durishetty, who hails from Hyderabad, is already an officer of the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) of the 2014 batch.

The Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2017 was conducted on June 18, 2017. 9,57,590 candidates applied for this examination, out of which 4,56,625 candidates actually appeared. 13,366 candidates qualified for an appearance in the written (Mains) examination held in October-November, 2017. Of them, 2,568 candidates qualified for the Personality Test conducted in February-April, 2018.

The civil services examination is conducted annually in three phases - preliminary, main and personality test or interview - to select officers for Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian Police Service (IPS) among others.Tejas, the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) successfully fired Derby Air-to-Air Beyond Visual Range Missile to expand the firing envelope as well as to demonstrate safe operation of the aircraft during missile plume ingestion into the aircraft engine under worst case scenarios. The missile was launched from LCA Tejas piloted by Wing Cdr Siddharth Singh on 27 April 2018 from the firing range off the Goa coast after an exhaustive study of the missile separation characteristics and plume envelope.

Integration of Derby, a BVR class missile is one of the major objectives of Final Operational Clearance (FOC) of LCA Tejas.

LCA Tejas has been designed and developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation's (DRDO) autonomous society  Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA).

The aircraft was tracked by two other Tejas aircraft in close formation to capture the firing event in the specially instrumented high speed cameras for detailed analysis and comparison with the simulation model for validation. The entire planning, practice sorties and final firing was carried out by ADA and its National Flight Test Centre (NFTC) officials Cmde JA Maolankar and GpCapt A Kabadwal, IAF, DG(AQA), HAL and INS HANSA.

Based on the successful integration and demonstration, Regional Centre for Military Airworthiness (RCMA), a unit of DRDO has cleared the series production aircraft of Squadron 45, to be equipped with Derby operational capability. LCA Tejas has successfully completed a series of captive flight trials to clear Derby for the full operational capability in the entire FOC envelope. In the past, Tejas has qualified for the armaments and missile release related trials.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman complimented DRDO and other agencies involved in making LCA Tejas fighter jet, a world class aircraft platform.

Chairman DRDO and Secretary Department of Defence R&D Dr. S Christopher, congratulated and said that with this firing, LCA Tejas achieved another major milestone towards FOC certification.New Delhi: Bollywood's future superstar Taimur Ali Khan, who is mostly seen without his mommy Kareena Kapoor these days, made a stylish appearance yet again. The little munchkin was spotted chilling by the poolside with his cousin Inaaya, aunt Soha and uncle Kunal Khemu.

He can be seen with his nanny, while Soha Ali Khan is seen drying her baby Inaaya, who seems to have had a great pool session with daddy Kunal.

Check out the picture:



This little bundle of joy, who turned a year old on December 20, 2017, had a classy birthday celebration held at Pataudi Palace where only family and close friends were seen in attendance.

Not only Taimur but also his cousin sister Inaaya Naumi Kemmu, the famous blue-eyed baby is also an internet sensation. Soha Ali Khan and Kunal Kemmu's gorgeous little baby girl Inaaya is a carbon copy of Taimur and together they make the photo frame look gorgeous.

Inaaya's reminds us of cousin Taimur's first photos and the kind of sensation it created on social media. The baby girl was born on the auspicious 9th day of Navratri, the reason why her name is Inaaya Naumi Kemmu (Naumi comes from Navmi).

The couple got engaged in July 2014 in Paris and tied the knot in Mumbai on January 25, 2015. `LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad (UPMSP), also known as Board of High School and Intermediate Education Uttar Pradesh, announced the results of Class 12 results 2018 on April 29. The UPMSP Class 12 results 2018 are available on UP Board's website: upresults.nic.in. The students can also check their results on upmsp.edu.

The board's official website upresults.nic.in has further said that UP Board result Class XII 2018 made available on the net are actually published for immediate information to students.

It has also added that every effort has been made to maintain the accuracy of the results. However, in case there are errors, these may have crept in inadvertently due to "extraneous reasons" beyond the control of either NIC or the concerned Institution, board, or university.

The Uttar Pradesh Board, therefore, advises the students to verify their marks with the official hard copy issued from their respective Institution, board, or university.

So, what this means is that students must get the original certificates of marks of the UP Board class 12 result 2018 to know exactly how they have fared.



How to check UP Board 12th result 2018 through App



1. Visit the google play store

2. Download board results 2018

3. Out of many apps, download it as per review

4. Once the app is installed, pre-register yourself along with registering your roll number

5. Once results are declared, you can check it through the app



How to check UP Board Class 12 results 2018 online



1. Visit the official websites: upmsp.edu.in, upresults.nic.in, upmspresults, up.nic.in

2. Now click on the Result link

3. Enter your registration as well as roll numbers in the new window

4. You can see your result on the screen

5. Download your result and take a print out for reference



According to UP Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma, who also heads Secondary Education and Higher Education, in the next years examination, Aadhaar card will be made compulsory for Class 9 and Class 11 students as they fill the forms for the board examinations.

The move will help the administration identify them and keep a check the menace of copying, Sharma said.



The Uttar Pradesh Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad has also decided to release the answer papers of the topper students from this year, said Sharma, adding that the board will upload the copies of toppers online for other students to see and follow their example while preparing for exams.

Last year, the results of Class 12th and Class 10th were declared on June 9.



Here's Zee News wishing the best of luck to all the students for the UP Board result class 12 2018.Rebecca Zeni, a former model was eaten alive by parasitic mites while she was admitted to a Georgia nursing home. Seni had a scabies infestation and her autopsy report stated the cause of death was "septicemia due to crusted scabies", fox news reported.

An autopsy report stated the womans cause of death was septicemia due to crusted scabies. As per reports, the state health officials were informed of the scabies outbreak at the facility but they did not investigate or inspect the nursing home.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Scabies is an "infestation by the human itch mite. The microscopic scabies mite burrows into the upper layer of the skin where it lives and lays its eggs."

Zeni during her younger years worked at a naval yard. She also took up modeling projecs in New York City and worked for a television station in Chicago.

Zeni, who suffered from dementia, was put in the nursing home by her daughter in 2010. her family is now suing Pruitt Health, which runs the nursing home where Zeni died. Reacting to the incident, her family's lawyer Mike Prieto said: "I dont understand how you can allow a human being to suffer needlessly."

In the pictures clicked before her death, Zeni's skin could be seen blackened and flaky. An attorney representing the Zeni family, also alleged the nursing home staff were told not to touch Zenis hand.

"There was a conversation at this nursing home with a health care provider about being careful about touching Ms. Zenis hand for fear that it might fall off her body, the attorney was quoted as saying.

The news station asked Dr. Kris Sperry, a forensic pathologist, to look over Zenis autopsy report. Sperry said out of the 6,000 autopsies he has conducted, Zenis was one of the most horrendous things Ive ever seen in my career as a forensic pathologist.

A forensic pathologist who looked at Zenis autopsy report said that hundreds of millions of mites were burrowed inside her during the time of her death. The pathologist also added that it is likely that she suffered a painful death. "I would seriously consider calling this a homicide by neglect," the forensic pathologist added.Washington: US President Donald Trump said Saturday that "things are going very well" after talking with South Korea's President Moon Jae-in about an upcoming summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

"Just had a long and very good talk with President Moon of South Korea. Things are going very well, time and location of meeting with North Korea is being set," Trump wrote on Twitter.

"Also spoke to Prime Minister (Shinzo) Abe of Japan to inform him of the ongoing negotiations," he wrote.

Moon met with Kim in a historic summit, agreeing on Friday to pursue a permanent peace and the complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

An armistice brought the fighting on the Korean peninsula to an end in 1953, but 65 years later, a final peace agreement has still not been reached.

The Moon-Kim meeting has raised expectations for Trump's own planned summit with the North Korean leader, the date and location of which have not yet been finalised.

Mongolia and Singapore are the final two sites under consideration for the summit, CBS News reported, though Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Saturday that there had been no formal request for his city-state to host the meeting.

Last year, Pyongyang carried out its sixth nuclear test, by far its most powerful to date, and launched missiles capable of reaching the US mainland. Its actions sent tensions soaring as Kim and Trump traded personal insults and threats of war.

Trump has demanded the North give up its weapons, and Washington is pressing for it to do so in a complete, verifiable and irreversible way. Pyongyang is demanding as yet unspecified security guarantees to discuss its arsenal.112 Agency

From the beginning of the day, representatives of illegal armed formations opened fire on fortifications of Ukrainian servicemen 21 times. This is reported by the press center of the headquarters of Donbas conflict.



On the Donetsk direction, 120 and 82 mm mortar shells, grenade launchers, heavy machine guns and small arms, banned by the Minsk Agreements, fired at Avdiivka defenders. Also, mortars of the caliber of 120 mm were used under Bohdanivka and Novotroitske. In addition, 82 mm mortars, grenade launchers and small arms fired at positions of Ukrainian forces near the Butivka mine, heavy machine guns - in the area of Hnutove and Vodyane, and small arms were used to attack the defenders of Shyrokine, Hnutove, Talakivka and Kamyaanka.



On the Luhansk direction, from illegal 120 and 82 mm mortar rounds, militants shelled the strongholds of the Armed Forces near Novotoshkivske. Also, mortars of 120 mm caliber were used by militants under Troitske and Luhanske. In addition, from 82 mm mortars and grenade launchers, the enemy attacked Ukrainian fortifications near Troitske, and from grenade launchers near Luhanske.



"As a result of the enemy fire, three Ukrainian soldiers were injured, two servicemen got combat wounds, they were taken to medical institutions and provided with medical assistance," the headquarters of the Armed Forces noted.

Related: Armenian ruling party refuses to nominate candidate for prime ministerIt is noted that the connection is restored in Kirovsky and Budenivsky districts of the city

Open source

Vodafone mobile communication was partially recovered in Donbas, as Radio Svoboda reported referring to Donetsk residents.

The signal has suddenly recovered at around 23:00 (on April 27) in Kirovsky district, mobiles show the full scale. The residents of Budenivsky district informed about the re-establishing of the connection. Other residents inform that there is no connection in Kalininskyi and Kyivskyi districts, the message says.

Viktoria Ruban, the Manager of the Vodafone Ukraine Public Relations Department, wrote on her Facebook page that the operators staff with the help of OSCE and the Ministry of Temporarily Occupied Territories and IDPs finished the technical monitoring of the network on the uncontrolled territory in Donetsk region and the mobile communication will be restored.

The connection has to emerge at least within the territory where the operating equipment still remained. The question is for how longThere is nothing left but the hope for common sense, Ruban wrote.

As it was reported earlier, the communication problems in the so-called Donetsk Peoples Republic emerged on January 11, 2018. The militants stated that the reason for the disconnection was cable damage which is set towards Oleniwka. The Armed Forces was blamed for that as usual. As Vodafone was the only Ukranain operator working on the occupied territories, ORDLO (Separated Districts of Donetsk and Luhansk Regions) residents started purchasing local operators packages which work on the equipment grabbed from Ukrainians. Donetsk operator Fenix and Luhansks Luhak set excessive tariffs for the calls on Ukrainian operators and landlines.112 Agency

Secretary General of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Thomas Greminger welcomes the intention of the DPRK and South Korea to sign a peace treaty. This is reported on the organization's website.



"I hope that this event will positively affect our global security and will inspire other states in conflict to take the path of peace," Greminger said.



In his turn, OSCE Chairman Angelino Alfano also welcomed the decision and expressed the hope that "the outcome of the meeting will make a positive contribution to relieving tension in the region."



We recall, North and South Korea agreed to stop any hostile actions against each other. This is stated in the declaration, which the leaders signed today, April 27.



It is about signing a peace treaty before the end of this year on the formal termination of the Korean War.

Earlier Lindsey Graham, an American Senator, stated that Donald Trump, the U.S. President, deserves a Nobel Prize, as Fox News reports.

"Donald Trump convinced North Korea and China he was serious about bringing about change. We're not there yet, but if this happens, President Trump deserves the Nobel Peace Prize," Graham said.

He also stressed that Trumps aggressive position helped to return North Korea to the negotiations.

Trump appears to be a Nobel Prize nominee for the third time due to his commitment to the ideology of struggling for peace by force.NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg urged Hungary and Ukraine to resolve the differences as soon as possible. He said this during a meeting of NATO member states on April 27.



"It is well known that there are some disagreements between Hungary and Ukraine that made it impossible to hold a meeting at the ministerial level, but we continue to urge Ukraine and Hungary to find a solution to these disagreements as quickly as possible," Stoltenberg said.



He noted that Hungary is an important member of NATO, this country contributes to the collective defense of NATO in various forms, and also increases its defense spending, which is welcomed by the Alliance.



The NATO Secretary General also described the situation in Ukraine.



"Ukraine is a close partner of NATO, it is also a victim of Russian aggression and the illegal annexation of Crimea, as well as attempts by Russia to destabilize the east of Ukraine. Therefore, it is very important for us to express our solidarity with Ukraine," Stoltenberg stressed.



Meanwhile, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Siyarto told reporters that the holding of the meeting of the Ukraine-NATO Commission depends only on Ukraine.



"I told the secretary general that the NATO-Ukraine meeting at the summit depends only on Ukraine," he said on Friday in Brussels, Ukrinform reports.



As previously reported, Hungary vetoed a meeting of the Ukraine-NATO Commission in Brussels at the level of foreign ministers, which was to take place this week. Earlier, Hungary blocked a meeting of the Ukraine-NATO Commission, which was to be held on February 14-15, and before that - the convening of it in December 2017.



Hungary stated that it would not support Ukraine's rapprochement with Europe until the law on education was repealed.Roman Tsymbalyuk

Illegally detained in Russia, Ukrainian journalist Roman Sushenko was transferred from a solitary cell. This was reported in Facebook by the lawyer of Sushchenko Mark Feygin.



"Sushchenko was again transferred from a solitary cell, where he was placed immediately after depriving me of my lawyer status, into a cell for two," he wrote.



According to Feygin, the transfer to the solitary dell was argued by "security interests".



We recall, April 24 Mark Feygin was stripped of the lawyer status.



The journalist of Ukrinform agency Roman Suschenko was detained in Russia in late September 2016. He was accused of espionage. The lawyer stated that Sushchenko was threatened with a 20-year prison sentence if he did not admit his guilt. Ukraine repeatedly appealed to the Russian Federation with a demand to immediately release the journalist.

Related: Sushchenko did not plead guilty in espionage; court suspends session until March 28According to him, Russia will not impose anything on anybody, but it cannot neglect the distort of the historic and geographic truth

Russias President Vladimir Putin ordered to create world atlas, which would not distort the historical and geographic truth about real names of geographic objects, TASS reports.

The toponymy field requires special attention. We face the situation then Russian names used in past centuries and decades by our researchers and travelers, are being displaced from the global map, Putin said.

According to him, such things are most noticeable in the Antarctic, but not only there: The examples of names substitutions are not only in the far Antarctic. There are examples here closer. I will not rest on it now.

He noted that the absence of modern Russian maps influences this.

Only foreign maps are available, where, as a rule, only secondary names appear, Russian president stated.

According to him, Russia will not impose anything on anybody, but it cannot neglect the distort of the historic and geographic truth.

He ordered the Rosreestr (The Federal Service for State Registration, Cadastre and Cartography, - ed.), the experts of Russian Geographical Society and Russias Defence Ministry to analyze the world atlas. Besides, he ordered the Defence Ministry to provide access to the map documents as the secrecy label on many maps are outdated and looks archaically.Around 200 Ukrainian tourists cannot fly from Egypt for more than 24 hours

Ukrainian tourists, stuck in Egypt, are waiting to return to Ukraine in a hotel. It was reported that a plane was sent to take them, as Vasyl Kyrlych, the Head of the Consular Department of Ukraines Foreign Ministry, said for 112 Ukraine.

Reportedly, a plane from Ukraine is expected to arrive, he stated.

According to Kyrlych, a plane from Ukraine is expected to arrive at Sharm El Sheikh airport in the afternoon and there is a hope that Ukrainian tourists will set out to Ukraine today.

He added that a new plane is sent due to the fact that Lviv airport, where Ukrainians are going to come, did not have an opportunity to accept the plane ordered by the travel agency.

The representative of the Foreign Ministry noted that for now, Ukrainians are waiting for the flight in the hotels as according to the demands of the airport administration, one can be on its territory no longer than two hours.

It should be mentioned that there is no information on the situation published on the website of the tourist agency.

Earlier, it was reported that 200 Ukrainian tourists could not set out from Sharm El Sheikh. According to their messages on the social networks, there were no reports on what was going on.Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany, and Donald Trump, the U.S. President, discussed war conflict in Ukraine at the meeting

Germany is interested in good relationships with Russia, but it will continue protecting the democratic values along with the USA, ignored by Russia, as Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany, said at the joint pre-conference with Donald Trump broadcasted by Voice of America on Youtube.

Merkel said that along with Trump they have discussed war conflict in Ukraine and war in Syria.

We discussed Ukraine. We are working closely against Russias illegal activity there, and I am very satisfied with our cooperation. We are interested in good relationships with Russia, but we have to continue protecting the democratic values, Germanys Chancellor stressed.

It should be noted that an outreach session on Ukraine was held in Toronto on April 23 within the meeting of G7 Foreign Ministers.

Pavlo Klimkin, Ukraines Foreign Minister, said that Crimea and Donbas were discussed at the G7 Foreign Ministers meeting in Toronto.

Besides, G7 Foreign Ministers agreed to create a special group which will monitor Russias behavior.

Ukraine news on 112.internationalPoland suggest searching for the solution under the conditions of Hungary's blocking of Ukraine-NATO Commission

Open source

It is necessary to conduct less formal meetings with Kyiv and Brussels, as Jacek Czaputowicz, Polish Foreign Minister, said after the meeting of NATO states Foreign Ministers, Ukrinforam reports referring to PAP, a Polish agency.

We will probably find a solution, another, less formal form so that Ukrainians could take part in the discussion, he stated.

Earlier, Hungary has blocked Ukraine-NATO commission at the level of ministers for the third time.

It is about Hungarys complaints about Ukraines law on education.

The Commissions session was to be held this week. Earlier, Hungary blocked the session on February 14-15 and the Commissions convening in December of 2017.Open source

Peter Szijjarto, Hungarian Foreign Minister, denies that Hungary could run its policy towards Ukraine by Russias order.

With a discontent, we completely deny the slander campaign started by the Ukrainian politicians, according to which Russia has the same influence on Hungarian policy towards Ukraine, Szijjarto stated, as Radio Svoboda reports.

He added that Hungarian Government is guided by the intentions to make Kyiv retract the laws which discriminate 150,000 Transcarpathian Hungarians.

Szijjarto noted that Hungary expects NATO to show solidarity. He believes, that the alliance is basically gives easy time to Ukraine for its geopolitical positions.

The Minister stressed that the Ukraine-NATO summits depend on Ukrainians, not on Hungarians.

As Hungary has blocked the organization of such meeting for the third time, Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, on April 26 stressed the importance of reaching a compromise between Ukraine and Hungary. He added that the consultation between NATO and Ukraine can be conducted at the ambassadors level, but NATO representatives also support the idea of conducting summits at the level of Foreign Ministers.

As it was reported earlier, Hungary vetoed the Ukraine-NATO commission meeting in Brussels at the level of Foreign Ministers, which was to be held this week. Earlier, Hungary blocked the meeting of the Ukraine-NATO commission which was to be held on February 14-15 and the Ukraine-NATO commission assembling in December of 2017.

Hungary stated that it would not support Ukraines convergence with Europe till the education law signed by the President on September 25, 2017 is not repealed.PLEASE NOTE!

Due to the March 23, 2020 NM DOH Public Health Order, These Event Listings Are Not Accurate!

All non-essential businesses are closed, public gatherings are prohibited!

(One day some of these events will be rescheduled or will resume, but they are not happening now!)YEREVAN, APRIL 28, ARMENPRESS. Well-known analyst and commentator Anne Applebaum has published an analytical article in The Washington Post, referring to the developments in Armenia. ARMENPRESS presents the full article of Anne Applebaum.

When I saw the masses of East German citizens there, I knew they were in the right. A quarter-century later, that was how Lt. Col. Harald Jager explained his decision to open the gates and let his fellow citizens through the Berlin Wall. Jager was guarding a border checkpoint on Nov. 9, 1989, in the hours after East German leaders had announced that the travel rules were changing. As Berliners flocked to the wall, demanding to cross into the West, he asked repeatedly for clarification from his superiors, but nothing was forthcoming.

In the end, the crowds persuaded him to act: At the moment it became so clear to me . . . the stupidity, the lack of humanity. I finally said to myself: Kiss my arse. Now I will do what I think is right.  That moment is one of the clearest illustrations of how and why street demonstrations can sometimes create political change. They can appeal to a deeper morality and thus persuade people in power to change course, to abandon a repressive regime, to stop using force.

I thought of Jager this week when the prime minister of Armenia surprised his country and resigned. Serzh Sargsyan was president of Armenia for a decade, from 2008 to 2018, in that time building up a web of business and political contacts designed to keep him in power. In anticipation of leaving office, he changed some of the rules, enhanced the power of the prime minister  and arranged for the parliament to elect him to that job. This is a familiar trick: Both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have played similar games, shifting between the presidency and the prime ministership to flout their constitutions and stay in charge.

Armenians saw through it. For 11 days, large crowds of them protested this duplicitous power grab, in the capital and elsewhere. Then, unexpectedly, Sargsyan resigned. I was wrong, he declared. The street movement is against my tenure. I am fulfilling your demand.

Surprised Armenians flooded the streets again to celebrate. Thomas de Waal, the author of several books on Armenia, told me he reckoned Sargsyan was swayed by the fact that Armenia is a small country with a high feeling of national solidarity. Another possible factor: The last time Armenians organized mass protests, in March 2008, a police crackdown left 10 people dead. Perhaps Sargsyan didnt want to repeat that experience.

Whatever the true reason, political demonstrations worked in Armenia for the same reason they worked in Berlin in 1989, and in Kiev, Ukraine, in 2014: because they moved a key person to question the legitimacy of the regime, even his own regime. And this, unfortunately, is unusual.

For every successful pro-democracy street demonstration, I can list just as many that have failed. Moscow in 2012. Hong Kong in 2014. Warsaw in 2015. Venezuela in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. Sometimes these demonstrations fail because their demands are too broad and they dont catch on. Sometimes they fail because the regime uses violence to stop them and people get scared. Sometimes they fail because it isnt enough to occupy public space: After a while people get tired, fellow citizens want the streets cleared, everyone has to go back to work.

But most often they fail because there is no Jager, there is no Sargsyan, and the regime refuses to listen. The ruler successfully smears the protesters as unrepresentative, unpatriotic  or in the pay of foreigners. Instead of being moved by their sincerity and their numbers, Putin described protesters in 2012 as evidence of an American plot  which is exactly what the Chinese claimed about the Hong Kong protesters in 2014. Nor is this just a tactic used by authoritarians: American conservatives also claimed that students protesting gun laws last month were being paid to do so.

When they dont or cant move people, demonstrations, marches and occupy movements are insufficient. Its not enough just to be there: The movement has to join or become a political party, the street leaders have to become politicians. In democracies, they need to win elections. In dictatorships, they need other means to peel away support for the ruling party. In political vacuums, such as the one right now in Armenia, they need a strategy. To convert the desire for change into a more just society is a long project, one which requires people to work for many years, not just to show up for a few hours.

Demonstrations matter even when they dont succeed: They cheer people up, spread solidarity, keep people inspired. Every once in a while, they achieve something dramatic. But most of the time, by themselves, its important to remember that unless they can institutionalize the demands of the crowd  find ways to make them permanent  they arent enough.YEREVAN, APRIL 28, ARMENPRESS. The Police of Armenia have issued a statement referring to the events planned on May 1, the election day of Prime Minister of Armenia.

Dear fellow citizens, like each citizen of the Republic of Armenia, each police serviceman hopes that the crisis will be solved on May 1, 2018 at the legislative body of Armenia in line with the letter and spirit of the Constitution and our Republic will continue to live its normal and peaceful life, reads the statements. The Police statement also says that they will do everything to protect the life and health of the peaceful protesters. The Police have not initiated and will not initiate any action that can complicate the situation. But at the same time the Police have received some concerning information. There is potential threat that some extremist groups, taking advantage of the situation, can provoke clashes with the Police. We ask all the organizers of the protest to keep in focus all the processes taking place during the protest, to take away from the place of assembly everyone who will make calls for violence, hatred, or intolerance, reads the statements, urging the organizers to set up groups of supervisors who will have white visible emblems with the word supervisor written on it, who will ensure cooperation with the Police.

The Police warn that for ensuring uninterrupted functioning of the National Assembly and some other state bodies, security measures will be implemented, which may include restrictions for traffic and pedestrians in line with Article 22 of the law on Police.

The Police also warn that the attempts to bypass of the restrictions illegally, inflict pressure or break through the police forces, as well as the attempts to penetrate into police departments or other important objects of state protection will be assessed as acts of violence for the prevention of which the Police will take all the measures provided by the law.

We once again announce that the Police are not a subject of political processes and are solely standing in the positions of the unconditional protection of the constitutional order.

We are convinced that reasonability, self-possession and the care of all of us towards the future of our country and reputation will help us to overcome the situation with dignity and untidily, the statement concludes.

English translator/editor: Tigran SirekanyanYEREVAN, APRIL 28, ARMENPRESS. First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee for CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots, Head of the Institute of CIS Countries Konstantin Zatulin is ready to meet with the leader of Civil Contract party Nikol Pashinyan. Konstantin Zatulin said at a press conference at ARMENPRESS media hall that they have already held a number of meetings. They have meet with the leadership of the National Assembly of Armenia, Speaker Ara Babloyan and his colleagues. Today they met also with parliamentary factions.

Personally I was to have an opportunity to meet with the representatives of Yelk bloc faction and and afterwards with Dashnaktsutyun. Yelk did not come with the staff we expected. About half an hour later Mr. Mirzoyan came, who gave a speech and answered our questions. He explained the absence of the others by the fact that they are insulted by the assessments of Mr. Ryzhkov. Personally I was not present during that unpleasant incident and do not know whats the insult about. I am only pity for the representatives of the faction, who have announced about their leader becoming the Prime Minister, are so vulnerable and are not ready to communicate with us with the full staff, Zatulin said. He underlined that they are ready to hold discussions over domestic political processes with everyone, including Nikol Pashinyan. Konstantin Zatulin noted that they know that Pashinyan is not in Yerevan and maybe for that reason he was unable to be present at the meeting and they understand it.

The reporters asked him to comment on the assessments of Nikolai Ryzhkov.

I am not going to justify someone or apologize instead of someone else. I can say that Nikolai Ryzhkov is quite an honest figure who expresses his positions openly. He supposed an open conversation and spoke in the way he found necessary. The audience, you, we can assess whether he was right or not but I am not going to act here as a teacher and give Nikolai Ryzhkov lessons. By the way, if I am not mistaken this year he will become 90 and I would advise not to make an elephant out of a fly, Konstantin Zatulin added.

He informed that he is going to meet with acting Prime Minister of Armenia Karen Karapetyan.

I do not know Karen Karapetyan very well, but I know that he is well-known in Russia and he is a valued person. We want to express our support to Karen Karapetyan who faces a difficult problem. I dont know if he will be nominated or no, there may be other candidates. But during the meeting with him I will talk to him about preventing new passions to the existing situation. We are interested that the issue should be solved in the legal framework, inside the parliament. Russia will attentively follow the developments, the Russian parliamentarian said, adding that any attempt by any side to solve the situation by force we will not be accepted it unquestionably in Russia.

Konstantin Zatulin informed that he also has met with President of Artsakh Bako Sahakyan and 2nd President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan.

English translator/editor: Tigran SirekanyanYEREVAN, APRIL 28, ARMENPRESS. Head of Yelk bloc parliamentary faction Nikol Pashinyan is ready to discuss the current situation with all the MPs representing the Republican Party of Armenia, ARMENPRESS reports Pashinyan announced during the Ijevan rally. We are ready to meet with anyone in the formats that will be acceptable for us, he underlined.

Pashinyan reaffirmed that starting from April 29 actions of civil disobedience will kick off throughout the Republic. Our struggle is a non violent struggle with open hands, Pashinyan said, urging the participants of movement to maintain road traffic rules and in no case drive without vehicle registration plates.

Anyone who will violate those requirements has nothing to do with us. No one can discredit the movement by audacity, he said.

After the Ijevan rally, Pashinyan headed to Vanadzor, where another rally is scheduled.

English translator/editor: Tigran SirekanyanYEREVAN, APRIL 28, ARMENPRESS. Russia is categorically against any attempt to settle Nagorno Karabakh conflict by force, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee for CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots, Head of the Institute of CIS Countries Konstantin Zatulin said at a press conference at ARMENPRESS media hall.

We are against any military attempt and military revenge. We take the April incident with great sorrow. I know that what happened in April 2016 was initiated by Azerbaijan. I have no doubts here, he said, expressing sorrow for Russian weapons were used. I hope that Russian arms supplies to Armenia will restore the balance. We are categorically against any attempt to solve Karabakh issue by force, he said.

Zatulin noted that peaceful negotiations should continue and no provocations should take place.

Our presence in Armenia these days and the telephone conversations between the top leaderships of Armenia and Russia show that Russia does not back away Armenia. And it must be clear not only in Armenia, but also in Azerbaijan. I do not think Azerbaijan will destabilize the situation or will try to take advantage of the domestic political situation in Armenia to make any step, he said, adding that the conflicting sides have to reach an agreement. No one will do that for them, he said, emphasizing that the will of the people living in Artsakh must be taken into account in any case.

English translator/editor: Tigran SirekanyanYEREVAN, APRIL 29, ARMENPRESS. MPs of the Republican Party (HHK) faction of the Armenian parliament had a meeting with third President of Armenia, President of the HHK, the ruling party, Serzh Sargsyan and acting Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan.

HHK spokesman Eduard Sharmazanov said at an April 28 press briefing that the agenda of the meeting included the current domestic political situation and the ruling partys participation in the upcoming May 1 PM election.

Taking into account the domestic political situation, HHK has always said that its priority is state interest, the fatherlands interest, the security of Armenia and Artsakh and domestic stability. Guided by these challenges and priorities, the HHK decided that the HHK faction of the National Assembly will not nominate a candidate for Prime Minister, Sharmazanov said while presenting the partys statement.

According to the HHK spokesman, the ruling party will discuss the programs of all candidates and will present its stance until the voting.

A political situation has changed, there is a political crisis in the country. There are new realities in Armenia and not once have we said that our priority is not the interest of the party but the interest of the state. We are guided by the With my party, but for my nation principle. When the Republican party was being founded under the leadership of Ashot Navasardyan, afterwards Andranik Margaryan, Vazgen Sargsyan, the political fathers of our party, the founders didnt bequeath us with the [party-addiction] idea. They bequeathed us the idea of statehood-building and pro-statehood, he said.

The Republican Party of Armenia is one of the most important pillars of the independent Armenias statehood. Pillar of independent statehood doesnt mean that you always have to be in power. The interest of the state if above all for us, we cant lead our fatherland towards shocks. We dont need powerful shocks, we rather need a powerful Armenia. This is a conscious decision, which is based on domestic stability and the security of Armenia and Artsakh, Sharmazanov said.

English translator/editor: Stepan KocharyanYEREVAN, APRIL 28, ARMENPRESS. Opposition MP Nikol Pashinyan says if any other candidate them himself is elected Prime Minister during the May 1 election in the parliament then protests will continue throughout the country on a 10 times bigger scale.

Pashinyan made the announcement during an April 28 rally in Vanadzors central square.

HHK [ruling party] announced that it will not nominate a candidate for PM. However it will be correct that the Republican faction jointly with other factions nominates the peoples candidate as a candidate for Prime Minister. I am willing to meet with all lawmakers of the HHK. If they make their step, then they will become the co-authors of this historic achievement, Pashinyan said, urging other political parties to not nominate their candidate.

Pashinyan says many are attempting to present as if the events are circling around individuals as to who must take office of the Prime Minister. According to Pashinyan, in reality it is about whether or not this crisis will be solved or will it continue in the future also.

Speaking about their plans for April 29, Pashinyan mentioned that they will resume mass civil disobediences across Armenia and in the capital city Yerevan from 12:00. All educational institutions declare a strike and all streets are shut down. A rally will take place 19:00 in Republic Square, Yerevan, therefore all roads will be re-opened 16:00 in order for the people to be able to reach the rally site.

The Republican Party (HHK) parliamentary faction will not nominate a candidate for Prime Minister, HHK spokesman Eduard Sharmazanov said on April 28, presenting the statement on behalf of the ruling party.

On April 23, at 16:00, Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan resigned as widespread protests entered the 11th day.

On the same day, as required by law, the government resigned.

First Deputy PM Karen Karapetyan was named acting PM at an emergency Cabinet meeting.

Later it was announced that Mr. Karapetyan will have a meeting with Mr. Pashinyan  leader of the opposition  on April 25. But around midnight of April 24, the government said that the meeting has been cancelled because the opposition leader unilaterally made new demands. Acting PM Karen Karapetyan addressed the President to organize a meeting in a format of his preference, with participation of a wide spectrum of political parties within and outside the parliament.

On April 25, the President announced he is starting consultations with both parliamentary and extra-parliamentary political parties.

Later in the day Serzh Sargsyan, President of the ruling party  the Republican Party of Armenia  HHK  said he has requested a meeting with members of the Republican faction of the parliament. At the meeting, Sargsyan presented the reasons of his recent resignation in detail and spoke about different formats of working in the parliament  urging to prioritize domestic stability and security of the country in everything, which in case of any decision can be implemented only through unity of Republicans.

An agreement was reached to announce that the Republican faction is ready to discuss any issue with all sides without preconditions. An agreement was also reached to start discussing in the HHK executive bodies the issue of changing the partys president.

The Speaker of Parliament announced that elections of a new Prime Minister will be held May 1.

In accordance to paragraph 3, article 140 of the constitutional law on the parliaments rules of procedure, I announce that the issue of election of a Prime Minister will be debated on May 1 at 12:00, in an extraordinary session of parliament convened by virtue of law, Speaker Ara Babloyan said.

According to the Constitution, parliamentary factions are entitled to nominate candidates for PM within 7 days after the resignation of the PM, after which the election is held through an open voting in the parliament.

The opposition Yelk faction announced that their candidate for PM is Nikol Pashinyan.

English translator/editor: Stepan KocharyanArmenia's ruling party on Saturday refused to nominate a new candidate for premier after veteran ruler Serzh Sarkisian stepped down following mass protests, as support for leading opposition figure Nikol Pashinyan gathered pace. Ex-Soviet Armenia has been in the grip of a severe political crisis for the past two weeks with the protest movement charging that Sarkisian and his ruling Republican party were making a power grab. "The Republican Party has decided not to nominate its candidate," said Eduard Sharmazanov, vice speaker of parliament and the ruling party's spokesman, citing the interests of the people. The party will wait until all candidates are nominated by April 30 and then decide who to back. It was not immediately clear whether the ruling party -- which has a majority of seats in parliament -- would back the head of the protest movement, Nikol Pashinyan, or another candidate. Sharmazanov said earlier he personally doubted Pashinyan was a suitable candidate for the top job. The ruling party said earlier it would announce its position on a May 1 vote to elect the country's next prime minister on Monday. The Prosperous Armenia Party, which holds 31 seats in the 105-member chamber, said Saturday it was backing Pashinyan. The party "won't present a candidate and will support the candidate of the people, which is what he (Pashinyan) is," its chief Gagik Tsarukyan told the Kentron television channel. - Still in the game - Observers fear the turmoil could destabilise the Moscow-allied nation which has for decades been locked in a territorial dispute with Azerbaijan. Sarkisian resigned this week as the country's new prime minister after serving as president for a decade. Pashinyan has issued an ultimatum to the authorities, saying that he should be elected the next prime minister -- who holds the country's top job under a parliamentary system of government. He however does not have enough votes to get elected. Moscow has urged compromise and Russian President Vladimir Putin this week spoke by phone with the interim head of government, stressing the importance of the upcoming election. On Friday, acting head of government Karen Karapetyan refused to hold talks with the protest leader, accusing him of promoting his own agenda and worsening the crisis in the poor country of 2.9 million people. The United States urged "good faith" in negotiations, with a State Department statement calling for "a resolution that reflects the interests of all Armenians." - 'Equal rights' - Addressing supporters in his birthplace Ijevan in Armenia's bucolic north earlier Saturday, Pashinyan pledged equal rights and opportunities for all, saying the country had turned a new page after Sarkisian quit power. "Every citizen will have equal rights and opportunities," he told supporters. "From now on people will not be judged by who their acquaintances, friends and relatives are." He also said he was ready to meet with members of the ruling party to discuss a "peaceful transfer of power." Over the past two days, the 42-year-old has received a hero's welcome in a number of towns and villages outside the capital Yerevan, driving around the landlocked South Caucasus country with his supporters in a convoy. In the small northern town of Dilijan earlier in the day, several hundred locals greeted Pashinyan, holding flags and beating drums. "We want change in Armenia and Pashinyan to be elected prime minister right away," said Arman Ovsepyan, a 43-year-old musician. "If the Republicans refuse to leave power, we will force them to do so peacefully." After a brief halt to two weeks of nearly non-stop rallies, protesters were expected to return to the streets of the capital on Sunday. They also planned to stage a major rally on election day. Police said there was a "potential threat" of provocations by radical groups on May 1, urging protesters to be vigilant. The opposition says only its candidate should become the country's next leader to oversee free and fair parliamentary elections and clean up the political system of corruption and the influence of oligarchs. mkh-ir-am-as/pg Armenian opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan meets with supporters in the northern town of Dilijan Supporters beat drums and waved flags as they cheered Pashinyan

An Australian childrens sex education book, which very openly describes the birds and the bees, is causing widespread debate among parents online.

A post shared to the Facebook community Auburn 2144, which had three pictures of the book The Amazing True Story of How Babies Are Made, including the cover and two more graphic images of the sex act, has started widespread discussion about what is or is not appropriate for children.

The original post read: Okaaaaayyyycan someone please tell me why the hell is this sold in Kmart Australia under the kids section? Look at the photos and the words!!

Some people agreed with the author of the post, with a few questioning why it was in the childrens area.

One wrote: There is a classification for watching TV in what age groups can see. Why the F*** is this book shelved for children.

Another wrote: Ready set go! Omg I had to laugh but seriously this is inappropriate to be in a kids section.

Widespread conversation is taking place online after images from an Australian childrens sex education book were shared. Source: Auburn 2144/Facebook

But many others were quick to defend the publication.

If you dont want your kids to read it, dont buy it!

One mother said she would go to the shop tomorrow to buy it for her son.

Better he learns the truth in a tasteful book than in the schoolyard, she wrote.

Another person said: 

Author of The Amazing True Story of How Babies Are Made Fiona Katauskas told Yahoo7 News that she wrote the book after struggling to find suitable material to teach her five-year-old son on the matter.

Ms Katauskas said there was a misconception the book was all about sex, pointing out only two pages of the 48-page book was about intercourse.

The content of the book has divided parents and social media users. Source: Auburn 2144/ Facebook

Children are not asking about sex, theyre asking about how babies are made, she said.

Theres a preconception that when children learn about sex that sexualizes them but theyre quite different things.

Ms Katauskas also said she wanted it to include other information such as alternative methods of conception including IVF, sperm and egg donation, and varying types of families and parents.

Story continues

She said she understood peoples concerns over the book, but reiterated the benefits of its content.

Im sympathetic to the parents who are worried about it but I think children have a really different view than adults, they just dont have the baggage adults have to deal with, she told Yahoo7 News.

If its not spoken about, children can get the sense that sex is taboo. I think its important to have a healthy conversation and relationship with children where parents can talk to their kid about it.

She revealed the book, shortlisted for the Childrens Book of the Year 2016, doesnt have a targeted age and is simply for when kids begin showing an interest.

Yahoo7 News has contacted Kmart for a response to the online discussion.Terminally-ill British toddler Alfie Evans died in hospital on Saturday after doctors withdrew life support, the child's parents said, following a protracted legal battle and a campaign that drew support from Pope Francis. "Our baby grew his wings tonight at 2:30am (0130 GMT). We are heartbroken. Thank you everyone for all your support," Kate James and Thomas Evans said in a statement on Facebook. The parents had fought to take their son, who had a degenerative medical condition, from a hospital in Liverpool in northwest England to a clinic in Rome but lost a final court appeal on Wednesday. Doctors had already removed life support on Monday after the parents lost a previous appeal to keep him alive despite doctors' recommendations. Pope Francis intervened several times in a case that attracted worldwide attention, particularly in Italy and Poland. Earlier this week the pontiff wrote on Twitter that he hoped the parents' "desire to seek new forms of treatment may be granted". Tom Evans had met the pope in the Vatican and asked him to "save our son". Italy had also granted citizenship to the toddler in the hope of facilitating his transfer to the Bamino Gesu (Baby Jesus) paediatric hospital in Rome. The case is the latest in a series of high-profile battles between parents of ill children and the British authorities. British law states that parents "cannot demand a particular treatment to be continued where the burdens of the treatment clearly outweigh the benefits for the child". If agreement cannot be reached between the parents and the healthcare professionals, "a court should be asked to make a declaration about whether the provision of life-sustaining treatment would benefit the child". The most recent example was that of Charlie Gard, who was born in August 2016 with a rare form of mitochondrial disease. He died last year, one week short of his first birthday, after doctors withdrew life support treatment. Gard's parents fought a five-month legal battle for him to be taken to the United States for experimental treatment. The parents of Ashya King defied professionals in 2014 when they snatched their cancer-stricken son from a British hospital and took him to Prague for proton beam therapy. King, now eight years old, has since been declared clear of the disease. Alfie's parents had fought to take him from a hospital in Liverpool to a clinic in Rome Pope Francis intervened several times in a case that attracted worldwide attentionKey US trading partners face a looming deadline on Tuesday when crippling tariffs on steel and aluminum are set to take effect -- and they are urging the White House to exempt them permanently. The major suppliers, including Canada, Mexico, South Korea and the European Union, were granted a temporary reprieve when President Donald Trump imposed the tariffs in March. The measures were largely aimed at overcapacity in China but the scattershot approach hit many allies and key suppliers and governments in those countries have threatened to retaliate if they are not exempted. That threat of escalating trade war has halted the steady upswing in global stock markets while companies around the United States are reporting that rising costs are already hitting their bottom line. And many economists say the tactics are likely to be counterproductive and undermine cooperation at a time when allied Asian and Western nations seek a united front on Iran, North Korea and China's violations of intellectual property rights. They worry that Trump will focus on a short-term win, rather than more important longer-term changes. That is especially true if Trump continues to concentrate on forcing a reduction in the US trade deficit, which economists agree is not the right way to gauge a healthy trading relationship. "If that's the sole metric and that's done by purchasing a few more Boeings...that doesn't actually get at more medium term structural issues in China that will make a difference in the long run," said economist Stephanie Segal of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "I fear if we declare victory with a one-off from China, we've broken a lot of eggs and without actually making the omelet," she told AFP. - Retaliation - Trump met last week with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel but he gave no indication of whether he would extend or make permanent the tariff exemption for the EU, which exported over $7.7 billion of steel and aluminum to the US market last year. Macron in an address to the US Congress urged Washington to reject protectionism. "We need a free and fair trade, for sure," Macron said. "A commercial war opposing allies is not consistent with our mission, with our history, with our current commitments for global security." Merkel, whose visit was briefer and who has had more chilly relations with Trump, steered clear of any tough talk. "We had an exchange of views on the current state of affairs on the negotiations...and the decision lies with the president," she said at a White House press conference. But Brussels has vowed to retaliate if it faces tariffs by putting punitive duties on American products ranging from industrial and agricultural items to flagship products such as jeans and motorbikes, peanut butter and bourbon. Meanwhile, trade ministers from the US, Canada and Mexico met during the week to advance talks on revising the 24-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement and made enough progress that they have set their next ministerial meeting for May 7. That would seem to bode well for continued tariff exemptions for the two NAFTA partners. Canada exported over $12 billion of steel and aluminum to the US in 2017, with another $3 billion from Mexico. - Letting the genie out - What is not clear is what concessions would be enough to satisfy Washington. The tariffs were imposed on the grounds that the glut of steel imports hurt US industry and therefore threatened national security. But White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow suggested last week that EU concessions on auto imports might be sufficient to win an exemption -- though that has no links to national security concerns. And economists warn that using national security as a justification for trade measures opens the door for other countries to do the same. "This is a really slippery slope in a bazillion ways," said Mary Lovely, professor of economics at Syracuse University. "This could be a blank check for using these kinds of tools." Segal agreed: "Once you've let the genie out of the bottle, it's hard to complain about other countries." Gregory Daco of Oxford Economics said if the exemptions were not extended, tariffs would move from hitting just 30 percent of US imports to the main US suppliers. "The risk is that we could see a major supply chain shock with negative spillovers to financial markets," which dropped precipitously when the tariffs were announced, he said. US President Donald Trump signed off on controversial steel and aluminum tariffs on March 8, 2018A top Islamic State group leader was killed and three others arrested in a government raid on Saturday in southern Yemen, police said. Saleh Nasr Fadl al-Bakhshi, self-proclaimed "emir" of the radical group's branch in the Aden and Abyan regions, was killed in the raid on an IS hideout in government-held territory, a senior officer with Aden's police force told AFP. Islamist networks, including IS and Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, have exploited years of war in Yemen to expand their presence in the country's south. The government of Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi has been based in southern Yemen since 2015, after Shiite Huthi rebels drove it from the capital Sanaa and much of the country's north, prompting a Saudi-led military intervention. Southern Yemen is the target of a US-backed operation against AQAP, led by the United Arab Emirates, as well as a long-running US drone campaign. The Yemen war has claimed nearly 10,000 lives since Saudi Arabia and its military allies joined the conflict in March 2015, triggering what the United Nations has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Yemeni government forces drive through Zinjibar, the capital of Abyan province, on August 16, 2016, after a Saudi-backed offensive to seize it from Al-Qaeda jihadistsGreece on Saturday announced an upgrade for part of its US-made F-16 warplane fleet, a programme pending over the past six months owing to cost concerns. An emergency meeting by the government council of foreign affairs and defence chaired by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras approved the decision, the PM's office said. "The council unanimously approved the implementation of the 85-plane upgrade programme," Tsipras' office said. It added that the decision was based on "preliminary approval" by the US of a "revised Greek proposal taking into account the country's fiscal obligations over the coming years." Defence Minister Panos Kammenos said the planes would be upgraded to F-16 Viper level. No details on the cost or delivery dates of the programme were given. Greece operates a fleet of some 150 F-16s in all. The deal had originally been announced in October during a visit by Tsipras to Washington. But the government came under immediate criticism over the price tag, estimated at $2.4 billion at the time over 10 years. Athens had insisted the cost would not exceed $1.3 billion and would not destabilise its precarious budget. Ta Nea daily on Saturday said the programme runs to 2028, with annual payments until 2021 set at a maximum of 120 million euros owing to Greece's bailout obligations. The first plane will be delivered by 2020 at the earliest, with most of the work undertaken by Greek state defence contractor EAV, Ta Nea said. Tsipras has said the planes, some of them dating from 1989, risked being rendered inoperable without the upgrade. Greece spends two percent of its budget on defence, one of only five NATO members to meet this alliance target. Greek fighter planes see extensive action in the Aegean Sea. They are regularly scrambled to intercept Turkish jets entering what Athens considers Greek airspace over the Aegean, occasionally engaging in mock dogfights. The move comes amid increased tension with NATO ally Turkey. In a barrage of recent statements, Ankara officials have disputed Greek sovereignty of a number of islets close to Turkey's Aegean shores. Athens officials have attributed such talk to Turkey's upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections in June. Athens insisted the cost of the 85-plane upgrade programme would not destabilise the precarious budgetBAMAKO/PARIS (Reuters) - Homemade rockets shook the northern Mali city of Timbuktu on Sunday near U.N. and French military bases where Islamist militants launched a deadly suicide raid last weekend, France's army said. No one was hurt this time around as the two or three rockets exploded outside the U.N. "Super Camp" in Timbuktu and a nearby French base, an army spokesman told Reuters. Youba Cisse, a trader in Timbuktu, told Reuters he heard at least three loud detonations coming from the direction of the camp. The U.N. mission, known as MINUSMA, could not immediately be reached for comment. The April 14 car bomb and rocket attacks on the heavily fortified bases by militants disguised as U.N. peacekeepers killed one U.N. peacekeeper from Burkina Faso and wounded seven French troops. The raid, for which al Qaeada's local affiliate JNIM claimed responsibility, marked a particularly daring assault amid an upsurge in jihadist violence in Mali and neighboring countries. France's defense ministry said at least 15 assailants were killed when it scrambled fighter jets and attack helicopters to respond. U.N. peacekeeping and French military forces in northern Mali have faced near-constant attack over the past year by determined and well-armed jihadist groups seen as the gravest threat to security across West Africa's Sahel region. Western-backed operations against the groups have inflicted significant casualties, yet the jihadists have savvily exploited political and ethnic tensions to recruit new members. (Reporting by Adama Diarra in Bamako and Yann Le Guernigou in Paris; Additional reporting by Kissima Diagana in Nouakchott; Writing by Aaron Ross; Editing by William Maclean)University students at the forefront of anti-government unrest in Nicaragua on Saturday issued conditions for talks with the government of President Daniel Ortega. The demands followed a week of protests and clashes with police that left at least 43 people dead, according to a leading human rights group. In a bid to calm the situation, 72-year-old veteran leader Ortega has agreed to hold talks, but the framework has not yet been defined. The students told a news conference in Managua that their demands must be met for them to take part. The conditions included police involved in the repression being fired, an independent UN-backed body being established to investigate the violence, that relatives of those killed be included, and that the talks be held in public. Any body investigating the violence must be "independent and credible" and have international backing to carry out its work, which would involve "investigating, condemning and sanctioning all those responsible for both approving and committing" the violence, they said. The call came a day after Human Rights Watch called for pressure to be put on Ortega's government to allow a visit by Inter-American Commission of Human Rights, the main rights body in the Americas, to investigate the allegations of abuse. The students also demanded a "Truth Commission" created by the government be disbanded, saying "we don't accept that the murderers investigate themselves." Meanwhile, they wanted the talks to be put off until mid-May so that student representatives not aligned with Ortega's ruling party are involved. Managua's archbishop, Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes, has said he is ready to mediate any dialogue. The country's powerful private business lobby, which distanced itself from Ortega over the violence, has also signaled it is now ready to participate in the talks. - Ortega's grip shaken - The protests that erupted on April 18 were the worst faced by Ortega in his last 11 years in power, badly shaking his tight grip on power over the country, one of the poorest in Latin America. The spark was reforms to the deficit-stricken social security system, but the unrest quickly swelled on the back of widespread resentment of Ortega's perceived authoritarianism. The president, a former Sandinista rebel who has ruled Nicaragua for 22 of the past 39 years, made a series of concessions after sharp domestic and international criticism over the use of security forces to put down the protests, and curbs on independent media to report them. The concessions included abandoning the social security reforms, freeing dozens of arrested protesters, lifting broadcast bans on private TV channels, and offering dialogue. Many Nicaraguans, though -- especially emboldened university students -- want Ortega to step down. A mass demonstration sponsored by the Catholic Church was to take place later Saturday in the Nicaraguan capital, with busloads of demonstrators being brought in from rural areas. Students carry candles during a protest demanding that Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, step down, in Managua on April 27, 2018South Koreans on Saturday pored over every detail of a historic summit in the Demilitarized Zone, transfixed by an extraordinary charm offensive by the North's leader Kim Jong Un. Kim's public appearance at the summit, beamed live to millions in the south, was for many the first prolonged exposure to an authoritarian figure revered in his secretive nation but shrouded in mystery. South Koreans and the world have long viewed him with a mixture of ridicule and fear, becoming used to the sight of him presiding over missile launches and military parades, but it was a very different Kim that took to the world stage on Friday. The 30-something leader was on his best behaviour, frequently flashing a smile, making humourous remarks and patting children as tenderly as any election-seeking politician in the West. "I heard Kim Jong Un making a joke and hearing that made me realise that he is also just a human being," Choi Hyun-ah, a 24-year-old events planner, told AFP. Kim showed a few brief moments of human fallibility, appearing slightly out of puff at times and missing the soil when trying to plant his shovel during a tree-planting ceremony. The reclusive North "deifies Kim in a strict, scripted and controlled manner", noted the Korea Times, but "everything about him -- including his facial expressions, walk, gesture, voice, black Mao suit and signature hairstyle -- was streamed live by global media outlets". Kim was "no longer a hermit", the paper said in the headline of its editorial, adding he had shown himself capable of "showmanship" with his impromptu invitation to the South's President Moon Jae-in to hop briefly over the border to the North himself. - 'Cartoon character' - Kim rapidly got into his stride, reducing the South Korean delegation to giggles with banter about noodles from the North and seeming playful at times, deadly serious at others. For 30 minutes, the cameras were trained on Kim as he chatted with Moon over al-fresco tea in woodlands in the Demilitarized Zone that divides their two countries. Not a word could be heard -- just birdsong in the trees -- but it was compelling viewing nevertheless, Kim appearing to listen intently to his elder counterpart, nodding gently and occasionally making small gestures. The Korea Herald even examined Kim's inscription in a guestbook to analyse his handwriting -- which like many aspects of his public persona is modelled on that of his grandfather and predecessor, the North's founder Kim Il Sung. A graphologist pronounced he has a "feisty and self-centred personality" and was "excited and highly elated when he wrote the message." His gravelly tones -- he has often been photographed with a lit cigarette in hand -- -- were an object of fascination for many. "It was very, very weird to hear Kim Jong Un's voice on TV," said Kim Kyung-ah, a 32-year-old mother in Seoul. "I mean, I always knew that he existed. But today was the first time where I felt 'Oh my God, Kim Jong Un is a real person'," she told the Korea Herald. "Up until today, it always felt like Kim was some sort of cartoon character. It was refreshing to see him talking about normal things like cold noodles, not nuclear weapons or wars." - 'A natural beauty' - South Koreans were also fascinated by Kim's wife Ri Sol Ju and his powerful sister Kim Yo Jong, who spent much of the day at her brother's side. Kim's sister - who acted as his envoy to the South's Winter Olympics in February - broke into a broad grin while greeting Moon, with officials later revealing she had blushed when the president said she had become a celebrity. At one point Ri was the top search topic on South Korean internet portals, with users describing her as "a natural beauty", "humble and well-mannered" and "graceful". But by noon on Saturday the summit had been displaced as the top item by Korean film "Delta Boys." And others refused to be taken in by the smiles and hugs, with the North accused of a litany of state-sanctioned rights abuses. Min Joong-hong, head of one of the anti-North Korea groups protesting against Friday's summit, told the Korea Herald that Seoul should not engage with Pyongyang, which "continues to commit crimes against humanity, including murder, torture and imprisonment." Kim Jong Un's appearance at the summit was for many Southerners their first chance for a close look at the enigmatic leader from the North Kim Jong Un's appearance at the summit was for many Southerners their first chance for a close look at the enigmatic leader from the North Kim Jong Un's inscription in a guestbook is being analysed for personality traits An anti-North Korea activist burns a North Korean flag placard during a demonstration in SeoulNorth Korea has promised to shut its atomic test site within weeks and invite American weapons experts to verify its closure, Seoul reported Sunday, as new US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington had an "obligation" to pursue peace. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un -- who may meet US President Donald Trump as early as next month -- also said Pyongyang would have no need for nuclear weapons if it were promised it would not be invaded, according to Seoul. Friday's historic meeting saw Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in agree to pursue the complete denuclearisation of the peninsula. Washington's new chief diplomat said he and Kim held in-depth talks about a denuclearisation "mechanism" when they met over Easter. "We talked a great deal about what it might look like, what this complete, verifiable, irreversible mechanism might look like," Pompeo said. "We have an obligation to engage in diplomatic discourse to try and find a peaceful solution so that Americans aren't held at risk by Kim Jong Un and his nuclear arsenal," Pompeo told ABC, saying there is a "real opportunity" for progress. He was speaking as the Blue House in Seoul reported Kim told Moon during the summit he would close the North's nuclear test site in May. Kim also said he "would soon invite experts of South Korea and the US as well as journalists to disclose the process to the international community with transparency", Seoul's presidential spokesman Yoon Young-chan added. Tensions spiked last year over the North's testing of atomic weapons and long-range missiles, including some capable of reaching the US mainland. "Kim said 'the US feels repelled by us, but once we talk, they will realise that I am not a person who will fire a nuclear weapon to the South or the US or target the US'," according to Yoon. The North Korean leader reported added: "If we meet often (with the US), build trust, end the war and eventually are promised no invasion, why would we live with the nuclear weapons?" Kim also slammed speculation that the North's Punggye-ri nuclear test site was already unusable after an underground tunnel there reportedly collapsed. "As they will see once they visit, there are two more tunnels (at the test site) that are even bigger... and they are in good condition," he was quoted as saying. - 'Maximum pressure' - The remarks are likely to be seen as a sweetener ahead of Trump's eagerly-awaited summit with Kim, which the US president said would take place "in the next three or four weeks". Trump touted his ability to achieve a nuclear deal with the regime at a campaign-style rally in Michigan to cheers and chants of "Nobel! Nobel!" The US leader has been eager to play up his role in achieving a breakthrough with Pyongyang through his "maximum pressure" campaign involving tough rhetoric, stronger sanctions and diplomatic efforts to further isolate the regime. "Months ago, do you remember what they were saying? 'He's going to get us into nuclear war, they said,'" Trump told supporters in Washington Township, north of Detroit. "No, strength is going to keep us out of nuclear war, not going to get us in!" But Trump also sounded a note of caution, saying he was prepared to walk away if US demands for North Korea to relinquish its atomic arsenal were not met. - 'Things are going well' - Trump held phone calls earlier Saturday with both Moon and Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, declaring "things are going very well", as CBS News reported that Mongolia and Singapore are the final two locations under consideration for his meeting with Kim. Pyongyang has demanded as-yet-unspecified security guarantees to discuss its arsenal, but Kim could use the Trump meeting to agree on "the range of nuclear weapons and facilities to be dismantled and specific timeframe to do so", said Hong Min, an analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification. But Kim's remark about his personal good intentions may be aimed at using Trump's "troubling tendency to take authoritarian rulers at their word," said Adam Mount, a senior fellow at the Federation of American Scientists in Washington. Trump's new National Security Advisor, John Bolton, cited Libya's decision to give up its nuclear programme as a model for North Korea. "We have very much in mind the Libya model from 2003, 2004," Bolton told Fox News Sunday. - New era? - Kim and Moon said at their summit that they had a "common goal of realising, through complete denuclearisation, a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula." But the phrase is a diplomatic euphemism open to interpretation on both sides. Pyongyang has long wanted to see an end to the US military presence and nuclear umbrella over the South, but it invaded its neighbour in 1950 and is the only one of the two Koreas to possess nuclear weapons. The two leaders also pledged in a joint statement to formally end the Korean War, which ceased in 1953 with an armistice rather than a peace treaty. And in another conciliatory gesture, Kim said he would move North Korea's clocks 30 minutes forward to unify with the South's time zone. Pyongyang changed its standard time to half an hour behind the South in 2015. North Korea's parliament on Monday adopted a decree to return to the same time zone as South Korea from May 5, the North's official KCNA news agency said. burs-ia-jhw/amz/ska Kim Jong Un plans to shut down North Korea's nuclear test site in May, Seoul says Timeline of major nuclear and missile tests. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he had a "good conversation" with Kim during a secret visit to Pyongyang over Easter weekend

Long lines formed on Friday outside restaurants in South Koreas capital serving Pyongyang-style cold noodles after the dish took on a starring role at a historic summit between the North and South Korean leaders.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un brought a batch of the noodles for a dinner banquet on Friday, at the request of South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

Weve made efforts to bring Pyongyang naengmyeon all the way from Pyongyang, Kim said in opening remarks at the summit, referring to the North Korean capital.

So, hopefully, Mr President can enjoy Pyongyang naengmyeon from afar, though I suppose I mustnt say afar now, Kim said with a chuckle.

Naengmyeon is noodles in a chilled meat broth, topped with beef brisket, pickled radish, sliced cucumbers and half a boiled egg.

People wait in a long queue to enter a restaurant famous for Pyongyang-style cold noodles, or naengmyeon in Korean, in Seoul, South Korea on Friday. Source: EPA via AAP.

Moon had requested that the dish be on the menu at the banquet, and asked Kim if he could bring a takeaway batch from a famous Pyongyang restaurant, Okryu Gwan.

North Korean officials were happy to oblige, the Souths presidential office said, adding that North Korea had even sent a chef from the restaurant to prepare the dish.

https://twitter.com/josungkim/status/989751571721342976

South Korean President Moon Jae-in eats a dish of cold noodles called naengmyeon from Pyongyangs famous Okryukwan restaurant during a welcome dinner for North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Source: EPA via AAP

Hungry South Koreans were clearly impressed and by midday #Pyongyang Naengmyeon was one of the top trending topics on Korean-language Twitter while the lines at restaurants specializing in the dish, like the Eulmildae in a run-down part of Seoul, grew.

This is the longest queue Ive ever seen, Kim Won-seok, a regular customer at the restaurant, said of the customers lined up 40 meters (130 feet) just before noon.

Major retailer E-land Mall was offering a 2 kg bag of Inter-Korea summit special Pyongyang naengmyeon for 6,900 won ($6.40).

A dish of cold noodles called naengmyeon from Pyongyangs famous Okryukwan restaurant served during a welcome dinner for North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on April 27. Source: EPA via AAP

Wary optimism

The noodles were an unusually hit at a summit that many South Koreans are viewing with wary optimism.

Many South Koreans hoped the first visit to the South by a leader from the North, would be a turning point for peace on the war-divided peninsula.

Story continues

Some people watching a large television screen beaming images of the leaders to a crowd in front of Seouls city hall cheered and jumped with joy when Kim  whose nuclear and missile tests last year stoked fear of war  crossed the border to shake hands with Moon.

Im filled with emotion, said Park Ha-seok, 60, as he watched the pictures being broadcast from the border village of Panmunjom. I dont expect a big change but this is a start.

The two sides are technically still at war because the 1950-53 Korean war ended in a truce, not a full peace treaty.

Lee Ji-eun, a 32-year-old doctor and mother of a baby girl, said the pictures had made her unpack an emergency bag she had placed by her front door about six months ago in case of war.

The bag has my daughters diapers, a portable radio and a gas burner, Lee said. Now I find it funny that I told my babysitter to take this bag and my daughter to flee to the basement if theres war.

Fisherman Park Tae-won, who lives on a South Korean island just 1.5 km from the maritime boundary with the North, said he hoped the summit would lead to a relaxation of restrictions on going out to sea.

Please, we want to go fishing out there as much as we want, without the curfew on fishing only once a day, he said.

Choi Gwang-chun, who runs a restaurant in the South Korean town of Daejeon, is offering a special unification liquor cocktail made of Taedong beer, named after a North Korean river, and South Korean Halla soju, a distilled rice spirit named after a South Korean mountain.

Those who order unification liquor will also get a unification pizza topped with nuts in the shape of the Korean peninsula for free, said Choi, whose father came from North Korea.

I plan to run this offer until the day South and North Korea unify, he said. I hope I dont have to run it too long.A Palestinian teenager has died of his wounds a day after being shot by Israeli forces in clashes along the Gaza border, the Hamas-controlled territory's health ministry said Saturday. Azzam Oweida, 15, was hit in the head during protests in southern Gaza on Friday, the ministry said. His death brought to four the number of people killed or fatally wounded during a fifth consecutive Friday of protests in which thousands of Gazans have gathered near the heavily-guarded border. Most protesters were peaceful but some threw stones and burned tyres. Forty-five Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the start of what organisers have dubbed the Great March of Return on March 30, with more than 1,500 wounded. No Israelis have been reported hurt. The Israeli army said around 10,000 people had taken part in "riots" along the border Friday, saying troops responded with "riot dispersal means". The army has accused Hamas, the Islamist group that runs Gaza and has fought three wars with Israel since 2008, of seeking to use the protests as cover to carry out attacks. Marchers are demanding the right to return to their homes seized by Israel in 1948. Israel says that would mean the end of the Jewish state, and accuses Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas of using the protests as a pretext for violence. The Israeli military said that at one point on Friday protesters had used "explosive devices, hand grenades and firebombs" as they attempted a mass breach of the border fence. - Air strikes - In what the military said was a direct response, Israeli warplanes on Friday night attacked "six military targets belonging to the Hamas terror organisation's naval force in the Gaza Strip." It did not give the location of the targets, but the Hamas interior ministry in Gaza said aircraft -- originally reported as drones -- hit Gaza's main port, damaging two boats but causing no injuries. Eyewitnesses at the port said the two boats were badly damaged. Hamas security forces prevented journalists from reaching the scene. It is believed to have been the first time Israeli aircraft had targeted boats in Gaza since the 2014 war there between Israel and Hamas. The protest movement is officially independent but has the backing of Hamas, which has fought three wars with Israel since 2008. On Friday protesters again gathered at five sites near the border fence, though numbers were down on previous weeks. Dozens of young men burned tyres and threw stones a few hundred metres from the border, with Israeli soldiers occasionally firing tear gas and live ammunition. Three men were shot dead, according to Gaza's health ministry, while the Gaza Centre for Media Freedom said three journalists were among those wounded. Demonstrations are expected to spike again ahead of May 14, when the United States plans to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The decision has infuriated Palestinians, who see the annexed eastern half of the holy city as the capital of their future state. US President Donald Trump, who tore up decades of policy by recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital, said Friday he "may go" to the city for the embassy opening. That came as Amnesty International called for an arms embargo against Israel over its use of live fire in Gaza. Israel has rejected calls for an independent investigation into deaths along Gaza's border. The army says its troops only use live ammunition as a last resort. The father (R) of 15-year-old Palestinian Azzam Oweida is consoled by another man as he mourns outside the hospital where his son's body lies, in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on April 28, 2018 A Palestinian protester uses a slingshot against Israeli forces on April 27, 2018, the fifth straight Friday of mass demonstrations on the Israel-Gaza border Palestinians wounded in protests against Israeli forces along Gaza's border with Israel await medical check-up at a clinic in Gaza City on April 25, 2018Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Saturday hosted his Iranian and Turkey counterparts for talks on Syria in the wake of an alleged chemical attack that has exposed differences between the three powers. The three nations have been attempting to find a political solution to the Syrian conflict at talks that started last year in Astana, Kazakhstan, in competition with the US and UN-backed Geneva initiative. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held separate bilateral talks with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu and then Iran's Mohammad Javad Zarif, who stressed the warmth of their relationship in opening comments. These were to be followed by three-sided talks. Meeting his Turkish counterpart, the Russian diplomat stressed the "great importance" both Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attach to improving relations. Cavusoglu, in translated comments, praised the "atmosphere of trust that has grown up between us" and said the countries had "seriously moved forward on questions of Syria settlement." He said Saturday's meeting would discuss "what further steps can be taken." Lavrov also held a bilateral meeting with Iran's Zarif, who hailed the three countries' work together in the Astana process as a success, saying it led to "the defeat of the Islamic State group." Zarif said this was the only aspect of joint cooperation with "our Turkish friends" and it was "bearing fruit." - 'Crack in the alliance' - Yet the latest talks in Moscow between two of Assad's key supporters, Moscow and Tehran, and rebel-backer Ankara come as the alleged chemical attack in the Syrian town of Douma on April 7 has prompted sharply differing responses from Turkey and Russia. "I curse those who carried out this massacre," Erdogan said, adding that he welcomed Western air strikes in retaliation as "appropriate". Meanwhile Russia says the attack was staged to discredit its ally President Bashar-al Assad and this week brought a group of Syrians to the global chemical arms watchdog to back its claims. French President Emmanuel Macron this month suggested the air strikes had driven a wedge between Ankara and Moscow as they have been building increasingly close ties. This prompted an angry denial from Cavusoglu, who said the countries' relations "are not so weak that the French president can break them". Alexander Shumilin, a Middle East expert at the Institute for US and Canadian Studies in Moscow, however, said Douma fallout had "caused a crack in the alliance of three countries". He added: "If the trio falls apart entirely, the ensuing events could be really bad." Alexey Malashenko, a specialist in the Syria conflict, was sceptical the meeting would achieve much beyond a show of unity, saying the trio have a "very shaky" alliance. Their positions on the suspected chemical attack are irreconcilable, he said. "Turkey has an absolutely honest position: it is against Bashar al-Assad and here there's no way they can reach an agreement." Nevertheless, the limited nature of US-led strikes suggests the "peak of tensions has passed", he said. The most recent Syria talks attended by the foreign ministers in Astana were held on March 16. The next are set for May 14. EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini on Tuesday urged the three powers to do more, saying they "have not only a responsibility but also an interest in making the ceasefire work". Eight rounds of talks under United Nations auspices in Geneva have made little headway, with Assad's government taking little interest. Both Tehran and Moscow have deployed military forces to Syria to back up Assad in his now seven-year-old war against anti-government rebels. Ankara has called for Assad's removal throughout the war, but has worked increasingly closely with Moscow and Tehran in recent months in an attempt to find a solution to the conflict. In January, Russia held a showpiece conference in the Black Sea resort of Sochi with largely pro-regime delegates, which saw boycotts by rebels and made little progress. Putin hosted a summit on Syria with the Iranian and Turkish presidents in November. They then met again in Ankara this month. The alleged chemical attack in the Syrian town of Douma has prompted sharply differing responses from Turkey and RussiaRussian, Iranian and Turkish foreign ministers on Saturday talked up their successes in brokering a political solution to the Syrian conflict at a meeting in Moscow. The three nations have been attempting to resolve the Syrian conflict at talks that started last year in Astana, Kazakhstan, in competition with a US and UN-backed Geneva initiative. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the three countries "must help the Syrians finish cleansing their country of terrorists." The ministers emphasised the success of their peace talks in Astana, which Lavrov said are "firmly standing on their feet." The Russian diplomat praised the "unique" alliance between two of Syrian President Bashar-al Assad's key supporters, Moscow and Tehran, and rebel-backer Ankara. "Thanks to it, it became possible to tackle the situation on the battlefield with the Islamic State group and the Al-Nusra Front," he said, as jihadists have lost most of the territory they controlled in Syria. The conflict in Syria has lasted since 2011 and killed more than 350,000 people. Both Russia and Iran have deployed forces to Syria to back up Assad against anti-government rebels. Critics of the Astana talks are "trying to show that they today decide all the affairs in our world, but fortunately their time has passed," Lavrov said. Nevertheless he implicitly criticised Damascus after it blocked UN humanitarian aid to the town of Douma in Eastern Ghouta, saying Moscow was calling for the regime to be more "flexible." The Russian foreign minister earlier held separate bilateral talks with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu and then Iran's Mohammad Javad Zarif. Meeting his Turkish counterpart, the Russian diplomat stressed the "great importance" both Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attach to improving relations. - 'Crack in the alliance' - Yet the latest talks in Moscow came as the alleged chemical attack in the Syrian town of Douma on April 7 has prompted sharply differing responses from Turkey and Russia. "I curse those who carried out this massacre," Erdogan said, welcoming Western air strikes in retaliation as "appropriate". Meanwhile Russia says the attack was staged to discredit Assad. Iran and Russia on Saturday slammed Western strikes on Syria over the alleged chlorine or sarin gas attack. Lavrov said they "set back efforts to promote the political process" and Zarif criticised Washington's "destructive role." French President Emmanuel Macron this month suggested the air strikes had driven a wedge between Ankara and Moscow, prompting an angry denial from Cavusoglu. Alexander Shumilin, a Middle East expert at the Institute for US and Canadian Studies in Moscow, however, said the Douma fallout had "caused a crack in the alliance of three countries". Alexey Malashenko, a specialist in the Syria conflict, said the trio have a "very shaky" alliance and "there's no way they can reach an agreement" over the suspected chemical attack. Nevertheless, the limited nature of US-led strikes suggests the "peak of tensions has passed", he said. The next Syria talks in Astana are set for May 14. Eight rounds of talks under United Nations auspices in Geneva have made little headway, with Assad's government taking little interest. Ankara has called for Assad's removal throughout the war, but has worked increasingly closely with Moscow and Tehran in recent months in an attempt to find a solution to the conflict. In January, Russia held a showpiece conference in the Black Sea resort of Sochi with largely pro-regime delegates, which saw boycotts by rebels and made little progress. Lavrov on Saturday said it achieved "breakthrough results," however. Putin hosted a summit on Syria with the Iranian and Turkish presidents in November. They then met again in Ankara this month. The alleged chemical attack in the Syrian town of Douma has prompted sharply differing responses from Turkey and RussiaA Saudi-led coalition air strike has killed dozens of Yemeni rebels including two commanders, state media said Saturday, in another blow to the insurgents following the assassination of their political chief. The Huthi rebels staged a public funeral on Saturday for Saleh al-Sammad, head of their Supreme Political Council and effectively the insurgents' second-in-command, who was killed last week in an air raid claimed by Saudi Arabia and its allies. His funeral came hours after Saudi Arabia's state-run Al-Ekhbariya television said two high-ranking insurgents were among more than 50 Huthis killed in a new strike overnight in the capital Sanaa. In a speech eulogising Sammad on Saturday night, rebel chief Abdul Malik al-Huthi claimed Saudi Arabia and its allies had targeted the outskirts of Sabaeen Square as Huthi supporters gathered for Sammad's funeral. The rebels' Al-Masirah television aired footage of black columns of smoke billowing outside the square, where Yemenis chanted slogans calling for the demise of Saudi Arabia and the United States. The date of the footage could not be immediately verified. The rebels have been locked in a war since 2015 with a Saudi-led military alliance fighting to restore the internationally recognised Yemeni government to power. Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya television said the overnight strike had targeted the interior ministry in Sanaa, which is controlled by the rebels. The Huthis, backed by Saudi Arabia's regional arch-rival Iran, confirmed the air strike on Sanaa but gave no details. The Huthi leader slammed Saudi Arabia and its allies, primarily the United Arab Emirates, for operating "under the umbrella" of the United States and Israel, saying Sammad's death was "added incentive" for the rebels. The Huthis, who hail from northern Yemen, control Sanaa and much of the country's north -- which borders Saudi Arabia -- and the key Hodeida port on the Red Sea coast. - Huthi missiles - Shortly after Sammad's funeral began, the Huthis said they had launched eight ballistic missiles into the Sunni kingdom. The coalition confirmed it had intercepted four missiles headed for the southern Saudi coastal city of Jizan, one day after the kingdom's defence forces said they had downed a missile headed for the same area. While the coalition statement said the attack claimed no casualties, Jizan's civil defence spokesman Colonel Yahya Abdullah al-Qahtani told Al-Arabiya that a Saudi Arabian citizen had been killed by falling shrapnel. A coalition spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation. The rebels have ramped up their missile attacks on Saudi Arabia this year. One person was reported killed by falling shrapnel in Riyadh last month. Saturday's attacks came just ahead of the arrival of newly appointed US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who touched down in Riyadh for meetings set to including talks on the Yemen conflict. Riyadh and its close ally Washington accuse Iran of arming the Huthis, which Iran denies. Tehran blames Saudi Arabia for the devastating Yemen war, which has left millions struggling to secure food. In Sanaa, Huthi supporters lined the streets Saturday for the funeral of Sammad and six others killed in the April 19 strike. Rebels dressed in military fatigues marched ahead of his hearse, which included seven cars draped in the Yemeni flag and accompanied by a marching band. Nearly 10,000 people have been killed since the Saudi-led alliance joined the Yemen conflict, triggering what the United Nations has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Yemen now stands on the brink of famine. The Saudi-led coalition imposed a total blockade on Yemen's ports in November in retaliation for cross-border Huthi missile attacks on Saudi Arabia. The blockade has since been partially lifted, but access to the impoverished country remains limited. Yemeni rebel supporters attend the funeral of slain Huthi political chief Saleh al-Sammad in Sanaa on April 28, 2018 A truck carries the coffin of the Yemeni Huthi rebels' political chief Saleh al-Sammad during his funeral in Sanaa on April 28, 2018 The political head of Yemen's Huthi Shiite rebels, Saleh al-Sammad, attends a meeting with freed prisoners in Sanaa on January 31, 2017Despite a strong Catholic tradition, Chile is witnessing a growing rift between the people and the church, sharpened by a string of sexual abuse scandals that until recently had been ignored by the pope. The extent of the rift became clear in January when Pope Francis visited Chile and sparked outrage by hugging Juan Barros, a controversial bishop who has been accused of covering up abuses by another priest in the 1980s and '90s. Questioned by journalists, Francis responded abruptly, saying there was "not a single piece of proof" against Barros in remarks that caused widespread anger among those who had been abused by the other priest, Fernando Karadima. But the pontiff apologized and quickly moved to dispatch the Vatican's top abuse investigator to collect evidence, later acknowledging he had made "grave mistakes" in his handling of the scandal. And he also pledged to meet with the victims, inviting three of them to the Vatican to discuss the extent of abuse within the church in Chile. All three were abused in the 1980s by Karadima, who at the time was an influential priest who trained seminarians in an affluent area of the capital, Santiago. It was only in 2011 that he was convicted of abusing children by the Vatican, which ordered him to retire to a "life of prayer and penitence" and barred him from any public ministry. But the victims were unable to pursue a criminal case against him in Chile because the statute of limitations had expired. - 80 church leaders accused - Next month, the pope will also meet with Chilean bishops to discuss the findings of the probe by his investigator, Archbishop Charles Scicluna. Beyond Karadima, nearly 80 Catholic clergymen have been accused of sexually abusing children in Chile, according to BishopAccountability, an American NGO that tracks such cases. And a recent poll showed that seven out of 10 Chileans disapprove of the way in which the Catholic church has handled the scandal. Aware of what could be coming down the line, Santiago's archbishop, Ricardo Ezzati, recently suggested to Barros that he resign "for the good of the people of God." The visibility of the Karadima case and the testimony of the three victims who have spoken out on behalf of the abused -- Jose Andres Murillo, James Hamilton and Juan Carlos Cruz -- has dealt a major blow to a church seen as elitist and distant from the concerns of a modern society. - A growing disaffection - But Chile's disaffection with the church began back in the 1990s with the return of democracy to the country, says Luis Bahamondes, an expert on religion at the University of Chile. Despite the fact that part of the Catholic church sided with those persecuted by the country's military dictatorship, when democracy returned, it went "from having a more social role to one that was driven by traditional values," distancing itself from many worshipers. In a country where some 70 percent of the population describe themselves as Catholic, only a third say they have confidence in the institution, a Mori survey revealed this week. Chileans had to wait until 2004 before they were able to get divorced, and it was only in 2017 that women were legally allowed to have an abortion in cases of rape, or threat to the mother's life or deadly birth defects. Same-sex couples still cannot marry nor can anyone who is transgender change their identity on a passport, although this year's Oscar's triumph of "A Fantastic Woman," a Chilean film about a transgender woman, which won best foreign film, has gone a long way to changing that. - 'Increasingly remote from the people' - But Bahamondes denies talk of a "rift," pointing out that most of the population still identify as Catholic, saying it is more a sense that they simple don't feel that the church represents them, which is particularly true among the youth. President Sebastian Pinera, himself a practicing Catholic, on Thursday said he was saddened by the fact that the church "is increasingly remote, not only from worshippers but from people in general," which is not only happening in Chile but across Latin America. During his visit in January, Pope Francis himself acknowledge that people prefer leaders "who know how to be compassionate, how to lend a hand, to stop and help those who have fallen," while criticizing the "elitist" attitude of certain clergy. Although 70 percent of Chileans describe themselves as Catholic, only a third say they have confidence in the church, a survey showed this week Disgraced pedophile priest Fernando Karadima, seen here in 2015, was convicted by the Vatican of sexually abusing children in the 1980s and 90s but has never been prosecuted criminally Although most Chileans still identify as Catholic, a growing number feel that the church simply doesn't represent them On visiting Chile in January, Pope Francis said people needed to see church leaders who were compassionate, who knew how to help people in needAn air strike on Yemen's capital by a Saudi-led military coalition has killed dozens of Huthi rebels including at least two commanders, Saudi television reported Saturday. Saudi Arabia's official Al-Ekhbariya television said two high-ranking insurgents were among more than 50 Huthi militiamen killed in Sanaa on Friday evening, without giving further details. Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya television said a total of 38 rebels were killed in the strike on a Huthi interior ministry building. The Huthis confirmed an air strike on Sanaa but gave no details. The raid came hours ahead of a public funeral of the Huthis' political head Saleh al-Sammad, killed last week in a Saudi-led coalition strike. It also came as newly-appointed US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was scheduled to land in Riyadh for meetings including talks on the Yemen conflict. The Iran-backed rebels have been locked in a war with the Saudi-led military alliance, which since 2015 has fought to restore the internationally-recognised Yemeni government to power. The Yemen conflict is widely seen as a proxy war between regional titans Iran and Saudi Arabia. The Huthis control Yemen's capital, Sanaa, as well as much of the country's north -- which borders Saudi Arabia -- and the key Hodeida port on Yemen's Red Sea coast. Nearly 10,000 people have been killed since the Saudi-led alliance joined the Yemen conflict, triggering what the United Nations has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Yemen now stands at the brink of famine. The Saudi-led coalition imposed a total blockade on Yemen's ports in November in retaliation for cross-border Huthi missile attacks on Saudi Arabia. The blockade has since been partially lifted, but access to the impoverished country remains limited. Huthi rebel supporters protest in Sanaa on April 26, 2018, against the killing of the insurgents' top political leader, Saleh al-Sammad, in a Saudi-led coalition strike the week beforeA teenager has fallen up to four storeys while trying to flee police in a dramatic foot chase on the Gold Coast.

It is understood the 19-year-old male jumped from the top of a car park at Robina Town centre on Saturday afternoon to evade capture.

Officers had been doing routine foot patrols through the shopping centre when they spotted the wanted teen.

The teen is believed to have jumped at least four floors of the shopping centres car park. Source: Google Maps

He fled police before making the dangerous leap for freedom from the multi-storey carpark.

The offender suffered a broken ankle but kept running before police located him, hiding 300 metres up the road. Officers called an ambulance to transport the man to hospital.

He was conscious and alert and talking to us and complaining of pain to his ankle, that might be fractured and the pain in his shoulder. That was fairly uncomfortable for him, Queensland Ambulance Service Paramedic Gavin Fuller said.

The teen was wanted for minor offences and will now spend the night in hospital rather than a cell.Tens of thousands of Spaniards took to the streets of Pamplona on Saturday to protest against the acquittal of five men accused of gang raping an 18-year-old woman at the city's bull-running festival. Demonstrators have filled streets across the country since the court ruling on Thursday, leading Spain's conservative government to say it will consider changing rape laws. The men were acquitted of sexual assault, which includes rape, and sentenced to nine years for the lesser offence of sexual abuse. In Pamplona itself, police said that "between 32,000 and 35,000 people" took part in a demonstration on Saturday, rallying under the slogan "it's not sexual abuse, it's rape". Thousands of women marched together with their hands raised at the protest, which police said passed off peacefully. Ana Botin, the influential head of Santander, one of Spain's biggest banks, tweeted that the ruling was "a step back for women's security" while former judge Manuela Carmena, now Madrid mayor, said it "does not meet women's demand for justice." The men, aged 27 to 29, had been accused of raping the woman at the entrance to an apartment building in Pamplona on July 7, 2016, at the start of the week-long San Fermin festival, which draws tens of thousands of visitors. The five, all from the southern city of Seville, filmed the incident with their smartphones and then bragged about it on a WhatsApp messaging group where they referred to themselves as "La Manada", or "The Pack" in English. - Online petition - An online petition calling for the disqualification of the judges who passed the sentence gathered more than 1.2 million signatures by Saturday. The issue also hogged the headlines of newspapers all around the country and an order of Carmelite nuns added their voices to the wave of condemnation of the court judgement. Under Spain's criminal code, evidence of violence or intimidation must exist for the offence of rape to be proved. But that was a legal nuance that was "not always easy to establish," top-selling daily El Pais wrote in an editorial. It "leads to the painful question of just how much a person needs to fight to avoid being raped without risking getting killed, and still get recognised as a victim of a serious attack against sexual freedom while ensuring that the perpetrators do not enjoy impunity," the newspaper said. In their ruling, the judges said that "it is indisputable that the plaintiff suddenly found herself in a narrow and hidden place, surrounded by five older, thick-bodied males who left her overwhelmed and unresponsive. "The videos show the plaintiff surrounded and stuck against the wall by two of the accused... she has an absent grimace, and keeps her eyes closed," they added. - 'Macho culture' - Already on Thursday, large crowds of mainly women had marched in cities across Spain, including Madrid and Barcelona, following the court sentencing. In the northern city of Santander protesters blocked roads, public television TVE reported. Then on Friday, thousands of people demonstrated outside the Pamplona court where the judgement was made. And a community of 16 Carmelite nuns in the Hondarribia monastery in the Basque country condemned the court ruling on Facebook. "We live cloistered away, wearing a habit that reaches down to our ankles, we don't go out in the evening, we don't go to parties, we don't drink alcohol and we've undertaken a vow of chastity," the nuns said. "And because that's our free choice, we will defend with all the means at our disposal... the right of all woman to FREELY do the opposite, without them being judged, raped, threatened, killed or humiliated," they wrote. State prosecutors said they would appeal the ruling. Adriana Lastra, a top official with Spain's main opposition Socialist party, said the court ruling was "disgraceful". "It's the product of a patriarchal and macho culture," she added. The case was cited in signs carried by many women during massive demonstrations held in cities across Spain to mark International Women's Day in March, which were among the largest in Europe. Police said tens of thousands gathered in Pamplona to protest on Saturday Protests have spread across Spain, with calls to change the law on rape convictions Spain's rape laws were thrust into the spotlight after a court acquitted five men of sexual assault Large crowds of mainly women marched in cities across SpainFormer Turkish head of state Abdullah Gul on Saturday ruled out running for the presidency in June, dousing fevered speculation he would challenge incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The polls are significant because under constitutional changes approved in an April 2017 referendum, Turkey will be run under an executive presidency with boosted powers for the head of state. "There is no longer the question of my candidacy," Gul told reporters, blaming a lack of "wide consensus" between opposition parties. Erdogan announced early presidential and parliamentary elections on June 24 instead of November 3, 2019 and rumours were rife that Gul would run against him. Although opposition leaders discussed the subject last week, there were concerns among senior officials and politicians over Gul's past ties with Erdogan. Gul was president between 2007 and 2014 during Erdogan's time as premier. The two men founded the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) with others in 2001. After Gul stepped down in 2014, Erdogan was elected head of state. Gul said the leader of the conservative Saadet (Felicity) Party, Temel Karamollaoglu, had independently sought to rally supporters behind the former head of state. "I had said that if there was a wide consensus, I would not shy away from doing my bit," Gul said. Gul has abstained from politics after 2014, a point which he stressed on Saturday. However, Gul was critical of the political and social climate in Turkey without naming Erdogan as he described the "big difficulties" the country was facing domestically and internationally. "We are too busy with reciprocal personal attacks and political manoeuvring rather than what is good for Turkey... Turkey unfortunately does not have a positive agenda. In this environment, we are heading for elections," Gul said. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (C) and his predecessor Abdullah Gul (C-R) co-founded the ruling AKP partyA federal judge on Friday ordered a three-month delay in Stormy Daniels' lawsuit against Donald Trump and his personal lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, after Cohen said in an affidavit filed with the court that he planned to take the Fifth if he is forced to answer questions under oath about the $130,000 payment he made to Daniels days before the 2016 presidential election.

But Daniels lawyer, Michael Avenatti, said that he would quickly appeal the judges stay order.

After the stay was issued, Judge S. James Otero set the next court date in the Daniels case for July 27 at 9 a.m. at the Central District of California federal courthouse in Los Angeles. But he also ordered Cohen to file a statement with the court giving an update on Cohens criminal case 10 days before that July court appearance.

Cohen is under federal criminal investigation in New York, after prosecutors and FBI agents raided his home, hotel room and office on April 9, seizing stacks of documents, electronic communications and reportedly, 16 cell phones belonging to Cohen.

In those raids, investigators are believed to have seized numerous documents relating to the Daniels case and Cohens role in it.

The Court finds that there is a large potential factual overlap between the civil and criminal proceedings that would heavily implicate Mr. Cohens Fifth Amendment rights, Otero wrote in his stay order.

Avenatti responded to Oteros order with a statement posted to his Twitter account.

While we certainly respect Judge Oteros 90 day stay order based on Mr. Cohens pleading of the 5th, we do not agree with it, Avenatti wrote. We will likely be filing an immediate appeal to the Ninth Circuit early next week.

Based in San Francisco, the Ninth Circuit appellate court handles all appeals from all four federal districts in California, as well as much of the western United States, Alaska and Hawaii.

Cohen and his attorneys had requested the delay at a hearing one week ago in Oteros courtroom. At the time, the judge asked for more information about how the Daniels case and the criminal probe into Cohen might overlap.

On Friday of this week, Otero found that there was indeed a possibility that there would be disputes over evidence between the civil and criminal cases against Cohen and that if the lawsuit were allowed to proceed right away, it could have a significant impact on integrity of criminal investigation, NBC News reporter journalist Andrew Blankstein reported from the courthouse.

Photo via Wikimedia CommonsWASHINGTON, D.C.There's no denying that the adult industry, and the country in general, faces multiple threats from the Trump administration, its appointees and its lackeys in Congress and state governments. If it's not Trump's deep-sixing of the Paris Accords on climate change, leading to significantly more islands and coasts under water by the end of the century, then it's Trump's penchant for insulting foreign leaders or simply treating them like crap, possibly leading to increased warfare, possibly of the nuclear variety. If it's not Congress refusing to consider gun control in the wake of the increasing incidence of mass shootings at schools, it's Congress and HHS restricting women from access to birth control and abortion on demand.

Simply, the challenges the country faces are almost too numerous to mentionand the fact that the Justice Department hasn't yet gotten around to a new wave of obscenity prosecutions is viewed by most veteran adult industry members as simply a matter of timeand even still, the Trumpistas did manage to pass FOSTA/SESTA, targeting consensual adult prostitution under the guise of fighting sex trafficking.

But believe it or not, none of those poses as much threat to the future of the United States as Senate Resolution 355.

First, a little primer on the federal judicial system. Article III of the U.S. Constitution states, in pertinent part, "The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour. ... The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority."

If that's not clear, it means that the Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body, and there is no appeal possible from its final rulingsthough some rulings have been altered through acts of Congress. Below the Supreme Court are the various appellate courts, each representing between three and ten states and territories, which handle the appeals from the U.S. districts (and occasionally state districts) within each stateand all decisions by the federal appellate courts are appealable to the U.S. Supreme Courtat that court's own discretion whether it will consider the case or not.

Moreover, Supreme Court justices and federal judges are appointed for life, and the admonition that they "shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour" is rarely enforced. In the entire history of the United States, just eight federal judges (none of whom was a Supreme Court justice) have been removed from office through impeachment, though a similar number have been impeached and acquitted. But considering the total number of federal judges who have served since the beginning of the U.S. judicial system, eight is a miniscule number.

And therein lies the problem.

All federal judges, including Supreme Court justices, must be approved to serve by Congress, and people who've paid close attention to that approval process are aware that during the eight years of the Obama adminstration, although he filled 329 judgeshipsthree more than the number filled by President George W. Bushhe still left 100 judicial positions unfilled, including the seat on the Supreme Court left vacant by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, and although he died in February of 2016, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnella Republican, natch!refused for a full year to give Obama's replacement candidate Merritt Garland a hearing on his qualifications. Finally, President Shit-For-Brains (as talk show host Chelsea Handler labeled him) nominated Tenth Circuit Appellate Judge Neil Gorsuch to the position, and while his Senate hearing was a bit contentious, in the end, the Republican majority employed what's called a "nuclear option" to change long-standing Senate rules to squelch a threatened filibuster by Democrats to allow Gorsuch to be approved by a simple majority rather than the 60 votes which had previously been required to end a filibuster.

Since January 20, 2017, the date of Trump's ascension to the presidency, Senate Republicans have made it one of their highest priorities to fill the now-140 vacant judgeships on the U.S. Courts of Appeal and District Courtsand anyone who's paid attention to that process understands that not one of the candidates who's already been nominatedand likely none of those who will be nominatedcould even remotely be described as "liberal," and there's good reason to doubt that many of them do/will even deserve the label "fair" in their consideration of any of the hot-button issues that are currently roiling the country. Of course, the judges' political bent is understandable: Presidents can be impeached or voted out of office, congress(wo)men and senators can be impeached or voted out of officebut federal judges serve for life unless they fail to observe "good Behaviour"and it would take some outstandingly bad behavior on their parts to get them removed. Hence, Republicans' paramount aim during the Trump/Pence tenure is to get as many "friendly" judges approved as possible before their time runs outand that may happen sooner rather than later.

Which brings us to Senate Resolution 355, introduced last Pearl Harbor Day (December 7) by Sen. James Lankford (R-what else?-OK). It's not a long resolutionthose interested can read it herebut it's an incredibly important one, mainly because of this clause: "Special rule for district court nominees.If cloture is invoked in accordance with rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate on a nomination of an individual to serve as a judge of a district court of the United States, there shall be no more than 2 hours of post-cloture consideration equally divided in the usual form." Translation: If, during a district judge's confirmation hearing before the Senate, any senator objects to stopping the hearing in order to vote on the candidate ("cloture"), Sen. Res. 355 would limit any further debate/discussion to TWO HOURS! As an email screed from the ultra-conservative American Family Association points out, "Democrats have been using an existing Senate rule requiring 30 hours of Senate floor debate on most of President Trump's nominees. At the current rate of the Democratic obstruction, confirming the president's nominees will take 9 years!"

And of course, Republicans can't have that! Why, with Democrats possibly gaining majorities in both the House and Senate come the November 2018 election, the possibility exists that some of the religio-conservatives with which Trump and Republicans want to pack the courts might not get approved! And if that happens, how will all the legislation and rules designed to screw common people in favor of the 1% that actually rules this country, not to mention challenges to currently existing civil liberties that religio-conservatives don't like (like contact ads on sites like Backpage or Craigslist), possibly be upheld in the courts?

And perhaps the most important point is, long after the current crop of ne'er-do-wells have been voted (or impeached) out of office, these crappy judges will still be handing down decisionsdecisions that many in the adult industry and many other decent people won't like... and there won't be much if anything they can do about it. Better hope no Supreme Court Justice (especially Ginsburg, Kagan, Sotomayor, Breyer and perhaps Kennedy) don't die anytime soon.

Interestingly, not a single mainstream news source has deemed this issue important enough to coverexcept Bloomberg News ... on its blog!

And it should go without saying that when those Trump picks finally take their various courtroom benches, and when Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III finally gets around to filing obscenity charges against adult producers, the chances of their being acquitted will fall precipitously, while crap legislation like FOSTA/SESTA will be upheld with no recourse through the courtsbecause religio-conservatives will own the courts!

Good luck if 355 passes!

UPDATE: Well, looks like we should have read our New York Times earlier in the day. Friday's edition carried an article titled "In a Rush on Nominees Before Time Runs Out," (online title: "Times Not on Their Side as G.O.P. Gripes About Senate Slowdown") and it makes several of the same points as above, though without any mention of the resolution number. Journalist Carl Hulse reports that "members of the [Senate] Rules Committee approved in a party-line vote on Wednesday a change that would, in the words of Senator Roy Blunt, the Missouri Republican who leads the panel, 'streamline' the somewhat convoluted process. The plan would cut the required debate time to eight hours from 30 for noncabinet-level executive branch nominees and to two hours for Federal District Court judges. The requirement would remain at 30 hours for cabinet nominees and those put forward for spots on the Supreme Court and federal appeals courts, but the change could free up considerable time." Needless to say, there's no mention of what effect "streamlining" (read "pushing through as quickly as possible") the judicial approval process would have on the adult industry. Still, it's a good read.

UPDATE#2: Oh, SO MUCH more! Point #6 of Chris Cillizza's 57 Most Outlandish, Outrageous and Offensive Lines from Trump's Michigan Rally:

"We are appointing judges like never before. Great conservative, Republican judges. We're setting records. By the time we finish, I think we will have the all-time record."

Cillizza comments: "There's no doubt that Trump is appointing lots and lots of judges. As for 'setting records,' he appointed 12 federal circuit court judges in 2017 alone, the most ever. Also, never forget how much doing things other presidents haven't done is to Trump. Setting records for crowd size, for appointing judges, for getting tax cuts throughthis is his lifeblood."

And then there's Saturday's NY Times editorial begging Justice Anthony Kennedy not to resign this year (or at least while Trump's in office), the most salient quote from which is, "Sitting between the four liberal justices and the four conservatives, you are the most powerful member of the most powerful court in the country, as you have been for at least a decade. Your vote, more than that of any other justice, has delivered landmark legal victories for Americans of all political stripes, from gays and lesbians seeking equal rights to African-American college students seeking a better education to deep-pocketed corporations seeking to spend more money influencing politics.

"You have sent mixed signals about your intentions, but that hasnt stopped Republicans in Congress from referring to your departure as a done deal. (Of course, they said the same thing last year.) They smell bloodif they can install another rock-ribbed conservative like Neil Gorsuch, the court will have a locked-in right-wing majority for the rest of most of our lifetimes. They wont even have to steal a seat to do it."

And finally, "Segments of the public begin to believe that judges really are just another politician in a black robe."Judge Paul Friedman of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, describing the potential effect of the presidents attacks on judges.

UPDATE #3: And... Daily Kos gets on board!

Pictured, l-r: Neil Gorsuch and Donald TrumpLOS ANGELESSome of iWantEmpires most talented artists are seeing increasing popularity on the internet, as evidenced by the top five best-selling clips on iWantEmpire this week, featuring a blend of fetish, beauty and style.

The weeks best clips are:

With a lot of creativity and sensuality, our artists share their unique visions in these best-selling clips, said James Power, vice president of operations of iWantEmpire, which operates iWantBlog, iWantClips, iWantCustomCips, iWantPhone and iWantFanClub. It is always the clips with the most originality which take the top spots. Congratulations to each of the artists behind this weeks windfalls!

In the number 1 position is Giantess Roma with her special effects-laden video featuring a guy sneaking into his step-sisters room only to stumble upon a magic stone that shrinks him down to size. To watch, click here. Number 2 is Violet Dolls Birthday Tribute 8  2018 financial domination clip where she teases and taunts her men into paying their hard-earned money in tribute in honor of her birthday. To see the video, click here.

Coming in at Number 3 is Goddess Sunshines erotic anal tease clip seen here. The ebony goddess teases and plays as she gives anal winks at fans in a hot new clip. She is followed by Violet Dolls Birthday Tribute 7  2018 in the number 4 spot, where she teases fans and shows off her large chest and ample backside to great effect. To see the clip, click here. Finishing off the list at number 5 is Evelyn Milano and her body worship clip Finally, where she exposes her sizable breasts to her fans for the first time after much teasing and anticipation. Watch her clip here.

iWantEmpire offers fans a diverse and varied community of artists and performers through its network of sites, iWantClips, iWantCustomClips, iWantPhone, and iWantFanClub.

For more information about the brands, visit iWantEmpire.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.1972: Virginia (naturopaths)

1977: Colorado (private investigators)

1979: Wisconsin (watchmakers)

1981: Colorado (funeral directors)

1983: Alabama (barbers; relicensed in 2013)

1983: Minnesota (watchmakers)

1994: Colorado (egg candlers)

2004: Alabama (interior designers)

It is strange, isn't it, that a state that may be indirectly responsible for touching off the de-licensing revolution among the states still hasn't joined that revolution? But that's where we are in North Carolina.How could North Carolina be indirectly responsible? Because an anticompetitive practice of its dental licensing board led to a landmark Supreme Court decision that dismantled the antitrust immunity expectation states had with respect to their occupational licensing boards. Ever since, many states have passed significant restructurings of their occupational licensing systems, but North Carolina so far has not.In, the Supreme Court ruled that a state licensing board may violate federal antitrust law if a controlling number of board members comprise "active market participants" regulated by the board but the board's actions are not "clearly articulated and affirmatively expressed as state policy" nor is the board "actively supervised by the State." Boards could therefore no longer expect antitrust immunity, and exactly how the state could demonstrate active supervision over licensing boards is unclear.There has been a steep rise in occupational licensing midway through last century till now. In the 1950s one in 20 workers needed a license in order to work; now licensing affects nearly 30 percent of the nation's workforce. But the expanse of licensing has been accompanied by growing societal unease over licensing.Reforming occupational licensing is a rare issue uniting the political Left and Right , but it nevertheless had been an elusive prospect because of public-choice dynamics . This loss of antitrust immunity appears to have tipped the scales, finally, in favor of reform.Here is how remarkable the change has been. According to a study by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, in the 40 years ending in 2015, the year of NC Dental Board, there were only eight successful de-licensing efforts in the 50 states.Since then, depending on how you choose to count them, there have been nine or ten. Many of these are systematic restructuring, rather than de-licensing a single occupation. Consider this breakdown, pre- and post-NC Dental Board:Note: This does not take into account de-licensing of hair braiders. According to the Institute for Justice, 13 states have de-licensed hair braiders , most of them in 2015 or later: Arizona (2004); Washington (declared exempt, 2005); Georgia (2006); Utah (struck down in federal court) and Virginia (2012); Arkansas, Colorado, Maine, and Texas (2015); and Delaware, Kentucky, Nebraska, and West Virginia (2016).Nebraska's systematic restructuring passed this week, and it is of particular interest here, because it encapsulated reforms advocated by the John Locke Foundation for North Carolina . Those include using the least restrictive policy option necessary (licensing only as a last resort), having periodic review of licensing requirements, and using the least burdensome requirements for licenses that are deemed necessary.From 1967 till 2010, North Carolina policymakers were regulating occupations so quickly, it was as if they were churning out a new occupation license every seven months . This came to an abrupt end in 2011. So the good news is at least the state hasn't been adding to its already burdensome licensing structure.But it's past time for North Carolina, a state that recognizes your inalienable right to the enjoyment of the fruits of your own labor, to join the de-licensing revolution.Activism, however, is a very different creature than scholarship. It is not a pursuit of truth; it is a pursuit of victory for a political cause. It need not take every relevant fact and idea into account to arrive at a conclusion, as does scholarship. Instead, it is almost by definition one-sided and dogmatic. As such, it is undeserving of academic freedom rights.

For the academic freedom of a scholar, granted so that he or she can pursue truth unhindered by politics, cannot be given to one whose goal is political indoctrination. If otherwise, the pursuit of truth is devalued as if it were just another activity.

Should we allow scholars to be activists? Fabio Rojas (" Scholarship First, Activism Second ") and Jay Schalin (" Scholarship Only, Activism on Your Own Time ") have offered various degrees of attack on activist-scholars. My perspective is very different: I defend the activist-scholar and argue that universities must make a stand of neutrality toward all political speech, including activist scholarship, in order to protect both academic freedom and the pursuit of truth.Schalin offers a straw professor version of activism:This is absolutely not true. Not all activists are one-sided and dogmatic. Many traditional scholars are one-sided and dogmatic (for example, in opposing activist views). And academic freedom must also protect one-sided professors, so long as they do not violate the rights of others.Activism is the pursuit of truth, but one aimed at making change as well. But there is no evidence that activists are worse scholars than those opposed to activism. The idea of denying academic freedom rights to anyone deemed an "activist" is extremely dangerous because it can be used to target political dissenters.Schalin argues,By this logic, it is unfair to pacifist taxpayers to have their money taken from them so that the military can promote wars against their interests. The truth is that all taxpayers support things they disagree with. It is not unfair to taxpayers to have universities where professors are free to express their views, even if the majority of taxpayers disagree with them. The First Amendment, and the principles of a free society, demand this freedom that Schalin wants to abolish.Of course, while we broadly protect the freedom of faculty to teach, research, and express their ideas, we must evaluate their academic qualifications to teach and research, and that requires judgment. So, should we downgrade any faculty who are activists in their teaching and their research? No. We should evaluate all faculty based on their scholarly abilities, without regard to their activism. To assume that activism is inherently evil (or good) is a violation of those academic standards.Can an activist who brings activism into their scholarship be a good scholar? The answer is absolutely yes. Let me give myself as an example. I am a scholar-activist who studies higher education and I always try to bring my activism into my scholarship. Currently, I am engaged in scholarship analyzing what college student conduct codes say and how they affect freedom of speech. But I bring my activism as a free speech advocate into my scholarship. I do not merely describe campus conduct codes; I also criticize them and advocate for changing them. I denounce politicians and their appointees for their views on this topic and express my opinions about legislation. I am an activist-scholar.I believe that my activism improves my scholarship. It clarifies issues for readers and focuses on what is most important. It provokes people to think for themselves and take a stand in relation to my own. A traditional scholarly approach to campus conduct codes that merely describes what they do is useful. But a scholar-activist approach that criticizes these codes and seeks to change them is better for the world, and better to help people fully understand what these codes say and what's wrong with them.Is there a danger of bias? Of course: I might distort some analysis of data to fit my activist goal to promote free speech. But bias is everywhere, and I think being honest about my activist agenda makes bias less likely than someone who conceals their true views and pretends to be an objective observer of the topic.Schalin argues:From the first moments of the AAUP, in its 1915 Declaration of Principles, protecting activism was considered an essential component of academic freedom, which is why "extramural comments" (defending the expression of activist professors on public matters from political retaliation) was a core part of academic freedom alongside teaching and research.Politics is not a hindrance to my scholarship. Politics is intertwined with what I study, and what many other scholars study. Censoring my political views would be the serious hindrance to my scholarly analysis; if I had to look over my shoulder and constantly worry if my scholarship might be interpreted as political by people like Schalin who want to ban such perspectives, I would not be pursuing truth.Nor is it the case that every activist engages in indoctrination, or that activists are the only ones who can indoctrinate. Indoctrination is a very one-sided form of bad teaching. Activists who teach badly can indoctrinate, but so can those professors opposed to activism who think their views about contested issues are the one and only true scholarly values.As a teacher, I would never teach solely my own activist perspective or punish students for disagreeing with it. But if I taught a course about higher education, I would bring my activism on behalf of free speech into the classroom and make it part of the discussion.So who makes the better teacher and scholar, the openly activist professor or the one who conceals political views and strives to avoid all political issues? The answer is: it depends on the scholar. But we should not pre-judge the quality of a scholar by either demanding or demeaning activism. The prejudice against activist-scholars, not activism itself, is the greatest danger to the integrity of scholarship and the academic endeavor.There is no perfect way to judge scholarship free from bias. But we can begin by refusing to smear activism and punish activist approaches. This is where the "activist second" approach of Rojas and the "activist never" approach of Schalin are both wrong and endanger academic freedom. The true scholarly approach to the activist is disinterested neutrality, to neither be biased for nor against a scholar because of their activism. We need to overcome the bias against activism and achieve a true scholarly mentality that judges academic work based purely upon its merits and rejects the false presumption that activism is antithetical to scholarly work.Contact: White House

White House Press Office

A national day to ask all Americans to safely dispose of unneeded medication. On National Take Back Day (Saturday, April 28, 2018), the Drug Enforcement Administration, in partnership with Federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement, businesses, medical offices, federal agencies, and first responders will host events to collect and safely dispose of unneeded medication. National Take Back Day happens twice per year. Each Take Back Day, thousands of pounds of prescription drugs are returned, helping to prevent incidents of drug abuse and misuse across the nation. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, results from the October 2017 National Take Back Day show: 4,274 law enforcement partners participated; there were 5,321 collection sites; and 912,305 pounds of prescription drugs were collected, more than the weight of three Boeing 757 airplanes. On Take Back Day, unneeded medication can be dropped off at any one of thousands of disposal drop off sites. A tool to locate your nearest collection site is available at: https://takebackday.dea.gov Year-round you can drop off unneeded prescription drugs at participating Walgreens, CVS's or by ordering a free safe disposal mail-in envelopes from the National Safety Council at NSC.org/TakeBack: Some retail pharmacies, such as Walgreens and Walmart, offer drug disposal programs on site. A number of other retail pharmacies, such as Costco, CVS, or Rite Aid, sell postage-paid envelopes for customers to mail any prescriptions. Free safe disposal mail-in envelopes are offered by the National Safety Council.From ingesting out-of-date prescription drugs to abuse and misuse of prescriptions, keeping unneeded prescriptions poses a number of risks. Unneeded or expired prescription medications are a public safety issue. Results from the 2016 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) indicate that nearly 19 million Americans 12 or older abused or misused prescription drugs in the past year. According to the FDA, expired medical products can be less effective or risky due to a change in chemical composition. Some expired medications are at risk of bacterial growth or can become ineffective, as sub-potent antibiotics can fail to treat infections- and can facilitate the spread of potentially lethal drug-resistant infections. Overprescribing and stockpiling of opioids contributes to our nation's opioid epidemic. The 2016 NSDUH indicated that more than 3 million people aged 12 or older were current nonmedical users of pain relievers, and that more than 11.5 million people aged 12 or older reported misuse of opioid pain relievers in the past year. The economic costs associated with abuse or misuse are huge. The Council of Economic Advisors estimates that in 2015, the economic cost of the opioid crisis was $504 billion, or 2.8 percent of GDP that year. In 2016, there were more than 42,000 deaths in the United States resulting from an overdose involving opioids, up from more than 33,000 in 2015; further, 40% of those overdose deaths in 2016 involved commonly prescribed opioids. Americans are frequently left with unneeded prescription opioids, which are often poorly stored and easy targets for drug abusers or children. A 2017 review of 6 studies published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Surgery found that up to 92% of surgical patients prescribed opioids didn't use their entire prescription. The same review found that in two of the studies approximately three out of four patients failed to store their unused opioids in locked containers.According to the CDC, most people who abuse prescription opioids get them for free from a friend or relative. Keeping stores of prescription drugs could lead to accidental exposure to dangerous medication. In 2016, 23,872 cases of improper medicine use reported to Poison Control Centers in the United States involved accidental exposure to another person's medicine. According to data from the Drug Abuse Warning Network, from 2004 to 2011, an estimated 22,174 children aged 1 to 5 were taken to an emergency room due to accidental ingestion of opioid pain relievers.News / National

by Staff reporter

GOVERNMENT yesterday officially commissioned a $1,2 million upgraded sewer system at the Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo International Airport on the outskirts of Bulawayo.The Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ) undertook the project through a contractor. The project is expected to serve the airport and surrounding areas.Permanent secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure Development, Engineer George Mlilo, presided over the event on behalf of the minister, Dr Joram Gumbo, who could not attend. The upgrading of the aviation infrastructure is critical to national development as facilitates trade and tourism through movement of people and goods in a more cost effective way.In a speech read on his behalf by Eng Mlilo, Dr Gumbo said Government will continue to support the aviation industry due to its strategic importance in all facets of the economy."Government recognises that air transport is pivotal to the economic growth of our country as it facilitates trade, tourism and regional intergration through improving the movement of people and goods in a more cost effective way."It is, therefore, evident that refurbished aviation infrastructure has the greatest potential to spur economic growth in our country," said Dr Gumbo."This view point is amply demonstrated by the commitment the Government has shown in undertaking vital and necessary aviation infrastructure developments throughout the country."The minister said the commissioning of the sewer system comes after a new trajectory by the new political dispensation, which adopted the Rapid Results Initiative to speed up project implementation under the 100-days programme."Notable projects include the newly upgraded and commissioned Victoria Falls International Airport. It is pleasing to note that the same airport will undergo massive deployment following the conclusion of a $150 million concessionary loan agreement with the People's Republic of China," said Dr Gumbo."The works will commence soon making RG Mugabe Airport a regional hub. It is in this spirit of development that we pledge to continue supporting the aviation industry given its strategic importance to national development."Dr Gumbo said following the commissioning of the JM Nkomo International Airport on 22 December 2013, the increased capacity was now straining the sewer system hence the implementation of the project to ensure the airport mantains its world class standards. The refurbishment of the sewer system will go a long way in meeting the expectations of our citizens and visitors, he said.Dr Gumbo told delegates that CAAZ used its own resources to finance the project and this has ensured that JM Nkomo Airport remains the smartest airport in the country. He thanked the contractor RCM Civils and the consultants, Civil Consult for a job well done."The contractor worked tirelessly given the tight schedule to ensure proper completion. Allow me to conclude by urging all airline executives, aviation industry players, business executives and the public at large that this asset has also been availed to you for your convenience. It is, therefore, now incumbent upon you to fully utilise this facility," said Dr Gumbo.Matabeleland North Environmental Management Agency provincial manager, Mrs Chipo Zuze-Mpofu, commended CAAZ for the construction of the sewer ponds saying this came as they have for the past decade been discharging raw sewer and effluent into the environment.The event was attended by CAAZ chief executive officer, Mr David Chawota, Bulawayo City Council engineering director engineer Simela Dube and officials from EMA and members of the community.News / National

by Nomusa Garikai

"Some Zimbabweans and political observers say it is likely that President Emmerson Mnangagwa will win the forthcoming presidential election, to be held between July and August this year, as the country's opposition is in disarray though they doubt that the southern African nation will hold a free, fair and credible election," reported The Zimbabwean quoting a VOA article."Mnangagwa is likely to win because there is no strong opposition and there is so much confusion within the opposition parties such that Mnangagwa is the likely option for most people and is the one in power and they say that there is a lot of effort from Mnangagwa to change things. People are more receptive to that," said Linda Mujuru of Global Press Journal. She was one of the Zimbabweans panellist discussing Zimbabwe in Washington DC.There is clearly some very confused Zimbabweans out there. Do these people believe ED will win the elections because there is "disarray in the opposition camp" or because the elections are not going to be free, fair and credible?Few people can deny that there is indeed disarray in the opposition but with Zanu PF refusing to implement even one reform to ensure free and fair elections only those who are mentally challenged can doubt that these elections are not free and fair.A united opposition has not stopped Zanu PF rigging elections in the past so, why should a confused opposition matter?The elections observers are not being asked whether Zanu PF would have won these elections anywhere given the confusion in the opposition camp? They are being asked whether the electoral process in Zimbabwe can ever deliver free, fair and credible elections? A process in which there is no free media, no verified voters' roll, key institutions like ZEC and the Police are but a department of the ruling party in all but name, etc.Indeed, we should not be surprised there is confusing in the opposition camp just as, until the last November's military coup, there was pandemonium in Zanu PF itself; the one-party dictatorship that Mugabe and Zanu PF has fostered on the nation has forced competent leaders out of politics. Zimbabwe politics has become so dirty that only thugs can thrive.This is why we need to implement the democratic reforms, drain the swamp to get rid of all the crocodiles and all the other swamp dwelling creepy crawlies, and allow democratic competition to take root. Open debate and democratic competition will sort the quality leaders with grey stuff between their ears from the corrupt, incompetent empty head thugs who have now filled all the public offices going."There is need to have a united force and there is need to have and a need to have an organized force in the opposition and there is need to invest heavily and ensure that people are registered to vote," added another panellist, Irene Petras of International Centre for Not-for-Profit Law. Many people will know her from her days as Executive Director of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights.There is no denying that there are not quality leaders on both sides of Zimbabwe's political divide and there will never be, as long as politics remains the exclusive domain of the corrupt, incompetent and ruthless thugs. Quantity is a poor substitute for quality; that is common sense, but clearly not so common amongst some Zimbabwean intellectuals!News / National

by Staff reporter

VICE President Constantino Chiwenga's wife, Mrs Mary Chiwenga, has dismissed as false media reports that she grabbed a 300-hectare Arda Seeds Farm along Domboshawa Road.Through her lawyer, Mr Wilson Tatenda Manase of Manase & Manase Legal Practitioners, Mrs Chiwenga has described an article published by the Zimbabwe Independent on April 13 as defamatory and malicious.The article was titled "Chiwenga's wife grabs Arda farm"."This in all honesty, and according to our client, is not true at all," reads the letter of demand. "No such event took place. That is both defamatory and malicious against the person of our client, to say the least."Mrs Chiwenga has demanded an apology on the front page of the weekly paper, failing which she will sue for damages."Without wanting to dignify what you say about the Vice President with a response, we call upon you to do the honourable thing by apologising to the public and stating that it is untrue that Mrs Mary Chiwenga seized the 300-hectare farm," reads the letter."This never happened and the chief executive officer of Arda, Mr Basil Nyabadza, seems to confirm this fact in your article. While our client reserves the right to take action against yourselves, an apology on the same page the article was published will suffice."If, however, we do not hear from you within the next 14 days, we shall proceed to take action."The article written by Tinashe Kairiza, according to the lawyers, intimated that Mrs Chiwenga grabbed the farm."You went further to indicate that operations have come to a halt at the said farm and that certain Arda workers have relocated to Arda's head office, including the Arda Seeds manager, Mr Amon Mwashaireni," the letter reads.The lawyers also dismissed statements in the newspaper article insinuating that VP Chiwenga had a number of farms."In the same article, an insinuation is made that our client's husband owns a number of farms and that he has vast wealth," they said. "This is not true whatsoever."Opinion / Columnist

THAT the forced removal from office of former President Robert Mugabe and the death of Morgan Tsvangirai has resulted in the resurgence of both Zanu-PF and MDC-T ahead of the forthcoming presidential elections later this year is not in doubt anymore.Although there are many political parties mulling to fight in the crunch election, the real contest could be between Zanu-PF leader President Emmerson Mnangagwa and MDC-T and MDC Alliance presidential aspirant Nelson Chamisa, if events on the ground are anything to go by.It must be set out, however, that the MDC-T and MDC Alliance chances of winning the elections outrightly against Mnangagwa could be scuppered due to fired former deputy president Thokozani Khupe's launch of her own MDC-T (Thokozani) party to spite her erstwhile friends.It is clear as the sun will rise that going into the harmonised elections with a divided opposition will only give Zanu-PF an easy victory, and hence the need for Chamisa and Khupe to go and resolve their differences amicably and come up with a united front.No doubt Matabeleland regions have traditionally been MDC-T strongholds, but there is a possibility that some of the opposition supporters could sympathise with Khupe and throw in their lot with her. This clearly will divide the MDC-T vote.Chamisa should know that there is power in numbers and going into such a crucial election divided in Matabeleland would likely be the opposition's Achilles' Heel.It is indeed a good thing that both leaders appear to see reason. Zimbabweans believe what unites them is greater than what divides them.Zimbabweans frustrated and tired of Zanu-PF misrule are counting on the MDC-T to dislodge it from power through the ballot and they need all the support they can get.The opposition leaders cannot afford to be divided in-house, for ancient wisdom says, a house divided by itself cannot stand.There is need for a lot of soul searching within the MDC-T leadership given some of the nasty exchanges that have taken place  unnecessarily. The level of malice, vindictiveness and intolerance that has been demonstrated had probably poisoned relations and would have made a reunion impossible.It is hoped that the parties involved will be able to deal with that and move forward for their own good and that of their supporters who are counting on them.Opinion / Columnist

When President Emmerson Mnangagwa took over the reins of power on November 24, 2017, immediately announcing his intention to compensate farmers who had lost their land during the chaotic land reform programme of the early 2000s, most people felt his government had signalled a departure from former despot Robert Mugabe's regime.When Robert Smart got his farm back late last year, it was a positive indicator from the Mnangagwa government, that indeed it was going to address the contentious land question.However, despite putting in place another land commission tasked with probing multiple ownership of farms, nothing concrete has come out in terms of findings and recommendations although it is public knowledge that so many similar commissions were set up by Mugabe but their recommendations were never acted on.Wedza farmer Richard Seager and Richard Connolly of Figtree have been fighting to get their land back from one Alester Ziyanga and senior civil servant Ray Ndhlukula respectively without success. These two rank as some of the most prominent cases that have been brought into the public glare but, of course, there are many similar cases countrywide which have gone unreported.Former first lady Grace Mugabe seized a 23-hectare piece of land in Borrowdale from the Eaglesvale Daisyfield Trust, which had been donated about 40 years ago to Eaglesvale School by the Reformed Church in Zimbabwe (RCZ) for the construction of a campus and the ownership battle is still raging.Reports that a member of Mnangagwa's Cabinet Kazembe Kazembe also seized land from Blackfordby College of Agriculture  which appeared in yesterday's edition of the Daily News  shows government is finding it easy to talk about issues on which they are not keen to act.Kazembe's seizure of the 1 350-hectare farm, approximately 60 kilometres north west of Harare, despite Mnangagwa's vow to stop illegal land seizures and restore property rights, for long some of key issues leading to the sour relations between Harare and the western world, signals insincerity on the part of government.While a number of explanations have been proffered for the acquisition, at the policy level it does not bode well for the Mnangagwa administration, which had seemingly shown intend to chart a completely new route in terms of land tenure.If government does not come out clear on its land policy, it would appear it has not moved from the previous regime's ruinous stance.Doctors issued more than 4,000 prescriptions for the abortion pill Mifegymiso to Canadian women in 2017  the first year it was available in Canada.

That's according to information provided by Health Canada in an answer to an order paper question tabled by Conservative MP Arnold Viersen.

"In 2017, an estimated 4,253 new prescriptions of Mifegymiso were dispensed by Canadian retail pharmacies," Health Canada wrote.

The department says that between January 2017, when the drug was first made commercially available in Canada, and February 2018, it received only one report of an adverse reaction from the drug  heavy bleeding.

Mifegymiso  better known as RU-486  is a compound incorporating two drugs that together terminate early pregnancies. It was approved for use in Canada in 2015.

Restrictions lifted

Initially, Health Canada placed a number of restrictions on its use, such as limiting prescriptions to pregnancies no more advanced than seven weeks and requiring prescribing doctors to take a training course.

Those restrictions were lifted in November 2017. Federal Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor said that, given the high demand in the first year, easing the restrictions was the right move.

"Our government has been very clear when it comes to reproductive health rights for women. We want to make sure all options are available for women. We can see that there's certainly a need when we look at the numbers," she told CBC.

Groups that pushed for access to Mifegymiso for years also applauded the numbers.

"It's very encouraging," said Frederique Chabot, director of health promotion for Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights, a non-profit, pro-choice agency.

Chabot said Mifegymiso can offer abortion access to women who live far from hospitals and clinics providing surgical abortions.

"When I think of women, for example, in Nunavik in Quebec who have to travel to Montreal to seek care  that's a plane ride and days away from your family, days away from your community and work. So we have a chance now to address some access issues," she said.

Story continues

But while she said she's happy the drug was prescribed more than 4,000 times  even though the restrictions were only lifted last November  she added not all women in Canada have equal access to the pill.

'It's not cheap'

Part of the problem, she said, is the drug's cost, which averages between $400 and $450 per dose, depending on the province.

Right now, six provinces cover the drug through provincial health care plans: British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

Women elsewhere must rely on private drug plans or pay out of pocket for Mifegymiso, Chabot said.

"It's not cheap at all. It's not everyone who has that lying around, so again it creates this uneven access," she said.

"People who have $450 dollars in their savings account have access to abortion. People who don't, don't."

The decision to cover Mifegymiso is up to individual provinces. Petitpas Taylor said the federal government "really hope(s) that all options are available to all women across the country.

"Our government has been clear about that and that's why we've moved forward in making sure this medication is available to women."

Viersen did not respond to requests for an interview about Health Canada's response to his question.Our Edmonton kicking it old school with 10 epiphanies from our past

Previous editions of Our Edmonton's annual history shows were hosted in hotspots such as Government House or the Magrath Mansion.

This year Our Edmonton is landing at the oldest branch of the Edmonton Public Library.

When the Strathcona library opened in 1913, it was the only branch in town.

Back then, the entire library collection was about 5,000 books, compared to today's one million, give or take.

Return a book late and you faced a fine of two cents a day.

The brick and limestone building, constructed in the English Renaissance style, contained a men-only smoking and reading room, an auditorium and two fireplaces to keep its patrons warm.

The Strathcona library is one of more than 25 historic spots showcased in this weekend's edition of CBC TV's Our Edmonton.

10 things you might not know about our past

- Edmonton's Blatchford Field became the first licensed municipal airport in Canada in 1927.

- In 1969, a hamburger was tabled in protest of the cafeteria food at the Alberta legislature. The clerk had it encased in resin and it now resides in the legislature library.

- The house is the message in Edmonton's Highlands neighbourhood. The childhood home of Marshall McLuhan, the famous philosopher of media theory, is open to the public.

- During the Second World War, landlocked prairie cities like Edmonton recruited more than 3,500 sailors to serve at centres like HMCS Nonsuch.

- Alberta has its own wildfire mascot. Bertie Beaver was a gift to the forest service from Walt Disney in 1958 for help in shooting films in the Kananaskis region.

- Government House is more than just a backdrop for wedding and graduation photos. Since it opened in 1913 it's been a boarding house for road workers and a veterans hospital.

- When the C & E Railway ran back in 1897, passengers paid $9.60 to travel between Edmonton and Calgary  a 20-hour journey.

- The Edmonton civil defence bunker, built in 1954, was designed to house local political and military leaders in the event of an attack and still stands today.

Story continues

- Ever seen a sentinel up close? The St. Albert Grain Elevator Park has two restored buildings dating from 1906 to 1929.

- After the Rolling Stones rented rehearsal space in the Winspear Centre for Music in 1997, curtains had to be dry cleaned three times to remove the smell of cigar smoke.

Watch for more trivia on Our Edmonton from the Strathcona branch of the Edmonton Public Library Saturday at 10 a.m., Sunday at 4 p.m. and Monday at 11 a.m. on CBC TV.By Maggie Fick NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyan authorities have banned a film that tells the love story of two women on the grounds that it promotes lesbianism but activists said the ban would only promote interest in the movie. "Rafiki", a word that means friend in KiSwahili, was this week invited to premiere at next month's Cannes Film festival -- the first Kenyan film to receive such an invite. The Kenya Film Classification Board announced the ban on Friday and said in a tweet: "Anyone found in its possession will be in breach of law", referring to a colonial-era Kenyan law under which gay sex is punishable by 14 years in jail. Board spokeswoman Nelly Muluka tweeted: "Our culture and laws recognize family as the basic unit of society. "The (board) cannot, therefore, allow lesbian content to be accessed by children in Kenya." Film director Wanuri Kahiu said: "I'm really disappointed because Kenyans already have access to watch films that have LGBT content, on Netflix, and in international films shown in Kenya and permitted by the classification board itself." "So to then just ban a Kenyan film because it deals with something already happening in society just seems like a contradiction," she told Reuters. The ban represents a reversal by the board whose head, Ezekiel Mutua, praised the film earlier this month. "It is a story about the realities of our time and the challenges that our kids are facing especially with their sexuality," he said on privately-owned HOT 96 FM radio. Homosexuality is taboo across Africa and people who are gay face discrimination or persecution. In recent years, however, campaigners for lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender rights have become increasingly vocal. "It's appalling, it's a shame ... Kenyans will view the film whether it has been banned or not, they will find a way to view it," Lorna Dias, a lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender rights activist, told Reuters. "In fact, Ezekiel Mutua has probably created enough of a platform to make even the least interested people curious." The ban coincides with a landmark case brought by gay rights campaigners to repeal Kenya's law on gay sex on the grounds that it deprives sexual minorities of basic rights. The film is adapted from an award-winning short story "Jambula Tree" by Ugandan writer Monica Arac de Nyeko. The film board used a hashtag, #KFCBbansLesbianFilm, that immediately sparked a barrage of supportive tweets from Kenyans who decried homosexuality. In 2015, the board banned the film "Fifty Shades of Grey". (Additional reporting by John Ndiso; Editing by George Obulutsa and Matthew Mpoke Bigg)Toronto's Korean community is in a "state of shock" after three of its members were among 10 people killed Monday when a van slammed into pedestrians along one of the city's busiest streets.

"What hurts most, the future they came to Canada for and all of a sudden this happens to them, as a parent, to have a child abroad, I can only imagine the pain they are going through," said Daniel Lee, president of the Korean Cultural Association. "It's heartbreaking."

A vigil, organized by the Korean Canadian Cultural Association, was held Friday night to pay tribute to Sohe Chung, Chul Min (Eddie) Kang and Ji Hun Kim.

Police released their names earlier in the day. Chung and Kim are the youngest victims killed.

Hundreds of mourners gathered in Mel Lastman Square, along a stretch of Yonge Street where five days earlier a rental van left a trail of death and injury.

The neighbourhood where the attack took place is home to a large Korean community.

Lee told CBC News the community is reeling and "wants to do something" for the families of the deceased victims arriving from Korea.

"We need to move on. We need to face the fact that it did happen," said Lee. "We wish it never did happen, but there's no way you can make sense of this."

Chung was a student at the University of Toronto, pursuing a bachelor of science in cellular and molecular biology, according to her LinkedIn profile. The 22-year-old also worked in sales at luxury retailer Holt Renfrew.

"She was a beautiful person and well-liked by her friends," one of Chung's family members, who didn't want to be named, said in a statement to CBC News on Friday. "She had big dreams of doing something for society ... She was a very nice person."

Kang, 45, worked as a chef at Copacabana restaurant, a steakhouse downtown. During the 90s he attended Mohawk College in Hamilton, Ont. A friend said he had a wife in Korea.

Story continues

Kim, 22, was a South Korean international student at Seneca College. A family friend told CBC News that Kim was an only child. Kim's parents both rushed to Toronto after learning of their daughter's death he said, adding they were too shaken to attend the vigil.

The community rallied together shortly after 7 p.m., walking up the street while the sun set before stopping at a spot near the intersection where Kang was struck. Each person carried an electronic candle in support of the family and friends of the victims.

"Words cannot describe what they are going through right now. We are doing all we can to support them," said Lee.

A public vigil, #TorontoStrong, will be held Sunday for the victims at Mel Lastman Square.North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's consort, Ri Sol Ju, will join her husband in South Korea for the inter-Korean summit dinner, South Korean officials have confirmed.

Ri is expected to arrive at the border village of Panmunjom, where the talks are underway at the Peace House on the South Korean side, at around 6.15 p.m. local time (5.15. a.m. EST), just 15 minutes before the dinner is due to start, and will meet with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and his wife Kim Jung-sook.

Read more: Here's every little detail about the historic summit between North and South Korea

Trending: What Is the Link Between Cannabis and Psychosis? | Opinion

"The leaders and their wives will have a brief conversation at the Peace House and then attend the banquet, said South Korea's presidential senior secretary for public relations, Yoon Young-chan.

04_27_First_Lady

Host Broadcaster/via Reuters TV

Before the dinner, the two Korean leaders will have to announce and sign a joint declaration to mark the outcome of their first meetingthe third such high-level summit in Korean history.

Don't miss: Crocodile vs Shark: Incredible Video Shows First Evidence of Predators Scavenging On Dead Whale

Kim Jong Un crossed the military demarcation line (MDL) into South Korea earlier on Friday, marking the first time a North Korean leader has stepped on South Korean soil.

GettyImages-951610938

Korea Summit Press Pool/Korea Summit Press Pool/AFP/Getty Images

He was accompanied by a nine-person delegation including his sister Kim Yo Jong, the only woman sitting at the discussion table, who presented him with a pen so that he could sign the guestbook kept on the first floor of the Peace House.

Story continues

Most popular: Movie Theater Plays 'Hereditary' Horror Trailer Before 'Peter Rabbit,' Parents and Children Flee in Panic

"A new history starts now. An age of peace, from the starting point of history," his message read.

Ri will become the first North Korean leader's wife to visit South Korea, although she had previously crossed the border as a 16-year-old teenager and a member of the North Korean cheerleading team sent to the 2005 Asian Games in Incheon.

Ri was recently referred to in the North Korean state-run media with the official title of first lady for the first time, a departure from the usual title of "comrade" previously bestowed upon her.

The title change marked both an attempt to modernize Kim's image as the leader of a responsible nation as well as underlining a larger role for his wife, who joined him on his first visit to a head of state in China last month.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekPremier Stephen McNeil says pipeline battles out west could be a business opportunity for this province.

McNeil, along with his principal secretary, the deputy energy minister and five other members of the Energy Department, will join 21 Nova Scotia private- and public-sector entities next week at the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston, Texas.

The premier, who is attending the conference for the first time since he formed government in 2013, said there is "tremendous interest" in liquefied natural gas on the East Coast because of the challenges right now in British Columbia. That province's government is locked in a battle with the federal government right now about the future of pipelines to the B.C. coast.

Trying to attract business

"Part of the issue is gas companies realize we have capacity now currently in pipelines that are coming across the country," McNeil said in a telephone interview. "We want them to look at making contracts for the two LNG plants that are here."

There are currently two proposals for LNG terminals in Nova Scotia, one at Goldboro in Guysborough County and one at Bear Head by the Strait of Canso. With offshore production winding down at Deep Panuke and Sable, McNeil is keen to drum up more business for the province.

"We want to make sure that if there's natural gas or oil off our coast, we maximize the value in the most environmentally friendly way for the benefit of Nova Scotians," he said.

To that end, McNeil said the conference in Houston is the place where he can meet with most of the major players in the energy sector at one time. While there, he'll be speaking at an event where he'll promote the offshore opportunities of Nova Scotia, along with research that's happened off the coast.

Who else is going to Texas?

Although energy giant BP is preparing to drill an exploratory well for oil 300 kilometres off the province's coast, Shell abandoned two of its own in 2017. McNeil said his message to companies at the conference will be simple.

Story continues

"We want to make sure that they know we're open for business and wanting them to look at activity here."

Along with the provincial government, the other Nova Scotia representatives at the conference are:

- Alscott Air Systems Limited

- Atlantic Towing Limited

- Blue Water Group

- Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board

- Cox & Palmer

- Dalhousie University

- Fleetway Inc.

- Halifax Partnership

- Hawboldt Industries

- I.H. Mathers

- Municipality of the District of Guysborough

- National

- Nova Scotia Community College

- Ocean Technology Council of Nova Scotia

- Offshore Energy Research Association

- Stantec Consulting

- Strait of Canso Superport Corporation

- Maritimes Energy Association

- Terrapure Environmental

- Waterford Energy Services/Waterford Subsea Inc.

- Xeos Technologies Inc.iStock/Thinkstock(NORRIDGEWOCK, Maine) -- The 29-year-old man accused of gunning down a sheriffs office corporal in Maine and who evaded authorities for four days has been captured, authorities said on Saturday.



John Daniel Williams had been on the run since Wednesday morning when he allegedly shot and killed Cpl. Eugene Cole of the Somerset County Sheriffs Office in Norridgewock.



Williams was apprehended at 12:43 p.m. on Saturday outside a small, remote camp in Norridgewock, officials said. Authorities had found tracks this week that confirmed the area he was in, officials said.



Cole's handcuffs were used in the arrest, authorities said.



More than 200 law enforcement officers had been involved in the manhunt.



Now that the search is done, officers can begin to grieve Cole's loss, authorities said, and local residents "can sleep well."



The Cole family is relieved, thankful and grateful, authorities added.



Less than an hour before Williams was caught, authorities read a statement from Coles widow, pleading with him to surrender.



"I urge Mr. Williams to turn himself in or at least reach out to law enforcement," she said in the statement. "Mr. Williams, be assured you'll be treated the same way Corporal Cole would have treated you if you had given him the opportunity -- with dignity and respect."



"We just want you to talk to someone," she added. "Please, please talk to us."



After the killing, Williams allegedly stole the corporal's cruiser, drove to a local convenience store and committed a robbery, authorities said. The cruiser was later found abandoned in Norridgewock.



Williams had been considered armed and dangerous.



A $20,000 reward was being offered for information leading to his arrest.



Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.Crown Prince Signals Possible Limit on Non-Murder Executions





Saudi Arabia has executed 48 people since the beginning of 2018, 1/2 of them for nonviolent drug crimes, Human Rights Watch said today. Many more people convicted of drug crimes remain on death row following convictions by Saudi Arabia's notoriously unfair criminal justice system.





Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman said in an interview with Time magazine on April 5, that the Saudi authorities have a plan to decrease the number of executions, but that they would not limit executions to people convicted of murder. Nearly all executions in Saudi Arabia that are not for murder are for non-violent drug crimes. The prince said the country would consider changing the penalty from death to life in prison in some cases, but not in murder cases.





It's bad enough that Saudi Arabia executes so many people, but many of them have not committed a violent crime," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "Any plan to limit drug executions needs to include improvements to a justice system that doesn't provide for fair trials."





Saudi Arabia has carried out nearly 600 executions since the beginning of 2014, over 200 of them in drug cases. The vast majority of the remainder were for murder, but other offenses included rape, incest, terrorism, and "sorcery."





In Saudi Arabia, death sentences for murder are usually based on the Islamic law principle qisas, or eye-for-an-eye retributive punishment, while judges hand down death sentences for drugs at their own discretion (the Islamic law principle ta'zir). Judges rely on a 1987 fatwa by the country's Council of Senior Religious Scholars prescribing the death penalty for any "drug smuggler" who brings drugs into the country, as well as provisions of the 2005 Law on Combatting Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, which prescribes the death penalty for drug smuggling. The law allows for mitigated sentences in limited circumstances.





International standards, including the Arab Charter on Human Rights, ratified by Saudi Arabia, require countries that retain the death penalty to use it only for the "most serious crimes," and in exceptional circumstances. In 2012, the United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions stated that where used, the death penalty should be limited to cases in which a person is intentionally killed and not used to punish drug-related offenses.





Human Rights Watch has documented numerous cases in which Saudi courts sentenced defendants to death following unfair trials. In one such case, a Saudi court sentenced a Jordanian man, Waleed al-Saqqar, to death in December 2014 for smuggling drugs across the Saudi border from Jordan in his truck.





The judgment following al-Saqqar's trial reveals that the trial lasted only 1 day, and a source with direct knowledge of the case told Human Rights Watch that the entire trial lasted about 5 minutes. The source said that a judge asked al-Saqqar to confirm his identity and state whether the truck belonged to him, then issued the death sentence. Al-Saqqar did not have a defense lawyer.





The source said that the judge did not allow al-Saqqar a chance to explain the circumstances, which he viewed as a mitigating factor. The source said that in April 2013 al-Saqqar met a Saudi man at the Jordanian Free Zone near Zarqa city who offered to pay him 300,000 Saudi Riyals (US$80,000) to smuggle several bags of agricultural hormones to Saudi Arabia. The Saudi man said that his workers were urgently waiting for them and would need them before he could get permission from the Saudi Heath and Agricultural Ministries to legally import them. Al-Saqqar agreed to the arrangement.





On April 11, 2013, Saudi authorities stopped al-Saqqar after he entered Saudi Arabia from Jordan at the al-Haditha border crossing and searched the truck. According to the trial judgment, the authorities discovered 144,000 pills identified as captagon (fenethylline), a banned substance in Saudi Arabia. According to the official judgment al-Saqqar assisted Saudi authorities in an attempt to locate and apprehend the person inside Saudi Arabia responsible for receiving the drugs, but authorities were not able to apprehend him.





The source said that the case remains on appeal. The appeals court, the Saudi Supreme Court, and the Saudi royal court must approve the judgment before the sentence can be carried out. Al-Saqqar primarily is in Al-Qarrayat General Prison in northern Saudi Arabia.





In another case, a Pakistani man, Safdar Iqbal, told Justice Project Pakistan in December 2015 that men affiliated with the Pakistani agency that gave him his Saudi visa invaded his Karachi hotel room. He said the men forced him to swallow heroin capsules to smuggle into Saudi Arabia, beating him with guns and threatening to kill him and his family.





Saudi authorities apprehended him in February 2011 when he landed at Dammam's King Fahd International Airport. He said that a court convicted him after 4 hearings, and that he did not dispute a 15-year sentence because it was better than the death penalty. Later, however, officials informed him that an appeals court had increased his sentence to death. Iqbal did not have a defense lawyer and said that the judges did not attempt to investigate his claim that he was coerced to smuggle the pills. He was held in Dammam prison and executed on October 18, 2017.





Human Rights Watch has documented longstanding due process violations in Saudi Arabia's criminal justice system that makes it difficult for a defendant to get a fair trial even in capital cases. In cases Human Rights Watch has analyzed, authorities did not always inform suspects of the charges against them or allow them access to evidence, even after trial sessions began.





Authorities generally did not allow lawyers to assist suspects during interrogation and often impeded them from examining witnesses and presenting evidence at trial. The problems were compounded for non-Arabic speaking foreigners, who in the absence of a lawyer face overwhelming obstacles to understanding court procedures and submitting defense documents.





The Death Penalty Worldwide Database, which collects information on executions across the globe, shows that Saudi Arabia has one of the highest execution rates in the world and applies the death penalty to a range of offenses that do not constitute "most serious crimes," including drug offenses, adultery, sorcery, and apostasy. Saudi Arabia trails only Iran in the Middle East in the number of its executions.





Human Rights Watch opposes capital punishment in all countries and under all circumstances. Capital punishment is unique in its cruelty and finality, and it is inevitably and universally plagued with arbitrariness, prejudice, and error.





In 2013, following similar resolutions in 2007, 2008, and 2010, the UN General Assembly called on countries to establish a moratorium on the use of the death penalty, progressively restrict the practice, and reduce the offenses for which it might be imposed, all with the view toward its eventual abolition. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has also called on countries to abolish the death penalty.

Saudi Arabia executed 48 people in 3 months

Human Rights Watch said Saudi Arabia has executed 48 people so far in 2018, half of them for non-violent drug crimes.





Many more people convicted of drug crimes remain on death row following convictions by Saudi Arabia's notoriously unfair criminal justice system.





The Death Penalty Worldwide Database, which collects information on executions across the globe, shows that Saudi Arabia has one of the highest execution rates in the world and applies the death penalty to a range of offences that do not constitute "most serious crimes," including drug offences, adultery, sorcery, and apostasy.





Saudi Arabia trails only Iran in the Middle East in in the number of its executions.





Human Rights Watch opposes capital punishment in all countries and under all circumstances. Capital punishment is unique in its cruelty and finality, and it is inevitably and universally plagued with arbitrariness, prejudice, and error.





In 2013, following similar resolutions in 2007, 2008, and 2010, the UN General Assembly called on countries to establish a moratorium on the use of the death penalty, progressively restrict the practice, and reduce the offences for which it might be imposed, all with the view toward its eventual abolition. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has also called on countries to abolish the death penalty





In an interview with Time Magazine last month, reformist Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said in a few areas Saudi laws can be changed to life in prison sentences instead of executions.





"We are working for 2 years through the government and also the Saudi parliament to build new laws in that area. And we believe it will take 1 year, maybe a little bit more, to have it finished," he told Time Magazine.





Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at HRW, said: "Any plan to limit drug executions needs to include improvements to a justice system that doesn't provide for fair trials."





Saudi Arabia has gone through a series of reforms in the last year, but international human rights groups urge the kingdom to make changes to its treatment of human rights advocates, to stop executions and cancel its pervasive system of male guardianship.





Saudi Arabia has carried out nearly 600 executions since the beginning of 2014, over 200 of them in drug cases, HRW said.

Nepali on death row in Saudi Arabia: Pakistani family agrees to grant clemency

A Nepali man convicted in Saudi Arabia for a murder of a Pakistani national has been given clemency by the victim's family. Umesh Yadav, of Dhanusha district, has been doing time in Saudi Arabian Jail.





The victim's family agreed to grant clemency to Yadav after Saroj Raya, who went to Faisalabad in Pakistan to seek pardon on behalf of Umesh, reached a settlement to pay blood money following amicable talks. It has been learnt that the assailant's side agreed to pay the blood money. However, the amount of blood money has not been disclosed.





Yadav was accused of murdering Pakistani man Mohammad Lucky Asif 11 years ago. 6 years ago a local court of Saudi Arabian had sentenced Yadav to death.





Mohammad's elder brother Safik said they decided to pardon Yadav despite the agony of his brother's death. "We are suffering our brother's loss, and it was really bad for us. But we still granted pardon in the name of Allah," he said.





Pakistani lawyer Mohamed Nawas, who play a role in the reconciliation between the 2 families, said the victim's family have shown their big heart. "We Pakistanis are people with big heart. This has been proven by the victim's family," he said.





Saroj Raya, who reached Faisalabad in Pakistan to negotiate a settlement with the victim's family, expressed his joy, saying that his mission has been accomplished.





"Finally, we have been able to save Umesh from death penalty. The victim's family has accepted blood money," he said. "I express my gratitude to all the friends who helped in this endeavour."





 | 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



Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE!





"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,

but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde

: Human Rights Watch, April 27, 2018: tvcnews.tv, April 27, 2018Kathmandu Post, April 27, 2018A Kern County Superior Court judge last week ordered that a 68-year-old former farmworker, Vicente Benavides Figueroa, be released from San Quentin's death row after the local district attorney declared she would not retry him.





Benavides had been in prison for more than 25 years after being convicted of raping, sodomizing and murdering his girlfriend's 21-month-old daughter.





Benavides was freed after all but one of the medical experts who testified against him recanted their conclusions that the girl had, in effect, been raped to death - conclusions they had reached after reviewing incomplete medical records.





In fact, the first nurses and doctors who examined the semiconscious and battered girl in 1991 observed no injuries suggesting she had been raped or sodomized, but those details were not passed along to the medical expert witnesses who testified in court.





Injuries later observed at 2 other hospitals were likely caused by that 1st effort to save her life, which included attempts to insert an adult-sized catheter.





Convicting Benavides was an egregious miscarriage of justice; he spent a quarter-century on death row for a crime he apparently did not commit. His exoneration serves as a reminder of what ought to be abundantly clear by now: that despite jury trials, appellate reconsideration and years of motions and counter-motions, the justice system is not infallible, and it is possible (or perhaps inevitable) that innocent people will end up facing execution at the hands of the state. Not all of them will be saved, as Benavides was.





Innocent people end up facing execution at the hands of the state. The case also ought to remind us of the dangers inherent in California's efforts to speed up the calendar for death penalty appeals under Proposition 66, which voters approved in 2016.





Moving more quickly to execute convicted death row inmates increases the likelihood that due process will be given short shrift and the innocent will be put to death. Benavides - described in court filings as a seasonal worker with intellectual disabilities - was convicted in 1993. But the records that blew up the case against Benavides, but also raised doubt that Consuelo Verdugo had been murdered at all, were not uncovered until about 2000.





Proposition 66 makes it less likely that such diligent research can be completed in the single year it gives appellate attorneys to file their cases (a process that currently consumes 3 years or more), and thus more likely that innocent people will be put to death.





This rush-to-execute mood isn't California's alone. Florida adopted its own speed-up legislation 5 years ago. And around the country, pro-death penalty advocates argue that the condemned take advantage of the appeals process to delay their executions.





Federal statistics for 2013, the last year available, show an average of 15 1/2 years between sentence and execution for people on death row in the U.S. At least 365 people have been on California's death row for 20 years or more.





Benavides was released after more than 25 years. 2 half-brothers in North Carolina spent about 30 years under death sentences before they were exonerated. Since the Supreme Court revived the death penalty in 1976, more than 150 people have been exonerated of the murders for which they were condemned (in most cases that also meant the real killers got away with it), with an average of more than 11 years between sentence and exoneration.





A 2014 study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences estimated that at least 4% of the people sitting on America's death rows are probably innocent. With a national death row population of 2,700 people, that means more than 100 people currently under death sentences probably are innocent - about 30 of them in California. A rush to execution will only increase the chances that state governments will execute the innocent in the name of the people.





The unfixable problem with the death penalty is that mistakes get made, witnesses lie, confessions get coerced - all factors that can lead to false convictions. It is abjectly immoral to speed things up by limiting due process. The better solution is to get rid of the death penalty altogether.

 | 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



Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE!





"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,

but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar WildeUkraine sees US$784 mln budget deficit in Q1 2018

The country's consolidated budget over the period under review saw a deficit of UAH 3.001 billion ($114.4 million).

If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+EnterTo get a billion euros from the European Union, Ukraine will have to meet a number of useful requirements, in particular, to introduce an automatic verification of those astonishing "riches" declared by the country's officials. Meanwhile, the State Statistics Service released data on the slowdown of industrial output, and the Cabinet adopted a large-scale state program to improve road safety and ordered that the Ukrzaliznytsia [Ukrainian Railways] top managers ride trains - these are the main economic news of the outgoing week.

Ukraine desperately needs money. Primarily, it's to be ready to pay off huge debts looming over the country as a Damocles sword. Continued cooperation with the IMF could ease the peak burden of payments but the prospects for such cooperation remain uncertain. There is also hope for cooperation with the European Union, which also gives Ukraine money in the framework of its macro-financial assistance program. Although things are not so simple here either. For example, in 2017, we failed to receive the expected EUR 600 million from the EU, since we never fulfilled a number of conditions.

In March this year came the reports that the European Commission was proposing to the EU Council and European Parliament to open a new program of macro-financial assistance to Ukraine totaling EUR 1 billion. Although, to get the money, Ukraine will have to meet practically the same set conditions: to introduce automatic verification of e-declarations of assets, launch a credit register of the National Bank, verify companies' owners, and lift a notorious moratorium on roundwood timber exports.

To settle the issue, Finance Minister Oleksandr Danyliuk (whom the Prosecutor General's Office suspects of tax evasion and whose undeclared London apartment was discovered by investigative journalists) flew to Brussels, where he held several meetings with a number of European Commission and European Parliament officials. However, the negotiations yielded zero result as the minister was merely forced to agree with criticism.

"I fully agree with the MEPs - we still have a lot of work along the path, and Ukraine has no right to stop at this point. Before the new program is approved, we need to take measures we've failed to take under the EU's previous, third macro-financial assistance program," Danyliuk wrote on Facebook.

Meanwhile, the minister admits that it is quite realistic to fulfill the EU conditions, thus kicking the ball on Petro Poroshenko's pitch.

"It is quite realistic to fulfill these conditions within the framework of the new program. The question is only in overcoming self-interest and in having political will," said Danyliuk.

As for the conditions set, some of them are rather surprising. After all, automatic verification of electronic declarations should have long started working - otherwise, what is the point for the officials to declare assets if no one has been brought to justice for those astonishing riches stocked up out of thin air?

Perhaps the most ridiculous demand is to lift Ukraine's moratorium on roundwood timber exports. The thing is that, despite the existing ban, loggers have succeeded in finding loopholes to keep exporting their product, which is being cut in a way that allows exporters to formally bypass the moratorium. It's nonsense, indeed, if timber exports are actually blooming while Ukraine cannot get macro-financial assistance from the EU because a moratorium on such exports is formally in place.

Pace of industrial output slowing

The report on industrial output in March published by the State Statistics Service this week confirms the urgency of securing additional injections into the Ukrainian economy. Industrial output slowed down to 1% in annual terms. In February, the pace was at 1.9%, and in January it was at 3.6%. The trend is frustrating, to put it mildly.

The largest drop in annual terms is seen in the manufacture of electrical equipment (16.3%), furniture and other products (15%), as well as in the production of rubber and plastic products (14.7%).

It is not clear yet, what stands behind such a negative trend. It is possible that the reason is the special regime of gas consumption for enterprises. This happened in early March, during yet another round of a Ukrainian-Russian "gas war," when the Stockholm Arbitration satisfied Naftogaz's claims for compensation for gas volumes that were never delivered by Gazprom, but the Russian monopolist decided at the last minute to decline gas supplies to Ukraine under the contract and returned the prepayment received. Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said that the company was forced to immediately begin the procedure for the termination of gas supply and transit contracts with Naftogaz.

Ukrainians might associate this period with a flash-mob driven by the Ukrainian president when he asked to #turndown the temperature in household heaters for the country to save gas through the crisis.

It should be noted that, despite those not so optimistic figures by the State Statistics Service, chemical industry showed growth at 39.4%, while production of computers, electronic and optical products - at 32.3%. There were also positive trends in the supply of electricity, gas, steam and conditioned air showing an increase of 22.8%.

Also, in the outgoing week, S&P Global Ratings released its forecast for the Ukrainian economy, confirming the country's long-term and short-term sovereign credit ratings on foreign currency and national currency obligations at "B- / B" with a stable outlook.

The "stable" outlook reflects the experts' expectations that the Ukrainian government will implement reforms needed to get the fifth tranche under the IMF Extended Fund Facility. These funds, along with additional financial support from international donor organizations, will help Ukraine meet its external obligations maturing in the next 12 months, according to the agency.

At the same time, the agency noted that the fifth tranche of the IMF loan, which the Ministry of Finance expects to receive in May-June this year, may be the last one for Ukraine until 2020. "With the IMF EFF program set to expire in March 2019, we do not envisage any further disbursements under the program beyond those under the fourth review. Considering the electoral calendar, we also do not expect a follow-up arrangement to the EFF to be in place before 2020," S&P Global Ratings said in its research update on Ukraine.

The S&P recalls that Ukraine's public and quasi-public external debt repayments over 2018-2021 are estimated at up to $24 billion. "Without official creditor support, these external debt repayments would be extremely challenging to meet," the agency wrote. But the IMF, like the EU, also puts forward a number of conditions. The agency believes that Ukraine will have to create an independent anti-corruption court and raise electricity tariffs, which would "complement last year's pension reform and recent privatization legislation."

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance released a fresh report on the volume of state and publicly guaranteed debt as of late March. In the first quarter of 2018, it grew in dollar terms by 1.4% to $77.37 billion.

Billions on road safety

A huge number of road accidents with a constantly growing death toll forces the government to return to addressing a pressing problem of safety on Ukraine's motorways. This week, the Cabinet approved a state program to improve road safety until 2020. About UAH 10 billion will be allocated in its framework over the next few years, with UAH 2.6 billion being injected in 2018 alone.

Program developers offer to increase road safety through better infrastructure as well as due supervision and control by government agencies. They also plan to improve quality of emergency response and launch awareness campaigns for the public.

In total, the project envisages equipping nearly 500 junctions, creating 500 safety spots at the entrances to settlements, 6,432 ordinary pedestrian crossings and 1,500 crossing with lighting panels.

The plans include the elimination of 109 sites with high concentration of road accidents, construction of 258 kilometers of new barrier fences, and installation of 15,000 road signs. The program also includes 46 awareness-raising campaigns on traffic safety, as well as supervision, control measures, and emergency response.

The main question is how the program will actually be implemented and whether there is enough money for it in the state budget in the coming years.

At the same time, Kyiv residents this week were focused on the reports on the city's plans to double public transport fares. Kyivpaststrans, a municipal company managing public transport in Ukraine's capital, plans from July 15 to increase the fare to UAH 8 for a single trip, which is in line with their financial plan.

Obviously, this raise will see a "chain reaction" across Ukraine as many municipal leaders look up at Kyiv authorities.

The news comes against a recent "surprise" for Ukrainians coming from Ukrzaliznytsia, the Ukrainian Railways, with their plans to increase in the cost of travel by 12%. Company CEO Yevhen Kravtsov believes that train ticket cannot be cheaper than those for intercity buses.

Such logic is rather surprising since it is private companies that provide bus services in Ukraine, being able to set unfair prices. In addition, even at the current fares, trains run half empty on a number of routes.

Another thing is interesting here. According to Kravtsov, if the ticket price is increased by 12%, Ukrzaliznytsia will receive an additional UAH 400 million. However, this is the sum the company will only get if it doesn't falsify tenders in favor of a company of the two people's deputies, the Dubnevych brothers, and buy fasteners for railroad ties from them at inflated prices and simply buy these products from other manufacturers at a cheaper price.

By the way, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman at a Cabinet meeting offered that top managers of Ukrzaliznytsia from time to time ride Ukrainian trains and personally check the quality of services.

"I think it will be interesting for us to watch your online streams from your trips," Groysman said.

Dmytro Shvarts

If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+EnterNorth Korea is one of the most repressive and abusive regimes in the world, declared John Sullivan, who at the time served as Acting Secretary of State at the release of the State Departments annual Human Rights report. The Kim regime systematically neglects the well-being of its people to underwrite and fund its illicit weapons programs via forced labor, child labor, and the export of North Korean workers.

The people of North Korea faced egregious human rights violations by the government in nearly all reporting categories including, extrajudicial killings. During the year a defector reported being pulled from school to witness the public execution of 11 musicians accused of making a pornographic video. The defector described a brutal process including antiaircraft artillery, used to kill the prisoners, and tanks, which were used to run over the bodies postmortem.

The North Korean government reportedly executed individuals for sleeping during patriotic events.

Defectors also reported that the government carried out infanticide in cases of political prisoners, persons with disabilities, and where the mother was repatriated from China.

Numerous defector accounts and NGO reports described the use of torture by authorities in several detention facilities. Methods of torture and other abuse reportedly included severe beatings; electric shock; prolonged periods of exposure to the elements; humiliations such as public nakedness; and confinement for up to several weeks in small punishment cells.Mothers were in some cases reportedly forced to watch the infanticide of their newborn infants.

While the total number of political prisoners and detainees remained unknown, the 2017 KINU white paper reported that the state detained between 80,000 and 120,000 in the prisons known as kwanliso. NGOs and media reported political prisoners were subject to harsher punishments and fewer protections than other prisoners and detainees. The government considered critics of the regime to be political criminals. Defectors noted they did not expect many prisoners in political prison camps and the detention system to survive.

America will continue to impose consequences on those who abuse human rights, said Mr. Sullivan.No human rights abuser, no matter where in the world, is out of our reach, including North Korea.In his address to the United Nations General Assembly in September, President Donald Trump said that the Cuban government is delivering only anguish and failure to its people.

The State Departments recently published 2017 report on human rights conditions in Cuba describes the Cuban regimes lack of respect for the rights of the Cuban people.

The report notes that the Communist party remained the only legal party in the country. Elections were neither free nor fair. Candidates were prescreened by the Communist party and the government blocked candidates not approved by the party.

The most significant human rights issues, the State Department said, included torture of perceived political opponents; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; politically motivated, sometimes violent, detentions and arrests; a complete absence of judicial independence;[and]trial processes that effectively put the burden on the defendant to prove innocence.

Freedom of expression was limited to expression that conforms to the goals of socialist society, with strict censorship, punishing even distribution of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Cuban government controlled all forms of media. The internet was restricted, as were academic freedom and the rights of assembly and association. Government-organized mobs were used to assault and disperse those who assembled peacefully.

Earlier this month, Raul Castro, who took over as Cubas leader from his brother Fidel in 2006, stepped down from the presidency, handing the presidential baton to his designated successor and longtime Communist party official Miguel Diaz-Canel. Could this transition possibly mean an end to the human rights abuses described by the State Department and endured for decades by the Cuban people?

At a press briefing, State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert pointed out that Cuban citizens had no real power to affect the outcome of this undemocratic transition process. The United States, she declared, is disappointed that the Cuban Government opted to silence independent voices and maintain its repressive monopoly on power, rather than allow its people a meaningful choice through free, fair and competitive elections.

Cubas new president should take concrete steps to improve the lives of the Cuban people, to respect human rights and to cease repression and allow greater political and economic freedoms, said Spokesperson Nauert, We urge the new president to listen and respond to Cuban citizens demands for a more prosperous, free, and democratic Cuba.First Deputy Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Iryna Gerashchenko has said after the April PACE session that plans of Russia to return to the PACE without implementing resolutions were a failure.

"The key thing is that all plans to quickly return Russians without the implementation of resolutions by them were a failure. The Council of European decided not to hold the anniversary summit as a triumph of Russia's return," Gerashchenko wrote on her Facebook page.

She said that the Ukrainian delegation managed to amend the resolution on the non-implementation of resolutions regarding the control of Russia on occupied area of Donbas by countries that are members of the Council of Europe.

"In the resolution on combating the hybrid ware and IDPs [internally displaced persons] mention crimes of Russia and its involvement in all wars on the continent, both real wars and hybrid wars," she wrote.A special order will be in effect with the decision of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on the start of the operation of joint forces in the area of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

The resolution on the special order was handed to Interfax-Ukraine by the Command of the joint headquarters on Friday.

The resolution will take effect on Monday, April 30.

According to the document, this procedure provides the bodies of the security and defense sector, other state agencies of Ukraine with special powers required to implement measures to ensure national security and defense, repulse and deter the armed aggression of the Russian Federation in Donetsk and Lugansk regions.

The zone of security adjacent to the combat area is: Vynohradne, Kurakhove, Ocheretiane, Rozivka, Vovcheyarivka, Bila Hora, Novoaidar, Sadky, Makarivka, Prostiane, along the administrative border of Lugansk and Kharkiv regions, Olhivka, along the administrative border of Donetsk and Kharkiv regions, Znamenivka, along the administrative border of Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions, Komyshuvakha, along the administrative border of Donetsk and Zaporizhia regions, Urzuf, and along the sea coast, Prymorske.

In the security zone, by the decision of the commander of the joint forces, areas of restricted access and restricted areas can be established.

"Persons who are not involved in measures to ensure national security and defense, repulse and deter armed aggression in Donetsk and Lugansk regions, are admitted to the restricted area under a decision of the commander of the joint forces, commanders of operational-tactical groups and relevant commanders, in whose powers are to ensure and comply with the order of staying in the areas of the operation of the joint forces and on sites that are under their protection," the document said.

Admission to the area of prohibited access is given on the basis of established patterns of passes, upon the decision of the commander of the joint forces. The admission of unauthorized persons to this area is prohibited.

The area of combat operations is considered to be the area covered by military operations along the contact line, where the units of the armed forces, other military formations and law enforcement agencies carry out combat missions to prevent the enemy from penetrating into the territory of the state.

The document also establishes the regimes of staying in the security zone on the territory of Donbas for persons not involved in carrying out measures to ensure national security and defense, repelling and deterring the armed aggression of the Russian Federation: "green" (the stay and movement of persons is unlimited, except for the areas of restricted access), "yellow" (stay and movement of persons is carried out with the availability of documents, personal inspection of citizens and things, vehicles is carried out, this regime is established on the borders of isolation and restricted access areas), "red" (stay of persons temporarily restricted, prohibited, citizens and officials are admitted to enter the area only with passes, vehicles and citizens to particular areas of land and facilities are not allowed).

"The respective regimes can be temporarily introduced in certain areas, or in the entire security zone under the decision of the commander of the joint forces," the resolution said.

The grounds for admission to the area of the joint forces operation for persons not involved in measures to ensure national security and defense, repelling and deterring armed aggression of the Russian Federation is: residing in the area of the operation by a person or his first-degree relatives (if there are relevant documents); the burial sites of relatives or family members are located close the area of the operation, the death of close relatives or family members in the area of the operation, the ownership of the real estate that are located in the area of the operation, the need to participate in the peaceful settlement of the conflict, or humanitarian issues in the national interests of Ukraine, the need to fulfill diplomatic or consular functions, including in the activities of international organizations of which Ukraine is a member (only under a petition or consent of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine), and other grounds.

According to the document, servicemen, law enforcement officers, and persons defined in Article 8 of the law on the specific features of the state policy for ensuring state sovereignty of Ukraine in the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions have some special powers.

In particular: they have the right to use, in case of emergency, weapons and special means against persons who have carried out or are carrying out an offense or other actions that impede the fulfillment of the lawful demands of persons involved in the implementation of measures to ensure national security and defense, resist and restrain the armed aggression of the Russian Federation, or related actions with an unauthorized attempt to penetrate the area of implementation of these measures.

The participants of the operation also have the authority to detain and deliver persons to the bodies of the National Police, to check documents of citizens and officials, in case of their absence, to detain them before identification, to inspect things and vehicles, temporarily restrict or prohibit the movement of vehicles and pedestrians on the streets and roads, do not allow vehicles and citizens to enter some sites and facilities, enter residential and other premises, on the territory of enterprises, institutions and organizations, use communication means and vehicles that belong to citizens (by their consent), enterprises, institutions and organizations, except vehicles of diplomatic, consular and other representations of foreign states and international organizations for communication purposes.The staff center was launched on April 27 in Ukrainian Navy and measures to create it were started.

"The staff center of the Ukrainian Navy will fulfill tasks to introduce staff managers to the Ukrainian Navy. Its key functions will be the creation of the effective system of military servicemen career management, ensuring a transparent and bona fide selection system, appointment of military personnel to posts," the Ukrainian Navy wrote on its Facebook page.

According to the report, the specifics of this center will be personalization in work with all categories of military personnel in the issues of career planning and servicing.Defense Ministry of Ukraine reports 10 attacks on its positions in Donbas on Saturday

The unlawful armed groups on Saturday in the morning made 10 attacks at the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Donbas, and one Ukrainian soldier was wounded.

"From the midnight until 9:00 a total of 10 attacks by militants were recorded One our defender was wounded. He was delivered to the military hospital in moderately grave condition," a representative of the Defense Ministry of Ukraine Maksym Prauta said at a briefing on Saturday.

He said that in the Luhansk section the enemy used mortars four times.

In the Donetsk section, six provocative attacks using grenade launchers, large caliber machine guns and small weapon were recorded.Three representatives of the International Labor Organization (ILO) have been allowed to meet an unknown number of independent Iranian labor activists in Tehran, reports say.

It is not yet clear where and under what conditions the meeting took place.

The ILOs Ditti Anders, Ariel Castro, and Sanchir Tugschimeg were the official guests of Irans Cooperatives, Labor, and Social Welfare Ministry during their visit to Tehran from April 20 to 23.

On April 23, state-run Iran Labor News Agency (ILNA) cited Anders as saying, The main goal of the ILOs delegation visiting Tehran is getting more acquainted with Iranian labor and employers interaction.

An Iranian member of Canadas Labor Congress and a consultant at the International Trade Union Confederation, Mehdi Kouhestaninejad, told Radio Farda, The ILO delegation visited Tehran to review the situation for implementing Conventions 87 and 97 of the international body in Iran.

Article 2 of Convention 87 stipulates, Workers and employers, without distinction whatsoever, shall have the right to establish and, subject only to the rules of the organization concerned, to join organizations of their own choosing without previous authorization.

According to Article 3 of the same convention, workers and employers organizations have the right to draw up constitutions and rules, to elect representatives in full freedom, to organize their administration and activities, and to formulate programs.

The public authorities shall refrain from any interference which would restrict this right or impede the lawful exercise thereof, the article continues.

Article 4 of the convention maintains that the workers and employers organizations shall not be liable to be dissolved or suspended by administrative authority.

According to Convention 98, Workers shall enjoy adequate protection against acts of anti-union discrimination in respect of their employment.

Although Iran is one of the oldest members of the ILO, it does not officially recognize independent trade unions, which have repeatedly criticized Iran for not implementing the ILO conventions.

Iranian authorities, meanwhile, maintain they have good interactions with independent trade unions.

Defenders of human rights point out that, during nearly four decades of the current regime in Iran, scores of labor rights activists have been detained and incarcerated, charged with baseless security-related excuses.

Workers in Iran are not only deprived of having independent unions but deprived of holding peaceful assemblies, as well, according to activists.

Article 27 of the Iranian Constitution stipulates, however, Public assemblies and marches may be freely held, provided arms are not carried and that they are not detrimental to the fundamental principles of Islam.

Iranian workers are also deprived of the right to strike and protest against unfair wages or unacceptable work conditions. Protesters and strikers are often fired and risk detainment, and labor leaders often face long prison sentences on trumped-up national security charges.

In 2003, Irans labor minister, with the support of intelligence agents and security forces, tried to prevent independent labor activists from meeting with representatives of the ILO who were visiting Tehran.

Two of the labor activists, Mahmoud Salehi and Mohsen Hakimi, managed to jump over a fence and have a brief meeting with the ILO delegation.

The details concerning the recent meeting between ILO representatives and an unknown number of labor activists in Tehran has not yet been disclosed.

However, it was officially announced that the meeting took place after the labor ministry contacted a number of independent labor activists and invited them to participate in a session attended by the ILOs representatives.By Daniel Bases NEW YORK, April 27 (Reuters)

Friday's historic pledge by the leaders of the two Koreas to work to denuclearize the Korean peninsula should give U.S. President Donald Trump a stronger hand to renegotiate the treaty curtailing Iran's nuclear program, Israel's intelligence minister said.

Israel Katz, who runs both the Intelligence and Transportation ministries, spoke in a Reuters interview after North Korea's Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in agreed to work for a "complete denuclearization" of the peninsula at a summit meeting in Seoul.

Such a development, should it come to fruition, could have a larger impact of minimizing the threat of a nuclear arms race in the Middle East, Katz said.

The 2015 Iran Nuclear agreement, which Israel's government vehemently opposed, is in danger of unraveling should U.S. President Donald Trump decide by May 12 to restore U.S. economic sanctions against Iran.

Trump has called the accord the worst deal ever negotiated and threatened to reimpose the U.S. penalties unless Britain, France and Germany can fix its "flaws." The deal lifted economic sanctions on Iran in return for curbing its nuclear program.

"He (Trump) will have more power against Iran now and maybe to convince the European Union not to be the weak link in the coalition," Katz said.

"I think it will be very good if the North Koreans will finish and go out of the nuclear business and capabilities. It will also be good to our region, because there is a connection," he said.

Katz said the connection between Iran and North Korea pertains to missile technology.

"Yes, I think there is cooperation as it belongs to developing the ballistic missiles. And we have the evidence," he said.

"We have a lot of evidence," Katz added, shrugging his shoulders without elaborating.

Russia, China, Germany, Britain and France, which all struck the accord with Iran and the United States, see the deal as the best way to stop Iran from developing a nuclear bomb.

During his state visit earlier this week with Trump in Washington, French President Emmanuel Macron called for the U.S. not to abandon the deal and said a new package of terms was being prepared with Britain and Germany.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel held a one-day working visit with Trump on Friday, where she was careful to praise Trump's progress on North Korea.

"I think that now we have to be very tough with Iran," said Katz, who wants to succeed Netanyahu as Israel's next prime minister.

REGIONAL CONFLICTS

While Iran's nuclear capabilities are curtailed for the time being, Katz reiterated that Israel would remain vigilant in seeking to curb Tehran's increased activities in Syria.

On April 9, an air strike killed seven Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps members at a Syrian base. Tehran blamed Israel and vowed unspecified retaliation, drawing Israeli counter-threats to broaden attacks on Iranian military assets in Syria.

The Israelis have said their strikes aim to prevent Irans garrison in Syria from entrenching itself deeper in support of President Bashar al-Assad and linking with Hezbollah in Lebanon to form a broad front against them.

"Iranians don't have to be in Syria. It is not to say we are going to attack every Iranian soldier in Syria, but bases, military bases, and munitions bases, and sophisticated missiles and other things like that? Yes," he said. Russia, a key ally of Assad, has said it would provide advanced weapons to Syria.

Israel is concerned that might include the S-300 surface-to-air missile system, which military analysts say would improve Russia's ability to control air space in Syria. "They are talking about to supply advanced missiles, but they didn't say the words S-300," Katz said.

"Personally, it is hard for me to believe that Putin will give them the S-300," he said. "Because this is his main card that he is holding now in the discussions with Israel ... If he will give them the S-300, about what can he talk about with us afterward?"

(Reporting by Daniel Bases Editing by Tom Brown)U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has warned his Turkish counterpart against purchasing a Russian surface-to-air missile system.

Meeting on the sidelines of a NATO gathering on April 27, Pompeo told Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu that the S-400 system, radars, and missile batteries will not be integrated with those of Ankaras NATO allies, a senior U.S. official said.

"The secretary underscored the seriousness of U.S. concerns...if [the Turkish authorities] go ahead," the official said in a briefing with reporters in Brussels.

"He asked Cavusoglu to closely consider NATO interoperable systems," the official added.

The State Department official said Pompeo reminded his Turkish counterpart that Ankara could face sanctions if it went through with the S-400 purchase.

Turkish defense officials say Ankara and Moscow have signed a deal under which Russia will supply up to two S-400 surface-to-air missile batteries to Turkey.

Turkey's Undersecretariat for Defense Industries (SSM) said in December that delivery of the initial battery of the air-defense system is planned for the first quarter of 2020.

The deal, reportedly worth about $2.5 billion, has caused concern in the West because Turkey is a member of NATO and the antiaircraft systems cannot be integrated into the alliances defenses.

Turkey's move to acquire the missiles has been regarded in some Western capitals as a snub to NATO amid tensions with Russia over its role in the wars in Syria and eastern Ukraine.

Based on reporting by AFP and ReutersBaku, Azerbaijan, April 28

By Samir Ali - Trend:

Azerbaijan should reconsider the issue of membership in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe ([PACE), said Member of the Political Council of the New Azerbaijan Party, Chief Editor of the Iki sahil newspaper Vugar Rahimzade.

Rahimzade noted that after the restoration of its independence Azerbaijan has taken important steps towards democratic development.

In particular, integration into Europe and high-level human rights and freedoms constitute the foundation of its successful political course.

The chief editor said that progress in this area was highly appreciated by other states, international organizations, individual politicians, state officials and public figures.

"Unfortunately, some European circles, including the PACE, from time to time afford prejudice, unfairness and bias in their reports. The latest report on corruption prepared on the basis of assumptions, subjective opinions of individual members of PACE, where Azerbaijan is also mentioned, should be particularly noted. I think this is another provocation of the pro-Armenian forces against our country," Rahimzadeh said.

He said, such reports once again show that double standards continue to be applied against Azerbaijan.

"PACE and other structures, which try to speak the language of pressure, should understand once and for all that Azerbaijan pursues an independent policy, and builds cooperation based on mutual interests. Nobody can speak the language of force to us. Therefore, such reports cause discontent in society. Azerbaijan will never accept the unfair position of European institutions towards itself," Rahimzadeh said.

The chief editor added that Azerbaijan has been a member of the Council of Europe for 17 years and has always fulfilled its obligations.

Rahimzade noted that Azerbaijan faced pressure from this institution, with a campaign of denigration.

"If this trend continues, if there is a biased position against Azerbaijan and this institution becomes an instrument of anti-Azerbaijani forces, its activities and objectivity will be questioned. In this case, I think that Azerbaijan should reconsider the issue of membership in PACE," Rahimzade said.Baku, Azerbaijan, April 28

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

Construction of a logistics center within the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway project has been implemented by over 50 percent, the Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications of Turkey told Trend April 25.

The ministry noted that there are no delays in the construction of the logistics center in Kars province.

"After commissioning, the logistics center will become one of the most important railway hubs in Turkey," the ministry said.

The launch of the logistics center in Kars province is scheduled for Oct. 30 this year.

Earlier, Turkeys Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications told Trend that a 300,000 square meter land plot was allotted for the construction of the logistics center.

Around 412,000 tons of cargo are expected to be transported through the logistics center annually.

An agreement on the creation of the logistics center was signed on July 19 last year, during the visit of Head of Azerbaijan Railways CJSC Javid Gurbanov to the Kars province, when he had familiarized himself with the progress of the BTK project.

The official opening ceremony of the BTK railway was held in Baku Oct. 30 last year. The BTK railway was constructed on the basis a Georgian-Azerbaijani-Turkish intergovernmental agreement.

The railways peak capacity will be 17 million tons of cargo per year. At an initial stage, this figure will be one million passengers and 6.5 million tons of cargo.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizogluBaku, Azerbaijan, April 28

By Leman Zeynalova - Trend:

Russian Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company (SCAC) is working with Iranian companies on signing new memorandums of intent on supplying Sukhoi Superjet-100 passenger planes, deputy director for communication at SCAC Marina Motornaya told Trend.

Earlier, the managing directors of Aseman and Iran Air Tour Airlines signed a memorandum of understanding with the Russian company manufacturing super jets to buy 40 aircraft.

The MoUs was signed in the presence of Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of Russia Oleg Bocharov on the sidelines of the 2018 Eurasia Airshow.

The aircraft supply to Iran under these memoranda is planned to be completed by 2022.

Commenting on the fact that earlier, Russia and Iran were considering the possibility of supplying 100 SSJ100 aircraft, Motornaya noted that 100 planes is the total assessment of Iranian market in the segment of SSJ100 aircraft and has nothing to do with plans to sell SSJ100 in this market.

She noted that the sides signed agreements defining the intention to purchase the aircraft.

"The details of the possible deal, including the payment currency are not discussed at the current stage. This is the topic of further talks," said Motornaya.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_ZeynBaku, Azerbaijan, April 28

Trend:

Kazakhstan welcomes the summit between President of the Republic of Korea Moon Jae-in and Supreme Leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea Kim Jong-un, held on April 27 at the border point of Panmunjom, and highly appreciates the outcomes of the talks aimed at resuming inter-Korean dialogue and strengthening global security, Kazinform reported citing the press service of the Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"Kazakhstan expresses support to the settlement process in the Korean peninsula through dialogue and negotiations, and is strongly convinced that the political and diplomatic solution is a good tool for dealing with complex international issues. Kazakhstan, as a country with nuclear disarmament experience, also compliments the Panmunjom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity and Unification of the Korean Peninsula, and fully supports two countries' agreement to gain the nuclear-free status of the peninsula. The dynamic dialogue between two Koreas, since the beginning of this year, has already led to tangible results, such as the inter-Korean summit and Pyongyang's refusal to carry out nuclear tests and missile launches."



"Against this background, Kazakhstan's decision to close the largest nuclear test site, to renounce nuclear arsenal, to eliminate accompanying military infrastructure, to participate in the implementation and promotion of the NPT and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty has become the key to the successful and stable development of the country, a foundation for foreign policy and a crucial factor for regional security," the statement reads.Baku, Azerbaijan, April 28

Trend:

Iran and Turkey have signed 5 Memorandums of Understanding on the sale of various types of aviation products on the sidelines of 2018 Eurasia Airshow in Antalya, Turkey.

Jaffar Zedwar, an official from Iran Aviation Industries Organization (IAIO) said that the five pacts include the sale of aviation products, including nuts and bolts as well as other various parts relating to aviation industry, and the Toloe 4 and Serat 2 UAV engines, Mehr news agency reported.

He also announced an agreement on the export of the Iranian 'Saiyan' company products to Turkey including various types of radios and aerobatic flying displays.

The Iranian aviation industry official added Irans achievements in the aviation industry including various advanced helicopters and UAVs, have surprised many Turkish and foreign companies at 2018 Eurasia Airshow in Antalya, Turkey."

He said that the exhibition has displayed three types of Iranian UAVs, including Yassir, Bina and Hamasa that attracted visitors attention.

Zedwar also said that three types of Iranian helicopters including 'Shahed-278', the twin-engine 'Saba-248' and 'Sorena' helicopters are featured in the exhibition, all of which were manufactured in Iran by the IAIO.

He said that the 'Saba-248' variant was mostly welcomed by the visitors.

The official also said two UAV engines, including the 'Toloe 4' and the 'Serat 2' were also displayed, adding Turkey was one of the countries that was interested in purchasing Iranian UAV engines.

The Turks are interested in working with Iran in aviation and aerospace fields, and they want technology transfer, and we can work with Turkey, because it is easier to work with Turkey in every field, he added.Baku, Azerbaijan, April 28

By Umid Niayesh  Trend:

Turkeys gas imports from Iran witnessed a fall by 8.6 percent in February 2018 compared to the preceding year, however the Islamic Republic, maintained its position as the second gas exporter to the neighbouring country.

Turkeys gas import from Iran amounted to 685.5 million cubic meters (mcm) in February 2018, compared to 749.6 mcm in the same month of 2017.

Natural gas imports from Iran accounted for 12.7 percent of the countrys total gas imports in the one-month period, according to the latest report released by Turkeys Energy Market Regulatory Body.

The Islamic Republic was Turkeys second gas supplier in the period, after Russia.

Gas import sources February 2018 (mcm) Share (%) Y/Y change (%) Russia 2,.522.29 46.68 0.88 Iran 685.54 12.69 -8.55 Azerbaijan 536.61 9.93 6.02 Algeria 409.92 7.59 -19.36 Nigeria 408.62 7.56 4.48 Qatar 391.01 7.24 100 US 191.06 3.54 85.06 Trinidad and Tobago 165.35 3.06 103.9 Spain 93.16 1.72 100 Total 5,403.56 100 2.87

Irans share from the countrys gas market was 14.3 percent in February 2017. The Islamic Republic supplied 13.5 percent of Turkeys gas demand in January 2018.

In January-February 2018 Iran exported 1,521.83 mcm of natural gas to Turkey, 1.3 percent less year-on-year (1,539.19 mcm in January-February 2017). 

Turkeys gas import from Iran in 2017 stood at 9.2 billion cubic meters (bcm).

Irans overall gas exports to Turkey accounted to 7.8 and 7.7 bcm in 2015 and 2016, respectively.

Turkeys total natural gas import stood at 5.4 bcm in February 2018, registering a rise by 2.9 percent year-on-year.

Turkey also exported 31.8 million cubic meters of gas to Greece in February 2018, indicating a fall by 7 percent year-on-year.

Follow the author on Twitter: @UmidNiayeshTehran, Iran, April 28

By Kamyar Eghbalnejad  Trend:

The Sixth Iran-Europe Banking and Business Forum started in Tehran on April 28, Trend correspondent reported from the event.

The event, previously held both in Tehran and Frankfurt, will focus on Irans business and banking in post-sanctions era following the implementation of JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action aka nuclear deal).

According to Ali Divandari, the head of Irans Monetary and Banking Research Institute (MBRI) and the events secretary, this years forum is focused on several subjects including the countrys banking relations two years after the implementation of the nuclear deal, the perspective of Iran and Europes banking ties in the future, a comprehensive framework of risk management, resolving banking issues and exploring ways of due payment and finally introducing investment opportunities in Irans oil, gas and petrochemical industries.

The European Union and modern compliance management, non-performing loans, auditing standards such as the International Financial Reporting Standards are also among the topics will be discussed in the forum.

Representatives from politics, science, banking and finance industry including Irans Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Irans Central Bank Governor Valiollah Seif, Annemarie van der Heijden, member of the Iran Task Force, European External Action Service of the European Union, Ulrich von Zanthier he Head of KPMG financial services will participate in the forum.

The forum will be ended April 29.Baku, Azerbaijan, April 28

By Umid Niayesh  Trend:

The Iranian banking system paid some 6,139 trillion rials (some $146 billion based on official exchange rate of $1 to 42,000 rials) in loans during the last fiscal year (ended March 20).

The figure indicates a rise by 12 percent compared to the preceding year, the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) said.

Over 945 trillion rials were paid in loans to various sectors in the 12th Iranian calendar month of Esfand (Feb. 20-March 20).

A huge share of the paid loans was for supply of the working capital of various sectors. The working capital shared 62 percent or 3,789 trillion rials of the paid loans in the 12-month period. Loans allocated for working capital registered a rise by 8 percent compared to the preceding fiscal year.

The industry and mining sector received a lion's share of paid loans for supplying the working capital. Over 38 percent of the loans in this field was allocated to the industry and mining sector (1,456.8 trillion rials).

Only 10 percent of the loans by banks were allocated to establish new units (609.5 trillion rials), while 5 percent of the assets were for development, and 3 percent were for repairs.

The highest value of the paid loans went to service sector (41 percent), followed by industry and mining sector (28 percent), commerce (14 percent), housing (8 percent) and agriculture (8 percent).

The countrys banks paid 2,528 trillion rials to the service sector during the 12-month period.

Over 1,742 trillion rials of loans were paid to industry and mining sector, 852 trillion rials - to commerce sector, 517 trillion rials - to housing sector, and 493 trillion rials - to agriculture sector.

Irans banking system paid 5,483.7 trillion rials in loans to various sectors during the fiscal year to March 2017, 31.4 percent more than in the preceding year.

Details of the paid loans to various sectors (figures are in billion rials)

Agriculture Industry & mining Housing Commerce Service Others Total Establishing new units 81,082 128,880 86,592 51,610 260,032 1,272 609,469 Supplying the working capital 338,868 1,456,757 102,800 584,722 1,302,225 3,405 3,788,778 Repair 1,003 10, 467 63,776 4,512 110,743 9 190 510 Development 29,774 69,155 16,857 27,040 157,631 507 300, 963 Buying goods 13,978 21,535 11,779 51,261 328,554 257 427,365 Buying houses 1,510 5,785 218,214 31,629 33,121 126 290,384 Others 26,692 49,595 17,422 100,947 336,000 993 531,649 Total 492,906 1,742,174 517,440 851,722 2,528,306 6,569 6,139,117

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @UmidNiayeshBaku, Azerbaijan, April 28

Trend:

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif departed for Moscow, Russia, April 28, Irans state-run IRINN TV reported.

Zarif is scheduled to participate in a trilateral meeting with his Russian and Turkish counterparts to discuss the latest developments in Syria.

The previous negotiations between the top diplomats of the three countries acting as guarantors of the Syrian ceasefire were held in Astana on March 16.

The talks in Astana have been going on in tandem with another series of talks held in Geneva and brokered by the UN. Previous rounds of negotiations under the auspices of the UN over the past five years have failed to achieve tangible results.

Earlier Zarif said that Iran, Russia and Turkey are working to further expand the four de-escalation zones created in Syria as part of the ongoing peace process.Baku, Azerbaijan, April 28

Trend:

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov met on April 28 in Moscow on the sidelines of the trilateral meeting of Russian, Iranian and Turkish foreign ministers on Syria.

During the meeting, Zarif hailed the cooperation between Iran and Russia in fight against terrorism in the region, the Iranian state-run IRINN TV reported.

Zarif also referred to the sides' cooperation in the Caspian Sea, saying the cooperation is this regard is very important for Iran, in order to make sure that the Caspian will remain the sea of peace and friendship among the neighboring countries.

The top Iranian diplomat further praised Russia for its support for Iran on international area, in particular, in implementation of the nuclear deal reached between Tehran and the six world powers in 2015.

Given the improper predictions made by some parties to JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action aka nuclear deal), our consultations and talks in this regard will be very important and fruitful, Zarif said.

He also noted that Iran seeks to boost bilateral economic ties with Russia.

Iranian Foreign Minister also held talks with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in Moscow today.

Mutual ties, in particular the banking relations, as well as cooperation in various regional and international issues and the latest developments in Syria were discussed during the meeting.

The previous negotiations between the top diplomats of the three countries acting as guarantors of the Syrian ceasefire were held in Astana on March 16.

The talks in Astana have been going on in tandem with another series of talks held in Geneva, brokered by the UN. Previous rounds of negotiations under the auspices of the UN over the past five years have failed to achieve tangible results.

Earlier Zarif said that Iran, Russia and Turkey are working to further expand the four de-escalation zones created in Syria as part of the ongoing peace process.Georgias mountain resorts are becoming popular tourist spots, hosting 514,874 visitors during the winter season in 2017-2018, which is a 25 percent year-on-year (y/y) increase, Agenda reports.

Statistics show that Georgias relatively new resorts have attracted more visitors this winter season of which Goderdzi on the slopes of the mountainous Adjara region is the most popular one.

Here is how the number of visitors increased in each winter resort of Georgia:

Goderdzi - 129 percent

Tetnuldi - 122 percent

Tatsvali - 119 percent

Gudauri - 25 percent

Bakuriani - 15 percent

The number of tourists in Georgias mountain resorts of Gudauri, Bakuriani, Goderdzi and Svaneti has increased by 491 percent since 2012, announced Mountain Resorts of Georgia.

"The data became available by installing contactless check points by the Austrian company SKIDATA, which allows us to accurately calculate the number of visitors. This system operates at all four of Georgias ski resorts, Georgias Ministry of Economy reported.US Charge d'Affaires to Libya, Stephanie Williams, and Libyan Foreign Ministry's Under Secretary of Political Affairs, Lutfi Almughrabi, on Friday signed documents on security cooperation, according to the Libyan Foreign Ministry, Xinhua reports.

The ministry said the documents include a memorandum of intent for airport security and a letter of agreement to support Libyan policing, corrections and justice sector development.

The two sides also vowed to enhance bilateral cooperation in various areas.

They stressed importance of the efforts of the UN envoy to Libya, Ghassan Salame, to push forward the Libyan political process and achieve stability.Iraqi authorities say they have arrested a top ISIS leader in the left bank of Mosul, Baghdad Post reports.

The detained ISIS leader, identified as Ebrahim Mesha'al Marei, was arrested based on accurate intelligence information.

He was handed over to authorities concerned for further legal measures, the sources who requested anonymity noted.Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will take an hour-long boat ride with his host Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday, the final day of an ice-breaking trip both are hoping will lead to better ties after a year of strains, Reuters reported.

Modi is spending only about 24 hours in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, just months after a dispute over a stretch of their high-altitude Himalayan border rekindled fears of war between the Asian nations.

Billed by both sides as an informal meeting rather than a summit, with none of the pomp and ceremony of a state visit such as 21-gun salutes, the two men held talks on Friday that lasted far longer than expected.

Modi will take a walk around a guesthouse with Xi on Saturday, then an hour-long boat trip on a lake followed by lunch, before the meeting ends, according to the Indian Foreign Ministry.

Both countries are expected to brief reporters at the end.

Chinese state media has praised the tone of the trip so far.

The overseas edition of the ruling Communist Partys official Peoples Daily said in a front page commentary on Saturday two great countries ought to have great cooperation, and showed a large picture of the two leaders shaking hands.

There is reason to believe that this Wuhan meeting will increase mutual trust, manage and control disputes, deepen cooperation and lead to a new phase in China-India relations, it said.

It is quite clear that strategic agreement between the two countries far exceeds the specific differences, and the need for cooperation far exceeds local friction, it said.

Despite the rhetoric, which on Friday included Modi inviting Xi to India for a similar informal summit next year, the nations differences are significant.

As well as disputes over stretches of a 3,500 km (2,200 miles) border, they are bumping up against each other in the Indian Ocean and squabbling over Xis signature Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.

India signaled as recently as Tuesday its opposition to the grand trade and transport plan because one of its branches runs through Pakistani-administered Kashmir, which India claims.

India has long been suspicious of Chinas traditionally close ties with Pakistan.

For its part, China has been concerned about U.S. efforts to draw India into a maritime quad of democracies, including Japan and Australia.

China is also suspicious of Indias hosting of the Dalai Lama and other exiled Tibetans.Mexico, Canada and the United States have agreed to extend negotiations on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and resume talks on May 7 "to speed up the process," Mexico's Economy Ministry said on Friday, according Xinhua.

Negotiating teams from the three countries held a series of technical meetings in Washington on April 4-27 that culminated with the agreement, the ministry said in a statement.

"Over a period of more than three weeks, the teams deepened the technical work on all of the topics of the negotiation," said the ministry.

The chief negotiators, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, and Mexico's Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo, "held various weekly meetings in Washington to follow up on the progress of the talks," the ministry said.

After U.S. President Donald Trump insisted NAFTA be renegotiated in a bid to secure better terms for his country, Mexico and Canada agreed to talks to modernize the 1994 trade deal.

Talks began in August 2017 and following seven rounds, the three sides have reached agreements on six of approximately 30 chapters.

Certain issues have proven more intractable than others, including rules of origin that limit the number of foreign-made parts that can go into an automobile manufactured in North America if it is to be eligible for preferential NAFTA rates.Australia will send a military patrol aircraft to monitor North Korean vessels suspected of transferring prohibited goods in defiance of United Nations sanctions, Defence Minister Marise Payne said on Saturday, Reuters reported.

The announcement came a day after the leaders of North and South Korea pledged at an historic summit to work for the complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

However, US President Donald Trump, who is also set to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said he would maintain pressure on Pyongyang through sanctions that were imposed in a bid to rein in the Norths missile and nuclear programs.

Australia, a staunch US ally, also promised to keep up economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea.

Australia is to send a P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft to Japan to contribute to the enforcement of United Nations Security Council resolutions in our region, Payne said in a media release.

The deployment supports the international campaign to address North Koreas illicit trade and associated networks, she said.

Senior US officials said in February the Trump administration and key Asian allies were preparing to expand interceptions of ships suspected of violating the sanctions on North Korea. The strategy called for closer tracking of ships suspected of carrying banned weapons components and other prohibited cargo to and from North Korea.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said pressure had to be kept on North Korea to ensure the Korean peninsula was denuclearized.

Japanese media outlet NHK initially reported unidentified Japanese defense sources as saying Australia and Canada would send patrol aircraft, while Britain would also send a frigate to a US base in southern Japan to monitor North Korean vessels transferring goods at sea.A new outbreak of violence, which reportedly occurred in Mali, has resulted in scores of Tuareg civilians being murdered by suspected jihadists, Sputnik International reports.

According to the Reuters news agency, citing the governor of the Menaka region, suspected jihadists have conducted two attacks on local Tuareg civilians, what resulted in the death of at least 40 of them, including women and children. As the governor specified, the second assault took place in the distant desert villages of Awakassa on Saturday.

Previously, the AFP news agency reported, citing local sources, that over 30 Tuareg civilians were killed on Friday by suspected jihadists in northeastern Mali near the border with Niger.

Tribal leaders and representatives of a former Tuareg rebel group called Movement for the Salvation of Azawad (MSA) said that a similar attack also occurred the day before, when gunmen on motorcycles murdered 12 people outside the town of Anderamboukane.

"There have been 43 deaths in two days, all civilians, from the same community," tribal leader Sidigui Ag Hamadi from the regional capital of Menaka said.

"Our fighters are destroying their bases and wiping them out. They are targeting innocent civilians," he added, claiming that jihadists carried out the killings in retaliation for attacks conducted by armed Tuareg groups.

Menaka governor Daouda Maiga awaits the arrival of official observers on the scene before announcing the final death toll.Russian, Iranian and Turkish foreign ministers, Sergey Lavrov, Mohammad Javad Zarif and Mevlut Cavusoglu, will hold an extraordinary meeting in Moscow on Saturday, TASS reports.

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the sides would consider the developments in Syria and discuss possible new joint moves that would help advance intra-Syrian contacts in the framework of UN Security Councils Resolution 2254 and taking into account the decisions of the Syrian National Dialogue Congress in Sochi.

The ministers are expected to synchronize watches ahead of another round of talks on Syria in Kazakhstans capital of Astana due in mid-May. On Friday, Russian presidents special envoy for the Middle East and African countries and Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said the sides would adopt a document outlining the three countries position on continuing joint coordinated efforts in the Astana format.

The talks in Moscow will become the first meeting between the Russian, Iranian and Turkish foreign ministers after the April 14 missile strikes on Syria carried out by the United States, the United Kingdom and France.

Vitaly Naumkin, Academic Director at the Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of Oriental Studies, told TASS one of the goals of the Western aggression was to drive a wedge between the Astana process guarantors - Russia, Turkey and Iran. While Moscow and Tehran condemned the aggression against Syria, Ankara welcomed the strikes calling them "a positive step," he noted.

Special focus will be on the humanitarian situation in Syria, including within the context of implementing the provisions of UN Security Councils Resolution 2401 (on establishing a ceasefire to render assistance - TASS), Zakharova said. "We are confident that a more active role of humanitarian agencies could facilitate its implementation, but rendering assistance to the Syrian people must not be pegged to the achievement of certain political goals," the diplomat added.Russian Defense Minister Army General Sergei Shoigu has held a telephone conversation with his French counterpart Florence Parly, discussing regional and global security issues, a source in the Russian Defense Ministry told reporters on Saturday, TASS reports.

"On April 27, 2018, Russian Defense Minister Army General Sergei Shoigu held a telephone conversation with French Defense Minister Florence Parly. There was a discussion of pressing regional and global security issues," the source said.

The Russian Foreign Ministry added that the telephone call had been initiated by France.Negative mythmaking concerning Moscow is one of the major issues in relations between Russia and the West, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said in an exclusive interview with TASS.

"The way the West sees Moscow has nothing to do with Russias actual intentions, development goals and view on the European security architecture, and it is the main issue in relations," he stressed.

According to Grushko, the situation is dangerous particularly because the Western countries policies and military planning are based on their non-realistic views.

"This is why there is the need to boost dialogue and dispel this kind of myths about Russia," the senior diplomat pointed out.The rapid development of comprehensive cooperation between Moscow and Turkey shows that Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan place much importance on bilateral relations, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a meeting with Turkish top diplomat Mevlut Cavusoglu on Saturday, TASS reports.

"We maintain a rather intensive political dialogue. The presidents are in permanent contact with each other, relations between ministries responsible for trade, economy and transport have also been actively evolving. Humanitarian ties are expanding. The rapid development of our cooperation proves that Presidents Putin and Erdogan place much importance on Russian-Turkish interaction," Lavrov said.

He pointed out that his meeting with the Turkish foreign minister provided "a good opportunity to assess our ties in all these areas and exchange views on pressing global issues," including the Syrian conflict.The Iran deal should remain inviolable as the basis for further contacts on the Iranian nuclear program, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Saturday, TASS reports.

The Russian presidential spokesman thus commented on a statement by German Chancellor Angela Merkel that the Iran nuclear deal was only the first step and more had to be achieved.

"We know the position of European colleagues to the effect that the deal must be preserved. Whether this is a sufficient or an insufficient step is another question but this is the sole substantive consensus, which was achieved by all the parties concerned as a result of very tense work. That is why, any continuation and improvement of the situation with regard to further settlement can be carried out only on the basis of something substantive and this is exactly the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action]," Peskov said.

"What is the main thing is the inviolability of this deal; otherwise, there will be no platform for continuing contacts and for continuing the dialog," the Kremlin spokesman said.

In July 2015, Iran, five UN Security Council permanent members (Russia, Great Britain, China, the US and France) and Germany reached a deal on settling Tehrans nuclear problem. The JCPOA, which they drew up, stipulates lifting UN, US and EU sanctions imposed on Iran over its nuclear program. In January 2016, it was announced that the parties concerned had started implementing the Iran nuclear deal, following which Washington lifted its restrictions.

US President Donald Trump has said on many occasions that the Iran deal was a bad deal, claiming that it had failed to prevent the possibility for Tehran to create its nuclear weapons and had only delayed it.

The US president stated on January 12 that the United States would halt its participation in the deal, unless amendments elaborated during negotiations with European countries were made to it.

In late April, a spokesperson for the US administration said that the United States, and also France, Germany and Great Britain had achieved progress at negotiations on the Iran nuclear program but no final solution had yet been found.Baku, Azerbaijan, April 28

By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:

Around 41 members of the terrorist organization "Islamic State" (IS) were detained in a special operation held in Istanbul, Turkish media reported April 28.

Reportedly, the majority of detainees are foreign nationals, including women.

Details of the operation haven't been disclosed.

The day before, as a result of the special operation carried out by the Turkish intelligence service (MIT), three members of IS were detained.

On April 13, Syrian citizen Riyadh Haji Osman - one of the executioners (IS) was detained in a special operation in the Turkish province of Adana.

On January 24 this year, the so-called "Minister of health" of IS Kefah Basher Hussain was detained in the province of Sanliurfa in the southeast of Turkey.

On January 12 this year, Turkish police detained the so-called "Minister of agriculture" of IS Tarik Ahmed.

In December 2017, one of the famous executioners of IS, 28-year-old terrorist nicknamed Mahmud was detained in the Turkish province of Hatay on the border with Syria.

Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizogluBaku, Azerbaijan, April 28

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

Former President of Turkey Abdullah Gul stated that he will not nominate his candidacy in the presidential election, Turkish media reported April 28.

"I have always said that after leaving the post of the President of Turkey, I will leave the big politics," Gul said.

Earlier media reported that opposition of Turkey will nominate the candidacy of ex-President Abdullah Gul for the post of President of the country.

Eleven political parties will participate in the early parliamentary and presidential election, to be held in Turkey on June 24.

In the parliamentary election held in Turkey on November 1, 2015, the Justice and Development Party won 49.41 percent of the votes, the People's Republican Party (CHP) - 25.38 percent of the votes, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) - 11.93 percent, the Democratic Party of Peoples (HDP) - 10.7 percent of the votes.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizogluSingapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Saturday a mounting trade spat between the United States and China was one of the most pressing concerns for Southeast Asian nations, Reuters reports.

Lee flagged his concerns in remarks made as he opened a summit of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), for many of which the United States and China are the top two trading partners.

In particular, the recent trade tensions between the U.S. and China are worrying concerns, Lee said as ASEAN members gather for the organisations 32nd summit.

The U.S. Trump administration has threatened to impose tariffs on up to $150 billion of Chinese imports, and Beijing has vowed retaliation against American exports.

On Saturday Lee said the open and rules-based multilateral trading system, which has backed the growth of ASEAN member states, has come under pressure as the political mood in many countries has shifted against free trade.

Also on the agenda at the summit were the humanitarian crisis in Myanmar, and security tensions in the disputed South China Sea, but it was unclear how much substantive progress could be accomplished.

The situation in Myanmars western state of Rakhine, where hundreds of thousands of minority Rohingya Muslims have fled for neighboring Bangladesh after a military crackdown, is one of the biggest challenges facing the group.

ASEAN, formed more than half a century ago, has struggled with challenges facing the region because it works by consensus and is reluctant to get involved in matters considered internal to its members.

Singapore is this years chair of the bloc, which includes Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam.

Lee said ASEAN members individually will find it difficult to make an impact on regional and global challenges, and called on its leaders to boost integration and cooperation to make a mark and to be effective.

The group is working on initiatives to jointly tackle the threat of extremism and cyber attacks, as well as to promote trade and cross-border e-payment systems.

ASEAN is also working to devise a model extradition treaty and negotiating a code of conduct with China to ease tensions in the disputed South China Sea, one of the worlds most volatile hotspots and one of its busiest waterways.German Chancellor Angela Merkel and U.S. President Donald Trump aired differences over trade and NATO at a White House meeting where they tried to put on a show of warmth and friendship despite tensions between the two allies, Reuters reports.

With Trump poised to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum soon that will impact European exports, Merkel said the decision is now in Trumps hands on whether to grant exemptions to European Union nations.

We had an exchange of views. The decision lies with the president, Merkel told a joint press conference after Trump complained about the U.S.-European trade imbalance, particularly in regards to automobiles.

Merkels quick trip came the same week as a three-day state visit by French President Emmanuel Macron, who, like Merkel, pressed Trump on trade and urged him to keep the United States in a multi-national nuclear deal with Iran. Neither leader appeared to make significant progress convincing Trump on either issue.

Merkel said she could see negotiating a bilateral trade deal between the EU and the United States, saying the World Trade Organization has been unable to deliver multilateral agreements.

Trump said he wanted a reciprocal trade relationship with Germany and other European nations and wanted Germany and other NATO allies to pay more for their common defense, an issue he has raised repeatedly.

We need a reciprocal relationship, which we dont have... Were working on it and we want to make it more fair and the chancellor wants to make it more fair, Trump said.

After their last White House meeting drew attention when the two leaders did not shake hands in the Oval Office, Trump made a point of doing just that, twice, while congratulating the German chancellor on her recent election win. They exchanged kisses on the cheek when she first arrived at the White House.

We have a really great relationship, and we actually have had a great relationship right from the beginning, but some people didnt understand that, Trump said in the Oval Office, calling Merkel a very extraordinary woman.The European Union warned about the costs of a trans-Atlantic trade war while bracing for one to erupt after the U.S. signaled it will reject the blocs demand for an unconditional waiver from metals-import tariffs, Bloomberg reports.

A trade war is a losing game for everybody, Belgian Finance Minister Johan Van Overtveldt told reporters in Sofia. We should stay cool when were thinking about reactions but the basic point is that nobody wins in a trade war so we try to avoid it at all costs.

Donald Trumps administration is asking Europe, Canada and other allies to accept quotas in exchange for an exemption from steel and aluminum tariffs that kick in May 1, when a temporary waiver expires. We are asking of everyone: quotas if not tariffs, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Friday.

This puts the EU in the difficult position of either succumbing to U.S. demands that could breach international commerce rules or face punitive tariffs. Forcing governments to limit shipments of goods violates World Trade Organization rules, which prohibit so-called voluntary export restraints. The demand is also contrary to the entire trade philosophy of the 28-nation bloc, which is founded on the principle of the free movement of goods.

The White House last month temporarily shielded some trading partners including the EU from the duties, at 25 percent for imported steel and 10 percent for aluminum on the grounds of protecting national security. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer is negotiating with countries seeking permanent exemptions. So far, South Korea is the only nation to be spared from the duties, after reaching a deal to revise its bilateral free-trade agreement with the U.S.The United States is urging its European allies and others to impose sanctions on Iran to curb its missile program, calling it an international threat to peace and security, Reuters reports.

We are urging nations around the world to sanction any individuals and entities associated with Irans missile program, and it has also been a big part of discussions with Europeans, Brian Hook, senior policy advisor to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, told reporters in Riyadh.

Hook, who is negotiating changes to the Iran nuclear deal with European allies, said Irans missile program would be a major topic in talks on Sunday between Pompeo and leaders from Saudi Arabia and Israel.Bill Gates announced Friday that he will donate $12 million to fund research for a universal flu vaccine, The Hill reports.

Gates announced the creation of a research fund while speaking at the Massachusetts Medical Society's annual meeting.

Today we are launching a $12 million Grand Challenge in partnership with the Page family to accelerate the development of a universal flu vaccine, he said in his remarks. The goal is to encourage bold thinking by the worlds best scientists across disciplines, including those new to the field.

He warned in his speech of an impending pandemic, saying that the world has not made much progress in preparation, particularly in impoverished countries.KYODO NEWS - Apr 28, 2018 - 21:59 | World, All

The leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on Saturday hailed the outcome of the inter-Korean summit, which was one of the main topics at their annual conference, held this year in Singapore.

According to an ASEAN diplomat, the leaders praised the efforts by South Korea "and all concerned parties to reduce tensions and work towards a peaceful resolution of the situation on the Korean Peninsula."

The plight of the Muslim Rohingya refugees from Myanmar's Rakhine state, terrorism and violent extremism, cybersecurity, and the territorial disputes in the South China Sea between four ASEAN countries, China and Taiwan also topped the agenda at the leaders' retreat during the 32nd ASEAN Summit.

ASEAN is composed of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

In the chairman's statement, the leaders "welcomed the Inter-Korean Summit" that resulted in an agreement to pursue peace and denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, as well as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's visit to China, and the planned meeting of U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim in the near future.

"We also noted (North Korea's) reported commitment to denuclearization and its pledge to refrain from further nuclear and missile tests during this period," it added.

On the territorial disputes in the South China Sea, the leaders "reaffirmed the importance of maintaining and promoting peace, security, stability, safety and freedom of navigation in and overflight above the South China Sea."

The leaders welcomed the commencement of "substantive negotiations" between China and ASEAN "towards the early conclusion of an effective Code of Conduct in the South China Sea on a mutually-agreed timeline."

In their discussions, some leaders expressed concern about "the land reclamations and activities in the area," and they all "emphasized the importance of non-militarization and self-restraint in the conduct of all activities by claimants and all other states," the statement said.

China, which claims almost the entire South China Sea and defies a 2016 arbitration award over the disputes in favor of the Philippines, has conducted reclamation work at seven spots, including some ruled to be within Philippine territory, and fortified them with military features.

Aside from the Philippines, ASEAN members Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam have competing claims with China and Taiwan in the international sea lane that is rich in marine resources and potentially oil and natural gas, too.

Regarding the "humanitarian situation" in Myanmar's Rakhine State, the leaders expressed support for the country's relief program, and urged Myanmar "to implement the recommendations of the final report of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State."

Myanmar President Win Myint attended the summit.

Close to 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled the Rakhine State starting last August to escape a harsh government crackdown in reprisal for attacks by an armed Rohingya faction on government security posts.

At a working dinner on Friday evening, leaders of nine member states and Malaysia's representative, former deputy Prime Minister Tun Musa Hitam, adopted a Vision for a Resilient and Innovative ASEAN, the framework for the group's goals this year under Singapore's chairmanship.

These include completing a Model ASEAN Extradition Treaty, working actively toward the conclusion of an effective code of conduct in the South China Sea, and developing a plan to counter radicalization and violent extremism.

The leaders also adopted a statement on cybersecurity cooperation, and agreed to launch the ASEAN Smart Cities Network proposed by Singapore.

At the summit's opening ceremony, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said having marked its 50th anniversary last year, ASEAN needed "to adjust to a rapidly changing geopolitical landscape."

Lee said "the global strategic balance is shifting, and so is the regional balance," citing China and India's growing strength and influence. He said that presented new opportunities for ASEAN member states "as we expand our cooperation with them."

"At the same time, the open, rules-based multilateral trading system which has underpinned the growth of ASEAN is under pressure. The political mood in many countries has shifted against free trade," the Singaporean leader said.

"In particular, the recent trade tensions between the United States and China are worrying concerns."As many as 13,878 people were cured of the infection, taking the total recoveries to 45,88,084.Hawaii's volcanos stand as silent sentinels. They guard the secret of how they formed, thousands of miles away from where the edges of tectonic plates clash and generate magma for most volcanos. A 2017 Nature study by Jones et al. found the best clues yet of the origin of Hawaii's volcanos through simulation of a shift in the Pacific plate three million years ago. What remains elusive is conclusive evidence that mantle plumes exist.

The plumes are hypothesized, mushroom-shaped upwellings of hot rock from the deep Earth. They are hypothesized to form within the thermal boundary layer at the base of the mantle and are thought to carry heat from the Earth's core that generates a volcano's magma. Scientists have now made the best computational modeling yet of mantle plumes, according to a study made available online in January of 2018 ahead of its peer-review and publication November of 2017 in the American Geophysical Union's Journal of Geophysical Research, Solid Earth.

The international science team showed through supercomputer simulations, for the first time, details of how plumes decelerate seismic waves and how plumes appear in seismic tomographic images of the Earth's mantle, the layer beneath the crust. What's more, the researchers say their work could help guide future experiments on the ocean floor with deep Earth imaging and help get to the bottom of mysteries like the origin of Hawaii's volcanos.

"We found that mantle plumes are likely to be more challenging to seismically image than we previously recognized," said study lead author Ross Maguire, formerly a PhD student who has recently graduated from the department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Michigan. "Our current picture of deep mantle plumes might be lacking," Maguire said, pointing to a lack of seismic data coverage.

Seismic imaging can see rock structures thousands of kilometers below ground by listening to the echos of earthquakes. Networks of seismic stations sit on the ocean floor and measure differences in the travel time of seismic waves through rock, in essence taking a CT scan of the deep Earth.

"In order to constrain the role of mantle plumes in Earth dynamics as well as to understand the causes of hot spot volcanism, we need to focus on increasing the global coverage of seismic sensors, particularly in the oceans, which currently only have sparse coverage," Maguire said. Oceanic deployments of seismic sensors are costly and tough to plan and execute, he added.

"In our study, we used computer modeling to find optimal imaging scenarios, so that we can recover the most detail of mantle plumes at the lowest cost," Maguire said. "We hope that our results will help guide the design of future seismic deployments aimed at imaging the mantle beneath hotspots."

"The thing that is probably new in this work is that we combine, maybe for the first time, actual numerical models of how plumes form and how they rise in the Earth with estimates of their seismic structure " said study co-author Jeroen Ritsema, a professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Michigan.

"Secondly," he added, "we've also explored how various network configurations might change the way that we are imaging plumes. We've done extensive tests to figure out the optimal configurations of seismometers on Earth to see plumes. This is particularly important for Hawaii," Ritsema said. "Hawaii is a place where we believe there is a plume responsible for volcanism on the Hawaiian islands. We've determined what might be optimal offshore deployments on the seafloor that could lead to best images of the deep mantle beneath Hawaii."

"It is a big computational challenge to simulate wave propagation through mantle plumes," Maguire said. They needed numerical codes that solve the elastic wave equation in Earth's mantle at high frequencies and in three dimensions. "What that does is it allows us to accurately account for the effects of wave propagation phenomena such as wave diffraction around plume tails, which is very important for imaging plumes," Maguire said.

XSEDE, the eXtreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment, funded by the National Science Foundation, provided computational resources to the science team through access to supercomputers and experts in how to use them best. "We would not be able to do this type of work without supercomputing resources like those that are provided by XSEDE," Maguire said. "They allowed us to run our wave propagation simulations on hundreds or sometimes thousands of computer cores in parallel."

The science team tackled the challenges imposed by their modeling requirements and used a seismology software package called SPECFEM 3D (GLOBE), which is a spectral element code developed by Jeroen Tromp of Princeton and his team that simulates wave propagation in the Earth's interior. They used the Stampede1 supercomputer of the Texas Advanced Computing Center through an XSEDE allocation that ran over 1.2 million core hours on Stampede1 and continues with the Stampede2 system. "We ran that code mostly on Stampede1, and it was actually quite easy to get the code configured on Stampede1, since all the modules and tools we needed to compile it were immediately available," Maguire said.

The workflow management proved daunting, with many simulations that produced hundreds of gigabytes of data. "The XSEDE team was really helpful in answering all my questions about how I can optimize my workflow, for example how I can spend the least amount of time waiting in the queue for my jobs to run; or how I can efficiently transfer large amounts of from Stampede onto my local machine," Maguire said.

The researchers also took advantage of the XSEDE Campus Champions program, campus information technology faculty and staff that are trained by and maintain close ties to XSEDE. "XSEDE Campus Champion Brock Palen of the University of Michigan helped us answer questions about what type of resources are available through XSEDE, and how we can get access to them," Maguire said.

Another useful resource, said Maguire, was access to an allocation on XSEDE Science Gateways through the Computational Infrastructure for Geodynamics with the help of Lorraine Wang. "Science Gateways enabled us to test our code and really figure out how computationally demanding our project would be," Maguire said.

The researchers used a computationally demanding technique called synthetic tomography, which Maguire explained was essentially a reliability test of how well scientists can trust the accuracy of images of the Earth's interior. "What we do is we simulate seismic wave propagation through a digital Earth model, which in our case contains a mantle plume," Maguire said. They do that with virtual seismograms, which are processed like actual seismic data to get an image of recovered plume structure. "It really allows us to test how a mantle plume would be imaged tomographically and how its features would either be blurred or distorted, depending on the imaging configuration," Maguire said.

"Our study focuses primarily on lower mantle plume tails because it's really one of the only ways forward in terms of settling the debate on the existence of mantle plumes," Maguire said. This relates to hotspot volcanism, caused by an anomalously hot mantle away from plate boundaries. Mantle plumes that rise from the core boundary interest geoscientists because they play a role in Earth's total heat budget by moving heat from the core to the surface.

"Whole mantle plumes, meaning plumes that rise from the core-mantle boundary, are also the most challenging to image seismically because our resolution is very poor in the deep mantle and deep plume conduits are likely to be thin," Maguire said.

Supercomputers might finally be starting to catch up with long-standing scientific questions and help provoke new questions. "I think that the challenge remains in understanding exactly what we are looking for," said Ritsema. "In Maguire's work, we have defined a mantle plume as a purely thermal upwelling in the deep Earth. In this particular case, the plume is a fairly narrow structure -- it has a fairly narrow tail, with its complications in imaging. But there has been other work by other groups who have in fact argued that plumes might be much thicker than what we have investigated in our work. The very nature of plumes, whether plumes are purely thermal or temperature-driven, or whether there is also a compositional component to their formation, are issues that are now being addressed in geophysics," Ritsema said.

The computational demands of simulations in this study of wave propagation limited the number of plume structures, which can be more varied in shape, size, composition, and temperature than the solely thermal plume cases they considered.

"Our study is also the first to model wave propagation through plumes at frequencies as high as one-tenth of a hertz," Maguire said. "But we'd like to be able to push that even further to go to higher frequencies. And that means that it's going to be even more of a computational challenge. As the numerical tools that we use become more efficient, and as more high-performance computing clusters become available, that's something that we might be able to achieve in the future."

Said Maguire: "Understanding Earth dynamics is of fundamental importance, because we all live here and are affected by what goes on beneath our feet. The existence of mantle plumes and the role that they play in our planet is still a big question mark. Additionally, plumes have been linked to some of the biggest volcanic eruptions in the history of the Earth. And they're thought to potentially play a role in the largest mass extinction events that we have on geologic record. There's still a lot that we don't understand about them. Doing research into probing the nature of mantle plumes is of fundamental importance."

###

The study, "Evaluating the Resolution of Deep Mantle Plumes in Teleseismic Traveltime Tomography," was published in January of 2018 in the American Geophysical Union's Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth. The study authors are Ross Maguire and Jeroen Ritsema of the University of Michigan; Mickael Bonnin of the University of Nantes; Peter E. Van Keken of the Carnegie Institution for Science; and Saskia Goes of Imperial College London. The National Science Foundation funded the study.Intelligence Community

Changes coming to clearance process in 30 to 60 days, says ODNI

Bill Evanina speaks at the Aspen Institute on April 18, 2018.

A top national security official said that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence will be putting out changes to the federal governments security clearance procedures in the near future that it hopes will significantly reduce the existing backlog, which has ballooned to 700,000 in recent years.

William Evanina, director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, told attendees at an April 18 event hosted by the Aspen Institute that ODNI hopes to have new guidance out in the next 30 to 60 days that refines the questions background investigators are required to ask about applicants and condenses the front end of the clearance process so that candidates can start work while newer technologies like continuous monitoring conduct more granular analysis.

"We're going to recalculate and review how we look at risk, so when we want to give someone a top-secret clearance, what do we look at and what does trust mean?" said Evanina

"Some of the stuff that we look at now has been in place since [Aldrich] Ames and [Robert] Hanssen and the way our adversaries acted a long time ago," he said, adding that some of those processes no longer hold as much investigative value and are contributing to the backlog. In particular, he cited questions about an applicants debt and foreign travel as examples. According to Evanina, if an applicant has more than $7,000 in bad debt -- such as credit card debt -- a separate, more lengthy investigation is automatically triggered because financial distress is viewed as an indicator that a candidate could be more vulnerable to compromise or selling secrets down the road.

However, among households that have credit debt, the average debt burden is approximately $16,000, according to Experian, NerdWallet and other financial institutions. With such debt a common fact of life for millions of Americans, Evanina wondered how relevant those kinds of questions are today.

If you ask folks who do this for a living, they say, 'Well, weve never really rejected anybodys security clearance because of bad debt,' he said. So why are we spending so much time on it?

Not everyone feels that way. Bradley P. Moss, an attorney who specializes in clearance and whistleblower cases, told FCW that although updates and revisions to the investigative and adjudicative criteria are welcome, its not clear whether Evaninas suggestions would have a meaningful impact in addressing the core underlying problems driving the clearance backlog. He also questioned whether it was possible to disentangle questions about financial distress and foreign travel from the process without affecting national security.

"The adjudicative guidelines are certainly going to continue to retain disqualifying concerns that implicate both financial considerations and foreign influence. The idea that those considerations are going to be eliminated is pure fantasy," said Moss. "So although Mr. Evanina makes vague references to loosening the strictness of the investigative or adjudicative criteria, its not clear how that would truly be applied in practice."

In addition to the changes articulated by Evanina, ODNI must provide a more comprehensive clearance reform plan to Congress at the end of the year.

The federal government is in the midst of overhauling key elements and jurisdictional lines for its security clearance process, passing legislation late last year that will shift responsibility for Department of Defense personnel -- who make up the largest portion of the backlog -- from NBIB to DOD and the Defense Security Services in three years. Congress and members of the contracting community have expressed frustration over the enduring nature of the backlog, and the clearance process was added to the Government Accountability Office list of high risk government programs most in need of reform.

Another potential change coming down the pipeline is condensing the front end of the initial investigative phase to provide a minimum level of acceptable vetting in order to allow a candidate to start work while relying on technologies and processes like continuous monitoring and evaluation and insider threat analysis to do deeper background investigations.

"At the end of the day in my opinion, if you're a 23-year-old woman with a master's degree or a 26-year-old man and youve got that master's and you've worked for a company and you want to apply  that shouldnt take more than 30 to 60 days, in my opinion, to get that in, said Evanina.Cloud

Implementation plans for new cross-border data law remain cloudy

In March, Congress passed the CLOUD Act, a law governing cross-border data sharing procedures, as part of the omnibus spending package. Despite having a substantial impact on how tech companies can legally store and share user communications data with the U.S. and foreign governments, the law was passed without debate.

Privacy advocates Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) raised objections but ultimately didn't attempt to block or stall the spending bill.

A new Congressional Research Services report reveals that critical questions have yet to be answered around which countries will be allowed to enter into agreements with the United States and under what conditions tech companies may rebuff a foreign government's request for data.

The CLOUD Act sped to passage in part because of an ongoing Supreme Court case that threatened to make new law on U.S. government access to data stored by U.S. companies on servers based in foreign jurisdictions. Law enforcement had long complained that existing frameworks for sharing data across borders  in particular Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties  are painfully slow and impractical..

A 2013 review of the MLAT process by the Obama administration pegged the average wait time for a single data request at 10 months, and even critics of the CLOUD Act acknowledge the process is badly in need of reform.

Christopher Painter, former coordinator for cyber issues at the State Department, said that questions remain about potential holes in the CLOUD Act, but he argued in remarks at While speaking at an April 25 Washington D.C. event that the MLAT process was pushing countries like Brazil and India to pass data localization laws requiring companies to store all their data within state borders.

"One of the things that we found, especially when I was at the State Department, is almost every country was frustratedin getting information from providers in the U.S., where just naturally a lot of the information is," said Painter. "[MLATs], being a recovering lawyer, are never quick. You can speed them up in emergencies, but still in the normal cases, its hard."

Another unanswered question around the CLOUD Act is the conditions under which U.S. companies would be able to reject a foreign government's request. Under the law, a foreign countrys request for data is treated as neither a legally binding order nor a courtesy that they may reject at any time. Instead, companies must go to a court and ask for a comity analysis, a legal process that reconciles conflicting laws between the two nations and balances the competing interests at play.

The CRS report acknowledges that it is unclear exactly how this principle would apply to requests under the CLOUD Act.

"Ultimately, the comity analysis under either the CLOUD Act or common law principles is likely to be a highly fact-specific evaluation that depends on the specific circumstances of a demand for data stored overseas," the authors write.

Asaf Lubin, a resident fellow at Yales Information Society Project who focuses on the effects of technology on global espionage and digital privacy, told FCW this vagueness of this legal principle is inherent in the language of the CLOUD Act. Furthermore, he said, similar proposals

are gaining steam in Europe, raising the possibility that the law and its uncertainties could become an international model for cross-border data sharing policy.

"What specific factors should go into comity in the specific context of data transfers was never really discussed or addressed, and so were stuck with the list that the senators put together with very limited guiding rationales being provided," said Lubin.

Finally, the CRS report admits that despite a last-minute tightening of language in the law that stressed the intent to only enter into agreements with countries who have strong democratic and human rights backgrounds, there remains substantial confusion about whether those factors are legally binding and which countries would be considered out of bounds.

This was a big part of Wyden's objection to the measure. "The CLOUD Act will give Trump - or any president- far too much power to approve surveillance agreements with human rights abusing foreign governments without real oversight by Congress," he tweeted on March 12, as the House was considering folding in the measure into the omnibus.

In theory, Congress has the ability to reject agreements with countries that have problematic histories. In practice, Greg Nojeim, senior counsel and director of the Freedom, Security, and Technology Project at the Center for Democracy & Technology, told FCW, if the executive branch decided to enter into an agreement, there arent many mechanisms outside of public outrage to stop it.

"The CLOUD Act gives the Department of Justice a lot of discretion to decide the countries with which the U.S. will enter into bilateral agreements giving those countries the ability to compel U.S. providers to disclose their users' communications," said Nojeim. "The chances that Congress would reverse a poor exercise of that discretion are remote."I'm still waiting for the trees in my yard to sprout leaves, but we've already seen half-a-dozen drugmaker deals worth around $100 billion in total this year. Despite a slew of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) over the past several months, there are still some cash-laden big biotechs and pharmaceutical companies eager to bulk up their development pipelines.

It's never a good idea to buy a stock solely because you hope it will soon be acquired at a premium. That said, many of the attributes that make takeout targets attractive are important features in any M&A climate. A quick look at why these big drugmakers are willing to pay through the nose for their smaller peers could help you spot a winner down the road.

Acquirer Acquiree Transaction Value Takeda (NASDAQOTH: TKPYY) Shire (NASDAQ: SHPG) $64 billion (estimate) Novartis (NYSE: NVS) AveXis (NASDAQ: AVXS) $8.7 billion Sanofi (NYSE: SNY) Bioverativ $11.6 billion Celgene (NASDAQ: CELG) Juno Therapeutics $9.0 billion

Time to leave home?

If Shire accepts Takeda's bid for $64 billion, it will probably be the biggest pharma deal of the year. It also will net Shire's shareholders a 60% premium above the stock's closing price ahead of the negotiations.

Why is the 235-year-old Japanese drugmaker so eager to buy a British company? Takeda wants to be a global biopharma heavyweight player, but the company books more product sales in Japan than in the U.S. Shire is headquartered in Ireland, but it records around two-thirds of its sales in the enormous U.S. market for prescription drugs. Shire's ADHD and hemophilia drugs pushed total U.S. sales to $9.5 billion last year, which nearly is enough to double Takeda's presence in the region.

Combining Takeda's international operations with Shire's also would create the leading life-sciences employer in the state of Massachusetts. That means Takeda could quickly become top dog at the world's most productive hub for biotechnology research.

Story continues

Pills in a tiny shopping cart on a pile of cash.

Image source: Getty Images.

From large to rare

Sanofi's an international pharma giant with a healthy presence in the enormous U.S. market for diabetes treatments. Unfortunately, its long-acting insulin, Lantus, is showing its age. Sales of the 18-year-old drug fell 19%, to $5.6 billion last year. That's around 16% of total revenue, so continued losses will create a stiff headwind to overcome.

Insurers and pharmacy benefits managers are getting better at negotiating drug prices in an increasingly competitive environment for diabetes drugs. Medicines that treat rare diseases generally encounter less pushback, which explains why Sanofi is investing heavily into next-generation hemophilia drugs that coincidentally compete with Shire's portfolio.

In January, the company struck an $11.6 billion deal for Bioverativ, which currently markets two next-generation hemophilia treatments Eloctate and Alprolix. The ink wasn't even dry on the Bioverativ deal before Sanofi agreed to acquire clinical-stage Ablynx for $4.8 billion. The Belgian biotech has several new drug candidates designed to treat rare blood-based disorders and will fold well into the company's new hemophilia unit.

Money falling on a very happy man.

Image source: Getty Images.

Signs of gene-therapy mania?

Last year, Novartis became the first to earn a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for an exciting new type of cancer treatment that involves training patients' own immune cells to attack cancer. Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapies have produced amazing results for certain blood cancer patients who have exhausted other treatment options -- but there are only so many of these patients to go around.

Last year, Novartis earned the first FDA approval for a CAR-T program, but it was quickly joined by another. Novartis' Kymriah and Yescarta from Gilead Sciences both seek out a target called CD-19. Undeterred by the potential crowding, Celgene shelled out $9 billion for Juno Therapeutics earlier this year. Even though Juno's lead candidate aims for the same target as Yescarta and Kymriah, Celgene offered Juno's shareholders roughly double the company's market value a couple of weeks earlier.

Eager to maintain an edge in the gene-therapy space, Novartis made a stunning $8.7 billion offer for AveXis earlier this year. That made the fledgling start-up one of the best performing biotech stocks of the past few years.

AVXS-101 uses a proprietary virus to deliver a functioning copy of a gene implicated in spinal muscular atrophy. Most infants born with the muscle-wasting disease can't breathe unassisted by their first birthday. In an early stage trial, all 15 babies treated with a single dose of AVXS-101 reached 13.6 months of age without needing a ventilator.

At the end of 2016, the FDA approved the first drug aimed at the rare disorder, and it's already generating blockbuster sales. If approved, AVXS-101 will probably gain a leading share of the limited space, but it's hard to see how the company can charge enough for a once-and-done treatment to see a return on its upfront investment. Clearly, Novartis is hoping the same proprietary delivery method can be used to deliver a variety of new treatments that haven't been discovered yet.

Don't follow the herd

When deep-pocketed drugmakers start throwing heaps of cash around in an M&A frenzy like the one we're seeing now, it can feel like you're losing out by staying cautious. While there's a lot to like about rare-disease drugmakers from an investor's standpoint, chasing after the next hot gene-therapy stock could prove disastrous if these companies can't show us proof that once-and-done treatments can actually succeed in a commercial setting.

It's still early, but commercialization efforts so far are not encouraging. During the first three months of 2018, Novartis recorded just $12 million in Kymriah sales. If we don't see big sales figures from once-and-done treatments in the quarters ahead, things could get ugly.

More From The Motley Fool

Cory Renauer owns shares of Celgene and Gilead Sciences. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Celgene and Gilead Sciences. The Motley Fool has the following options: short May 2018 $85 calls on Gilead Sciences. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.The energy industry has been a favorite for many investors for decades, with constant demand for oil, natural gas, and other energy products across the globe helping to give companies incentives to find new resources. The most successful energy investors have been able to anticipate new trends before they happen, including the recent push into shale plays that has brought brand new regions of the U.S. into the forefront of the energy business.

If you want to invest in energy, there are many different ways you can do so. Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) give you quick access to several of the best ways to invest in energy, and the five ETFs below are among the most popular for investors looking to profit from the industry's success.

Energy ETF Assets Under Management Expense Ratio 1-Year Return Energy Select Sector SPDR (NYSEMKT: XLE) $18.5 billion 0.13% 13% Alerian MLP ETF (NYSEMKT: AMLP) $9.37 billion 0.85% (13%) Vanguard Energy (NYSEMKT: VDE) $4.21 billion 0.10% 12% SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production (NYSEMKT: XOP) $2.60 billion 0.35% 12% United States Oil Fund (NYSEMKT: USO) $1.91 billion 0.77% 34%

Data source: Fund providers, ETFdb.com.

Buying the whole industry

For some investors, the ideal energy investment has the broadest possible reach across the sector. For them, the Energy Select SPDR and the Vanguard Energy ETF are natural choices.

The SPDR ETF is the largest energy ETF by far, with more than 30 holdings that include major oil giants, as well as niche players in the exploration, production, transmission, refining, and marketing industry groups within the sector. Some would take exception to the fact that the market-cap-weighted ETF has 40% of its assets in just a pair of stocks: integrated oil majors ExxonMobil and Chevron. Yet you'll also find a wider range of companies within the ETF, giving more complete coverage at a reasonable expense ratio.

Story continues

Four oil pumps in a row on a bright late afternoon.

Image source: Getty Images.

The Vanguard ETF takes a similar approach, but it's somewhat more diversified, with more than 140 different names within the fund. Exxon and Chevron still represent 35% of assets, but as you look down the list, you'll see a greater number of holdings of small independent exploration and production companies, as well as minor players in other niche areas. Rock-bottom expenses are typical for Vanguard, although the shares aren't quite as liquid in trading as its SPDR counterpart.

Looking for smaller niches

To avoid having so much money go into the biggest U.S. energy companies, some ETF investors prefer more focused stocks. The Alerian MLP fund is designed to concentrate solely on master limited partnerships, which tend to have high income because of their structure and focus largely on pipelines and other energy infrastructure plays.

That sector has been weak despite the rise in oil prices over the past year, in part because of some high-profile distribution cuts, as well as some unfavorable outcomes from tax reform. Yet over the long run, most see continued value in building out the nation's energy transmission infrastructure, which could lead to a rebound of the nearly 30 MLPs whose units the Alerian MLP ETF holds.

Elsewhere, the SPDR E&P ETF concentrates on exploration and production companies. The fund uses a modified equal-weight system in allocating assets to its 70 stocks, with no single company currently having more than 2.25% of assets. You'll find Exxon and Chevron within the portfolio, but you also will see a host of smaller E&P players with much stronger growth potential. Returns haven't been much different from broader-based energy ETFs lately, but during boom times, you can expect greater upside from the way this portfolio is structured.

Finally, for those who want to invest directly in energy, the United States Oil Fund offers an ETF vehicle into the crude oil futures market. U.S. Oil holds futures contracts that move up and down with the price of crude. That avoids the operational risks involved with investing in oil-related businesses, but it comes at the cost of a gradual loss of value tied to the oil futures markets' usual relationship of contracts with different expirations.

Which energy ETF is right for you?

If you think prospects for the overall energy industry are good and expect all boats to rise as a result, then a broad-based ETF like the SPDR or Vanguard entries are a good starting point. However, those who want to focus on narrower niches as having greater potential can take their pick from the other ETFs listed here or others that have different focus areas. Either way, with oil on the rise, many see a lot of potential for energy investments in 2018 and beyond.

More From The Motley Fool

Dan Caplinger owns shares of Vanguard Energy ETF. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.FILE PHOTO: A HNA Group logo is seen on the building of HNA Plaza in Beijing, China February 9, 2018. REUTERS/Jason Lee/File Photo

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Electronics distributor Ingram Micro Inc, owned by Chinese conglomerate HNA Group, plans to apply for financing of up to $4 billion (2.90 billion pounds) from financial institutions in 2018, according to a regulatory filing from its owner.

HNA Technology Co Ltd , a unit of HNA that owns Ingram Micro, said in a filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange late on Friday regarding its 2018 financing plans that Ingram Micro and subsidiaries plan to apply for the equivalent of that amount, while its other subsidiary GCL Investment Holdings plans to apply for up to $2 billion.

HNA, a transportation and hospitality group headquartered in Hainan, had been on an international buying spree before it ran into financial difficulties in recent months. It bought Ingram Micro for $6 billion last year.

HNA Technology itself plans to apply for no more than 8 billion yuan ($1.26 billion) of funding, according to the same filing, which did not disclose the planned use of the funds. It also said the company may adjust the financing plans of its units internally as needed.

Separately, HNA Infrastructure Investment Group Co Ltd , a property development arm of HNA, said in filings late on Friday that it is planning credit financing of 55 billion yuan in 2018.

Its 2017 net profit doubled to 1.99 billion yuan from a year ago, and net profit in the first quarter of this year jumped 2371.5 percent to 577.9 million yuan.

HNA Technology, formerly known as Tianjin Tianhai Investment Co., late on Friday reported that net loss in the first quarter widened to 51.5 million yuan from 15.8 million yuan ago, while full-year profit in 2017 grew 155 percent.

(Reporting by Sijia Jiang and Hong Kong Newsroom; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)Legendary investor Warren Buffett, the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A, BRK-B), doesnt want to be remembered for his investing acumen and massive fortune when he dies.

Instead, the 87-year-old multibillionaire would rather be remembered as a teacher.

That would be very flattering, I would feel, if that was on my tombstone, Buffett told Yahoo Finances Andy Serwer.

Throughout his life, hes personally benefitted from teachers, many of whom he encountered outside of the classroom.

I think teaching is an important activity, he said. And I enjoy it myself too.

Earlier this year, Buffett hosted 220 students from 11 universities, including Stanford, UCLA, and Peking University in China.

[They] can ask me anything they want. We dont just talk about investments and all, we talk about life. And, I enjoy it and the students seem to enjoy it. So, thats what I like to do.

Students cheer the arrival of Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett during the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting weekend in Omaha, Nebraska, U.S. May 7, 2017. REUTERS/Rick Wilking

Buffett added that theres nothing thats really complicated about his investment style. He has long argued that investors  both small and large  would be better off putting money in low-cost index funds like Vanguard S&P index fund.

Ive just been at it a long time, he said of his investing. I mean, just look at it, if Id put that $114 in the S&P, Id have $400,000 now.

At age 11, during the first quarter of 1942, Buffett purchased three shares of Cities Service with $114. The stock fell from $38.25 to $27. When the stock climbed back up to $45 per share Buffett sold his position. Eventually, the stock soared to $202 per share.

Rather, if he had put that $114 into the S&P 500 at that time and reinvested the dividends, he would have made $400,000.

Watch Warren Buffett LIVE at the 2018 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting exclusively on the Yahoo Finance app and desktop. Coverage begins May 5 at 9:45am ET. Set a reminder now!

Berkshire Hathaways annual meeting will be held on May 5.



Julia La Roche is a finance reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter.Anyone that has watched oil prices tick up recently has probably expected oil producers to report some impressive earnings results this past quarter, and Statoil (NYSE: STO) did just that with a 21% boost to the bottom line. At the same time, management is using all of its additional cash to do some wheeling and dealing that should help boost its growth possibilities in the nearer term.

Here's a rundown of Statoil's most recent earnings results and some of the moves management made this past quarter to set up the company for future success.

By the numbers

Metric Q1 2018 Q4 2017 Q1 2017 Revenue $19.9 billion $17.1 billion $15.53 billion Net income $1.29 billion $2.57 billion $1.06 billion EPS $0.39 $0.77 $0.33 Operating cash flow $7.07 billion $1.6 billion $5.71 billion

Data source: Statoil earnings release. EPS= Earnings per share.

It's astounding what $60 a barrel can do for an oil company's results these days. It wasn't that long ago that prices this low would have led to substantial losses. This past quarter, though, Statoil realized an average price of $60 a barrel on every barrel sold, and it generated a mountain of cash. That $7 billion in cash flow for the quarter was enough to cover its capital spending, its dividend payment, a previously announced $1.45 billion acquisition, and still leave an additional $1.5 billion on the balance sheet to reduce its net debt load from 29% to 25%.

As you might expect in a rising oil price environment, Statoil saw a considerable uptick in operating earnings for both its Norway and international exploration segments while its downstream refining and marketing segments saw modestly declining results.

STO adjusted earnings by business segment for Q1 2017, Q4 2017, and Q1 2018. Shows significant uptick in both upstream segments with flat results for marketing & midstream

Data source: Statoil earnings release. Chart by author.

The highlights

Production for the quarter came in at 2.18 million barrels of oil equivalent per day. That's a slight uptick both on a sequential and year-over-year basis. Adjusting for maintenance and other work that shut in production, management estimates that underlying production was up 2%; primarily from higher production in the U.S. This quarter's 799,000 barrels per day from its international segment was a company record.

Management reiterated its guidance for $11 billion in organic capital spending for 2018, with another $1.5 billion dedicated to exploration expenses. This doesn't include acquisitions such as the most recent acquisition of Total 's (NYSE: TOT) interest in the Martin Linge field and the Garantiana discovery in the Norwegian part of the North Sea.

Continuing the trend of being very active in the acquisition and auction markets, the company won a 40% working interest in the North Platte oil discovery on the U.S. side of the Gulf of Mexico as part of the Cobalt International Energy bankruptcy auction. Statoil will partner with Total, which increased its interest in the field to 60% and took the operatorship of the project.

Statoil also was part of various consortiums -- including partners Petrobras , ExxonMobil , and BP -- that won four offshore blocks in the most recent Brazil offshore auction.

As part of its effort to diversify its business, the company also signed an agreement to acquire a 50% stake in two offshore wind projects off the coast of Poland that combined will generate 1,200 MW of electricity.

The board of directors has proposed Statoil change its name to Equinor as part of its strategy to become more than just an oil and gas company. Shareholders will vote on the proposed name change in May.

Offshore oil platform at dusk.

Image source: Getty Images.

Story continues

What management had to say

To cover all of the things going on at Statoil in one public statement would take a couple of pages, so CEO Eldar Saetre did his best to give a brief overview of the things Statoil is working on now and some of the projects it expects to bring on stream in the near future.

[W]e have accessed attractive acreage in Brazil and the Gulf of Mexico, secured acreage for further developing our renewable business in Poland and taken over the operatorship for Martin Linge. This week, the world's largest spar platform arrived at the Aasta Hansteen field in the Norwegian Sea. In addition, Johan Sverdrup and our project portfolio are progressing according to plan and we have delivered the development plan for the Askeladd project for approval.

STO Chart

Data source: STO data by YCharts.

Takeaway

Statoil's -- soon to be Equinor's? -- first quarter result is a sign that the oil market is picking back up. With prices in the $70-$75 per barrel range, many projects are much more economical than they were just a few months ago. At the same time, though, Statoil and others appear to be erring on the side of caution by keeping capital budgets flat and maintaining low-cost operations to trim debt loads and generate value for shareholders.

It's a little too presumptuous to assume that oil prices will remain this high for the remainder of the year, so investors should remain focused on the fundamentals of the business. Based on this earnings report, Statoil is delivering.

More From The Motley Fool

Tyler Crowe owns shares of ExxonMobil and Total. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.While stock markets in Asia are breathing a sigh of relief after North and South Koreas leaders shared a friendly handshake and vowed to work toward wiping away nuclear weapons from the Korean Peninsula Friday, once high-flying defense stocks are taking the hit.

On Friday, while the broader stock market as measured by the S&P 500 index remained largely flat, the S&P Aerospace and Defense Select Industry Index fell roughly 1.3%.

The U.S.s five largest defense contractors shed about $10.2 billion in value on Friday alone. Lockheed Martin fell 2.5% to a valuation of about $92.1 billion; Northrop Grumman slid 3.4% to $56 billion; General Dynamics shed 3.8% to $60.7 billion; Raytheon dropped 3.6% to $50.8 billion; and finally, Boeing slid a much lesser 1% to $200.2 billion.

The drop off comes even though quarterly earnings posted in recent days by General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, and Northrup Grumman beat analyst expectations.

The losses comes after North and South Korean leaders met Friday, agreeing to work toward removing nuclear weapons from the peninsula, and negotiate with the U.S. to officially declare peace and put an official end to the Korean War.

It was a turn in rhetoric. Since the election of President Donald Trump in 2016, the aggressive talk between the U.S. and North Korea had been heating uppushing investors wary of a potential war into defense stocks. So over the past year, while the S&P 500 has risen roughly 12%, the S&P Aerospace & Defense Select Industry Index has gained 27%.

Though the peace talks were not entirely unexpected. The sell off began in earnest on Tuesday, when French President Emmanuel Macron visited the U.S., discussing topics including the Iran nuclear deal and North Korea. In the same day, Trump also made comments that made peace talks sound more likely. After having called North Koreas Kim names such as little rocket man in the past, Trump dubbed the Asian leader honorable and open.

Story continues

The S&P Aerospace & Defense Index is down about 4.3% since then.

Notably, the index is still beating the market over the past yearwith tensions continuing with other nations.

With the threat environment unlikely to abate per a host of global tensions spanning China, the Mideast, North Korea, and Russia, we do not foresee any imminent fall-off in US military budgets, wrote Morgan Stanley analysts led by Rajeev Lalwani.

And, notably, the agreement between North and South Korea Friday was light on detailsallow skeptics room to doubt how, and if denuclearization will be rolled out to the extent the enthusiasm shown by North and South Korean leaders Friday seemed to suggest.GOYANG, South Korea (AP) -- The leaders of North and South Korea played it safe Friday, repeating a previous vow to rid the Korean Peninsula of nuclear weapons but failing to provide any specific measures or forge a potential breakthrough on an issue that has captivated and terrified many since the rivals seemed on the verge of war last year.

In a sense, the vague joint statement produced by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in to achieve "a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula through complete denuclearization" kicks one of the world's most pressing issues down the road to a much-anticipated summit between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump in coming weeks.

Even so, the Koreas' historic summit Friday might be remembered as much for the sight of two men from nations with a deep and bitter history of acrimony holding each other's hands and grinning from ear to ear after Kim walked over the border to greet Moon, and then both briefly stepped together into the North and back to the South.

Standing at a podium next to Moon after the talks ended, Kim faced a wall of cameras beaming his image live to the world and declared that the Koreas are "linked by blood as a family and compatriots who cannot live separately."

What happened Friday must be seen in the context of the last year  when the United States, its ally South Korea and the North threatened and raged as the North unleashed a torrent of weapons tests  but also in light of the long, destructive history of the rival Koreas, who fought one of the 20th century's bloodiest conflicts and even today occupy a divided peninsula that's still technically in a state of war.

It marks a surreal, whiplash swing in relations for the countries, from nuclear threats and missile tests to intimations of peace and cooperation. Perhaps the change is best illustrated by geography: Kim and Moon's historic handshake and a later 30-minute conversation at a footbridge on the border occurred only meters (feet) from the spot where a North Korean soldier fled south in a hail of gunfire months earlier, and within walking distance of where North Korean soldiers axe-murdered two U.S. soldiers in 1976.

Story continues

The latest declaration between the Koreas, Kim said, should not repeat the "unfortunate history of past inter-Korean agreements that only reached the starting line" before becoming derailed.

Many will be judging the summit based on the weak nuclear language. North Korea's nuclear and missile tests last year likely put it on the threshold of becoming a legitimate nuclear power. The North, which has spent decades doggedly building its bombs despite crippling sanctions and near-constant international opprobrium, claims it has already risen to that level.

But the Koreas made inroads on a raft of other points of friction between them. They agreed to settle their disagreement over their western maritime border by designating it as a peace area and securing fishing activities for both countries.

Moon agreed to visit Pyongyang, North Korea's capital, sometime in the autumn, and both leaders said they'd meet on a regular basis and exchange calls via a recently established hotline. They said they'd open a permanent communication office in the North Korean border town of Kaesong and resume temporary reunions of relatives separated by the 1950-53 Korean War. Both Koreas will also jointly push for talks with the United State and also potentially China to officially end the Korean War, which stopped in an armistice that never ended the war.

"I feel like I'm firing a flare at the starting line in the moment of (the two Koreas) writing a new history in North-South relations, peace and prosperity," Kim told Moon as they sat at a table, which had been built so that exactly 2018 millimeters separated them, to begin their closed-door talks. Moon responded that there were high expectations that they produce an agreement that will be a "big gift to the entire Korean nation and every peace-loving person in the world."

Kim acknowledged the widespread skepticism over their summit. "We have reached big agreements before but were unable to fulfill them. ... There are skeptical views on whether the meeting today will yield meaningful results," Kim said. "If we maintain a firm will and proceed forward hand in hand, it will be impossible at least for things to get worse than they are now."

Kim, during their talks, joked that he would make sure not to interrupt Moon's sleep anymore, a reference to the North's drumbeat of early-morning missile tests last year, according to Moon's spokesman, Yoon Young-chan. Kim also referred to a South Korean island that North Korea attacked with artillery in 2010, killing four, saying the residents of Yeonpyeong Island who have been living in fear of North Korean artillery have high hopes the summit will help heal past scars. Kim said he'd visit Seoul's presidential Blue House if invited.

The historic greeting of the two leaders, which may be the images most remembered from the summit, was planned to the last detail, though the multiple border crossings may have been impromptu. As thousands of journalists, who were kept in a huge conference center well away from the summit, except for a small group of tightly controlled pool reporters at the border, waited and watched, Moon stood near the Koreas' dividing line, moving forward the moment he glimpsed Kim, dressed in dark, Mao-style suit, appearing in front of a building on the northern side. They smiled broadly and shook hands with the border line between them. Moon then invited Kim to cross into the South, and, after Kim did so, Moon said, "You have crossed into the South, but when do I get to go across?" Kim replied, "Why don't we go across now?" and then grasped Moon's hand and led him into the North and then back into the South.

Moon then led Kim along a blindingly red carpet into South Korean territory, where two fifth-grade students from the Daesongdong Elementary School, the only South Korean school within the DMZ, greeted the leaders and gave Kim flowers. An honor guard stood at attention for inspection, a military band playing traditional Korean folk songs beloved by both Koreas and the South Korean equivalent of "Hail to the Chief."

They then took a photo inside the Peace House, where the summit took place, in front of a painting of South Korea's Bukhan Mountain, which towers over the South Korean Blue House presidential mansion and where dozens of North Korean commandos trying to assassinate the then-dictator in Seoul were killed in 1968. Kim's sister, Kim Yo Jong, was by Kim's side throughout the ceremony, handing him a pen to sign a guestbook, taking the schoolchildren's flowers from his hand and scribbling notes at the start of the talks with Moon.

Expectations were generally low on the nuclear issue, given that past so-called breakthroughs on North Korea's weapons have collapsed amid acrimonious charges of cheating and bad faith. Skeptics of engagement have long said that the North often turns to interminable rounds of diplomacy meant to ease the pain of sanctions  giving it time to perfect its weapons and win aid for unfulfilled nuclear promises.

Advocates of engagement, however, say the only way to get a deal is to do what the Koreas tried Friday: Sit down and see what's possible.

The White House said in a statement that it is "hopeful that talks will achieve progress toward a future of peace and prosperity for the entire Korean Peninsula. ... (and) looks forward to continuing robust discussions in preparation for the planned meeting between President Donald J. Trump and Kim Jong Un in the coming weeks."

___

AP writers Kim Tong-hyung, Hyung-jin Kim and Eric Talmadge contributed to this report.

___

Foster Klug, the AP's bureau chief for South Korea, has covered the Koreas since 2005. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/apklugBy James Davey and Ben Martin

LONDON (Reuters) - Sainsbury's and Walmart's Asda are in talks to create Britain's biggest supermarket group, a combination which would surpass Tesco's grocery market share and be worth up to 15 billion pounds ($20.7 billion).

Sainsbury's confirmed on Saturday that it and Walmart, the world's largest retailer, were in advanced discussions regarding a combination of the Sainsbury's and Asda businesses, the UK's No. 2 and 3 UK grocers. It said they will make a further announcement at 0600 GMT on Monday.

Britain's big grocers, including No. 4 player Morrisons, have been losing share to German discounters Aldi and Lidl and must also deal with growing demand for internet grocery shopping and the march of Amazon.

Sainsbury's gave no details of the deal's structure but a source with knowledge of the situation told Reuters the holding company of the combined group would retain the Sainsbury's name. Sainsbury's Chief Executive Mike Coupe, who used to work for Asda, would lead it, the source said.

The source described the planned deal -- which would consolidate a brutally competitive UK food market while helping Walmart address its underperforming UK arm through greater buying power -- as a "merger".

Three sources with knowledge of the situation said Walmart would take a minority stake in the combined business. Two said Walmart would be the biggest shareholder, with a stake of around 40 percent.

The Qatar Investment Authority, which has tried to buy Sainsburys in the past, is currently the supermarket groups biggest shareholder with a 22 percent stake. The deal would probably dilute that holding.

Sainsbury's invited media and analysts to presentations scheduled for Monday, indicating a done deal.

Walmart declined to comment. Asda did not respond to requests for comment.

Sky News, which first reported the news, said the deal could be worth over 10 billion pounds.

One of the sources who spoke to Reuters said the combined company would have an enterprise value, including debt, of around 15 billion pounds and would remain listed in London.

Story continues

Sainsbury's shares closed on Friday at 269 pence, giving the company an equity value of 6 billion pounds.

The deal would be the largest in the UK supermarket sector since Morrisons acquired the Safeway business in 2004.

PROFIT DECLINE

Sainsbury's has reported three straight years of profit decline, and is forecast to report a fourth on Wednesday. Asda has seen two years of falls.

Asda, which Walmart bought in 1999 for 6.7 billion pounds, is one of the retail giant's largest and worst-performing international businesses. Analysts reckon Asda was hurt the most by the rise of the discounters, which eroded its traditional price advantage.

"Asda doesn't have discount and it doesn't have convenience. This (deal) provides a potential solution for Walmart to deliver a more profitable Asda in the long run," said Shore Capital analyst Clive Black.

In recent years Walmart has shifted its traditional approach from building overseas businesses itself to partnering with local players, for example in China.

In January, Walmart appointed Chief Operating Officer Judith McKenna to run its international unit with a remit that included fixing its UK operations. McKenna is a Briton and a veteran of Asda, where she served as both COO and finance chief.

Roger Burnley, who took over as Asda CEO in January, is a former Sainsbury's executive, working under Coupe. One of the sources said he would stay at the combined group.

Tesco last month moved to strengthen its grip on the UK food sector, completing the 4 billion-pound purchase of wholesaler Booker. In 2016 Sainsbury's purchased general merchandise retailer Argos for 1.1 billion pounds.

Sainsbury's and the similarly-sized Asda would overtake Tesco with a combined market share of 31.4 percent versus Tesco's 27.6 percent, according to the latest data from market researcher Kantar Worldpanel.

Asda stores would continue to trade under their own brand, separate from the more upmarket Sainsbury's, the sources said.

REGULATORY HURDLES

A major uncertainty surrounding any combination would be whether the move secures approval from Britain's competition regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), given that the deal would effectively create a duopoly.

However, the CMA's surprise unconditional waving through of Tesco's Booker deal may have changed the regulatory landscape.

"It's going to be a really big test of the CMA's understanding of the market and whether it believes that this deal is in the consumer's interest," said Shore Capital's Black.

"It's hard to believe it would not require considerable store disposals and there aren't many buyers out there."

(Additional reporting by Nandita Bose in New York; Editing by Georgina Prodhan and Catherine Evans)The West and Russia have a shared interest in Afghanistan's stability, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan has told RFE/RL.

"We both share an interest in countering the terrorists who threaten our country and threaten Russia and threaten Central Asia," General John Nicholson said on April 27 on the sidelines of a NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels.

"We have a shared interest in defeating Daesh [an alternative name for the extremist Islamic State group], we have a shared interest in counternarcotics, we have a shared interest in peace and stability in Afghanistan," Nicholson said.

"And what we hope to do is to work with Russia and all of the nations in the region to achieve this outcome in Afghanistan."

Asked about his statement to the BBC last month that Russia was was supporting and even supplying the Taliban with weapons, Nicholson said such support was "small-scale" and difficult to assess with complete accuracy.

"We're seeing small-scale support being rendered to the Taliban," Nicholson said.

"I've had weapons delivered to my headquarters from governors in the north [of Afghanistan] who said that this was provided by the Russians to the Taliban. Of course, this is difficult to establish with great certainty."

Despite the suspension of U.S. assistance to Pakistan because of its failure to crack down on terrorist networks operating there, the United States hopes it can "work with Pakistan to bring about peace in Afghanistan," and remains in "frequent communication" with Islamabad, Nicholson said.

"It was very encouraging to see Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi visit Kabul, and it was the second meeting between [Afghan] President [Ashraf] Ghani and Prime Minister Abbasi, so we are hopeful that we'll see cooperation with Pakistan to bring about peace."

Nicholson, who is also the head of NATO's Resolute Support Mission, whose aim is to train, advise, and assist Afghan government forces, said the alliance's long-term commitment to Afghan security "is steady and solid."Want better security? Start by shutting up

It turns out that the less time cybersecurity team members spend time talking about a responding to an attack, the better the outcome is likely to be.

At least that's what Army researchers found when they studied how the performance of cyber defense teams during head-to-head team competition at the Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition. Teams had to defend and maintain their networks against a cyberattack on critical infrastructure and were evaluated on maintaining services, incidence response and scenario injects. In responding to scenario events, team members were assigned tasks by a role-playing CEO and were required to submit incident reports to authorities.

Contestants wore sociometric badges, devices developed at MIT that use infrared sensors to measure the frequency and duration of face-to-face interactions and that can shed light on individual and collective patterns of behavior and identify social affinity among team members. The researchers also gathered data from a questionnaire in which team members evaluated their team's leadership style, task distribution, team meetings, communication and collaboration.

It's no surprise that teams with effective leadership and functional specialization were more successful. However, face-to-face interactions, as measured by the sociometric badges, emerged as a strong negative predictor of success in the competition, according to Norbou E. Buchler, a cognitive scientist within Army Research Laboratory's Human Research and Engineering Directorate and team leader with the ARL Cyber and Networked Systems Branch. "In other words, the teams whose members interacted less during the exercise were usually more successful," he said. "Successful cyber teams don't need to discuss every detail when defending a network; they already know what to do."

High-performing teams have fewer interactions because all the team members know each other's roles and work interdependently. "The responsibility for performing the various tasks and sub-tasks necessary to accomplish the team's goal is divided and parceled-out among the team," Buchler said.

The results are important because they show the importance of both functional specialization and leadership in cybersecurity teams, which could help with detection and mitigation of threats. Currently, Buchler said, "training programs commonly emphasize cybersecurity knowledge and do not provide training on effective team management," he said.

The research also highlights benefits derived from wearable technology. Social-sensing platforms like the sociometric badges can "enhance human measurement and validate and refine theories regarding the factors influencing human performance and teamwork over time," Buchler said.VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 16, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Trevali Mining Corporation (Trevali or the Company) (TSX:TV) (BVL:TV) (OTCQX:TREVF) (Frankfurt:4TI) reports its mineral reserves and mineral resources statements as of December 31, 2017 and 2018 exploration plans.

Consolidated mineral reserves and mineral resources are tabulated below on a contained metal basis (Tables 1 and 2). Detailed breakdowns for each of the active mines (Santander, Caribou, Perkoa and Rosh Pinah) are provided by category on a grade-tonnage-contained metal basis in Tables 3 through 10. Mineral resources in this document are reported inclusive of mineral reserves.

HIGHLIGHTS

Total proven and probable mineral reserves increased to 3.17 billion lbs (1.44 million tonnes) of contained zinc. Contained lead increased to 542 million lbs (0.25 million tonnes lead) and silver increased to 18.7 million ounces. Increases largely reflect the Caribou Mines maiden mineral reserve statement.

Total measured and indicated mineral resources increased to 6.59 billion lbs (2.99 million tonnes) of contained zinc and inferred mineral resources comprise an additional 3.74 billion lbs (1.70 million tonnes) of contained zinc. Total measured and indicated mineral resources also included 1.53 billion lbs (0.69 million tonnes) of contained lead and 48.04 million ozs of contained silver, with total inferred mineral resources comprising an additional 0.81 billion lbs (0.37 million tonnes) of contained lead and 33.48 million contained ozs silver.

Inaugural exploration at Perkoa successfully replaced 2017 mined tonnages and increased mineral reserves to approximately 5 years at current extraction rates.

Geologically, all deposits remain open for expansion and the Company has commenced a sustained long-range exploration program anchored in 2018 by a minimum committed 60,000-metre drill campaign, the largest since the Companys inception.

Table 1. Total Mineral Reserves (Contained Metal) as of December 31, 2017 (1, 2)

2017 2017 2017 2016 2016 2016 Change Change Change Zn Pb Ag Zn Pb Ag Zn Pb Ag Project Category M lbs M lbs K oz M lbs M lbs K oz M lbs M lbs K oz Santander Magistral Proven & Probable 186 32 1,911 253 39 2,769 (66) (7) (858) Caribou Mine Proven & Probable 729 272 11,945 - - - 729 272 11,945 Perkoa Mine Proven & Probable 958 - - 830 - - 129 - - Rosh Pinah Mine Proven & Probable 1,299 237 4,876 985 162 3,389 314 75 1,487 Total Proven & Probable 3,173 542 18,732 2,067 201 6,158 1,106 341 12,574

(1) For additional detail respecting the mineral reserve contained zinc, lead and silver grades, see "Detailed Mineral Reserve and Mineral Resource Disclosure" and "Additional Information" within this news release.

(2) The M lbs (million pounds) and K oz (thousand ounces) contained metal is the total combined proven and probable mineral reserve estimates of all the mines on a 100% basis. Trevalis proportionate ownership interest pursuant to the applicable joint venture/option agreements is: Santander (100%); Caribou (100%); Perkoa (90%); and Rosh Pinah (80%).

Table 2. Total Mineral Resources (Contained Metal) as of December 31, 2017(1, 2, 3)

2017 2017 2017 2016 2016 2016 Change Change Change Zn Pb Ag Zn Pb Ag Zn Pb Ag Project Category M lbs M lbs K oz M lbs M lbs K oz M lbs M lbs K oz Santander Magistral Measured & Indicated 314 54 3,297 394 60 4,342 (80) (6) (1,045) Inferred 345 35 3,135 195 15 1,752 150 19 1,383 Santander Pipe Inferred 911 40 4,871 911 40 4,871 0 0 0 Puajanca Prospect Indicated 12 9 313 12 9 313 0 0 0 Inferred 9 6 204 9 6 204 0 0 0 Caribou Mine (4) Measured & Indicated 1,198 448 19,449 1,115 467 19,625 83 (19) (176) Inferred 856 327 14,597 561 227 9,215 295 100 5,382 Halfmile Mine Measured & Indicated 1,199 407 8,980 1,122 356 6,197 77 51 2,783 Inferred 806 216 4,720 896 245 4,008 (90) (29) 712 Stratmat Indicated 550 214 7,300 550 214 7,300 0 0 0 Inferred 252 110 3,000 252 110 3,000 0 0 0 Perkoa Mine Measured & Indicated 1,468 - - 1,370 - - 97 - - Inferred 134 - - 465 - - (331) - - Rosh Pinah Mine Measured & Indicated 1,844 395 8,702 1,721 330 7,734 123 65 968 Inferred 430 75 2,951 386 68 2,829 44 7 122 Total Measured & Indicated 6,585 1,528 48,041 6,285 1,437 45,511 301 90 2,530 Inferred 3,743 808 33,478 3,676 712 25,879 68 97 7,599

(1) For additional detail respecting the mineral resources contained zinc, lead and silver grades, see "Detailed Mineral Reserve and Mineral Resource Disclosure" and "Additional Information." within this news release.

(2) All mineral resources referred to in this news release are inclusive of stated mineral reserves. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.

(3) The M lbs (million pounds) and K oz (thousand ounces) contained metals is the total measured + indicated and inferred mineral resource estimation of all the mines on a 100% basis. Trevalis proportionate ownership interest pursuant to the applicable joint venture/option agreements is: Santander (100%); Caribou (100%); Perkoa (90%); and Rosh Pinah (80%).

(4) A mineral resource estimate was not completed for the Caribou Mine in 2016; instead the comparison change references the previous mineral resource estimate for the Caribou Mine with an effective date of May 14, 2014.

Detailed Mineral Reserve and Mineral Resource Disclosure:

Santander Mine

The annual mineral reserve and mineral resource estimate at the Companys Santander mine utilized a more conservative approach compared to prior years, increasing the net smelter return cut-off-value from US$40 to $50 per tonne for reserves as a result of the increased 2017 water ingress.

Table 3. Santander (Peru) Mineral Reserves as at December 31, 2017(1, 2)

Grade Metal Quantity Zn Pb Ag Zn Pb Ag Category Mt % % g/t M lbs M lbs K oz Santander Magistral (3) Proven 0.46 3.83 0.76 26.44 38.8 7.7 391 Probable 1.46 4.55 0.74 32.04 146.5 23.8 1,504 Proven & Probable 1.93 4.38 0.75 30.79 186.4 31.9 1,911

(1) All mineral reserves have been estimated in accordance with the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM)  Definition Standards adopted by CIM Council on May 10, 2014 (the CIM Definition Standards). Numbers may not add due to rounding.

(2) The technical report entitled Mineral Reserve Estimation Technical Report for the Santander Zinc Mine, Province de Huaral, Peru dated March 31, 2017, is the current technical report for the Santander property.

(3) The Santander Magistral Underground Mine mineral reserve estimate is reported based on optimized stopes designed on an incremental net smelter return cut-off-value of US$50/tonne with metal prices of: US$1.16/lb zinc, US$0.91/lb lead, US$18.50/oz silver. The Santander Magistral Underground Mine mineral reserve estimate has been prepared by technical consultants to the Company with an effective date of December 31, 2017, under the supervision of and approved by Professional Geologist Aline Cote (OGQ), a Qualified Person as defined in National Instrument 43-101  Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101). Ms. Cote is an employee of a related party to the Company and accordingly, is not independent.

Table 4. Santander (Peru) Mineral Resources as at December 31, 2017(1, 2)

Grade Metal Quantity Zn Pb Ag Zn Pb Ag Category Mt % % g/t M lbs M lbs K oz Santander Magistral (3) Measured 1.06 4.16 0.77 27.26 97.0 18.0 927 Indicated 1.93 5.10 0.85 38.19 217.0 36.2 2,370 Measured & Indicated 2.99 4.77 0.82 34.32 314.2 54.0 3,297 Inferred 3.08 5.08 0.51 31.67 344.8 34.6 3,135 Santander Pipe (4) Inferred 10.10 4.09 0.18 15.00 910.7 40.1 4,871 Puajanca Prospect (5) Indicated 0.25 2.23 1.65 39.00 12.3 9.1 313 Inferred 0.21 1.99 1.31 30.00 9.3 6.1 204

(1) All mineral reserves have been estimated in accordance with the CIM Definition Standards. Numbers may not add due to rounding.

(2) The technical report entitled Mineral Reserve Estimation Technical Report for the Santander Zinc Mine, Province de Huaral, Peru dated March 31, 2017, is the current technical report for the Santander property.

(3) The Santander Magistral Underground Mine mineral resource estimate is reported based on net smelter return cut-off-value of US$40/tonne with metal prices of: US$1.16/lb zinc, US$0.91/lb lead, US$18.50/oz silver. The Santander Magistral Underground Mine mineral resource estimate has been prepared by the mine geology department and non-independent resource geology consultants to the Company with an effective date of December 31, 2017, under the supervision of and approved by Professional Geologist Aline Cote (OGQ), a Qualified Person as defined in NI 43-101. Ms. Cote is an employee of a related party to the Company and accordingly, is not independent.

(4) The Santander Pipe Underground Deposit mineral resource estimate is reported based on Gross Metal Value cut-off-value of US$40/tonne with metal prices of: US$1.13/lb zinc, US$1.00/lb lead, US$18.00/oz silver. The Santander Pipe Underground Deposit mineral resource estimate was prepared and approved by Gilles Arseneau (P.Geo.), a consultant with Arseneau Consulting Services Inc, who is an independent Qualified Person as defined in NI 43-101, with an effective date of November 6, 2016.

(5) The Santander Puajanca Underground Deposit mineral resource estimate is reported based on Gross Metal Value cut-off-value of US$40/tonne with metal prices of: US$1.15/lb zinc, US$0.95/lb lead, US$16.50/oz silver. The Santander Puajanca Underground Deposit mineral resource estimate was prepared and approved by Gilles Arseneau (P.Geo), a consultant with Arseneau Consulting Services Inc., who is an independent Qualified Person as defined in NI 43-101, with an effective date of November 6, 2016.

Bathurst Mining Camp Operations  Caribou Mine

The Companys inaugural mineral reserve statement at the Caribou mine documents material increases across all mineral resource and mineral reserve categories. The 2017 program more than replaced mined inventory from 2015 onwards, particularly in the Measured, Indicated and Inferred categories.

Table 5. Caribou (New Brunswick) Mineral Reserves as at December 31, 2017(1)

Grade Metal Quantity Zn Pb Cu Ag Zn Pb Ag Category Mt % % % g/t M lbs M lbs K oz Caribou Mine Proven 2.88 6.24 2.32 0.37 70.50 395.6 147.0 6,516 Probable 2.34 6.46 2.43 0.39 72.10 333.6 125.6 5,429 Proven & Probable 5.22 6.34 2.37 0.38 71.20 729.3 272.5 11,945

(1) All mineral reserves have been estimated in accordance with the CIM Definition Standards. Numbers may not add due to rounding.

(2) The Caribou Underground Mine mineral reserve estimate is reported based on optimized stopes designed on an incremental net smelter return cut-off-value of US$75/tonne with metal prices of: US$1.21/lb zinc, US$1.00/lb lead, US$18.50/oz silver, FX: US$/CAD$0.80. The Caribou Underground Mine mineral reserve has been prepared by the mine engineering department of the Company with an effective date of December 31, 2017. The Caribou Underground Mine mineral reserve has been reviewed and approved by Professional Engineer Torben Jensen (P.Eng.), a consultant with Roscoe Postle Associates Inc., who is an independent Qualified Person as defined in NI 43-101 and will be detailed in the technical report entitled Technical Report on the Caribou Mine, New Brunswick Canada to be dated April 12, 2018, which will be available under the Companys profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com within 45 days following the date of this news release.

Table 6. Bathurst Mining Camp (New Brunswick) Mineral Resources as at December 31, 2017(1)

Grade Metal Quantity Zn Pb Cu Ag Au Zn Pb Cu Ag Au Category Mt % % % g/t g/t M lbs M lbs M lbs K oz K oz Caribou Mine (2) Measured 5.87 6.11 2.27 0.37 67.00 - 790.7 293.8 47.9 12,634 - Indicated 3.03 6.11 2.32 0.39 70.00 - 408.1 155.0 26.1 6,815 - Measured & Indicated 8.89 6.11 2.28 0.38 68.00 - 1,197.5 446.9 74.5 19,449 - Inferred 7.00 5.70 2.10 0.30 65.00 - 879.6 324.1 46.3 14,597 - Halfmile Mine (3) Measured 0.40 5.92 1.99 0.46 40 0.60 54.0 18.0 4.0 520 10 Indicated 7.40 7.00 2.37 0.16 35 0.29 1,146 389.0 26.0 8,450 70 Measured & Indicated 7.80 6.94 2.35 0.18 36 0.30 1,199 407.0 31.0 8,980 80 Inferred 6.50 5.62 1.51 0.15 23 0.10 806.0 216.0 21.0 4,720 20 Stratmat (4) Indicated 4.70 5.30 2.10 0.40 49 0.60 550.0 214.0 43.0 7,300 90 Inferred 2.40 4.80 2.10 0.70 39 0.40 252.0 110.0 37.0 3,000 30

(1) All mineral resources have been estimated in accordance with the CIM Definition Standards. Mineral resources are inclusive of mineral reserves. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Numbers may not add up due to rounding.

(2) The Caribou Underground Mine mineral resource estimate is reported based on 5% zinc equivalent cut-off grade with metal prices of: US$1.21/lb zinc, US$1.00/lb lead, US$18.50/oz silver, FX: US$/CAD$0.80. The Caribou Underground Mine mineral resource estimate has been prepared by the mine geology department and non-independent technical consultants to the Company with an effective date of December 31, 2017. The Caribou Underground Mine mineral resource estimate has been reviewed and approved by Professional Geologist Ian Blakley (P.Geo), a consultant with Roscoe Postle Associates Inc., who is an independent Qualified Person as defined in NI 43-101, and will be detailed in the technical report entitled Technical Report on the Caribou Mine, New Brunswick Canada to be dated April 12, 2018, which will be available under the Companys profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com within 45 days following the date of this news release.

(3) The Halfmile Underground Project mineral resource estimate is reported based on 5% zinc equivalent cut-off grade with metal prices of: US$1.05/lb zinc, US$0.95/lb lead, US$20.00/oz silver, FX: US$/CAD$0.80. The Halfmile Underground Project mineral resource estimate was prepared and approved by Professional Geologist Gilles Arseneau (P.Geo.), a consultant with SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc., who is an independent Qualified Person as defined in NI 43-101, with an effective date of October 26, 2017.

(4) The Stratmat Underground Project mineral resource estimate is reported based on 5% zinc equivalent cut-off grade with metal prices of: US$1.00/lb zinc, US$1.00/lb lead, US$21.15/oz silver, FX: US$/CAD$0.85. The Stratmat Underground Project mineral resource estimate was prepared and approved by Professional Geologist Gilles Arseneau (P.Geo.), a consultant with SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc., who is an independent Qualified Person as defined in NI 43-101, with an effective date of October 26, 2017.

Perkoa Mine

Resource definition and exploration drilling successfully replaced 2017 mined inventory and halted the downward mineral reserve depletion trend. Significant gains were realized to mineral reserves and to measured and indicated mineral resource categories following the inferred mineral resource conversion program.

Table 7. Perkoa (Burkina Faso) Mineral Reserves as at December 31, 2017(1, 2)

Grade Metal Quantity Zn Zn Category Mt % M lbs Perkoa Mine Proven 2.29 13.93 702.6 Probable 1.04 11.14 255.7 Proven and Probable 3.33 13.06 958.3

(1) All mineral reserves have been estimated in accordance with the CIM Definition Standards. Numbers may not add due to rounding. The mineral reserve is shown at 100% ownership; Trevali holds a 90% joint venture interest in the Perkoa mine.

(2) The Perkoa Underground Mine mineral reserve estimate is reported based on planned stopes with an net smelter return cut-off-value of US$100/tonne with incremental stopes greater than US$80/tonne included based on individual financial analysis, metal prices of: US$1.20/lb zinc, FX: /US$1.08. The Perkoa Underground Mine mineral reserve has been prepared by the mine engineering department of the Company with an effective date of December 31, 2017 and has been reviewed and approved by Professional Engineer Torben Jensen (P.Eng.), a consultant with Roscoe Postle Associates Inc., who is an independent Qualified Person as defined in NI 43-101 and will be detailed in the technical report entitled Technical Report on the Perkoa Mine, Burkina Faso to be dated April 12, 2018, which will be available under the Companys profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com within 45 days following the date of this news release.

Table 8. Perkoa (Burkina Faso) Mineral Resources as at December 31, 2017(1, 2)

Grade Metal Quantity Zn Zn Mt % M lbs Perkoa Mine Measured 2.63 15.65 909.0 Indicated 2.22 11.44 558.7 Measured & Indicated 4.85 13.73 1,467.6 Inferred 0.68 8.9 134.3

(1) All mineral resources have been estimated in accordance with the CIM Definition Standards. Mineral resources are inclusive of mineral reserves. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Numbers may not add up due to rounding. The mineral resource is shown at 100% ownership, Trevali holds an 90% joint venture interest in the Perkoa mine.

(2) The Perkoa Underground Mine mineral resource estimate is reported based on 5% zinc cut-off grade with metal prices of: US$1.20/lb zinc, FX: /US$1.08. The Perkoa Underground Mine mineral resource estimate has been prepared by the mine geology department and non-independent technical consultants to the Company with an effective date of December 31, 2017 and has been reviewed and approved by Consulting Professional Geologist Ian Blakley (P.Geo.), a consultant with Roscoe Postle Associates Inc., who is an independent Qualified Person as defined in NI 43-101 and will be detailed in the technical report entitled Technical Report on the Perkoa Mine, Burkina Faso to be dated April 12, 2018, which will be available under the Companys profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com within 45 days following the date of this news release.

Rosh Pinah Mine

Exploration and mineral resource conversion continued the deposits roughly 50-year track record of replacing mined inventory. The 2017 conversion drilling program increased mineral reserves by approximately 2.6 million tonnes, or an additional 3 years of mine life at current operating rates. Measured, indicated and inferred mineral resource categories also increased modestly.

Table 9. Rosh Pinah (Namibia) Mineral Reserves as at December 31, 2017(1, 2)

Grade Metal Quantity Zn Pb Ag Zn Pb Ag Category Mt % % g/t M lbs M lbs K oz Rosh Pinah Mine Proven 2.66 9.07 1.32 18.20 531.5 77.4 1,553 Probable 5.08 6.84 1.43 20.30 767.2 160.1 3,323 Proven & Probable 7.74 7.61 1.39 19.60 1,298.7 237.4 4,876

(1) All mineral reserves have been estimated in accordance with the CIM Definition Standards. Numbers may not add due to rounding. The mineral reserve is shown at 100% ownership, Trevali holds an 80% joint venture interest in the Rosh Pinah mine.

(2) The Rosh Pinah Underground Mine mineral reserve estimate is reported based on planned stopes with an net smelter return cut-off-value of US$66/tonne and incremental stopes greater than US$34/tonne, metal prices of: US$1.16/lb zinc, US$1.00/lb lead, US$18.18/oz silver, FX: NAD/US$ 13.30. The Rosh Pinah Underground Mine mineral reserve has been prepared by the mine engineering department of the Company with an effective date of December 31, 2017 and has been reviewed and approved by Professional Engineer Torben Jensen (P.Eng.), a consultant with Roscoe Postle Associates Inc., who is an independent Qualified Person as defined in NI 43-101 and will be detailed in the technical report entitled Technical Report on the Rosh Pinah Mine, Namibia to be dated April 10, 2018, which will be available under the Companys profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com within 45 days following the date of this news release.

Table 10. Rosh Pinah (Namibia) Mineral Resource as at December 31, 2017

Grade Metal Quantity Zn Pb Ag Zn Pb Ag Category Mt % % g/t M lbs M lbs K oz Rosh Pinah Mine (1) Measured 4.37 8.49 1.85 26.60 817.3 177.9 3,738 Indicated 6.40 7.28 1.54 24.10 1,026.7 217.2 4,964 Measured & Indicated 10.76 7.78 1.67 25.20 1,843.9 395.1 8,702 Inferred 3.00 6.50 1.10 30.60 429.9 75.0 2,951

(1) All mineral resources have been estimated in accordance with the CIM Definition Standards. Mineral resources are inclusive of mineral reserves. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Numbers may not add up due to rounding. The mineral resource is shown at 100% ownership, Trevali holds an 80% joint venture interest in the Rosh Pinah mine.

(2) The Rosh Pinah Underground Mine mineral resource estimate is reported based on 5% zinc equivalent cut-off grade with metal prices of: US$1.16/lb zinc, US$1.00/lb lead, US$18.18/oz silver, FX: NAD/US$ 13.30. The Rosh Pinah Underground Mine mineral resource estimate has been prepared by the mine geology department and non-independent technical consultants to the Company with an effective date of December 31, 2017 and has been reviewed and approved by Professional Geologist Ian Blakley (P.Geo.), a consultant with Roscoe Postle Associates Inc., who is an independent Qualified Person as defined in NI 43-101 and will be detailed in the technical report entitled Technical Report on the Rosh Pinah Mine, Namibia to be dated April 10, 2018, which will be available under the Companys profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com within 45 days following the date of this news release.

Exploration 2018  Discovery to Delivery

In 2017, the Company commenced an expanded and accelerated growth initiative at its four operating mines. The 2018 program forms part of a medium to long-range exploration strategy initially focused on brownfield and near-mine exploration targets. The primary aim is to expand and discover new mineral resources adjacent to existing mine infrastructure, to replace mined inventory, grow sustainable production, extend expected mine life and ultimately, contingent on success, provide production growth optionality to the operations.

The committed 2018 exploration budget has been increased from US$10 million to US$13 million, with additional success funding contingent on results, and programs will focus on:

Value Add: Approximately 60,000 metres of diamond drilling from surface and underground targeting in-to-near mine resource growth. Initial committed meterage breakdown as follows - 15,000 metres at Santander, 16,000 metres at Bathurst Mining Camp, 17,000 metres at Perkoa and 12,000 metres at Rosh Pinah.

Approximately 60,000 metres of diamond drilling from surface and underground targeting in-to-near mine resource growth. Initial committed meterage breakdown as follows - 15,000 metres at Santander, 16,000 metres at Bathurst Mining Camp, 17,000 metres at Perkoa and 12,000 metres at Rosh Pinah. Value Recognition and Creation: Progressing the organic project pipeline and identifying business development opportunities. Targets will be followed up by diamond drilling or/and geophysical/geochemical surveys. Integrated exploration will advance additional target areas for future drilling, filling the exploration pipeline.

Perkoa Exploration - First mover in an unexplored VMS zinc belt

Value Add: Re-interpretation of the Perkoa deposit identified a strong north-east plunge to the mineralization which remains open at depth. Proof of concept drilling in 2017 resulted in significant semi-massive to massive sulphide intercepts below the modelled resources. Follow up exploration commenced during the first quarter of 2018 and 5,500 metres of diamond drilling has been completed to date.

Re-interpretation of the Perkoa deposit identified a strong north-east plunge to the mineralization which remains open at depth. Proof of concept drilling in 2017 resulted in significant semi-massive to massive sulphide intercepts below the modelled resources. Follow up exploration commenced during the first quarter of 2018 and 5,500 metres of diamond drilling has been completed to date. Value Recognition and Value Creation: VMS camp-scale regional targeting from first principles and follow up reconnaissance mapping indicates that the fertile Perkoa Mine Horizon extends over a minimum 25-kilometre strike length. Clusters of geophysical airborne electromagnetic anomalies have been identified and initial prospecting supplemented by geochemistry has discovered spatially associated gossans (weathered sulphide mineralization) associated with the geophysical centres. Such spatial relationships are typically only seen in productive VMS camp settings. Target definition is ongoing and diamond drilling is planned to test the main ranked targets in the second half of 2018.

Rosh Pinah - An established yet under-explored major zinc belt

Value Add: Geologically, Rosh Pinah forms a Tier 1 zinc deposit from a grade-tonnage basis that has never been fully delineated. The Western Orefield remains open along strike and at depth; for example, a 400-metre extension exploration step-out drillhole (DDH MGD152) to the northwest of the deposit intersected 12.9 metres of 16.6% Zn, 3.8% Pb and 98 g/t Ag starting at 435 metres depth. In 2018 ongoing underground exploration will continue to define this emerging NW extension.

Geologically, Rosh Pinah forms a Tier 1 zinc deposit from a grade-tonnage basis that has never been fully delineated. The Western Orefield remains open along strike and at depth; for example, a 400-metre extension exploration step-out drillhole (DDH MGD152) to the northwest of the deposit intersected 12.9 metres of 16.6% Zn, 3.8% Pb and 98 g/t Ag starting at 435 metres depth. In 2018 ongoing underground exploration will continue to define this emerging NW extension. Value Recognition and Value Creation: District scale targeting has commenced following the successful renewal of the regional exploration license, EPL 2616, with high priority targets to be tested during the year.

Santander - An established yet under-explored polymetallic mining district

Value Add: The 2018 Magistral mineral resource exploration/conversion drilling will test to the 4,000-metre mine level, or approximately 300 vertical metres below current development, in order to continue to facilitate long-range mine planning.



At the high-grade Santander Pipe target, conventional and directional drilling will continue to follow-up on 2017 exploration success. Highlights from 2017 Santander Pipe drilling includes:

Zone / Borehole (dip/azimuth) From - To (m) Zone / Interval (m) % Zn % Pb % Cu Ag oz/ton (g/t) SAN-0225-17 (-63/78) 606.45 - 621.55 Pipe / 15.10 11.85 0.01 0.20 0.31 (9.52) SAN-0225B-17 (-58.3/89.0) 783.00 - 789.90 Pipe / 6.90 17.47 0.01 0.18 0.23 (7.21) SAN-0225C-17 (-52.6/87.3) 559.90 - 590.55 Pipe / 30.65 7.05 0.01 0.14 0.25 (7.94) SAN-0226-17 (-53.0/161.0) 358.20 - 364.60 Pipe / 6.40 7.05 7.34 0.21 1.20 (37.26) SAN-0228B-17 (-76/18) 650.80 - 660.35 Pipe / 9.55 13.86 0.01 1.19 1.38 (42.98) 772.50 - 783.55 Pipe / 11.05 10.35 0.01 0.23 0.24 (7.50)

Value Recognition and Value Creation: The approximately 45-square-kilometre Santander exploration block remains under-explored. The 2018 exploration program will drill test a number of high-priority exploration targets initially identified.

Bathurst Mining Camp - A mature mining district to be explored with new tools and approaches

Value Add: Building on the successful 2017 Caribou exploration results, an approximate 9,000 metre drill campaign targeting the East Limb and Hinge zone will commence in the second quarter of 2018. At the advanced Restigouche project, a 5,000-metre drill campaign has commenced in order to provide production and mine planning optionality for future Caribou Mill feed.

Building on the successful 2017 Caribou exploration results, an approximate 9,000 metre drill campaign targeting the East Limb and Hinge zone will commence in the second quarter of 2018. At the advanced Restigouche project, a 5,000-metre drill campaign has commenced in order to provide production and mine planning optionality for future Caribou Mill feed. Value Recognition and Value Creation: Regionally as part of the Companys Bathurst Mining Camp strategy approximately 2,000 metres of drilling will test exploration targets on the Heath Steele option. Finally, in conjunction with partner Puma Exploration, it is anticipated that initial exploration will target the prospective Murray Brook  Caribou corridor from the second quarter onwards.

Additional Scientific and Technical Information

In accordance with NI 43-101, technical reports for Caribou Mine, New Brunswick Canada, Perkoa Mine, Burkina Faso, and Rosh Pinah Mine, Namibia will be filed on SEDAR and the Company's website within 45-days of this news release. See Appendix I for additional disclosure regarding the mineral resource and mineral reserve estimates for Caribou Mine, Perkoa Mine and Rosh Pinah Mine contained in this news release.

For additional information on the Santander Mine, Peru, refer to the technical report entitled Mineral Reserve Estimation Technical Report for the Santander Zinc Mine, Province de Huaral, Peru dated March 31, 2017 which is available under the Companys profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the Companys website.

Qualified Person and Quality Control/Quality Assurance

EurGeol Dr. Mark D. Cruise, Trevali's President and CEO and Daniel Marinov, P.Geo, Trevalis VP Exploration, are qualified persons as defined by NI 43-101, have supervised the preparation of the scientific and technical information that forms the basis for this news release. Mr. Marinov is responsible for all aspects of the work, including the quality control/quality assurance programs. Dr. Cruise is not independent of the Company, as he is an officer, director and shareholder. Mr. Marinov is not independent of the Company as he is an officer and shareholder.

ABOUT TREVALI MINING CORPORATION

Trevali is a zinc-focused, base metals company with four mines: the wholly-owned Santander mine in Peru, the wholly-owned Caribou mine in the Bathurst Mining Camp of northern New Brunswick, its 80% owned Rosh Pinah mine in Namibia and its 90% owned Perkoa mine in Burkina Faso.

The shares of Trevali are listed on the TSX (symbol TV), the OTCQX (symbol TREVF), the Lima Stock Exchange (symbol TV), and the Frankfurt Exchange (symbol 4TI). For further details on Trevali, readers are referred to the Companys website (www.trevali.com) and to Canadian regulatory filings on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors of

TREVALI MINING CORPORATION

Mark D. Cruise (signed)

Mark D. Cruise, President

Contact Information:

Steve Stakiw, Vice President - Investor Relations and Corporate Communications

Email: sstakiw@trevali.com

Phone: (604) 488-1661 / Direct: (604) 638-5623

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of the Canadian securities legislation and forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, Section 21E of the United States Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, or in releases made by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, all as may be amended from time. Statements containing forward-looking information express, as at the date of this news release, the Companys plans, estimates, forecasts, projections, expectations, or beliefs as to future events or results and the Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation to, update such statements containing the forward-looking information. Such forward-looking statements and information include, but are not limited to statements as to: the timing and amount of estimated future production, the estimation of mineral resources and mineral reserves, costs and timing of development, potential operating efficiencies, costs and expenditures, expectations regarding milling operations and metal production shortfalls, metal output and throughput rates, anticipated results of future exploration, expected costs of exploration, expected exploration programs and value adds, and forecast future metal prices.

These statements reflect the Companys current views with respect to future events and are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by the Company, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties and contingencies. If any assumptions are untrue, it could cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. Assumptions have been made regarding, among other things, present and future business strategies and the environment in which the Company will operate in the future, including commodity prices, anticipated costs and ability to achieve goals.

Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause the Companys actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to: risks related to joint venture operations; fluctuations in spot and forward markets for silver, zinc, base metals and certain other commodities (such as natural gas, fuel oil and electricity); fluctuations in currency markets; risks related to the technological and operational nature of the Companys business; changes in national and local government, legislation, taxation, controls or regulations and political or economic developments in Canada, the United States, Peru, Namibia, Burkina Faso, or other countries where the Company may carry on business in the future; risks and hazards associated with the business of mineral exploration, development and mining (including environmental hazards, industrial accidents, unusual or unexpected geological or structural formations, pressures, cave-ins and flooding); risks relating to the credit worthiness or financial condition of suppliers, refiners and other parties with whom the Company does business; inadequate insurance, or inability to obtain insurance, to cover these risks and hazards; employee relations; relationships with and claims by local communities and indigenous populations; availability and increasing costs associated with mining inputs and labour; the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development, including the risks of obtaining necessary licenses and permits and the presence of laws and regulations that may impose restrictions on mining; diminishing quantities or grades of mineral resources or mineral reserves as properties are mined; global financial conditions; business opportunities that may be presented to, or pursued by, the Company; the Companys ability to complete and successfully integrate acquisitions and to mitigate other business combination risks; challenges to, or difficulty in maintaining, the Companys title to properties and continued ownership thereof; the actual results of current exploration activities, conclusions of economic evaluations, and changes in project parameters to deal with unanticipated economic or other factors; increased competition in the mining industry for properties, equipment, qualified personnel, and their costs, as well as those factors discussed in the section entitled Risk Factors in the Companys most recently filed annual information form. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty or reliance on forward-looking statements. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated, described or intended. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements or information to reflect changes in assumptions or changes in circumstances or any other events affecting such statements or information, other than as required by applicable law.

We advise US investors that while the terms "measured resources", "indicated resources" and "inferred resources" are recognized and required by Canadian regulations, the US Securities and Exchange Commission does not recognize these terms. US investors are cautioned not to assume that any part or all of the material in these categories will ever be converted into reserves.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities in the United States. The securities described herein have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the securities laws of any state and may not be offered or sold within the United States, absent such registration or an applicable exemption from such registration requirements.

Appendix: Disclosures I - Caribou Mine, New Brunswick, Canada

The Caribou Mine located in New Brunswick Canada is operated by the 100% Trevali owned Trevali Mining (New Brunswick) Ltd. The mineral resource and mineral reserve will be detailed in the report entitled Technical Report on the Caribou Mine, New Brunswick Canada to be dated April 12, 2018, with an effective date of December 31, 2017 which was prepared for the Company by Roscoe Postle Associates Inc. (RPA). RPA is not aware of any environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-economic, marketing, political, or other relevant factors that could materially affect the mineral resource and mineral reserve estimates.

Ian Ian Blakley P.Geo of RPA reviewed and verified information regarding drill sampling, data verification of all digitally-collected data, drill surveys and specific gravity determinations relating to the disclosure herein. The review encompassed quality assurance programs and quality control measures including analytical or testing practice, chain-of-custody procedures, sample storage procedures and included independent sample collection and analysis. This review found the information and procedures meet industry standards and are adequate for Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve estimation and mine planning purposes. There were no limitations on the data verification process. In RPAs opinion, the quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) program, as designed and implemented by Trevali Mining (New Brunswick) Ltd. is adequate, and the assay results within the database are suitable for use in a mineral resource estimate. The wireframes were modeled in Leapfrog Geo/Edge software with the interpretation constrained to represent the geology where necessary. Capping was performed for each metal by domain using cumulative distribution function analysis, one metre length composites were used. The grade was estimated with ordinary kriging in three passes, by increasing size of the search ellipse in subsequent passes. Pass 1 and 2 both require a minimum of three drill holes with a maximum of four samples per drill holes, pass 3 requires a minimum of two drill holes and a maximum of four samples per drill holes. The grades were estimated in the block model in Leapfrog Geo/Edge software with 5 metre x 5 metre x 5 metre sized blocks with the row and column blocks sub blocked to 0.5 metre and a minimum height of 0.25 metres. Mineral resource classification is based on the interpolation pass estimate attribute as well as the Qualified Persons level of geological knowledge and information. Stoping voids were removed from the mineral resource estimate. Specific gravity was measured on diamond drill core samples using a standard water displacement method.

Mining shapes for the mineral reserve were initially designed by slicing the mineralized shells using Mineable Stope Optimizer in Deswick software, based on a net smelter return cut-off value of $75/tonne and a minimum mining width of 3.5 metres. External dilution and mining recovery estimates were applied based on current mine performance by lens. The net smelter return values based on average consensus forecast long-term prices of US$1.21/lb zinc, US$1.00/lb lead, US$18.50/oz silver at an exchange rate of $0.80 C$/US$. Costs related to mining, processing, and G&A Mining and milling have been extracted from the forecasted 2018 operating costs, and include administration costs. The average mining, milling, and maintenance cost over the Internal life of mine is US$59.00/t. This cost increases to US$65.42/t with the inclusion of surface sustaining capital and general and administrative costs for the underground operation.

Appendix: Disclosures II - Perkoa Mine, Burkina Faso

The Perkoa Mine located in Burkina Faso is operated by 90% Trevali owned Nantou Mining Burkina Faso S.A. (Nantou Mining). The mineral resource and mineral reserve will be detailed in the report entitled Technical Report on the Perkoa Mine, Burkina Faso to be dated April 12, 2018, with an effective date of December 31, 2017 which was prepared for the Company by RPA. RPA is not aware of any environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-economic, marketing, political, or other relevant factors that could materially affect the mineral resource and mineral reserve estimates.

Ian Blakley P.Geo of RPA reviewed and verified information regarding drill sampling, data verification of all digitally-collected data, drill surveys and specific gravity determinations relating to the disclosure herein. The review encompassed quality assurance programs and quality control measures including analytical or testing practice, chain-of-custody procedures, sample storage procedures and included independent sample collection and analysis. This review found the information and procedures meet industry standards and are adequate for Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve estimation and mine planning purposes. There were no limitations on the data verification process. In RPAs opinion, the QA/QC program, as designed and implemented by Nantou Mining is adequate, and the assay results within the database are suitable for use in a mineral resource estimate. The geological interpretation comprised wireframes for mineralization and lithological domains, which were developed using Surpac software. Drill hole assays are composited at a 1.5 metre length, a grade cap, which varied per domain, was applied. A 5 metre x 5 metre x 5 metre block model was constructed which was then sub-blocked down to a minimum size of 1.25 metres. Search ellipsoids were used in the Ordinary Kriging interpolation in three passes. For all passes the minimum number of assays is seven with a maximum of six from a single drill hole. Specific gravity was measured on diamond drill core samples using a standard water displacement method. Mineral resource classification is based on the interpolation pass estimate attribute as well as the Qualified Persons level of geological knowledge and information. Following estimation and classification, the block model was depleted using the actual development and stoping voids, any unrecoverable areas are completely sterilized, and extracted from the mineral resource estimate.

The mineral reserve uses zinc metal price assumption of US$1.20/lb and a /US$ exchange rate of 1.08, based on average long term price for the next five years. Metallurgical recovery and concentrate grade assumptions are based on the 2017 actual results. Mining and milling costs used for the mineral reserve net smelter return calculation have been extracted directly from the actual 2017 operating costs, and include all operating costs and administration costs. The average mining, milling, and maintenance cost over the Internal life of mine is US$80.00/t. This cost increases to US$102.80/t with the inclusion of surface sustaining capital and general and administrative (G&A) costs for the underground operation. Stope shapes are designed manually using Surpac software respecting a net profit given the expected material revenue, and the cost per tonne (long term net smelter return >$100), or each stope must prove itself to be profitable to mine based on an individual financial analysis. Any internal waste is added to the resource tonnage at zero grade plus an additional 15% unplanned dilution is then added and then a 95% recovery is applied.

Appendix: Disclosures III - Rosh Pinah Mine, Namibia

The Rosh Pinah Mine located in Namibia is operated by the 80% Trevali owned Rosh Pinah Zinc Corporation (Proprietary) Limited (RPZC). The mineral resource and mineral reserve will be detailed in the report entitled Technical Report on the Rosh Pinah Mine, Namibia to be dated April 10, 2018, with an effective date of December 31, 2017 which was prepared for the company by Roscoe Postle Associates Inc. (RPA.). RPA is not aware of any environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-economic, marketing, political, or other relevant factors that could materially affect the mineral resource and mineral reserve estimates.

Ian Blakley P.Geo of RPA reviewed and verified information regarding drill sampling, data verification of all digitally-collected data, drill surveys and specific gravity determinations relating to the disclosure herein. The review encompassed quality assurance programs and quality control measures including analytical or testing practice, chain-of-custody procedures, sample storage procedures and included independent sample collection and analysis. This review found the information and procedures meet industry standards and are adequate for Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve estimation and mine planning purposes. There were no limitations on the data verification process. In RPAs opinion, the QA/QC program, as designed and implemented by RPZC is adequate and the assay results within the database are suitable for use in a mineral resource estimate. The Rosh Pinah mineral resources are presented as a series of discrete lenses that are interconnected along the mineralized horizon with four primary lenses, (EOF, SF1, SF3, and WF3). For the WF3 lens separate high and low grade domains were identified with leapfrog software and modeled separated with hard boundaries. Composites were extracted in MineSight software at 1.5 metre composite lengths, capping was applied. The block model uses blocks of size of 5 metres x 5 metres x 5 metres, which is then sub-blocked down to a minimum size of 1.25 metres at domain boundaries. All estimates are prepared using a three pass approach and estimated using ordinary kriging, the pass number aids in resource classification. An overall default bulk density factor of 3.21 t/m3 is applied for WF3 lens to calculate the overall tonnage.

The mineral reserve estimate takes into consideration metallurgical recoveries, concentrate grades, transportation costs, smelter treatment charges, and royalty in determining economic viability. Datamine softwares Mineable Stope Optimizer was used to determine an array of potentially mineable stope shapes per level based on a selection of cut-off grades as determined using a Basic Mining Equation that captures the full cost of the mining operation including mining, processing, shipping, and smelting costs. The average operating cost, excluding capital, is US$48.79 per tonne. This cost increases to US$65.70 per tonne with the inclusion of sustaining capital costs for the underground operation. Revenue of any given parcel of material is calculated using a net smelter return equation. Net smelter return is the net revenue received by the mine from the sale of the zinc, lead, and silver metal less transportation and processing costs. The net smelter return calculation uses metal prices of US$1.16/lb zinc, US$1.00/lb lead, US$18.18/oz silver, FX: NAD/US$ 13.30. Past experience has been used to produce realistic dilution and mining recovery per phase of mining.



English Finnish

Central Bank of Savings Banks Plc

Stock Exchange Release

27 April 2018 at 14 pm (CET +1)

Savings Banks Group's Responsibility Report 2017 has been published. The non-financial information is included in the Resposibility Report.

A pdf-document containing the Responsibility Report is attached to this release. The Reports in PDF format can also be found at www.saastopankki.fi.

SAVINGS BANKS GROUP

Further information:



Tomi Narhinen, Managing Director

Savings Banks Union Coop

tomi.narhinen@saastopankki.fi

+358 40 724 3896

Central Bank of Savings Banks Finland Plc belongs to the Savings Banks Amalgamation and Savings Banks Group and acts as Group's central credit institution. Central Bank of Savings Banks Finland Plc's role is to ensure liquidity and wholesale funding of the Savings Banks Group via operating in the money and capital markets, to operate payment transfers and issuance of payment cards.

Read more at www.saastopankki.fi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New York, Apr 28 (IBNS): Some 2,900 mostly Syrian and Iraqi families have arrived in Evros this month, with eight others losing their lives trying to cross the Evros River from Turkey  prompting the United Nations refugee agency to call on the Greek Government to improve the conditions at its reception area.

Located in the north-eastern part of Greece, the increase in new arrivals is placing a strain on the Fylakio Reception and Identification Centre, the only one in Evros, which is filled beyond its 240-person capacity  including 120 unaccompanied and separated children.

With the Reception and Identification Centre overwhelmed, and struggling to conduct timely registration and identification, or to provide services such as medical and psycho-social care and interpretation, the authorities initially place people, including many children, in inappropriate police detention facilities in the area while they wait for places at the centre to open up, Charlie Yaxley, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office told a regular press briefing in Geneva on Friday.

He went on to inform the press that some have been held in police detention for more than three months with dismal conditions are dismal and limited services.

A UNHCR visit found families in one facility sleeping on the floor beside a row of cells, he elaborated, adding that in a separate police facility, only one doctor and four nurses were available for more than 500 people  including pregnant women, very young children and people in need of medical and psycho-social care.

While welcoming the recent release of more than 2,500 people from detention, UNHCR expressed concern that they are being done without vulnerability screening and information on asylum and other options.

Their situation must be urgently addressed to enable access to care and asylum procedures, stressed Yaxley.

The spokesperson acknowledged the police and the Fylakio Centre were trying to address the challenges, adding that with increasingly stretched resources, the situation has become untenable.

He proposed a number of measures to stabilize the situation, such as immediately setting up reception and identification mobile units and transferring unaccompanied children to safe accommodation and families in detention to safe shelters.

UNHCR will continue to assist the Greek authorities through the provision of technical and material support, including blankets, clothing, hygiene items, solar-powered lamps and other non-food items, he concluded.

UNHCR/Achilleas ZavallisNew York, Apr 28 (IBNS): Surging violence in parts of South Sudan is putting thousands of war-weary civilians at risk and endangering the fragile peace process in the worlds youngest nation, the United Nations peacekeeping mission there has warned.

Innocent civilians are being caught in the crossfire, including many women, children and elderly people, David Shearer, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for South Sudan and the head of the UN Mission in the country (UNMISS) said.

Our teams on the ground are reporting incidents of killing, sexual violence, homes being burnt to the ground, cattle raiding, and the looting of hospitals and schools.

Intense fighting has been reported in Nhialdiu, Mayendit, Rupchai, Thaker, and Mirinyal, in the vicinity of Leer and Bentiu in the Unity region, as well as around Motot and Akobo in Jonglei.

In Leer, in the northern part of the country, armed clashes have occurred near a temporary UNMISS operating base and peacekeepers have placed on high alert to protect some six hundred internally displaced persons who sought sanctuary nearby, said the UN Mission.

The hostilities have forced the relocation of 30 humanitarian workers resulting in disruption of aid services.

This surge in violence [] is at odds with the cessation of hostilities agreement that was signed just a few months ago, explained Mr. Shearer.

We urge the warring parties to lay down their guns, put the interests of the people first, and work together to build lasting peace.

In addition , with the upcoming peace talks at the High Level Revitalization Forum, the head of UNMISS underscored the need for all parties to stop fighting and come together in good faith.

Political leaders must demonstrate they are willing to compromise and resolve this conflict which is causing terrible harm to their people.

Since gaining independence in 2011, South Sudan has spent much of its short life mired in conflict, as what began as a political face-off between President Salva Kiir and former Vice-President Riek Machar erupted into full-blown war late in 2013.

OCHA/Cecilia AtteforsKabul, Apr 28 (IBNS): At least six Taliban terrorists were killed during an operation conducted by intelligence officials in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province on Friday, media reports said on Saturday.

The special National Directorate of Security or NDS forces conducted the operation in Adwar area last night, the Nangarhar governors spokesman, Attaullah Khogyani, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

A bomb making expert was killed in the incident.

He was identified as Zarin, reports said.

"The security forces also confiscated two Kalashnikovs, one walkie-talkie and five magazines besides destroying some explosives," Pajhwok Afghan News reported.

One terrorist was injured and two others were captured by security officials.Kabul, Apr 28 (IBNS): At least two traffic policemen were injured as a blast hit eastern Nangarhar province in Afghanistan on Saturday, media reports said.

The blast reportedly left four other civilians hurt.

Governor spokesman Attaullah Khogyani told Pajhwok Afghan News the blast happened at around 8:00am in the old Chaparhar bus station in the limits of 2nd police district.

A reliable source told the Afghanistan-based news agency that the blast took place inside traffic police booth in which two policemen and four civilians got injured.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.

Afghanistan and its capital Kabul city have witnessed several terrorist attacks in recent times.Ottawa, Apr 28 (IBNS): Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said ending harassment and violence in workplaces requires a cultural change on the national day of mourning, on Saturday.

The National Day of Mourning is held every year on Apr 28 in Canada.

On this day, all who had lost his lives or suffered injuries or illnesses on work due to work-related tragedy are remembered.

In a statement issued, Trudeau said: "Ending harassment and violence in the workplace requires a culture change, one that we all  businesses, employers, employees, organizations, and governments  need to actively support. Businesses that take care of employees foster healthy environments that attract and retain the best talent.

"Employers that lead by example encourage their employees to reach their full potential, and help their businesses succeed. Employees also make a difference by following workplace best practices, creating a more positive environment for the entire team."

Regarding the action of the Canadian government, the PM said: "The Government of Canada is doing its part. We are taking action to reduce work-related dangers and harassment, and tohelp prevent on the job accidents, injuries, and illnesses. Budget 2018 proposes $34.9 million over five years to ensure that federally regulated workplaces, including Parliament, are free from harassment and any type of violence. This will mean more resources for training and education, more timely complaints investigations, and effective enforcement."

Trudeau also said his government has proposed $50.4 million over five years to address sexual harassment in the workplaces in the country.

"These funds will boost legal aid across the country to support victims of workplace sexual harassment, and help develop a national outreach program to better inform workers  especially those most vulnerable  about their rights and how they can get support if they have experienced harassment."

Trudeau has emphasised on occupational health and safety.

He said: "From banning asbestos, to modernizing our compliance and enforcement regime under the Canada Labour Code so that there are real and public consequences for violating workplace standards, we are deeply committed to making workplaces safer and more productive for everyone."

Regarding the day, Trudeau said: "The National Day of Mourning calls attention to workers in Canada and around the world who have lost their lives, suffered illness, or been injured on the job."

(Reporting by Suman Das)Iran Human Rights Monitor quotes the NGO as saying that the Iranian regime keeps a tight grip on most media outlets and never relents in its persecution of independent journalists, citizen-journalists, and media outlets. The report also specifies some of the tactics used by Iranian authorities toward this end, including arbitrary arrests and jail sentences, as well as threats and intimidation directed not only against reporters but also against their families.

Reporters Without Borders also specifies that while a handful of independent journalism outlets continue to operate within Iran, they are systematically deprived of useful resources while also remaining under constant threat of forced closure or other reprisals for reporting that appears particularly challenging to the regime or its leadership. The report suggests that this situation has put citizen journalists at the forefront of battles for freely-reported news and information and for political change.

But unsurprisingly, Tehran is taking significant measures to restrict the work of those citizen journalists, as well. Leading tactics in this effort include the obstruction, filtering, or aggressive monitoring of social media networks. Both Facebook and Twitter have famously been banned throughout Iran since they were deemed responsible for much of the activist organizing that underlay the 2009 Green Movement.

Now, the regime has formally moved to extend this ban to the popular Telegram instant messaging app, which had reportedly come to be used by upwards of half the countrys population, including the organizers of mass anti-government protests in December and January.

The Associated Press reported on Thursday that Iranian internet service providers had been ordered to cease allowing their users to access Telegram. However, the same report highlights the prevalence of virtual proxy networks and other technical workarounds among Irans young web users. These have allowed many users to evade the bans on Twitter and Facebook, and it is expected that some users of Telegram will adopt the same practice. In fact, the AP reports that when Telegram was temporarily blocked during the January protests, about 10 percent of users continued to access it anyway.

Nevertheless, the newly imposed, ostensibly permanent ban will present new challenges for citizen journalists, activist organizers, and anyone else whose communications are deemed objectionable by the clerical regime. Experts interviewed by the AP anticipate that even among those who continue to access the service, the speed of communication will slow down significantly. At the same time, it remains to be seen how many Telegram users will put forth the effort to maintain access to it, and how many will acquiesce to the governments efforts to shift online communications toward domestic alternatives.

In this interest of facilitating that shift, authorities introduced a new service called Soroush at roughly the same time as the Telegram ban went into effect. The domestic service is reportedly a clone of Telegram in many ways, but with servers inside the country which make it much easier for the regime monitor communications over its network.

Such monitoring is commonplace in the case of communications that evade the bans on Facebook and Twitter, and this has laid the groundwork for numerous cases of political imprisonment in recent years. But Telegram has long posed a particular challenge for the regime because of better encryption of user data and because of the companys resistance to Iranian ultimatums regarding the relocation of user data to servers inside the country. The perceived security of the app was a major contributor to its popularity, and this is expected to be a major barrier to the widespread adoption of Soroush or any other domestic alternative.

This is something that was highlighted by Al Jazeera on Thursday in its reporting on the Iranian regimes introduction and active promotion of Soroush. Additionally, the reports details regarding the platform suggest that it is intended to serve another role beyond facilitating government monitoring and undermining the freedom of citizen communications. Soroush reportedly includes a unique package of message stickers that include images of heavily veiled women holding banners that proclaim Death to America, that criticize Israel, and that praise Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Such features point to Soroush being designed with the specific intention of expanding the reach of government-backed propaganda, in a media landscape where state-linked television, radio, and print outlets are already predominant. Certain consequences of that dominance were highlighted on Wednesday by Scott Lucas of EA Worldview. The reporter notes that he accepted an interview request from a leading Iranian news outlet, the Iranian Labor News Agency, in part to test the limits of what could be said in such interviews.

While Lucas found that ILNA did not obstruct all of the points that he expected it to, he also noted that the outlet had freely changed several phrases when printing his responses to interview questions. A reference to Irans ballistic missile program, for instance, was changed to the more positive-sounding missile defense program, and a reference to chemical weapons use by the Iran-backed Assad regime in Syria was deleted entirely.

Such alterations, even if applied somewhat selectively by Irans censorship authorities, point to the dangers presented by any further consolidation of state control over Irans media and communications landscape. And those dangers are rather more obvious when one considers the ways in which Iranian state media has been used to smear various advocates of social and political reform, and to justify politically motivated arrests, some of which carry with them the threat of a death sentence.

One of the latest targets of such smears was Kaveh Madani, the deputy minister of the environment who had returned to Iran from an academic position in Britain in order to take on the role. Madani recently resigned his post and fled the country after months of consistent pressure from hardline authorities. The CHRI detailed some of this pressure on Thursday and pointed out that even after his return to London, affiliates of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps have continued to attack Madani in the media and to portray him as a foreign spy, albeit without any evidence to support that accusation.

It is easy to conclude that had Madani not fled, or if he were to return to Iran once again, he would be at risk of arrest, possibly leading to torture and execution. Indeed, the erstwhile environmental official was targeted for arrest in February alongside several other environmentalists. And while Madani was released, another of the arrestees, Iranian-Canadian university professor Kavous Seyed-Emami, died under suspicious circumstances while in detention.Progress toward such a fix has been slow. And although France, Germany, and the United Kingdom have reportedly facilitated agreement among EU member states over issues like the expansion in monitoring of Irans nuclear activities, they have so far fallen short of satisfying all of the White Houses demands. Separately, Macron has expressed significant agreement with Trump regarding the need to impose new restrictions on Irans ballistic missile activities and its role in the broader Middle East.

The French presidents receptiveness to these concerns was presumably a source of encouragement for Trump, who said on Thursday that he believed he had brought Macron around to his way of thinking, according to the Associated Press. But Macron himself seemed to contradict this interpretation of their meeting, and the BBC quoted him as saying that Trump would likely withdraw the US from the JCPOA, for domestic reasons.

Macron issued the prediction without drawing back from the overarching European support for the preservation of the existing agreement. And although he continued to underscore his agreement with Trump over wider concerns for the Middle East, he also dismissed ongoing shifts in American foreign policy as insane.

But this language suggests the possibility of further such shifts, including on the nuclear issue. That possibility was teased by US Defense Secretary James Mattis in a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday. The AP reported that Mattis withheld any personal opinion about the future of the agreement, yet underscored that the US and Europe were still negotiating over possible fixes, and that the administration would remain open to those fixes until the May 12 deadline.

As long as ongoing American participation in the JCPOA remains an open question, it will be difficult to predict how and to what extent the US and Europe will cooperate over Iran policy and related issues in the coming months. It also remains to be seen how the Islamic Republic will react to Trumps prospective pullout. Iranian officials have issued various warnings in this regard, though most have been vague. For his part, Trump was equally vague on Wednesday when he threatened that Tehran would face bigger problems than ever before if the regime resumed full-scale nuclear activities after the May deadline.

Atomic Energy Organization of Iran head Ali Akbar Salehi, among other officials, has suggested that the Islamic Republic could quickly ramp up its uranium enrichment to levels far exceeding pre-JCPOA levels if the US exits the deal. Some statements to this effect have said that this could be accomplished in as little as two days, though it is highly probable that this is only bluster from a regime known for boastful propaganda. Even so, the statements highlight a defiant attitude in the face of threats from the Trump administration. And as those threats escalate, Tehran is noticeably seeking support for its defiance among established and prospective allies.

This trend was on display on Thursday against the backdrop of an international security conference in the Russian resort town of Sochi. There, the Secretary of Irans Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, met with Chinese Public Security Secretary Guo Shengkun and touted the prospect of greater cooperation among Iran, China, and Russia with the specific intention of countering American influence.

As Iran Front Page News notes, Shamkhani underscored the fact that each of those three countries are under Western sanctions, though he glossed over the fact that those sanctions generally related to human rights violations both within those countries and in foreign conflict zones like Syria. As the power of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant continues to shrink toward insignificance, foreign interest in the conflict is becoming increasingly focused on its potential role as a lynchpin for larger imperial ambitions by Iran and its supporters. Tehrans support of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, even in the wake of his use of chemical weapons, has created a situation wherein Iran-backed militants are heavily integrated into the Assad regimes military force.

This is a problem that Macron sought to highlight during his visit to Washington. A day earlier, he told Fox News Sunday that leaving Syria after the defeat of ISIL would be a mistake because we will leave the floor to the Iranian regime and they will prepare the new war; they will fuel the new terrorists.

Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon sought to weigh in on the same topic on Thursday. Reuters reports that he presented the UN Security Council with a map purportedly showing the location of an Iranian base just five miles from the Syrian capital Damascus. Danon described the location as Irans central induction and recruitment center, wherein it provided training to more than 80,000 Shiite paramilitary fighters.

I addition to recruiting from local Shiite populations, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps has also assembled paramilitary divisions from Afghanis and Pakistanis, to be dispatched both to Syria and to Iraq with the promise of permanent resident status and working papers in the Islamic Republic. Taken together, these phenomena help to highlight concerns among Irans regional and Western adversaries regarding the possibility of Iran establishing a permanent foothold in Syria while also extending its reach further into the Shiite populations of surrounding countries.

Despite stark warnings about this trend from Macron, Danon, and others, international attention remains focused on the nuclear agreement for the time being. And until Trump announces his decision to either keep the US in the deal or to withdraw, it is not known how this issue will affect the prospects for cooperation by Irans allies and its adversaries to promote or counter the regimes force projection throughout the Middle East.PM Oli directs Nepal Telecom to improve service quality

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has expressed his dissatisfaction with the service of the Nepal Telecom.We havent accepted constitution yet: Upendra Yadav

Sanghiya Samajbadi Forum Nepal (SSFN) Chairman Upendra Yadav has expressed dissatisfaction over the behavior of the federal government.Arizonas Only Black Legislators Chastised After Race Talk

The only two Black members of the Arizona Legislature were formally chastised for speaking out against a Republican lawmakers published column, which included a racial slur and they say derided Black activists while attempting to discredit leaders of a teacher group protesting for better pay.

Rep. Maria Syms wrote in a column published in the Arizona Republic that the two best-known leaders of the (hash)RedforEd movement are political operatives who are radicalizing Arizona youth. She called Noah Karvelis classroom exotic and said he prides himself on teaching students music from the hip hop artist Kendrick Lamar. Syms included a lyric from the Pulitzer Prize-winning artist that included a derogatory term for African-Americans.

Democratic Rep. Reginald Bolding, who is Black, said he was offended by the language she used.

ADVERTISEMENT

This article attempts to discredit this teacher because he may have introduced lyrics in the classroom written by a Black entertainer, Bolding said. This article attempts to discredit this teacher because he takes inspiration from a Black civil rights activist. This article attempts to discredit this teacher because he admires a professor that taught at a historically Black college for women.

The more I read the more I was disappointed that it appears to be OK to use a racial slur about Black people in the article, Bolding continued. Let me be crystal clear: Its not acceptable to us a racial slur even if that slur is used as a quote.

Majority Republicans voted to formally rebuke Bolding as well as the only other Black member of the Legislature, Democratic Rep. Geraldine Peten, when she began speaking on the same subject.

The fight was at least the third this year where Democrats were shut down over what Republicans called violations of House rules of decorum and debate.

Speaker J.D. Mesnard was incensed over what he saw as violations.

I dont know why its so hard to follow the rules, Mesnard said. It doesnt matter whether you are White or Black or Brown on whatever the color the color of your skin is, you follow the House rules.

ADVERTISEMENT

Syms defended the article and thanked fellow Republicans who came to her defense.

I think the one thing that we can agree on is that these terms are terribly offensive, Syms said. If anyone would read the article they would know that those words were used in the article to expose the offensive nature of language used by the leader of (hash)RedforEd in the classroom. Every person in the state of Arizona should be offended by these racially offensive words that are being used in our classrooms right now.

Karvelis said it was ridiculous that his hip-hop lesson plans were being brought up and that he never used the racial slur in class.

Its just a distraction, he added.

Tens of thousands of Arizona teachers who have organized under the grass-roots Arizona Educators United group that Karvelis helped organize are set to strike starting Thursday. Theyre seeking a 20 percent teacher pay raise, competitive pay for support staff, annual salary increases, school funding boosts to 2008 levels and no new tax cuts until per-pupil funding reaches the national average.

Gov. Doug Ducey is offering a 20 percent pay raise but has mainly ignored the other demands. Republican leaders of the Arizona House and Senate say they wont bend to teacher demands for more than raises.Comedian Bill Cosby Found Guilty in Sexual Assault Trial

A Montgomery County jury on Thursday found comedian Bill Cosby guilty on all three counts of aggravated indecent assault in the case involving Andrea Constand, a former Temple University employee, who sought career advice and friendship from the entertainer.

The decision came after more than a day of deliberations and after having Cosbys deposition testimony read back to them.

Cosby, 80, faces up to 30 years in prison.

ADVERTISEMENT

He was released on $1 million bail pending sentencing.

District Attorney Kevin Steele asked the judge to remand Cosby, citing his enormous wealth and means.

He will flee, Steele said.

Judge Steven T. ONeill argued that he doesnt have a plane and hasnt missed a courtroom.

He doesnt have a plane, you ahole, Cosby yelled out. Im sick of this.

He did not react to the verdict, even as each of the 12 members of the jury were polled individually.

ADVERTISEMENT

Cosbys spokesman Andrew Wyatt said he was disappointed by the verdict.

His attorneys said they plan to appeal, citing numerous improper rulings by ONeill and a juror who was kept on the panel after he was overheard saying, hes guilty, we can all go home, before the trial began.Lynching Memorial and Museum in Montgomery Open to Public

Hundreds of people lined up in the rain to get a first look at a lynching memorial and museum that opened Thursday in Montgomery, Alabama.

The National Memorial for Peace and Justice commemorates 4,400 Black people who were slain in lynchings and other racial killings between 1877 and 1950. Their names, where known, are engraved on 800 dark, rectangular steel columns, one for each U.S. county where lynchings occurred.

A related museum is also opening in Montgomery, called The Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration.

ADVERTISEMENT

Many visitors shed tears and stared intently at the commemorative columns, many of which are suspended in the air from above.

Toni Battle drove from San Francisco to attend. Im a descendant of three lynching victims, Battle said, her face wet with tears. I wanted to come and honor them and also those in my family that couldnt be here.

Angel Smith Dixon, who is biracial, came from Lawrenceville, Georgia, to see the memorial.

Were publicly grieving this atrocity for the first time as a nation.  You cant grieve something you cant see, something you dont acknowledge. Part of the healing process, the first step is to acknowledge it.

The crowd included White and Black visitors. Mary Ann Braubach, who is White, came from Los Angeles to attend. As an American, I feel this is a past we have to confront, she said as she choked back tears.

Launch events include a Peace and Justice Summit featuring celebrities and activists like Ava DuVernay, Marian Wright Edelman and Gloria Steinem.

ADVERTISEMENT

The summit, museum and memorial are projects of the Equal Justice Initiative, a Montgomery-based legal advocacy group founded by attorney Bryan Stevenson. Stevenson won a MacArthur genius award for his human rights work.

The group bills the project as the nations first memorial dedicated to the legacy of enslaved Black people, people terrorized by lynching, African Americans humiliated by racial segregation and Bryan Stevenson, and people of color burdened with contemporary presumptions of guilt and police violence.Study: California gun deaths declined between 2000 and 2015

Gun deaths have fallen in California over a 16-year period ending in 2015, driven largely by a decline in gang violence and falling homicide rates among Black and Hispanic male victims, a recent study of firearm violence has found.

Researchers at the University of California, Davis published their findings in the May issue of the journal Annals of Epidemiology after reviewing 50,921 firearm deaths recorded in California between 2000 and 2015. The University provided the study results on Monday.

The report found 24,922 firearm homicides during that period and 23,682 suicides by gun. Researchers say the number of firearm homicides dropped from 4.19 per 100,000 people in 2000 to a low of 3.13 per 100,000 in 2014 before ticking up slightly in 2015.

ADVERTISEMENT

Researcher Veronica Pear attributed the decline in gun homicides to a reduction of gang violence, particularly in Los Angeles County.

The study also showed a big drop in the number of Black men being killed by guns.

Pear said the number of gun homicides involving Black male victims dropped 32 percent from the peak in 2005 at 47 per 100,000 people to 31 per 100,000 in 2015. The homicide rate for Hispanic male victims was 6.7 per 100,000 in 2015, a 38 percent decline from its peak of 10.8 per 100,000 in 2005.

The homicide rate of White and Asian male victims held steady throughout the period at roughly the same level of 3 homicides per 100,000 annually.

Pear said she hopes the new research will be used by others studying the cause and effects of gun violence.

We also hope it can serve as a template for researchers in other states to create similar profiles, she said.

ADVERTISEMENT

For the last 30 years, the federal government has largely abandoned gun-violence studies after the National Rifle Association prevailed on Congress to significantly restrict funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevent to do the research. The NRA said it does not oppose gun research but is against research that it calls biased, flimsy or aimed at advocacy.

A few private foundations and California have recently stepped up funding of gun violence studies. California became the first state to publicly support the research when lawmakers voted to fund U.C. Davis Violence Prevention Research Program with $5 million over five years.

The Kaiser Permanente health care consortium announced earlier this month it would spend $2 million to study gun violence among its 12 million members.Trump says Rapper Kanye West has Good Taste for Liking Him

President Donald Trump praised Kanye West on Thursday for having good taste for supporting the president.

Trump said in an interview with Fox & Friends that he knew the rapper a little bit and always got along with him, and said that West has noticed the low unemployment rate for Black Americans.

He sees that stuff and hes smart and he says, you know what, Trump is doing a much better job than the Democrats did, the president said.

ADVERTISEMENT

West recently offered his support for Trump in a series of tweets, saying they both share dragon energy. That caused a backlash among other public figures who oppose the president

In a tweet on Thursday, West wrote that while hate is a similar emotion to love, hate is not the answer.

He also tweeted a link to a TMZ.com story about himself with a headline that described West as the opposite of erratic. The story noted that West is releasing a new album in the coming months.

West has toyed with running for president himself and on Wednesday tweeted a poster of his face emblazoned with the slogan Keep America Great and (hash)Kanye2024.

He has recorded several best-selling albums and produced a buzzy fashion line and has the undeniable talent for attracting attention. Hes also been linked to several previous presidents, including when Obama called him a jackass in 2009 for storming the stage at an MTV awards show to interrupt Taylor Swift. And in 2005, during a telethon to raise money for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, West criticized the White Houses response to the storm by famously charging that George W. Bush doesnt care about Black people.The Renwick Gallery in Washington, D.C., is exploring the art of the yearly Burning Man event held in Nevada.

The show, No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man, opened March 30. The Renwick is part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Every August, a temporary city rises from the dust in northwestern Nevadas Black Rock Desert. As many as 75,000 people gather for the eight-day event called Burning Man. They sculpt, build, perform and invent in many ways while there. Organizers have called Burning Man a crucible of creativity. The attendees are called Burners. Each attendee is equal part observer and actor at Burning Man.

The events name comes from the burning of a huge, wooden representation of a human, known as the Man. It takes place on Saturday night, hours before the event ends. A crowd gathers, the model is lit on fire, and celebrants watch it burn.

The first Man was burned in 1986 on Baker Beach in San Francisco, California. That wooden work stood less than three meters high. Now they are always much bigger. The tallest ever was 32 meters.

But more than the Man turns to ash at Burning Man. Many works of art are burned during the eight days. The immediate and the temporary are important ideas at the event. Total respect for the environment is also important. Burners are expected to remove from the area all evidence of themselves and the activity when they leave.

Stephanie Stebich is the director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. She said that the Burning Man festival provides artists a chance to dream big and create large-scale works with new technologies.

But Burning Man is not easy to attend. It is deep in the desert, the living conditions are difficult and tickets are costly. Many who want to go cannot. But, now, people in Washington can get much closer to the experience.

On a recent Saturday, visitors formed a long line in front of the Renwick. As they entered, one of the first artworks they saw was Temple, an installation from artist David Best.

At Burning Man, Best is known for designing huge structures in the style of holy buildings. People use them as spiritual centers during their stay at the event. Best told Renwick officials that there are not enough places where people can gather to think about loss. The artist said Temple is such a place without connection to any single religion.

Bests work is always lit on fire at Burning Man. That will not happen at Renwick Gallery, of course. But the show's organizers have included other activities that are similar to what happens at Burning Man. Maybe most important is that Renwick visitors interact with the art at the exhibit. This is why the show is called No Spectators.

For example, visitors to Temple are provided wooden cards on which to write about memories or other thoughts of lost loved ones. They can then place the piece in small openings of the temple structure.

In this way, Temple is changed by those who enter it.

Visitors are also encouraged to touch and take photos of other artworks. FoldHauss Shrumen Lumen is an example. The three large models of mushrooms were created by the traditional Japanese art of folding paper, or origami. The mushrooms light up and grow when people are near. Children seem to especially enjoy this combination of technology and artistic skill.

Artist Richard Wilks Evotrope is also interactive. The artwork of wheels and metal framing holds a large, flat round piece in its center. Attached to it are images of a blue eye: open, closed, and several positions in between. When visitors use the device to make the circle spin, the eye seems to open and close.

The Renwick Gallery show also has a virtual reality area where visitors can explore past Burning Mans as if they were there.

No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man will close on January 21, 2019.

I'm Caty Weaver.

Reporter Xiaotong Zhou wrote this story for VOA Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor.

____________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

crucible  n. a difficult test or challenge

large-scale  adj. covering or involving a large area

encourage  v. to make (someone) more likely to do something

virtual  adj. very close to being something without actually being itThousands of girls have now joined the Boy Scouts of America, or BSA, across the United States.

The previously all-male organization announced last year it would begin permitting girls to join the Cub Scouts in 2018. The Cub Scouts is a similar group for younger children.

The BSA also plans to create a new program next year for older girls wishing to join the organization.

The Cub Scout program officially begins nationwide later this year. But the BSA gave local councils the choice to get started earlier than planned. About two-thirds of U.S. councils chose to begin early, with about 3,000 girls accepted into the Cub Scouts so far.

The new plans call for smaller Cub Scout groups to be either all-boys or all-girls. Larger Cub Scout groups will have the choice to remain single gender or welcome both boys and girls.

When the new program for older girls begins, it will let them earn the highest level of scouting in the BSA, the rank of Eagle Scout.

BSA spokeswoman Effie Delimarkos said the organization had received a clear message that many girls could not wait to join. We heard from our families, OK, youve made the decision. Can you please give us a way to do this right now because weve got families and daughters that are just really excited about it, she said.

Delimarkos added that the Boy Scouts have received many reports that girls have been warmly welcomed by leaders and the boys themselves.

Tuck Pescosolido is a Cub Scout leader in Durham, New Hampshire. He told the Associated Press some of the new female members are friends the boys suggested, while others are sisters of Scouts.

One of his recent projects involved the Cub Scouts building wooden toolboxes. Pescosolido said the only difference he saw was that some girls remained a little calmer than the boys. He added that the girls were just as active in the project as the boys, but did not become as easily distracted by other things.

Boy Scouts of America officials have said the decision to admit girls was made, in part, to make things easier for busy families. But the move was criticized by the countrys other major scouting organization, the Girl Scouts of the USA.

Girl Scout officials have suggested the change was driven partly by a need to raise money because of BSAs financial problems.

The leader of the Girl Scouts in the New Hampshire area, Patricia Mellor, said the BSAs decision should also not have been made just to make things easier for families.

Youve made the choice for your son based on what you thought was best for him, and the daughter should be getting a similar decision, Mellor told the Associated Press. We know facts prove that the Girl Scout program is the better program for the girls and young women we serve, she added.

Im Bryan Lynn.

Bryan Lynn adapted this story for VOA Learning English, based on a report from the Associated Press. Mario Ritter was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page.

_____________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

council  n. a group of people who elected or chosen to give advice or make decisions

gender  n. the state of being male or female

distracted  adj. unable to think clearly or carefully pay attention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. American Consumer News, LLC dba MarketBeat 2010-2021. All rights reserved.

326 E 8th St #105, Sioux Falls, SD 57103 | U.S. Based Support Team at [email protected] | (844) 978-6257

MarketBeat does not provide personalized financial advice and does not issue recommendations or offers to buy stock or sell any security.



Our Accessibility Statement | Terms of Service | Do Not Sell My Information



 2021 Market data provided is at least 10-minutes delayed and hosted by Barchart Solutions. Information is provided 'as-is' and solely for informational purposes, not for trading purposes or advice, and is delayed. To see all exchange delays and terms of use please see disclaimer. Fundamental company data provided by Zacks Investment Research.2 hours ago

Two Downgrades For Dividend-Growth Investors To Cash In On

When Business Is So Good ... Downgrades arent events we relish in the stocks we follow but they do often present opportunities that can be used to advantage. Take, for instance, downgrades driven not so much by a deterioration of business but by the size and scope of that business.

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The following companies are subsidiares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise: 3Com International Inc., 3PAR Inc., Apogee, Aruba Networks Inc., Aruba Networks International Cayman, Aruba Networks International Limited, BlueData Software, Cloud Cruiser, Cloud Technology Partners, Cloud Technology Partners Inc., Compaq Computer (Mauritius), Compaq Trademark B.V., Cray, Cray Inc., EDS World Corporation (Far East) LLC, EYP Mission Critical Facilities Inc., H3C Holdings Limited, HP Enterprise Services Australia Pty Ltd, HP Financial Services (Australia) Pty Limited, HP Financial Services (Chile) Limitada, HP Financial Services (Japan) K.K., HP Financial Services Arrendamento Mercantil S.A., HP Financial Services Company (Korea), HP Financial Services International Holdings Company, HPE Government LLC, HPFS Global Holdings I LLC, HPFS Global Holdings II LLC, HPFS Rental S.R.L., Hangzhou H3C Technologies Co. Ltd, Hewlett Packard Caribe BV LLC, Hewlett Packard Colombia Ltda., Hewlett Packard Enterprise (China) Co. Ltd., Hewlett Packard Enterprise B.V., Hewlett Packard Enterprise B.V. Amstelveen Meyrin Branch, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Canada Co., Hewlett Packard Enterprise Canada Co. Hewlett Packard Enterprise Canada Cie, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Costa Rica Limitada, Hewlett Packard Enterprise GlobalSoft Private Limited, Hewlett Packard Enterprise India Private Limited, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Ireland Limited, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Luxembourg SCA, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Polska sp. z o.o., Hewlett Packard Pathfinder LLC, Hewlett Packard Taiwan Ltd., Hewlett-Packard (Israel) Ltd., Hewlett-Packard (M) Sdn. Bhd., Hewlett-Packard (Nigeria) Limited, Hewlett-Packard (Schweiz) GmbH, Hewlett-Packard (Tanzania) Limited, Hewlett-Packard (Thailand) Limited, Hewlett-Packard ApS, Hewlett-Packard Argentina S.R.L., Hewlett-Packard Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Hewlett-Packard Australia Pty Ltd, Hewlett-Packard Belgium SPRL/BVBA, Hewlett-Packard Bermuda Enterprises LLC, Hewlett-Packard Brasil Ltda., Hewlett-Packard Bulgaria EOOD, Hewlett-Packard Caribe B.V., Hewlett-Packard Caribe Y Andina B.V. LLC, Hewlett-Packard Chile Comercial Limitada, Hewlett-Packard Cyprus Ltd, Hewlett-Packard Ecuador Cia. Ltda., Hewlett-Packard Egypt Ltd., Hewlett-Packard Financial Services (India) Private Limited, Hewlett-Packard Financial Services Canada Company, Hewlett-Packard Financial Services Company, Hewlett-Packard France SAS, Hewlett-Packard G1 SPV (Cayman) Company, Hewlett-Packard Gesellschaft mbH, Hewlett-Packard Ghana Limited, Hewlett-Packard GmbH, Hewlett-Packard Guatemala Limitada, Hewlett-Packard HK SAR Ltd., Hewlett-Packard Hellas EPE, Hewlett-Packard Holdings Ltd., Hewlett-Packard International Bank Designated Activity Company, Hewlett-Packard International Bank Public Limited Company, Hewlett-Packard International Sarl, Hewlett-Packard Italiana S.r.l., Hewlett-Packard Japan Ltd., Hewlett-Packard Korea Ltd., Hewlett-Packard Leasing Limited, Hewlett-Packard Limited, Hewlett-Packard Luxembourg Enterprises LLC, Hewlett-Packard Macau Limited, Hewlett-Packard Manufacturing Ltd, Hewlett-Packard Marigalante Ltd., Hewlett-Packard Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Hewlett-Packard Middle East FZ-LLC, Hewlett-Packard Mocambique Limitada - Sociedada em Liquidacao, Hewlett-Packard Nederland B.V., Hewlett-Packard New Zealand, Hewlett-Packard Norge AS, Hewlett-Packard OY, Hewlett-Packard Operations Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Hewlett-Packard Peru S.R.L., Hewlett-Packard Philippines Corporation, Hewlett-Packard Portugal Lda., Hewlett-Packard SARL, Hewlett-Packard SIA, Hewlett-Packard Servicios Espana S.L., Hewlett-Packard Singapore (Sales) Pte. Ltd., Hewlett-Packard South Africa (Proprietary) Limited, Hewlett-Packard Sverige AB, Hewlett-Packard Technology Center Inc., Hewlett-Packard Teknoloji Cozumleri Limited Sirketi, Hewlett-Packard The Hague B.V., Hewlett-Packard Venezuela S.R.L., Hewlett-Packard Vision Limited, Hewlett-Packard d.o.o., Hewlett-Packard s.r.o., Limited Liability Company Hewlett Packard Enterprise, MapR Technologies, New H3C Technologies Co. Ltd., Niara Inc., Nimble Storage, Nimble Storage Inc., Nimble Storage Israel Ltd, Nimble Storage Japan GK, Nimble Storage UK Limited, Plexxi, RedPixie, SGI (Silicon Graphics), Sapphire Holding Co, Scytale, Shanghai Hewlett-Packard Co. Ltd., Silver Peak, SimpliVity, Sinope Holding B.V., Trilead, UAB ES Hague Lietuva, and Unis Huashan Technologies Co. Limited.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Zayo Group Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides bandwidth infrastructure solutions for the communications industry in the United States, Canada, and Europe. The company operates in six segments: Fiber Solutions, Transport, Enterprise Networks, Zayo Colocation (zColo), Allstream, and Other. The Fiber Solutions segment provides dark fiber, and fiber-to-the-tower and small cell mobile infrastructure services for carriers and other communication service providers, Internet service providers, wireless service providers, media and content companies, large enterprises, and other companies. The Transport segment offers lit bandwidth infrastructure solutions comprising wavelength, Ethernet, wholesale IP services, and SONET services through its metro, regional, and long-haul fiber networks for carriers, content providers, financial services companies, healthcare, government entities, education institutions, and other medium and large enterprises. The Enterprise Networks segment provides connectivity and telecommunications solutions comprising Internet, wide area networking products, managed products, and cloud based computing and storage offerings to medium and large enterprises. The Zayo Colocation (zColo) segment offers data center infrastructure solutions consisting of colocation space, and power and interconnection services to a range of enterprise, carrier, cloud, and content customers. The Allstream segment provides cloud VoIP and data solutions, such as voice offerings; and unified communications, as well as telecommunications services, including Ethernet, and IP/MPLS VPN solutions. The Other segment provides network and technical resources to customers in designing, acquiring, and maintaining their networks. Zayo Group Holdings, Inc. was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Boulder, Colorado.

Read MoreThe US ban on shipments of US goods to Chinese phone maker ZTE means its likely future ZTE phones wont be able to use Qualcomms Snapdragon processors, which would be a pretty big blow. But its also unclear whether the ban would prevent ZTE from loading Googles core Android apps including the Play Store, Gmail, and YouTube on its phones.

While Android is an open source operating system thats available for anyone to use, those apps are proprietary and phone makers need to work with Google in order to get permission to load them on phones and tablets.

Without Snapdragon chips or Google Mobile Services support, ZTE would probably have a hard time selling its phones outside of its home country of China (where no phones have Google Mobile Services).

And Huawei might face similar pressure in the future. So its not surprising to hear that Huawei is apparently hedging its bets by developing its own alternative to Android.

US regulators and lawmakers have been skeptical of Huawei for years, prohibiting government agencies from purchasing phones or telecommunications equipment from the company for fear that Huawei may be too closely tied to the Chinese government and that its devices could be used for government spying.

This week the Wall Street Journal reported that Huawei may also be under investigation for violating US sanctions on Iran by shipping phones with US components to that country the same thing that ZTE was accused of before the US Commerce Department banned US companies from selling goods to the company.

Its unclear if Huawei will be found guilty or if it will face the same penalty as ZTE. But according to a report from the South China Morning Post, Huawei has been preparing for worst-case scenarios like that for the past six years, since the US government started investigating Huawei and ZTE in the name of national security.

The company is said to be working on its own operating systems for smartphones, tablets, and personal computers that it could use in place of Android and Windows.

For now, Huawei officials say the company has no plans to release its own operating system. But Huawei is the worlds largest telecommunications equipment manufacturer, and itd be surprising if the company didnt have the resources to build a mobile operating system that could do many of the things Android can.

Whats less certain is whether people would actually buy such a phone.

These days Googles Android operating system is estimated to be running on more than 80 percent of the worlds smartphones. Most of the rest are iPhones running Apples iOS.

Only around 0.1 percent of smartphones shipping today are running an alternate operating system such as Windows Phone, Tizen, or Sailfish OS.

While weve seen other attempts to break the duopoloy, including Mozillas Firefox OS and Ubuntu Touch, none have been particularly successful. Sure, a niche device like the upcoming Purism Librem 5 may be able to survive as a niche device that emphasizes privacy and open source software over everything else, but with hundreds of Android-powered phones to choose from, its unclear if theres enough demand for a third-party mobile OS for a company like Huawei to pull off a project to ship all of its phones with a new operating system.

If the company tries, itll face many of the same challenges that others have faced, including the need to attract third-party app developers to the platform, the need to build out a robust app store experience, and the need to create intuitive software that would appeal to customers who would otherwise buy an Android or iOS device.

So I wouldnt really expect Huawei to even try selling non-Android phones unless Android no longer becomes a viable option. But if that does happen, it looks like Huaweis got a plan B that could help the company at least go down fighting.

Huawei is in better shape to weather a US trade ban than rival ZTE in at least one way: while ZTE buys chips from US-based Qualcomm, most recent Huawei smartphones have been powered by the companys own Kirin processors.

via GizmoChina

Share this article: Share this: Facebook

Twitter

Reddit

Pocket

Tumblr

Pinterest

LinkedIn

Email

This week Canonical released Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, and while the company is emphasizing cloud features and performance, there are plenty of updates for desktop users too.

Ubuntu 18.04 LTS has a new Linux kernel, new power management features, an updated user interface (thats now based on GNOME), and more.

But if GNOME isnt your thing, there are also updated versions of all official Ubuntu flavors, including Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Xubuntu, Ubuntu Budgie, and Ubuntu MATE. Each has a different desktop environment which means that while theyre all based on the same core Ubuntu software, they each have a different user interface and set of pre-installed applications.

Its been a while since I last took Ubuntu MATE for a spin, so I figured Id fire up version 18.04 to see whats new.

This Ubuntu flavor uses a version of the MATE desktop environment which started off as a fork of GNOME 2 a number of years back, but which has grown into a powerful desktop environment in its own right.

The latest update includes a move from MATE 1.12 to MATE 1.20.1, improved support for HiDPI displays (screens with a high number of pixels-per-inch), and support for new file manager features including bulk file renaming, encryption, and hash checking.

Theres also hardware acceleration for the Marco window manager, which brings improved 3D rendering for games an other applications.

MATEs default user interface may look a lot like the classic GNOME 2 UI, but its very customizable, and there are a number of pre-loaded layouts you can choose from including the Windows-like Redmond, which puts a start menu and taskbar at the bottom of the screen, Cupertino, which gives you a macOS-like dock, and a new option called Familiar, which is now the default.

Familiar looks a lot like the old default layout, with a top panel for menu items and a bottom panel with shortcuts for currently running applications. But theres a new all-in-one Brisk Menu with an integrated search bar rather than the separate Applications, Places, and System options featured in the Traditional layout.

You can still switch to Traditional or another layout using the MATE Tweak tool.

Other changes in Ubuntu MATE 18.04 LTS include a minimal install option that just loads the desktop, some core utilities, and the Firefox web browser, a few new options in the Welcome screen that greets you after installation, optional support for a Head-Up Display that lets you find menu items as you type, and updated versions of default apps including Firefox, Thunderbird, LibreOffice, and VLC.

You can find more details in the release notes.

Or you can check out the release notes for other Ubuntu 18.04 LTS flavors to see whats new with Lubuntu, Xubuntu, Kubuntu, or Ubuntu Budgie.

Theres also a new version of Ubuntu Studio but according to the release notes, its not an LTS (long term support) release, and other than the changes found in Ubuntu 18.04, there are no notable changes in this release since 17.10.

Share this article: Share this: Facebook

Twitter

Reddit

Pocket

Tumblr

Pinterest

LinkedIn

Email

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Could a clump of interlocking brain cells in a Petri dish ever experience self-awareness? Can you make a mouse or a monkey partly human by implanting human stem cells in its brain? If pieces of a dead person's brain are reanimated in a lab, is the patient still completely dead?

Questions like these are being raised by advancing techniques at the cutting edge of neuroscience. Far-fetched though they may seem, they are forcing scientists to wrap their heads around what it takes to be a human brain.

Neuroscientists may not yet be creating conscious mini-brains in their labs. But that prospect, while distant, is real. And as things stand now, scientists may not truly recognize when they have crossed that indistinct boundary.

So it's not too early to ponder scenarios that seem to have more in common with sci-fi thrillers than real life, according to a group of 17 neuroscientists and medical ethicists who made their case this week in an essay published in the journal Nature.

In labs across the world, scientists have used stem cells to grow multicellular structures that resemble human organs, including the eye, gut, liver and kidney. Now the same techniques are being used to grow brain "organoidsminiaturized, simplified versions of living brain tissue.

Brain scientists are transplanting these organoids, or the human stem cells from which they are grown, into other animals. Elsewhere, they are probing the function of brain tissue excised from people who have just died, or from patients who have had brain tissue removed to treat diseases such as epilepsy.

The knowledge gleaned from this research will help brain scientists understand at a very basic level how this complex organ develops, how its components work individually and together, and what goes wrong in certain psychiatric and neurological disorders.

Those diseases are a universal cause of suffering. So abandoning this research would arguably be unethical, the authors of the new essay wrote. But going forward has its ethical perils too.

"To ensure the success and social acceptance of this research long term, an ethical framework must be forged now," wrote the experts, who met last May at Duke University's Initiative for Science and Society to hammer out a list of concerns.

Most of these brain organoids live in growth medium in a lab dish and lack the blood supply and specialized cells needed for basic housekeeping functions. They consist of somewhere between 2 and 3 million cells (a mature human brain has about 170 billion) and are no bigger than, say, an adult fruit fly.

Yet these organoids are tiny facsimiles of part of a human brain. Already, they are being grown and fused into "assemblages" of brain structures. It is hardly beyond imagining that one day researchers could create a miniaturized model of the exquisitely complex organ that can create, store and retrieve memories, love and hate other creatures, and contemplate its own place in the universe.

Scientists have already transplanted human brain organoids into rodents. In short order, the cluster of human brain cells lashed themselves to their hosts' neurons, and the rodents' neurons appeared to return the embrace. Indeed, the researchers discerned evidence of crosstalk between the human organoid and the rodent brain that had become its host, according to a study published this month in Nature Biotechnology.

In related work, neuroscientists already have used human stem cells to grow glial cells (a type of brain cell involved in cerebral housekeeping) and transplanted them into the brains of mice. In certain learning tasks, the hybrid mice performed better than their counterparts that were 100 percent mouse.

Meanwhile, researchers at the Yale School of Medicine (among them neuroscientist and essay coauthor Dr. Nenad Sestan) have reportedly restored circulation to the brains of decapitated pigs and kept the reanimated organs "alive" for up to 36 hours. Though the pig brains showed no signs of consciousness, the experiment suggested that, with sufficient tending, brain cells might be capable of normal activity after their host's death.

And at Harvard, stem cell biologist Paola Arlotta (also one of the essay's authors) grew 31 human brain organoids over periods as long as nine months and watched as pluripotent stem cells gave rise to human retinal cells alongside other brain cells. When her team shined a light on the retinal cells growing in a lab dish, they effectively saw the brain cells "blink" in responseevidence that "an external stimulus can result in an organoid response," the team reported last year in Nature.

Add time, academic ambition and scientific progress to these instances and you begin to appreciate the questions raised in the essay:

Should brain organoids, or non-human creatures bearing human brain cells, be protected by regulations that acknowledge the possibility of their greater awareness?

Should that possibility preclude the creation of chimeras that involve our close evolutionary relatives, such as chimps or monkeys?

Who owns the organoids or animals created by these processes, and what say should the human owners of stem cells or brain tissue have in their subsequent use? Should there be limits on the ability of human tissues to "live" outside of their original owner?

"There are so many issues we need to think about," said Henry T. Greely, who drafted the essay along with Duke bioethicist Nita Farahany.

One other bit of outstanding business: how to define consciousness, an attribute that would certainly justify stronger protections for the organoids and other organisms believed to have it.

"The signals for consciousness or unconsciousness detected in a living adultusing electroencephalography (EEG) electrodes, for exampledon't necessarily translate to infants, animals or experimental brain surrogates," the group wrote. "Without knowing more about what consciousness is and what building blocks it requires, it might be hard to know what signals to look for in an experimental brain model."

Greely, a lawyer who directs Stanford University's Program in Neurosciences and Society, said the thorniest ethical problems are not immediate. "But I do think in 5 to 10 years, there's a really good chance we'll have to ask, 'Are we there yet?'"

The best evidence that the time has come to discuss these matters is the active engagement of scientists at the front lines of such work, Greely said. Usually, "it's a reflex" to resist discussions that might place strictures on their work.

"They're all convinced that these ethical concerns are really important," Greely said. "That, to me, is a pretty powerful signal."

Explore further Ethics debate overdue in human brain research: experts

2018 Los Angeles Times

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.The researchers restored blood supply to the dead pigs' brains

US-based researchers have successfully kept alive the brain cells of decapitated pigs for 36 hours, sparking concerns over the ethics involved in such frontline research.

The MIT Technology Review said a team at Yale University led by neuro-scientist Nenad Sestan had carried out experiments on between 100 and 200 pigs sourced from an abattoir.

Sestan had presented the findings of the experiments, where his team restored blood supply to the dead pigs' brains, in late March to a conference organised by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The researchers said they had succeeded in delivering oxygen to the cells via a system of pumps and blood maintained at body temperature, the MIT Technology Review said.

Thanks to this system, dubbed BrainEx, millions of cells were kept in good health and were capable of functioning normally, the review said.

However, there was nothing to indicate that these cells experienced some form of consciousness, it said, citing Sestan as saying he was "convinced" they did not.

Such experiments could herald advances in restoring blood circulation at the micro level, including in the brain, the article said.

They could also be potentially useful in the study and treatment of some cancers and debilitating diseases such as Alzheimer's, it added.

At the same time, the article noted that Sestan himself raised some of the ethical issues involved in such research.

The key question being that if a brain is revived in this way, would a human being involved have any memories, an identity and rights?

In an open letter publised Wednesday in Nature magazine, Sestan and another 16 top scientists and philosophers said the authorities should lay down specific rules to guide them in their work on human brains.

Recent advances have seen what are known as brain "surrogates" composed of real human cellswhether in tiny organoids grown in the lab, in grey matter removed from a human patient, or brain tissue implanted into animalsas part of efforts to study the brain.

The risk is that "as brain surrogates become larger and more sophisticated, the possibility of them having capabilities akin to human sentience might become less remote," the Nature article said.

"Such capacities could include being able to feel (to some degree) pleasure, pain or distress; being able to store and retrieve memories; or perhaps even having some perception of agency or awareness of self."

There is a need, the group argued, for "clear guidelines for research", and for special oversight committees.

Explore further Ethics debate overdue in human brain research: experts

More information: Nita A. Farahany et al. The ethics of experimenting with human brain tissue, Nature (2018). Journal information: Nature Nita A. Farahany et al. The ethics of experimenting with human brain tissue,(2018). DOI: 10.1038/d41586-018-04813-x

 2018 AFPHuawei expects its new P20-series smartphones to far exceed the sales of its P10 smartphone lineup launched last year.

The company is also confident about the South African market and the potential of its new smartphone lineup to improve its market share in the flagship segment.

Huawei CBG vice president of sales and marketing Jim Xu told MyBroadband the potential of the P20 lineup in South Africa was big.

Xu said the smartphone was proving extremely popular across the world, with Huawei shipping four-times the volume of P20 devices compared to the P10 in Europe.

He added that this trend is reflected in the South African market, with Huawei expected to sell up to four-times as many P20 devices compared to the P10 last year.

The P20 Lite is also expected to greatly surpass the P10 Lite in terms of sales volume, said Xu.

Huawei CBG South Africa General Manager Likun Zhao added that the companys mid-range smartphones are set to see impressive growth.

This year I believe it will be the P20 Lite and P Smart which are the most popular Huawei devices in South Africa, said Zhao.

Taking on competitors

Xu said he also expects more South African consumers to move to Huawei smartphones from Apple and Samsung.

He said attractive features such as leading mobile photography and larger batteries will convince consumers using other flagship devices to move to Huaweis P20 lineup.

An obstacle which Huawei has faced in the South African market, however, is improving its brand recognition and consideration.

South Africa is defined as a key country in Huawei Group, said Xu.

It is difficult to convince consumers that a smartphone from China is a premium device, he added.

Huawei has focussed on improving brand consideration, while its brand recognition remains strong at 83%.

Huaweis brand consideration has almost doubled in recent years, rising from 13% in 2016 to 25% at the end of 2017, said the company.

If the companys P20 lineup performs as expected, Huaweis brand consideration could continue its meteoric rise through 2018  making it more competitive against Apple and Samsung devices.

Now read: New Huawei affordable smartphones coming to South AfricaIn a new south Napa neighborhood where car dealerships, stores and market rate apartments will soon be sprouting, so too will a 50-unit apartment project for low-income families.

A ground-breaking ceremony on Thursday marked the start of construction of Stoddard West apartments on Gasser Foundation land behind South Napa Marketplace.

The $24 million project, a partnership between Gasser Foundation and Burbank Housing of Sonoma County, should be ready to accept its first families by July 2019, said Larry Florin, Burbanks CEO.

Considering that last Octobers wildfires destroyed more than 7,000 homes in the North Bay, this 50-unit project is only a small piece of whats needed regionally to house workers, Florin said in an interview.

You can say everything helps, Florin said. For the 50 families that will soon be paying affordable rents to live at Stoddard West, this project could be a life-changer, he said.

Burbank Housing will do targeted marketing this summer to try to recruit people who already live or work in Napa and need a housing helping hand, he said.

The federal government, which is providing tax credits worth $10 million, requires that a project accept applications from everyone regardless of where they live, Florin said.

Targeted marketing helps to give locals a first shot, he said.

Units will be set aside for families earning no more than 30 percent, 50 percent or 60 percent of Napa Countys median family income. For a family of four, the 30 percent limit is $32,000, for the 50 percent limit, $52,000, and for the 60 percent limit, no more than $55,000.

Rents for families in the 30 percent category, depending on number of bedrooms, will range from $479 to $635 a month; for 50 percent, from $829 to $1,119; for 60 percent, from $1,003 to $1,361.

Stoddard West will have one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, with eight apartments receiving Section 8 rent subsidy vouchers from the city of Napas Housing Authority. One unit is designated for persons who are homeless or at risk of being homeless, Florin said.

Burbank Housing has two other Napa projects in the works. The housing non-profit will begin building 34 ownership units at 2033 Redwood Rd. in northwest Napa this year. A development of 77 one-bedroom apartments and single-room occupancy units will undergo environmental review this year for 3700 Valle Verde Drive in north Napa.

In addition to federal tax credits, Stoddard West received funds from Napa County and the city of Napa, with financial support from the Gasser Foundation, Tipping Point Community, Louis and Evalyn Trinchero, Napa Valley Community Foundation and Napa Valley Vintners helping to cover a spike in building costs due to last Octobers fires, sponsors said.

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.Money is flowing like wine as contributors try to influence voters over the Measure C watershed and oak protection initiative on the June 5 ballot.

The No on Measure C campaign raised $403,007 and the Yes on Measure C campaign raised $163,504, according to finance papers filed with the county Election Division. The reporting period is from Jan. 1 through April 21.

Financial papers were also filed by campaign committee in the 3rd District Board of Supervisors race between incumbent Diane Dillon and Cio Perez and the Measure D heliport initiative. The Measure C contest has garnered the biggest dollars by far.

Measure C has generated controversy in the valley, with both sides receiving large contributions from key wine industry figures. The initiative would restrict vineyard development requiring the removal of oak woodlands in the watershed and strengthen watershed stream setbacks.

The biggest contributor to the No on Measure C cause was Napa Valley Vintners at $100,000. A message from NVV leadership to members said the group will contribute $200,000 to the opposition effort.Watch a group of hikers rescue a dog trapped in an Indiana cave, one of the most active volcanos on Earth is erupting on Hawaii's Big Island, Revere goes on to say that in return for those steps that would undermine the U.S.-South Korean alliance, North Koreans have offered to consider denuclearization in 10-20 years time if Pyongyang feels secure. Maybe they mean something different this time around. But its a red flag that Kim is agreeing to the same phrase that in past discussions has meant something very different than verifiable disarmament.

Then there is the strange language about how Kims recent announcement to pause missile tests is considered by both leaders very meaningful and crucial for the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. It isnt.

As Kim himself said in his New Years Day address, he no longer sees a need to test its intercontinental ballistic missiles: We attained our general orientation and strategic goal with success, and our Republic has at last come to possess a powerful and reliable war deterrent, which no force and nothing can reverse. The real test of Kims commitment for denuclearization will be measured in the level of transparency he provides to weapons inspectors and whether he will take steps to dismantle his nuclear infrastructure.Violent misogyny is nothing new. Minassian's alleged attack reminds many Canadians of the Ecole Polytechnique Massacre in Montreal in December 1989, when Marc Lepine shot and killed 14 women at an engineering school. Lepine claimed he was combating feminism.

But until very recently, white men in patriarchal societies such as Canada and the United States didn't have "incel" complaints, because they enjoyed relatively free access to women's bodies. Indeed, the seething rage that allegedly fueled Minassian's terror comes from women gaining more control of their bodies, thanks to decades of activism. In the process, they're denying white men an old privilege to which many still feel entitled: sex whenever they want it.

For most of American history, English common law, which lies at the heart of the American and Canadian legal systems (with the exception of Quebec), placed women under the legal protection of their husbands or fathers. A married woman was a feme covert - or covered woman - whose recognition under the law was bound to that of her husband. In early America, this meant that in cases of rape, which were occasionally prosecuted so long as the woman was white and behaved as women were expected to behave - gentle, passive, pure - the crime was committed against the woman's husband, not her. The presumption was that the woman's body was not hers to violate.Tom Elias column, Biggest California investor puts money over lives (April 17), is off the mark. He asserts that CalPERS efforts to work with companies on difficult issues doesnt make a difference, and that selling our stock in the company is the better option. Our experience is just the opposite, and we have the evidence to prove it.

CalPERS is a long-term investor, and our interest in the companies we invest in extends decades into the future. Thats why our first step was to engage with major retail companies regarding the sale of assault rifles. In addition to pressure from the students of Floridas Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, CalPERS and other large investors leveraged our combined size and influence to encourage these companies to make changes to their policies that govern the sale of firearms.

Divestment, however, does nothing more than simply transfer ownership of a companys stock from one shareowner to another. Beyond the potential for short-term publicity, it has little to no impact on a companys behavior or bottom line. Whats more, its unlikely that the new shareowner will have the same interest CalPERS has in the long-term health of the company.In the past, if you wanted to buy legal, Safe and Sane fireworks in Napa County, the St. Helena American Legions annual Fourth of July fireworks sale was the only game in town.

But now, just months after wildfires burned large swaths of Napa and Sonoma counties, that game is over.

The American Legion Post 199 voted earlier this month not to operate its fireworks booth along Highway 29 this year.

After the tragedy that happened last year, we started thinking about what would happen if there were an incident (involving fireworks), said Jeff Conwell, outgoing commander of Post 199. Something like that would be the exact opposite of what we want to do.

Fire Chief John Sorensen said he and Fire Marshal Jim Capponi are working on regulations that will permanently close the door on the sale and use of fireworks in St. Helena, which had been the only jurisdiction in Napa County to allow such activity.

Sorensen said the American Legion fireworks sale had long been a concern for fire chiefs in St. Helena and the rest of Napa County.

People were coming from all over the county, buying (fireworks) in St. Helena, and going to where its illegal to set them off, he said.The committee thats been studying St. Helenas public buildings will present the City Council with a menu of options for the future of City Hall, including possibly moving operations into the library.

Instead of making a single recommendation to the City Council, the SHAPE Committee agreed to present four options, with varying levels of committee support: rebuilding City Hall on the current site, moving into the library, moving City Hall to another existing building, or building a new City Hall on the Adams Street property.

The most politically volatile option, taking over all or part of the library building, almost didnt get enough votes from committee members to make it into the final report. But the committee reconsidered after councilmembers Mary Koberstein and Paul Dohring said they wanted the council to review multiple options, even ones that didnt have the support of a majority of the committee.

The committee then voted on which of the options should be sent to the council, with each of the 11 members being able to vote for more than one:Although it is not possible to thank each donor, volunteer or participant by name in this space, we wish to particularly acknowledge two individuals who gave so much support in time, talent and treasure to make this event extraordinary. Per Tutti would not have been possible without the vision, creativity, dedication and incredible generosity of this years Event Chairs Kim Phinney and Catherine Dann. Their goal was to make Per Tutti an evening not only to support our school community, but also to represent the unity and solidarity of our entire Napa Valley community in overcoming a year of challenges. So many school community members (unfortunately too many to name in this letter) ably and generously assisted them in reaching this goal by dedicating many hours of hard work and sharing their talents and resources.Baku office of Iran Supreme Leaders representative in Azerbaijan closed

Iran closes its airspace to Azerbaijan's air force

Armenia opposition MP: There are fears that Armenian authorities could fulfill all demands of Azerbaijan

Ships of Georgia and NATO hold joint exercises in the Black Sea

Armenia opposition MP: It's hard to expect anything good from the Putin-Aliyev-Pashinyan meeting

Bitcoin price surpasses $ 50,000 for the first time since September 7

Azerbaijan, Georgia sign defense cooperation plan

Members of Armenia opposition factions leave session of parliamentary standing committee

Kocharyan, Gevorgyan trial: Yerevan court gives defense lawyer 1 week to get familiarized with 128 volumes of case file

Khachatryan, Kopirkin discuss Armenia-Russia economic cooperation

Earthquake hits Armenia-Georgia border zone

Armenia ex-deputy PM, now opposition MP Gevorgyan's lawyer motions court to recognize his parliamentary immunity

Kocharyan, Gevorgyan trial: Yerevan court refuses to give new defense attorney few days to study case file

State borders not determined by law on administrative-territorial division, says Armenia official

Armenia ex-president Kocharyan, former deputy PM and now MP Gevorgyan criminal case court session resumes

Armenia parliament passes 2 law initiatives, in first reading

Artsakh President: Azerbaijan checkpoint at Lachin corridor is ruled out

Armenias Sarkissian to pay state visit to Italy

Iran official: We are ready to assist Armenia in building new alternative road

891 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Russia peacekeepers in Karabakh patrol line of contact

Sargsyan to Aliyev: I will come to any Artsakh region once you no longer have Capitulator as your Armenian counterpart

Armenia President: School is starting point from which, as well as from family, realization of our identity begins

Artsakh President: We must defend our security, together with Russia

Catholicos of All Armenians heads for Italy, to meet with Pope

World oil prices on the rise

Facebook announces reason for system outage

Armenia legislature convenes regular sessions

Newspaper: How Armenia opposition MPs also traveled to Moscow as part of delegation?

Newspaper: Armenia ex-President Kocharyan gently reprimands teammates after well-known parliament brawl

Sri Lanka prosecutor's office charges architect of 2019 terrorist attacks

UK nurse denies charges of killing 8 newborns

Ilham Aliyev personally insults Armenia 3rd President, is embarrassment of MGIMO University

Armenia PM's official visit to Lithuania is over

France and Spain call on Europe for a coordinated response to rising global energy prices

Armenia FM: There was no word or agreement about so-called "Zangezur corridor"

Armenia President congratulates 2021 Nobel Prize laureate Ardem Patapoutian

Indonesia to partially reopen resort island of Bali to international travelers

Armenian, Iranian FMs discuss a broad range of issues related to regional developments

Armenia premier: We consider resumption of peace process within scope of OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs format necessary

Garibashvili, Hasanov discuss 'strategic partnership' between Tbilisi and Baku

Lithuania to share experience with Armenia in waste recycling sector

Armenia Security Council Secretary, Iran Ambassador discuss regional security issues

UAE tries to manage long-standing rivalry with Iran and Turkey through dialogue

Azerbaijan President threatens to 'break the heads of Armenians and not care what others say'

Armenia revenue committee chief meets with his counterpart in Karabakh

11 horses of resident of Armenia's Shurnukh cross over into territory under Azerbaijan's control

Armenia MOD receives EU Ambassador, presents Azerbaijan's destabilizing actions

Digest: Armenian PM visits Lithuania; David Julius, Ardem Patapoutian win 2021 Nobel Prize

Armenia premier blames former government for fall of Shushi again

Kremlin confirms news about preparation for Putin-Pashinyan meeting

Armenia PM pays respects to those who fell for Lithuania's independence

Vahidi: Enemies do not want good relations between Iran and its neighbors

Amir-Abdollahian: Iran will not let foreigners interrupt ties with neighbors including Armenia

Armenia Supreme Judicial Council terminates powers of judge due to entrepreneurial activities

Russia, Iran FMs to discuss situations in Caspian Sea and Transcaucasia

Armenian minister, Russia Ambassador discuss activities of Russian mining companies in Armenia

Simonyan thanks Lavrov for his considerable contribution to development of Armenia-Russia collaboration

Dollar somewhat steady in Armenia

Some unresolved issues remain between Azerbaijan and Armenia, says US ambassador to Baku

Ardem Patapoutian, David Julius win Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

Iran says has good ties with Azerbaijan, Armenia

Armenia Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Ministry on Russia widening road near Lars checkpoint

Armenia deputy minister on amendments to law on financial equalization and subsidies for communities

Robert Kocharyan on Armenia being entangled in processes and Iran's perception of the country

Armenia Parliament Speaker in Moscow pays tribute to those who fell in the Great Patriotic War

Russian FM: Russia and Armenia will resume interparliamentary cooperation soon

Cmilyte-Nielsen: Lithuania ready to support democratic reforms in Armenia

Armenia premier, Lithuania President speak about processes in South Caucasus

Ex-president: Armenian authorities are ready to cooperate even with Pakistan - if it helps to stay in power

California oil spill kills animals

Simonyte: I hope Karabakh conflict will be settled under OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs auspices

Pashinyan to Lithuania PM: Armenia will continue taking decisive steps to strengthen democracy

Kocharyan speaks on sale of arms to Azerbaijan by Russia: The question is more on a moral plane

Armenia ex-Prosecutor General, Investigative Committee former chief to remain in custody

Drills kick off in Tbilisi with participation of Azerbaijan, Turkey and Georgia

Pashinyan: Lithuania can play important role in promoting Armenia-EU cooperation

Armenia ex-president says he never 'disrespected' Azerbaijani ex-president

Lithuania premier: Vilnius, Yerevan will soon be connected by direct flights

Azerbaijan MFA announces 'positive signals' from Armenia regarding border delimitation

Ex-president: I can't imagine the delimitation process in the interests of Armenia

Pashinyan: Karabakh conflict settlement should be based on OSCE Minsk Group-supported principles

Armenia premier announces condition for starting border delimitation, demarcation with Azerbaijan

Armenia ex-president: OSCE MG never had a mandate to enforce peace

Kabul: 95% of libraries, bookstores, and publishing houses closed in 2 months

Paris mayor: France may recognize Nagorno-Karabakh Republic

Kocharyan: Armenian authorities are not responsible for Aliyev, as there may be something unknown behind this

Armenias Pashinyan: No time, place restrictions on meeting with Azerbaijans Aliyev

Putin bestows order upon Russian Armenian historian

Armenia PM: I hope we will make progress with Azerbaijan in opening of roads, railways

627 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Lithuania PM: European organizations play very important role in Armenia

Armenia FM meeting with Iran counterpart

World gold prices increase somewhat

Prophet Muhammad sketchs creator dies in Sweden road accident

Armenia parliament speaker travels to Russia on 3-day official visit

Japan parliament elects new PM

Armenia FM heading for Iran Monday on working visit

Aging Japanese decide to pay for early retirement pension

More than 10,000 children fallen victim to pedophile clergy in France since 1950North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un is serious about engaging in negotiations over the pariah states nuclear weapons program, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday, Washington Examiner reported.

I did get a sense that he was serious, Pompeo told reporters at a NATO summit in Brussels. The economic pressure, that has been put in place by this global effort that President Trump has led, has led him to believe that its in his best interest to come to the table and talk about denuclearization.

Pompeo emphasized that the U.S. team shares that view, even as Trump prepares for a face-to-face meeting with Kim.

President Trump has been clear: were going to work to get a meeting set up, the two of them will meet, he said. In the event that it fails, respectfully, President Trump will walk away and then the pressure will remain. But in the event we reach a resolution it will be a wonderful thing for the world.YEREVAN.  The situation is frantic at the office of the President of the Republic of Armenia (RA), according to Hraparak (Square) newspaper.

There is a lineup at [President] Armen Sarkissian; one comes, the other one goespolitical forces, businessmen, ambassadors. He is having consultations, telephonic conversations with the presidents of various countries.

[Acting PM and ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) Vice Chairman] Karen Karapetyan also is in telephonic conversations, negotiations with various countries. And he has dispatched the deputy PMs to the east and to the west, so they can try to see who stands with them.

We are assured that the RA officials were told that if Karen Karapetyan is elected [new PM] by the NA [National Assembly], they will support him, but they will not interfere in our countrys life, wrote Hraparak.

After 11-day nationwide protest actions by the movement, led by opposition Civil Contract Party Political Council member and NA Way Out (Yelk) Faction head Nikol Pashinyan, ex-President and RPA leader Serzh Sargsyan on Monday resigned from his recently-elected post of Prime Minister.

Subsequently, Pashinyan announced that they will continue negotiations with the incumbent authorities on Wednesday, and toward achieving a smooth transfer of power in Armenia. But it became clear on Tuesday evening that this talk would not take place.

Acting PM and RPA Vice Chairman Karen Karapetyan stated that Pashinyan had posited new, unilateral demands.

Nikol Pashinyan, in turn, announced that they are resuming their protests as of Wednesday, since the RPA wants to retain power at the expense of Sargsyans resignation.

And on Thursday, Pashinyan invited Karapetyan to start the second round of negotiations on Friday, and before the media.

But Aram Araratyan, the spokesperson of Karen Karapetyan, on Friday issued a statement, according to which the acting PM considers negotiations with Nikol Pashinyan viewless, and therefore he refused to take part.The protest car rally of Armenias opposition movement, led by opposition Civil Contract Party Political Council member and National Assembly (NA) Way Out (Yelk) Faction head Nikol Pashinyan, has reached Dilijan town.

The Armenian News-NEWS.am reporter at the scene informed that, before reaching there, however, the participants in this rally comprising several hundred vehicles were greeted by numerous people along the way.

In some settlements, Pashinyan made a brief address, urged people to keep vigilant, and called on to them to block streets in the next three days.

A huge crowd was assembled in Dilijan, where a small rally took place.

Each and every one of you has built this victory, Nikol Pashinyan noted, in particular. The peoples power has been established in the Republic of Armenia (). Armenia will become one of the most flourishing countries.

Also, he called on people to show special respect toward the police.

Those in attendance were chanting, Nikol [for] Prime Minister.

Canadian Armenian actress and film producer Arsinee Khanjian, and American Armenian filmmaker Eric Nazarian are accompanying Pashinyan in this protest car rally.

Nikol Pashinyan on Friday held a mass rally in Gyumri, the second largest city of Armenia.

On Saturday, a mass rally is scheduled in Ijevan, and then in Vanadzorthe third largest city of the country.

And on Sunday, civil disobedience actions will resume after a two-day break.

According to Nikol Pashinyan, all streets in capital city Yerevan shall be closed off on May 1, when the NA will elect the new Prime Minister of Armenia.

After 11-day nationwide protest actions by the Pashinyan-led movement, ex-President and ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) leader Serzh Sargsyan on Monday resigned from his recently-elected post of Prime Minister.

Subsequently, Pashinyan announced that they will continue negotiations with the incumbent authorities on Wednesday, and toward achieving a smooth transfer of power in Armenia. But it became clear on Tuesday evening that this talk would not take place.

Acting PM and RPA Vice Chairman Karen Karapetyan stated that Pashinyan had posited new, unilateral demands.

Nikol Pashinyan, in turn, announced that they are resuming their protests as of Wednesday, since the RPA wants to retain power at the expense of Sargsyans resignation.

And on Thursday, Pashinyan invited Karapetyan to start the second round of negotiations on Friday, and before the media.

But Aram Araratyan, the spokesperson of Karen Karapetyan, on Friday issued a statement, according to which the acting PM considers negotiations with Nikol Pashinyan viewless, and therefore he refused to take part.The chapter of brazenness and permissiveness for the privileged has been closed in Armenia.

Nikol Pashinyan, opposition Civil Contract Party Political Council member and National Assembly Way Out (Yelk) Faction head, on Saturday stated the aforesaid at the rally in Ijevan town.

The chapter of clan governance has been closed in Armenia, Pashinyan noted, in particular. Each and every citizen of the Republic of Armenia will have equal opportunity. (). Everyone will be equal before the law. (). This revolution has inspired mutual love and respect to the people.

Also, he stressed that even though this velvet, nonviolent revolution has already triumphed in Armenia, another short period of time is required to de jure record this de facto victory.

The [Armenian] authorities hoped that the society will be so delighted by Serzh Sargsyans resignation that it will forget why it has assembled, Nikol Pashinyan added, in particular. Serzh Sargsyans resignation is a necessary but an insufficient condition for completing this process.

The meaning of the revolution is that, from now on, () power will belong only to the people.

After 11-day nationwide protest actions by the Nikol Pashinyan-led movement, ex-President and ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) leader Serzh Sargsyan on Monday resigned from his recently-elected post of Prime Minister.

Subsequently, Pashinyan announced that they will continue negotiations with the incumbent authorities on Wednesday, and toward achieving a smooth transfer of power in Armenia. But it became clear on Tuesday evening that this talk would not take place.

Acting PM and RPA Vice Chairman Karen Karapetyan stated that Pashinyan had posited new, unilateral demands.

Nikol Pashinyan, in turn, announced that they are resuming their protests as of Wednesday, since the RPA wants to retain power at the expense of Sargsyans resignation.

And on Thursday, Pashinyan invited Karapetyan to start the second round of negotiations on Friday, and before the media.

But Aram Araratyan, the spokesperson of Karen Karapetyan, on Friday issued a statement, according to which the acting PM considers negotiations with Nikol Pashinyan viewless, and therefore he refused to take part.We are ready to meet with the [ruling] RPA [Republican Party of Armenia parliamentary] faction, and all MPs.

Nikol Pashinyan, opposition Civil Contract Party Political Council member and National Assembly (NA) Way Out (Yelk) Faction head, on Saturday said the aforementioned at the rally in Ijevan town.

In his words, talks with the authorities are not held for various reasons.

I confirm that we are ready for negotiations; we look toward concluding this problem as soon as possible, Pashinyan stated. If there are problems in connection with the format [of these talks], we are ready to enter into direct negotiations with all MPs of the RPA parliamentary faction, at the same time.

If there is a need, we are ready to meet with all MPs, at the same time.

We are ready to negotiate also with other formats acceptable to us.

Nikol Pashinyan on Friday held a mass rally in Gyumri, the second largest city of Armenia.

And after the current rally in Ijevan, another one will be held in Vanadzorthe third largest city of Armenia.

After 11-day nationwide protest actions by the Nikol Pashinyan-led movement, ex-President and RPA leader Serzh Sargsyan on Monday resigned from his recently-elected post of Prime Minister.

Subsequently, Pashinyan announced that they will continue negotiations with the incumbent authorities on Wednesday, and toward achieving a smooth transfer of power in Armenia. But it became clear on Tuesday evening that this talk would not take place.

Acting PM and RPA Vice Chairman Karen Karapetyan stated that Pashinyan had posited new, unilateral demands.

Nikol Pashinyan, in turn, announced that they are resuming their protests as of Wednesday, since the RPA wants to retain power at the expense of Sargsyans resignation.

And on Thursday, Pashinyan invited Karapetyan to start the second round of negotiations on Friday, and before the media.

But Aram Araratyan, the spokesperson of Karen Karapetyan, on Friday issued a statement, according to which the acting PM considers negotiations with Nikol Pashinyan viewless, and therefore he refused to take part.

On Sunday, civil disobedience actions will resume after a two-day break.

Also, according to Nikol Pashinyan, all streets in capital city Yerevan shall be closed off on May 1, when the NA will elect the new Prime Minister of Armenia.Co-chair of the Congressional Armenian Caucus Frank Pallone is not familiar with the latest developments in Armenia, but he is confident that the resignation of the prime minister after days of protests is an indicator of democracy in Armenia.

If similar protests happened in Russia or Belarus, or in a number of other post-Soviet countries, the authorities would involve the army and military structures, he told the Voice of America.

Pallone welcomed the decision of Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan, who realized that his time in power is over, and his withdrawal will resolve the conflict.

According to him, it is a message to many that Armenia is not Russia or Belarus, it is not like regimes where peaceful actions are prohibited.

At the same time, the congressman refrained from the forecasts, adding that the United States will continue to emphasize the importance of democracy, a market economy and the rule of law.

He recalled that since gaining independence Armenia is trying to be a bridge between East and West, in particular between Russia and the United States.

Pallone doubts the allegations that Armenia is pro-Russian, because it is not so. There are Russian troops and a military base, but they protect Armenia from the Turks and Azerbaijanis, something that the U.S. is not trying to do.

The Congressman recalled that Serzh Sargsyan has recently signed the agreement with the European Union and tried to develop trade relations with European countries and the United States.

Armenia is already very pro-Western, it is a democratic country with a market economy, with internal processes, but it will always try to unite and create friendly relations between Russia and the United States, he added.Home | News | General | How Olu of Warri reunited estranged Itsekiri communities  Chief Thomas Ereyitomi

Says its injustice to deny Delta North, Okowa second tenure

The power pact between Ijaw/Itsekiri in Warri South-West

By Emma Amaize,

Regional Editor, South-South

THE Akatigba-Ayola of Warri Kingdom in Delta State and House of Representatives hopeful in Warri, Chief Thomas Ereyitomi, has disclosed how the Olu of Warri, His Majesty Ikenwoli, restored peace to 80-85 per cent of Itsekiri communities across the three Warri Local Government Areas, which he met in disarray when he took over the reins of power.

Ereyitomi, a People Democratic Party, PDP, chieftain in Delta State, who spoke to Saturday Vanguard on peace initiatives of the Itsekiri monarch, Ugbordo community under his leadership and political undercurrents in the state, asserted that it would amount to injustice for the people of Delta South and Delta Central senatorial districts to deprive Governor Ifeanyi Okowa and Delta North senatorial district (Anioma) of second term in 2019.

The politician, who also represents the Itsekiri ethnic nationality on the Board of the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, DESOPADEC, dismissed the contention that the state government and the development agency were marginalizing his ethnic group, saying it was a farce.

Royal decree

His words: When the current Olu of Warri, His Majesty Ikenwoli, came, there were lots of disunity, acrimony and so many things in Itsekiri land. The Olu has done well; a lot of internal issues we have in Itsekiri communities have been settled. Virtually all the Itsekiri communities were in court against themselves, but the Olu of Warri gave a directive that everybody must withdraw their cases from court and come back home to settle, which have been complied with.

All these communities are living in peace now. Do not forget too that we are all humans, even if we are brothers born of the same father and mother; we also have cause to disagree.

Olu of Warri

I can assure you that the Olu of Warri has been able to put a lot of these communities that were in disarray before together. I am not saying that there are not one or two communities that have not complied with the Olu directive given the circumstances and enormity of the issues among them. He has done well because 80 to 85 per cent of communities that had issues prior to his coming have resolved and now live in peace among themselves, he said.

Nobody should stop Okowa

On Okowa\s second term bid and plot to stop him, he said: It is not right to deny him and Delta North a second tenure. If people from Delta South and Central say Delta North should not have their second tenure, which is injustice. We are all Deltans and should leave in peace, Chief James Ibori from Central started this new dispensation and did his first and second tenures and handed over to Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta South), who did his first and second tenures. 

Now, Delta North is taking its turn under Okowa. To be fair is to be fair, if the Central and South had done first and second tenures, then, Delta North should do its second tenure. Why should they stop them? Is it that the people of Delta North are inferior? Is it that Central and South are superior to them. Those of us who believe that we are brothers and sisters in Delta stand to say that Okowa will go for second tenure, complete it and power will rotate back to Central.

This governorship that Delta is rotating among the senatorial districts, I can tell you categorically that everybody in the state is enjoying it. It brings a lot of peace and trust among us. So anybody canvassing that North senatorial district should not have its second tenure is unfair, he said.

Judging from his performance, he said: The incumbent governor, Dr Okowa merits second tenure because we are all aware of how he has managed problems. He came in when the country was going through turbulence. Secondly, with the minimal resources at his disposal, he was able to manage it, appropriate it to all the various sectors to the extent that they were not lacking.

Thirdly, as the economy is improving, Delta state is getting more money, you can see what is happening in Delta today is visible, it is not something that is hidden. There is no place that you go to in Delta today that you do not see projects going on. So if a man is performing the way he is doing, there is no moral justification to say that we should not support him, he added.

Im a member of Ibori political family

Do you know about the Ibori political family and are you part of it? Ereyitomi snapped before the reporter could finish the question: Ibori political family is in Delta state, I know of it, I am a member of Ibori political family because I share the ideology of Ibori.

My mission to the House of Reps

He stated: My mission to the House of Representatives is very clear; it is to provide quality representation to the people of Warri Federal constituency and ensure that what is due to the people get back to them.

The Itsekiri/Ijaw power pact I know

Speaking on the existence of a power sharing agreement between the Itsekiri and Ijaw in the three Warri local government areas, he said: The only one I am aware is Warri South-West local government area where we agree that we will be sharing the chairmanship position of the local government between the Itsekiri and Ijaw.

Purported marginalization

He stated: As an individual, I do not believe and I think I speak for generality of Itsekiri people, the state government is not marginalizing Itsekiri people in terms of project distribution.

However, needs arise on daily basis and people also thrive on rumour, that is the issue, so you cannot accuse the governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa of being against Itsekiri people. We are the first people he came to their aid on assumption of office after the demise of our king, Atuwatse II. He supported us in Ode Itsekiri, that Big Warri, by putting the roads there together and you know that Ode Itsekiri is the ancestral home of Itsekiri people.

There are other projects that the governor sited in Itsekiri land and of recent, he came here to commission projects in Itsekiri area. If you go to the riverine areas of the state today, projects are going on massively by DESOPADEC, it is directive given by the governor and the projects are on ground. He will soon go there to commission them. I think it is his busy schedule; he will soon go round the riverine areas to commission them though some are still ongoing. So it not correct to say that Itsekiris are marginalized under Okowa administration, Ereyitomi stated.

Still on prejudice, he declared: I do not also believe that Itsekiri ethnic group is being marginalized by DESOPADEC, but if you tell me that we have a lot of uncompleted projects, I will agree with you. However, incomplete does not mean that we are being shortchanged.

The challenge we have in this new leadership of DESOPADEC is the recession that the country experienced at the time and Delta state was part of it in two folds, one as a result of the fall in oil price and the second part was the issue we had in the creeks, which led to pipeline vandalism and other things, so there was disruption of oil exploration activities in the creek.

Changes

He asserted: Under me as Itsekiri DESOPADEC commissioner, we have created some changes. There were stipends the Commission was providing for security, we call it security fund. I found out when I came in that the money was not actually being distributed. I sat with my people and said that since the money is for security, we have to ensure that a lot of people benefit from the money, as at today, a total of 355 persons, both male and female Itsekiri people cutting across the three Warri local government areas benefit from this money. It is a relief to these people.

Second thing is that projects are well funded and monitored this time around to ensure that they meet specifications. Besides that they are all community-driven projects, he added.

My handiworks speak for me in Ugborodo

Ereyitomi whose Akatigba-Ayola chieftaincy title means Remember the good of yesterday, said his tenure as chairman of the Ugborodo Community Trust Fund was largely misconstrued by some persons, whereas his leadership spearheaded the growth of the riverine enclave.

I can tell you that my tenure in Ugborodo Community Trust Chairman is none to be compared to any other person for now. When I came in 2008, the only thing I was given was the constitution of the community. I met an empty community; everything that the community is enjoying today was the handiwork of my leadership in terms of empowerment and infrastructure. Today, the community light, it was through my efforts that some elders of the community could receive money. I was behind the completed and ongoing projects in the community.

So, the late Sandys Omadeli-Uvoh laid the foundation and I built on it when I came in. Do not forget that it was not a transition from Sandys administration to mine; there were lots of administrations in between before I came in 2008. That Ogidigben, Ajudaibo, Madangho, Ugborodo can enjoy electricity today is what I fought for. The shore protection going on at Ode Ugborodo today is my struggle. The internal roads going on at Ode Ugborodo, Ogidigben and some other places are my handiwork.

Few days ago, the Olu of Warri was at Ode Ugborodo to commission an ultra-modern hall built by Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC. The project was under me. I put a committee with the fund that we had from SPDC at that time to put up that project and I am glad that when comments were being made at the inauguration, people mentioned the role of my regime, he said.

His words: Ugborodo people, wherever they are today, know that after the foundation of the late Omadeli-Uvoh, it is what I built on that foundation that the people are benefiting today.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | Adichie and Hilarys twitter: more feminist than thou

By Morenike Taire

When, in 2016, Hilary Clinton lost in the presidential elections of the United States, I wept. It had nothing to do with her opponent or her credentials- not in the usual way; but simply because, in my view, she was far too invested and had made too many sacrifices to have that exalted job slip through her fingers when it mattered the most.

In 1998, long before the #MeToo age, the entire world was entertained by the goings on surrounding what had been known as the details of the Monica Lewinsky affair. What the world saw was the United States making a complete fuss over what everyone else regarded as a mere locker room phenomenon. Bill Clinton, her president, had been extraordinarily successful as far as the rest of the world was concerned. He was good looking; he was powerful. He had a million women salivating over him. Who could really blame the poor man if he helped himself to one or three of them?

What America saw was different. She saw a threat to an institution- the greatest one in the land. She saw the man that held the most highly exalted position in the land caught not only abusing power but also lying under oath about it. The moral aspect- the adultery- was the least of his sins.

In all this, the world played guessing games regarding what the reaction of the FLOTUS, as Mrs. Clinton had been then, would be at the conclusion of the sordid affair. Most people were shocked that she did nothing.

In Africa, we had thought that tolerating randy men in and out of power was our thing; that she would hire a very good lawyer who would secure for her a clean divorce and plenty of cash. But the feminist community soon formulated a theory explaining away her attitude: Hilary Clinton had her career all planned out. She would be a lawmaker, then a mayor, probably, then POTUS. Nothing- not even a naughty husband, would be allowed to derail her.

It was five years before the release of Nigerian American author Chimamanda Adichies first published novel, Purple Hibiscus; a superbly crafted tale detailing the insidious nature of the devastation that domestic violence brings on people and families. It was subtle, it was simple, and it was real.

It was years before Adichies politics took preeminence over her art, the expression of the former by the author not being to the taste of many, on account of its extremism.

There is nothing extreme, however, about Hilary Clintons public persona, and her fluidity more than anything else may have cost her the presidency she had craved so badly. So careful are her views on civil matters that like our own President Mohammadu Buhari, she belongs to everyone and to no one.

In fact, she is the pet peeve of many extremists and feminists who watched as she continued to treat her political opponent with respect even as she warned against his sexists tendencies in the course of the presidential campaign. Still it came as a surprise to many that of all the people who disparage Hilary, it would be Adichie, who has chosen to wear her feminism not as a fact of life but as a badge of honour- as though it were something she earned.

In many ways Mrs. Clinton is more of a stereotypical African woman than the far younger, far less experienced and far less accomplished Adichie. She keeps her eye on the cookie, but in a manner so subtle that she rarely offends. She is even mannered and polite and most importantly, she has enough native intelligence to know that family must be seen as being the most important thing of all. According to her female aides, Hilary is as critical of other women as Adichie is, but she would not be in-your-face about it. One of her more popular quotes goes thus: If I want to knock a story off the front page, I just change my hairstyle.Hilary knows how to use her femininity to her advantage.

Our Chimamanda, on the other hand, has pandered so much to sentiments she considers popular to her marketable audience that she has stopped caring what her unmarketable audience thinks or feels. It was to the former that she was pandering when at a PEN event in New York City last week, Adichie challenged Hilary Clintons twitter profile which defined her as Wife, mom, grandma, women+kids advocate, FLOTUS, Senator, SecState, hair icon, pantsuit aficionado, 2016 presidential candidate.

The backlash will be felt more by Adichie than by other genuine feminists. One of the greatest insidious problems that confront the modern woman and society in general is the belittling of womens work in the home and family, a situation that has resulted in the fracture of the moral fibre of society. That Adichie does not know this is befuddling, and it can only be hoped that the one good thing to come out of this would be womens reassessment of themselves, their roles in society and the things that bring fulfillment at the end of the day.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHow medical doctors, patients, others were arrested at hospital, taken into detention

BBC staff also picked, handcuffed

ournalists ordered not to bring phones or communication gadgets out of their pockets

By Joseph Erunke

Imagine being handcuffed by the police like a hardened criminal and taken into detention for several hours for treating a patient in a medical facility where you work as a doctor! Your only offence against the law enforcement agents is that you attended to a patient! This was the case of some medical doctors at Zankli Hospital Abuja last Tuesday, April 24,2018.

The doctors were in their professional best to save the life of a senator, Dino Melaye, representing Kogi West Senatorial District at the Senate, who was brought into the hospital probably unconscious, following blockade of a police Hilux van conveying him to Lokoja, Kogi State and his subsequent removal by a mob of supporters opposed to the police action.

Melaye-being-taken-into-Zankli-Hospital-Mabushi-Abuja

Besides the two doctors who were arrested, dragged into a waiting vehicle and handcuffed while being moved into detention facilities, patients and their relatives as well as their sympathizers, who were seen sitting outside the hospital premises around 2:35pm when a contingent of police stormed there in over 30 operational vehicles, were not spared. They were all rounded up and forced into some of the vehicles.

Journalists who had converged at the hospital to gather reports after learning that the senator was moved there for treatment, were not spared either. They were forcefully led out with an order not to bring their communication gadgets like mobile phones out of their pockets for recording or be shot by the police personnel led by the FCT Commissioner of Police, Mr Sadiq Bello.

A British Broadcasting Corporation, BBCs driver, who had conveyed one of their reporters, Miss Dooshima Abu, to the hospital to cover event at the hospital was also picked. It took spirited efforts by journalists who approached the Force Public Relations Officer, Jimoh Moshood, for possible intervention before the young man was unchained from seven others and set free. The hospital later confirmed that those arrested within their premises including their doctors had been released.

The unconscious senator who was on drip at the amenity ward of the hospital was forcefully detached, taken into a waiting police ambulance marked NPF 221 D to the National Hospital Abuja around 9:20 pm.

The journey of the senator to the hospital had begun around 7 am earlier in the day, when he turned himself to the operatives of the Nigeria Police, drawn from its Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, who had laid siege to his Maitama, Abuja house after being prevented from traveling to Morocco at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja, by men of the Nigerian Immigration Service at the airport.

He was being taken to Lokoja Command of the Nigeria Police Force but the police plan was foiled by some people, possibly the senators supporters and some passers-by who were drawn to the shout of the senator struggling against the movement around the Area 1 Round About of the Federal Capital Territory.

Contrary to the claim that Melaye jumped out from a moving vehicle, while being taken to Lokoja, the senator was dragged out of a police Hilux van conveying him to the Kogi State capital, after the people blocked the police team and forcefully took him out of their grip during which he became unconscious in the process. At the Area One Roundabout, people heard a man in the police vehicle shouting for help. The people were moved at the development and blocked the Police and in the process, forcefully pulled him out of the police vehicle, Peter Babayemi, one of the passers-by had told newsmen who rushed to the scene of the incident.

According to him, their attention was drawn to the lawmakers plea for help, and immediately the SARS vehicle was surrounded by a sea of passers-by. He added that the operatives were overwhelmed by the number of passers-by and abandoned Melaye and drove off to avoid being lynched.

Babayemi said: What happened was that we were at the Area One roundabout when we saw the SARS vehicle carrying someone. We saw the person struggling and shouting on top of his voice. So, many people now gathered to see what was happening.

When we looked close, we saw it was Dino Melaye. Immediately, we started shouting that we know this man. Since some of us had read the news about what was happening to him, we said we wont allow them take him anywhere. That was how we rescued him from them and they drove away when people became too many.

The police team who had abandoned Melaye in the hands of the crowd later got wind of his whereabouts .

Journalists rushed immediately to the Zankli Hospital, at the Mabuchi District of the FCT, where he was taken to.

It was at this point that the police team got wind of the development and stormed there in a commando style, and started arresting anyone on sight.

The several truckloads of stern-looking policemen barricaded the hospitals entrance. The Police men drawn from the FCT Command flooded the premises, and conducted intensive search on vehicles entering and making their exit from the hospital.

The insistence of the police authority to have Melaye paraded at its Kogi State Command and subsequent arraignment in court in the state has raised some questions.

Recall that the criminal case instituted by the Nigeria Police against Senator Dino Melaye, Mohammed Audu, and two others has been transferred out of the Lokoja Federal High Court Division to the Abuja division of the court following Melayes application and alarm that his life was not safe in Kogi.

Recall also that when the case came up for mentioning last Thursday, the Prosecuting Counsel, G.O Ojo said he was ready to move the exparte motion requesting that the case be brought forward from the initial May 10 it was slated for.

His argument was premised on the fact that since the two suspects who indicted Dino in gun running, Kabiru Seidu (a.k.a Osama) and Nuhu Salisu (a.k.a Small) who had earlier escaped from police custody have been re-arrested, the case should commence immediately .

However, the presiding judge, Justice Phoebe Ayua had ruled against him, saying that she ought to have been notified of the new development on the case.

What will be the action of the court in the face of the police insistence on having the senator arraigned in court and possibly tried in Kogi State, instead of the Abuja court where his case has been moved to? What is the interest of the police in the having him arraigned in Kogi instead of Abuja? Melaye had alleged that the governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello was after his life.

Phone calls to the spokesman of the police to comment on this matter were not answered. There no responses to text messages too.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | That we are law-abiding does not mean that we are weak-Gov. Ortom to herdsmen

Few days after Fulani herdsmen struck in Mbalom Village in Benue State , killing two Catholic priests and many worshippers, Governor Samuel Ortom who had to cut off his vacation abroad immediately to address the herdsmen killings, also issued out a warning to them.

Governor Ortom who spoke to newsmen shortly after his arrival at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, called on Benue residents to remain resolute and not allow their enemy (Fulani herdsmen), take their land from them.

Here are excerpts from the short interview;

Question: You have cut short your vacation, what informed that decision?

Governor Ortom: There is no way my state would be on fire with the magnitude of what we are seeing today and Ill still be on vacation. I cannot be on vacation when the entire state is on fire to this magnitude. I never expected what is happening to have taken place. I know my Deputy, the Acting Governor is doing his best. Ive been in touch with him on daily basis but at this particular time he needs me and other stakeholders of the state to come together, and of course the Presidency, to stop this pogrom that is going on. This is unwarranted. There is no basis for this whatsoever. The fact that we have chosen to be law abiding should not be seen as weakness on our side but weve chosen that well support government and ensure that at all times we follow due process, we respect the laws of the land and that is why weve not taken laws into our hands. Ill continue to appeal to our people to be law abiding but this thing has to stop. Like I keep saying after Benue itll be another state. So its not just about Benue. You can see the killings going on all over the place. But the climax of this is the killing of clergymen worshiping in the house of God. That is what has led me not to even think about sleeping but to come back. I believe that the Presidency would definitely act on this. We appreciate Mr. President for coming out to condemn this act and I believe he will also direct that these people must be arrested because they are known. The security operatives know where they are and there is every need for us to support the security agencies because Ive also appreciated the fact that theyre really overwhelmed with the situation. The communities must come together and do everything that is law abiding to defend themselves. Ive always said that self preservation is the first law of nature.

Theres no point running away. Im aware that people who ran away to IDP camps were also killed so why are you running? Those who did not run were killed, those who ran were killed. So it is better, if you make some attempts and support the security agencies, you may have some way of helping so there is no point running away. The Federal Government is aware of this, the state Government is aware of this, and the security agencies are aware of this but they are completely overwhelmed. Nigerians, Benue State people must rise up so that together we can work with security agencies and see where we can come in whether by way of logistics, by way of physical support to the security agencies to ensure that they overcome this. Itll be better for all of us. There is no point running away. Every Benue State man and woman must be prepared because Benue State is under siege and we have no other place to go. We cant go to any other state and take over the land of another state. Its a land we have and we must stand to defend it but we must be law abiding in all that were going to do. I believe that based on the statement from the Presidency action would be followed and these killings would stop. I want to condole Benue people especially the Catholic Church. This is unwarranted, people who have made sacrifice of their lives to preach peace and bring love for mankind to pass through this kind of thing I think its unwarranted and this will not be accepted.

Question: The National Assembly summoned the President to appear before it and explain the killings in Benue and other parts of the country. Whats your reaction?

Governor Ortom: Ive reacted on the operations of the security agencies before and Ive just said it now. The Federal Government and the National Assembly also have a role to play. Theyre doing their role, lets see how it ends. All that Im calling for is that lets all team together. Lets all work together. Theres no point in a blame game but the focus should be how we can overcome this and whatever can be done whether by the National Assembly or the Presidency should be done to stop this killings, thats what Im saying. This has to stop. It is not right and nobody will accept this. This has been going on since 2011 in Benue State so it is time now to effect a change. That is what our government represents. The All Progressives Congress, APC government represents change. We must change the way of doing things in this country by ensuring that we stop the killings. Life is precious and when it goes to the point of killing Reverend Fathers in the church who were not armed then that is where it is more daring on all of us so every leader in this country should bury his head in shame on this matter because its something that we must collectively work together to surmount at this particular time.

Question: Some people blame you for doing an amnesty programme and disarming Benue people thereby making them vunerable for the ongoing killings. Whats your reaction?

Governor Ortom: I can never support lawlessness, I can never support it. I still stand by the amnesty programme I did. I did the amnesty programme to disarm youths who were using their weapons to terrorize the people. They acquired these weapons illegally. I did not do amnesty to collect arms from various communities. I never did. If I did to one community let them come out and say it. But I collected arms from criminals and destroyed them in the presence of the Presidential Committee of Small Arms Proliferation, PRESCOM, and the United Nations observers. This is the right thing to do, you cannot continue to be lawless in a society. Two wrongs can never make a right. The people that I collected arms from were all criminals. It was not community weapons that I collected and so if people come out to blame me for collecting weapons, I dont understand what they mean. As far as Im concerned I did the right thing and given another opportunity Ill do the same thing. Even today the criminals dont go to fight the insurgents. They stay around and rob market women, rob our fathers and mothers and children and business men. These are the kind of people I collected weapons from and I challenge any one who has a contrary view to bring it up on this matter. I want to also say that for those who are blaming me also for enacting a law, I did not just enact it. A Governor cannot enact a law alone. Its a whole process generated from the people to me in the executive. The bill went to the State Assembly, there was public hearing and as I talk to you the bill that I signed into law is a very popular law in Benue State. Even the small children, the old men and women who are displaced and all the people are still in support that there is no going back on this. And if those insurgents, if those who are perpetuating this, if those powers that be somewhere and are sponsoring these insurgency against Benue State and are thinking that one day we will have a rethink to rescind the law, they are wasting their time. This law is a popular law generated from the people and the people are standing with me and I have their firm commitment that I should stand with it. Theres no going back on the law. Its not accepted that they think that they will use this as opportunity to do ethnic cleansing and bring Jihad and so on it will not be accepted. I want to continue to say that security agencies should arrest the leadership of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore who threatened and are perpetuating these acts. They brought these foreigners whether they are from Libya, they are ISIS or ISWA or where ever they are, Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore led by Bodejo and Hassan Saleh brought them into this country. Ive reported them to security agencies. Until they stop these killings, well continue to cry out. Whatever it will cost us we are ready to pay the supreme price for this cause that were fighting that is right, its just and the only way that can restore peace in this country.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | Our support for Buhari will open doors for Ndigbo in APC, 2023  Uzodimma

The declaration of Sen. Hope Uzodimma (Imo West) for the All Progressive Congress (APC) has set Imo State agog as many stakeholders were rallying round him in solidarity for saying at the declaration ceremony that he would push for a better accommodation of the South-East in the APC led Federal Government and for a Nigerian President of Igbo extraction in 2023.

Hope Uzodimma

Uzodimma, a former PDP Senator and Chairman of Senate Committee on Customs, Excise and Tariffs led Ali Modu Sheriffs former faction of the PDP to a mass declaration for APC at the partys Secretariat in Abuja yesterday.

He said the group was joining the APC in the National interest to consolidate the good work of President Buhari in the country by expanding his support base all over the federation. But he also made it clear that he would push for a better accommodation of Ndigbo in the APC led Federal Government and for the South-East to produce the President of the country in 2023.

Mr. President is doing well, so in the National interest we are joining APC to expand his support base all over the country. I am aware that the South-East has not been fully accommodated in the Federal Government but I am sure that our presence will change things for the better. Moreover, we shall strongly push for the South-East to produce the President of Nigeria in 2023 he said.

Uzodimma stood in for the group. All the 36 chairmen of former Sheriff Faction of PDP were at the special ceremony organized by the APC leadership to receive them. The National Chairman of the party John Oyegun, seven APC governors, Secretary to the Federal Government Boss Mustapha and other National officers were on hand to receive the new members of the party.

Meanwhile, sources close to Sen. Uzodimma said many Imo stakeholders called him yesterday to congratulate him for his courage in standing up for the interest of the South-East at the declaration. The source said a top politician from Imo whose name he refused to disclose, called the Senator at about 8pm yesterday to thank him for making Ndigbo proud at the event.

Reports from Imo State said many of Uzodimmas supporters were excited over the Senators defection to APC because they believe he would give the party a new lease of life in the State just as he would fight for the interest of Ndigbo at the National level.

National Chairman of APC, Chief Oyegun while receiving them into APC observed that the eagle has landed and that there will be a new face of APC in the South-East. He assured the new members that the party was delighted to welcome them into the APC family.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralPresident Muhammadu Buhari will on Saturday (today) leave Abuja on an official working visit to the United States of America, on the invitation of President Donald Trump.

According to a statement on Friday by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, the President will hold a bilateral meeting with Trump and have a working lunch on Monday.

The statement said the meeting between the two leaders would focus on ways to enhance the strategic partnership between the two countries and to advance shared priorities such as: promoting economic growth, fighting terrorism and other threats to peace and security.

The meeting will further deepen the US-Nigeria relationship as the United States considers Nigerias economic growth, security and leadership in Africa to be critical aspects of their strategic partnership, the statement read.

Adesina added that Buhari would later in the day meet with a group of business persons in agriculture and agro-processing, dairy and animal husbandry.

He said ahead of the visit, meetings had been scheduled on April 26 and 27 between senior Nigerian government officials and the executives of major US companies in the areas of agriculture, aviation and transportation.

The statement added, In the area of aviation, the Nigerian officials will be meeting with Boeing, the largest aircraft manufacturer in the world, on the National Carrier Project.

On agriculture, they will meet with large equipment manufacturers with a focus on harvesting and post-harvesting equipment.

In the area of transportation, the officials will meet with the GE-led consortium for the implementation of the interim phase of the narrow gauge rail concession.

In the interim phase, a substantive concession agreement will be negotiated and finalised to provide the consortium with the opportunity to invest an estimated $2bn, to modernise the rail line from Lagos to Kano (Western Line) and from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri (Eastern Line). During the meeting, the concession framework and the interim phase framework agreements are expected to be signed.

The Nigerian officials will also meet with US-EXIM Bank and the US Overseas Private Investment Corporation to explore competitive financing arrangements.

Adesina added that in 2017, Nigerias Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment and the United States Department of Commerce signed a Memorandum of Understanding to promote and encourage commercial and investment ties between Nigeria and the US, with the initial focus on infrastructure, agriculture, digital economy, investment and regulatory reforms.Home | News | General | Mega City: Lagos demolishes popular Ile-Epo foodstuff market, displaces traders

*As traders, developer disagree over demolition notice

By Monsuru Olowoopejo

Hundreds of traders were yesterday displaced when officials of Lagos State Environmental Sanitation and Special Offence Unit (Task Force) supervised demolition of popular Ile-Epo Foodstuff Market in Agbado Oke-Odo Local Council Development Area, LCDA.

Tomatoes and peppers back in the markets

The officials, who were well armed, supervised the market demolition ensuring that none of the traders interfered with the exercise. Saturday Vanguard gathered that the demolition was embarked upon by the State Government, the council, in conjunction with the developer, Total Value Integrated Limited, to pave way for a modern market.

The project is expected to be completed in 12 months from commencement date.

On completion, the market would have banking hall, police post, car park, a garage where trailers from the North would offload their wares, fire station, among others.

When our correspondent visited the scene, bulldozers were sighted pulling down structures within the market while structures in areas inaccessible by bulldozer were removed with sledge hammers by officials As the demolition intensified, traders were sighted beside the tractors, trying to salvage their wares.

The Managing Director, Total Value Integrated Limited, Chris Onyekachi, said the traders were given 18 months notice to vacate the market for redevelopment, but while some had left the market, others refused to do so.

We have given them nothing short of 18 months notice to leave the market. Many of them have packed out while some remained. We came here around 7:30am for the demolition. We have given them alternative place in the market.

We are not demolishing the whole market now. We are doing it in three phases, he said, adding that the market was an eyesore not befitting a mega city like Lagos.

Onyekachi faulted claims that the developer connived with the NURTW and the council to drive the traders out of the market, saying it was all a rumour as there was no element of truth in the claim. People will always spread rumour but we have nothing to do with the union to take over the market. We gave them good time to leave. The place is an eyesore. What we are doing is for the good of the public, he said. He added that once the redevelopment of the market was complete, the traders would be given preference before others at discounted rate to own shops in the market.

Onyekachi said change was always hard to come by and that people would normally resist such, but that in the end, it would be for the good of all, adding that the first phase of the market redevelopment would be completed between three and four months.

According to the traders however, the demolition notice issued was very short for them to look for another location to continue their business considering the nature of their business.

The Financial Secretary of the Ile-Epo Market Association, Mrs. Augustina Egbuonu, said she had been in the market for 20 years and that she invested N18 million in the market, but lamented that it had gone down the drain with the demolition.

She alleged that the developer, the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW and the council connived to drive them out of the market so that they could give the union a park inside the market.

Another trader, who simply identified himself as Zakariya lamented that he did not know where to go after his shop had been demolished, but he admitted that the traders were given notices to vacate the market.

According to a trader, Mama Muiz, their means of livelihood had been taken away from them, while another trader Inusa Saliu also wanted the government to help them get another place to carry out their trading activities.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | Talk of Igbo Presidency on APC platform, a ruse  Ologbondiyan

National Publicity secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Kola Ologbondiyan has tasked Nigerians of Igbo extraction not to be deceived by the narrative that the shortest route to the South-East Presidency is to support President Muhammadu Buharis quest for a second term in office in next years general elections. The Publicity scribe in this brief but exclusive interview with Saturday Vanguard urged the ruling party to dust up the 2014 confab report if indeed, it is desirous of Igbo Presidency.

By Dirisu Yakubu

What do you make of insinuations making the rounds that the South-East support for President Muhammadu Buhari re-election in 2019 would facilitate Igbo quest for the highest office?

Ologbondiyan: The South-East is a traditional stronghold of the PDP and APC on realizing this is coming up with all forms of gimmicks to garner the votes of the South-East. Does APC look like a party that believes in the minority rights? If APC believes in the minority rights, they should go and dust up the 2014 confab report and begin its implementation. The promise to the South-East is not necessary. The question surrounding the possibility of the South-East producing the President is answered in the 2014 confab report. They should take up that report and begin the implementation or forward the report to the National Assembly, and allow the lawmakers to make use of same in amending the relevant provisions of the 1999 constitution. If they have not done this, they are merely deceiving our brothers in the South-East. But our brothers in the South-East know that the PDP belongs to all Nigerians. They also know that if the South-South can be President, it is equally certain that the South-East can also be President.

President Buhari conferred with the title of Ochioha NdiIgbo 1 by South East traditional council of rulers led by Eze Eberechi Dick during his visit to Ebonyi State on 14th Nov 2017

The PDP has in recent times been speaking about the need for free, fair and transparent polls in 2019. Is the party scared and not confident about the electoral umpire?

The PDP is reforming, renewing, repositioning and attracting Nigerians who are now buying into its new leadership because the new leadership has demonstrated that it is not going to get involved in impunity, and acts of corruption and because of that, Nigerians now have a credible alternative. We are very confident that the PDP will win the Presidential election. However, the election must be conducted by a truly independent electoral commission which will not rely on underage voting; a commission that will not manipulate the electoral process in favour of any political party.

We look forward to an Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that will not be controlled by a blood relation of President Muhammadu Buhari and we demand emphatically that INEC must bring out their report on their investigation of underage voting in Kano, Katsina States and wherever underage voters have been registered to participate in the 2019 elections. INEC must also ensure that its operation is not placed in the hands of the blood relations of the President Buhari. It is only through these processes that a truly free, fair and transparent 2019 elections can be guaranteed.

Is the party considering pruning the number of its Presidential aspirants in the build up to its primaries?

The beauty of democracy is the freedom of choices it guarantees. The PDP by its name is a democratic platform belonging to Nigerians and as such, we want Nigerians with the capacity and interest to govern our nation to come forward. We will organize a convention that would be free and fair and which outcome will be manifestly Nigerian. In other words, the candidate that would emerge is the one we will be sure would win the Presidential election. Nigerians have seen that President Buhari does not have the wherewithal to take this nation beyond where it is today. He said in Jos that he had done his best and if his best has left us where we are today, you can imagine where his best will leave us by 2023 if he is allowed to continue. We are in the search for that Nigerian who is young, vibrant and who understands the dynamics of our vision and our economy and who will not take the nation through a learning curve. We want a President who will hit the ground running on May 29, 2019. Our platform is open, ready to conduct a transparent primary election that will bring out the best out of the lot to govern us.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | Our fight against cultists Knights of St Mulumba

Hold rally against abortion, terrorism, others

By Ishola Balogun

THE Knights of St. Mulumba, Lagos Metropolitan Council, has said that its members are not cultists, adding that its objectives were to counter the harm done by many secret societies to the church and to arrest the influx of the Christian enlightened members in those harmful secret groups.

The Knights at a Pro-life rally held in Lagos also advanced the issue of abortion, kidnapping, terrorism in the country to a spiritual level with a mass calling on God to intervene and cleansed the society.

The Pro-life rally was held from Regina Mundi Catholic Church, Olosha, Mushin, down to Ojuelegba terminating at Lawanson with members storming the streets in their hundreds, distributing leaflets, shouting Abortion is Murder.

The Grand Knight, William Adebisi, said the event was meant to create awareness against the unwholesome practice of abortion, uphold the sanctity of human life from the womb, as well as halt the increasing incidences of capital punishment, contraception, same sex marriages, homosexuality, kidnapping, child abuse and terrorism and extra judicial killings in the society.

Adebisi, addressing journalists at the Lawanson branch of the church said: as Catholics, it is our collective responsibility and moral duty to stamp out these ills from our society, since the unborn baby has right to life, just like every human being. We are not cultists, our objective is to counteract the harm done by many secret societies to the church and to arrest the influx of the Christian enlightened members into those harmful secret groups.

He stated that 1.25 million abortions are carried out in Nigeria and 56 million worldwide every year, adding that those who practice abortion and those who want legal backing for the unwholesome practice are beneficiaries of campaign against abortion.

He urged the government to enforce laws against abortion in the nation and put in place a policy framework to actualize the objective of a saner society.

In the same vein, the Coordinator of Family and Human Life Unit, Archdiocese of Lagos, Mrs Bridget Itsueli said the preservation of life even in the womb is the beginning of morality since it provides the love that allows the gift of the womb to grow in the likeness of God, the giver of life.

Human life is sacred because from the beginning it involves the creative action of God and remains forever in a special relationship with the Creator, who is its sole end.

She added that the church will continue to put in place facilities that provide social, spiritual and material support, counseling to young and not so young women who are in dilemma over their pregnancies.

She said the birth of every new life gives joy because life is Gods unique gift to every human being, to the family and to the community.

The sexual act is used indiscriminately outside marriage and even within marriage. Many husbands and wives show little discernment and discipline. Young people carelessly and ignorantly believe that the sexual act is a pastime to be engaged at will, she said.

The Order of the Knights of St. Mulumba (KSM) was established in Nigeria on June 14, 1953 by Late Reverend Father Abraham Anselm Isidahome Ojefua; a Priest and Monk from Illah Monastery in present day Delta state and modelled after the Sacred Order of Catholic Knighthood in Uganda. It has a current membership of over 20,000 males and females.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | How were achieving big results in Delta Uduaghan

BY CHARLES KUMOLU

DELTA State Commissioner for Transport, Mr. Vincent Uduaghan, in this interview, explains how the state government is responding to critical needs of the people. He also spoke on other issues.

You were recently honoured as the best Transport Commissioner by Daily Independent Newspapers. What do you think earned you the recognition?

I believe my commitment to the assignment given to me by my boss, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa made the award possible. I must thank him for the opportunity given to me to serve. This window has given me the privilege to interface with critical stakeholders in the transport sector. The Transport sector is a wide area and it needs commitment and hard work to drive the process. I want to also thank the management of Daily Independent Newspapers for the award.

Mr. Vincent Uduaghan,

How have you been able to make impact in the states transport sector?

The bad state of the economy would have limited our ability so much but the state government has been very supportive of the ministry.

That is why we have been able to add value in the transport sector.

An example is the establishment of Delta State Traffic Management Authority, DESTMA, which was put in place to manage, control and direct traffic flow in the state. The accreditation of Delta School of Marine in Burutu is another milestone. The establishment of an ultra-modern mechanic village in Asaba, and the introduction of intercity bus services on the Asaba/Illah routes were done under our watch. We intend replicating them in other parts of the state soon.

There is also the provision of traffic lights in Asaba/Warri/ Effurun axis.

The privatization of Delta Line is still ongoing. The state government took that decision to divest 60 per cent of Delta Lines ownership through partial privatization.

Basically, we are currently working on how to have a compromise with the staff of the agency. When the privatization process is completed, Deltans should expect a better Delta Line that will be profitably managed to ensure good service delivery. The new Delta Line will satisfy both investors and commuters. We must commend the state government for looking at this direction in order to avoid mismanagement.

The Okowa administration has been accused by the opposition of not having a star project, as a key player in the administration, what can you say about that?

What makes a star project to someone might not make a star project to me. The opposition at the centre should show us the star projects they have done as the ruling party. The state is feeling the impact of the poor state of the economy like other states of the federation. Most states have been struggling to pay workers salaries. Even with that, the Okowa-led administration has done a lot in managing the lean resources at its disposal. Apart from the construction of roads in virtually all parts of the state, the government is presently constructing a mega-state secretariat that will accommodate all ministries. The Asaba Storm Water Drainage is ongoing, the building and renovation of schools are ongoing also. Across the technical schools and vocational training centres in the state, the government embarked on capacity building. These have attracted the attention of the World Bank and it eventually led to a partnership. There is also the completion of Stephen Keshi Stadium. As a state, all facets of the economy deserve attention. In the riverine areas of Delta State, roads are being constructed to ensure development in those areas.

Can you point at what the current leadership in the state has achieved to deserve another term in office?

It takes wisdom to lead a state like Delta. In that vein, we can describe our governor as a square peg in a square hole. It is evidently clear that Okowa is a prudent person, a good listener, and a workaholic. His commitment to truth in steering the affairs of the state is outstanding. He has managed the weak economy of Delta State. Therefore, I have no doubt that he would do so when re-elected. Since assuming the mantle of leadership, he has proven to be a true Deltan. He deserves a second tenure and God will surely give it to him. The SMART Agenda of his administration is an all-encompassing programme that touches every aspect of the states life. In the transport sector, the Smart Agenda has provided jobs for Deltans. Today, hundreds of Deltans are in the employment of DESTMA. Of note is the social harmony that thrives between the various unions and the state government through the Ministry of Transport. It can also be mentioned that the Mechanic Village in place is another product of the SMART Agenda.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | Its now self-defence, well not run away

Ameh Ebute, former Senate President speaks on carnage in Benue

Wants Buhari back as President in 2019

Says senate invasion a reflection of state of the nation

Fears things will get worse before elections next year

By Chioma Gabriel,Editor Special Features

A former senate president, Ameh Ebute in this encounter takes a swipe at the current senate, blaming the face-off between the executive and the legislature on the manner the senate leadership emerged. He spoke on the killings in his state, Benue and said they would not resort to self-defence and will not run away from their state.

He also attributed the invasion of the senate on youth restiveness, borne out of laziness of youths who would not work honestly to earn a living but like President Buhari said, are depending on oil money.Excerpts:

The 8th National Assembly seems to be a house of discord. For the first time, the Senate President and his deputy are being prosecuted while in office; the senate was invaded and a mace stolen during plenary and then, there are also the Omo-Agege and Dino Melaye issues. To what will you attribute these?

Senator Ameh Ebute

The way the senate president and his deputy emerged were very unconstitutional. When few senators were invited through the back door to elect a senate president and his deputy, this is the kind of thing you will see. Things have never been like this. The foundation of this senate is badly laid. So, the lack of cooperation between the executive and the legislature is based on this faulty foundation and it will remain like this because there is no trust between the executive and the legislature. That mutual suspicion will always be there. This senate has a faulty foundation and that is the cause of the problem.

Other senates had one or two issues with executive but this one is so bad. It has never been like this. And it is an abomination for thugs to walk into the senate and remove the mace, the symbol of authority of the senate without which there will be no deliberations. It is the height of nonsense. It has never happened before and Im sure, such a thing will never happen again.

You were there once as a Senate President. What about security in the chambers. How did the hoodlums scale it?

They couldnt just have entered. Everything was planned and somebody was followed to gain entrance into the chambers. There is security in the Senate but what happened was because of the cooperation of Senator Omo-Agege. He entered into the Senate chambers with the thugs. As far as I am concerned, if there is esprit de corps between him and other senators, he wouldnt have gone into the chambers with the thugs. If he came to the chambers to challenge his suspension, he didnt need to bring thugs.

But where was security when they escaped because, security at various points would have hindered the escape with the mace?

That goes to show you that theres the complicity of the executive arm of government. After the commotion that was already going on in the senate chambers, I dont see how they could have escaped. The truth is that, the whole country is not safe. If it were gunmen that gained entrance into the chambers, the worse could have happened. It has never happened and Im sure, it will not happen again. But something happened somewhere that created the loop-hole for the invasion.

So, this whole thing bothers on the security of the country?

Its a reflection of the deterioration and security challenges facing this country. But Im optimistic that it is going to end very soon after the elections if Nigerians vote right. As things are currently, I dont see any improvement before the next elections. It can only get worse and as the security challenges around the country are getting worse, the relationship between the executive and the legislature is also getting worse. So, things will get worse and in the case of what happened in the senate, I think the executive compromised and I dont see any improvement in the executive/legislature relationship before the next election.

You are from Benue, herdsmen are having a field day in your state . what attempts have you made on your own as a former Senate President to curtail it.

My state is the number one place where herdsmen are killing people. I will not run away from my village because of herdsmen. We are trying to put an end to it all. We are talking to herdsmen. We are making our own self defence preparations. We are not keeping quiet because this issue is very unfortunate.

The recent carnage is not something to write home about;those herdsmen went into a Church, killed two priests and 17 worshippers .

It will not continue and Im saying it. We are doing something about the situation. This is my village, this is where I come from. I cannot run away from here and we are not keeping quiet any more. We are working on self-defence mechanisms.

The carnage is being perpetrated by young people, be it Boko Haram insurgents, herdsmen and even the stolen mace. Some people would say Nigerian youths are lazy but politicians are culprits too.

I agree that some of our youths are lazy. Its something that really baffles me. They are not doing anything meaningful. Is it not an act of laziness to leave a business to go the senate to steal a mace? That is what the president was talking about. Instead of them to go out and do something profitable, they go about as thugs, stealing mace and doing strange things. I agree with the president. It is not all of them though because there are good ones working honestly to make lasting impressions but the majority are not hardworking at all and these are the ones who present themselves to be used as thugs in doing dastardly acts.

When we were young, we used to go to the farm but these ones dont go to the farm, but they want to eat. Who is going to provide, who is going to produce the food? When we were youths, we were going to farm. In my old age, Im still going to the farm. In those days, mechanised farming had not come to Nigeria . We relied on hoes and diggers. But we are in the era of mechanised farming which the youths ought to capitalise on but they dont want to do that. Everybody is rushing to the city to do nothing but thuggery and other bad things. That is why we are where we are: laziness amongst the youth.

You think the relationship between the executive and the legislature will not improve till after the elections?

It will never improve until after elections.

Even with Buhari coming back?

How do you know who is coming back? Anyway, I agree that he should come back. At least, things are no longer as usual especially in government circles. He has done well in the area of fighting corruption and for that alone, he should come back. Some people may have different views but my own view is that he should come back to continue what he has started especially in the management of funds.

Nigerians are hungry and poor under the Buhari regime; its perhaps only those in government that are eating 3-square meals a day.

If you dont work, you wont eat. Im in my village farming. Im not hungry. I am farming and eating. So, let the youth go and farm. They have the energy to farm. If you are not working, you are not a civil servant ; you are not an engineer or a doctor and not in business, and you keep running from Abuja to Lagos, from Kano to Kaduna looking for something, why wont you be hungry? When you run away from the village and refuse to produce food for yourself and the country, then the youth will continue to be hungry.

Graduates are being churned out the universities everyday. They come out and join the league of other jobless youths. Those who are working dont get paid

There is no country in the world where employment will automatically be provided for graduates. It has to take sometime for people to get employed. The situation is unfortunate but people should exercise patience and also try to do something on their own.

That is why I want to urge Nigerian universities to change their courses with less emphasis on academic courses like History, Public Administration and lay emphasis on engineering and subjects that will create room for self employment. Somebody who studied History, Public Administration or Management will come out and become a liability to government. Why not go for engineering and come out to become self-employed.

Havent you seen unemployed engineers, doctors and others?

That somebody studied Engineering does not mean he will graduate and become automatically employed. Unemployed professionals are not only seen in Nigeria. They are also elsewhere. But with certain certificates, people can get self-employed. If corruption is curtailed, more industries would be opened and more people will get employed. But the youth keep looking at the oil money which then ends up in the pockets of the rich and the powerful, and those who are in government. Go to the villages;some villages are practically empty except for old people. The young ones have all run to the city looking for jobs. Unfortunately, I know of so many people who are billionaires but they have not done anything for their villages. They didnt even sink any boreholes in their villages for people to drink water from. Nigerian people should rise against all that.

You talked about billionaires who do nothing to help their constituencies. In the national assembly, legislators earn tens of millions monthly and some dont even go to their villages and constituents. These earnings are too much and could be used to employ the youth.

I am a lawyer and I work with evidence. It is not just okay to allege legislators earn millions every month. Where is the evidence that the National Assembly people earn so much? Its mere allegation. In my time, we earned N15,000 every month. We didnt have constituency projects then. So, I wont just buy the allegation that legislators earn tens of millions every month. It wasnt like that in our time.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | Police smash syndicate of leaked WAEC questions and answers

By Evelyn Usman and Esther Onyegbula

THE Lagos State Police command has smashed a syndicate which specialised in the sale of the West Africa Examination Council, WAEC questions and answers to students.

Arrested were four suspected members of the syndicate, among them, a Physics and Mathematics teacher in one of the private schools in Ondo state.

The syndicate which also has its members in Ghana, was discovered to have created different Whatsapp groups where questions and answers of the on going WAEC were released to their agents who in turn sold them to WAEC candidates.

Surprisingly, all the questions and answers released via the Whatsapp groups were exactly the same as those written in the examination halls.

Also arrested was an operator of a fake WAEC centre at El-Supreme Private School located at 3, Oseni Adekogbe street, in Igbogbo area of Ikorodu, with the recovery of WAEC question papers and answer sheets suspected to have been forged.

In this case, the operator, Adeniyi Joshua, of El-Supreme Church was alleged to have swindled unsuspecting members of the public during registration for WAEC examination. He was said to have conducted the examination but ended up dumping the answer scripts in a school instead of taking them to WAEC designated points.

Parading the suspects before journalists at the command headquarters yesterday, the command boss, Edgal Imohimi, described the case of the syndicate who leaked questions and answers to WAEC candidates, as a national embarrassment. He disclosed that when intelligence report on activities of the syndicate was received, he deployed the Decoy team of the Rapid Response Squad , RRS to investigate and ensure the arrest of the saboteurs.

He disclosed that the arrest of the suspects were made in Edo, Osun and Ondo states .

He said : Investigations revealed that these atrocities were committed through the following websites: www.ceebook. net  07069198008; www.examloaded.com  08162563540; www.guruscamp.com  08132876664 ; www.solutionclass.com  08060987041 and www.expotab.com  09039642826. There were also 32 Whatsapp groups through which the questions and answers were sent. Four suspects; Samuel Kayode, (28) Adebayo Ifeoluwa, (17) Alayande Ahmed, (16 ) and Elusode Festus,( 20) were arrested , while other suspects are in Ghana.

We discovered that the question papers given by these syndicates are word for word with the ones provided by WAEC for the candidates. The four suspects confessed and admitted to have committed the crime. Evidence of this was established through their mobile phones.

Effort he said, was still in progress to get owners of the websites and also to find out how the question papers got out of WAEC office, adding that the command would liaise with the WAEC to unearth the insider connivance.

He therefore, advised parents, guardians and tutors to guide and monitor their wards against engaging in examination malpractices, but rather, encourage them to face their studies, informing that there was no short way to success. For the concerned examination agency, he advised  It is important for you to look into this devastating development and take necessary corrective measures to prevent such leakage in future.

When approached, the suspects admitted to the offence but claimed they only saw the questions which they in turn gave to WAEC candidates.

One of them, Samuel Ola, the Physics and Mathematics teacher said , I saw a website on the internet through which I contacted one Danladi , who sold nine questions to me for N9000. I sent him N500 recharge card as requested before the questions were sent. Thereafter, I created a WhatsApp group which has 25 students.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | Troops arrest three armed herdsmen in Benue after exchange of gunfire

*As ethnic leaders raise alarm over impending attack on Makurdi

By Peter Duru, Makurdi

The Nigerian Army has captured three armed militant herdsmen in Benue state after an exchange of gunfire at Tormatar village in Guma local government area of the state.

Army

In a statement signed by the Assistant Director, Army Public Relations 707 Special Forces Brigade Makurdi, Major Olabisi Ayeni, troops of the brigade nabbed the armed marauders while they were converging in a camp to launch further attacks on the state.

The statement read in part, troops of the 707 Special Forces Brigade conducted a fighting patrol to a suspected militia herdsmen camp located close to Tormatar village in Guma local government area of Benue state on Thursday.

The armed men were preparing for another possible attack on the innocent citizens in the local government area. On getting to the militia camp, the herdsmen fired at our troops but the troops immediately returned fire and dislodged them.

The troops arrested three of the militia herdsmen including Abubakar Umaru, Adamu Likita and Yusufa Alhaja with one of them wounded during the gun battle. Weapons recovered included two AK 47 riffles with 6 rounds of 7.62MM Special Ammunition. Similarly, one AK47 riffle and five rounds of 7.62mm Special Ammunition were found in the bush by troops of the Brigade while conducting search in the general area of Naka village in Gwer West local government area of the state.

Meanwhile, the leadership of the ethnic groups in the state under the aegis of Mdzough U Tiv, Idoma National Forum and the Omi Ny Igede has raised alarm over an alleged planned attack on Makurdi, the state capital by suspected militant herdsmen.

Speaking Friday, through its Chairman, Chief Edward Ujege the ethnic leaders also disclosed that intelligence report had it that over 360 military assault rifles had allegedly been acquired by Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore and distributed to their collaborators in the state preparatory to the execution of the planned attack.

According to the tribal leaders, it has been alleged that heavily armed militant herdsmen are being mobilized for the execution of this diabolic attack on the seat of Government of Benue State.

Though, we have not been able to verify this allegation, we are constrained to state that there is some element of truth in this given that in time past, such similar allegations have been dismissed to the detriment of our villagers.

They recalled that a similar threat had been issued by the leadership of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore who vowed to resist the anti open grazing law of the state and after alerting the Federal government of the development no action was taken to stop the group.

The result of the inaction on the side of the Federal Government was that on January 1st., 2018 armed Fulani militia launched a deadly attack on communities in Guma and Logo Local Government Areas of the State leaving no fewer than 73 persons dead including members of the Livestock Guards of the State.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | Few months after making strong political moves, SDP suspends chairman

- Social Democratic Party (SDP) has suspeded its Adamawa state chapter chairman

- Ibrahim Bebetu was suspended for gross disrespect to the constituted authority

- According to the party, Bebetu's suspension will take effect from Thursday, April 19

The chairman of the Adamawa state chapter Social Democratic Party (SDP), Ibrahim Bebetu has been suspended.

Bebetu suspension was announced by the national working committee of the party on Friday, April 27.

In a press statement released by the party, the Adamawa chapter chairman's suspension will take effect from Thursday, April 19.

READ ALSO: Breaking: FG declares Tuesday public holiday

The statement signed by SDP's national deputy secretary, Simon Adesina, said the state's vice chairman Adamawa north, Danjuma Chikale, will act as the chairman of the party in the state.

Chikale said Bebetu's suspension followed due process after issues of gross disrespect to the constituted authority was committed by the past chairman.

He said accused Bebetu of making unauthorised public announcement cancelling a rally in Yola Adamawa State which has caused embarrassment to the national leadership of the party.

READ ALSO: Nigerian Army arrests key Boko Haram suspect allegedly behind Benue killings

Following the suspension, Bebetu has also been directed to ensure law and order is maintained within the party during and after investigations on the matter.

Chikale said the investigation will enable the party have a fair resolution of the crisis and also ensure proper handover of party's property to the acting chairman.

However, reacting to the news, Bebetu told Daily Trust that he was not aware of the suspension.

PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app

Meanwhile, NAIJ.com earlier reported that a faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), former president Olusegun Obasanjo's Coalition for Nigeria Movement (CNM), Olu Falae and some leaders from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) were set to form the SDP.

It was gathered members of these groups, parties and individuals were in talks on how to push the new party in alignment with their political agenda for the forthcoming 2019 election.

The SDP, NAIJ.com gathered, was designed to wrestle power from the ruling APC in the next general election.

Nigerians want PDP back in 2019 - Goodluck Jonathan declares at PDP Caucus Meeting on NAIJ.com TV

[embedded content]

Subscribe to watch new videos

Source: Naija.ng

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | Congresses: Oyegun reportedly withdraws, as APC fixes new dates

- The national chairman of the APC has reportedly dropped his chairmanship re-election ambition

- The ruling party has also fixed new dates for its congresses

- The new dates are Saturday, May 5 for ward congresses, Saturday, May 12 for LGA congresses and Saturday, May 19 for state congresses

The national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John John Odigie-Oyegun, has reportedly shelved his national chairmanship ambition as the ruling party announced new dates for this years ward, local government and state congresses.

Daily Trust reports that it could however not be confirmed whether the decision was connected to Oyeguns visit to the Presidential Villa on the night of Thursday, April 26.

NAIJ.com gathered that Oyegun had earlier described the purported endorsement of former governor Adams Oshiomhole by the south-south zonal leadership of the party as absolutely childish.

READ ALSO: Breaking: FG declares Tuesday public holiday

Chief Odigie-Oyegun, who spoke with newsmen at the partys national secretariat in Abuja, said voting would take place at convention venue and not at any government house.

When asked whether he would seek re-election, he said was quoted to have said: Im going to know when the convention committee announces their programmes, then when Im going to buy a form if I will re-contest I will let you know.

The new dates announced on Friday, April 27, by the partys National Publicity Secretary, Malam Bolaji Abdullahi, are Saturday, May 5 for ward congresses, Saturday, May 12 for LGA congresses and Saturday, May 19 for state congresses.

Abdullahi said the date for the national convention in June would be announced later.

In the timetable earlier released, the party scheduled ward congresses for Wednesday, May 2, LG congresses for Saturday, May 5, state congresses for Wednesday, May 9 and national convention for May 14, 2018.

PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 new app

Meanwhile, NAIJ.com had previously reported that the tenure elongation of the Odigie-Oyegun-led executive and other party officials allegedly caused division among governors elected on the platform of the APC.

Premium Times reported that governors Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna and Simon Lalong of Plateau simply said they (governors) had agreed not to speak to the media.

The news outlet, however, quoting an unnamed source, reported that the governors had a heated debate over the tenure elongation of party officials. I am not sure what happened inside the chamber could be called a real meeting, they were simply fighting, the source, who declined to be named because he is not authorised to speak to the media said.

APC official tells why his party could be voted out in 2019 - on NAIJ.com TV

[embedded content]

Subscribe to watch new videos

Source: Naija.ng

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | OPINION: The dirty, desperate politics in Kogi state by Ekele Sunday

Editor's note: Public affairs analyst, Ekele Sunday based in Lokoja, the capital of Kogi state, writes on the recent political situation in the north-central state, which has kept the state in turmoil for a while now.

Read below:

More facts are beginning to unravel about the level some political figures in Kogi State are ready to go in order to capture power and regain their political relevance.

Following the shocking revelation by police spokesperson, Jimoh Moshood, about the culpable involvement of the senator representing Kogi West at the red chamber of the National Assembly, Senator Dino Maleye, in the case of two nabbed suspected armed criminals there has been a fresh insight implicating a member of the Kogi state House of Assembly and other politicians of having a stained notorious history in Kogi state.

The suspects had alleged while being interrogated by the police that they were on the payroll of the embattled senator.

Investigations have also found out that a sitting lawmaker in the Kogi state House of Assembly, Honourable Friday Abdul Sani who is wanted by the long arm of the law for countless criminal acts in Kogi state since 2007 has also been fingered.

READ ALSO: Recall of Senator Dino Melaye by INEC in order - Observer groups

It would be recalled that between 2003 through 2012, based on the official documents that emanated from the Department of State Service (DSS), Friday Abdul Sani was a man who was entangled in diverse act of criminality while he tormented every persons that crossed his path. The honourable member back then together with his gang popularly called Ajana Mopol were known within the states terrain for wreaking havoc and causing mayhem. From the landslide of evidence available, Friday Abdul Sanis era was a reign of terror in Kogi state that many visit with fear and would otherwise, want to forget too soon.

Although the criminality of Friday Abdul Sani has been downplayed by the local media in the state out of the fear that the media outlet that would be brave enough to do so might be visited with tragedy, including physical attacks that can lead to death of prominent figures in such organizations or the particular journalist who dares the devil. It is also shocking to learn that even the diverse security agencies in the state were handicapped in handling this situation, even while they acknowledged the existence of a terrorist of Friday Abdul Sanis pedigree, they yet remained calm and allow a popular crime perpetrator to hold a public office.

Be reminded/informed that between 2004 and 2007, it was documented that Abdul Sani committed atrocities and deadly attacks across Kogi state, for which, unfortunately, he received a lot of accolades from some political players. One worthy to note was the alleged murder of Samaila Ejima on December 14, 2004. Although the police made some arrests at the beginning of the case, there were suspected foul play as enquiries by the concerned Odolu community members from the then commissioner of police revealed that the case was transferred to the Force Headquarters in Abuja and that the suspect arrested, Mohammed Omolayo, A.k.a Lessgo, escaped from police custody. That was the shocking end of that episode.

As at 2007, the group had become dreaded terror group and had spread their tentacles in different part of the state with smaller terror affiliates hiding under the canopy of positive youths and Aluta youths. These smaller groups were said get their financing from ransoms, extortions and illegal collection of revenue from timber contractors from part of Enugu state.

When the 2007 election drew near, the dreaded pro-government militia group embarked on a violent operation as they engaged in an overhauling clearance operation for persons in politics. Activities they engaged in ranged from murder, attempted murder, intimidation, abduction, extortion and repeated threats of prominent oppositions to the then power in government. Their activity was general knowledge to persons in the political terrain of the state who were not in shock while the so called political thug bagged a political appointment during the administration of Governor Idris Wada.

In the months of May and November 2008, residents of Okanwili, Ofodo, Agbokete and Ogbogbo communities were attacked and sacked by Friday Abdul Sani led militants. Properties belonging to a former commissioner for health, Honourable Martin Onu Idakwo and Alhaji Yakubu Abuh were vandalized. During this period, Dekina local government council was attacked and an innocent Pre-National Diploma student of the Federal Polytechnic Idah was gunned down while coming out from the mosque. Also, cars belonging to Honourable Ernest Abah and Jacob Edime were burnt. In Agbokete community, an 80 year old man, Adebo Abutu was beaten to death.

As far as the people of Igalamela/Odolu constituency and entire Kogi state are concerned, the supreme law of Karma has caught up with Friday Sani. Honourable Friday Sani used other four members out of the 24 members of the Assembly to impeach Rt Hon Momoh Jimoh Lawal in 2016. He defended his action in all forums because he was picking from the table of men at the Luguard House. Having been identified as a man who has reputation of feeding fat from crisis, Bellos executive discarded him immediately. Adding salt to injuries, he is also a forerunner of the fugitive group named Save Kogi initiatives a group which is aimed at offering salvation to Kogi state.

Another leading figure in the ill-fated Save Kogi Group is the senator representing Kogi East, Attai Aidoko Ali; the most fortunate but regrettably the worst politician the senatorial district has ever had. Aidoko has been in the National Assembly close to two decades but his performance can best be described simply as colourless as he has failed his people woefully. There was a viral video showing how the people in Aidokos community trek over 4km before they can access water from a stream for their domestic and economic activities. The most heinous aspect of his poor leadership is in the fact after 12 years as member of the countrys House of Representative and eight years as Senator, Attai Aidoko cannot sink a single borehole in his ancestral home.

On January 38 2016, his co-traveler and Senator Dino Melaye told an Assembly Of over 30, 000 people who gathered at the Confluence Stadium in Lokoja during inauguration of Yahaya Bello as governor of Kogi state that, while the people of Kogi state voted for late Prince Abubakar Audu, God Almighty elected Yahaya Bello. He further stated that whoever fights Yahaya Bello should know he is fighting God Almighty and thousands of people chorused Amen. The same Dino today has declared Kogi state as Gaza where there shall be no peace for the government and the people.

There is no doubt that actions and inactions of the characters identified in this piece are nothing but individuals desperate for take over power using whatever means necessary, including the use of violence. Little wonder there is a surge in the number attacks on locals in several parts of Kogi state just as the general elections draw near.

The need for security agents to make all necessary efforts to bring these characters to justice by interrogating them with the sole objectives of getting to the bottom of their nefarious activities cannot be downplayed here. It is okay for politicians to want to gain power through convincing campaigns using their antecedents, but it becomes overstretched when it begins to involve acts that endanger the lives of ordinary citizens of the state.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of NAIJ.com.

Your own opinion articles are welcome at info@corp.naij.com drop an email telling us what you want to write about and why. More details in Naij.coms step-by-step guide for guest contributors.

Were ready to trade your news for our money: submit news and photo reports from your area using our Citizen Journalism App.

Contact us if you have any feedback, suggestions, complaints or compliments. We are also available on Twitter.

Kogi West senatorial district to recall senator Dino Melaye from the Nigerian Senate - on NAIJ.com TV

[embedded content]

Subscribe to watch new videos

Source: Naija.ng

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | Killings: Why governors cannot guarantee maximum security in their states - Northern governor reveals

- Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara has stated that maximum security cannot be guaranteed by state governors in their respective domains because they do not control security agencies

- He pointed out that governors are not in control of either the soldiers or the police or any other security men

- Yari said the best the governors can do is support the security agencies in their respective states with logistics; which is what they are doing

Chairman of Nigerias Governors Forum (NGF), Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara, says state governors cannot enforce maximum security in their domains because they are not in control of security agencies, NAN reports.

Yari told newsmen in Abuja at the end of an NGF meeting on Thursday, April 27, that the governors were working energetically with the federal government to tackle the lingering security challenges across the nation.

READ ALSO: Killings and 2019: At this rate, would there be anyone left to preside over?

NAIJ.com learnt that the NGF meeting, the third of its type this year, was convened to address critical issues facing the governors in their states in relation with the federal government.

He said: We are not in control of either the soldiers or the police or any other security men, but what we can do is to sit down with security men in our respective states to support security agencies.

In terms of logistics, we are doing our best and we will continue to support the federal government in this regard.

The NGF chairman also told newsmen that the security challenge facing the nation was a global phenomenon which governments all over the world are striving to contain.

He stated: The security situation in the country is a global issue and everywhere people are dealing with the security problem.

The problem of security is what was inherited before the administration of today and before some of our governors emerged as governors; and so as governors, we are working to put in our best to support the security agencies in our respective states with logistics. That is what we can only do.

PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app

Meanwhile, NAIJ.com previously reported that Governor Yari declared on Tuesday, April 25, that Nigeria is now ripe for state police in order to effectively tackle the internal security problems facing the country.

He made this known in his country home in Talata area of the state.

Yari said in part: I think we are matured for state police because in 2014 when we were doing constitutional amendments, we came up with the issue of state police. Many Nigerians did not support the issue then, because of the nature of some state executives.

What does Nigeria need right now? (Nigerian Street Interview) - on NAIJ.com TV:

[embedded content]

Subscribe to watch new videos

Source: Naija.ng

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | Killings and 2019: At this rate, would there be anyone left to preside over? By Buchi Obichie (Opinion)

Editors note: The writer, Buchi Obichie, laments over the state of insecurity in Benue and elsewhere around the country. She notes that killer herdsmen are cutting people down with impunity, while citizens remain helpless. She cautions the president to step up to his responsibility and bring an end to this carnage, instead of focusing his energies on getting reelected.

Its been another all-too familiar bloody week in Benue. Every single day beginning from Monday to Thursday, scores of people were killed by depraved, blood-thirsty individuals, in mindless unwarranted attacks!

On Monday, a soldier and passerby were killed; on Tuesday, 19 people including two priests were killed during morning Mass at a Catholic Church; on Wednesday, 22 people were reportedly slaughtered; and on Thursday, seven IDPs were killed! I woke up on Friday, April 27 (today), expecting the worst!

What is happening? Nigeria has become a war-zone, and Benue state is the battlefront! How did we get here?

READ ALSO: Murder, gun-running charges: Are Melaye and Sani really being framed; who will speak up? by Buchi Obichie (Opinion)

Some people say these killer herdsmen are being sponsored, and are doing the most because 2019 is around the corner; others (like the president), have attributed the crisis to the fall of Libya.

The military is vowing to deal with culprits (and their sponsors), the state governor is crying that he has been abandoned by the federal government, the Catholic Church is asking Buhari to resign, the presidents aides are trying to offer explanations on behalf of their boss, the opposition is crying wolf, accusations and counter accusations are flying all over the placeand all the while, people are dying!

Like any other concerned Nigerian, I believe that the federal government (and president in particular) has a duty to protect lives and citizens; and if those in authority cannot live up to this fundamental constitutional obligation, then they have failed, and cannot lay any claim to our allegiance!

There is no use offering countless explanations if concrete results are not seen on ground; and while I realize that the military is overstretched at the moment, I cannot deny the fact that Benues security apparatus is weak.

But the killings are not just taking place in Benue; its happening in Taraba, in Nasarawa and many other states. Citizens are being slaughtered in their homes, in farms, in places of worship, on highwayseverywhere. They are scared to leave their homes and scared to stay in their homes, scared to sleep and scared to be awake, scared of everything that moves and everything that stands still, scared of each other and each others shadowsscared of everything!

And in the midst of this madness, President Muhammadu Buhari has announced that he would seek election in 2019; and the opposition parties are gearing up to do battle against him. But I wonder: if these killings continue, would there be anyone left to govern over in 2019? Who would be left to rule over when the poor and defenseless get killed and the rich run out of the country in fear?

Make no mistakes; no one is safe in this climate. If thugs could invade the National Assembly and steal a mace, and a state lawmaker could be abducted and killed, then anyone can be targeted. Just because they have not come for you, does not mean that they cannot get you!

Instead of focusing on getting elected, the president ought to be focused on getting to the root of this matter; and one way he can begin, is to label these killer herdsmen as terrorists, because that is what they are! If people who did not go as far as going from house to house slaughtering others could be labeled terrorists, then there is no reason why these criminals who are perpetuating these barbaric acts in defiance of the law, should not also be classified as such!

If the current security arrangement is not yielding results, the president needs to sit down with his security chiefs and come up with a new strategy for defense. And this time, he needs to make sure that his orders are strictly carried out. You cant send a security chief to a troubled state; only for him to go elsewhere! Everyone needs to sit uppeople are dying!

Reacting to the situation in Benue, the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria recently stated: Since the president, who appointed the heads of the nations security agencies has refused to caution them even in the face of the chaos and barbarity into which our country has been plunged, we are left with no choice but to conclude that they are acting a script that he approves of.

The late dictator, Sani Abacha is reported to have stated: If insurgency lasts more than 24 hours, the government has a hand in it.

Now, while I wont go so far as saying the president approves of the lapses of his security chiefs in this matter or that the federal government has a hand in this violence; I do believe that as commander-in-chief, Buhari does have a duty to ensure that his officers are doing their jobs effectively. And with all the monies being withdrawn to fight insecurity, there is no reason why they shouldnt be!

Gen TY Danjuma had earlier accused the military of complicity in the killings in his own state of Taraba.

He said: This ethnic cleansing must stop in Taraba, and it must stop in Nigeria. These killers have been protected by the military; they cover them and you must be watchful to guide and protect yourselves because you have no other place to go.

In light of all these claims and accusations, I do believe that there are things that the president has to look into, seriously, concerning the security apparatusexcept they want citizens to be pushed to the point where they bear arms to defend themselves!

PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app

I repeat, tackling the insecurity in the country should be Buharis main focus at this point; not reelection. Not only is it his constitutional and moral duty, it would also be a wise strategy because as I pointed out before, the opposition is already using the issue as a talking pointand their statements are not being ignored, as the killings show no sign of letting up.

If these senseless acts are being sponsored, then those responsible must be apprehendedfastthem and their errand boys. And if there are loopholes in the military and other security agencies, then those holes need to be plugged, fast.

Waiting for another minute before taking action, would be another minute too long and too riskyone which holds the potential of resulting in the deaths of more people!

This opinion piece was written by Buchi Obichie.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily represent the editorial policy of NAIJ.com.

Time to take up arms against herdsmen attacks? - on NAIJ.com Street Gist:

[embedded content]

Subscribe to watch new videos

Source: Naija.ng

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | Our support for Buhari, APC will open doors for Igbo presidency in 2023 - Uzodimma

- One of the PDP members who recently defected to the APC has stated the reasons for his action

- He said he joined the ruling party to consolidate the good work of President Buhari

- The new APC member also said he will push for the emergence of Igbo presidency in 2023

Senator Hope Uzodimma (Imo West), one of the PDP chieftains who defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Friday, April 27, said he and his colleagues will strongly push for the southeast to produce the president of Nigeria in 2023.

Uzodimma, a former PDP senator and chairman of Senate Committee on Customs, Excise and Tariffs led Ali Modu Sheriffs former faction of the PDP to a mass declaration for APC at the partys Secretariat in Abuja on Friday, April 27, Vanguard reports.

NAIJ.com gathered that Uzodimma said the group joined the APC in the national interest to consolidate the good work of President Muhammadu Buhari in the country by expanding his support base all over the federation.

READ ALSO: Breaking: FG declares Tuesday public holiday

How, he also made it clear that he would push for a better accommodation of Ndigbo in the APC led Federal Government and for the southeast to produce the president of the country in 2023.

He said: Mr President is doing well, so in the national interest we are joining APC to expand his support base all over the country. I am aware that the south-east has not been fully accommodated in the federal government but I am sure that our presence will change things for the better. Moreover, we shall strongly push for the southeast to produce the president of Nigeria in 2023.

Uzodimma stood in for the group. All the 36 chairmen of former Sheriff faction of PDP were at the special ceremony organized by the APC leadership to receive them.

The national chairman of the ruling party John Oyegun, seven APC governors, Secretary to the Federal Government (SGF) Boss Mustapha and other national officers were on hand to receive the new members of the party.

Meanwhile, sources close to Sen. Uzodimma said many Imo stakeholders have called him to congratulate him for his courage in standing up for the interest of the southeast at the declaration.

The source, according to Vanguard, said a top politician from Imo whose name he refused to disclose, called the senator at about 8pm on Friday to thank him for making Ndigbo proud at the event.

Reports from Imo state said many of Uzodimmas supporters were excited over the senators defection to APC because they believe he would give the party a new lease of life in the state just as he would fight for the interest of Ndigbo at the national level.

Chief Oyegun while receiving them into APC said that the eagle has landed and that there will be a new face of APC in the southeast.

PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app

He assured the new members that the party was delighted to welcome them into the APC family.

Meanwhile, NAIJ.com had previously reported that a member of the APC, Adamu Garba II, had indicated interest to slug it out with President Buhari at the party's primaries.

Garba, the founder of IPI Solutions, said he has all it takes to secure APC's presidential ticket at the party's primaries.

He said he has a manifesto that will fix Nigeria. He also said he believes APC is the only platform with prospects for young Nigerians.

I strongly believe the APC is a party with the right history and structures needed for me to actualise my ambition, which is to become the president of Nigeria. We need to stay within and change the rot from within, he said.

APC chieftains in Benue state say PDP has nothing to offer on NAIJ.com TV

[embedded content]

Subscribe to watch new videos

Source: Naija.ng

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | WITHOUT PREJUDICE: How governments frame up people

By Richard Akinnola

Scene One:

On June 29, 1988, Justice Olu Obadina of Ikeja High Court had just retired into the Chambers that Wednesday after granting bail to Chief Gani Fawehinmi, who was standing trial for alleged criminal defamation, when it happened.

As Gani, accompanied by one of his lawyers, LeKe Sanusi and personal assistant, Aniefok Okon made for the car, a burly, dark complexioned man, in a husky, raucous tone, charged at Gani as he made for his throat.

Like a well-rehearsed drama, three plain-clothed security men who had been lurking around, drew their pistols, the nozzle pointed at Gani. As Gani was trying to free himself from his assailant, Okon quickly came to his rescue.

In a surprisingly twist, the plain-clothed security men insisted that Gani lodged a complaint at Ikeja police station. Gani demurred. But they insisted. Eventually, they all went to the police station, the DPO and the assailant exchanged pleasantries like old friends. It was later Gani discovered that the assailant was an army Major. He gave his name as Oseni Sanusi .

Interestingly, the police decided to detain bother the complainant, Gani and his assailant and charged both to court for affray.

But before they were transferred to Onikan police station, Gani got information from one of the policemen that the operation was planned that morning and that it was a planned assassination attempt.

Scene two:

In 1988, security men set fire on Ganis home/office at Sabiu Ajose, Surulere, Lagos, housing millions of Naira worth of books. Fortunately, the fire was put off by the fire services.

But the police claimed that Gani deliberately set his house on fire in order to embarrass the government. A livid Gani countered that the police commissioner was very stupid, saying, you mean l would set fire on my family and books worth millions of Naira in order to embarrass a useless government?

Scene three:

During the Ali must go students struggle in 1978, with Gani defending the students, the Obasanjo government charged Gani to court for stealing his own camera!

Scene four:

After the assassination of Kudirat Abiola, the same government which was responsible for the dastardly act, arrested Chief Abraham Adesanya and other NADECO Chieftains and detained them, accusing them of the assassination.

There are so many examples of how a government can frame up someone for a crime he or she did not commit.

But it behooves on the framed person to be bold enough to legally fight his/her traducers. Its not a time to exhibit acts of cowardice and play to the gallery. Be ready to spend time in custody. Dont go to a battle without first counting the costs.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | Doctors Are Shocked That This NAFDAC Approved Herbal Remedy Gives Men Rock-Hard Erections And Stamina To Last 25minutes In Bed Without Viagra!

Click Here To Discover Natural Solution That Helps Men Cure Weak Erections, Low Sperm Count and treats the root cause of premature ejaculation without side effects

Studies have shown that viagra trade name for sildenafil citrate, one of the most used drugs out there by men for treatment of erectile dysfuction has several dangerous side effects.

In fact, some of these side effects includes:

Diziness, Headaches, An erection that last more than 4 hours that can permanently damage your penis if not treated Sudden vision loss in one or both eyes complete addiction to such drugs, And Even worse, drugs like viagra have been known to cause damage to the kidney and liver

But what if there is another way?

A way that the mainstream medical world has ignored or even kept secret from millions of men that are suffering from the problem of weak erection and quick ejaculation.

What other way can you improve your sexual performance and become a bedroom champion without using drugs like Viagra that have harmful side effects?

You see, I was once in your shoes of suffering from the problem of releasing in 30 seconds and having a weak erection that cannot stay up for 2minutes.

And it got to the extent that, I would take high powered drugs like viagra, just so I would get it up. Yes it worked, but 2 problems:

1)The results were instant. I needed to continue using the drugs to have an erection

2) The side effects of Viagra almost damaged my penis and affected my liver and kidney

But later on, even with that my libido and sexual urge was totally gone, as I dont seem to have much interest in sex again. I have taken so much Viagra such that it had no single effect on my erection anymore

Viagra could not do the work anymore!

At that time, I was only 40 years old, and my wife was complaining bitterly about my poor sexual performance.

My situation made me frustrated and made my marriage unhappy so I decided to try supplements and drugs in pharmacies, both the ones sold on the internet yet there was no improvement in my condition.

But before I share my new discovery with you, and how I finally found a breakthrough that completely cured me of my quick ejaculation and weak erection problem

Let me tell you the 3 main things I did to get solution to my sexual performance problems that my doctor did not tell me about

1. Cut down on your weight

2. Cut down on sugar foods, alcohol and cigarettes

3. It is good to take some male enhancement drugs

The first thing you must know is that out of every 100 sexual enhancement drugs out there, 70% of them are fake, while the remaining 30% of the effectives ones are rare to find.

And I hope you dont lose all your money and health trying to find them by yourself.

That is why one of the supplements I recommend for men when it comes to boosting your erection power and lasting more minutes in bed is one that is NAFDAC Approved and certified.

And when used and administered professionally will help you boost your testerone levels, cure the root cause of your premature ejaculation and weak erection.

Without wasting time, let me introduce you to the NAFDAC Approved supplement that helped me and over 542 Nigerian men completely cure quick release, weak erection and restore sexual stamina and vigor without side effects of any kind.

Duraman Herbal Capsules

NO SIDE EFFECTS  APPROVED BY

NAFDAC REG. NO = A7-1514L

Make no mistake about it. This supplement is made from the roots of a plant found in Malaysia and Malaysian men say it is the closest thing nature has ever come to the perfect aphrodisiac because of its wonderful ability to boost testerone levels and treat the root cause of erectile dysfunction.

The NAFDAC approved supplement known as Duraman Herbal Capsules contains 30 capsules. It helps men to restore their sexual stamina, boost libido (also known as sex drive) and permanently cures premature ejaculation and poor erections.

Its the exact herbal supplement that changed me from a 30seconds man in the bedroom to performing for over 25minutes.

Get the Premature ejaculation killer (Duraman Herbal Capsules) at a special discount price here

And the best part about Duraman Herbal Capsules is that

 its 100percent natural, it has no side effect on you even if you are a diabetic or hypertensive patients.

 Also, its safe for Nigerian men no matter how old you are.

 Even though you have been struggling with these problems of premature ejaculation and weak erections for years, it will surely help you permanently cure it.

 Just 1 container of Duraman Herbal Capsules is enough to cure you of your sexual problems and end the miserable life of living with poor erections and quick ejaculation

 Once you start using it, you no longer have to suffer from watery sperm, just use Duraman Herbal Capsules with natural honey to cure watery sperm

 To be taken 1 tablet morning, and 1 night as a permanent cure to weak erection, low sperm count and quick ejaculation.

Click Here to Order for the Duraman Herbal Capsules (The Natural Supplement that restores your sexual stamina and Boosts Your Manpower)

The best part about Duraman Herbal Capsules is that, it is made of purely natural ingredients. No chemical of any kind.

The composition of the supplement is basically herbs and of profound research and combination.

Its NAFDAC Approved, not only as food supplement but as nutriceuticals.

Duraman Herbal Capsules has a triplicate effect; permanently cures your quick ejaculation, restores body function and ultimately gives a curative effect.

I know you have come across several adverts online about one product or the other that claims to boost sexual performance, and you do not know who to believe anymore.

But be rest assured that Duraman Herbal Capsules is one of the supplements that helps men boost your testerone levels, while also lowering your blood pressure.

And the good thing about Duraman Herbal Capsules is that, you begin to see results almost IMMEDIATELY.

Go Here Now to Order for the Duraman Herbal Capsules that permanently cures your quick ejaculation and weak erections almost immediately even if you are a over 65 year old baba

Even if everything you have tried in the past did not work for you, this is different and will definitely help restore your sexual stamina so that you can satisfy your woman completely.

Right now, I and my wife are enjoying sex like young couples and no more shame or embarrassment of releasing too quick during sex. We make love as long as 25minutes or even more until she moans, and tells me Baby, am okay

Do you know how great it feels for you to know that you can satisfy your woman anyday, and anytime you make love to her! It gives you much sexual confidence and makes you feel like a complete man.

Are You Also Tired and Frustrated About How Small Your Manhood Is, And You Just Wanted a Natural Way to Make Your Manhood BIGGER and Stronger (Without Any Side Effects)

You see, after I improved my sexual performance, my wife was still complaining of how small my manhood was and how it was almost useless to her.

I had to run back to a men health specialist to ask if there was something natural I could use to make my manhood grow bigger, thicker and longer.

I explained to him how ladies used to laugh at me during my bachelor days just because my manhood was too small and tiny.

And most times these ladies do not like having sex with me after the first time of seeing my manhood.

The men health specialist again decided to show mercy upon me and recommended an enlargement gel that have helped over 1,300 Nigerian men to increase their penis size up to 3.5inches.

By just using the gel to massage their manhood via penile massage techniques or exercises.

The enlargement gel imported from Japan works for increasing the length and girth of your manhood without any side effects.





What you simple do is to use the enlargement gel to massage your entire manhood and testicles before going to bed.

To order for Your Bottles of the Titan enlargement gel, Click Here Now to Place order and Get the Products at a Discount Price!

Once I started using the enlargement gel, I was surprised at the results I got. To ensure it is real, I had to take out a measuring tape to measure my penis size, which was 3.2inches when flaccid but now up 5.5inches.

And you know the best part about the Titan enlargement gel, the results are permanent. No shrinking of penis or any side effects of any kind.

Yes, your manhood can become BIGGER just like my own when you start making use of the gel.

My manhood is now increasing in size and getting longer, we measured it recently and it has added 3.4inches in 4weeks of using the titan gel

My wife now plays with my penis and gives me blowjob, sex is exciting and much better!

Bottomline is, these 2 products (Duraman Herbal Capsules & Titan gel) recommended for me helped permanently cure my quick ejaculation problem and it also increased my manhood size (no side effect at all).

Click Here Now to order for your bottles of the Titan enlargement gel and Duraman Herbal Capsules today and start using it!

Below are testimonies from real people like you who have used these products and what they saying about it

My wife ordered the Duraman Herbal Capsules, titan gel and nadi from your store. and she insisted I give it a try. I am now 53 and I have tried all kinds of medications just to help me get good erections and stay longer. At the end of the first week of using the Duraman Herbal Capsules and nadi, I started to notice that my erections were more frequent and i dont release too fast during sex with my wife. I dont know how it works, but to me, it is God sent. thanks for this wonderful products Abdul M.  Chikun lga, kaduna

Another testimonial

AMAZING could be the best word I can use to descrbe my situation. I have had high blood pressure for more than 10 years. and even had quick ejaculation. About two months ago, I placed order for the complete kit of Duraman Herbal Capsules, titan gel and nadi capsules. I started taking it regularly, as prescribed. Within few weeks, I noticed that I now last up to 15minutes and still have much sexual energy to go another round. During my semi-annual checkup, my primary physician was stunned to see that my blood pressure to be 120/81. I cant think of anything else but that your products is really helping me improve my sexual performance and regulating my blood pressure. Thanks for the service Mr. Adepoju A.  Dutse Alhaji, abuja



Another testimonial.

I need to say a big thank you for helping me get this Duraman Herbal Capsules product. For 3 and half years I had this quick ejaculation problem and it really affected my life. I was reluctant to try this your product because I lost hope after several attempts. But when I showed my wife, she encouraged me to order for it, and give it a try. I use to last only 2 minutes when having sex with my wife, but now we have it for like 20 minutes and she enjoys the sex. Am really happy I can now make love to my wife like a real man. Mr. Chukwudi, Port Harcourt.

I could load this page with testimonials but it will be saying the same thing these 2 products are proven to help you transform your sex life and ensure that you can satisfy your woman in bed.

Fortunately for me, I do not have to go through any humiliation or embarrassment of releasing in few seconds and having a small manhood anymore.

My manhood is now bigger and normal like a matured man.

To top it off, my wife and I are experiencing exciting sex and we make love like young couples now.

Shes no more irritated by my small manhood because now it is much bigger and makes her scream and moan.

What about you?

Are you still suffering from this embarrassing problem of having small manhood that makes women run away from you or even deny you from having sex with them?

Are you serious about getting a natural cure that can make you last longer in bed and something that works for increasing your penis?

If you answered yes, then you should get the 2-in-1 solution Duraman Herbal Capsules and Titan gel to transform your sex life starting from today!

Click Here to Get the Duraman Herbal Capsules that made me last extra 25minutes in bed with my woman!

Here is a breakdown of the price

Here is a breakdown of the price for the Duraman Herbal Capsules Herbal capsule and Titan enlargement gel

Duraman Herbal Capsules only  N15,000

Titan gel only  N13,000

If you are ordering for both (that is, Duraman Herbal Capsules and TITAN GEL)  N22,000

(That is you will get a discount of N6,000 instead of paying N28,000  So, you will pay N22,000 only for BOTH)

But to Make It Even Better, When You Order Today,

You will Also Get a FREE BONUS ENCLOSED

to Your Parcel

*NOT available anywhere Else

Heres how to get it: When you order for BOTH products today

at N22,000 you will get your own free bonus of the

herbal capsule that cures sexually transmitted infections like

staph, gonorrhea, chlamydia etc.

FREE BONUS: NADI CAPSULE

NADI capsule is premier tonic for anti-infection, anti-virus, anti-toxin,

stable blood pressure. Its effective for the treatment of S.T.D

staphylococcus, Gonorrhea, syphilis, etc. (contains 30 capsules)

NAFDAC REG NO. A7-0200L

One of the main causes of premature ejaculation and weak erections is due to sexually transmitted infections in the body system. And you need to treat them as soon as possible to completely cure your erectile dysfunction.

Nadi herbal capsule contains 30capsules for complete cure of sexually transmitted infections and to flush off toxins from your body system.



When you order today, you will get the NADI herbal capsules for free.

Remember, the free bonus is ONLY available to those that place their order right away. Dont procrastinate, else you may not get it.

So the deal is, place your order for the 2 products, today, and you get access to the extra BONUS, absolutely FREE!

Without wasting time, let me show you how to order for these 2 products (Duraman Herbal Capsules and Titan enlargement gel) that will transform your sexual life and make you experience much better sex with your woman.

To order for the Duraman Herbal Capsules and titan enlargement gel at the discount price today, follow the instructions below

To erase the fear of getting scammed, we introduced payment on delivery option to all States in Nigeria

This means you will pay for the products only when it has been brought down to you face to face by our courier service agent

Pay on Delivery Option Available to All States in Nigeria

Heres How to Order for Your own Duraman Herbal Capsules & TITAN GEL at a Discount Price today (PAYMENT ON DELIVERY AVAILABLE NATIONWIDE)

Depending on the product that you are ordering for

*If you are ordering for only Duraman Herbal Capsules indicate the code DURAMAN HERBAL CAPSULES in your text message

*If you are ordering for only Titan enlargement gel indicate it TITAN GEL in your text message

*If you want to order for the 2 products together text Duraman Herbal Capsules AND TITAN GEL

DURAMAN HERBAL CAPSULES ONLY  N15,000

TITAN GEL ONLY  N13,000

DURAMAN HERBAL CAPSULES AND TITAN GEL  N22,000

Heres what to send to us

Text the CODE with the following information below

1. Your Full Name

2. Your Phone Number

3. Delivery Address

Send This Information as a text message to 08179478879

Please Note: Your address Must Include Local Government and State. Detailed Enough to make it traceable by our courier company that will come around to deliver to you.

You will get a SMS and Call from us within 24 hours to confirm your Order Before we Parcel It Across to You.

DELIVERY TIME

Once we received your order, and your details are correct, you will receive an sms or call confirmation from us. Your products will then be sent to our courier service partner and the items should get to you within 2-5 Days.

Note: The product will be packaged discreetly and no one else will know whats inside, and every other information will be kept private and 100% confidential.

Option 2

If you live in Lagos, or nearby, you can also walk into our marketing department office to pick up the products.

You will meet our team ready to give you these products at same price

That is you Pay at our office, and get it instantly

Vantagesoft Marketing Enterprises

Block B, Suite 9, Primal Tek Plaza, Beside ECO centre,

by Mokola Bus stop, opposite Gowon Estate Market,

Egbeda-Idimu road, Egbeda, Lagos.

or

Suite 3B, First Floor, Shopping plaza beside NNPC Filling station,

Ilo awela road, opposite Toll Gate Bus stop, ota

off Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway

(Monday  Saturday 9am  5pm)

Customer support line: 08179478879

Remember, if you procrastinate on this, two things are bound to happen:

Either the prices for the product goes up pretty soon and you pay the normal price which is times 2 or,

Your sexual performance continues to worsen because you refuse to use something that actually helps transform your life. Your woman keeps on complaining and nagging, while you get frustrated more.

Dont procrastinate, go ahead and get access to the 2 products today and start using them to become a better lover in the bedroom.

Heres How to Order for Your own Duraman Herbal Capsules & TITAN GEL at a Discount Price today

(Payment On Delivery Option Available In All States In Nigeria)

Depending on the product that you are ordering for

*If you are ordering for only Duraman Herbal Capsules indicate the code DURAMAN HERBAL CAPSULES in your text message

*If you are ordering for only Titan enlargement gel indicate it TITAN GEL in your text message

*If you want to order for the 2 products together text Duraman Herbal Capsules AND TITAN GEL

DURAMAN HERBAL CAPSULES ONLY  N15,000

TITAN GEL ONLY  N13,000

DURAMAN HERBAL CAPSULES AND TITAN GEL  N22,000

Heres what to send to us

Text the CODE with the following information below

1. Your Full Name

2. Your Phone Number

3. Delivery Address

Send This Information as a text message to 08179478879

Please Note: Your address Must Include Local Government and State. Detailed Enough to make it traceable by our courier company that will come around to deliver to you.

You will get a SMS and Call from us within 24 hours to confirm your Order Before we Parcel It Across to You.

DELIVERY TIME

Once we received your order, and your details are correct, you will receive an sms or call confirmation from us. Your products will then be sent to our courier service partner and the items should get to you within 2-5 Days.

Note: The product will be packaged discreetly and no one else will know whats inside, and every other information will be kept private and 100% confidential.

Heres full details of how to order now and Get the Duraman Herbal Capsules & Titan gel within a few days at your doorstep

Right now, all you need to do is get access to the 2 products; and start using it to get a much bigger manhood and cure your premature ejaculation within the shortest time you ever thought possible.

You have the opportunity to get these 2 products now at a much affordable price and save yourself from embarrassment and frustration that you are suffering in the bedroom.

Over 2,300 Nigerian men have used these 2 products to improve their sexual performance and they have wonderful testimonies to give about it.

Go Here Now to order for the products and start using them

Dave Taidi  08179478879

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | Dino Melaye and Yahaya Bello: From collaboration to combat

By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor

Bruised and battered and lying in the Trauma Centre of the National Hospital, Abuja, Senator Dino Melaye is unwilling to go home to his native Kogi State to face the charges of gun running among other charges levelled against him by the police. The senator claims that his nemesis, Governor Yahaya Bello has worked out a plan to eliminate him if he enters the state.

Irrespective of his physical impairments in Abuja, about 200 kilometers away in his constituency in Kogi West, Melaye could also from today be subjected to political impairment as his enemies at home take a major step towards recalling him from the Senate. The verification of signatories to the petition to recall the senator is holding today in all seven local government areas of the constituency.

Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello and Dino Melaye

Melayes journey to the hospital started after the police on March 19, 2018, accused him of gun running. Two weeks earlier, he had accused Governor Bello of illegal importation of restricted security gadgets without the end-user certificates from the National Security Adviser, NSA.

Police spokesman, Jimoh Moshood who levelled the allegations of gun running against Melaye had paraded two men who claimed to be working as thugs for Melaye.

Moshood alleged that 31 years-old Kabiru Saidu, a.k.a Osama had confessed to working as a thug for Melaye and was reportedly introduced to the senator by Mohammed Audu, son of the former governor of the state, Prince Abubakar Audu, Melayes deceased political leader.

The suspect (Osama) further confessed that Audu told him that they should start working as political thugs of the senator and they should recruit and train other thugs to work for him in preparation toward 2019 general election to enable him ( Sen. Dino Melaye ) challenge his political opponents and disorganise Kogi state, Moshood had said adding that Melaye gave Osama a bag containing one AK47 rifle, two pump action guns, and the N430,000.00 to share with his boys.

Based on the claim of Osama, the police filed charges of gun running against Melaye who remarkably failed to appear before the police when he was invited.

The harvest of misfortune and melodrama for the senator was a turnaround. Almost a year earlier, Melaye had caught national attention when he alleged that he was the subject of an assassination attack in his country home in Iyala, Ijumu LGA in Kogi State on April 15, 2017.

Ten days after the reported attack, the police paraded six of the alleged culprits including the chairman of Ijumu LGA, Taofiq Isah who the police reported as the mastermind of the attack. Though some of the culprits confessed to the attack, the case subsequently turned in its head as police subsequently accused the senator of providing false information.

Nigerias President Muhammadu Buhari

THE GENESIS OF THE BATTLE WITH GOVERNOR BELLO

While Senator Melaye and Governor Bello had traded serial allegations against one another, beneath the surface of the allegations between the two men is the struggle for political dominance.

Melaye was a leg man for the late Prince Audu, who before his death was the unquestioned political leader of the APC in Kogi State.

Ironically Audu and President Muhammadu Buhari were not in the same camp as Audu supported Rabiu Kwankwanso in the 2014 APC presidential primaries. Bello, on the other hand, was a passionate supporter of Buhari and indeed formed a campaign group known as Kogi Arise to support Buhari.

Melaye, though a political disciple of Audu was not distinct on his preference. However, after Buhari won the primaries, he turned into a very vocal supporter of the candidate deriding the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and its candidate, Goodluck Jonathan everywhere. That was after Audu had handed over to him the APC senatorial ticket for Kogi West just as he did to nearly the APC senatorial candidates in Kogi Central and Kogi East.

It was remarkably based on the fact of the lack of primaries that the Court of Appeal annulled the election of the APC candidates who won in Kogi East and Central, but Melaye escaped, a development that has led to a petition to the National Judicial Council, NJC.

It is alleged that Buhari did not forgive Audu for his support for Kwankwanso and so even after he was inaugurated as president did not come to Kogi to campaign for Audu before the November 2015 off season governorship election.

When eventually Audu died in the midst of the election, and with the electoral laws unclear about the situation, the APC perhaps with the influence of the presidency found a way for Buharis man, Bello to emerge as candidate despite the stiff resistance of Melaye and others who wanted Audus running mate, James Falake to inherit the APC ticket.

After Bellos emergence as candidate and governor, sources in Kogi say that both men agreed to put past political differences aside and work together. Senator Melaye, a source said eventually produced the present Secretary to the State Government, Dr. Folashade Ayooade.

The two men appeared to walk in harmony until the governor decided to appoint local government caretakers committees. It was at that point that they appeared to fall apart.

The point of disagreement it was leant arose over the appointment of the chairman of the caretaker committee for Melayes local government area, Ijumu LGA.

Saturday Vanguard learnt that Bello had prior to his election assured all his local government area coordinators that they would become chairmen of the local government caretaker committees if he won the election.

Bellos coordinator in Ijumu was Taofiq Isah, a former associate of Melaye who backed Melaye in his successful bid to the House of Representatives in 2007. However, both men fell out in the period leading to the 2015 elections.

President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki

Isah, a political heavyweight even though from Ijumu as Melaye had opposed his senatorial bid on the ground that the senatorial ticket should go to Yagba Federal Constituency, the only Federal Constituency that has not produced a Senator since 1999.

Melaye it was learnt refused the appointment of Isah as the chairman of Ijumu LGA. Governor Bello was said to have offered Melaye the privilege of appointing the remaining four members of the caretaker committee with the exception of the chairman, an offer Melaye was said to have rejected.

The governor was said to have after much pleas waved aside Melayes opposition and gone ahead to appoint Isah on the basis of the pre-election promise to his coordinators.

Melaye has, however, discounted the claim of the governors associates on the appointment of Isah insisting that his bone of contention was over the governors reported failure in governance.

Sources say that the differences between both men subsequently ballooned with both men taking on one another at every opportunity. Their difference has not been helped with their different alliances at the national level. Melaye is a strong backer of Senate President Bukola Saraki while Bello is an unpretentious backer of President Buhari.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | Kogi APC Chieftain defends Buhari over comments on youths

By Emmanuel Aziken

All Progressives Congress, APC chieftain in Kogi State, Mr. Tunde Ajibulu has rebuffed claims that President Muhammadu Buhari disparaged the youths of the country urging Nigerian youths to take the controversy as an opportunity to make indelible marks for themselves.

APC

The security expert cum politician in a statement made available to Vanguard affirmed that the presidents words were taken out of context as he affirmed that the president who rode to power on the back of youths could not at the same time turn round to disparage that segment of the population.

He said: I believe President Muhammadu Buhari was taken out of context. To me it didnt sound like he was saying that young people in Nigeria are lazy in general.

Everyone knows that he received substantial support from the youth population in his election and they are a large reason why he got into power, so he wouldnt cast this dispersion upon lots of his own supporters.

Instead of seeing this as a slight, the youths should take this as a clarion call to stand up and be counted so they can wield electoral clout and take their position driving this nation forward.

Power is in the hands of the youths and they can exercise it by getting their voters cards voting en masse and making political leaders to be accountable for their actions. Decisions are made by those who show up. Its time the youths show up and make themselves heard, he said.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | APC Chairmanship: Why we chose Oshiomhole  Eta, National Vice Chairman

.Says impunity creeping into party

.Oyegun, others free to contest but we have our choice

SIMON EBEGBULEM, BENIN CITY

Ahead the May 14, 2018 National Convention of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the South South Executive Council of the APC, met in Benin City last Monday to endorse the immediate past governor of Edo state, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole as the choice of the South South for the position of the National Chairman of the party.

In this interview with Saturday Vanguard, the National Vice Chairman of the party, South South, Mr Ntufam Hilliard Eta, explained why the zone picked Oshiomhole ahead of the incumbent National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun.

Excerpts:

How did you arrive at the decision to endorse Comrade Adams Oshiomhole as the choice of the South South for the National Chairmanship position of your party?

On the 9th of April, the NEC of the party met in Abuja and considered the report of the Technical Committee that was set up to look at what people considered as tenure elongation and the attendant implications to the party.

Mr Ntufam Hilliard Eta

The NEC at the end of that meeting made five resolutions. It was consequent upon those resolutions that the meeting of the zonal executive committee was convened to deliberate on those resolutions. In the zonal executive committee we have about 168 people as members and the committee speaks on behalf of the zone.

All the members were invited to the meeting in Benin and the agenda of the meeting was circulated among the leaders. They were also advised to make comments or presentations on the agenda.

Nobody added or removed any item from the agenda while the major item on the agenda was the deliberation of the NECs resolution. And to show you the importance of that item on the agenda, members accepted to skip the reading of the last meeting so that they could have time to deal with the main issue of the day.

The meeting started the deliberations by attempting to modify the resolutions of NEC but the attention of the meeting was drawn to the constitution of the party which precludes any organ of the party from tampering with any position of the NEC. To that effect the zonal leadership affirmed the decision of the NEC and commenced deliberations.

The second item of the resolution was the zonal pattern of the party to be retained and it was put into deliberations and over twenty people spoke on the issue of respecting the position of the NEC and maintaining even the micro zoning of the zone. The interpretation of the zonal executive committee was that the zoning must be retained from even the ward level to the national level.

It was at that point that I personally suffered a loss because my leader and former governor of my state, Chief Clement Ebri was precluded due to the NEC resolution on zoning. The resolution of NEC was to maintain zoning even at the micro level and it went on to ask the position of Edo state given the fact that the processes for congresses and convention would commence a week after this meeting.

And it has historical comparism because in 2014, before the National convention of the party, under the auspices of the then former governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, such a meeting was convened in his house. At that time, Chief Tom Ikimi had resigned as the National Vice Chairman of the party, so the two leaders, Amaechi and Comrade Oshiomhole who were governors then led us to take the decision.

Amaechi invited us for a meeting including Oshiomhole, and invited the persons who wanted to contest the national chairmanship to speak to us. At that meeting, since the slot was ceded to Edo, the chairman of Edo state APC was called to come and present the position of Edo state.

And at that time, the chairman of the Edo APC presented the position of Edo which endorsed Chief Oyegun as their choice and we followed the choice of Edo and endorsed Oyegun as our candidate. The same thing was done yesterday (Monday) where we invited everybody for the meeting and called on the state chairman of Edo to give us the position of Edo state.

The chairman came to us that the Edo state APC caucus unanimously endorsed Oshiomhole as their choice for chairmanship of the party.

At that point, when people started speaking, they did not raise the issue that the chairmanship should be moved from Edo but argued that we could not consider the position of Edo caucus in 2018 whereas in 2014 we considered such position in the presence of Amaechi. And knowing that what is good for the goose cannot now be said not to be good for the gander, we also put the question to the house to ask whether they accepted the position of Edo.

And majority of the zonal executive committee members affirmed the position of Edo. Now those who were against putting the question to the house were less than 15 who stormed out of the hall after they had participated in the voting and lost. They said they were four chairmen and few others and that they have dissociated themselves from our final decision. If they had won would they have dissociated themselves?

But Amaechis group kicked against the endorsement?

That was why I was really surprised because when we endorsed Oyegun, he was governor then and we did it in his house in Port Harcourt. We have not done anything new. What we are saying is that Oyegun is free to contest but our choice is Oshiomhole.

Let me even correct this impression. I read on the pages of newspapers that four chairmen dissociated themselves. I know that Cross River state does not have a chairman as we speak, so it could not have been four chairmen.

And let me also explain that the chairmen are members of the zonal executive committee just like the other 164 people. We were not holding a state executive meeting, we were holding a zonal committee meeting and in the zonal executive committee we have over 168 people including senators, governors, deputy governors, former senators, former House of Reps members.

So, the chairmen who stormed out of the meeting were not speaking for their states. Senator Nelson Effiong was seated and participated in the voting when his chairman stormed out and said he dissociated himself. He could not have been speaking for Senator Effiong, he could not have been speaking for Hon. Robinson or Hon. Esieme Eyibo. When the chairman of Rivers state stormed out of the house, he could not have been speaking for Senator Magnus Abbe, because Abe sat until the end of the meeting after voting.

He could not have been speaking for Senator Wilson Ake, these are people form Rivers state. In Bayelsa, when the man who was acting as chairman left the hall, people like Chief Ikisibor and others who were from Bayelsa state remained at the meeting. So these people could not be claiming to speak for their states. So these are the issues.

Why we zeroed-in on Oshiomhole

Everybody who has been monitoring the situation in Nigeria and our party would understand what it means to have Oshiomhole as the chairman of APC. We are not stopping Oyegun from contesting and Chief Ebri my leader, but what we are saying is that majority of the people prefer Oshiomhole as our candidate.

If you ask for my opinion, I am the National Vice Chairman for close to four years now and I believe the APC presently needs rebranding, reinvigoration, we need new creativity, and we need to build strong leadership. I can tell you that we have been lacking very seriously, leadership at the national level of our party. And when we bring Oshiomhole on board, I can tell you that the party will have a new lease of life. The impunity that has crept into the APC will be halted and the laws of the party will be respected.

APC needs rebranding, it has to rebrand itself especially in the South South here and even in other parts of the country. The party enjoys the acceptance of the people on the basis of it being a progressive party. which believes in the well-being of the people, as well as a just and transparent system. But we have not had these over the years.

What the party needs to do now is to find a way of creating a perception that this party is different from PDP. PDP is known for impunity, disrespect for the rule of law, lack of internal democracy and these things are creeping into APC due to weak leadership of the APC.

So the people at this point cannot see the difference between APC and PDP. We have now presented to the people a good choice and alternative. If we do not change course immediately we will be messed up. Right now the party is not going towards the right direction. It is going in the direction of the PDP and it must be halted.

So this convention affords Nigerians the opportunity to effect changes and take the party back to where it should be. If this is done you will observe that millions of Nigerians will be struggling to join the APC.

So how is the Bola Tinubu Committee doing?

Asiwaju has been my leader for a long time right from when I was state chairman of ACN in Cross River state. I have known Asiwaju and worked with him for a very long time. I know what he brings to the table. I know the role he played in the victory of our party in 2015. So I can never trivialize the place of Asiwaju in our party.

I am happy with the good relationship between President Buhari and Asiwaju because when these our two iconic leaders come together, victory is assured for our party. But we cannot say so for many others who pretend to be leaders, who cannot bring anything to the table during elections. Tinubus committee is doing well and it was because of the confidence that the President has in him that made the president to give him that responsibility.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralLast friday the United States Government released a damning human rights report on Nigeria, saying grave violations of human rights continued to increase in 2017 while officials who perpetrated them were never prosecuted by the Federal Government of President Muhammadu Buhari.

It also said, inter alia, that Nigeria is suffering from ethnic, religious and regional violence.

This is the bitter truth and the report is a welcome development.

Ethnic cleansing, genocide, mass murder, state-sponsored terror, unprecedented corruption, monumental incompetence, the persecution of opposition figures and their families, the violation of court orders, the intimidation of the National Assembly, the Judiciary and the Fourth Estate of the realm which is the media, the targetting and cold-blooded murder of Christians, Igbo (IPOB) youths and Shiite Muslims, the gradual and incremental Islamisation of the nation, the humiliation of the Church and Christian clerics, the covert support for and encouragement of murderous Islamist and jihadist terror groups like the Fulani herdsmen and Boko Haram and so on and so forth are now the cornerstone and hallmark of President Buharis govermmemt.

Worse of all he did not have the National Assemblys approval to withdraw $496 million from the Federal Governments Excess Crude Account which he used to pay for the 12 Super Tucano jets that he purchased from the United States and that are to be supplied to the Nigerian Airforce by 2020.

This makes it an illegal expense which, under our laws, is an impeachable offence. It also makes the whole transaction unlawful.

Even more troubling is the fact that, as long as Buhari is in power, those jets are as likely to be used against innocent and defenceless Nigerian civilians, including women and children, as they are against terrorists.

I sincerely hope that these issues will form part of the deliberations and discussions that will take place in the meeting betwen President Donald Trump and President Buhari in Washington on 30th April.

They should also discuss the shameful way in which the President Barack Obamas administration interfered in Nigerias 2015 presidential election and assisted Buhari to come to power and the $500 million that the Buhari administration contributed, through various fronts and companies like the Chagoury brothers, to Hillary Clintons 2016 presidential campaign.

And now to the meat of this essay.

In terms of high level military, intelligence and security operations and what are known in western intelligence agencies as black ops few events in our history come close to the one that took place in Dapchi a few months ago.

I am not referring to major or cataclysmic events which also had the imprint and involved the input of numerous foreign and domestic intelligence and security agencies like the murder of General Aguiyi-Ironsi in 1966 and the coming to power of Lt. Col. (as he then was) Jack Yakubu Gowon or the murder of General Murtala Mohammed in 1976 and the coming to power of General Olusegun Obasanjo or again the murder of General Sani Abacha and Chief MKO Abiola in 1998 which led to the release from prison and the second coming to power of President Olusegun Obasanjo. Those are the obvious ones.

I am referring to the more subtle ones which had less obvious but equally identifiable motives. I will not go into detail and I will not expose the motives. I will just mention the events and the facts surrounding them.

First was the cold-blooded murder of Gloria Okon, an international drug courier, that was working for powerful government officials and men and women in high places and that was about to spill the beans when General Muhammadu Buhari was in power in 1985.

Second was the elimination of Dele Giwa, a prominent and highly respected journalist, by agents of President Ibrahim Babangidas government in 1986.

Third was the C130 military plane crash in Ejigbo, Lagos in 1992 in which 158 junior and middle rank army officers were tragically killed. The plane was brought down and those gallant officers were left to die slow and painful deaths in the swamp because the rescue operation was purposely delayed. It was more of an execution than a plane crash.

Fourth was the slaughter of Kudirat Abiola, Chief MKO Abiolas wife, Chief Alfred Rewane, Rear Admiral Omotenhiwa and hundreds of other pro-June 12th and NADECO leaders and operatives by General Sani Abachas military junta between 1995 and 1998.

Fifth was the mysterious plane crash in Kano in 1996 in which Ibrahim Abacha, the first son of General Sani Abacha, together with his close friends Bello Dangote, Omieba Princewill and a number of others lost their lives. The fact is that most of those that died were killed after the plane had crashed at the crash site by unknown elements and there appears to have been a struggle on the private jet before it came down.

Needless to say the whole thing was covered up by military intelligence and the truth was buried. Not even General Abacha, who was Head of State at the time, knew what actually happened and who was involved until much later.

Sixth was the murder of numerous high profile leaders and political figures during the tenure of President Olusegun Obasanjo between 2000 and 2007 including Chief Bola Ige, Chief Marshall Harry, Chief Dikibo and many others.

Seventh was the bombing of Odi town in Rivers state by the military during the course of President Olusegun Obasanjos government in 1999 in which hundreds of civilians were murdred.

Eighth was the masscre of dozens of people in Zaki Biam in Benue state by the military during the course of President Olusegun Obasanjos government in 2001.

Ninth was the blowing up of the Bellview Airlines plane over Lisa, Lagos state in 2005 in which over 100 people perished and which was passed off as a fatal accident and plane crash.

I have said it before and I will say it again: I became Minister of Aviation one year after that crash and I had access to all the relevant security reports and American NTSB documents. According to that NTSB report the plane did not crash but was brought down by what was described as a low-level incendiary device which had been planted on the plane before it took off by unknown elements.

Tenth was the murder of Mohammed Yusuf, the founder and erstwhile leader of Boko Haram, whilst in the custody of the Nigerian Police in 2009 during the tenure of President Shehu Musa Yaradua.

Eleventh was the blowing up of a building in Prophet TB Joshuas SCOAN Church in Lagos by remote control detonation from a drone as a consequnce of which over 200 people, including many foreigners, were killed in 2013.

Even though the whole event was recorded on CCTV, including the drone and the detonation, this was largely ignored by the authorities and no meaningful criminal investigation into what was clearly an act of terror took place.

The whole thing was passed off by the Government of the day as an accident due to a faulty foundation even though the intelligence agencies knew better.

Despite the Lagos State Attorney Generals simplistic and foolhardy assertion that the State Government would pursue the case against TB Joshua and his Church to a logical end, the truth is that what the government is dealing with is a premeditated and well-orchestrated act of terror carried out by highly proficient, skilled and experienced operatives and not one of involuntary manslaughter which came about as a consequence of negligence on the part of the Church authorities or a faulty foundation.

The Lagos State Attorney General, as naive as ever, has no idea that he is being used, that he is on a wild goose chase, that he is helping to shield and protect the real perpertrators of the crime and that he seeks to destroy the legacy and name of an innocent man and Church.

The truth is that Governor Akinwunmi Ambode has much work to do if he really wants to know what happened because the faulty foundation theory is a brilliant ruse.

I challenge him to ask for all the relevant security reports on this matter. They tell a very different story indeed.

Twelfth was the abduction of the Chibok girls in 2014 which was planned, funded, executed and orchestrated by rogue elements in our intelligence agencies in collusion with some disgruntled northern politicians and key members of the then opposition including three sitting governors.

Thirteenth is the secret and cold-blooded mass murder and illegal incarceration of thousands of IPOB youths and members by security forces over the last three years.

Fourteenth is the state-sponsored mass murder of Shiite Muslims at any given opportunity and the ruthless persecution of their members, including women and children over the last three years.

Fifteenth is the overt support that the Federal Government has consistently provided for the Fulani herdsmen who have slaughtered thousands of innocent and defenceless Nigerians, including women and children, over the last three years.

Sixteenth is the covert support that Buhari himself and key players in his political party and administration have given Boko Haram over the last 6 years by funding their operations, openly identifying with some of their core values and ideals and seeking to protect them from the proscription.

They have also protested publicly when the military hits them hard, insisted that the Army uses kid gloves when fighting them, released their top commanders, refused to target and kill their key leaders and paid them vast sums of protection money and ransoms which the terrorists have then used to purchase more arms.

In terms of special ops and secrecy Dapchi falls into this category of events. And the fact that Leah Sharibu, the only Christian amongst the over 100 abducted girls, was the only one that was not released speaks volumes. The message is simple and clear.

These complex covert operations are commonly referred to in intelligence circles as black ops, extreme measures and wet work and they are always done in the utmost secrecy and with the full knowledge and sometimes assitance and logistical support of either one or two other friendly and trusted foreign intelligence agencies.

The motives for the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth will be made manifest next year during the presidential election in the event of anyone daring to give Buhari stiff resistance or a hard fight.

This time around it will not only be the dog and the baboon that they intend to soak in blood if a strong challenge is presented to Buhari but the whole of Nigeria and the west African sub-region.

That is why $2 billion has been released from the Excess Crude Account in the last four months to supposedly fight terrorism.

That money will not be used to fight terrorism but to arm the terrorists in preparation for the conflict that lies ahead.

Now that President Buhari has formally declared his intention to run in the 2019 election and seeks a fresh mandate I fear that what is coming our way is not just an election but a series of cataclysmic events that will change our lives and our country forever.

Nigeria, with its incredibly incompetent and carefully hand-picked and selected leaders, has been targetted by the powers that be and the chaos and anarchy that we are witnessing in our country today is contrived.

Sadly the Nigerian people have been hoodwinked and appear to be incapable of putting the jigsaw together, asking the relevant questions and demanding the appropiate answers.

They cannot see and neither can they fathom or comprehend the evil machinations of the hidden hand or the dark and sinister world of covert operations and black ops.

They are more than content and happy to watch Big Brother Nigeria and to see, read and believe the rubbish that the government feeds them through the local media.

Saddled with a largely uninquiring press, the truth is that we are more often than not misled and misinformed with a labyrinth and forest of official lies, government cover-ups and disinformation.

I have often wondered why such a well-educated and dynamic people are so trusting when it comes to their Governments and I have often asked why some of us are so naive.

If we wish to know the truth and get to the bottom of such matters we need to sit up and do far better. I trust God that perhaps one day we will do so: that is if the coming chaos does not consume us all first.The Borno State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has described the planned defection of former factional chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff to the ruling party, as a rumour.

The State Chairman of the party, Ali Dolori said this in a statement on Thursday in Abuja.

The report came that the former PDP chairman was set to join the ruling party on Thursday.

The leadership of the APC, however, asked him to join from his ward.

Reacting, Dolori said, I want to assure you that the news remains a rumour, because somebody is only trying to fly a kite that is capable of causing confusion during the state congress.

We are aware of the well articulated plan and we are ready to defend any attempt towards destroying our party at the ward level and in any state  not just Borno.

We shall conduct our congresses peacefully without any rancour and I assure you that nobody can create any faction for our party in Borno during the congress expected to hold in less than two weeks.

He noted that Article 9 .1 of the partys 2014 amended Constitution was specific that application for membership shall be made to and cleared by the party s ward executives in the Local Government Area where the person was born, resides , works or originates.

Dolori added, Online registration shall also be acceptable, provided that it was cleared by the party s National Working Committee.

Where an application is refused, the applicant may, as of right, appeal to the Local Government Area Executive Committee of the party or to the National Secretary or National Chairman in case of online registration.

I, therefore, dont see how the partys national chairman can receive any person into the party, when the constitution is clear about the process in that regard, Dolori saidHome | News | General | Pray for Buhari; stop complaining - CAC leader tells Christians

- Pastor Abraham Akinosun, president of the Christ Apostolic Church, has called on Christians to pray for President Buhari and stop complaining

- He said leaders fail when people fail to pray; and that when leaders are cursed, the consequences would be borne by citizens

- He also expressed dissatisfaction over recurrent killings in the country, and urged the president to put an end to it

The president, Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) Worldwide, Pastor Abraham Akinosun on Saturday, April 28, urged churches to stop complaining but pray for President Muhammadu Buhari to overcome challenges facing the nation, NAN reports.

Akinosun made the appeal while ministering at the grand finale of a seven-day fasting and prayer at Ikoyi Mountain, Ero-Omo village, Osun for the nation on Saturday morning.

READ ALSO: APC national chairmanship: Why we chose Oshiomole - Eta

NAIJ.com gathers that the prayer was organised by Evangelist Felix Adunpe, the general overseer, Signs and Wonders Prayer Ministries, in collaboration with the CAC, held between April 21 and April 27.

The prayer, which had hundreds of Christians praying from 11pm to 4am, was tagged: Nigeria Must be Redeemed.

Akimosun, the former chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria, said that only God could redeem Nigeria from her present predicaments.

According to the cleric, who read from Psalm 122: 6 and Jeremiah 29:11, God loves Nigeria and would heal the nation of her current socio-economic and security challenges with prayers.

Leaders fail when people fail to pray. Stop abusing and cursing our leaders because as you curse them the consequences will be borne by all citizens.

If we pray for our leaders, God will inspire them and everything will be all right. We should not lose hope in Nigeria.

Let us pray for peace, progress and prosperity of the nation. We need to pray for economic resurgence and prosperity. We need Gods intervention in this country.

We need to pray for this nation because of innocent people that are being slaughtered everyday. Lets pray for the redemption of this country.

It is important we pray for the president. It is our response as children of God to pray for our leaders and the country. If we fail, many evil will be springing up, he said.

According to Akinosun, Nigerians must bring to fore, sincere love for the country, and shun hatred because it is the only country we possess.

He said that Nigeria required a forthright leadership that would lead her to desired destinations of economic advancement, peace and prosperity.

The cleric, who cautioned against self defence, said that such step would make killings more rampant in the nation.

He added: Lets cry to God. This is the work of the church. The hope of every nation is the church. People continue to rebuke the church if we fail to do our responsibility.

We have God that answers prayers. If we can reverence God by asking forgiveness, God will heal our land. It now clear that this nation needs prayers for the leadership and the followership.

The cleric, who urged the federal government to restructure the security architecture of the country, expressed dissatisfaction over recurrent killings and economic hardship facing Nigerians.

Akinosun, who also called for an end corruption, ritualism, kidnapping, urged the political leaders to be alert to their responsibility and be selfless to end crisis.

The president must do everything in his capacity to see that the killings stop, he added.

He later led the people into serious prayer for nations redemption and intervention in her governance, saying sacking the president would not solve Nigerias problem.

PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app

Meanwhile, NAIJ.com previously reported that Prophet Hezekiah Oladeji, the general evangelist of Christ Apostolic Church, revived the hope of discouraged Nigerians.

He said God would surely roll away their reproach in the year 2018 and prophesied that God's grace will be upon the president as he embarks on resolving Nigeria's economic plights.

He inspired hope by saying that Nigeria's glory and greatness will return if citizens seek God in prayer and align their lives with His word.

EXCLUSIVE: Be patient with President Buhari, Femi Adesina tells Nigerians - on NAIJ.com TV:

[embedded content]

Subscribe to watch new videos

Source: Naija.ng

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | Nigerian Army arrests key Boko Haram suspect allegedly behind Benue killings

- Nigerian Army said it arrested a key Boko Haram suspect named Aminu Yaminu

- The suspect is believed to be responsible for most of the recent killings in Benue

- The Army restated its commitment to ensure that all the perpetrators of killings in Benue are brought to book

The Nigerian Army said that it has arrested a key Boko Haram suspect behind the recent killings in Benue state.

In a statement issued on Friday, April 27, by the Assistant Director, Army Public Relations, Major Olabisi Ayeni said that the arrest was made possible through combined troops of 707 Special Forces Brigade, Nigeria Police and the Department of State Services in Makurdi, Punch reports.

NAIJ.com gathered that Ayeni identified the arrested Boko Haram as Aminu Yaminu aka Tarshaku.

READ ALSO: Court grants EFCC permanent forfeiture of N1.4bn Paris club fraud' money allegedly linked to Saraki

Ayeni stated: Nigerian troops have arrested the key Boko Haram suspect known as Aminu Yaminu nicknamed Tashaku who is believed to have masterminded most of the recent attacks in Benue state.

He added that Aminu had concluded plans with his cohorts in Bauchi, Borno, Yobe and Nasarawa states to launch a major attack on innocent citizens in Benue state.

As earlier reinstated, Nigerian Army will ensure enemies of peace in the state are brought to justice.

Nigerian Army encourages all law abiding citizens to go about their lawful businesses without fear.

PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app

They should also oblige the Nigerian Army and other security agencies with timely information that could lead to the arrests of criminal elements in our society, Ayeni said in the statement.

NAIJ.com previously reported that Reverend Tor Uja, the executive secretary of Nigerian Christian Pilgrim Commission (NCPC) called on all Christians to still show love and commitment and not to embark on reprisal attacks to the killings in the country.

Uja made this call during the pilgrimage leaders meeting comprising the state chairmen and secretaries, held at the headquarters on Friday, April 27, in Abuja.

He advised that Christians should not go back to the primordial level to descend on perpetrators, adding that they should stand up to a Christian character, which was love.

Nigerian herdsmen vs Nigerian farmers - on NAIJ.com TV

[embedded content]

Subscribe to watch new videos

Source: Naija.ng

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | How I almost lost my son during childbirth - Ufuoma McDermott

- Nollywood actress Ufoma McDermoth has revealed that she welcomed her kids through cesarean section

- She spoke about the joys of motherhood

- Ufoma said only ignorance would make a woman refuse CS simply because she wants to be a strong Hebrew woman

Top Nollywood actress Ufoma McDermott has revealed that she welcomed both of her kids through cesarean section.

In a recent chat with Saturday Beats, Ufoma spoke on motherhood, how her kids were delivered through cesarean section and how much her kids mean to her.

READ ALSO: Veteran actor Okonkwo to contest for governorship in Enugu state

She said, Both of my children were born by cesarean section and I still feel very proud of motherhood. My children are my treasure and pride. I dont think anyone should decide how a child is brought into the world because complications sometimes warrant CS. If everything is good, then the doctor would insist on a normal birth.

Ufuoma McDermott and her family

At any point in time, motherhood is motherhood. It makes me laugh when people say that women who have a CS are not strong women. It is amazing how ignorant some people are. My son, for example, was conceived through in vitro fertilisation and when it was time for delivery, there was a breach, which means that the head of the child was up in the uterus as against it being down, so it was not advisable to push at the time.

Im glad that I listened to the doctor because, by the time my son was brought out, he had his placenta around his neck. If I had pushed, I might have strangled him. I think it is ignorance when someone comes out to say that she is a strong woman so she has to do normal child delivery. Yet, I am patient with people because I got to a point where I was enlightened.

Most people that say they are Hebrew women speak from what they have been taught by their mothers and grandmothers. They have been told that if they do not have the normal childbirth, then they are not Hebrew women. These women can be forgiven because the truth is that a mother is always a mother. When it comes to the process of childbirth, you cannot take away the pain that comes with it whether it is by CS or normal delivery; you would feel the pain whether it is before, during or after childbirth.

The actress noted that even though her baby was born by CS, she was on her feet the second day just because she wanted to catch a glimpse of her newborn.

PAY ATTENTION: Read best news on Nigeria's #1 news app

CS is actually a stitch, it is a wound and it takes time to heal but in my case, I was already walking by the second day after giving birth to my son. The labour ward was different from where they kept my son and I could not sleep because I wanted to see him. I was a new mother, the nurses told me to stay put, but I did not listen. I was crying as I dragged myself on the staircase to see my son. In all of it, I think we should just appreciate mothers because they go through a lot. Even if it is an adoption, a mother is a mother and you cannot take that away from her.

Tears, wailing as late Moji Olaiya is laid to rest in Lagos - on NAIJ.com TV

[embedded content]

Subscribe to watch new videos

Source: Naija.ng

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | We had intelligence break down - Kwara CP explain why many people died in Offa bank robbery

- The police has revealed why many people were killed in the recent Offa robbery incidence

- Kwara state commissioner of police said there was a break down of intelligence report in Offa prior to the robbery attack

- According to Amiun Saleh, the robbers overwhelmed the police officers in the area

The newly appointed commissioner of police in Kwara state, Aminu Saleh, has explained why many deaths were recorded in the robbery incident which took place in Offa, Kwara state.

Saleh said the large number of robbers who invaded commercial banks in the city overwhelmed the few policemen on ground at the time.

Speaking with journalists on Thursday, April 26, in Ilorin, Saleh said there was a break down of intelligence report in Offa prior to the robbery attack.

READ ALSO: Benue killings: Face of key suspect arrested by Army, revealed (photo)

Adding that the police had low connectivity with members of the community, Saleh said the police had no knowledge of the attack beforehand.

We had an intelligence break down. We had many criminals attacking a few policemen. We had little information on the attack before it happened," Saleh said.

He said the police is currently re-strategising and re-positioning its officers to work on the community and ensure that those lapses observed are addressed.

READ ALSO: 2019: What candidates/party Christians and Nigerians should vote for in 2019 - CAN reveals

What essentially went wrong is our response capacity. Were going to correct all those anomalies and get our men to be more responsive.

Were on the trail of the suspects and a lot of successes have been recorded. It is true that we have deficit of APC in the state; in fact we have two moribund ones. But there is already an arrangement on the ground by the state government to intervene and assist in this manner," Saleh added.

NAIJ.com earlier reported that a mobile police officer was, on Thursday, April 19, killed during a bank robbery at First Bank in Ifaki-Ekiti, Ekiti state.

PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app

The robbers during the attack, carted away an undisclosed amount of money before the arrival of security operatives.

The incident which was made known in the pictures that surfaced online showed some residents gathered at the bank premises.

Robbers return firearms to Nigerian Police | Naij.com TV - Latest Crime News in Nigeria - on NAIJ.com TV

[embedded content]

Subscribe to watch new videos

Source: Naija.ng

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | Enugu urged to emulate Anambra anti-smoking law

By Oboh Agbonkhese

Anambra State, and indeed all South-East States, have been urged to emulate Anambra State whose House of Assembly is considering a bill to regulate smoking in public places, which, if passed into law, would curtail indiscriminate smoking of any kind in open places.

The Executive Director of New Life Community Care Initiative, NELCCI, Florence Ifeanyi-Aneke, gave the charge in a statement, saying Anambra Assemblys move is a bold step and the first attempt to curtail the epidemic of tobacco in eastern Nigeria, which should be replicated in Enugu and other eastern states.

Ifeanyi-Aneke said the importance of having such a law in Enugu is necessitated by a recent report by the Environmental Rights Action and Nigeria Tobacco Control Research Group, NTCRG, which listed Enugu among states targeted by tobacco companies to market tobacco to kids.

In the statement by Ejike Onyia, NELCCI Media Adviser, Ifeanyi-Aneke said: The report, Big Tobacco, Tiny Targets Nigeria, noted that school age children are exposed to cigarettes sold side by side candies and of course, this is a ploy to lure them into procuring the colourful cigarettes after which they remain hooked for life.

She cautioned that if laws are not put in place to check the trend, the next generation of tobacco addicts was already being groomed and would pose a threat to economic growth when they start coming down with tobacco-induced illnesses.

The activist also asked the Consumer Protection Council, CPC, and other relevant agencies of government to begin enforcing the nine provisions of the National

Tobacco Control, NTC, Act which does not require any law to be operationalised.

The nine provisions include a ban on selling of tobacco to persons below the age of 18 years , prohibition of sale of tobacco in certain public places and sale of cigarettes in single sticks among others.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | FG spent N2.67bn to enhance security in UNIMAID  VC

Maiduguri  The Vice Chancellor of the University of Maiduguri, Abubakar Njodi, says the federal government has committed N2.67 billion to enhance security in and around the university.

UNIMAID

Njodi disclosed this atthe universitys 23 combined convocation in Maiduguri on Saturday.

We are delighted that the federal has clearly demonstrated firm commitment to its onerous respinsibility of protection of lives and property of members of the university community.

The action of the Federal executive Council in approving such amount of funds to the university is highly commendable.

This gesture of support would no doubt spur us into greater services and sacrifices to nation and our responsibilities,he said.

Njodi lamented that insurgency had crippled the political, social and economic spheres of governance in the country.

He observed that its impact was enormous with devastating phsycological implications in Borno.

He reiterated the commitment of the university to continue its normal academic activities in spite of the attacks on the institution.

We assure the federal government of our total commitment to promoting national development through quality manpower training and insightful research,said Njodi.

He commended President Muhammadu Buhari for the special support and encouragement to the university.

On fuel exploration in the Lake Chad region, Njodi said in spite of the abduction of three and killing of six lecturers, the university would not relent to offer its services when ever the need arises.

The vice chancellor said: the university would not be discouraged by what happened.

We are ready to mobilise to the site to continue with the assignment anytime security agencies fortify the environment for smooth exploration activities.

We consider the oil exploration in the Chad Basin area as an important national assignment and we are commited to its actualisation, God

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | Benue ethnic leaders raise alarm over impending attack on Makurdi town by suspected herdsmen

By Peter Duru

Makurdi  The leadership of the ethnic groups in Benue state under aegis of Mdzough U Tiv, Idoma National Forum and the Omi Ny Igede have raise alarm over an alleged planned attack on Makurdi, the Benue state capital by suspected militant herdsmen.

Speaking Friday, through the its Chairman, Chief Edward Ujege the ethnic leaders also disclosed that intelligence report had it that over 360 military assault rifles had allegedly been acquired by Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore and distributed to their collaborators in the state preparatory for the execution of the planned attack.

According to the tribal leaders, It has been alleged that heavily armed militant herdsmen are being mobilized for the execution of this diabolic attack on the seat of Government of Benue State.

Though, we have not been able to verify this allegation, we are constrained to state that there is some element of truth in this given that in time past, such similar allegations have been dismissed at the detriment of our villagers.

They recalled that a similar threat had been issued by the leadership of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore who vowed to resist the anti open grazing law of the state and after alerting the Federal government of the development no action was taken to stop the group.

The result of the inaction on the side of the Federal Government was that on January 1st., 2018 armed Fulani militia launched a deadly attack on communities in Guma and Logo Local Government Areas of the State leaving no fewer than 73 persons dead including members of the Livestock Guards of the State.

Similar threats have been issued on Tiv communities in Nasarawa State with the herdsmen eventually, executing the threats leaving behind sorrow, anguish, condemnation and lamentations.

To this date, mass killings by herdsmen have continued in the state with thousands of people taking refuge in Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps across the state while others are putting up with their relatives.

There are strong indications that these herdsmen militia have taken over villages around Makurdi metropolis including the village after NASME Barracks, behind Makurdi Modern Market, University of Agriculture Makurdi axis and Mbalom where two priests and 18 others were killed recently.

Over 360 military assault rifles are said to have been acquired by the group and distributed to their collaborators in the state preparatory for the execution of the planned attack.

From the foregoing, we cannot at this point wave aside any bit of information regarding threats by herdsmen to continue with their jihadist activities in the Benue valley.

It is on account of this that we call on security agencies to step up surveillance with a view to forestalling attack on Makurdi metropolis. We also urge the security operatives to swing into action and carry out a thorough investigation around Wadata, North Bank Areas of Makurdi as well as Hausa quarters in Gboko.

We also call on Nigerians, who are resident in Makurdi to be on the watch out and assist the security agencies by reporting suspicious movement within their vicinities to relevant authorities for necessary action. Residents must however avoid giving false information that would cause anxiety and may lead to unnecessary breakdown of law and order.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralNgozi Okonjo-Iweala, three-time minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, says late president Umar Musa YarAdua wanted her to be finance minister in his government.

This revelation was made in her recently released book, fighting corruption is dangerous, a front line account of her role in former president Goodluck Jonathans administration.

According to the development economist, she rejected the offer because it would be unprofessional to leave the World Bank at that time.

Narrating how she joined the Jonathan administration, Okonjo-Iweala said: the request to return home to Nigeria from Washington threw my mind-and, in fact my life-into turmoil. I was truly enjoying my job in the international development arena. Although my first term as Finance Minister had been highly rewarding in terms of the opportunity to give back to my country, working with a strong team, and recording many achievements for the economy, she wrote.

It also had been politically and personally difficult, especially toward the end. I resigned when I felt no longer able to serve under adverse conditions, and the resignation was seen as a bold and controversial move on my part. No Nigerian minister resigns; they are only fired. Stepping down from my post had earned me the ire of those at the top

Would it be Wise to return, given the tough politics? What exactly were the current circumstances in the Ministry of Finance, and would they be conducive to achieving further advances for the economy? I would need to do some homework and a great deal of reflection. If I said no, as I was inclined to do, I would have to back it up with strong arguments as it can be quite difficult refusing your President a request!

Speaking on YarAdua, she said: I remembered just how tough it had been to say no to President YarAdua, who had done me the honor of asking me twice to return as Finance Minister. But that had been in 2008 and I had very strong reasons to say no, among them the fact that I had just returned to the World Bank a few months earlier in a very senior position and it would be unprofessional to leave after such a short time.

I was relieved when he kindly accepted my regrets the second time and asked me to suggest someone else. He took up my suggestion and appointed as Finance Minister Dr. Mansur Muhtar, an economist, a colleague, and former Director General of Nigerias Debt Management Office.

Although that tricky situation had been resolved relatively well, I had no idea what would happen if I said no again.

Okonjo-Iweala went on to become minister of finance under the Jonathan administration.The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, has planned to storm the White House as President Muhammadu Buhari visits President Donald Trump of the United States of America, USA, at the White House, Washington DC.



President Trump had recently invited the Nigerian leader which appears to be the first invitation from the United States President to any President in the continent of African.

Newsmen that visited the Nigerian Embassy in Washington DC, reports that every arrangement has been made by the Nigerian community in America to welcome the President.

It was also gathered that the Nigerian embassy was doing everything possible to ensure that the activities of the IPOB members did not embarrass the President when he meets with his American counterpart tomorrow.

From intelligence reports, members of the IPOB had planned to protest during President Buharis meeting with President Trump and had already gotten clearance from the American security operatives for the protest.

The IPOB members it was further gathered had stormed Comfort Inn Hotel at 4050 Powder Mill Road, Belts Ville, Merryland last weeks Friday where the Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu had held a town hall meeting, but the governor was said to have ignored their presence. At the town hall meeting, the IPOB members had entered the venue well dressed with their Biafran flags inside their suites only for them to bring out the flags as the meeting progressed.

According to sources, the embassy found it difficult to stop any protests from any group because the IPOB had been given permit by the police and going by the American policy, the protesters will be given police protection within the period of their protest as efforts towards stopping them could infuriate the members of the group that has been outlawed in Nigeria. A source revealed had claimed that there were attempts by some of the embassy members to see whether they could identify the people behind the planned protest in order to see the possibility of using their family members to persuade them not to do anything that could embarrass the Nigerian President as well as the entire Nigerian community in the United States.

Meanwhile, some members of the Presidents entourage arrived Washington early hours of Saturday. Among them include, the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Abayomi Gabriel Olanisakin, the Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency, DG-NIA, Ahmed Abubakar Rufai, the Attorney General of the Federation AGF and Minister of Justice, Malam Abubakar Malami, and Malam Mamman Daura who is said to be organizing the private investors.

Also to be part of the delegation from the private sector are the Chairman and Chief Executive of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote and Tope Shonubi, the governor of Ogun State, Ibikunle Amosun and his counterpart from Plateau, Simon Lalong, Senator Monsurat Sunmonu, Chairman Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, Nnena Elendu Ukeje, Chairperson, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama and the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr.Okechukwu Enelamah. President Buhari who left Nigeria yesterday, will have audience with the Chief Executive Officers of United States in Blair House tomorrow after meeting with President Trump, in his bid to attract more foreign investors to Nigeria. At the official visit, he will have bilateral meeting with President Trump and a working lunch tomorrow.

The meeting according to the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Chief Femi Adesina is expected to discuss ways to enhance the strategic partnership between the two countries and to advance shared priorities, such as: promoting economic growth, fighting terrorism and other threats to peace and security. The meeting will further deepen the US-Nigeria relationship as the United States considers Nigerias economic growth, security and leadership in Africa to be critical aspects of their strategic partnership.

In the area of aviation, the Nigerian officials will be meeting with Boeing, the largest aircraft manufacturer in the world, on the National Carrier Project. On agriculture, they will meet with large equipment manufacturers with focus on harvesting and post harvesting equipment. In the area of transportation, the officials will meet with the GE-led consortium for the implementation of the interim phase of the narrow gauge rail concession.

In the interim phase, a substantive concession agreement will be negotiated and finalized to provide the consortium the opportunity to invest an estimated $2bn, to modernize the rail line from Lagos to Kano (Western Line) and from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri (Eastern Line). During the meeting, the concession framework and the interim phase framework agreements are expected to be signed. The Nigerian officials will also meet with US-EXIM Bank and the US Overseas Private Investment Corporation to explore competitive financing arrangements.

Recall that that in 2017, Nigerias Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment and the United States Department of Commerce signed a Memorandum of Understanding to promote and encourage commercial and investment ties between Nigeria and the United States, with initial focus on infrastructure, agriculture, digital economy, investment and regulatory reforms.Home | News | General | PDP senator says calling for President Buhari's impeachment over $496m aircraft saga is stupidity

- The senator said he only called for invoking of a relevant section of the constitution and not impeachment

- The section quoted, he said, would make it imperative for President Buhari to explain his decision carried out without National Assembly contribution

- The Senator said an impeachment is a much larger process than what he called for

Senator Matthew Urhoghide has denied calling for President Muhammadu Buharis impeachment.

The lawmaker representing Edo South senatorial district in the Nigerian Senate, who moved the motion question the legality of President Buhari's withdrawal of $496m from the Excess Crude Account to by military aircraft from the United, said he was misquoted.

Punch reports that the Edo lawmaker said this in a chat with pressmen at the Benin Airport in Edo state.

Urhoghide said he never called for President Buhari's impeachment but only urged the Senate to invoke the relevant section of the Constitution so that President Buhari could explain why he took the decision to purchase the 12 aircrafts.

READ ALSO: Lai did a good job - President Buhari finally reacts to Obasanjos letter

He said: The President had a good intention of buying the equipment but the procedure was wrong. And he too has accepted that it was wrong. We (lawmakers) swore to uphold the Constitution.

An impeachment, if you check Section 143, is a long process. The first thing is you have to do an investigation and then correspondences will be entered into; the President has to be written by the President of the Senate, who is the chairman of the National Assembly.

Then, of course, he (Buhari) too will reply and this has to go on for a long time. We have not reached this issue of an impeachment. Nobody on the floor of the Senate mentioned that the President should be impeached.

He added: So if the papers said that somebody said that the President should be impeached, it is out of ignorance. I am very proud to be a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, representing Edo South senatorial district.

As the Chairman, Senate Committee on Public Accounts, all revenues and expenditure fall on my table. So, this is part of it. So, they (critics) should be proud that this is what it is. The Constitution is above every person. So, we have not reached the point of impeachment.

He noted further that it would be ignorant and stupid of him to call for President Buhari's impeachment outright without following due process.

PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android and read best news on Nigerias #1 news app

That was why the Senate President said that we should refer it to the judiciary, so that it would advise on what to do. So, an impeachment is not the first thing; if I come and even say that the President should be impeached, I am ignorant.

Section 143 is a very long section. So, if you look at the processes, you will know that it will take a lot of actions. So, if I moved a motion that the President should be impeached, then I must be stupid.

I only said, Invoke Section 143 so that processes will be followed; the President will still explain and the National Assembly will still have do some enquiries, Senator Urhoghide added.

NAIJ.com had reported that some senators on Thursday, April 26, called for the impeachment of President Muhammadu Buharis for not seeking National Assembly approval before the withdrawal of the $496 million used for the purchase of aircraft from the United States.

Senator Matthew Uroghide moved the motion, claiming that President Buharis move was a violation of the constitution and thus, he should face the consequences.

He urged the Senate to invoke Section 143 to start the impeachment process of the president.

Street gist: Should the Nigerian senate be scrapped? - on NAIJ.com TV

[embedded content]

Subscribe to watch new videos

Source: Naija.ng

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | Melaye recall: Unsuccessful INEC's exercise is an indication that APCs time in Kogi is up - PDP

- The Peoples Democratic Party has reacted to the opposition of the Kogi youth against Senator Melaye's recall

- The party said the failure of the recall exercise is an indication that the state present administration is not popular

- PDP also noted that the unsuccessful INEC's exercise is an indication that the state governor Yahaya Bello and his APCs time is already ended

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said that the poor turn out that characterised Saturdays bid to recall Sen. Dino Melaye (APC/Kogi west) signified a total rejection of the Gov. Yahaya Bello-led administration in Kogi.

The general apathy that greeted the exercise, in spite of government efforts to mobilise people to participate, is a clear indication that the APC has lost relevance in Kogi, PDP said in a statement signed by Dickson Achadu, Director, Research and Documentation.

The statement was issued on Saturday, April 28 in Lokoja, shortly after INEC conducted its verification exercise for the recall process.

READ ALSO: Senator Urhoghide denies calling for President Buhari's impeachment

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the exercise witnessed a very low turn out with some polling units in Lokoja, Kabba, Ijumu and other local governments recording zero votes.

In Kabba, INEC officials were threatened by youth, while some women and youth groups sang songs praising Mr Melaye and vowing to resist any attempt to disgrace him out of office.

The PDP, while accusing Bello of trying to force the idea on the people, said the rejection of the recall process had confirmed that he had lost value in Kogi.

It thanked leaders and people of Kogi West senatorial district for heeding its call to shun the exercise.

The statement read: The failure of the recall exercise is an indication that the present administration is not popular which, of course, is only natural because it has inflicted poverty, hardship and suffering on the people.

PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android and read best news on Nigerias #1 news app

The PDP accused the state government of being insensitive to the plight of the people, and condemned the Bello-led administration several months salaries and pensions.

The statement added: It is unfortunate that in spite of the massive resources available to the present administration, no visible development has been witnessed in the last three years.

The failure of the recall process is a signal that the people have bid the administration goodbye. We want to advise Bello to start packing his load; the red card signal is clear. It is an indication that Gov. Bello and his APCs time in Kogi is up.

Meanwhile, NAIJ.com had reported that voters in Kabba/Bunu/Ijumu federal constituency shunned the ongoing verification exercise organised by INEC to authenticate the signatures of voters seeking to recall Senator Dino Melaye (APC/Kogi west).

The exercise in Melayes Kogi west senatorial district, observed that the polling units were empty, with many people claiming that they were not aware of it.

At some areas, youth protested against the move to recall the senator who they described as an excellent representative.

Kogi West senatorial district to recall senator Dino Melaye from the Nigerian Senate on NAIJ.com TV:

[embedded content]

Subscribe to watch new videos

Source: Naija.ng

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | Impeachment threat: SGFs daughters wedding unites Buhari, Saraki, Dogara

- President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday, April 28, met face-to-face with senate president Bukola Saraki and speaker of House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara

- The trio met at the reception of the daughter of secretary to the government of the federation, Boss Mustapha

- That was the first time that president Buhari is said to meet with Saraki and Dogara days after some lawmakers threatened to impeach the president

President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday, April 28, met one-on-one with senate president Bukola Saraki and speaker of House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara at the reception of the daughter of secretary to the government of the federation, Boss Mustapha, held inside the Banquet Hall of the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja.

Daily Trust reports that there was their first meeting after some members of the National Assembly threatened to impeach Buhari over the withdrawal of $496 million from the Excess Crude Account for the purchase of fighter jets.

Other dignitaries at the event were national chairman of the All Progressives Congress, John Odigie-Oyegun; a national leader of the party, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu as well as the governors of Adamawa, Kaduna and Ogun states and many more.

READ ALSO: Melaye recall boycott verdict on the APC - PDP

Mustapha described the wedding of his daughter, Amanda and her husband, Telema, from Rivers state, as a symbol of national unity.

He said: "I am married to somebody from a different state all together. I come from Adamawa State, while my wife comes from Osun state. So, Amanda is not the first. It is a marriage of unity. Whenever I hear people talking about Nigeria breaking up, I just laugh.

"The foundations are deep. I have a brother-in-law who is Igbo, I have a brother-in-law who is Urobo. So, our home has always been a small Nigeria whenever we congregate."

PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android and read best news on Nigerias #1 news app

SGF who expressed his happiness at the event, said, "It's a pride of a father that at one point in time you'll be giving out your children in marriage or receiving brides into your home. And that is what has precisely happened to us today as a family.

"If they have doubts about things happening around them, let them go back to the author of marriage Himself, which is God. So, my advice to them is let them remain together through thick and thin. They should not take each other for granted."

The SGF advised the couple to respect each other, remain friends and make God the centrepeace of their home.

Meanwhile, NAIJ..com had reported that Senator Matthew Urhoghide denied calling for President Buharis impeachment.

The lawmaker representing Edo South senatorial district in the Nigerian Senate, who moved the motion question the legality of President Buhari's withdrawal of $496m from the Excess Crude Account to by military aircraft from the United, said he was misquoted.

The Edo lawmaker said this in a chat with pressmen at the Benin Airport in Edo state.

Urhoghide said he never called for President Buhari's impeachment but only urged the Senate to invoke the relevant section of the Constitution so that President Buhari could explain why he took the decision to purchase the 12 aircrafts.

Street gist: Should the Nigerian senate be scrapped? - on NAIJ.com TV:

[embedded content]

Subscribe to watch new videos

Source: Naija.ng

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | Kogi youth show no interest in Melayes recall - INEC officials

- Kogi youth have reportedly threatened INEC officials as they oppose Senator Dino Melayes recall

- An NYSC member, Opemipo Solomon, the INEC officer at Akafe Lane polling unit, said that no one had showed up since they arrived the voting venue at 6.45 am

- Another corps member, David Adah, INEC presiding officer at the Odo Akete polling unit also in Kabba, said many youth were angry over the recall process

Voters in Kabba/Bunu/Ijumu federal constituency in Kogi have shunned the ongoing verification exercise organised by INEC to authenticate the signatures of voters seeking to recall Senator Dino Melaye (APC/Kogi west).

Correspondents of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), monitoring the exercise in Melayes Kogi west senatorial district, observed that the polling units were empty, with many people claiming that they were not aware of it.

At some areas, youth protested against the move to recall the senator who they described as an excellent representative.

READ ALSO: Benue killings: Image of mastermind, revealed

An NYSC member, Opemipo Solomon, the INEC officer at Akafe Lane polling unit, said that no one had showed up since they arrived the voting venue at 6.45 a.m.

He said: No one has come to sign the recall papers; what we have had so far are threats from people asking us leave this place.

The people do not appear interested in what we are doing. Some youths have come to warn us against staying here.

Another corps member, David Adah, INEC presiding officer at the Odo Akete polling unit also in Kabba, said that many youth were angry over the recall process.

So many youths from the community are angry; they have alleged that their signatures were forged to endorse the recall process.

He said: Most of the youths, who saw their names among those that signed for the recall of Melaye, have disowned the signatures and insisted that they are happy with the Senator.

At the embattled senators polling unit in Ayetoro Gbede, a traditional ruler, Ojo Adekunle, who led some youth to protest against the recall process, said they were not aware of Melayes offence.

Melaye has done so well and we are happy with him; we have no reason to want to recall him.

Adekunle said Melaye was the best Senator Kogi west had ever produced, and urged his people not to betray their representative at this trying period.

Vicoria Ajewole, APC Woman Leader in Kabba Local Government, expressed surprise at the recall process, and declared that it wont work.

she said: Melaye is our son; there is no way anyone can recall him.

At the central area of Kabba town, youth were seen chanting songs in praise of Melaye. They vowed to resist attempt to disgrace him.

Efforts to speak with INEC officials at the commissions office in Kabba proved abortive as they refused to comment on the exercise Policemen keeping watch at the polling points also refused to comment on the exercise.

Meanwhile, NAIJ.com had reported that the INEC has withdrawn its motion that had sought an order of the Federal High Court in Abuja to allow it serve Dino Melaye the recall petition through substituted service.

The electoral body had sought to serve Melaye's recall petition through substituted means rather than personal service.

The Punch, however, reports that Justice Nnamdi Dimgba struck out the motion after INECs lawyer, Yunus Ustaz (SAN), announced its withdrawal in court on Thursday, September 28.

The judge also ordered that all issues related to the case be taken to the Court of Appeal.

Kogi West senatorial district to recall senator Dino Melaye from the Nigerian Senate . NAIJ.com TV:

[embedded content]

Subscribe to watch new videos

Source: Naija.ng

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | We won't remove Buhari's pictures - Presidential aide writes Akwa Ibom govt. over planned demolition

- Presidential aide Senator Ita Enang says the Buhari Support Groups has done nothing wrong in acquiring the campaign office in Uyo

- Enang says the Akwa Ibom government should provide evidence of any wrongdoing by the group and it would make amends

- The senator says the group would not move an inch or take down President Buhari's posters and billboards if the requested evidence is not provided

President Buhari's Liaison to the National Assembly (Senate) Ita Enang has written to the Akwa Ibom state government over planned demolition of a building belonging to the Buhari Support Groups (BSG).

The letter, which was posted to Senator Enang's social media pages was directed to the the executive chairman of the Uyo Capital City Development Authority.

Senator Enang challenged the government to provide evidence that the said building was causing a menace and the group would make necessary amends or the state government should leave it be.

READ ALSO: Melaye recall boycott verdict on the APC - PDP

The senator also declared in the letter which was written on Friday, April 27 that the BSG would not take down President Muhammadu Buhari's posters and APC paraphenalia on the building if no proof of wrongdoing was provided.

The letter read in part:

"On Thursday, April 26,2018 , we saw a letter dated 20th day of April,2018 and pasted at the fence of our leased property, being 23 wellington Bassey way, Uyo entitled Notice of security breach etc.

"(a) The said property, built from 1984, put to use from 1988 till date has not in any manner breached any security of either the Governors office, residence or the judiciary headquarters.

"b) That there is no law in Akwa lbom State or provision of Uyo Capital City Development Authority law prohibiting the use of this building for our purposes.

"c) That Policies, even in its most raw form, still has finesse and the law is supreme in course thereof, and Akwa lbom state Government should exhibit same in this matter, and others. The constitution is supreme.

PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android and read best news on Nigerias #1 news app

"d) That the branding of the building, display of President Buharis posters and campaign materials has not violated any known law or regulation of Akwa lbom State or Nigeria and if any, please cite same and draw attention, we will abide.

"e) And that being so we will NOT remove the pictures and branding materials of President Buhari,The APC nor abandon the building for any reason."

NAIJ.com had reported that less than three days after the campaign office of President Buhari in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state capital was opened, the state government has reportedly marked the building housing the office for demolition, triggering political tension.

The four-storey building on Wellington Bassey Way, christened Hill Top Mansion, is not far from the Government House.

Reports claimed the state government has been uncomfortable with the closeness of the campaign office to the Government House which informed the decision to pull it down.

President Buhari on 2019 presidential election: will you vote for him? - on NAIJ.com TV

[embedded content]

Subscribe to watch new videos

Source: Naija.ng

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | APC issues red card to Senator Ekweremadu in Enugu

- Enugu state APC chairman Ben Nwoye says the party is ready to throw Ekweremadu out of the Senate

- Nwoye is confident that the APC in the state has what it takes to take over the Enugu West senatorial zone currently held by PDP's Ekweremadu

- Ekweremadu has been in the senate for four terms and has been endorsed for a fifth term by some PDP members

The Enugu state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has declared that Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) must leave the upper house of legislature in 2019.

Daily Independent reports that Ekweremadu, the lawmaker representing Enugu West Senatorial District, is currently serving his fourth term in the Red Chamber.

The state chairman of the APC Ben Nwoye said at the weekend that Ekweremadu would be thrown out of the legislature in 2019.

READ ALSO: Kogi youth threaten INEC officials, oppose Melayes recall

Nwoye expressed confidence that Enugu West senatorial zone would fall into the hands of APC even though Ekweremadu has been endorsed for a fifth term in the Senate in 2019 by the Enugu West PDP.

Meanwhile, NAIJ.com recently reported that Senator Ekweremadu challenged the power of the Federal High Court in Abuja over call to grant interim ownership of his 22 properties to the federal government.

This was contained in a motion filed by his lead counsel, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo, on Tuesday, April 10.

PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android and read best news on Nigerias #1 news app

The deputy Senate president maintained that under the 1999 Constitution, as amended, the High Court, lacked the jurisdiction to entertain and exercise judicial powers in matter related to, connected with and arising from the Code of Conduct and Declaration of Assets.

Lets talk about salaries of Nigerian senators - on NAIJ.com TV

[embedded content]

Subscribe to watch new videos

Source: Naija.ng

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | World | Africa | DAnet gets backing for command housing

DESTINY of Africa Network (DAnet) says it has secured funding to roll out housing projects in support of President Emmerson Mnangagwa's command housing project.

DAnet founder, Obadiah Musindo said his organisation was targeting to parcel out 25 000 church stands across the country, as part of the command housing project which was launched by government.

The organisation says it has the support of Metropolitan Bank and has also engaged building material supply outlets to help provide materials on credit to members of its cooperatives.

"I do not have the money but I know the people who have the money and how to talk to them so that you can access funding to construct your own homes. We have legitimate stands and these will be given to people so that they can realise their dreams to own homes," he said.

Speaking at a function attended by church members from different denominations, Musindo said the launch of command housing by Mnangagwa's administration should spur the need for development and uplifting congregants from poverty.

"The new dispensation led by President Mnangagwa is about uplifting people from poverty and they have come up with mechanisms that make things work, it is with this renewed hope that we will be pushing the programme to give houses to everyone including our church members," he said.

Musindo was quick to endorse Mnangagwa saying he was the best foot to lead Zimbabweans into economic prosperity and urged Zimbabweans to vote for them.

Meanwhile, DAnet has provided 25 stands to visually impaired people in Mutare.

DAnet Manicaland chairman Wilson Masokowere said most visually impaired people needed care as they survived on begging.

The organisation recently held a dinner as part of efforts to raise over $170 000 needed to construct houses for 10 of the 25 beneficiaries who have special cases.

"We are always grateful with well-wishers who are helping us to build houses for the blind people we helped with stands. The door is open to all who have donations that will help these people to their homes," Masokowere said.

Addressing delegates at the fundraising dinner Musindo said: "We are assisting these families to have decent accommodation. They came and applied for the stands, we are aware that there are some out there who want to benefit from this scheme and we will assist them when opportunity arises."

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: AfricaHome | World | Africa | HZT calls for peace ahead of primary elections

CIVIC society organisation, Heal Zimbabwe Trust, yesterday called on all political parties to observe peace ahead of this year's elections amid concern that violence and human rights violations have started occurring in some parts of the country.

In a statement yesterday, Heal Zimbabwe urged political parties to allow internal processes to be conducted in a free, fair and democratic manner as they hold primary elections

"As the date for Zanu PF primary elections fast approaches, Heal Zimbabwe has received reports of clashes among Zanu PF supporters. On April 5 in Goromonzi, Zanu PF top leaders, among them Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare minister Petronella Kagonye and businessman and party activist, Energy Mutodi reportedly stormed Zanu PF offices in the district and attempted to take over the process of receiving and vetting CVs for potential candidates," the trust said.

"This then led to a stand-off, as some party members staged a protest. To date, similar clashes among Zanu PF supporters have been recorded in Mazowe West, Harare South, Epworth and Masvingo. The clashes come hardly a month after the party's political commissar, Engelbert Rugeje, called on party members to uphold peace and unity during primary elections."

Heal Zimbabwe said in light of the above, it implored political parties to rein in their supporters who perpetrate violence and come up with punitive measures that help

violence.

"Political parties must also remain guided by the provisions of the Electoral Code of Conduct for Political Parties, which stipulates that no political party or any of its members or supporters, and no candidate or any of his or her supporters, may use violence, or threaten violence or incite or encourage the use of violence, against anyone on account of his or her political opinions or membership or support of a political party or participation in the election, intimidate, or incite or encourage the intimidation, of anyone on account of his or her political opinions or membership or support of a political party; act in a way that may provoke violence or intimidation, use violence or threats or illegal pressure to force voter to refrain from voting or to vote for a candidate or political party against his or her will and force a voter to reveal the identity of the candidate voted for or take reprisals against a person because of the way in which he or she has voted or is believed to have voted," the watchdog said.

Heal Zimbabwe further called on all political parties to take a leading role in campaigning for peace and tolerance ahead of the polls.

The trust said it would continue to advocate for peaceful elections through its national peace campaign dubbed 13 Million Voices for Peace.

"The organisation's trained human rights monitors shall be on high alert monitoring and reporting any human rights violations," the statement read.

Previous polls have been marred by political violence pitting Zanu PF against the main opposition party MDC-T, leading to homes being burnt down, and supporters maimed or killed as political activists clashed.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: AfricaHome | World | Africa | Preachers claim to cure HIV & Aids, tell congregants to stop taking ARVs

A WORRYING trend is emerging in Gweru, where preachers claim to be curing HIV and Aids and are advising followers to stop taking anti-retroviral drugs, minutes of a recent Gweru magistrates' Victim Friendly Court (VFC) sub-committee meeting reveal.

According to the VFC sub-committee, on the lessons learnt in 2017, there were cases where churches and religious leaders put the lives of their followers at risk by hoodwinking them into dropping their ARV regimens purporting that they have been spiritually cured.

"In 2017, we also learnt about some churches or religious groups, which were advising their congregants to stop taking anti-retroviral drugs after going through a process of spiritual healing," minutes of the meeting held on March 23 read.

"Unfortunately, because of this misinformation, those members end up dying because currently HIV and Aids cannot be cured.

Statistics show that since 2006, more than 300 000 deaths have been averted due to access to anti-retroviral therapy, with more than 49 000 deaths prevented in 2016 alone.

In 2014, Health and Child Care minister David Parirenyatwa warned prophets to desist from telling people living with HIV and those suffering from other ailments from taking drugs.

Although at the time Parirenyatwa urged government to come up with legal instruments to curb such a practice, to date, no law has been crafted against people who claim to cure HIV and Aids.

Popular preachers in the country have been known for dishing out "holy" oil, which they claim can cure various ailments.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: AfricaHome | World | Africa | Son bans dad from remarrying

JEALOUSLY guarding late mother's property!

A 25-year-old man from Bulawayo's Old Pumula suburb is giving his father a torrid time as he does not want him to marry another woman despite his mother having died some years ago.

Trevor Cambel Meck believes his father Navy Meck should respect his late mother and maintain his widower status.

After efforts to talk sense into his son's head had failed, Meck started having a relationship with another woman and it never went down well with his son who then declared war against the two lovebirds.

Meck has been left with no option, but to chase away his son so he could have his freedom as an adult.

"I am having problems with my son. My wife passed away and I have got a girlfriend, but he does not want me to be in a relationship.

"He has threatened to axe me and my girlfriend. At one time he even manhandled me as we had a misunderstanding over the woman," said Meck.

The man revealed that he wants his freedom as an adult therefore his son should vacate his house since he was disturbing his peace.

He also revealed that despite fighting over the issue of the woman, he also damages and steals his property.

"He should leave my house and start to fend for himself because he damages my property at home and steals goods," he said.

In response, Trevor dismissed abuse allegations saying: "I have never abused or stolen from him. I only told the woman that she had no right to stay at our home."

Presiding magistrate Tancy Dube granted the order in favour of applicant and ordered the respondent to vacate the home.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: AfricaFROM prison to life's jail!

Such is the story of Lungile Maphosa an ex-convict from Emganwini who after the presidential clemency has not had peace in his life because his ex-girlfriend Oletha Nkomo bothers him with incredible demands.

When he came out after spending nine months in jail he found Nkomo pregnant and let go.

Luckily for him, he got a job but soon after Nkomo began paying him surprise visits expecting to be entertained during working hours.

"Nkomo is my ex-girlfriend, when I came out of prison I found her pregnant. Although I am not the one responsible she is forcing me to help her with the baby's preparation.

"She comes to my workplace without my consent and wants me to entertain her during working hours.

"I now fear losing my job and that one day I will lose my temper because of her behaviour," said Maphosa.

The ex-convict begged the court to grant him a protection order against the woman as he feared that he would end up being caught on the wrong side of the law again.

Nkomo dismissed Maphosa's claim maintaining that the pregnancy was his and therefore he had to help with preparations for the baby's birth.

"What he has said is not true. The applicant was my husband and he got arrested and was sent to prison leaving me pregnant.

"After his release, he promised to assist me, but went for good. I had to go to his workplace and he promised to buy (baby clothes) and never kept his word," she said.

Magistrate Stephen Ndlovu granted the order in favour of the applicant.

When the woman left the court, she started having labour pains and reportedly gave birth the following day.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: AfricaHome | World | Africa | Teachers headed for clash with Chiwenga

TEACHERS are headed for a clash with government after the Zimbabwe Teachers' Association (Zimta) yesterday officially declared they would down tools when schools open in a couple of weeks to press for an increase of their salaries and allowances and the revocation of the new curriculum.

The declaration, endorsed by all 10 provinces, was signed by Zimta president Richard Gundane and secretary-general Tapson Nganunu Sibanda in Victoria Falls at the end of the association's 37th annual national conference.

Zimta said the strike was in accordance with the section 65(3) of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to collective job action, fair and safe labour practices and fair standard wages.

"Now, therefore, the 37th annual national conference of the Zimbabwe Teachers' Association do, hereby, declare that schools will not open for the second term of 2018 and for the avoidance of doubt, our members will be on strike and will withdraw their labour effective May 8 until the issues raised herein above are resolved," Sibanda declared.

Teachers at the conference said government had failed to meet their demands and that of pupils.

"This is the beginning of a long struggle which seeks to emancipate us as workers of the government," one teacher, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.

"The government has no will to do collective bargaining with us and set up a correct bargaining system. For many years, we have asked them to introduce bargaining chambers that suit our system. We had an agreement that was put in place for allowances and salary increment and government has not attended to that since 2013. We say enough is enough," Zimta Matabeleland South provincial chair Akuneni Maphosa said.

He said the new curriculum had to be withdrawn or redone, as it was riddled with errors.

Another teacher said: "Vacation leave is a major condition of service that was taken away from us. Therefore, we are claiming it back. We need time to rest. Since 2016, we have not gone for leave because they say they have no money to pay stand-in teachers."

The job action threat comes after doctors and nurses at public health institutions downed tools, demanding better worker conditions and wages.

The strike crippled the health delivery system, leaving thousands of patients stranded.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: AfricaHome | World | Africa | Madhuku lashes Chamisa

LAW expert Lovemore Madhuku has lashed out at the Nelson Chamisa-led MDC-T faction for criticising the ruling of the court case in which rival leader Thokozani Khupe won the battle over the use of the party name and symbols.

Madhuku made the attacks when he was giving a keynote address at a Zimbabwe Teachers' Association (Zimta) meeting held in Victoria Falls yesterday.

He said all courts stood guided by facts and had no interest in meddling in political fights and, therefore, the Chamisa-led faction had no right to criticise Justice Francis Bere's ruling.

"The courts use the Constitution to deliberate and determine if you are wrong or right," Madhuku said.

"Freedom of association entails responsibilities of internal arrangements that you must put in place. For instance, the Bulawayo case, some people thought that it was political and it's very unfortunate because courts are not there to make political decisions, a court exists to make decisions based on the law. The decision in Bulawayo was purely in terms of the law."

Madhuku represented Khupe in the court case in which MDC-T acting national chairman Morgen Komichi dragged the now late party leader Morgan Tsvangirai's deputy of 10 years to court over the use of the party name and symbol after the split of the former labour backed party over leadership wrangles.

He added: "That is why I have said to Nelson Chamisa that you want to be the president of your party, but the constitution says when the president dies, immediately, the deputy president takes over automatically up to the extraordinary congress.

"Their constitution says the [deputy] presidents are appointed in the congress. There is no court in the world or Mars that could have ruled in favour of Chamisa. You do not go to court while you are on a weaker position, but that is what they did."

Madhuku said if organisations decided that they no longer wanted the existing laws, correct procedures must be taken to amend their constitution.

The conference runs under the theme Freedom of Association and the Right to Collective Bargaining, an Imperative to the Education System in Zimbabwe.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: AfricaHome | World | Africa | Chombo's bail conditions further relaxed

Former Cabinet minister Ignatius Chombo's bail conditions have been further relaxed to allow him to seek medical attention in South Africa.

Chombo, who is facing a slew of corruption charges with the State alleging he prejudiced it of more than $3,6 million, was represented by Lovemore Madhuku when he appeared before Harare magistrate Elisha Singano on Thursday.

Madhuku successfully applied to have Chombo's passport released to May 9, while he attends to his health in South Africa.

Although the State had opposed the application arguing the passport was an assurance that Chombo would not flee the court's jurisdiction, Singano ruled that he had been religiously abiding by his bail conditions and granted the request.

Chombo's reporting conditions were relaxed by the same court to once a day in January this year after the former minister had pleaded that he needed time to do farming and fend for his livelihood.

Chombo is being charged with criminal abuse of office, contravening the Prevention of Corruption Act and fraud with the State saying his alleged activities prejudiced it of $3, 6 million.

In one of the cases it is being alleged that on October 1, 2005 Chombo hatched a plan to defraud the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) under "Other Crops and Livestock Support Facility" provided by the central bank.

It was alleged that Chombo would apply for capital expenditure loans purportedly for agriculture equipment but splashed the money on his personal endeavours and bought various cars, one of which was delivered to his stepdaughter, socialite Pokello Nare.

Chombo applied for Capital Expenditure Loan amounting to ZW$14 billion which was to be paid within 18 months and indicated his address as Allen Grange Farm, Rafingora, it was alleged.

Under Section 4 of the RBZ "Other Crops and Livestock Support Facility Application Form" Chombo was alleged to have misrepresented that he was going to use the proposed funds for the purchase of various agricultural equipment.

The equipment included 30-tonne lorry valued at ZW$2 billion, 30-tonne truck valued at ZW$1,5 billion, 200 hp tractor four-wheel drive valued at ZW$2,5 billion, combine harvester valued at ZW$5 billion, 52 dish roam disc valued at ZW$1 billion, nine row monosem planter valued at ZW$1,2 billion , 2x500kg chicken feed mixer valued at ZW$ 8 million.

The court also heard that Chombo abused funds and it was investigated and established that he had imported various motor vehicles, including a Toyota Hilux Vigo for socialite Pokello which was delivered at 222 Samora Machel Avenue, Harare.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: Africaehhhhhhhhhhhhhhh i'm all for calling burgundy cummerbund any number of goofy names the internet can come up with I'm not really down for bestiality jmo

Reply

Thread

Link

Infinity War was a jumbled mess, emotionally hollow (seriously, fuck that unearned Vision/Wanda love story) and worst of all BORING. Nebula/Gamora scenes were the best part.

such a letdown after the great Black Panther.

Reply

Thread

Link

IDK what you can expect from a single movie with like 100 characters. It's basically impossible to come up with a decent plot.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

This. I wasn't excited at all, think I've got the "Marvel fatigue" :-/ but even going in with that I thought it was hollow!



Edited at 2018-04-28 10:03 am (UTC)

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

[ Spoiler (click to open) ] Maria Hill This is me. Im all Marveled out. My biggest issue with it is that it took itself way too serious (it bordered an a Zach Snyder D.C. movie). And tbh when the death that got me the most was, youve done fucked up.

Reply

Parent

Thread

Expand

Link

I enjoyed the movie, I thought it was super entertaining, but I agree that a LOT of the "emotional" storylines and moments were totally unearned. That's definitely the biggest flaw of the film.



Edited at 2018-04-28 10:20 am (UTC)

Reply

Parent

Thread

Expand

Link

WHile I enjoy it, I agree that it lacked heart.



The Vision/Wanda scenes made me want to stab my eyes out. It was terrible.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

I feel like Ive watched too many cinema sins videos because some of the stuff they do is so stupid

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

I couldn't disagree more. Vision/Wanda were like bland toast and boring af, that I agree with, but the movie was so far from boring and it was insanely emotional imo

Reply

Parent

Thread

Expand

Link

yeah sadly i agree. too much time focused on people i don't care about. at least i liked everyone in civil war.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

I think it did a great job, given how many characters it had to work with. I was impressed, actually.



Still no replay-value though.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

I feel like the only romantic relationships they ever put time into were in phase one with Tony and Pepper and then Steve and Peggy. Since then they just haven't put any screen time toward building any of them. At least from what I recall.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

ia, especially with visionwanda

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

ia, i feel like i'm taking crazy pills with all the praise it got

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

It was fun, my faves are still awesome so that's a plus.

Reply

Thread

Link

i was scared for the guy next to me who had his hands over his mouth basically throughout the whole movie (in shock) and was sporadically silently crying/tearing up. the movie knocked him around.

Reply

Thread

Link

Aww that's cute. It's cool when people really get into it.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

Me

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

Ok yeah, that was basically me with my friend today. i was tearing up a LOT and my friend had to cuddle me several times throughout the film as consolation. This movie was an emotional rollercoaster.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

lol this was me. I kept gasping and putting my hands over my mouth and the girl beside me was giving me the side-eye, I could tell. I'M TOO INVESTED TO CENSOR MY REACTIONS OK? She also left before the end credits scene so I knew she didn't understand my pain.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link





[ Link to spoiler ]

It's pretty much a given there's going to be some time travel. There's a set photo of a greying Tony Star and Ant-Man with Avengers era Captain America. Hmmm. Teenage Cassie Lang has also been cast.







It's pretty much a given there's going to be some time travel. There's a set photo of a greying Tony Star and Ant-Man with Avengers era Captain America. Hmmm. Teenage Cassie Lang has also been cast.



Edited at 2018-04-28 10:03 am (UTC) speculation about Avengers 4

Reply

Thread

Link

[ Spoiler (click to open) ] i wonder if the time travel is due to captain marvel/someone shes with or like ant man. i mean cant he shrink into like nonexistence/another plane ish?

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

[ Spoiler (click to open) ] also hawkeye as ronin was spotted. someone i talked to at my gym mentiioned he thinks that maybe flint's family turned to ash in front of him and explains the change from hawkeye to ronin.



i can't help but wonder if maybe wong sends some characters back in time and that the capt america we see in that picture you posted isn't capt going back in time but capt being in *his* present aka first avengers movie. esp with pictures of thor with long hair again and whatnot. but how can anyone time travel without the time stone unless its capt marvel doing it? aahhhh so many questions!!

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

I'm hoping 4 kicks arse, this one totally felt like a pre-cursor!

Reply

Thread

Link

[ Spoiler (click to open) ] One little girl keep asking where everyone was going? Are they going to come back? I wasn't but the poor kids.

Reply

Thread

Link

[ Spoiler (click to open) ] i saw a video of this little boy that couldnt stop crying. this movie done wrecked some kids lol, seeing people just disappear like that

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

I mean... It WAS pretty traumatic.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

My favourite so far is bumblesnuff crimpysnitch closely followed by Benadryl wafflesticks.

Reply

Thread

Link

Ellen remains an asshole

Reply

Thread

Link





He still reminds me of Sid from the Ice Age franchise.

Reply

Thread

Link

Aww I hope those claws arent hurting that bb

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

Wolverine getting frisky

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

This starts out like the sloth is going to suffocate the cat while whispering it the cat's ear the whole time.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

I have yet to see it, seeing it tonight but I already love this movie for getting people to finally realize what a gem thor is.

Reply

Thread

Link

Right?! I love the first Thor so Im happy hes finally getting his dues



Edited at 2018-04-28 11:56 am (UTC)

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

IW was so good. Im so shook. Caps beard was everything I needed. I already preordered the film on iTunes and will be going back to see it on Sunday

Reply

Thread

Link

I can't wait to see it again!

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

I honestly didnt expect to love it so much. After Age of Ultron, I really wasnt feeling it but Black Panther and civil war rewatch got me back into it.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

[ Spoiler (click to open) ] Why doesnt dr strange tell anyone else what happens in the 1 time they beat Thanos so everyone can prepare? I feel that thats fairly vital and important information.



Thanos squad have to be the most incompetent people ever, especially in the final battle. They have the worst strategy

Reply

Thread

Link

Because if people know what happens in the future itll change the future...

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

[ Spoiler (click to open) ] I went into this thinking that the Black Order would have been huge enemies to fight. Reading about their powers I was sure that the Avengers couldnt possibly win (or have an extremely hard time defeating) over these super powerful beings. But they got knocked down quite easily and quickly pretty much.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

I thought they put up a good fight, I was actually scared of them.

Reply

Parent

Thread

Expand

Link

[ Spoiler (click to open) ] Which is why he gave up the stone but didnt say much besides from the fact that he had to



Edited at 2018-04-28 01:31 pm (UTC) Bc if one thing doesnt align with what Dr. Strange saw then they could possibly lose.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

[ Spoiler (click to open) ] the one scenario in which Strange gave the stone willingly instead of Thanos killing them all horribly and taking it anyway. That's why Strange said "It had to be done," or whatever.



The remaining Avengers could probably bring them back from being vanished away, but bringing them back from death would be a totally different thing.

My assumption was the one time they succeeded was

Reply

Parent

Thread



LinkI feel like if this were people other than Katy Perry and nuns, this whole thing would basically just be reduced to a real estate scam

Reply

Thread

Link

Swish swish bish, another one in the casket.



Edited at 2018-04-28 04:08 pm (UTC)

Reply

Thread

Link

lmfao

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

Getting pictured meeting the Pope has me SCREAMING - like, there is no better "clap back" at a Nun than this 

Reply

Thread

Link

Right. I love ha, i don't care what anyone's says.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

Lol seriously. The nun is like I want the pope to intercede! And Katys like you mean this pope? The one Im doing meet and greets with? Well played, Katy Perry. Well played.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

Can someone remind/link me the details of this case? I couldn't seem to google a good answer.

Reply

Thread

Link

the nuns don't own the convent

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2018/03/26/everything-youre-hearing-about-katy-perry-and-la-catholic-sisters



The case itself is kind of boring. The case itself is kind of boring.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link



http://beta.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-06-28-lopez-nuntoohappy-20150628-column.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2015/06/29/these-nuns-want-katy-perry-to-keep-her-hands-off-their-old-convent/

http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-ln-katy-perry-lawsuit-20171117-story.html When the nuns moved out because they couldn't keep up with the large property, they were afraid the archbishop would split them up/wouldn't adequately pay their living expenses. So they struck a shady deal with Dana Hollister ($100,000 now, and the rest sometime in the unspecified future) to make sure they got at least some money. Perry dealt with the archdiocese and offered $10 million immediately and a $4.5 million dollar house for the nuns, but again, the nuns were afraid they wouldn't actually get anything. Court ruled that the archdiocese had the right to sell to Katy Perry.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

The nuns have been trying to sell a convent they don't own. The nerve of them is astonishing. They've lost in every court they've been in. It's hysterical that she says she's going to appeal to the Pope, because the Pope has no say over real estate laws in California.



The archdiocese holds the title to the property and they can sell it to whoever they want and they want to sell it to Katy.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

I KNOW! it baffles me that they think they have an entitlement to land they don't own but had permission to reside. they have no case

Reply

Parent

Thread

Expand

Link





my Catholic ass is scared. I'm getting war flashbacks

Reply

Thread

Link

war flashbacks about the time a nun made me feel like crap for not being baptized lmao, i mean i never told anyone so it wasn't her intention but still she made me feel like the worst sinner and that god didn't love me and my 10 years old self was SAD and worried.





Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

omg lmao me too! and I had a Sister Rita at my school who was mean and angry as shit all the time

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

Fuck the Catholic church. Pedo enabling, money guzzling scum.



These biddies fit right fucking in.

Reply

Thread

Link

Well, you probably have two months left so it wont be a long fight.

Reply

Thread

Link

Not practiced since I left my Catholic all girls school, but damn if I don't still get the Catholic guilt!!

Reply

Thread

Link

All us recovering Catholics still get catholic guilt, it's a burden that will live within us for the rest of our lives. Stay strong!

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

same gurl

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

I went to Catholic school for 9 years, church 3 days a week for 9 years. The guilt will outlive us sis, even in death.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

Same lmao, especially living in a latin-american country and most one like mine that is hardcore catholic (and religious) even by latam standards lol.







Edited at 2018-04-28 04:42 pm (UTC)

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

I'm agnostic, but damn is the Catholic guilt still strong.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

wow the nuns are persistent how very un - nun of them.



i wonder whats the real story

Reply

Thread

Link

they def murdered someone and buried them on the property and don't want it to get unearthed. exorcism gone wrong



I used to be Catholic so I'm allowed to make that kind of speculation, right?

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

You have no idea how much I want this to be true. It would make one hell of a story

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

Katy keeps winning

Reply

Thread

Link

Does everyone dress in black so the Pope will be the only one in white, like a bride on her wedding day?

Reply

Thread

Link

iirc, catholic royalty can wear white around him? i'm not sure.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

I have no idea tbh, luckily my catholic education was very light :P

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

Yeah, it's called the privilege du blanc. There are currently 7 women in the world allowed to wear white during an audience with the pope



But it's only for top female royal in the country



Edited at 2018-04-28 05:13 pm (UTC)

Reply

Parent

Thread

Expand

Link

Lol I'm just picturing the Pope being all Popezilla and being like "NO ONE BETTER WEAR WHITE AND STEAL MY THUNDER!!!"

Reply

Parent

Thread

Expand

Link

They're so persistent and stubborn. They must be hiding something, like a underground cavern where they tortured and ate novitiates.

Reply

Thread

Link

lmao @ not ora



this nun needs to accept the loss already

Reply

Thread

Link





#dramatic this nun needs to let go lol

Reply

Thread

Linki love her so much, she's so cute. i love seeing her do promo in the US and want her to succeed, but i really hated this album :(

Reply

Thread

Link

The US has failed her so many times, yet she still comes back. Idk why she never really took off there.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

Damn

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

Lol this over analysis. I feel like people forget she debuted in the US with Locomotion when she was like 20 and it was a bigger hit than Cant Get You Out of My Head in the US. Her music didnt even get deep until her Impossible Princess era. How is Better the Devil You Know any different than Come and Get It?



The reason WHY she never got as big in the US is because she made euro pop dance music and the US has always had a finicky relationship with that genre.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

The result remains the same, the US is trash.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

The Gays can move their ass to any type of music, especially Kylie since were basically the only people who check for her in the US.



She flopped herself into oblivion in the US after her first album. Didnt even bother releasing here again until Fever, and then flopped herself into the gay clubs after that. Regardless of anything, her brand of pop is not that popular in the US.



Edited at 2018-04-28 07:33 pm (UTC)

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

You keep saying she did this, she did that like she was independent or something lol It's the fucking labels' fault for not promoting her and radio's for not wanting to play her music. They gays have been there for her since day 1. If the gays had the power to make artists happen Carly Rae Jepsen would be doing Adele numbers rn, but yet here we are.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

I mean Body Language came out in 2003 and the music industry in the US was pretty much all rap and r&b influenced. I can be tone deaf and point out that JLo is the exact same age as Kylie and was able to succeed because she went for a more r&b sound. Dance pop music didnt even make a comeback until late 2008 with Lady Gaga.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

I see a woman in her late forties looking good af. Her 50th birthday is coming up!

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

PC Music or Kevin Parker next, pls 

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

mte. Im so underwhelmed by this album. Im gonna go back and listen to Kylie + Garibay.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

mte... golden era is over. next!

Reply

Parent

Thread



LinkThe Best Ryan Movies Ranked by Overwhelming Hotness https://t.co/QfyJ2sKONT pic.twitter.com/EUcKLZwgZc  Marie Claire (@marieclaire) 25 april 2018





5. RYAN REYNOLDS: X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE

: Two mutant brothers, Logan and Victor, born 200 years ago, suffer childhood trauma and have only each other to depend on. Basically, they're fighters and killers, living from war to war through U.S. history. In modern times, a U.S. colonel, Stryker, recruits them and other mutants as commandos. Logan quits and becomes a logger, falling in love with a local teacher. When Logan refuses to rejoin Stryker's crew, the colonel sends the murderous Victor. Logan now wants revenge.





4. RYAN GOSLING: STAY

: A thought-provoking and haunting exploration of how reality and dream-states may combine to form complex interactions. The line between the imagination and reality blurs when an accomplished Psychiatrist takes on a patient that appears to be suicidal.





3. RYAN REYNOLDS: THE PROPOSAL

: For three years, Andrew Paxton has slaved as the assistant to Margaret Tate, hard-driving editor at a New York publisher. When Margaret, a Canadian, faces deportation for an expired visa, she hatches a scheme to marry Andrew - he agrees if she'll promise a promotion. A skeptical INS agent vows to test the couple about each other the next Monday. Andrew had plans to fly home that weekend for his grandma's 90th, so Margaret goes with him - to Sitka, Alaska - where mom, dad, and grams await. Family dynamics take over: tensions between dad and Andrew, an ex-girlfriend, Andrew's dislike of Margaret, and her past color the next few days, with the INS ready to charge Andrew with fraud.





2. RYAN GOSLING: THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES

: A mysterious and mythical motorcycle racer, Luke, (Ryan Gosling) drives out of a traveling carnival globe of death and whizzes through the backstreets of Schenectady, New York, desperately trying to connect with a former lover, Romina, (Eva Mendes) who recently and secretly gave birth to the stunt rider's son. In an attempt to provide for his new family, Luke quits the carnival life and commits a series of bank robberies aided by his superior riding ability. The stakes rise as Luke is put on a collision course with an ambitious police officer, Avery Cross, (Bradley Cooper) looking to quickly move up the ranks in a police department riddled with corruption. The sweeping drama unfolds over fifteen years as the sins of the past haunt the present days lives of two high school boys wrestling with the legacy they've inherited. The only refuge is found in the place beyond the pines.





1. RYAN GOSLING: THE NOTEBOOK

: Directed by Nick Cassavetes, this adaptation of author Nicholas Sparks' bestselling novel revolves around Noah Calhoun's regular visits to a female patron of an area nursing home. Rather than bore her with the inanities of everyday life, Calhoun reads from an old, faded notebook containing the sweeping account of a young couple whose love affair was tragically put to a halt after their separation in the midst of World War II. Seven years later, the couple was reunited, and, despite having taken radically different paths, they found themselves unable to resist the call of a second chance. favorite Ryan movie??Russian, Iranian and Turkish foreign ministers on Saturday talked up their successes in brokering a political solution to the Syrian conflict at a meeting in Moscow. The three nations have been attempting to resolve the Syrian conflict at talks that started last year in Astana, Kazakhstan, in competition with a US and UN-backed Geneva initiative. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the three countries "must help the Syrians finish cleansing their country of terrorists." The ministers emphasised the success of their peace talks in Astana, which Lavrov said are "firmly standing on their feet." The Russian diplomat praised the "unique" alliance between two of Syrian President Bashar-al Assad's key supporters, Moscow and Tehran, and rebel-backer Ankara. "Thanks to it, it became possible to tackle the situation on the battlefield with the Islamic State group and the Al-Nusra Front," he said, as jihadists have lost most of the territory they controlled in Syria. The conflict in Syria has lasted since 2011 and killed more than 350,000 people. Both Russia and Iran have deployed forces to Syria to back up Assad against anti-government rebels. Critics of the Astana talks are "trying to show that they today decide all the affairs in our world, but fortunately their time has passed," Lavrov said. Nevertheless he implicitly criticised Damascus after it blocked UN humanitarian aid to the town of Douma in Eastern Ghouta, saying Moscow was calling for the regime to be more "flexible." The Russian foreign minister earlier held separate bilateral talks with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu and then Iran's Mohammad Javad Zarif. Meeting his Turkish counterpart, the Russian diplomat stressed the "great importance" both Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attach to improving relations. - 'Crack in the alliance' - Yet the latest talks in Moscow came as the alleged chemical attack in the Syrian town of Douma on April 7 has prompted sharply differing responses from Turkey and Russia. "I curse those who carried out this massacre," Erdogan said, welcoming Western air strikes in retaliation as "appropriate". Meanwhile Russia says the attack was staged to discredit Assad. Iran and Russia on Saturday slammed Western strikes on Syria over the alleged chlorine or sarin gas attack. Lavrov said they "set back efforts to promote the political process" and Zarif criticised Washington's "destructive role." French President Emmanuel Macron this month suggested the air strikes had driven a wedge between Ankara and Moscow, prompting an angry denial from Cavusoglu. Alexander Shumilin, a Middle East expert at the Institute for US and Canadian Studies in Moscow, however, said the Douma fallout had "caused a crack in the alliance of three countries". Alexey Malashenko, a specialist in the Syria conflict, said the trio have a "very shaky" alliance and "there's no way they can reach an agreement" over the suspected chemical attack. Nevertheless, the limited nature of US-led strikes suggests the "peak of tensions has passed", he said. The next Syria talks in Astana are set for May 14. Eight rounds of talks under United Nations auspices in Geneva have made little headway, with Assad's government taking little interest. Ankara has called for Assad's removal throughout the war, but has worked increasingly closely with Moscow and Tehran in recent months in an attempt to find a solution to the conflict. In January, Russia held a showpiece conference in the Black Sea resort of Sochi with largely pro-regime delegates, which saw boycotts by rebels and made little progress. Lavrov on Saturday said it achieved "breakthrough results," however. Putin hosted a summit on Syria with the Iranian and Turkish presidents in November. They then met again in Ankara this month.A Saudi-led coalition air strike has killed dozens of Yemeni rebels including two commanders, state media said Saturday, in another blow to the insurgents following the assassination of their political chief. The Huthi rebels staged a public funeral on Saturday for Saleh al-Sammad, head of their Supreme Political Council and effectively the insurgents' second-in-command, who was killed last week in an air raid claimed by Saudi Arabia and its allies. His funeral came hours after Saudi Arabia's state-run Al-Ekhbariya television said two high-ranking insurgents were among more than 50 Huthis killed in a new strike overnight in the capital Sanaa. In a speech eulogising Sammad on Saturday night, rebel chief Abdul Malik al-Huthi claimed Saudi Arabia and its allies had targeted the outskirts of Sabaeen Square as Huthi supporters gathered for Sammad's funeral. The rebels' Al-Masirah television aired footage of black columns of smoke billowing outside the square, where Yemenis chanted slogans calling for the demise of Saudi Arabia and the United States. The date of the footage could not be immediately verified. The rebels have been locked in a war since 2015 with a Saudi-led military alliance fighting to restore the internationally recognised Yemeni government to power. Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya television said the overnight strike had targeted the interior ministry in Sanaa, which is controlled by the rebels. The Huthis, backed by Saudi Arabia's regional arch-rival Iran, confirmed the air strike on Sanaa but gave no details. The Huthi leader slammed Saudi Arabia and its allies, primarily the United Arab Emirates, for operating "under the umbrella" of the United States and Israel, saying Sammad's death was "added incentive" for the rebels. The Huthis, who hail from northern Yemen, control Sanaa and much of the country's north -- which borders Saudi Arabia -- and the key Hodeida port on the Red Sea coast. - Huthi missiles - Shortly after Sammad's funeral began, the Huthis said they had launched eight ballistic missiles into the Sunni kingdom. The coalition confirmed it had intercepted four missiles headed for the southern Saudi coastal city of Jizan, one day after the kingdom's defence forces said they had downed a missile headed for the same area. While the coalition statement said the attack claimed no casualties, Jizan's civil defence spokesman Colonel Yahya Abdullah al-Qahtani told Al-Arabiya that a Saudi Arabian citizen had been killed by falling shrapnel. A coalition spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation. The rebels have ramped up their missile attacks on Saudi Arabia this year. One person was reported killed by falling shrapnel in Riyadh last month. Saturday's attacks came just ahead of the arrival of newly appointed US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who touched down in Riyadh for meetings set to including talks on the Yemen conflict. Riyadh and its close ally Washington accuse Iran of arming the Huthis, which Iran denies. Tehran blames Saudi Arabia for the devastating Yemen war, which has left millions struggling to secure food. In Sanaa, Huthi supporters lined the streets Saturday for the funeral of Sammad and six others killed in the April 19 strike. Rebels dressed in military fatigues marched ahead of his hearse, which included seven cars draped in the Yemeni flag and accompanied by a marching band. Nearly 10,000 people have been killed since the Saudi-led alliance joined the Yemen conflict, triggering what the United Nations has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Yemen now stands on the brink of famine. The Saudi-led coalition imposed a total blockade on Yemen's ports in November in retaliation for cross-border Huthi missile attacks on Saudi Arabia. The blockade has since been partially lifted, but access to the impoverished country remains limited.Crafted from a centuries-old design, three identical wooden boats set off from the Philippine capital for China on Saturday to retrace a historic trip by a Filipino sultan and showcase longstanding maritime ties. The 29 crew members on the three vessels -- two propelled by engines and the third by sail -- hope to make it across the South China Sea, a near-1,000-kilometre (620-mile) voyage, to the eastern city of Xiamen by May 2. The 18-metre (60-foot) boats are replicas of a "balangay", a type of vessel used in the region as far back as 320 AD. Sultan Paduka Batara -- who ruled part of what is the Philippines today -- sailed to China on a balangay in 1417 to pay tribute and to trade, Valdez said, but fell ill and died there. Spain later colonised the Philippine islands in the 16th century. Expedition leader Arturo Valdez hopes it is a case of fourth-time lucky: winds and rough seas forced his team back on three previous attempts using similar vessels. "This boat is a replica of an ancient boat. It is not an all-weather boat. You have to fix it up. It is very vulnerable to weather and sea," he told reporters. Rough seas are forecast late next week. The state weather bureau in Manila expects a period of good weather from Saturday to the morning of May 2 but after that, conditions could get rough, he added. The crew, which includes three women, are hoping they can slip through before the bad weather hits their route, Valdez said. Engines were installed on two of the boats to comply with Chinese maritime regulations that prohibit wind-powered vessels from docking alone, Valdez said. Valdez, who previously led a Filipino expedition that climbed Mount Everest, said he is aware of the implications of the trip at a time when the Philippines and China still have a territorial conflict over parts of the South China Sea. But he said his voyage will demonstrate how the people of Southeast Asia crossed the high seas in the past to maintain contact. "These waters never divided us. These waters unified us," he said. "And this boat, as a replica of an ancient boat, is a symbol of that relationship."Negotiators have had more than two years to hammer out the fine print butas per usualhave procrastinated

Front-line negotiators from more than 190 nations gathering for climate talks in Bonn on Monday face a daunting task: bring the 2015 Paris Agreement to life.

The world's only climate treaty pledges to cap global warming at "well under" two degrees Celsius and prevent manmade CO2 from leaching into the atmosphere by century's end.

But it left a mountain of critical rules and procedures to be worked out.

"This may sound like a technical exercise, but it matters," Todd Stern, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington DC and the top climate diplomat under Barack Obama, said in a recent speech.

"Guidelines have a lot to do with how strong the regime becomes."

The deadline for completing this "rule book" is the November climate summit in Katowice, Poland. The agreement itself goes live in 2020.

Negotiators have had more than two years to hammer out the fine print butas per usualhave procrastinated.

"It's no secret that things have not been going swimmingly so far," said Alden Meyer, director of strategy and policy for the Union of Concerned Scientists, a Washington-based advocacy and research group.

How quickly the world weans itself from fossil fuels, improves energy efficiency, and learns how to suck CO2 out of the air will determine whether climate change remains manageable or unleashes a maelstrom of human misery.

The window of opportunity for holding the rise in temperature at 2 C (3.6 F)much less the 1.5 C ceiling the Paris pact vows to considerhas grown perilously narrow.

The deadline for completing this 'rule book' is the November climate summit in Katowice, Poland

Avoiding a 3C world

A single degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) of warming so far has already accelerated species extinctions, deadly droughts and flooding, and superstorms engorged by rising seas.

"Gradualism won't get the job done," said Stern. "We can't produce the results those scenarios call for without full-on commitment."

But trend lines are moving the wrong way: after remaining flat for three years, global CO2 emissions in 2017 went up by 1.4 percent, dashing hopes that they had peaked.

US President Donald Trump's decision to pull out of Paris pactalong with US efforts to boost fossil fuel technologieshave not helped, even as China, France, Germany and Canada have stepped in to fill the breach in climate leadership.

Voluntary national pledges made under the treaty to cut carbon pollution, if fulfilled, would yield no better than a 3C world. Once-every-five-year reviews of these commitments don't kick in until 2023.

Negotiators know this is too late.

"The scale and pace of climate action must increase dramatically, and immediately so," reads a UN summary of written submissions to the Fiji-inspired Talanoa Dialogue, designed to inspire more ambitious CO2-slashing pledges.

Still, negotiations have bogged down.

Under pressure, the rift between rich and developing countries that stymied climate talks for more than two decades before the 2015 accord put all nations on the same page has reemerged.

The Paris Agreement pledges to cap global warming at 'well under' two degrees Celsius

Danger of backsliding

For the rulebook, "transparency" has emerged as a hot-button issue.

Rich nations, for example, favour a standardised yardstick for the measurement, reporting and verification of carbon-cutting pledges, with limited exceptions for the poorest countries.

Developing nations have pushed back, calling for greater "flexibility".

"This is an old debate," said Meyer. "Developed countries are concerned that some developing ones are trying to take us back to the past."

When it comes, however, to the rich-nation promise of $100 billion (82 billion euros) per year in climate finance from 2020, the issue cuts the other way.

"It has been frustrating to hear some developed countries celebrate their climate leadership even as they fall well short of the modest commitments they have made," said Thoriq Ibrahim, environment minister for the Maldives and chairman of the Alliance of Small Island States.

A key complaint by recipient nations is that rich ones have failed to map how and when money promised will be delivered.

Working out a coherent "user's manual" for the Paris agreement is also crucial for the signals it sends to the private sector, which must take the lead in the shift to a low-carbon global economy, Canadian environment minister Catherine McKenna told AFP.

"The markets need to see that governments are committed on climate action," she said in Paris last week following a meeting with her French counterpart Nicolas Hulot.

Explore further Developing world says rich nations shirking on climate

 2018 AFPThank you for reading!

Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading.The 31st annual Santa Maria Valley Strawberry Festival is gearing up for its Friday opening.

Today's schedule

Pepsi $1 Kids Day

Noon to 4 p.m.: Strawberry Tasting, presented by California Women for Ag, in the Honda and Toyota Strawberry Pavilion

12:30 p.m.: Everything that Matters In the Kitchen Cooking Show in the Honda and Toyota Strawberry Pavilion

1:30 p.m.: Culturas Dance on the SUN Center Stage

2 p.m.: Wildlife Experience Show in the Honda and Toyota Strawberry Pavilion.

2:30 p.m.: Everything that Matters In the Kitchen Cooking Show in the Honda and Toyota Strawberry Pavilion

2:30 p.m.: Destined Dance on the SUN Center Stage

4 p.m.: Wildlife Experience Show in the Honda and Toyota Strawberry Pavilion

4:30 p.m.: Strawberry Eating Contest in the Honda and Toyota Strawberry Pavilion

6 p.m.: Wildlife Experience Show in the Honda and Toyota Strawberry Pavilion

6:30 p.m.: Everything that Matters In the Kitchen Cooking Show in the Honda and Toyota Strawberry Pavilion

6:30 p.m.: Steppin Out on the SUN Center StageLetters to the Editor: History needs to be taught; Closing Diablo will be devastating; More options needed at airportSeveral members of the public have expressed unhappiness that with more shoebox units, the size of private residential units is getting smaller and smaller. They have asked the Government to step in to ensure that new developments adhere to a certain minimum size.

Since 2013, the Government has introduced a slew of cooling measures like the Additional Buyers Stamp Duty and Qualifying Certificate rules, all of which have had an impact of the buying decision of price conscious property buyers. More recently, the Government introduced an additional cooling measure of buyers stamp duty of 4 per cent on the portion of a propertys value that is more than $1 million.

Some analysts have predicted that developers being mindful of price sensitive buyers, may set new trends in space usage and are likely to build smaller units to keep prices within their reach.

While others have suggested that developers may build smaller shoebox units in order to keep home prices affordable.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) has mandated a minimum average size of 70 sq m per unit in a development for projects outside of the Central area. URAs guideline does not prescribe the minimum unit size, but instead proposes that the building gross floor area divided by 70 sq m to compute the maximum number of units allowed per development. URAs rule is meant to prevent overcrowding in a development, particularly those made up of a large number of shoebox units.

Members of the public have pointed out that URAs formula emphasises only the average of an aggregate of sizes per development, but fails to mandate 70 sq m as the size for a shoebox unit or to restrict the number of such units allowed, and that smart developers can circumvent the formula and maximise profits by designing apartments of various sizes, which will then meet the average requirement.

Story continues

shoebox units

A letter to the Straits Times said that it is important for the Government to mandate that 70 sq m be the minimum size of a unit, and that such units should not make up more than 35 per cent of the units in a development.

The letter-writer, Paul Chan Poh Hoi, said half of the 309 units in the Margaret Ville condominium are around 65 sq m or smaller, and that in The Tapestry, over 500 of the 861 units are 65 sq m or smaller.

Another letter writer to the same newspaper agreed with Paul and said that housing is the biggest advantage Singapore has over Hong Kong. This letter-writer, Kwok So Ha, had lived in Hong Kong for 20 years, in a 42 sq m flat. Kwok said that the tiny flat hardly provided any free space for family members to move around, and that the cramped space made one feel stressed.

Kwok bought a 103 sq m resale HDB flat in Singapore with her husband in 2016 for less than $350,000, and said that she was terrified at the idea of having shoebox units in Singapore.

She added: I do not want my children to live in shoebox units or units less than 70 sq m. The trend does not bode well for our city. We should not shrink our living spaces further.

Hong Kong has been faulted for not protecting the rights of its people to have better options for affordable housing, and has instead protected the interests of profit-driven property developers.

Members of the public, like Paul and Kwok, have advocated that shoebox units benefit no one except property developers, who stand to make more money.

A prominent finance commentator, Ryan Ong, suggested that shoebox units arejust a plot by psychiatrists to drum up business for claustrophobia treatment.

He added: Some of these units, such as The Ebony (Lorong Marican) and Royce Residences (Geylang), are in the range of 300 to 400 square feet.

Apart from being tiny, the other distinguishing trait of a shoebox is a stupidly high price per square foot. For example, City Suites at Balestier Road has shoebox units which range between $1,600 to $1,700 psf. 26 Newton has units that go for upward of $2,500 psf. This means that at around 474 square feet, you can end up paying $1.2 million for a property which is smaller than a 3-room flat.

And shoebox units are not really rare. In 2013, there were about 9,600 shoebox units in Singapore. In 2015, analysts were predicting a bumper crop of shoebox units (an estimated 1,985 units) to hit the market. One only needs to do a cursory search on listings site to see how many such units are available for sale.

But not all banks like shoebox units and may not provide home loans for their purchase. But this has not stopped developers from building even smaller units at higher psf, which in turn leads to a lot of premature investing in shoebox units.

Some experts have however suggested that with disruptive technology like Food Panda and Deliveroo, the younger generation may not find a need to cook, making way for tiny shoebox units. The changing demographic trends of smaller family units, more singles and an ageing population, may also pave the way for shoebox units to find more acceptance here.

But as of now, the consensus seems to be that our living spaces should not shrink further and that the trend of shoebox units does not bode well for our city.



If you are home-hunting, our Panel of Property agents and the mortgage consultants at icompareloan.com can help you with affordability assessment and a promotional home loan. Just email our chief mortgage consultant, Paul Ho, with your name, email and phone number at paul@icompareloan.com.

The post With more shoebox units, is Singapore going the way of Hong Kong? appeared first on iCompareLoan Resources.By Hasmik Mkrtchyan

YEREVAN (Reuters) - Armenia's ruling party said on Saturday it would not put forward any candidate for prime minister to avoid stoking tensions after more than two weeks of street protests against the South Caucasus nation's ruling elite.

Parliament is due to pick a prime minister on May 1 after the protests, fuelled by anger over the ruling party's behaviour and official corruption, led on Monday to the resignation of Serzh Sarksyan as premier. Sarksyan had previously been president for a decade.

Eduard Sharmazanov, a spokesman for the ruling Republican Party, said on Saturday it would not put forward any candidate to become prime minister, but would vote as a bloc and unanimously after considering other candidates.

"By not putting forward a candidate, we will avoid confrontation and an increase in security risks ... we are not putting anyone forward in the state's interest," he told reporters.

Protest leader Nikol Pashinyan, who describes himself as "the people's choice", has said the only acceptable scenario for him and his supporters is for parliament to elect him as prime minister next week.

He then wants to snap parliamentary polls which would take place under a new election law.

Although the demonstrations have been peaceful, the upheaval has threatened to destabilise Armenia, an ally of Russia, in a volatile region riven by Armenia's decades-long, low-level conflict with neighbouring Azerbaijan.

The Republican Party holds a majority of seats in parliament, while Pashinyan does not currently have enough support in parliament to be elected prime minister.

The next parliamentary elections are not due until 2022. But if parliament twice fails to elect a new prime minister with majority support, early elections must be held.

The RIA news agency cited allies of Pashinyan as saying they would keep protesting and that the ruling party's move was not enough because it did not back his candidacy.

Story continues

Earlier on Saturday, Pashinyan called for more demonstrations.

"All protest actions, actions of civil disobedience, should be renewed with new force. The victory of the people must be recognised," Pashinyan told a rally in the town of Ijevan.

"There can be no violence."

Pashinyan called on supporters to organise big demonstrations in Yerevan, the capital, on May 1.

(Additional reporting by Maxim Rodionov in Moscow; Writing by Polina Devitt/Andrew Osborn; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)Armenia's ruling party on Saturday refused to nominate a new candidate for premier after veteran ruler Serzh Sarkisian stepped down following mass protests, as support for leading opposition figure Nikol Pashinyan gathered pace. Ex-Soviet Armenia has been in the grip of a severe political crisis for the past two weeks with the protest movement charging that Sarkisian and his ruling Republican party were making a power grab. "The Republican Party has decided not to nominate its candidate," said Eduard Sharmazanov, vice speaker of parliament and the ruling party's spokesman, citing the interests of the people. The party will wait until all candidates are nominated by April 30 and then decide who to back. It was not immediately clear whether the ruling party -- which has a majority of seats in parliament -- would back the head of the protest movement, Nikol Pashinyan, or another candidate. Sharmazanov said earlier he personally doubted Pashinyan was a suitable candidate for the top job. The ruling party said earlier it would announce its position on a May 1 vote to elect the country's next prime minister on Monday. The Prosperous Armenia Party, which holds 31 seats in the 105-member chamber, said Saturday it was backing Pashinyan. The party "won't present a candidate and will support the candidate of the people, which is what he (Pashinyan) is," its chief Gagik Tsarukyan told the Kentron television channel. - Still in the game - Observers fear the turmoil could destabilise the Moscow-allied nation which has for decades been locked in a territorial dispute with Azerbaijan. Sarkisian resigned this week as the country's new prime minister after serving as president for a decade. Pashinyan has issued an ultimatum to the authorities, saying that he should be elected the next prime minister -- who holds the country's top job under a parliamentary system of government. He however does not have enough votes to get elected. Moscow has urged compromise and Russian President Vladimir Putin this week spoke by phone with the interim head of government, stressing the importance of the upcoming election. On Friday, acting head of government Karen Karapetyan refused to hold talks with the protest leader, accusing him of promoting his own agenda and worsening the crisis in the poor country of 2.9 million people. The United States urged "good faith" in negotiations, with a State Department statement calling for "a resolution that reflects the interests of all Armenians." - 'Equal rights' - Addressing supporters in his birthplace Ijevan in Armenia's bucolic north earlier Saturday, Pashinyan pledged equal rights and opportunities for all, saying the country had turned a new page after Sarkisian quit power. "Every citizen will have equal rights and opportunities," he told supporters. "From now on people will not be judged by who their acquaintances, friends and relatives are." He also said he was ready to meet with members of the ruling party to discuss a "peaceful transfer of power." Over the past two days, the 42-year-old has received a hero's welcome in a number of towns and villages outside the capital Yerevan, driving around the landlocked South Caucasus country with his supporters in a convoy. In the small northern town of Dilijan earlier in the day, several hundred locals greeted Pashinyan, holding flags and beating drums. "We want change in Armenia and Pashinyan to be elected prime minister right away," said Arman Ovsepyan, a 43-year-old musician. "If the Republicans refuse to leave power, we will force them to do so peacefully." After a brief halt to two weeks of nearly non-stop rallies, protesters were expected to return to the streets of the capital on Sunday. They also planned to stage a major rally on election day. Police said there was a "potential threat" of provocations by radical groups on May 1, urging protesters to be vigilant. The opposition says only its candidate should become the country's next leader to oversee free and fair parliamentary elections and clean up the political system of corruption and the influence of oligarchs. mkh-ir-am-as/pgAustria said Saturday it is probing a 2012 incident in which its UN peacekeepers in the Golan Heights reportedly let Syrian policemen drive into a fatal ambush. A video made by the Austrian peacekeepers and published online by the Falter weekly on Friday shows what the paper says are Syrian smugglers setting up their ambush behind rocks. An hour later a white jeep with the Syrian police arrive and the Austrian peacekeepers allow them to pass, according to Falter. The footage then shows the Syrians being shot at and killed. Discussions among the peacekeepers heard in the clip show that they knew that they were letting the Syrian police into a trap, Falter said. "Really you should tell them," one of the peacekeepers is heard to tell another in Austrian dialect. "It's about to start, you'll see," says another as the vehicle nears the ambush. The Austrian defence ministry said that a special commission of enquiry began its work on Saturday. "As a first step all reports, orders, laws and regulations that could be relevant for the enquiry are being collected, examined and evaluated," spokesman Michael Bauer said on Twitter. "The UN is invited to work with us," he said on Twitter. The Austria Press Agency quoted a spokesman for the United Nations as calling the video "disturbing". The world body would follow up actively on this issue in cooperation with the Austrian authorities, the spokesman says. The spokesman added that the incident, which left nine members of the Syrian security forces killed by 13 members of the armed opposition, was reported to the UN Security Council and included in a UN report. The Salzburger Nachrichten daily quoted on Saturday an Austrian soldier who served as a UN peacekeeper in the Golan Heights as saying that the peacekeepers' actions were "100-percent correct according to our mandate". "The order is: don't get involved," Markus H., who was not present during the incident concerned, told the paper's online edition. The armistice line on the sector of the Golan Heights, seized by Israel from Syria in 1967, was largely quiet for decades until the Syrian civil war broke out in 2011. Austria withdrew its peacekeepers in 2013 because of worsening security.Climate change, cuisine and defence will be on the menu next week when French President Emmanuel Macron visits Australia. French officials said Macron would also discuss security in the South Pacific with Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull on his first visit to the country as president. The May 1-3 trip comes hot on the heels of Macron's pomp-filled visit to Washington and Turnbull's journey to Normandy for World War 1 Anzac Day commemorations. Macron's advisers said he wanted to discuss a "common response" to security and climate tensions in the South Pacific, which includes the French territory of New Caledonia. The visit will also have a strong trade and cultural flavour. France's 40-year-old leader will discuss food Wednesday at a lunch with Australian and French chefs. As often on his foreign visits, he will also meet local artists, specifically Aboriginal artists whose work deals with the climate change -- a subject on which Macron, custodian of the 2015 Paris Agreement, has taken a leadership role. He will also try to drum up business for French defence companies, a-year-and-a-half after Australia signed an Aus$50 billion (US$37 billion, 31 billion euros) deal to purchase 12 next-generation French submarines. Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said earlier this month that, with Britain poised to leave the European Union, Australia was anxious to deepen ties with other European countries. Australia was already working "very closely" with France on the submarine project, she was quoted by Australian media as saying.Posters referring to the Daphne Project are seen on the makeshift memorial to assassinated anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia on the Great Siege Monument in Valletta, Malta April 26, 2018. REUTERS/Darrin Zammit Lupi

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The cooperation between the Maltese police and Europol on the investigation into the murder of a journalist on the island has "some room for improvement", the European Union's security agency said in a letter addressed to an EU lawmaker.

Maltese journalist and anti-corruption campaigner Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed by a car bomb last October near her house. Maltese authorities have charged three men with carrying out the murder but have not identified those who ordered it.

Europol has been involved in the investigation since its beginning after a request from Maltese authorities.

"While we continue to work closely with the Maltese authorities, there is some room for improvement in this cooperation and we are actively seeking to address it," the agency's outgoing director Rob Wainwright wrote in a letter dated April 26 and seen by Reuters.

Wainwright wrote that the investigation was "highly complex" and involved "a number of EU Member States".

"New concerns have arisen which are now the subject of further, high-priority investigation by Europol," he added in the letter, without providing further details.

A spokesman for Europol declined to comment. "What can be said was said by Director Wainwright," the spokesman told Reuters.

A spokesperson for the Maltese government said: "Malta is cooperating with Europol at every level to get to the bottom of this case. If there is room for improvement, we will make any improvements necessary."

An EU official said Europol had some concerns about the degree of cooperation it was getting from the Maltese authorities and that, as the investigation proceeded, it was raising more such questions.

The letter was sent to EU Socialist lawmaker Ana Gomes, who chairs a delegation of the European Parliament to investigate the rule of law and money laundering in Malta.

She was not immediately available for comment.

Europol's move came as a group of local and international media groups, including Reuters, began following up stories covered by Caruana Galizia, in an initiative called the Daphne Project (https://reut.rs/2EYpxlB).

(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio, Stephen Grey and Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Gareth Jones)The Komodo dragon can smell blood up to 4km away  and Agus, a forest ranger and guide at Komodo National Park, the only place in the world where this ancient lizard can be observed in the wild, can testify to their lethality.

Recently, a village carpenter had to have his leg sawed off after being bitten by one. And last year, a Singaporean tourist was attacked while trying to take a photo.

The reptiles have more than a dozen types of venom in their saliva that can prevent blood clotting.

They dont really think, Agus says of the near-endangered animal, which feeds on local deer, water buffalo and wild pigs and can grow up to three metres long. They act on basic instinct and are opportunistic carnivores. They need meat. Any meat.

On this mild spring day, five adult Komodos are lazing in the shade by the rangers mess on Rinca, one of the three main islands in the protected parks 26-isle archipelago, drawn in by the smell of food.

One of them flicks a pale forked tongue out to sample the air before making a slow stride to another spot in the shade. A small group of tourists snap pictures from a distance. None of them are speaking Chinese.

It is unusually tranquil for a Unesco World Heritage Site and one that, since 2011, has been called one of the worlds seven new wonders of nature. But foreign visitor numbers to one of Indonesias oldest national parks have been soaring in recent years  and a new influx of mainland Chinese visitors is expected in May.

Until 2011, few foreign visitors, barring the occasional diving enthusiast  the park is home to 50 world-class dive sites  or photographer, stepped foot on this less-travelled part of eastern Indonesia. It is a one-hour speedboat ride from the fishing town of Labuan Bajo, which itself is a one-hour flight east of the popular resort island of Bali.

Created in 1980, the park is nestled in Indonesias Lesser Sunda Islands between East Nusa Tenggara and West Nusa Tenggara. The relative isolation of Rinca, home to about a fifth of the parks 5,000 Komodo dragons, and the parks other islands such as Komodo and Padar, has largely helped insulate its delicate ecosystem from development for decades.

Story continues

The lizards large size is put down to a phenomenon known as island gigantism, a phenomenon caused by the absence of other carnivorous animals on an isolated land mass. The park topography itself seems to come straight out of Jurassic Park. Its rocky outcrops of volcanic origin sprout from the seas and are covered in lush green during the rainy season; its jagged mountain ranges, punctuated by open savannahs, are inhabited by prehistoric reptiles.

Buffered by mangroves, reefs, pink sand beaches and the azure waters of the Flores Sea, the parks marine protected area is home to more than 1,000 species of fish, including manta rays, and 385 coral.

Around 278,000 tourists visited Labuan Bajo last year and of this figure, less than one per cent were from China, the countrys biggest source of inbound tourists. By contrast, the more well-known Bali received more than 5 million tourists, the bulk from China and Australia.

But fortunes could change for Labuan Bajo come May, when the park will receive its first large tour groups from China. Between then and the end of next year, 100 Chinese tourists are expected to arrive on the parks shores every day, according to officials. That compares to an average of just 50 Chinese tourists a month since 2016 and even fewer before that.

Fifteen cruise ships are expected to make Komodo island a regular port of call, each carrying hundreds of passengers. The influx of cruises and Chinese tourists is expected to provide a significant boost to the 70,000 park visitors it received in 2017, mostly locals from Jakarta and the rest Europeans and Americans.

The expected increase mirrors a surge in Chinese tourists to Southeast Asia in general. Chinese tourist arrivals to the region have soared from around 4 million a year in 2006 to more than 20 million in 2016.

Agus looks to the coming surge with anxiety. While rangers depend on tourist revenues for income, the unspoilt environment is what appeals to the 500 to 1,000 daily visitors who already visit the park for trekking, snorkelling, diving, sunbathing or to see the dragons.

This is the last natural habitat for the Komodo dragon, he says. Too much tourism will not be good for the local marine life or [the park]. We need to balance tourism [with conservation] of the ecosystem.

More tourists means more noise, litter, sewage, waste and possibly, more limbs ripped off from overexcited visitors. More rangers, guest houses, toilets and amenities will be needed as well as a bigger water supply and waste disposal infrastructure. More signs explaining the rules of the park will have to be put up in Chinese.

[More traffic] wont just affect the Komodo dragon. It will disturb other animals like deer and wild pigs that the dragons feed on, says Abdul Rahman, a Komodo National Park official and former ranger.

Komodos depend on them for food. They are cannibalistic, if they dont get enough food, they will start to eat each other.

It will be hard for rangers to just say no. While the park is managed by the national government, rangers are not salaried officials. Each ranger gets about 40,000 Indonesian rupiah (HK$23) for every forest walk they conduct as well as a cut of the revenues from the refreshment stands and gift shops they run.

They will benefit from tourism more than any other stakeholder. Park revenues, Rahman says, are expected to see 70 to 80 per cent growth after May.

For money, its good, yeah. But for the park, I think not so good, he says. We need to set a maximum number of visitors that come every day. I think 3,000 per month is a reasonable number.

Meanwhile, Labuan Bajo, the capital of West Manggarai Regency, is pouring resources into developing its tourism industry in line with the national target of attracting 500,000 foreign tourists  the final number is still under consultation  to the Flores region by next year.

Augustinus Christofer Dula, regent of West Manggarai, one of the eight regencies that divide the island Flores, admits that the government has been rather nervous about hard-selling the regions tourism potential given the lack of capacity to absorb a sudden influx of visitors.

But with the region listed as one of 10 potential Balis by the national government, his hope is that Labuan Bajo will one day offer just as much.

Things are moving in the right direction. Labuan Bajos tiny airport has recently been refurbished with a shiny new terminal now plastered with Komodo dragon motifs and billboards. There are aspirations for it to become an international airport. New ports and marinas are in the pipeline. An international hospital catering to foreigners opened its doors in 2015.

Hotels are being built or expanded with new wings, some with jetties that provide speedboat services straight to Komodo National Park.

The aim, understandably, is to draw in the Chinese tourist dollar. Chinese people believe in dragon myths, Dula says. Hopefully more of them will want to come and see the living dragons here.

Dula says that in 2016-17, only 101 Chinese tourists came to Labuan Bajo. We want more, he says. Our hope is that by inviting more Chinese tourists, we can develop our economy. When tourism grows, the economy will too.

But how many tourists are enough? Over the years, concerns have been raised over Komodo National Parks managerial and environmental issues, from land disputes, waste management and freshwater security issues to the impact of destructive fishing, oil spills, coral damage and conflicts between the fisheries and tourism sectors, according to WWF Indonesia.

Studies on Komodo National Parks master plan and its maximum carrying capacity by the group last year found that it had huge potential for development as a prime tourism destination, but concluded the ecosystem was very sensitive to irresponsible tourism.

The waste generated in Labuan Bajo [amounts to] 12.8 million tonnes per day, said WWF Indonesia marine tourism coordinator Indarwati Aminuddin.

Labuan Bajo is also lacking in clean water, followed by energy, food  its natural resources are also under pressure from fishing and other activities. From both studies, it is estimated that tourism carrying capacity is below 300,000 individuals per year.

There is a real concern that pristine areas of Indonesia such as Labuan Bajo could go the way of Bali.

In recent years, a Bali overrun by tourists has been besieged by concerns of pollution, waste management and freshwater scarcity.

A recent report by the Bali Water Protection Programme, for example, suggested that the islands water table had dropped more than 50 metres in some areas in less than 10 years.

In terms of environmental issues, the costs impacted by mass tourism  are only realised on a disaster basis, says Satrio Wicaksono, forests and landscape manager at the World Resources Institute Indonesia, an environmental research organisation.

Protected parks aside, resort towns all over Southeast Asia have been under similar threats. The Philippine government recently announced the six-month closure of Boracay island, which the countrys president Rodrigo Duterte described as a cesspool, to recuperate its overwhelmed infrastructure.

Since the area is very sensitive, Komodo National Park management needs to implement immediate action to manage the number of visitors in every tourism location in a national park area so that they can have impact monitoring in the areas, Aminuddin added.

Back in Labuan Bajo, Dula understands the risks of giving into the trappings of mass market, commercial tourism as well as the potential impact it will have on sustainability.

He says a visitor quota to the parks should be implemented and hopes the national Ministry of Forestry and Environment that manages national parks can delegate more authority to the local government to run Komodo and control tourist flows. Tourism will be nothing if the Komodo dragon goes extinct, he says. 

This article Can Indonesias Komodo dragons survive Chinese tourists? first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018.

More from South China Morning Post:A hefty 15-year prison term for one of Indonesia's top politicians, who allegedly even staged a car crash to evade arrest, could be a turning point in the country's war on corruption, observers say, as anger boils over against powerful figures living above the law. Setya Novanto's case sparked a mix of rage and disbelief as the disgraced house speaker tried to dodge arrest on graft charges, capped by his suspicious crash into a utility pole shortly after his palatial estate was raided. The car accident -- widely believed to have been engineered -- landed Novanto in a Jakarta hospital bed with medical tubes up his nose, apparently one step ahead of pursuing anti-corruption investigators. The images sparked a flurry of mocking online memes, including the popular #SaveTiangListrik (save the electric pole) hashtag. It later emerged that Novanto's now-indicted lawyer had booked his hospital room before the accident happened. The 62-year-old -- hailed by Donald Trump as one of Indonesia's most powerful men several years ago -- then unsuccessfully claimed that a bout of diarrhoea left him unable to participate in his trial. On Tuesday, he was hit with one of Indonesia's heaviest sentences for corruption after being convicted of taking millions of dollars in kickbacks and bribes linked to the national roll-out of government ID cards. Novanto, dubbed Mr Teflon, had escaped corruption allegations before -- including being caught on tape trying to extort a US-based miner -- and his conviction marked the highest-profile victory in recent memory for Indonesia's Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). "I think this is a milestone for the Corruption Eradication Commission and the anti-corruption movement in general," said Adnan Topan, coordinator for the non-profit Indonesia Corruption Watch. "Setya Novanto is very powerful. He has a strong network." - Payoffs and bribes - Novanto was among dozens of politicians, government officials and businessmen implicated in the scandal, which saw an estimated $170 million syphoned off the $440 million ID card project. It was the latest example of graft in a country where the legacy of notoriously corrupt dictator Suharto, suspected of looting billions of dollars from state coffers, still looms large. Indonesia ranked 96th out of 180 countries on Transparency International's 2017 corruption index. It also scored a lowly 37 on a perceived public corruption scale, with 100 being "very clean" and zero "highly corrupt". The House of Representatives, where Novanto served as speaker, is widely viewed as one of Indonesia's most graft-riddled institutions. "Eradicating corruption and patronage go hand in hand -- I don't think they are going to be very easily removed from Indonesia's politics," said Deasy Simandjuntak, a visiting Indonesian researcher at the Singapore-based Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. It is not only the political sphere that is tarnished by graft. Surveys show most Indonesians have encountered payoffs and bribes when dealing with the justice system. "The institution that can really help Indonesia free itself from corruption is law enforcement officers," Topan said. "The KPK struggle to deal with this problem because the police have very strong political power." - 'Gecko versus a crocodile' - Indonesia's anti-graft agency has made numerous enemies since it was established in 2002, in particular the police who loathe its extensive powers to pursue cases and seek prosecutions in a special corruption court. The force has baulked at KPK attempts to tackle police corruption, with Indonesia's chief detective in 2009 famously mocking it as a "gecko versus a crocodile". In 2015, the KPK launched a corruption probe into three-star general Budi Gunawan, who just days earlier had been named the sole pick for national police chief. President Joko Widodo subsequently withdrew the nomination. Two top anti-corruption officials were charged shortly after in a move widely seen as police revenge for the Gunawan probe. Last year, a top KPK investigator was partially blinded in an acid attack while he was heading the Novanto case probe. No one has yet been arrested. Despite the slow pace of reform, some see real progress in the push for cleaner governance. "The public sees that the KPK's efforts towards corruption eradication are bearing fruit," Simandjuntak said. "At the same time the public knows that patronage politics is inherited from decades-long practices.... Eradicating corruption is not an easy task."Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev talks to the media after meeting European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Commissioner Johannes Hahn (not pictured) at the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium June 12, 2017. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir/Files

By Kole Casule

SKOPJE (Reuters) - Macedonia expects to secure a date soon to start membership talks with the European Union and will step up its efforts to implement the reforms needed to join, Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said on Friday.

Macedonia won its candidacy status in 2005, but the accession talks remain blocked by Greece due to a decades-long dispute about the name of the former Yugoslav republic.

Since he took over last year, Zaev has stepped up efforts to resolve the dispute with Greece, which says the name Macedonia implies a territorial claim over its northern region which has the same name.

Greece is also blocking Macedonia's membership of NATO.

"We have a concrete goal ahead of us. We have never been closer to receiving a date to open membership talks with the EU," Zaev said after meeting Donald Tusk, head of the European Council which groups the bloc's 28 national governments.

"We are working to successfully solve the name issue. Solving this issue will open the doors to begin membership talks with the EU and to enter NATO."

He said his administration would "double" its efforts to ensure that reforms are "more visible, concrete and efficient".

Western governments see NATO and European Union membership for the Western Balkan countries as the best way to stabilise a region still recovering from armed conflicts in the 1990s.

In its latest report on progress of the six Western Balkan countries, the European Commission gave a recommendation for Albania and Macedonia to start accession talks. All member states have to give the green light for negotiations to begin.

But until the name issue is resolved, Greece is unlikely to give a green light to Macedonia's accession talks.

Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov called on EU leaders to open membership talks while negotiations with Greece continue.

"If it (resolving the name dispute with Greece) is placed as a condition (for talks to start) we are being deprived of our basic right to become European," Ivanov told journalists.

Story continues

Ivanov took part in a meeting on Friday of regional heads of states, including the presidents of Slovenia and Croatia, two fellow ex-Yugoslav republics that have already joined the EU.

Tusk, who visited Macedonia as part of his Balkans tour, attended the meeting as well.

Slovenian President Borut Pahor urged Balkan leaders to work hard to build good relations with their neighbours, a pre-condition for EU membership.

Six countries in the western Balkans -- Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Macedonia and Serbia -- are progressing towards membership, led by Serbia and Montenegro, which could join the bloc as soon as 2025.

"Brussels cannot do everything. Part of the job has to be done by Western Balkan leaders," Pahor said.

(Reporting by Kole Casule; Writing by Ivana Sekularac; Editing by Gareth Jones and Catherine Evans)US President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel appeared to make little headway on high-stakes trade and security disagreements Friday, but avoided the public bickering that has plagued their year-old relationship. Merkel left the White House, seemingly unable to secure a promise from Trump to stay in the Iran nuclear deal or to provide a permanent European exemption to trade tariffs. Unless Trump acts by May 1, which is next Tuesday, tariffs on European steel and aluminum will kick into effect, likely followed by EU countermeasures that would spark a transatlantic trade war. "The president will decide. That is very clear," Merkel said, papering over differences during a joint press conference at the White House. "We had an exchange of views on the current state of affairs of the negotiations and the respective assessments on where we stand on this. And the decision lies with the president." On the Iran nuclear deal, which Trump may scuttle on May 12, Merkel conceded it was "anything but perfect" but is worth holding on to nonetheless. Trump has demanded the "terrible" deal -- which gave Tehran sanctions relief in return for curbs on controversial nuclear activities -- be renegotiated, something Europeans see as unrealistic, dangerous and unnecessary. Merkel, like French President Emmanuel Macron who visited the White House earlier this week, tried to sell Trump on the idea of the deal being a stepping stone to a longer-term, broader agreement. "It will not solve all the problems with Iran. It is one piece of the mosaic, one building block, if you like, on which we can build up this structure," she said. Trump was as noncommittal as he was with Macron, giving no sense that he was ready to bend, or that he has an alternative plan. "They will not be doing nuclear weapons. That I can tell you. Okay?" Trump said when asked about his own proposal, refusing to rule out military action. The White House has largely seen the deal through the prism of domestic politics and Trump's campaign promise to nix it. Despite lingering disagreements, Trump tempered his previously harsh criticism of low German defense spending, open immigration policies and export-focused trade. Hailing Merkel as an "extraordinary woman," Trump insisted "we must have a fair and reciprocal trading relationship with our friends and partners." "I'm committed to working with Chancellor Merkel to reduce barriers to United States exports, to remedy these trade imbalances, and deepen our economic ties." Trump also renewed his criticism of NATO, saying the transatlantic defense alliance was more useful for Europe than for the United States, but in less sharp terms than before. "NATO is wonderful but it helps Europe more than it helps us," he said, returning to a pet peeve. "Why are we paying a vast majority of the costs?" he complained. "We're working on those things. It's been unfair. And I don't blame the chancellor." - Make Germany heard again - The German leader's visit had been overshadowed by a backslapping three-day festival of "fraternite" between Trump and Macron earlier this week. Aware of the optics, anxious German diplomats pressed -- in vain -- for Merkel to enjoy a similarly meaty two days at the White House, betting the face time would help sweeten difficult relations, officials told AFP. Instead the chancellor got a one day, run-of-the-mill "working visit." But the trip got off to a surprisingly warm start, and the body language showed. The two leaders exchanged kisses on the cheek as Merkel emerged from her limousine at the White House. "We actually have had a great relationship right from the beginning but some people didn't understand that," Trump told reporters. "But we understand it, and that's what's important." When Merkel last came to Washington, the cautious dry-witted chancellor held several awkward joint appearances with her more impulsive host -- clashing publicly over defense spending, trade and migration. The Trump era has seen a dramatic change in fortunes for the German leader who, for more than a decade, was seen by Washington not just as a sensible and pragmatic interlocutor, but the de facto leader of Europe. Her relationship with Barack Obama was particularly close, officials from that administration have said, so much so that he was a powerful voice encouraging her to run, successfully, for a fourth term. Their partnership has proven -- along with centrists claiming her as the new "leader of the free world" -- to be a poisoned chalice for Berlin in the age of Trump. Just hours before the chancellor landed late Thursday, some 15 months after Trump was sworn into office, the Republican-controlled Congress finally got around to confirming an ambassador to Germany. Both Merkel and Trump welcomed his appointment.Washington's new chief diplomat was to meet Saudi and Israeli leaders on Sunday to rally coordinated opposition to Tehran and brief them on President Donald Trump's threat to end the Iran nuclear deal. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo touched down in Riyadh on Saturday shortly after Tehran-backed Huthi rebels in Yemen fired missiles across the kingdom's border. US officials travelling with Pompeo told reporters the Huthi missiles had been supplied by Iran, and cited the attacks as evidence that regional powers should work together. Pompeo had dinner with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, and on Sunday he was due to meet his father King Salman. Then he was due to fly on to Jerusalem to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then on to Amman in Jordan, wrapping up a weekend of talks with some of Iran's most fervent foes in the region. Trump is due to decide on May 12 whether to reimpose nuclear-related sanctions on Tehran, putting in peril the landmark 2015 nuclear accord, which most world powers see as key to preventing Tehran from getting the bomb. But Trump and America's Middle East allies argue the deal, approved by Trump's predecessor Barack Obama, was too weak and needs to be replaced with a more permanent arrangement and supplemented by controls on Iran's missile program. Pompeo set off on his first diplomatic trip within two hours of being sworn in on Thursday and on Friday -- after talks with the NATO allies in Brussels -- he appeared to suggest that Trump plans to nix the deal. "Absent a substantial fix, absent overcoming the shortcomings, the flaws of the deal, he is unlikely to stay in that deal past this May," Pompeo told reporters in at NATO headquarters. Perhaps the last chance to fix these supposed shortcomings came from talks between Washington and its European allies Britain, France and Germany on a supplemental agreement to sanction Iran's missile program. But both President Emmanuel Macron of France and Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel left Washington this week after talks with Trump having failed to secure any promise that he might keep the core deal alive. - Air strikes - That may be music to the ears of the Saudi and Israeli leaders, who both support a tougher line on Iran. "This administration has made it a priority to address Iran's missile programs," a senior US official told reporters in Riyadh, condemning the latest Huthi volley of missiles, themselves in part a response to Saudi air strikes. "Iran supplies the missiles that the Huthis fire into Saudi Arabia, threatening civilians," he said. "Today alone the Saudis shot down four Huthi missiles, the latest in a string of such attacks." Earlier, a civil defense official had said that at least one Saudi had been killed by falling shrapnel as his government's air defense batteries attempted to intercept the missiles near the Yemen border. A Saudi-led coalition air strike overnight Friday to Saturday killed dozens of Yemeni rebels including two commanders, state media said. Prince Salman and his father will welcome US solidarity against Iran -- just as Israel will want to see greater US support for its efforts against Iranian influence in Syria and Lebanon -- but Pompeo has come with requests too. According to US officials, while Riyadh has a right to self-defense, it must come to see that the solution to Yemen's civil war will be a political one and its forces must not exacerbate the massive humanitarian crisis there. Washington also wants to see an end to the Gulf crisis that has seen Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates impose a diplomatic and trade embargo on fellow US regional ally Qatar. And, perhaps most importantly for Trump, Pompeo will urge Saudi Arabia to provide personnel and funding to help US efforts to stabilize northeastern Syria in the wake of the expected defeat of the Islamic State group. "The president has made clear that he wants to see meaningful participation from states in the region," another senior US official travelling with Pompeo's party said. "We want to see the kind of participation, for financial efforts, not just kinetic efforts that would match, parallel, would assist, the US role," he said. The United States has more than 2,000 troops in Syria. On Qatar, the US officials said they do not blame one side or the other, but want Riyadh and Doha to sort out the stand-off themselves. - Humanitarian tragedy - And on Yemen, they warned the Saudi-led coalition not to again block or bomb ports that supply vital civilian aid, warning that there is no military solution to the crisis. "The humanitarian situation in this tragic country cannot be allowed to become worse. It needs to get better. And that means full and free access to humanitarian goods, to commercial goods, to fuel," one said. Pompeo will conclude his first diplomatic trip on Monday after talks with senior Jordanian officials and then fly back to Washington to move in to his office in the State Department.Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Saturday hosted his Iranian and Turkey counterparts for talks on Syria in the wake of an alleged chemical attack that has exposed differences between the three powers. The three nations have been attempting to find a political solution to the Syrian conflict at talks that started last year in Astana, Kazakhstan, in competition with the US and UN-backed Geneva initiative. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held separate bilateral talks with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu and then Iran's Mohammad Javad Zarif, who stressed the warmth of their relationship in opening comments. These were to be followed by three-sided talks. Meeting his Turkish counterpart, the Russian diplomat stressed the "great importance" both Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attach to improving relations. Cavusoglu, in translated comments, praised the "atmosphere of trust that has grown up between us" and said the countries had "seriously moved forward on questions of Syria settlement." He said Saturday's meeting would discuss "what further steps can be taken." Lavrov also held a bilateral meeting with Iran's Zarif, who hailed the three countries' work together in the Astana process as a success, saying it led to "the defeat of the Islamic State group." Zarif said this was the only aspect of joint cooperation with "our Turkish friends" and it was "bearing fruit." - 'Crack in the alliance' - Yet the latest talks in Moscow between two of Assad's key supporters, Moscow and Tehran, and rebel-backer Ankara come as the alleged chemical attack in the Syrian town of Douma on April 7 has prompted sharply differing responses from Turkey and Russia. "I curse those who carried out this massacre," Erdogan said, adding that he welcomed Western air strikes in retaliation as "appropriate". Meanwhile Russia says the attack was staged to discredit its ally President Bashar-al Assad and this week brought a group of Syrians to the global chemical arms watchdog to back its claims. French President Emmanuel Macron this month suggested the air strikes had driven a wedge between Ankara and Moscow as they have been building increasingly close ties. This prompted an angry denial from Cavusoglu, who said the countries' relations "are not so weak that the French president can break them". Alexander Shumilin, a Middle East expert at the Institute for US and Canadian Studies in Moscow, however, said Douma fallout had "caused a crack in the alliance of three countries". He added: "If the trio falls apart entirely, the ensuing events could be really bad." Alexey Malashenko, a specialist in the Syria conflict, was sceptical the meeting would achieve much beyond a show of unity, saying the trio have a "very shaky" alliance. Their positions on the suspected chemical attack are irreconcilable, he said. "Turkey has an absolutely honest position: it is against Bashar al-Assad and here there's no way they can reach an agreement." Nevertheless, the limited nature of US-led strikes suggests the "peak of tensions has passed", he said. The most recent Syria talks attended by the foreign ministers in Astana were held on March 16. The next are set for May 14. EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini on Tuesday urged the three powers to do more, saying they "have not only a responsibility but also an interest in making the ceasefire work". Eight rounds of talks under United Nations auspices in Geneva have made little headway, with Assad's government taking little interest. Both Tehran and Moscow have deployed military forces to Syria to back up Assad in his now seven-year-old war against anti-government rebels. Ankara has called for Assad's removal throughout the war, but has worked increasingly closely with Moscow and Tehran in recent months in an attempt to find a solution to the conflict. In January, Russia held a showpiece conference in the Black Sea resort of Sochi with largely pro-regime delegates, which saw boycotts by rebels and made little progress. Putin hosted a summit on Syria with the Iranian and Turkish presidents in November. They then met again in Ankara this month.Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev delivers a speech during a session at the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, in Moscow, Russia April 11, 2018. Sputnik/Dmitry Astakhov/Pool via REUTERS

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev backs the idea of making it a criminal offence for Russians to observe sanctions imposed by the United States, Medvedev said in an interview broadcast on Saturday on state TV channel Rossiya 1.

Washington imposed sweeping sanctions on some of Russia's biggest companies and businessmen on April 6, striking at allies of President Vladimir Putin to punish Moscow for its alleged meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and other so-called malign activities.

Asked about a proposal drafted by Russia's lower house of parliament to criminalise observance of U.S. sanctions, Medvedev said the restrictions were aimed at destroying Russia's socio-political system and harming the economy and individuals.

"If this is so, then the implementation of these sanctions by citizens of our country should be an offence. No one should have the right to observe these American sanctions for fear of having to take administrative or criminal liability," he said.

Medvedev also said that the government should support sanctions-hit Russian companies to ensure that jobs are not lost.

Speaking on other issues, he said that Russia was on the brink of making a decision on raising the pension age.

Commenting on his own plans for the future, he said he wanted to continue working in a role that brought maximum benefit to his country.

(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin and Andrey Ostroukh; writing by Polina Devitt; editing by Andrew Osborn)Im British. Soon after moving to Switzerland, where I lived for six years, I threw a housewarming party and was taken aback when all 30 guests arrived exactly on time. Years later, having moved to France, I turned up at the appointed hour for a dinner, only to find that no other guest had arrived and my hostess was still in her dressing gown.

Chinese greeting customs: shake hands, please, but no kissing

Every culture is riddled with unwritten rules. They are the invisible scaffolding that frames the behaviour of individuals so that the collective can function efficiently. But the rigour of these rules and their enforcement can vary dramatically. Some nations tolerate singing in a lift, swearing during an interview or entering a bank barefoot while others frown upon such behaviours. Maybe these arent mere quirks. Perhaps the best way to understand societies is to look at their social norms.

In our globalised world, understanding what makes other cultures tick is important. With nations in ever-closer contact with one another, misunderstandings can have profound consequences in areas from trade to diplomacy to war

That is the argument being made by cultural psychologist Michele Gelfand, at the University of Maryland, in the United States. She and her colleagues describe societies with strict, rigorously enforced norms as tight and those with more laissez-faire cultures as loose. They argue that this key difference underpins all sorts of others, from creativity and divorce rates to the synchronicity of public clocks. Whats more, they believe they know why some nations are tighter than others  and how to influence social norms. If they are right, this could clear up many cross-cultural misunderstandings, not just between nations, but also within countries, corporations and households.

Ever since 1961, when Stanley Milgram started persuading people to obey his commands to give others electric shocks, experimenters have manipulated social rules and observed the pressure people feel to conform. However, researchers tended to study norms within societies  usually Western ones  rather than between them. One person to buck the trend was Dutch social psychologist Geert Hofstede.

Story continues

Hong Kongs fears for its freedoms can inspire an arts and culture boom

Starting in the 1960s, Hofstede developed a model for understanding cross-cultural differences based on six dimensions. Since then, one of his metrics, individualism/collectivism, has attracted considerable interest and proved useful in explaining cultural differences, especially those epitomised by typically Western or Eastern modes of thought. But Gelfand believes the focus has been too narrow, and that tightness/looseness is a neglected source of cultural variation that has a huge influence on our behaviour  a Rosetta stone for human groups, she says.

In fact, the idea of cultural tightness also dates back to the 1960s, when anthropologist Pertti Pelto studied 21 traditional societies and found big differences in the rigour of their social norms. The tightest included the Hutterites, a North American ethnoreligious group, while the !Kung people of southern Africa were at the other end of the scale. Peltos insight was to suggest that tightness was connected to ecological factors such as high population density and dependence on crops for survival.

Gelfand wondered how this might apply to modern societies. She suspected that tightness was determined by the level of external threat to which a society was exposed historically  whether ecological, such as earthquakes or scarce natural resources, or human-made, such as war.

Every culture is riddled with unwritten rules. They are the invisible scaffolding that frames the behaviour of individuals so that the collective can function efficiently

Tightness is about the need for coordination, she says. The idea is that if you are chronically faced with these kinds of threats, you develop strong rules in order to coordinate for survival.

To test the idea, Gelfand teamed up with colleagues from 43 institutions around the world, and compared 33 nations in a study published in Science in 2011. First they asked nearly 7,000 people from diverse backgrounds to shed light on the tightness of their national culture by rating their agreement with statements such as: There are many social norms that people are supposed to abide by in this country and People in this country almost always comply with social norms.

The volunteers also revealed how constrained they felt in everyday situations by rating the appropriateness of 12 behaviours, including eating, crying and flirting, in 15 contexts ranging from a funeral to a bank to the movies. There was high agreement among people from different walks of life within nations.

Next, the team calculated national averages for tightness and compared these with past threats to each country, as gauged by a battery of measures including natural disasters, exposure to pathogens, territorial conflict, lack of access to clean water and high population density. Sure enough, there was a correlation.

Societies that had faced a high level of threat, such as Pakistan (tightness score 12.3) and Malaysia (11.8), did more to regulate social behaviour and punish deviance than loose countries, which included the Netherlands (3.3), Brazil (3.5) and Australia (4.4). Israel (3.1), which is also loose, was a notable exception. The British (6.9) came out slightly tighter than average, and the United States looser (5.1). Hong Kong had a tightness rating of 6.3 and Beijings was 7.9 while Singapore scored a high 10.4.

But it doesnt end there. Gelfand and her colleagues found that the degree of tightness was reflected in all sorts of societal institutions and practices  even after taking national wealth into consideration. Tight societies tend to be more autocratic, with greater media censorship and fewer collective actions such as demonstrations. They are also more conformist and religious, and have more police, lower crime rates and cleaner public spaces.

[Tightness/looseness] may sound like a rather specific difference, but Im now convinced that it explains a lot of the variance in behaviour and perceptions across cultures

Gerben van Kleef, professor of social psychology, University of Amsterdam

Tightness brings with it a lot of order and social control, Gelfand says. Even stock markets are more synchronised. Loose societies tend to be more disorganised, but also more creative, innovative and tolerant of diversity.

Three years later, Gelfand and her doctoral student Jesse Harrington carried out a similar comparison across all 50 US states. This time they assessed tightness using factors including legality of same-sex marriage, percentage of foreign-born inhabitants and strength of religious institutions. Again, they found a correlation between tightness and threats such as tornado risk and exposure to hazardous waste. And again, they found that tightness corresponded with lots of other aspects of society. Tighter states, such as Kentucky and Alabama, had lower rates of drug abuse and homelessness than loose states such as Oregon and Vermont, for example. They also had higher rates of incarceration and discrimination and, strikingly, lower happiness levels.

The researchers acknowledged that their map resembled those showing voting preferences, with tight states corresponding to Republican inclinations and loose to Democrat leanings. But, they argued, there is a crucial difference: political affiliations indicate individual beliefs, whereas tightness and looseness describe an external social reality that exists independently of any one individual. More evidence, it appears, that we arent entirely free agents at the ballot box.

Not surprisingly, Gelfands research has attracted attention. In our globalised world, understanding what makes other cultures tick is important. With nations in ever-closer contact with one another, misunderstandings can have profound consequences in areas from trade to diplomacy to war. Furthermore, some of our most pressing problems  notably climate change and nuclear proliferation  require different cultures to cooperate to find solutions.

Of course, dividing the worlds cultures into tight and loose isnt going to bring prosperity and peace, but it does have advantages.

For one thing, it breaks up our ideas about East Asia, says Dov Cohen, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. All East Asian countries score highly for collectivism, but some are tighter than others  South Korea (10) and Singapore (10.4), for example, compared with China (7.9). Tightness/looseness allows you to look at much higher resolution, he adds.

Some of our biggest messes in US foreign policy happened because we really did not understand the cultures we were dealing with. The more armed policymakers are with cultural information, the better off we will all be

Dov Cohen, professor of psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

We might also be more sympathetic to different social norms if we accept that the way nations function is connected to levels of threat. [Tightness/looseness] may sound like a rather specific difference, says Gerben van Kleef, at the University of Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, but Im now convinced that it explains a lot of the variance in behaviour and perceptions across cultures.

Simon Levin, at Princeton University, in the US, is more circumspect. He points out that tightness is conceptually similar to cultural stickiness, something he and others have been talking about for years. What is new is trying to associate the degree of stickiness or tightness to driving factors in terms of threat, he says. But he also points out that the link may be more complex than it seems. For example, a norm that says you shouldnt marry outside your group could ultimately enhance threat as a result of inbreeding.

Whats more, social norms shape some behaviours and perceptions more than others, according to research by Hofstede and his colleagues. They found that peoples views on abortion, homosexuality and euthanasia  issues relating to basic concerns about survival and reproduction, in other words  were powerfully shaped by culture. But views on matters relating to honesty and respect for the law were influenced more by individual beliefs. In addition, the culturally shaped views correlated strongly with a nations rating for individualism  with individualist societies tending to have more liberal attitudes  and not at all with tightness scores.

Opinion: How to test whether youre Liberal or Conservative

Nevertheless, Gelfands model appeals to many, not least because it might help explain some of the sweeping social changes happening in the world. Her computer modelling experiments with virtual agents show that upping an external threat pushes a group to enforce its norms more strictly while lowering it does the opposite. She notes that populist leaders including Donald Trump and Marine Le Pen direct their messages at groups who feel threatened by the economic situation, and who are therefore likely to favour a tightening of norms. And certain politicians may not be above exaggerating the threat to persuade people to vote for them.

There could also be a backlash. Too much looseness can invite what Gelfand calls autocratic recidivism. We can see that the places where Isis was able to take over are places where people felt there was no security or infrastructure, she says. Conversely, the fact that Ukraine was the highest scoring country for looseness in 2011, with a tightness score of 1.6, could be partly explained as a reaction against the tight Soviet culture it was formerly in thrall to.

Preventing such pendulum swings may be neither feasible nor desirable. However, politicians and voters might want to heed the results of another study explicitly addressing the question of whether societies should emphasise freedom or constraint. On a range of measures, including health, wealth, happiness and political stability, moderate cultures came out best.

The most successful societies balance tightness and looseness, Gelfand says. Extremes can cause problems in any group. For example, she argues that a series of scandals concerning United Airlines last year  one involving a passenger, Dr David Dao, being dragged off a plane  were the product of an overly tight organisational structure.

Are Hong Kongs social norms cold, or convenient?

Although many would balk at the suggestion of social engineering, nations can consciously change their social norms. They can also underscore unwritten social rules through their choice of more formal ones. In New York state, for instance, the fine for a first-time littering offence is US$250, whereas in Singapore it is the equivalent of US$1,500. No prizes for guessing which has the cleanest streets. Simple things can make a big difference, too. Gelfand has suggested that part of the solution for United Airlines could be to empower low-level personnel to resolve problems with passengers as they see fit.

In their pioneering global study on tightness, Gelfand and her colleagues concluded: From either systems vantage point, the other system could appear to be dysfunctional, unjust and fundamentally immoral, and such divergent beliefs could become the collective fuel for cultural conflicts.

If they are correct, simply understanding why societies differ in this way could be the first step towards greater global harmony. Some of our biggest messes in US foreign policy happened because we really did not understand the cultures we were dealing with, Cohen says. The more armed policymakers are with cultural information, the better off we will all be.

Text: New Scientist

This article How social norms influence cultural behaviour, and why Hong Kong is less tight than the UK first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018.

More from South China Morning Post:(Reuters) - The Taiwanese government has ordered all of the island's companies that sell to Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE Corp to suspend shipments until they obtain approval, the Nikkei business daily reported on Friday. The news comes the week after the United States banned American companies from selling components to ZTE for seven years, after the Chinese firm failed to comply with an agreement with the U.S. that was reached after it was caught illegally shipping goods to Iran. Earlier on Friday, the CEO of Taiwan's MediaTek Inc said on an earnings conference call that his company had suspended doing business with ZTE after receiving a notice from the government, the Nikkei said. David Hsu, the deputy director-general and spokesman for Taiwan's Bureau of Foreign Trade, confirmed the notice to the Nikkei, but told the daily the government did not actually bar Taiwanese firms from doing business with ZTE. "What we do (asking suppliers to apply for an export permit) was for the companies' own good, to ensure they are doing legal business with the Chinese firms," the Nikkei quoted Hsu as saying. MediaTek did not respond to Reuters' request for comment outside regular business hours, while representatives for the economic division of Taiwan's embassy in the United States did not immediately reply to a request for comment. (Reporting by Sonam Rai in Bengaluru; Editing by Sai Sachin Ravikumar)Iran's President Hassan Rouhani rejected any hopes of rewriting a nuclear deal with world powers Wednesday, while his French counterpart vowed to US lawmakers that everything would be done to stop Iran ever acquiring atomic weapons. In their different ways, Europe, Iran and Russia are all seeking to convince US President Donald Trump not to abandon the landmark 2015 deal that curbed Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief. Trump has called the existing accord "insane" and "ridiculous", in part because its restrictions start to expire in 2025. But addressing the US Congress on the last of his pomp-filled, three-day visit to Washington, French President Emmanuel Macron said: "Iran shall never possess any nuclear weapons. Not now. Not in five years. Not in 10 years. Never." He has proposed an additional deal that extends Iran's nuclear restrictions while also curbing its ballistic missile programme and support for militias in the Middle East. In Iran, Rouhani took a more aggressive tack, reiterating that the Islamic republic would not accept any changes to the deal. "We have an agreement called the JCPOA," said Rouhani in a fiery speech, using its technical name. "It will either last or not. If the JCPOA stays, it stays in full." From Europe, a host of voices have urged Trump to build on the deal, rather than tear it up. "On what can happen in the future we'll see in the future, but there is one deal existing, it's working, it needs to be preserved," said EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini as she arrived for a Syria donor conference in Brussels. Moscow also reiterated its support, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov telling reporters: "We believe that no alternative exists so far" to the nuclear deal, and demanding that Iran be involved in any further discussions. The next to press the point will be German Chancellor Angela Merkel when she visits Washington on Friday. "The biggest priority is maintaining the existing nuclear accord. It was negotiated by seven countries and the EU and can't be renegotiated by one or other party," said German foreign spokesman Rainer Breul. "President Macron... spoke of the need for supplementary agreements. The question is whether, and in what circumstances, Iran would be ready to enter into such a process," he added. - 'A high-rise builder' - Rouhani's speech was particularly fiery, ridiculing Trump as "a trader, a businessman, a high-rise builder, how can he judge about global issues? "You have no expertise in politics, nor in law, nor in international accords," he said. Iran has the support of all other parties to the accord, who say it is working and Tehran has stuck to its commitments. Macron, who has built a warm rapport with Trump, has positioned himself as an emissary for European officials seeking a compromise that allows the mercurial US president to claim a public victory, while keeping the deal intact. But for now, even Macron had to admit he could not read whether Trump would simply walk away from the existing deal when the renewal deadline arrives on May 12. True to his background in reality TV, Trump has kept everyone guessing. "This is a deal with decayed foundations," he said. "We're going to see what happens on the 12th." Iran has warned it will ramp up enrichment if Trump scraps the accord, prompting a blunt warning from the US leader. "They're not going to be restarting anything. If they restart it, they're going to have big problems, bigger than they ever had before. And you can mark it down," Trump said. - Oliver Stone 'shocked' - The French president's lavish visit to Washington did not impress one long-time critic of US foreign policy, Hollywood director Oliver Stone, who happened to be in Tehran for a film festival on Wednesday. Stone told AFP he was "particularly shocked" to see Macron standing alongside Trump, calling for a revision of the nuclear deal. "To see this young man, who doesn't have much of a sense of history or memory of the great traditions of France... was very depressing," he said. Hawkish American officials take the opposite view -- that the Europeans, particularly Germany, oppose a tougher stance against Iran to safeguard their business interests there. That is sharply rejected by European officials, who are increasingly frustrated at spending time handling Trump's complaints rather than focusing on the deepening crises of the Middle East. The disagreement threatens to plunge transatlantic relations to their lowest point since the Iraq war, despite the lavish welcome Trump put on for Macron's state visit. And meanwhile, Western countries have found themselves increasingly sidelined from issues such as the Syrian war -- underlined again on Wednesday when Iran, Russia and Turkey announced a new summit to discuss the conflict this Saturday in Moscow. burs-er/dvNorway's Foreign Minister Ine Marie Eriksen Soreide and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo attend a NATO foreign ministers meeting at the Alliance's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium April 27, 2018. REUTERS/Yves Herman

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday told his Turkish counterpart that the United States was seriously concerned over Ankara's decision to buy Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile batteries, which are not compatible with NATO's defences.

"The secretary underscored the seriousness of US concerns ... if they (Turkey) go ahead," a senior U.S. official said after a meeting between Pompeo and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on the sidelines of a NATO foreign ministers session.

"He asked Cavusoglu to closely consider NATO interoperable systems," the official added.

Hours after being confirmed as U.S. President Donald Trump's new secretary of state, Pompeo headed to Brussels to participate in the NATO meetings, which have focused on Russian aggression and ways to strengthen the alliance.

During the meeting Pompeo also raised concerns about the detention of Pastor Andrew Brunson, who has been in jail since December 2016, and other Americans detained by Turkey.

Turkey signed an agreement with Russia for S-400 missiles, reportedly worth $2.5 billion, in late December as part of Ankara's plans to boost its defense capabilities amid threats from Kurdish and Islamist militants at home and conflicts across its borders in Syria and Iraq.

Cavusoglu told Turkish broadcasters after the meeting that the S-400 deal was completed but that Turkey would be open to purchasing other defence systems from its allies.

We have completed the S-400 process. That is a done deal," he said. "But we need more air defence. We can discuss what we can do for further purchases.

The system is incompatible with the alliance's systems, and their purchase by Turkey has unnerved NATO member countries, which are already wary of Moscow's military presence in the Middle East.

NATO officials have warned Turkey about unspecified consequences of purchasing the S-400, but Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has said ties with NATO remain strong.

Story continues

On Thursday, three U.S. senators introduced a measure to block the transfer of Lockheed Martin's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to Turkey, over what they said was Erdogan's "path of reckless governance and disregard for the rule of law."

Turkey plans to buy more than 100 of the F-35 aircraft. The bill would restrict the transfer of F-35s to Turkey and limit Ankara from receiving intellectual property or technical data needed to maintain and support the fighters.

Cavusoglu said Turkey would not be detered by possible sanctions.

"The 'I will impose sanctions if you buy' approach will not affect Turkey. Turkey will not accept this. If we are going to discuss what we can do together in the future, we are in."

(Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Additional reporting by Ali Kucukgocmen and Ezgi Erkoyun in Istanbul; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Richard Balmforth)U.S. Woman Uses YouTube to Deliver Her Baby Alone in Turkey Hotel Room

Sometimes, you just have to do things yourself.

Take Tia Freeman for example. The Air Force computer specialist was alone in a hotel room in Turkey when she realized didn't have food poisoning, she was in labor.

So what's a 22-year-old to do in foreign country where she didn't speak the language? She says she Googled "how to deliver a baby," and followed along as a YouTube video talked her through giving birth.

"So here my a-- is in a hotel room all by lonesome learning how to deliver my own baby," she wrote on Twitter. To InsideEdition.com, she said, "I focused on the task at hand, which didn't allow me to panic, thankfully."

Freeman didn't know she was carrying a child until six months into her pregnancy. She didn't gain much weight, she said, and didn't suffer any symptoms such as morning sickness.

She had already purchased a ticket for a vacation trip to Germany, and figured she had enough time to go and come back before she gave birth. She didn't.

Freeman was about 13 hours into a 14-hour flight to Istanbul when she started feeling cramps. She thought it was the salmon she had for dinner on board the jetliner.

But the cramping only worsened and by the time she got to customs, "I'm literally gripping the railing trying to make it through the line. At this point, I feel like I'm about to pass out," she tweeted. "I'm sweating. I feel like I have to vomit. I'm going through it. Then I'm like wait a minute b---- are you in labor?"

Yup.

She decided to go straight to her hotel. She was supposed to overnight there before heading on to Germany. By this point, she could barely stand because of the pain.

That was when she began typing into her phone.

She filled the tub with warm water, grabbed a towel to bite down on and another to wrap around the baby.

"Luckily, it happened pretty quickly. I only had to push about 5-6x before a baby popped out. Lol now let me tell you babies are buoyant. That little joker said bloop and floated right on up to the top of the water," she wrote.

Story continues

She tied off the umbilical cord with her shoe laces.

The next day, she took the baby to the airport, where Turkish airport employees told her she had to wait two weeks before she could bring the baby on a plane. She also needed a birth certificate. And baby clothes.

Turkish Airline workers helped her get a tiny outfit, gave her vouchers for food, paid for her hotel stay and even helped her learn the intricacies of breastfeeding, she said.

She named him Xavier. He was born on March 7. Mother and baby are doing fine and are now home with her family in Tennessee.

RELATED STORIES

911 Operator Helps Anxious Dad Deliver His Own Baby: 'We're Still in Shock'

Tammy Duckworth Gives Birth to Baby Girl

OB-GYN Delivers Patient's Twins Just Hours After She Gives Birth to Her Own Baby

Related Articles:GERARDO C. | ELLIOT SPAGAT

Tijuana, Mexico.- About 170 migrants in a caravan of Central American asylum-seekers have arrived in Tijuana, joining about nearly 200 others on their final stop before entering the United States.

Three tourist buses were guarded by a Mexican police escort on a curvy, mountainous road from the Mexican border city of Mexicali.

Lawyers planned free workshops on the U.S. immigration system on Friday and Saturday in Tijuana. Many planned to seek asylum starting Sunday at San Diegos San Ysidro border crossing, the nations busiest.

Migrant shelters in Tijuanas Zona Norte neighborhood, home to the many of the citys seedy bars and bordellos, were full.

That forced organizers to look elsewhere for temporary housing, said Leonard Olsen of Pueblos Sin Fronteras, a group leading the effort.

Migrants who stayed overnight at a shelter in Mexicali were tired from the long journey and nervous about the possibility of being detained in the U.S. but also knowledgeable about their rights to seek protection from persecution in their home countries, Olsen said. Many Central American asylum seekers say they face death threats by criminal gangs in their homelands.

This is a moment that will change their lives, Olsen said in Mexicali, as he waited for the buses to arrive a few hours behind schedule.

Caravans have been a fairly common tactic for advocacy groups to bring attention to asylum-seekers and the latest group pales in size compared to previous border surges, but it gained huge visibility after President Donald Trump unleashed strong criticism from the moment it began March 25 in the Mexican city of Tapachula, near the Guatemala border.LORNE COOK

Brussels, Belgic.- NATO threw its weight Friday behind Afghan President Ashraf Ghanis offer of peace talks to the Taliban, embracing what top officials said is an unprecedented opportunity to end the conflict in the insurgency-wracked country.

NATO foreign ministers issued a statement saying the 29 allies are united in their support for this proposal, and that they would respect a political settlement that ends violence.

Ghani has offered the extremist Islamic movement unconditional peace talks accompanied by a cease-fire, recognition of them as a political party and the release of some prisoners, among other incentives.

NATO is even open to discussions between Kabul and the Taliban on the future role of the international community in the country. The Taliban have insisted that international troops leave.

Despite the fact that they have not yet taken up the presidents offer, we urge the Taliban to take part in an Afghan-owned and Afghan-led peace process, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters after the meeting in Brussels.

He also urged Pakistan to prevent attacks across their common border and called on Russia and Iran to contribute to regional stability.

Ghanis offer, if accepted, might eventually offer the United States and its allies a way to end the 15-year-long NATO-led presence in Afghanistan. It has been one of the most expensive wars in U.S. history, costing between $800 billion and $1 trillion, according to various estimates.

According to the website icasualties, it has also cost the lives of around 3,400 troops  some 2,300 of them from the U.S.  since 2003, when NATO took charge of the international military effort in Afghanistan, its most ambitious operation ever.UNITES STATES.- The government is still investigating how romaine lettuce from Yuma, Arizona, apparently became contaminated with E. coli bacteria. As of Friday, at least 98 people in 22 states have gotten sick, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Growers in Yuma typically plant romaine lettuce between September and January. During the peak of the harvest season, which runs from mid-November until the beginning of April, the Yuma region supplies most of the romaine sold in the U.S.

The outbreak came as the harvest of romaine was already near its end.

At many restaurants around the country, romaine is still on the menu. Both family-run operations and big chains say theyve checked with suppliers and are confident their romaine comes from places that arent affected by E. coli. If theyre not sure, theyre replacing romaine with iceberg and other lettuce varieties.

Weve got a lot of people asking where we get our lettuce from, said Armando Ayala, the manager of Cavatore, an Italian restaurant in Houston. Cavatore offers three dinner salads  including a Caesar made tableside  with lettuce from California and local farms in Texas.

As it turns out, a lot of romaine comes from California, which grows 74 percent of the nations lettuce, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Even Salad and Go, a chain with 12 restaurants in Arizona, gets its lettuce from California.

Just Salad, which has 28 locations in New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia and Chicago, says it saw a spike in business this week after a social media blitz to assure customers that its romaine comes from Salinas, California. Supply chain manager Janani Lee said Just Salad already carried five other types of lettuce, but it recently added iceberg for people who were still concerned. Katie Calabrese and her friend, Amanda Larsen, both threw out romaine at home, but it didnt stop their salad cravings. On Thursday, they were waiting in a long line at a Sweetgreen restaurant in PhiladelphiaUNITED STATES.- This time, there were fewer hugs. President Donald Trump welcomed German Chancellor Angela Merkel to the White House on Friday for a visit of less than three hours. He greeted Merkel outside the West Wing with a handshake and a kiss on each cheek, a traditional welcome but far short of the bountiful display of personal warmth that was seen earlier in the week when he played host to French President Emmanuel Macron for a lavish three-day state visit.

Trump, in brief remarks alongside Merkel in the Oval Office, called her an extraordinary woman, congratulated her on her recent reelection and disputed any idea that their rapport was frosty. We have a really great relationship. We actually have had a great relationship from the beginning, Trump said.

Though her visit will be short on pomp, Merkels message was similar to Macrons  that America and Europe need to bury the hatchet on key issues, from global trade to international security.

In a joint press conference Friday afternoon, it was apparent that despite the back-to-back visits, Trumps divisions with Europe are still substantial.

Trump is widely expected to withdraw the U.S. from the Iran nuclear accord next month, despite pleas from Macron earlier this week and Merkel Friday. Merkel used her meeting with Trump to try to paper over the differences, calling the Obama-era agreement a first step toward curtailing and containing Irans regional ambitions and suggesting openness to a side agreement. Trump has said he was open to new negotiations with Iran, but has not said whether he would heed European calls for the U.S. to stay in the deal, which aims to restrict Irans nuclear efforts, while those talks are underway. His decision is expected by May 12.It would be hard to find a more disputed startup valuation than the $20 billion at which investors have pegged WeWork. Its Americas fourth most-valuable startup after Uber, SpaceX, and Airbnb, but what it doesrent office spaceis not rocket science, nor is it as transparently revolutionary as the car- and home-sharing networks built by Travis Kalanick and Brian Chesky.

In fact, ragging on WeWork has become something of a pastime for financial journalists. A $20 Billion Startup Fueled by Silicon Valley Pixie Dust was the Wall Street Journals headline for Eliot Browns October story, a devastating assessment that calculated that WeWorks valuation per square foot was nearly 40 times that of the larger but less cool office leasing company IWG. Is that the multiplier effect of a kegerator? Well before that, Scott Galloway, founder of the business intelligence firm L2, called WeWork the most overvalued company in the world.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Founder Adam Neumann likes to position his startup as something greater or lesser (but certainly different) than a sublease juggernaut with a talent for interior decorating. In a softer, subtly brutal New York Times feature, the companys defenders argued it transcended traditional financial assessments: WeWork isnt really a real estate company. Its a state of consciousness, [Neuman] argues, a generation of interconnected emotionally intelligent entrepreneurs.

Well, OK. How do you put a price tag on emotional interconnection?

The company was in the news this week because it sold a bunch of bonds to raise money. The related financial documents revealed details of the companys business model to financial analysts (skeptical!), the media (skeptical!), and investors  who bought up the bonds like hotcakes. Is that an affirmation of the WeWork model? Only in the least important way.

Advertisement

The documents portrayed WeWork as a company with a cash flow problem rivaled only by Ubers: The company lost nearly $1 billion, and expenses more than doubled. WeWork has signed on to pay more than $18 billion in lease payments. (It rents office space, then sublets it.) Ratings agencies took a dim outlook, grading the bonds near junk status.

On the positive side: The company now has 220,000 members. It says its comfortably above the occupancy rates it needs to cover costs, and its customer base is made up increasingly of large corporations trying to tap into the WeWork mystiquenot the freelancers who give the company its reputation.

Advertisement

The sale itself, which went swimmingly, isnt a crystal ball for WeWorks fortunes. Venture capital firms have different qualifications for assessing companies than bond-buyers. VCs are supposed to be comfortable with high levels of risk, for example; bond-buyers are, stereotypically, your dad. With a yield rate of 7.875 percent, WeWorks were junk bondsmeaning, a lucrative but risky investment relative to, say, buying U.S. Treasuriesbut the offering nevertheless exposed the companys odd business model to a wider audience.

Advertisement

Advertisement

They bought it. Demand was so high that the company raised $702 million, instead of the $500 million it had aimed for.

Analysts took issue with a metric the company used to represent the sale: community-adjusted Ebitda. Typical earnings reports talk about plain-old Ebitda: earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. WeWork invented a new way to measure earnings that, well, subtracted a whole lot of the companys costs. Axios determined the metric essentially got rid of company-wide expenditures, such as marketing, administration, design, and development costs. (It did not get rid of the rent WeWork pays on its office space.)

Everyone was amused by this sleight of handDealbreaker called it a rage-inducing Silicon Alley pile of thought horseshitbut at Bloomberg View, Matt Levine defends the idea for bondholders, noting that their prioritiesgetting paid what theyre owed when theyre owed itare very different from those of Japans SoftBank, which has put billions into WeWork. Strip out the growth and the events and the corporate-level compensation, Levine writes, focus on the basic economics of rent coming in and rent going out, and see if its enough to cover the debt.

It is: Using community-adjusted Ebitda, WeWork says its $233 million in the black in 2017. Thats more than a billion dollars improvement over the straight earnings. Someone do some community-adjusted Ebitda on my paycheck.

And yet: Even the most charitable interpretation of WeWorks financials just shows the start-up has figured out how to make money managing commercial real estate. It is not the first to do that, and the discovery hardly seems worth $20 billion.Update, April 29, 2018: Sprint and T-Mobile officially announced their intention to merge on Sunday. Original post appears below.

We may be about to find out how well flattering Donald Trump pays off as a business strategy.

CNBC reports today that wireless carriers T-Mobile and Sprint are on the verge of announcing a $26 billion merger, possibly by Sunday. If that news sounds vaguely familiar, its because these two companies have been eyeing each other lustily on and off for a long time now. The countrys third and fourth largest mobile companies spent time in merger talks in 2014, but gave up once it became painfully clear the Obama administration, which had previously sued to stop AT&T from buying T-Mobile, would never approve the deal.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

This was almost undoubtedly a good thing for customers. T-Mobile has been one of the more innovative and competitive companies in the wireless industry, and its efforts to get customers have forced its bigger rivals to offer better, more generous services. Ever wonder why unlimited data plans made a comeback after going basically extinct? Its because Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint are in heated competition, trying to win over each others subscribers. The whole industry has basically been a demonstration of the virtues of vigorous antitrust enforcement.

The question now is whether Trump will muck things up. Back in the woozy, post-election days of December 2016, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, the eccentric billionaire whose Japanese conglomerate owns 85 percent of Sprint, made a visit to Trump Tower for a tete-a-tete with the president-elect. Afterward, the pair rode down to the lobby together, where Trump proudly told reporters that Masa had promised to invest $50 billion in the U.S. and create 50,000 jobs. Son later clarified that the $50 billion would mostly consist of investments in tech firms through a venture capital fund SoftBank was starting with Saudi Arabia, which almost certainly had nothing to do with Trumps election. But no matter; it played into the presidents PR blitz to convince people that, like a small-state governor, he was personally making deals to create jobs and investment in the U.S. (Remember the whole Carrier thing?)

Advertisement

Advertisement

It seemed pretty obvious at the time that Son was buttering up Trump with the hope of getting favorable treatment from the administration later. If T-Mobile and Sprint finally try to tie up, well find out if his charm blitz can yield any results. I wouldnt be too surprised if it does. Ever since Trump took office, the Justice Departments antitrust enforcement has seemed to have a distinctly political bent. The administration sued to stop the merger between AT&T and Time Warner, a deal that under past presidents would likely have gotten a green light because the two arent direct competitors. Many observers assume, the move had something to do with Trumps hatred of Time Warner-owned CNN, though that hasnt been reported conclusively. Meanwhile, as Recode notes, regulators seem to have no problem with Disneys pending acquisition of Rupert Murdochs 21st Century Fox. Being friendly with Trump appears to pay these days.A Pennsylvania jury found Bill Cosby guilty on three counts of aggravated indecent assault on Thursday afternoon, landing the 80-year-old on the hook for up to 30 years in prison. Due to the various statutes of limitations, Andrea Constand, the victim in Thursdays case, was the only one of the nearly five dozen women have accused the comedian of rape or sexual assault who stood a shot at getting justice in court. For many, Thursdays verdict will have to serve as a long-overdue resolution by proxy.

Advertisement

Since last summer, when a different jury on the same case deadlocked, triggering a mistrial, the national conversation about sexual assault has exploded. Men whose sexual abuse was treated as an unfortunate, endurable side effect of their profitability have lost their jobs. A-list celebrities have gone public with accusations of mistreatment, exposing the breadth and diversity of Hollywoods means of macerating female dignity. Movies were reshot, planned projects canceled, and TV series recast and rewritten to disassociate them from the known abusers that had nevertheless made them profitable in the first place. Tens of thousands of everyday people said on the internet that they, too, had been sexually victimized. If you hadnt been paying attention, you might have noticed for the first time that the problem of sexual assault was a lot more widespread than youd thought.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Observers at the New York Times, the Washington Post, NBC News, Time, and elsewhere have attributed, to varying degrees, the different outcome in Cosbys second trial to the #MeToo movements success. Certainly, more sexual abusers are getting booted from their positions of power these days than they were in 2005, when Constand first made her allegations public.

Even so, I am wary of using Cosbys conviction as evidence that #MeToo has indelibly transformed societys response to sexual violence, or that it is some watershed moment in our reimagining of gender inequity. Though the national discourse on sexual assault has shifted in recent months, the conventional wisdom on Cosby has not. Cosbys reputation and career had been irreparably shattered for about two years by the time his first trial began in 2017. Almost 60 women had already given public accounts of his alleged abuse. The public had sat for two years with Cosbys own under-oath admission, unveiled in a decade-old deposition, that he had given women sedatives to ply them into sexual submission. Jurors listened to chilling testimony from Constand, her mother, and one other victim of Cosbys abuse. Imagine how mistrusting of women, and how in thrall to male power, a person would have to be to know what we know about Bill Cosby and still think him innocent. If anyone wasnt convinced that Cosby was guilty in the face of all that evidence and public condemnation, a surge of women telling their own unrelated, comparatively less shocking storiesfew #MeToo participants outed perpetrators whod allegedly assaulted 58 women, as Cosby didwasnt going to be the thing that convinced them.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Far more important to the jurys verdict, in my opinion, was the judges decision to allow five women in addition to Constand to testify about how Cosby abused them. (The original trial only permitted the testimony of one other victim.) If a dutiful juror was determined to consider only the Constand-related allegations presented at trial, ignoring all other impressions and knowledge of Cosby, he or she could have found the prosecutors case lacking. After the 2017 trial, one of the jurors who didnt find Cosby guilty of sexual assault said he made his decision because the prosecution didnt have enough substantial evidence. With four additional people able to testify to Cosbys sexual violence in court, it was probably a lot harder for such a juror to portray the case as a he-said, she-said draw.

Advertisement

Advertisement

In the first trial, only two of the 12 jurors disagreed that Cosby was guilty. Its possible that prosecutors simply picked a better jury this time around. Id bet that in any random 12-person sampling of the jury-eligible public, several would think #MeToo has at least somewhat overstated the prevalence of sexual assault, and at least two would hold #MeToo responsible for ruining the lives and livelihoods of innocent men. In a Pew survey conducted in February and March of 2018, 76 percent of respondents identified women falsely claiming sexual harassment/assault in the workplace as a problem facing America. Nearly one-third of all respondents said it was a major problem. Fourteen percent of those polledalmost two in 12!said men getting away with committing sexual harassment/assault in the workplace is not a problem in this country at all. Several months after the major revelations of the #MeToo movement, plenty of people still hadnt gotten the message.

Advertisement

Advertisement

The colossal injustice of that hung jury set expectations low for this weeks trial, making the guilty verdict seem like a more significant victory than it is. When a shameless, serial sexual abuser facing a mountain of incriminating evidence from multiple women is convicted in only one of his two trials after decades of abuse, its hard to find the will to celebrate.

As a barometer on the ongoing fight against sexual violence, the Cosby verdict may not actually tell us very much. He is a singular figure who held an exceptional degree of power in his industry and the public eye, who used it to uncommonly sinister ends. There are few people who can match the scope of his manipulation, harm, and cover-up (Harvey Weinstein and Cardinal Bernard Law come to mind) but mostly, any punishment visited upon Bill Cosby reflects only on the case of Bill Cosby. The fact that it took such extraordinary meansdozens of women molested over half a century united in an international public-shaming campaign that built up for a decade until a famous man said a thing in a comedy routineto get this conviction should not be held up as an encouraging sign for those invested in putting an end to sexual assault.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Cosbys conviction doesnt mean the famous alleged abusers who lost some gigs due to #MeToo arent going to return to the public eye, their faithful fans, and their well-paying jobs, as some have already begun to do. It doesnt mean one thing to low-wage workers whose middle-management abusers will never be famous enough to warrant news coverage. It shouldnt give any hope to someone seeking justice against a perpetrator without four or more other victims by her side, ready to overwhelm a jury with similar allegations. #MeToo may yet have begun to reform the way the American public and the justice system respond to sexual assault. The real test of that theory will come from the tougher, more contentious, less clear-cut cases, not the easy win that came decades past due.Facing an ethics probe over allegations of sexual harassment, Republican Rep. Patrick Meehan announced earlier this year that he would not run for re-election in Pennsylvania this fall. On Friday, Meehan made his resignation from Congress effective immediately, a decision that spares him from a potentially embarrassing investigation by the House Ethics Committee.

Meehan also pledged to pay back the $39,000 he used from his office account to settle the claim against him. The 62-year-old, married, father of three used that cash to settle a claim brought by a former aide decades his junior who accused Meehan last summer of making unwanted romantic advances toward her. The aide said Meehan became hostile when she did not reciprocate. After those details became public in January, Meehan was removed from the Ethics Committee, where he had helped investigate other sexual misconduct claims against his colleagues, and days later he announced his plan to retire at the end of the term, even as he claimed his former aide specifically invited his intimate communications, which included a letter professing his affection.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

I have decided that stepping down now is in the interest of the constituents I have been honored to serve, Meehan said in a statement. While I do believe I would be exonerated of any wrongdoing, I also did not want to put my staff through the rigors of an Ethics Committee investigation and believed it was best for them to have a head start on new employment rather than being caught up in an inquiry. And since I have chosen to resign, the inquiry will not become a burden to taxpayers and committee staff.

Meehans immediate resignation will short-circuit the ethics probe, which was looking into both his alleged harassment, and his use of taxpayer money to make them go away, in a workplace that is among the toughest to report sexual harassment. But it will create a different set of problems for his home state.

Advertisement

As my colleague Jim Newell explained last week when Meehans fellow Pennsylvania Republican, Rep. Charlie Dent, decided to resign before the end of his current term, state law dictates that Meehans seat cannot simply be left open for the remainder of the year. Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, will have 10 days to schedule the special election, which will then occur at least 60 days later. That means the winner of the special election will serve, at most, roughly six months in office, the majority of which will be consumed by election-year politicking followed by a lame-duck session.

Advertisement

The most obvious solution would be for Wolf to schedule the special election on the same day as the rest of the midterms in November. But thanks to Pennsylvanias redrawn congressional map, which will go into effect next year, concurrent elections would create their own set of problems. Anyone running in the special election who wants to serve more than two months would also have to win a second congressional election that same day in a different district, since Dents will no longer exist in its current form. Thats a lot of workand a lot of moneyfor what would be only a slight seniority edge over other incoming lawmakers.On Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee advanced a bill seeking to protect the special counsel from an unjustified removal on a bipartisan 147 vote, an important signal of support for Robert Mueller. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, however, has promised not to bring the Special Counsel Independence and Integrity Act to the Senate floor, and his obstructionism has been bolstered by a bizarre legal claim by some of his Republican colleagues.

In Thursdays debate on the motion, Sen. Ben Sasse made a stunning argument for voting no: Many of us think we are bound by Justice Antonin Scalias opinion in the 1988 case Morrison v. Olson. Sens. Orrin Hatch and Mike Lee expressed a similar reasoning for their no votes. Its not a surprise for a senator to defer to Supreme Court decisions. But it is a shock for a senator to say he is bound by a lone dissent in a 71 Supreme Court case decided 30 years ago. There is a reason Scalia was all alone in dissent: He was wrong, and his historical assumptions were irredeemably wrong.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

For a while, many conservatives and a handful of law professors have been trying to revive Scalias dissent, despite the fact that the court has continued to cite Chief Justice William Rehnquists majority as good law. Some even claim that it is one of the greatest dissents of all time. Unfortunately for their position, Scalias dissent was fundamentally wrong about American history, which should be a fatal flaw on his own originalist terms.

In Morrison v. Olson, Rehnquist wrote for a 71 majority that Congress could create the office of independent counsel protected from presidential removal. Scalia alone believed the statute was unconstitutional, relying on an originalist historical argument about the separation of powers. Scalias core position: Government investigation and prosecution of crimes is a quintessentially executive function. He continued: We should say here that the Presidents constitutionally assigned duties include complete control over investigation and prosecution of violations of the law, and that the inexorable command of Article II is clear and definite: the executive power must be vested in the President of the United States. (Thats Justice Scalias original emphasis on the word complete.)

Advertisement

Lets set aside for a moment that the central constitutional problem in Morrison is not a problem in the current billthe new bill sets limits on executive power rather than encroaching on the separation of powers remotely as much as the law in question in Morrison. Sen. Sasse and others are trying to expand the losing argument in Morrison, as part of a broader campaign to revive the unitary executive theory, that the president must have full control over the executive branch.

There is a reason Scalia was all alone in dissent.

The Supreme Court has rejected this argument when administrative officers exercise a more mixed role of quasi-judicial or quasi-legislative authority. This rule permits our many vital independent agencies, like the Fed, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Federal Trade Commission, to function with a necessary degree of independence. But here, the unitary executives say prosecution has historically been exclusively an executive power, and thus the president must have an unfettered power to remove prosecutors at will. Historians have demonstrated that this view simply was not true in the founding era.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Other lawyers and academics, like Steve Vladeck and Eric Posner, have more fully explained why the bill is constitutional. Its worth, however, delving deeper into Scalias historical misunderstandings of complete executive control over prosecution. Scalias dissent in Morrison is simply inconsistent with its originalist commitments and not worth resuscitating for that fact alone.

First, for most of English and American history, most prosecution was not an executive function at all, because it was a private enterprise. In England, the vast majority of criminal prosecution was by private parties, as historians like John Langbein, Patrick Devlin, and many others have explained. The English did not have a public official specifically assigned as a prosecutor until it created the director of public prosecution in 1879. The American colonies created the office of public prosecutor before the English homeland, mostly because they borrowed from Dutch and French colonial influences. Nevertheless, the vast majority of American prosecutions were still private through the mid-19th century, as Allen Steinberg and many other historians have demonstrated. The rough consensus is that the public prosecutor did not overtake private prosecution in America until after the Civil War, and yet private prosecution continued deep into the 20th century. Even today, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, and Texas allow private citizens to serve a role in criminal prosecutions.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Scalia hedged a bit by talking about governmental prosecutions. But even this fallback position is inaccurate. Congressional committees investigate crimes with subpoena power, and Congress has the power to enforce these powers with its own legislative contempt proceedings. Contempt of Congress is a criminal offense, and it historically has been prosecuted entirely within the legislature.

Other historians, meanwhile, have shown that the Judiciary Act of 1789 undercut Scalia further. It allowed deputy marshals to be removed by federal judges. Even today, federal judges have the power to appoint interim U.S. attorneys. (Scalia addressed this statute but not sufficiently on his exclusivity claim).

Advertisement

The first draft of the Judiciary Act also gave the Supreme Court the power to appoint the attorney general and gave district judges the power to appoint district attorneys. These provisions were deleted and not replaced, so their appointment reverted to the default under the Constitution: presidential appointment. But the first Congress showed in this draft that they did not think Scalias view was at all obvious, settled, or quintessential.

Advertisement

We can also find out how the founding generation understood the role of law enforcement by looking at its state constitutions. State constitutions adopted separate branches, and often declared a separation of powers explicitly, unlike the federal Constitution. Nevertheless, many state constitutions did not reflect Scalias formalism. In my own research, I have found that early state constitutions sometimes placed attorneys general and prosecutors under the judiciary article or judicial sections of their constitutions. These constitutions grouped attorneys general together with judges and judicial officers. These practices continued in many new frontier states established from the 1790s through the 1830s. Moreover, some of the constitutions assigned the power of appointment of law enforcement officials to the legislature with no role for the governor, and some assigned this appointment power to the judges. For example, Virginias 1776 Constitution, drafted by James Madison, George Mason, and other key figures of the founding, gave the governor the power to appoint justices of the peace, but gave the legislature the power to appoint the attorney general, and gave judges the power to appoint sheriffs, coroners, and constables. The founders clearly did not share Scalias opinion here.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Instead of his Morrison dissent representing Scalias greatness, I would suggest that his dissent reveals some of Scalias biggest flaws: too formalistic to see nuance, oversimplifying history in search of results, and not sufficiently engaged with the relevant historical literature.

Advertisement

Sen. Dick Durbin joked during Thursdays proceedings: Some senators would prefer stare Scalia to stare decisis. Durbin is diagnosing part of the problem: Some have such faith in Scalia that they treat his vote as more important than all the other justices combined. But thats not how law or history works. Great dissents can become canonical and overtake the original majority, but only if they are revealed to be fundamentally correct over time, both factually and morally. The great protest dissents of Justice John Marshall Harlan or Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes come to mind. Scalias dissent was wrong on its own originalist terms, and it still serves as a red flag against his kind of hyperformalist originalism. Given that Scalias dissent was unkind to the historical evidence, it is fair that history will be unkind to Scalias dissent, and history also might be unkind to the Republican senators relying on it to obstruct an important bill.On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge John D. Bates blocked the Trump administrations attempt to rescind DACA, marking the third time a federal court has ruled against efforts to scrap the popular program, which has deferred deportation for 800,000 young undocumented immigrants. The reaction among conservative commentators was swift and severe. A National Review editorial condemned Bates decision as extraordinarily dangerous judicial nonsense and part of the judicial #resistance. Rich Lowry, writing in Politico, alleged Bates had substitute[d] the logic of #resistance for common sense and the law. These comments echoed the furious response to the previous two decisions preserving the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which detractors similarly decried as acts of judicial resistance, ones possibly even meriting impeachment.

Advertisement

This narrative initially gained traction because the first two judges to block DACAs rescission were left-leaning Democratic appointees. Its application to Bates, however, is laughable. A George W. Bush appointee, Bates cannot seriously be accused of liberal judicial activism; he is a deeply conservative and widely respected jurist who has never, in his 17 years on the bench, given any hint of partisan bias or impropriety. Bates thorough, fair-minded ruling undermines the partisan attacks on the decisions that preceded it. And it confirms that the individual most responsible for the continued survival of DACA is not a federal judge, but the man who tried to end the program: Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Sessions is almost certainly Trumps most effective and competent Cabinet member, but his attempt to rescind DACA was an uncharacteristically sloppy maneuver. Abolishing the program should have been easy. President Barack Obama created DACA via executive order, directing the Department of Homeland Security to allow a specific class of undocumented immigrantsyoung people brought to the U.S. unlawfullyto live and work here legally. To revoke DACA, Sessions need only put forth a clear statement explaining the constitutional, statutory, and policy justifications for discontinuing the program.

Advertisement

Instead, the attorney general issued a garbled one-page memo with minimal analysis. First, he suggested that DACA lacked proper statutory authority. Yet in 2014, the Office of Legal Counsel issued an opinion finding that DACA did have this statutory authority. Trumps OLC could have reversed this finding, but it did not, and Sessions failed to explain why hed ignore an opinion that remains on the books. This inconsistency undercut his claim, unsupported by any meaningful reasoning, that DACA had no statutory authorization.

Second, Sessions justified DACAs rescission by pointing to a 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling striking down the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents program, or DAPA, a decision the Supreme Court summarily affirmed. He wrote that DACA has the same legal and constitutional defects that the courts recognized as to DAPA, suggesting that DACA, if allowed to proceed, would ultimately be invalidated, too.

Advertisement

Advertisement

This logic, too, is badly flawed. The Supreme Courts DAPA decision was 44, leaving the 5th Circuits ruling in place but setting no precedent, so it cannot be cited as definitive proof that DAPA was unlawful. Moreover, DAPA is not DACA; it was a far broader program designed to aid a sweeping class of adult immigrants in a more permanent manner than DACA does. Even if DAPA were undoubtedly illegal (which it isnt), that would not mean that DACA is illegal, too. Finally, the 5th Circuit did not find that DAPA had constitutional defects, as Sessions memo implies. In reality, the court did not address the programs purported constitutional defects at all. This blunder was so conspicuous that the Justice Department had to acknowledge it in court.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Why did Sessions botch the rescission so badly? Its a puzzling question. In the remarks he delivered the same day he announced DACAs wind down, the attorney general said on camera what he declined to do in his memo, openly declaring hisand, by extension, the Trumps administrationshostility toward DACA beneficiaries. These immigrants, Sessions asserted, had stolen jobs from hundreds of thousands of Americans. Policywise, thats a terrible (and baseless) reason to kill the program. But at least it rests on the administrations principlesunlike Sessions memo, which rests on contradictory and inaccurate legal claims.

Advertisement

Had Sessions stated in his memo that DACA conflicts with the current administrations beliefs about immigration and executive power, it mightve passed legal muster. By gesturing vaguely toward ambiguous case law instead, he made his decision vulnerable to court challenges. All three of the judges whove ruled to preserve DACA have said Sessions rescission violated the Administrative Procedure Act, which bars agency actions that are arbitrary and capricious. The first two explicitly found that DACA is legal, but Bates didnt go that far. Rather, he pointed to the scant legal reasoning in Sessions memo, its opaque and barebones interpretation of the law, and its fleeting and incongruous references to precedent. The administrations egregious  failure to give an adequate explanation of its legal judgment, Bates held, was sufficiently arbitrary and capricious to run afoul of the APA. He gave the administration 90 days to devise a better reason for rescinding the program.

And he held that if it cannot, the government must revive DACA entirely, renewing applications and accepting new applicants.

Advertisement

Bates decision is cautious and sensiblehardly the flagrant breach of judicial norms that Lowry and his cohorts have alleged. It exposes Sessions as the key roadblock to DACAs revocation while giving the attorney general another chance to explain his decision. And it passes no judgment on the wisdom of DACA itself, focusing exclusively on the legal hurdles the administration must clear to end the program once and for all.

If anything, Bates ruling is exceedingly generousnot the product of judicial resistance but of a discerning judge interpreting the law and respecting the separation of powers. DACAs opponents accuse Bates of imposing his political views on the administration in an effort to resist Trump. In reality, he gave Sessions a copy of Killing DACA for Dummies, gifting him a second chance to rescind the program without committing the amateurish errors that thwarted his first attempt.On Thursdays edition of the Political Gabfest, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discussed the arguments before the Supreme Court on Wednesday in Hawaii v. Trump, the case concerning whats known as the Muslim ban. The excerpt from the show below has been edited and condensed for clarity.

David Plotz: Emily, what are the key legal issues in the case, both statutory and constitutional?

Emily Bazelon: This is about whether the president had the power to issue this kind of sweeping, indefinite ban, so its very much a case about separation of powers and presidential authority and the limits thereof, especially in the immigration arena. The relevant statute here is the Immigration and Nationality Act, which, on the one hand, allows the executive branch to suspend the entry of a class of aliensI really hate that word for immigrants, but thats the legal termif the president finds that their entry into the United States be detrimental to the interests of the United States.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

There is another part of this lawwhich we call the INA for shortand that part says that the government may not discriminate on the basis of nationality or religion, and so there is this question of which clause gets priority here in looking at the Trump travel ban. Then, of course, the all-important (in my view) subtext for this is Trumps promises of a Muslim ban during the campaign. And then more importantly, there are the things Trump has said in office about wanting to keep Muslims out of the country, tweeting virulently anti-Muslim videos, and this sense we have that a kind of red meat to the base about Muslims and Muslim immigrants is truly whats fueling this ban. Especially because, although its true that this particular order was much more organized, its still not clear what the governments national security rationale is for choosing these particular countries and then having such a blanket policy against admitting their residents.

Advertisement

Plotz: The conservative justices certainly found a lot to chew on. They, for example, were very big on the point that: How long do we have to hold the presidents statements against him? How long do the things he says on the campaign have any bearing on what he does as president? Or is there basically a break, and he gets a clean, fresh start? Even if he has demonstrated some animus as president, does he get a break as long as his Cabinet and people in his administration have legitimate reason to think this ban will have a beneficial effect on national security? I think thats one big thing that they focused on.

Advertisement

Bazelon: I thought that Neal Katyal, who was arguing for the state of Hawaii, and the other challengers of the ban had a really good answer to that, which was like, Well, the president could disclaim these statements hed made. One of the conservative justices said something like, OK, well, if he disclaimed it, then two days later could he issue the travel ban order? Katyal said yes.

Advertisement

Advertisement

This is why I find this case so infuriating. Trump is getting to have it both ways. He both gets to be this anti-Muslim president who is signaling all these things to his base, and he gets to have all the trappings of regular presidential authority, where he gets to pretend that this is about national security. That point that Katyal made about not disclaiming is like the perfect way to capture that. All he has to do is be like, No, I renounce those views. Now Im doing this for national security reasons, but he hasnt done that.

Plotz: One of the other points that the justices made is that if this is a Muslim ban, its a pretty bad Muslim ban, [because] a very small number of countries that are majority Muslim are affected. Only 8 percent of Muslims in the world live in those countries, so therefore its unreasonable to think of it as a Muslim ban. And it also encompasses North Korea and Venezuela

Advertisement

Advertisement

John Dickerson: Well, they were tacked on later.

Bazelon: Did you guys find that point convincing, that way of framing the question?

Plotz: Which way?

Bazelon: This was Justice [Samuel] Alitos big point. If you were trying to ban Muslims, you would go ban all the Muslims from Saudi Arabia, allies of ours. We would never do that.

Plotz: Right. Im sure that this has no real national security justification. They havent come up with anything credible. They went back knowing that they had to come up with a justification, and they manufactured something, which I dont even think theyve ever made public, but theyve just sort of said, We have a finding that this will benefit national security, and no one knows what it is, and were supposed to just accept it.

Advertisement

Advertisement

On the other hand, Im pretty troubled by the idea that the courts are going to tell the president and tell the administration theyre going to go second-guess findings that an administration is going to make. I mean, with this administration, its less troubling, but I just dont like it as a precedent. Im really troubled by Congress failure to be involved here. This is an area where Congress could very easily come in and clarify and tell the president or pass laws that say, Here is what we want you to do or not want you to do. Of course Congress is unwilling to do it, and it gives the executive enormous amount of latitude to make decisions like this.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Absent legislative action, I dont think that what the Trump administration is doing is out of bounds. I think its completely immoral and criminalwrong-headed, not criminal. I think its completely immoral and wrong-headed, but the solution is basically political, which is that you vote them out of office if you think its wrong. I dont think that what theyre doing, on its face, goes against any laws of the country or that Trump is completely out of bounds. I just think its wrong.

Dickerson: Did the court raise that issue? Because, obviously, the court pays attention to whether the president is overstepping his bounds in the White House and defending this. We all remember the slightly amusing way in which Stephen Miller defended it, which is that on issues of perceived national security importance, no one anywhere in any court or in Congress has a right to ever question the president, which is obviously not the way it goes. But did the courts wrestle with that idea of whether the president was overstepping his bounds?

Advertisement

Advertisement

Bazelon: Yes. I think in some ways it was framed more in the first way David put it, which is, Would the court be overstepping its bounds to question the presidents authority?

Advertisement

Advertisement

The more abstract, 30,000-foot view you take of this case, the better it is for Trump, because then youre talking about these lofty principles of not just presidential power, but the authority the president has to protect the country. Yet we know here we dont have any public record of real findings about why the government thinks that restricting travel and immigration to this extent from these countries is really necessary, and were being asked essentially to take it on faith. To me, the idea that the Supreme Court couldnt find some narrow way to say, Wait a second. This president, in this instance, has gone too far in light of this shadow of anti-Muslim prejudice and also this continued lack of real public evidence that this is necessary. [It] just seems like the court could find its way to writing that opinion if it wanted to.

Advertisement

Plotz: Your 30,000-foot point, Emily, is a really good one, and when you get into the specifics of whats actually happening, its so dire. We know the moral wrong were committing. There have been 44 Syrian refugees admitted into the United States since October of the last, what is that, six months? Only 11 in 2018. There are hundreds of thousands, even millions of Syrians, the overwhelming majority of whom are people who are simply victims of one of the worst wars of modern history and who have no recourse and would be perfectly good contributors to American society, and even if theyre not that good contributors to American society, they are people in terrible suffering and need. The idea that we, as a nation, cannot welcome them in significant numbers is disgusting.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Also, weve seen this huge drop in tourism. Were seeing an enormous drop in applications for student visas. The closing off of America by the Trump administrationpartly through bureaucratic channels and policy measures, but also through their vile, vile rhetoric toward people who arent Americanis a problem here. Thats what people need to go out and vote on. I guess I think that we have a system where theres enormous latitude for a president to make decisions about things, and I would rather have Congress making law to restrain the president or the people restraining the president by voting in a new president, than I would having courts step in every time people are upset about something.

Advertisement

Bazelon: Fair enough, although I dont think this is like every time people are upset about something. The other thing I feel like we need to mention is Korematsu. We have this stain on the Supreme Court and on the presidency because of Franklin Roosevelt in the order to detain people of Japanese descent during World War II. The Supreme Court signed off on that in the name of presidential authority and national security. Its this completely discredited, horrifying precedent that has never been formally overruled but that we all want to think we understand was immoral and is supposed to be part of Americas past, not its present. There is this small irony here: Katyal, who argued for Hawaii and the challengers, used to be the acting solicitor general under Barack Obama, and when he was in that role, he issued a statement acknowledging [Korematsu] is a stain on Americas past, and that hovers over the court here, whether the justices like it or not.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Plotz: I want to make one final point: There is one place where I think legal intervention is certainly justified, which is that even under the terms of the ban, theres supposed to be a notion of waivers, that certain refugees under certain circumstances ought to be allowed to get waivers, and that that decision can be made by the State Department on a case-by-case basis. Whats clearly happening is that those waivers are not being granted, that its basically blanket denials, so that effectively we are completely banning people with just a minuscule number of exceptions.

My point is that if in fact the government has set up a process and is not fulfilling that process, then that seems to me a moment for legal intervention and action if they are not abiding by the terms of their own policy, which I dont think they are.

Bazelon: We should just stand by saying it seemed clear from oral argument that the Supreme Court is going to allow the Trump administration to have this banthat all the arguments weve been making, the unsettling arguments, did not seem to be winning the day for the five conservative justicesso that is a likely outcome.President Donald Trump began his Saturday on the offensive, taking aim at Senator Jon Tester for his claims that helped derail the nomination of White House physician Ronny Jackson to be the new secretary of Veterans Affairs. The presidents tweets clearly suggest he is ready to campaign against Tester in this years congressional elections, which could help sink the Montana Democrat in the state that Trump won by a wide margin. Jackson withdrew his nomination for the job following claims by Tester, who is the top Democrat on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. The Democratic senator made several accusations against Jackson, claiming, among other things, that he was freewheeling in prescribing drugs, created a hostile work environment, and crashed a government car after a Secret Service party. Jackson denied the allegations and the White House pushed back against the claims.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Allegations made by Senator Jon Tester against Admiral/Doctor Ron Jackson are proving false. The Secret Service is unable to confirm (in fact they deny) any of the phony Democrat charges which have absolutely devastated the wonderful Jackson family. Tester should resign. The.....  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 28, 2018

Allegations made by Senator Jon Tester against Admiral/Doctor Ron Jackson are proving false, Trump wrote. The Secret Service is unable to confirm (in fact they deny) any of the phony Democrat charges which have absolutely devastated the wonderful Jackson family. Tester should resign. The commander in chief went on to note that the great people of Montana will not stand for this kind of slander when talking of a great human being. Admiral Jackson is the kind of man that those in Montana would most respect and admire, and now, for no reason whatsoever, his reputation has been shattered. Not fair, Tester!

Advertisement

....great people of Montana will not stand for this kind of slander when talking of a great human being. Admiral Jackson is the kind of man that those in Montana would most respect and admire, and now, for no reason whatsoever, his reputation has been shattered. Not fair, Tester!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 28, 2018

Advertisement

Although some former aides to President Barack Obama came forward to defend Jackson as well, several unnamed sources talked to reporters confirming troubling incidents, including that he banged on the door of the hotel room of a female employee while he was intoxicated during a trip overseas. Tester also insists he didnt go looking for information about Jackson but rather that more than 20 military and retired military personnel raised their concerns and it was his duty to follow up. We had a job to do and we did it, Tester said.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Trump has focused his ire on Tester, conveniently ignoring that several Republicans had also raised doubts about whether Jackson was fit for the job. Senator Johnny Isakson of Georgia, who is the Republican chairman on the Veterans Affairs Committee, also said the allegations against Jackson should be investigated. Beyond the allegations several lawmakers had also raised concern about whether the White House physician was really appropriate for the job considering he had no experience running a large organization.

In the end, picking a fight with Trump may end up helping Tester, particularly in his bid to attract independent voters to his side. If anything, this could be very easily framed in the context of, I am looking out for veterans and this guy would have be really awful as head of Veterans Affairs, said David Parker, an associate professor of politics at Montana State University.

I think this helps Tester because it illuminates what he has been doing for veterans. I dont think its a negative.Its down to two finalists. When President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will make history by sitting down for a meeting it will take place either in Mongolia or Singapore, according to CBS News. Trump said details of the meeting are still being sorted and on Friday noted that the choice of venue had been whittled down to two countries. A South Korean daily had previously reported the shortlist of the two countries and now CNN hears from two people familiar with the discussions that U.S. officials favor Singapore.

Advertisement

On Saturday, Trump said that hed spoken to leaders in the region to prepare for the historic meeting. Things are going very well, time and location of meeting with North Korea is being set, the president said on Twitter, noting he had a long and very good talk with President Moon of South Korea. Trump also said he spoke to Prime Minister Abe of Japan to inform him of the ongoing negotiations.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Just had a long and very good talk with President Moon of South Korea. Things are going very well, time and location of meeting with North Korea is being set. Also spoke to Prime Minister Abe of Japan to inform him of the ongoing negotiations.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 28, 2018

Advertisement

Although Trump celebrated the meeting between the two Korean leader by tweeting KOREAN WAR TO END! the historic handshake likely weakens Trumps negotiating position. The New York Times Mark Landler explains:Big companies are doubling down on music streaming. Spotify released major updates to its free app this week in a bid to entice new users into its premium service. Apple wants Apple Music to be the streamer of choice for iOS usersits the only native streaming option for its HomePod smart speaker. And now Google is getting more serious about its service, too. The company reportedly plans to fold its current music streaming platform, Google Play Music, into the upcoming launch of YouTube Remix. Its a wise move from Google, especially considering its current fragmented and redundant app offerings in other areas.

Advertisement

Take, for example, email. On Wednesday, Google introduced a significant redesign of its Gmail app that adds a suite of security and productivity features, including smart replies, a confidential mode for messages that expire after a certain date, and the option to snooze emails until a more convenient time. If some of these features sound familiar, its because Google already has a productivity-focused email app with them: Inbox. For users of the latter, Googles Gmail announcements raised a number of questions: What does this mean for Inbox? Will it be getting an update of its own in the near future? Or will it eventually get folded into Gmail?

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

The concerns are valid, particularly considering the reported fate of Google Play Music. A source with Android News website Droid Life reports that when Google launches its YouTube-based music service, it will replace Google Play Music. Originally rumored to debut in March, YouTube Remix (or simply YouTube Music, as some reports suggest Remix is merely the products code name) is Googles upcoming attempt to combat Spotify and Apple Music in the streaming music space. Google Play has never managed to gain foothold as a legitimate contender, but YouTube continues to be successful both as a video streamer and as an on-demand music platform. It also makes sense because the line between YouTube and Google Play Music has already blurred: A Google Play Music subscription also includes access to YouTube Red, YouTubes ad-free video service, and YouTube Music, a standalone mobile app for streaming music videos. Users will reportedly be forced off of Google Play Music and onto the new YouTube Music by the years end.

Advertisement

A YouTube spokesperson told Droid Life, Weve previously announced the combination of the YouTube Music and Google Play product teamsmusic is very important to Google so its critical we have one offering that meets the needs of consumers and artists. Nothing will change for users today and well provide plenty of notice before any changes are made. (Google issued essentially the same comment when it confirmed news of the restructuring last February.)

Advertisement

Googles move here makes sense: YouTube has far stronger brand recognition than Google Play Music. In a battle against Spotify and Apple Musicand a fight for whatever meager profits can be eked from the spaceGoogle needs to focus its efforts on one product best suited to challenge them.

Advertisement

In combining its Music streaming product teams and reportedly uniting those products under a single service, Google is showing some maturity. It didnt just start and abandon an app with little forethought as to the long-term game plan (cough, Allo). It looked critically at the streaming music space, its current offerings, and what it needed to do to compete. Google could be well-served to follow a similar example with some of its other app offerings. Uniting users under a single, logical brandlike YouTube, for both its streaming video and music endeavorsis a better long-term approach than dividing users among confusingly synonymous apps. And when it comes to streaming music, a strong brand is absolutely necessary if Google hopes to stand a chance against big names like Spotify and Apple.Why is there not a movie about the mighty men of David?

Talk about some gladiators and warriors.

The stories surrounding King David and these men could make an incredible film.

I envision something between, 300, Gladiator, Passion Of The Christ, and Hostiles.

This morning I read the following.

2 Samuel 23:



Now these are the last words of David.

Thus says David the son of Jesse;

Thus says the man raised up on high,

The anointed of the God of Jacob,

And the sweet psalmist of Israel:

2 The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me,

And His word was on my tongue.

3 The God of Israel said,

The Rock of Israel spoke to me:

He who rules over men must be just,

Ruling in the fear of God.

4 And he shall be like the light of the morning when the sun rises,

A morning without clouds,

Like the tender grass springing out of the earth,

By clear shining after rain.

5 Although my house is not so with God,

Yet He has made with me an everlasting covenant,

Ordered in all things and secure.

For this is all my salvation and all my desire;

Will He not make it increase?

6 But the sons of rebellion shall all be as thorns thrust away,

Because they cannot be taken with hands.

7 But the man who touches them

Must be armed with iron and the shaft of a spear,

And they shall be utterly burned with fire in their place.

Davids Mighty Men

8 These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Josheb-Basshebeth the Tachmonite, chief among the captains. He was called Adino the Eznite, because he had killed eight hundred men at one time. 9 And after him was Eleazar the son of Dodo, the Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David when they defied the Philistines who were gathered there for battle, and the men of Israel had retreated. 10 He arose and attacked the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand stuck to the sword. The Lord brought about a great victory that day; and the people returned after him only to plunder. 11 And after him was Shammah the son of Agee the Hararite. The Philistines had gathered together into a troop where there was a piece of ground full of lentils. So the people fled from the Philistines. 12 But he stationed himself in the middle of the field, defended it, and killed the Philistines. So the Lord brought about a great victory.

13 Then three of the thirty chief men went down at harvest time and came to David at the cave of Adullam. And the troop of Philistines encamped in the Valley of Rephaim. 14 David was then in the stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem. 15 And David said with longing, Oh, that someone would give me a drink of the water from the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate! 16 So the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines, drew water from the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate, and took it and brought it to David. Nevertheless he would not drink it, but poured it out to the Lord. 17 And he said, Far be it from me, O Lord, that I should do this! Is this not the blood of the men who went in jeopardy of their lives? Therefore he would not drink it.

These things were done by the three mighty men.

18 Now Abishai the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief of another three. He lifted his spear against three hundred men, killed them, and won a name among these three. 19 Was he not the most honored of three? Therefore he became their captain. However, he did not attain to the first three.

20 Benaiah was the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man from Kabzeel, who had done many deeds. He had killed two lion-like heroes of Moab. He also had gone down and killed a lion in the midst of a pit on a snowy day. 21 And he killed an Egyptian, a spectacular man. The Egyptian had a spear in his hand; so he went down to him with a staff, wrested the spear out of the Egyptians hand, and killed him with his own spear. 22 These things Benaiah the son of Jehoiada did, and won a name among three mighty men. 23 He was more honored than the thirty, but he did not attain to the first three. And David appointed him over his guard.

24 Asahel the brother of Joab was one of the thirty; Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem, 25 Shammah the Harodite, Elika the Harodite, 26 Helez the Paltite, Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite, 27 Abiezer the Anathothite, Mebunnai the Hushathite, 28 Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai the Netophathite, 29 Heleb the son of Baanah (the Netophathite), Ittai the son of Ribai from Gibeah of the children of Benjamin, 30 Benaiah a Pirathonite, Hiddai from the brooks of Gaash, 31 Abi-Albon the Arbathite, Azmaveth the Barhumite, 32 Eliahba the Shaalbonite (of the sons of Jashen), Jonathan, 33 Shammah the Hararite, Ahiam the son of Sharar the Hararite, 34 Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai, the son of the Maachathite, Eliam the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite, 35 Hezrai the Carmelite, Paarai the Arbite, 36 Igal the son of Nathan of Zobah, Bani the Gadite, 37 Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Beerothite (armorbearer of Joab the son of Zeruiah), 38 Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite, 39 and Uriah the Hittite: thirty-seven in all.Blog Archive Oct 04 (3) Oct 03 (3) Oct 02 (3) Oct 01 (4) Sep 30 (4) 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) Jul 17 (3) Jul 16 (3) Jul 15 (3) Jul 14 (3) Jul 13 (5) Jul 12 (5) Jul 11 (5) Jul 10 (3) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (2) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (4) Jul 05 (3) Jul 04 (3) Jul 03 (3) Jul 02 (5) Jul 01 (3) Jun 30 (4) Jun 29 (5) Jun 28 (2) Jun 27 (3) Jun 26 (3) Jun 25 (3) Jun 24 (3) Jun 23 (6) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (3) Jun 20 (3) Jun 19 (3) Jun 18 (3) Jun 17 (3) Jun 16 (3) Jun 15 (4) Jun 14 (5) Jun 13 (3) Jun 12 (4) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (3) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (5) Jun 07 (3) Jun 06 (3) Jun 05 (3) Jun 04 (3) Jun 03 (3) Jun 02 (3) Jun 01 (3) May 31 (4) May 30 (3) May 29 (4) May 28 (4) May 27 (3) May 26 (5) May 25 (4) May 24 (4) May 23 (4) May 22 (3) May 21 (5) May 20 (4) May 19 (3) May 18 (3) May 17 (4) May 16 (3) May 15 (6) May 14 (3) May 13 (3) May 12 (5) May 11 (4) 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 (3) Apr 30 (4) Apr 29 (3) Apr 28 (3) Apr 27 (5) Apr 26 (4) Apr 25 (3) Apr 24 (3) Apr 23 (4) Apr 22 (3) Apr 21 (5) Apr 20 (6) Apr 19 (5) Apr 18 (5) Apr 17 (4) Apr 16 (5) Apr 15 (6) Apr 14 (3) Apr 13 (3) Apr 12 (5) Apr 11 (4) Apr 10 (4) Apr 09 (5) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (3) Apr 06 (4) Apr 05 (4) Apr 04 (4) Apr 03 (3) Apr 02 (6) Apr 01 (4) Mar 31 (4) Mar 30 (4) Mar 29 (4) Mar 28 (3) Mar 27 (3) Mar 26 (5) Mar 25 (3) Mar 24 (5) Mar 23 (5) Mar 22 (5) Mar 21 (5) Mar 20 (6) Mar 19 (6) Mar 18 (4) Mar 17 (4) Mar 16 (5) Mar 15 (3) Mar 14 (7) Mar 13 (5) Mar 12 (8) Mar 11 (6) Mar 10 (4) Mar 09 (6) Mar 08 (5) Mar 07 (3) Mar 06 (5) Mar 05 (5) Mar 04 (5) Mar 03 (7) Mar 02 (4) Mar 01 (5) Feb 28 (3) Feb 27 (5) Feb 26 (6) Feb 25 (7) Feb 24 (4) Feb 23 (4) Feb 22 (7) Feb 21 (4) Feb 20 (3) Feb 19 (6) Feb 18 (5) Feb 17 (4) Feb 16 (4) Feb 15 (6) Feb 14 (6) Feb 13 (6) Feb 12 (4) Feb 11 (5) Feb 10 (4) Feb 09 (3) Feb 08 (4) Feb 07 (4) Feb 06 (7) Feb 05 (7) Feb 04 (7) Feb 03 (9) Feb 02 (7) Feb 01 (9) Jan 31 (5) Jan 30 (6) Jan 29 (5) Jan 28 (6) Jan 27 (6) Jan 26 (5) Jan 25 (6) Jan 24 (5) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (6) Jan 21 (6) Jan 20 (8) Jan 19 (4) Jan 18 (9) Jan 17 (5) Jan 16 (5) Jan 15 (6) Jan 14 (7) Jan 13 (7) Jan 12 (5) Jan 11 (7) Jan 10 (8) Jan 09 (7) Jan 08 (8) Jan 07 (11) Jan 06 (9) Jan 05 (5) Jan 04 (7) Jan 03 (6) Jan 02 (8) Jan 01 (8) Dec 31 (6) Dec 30 (6) Dec 29 (4) Dec 28 (7) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (5) Dec 25 (5) Dec 24 (5) Dec 23 (7) Dec 22 (5) Dec 21 (5) Dec 20 (5) Dec 19 (4) Dec 18 (6) Dec 17 (6) Dec 16 (4) Dec 15 (3) Dec 14 (5) Dec 13 (4) Dec 12 (5) Dec 11 (4) Dec 10 (4) Dec 09 (5) Dec 08 (6) Dec 07 (5) Dec 06 (6) Dec 05 (5) Dec 04 (5) Dec 03 (6) Dec 02 (4) Dec 01 (5) Nov 30 (4) Nov 29 (6) Nov 28 (3) Nov 27 (4) Nov 26 (4) Nov 25 (4) Nov 24 (4) Nov 23 (5) Nov 22 (7) Nov 21 (5) Nov 20 (6) Nov 19 (4) Nov 18 (3) Nov 17 (5) Nov 16 (5) Nov 15 (4) Nov 14 (5) Nov 13 (6) Nov 12 (6) Nov 11 (6) Nov 10 (8) Nov 09 (8) Nov 08 (7) Nov 07 (5) Nov 06 (5) Nov 05 (4) Nov 04 (6) Nov 03 (5) Nov 02 (3) Nov 01 (5) Oct 31 (4) Oct 30 (3) Oct 29 (5) Oct 28 (5) Oct 27 (3) Oct 26 (6) Oct 25 (6) Oct 24 (2) Oct 23 (3) Oct 22 (5) Oct 21 (4) Oct 20 (6) Oct 19 (3) Oct 18 (4) Oct 17 (3) Oct 16 (5) Oct 15 (2) Oct 14 (5) Oct 13 (2) Oct 12 (3) Oct 11 (7) Oct 10 (3) Oct 09 (3) Oct 08 (2) Oct 07 (7) Oct 06 (2) Oct 05 (6) Oct 04 (5) Oct 03 (3) Oct 02 (8) Oct 01 (3) Sep 30 (6) Sep 29 (3) Sep 28 (6) Sep 27 (4) Sep 26 (4) Sep 25 (4) Sep 24 (1) Sep 23 (5) Sep 22 (3) Sep 21 (2) Sep 20 (5) Sep 19 (3) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (5) Sep 16 (3) Sep 15 (4) Sep 14 (4) Sep 13 (4) Sep 12 (3) Sep 11 (3) Sep 10 (4) Sep 09 (5) Sep 08 (4) Sep 07 (4) Sep 06 (4) Sep 05 (5) Sep 04 (3) Sep 03 (4) Sep 02 (4) Sep 01 (3) Aug 31 (3) Aug 30 (3) Aug 29 (2) Aug 28 (4) Aug 27 (4) Aug 26 (4) Aug 25 (3) Aug 24 (3) Aug 23 (3) Aug 22 (3) Aug 21 (4) Aug 20 (4) Aug 19 (4) Aug 18 (4) Aug 17 (3) Aug 16 (4) Aug 15 (4) Aug 14 (3) Aug 13 (5) Aug 12 (5) Aug 11 (3) Aug 10 (4) Aug 09 (3) Aug 08 (4) Aug 07 (3) Aug 06 (3) Aug 05 (3) Aug 04 (4) Aug 03 (4) Aug 02 (4) Aug 01 (3) Jul 31 (4) Jul 30 (5) Jul 29 (3) Jul 28 (3) Jul 27 (3) Jul 26 (4) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (3) Jul 23 (3) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (4) Jul 20 (5) Jul 19 (4) Jul 18 (4) Jul 17 (3) Jul 16 (4) Jul 15 (3) Jul 14 (3) Jul 13 (4) Jul 12 (3) Jul 11 (3) Jul 10 (3) Jul 09 (4) Jul 08 (4) Jul 07 (4) Jul 06 (3) Jul 05 (5) Jul 04 (4) Jul 03 (4) Jul 02 (4) Jul 01 (4) Jun 30 (3) Jun 29 (4) Jun 28 (4) Jun 27 (3) Jun 26 (3) Jun 25 (4) Jun 24 (5) Jun 23 (5) Jun 22 (5) Jun 21 (3) Jun 20 (4) Jun 19 (3) Jun 18 (3) Jun 17 (4) Jun 16 (4) Jun 15 (4) Jun 14 (4) Jun 13 (4) Jun 12 (6) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (4) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (5) Jun 07 (3) Jun 06 (3) Jun 05 (5) Jun 04 (5) Jun 03 (3) Jun 02 (5) Jun 01 (6) May 31 (3) May 30 (5) May 29 (3) May 28 (4) May 27 (5) May 26 (7) May 25 (4) May 24 (4) May 23 (4) May 22 (6) May 21 (4) May 20 (3) May 19 (5) May 18 (4) May 17 (4) May 16 (5) May 15 (4) May 14 (4) May 13 (5) May 12 (4) May 11 (5) May 10 (6) May 09 (7) May 08 (3) May 07 (6) May 06 (4) May 05 (6) May 04 (6) May 03 (4) May 02 (4) May 01 (4) Apr 30 (4) Apr 29 (3) Apr 28 (4) Apr 27 (4) Apr 26 (3) Apr 25 (6) Apr 24 (4) Apr 23 (5) Apr 22 (5) Apr 21 (7) Apr 20 (6) Apr 19 (5) Apr 18 (5) Apr 17 (6) Apr 16 (4) Apr 15 (6) Apr 14 (5) Apr 13 (5) Apr 12 (5) Apr 11 (4) Apr 10 (6) Apr 09 (7) Apr 08 (7) Apr 07 (4) Apr 06 (7) Apr 05 (6) Apr 04 (5) Apr 03 (6) Apr 02 (5) Apr 01 (6) Mar 31 (4) Mar 30 (5) Mar 29 (5) Mar 28 (5) Mar 27 (6) Mar 26 (6) Mar 25 (7) Mar 24 (5) Mar 23 (4) Mar 22 (5) Mar 21 (5) Mar 20 (5) Mar 19 (4) Mar 18 (4) Mar 17 (4) Mar 16 (3) Mar 15 (4) Mar 14 (5) Mar 13 (5) Mar 12 (5) Mar 11 (5) Mar 10 (5) Mar 09 (5) Mar 08 (4) Mar 07 (4) Mar 06 (5) Mar 05 (6) Mar 04 (6) Mar 03 (5) Mar 02 (4) Mar 01 (3) Feb 29 (4) Feb 28 (4) Feb 27 (5) Feb 26 (5) Feb 25 (4) Feb 24 (5) Feb 23 (4) Feb 22 (5) Feb 21 (3) Feb 20 (4) Feb 19 (2) Feb 18 (5) Feb 17 (4) Feb 16 (4) Feb 15 (4) Feb 14 (4) Feb 13 (6) Feb 12 (5) Feb 11 (3) Feb 10 (5) Feb 09 (4) Feb 08 (4) Feb 07 (5) Feb 06 (5) Feb 05 (5) Feb 04 (4) Feb 03 (4) Feb 02 (3) Feb 01 (2) Jan 31 (5) Jan 30 (4) Jan 29 (3) Jan 28 (5) Jan 27 (6) Jan 26 (4) Jan 25 (3) Jan 24 (4) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (3) Jan 21 (3) Jan 20 (3) Jan 19 (4) Jan 18 (3) Jan 17 (3) Jan 16 (3) Jan 15 (3) Jan 14 (3) Jan 13 (3) Jan 12 (5) Jan 11 (4) Jan 10 (3) Jan 09 (4) Jan 08 (5) Jan 07 (5) Jan 06 (3) Jan 05 (5) Jan 04 (3) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (1) Jan 01 (3) Dec 31 (3) Dec 30 (5) Dec 29 (4) Dec 28 (4) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (3) Dec 25 (3) Dec 24 (3) Dec 23 (3) Dec 22 (3) Dec 21 (3) Dec 20 (4) Dec 19 (3) Dec 18 (4) Dec 17 (3) Dec 16 (5) Dec 15 (5) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (3) Dec 11 (3) Dec 10 (4) Dec 09 (4) Dec 08 (3) Dec 07 (3) Dec 06 (5) Dec 05 (3) Dec 04 (3) Dec 03 (3) Dec 02 (4) Dec 01 (5) Nov 30 (3) Nov 29 (4) Nov 28 (3) Nov 27 (5) Nov 26 (3) Nov 25 (5) Nov 24 (3) Nov 23 (3) Nov 22 (4) Nov 21 (3) Nov 20 (3) Nov 19 (3) Nov 18 (3) Nov 17 (4) Nov 16 (3) Nov 15 (4) Nov 14 (3) Nov 13 (5) Nov 12 (4) Nov 11 (5) Nov 10 (2) Nov 09 (3) Nov 08 (3) Nov 07 (3) Nov 06 (1) Nov 05 (4) Nov 04 (3) Nov 03 (3) Nov 02 (3) Nov 01 (4) Oct 31 (3) Oct 30 (3) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (3) Oct 27 (3) Oct 26 (3) Oct 25 (3) Oct 24 (3) Oct 23 (4) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (3) Oct 20 (3) Oct 19 (3) Oct 18 (3) Oct 17 (3) Oct 16 (4) Oct 15 (4) Oct 14 (3) Oct 13 (4) Oct 12 (4) Oct 11 (4) Oct 10 (3) Oct 09 (3) Oct 08 (3) Oct 07 (4) Oct 06 (3) Oct 05 (3) Oct 04 (4) Oct 03 (3) Oct 02 (3) Oct 01 (4) Sep 30 (3) Sep 29 (4) Sep 28 (3) Sep 27 (4) Sep 26 (3) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (3) Sep 23 (3) Sep 22 (3) Sep 21 (5) Sep 20 (3) Sep 19 (3) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (3) Sep 16 (4) Sep 15 (5) Sep 14 (3) Sep 13 (5) Sep 12 (5) Sep 11 (5) Sep 10 (5) Sep 09 (4) Sep 08 (3) Sep 07 (3) Sep 06 (3) Sep 05 (5) Sep 04 (3) Sep 03 (4) Sep 02 (3) Sep 01 (4) Aug 31 (3) Aug 30 (6) Aug 29 (3) Aug 28 (3) Aug 27 (4) Aug 26 (3) Aug 25 (4) Aug 24 (3) Aug 23 (4) Aug 22 (3) Aug 21 (3) Aug 20 (4) Aug 19 (4) Aug 18 (3) Aug 17 (3) Aug 16 (4) Aug 15 (3) Aug 14 (3) Aug 13 (3) Aug 12 (4) Aug 11 (3) Aug 10 (3) Aug 09 (3) Aug 08 (4) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (3) Aug 05 (5) Aug 04 (3) Aug 03 (4) Aug 02 (3) Aug 01 (3) Jul 31 (4) Jul 30 (3) Jul 29 (4) Jul 28 (3) Jul 27 (3) Jul 26 (3) Jul 25 (3) Jul 24 (4) Jul 23 (3) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (3) Jul 20 (3) Jul 19 (3) Jul 18 (3) Jul 17 (3) Jul 16 (3) Jul 15 (4) Jul 14 (3) Jul 13 (3) Jul 12 (3) Jul 11 (3) Jul 10 (4) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (3) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (4) Jul 05 (3) Jul 04 (3) Jul 03 (4) Jul 02 (3) Jul 01 (5) Jun 30 (4) Jun 29 (4) Jun 28 (4) Jun 27 (1) Jun 26 (5) Jun 25 (5) Jun 24 (4) Jun 23 (4) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (5) Jun 19 (3) Jun 18 (3) Jun 17 (3) Jun 16 (3) Jun 15 (3) Jun 14 (3) Jun 13 (4) Jun 12 (3) Jun 11 (4) Jun 10 (3) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (3) Jun 07 (3) Jun 06 (4) Jun 05 (3) Jun 04 (4) Jun 03 (4) Jun 02 (3) Jun 01 (4) May 31 (3) May 30 (3) May 29 (3) May 28 (4) May 27 (6) May 26 (3) May 25 (3) May 24 (3) May 23 (3) May 22 (5) May 21 (3) May 20 (3) May 19 (3) May 18 (4) May 17 (3) May 16 (3) May 15 (4) May 14 (4) May 13 (4) May 12 (5) May 11 (2) May 10 (3) May 09 (3) May 08 (3) May 07 (3) May 06 (3) May 05 (4) May 04 (3) May 03 (3) May 02 (4) May 01 (5) Apr 30 (4) Apr 29 (4) Apr 28 (4) Apr 27 (3) Apr 26 (5) Apr 25 (3) Apr 24 (3) Apr 23 (5) Apr 22 (3) Apr 21 (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 (4) Jan 19 (3) Jan 18 (4) Jan 17 (3) Jan 16 (3) Jan 15 (4) Jan 14 (4) Jan 13 (4) Jan 12 (3) Jan 11 (4) Jan 10 (5) Jan 09 (3) Jan 08 (4) Jan 07 (4) Jan 06 (3) Jan 05 (3) Jan 04 (3) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (3) Jan 01 (3) Dec 31 (5) Dec 30 (4) Dec 29 (3) Dec 28 (5) Dec 27 (3) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (5) Dec 24 (3) Dec 23 (4) Dec 22 (7) Dec 21 (4) Dec 20 (5) Dec 19 (4) Dec 18 (6) Dec 17 (5) Dec 16 (3) Dec 15 (3) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (3) Dec 11 (7) Dec 10 (7) Dec 09 (4) Dec 08 (3) Dec 07 (4) Dec 06 (4) Dec 05 (4) Dec 04 (4) Dec 03 (4) Dec 02 (3) Dec 01 (5) Nov 30 (3) Nov 29 (5) Nov 28 (4) Nov 27 (5) Nov 26 (3) Nov 25 (4) Nov 24 (4) Nov 23 (3) Nov 22 (4) Nov 21 (5) Nov 20 (3) Nov 19 (5) Nov 18 (3) Nov 17 (4) Nov 16 (5) Nov 15 (3) Nov 14 (4) Nov 13 (5) Nov 12 (7) Nov 11 (4) Nov 10 (6) Nov 09 (4) Nov 08 (4) Nov 07 (4) Nov 06 (3) Nov 05 (4) Nov 04 (4) Nov 03 (3) Nov 02 (4) Nov 01 (4) Oct 31 (3) Oct 30 (4) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (4) Oct 27 (4) Oct 26 (4) Oct 25 (4) Oct 24 (5) Oct 23 (4) Oct 22 (4) Oct 21 (3) Oct 20 (3) Oct 19 (4) Oct 18 (3) Oct 17 (3) Oct 16 (4) Oct 15 (4) Oct 14 (4) Oct 13 (4) Oct 12 (5) Oct 11 (3) Oct 10 (5) Oct 09 (5) Oct 08 (5) Oct 07 (6) Oct 06 (3) Oct 05 (3) Oct 04 (5) Oct 03 (3) Oct 02 (4) Oct 01 (3) Sep 30 (4) Sep 29 (4) Sep 28 (5) Sep 27 (5) Sep 26 (5) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (5) Sep 23 (5) Sep 22 (3) Sep 21 (4) Sep 20 (4) Sep 19 (3) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (4) Sep 16 (4) Sep 15 (3) Sep 14 (4) Sep 13 (4) Sep 12 (5) Sep 11 (4) Sep 10 (3) Sep 09 (4) Sep 08 (5) Sep 07 (4) Sep 06 (4) Sep 05 (5) Sep 04 (4) Sep 03 (3) Sep 02 (4) Sep 01 (3) Aug 31 (5) Aug 30 (4) Aug 29 (6) Aug 28 (6) Aug 27 (6) Aug 26 (5) Aug 25 (4) Aug 24 (4) Aug 23 (7) Aug 22 (4) Aug 21 (6) Aug 20 (3) Aug 19 (7) Aug 18 (4) Aug 17 (3) Aug 16 (4) Aug 15 (3) Aug 14 (3) Aug 13 (6) Aug 12 (6) Aug 11 (4) Aug 10 (4) Aug 09 (3) Aug 08 (5) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (3) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (4) Aug 03 (6) Aug 02 (3) Aug 01 (3) Jul 31 (3) Jul 30 (3) Jul 29 (5) Jul 28 (5) Jul 27 (4) Jul 26 (6) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (3) Jul 23 (6) Jul 22 (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 (6) Jan 20 (6) Jan 19 (3) Jan 18 (6) Jan 17 (5) Jan 16 (7) Jan 15 (4) Jan 14 (7) Jan 13 (5) Jan 12 (7) Jan 11 (5) Jan 10 (4) Jan 09 (4) Jan 08 (7) Jan 07 (3) Jan 06 (5) Jan 05 (5) Jan 04 (4) Jan 03 (4) Jan 02 (3) Jan 01 (6) Dec 31 (5) Dec 30 (3) Dec 29 (4) Dec 28 (7) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (6) Dec 24 (5) Dec 23 (5) Dec 22 (5) Dec 21 (3) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (4) Dec 18 (4) Dec 17 (6) Dec 16 (5) Dec 15 (4) Dec 14 (5) Dec 13 (4) Dec 12 (5) Dec 11 (7) Dec 10 (4) Dec 09 (3) Dec 08 (5) Dec 07 (6) Dec 06 (4) Dec 05 (4) Dec 04 (7) Dec 03 (6) Dec 02 (4) Dec 01 (4) Nov 30 (6) Nov 29 (4) Nov 28 (4) Nov 27 (7) Nov 26 (3) Nov 25 (5) Nov 24 (4) Nov 23 (4) Nov 22 (4) Nov 21 (7) Nov 20 (5) Nov 19 (4) Nov 18 (5) Nov 17 (6) Nov 16 (7) Nov 15 (5) Nov 14 (5) Nov 13 (5) Nov 12 (4) Nov 11 (7) Nov 10 (6) Nov 09 (7) Nov 08 (4) Nov 07 (9) Nov 06 (7) Nov 05 (7) Nov 04 (7) Nov 03 (5) Nov 02 (6) Nov 01 (6) Oct 31 (7) Oct 30 (6) Oct 29 (7) Oct 28 (4) Oct 27 (7) Oct 26 (4) Oct 25 (3) Oct 24 (6) Oct 23 (10) Oct 22 (6) Oct 21 (5) Oct 20 (5) Oct 19 (5) Oct 18 (4) Oct 17 (6) Oct 16 (5) Oct 15 (6) Oct 14 (7) Oct 13 (3) Oct 12 (5) Oct 11 (5) Oct 10 (6) Oct 09 (8) Oct 08 (6) Oct 07 (5) Oct 06 (4) Oct 05 (4) Oct 04 (3) Oct 03 (4) Oct 02 (5) Oct 01 (5) Sep 30 (6) Sep 29 (5) Sep 28 (5) Sep 27 (6) Sep 26 (7) Sep 25 (6) Sep 24 (6) Sep 23 (6) Sep 22 (7) Sep 21 (5) Sep 20 (8) Sep 19 (6) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (5) Sep 16 (5) Sep 15 (5) Sep 14 (7) Sep 13 (5) Sep 12 (7) Sep 11 (5) Sep 10 (7) Sep 09 (7) Sep 08 (7) Sep 07 (6) Sep 06 (5) Sep 05 (3) Sep 04 (6) Sep 03 (7) Sep 02 (6) Sep 01 (6) Aug 31 (5) Aug 30 (5) Aug 29 (4) Aug 28 (5) Aug 27 (5) Aug 26 (3) Aug 25 (8) Aug 24 (5) Aug 23 (6) Aug 22 (7) Aug 21 (7) Aug 20 (6) Aug 19 (7) Aug 18 (5) Aug 17 (4) Aug 16 (6) Aug 15 (6) Aug 14 (6) Aug 13 (7) Aug 12 (6) Aug 11 (5) Aug 10 (6) Aug 09 (6) Aug 08 (5) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (4) Aug 05 (5) Aug 04 (6) Aug 03 (6) Aug 02 (5) Aug 01 (5) Jul 31 (7) Jul 30 (7) Jul 29 (4) Jul 28 (7) Jul 27 (6) Jul 26 (4) Jul 25 (3) Jul 24 (5) Jul 23 (4) Jul 22 (4) Jul 21 (4) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (5) Jul 18 (5) Jul 17 (5) Jul 16 (4) Jul 15 (3) Jul 14 (4) Jul 13 (5) Jul 12 (6) Jul 11 (5) Jul 10 (4) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (4) Jul 07 (7) Jul 06 (5) Jul 05 (6) Jul 04 (3) Jul 03 (5) Jul 02 (4) Jul 01 (4) Jun 30 (3) Jun 29 (5) Jun 28 (4) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (3) Jun 25 (4) Jun 24 (3) Jun 23 (4) Jun 22 (3) Jun 21 (3) Jun 20 (5) Jun 19 (3) Jun 18 (4) Jun 17 (5) Jun 16 (4) Jun 15 (4) Jun 14 (7) Jun 13 (5) Jun 12 (5) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (6) Jun 09 (4) Jun 08 (6) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (5) Jun 05 (4) Jun 04 (5) Jun 03 (5) Jun 02 (5) Jun 01 (5) May 31 (4) May 30 (5) May 29 (5) May 28 (5) May 27 (8) May 26 (7) May 25 (7) May 24 (5) May 23 (2) May 22 (5) May 21 (4) May 20 (5) May 19 (5) May 18 (5) May 17 (5) May 16 (7) May 15 (7) May 14 (7) May 13 (5) May 12 (6) May 11 (8) May 10 (4) May 09 (6) May 08 (10) May 07 (8) May 06 (5) May 05 (6) May 04 (7) May 03 (7) May 02 (8) May 01 (6) Apr 30 (6) Apr 29 (6) Apr 28 (10) Apr 27 (6) Apr 26 (5) Apr 25 (8) Apr 24 (7) Apr 23 (8) Apr 22 (6) Apr 21 (5) Apr 20 (10) Apr 19 (7) Apr 18 (7) Apr 17 (8) Apr 16 (5) Apr 15 (6) Apr 14 (9) Apr 13 (11) Apr 12 (8) Apr 11 (5) Apr 10 (10) Apr 09 (7) Apr 08 (5) Apr 07 (9) Apr 06 (10) Apr 05 (5) Apr 04 (5) Apr 03 (7) Apr 02 (6) Apr 01 (5) Mar 31 (3) Mar 30 (3) Mar 29 (1) Mar 28 (5) Mar 27 (7) Mar 26 (8) Mar 25 (4) Mar 24 (8) Mar 23 (5) Mar 22 (4) Mar 21 (5) Mar 20 (7) Mar 19 (5) Mar 18 (8) Mar 17 (8) Mar 16 (3) Mar 15 (6) Mar 14 (9) Mar 13 (6) Mar 12 (6) Mar 11 (7) Mar 10 (6) Mar 09 (8) Mar 08 (5) Mar 07 (5) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (9) Mar 04 (7) Mar 03 (6) Mar 02 (5) Mar 01 (7) Feb 28 (8) Feb 27 (7) Feb 26 (4) Feb 25 (9) Feb 24 (6) Feb 23 (6) Feb 22 (7) Feb 21 (3) Feb 20 (6) Feb 19 (5) Feb 18 (5) Feb 17 (4) Feb 16 (4) Feb 15 (5) Feb 14 (8) Feb 13 (6) Feb 12 (4) Feb 11 (5) Feb 10 (6) Feb 09 (7) Feb 08 (6) Feb 07 (6) Feb 06 (6) Feb 05 (5) Feb 04 (5) Feb 03 (10) Feb 02 (9) Feb 01 (4) Jan 31 (8) Jan 30 (4) Jan 29 (9) Jan 28 (6) Jan 27 (5) Jan 26 (6) Jan 25 (7) Jan 24 (6) Jan 23 (6) Jan 22 (5) Jan 21 (7) Jan 20 (8) Jan 19 (5) Jan 18 (5) Jan 17 (5) Jan 16 (5) Jan 15 (5) Jan 14 (3) Jan 13 (5) Jan 12 (6) Jan 11 (5) Jan 10 (5) Jan 09 (4) Jan 08 (3) Jan 07 (5) Jan 06 (5) Jan 05 (6) Jan 04 (5) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (3) Jan 01 (3) Dec 31 (3) Dec 30 (3) Dec 29 (3) Dec 28 (4) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (5) Dec 25 (6) Dec 24 (7) Dec 23 (7) Dec 22 (4) Dec 21 (5) Dec 20 (6) Dec 19 (10) Dec 18 (9) Dec 17 (10) Dec 16 (8) Dec 15 (4) Dec 14 (6) Dec 13 (10) Dec 12 (6) Dec 11 (5) Dec 10 (6) Dec 09 (5) Dec 08 (8) Dec 07 (5) Dec 06 (6) Dec 05 (6) Dec 04 (7) Dec 03 (7) Dec 02 (6) Dec 01 (9) Nov 30 (5) Nov 29 (9) Nov 28 (7) Nov 27 (6) Nov 26 (7) Nov 25 (3) Nov 24 (4) Nov 23 (4) Nov 22 (7) Nov 21 (7) Nov 20 (4) Nov 19 (8) Nov 18 (12) Nov 17 (8) Nov 16 (6) Nov 15 (4) Nov 14 (11) Nov 13 (11) Nov 12 (9) Nov 11 (6) Nov 10 (9) Nov 09 (9) Nov 08 (7) Nov 07 (7) Nov 06 (8) Nov 05 (8) Nov 04 (6) Nov 03 (5) Nov 02 (7) Nov 01 (5) Oct 31 (7) Oct 30 (6) Oct 29 (7) Oct 28 (4) Oct 27 (7) Oct 26 (4) Oct 25 (7) Oct 24 (4) Oct 23 (7) Oct 22 (7) Oct 21 (6) Oct 20 (8) Oct 19 (7) Oct 18 (6) Oct 17 (6) Oct 16 (8) Oct 15 (5) Oct 14 (6) Oct 13 (7) Oct 12 (5) Oct 11 (5) Oct 10 (8) Oct 09 (8) Oct 08 (7) Oct 07 (7) Oct 06 (7) Oct 05 (8) Oct 04 (6) Oct 03 (8) Oct 02 (3) Oct 01 (6) Sep 30 (10) Sep 29 (7) Sep 28 (10) Sep 27 (10) Sep 26 (11) Sep 25 (5) Sep 24 (6) Sep 23 (5) Sep 22 (5) Sep 21 (8) Sep 20 (8) Sep 19 (6) Sep 18 (6) Sep 17 (7) Sep 16 (5) Sep 15 (6) Sep 14 (5) Sep 13 (7) Sep 12 (5) Sep 11 (10) Sep 10 (4) Sep 09 (3) Sep 08 (8) Sep 07 (4) Sep 06 (7) Sep 05 (8) Sep 04 (7) Sep 03 (6) Sep 02 (4) Sep 01 (3) Aug 31 (6) Aug 30 (3) Aug 29 (4) Aug 28 (5) Aug 27 (6) Aug 26 (5) Aug 25 (9) Aug 24 (7) Aug 23 (8) Aug 22 (5) Aug 21 (9) Aug 20 (8) Aug 19 (7) Aug 18 (6) Aug 17 (5) Aug 16 (8) Aug 15 (6) Aug 14 (5) Aug 13 (6) Aug 12 (5) Aug 11 (7) Aug 10 (4) Aug 09 (9) Aug 08 (9) Aug 07 (5) Aug 06 (5) Aug 05 (6) Aug 04 (6) Aug 03 (7) Aug 02 (8) Aug 01 (3) Jul 31 (6) Jul 30 (7) Jul 29 (8) Jul 28 (8) Jul 27 (6) Jul 26 (9) Jul 25 (9) Jul 24 (7) Jul 23 (3) Jul 22 (7) Jul 21 (9) Jul 20 (6) Jul 19 (9) Jul 18 (7) Jul 17 (2) Jul 16 (5) Jul 15 (7) Jul 14 (7) Jul 13 (8) Jul 12 (4) Jul 11 (4) Jul 10 (7) Jul 09 (6) Jul 08 (6) Jul 07 (4) Jul 06 (4) Jul 05 (6) Jul 04 (8) Jul 03 (3) Jul 02 (7) Jul 01 (6) Jun 30 (4) Jun 29 (6) Jun 28 (5) Jun 27 (6) Jun 26 (6) Jun 25 (7) Jun 24 (4) Jun 23 (5) Jun 22 (7) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (6) Jun 19 (4) Jun 18 (6) Jun 17 (5) Jun 16 (6) Jun 15 (4) Jun 14 (5) Jun 13 (7) Jun 12 (8) Jun 11 (5) Jun 10 (4) Jun 09 (7) Jun 08 (6) Jun 07 (5) Jun 06 (7) Jun 05 (5) Jun 04 (6) Jun 03 (5) Jun 02 (8) Jun 01 (6) May 31 (7) May 30 (4) May 29 (5) May 28 (1) May 27 (5) May 26 (8) May 25 (5) May 24 (8) May 23 (8) May 22 (7) May 21 (5) May 20 (6) May 19 (9) May 18 (5) May 17 (9) May 16 (7) May 15 (5) May 14 (11) May 13 (6) May 12 (13) May 11 (5) May 10 (7) May 09 (7) May 08 (8) May 07 (9) May 06 (6) May 05 (5) May 04 (2) May 03 (6) May 02 (7) May 01 (4) Apr 30 (5) Apr 29 (7) Apr 28 (6) Apr 27 (6) Apr 26 (10) Apr 25 (7) Apr 24 (5) Apr 23 (4) Apr 22 (7) Apr 21 (3) Apr 20 (6) Apr 19 (6) Apr 18 (3) Apr 17 (10) Apr 16 (6) Apr 15 (6) Apr 14 (5) Apr 13 (4) Apr 12 (5) Apr 11 (10) Apr 10 (6) Apr 09 (6) Apr 08 (10) Apr 07 (6) Apr 06 (6) Apr 05 (5) Apr 04 (4) Apr 03 (5) Apr 02 (5) Apr 01 (6) Mar 31 (5) Mar 30 (9) Mar 29 (8) Mar 28 (8) Mar 27 (7) Mar 26 (9) Mar 25 (11) Mar 24 (10) Mar 23 (6) Mar 22 (8) Mar 21 (3) Mar 20 (6) Mar 19 (2) Mar 18 (9) Mar 17 (7) Mar 16 (6) Mar 15 (10) Mar 14 (6) Mar 13 (6) Mar 12 (10) Mar 11 (7) Mar 10 (8) Mar 09 (6) Mar 08 (5) Mar 07 (6) Mar 06 (7) Mar 05 (6) Mar 04 (10) Mar 03 (2) Mar 02 (8) Mar 01 (9) Feb 29 (11) Feb 28 (8) Feb 27 (6) Feb 26 (8) Feb 25 (8) Feb 24 (9) Feb 23 (12) Feb 22 (10) Feb 21 (11) Feb 20 (6) Feb 19 (5) Feb 18 (9) Feb 17 (9) Feb 16 (10) Feb 15 (8) Feb 14 (9) Feb 13 (8) Feb 12 (9) Feb 11 (7) Feb 10 (7) Feb 09 (7) Feb 08 (9) Feb 07 (7) Feb 06 (10) Feb 05 (10) Feb 04 (6) Feb 03 (8) Feb 02 (7) Feb 01 (6) Jan 31 (10) Jan 30 (4) Jan 29 (6) Jan 28 (9) Jan 27 (7) Jan 26 (8) Jan 25 (8) Jan 24 (7) Jan 23 (6) Jan 22 (8) Jan 21 (6) Jan 20 (10) Jan 19 (8) Jan 18 (6) Jan 17 (7) Jan 16 (4) Jan 15 (3) Jan 14 (8) Jan 13 (8) Jan 12 (6) Jan 11 (4) Jan 10 (6) Jan 09 (8) Jan 08 (4) Jan 07 (5) Jan 06 (6) Jan 05 (9) Jan 04 (4) Jan 03 (7) Jan 02 (6) Jan 01 (3) Dec 31 (6) Dec 30 (9) Dec 29 (6) Dec 28 (2) Dec 27 (8) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (6) Dec 24 (5) Dec 23 (6) Dec 22 (8) Dec 21 (8) Dec 20 (4) Dec 19 (8) Dec 18 (6) Dec 17 (8) Dec 16 (7) Dec 15 (9) Dec 14 (7) Dec 13 (4) Dec 12 (4) Dec 11 (5) Dec 10 (6) Dec 09 (4) Dec 08 (5) Dec 07 (4) Dec 06 (4) Dec 05 (5) Dec 04 (4) Dec 03 (4) Dec 02 (7) Dec 01 (7) Nov 30 (5) Nov 29 (5) Nov 28 (6) Nov 27 (3) Nov 26 (3) Nov 25 (5) Nov 24 (8) Nov 23 (2) Nov 22 (6) Nov 21 (5) Nov 20 (5) Nov 19 (4) Nov 18 (4) Nov 17 (4) Nov 16 (6) Nov 15 (5) Nov 14 (3) Nov 13 (6) Nov 12 (5) Nov 11 (4) Nov 10 (4) Nov 09 (2) Nov 08 (5) Nov 07 (4) Nov 06 (8) Nov 05 (5) Nov 04 (6) Nov 03 (6) Nov 02 (5) Nov 01 (5) Oct 31 (6) Oct 30 (6) Oct 29 (5) Oct 28 (5) Oct 27 (3) Oct 26 (5) Oct 25 (8) Oct 24 (7) Oct 23 (4) Oct 22 (7) Oct 21 (5) Oct 20 (5) Oct 19 (5) Oct 18 (6) Oct 17 (3) Oct 16 (2) Oct 15 (2) Oct 14 (2) Oct 13 (6) Oct 12 (9) Oct 11 (3) Oct 10 (6) Oct 09 (4) Oct 08 (5) Oct 07 (6) Oct 06 (6) Oct 05 (7) Oct 04 (5) Oct 03 (4) Oct 02 (5) Oct 01 (8) Sep 30 (3) Sep 29 (6) Sep 28 (6) Sep 27 (9) Sep 26 (4) Sep 25 (4) Sep 24 (5) Sep 23 (3) Sep 22 (6) Sep 21 (4) Sep 20 (4) Sep 19 (5) Sep 18 (7) Sep 17 (6) Sep 16 (7) Sep 15 (4) Sep 14 (8) Sep 13 (3) Sep 12 (7) Sep 11 (8) Sep 10 (5) Sep 09 (5) Sep 08 (8) Sep 07 (5) Sep 06 (6) Sep 05 (4) Sep 04 (7) Sep 03 (5) Sep 02 (4) Sep 01 (4) Aug 31 (5) Aug 30 (6) Aug 29 (5) Aug 28 (5) Aug 27 (4) Aug 26 (3) Aug 25 (7) Aug 24 (6) Aug 23 (6) Aug 22 (6) Aug 21 (5) Aug 20 (5) Aug 19 (5) Aug 18 (5) Aug 17 (5) Aug 16 (3) Aug 15 (7) Aug 14 (8) Aug 13 (8) Aug 12 (4) Aug 11 (6) Aug 10 (5) Aug 09 (4) Aug 08 (9) Aug 07 (6) Aug 06 (7) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (4) Aug 03 (6) Aug 02 (6) Aug 01 (6) Jul 31 (4) Jul 30 (5) Jul 29 (4) Jul 28 (6) Jul 27 (4) Jul 26 (3) Jul 25 (6) Jul 24 (4) Jul 23 (4) Jul 22 (5) Jul 21 (4) Jul 20 (2) Jul 19 (4) Jul 18 (7) Jul 17 (8) Jul 16 (5) Jul 15 (5) Jul 14 (4) Jul 13 (5) Jul 12 (4) Jul 11 (7) Jul 10 (5) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (2) Jul 07 (4) Jul 06 (4) Jul 05 (6) Jul 04 (4) Jul 03 (10) Jul 02 (4) Jul 01 (2) Jun 30 (3) Jun 29 (3) Jun 28 (4) Jun 27 (3) Jun 26 (6) Jun 25 (3) Jun 24 (3) Jun 23 (3) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (4) Jun 19 (3) Jun 18 (3) Jun 17 (3) Jun 16 (4) Jun 15 (3) Jun 14 (4) Jun 13 (3) Jun 12 (4) Jun 11 (2) Jun 10 (2) Jun 09 (2) Jun 08 (3) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (3) Jun 05 (1) Jun 04 (3) Jun 03 (2) Jun 02 (2) Jun 01 (2) May 31 (2) May 30 (3) May 29 (3) May 28 (5) May 27 (1) May 26 (1) May 25 (2) May 24 (2) May 23 (1) May 22 (2) May 21 (2) May 20 (3) May 19 (3) May 18 (2) May 17 (2) May 16 (2) May 15 (3) May 14 (2) May 13 (2) May 12 (2) May 11 (3) May 10 (3) May 09 (2) May 08 (3) May 07 (2) May 06 (2) May 05 (2) May 04 (2) May 03 (3) May 02 (2) May 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 30 (3) Jan 29 (4) Jan 28 (3) Jan 27 (2) Jan 26 (4) Jan 25 (3) Jan 24 (5) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (4) Jan 21 (3) Jan 20 (3) Jan 19 (6) Jan 18 (4) Jan 17 (3) Jan 16 (4) Jan 15 (3) Jan 14 (4) Jan 13 (3) Jan 12 (6) Jan 11 (4) Jan 10 (4) Jan 09 (3) Jan 08 (4) Jan 07 (3) Jan 06 (4) Jan 05 (3) Jan 04 (4) Jan 03 (5) Jan 02 (4) Jan 01 (3) Dec 31 (2) Dec 30 (2) Dec 29 (2) Dec 28 (3) Dec 27 (3) Dec 26 (2) Dec 25 (2) Dec 24 (3) Dec 23 (3) Dec 22 (3) Dec 21 (3) Dec 20 (4) Dec 19 (4) Dec 18 (5) Dec 17 (3) Dec 16 (3) Dec 15 (3) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (2) Dec 11 (6) Dec 10 (4) Dec 09 (4) Dec 08 (6) Dec 07 (5) Dec 06 (3) Dec 05 (3) Dec 04 (4) Dec 03 (3) Dec 02 (3) Dec 01 (4) Nov 30 (2) Nov 29 (3) Nov 28 (3) Nov 27 (2) Nov 26 (3) Nov 25 (5) Nov 24 (4) Nov 23 (6) Nov 22 (5) Nov 21 (4) Nov 20 (2) Nov 19 (5) Nov 18 (7) Nov 17 (5) Nov 16 (4) Nov 15 (6) Nov 14 (3) Nov 13 (3) Nov 12 (4) Nov 11 (3) Nov 10 (3) Nov 09 (4) Nov 08 (3) Nov 07 (2) Nov 06 (2) Nov 05 (2) Nov 04 (4) Nov 03 (4) Nov 02 (4) Nov 01 (2) Oct 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) Aug 01 (7) Jul 31 (5) Jul 30 (5) Jul 29 (4) Jul 28 (3) Jul 27 (3) Jul 26 (5) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (5) Jul 23 (5) Jul 22 (7) Jul 21 (5) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (5) Jul 18 (6) Jul 17 (5) Jul 16 (5) Jul 15 (6) Jul 14 (4) Jul 13 (3) Jul 12 (2) Jul 11 (2) Jul 10 (2) Jul 09 (2) Jul 08 (2) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (2) Jul 05 (2) Jul 04 (4) Jul 03 (3) Jul 02 (2) Jul 01 (8) Jun 30 (6) Jun 29 (4) Jun 28 (6) Jun 27 (6) Jun 26 (6) Jun 25 (6) Jun 24 (6) Jun 23 (4) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (4) Jun 19 (5) Jun 18 (8) Jun 17 (6) Jun 16 (5) Jun 15 (5) Jun 14 (5) Jun 13 (4) Jun 12 (4) Jun 11 (6) Jun 10 (4) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (5) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (3) Jun 05 (3) Jun 04 (3) Jun 03 (3) Jun 02 (3) Jun 01 (4) May 31 (2) May 30 (2) May 29 (2) May 28 (2) May 27 (4) May 26 (4) May 25 (3) May 24 (2) May 23 (2) May 22 (3) May 21 (5) May 20 (4) May 19 (2) May 18 (3) May 17 (3) May 16 (3) May 15 (4) May 14 (5) May 13 (3) May 12 (4) May 11 (3) May 10 (4) May 09 (4) May 08 (4) May 07 (3) May 06 (2) May 05 (3) May 04 (4) May 03 (2) May 02 (3) May 01 (3) Apr 30 (3) Apr 29 (4) Apr 28 (2) Apr 27 (3) Apr 26 (4) Apr 25 (2) Apr 24 (3) Apr 23 (2) Apr 22 (2) Apr 21 (4) Apr 20 (4) Apr 19 (5) Apr 18 (7) Apr 17 (6) Apr 16 (10) Apr 15 (5) Apr 14 (3) Apr 13 (4) Apr 12 (5) Apr 11 (4) Apr 10 (4) Apr 09 (7) Apr 08 (4) Apr 07 (7) Apr 06 (4) Apr 05 (7) Apr 04 (5) Apr 03 (4) Apr 02 (5) Apr 01 (5) Mar 31 (5) Mar 30 (5) Mar 29 (7) Mar 28 (6) Mar 27 (5) Mar 26 (5) Mar 25 (6) Mar 24 (5) Mar 23 (5) Mar 22 (5) Mar 21 (4) Mar 20 (3) Mar 19 (6) Mar 18 (6) Mar 17 (2) Mar 16 (4) Mar 15 (5) Mar 14 (4) Mar 13 (5) Mar 12 (5) Mar 11 (4) Mar 10 (4) Mar 09 (2) Mar 08 (5) Mar 07 (4) Mar 06 (3) Mar 05 (4) Mar 04 (6) Mar 03 (4) Mar 02 (4) Mar 01 (5) Feb 28 (6) Feb 27 (4) Feb 26 (4) Feb 25 (6) Feb 24 (2) Feb 23 (3) Feb 22 (4) Feb 21 (6) Feb 20 (2) Feb 19 (6) Feb 18 (4) Feb 17 (2) Feb 16 (3) Feb 15 (6) Feb 14 (6) Feb 13 (6) Feb 12 (9) Feb 11 (5) Feb 10 (3) Feb 09 (4) Feb 08 (4) Feb 07 (7) Feb 06 (3) Feb 05 (4) Feb 04 (5) Feb 03 (4) Feb 02 (3) Feb 01 (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 (4) Feb 27 (5) Feb 26 (6) Feb 25 (4) Feb 24 (5) Feb 23 (5) Feb 22 (4) Feb 21 (6) Feb 20 (6) Feb 19 (4) Feb 18 (4) Feb 17 (2) Feb 16 (4) Feb 15 (3) Feb 14 (4) Feb 13 (5) Feb 12 (4) Feb 11 (3) Feb 10 (4) Feb 09 (4) Feb 08 (3) Feb 07 (2) Feb 06 (3) Feb 05 (3) Feb 04 (4) Feb 03 (3) Feb 02 (3) Feb 01 (3) Jan 31 (3) Jan 30 (4) Jan 29 (3) Jan 28 (5) Jan 27 (3) Jan 26 (5) Jan 25 (3) Jan 24 (4) Jan 23 (2) Jan 22 (3) Jan 21 (4) Jan 20 (3) Jan 19 (4) Jan 18 (3) Jan 17 (3) Jan 16 (2) Jan 15 (2) Jan 14 (3) Jan 13 (2) Jan 12 (3) Jan 11 (3) Jan 10 (2) Jan 09 (4) Jan 08 (2) Jan 07 (2) Jan 06 (2) Jan 05 (3) Jan 04 (3) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (3) Jan 01 (1) Dec 31 (2) Dec 30 (2) Dec 29 (2) Dec 28 (2) Dec 27 (2) Dec 26 (2) Dec 25 (1) Dec 24 (2) Dec 23 (4) Dec 22 (3) Dec 21 (2) Dec 20 (1) Dec 19 (2) Dec 18 (3) Dec 17 (2) Dec 16 (2) Dec 15 (4) Dec 14 (2) Dec 13 (1) Dec 12 (3) Dec 11 (2) Dec 10 (2) Dec 09 (2) Dec 08 (3) Dec 07 (2) Dec 06 (1) Dec 05 (2) Dec 04 (1) Dec 03 (2) Dec 02 (2) Dec 01 (2) Nov 30 (2) Nov 29 (3) Nov 28 (2) Nov 27 (2) Nov 26 (1) Nov 25 (3) Nov 24 (1) Nov 23 (3) Nov 22 (1) Nov 21 (3) Nov 20 (2) Nov 18 (2) Nov 17 (1) Nov 16 (1) Nov 15 (1) Nov 14 (1) Nov 13 (2) Nov 12 (3) Nov 11 (2) Nov 10 (2) Nov 09 (1) Nov 08 (2) Nov 07 (1) Nov 06 (2) Nov 05 (2) Nov 04 (1) Nov 03 (1) Nov 02 (3) Nov 01 (2) Oct 31 (2) Oct 30 (2) Oct 29 (4) Oct 28 (2) Oct 27 (4) Oct 26 (2) Oct 25 (2) Oct 24 (4) Oct 23 (2) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (3) Oct 20 (3) Oct 19 (1) Oct 18 (3) Oct 17 (3) Oct 16 (2) Oct 15 (1) Oct 14 (2) Oct 13 (3) Oct 12 (2) Oct 10 (2) Oct 09 (3) Oct 08 (3) Oct 07 (3) Oct 06 (2) Oct 05 (4) Oct 04 (1) Oct 03 (2) Oct 02 (3) Oct 01 (3) Sep 30 (1) Sep 29 (2) Sep 28 (1) Sep 27 (3) Sep 26 (3) Sep 25 (2) Sep 24 (1) Sep 23 (2) Sep 22 (3) Sep 21 (1) Sep 20 (1) Sep 19 (2) Sep 17 (2) Sep 16 (2) Sep 15 (1) Sep 14 (1) Sep 13 (1) Sep 12 (3) Sep 11 (1) Sep 10 (2) Sep 09 (2) Sep 08 (2) Sep 07 (1) Sep 06 (1) Sep 05 (3) Sep 04 (2) Sep 03 (1) Sep 02 (1) Sep 01 (2) Aug 31 (2) Aug 30 (1) Aug 29 (2) Aug 28 (3) Aug 27 (2) Aug 26 (1) Aug 25 (1) Aug 24 (2) Aug 23 (2) Aug 22 (1) Aug 21 (1) Aug 20 (4) Aug 19 (1) Aug 18 (1) Aug 17 (2) Aug 16 (1) Aug 15 (2) Aug 14 (1) Aug 13 (1) Aug 12 (3) Aug 11 (2) Aug 10 (2) Aug 09 (1) Aug 08 (2) Aug 07 (1) Aug 06 (1) Aug 05 (1) Aug 04 (1) Aug 03 (2) Aug 01 (1) Jul 31 (2) Jul 30 (1) Jul 29 (4) Jul 28 (2) Jul 27 (3) Jul 26 (1) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (2) Jul 23 (2) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (1) Jul 20 (3) Jul 19 (2) Jul 18 (2) Jul 16 (3) Jul 15 (1) Jul 13 (2) Jul 12 (1) Jul 11 (2) Jul 09 (5) Jul 08 (1) Jul 07 (1) Jul 05 (2) Jul 04 (1) Jul 03 (2) Jul 01 (1) Jun 30 (1) Jun 29 (2) Jun 28 (2) Jun 27 (2) Jun 25 (2) Jun 24 (1) Jun 23 (2) Jun 22 (2) Jun 20 (1) Jun 17 (4) Jun 16 (1) Jun 15 (1) Jun 14 (3) Jun 12 (1) Jun 11 (1) Jun 08 (1) Jun 07 (1) Jun 05 (1) Jun 04 (1) Jun 03 (1) Jun 01 (1) May 31 (1) May 27 (2) May 25 (2) May 24 (1) May 23 (2) May 22 (1) May 21 (1) May 20 (2) May 19 (1) May 18 (1) May 17 (2) May 14 (1) May 13 (1) May 11 (2) May 10 (2) May 09 (1) May 07 (2) May 06 (1) May 05 (1) May 04 (1) May 03 (3) May 02 (1) May 01 (1) Apr 29 (1) Apr 28 (1) Apr 27 (1) Apr 25 (2) Apr 24 (3) Apr 23 (1) Apr 22 (2) Apr 21 (2) Apr 20 (1) Apr 19 (2) Apr 17 (1) Apr 15 (1) Apr 13 (1) Apr 10 (2) Apr 08 (1) Apr 07 (1) Apr 06 (3) Apr 05 (3) Apr 03 (1) Apr 02 (1) Apr 01 (2) Mar 31 (2) Mar 30 (1) Mar 29 (1) Mar 28 (1) Mar 25 (1) Mar 24 (1) Mar 22 (2) Mar 21 (1) Mar 20 (1) Mar 18 (1) Mar 17 (2) Mar 16 (1) Mar 14 (2) Mar 13 (4) Mar 12 (1) Mar 11 (1) Mar 10 (1) Mar 06 (4) Mar 05 (1) Mar 04 (1) Mar 03 (2) Mar 02 (2) Mar 01 (2) Feb 28 (2) Feb 27 (1) Feb 26 (1) Feb 25 (1) Feb 23 (2) Feb 19 (2) Feb 13 (1) Feb 12 (1) Feb 02 (1) Jan 31 (1) Jan 22 (1) Jan 18 (1) Jan 16 (1) Jan 09 (1) Jan 01 (1) Dec 20 (2) Dec 15 (1) Dec 13 (1) Dec 11 (1) Nov 30 (1) Nov 27 (1) Nov 20 (1) Nov 11 (1) Nov 10 (1) Oct 23 (1) Oct 20 (1) Oct 01 (1) Sep 30 (1) Sep 29 (1) Sep 24 (2) Sep 15 (1) Sep 13 (1) Sep 12 (1) Sep 08 (1) Sep 02 (2) Aug 31 (1) Aug 28 (1) Aug 27 (2) Aug 24 (1) Aug 21 (1) Aug 20 (1) Aug 18 (3) Aug 16 (1) Aug 15 (1) Aug 14 (1) Aug 11 (1) Aug 08 (1) Aug 07 (1) Aug 03 (1) Jul 27 (1) Jul 26 (1) Jul 24 (1) Jul 22 (1) Jul 21 (1) Jul 19 (1) Jul 15 (1) Jul 14 (1) Jul 13 (3) Jul 10 (1) Jul 08 (2) Jul 07 (1) Jul 06 (1) Jul 03 (1) Jul 01 (1) Jun 28 (1) Jun 24 (2) Jun 20 (1) Jun 19 (1) Jun 18 (1) Jun 15 (1) Jun 14 (2) Jun 11 (1) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (1) Jun 07 (1) Jun 06 (1) Jun 04 (2) Jun 03 (1) Jun 02 (2) Jun 01 (1) May 31 (3) May 30 (1) May 29 (1) May 28 (2) May 26 (1) May 25 (1) May 18 (1) May 17 (1) May 15 (1) May 09 (1) May 07 (2) May 02 (1) May 01 (1) Apr 30 (1) Apr 27 (1) Apr 26 (2) Apr 23 (1) Apr 22 (1) Apr 19 (1) Apr 18 (1) Apr 12 (1) Apr 11 (1) Apr 09 (1) Apr 07 (1) Apr 05 (1) Apr 01 (1) Mar 30 (1) Mar 27 (1) Mar 25 (1) Mar 22 (2) Mar 19 (1) Mar 18 (1) Mar 16 (1) Mar 15 (2) Mar 13 (1) Mar 12 (1) Mar 11 (1) Mar 10 (1)Drax Group plc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the generation and supply of electricity in the United Kingdom. The company operates through three segments: Generation, Customers, and, Pellet Production. It produces low carbon and renewable electricity; and provides system support services to the electricity grid. The company owns and operates Drax Power Station that produces electricity from biomass and coal with an installed capacity of 3,906 megawatts (MW) located in Selby, North Yorkshire; Cruachan Power Station, a pumped hydro storage station, with an installed capacity of 440 MW located in Argyll and Bute, western Scotland; and Lanark and Galloway hydro-electric power stations with an installed capacity of 126 MW located in southwest Scotland. It also owns and operates combined cycle gas turbine power stations, including Damhead Creek power station with an installed capacity of 805 MW; Rye House power station with an installed capacity of 715 MW; Shoreham power station with an installed capacity of 420 MW; and Blackburn power station with an installed capacity of 60 MW located in England. In addition, the company owns and operates Daldowie fuel plant that processes sludge from a wastewater treatment plant and converts it into dry and low-odour fuel pellets. Further, it manufactures and sells compressed wood pellets for use in electricity production; supplies and manages electricity and gas for large industrial and commercial sector customers, as well as small businesses; and provides debt recovery services. Drax Group plc was incorporated in 2005 and is based in Selby, the United Kingdom.

Read MoreGTT Communications, Inc. provides cloud networking services to multinational enterprises, carriers, and government customers in the United States, Europe, and internationally. The company offers wide area networking, such as software-defined wide area networking, multiprotocol label switching, and virtual private LAN service; high bandwidth-Internet connectivity and IP transit, as well as broadband and wireless Internet access services; managed equipment and security services; and unified communication services consisting of session initiation protocol trunking, cloud unified communication service, and traditional analog voice. It also provides transport services, such as Ethernet services that enable to design network equipment; and video transport services to support broadcast quality transmission of live events, sports entertainment, and news to media and entertainment industry. In addition, the company offers infrastructure services enabling transport of high volume data between data centers, enterprise office locations, and media hubs; wavelength services to deliver scalable high-performance optical connectivity; colocation, turnkey, duct, and dark fiber services; advanced solutions, including security, hybrid cloud, database, and application management Its IP network consists of approximately 600 points of presence. GTT Communications, Inc. markets its products and services through a network of direct sales force and indirect sales channels. The company was formerly known as Global Telecom & Technology, Inc. and changed its name to GTT Communications, Inc. in January 2014. GTT Communications, Inc. was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in McLean, Virginia.

Read MoreBiddeford-Saco-OOB Courier

Two new restaurants and a record store are on the way, and a cheese shop, and a clothing retailer are already calling the downtown street home.Armenian actor Marco Khan, who is very famous from the Hollywood movies is expressing his support to all the Armenians involved in the peaceful movement started by Nikol Pashinyan. In his interview with NEWS.am STYLE Marco talked about joining the protesters and supporting the movement.

When the movement started I wanted so bad to know whats going on! Then a young Armenian from Yerevan contacted me on FB to say something in support of the protesters. So I opened a video chat and to my surprise a young man was crying on the screen! I asked him why are you crying brother? He said "Mr. Marco, you don't know what this means to me! Your support and other famous Armenians from diaspora means a lot to us. And that was it for me, so I contacted some friends to ask for their advice and information on why and what was going on! Some warned me not to get involved because of the mafia connection! But to me this was a matter of right against wrong! So I decided to give them my 100% support and even at one of the many rallies in support of our brothers and sisters in Armenia I told them that I want to give my medal back to Serj! This is bigger than anything I've been involved at! I have much respect for all the people who marched and for Mr. Nikol Pashiniyan! This should have been done a long time ago! This is house-cleaning! I'm so thankful that so far everything has been peaceful ! Against all the police brutality and beatings the protesters stood peaceful and strong and the numbers grew and grew!.

The actor also adds. We got rid of the snakes head but the body still remains! If these people were Armenian's with conscience and heart they would not have robbed our country and filled up their bank accounts ! A real Armenian, will care for its people, like it was his/her own family! There is no room for anyone who is selfish with private agendas! No wonder they don't want to give up their positions! Each one of them lives in a big mansion and eats the best food while the people who they represent are starving and live under poverty! The Diaspora sends money and other things just to have these rats take the best and most of it and the tiny leftovers are distributed among the people who really need it! Diaspora is with you! We will always support Armenia. Now we need to find a leader who is going to redirect us/Armenia towards a better future!.

Marco thinks the ones who have been taking advantage of whatever has been coming in for years should leave and be replaced by true Armenians, who want what is the best for Armenia and Armenians.

I don't know a whole bunch about who to put my support behind! But I know Mr. Nikol Pashiniyan has the heart! The man walked for days and put his life on line, not knowing what could happen! I'm not a politician but I read people from their actions! My support lies behind Mr. Pashiniyan!!! To Serj Sargsyan, thank you for vacating finally and not starting a bloodshed! To others who are his leftovers! Please give up your seats voluntarily, the world is watching and so do our enemies! Please do the right thing for your country! If you have been stealing from the people the least you can do is to let someone else do the job!! This is the beginning of a New Armenia !! Let's make Armenia a place that Armenians will return instead of leave! I heard a remark from the Azeri defense minister that he said: " We don't need to attack on Armenia, in 10-20 years there won't be any left!" If you're a TRUE Armenian this should ring a LOUD bell in your soul!! Please let's make Armenia a better place! I want to come and live and die in my motherland!! I love my Armenia and my Armenian brother and sisters!.

Syune Arakelyan

Follow NEWS.am STYLE on Facebook, Twitter and InstagramThe Vietnamese government has given a range of priorities to foreign investors to develop production and do business in Vietnam, including those from Singapore, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc told business leaders in the city-state on Friday.

The government will assign relevant ministries, agencies and localities to coordinate with Singaporean investors to speed up the implementation of their projects in the country, PM Phuc said at a dialogue with 15 chairpersons and CEOs of leading Singaporean groups and businesses.

The Vietnamese premier applauded Singaporean enterprises which have plans to expand investment in the areas of Vietnams priorities, and noted that they should carry out their projects on schedule, observe Vietnams laws and harmonize interests of the state, the investors and people.

Singapore has become Vietnams most important economic partner in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) with more than 2,000 projects worth US$43 billion, and two-way trade reaching $8.3 billion in 2017, according to the premier.

The government leader noted that Singapore is also a gateway for multi-national groups and international tourists to enter Vietnam, and helps the country get easier access to the world.

PM Phuc briefed the corporate leaders on Vietnams business environment which ranked 68th out of 190 countries surveyed by the World Bank, up 30 places as compared with 2012. The country was placed 55th out of 137 countries in terms of competitiveness in the rankings of the Word Economic Forum, he added.

The PM also cited a fact that 55 percent of the Vietnamese population are using the Internet and nearly 50 percent accessing the social network and around 130 million mobile phone subscriptions as favorable conditions for investors.

The Vietnamese government always pays attention to policy dialogue mechanisms to clear up concerns of the business community, including those from Singapore, he underlined.

Corporate leaders participating in the dialogue spoke highly of Vietnams outstanding achievements in economic development, particularly the countrys innovated mindset in building and implementing polices.

The opener and more favorable investment procedures in Vietnam have help businesses save time and costs, they underlined.

The corporate leaders told PM Phuc that Singaporean businesses have devised strategies and stand ready to invest in such areas as logistics, renewable energy, software industry, smart city building, education-training, transportation and cruise tourism in Vietnam.

The investors committed to introducing the worlds most advanced technologies to Vietnam through projects, thus helping generate more jobs and incomes for local people,Vietnam recorded a trade surplus of US$3.1 billion in the year to April 15, the latest statistics from the General Department of Vietnam Customs show.

The countrys exports in the four-month period topped $64.4 billion, up 22.8 percent from the same period last year, while imports stood at $61.3 billion, according to the Vietnam News Agency.

This means a total import-export turnover of $125.7 billion, a 17 percent rise year on year, and a trade surplus of $3.1 billion.

Mobile phones and components, garments-textiles, computers and electronic components, and machines and equipment remain Vietnams major export staples. Footwear, transport vehicles and accessories, timber and wooden products, aquatic products, coffee, and iron and steel also contributed greatly to the strong export results.

As of mid-April, foreign direct investment (FDI) businesses posted a trade surplus of $9.4 billion, according to the Vietnam News Agency.

FDI firms raked in $45.9 billion from exports, against imports of $36.5 billion. The FDI sectors exports rose24.3 percent from the same period last year, making up 71.3 percent of Vietnams total export revenue.

Vietnams export-import turnover hit a record $400 billion in 2017, representing a fourfold increase from its first-ever $100 billion mark in 2007, the year it joined the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The figure rose to $200 billion in 2011, and $300 billion in 2015.

Vietnam currently has 30 export groups with an annual turnover of at least $1 billion each, including textiles, leather, footwear, coal and crude oil.

Vietnam has trade relations with more than 200 countries and territories around the world, gradually moving import-export markets from Asia to Europe and America.The movie, directed by Luong Dinh Dung, was among 15 entries from 13 countries shortlisted for the festivals Eastern Vista Awards, which recognizes films from Asian and Islamic countries.

The five-member board of judges, headed by three-time Oscar-winning American director Oliver Stone, praised the Vietnamese movie for the simplicity and homeliness in its narrative that stood out from the remaining award contenders.

Father and Son tells the story of a father and his ill son who live in rural Vietnam and their journey to the city seeking treatment.

The official trailer for Cha Cong Con (Father and Son).

Dung, however, lost the Best Asian Director award to Irans Maryam Bahrololumi, who was honored for his direction in the movie Patio, a feminine story set in an urban space.

The movie by Luong Dinh Dung last year won the second prize at the 20th Vietnam Film Festival in the central city of Da Nang, losing to multimillion-dollar grossing flick Em Chua 18 (Jailbait) in the Best Film category.

Vietnamese director Luong Dinh Dung (second left) delivers his acceptance speech after receiving the Best Asian Film award for his movie Cha Cong Con (Father and Son) at the 36th Fajr International Film Festival in Tehran, Iran, April 27, 2018.

Established in 1982, the Fajr International Film Festival (FIff) is sponsored by Irans Ministry of Culture to celebrate creative achievements in local and international cinema.

In its 36th edition, the 2018 FIff was held April 19-27 in the Iranian capital city of Tehran.

The festivals top award for Best Film in international competition went to Aga by director Milko Lazarov, co-produced by Bulgaria, Germany and France.

Vietnamese director Luong Dinh Dung (C) is interviewed after receiving the Best Asian Film award for his movie Cha Cong Con (Father and Son) at the 36th Fajr International Film Festival in Tehran, Iran, April 27, 2018.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!The man behind a ring that managed to illegally fell down and transport a large amount of logs with impunity in Vietnams Central Highlands has been arrested, along with several members of the racket, police said on Friday.

Ringleader Phan Huu Phuong, 48, was nabbed and taken into custody after police raided his residence in Ea TLinh, a town in Cu Jut District, Dak Nong Province.

Phuong and some of his ring members are being investigated for their involvement in serious illegal logging activities at the local Yok Don National Park, located at the border of Vietnam and Cambodia, according to police.

Police come and arrest Pham Huu Phuong at his residence.

During Fridays raid, officers also confiscated 37 cubic meters of illegally logged timber, stored inside two trucks, at a workshop owned by Phuong, and various logging tools and piles of logs at an illegal logging site inside the park.

Phuong had managed to take the illegal logs out of the national part without impunity, even though he had to pass several check points run by the local border guard and forest ranger units.

Police thus hold suspicion that the ring had been abetted by local authorities.

The Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security has sent a team of officers to help local police in further investigation of the case.

Curious neighbors surround the residence of Pham Huu Phuong when police raid the house. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Illegal logs are seized by local Police in Dak Nong. Photo: Tuoi TreA woman who won a beauty contest for Vietnamese businesspeople has been charged with orchestrating activities in selling illegal value-added tax invoices that are collectively associated with millions of dollars.

Authorities in the northern city of Hai Phong have broken up a massive invoice sale ring lead by Nguyen Thi Nhung, local police officer Nguyen Duc Cuong told Tuoi Tre (Youth) on Friday.

She was the queen of Miss Vietnam Global Business 2018, a competition judged by celebrities which took place on a luxury cruise ship visiting Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

According to case records, companies registered in trading goods of enormous value suspiciously mushroomed on the same street of Hung Vuong in the citys Hong Bang District.

Police discovered that the firms neither operated nor stored the products they claimed to provide, although they had their own offices and transaction locations.

A three-month probe revealed that the businesses were all established to sell value-added tax invoices.

Documents found at an invoice-selling company are seen in this photo provided by police

The money-making scheme was organized by Nhung, a Hai Phong resident at the time worked as the manager of a joint-stock company.

Her accomplices include Vu Thi Anh Tuyet, 43, who contacted and carried out transactions with customers, and Tran Thi Minh Thu, 37, responsible for printing and filling out invoices.

People to whom Nhung assigned work in the racketeering had no knowledge of the job of each other  a practice which helped her shield the activity from authorities.

The woman has built up 17 companies for the scam, and managed to sell a large number of invoices which must have given her VND1.5 trillion (US$66 million), according to police estimates.

Tuyet and Thu have been taken into custody while the ring leader is still wanted.

Nhung was praised as a businesswoman of beauty, confidence, talent and adroitness, willing to join charity causes and social activities.Part 2 of an Australian Story special continues to look at a campaign to have a former Victorian principal address abuse allegations.

In our concluding episode, Dassi Erlich, and her sisters Nicole and Elly, champion an audacious undercover operation designed to show their former headmistress and alleged abuser Malka Leifer is capable of facing court. Australian Story goes behind the scenes with the lead private investigator.

I had the idea, what if we could prove that she (Malka Leifer) was in fact lying? Shana Aaronson, Jewish Community Watch

We heard that Shana had hired investigators to follow Leifer and to show the world what she was actually doing and the life that she was living. Elly Sapper

In 2008, when former headmistress Malka Leifer fled to Israel with the assistance of her school, Dassi Erlich and her sisters tried to put the past behind them.

But memories of the abuse they say they suffered at the hands of Malka Leifer began to resurface and the sisters felt compelled to act. They went to police with their story and in 2012, police lodged a request for Malka Leifers extradition on 74 counts of child sexual abuse.

However, the path to justice has been painstakingly slow. The court effectively put a halt to extradition proceedings when Malka Leifer successfully argued that she was unable to attend court due to incapacitating mental illness.

But last year, having seen a photo of Malka Leifer leading an apparently normal life, Dassi Erlich and her two sisters began a concerted campaign to bring her back to Australia.

A sophisticated undercover operation followed and surveillance footage, showing a seemingly well-adjusted woman in a fit state to front the court, gave them the ammunition they had been looking for.

We understood that we have something big. We have something in our hand that can change the picture. Lead private investigator Tsafrir Tsahi

Last month the former headmistress was arrested on charges of feigning illness and obstructing justice and placed in custody. As they await Malka Leifers appearance before an Israeli court next week, Dassi, Nicole and Elly have newfound hope that she will one day face justice.

8pm Monday on ABC.CNN Business Traveller host Richard Quest journeys the historic Australia / UK route both ways: as it was in 1947 by making stops along the old route, and on board the new 17+ hour nonstop flight from Perth to London.

CNN Business Traveller will make this journey over two episodes and this month, in part one, the program will see host Richard Quest on board the inaugural Qantas nonstop from Perth to London. The 17+ hour trip is re-imagined, from food to the flight experience to methods which can help minimize jet lag. The ultra-long haul has evolved and CNN Business Traveller will explore why its not only possible now, its also profitable.

Simultaneously, the program will see Richard Quest don 1940s clothing and make stops along the old Kangaroo Route. An overnight in Singapore will explore the city states pivotal role in aviation history and a visit to Indias financial capital Mumbai provides an authentic taste of what the cosmopolitan city offers its international travellers.

Sunday, 29th April at 9:30pm AEST on CNN.

Monday, 30th April at 7:300m / 6:30pm AEST

Tuesday, 1st May at 7:30pm AEST

Wednesday 2nd May at 2:30am AESTWith Game of Thrones drawing to a close, the next choice for its profile cast must be a discerning move and for Kit Harington (Jon Snow) it is a passion project, Gunpowder.

Harington is a direct descendant of Robert Catesby, the leader of a group of provincial English Catholics who planned the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 against the Protestant King James I. While many people are familiar with the story of Guy Fawkes, it was Haringtons own mother who would tell him not many people knew that Catesby was the leader of the plot (Catesby its even Haringtons own middle name).

Now he gets to play his ancestor, and serve as executive producer on a 3 part BBC drama scripted by Ronan Bennett (Top Boy, Hidden).

A top-notch cast has been assembled for this saga set in the early 1600s. It is a time when England was at war with Catholic Spain, forcing Catholics in England underground. When young Catesby (Harington) sees the torturous deaths of his kin he vows revenge on the King. Gathering all the best Jon Snow fury within him he begins to plot an assassination attempt on the throne (remind you of anything?).

But Sir Robert Cecil (Mark Gatiss), Secretary of State, works to protect the King whether by brute force executed by a thuggish Sir William Wade (Shaun Dooley) or by overtures impressed upon the handsome young Philip (Hugh Alexander) who enjoys the intimacy of the King.

Meanwhile Jesuit priest Henry Garnet (Peter Mullan) endeavours to remain elusive from Royal arrest, whilst advising young Catesby on his next political move, and trying to bring him closer to his own young son, born as his mother died during childbirth.

Another sympathist is Anne (Liv Tyler), who remains loyal to the Papacy and Catesby even as she watches the fatal cost of insurgency surround her.

The politics and action makes for some grand drama, under director J Blakeson (The 5th Wave, The Disappearance of Alice Creed). The Jacobean setting allows for any number of immersive, period settings, whether in royal courts or impoverished back alleys. Crowd scenes are decked out in costumes that add to the overall effect of money on the screen, whilst Volker Bertelmann scores an ominous soundtrack.

Bennetts script is also well-focussed. A lengthy opening scene helps set the scene when so many other dramas bombard with multiple characters.

Haringtons Catesby is but a stones throw from Jon Snow as hero, and I struggled to discern much shift in his acting style (not that Im complaining, given he is so strong). Mark Gatiss has insidious fun as the villainous Cecil, right down to purring his lines from a head barely detached from his left shoulder. Tom Cullen will appear later as Guy Fawkes as the plot, literally, progresses.

Gunpowder is bigger on action and violence than the malevolent Wolf Hall, but it pitches more broadly with a solid understanding of its audience.

8:30pm Tuesday on BBC First.THE OPCW heard from Eye witness accounts of the alleged Douma chemical weapons attack last week. The event that garnered very little media attention in the west and boycotted by the US, UK and France, was filled with eye witness testimonies that underlined that the alleged chemical weapons attack was likely to be faked.

The witnesses included an 11-year old boy who can be seen in the video of the aftermath of the alleged attacked being doused with water.

Testimonies against western propaganda

Unsurprisingly, the west claimed that this was merely a propaganda event and rather than hear what they had to say, the UK, US and France boycotted the event.

This is ironic considering they frequently condemn Russia for boycotted anything within the UN. Nonetheless, the Syrians were flown to Europe to tell their stories at the OPCW; ushered into a roomful of reporters at a nearby hotel where they all repeated nearly identical accounts: There was no Chemical Attack in Douma, near Damascus, on April 7.

A doctor from the Douma hospital, also participating at the conference as a witness, said that what happened on April 7 is not corresponding with what was shown in the media. People were arriving at the hospital suffering from asphyxiation, not from a chemical attack. Douma hospital emergency ward administrator Ahmad Kashoi explained, there were people unknown to us who were filming the emergency care.

They were filming the chaos taking place inside and were filming people being doused with water. The instruments they used to douse them with water were originally used to clean the floors

The OPCW has separately interviewed 6 of the 17 witnesses brought forward, however, it is unknown at this point what questions were asked and the report by the OPCW is yet to be released.

There is significant doubt over the alleged attack and the boycott of the event is just a petty act. Russia were accused of carrying out an obscene masquerade for transporting 17 Syrian people to Europe to assert that no chemical weapons attack occurred in the town of Douma earlier this month. Most media in the west is unable to pry itself from its own propaganda that they have belittle organisations like the OPCW and attack Russia over gathering evidence to back their claim up, something the UK, US and France failed to do before they bombed Syria.Kim Jong-Un made history when he was the first North Korean leader to visit South Korea on a diplomatic mission since the 1950s. Both Kim Jong-un and his counterpart Moon Jai-in say that these talks will begin the process of bringing the 1950-53 conflict to a close and are looking to work with both the US and China, which will bring a formal end to the conflict.

Mr Moon and Mr Kim said they would hold three- or four-way discussions with the US and possibly China, with a view to signing the treaty later this year.

The Summit

This is a huge diplomatic move by the secretive state, who have been in the US crosshairs for some time now.

This visit is just the beginning of talks between the two states, where they are looking to formally bring to close the Korean War, 65 years after hostilities ended. Both leaders have stayed that they wish to hold discussions with the US and possibly China, with the view to signing a treaty at the end of the year. Russia have welcomed the talks to help deescalate the tensions within the region.

The Two Korean leaders also signed a joint declaration to agree to stop all hostile acts over land, sea and air that can cause military tensions and clashes. Significantly, both leaders have expressed their commitment to complete denuclearisation of the region. However, there hasnt been a specific measure mentioned to complete this objective.

Previously, Kim Jong-un has stated that it can disarm only when the US withdraws its 28,500 troops in South Korea.

Why did North Korea want Nuclear weapons?

From beyond the Korean War, when UN led troops laid waste to villages, crops and communications, to the use of napalm that turned white snow black. The constant rhetoric from Western media to portray the leader of North Korea (NK) as mad, is simply a guise to make it easier to convince the public that war is necessary for the state to be brought into line with US and UK imperialism.

When Korea was originally partitioned, it was the North that was given to Russia and South to Western nations and this geopolitical struggle still resides today.

In 2003, the US scrapped the 1994 agreement, which meant that NK would suspend its nuclear program if the US builds two light water reactors within the state, along with a step-by-step normalisation of relations.

Even after the US had scrapped the agreement, NK had not reinstated its nuclear program on the reactors, which by now would be making enough plutonium to be making several nuclear weapons a year if they had done at the time. However, George Bush had decided that NK were part of the axis of evil.

This was when he withdrew from the framework and invaded Iraq on the false claims of WMDs, after which NK began enriching uranium and made subsequent progress towards developing ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons. But in September 2016, North Korean cyber-defence forces hacked into South Korean military computers and downloaded 235 gigabytes of documents. These documents contained evidence that the US had been planning a regime change in NK and assassinate Kim Jong-un.

This triggered the alarm bells in Pyongyang and the awareness of the fate of Iraqi and Libyan leaders, Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi, the state quickly began a crash program to expand its nuclear weapons capabilities. Importantly, they were developing their ability to launch a retaliatory strike at the US. But the Western media have largely left out the information that shows Kim Jong-un in a different manner from the mad leader of a secretive state who is developing nuclear weapons, as they are purely for retaliation against US escalation and their desire to forcibly remove the leader.(Adds WPP comment)

LONDON, April 28 (Reuters) - The boss of Kantar, the data and market research division of advertising giant WPP (Frankfurt: A1J2BZ - news) , has been sounding out backers for a potential 3.5 billion pounds ($4.8 billion) management buyout of the unit, The Times reported.

Without citing sources, the newspaper said Eric Salama has been in talks with banks and private equity firms since Martin Sorrell stood down as WPP chief executive two weeks ago.

Sorrell's exit after 33 years triggered speculation that WPP (Swiss: OXWPP.SW - news) could be broken up.

The Times said Salama would ideally want the WPP businesses to remain together but would be keen to lead a buyout if investors push for the sale of Kantar.

A spokesman for WPP said executive chairman Roberto Quarta, and co-chief operating officers Mark Read and Andrew Scott are reviewing the group's strategy.

"It is too early to speculate about specific asset sales. In the meantime, it has been made clear that they don't believe breaking up the group makes sense," he said.

WPP will on Monday publish first quarter results - its first set of numbers since Sorrell quit. ($1 = 0.7254 pounds) (Reporting by James Davey Editing by Andrew Heavens and Robin Pomeroy)ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece on Saturday approved a deal with the United States to upgrade dozens of its F-16 fighter jets at a cost of roughly 1.2 billion euros (1.06 billion pounds), a measure the bailed-out country said would not harm its future fiscal progress.

The potential deal to overhaul the aircraft came to light during a visit by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to the White House in October.

Greece's top decision-making body on foreign affairs and defence matters, KYSEA, which Tsipras heads, unanimously sealed the agreement for the upgrade on Saturday, the premier's press office said in a statement.

Three of the 85 jets earmarked for modernisation will be upgraded in the United States while the rest will be refurbished in Greece, a Greek defence ministry source said, adding that the cost would be about 1.2 billion euros.

The government said last year the overhaul would be paid in annual instalments of about 110 million euros over a decade.

Athens said on Saturday that Washington had accepted a revised Greek proposal that takes into consideration the country's fiscal obligations in the coming years. It did not give details on the revised proposal.

Greece, which will exit its third international bailout in August but will still have to attain primary budget surpluses in the medium term, has said the deal should not worry its EU lenders.

Defence spending has been reduced during Greece's seven-year debt crisis, which shrank the size of its economy by more than a quarter and drove its jobless rate to nearly 28 percent.

However, the country still spends about 2 percent of its gross domestic product -- roughly 3.5 billion euros -- on defence, more than the EU's average. That is largely due to long-standing tensions with its neighbour and fellow NATO member Turkey, which have risen in recent months.

(Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou; Editing by Helen Popper)Finnish Vice President of the European Commission Olli Rehn is pictured at the start of his European Parliament election campaign in Helsinki April 11, 2014. REUTERS/Mikko Stig/Lehtikuva

By Jussi Rosendahl

HELSINKI (Reuters) - The European Union's former top economic official Olli Rehn has been proposed by a Finnish parliamentary council to become the next governor of the Bank of Finland from July.

Rehn beat ECB supervisory board member Pentti Hakkarainen in the race for the top job thanks to his overall view of economic and monetary policy and experience in international policymaking, said Matti Vanhanen, the chairman of the council of lawmakers that conducted the selection process.

His appointment for the seven-year term is expected to be made by the president next month.

Rehn, currently the bank's deputy governor, was widely considered to be the favourite for the job that also includes membership of the European Central Bank's rate-setting governing council.

Rehn, 56, spent a decade at the European Commission, and during the euro zone debt crisis was economic and monetary affairs commissioner.

"It was a difficult choice (between Rehn and Hakkarainen), but eventually an unanimous one," Vanhanen told Reuters.

"Working as the EU's economy commissioner, who also participated in the ECB meetings at the time when crisis mechanisms were created under extreme pressure, that has given him an exceptional experience."

As the commissioner, Rehn became known for advocating strict fiscal discipline and structural reforms for troubled European states.

Rehn later had a short stint as Finland's economy minister, helping the centre-right government to clinch a historic labour reform deal with the country's powerful trade unions.

Vanhanen denied that party politics had anything to do with the choice, pointing out that opposition parties were also represented in the council. Rehn belongs to Prime Minister Juha Sipila's Centre Party.

Nine other people, all of them men, applied for the governor post. Rehn has declined to comment before final appointment.

Rehn will succeed Erkki Liikanen, 67, who will complete his second and final seven-year term in July. Major policy changes are not expected.

Story continues

Analysts said Finland was seen as a moderately hawkish euro member that largely backed ECB President Mario Draghi, while the central bank's analysis was well regarded at the ECB.

"Rehn is not filling any small shoes here, Liikanen has made an impact at the ECB," said economist Pasi Kuoppamaki from Danske Bank.

Liikanen has been speculated upon as a possible compromise candidate from a northern country to succeed Draghi in 2019.

(Reporting by Jussi Rosendahl; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Alison Williams)MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia has given preliminary approval to a bid by U.S. oilfield services giant Schlumberger <SLB.N> to acquire up to 49 percent of Russia's Eurasia Drilling Co (EDC), an unexpected decision given a chilling in U.S.-Russian relations.

Washington has introduced a number of sanctions, including restrictions on financing for Russian companies over Moscow's role in Ukraine's crisis and alleged meddling in the U.S. 2016 presidential election.

RIA news agency cited Igor Artemyev, head of Russia's anti-monopoly body (FAS), as saying the regulator would quickly start talks with Schlumberger, the largest oilfield services company by revenue.

"We (will) immediately start the talks with Schlumberger and hope that we are moving to the final stretch," he was quoted by RIA as saying after a Russian government meeting on foreign investments.

The FAS said later on Saturday that the government investment commission had decided to extend the time frame for examining the deal, but it was not immediately clear how long that could take.

Schlumberger had initially planned to buy 51 percent in EDC, but decided to scale down its bid. The deal has faced difficulties as relations between Russia and the United States have deteriorated.

This is a second attempt by Schlumberger to acquire Russia's leading oilfield services provider. In 2015, Schlumberger agreed to buy 45.65 percent of EDC for $1.7 billion (1.23 billion pounds), but the deal fell through after the FAS repeatedly postponed its approval. Later that year, EDC delisted its shares on the London Stock Exchange.

For Schlumberger, the investment would mean access to the Russian oil market, one of the world's largest, at a time of rising crude prices.

(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Additional reporting by Maxim Rodionov; Editing by Helen Popper)BOSASO, Somalia (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed three senior military officials in the Somali town of Galkayo on Saturday, police said, an attack claimed by the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab group.

The officers, including a military commander, were killed in their camp in the town, police officer Abdirahman Haji said. "The death toll may rise," he added.

(Reporting by Abdiqani Hassan; additional reporting by Abdi Sheikh and Feisal Omar in Mogadishu; Editing by George Obulutsa and Andrew Heavens)

See Also:The first non-stop flight from the UK to Australia has launched (Qantas)

When the first Kangaroo Route flight connecting the UK to Australia was launched by Qantas in 1947, the journey took four days, stopped off six times and carried just 29 passengers and 11 crew members.

71 years later, the Aussie airline has launched the first non-stop flight between Blighty and Down Under, jetting from London to Perth in a single 17-hour stint.

Its not quite the longest flight in the world  that dubious accolade is held by Qatar Airways heroic Doha-Auckland slog.

But its still enough time to watch the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy  plus the first two Hobbit films.

Its comfortably long enough to drive from Heathrow to Edinburgh and back again.

You could cycle to Sheffield from the terminal, or walk to Winchester at a leisurely pace.

Arriving at the check-in desk at Heathrow, all of those options were looking preferable to being wedged into a chair breathing in other peoples halitosis for the best part of a day.

The epic journey takes 17 hours (Qantas)

Qantas insists its new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners are stocked with design features to make the experience of ultra-long-haul more bearable.

The planes have larger windows than usual, and cabin pressure is closer to that found on terra firma than on standard flights. And the humidity is higher than the usual Saharan levels.

Even the food is designed to beat jet lag  meals are light and healthy, Qantas says, and contain proteins that promote the production of the sleep hormone melatonin.

Does this clever trickery actually make any difference in practice? I took off from Heathrow to find out.

Full disclosure at this point: I was travelling in Premium Economy. The seats are wider than the ones at the back and they recline further.

The food is fancier and there are more cabin crew members per person.

But, theres no getting away from the fact that this is almost a full rotation of the earth spent in the same chair.

The premium economy seats vs the economy seats on board

Two hours before take off

Arrive at Heathrow and check in at the Qantas desk with a slight sense of trepidation. Are my trousers really comfortable enough? What if my new book is boring?

Story continues

These concerns see me through security and into duty free where I buy an emergency litre of water.

45 minutes before take off

Stride around departures to make the most of these final moments of freedom.

Marvel at the couple boarding with their tiny baby. Smile at them encouragingly while praying they arent sitting anywhere near me.

15 minutes before take off

Settle into my window seat and have a final gaze at a drizzly and grey London. Maybe this is a good idea after all.

Have a chat with my friendly Aussie neighbour, who it turns out is an amateur aviation buff who was on board the very first non-stop flight from Perth to London a few days ago. He doesnt appear to be too traumatised by the experience and excitedly shows me the autograph he got from the flights captain. Time to put on my noise-cancelling headphones.

We take off at 1.15pm UK time.

30 minutes in

Seatbelt signs are off. You know its a long flight when the cabin crew make an announcement reminding passengers theyre not allowed to sleep on the floor.

Two hours in

First appearance of the bar trolley, staffed by a chirpy and helpful cabin team. Munch on a virtuous nut mix and an Aussie chardonnay. Diligently down some water.

15 hours to go

Realise its coming up to bed time at our destination.

Two and a half hours in

Grubs up. Im devastated to discover I accidentally ordered a vegan meal rather than a vegetarian one. The one thing plainer than plane food? Vegan plane food. Console myself with wine number two.

The vegan option

Three hours in

Ive finished a film and completed two levels of Candy Crush. So far so productive. Its 11pm in Perth but sleep is feeling some way off.

Five hours in

Wander round the cabin to stretch my now pretty stiff legs and poke my nose into business class. The other half are wearing their free Qantas pyjamas and lying down on their flat beds. Very jealous.

Business class, where the seats convert to flat beds

Back in my seat I scroll through the world map, which helpfully informs me that its 6.30 am in Honolulu.

Five and a half hours in

Cabin lights are dimmed to signal the arrival of night, but Im still resolutely on UK time. Start another film  its a weepy. Luckily my neighbour is gently snoring and hasnt noticed my emotional outpouring.

Six and a half hours in

Realise that Ive spent 15 minutes spying on a middle-aged man in the row in front having the time of his life watching Boss Baby. Must be cabin fever kicking in.

Eight and a half hours in

Half way! Drink more water and engage in some low-level contortion to climb over my snoozing seat buddy and go for another miniature stroll. Return and settle in for some kip. The Boss Baby fan is now watching Frozen.

Edging towards the destination

14 hours in

Wake up after a reasonably successful slumber. Theres a little net suspended from the seat in front of you for resting your feet which makes things a little bit more comfortable. Breakfast is served. Look enviously at other peoples cheesy omelettes as I tuck into a mysteriously spongy vegan substitute.

15 hours in

Feeling a little woozy and not very well rested but the unbearable stuffiness I associate with long-haul doesnt seem to have materialised. Maybe all that cabin pressure / moisture level science is stacking up.

16 and a half hours in

Peer out of the window as we descend towards Perth. We land just shy of 17 hours before take-off.

Im feeling surprisingly fresh for someone whos just jetted halfway across the world. Sure, my body thinks its the middle of the night and my last two meals have consisted of dairy-free pulp, but Id that would be the case if Id chosen a flight with a pit-stop in Dubai or Hong Kong.

Before and after: Just boarded and just landed

Not having to wake up when youve finally dozed off to trudge through security was a welcome relief, and the souped-up cabin conditions really do pay off.

Given the chance, Id choose the ultra-long-haul again next time.By Hasmik Mkrtchyan

YEREVAN (Reuters) - Armenia's ruling party will not put up a candidate for prime minister, it said on Saturday, in a bid to ease tensions after more than two weeks of street protests against the ruling elite.

Demonstrations against the party and official corruption forced Serzh Sarksyanm, a former president, to resign as prime minister last Monday and parliament is due to pick a new one on May 1.

While its majority in parliament means it should be able to choose who that is, the Republican Party has decided not to put forward its own candidate.

"By not putting forward a candidate, we will avoid confrontation and an increase in security risks," party spokesman Eduard Sharmazanov told reporters.

"We are not putting anyone forward in the state's interest."

Protest leader Nikol Pashinyan, a member of parliament who describes himself as "the people's choice", has said parliament should elect him prime minister next week. He then wants snap parliamentary polls under a new election law.

On Saturday he called on supporters to continue protests and to organise big, non-violent demonstrations in the capital Yerevan on May 1.

"All protest actions, actions of civil disobedience, should be renewed with new force. The victory of the people must be recognised," Pashinyan, 42, told a rally in the town of Ijevan.

With the Republican Party's 58 seats in the 105-seat parliament, Pashinyan is unlikely to be elected without their support.

However, the second biggest party in parliament, Prosperous Armenia, hinted it might support him.

"My team and I will vote for a people's candidate, whether it's Nikol Pashinyan or anyone else nominated by the people," party leader Gagik Tsarukyan told Kentron TV.

A junior coalition member, the Dashnaktsutyun Party, said this week it was quitting the government and favoured an early election, but it was unclear whether it would vote for Pashinyan who has a history of political activism and opposition.

Story continues

Although the demonstrations have been peaceful, the upheaval has threatened to destabilise Armenia, an ally of Russia, in a volatile region riven by Armenia's decades-long, low-level conflict with neighbouring Azerbaijan.

The next parliamentary elections are not due until 2022. But if parliament fails twice to elect a new prime minister with majority support, early elections must be held.

(Additional reporting by Maxim Rodionov in Moscow; Writing by Polina Devitt/Andrew Osborn/Margarita Antidze; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)Reach for a packet of sugar in the cafe, browse the shelves at supermarkets, or take a look at the packaging of your favourite sweet treat, and you are likely to see the Fairtrade label. Whats more, the UKs Modern Slavery Act requires large companies to publicly report on the steps they take to ensure that forced labour is not a part of their products. The EUs non-financial reporting requirements broaden out from modern slavery to include many issues related to social responsibility and human rights.

Provisions such as these, as well as a multitude of corporate social responsibility programmes and industry specific commitments, have been put in place as measures to correct the longstanding social risks and challenges faced by the people who produce the goods we consume. To deepen our understanding of the status of those risks and challenges, our team has, for the past nine months, taken a close look at the sugarcane consumed in the UK.

About 25% of the UKs sugar comes from sugarcane imported from outside the EU, while the rest comes from sugar beet grown in the UK and other EU nations. Consequently, given the prevalence of the Fairtrade mark and supply chain reporting requirements, most of us are likely to have the impression that sugar is produced in a socially responsible way.

But unfortunately, serious problems including forced and child labour, poverty, and dangerous heat-related illnesses persist in todays sugarcane industry.

In 2014, Fairtrade International discovered that children were working during school hours on certified farms in Belize, in direct violation of Fairtrade standards. Fairtrade suspended the certification of the entire Belize programme while the local industry worked to address the problem and the programme has since been reinstated. Belize, a Commonwealth country bordered by Mexico and Honduras, has long been a key provider of sugarcane to the UK market  in 2016 it accounted for 14% of UK imports of raw sugarcane. Yet, that same year, while the Belize sugar industry was already making considerable efforts to eliminate child labour within sugarcane, the United States Department of Labor (US DoL) found that the country as a whole had made minimal progress in eradicating the worst forms of child labour, including within sugarcane.

Story continues

Another report by the US DoL also documented child labour in sugarcane in Guatemala and El Salvador, which together provided 14% of the 2016 UK supply. This means that child labour was documented in countries that supply nearly one-third of UK sugarcane in 2016. Additionally, the US DoL found forced labour in Brazil (12% of the UK supply). Previous research suggests that this is a recurring problem in this nation, even among operations that are certified by the rigorous Bonsucro production standard, which uses six principles to achieve environmental, social and economic sustainability in the production of sugarcane.

The hunger crop

Sugarcane is known as the hunger crop due to the low prices paid to farmers and low earnings among workers. Because they earn so little, those producing the sugarcane we consume  and their children  are often forced to go without adequate food and nutrition.

Our preliminary research indicates that even among Bonsucro-certified sugar mills in Minas Gerais, Brazil, where workers are paid at least a legal minimum wage, their earnings fall considerably short of the living wage required for a decent standard of living. Agricultural workers earning the lowest entry level wage of, on average, just 1,079 Brazilian reals per month (223) (exclusive of benefits or overtime earnings) are R$334 (69) short of the living wage benchmark. This means they are likely to have to choose between necessities such as food, housing and health care, and they are unlikely to have any money in reserve for emergencies. In other words, they are financially precarious in the best of circumstances.

Further, most of the UKs sugarcane imports come from places where people living in rural areas are multidimensionally poor. Multidimensional poverty is an acute experience of poverty in which a person is simultaneously severely deprived in three key areas: health, education and living standard (in terms of sanitation, electricity, etc.).

Health risks

In 2015, public health researcher Jennifer Crowe published a paper outlining findings from a study conducted with sugarcane harvesters in Costa Rica. They found that harvesters were regularly exposed to heat stress because the recommended temperature limit for safe outdoor manual labour was typically reached by 7:30am during the harvest season  yet the working day lasted until 12pm.

Exposure to heat stress is a critical issue within the sugarcane industry, and agricultural work in general, because it can have devastating health impacts on the body. Crowes study found that workers experienced heat and dehydration symptoms at least once a week, ranging from headaches to elevated heart rates. Other research has found links between long-term exposure to heat stress and deadly chronic kidney disease among sugarcane workers.

Using climate data and GIS mapping of sugarcane producing regions among some of the UKs key import partners, our preliminary research suggests that risk of heat stress is a common problem for sugarcane harvesters. Maximum monthly temperatures during the harvest period regularly exceed the recommended safe limit in the countries that we assessed: Belize, Fiji, Guyana, Mauritius and Jamaica.

Using data

Our team, in a project funded by the N8 AgriFood Programme, undertook research into the social risks and challenges within the UKs sugarcane supply chain. Our goal is to add social factors into supply chains models that help agriculture and food companies understand the globalised impacts of their business models (examples include IOTA and Trase). These models are designed to work as tools for spurring companies to take action when problems in their supply chains are identified.

Collaboration with industry and other stakeholders is crucial to achieving positive change in the sugarcane industry. But consumer demand and pressure are critical as well. Working together, consumers, academics, civil society and industry can improve social conditions for sugarcane workers and those across the agricultural industry and beyond.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

The Conversation

Nicki Lisa Cole is part of a multidisciplinary research team at the Stockholm Environment Institute at the University of York that conducted research on sugarcane with collaborators from other N8 universities and external partners Bonsucro and WWF-UK. Other members of the SEI team include Chris West, Simon Croft and Jonathan Green. Emilie Hobbs and Robert Gordon also contributed to this research.Nomad_Soul / shutterstock

As a conservation professor I believe people need to understand why protecting nature matters to them personally. Appealing to human self-interest has generated support for conservation in Switzerland, for example, where the government protects forests partly because they help prevent landslides and avalanches, or among communities in Botswana which conserve wildlife partly because of the value of trophy hunting. But this understanding risks being obscured by unhelpful arguments over terminology.

The story starts in 2005, when the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment was published. This document, the result of five years work by more than 1,300 scientists around the world, demonstrated beyond doubt that global ecosystems were in decline and that this really mattered. Perhaps its most significant legacy was a diagram which presented the ways human wellbeing is influenced by different categories of what it termed ecosystem services. For example, maintaining healthy seas is important because of the provisioning services provided to fishing communities, while mangrove forests may provide regulating services protecting people from coastal storm surges.

The ecosystem services idea has since been hugely influential in mainstream politics and there are now degree courses, textbooks and whole journals framed around the concept.

Jump forward 13 years and another global scientific effort has produced another conceptual framework. This time its IPBES: the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. In a high-profile article senior scientists representing its consortium of 129 countries have replaced the term ecosystem services with what they argue is a new concept: Natures Contributions to People.

IPBES was one of the global initiatives set up in response to the success of the ecosystem services concept, so for scientists there to reject the term has caused quite a debate. There are two questions to answer: Is the concept of Natures Contributions to People substantially new? And, secondly, is it helpful?

Story continues

Same thing, different language

First, is it new? Proponents of the Natures Contributions to People concept argue that while the ecosystem services idea was readily taken up by ecologists and economists, it has failed to engage a range of perspectives from the social sciences and humanities.

For them, there is too much emphasis on services which are easy to quantify, such as the value that insects contribute to agriculture through pollination and pest control (US$57 billion each year in the US alone, apparently). This has resulted in some world views being sidelined in policy debates. It is certainly true that a number of South American governments strongly dislike the concept of ecosystem services which they consider commodifies what are better seen as gifts from mother earth.

My sister Katherine Jones works in communications for RSPB Scotland. She agrees that while the term ecosystem services can be useful in discussions with British policy makers, it has never resonated with the general public. When talking to ordinary people, she told me it is much more effective to appeal to their innate passion for nature than suggesting that nature provides a service, like a utility company or a bank.

However, the editor of the journal Ecosystem Services responded to the IPBES publication with a scathing editorial in which he argues convincingly that far from being new, Natures Contributions to People is simply a non-technical explanation of the same thing. He, and others, suggest that in trying to mark clear water between the two, the authors of the latest paper are wilfully ignoring both the large body of work which addresses issues such as commodification, and the success of ecosystem services in generating political interest in the environment.

Just a fad?

The second question concerns whether it is helpful. Prominent conservation scientist Kent Redford, and colleagues, pre-empted the recent debate when they pointed out some years ago that conservation suffers repeatedly from fads. Concepts or approaches are enthusiastically promoted for a few years then dropped only for a new concept to be introduced  which looks substantially like the old one but with a snappy new name. The risk they highlight is that by regularly rejecting, reinventing and repackaging approaches, the conservation community fails to learn the lessons from the failures of previous approaches as they view the new concept as so completely new that old issues dont apply.

If Natures Contributions to People can help bring more actors to the table and address some of the limitations of ecosystem services, this will be helpful. However, problems and challenges will remain. Take the feeling of wellbeing many people get when they connect with nature, for example. Cultural services such as these have often been given less prominence because they are difficult to value  but it is not clear whether framing the issue around Natures Contributions will help solve this.

If you have read this far, then you may be wondering why this rather semantic argument should interest you. However, I would suggest that there are few issues more important than communicating to society at large why nature matters. If we need a new concept to keep this point fresh and alive in the minds of politicians and the general public then so be it. But lets not argue. To paraphrase the classic number sung by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers: you say Ecosystem Services and I say Natures Contributions to People. The point made by both is that destroying nature ultimately harms us all.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

The Conversation

Julia P G Jones does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.A general view of Geely's Lynk & Co plant in Zhangjiakou, Hebei province, China April 26, 2018. Picture taken April 26, 2018. REUTERS/Joe White

Thomson Reuters

By Joseph White

ZHANGJIAKOU, China (Reuters) - While auto workers in Germany and South Korea fight to save their jobs, one of China's youngest auto brands is gearing up to build sport utility vehicles at a new factory with digitally-connected robots and a fresh workforce of 1,800 people.

A three-hour drive from the Chinese capital Beijing, the Lynk & Co plant in Zhangjiakou combines technology and manufacturing know-how from the Geely and Volvo Cars units of China auto giant Zhejiang Geely Holding Group [GEELY.UL].

The 12 billion yuan ($1.89 billion) investment is a bright, freshly painted example of the challenge confronting long-established auto factories in mature industrial economies.

As automakers adopt a new generation of manufacturing technology, industry officials are confident that they can deploy the same packages of robots, assembly line designs and digital quality control systems anywhere in the world - and train people to do the tasks robots cannot yet perform.

Plant manager Tong Xiangbei is in the vanguard of a tech revolution that enables automakers to put new factories in remote places like Zhangjiakou, a city of four million people in Hebei province and far from many of Geely's parts makers.

"With this team, we could go anywhere and replicate this factory," Tong, 42, who previously worked at Ford Motor Co, told Reuters during the first media tour of the factory.

The ability to build cars in almost any location that has electricity and decent roads is one factor behind Peugeot SA's clash with German workers over proposed cost-cutting at Opel brand factories once owned by General Motors.

GM this week agreed to invest $3.6 billion in its money losing South Korean operations only after unions representing workers at its plants agreed to allow the shutdown of a factory in Gunsan, Korea and gave concessions GM said will save $400 to 500 million a year.With Lynk & Co, Geely is targeting younger and less affluent buyers than typical Volvo customers, but who still demand more sophistication and technology than a standard Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd car for the mass market in China.

Story continues

Lynk & Co vehicles already are competing with GM, Peugeot and other automakers in China. The brand plans to launch in Europe next year.

Geely and Volvo have said they plan to bring the brand to the United States, but have not said when.

"MIDDLE OF NOWHERE"

The Zhangjiakou complex will build the Lynk & Co 02 SUV and a sedan called the 03 for the Chinese market. Currently the plant has about 1,800 workers on one daily shift, laboring alongside nearly 300 robots.

When the factory goes to a second shift, it will employ 3,000 people capable of building about 200,000 cars per year, Tong said. Those are employment and production levels consistent with mature market auto plants.

The factory uses Kuka robots to weld together the bodies of its vehicles - the same brand used by Daimler AG to build Mercedes-Benz cars.

U.S. firm Rockwell Automation and Germany's Robert Bosch Gmbh [ROBG.UL] supply the technology used on the final assembly line.

A robot from ABB Ltd glues windshields into each Lynk & Co 02 sport utility, relieving human workers of that messy job.

U.S. tool maker Atlas Copco provided what plant manager Tong describes as a "huge-ass nut runner" that bolts wheels on vehicles, records the force used and sends the data to a cloud server.

The Zhangjiakou factory's advanced systems are evident in both the robots seen by journalists during the tour, and other things that are missing.

Unlike many older auto factories, there are no natural gas fueled forklifts or tug vehicles operated by drivers to haul parts to the assembly line. At Lynk & Co, parts are brought to work stations by unmanned, automated machines.

For its human workforce, some of whom live up to 500 kilometers (311 miles) from the plant, the company is building housing for its employees, Tong said.

But he also saw benefits in the plant's remote location.

"We're in the middle of nowhere," he said. "We can expand any direction we want."

($1 = 6.3390 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Joe White in ZHANGJIAKOU; Editing by Darren Schuettler)

See Also:Eugene ONeills classic play The Iceman Cometh is getting a powerful revival at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre in New York City. At the center of the action is Denzel Washington, who plays Hickey, a role that has become the American equivalent of Lear or Hamlet, one that tests a performers stamina as well as his acting talent. Hickey was made famous by Jason Robards in 1956 and has since been performed by the top stage actors of their generation, such as James Earl Jones, Kevin Spacey and Nathan Lane. And Washington is more than up to the test, giving a Tony-caliber performance.

Related: Angels in America a drama whose time has comeagain

Washington returns periodically to New York, but he doesnt make it easy on himself. Since 2005, he has performed the works of William Shakespeare, August Wilson, Lorraine Hansberry and nowarguably the toughest of them allONeill.

Trending: Fortnite Season 4 Teaser Adds New Skin for Aquaman, Villain or Hanzo

Hickey is a salesman, the son of a minister, and he comes proclaiming the gospel of the freeing power of honesty to the barflies of Harry Hopes bar. Those fliesa couple of which might actually be insects of a lower orderhave all but given up on life and are content to spend their time in a drunken stupor, living on pipe dreams. When Hickey arrives, they and the audience are captivated by his charm and charisma, and while Hickey soon wears out his welcome with those in the bar, Washington remains an honored guest of the audience.

Denzel Washington and David Morse in THE ICEMAN COMETH

Julieta Cervantes

Its soon clear that Hickey too has a secret, and its only a matter of time before well all find out. When that happens, it comes out in one long, mesmerizing speech.

Don't miss: Hillary Clinton Backs First-Time Female Candidate's Request to Use Campaign Funds for Child Care

And in that speech, Washington truly shines. Other actors who Ive seen play Hickey emphasize his salesman side. Washington is more the minister, an evangelist in heat. He believes that gospelor at least he thinks he does. One by one, Hickey rips everyone elses dreams apart, exposing them for the lies that they are. That is just about the last thing anyone in this place wants (and there are a lot of last things that anyone here wants). Hickey doesnt exempt himself. He is a prisoner to his own pipe dream. His confession (or apologia) is gut-wrenchingsad, pathetic and yet cathartic. Washington is the most sympathetic Hickey I have seen.

Story continues

This Iceman is at once a star vehicle and an ensemble piece, and the ensemble here is stellar.

First among equals is David Morse, who battled the devil for his soul in The Seafarer in 2008. He plays Larry Slade, a former revolutionary who has claims to have no soul. He has given up on the movement (i.e., communism or socialism), people and, so he says, life itself. That is his pipe dream. Morses performance is incredibly nuanced, masterfully depicting a man who doesnt care at all and cares too much, often at the same time.

Most popular: Pakistan May be About to Free the Doctor Who Helped the U.S. Track Down Bin Laden: Lawyer

It says a lot about a production that it can attract top-shelf actors to play much smaller roles, and Iceman has a bunch. Bill Irwin, who won a Tony Award playing George in Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf? plays Ed Mosher, who, like Irwin, spent time as a circus performer. One has to think that somewhere in his future he will play Hickey. Neal Huff, who played the articulate ballplayer Kippy Sunderstrom in Richard Greenbergs Take Me Out, is Willie ObanONeills surrogate character in the playand he gives us one of the most animated, even funny interpretations of the character Ive seen. Frank Wood, who was riveting as Roy Cohn in the 2010 Signature Theatre production of Angels in America, is almost unrecognizable as the ineffectual Captain (aka Cecil Lewis). The interplay between Wood and Dakin Matthews as The General (Piet Wetjoen) is priceless. And Michael Pottswho was last seen on Broadway as Charrington in 1984gives a standout performance as Joe Mott, funny, angry and quite deluded. His diatribe on race relations is truly a showstopper. Every featured actor here could probably be doing much larger roles, but their presence here adds weight to an already weighty production.

And that might be suffocating were it not for George C. Wolfes briskly paced direction. The show does clock in at three hours, 50 minutes, but that is still about 40 minutes less than usual. And time does fly when youre in the presence of some top-flight artists at the top of their game.

Wolfe is one of the A-est of A-list theater directors today, and he has given us a production to remember. So raise a glass to this Iceman: There is still plenty of life in Harry Hopes no-chance saloon.

The Iceman Cometh is playing at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, 242 W. 45th St. in New York, through July 1. For more information, visit IcemanOnBroadway.com.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekSpain could change its criminal law after five men accused of gang raping a teenager at the Pamplona bull run were jailed for sexual abuse.

Thousands of people staged a second day of protests across the country, including in Barcelona and Madrid, after the five men were sentenced on Thursday to nine years in jail for the lesser offence.

Demonstrators gathered outside the Pamplona court which handed down the verdict, shouting "it's not sexual abuse, it's rape".

They also held banners reading "palace of injustice".

The Spanish government announced on Friday that it would consider reforming the law in response.

Activists described the attack on an 18-year-old woman during the 2016 running of the bulls festival as a gang rape.

The men, aged 27 to 29, were accused of attacking the woman at the entrance to an apartment building at the start of the week-long San Fermin festival, which draws tens of thousands of visitors.

Leaving her half naked, the group, which included a Guardia Civil policeman and a former solidier, then stole her mobile phone.

The five, all from Seville, also filmed the incident with their phones and then bragged about it on a WhatsApp group where they referred to themselves as "La Manada" - the pack.

Judges acquitted them of sexual assault, which includes rape, after ruling there was no "violence or intimidation" in the case.

The judges also ruled the victim had not consented, but neither had she expressed any opposition.

Several left-wing politicians questioned the verdict, and the regional government of Navarre province said it would launch an appeal because it "shares the discontent of the citizens".

The prosecutors office said it will also challenge the judgement, after prosecutors argued during the trial last autumn there was "serious intimidation and it prevented resistance or flight".

Lawyers had called for each of the men, several who are "ultras" who support FC Sevilla, to be jailed for 22 years and 10 months.

Story continues

The group has been kept in pre-trial custody since they were arrested and were also ordered to pay the victim 50,000 (43,923) in compensation.

Their lawyers argued the victim agreed to the sexual encounter and only admitted the gang had stolen her mobile phone.

Lawyers for four of the men said they would appeal, as did the woman's lawyer.

Further demonstrations are planned in Pamplona for Saturday, the Pamplona Woman's Movement said.JUBA (Reuters) - The United Nations is concerned about a surge in violence in three states in South Sudan, a senior official of the world body said on Friday, adding there was shooting near a peace-keeping base overnight.

On Thursday, 10 aid workers went missing in Yei in Central Equatoria region, the latest incident involving relief staff in the war-ridden country.

David Shearer, Special Representative of the U.N. Secretary-General, said there were increased clashes in Unity, Jonglei and Central Equatorias states. He pointed out the towns of Nhialdiu, Mayendit, Rupchai, Thaker, and Mirinyal near Leer and Bentiu in the Unity region, and Motot and Akobo in Jonglei, as the worst affected.

"Innocent civilians are being caught in the crossfire, including many women, children and elderly people, Shearer said in a statement. "Our teams on the ground are reporting incidents of killing, sexual violence, homes being burnt to the ground, cattle raiding, and the looting of hospitals and schools."

Shearer said in one instance overnight from Thursday to Friday, there was gunfire near an UNMISS temporary peacekeeping operating base at Leer.

South Sudan, which won independence from Sudan in 2011 and is the worlds youngest nation, has been in a civil war since 2013 when President Salva Kiir fired his deputy Riek Machar.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed in a conflict that has often taken ethnic lines, and much of the nation has suffered dire food shortages. Both rebels and government forces stand accused of targeting humanitarian workers and sometimes blocking access to relief and hijacking food and other aid.

Shearer said over 30 humanitarian workers have been relocated in the past two weeks as it had become too dangerous for them to work in an environment of increase violence that had forced thousands of people to flee into swamps and bushes, depriving them of food, clean water and medical care.

(Reporting by Denis Dumo; Writing by George Obulutsa)

See Also:RIYADH (Reuters) - The United States is urging its European allies and others to impose sanctions on Iran to curb its missile programme, calling it an international threat to peace and security.

"We are urging nations around the world to sanction any individuals and entities associated with Iran's missile programme, and it has also been a big part of discussions with Europeans," Brian Hook, senior policy advisor to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, told reporters in Riyadh.

Hook, who is negotiating changes to the Iran nuclear deal with European allies, said Iran's missile programme would be a major topic in talks on Sunday between Pompeo and leaders from Saudi Arabia and Israel.

(Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)It's no secret that the ladies of "The View" can get into heated arguments from time to time. In the most recent example, co-hosts joy behar and meghan mccain went at it over a joke about Melania Trump.

(The Behar/McCain confrontation happens at 2:00 in the above video)

"The View" on Melania Trump

For the better part of the last two decades, "The View" has remained one of the highest rated daytime talk shows in the United States. With its rotating cast of characters, the program has provided women with a variety of view points to give their thoughts and opinions on a wide-range of topics.

Just like the rest of the country, the issue of politics is often a hot topic, with the Donald Trump administration dominating much of the conversation. Two of the most outspoken current hosts are liberal comedian Joy Behar and conservative commentator Meghan McCain, daughter of Republican Sen. John McCain.

President Trump acknowledges for the first time that his personal attorney, Michael Cohen, is representing him with regards to legal matters involving Stormy Daniels, the porn star who says she had an affair with Trump https://t.co/Bw2D9ysZfq pic.twitter.com/33DBCPLV4b  CNN (@CNN) April 26, 2018

One of the hot topics during the April 26 edition of "The View" was Donald Trump's phone interview from earlier in the morning on "Fox & Friends." Trump spent some of the time discussing the controversy surrounding his lawyer Michael Cohen and the alleged "hush money" payout to adult film star Stormy Daniels, which was music to the ears of Joy Behar.

"Today is Melanias birthday. Happy birthday Melania!" Behar joked, much to the chagrin of Meghan McCain, who claimed that her remarks was mean and uncalled for.

Double down

"What was mean about it? Joy Behar asked. "What was mean about it, Meghan?" she doubled down, adding, "Tell me what was mean." Meghan McCain explained that just days earlier the hosts all spoke about how they liked Melania and she expressed that Behar was being rude to bring up the affair on the first lady's birthday.

After Behar admitted that she did like Melania, McCain replied "You're making fun of her!"

Firing back was Joy Behar, who told her conservative co-host "I'm not making fun of her. You know what? You have no sense of humor." Not stopping there, Behar added "I wish you would understand who the target of my jokes is." This isn't the first time that Behar and McCain have gotten into a heated exchange, as previous reports have noted that the two often don't see eye to eye but in front and behind the camera, leading to issues with producers on the show.

With Donald Trump and Melania Trump continuing to have alleged martial issues out in the public, only time will tell how their relationship plays out and what stance the ladies of "The View" will take, whether it's in support or in opposition to the first coupleIn what has since amounted to dozens of tweets on Wednesday, rapper Kanye West has expressed his support for Donald Trump. In one of his most recent posts, West has taken his Trump support to another level by taking a shot at Barack Obama, resulting in the loss of millions of followers on Twitter.

Obama was in office for eight years and nothing in Chicago changed.  KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 25, 2018

Kanye West on Obama

Over the last few years, Kanye West has been in and out of the news news due to his controversial behavior and questionable mental health.

West, who remains in the headlines due to his high-profiled marriage to Kim Kardashian, has been known to make remarks that leave many questioning his well-being. On Wednesday, the award-winning rapper took to Twitter to praise Donald Trump, referring to the president as his "brother" who he shares "dragon energy" with. Kardashian pushed him to clarify his remarks about Trump, tweeting out that he doesn't always agree with the president, but followed with a series of tweets where he showed off his "Make America Great Again" hat signed by the president.

As West continued his pro-Trump posts, Page Six reported that the rapper lost 9 million followers on his Twitter account, though it appears the drop was due to a glitch by the social media platform.

After, Donald Trump responded back in the form of two separate tweets, thanking Kanye West for his kind words and support, the rapper then went off on a series of head scratching posts. In one of his tweets on April 25, West attacked former President Barack Obama for not doing enough on the issue of gun violence in the city of Chicago.

"Obama was in office for eight years and nothing in Chicago changed," West tweeted out.

And any fan of me wants Ye to be Ye even when they don't agree because I represent the fact that they can be themselves even when people don't agree with them. Drops mic Yeezy shrug   KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 25, 2018

Kanye West appeared to address the backlash against him due to his support of Donald Trump, mixing in a tweet in an attempt to push back.

"And any fan of me wants Ye to be Ye even when they don't agree because I represent the fact that they can be themselves even when people don't agree with them. Drops mic. Yeezy shrug," he tweeted. As West continued his pro-Trump posts, Page Six reported that the rapper lost 9 million followers on his Twitter account.

Twitter reacts

After Kanye West's tweet attacking Barack Obama, it didn't take long before critics voiced their opposition. "Yup but trump is gonna not only not making things in Chi town better, he'll make them worse. Cmon ye," one tweet read.

you just mad Obama rightfully called you a jackass  Kelly (@cincykelly14) April 25, 2018

I swear rich people act like they cant do nothing. If you want to see change you can do it yourself. Take notes from your buddy, Chance The Rapper. And Obama was the president of the Country, he couldnt just focus on one city. Blame yourself and the local government of Chicago  Shawniece D'Nae (@ShawnieceDnae) April 25, 2018

Before I was aware you were a Trump lover I thought you were nuts. Now I know you are.



What does this fact have to do with anything? What has Trump done except lie, profess to care about gun control but not really and is a daily national embarrassment.  dog_lover (@DogsRule1111) April 25, 2018

"Nah hell outta here w that if u think Trump is gonna do anything," a Twitter user wrote.

"Obama was in office for eight years got us out of the Great Recession, gave the order to kill at the time the worlds biggest terrorist leader, 11 million jobs created under his presidency etc. Obama was a great president," another tweet added.

Better yet WTF have YOU done for Chicago! But charge overprice shoes and rags you call fashion  TenNumber-OnesBish (@BeyonceStanBish) April 25, 2018

Obama was in office for eight years got us out of the Great Recession, gave the order to kill at the time the worlds biggest terrorist leader, 11 million jobs created under his presidency etc. Obama was a great president.  narjisalhacham (@Narjis_Alhacham) April 25, 2018

Yup but trump is gonna not only not making things in Chi town better, he'll make them worse. Cmon ye  perpetual nae nae-er (@One_ill_Conor) April 25, 2018

"Before I was aware you were a Trump lover I thought you were nuts.

Now I know you are. What does this fact have to do with anything? What has Trump done except lie, profess to care about gun control but not really and is a daily national embarrassment," a social media user wrote. "So tell us what has Trump done for Chicago? Better yet WTH have YOU done for Chicago! But charge overprice shoes and rags you call 'fashion,'" a follow-up tweet read.KAZ Minerals PLC, together with its subsidiaries, engages in mining and processing copper and other metals primarily in Kazakhstan, Russia, and Kyrgyzstan. It operates through Bozshakol, Aktogay, East Region and Bozymchak, and Mining Projects segments. The company operates the Aktogay and Bozshakol open pit copper mines in the east region and Pavlodar region of Kazakhstan; three underground mines in the east region of Kazakhstan; and the Bozymchak copper-gold mine in Kyrgyzstan. It also develops greenfield metal deposits; operates Koksay deposit in Kazakhstan, and the Baimskaya licence area in the Chukotka region of Russia; and produces and sells various by-products, such as gold, silver, molybdenum, and zinc. In addition, the company supplies and distributes heat, water, and electricity; and offers construction, project management, financing, management, sales and logistics, and repairs and maintenance services. The company was formerly known as Kazakhmys PLC and changed its name to KAZ Minerals PLC in October 2014. KAZ Minerals PLC was founded in 1930 and is based in London, the United Kingdom.

Read MoreGetty Images

Arthritis in the United States is far more common than federal government estimates indicate, especially among adults under age 65, according to a recent study that examines the health records of more than 33,000 people.

The study results indicated 91.2 million adults were affected by arthritis in the U.S. in 2015, including 61.1 million adults between age 18 and 64. That is far higher than the 54.4 million total cases estimated by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Arthritis prevalence in the U.S. population has been substantially underestimated, especially among adults younger than 65, the study concludes. It was published in February in Arthritis & Rheumatology, a publication of the American College of Rheumatology.

The studys authors say that CDC estimates depend on a single survey question that asks doctors whether they have diagnosed arthritis in a patient. The national estimates do not use survey information about other joint symptoms.

To calculate the 91.2 million figure, the researchers looked at data in the 2015 National Health Interview Survey, which features U.S. Census Bureau health data collected through personal interviews since 1957.

They built a data model designed to adjust for measurement errors due to the imperfect accuracy of surveillance criteria based on both the report of chronic joint symptoms and doctor-diagnosed arthritis, researchers wrote. Among the data considered was whether adults had chronic joint issues that lasted three months or longer.

It became clear that this is a more prevalent disease and more commonly disabling than we thought before, study coauthor David Felson, M.D., a rheumatologist at Boston University, told the Wall Street Journal.

Charles Helmick, M.D., the scientific lead for the CDCs arthritis program, noted to the Journal that joint pain could be a symptom of issues other than arthritis, and said a doctors diagnosis served as a better measure of true arthritis.Jose Luis Pelaez/Getty Images

En espanol | Older adults are protected from even subtle forms of age discrimination when applying for jobs, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday, dealing a victory to job applicants who increasingly are victims of recruiting tactics that effectively prevent older candidates from being considered.

The case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit involved Dale Kleber, a Chicago attorney with more than 25 years of experience. Kleber was 58 years old when he applied for a position as a lawyer with CareFusion Corp. in 2014. The job posting said that applicants should have 3 to 7 years (no more than 7 years) of relevant legal experience. When CareFusion, a health care products company, did not contact him for an interview, Kleber sued for age discrimination based on the seven-year accepted maximum on experience. Represented by AARP Foundation attorneys, he argued that the cap shut out candidates older than 40 and violated the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA).

The legal issue in the case, Kleber v. CareFusion, is whether the ADEA protects job hunters from hiring practices that are more likely to hurt older candidates, even if the policies are not expressly age-based. These disproportionate effects are called disparate impact in legal terms. CareFusion argued that the ADEA provision Kleber says the company violated protects only current employees, not job applicants. The district court ruled in favor of CareFusion, a decision that the appeals court panel overturned Thursday by a 2-1 vote.

We have not been presented with, and could not imagine on our own, a plausible policy reason why Congress might have chosen to allow disparate impact claims by current employees, including internal job applicants, while excluding outside job applicants, the majority wrote in its ruling.

The importance of the ADEA law is less about people being able to sue for age discrimination and more about making sure that employers are not shaping their hiring processes in ways that prevent older workers from getting jobs, says Dara Smith, senior attorney for AARP Foundation Litigation, which represents Kleber in his lawsuit.

The case has been sent back to the district court for another hearing. There is also a possibility the U.S. Supreme Court might choose to review the case because the issue has been decided differently in courts around the country. In 2016, in the case of Villarreal v. R.J. Reynolds, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that federal age discrimination law does not cover job applicants in cases of disparate impact. The Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of that case.

In recent years, hiring practices have become a key focus of efforts to protect older workers from age discrimination. Another prominent case currently working its way through federal courts, in California, examines whether PriceWaterhouseCoopers discriminates against older workers by focusing recruiting efforts almost exclusively on college students and recent graduates. AARP Foundation attorneys are representing the plaintiffs in that lawsuit.Northwestern moves up one spot in B, Aberdeen Christian out of rankings in latest poll

sportsGiving back to the community is the mission of the Jewish Federation of New Mexico, which turns 70 this year.

The federation is celebrating its milestone with its first ever gala, A Night of Blue and White. It will be held on Sunday, May 6, at Sandia Resort & Casino.

This year, 2018, marks our 70th anniversary, Zachary Benjamin, executive director of the Jewish Federation of New Mexico. We were founded in 1948. Coincidentally we were founded the same year as Israeli Independence was achieved so its kind of a double 70th anniversary celebration. All proceeds benefit our organization and our program.

The foundation is a multi-faceted nonprofit that serves not only the Jewish community but the broader community. It provides social services for seniors, Holocaust survivors, low-income families and those needing certain types of counseling.

Thats our Jewish care program and some of the senior services are home visits, resource and referral services, Benjamin said. We provide funding for those looking to have a Jewish burial for a family member who is unable to afford it. We also as an organization offer scholarships for high school students, certainly not just Jewish, most of them are not Jewish who receive our scholarships. We have programs for college students, young professionals. Under our offices is Hillel at the University of New Mexico, which is the Jewish student life link at UNM. And we also raise and distribute funds to provide financial assistance to about 40 other nonprofits throughout New Mexico.

The foundation has received an outpouring of support from the community for its gala.

Some items to be auctioned are trips to Israel, South Africa, and Uruguay, fine art and jewelry, dinner with Mayor Tim Keller, and signed Dallas Cowboys memorabilia including a game used ball signed by Roger Staubach and Drew Pearson. The evening will begin with a cocktail hour to allow people to peruse the silent auction and make their bids. It will be followed by dinner. The evening will end with a live acoustic performance by globally renowned rock and reggae artist Matisyahu.Each of the men on the dais was successful in his field. There was a Broadway actor from the hit musical Hamilton, a popular TV personality and a district attorney. All came to talk about being sexually abused as a child and how it had impacted their life. Each story was unforgettable because males often keep sex abuse secret, sometimes for their entire life.

The symposium was sponsored by the New York State Office of Victim Services. The keynote speaker had also been a victim.

Hello, my name is Charles Blow and I am a survivor of child sexual abuse, he said. Blow, a columnist for the New York Times, told the crowd about his abuse at age 7 by an older cousin. It was a complete betrayal, Blow said. I was paralyzed by fear. After the abuse I thought I was dead. As a boy he kept the secret.

In his memoir, A Fire Shut Up in My Bones Blow relates how the pain and anger exploded in him at the age of 20. While at college he was talking to his mother on the phone one day and suddenly Charles heard the voice of his abuser greeting him as if nothing had ever happened. Without stopping to put on shoes Charles jumped in his car, grabbed a gun he kept there just in case and began to drive toward his mothers home determined to kill Chester. Thankfully, Blow did not follow through.

The actor Antuan Raimone described abuse at the hands of two older cousins when he was 7. With no father in the house, Raimone said, he was eager to spend time with males. The cousins told him it was a game that all boys play. Then, at the age of 15, the super at their rented house began to groom him with a constant supply of pornography. Full blown sexual contact followed. Antuan kept the secret.

I didnt say anything because he threatened to kill my mom, Raimone said. But after years of unsatisfying relationships where he saw lovers as mere objects he decided to enter counselling. Today, Antuan counsels other survivors brave enough to come forward.

Jason Gough, 47, revealed his childhood abuse via WNYT-TV in Albany, N.Y., where he was the popular weatherman. His parents marriage was a dumpster fire, and it was his fathers sister, My mothers drinking buddy, who began to molest him at age 8. Yes, women can be sexual predators of children, too.

I was low-hanging fruit for her, Gough told the conference attendees, and the abuse lasted three years. He began to display a series of odd behaviors, like pulling out all his eyelashes and spontaneous temper tantrums. No one, not his parents, teachers or counselors, ever asked him what was wrong. Today Gough seeks to educate adults about childhood warning signs that could signal theyve been abused.

Perhaps the most interesting panelist of the day was Joe Fazzary, the district attorney from Schuyler County, N.Y. Imagine this: for years he looked child sex victims in the eye and soothingly told them it was OK to tell what had happened. Yet all the while Fazzary was keeping his own dark childhood secrets.

Joe was raised in a loving Italian family that befriended another Italian family next door. They often ate meals together, and afterword the adults played cards and drank a little wine.

I was about 9 or 10, Joe said. The neighbor boy was about 15. He said it was a game. Mimicking the adults downstairs the boys played cards, strip poker. From there the abuse began. It can happen right under parents noses, Fazzary warned the room. My parents were, like, 15 feet away! The abuse lasted eight years and at times in his adult life, Joe said, he contemplated suicide. It wasnt until he told his wife and mother and sought counseling at the age of 36 that he finally felt in control of his own life.

The takeaway? A young boys abuser is not always an older man, it is often another boy or even a woman. And to those who dismiss teacher-on-child abuse with a glib, What a lucky kid! Stop it. Stop thinking sex with a child can ever be a good thing. It isnt. It is a crime. It can be like a slow-growing cancer on the soul, stunting a childs social growth, forcing them into negative behaviors that haunt them for life.

If you know a child who is strong enough to tell the secret, what should you do? All the survivors at the symposium agreed the last thing the child needs to hear is, Im going to kill that guy! That threat only adds another layer of guilt upon the already suffering child. What they long to hear from adults are calm and sincere statements like, I believe you, It is not your fault, and What do you need?

If you are an adult still struggling with childhood abuse the best advise came from D.A. Fazzary. Go into therapy. It works. It really works.

www.DianeDimond.com; e-mail to Diane@DianeDimond.com.Its clear the Children, Youth and Families Department made serious mistakes in the case of a toddler girl taken from her parents after officials learned the teen son had sexually assaulted the 6-year-old son and determined the parents hadnt done enough to stop it or remedy the trauma.

All contact between the parents and their daughter was eventually cut off by the time she was 4. The parents have spent years and untold sums trying to get her back. The girl is now 10, doesnt remember her parents and has a foster family that wants to adopt her.

In other words, everybody involved has lost or faces losing something dear to them.

And now a Lea County district judge must figure out whether the girl should be returned to parents she doesnt remember or stay with the family that wants to adopt her. The state Court of Appeals, which weighed in last summer, notes there is no truly acceptable choice.

Whether CYFD should have taken initial custody of the toddler is not in dispute. Its what CYFD did afterward that is the problem. Officials either should have allowed supervised visitation between the girl and her parents or made it clear they were unsuitable and would not regain custody.

But this disturbing odyssey also illustrates the nearly impossible job CYFD and its social workers face daily as they try to balance the best interests of children with the rights of parents  even parents who are struggling.

The family came to the attention of authorities in 2010 when the couples then-6-year-old son began acting out sexually at school and told his principal his teen brother had sexually assaulted him several times. The boy said he had watched porn with his brother, and he later told authorities he had also watched porn with his parents on computers.

But social workers and police quickly verified the older brother had raped his younger brother.

Officials ordered the parents to keep the teen away from the children, but when authorities arrived at the home to confiscate computers, the teen was there. Police also alleged the house was filthy and the girl was found sleeping on a pile of laundry. The parents attorneys countered that the house wasnt dangerously dirty. The two young children  and the family dog  were removed.

The older son was subsequently convicted; the younger son is now in treatment in Texas for his own sexual deviancy. The parents deny the allegations of watching pornography with their son and were never charged.

CYFD went back and forth on whether the parents could eventually regain custody of the daughter. But finally the agency decided another family should be allowed to adopt the youngster.

A state district judge in 2015 terminated the parents rights to the little girl, ruling they basically abandoned their daughter. But the Court of Appeals overturned that ruling, pointing out it was the child protective system, and not the parents, that drove the disintegration of the relationship through its mismanagement of the case. The appellate court blasted CYFD for halting all visitation, including supervised visitation, with the parents while the child pornography allegation was being investigated.

The girls parents have filed a federal lawsuit.

CYFD does not make the news when it makes the calls that keep children safe and healthy. It does with cases that go horribly wrong, as with 9-year-old Omaree Varela, who was brutally kicked to death by his mother while his abusive stepfather shot up heroin. Or 10-year-old Victoria Martens, whose mother is among those accused in Victorias rape and murder.

In this case, its hard to fault CYFD for pulling the little girl out of the home, given the dysfunction playing out. If the agency had left the girl there and she had been sexually assaulted, or worse, all would be pointing fingers at CYFD for failing to act. But CYFD bears the blame for the manner in which it handled the case later, completely cutting all contact between the girl and her parents, and then arguing that parental rights should be terminated because the relationship had disintegrated. If the agency felt the parents were unfit and conditions in the home were too dangerous for the little girl, it should have argued that in court from the get-go.

Parties to the case have discussed how to move forward with custody, possibly having both couples  the parents she knows now and her natural parents  in her life. Still, its a tough call and there is no perfect answer.

The case illustrates how imperative it is for CYFD to act deliberately to safeguard everyones rights. Otherwise, everyone loses  especially the child.

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.Albuquerques tree population grew by 13 on this Arbor Day Friday.

The City of Albuquerques Parks and Recreation Department and the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority planted a Chinese pistache tree, known for its ability to thrive in dry urban environments, at Mountain View Park during a ceremony to recognize a new partnership between the two entities.

The Water Authority recently donated $40,000 worth of trees to the Parks and Recreation Department, allowing crews to plant 150 trees in 15 of Albuquerques parks.

Arbor Day is a great day to remember how important green spaces are to this community and having lush parks contributes immensely to the quality of life anywhere, but especially in an arid city like Albuquerque, said John Stomp, the Water Authoritys chief operating officer. We need to love these oases of greenery in the midst of all the desert. Of course, its hard to keep the green spaces green and have water conservation at the same time. Our new 100-year water plan strikes a balance between making sure that we continue to conserve, but we have to have green space for people to go and enjoy.

In addition to the ceremonial tree planting, Parks and Recreation Forestry crews planted 12 additional donated trees of various species in the park located in the citys southwest area.

A memorandum of understanding between the two entities allows the Parks and Recreation Department to invest additional monies in irrigation upgrades in the citys parks.

Under the agreement, the Water Authority has agreed to forgo billing the Parks and Recreation Department for water usage fines if Parks and Recreation invests that money in upgrading irrigation infrastructure to help ensure the Citys water resources are being used efficiently.

Parks and Recreation Director Dave Simon said the donation will also assist in building the citys tree canopy.

These trees are going to create a lot of shade and help reduce whats called the heat island effect thats been exacerbated by climate change, Simon said. These particular trees are going to be monitored from cradle-to-grave. Were entering every tree that we now put into the citys parks into a GPS system. Well know its planting date. Well know every kind of care and maintenance on these trees. Well be able to monitor their health and adjust our care for these trees. Well hopefully watch them flourish over time.

MORE ON CONSERVATION



For more information about the Water Authoritys water conservation and outdoor water rebate programs, visit www.abcwua.org/Water_Saving_Rebates.aspx.United Way of Central New Mexico has received a $230,000 Daniels Fund grant to support Mission: Graduate, officials announced Friday.

Mission: Graduate, a cradle-to-career initiative, is a partnership of educators, local employers, educational support providers, government leaders and residents committed to a goal of 60,000 new graduates with college degrees and certificates in central New Mexico by 2020.

Since 2013, the Daniels Fund has been a key partner in helping us achieve our goal, said Angelo Gonzales, Mission: Graduate executive director, in a statement. We are grateful for the Daniels Funds sustained investment in our work. These funds will allow us to deepen our engagement with our community to achieve change at scale.

Established by cable television pioneer Bill Daniels, the Daniels Fund is a private charitable foundation dedicated to enhancing quality of life for residents of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming through its grants and scholarship programs, and ethics initiative.

While most of the funding from this grant will be used to support Mission: Graduates operational and personnel needs, a slice of funding will also be used to implement Bright by Text, a texting service that delivers age-specific, free activities, games and resources to a parents or caregivers cellphone.

One of Mission: Graduates collaborative action networks, the Bernalillo County Early Childhood Accountability Partnership, a place-based effort for children and their families from pregnancy to age 8, will begin the service this summer.

Dig deeper: To learn more about Mission: Graduate, visit www.missiongraduatenm.org.LONDON  Alfie Evans, a British toddler with a degenerative brain condition whose parents lost a legal battle to keep him on life support at a Vatican hospital, was mourned with balloons set free in the sky and prayers from the pope after he died Saturday weeks shy of his second birthday.

Kate James and Tom Evans said their sons death overnight in Liverpool, England had left them heartbroken. Alfies condition left him with almost no brain function, and multiple courts ruled that keeping him alive was not in his best interests before doctors removed his ventilator five days ago.

My gladiator lay down his shield and gained his wings at 02:30, Evans, 21, wrote in a Facebook post decorated with a broken heart and crying emojis.

As news spread in the community, dozens of people laid flowers and mementoes in a park near Alder Hey Childrens Hospital in Liverpool, where Alfie was treated.

About 1,000 people gathered 12 hours after the boy died to release blue and purple balloons in solidarity with the grieving mother and father who had struggled to come to terms with their childs terminal illness.

James, 20, posted a message on social media thanking everyone who supported the family through Alfies illness and court fight.

Alfies case sparked a medical ethics debate that resonated far beyond Britain.

Doctors overseeing his care said further treatment was futile and he should be allowed to die. But his parents fought for months to try to convince judges to allow them to take him to the Vaticans childrens hospital, where life support would have been maintained.

Under British law, courts are asked to intervene when parents and doctors disagree on the right course of treatment for a child. In such cases, the rights of the child take primacy over the parents right to decide whats best for their daughters and sons.

Pope Francis, who met with Evans and publicly supported the parents campaign to bring Alfie to Bambino Gesu Hospital, wrote condolences that were posted Saturday on Twitter.

I am deeply moved by the death of little Alfie, Francis said. Today I pray especially for his parents, as God the Father receives him in his tender embrace.

Italy granted Alfie citizenship and put a military plane on standby to transport him to Rome, if the courts allowed it.

Goodbye, little Alfie. We loved you, Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano tweeted Saturday.

Tensions between the toddlers parents and the hospital had eased in recent days. Evans, who earlier said doctors were wrong about Alfies prognosis and threatened to resume the court battle over his care, pledged to work with hospital staff to give his son dignity and comfort in his final days.

Our lives have been turned upside down by the intense focus on Alfie and his situation, Evans said Thursday outside the Liverpool hospital.

He thanked the hospital staff for their dignity and professionalism during what must be an incredibly difficult time for them too.

Alder Hey issued a statement to express heartfelt sympathy and condolences to Alfies family.

All of us feel deeply for Alfie, Kate, Tom and his whole family and our thoughts are with them, the hospital said. This has been a devastating journey for them, and we would ask that their privacy and the privacy of staff at Alder Hey is respected.

Alfies case received widespread attention outside Britain, especially in predominantly Catholic countries. Francis recently appealed for the wishes of the boys parents to be heeded, saying only God can decide who dies.

Officials in Poland and Italy criticized Britains courts and state-run National Health Service. A leading right-wing politician in Italy, Veneto Gov. Luca Zaia, said that in Alfie, the so-called civilized world has supplied the latest proof of enormous incivility.

Supporters of the parents staged angry protests regularly outside the hospital and tried to storm the entrance at times. Alder Hey asked for tributes to Alfie to be left in a park next door so the hospitals work wasnt disrupted.WASHINGTON  First came Kuwait. Then Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Now its the Philippines turn.

It is the latest foreign government to book rooms or host events at the Trump International Hotel in Washington D.C., riling critics who say such bookings are nothing more than attempts to curry favor with President Donald Trump.

The Philippine Independence Day celebration set for June 12 comes as the country pushes for a free-trade agreement with the U.S. and amid international criticism of President Rodrigo Duterte for encouraging vigilante killings of drug suspects.

The Trump hotel may have some political undertones because it is associated with the U.S. president, Jose Manuel Romualdez, the Philippine ambassador to the U.S., wrote in a column in The Philippine Star newspaper earlier this week. But since several other embassies have also held their national day celebrations at the Trump hotel which were well attended  I decided  why not do it there, too.

The Philippine Embassy has sent out 300 invitations for the party to mark the 120th year since the country broke from Spanish rule. Guests, including U.S. senators and Congress members, will nosh on Filipino food and cocktails. The embassy didnt directly respond to questions on whether the booking was intended to influence the president, referring instead to the ambassadors column.

The Philippines has found a way to pay tribute to our president, said Kathleen Clark, a government ethics lawyer and law professor at Washington University in St. Louis. Whats at risk is our foreign policy, that it will be influenced not by what matters  human rights, civil rights or legitimate economic interests  but by the Philippines ability to get in the good graces of our president.

Coincidentally, the party comes a day after the next scheduled hearing in the federal court emoluments lawsuit by the state of Maryland and the District of Columbia. They are accusing Trump of accepting unconstitutional gifts from foreign interests, specifically by throwing events and booking rooms at the Trump Washington hotel. Such bookings are tantamount to bribes, the plaintiffs argue, because Trumps refusal to divest himself from his businesses means the money paid for rooms, meeting spaces, food and drinks eventually finds its way into his pocket.

Trump has sought to assuage concerns about foreign government spending at his properties by offering to donate profits from such business to the U.S. Treasury. But critics say the gesture has lacked transparency. A Trump Organization payment of $151,470 last month was intended to cover such profits from 2017, but the company refused to provide details on how the figure was calculated and which foreign governments were involved.

Neither the White House nor the Trump Organization responded to requests for comment.

The leader of the Philippines has reason to be plenty thankful to Trump, and to continue to keep him happy.

Western countries and human rights groups have denounced Duterte for an anti-drug campaign that has included more than 2,000 extrajudicial killings by masked gunmen on motorcycles and others. But Trump has said Duterte is doing a great job with his crackdown.

There are economic concerns, too. With Trumps decision to drop out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, Duterte has to find another way to knock down barriers to an open exchange of goods and investment. He has been pushing for the kind bilateral free trade deal that 20 other countries enjoy with the U.S.

Just before Trumps election in November 2016, Duterte appointed Philippine real estate developer Jose E.B. Antonio as his trade envoy to Washington. Antonios company is partnering with the Trump Organization in a Trump-branded apartment complex in Manila in which Trump received between $1 million and $5 million in royalties, according to financial disclosure forms filed in June.

Since Trump took office last year, Kuwait has twice held its annual National Day celebration at his Washington hotel. Bahrain also celebrated its own National Day at the hotel, and a public relations firm working for Saudi Arabia has used the hotel, too.

Two Turkish business organizations sponsored an event there in 2016. One of those groups had official ties to the government of Turkey. The Turkish group was previously headed by a businessman who hired former Trump administration national security adviser Michael Flynn and his consulting firm to perform work aiding Turkey. Flynn has since pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and is cooperating with the special counsels investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

___

Condon reported from New York.NOGALES, Ariz.  A police officer in the Arizona border city of Nogales was killed after he tried to stop a carjacking suspect.

Nogales Police Officer Jesus Chuy Cordova succumbed to his injuries Friday afternoon after being airlifted to a hospital in Tucson, the department said.

We are mourning as a department and as a community, Nogales Police Chief Roy Bermudez said.

Nogales police responded to reports of an armed carjacker around 2:40 p.m. Authorities say Cordova spotted the suspect vehicle driving away from the scene.

Cordova initiated a traffic stop. The suspect got out and opened fire, wounding Cordova.

Police say the suspect went on to carjack two more vehicles. He then fled from law enforcement on foot before being apprehended in a trailer park. He was taken into custody without incident.

Police identified the suspected shooter as David Ernesto Murillo, 28, of Tempe. They said there were no other suspects at large.

A female relative of Murillos abruptly hung up when reached by phone Saturday.

Santa Cruz County Sheriff Tony Estrada told Tucsons KGUN-TV that Cordova was a former deputy for his agency.COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.  A Colorado judge presiding over a gang-rape case involving a 13-year-old victim has received threats, prompting the sheriff to assign him a guard.

The Colorado Springs Gazette reported Saturday the threats were in voicemails from people who were angry that two defendants got plea deals with no prison time.

Judge Michael McHenry didnt disclose the nature of the threats. He says he didnt listen to the recordings to preserve his neutrality.

McHenry ordered the men to serve 10 years to life on intensive probation for sex offenders. Prosecutors recommended the sentences, citing evidence problems that would made it difficult to get convictions.

McHenry says judges normally accept prosecutors recommendations because they know the strength of their cases.

Prosecutors say the probation program includes limits on activity, polygraph tests and constant supervision.

___

Information from: The Gazette, http://www.gazette.comMONTREAL  As Nigerian asylum seekers flood into Canada across a ditch in Upstate New York, Canadian authorities are asking the United States for help  but not with managing the influx at the border.

Instead, they want U.S. immigration officials to reduce the foot traffic by screening Nigerians more stringently before granting them U.S. visas.

It is a ripple effect that few expected last summer when people, mostly Haitians, began to walk into Quebec via an irregular border crossing north of Plattsburgh, N.Y., and seek refugee status.

With the coming of spring, the flow has picked up again. But recently, the asylum seekers have been mostly Nigerian, and their route to the border is more problematic, Canadian officials say.

Many Haitians had lived in the United States for years before suddenly learning they would lose their protected status and fleeing north. But many of the Nigerian asylum seekers are arriving in Quebec with recently issued U.S. visitor visas, said Mathieu Genest, a spokesman for Canadas immigration minister.

Theyre not using the visa for the reason it was intended for, he said.

Canada is not asking U.S. officials to refuse entry to Nigerians, Genest said. It is seeking stricter screening to ensure that Nigerians who are granted U.S. visitor visas truly intend to return home.

The request is an unsurprising one between two countries that have collaborated for decades on migration-related matters. But it also is a sign that Canada is feeling new pressure on its borders as U.S. immigration and refugee policies shift.

Instead of Trump throwing us back to Nigeria, we appreciate Canada right now for accepting people, said one Nigerian man who walked into Quebec in March.

The man, who gave his name only as Isaac, carried a single duffel bag as he prepared last week to move with his family into an apartment in Montreal. Many Nigerian claimants in Montreal will not speak to reporters for fear of jeopardizing their status.

For six weeks, Isaac and his family have stayed at a shelter on the citys outskirts, a onetime youth detention center that was converted last year into emergency housing for refugee claimants.

I dont want to go back to Nigeria, he said. Nobodys safe.

He arrived in Texas early last year on a visitor visa, he said, with plans to get another kind of visa when it expired or else claim U.S. refugee status for himself, his wife and their two young children.

But the election of Donald Trump changed his mind. He doesnt want immigrants, he said. Canada is open for an immigrant.

The Canadian government has been trying to tone down its welcoming image  or, rather, to provide accurate information about how it processes refugee claims. Ethnic communities in the United States have been warned that actually winning refugee status here is hard.

But the campaign has been ineffective. As of mid-April, nearly 6,000 people had entered Quebec unofficially, three times as many as during the same period in 2017. And in 2017, claims across the country had doubled from the year before.

A complicated web of factors explains why most of the new claimants are Nigerian.

For years before Trumps election, the number of Nigerian refugee claims was already climbing worldwide, driven by the violence of the Islamist militant group Boko Haram and other problems, including persecution related to sexual orientation and religion. In Canada, Nigerians were the biggest group of claimants in 2016.

Mary Chukwuwuekezie, who walked into Quebec with her three children in November after staying in the United States for 11 months on a visitor visa, said conditions in Nigeria are worsening.

They kidnap, she said. They burn houses. Theyll even burn a church.

But it has never been easy for Nigerians  or many other asylum seekers  to enter Canada to lodge a claim in the first place, partly because of its geography. Most foreigners need a visa to board a flight to North America, and the United States grants visitor visas more freely, said Benn Proctor, a researcher at the Wilson Centers Canada Institute.

No one can officially enter Canada from the United States as a refugee claimant because of the Safe Third Country Agreement, which forces people arriving in either country to make their claim where they first land. Last year, however, a way around that became apparent, when news organizations and past border-crossers on social media publicized the locations of Canadas unofficial land crossings, opening an opportunity for Nigerians.

If your final [destination] is Canada, youll want to walk across the border, Proctor said.

The State Department says that it has strong working relationships with Canadian colleagues and that screening is constantly improving, but it isnt planning any bigger changes to its visa program.

National security is our top priority when adjudicating visa applications, a department representative said in a statement. At this time, we have no changes to our visa application process to announce.

The United States has also become less appealing to Nigerians as a place to stay rather than to pass through, they say. Many took personally two comments reportedly made by Trump  one last June about Nigerian immigrants going back to their huts and another in January about African shole countries.

Winning U.S. asylum claims has become much harder, as well. The approval rate dropped 26 percent from 2016 to 2017, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services statistics compiled by Human Rights First.

Eleanor Acer, the Washington-based groups director of refugee protection, said Canada is well aware that, for many people, the only way to claim asylum in any country is to get a visitor visa first.

Its shocking and disappointing that they are trying to encourage another country to deny visas to people who are, in some cases, legitimately seeking protection from persecution, she said.

As a signatory to international conventions, Acer said, Canada should open its doors further and actually terminate its Safe Third Country Agreement . . . if the United States is simply not meeting that standard, given its harsh treatment of asylum seekers.

Canadian officials have said they are not looking to abandon the agreement, although last week, they struck a slightly different tone.

Given the current numbers of asylum seekers, we have contingency plans, Genest said. That being said, we are constantly in conversation with the U.S., making sure that the Safe Third Country Agreement is working for both countries.

Many of Canadas new asylum seekers may end up disappointed. Of asylum claims processed last year  a minority of the total awaiting adjudication  more than half of the Nigerians were rejected, a significant jump from the previous three years, and nearly three-quarters of the Haitians were rejected, up from about half.

Their likely fate: deportation.Would you like to receive breaking news notifications from The Post and Courier?

Sign up to receive news and updates from this site directly to your desktop.

Breaking News Columbia Breaking News Greenville Breaking News Myrtle Beach Breaking News Aiken Breaking News N Augusta Breaking News

Click on the bell icon to manage your notifications at any time.

Success! Please click the 'Allow' button in the 'Show Notifcations' alert in your browser if one is available. Thank you for signing up!

Please enable notifications in your browser and reload the page.GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip  Three more Palestinians were killed and hundreds injured when violence broke out again today in the Gaza Strip, even as numerous groups have been calling for the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate what they say are Israeli war crimes. However, the court's chief prosecutor believes Hamas might have committed its own war crimes during the confrontations by using civilians as shields.

The ICC is following with "grave concern" the violence during the Palestinians' Great Return March along the Gaza border. In protests that began March 30, demonstrators are demanding implementation of UN Resolution No. 194 of 1948 on Palestinian refugees right to return to their homes in Israeli-occupied areas. Since the demonstrations started, around 40 protesters have been killed and thousands have been wounded, as of April 27.

Israel refers to the protests as riots and said demonstrators are throwing firebombs at soldiers. It says protesters have made numerous attempts to breach its border. Hamas' political bureau, on the other hand, says the protesters were unarmed and peaceful. Hamas is one of several groups calling for Israel to be brought to trial.

The Arab League Council called April 3 for the UN Security Council and the General Assembly to form an international commission to look into the shootings.

Zaher Birawi, the head of the International Coordination Committee for the Great Return March and the head of the London-based International Committee for Breaking the Siege of Gaza, told Al-Monitor the former plans to sue Israel and has contacted legal experts from Arab and other countries for advice.

Birawi pointed out that the Great Return March committee also is prepared to seek the cooperation of countries whose courts have international jurisdiction and are willing to indict criminals who might set foot in their territories. The committee plans to gather testimonials and get in touch with victims families to press charges against Israel in those countries.

He said, Our first option is to resort to the ICC  either directly or by prodding the Palestinian Authority [PA] into action." He added, So far, there are no signs indicating that the PA is interested in referring the dossier to the ICC  as [the PA] doesn't appear to want the protests to make a breakthrough."

Ammar Hijazi, the deputy assistant minister of the Multilateral Affairs Department at the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, denied claims that the PA isn't keen on referring the case to the prosecutor. He said Palestines accession to the ICC in 2014 gave the international court the right to follow up on events in Palestinian territories, stressing that lengthy preliminary examinations come before the launch of an official investigation, which also normally takes time  followed by a trial and possible indictment.

The ICC has been conducting a "preliminary examination" since 2015 into possible war crimes dating from a 2014 conflict.

Hijazi stressed that the PA will go to court if there is no progress in moving on from the 2015 preliminary examination to an actual investigation of war crimes. He added that in midyear, the PA will formally ask the court to decide if the 2014 complaint merits a full investigation, should the public prosecutor fail to initiate one.

In reference to work to complete the preliminary study of the complaint, Hijazi added that, unlike before, the PA is now publishing the correspondences that have been sent to the public prosecutor.

We provide the court with an update about the Israeli violations, either through communiques  or through the detailed monthly reports on the developments in Palestine. We also submit urgent and specific messages, Hijazi said. He noted the PA has submitted two communiques, "one with regard to the 2014 war, and the second with regard to the Israeli colonial system, which includes the settlements and arrests."

He added, We sent an urgent message concerning the Israeli violations against the Grand March of Return protesters, addressing the crimes committed against them. We called upon the prosecutor to take the necessary measures and fulfill her role in alleviating and limiting such violations within her jurisdiction.

Samer Mousa, the executive director of the International Commission to Support Palestinian Peoples Rights (ICSP), told Al-Monitor the ICSP faces challenges in raising legal and general awareness among victims and their families about the need to testify and document violations accurately. This is especially true since the ICSP is an unofficial, nonprofit committee and it must commit to the impartial documentation and registration of violations as per international standards.

Finances could be an obstacle, he said, as monitoring, documenting, analyzing information, preparing databases and drafting reports cost a lot of money. Mousa said ICSP should expedite the ICC preliminary study, which may take months or even years, by quickly gathering and submitting testimonials and memos.

The results of such efforts are worth it, according to Hamas-affiliated political analyst Ibrahim al-Madhoun.

"Any step that sheds light on the Israeli crimes and brings the Palestinian cause under the spotlight through international and human rights organizations could benefit the Palestinian people," he told Al-Monitor.

Israel feels protected by US influence and gains strength when the world ignores the Palestinian plight, so international attention could corroborate the Palestinian narrative and mobilize international opinion against Israel, he added.

Along those lines, Birawi said international efforts are picking up to break Israel's blockade on the Gaza Strip. The "Freedom Flotilla V" will set sail from northern Europe on May 15, the 70th anniversary of the Nakba ("Catastrophe"), and will make stops at nine European ports in a lobbying effort. The flotilla will stop at one Arab port, which has yet to be determined.

Birawi expects the fleet to arrive in Gaza at the beginning of July. He said flotilla participants will take part in the Great March of Return protests if the marches are still taking place or they will join celebrations of the march's anticipated achievements.For seven decades the UN has failed to fulfill its original mission. Israel is the epitome of this grand failure.

Stanley L Cohen is an attorney and human rights activist who has done extensive work in the Middle East and Africa.

The United Nations sits on First Avenue, just off of 41st Street, overlooking the East River in New York City. It opened to great applause and expectation. A wishful answer to the madness that had become a world unleashed with the scent of blood and the all too customary wail of mourn.

It was to be our collective hope. A grand oath by which, together, the world could find answers to the greed and arrogance of states long unbound in their historical feed upon those less powerful. It has not worked.

Founded in San Francisco on October 24, 1945, the UN opened with endless promise. As proclaimed in its lofty preamble, the original 51 member states committed themselves to saving succeeding generations from the scourge of war  [reaffirmed]  faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights  of nations large and small  to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from  international law [could] be maintained  to ensure that armed force [would] not be used, save in the common interest.

With all too comfortable ease, 73 years later, these passionate words of humanity have once again proven themselves to be little more than idle chatter in which the powerful not only craft the tone of the debate, but set about to ensure its content reflects their unique and predatory vision of the rule of law.

In what has become a political art form of pain and punishment, with repeated rerun a handful of powers have used their veto to ensure that the Security Council (UNSC), the UNs most empowered organ, is long on vent, but short on action.

In first place stands Russia/Soviet Union which has used its veto 112 times more than any other permanent member of the UNSC. Most recently, on April 10, 2018, Russia blocked a resolution to identify who was responsible for the alleged chemical weapons attack in Douma in Syria. To date, since the conflict began in 2011, Russia has used its veto 12 times regarding Syria. Earlier, it vetoed a Security Council condemnation of its annexation of Crimea in 2014.

In second place stands the United States. It has exercised its veto power some 80 times to date. Since 1982, the grand protector of Israel has vetoed 36 UNSC resolutions critical of it, more than the total number of vetoes cast by all the other UNSC members.

{articleGUID}

Most recently, it vetoed a resolution proposed by Kuwait condemning Israeli attacks upon thousands of Palestinians during the Great March of Return that called for an independent investigation into mass killings and injuries that have ensued. On December 18, 2017, it vetoed a draft resolution approved by 14 of the 15 members of the Security Council urging countries to refrain from establishing embassies in Jerusalem.

In its most basic form, the veto power ensures that permanent members of the UNSC can, as they choose, prevent any collective UN action whether a diplomatic or armed response to an international crisis, thus sacrificing the will of the world community to their own narrow geopolitical programme.

UN inaction, or sanctioned violence, has long betrayed any meaningful effort to serve as the worlds neutral arbiter to ensure equal and just application of international law and the pursuit of world peace.

While examples of meaningless, indeed failed, political debate abound, one, in particular, exposes the UN as little more than an excuse for yearly September get-togethers of world leaders.

No state has offended, with such brazen regularity and uniform betrayal, the core principles of the UN than has Israel, established on stolen Palestinian land.

Decades of ethnic cleansing in Palestine

Since literally its first day, when the UN announced to the world that Palestine was relegated to history and Israel crafted as a Middle East extension of Europe, this state has flouted international law in its march of ethnic cleansing.

With mayhem its mantra even before its artificial declaration of statehood, Israels Zionist framers never blinked at the use of unbridled terror to obtain their goal. The bombing of the King David Hotel, in 1946, by the Irgun, a UK-designated terrorist organisation, took the life of 91 mostly civilians.

While this massacre and the assassination of UN mediator Folke Bernadotte, in Jerusalem in 1948, by the group Lehi, momentarily captured the eye of the world, little was known about the decade of horror that both Palestinians and British had lived at the hands of Zionist militias.

{articleGUID}

During this period, Palestinians and British police and military personnel were injured or assassinated by explosives, snipers or lynching. Jewish terrorists attacked infrastructure, en masse, as they robbed banks and bombed military and police installations, government offices, and ships. They sabotaged railways, bridges, and oil installations using booby traps, ambushes and vehicle blasts with the kind of cold detached execution that the world would once again see just this past month not from the Irgun, but from its heir  the Israeli military.

There is no need to recast, in full, the nightmare that has befallen tens of thousands of unarmed Palestinian demonstrators over the last several weeks in Gaza, leaving 45 dead and thousands injured. By now, the massacre has been well recorded.

Not surprisingly, most killed or injured suffered gunshot wounds to the rear of their heads or backs. In the parlance of forensic science, these entry wounds are consistent not with attack but flight.

Civilian massacres are, of course, very much an essential part of the Israeli historical narrative. A walk down its memory lane shows an unbroken pattern of carnage perpetrated upon the most vulnerable of its enemies, real or imagined.

The 2008-2009 war on Gaza

In the winter of 2008-2009, Israel launched a massive assault on Gaza. Within the first 9 hours, it dropped more than 100 tonnes of explosives on the strip.

In the days to come, tens of thousands of its civilians were exposed to white phosphorous shells fired into crowded residential areas, not as incidental cover to otherwise legitimate use of force, but rather as a primary weapon of war in violation of international law.

Such shells struck the main Gaza compound of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) where some 700 civilians had taken shelter, causing numerous deaths and injuries.

On the day before the hostilities ended, three phosphorous shells landed in another clearly marked UN facility, one of which setting a classroom on fire and killing two brothers as they slept. As with all other UN facilities, Israel had advance notice of its coordinates.

{articleGUID}

White phosphorus produces horrific burns. It sticks to the skin of its victims, penetrating their bodies resulting in liver, heart and kidney damage and, in some cases, multiple organ failures. White phosphorus burns unless deprived of oxygen or until it is completely exhausted.

Throughout the attack, Israel fired some 7,000 dual-purpose improved conventional artillery shell designed to avoid international prohibitions against the use of traditional cluster bombs.

Intended as an anti-armour and antipersonnel weapon, each artillery shell explodes into hundreds of smaller fragments within a 100m radius, killing and wounding indiscriminately. One example of their destructive potential was a January 6 attack near an UNRWA school in Jabaliya, which killed 43 Palestinians. On that occasion, Israel acknowledged the use of the shells.

The UN Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict ruled that these attacks constituted violations of international human rights and humanitarian law as well as possible war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Israeli assault killed some 1,400 Palestinian men and women, including hundreds of children.

South African Jurist Richard Goldstone, a former international war crimes prosecutor and member of the UN team that issued the report, described the Israeli conduct as a deliberately disproportionate attack designed to punish, humiliate and terrorize a civilian population, radically diminish its local economic capacity both to work and to provide for itself, and to force upon it an ever increasing sense of dependency and vulnerability.

With the Obama administration taking the lead in defence of Israel, the UN took no steps to hold it accountable for repeated violations of international law during the massacre.

The 2014 war on Gaza

Five years later, Israel struck once again as it launched another war on Gaza with massively disproportionate force.

According to a UN report, the scale of the devastation was unprecedented with more than 6,000 air strikes and 14,500 tank shells and 35,000 artillery shells fired.

Many of these explosive devices were used in densely populated areas and designed to have a wide-area impact to ensure that anyone or anything within the contact area would likely be killed, injured or damaged due to their explosive power and imprecision.

One non-governmental organisation reported a 533-percent increase in the use of highly explosive artillery shells in comparison to the previous Isreali assault on Gaza.

As noted by the UN, haphazard strikes in densely populated neighbourhoods, on residential buildings, the use of explosives with wide-area effects and the destruction of entire neighbourhoods in Gaza likely constituted a violation of the prohibitions of indiscriminate attacks against civilians and was, therefore, a war crime.

{articleGUID}

When Israels thirst for retribution was at last satisfied, 2,256 Palestinians were killed, the majority of them civilians, including 538 children and 308 women. More than 11,000 others were wounded, a third of them children, with over 1,000 left permanently disabled.

Many of those killed or maimed were targeted while seeking refuge in various shelters, including UN schools. Twenty civilians lost their lives and dozens more injured in an overnight attack on the Jabaliya elementary school where more than 3,000 displaced civilians had sought refuge. Like during the previous war, Israel had the coordinates of the UN sites.

Criminal not just for the loss of life, the concentrated Israeli onslaught was designed to cause lasting devastation on a community already overwhelmed by poverty and still reeling from the last major assault on its infrastructure just a few years earlier.

The Israeli army damaged or destroyed 235 schools and 73 health. Thousands of homes, hundreds of factories and farms were totally levelled. The lone power station and a major sewage pipe in Gaza were destroyed.

Approximately six weeks after Israel launched its assault, the Human Rights Council of the UN held an emergency session regarding the bloodbath in Gaza.

In the strongest of terms, a resolution was passed which, in relevant part, condemned the widespread, systematic and gross violations of international human rights and fundamental freedoms arising from  the latest Israeli military assault on the occupied Gaza Strip, by air, land and sea, which has involved disproportionate and indiscriminate attacks, including aerial bombardment of civilian areas, the targeting of civilians and civilian properties in collective punishment contrary to international law and other actions, including the targeting of medical and humanitarian personnel, that may amount to international crimes.

Though the resolution called for an immediate ceasefire, predictably, it was ignored by Israel. Only one country voted against the resolution  the United States.

Although an investigation into the massacre of 2014 is currently under way at the International Criminal Court, to date, the UN itself has undertaken no affirmative steps nor imposed any sanctions against Israel.

This is part one of the article. Click here to read part two.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance.Pope Francis remains silent over the abuse indigenous children suffered for 150 years at the hands of Catholic priests.

Like his predecessors, Pope Francis is devoted to the interests of the institution he leads.

The institution in question is, of course, quite old, popular, rich, with subsidiaries and 1.2 billion followers across the globe.

The institutions rules, that the followers must unquestionably abide by, are set out in dogmatic texts, commandments and edicts, including the doctrine that the pope, acting as supreme teacher  cannot err when he teaches in matters of faith or morals.

Like his predecessors, Pope Francis knew when he was chosen in a secret conclave by his fellow cardinals in March 2013, that the title was his for life and, that, fortuitously, as supreme teacher, he cannot err while he manages the Church, comfortably ensconced at its Vatican headquarters.

Pope Francis also knows that, in exchange for such coveted job security and singular infallibility, his main job is to promote and protect the institutions parochial interests at home and abroad.

Apparently, Pope Francis, the Roman Catholic Churchs supreme teacher, has calculated that its not in its interests that he travel to Canada to personally apologise to indigenous peoples for the crimes committed by priests and nuns over more than 150 years against thousands of indigenous children at as many as 80 forced-conversion gulags, euphemistically known as residential schools.

The crimes perpetrated at those largely Catholic-run residential schools have been documented by a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which describes in exhaustive detail how indigenous child after child after child was kidnapped, stuffed into a tiny suit or dress and paraded like a play doll, beaten, fondled, raped, tortured in homemade electric chairs, discarded, abandoned, killed and, ultimately, buried often in unmarked, mass graves.

In December 2015, the TRC tabled its findings. One of the reports 94 calls to action was a plea to the pope to visit Canada promptly and apologise for the degradations and depravity visited upon so many children, for so many years by so many Catholic teachers who faithfully served the supreme teacher.

{articleGUID}

The popes response to call to action number 58: silence. During an audience with the pope last year, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, another teacher, implored the supreme teacher to consider the gesture. The popes response: silence.

Predictably, the supreme teacher who cannot err left it to his surrogates at the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) to respond finally by letter in late March to indigenous survivors who also believe the pope should apologise.

Stripped of the polite embroidery, the CCCBs reply was: Look, hes read the report. He takes it seriously. But hes not going to apologise to any of you and he isnt obliged to explain why he wont apologise.

Since they delivered their missive, the bishops have been reminded by politicians, reporters and scripture-quoting columnists that popes have apologised many times, albeit belatedly and grudgingly, for the Churchs many errors  to put it charitably.

Records show Pope John Paul II apologised more than 100 times. He apologised for, among other egregious trespasses, the Churchs role in the persecution of Galileo, a devout Catholic, the African slave trade, various burnings at the stake, religious wars, as well as the churchs sins against Jews, heretics, Gypsies, native peoples and women.

Pope Benedict XVI followed suit, although he attached big asterisks to his apologies by insisting that the mea culpas were intended only to atone for the lamentable actions of individual Christians, not the Churchs institutional culpability. Still, in 2010, he apologised to the countless Irish victims of countless sexual predators in clerical clothing.

And while on a pilgrimage to South America in July 2015, none other than Pope Francis himself apologised for crimes the Catholic Church committed against indigenous peoples during the colonisation of the Americas.

At a gathering of indigenous activists in Bolivia, attended by the countrys first indigenous president, Evo Morales, Pope Francis also humbly begged for forgiveness for the pain and suffering that the Church has caused in the past.

Despite this recent history of contrition, Pope Francis and his ardent Canadian subordinates remain adamant: There will be no formal apology to the indigenous children who endured, suffered and perished inside the Catholic Churchs conversion-gulags in Canada.

{articleGUID}

Earlier this month, The New Democratic Party (NDP) attempted to introduce a motion in the House of Commons to try to get Pope Francis to change his obstinate mind and apologise.

The governing Liberal party said it would support the NDPs motion. The motion, however, required unanimous consent before it could be debated and voted on. One Conservative Member of Parliament objected, temporarily derailing the motion.

Canadas bishops helped stall consideration of the motion by, in part, rewriting history in an official letter, claiming that the Catholic Church as a whole in Canada was not associated with the residential schools.

Not done desecrating the past, Archbishop Richard Gagnon lectured survivors at an Ottawa press conference about the difference between the German pontiffs Irish apology and the Argentinian pontiffs apology theyre pining for.

The Holy Father wrote a letter to the Irish, Archbishop Gagnon said. Number 58 specifies the pope comes to Canada within a certain period of time, a very narrow period of time, and give an apology. So, theres a difference between the two.

The archbishops remarks prompted the indigenous NDP MP who co-sponsored the motion, Romeo Saganash, to say he was disgusted. I wanted to go throw up, Saganash said. He wasnt alone.

Undeterred, Saganash, a survivor, successfully re-introduced his motion on Thursday. By his side, was another survivor, Kind Hearted Eagle Women.

Im here, begging the Holy Father, the pope, to walk with us to healing, she said. I ask him to walk [with] and have sympathy [for] all indigenous people.

Pope Francis will, I suspect, rebuff Kind Hearted Eagle Womens request even though decency and the historical record demand it. In doing so, the Pope will confirm that he is devoted, above all, to the institution he leads.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance.ABBA reunite to record new music for the first time since 1982

ABBA won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974, broke up in 1982 and have reunited to release two new songs this year.Bangladesh: UNSC team to visit Rohingya refugee camps

The UN and aid agencies have said enclave in Bangladesh of Rohingya fleeing Myanmar is becoming the largest refugee camp in the world.Senior PA intelligence official behind bombing that targeted PMs convoy, Gazas interior ministry spokesman says.

An official in the Hamas-administered Gaza Strip has accused a senior intelligence officer in the Palestinian Authority (PA) of involvement in the bomb blast that targeted the West Bank-based Palestinian prime ministers convoy last month.

Rami Hamdallahs motorcade  which included the PAs intelligence chief Majed Faraj  was attacked just after it crossed through the Israeli-controlled Erez checkpoint, known to Palestinians as Beit Hanoun, in northern Gaza on March 13.

Hamdallah and Faraj  who returned to Ramallah in the West Bank later in the day  were unharmed but seven security guards were wounded in the blast.

Eyad al-Bozom, spokesman for the Hamas governments interior ministry, made the allegations at a press conference on Saturday in Gaza.

He told Al Jazeera that while he does not explicitly accuse the Palestinian General Intelligence Service as an institution of involvement, elements within the department were behind the blast.

Our investigations were clear and complete. We are not accusing the Palestinian Intelligence, but in the course of our investigation we discovered that Brigadier-General Baha Balousha of the intelligence department orchestrated the attack, said Bozom.





Balousha works as an adviser to Faraj, he said.

Bozom said the interior ministrys investigation was thorough and extensive and resulted in the arrest of the main perpetrators behind the attack.

He said the suspects confessed to being recruited by high-ranking Palestinian intelligence officers to plant explosives on the side of the road in an attempt to kill Hamdallah.

Osama al-Qawasmi, a spokesman for Fatah, the main Palestinian faction in Ramallah where the PA operates, denied the allegations in a statement, and accused Bozom of engaging in misleading theatrics.

PA President Mahmoud Abbas has accused Hamas of orchestrating the explosion that targeted Hamdallahs convoy.

We do not want them to investigate, we do not want information from them, we do not want anything from them because we know exactly that they  the Hamas movement  were the ones who committed this incident, Abbas said at a meeting of the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah after the attack.

{articleGUID}

Bozom also said the suspects said they received instructions from their handlers through a jihadist media forum operated by Palestinian intelligence operatives.

At the press conference, the interior ministry showed video confessions purportedly of the suspects involved in the assassination attempt.

Bozom said the detainees further confessed to planning attacks and assassinations  not only in Gaza but also in Egypts Sinai Peninsula.

He said the same group was also behind the attempt on the life of the head of police in Gaza, General Tawfiq Abu Naeem, last October.

Other targets on the suspects hit list included an Egyptian delegation that often crosses into Gaza to facilitate Palestinian reconciliation efforts, international officials, and Hamas leaders, according to local media reports.Proposed law would also ban arms exports to other countries involved in military operations and regional crises.

A draft bill in Germany aims to ban weapons exports to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Turkey for their involvement in military conflicts.

The bill aims to prevent weapons exports and all other related goods and services to countries that may use them for human rights abuses.

The draft, proposed by the social-democratic opposition party Die Linke, focusses mostly on Saudi Arabia and the UAE for their role in the war in Yemen, but it also singles out Turkey for its military mission in northern Syria where the country has been fighting Kurdish forces.

If approved, the law would not only prevent future transactions from being made with these countries but also retroactively recall previously agreed upon deals.

The bill specifically talks about a deal made between Germany and Turkey to service several Leopard tanks.

{articleGUID}

Those tanks, originally German and bought by Turkey, were used during Operation Olive Branch, the January military mission by Turkey in northern Syria, where they fought against Kurdish YPG groups.

The documents also mention patrol boats bought by Saudi Arabia, which were used to blockade Yemeni ports from receiving aid and other goods to help alleviate the dire humanitarian situation in the war-torn country.

Saudi Arabia, together with the UAE, is partially blockading those ports as part of its military campaign in Yemen, which has cost thousands of peoples lives over the last few years.

Between 2013 and 2017, Saudi Arabia was one of the biggest recipients of German arms, worth $1.2bn in total.

In the third quarter of 2017, Germany exported most arms to Saudi Arabia, Israel and Egypt.

In January, the German government already announced it would halt all arms exports to countries involved in the ongoing war in Yemen, but this bill would expand on that by also working retroactively on deals already made.Despite threat of arrest over corruption allegations, Joyce Banda returns as questions swirl about a political comeback.

Malawis former president, Joyce Banda, has returned home after four years of self-imposed exile despite facing the threat of arrest over corruption allegations.

Banda, 68, fled the country in 2014 when she lost power after being embroiled in the so-called Cashgate scandal, in which government officials siphoned off millions of dollars of public money.

Banda  only the second woman to lead a country in Africa  arrived at Blantyres airport on a flight from Johannesburg on Saturday, where she was greeted by hundreds of supporters of her Peoples Party, an AFP news agency journalist at the scene reported.

Mother is here, the lights should come back, the crowd chanted.

Banda, who led the country from 2012 to 14, was Malawis first female president.

She said the reason she left for the US was to give space for her successor to govern, and to do research at a university there.

So I was not in exile, I had work to do and I have written a book on womens empowerment, the Nyasa Times quoted her as saying.

Threat of arrest

No police were present as Banda left the plane on Saturday.

Andekunye Chanthunya, Bandas spokesperson, earlier said she would head straight to her home at Domasi in Zomba, about 80km away.

She was set to address a political rally on Sunday.

Chanthunya said Banda was not concerned about the arrest warrant issued by police.





Dr Joyce Banda is not afraid or intimidated by their announcement that their warrant of arrest is still valid, because all Cashgate cases were investigated and prosecuted, said Chanthunya.

James Kaledzera, a police spokesperson, declined to say if Banda would be arrested, though he confirmed a warrant issued last July remained valid.

Earlier this year, the Malawi Anti-Corruption Bureau said it had no solid evidence against her.

The corruption scheme started in 2005 and more than $30m was looted within only six months in 2013 shortly before it was uncovered, according to an independent audit.

The Cashgate scandal prompted foreign donors  who provide about 40 percent of Malawis budget  to withdraw aid from the impoverished country worth about $150m.

The World Bank resumed aid to Malawi in May last year, providing an $80m package and saying the country had taken some very important reform steps.

Back to run?

Banda founded the Peoples Party (PP) in 2011 after splitting from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which is led by current President Peter Mutharika.

It remains unclear whether Banda will run for office in elections in May 2019.

{articleGUID}

She remains the head of the PP, Chanthunya, the spokesperson, said.

The question of whether she wants to contest for the presidency or not will be answered in due course, but we may get an idea of how she is thinking.

Wallace Chawawa, a PP legislator, said of Bandas return: This will definitely rejuvenate the party  The vacuum has been filled.

But others were not so sure.

Thembisa Fakude, a researcher at the Al Jazeera Center for Studies, says it will be difficult for Banda to re-enter politics after such a long time away.

Theres a very big split in Malawi regarding her, but I think whats more important was when she left Malawi her party almost collapsed, Fakude told Al Jazeera.

So its going to be very difficult for her to revive herself as a political figure. Secondly, its going to be very difficult to revive the political party that she left.Political crisis continues as opposition leader says parliament must respect peoples will and name him prime minister.

Armenias opposition leader has called on supporters to stage protests again on Sunday, according to an Interfax news agency report.

Nikol Pashinyan was to address supporters in Vanadzor, Armenias third-largest city, as part of a drive to secure popular support in the run-up to a crucial vote on May 1.

All protest actions, actions of civil disobedience, should be renewed with new force. The victory of the people must be recognised  there can be no violence, Pashinyan told a crowd of supporters in the town of Ijevan on Saturday.

The Interfax report said Pashinyan encouraged supporters to stage protests in the capital, Yerevan, on May 1, the day parliament is scheduled to select a new interim prime minister.

Im calling on the citizens of Armenia to go out to the streets from early morning on May 1 and to flood all streets and squares, including around the National Assembly, he is quoted as saying.

On Friday, more than 10,000 people gathered in Gyumri, the countrys second-biggest city  which also hosts a Russian military base  in a show of support for Pashinyan in advance of the May 1 vote, when legislators will debate and possibly name a new prime minister.

Trading accusations

A newspaper editor and member of Armenias National Assembly, Pashinyan was set to meet Karen Karapetian, the acting prime minister, at noon on Friday to discuss the political crisis.

However, the prime ministers office announced on the morning of the meeting that it had been called off.

Karapetyan accuses Pashinyan of attempting to dictate the agenda.

For his part, Pashinyan told a crowd of supporters on Friday his de facto victory should be recognised by parliament on May 1.

There is one road: choose me as the premier of Armenia, as the candidate of you, of the people  Our de-facto victory should be settled de jure on May 1 within the walls of parliament, he said.

Russia, which is Armenias main ally and trading partner, has not yet reacted to the developments.

However, President Vladimir Putin is said to have called for a quick solution to the crisis in a phone conversation with Karapetyan on Thursday.

Geopolitical reversals

The outgoing Sargsyans Republican Party holds a majority in parliament but Pashinyan says the party is in total disarray.

The Yelk opposition faction  of which Pashinyans Civil Contract Party is a member  holds only nine of Armenias 105-seat parliament.

In Fridays remarks, Pashinyan said he hoped the opposition parties will make up their minds and clarify their position as to whether they will support his bid for the prime ministers job.

He said his movement was focused on improving the state of Armenia and that he would seek no geopolitical reversals if appointed prime minister.

We have said and are saying that after we come to power there will be no geopolitical reversals, he said.

Pashinyan pledged to stay in the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), not because we love this organisation  but because it meets the national interests of the Republic of Armenia.Amid praise and optimism, questions linger whether Pyongyang is willing to give up is nuclear weapons programme.

North Korean state media has hailed as a new milestone the historic meeting between its leader and South Koreas president, and their joint declaration to formally end the Korean War, and make the peninsula nuclear-free.

North Koreas Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Saturday that both Pyongyang and Seoul affirm the common goal of realising a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula through complete denuclearisation, according to South Korean news agency Yonhap.





KCNA also said the summit paves the way for a new era of peace and prosperity.

On Friday, the leaders of the two Koreas signed a joint statement after an historic summit that saw Kim Jong-un become the first North Korean leader to step into South Korea since the end of the Korean War in 1953.

The peace talks were held in Panmunjom village along the demilitarised zone.

At the White House, US President Donald Trump said he hopes to build on the success of the meeting, with his own summit with Kim in late May or early June.

I think the responsibility has fallen on the shoulders of the president of the United States. I think I have a responsibility to see if I can do it, he told reporters.

This is beyond the United States. This is a world problem. And it is something I hope I am able to do for the world.

The Trump administration, however, maintains a meeting with the US and North Korean leaders will not occur unless concrete moves towards denuclearisation are clearly demonstrated.

But in recent days, Trump has significantly toned down his rhetoric against Kim, whom he once called little rocket man.

Now, he has referred to him as very open and very honourable.

Kim is set to meet US President Donald Trump in late May or June [AP]

Real North Korean concessions needed

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also praised the meeting, saying many around the world were moved by the powerful imagery of the two leaders coming together to advance harmony and peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Meanwhile, Japans Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he expected North Korea to take concrete steps towards carrying out its promises.

Chinas foreign ministry also issued a statement saying it hoped all parties could maintain the momentum for dialogue and jointly promote the resolution process.

{articleGUID}

On Friday, Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in pledged to sign a peace treaty later this year to officially halt the Korean War.

They also promised to pursue the end of nuclear weapons, although the statement did not include specific measures or a timetable.

Despite the widespread praise of the summit, questions remain as to North Koreas willingness to forgo of its nuclear arsenal, which Pyongyang considers as a treasured sword of justice, wrote journalist Song Sang-ho in the Yonhap website.

Song pointed out that Pyongyang has even codified its nuclear power status in its constitution and other government documents.

Fridays inter-Korean summit declaration that included the phrase of complete denuclearisation raised cautious optimism that Pyongyang could reorient its nuclear policy, but questions remain over whether it will bargain away its nukes.

Speaking to Al Jazeera from Seoul, Robert Kelly, a Korea expert at Pusan National University, said the summit was a good start.

It is certainly not where we were six months ago when we were talking about nuclear war, Kelly said.

I think the real question going forward is whether the North Koreans actually do what they said they would do yesterday, he said.

He pointed out that in the past declarations and promises collapsed because there were no follow through.

And thats where ultimately North Korea has to move. There has got to be some concessions from North Korea, or we are going to be back where we were a year ago, Kelly said.Palestinians across Europe and their supporters will meet in Milan, Italy, for an annual conference on right of return.

Palestinians across Europe are slated to hold a conference to mark 70 years of exile, in Milan, Italy on Sunday.

The conference, which is themed 70 years on  and we shall return, is the 16th consecutive Palestinians in Europe Conference.

The 16 speakers scheduled to address the conference include academics, journalists, filmmakers, actors, prominent Christian and Muslim leaders and legislators from countries including Italy, Tunisia, Jordan and elsewhere.

Among the speakers are Nahela al-Waari, vice president of the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad, Italian legislator Stefano Vasiane, Jordanian parliamentarian Dima Dahboub, Ramallah-based priest Julio Brunila and others.

{articleGUID}

Billed as the largest gathering of Palestinians in Europe, the conference will include lectures, workshops, discussion panels, exhibits and cultural activities.

The Palestinians in Europe Conference is being organised by the Europe Palestinians Conference Organisation, the Palestinian Return Centre and the Palestine Coalition in Italy.

The conference will be held just two weeks before Nakba Day, which is commemorated each year on May 15 to mourn the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homeland during Israels 1948 establishment.

Nakba is Arabic for catastrophe.

Great March of Return

The event also comes at a time when Israel is enduring increasing criticism for its deadly response to unarmed protests on the border of the Gaza Strip, where nearly two million Palestinians live under a grueling blockade.

On March 30, Palestinians in the besieged coastal enclave launched a series of weekly Friday protests  dubbed Great March of Return  on Gazas border with southern Israel.

Palestinian youth move and burn tyres near the eastern border of Gaza city [Hosam Salem/Al Jazeera]

During the weekly demonstrations, Israeli forces have responded with live ammunition, killing at least 45 protesters and injuring some 5,000 people.

The demonstrations call for the implementation of Palestinians right to return to their homeland.

In December 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Article 194, Article 11 of which recommends the return of displaced Palestinians to their homes at the earliest practical date or compensation for those who did not wish return.

{articleGUID}

Among those killed by Israeli forces were at least two journalists, 30-year-old Yaser Murtaja and 24-year-old Ahmad Abu Hussein.

Both were reportedly wearing press jackets at the time they were shot.

Nearly 70 percent of Gazas residents are registered as refugees.

Millions of Palestinians are scattered across the Middle East and elsewhere, barred by Israel from returning to their ancestral homeland.In first meeting in nine years, Palestinian National Council is set to discuss suspending recognition of Israel.

The legislative body of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) is set to discuss suspending the recognition of Israel, in addition to several other critical issues of Palestinian politics.

For the first time in nine years, the Palestinian National Council (PNC) is scheduled to convene in Ramallah on Monday, in a meeting that has Palestinians split between supporters and opponents of the gathering.

Critics of President Mahmoud Abbas have rejected the PNC meeting as a shrewd political manoeuvre, while others see it as a potential turning point in Palestinian politics.

The PNC is expected to vote in a new 18-member Executive Committee of the PLO, the governing body of the organisation, and discuss transforming the Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the occupied West Bank, into a state with its own institutions and monetary system.

Dominant Palestinian faction, Fatah decided to push ahead with convening the PNC, despite the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) boycotting the meeting.

Hamas is not invited to the council meeting, even as the topic of Palestinian reconciliation is high on the PNC agenda.

This meeting is vital to continue the Palestinian efforts to end divisions and fragmentation between Palestinian factions, said Wasel Abu Yousef, a current observer-member of the PLO Executive Committee, and head of one of the smaller Palestinian factions, the Palestine Liberation Front.

[The PNC will] elect new executive bodies that will push forward, in support of Palestinian national rights, Yousef added.

PLOs Executive Committee member Saeb Erekat told Al Jazeera that this meeting is a turning point for the Palestinians in this critical junction.

Explaining why the PNC needed to convene after being dormant for years, Erekat told Lebanese media that successive Israeli governments were never interested in two states  Israel and Palestine living side by side.

Rather, what they wanted all along was one state  Israel  with two systems; an apartheid state, Erekat told Beirut-based Al Mayadeed TV.

PNC agenda

Mohammad Shtayyeh, a member of Fatahs Central Committee, told Al Jazeera that the reason behind electing a new PLO Executive Committee is to ensure the legal framework and continuity of representation of the Palestinian people.

The PNCs agenda will also discuss the United States positions on Israel  especially the US recognition of Jerusalem as Israeli capital  and ways to deal with the measures.

No Palestinian will accept dealing with the United States so long as it insists on its positions on Jerusalem and being against the rights of Palestinian refugees to return home, Erekat said.

Palestinians have consistently demanded that the Arab eastern side of the holy city be recognised as their future capital.

Israel occupied the east side of Jerusalem during the 1967 war, along with the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights and Sinai Peninsula. In 1980, Israel annexed East Jerusalem, in contravention of international laws regarding land occupied during wars.

The PNC meeting will also discuss calls to suspend PLO recognition of Israel, cut all ties and agreements with it, and discuss resistance to the Israeli occupation of Palestine in peaceful means.

In addition, the PNC will discuss is the transformation of the Palestinian Authority from an authority based on the Oslo agreements to a formal state in the occupied territories.

It is also expected to discuss Palestinian reconciliation efforts to end the division between Fatah and Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip.

Abbas power play?

Critics, however, argue that Abbas insistence to convene the PNC is motivated by ensuring his legacy and preserving the interests of his Fatah faction.

They fear that once Abbas, 82, guarantees the formation of a loyalist PNC and PLO executive body, he would then work to guarantee the continuity of his vision after he leaves the scene.

Maher Obeid, a senior Hamas official, told Al Jazeera that Abbas did not want Hamas to participate unless it surrenders to its conditions and gives up its armed resistance to Israeli occupation.

Abbas wants to exact revenge on Hamas for his own personal reasons, Obeid said.

Hamas issued a statement rejecting the convening of the Council under the bayonets of the occupation.

After declining the invite, the PFLP, one of the main factions of the PLO, said that the PNC should only be convening to unite the Palestinian factions.

Palestinian activist Wael Malalha, who lives in Amman, said the upcoming PNC session in Ramallah is aimed at imposing Abbas views on the future of the Palestinian national movement.

Abbas has one specific vision and one agenda; self-preservation, he said. The US, Israel and their Arab allies are mounting great pressure on the Palestinians to accept the so-called deal of the century, said Malalha.

Abbas wants to accept this deal and wants the PNC and the Executive Committee to give him the political cover to accept it, he added.

According to regional press reports, the deal of the century is a purported agreement between the US, Israel and Arab allies Jordan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Egypt, to end the two-state solution and divide or share sovereignty over the Palestinian population in the occupied territories between Israel, Jordan and Egypt.

Several Palestinian organisations and independent figures have called on Abbas and Fatah to cancel this meeting because it would cement Palestinian divisions and fragmentation.

Is the PNC still relevant?

First convened in Jerusalem in 1964, the PNC now counts 723 members. After the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories in 1967, the PNC came to be considered as the de facto Palestinian parliament, with many of its members living in exile.

The idea for it was to represent Palestinians around the world, their political parties, and their trade and professional syndicates.

The last ordinary session of the PNC was held in Gaza in 1996, when Yasser Arafat was the chairman of the PLO and recently appointed president of the Palestinian Authority.

In that session, the parts of the PLO Charter that denied Israels right to exist were nullified.

In 2009, Abbas convened an extraordinary session of the PNC in Ramallah.

According to the Palestinian national charter, the PNC is the highest Palestinian governing body, and its members are supposed to be elected to represent Palestinian communities from around the world in the countries where voting for PNC membership is possible.

However, after signing the Oslo peace agreement between the PLO and Israel in 1993, which resulted in the formation of a local Palestinian Authority and Legislative Council, the PLO and PNC were left on the margins.

Follow Ali Younes on Twitter @Ali_reportsThe bodies of the 140 children and 200 llamas, killed about 550 years ago, found by archaeologist on top of a cliff.

Archaeologists in Peru have found the ancient remains of 140 children who were likely killed as part of a mass ritual sacrifice.

The killings of the children, who were between five and 14 years old, took place about 550 years ago near the modern-day city of Trujillo, the scientists said.

The sacrificial rituals were probably carried out by the Chimu civilisation, who inhabited the area at the time, National Geographic, which partially funded the excavation, reported.

According to the archaeologists, the bodies of the 140 children carried cut marks and red pigment indicating they were part of sacrificial killings, adding that the hearts of the children were possibly removed during the ritual.

Besides the bodies of the 140 children, the remains of 200 young llamas were also found at the site.

The bodies of the animals were all facing the same direction, another indication a ritual slaughter might have taken place.

Based on mud samples from the area, the scientists believe the sacrifice might have been carried out in an attempt to stop a massive weather event, such as a flooding, which might have disrupted local food supplies.

The scientists argue it was possibly an El Nino event that caused the massive flooding that eventually led to the ritual killings.

The excavations began in 2011, when the remains of 42 children and 76 llamas were found in a nearby temple. Over the following years, more than 100 new children and 150 llamas were found in the surrounding area.

The scientists also found the remains of three adults, who probably also played a part in the ritual.

The Chimu civilisation was one of the most powerful in Peru, with its territory spreading out along the coastline of the country.

Based on carbon dating of the clothing fragments, the archaeologists were able to determine the killings took place between 1400 and 1450, just several decades before the Chimu civilisation was conquered by the Incas.

Although earlier evidence of child sacrifices in Latin America have been recorded, the site in Peru is the largest mass grave found to date containing only children.Visit comes less than a week after Pompeo was sworn in as secretary of state and aims to solidify ties with US allies.

Mike Pompeo, the new US secretary of state, has arrived in Saudi Arabia as part of a three-day Middle East tour that also includes Jordan and Israel.

Pompeo was greeted in Riyadh on Saturday by his Saudi counterpart Adel al-Jubeir and was expected to meet Khalid bin Salman, the kingdoms ambassador to the US, as well as attend a working dinner hosted by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

US state department officials told Reuters news agency the tour, which will include stops in Jerusalem and Amman, is aimed at solidifying ties with key US allies in the region.

It is expected that Pompeos meetings with the regional leaders will focus on the Iran nuclear deal, which President Donald Trump wants revised.

Trump has criticised the nuclear agreement reached with Iran in July 2015 as the worst deal ever and has, at times, threatened to terminate it.

Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China  all signatories to the deal  have insisted it be kept intact.

French President Emmanuel Macron addressed the US Congress this week and conceded while the agreement may not address all concerns, the parties to the deal should not abandon it without having something more substantial instead.

A former CIA director for Trump, Pompeo was sworn in by the Senate as the United States chief diplomat on Thursday.

On Friday, Pompeo headed the US delegation to a NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels.Russian foreign minister says US, UK and France ignoring international law after recent missile attacks in Syria.

Sergey Lavrov, Russias foreign minister, has accused the US of trying to divide Syria while ignoring international law by launching missiles into the country.

Lavrov made the accusations on Saturday while meeting his Turkish and Iranian counterparts in Moscow following their talks on the seven-year Syrian war, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people.

The meeting was meant to prepare the groundwork for the ninth round of Astana talks to be held next month in Kazakhstan, which will focus on political and humanitarian issues.

Russia, Iran and Turkey see themselves as guarantor states in negotiations between the Syrian opposition and government.

They say the Astana process, aimed at ending the violence in Syria, is the only way of reducing tensions.

Reformatting Middle East

At the meeting, all three ministers agreed Syria must remain a sovereign and whole entity.

American statements about supporting the territorial integrity of Syria are only words that, apparently, cover plans for reformatting the Middle East and plans for dividing Syria into parts, Lavrov said, adding Russia, Iran and Turkey will work together to ensure that wont happen.





While we are building options for peace, some of our other colleagues are trying to destroy the results of our joint constructive efforts, not even following the international law like in the recent operation of the US, UK and France against Syria, Lavrov said.

The joint attack on April 14 targeted suspected chemical weapons infrastructure following an alleged gas attack by government forces on the formerly rebel-held town of Douma, outside Damascus.

Lavrov said the US-led missile strikes on Syria seriously aggravated the situation.

Destructive to peace

Turkeys Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu noted its important to work with the UN to ensure the legitimacy of a political solution in Syria, as any military solution would be illegal and unsustainable.

However, differences have emerged over the future of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and whether he should stay in power.

The opposition in Syria  backed by the US, UK and France  have been adamant any political solution cannot include Assad, a view Turkey holds as well.

Turkey has always felt that Assad should not really be a part of Syrias constitutional future, reported Al Jazeeras Rory Challands from Moscow.

The Russians have always said that the opposition needs to get rid of these preconditions because they are destructive to Syrias peace prospects.

Talks between Russia, Iran and Turkey have regularly taken place since 2017 in the Kazakh capital, Astana, and are meant to complement the UN-led peace process.Saudi-led coalition attack kills dozens of Houthi rebels in Sanaa, including two commanders, Saudi television reports.

An air strike on Yemens capital by a Saudi-led military coalition has killed dozens of Houthi rebels including two commanders, according to a Saudi TV station.

Saudi state-owned news channel Al Ekhbariya said on Saturday that more than 50 rebels were killed in an overnight attack on a Houthi interior ministry building on Friday, including two high-ranking rebels.

A police building adjacent to the Houthi-controlled ministry was also struck..The Houthis confirmed an air raid on Sanaa but gave no details.

On Saturday, Houthis staged a large-scale funeral for the two commanders in Sanaa, in a display of military strength.

Six pick-up trucks bearing the bodies of the leaders, and other Houthis killed in the attack, were escorted by soldiers in dress uniform towards a square where a crowd of thousands awaited.

In a separate development on Saturday, Saudi air defences reportedly intercepted four missiles fired by Houthi rebels at Saudis southern Jazan province near the border with Yemen.

The rebels launched eight ballistic missiles towards Jazan, aimed at economic and vital targets, the Houthi-run state news agency Saba reported.

Colonel Yahya Abdullah Al-Qahtani, a spokesperson for Jazans Civil Defence Directorate, said shrapnel from the projectile resulted in the death of a Saudi national.

The war in Yemen has entered its fourth year.

Houthi rebels and the Yemeni government have battled on and off since 2004, but much of the fighting was confined to the impoverished northern Saada province, a Houthi stronghold.

In September 2014, the Houthis took control of Sanaa and proceeded to push southwards towards the countrys second-biggest city, Aden.

In response to the Houthi advances, a coalition of Arab states led by Saudi Arabia launched a military campaign in 2015 to defeat the Houthis and restore Yemens government.

The campaign by the coalition against the Houthis has seen more than 16,000 air raids launched across the country since March 26, 2015.

The attacks have devastated Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the Middle East.

A third of air raids have targeted non-military sites, with at least 1,400 such attacks targeting residential areas.

More than 10,000 people have been killed. With at least 1,600 schools damaged or destroyed in the attacks, more than four million Yemeni children have been unable to attend school.

Yemen now stands at the brink of famine. The Saudi-led coalition imposed a total blockade on Yemens ports in November in retaliation for cross-border Houthi missile attacks on Saudi Arabia.

The blockade has since been partially lifted, but access to the impoverished country remains limited.Trump vows to maintain maximum pressure on North Korea

Although the presidents rhetoric regarding Kim Jong-un has mellowed, the US still says it wants to see steps toward denuclearisation before any talks between the two leaders.People sleeping in the streets and begging for medicine as Assad government steps up offensive in southern Damascus.

An estimated 3,500 Palestinians have fled the embattled Yarmouk refugee camp during a week of violence, according to the UN, as the Syrian government escalates its ongoing military operation in southern Damascus.

Yarmouk, which has been besieged by the Syrian government and opposition groups since 2013, was once home to nearly 200,000 people, among them Palestinian refugees, Syrians and others.

Those stark figures tell their own tragic story, of the destruction of a once thriving refugee community, now reduced to abject, untold suffering, Chris Gunness, a spokesperson for UNRWA, the body responsible for Palestinian refugees, told Al Jazeera.

Many are sleeping in the streets and begging for medicine.

There is almost no water or electricity. Their suffering is unimaginable.

On April 19, the Syrian government and allied armed groups, including some Palestinian factions, launched a renewed military offensive targeting Yarmouk and surrounding areas citing the presence of fighters.

Among the fighters present in Yarmouk are those from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, and Hayet Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra.

{articleGUID}

Monitors have accused the government of carrying out an intense campaign of air raids as well as using barrel bombs, missiles and shells.

As of Friday, at least 31 people had been killed over a week of intensified violence, according to the UK-based Action Group for Palestinians of Syria.

Inside the camp, there are currently no hospitals or medical facilities operating, the Action Group said, adding that up to 60 percent of Yarmouk has been destroyed.

We are calling on all sides in this conflict to take measures to spare civilians and civilian infrastructure, UNRWAs Gunness said.

And we are asking that civilians, the wounded, the sick who want to leave to have safe passage. We also urgently need humanitarian access to distribute assistance.

Mass displacement

Gunness further said that armed groups and government forces should respect international law  at all times.

Before the war in Syria broke out in March 2011, about 560,000 Palestinian refugees, who were originally displaced from their homeland during Israels 1948 establishment, lived in camps, cities and towns across the country.

UNRWA estimates that more than 120,000 Palestinians have been displaced yet again, some of them multiple times.

UNRWA wants all sides to spare civilians and civilian infrastructure [File: Moayad Zaghmout/Reuters]

With the latest round of fighting, the number of Palestinian refugees left in Yarmouk camp could have sunk to just a few hundred, Gunness said.

In a joint report published last week with other watchdogs, Action Group for Palestinians of Syria said the camp had been targeted with at least two air raids every 90 seconds during the ongoing offensive.

{articleGUID}

On Friday, SANA, Syrias state media, said the operation was aimed at dislodging terrorists from Yarmouk and surrounding areas, including al-Hajar al-Aswad and Yelda.

Yarmouk is not the only Palestinian refugee camp that has endured violence during the war.

Earlier this month, clashes between Syrian government forces and armed opposition groups took a heavy toll on the civilian infrastructure in Deraa camp, where up to 80 percent of the homes and buildings have been destroyed or damaged throughout the seven-year war.

Residents of that camp have endured frequent clashes, a lack of basic humanitarian services and periodic water cuts, some lasting for up to 1,475 days, according to the Action Group.

In March 2011, a large-scale uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad broke out.

{articleGUID}

Since then, the conflict has morphed into a full-scale civil war that has left hundreds of thousands dead and displaced millions.

At least 3,729 Palestinian refugees have died throughout the seven-year conflict, while another 309 are considered missing and 1,674 are imprisoned, as reported by the Action Group.

In January, US President Donald Trump threatened to withdraw funding for UNRWA if Palestinians did not return to negotiations with Israel.

Trumps comments, which were repeated by Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to UN, prompted widespread criticism.

In response, 21 aid groups voiced their staunch condemnation of the decision, warning of dire consequences for Palestinian refugees, including those in war-torn Syria."We are living through an all-out war on truth, facts and reason," said presidential candidate and former secretary of State Hillary Clinton in New York recently. In many respects, the American public has been living within a war against reason. Hillary Clinton is perhaps later than most to this important problem. The urgent intellectual problem of our time is, what is reasonable? The war on reason has substantially damaged our public sphere.

The great philosopher and former FBI director James Comey made this observation about reason in 2016 when considering whether there should be further investigation of the "matter" involving Hillary Clinton: "Although there is evidence of potential violations of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information, our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case." This statement was made on July 5, 2016  one day after our nation's celebration of Independence Day. Comey's statement was further confirmation of the surrendering of reason to political causes. No "reasonable" prosecutor would bring a case against his future boss, President Hillary Clinton. That was a reasonable conclusion and one that undoubtedly contributed to the painful backlash unleashed by the public against such "truth" and "reason." Comey's statement as FBI director was in many respects a statement of the ongoing collapse of our nation's independence in the face of a superintending state that selectively enforces the law in order to compel political fealty.

The political annihilation of reason is further illustrated by another great intellectual philosopher: the U.N. ambassador under President Obama, Samantha Power. Power rose to intellectual prominence in 2002 with her impressive book on genocide, A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide, where she condemned America and the world for standing by passively when dictators implement genocide against their own civilian populations. It was an eminently reasonable case. She was particularly vivid and harsh in chapter eight, where she excoriated American inaction in the face of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's use of chemical weapons against Kurdish civilians. It did not take long after President Bush, acting upon such "reasons," removed Saddam Hussein from power for Samantha Power to decide that those very reasons were no longer valid, and she joined those opposing the Iraq war directed at a dictator who used chemical weapons against civilians in order to commit genocide.

By 2008, Samantha Power was ready and eager to join the reasonable case for a new American president: Barack Obama. She was a zealous supporter. In her zeal, she got fierce with her rhetoric  denouncing Obama's rival to election as a "monster." "She is a monster, too  she is stooping to anything." In 2008, Power thought Hillary Clinton was capable of any degree of treachery in order to win an election. Her reactionary stance against Hillary Clinton caused the Obama team to temporarily sideline Ms. Power from its campaign while she reconvened her wits. Fortunately, her political interests prevailed, and she was able to reason her way through the foreign policy of the Obama administration and extensive work in international affairs.

By the time Obama's two terms came to an end, it was now reasonable to see that Hillary Clinton was not in fact a monster, but a necessary successor to President Obama. When all hopes were dashed that evening while she watched the TV on election night with her global allies, Power set upon a new course of reasonable action: using her security clearance to make surveillance requests upon American citizens connected with the Trump campaign. Her husband, Cass Sunstein, wrote the book on using information technology to "nudge" individuals in the proper direction, but somehow the American public had evaded reasonable measures, and drastic action would have to be taken by Ms. Power to prevent Donald Trump from becoming president. It was the reasonable thing to do. Power unmasked more than 260 American citizens at a brisk pace in 2016  all the way up to President Trump's inauguration. Unmasking refers to the practice of political appointees obtaining the identities of American citizens referenced in intelligence surveillance of foreign nationals. This was an important mechanism for creating the current crisis surrounding President Trump and allegations concerning the Russian government's role in the 2016 election.

All of this leads us back to a reconsideration of what is reason? It appears that "reason" is whatever suits the powerful at any given moment. Would Samantha Power "stoop to anything" in order to prevent Donald Trump from becoming president? Someone who is a monster at one moment may at another moment be an imperative ally. What might seem like a plain breaking of the law in one case may appear different to someone being employed by that lawbreaker in the future.

Hillary Clinton decries the war against reason. The American public's war against "reason" is reasonable, and fully consistent with a republic founded upon limits on government rather than its ruthless expansion for selective self-gain.

Ben Voth is an associate professor of corporate communication and public affairs and director of debate at Southern Methodist University. His two recent books on American politics, Social Fragmentation and the Decline of American democracy and James Farmer Jr.: The Great Debater, seek to find a solution to our nation's current political trials.While we're now more than 18 months removed from the 2016 presidential campaign, it's still fresh on the minds of most voters. And for local politicians, there may be a sense of uneasiness and trepidation when it comes to campaigning in the wake of what was a volatile season.

What Is Grassroots Campaigning?

We've just come out of a record-shattering national campaign season in which Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump collectively raised more than $2.35 billion for their campaigns. Roughly 60 percent of that money went to the Clinton campaign, while just under $1 billion went to the Trump campaign.

While President Trump's campaign certainly had some grassroots elements, it was far from a grassroots campaign. Approximately 26 percent of its funds came from small donations of $200 or less (compared to 16 percent in the Clinton camp and 5 percent for the 2012 Republican nominee, Mitt Romney), but the massive payroll, full-time staff, and large scale prevented it from being a genuine grassroots campaign.

So while we may occasionally get a taste of some grassroots campaigning on a large scale, it's typically seen only in smaller, local elections. Grassroots campaigns don't involve high budgets, fancy ad campaigns, or highly paid professionals. Instead, they consist of volunteers passionately working together for a cause that's greater than any single person.

"If you look at a blade of grass," The George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management explains, "it appears to be fairly unremarkable. It is fragile, easily broken. On its own, it is weak. If you have ever tried to dig up a bunch of grass, however, you know that grass' roots are incredibly strong. The roots use each other for strength and perseverance. Singly, grass is ineffective; in large numbers, grass is powerful, even invasive. This is the idea behind a grassroots campaign. In large numbers, even individuals can affect [sic] great change."

In order for a campaign to accurately affix the "grassroots" label, it must do most (if not all) of the following:

Involve volunteers. It's possible for there to be paid employees heading up a grassroots campaign, but the majority of those involved need to be volunteers who get involved because they believe in the cause and want to be involved.

Be outward reaching. Grassroots campaigning is all about moving the public to action. More specifically, it's about moving a local community to action. Typical actions involve door-to-door canvassing, polling people on the street, setting up booths at local events, and hosting town hall meetings.

Have leadership. A grassroots campaign might not have a massive payroll, but that doesn't mean it's lacking in leadership. There needs to be some organization from the top down in order for there to be good results.

Establish a brand. Finally, the hope is that a grassroots campaign creates a brand that is recognizable to the general public. This brand lends credibility to the cause and helps create some traction.

The 5 Keys to Effective Grassroots Campaigning

If each of these factors is present, then you almost certainly have a grassroots campaign. However, there's a major difference between a grassroots campaign and a successful grassroots campaign. The following keys are typically the differentiating factors.

The Right Volunteers

Successful grassroots campaigning is all about having the right volunteers. While there's room for every personality type in a campaign, save your most gregarious and personable volunteers for person-to-person interactions.

Targeting the Right People

There's a misconception that the best way to reach people is to target as many voters as possible. Unfortunately, we operate in a political climate where it's hard to change someone's mind.

Instead of going after as many people as possible, successful grassroots campaigns focus on voters who are most highly predictive of success. One way this happens is through enlisting analytics experts and platforms.

"Prices for voter file scoring have dropped significantly, making these tools very affordable," campaigning expert Chris Turner explains. "Great grassroots efforts knock on the doors of those voters who indicate they are most likely to actually engage, demonstrate a predisposition toward voting, and will vote your way."

Listening More Than Speaking

Traditionally, campaigning is all about making your voice heard. In other words, the information flows from the campaigner to the voter. But listening plays an important role, too.

"Savvy campaigns invert the information flow, flipping conversation from 70 percent field rep talking to 70 percent field rep listening," Turner points out. "Great campaigns understand that people want to be heard and validated  not verbally assaulted  when they open their doors or pick up their phones."

Using Tangible Campaign Materials

There's certainly value and reach in digital campaigning. Social media, for example, play a significant role in cost-effectively reaching the masses. However, there's something to be said for using tangible campaign materials.

For example, many grassroots campaigns find value in printing campaign catalogs that explain the causes they're vying for. There's something especially valuable about holding a tangible material that can be touched and felt that moves voters to action.

Well Rounded Approach

"Most well-run grassroots organizations use every tool at their disposal to get their message out," Lincoln Strategy explains. "These tools include everything from press releases, press conferences and volunteer events and activities to social media, websites, direct mailings, door-to-door canvassing and rallies. The key is to devise a plan that utilizes a variety of these grassroots techniques to increasingly make your campaign's 'voice' heard."

Make sure your grassroots campaign is well rounded and versatile; otherwise, you risk having your message heard by only a portion of your target audience.

The Changing Face of Campaigning

Campaigning is always changing. While it's easy to see what happens on the grand scale  as in presidential campaigns every four years  the reality is that most political campaigning happens on a much smaller scale. Understanding the value of grassroots campaigning helps candidates and voters play a more relevant role in change.

If you've never personally been involved in a grassroots campaign, be on the lookout for ways to volunteer. Nothing binds you more to a cause than getting personally involved.At long last, at least some in Congress are looking to punish the Iranians for their blatant hostage taking.

Iran has seized at least five U.S. citizens on trumped up charges of espionage or "threatening the national security" of Iran. With the Trump administration seriously considering pulling out of the nuclear deal, the fate of those Americans hangs in the balance. The Iranians refuse to negotiate for their release, and U.S. officials have been frustrated by a lack of communication on the issue.

The bill, which passed without opposition, would sanction Iranian individuals directly responsible for holding our citizens.

Washington Post:

Similar bills have been put forward before, and all of them pass, usually without opposition. Iran is one of the rare issues on which there is reliable bipartisan agreement. Jared Huffman, a Democrat who represents my home district in California, told me he is voting for the bill "because it directs the president to impose sanctions on Iranian officials for ordering prolonged detentions and politically motivated abuses." When I was spending 544 days imprisoned in Iran, Huffman was vocal in fighting for my freedom, but he also voiced support for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, better known as the Iran nuclear deal. He and other Democrats believe abandoning the nuclear accord would close the most important avenues of communication we have with Tehran, and I think he's right. "After the passage of the JCPOA, I saw first-hand how the newly opened and necessary diplomatic channels paved the way to free prisoners in Iran," Huffman said. This new legislation is unique for two reasons. First, it provides a deeper and more nuanced description of Iran's taking of hostages as tool of its foreign policy rather than simply demanding freedom for those citizens being held. Second, rather than prescribing blanket sanctions that would hurt the Iranian people, it specifically targets officials involved in hostage-takings. A surprisingly large number of Iranian officials travel to New York each year for the U.N. General Assembly. Not only president Hassan Rouhani and foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, but lower-profile ones such as Masoumeh Ebtekar, Rouhani's vice president for women's affairs. (Americans may remember her as "Sister Mary," the teenager who served as the spokesperson for the original Iranian hostage-takers who stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979.) Or Mohammad Javad Larijani, who studied at Berkeley and is tasked with monitoring human rights. He is also the brother of the head of Iran's judiciary.

Rogue regimes like Iran and North Korea routinely arrest Americans on bogus charges. They usually want money and supplies like food and medicine in return for their release. These Americans are horribly mistreated and usually serve prison terms with hard labor.

We're not talking to Iran about anything not related to the nuclear deal, so abandoning the agreement won't matter to the hostages in the short term. The Iranians have been impervious to entreaties on the hostages' behalf by third-party countries like Switzerland, and even continuing the nuclear deal won't change that, either.

Sanctions on individual officials in Iran is about the only card we have to play. But with Supreme Leader Khamenei being the only official who really matters, it's not likely that sanctions will lead to any progress in returning the imprisoned Americans home.In the early 1960s, I was fascinated as a young boy by the Civil Rights movement. I watched and read about these issues in Life magazine. My friends and I also loved Bill Cosby's comedy routines on his award-winning comedy records. We loved his tales of his adventures with his friends as children growing up in the early 1950s.

My opinion of the Civil Rights movement in general and Bill Cosby in particular changed dramatically in the summer of 1968, when CBS aired a seven-part series called Of Black America. Cosby was the narrator in three of the seven episodes, and the one I remember vividly was "Black History: Lost, Stolen, or Strayed." In this episode, Cosby excoriated blacks who had succeeded by emulating what successful people in modern civilizations do and instead encouraged them to embrace vibrant black culture.

Cosby also ripped Hollywood for its depiction of blacks over thirty-five years earlier. He talked openly about blacks being depicted as lazy, stupid, chicken-stealing "coons" in the early 1930s. He made no mention whatsoever of what had been happening more recently in Hollywood, with trick-shooting black gunslinger Wade Randall (Sammy Davis, Jr.) on The Rifleman in 1962, black radio operator Sgt. Kinchloe (Ivan Dixon) on Hogan's Heroes in 1965, his own starring role in I Spy in 1965, Greg Morris as electronics expert Barney in the 1966 hit series Mission: Impossible, and scores of other meaty roles played by black actors and actresses by 1968, when CBS shot its documentary.

To this 11-year-old viewer, the most jarring scene in the documentary was the nine-minute segment where pre-kindergarten-age kids are indoctrinated into the Black Power movement by an earnest teacher. He's teaching the kids to refuse being "American Negroes" and instead identify with Africa first.

After this segment, Cosby comes on and says, "Well, that's kind of like brainwashing  or is it? Can you blame us for overcompensating?"

Yes, Mr. Cosby, I can. You were a role model for all Americans in 1967, then you endorsed this "Black Power" garbage in the summer of 1968. By October of that year, we had the protests at the Summer Olympics in Mexico City, which many historians view as the point where the focus of the Civil Rights movement shifted from inclusion and freedom to black entitlement, and celebrating the "vibrancy" of savage criminality combined with an absence of critical thinking.

Cosby two decades later had shifted back to the wholesome, insightful, funny guy he was in my pre-1968 youth as "America's Dad" in his successful 1980s sitcom.

However, recent revelations about his behavior during his entire adult life have showed that he represents a much more damning historic stereotype of black men than the stupid, lazy coward: the sex-obsessed buck around which no woman is safe from being raped.

Good job.

John Ross is the author of Unintended Consequences, the bestselling novel about the culture of freedom versus the culture of state control.Username: Password: or Register Thread Rating: 5 Vote(s) - 1.8 Average

1

2

3

4

5

Russian Trump Tower Lawyer: I Am an Informant for Kremlin spo snouou

Vocem sine nomine audivit!

User ID: kaput

04-28-2018 07:08 AM



Posts: 67,593









Post: #1 Russian Trump Tower Lawyer: I Am an Informant for Kremlin

Advertisement Quote: Natalia V. Veselnitskaya, the Russian lawyer who notoriously met with Trump campaign officials in Trump Tower in June 2016including Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manaforthas much closer ties to top Kremlin officials than was previously believed, The New York Times reported Friday. Emails obtained by an anti-Putin campaigner reveal that Veselnitskaya worked with Russias top legal office to thwart a U.S. Justice Department civil-fraud case against a well-connected Russian firm. The Trump Tower meeting is one focus of the special counsel investigation into Russias election interference, and was organized after a go-between promised Veselnitskayawho previously claimed to be a private lawyerwould deliver documents that would incriminate Hillary Clinton. Additionally, in an interview to be broadcast Friday night by NBC News, Veselnitskaya acknowledges that she is not just a private lawyer but a source of information for a top Kremlin official, Yuri Y. Chaika, the prosecutor general. I am a lawyer, and I am an informant, she said. Since 2013, I have been actively communicating with the office of the Russian prosecutor general.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/27/us/na...neral.html blind prophet

Teiresias

User ID: 1337

04-28-2018 07:12 AM



Posts: 26,548









Post: #2 RE: Russian Trump Tower Lawyer: I Am an Informant for Kremlin









The Russians are coming, The Russians are coming! spo snouou

Vocem sine nomine audivit!

User ID: 1337

04-28-2018 07:32 AM



Posts: 67,593









Post: #3 RE: Russian Trump Tower Lawyer: I Am an Informant for Kremlin

Russian Lawyer Says She Talked to Ivanka Trump After Infamous Meeting With Jared Kushner, Donald Jr.



Special counsel Robert Mueller is ramping up his investigation into President Donald Trump's family in the Russia probe, turning his head to first daughter Ivanka Trump. Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, who attended the infamous June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower, has now said that she believed she spoke to Ivanka on her way out of the meeting.



Veselnitskaya told NBC News that she had a conversation with a woman with blonde hair that consisted of "pleasantries" while waiting for an elevator in Trump Tower. The identity of the blonde woman who interacted with the Russian lawyer was confirmed to be Ivanka Trump by a second source.



more:

http://www.newsweek.com/ivanka-trump-rus...ing-774080 Special counsel Robert Mueller is ramping up his investigation into President Donald Trump's family in the Russia probe, turning his head to first daughter Ivanka Trump. Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, who attended the infamous June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower, has now said that she believed she spoke to Ivanka on her way out of the meeting.Veselnitskaya told NBC News that she had a conversation with a woman with blonde hair that consisted of "pleasantries" while waiting for an elevator in Trump Tower. The identity of the blonde woman who interacted with the Russian lawyer was confirmed to be Ivanka Trump by a second source.more: RiskyRob

( Lop V.I.P.)

User ID: 1337

04-29-2018 06:36 PM



Posts: 8,137









Post: #4 RE: Russian Trump Tower Lawyer: I Am an Informant for Kremlin

Trump Tower Lawyer? She was an operative for Fusion GPS and connected to the Democrat party. The Obama administration gave her secret and highly unusual entrance into the US, as her mission was to set up Donald Trump. This is collusion with the Kremlin, but Hillary, the FBI and Obama's Justice Department are the guilty parties.  Ascended Master Strategos

Against Dystopia

User ID: 1337

04-29-2018 06:37 PM



Posts: 9,456









Post: #5 RE: Russian Trump Tower Lawyer: I Am an Informant for Kremlin

RiskyRob Wrote: (04-29-2018 06:36 PM) Trump Tower Lawyer? She was an operative for Fusion GPS and connected to the Democrat party. The Obama administration gave her secret and highly unusual entrance into the US, as her mission was to set up Donald Trump. This is collusion with the Kremlin, but Hillary, the FBI and Obama's Justice Department are the guilty parties.

Yes, this is bad news for AC's entire narrative, I'm surprised he would even post it. Yes, this is bad news for AC's entire narrative, I'm surprised he would even post it. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-29-2018 06:39 PM











Post: #6 RE: Russian Trump Tower Lawyer: I Am an Informant for Kremlin

Strategos Wrote: (04-29-2018 06:37 PM) RiskyRob Wrote: (04-29-2018 06:36 PM) Trump Tower Lawyer? She was an operative for Fusion GPS and connected to the Democrat party. The Obama administration gave her secret and highly unusual entrance into the US, as her mission was to set up Donald Trump. This is collusion with the Kremlin, but Hillary, the FBI and Obama's Justice Department are the guilty parties.

Yes, this is bad news for AC's entire narrative, I'm surprised he would even post it.

He posts what hes paid to post. He posts what hes paid to post. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-29-2018 06:45 PM











Post: #7 RE: Russian Trump Tower Lawyer: I Am an Informant for Kremlin

blind prophet Wrote: (04-28-2018 07:12 AM) The Russians are coming, The Russians are coming!



link to image: http://www.sunnyvaleisd.com/cms/lib3/TX0...Revere.GIF





Other off topic posts removed from this thread



But this ^^ one wasn't



GJ @ biased modding



Other off topic posts removed from this threadBut this ^^ one wasn'tGJ @ biased modding LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-29-2018 06:46 PM











Post: #8 RE: Russian Trump Tower Lawyer: I Am an Informant for Kremlin

LoP Guest Wrote: (04-29-2018 06:39 PM) Strategos Wrote: (04-29-2018 06:37 PM) Yes, this is bad news for AC's entire narrative, I'm surprised he would even post it.

He posts what hes paid to post.

DAMN YOU'RE DUMB DAMN YOU'RE DUMB















On New York City's Upper West Side, rich, almost certainly liberal (the UWS gave 89% of its votes to Hillary Clinton in 2016) parents are freaking out over a diversity plan that would mean bringing in black and Hispanic students with lower test scores to their middle schools, where admissions are partially governed by test scores.

Leslie Brody of the Wall Street Journal reports:

A New York City proposal to diversify middle schools on Manhattan's Upper West Side, by setting aside seats for children with low test scores, is facing stiff resistance from parents worried their high-achieving children might lose access to the popular public schools. The Department of Education has proposed one scenario in which most middle schools in District 3 would give priority, for up to 25% of their seats, to applicants who had fourth-grade scores below grade level on state tests of reading and math. Some parents applaud the proposal as a way to help integrate a swath of a school system that is highly segregated by race and class. About 84% of District 3's fourth-graders with scores below proficiency in English language arts last year were black or Hispanic, according to city data. But some parents argue their high-performing children shouldn't be edged out. At a heated public meeting Tuesday, filmed by NY1 at P.S. 199, many parents were upset.

Here is the video, from local all-news cable channel New York One (hat tip: Gateway Pundit):

The local educational establishment, including elected parent representatives, is all in on the plan for the usual reasons.

Henry Zymeck of the Computer School, which would be affected, said children benefit from learning alongside others with varying abilities, and teachers know how to differentiate instruction. "If you have a large family, you don't keep your kids away from each other based on who has the highest test score," he said. "We feel the ability to look deep within other students and see their value is an important thing for us to instill in children."

But parents are concerned that their kids will not advance as far as they could in critical skills like math and science, and presumably thus be at a disadvantage in getting into elite colleges. An unspoken fear may be that student populations with a higher propensity to misbehave might affect their precious darlings during the critical years of adolescence.

These are the sort of people who generally support the progressive agenda, as long as it doesn't adversely affect them in critical ways. They might be willing to pay high taxes (it takes a lot of money to live in decent housing there) and give lip service to all sorts of anti-racism initiatives. But when their own kids' futures are believed to be at stake, they suddenly change their tune.

I lived in Boston through the Boston school bussing crisis, when a federal judge who lived in upper-crust Wellesley determined that poor white kids from South Boston should be bussed out of their neighborhood to ghetto schools, and black and Hispanic kids from Roxbury and other poor neighborhoods should be bussed in. Meanwhile, rich, white Wellesley was left untouched. The violence that resulted shocked the nation. Now these chickens are coming home to roost in gentry neighborhoods of New York City.While his critics among liberals and NeverTrump purported conservatives double down on their hatred of President Trump, Israel recognizes what a great friend and historic change-maker it has in the 45th president.

Gil Hoffman of the Jerusalem Post reports:

Construction Minister Yoav Gallant has instructed the top officials in his ministry to begin the process of planning and approving a new quarter for embassies from countries around the world that will be built in Jerusalem, he revealed on Thursday in an interview from New York, where he will be speaking at Sunday's Jerusalem Post Conference.

Even before the progress made this week toward moving the embassies of the Czech Republic, Romania, and Honduras, Gallant had already sent a letter to Construction Ministry director-general Hegai Roznik and chief architect Vered Solomon-Maman last Friday, asking them to form a task force that will immediately begin working on finding an appropriate site for many embassies in the capital.

In the letter, which was obtained exclusively by The Jerusalem Post, Galant asked the top figures in his ministry to start working on solutions to house the workers of the embassies.

Following the letter, Roznik, Solomon-Maman and other ministry officials met this week and started working on a plan.

"There is an apparent pattern of embassies moving to Jerusalem, and we have to start getting ready now," Gallant said. "We might have to build dozens of embassies, and we would need new land ready for that purpose. I asked my ministry to vigorously take action as fast as possible."

Gallant suggested a couple possible names for the area where the embassies would be located. He initially called it "Embassy Town," but then said he may decide to instead call it "Trump Town," after US President Donald Trump, who initiated next month's move of the US Embassy to Jerusalem.We remember Nicaragua from the 1980s: the contras, the Sandinistas, and other stories from the Reagan years.

Nicaragua is back in the news because of protests and the government's reaction to them, as we see in news reports:

Nicaragua has been rocked by a week of protests in which over two dozen people have been killed. The protests were triggered by tax hikes and benefit cuts meant to shore up the ailing social security system. On Sunday, President Daniel Ortega said the government would withdraw the pension changes. But he rejected demands to free detained protesters, withdraw the police and lift some censorship.

The U.S. embassy has moved some employees from Managua as a reaction to the violence. The State Department has also issued a travel warning.

The violence in Nicaragua is related to President Ortega's proposal to raise taxes to pay for social services and fund public pensions. President Ortega did promise new negotiations with the opposition, but not much has happened yet.

The international media have been reporting the violence and the death of Angel Gahona, a journalist who was gunned down during his broadcast. The shooting was caught live on social media.

The violence has closed stores in Managua, the capital and largest city. Some reopened, but shelves were empty because the violence shut down weekend deliveries.

Finally, the protests have morphed into a lot more than a reaction to tax increases. Many demonstrators are also apparently protesting against secrecy, corruption and cronyism.

Nicaragua is back on the front pages, and it will probably stay there for a while.

What can the U.S. do? Nothing directly, except to criticize the harsh tactics used against protesters.

PS: You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.

Image credit: Eden, Janine & Jim via Flickr, Creative Commons SA 2.0.Randa Jarrar, the Fresno State University tenured professor who demonized Barbara Bush shortly after her death and mocked her critics by pointing out that she has tenure and cannot be fired from her six-figure job shaping young minds, ought to become a poster child for the depths to which academia has sunk. Her status is under review according to university officials, no doubt worried about alumni giving declining, so there is a decent possibility that she will become a cause celebre on the left, should she lose her job. More attention on her would be perfect, as far as I am concerned.

In my opinion, the many hardworking scholars of integrity still remaining in the ivory towers of America (yes, they do exist) are surrendering to and being overwhelmed by lesser minds, deranged with political correctness, and filled with hate toward the society they supposedly serve, and by which they are lavishly subsidized, directly with tax funds and indirectly with tax deductibility for donations. In the current atmosphere on campus, people like Jarrar are able to be not simply accepted, but rewarded with tenure and other perks unimaginable to mainstream Americans.

An account by a man purporting to be Professor Jarrar's ex-husband, verified by a search of public records as to the marriage and the birth of a child, was published on Milo Yiannopoulos's site Dangerous. It amounts to a case study in the sort of person who can rise to the near top of a state-owned and subsidized institution of higher education. I do not recommend it to the faint of heart, but for those who do not mind briefly entering the mire, it is enlightening as to just the sort of person she appears to be. Of course, an ex-spouse tends to be quite bitter, so that grain of salt must be attached. Nevertheless, remember that the sons and daughters of America are being entrusted to people who may not merit that consideration.

A sample:

When Orie Cipollaro was 25 years old, he sat down next to a pair of beautiful young ladies in a bar near Sarah Lawrence College. "They were not getting enough attention, so they started to make out with one another," he says. "At 25 years old, joining in was definitely in my wheelhouse. Here started my relationship with the infamous Randa Jarrar." ... Cipollaro reached out to DANGEROUS to tell a different story, one of a spoiled-little-rich-girl he came to see as ungrateful, deceitful, and vindictive who'd ruined many lives of those around her. Cipollaro, who provided a birth certificate for their son and a copy of their marriage license, says Jarrar grew up in one of the richest communities in America: Greenwich, Connecticut, in a house on a famed estate. Her parents were of Egyptian and Palestinian origin and fled Kuwait to come to the U.S., where Jarrar was born. After they met, an affair ensued and Cipollaro, now an electrician and tour manager, describes being roped into an intoxicating world of bisexual sex and threesomes with the future professor. ... Jarrar still claims to be a Muslim, but Cipollaro doesn't see that. In fact, he says she has a jihad on her in many Muslim nations because of her writings. Cipollaro successfully got his son's passport revoked out of fear Jarrar would travel with him to a country where his life would be in danger. "She doesn't have any religion. She eats pork. She sleeps with men and women, all of them Christian and Jews. She uses the fact that she is from Muslim heritage in order to shield herself from critics." "This person has been given every advantage this country has to offer and she spits on it everyday," he says.

As I say, this is one side of the story. What intrigues me about it is that further public discussion, including possibly Jarrar's side of the story, can only lead to further public knowledge of the type of people tolerated, promoted, and even celebrated by those on the left consumed with hate who staff our colleges and universities.

One interesting note is that somewhere along the line from new mother to tenured hater, Jarrar's habitus changed from normal to what appears to be morbid obesity.

The new mother, as photographed by the ex:

A more contemporary picture:

What do you suppose accounts for this change?Of course, the best part of the seeming reconciliation underway between North and South Korea is the diminishing threat of war, including a nuclear holocaust. Face it: this is what Joe Biden would call a BFD, as even The Hill acknowledges:

The stunning Panmunjom Declaration announcement by the leaders of South Korea and North Korea is sweeping and potentially strongly in the American interest. The three-page declaration is quite vague and open to multiple interpretations, but the United States should use the most favorable interpretation going into the summit between President Trump and Kim Jong Un next month.

Let's stipulate that there are many obstacles ahead, and Kim Jong-un may well be playing a devious game. I am not cutting on any Nobel Peace Prizes for President Trump (in fact, it would not surprise me for the Nobel Committee to shun him and honor Kim, even if Trump's leadership succeeds).

But because I am a small-minded, petty man, I see the second-best part of the triumph to date as the egg on the faces of so many of his hoity-toity NeverTrump critics. And at the front of that long line, I put Bill Kristol, a man I used to admire and like. How foolish does this tweet look now?"I am praying for Alfie, for his family and for all who are involved"  these are the words of Pope Francis, which reflect how millions of people have been touched by the heartbreaking story of Alfie Evans, a toddler on life support who has been at the center of an ugly legal battle among his parents, the British National Health Service, and the British judicial system. The story of little Alfie has seen his parents, Tom Evans and Kate James, go to great lengths to keep their son alive, a huge testament of parental love and devotion. However, doctors and the courts have determined that Alfie could not be saved and that it was futile to continue treatment. Probably many would react in shock and horror that this could happen in our society, but it's just a reflection on how the West has lost all respect for life.

Alfie Evans was born on May 9, 2016 in a sort of semi-vegetative state and is suffering from a degenerative neurological condition. Doctors told the parents that the child was not going to make it; Alfie fought back and started breathing on his own. But he caught another chest infection and was forced to use a ventilator. Doctors advised his parents to end the mechanical ventilation, as he was not getting better, and it was inhumane to keep him alive. Alfie's parents, like any parent, went to the courts to stop the hospital from removing the ventilator. They also went to Pope Francis so that he might lobby for this child. The court decision went against the parents. Extraordinarily, the Italian government gave Alfie citizenship and logged a diplomatic protest. Alfie again started breathing on his own. At the time of writing, it is still uncertain whether the efforts to save Alfie will succeed; it's nevertheless a damning picture of the state of the West.

UPDATE: Alfie Evans died early this morning, April 28, 2018.

Alfie's fight to live is a reminder of love and human dignity but weighted by the actions in this case and the policies being adopted, it's clear that Western society could not care less for life. As every year passes and we listen to the statistics of mass infanticide promoted by abortion-supporters along with the steady campaign to legalize euthanasia, the value of life is becoming meaningless.

One of the most worrying examples of the devaluation of life is the growing adoption of euthanasia legislation in the West, particularly in the Netherlands. According to statistics, almost 5% of deaths in the Dutch Kingdom are attributed to assisted suicide, a shocking number. According to the U.S. National Institutes of Health, many of the people requesting euthanasia do so for psychiatric reasons  for example, loneliness. Many Western countries like the Netherlands have problems dealing with psychiatric problems, elderly social isolation, etc. What is to stop a person going to a doctor trying to get him sign off on an assisted suicide without given them the choice of a proper care that may save a life.

This growth of euthanasia seems to me to be a case of mistaken mercy leading to a dangerous slippery slope of a complete loss of the value of life. Have we as a society such little respect for the life of a human being that we are willing to renege on our responsibilities for each other, the disabled, and the terminally ill, to simply allow them to take their own lives?

Society wants to determine who is unworthy of living, which is why many don't say a word about abortion. Where is the outrage when data show that abortion rates of prenatal babies, particularly with disabilities, is extremely high? Isn't it outrageous that many seem to believe that the disabled, the terminally ill, and the old are not worthy of life? Alfie's case, along with that of Charlie Gard, has shamed Western society, where in both cases the government determined who may have the opportunity to live.

In this day and age, where moral relativism is rampant, when most of us live in an individualistic bubble, we have to be unashamed and unshakable warriors in defense of the dignity and value of life. Alfie Evans's parents' fight for his life is a testament of love and life, but most important of all: hope.

Ojel L. Rodriguez (@ojelrodriguez), AKC is a freelance writer and graduate from King's College, London.It's been drilled into everyone that "past performance is no guarantee of future results." That piece of wisdom is a double-edged sword. Most Trump critics, be they Democrats or NeverTumps, miss the second edge. However bad Trump's pre-election behavior is perceived to be, it has almost no value in evaluating the obvious success of his presidency.

Just as there are naive investors who are incredulous when a surefire opportunity becomes a money-loser, there are pundits who, in their own minds, know that a person or a policy will lead to disaster. They are unable to grasp when reality makes their predictions worthless.

It is not a surprise that Trump was sexually active prior to his election. For some people  surprisingly, mostly on the left  that is a sign of our downfall as a civilization. They ask how they can explain it to their children. In the post-New Deal era, the following presidents have been sexually promiscuous while actually in high office: FDR, Kennedy, Johnson, and Clinton. There is no sense in which the Trump presidency is any less a model of propriety than that of either Bush or of Obama.

For people living in the past, Trump is a bigot for preventing all Muslims from entering the country. His actual policy is a ban on Muslims coming from five countries that contain 8% of the world Muslim population. When the decision is viewed in those terms, it is perfectly reasonable. What he said before the election is irrelevant.

During the campaign, Trump scared me and many other free-traders. He kept saying he was a free-trader but wanted to impose some tariffs to compensate for unfair trade practices and to motivate trading partners to respect American intellectual property. He argued that tariffs would not be permanently in place to stifle free trade. They would be negotiating tools to facilitate trade. Turns out he was right. In fairness to the laissez-faire crowd, free trade probably would eventually solve these problems. It is also true that eventually is a very long time.

Trump's negotiating style is the key to understanding his success. During the campaign, Trump-supporters continued to emphasize his business acumen. Many people found the claim absurd. I was certainly among them, but the group included highly successful investors like Mitt Romney. Trump's investment decisions were certainly erratic. My point was and is that no one should take investment advice from this guy.

Trump-supporters had the stronger case. Their man's specific business skill is as a marvelous negotiator. There is no doubt that he is ruthless and relentless in his willingness to leverage American power. America has desired outcomes all over the world. Trump has proven to be the best available agent to achieve those outcomes. Here are a few examples:

1. The already mentioned trade concessions from people previously all too happy to take advantage of previous administration weakness.

2. Getting our allies to carry a heavier load. Most NATO nations are now meeting their obligations for defense spending. Middle Eastern countries are moving more aggressively to counter terrorism and to stand against Iran.

3. Russia is no longer buzzing our planes and ships and otherwise testing our troops or our border.

4. North Korea has agreed to stop testing nuclear weapons and missiles. It has agreed to talks and to accept a peaceful end of the Korean War, rather than just the prevailing ceasefire. It is true that the North Korean nuclear test site may no longer be usable. For those who think that if Obama were still president, Kim Jong-un would not merely test above ground or even use aerial testing, I repeat my longstanding offer to sell some of my Florida orange groves. They are wonderfully green.

No one needs advice to understand the value of these achievements. It took Trump to make them a reality.

Trump moves in mysterious ways. Some of his moves are likely to fail, but some of even the oddest of them work. When he was still head of the CIA, Mike Pompeo made it clear that Trump's tweets affect our adversaries. Measurable favorable behavioral changes were observed by our intelligence community. Sometimes there is a method to apparent madness.

What can be criticized about this president's actual performance? There are criticisms of the tax cut. They are lame. With no modesty at all, I recommend this as an antidote. There are hopes and prayers among a dwindling number of partisans that the Mueller investigations will turn up wrongdoing of some sort. Let's just wait and see.

While we wait, it will add to the health of our republic if we judge our president by what he does as president rather than by what people predicted he would do or predict that he will do. There are people who call this approach being reality-based.Samsungs Galaxy A6 series of Android mid-rangers will launch in China in the near future, as evidenced by the 3C certificate awarded to the lineup earlier this week. While certain telecom regulators such as the FCC in the U.S. often receive requests to certify equipment thats never intended to be commercialized in their respective jurisdictions because manufacturers simply want their products to adhere to certain international standards, 3C certificates are rarely issued for such purposes. The Galaxy A6 family has already been leaked in an extensive manner over the course of the last several months, with Samsung apparently looking to position the new devices as direct successors to the Galaxy A5 series from last year.

While all Galaxy A5 models came with identical screen sizes and only differed in terms of the number of SIM cards they accepted and the amount of storage space, their successors are understood to be arriving in two main variants advertised as the Galaxy A6 and Galaxy A6 Plus. As is the case with Samsungs Galaxy S9 flagship family, the Galaxy A6 line will see its larger model sport a dual-camera setup on its back panel. The device in question is also expected to feature a two-lens system on the front, supported by a conventional flash unit. Samsung is hence likely planning on advertising it as a selfie-focused offering in an effort to take on the likes of OPPO and Meizu.

Samsungs China business lead the local market in terms of shipments and sales some half a decade ago but has now been pushed to the verge of irrelevancy, with most industry trackers indicating the South Korean tech giant currently holds less than a single percentage point of the smartphone market in the Far Eastern country. Samsung isnt planning to follow LGs recent example and exit China entirely but its local prospects remain grim, especially as the firm continues to insist on relatively high profit margins.T-Mobile and Sprint may finally have worked out a merger deal which could be announced as early as Sunday. Thats according to unnamed sources close to the deal  which has been valued at around $26 billion. The sources have said that negotiations are not necessarily anywhere near being concluded but that both have agreed on an exact exchange ratio. For those who may not be aware, thats a fairly big step since the ratio is tied in with the number of new shares that would be given to existing shareholders. Whats more Sprints parent company, SoftBank, has agreed to allow Deutsche Telekom consolidate the new companys earnings if the merger moves forward. Meanwhile, Deutsche Telekom is part-owner of T-Mobile, holding just under two-thirds of the company. Sprints valuation in the talks is said to be set at its current market price of $6.50 per share.

However, as is usually the case with unnamed sources, it may be best to take the news with a grain of salt. This is not the first time that the two companies have been in talks regarding a merger and theres no way to verify that the talks are quite that far along. More importantly, the merger would have to pass approval from regulatory authorities in order to be finalized. In 2011, AT&T and T-Mobile attempted a merger which failed due to the fact that there are technically only four competing providers in the U.S. That doesnt mean this deal would fall through since T-Mobile and Sprint fill in at number three and four  with Sprint arguably lagging well behind the competition in several regards. Thats still no guarantee that regulators will approve of a deal but may turn out to be helpful.

With that said, if talks are underway, those may still fall through at some point anyway. The previously attempted merger reportedly came to an end due to SoftBanks reluctance to let go of majority control of Sprint. That may or may not have changed but its probably a good idea not to take any deal between the two carriers as anything more than a possibility until the deal is finalized completely.COP26 may be a cop-out in the making COP26 is just about a month away. Delayed for a year by the Covid-19 pandemic, the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference has built up even more expectations and momentum during the intervening months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/Getting behind the wheel of a car while drunk is stupid, but doing so when your own car has a dashboard camera is like filming a Snapchat while committing murder - you are never going to get away with it.Sussex Police is trying to send a message with the video, but the sentence that was handed out might have opposite effect. More on that later.The footage shows how erratically the woman was driving before the eventual and inevitable accident. She can't stick to her lines on the motorway and is shown mounting curbs, hitting hedges and other minor objects.The backside clencher is when she swerves into the opposite line at 50mph trying (in a residential area) to avoid roadworks. Moments later, she his some cones and within a minute rams her Vauxhall Corsa into the back of a parked Audi A4 at 40mph.We have a picture of the aftermath, but the police did not show how the woman drove off after hitting the Audi. 41-year-old teacher Louise Willard was unharmed after the crash. However, the breathalyzer test revealed she was over three times over the legal limit.Willard had her license revoked for two years and was sentenced to 150 hours of community service. If this were America, drink driving and failing to stop at the scene of an accident would have landed her in prison. This could have just as easily been murder if there had been somebody working next to any of the vans. I mean, she could do this again in two year's time, right?We'd like to point out, however, that she's likely to lose her education job or at least any prospect of career ascension she might've had.AMG

There are plenty of fast, somewhat exotic-looking SUVs turned into camera cars, such as the Porsche Cayenne or Mercedes-E63. However, this bad boy is more radical and hunkered down to the ground.The build belongs Nathan Garofalos and Chris Fuelner of Incline Dynamic Outlet. We're happy that we found a driving video and everything, but why would they need such a camera car.Well, in an interview with Jalopnik, the two revealed that the idea came about while they were filming The Deadliest Catch. I love that show!Chris and I were up in Dutch Harbor shooting Deadliest Catch from a truck with one of the gimbals on it. And were on this island that the speed limits 30 MPH and its two miles long and, like, five roads. After a week, we just wanted to go fast, Nathan said.The quickly came up with the idea of putting a stabilized gimble on a supercar. The fact that one of them already owned the Huracan had nothing to do with it. They simply need a rear-wheel-drive machine, as this allowed them to fit something to the front of the chassis.The Audi R8 was considered, but the Lambo offered more nimbleness. The Ferrari FF was also proposed because it could carry a more substantial camera crew, being a four-seater. Even a Huracan GT3 was on the list, but this wouldn't be road-legal.This is not the final form of the "Huracam," which will also be available with a top and rear mount. No chassis modifications have been carried out, and the camera can be taken off in about an hour. The only question is what the heck are you going to film in a 200mph supercar?The project is undoubtedly NASAs most ambitious endeavor ever, even if other projects, like the Mars rover missions or SpaceX's repeated successes get all the media attention. So important that from the 2019 NASA budget request of nearly $20 billion, almost more than half that is to go to the return of human kind to the Moon, together with the first landings on Mars.The Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway is supposed to act as a staging ground for both Lunar and Mars incursions. It would also support a host of scientific experiments, just as the International Space Station (ISS) is doing in Earth orbit.For a while now, NASA together with several partners, including Boeing, are working on the next generation rocket. It is to be called Space Launch System (SLS), and is to be the most powerful rocket ever built.The rocket will be capable of launching crews of up to four astronauts in the agencys new Orion spacecraft, but it will also be used as a delivery method for the components of the Platform-Gateway in cislunar orbit.Aside for the SLS, NASA is already working with private contractors for delivering supplies and astronauts to the ISS, and theres a good chance their services would be required for delivering Gateway components to the required location as well.Back in 2017 NASA charged five companies with looking into the possibility of designing the components of the Gateway. One or more of the five (Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Orbital ATK, Sierra Nevada Corporation, and Space Systems) will be awarded contracts next year to start building those components.Initial details say the Gateway will be comprised of at least a power and propulsion element, as well as habitation, logistics and airlock capabilities.The first to be built will be the power and propulsion element. Its launch towards the assembly area is for now scheduled to take place sometime in 2022. It will use solar electric propulsion to keep the Gateway in place, but can also act as booster to move the station from orbit to orbit, depending on the requirements of various experiments being conducted.One year after the launch of the propulsion element, the habitation modules would follow. NASA plans for the modules to be able to accommodate an unspecified number of personnel for a period of between 30 to sixty days.The station would also be fitted with airlocks which would allow astronauts to perform space walks and or docking of supply ships and other station elements. NASA says it plans at least one logistics module to be added to the lunar station.The crew to be deployed on the space station would engage in deep space exploration and scientific experiments, but would also be tasked with missions to the lunar surface, both manned and robotic. Their most important task would however be the preparation of the planned manned mission to Mars.Being located outside of Earths magnetosphere, the station would allow for research in the fields of astrophysics, heliophysics, and Earth science.The station might be fitted with fixed panels for interchangeable experiments, hardware for exoplanet detection, as well as an army of CubeSats for various tests.The assembly of the Gateway is supposed to take place on site, making the station one of humanitys most challenging engineering projects to date.The first steps toward the actual build of the Gateway will take place next year, when NASA is expected to award the first contract for the creation of power and propulsion elements. They would soon be followed by contracts for the habitation and other elements.President Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un will be meeting in either Singapore or Mongolia, according to CBS News.

The backdrop: Trump tweeted on Saturday morning that he "had a long and very good talk with President Moon of South Korea. Things are going very well, time and location of meeting with North Korea is being set. Also spoke to Prime Minister Abe of Japan to inform him of the ongoing negotiations."Newly sworn-in secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, is spending his second full day on the job in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, campaigning for support from Middle Eastern nations on new Iran sanctions.

What they're saying: We are urging nations around the world to sanction any individuals and entities associated with Irans missile program, and it has also been a big part of discussions with Europeans, policy advisor traveling with the secretary, Brian Hook, told Reuters reporters. Irans missiles prolong war and suffering in the Middle East, they threaten our security and economic interests and they especially threaten Saudi Arabia and Israel, he added.Trend:

Over the past 24 hours, Armenias armed forces have 95 times violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said April 28.

The Armenian armed forces were using heavy machine guns.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.Trend:

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had a phone conversation with Armenian President Armen Sargsyan April 27, official spokesman for the Secretary-General Stefan Dujarrik told reporters, according TASS.

Guterres stressed the importance of resolving the crisis in the country through a dialogue of the parties to the conflict and in the constitutional framework.

"The Secretary General spoke with the President of the Republic of Armenia Armen Sargsyan this morning. The Secretary-General stressed the need for a peaceful settlement of the situation in the country through dialogue and in the constitutional framework", Dujarrik said.Trend:

The leader of Armenian opposition Nikol Pashinyan demanded the government to resign, as well as appoint an extraordinary parliamentary election in the country, RIA Novosti reports.

He also put forward an ultimatum, stating his intention to boycott early parliamentary elections, if the candidate does not take the post of prime minister "from the people".

Pashinyan also said that if the opposition comes to power, Armenia will maintain good relations with Russia, remain a member of the CSTO and will be "faithful to international commitments," including on the EU and the EEU.David Lidington travelled to Dundalk and Newry yesterday to hear views on the impact of Brexit on the region

Cabinet Office Minister David Lidington has appeared to back Theresa May's stance on Britain leaving the customs union, after a suggestion by a senior colleague that the question of UK membership remained open.

Mr Lidington, effectively Mrs May's second-in-command, said Britain was willing to negotiate binding trade agreements with the EU but seemed adamant the UK would still come out of the customs union.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd on Thursday declined to say that the UK was certain to leave the customs union, but Mr Lidington said the Government has been "very clear" that leaving the EU meant doing so.

On a visit to businesses on the Irish border, he said: "We're very clear that when we leave the European Union we leave the single market and the customs union, but the Prime Minister has also said that she wants a customs agreement with the European Union.

"She said that she wants to get close alignment on industrial goods and that the United Kingdom is willing in the negotiations to consider binding agreements about future convergence over goods."

He said that he had sought to reassure people in border areas that the Government was working "very energetically and with great determination" to resolve the border issue.

Mr Lidington said that the Government was working towards "significant progress" on the complex border issue by June, and full agreement by October.

He met business people in Newry and Dundalk who he said expressed "obvious, understandable concern" at any prospect of a hard border.

Speaking at pharmaceuticals company Norbrook in Newry after meeting the local chamber of commerce, he said: "I gave a very strong assurance that the common travel area will continue, that's now been agreed by the UK and the EU together, so individuals doing their shopping, visiting doctors, have nothing to fear.

"Prime Minster Theresa May has said repeatedly that ensuring no hard border on the island of Ireland is a fundamental strategic objective of our negotiating strategy and that remains the case."Sainsburys and Asda are in advanced talks over a merger which would create a new supermarket giant.

The deal would be worth 10 billion and could be announced as early as Monday.

Asda is owned by the worlds largest supermarket retailer Walmart and it is not yet clear how the deal would be structured.

One option is Sainsburys absorbing Asda stores, while Walmart take a large stake in the combined group.

J Sainsbury plc notes the speculation concerning a possible combination with Asda Group Ltd. Sainsbury's confirms that it & Walmart Inc. are in advanced discussions regarding a combination of the Sainsbury's & Asda businesses. A further announcement will be made 7am Monday.  Sainsbury's News (@SainsburysNews) April 28, 2018

In a statement, Sainsburys said: J Sainsbury plc (Sainsburys) notes the speculation concerning a possible combination with Asda Group Limited.

Sainsburys confirms that it and Walmart Inc. are in advanced discussions regarding a combination of the Sainsburys and Asda businesses. A further announcement will be made at 7am on Monday 30 April.

If Sainsburys and Asda are to merge, together they would have a bigger share in the grocery market than Tesco.

The latest statistics show that Tesco has a 25% grocery market share, while Sainsburys has 13.8% and Asda has 12.9%. Together, they would move ahead of Tesco, with 26.7% of the grocery market.

The merger would have to be approved by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), because the two entities are the second and third largest grocery retailers in the UK.

There is promise, however, that a deal could be approved after the CMAs decision to allow Tesco to take over Booker, the UKs largest grocery retailer in a deal worth 3.7 billion.

This would not be the first time Sainsburys has acquired another high street giant. In April 2016, they announced a 1.4 billion takeover of Argos, which led to better than expected results the following Christmas.

The traditional high street has come under increasing pressure in recent years, with the growth in online retailers.

Sainsburys and Asda have also been squeezed by the rise of lower-cost supermarkets Aldi and Lidl, who between them have a 10.5% grocery market share in the UK.

Joanne McGuinness, Usdaw national officer, said: We will be seeking urgent meetings with the businesses to get more detail on what a possible merger will involve.

Our priorities will be to protect our members and ensure any deal between the retailers does not impact on their jobs or incomes.

Tim Roache, GMB general secretary, said: Our first priority is to safeguard the job of every single Asda member, both in stores and in distribution. We are demanding an urgent meeting with Asda to get the answers and assurances our members need and deserve.

GMB will be making sure the voices of supermarket workers are not lost amidst all the talk of mergers and acquisitions. We should never forget these companies empires are built upon the hard work of their employees.

Rest assured, we will be exploring every available legal avenue to protect our members jobs.Fresh from stealing the show in Channel 4s Derry Girls as the cynical nun Sister Michael, Siobhan McSweeney is about to take to the stage in Kevin Barrys Autumn Royal. The actress tells Maggie Armstrong why shes drawn to playing ordinary women with complex inner lives.

When Siobhan McSweeney was growing up, a nun came to her school to put on a Trocaire video. I remember going home and telling mammy I want to be a nun. Now, I realise that what I actually wanted was to be on the telly.

Her fate sealed, she got to do both at once, playing the flinty Sister Michael in the hit TV series Derry Girls, written and directed by Lisa McGee. The Channel 4 series  reportedly the most watched ever in Northern Ireland  centres around a group of bold schoolgirls during the 1990s, but it is their unsparing headmistress, Sister Michael, who steals the show, a creation whose iconic potential lies somewhere between Miss Trunchbull and Mrs Doyle.

In the bar of the Project Arts Centre in Temple Bar in Dublin, out of nuns armour, McSweeney is decades younger and not so terrifying at all. We are meeting to talk about Kevin Barrys play Autumn Royal, for which the playwright and novelist was this week awarded the Stewart Parker Trust Award. It goes on tour next month.

The fiction writers first play is a two-hander, about an emotionally-stunted brother and sister caring for their ailing father. McSweeney plays the sister, May, a young woman described in the script as all of dark, dowdy and sparkly. Peter Campion (also fresh from Derry Girls) plays the brother, Timmy.

Its a dark, black comedy, says McSweeney, explaining that originally it was a monologue written for May alone.

May is hardened by life and lack of opportunities, she says. Its really heartbreaking, I think. Its what I love about comedy. In that Beckettian way, youre laughing at the abyss.

The play revolves around duty, in particular the duty expected of an Irish daughter towards her parents.

Its a very uncool thing to say, isnt it? But its there in us. Duty. Its associated with potatoes, and staring out the window crying, and the turf fires. There are rooms all over the country with women staring out the window. Lost lives, lost potential, lost opportunities. Which is also f***ing hilarious.

Care-giving has crept up lately in the roles McSweeney has played on stage. In Caroline Byrnes revival of Katie Roche by Teresa Deevy in the Abbey in Dublin, McSweeney was a tremendous spinster sister to Katie Roches intended. During one tense emotional scene, McSweeney entered the stage with a mound of scones on a plate, announcing, I made some scones. It was very funny.

That broke peoples hearts. People roared with laughter, but youd hear some women laughing, of a certain age. Maybe laughing for a different reason. The joy of escape, or recognition. A bitter laugh.

Isnt there a fear that well all have to go home and mind somebody? she wonders. And isnt there a great joy in being able to go home and mind somebody?

Cynicism is a habit learnt through dark life experiences, she says. I think with Sr Michael, her darkness comes from the experience of teaching girls. Nobody starts off like that.

Her own start was very, very average, happy and wonderful, growing up in Aherla, Co Cork. Literature was big in her family  her grandfather was the Irish language poet An Suibhneach Meann  but she was an odd fish because she wanted to act. She studied science at UCC. I was an awful scholar, she says.

She held herself back from acting partly due to a sense you had to be special to act.

I never thought I would be allowed to do it, she says curiously. I didnt think acting was for people like me and I dont even know what I mean by that. I suppose I mean I thought that youd have to be more glamorous. I thought youd to be special.

I started realising that this bug wasnt going to go away unless I exorcised it somehow. I couldnt get rid of it, and it was distracting me.

She got a place in the top drama school, the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London. The year she graduated, her mother fell ill and she returned home to be with her. Soon after that her mother died. I spent the start of my career mourning. Not being 100% natural. I dont think you ever get over the death of your mother. Work helped.

She has lived in London for the past 13 years, blind stubbornness having kept her going in a precarious lifestyle that has brought her to the Royal Court, National Theatre and Royal Shakespeare Company, as well as TV dramas including The Fall and films Darkest Hour and Alice Through the Looking Glass. I think theres a great difference between the art and the lifestyle, she says. I still find incredibly difficult the instability of it. The unfairness of it. The highs, the lows. The financial insecurity. The inability to plan.

This unfairness is felt in representation, a lack of diversity which comes down to gender. But this is something that is beginning to change, she believes. That is the one thing about the play Autumn Royal. Its placing women at the centre of the story. And I think that the success of Derry Girls is for some of the same reasons. People were longing for those stories.

The response has been voracious, there is such an appetite, because we havent seen young girls being the heroes in their own lives. Thats new. It sounds like banging a drum thats very much in vogue at the moment, but its true.

She has worked on many female-led scripts of late, including with Caitriona McLaughlin on Autumn Royal, who she would follow into battle, Caroline Byrne on Katie Roche and SJ Clarkson on Collateral for the BBC. This has been good for her. Ive recently realised that theres a correlation between female directors and my voice being heard. There is a shorthand. There is a focus on whos not being listened to in the room? And historically that has been a woman, of a certain age and class.

Repealing Irelands abortion laws lands with a thud in our interview. Thats another relic coming up, says McSweeney, whose vote will be a yes. My politics come from that utter confusion, that something as arbitrary as gender could stop you from doing anything. And from fairness and kindness and compassion and all these things that we were taught. How can you grow up with these things then be told we dont value your life more than a clump of cells?

She is drawn to playing women who are unseen, considered plain  very ordinary women with complex internal lives. I want to make them visible.

What I love is to show our very ordinariness. I hope when you look at me, and my very ordinariness, you identify in a different way than perhaps we have been used to. One part I always wanted to play was Sonya in Uncle Vanya. I had a great idea of how Chekhov wanted Sonya to be played. There were always these beautiful pale wan English actresses, solitary tear down the chiselled face. I was like, no! She is a survivor. She is running the estate. Shes a grand, lovely big normal girl.

Poetry comes in many different shapes and sizes. Theres a received idea that it can only be in one kind of casing. So Im delighted I got to stretch out and play her the way I wanted her to be played.

People have an over-respect for tragedians, says the nations newest comedic treasure with a sparkle. Theres nothing more rewarding than hearing people laugh. Because if you can make them laugh, you can make them cry.

Autumn Royal runs at Corks Everyman Theatre from May 1-5 before touring to various venues around the Republic.

Visit everymancork.comGrim work: Ernest A Hooton in his laboratory at the Peabody Museum in Harvard

It has all the elements of a Spielberg movie: a Nazi museum director, possible spies and world-leading experts from Harvard University in a quest for skulls and artefacts. Yet, this is no Hollywood creation, but the true story of a remarkable and overlooked episode in the 1930s known as the Harvard Archaeological Mission to Ireland.

Its work included excavating sites in Antrim, Derry and Down between 1934 and 1936 in an effort to find evidence of the earliest Irishman. The director of the archaeology strand of the Harvard mission, Hugh O'Neill Hencken, had personal associations with Northern Ireland -his grandfather had emigrated from Co Down to New York in the mid-19th century.

However, the overall Harvard project was a eugenic one, and the archaeology adviser was the director of the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin, a Celtic scholar - and a Nazi.

The mission arrived in the Irish Free State, initially, in 1932 to carry out its anthropological research.

The scientists hoped to find out who the Celts were and where they had come from, as well as identifying their descendants.

Their excavation programme was extended to Northern Ireland in 1934. One of the reasons for this was that Hugh O'Neill Hencken regarded Ireland as a cultural unit, and the northern boundary as artificial. He wrote that, "the territory was an integral part of Ireland" prior to the 17th century.

In Northern Ireland, sites in counties Antrim, Derry and Down were excavated by Hallam L Movius, the assistant director of the Harvard Archaeological Mission. He was an expert in the early Stone Age, and came to Ireland to carry out research on Mesolithic sites for a PhD as a student of Hencken.

He had already dug a cave site at Kilgreany, Co Waterford, in an effort to find archaeological evidence for the earliest Irishman.

His excavations at Cushendun, Co Antrim, in 1934 yielded evidence that was regarded as "the key to the Irish Stone Age".

Some of the flints discovered were dated to 6000 BC, and it was determined at that time that these artefacts were evidence of the earliest human handiwork on the island.

Both Hencken and Movius reported to Earnest A Hooton, the overall manager of the Harvard mission.

He was one of the leading physical anthropologists in America, and was in charge of the bone lab at the Peabody Museum, which contained human skulls from all over the world.

At the time, it was believed that race and character could be determined by physical attributes, in particular skull measurements.

To this end, 12,000 people in the 32 counties of Ireland were examined. Hair and eye colour, skull shape and stature were noted, and these results were compared with those of ancient skulls recovered from the various excavations.

Hooton was a leading eugenicist and a member of the American Eugenics Society, considered to be the key propaganda wing of the movement in the US.

Eugenics was the science of better breeding for human beings. The term was coined in the 19th century by Francis Galton, a cousin of Charles Darwin.

Harsh new immigration laws had been enacted in the 1920s in America, after vigorous lobbying by eugenicists, in an effort to keep "defectives" out. The Irish were considered a pure race, and Irish-Americans believed their racial background to be Celtic.

Eugenicists were opposed to the mixing of races and to multiculturalism.

American investigators also carried out anthropological surveys in Belgium, Britain, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Czechoslovakia, Italy, Holland, Poland and Germany. Potential immigrants were "eugenically inspected".

Hooton wanted to set up an American breeding bureau. Eventually, even though he was a very popular lecturer at Harvard, he was disciplined by the university for his "inhuman" teachings.

The American Eugenics Society supported Germany's eugenics programme, although Hooton claimed that he did not personally support the Nazis.

However, Adolf Mahr, a Celtic archaeologist from Austria and the main adviser and sponsor of the Harvard Archaeological Mission in Ireland, was a Nazi.

Mahr came to Ireland in 1927 to take up a position of keeper of Irish antiquities at the National Museum of Ireland. He became a member of the Nazi party in 1933, and was head of the Auslandsorganisation, an organisation for Germans living abroad described as "useful for propaganda and espionage activities".

He was described by Frederick Boland, from the Department of External Affairs, as "the most active and fanatical national socialist in the German colony (in Ireland)".

He was appointed to the position of director of the National Museum of Ireland by Eamon de Valera in 1934. Four years later, he was conferred with a professorship by Adolf Hitler.

During the Second World War, he worked for the Nazis, broadcasting propaganda. He was very influential in the selection of sites by Harvard, and was in favour of extending the work of the mission to Northern Ireland, because he regarded it as "Ireland's Sudetenland".

He expressed the opinion that "the border between the two Irish states, as far as prehistoric science is concerned, is largely non-existent".

De Valera came to power with Fianna Fail in 1932, and welcomed the Harvard mission, because it would be an opportunity to carry out important scientific work in Ireland. He took a keen interest in the excavations and visited many of the sites.

All of the reports were sent personally to him. He instigated the unemployment schemes for archaeological research in 1934. This was influenced by a similar scheme in America, introduced by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, to alleviate unemployment in America.

The Harvard mission benefited from this initiative, because labour costs were met by the Irish government under this scheme.

For example, unemployed men worked at Lagore Crannog in Co Meath for three seasons between 1934 and 1936, and were also used at Kilgreany Cave in Co Waterford, excavated by the Harvard mission in 1934.

There was an effort to set up a school of celtic studies, centred at Ballinderry Crannog in Co Offaly in 1933. Alfred Marston Tozzer, head of the anthropology

department at Harvard, visited Ireland in 1933 in an effort to establish it.

The peculiar thing about this is that Tozzer was not a specialist in European or Celtic archaeology, but a curator of middle American/Mayan archaeology.

He had been the director of the International School in Mexico when a spy scandal involving American archaeologists working as intelligence officers during the First World War came to light.

During the Second World War, Tozzer became the director of the Honolulu office of the Office of Strategic Services (the forerunner of the CIA).

Hencken and Movius, the directors of the Harvard mission, were also involved in American intelligence during the war.

Movius joined the US Air Force in 1942 and became an intelligence officer in Italy. Hencken joined the American Defence Harvard Group, which collaborated with the Office of Strategic Services, compiled manuals on totalitarianism and Nazism and was involved in the protection of historic monuments in war areas.

One of the reasons Ireland was chosen by the Americans for an anthropological survey was because the inhabitants still spoke a Celtic language, and the Harvard team believed Celtic was an ancient Aryan language once spoken all over Europe.

They arrived believing the identity of the Irish to be Celtic, and they left believing they had found a Celtic type in Ireland. They used the word type rather than race in their report, which was published in the 1950s, because ideas about race were discredited after the war.

An article on Hooton, published in Life magazine in 1939, said: No long upper-lipped, baboon-faced Irishmen common in political cartoons were found.

Decades later, when Hugh ONeill Hencken died in 1981, the New York Times reported that he had visited Ireland in the 1930s and found a Celtic house in Ballinderry.

However, it was known in the 1930s that there had not been an Celtic invasion of Ireland. But the idea of a Celtic invasion persisted and, eventually, in 2006, Barry Raftery, professor of Celtic archaeology at UCD, stated bluntly that there is simply no evidence of invading Celts.

The invasion of the Celts was a cultural idea, not a scientific reality.

Adapted from The Quest for the Irish Celt: The Harvard Archaeological Mission to Ireland (1932-1936), by Mairead Carew, published by Irish Academic Press, priced 21.99The pressure to reform Northern Ireland's outdated libel laws will continue, a conference heard yesterday.

The event in Belfast was organised by the Libel Reform Campaign, a group lobbying for an update of defamation law here and in Scotland.

It warned that investment in Northern Ireland by tech firms may be put off by the libel laws.

Our libel legislation has not been substantively reformed for 175 years, despite the internet and the surge in online communication.

The 2013 Defamation Act introduced the first major reform of the UK's defamation laws since 1843, but it was not extended to here.

As the Belfast Telegraph reported yesterday, Ulster Unionist MLA Mike Nesbitt plans to introduce a Private Member's Bill if Stormont returns to address the situation.

He said there was an onus on a new Executive to adopt recommendations arising from a Department of Finance report in 2016, including better protection in law for free speech and publishing things which are in the public interest.

Yesterday's conference heard of other proposals to keep up the pressure for reform.

Campaigners plan a comedy event in Belfast to increase public awareness of the need for reform.

And the possibility of amending legislation in the House of Lords to extend the Defamation Act 2013 to Northern Ireland was also discussed.

Mike Harris of the Libel Reform Campaign said: "Without reform, the chill on free speech in Northern Ireland will continue and the rich and powerful will be able to use the law to their own advantage."Pope Francis marks the sign of the cross on the forehead of Cardinal Jozef Tomko during Ash Wednesday Mass in Rome earlier this year

The editor of an magazine for evangelical Protestants has defended an article which claims attending Mass "brings shame on the gospel".

The article was authored by Rev. Peter McIntyre of the Clogher Valley Free Presbyterian Church and published in the April to June 2018 edition of the Ulster Bulwark.

In the article, Rev McIntyre says there can be "no greater assault on the Gospel than Requiem Mass, generally celebrated in the context of a funeral.

It also implores readers never to attend Mass, and that doing so is "blasphemy" and "brings shame on the gospel".

Speaking to the Irish News the magazine's editor Wallace Thompson - a founding member of the DUP, and former special adviser to Nigel Dodds - said he did not believe the article was sectarian.

"Roman Catholics who believe in the doctrine of the church will not agree with what was written in the article, he said.

Roman Catholic people do not agree with Protestant doctrine as well.

I dont think its sectarian, its being open and honest and saying this is what we believe.

Mr Thompson added the magazine disagrees with the doctrinal position of Catholics, but bears "no ill will to any Roman Catholic person or any other person".Danielle Elmes has created a new app to help others in distress

A lifelong friend of a young woman who choked to death has developed a new app which she hopes will spare others the heartache of losing a loved one.

Sherry Campbell from Groomsport, Co Down, was found dead by her father Shannon in the kitchen of the family home last September.

Sherry, a special needs teaching assistant at Strangford College, choked on a piece of meat. She passed away a month before her 30th birthday.

She had died alone and had been unable to call out to her parents, who were asleep upstairs and had their mobile phones on silent.

Now her friend Danielle Elmes (39) has designed the LifeAlert app, which alerts friends and family that victims are in danger and uses their mobile phone's GPS to identify their location - all at the touch of a button.

The service, which doesn't require users to be able to speak to use, even overrides mobiles which are on silent, emitting a shrill sound from the phones of those listed as emergency contacts.

Danielle said: "The night Sherry died her parents were asleep upstairs with their phones on silent and she couldn't call out, but if she had had an app like this it would have enabled her to send a message to her mum and dad, who would have been able to get to her.

"The chances of survival for choking victims are much improved if there are people there," said Danielle. "I have worked with a Belfast company to design an app whereby if someone presses it and they need help it accesses your emergency contacts, alerts them with a shrill sound and shows where the victim is and that they need help.

"I'm not aware of anything else like this on the market.

"I designed the application with choking victims who can't speak in mind, but it could help a lot of people - those who are being attacked, elderly people who have fallen, people who have taken a heart attack.

"There is also a separate service for people who can speak, which dials the emergency services at the touch of a button and alerts them to their location."

Danielle says the idea for the app came to her in the week after her friend's death, and that she developed it with the blessing of Sherry's parents.

"I was lying in bed the night she died thinking, 'My child could be downstairs choking to death and unable to call for help,' the mum-of-three said.

"I decided to do it as I didn't want anyone else to die like Sherry.

"This app could potentially save a life - by having this there's a greater chance of people in that situation having help come to them.

"When I explained my idea to Sherry's parents they were pleased. Not a day goes by when I don't think about her and what might have been done to save her."

Sherry's mum Fionuala said she was "absolutely delighted" by the app.

"I was in tears when I found out what Danielle was doing," she said. "If it saves anybody else's life it would be wonderful.

"Sherry always had her phone in her hand. This is part of Sherry's legacy - Danielle said that if it hadn't been for Sherry's accident, she wouldn't have thought of this.

"Sherry is helping to save other lives. I would urge other parents to get this app for their kids.

"I miss Sherry every second I breathe. Her dad used to call her his 'little Princess.' We are just existing now."

LifeAlert will be available from next week for 2.99 on Google Playstore. A portion of the proceeds will go to The Sherry Campbell Foundation, which provides training in how to deal with choking.Ian Marshall, a unionist farmer who has been elected to the Seanad, with Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald (centre) and Sinn Fein TD Louise OReilly

A unionist farmer who counts Sinn Fein among his backers has been elected to the Irish parliament's upper chamber, the Seanad.

Ian Marshall is a former president of the Ulster Farmers' Union who is opposed to Brexit and is pro-choice on the abortion issue. He becomes one of a small number of Northern Ireland unionists to ever sit in the Seanad in Dublin.

That his candidature was supported by Sinn Fein makes his election more remarkable.

The farmer from Markethill, Co Armagh, who topped the poll in the vote by fellow senators and TDs to fill two vacated Seanad seats, describes himself as a "pragmatic" unionist.

He says he is willing to listen to economic arguments in favour of a united Ireland, but insists he does not believe the case for reunification is a compelling one.

He was approached to run for one of two vacant seats on the Seanad's agriculture panel by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and will sit as an independent.

Mr Marshall said the idea of taking a seat in the Seanad was something he had never envisaged.

"It actually came about by virtue of a conversation and call from the Taoiseach," he said.

"It was something I had never anticipated so to the Taoiseach I am hugely grateful for the opportunity."

Mr Marshall said it was important in the context of building relations across the island that a northern unionist voice was heard in Dublin.

"I think it's hugely important that the voices and the opinions are shared," he told RTE.

Mr Marshall said he had serious fears for the economy if Brexit happened but he said he was not convinced that the UK would actually leave the European Union. He said many people in the 2016 referendum voted on the basis of "incorrect and misleading" information.

"The people probably in many cases have a slightly different perspective of this now," he said.

Mr Marshall added: "I haven't conceded the fact that we are going to leave - it looks so complex and so difficult at the moment that I believe there is a lot of discussion we still have to have.

"I think If we are truly serious about this, that this should possibly go back to the people and the people it will impact most will have the chance to voice their opinion again. I firmly believe if that opportunity arises I think the people will say maybe this isn't the right idea for the UK to Brexit."

Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald was among those on hand to congratulate Mr Marshall when his election was announced.

"Ian is a unionist. I am an Irish republican," she said ahead of the vote. "As I have stated repeatedly, the Ireland I want to see is one where one can comfortably be Irish or British, both or neither. I believe Ian can bring a new and interesting voice to the discussion surrounding a new Ireland."

The other seat was won by a former Fine Gael TD, Anthony Lawlor.The Christian manager of a Northern Ireland bakery has said he is feeling encouraged ahead of a hearing by the UK's highest court on the so-called 'gay cake' case.

The owners of Ashers Bakery are challenging a ruling that their refusal to make a cake iced with a pro-gay marriage slogan nearly four years ago was discriminatory.

Five judges from the Supreme Court will begin hearing legal arguments on Tuesday when it sits in Belfast for the first time.

Ashers Bakery manager Daniel McArthur said: "Having the Supreme Court in Belfast hearing our arguments shows they recognise the seriousness of the issues at stake and that is an encouragement to us.

The McArthur family, who operate the baking business, made international headlines in May 2014 after refusing to make a cake featuring Sesame Street characters Bert and Ernie alongside the slogan 'Support Gay Marriage'.

The order came from Gareth Lee, a gay rights activist.

"We politely said no and the order was fulfilled by another local bakery, yet here we are four years later still defending the right not to be forced into someone else's campaign," Mr McArthur said.

The baker has always maintained the order was declined because the political slogan is "totally contrary" to the family's Christian beliefs.

The refusal to make the cake, which was worth 36.50, led to the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland (ECNI) taking the bakery to court and it has so far cost the company around 200,000 in legal fees.

In December 2016, the Court of Appeal upheld an original court judgment which found that the bakery had "unlawfully discriminated" against Mr Lee. The business was also ordered to pay 500 damages to Mr Lee.

But now the case will be heard by a team of legal experts, including the former Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland Lord Kerr, in the Inn of Court at the Royal Courts of Justice.

Simon Calvert from The Christian Institute, which has been supporting the McArthur family, said the legal team is well prepared to defend important principles on behalf of everyone.

"We believe that rulings in the lower courts undermine democratic freedom, religious freedom and free speech," he added.

"It is not right to compel people to help make statements, whether in ink or in icing, with which they profoundly disagree.

"A truly tolerant society must allow for differences of belief," he said.

Mr Calvert said a series of public meetings held across Northern Ireland this week attracted 2,000 people.

It is understood the Supreme Court will also hear arguments from the Attorney General for Northern Ireland, John Larkin, who questioned the validity of the laws used against the bakery.More than 8,000 people aged under 18 were arrested in Northern Ireland in the last four years, shocking figures have revealed. File image posed by model

More than 8,000 people aged under 18 were arrested in Northern Ireland in the last four years, shocking figures have revealed.

Common assault, criminal damage and disorderly behaviour were the top three reasons for young people being detained.

Threats to kill, assault on police and drug possession were also among the 10 most common offences, according to PSNI statistics obtained by this newspaper.

The details, released under the Freedom of Information Act, show that from the start of 2014 until the end of 2017, 8,447 people aged under 18 were arrested in Northern Ireland.

Of that number, 586 were aged between 10 and 13.

Common assault accounted for 1,299 arrests.

The largest group was aged 16 and 17, which accounted for almost two-thirds of all young people arrested.

The figures come in the wake of a vicious attack on a 16-year-old girl in Bangor last weekend.

Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph, Ulster Unionist justice spokesperson Doug Beattie said "strenuous efforts" had been made to reduce the number of young people in the criminal justice system.

He said there was "a recognition that they can be set on a particular path at an early stage that they will find great difficulty coming back from".

Mr Beattie added: "That said, the criminal justice system is also about punishment and deterrence and we should not be so naive as to think that young people - often very young - are not capable of knowing right from wrong." Mr Beattie added: "In an ideal world there would be nobody arrested of any age, because there would be no crime, but we do not live in an ideal world."

The figures break down the arrests into age brackets; from 10 to 13, from 14 to 15, and from 16 to 17.

Young people aged 16 to 17 were by far the largest group in terms of the number of arrests, accounting for 5,312 of the 8,447.

Further analysis of the figures shows a slight drop in arrests.

In 2014, 2,478 under-18s were arrested, with 2,167 in 2015, 1,894 in 2016, and 1,908 in 2017.

A PSNI spokesman said that it has a dedicated team which is focused on youth justice and preventing offending and risk-taking behaviour.

He said: "We continue to develop ways of keeping young people out of the justice system.

"Any incident that involves a young person under 18 years is highlighted and gets reviewed as to whether there is any requirement for consideration of referrals for support or early intervention where necessary - this is just one example of the many ways in which we focus on specifically addressing youth issues," he added.

"When someone under the age of 18 is arrested they are processed in the same way as an adult.

"However, while in custody, the process differs in that when in interview they will have an appropriate adult present, and if a young person is charged to appear at the next court sitting, all efforts will be made to ensure they are placed in a Juvenile Justice Centre overnight, rather than remaining in a cell in police custody."

Regarding reducing the number of arrests, the PSNI spokesman said that it worked with the PPS, the Youth Justice Agency - which provides custodial facilities for children and young people - and voluntary community groups to address the issue.

The spokesman added: "Arrest would only ever be used as an absolute last resort.

"This is a continuous process and we will continue to work collaboratively to ensure this number is kept to an absolute minimum.

He added that the PSNI would "encourage all parents and people who have responsibility for a child including the wider family to engage with us and help us support their children in what can sometimes be challenging circumstances".Helen McKendry lays flowers near to where her mothers body was found in 2003

Dolours Price with sister Marian (on left) in prison after they were convicted of bombing the Old Bailey

Former IRA woman Dolours Price is heard describing the abduction, murder and secret burial of Jean McConville in unprecedented detail in a new documentary.

I, Dolours, which premieres this weekend at the Hot Docs festival in Toronto, features a video-recorded interview that journalist Ed Moloney conducted with her.

It includes new revelations about the 1972 murder of Mrs McConville, the Belfast mother-of-10 whom the IRA alleged was an informer.

In previous interviews Price confessed her role in driving Mrs McConville across the border and handing her over to a Dundalk IRA unit.

It was believed those republicans then murdered the Belfast woman, whose body was found in Shelling Hill beach, Co Louth, in 2003.

But Price reveals that while the Dundalk IRA members had dug a grave for Mrs McConville, they refused to shoot her. Price and two other members of a secret Belfast IRA unit, the 'Unknowns', then returned across the border and took Mrs McConville to the grave, where she was shot dead by one of them.

Price also repeats claims Mrs McConville was an informer and details an alleged incident in a west Belfast barracks where she identified IRA members to the security forces from behind a blanket with eye slits in it.

It is alleged that the suspects were in turn able to identify Mrs McConville from her slippers, which weren't hidden by the blanket.

Mrs McConville's children last night dismissed Price's claims that their mother was an informer and said the story about the barracks was "nonsense".

But they said they did accept parts of Price's testimony which were supported by other independent accounts.

Price had previously alleged that Gerry Adams ordered Mrs McConville's murder, a claim the former Sinn Fein president has strongly denied.

Price was found dead at her home in Malahide, Co Dublin, in 2013 from a toxic prescription drugs mix. The 61-year-old was the former wife of actor Stephen Rea, with whom she had two sons.

She was born into a staunchly republican family in Belfast. Along with her sister Marian, she joined the IRA as a teenager. Their father Albert was a prominent 1940s IRA man and their mother Chrissie had been in Cumann na mBan.

Along with Gerry Kelly, now a Sinn Fein MLA, the sisters were part of the IRA unit that bombed the Old Bailey in 1973. They were arrested making at Heathrow Airport.

The sisters were force-fed hundreds of times in Brixton Prison where they had gone on hunger strike as part of their campaign to be repatriated to Armagh Prison.

Before Dolours Price was arrested in London she had been a very active member of the Belfast IRA.

In I, Dolours, her videotaped interview with Moloney in Dublin in 2010 is interspersed by director Maurice Sweeney with historical re-enactments of her IRA career in which Price is played by an actress.

Price told Moloney that the Unknowns were selected on the basis that they "could be trusted with very specific jobs, obeying orders without question".

The unit was run by IRA man Pat McClure, who reported to the Belfast Brigade OC (officer commanding). One of Price's duties was to drive people the IRA believed were informers across the border to be killed.

She repeats the story that the IRA had discovered a radio transmitter in Mrs McConville's home, which she was allegedly using to supply information to the British Army. Price also told Moloney that IRA members arrested and taken to Hastings Street Barracks in the lower Falls were "identified by a person concealed behind a blanket" with eye slits.

But it "stopped short of her feet" and the republicans identified the informer as Mrs McConville, because they "recognised the slippers".

Price claims that under IRA interrogation Mrs McConville confessed to becoming an informer "for money".

A 2006 Police Ombudsman report found no evidence to suggest she was an informer.

Price says when she picked her up, Mrs McConville wasn't frightened for her life because she had been told by the IRA that she wouldn't be killed, but would be moved to another area by the Legion of Mary. Price realised Mrs McConville was a mother when she asked if her children could join her.

Price says the Dundalk IRA men had "a grave dug" but "couldn't bring themselves to execute" Mrs McConville "probably because she was a woman".

So Price, McClure (who died in the US in 1986) and a third member of the Unknowns - whom the Belfast Telegraph has been told is still alive - took Mrs McConville to the grave where she was "shot in the back of the head by one of the volunteers". There was one pistol but Price indicates the trio all fired it separately so they took shared responsibility for the execution and "no one would say that they for certain had been the person to kill her".

However, only one bullet was recovered and a post-mortem found Mrs McConville had died from a single gunshot wound to the head.

Republican sources have told the Belfast Telegraph that Price and McClure fired to miss, but the third IRA member did not.

Asked how she felt about the IRA "disappearing" people, Price says: "I think it's a war crime."

She admits being haunted by her role in the deaths. "I think back on those who I had responsibility for driving away.

"I'm not a deeply religious person, but I would say a prayer for them," she states.

Mrs McConville's daughter Helen McKendry said: "During the dig for my mother in Shelling Hill beach, local republicans told us the Dundalk IRA had no part in our mother's murder. Dolours Price's account is in keeping with that.

"Her story about my mother at Hastings Street barracks is ridiculous. My mother was abducted from our home by the IRA, wearing slippers.

"But while we had very little money, my mother would never have gone out to a barracks or anywhere else in slippers. And what information would a mother-of-10 have had on the IRA anyway?"

Mrs McKendry said she was angry that the informer allegations persisted. "Repeating these claims about my mother is very hurtful. She died over 40 years ago and should be allowed to rest in peace. I don't think this film should have been made."

Mrs McConville's son Michael said: "There is some truth in what Dolours Price said, but other bits are fantasy.

"She was deeply troubled by her part in my mother's death and clearly needed help to deal with that.

"The story about my mother in the barracks makes no sense. When the IRA spoke to me, they told me my mother had given information which led to a gun being seized, but that was later proved to be untrue.

"The IRA never at any stage mentioned anything about a blanket in a barracks."

Mr McConville added: "I know the name of the person who killed my mother. It is not Dolours Price."Amber Rudd is facing accusations she misled Parliament after a leaked memo suggested she was aware last year that the Home Office had set targets for immigration removals.

The disclosure comes just the day after the Home Secretary told MPs she had never agreed to specific targets.

Labour and the SNP said her position had become untenable and called on her to resign.

According to The Guardian, the secret internal Home Office document referred to the department setting a target of achieving 12,800 enforced returns in 2017-18 adding we have exceeded our target of assisted returns.

The six-page memorandum, prepared by Hugh Ind, the director general of the Immigration Enforcement agency, last June, was said to have been copied to Ms Rudd as well as to Brandon Lewis, the then immigration minister, and a number of senior officials and special advisers.

The memo was said to have gone on to refer to the progress that had been made towards achieving a 10% increase in performance on enforced returns which we promised the Home Secretary earlier this year.

Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott said: Amber Rudd either failed to read this memo, and has no clear understanding of the policies in her own department, or she has misled Parliament and the British people.

Either way, she needs to accept responsibility and resign immediately.

SNP home affairs spokeswoman Joanna Cherry said Ms Rudds position had become untenable.

If this secret memo is accurate then it suggests the Home Secretary is either utterly incompetent, or she knowingly lied to Parliament  either way Amber Rudd must go, she said.

There was no immediate response to the claims from either the Home Office or from Downing Street.

The disclosure comes amid opposition accusations that the setting of targets contributed to the hostile environment which led to members of the Windrush generation being wrongly threatened with deportation as illegal immigrants.

Ms Rudd had initially denied the Home Office had targets for removals when she was questioned on Wednesday by a Commons committee investigating the Windrush fiasco.

However, after it emerged a 2015 inspection report made clear the practice did exist, she told MPs on Thursday that while the immigration arm of the Home Office had used local targets they were not published targets against which performance was assessed.

According to the document seen by The Guardian, dated June 21 2017, the Immigration Enforcement (IE) agency made 12,503 enforced returns in 2016-17, which was considered a success.

The memo states: IE has set a target of achieving 12,800 enforced returns in 2017-18, aided by the redistribution of resources towards this area.

This will move us along the path towards the 10% increased performance on enforced returns, which we promised the Home Secretary earlier this year.

The memo then turns to assisted returns  which covers cases such as those where an individual has left the country voluntarily on a flight paid for by the British Government.

Typically these will be our most vulnerable returnees. We have exceeded our target of assisted returns. We set an internal target of 1,250 of these returns for 2016-17  we delivered 1,581.

Earlier a former head of the UK Border Agency (UKBA) said Ms Rudds claim to have not known about the immigration removal targets was disingenuous.

Rob Whiteman, who was the chief executive of UKBA from 2011 to 2013, told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme that ministers would have seen internal documents which referred to them.

Targets are set operationally by managers but, of course, ministers would know there are targets.

They are intelligent people and they will see performance reports, bids to Treasury for resources, the departmental plan which would cover the targets that are being set for individual services, he said.

Fairs fair, ministers could say we dont actually set these targets, they are being set by the operations, but I think it is disingenuous, surely, to suggest that they dont know that they exist because they will have seen them in performance reports and other internal documents.The parents of terminally-ill Alfie Evans were embroiled in a legal battle over his treatment before his death on April 28, 2018.

Here is how the events unfolded:

2016

May 9: Alfie is born in Liverpool to parents Tom Evans and Kate James, now aged 21 and 20 respectively.

December: Alfie is taken to Alder Hey Childrens Hospital after suffering seizures. He will spend the next 12 months there.

2017

December 11: Hospital bosses say they are liaising directly with the family after disagreements over his treatment. Alfies parents said the hospital has applied to the High Court to remove parental rights and withdraw ventilation.

December 19: A High Court judge, Mr Justice Hayden, begins overseeing the case at a public hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London. The hospital says continuing life-support treatment would not be in Alfies best interests, but his parents disagree and say they want permission to fly him to Italy for treatment. The judge says he will make a decision on what is best for Alfie.

2018

February 1: A hearing begins at the High Court in Liverpool in which lawyers acting for the hospital claim further treatment for Alfie is unkind and inhumane.

February 2: One of Alfies doctors tells the judge there is no hope for the youngster, who is in a semi-vegetative state from a degenerative neurological condition doctors have not been able to definitively identify.

February 5: Mr Evans tells the court Alfie looks me in the eye and wants his help.

Expand Close Tom Evans speaks to the media outside Liverpools Alder Hey Childrens Hospital (Peter Byrne/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Tom Evans speaks to the media outside Liverpools Alder Hey Childrens Hospital (Peter Byrne/PA)

February 20: Mr Justice Hayden rules in favour of hospital bosses, saying he accepted medical evidence which showed further treatment was futile.

March 1: Three Court of Appeal judges begin analysing the case after Alfies parents mount a challenge to the High Court ruling. The family ask for the appeal hearing to be adjourned for a few weeks so they can discuss the ruling with lawyers, but the judges refuse.

March 6: Court of Appeal judges uphold the decision of Mr Justice Hayden.

March 8: Alfies parents ask for the case to be considered by Supreme Court justices.

March 20: Supreme Court justices decide the case is not worth arguing and refuse to give the couple permission to mount another appeal.

March 28: Judges at the European Court of Human Rights reject a bid from Mr Evans and Ms James for them to examine issues relating to Alfies future, saying they found no appearance of any human rights violation.

April 11: Mr Justice Hayden endorses an end-of-life care plan for Alfie drawn up by specialists.

Expand Close Protesters gather outside Alder Hey Childrens Hospital (John Stillwell/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Protesters gather outside Alder Hey Childrens Hospital (John Stillwell/PA)

April 12: Protesters gather outside Alder Hey hospital as Alfies father insists he has the right to take him home.

April 16: Alfies parents argue he is being wrongly detained at Alder Hey and make a habeas corpus application. Judges at the Court of Appeal in London rule against them and again uphold the decisions of Mr Justice Hayden. The couples lawyer said they might make a further appeal to the Supreme Court.

Merseyside Police launch an investigation into instances of verbal abuse and acts of intimidation among protesters outside the hospital. Judges raise concerns about reports that ambulances and staff were unable to enter the hospital and that patients and their families had been frightened. Alfies parents apologise, saying they did not intend to harm or cause conflict or upset.

April 17: Mr Evans and Ms James ask Supreme Court justices to consider their case for a second time, a spokeswoman confirms.

April 18: Mr Evans flies to Rome and meets with Pope Francis. He kissed the Popes hand and begged the leader of the Catholic church to save Alfies life.

Pope Francis launches a new appeal for British infant Alfie Evans:https://t.co/qjQUqolmjC  Vatican News (@VaticanNews) April 25, 2018

April 20: The Supreme Court rules against Alfies parents for a second time, refusing them permission to appeal against the decision. Mr and Mrs Evans had been trying to persuade the court that Alfie was being unlawfully detained at Alder Hey hospital.

The parents make an application to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg to take Alfie to Rome for treatment, instead of letting him come off life support.

April 23: The European Court of Human Rights refuse the application made by Alfies parents, saying: The European Court of Human Rights has today rejected the application submitted by the family of Alfie Evans as inadmissible.

A group of about 200 protesters tries to storm Alder Hey hospital, where Alfie has been receiving treatment. Police officers blocked the entrance as dozens of people charged at the doors.

Expand Close Police block the entrance to Alder Hey Childrens Hospital (Peter Byrne/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Police block the entrance to Alder Hey Childrens Hospital (Peter Byrne/PA)

Alfie Evans is granted Italian citizenship. In a bid to facilitate moving Alfie to Italy to receive treatment, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: Foreign minister Angelino Alfano and interior minister Marco Minniti have granted citizenship to little Alfie. The Italian government hopes that in this way, being an Italian citizen will enable the immediate transfer of the child to Italy.

On Monday evening, a High Court Judge dismisses new submissions made in private by the lawyers for Alfies parents via telephone.

At around 9pm, life support is withdrawn by doctors at Alder Hey hospital, according to Mr Evans. He said in a Facebook post that his son had been breathing for himself since 9.17pm.

Expand Close Alfie cuddling his mother Kate James (Alfies Army/PA) Press Association Images / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Alfie cuddling his mother Kate James (Alfies Army/PA)

April 24: Alfie was still breathing on his own this morning, according to his father. At 7am, Mr Evans said: Nine hours he has been breathing now. Its actually come to the point where his mum is asleep next to him. She can actually go to sleep next to him. She feels comfortable with him.

April 25: Alfies parents fail in an 11th-hour attempt to persuade judges to let them move the terminally-ill youngster to a foreign hospital.

April 26: Alfies parents pledge to work alongside doctors to give the boy the dignity and comfort he needs.

April 28: The 23-month-old  who was being treated at Alder Hey  died at 2.30am, Ms James and Mr Evans say on Facebook. Our baby boy grew his wings tonight at 2:30 am. We are heart broken. Thankyou everyone for all your support, the post said.The leaders of China and India have stressed the importance of close ties against the background of their rivalry for leadership in Asia and the potential for co-operation on economic and security matters.

Solid China-India relations are an important factor for global peace and stability, Chinese President Xi Jinping was quoted as telling Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at an informal summit in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.

The two Asian giants should engage in even closer strategic communication, Mr Xi was quoted by the official Xinhua News Agency as saying.

In a tweet, Mr Modi said discussions over tea had been productive and that Strong India-China friendship is beneficial for the people of our nations and the entire world.

The discussions continue...PM @narendramodi and President Xi Jinping during a walk along the East Lake in Wuhan. pic.twitter.com/8HA8rfoG7T  PMO India (@PMOIndia) April 28, 2018

Talks touched on economic issues, along with people-to-people relations, agriculture, technology, energy and tourism, Mr Modi said in his tweet.

The meeting comes amid tensions over the contested China-India border and a rivalry for influence with smaller neighbours.

China-India relations date back centuries, but in recent years have been characterised by competition for leadership in Asia.

The countries fought a border war in 1962 and last year engaged in a 10-week standoff. New Delhi has also been alarmed by Chinas moves to build ties with Indian Ocean nations including Indias longtime rival Pakistan.

President Xi Jinping and PM @narendramodi visit the Hubei Provincial Museum. pic.twitter.com/7VNDJ3OWc7  PMO India (@PMOIndia) April 27, 2018

China, for its part, resents Indias hosting of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, and its control of territory Beijing says belongs to it.

Following the most protracted stand-off in years, India last year agreed to pull back troops from the disputed Doklam Plateau high in the Himalayas, where Chinese troops had begun constructing a road.

China claims the strategically important region, but India says it belongs to ally Bhutan.

Despite such differences, Mr Modi hopes China can help drive Indian economic growth ahead of national elections next year.

He also appears intent on building a strong personal relationship with Mr Xi, who will be Chinas leader for years to come following the lifting of term limits on the presidency.

However, Mr Modis administration has been notably reluctant to engage with Beijings Belt and Road initiative linking its economy to those of Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe through massive loans and investments.Russias controversial floating nuclear power plant is heading out for its first sea voyage.

The floating plant, the Akademik Lomonosov, was towed out of the St Petersburg shipyard where it was constructed.

It is to be towed through the Baltic Sea and around the northern tip of Norway to Murmansk, where its reactors are to be loaded with nuclear fuel.

32 years after #Chernobyl a crazy plan to put floating nuclear reactors in the Arctic is underway. SHARE to expose #rememberchernobyl pic.twitter.com/ZqnX0UqL3R  Greenpeace (@Greenpeace) April 26, 2018

The Lomonosov is to be put into service in 2019 in the Arctic off the coast of Chukotka in the far east, providing power for a port town and for oil rigs.

The project has been widely criticised by environmentalists. Greenpeace has dubbed it a floating Chernobyl.Moncks Corner, SC (29461)

Today

Partly cloudy early followed by scattered thunderstorms this afternoon. High near 80F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy skies. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 69F. Winds light and variable.Will the historical handshake make the world a safer place?

North Koreas ruler Kim Jong-un promises to completely dismantle his nuclear weapons programme.

At the historical Korea summit in the border village of Panmunjom on Friday, Kim and Moon-Jae-in, the President of South Korea, signed a joint declaration that is intended to herald a new era of peace. The two men embraced after signing. It is hoped that the declaration will be replaced by a peace treaty before the end of the year.

German version Experte zum Korea-Gipfel Macht dieser Handschlag die Welt sicherer? Eine Umarmung zwischen dem nordkoreanischen Diktator Kim Jong-un und dem sudkoreanischen Prasidenten Moon Jae-in. Was bedeutet das?

In this BILD interview, the former head of planning of the Chancellery and Korea expert, Wolfgang Nowak (75), explains the meeting.

BILD: Mr. Nowak, what have we just seen in Korea  a staged performance or a historical handshake that will make the world safer?

Auch Interessant



Wolfgang Nowak: What we saw at the inner-Korean border on Friday was a significant event, symbolically and with regard to its content. The meeting between the two presidents will bring Korea a big step closer towards peace.

Is the meeting a breakthrough by North Korean dictator, Kim  or is it the result of the military threats by US President Trump?

Nowak: During the Olympic Winter Games, Kim put South Korea and the US on the spot with his diplomatic push  by making the first advance. This forced US President Trump to jump on the bandwagon, in order not to look like a preventer.

For 65 years, there has merely been a ceasefire in Korea. Could this finally turn into a peace treaty?

Nowak: For genuine peace, there have to be negotiations with the US and China, who were involved in the Korean War  and with Russia, because the UN have to be on board. This will be a very difficult process  not least given the currently difficult relations between the great powers. However, with their meeting, Moon and Kim have taken the first step.

The historical step  Kim Jong-un is the first leader of North Korea to cross the border to South Korea Foto: Pool / Getty Images

Can Korea now also hope for a reunification?

Nowak: A Korean reunification is only conceivable at the end of a very long process  if at all. However, now there is the opportunity to establish joint institutions and to cooperate economically. But the most important thing is that there can be meetings between the people from the North and South again. The border that has been hermetic so far can become more permeable.

PS: Sind Sie bei Facebook? Werden Sie Fan von BILD.de-Politik!







844























1.3K Shares

Hiranyakashipu, became king of the daityas after his brother Hiranyaksha was was killed by Varaha Avatar. Both brothers were born to Sage Kasyap and Diti.

Hiranyakasipu had a wife Kayadhu, and they had four sons  Samhlada, Anuhlada, Hlada and Prahlada.

After his brothers death, Hiranyakasipu developed hatred towards Vishnu and he worshipped Brahma along with Goddess Chhinnamasta () and defeated devas.

It is believed that both brothers were born at a place, which is today called as Hindaun (Rajasthan, India). Hiranyakasipu established his capital at Kasyapapuri, a city found after his father.

To attack Vishnu, Hiranyakasipu did severe penance for gaining powers and Brahma appears before him to offer a boon of his choice. But when Hiranyakashipu asks for immortality, Brahma refuses. Hiranyakashipu then makes the following request:

O my lord, O best of the givers of benediction, if you will kindly grant me the benediction I desire, please let me not meet death from any of the living entities created by you.

Grant me that I not die within any residence or outside any residence, during the daytime or at night, nor on the ground or in the sky. Grant me that my death not be brought by any being other than those created by you, nor by any weapon, nor by any human being or animal.

Grant me that I not meet death from any entity, living or nonliving. Grant me, further, that I not be killed by any demigod or demon or by any great snake from the lower planets. Since no one can kill you in the battlefield, you have no competitor. Therefore, grant me the benediction that I too may have no rival. Give me sole lordship over all the living entities and presiding deities, and give me all the glories obtained by that position. Furthermore, give me all the mystic powers attained by long austerities and the practice of yoga, for these cannot be lost at any time.

When he realized that his youngest son Prahlada turned into a devotee of Vishnu, Hiranyakasipu tries to change his mind. When that attempt fails, he tries to kill his own son through different methods but fails. That including burning him along with Holika (Holika Dahan and Holi festival started here).

After multiple failures to poison his son to death, Hiranyakasipu finally points to a nearby pillar and asks if his Vishnu is in it:

O most unfortunate Prahlada, you have always described a supreme being other than me, a supreme being who is above everything, who is the controller of everyone, and who is all-pervading. But where is He? If He is everywhere, then why is He not present before me in this pillar?

Prahlada then answers, He was, He is and He will be anywhere, everywhere.



Hiranyakashipu, unable to control his anger, smashes the pillar with his mace. A tumultuous sound is heard, and Vishnu in the form of Narasimha appears from the broken pillar and moves to attack Hiranyakashipu in defence of Prahlada. This happened on vedic lunar day of Vaisakha Sukla Chaturdasi (day before full moon in month of Vaisakha).

Vishnu has chosen here to appear in the form of Narasimha in order to be able to kill Hiranyakashipu without violating the boon given by Brahma. Hiranyakashipu cannot be killed by human, deva or animal, but Narasimha is none of these, as he is a form of Vishnu (a deva) incarnate as part human, part animal. He comes upon Hiranyakashipu at twilight (when it is neither day nor night) on the threshold of a courtyard (neither indoors nor out), and puts the demon on his thighs (neither earth nor space). Using his nails (neither animate nor inanimate) as weapons, he disembowels hiranyakasipu with nails and kills him.



Traditional hindus do not cut nails at twilight time, as a mark of respect for Lord Narasimha.

At one stage, Hiranyakasipu was so strong and people in his generations were so huge, that in later generation, Ravana failed to uplift and ear ring of Hiranyakashipu.

Even after Hiranyakashipus death, none of the gods and demigods present are able to calm Narasimhas fury, not even Siva. So all the gods and goddesses call His consort, the goddess Lakshmi, but she is also unable to do so. Then, at the request of Brahma, Prahlada is presented to Narasimha, who is finally calmed by the prayers of his devotee.



First Lord Narasimha Temple built at Multan, Pakistan

At the pillar, from where Narasimha appeared, Prahlada later built the first ever temple for Lord Narasimha. That place was called Mulasthana (Moola-Sthana), which means originating point (of Narasimha) and Vaisakha Sukla Chaturdasi is celebrated as Narasimha Jayanti.

After his father, Prahlada was crowned as emperor and ruled from that place. Prahladas son was Virochana, whose son was King MahaBali, who was sent to Patala (South America), by Vishnu in the form of Vamana.



Over a period of time, Mulasthana was capital of the Trigarta Kingdom ruled by the Katoch dynasty at the time of the Kurukshetra War. Over a period of time, Mulasthana became Multan and it was the centre of a solar-worshipping cult that was based at the ancient Multan Sun Temple.

This place is mentioned by Greek historians since 6th century BCE.

Prahladapuri Narasimha Temple, Multan  destroyed in 1992

After Babri Masjid in India was demolished, multiple hindu temples were attacked and destroyed in Pakistan. Ancient Prahladapuri Temple in Multan was one of them.

Right now the ruins are adjacent to the Shrine of Bahauddin Zakariya.



This temple was rebuilt by many kings multiple times. Last rebuilt was in 1810 CE, when the area was under the rule of Sikhs. However, Alexander Burnes, who visited the temple in 1831, said that he found it deserted and without a roof.

Later in year 1849, when British laid siege of Multan Fort against Mul Raj, a shell fired by British army fell on gunpowder store within the fort, thus destroying almost all of the fort except the mausoleums of Bahauddin Zakaria and his sons and the Prahladpuri temple complex.

Alexander Cunningham described this temple as it was seen in 1853 by him who wrote that: It was a square brick building with some very finely carved wooden pillars for the support of the roof.

Multan also had an ancient Sun Temple, which was destroyed by mob attack in 1992.

Present temple was first built in 1861 by Mahant Bawl Ram Das at cost of Rs.11,000 by way of public donation and again in 1872 by the subsequent Mahanta of Prahladpuri temple with donations from Thakur Dawara Fateh Chand Tanksalia and other Hindu citizens of Multan. But in 1881, while renovation of temple a major dispute arose between Hindus & Muslims over the height of shikhara of the temple and dome of the adjacent mausoleum, which led to riot in which 2 mosques and 22 temples were destroyed.

The British government of Punjab did little to control the mobs and in this riot Prahladapuri temple was also sacked and obliterated. However, the temple was soon rebuilt by then prosperous Hindu community of Multan and was managed by the community, who regulated Mahant of Prahladpuri temple.

After the creation of Pakistan, most Hindus migrated to the newly independent Republic of India and the affairs of temple were managed by minority Hindus of city.

The original idols of Lord Narasimha were taken to India by Baba Narayan Das Batra from Multan and are now placed in a temple at Haridwar.

The cult of Narasimha worship is spread all over the world. Lion faced statues and idols were found in Germany, Egypt, Cambodia etc.

Even the tradition of coronation thrones of ancient Kings having Lions either at base or on arm-rests started with Narasimha coronating Prahlada as Emperor.

In sanskrit, this throne is called Simhasana (Simha = Lion + Asana = Seat).

British Coronation Throne is a Vedic Simhasana.A campaign to boycott the Brandon Folk, Music and Art Festival launched online this week, and longtime supporters are speaking out about how the organization is being run.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 28/4/2018 (1256 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Advertisement Advertise With Us

A campaign to boycott the Brandon Folk, Music and Art Festival launched online this week, and longtime supporters are speaking out about how the organization is being run.

The "Boycott Brandon Folk Festival" page appeared on Facebook on Tuesday, a day after the groups annual general meeting. There are concerns that the AGM was closed to the media and the public, as well as complaints about people being ignored when they were looking to buy memberships.

The cover photo of a Facebook page titled "Boycott Brandon Folk Festival." The Facebook page was created earlier this week and has already stirred up considerable debate about the current and future direction of the Brandon Folk, Music and Art Society.

"Brandon Folk, Music and Art Festivals current board has once again turned its back on volunteers, lifetime members, and the arts community in Brandon," states a post on the Boycott page. "It is no longer the vibrant community organization it once was, having done away with arts and charity events throughout the year, and turning away dozens of dedicated volunteers, organizers and past members."

The person who launched the page did not return The Brandon Suns request for an interview.

The AGM and social media campaign sparked a lot of dialogue online this past week by many former and current festival enthusiasts.

Betty Peloquin has attended every Brandon Folk Festival since its inception in 1985. She served on the board from

1986-92, was a dedicated volunteer for years and is now a lifetime member. She was one of eight people who attended the AGM on Monday.

"I was really surprised when the public was not allowed in," she said, adding that the group had a very short time to read lengthy bylaw revisions before having to vote on them.

"I felt uncomfortable voting on such a large document without really having a chance to digest it," she said.

Peloquin said she found it odd that there were 30 proxy votes.

TIM SMITH/THE BRANDON SUN Betty Peloquin, Donna Lowe, Norine Cook, Stacy May and Jody Weger, holding his son Will, are part of a group of longtime supporters of the Brandon Folk, Music and Arts Festival that are speaking out about the way the organization is being run.

"A few proxy votes is one thing, but thats a lot," she said.

Peloquin said one of her main concerns is the "exclusiveness" of the organization.

"Ive heard this from a few people, that some people are just turned away  It sort of feels like its becoming a closed ship, and you cant get in unless youre approved by them," she said. "To me, the music has been great. I know theres been people that have been unhappy for a while. Ive had my unhappiness too, but I still go to the festival, I do still support the festival. I think its good and I want it to continue."

A posting on the BFMAF Facebook page in mid-March included many comments from people asking how to purchase memberships and suggesting an online format to join.

Jody Weger, a former artistic director of the festival, asked on social media, "could we help with anything or even get a reply?"

On Friday, Weger said there were at least 20 people seeking memberships who wanted to attend the AGM.

"We got totally ignored Nobody was contacted," he said.

When asked about the move to boycott, Weger said he doesnt really like that word, and still hopes it can be turned around.

"I would still wish that the Brandon Folk Festival had a good reputation," he said. "Im also a musician, so I know lots of people in the industry, and I know that the festivals reputation has been tarnished pretty substantially in the past few years."

Weger said he would love to see "transparency and openness."

"It used to be a really big community experience," he said. "Used to have dozens and dozens of really dedicated people that used to show up every year to help."

Paul Madryga was on the Brandon Folk, Music and Art Society board from 2004-08. He said he requested information to renew his membership, but received no response.

"I wasnt able to renew my membership in time for the AGM," he said. "The fact that people, members of the public and the press are getting turned away at the door of a publicly advertised AGM, of a charitable corporation that relies on public funding to some extent  I find that a little bit disconcerting."

The Brandon Sun reached out to BFMAS vice-chair Marcel Roberge and secretary-treasurer Natalia Lebedinskaia for an interview, as current chair and artistic director Shandra MacNeill is recovering from a kidney transplant. They declined, but emailed a brief response: "The board will not be issuing a statement at this time. We take community concerns very seriously and will respond in due time."

MacNeill resides in Winnipeg and has remained in the leadership role through her health challenges over the past few years.

While people have sympathy for her situation, many say it may have been time to step down as she focused on her health.

"It might have been the time to say maybe this year Im going to step back  for the good of the festival," Peloquin said. "There were people that were willing to help. Weve had many artistic directors over the years. Each one brings something different to the festival; theyve all been good."

Murray Evans, founding artistic director of the Brandon Folk Festival (1985-1997), said it is disappointing to see the festival in its current state.

"Its been around so long. It was formed with the idea of being inclusive, rather than an ivory tower exclusive approach to things, which seems to be whats happening now," he said. "Back in the day, if people showed up to the AGM youd be overjoyed."

Evans, who operates Poor Michaels Emporium in Onanole, is no longer involved with the festival but remains a lifetime member. He is watching things unfold as a "concerned citizen."

He said seeing the boycott movement launch this week is "surreal."

"Thats a terrible thing to have it come down to," he said.

"What Id like to see happen, is the general population involved in it. How can an organization grow and mature if its just honed down to three or four people calling all the shots and not letting anyone else in? Even for their own benefit. They cant do everything themselves, it just relies on community support and community input, and I just dont see that happening."

 jaustin@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @jillianaustinIts not long now until Ed Sheeran kicks off his nine-date Irish Tour in Corks Pairc Ui Chaoimh on May 4 before taking to the stage in Belfast on May 9.

He will then travels to Galway where he'll perform in Pearse Stadium on May 12 and 13, before finishing with gigs in Dublin's Phoenix Park on May 16, 18 and 19.Cork man Padraig O'Reilly has been named Irish Red Cross Volunteer of the Year for 2018.

A volunteer with the Irish Red Cross for just shy of 20 years, Mr O'Reilly works a full-time Job in Dunnes Stores is a retained firefighter with Cork County Fire Service and he holds no less than three positions in the Irish Red Cross  Branch Secretary, Branch Youth Officer and he is also a training officer in the unit structure.

Padraig OReilly from Clonakilty in Co Cork was named Volunteer of the Year 2018 at the Irish Red Cross National Volunteer of the Year Awards which took place in Croke Park this afternoon. Padraig was presented with his award by chairman of the Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs, Alan Farrell TD.

Under his leadership, Clonakilty Red Cross Branch opened their new branch premises in 2016, and was also the driving force behind getting the Advent Food Collection in aid of Cork Penny Dinners off the ground

This years collection gathered no less than 42 crates of food and 12 bags of toiletries.

During the 2012 flash flooding in Cork, Mr O'Reilly, despite his car being damaged by the water, helped his community assisting homes and business where he could.

More recently, he drove nurses and patients to hospitals in the Clonakilty Branch's 4x4 ambulance during the heavy snows of Storm Emma.

Also winning an award today was Sarah McConnellogue who took the Young Volunteer of the Year award.

12-year-old Sarah McConnellogue from Muff in Co Donegal was named Young Volunteer of the Year at the Irish Red Cross National Volunteer of the Year Awards 2018 which took place at Croke Park this afternoon. She is pictured with TV3's Deric O'hArtagain who was MC for the event.

The 12-year-old has been a member of the Muff Brand in Donegal for three years and has completed numerous programmes including first aid training.

Miss McConnellogue has an impeccable attendance record and he role as a recuriter is seen as her greatest talent - 19 members of the group are from he class in school.

Those who nominated her describe her as "an enthusiastic, committed volunteer who shows a willingness to learn and develop new skills - she and is a true humanitarian.

The Irish Red Cross National Volunteer Award kicks off celebrations for World Red Cross Red Crescent Day which is held each year on May 8 to celebrate the work of the Red Cross and Red Crescent globally and locally.

Full list of winners

Irish Red Cross Volunteer of the Year

Padraig OReilly, Clonakilty, Co Cork

Irish Red Cross Young Volunteer of the Year

Sarah McConnellogue, Muff, Co Donegal

Irish Red Cross Instructor of the Year

Rose Ward, Claremorris, Co Mayo

Irish Red Cross Health & Social Care Officer of the Year

Antoinette Coffey, Dungarvan, Co Waterford

Irish Red Cross Youth Achievement of the Year

Caoimhe McLaughlin, Muff, Co Donegal

Irish Red Cross Unit Member of the Year

Paddy Redmond, Enniscorthy, Co Wexford

Irish Red Cross Special Status of the Year

Cloverhill Prison

Irish Red Cross Branch of the Year

Roscrea, Co Tipperary

Irish Red Cross Area of the Year

Donegal

- Digital DeskEarlier this week Miriam O'Callaghan visited Limerick to meet with Vicky Phelan.

The interview brings us right back to the very beginning of Vicky's story.

"The big thing that made me go to the doctor in the end, some people kind of get taken aback when I talk about this, but I think it needs to be said, because cervical cancer is not talked about an awful lot because of where it is, and people feel ashamed, but I bled after sex and that made me go Oh My God, there's something wrong here."

Vicky spoke of being sent for an urgent colposcopy, speaking to friends Vicky was told she'd be fine.

Speaking to Miriam, she said that she was almost gagging during the procedure, "you can smell your flesh burning, it's horrible."

Provisionally booked for a hysterectomy, Vicky was asked was she finished having her family.

She said she was.

After the colposcopy, samples were sent for a biopsy.

Vicky spoke of receiving a call from Mr. Hickey to say the results were back and that she had cancer.

She said: "He told me that he knew it was cancer straight away. He could see clearly.

"He said basically you had a 4cm tumour on your cervix, I managed to laser off maybe 3cm but there's still some left that I couldn't get at, he said."

With options available, she was told that he wanted to send her for an MRI to be sure that the cancer had not spread.

She said: "The results of that came back on the 29th of July, three days before the hysterectomy... went in for the result of this scan and that was the start of it really getting much much worse."

The cancer had spread beyond Vicky's cervix.

Vicky told Miriam: "The cancer moved up my body, in less than three years and its untreatable.

"So I put my body and my family through all that for nothing really at the end of the day as far as Im concerned."

Vicky went into detail about brachytherapy that she went through, having had blood and, platelet transfusions beforehand.

She told Miriam of having an applicator inserted into her vagina before rods were attached to radiate whatever is left.

"I had three epidurals in the space of a week and a half.

"Its an awful cancer to get, women speak about breast cancer and having their breasts removed but you cant have vaginal reconstruction, and its very painful to have sex afterwards and it takes away your sense of being a woman."

Vicky told of her decision to get a solicitor in January, while waiting for a biopsy she took a look at her file which had been left in the room with her, inside was a letter with the top page missing - the letter from the cervical screening programme about the review.

She didnt know who it was addressed to, or when it dated back to.

She said: "There was a bit on the letter on how to communicate this with the patient."

Vicky has called for a review of the clinical labs used to test smear samples, one here in Ireland and two in the United States.

She hopes that their contracts will not be renewed.

Picking up on the media coverage, she said her daughter has been quite upset this week.

A woman of no faith, Vicky does say that she is spiritual believing that what you give, you get back.

Minister Simon Harris phoned on Friday morning to personally apologise, and to let her know that he will keep her posted on the progress of the review.

She is now enjoying the small things, having brought her daughter to the cinema Thursday night.

She said: "Yes Im living with this terminal diagnosis but Im not dead, Im still here, still very much here,

She also said that with everything that has gone on, she does not want to see women deciding not to have regular smear checks.

The interview will broadcast on Sunday with Miriam at 10am.

Listen to the full interview below.

- Digital DeskA police officer in England has been sexually assaulted as she tried to arrest a man on suspicion of attempted rape.

She was one of two officers who came under attack in Sheffield city centre in the early hours of Friday morning.

South Yorkshire Police said they had responded to a report of an attempted rape on Scotland Street.

The suspect is said to have struck both officers with a wooden "for sale" sign, before sexually assaulting one of them as she tried to arrest him.

One of the officers was left with severe bruising, while both involved in the attack are said to be recovering at home.

A man is in police custody after he was arrested on suspicion of attempted rape, assault, sexual assault and criminal damage.

The female victim was treated for her injuries and is being supported by specially trained officers, while detectives are investigating the original incident.

Chief Inspector Lydia Lynskey said on Friday: "Our officers potentially face danger every time they respond to an incident, putting themselves in harm's way to serve and protect the communities of South Yorkshire.

"The officers who attended this morning were faced with a dangerous and violent situation, however they showed immense bravery in dealing with the incident.

"Our thoughts are with them and full welfare support has been put in place. We will always take a zero tolerance approach to assaults on our officers in the course of their duties."In Australia, the crisis of legitimacy stems from sharp practices in the financial advice sector. Both phenomena were driven by a single-minded focus on profits. According to Leonida, not every bank must be a pure profit-seeker. In Germany and Italy, for example, the banks are by nature and culture conservative. They try to avoid risk, to only lend to those who already have money. Such banks rarely collapse. But on the other hand, they are not doing the economy any favours. They avoid too much profit, and they avoid too much risk, says Leonida. But they are not helping the system to grow. This is impossible to do in the UK  which is a textbook case of a profit-oriented economy.

It is not their job directly to control risk, really  but then when something goes wrong, everything goes wrong. And in the end its always at the customers risk. Divestment or ring-fencing? In 2007, the GFC hit Britain hard. Jobs were lost, production plummeted and the UK's governments spent a huge amount of money to save failing banks. Loading Ten years on, the Bank of England says the system has been made safer. British banks have raised more than 130 billion ($240 billion) of capital, 10 times more than before the crisis, enabling them to withstand much bigger losses without failing. They are also taking fewer risks (though Leonida wonders if this will last), with trading assets halved.

The central bank boasts of intrusive supervision of banks and building societies, and conducts regular stress tests to ensure they have the strength to deal with very severe recessions without cutting back on lending. Losses that would have wiped them out 10 years ago would barely make a dent these days, and banks are much less dependent on short-term wholesale market funding. The banks are also ring-fencing consumer banking services from their investment and international banking arms. Sir John Vickers, who led the Independent Commission on Banking which reported in 2011, said ring-fencing was a better solution than structural separation. Former Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Allan Fels reacted to the revelations in Australias royal commission by suggesting big banks should be forced to sell off their financial planning businesses. But Vickers, in his report, said a strong ring-fence could get the same, if not more stability benefits at much lower economic cost. Bad medicine Australias royal commission has also led to calls for better standards and licensing of financial advisers.

The royal commission's lawyers Rowena Orr, left, and Eloise Dias at the banking royal commission. Credit:Eddie Jim This is an area Britain has also led the way in. Separately to the financial crisis, the City of London has been through its own crackdown on financial services. In 2013 the Financial Services Authority  Britain's equivalent of ASIC  raised the bar for accreditation and training of investment advisers to ensure, the FSA said, that they act in the public interest". It also ended the practice of advisers getting commissions for selling investment policies  a practice that had been at the heart of selling scandals  which Australia has also done. Most British financial advice firms are required to agree on an explicit fee. "Rebuilding trust between customer and adviser is absolutely vital for the future prosperity of the retail investment market," said Sheila Nicoll, a policy director at the FSA. Last year Charlotte Baumanns, from the University of Oxfords Commercial Law Centre, wrote that three years after the new regulations came in, there was a noticeable improvement in the quality of advice and business standards in the financial services sector.

But it had also led to an advice gap, with many investors finding investment advice unaffordable and a significant number of banks advising high-income investors only, Baumanns said. Though it might be argued that no advice is better than biased advice  a significant number of people will be exposed to the risk of making ruinous investment decisions, she said. Risky lending The main game in Britain has been the reduction of risky lending. There has been a knock-on effect outside the City, Leonida says. Before the crisis you could have a mortgage with no collateral, really, he says. Now they are back to a standard rule [requiring significant deposits]. This approach discourages very risky borrowing, it is augmenting the entire resilience of the system.

Traditionally, this should have depressed the housing market. But instead Britain's  and especially London's  housing market has boomed in the past two decades, and has only recently showed signs of slowing or even contracting slightly. The London housing market has boomed in the past two decades. Credit:Bloomberg And this, says Leonida, is an example of why its so hard to control the banking sector. Commonsense economics is not always borne out in the contradictory, multi-factorial real world. Many blamed regulators for falling asleep at the wheel and allowing the convergence of factors that led to the financial crisis. But Leonida warns that just because regulation failed, that does not mean more regulation will fix the problem. Indeed, he warns that extra regulation can have knock-on effects and unintended consequences. He argues, for example, that the new capital requirements for banks after the crisis have not been so difficult for the big players, but raised the cost of entry into the industry or staying in the sector for smaller ones.

This has reduced competition, allowing banks to rake in profits without concern for maintaining their dominant market position. And a loss of competition is a problem: competition is usually one of the smartest ways to ensure that banks arent exploiting their customers. Regulation always moves much slower than the news, Leonida says. As soon as there is some new regulation, the large banks hire someone who is able to find a way around it, to make money around the rule. He believes if you tinker around the edges, with commissions or bonuses or such issues, youre not really tackling the problem, youre just playing whack-a-mole. Large banks make money out of regulation, he argues. Thats the nature of capitalism. In the end, he believes, competition is the best antiseptic. It is difficult to decide if [the financial crisis] was a regulatory failure or an ethical failure. That, maybe, is the point.It also boils down to the regulator. If the Australian Securities and Investments Commission was perceived as stronger and less collaborative, fear would overtake greed. In 2014 the then head of ASIC, Greg Medcraft, said Australia was a paradise for white-collar crime. He was right. What he didnt say was ASIC was partly responsible for the cesspit of misconduct. It is human nature to push the boundaries. Without a feared regulator, people with questionable ethics will push the line. If jail or stiff penalties are perceived as a real threat, fear will often outweigh greed. In other words, people will more likely think twice before lying, cheating and covering up. There are many good people inside ASIC, who are there for the right reasons, but they have been stymied. If ASIC hasnt been all that it could be, the blame must also surely lay at the door of our political masters, who have stripped the regulator of funding over the years, only to restore it for the cynical purpose of grabbing headlines and attempting to avoid a royal commission. In real monetary terms how much has ASICs budget gone up? Little if any when its ballooning responsibilities are factored into the equation.

Treasurer Scott Morrison has insisted ASIC is a tough cop. Credit:AAP Treasurer Scott Morrison described ASIC as the tough cop on the beat as an excuse not to hold a royal commission. He should hang his head in shame. So should the Minister for Financial Services Kelly ODwyer, who received a Capability Review into ASIC by the Productivity Commission with some constructive recommendations for structural change. Instead of making meaningful change, she went for the headlines: more resources, more powers. But as the royal commission has found, ASIC has a lot of powers, it just doesnt use them. It could take civil or criminal actions, cancel licences but most often it prefers a softer, more collaborative approach. Louise Macaulay from ASIC conceded the regulator doesnt ban enough financial planners who have done the wrong thing and said it takes up to two years to issue a banning order. She said it rarely cancels or suspends a licence, preferring enforceable undertakings. Lets hope having a mirror held up to it, it will see that it has fallen short of community expectations.

Orr raised the question after hearing the testimony of ASIC whether the existing regulatory culture contributed to the occurrence of misconduct in financial advice and what changes might exist to reduce wrongdoing. It is a question that needs to be asked. The royal commission has shone a light into the dark recesses of the financial advice side of the sector that some of us knew were there. Loading In two short weeks it has shown systemic wrongdoing and statutory breaches of the law in financial advice. It has shown that despite customers paying top dollar for services, all too often internal systems were a mess, creating a systemic risk of planners not acting in their clients best interests. It found companies that only allow clients to invest in in-house platforms create a "systemic risk" they will receive bad advice and become vulnerable to "inertia".When Jac Taylor began the hunt for a school for her daughter Saskia Jones, who had just turned four, she was shocked to find vaccination rates well below the national average at many Sydney schools.

"You're not allowed to go to daycare without being fully immunised but it amazed me when I found that rates across NSW are lower than 50 per cent in some areas," said Ms Taylor, who lives in Marrickville in Sydney's inner west.

"The school we're planning to go to is above 90 per cent, and even though that's pretty good, I was expecting it to be 100 per cent."

Jac Taylor said she was surprised to discover relatively low rates of immunisation in some parts of Sydney when she started looking for a school for her daughter Saskia Jones. Credit:Nick Moir

Ms Taylor is among a growing number of parents who are looking at vaccination rates when choosing a school for their children.Next time you're looking for some #sexpo (that is, sexy inspiration, not the adult products exhibition), look no further than 19th-century royalty. Yes, like Queen Victoria.

High neck, high volume ... Musician Vera Blue.

While sexiness was once measured in midriffs and miniskirts  just think of Britney Spears' Baby One More Time  shifting times means shifting hemlines.

This season, skirts are going down (as in below the knee) and necklines are going up, up, up. It seems covering up is the new benchmark for sensuality. That is, creating allure by what you don't see more than what you do.

Credit must go in part to the popularity of Downton Abbey, The Crown and a creeping backlash against "naked" dressing. Let's call the new trend Not Keeping Up With the Kardashians.A New South Wales man accused of stabbing a Hervey Bay mother and son on Friday has been charged with two counts of attempted murder during a bedside hearing, after he was taken to hospital following his arrest suffering from "a suspected drug overdose", according to police.

The two victims, a 50-year-old man and his 82-year-old mother, remain in the same hospital as their accused attacker after undergoing surgery for stab wounds to their neck and torso.

The two victims and their alleged attacker were taken to Hervey Bay Hospital on Friday. Credit:Queensland Health

The man was arrested on Friday morning, less than two hours after the mother and son ran out into their street and flagged down neighbours for help following the alleged attempted murder.

Emergency services were called to Mungara Court in Wondunna about 9.15am, with police declaring a crime scene as paramedics rushed the victims to Hervey Bay Hospital. One was in a serious condition, the other was serious but stable.There has been a 10 per cent increase in complaints made about animals in Brisbane in the past three months, with cats and foxes believed to be the source of the spike.

The latest Brisbane City Council data on animal complaints revealed there were 1621 complaints made about animals between January and March, up from 1463 in the past quarter and 174 more than the same period in 2017.

Between January and March, there were 157 complaints about an animal attacking another animal and 123 reports of an animal attacking a person.

The most common complaint was about fencing issues for dogs, with 321 complaints made.When Mark Worsley was asked by his boss to operate a piece of machinery he had not been trained on, he did so because there was no time to discuss it and he feared the repercussions if he refused.

Eight years on, the Hervey Bay resident has been fired, had a spinal fusion, battled depression, learnt to walk and talk again and fought for compensation after injuring himself that day at work.

Hervey Bay resident Mark Worsley suffered a serious spinal injury at work in 2010.

New national survey figures show, like Mr Worsley, one in ten workers are too afraid to report safety issues because they fear being fired.

Other results from the survey, commissioned by Shine Lawyers, included one in five workers complained about a workplace safety issue that was never fixed, more than a third witnessed a colleague being injured due to lack of training in health and safety and more than a third witnessed a colleague not reporting their workplace injury for fear of losing their job.The Australian War Memorial director has stressed the memorial is apolitical after attracting controversy for suggesting an exhibit recognising navy personnel involved in boat turn-backs.

Former Liberal-leader Brendan Nelson said the memorial should house a contemporary exhibit for navy personnel which would include a part on boat turn-backs during Operation Sovereign Borders.

Australian War Memorial director Dr Brendan Nelson. Credit:Jeffrey Chan

"We're not about to have an exhibition on border protection," Dr Nelson said.

"[The memorial is] completely apolitical. This is an institution that is free of party politics."Treasurer Scott Morrison has ramped up pressure on Australian financial services boards to be held to account for the banking royal commission, as the advisor to one of the country's largest superannuation firms abandons support for the besieged AMP board.

AMP chairman Catherine Brenner is now facing a battle on all fronts to retain her position, after the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors followed the Australian Shareholders Association in calling for her to resign.

ACSI chief executive Louise Davidson said the royal commission recommending AMP face criminal charges for deliberately and repeatedly misleading the regulator over charging clients for no service was the final straw.

AMP chair Catherine Brenner

"The statement from the royal commission ... recommending AMP face criminal charges, only reinforces our view that accountability for events revealed over the last 10 days must rest with the board," she said.The bill to repair damage at Queensland's jails soared 60 per cent in just two years, with prisoners caught damaging televisions, furniture, lighting fixtures and windows.

The repair bill hit $898,000 last financial year. In 2014-15 the repair bill was $560,000 and it cost $741,000 the following year.

The cost repair damage at Queensland prisons was $2.20 million over the past three years.

Police Minister Mark Ryan said incidents involving damage at jails were referred to police and the Corrective Services investigation unit.

Mr Ryan said inmates who intentionally damaged property could be "breached" by prison officers or charged by police.Residents of the tiny village of Stanley in the north-east Victorian high country have been left reeling with a $90,000 bill for court costs following their unsuccessful, four-year battle to stop water being siphoned from beneath their plateau for bottling.

The Stanley Rural Community Incorporated, representing the village community of less than 400, failed in their final action to stop a water miner, trading as Stanley Pastoral, trucking away 19 million litres of water a year.

Stanley residents are facing a $90,000 bill for their anti-water mining campaign. Credit:Jason South

The water, taken from a bore sunk 60 metres beneath the Stanley plateau, is trucked most days of the week to the Japanese-owned Asahi bottling plant in Albury.

The community group argued that the water that was being removed could deplete reserves that local fruit, nut and grape farmers relied upon.London: Australia's longest serving foreign minister Alexander Downer has cautioned against treating China as though it is Russia, saying Moscow is lashing out and in decline while Beijing is a rising power focussed on domestic prosperity.

Speaking to Fairfax Media during his last hours as Australia's top diplomat in Britain, Mr Downer also played down revelations Beijing has frozen out his Liberal successor as foreign minister Julie Bishop and the prime minister.

He said the same thing had happened when he was the foreign minister, between 1996 and 2007.

When asked if this was a reflection of his own performance in that job, Mr Downer laughed and noted: "Well the Labor party said so."The reality is it probably won't be. The lessons of the 2008 election, when the government lost its two-thirds majority, and then the 2013 election, when it lost the popular vote (but still won a handy majority in the parliament because of a gerrymander) still sting. A street in Kampung Baru - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, covered by Barisan Nasional party flags and banners. Some banners were printed in China. 24 April 2018. Najibs Barisan Nasional coalition has passed new fake news laws, had the Electoral Commission tweak the gerrymander, is holding the poll on a Wednesday (to suppress voter turn out, the opposition argues) and is handing out election year sweeteners. Arrayed against him is Najibs mentor, the 92-year-old Mahatir - prime minister for 22 years - who has come out of retirement and teamed up with his his still-detained former deputy Anwar, Anwar's wife Wan Azizah Ismail (Izzah's mother), who is the deputy opposition leader, to defeat the incumbent.

Mahatir has even promised he will stand aside and allow Anwar to be PM if the opposition wins (yes, the same guy he had put in jail for the first time, 20 year ago, after they fell out). Despite being damaged by the 1MDB wealth fund scandal, most pundits believe Najib is in the box seat to hang on. Which will mean another five years of Barisan Nasional government. And in five years time, when the next election is due, Mahatir will be 97 (and, surely, back in retirement), while Anwar will be 76 years old. Which means the opposition may well be looking for a new leader.

Which is why I ask Nurul Izzah, five times, if she wants to be prime minister one day. The 37-year-old, a Johns Hopkins-educated Masters graduate, devout Muslim and divorced mother of two who has already served ten years in parliament, is avoiding the question. She's a democrat, is pro-free markets and free trade, favours a progressive taxation system and is a strong advocate for improving education. "We are deeply concerned about issues of social justice, it's important Australians understand that," she adds. Izzah, as she calls herself, also wants to get out of her car and head into the hospital to see her Dad, Anwar Ibrahim.

Anwar has been allowed out of jail to have rehabilitation following surgery that has failed to mend damage done to his right shoulder when his prison van was involved in a crash several years ago. After 45 minutes in KL traffic, the clock is ticking down on our interview. "Oh my goodness, I'm just trying to survive in my seat bro," she jokes. Izzah is standing in a government-held rural seat, because the Electoral Commission recently moved 7800 government-voting police officers into her current seat, which she holds by just 1800 votes, making it virtually un-winnable. "I'm 38 this year. I think it takes an entire generation to move Malaysia to where it has to be, it can't just be one person. And we have been so reliant on personalities for so long. I mean the fact that we have Mahatir today [as opposition leader] is a testament to how much talent has been destroyed."

"I want to be part of Malaysias future, I want to design Malaysias future. "Since 18 [the year her father was jailed for the first time and she entered politics], I wanted to realise reforms. So you just go along, you have children, you realise how important it is for their future. So to that end, Ill do what I can." Like every good politician, Izzah has said a lot, but she hasn't really answered the question. Finally, she allows that she does carry a leadership baton in her backpack, but hastily adds that "everyone should" and that "no one is a silver bullet" She fervently believes democratic change will come to Malaysia, eventually.The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Friday stayed an order of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) that imposed a penalty of Rs 136 crore on Google for unfair business practices in online search market.

While admitting the plea of Google against the order, the NCLAT bench headed by Chairman Justice S J Mukhopadhaya directed the internet major to deposit 10 per cent of the penalty amount with it in four weeks.

The appellate tribunal has also directed CCI and other respondent in this matter to file their reply-affidavit in next three week.

"In so far as the penalty is concerned, without deciding the question what should be the criteria of relevant turnover for the purpose of imposition of penalty which will be decided after final hearing, we direct that if Appellants (Google) deposit 10 per cent of the penalty amount imposed on appellant by way of FDR in favour of Registrar, NCLAT within four weeks, the impugned order so far it relates to penalty also shall remain stayed," the bench said.

Moreover, the tribunal also allowed Google to use 'Google Flight' for its online flight booking search service. "The Appellants will continue to mention Google Flight' in respect to search flight', as brought to our notice," the appellate tribunal said. It had directed to post the matter for hearing on May 28.

A Google spokesperson said: "NCLAT has accepted our appeal for review of aspects of the CCI decision and its associated findings."

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) in February this year had imposed a fine of Rs 136 crore on search engine major Google for unfair business practices in the Indian market for online search.

Passing the order on complaints that were filed back in 2012, the regulator said the penalty is being imposed on Google for infringing anti-trust conduct.

The penalty amount of Rs 135.86 crore translates to 5 per cent of the company's average total revenue generated from India operations from its different business segments for the financial years 2013, 2014 and 2015, according to the CCI order.

The ruling has come on complaints filed by Matrimony.com and Consumer Unity & Trust Society (CUTS) -- back in 2012 -- against Google LLC, Google India Pvt Ltd and Google Ireland Ltd.New Delhi, Apr 26 (PTI) Automaker Ford India today launched a compact utility vehicle Freestyle, priced between Rs 5.09 lakh and Rs 7.89 lakh (ex-showroom), as it looks to strengthen presence in the growing utility vehicle (UV) space.

The company, which already sells UV models like EcoSport and Endevour, expects the new model to bring in additinal volumes by cashing in on the demand for small SUVs, crossovers in the domestic market.

"When we launched the EcoSport in 2013 the mini SUV segment was barely 3 per cent of the total industry. Today it is around 12 per cent and by 2022 we know it will be around 24 per cent of the market. So this segment has just burst at the seams," Ford India President and Managing Director Anurag Mehrotra told reporters here.

With more products coming, the segment is going to evolve even further, he added.

Mehrotra said that popularity of the segment can be gauged by the fact that one in four customers in the country currently want to buy an UV.

"In the first three months of this year, passenger vehicles industry has grown less than one per cent while UV segment has grown by 30-40 per cent. Globally also the market is shifting towards UVs," Mehrotra said.

The introduction of Freestyle is first step for the company to build a strong line up of UVs in its product portfolio, he added.

"With this product we will be able to meet consumer need for UVs between the Rs 5-7 lakh category. For us it is a very big achievement," Mehrotra noted.

When asked about companys expectations in terms of sales from the segment with introduction of Freestyle, Mehrotra said: "We believe we have identified a need of the customer...we have launched a product which should find value proposition. Rest it is up to the customers."

He added that over 60 per cent of the product development work of the model happened in India, which is a big achievement for the company.

Petrol variants of Freestyle are priced between Rs 5.09 lakh and Rs 6.94 lakh while diesel trims are tagged between Rs 6.09 lakh and Rs 7.89 lakh.

Powered by a new 1.2-litre 3-cylinder petrol engine and five speed manual transmission, the new model can generate a power output of 96 PS.

Besides SUV styling, the new model also comes with 6.5 inch touchscreen infotainment system which is compatible with AppleCar Play and Android Auto.

The model would be manufactured at the companys Sanand plant and will be exported to major markets including Europe and the Middle East.

Ford currently exports vehicles from India to around 50 countries. PTI MSS MKJThe U.S. Commerce Department on Monday announced punitive sanctions against ZTE Corp., in the latest twist of a story that dates back for six years. The case began in 2012 when Washington began probing ZTE over allegations that it sold networking equipment containing U.S.-made parts to Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions at that time.

ZTE later reached a settlement in the matter, allowing it to avoid a Washington order that would have barred it from buying U.S.-made components for seven years. But Washington later determined the company hadnt fully complied with the settlement by failing to discipline certain employees, and reactivated the original ban earlier this week.



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.Did you know the three busiest cruise ports in the world are all located in the U.S.? These three cities, all in the same state, offer hundreds of excursion-worthy attractions that have tourists flocking to them. They each feature a healthy mix of history and culture  and of course, great beaches and plenty of shopping.

Here well feature the busiest cruise ports in descending order, based on traffic numbers from Cruise Industry News. Learn why the busiest port is called the cruise capital of the world (No. 21). See the second busiest port, called the surfing capital of the Atlantic and located near Disney World (No. 20). Find out which port in Texas made the list, possibly for its massive waterpark (No. 10). The first port featured is an American city that has bravely stood the test of time:

Port of New Orleans, Louisiana

1,070,323 passengers

The first stop on our list of busiest cruise ports is the Big Easy. In its successful rebuild post-Katrina, the city has seen an influx of artists and entrepreneurs. When ships dock, tourists flock to spots all over New Orleans to take in its signature jazz, cuisine, and architecture.

Cruise ships dock just behind the citys convention center, in the heart of downtown, near hotels and other attractions. Music-buyers can head over to the indie shop Louisiana Music Factory. Those seeking a local, sweet delicacy can order up some pecan pralines at the Praline Connection.

Next: A centuries-old port city with quite a history

Port of Naples, Italy

1,306,151 passengers

There might not be a more distinctive port than that of southern Italys Naples. A castle, a palace, and a fortress overlook the docked ships, with the legendary Mount Vesuvius in the background. All of this is surrounded by sprawling suburbs, home to 600,000 people. The Naples port serves as a gateway to other destinations, but theres also plenty to see right here.

Statues of former kings and city leaders (including a Bonaparte) line the facade on Palazzo Reale. Royal palaces, churches, and former convents are waiting to be explored.

Next: The worlds most intriguing port?

Port of Sydney, Australia

1,309,000 passengers

Australias largest city is one of the worlds most intriguing ports, the exotic metropolis featuring the iconic Sydney Opera House and the largest steel arch bridge in the world. Travelers often tack a couple of extra days onto their trip to see the city. Upon docking, passengers make their way to destinations via water taxis, ferries, trains, cabs, and buses.

Next: People of all backgrounds enjoy one port delicacy.

Port of Marseille, France

1,597,213 passengers

Frances largest port is also the gateway to Provence. Many cruisers disembark and head straight for Le Vieux Port, a busy harbor offering restaurants, coffee shops, and boutiques. Patrons of all types gather here, from fishermen who live locally to millionaires who have pulled up on their yachts. Everyone will likely order up a bowl of bouillabaisse, Marseilles signature fish stew.

Next: Possibly the most romantic port

Port of Venice, Italy

1,605,660 passengers

This major hub for cruise ships offers several terminals and caters to ships of all sizes. Visitors arriving by boat are treated to views of the shimmering Grand Canal, gondolas navigating narrow waterways, and elegant palazzos along the coastline.

Once docked, visitors can check out historic palaces and churches, art museums, and springtime Carnevale celebrations.

Next: This port features stunning beaches and mountains.

Jamaica ports

1,655,565 passengers

Known for stunning beaches and mountain backdrops, Jamaica and its three ports are popular stops on Caribbean cruises. The busiest is Ocho Rios Port  located near duty-free shopping, the beach, and Dunns River Falls, the islands most famous attraction.

Other popular excursions include river rafting, canopy tours, swimming with dolphins, and horseback rides along the beach.

Next: A tropical island occupied by two countries

Port St. Maarten

1,668,863 passengers

Another crazy-busy port is that of St. Maarten, with up to six large ships docked at the same time. (Thats around 15,000 people per day.) Crowds leave the ships for shopping and beach destinations on this Caribbean island inhabited by two nations. The Dutch side is host to much of the islands nightlife, whereas the French side has the islands airport.

Next: A centuries-old European port

Port of Southampton, England

1,700,000 passengers

Located on the south coast of England, Southampton is considered the leading cruise port of the U.K. and all of Europe. For most passengers, its the first or last stop on a European cruise or Atlantic crossing. While it offers some shopping and views of where the Mayflower left to cross the Atlantic in 1620, most cruisers hop on an hour-long train to London after docking.

Next: A port city really called Hell?

Port of Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands

1,711,565 passengers

With its Seven Mile Beach, snorkeling, diving, and duty-free shops, Grand Cayman is the quintessential cruise port. Popular excursion destinations include Stingray City and Cayman Turtle Farm, and even a touristy town called Hell which many visit just to take photos and send a postcard home.

This Caribbean ports main downside is the crowds. Five or more ships can be docked in the harbor all at once, causing bottlenecked lines and jam-packed downtown streets. Some solace-seekers take taxis to the more secluded beaches.

Next: An upscale Texas port city

Port of Galveston, Texas

1,730,289 passengers

Galveston is a now-trendy resort town on a barrier island in the Gulf of Mexico, two miles off the coast of Texas. Very few ports are as walkable as this one. Cross the street, and youll be in the downtown area. Historic neighborhoods, shops, and restaurants are also a short walk away. The host of attractions include a 70,000 square-foot waterpark and an indoor rainforest with 1,000 species of exotic plants.

Next: Islands owned by the U.S.

U.S. Virgin Islands ports

1,776,685 passengers

Cruise ships visiting the U.S. Virgin Islands stop in St. Thomas, St. John, and St. Croix  the latter being the most popular destination because it features two docks and a harbor for anchorage. All three islands are packed with dozens of beaches, shopping, tours, diving and snorkeling, boating and sailing, historic buildings, and places to get married.

Next: A string of islands with three ports

Balearic Islands ports

1,957,429 passengers

Spains Balearic Islands  Majorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera  are known for their clubbing and all-inclusive package holidays, but just as many tourists come for the nature too: pine-covered mountains, open plains, salt flats, and spectacular beaches.

The islands three ports are often part of Western Mediterranean itineraries to places like France, mainland Spain, and Italy.

Next: Popular ports on volcanic islands

Canary Islands ports

1,981,489 passengers

The volcanic Canary Islands are home to four cruise ports that saw just under 2 million in cruise passengers in 2016. La Palma, the northwesterly-most island, boasts offbeat craft shops and street cafes. Lanzarote, 70 miles off the African coast, features the longest volcanic tunnel in the world.

Las Palmas, on the island of Gran Canaria, is known for soft-sand beaches and world-class resort Playa de las Canteras. Finally, Tenerife is known for stunning scenery and spring-like temperatures.

Next: A popular (and crowded) Caribbean port

Port of Nassau, Bahamas

2,034,685 passengers

Nassau is one of the most popular, and often crowded, cruise ports in the Caribbean and Bahamas. Its blend of influences ranges from West Africa to England and from Haiti to the United States. Tourists on cruise excursions flock to sandy beaches, Vegas-type casinos, and duty-free shopping.

Most visitors, however, opt for beach adventures at resorts like Atlantis Paradise Island or boating excursions from dolphin encounters to booze cruises.

Next: A port two hours from the Eternal City

Port of Rome, Italy

2,339,676 passengers

The port of Rome, officially called Civitavecchia, is located about two hours from the city. For this reason, many choose to begin or end their cruises here, taking a couple of days to explore the Eternal City. Theres much to see, including the Vatican museums, St. Peters Basilica, Sistine Chapel, the Colosseum, the Pantheon, and more.

Next: A port city famous for architecture and beaches

Port of Barcelona, Spain

2,683,594 passengers

Barcelona is the capital of the Cataluyna region of Spain, famous for its architecture and beaches. The citys cruise port is home to six terminals. When their ship is docked, tourists can visit nearby bars, restaurants, shops, an IMAX theater, and the largest aquarium in Europe.

Those wishing to venture a little further can head by bus or shuttle to the citys World Trade Center or Christopher Columbus Monument.

Next: A busy port full of modern skyscrapers

Port of Shanghai, China

2,847,000 passengers

Shanghai is the largest city in China, full of modern skyscrapers and plenty of restaurants and shopping. The citys port  5th busiest in the world  is one of 10 major ports in the country. Cruise-goers visiting the city will have a hard time fitting all their options into just one day.

The citys glitzy, high-end shops and department stores sell souvenirs and fashions. Sightseers dont need to go far to take in a waterfront lined with Gothic, Art Deco, and other historic buildings. And you might be lucky enough to be in town during a traditional festival.

Next: A location where Jacques Cousteau loved to dive

Port of Cozumel, Mexico

3,637,321 passengers

Cozumel is Mexicos largest and most populated Caribbean island. Its three cruise ship piers are all on the populated west side of the island. The busy port welcomes as many as eight ships per day. Cruise lines that dock here include Carnival and Holland American Line.

Popular port excursions here include visits to the well-preserved Mayan ruins of Tulum. Its also a popular diving destination; Jacques Cousteau declared it once of the most beautiful areas in the world for scuba diving.

Next: A port that set a daily high-traffic record

Port Everglades, Florida

3,680,549 passengers

The worlds third busiest port is located in Fort Lauderdale, on the southeastern coast of Florida. Ten cruise lines  with a total of 38 ships  operate out of the port. The location set a high-traffic record on March 13, 2016, when 54,700 guests passed through in a single day.

Those passing through who want to spend a little time in the area can visit the Florida Everglades (located 23 miles to the west), take an airboat ride, or visit the largest outlet mall in the U.S.

Next: A port located conveniently near Disney

Port Canaveral, Florida

3,951,127 passengers

Although this is the worlds second busiest cruise port, the area  located 45 minutes east of Orlando, Florida  its significantly less crowded than Miami. Its been called surfing capital of the Atlantic and is home to rocket launches, the largest sea turtle nesting area in the U.S., and an endangered species refuge. Families often head to the Disney theme parks before or after their cruises.

Next: And the busiest port in the world is

Port of Miami, Florida

4,898,000 passengers

This port gets more annual passenger traffic than any other in the world. Its home to 12 cruise lines and the largest year-round cruise fleet on the planet. Located just east of downtown Miami, its often called the Cruise Capital of the World.

Cruisers spending a day or two in Miami have endless options: The city is a hub for Cuban food, designer boutiques and outlet malls, major league sporting events, and miles of white sand beaches.

Check out The Cheat Sheet on Facebook!Christians Face 2 Years in Prison for Evangelism in 8th India State to Pass 'Anti-Conversion' Law 28 April, 2018 by Anugrah Kumar , |

The North Indian state of Uttarakhand is now the eighth state in the country to pass legislation that is officially named the "Freedom of Religion Act" but has the allegedly hidden intent to punish those who facilitate religious conversions, especially conversions from Hinduism to Christianity. The latest law carries a jail term of up to two years.

The Governor of Uttarakhand, Krishna Kant Paul, signed the Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion Bill of 2018 into law this month, according to local media reports. The law will be in force as soon as the state government, governed by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, drafts its rules.

The bill was passed in the state assembly last month.

On paper, the legislation claims to ban conversion by the use of force, fraud or inducement, but these terms are defined loosely to include social work, praying for the sick or even evangelism. It is commonly referred to as an "anti-conversion" law.

The eastern state of Odisha, the central states of Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh, the northern state of Himachal Pradesh and the western state of Gujarat also have similar laws in force.

The northern state of Rajasthan, too, has an anti-conversion law on paper, but the bill is pending with the president of India. In the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, it is awaiting implementation.

Last year, the eastern state of Jharkhand introduced the "Religious Freedom Bill," requiring converts to inform state officials of the time, place and the name of the person administering the conversion. Those found guilty face fines of up to $1,500 (100,000 rupees) and four years in prison. It is yet to be passed in the state legislature.

This week, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom recommended that the U.S. government call on the Indian government to repeal anti-conversion laws.

Read more about anti-conversion laws on The Christian Post.Churches That Help Parents Are 'Growing Young' Instead of Growing Old, Says Family Ministry Prof. 28 April, 2018 by Michael Gryboski , |

Churches that are "growing young" instead of growing old are the ones that look after parents, according to a Fuller Theological Seminary professor who specializes in family ministry.

Kara Powell, who also serves as executive director of the Fuller Youth Institute, told those gathered at the Orange Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, on Friday that churches thrive when they make an extra effort to help parents.

Powell explained that she and other researchers at the Fuller Youth Institute examined the traits of churches in the United States that were neither declining in numbers nor seeing a graying of their congregation.

"We looked for hundreds of churches around the country that aren't getting older and getting smaller, instead they're growing and their engaging young people or they are what we call churches that are 'growing young,'" said Powell.

"And one of our early surprises in our four years of research was how important it was for parents to be prioritized in these churches. That's one of the things that set these churches apart from a typical church that was aging and/or shrinking."

"When these churches gave a disproportionate amount of energy and emphasis and empathy to parents, the church thrived. The church flourished."

Powell called on attendees to make sure that their congregations make sure that they are not simply asking parents to help the church, but that the church is helping parents.

"Does your church help parents win or does it help parents help your church win?" Powell asked. "Is your church about what's best for parents or is it about getting parents to do what you think is best for you as a church?"

Read more about the importance of engaging parents for church growth on The Christian Post.Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

Truly loving people can mean telling them things they don't want to hear  like, "suicide is not something to celebrate."

A few weeks ago, I quoted the Christian satire site, the Babylon Bee. As someone with the spiritual gift of sarcasm, I appreciate many of their headlines. This one, however, really hit the mark: "Progressive Christian Criticizes Jesus For Not Being Very Christlike."

One can imagine certain believers these days uncomfortable with the Prince of Peace's calling the Pharisees "whitewashed tombs." Jesus' honesty cuts against the popular modern ethic claiming to be all about love, but which is, in reality, a gospel devoted to being "nice."

But nice isn't the same thing as love. True love is concerned with the good of the beloved, and can never be divorced from the truth of how God created us and intends us to live. When we ignore that truth, we can "nice" people to death.

A disturbing example comes out of Ontario, where George and Shirley Brickenden recently threw a "bon voyage party" for their families, before committing suicide together by having their doctor administer lethal injections. LifeNews reports that no one tried to stop them. And more shocking still, the dean of Toronto's St. James Anglican Cathedral not only attended and blessed the procedure but then said he'd be honored to give the couple an Anglican funeral.

Now this is what the gospel of nice, which is based on sentimentality and not love, looks like. It prioritizes short-term happiness over the true and the good. In this case, it leads to blessing self-murder rather than offering those hard but loving words, "This is wrong."

Progressive churches have raised the gospel of nice to an art form. It's the whole rationale behind blessing same-sex "marriages" and abortion clinics. Mark my words, we'll soon see Canada's Anglican church developing liturgy for physician-assisted suicide.

But the gospel of nice isn't just a progressive heresy. Evangelicals often withhold truth in the name of love, as well. I think, for example, of the widespread acceptance of surrogacy and in vitro fertilization in evangelical churches. A recent Christianity Today cover story quoted couples who've conceived children using unethical methods as well as women who "feel called" to be surrogates as their form of Christian service.

But Christian and even non-Christian bioethicists have argued that surrogacy treats children like commodities that are manufactured by renting wombs. Most European countries ban surrogacy on the grounds that it leaves the poor vulnerable to exploitation.

As Matthew Lee Anderson and Jake Meador pointed out recently in "Mere Orthodoxy," for too many evangelicals, heartfelt stories of personal experience trump ethical arguments and theological reasoning, a problem only made worse by the fact that many churches avoid biblical or theological training in areas like reproductive technologies altogether.

Anderson and Meador conclude that when you "Combine the emotive spirituality that animates middle-class evangelical piety" with "a profound sense of compassion for those who are hurting," then surrogacy and in-vitro fertilization seem like not only something God allows, but something He wants.

If such experience replaces moral reasoning and even Scripture, and if making people feel loved is more important than telling them the truth, where does this end? Will we accommodate transgender ideologies rather than make the uncomfortable stand for God's design for male and female? Will we hear of Christian surrogates carrying babies for gay couples?

The real Gospel, of course, offers joy beyond anything found in this world. But it does so by first telling us hard truths: that we can't erase suffering through euthanasia or by renting wombs  and that what God created and redeemed us for isn't always what makes us happy. That's not nice. But it is true love.Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

A California State University, Fresno, professor will not be punished for calling Barbara Bush "an amazing racist" and cheering her death.

The university's president condemned Randa Jarrar's statements as "insensitive, inappropriate and an embarrassment to the university." However, he stated that she was acting as a private citizen using her personal Twitter account, so her statements didn't violate school policies.

In other California news, a former police officer has been identified as the so-called "Golden State Killer." He is believed to have committed twelve killings and at least fifty rapes across California from 1976 to 1986.

Closer to home, Dallas police officer Rogelio Santander died yesterday. He was one of three victims of a gunman who was caught shoplifting at a Home Depot in our area.

His tragic death reminds us that our police officers are on the front lines every day, willing to die so we can live. They deserve our intercession and encouragement today.

And the husband of the woman killed last week on Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 has now spoken to reporters. When Michael Riordan learned that his wife had died, "I immediately thought of the kids and how do you tell your kids their mom was gone."

A very hard question

When criminals rape, steal, and murder, it's hard to believe that God is all-knowing, all-loving, and all-powerful. When professors use their public platform to make ungodly statements, we wonder where God is.

The first three stories in today's Daily Article can be viewed in the context of misused human freedom. God chooses to honor the free will he gave us. If he removed the consequences of misused freedom, we would not truly be free.

And yet, sometimes he does just that.

After Herod arrested Peter, God sent an angel who liberated the apostle (Acts 12:1-10). The Lord protected the Jews from Pharaoh (Exodus 14). He saved Daniel from the lions' den (Daniel 6) and his friends from the fiery furnace (Daniel 3).

Why, then, did he not protect victims of the "Golden State Killer" or those shot at Home Depot? Why has he not acted in response to the professor's abhorrent statements?

The fourth story of the day is even harder to understand. Unless the disaster on Flight 1380 was caused by faulty maintenance, it was not the result of misused freedom. The God who acted miraculously throughout Scripture could presumably have spared Jennifer Riordan's life, but he did not.

Facts to remember

When tragedy strikes, let's remember six facts:

God still knows us. He knew the names of Moses and Paul before they knew his name (Exodus 3:4, 13; Acts 26:14-15). He knows what we need before we ask him (Matthew 6:8).

God still loves us. His Son died for us while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8). Because "God is love" (1 John 4:8), nothing about this week's news changes who he was last week or who he will be next week.

God is still omnipotent. The prophet rightly testified to God: "It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you" (Jeremiah 32:17).

God suffers as we suffer. He watched as his Son was tortured and crucified. His Son wept at the grave of Lazarus (John 11:35). Nothing can come to us without coming through him (John 10:28-29).

God works in ways we cannot see or understand. The Lord reminds us, "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:9). If I do not understand my Father's actions, the fault is not with his divine character but with my human finitude.

God redeems all he allows. This is a statement I often make in response to tragedy, one that readers sometimes ask me to explain. Here's the short version:

Because God is sovereign, he must allow all that happens. Because he is perfect, he can never make a mistake. However, God makes a mistake if he allows any suffering he does not redeem for an even greater good. Therefore, he must redeem for greater good all he allows.

We may not see or understand such redemption on this side of heaven, but we will one day (1 Corinthians 13:12). I don't have to understand how a car works to drive it. I don't have to understand God's redemption to trust it.

Our God is named Immanuel

I don't know why God allowed the tragedies we've discussed. But I know that nothing in today's news changes his all-knowing, all-loving, all-powerful nature. So, I trust the suffering that grieves me to the God who loves me.

Let's close by remembering that our Savior is named Immanuel, which means "God with us" (Matthew 1:23). Alexander MacLaren was right: Jesus is "bearing grief for us, bearing grief with us, bearing grief like us."

What grief would you trust to him today?'Boruto: Naruto Next Generations' Episode 56 release date, spoilers news update: Tenten makes comeback by proctoring 1st stage of Chunin examination

The spin-off anime series "Boruto: Naruto Next Generations" has already featured some of the popular characters from the original "Naruto" storyline. Aside from the iconic heroes like Sakura, Sasuke and Konoha's current Kage, Naruto, some of the older generation of ninjas have already made an appearance. In the upcoming episode 56, a known student of Gai is set to make her debut in the anime series as a proctor in the Chunin examination.

The latest teaser for "Boruto: Naruto Next Generations" episode 56 confirms the arrival of Tenten, one of the members of the former Team Gai. Some fans have noticed that Tenten is nowhere to be found in the recent happenings in the Hidden Leaf Village, which is odd considering her present status as ninja. However, she will play an important role in the upcoming Chunin examination as she will be among the teachers who will guide the genins on the first trial.

Tenten will be joined by other ninjas who were also a part of the original "Naruto" series. Shino will also oversee the first stage of the Chunin examination, and it is expected that the two characters will have some sort of catching up after all these years.

Of course, their priority will be to ensure that only the qualified young genins will get through the first trial of the Chunin exam. Some fans are hoping that Tenten's proctoring of the examination will have the same impact as that of Anko when she handled the same Chunin trial back in the "Naruto" series.

For the "Boruto" fans who are not very much familiar with Tenten, she was a member of Team Gai along with Rock Lee and Neji. She is often commended for her knowledge with weapons, as well as her great skill in sealed techniques.

As for the Chunin examination perse, it is expected that "Boruto: Naruto Next Generations" episode 56 will have more intense challenges, compared to the version of the first "Boruto" movie.

"Boruto: Naruto Next Generations" episode 56 will air in Japan next Thursday, May 3.Israeli forces kill four Gaza border protesters, wound 600

Israeli troops shot dead three protesters along the Gaza border yesterday, Gaza medics said, hours after the United Nations human rights chief criticised Israel for using 'excessive force' against demonstrators.

Today, a 15-year-old Palestinian also died after being shot yesterday. Israeli troops have killed 42 Palestinians and wounded more than 5,000 others since Gaza residents began staging protests along the border fence on March 30 to demand the right of return for Palestinian refugees.

The troops were holed up behind fortifications on their side of the 40km (25-mile) border fence and fired live ammunition and tear gas at protesters at five locations on the Gazan side.

Gaza medical officials said two protesters who were struck by bullets were in critical condition in hospital and 600 others were wounded.

The Israeli military said 12,000-14,000 Gazans were participating in what it described as 'riots,' and that some had tried to breach the border into Israel. It said troops 'had operated in accordance with the rules of engagement' to stop people crossing the border.

The Gaza health ministry said 200 were wounded by gun fire, including a Palestinian journalist who was hit in the foot by a bullet.

Dozens more, including four medics, were treated for gas inhalation, as Israeli forces showered the area with tear gas canisters from behind their fortifications in Israel.

Protesters hurled stones and rolled burning tyres towards the fence, and some attached cans of burning petrol to kites and flew them into Israeli territory.

Others cleared away barbed wire coils which Israeli troops had placed in Gazan territory overnight in a bid to create a buffer zone between protesters and the fence.

After dark, Hamas said an Israeli drone fired missiles at two boats moored off the Gaza shore and caused damage. No casualties were reported. An Israeli military spokesman declined to comment.

The protests come at a time of growing frustration for Palestinians as prospects for an independent Palestinian state look poor. Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians have been stalled for several years and Israeli settlements in the occupied territories have expanded.

In a statement, UN high commissioner for human rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein called the loss of life deplorable and said a 'staggering number' of injuries had been caused by live ammunition.

Israel's foreign ministry had no immediate comment but the government has consistently said it is protecting its borders and that its troops are following rules of engagement.

Israel's UN envoy, Danny Danon, told the security council on Thursday that Hamas in Gaza was responsible for Palestinian casualties and that it was using innocent Palestinian women and children as human shields, while they cowered behind in safety.

'The terrorists are hiding while allowing, even hoping, for their people to die. This is evil in its purest form,' he said.

Hamas denies the Israeli accusations. 'Danon's comments are an attempt to escape responsibility and to cover up for the execution of unarmed children and people by occupation soldiers,' said Hamas official Mushir Al-Masri.

Named the 'Great March of Return', the protest action revives a longstanding demand for the right of return of Palestinian refugees to towns and villages which their families fled from, or were driven out of, when the state of Israel was created in 1948. Israel refuses any right of return, fearing that the country would lose its Jewish majority.

More than 2 million Palestinians are packed into the narrow coastal enclave. Israel withdrew its troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005 but maintains tight control of its land and sea borders. Egypt also restricts movement in and out of Gaza on its border.

Additional reporting by Reuters.Pro-Trump YouTube stars Diamond and Silk accuse Facebook of censorship and discrimination against conservative voices

YouTube stars and Trump supporters Lynette Hardaway and Rochelle Richardson, best known as Diamond and Silk, accused Facebook of censorship and discrimination against conservatives during a Thursday hearing in Congress.

The social media personalities testified before the House Judiciary Committee on "Filtering Practices of Social Media" during which they spoke about what they see as bias on Facebook and other platforms.

As an example, Diamond and Silk said that their posts on Facebook, where they have over a million followers, have received less viewership since September. They allege that the social media platform has been censoring their page and as a result, their followers are not being notified of their new posts.

"Facebook along with other social media sites have taken aggressive actions to silence conservative voices such as ourselves by deliberately restricting and weaponizing our page with algorithms that censored and suppress our free speech," Diamond and Silk said before the congressmen. "Someone with a liberal point of view that spewed hate against the President can garner up to 19 million views with only 539,000 followers," they added. "Yet we have 1.2 million followers and only received 13,000 views on our video."

Democrats, however, grilled the pair for allegedly receiving payment from Trump's camp during the election campaign. Diamond and Silk denied the allegations and said that $1,274.94 paid to them was travel reimbursements.

Aside from Diamond and Silk, the committee also heard the testimonies of Corynne McSherry of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, David Chavern of the News Media Alliance, and Ari Waldman of the New York Law School Innovation Center for Law and Technology.

Diamond and Silk started posting their opinions about Trump's campaign on Facebook after attending a rally in December 2015. Followers found their diatribes entertaining and their videos soon went viral. They also built a website where they sold merchandise in support of Trump.

They also have over 150,000 followers on YouTube and 684,000 followers on Twitter.A boy suffered severe head injuries after being run over by a truck Friday evening in northwest Houston, according to the Harris County Constable's Precinct 4 Office.



Witnesses say the 7-year-old ran out in front of the vehicle at an apartment complex in the 9900 block of FM 1960. No one has been charged as an investigation is ongoing, according to a constable's office spokesman.

The child was airlifted and is being treated at Memorial Hermann Hospital.Courtesy of Google Maps

Several apartments were damaged in a fire in north Houston on Friday, according to the Houston Fire Department.



Firefighters responded around 5:30 p.m. to an apartment fire in the 3700 block Northborough.

No one was reported injured and the cause remained under investigation.A Houston businessman was indicted Friday on conspiracy to commit economic espionage, stealing trade secrets and federal money conspiracy charges, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.



Shan Shi, 53, of Houston, is being accused of working against a U.S. business on behalf of a company in China engaged in manufacturing buoyancy material for military and civilian uses. Gang Liu, 32, a Chinese nationalist, was also indicted on economic espionage and trade secret charges, according to the Justice Department press release.



"This superseding indictment alleges a vast criminal conspiracy involving everything from trade secret theft to money laundering and other financial crimes," Internal Revenue Services Criminal Investigation Chief Don Fort said in a statement.

Two other Houston-area individuals, a Dallas-area man and one other were previously indicted on related charges. Uka Kalu Uche, 36, from Spring, Samuel Abotar Ogoe, 75, from Missouri City, and Kui Bo, 41, a Canadian citizen who had been residing in Dallas, all pleaded not guilty last year. Hui Huang, 33, a Chinese national, was also indicted but is believed to be at large in China. A seventh person previously pleaded guilty in December 2017 to a charge of conspiracy to commit theft of trade secrets, according to the news release.The worlds biggest oilfield service companies have a message for investors: Theres a payoff for patience.

While first-quarter earnings were less than exciting, Schlumberger Ltd., the largest service provider, said it plans to profitably add about 1 million horsepower worth of rock-crushing pumps this year into North American shale. Halliburton Co., the fracking king, said it sees a return to the 20 percent profit margins last seen before the downturn.

Their optimism comes as oil prices drive toward $70 a barrel in New York, a strong psychological signal of recovery, while Saudi Arabia has said it sees $80 oil in the foreseeable future. Prices at that level could loosen the leash on what explorers will pay service providers to open their wells moving forward.

"Im excited about the outlook for North America and our March exit margins clearly demonstrate our path to normalized margins," said Jeff Miller, the Halliburton chief executive officer, on a conference call Monday after earnings were released.

Despite U.S. drilling and fracking activity hovering at three-year highs, the industrys top oil-patch contractors have battled a lack of investor enthusiasm. While the price of West Texas Intermediate crude, the U.S. benchmark, has gained 7.5 percent, the Philadelphia Oil Services Index, which tracks the stock market performance of the industry, is up only 3.5 percent.

Concerns about more prudent spending plans by services industrys oil company customers is helping to keep investors on the sidelines.

Beating estimates

On Monday, Halliburton, which generates most of its sales in the U.S. and Canada, reported a first-quarter profit excluding certain items of 41 cents a share, beating analyst estimates by a penny. The shiny win, though, wasnt enough to catch the attention of outside investors. The shares gained only 0.17 percent for the day.

More Information Revving up Oilfield services reported much-imporved performances in their first quarter earnings reports. COMPANY REVENUES CHANGE FROM 2017 Schlumberger $7.8 billion + 14 percent Halliburton $3.8 billion +46 percent Baker Hughes $5.4 billion + 1 percent See More Collapse

"North America is the place to be," said J. David Anderson, an analyst at Barclays, in a phone interview. But "was this enough to get the incremental owner of the stock in here? Probably not."

Schlumberger, which generates most of its business outside the U.S. and Canada, reported a first quarter profit of 38 cents a share, excluding one-time items. It also was a penny better than estimates, but its U.S. shares fell by 1.5 percent for the day.

Baker Hughes, the No. 3 oil services provider by market capitalization, reported a first-quarter profit, excluding certain items, of 9 cents a share, 3 cents better than analyst expectations. The company is expected to boost profits another 60 percent in the second quarter as it continues to integrate with the oil & gas business of General Electric Co.

Year of the fracker

Oilfield services companies are benefiting from the increased role of one of their key services, hydraulic fracturing, in oil and gas production. Fracking, powered by fleets of semi-trucks, is projected to exceed levels reached in 2014 - the height of the so-called shale revolution - as operations use more sand, water and pumping horsepower than ever. The U.S. record for pressure pumping intensity, set in 2014 was about 18 million horsepower. Analysts project it could hit a record 19 million horsepower by the end of the year.

Jordan Blum of the Houston Chronicle contributed.Its a mess.

Its as if the Liberty County Emergency Services District No. 3 is snakebit in their bid to get help from the public for their services, and a simple clerical error on the ballot language for the May election could cost them  again.

Early voting began on Monday, April 23, and by Tuesday afternoon, there were complaints about the ballot language for Proposition 1.

The ballot read, PROPOSITION 1: The adoption of a local sales and use tax for ESD #3 at the rate of 10%. This would increase the Districts sales tax from 1% up to 10%.

The language was incorrect on a couple of levels.

The districts intent was to ask for an ad valorem tax, not a sales tax.

Secondly, there was no way there was ever going to be a sales tax of that amount given the state of Texas has imposed a cap.

According to the Texas Comptrollers website, The Texas state sales and use tax rate is 6.25 percent, but local taxing jurisdictions (cities, counties, special-purpose districts and transit authorities) also may impose sales and use tax up to 2 percent for a total maximum combined rate of 8.25 percent.

The numbers were completely wrong on the ballot.

The current ad valorem tax imposed by the district is 3 cents per $100 valuation. Denny Loonam, president of the ESD No. 3, apologized profusely for the error.

This was a clerical error and weve got it fixed, he said.

Questions to the Secretary of States office were filed by Liberty County Clerk Paulette Williams who received a phone call from the ESD No. 3 office requesting the ballot language be changed after discovering the error on Tuesday.

I called the Secretary of State who said they could change the ballot. We would have to print emergency ballots and count them, Williams said.

The new ballot reads, PROPOSITION A: The adoption of a local ad valorem tax in the Emergency Services District #3 at the rate of up to $0.10. This would increase the district ad valorem tax from $0.03 to a maximum of $0.10 per every $100 valuation.

The ballots were changed on Tuesday and the new ones available at the polls by Wednesday. Loonam hoped that there werent too many who had already cast their votes early.

The county clerk said her office is not responsible for the ballot language.

All we do is what they ask us, she said. They were advised to seek an attorneys help because they had this problem in the last election.

The county clerks office then transcribes the language onto the ballot and a sample is emailed to them for approval and then printing.

There is uncertainty about the ballots cast on Monday and Tuesday and how the Secretary of States office will approach a remedy. One thing was certain, the election would not be called off.

Liberty County Attorney Matthew Poston does not represent the district, but added, Under Sec. 775.0751 of the Texas Health and Safety Code, its very clear that the maximum sales and use tax rate is 2 percent.

From his view outside the organization, Poston said it appeared to be an honest mistake and that they were obviously trying to help out a difficult financial situation.

Nevertheless, laws regarding taxation are very inflexible and any tax by any entity requires strict adherence to the letter of the law, he said.

In the November 2017 election, the measure failed originally with a tie of 31 votes. By law, if its a tie, the election fails, it must be one vote in the positive.

With hopes that a provisional ballot might help them, a recount was requested. After the recount, the proposition failed by one vote, 32-31.

ESD No. 3 president Denny Loonam vowed they would place the measure on the May 2018 ballot because the board felt like they had no other option to keep the district solvent and moving forward.

A flyer is being sent to every home in the district and should reach them by Saturday, April 28.

Loonam denied the board was trying to do anything illegal.

Weve been at three cents for almost 25 years, he said. The amount is not nearly enough to fund the Westlake Fire Department they oversee.

In fact, the way the proposition is worded, Loonam said the board simply wants the ability to raise it to $0.10, which is the cap.

I want to step it in a little at a time, he said to protect taxpayers. Loonam said they plan on raising it to six cents next year.

The district will have the new River Ranch development inside its district and Loonam knows the growth is coming.

The district purchased a used truck last year for $65,000 to update their current fleet. The truck had to be financed and the debt is a major part of their annual budget.

It was a 2002 so its new to us, but we needed something new to help us out, he said.

Their current budget of just over $70,000 hardly covers expenses and leaves no room to add firemen.

It costs us between $12,000 to $15,000 to outfit each fireman, he said. That includes the oxygen tanks and breathing apparatus which is costly itself.

Each firemans gear is custom fitted to each fireman so its not feasible to share equipment.

Every time we ride up on a scene, were bringing almost $200,000 in equipment and manpower. Thats not cheap, he said.

The Dayton News contacted the Texas Secretary of States office to get an explanation of what will happen next.

First, its important to know that once a ballot is cast, a voter may not go back and change his or her vote. Once early voting for an election begins, the election has to proceed until completion, said Sam Taylor, spokesperson for the Texas Secretary of State.

Taylor suggested that the election could be contested once its complete, saying Sec. 221 of the Code lays out the general provisions for contesting an election in Texas, and Sec. 233 specifically lays out the requirements for contesting a measure election.

What can happen is that one or more qualified voters of the territory covered by the election may contest the election, pursuant to Sec. 233 of the Texas Election Code, he said. The voter may file a petition on the day after election day and has up until the 30th day after the official results are determined to file an election contest petition.

Voters cannot go back and re-vote regardless of how they voted the first two days of early voting.

If the contested election is declared void by the court, the court is required to order the appropriate authority to call a new election.

Loonam said he hopes the public will be understanding and read over the flyer they will receive in the mail over the weekend.

dtaylor@hcnonline.comHistory sure has changed since I was in grade school.

This no kidding, Sherlock realization is one of the many joys of Hamilton, which turns the unlikely rise and bullet-blasted fall of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton into a story of conflict and betrayal worthy of its own Real Housewives franchise  assuming any of the housewives could rap, sing and dance simultaneously.

Back in the Pleistocene era that was the pre-internet 20th century, Hamilton and his contemporaries  Washington, Jefferson, Adams and company  often were portrayed as untouchable, almost superhuman figures who forged a nation out of iron will and the sweat of their brow. Sure, later, we learned that they were far from perfect  that slave-owning, for instance, was a feature, not a bug  but they still felt as remote and inscrutable as the faces on Mount Rushmore.

My father told me that Hamilton might have had undeclared African ancestry, implying that someone in the Hamilton tree looked a bit more like me, but I wasnt sure I believed him. Such knowledge certainly seemed to be above the pay grade of the nuns teaching out of history books seemingly written when dinosaurs ruled the Earth.

Hamilton goes a long way toward flipping the script. The competition among Hamilton, Jefferson and Aaron Burr for the heart and soul of Congress and the nation comes alive on stage with the electricity of a rap battle. Their very human emotions  jealousy, anger, love  become the connective tissue between the audience and those hazy figures from history trying to hammer together a more perfect union.

If cable news and social media had been around in the late-18th century, things would probably have been just as toxic and troublesome as today. After all, as bad as things are, no public figure is (yet) using Twitter to challenge their opponents to a duel with weapons drawn, as happened between Hamilton and Burr, resulting in (spoiler alert) Hamiltons death. Though #pistolsatdawn does have a nice ring to it.

Hamilton has won many accolades, including the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2016, but its also earned skepticism and scorn from some historians, which, in turn, has sparked a backlash from ride-or-die fans who have creator Lin-Manuel Mirandas back like Scooby-Doo protecting Shaggy.

Yet, in some ways, it doesnt matter if all the historical details in Hamilton are SAT-correct. The production succeeds in its larger goal of putting human flesh on dusty historical bones, of making these flawed men  and women  as real as your co-workers, if your co-workers just happened to be trying to overthrow a British monarch, write a constitution  or become one of The Real Housewives.

cary.darling@chron.comProminent Chinese artist and dissident Ai Weiwei has long used his fame and social media as a megaphone for his activism. It was because of his blogging and Twitter activity criticizing the government that he was detained by Chinese police for nearly three months and had his passport taken away in 2011. And his Instagram posts of the past few years have brought increasing international attention to the refugee crisis, as has his documentary Human Flow, released last fall.

But now Ai has returned to a more traditional form of expression: Humanity, a little blue book published this week by Princeton University Press that collects excerpts from Ais thoughts and aphorisms  expressed in previously published interviews and other public appearances.

The tragedy is not only that people have lost their lives, Ai says in the books excerpt from a 2016 BBC interview. The tragedy is the people who, in the very rich nations, have lost their humanity.

Larry Warsh, a longtime collector and champion of Ais work, who edited the book and wrote its introduction, said he thought it was important to gather the artists most powerful statements all in one place.

Its a real snapshot of something that most people have a hard time grasping, Warsh said. Its about putting it together in a way we all can see the significance of these issues.

Warsh described Humanity as a continuation of the 6-inch-tall 2012 book Weiwei-isms  which he also edited  with Ais ruminations on individual rights and freedom of expression.

Ai sat down to discuss his new book

More Information 'Humanity' By Ai WeiWei Princeton University Press 168 pp., $12.95 See More Collapse

Q: Why put these thoughts in a book?

A: You have the internet, you have this information flow, but you can still use the structure of museums or galleries or newspapers or books to generate a public discussion. I cannot create it, I cant even measure it, Ill just be part of it.

Q: What initially got you interested in the refugee crisis?

A: One lady from Iraq came to see me. She said, I want you to help me to select drawings made in an Iraqi (refugee) camp. With your reputation, the wind is behind you, so we want to draw some attention. I looked through their drawings  kind of naive drawings, memories about how their houses had been bombed. They were like childrens drawings. I got very attracted to it. I said, I can do that only with one condition: if I can send some of my team to that camp. I just want to interview those people.

Q: You ultimately were able to regain your passport and go to a refugee camp on the Greek island Lesbos yourself, for the documentary Human Flow. What was that like?

A: Its so different when you see a real snake. I was quite surprised to see this very, very unprepared primitive response in dealing with this human crisis. Its total neglect or wanting to avoid the issue. If youre a doctor and you see sickness, you deal with it. This is a very scientific society  we have all kind of resources. Yet we were totally paralyzed. In the beginning, we didnt know how to respond, just let it be rotten.

Q: With your installation Laundromat  featuring the cleaned castoff clothes of refugees  and your recent public art project Good Fences Make Good Neighbors, a series of fences and barriers, youve lately been a larger presence in New York. Why is that?

A: I have a strange relationship with the city  I really struggled here, but I love it here. Lately, I started thinking about New Yorks history with immigration  everybody in New York comes from somewhere. Here are the strongest characters, the imagination, the passion. Something about New York is about losing control and having control at the same time. It generates so much energy. If youre walking down Broadway, and you just see the people passing, you never know where they come from. They often look tired, but theyre quite determined to survive here. I wanted to do something about this.

Q: You have said that your early blogs were often funny. Yet most of your more recent artistic expression seems fairly serious. How do you explain that?

A: I probably used up all my humor. I have no humor anymore.

Q: Given the immensity of the refugee crisis, why even try to make an impact? Do you ever get frustrated by a sense of futility?

A: How do you prove youre living at this time? We are given one time to live. Youre a passenger passing through; you leave some traces. In China, we say, When birds pass over the sky, Im just one of the birds who made some sounds. Wind will blow them away.Paul Qui, the high-profile chef/owner of Aqui restaurant in Montrose, has been under a cloud of scandal since his March 2016 arrest in Austin after an apparent altercation with his girlfriend.

The details of his arrest set off a firestorm that still smoulders. The chefs restaurants in Austin, Houston and Miami Beach have been shunned by some food press, reviewers and diners, unwilling to patronize a restaurant where the chef has been accused of domestic violence.

Legally speaking, Quis troubles appear to be over. With trial set to begin next week in Austin, Caldwell County District Attorney Fred Weber said Friday Quis then-girlfriend declined to participate as a witness.

So we are dropping the case, Weber said.

But for some, the cloud over both Quis reputation and restaurants remains. The hot debate in Houston  where Qui opened Aqui last August  is set against a national discourse within an industry rocked by #MeToo sexual misconduct scandals involving numerous famous chefs and restaurateurs, including John Besh and Mario Batali. The notion of atonement and redemption in such fraught circumstances has come into question, a development that Qui will inevitably face as he picks up the pieces.

Qui was arrested in 2016 on suspicion of unlawful restraint and assault causing bodily injury to a family member, both Class A misdemeanors. The case was initially handled by the Travis County prosecutors but was transferred to Weber because of an undisclosed conflict of interest.

In the fallout from his arrest, Qui has had to close his Austin flagship, Qui, and then its successor, Kuneho. He is no longer affiliated with the high-profile Austin sushi restaurant, Otoko, that he co-founded. His casual East Side King has shrunk from five locations to two, one of them a truck.

Quis lawyer, Christopher Gunter, spoke briefly to his client on Friday. Hes got a great sense of relief that its finally behind him. This was just an unfortunate misunderstanding that was regretted by everyone involved, Gunter said.

He noted that Qui entered a monthlong rehab immediately after the arrest: It was a very positive thing for him and he learned a lot about himself. Qui did not return phone calls Friday.

Social media, which came alive as stories of Quis arrest broke, flared again with news of the dismissal.

This is disheartening, Dallas writer and editor Bradford Pearson posted on Twitter.  Throwing a woman against a wall and then still being able to run (and grow!) a restaurant empire is a hell of a privilege, he wrote, enumerating details from the police report about the night of Quis 2016 arrest.

At Eater, the national food media company where editor in chief Amanda Kludt has restricted coverage of Quis restaurants in the wake of the charges, the dismissal will not change their policy, she said. Eater takes the very public and credible allegation that Paul Qui assaulted his girlfriend seriously, said Kludt. So we will continue to cover Qui in a news capacity but will refrain from including him in maps, guides and restaurant reviews.

Amy McCarthy, who oversees Eaters websites in Houston and Dallas, launched a Twitter thread suggesting that domestic abuse victims frequently refuse to testify or press charges and that should not make Paul Qui or any other abuser less culpable for beating women.

Significantly absent after the news broke were voices heralding any measure of redemption for the chef. Indeed, the words redemption and comeback have been denounced in debates over sexual harassers and abusers in the restaurant industry. When Mario Batali recently floated ideas of a return to public life, and the story was covered by food writer Kim Severson in the New York Times, the online backlash was swift.

This is the charged atmosphere that Qui will face as he goes forward with his restaurants.

In Houston  where he has been a very low-key presence  Qui could be on the scene more often, since he recently parted ways with opening chef de cuisine Gabe Medina. Under Medina, Aqui earned four stars from the Houston Chronicle.

Quis image may continue to suffer even though criminal charges were not brought against him, said Shepard Ross, a Houston restaurant consultant and partner in the upcoming Bravery Chef Hall downtown.

Even now that the charges are being dismissed, Ross said, there is still going to be a stigma hanging over the head of that restaurant.

Qui will have a tough road to regaining public trust but its possible to do so, he added. You have to act 10 times better than the average citizen to win back the faith of the public. Once youve been knocked off the pedestal, its a hard climb back, Ross said.

Suzy Ginsburg agreed. The owner of Global Communication Works, a public relations agency that specializes in crisis management, said the public not only can discern the truth, it has a hunger for it.

Its very important that the truth be told right away so theres no deterioration of the brand, said Ginzburg, whose company has offices in Houston and New York. People are very forgiving when people are honest.

Jonathan Horowitz, president of the Greater Houston Restaurant Association, noted that Quis task is even more difficult in the current cultural climate. The fact that this was wrapped in the same time frame as the #MeToo movement certainly had an impact and brought more attention to it, said Horowitz.

Qui may have trouble with restaurant investors in the future, Horowitz said.

People who invest money want those people to have great reputations, he said. But Horowitz doesnt see the disposition of Quis case to have a lasting negative effect on his brand.

The vast majority of the dining public either doesnt know anything about it at all or doesnt care. They are still going to eat where they want to eat, he said.

In the industry and the food press, the debate will go on. Qui has already seen his mini-empire shrink drastically in Austin. To grow his brand, the chef has turned to Houston, with Aqui, and to an upcoming Japanese taqueria in Dallas. Aquis parking lot remains full most nights, and its sweep of glass-enclosed, high-gabled dining room well populated.

In the end, it may well be the dining public in Houston, not Austin, that determines his fate.

Alejandra Matos contributed to this report.

alison.cook@chron.com

greg.morago@chron.comThe annual tour of historic homes in Galveston always offers a peek into private homes and big slices of city and state history. But they also show how people lived generations ago and how history lovers blend an appreciation for century-old architecture with modern life.

The nine homes on the Galveston Historical Foundation's 2018 tour range from income property meant for tenants to grand homes meant for some of the city's wealthiest and most influential residents. The tour runs 10 a.m.-6 p.m. two weekends, May 5-6 and May 12-13. Tickets are $30 before May 4; purchase them at www.galvestonhistory.org.

Here's the lineup:

1893 Thomas and Lillie League House, 3528 Avenue P: This home was built on land once owned by Samuel May Williams, a prominent figure in early Texas history. He was the grandfather of Lillie League and an early settler of the Austin Colony. He helped found the Texas Navy and served as secretary to Stephen F. Austin. After Texas gained independence he moved to Galveston, where he was a prominent businessman. The elegant two-story house features original woodwork and a full-width porch. The original turned porch columns and balusters were replaced by Craftsman-like elements in the early 20th century.

MORE: Zach Carson and Elliott Stuart turned the League House into a show home.

1896 William and Adele Skinner House, 1318 Sealy: Architect Charles W. Bulger designed this exquisite Queen Anne house for banker William Cooke Skinner and his wife, Adele. Bulger arrived in Galveston from Indiana in 1891, and practiced architecture for several years before moving to Dallas in 1905. The home features a multi-gabled roof-line, wrap-around galleries and finely crafted details and is a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark (2017).

1874 Smith-Hartley House, 1121 33rd St.: Architect Thomas J. Overmire designed this Italianate house for early land speculator J. Mayrant Smith. Smith resided there briefly before he sold the house in 1880 to Susan Hartley, widow of early Texas legislature Oliver Cromwell Hartley.

2018 Galveston Historic Homes Tour When: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. May 5-6 and May 12-13 Homes: 1318 Sealy; 1121 33rd St.; 2424 Avenue L; 2123 Avenue K; 3528 Avenue P; 3608 Avenue O; 3018 Avenue O ; 1723 Mechanic; 1503 Church Parking: on street near each home; no shuttle service provided Tickets: $30 in advance; $35 May 4 and after Information: www.galvestonhistory.org See More Collapse

1883 Adolph and Regina Frenkel House, 2424 Avenue L: Bavarian immigrant Adolph Frenkel purchased this Victorian house in 1884. A year later he married Regina Marx and the couple added two rooms to the rear of the property and installed electric lights, which had recently become available in Galveston.

PIRATE'S COVE: Exhale when you hit the causeway, and say hello to your weekend place.

1887 John Burnett Tenant House, 2123 Avenue K: In 1887, John Burnett, president of the Gulf City Street Railway & Real Estate Company, built four identical two-story houses south of Broadway in the working-class San Jacinto neighborhood. After the turn of the 19th century, this one was used as a boarding house, then was divided into a duplex during the 1940s. Galveston Historical Foundation purchased the property in 2014 and returned it to a single-family residence. After they stabilized the property, GHF sold it to the current owners who completed a thorough rehabilitation of the house.

1913 John and Artie Gilbert House, 3608 Avenue O: This Victorian home, built for an engineer for the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railroad, shows how residential design began to transition in Galveston to the revival periods of the early 20th century. The City of Galveston designated the property a City Landmark in 2017 and rehabilitation of the house was featured on HGTV's "Saving Galveston."

1895 James and Maggie Lowber House, 3018 Avenue O : The Lowbers were Kentucky natives who built this high-raised, two-story Victorian with Queen Anne features. Lowbar came to Galveston to serve as the pastor for Central Christian Church, founded in 1877. After they relocated to Austin, the Lowbers rented out the home until 1904. The original insurance record for the house notes it was "wrecked" by the 1900 Storm and repaired in 1901.

1905 Benjamin Dolson Tenant House, 1723 Mechanic: Benjamin Dolson, a partner in a maritime business, built this two-story Southern townhouse with double gallery in 1905. Moved by Galveston Historical Foundation in 2017 to save it from demolition, the Foundation's scope of work includes new pier-and-beam foundation and a replacement roof, repair and restoration of key architectural and structural elements, and new mechanical systems.

1928 Paul and Veska Chushcoff Tenant House, 1503 Church: This this high-raised, gable-front house was built by the Chushcoffs, Yugoslovian immigrants, as tenant property. In 2005, new owners rehabilitated and raised the building, adding ground-floor living space.Sanke Hairdressers opened last spring in Kingwood  only about four months before Hurricane Harvey flooded not only the shop, but the home of owner Lisa McSwain.

Coming down Kingwood Drive in a boat from my house and seeing what Town Center looked like, I didnt know whether Kingwood was going to come back, McSwain said. I had no idea, so it was questionable for a while whether or not we would come back.

McSwain decided she would not let what happened defeat her Kingwood business. Within about nine weeks, Sanke was reopened.

Now, Sanke has been up and operating for longer than it had before the hurricane and McSwain said business is thriving.

Sanke is a Belgium-based company with 20 Sanke salons spread out across Belgium. Sanke Hairdressers in Kingwood is actually the very first Sanke location in the United States.

I was researching opening my own salon and met them at a hair show in Vegas, McSwain said. They told me about what they did and the more I got to know about their salon and the concept and what they were all about, I started thinking it would be really cool to open one over here.

There are also two Sanke training academies in Belgium, which was another draw for McSwain. In fact, she and members of her staff travel twice a year to Belgium to attend the academy for training.

Theyre super huge on education, McSwain said. Thats another thing that really impressed me. Ive been to a lot of hair shows, Ive done a lot of training in California and New York where I would be sitting in a class with about 50 people following the same steps no matter what level were at. 

Eventually, McSwain hopes to open an academy in the area. But first, her goal is to have two new salons in the area within the next five years.

Sanke Hairdressers offers a variety of services including haircuts, coloring, microblading and aroma therapy scalp massages, which McSwain said are very popular with clients.

For more information, visit www.Sankesalonkingwood.com.

mfeuk@hcnonline.comA new survey shows although 62 percent of Americans see domestic violence as an extremely serious issue, roughly one-third of them believe it is a taboo subject to talk about, a number that is up 10 percent from just four years ago.

The study was conducted in February by Allstate Foundation Purple Purse, which is an organization that works to raise awareness about financial abuse and offers victims the tools they need to escape their abusers and remain free. It surveyed 1,840 American adults and was compared with a similar survey conducted by AFPP in 2014.

According to Ellen Lisak, AFPP program officer, financial abuse occurs in 99 percent of domestic violence cases. In the less known form of abuse, abusers control tactics are designed to keep the victim from leaving and can include preventing them from working or accessing bank accounts, credit cards and cash, Lisak said.

Thirty-four percent of those surveyed in February called the discussion of domestic violence taboo, but only 24 percent said the same thing in 2014. Lisak said the finding was eye-opening, especially in light of the powerful dialogue around womens issues today. In addition, 55 percent of those surveyed said they had either been a victim of domestic violence or financial abuse themselves or had at least known someone who had. However, only 44 percent said they had talked about the subject with a friend or family member.

She said abuse often goes unseen and undiscussed for multiple reasons.

Domestic violence and financial abuse are highly complicated issues that usually happen behind closed doors in intimate relationships. Social norms can perpetuate these issues and allow them to remain hidden, Lisak said. For starters, home and love life are considered highly private topics, and discussing money is often considered inappropriate or uncomfortable. Further, people generally avoid sharing feelings of fear, weakness, insecurity or vulnerability. These play into the negative stigma around discussing domestic violence and financial abuse.

A domestic and financial abuse survivor, identified here by the pseudonym Anna, said the abuse in her marriage began in 2003 after her now ex-husband watched his father be abusive to his mother, even as she was on her deathbed. She said it was like it gave him license to start abusing as well. The more serious abuse and violence escalated and continued for nearly seven years, she said.

He started to get extremely verbally abusive. In the past it was just emotional abuse, but then it became very verbal, and he started picking arguments, Anna said. The more I would try to calm him, the worse he became. [He] started breaking items in the house [and] throwing things in rage at me and the children and telling us how useless we were.

Although Anna maintained a full-time job, she said her husband made sure she did not get promoted and would not have the money to flee the situation.

He always insisted that I do the minimum at work because my responsibilities were to my home and family. He wanted me to stay at an entry-level pay grade. In addition, he demanded that the house mortgage (our largest payment) be pulled from my check and the remaining money was to be used for groceries. This left me with little to no money to put aside. He did not want me to have any money to use to escape him, she said.

Toward the end, Anna was beaten so badly that she wound up in the emergency room, where a police officer asked her if she was planning to go back to her abuser. She told him that she had tried to leave three times before, but her husband threatened to file kidnapping charges if she took their children. Anna said she did not have money for a lawyer to file for divorce or much less custody.

The police officer told her about AVDA (Aid to Victims of Domestic Abuse), which is an organization in Houston that helps victims of domestic abuse. She now had an escape plan. Anna said AVDA helped her immediately get restraining orders and eventually a divorce and full custody of her children, all at no charge to her.

Since 2005, Purple Purse has helped more than 1.3 million survivors toward safety and security. It has also invested more than $60 million in communities across the nation to help survivors find freedom from abuse through financial education, job training and small business programs.

Lisak said people can watch for signs that others in their lives may be in an abusive relationship, such as the person being fearful or anxious to make their partner happy or the victim following whatever their partner says and does. Some signs of financial abuse include having little access to money or credit cards and having their spending tightly monitored and restricted by their partner.

She said if you suspect someone is in trouble, you should support without judgment or criticism. Let them know its not their fault and that they are not alone. Dont be afraid to tell them youre concerned for their safety. Visit our website, www.purplepurse.com, for advice on how to begin the conversation with someone you suspect is being abused. Also, you can encourage them to seek assistance through the National Domestic Violence Hotline (1-800-799-SAFE).

Anna urged victims of abuse to take action before it is too late because there are resources out there like Purple Purse and AVDA that are ready to step up and help them escape.

Do not wait. Leave when your gut tells you to. I waited too long and almost got myself killed. It will only get worse, unless of course you can convince the abuser to get professional help. In my case, it only escalated his anger, Anna said. There are people suffering who have no idea of the help and resources available to them. I would never have known if I had not ended up in the emergency room, so violently beaten, when it was almost too late but thankfully wasn't. No one should have to reach that point to find help.

For more information about Allstate Foundation Purple Purse, visit www.purplepurse.com. For more information about AVDA, visit https://avda-tx.org/ or call 713-224-9911. If you need an immediate response, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or the AVDA hotline at 1-800-355-8547.

tracy.maness@hcnonline.comThe Katy Independent School District has honored its "Of the Year" employees who cover several positions at schools in the district.

Leslyn Jacks, the music specialist and choir director at Katy Elementary School, is the Katy ISD's Elementary Campus Teacher of the Year. Jacks has directed more than 30 performances during her time at the school, which has seen a doubling in the number of students enrolling in choir, district officials said.

The Katy ISD's Secondary Campus Teacher of the Year is Amanda Sandlin, a psychology teacher at Tompkins High School. Although she always encourages them to do their best in class, Katy ISD officials said Sandlin's greatest goal is to help them gain skills to succeed outside the campus.

The District-Wide Rookie Elementary Teacher of the Year is Annie Meeks, an English language arts and social studies teacher at Stephens Elementary. Katy ISD officials said Meeks, a first-generation college graduate, believes that in a world filled with technology and distractions, it's important to find ways to better maintain a student's focus.

The Katy ISD Secondary Rookie Teacher is Rebecca Calfree, an eighth-grade social studies teacher at Mayde Creek Junior High. "Her preparation and skillset set her apart from others as she gives the impression of a seasonal veteran, rather than a first-year teacher," district officials said. Meeks spends her free time tutoring students and makes a point to attend their activities outside her classroom to show support.

Kim Cromie, who works at Bonnie Holland Elementary, is the Katy ISD's District Nurse of the Year. In addition to her own healthcare work at her school, Cromie also mentors other nurses in the district.

Susan Coventon has been an educator and counselor in Katy ISD for more than two decades. She was named this year's Elementary Counselor of the Year. She started out as a teacher but is now the school counselor at Nottingham Country Elementary. Katy ISD officials said Coventon also takes part in "training the trainer" sessions in crisis prevention and mental health.

The Katy ISD's Junior High Counselor of the Year is Jodi Darcey, who is assigned to Woodcreek Junior High. "Darcey knows that children go to school carrying much more than the weight of their backpack," Katy ISD officials said. "Through guidance, character building, individual and group counseling coupled with parent education and counselor collaboration, she knows everyone can succeed."

Glynn Guynes began working in the Katy ISD in 2007 as a counselor at Katy High School. He is this year's district wide High School Counselor of the Year. He coordinates and leads monthly lead counselor meetings in the district and has helped streamline course selection processes throughout Katy ISD. He also mentors new counselors and coordinates their orientation into the district, officials said.

Stephanie Vaughan opened the doors at Ursula Stephens Elementary in 2007 as principal and has been there ever since. Vaughan is the Katy ISD Elementary Principal of the Year. She was previously at Sundown Elementary and Franz Elementary. "Her commitment to educational excellence and student achievement can be seen in the numerous recognitions the campus has received," officials said.

The Katy ISD Secondary Principal of the Year is Mindy Dickerson, the principal at Patricia E. Paetow High School. She began in Katy ISD as an elementary school teacher and went on to have leadership positions at several schools in the district including Schmalz Elementary and Cimarron Elementary. During her tenure as principal at Beckendorff Junior High, the campus received both state and federal "schools to watch" distinction for the quality of its learning experience tailored to middle school students, Katy ISD officials said.Save one life and you are a hero. Save one hundred lives and you are a nurse.

That is one of the most familiar quotes to describe nurses, the professionals who are critical to the medical field.

Katy Independent School District has 74 campus nurses, and Kim Cromie of Bonnie Holland Elementary has been named the 2017-18 Nurse of the Year.

Nominations for the Nurse of the Year recognition were submitted earlier this year by colleagues across the district who described why a particular nurse was outstanding. The required criteria included professionalism, work experience, volunteerism and clinic management experience.

Cromie was brought to tears when she learned she was the final candidate for Katy ISD.

Being a school nurse is immensely rewarding because not only are you instrumental in keeping students healthy, you also provide valuable information to keep the entire campus safe, said Cromie. Its very gratifying when I end my day knowing that my work protects the Bonnie Holland huskies. Being able to serve our students and community in this way is a privilege and a gift, added Cromie.

Therese Highnote, Katy ISD director of health services, said that a school nurse isnt just about taking temperatures and administering bandages. All across the district, campus nurses are in a position to promote wellness, prevention and provide access to care for children to be healthy, she said. In the hospital setting during an emergency situation there is no red button to push and a team comes flying in with equipment and medications to give. The school nurse stands alone with her knowledge, experience and professionalism ready to react when needed.

Linnea Griffith, Bonnie Holland Elementary principal, said, It is a wonderful opportunity to be a part of this recognition and to show Kim how much everyone at Bonnie Holland Elementary appreciates everything she does.

In 2017, a collaboration between Cromie, the Bonnie Holland elementary staff and Texas Childrens Hospital resulted in the campus being recognized as a Project Adam Heart Safe School.

Besides keeping students healthy, Cromie also mentors other nurses in Katy ISD.The three sisters sat in a row at the back of the cramped, stifling room on the first floor of Hogg Middle School in the Heights. Their mother hovered behind, checking their progress, tossing compliments, keeping a watchful but respectful distance.

All around them, other girls leaned forward in front of small canvases propped up on table-top easels. Paintbrushes in hand, they dabbed bright swabs of red, yellow and browns to create reproductions of the famed Rosie the Riveter poster.

Each one with its own flair, its own unique touch. Some Rosies were light-skinned; others shades of deep caramel or mocha. Some wore polka dot kerchiefs; others simple head scarves.

At the top of every painting was a slogan, chosen by the girls to reflect their own personal mantra: I am brave. Lets do this. Wow! Power! We are cool. Girls are the best. Girls never give up!

Maya Webb considered her Rosie. Above the bicep-flexing symbol of female strength, the 11-year-old had written: I am pretty.

It was a reminder to herself of something that she hasnt always believed, something that has been especially hard to hold onto in the last 12 months.

A year ago this week, her father died in a car accident. Since then, said her mother, Sonya Webb, her three daughters have struggled to find themselves.

She wants them to know they are loved and special and pretty, that they are strong enough to get past the pain.

Thats why she brought them to the We Are Girls Houston conference on Saturday.

Maybe here, at an event dedicated to imbuing girls with resilience and self-esteem, they could start to heal.

*****

There was no escaping the message of girl power.

It leapt from signs plastered on walls throughout Hogg Middle: Be bold. Be brilliant. Be you. Your voice is important. You are unstoppable. Remember that.

It whooped at the opening pep rally, where the approximately 1,600 girls in attendance danced to Miley Cyruss Party in the USA and Alicia Keys Girl on Fire before exiting to chants of We. Are. Girls.

It echoed on T-shirts sayings like Im a girl, whats your superpower? and in the 70-plus workshops that covered everything from Female Superheroes of Science to Healthy Living for Queens.

Even the name of this years conference, the 11th staged by the Girls Empowerment Network and the third in Houston, roared with ferocity: Become Unstoppable.

Inside packed classrooms, third- through eighth-graders practiced traditional African dances that usher girls into womanhood and celebrate the bounty of village fishermen, learned methods for countering negative self-talk, jockeyed for space in workshops about female scientists and attended Spanish-language sessions that taught how to make limonada out of limones.

Some girls, like Maya, searched for quiet answers amid the tumult.

*****

The Webb sisters  Maya, her twin Mackenzie, 13-year-old Madison  and their mother climbed up to the third floor of Hogg and their second session of the day.

None of them were quite sure what the I Am Project for Girls was, but it promised glue, glitter, bedazzles and positive words.

Paula Ramirez, all exuberance and warmth, greeted them at the door of Room 316. Here, she told those who entered, they would make a vision board.

This project is all about positive thinking, all about positive mindset, she explained. Its to discover your light within.

On a table in front of scattered desks were examples of what they would make: a board with a mirror surrounded by uplifting quotes and words and decorated with flowers, gemstones, shimmering butterflies and other frills.

By looking into the mirror, Ramirez said, the girls could see who they are and who they can be.

Sonya Webb nodded. Her daughters needed this.

They quickly set to work, first making a list of attributes that describe them.

Creative, suggested Maya.

Confident, said Madison.

Unique, offered Mackenzie, who prefers to go by Kenzie.

Thats a good one, their mother commented with each word. I like that.

Then they fashioned their boards, gluing strips of paper with slogans and adjectives onto a canvas. Kenzie framed hers with gold tape. Madison fastened a white butterfly to the corner. Maya wrote about those she loves in the center of a heart: My fam. My dogs. Myself.

They had come to the conference before, but this year was different. Every activity contained added significance, every word added to the vision board had extra weight.

All three of their boards had the same phrase, a thought that Sonya Webb wants them to carry deep inside: Loved by lots of people.

After the session, she stood in a hallway with her daughters, Madisons head resting on her shoulder. She wants her girls to know they will be OK, even if they do not yet believe that.

Perhaps this day will take them a step closer.

monica.rhor@chron.com

twitter.com/monicarhorA man who authorities said shot and killed his girlfriend at her southwest Houston home hours after she changed the locks has been charged with murder.

Michael Demarcus Parker, 28, also shot himself, police said. He was in critical condition when he was taken to Southwest Memorial Hermann Hospital after the shootings Thursday morning.The Houston Northwest Medical Center is looking to become a Level II trauma center to better meet the needs of the growing population in north Houston and Harris County.

The hospital, which opened in 1973, has been a Level III trauma facility since 2007, said Leanne Beaudet, the trauma program manager.

The goal is to really have people that can stay in their area where they reside and to have excellent quality care, she said.

The Houston Northwest Medical Center could earn Level II certification from the state in about 18 months after it formally begins its pursuit on May 1, CEO Tim Puthoff said.

The hospitals move to becoming a Level II facility means patients needing critical care during emergencies will not have to travel as far for trauma care, he said.

We just think its a better way to serve our community. We have a lot of experience in dealing with trauma already, he said.

The certification would benefit generally residents in Spring, Klein and north Houston and Harris County.

Beaudet said the hospital was already a high-functioning Level III facility with 425 beds and will be adding more specialties to its roster of surgeons and doctors who will be available within 30 minutes of the hospital.

Houston Northwest Medical Center will add more specialists on call for different types of trauma care.

We want to have all the specialties so that they can stay in their own area, their own neighborhood and be able to have any kind of trauma care they may be able to need, Beaudet said.

The Houston Northwest Medical Center is, on average, the third busiest emergency room in the area, she said.

Our emergency room last year saw 76,000 patients, she said.

According to the Southeast Texas Regional Advisory Council, at least six Level I or II centers should be in the Greater Houston area, or one for every million people.

The Department of State Health Services has Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Hospital and Conroe Regional Medical Center listed as Level II facilities, both located north of Houston.

Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Hospital began operating as a Level II facility in March 2016.

The three Level I facilities in the Greater Houston area are Ben Taub Hospital, Memorial Hermann Hospital and the Texas Childrens Hospital, which are all located in the Texas Medical Center.

Puthoff said the hospitals location near the North Freeway is roughly halfway between the Sam Houston Parkway and the Grand Parkway makes a Level II facility necessary to serve the public.

We have a very large service area. Access to our hospital is very convenient from a large population standpoint. It makes a lot of sense for us, he said.

The Houston Northwest Medical Centers general service area stretches east to west from Humble to Texas 249 and north to south from the Montgomery County boundary to the 610 Loop, Puthoff said.

Im confident were going to be a huge asset for north Houston, Puthoff said.

The Houston Northwest Medical Center is the other Level III trauma center in northwest Harris County.

HCA Gulf Coast Division purchased the Houston Northwest Medical Center back in August along the Cypress Fairbanks Medical Center Hospital, which is also pursuing Level II certification.

Our dedication to superior trauma care is critical to the health of residents of the greater Houston area, HCA said in a statement.Juliana Esparza was a sophomore at Frassati Catholic High School in Spring when one of her closest friends walked away from her education.

The experience was disheartening because Esparza, now a senior, considered her friend as an outspoken person with so much potential who was very, very smart.

The experience of watching her friend and others she knew drop out of school gave Esparza an idea.

It made me think, what are we doing as teens to help each other, Esparza said. You see a lot of our peers dropping out. Some of it is because they are unmotivated students. But other times its them not having the resources to go to college, not having the parent support.

Esparza  along with other area high school students founded the nonprofit Live it Out, a student-run organization with a mission of providing resources to teens who are at risk of dropping out of school by offering a summer camp where students can collaborate on projects in group-based settings in environments such as a college campus.

After the groups successful inaugural camp last year, where 25 Conroe-area camp participants used team building techniques to get motivated and inspired about an idea or project, the group is again looking for applicants, volunteers and sponsors for this years camp. The 2018 camp, which starts Monday, June 11, will be hosted at the Lone Star College - Montgomery campus. Classes are scheduled from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. through June 22 with no weekends. Lunch will be provided to attendees.

The camp is motivational, Esparza said. It helps with communication, creativity and leadership skills.

The goal is to nearly double the amount of teens the camp had over last year, Esparza added, noting that while the group wants to reach more people, they are looking for quality over quantity.

Tamara Marono, a Live It Out corporate liaison manager, said the camp is intended to help at-risk people, but the group will be looking for teens who might be in a negative environment but have that willingness even if it is tiny  to succeed.

Were looking for those who want to move forward, Marono said. They might have vision of growing. They dont focus on the negative.

Marono said classes during the summer camp will be run by students, so it truly is teens for teens. During classes, participants are shown a road map of what their future could be and then are given ideas on how they can get there, Marono added.

When the teens founded the organization in 2016, their first initiative was to research teenage dropout rates. What they found was jaw-dropping, Marono said. About 1,640 students in the region dropped out of during the 2015-16 school year, according to the Texas Education Agency. The statistics also tracked minority students and those who were economically disadvantaged. According to a study by the Intercultural Development Research Association, black, Latino and Hispanic students were about twice as likely to drop out of school than their white or Caucasian counterparts.

Esparza said the founders of Live It Out are primarily Latinos or Hispanics, something that was not intentional, but that feeds into one of the organizations goals of breaking what leaders call the cycle in Hispanic and Latino communities where teens are expected to work and help their families financially instead of pursuing an education.

Esparza said that is what made her friend quit school, an economic issue in the family.

I think it is one of the most dominating factors out there for why students drop out, Esparza said. Because they want to help their families. Youre not taught the importance of education.

For more information on the Live It Out, visit https://www.weliveitout.org/about-us .Do not drink and drive. That is the overall message that will be presented at the Smart Decisions for Safe Driving program hosted by The Woodlands Township Neighborhood Watch on Sunday.

The event, which is scheduled for 2-5 p.m. at the Rob Fleming Recreation Center on May 6, will feature guest speaker Sean Carter and his mother Jenny. Carter suffered a traumatic brain injury during a car crash involving two impaired drivers after a night of partying.

Susan Martin, the program coordinator with the Neighborhood Watch, said that the incident changed Carters life forever.

He cannot walk or talk presently. He communicates through an iPad. We have to have a special setup for him to be able to sit comfortably and a microphone that can go into his iPad, Martin explained. From what I understand the presentation is quite impactful so Im hoping that we can get through to some kids (about the dangers of drinking and driving).

At the event, Carter will discuss some of his own risky behaviors before the accident, and he will explain that it is just as important to be careful whose car you get into as a passenger as it is to not drink and drive. The community is invited to come out and hear his testimonial and advice.

While the presentation will be focused on drinking and driving, it also will touch on distracted driving.

Statistics for 2016 from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) show that motor vehicle accidents caused 37,461 deaths in the United States. Of those deaths, 3,477 were caused by distracted driving with an estimated 391,000 injured.

Martin suggested that those figures may even be underreported because people do not always admit to texting or being distracted while driving.

More Information Smart Decisions for Safe Driving Date: Sunday, May 6 Time: 2-5 p.m. Place: Rob Fleming Recreation Center, 6464 Creekside Forest Drive, The Woodlands Driving by the Numbers The following statistics are from 2016. Data on 2017 is not yet available. Distracted driving is anything that diverts attention from driving and can include eating, commotion and activity of passengers, pets, tasks such as applying make-up, etc. 3 Fatal crash rate for teens is three times greater than for drivers 20 and older 5 seconds is the average amount of time a text message takes your eyes off the road 37,461 lives lost in a motor vehicle accident in the United States during 2016 3,477 killed as a result of distracted driving 391,000 estimated injured as a result of distracted driving Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration See More Collapse

Those are huge numbers. Ten percent (of those killed in crashes) were due to distracted driving and thats a lot. And thats a choice. Were making these choices to do something thats dangerous and it ends up killing people, she said. Its still an issue. In Texas, Montgomery County itself leads in teen deaths in the state. We dont like that distinction. We dont want to be the best at that. The numbers still need to come down. Its still happening and innocent people are involved. It just takes a second  you take your eye off the road  and you can change somebodys life forever, including your own.

Martin added that nothing is so important that it cannot wait until a person has reached their destination and ceased driving.

It can wait. We just want to raise that awareness that it can wait, Martin said.

Following the presentation, those attending can learn about the laws in Texas regarding intoxication while driving or distracted driving and the consequences of making poor decisions. Information will be provided by the Montgomery County Sheriffs Office; Assistant District Attorney, Chief Vehicular Crimes; Harris County Constable Office, Precinct 4; Department of Public Safety; Texas Alcohol Beverage Commission; Texas Department of Transportation and more.

Hands-on activities will include DUI and distracted driving simulators, DUI pedal cars, virtual reality goggles for both distracted driving and rollover vehicles and more.

This is open to students and adults. Whether youre just getting behind the wheel or youve been driving for a long time, I think its a good program for everyone, Martin said.GOYANG, South Korea - North Korea's Kim Jong Un has laid the foundations for a meeting with President Donald Trump as soon as next month, signaling a willingness to discuss denuclearization and trying to dispel the idea that he's an unreliable "little rocket man."

In an astonishing turn of events, a beaming Kim on Friday stepped across the border into South Korea for a day of talks that began and ended with him holding hands with Southern President Moon Jae-in.

They talked, they joked, they walked, they ate, and, when they signed a joint statement pledging to work toward their "common goal" of denuclearizing their peninsula, they hugged.

"Today we saw Kim Jong Un's charm offensive in action," said Duyeon Kim, a visiting fellow at the Korean Peninsula Future Forum in Seoul. "He's exerting his influence and trying to grab the spotlight with a big smile. But behind that smile, he was wearing his game face," she said.

Indeed, with Friday's historic summit and the bold, if vague, pledge to discuss giving up his nuclear program, Kim is trying to rewrite the public narrative about him and ease some of the outside pressure on him.

"Good things are happening, but only time will tell!" Trump, who has championed a "maximum pressure" campaign against Kim, tweeted early Friday morning in Washington.

The warmth of the meeting and the positive images beamed onto TV screens across the globe have set the stage for Kim to meet with Trump at the end of May or early June. The former reality TV host has said he will go to the talks only if they promise to be "fruitful," a bar that likely was met with Friday's meetings.

Kim and Moon Friday signed a three-page "Panmunjom Declaration," named after the truce village in the Demilitarized Zone between the two Koreas where it was forged, stating that "South and North Korea confirmed the common goal of realizing, through complete denuclearization, a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula."

"South and North Korea agreed to actively seek the support and cooperation of the international community for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," it said.

But the agreement was short on details, and the phrase "a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula" will ring alarm bells in Washington because it implies that nuclear weapons will not be allowed in South Korea, either.

The United States, South Korea's security ally, regularly sends nuclear-capable aircraft and ships to the South during military exercises, so this clause will raise suspicions that Pyongyang is calling for a significant change in the U.S.-South Korea alliance.

Moon had previously said that Kim would not insist on the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the South, and there was no mention of this in Friday's agreement.

Kim did not mention the word "denuclearization" when he appeared before the press after signing the agreement, although he stayed on message throughout.

"We will work to make sure that the agreement bears good results, by closely communicating to ensure that the failure to implement North-South agreements in the past will not be repeated," Kim said, standing at a podium in front of cameras.

Previous inter-Korean agreements have also pledged denuclearization, and there is a significant amount of skepticism in Washington and Tokyo in particular about whether this time will be any different.

The fact that Kim signed his name to a statement that even included the word "denuclearization" marked significant progress after a year of threats and missile launches that brought the specter of war back to the Korean Peninsula.

And Friday's agreement marks a significant change from Kim's previous statements when he said he will continue to expand his nuclear arsenal, said Patrick McEachern, a fellow at the Wilson Center in Washington.

Instead, the two leaders established a framework for plausible resolution of the most pressing issues on the peninsula, he said.

"This is a great start and should be cause for cautious optimism," said McEachern, who worked on North Korea in the State Department. "The public conversation should now shift from speculation on whether North Korea would consider denuclearization to how South Korea and the United States can advance this denuclearization pledge in concrete steps."

Even the most optimistic analysts were surprised at the scope of the agreement, noting in particular that Kim has now signed a document that includes the word "denuclearization."

"You can't ask for more than that," said John Delury, a professor of international relations at Yonsei University in Seoul and a keen proponent of diplomatic engagement.

"Yes, there are still questions about how to guarantee North Korea's security on the path the denuclearization. But I'm surprised they would go this far at this early stage, that Kim Jong Un didn't save this for his meeting with Trump," Delury added.

In Friday's declaration, Kim and Moon also agreed to work to turn the armistice agreement that ended the Korean War in 1953 into a peace treaty that would officially bring the war to a close.

"South and North Korea will actively cooperate to establish a permanent and solid peace regime on the Korean Peninsula," the joint statement said in English, as officially translated by the South's presidential Blue House.

The Korean language version used the words "peace treaty" - an important distinction. "Treaty" generally refers to a piece of paper while "regime" means a system for peace, such as stopping military activities.

"Bringing an end to the current unnatural state of armistice and establishing a robust peace regime on the Korean Peninsula is a historical mission must not be delayed any further," the statement said.

The United States signed the armistice agreement on behalf of the South Korean side, and Trump has said that he supports such a move. Shortly after the announcement, Trump tweeted, "KOREAN WAR TO END!"

[As Kim crosses into South Korea, a historic summit hangs on the North's nuclear intentions]

The two sides also plan to set up an inter-Korean liaison office in Kaesong, a city just over the northern side of the border, and Moon said he would visit Pyongyang this fall. During their conversations earlier in the day, Kim said he would happily travel to Seoul if invited.

The signing ceremony came at the end of an extraordinary day full of words and gestures that would have been unimaginable at the beginning of the year.

At 9:30 a.m. Friday, Kim came out of the main building on the northern side of the military demarcation line that has divided the Korean Peninsula for 65 years and walked right up to the line.

Moon was waiting there for him, hand outstretched, and Kim became the first North Korean leader to step foot into South Korea.

"When you crossed the military border for the first time, Panmunjom became a symbol of peace, not a symbol of division," Moon said to Kim later.

Showing his penchant for bold and surprising moves - a tactic that was repeated later with the hug - Kim then asked Moon to step back across the line with him, and he did. For a brief moment, the leaders stood in North Korean territory, holding hands.

The moment was broadcast live across the country, with commuters stopping in train stations and teachers stopping classes so their students could watch the moment, and North Korean state television even broadcast an unscheduled news bulletin to announce that Kim was on his way to Panmunjom.

Moon and Kim proceeded to spend hours together on Friday, both in formal talks and in a half-hour-long private discussion on park benches outside in the sun, surrounded by birdsong. They threw soil and water from both Koreas onto a pine tree planted in the demilitarized zone to mark the occasion.

At one stage during the day, Kim assured Moon he would not have to wake up early any more - a reference to the fact that North Korea's missile launches usually happened at about dawn - and he even made references to the fact that North Koreans have escaped to the South and that the North's infrastructure network is far inferior to the South's. That was astounding for the leader of a country that has also sold itself as a "socialist paradise."

As part of his charm offensive, Kim appealed to Moon as a fellow Korean, highlighting their shared culture and framing their problems as ones that only they, as Koreans, could solve.

Then, after a dinner that was full of symbolism, from the noodles that came from Pyongyang to the fish brought in from Moon's home town, they sat together in the DMZ to watch a show of lights and music. This culminated with the two Korean leaders standing hand in hand, watching as photos of them through the day were beamed onto the building from which the South usually keeps a watchful eye on the North.

The outcome was as good as Kim could have hoped for, said Christopher Green, senior adviser for the Korean Peninsula at the International Crisis Group.

"For a tyrant ruling 25 million people in a corner of East Asia, this is a big deal," he said.

It also makes sense for a leader under pressure and facing two leaders who want to make a deal.

"If I were Kim Jong Un, I would want to explore what was possible with Moon Jae-in and Donald Trump because they're an unusual pair," Green said, referring to Moon's strong desire to engage and Trump's penchant for chalking up victories.

Friday's summit and the result agreement provides the political space for Trump and Kim to meet and make new pledges, said Duyeon Kim, the Seoul-based analyst. "Whether or not Kim Jong Un means it is a completely different story."

---

The Washington Post's Min Joo Kim contributed to this report.

---

Video Embed Code

Video: In the first inter-Korean summit that South Korea has hosted, South Korean President Moon Jae-in met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on April 27. Here are key moments from the historic talks.(Sarah Parnass,Joyce Lee/The Washington Post)

Embed code:NEW YORK  Former Houston ISD superintendent Richard Carranza waded into controversy Friday with a late-night tweet that seemed to accuse some white parents of not wanting their kids to go to school with black children.

Now the New York City public schools chancellor, Carranza retweeted an article with the headline, WATCH: Wealthy white Manhattan parents angrily rant against plan to bring more black kids to their schools.

The headline by the site Raw Story was about a meeting Tuesday where some parents expressed anger over a plan to increase diversity at middle schools on the Upper West Side by reserving 25 percent of their seats for students scoring low on standardized tests.

The article linked to a video report on the meeting that aired on TV station NY1.

Some parents attending the meeting said the diversity plan might result in high-performing children being shut out of their first-choice middle schools.

One woman who did not give her name to NY1 complained that the school system would be telling an 11-year-old, You worked your butt off and you didnt get that, what you needed and wanted.

One middle school principal at the meeting said the comments were offensive.

Henry Zymeck, principal of Manhattans The Computer School, said parents were implying, My already-advantaged kid needs more advantage! They need to be kept away from those kids!

The NY1 report on the meeting and Carranzas 1 a.m. Friday retweet of the Raw Story piece were widely shared on social media.

New NYC Chancellor is looking mad woke out here, tweeted journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, a MacArthur Foundation genius grant winner for her reporting on school segregation.

But the retweet of a headline accusing some white parents of ranting struck a far less conciliatory tone than anything his boss, Mayor Bill de Blasio, has said about school segregation.

Asked about the retweet on WNYC radio, de Blasio, a Democrat, said, Look, I dont think he at all intends to vilify anyone. Hes not that type of person.

Carranza took over New York Citys 1.1 million-pupil public school system this month.

A spokeswoman said Carranza stands by the tweet but wants to clarify that words in the headline were not his.

Carranza said in an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday  the same day as the heated meeting  that New Yorkers want diversity in everything, not the least of which is schools.

He added, It has to be a balanced conversation and we have to be really careful about how we have the conversation.The Houston Fire Department is investigating a possible arson after a fire destroyed a small apartment behind a Spring Branch home early Saturday morning.

Firefighters arrived about 1:15 a.m. to find a small home in flames behind a large brick house near the intersection of Pecos and Foley.

"We have some reports that local vagrants were using it from time to time," said Robert Branch, a division chief with HFD. "There weren't any furnishings or anything like that in there."

Branch said the house that caught fire was the family home back in the 1960's, and then they built the newer and much larger one in front of the small one. The smaller one was used as storage, and there was electricity running to it.

Branch said no one was injured.Police are investigating whether a 10-year-old boy suffocated while hiding in a dryer inside an east Houston apartment complex laundry room Friday evening.

The boy was found unresponsive around 5:45 p.m. in the communal laundry room of his apartment complex at the 12300 block of Fleming Drive, police say.

"At this time, it appears it could be an accident," said HPD Detective Michael Arrington. "The juveniles were playing hide-and-seek, and the juveniles were the ones who found him unresponsive."

He said the boy, who has not been identified, was found unconscious in a dryer.

Children suffocating in commercial appliances while playing hide-and-seek is a known hazard and the subject of a chilling government bulletin.

Read More: Mother pleads guilty after child's body found in refrigerator

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has received reports of numerous suffocation deaths involving children who crawled inside latch type clothes dryers and other oldstyle latch type appliances, according to a bulletin released in December.

"Most of the victims were four to seven years old. In all cases, the doors could not be easily pushed open from the inside," according to the federal agency. "Frequently, the children were playing 'hide-and-seek' and the appliance or chest provided a deceptively good place to hide."

According the agency, the construction of some dryers, refrigerators and freezers create an airtight and soundproof chamber.

"When the door slammed shut, the tight fitting gasket on most of the appliances cut off air to the child," according the bulletin. "This, along with the insulated construction of the appliance, also prevented the child's screams from being heard."

Read More: Jurors convict Jessica Tata of murder in day care deaths of four toddlers

Arrington said the family performed CPR and called paramedics who rushed the boy to the Baybrook hospital where he died.

Tulsi Kamath contributed to this story.The Harris County District Attorneys Office has been ordered by the state science commission to review DWI cases overseen by a veteran county scientist because of questions about her honesty while testifying under oath.

In a report released Friday by the Texas Forensic Science Commission, the state agency said Fessessework Guale, who worked for the medical examiners office for ten years, repeatedly testified that she received a different master's degree than what she earned and made other mistakes while testifying in criminal trials.

Due to the unreliable nature of Guales testimony regarding key scientific concepts, any case in which she provided testimony should be reviewed by the (district attorney's office) and defense (lawyers) to assess the materiality of the testimony to the case outcome and determine whether any legal relief is appropriate, the commission wrote in a 748-page report. This is especially critical for those cases in which the resulting (blood alcohol content) was on the border of the statutorily defined legal limit.

Guale, who resigned from the Harris County Institute of Forensic Scienceinformally known as the county medical examiners officeafter the discrepancy surfaced in September 2016, could not be reached for comment Friday. The forensic commission, based in Austin, does not have authority to require a persons appearance and did not question Guale.

Tyler Flood, who was president of the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association in 2016 when the organization filed the complaint that led to the commission report, said past cases of DWIs, intoxication assault and fatal crashes in which drivers are accused of being drunk could be reversed because of the findings.

This is big and could give relief in some cases, the defense attorney said. Flood said he spearheaded the complaint after going through more than a dozen trials in which Guale, the states principal blood expert, misrepresented her credentials. The citizens of Harris County deserve better and they dont like to feel like theyve been lied to by state witnesses, he said.

The commission investigated whether Guales testimony rose to the level of perjury, and reported that a Harris County grand jury had evaluated the situation and declined to bring criminal charges against her.

When the allegations arose in 2016, the medical examiners office stood behind Guales qualifications. On Friday, they said her bona fides were not good enough.

We honor our reputation and integrity. Dr. Guales credentials did not measure up to our expectations, Crime Laboratory director Roger Kahn, Ph.D. said in an email. We are grateful to our executive staff, our quality system and the Texas Forensic Science Commission for resolving these lapses in an effective way.

Her former employer said Guale testified in 42 cases.

The district attorneys office responded to questions about the report by saying the previous administration, under former DA Devon Anderson, advised defense lawyers to review their files to determine if Guales testimony could be material to their clients cases.

They are the ones that will have to raise the issue, a spokeswoman said.

On Friday, Flood also blasted the judges who presided over the cases at trial.

In all of these cases that Guale testified in, the judges allowed her to get away with testifying about junk science, he said. While I know judges have a hard job to do, this should be a call to attention that they should be more cautious in their rulings, and judges need to have that a certain level of skepticism about any scientific evidence being presented.

During her dozens of times of the witness stand, Guale had testified that she earned a Master of Science degree in Toxicology. The state commission noted that she has a Master of Science in Physiological Science from Oklahoma State, and had completed coursework in toxicology.

She has a Bachelors of Science in Animal Science from an Ethiopian university and has Doctor of Veterinarian Medicine from the same university.

Flood and other defense attorneys accused Guale of lying about her qualifications to persuade juries to convict suspects.

Flood particularly criticized Guale for her testimony on extrapolation, which is an estimate of intoxication hours after a wreck or arrest, based on a person's blood-alcohol level when tested.

Some of these people are not guilty, he said when he lodged the complaint. They're below a .08 [blood-alcohol content] at the time of driving.

The commission sided with Flood and wrote that Guale provided unclear and contradictory testimony regarding extrapolation and absorptive state.

For example, in two trials she said the time of first and last drink was the most important or most crucial variable for extrapolation. But in three other trials she said such information was not necessary.

In transcripts attached to the report, the commission also pointed out that Guale voluntarily testified to or agreed with an attorneys representation of inaccurate information.

It is difficult to determine whether these are attributable to her imprecise communication or an actual lack of knowledge in the subject area, the report states.

She also testified that side effects for two drugs, the sedative Xanax, and a narcotic called Tramadol or Ultram, are present only when the drug is not used as prescribed.

This is another example of inappropriate testimony regarding key concepts in toxicology, the commission wrote.Hours after two attempted abductions in northern Harris County, authorities released a minute-long video clip in connection with the suspect who allegedly tried snatching two different women on Saturday morning.

Footage of the moments leading up to the kidnapping attempts shows the suspect's vehicle, though it doesn't offer clear images of the man himself.

The woman targeted in the first of the two attempted abductions told Harris County Sheriff's deputies a light-skinned black man tried to force her into a vehicle as she was walking along the 900 block of N. Vista around 10:45 a.m.

The man drove a dark gray or silver colored Toyota sedan next to her, then got out and tried to force her into the car.

STIRRING CONTROVERSY: Former Houston ISD superintendent's retweet raises eyebrows

The woman fought back against the man who was about 5-foot-9, clean shaven and 19 to 25 years old. He was wearing khaki pants and a white shirt.

Ultimately, the woman was able to push him away and flee.

While deputies were investigating, a second call for service came in from the 16200 block of Bend Drive, a short distance from the first attempt.

A second woman told deputies that a man who matched the description from the first scene, forced her off her bicycle and attempted to push her into the vehicle.

She struck the man several times after he grabbed her arm. The man fled to his car and drove away.

Both women were treated for minor injuries by paramedics.

The vehicle is a silver or dark gray colored Toyota sedan, with tinted windows and damage to the front right side and mismatched hubcaps.

Sheriff's deputies and Precinct 4 constables are still searching for the suspect's vehicle.

Anyone who has information about the incidents is asked to call CrimeStoppers of Houston at (713) 222-TIPS.A wife and mother is under suspicion after police found her sitting in her northeast Houston home with cuts on her hands after her husband was fatally stabbed Friday night.

Houston police were called to the home near the intersection of Valley Wind and Valley Club about 9:00 p.m. to find a man in his 60's dead from apparent stab wounds.A San Antonio father faces criminal charges after police said he cut the back of his son's head with a Katana sword.

Antonio Juan Alvarado, 57, was arrested Monday for the alleged Feb. 23 assault.

That day, Alvarado grew upset with his 20-year-old son for not having a job and "playing video games all day long," according to the arrest affidavit.

RELATED: SAPD: Man promised girl a Jeep after sexual assault

Alvardo allegedly ridiculed his son until his son pushed him away.

The father went to his room and returned moments later with a Katana sword that was about three feet long, according to the affidavit. Alvardo swung the sword, eventually cutting the back of his son's head, police said.

The son went to the hospital and reported the assault that night, according to the affidavit. Detectives took pictures of the cut on his head, which required stitches to close.

Police returned to the home that night, but Alvarado allegedly fled.

Alvardo is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. A judge set his bail at $75,000.

Fares Sabawi covers crime in San Antonio and Bexar County for mySA.com. Read more of his stories here. | fsabawi@mysa.com | Twitter: @FaresInSAAUSTIN -- The embattled Texas Health and Human Services Commission, facing new controversy and investigations over its latest purchasing irregularities, has slowed down its procurement and contracting processes, officials said Friday.

While few details about the move were available, officials in three departments that rely on HHSC for purchasing and contracts review said they had been told that most procurement had been put on hold.

They said they were given no additional details and expressed concern that delays might cause problems with time-sensitive contracts and procurement that they have underway.

Carrie Williams, HHSC's chief press officer, said no hold has been placed on procurements or contracts.

"Our procurement and contracting work is still moving," she said in a statement to the Houston Chronicle. "What was likely being referred to is the interval nature of what we're doing -- we're reviewing procurements and double checking our work every time we move forward. This is a rigorous review process and it has to be methodical. It is absolutely critical that we take the time to get this right."

She continued, "It's important that we move efficiently and continue the agency's work while we strengthen our processes and make sure procurement is done correctly."

The agency, with a consolidated two-year budget of around $80 billion, has been in hot water with Gov. Greg Abbott, legislative leaders and state auditors in recent weeks for a new round of contracting errors that forced the agency to cancel four contracts awarded to private health-care providers.

Four top officials have been fired in recent days as a part of a continuing shakeup at the agency.

Abbott has criticized Executive Commissioner Charles Smith, whom he appointed to clean up an earlier contacting mess, for his "failure to ensure the integrity" of the state's procurement process.

HHSC officials have said the current problem with a contract to administer the Children's Health Insurance Program in rural parts of the state arose with the scoring tool used to decide which company should win the contract.

Insurance companies seeking to do government business must submit competitive applications, which are supposed to be scored by the agency and awarded based on which application received the most points. But officials have confirmed that the tool failed to tally points properly, which was discovered by competing insurance companies.

Contracts now being cancelled are those with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, Driscoll Children's Health Plan, Texas Children's Health Plan, Molina Healthcare of Texas and Superior HealthPlan, according to commission officials.

Williams earlier said access to health care services would not be affected for children in the program. The affected contracts were to have taken effect on Sept. 1.

Abbott has asked the state auditor's office and the health commission's Office of Inspector General to investigate the scoring flaw.

"Mistakes like this are unacceptable, which is why I am requesting immediate action to examine and address errors in the existing procurement tool and system as well as the underlying process moving forward," Abbott stated in a letter earlier this month to Smith.

The latest investigation is the most recent involving contracts at the commission.

In 2015, revelations about a $20 million no-bid contract with Austin tech company 21CT triggered federal and state investigations, and led then-Commissioner Kyle Janek and other officials to step down amid criticism from legislative leaders.Sergey Brin, born in Russia, is the president of Alphabet and co-founder of Google

Alphabet just published its annual Founders' Letter and this year, co-founder Sergey Brin uses it to outline how the company is using artificial intelligence and to highlight the benefits and risks of this "technology renaissance."

While Google CEO Sundar Pichai and other top brass have been mentioning the idea of being an "AI-first" company for years, Brin's letter provides both explicit and broad ways that the company is using artificial intelligence every day.

He highlights that the company employs it to:

understand images in Google Photos;

enable Waymo cars to recognize and distinguish objects safely;

significantly improve sound and camera quality in our hardware;

understand and produce speech for Google Home;

translate over 100 languages in Google Translate;

caption over a billion videos in 10 languages on YouTube;

improve the efficiency of our data centers;

suggest short replies to emails;

help doctors diagnose diseases, such as diabetic retinopathy;

discover new planetary systems;

create better neural networks (AutoML);

... and much more.

Brin's letter also acknowledges the risk of artificial intelligence, which he says that Google is taking seriously.

However, such powerful tools also bring with them new questions and responsibilities. How will they affect employment across different sectors? How can we understand what they are doing under the hood? What about measures of fairness? How might they manipulate people? Are they safe? There is serious thought and research going into all of these issues. Most notably, safety spans a wide range of concerns from the fears of sci-fi style sentience to the more near-term questions such as validating the performance of self-driving cars.

But Brin does not mention the debate that has erupted within Google over the company's partnership with the Pentagon to use artificial intelligence to interpret drone videos. Since Google revealed the contract, thousands of employees signed a petition urging the company not to be involved in "the business of war."

Brin says that Alphabet is focused on moving forward with "deep responsibility, care, and humility."

"I expect machine learning technology to continue to evolve rapidly and for Alphabet to continue to be a leader  in both the technological and ethical evolution of the field," he writes.

Read the full letter here.Longtail boats in Surin Island, Thailand. Getty Images

As part of a shift toward natural resource preservation, some major destinations  and the people who visit them  are becoming more attuned to the environmental impact of tourism. The shift is disrupting some of the traditions associated with tourist hotspots, and given rise to a trend where environmentally sustainable outcomes are emphasized over mere 'experience' vacationing. The dynamic is taking place against a backdrop of a very busy market for international tourism, which the World Tourism Organization expects to climb to 1.8 billion by 2030. Since 2000, worldwide destination seeking has jumped by more than 50 percent, the organization notes. Tourism  by itself a large source of growth  contributes to around 10 percent of the world's economy, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council. Data from the Global Sustainability Dashboard reveal that nearly half of tourism's economic impact is derived from only 10 destinations, with the natural resources of those locations increasingly strained. With that in mind, tourist locations are becoming more eco-friendly, and more visitors are doing their part. It has gradually evolved into a movement that prioritizes local culture over mass tourism  with its impact being felt from the U.S. Midwest to Iceland. In order for a destination to be certified as sustainable, the Global Sustainable Tourism Council outlines a list of criteria. It ranges from supporting local businesses, to conserving natural resources, and encouraging visitors to participate in the community.

Horseback riding the backcountry near Vail, Colorado. Getty Images

Vail, Colorado, a popular mountain resort town, is in the process of becoming the first certified sustainable destination in the U.S. "We are doing a lot of great work, but we want to compare ourselves against the world  we wanted to be leaders," environmental sustainability manager Kristen Bertuglia told CNBC recently. For Vail, the achievement literally took a village. Hundreds of business, from high-end hotels to plumbing companies, collaborated to make the town more eco-friendly. The effort spanned the public transportation, waste and housing sectors. Separately, places like Jackson Hole, Wyoming and Yellowstone National Park in Montana are following a similar path. Under the coordination of the Riverwind Foundation, Yellowstone has spent the last five years coordinating efforts between government entities, businesses and nonprofits to make the park more sustainable. Both locations were recognized this year by Green Destinations, a nonprofit that annually recognizes the top 100 sustainable destinations across the globe. Timothy O'Donoghue, Riverwind's executive director, told CNBC the voluntary efforts help Yellowstone combat overcrowding, and educate the public. The park's 4.8 million yearly visitors can still immerse themselves in the pure mountain air and its natural beauty, but O'Donoghue and other conservationists hope the public will spread the message of sustainability. This opportunity for tourism to do good is what Center for Responsible Tourism co-founder Martha Honey said is fundamentally what responsible tourism is about. "I think what we find in this soft education is our mind being open and it can really have profound effects on us," said Martha Honey, co-founder of the Center for Responsible Tourism, a policy organization that promotes environmentally friendly tourism. Sustainability "can improve our vacation and then affect us when we go home," she added.

People bathing in The Blue Lagoon, a geothermal bath resort in the south of Iceland. Getty Images

Tourism as a 'savior'

Originally, the vast barren lava fields of Iceland's Reykjanes Peninsula were never a tourist destination for travelers seeking the idyllic green expanses of the Nordic country. Yet in the mid-2000's, the citizens of Reykjanes, faced with a stagnant economy, turned the area into a destination for travelers seeking to enjoy nature in its purest form. "Tourism has kind of been our savior in a way, because people have started to respect the area more," said Thuridur Aradottir Braun, manager of Visit Reykjanes. In the last few years, the area has become a UNESCO Global Geopark, a UN-based project that promotes global conservation, and launched a marketing campaign to promote Reykjanes' virtues. Now, tourism fuels job creation, and people are more willing to work and visit. Braun described the project as "building a baseline" for the area's future. The Geopark partners with local businesses to spread its commitment to supporting conservation, and the proper use of local resources. Tourists have led to new opportunities in the area, but Braun said the peninsula is not aiming to attracting large numbers. Instead, Reykjanes is targeting a specific subset of travelers, with the objective of escaping threats to the ecosystem, the likes of which Thailand and other scenic locations have struggled with recently. In Thailand, the Surin Islands National Park's rich ocean wildlife makes it a top diving destination for tourists worldwide. The increase in visitors to the lush tropical destination is proving disruptive to the traditional lifestyle of the Mokens, an indigenous nomadic seafaring tribe.

When we first started, people didn't know what we were talking about. [Now] there is an increase of consumers seeking experience and memories. Justin Francis founder and CEO, Responsible TravelRussian hackers are notorious for their hacking skills, but one American says he hacked a Russian cyber gang at just 15 years old. Eric Taylor, who went by the nickname Cosmo the God, also posted personal information of celebrities and government officials, including Michelle Obama, former CIA director John Brennan, Kim Kardashian and Tiger Woods. The government eventually caught up with Taylor and he pleaded guilty to posting the personal information on the internet, among other charges. Now, Taylor is trying to help companies and recently started working for a cybersecurity start-up. Taylor's life as a hacker began when he was just 12 years old and playing video games at home. "Just imagine being 12 and having the power just to take anybody off your video game. So I felt a lot of power. And then I started learning other things and I moved on to joining a hacking group," Taylor told CNBC.

Eric Taylor as a teenager. Eric Taylor

The hacking group he joined was able to crash websites, including taking Twitter offline for about an hour in 2012, according to Taylor. Twitter did not respond to CNBC's request for comment. According to Taylor, he also accessed customer account data at major corporations like Amazon, Apple, AT&T and Netflix, sometimes gaining access to customers' personal information. The companies did not acknowledge this access. "The security of Amazon customer accounts is one of our highest priorities," said an Amazon spokesman. Taylor then moved on what he is most famous for  targeting celebrities and politicians and sharing their personal information. "It was pretty hard. I actually had to go after Russian hackers that owned a website  where they sold your Social Security number, your credit reports, your address and date of birth," he said. "I hacked into their website and then blackmailed them with their information, and they just made me a part of the site somewhat.They gave me free credentials to buy Social Security numbers." Every day, Taylor would post Social Security numbers, home addresses and sometimes even full credit reports on the Internet for all to see.

Eric Taylor and his fellow hacking gang members posted personal information for celebrities and political figures online for the world to see. Eric Taylor

Sometimes Taylor and his hacking group took things even further, by participating in what is known as swatting -- prank-calling the police to report an urgent or violent crime, to get them to arrive at a location, usually someone's home. "People that were in my group would do swatting attacks on them [people whose information was posted]. And we had a TMZ reporter that I knew personally that we tell before we did a swatting," Taylor said. Unlike many cyber gangs, Taylor says his group was not motivated by money. "I was never financially motivated because I was just in it for the thrill and politically motivated," he said. His message was that nobody is safe online. "I went after people that in my mind at the time thought deserved it. But now that I reflect on it, nobody deserves to get their information stolen because it's an invasion of privacy," Taylor said. Taylor made the website with the leaked information look like it came from Russia, but the government figured out who was really behind the postings. "First, it was the FBI SWAT they sent in, I guess because they thought I could be armed and dangerous. And then after FBI SWAT cleared the house, they sent in the agents from Secret Service and FBI," he said explaining his fourth and final arrest. Taylor now says he regrets posting the information. He was sentenced to probation that recently ended. Now 21 years old, Taylor says he's turned his life around. "There is no way I could go back [to hacking's dark side] after all the things that I went through to just be free and be here right now," he said.

Eric Taylor (right) with Path colleague, Marshal Webb. CNBC

Taylor recently became an advisor to cybersecurity start-up Path which helps companies make sure their websites are properly loading around the globe. "We want to rent your computer to send network requests to various websites on the internet so that we can tell our customers how long it takes for their website to load in different areas," said Marshal Webb, Path's Chief Technology Officer.

Marshal Webb, a former hacker, is now the CTO of cybersecurity startup Path. CNBCThinking about how to cover health-care costs in retirement shouldn't be so stressful that it triggers a visit to the doctor. The numbers can be intimidating, no doubt. A new analysis from Fidelity Investments estimates that a healthy 65-year-old couple retiring this year will need $280,000 to cover their health-care costs. For individuals, the projection is $133,000 for a man and $147,000 for a woman. Fidelity's calculations include premiums, cost-sharing provisions and out-of-pocket costs associated with Medicare parts A, B, and D. But the figures do not include other health expenses such as over-the-counter medications, most dental services and long-term care, and do not factor in any employer-provided retiree health coverage. "Actual assets needed may be more or less depending on actual health status, area of residence, and longevity," Fidelity says.

The estimate is up 2 percent from $275,000 last year, the smallest increase in the annual analysis since 2014. Part of the reason is that drug costs have, at least for now, leveled off, said Hope Manion, senior vice president with Fidelity Benefits Consulting. "Offsetting that though, we're seeing in the actuarial data that people are continuing to live longer," she said, which means additional years of expenses to anticipate. Consumers planning for retirement can't expect such moderate cost increases every year. Health care will continue to be "a difficult pill to save for," Manion said. So how do you plan? First: Don't focus on that $280,000 figure, which is "a huge scare factor," said physician and certified financial planner Carolyn McClanahan. She's a co-founder of Whealthcare Planning, a company that helps people plan for the finances of aging "This is a lump sum of what people spend on average," said McClanahan, who is also director of financial planning for Life Planning Partners in Jacksonville, Florida. "Your first question should be, 'Am I average?'"

A consumer with a healthy lifestyle, or who lives in an area with a good Medicare Advantage program, could see lower costs, she said.

Think about your health costs as part of your overall retirement plan when you're assessing savings strategies. "It's a cash flow issue, not a lump sum expense," McClanahan said. "I tell people, save for the future and do what you can to control your medical expenses, just like you try to control your other expenses." Keep in mind that strategies can differ based on the age at which you retire, too. Those retiring early (i.e. before age 65), will need to price out coverage options like staying on an employer's plan under COBRA or buying a marketplace plan. Aiming to retire at 65 or later? You'll need to make sure you don't miss the enrollment window for Medicare Part B, McClanahan said, and weigh a Medicare Advantage Plan for extra coverage. Health savings accounts, or HSAs, can be an important resource to save during your working years, certified financial planner Erika Safran, founder of Safran Wealth Advisors in New York City, told CNBC last week. The accounts, available to workers with high-deductible health plans, offer a triple tax advantage, she said. Contributions are either pretax or tax-deductible, typically grow tax-free and can be withdrawn without incurring taxes when used toward qualified medical expenses.

shapecharge | Getty Images$629.3 million in its initial public offering. The company makes software for digitally signing business and legal documents.

Here's a round-up of the most important deals in venture capital from the past week.



Exits

DocuSign went public on Friday, with shares opening at $38 apiece after pricing at $29. Founded in 2003, DocuSign makes software for digitally signing documents. The company raised $629.3 million in its IPO. Previously, it had raised venture funding from firms including GV (formerly Google Ventures), Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Accel Partners.

Jack Dorsey Justin Tallis | Getty Images

Square announced plans to acquire Weebly on Thursday for $365 million. Weebly provides website-building tools to small businesses. A competitor to Squarespace, Wordpress and Medium, Weebly had raised $35.7 million in venture funding prior to the acquisition, according to Crunchbase. Backers included Tencent, Sequoia Capital, Floodgate, Felicis Ventures and Y Combinator.

London-based Revolut raised $250 million and attained a valuation of $1.7 billion. DST Global, an early investor in Facebook and Spotify, led the funding round, with other VC firms including Index Ventures and Ribbit Capital. Revolut provides a debit card that allows people to spend money in 150 currencies with no fees at a real-time exchange rate. Culture Trip, an online travel magazine, raised $88 million in a series B round of funding led by the venture arm of PPF Group, a Netherlands-based conglomerate. Skift reports that Culture Trip plans to expand its website and mobile app into an online travel agency with the funding. Enterprise tech start-up Innovium raised $77 Million in a series D funding round. The company said it will use the capital to ramp up production and sales of its data center switches. Investors in the round included Qualcomm Ventures and Greylock Partners.

Dan Schulman, CEO of PayPal Mark Neuling | CNBC

PayPal and Goodwater Capital invested in a $44 million series A round of funding for Dosh. The company's app helps people get cash back from retailers when they make a purchase of any discounted item or item with an available coupon or promo. Dosh works with retailers like Sam's Club, Forever 21 and Chili's. Salesforce Ventures led a $24 million round for IFTT and was joined by IBM, the Chamberlain Group and Fenox Venture Capital. IFTTT (if this, then that) makes tools that help people use various apps, smart home appliances and consumer electronics in a connected way. For example, a user can opt to receive a text message every time a security camera detects a loud noise (like breaking glass) in their home.Jeff Bezos believes his space company, Blue Origin  rather than Amazon or the Washington Post  is representative of his "most important work," and imperative for humanity's long-term survival, the mogul said in an interview published on Business Insider.

In a wide-ranging sitdown on the eve of a new rocket launch, Bezos said his vision for an interplanetary human society actually began as a child, and is culminating with the private space venture that's in a race with SpaceX to send humans into outer space. On Sunday, Blue Origin  which has an ambitious plan to send tourists beyond the Earth as early as this year  is expected to launch its first rocket of 2018 on Sunday.

In an interview with the CEO of Business Insider's parent company, Axel Springer, the billionaire was asked whether he considered space exploration more important than his other ventures.

"Yes," Bezos replied. Sending humans to outer space "is super important to me. I believe on the longest time frame  and really here I'm thinking of a time frame of a couple hundred years, so over many decades...that Blue Origin, the space company, is the most important work I'm doing."

His response was somewhat surprising, in the context of Bezos having built his online retail company into a global behemoth, and having purchased the venerable Washington Post in 2013. And just last year, Bezos sent shockwaves through the food retail industry by snapping up Whole Foods.

He added that "I'm pursuing this work because I believe if we don't, we will eventually end up with a civilization of stasis, which I find very demoralizing." Humans "all enjoy a dynamic civilization of growth and change," and space travel is integral to that continuing, he said.

Bezos predicted that heavy industry will be moved to other planets, while Earth, he said, would be reserved for living and for light industry. He also told Business Insider that he grows increasingly convinced of the necessity for space exploration and development "with every passing year."

Blue Origin, which Bezos invests $1 billion in each year, is set to launch its New Shepherd rocket on Sunday morning from the company's facility near Van Horn, Texas. It will be the rocket's eight launch and its first flight of 2018.

The full interview can be found on Business Insider's website.The U.S. Trump administration has threatened to impose tariffs on up to $150 billion of Chinese imports, and Beijing has vowed retaliation against American exports.

"In particular, the recent trade tensions between the U.S. and China are worrying concerns," Lee said as ASEAN members gather for the organisation's 32nd summit.

Lee flagged his concerns in remarks made as he opened a summit of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), for many of which the United States and China are the top two trading partners.

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Saturday a mounting trade spat between the United States and China was one of the most pressing concerns for Southeast Asian nations.

On Saturday Lee said the open and rules-based multilateral trading system, which has backed the growth of ASEAN member states, has come under pressure as the political mood in many countries has shifted against free trade.

Also on the agenda at the summit were the humanitarian crisis in Myanmar, and security tensions in the disputed South China Sea, but it was unclear how much substantive progress could be accomplished.

The situation in Myanmar's western state of Rakhine, where hundreds of thousands of minority Rohingya Muslims have fled for neighboring Bangladesh after a military crackdown, is one of the biggest challenges facing the group.

ASEAN, formed more than half a century ago, has struggled with challenges facing the region because it works by consensus and is reluctant to get involved in matters considered internal to its members.

Singapore is this year's chair of the bloc, which includes Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam.

Lee said ASEAN members individually will find it difficult to make an impact on regional and global challenges, and called on its leaders to boost integration and cooperation to make a mark and to be effective.

The group is working on initiatives to jointly tackle the threat of extremism and cyber attacks, as well as to promote trade and cross-border e-payment systems.

ASEAN is also working to devise a model extradition treaty and negotiating a code of conduct with China to ease tensions in the disputed South China Sea, one of the world's most volatile hotspots and one of its busiest waterways.Much that can be said about the tragic story of Alfie Evans has already been said. But there may be just a little more to say and, before saying it, a short account of his tale is unavoidable. Alfie has been diagnosed as having a irreversible and untreatable brain condition. He has been treated in Alder Hey hospital in Liverpool since 2016. The doctors treating him recently sought to turn off his ventilation. They are certain that there was no hope of saving him. His parents sought to transfer him to a Catholic hospital in Rome. Doctors there agreed that there was no prospect of treating Alfie successfully, but said that they could keep him alive for a while, and seek to identity the brain condition, which is unknown. The courts sided with the hospital. Alfie died this morning.

At first glance, it sounds like a classic Catholics v Others dispute. But, as Damian Thompson has pointed out, matters arent quite that simple. On the one hand, the Pope supported Alfies father, Tom Evans  meeting with him and tweeting his support for Alfies transfer to Rome. On the other, Malcolm McMahon, the Archbishop of Liverpool did not back the move. I am very aware of the compassion which is characteristically shown by the Italian people to those in need, and in this case Alfie, he said. But I know that our medical and legal systems in the UK are also based on compassion and the safeguarding of the rights of the individual child. In the absence of any indication to the contrary, it must be assumed that the other bishops of England and Wales have lined up behind the Archbishop.

He was referring to the extraordinary granting of Italian citizenship to Alfie, in order that he be eligible for treatment at Bambino Gesu, the Roman hospital in question. The Italian state even offered to pay for the flight. Andrzej Duda, the President of Poland, lined up behind Alfies parents. So did Antonio Tajani, the President of the European Parliament. Pro-life campaigners rushed on to social media to back the parents  many from America, some of whom will have been evangelical fundamentalists. Their view is that turning off Alfies life support is judicial murder. Staff at Alder Hey say that they were intimidated on social media. Merseyside Police issued a warning about malicious communications.

Mr Justice Hayden, the High Court judge who heard the appeal of Evans parents, laid in to advice that they had received from the Christian Legal Centre as startling: as the Secret Barrister says, thats judge-speak for batshit. The position of the courts throughout has been unambiguous  the Court of Appeal, the Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights have all reached the same conclusion as the High Court. As Thompson wrote, there is undoubtedly a difference between a certain Northern European perspective, which doesnt acknowledge the right to life of the unborn or the severely disabled, and one held elsewhere, including most of the rest of Europe and much of the United States.

Catholicism is a factor here, but not a determinant. Not so long ago, Irish TDs and senators would have spoken up. But the culture of Ireland is changing: the coming referendum on abortion, set for May 25, is likely to lift the constitutional bar on it. Meanwhile, the legal and ethical to-and-fros which have created such a public stir abroad have not done so here. None the less, questions are being asked about whether the best interests of the child should be interpreted in the way that the courts did in Alfies case. In a nutshell: why should his parents not have the right to have their child die in Rome rather than Liverpool? It is important to add that Tom Evans, who once said that his son was a prisoner in the Alder Hey, has now called off his campaign, and asked his supporters to do likewise.

Nearly everyone who has written about this contested story has focused on the questions arising from Alfies plight  parental, ethical, legal. It may be useful to widen the angle of the lens. Are the overall rights of families and the state in proper balance? Most of us are torn in different directions. If Baby George is taken away from his mother by social services, we are outraged. If Baby Peter is tortured to death, we chorus that they should have acted faster  even acted at all. Some feel that the pendulum has swung too far in governments direction. Camilla Cavendish, then a Times journalist, later the head of David Camerons Policy Unit, led a long campaign against the media being barred from family courts. It was only partially successful.

Elsewhere, the state is having a big push against extremism. ConservativeHome is the last site to dispute the connection between non-violent and violent Islamist extremism. But so far the Government has been unable to find a workable definition of what extremism is. So it came about that the Conservative Partys own parliamentary correspondence unit drafted a note suggesting that the Extremism Disruption Orders would in some circumstances apply to a situation where a teacher was specifically teaching that gay marriage is wrong. What protection do parents and families have against what our columnist, Alex Morton, has called the rise of the progessive authoritarians?

The most telling indicator may be not a heart-rending human story, such as that of Alfie Evans, but the arid business of the states support for families in the tax system. Patricia Morgan has pointed out that in the post-war decades, the child tax allowance was more or less equal to the personal tax allowance by the time children were in their teens, freeing a father on average income from tax. Obviously, fewer mothers then worked in the labour market, and family structures have been transformed during the past 50 years. But nothing speaks more eloquently of the weakness of families  couples with dependent children, whether married or not  in our political system than the rises that have been written into their tax bills.The Conservatives must press on with giving housing association tenants the right to buy

In case anyone had still not got the message, there was an explanation of the political imperative for the Conservatives to boost home ownership by James Forsyth this morning. Writing in The Sun he said:

Labours rise in London is quite remarkable. They have gone from 37 per cent of the vote in 2010 to 55 per cent in 2017.

There are several reasons why the capital is turning red but one of the biggest is the decline in home ownership.

Home ownership in London peaked in the 1990s and has been falling since. Homeowners became a minority in London in 2011, the first time that has been the case since Margaret Thatchers Right To Buy revolution in the early 1980s. On current trends, 60 per cent of Londoners will be renters in seven years time.

It is no coincidence that this rise in renting has coincided with Labours surge in the capital. For one of the things that makes you most likely to vote Tory is owning your own home. Labours surprise success at the last election was largely down to a big increase in turnout among renters who swung heavily to Labour.

Labour London offers a preview of what happens to the Tories when homeowners become a minority.

Spotting that this must be a priority  and cant be put off until after Brexit  is the easy bit. The challenge is to meet the objective of a rising home ownership rate. We will not get there with bland platitudes and a bit of technocratic tinkering.

What is particularly disappointing is the slow progress on extending the right to buy for housing association tenants. This was promised in the 2015 Conservative Manifesto which said:

We will extend the Right to Buy to tenants in Housing Associations to enable more people to buy a home of their own. It is unfair that they should miss out on a right enjoyed by tenants in local authority homes. We will fund the replacement of properties sold under the extended Right to Buy by requiring local authorities to manage their housing assets more efficiently, with the most expensive properties sold off and replaced as they fall vacant. We will also create a Brownfield Fund to unlock homes on brownfield land for additional housing.

By the 2017 manifesto this had been weakened to the vague statement:

We will continue to support those struggling to buy or rent a home, including those living in a home owned by a housing association.

Apparently the housing associations and local authorities have persuaded the Government that selling the expensive properties would not be enough to fund the replacement properties and that some extra Treasury handout must be found.

They would say that, wouldnt they?

These assertions appear to have been passively accepted by the Government. But it is pretty feeble to do so.

For a start the housing associations have plenty of high value properties of their own which they can  and often are  selling when they become vacant, to fund the building of a larger number of replacement homes. The same applies to local authorities. So why should local authorities have to hand over funds to housing associations? I suppose one argument is that councils have a substantial amount of surplus land (including around the edges of their existing housing estates). Of course if you already own the land then the cost a new home is greatly reduced  perhaps by around half.

Some research from Policy Exchange in 2012 found that if a formula they proposed was followed there would be sales of 28,500 high value social housing voids a year  and that would provide enough funds for between 80,000 and 170,000 new homes depending on where the sales took place.

Yet even without bringing in the proceeds from expensive property sales it should be entirely viable for both councils and housing associations to fund replacement properties from the proceeds of the right to buy sales  even after the discounts are applied.

The right to buy housing association pilots so far have seen very strong demand from tenants combined with anger that the process has been delayed.

So the Government should get on with providing the right to buy for all housing association tenants  and not worry too much about trying to placate those in the sector who are hostile to home ownership anyway no matter how much extra funding they are offered.

Yet if they wanted to be really conciliatory, the Government could hand over (or sell cheap) to housing associations some of the five million acres of land owned by central Government.

So catching up with what was promised in the 2015 manifesto would be a start. But, of course, more is needed. There should be a right to shared ownership.

In 2012 the Centre for Policy Studies produced an excellent paper entitled Unleashing the British Bulldog. It advocated a right to own and declared:

From the point of view of both creating more housing stock and promoting social mobility, a more radical option would be to promote a Right to Own. The Peruvian economist, Hernando de Soto, has done ground-breaking work showing the beneficial impact of giving the poorest people in shanty towns title over their unregulated and untradeable properties.

Giving title to the poor over sprawling homes and other assets  such as businesses  otherwise caught up in a legal no-mans land can free up credit and encourage investment. The situation in Britain is far removed from the poor countries de Soto has in mind. Our legal and property systems are well-developed. Nevertheless, the assets that comprise the social housing sector are massively underutilised. There are around 4 million social homes in England worth around 250 billion. A Right to Own scheme could unlock that underutilised capital and incentivise home ownership for those excluded from the bottom rung of the housing ladder.

One option is a scheme that gives tenants an equity stake in their home that could be either realised on sale  and put towards a deposit  or transferred to a shared ownership scheme (combining equity and renting). Giving tenants an automatic share in ownership of the property  scalable according to variables including income, deprivation, and length of tenure  would incentivise those in work to save, sell up and buy a new home. That would also free up existing stock by enabling proceeds from the remainder of the sale to be reinvested in building new social housing. By releasing dead equity  in the same way that de Soto advocates releasing dead capital  there is an opportunity to promote social mobility for those who would otherwise remain excluded from home ownership.

The author of that paper? None other than Dominic Raab, who is now the Minister for Housing.

When it comes to boosting home ownership as the most effective method of averting the calamity of a Corbyn Government the prudent approach for the Conservatives is paradoxically to be bold.

Over to you, Dom.Face Off

In 2018, the kingpins of business-friendly laptops are fully embracing the 2-in-1 form factor. Lenovo -- which pioneered the convertible laptop concept with its Yoga consumer 2-in-1s -- recently came out with an updated third-generation model of the ThinkPad X1 Yoga. But Dell is looking to grab share away from Lenovo, with a 2-in-1 version of its Latitude 7390 business notebook. Which of the business convertibles is a better fit for you? In the following slides, we compare Lenovo's 3rd gen ThinkPad X1 Yoga vs. Dell's Latitude 7390 2-in-1 on specs and price.After years of building an industrial real estate business in Puerto Rico, the older members of Raoul Slavin Julia's family were ready to sell their assets and retire. It was 2004, years before the island would face the back-to-back-to-back blows of bankruptcy and two destructive hurricanes, but it seemed like a good time to have a bit of liquidity.

"We looked around and said: What now?" Slavin Julia, 46, remembers. What he saw on the island were crippling electricity costs and dependency on fossil fuels. The answer to his question, he eventually determined, was blowing all around him. His family would soon start on a journey to become builders and owners of wind farms in Puerto Rico and later the mainland U.S.

When he first looked for investment opportunities, in 2007, he discovered why wind farm ownership was the province of utilities: The education process takes years. Due diligence resembles that of industrial real estate, but clean-power plants often require a different sort of financial and regulatory sophistication. "I have never run across another family office competing" for a wind farm, says Slavin Julia, who is a director of single-family office Treehouse Investments. (The family's concern about sea levels rising from climate change inspired them to name the business after an elevated house, he says.) The family office owns wind farms through subsidiary Aspenall Energies.

Slavin Julia's family built its first wind farm in 2009, a two-turbine facility to power a local Bacardi rum factory. With that success, it looked a couple of years later for opportunities on the U.S. mainland, opting to purchase a newly completed farm for its first utility-scale project. "A family entering now in any U.S. state will find there is a rigorous framework, with a few exceptions," Slavin Julia says.

Why did Slavin Julia's family choose wind? Well, first, there's the broad appeal of renewables. Operating wind and solar farms typically benefit from long-term contracts with investment-grade utilities. They tend to perform well, so there's a high probability of steady, decadeslong revenue. It's the type of investment that's now attracting institutional investors such as pension funds and insurers-and appeals to climate-focused family offices such as Treehouse. "If you expect a decent rate of return and your vision is multigenerational, then those two perspectives coincide," Slavin Julia says.

The reason for investing in wind instead of solar was mostly situational. Treehouse would consider solar today, he says. In the mid-2000s, however, solar had yet to crack the U.S. mainstream and faced high insurance costs in hurricane-prone Puerto Rico, says Anne Amanda Bangasser, a Treehouse director and Slavin Julia's sister-in-law.

One early advantage Treehouse had in getting into the wind business was the specific expertise family members had to handle much of an operating plant's needs. Slavin Julia's background is in law, Bangasser is an engineer, and Slavin Julia's wife is an accountant. Still, when the family first decided to invest in a utility-scale wind farm, they didn't feel comfortable enough to build one from scratch and wanted something that was already "spinning," Slavin Julia says. "We thought: Let's have our first project be one that has already gone through the construction process," he says. "That way, we can be an asset owner and we can get some experience."

Over the years, Treehouse built up a renewables network. Family members attended trade shows and engaged consultants in the years they spent building the Puerto Rico wind farm and planning others there. They had something specific in mind: a modest-size utility-scale farm that employed members of the community benefiting from it. They vetted projects in the U.S. and even Europe. Eventually a consultant referred them to a competitive auction for a 20-megawatt farm in Minnesota that had been in operation for several years.

The family won the farm and closed the deal in 2015. They tended to the farm for a while before they felt ready to break ground and actually construct a utility-scale plant. They have since built a 13MW farm in Minnesota and are erecting a 30MW project in Nebraska.

Owning-but not operating-a wind farm can be very desirable to passive investors, given the promised cash flows. But for those who want to build a U.S. project, they'll need to find a plot of land, obtain permits and address typical Nimby pushback, select a turbine manufacturer and contractor, and arrange financing. That last part can be the trickiest, as financing incentives for renewables in the U.S. rely on esoteric lines of tax code that may create complications for small developers.

For its next investment, Treehouse, which now has offices in New York and Minneapolis, is looking at repowering older wind farms. This involves upgrading turbines to give plants built in the 1990s and early 2000s a second life. Looking back, Slavin Julia says building up Treehouse's portfolio wasn't easy, but he sees wind farms as one of the best tangible investments a family office can own. "Definitely better than yachts, I can assure you," he says.FAIRFIELD  Its been more than 32 years since a newborn baby boys body was found strangled and mutilated at Lake Mohegan, and police are still desperate for answers.

The baby was found on March 14, 1986. Police later gave him the name Victor.

Photos from the crime scene that day and the following autopsy show the babys broken jaw, leaving him trapped in what looks like a permanent scream.

Detective Kerry Dalling and Lt. Michael Gagner of the Fairfield Police Department still hope someone can shed light on the brutal killing.

In 2009, Gagner, who was in college when Victor was killed, had just taken over the Detective Bureau. He had Victors case file spread out on his desk when Dalling, who works on domestic and sexual violence crimes, walked in.

I think I said to her, Have you heard about the baby case? Gagner said. From that point on, they decided, We have to be a voice for this baby because no one else will, he said.

Just looking at that baby  how can someone do that? The brutality done to this baby... Dalling said recently, her thoughts trailing off as she sat across from Gagner in the Fairfield police station, clutching the crime scene photos.

The case went cold once all leads at the time were exhausted.

Its a complicated case, Dalling said. Emotionally, its hard to deal with.

Finding Victor

A public works employee emptying garbage cans in the picnic area near the cascades at Lake Mohegan found the body of a newborn baby on a chilly, foggy March morning on the leaf-strewn ground.

Victor was found on a scrap of burlap, wrapped in womens pajamas, covered with a scrap of plastic and surrounded by pieces of food, fruit and coins. Police said the crime scene seemed to indicate a ritual killing.

Even if it wasnt a legitimate ritual, whoever set it up would have knowledge of these rituals, of these beliefs, Dalling said. It was dehumanizing.

The initial investigation led detectives to a gang operating out of Bridgeports West End. Police also checked with people who were studied in arcane rituals.

We spoke to some experts who said it may have been staged to look like a ritual killing when it was not, Gagner said.

An autopsy showed Victors death, ruled a homicide, was caused by suffocation. Among the injuries he suffered were a broken jaw, strangulation marks and face mutilations. The autopsy confirmed he was born about 24 hours before he was found, and that he was alive at birth.

A fresh lead

In 2009, Gagner and Dalling went back to evidence that provided them with a new look at the case.

We (had) found this graffiti, Dalling said, pulling out a crime scene photo from 1986.

The photograph showed the name of a couple and their child in a heart on a picnic table that, Dalling said, was 20 to 30 feet away from where Victor was found dead. Additional photos from the crime scene showed more graffiti on the picnic table, with names and phrases carved into the wood.

They showed the photographs to members of the Bridgeport West End gang, and people affiliated with them. One woman said she recognized the graffiti.

More Information Anyone with information is asked to call the Fairfield Police Department's Detective Division at 203-254-4840. All calls will be kept confidential. Anonymous tips can also be sent via text to CRIMES (274637) or online at www.tipsoft.com. See More Collapse

She told us they (the gang) would hang out there all the time, Gagner said of the picnic area.

Dalling and Gagner said they see too many coincidences surrounding Victors murder and the Bridgeport gang.

Costly cleanup

In 1986, roughly 24 to 36 hours after the recovery of Victors body, police were contacted by a bank data processing center at the Kings Highway/Black Rock Turnpike traffic circle.

They said they heard screaming from the womans bathroom on March 13, then they heard a baby crying, Gagner said.

The bathroom was only accessible by employees, or someone who sneaked in, officers found.

No one at the office checked the noises out, police were told.

The employees didnt think twice about it, Dalling said.

A cleaning crew stumbled upon a quantity of blood in the womens room and cleaned it up without asking office staff about it, police said. The cleanup left no traces to be processed by police.

Employees and the cleaning crew were interviewed. A few leads at the time turned out to be dead ends.

A huge amount of blood, was how the cleaning crew described the scene to police. Based on that, police determined that a woman  maybe Victors mother  had given birth or miscarried.

The data center was less than 2 miles from where Victors body was found.

Sure, its possible this was just a coincidence, Gagner said. But we dont really believe in coincidences.

Possible parents

White pajamas with red berries, reads the description on the evidence bag, all these years later.

Since Victor was found wrapped in the pajamas, its possible whoever did that cared about him, the detectives said.

Police think it was his mother.

If she is still out there, Dalling said, she probably still cares. Police have a full DNA profile from the pajamas they believe belonged to her. It can still be tested.

Police believe Victors mother was likely a runaway or foster teen, living in Bridgeports West End. Some tips indicated she was 15.

Were open-minded to what really couldve happened, Gagner said. If Victors mother was a victim, he said, she wouldnt go to jail.

Shortly after the babys death, police also received tips that the father of the baby was in (a) gang, from Bridgeport, Gagner said. Several members of the gang were tentatively ruled out through blood tests, Dalling said.

There are various motives for the gang to have killed the baby. But without further information, police dont have a definitive reason.

For now, all the information related to the case is kept nearby.

The evidence is packaged up in the basement like a time capsule, Dalling said.

An occasional series that looks at unsolved homicides, or cold cases, in Bridgeport, Fairfield and beyond.Dont try to sleep it off  get up!Is the India story over? asked an anxious foreign investment banker. No, I replied, Its just getting started.

He shook his head disbelievingly. The New York Times and The Washington Post are full of reports on the surge in violence against women, lynchings of Muslims and Dalits, ATMs running dry and rising protests everywhere.

I asked him why he was visiting India. He looked sheepish. Well, were investing in a bunch of start-ups. India has great long-term potential.

Long-term potential but short-term turmoil. Between these two narratives of contemporary India, is there a more nuanced middle ground? Photo: PTI/File

Thats the rub. Long-term potential but short-term turmoil. Between these two narratives of contemporary India, is there a more nuanced middle ground?

The short-term narrative, of doom and disaster staring India in the face, is of course sheer nonsense. Violent protests and riots have been a part of the India story since 1947. In fact, before Independence, Hindu-Muslim riots were endemic. Those who grew up in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh or Maharashtra know that communal riots were the rule, not the exception.

As Meena Menon writes in her book Riots and After in Mumbai (Sage Publishing): For a while, Muharram became an annual excuse for riots between the Shias and the Sunnis and later cow slaughter, which was the background of the 1893 riots, continued to be the bane of law and order not only in Bombay city but in other parts of the presidency.

Riots broke out over seemingly trivial issues. Coming to the year 1927-28, the following facts stare us in the face. Between the beginning of April and the end of September 1927, no fewer than 25 riots were reported. Of these 10 occurred in the United Provinces, six in the Bombay Presidency, two each in the Punjab, the Central Provinces, Bengal and Bihar and one in Delhi. The number of riots during the 12 months ending March 31, 1929, was 22. The causalities, swelled heavily by the Bombay riots, were very serious, no fewer than 204 persons having been killed and nearly 1,000 injured.

When a polarising leader like Narendra Modi became prime minister in 2014, reports sprang up in Indias polarised media  and several in Americas and Britains equally polarised media  predicting riot after riot.

After four years, have these doomsayers been proved right? According to IndiaSpends analysis of data sourced from the home ministry, communal violence did increase (by 28 per cent) between 2014 and 2017 with 822 recorded incidents. However, it was less than the decades high, recorded in 2008 under the UPA government, of 943 incidents of communal violence.

There is a larger point though. While communal violence has been a fabric of Indian life through the years, before and after Independence, as Meena Menon points out, the party in power after 1947 was mostly the Congress. Some of the worst communal riots took place on its watch, as Salman Khurshids recent mea culpa has underscored. And yet the Congress has nurtured a narrative that it is a secular party. In the Indian context that doesnt mean  as it does, for example, in France or Britain, where church and state are strictly separate  that all religions are treated equally.

When Hindu personal law, for example, was codified in the 1950s by the Jawahalal Nehru government, Muslim personal law was left untouched. The secular Congress calls this being respectful of a communitys sensitivities. Others call it appeasement. Whatever the nomenclature, it hasnt helped Muslims prosper even after seven decades.

In an oped in The Indian Express on April 20, 2018 titled The Myth of Appeasement, Christophe Jaffrelot and Kalayarasan advance a parallel secular narrative: In the current debate on the place of the Muslims in India, one variable has not been factored in  their socio-economic situation  as if the dominant repertoire had shifted for good towards the politics of symbols and identity. In socio-economic terms, Muslims are losing ground rapidly, even if their situation is deteriorating more in northern and western India than in the south.

The authors attribute this to majoritarianism and argue with statistics from the Indian Human Development Survey (IHDS) of 2004-05 and 2011-12 that the socio-economic situation of Indian Muslims was less critical in 2004-05. Since the two reference points are 2004-05 and 2011-12, the deterioration in Indian Muslims well-being took place during UPA1 and UPA2, which rather defeats Jaffrelots and Kalayarasans central argument.

The truth is that the socio-economic status of Indian Muslims has been falling for several decades. But, declares the secularCongress, that proves we havent appeased Muslims. If we had, theyd have been better off since weve been in government for 55 of Indias 71 years.

Like Jaffrelot and Kalayarasan, the Congress misses the point. Appeasement by definition cannot improve the status of Muslims because it amounts to tokenism. Only empowerment can improve lives. Secular parties have appeased, not empowered Muslims for decades, bringing them to the sorry state they find themselves in.

Is the majoritarian BJP any better for Muslims? Probably not. In any case, reversing over half-a-century of tokenism that has sequestered Muslims in socio-economic silos will take an age.

The doomsday narrative then hardens: under the BJP, violence against Muslims and Dalits, lynchings and rapes are rising uncontrollably. Even judges fall for this narrative. Last week, two Bombay High Court judges, Justices SC Dharmadhikari and Bharat Dangre, said during a hearing: Secular people are not safe in the country. It is unfortunate that today the image of the country is such that those living abroad feel only crimes and rapes happen in India.

It is a narrative that The New York Times has clutched with both grubby hands. An article by an Indian journalist recently warned the newspapers befuddled readers that India was descending into a violent abyss. Despite this atavistic narrative of short-term turmoil ruining Indias long-term potential, and despite the Modi governments self-inflicted wounds like the ham-handed implementation of demonetisation and GST, India is the growth story, warts and all, that every global corporation wants to be a part of: short-term and long-term.

Also read: I couldnt talk or sleep for three days: Journalist Rana Ayyubs horrific social media ordeal over fake tweetJust a few months back the Korean peninsula was on the brink of a nuclear war. The situation was so tense that no one would have imagined that a genuine attempt for establishment of permanent peace would begin so soon and that the initiative to restore calm would be made from the North Korean side.

But, this unthinkable became a reality on April 27, when South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korea's young dictator Kim Jong-un signed a joint declaration towards ensuring that no war would take place in the Korean peninsula and the process for complete denuclearisation of the area would be initiated.

Moon and Kim broke the ice with a handshake at the military demarcation line (MDL), dividing the border villages. This was followed by some customary ceremonial activities and intense discussions. It appears that North Korea was genuine in its approach. The country wants to forget the past and start afresh. The Koreans on the two sides of the border share their history, culture and blood. It appears they are determined to work on their strained ties.

The credit for the success of the meeting should go to both the leaders for their pragmatism, openness in approach and will to move forward.

Moon should be congratulated for planning this high-stakes meeting in all its details within a very short span of time. He is the one who made the right moves the moment he realised that North Korea is willing to initiate a dialogue.

In fact, Moon has always been pro-reconciliation. Even during the period of crisis he was firm, but flexible. He kept players like China and US fully engaged, but still at a distance. Few months back, when the war was almost looking likely and US President Donald Trump was warmongering, Moon had clearly said that no war in the region would take place without his permission.

Among the group of stubborn and powerful leaders like US' Trump, China's Xi Jinping and Japan's Shinzo Abe, Moon has emerged as the real statesman.

Interestingly, during the April 27 meeting, North Korean leader Kim was the real revelation.

This leader, who Trump called, "little rocket man" is known to the rest of the world as a lunatic, tyrant and an aggressor. He has almost no exposure to international diplomacy. The only foreign visit he has undertaken till date, as a head of state, a trip to China.

But he was found to be at total ease during his meetings with Moon. At the Peace House, the North Korean supremo wrote in the guestbook: "A new history begins now - at the starting point of an era of peace."

He also invited Moon to visit North Korea. Kim also mentioned that he is looking forward to his meeting with Trump over the coming few weeks.

Now, the issue is should the world get impressed with the success of Kim's visit? Is North Korea reliable and trustworthy?

Past experiences indicate that North Korea is a very slippery player. Two attempts made earlier in 2000 and 2007 to bring in normalcy had failed.

Since long the North Korean leadership has shown a tendency to dishonour its promises. So, will it be different this time? The world has no other option, but to wait and watch.

Hopes are high since Kim understands that any irrational behaviour from his side would not be tolerated. He has realised that Trump is as crazy as he is. Under present circumstances his nuclear deterrence has certain limitations. Sanctions are a harsh reality and people in North Korea are actually suffering because of them. This could well be the reason why Kim blinked.

The meeting between Kim and Moon is just the beginning. The real test would be Kim's meeting with Trump.

Talking about the need for making the Korean Peninsula nuclear arms-free is one thing and actually making it work is quite another.

Greater clarity is required from the North Korean side on what it can do to achieve this. This is an opportunity for both Kim and Trump to make history so that peace finds a permanent home in the Korean peninsula.

Also read: Centre orders study of male child sex abuse: Time we woke upThis May 2 will mark seven years since al Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden, was eliminated by the US Navy seals in a surgically precise encounter in Pakistan's Abbottabad.

The house is in Pakistan's Abbottabad, where Osama bin Laden was hiding in his last days. Source: Reuters

Contrary to the popular belief that al Qaeda-sponsored global terrorism would come to an end if Laden was bumped off, not much has changed since he was neutralised in 2011. Islamic terror has, in fact, struck the world with renewed fury.

The ISIS saw a sudden rise leading to one of the worst phases of killings in Iraq and Syria. A very disturbing trend that has been witnessed with the rise of ISIS has been its success in recruiting jihadists from across the globe to fight alongside the ISIS cadres.

While the elimination of bin Laden was a major breakthrough for the anti-terror war, it has had serious consequences in terms of the rise of ISIS.

Man who helped locate bin Laden

Dr Shakil Afridi, a Pakistani doctor, used a vaccination scam in an attempt to identify Osama bin Laden's hideout in Abbottabad, aiding US Navy Seals to track and kill the Al Qaida leader.

Instead of being rewarded for helping catch the world's most dreaded terrorist, the Pakistani government has kept him incarcerated since 2011. On April 26, Afridi was shifted from Peshawar prison to an undisclosed "safe facility" managed by the Pakistani security and intelligence establishment. The authorities have cited security as the reason for his transfer.

Red-faced and hugely embarrassed by the US success in eliminating bin Laden on Pakistani soil, the rogue nation's establishment has directed its ire towards Afridi.

But what did the US do to ensure Afridi's release and safety? Practically nothing.

US President Donald Trump during his presidential campaign, had vowed to get Afridi released within "two minutes". But nothing happened and Afridi continues to languish and rot in Pakistan's custody.

No one knows what kind of treatment is being meted out to Afridi in the new jail. No one even knows which jail he is lodged in. This raises the chances of Afridi being subjected to sustained torture and inhuman excesses.

Dr Shakil Afridi, a Pakistani doctor, used a vaccination scam in an attempt to identify Osama bin Laden's hideout. Source: Agencies

It's definitely not a coincidence that Afridi has been shifted to a different prison only a couple of days ahead of the seventh anniversary of the operation that claimed Osama's life.

Clearly, the US has let Afridi down and in good measure. Why didn't America take up Afridi's case with Pakistan just as strongly as it lobbied for Raymond Davis' release?

Davis was a former US soldier and contractor with the Central Intelligence Agency. He was accused of killing two reportedly armed men in Pakistan's Lahore. While Davis was jailed and criminally charged by Pakistani authorities with double murder and the illegal possession of a firearm, he was dramatically rescued due to the proactive and decisive action by former secretary of state Hillary Clinton.

Michael Kugelman, deputy director at the Asia programme at the Woodrow Wilson centre, recently said that the Afridi saga is the perfect metaphor of US-Pakistan relations. In other words, an example of growing miscommunication and mistrust threatening to jeopardise the US-Pakistan ties.

An almost similar view on the US-Pakistan ties was expressed by Muhammad Amir Rana, director of Pakistan Institute of Peace Studies. Rana described US-Pak relations as an old story meriting a drastic revision where the sources collaborating with the US forces need protection when the former are risking their lives to combat terror.

US acting assistant secretary of state, Alice Wells recently disclosed that Afridi's case was in the US "scheme of things" but on ground the claim is not backed by action.

If US doesn't effectively intervene or uses its good offices to secure Afridi's release, the "assets" in Pakistan and Afghanistan, armed with hard and actionable information might not come forward to help in the fight against terror.

It is not understood why the US displayed extraordinary haste and alacrity in whisking away notorious Indian spy, Rabinder Singh, in 2004 to the US rehabilitating him and his family through a special operation and even giving him a US passport but doing nothing for Afridi.

It's high time US proves its credibility and demonstrates that it is still a world power to reckon with and remains a friend of those who are or have partnered with anti-terror forces.

Also read: Ahead of 2019 polls, Maharashtra CM has a plan for MumbaiGardner Denver Holdings, Inc. provides mission-critical flow control and compression equipment; and associated aftermarket parts, consumables, and services in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. It operates through three segments: Industrials, Energy, and Medical. The Industrials segment designs, manufactures, markets, and services a range of air compression, vacuum, and blower products, as well as offers associated aftermarket parts, consumables, and services. Its products are used in process-critical applications, such as the operation of industrial air tools, vacuum packaging of food products, aeration of waste water, and others. This segment sells its products through an integrated network of direct sales representatives and independent distributors under the Gardner Denver, CompAir, Elmo Rietschle, Robuschi, and other brand names. The Energy segment engages in the design, manufacture, marketing, and service of a range of displacement and liquid ring vacuum pumps, compressors and integrated systems, and engineered fluid loading and transfer equipment, as well as offers associated aftermarket parts, consumables, and services under the Gardner Denver, Nash, Emco Wheaton, and other brands. It serves customers in upstream, midstream, and downstream energy markets, as well as petrochemical processing, transportation, and general industrial sectors. The Medical segment designs, manufactures, and markets a range of specialized gas, liquid, and precision syringe pumps and compressors for use in oxygen therapy, blood dialysis, patient monitoring, laboratory sterilization and wound treatment, and other applications. This segment sells its products under the Thomas and other brands. Gardner Denver Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1859 and is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Read MoreThe following companies are subsidiares of Barclays: Adler Toy Holding Sarl, Aequor Investments Limited, Alymere Investments Limited, Alynore Investments Limited Partnership, Analog Analytics, Analog Analytics Inc, Analytical Trade Holdings LLC, Analytical Trade Investments LLC, Analytical Trade UK Limited, Archstone Equity Holdings Inc, Ardencroft Investments Limited, B D & B Investments Limited, B.P.B. (Holdings) Limited, BB Client Nominees Limited, BBAIL SAS, BCAP LLC, BIFML PTC Limited, BMBF (No.24) Limited, BMI (No.9) Limited, BNC Brazil Consultoria Empresarial Ltda, BNRI ENG 2013 Limited Partnership, BNRI ENG 2014 Limited Partnership, BNRI ENG GP LLP, BNRI England 2010 Limited Partnership, BNRI England 2011 Limited Partnership, BNRI England 2012 Limited Partnership, BNRI Limehouse No.1 Sarl, BNRI PIA Scot GP Limited, BNRI Scots GP LLP, BPB Holdings SA, BVP Galvani Global S.A.U., Barafor Limited, Barclay Leasing Limited, Barclaycard Funding PLC, Barclaycard International Payments Limited, Barclays (Barley) Limited, Barclays Aldersgate Investments Limited, Barclays Alzin Investments S.a r.l., Barclays Asia Limited, Barclays Asset Management Limited, Barclays BR Investments S.a r.l., Barclays BWA Inc., Barclays Bank (Suisse) S.A., Barclays Bank Delaware, Barclays Bank Ireland PLC, Barclays Bank Ireland Public Limited Company, Barclays Bank Mexico S.A., Barclays Bank PLC, Barclays Bank UK PLC, Barclays Bayard Investments S.a r.l., Barclays Bedivere Investments S.a r.l., Barclays Bordang Investments S.a r.l., Barclays Brasil Assessoria Financeira Ltda., Barclays CCP Funding LLC, Barclays Cantal Investments S.a r.l., Barclays Capital (Cayman) Limited, Barclays Capital Asia Holdings Limited, Barclays Capital Asia Limited, Barclays Capital Canada Inc., Barclays Capital Casa de Bolsa S.A. de C.V., Barclays Capital Derivatives Funding LLC, Barclays Capital Effekten GmbH, Barclays Capital Energy Inc., Barclays Capital Equities Trading GP, Barclays Capital Finance Limited, Barclays Capital Futures (Singapore) Private Limited, Barclays Capital Holdings (Singapore) Private Limited, Barclays Capital Holdings Inc., Barclays Capital Inc., Barclays Capital Japan Securities Holdings Limited, Barclays Capital Luxembourg S.a r.l., Barclays Capital Mauritius Limited, Barclays Capital Nominees (No.2) Limited, Barclays Capital Nominees (No.3) Limited, Barclays Capital Nominees Limited, Barclays Capital Principal Investments Limited, Barclays Capital Real Estate Finance Inc., Barclays Capital Real Estate Holdings Inc., Barclays Capital Real Estate Inc., Barclays Capital Securities Client Nominee Limited, Barclays Capital Securities Limited, Barclays Capital Securities Mauritius Limited, Barclays Capital Trading Luxembourg S.a r.l., Barclays Claudas Investments Partnership, Barclays Claudas Investments S.a r.l., Barclays Commercial Mortgage Securities LLC, Barclays Converted Investments (No.2) Limited, Barclays Corporation Limited, Barclays Direct Investing Nominees Limited, Barclays Directors Limited, Barclays Dryrock Funding LLC, Barclays Electronic Commerce Holdings Inc., Barclays Equity Holdings Limited, Barclays Equity Index Investments S.a r.l., Barclays Europe Client Nominees Designated Activity Company, Barclays Europe Firm Nominees Designated Activity Company, Barclays Europe Nominees Designated Activity Company, Barclays Executive Schemes Trustees Limited, Barclays Financial LLC, Barclays Financial Planning Nominee Company Limited, Barclays Funds Investments Limited, Barclays Funds and Advisory Japan Limited, Barclays Global Service Centre Private Limited, Barclays Global Shareplans Nominee Limited, Barclays Group Holdings Limited, Barclays Group Operations Limited, Barclays Group US Inc., Barclays Index Finance Trust, Barclays Industrial Development Limited, Barclays Industrial Investments Limited, Barclays Insurance Guernsey PCC Limited, Barclays Insurance Services Company Limited, Barclays Insurance U.S. Inc., Barclays International Luxembourg Dollar Holdings S.a r.l., Barclays Investment Management Limited, Barclays Investment Solutions Limited, Barclays Investments & Loans (India) Limited, Barclays Korea GP Limited, Barclays Lamorak Investments S.a r.l., Barclays Leasing (No.9) Limited, Barclays Leto Investments S.a r.l., Barclays Long Island Limited, Barclays Luxembourg EUR Holdings S.a r.l, Barclays Luxembourg Finance S.a r.l., Barclays Luxembourg GBP Holdings S.a r.l., Barclays Luxembourg Global Funding S.a r.l., Barclays Luxembourg Holdings S.a r.l., Barclays Luxembourg Holdings SSC B, Barclays Marlist Limited, Barclays Mauritius Overseas Holdings Limited, Barclays Mercantile Business Finance Limited, Barclays Merchant Bank (Singapore) Ltd., Barclays Nominees (George Yard) Limited, Barclays Nominees (Guernsey) Limited, Barclays Nominees (Jersey) Limited, Barclays Nominees (Manx) Limited, Barclays Oversight Management Inc., Barclays Payment Solutions Inc., Barclays Pelleas Investments Limited Partnership, Barclays Pelleas Investments S.a r.l., Barclays Pension Funds Trustees Limited, Barclays Principal Investments Limited, Barclays Private Asset Management (Monaco) S.A.M, Barclays Private Bank, Barclays Private Clients International Limited, Barclays Receivables LLC, Barclays SAMS Limited, Barclays Securities (India) Private Limited, Barclays Securities Japan Limited, Barclays Security Trustee Limited, Barclays Services (Japan) Limited, Barclays Services Corporation, Barclays Services Jersey Limited, Barclays Services LLC, Barclays Services Limited, Barclays Shea Limited, Barclays Singapore Global Shareplans Nominee Limited, Barclays Switzerland Services SA, Barclays Tenedora De Immuebles SL., Barclays Term Funding Limited Liability Partnership, Barclays UK Investments Limited, Barclays US CCP Funding LLC, Barclays US Funding LLC, Barclays US GPF Inc., Barclays US Investments Inc., Barclays US LLC, Barclays Unquoted Investments Limited, Barclays Unquoted Property Investments Limited, Barclays Wealth Management Jersey Limited, Barclays Wealth Nominees Limited, Barclays Wealth Services Limited, Barclays Wealth Trustees (India) Private Limited, Barclayshare Nominees Limited, Barclaytrust Channel Islands Limited, Barcosec Limited, Barsec Nominees Limited, Blossom Finance General Partnership, Branchcall Computers (Pvt) Limited, Braven Investments No.1 Limited, CP Flower Guaranteeco (UK) Limited, CP Newco 1 Limited, CP Newco2 Limited, CP Newco3 Limited, CP Propco 1 Limited, CP Propco 2 Limited, CP Topco Limited, CPIA Canada Holdings, CPIA England 2008 Limited Partnership, CPIA England 2009 Limited Partnership, CPIA England No.2 Limited Partnership, CPIA Investments No.1 Limited, CPIA Investments No.2 Limited, CRE Diversified Holdings LLC, CREW Tahoe Holdings LLC, CREW Tahoe LLC, Calthorpe Investments Limited, Capton Investments Limited, Carnegie Holdings Limited, Central Platte Valley Management LLC, Chapelcrest Investments Limited, Charles Schwab Europe, Claudas Investments Limited, Claudas Investments Two Limited, Clydesdale Financial Services Limited, Cobalt Investments Limited, Compania Regional del Sur S.A., Compania Sudamerica S.A., Condor No.1 Limited Partnership, Cornwall Homes Loans Limited, Crescent Crown Land Holding SPV LLC, Crescent Legacy LLC, Crescent Plaza Residential L.P., Crescent Plaza Residential LLC, Crescent Plaza Residential LP LLC, Crescent Real Estate Member LLC, Crescent Resort Development LLC, Crescent TRS Holdings LLC, Crescent Tower Residences GP LLC, Crescent Tower Residences L.P., Curve Investments GP, DBL Texas Holdings LLC, DMW Realty Limited, Desert Mountain Development LLC, Desert Mountain Properties Limited Partnership, Develop Training Group Limited, Dorset Home Loans Limited, Durlacher Nominees Limited, EWRD Summit LLC, Eagle Financial and Leasing Services (UK) Limited, East West Resort Development V L.P. L.L.L.P., East West Resort Development VII LLC, Equity Limited Partnership, Equity Value Investments No.1 Limited, Equity Value Investments No.2 Limited, Erimon Home Loans Ireland Limited, Expobank, FIRSTPLUS Financial Group Limited, Finpart Nominees Limited, First Assurance, Foltus Investments Limited, Full House Holdings Limited, Gallen Investments Limited, Global Dynasty Natural Resource Private, Globe Nominees Limited, Gracechurch Services Corporation, Grays Station LLC, Grupo Financiero Barclays Mexico S.A. de C.V., Hawkins Funding Limited, Heraldglen Limited, Holding Stuttgarter Strae GmbH, Hurley Investments No.1 Limited, Imalivest Mineral Resources LP, Investors In Infrastructure Limited, J.V. Estates Limited, JV Assets Limited, Kirsche Investments Limited, LTDL Holdings LLC, La Torretta Beverages LLC, La Torretta Hospitality LLC, La Torretta Operations LLC, Lagalla Investments LLC, Leonis Investments LLP, Liability Partnership, Long Island Assets Limited, Long Island Holding A LLC, Long Island Holding B Limited, MK Opportunities GP Ltd, MK Opportunities LP, MVWP Investors LLC, Maloney Investments Limited, Marbury Holdings LLC, Menlo Investments Limited, Mercantile Credit Company Limited, Mercantile Leasing Company (No.132) Limited, Meridian (SPV-AMC) Corporation, Mintaka Investments No. 4 Limited, Mira Vista Development LLC, Mira Vista Golf Club L.C., Mountainside Partners LLC, Murray House Investment Management Limited, Naxos Investments Limited, Nile Bank, North Colonnade Investments Limited, Northstar Mountain Properties LLC, Northstar Trailside Townhomes LLC, Northstar Village Townhomes LLC, Northwharf Investments Limited, Northwharf Nominees Limited, OGP Leasing Limited, Oakes Millers Ltd, Ownership Trustee Limited, PIA England No.2 Limited Partnership, Palomino Limited, Pecan Aggregator LP, Pelleas Investments Limited, Pelleas Investments Two Limited, Pippin Island Investments Limited, Preferred Liquidity LLC, Preferred Liquidity Limited Partnership, Procella Investments LLC, Procella Investments No.1 LLC, Procella Investments No.2 LLC, Procella Investments No.3 LLC, Protium Finance I LLC, Protium Master Grantor Trust, Protium Master Mortgage LP, Protium REO I LP, R.C. Grieg Nominees Limited, RVH Limited, RVT CLO Investments LLP, Razzoli Investments Limited, Real Estate Participation Management Limited, Real Estate Participation Services Limited, Relative Value Holdings LLC, Relative Value Investments UK Limited, Relative Value Trading Limited, Roder Investments No. 1 Limited, Roder Investments No. 2 Limited, Ruthenium Investments Limited, SPM GP Limited, Securitized Asset Backed Receivables LLC, Servicios Barclays S.A. de C.V., Societe Civile Immobiliere 31 Avenue de la Costa, Solution Personal Finance Limited, Southern Peaks Mining LP, Standard Life Aberdeen, Surety Trust Limited, Surrey Funding Corporation, Sussex Purchasing Corporation, Sutton Funding LLC, Swan Lane Investments Limited, TPLL LLC, TPProperty LLC, Tahoe Club Company LLC, Tahoe Club Employee Company, The Logic Group Enterprises Limited, The Logic Group Holdings Limited, Third Energy Holdings Limited, US Real Estate Holdings No. 2 Limited, US Real Estate Holdings No.1 Limited, US Real Estate Holdings No.3 Limited, US Secured Investments LLC, Union Center LLC, United Counties Bank, Verain Investments LLC, Walbrook Group Ltd, Wedd Jefferson (Nominees) Limited, Wessex Investments Limited, Westferry Investments Limited, Wilmington Riverfront Receivables LLC, Woolwich Homes Limited, Woolwich Plan Managers Limited, Woolwich Qualifying Employee Share, Woolwich Surveying Services Limited, Woori BC Pegasus Securitization Specialty Co. Limited, and Zeban Nominees Limited.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..TCF Financial Corporation operates as the financial holding company for TCF National Bank that provides various financial products and services in the United States and Canada. It operates through Consumer Banking, Commercial Banking, and Enterprise Services segments. The company offers checking, savings, and money market accounts; certificates of deposit; individual retirement accounts; debit and credit cards; and check cashing and remittance services. It also provides investment management and custodial services, trust services, financial and estate planning, and retirement planning and employee benefit programs; residential, consumer, and small business lending products; and consumer real estate secured lending, consumer loans, loans secured by personal property, and unsecured personal loans. In addition, the company offers loans and lines of credit, deposits, cash management, capital market products, international trade finance, letters of credit, foreign exchange management services, and loan syndication services. Further, it provides commercial and industrial, commercial real estate banking, and lease financing; and treasury services comprising investment and borrowing portfolios, as well as manages capital, debt, and market risks. As of December 31, 2020, the company operated 478 branches, including 373 traditional branches, 102 supermarket branches, and three campus branches located in Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, Colorado, Ohio, Wisconsin, Arizona, and South Dakota; and 1,062 ATMs. TCF Financial Corporation was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Detroit, Michigan.

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Embraer SA engages in the design, manufacture, and sale of aircraft and its parts for commercial, defense, and executive aviation sectors. It operates through the following segments: Commercial Aviation, Defense and Security, Executive Jet Business, Service & Support and Others. The Commercial Aviation segment is involved in the development, production, and sale of commercial jets; and the provision of support services to regional aviation and aircraft leasing. The Defense and Security segment engages in research, development, production, modification, and support for defense and security aircrafts, as well as other integrated products and solutions including satellites and information and communication systems. The Executive Jet Business segment deals with the development, manufacture, and sale of executive jets. The Service & Support segment provides after-service solutions and support to its customers through a comprehensive portfolio of innovative and competitive solutions to ensure operational efficiency of products manufactured by Embraer and by other aircraft manufacturers, extending the useful life of commercial, executive and defense aircraft. The Others segment refers to

Read MoreMagna International Inc. designs, engineers, and manufactures components, assemblies, systems, subsystems, and modules for original equipment manufacturers of vehicles and light trucks worldwide. The company operates through four segments: Body Exteriors & Structures, Power & Vision, Seating Systems, and Complete Vehicles. Its Body Exteriors & Structures segment provides body and chassis systems, as well as engineering and testing services; exterior systems, including fascia and trims, front end modules, front integration panels, liftgate modules, active aerodynamics, engineered glass, running boards, truck bed access products, and side doors; and roof systems, such as modular and textile folding roofs, and hard and soft tops. The company's Power & Vision segment offers dedicated hybrid, dual and e-clutch, and manual transmissions; engine drive plates and accessories; AWD/4WD products, rear drive modules, and hybrid and battery electric drive systems; transmission, engine, and driveline components; advanced driver assistance systems, camera systems, ultrasonic sensors, and electronic controllers; interior and exterior mirrors, actuators, door handles, overhead consoles, and camera monitoring systems; head, tail, and fog lamps; signal and other lighting products; and latching systems, door modules, window systems, power closure systems, hinges and wire forming, and handle assemblies. Its Seating Systems segment provides seat structures, mechanism and hardware solutions, and foam and trim products. The company's Complete Vehicles segment offers vehicle manufacturing and engineering services. It also designs, engineers, and manufactures tooling products. Magna International Inc. was founded in 1957 and is headquartered in Aurora, Canada.

Read MoreThe following companies are subsidiares of Bristol-Myers Squibb: 1096271 B.C. ULC, 345 Park LLC, A.G. Medical Services P.A., AHI Investment LLC, AbVitro LLC, Abraxis BioScience Australia Pty Ltd., Abraxis BioScience Inc., Abraxis BioScience International Holding Company Inc., Abraxis BioScience LLC, Abraxis BioScience Puerto Rico LLC, Acetylon Pharmaceuticals Inc., Adnexus, Adnexus a Bristol-Myers Squibb R&D Company, Allard Labs Acquisition G.P., Amira Pharmaceuticals, Amira Pharmaceuticals Inc., Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Apothecon LLC, B-MS Generx Unlimited Company, BMS Benelux Holdings B.V., BMS Bermuda Nominees L.L.C., BMS Data Acquisition Company LLC, BMS Forex Company, BMS Holdings Sarl, BMS Holdings Spain S.L., BMS International Insurance Designated Activity Company, BMS Investco SAS, BMS Korea Holdings L.L.C., BMS Latin American Nominees L.L.C., BMS Luxembourg Partners L.L.C., BMS Omega Bermuda Holdings Finance Ltd., BMS Pharmaceutical Korea Limited, BMS Pharmaceuticals Germany Holdings B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals International Holdings Netherlands B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals Korea Holdings B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals Mexico Holdings B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals Netherlands Holdings B.V., BMS Real Estate LLC, BMS Spain Investments LLC, BMS Strategic Portfolio Investments Holdings Inc., Blisa Acquisition G.P., Bristol (Iran) S.A., Bristol Iran Private Company Limited, Bristol Laboratories Inc., Bristol Laboratories International S.A., Bristol Laboratories Medical Information Systems Inc., Bristol-Myers (Andes) L.L.C., Bristol-Myers (Private) Limited, Bristol-Myers Middle East S.A.L., Bristol-Myers Overseas Corporation, Bristol-Myers Squibb (China) Investment Co. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (China) Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (Israel) Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (NZ) Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb (Proprietary) Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb (Shanghai) Trading Co. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (Singapore) Pte. Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb (Taiwan) Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (West Indies) Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb A.E., Bristol-Myers Squibb Aktiebolag, Bristol-Myers Squibb Argentina S. R. L., Bristol-Myers Squibb Australia Pty. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Axia Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb B.V., Bristol-Myers Squibb Belgium S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb Business Services Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada Co., Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada International Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Delta Company Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Denmark Filial of Bristol-Myers Squibb AB, Bristol-Myers Squibb EMEA Sarl, Bristol-Myers Squibb Egypt LLC, Bristol-Myers Squibb Epsilon Holdings Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Farmaceutica Ltda., Bristol-Myers Squibb Farmaceutica Portuguesa S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb GesmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb GmbH & Co. KGaA, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holding Germany GmbH & Co. KG, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings 2002 Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Germany Verwaltungs GmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Ireland Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Pharma Ltd. Liability Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Ilaclari Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb India Pvt. Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb International Company Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb International Corporation, Bristol-Myers Squibb Investco L.L.C., Bristol-Myers Squibb K.K., Bristol-Myers Squibb Kft., Bristol-Myers Squibb Luxembourg International S.C.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Bristol-Myers Squibb MEA GmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb Manufacturing Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Marketing Services S.R.L., Bristol-Myers Squibb Middle East & Africa FZ-LLC, Bristol-Myers Squibb Norway Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Nutricionales de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Bristol-Myers Squibb Peru S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma (HK) Ltd, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma (Thailand) Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma EEIG, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma Holding Company LLC, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma Ventures Corporation, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Polska Sp. z o.o., Bristol-Myers Squibb Products SA, Bristol-Myers Squibb Puerto Rico Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb Puerto Rico/Sanofi Pharmaceutical Partnership Puerto Rico, Bristol-Myers Squibb Romania S.R.L., Bristol-Myers Squibb S.A.U., Bristol-Myers Squibb S.r.l., Bristol-Myers Squibb SA, Bristol-Myers Squibb Sanofi Pharmaceuticals Holding Partnership, Bristol-Myers Squibb Sarl, Bristol-Myers Squibb Service Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Services Sp. z o.o., Bristol-Myers Squibb Spol. s r.o., Bristol-Myers Squibb Theta Finance Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Trustees Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Verwaltungs GmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb de Colombia S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb de Costa Rica Sociedad Anonima, Bristol-Myers Squibb de Guatemala S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Bristol-Myers Squibb/Astrazeneca EEIG, Bristol-Myers Squibb/Pfizer EEIG, Bristol-Myers Squibb/Sanofi Pharmaceuticals Partnership, Bristol-Myers de Venezuela S.C.A., CHT I LLC, CHT II LLC, CHT III LLC, CHT IV LLC, CR Finance Company LLC, Cardioxyl Pharmaceuticals, Cardioxyl Pharmaceuticals Inc., Celem LLC, Celem Ltd., Celgene, Celgene A.B., Celgene AS, Celgene Ab (Finland), Celgene Alpine Investment Co. II LLC, Celgene Alpine Investment Co. III LLC, Celgene Alpine Investment Co. LLC, Celgene ApS, Celgene B.V., Celgene BVBA, Celgene Brasil Produtos Farmaceuticos Ltda., Celgene CAR LLC, Celgene CAR Ltd., Celgene Chemicals Sarl, Celgene China Holdings LLC, Celgene Co., Celgene Corporation, Celgene Distribution B.V., Celgene EngMab GmbH, Celgene Europe B.V., Celgene Europe Limited, Celgene European Investment Company LLC, Celgene Financing Company LLC, Celgene Global Holdings Sarl, Celgene GmbH [Austria], Celgene GmbH [Germany], Celgene GmbH [Switzerland], Celgene Holdings East Corporation, Celgene Holdings II Sarl, Celgene Holdings III Sarl, Celgene Ilac Pazarlama ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Celgene Inc., Celgene International Holdings Corporation, Celgene International II Sarl, Celgene International III Sarl, Celgene International Inc., Celgene International Sarl, Celgene K.K., Celgene Kft., Celgene Limited [Hong Kong], Celgene Limited [Ireland], Celgene Limited [New Zealand], Celgene Limited [Taiwan], Celgene Limited [UK], Celgene Logistics Sarl, Celgene Ltd, Celgene Luxembourg Sarl, Celgene Management Sarl, Celgene NJ Investment Co, Celgene Netherlands B.V., Celgene Netherlands Investment B.V., Celgene Pharmaceutical (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Celgene Pte. Ltd., Celgene Pty Ltd, Celgene Puerto Rico Distribution LLC, Celgene Quanticel Research Inc, Celgene R&D Sarl, Celgene RIVOT LLC, Celgene RIVOT Ltd., Celgene RIVOT SRL, Celgene Receptos Limited, Celgene Receptos Sarl, Celgene Research Incubator At Summit West LLC, Celgene Research S.L.U., Celgene Research and Development Company LLC, Celgene Research and Development I ULC, Celgene Research and Development II LLC, Celgene Research and Investment Company II LLC, Celgene S. de R.L. de C.V., Celgene S.L.U., Celgene S.R.L., Celgene SAS, Celgene Sarl AU, Celgene Sdn Bhd, Celgene Services Sarl, Celgene Sociedade Unipessoal Lda, Celgene Sp. Z.o.o., Celgene Sro [Czech Republic], Celgene Summit Investment Co, Celgene Switzerland Holding Sarl, Celgene Switzerland II LLC, Celgene Switzerland Investment Sarl, Celgene Switzerland LLC, Celgene Switzerland Sarl, Celgene Tri A Holdings Ltd., Celgene Tri Sarl, Celgene UK Distribution Limited, Celgene UK Holdings Limited, Celgene UK Manufacturing II Limited, Celgene UK Manufacturing III Limited, Celgene UK Manufacturing Limited, Celgene d.o.o., Celgene sro [Slovakia], Celmed LLC, Celmed Ltd., ConvaTec Divestiture, Cormorant Pharmaceuticals, Cormorant Pharmaceuticals AB, Crosp Ltd., Delinia Inc., Deuteria Pharmaceuticals Inc., DuPont Pharmaceuticals, E. R. Squibb & Sons Inter-American Corporation, E. R. Squibb & Sons L.L.C., E. R. Squibb & Sons Limited, EWI Corporation, EngMab Sarl, F-star Alpha, FermaVir Pharmaceuticals L.L.C., FermaVir Research L.L.C., Flexus Biosciences, Flexus Biosciences Inc., Forbius, Galecto Biotech, GenPharm International L.L.C., Gloucester Pharmaceuticals LLC, Grove Insurance Company Ltd., Heyden Farmaceutica Portuguesa Limitada, IFM Therapeutics, Impact Biomedicines Inc., Inhibitex, Inhibitex L.L.C., Innate Tumor Immunity Inc., JuMP Holdings LLC, Juno Therapeutics GmbH, Juno Therapeutics Inc., Kosan Biosciences, Kosan Biosciences Incorporated, Linson Investments Limited, Mead Johnson (Manufacturing) Jamaica Limited, Mead Johnson Jamaica Ltd., Medarex, Morris Avenue Investment II LLC, Morris Avenue Investment LLC, MyoKardia, O.o.o. Bristol-Myers Squibb, Oy Bristol-Myers Squibb (Finland) AB, Padlock Therapeutics, Padlock Therapeutics Inc., Pharmion LLC, Princeton Pharmaceutical Products Inc., Receptos LLC, Receptos Services LLC, RedoxTherapies Inc., Route 22 Real Estate Holding Corporation, SPV A Holdings ULC, Seamair Insurance DAC, Signal Pharmaceuticals LLC, Sino-American Shanghai Squibb Pharmaceuticals Limited, Societe Francaise de Complements Alimentaires(S.O.F.C.A.), Squibb Middle East S.A., Summit West Celgene LLC, Swords Laboratories, VentiRx Pharmaceuticals Inc., Westwood-Intrafin SA, Westwood-Squibb Pharmaceuticals Inc., X-Body Inc., ZymoGenetics, ZymoGenetics Inc., ZymoGenetics LLC, ZymoGenetics Paymaster LLC, iPierian, and iPierian Inc..The Bank of New York Mellon pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and currently has a dividend yield of 2.57%. The Bank of New York Mellon has been increasing its dividend for 12 consecutive years, indicating the company has a strong committment to maintain and grow its dividend. The dividend payout ratio of The Bank of New York Mellon is 33.92%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%. Based on earnings estimates, The Bank of New York Mellon will have a dividend payout ratio of 29.44% next year. This indicates that The Bank of New York Mellon will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

View The Bank of New York Mellon's dividend history.Lloyds Banking Group plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides a range of banking and financial services in the United Kingdom and internationally. It operates through three segments: Retail; Commercial Banking; and Insurance and Wealth. The Retail segment offers a range of financial service products, including current accounts, savings accounts, mortgages, motor finance, unsecured loans, leasing solutions, credit cards, and other financial services to personal and small business customers. The Commercial Banking segment provides lending, transactional banking, working capital management, risk management, and debt capital market services to small and medium-sized entities, corporates, and financial institutions. The Insurance and Wealth segment offers life, home, and car insurance products; and pension, investment, and wealth management products and services. It also provides digital and mobile banking, and telephone services, as well as advisory services for savings, investments, and planning for retirement. The company offers its products and services under the Lloyds Bank, Halifax, Bank of Scotland, Scottish Widows, MBNA, Schroders Personal Wealth, Black Horse, Lex Autolease, Birmingham Midshires, LDC, IWeb, and Agricultural Mortgage Corporation brands. Lloyds Banking Group plc was founded in 1695 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

Read MoreGreen Dot Corp. operates as a financial technology leader and bank holding company, which engages in the provision of modern banking and money movement accessible for all. It operates through the following segments: Account Services; Processing and Settlement Services; and Corporate and Other. The Account Services segment consists of revenues and expenses derived from deposit account programs, such as prepaid cards, debit cards, consumer and small business checking accounts, secured credit cards, payroll debit cards, and gift cards. The Processing and Settlement Services segment comprises of products and services that specialize in facilitating the movement of funds on behalf of consumers and businesses. The Corporate and Other segment represents eliminations of intersegment revenues and expenses, unallocated corporate expenses, depreciation and amortization, and other costs that are not considered when management evaluates segment performance. The company was founded by Steven W. Streit in October 1, 1999 and is headquartered in Pasadena, CA.

Read MorePosted Saturday, April 28, 2018 8:30 am

The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) encourages motorists to give turtles crossing roads a brake. Turtles are struck by cars throughout warmer months, but are at special risk this time of year because they are on the move.

Spring rains and warmer weather encourage turtles to emerge from their burrows and begin to search for food and mates, which sometimes leads them across roadways.

Turtles spend most of their lives in a small area of habitat, but sometimes wander as much as six miles. Young males make up most of the travelers as they search for territories of their own and for females. Females are also crossing roads in search of nesting sites.

Comfort is also a factor. Like other reptiles, turtles are cold-blooded so basking on warm asphalt feels good on cool spring days.

MDC encourages motorists to slow down when they see a turtle in the road and check to be sure they can safely steer around it. If helping a turtle cross a road, keep human safety as the number-one concern. Check for traffic and move the turtle across the road in the direction it is traveling.

MDC also advises people to leave wild turtles wild. Taking a wild turtle and keeping it as a pet usually ends in a slow death for the captive turtle.

Three-toed box turtles, ornate box turtles and common snapping turtles are species often seen crossing roads in Missouri. While most Missouri turtles live 15 to 30 years, box turtles can live 50 to 80 years, occasionally more than 100 years. They spend their quiet lives eating plants, earthworms and insects. Their shell provides a bony shield to protect them from most natural enemies. For more information on Missouri turtles, visit MDCs online Field Guide at nature.mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/search/turtle.The United Nations investigators have discovered five probable mass graves in eastern Congos Ituri Province, a UN peacekeeping mission said in a statement.

More than 100 people have been killed by violence in the province since mid-December. Tens of thousands of people have fled clashes in the region over recent weeks, traveling by boat to reach Uganda.

The report by the UN mission in the Central African nation provides the most comprehensive portrait to date of the human cost of months of violence between Lendu pastoralists and Hema herders since December.

The unrest is one of several conflicts in DR Congo, which drove a huge amount of people out of their homes over the past two years.

The investigators did not provide details about the suspected mass graves but indicated that about 120 towns and villages were pillaged and destroyed between December and mid-March.

DRC, under President Joseph Kabila, has been in political turmoil ever since Kabila refused to step down in December 2016, when his term ended. Kabila has clung on to power and no elections were held.

After all the violence and loss of life, Kabila has indicated that he will not be standing as a candidate to the elections slated for December 23, 2018.California is worried about coffee  and browned foods  as new law requires cancer warnings based on murky science

Californians may soon be seeing a cancer warning on their coffee cup whenever they order the brew. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elihu Berle has just proposed that coffee should come with a warning about the popular drinks supposed dangers to health.

The proposed ruling zeroes in on the carcinogen acrylamide, which is found in the roasting process. It is released when foods are prepared at high heat, including roasting, deep frying, and grilling. The Council for Education and Research on Toxins has sued coffee makers to get them to remove acrylamide from their beverages or post a warning on their products. But coffee makers said removing acrylamide would ruin their products flavor. For his part, Berle said that Starbucks and the 90 other co-defendants in the case failed to prove that coffee doesnt cause cancer.

Coffee lovers who oppose the proposed ruling have an ally in Alice Bender, director of nutrition at the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR). The nutrition expert thinks this coffee scare is a shame because most people dont know that other lifestyle factors, like weight and physical activity play a more important role in health and cancer risk.

True enough, evidence of the relationship between coffee and cancer is shaky. Bender herself denies that any such connection exists. Its also important to note that the proposed ruling doesnt stem from new scientific data on coffee and cancer.

Dr. Dale Shepard, a medical oncologist at the Cleveland Clinic explained that the proposal is a judicial decision, with no medical study to back it up. He admitted that lab animals exposed to high doses of acrylamide develop cancer, but there are no findings proving that the results apply to people. Shepard added that even the U.S. Food Drug Administration says acrylamide is safe for humans; the World Health Organization itself struck coffee out from its 2016 list of carcinogens after finding no evidence linking the beverage to cancer.

The power of the elements: Discover Colloidal Silver Mouthwash with quality, natural ingredients like Sangre de Drago sap, black walnut hulls, menthol crystals and more. Zero artificial sweeteners, colors or alcohol. Learn more at the Health Ranger Store and help support this news site.

Many recent studies negate the cancer scare in coffee. A meta-analysis of 127 studies showed that coffee may lower the risk of prostate, breast, colorectal, colon, and endometrial cancers. One other study, this time care of University of Sao Paolo researchers, revealed that regular coffee consumption reduced the odds of developing atherosclerosis among non-smokers.

Moderation is still the key. Enjoy your coffee, but drink in moderation, Bender said.

Here many ways to enjoy your coffee.

Iced  Summer is the perfect time to enjoy coffee. You can always drop pieces of ice cubes in your coffee. Or you can try storing it in the freezer, waiting for it to be partially frozen, then crushing the entire thing to make a flavorful coffee slushie.

 Summer is the perfect time to enjoy coffee. You can always drop pieces of ice cubes in your coffee. Or you can try storing it in the freezer, waiting for it to be partially frozen, then crushing the entire thing to make a flavorful coffee slushie. Popsicles  Pour the beverage in a popsicle tray, or add flavors and additives to make this summer treat more delightful.

Pour the beverage in a popsicle tray, or add flavors and additives to make this summer treat more delightful. Flavored  Enjoy guilt-free coffee by adding natural extracts like vanilla and almond-coconut milk.

Coffee need not be a symbol of stress or sleep deprivation. Experiment with flavors and try new recipes that will give you endless sources of pleasure and relaxation. Youll end up with wonderful memories of summer and other moments enjoying your favorite cup of healthy coffee.

Want to read more about ridiculous stories about people pushing fake science for their own social justice agendas? Visit FakeScience.news today.

Sources include:

Today.com

VergeCampus.com

JAHA.AHAJournals.org

TheGuardian.comThe Airports Authority of India (AAI) has signed its Annual Performance Contract (APC) for the year 2018-19 with Ministry of Civil Aviation.

New Delhi: The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has signed its Annual Performance Contract (APC) for the year 2018-19 with Ministry of Civil Aviation.

The MoU was signed on April 27 between Secretary (Civil Aviation) R.N. Choubey and Dr. Guruprasad Mohapatra, Chairman, AAI. On this occasion, senior officials from the Ministry and Board Members of AAI were also present.

The MoU specifies various parameters and targets to be performed by AAI during the year. The parameters and targets include all the major areas of AAI i.e. finance, capacity utilization, research and development, project implementation, HR and cargo etc.

The AAI has undertaken an ambitious target of Rs. 4,100 crores towards capital expenditure on airport infrastructure development during 2018-19.

The AAI has also signed target to utilize 94 per cent of its total passenger capacity at its airports. Also, to improve the quality of services, AAI has undertaken to carry out Airport Service Quality (ASQ) Survey at its top 20 airports by an International agency i.e. Airports Council International.

AAI has also agreed to carry out HR audit at its airports in order to strengthen its Human Resource.Union Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu said here on Saturday that the government plans to turn Goa into a logistics hub of the country.

Panaji: Union Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu said here on Saturday that the government plans to turn Goa into a logistics hub of the country.

"We are going to make Goa the logistics hub of the country. There are four coastal states on the Western coast- Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala and Goa. After Mumbai, the biggest airport that is going to come up is in Goa (in Mopa)," he said.

The minister was addressing a gathering at the 'Goa Start Up and Innovation Day' organised by the state Information and Technology Department. He said the existence of two airports in Goa, including the second facility at Mopa, which will be commissioned in 2020, would help position Goa as a logistics hub. According to him, once the Mopa airport is commissioned, it will have the capacity to handle 30 million tourists annually.

"We want to make sure that while it handles the passenger traffic, it also handles the cargo. The government of India is making a cargo policy, wherein the cargo will also drive the country's economy," he said.

"Total 40 per cent of the GDP will come from global trading like import and export. We want to make cargo as a major driver (of the economy)," he said.

The minister said that he has asked the special secretary in-charge of Union Environment Ministry to visit Goa in the next few days to prepare a concrete plan for the logistics hub.

The Centre and the Goa government must work in tandem to leverage the advantages that the state offers, he said. The existing airport at Dabolim is also getting upgraded with the investment of Rs 500-600 crore, the minister added.In 2010, the US Institute of Medicine called for four in five hospital nurses to have at least a bachelors degree by 2020. (Photo: AP)

Patients with Alzheimers disease and dementia may be less likely to die after surgery when theyre treated at hospitals that employ a larger proportion of nurses with at least a college degree, a US study suggests.

Previous research has linked more educated nurses to better outcomes for hospital patients and lower rates of deaths and serious complications. In 2010, the US Institute of Medicine called for four in five hospital nurses to have at least a bachelors degree by 2020.

The current study adds to the evidence linking more educated nurses to lower surgical mortality rates. It found better survival odds at hospitals where more nurses had at least four-year college degrees, even for some of the most vulnerable surgical patients: people with dementia, who already have a higher risk of complications or death.

This suggests that comprehensive nursing care plays an important role in reducing some of the excess risk patients with dementia face when undergoing surgery, and that better education helps nurses manage the higher complexity of this patient population, said lead study author Elizabeth White, a geriatric nurse practitioner and researcher at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing in Philadelphia.

As the population ages, hospitals will be faced with the challenges of caring for an increasing number of frail, cognitively impaired older adults, White said by email. Our findings suggest that transitioning to a largely (college-educated) nursing workforce, as the Institute of Medicine recommends, would contribute to improved surgical outcomes for this population.

Researchers examined data on surgical patients 65 and older covered by Medicare, the US health program for the elderly, who had general surgery, orthopedic procedures or vascular operations at 531 acute care hospitals in California, Florida, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

The study included 46,163 people with Alzheimers or dementia as well as a control group of 307,170 people who didnt have these conditions.

Overall, 12,369 patients, or 3.5 percent, died within 30 days of admission to the hospital, researchers report in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Mortality rates were much higher - at 8 percent - for dementia patients, compared with less than 3 percent for the people without dementia.

On average, about 38 percent of nurses had at least a four-year bachelors degree, although the proportion ranged from zero to 74 percent. Larger hospitals, teaching hospitals and high-technology facilities all tended to have more college-educated nurses.

After researchers accounted for the type of surgery and individual hospital and patient characteristics, each 10 percent increase in the proportion of nurses with at least a bachelors degree was linked to 4 percent lower odds of death for patients without dementia and 10 percent lower odds of death for patients with dementia.

The study wasnt a controlled experiment designed to prove whether or how nurses education might directly influence survival odds for surgery patients.

Still, the results add to evidence suggesting that this is one factor that can help improve patient outcomes, particularly for people with dementia who require complex care, said Dr. Rajesh Aggarwal, a professor of surgery at Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson Health in Philadelphia who wasnt involved in the study.

Greater education and experience will undoubtedly make the nurse better able to manage the care cycle for these patients, Aggarwal said by email.

The rest of the caregiving team also matters. Nursing care is critically important, but should not overshadow the co-management of Alzheimers disease and dementia patients across the whole care team, Aggarwal said.

Patients and families may want to go to hospitals where more nurses have college degrees, said Dr. Jennifer Watt, a geriatrician at St. Michaels Hospital and the University of Toronto in Canada.

All nurses must learn a core set of skills to provide safe and effective patient care, Watt, who wasnt involved in the study, said by email. However, nurses with at least a bachelors degree have likely spent more time training to care for sicker patients with a greater burden of medical illnesses and who require more complicated medical care.The man later revealed that his friend had inserted the chopstick up his penis 'for fun' while they were 'blind drunk' and sought medical attention the very next day. (Photo: Pixabay)

In a bizarre accident, a man claimed his friend inserted an entire chopstick up his penis while they were 'blind drunk'. He had the object removed in hospital.

The 42-year-old patient sought medical help in Vietnams southern Dong Nai Province after complaining of difficulty urinating and pain his penis.

Dr Tran Phuong of the Saigon-Dong Nai ITO Hospital, where the man was taken, said scans did not reveal the foreign bodies inside the man's penis, suggesting it was not metal.

According to the doctor, the chopstick had been shoved so deep into the organ that its tip was about 1.18 inches from the urethral opening.

The doctor added that the entire chopstick, which measured some 4 inches long, was able to be pushed out of the front end out of the patient's urethra by him, without the need for surgery.

The man later revealed that his friend had inserted the chopstick up his penis 'for fun' while they were 'blind drunk' and sought medical attention the very next day.

Dr Tran said the patient did not require an overnight stay and was discharged on the same day.Its becoming untenable to stay quiet at the gibberish netas spout without thought, in this case, dissing Diana Haydens Miss World title, while calling Aishwarya Rai beautiful!

After his Internet in the Mahabharata era remark, Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb on Thursday claimed that the international beauty pageants were a farce and questioned the rationale behind crowning Diana Hayden Miss World 21 years ago. He was all praise for Aishwarya Rai, who won the Miss World crown in 1994, saying she represents the Indian women in the true sense.

The CMs comments

Aishwarya Rai represents Indian beauty but Diana Hayden doesnt

Indian beauty should have the characteristics of Lakshmi and Saraswati, the Hindu goddesses for wealth and education. Hayden lacked such traits

Indian women did not use cosmetics in the old times. Indians did not use shampoo, they washed their hair with methi water and bathed with mud. These beauty pageant organisers are international marketing mafia, who spotted a huge market in the country.

Social media is raging with comments, asking the honourable CM to do something for Tripura that is ailing from many social ills, instead of commenting on Diana! Young UN Leader Trisha Shetty even tweeted, Dear @BjpBiplab, surely you have other pressing issues in Tripura that warrant your attention, over dissecting a womans looks. Well, it is apparent, he does not!

Shobhaa De, columnist and writer is aghast at the comments and in her renowned caustic humour quips, The only response from me is to publicly mock such men, by reversing roles and turning the tables. Lets do a feature by feature deconstruction of the Chief Minister himself and see how he scores. We can rate his biceps, waist line, hips, chest, facial features, hair and eyes, the works!

Former Miss Earth, 2010 Nicole Faria agrees with De, and lashes out at this misnomer of ideal beauty, It is false to claim that Indian beauty should conform to an ideal standard. Indians comprise nearly 20 per cent of the worlds population  thats 590 million Indian women today and to communicate a message that tells girls they must look a certain way to be considered a beautiful Indian is an insult to the wonderful diversity that makes this country great. Indian beauty is not a physical standard, rather, it is a spirit that is embodied in the hearts and minds of our girls.

The fact that politicians are regularly putting their foot in their mouth with the sheer absurdity of comments, has created uproar on social media. Beauty pageants, according to the CM are fixed, and fashion guru Prasad Bidapa is infuriated, Purely atrocious and (it) reveals his mindset. His statement has given the public an insight into Biplab Debs small mindset. He has absolutely no business to comment on something thats not pertinent to the issues the state is facing. He should be court martialled for being so irrelevant and atrocious while addressing the public. Is he (Biplab) a beautician? Who gives him the authority to comment about an industry he has no connect or an insiders perspective on? I suggest he steps down from the position of the CM and starts a modelling agency right away.

In a country that has the rich heritage of the Mahabharata and Ramayana, and the Upanishads and the Vedas, such comments are not just communal, but sexist and mindless. Advaita Kala, author and scriptwriter wonders when the right issues will come to the fore with such inane harangues, He made a frivolous comment. Though it cant be denied that pageants set unrealistic beauty standards for women, but that is a feminist response. Every politician and actor should speak up on issues that need our attention, and not on a womans beauty. He should stay away from making such comments. He should be concentrating on his state that has come out of communal rule, and address the areas lacking there.

In an era where the angst in society is palpable and the rhetoric needs to answer and address relevant issues, this latest rant is just an example of the kind of mindsets we are dealing with. Advaita adds, Comparing Aishwarya Rai and Diana Hayden is so irrelevant. Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. Be it a politician or a common man, one shouldnt make comments on a womans psychical attributes. This is unacceptable.According to a complaint filed by DJ Bobby Singh, Ravi shot at him after he refused to play songs of his choice. (Photo: Representational/File)

New Delhi: The Delhi Police on Friday arrested five people for allegedly shooting at a disc jockey for refusing to play songs of their choice at a wedding in Delhi.

Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Santosh Kumar Meena said in a statement that a police team apprehended Ravi (23), Sachin(19) and Joginder (27), Deepak (29) and his mother after raids at multiple locations in the city.

The woman was arrested for allegedly destroying evidence.

According to a complaint filed by DJ Bobby Singh, Ravi shot at him after he refused to play songs of his choice. Singh claimed that Deepak and Ravi took him to a nearby hospital and told doctors that the injury was caused by a screw.

The police said they had recovered two country made pistols from the accused.Hyderabad: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials carried out searches at the house of a senior railway official working in the city, who was caught red-handed, allegedly, while accepting a bribe of Rs 15 lakh from a contractor for processing his bills. The person who was giving the bribe was also arrested.

According to CBI officials, the official was identified as K Venkateshawara Rao, Group General Manager (civil), RITES Project Office, Secunderabad.

Venkateshwar Rao, GGM (civil) was actively involved in awarding contracts for various works after collecting huge bribe amounts," said Superintendent of Police, CBI.

Recently, RITES Limited awarded a contract to M/s K V R Infrastructure Limited, represented by M Raj Kumar, Dindigul, Tamil Nadu of Rs 11 crore and the bill in question amounting to Rs 1.5 crore.

K. Venkateshwara Rao demanded an illegal gratification of Rs 15 lakhs for clearing the pending bills of Mr Raj Kumar. The latter deputed his project manager Mr. Shankar to deliver the Rs 15 lakh as demanded. On receiving specific information we laid a trap and arrested K Venkateshwara Rao and Shankar, the official said.

Soon after arresting him the officials started searches at the office of the official and seized some incriminating documents. The accused will be produced before the court on Sunday.

The CBI officials said that people who had any complaints with regard to corruption in the central government departments, insurance companies, PSUs and banks could lodged a complaint with them.Permanent Representative of Belarus V.Rybakov participates in the high-level meeting on peacebuilding and sustaining peace

27-04-2018

On April 26, 2018 the Permanent Representative of Belarus to the UN Valentin Rybakov addressed the UN General Assembly at a High-Level Meeting on Peacebuilding and Sustaining Peace.

The meeting initiated by President of the UN General Assembly Miroslav Laichak is considered one of the key events at the UN this year and is held as a follow up to the initiative of Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to review the existing architecture of peace and security in order to find new ways of resolving global and regional conflicts.

Valentin Rybakov criticized the current international situation characterized by unprecedented conflicts accompanied by direct military aggression, state-level provocations, threats and militant rhetoric. The statement of the representative of Belarus emphasized the inadmissibility of neglecting the values of peace in modern conditions, when the level of confrontation between countries has reached a critical point.

Belarus highlighted its contribution to the maintenance of regional stability and security, and also drew attention to the growing need to collectively work to renew a comprehensive process aimed at overcoming the gaps between East and West based on the principles of the Helsinki process.

print versionWCD Minister Maneka Gandhi recently supported a petition on Change.org by filmmaker-activist Insia Dariwala, who said 'male child sexual abuse is an ignored reality in India'. (Photo: PTI/Representational)

New Delhi: The Centre is planning to amend the POCSO Act to provide justice to male child victims of sexual assault, the Women and Child Development Ministry said, days after an ordinance promulgated by President Ram Nath Kovind provided the death penalty for rape of girls under the age of 12.

"The government has always strived to develop gender neutral laws. Government has proposed amendment in the POCSO Act to seek justice for survivors of child sexual abuse," it said on its official Twitter handle on Thursday.

WCD Minister Maneka Gandhi recently supported a petition on Change.org by filmmaker-activist Insia Dariwala, who said "male child sexual abuse is an ignored reality in India".

Replying to the petition, she said a first-of-its-kind study on male survivors of child sexual abuse would be conducted.

"Another much neglected sphere of child sexual abuse is male survivors. Child sexual abuse is gender neutral. Boys who are sexually abused as children spend a lifetime of silence because of the stigma and shame attached to male survivors speaking out. It is a serious problem and needs to be addressed," she said in her response on the campaign website.

Gandhi said following the petition, she had in September 2017 instructed the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) to look into the issue.

The NCPCR held a conference in this regard in November last year.

"As per the recommendations that emerged from the conference, it was unanimously decided that there should be an amendment to the existing scheme for the victims of CSA to also include compensation for boys who have been sexually abused or raped," she said.

Earlier last week, President Ram Nath Kovind promulgated an ordinance to pave way for providing stringent punishment, including death penalty, for those convicted of raping girls below the age of 12 years.

Also Read: President signs ordinance on death penalty for rape of children below 12

In case of rape of a girl under 16 years, the minimum punishment was increased from 10 years to 20 years, extendable to imprisonment for rest of life, which means jail term till the convict's "natural life".

The ordinance gained significance in the wake of huge outrage over Kathua and Unnao rape cases.

With this, the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Evidence Act, the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act stands amended.

According to the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance 2018, new fast-track courts will be set up to deal with such cases and special forensic kits for rape cases will be given to all police stations and hospitals in the long term.

The measure also provides for speedy investigation and trial. The time limit for investigation of all cases of rape has been prescribed, which has to be mandatorily completed within two months.

A six-month time limit for the disposal of appeals in rape cases has also been prescribed. There will also be no provision for anticipatory bail for a person accused of rape or gangrape of a girl under 16 years.Ramesh Venkata Pothuru, 44, a former owner and operator of Virgo Inc. and Isync Solutions, was sentenced to one year and one day in prison following convictions for wire and visa fraud. (Photo: File)

New York: An Indian-origin man has been sentenced to prison in the US after being convicted for wire and visa fraud, under which he collected over USD 450,000 in illegal filing fees for H-1B visas and green cards for workers from India.

Ramesh Venkata Pothuru, 44, a former owner and operator of Virgo Inc. and Isync Solutions, was sentenced to one year and one day in prison following convictions for wire and visa fraud, according to a statement from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The sentencing follows a joint investigation by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Document and Benefit Fraud Task Force (DBFTF).

Pothuru collected over USD 450,000 in illegal filing fees and related expenses from more than 100 fraudulent visas and employer-sponsored green cards for nonimmigrant workers from his native India.

The investigation disclosed that between 2010 and 2013, Pothuru collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in filing fees from workers he was sponsoring under the H-1B nonimmigrant worker visa program.

Federal regulations prohibit employers from soliciting payments from H-1B non-immigrant workers to cover the costs associated with filing fees, which fees are required by law to be borne by the sponsoring US employer.

In addition, many of the H-1B non-immigrant workers were also recipients of employer-sponsored permanent foreign labour certification applications filed by Pothuru with the Department of Labor.

Permanent foreign labour certification filings typically involve costs of over several thousand dollars in addition to the filing fees; Pothuru unlawfully collected both from the employees.

Pothuru collected these illegal fees and expenses from the employees he sponsored for H-1B visas and green cards through direct payments to his personal bank accounts.

He subsequently submitted false applications in which he did not identify the fees that he collected from the non-immigrant workers and swore that he did not collect, the statement said.Madras High Court allowed farmer leader P Ayyakannu to stage protest at Marina beach for one-day over the issue of constitution of Cauvery Management Board. (Photo: File)

Chennai: Madras High Court allowed farmer leader P Ayyakannu to stage protest at Marina beach for one-day over the issue of constitution of Cauvery Management Board (CMB).

Ayyakannu is a lawyer and farmer born in Tamil Nadu. He had led a 41-day protest against the Central government at New Delhi, demanding the agricultural loan in cooperative banks to be abandoned.

The Cauvery Issue is a hot issue these days in Tamil Nadu. Almost all the political parties have been pressurising the Centre to constitute Cauvery Management Board and Cauvery Water Regulatory Committee (CWRC) after a recent Supreme Court order reduced the water share of Tamil Nadu.

On February 16, a three-judge Supreme Court of India bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices Amitava Roy and AM Khanwilkar pronounced the judgement on the Cauvery Water Dispute between the states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala and the UT of Puducherry.

The bench directed Karnataka to release 177.25 TMC of water, instead of the 192 TMC, to Tamil Nadu.

The apex court also ordered the Central government to set up the CMB and the CWRC within six weeks. The court will now hear the matter on May 3.

On April 9, the Supreme Court criticised the Centre and asked it to frame a draft scheme by May 3 for implementation of its February 16 judgment.

The apex court criticised the Centre for neither framing the scheme in six weeks as directed by it nor approaching the court prior to the March 31 deadline to convey that it had difficulties.

Meanwhile, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on April 21 wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that the state government is against the formation of the CMB as it is 'unconstitutional'.

In his letter, he mentioned that the Supreme Court has not directed any mechanism towards the formation of the CMB.The traffic police are sending minors to juvenile homes if they are caught more than once. (Representational Image)

Hyderabad: Hyderabad traffic police have imprisoned 26 parents in the city for allowing their minor children to drive. As of April 23 this year, 273 cases of minor driving in the city have been filed, and an amount of Rs 180,600 collected as penalty.

The strict action comes after a reported increase in incidents of minors being involved in accidents. Apart from the action against parents, a minor was sent to a juvenile home for a month. The traffic police are sending minors to juvenile homes if they are caught more than once.

According to road safety experts, one of the most effective methods of controlling minor driving is by making parents responsible. Most minors drive or ride through back streets rather than main roads. Campaigns need to be doubled and parents need to attend these campaigns arra-nged through schools along with their wards, say the experts.

Hyderabad traffic police additional commissioner Anil Kumar told DC, We jailed 20 parents in March and six in April. Of the 273 minors booked this year for driving in the city, all were produced in court, which sentenced the 26 parents to imprisonment. We are conducting regular enforcement campaigns against minor driving. It is a very serious issue, because not only does it endanger the life of a minor, but the lives of others. Parents should be made liable for all such violations.

Ahsan Pasha of Traffic Sense said, Effective monitoring is required, either through cameras or regular policing. We also need enough trained manpower to monitor cameras and raise fines, failing which people will continue to break the law.

Indian Federation of Road Safety founder K. Vinod Kanumala said, Imprisonment of parents for minor driving is a good sign. Parents should be more cautious about their children and see that they are kept away from vehicles, no matter how severely their children pressurise them.Chennai: The Madras high court has ordered CB-CID probe in connection with allegation of advocate S. Tamilarasan duping family members of victims of Kumbakonam fire tragedy with the compensation provided by the government to them.

The advocate Tamilarasan allegedly swindled a part of the compensation provided to the victims family members. In the major fire accident that took place at Sri Krishna School in Kumbakonam, 94 students were charred to death and 18 children sustained burns on July 16, 2004. On direction from the court, the government awarded a compensation to the family members of the fire victims.

While passing an interim order on batch of petitions on Friday, the Division Bench comprising Justice R. Mahadevan and Justice V. Pathiban said Having regard to the nature of the issue involved herein and considering the gravity of the offence committed by Tamilarasan, the matter is directed to be taken by the CB-CID for proper investigation. For such purpose, this court suo motu impleads the CB-CID as a party respondent in this petition.

On March 16 the bench allowed all the 49 petitions filed by the families of Kumbakonam fire tragedy to implead them who sought for a direction to the Counsel S. Tamilarasan to refund the amount illegally transferred from the compensation amount awarded by the government to them.

According to Marimuthu, one of the petitioners, the state government had deposited a sum of Rs 8, 01,433 on December 21, 2016, to the credit of his SB account. Even before the amount was deposited in his account, the counsel S. Tamilarasan came to Kumbakonam and summoned the parents and obtained two undated cheques and signed blank papers from each of the claimants.Thereafter, to his shock and surprise he received a message from the bank on December 22 saying that Rs 2.30 lakh was deducted from his account.

He rushed to the bank and found to his dismay that the counsel had misused the blank cheques and diverted the money in his name and in the names of his close relatives.

The bench also directed the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry to take appropriate action against Tamilarasan and suspend him from practicing as an advocate till such time.

The matter will be taken up on June 5 for filing report by the CB-CID and TN Bar Council and for passing further orders.The summit is being seen as an effort by India and China to rebuild trust and improve ties that were hit by the 73-day-long Doklam standoff last year. (Photo: Twitter/@MEAIndia)

New Delhi/Wuhan: Prime Minister Narendra Modi flew back to Delhi on Saturday after a private lunch hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping in Wuhan.

The menu card designed for the private lunch hosted for PM Modi had colours of the Indian flag, along with the picture of national bird peacock.

Earlier in the day, Modi and Xi walked along a sidewalk on the shores of the picturesque East Lake here and later sailed in the same boat for "peace, prosperity and development" in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere.

Modi and Xi on Saturday began their last round of one-on-one talks on the second day of a two-day informal summit.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said he held "extensive and fruitful" talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping during their first round of two-day informal summit in Wuhan on Friday.

"I am very pleased to meet with President Xi Jinping in Wuhan. We conducted extensive and fruitful talks and exchanged opinions on strengthening India-China relations and other international issues," Modi said in a post in the popular Chinese social media Weibo, where he has 1,83,112 followers.

"Thank you, President Xi Jinping, for the wonderful gesture of personally accompanying me in the Hubei Provincial Museum. The Museum is home to great facets of Chinese history and culture," he said.

Also Read: Modi-Xi call for peace along Indo-Sino border, pledge to fight terror

Earlier on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Xi Jinping at Hubei Provincial Museum.

Billed as 'heart-to-heart', the informal summit aimed at evolving consensus between the two leaders to look for solutions to some of the most contentious issues including the border dispute bedevilling the two countries.

The summit is being seen as an effort by India and China to rebuild trust and improve ties that were hit by the 73-day-long Doklam standoff last year.

Attempting to bridge the differences between the two countries, Prime Minister Modi has also offered to host the next informal summit with Xi Jinping in India next year.

Also Read: Will be happy to host informal meet in 2019: PM Modi invites Xi Jinping

The two leaders began their informal meetings way back in 2014 when Xi was hosted by Modi at the Sabarmati Ashram of Mahatma Gandhi in Gujarat. They have met and interacted with each other in about a dozen international meetings since then.

(With PTI inputs)Janardhan was a minister in the BS Yeddyurappa government. He was removed after massive corruption charges involving illegal mining in 2011. (Photo: File)

Bengaluru: Even as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah disowned former minister and mining baron Gali Janardhan Reddy, the party's chief ministerial candidate BS Yeddyurappa said that the tainted minister would campaign for the upcoming Karnataka polls.

This comes days after Amit Shah had said that the BJP has nothing to do with Janardhan Reddy.

Talking to NDTV, Yeddyurappa said Janardhan Reddy will support the BJP in two-three districts, adding that "it will be helpful for us".

On being asked about a possible damage to the party's image, Yeddyurappa said "it was a crucial time" and that the "party will take the help of everyone who support their candidates" in the polls.

In a surprise move, the BJP has fielded two brothers of Janardhan Reddy from Bellary -- Gali Somasekhara Reddy and Gali Karunakar Reddy.

Yeddyurappa said that Janardhan had not asked for party tickets and that the decision was taken "unanimously" by the party.

Earlier on Wednesday, 49-year-old, Janardhan Reddy was seen just outside the Bellari district campaigning for his friend V Sriramulu, the BJP candidate in Molakalmuru in Chitradurga district.

Also Read: Working for BJP: Disowned Janardhan Reddy campaigns for party in K'taka

Janardhans road show was entirely a BJP affair, complete with the party colours in flags, banners and scarves.

The 49-year-old, who has spent three years in jail over multiple charges of corruption and illegal mining, is out on bail since 2015.

Janardhan was a minister in the BS Yeddyurappa government. He was removed after massive corruption charges involving illegal mining in 2011.

While the Reddy brothers were credited with helping the BJP win its first-ever state in south India, later, they were seen to be behind much dissident activity against BS Yeddyurappa, who stepped down in 2011 following corruption charges.

Earlier on Friday, Congress President Rahul Gandhi hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a graft issue, accusing him of supporting mining baron Reddy brothers.

"Modi's aim is to give Karnataka's wealth into the hands of Reddy brothers, to give it to 5-10 rich people. Congress will never allow it to happen. Listen it is impossible," he said.

Karnataka will go to polls on May 12 to elect its representatives for the 225-member assembly. The results will be out on May 15.Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao on Saturday announced that an NRI Cell with a Rs 50-crore fund would be set up to help NRIs during emergencies. He said that assistance would be available to NRIs from Telangana living in any country.

Mr Rao had lunch with NRI representatives at Pragati Bhavan on Saturday. Ministers K.T. Rama Rao and Nayani Narasimha Reddy, MP K. Kavita, MLAs Errabelli Dayakar Rao, Ganesh Gupta, Sri Srinivas Goud, and V. Prashanth Reddy, and NRI coordinator Mahesh Beegala were among those present.

The leaders and representatives discussed the development of Telangana, national politics, and the welfare of NRIs.

The Chief Minister urged NRIs from Telangana NRIs to start discussions on his mission to bring about a qualitative change in Indian politics by floating a third front at the national level.

He asked them to talk about the efforts being made by leaders in Telangana towards the development of a national agenda and called on them support the movement. He said that he wanted them to become stakeholders in the attempt being made to better the future of the country.Hyderabad: The Union government is planning a revival of the ancient Vedic system of education on the grounds that modern education has failed society and resulted in increased crime. This was part of Union human resource development (HRD) minister Prakash Javadekars statement at the inauguration of the three-day International Virat Gurukul Sammelan in Ujjain on Saturday. We are working on the new education policy and have asked for suggestions. We will have a draft in a month and in three months, the policy will be ready, mr Javadekar said.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has long been campaigning for Vedic and Gurukul systems of education in the country, and RSS leaders also attended the inaugural event. Over 900 gurukuls from India and Nepal are attending the conference.

Minister of state for HRD Satyapal Singh, who was also present at the event, said modern education has failed to check growing crime. Every child in India should be sent to a gurukul for the first five years. Only Vedic education can nurture our children and make them patriots with mental discipline, Mr Singh reportedly said.

The education system in ancient India is commonly known as the Vedic system of education, since education was largely based on the Vedas, a word which in Sanskrit means to know. In ancient India, teaching was considered a holy duty, which a teacher was bound to discharge irrespective of the fee, in the missionary spirit of sacrifice, and society held that both the people and the state should help teachers and educational institutions liberally.

The stated objectives of Vedic education were character formation, all round personality development, intellectual development, spiritual development, and preserving and transmitting culture and education. The curriculum included Vedic literature, Vedangas and physical education, among other subjects.

However, it remains to be seen whether the various states, particularly the non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ruled ones, will accept an education policy formed in accordance with RSS ideology. Since education is on the concurrent list, the Centre cannot order states to adopt any policy.Puducherry: Courting controversy yet again, Puducherry Lt Governor Kiran Bedi on Saturday ordered denial of free rice to all those in the Union Territory whose villagers are not certified as free of garbage and open defecation by end of May. She withdrew the order late evening in the face of all-round criticism slamming her decision as dictatorial and humiliating the poor.

In a Whatsapp message in the night, Ms Bedi said the poor and the needy would be provided their entitlement as per the law made by Central government and rules framed by UT government. Justifying her morning order as an expression of my serious intent and concern on addressing the root causes of health hazards in rural areas and compel performance of community and administrative leadership, she said she was now withholding the previous communication.

To avoid misreading of this intention and in view of the forthcoming commitment made by the UT Government that villages in Puducherry will achieve ODF by June end, I am happy to give them some more time. Therefore I am withholding my earlier communications, she said.

After visiting Mannadipet village here, which she said was the 155th weekend trip to rural Puducherry, the Lt Governor said, I am very anguished at the slow pace of rural sanitation. The last two years, I have not seen local representatives and concerned public officials determined to make rural Puducherry clean within a time frame. I am sorry this cannot go on.

She lashed out at the local representatives, community leaders and public officials for showing no interest in making rural Puducherry clean within a time frame. In all our rural visits, we have seen community leaders putting forth various demands on behalf of the people, but I have never seen any of them impatient at cleaning up the village in their constituency which is the cause of several diseases, she said.

If you want dialysis machine, clean up your village. You want free rice, clean up your village... Men, women children, everyone clean up your village. You have one months time. It will be given to you only on the condition that the village is clean, said Ms Bedi in her address to the villagers.

She later wrote to Chief Minister V. Narayanasami informing him of her decision and her order to the Civil Supplies Commissioner to send notices to all the villages giving them time till May 31 to clean up their villages. This action, I presume, will inculcate a sense of responsibility/duty amongst our people and will hasten our objective of Swachh Grameen Union Territory, she told the CM.

CM Narayanasamy, needless to say, was not pleased with the Lt Governors decision. He slammed it saying it was against Constitution. So did many political leaders and social activists. AIADMK legislature party leader A Anbazhagan called Ms Bedis order autocratic and said it cannot be accepted. She was threatening poor villagers, which was unbecoming of her position as Lt. Governor, he said.

Ms Bedis decision to stop rice for the poor became a huge hit on the social media through the day, with most people slamming her as being insensitive towards the poor and punishing the villagers for the failure of her officials down the line.

One twitteratti following her post showed her home city Delhi in all its glorious filth and said: Madam, this is your own Delhi where you have born and brought up! Dont blame @ArvindKejriwal for this because its the responsibility of BJP ruled MCD. Please clean your backyard first. Jai Hind.

Another tweet wondered if those villagers who had no toilets of their own could use those available at Ms Bedis Raj Nivas. Yet another tweet demanded to know if Kiran Bedi considered herself to be the queen of Puducherry.

However, Ms Bedis tweet announcing the retraction of the hard decision on rice got her some positive responses, with some encouraging her to carry on her good work. One of them posted: Ji ignore this fringe politiciansthey all are grew up in garbage only... they never want to see any change. Look at all roads in Chennai and Tamil nadu its filthy and dirty everywhere...A short while ago, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) fighter jets targeted six military targets belonging to the Hamas naval force in the Gaza Strip.

April 28, 2018, 12:53 Israel air force launches strikes against Hamas naval targets in Gaza Strip

STEPANAKERT, APRIL 28, ARTSAKHPRESS:The aforesaid is noted on the Twitter account of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

The strikes were in response to the [Hamas] terror activity & mass infiltration attempt earlier today [Saturday], the statement also reads.The last two months have resulted in big loss to the Maoists across the country with the "reds" loosing around 60 of its cadre in encounters across the country.

Hyderabad: In a fresh encounter with security forces, two suspected Maoists were killed in an "exchange of fire" in the Sukma district of Chhattisgarh on Saturday morning. A day earlier, eight Maoists were killed in the state.

Referring to the gun-battle that took place in the forest near Metagudam village in Burkapal area of Sukma district, DIG of Police (south Bastar range) P. Sundarraj said "So far, the bodies of two Naxals, including a woman, have been recovered along with 11 weapons. A search operation following the encounter was still going on".

This morning, when a joint team of the DRG and the STF was cordoning off a forest area near Metagudam located deep inside Burkapal, an exchange of fire broke out between the squad and a group of Maoists present in the area, the DIG said. The exchange of fire lasted for around two hours after which the Maoists escaped in to the thick forest cover. "We suspect a few more Maoists were injured in the gun battle and their colleagues managed to drag them away" he said.

The last two months have resulted in big loss to the Maoists across the country with the "reds" loosing around 60 of its cadre in encounters across the country.

Most of the encounters were reported during the morning hours when the Maoists, according to official's familiar with the anti-Maoist operations, are busy with their daily chores or getting ready for the day.Ballari: In a furious attempt to distance himself from the Reddy brothers after the Congress stepped up a blistering campaign on social media to shame the BJP for giving seven BJP tickets to the extended Reddy family, the BJP national president, Amit Shah on Friday abruptly cancelled his rally in Ballari district, from where Ballari city candidate and brother of former minister, Gali Janardhana Reddy, Somashekhar Reddy was personally supervising the preparations. Mine baron Janardhan Reddy has also been instructed to conduct all his electioneering away from media scrutiny.

Taken by surprise by the sudden decision, BJP district president, Channabasavanagowda said all preparations had been done for Mr Shah's rally. "We had put up his posters and party flags. We don't know why the rally was cancelled," he said, feigning ignorance on the real reason behind the cancellation.

Sources said Mr Shah, who had in March declared that the BJP had nothing to do with Mr Janardhana Reddy, may have developed cold feet over sharing a dais with the Reddy brothers and their close associates at the rally after he was seen with MP chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan when Reddy associate Boya Sriramulu filed his nominations from Badami last week. MP goes to the polls later this year along with BJP ruled Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

Janardhan Reddy former Minister, accused of illegal mining of iron ore, is barred from entering the district under his bail conditions.

Dismissing speculation that Mr Shah scrapped the Ballari visit to avoid being seen in public with the Reddys, BJP leaders claim Mr Shah cancelled his Ballari rally as he was busy with party workers in Bengaluru and left the city a little late.

In fact, skipping Ballari altogether, the BJP national president arrived at Koppal in the afternoon and held a 'baitak' with local leaders over the strategy to win five key seats here, before addressing rallies at Kukanoor in Yalaburga and in Gangavati.

Although BJP leaders argue that Mr Janardhana Reddy is not a star campaigner for the party and is hitting the road on his own to back his friends these elections, party insiders admit that the inclusion of the Reddy brothers is a desperate move to win votes in their old strongholds. "The party's strategy is to get the Reddy brothers in, but distance the national leaders from them," they explain.

"It is apparent that for Reddy brothers', and their old Operation Kamala strategy to work, the party need these men but they cannot do so publicly. Although the corruption taint does not matter locally, this may be a way to limit the potential damage it can cause nationally," they added.

Dont be seen, heard, Shah diktat to Reddy

Anticipating that it could suffer a setback in the battle of perceptions in poll-bound-Karnataka, controversial mine lord and former minister, G. Janardhan Reddy, was reportedly asked not to campaign for the BJP in public.

However, he might play a role in micro-management of elections in various constituencies bordering Andhra Pradesh, according to sources in the state unit of BJP.

In the wake of English media, both print and electronic making, making a big issue about Mr Reddy attending the party allies within a week after BJP president Amit Shah stating that the party had no links with the former, the party seemed to have issued a diktat to Mr Reddy, sources in the party said. The party does not want to lose the perception battle too. Even though Mr Yeddyurappa went to jail, his popularity, caste calcuation are different from that of Mr Reddy. Therefore, Mr Reddy has been asked to work behind the screen, sources said.Hyderabad: Reacting to Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Raos remarks against him and the Congress Party, TPCC president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy accused the CM of looting the state. The TPCC chief also claimed that he and his wife MLA Padmavathi had no children and therefore had dedicated their life to serving the people.

Speaking to the media at Gandhi Bhavan on Saturday, Uttam Kumar Reddy accused Mr Rao of using public money to lead a lavish life by travelling in luxurious cars and private jets, and of indulging in corrupt activities. Reddy also claimed that Pragathi Bhavan, the official residence of the CM, does not allow entry to common people, farmers and martyrs' kin, while contractors, film personalities and brokers are welcome.

The people of Telangana are aware of Mr Raos past, Reddy said, and added that the CM had said in the past that his children were in America and would not return to India. He also alleged that the Chief Minister was spending the public's hard-earned money on private jets, which he used to attend a marriage in Kerala, a political visit in Kolkata and a useless visit to China. He denied claiming that there were 150 rooms in Pragathi Bhavan, but said it was undeniable that it was one lakh square feet in area, and that it was bigger than the Prime Minister's residence.

Before entering politics, I worked as a fighter pilot in the borders risking my life, now I am working in politics with my wife unselfishly; we have no children, no family and no inheritance, Reddy said.Hyderabad: Following Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, and Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has now announced his support for Janata Dal (S) in the upcoming Karnataka Assembly elections.

While KCR announced his support openly and even offered to campaign if JD (S) leaders wanted, Pawan was more discreet, meeting former Karnataka Chief Minister and JD (S) leader H.D. Kumaraswamy.

Naidu, too, has indirectly announced his support to JD (S). On Friday, Naidu appealed to Telugu voters of Karnataka to not vote for parties who betrayed AP. A senior Telugu Desam (TD) leader said the Congress and BJP are the chief contestants in Karnataka.

According to sources within TD, Naidus reason for not openly supporting JD (S) is that there are speculations in Karnataka political circles that BJP and JD (S) have a secret pact. If the Congress fails to win an absolute majority, chances are that JD (S) may from the government with support from BJP. If this happens, TD will have ended up indirectly supporting the BJP. With this in mind, the TD leadership is not in favour of openly supporting JD (S).Hyderabad: TRS leaders on Saturday warned N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, the president of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee, that he would have consequences to face if he continued making baseless allegations about IT Minister K.T. Rama Rao.

Mr Reddy had said that the Minister had allotted land to industries at throwaway prices in exchange for kickbacks.

TRS MLCs Karne Prabhakar, M. Srinivas Reddy and Shambipur Raju, TSIIC chairman Gyadari Balamallu and TRS secretary Gattu Ramachandra Rao held a press conference to address his allegations. They said that Mr Rama Rao, in his personal capacity, could not allot lands; it was the State Government that made allotments on the basis of the states industrial policy.

Mr Prabhakar said that Mr Uttam Kumar Reddy was making such baseless allegations because he was unable to approve that the TRS plenary meeting held on Friday had been a success.

Congress leaders have made several allegations against the Chief Minister and his family in the past four years. They have not been able to prove even a single one of those allegations so far. Instead of feeling ashamed, they continue to make false allegations. We have waited patiently, for four years. We will not tolerate this anymore. They will have to face severe consequences if they continue to make false allegations, he warned.

The TRS leaders said that the Congress party, during its reign, had allowed companies to loot valuable lands on the outskirts of the city under the guise of setting up special economic zones.

Congress governments are known for their land scams. There are cases against several ministers and officers for perpetuating irregularities in land allotments, and some of them have even gone to jail. There has not been a single such instance in the TRS government in the past four years, said Mr Srinivas Reddy.

He said that the TRS government had adopted a transparent land allotment policy; it only gave lands to reputed companies, and that too at market rates.

KCR to meet Karunanidhi, stalin today

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao will meet former chief minister of Tamil Nadu M. Karunanidhi in Chennai on Sunday.

The Chief Minister will also meet DMK president M.K. Stalin and discuss the formation of his proposed Federal Front at national level against BJP and Congress.Hyderabad: Telangana Joint Action Committee (TJAC) chairman Prof. Kodandarams newly-formed political party Telangana Jana Samiti (TJS) will hold its first public meeting in the city on Sunday.

Though the state government repeatedly denied permission for the meeting, Prof. Kodanda-ram has obtained permission at Saroornagar Stadium by approaching the High Court.

Prof. Kodandaram has invited land evacuees of various irrigation projects, victims of Nerella, where Dalit and OBC protesters were brutally beaten for opposing the sand mafia in state minister K.T. Ramaraos constituency Siricilla, family members of farmers and students who committed suicide for lack of minimum support price and jobs respectively, and families of Telangana martyrs to be seated on the dais.

The professor wants to send the message that these incidents, and the TRS government's failures to address them, have prompted TJAC to set up a political party. He is set to resign from his post as TJAC chairman and will be elected as the first TJS president at the meeting.

Prof. Kodandaram said Opposition parties, including the Congress, have failed to question the wrongdoings and undemocratic attitude of the TRS government for four years.

By setting up TJAC in 2009 and bringing all sections of society together, we created Telangana. We now want to dethrone the TRS government in the same spirit and TJS will be our means to achieve this. KCR says we dont know politics. Politics will be totally different in this state with the TJS in the picture, Prof. Kodandaram said.Just-retired foreign secretary S. Jaishankar has been picked up by the Tatas to head the groups overseas operations, reporting to Mr N. Chandrasekharan, the executive chair of the board of Tata Sons, the holding company of all Tata enterprises. (Photo: PTI)

Maharajakrishna Rasgotra, who was Indias foreign secretary from 1982 to 1985, records that in 1948, contrary to the popular perception, the wealthy Doon School wallahs preferred to join the domestic services, where they could keep an eye on their assets, and that the IFS boys were at a premium only amongst the urbanised, sophisticated girls of marriageable age and their even more pretentious socialite mothers! Things have changed considerably since then. Ambitious Indian girls and boys now routinely choose to work and live abroad, on their own steam, rather than as diplomatic baggage.

But true to natures rule, when one door shuts, another inevitably opens. Losing out in the marriage market place is not compensated by being wooed post-retirement by the major Indian corporate groups. Just-retired foreign secretary S. Jaishankar has been picked up by the Tatas to head the groups overseas operations, reporting to Mr N. Chandrasekharan, the executive chair of the board of Tata Sons, the holding company of all Tata enterprises. The board already has two retired civil servants  Ronen Sen, a retired Foreign Service officer and former ambassador to Washington, and Vijay Singh, a retired IAS officer who had served as defence secretary. But unlike these directors, Mr S. Jaishankar will be more substantively involved, with a hands-on role as the head of a business vertical as its president. Descent from heaven is how Japanese business describes the practice of absorbing retiring senior bureaucrats, who have held key positions, to cushion them from a hard landing in the real world.

Mr S. Jaishankar is reported to have said he was happy to join the Tata Group Indias most respected brand globally. Just this simple endorsement of the Tata business leadership, from a recently retired foreign secretary, who was selected personally (unusually) by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015, to replace a serving foreign secretary, Sujata Singh, is sufficient to justify the Rs 6 crores that he is speculated to be earning per year. As far as value for money in advertising goes, it cant get any better for the Tatas.

Despite the 1991 liberalisation, Indian business has by and large continued to remain constrained at home by unnecessary red tape. Overseas, it is an orphan with little support from its home government. Blame our perverted colonial legacy for this. The British came to India to trade, profit, export and rule. They used every trick in their mercantilists book of free trade, including the selective use of state power and the law, to benefit British companies. But, in a classically hypocritical stance  which incidentally appealed greatly to the convoluted sensibilities of upper-caste Indians, the average British officer feigned a horror of being in bed with business interests. The boxwallah was an inferior being as compared to his Army or civil service brethren, who were on a morally superior mission of civilising India.

This red line between government and business, which Free India inherited, though always surreptitiously porous, has long since dissolved within Indias domestic service cadres  except for odd cases of the most particular officers. The Foreign Service, however, has only recently taken to these new commercial roles, as the overseas business interests of private Indian corporates have expanded. This is a welcome outcome of liberalisation.

Talk of being a market-led economy is hollow, unless the government works actively to grow the Indian private sector at home and abroad. At the most minimal level, this involves opening doors abroad for our businessmen. This is what retired Indian Administrative Service or revenue service officers having been doing for business interests at home. But opening doors is low-level stuff, albeit with high returns. More potentially transformative is the opportunity to develop an institutionalised public-private partnership, around the human resources required, by India to become an A-level international player.

With 162 missions overseas, the Indian Foreign Service looks extremely stretched, with just 600-plus serving elite officers. Expanding the service  using the existing generalist skills-based platform on which it is recruited and trained  would be a costly mistake. It would be far better to add the human resources, specifically needed in the ministry and in the missions overseas, through multiple entry options  lateral contracting, deputation from other services based on relevant skills and selective promotion from within.

The origin of an exclusive service for external affairs, as opposed to a combined one for political and external matters lies, in the Government of India Act 1935. The idea at that time was racist. A separate political wing to deal with Asiatic powers  namely the Indian princes (there was already a separate home department for police and security matters) and a foreign wing to deal with the European powers.

Is it time now to end this farcical divide. India unlimited should have a seamless, internationally competitive and standards compliant architecture. inside out. An integrated, elite Indian Civil Service for the Government of India, consisting of no more than 3,000 officers, could be a targeted support mechanism. Selected meritocratically, at mid-career, with a minimum experience of 10 years, it would provide the specific position-based skills and expertise in formulating policy and representing India at technical negotiating fora in trade and intellectual property; fiscal management, including tax; economic development and technology; social protection; human development and human rights.

A foreign secretary has boldly and transparently opted to step directly into an executive role in an Indian corporate entity. It could spark off a trend of more frequent interplay between public and private human resources. But till it becomes common to see retired foreign service officers jostling amongst the corporate crowd, it will be odd to see an Ambassador parked at Bombay House, the Mumbai headquarters of the global Tata empire, rather than at Birla Building in Kolkata, which owns the brand.Handout picture released by Action4Alfie on April 5, 2018 shows seriously ill British toddler Alfie Evans at Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool. (Photo: AFP)

London: Alfie Evans, the 23-month-old British toddler whose grave illness drew international attention, died early on Saturday, his father said in a Facebook post.

Alfie had a rare, degenerative disease and had been in a semi-vegetative state for more than a year.

After a series of court cases Alder Hey Childrens Hospital in Liverpool, northern England, removed his life support on Monday, against his parents wishes.

He confounded expectations by continuing to breathe unaided.

Medical experts in Britain had agreed that more treatment would be futile, but his parents wanted to take him to Rome, where the Vaticans Bambino Gesu hospital had offered to care for him.

The case has provoked strong feelings over whether judges, doctors or parents have the right to decide on a childs life. Alfies parents have been backed by Pope Francis and Polands President Andrzej Duda.Relatives of 15-year-old Palestinian teenager Azzam Oweida gather around his body in the morgue of a hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on April 28, 2018, as he succumbed to his wounds a day after he was shot by Israeli forces in clashes along the Gaza border. (Photo: AFP)

Gaza City: A Palestinian teenager has died of his wounds a day after being shot by Israeli forces in clashes along the Gaza border, the Hamas-controlled territorys health ministry said Saturday.

Azzam Oweida, 15, was hit in the head during protests in southern Gaza on Friday, the ministry said.

His death brought to four the number of people killed or fatally wounded during a fifth consecutive Friday of protests in which thousands of Gazans have gathered near the heavily-guarded border.

Most protesters were peaceful but some threw stones and burned tyres.

Forty-five Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the start of what organisers have dubbed the Great March of Return on March 30, with more than 1,500 wounded.

No Israelis have been reported hurt.

The Israeli army said around 10,000 people had taken part in riots along the border Friday, saying troops responded with riot dispersal means.

The army has accused Hamas, the Islamist group that runs Gaza and has fought three wars with Israel since 2008, of seeking to use the protests as cover to carry out attacks.

Marchers are demanding the right to return to their homes seized by Israel in 1948.

Israel says that would mean the end of the Jewish state, and accuses Gazas Islamist rulers Hamas of using the protests as a pretext for violence.

The Israeli military said that at one point on Friday protesters had used explosive devices, hand grenades and firebombs as they attempted a mass breach of the border fence.

Air strikes

In what the military said was a direct response, Israeli warplanes on Friday night attacked six military targets belonging to the Hamas terror organisations naval force in the Gaza Strip.

It did not give the location of the targets, but the Hamas interior ministry in Gaza said aircraft -- originally reported as drones -- hit Gazas main port, damaging two boats but causing no injuries.

Eyewitnesses at the port said the two boats were badly damaged. Hamas security forces prevented journalists from reaching the scene.

It is believed to have been the first time Israeli aircraft had targeted boats in Gaza since the 2014 war there between Israel and Hamas.

The protest movement is officially independent but has the backing of Hamas, which has fought three wars with Israel since 2008.

On Friday protesters again gathered at five sites near the border fence, though numbers were down on previous weeks.

Dozens of young men burned tyres and threw stones a few hundred metres from the border, with Israeli soldiers occasionally firing tear gas and live ammunition.

Three men were shot dead, according to Gazas health ministry, while the Gaza Centre for Media Freedom said three journalists were among those wounded.

Demonstrations are expected to spike again ahead of May 14, when the United States plans to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The decision has infuriated Palestinians, who see the annexed eastern half of the holy city as the capital of their future state.

US President Donald Trump, who tore up decades of policy by recognising Jerusalem as Israels capital, said Friday he may go to the city for the embassy opening.

That came as Amnesty International called for an arms embargo against Israel over its use of live fire in Gaza.

Israel has rejected calls for an independent investigation into deaths along Gazas border. The army says its troops only use live ammunition as a last resort.BJP national president Amit Shah on Friday is said to have issued strict instructions to the state unit that mining baron G Janardhan Reddy should not campaign openly for the Assembly elections.

Shah, who landed in Bengaluru late on Thursday, was to reach Ballari and hold a road show and preside over a party organisational meeting. However, he cancelled his Ballari trip apparently to express his displeasure that Reddy had been allowed to identify with the BJP by state leaders.

The BJP top brass in New Delhi is also learnt to have taken a serious view of its Karnataka unit president B S Yeddyurappa sharing the dais and praising Reddy.

Congress has been mounting an attack on the BJP over its renewed ties with the controversial leader.

Sources said Shah has spoken to Yeddyurappa in this regard. The partys central leadership is said to have advised the state leaders to desist from being seen in public with Reddy.

Reddy had to spend three years in jail following charges of corruption and illegal mining by the CBI. At a recent press conference in Mysuru, Shah had disowned Reddy stating that the BJP had nothing to do with him. While Reddy is barred from entering Ballari, he has been campaigning in Molakalmuru in Chitradurga district for the BJP candidate and his close aide B Sriramulu.

He even shared the dais with Yeddyurappa and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivaraj Singh Chouhan after Sriramulu filed his nomination papers.

Another reason being cited by Shah for staying away from the mine rich district is that Janardhan Reddys brother G Somashekar Reddy had been given a ticket to contest from Ballari City.

In 2012, Somashekar Reddy had been accused by Andhra Pradeshs Anti-corruption bureau of being involved in the cash for bail scam for trying to bribe a judge to get bail for Janardhan Reddy.

Though the party planned to hold Prime Minister Narendra Modis rallies in Ballari and Chitradurga, it is still thinking whether to go ahead with it due to the latest controversy. The party does not want to put the Prime Minister in an embarrassing situation, a leader in New Delhi said.

Shah is said to be of the opinion that Janardhan Reddy should stop embarrassing the party further and confine himself behind the scenes.

Shah also reviewed the poll preparedness of the party during his stay in Bengaluru. Preparations for the series of rallies by Modi in the state starting from May 1 were also reviewed. On May 1, Modi will address rallies at Santemaranahalli in Mysuru district, Udupi and Chikkodi.

Later in the afternoon, Shah left for Koppal where he visited Gavi Math and participated in a public meeting.Passengers of bus headed for Kannur in Kerala from Bengaluru had a harrowing time after four men posing as policemen, waylaid their bus on Mysuru Road and drove it to a godown in Rajarajeshwari Nagar on Friday night.

The four men turned out to be recovery agents of a city-based finance firm who seized the bus as owner Rafique defaulted on his vehicle loan, the police said. The Rajarajeshwari Nagar police registered a case under IPC sections 365  kidnapping, 341  wrongful restraint, 342  wrongful confinement, 504  intentional insult and 506  criminal intimidation, and are on the lookout for the suspects.

According to the police, the bus attached to Lama Travels, bearing registration number KA-01-AG-0636 departed from Kalasipalyam around 9.30 pm and was bound for Kannur. When the bus reached the arch near Gopalan Arcade in Rajarajeshwari Nagar around 10.30 pm, four to five men on two bikes waylaid the bus.

One of them dragged the driver out after pulling out the ignition keys. He then got on to the drivers seat and told the passengers he was a police inspector and he was taking the bus for inspection. He told the passengers that if they did not cooperate, they will be booked. Initially, I thought the bus had brushed against one of the bikes and the riders intercepted it to confront the bus driver. But two men got into the bus. One of them, who did not seem to know how to drive, drove the bus through some bylanes, Shamsheer B K told DH. Shamsheer (25) was travelling with his friend Ajanaf to Kannur to attend a friends wedding.

The men on the bike were bringing the bus driver along with them on one of the bikes. The bus, with its passengers, was taken to a shed, where it was locked up. It was only then that we realised that something was wrong, Ajanaf said.

A few passengers informed the police and the media who rushed to the shed in Pattanagere to find the bus locked with passengers. There were guards at the godown, but the men who seized the bus fled. The police detained the guards and released the passengers, who had spent an hour in the shed.

An alternative bus was arranged at 3 am by the travel firm with the help of the police and the passengers resumed their journey.Aviation regulator DGCA has set up a two-member committee to probe the incident of technical snag in a chartered plane that was carrying Congress President Rahul Gandhi, a senior official said in Mumbai on Friday.

The incident happened during the landing of the flight from New Delhi at Hubballi on Thursday. Alleging intentional tampering with aircraft, the Congress on Thursday had demanded a probe into the suspicious and faulty performance of the 10-seater Falcon 2000.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has set up a two-member panel to investigate the incident. While one member is from the Directorate of Air Safety, the other member is from the Directorate of Airworthiness, a senior DGCA official told PTI.

The panel has been asked to submit its report in the next 2-3 weeks, the official added. As part of the probe, the panel would call cockpit crew and also engineers for questioning about the incident. If required, the committee might also call the operations staff of the particular aircraft to gather details, the official said. On Thursday, a senior DGCA official had confirmed that the aircraft had suffered technical snag.

Meanwhile, S K Ahalya, director of the Hubballi airport stated that there was no technical glitch with the aircraft.

Speaking to reporters at the airport in Hubballi, Ahalya asserted that the flight had landed on time.

We get information even if there is a small problem with the landing of a flight. But on Thursday, neither the air traffic control nor the pilot gave any such information. The aircraft did not go out of the radars reach at any time. We dont know how the confusion was created. One must ask the complainant, she added.

On the other, the police probing the technical snag in the plane are waiting for technical experts to examine the flaws and submit a report.

We are waiting for the experts from the DGCA to come as we have no technical knowledge on the subject. Based on their report, we will take further action, Assistant Commissioner of Police (North Hubballi) H K Pathan, who is the investigating officer in the case, said.

PM calls Rahul

On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi telephoned Rahul just before leaving for China, to enquire about his safety. It was a private conversation between the two (over phone).

All the authorities concerned were informed about the plane developing snag. After that, the prime minister rang up Rahul enquiring if he was fine, a Congress source told PTI.PROVO  Troubles never need to be permanent nor fatal, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland told more than 6,000 Brigham Young University graduates entering a world that holds "challenges and difficulties."

"Darkness always yields to light," he said. "The sun always rises. Faith, hope and charity will always triumph in the end. Furthermore, they will triumph all along the way."

Offering the keynote address during BYU graduation ceremonies Thursday evening, Elder Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints asked graduates to let their character shine while bridling their ambitions.

"In the days and years ahead, you may suffer some discouragement and disappointment. On occasion you may feel genuine despair, either for yourself or your children or the plight and conditions of others. You may even make a personal mistake or two  serious mistakes, perhaps, though I hope not  and you may worry that any chance to be happy and secure in life has eluded you forever.

"When such times come, I ask you to remember this: This is the church of the happy endings."

While standing outside the Marriott Center in her cap and gown after the ceremony, BYU graduate Rebekah Isert said, "It is hard to put into words how I feel  which is unusual because I was an English major."

The 26 year old stood looking at the other graduates and campus and smiled. To many, graduation is a day of celebration in honor of completing courses and passing their tests. For Isert, graduation represents a lot of hard work both in and out of the classrooms.

"It has been a big effort, and I had to deal with a lot of things to get here," she said.

After returning home from her LDS mission in Arizona, Isert was in her junior year and attending school when she realized something was off, and that she needed help.

"I was diagnosed with anxiety and depression almost a year ago," she said. "Acknowledging I had it was really difficult. But I have been able to learn what to do, and now the world isn't such a big scary place."

And now with a college degree, she looks to the future with hope.

Isert is one of 6,087 BYU graduates who earned 6,297 degrees  5,393 bachelor's degrees, 726 master's degrees and 178 doctorate degrees.

This year marks the first year there are more female graduates than not  52 percent  who have served a mission for the LDS Church.

In addition to Elder Holland's keynote address, President Kevin J Worthen spoke and conducted the service. Former Utah Governor Michael O. Leavitt received an honorary doctorate degree.

Worthen encouraged grads, as they make career and other important decisions in life, to aspire to a place with no pride or focus on riches.

"I can predict with a high degree of certainty that there will be many times in your post-graduate life when you will face decisions that will ultimately be determined by whether you are motivated by pride and riches on the one hand, or whether you are moved to act consistent with truths that resonate 'in your heart and in your mind' on the other," Worthen said. "My simple promise to you is that if you choose the latter over the former, your life will be more joyful, more fulfilling and more eternally productive."

Mentioning his recent return from a global tour accompanying LDS President Russell M. Nelson, Elder Holland joked about finding his way to campus.

"A funny thing happened on the way to getting here," Elder Holland told graduates. "I left early to make sure I wasn't late, I started out two weeks ago. And boy, it is a good thing I did. I'm not sure where I made the wrong turn, but the next thing I knew I was seeing road signs that said, 'Jerusalem' and 'Nairobi' and 'Bangalore' and 'Hong Kong.' It has taken me all I could do to get here on time."

Elder Holland, who served as the ninth president of BYU, focused his remarks on the experience of Thomas Wolsey  a man who rose in his time to become "the most powerful layman in the entire British kingdom of his day," second only to King Henry VIII.

"Quickly enough he was the controlling figure in all matters of state and every political move made by his monarch," Elder Holland said. "He loved display and wealth. He lived in royal splendor and reveled in royal power."

Yet, just as quickly as he rose in power, Wolsey's fall was sudden when he was unable to get Rome's approval for the king to get a divorce.

"What a tragic end to such a gifted beginning," Elder Holland said. "What a pathetic farewell to a life that held such promise. And where did it go wrong? It went wrong when Wolsey's public ambition became more important than his personal integrity."

Recognizing that in the world today "almost nothing seems impossible," Elder Holland encouraged graduates to "be your best self and let your character shine," while bridling ambitions so they don't become like Wolsey.

Leavitt, the former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services and 14th Governor of Utah, received an honorary doctorate of public service. In his brief remarks, Leavitt shared "the economics of goodness."

"It is a simple but powerful idea," he said. "Every nation or state has economic assets that produce wealth. It may be minerals, it may be a seaport, it may be a favorable climate. But there is a universal asset of immense value, inherent in any community if we use it. That power is simply the inclination of its citizens to do the right thing, voluntarily."

He focused on three lessons: First, humor and humility are "more endearing that hubris."

Second, "the economics of goodness applies to individuals as well as nations. People who work hard, those that are honest and reliable, have a better chance at success than those who don't."

And third, "Service is the source of our self-esteem. It is also the source of satisfaction and a source of healing."

"Therefore, go," Leavitt said. "Go humbly to serve. Work hard, be honest. Be reliable. I testify to you that success will be yours."

Other speakers included BYU Alumni Association president Jonathan O. Hafen and graduate Jared Blanchard. The BYU Concert Choir performed "You'll Never Walk Alone" from Carousel.SALT LAKE CITY  After revelations that the Utah Department of Corrections withheld medical records in a death penalty case, derailing a sentencing trial and prompting a plea deal, 74 additional cases are being reviewed to ensure compliance.

Steven Crutcher, 37, had pleaded guilty to aggravated murder, a first-degree felony and a capital offense, in the death of a fellow inmate and was advancing toward a sentencing trial scheduled for this month where jurors would have decided whether he would have faced the death penalty.

However, after the Department of Corrections failed to turn over 1,572 pages of medical records to Crutcher's attorney, even when ordered to do so by a judge, prosecutors pulled the option of the death penalty and offered Crutcher a sentence of life in prison with no possibility of parole. He accepted.

Following a furious admonition from 6th District Judge Wallace Lee, the Department of Corrections  which issued a statement following the hearing saying the records hadn't been released due to a "misinterpretation" of the judge's order  set about reviewing records requests made since Jan. 1, 2015, through the state's Government Records Access Management Act, court orders and subpoenas.

In its review of 2,708 requests, the department identified 74 cases where the same error could have occurred, according to a spokesman. Representatives from the department are now contacting attorneys in each of the cases to determine whether they received all the records they sought.

More than half have been resolved following conversations with a single attorney overseeing them all, according to Department of Corrections spokesman Steve Gehrke, and the department is in talks with the Salt Lake Legal Defender's Office about several more.

"That leaves about a dozen cases that we have to reach out to individual attorneys on and, again, in those cases I need to stress that we don't know that they're going to ask for any supplemental records to be provided, but we want to reach out to make the offer because we know this issue has been out there," Gehrke said.

In addition to the case review, all department employees who deal with records must now complete a thorough re-training, Gehrke said, and additional education about answering records requests will be added to trainings for new hires.

After Crutcher took the deal in a March 28 hearing and was sentenced to prison for the 2013 murder of Rolando Cardona-Gueton, 62, Lee voiced his frustration over the department's lack of cooperation in the case and his fear the same problem could be occurring in other cases.

Lee ordered a letter about his concerns drafted to Department of Corrections Executive Director Rollin Cook, who resigned earlier this month, to the warden's of both prisons and to Gov. Gary Herbert's office.

A representative from the Utah Attorney General's Office was called before the judge to explain why the department hadn't complied with his order.

"We do sincerely apologize, this was a failure on our part, and we recognize that and we apologize to the court and we apologize to the state and we apologize to defense counsel that we did not produce all of these records," said assistant attorney general Amanda Montague, according to an audio recording of the hearing.

Montague indicated that medical records staff were confused about what records should be released, believing that providing a list of Crutcher's prescribed medications rather than his full history was sufficient.

"They didn't realize, that they needed to provide every piece of paper, every electric file that we had, to support that list of medications," Montague said.

Lee pushed back, saying he didn't understand how his judicial order to provide all records could have been misunderstood and that he was "beyond angry" about the department's failure to comply.

"I am angry with the Department of Corrections. This was totally wrong. It makes me doubt the credibility of everything I hear from the Department of Corrections. It was sneaky and it was deceitful and there is no proper excuse that can satisfy me that this was an honest mistake. It was wrong on every level," Lee said.

Crutcher's attorney, Ed Brass, also questioned the opposition the defense team faced in its efforts to talk to medical professionals who treated Crutcher, ultimately being forced to get a court order compelling them to talk.

"Keep in mind this is a different branch of the same government that is trying to kill Mr. Crutcher," Brass emphasized.

Montague said that faced with a number of regulations about releasing records, medical professionals are wary of providing more than they should.

"They get nervous about disclosing things without court orders because they think someone is going to sue them or they are going to be criminally liable for disclosing a medical record that they shouldn't have disclosed," Montague said.

Lee insisted that the Department of Corrections must make changes and be forthcoming with the information it is expected to provide in other cases.

"Something has to change there, because it has been like pulling teeth in this case to get them to be honest with us, and that is totally wrong. That is something I would expect from Russia or North Korea or some other place like that, not a society like we have under the constitution. It has got to stop," Lee said.

Brass emphasized in his statement that prosecutors in the case should be commended for their work, noting they had been honest and responsive as both sides prepared for trial and had assisted the defense in seeking Crutcher's medical records.

"I do not respect what was done in this case by the Department of Corrections to withhold those records and put Mr. Crutcher in a situation where he might have been facing the death penalty," Brass said. "But in recognition of what's fair and what constitutes due process, (Sanpete County Attorney Kevin Daniels) opted to do what was the right thing in this case and give Mr. Crutcher a life without parole sentence."Vidyut Jamwal is back in the action mode playing an MMA trainer in Sanak, his next film which is ready to release on Disney+ Hotstar later this month. The trailer for Sanak is out and the makers seem

October 05, 2021 03:16 ISTHMD Global was reported to have been set to launch a new smartphone, dubbed the Nokia X6, on April 27. Now, the company is rumoured to be gearing up to launch the same smartphone in China about two weeks from now, but under the name Nokia X. The company's 'Nokia Mobile' page on Weibo has posted a new update that seemingly confirms the launch of a new smartphone called Nokia X. Alongside, a new, separate development points at the return of the Nokia N series, with the company's update on Weibo suggesting the same.

A photo of the rumoured Nokia X has also been posted online, showing a smartphone with edge-to-edge display and a notch towards the top of the display, in line with how most smartphones are presented as. The design is very similar to Apple's iPhone X and the multiple other notch-bearing edge-to-edge display-bearing smartphones, but has a wider section to the bottom bearing the Nokia logo. Rumoured specifications of the device point at a 5.8-inch, Full HD+ display bearing 19:9 aspect ratio and 1080x2280-pixel display resolution. It is expected to run Android One v8.1 (Oreo), along with options for 4GB and 6GB of memory, and 64GB and 128GB of storage. The phone may be powered by either the Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 or the MediaTek Helio P60. The upper-mid range smartphone may be placed at a premium market position, with a 12-megapixel dual-camera setup to the rear along with Carl Zeiss lenses.

While we already have a lot of crucial information about the upcoming Nokia X (or X6), the newer update about a possible Nokia N Series return has fewer details on ground. The first-ever Nokia N Series smartphone was launched first on April 27, 2005, and HMD Global marked its 13th anniversary by stating that it may introduce a modern edition of the N Series devices. HMD Global is known to focus on nostalgia, already having reintroduced the Nokia 3310 feature phone, and the Sirocco brand from Nokia's glory days. No further details have been revealed yet, but Nokia has teased a photo of the old Nokia N8, hinting that it may be a new rendition of the older smartphone.Microsoft has announced a new major update for its Windows 10 OS. Called the Windows 10 April 2018 update, it aims to give users more time to create, play, work or simply do what you love. The new update bring with it a number of new features like Timeline, Focus Assist, and Dictation. It also lets users control their phones using Cortana. The update will be available as a free download from April 30.

In a post on the companys official blog, Yusuf Mehdi, Corporate Vice President, Windows and Devices Group states, We all get the same 24 hours. And now, more than ever, it seems like its never enough. People feel more overwhelmed than ever before and pretty much all of us would love more time  not necessarily time to do more, but time to do what we love. At Microsoft, we want to help you do just that.

The Timeline feature lets users go back in time by up to 30 days to find things. The post notes that users will also be able to pick up what they were doing if they signed into they Microsoft account while using Edge or Office 360 on their iOS or Android device, and then they returned to their Windows 10 PC.

The Focus Assist is aimed at increasing attentivity of the user. It can be turned on manually and blocks out notifications, emails or updates. Once finished, the user will get a summary of what came through. Users can also choose any specific people who will be able to break through focus assist. On Edge, users can click the audio button to mute and unmute a tab playing sound. Books, PDFs and Reading View pages will be able to go full-screen. Other features include clutter free printing options as well as new grammar tools.

The Dictation feature lets users write on any text field by platting the Window + H keys. The feature works within apps as well. The update also lets users control their IoT devices by using Cortana. Manufacturers whose devices are supported include Ecobee, Honeywell, Nest Learning Thermostat and more.

Other features of the update include simplified IT management tools for enterprise users, new ways to create with Photos, 3D and Windows Mixed reality as well as new way to stay safe online and enhance the PC gaming experience.Amazon introduces portal for full range of home security services

Amazon, having made a slew of acquisitions in the area of smart home services, is now offering a home security services product that brings them together under one roof.

The portal  which is not yet widely available and so far seems confined to some US markets - which has just become available in the US, offers an array of smart security packages that include items like entryway sensors, sirens, and a video doorbell, all installed by Amazon employees and offered with no monthly contract, TechCrunch reported.

The quietly launched portal offering includes all the equipment you would need and in-person visits from Amazon consultants to advise and install the kit. The packages are being sold in five price tiers, at a flat fee  no monthly service contracts, a significant disruption of how many home security services are sold today.

There are five different tiers to choose from. The least expensive, $240 for Outdoor Base, gives you an Echo Dot plus indoor and outdoor lighting designed to make it look like youre home. The most expensive tier, $840 for Smartest, includes an alarm siren, motion sensors, safety sensors, a camera, and Echo Dot, the lighting and a video doorbell  potentially rolling in previous security launches from the company like Amazon Key and Cloud Cam.

All include two visits from Amazon employees to consult you and help with the installation.

The cheapest $240 Outdoor Base is designed to create the illusion that youre home, coming with various motion-detecting lights, smart indoor lighting, and a wireless waterproof speaker. On the other end of the spectrum, the Echo Dot comes with items like a smart flood and leak sensor, a Wink hub, entryway sensors, and a Ring doorbell. All the packages include an Amazon Echo Dot and two visits from an Amazon smart home expert none to identify what your needs are, and a second to install and configure all the devices.

According to The Verge, Amazons foray into providing home security packages isnt a complete surprise. Amazon introduced its own version of Best Buys Geek Squad last year to offer free Alexa consultations and installations for smart home products like Ecobee thermostats and Arlo security cameras. Last December, Amazon acquired battery-powered connected camera and doorbell startup Blink, and just a few months ago, agreed to also acquire smart home company Ring for more than $1 billion.

These security packages offered by Amazon naturally include products from its portfolio (like Ring and Echo) and open up the possibility of signing up even more people to services like Amazon Key, which allows couriers to unlock your front door to place packages inside your home.

Based upon reviews, it appears Amazon has been offering these services for a few months, but its unclear which markets its actually available in, or if there are plans for a nationwide US rollout.

Last July it emerged that Amazon was quietly working on its own answer to Best Buys Geek Squad  offering repairs and installations of home WiFi, smart home devices, Alexa installations, and other hardware-related services.

Amazon never appeared to confirm it at the time, but that service now officially seems to be called Smart Home Services and it has expanded to Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, Texas, Nevada, North Carolina, Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey, Washington D.C. and Florida, according to TechCrunch.

The security offering described here  which was initially flagged to TechCrunch by a reader  falls under that general banner, and it is being promoted at the top of the Smart Home Services homepage. Judging by the user reviews of the consultants, it appears to have been around since at least December.Essar Steel: Vedanta, Numetal offer to match best bids as lenders review bids

Vedanta and Numetal have offered to match the best bids for debt-laden Essar Steel, even as lenders gave a chance to the two original bidders  ArcelorMittal and Numetal  to rectify the bids that were initially rejected.

The lenders have decided to abide by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) order to study the proposals by ArcelorMittal and Numetal and give them time to correct the discrepancies in their bids.

The committee of creditors (CoC) to Essar Steel met in Mumbai for the second day this week with a majority of them voting to support the NCLT decision instead of inviting fresh bids. ArcelorMittal and Numetal will now have to make presentations to the CoC, within the one-month period allowed for rectifications. If the CoC does not find either of them to be eligible within that period, it will need to seek more time from the tribunal.

ArcelorMittal on Friday moved the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) challenging its disqualification from bidding for the assets of bankrupt Essar Steel, saying it had exited from Uttam Galva, another defaulter company, before submitting its bid for Essar Steel on 12 February.

On Thursday, another disqualified bidder Numetal had approached the NCLAT against an order by the Ahmedabad bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) that gave ArcelorMittal a chance to clear its dues to banks and become eligible to bid for Essar Steel.

Numetal contended that ArcelorMittals bid cannot be given additional time to be rectified as it was received after Section 29 was added to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). The amendment, which came into effect from November 2017, bars defaulting promoters from bidding for assets under the IBC.

The two-member NCLAT bench, led by Justice SJ Mukhopadhaya, said it would hear both the appeals on 17 May.

The appellate tribunal issued notices to the ArcelorMittal, Numetal, the RP, lead banker State Bank of India (SBI) and the CoC, asking them to respond within a week.

The NCALT decision has the potential to could unleash a bid war among ArcelorMittal, Vedanta and the VTB-led Numetal.

Essar Steel owes lenders Rs44,000 crore in overdue loans and is facing total claims of nearly Rs55,000 crore.Aditya Ghosh exits as IndiGo chief, Gregory Taylor in line for job

IndiGo president and director Aditya Ghosh unexpectedly resigned before a board meeting Friday. Rahul Bhatia, the billionaire director of parent company InterGlobe Aviation Ltd, has taken over as an interim chief executive officer, Indias biggest airline said in an exchange filing.

Ghosh has quit as director from 26 April and will step down as president from 31 July, the airline said in a statement late Friday. Ghosh has quit as director from 26 April and will step down as president from 31 July, the airline said in a statement late Friday.

Separately, IndiGo said in an emailed statement it would consider appointing Gregory Taylor as president and chief executive officer. Taylor, who was the executive vice president of revenue management and network planning at IndiGo in 2016-2017, has been made senior adviser, the statement added.

The companys spokeswoman and Ghosh didnt immediately respond to calls seeking comments.

Ghosh is leaving at a time when the airline is changing some of its most successful policies such as moving to a mixed fleet instead of operating a single aircraft class, buying planes outright instead of leasing them, and planning a new low-cost, long-haul service, Business Standard reported. Ghosh has been IndiGos public face over the years as media-shy owners Bhatia and Rakesh Gangwal remained away from the limelight.

He led IndiGo for nearly a decade, growing it to be the nations biggest airline.

Under him, IndiGo placed record aircraft orders worth billions of dollars, had a blockbuster initial public offering and became the biggest budget airline in Asia by market valuation.

According to Moneycontrol, many now point to the appointment of Wolfgang Prock-Schauer as chief operating officer in January as the first sign of more leadership churn at the top of India's largest airline by market share, according to Moneycontrol.

An industry veteran of nearly 40 years, Prock-Schauer came with a mix of Indian and overseas experience with stints in Air Berlin, Jet Airways, Austrian Airlines and GoAir. His experience was said to be crucial for IndiGo, which is preparing to launch overseas flights.

Now with Greg Taylor, Bhatia has added one more expat in the senior leadership.

Taylor, who was IndiGo's executive vice president of revenue management and network planning through 2016-17, will take over as president and CEO of the airline later this year.

Bhatia said in his letter to IndiGo employees, "Greg has more than 40 years of enormous and varied experience in large, world class airlines. This experience and his ability to understand the complexities of the airline industry will be invaluable to our future plans."

Sources told Moneycontrol that one more big addition is set to happen in IndiGo's leadership. Willy Boulter, who was vice-president, commercial strategy at Etihad Airways and a senior executive at IATA - the trade association of world airlines - may join IndiGo as chief strategy officer.

Till February this year, Boulter was chief commercial officer of TAAG Angola Airlines. While at Etihad, he was chief commercial officer for Jet Airways, subsequent to the investment by the Gulf airline in the Indian carrier.

Interestingly, his Linkedin profile shows that since February, he is "in transition".

Bhatia also depended on an expat  Bruce Ashby  to set up IndiGo. Ashby was the airline's founding President and CEO.

It's unclear what exactly led to Ghosh's exit. Bhatia's letter to the employees says that Ghosh is looking to start a business venture.NASA to pay SpaceX more for servicing ISS from 2020

NASA is facing a 50 per cent jump in the cost of delivering cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) from 2020, adding up to about $400 million, because of a hike by SpaceX, the supplier.

But Dragon 2, the redesigned SpaceX capsule, will carry about 30 per cent more cargo, run longer missions and enable NASA to access scientific samples much earlier before returning to earth, reveals a new NASA audit.

The American agency has also decided to use a third company  besides SpaceX and Orbital  from 2020. Sierra Nevada will launch resupply missions using its Dream Chaser spacecraft.

But despite paying higher prices, NASA says it does not regret using private companies for resupply missions to the ISS.

NASA officials reviewed past launch pricing and found the cost for a basic Atlas V configuration decreased by roughly $20 million per launch after the Falcon 9 became eligible in 2013 to compete for launch services contracts through the agency's Launch Services Program, said the report.

The ISS has been orbiting the earth, with astronauts on board, for nearly 18 years. The agency has to constantly keep delivering the necessities for these astronauts, who are also replaced frequently and brought back to earth.Modi, Xi propose joint India-China project in Afghanistan

China and India have agreed to undertake a joint economic project in Afghanistan, the first such project by India and China in the war-ravaged country, as Chinese President and Indian Prime Minister tried to reduce the chasm between the two countries.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping today wrapped up their three-day informal meetings in the Chinese city of Wuhan, marking a significant move towards a rapprochement between the two neighbours after the tense Doklam stand-off. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping today wrapped up their three-day informal meetings in the Chinese city of Wuhan, marking a significant move towards a rapprochement between the two neighbours after the tense Doklam stand-off.

The two leaders also agreed on the need to create a broad platform of dialogue and discussion through which contentious matters can be addressed and resolved before they escalate. The two leaders agreed that both sides have the maturity and wisdom to handle differences through peaceful discussion.

Both China and India said they seek a fair settlement to their border disputes, and to this end, the Special Representatives appointed by the two nations will play a key role.

Thought no official agreements were struck, Chinese vice-foreign minister Kong Xuanyou described the just-concluded informal summit between the leaders of China and India as a milestone in relations.

While there is no agreement on troop reduction, the two leaders will issue strategic guidance to their respective militaries to strengthen communication in order to build trust and mutual understanding. The two sides will also work together in implementing confidence building measures.

The two emerging economic powers resolved to assume more significant roles in the global order as the superpowers, including the United States, become increasingly inward-looking. As such Modi and Xi decided to strengthen the closer development partnership in a balanced, mutually beneficial and sustainable manner.

The two leaders agreed to push forward bilateral trade and investment in a balanced and sustainable manner by taking advantage of complementarities between their two economies.

They reiterated the importance of building an open and pluralist global economic order in which all countries can freely participate to pursue their development, while also contributing to the elimination of poverty and inequality in all regions of the world.

Modi and Xi recognised the common threat posed by terrorism and committed to cooperate further on counter-terrorism. But there was no mention of the issue of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar.

The two leaders agreed that the informal summit offered an opportunity for direct, free and candid exchange of views and decided to hold more such dialogues in the future.

The "forward-looking dialogue" was a unique opportunity for direct and candid exchange of views between the two premiers and helped them forge a common understanding.

Both agreed that meetings on the lines of the Wuhan summit will determine the future direction of India-China relations. Before leaving, PM Modi reciprocated by inviting Xi to India for a similar informal summit next year.Too liberal use of oxygen increases risk of death in acutely ill adult patients

McMaster University researchers have found there is such a thing as too much oxygen for acutely ill adults.

Extensive data analyses in a study from the university show that supplemental oxygen, when given liberally to these patients, increases the risk of death without improving other health outcomes.

The results were published today in The Lancet.

"Supplemental oxygen is administered to millions of acutely unwell patients around the world every day," said Waleed Alhazzani, senior author of the paper, assistant professor of medicine at McMaster and an intensive care and general internal medicine staff member at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton.

"Despite this, there is a striking lack of definitive, high-quality evidence related to this common intervention."

The McMaster-led team of researchers searched electronic academic databases from their inception through to October 2017 for randomised controlled trials done worldwide which compared liberal versus conservative oxygen therapy and death rates, as well as impacts on such aspects as disability, infections and hospital length of stay.

The 25 randomised controlled trials encompassed more than 16,000 adult patients with sepsis, stoke, trauma, emergency surgery, heart attack or cardiac arrest.

Data analysis demonstrated that, compared to the conservative strategy, liberal administration of oxygen resulted in increased in-hospital death by 21 per cent.

Additional analyses suggested that the more supplemental oxygen patients were given, the higher their risk was for death. However, the incidence of other conditions, such as infections or length of hospital stay, were similar between the two groups.

The researchers estimated one additional death for every 71 patients treated with a liberal oxygen strategy.

"Our findings are distinct from the pervasive view that liberal oxygen therapy for acute illnesses is at worst, harmless," says Alhazzani.

The results of the study, called Improving Oxygen Therapy in Acute-illness (IOTA), have immediate and important implications for health-care providers, policymakers and researchers, say the authors.

"Prior practice guidelines and medical directives on oxygen therapy for acute illnesses have been inconsistent," said Derek Chu, first author of the paper and a McMaster clinical fellow.

"Our results provide much-needed clarification by showing, with high-quality evidence, that administering too much supplemental oxygen increases mortality among a broad range of acute illnesses.

"Currently, patients are frequently given supplemental oxygen and at excessive levels. A simple change to current practice - being more moderate and cautious with how much oxygen is administered to acutely unwell patients - could save lives."Donegals reputation for amazing chowder was enhanced even further last week when Dungloe-based chef Brendan Conmy finished runner-up in the 8th All-Ireland Chowder cook-off in Kinsale.

Brendan, who is head chef at the Waterfront Hotel in Dungloe, won the Donegal Chowder competition at the Hooked Festival in Killybegs towards the end of last year and headed to Kinsale in the knowledge that the countys reputation for chowder is becoming rapidly more famous.

Donegals reputation for seafood chowder is at an all-time high after Kieran Duey Doherty from Nancys Barn in Ballyliffin brought home the prestigious title of World Champion from Rhode Island last year.

On behalf of the Waterfront Hotel I was delighted to bring my personal Seafood Chowder recipe to the 2017 Killybegs Hooked Festival Chowder Competition and was thrilled to take the county title and progress to the national stage. We are very proud of our chowder and especially the fact all of our ingredients are sourced locally within County Donegal, said Brendan.

He added: The Food Coast - Donegal's Good Food Initiative is assisting businesses like ourselves become recognised and this is vital for locals and visitors alike.

The Waterfront Hotel chef also urged local chefs and restaurants to mark the Donegal contest in their diary for 2018.

We would highly recommend local businesses to consider showcasing their Seafood Chowder and keep Donegal on the map. The event itself is down to public vote on the day and to be honest it was such fun, it's such a fun family day out with the best of the best in competition.

Brendans success in Kinsale is just the latest food success story from the county and food businesses in Donegal are still being encouraged to come along on Monday 30th April to Rockhill House to hear how and why they should craft their own food story.

Michael Tunney, Head of Enterprise in Donegal says The Food Coast is about helping businesses work together to highlight the developing food culture in the county.

The Food Coast Initiative gives new and existing food businesses in Donegal the opportunity to connect with fellow businesses while building the profile of Donegal. The ambition for the Local Enterprise Office is to encourage new food start-ups and the development of established businesses.

Offering his congratulations to Brendan on his fantastic success in Kinsale, the Head of Enterprise urged Donegal Food businesses to make the most of the opportunity to hear how they can tell their own food story by coming to Mondays event.

More and more businesses have come to understand that creating a story for their business and product is a powerful way to connect with their customers and communicate the best qualities of what they have to offer them. We are keen for our food businesses to have the tools they need to ensure they can communicate that to a wider audience and I would urge as many as possible to come along on Monday, he said.

Businesses in the food sector, producers and food service businesses are invited to attend the Creating Your Food Story seminar by registering at www.localenterprise.ie/ donegal or calling the Local Enterprise Office on 074 9160735.Health minister Simon Harris has met with a delegation from Donegal to discuss concerns about the ambulance service in South Donegal.

The health minister has given a commitment that the head of the National Ambulance will look into the situation.

Concerns were raised last month at the Donegal Municipal District by Fine Gael Donegal County Councillor Barry ONeill about the situation at the Killybegs ambulance base.

He said it was a shameful situation that an ambulance is parked up in Killybegs and has not been utilised as staffing has been withdrawn for a back-up crew.

In a response to a query from the Donegal Democrat the National Ambulance Service (NAS) said there are two ambulances assigned to the Killybegs ambulance base with one ambulance on duty at any time on a 24/7 basis. The second ambulance is a backup ambulance to ensure efficient changeover in case crews get delayed, the NAS said.

Donegal TD and government chief whip Joe McHugh hosted a delegation from the county at Government Buildings on Tuesday evening for a meeting with Health Minister Simon Harris.



Discussions

Discussions centred on ambulance services, including in the Killybegs area.

Mr McHugh said: Our meeting in Government Buildings was a valuable opportunity to sit down and discuss issues relating to the ambulance service in Donegal.

I would like to thank Health Minister Simon Harris for taking the time to hear from the delegation and to listen to the concerns they have.

I am also arranging for the delegation to hold discussions with the head of the National Ambulance Service in the coming weeks where they can set out the distinct needs of the region.

The delegation included Manus Boyle, Noel McBride, Tom Slater and Mickey Doherty.

Mr McHugh said: I will continue to facilitate discussions at a high level in Government on these vitally important issues and I am also coordinating a meeting in the coming weeks with Minister Harris and a delegation involved in cancer care in Donegal.

Securing improved services for South and West Donegal is a key priority and these meetings are an essential step in my work delivering for the county, Deputy McHugh said after the meeting.

The Killybegs Ambulance base covers Inver, Dunkineely, Killybegs, Kilcar, Carrick, Glencolumcille, Ardara, Glenties and into Fintown.

Cllr. ONeill has called on representatives from the National Ambulance Service to attend the Donegal Municipal District to outline why they have withdrawn the back-up crew from Killybegs and in the process have effectively decommissioned an ambulance.Donegal farmers will be taking a very keen interest in ongoing negotiations for proposed Greenways in Galway, Kerry and Clare.

Following a meeting with landowners affected by proposed Greenways in Kerry, Clare and the Galway region, ICSA Rural Development chairman Seamus Sherlock has reiterated that the threat of Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPOs) should be removed from the process.

ICSA have called on Minister Shane Ross, as a gesture of goodwill, to remove that CPO threat.

CPOs are viewed as heavy handed in the extreme and fill landowners with absolute fear and confusion. Many feel they are being forced into a David versus Goliath position and have to deal with all the stress and anxiety that goes with that, said Mr Sherlock.

Mr Sherlock said, ICSA, as well as the majority of landowners, fully support tourism initiatives like cycleways and walkways but they have to be done right and with the proper consultation.

"That proper consultation process was promised by Minister Ross and needs to be put in place. This would allow affected landowners raise their legitimate concerns as well as give the invaluable input of vast local knowledge. By working together I have no doubt that a consensus on workable routes could be reached and these projects could move forward with goodwill. It is widely accepted that the goodwill of local communities is a vital element for the success of tourism initiatives.

ICSA believes that Minister Ross should honour his promise of proper consultation and as a gesture of goodwill remove the threat of CPOs. CPOs were intended for essential infrastructure projects like motorways not for tourism experiments. Farmers and landowners are not the problem here, its the heavy handed negative approach taken by Transport Infrastructure Ireland that seems to be the real issue.Bookings for the 2018 Honda Amaze has already started. Customers can book the new Amaze for an amount of Rs 21,000 across all Honda dealerships. Deliveries will begin from May-end.

Rajesh Goel, Sr Vice President & Director, Sales & Marketing, Honda stated, "The response to the all-new Honda Amaze since its world premiere at the Auto Expo has been overwhelming."

He further added, "As a special gesture to all the Honda loyalists, who are booking the car even before knowing the price and variant details, we have decided to offer a special introductory price for the initial 20,000 bookings."

The 2018 Honda Amaze was first showcased at the Auto Expo this year. The first batch of the Amaze is set to roll out from Honda's Tapukara plant in Rajasthan. Currently, the WR-V, City, Jazz and the BR-V models are manufactured at this plant.

The older generation Amaze, launched back in 2013, was being manufactured at the company's Greater Noida plant.

The 2018 Honda Amaze will be powered by a 1.2-litre petrol and a 1.5-litre diesel engines. The petrol variant will produce 88bhp with 109Nm of torque, while the diesel engine will churn out 100bhp with 200Nm of torque. Transmission options on the new Amaze include a five-speed manual, six-speed manual and a CVT gearbox.

Thoughts On The 2018 Honda Amaze Introductory Offer

The Honda Amaze has been one of the frontrunners for the company in terms of sales. Honda hopes to receive a similar if not better demand for their new 2018 Amaze as well.

The new 2018 Amaze will take on the Hyundai Xcent, Maruti Dzire and the Tata Tigor.Authorities in Paraguay and Peru are unjustly criminalizing activists who speak out to protect their environment and land, an Amnesty International report released Thursday revealed.

The report, A Recipe for Criminalization: Defenders of the Environment, Territory and Land in Peru and Paraguay, outlined the three "ingredients" both countries use to undermine the efforts of activists. First, they delegitimize activists through smear campaigns. Second, they apply laws and regulations that allow for forced evictions. And, third, they misuse the criminal justice system to prosecute activists for unfounded reasons.

"Those who bravely stand up to defend their land and the environment are frequently targeted because of their work. These attacks have a devastating impact on their physical, mental and emotional wellbeing, as well as that of their families and communities," Amnesty International Americas director Erika Guevara-Rosas said in a press release.

The report included examples of how these ingredients combine on the ground.

For example, Amnesty International highlighted the case of community activists working to protect their home in Peru's Cajamarca region from the gold and copper Conga mining project. On 26 April 2013, police arrested 16 protesters on trumped up charges of abduction and coercion. The state prosecutor sought 30-year prison sentences. But the evidence presented was secondhand and so spotty and contradictory that a court dismissed the case in 2017.

In Paraguay, the Tekoha Sauce community of the Ava Guarani People was evicted from their ancestral lands by a court order following a dispute with local businessman German Hultz. The community was forced onto a nature reserve where they struggle to survive because hunting and fishing is not allowed. During the court proceedings leading up to the eviction, their opponents stigmatized the indigenous community by referring to them as a "gang of criminals."

The report recommended that the governments of the two countries "must recognize as legitimate the work of human rights defenders working on issues related to land, territory and the environment." It also concluded that both governments should incorporate a gender- and ethnic-specific perspective to protect activists into legislation, stop abusing the justice system to prosecute environmental defenders, investigate and put a stop to all instances where the justice system is being used to harass protesters, and further investigate and prosecute anyone who is carrying out attacks on activists and land defenders.

To reach their conclusions, the Amnesty International team took two trips to Peru and one to Paraguay, and spoke with representatives of 10 human rights groups in Peru and 14 in Paraguay.Abortion Bill set for third reading in House of Keys



Ramsey MHK Dr Alex Allinson

The Abortion Reform Bill will undergo its final stage in the House of Keys next week.

Dr Alex Allinson's Bill will be presented for its third reading after completing the considerations of clauses stage on Tuesday.

The third reading is the final step before the proposals are passed on to the Legislative Council.

The new laws would give women on the Isle of Man greater access to abortion services.Johns Hopkins researchers report success with a smart phone video-based app that substitutes for a daily in-person visit by a health care worker required for tuberculosis treatment known as directly observed therapy, or DOT. The preliminary study showed that the app may be less costly and may improve privacy concerns raised by patients compared to in-person visits.

A summary of the study that investigated the app, which provides video Directly Observed Therapy (video DOT), was published on April 26 in Open Forum Infectious Diseases.

"We believe video DOT offers an alternative that appears to be as effective as an in-person daily visits by health care workers to assure compliance with drug treatment, but also empowers patients to manage their TB without added stress," says Samuel Holzman, M.D., a research fellow in the department of infectious diseases at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Tuberculosis is one of the few diseases in the U.S. with state and federal provisions outlining recommended and sometimes required measures to ensure that patients adhere to treatment. These recommendations include provisions for home or hospital based isolation or occasionally forced isolation for infectious individuals. Treatment for tuberculosis is effective and benefits not only the patient, but the public by reducing the chances of ongoing transmission.

The reason for these mandates, says Holzman, is the disease's virulence. Unlike the flu or the common cold, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacteria that causes infectious tuberculosis, can hang in the air for extended periods when expelled by the coughs or saliva of patients, spreading to others across a room or through a building's ventilation. Many people with active TB also have relatively few symptoms, allowing the bacteria to spread before a diagnosis is made.

Tuberculosis is typically treated for six months with a battery of daily antibiotics that include a multidrug combination that can be challenging patients to take. The number of side-effects related to the drugs and the motivation needed to continue the long treatment courses can cause patients to stop their treatment early without appropriate monitoring and strong support. Treatments become even more intensive when caring for multidrug or extensively drug-resistant TB, which require additional antibiotics and can take up to two years to bring under control.

As such, most local health departments in the U.S. require that health care workers observe patients taking their medications to document that they were taken correctly and to monitor for side-effects. In most cases, in-person DOT is conducted five days a week on weekdays and is therefore costly and resource-intensive for local departments of health who absorb the costs associated with treatment.

Nonetheless, this practice helps to support patients through the difficult regimen and provides clinicians a means of tracking a patient's progress and in-person DOT is the standard of care for TB treatment in the US and globally. However, DOT has the potential to be logistically challenging for patients and is viewed by some patients as stigmatizing or interfering with their autonomy and privacy.

"In an era when we are focused on patient centered care, having to meet a health provider every single day is logistically challenging and can be personally invasive," says Maunank Shah, M.D., Associate Professor of Medicine in the Department of Infectious Diseases at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

To test the effectiveness of video DOT, the researchers conducted a pilot study utilizing the widely-available smartphone application developed by emocha Mobile Health in conjunction with Shah and other clinician-scientists at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

28 adult TB patients being treated at three health departments in Maryland participated in the pilot study. These patients had their therapy monitored using the emocha video DOT application in lieu of in-person visits by a health care worker.

The researchers found that patient adherence to treatment was approximately the same between the video DOT and in-person DOT, 94 percent and 98 percent respectively. As importantly, when including weekends and holidays in the assessment of adherence, the researchers found that the overall proportion of prescribed doses that were verified through observation was 6 percent higher with video DOT compared to in-person DOT.

The researchers also sought to assess the app's acceptability to patients and clinicians by conducting qualitative interviews and surveys. Ten patients and sixteen staff were interviewed and/or completed surveys after the study. One hundred percent of the patients felt that the emocha platform was 'easy to use' and preferred it over in-person DOT. Staff were largely in agreement with these results and 94 percent reported they believed that video DOT was 'effective for monitoring patient adherence'. The researchers also reported several common themes during in depth interviews that focused on the added convenience and increased flexibility of using video DOT. Another prominent theme was the impression that in-person DOT could risk patient privacy.

The researchers also found that when compared to 5-Day/week in-person visits, video DOT was estimated to cost an average of $674 per patient, compared with $2,065 for in-person DOT. Given potential variability in the costs of software, internet data usage, mobile phones, and other components of video DOT, the researchers estimated the range of costs to implement video DOT at health departments could range from $66 to $1,449 per patient for a standard six month treatment course.

Overall, the investigators found that ninety percent of traditional in-person DOT costs are spent on health worker services. The video DOT costs were mostly in the software, phones and their data plans, with labor accounting for only 20 percent of the cost. In this study, 25 patients (89 percent) elected to use their own devices, leading to potential additional health department cost savings.

Overall, the researchers found that video DOT provides a patient-centered approach to TB treatment monitoring that offers patients improved flexibility and privacy, while allowing health departments the ability to document and support treatment adherence.

A limitation of the study is its small sample size and non-randomization. As such, the researchers say the results may not be applicable to all patients, but they see video DOT as a promising technology for helping TB programs around the world manage TB.

Because the app allows patients to record their doses without a health worker present, the researchers are hopeful that the app may facilitate more medication observation, even on weekends.

###

MiDOT is one of three video-based technologies that allows for asynchronous recording of patients taking prescribed antibiotic doses. Another is named Aricure that uses artificial intelligence to monitor patients, and another is SureAdhere. Other video DOT technologies listed by the CDC include Face Time, Fuze, HippaBridge, ooVoo, Skype, and Tango.

COI: Under a license agreement between emocha Mobile Health Inc. and The Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Shah and the university are entitled to royalties on technology described in this publication. Also, the university owns shares of eMOCHA Mobile Health Inc. stock. This arrangement has been reviewed and approved by The Johns Hopkins University in accordance with its conflict of interest policies.Russian, Iranian and Turkish foreign ministers on Saturday talked up their successes in brokering a political solution to the Syrian conflict at a meeting in Moscow.

The three nations have been attempting to resolve the Syrian conflict at talks that started last year in Astana, Kazakhstan, in competition with a US and UN-backed Geneva initiative.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the three countries must help the Syrians finish cleansing their country of terrorists.

The ministers emphasised the success of their peace talks in Astana, which Lavrov said are firmly standing on their feet.

The Russian diplomat praised the unique alliance between two of Syrian President Bashar-al Assads key supporters, Moscow and Tehran, and rebel-backer Ankara.

Thanks to it, it became possible to tackle the situation on the battlefield with the Islamic State group and the Al-Nusra Front, he said, as jihadists have lost most of the territory they controlled in Syria.

The conflict in Syria has lasted since 2011 and killed more than 350,000 people. Both Russia and Iran have deployed forces to Syria to back up Assad against anti-government rebels.

Critics of the Astana talks are trying to show that they today decide all the affairs in our world, but fortunately their time has passed, Lavrov said.

Nevertheless he implicitly criticised Damascus after it blocked UN humanitarian aid to the town of Douma in Eastern Ghouta, saying Moscow was calling for the regime to be more flexible.

The Russian foreign minister earlier held separate bilateral talks with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu and then Irans Mohammad Javad Zarif.

Meeting his Turkish counterpart, the Russian diplomat stressed the great importance both Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attach to improving relations.

 Crack in the alliance 

Yet the latest talks in Moscow came as the alleged chemical attack in the Syrian town of Douma on April 7 has prompted sharply differing responses from Turkey and Russia.

I curse those who carried out this massacre, Erdogan said, welcoming Western air strikes in retaliation as appropriate.

Meanwhile Russia says the attack was staged to discredit Assad.

Iran and Russia on Saturday slammed Western strikes on Syria over the alleged chlorine or sarin gas attack.

Lavrov said they set back efforts to promote the political process and Zarif criticised Washingtons destructive role.

French President Emmanuel Macron this month suggested the air strikes had driven a wedge between Ankara and Moscow, prompting an angry denial from Cavusoglu.

Alexander Shumilin, a Middle East expert at the Institute for US and Canadian Studies in Moscow, however, said the Douma fallout had caused a crack in the alliance of three countries.

Alexey Malashenko, a specialist in the Syria conflict, said the trio have a very shaky alliance and theres no way they can reach an agreement over the suspected chemical attack.

Nevertheless, the limited nature of US-led strikes suggests the peak of tensions has passed, he said.

The next Syria talks in Astana are set for May 14.

Eight rounds of talks under United Nations auspices in Geneva have made little headway, with Assads government taking little interest.

Ankara has called for Assads removal throughout the war, but has worked increasingly closely with Moscow and Tehran in recent months in an attempt to find a solution to the conflict.

In January, Russia held a showpiece conference in the Black Sea resort of Sochi with largely pro-regime delegates, which saw boycotts by rebels and made little progress.

Lavrov on Saturday said it achieved breakthrough results, however.

Putin hosted a summit on Syria with the Iranian and Turkish presidents in November. They then met again in Ankara this month.Vodafone mobile service has been partially restored in war-torn east Ukraine after a fibre optic line cut in January left up to two million people without cell phone coverage, rebel authorities said Saturday.

Yesterday the Vodafone operator resumed its work in the Donetsk Peoples Republic, a spokeswoman for the rebel regions communications ministry told AFP.

She said Vodafone specialists were expected to arrive in the region, adding more time was needed for the complete restoration of the service.

Cell coverage was already available in the regional capital Donetsk but there was no service on the outskirts of the city and a number of other places.

Up to two million people were left without cell phone access after Vodafone  the last major mobile operator in the region  suffered a fibre optic line cut in January.

The outage had all but severed communication between Ukrainians living on opposite sides of the frontline.

While mobile phone access was quickly restored in the fellow rebel stronghold of Lugansk, Donetsk residents had remained without proper cellular coverage.

Phoenix, a local mobile phone provider launched by the Moscow-backed authorities in 2016, has reaped the benefits of the communications blackout.

is-osh/as/wdbA San Antonio pediatric trauma surgeon, who treated victims of the deadliest shooting in Texas history, shows an HBO correspondent graphic images of how huge and horrific the wounds were from the assault rifle used by a gunman who opened fire at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs.

Dr. Lillian Liao of University Hospital and UT Health San Antonio goes on to say that these shootings have become an epidemic, a public health hazard, and the nation needs to stop being divided and work together on a solution to stop these massacres.

The half-hour Vice story, The Parkland Effect, airs at 6:30 and 10 tonight on HBO. It repeats at various times, including at 4:15 p.m. Saturday on HBO.

RELATED: Sutherland Springs conspiracy theorists charged, released

It also will be available, after Fridays initial airing, on HBO On Demand, HBO Now and HBO Go.

Correspondent Gianna Tobonis interview with San Antonios Liao is part of a larger, cross-country investigation into arguments around arming teachers and whether the National Rifle Associations good guy with a gun narrative can solve gun violence.

The show offers a look at those on the front lines of such mass shootings, exploring the nationwide debate around whether trained law enforcement should protect our schools and ways teachers are being equipped to respond to a mass shooter.

In Parkland, Florida, Toboni speaks with still-shaken students during their first day back at Stoneman Douglas High since the shooting.

Just a few hours away in Polk County, she embeds with the School Sentinel Program, a group of teachers going through 132 hours of firearms training and learning to hit the right target with assault rifles.

Toboni also engages in a lengthy discussion with Dallas-based NRA-TV anchor Grant Stinchfield, who rejects the argument that weapons such AR-15s are a safety hazard and supports the idea of turning educators into good guys with guns.

In the segment filmed in San Antonio, Dr. Liao recalls that tragic day last November, when the church massacre left 26 dead and 20 injured. Many of those killed were children and teens.

RELATED: Air Force admits it failed to send Sutherland Springs gunman's records to feds

We actually started receiving children first, Liao tells Vices Toboni. And I had a child  he was internally bleeding. The reported firearm used was an AR-15. He was shot in the pelvis  in the left leg and left arm. The firearm was a variant of an AR-15, the Ruger AR-556, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Looking at the X-rays of that child, Toboni notes: This isnt a bullet hole. Part of his leg was blown off.

Yes. Its a cavity, Liao says. We call it gaping holes.

To illustrate just how much damage the rifle does, Liao called up color photos on a computer of what a victims wounds looked like.

Toboni warns viewers that the images shown will be disturbing.

This was two weeks out, Liao explains. We dont take pictures in real time because were trying to save a life..

The force that hits the body is so fast, Liao notes. If anybodys been hunting and knows what it looks like after successfully killing the animal, this is how it looks.

She goes on to elaborate on the sizable contrast between these wounds and those caused by a handgun.

(That) most likely wont look like this, she says, explaining that some skin and tissue may be missing, but the wound essentially looks like a circular hole.

People may not understand that and feel a firearm is a firearm, but they arent really the same, Liao adds.

Toboni then asks the doctor what she wants to share with the general public as someone whos been in this situation.

We have a public health crisis, Liao says. An increase in the number of firearm-related injuries as much as 20 percent since 1999.

She went on to say she isnt just speaking as a doctor, but Im speaking as a person living in this country. We shouldnt have two divisive teams of people.

Instead, she added, there should be one group of people working together. We need to do something.

Jeanne Jakle's column appears Thursdays and Sundays in mySA. Read more of her columns here. | jjakle@express-news.net | @JakleJInexpensive solar panels powering a local network delivering Wi-Fi to public housing residents has caught the attention of the Mozilla Foundation, the nonprofit arm of the company behind the Firefox web browser.

The San Antonio Housing Authority pitched the idea as part of the Smart Community Networks Challenge, managed and sponsored by Mozilla and the National Science Foundation. SAHAs proposal won a $10,000 honorable mention and advances to the second phase of the challenge.

Noting that 10 percent of Americans dont have access to quality internet connectivity, the challenge sought proposals addressing wireless connectivity in places where its a challenge.

Ten percent of all people in the U.S.  34 million people  lack access to internet connectivity, a number that jumps to a staggering 39% in rural communities and 41% on Tribal lands, the contests website says. The Smart Community Networks Challenge aims to close this access gap by enhancing wireless connectivity in areas where internet access is a challenge, whether due to geographic, financial or other factors.

SAHA pitched the idea of a solar-powered mesh network, which for the non-technical types, means a network of devices scattered about a specific area that are all talking to each other to deliver data to devices. The system creates a Wi-Fi blanket over an area.

Some 90 teams presented proposals in the contest, said Jo Ana Alvarado, SAHAs director of information technology.

Alvarado said SAHA picked its Cassiano Homes on the West Side as the test site.

We decided to go for Cassiano Homes because we have 757 clients in 499 units there, she said.

That area lacks connectivity and even accessing electricity can be difficult in some areas, Alvarado said.

SAHA has been working on increasing connectivity to its residents, in part with the ConnectHome program launched by then-President Barack Obama and unveiled in San Antonio by then-Housing Secretary Julian Castro.

The solar-mesh Wi-Fi project could bring internet to many more SAHA residents because it can be scaled up, Alvarado said.

She and her team won praise from Councilman Manny Pelaez and the Innovation and Technology Committee he runs.

Were only as smart as our citizens are, he said. You cant be a well-informed participatory citizen if you dont have access to whats almost a natural resource  the internet.

The network can deliver internet speeds of about 10 to 15 megabits per second. Thats a fraction of the speed of gigabit internet, like what Google Fiber offers, but its still fast enough to do homework, apply for jobs, pay bills and complete other tasks that require internet connections in the 21st century.

The solar-panel-topped poles cost less than $1,000 each, Alvarado said. Now, she and her team are working on the second phase of the contest  a working prototype is due in late June. In August, contestants will demonstrate their technology in Mountain View, California. Winners will be announced in the fall with awards ranging from $50,000 to $400,000.

Josh Baugh is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of his stories here. | jbaugh@express-news.net | @jbaughPeter Rodino was a Democrat and Richard Nixon was a Republican. But the story goes that after Rodino voted for a third article of impeachment against Nixon in 1974, the New Jersey congressman called his wife and cried over the phone, overcome with sadness over the unraveling of an American presidency.

Its a scenario thats so hard to imagine in our current political culture that it sounds apocryphal, a political equivalent to Babe Ruth calling his own shot in the 1932 World Series.

In 2018, its easier to envision a member of Congress sobbing over low poll numbers or a poor fundraising report than over casting an impeachment vote against a president from the opposition party.

The danger that impeachment is now regarded less as a constitutional remedy than a political machete is obvious to reasonable people in both major parties. And that weapon cuts both ways this year with the backdrop of a Republican president, Donald Trump, under investigation by a special counsel for possible collusion between his 2016 campaign and the Russian government.

A January poll by Quinnipiac University found that 76 percent of Democrats want to see Trump impeached if their party takes control of the House next January.

At the same time, the best general-election argument Democrats have in this midterm cycle is that Washington, under Republican control, has become mired in dysfunction and pettiness. Promises of impeachment, before Special Counsel Robert Mueller has concluded his investigation, send exactly the wrong message.

Thats why Republicans actually want to play up the possibility of impeachment, because they think general-election voters will resent the idea of Democrats plotting to effectively overturn the results of the 2016 presidential election.

At his campaign kickoff rally, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, featured a video of a fake news report announcing the impeachment of Trump. This, Cruz indicated, is what youre getting if you vote Democratic in November.

This kind of messaging has some Democrats nervous that they could squander a potential blue-wave election by overplaying their anti-Trump hand. David Axelrod, chief strategist for both of Barack Obamas successful presidential campaigns, warned Dems in an April 8 tweet that they should NOT commit to impeachment unless & until theres a demonstrable case for one.

Axelrod added that normalizing impeachment would be another hammer blow to our democracy.

Cruzs Democratic challenger, El Paso Congressman Beto ORourke, has walked a fine line in recent weeks on the impeachment question.

On April 9, during an interview with Lubbock radio station KFYO, ORourke suggested that he had seen enough from Trump to justify impeachment.

Ive seen an attempt, no matter how ham-handed, to collude with a foreign government in our national election, he said. Ive seen an attempt to obstruct justice in the investigation of what happened in the 2016 election.

Six days later, at a Southwestern University town hall, he backed off that stance a bit.

In response to a question on impeachment, ORourke said, Ive never brought this issue up, saying, Get behind me, lets impeach the president, according to Patrick Svitek of the Texas Tribune.

ORourke added that impeachment is perhaps the most serious and solemn responsibility for members of Congress and not something we should trifle with or campaign on.

It was a statement that Rodino could have made 44 years ago.

ORourkes point was echoed last week by Harry Reid, the former Senate majority leader, who told his fellow Democrats, The less we talk about impeachment, the better off we are.

Reid was around when Republicans snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in the 1998 midterms by pushing impeachment against Democratic President Bill Clinton for lying under oath about an extramarital affair. Voters disapproved of Clintons behavior, but they were also turned off by a GOP crusade to destroy his presidency.

Democrats run the same risk with Trump.

The old saying goes that a grand jury could indict a ham sandwich, if it wanted to. By the same token, the U.S. House could impeach an American president for eating a ham sandwich, if it wanted to. But that wouldnt exactly make for a prudent use of congressional power.

Now, if the president shared that ham sandwich with Julian Assange at the home of a Russian oligarch, while chatting with Vladimir Putin on speakerphone, thats another story.

Gilbert Garcia is a San Antonio Express-News columnist. Read more of his stories here. | ggarcia@express-news.net | @gilgamesh470A federal appeals court has upheld the latest version of the states voter ID law.

In a split ruling released late Friday, a three-judge panel said opponents of the revised voter ID requirements in Texas failed to prove fixes the Legislature made to its original voter ID law still had a discriminatory effect on indigent minority voters.

Opponents of the latest voter ID law, Senate Bill 5, had argued that despite changes to the original Senate Bill 14 passed in 2011, the law still presented a barrier to voting for people who did not have access to a photo identification to be able to vote. A federal court previously ruled that SB 14 was unlawful under the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

SB 5 passed in 2017, still calls for one of seven acceptable forms of photo ID to cast a ballot. But now there is an exception in the law that lets people without one of those forms of ID to vote if they can produce another form of identification such as a utility bill, a bank statement or paycheck that has the persons name and address. They also must sign a form listing one of seven acceptable reasons why they cannot produce a photo ID. Those reasons can include lack of transportation, lost or stolen ID, or illness, all possible issues that critics of the original law said could be possible.

In the ruling from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the court called SB 5 an effective remedy for the flaws in the original SB 14.

More Information Acceptable forms of ID to vote SB 5 calls for one of seven acceptable forms of photo ID to cast a ballot. Texas driver's license issued by state Department of Public Safety Texas election ID certificate issued by DPS Texas personal ID card issued by DPS Texas handgun license issued by DPS U.S. military ID card containing the person's photograph U.S. citizenship certificate containing the person's photograph U.S. passport (book or card) If a voter has none of the above they must show one of the following. Government document that shows the voter's name and an address, including the voter registration certificate Current utility bill Bank statement Government check Paycheck Certified domestic (from a U.S. state or territory) birth certificate A document confirming birth admissible in a court of law and that establishes the voter's identity (which may include a foreign birth document) See More Collapse

Attorney General Ken Paxton was quick to applaud the decision issued Friday.

The court rightly recognized that when the Legislature passed Senate Bill 5 last session, it complied with every change the 5th Circuit ordered to the original voter ID law, Paxton said. Safeguarding the integrity of our elections is essential to preserving our democracy. The revised voter ID law removes any burden on voters who cannot obtain a photo ID.

In August, Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos of U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas issued a permanent injunction against the states newest voter ID law, calling it a poll tax on minority voters. In September, a federal appeals court blocked that ruling from going into full effect in order to hear the merits for and against the states appeal.

But the appeals court declared Friday that Ramos court had abused its discretion, and reversed his decision to block SB 5 from going into full effect.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick also applauded the ruling.

Senate Bill 5, the Texas Voter ID law, was one of my highest priorities in the last legislative session and one of the first bills the Senate passed last year, he wrote in a prepared statement. Todays ruling by the 5th Circuit confirms this common sense law and safeguards the integrity of our elections. It will also enhance public trust in our democratic process going forward.

Democrats voiced frustration at the ruling on Friday.

Texas photo voter ID law is unnecessary and discriminates against Texas voters, said state Rep. Chris Turner, D-Grand Prairie. Texas Democrats will continue to fight for equal voting rights for all citizens.

State Rep. Rafael Anchia, chairman of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, said the revised voter ID law is still discriminatory in his view.

We are undeterred by todays decision, and we will continue to fight against laws that aim to suppress the vote, said Anchia, a Dallas Democrat.

Critics of Texass voter ID laws argue photo ID requirements disenfranchise poor and minority voters, who face difficulties obtaining IDs. More than 600,000 Texas voters lack a suitable ID to vote.

Any law that silences people at the polls is not one that belongs in our democracy, Neil Steiner, pro bono counsel for the NAACP Texas State Conference and MALC, said in a prepared statement. Our determination to fight for the rights of all Texans is as strong as ever.EU member states have voted for proposals to enforce an almost-complete ban on the use of neonicotinoid insecticides across the EU.

On Friday morning (27 April), the European Commission asked member states to vote on a proposal to widen the ban to cover all crops grown outdoors, compared to its previous ban on flowering crops, spring-sown cereals and maize.

Member states voted in favour to enforce the almost complete ban on neonicotinoids, the most widely used class of insecticides in the world.

However, growers will still be free to use neonicotinoids in greenhouses across the EU.

Since December 2013 three neonicotinoid pesticides - imidacloprid, clothianidin and thiamethoxam - have been banned for use on crops attractive to bees in the EU.

The restrictions were imposed after a previous report by European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) concluded that they posed a "high acute risk" to honey bees.

The UK government has overturned its previous convictions on neonicotinoids and now say an outright ban is needed.

Last year, Defra Secretary Michael Gove said a total ban on the pesticide in fields across Europe will now be backed by the UK.

The weight of evidence now shows the risks neonicotinoids pose to our environment, particularly to the bees and other pollinators which play such a key part in our 100bn food industry, is greater than previously understood, Mr Gove told The Guardian.

'Reduce farmers' ability'

German agri-chemical giant Bayer said today's decision will "further reduce European farmers' ability to tackle important pests, with no alternative treatments available to do so."

Bayer said it remains convinced that the restrictions are not warranted. It says neonicotinoids are safe when used in accordance with the label instructions.

The agri-chemical company said legislative measures are being implemented without a prior thorough impact assessment.

In a statement, Bayer said: "There are other, better ways to support pollinator health - such as increasing pollinator foraging options or natural habitats and more efficient control of the varroa mite - than banning substances that have helped farmers effectively manage a broad range of significant pests."

However, the European Commission says it closely monitors the possible relations between bee health and pesticides and is determined to take the most cautious approach possible to protect bees.

'Major victory'

Environmental charity Friends of the Earth has described today's decision as a "major victory for science, common sense and under-threat bees."

Sustainable farming organisation the Soil Association said the decision is welcomed, saying that "overwhelming evidence can no longer be ignored".

Peter Melchett, Soil Association Policy Director, said: The clear evidence of neonicotinoids harm to pollinators, and to wildlife in general, has been mounting for some time.

Almost all of the toxic neonicotinoid spray gets into the soil rather than the crop, and from there to wild flowers and hedges around the edges of fields."

Neonicotinoids are active substances used in plant protection products to control harmful insects. The first neonic was approved in the EU in 2005.



Allergies are natures way of annoying us! Most of us today, have at some point or the other, suffered from some form of allergy or another. But first, lets find out what exactly an allergy is. The Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy says, Allergy occurs when a persons immune system reacts to substances in the environment that are harmless to most people. These substances are known as allergens. They also go further into Atopy, the genetic (inherited) tendency to develop allergic diseases. So allergies can be both genetic and non-genetic. But how does one identify them, classify them and then go onto dealing with them? Read on for all the information youll ever need on allergies. Lets start with the different kinds.This refers to an unpleasant reaction whenever a particular food is eaten. Nearly 1 in 20 people suffer from some kind of food allergy or the other. While these occur commonly in kids, adults are also prone to them. They can exist from infancy or early childhood, and can also suddenly appear at any point in time with little or no warning.The most common foods that trigger off allergic reactions include eggs, milk, peanuts and other kinds of nuts, fish and shellfish, wheat and soy. Some food allergy symptoms are very mild while others could be severe and even be dangerous or fatal  causing breathing difficulty, heart trouble and more. If youre experiencing a first-time severe allergy that you have no idea how to deal with, its best to rush to the emergency wing of the nearest hospital and be treated with an epinephrine  this is especially relevant if you get anaphylaxis, which causes your blood pressure to drop as well.So what are the most basic allergic reactions to foods, other than breathing and heart trouble? Throwing up and tummy problems (as seen in those with lactose intolerance), breaking out into mild-to-severe hives, coughs, a weak pulse and dizziness are some of the other symptoms to beware of. Most reactions start within a few minutes of ingesting the food, while in some cases (like children with eczema) it takes a few hours.Gluten allergy, however, is not really an allergy, but intolerance classified as Celiac Disease which causes gas, bloating, indigestion, and rash. This mostly causes complications when gluten is consumed over a period of time, rather than the short-term reactions that other allergies come with.Spring may be in the air, but not for you perhaps  if youre prone to the pollen, dust and all their side effects! The vast majority of these allergies are airborne, and in India, the primary allergen is dust, although pollen and mold contribute as well. The result of this can range from asthma to coughing, sneezing and other cold-like symptoms. Most seasonal allergies affect the respiratory system, while a few can cause red, watering eyes and rashes. Dont assume that the allergens are all outside your house  the inside of your house has plenty of microscopic bacteria, fungus, mold and other dust mites that could add to your woes.When youre allergic to your dog or cat (sad, but true!) it classifies as an animal or a pet allergy. What exactly is it about your pet than qualifies to be an allergen? A dogs fur, skin flakes, saliva and urine contain proteins that can trigger sneezing and asthma in people. Some people even break out into rashes; have watery eyes, a running nose, and inflammation of the skin. Hypoallergenic dogs or cats are a myth  all dogs and cats contain the same protein that qualifies as an allergen. However, furrier pets tend to have higher levels of these. As many as 2 people out of 10 can be allergic to dogs, and a whopping 4 out of 10 can have mild to chronic cat allergies. This is primarily because their immune systems are vulnerable and more sensitive to viruses and bacteria that otherwise do not cause any reactions. Pet allergies arent just caused by touching your pet. They also spread from surfaces that your pet has sat on / brushed against. In fact, some of these allergens are so strong, they last for months.Contact dermatitis is the most common form of skin allergies, where something that comes into contact with the skin, can cause it to break out into rashes, result in itchiness and sometimes even sores. This is primarily because the chemicals or ingredients dont agree with you. Skin allergies are not restricted to just rashes though  sometimes dry or flaky skin, blisters, discolouration, pus-filled boils, open sores and even swelling can be the result of an allergen. Latex clothes or gloves, perfumes, makeup and skincare products, certain plans (poison ivy, anyone?), detergents, kerosene, bleach and even jewellery that is nickel or gold-plated are common causes of skin allergies.These are not as common as the other allergies, nonetheless, they exist in about 5 percent of the population. Even after excessive testing, chances are you may react adversely to a drug. The drugs could range from antibiotics and aspirin to chemotherapy. The most common side-effects of drugs are rashes and itching, respiratory problems, swelling and so on. Sometimes it is very hard to say whether you are actually experiencing side effects to a drug or something else since the symptoms are very similar. So your doctor will probably have to diagnose this properly before he arrives at a conclusion.Theres no easy way out of this! Dont try and self-diagnose  you may be completely off-track. Youve got to see an allergist, who will ask you questions, take your family history into account, and also prescribe skin or blood tests to ascertain the presence or intensity of the allergy. In some rare cases  not very common in India  the allergist may also monitor you, while you take in small doses of food that youre allergic to, but under strict medical supervision. For skin allergies, they may run a patch test to check on what1) Avoid foods youre allergic to. While eggs and milk may not cause severe breakouts, and one may even outgrow them, peanut or shellfish allergies can be lethal.2) Read every label on every food product you buy. Make informed purchases and dont pick up anything if it looks or sounds like it could contain an allergen. While eating out, tell your waiter exactly what youre allergic to, and how youd like your food prepared. Dont hesitate to be assertive about your medical needs.3) For airborne allergies, take an antihistamine, which is a sure-fire way to counter the effects of, well, histamine  the chemical released in your body when the allergic reaction takes place. If your allergies are so bad that youre developing asthma, carry an inhaler. For simple colds and coughs, a nasal spray works.4) Dust allergies can also be managed by healthy eating, boosting your general immunity and trying out alternative therapies like Ayurveda and homoeopathy. Keep your surroundings clean (goes without saying!) and get your husband or a friend to spring clean for you.5) In the case of pet allergies, if you really want to keep your pet, follow some ground rules such as keeping it out of the bedroom. Get your bedroom cleaned and sanitised regularly. Also, keep the walls and floor neatly scrubbed  sometimes do it as much as twice a day. Keep furniture down to a minimum; the lesser surfaces the pet has to brush against, the better. Do away with carpets.6) Try and get a friend, relative or a caregiver to brush the dogs dander and fur outside the house, rather than doing it yourself. Also, request this to give the dog a bath at least once a week, clean the litter box and perform other such chores related to the pets grooming and hygiene. Cats groom themselves, so this is not a problem, but again train the cat to use designated spaces in the house, and not rush around over sofas or beds.7) When it comes to dealing with pet allergies, change your clothes immediately after handling the pet, or take a warm shower. If your allergies are still severe, consider asking your doctor for preventive meds. Worst-case scenario, you may need to come to terms with the fact that you really cant get over a pet allergy, and opt for pets like goldfish.8) If you have a skin allergy, stop using products or substances that you think could be causing this allergy. Find substitutes that dont impact your skin adversely.9) Keep calamine lotion and other anti-rash lotions and creams handy in the event of a breakout.Use hypoallergenic soap and water to clean the affected area. You could also use ice wrapped in muslin or a cold compress to soothe the affected area. Dont itch, whatever you do  itll just make the situation worse. While most skin allergies are mild and disappear on their own, in the event of an extreme reaction, you may want to go to a doctor to get an antihistamine shot or oral medication.10) For a drug allergy, it is best to seek medical intervention immediately. If the doctor finds youre allergic to something, he may put you off it for good and find an alternative. If there is no choice and youre dependent only on that medication, then you may need to either combat it with an anti-allergen each time or get into a sensitisation programme, which helps your body gradually adapt to the medication. Always keep all your doctors informed, from your physician to your dentist, on all your drug allergies to avoid any disasters or extreme reactions.If you have a child prone to allergies, these recipes are great to ensure they stay healthy, while not compromising on good taste and nutrition.2 cups rolled oats1 cup pumpkin seeds, coarsely chopped cup sunflower seeds, coarsely chopped1 tbsp flaxseeds1 tbsp shredded coconutCinnamon, a pinch1 tsp salt100ml honey2 tbsp butter1 tsp vanilla essence / extract1 cup dried berries or cherries, finely chopped1 tbsp dark chocolate chips1) Preheat oven to 300 degrees.2) Toast the oats, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds for 10 minutes, until nicely brown.In another pan simultaneously, mix the butter and honey and warm this mixture. Add the vanilla essence.3) In a bowl, combine the oat mix with the butter and honey and mix well slowly and carefully. Add the remaining ingredients and fold in well and evenly.4) Grease a baking dish with butter, line it with a baking sheet, and gently pour the mixture into this. Bake for half an hour, or until the mixture turns golden brown.5) Remove and cool, then cut into squares or rectangles, and serve. These bars can be stored for around 3-4 days.3 cups oat flour1 tsp baking soda tsp baking powderSalt, a pinch cup pumpkin puree cup oil1 cup brown sugar, finely ground1 tsp vanilla essence2 cups chocolate chips (dairy-free)1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.2) Take a bowl, and mix the oats, baking soda and a pinch of salt. Stir well using a wooden spoon.3) In another bowl mix the thick pumpkin puree with baking powder. Then add oil, sugar and vanilla essence to this mixture and stir well.4) Empty the oats mixture into this bowl, and stir slowly till all the ingredients are evenly blended.5) Finally, sprinkle the chocolate chips evenly into the mix.6) On a baking sheet, take small dollops of batter  one for each cookie  and drop them onto it.7) Put these in the oven and bake for 15 minutes or until golden-brown.8) Cool and serve. If you want, you can even add seeds or dry fruit to the mixture instead of chocolate chips.Montreal, Quebec--(Newsfile Corp. - April 27, 2018) - Peak Positioning Technologies Inc. (CSE: PKK) ("Peak" or the "Company") today announced its financial results and reviewed highlights for the year ended December 31, 2017. All amounts expressed are in Canadian dollars.

Financial Highlights:

$15.2M in combined exercise of stock options, exercise of warrants and private placement financing

Reduction of $2.0M in short-term liabilities

Total assets of $15.7M

Total revenues of $7.5M

Net loss of $3.2M

Operating Highlights:

Signing of agreement with Cubeler Inc. for exclusive Chinese commercial right to Cubeler fintech platform

Adjustment in business model to have new Chinese financial services subsidiary provide financial services on Gold River and Cubeler platforms

Creation of new Chinese operating subsidiary Asia Synergy Data Solutions ("ASDS")

Deployment of Cubeler fintech commercial lending platform in China

Strategic partnership with Balang Technology Ltd. to bring over 40,000 Industrial and Commercial Bank of China small and medium-sized business clients to Cubeler platform

Strategic partnership with Wuxi Jinxin Internet Small Loans Ltd. to be able to engage in financial services activities until the arrival of the Company's financial services subsidiary

Clear identification of 5 service offerings, expected to be main revenue generators for the Company, to be offered by 3 subsidiaries on the Company's 2 fintech platforms

Launch of GoldLegal service in partnership with Zhong Yin Law Firm

First GoldLegal facilitated transactions on Cubeler platform

First "Lend with Me" transactions on Cubeler platform

Partnership agreement between ASDS and China Auto Industry Development Ltd.

Arrival of first 2,000 ICBC small and medium-sized business clients to Cubeler platform

Review of 2017:

The Company's subtle, yet very impactful, adjustment to its business model to create a financial services subsidiary and put more emphasis on opportunities in the commercial lending space in China, set the tone for the rest of its operations in 2017. The Company's plans call not only to use cutting edge fintech applications to bring better efficiency to Chinese commercial lending, but also to provide an example of the benefits of those applications to lenders and financial institutions by having its own financial services subsidiary utilize those applications. One of the first steps in the execution of those plans was the signing of the Company's agreement with Cubeler Inc. for the exclusive Chinese commercial rights to the Cubeler commercial lending platform to complement the Company's Gold River product procurement platform. Realizing the need for a new subsidiary to manage Cubeler and to enter into the strategic partnerships that would allow the platform to reach its full potential, the Company created Asia Synergy Data Solutions ("ASDS"). Soon after the deployment of Cubeler in China, ASDS entered into some of those strategic partnerships. Included in ASDS' most noteworthy partnerships in 2017 are its agreement with Balang Technology Ltd. to bring over 40,000 Industrial and Commercial Bank of China small and medium-sized business clients to the Cubeler platform, and its agreement with Zhong Yin Law Firm, which led to the creation of the GoldLegal service aimed at protecting Cubeler platform lenders from potential loan defaults.

Although ASDS is not linked to the Company's Gold River platform, the partnership agreement it signed with China Auto Industry Development Ltd. ("CAID") in 2017 is expected to lead to a similar partnership between CAID and the Company's Asia Synergy Technologies ("AST") subsidiary, which manages the Gold River platform and thus have a significant impact on the types of transaction that take place on Gold River in the future.

While ASDS was making strides with the development of service offerings and partnerships related to Cubeler, most of the Company's attention in 2017 was spent on the process of establishing its financial services subsidiary, Asia Synergy Financial Capital ("ASFC"). To that end, the Company signed a strategic partnership with senior executives from Jiu Dong Ltd. ("Jiu Dong"), which included a $20M funding structure in order to meet the minimum financial requirements for the creation of ASFC. It was agreed that the Company would contribute $10.2M of the $20M amount in order to own a 51% majority stake in ASFC. The Company therefore announced that it would aim to close a private placement financing of $10M in order to meet its obligations for ASFC. Support for the creation of ASFC among the Company's shareholders was so strong that the private placement financing finally closed within the prescribed timeframe at $12M.

The launch of the Cubeler platform, the arrival of the first ICBC clients to the platform in late 2017, the limited rollout and testing of a handful of service offerings, combined with the imminent launch of ASFC's operations, allowed the Company to close out 2017 by clearly identifying 5 services to be offered by its 3 subsidiaries on the Company's 2 fintech platforms that are expected to be its main revenue generators for the foreseeable future.

"Our Company ended 2017 being in the best position it's ever been and ready for 2018 to be an exceptional year", commented Johnson Joseph, President and CEO of Peak. "Getting to this point was truly a team effort. I personally would like to take this opportunity to thank our partners in China and all of our shareholders for their continued support and their patience as we continue to build a company we can all be proud of", concluded Mr. Joseph.

Outlook for 2018:

Accessing credit for SMEs in China remains a major challenge as Chinese lenders, for the most part, still rely on processes used decades ago when it comes to qualifying SMEs for credit. This makes the Chinese commercial lending space very inefficient and in serious need of digitization, which in the Company's opinion makes it a very attractive fintech opportunity.

It is with that in mind that the Company launched the Cubeler platform in the fall of 2017 to complement its Gold River platform. The Company expects several lenders, including banks that showed significant interest when they where shown a prototype of Cubeler in 2017, to officially join the platform in 2018 following the arrival of ASFC as the platform's default lender. With ASFC in the picture and able to assume the financial aspects related to its service offerings, the Company's plan for 2018 will focus on having all 3 of its services on Cubeler, as well as its 2 services on Gold River fully operational.

Although the focus of the products traded on Gold River will change from metals and raw materials to auto parts and possibly other finished industrial goods, the revenue model of the platform is expected to remain the same in 2018. This means that AST, as the platform's operator, will source the products ordered by the platform clients and earn a markup on the orders, while financing requests for those orders will be handled by ASFC.

Given that demand for all of the Company's service offerings is predicated on SME demand for financing, the amount of revenue the Company is able to generate in 2018 is expected to largely depend on its capacity to satisfy that demand. Meeting that SME appetite for financing is expected to be a challenge that the Company will need to deal with throughout 2018 and beyond. Fully aware that that would be the case, the Company's Chinese-based management team spent time in 2017 to set up relationships with prospective financial partners able to help the Company meet the anticipated demand for its service offerings. In addition to recruiting as many lenders to Cubeler as possible to increase the platform's overall lending capabilities, the Company's strategy also calls for leveraging ASFC's financial services license to borrow funds from, and enter into strategic alliances with, tier 1 and tier 2 banks to increase ASFC's financial capacity to extend credit to the platforms' registered SMEs.

In management's opinion, the opportunity created by the current state of commercial lending in China, the technologies at the Company's disposal, the Company's service offerings, partnerships in China and the financial position as of the date of this news release, all combine to have it poised to seize on an opportunity to deliver significant value to its shareholders in the form of measurable and steady revenue growth throughout 2018 and beyond.

Fiscal 2017 financial results summary:

The Company generated $7,475,402 in a combination of mostly the sale of raw material products and a few financial services in Fiscal 2017 ($58,091,907 in the sale of raw material products in Fiscal 2016). The sale of raw material products that contributed to the Company's revenues and gross profit were phased out early in the year as the Gold River platform was re-affected to transact other types of products in the future. The significant difference in revenue between Fiscal 2016 and Fiscal 2017 can be attributed to the Company's shift in business model going from transactions involving the sale of raw materials generating large revenues and equally large costs of sales resulting in smaller profit margins, to focussing on financial services transactions generating smaller revenues but larger profit margins. It is also worth noting that the Company's financial services related transactions merely began to take shape in the latter part of Fiscal 2017.

Expenses (excluding the cost of sales) for fiscal 2017 amounted to $3,499,265, compared to $2,649,104 in 2016.

The net loss for the year was $3,456,230 compared to $2,649,104 in 2016. Full details of the Company's 2017 financial results can be found in the Audited Consolidated Financial Statements and Management's Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) for the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, which are available at www.sedar.com.

About Peak Positioning Technologies Inc.:

Peak Positioning Technologies Inc. is an IT portfolio management company whose mission is to assemble, finance and manage a portfolio of promising companies and assets in some of the fastest-growing tech sectors in China, including fintech, e-commerce and cloud-computing. Peak provides a bridge for North American investors who wish to participate in the continued digitization of China's industrial sectors through the latest advancements in technology. For more information: http://www.peakpositioning.com

Contact information:

Cathy Hume

CEO

CHF Capital Markets

Phone: 416-868-1079 ext.: 231

Email: cathy@chfir.com

Or

Johnson Joseph

President and CEO

Peak Positioning Technologies Inc.

Phone: 514-340-7775 ext.: 501

Email: investors@peakpositioning.com

Forward-Looking Statements / Information:

This news release may include certain forward-looking information, including statements relating to business and operating strategies, plans and prospects for revenue growth, using words including "anticipate", "believe", "could", "expect", "intend", "may", "plan", "potential", "project", "seek", "should", "will", "would" and similar expressions, which are intended to identify a number of these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking information reflects current views with respect to current events and is not a guarantee of future performance and is subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking information contained in this news release, except as may be required by applicable laws, rules and regulations. Readers are urged to consider these factors carefully in evaluating any forward-looking information.BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - The death toll in stabbing attack in the northwestern Shaanxi province in China has risen to nine, media reports said Saturday. The incident occurred at the Number 3 Middle School in Mizhi county on Friday, when the students were returning to home after their classes. The attacker, who was a former student at school, was seeking revenge for having been bullied at school. He was taken into custody by the police. Those dead included seven girls and two boys. Another 10 people have been hospitalized following the injuries met during the rampage. As China has strictly restricted the private gun ownership, knives are used as a weapon of choice. 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.BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - Clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians along the Israel-Gaza border killed three Palestinians on Friday and a fourth protester on Saturday, media reports said. Palestinian teenager Azzam Halal Aida, who has been wounded in the head by an Israeli gunshot on Friday's clashes, died today morning in southern Gaza. About 150 Palestinians were injured by live fire in the demonstrations in the fifth round of weekly protests on Friday, which began since late last month. Israeli army opened fire on the protesters who had rushed to breach the border fence, seeking to cross into Israel. None of Israelis have been killed or injured. 'Rioters approached the security fence and hurled explosive devices, grenades, firebombs and rocks and tried to light the security fence on fire,' the Israeli army said in a statement. The weekly protests, dubbed as the 'Great March of Return,' are set to continue until May 15. 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.By Michelle Price WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Emboldened by President Trump's pledge to loosen laws introduced following the 2007-2009 global financial crisis, U.S. banks are pushing to scrap or revise more than a dozen other lesser-known rules they say are outdated, costly and hurt economic growth.

By Michelle Price

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Emboldened by President Trump's pledge to loosen laws introduced following the 2007-2009 global financial crisis, U.S. banks are pushing to scrap or revise more than a dozen other lesser-known rules they say are outdated, costly and hurt economic growth.

Many would have been revised a decade ago, but changes were shelved during the financial crisis and the fierce political battle over the 2010 Dodd Frank Act that imposed a new layer of restrictions.

With Congress now poised to pass the first rewrite of Dodd Frank backed by key Democrats, and as Trump-appointed regulators strike a much more industry-friendly tone, banks see the changing atmosphere as an opportunity for a sweeping overhaul.

"The feeling is there are many rules that are so old that they're out of sync with what you need to promote economic growth and that's a conversation policymakers are now willing to have," said Wayne Abernathy, executive vice president at the American Bankers Association, a bank trade group.

Reuters has identified around 15 pre-crisis rules that bankers and lobbyists want to change, based on multiple interviews, disclosure forms, and advocacy documents submitted to the administration, its appointed officials and lawmakers.

While promising considerable savings, most changes should be far less contentious than tweaking Dodd Frank, which aims to curb excessive risk-taking and predatory lending, lobbyists say. Still, some proposals face resistance from consumer groups and business advocates warning they could erode customer protection and hurt small businesses.

Laws targeted by banks include the Civil War-era False Claims Act; the 1933 Securities Act; the Federal Deposit Insurance Act of 1950; the 1956 Bank Holding Company Act; the Bank Secrecy Act of 1970; a raft of lending laws including the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act; the 1991 Telephone Consumer Protection Act; the 2001 Patriot Act and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, among others.

Having accumulated over decades, albeit with occasional tweaks, together they are as costly and as much of an impediment to lending and economic growth as Dodd Frank, bankers say.

"It's like death by a thousand cuts: this happened over a long period of time...and now a lot of members of Congress, and a lot of consumers and the regulators agree that it's gone too far," said Timothy Zimmerman, CEO of Pennsylvania-based Standard Bank and chairman of the Independent Community Bankers of America.

With Trump in the White House and more business-friendly Republican-controlled Congress, banks seized the opportunity spending a record $66.7 million on lobbying last year, according to the political contributions database OpenSecrets.

Senate lobbying records show much of this was devoted to revising Dodd Frank and other laws, including many of those cited above.

Earlier this month, community bankers descended on Congress to meet with many of the 67 Senators who voted for the Dodd Frank rewrite, seeking their backing for other changes.

Lobbyists aim to sway lawmakers to sponsor deregulatory provisions that can be pegged to other upcoming must-pass legislation and pressure the agencies to push ahead with rule-easing, lobbyists told Reuters.

They are also dedicating a lot of time persuading the new agency heads and their senior staff to take up banks' pre-crisis wish list, according to lobbyists and disclosure filings.

Speaking at an event in Washington on Thursday, Republican Jeb Hensarling, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said the debate over rewriting Dodd Frank had obscured efforts on some of these other problematic rules.

"Many of our bills don't even touch Dodd Frank," he said.

BANK SECRECY, COMMUNITY LENDING

So far, the industry has gained traction on two laws they say are woefully outdated: the anti-money laundering rules outlined under the Bank Secrecy Act and the Community Reinvestment Act which requires lenders to extend credit to low-income communities where they take deposits.

The anti-money laundering rules, which require banks to track and report cash transactions over $10,000, are particularly costly and ineffective because the low threshold triggers millions of needless reports, say regulatory experts.

Globally, banks spent an estimated $12 billion on compliance with the rules in 2016, according to data compiled by consultancy Quinlan & Associates.

The House of Representatives has tabled a bill that would raise the threshold to $30,000. It would also require newly-incorporated private companies to disclose their true owners, making life easier for their banking providers.

The Senate is expected to introduce a similar bill in coming months, said Greg Baer, president of The Clearing House Association, a bank group which has advocated changes to the law.

Likewise, regulators have said they would unveil in coming weeks changes to the community lending rules, which banks say have become outdated with the rise of online lending and other technology developments.

These changes could include more flexibility in assessing bank compliance, and potentially softer penalties.

Consumer advocates warn, however, any easing of the rules could lead to discrimination of some groups of borrowers or create "banking deserts" where consumers do not have access to branches, said Randy Benjenk, a lawyer at Covington & Burling.

Conservative Republicans also raise concerns that the proposed changes to anti-money laundering rules would push more of the compliance burden onto small businesses.

"It's a new tax on small business creators," said J.W. Verret, professor of Banking Law at Scalia Law School.

"That would wipe out much of the benefit of tax reform passed by Congress last year."

(Reporting by Michelle Price; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.India does not have a national e-commerce policy and it does not have a consolidated legal framework to deal with it

The government is planning to finalise a framework for a national e-commerce policy in six months, to deal with issues relating to taxation, infrastructure, investment, technology transfer, data protection and regulation. India's e-commerce sector is expected to grow to $200 billion by 2026, from $ 38.5 billion in 2017. India is dubbed as the fastest growing e-retail market in the world, thanks to increasing Internet penetration, a rise in smartphone usage, a large pool of millennial consumers and a growth in digital payments. Yet, there is no clear-cut policy on the burgeoning sector.

India does not have a national e-commerce policy and it does not have a consolidated legal framework to deal with it, Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia has said. Therefore, a decision to set up a task force was taken during the first meeting of a think-tank of key stakeholders, constituted to finalise a framework for a national e-commerce policy. The think-tank is chaired by commerce and industry minister Suresh Prabhu.

The 70-member strong think tank includes representatives from Flipkart, Ola, Paytm, Bharti Enterprises, Reliance Jio, TCS, Wipro, MakeMyTrip, Urban Clap, JustDial, PepperFry, Practo, among others. But brick and mortar players do not find a mention in that list, and nor do Amazon, Google, Uber and Facebook. "The government should include brick and mortar players in the think-tank, said Praveen Khandelwal, secretary general of the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT).

Firstpost spoke to e-commerce experts, angel investors and the industry body, asking them what they hope to see in the government's upcoming policy. Here is their wish-list:

1) Transparency: There are too many grey areas and no clarity about what the rules are. The law permits foreign direct investment (FDI) in B2B e-commerce but many B2C players openly flout the role by using the marketplace model, said Paula Mariwala - Partner, Seedfund and Co-Founder, Stanford Angels. While Mariwala said she's glad the government is finally thinking in terms of a national policy for the sector, she hopes there will be no retrospective effect of taxes or penalty.

2) Consumer protection: Customer-complaints about counterfeit goods are on the rise. A third of the online shopping population has fallen prey to counterfeits over the years, revealed a recent study by Velocity MR, which examined online shopping experiences and the volume of fake or counterfeit products in circulation. The study polled 3,000 people across Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai, Ahmedabad and Pune. One of three respondents have received fakes/counterfeit products after having shopped online, said Jasal Shah, MD & CEO of Velocity MR.

As such, the policy must not ignore customer-interests, said Satish Meena, senior forecast analyst from Forrester Research.

3) Intent and purpose: When the government lays rules, there should be some rationale behind it, said Devangshu Dutta, the MD of management consultancy Third Eyesight. He pointed to a government rule a few years back that has made it compulsory for a foreign retailer to park half the amount of planned investments into back-end infrastructure in the first three years of operations. A retailers job is not to invest across the spectrum i.e. from farm to fork. I hope the bureaucrats formulating the new rules understand why a rule is being imposed. Else, people will find innovative ways to dodge the system, Dutta said.

4) Ease of doing business: There are impediments to trade, said management consultant Harish HV. Every firm in this sector is doing the same thing and each one of them should be treated on the same parameters, be it in business, taxation, operations, among others. Firms may want to go offline and do business, or do both. Dont put obstacles in their way by way of regulation. Focus on ease of doing business so that the sector can thrive locally too."

5) Home-grown players: Just as government polices, from a few decades ago, encouraged the manufacturing sector with subsidies, can not the government think of a national policy to encourage the creation of a platform for local players, questioned Arvind Singhal, Chairman, Teknopak Advisors. The e-commerce market is slowly being dominated by players from the US and China.

6) Inventory-based model: When e-commerce players are allowed to operate an inventory-based model, they will be able to stock goods, thus have control on the product and hire logistics partners that can ship them to the customer, said Abhishek Jaiswal, business head, LEAP. With such a model, the governments aim to boost employment will also be achieved, he added.

7) Labour laws: All the major segments of an e-commerce platform should be taken care of  be it logistics, employees or the back-end, said Harish. The government should ensure that all employees are provided with minimum wages, medical expenses, among other benefits.

8) Abolish heavy discounts: Heavy discounts offered by online players should be abolished as it affects offline players, said Abhishek Agarwal, CEO and co-founder of cross-border e-commerce platform Globepanda. Moreover, taxes should be collected at the source itself so that there is no tax evasion by vendors, he added.

Voicing his opinion, Khandelwal said the government must penalise players who sell products below the MRP and provide discounts.By Stephanie Kelly NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices edged lower on Friday, although Brent still gained for a third straight week amid supply concerns should the United States reimpose sanctions on Iran. Brent crude futures fell 10 cents, or 0.1 percent, to settle at $74.64 a barrel.

By Stephanie Kelly

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices edged lower on Friday, although Brent still gained for a third straight week amid supply concerns should the United States reimpose sanctions on Iran.

Brent crude futures fell 10 cents, or 0.1 percent, to settle at $74.64 a barrel. This month, the global benchmark hit highs above $75, a level last seen in late 2014.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 9 cents to settle at $68.10 a barrel, also a 0.1 percent loss.

Brent gained about 0.5 percent this week - its third consecutive weekly gain - while WTI posted a weekly loss of about 0.5 percent.

Hedge funds and other money managers cut their combined futures and options position in U.S. crude in New York and London by 17,021 contracts to 455,885 during the week to April 24, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

U.S. President Donald Trump will decide by May 12 whether to reimpose sanctions on Iran that were lifted as part of an agreement with six other world powers over Tehran's nuclear program. The renewed sanctions would likely dampen Iranian oil exports, disrupting global oil supply.

"That's the biggest factor right now that's driving the market. And that's why you're seeing low volatility today and for the most part during the week," Rob Thummel, portfolio manager at energy investment manager Tortoise Capital in Leawood, Kansas.

"The market is just kind of waiting on that."

Brent has risen by around 6 percent so far this month, while WTI was on track for a gain of nearly 5 percent. The gains came despite a higher dollar , which hit its strongest since Jan. 11 against a basket of currencies.

A stronger dollar makes greenback-denominated commodities more expensive for holders of other currencies.

Concerns about market tightness have also been fuelled by the deteriorating political and economic situation in Venezuela that has led to a 40 percent decline in crude output in the past two years.

Price increases have been capped by rising U.S. production as shale drillers ramp up activity, underpinning a widening discount between Brent and WTI. U.S. crude's discount to Brent hit its widest since Dec. 28 at $6.74 a barrel.

Surging U.S. production, which rose to 10.59 million barrels per day last week, has encouraged record-high U.S. exports.

U.S. drillers added five oil rigs this week, bringing the total count to 825, the highest level since March 2015, and boosted the overall rig count by 28 this month, General Electric Co's Baker Hughes energy services firm said. [RIG/U]

But while U.S. producers are accelerating shale drilling in areas in the United States, higher production has not necessarily translated into stronger refining results for some oil companies.

Weak refining margins hurt two of the world's largest integrated energy companies for the second consecutive quarter, although Chevron Corp's oil production gains in the first quarter outshone its larger rival Exxon Mobil Corp .

(Additional reporting by Shadia Nasralla in London and Aaron Sheldrick in Tokyo; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Mark Potter)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.In a major milestone, indigenously developed Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas has successfully fired an air-to-air beyond visual (BVR) range missile, demonstrating its overall capability as an effective combat jet

New Delhi: In a major milestone, indigenously developed Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas has successfully fired an air-to-air beyond visual (BVR) range missile, demonstrating its overall capability as an effective combat jet, and inched closer to receive final operational clearance.

Defence ministry officials said the test firing of the missile from a Tejas jet was carried out yesterday off the Goa coast and it met all operational requirements.

Earlier, Tejas was given clearance for deployment of armaments and other missiles.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) had ordered 40 Tejas Mark-1 version and a request for proposal (RFP) was issued to HAL by the IAF in December for procurement of another batch of 83 Tejas at a cost of around Rs 50,000 crore.

Officials said the successful launch of the BVR missile will expedite issuance of the Final Operational Clearance (FOC) to the aircraft developed by state-run aerospace behemoth Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

"The Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) successfully fired Derby air-to-air BVR Range missile to expand the firing envelope as well as to demonstrate safe operation of the aircraft," the defence ministry said in a statement.

It said the missile was launched from the LCA piloted by Wing Commander Siddharth Singh on Friday from the firing range off the Goa coast after the exhaustive study of the missile separation characteristics.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman complimented the DRDO and other agencies involved in making Tejas a world-class aircraft.

DRDO Chairman S Christopher said with this firing, the Tejas has achieved another major milestone towards FOC certification.

"Integration of Derby, a BVR class missile, is one of the major objectives of Final Operational Clearance (FOC) of LCA Tejas," said the ministry.

The aircraft was tracked by two other Tejas aircraft in close formation to capture the firing event in the specially instrumented high-speed cameras for detailed analysis of the test launch of the missile.

The entire planning, practice sorties and final firing were carried out by ADA and its National Flight Test Centre (NFTC).

"Based on the successful integration and demonstration, Regional Centre for Military Airworthiness (RCMA), a unit of DRDO has cleared the series production aircraft of squadron 45, to be equipped with derby operational capability," the ministry said.

It said Tejas has successfully completed a series of captive flight trials to clear Derby for the full operational capability.Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman Muhammad Yasin Malik was detained in Srinagar on Saturday when he was on his way to attend a separatist-called protest

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman Muhammad Yasin Malik was detained in Srinagar on Saturday when he was on his way to attend a separatist-called protest.

According to a JKLF spokesman, Malik was travelling to the old city's Nowhatta area to attend the protest called by the separatist conglomerate Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL), when the police stopped his vehicle and detained him.

Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq uploaded the footage of Malik's detention on his Twitter page and strongly condemned the police action.

Mirwaiz tweeted: "Strongly condemn police assault, manhandling and arrest of JKLF chief Yasin Malik by police when he was on way to Jama Masjid to take part in a peaceful protest against unabated killings of Youth, use of force on student and continuous illegal arrests of leaders by NIA."A Delhi Minorities Commission letter forwarding a request to provide time for Friday prayers to Muslim teachers in primary schools has left Delhi Education Department in jitters and officials hiding behind technicalities

A Delhi Minorities Commission letter forwarding a request to provide time for Friday prayers to Muslim teachers in primary schools has left Delhi Education Department in jitters and officials hiding behind technicalities.

The letter surfaces at a time when consolidation of votes in communal lines has taken a toll on the electoral prospects of political parties with secular credentials. On one hand, the act of supporting the Delhi Minorities Commission recommendation might be played as minority appeasement for votes by Opposition parties at the cost of school education to children, and on the other hand, opposing it might be construed as siding with majoritarian politics.

The letter addressed to the Education Department of Delhi and those of the Municipal Corporations of Delhi on 11 April came with the subject Regarding permission to Muslim employees of Government of NCT of Delhi to offer Juma prayers between 1-2 pm on Friday of every week.

The letter stated, "In this connection on the basis of this letter, the commission has desired for a detailed report. You are hereby requested for forward the detailed report in the aforementioned matter for consideration and further necessary action at the end of the Commission latest by 27 April 2018."

"Few minutes were sought for Juma prayer so that the employees working in the government schools. But the Delhi Education Department has rejected the proposal saying that it has no such scheme and hence cannot allow it," says Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan, Chairman of the Delhi Minorities Commission.

Khan informs that the municipal corporations of Delhi have not replied to the query yet. If we do not get a proper reply we will approach the Delhi education minister who is the final authority to decide upon such matters, he said.

The request for a detailed report was made after the Akhil Dilli Prathamik Shikshak Sangh appealed the Delhi Minorities Commission to take up the issue.

"In 1954, the Government of India issued a notification saying that Muslim employees could go for Juma prayers on Fridays. We have written a letter to the Ministry of Home Affairs asking whether the said notification is still in force," he said.

Significantly, many states in India followed the rule of allowing an interval up to a one hour to all the students and teachers in government schools on Fridays to allow Muslim students and teachers the required time for Juma prayers. One of such states is Assam in which one-third of the population constitutes Muslims.

Dinesh Das, a teacher in a primary school in Assam told Firstpost that though this rule was prevalent in Assam earlier, it has now ceased to exist.

The Delhi Government has been avoiding queries related to the letter issued by the Delhi Minorities Commission. In fact, according to sources, the Delhi government is using technicalities to side-step the question.

"The Minorities Commission has sought no response from the Delhi government. The Delhi Government has no role to play here," a source in the state government said. The crux of the statement is that since the letter was addressed to the director of the Department of Education, so it should be deemed to have been sent to the Department of Education and not to the Government of Delhi.

The Delhi Minorities Commission letter has not gone down well with volunteers working in the field of education. Ashok Agarwal, a Delhi High Court advocate and also a child rights activist says that the government should take no such step which could hamper the education of children.

It is the duty of the teachers to teach during school hours and nothing else. We cannot allow a train driver a fifteen minutes break for prayer while navigating a train. If we do so, we may invite a disaster. How can we do that with our education system? he asks.

When asked about the issue Naginder Sharma, Media Advisor to the Chief Minister of Delhi said, I am not aware of it.Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese president Xi Jinping have begun the second day of their informal summit in Wuhan.

Auto refresh feeds

 According to officials, the summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping is an attempt to forge consensus to resolve the issues with follow up actions by officials than announcing any agreements.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted what is likely to be discussed during the informal summit between him and Chinese president Xi Jinping.

'Xi and I will exchange views on a range of issues of bilateral and global importance'

While no major agreements are expected to be reached at the summit, both Indian and Chinese sides have indicated that the meeting is aimed at giving an "honest try" by the two leaders to work out an understanding at the top on the future course of relations.

Narendra Modi and Xi Jinping will hold the two-day informal summit in Wuhan from Friday during which both the leaders will try to work out a new paradigm for the bilateral ties bogged down with a host of disputes and differences.

"Thankfully, last summer's border standoff was a brief affair. Nevertheless, it helped the two sides recognise the importance of crisis management and deepening their cooperation," it said.

Referring to 2017's tensions on a host of issues including the Dokalam crisis, it said the tone of cooperation in bilateral relations has been maintained despite the tensions.

The two-day informal summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese president Xi Jinping starting Friday could be a "new landmark" in bilateral ties and can help reduce differences, a write-up in the state-run Chinese media said on Thursday. "The meeting will be a new landmark in China-India relations, infusing fresh vigour into bilateral ties and ushering in a new phase of cooperation," it said.

Assam tourism minister Himanta Biswa Sarma extended his wishes to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his "crucial" visit to China. In a tweet, Sarma said, "Ever since you took over the reigns of India, her glory has constantly soared. I am sure your meeting with President Xi Jinping will be a critical step forward in India's ties with China."

Its actions (not just under Xi but specially under him) are guided by a pragmatic cost-benefit ratio, and are based on a Sino-centric geopolitical strategy that seeks  through assertive maritime, expansionist and revisionist policies  to restore the Middle Kingdom to its "lost glory".

As Narendra Modi lands in Wuhan for a much-anticipated one-on-one with Xi Jinping, it is worth exploring the motivations that have driven China to the discussion table. It is a stretch to assume that Beijing, which refuses to consider India as its equal and never fails to be condescending about the economic and military power differential, would suddenly warm up to its neighbour out of "goodwill". China doesn't do "goodwill".

The visit for the 'heart-to-heart' summit is Narendra Modi's fourth to China since he came to power in 2014. He is again due to visit China to take part in the SCO summit to be held at Qingdao city on 9-10 June.

In the various news briefings leading to the talks, China too has played up this aspect. Behind all the signaling about "agenda-free" talks, it is clear that Modi and Xi would be stressing on ways to tackle the challenges arising out of protectionist impulses in the US. This would be the broad agenda. The relaxed atmosphere may even provide both leaders the opportunity to assess mutual trade ties where India has long been demanding a more level-playing field. Trade drives bilateral ties. If India manages to persuade China to open up its domestic market for Indian manufactured products (not just raw materials), that could pave the way for a true 'reset'.

Though the Indian media has understandably focused on the state of bilateral ties and speculated on issues such as border dispute, India's joining of BRI and even Nirav Modi, for the long part of their "informal discussion" in a "friendly" setting, both Narendra Modi and Xi Jinping are likely to discuss strategic issues in the international context that concern both nations. Modi had clearly hinted at that possibility before boarding the Wuhan-bound flight.

The two leaders will begin their engagement at 3.30 pm, at the Hubei Provincial Museum and take a tour of the site for around an hour. Xi and Modi will hold another meeting at 6 pm, with delegations from both sides being present. This will be followed by a dinner hosted by the Chinese president.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to meet Chinese president Xi Jinping on Friday and hold free-flowing talks at Mao Zedong's villa in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.

Incidentally, 52 years ago, Mao Zedong, then 73 years old, dived into the Yangtze river in the city of Wuhan since he was keen to prove his fitness to doubters within his party. That event was reportedly held amid blazing publicity and in front of thousands of avid supporters. Some reports even claim Chairman Mao apparently swam for 65 km in 15 minutes, cementing his stronghold over the party and adding to his legend. According to a report in South China Morning Post, "The water of the river seemed to be smiling that day."

The Modi-Xi summit, we have been told ad nauseum, will be held in a relaxed setting within an "informal format". The two leaders might even enjoy a boat ride on East Lake.

We are about one hour away from the first of several meetings planned between Narendra Modi and Xi Jinping during the former's two-day visit to Wuhan.

Later on Friday afternoon, Modi will get a tour of ancient Chinese artefacts at the Hubei Provincial Museum, followed by what is scheduled to be a 40-minute meeting with Xi and then dinner, according to the external affairs ministry.

However, such interaction has limited usefulness when it comes to setting the structures of bilateral ties. And it is impossible to tell before one or maybe even two years whether the Wuhan Summit did really succeed in resetting the ties. For instance, Modi would love to have a quieter border across LAC in an election season. But it is impossible to tell right now whether, even if this issue comes up for discussion, that will be a reality. There are too many currents at work, concurrently, that may upstage understandings even if Modi and Xi were to arrive at one.

The temptation to read too much into gestures, signals and words might be overpowering, and instant analyses demands far-reaching insight from momentary events. It'd be useful to remember though that what happens at Wuhan will only be clearer over time. Both leaders, free from the shackles of bureaucratise and structured format, may engage in freewheeling chat that allows for better mutual understanding. The importance of this cannot be overstated.

"When I was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, I had the opportunity to visit Wuhan. I had heard a lot about the Three Gorges Dam. The speed with which you constructed it and the scale inspired me. So I came on a study tour, spent a day at the dam," ANI quoted Prime Minister Narendra Modi as telling President Xi Jinping in Wuhan.

"The culture of both India and China is based along the river banks. If we talk about Mohenjo Daro and Harappa civilisations in India, all the development happened along river banks," ANI quoted Narendra Modi as saying during the informal meeting with Xi Jinping.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi lashed out at Prime Minister Rahul Gandhi over his "no agenda" meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping. He said that India wanted to him Modi talk about "crucial issues" like Doka La and China Pakistan Eco Corridor, which passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. "You have our support," he said.

In a series of tweets, the party's communications in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala attacked the Modi government and accused it of being incapable of sending a strong message to China.

The Congress asked if Prime Minister Narendra Modi was going to confront China over the Doka La issue during his two-day informal summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The two leaders then sat across the table to inaugurate the talks, accompanied only by their interpreters. The entire setup was "carefully casual", and it was hard to escape the well-rehearsed steps. This would also be the underlying theme of talks, where under the garb of relaxed atmosphere, both leaders may engage in honest assessment of ties.

The note of "informality" was set as soon as prime minister Modi stepped into the East Lake Guest House on Friday afternoon where president Xi was waiting for him. A firm handshake before the waiting media later, both leaders paused to appreciate a dance performance by a local troupe. Modi and Xi seemed relaxed in their interaction.

"We represent over 40 percent of the world population, so this is a meet between two major world players," Modi said about the importance of the summit between the two leaders. "The economies of India and China have given shape to the global economy for 1,600 years," he added.

"I am thankful to Chinese President Xi Jinping for the grand welcome and the fruitful talks," Narendra Modi said during delegation-level talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Hubei. "The people of India feel really proud that I'm the first prime minister of India, for whom, you (Chinese president) have come out of the capital twice to receive me," he added about the welcome.

"I hope such informal summits become a tradition between both nations. I will be happy if, in 2019, we can have such an informal summit in India," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in Hubei

Happy if we can have next informal summit in India: PM

This path, he posited, will be enough to bring global peace, stability and prosperity. What's immediately is apparent is that Modi is using the summit to not only normalise relationship after the Doka La setback but also laying the roadmap for global leadership based on the convergence of aims and goals. Modi also sought to make the informal summit an annual affair and invited Xi for the next chapter in India.

In the opening statements of the delegation-level talks, Modi laid clear emphasis on the global leadership role for both nations whom he described as "two major powers". The Indian prime minister also floated his own five-point (Panchsheel) agenda for the bilateral relationship that, he said, will be dependent on shared vision, better communication, strong relationship, shared thought process and shared resolve.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has begun Day 2 of his informal Wuhan summit with Chinese president Xi Jinping with a walk around the famous East Lake.

After taking a walk near the East Lake, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping are taking a boat ride. It is expected to be an hour-long ride aboard the double-decker boat.

On the Doka La and boundary issue between India and China, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping agreed that they were happy with the approach taken by their representatives. "They find it to be a fair and reasonable approach. They agreed it is important to maintain peace alongside borders and decided to issue strategic guidelines to their military to this effect," Gokahale said at a media briefing.

Addresing a press briefing in Wuhan on Saturday, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said that Prime Narendra Modi and Chinese president Xi Jinping expressed their strong opposition to terrorism. "The prime minister and President Xi also recognised the common threat posed by terrorism. Both reiterated their strong condemnation of a resolute opposition to terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. Both committed to cooperate further in counter-terrorism," he said.

ANI and CNN-News18 quoted sources as saying that India and China are likely to venture into a joint economic project in Afghanistan.

"The two leaders will issue strategic guidance to their militaries to strengthen communications and to build trust and understanding," said Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale.

Sharing visuals from his walk by the East Lake with Chinese president Xi Jinping, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the two discussed multiple aspects of bilateral ties between India and China after they resumed their talks on Saturday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi shared on Twitter the details of his Saturday talks with Chinese president Xi Jinping."The talks with Jinping focussed on diverse areas of India-China cooperation. We discussed ways to give impetus to our economic ties as well as people-to-people relations. Other areas we spoke about include agriculture, technology, energy and tourism," he said in a tweet.

President Xi Jinping and I continued our deliberations this morning. Here are some pictures from the walk along Wuhans East Lake. We discussed multiple aspects of bilateral ties between our nations. pic.twitter.com/taxMLKdMq0

Sharing visuals from his walk by the East Lake with Chinese president Xi Jinping, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the two discussed multiple aspects of bilateral ties between India and China after they resumed their talks on Saturday.

The talks with President Xi Jinping focussed on diverse areas of India-China cooperation. We discussed ways to give impetus to our economic ties as well as people-to-people relations. Other areas we spoke about include agriculture, technology, energy and tourism. pic.twitter.com/vgvUSjT1XX

Prime Minister Narendra Modi shared on Twitter the details of his Saturday talks with Chinese president Xi Jinping."The talks with Jinping focussed on diverse areas of India-China cooperation. We discussed ways to give impetus to our economic ties as well as people-to-people relations. Other areas we spoke about include agriculture, technology, energy and tourism," he said in a tweet.

Sailing in the same boat for peace, prosperity and development! PM @narendramodi and Chinese President Xi on a boat ride in the East Lake in Wuhan. pic.twitter.com/sg9Lyo9F94

In a move that could upset Pakistan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese president Xi Jinping have agreed to undertake a joint India-China economic project in Afghanistan at their first informal summit in Wuhan, official sources said. As per the understanding, officials of both sides will identify the project in following up discussions and work out modalities.

The Wuhan 'informal summit' gets a pretty extraordinary splash on the front page of the People's Daily this morning, with not just one but two photographs of Modi and Xi pic.twitter.com/hJAM9lToq1

"Co-operation on trade and technology and films, focus on people-to-people contact, discussed trade, tourism and climate change. Prime Minister Modi and President Xi also recognised the common threat posed by terrorism both reiterated their strong condemnation of a resolute opposition to terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. Both committed to cooperate further in counter-terrorism", Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said.

"Both China and India have a glorious history and culture, and the cultures of both countries have lots of connections and the two countries should expand communication and be dedicated to the revitalisation of Oriental civilisation," President Xi Jinping was quoted as saying by People's Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, as per a NDTV report.

There is reason to believe that this Wuhan meeting will increase mutual trust, manage and control disputes, deepen cooperation and lead to a new phase in China-India relations, it said. - Reuters

The overseas edition of the ruling Communist Partys official Peoples Daily said in a front page commentary on Saturday two great countries ought to have great cooperation, and showed a large picture of the two leaders shaking hands.

The menu card designed for the private lunch hosted for PM Modi in Wuhan has colors of Indian flag, along with the picture of national bird peacock. President Xi Jinping paid personal attention to small details: Sources pic.twitter.com/RgaasV3ctD

Sources told ANI that the menu card designed for the private lunch hosted for Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Wuhan has colours of the Indian flag, along with the picture of national bird peacock.

Narendra Modi in China LIVE updates: During the informal summit, Narendra Modi and Xi Jinping committed to cooperate further in area of counter-terrorism, said Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale.

ANI and CNN-News18 quoted sources as saying that India and China are likely to venture into a joint economic project in Afghanistan. During a press briefing, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said the two leaders discussed overarching issues and bilateral relations. "The two leaders agreed that India and China are major powers and will pursue peaceful, balanced relations which will be important among current global uncertainty," he said.

On the Doka La and boundary issue between India and China, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping agreed that they were happy with the approach taken by their representatives. "They find it to be a fair and reasonable approach. They agreed it is important to maintain peace alongside borders and decided to issue strategic guidelines to their military to this effect," Gokahale said at a media briefing.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping took a boat ride, aboard a special double-decker boat, on Saturday. It is expected to be an hour-long ride. Following that, Modi is set to have a one-on-one lunch with Jinping before returning to India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese president Xi Jinping began the second day of their informal summit in Wuhan with a walk around the famous East Lake.

The two leaders held multiple meetings in Wuhan on Friday  the first day of an unprecedented two-day informal summit  to "solidify" the India-China relationship and exchanged views on how the two countries can work together for the benefit of their people and the world.

The 'heart-to-heart' summit in Wuhan - the favourite holiday spot of revolutionary Chinese leader Mao Zedong - is being seen as an effort by India and China to rebuild trust and improve ties that were hit by the 73-day-long Doka La standoff last year.

Modi who arrived in the central Chinese city early on Friday for the summit began talks soon after Xi received him with a warm shake hand and hosted a grand welcoming ceremony for him at the Hubei Provincial Museum here.

He was welcomed with a classical Chinese dance opera performance after which Xi took him around some of the most historic art collections and cultural relics of China's ancient civilisation. The museum walk scheduled for 20 minutes lasted over 40 minutes after which they began one-on-one talks.

"They exchanged views on solidifying our bilateral relationship," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.

Their one-on-one talks were followed by delegation-level interaction with six top officials each from both sides took part, giving an impression that some of the critical issues were on the table for discussion.

The talks lasted for over two hours overshooting scheduled half an hour time, hinting the seriousness of the discussions, officials said.

The elaborate round of talks between the two leaders on the first day ended with dinner diplomacy. Xi hosted a banquet in honour of Modi at the famous East lake. Xi in a gesture of warmth and friendship walked with Modi to the car to see him off.

The summit was stated to be unique as the two leaders have no pressure and obligation to strike any agreements nor make big announcements but focus mainly on candid discussions on solutions to some of the vexed problems like the boundary question and other issues.

During the talks, Modi offered to host the next informal summit with Xi in India in 2019. "I'll be happy, if in 2019, we can have such informal summit in India," Modi told Xi.

The Chinese president said he believes in future and they can meet in a format like this from time to time.

Modi hailed the centuries old Sino-India ties and said India and China have the responsibility to work for 40 percent of the world population and the two sides have a big opportunity to work together for the benefit of their people and the world.

He recalled that during the 2000 years of history, India and China together provided momentum and strength to the world economy and dominated it for around 1600 years. "The two countries together constituted for about 50 per cent of the world economy and another 50 percent was shared by rest of the world for 1600 years," the prime minister said.

Modi also said the people of India felt proud that Xi has twice received him out of the capital.

Xi told Modi that their meeting opens a new chapter for bilateral ties.

He emphasised the two sides should look at the big picture of China-India relationship from a strategic angle and ensure their relationship continue to move forward in a positive direction.

"The friendship between the two countries should continue to grow like the Yangtze and Ganges flowing forward forever," China's state-run CCTV quoted Xi as saying.

"We see a fast pace and bright future for China-India cooperation," Xi told Modi, who is in China on his fourth visit after he came to power in 2014.

"China and India need to maintain a strong focus on national development, deepening mutually beneficial cooperation, work together for our respective national revitalisation to build the stability, development, prosperity and make positive contributions for global peace and development," Xi said, adding that in the past five years China-India relations have maintained a good momentum.

"India and China have a combined population of 2.6 billion which provides enormous potential for development. Our two countries' influence in the world and region is steadily on the rise, looking ahead we see a fast pace and bright future for China-India cooperation," Xi told Modi.

"As we meet, the international security is at a crucial period of adjustment. China and India are both important engines for global growth and we are central pillars for promoting a multi-polar and globalised world. A good China-India relationship is an important and positive factor for maintaining peace and stability in the world," he added.

Xi's comments assume significance as it came at a time when the US and other major economies have taken a number of protectionist measures.

The Trump administration has recently announced hefty import tariffs on aluminium and steel besides about $ 50 billion worth of Chinese imports across 1,300 categories of products to counter China's trade practices.

India maintains that protectionism in all its forms should be rejected and favours an economic globalisation which is more open, inclusive and equitable.

On Saturday, the two leaders will resume their one-on-one talks. They will begin their day with a walk around the East Lake for half an hour and then go for an hour ride in a double decker boat and end their first-ever informal summit with a one-on-one lunch after which Modi would return home.India and China have agreed to improve communication between their militaries to maintain peace at the border, Indias foreign secretary said on Saturday

Wuhan: India and China have agreed to improve communication between their militaries to maintain peace at the border, Indias foreign secretary said on Saturday at the end of an ice-breaking trip to China by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Modi has spent the past 24 hours in the central Chinese city of Wuhan for informal meetings with President Xi Jinping, months after a dispute over a stretch of their high-altitude Himalayan border rekindled fears of war between the Asian nations.

Indian foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale told reporters after Modi and Xi wrapped up their talks that both leaders had agreed their two countries had the maturity and wisdom to handle all their differences peacefully through talks.

On the issue of the India-China boundary question, the two leaders endorsed the work of the special representatives in their efforts to find a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable settlement, he said.

And the two leaders also underscored that in the meantime it is important to maintain peace and tranquillity in all areas of the India-China border region, Gokhale said.

Billed by both sides as an informal meeting rather than a summit, with none of the pomp and ceremony of a state visit such as 21-gun salutes, the two men held talks on Friday that lasted far longer than expected. It also included a personal tour of a major museum by Xi.

Chinese state media has praised the tone of the trip.

The overseas edition of the ruling Communist Partys official Peoples Daily said in a front page commentary on Saturday two great countries ought to have great cooperation, and showed a large picture of the two leaders shaking hands.

There is reason to believe that this Wuhan meeting will increase mutual trust, manage and control disputes, deepen cooperation and lead to a new phase in China-India relations, it said.

It is quite clear that strategic agreement between the two countries far exceeds the specific differences, and the need for cooperation far exceeds local friction, it said.

The official China Daily said in an editorial there was no denying mutual suspicion was keeping the two countries from working together.

Yet neither Beijing nor New Delhi calls the other an enemy, which means both expect bilateral ties to improve. Indeed, China and India are natural partners, it said.

Despite the upbeat statements, which on Friday included Modi inviting Xi to India for a similar informal summit next year, the nations differences are significant.

As well as disputes over stretches of a 3,500 kilometres border, they are bumping up against each other in the Indian Ocean and squabbling over Xis signature Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.

India signalled as recently as Tuesday its opposition to the grand trade and transport plan because one of its branches runs through Pakistani-administered Kashmir, which India claims.

India has long been suspicious of Chinas traditionally close ties with Pakistan.

For its part, China has been concerned about US efforts to draw India into a maritime quad of democracies, including Japan and Australia.

China is also suspicious of Indias hosting of the Dalai Lama and other exiled Tibetans.Before leaving for Wuhan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had tweeted that 'developments in India-China relations from a strategic and long-term perspective' will be one of the broad agendas of his purportedly 'agenda-less' one-on-one informal meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping.

Before leaving for Wuhan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had tweeted that "developments in India-China relations from a strategic and long-term perspective" will be one of the broad agendas of his purportedly "agenda-less" one-on-one informal meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping. He also left other cues. We were told that a range of issues would be on the table, including (but not limited to) matters of "bilateral and global importance", "visions and priorities for national development" in the context of the current and future global situation, etc.

The parameters were set in terms so wide and ambiguous that it seemed a deliberate attempt to play down the significance of the talks to manage the perception and control the outcome. In other words, Modi was trying to put a lid on expectations through a careful choice of words. It hinted at a certain skepticism.

This skepticism was also shared by the Indian media. The attempted "reset" of bilateral ties gained wide publicity but the coverage was overwhelmingly cautious, bordering on cynicism. With good reason. The gap between what China says and what China does is so huge that it is difficult to fathom Beijing's intentions and harder still to trust it. The prime minister's skepticism was perhaps warranted.

Applying suitable disclaimers, as Modi returns home from his two-day sojourn in China, the signals emerging out of Wuhan are surprisingly positive. To the extent that such wide-ranging discussions between top leadership can set actionable targets and goals, the Wuhan Summit should be declared a success.

Consider the takeaways. Both nations have, in principle, agreed to develop a joint economic project in a third nation. To add to the significance, the country in question is Afghanistan with whom India enjoys abiding civilisational ties, has poured billions and billions of dollars to resurrect the war-torn nation and has deep-rooted strategic and security interests.

In a speech last year, Afghanistan's ambassador to India Shaida Abdali had touched upon India's pivotal role in stabilising Afghanistan. On the India-Afghan Strategic relationship that was established formally in October 2011, Abdali had noted that "India is the biggest regional donor to Afghanistan and fifth largest donor globally with over $3 billion in assistance." "There are over 200 public and private schools with over a 1,000 scholarships sponsored by India. Around 16,000 Afghan students study in India," said the ambassador, mentioning India's help in constructing over 4,000 kilometres of roadways, dams, electricity transmission lines and even the country's new Parliament building. "Over 4,000 Afghan officers have been trained in Indian military institutions with an expected increment of 50 percent in the number of officers being trained in India this year," he said.

The scale and significance of India's role found mention in US president Donald Trump's Afghanistan policy where he urged India to "do more", simultaneously raising the hackles in Pakistan which sees India's asset-creation and enduring ties with the key Central Asian nation as a direct, strategic threat to its interests and has invested in a formidable jihadist network to sabotage Indian and US interests.

In an interview to The Guardian in 2015, former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf had admitted that ISI cultivated Taliban to "counter India". The report quotes Musharraf as saying that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence directorate cultivated the Taliban after 2001 because Hamid Karzai's government was dominated by non-Pashtuns, the country's largest ethnic group, and officials who were thought to favour India. "Obviously we were looking for some groups to counter this Indian action against Pakistan That is where the intelligence work comes in. Intelligence being in contact with Taliban groups. Definitely, they were in contact, and they should be, he told the British newspaper.

Given this backdrop, China's willingness to partner with India in an "economic project"  the modalities of which are yet to be identified and worked upon  is significant in more ways than one. It shows that China has no wish to be bound by its "iron brother's" strategic compulsions and is governed by its own interests. Piggybacking India in a country where it has little influence could be a great strategy, on paper. It also shows that the two competing nations can also cooperate in regional development. The announcement alone is loaded with symbolism.

The second notable takeaway pertains to the border dispute, specifically Doka La, which became a signifier of China-India rivalry and pushed bilateral ties to the precipice. Modi and Xi seemed to identify lack of communication as the main reason behind the 73-day faceoff and agreed on a set of measures to prevent a recurrence.

The media statement released by the ministry of external affairs (also referred to during foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale's press briefing on Saturday), pointed towards a need for better and strong communication network to mitigate challenges arising out of border disputes.

"The two leaders expressed their support for the work of the Special Representatives on the India China boundary question and urged them to intensify their efforts to seek a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable settlement. The two leaders underscored the importance of maintaining peace tranquillity in all areas of the India-China border region in the larger interest of the overall development of bilateral relations.

"To this end, they issued strategic guidance to their respective militaries to strengthen communication in order to build trust and mutual understanding and enhance predictability and effectiveness in the management of border affairs. The two leaders further directed their militaries to earnestly implement various confidence building measures agreed upon between the two sides, including the principle of mutual and equal security, and strengthen existing institutional arrangements and information sharing mechanisms to prevent incidents in border regions."

The decision to issue "strategic guidance" to the respective militaries leaps out as a significant development. It also hints at a tantalising possibility that the PLA misadventure at Doka La last year might even have happened at the military-strategic level and may not have had sanction from the top.

Strategic affairs expert Brahma Chellaney had pointed out last year in Hindustan Times that the Doka La resolution coincided with Xi's decision to replace the chief of the People's Liberation Armys (PLA) joint staff department. "The Doka La pullbacks suggest that the removed chief, General Fang Fenghui, was an obstacle to clinching a deal with India and probably was responsible for precipitating the standoff in the first place," he wrote.

Incidentally, as the author points out, Xi's visit to India in 2014 to greet newly elected prime minister Modi was marred by PLA's incursion in Ladakh.

It is impossible to detect a direct causal relationship but the messaging here is certainly significant. It encourages an impression that China is "sensitive" to India's interests. The reason for such posturing could be many, as this columnist had pointed out in an earlier piece. Whether "strengthen(ing) existing institutional arrangements and information sharing mechanisms" will work to prevent a recurrence will be clear with the passage of time, but the signalling is worth noting.

It ties with similar promises to "significantly enhance efforts to build on the convergences through the established mechanisms in order to create the broadest possible platform for the future relationship." Both leaders apparently "also agreed that both sides have the maturity and wisdom to handle the differences through peaceful discussion within the context of the overall relationship, bearing in mind the importance of respecting each other's sensitivities, concerns and aspirations."

While the Indian media was skeptical about the Wuhan Summit, Chinese media seemed to go out of its way to create an impression of positivity. The belligerent Global Times splashed Modi's visit as its lead story on Saturday, replete with Xi's comments that "Meeting with Modi to open new chapter in China-India ties". The newspaper also quoted the Chinese president as saying that "both sides should look at the complete picture of China-India ties from a strategic perspective, so as to ensure that relations between the two countries always proceed in the right direction."

People's Daily, China's widest read newspaper, gave an equally flattering coverage.

The Wuhan 'informal summit' gets a pretty extraordinary splash on the front page of the People's Daily this morning, with not just one but two photographs of Modi and Xi pic.twitter.com/hJAM9lToq1  Ananth Krishnan (@ananthkrishnan) April 28, 2018

There were reports that Xi had personally taken care of "little details" to show that he cares.

The menu card designed for the private lunch hosted for PM Modi in Wuhan has colors of Indian flag, along with the picture of national bird peacock. President Xi Jinping paid personal attention to small details: Sources pic.twitter.com/RgaasV3ctD  ANI (@ANI) April 28, 2018

And charm was not in short supply, to show the reach of Bollywood in China.

#WATCH: Prime Minister Narendra Modi & Chinese President XI Jinping enjoy an instrumental rendition of 1982 Bollywood song 'Tu, tu hai wahi dil ne jise apna kaha,' at an event in China's Wuhan. (27.04.2018) pic.twitter.com/KjGRcHbl38  ANI (@ANI) April 28, 2018

Finally, all the right noises were made even when it came to Xi's vaunted BRI project with China's vice foreign minister Kong Xuanyou claiming that "there is no fundamental difference between China and India on the issue of supporting inter-connectivity", and "as for whether India accepts the expression Belt and Road, I think it is not important and China will not be too hard on it."

Recall the thumb rule that when something appears too good to be true, it probably is. No harm in playing along though.Narendra Modi and Chinese president Xi Jinping will provide 'strategic guidance' to their armies to prevent another Doka La-like military stand-off.

Wuhan (China): Narendra Modi and Chinese president Xi Jinping will provide "strategic guidance" to their armies to prevent another Doka La-like military standoff along their long-winding disputed border.

During the two-day informal summit between Modi and Xi in the central Chinese city of Wuhan that ended on Saturday, India and China also decided to work on a joint economic project in Afghanistan, a move that could upset Beijing's "all-weather ally" and New Delhi's arch-rival Pakistan, which borders Afghanistan.

In several meetings, terrorism, climate change and other international issues figured on which both leaders had similar views.

"Prime Minister Modi and President Xi reviewed developments in India-China relations from the strategic and long-term perspective," said India's Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale at a media briefing.

"They also agreed that both sides have the maturity and wisdom to handle the differences through peaceful discussion within the context of the overall relationship, bearing in mind the importance of respecting each other's sensitivities, concerns and aspirations."

Gokhale said Modi and Xi were of the view that Special Representatives on border talks from both countries will have to intensify their efforts to seek a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable settlement.

He said both leaders underscored the importance of maintaining peace and tranquility in all areas of the India-China border region in the larger interest of the overall development of bilateral relations.

"To this end, they issued strategic guidance to their respective militaries to strengthen communication in order to build trust and mutual understanding and enhance predictability and effectiveness in the management of border affairs," the Indian Foreign Secretary said.

"The two leaders further directed their militaries to earnestly implement various confidence-building measures agreed upon between the two sides, including the principle of mutual and equal security, and strengthen existing institutional arrangements and information sharing mechanisms to prevent incidents in border regions."

India and China have a long-standing border issue. The two fought a brief but bloody war in 1962 and have a history of mutual distrust.

In 2017, Indian and Chinese armies were locked in a 73-day stand-off at Doka La in the Sikkim sector along their border. The crisis was resolved in August.

Meanwhile, one of the major decisions at the meet was a joint India-China economic project in Afghanistan. Though sources did not give more details about the project, the move is certain to irk Pakistan which resents India's presence in the strife-torn South Asian nation.

Pakistan and Afghanistan have a rocky relationship and China has been trying to broker peace between them.

Gokhale said bilateral trade and investment formed an important part of the discussion. "The two leaders underlined trade should be balanced and sustainable and we should take advantage of the complementarities between the two economies to enhance our trade and investment."

"In that context, the prime minister also mentioned the importance of balancing trade and also spoke of the possibility of agricultural export and pharmaceutical exports to China."

Modi and Xi had six rounds of talks in the two-day summit where they discussed a wide range of issues. The issue of terrorism also came up in the meetings.

"Prime Minister Modi and President Xi recognised the common threat posed by terrorism and reiterated their strong condemnation and resolute opposition to terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. They committed themselves to cooperate on counter-terrorism," Gokhale said.

Modi left Wuhan for India at 1.30 p.m.The Ministry of Tourism signed an MoU with Dalmia Bharat and the Archaeological Survey of India to adopt the iconic Red Fort monument in New Delhi under the 'Adopt a Heritage' project

New Delhi: The Ministry of Tourism signed an MoU with Dalmia Bharat and the Archaeological Survey of India to adopt the iconic Red Fort monument in New Delhi and Gandikota Fort in Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh under the 'Adopt a Heritage' project, it said in a statement.

The 'Adopt a Heritage' scheme, launched by President Ram Nath Kovind on World Tourism Day in September last year, invites government and private parties to operate and maintain heritage sites.

With a budget of more than Rs 5 crore per year, the cement manufacturing company joins "monument mitras" including other private sector companies, which will look after the operations and maintenance of the site for five years, it said.

Under the project, it will construct, landscape, illuminate and maintain activities related to provision and development of tourist amenities. This includes basic and advanced amenities such as public conveniences, clean drinking water, cleanliness of the monument, accessibility for all, signage, cloakroom facilities, illumination and night viewing, surveillance system, tourist facilitation-cum-interpretation centre.

Keeping in mind the easy accessibility to the differently-abled visitors, there will be ramps and toilet facilities for the differently-abled. Facilities like wheelchairs, battery-operated vehicles, braille signages are some of the key additions, which will make the Red Fort a barrier-free monument.

The company said in a statement that advanced surveillance system like pan-tilt-zoom CCTV cameras will be installed. Dalmia Bharat will also assist in controlling the advanced tourist flow management system linked with carrying capacity of the monuments, including light and sound shows with regular cultural shows and facilitation of night visits to the monuments.

The ministry on Tuesday also awarded the Letters of Intent to nine agencies for 22 monuments of Phase-IV of the scheme, including the Taj Mahal in Uttar Pradesh, Chittorgarh Fort in Rajasthan, Mehrauli Archeological Park and Gol Gumbad in Delhi.

Union Minister for Tourism KJ Alphons asked the stakeholders to "protect, preserve and market" the heritage of India. He emphasised on creating awareness among corporates and citizens to adopt the heritage sites under the scheme for maintenance of amenities at tourist destinations.

GMR Sports, a part of infrastructure conglomerate GMR Group, and consumer products and cigarette company ITC Limited have expressed interest in adopting the Taj Mahal under the same scheme.Armed robbers shot dead a bride and looted jewellery worth lakhs after intercepting a marriage party on the Delhi-Dehradun National Highway in Meerut district in Uttar Pradesh,

Muzaffarnagar: Armed robbers shot dead a bride and looted jewellery worth lakhs after intercepting a marriage party on the Delhi-Dehradun National Highway in Meerut district in Uttar Pradesh, police said on Saturday.

The incident occurred near Matore village, under the Dorala police station area, of Meerut last night, they said, adding that the groom and four others were injured in the attack.

The victims were returning to the district after the wedding ceremony in Ghaziabad district, officials said.

Six armed men, in two cars, intercepted the marriage party while it was on its way back.

Farhana was killed after she resisted the robbers, Senior Superintendant of Police Manjil Saini said.

Jewellery worth lakhs and a car was looted from them, the police said.

Police have started a search operation to nab the perpetrators, Saini said, adding that the bride was rushed to the Muzaffarnagar Medical College, where she was declared dead.Under the Constitution, there is no requirement to maintain regional representation in the Supreme Court.

Judicial appointments in India are rarely subject to controversy. At least that has been the case since the lifting of the Emergency declared by the Indira Gandhi Government. This is also partly because, post that era, governments have been wary of asserting themselves when it comes to judicial appointments. As the system currently works, the collegium sends a name to the Centre. The Centre, if it accepts the recommendation, advises the president to confirm the appointment. If it finds the candidate unsatisfactory, it sends the recommendation back with its reasons. If the collegium refuses to consider the Centre's recommendation, the judge is confirmed.

The Centre therefore has the power to request a reconsideration of a particular name. This becomes pertinent, given the fact that the Centre has sent back the name of Justice KM Joseph to the collegium for reconsideration. Justice Joseph is the current chief justice of the Uttarkhand High Court.

The Centre in its reasons has said that there are other judges in the seniority list and that there is little representation from other judges of other high courts in this list. This is problematic, because it assumes that the Supreme Court is an institution that is required to represent the diversity of the high courts. In effect, it implies that according to the Centre, the Supreme Court is essentially a creature of all the high courts combined.

This is not the case. The Supreme Court and the high courts under India's constitutional scheme are two very distinct entities and possess very different powers. The high court's jurisdiction is exclusive of the Supreme Court's jurisdiction. For example, Article 226/227 that applies to the High Court envisages much broader powers than those that the Supreme Court has under Article 32.

That being the case, the appointment of judges should not be about regional representation but should be a decision on their competence to serve as judges.

Under the Constitution, there is no requirement to maintain regional representation in the Supreme Court.

But what makes this more problematic, is that the requirement of regional representation fails to take into account that most high court judges serve in more than one high court. This means that they end up with diverse experience in their course of service as it is. This author will concede that there are incidents when a Supreme Court judge will be faced with a matter concerning the law of a state that he is not familiar with. For example, Maharashtra's labour law is starkly different from the laws in other states, Maharashtra being a highly industrialised state. But because India's legal system is uniform, there is no need to have specific regional representation in the Supreme Court as all judges are competent to rule on all manner of legal disputes.

There may be a case for the Centre to return a recommendation at times. These circumstances will exist. But a request for reconsideration on the grounds of seniority and regional representation holds little water when it comes to sound reasons for reconsideration.

Which is why it seems like a political attack. It needs to be clarified that the Centre does not have the power to reject a recommendation of the collegium. It can only ask the apex court to reconsider. If the gulf between the Centre and the judiciary continues, it will be interesting to see how the collegium responds.Protesters hurled tomatoes and eggs at the home of UP minister Om Prakash Rajbhar for saying that Rajputs and Yadavs consume more liquor than others.

Lucknow: Protesters hurled tomatoes and eggs on Saturday at the home of Uttar Pradesh minister Om Prakash Rajbhar for saying that Rajputs and Yadavs consume more liquor than others.

Youths, some of them wearing red caps, mobbed the minister's official residence in Hazratganj area this afternoon, raising slogans and damaging his name plate. Reacting to the minister's remarks, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav tweeted, "It is people who use intoxicants, not any caste."

Rajbhar had made the controversial remarks in Varanasi on Friday while arguing against drinking.

"The maximum blame is put on Rajbhars, but the maximum liquor is consumed by Yadavs and Rajputs," the minister for backward classes welfare had said. "This is their ancestral business," he is heard saying on television. But he added that people from his own Rajbhar caste, as well people from other castes, also drink.

"If you want to know the pain, ask any mother, sister or wife to whose homes their loved ones come drunk," he said.

Rajbhar heads the Suheldev Bharatiya Party, an ally of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

He has courted controversy earlier with his criticism of the performance of the Yogi Adityanath government in the state.

In another controversial remark on drinking, he had said, "If someone offers you liquor, consume it but vote as per you discretion."

Police said nobody has been detained yet over the protests at the minister's home. "We are probing the matter," an officer said.Human rights activist and state secretary of the Dalit Sangharsh Samiti (Ambedkar Wada), Mavalli Shankar Shankar says that people in Karnataka should not vote for BJP in the upcoming Assembly election

Editor's note: Elections to the Karnataka Assembly are scheduled for 12 May and they come at a time when caste is a major topic of debate across the country. The following is the final of a five-part series on prominent Dalit activists who have a deep influence on the politics of the state. Click to read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4 of the series.

With the Karnataka elections scheduled for 12 May, political parties are running the last lap in highlighting issues which they wish to address in case of victory. One topic that has gained prominence after a recent Supreme Court ruling on the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act diluted stringent provisions of the Act  to protect people, including public officials and private individuals from immediate arrest  is safeguarding rights of people belonging to the Dalit community. Violent protests broke out after the Supreme Court ruling on 20 March. Dalit activists in Karnataka feel that the community should exercise caution before casting their ballots and not vote for parties that they see as being against Dalit rights.

Human rights activist and state secretary of the Dalit Sangharsh Samiti (Ambedkar Wada), Mavalli Shankar feels that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA is one such example of a party that is against the upliftment of Dalits. Wherever there is a BJP-government, a lot of atrocities cases can be found registered, he said.

Calling the Supreme Court decision unacceptable, Shankar thinks the move was politically motivated. Shankar, who has been fighting for more representation for all minority communities in the Parliament, also thinks the Congress will get a majority of Dalit votes in this election. According to him, the Siddaramaiah-led government can be seen as pro-Dalit due to various policies like the setting up of schools for backward communities and increasing funds allocated to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

In this interview with Firstpost, Shankar talks about his views on why people should not vote for BJP and how the Siddaramaiah-led government is in favour of the upliftment of all minority communities.

The video was created by Swetha Gowda. The authors are members of The NewsCart, a Bengaluru-based media startup.Every party, especially in the Cauvery delta constituencies, is going out of its way to talk about how it protected Karnataka's interests even when Tamil Nadu was agitating for adherence to the Supreme Court order.

A railway train zipping past lush green fields in Srirangapatna, about a half hour's journey from Mysuru, makes for a perfect picture. Except that it won't stay that way for long.

"The crops that you are seeing now will soon wither away because the water level at the Krishna Raja Sagar dam has reached dead storage," says farmer leader KS Nanjunde Gowda, who has been fielded by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from Srirangapatna constituency of Mandya district for the upcoming Karnataka Assembly election.

Fielding Gowda was a strategic move part of the BJP's attempt to capture the farmer vote that used to go to the Janata Dal (Secular), as HD Deve Gowda's outfit projects itself as a farmers' party. It is also an attempt to make inroads into the agrarian constituency given that the BJP government at the Centre is accused of being anti-farmer.

Furthermore, Mandya is in the heart of the Cauvery delta, a region that turns into the epicentre of protests whenever Karnataka and Tamil Nadu get into a tiff over the release of water downstream. The 16 February verdict by the Supreme Court had asked the Centre to formulate a "scheme" within six months for management of the release of Cauvery water. This deadline expired on 29 March, leading to flared tempers in Tamil Nadu, which accused the BJP in New Delhi of looking at the dispute through the Karnataka political prism.

The Centre subsequently secured an extension of the deadline till 3 May. On Friday, the Centre requested the court for two more weeks' time to submit its proposal, by which time results of the Karnataka election would have been announced.

Perhaps aware that nothing will happen over the Cauvery legally, so far, no political party has taken an aggressive position over the issue. That is also because all of them are united in opposing the formation of the Cauvery Management Board.

Except Darshan Puttaniah. The 40-year-old candidate fielded by Swaraj India from Melkote constituency is incidentally also supported by the Congress, a part dead set against the formation of the board. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah even wrote to the prime minister expressing his party and government's opposition to the formation of the board, as that would take control of release of Cauvery water away from Karnataka.

"The board should be formed, but not just with bureaucrats from Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry and the Centre. It should also have representatives from the farming community of these states who understand the ground situation better. This is the only way we can regulate this better," Puttaniah said.

Others do not agree. They point out that the situation in Karnataka is as bad as if not worse than Tamil Nadu. Subhash, a farmer, objects to Karnataka being made to look like the villain of the piece every time Tamil Nadu needs water. He says even though the final court order gave more water to Karnataka, in real terms, it amounts to nothing.

"It's not as if we are brimming with water and still don't wish to part with it. Our situation is more critical than Tamil Nadu's. What the court has done is like taking away Rs 1,000 from our pockets and given us Rs 100 instead," Subhash said.

The south Karnataka farmer's confrontational approach has its roots in the dire situation on the ground. According to farmer associations, in the last five years, more than 300 farmers have killed themselves just in Mandya. "This election, our priority is to elect a leader who will speak on behalf of farmers," says Mahesh. "Mandya grows Rs 2,000 crore worth of crops and we do not get the right value because of water shortage."

What is perhaps needed the most in this crisis is for someone to look closely at the crop the farmers choose to grow. Paddy and sugarcane are highly water intensive and there is an urgent need to switch to crops that need less water. However, that is easier said than done, as the economy is driven by sugarcane, and jaggery factories are powerful entities here. So it is impossible to drastically cut down on the area under cultivation of sugarcane.

How is the Cauvery issue then playing out in the run-up to the 12 May election in Karnataka? For one, each party, especially in the Cauvery delta constituencies, is going out of its way to talk about how it protected the state's interests even when Tamil Nadu was agitating for adherence to the Supreme Court order. It is this 'Karnataka First' approach that candidates in the contest think will get them the support of the ryots.

On the campaign trail, the tragedy is there are no solutions offered to the Cauvery dispute, only homilies. The real test for the new government will come after 15 May when the Centre is duty bound to abide by the verdict. That's when the real politics over Cauvery shall begin.The Congress called Piyush Goyal's alleged sale of shares held in a privately-held company at nearly 1,000 times the face value as a 'murky saga.'

New Delhi: The Congress on Saturday called Minister of Railways and Coal Piyush Goyal's alleged sale of shares held in a privately-held company at nearly 1,000 times the face value as a "murky saga" of "gratification, gross impropriety and conflict of interest". The party also sought his removal and a "comprehensive, independent investigation" into the matter.

Citing a detailed story by a news website, the Congress alleged the BJP leader had sold, in September 2014, the entire stock of the privately-held company he and his wife owned, at nearly 1,000 times the face value to a group firm owned by Ajay Piramal, without informing the Prime Minister's Office then or later. The transaction took place four months after Goyal became a minister.

Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera told reporters that the deal "directly exposed" one of the seniormost cabinet ministers of the Modi government.

The article in the news website The Wire alleged Goyal's ownership of the company  Flashnet Info Solutions (India) Private Limited  and its subsequent sale were not disclosed in the mandatory statement of assets and liabilities he made to the Prime Minister's Office in 2014 and 2015.

When IANS tried to contact Goyal at his office in the Coal Ministry, an official said the minister could not be contacted as he was in Bengaluru. IANS also reached out to the Piramal group for a reaction, but did not receive any response.

Khera alleged that Goyal and his wife, who owned 50,070 shares of Flashnet Info priced at Rs 10, sold the entire stock at a premium of 1,000 percent to a group company of Piramal Estates Private Limited. He held the Power & Renewable Energy portfolio in the Union Cabinet for four months at the time.

He said that the board resolution of Piramal Enterprises on 12 June, 2014, authorised the purchase of the entire stock of 50,070 shares in Flashnet Info held by Goyal and his wife "for a consideration not exceeding Rs 10,000 per share".

Piramal group entered the renewable energy business in 2013 and in July 2014 inked a deal with APG Asset Management for investments worth $1 billion in various infrastructure projects, including in the power sector, according to details given by the website. Khera called this a "clear case of conflict of interest and brazen crony capitalism".

Khera said that "although the net worth of Flashnet Info was only Rs 10.9 crore (even six months after the sale, according to statutory filings), filings by Piramal Estates reflect that... Rs 48 crore was provided (for) Goyal family-owned shares".

Goyal served as director of Flashnet from 25 November, 2004, to 26 May, 2014  the day he was sworn in as Minister for Power and Renewable Energy. Seema Goyal was a director from April 2009 till 26 May, 2014. The couple, however, continued to own almost 99 percent of the company even after resigning as directors, the website alleged.

Khera said that the transactions raised several question which needed to be answered by Goyal, including why the Piramal group bought Flashnet Info from him for a whopping Rs 48 crore; why did he not mention his controlling stake in Flashnet when he was MP, BJP's National Treasurer and then Union Cabinet minister; why as Union minister he did not declare his ownership and his wife's ownership in Flashnet while declaring his assets on the PMO website; and why had the prime minister not questioned him.

Khera said Prime Minister Modi's credibility was on "test once again".Congress will hold a 'Jan Akrosh Rally' in New Delhi to showcase what it called the 'public outrage' over the failures and corruption of the Narendra Modi government

New Delhi: The Congress will hold a "Jan Akrosh Rally" in New Delhi on Sunday to showcase what it called the "public outrage" over the failures and corruption of the Modi government.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi and other prominent party leaders will address the rally at the Ramlila Maidan.

Party spokespersons Randeep Singh Surjewala and Ashok Gehlot said that the key issues related to farmers, women, national security, and "impropriety" of Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, Vyapam scam of Madhya Pradesh, CBSE paper leaks and mining issues would be raised at the rally to be held at the Ramlila Maidan.

The party's former president Sonia Gandhi, former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad and other leaders will address the rally.

"We are holding this rally to represent the emotions and turmoil that every citizen of the country is going through," said Gehlot, a former Rajasthan chief minister.

"The rally will aim to bring overall change and awakening in the country... it will represent the outrage of the farmers, price rise, women security, and corruption occurring right under the nose of Prime Minister Narendra Modi," Surjewala said.

Pointing out to the poor condition of farmers in the country, Surjewala said that they neither got any loan waivers nor their due rights.

He also rued that increasing prices of diesel and petrol were affecting the lives of the common man.

"The Modi government has collected Rs 10 lakh crore as excise and customs duty on oil in the past four years. Where is that money?"

There is also outrage over rising incidents of rape and women security, he said.

"The way Cabinet Minister Piyush Goyal is found involved in a case of conflict of interest and gratification and how a Rs 10 share was sold for Rs 5,700 under the 'Modi model'... and the minister and his family hide it from everyone... there is an outrage in the nation," Surjewala said.

He also accused the Union government of compromising national security by not acting against the intrusion of the Chinese forces in Indian territory.Congress questioned how a private entity was given the mandate to maintain the iconic Red Fort, days after a corporate house signed an agreement with the tourism ministry under its 'Adopt a Heritage' project

New Delhi: The Congress on Saturday questioned how a private entity was given the mandate to maintain the iconic Red Fort, days after a corporate house signed an agreement with the tourism ministry under its 'Adopt a Heritage' project.

The Dalmia Bharat group, under the memorandum of understanding, would maintain the monument and build basic infrastructure around it and has committed a sum of Rs 25 crore for the purpose over a period spanning five years

"They are handing over the iconic monument to a private business. What is your commitment to the idea of India, to the history of India? We know you have no commitment, but we still want to ask you," Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera told reporters in New Delhi.

"Do you have a dearth of funds. Why funds for the ASI (Archaeological Survey of India) lapse, why do they lapse. See the CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General) reports. If they have a paucity of funds, then why do they lapse?" he asked.

IndiGo Airlines and the GMR group were also in the race to bag the project.

The Dalmia Bharat group has agreed to provide certain basic amenities at the 17th-century monument within six months. These include providing drinking water kiosks, street furniture-like benches and signages to guide the visitors, according to the ministry

The entity has also agreed to put up within a year tactile maps, upgrade toilets, light up the pathways and bollards, carry out restoration work and landscaping and build a 1,000-square-foot visitor facility centre

It will also provide a 3-D projection mapping of the fort's interior and exterior, battery-operated vehicles and charging stations for such vehicles and a thematic cafeteria

Responding to Khera's remarks, Minister of State for Tourism KJ Alphons said under the scheme started last year, the ministry is looking at public participation to develop heritage monuments

"The companies involved in these projects will only spend and not make money. They will create amenities such as toilets, provide drinking water for the tourists so that their footfalls increase. They might put up signs outside to say that they have developed the amenities. If they are spending money, there is nothing wrong in taking credit for it," he said

"I want to ask the Congress what they did for the past 70 years. All the monuments and facilities around them are in terrible shape. In some places, there were no facilities at all," he said

As of March this year, 31 prospective 'monument mitras' (friends of heritage sites) have been shortlisted by a oversight and vision committee for developing tourist-friendly amenities at 95 monuments, heritage and other tourist sites including the Red Fort, Qutub Minar (in Delhi), Hampi (Karnataka), Sun Temple (Odisha), Ajanta Caves (Maharashtra), Char Minar (Telangana) and Kaziranga National Park (Assam).Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who announced plans of forging a non-Congress, non-BJP alternative at the Centre, will meet DMK leader M Karunanidhi and party's working president MK Stalin in Chennai on Sunday

Hyderabad: Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who announced plans of forging a non-Congress, non-BJP alternative at the Centre, will meet DMK leader M Karunanidhi and party's working president MK Stalin in Chennai on Sunday.

Rao would travel to Chennai on Sunday morning, and he said he would "most likely" stay there for the day, official sources

said.

A release from Rao's office said the chief minister would meet former Tamil Nadu chief minister Karunanidhi and his son Stalin on Sunday.

Rao had recently met West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata and former prime minister HD Deve Gowda of the JD(S) in Bengaluru as part of the plans to firm up an alternative coalition to the Congress and BJP.

Alleging that the country remained backward on various fronts under Congress and BJP, Rao had announced that non-Congress, non-BJP alternative should emerge at the national level to bring about a qualitative change in politics.BJP chief Amit Shah addressed a public meeting in Karnataka's Bagalkot on Saturday and urged the people to give an opportunity to BJP's chief ministerial candidate BS Yeddyurappa.

BJP chief Amit Shah addressed a public meeting in Karnataka's Bagalkot on Saturday and urged the people to give an opportunity to BJP's chief ministerial candidate BS Yeddyurappa. "He will work towards making Karnataka number one state," the BJP president said.

I urge you to provide an opportunity to @BSYBJP ji and he'll work towards making Karnataka no. 1 state: Shri @AmitShah https://t.co/Um6D19tMGF  BJP (@BJP4India) April 28, 2018

Shah also took a dig at Congress and its president Rahul Gandhi. He said that Congress has already lost in 12 Assembly elections and it is Karnataka's chance this time to ensure another Congress defeat. He said that the BJP will form government in the state.

He further said that Karnataka had received Rs 88,000 crore grant under the 13th Finance Commission when the UPA government was in power. "However, Modi has given Rs 2.19 lakh to the state under the 14th Finance Commission."

Lashing out at Siddaramaih for deciding to contest from two constituencies, Shah said that the Congress is relying on the chief minister to win the state, but he is going to lose from Badami for sure.

At a public gathering in Koppal district on Friday also, the BJP chief had taken a dig at the chief minister and said the person on whom the Congress was dependent was 'running away' and looking for a safer seat.

"The Congress depends on Siddaramaiah in this assembly election. He himself is running away from the Chamundeshwari assembly constituency to the Badami assembly constituency. How much can you escape? Our candidate B Sriramulu will defeat you," he had said.

Referring to Rahul's questions to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on national issues during his ongoing two-day campaign in the state, Shah said the ruling Congress should answer questions on its performance.

"I have come here to answer your (Rahul) questions... it is your party's turn to answer because this is an Assembly election in a state which your party ruled for five years," he had said.

With inputs from PTIA total of 2,655 candidates are left in the fray for the May 12 assembly polls in Karnataka

Bengaluru: A total of 2,655 candidates are left in the fray for the May 12 assembly polls in Karnataka.

Out of 2,655 candidates, 2,436 are men and 219 women, a statement from the Chief Electoral Officer's (CEO) office said, a day after the last date for withdrawal of candidature.

A total of 2,948 candidates had contested the 2013 polls.

It said the contesting candidates include 224 from BJP, 222 from Congress and 201 from JD(S). Others are BSP 18, CPI 2, CPIM 19, NCP 14, registered unrecognised parties 800 and independents 1,155.

The process of filing of nominations had begun with the issual of gazette notification on 17 April.

While, the last date for filing of nominations was 24 April, scrutiny was on 25 April.

The CEO office said there were 3,509 nominated" candidates without duplicates.

Mulabagilu had highest nomination of 61 while the lowest nomination of four was in Challakere.

It said 271 nominations had been rejected. The highest rejections of eight each were in Shantinagar and Rajajinagar constituencies in Bengaluru.

Noting that 583 nominations were withdrawn, the release said the highest number of 17 withdrawals was in Mulabagilu (Kolar).

There are 25 assembly constituencies that have more than 15 candidates.

Counting of votes will take place on 15 May.BJP national president Amit Shah, who has been party's star campaigner in poll-bound Karnataka, has reportedly cancelled his rally in Ballari district.

BJP national president Amit Shah, who has been party's star campaigner in poll-bound Karnataka, has cancelled his rally in Ballari district in order to avoid being seen with the Reddy brothers, reports said.

Quoting party sources, News18 said that Shah decided to skip the rally to avoid the embarrassment of sharing the dais with Reddy brothers, who are embroiled in an alleged Rs 50,000 crore mining scam.

The development came as a surprise for BJP district president Channabasavanagowda. "We had put up his posters and party flags. We don't know why the rally was cancelled," he was quoted as saying by Deccan Chronicle.

Despite the allegations of corruption against them, the Reddy brothers appeared in BJP's list of candidates for the upcoming Karnataka Assembly election. The party has fielded G Somashekhara Reddy in Ballari city, and his elder brother and former Ballari Lok Sabha member G Karunakara Reddy in Harappanahalli in Davanagere district.

G Janardhana Reddy, the alleged kingpin of the mining scam, has been barred from entering Ballari, in accordance with his bail conditions in the illegal mining case.

The party has also fielded Lallesh Reddy, nephew of the Reddy brothers, from the BTM Layout segment in Bengaluru against Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy of the ruling Congress.

Shah has reportedly directed the state BJP members to not let Janardhana campaign openly.

Despite Shah's stand, BJP state president BS Yeddyurappa made a statement on Friday at a public rally in support of Janardhana, hours after the party national president cancelled his scheduled trip to Ballari.

We will win 10 to 15 seats in north Karnataka because of Janardhana Reddy, Yeddyurappa was quoted as saying at Arakalgud by The Hindu. The BJP's chief ministerial candidate also reportedly said that he has forgiven Janardhana in the interest of the state.

Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah lashed out at Yeddyurappa for his remark on Janardhana. Siddaramaiah tweeted:

Very interesting! @BSYBJP has pardoned Reddy in interest of state 1 Which interest of Karnataka is served by pardoning someone who looted thousands of crores of Kannadigas wealth? 2 Is it upto you to pardon him? 3 Did you ask PM Modi to direct CBI to formalise the pardon? pic.twitter.com/50D759dNRr  Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) April 27, 2018

Congress president Rahul Gandhi had also dared Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday to clarify why BJP gave tickets to Karnataka's tainted Reddy brothers to contest in the 12 May Assembly elections. "Modi, who talks about fighting corruption, must explain to the people why he is supporting the corrupt Reddy brothers by giving them tickets to contest in the state Assembly polls," he said at a public meeting in Bhatkal town.

"We want the people of Karnataka to be a part of the government and not of the Reddy brothers. Why is Modi supporting and protecting the corrupt? We will never allow them to loot the state," he had said.

Earlier, Janardhana was also seen campaigning for BJP's B Sriramulu who is contesting from two constituencies  from Molakalmuru in Chitradurga and Badami in Bagalkot. In Badami, Sriramulu is up against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. Sriramulu had then defended Janardhana's presence saying he is a close friend.

With inputs from agenciesThe Congress manifesto, released by party president Rahul Gandhi in Mangaluru, promises to create one crore jobs in Karnataka in the next five years and to give away free cell phones to college-going students in the 18-23 age group

Take BJPs 2014 Lok Sabha election manifesto, drop it in a pot and boil it on low heat. Then add AIADMKs 2016 manifesto and the Congress 2017 manifesto for Punjab. Stir it well and let it simmer. Now add BJPs 2018 Tripura manifesto and stir it again. Season it with jargon like inclusive, participative and such head-spinning stuff. Serve it hot.

Never mind if the resulting whatchamacallit is a potpourri of old recipes. What you have got is the brand new election manifesto of Congress for next months Assembly election in Karnataka. But the concoction has two most overpowering aromas: jobs and cell phones. Familiar ringtones? Never mind them either.

Among other things, the Congress manifesto, released by party president Rahul Gandhi in Mangaluru on Friday, promises to create one crore jobs in Karnataka in the next five years and to give away free cell phones to college-going students in the 18-23 age group. Unlike the promise of cell phones, the assurance of jobs leaves one scratching their heads.

Narendra Modi promised two crore jobs every year if voted to power in 2014, but his critics have been pointing out that not even two lakh new jobs have been created since he took over. Gandhi has been asking Modi repeatedly like a stuck record: Where are the jobs you promised?

The question to ask now is: How will Siddaramaiah dish out one crore jobs in his state in five years? By his own admission at an event organised by The New Indian Express in January this year, Siddaramaiah said his government had generated 15 lakh jobs in the last four years.

One crore jobs in five years mean 20 lakh a year, right? So thats more than what he did in all of four years.

If your head begins to spin, hold it. Theres more: In July 2017, he said proudly that his government had set itself the target of creating 1.8 lakh jobs by 2020.

How does this target of 1.8 lakh jobs in three years turn into one crore in five years? No prizes for guessing, please. Elections can turn a mouse into a rhinoceros in a minute.

All that the new manifesto said by way of an explanation was that Congress, if voted to power, would kick off programmes for skill development, encourage entrepreneurship and increase the employability of youth.

Congress admirers and Left-leaning intellectuals must already be thumping their chests in triumph. With admiration in their eyes, earlier, they said that Siddaramaiah is paying Modi back with the same coin with his divisive politics. They can now be expected to gloat about Siddaramaiahs promise of jobs, by saying that he has his own jumlas.

And if its indeed a jumla, its many times bigger than Modis since the prime ministers target is for the whole of India whereas Siddaramaiahs is confined to one state. When CPM promised 25 lakh jobs in five years before the 2016 Assembly election in Kerala, nobody, not even Pinarayi Vijayan took it seriously after he became the chief minister. Considering the track record of our governments, you can be reasonably sure that Siddaramaiahs undertaking will be no different.

Competitive foolishness

But if this promise of jobs is the Congress bizarre way of mocking Modi, the party must be warned that an election manifesto is hardly the place for competitive foolishness.

Other assurances in the ragtag Congress manifesto include:

- Information Technology (IT) will be made a big driver of the states economy by raising its contribution from the current $60 billion to $300 billion. Apart from being only slightly less difficult than bringing the moon to the Earth, this is an affront to peoples intelligence since the states budget amounts to just $3 billion;

- Free education to all students from Class I to XII in state-run schools. Right now only students from classes I to VII get it in state-run and government-aided schools;

- A statutory income commission to ensure basic livelihood for farmers;

- Raising womens share in government employment to 50 percent;

- Restoration of powers to Lokayukta to take up suo motu cases;

- And a proposal to enact a law to deal with vigilantism and moral policing.

But its the promise of jobs that Congress wants you know is the piece de resistance. Siddaramaiah may pout his lips and ask in his 500-watt baritone: If Modi could win in 2014 by promising jobs, why cant I win by doing ditto? The question is not meant to be answered, just as promises are not meant to be kept.

Nothing to eat? Have a cell phone

And that takes one to another question: if Congress partys own Captain Amarinder Singh could win Punjab Assembly election last year by promising cell phones, why cant the same partys Siddaramaiah repeat the same trick in Karnataka? This is an easy one: Not winning Karnataka, but giving away phones. Its easier than creating a crore of jobs.

Have no doubt about it: the smartphone is the new player in the burlesque of Indian democracy. Nobody knows who holds the original patent for discovering its persuasive role in politics. But we know that in recent years, Jayalalithaa led the cellular rush. She promised free cell phones for all ration card holders before the 2016 Tamil Nadu Assembly election. She won. Then last year, Singh promised to give away free smartphones to those in the 18-35 age group who have passed 10th standard and have an annual household income of less than Rs 6 lakh. He won. Earlier this year, besides giving employment to every household, the BJP promised free smartphones to youth in the run-up to Tripura Assembly election. The BJP won too.

Is it surprising then that Siddaramaiah should tread the cellular path in his desperate attempt to retain power? Losing an election is worse than being called a copycat.

You may now change Marie Antoinettes infamous quip, If they dont have food, let them eat cake to If they dont have food, let them have a 4G smartphone with 4000 mAh battery and 8MP camera".

But Siddaramaiah may argue that he is not letting Kannadigas starve either. He has the Anna Bhagya Scheme that offers free rice to the poor. If re-elected, Siddaramaiah will only be adding cell phones to his already long list of freebies which his government has been doling out.

The bottom line is this: Politics and governance have been made easy like changing a ringtone. Just distribute freebies illegally to voters along with notes for votes before polling. Then when elected, give away some more freebies legally from the taxpayers money.Ahead of the crucial Assembly elections in Karnataka, opinion polls suggest that all the three major parties in the fray will fall short of the majority.

Bengaluru: Ahead of the crucial 12 May Assembly elections in Karnataka, opinion polls suggest that all the three major parties in the fray  Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress and Janata Dal (Secular)  will fall short of the majority. If that's the case, former prime minister HD Deve Gowdas JD(S) will hold the key. If Congress and JD(S) form a post-poll alliance, experts suggest water resources minister MB Patil will most likely become the deputy chief minister. However, Patil, who championed the Lingayat communitys separate religious status, claims Congress will form the government on its own and there wont be a need to form an alliance.

In an exclusive interview, Patil, also the Bijapur district in-charge minister, asserts that BJP is only using chief ministerial aspirant BS Yeddyurappa and that he will be dumped after the elections. Here are the excerpts from the interview:



You led the movement for minority status for the Lingayat community. Now, after seeing the reactions from various circles, do you think the move has backfired?

The movement has not backfired. Veerashaiva Lingayats are hardly 5 percent (of Lingayats). So, 95 percent people appreciate the stand of Siddaramaiah. All our candidates, not just Lingayat candidates, will see an increase of a minimum of 15-20 percent votes compared to the last time. Yeddyurappa couldn't get a nomination for his son even, so it is Ananth Kumar, (RSS functionary) BL Santosh and all these people who are taking the calls. There was one minister (Davangere MP) GM Siddeshwara in the Union government who has been removed. There are all Brahmins now. There is no Lingayat in the central cabinet. Everybody knows BJPs agenda. But let me tell you, we are not using Lingayats. Lingayat is our identity. Im campaigning on development. But some religious leaders, Veerashaivas, are trying to campaign against me. Still, I dont ask for votes for the Lingayat movement. We are not using it politically. Once the results come, everyone will know that the move didnt backfire at all. All the opinion polls except one suggest we are ahead.

BJP claims they have a Lingayat leader as CM aspirant and hence Lingayat votes would go to them. What do you think?

So what? The CM candidates son was also denied a ticket, so how powerful is the Lingayat leader? They will not make him the chief minister.



But they have projected him as their CM candidate, what about that?

They have projected him, but they are dropping his sons name on one side and the central minister (Siddeshwara) is dropped on the other side. It is just a game plan and now the Lingayats have understood. Now, I see the reaction everywhere. They have come to the conclusion that they will not make him the chief minister. They are just using him. They will dump him on the age factor. They will say he is above 75 and they have not made anybody who is above that age the chief minister. They are going to dump Yeddyurappa. Lingayats are not going to vote for BJP because of the treatment meted out to Yeddyurappa.

You won the last election by a margin of 4,355 votes against Vijugouda Patil. The fight this time is also going to be tough. Are you nervous?

In Babaleshwar, I have done a lot of work, even in Bijapur district and North Karnataka in general. It is my development work which will make me win. I'll win by more than 25,000 votes. These Veerashaiva swamijis are trying to campaign against me and trying to do some damage. But I dont think any of it will have any effect.



In case of a post-poll alliance, do you see yourself being the deputy CM?

Our party will get a clear-cut majority; Siddaramaiah will become the chief minister of the state. There is no question of any alliance with any party. We will get a majority on our own because we have done so much of good work and people have seen five years of misrule (during the BJPs tenure), jail-bail-jail-bail, thats what happened, one was coming out and another was going inside.



How many seats do you see Congress getting?

We will get a majority of our own. We will get a minimum of 125-130 seats.

You have been on the forefront of water issues in the state, be it Mahadayi or Cauvery. Where has the Centre lapsed? If you were a central minister, what decision would you have taken in both the cases?

In case of Mahadayi, talks should have been held. The prime minister should have called all the parties involved  Karnataka, Goa, and Maharashtra  like Indira Gandhi did in case of Krishna water dispute. She intervened, got 15 tmc ft of water for Madras, now Chennai, and got water for Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra too. She also gave water to Rajasthan, which was not a riparian state. So, she made everybody agree to give water to Rajasthan. Thats the political will required. Thats how a prime minister should act. We went to meet him (Prime Minister Narendra Modi). He behaved like a political party head. He is the head of the nation. So, in the case of Mahadayi, people clearly know that BJP has failed. They engaged in drama, saying a letter was written by Goa CM Parrikar to Yeddyurappa, not to the constitutional head, made a big fuss in the Parivartana rally. It was all a farce. Now, we still expect prime minister to do justice, intervene, and call a meeting. But anyhow, in August, the Mahadayi verdict will come. Like Cauvery, it will also come in our favour.



Do you think the Cauvery Management Board should be formed after elections?

There is no question of Cauvery board. The Cauvery board was suggested by the tribunal, but the Supreme Court has not mentioned it. It (the apex court) has said a scheme under section 6(A) has to be formed. They have not mentioned the Cauvery Management Board. They have not accepted the proposal of Cauvery Management Board. They said a dispute resolution body has to be formed and it has to be under section 6(A). So it is under the government of Indias power, they will decide how it has to be done and will do it.



What's your vision for Bijapur?

It is a drought area. Im converting it to an area full of water with 15 lakh acres of irrigation projects, 200 tanks to be filled up. I want to see Bijapur as one of the richest districts in the next three years in the nation.



Is it realistic that the Election Commission of India caps elections expenditure at Rs 28 lakh? Is that practical and do people follow it?

Im going to follow it. So I did a simple nomination process, I did not gather people and do all that. I cant comment on others.

How do we reduce the role of money and muscle power in elections?

It has to be debated. It cannot be done in one day, in one interview. Everybody has to sit together, discuss various mechanisms and a consensus has to be built up and everyone has to come together and do it. It takes time.



Any message for Yeddyurappa who says Congress tried its best to divide Lingayats?

Yeddyurappa, poor person, I wish him all the best for his health. He is being misused by BJP. He had also signed for the separate religious status of Veerashaiva-Lingayats once. The RSS people are using him and they are making him a scapegoat. So, Yeddyurappa should think now, and it was good that he had formed the KJP (Karnataka Janata Paksha). In fact, if he had continued in KJP, today he would have been leading the Lingayat movement.

(Tamanna Naseer is a Bijapur-based freelance writer and a member of 101Reporters.com, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters.)Madhya Pradesh governor Anandiben Patel was criticised for saying that BJP leaders will 'only get votes when they adopt needy and malnourished children' during a visit to Chitrakoot

Madhya Pradesh governor Anandiben Patel has come in for criticism after she said during a visit to the state's Chitrakoot district that the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) leaders will get votes "only when they adopt needy and malnourished children".

In a video doing the rounds on social media, Patel can be seen telling BJP leaders in the poll-bound state to adopt children. "Go to every village. Sit with the poor children, take them in your lap, show them affection. You have to adopt them and fulfil their needs if you want to get votes. You will not get votes just like that," Patel said in the video, which was widely shared on social media on Saturday.

The saffron party has not commented about the veracity of the video.

Later n the video, Patel also tells party workers to "run a campaign" on this process to make sure that "Narendrabhai's dream for 2022 comes true", referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's declared aim of creating a 'New India' by 2022.

Modi had discussed his aspiration for 2022 at the World Economic Forum Annual Summit in Davos this year. "We are building a new India where one sixth of humanity is combined, and committed to getting good administration and better amenities for a better quality of life. This is not coincidence. But an outcome of the persistence of the people of India to get what they actually deserve. And we will get that sooner than anticipated," the prime minister had said.

The Times of India reported that Patel can also be heard saying "you do not need votes, but we do".

According to NDTV, she was standing next to Satna mayor Mamta Pandey while making these statements.

Madhya Pradesh is likely to witness Assembly elections later this year.

According to The New Indian Express, the Congress reacted strongly to Patel's comments. The party's state spokesperson Narendra Saluja said that the video has exposed that the Madhya Pradesh governor was using the constitutional post to further the BJP's electoral cause. "This is unethical and unconstitutional as no governor should become an election manager of any political party. We will write to the president about the governor's actions and demand suitable action against her," he said.

The controversy erupted just as President Ram Nath Kovind arrived in the state on a two-day visit. He was welcomed by Patel and Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan at the airport in Bhopal. IANS reported that the president is anticipated to take part in various programmes in Sagar and Guna districts.

With inputs from agenciesIANS

Facebook has warned investors that more users' data scandals in the future may adversely affect the social networking giant's reputation and brand image.

In its quarterly report shared with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), without mentioning Cambridge Analytica, Facebook said that its ongoing investments in safety, security, and content review will identify additional instances of misuse of user data.

"We may also be notified of such incidents or activity via the media or other third parties," Facebook said on 26 April.

Appearing before the US Congress, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told the lawmakers that his own personal data was part of 87 million users' that was 'improperly shared' with the British political consultancy firm.

The data was gathered via a quiz app, 'thisisyourdigitallife,' developed by Aleksandr Kogan, then a psychology researcher with University of Cambridge, and his company Global Science Research (GSR) which pulled out Facebook users' data in 2014-2015.

Facebook warned investors that there may be more such data breaches in the future.

"Such incidents and activities may include the use of user data in a manner inconsistent with our terms or policies, the existence of false or undesirable user accounts, election interference, improper ad purchases, activities that threaten people's safety on- or off-line, or instances of spamming, scraping, or spreading misinformation.

"The discovery of the foregoing may negatively affect user trust and engagement, harm our reputation and brands, and adversely affect our business and financial results," the company said its quarterly report.

"Any such discoveries may also subject us to additional litigation and regulatory inquiries, which could subject us to monetary penalties and damages, divert management's time and attention, and lead to enhanced regulatory oversight," it added.

Facebook on 25 April beat Wall Street's estimates by raking in $11.97 billion in revenue for the first quarter of 2018.

The social media giant reported $4.98 billion in profit, up from $4.26 billion in the last quarter.

"Despite facing important challenges, our community continues to grow. More than 2.2 billion people now use Facebook every month and more than 1.4 billion people use it daily," Zuckerberg said in a statement.

Facebook added 70 million monthly active users (MAUs) to reach 2.196 billion users globally, at 3.14 percent growth rate.tech2 News Staff

HMD Global is all set to launch another Nokia series phone, it seems, and this one looks like it will embrace that 'notch'. There is some confusion regarding the naming conventions though, it is being speculated to be called either the Nokia X or the Nokia X6 and will most likely launch on 16 May.

According to a report in GizmoChina, fresh photos of what appears to be the Nokia X have been posted on Weibo which give away its design. For starters, it comes with a visible notch in the front and there is also a chin with the Nokia branding. It appears to have a glass back with a circular fingerprint scanner just below the dual rear camera module, which is aligned in the centre.

The report goes on to state that Nokia is planning to have a week-long event at the Mercedes Me Square in Sanlitun, Beijing which will end on 2 May. The marketing materials point to a 'Nokia X' moniker even though rumours are also hinting at a Nokia X6. The report states that it could be a revamp of the older Nokia X series with the Nokia X6 as the first device. Nothing is known for certain at the moment.

It is expected to come with a 5.8-inch display with a 19:9 aspect ratio. This design seems to be quite reminiscent of the Nokia 7 Plus due to the placement of the cameras and the accents. The phone is said to have two variants of Snapdragon 636 SoC and MediaTek Helio P60. The handset is tipped to be coming with the Android 8.1 Oreo.

As far as pricing is concerned, a report by digi.tech.qq says that the Nokia X or X6 will be priced at CNY 1,599 (approx Rs 16,000) for the 4 GB RAM + 64GB storage variant, while the 6 GB RAM + 128 GB storage model could be priced at CNY 1,799 (approx Rs 18,000).An air strike on Yemen's capital by a Saudi-led military coalition has killed dozens of Huthi rebels including at least two commanders

Dubai (UAE): An air strike on Yemen's capital by a Saudi-led military coalition has killed dozens of Huthi rebels including at least two commanders, Saudi television reported Saturday.

Saudi Arabia's official Al-Ekhbariya television said two high-ranking insurgents were among more than 50 Huthi militiamen killed in Sanaa on Friday evening, without giving further details.

Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya television said a total of 38 rebels were killed in the strike on a Huthi interior ministry building.

The Huthis confirmed an air strike on Sanaa but gave no details.

The raid came hours ahead of a public funeral of the Huthis' political head Saleh al-Sammad, killed last week in a Saudi-led coalition strike.

It also came as newly-appointed US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was scheduled to land in Riyadh for meetings including talks on the Yemen conflict.

The Iran-backed rebels have been locked in a war with the Saudi-led military alliance, which since 2015 has fought to restore the internationally-recognised Yemeni government to power.

The Yemen conflict is widely seen as a proxy war between regional titans Iran and Saudi Arabia.

The Huthis control Yemen's capital, Sanaa, as well as much of the country's north  which borders Saudi Arabia  and the key Hodeida port on Yemen's Red Sea coast.

Nearly 10,000 people have been killed since the Saudi-led alliance joined the Yemen conflict, triggering what the United Nations has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

Yemen now stands at the brink of famine.

The Saudi-led coalition imposed a total blockade on Yemen's ports in November in retaliation for cross-border Huthi missile attacks on Saudi Arabia.

The blockade has since been partially lifted, but access to the impoverished country remains limited.Southeast Asian countries will work more closely with new powers China and India to counter the pressure of protectionism and ensure continued growth, Singapore prime minister said Saturday.

Singapore: Southeast Asian countries will work more closely with new powers China and India to counter the pressure of protectionism and ensure continued growth, Singapore prime minister said Saturday.

Addressing the summit of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that regional economic growth was under threat because the political mood in many countries had turned against free trade. He said recent trade tensions between the US and China in particular are worrying.

The US and China are entangled in their most consequential trade dispute since World War II. Both countries have proposed tariffs of $50 billion on each other's products; President Donald Trump is looking to impose tariffs of up to $100 billion more on Chinese goods.

"The global strategic balance is shifting, and so is the regional balance," Lee said. "New powers, including China and India, are growing in strength and influence. This has opened up new opportunities for ASEAN member states as we expand our cooperation with them."

He said that the group faces challenges closer to home as well, such as the Islamic State group, cybersecurity and strengthening a regional economic community.

In a statement on Saturday, ASEAN leaders affirmed the need for peace in the South China Sea, where the bloc is currently negotiating a set of rules with China to avoid conflict situations arising from a bitter territorial dispute pitting some members against Beijing's vast claims to the strategic waterway.

They also encouraged Myanmar and Bangladesh to press on with their "shared commitment to carry out the voluntary return" of about 700,000 Rohinya Muslims who have fled Myanmar's Rakhine state, Lee said.

Myanmar's military has been accused of instigating the persecution of the ethnic minority, which has been denied citizenship in the majority Buddhist country.

Lee said the leaders agreed that the refugees' return must be carried out "in a safe, secure and dignified way, without undue delay."

The leaders also welcomed a historic summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korea's President Moon Jae-in as a first step toward reducing tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

"It's a positive step, it's better than firing missiles and testing bombs, but how does it go? That's something which we will wait and see and which we can only hope for the best," Lee said.

To fight protectionism, Lee said that ASEAN was keen to conclude Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership negotiations this year. It is a proposed free trade agreement between ASEAN members and Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand.

In addition to Singapore, the ASEAN members are Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei and the Philippines.The informal summit between Narendra Modi and Xi Jinping charted the course of long-term bilateral development, according to a leading Chinese newspaper.

Wuhan (China): The "heart-to-heart" communication between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping during their two-day informal summit reflected their deepened mutual history and charted the course of long-term bilateral development, according to a leading Chinese newspaper.

The China Daily in an opinion piece said: "The beauty of the informal summit between Xi and Modi is that it comes with no baggage, only expectations. It is free of the usual diplomatic frills, somewhat beyond the global media limelight...As expected, the 'heart-to-heart' communication between the two leaders reflected their deepened mutual chemistry. Which, in turn, will be conducive to improving mutual trust between the neighbours and charting the course of long-term bilateral development."

India and China share a tense relationship owing to their 1962 war. Their ties touched a new low last year when their militaries were locked in a face-off near their disputed boundary. The crisis was resolved in August.

The daily said that "mutual suspicion was keeping the two countries from deepening co-operation and working together on regional and international issues".

"The border incident last summer was just one example of what mutual suspicion could lead to, reminding both sides of the disruptive potential of distrust. Yet neither Beijing nor New Delhi calls the other an enemy, which means both expect bilateral ties to improve," it said.

The daily called China and India "natural partners" and said that "both realise they carry the hopes of the other developing countries to improve international relations, in order to make the world order more equitable".

"The Xi-Modi meetings reflect the two neighbours' common aspiration to not only stabilize their troubled relationship but also caution disruptive powers it is difficult to drive a wedge between them," it said.

The Global Times said that the informal summit ushered in a new chapter in the Sino-Indian relations. "Conflicts between China and India have kept accumulating, which exposed the fragility of Sino-Indian relations and prompted both sides to recognize that confrontation between China and India does not fit their interests. Disputes must be controlled".

China's People's Daily quoted Xi as saying that "the consensus reached by the two sides provided positive signals of China-India friendship and reflected the strong will of two big emerging economies to enhance mutually beneficial cooperation".At Seoul's Nampo Myeonok noodle bar, the owner was rushed off her feet, shouting at a long queue of hungry punters that she was clean out of 'Pyongyang naengmyeon'

Seoul: At Seoul's Nampo Myeonok noodle bar, the owner was rushed off her feet, shouting at a long queue of hungry punters that she was clean out of "Pyongyang naengmyeon".

"You'll have to wait around 40 minutes" for the broth to boil, she told the line snaking out of her door Saturday.

Demand for North Korea's signature dish peaked all over the South's capital after it was featured on the menu at Friday's historic inter-Korean summit and became a surprise talking point.

A cold noodle dish served in a cool mild broth, "Pyongyang naengmyeon" is usually garnished with pieces of meat and vegetables.

The long buckwheat noodle strands are usually cut with a pair of scissors to simplify the eating process.

The dish is already popular in the South but many saw the summit as a good excuse to indulge.

Thousands posted photos of the noodles they slurped down for lunch on Instagram with hashtags including #summit and #peacenaengmyeon.

North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un provoked laughter at the summit and among South Korean journalists at a press centre when he cracked jokes about the dish, hoping that the South's president Moon Jae-in "will be able to enjoy the Pyongyang naengmyeon that has travelled far".

He laughed before adding: "I shouldn't say far."

The noodles  a special request by Moon  had been crafted by a leading chef from Okryu-gwan, a famed restaurant in Pyongyang.

According to the North's state news agency KCNA, the dish "deeply impressed the participants".

At Nampo Myeonok, the verdict was unanimous  at least on the food.

"I came to this restaurant especially to eat Pyongyang naengmyeon. This place has been around for a long time and it's good," said diner Park Jae-chun.

Bass guitar player Kim Tae-hun said the dish made him feel "closer" to those on the other side of the border "because we also eat a lot of it".

But while the leaders made several references to unification of the two Koreas in their statement Friday, the culinary connections only went so far for some.

Park told AFP: "Personally I think it's okay for both South and North Korea to co-exist rather than unify as long as it's peaceful and we acknowledge each other."German Chancellor Angela Merkel and US president Donald Trump were unable to overcome differences on trade on Friday at a White House meeting where they nonetheless put on a show of warmth and friendship despite tensions between the two allies

Washington: German Chancellor Angela Merkel and US president Donald Trump were unable to overcome differences on trade on Friday at a White House meeting where they nonetheless put on a show of warmth and friendship despite tensions between the two allies.

With Trump poised to impose tariffs on steel soon that will impact European exports, Merkel said the decision is now in Trump's hands on whether to grant exemptions to European Union nations.

"The president will decide. That's very clear," Merkel told a joint news conference with Trump after the US president complained about the US-European trade imbalance, particularly in regards to automobiles.

"We had an exchange of views. The decision lies with the president," she said.

Merkel also said she could see negotiating a bilateral trade deal between the EU and the United States, saying the World Trade Organization has been unable to deliver multilateral agreements.

Trump said he wanted a "reciprocal" trade relationship with Germany and other European nations and wanted Germany and other NATO allies to pay more for the common defence.

"We need a reciprocal relationship, which we don't have... We're working on it and we want to make it fairer and the chancellor wants to make it fairer," Trump said.

After their last White House meeting drew attention when the two leaders did not shake hands in the Oval Office, Trump made a point of doing just that, twice, while congratulating the German chancellor on her recent election win.

"We have a really great relationship, and we actually have had a great relationship right from the beginning, but some people didn't understand that," Trump said in the Oval Office, calling Merkel a "very extraordinary woman."

Many differences

Merkel acknowledged that it took a while to form a government after heavy election losses to the far-right, but she said it was important to her to make her first trip out of Europe since establishing her administration to Washington.

The cautious Merkel has not established a particularly strong personal rapport with the brash Trump, and the mood of her one-day working visit contrasted sharply with the tactile "bromance" between Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron.

Chemistry aside, Merkel will try to make more progress than Macron, who, before heading home after a three-day state visit to Washington, acknowledged that Trump was likely to pull out of the multinational Iran nuclear deal.

The Iran deal, looming US tariffs on European steel and aluminium products, a planned Russian gas pipeline running under the Baltic Sea to Germany, and Berlin's military spending are issues that divide Merkel and Trump.

When asked if Germany was doing enough to reach a NATO target for member countries to spend 2 percent of economic output on defence annually, new U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told a news conference in Brussels:

"No...(Germany) should meet the goals that they agreed to...that's the expectation, not only for Germany but for everyone. We're hopeful that at the NATO summit that every NATO partner will deliver a credible plan to achieve that goal."

Macron made the European position on the Iran nuclear deal clear ahead of Merkel's visit.

On Wednesday, he called on the United States not to abandon the Iran deal as Western envoys said Britain, France and Germany were nearing agreeing a package they hope could persuade Trump to save the pact. This gives Merkel something to work with.

Trump will decide by 12 May whether to revive US sanctions on Iran. Doing so would be a serious blow to the nuclear deal, which many Western countries sees as essential for stopping Tehran developing a nuclear bomb.US president Donald Trump on Saturday said that he may travel to Israel for the inauguration of the new American embassy in Jerusalem.

Washington: US president Donald Trump on Saturday said that he may travel to Israel for the inauguration of the new American embassy in Jerusalem.

"I may go (to Jerusalem)... very proud of it. Jerusalem has been a subject that's been promised for many years, as you know, the embassy in Jerusalem. It's been promised for many, many years by presidents. They all made campaign promises, and they never had the courage to carry it out. I carried it out," Trump told reporters at a joint White House news conference with the visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

He said, "It's getting ready to open, and I do want to tell that story though, because there are a couple of people that got to see it, but others, where literally, they were going to spend a billion dollars, and we're spending a tiny, tiny fraction of that, in the hundreds of thousands of dollars instead. And it will be very nice. Maybe it'll be nicer than a billion-dollar building."

Trump said he reduced the construction of the new embassy in Jerusalem from $1 billion to a "fraction of the cost". He also gave an insight into the internal White House deliberations on the new US embassy in Jerusalem.

"Somebody said, 'Could I tell this story?' And they came to me with a proposal for a $1 billion embassy in Jerusalem, and the papers (Vice-President) Mike Pence can tell you  the papers were put before me to sign an application for more than $1 billion to build an embassy," Trump said.

"I said, 'What are you talking about, $1 billion?' You know, most embassies are like a single story. And they said, 'Yes, sir. It's $1 billion'. And I had my name half-signed, then I noticed the figure, and I just didn't  I never got to the word 'Trump'. I had 'Donald' signed, but I never got to the word 'Trump'."

Trump said, thereafter, he told his ambassador to Israel, "I said, 'What's this $1 billion?' He said, "I can build it for $150,000."

I said, "What? He said, 'I can build it for $150,000, the embassy. We have a building. We have the site. We already own the site. We own the building. I can take a corner of the building, and for $150,000, we can fix it up, make it beautiful, open our embassy. Instead of in 10 years from now, we can open it up in three months.' And, that's what we did."

Trump said he then told the ambassador that they should not go from $1 billion to $150,000.

"Let's go to $3-400,000. And that's what we did. It's going to be beautiful, and it'll be somewhat temporary, but it could be for many years, because by the time they build it the other way, it's going to be many, many years. They were looking for sites. We already have a site, and we have a great site. The site's better than anything you could imagine," he said.

"But that's the way government works. They were going to spend $1 billion, and we're going to spend much less than half a million. Could have done it for much less than that, but I said, 'Let's make it really nice'. So that's what it is," Trump said.Donald Trump said Saturday that 'things are going very well' after talking with South Korea's President Moon Jae-in about an upcoming summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un

Washington: US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that "things are going very well" after talking with South Korea's President Moon Jae-in about an upcoming summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

"Just had a long and very good talk with president Moon of South Korea. Things are going very well, time and location of meeting with North Korea is being set," Trump wrote on Twitter.

"Also spoke to prime minister (Shinzo) Abe of Japan to inform him of the ongoing negotiations," he wrote.

Moon met with Kim in a historic summit, agreeing on Friday to pursue a permanent peace and the complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

An armistice brought the fighting on the Korean peninsula to an end in 1953, but 65 years later, a final peace agreement has still not been reached.

The Moon-Kim meeting has raised expectations for Trump's own planned summit with the North Korean leader, the date and location of which have not yet been finalized.

Mongolia and Singapore are the final two sites under consideration for the summit, CBS News reported, though Singapore's prime minister Lee Hsien Loong said Saturday that there had been no formal request for his city-state to host the meeting.

Last year, Pyongyang carried out its sixth nuclear test, by far its most powerful to date, and launched missiles capable of reaching the US mainland.

Its actions sent tensions soaring as Kim and Trump traded personal insults and threats of war.

Trump has demanded the North give up its weapons, and Washington is pressing for it to do so in a complete, verifiable and irreversible way.

Pyongyang is demanding as yet unspecified security guarantees to discuss its arsenal.Iran on Saturday welcomed steps towards detente between North and South Korea but warned that the United States was unqualified to play a role.

Tehran: Iran on Saturday welcomed steps towards detente between North and South Korea but warned that the United States was unqualified to play a role since it did not "respect its commitments".

The foreign ministry said the meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and the South's president Moon Jae-in was "a responsible and effective step towards regional and global stability".

But ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said the "historic new page for detente on the Korean peninsula" should be worked out between the two principal parties, without the "interference of foreign countries".

"Iran's experience over 40 years, in particular with regard to the nuclear deal, is that the American government is not a dignified, trustworthy actor and does not respect its international commitments," Ghasemi said in a statement.

Iran signed a deal in 2015 with the United States and five other world powers, curbing its nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.

But Tehran argues the US has continued to block its trade with the outside world  in breach of the deal  and US president Donald Trump has threatened to abandon the agreement entirely when it comes up for renewal on 12 May.

"As a result, (the US) is not qualified to play a role to determine the arrangements between countries, which has again been reinforced in recent years by Trump," Ghasemi said.

The leaders of North and South Korea held a historic meeting along their border on Friday, vowing to pursue a peace treaty and the complete denuclearisation of their divided peninsula.

In the coming weeks, Kim is due to hold a much-anticipated meeting with Trump, who has demanded Pyongyang give up its nuclear arsenal.North Koreas state news agency on Saturday called the inter-Korean summit a turning point for the Korean peninsula, while US president Donald Trump said he would maintain sanctions pressure on Pyongyang

Seoul: North Koreas state news agency on Saturday called the inter-Korean summit a turning point for the Korean peninsula, while US president Donald Trump said he would maintain sanctions pressure on Pyongyang ahead of his own unprecedented meeting with Kim Jong-un.

The Norths KCNA news agency separately released the joint statement North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean president Moon Jae-in presented on Friday after the first summit in more than a decade between the two Koreas.

Kim and Moon had pledged to work for complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and agreed on a common goal of a nuclear-free peninsula.

At the talks both sides had a candid and open-hearted exchange of views on the matters of mutual concern including the issues of improving the north-south relations, ensuring peace on the Korean Peninsula and the denuclearisation of the peninsula, KCNA said, reporting that the night wrapped up with a dinner with an amicable atmosphere overflowing with feelings of blood relatives.

A day after the meeting between Kim and Moon produced dramatic images and a sweeping declaration of goodwill, South Korean media were replaying striking scenes of the two leaders and North Koreas main state newspaper published a multi-page spread with more than 60 photos from the visit.

On Saturday afternoon, North Korean state TV broadcast its first footage of the summit.

Most of the specific commitments outlined in the official declaration focused on inter-Korean relations and did not clear up the question of whether Pyongyang is willing to give up its arsenal of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.

In their coverage of the summit, North Korean state media made rare mentions of the denuclearisation discussion, but did not go into specifics, instead highlighting the broad themes of peace, prosperity, and Korean unity.

The declaration earned guarded but optimistic praise from world leaders, including Trump, who said that only time would tell, but that he did not think Kim was playing.

Its never gone this far. This enthusiasm for them wanting to make a deal ... We are going to hopefully make a deal.

Still, Trump told reporters, he would maintain pressure on North Korea and not repeat the mistakes of past administrations.

A senior US official said they are considering Singapore as a possible venue for the Trump-Kim summit.

Speaking on Saturday at a televised news conference in Sydney, Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull praised Trumps negotiations on North Korea and said he helped bring the two Korean leaders together.

I have given him that credit because Donald Trump has taken a very, very strong, hard line on the denuclearisation issue and he has been able to bring in the support of the global community and, in particular, China, Turnbull said. North Koreas economic relationship is overwhelmingly with China. And so Chinas preparedness to impose those sanctions has been the critical change that has put the economic pressure on North Korea.

Turnbull said the pressure from China and the US had brought Kim to the point of denuclearising the Korean peninsula.

What weve now got to do is not relent on the economic pressure until that goal is achieved, he said.

Australia will send a military aircraft to monitor North Korean vessels suspected of transferring illicit goods in defiance of UN sanctions, he said.

Iran, facing a possible US exit from its nuclear deal with world powers, welcomed the inter-Korean summit, but said Washington was not a qualified partner in the negotiations.

Iran sees (the summit) as an important step in the right direction that can contribute to lasting regional and global peace and security, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi was quoted as saying by state media.

The US government is not a credible actor, doesnt comply with its international obligations and doesnt qualify to take part in arrangements between countries, Qasemi added.

An editorial in the official China Daily on Saturday said denuclearisation could end hostilities between the two sides and usher in a new era of development on the peninsula, but noted Fridays declaration lacked a plan for achieving the goal.

The denuclearisation of the peninsula, written into the Panmunjom Declaration, is only a prospect with no specific plan. That is because such specifics can be reached only between the US and North Korea, and South Korea has only limited authority to bargain, it said.Infuriated by Pashtun leader Manzoor Pashteen's outspoken criticism, the Pakistan Army has accused him of being backed by 'foreign powers,' a term usually used to refer to neighbouring Afghanistan or rival India

Peshawar: A Pakistani human rights group that has accused the military of widespread abuses as it battles Islamist militants in Pakistan's rugged border region with neighboring Afghanistan has emerged as a force among the country's Pashtun minority, drawing tens of thousands to rallies to protest what it contends is a campaign of intimidation that includes extrajudicial killings and thousands of disappearances and detentions.

The group's charismatic leader, 25-year-old Manzoor Pashteen, has become the face of the country's oppressed Pashtun, charging that in the name if its "war on terror" the military has used indiscriminate force as it hunts for Taliban hideouts in the tribal regions where the Pashtun dominate, imposing collective punishments like bulldozing the homes of family members of suspected militants and punishing entire villages for extremist attacks.

The catalyst for the group's creation was the police killing in January of Naqueebullah Mehsud, a 27-year-old ethnic Pashtun and aspiring model who was shot dead in the southern port city of Karachi, where many displaced Pashtuns have relocated after being displaced by the military operations in the tribal regions. The authorities originally said Mehsud fired first during a raid by security forces on a militant hideout, but later acknowledged he was unarmed and had been targeted simply because he was Pashtun.

His death ignited protests by Pashtuns, who accused Pakistan's security forces of racial profiling, seeing all Pashtuns as Taliban simply because many insurgents in Afghanistan and Pakistan are recruited from among Pashtun tribesmen.

Within weeks what began as a small group of about two dozen had morphed into a popular movement. Known as the Pashtun Protection Movement, it has drawn huge crowds to rallies where Pashteen leads the charge, accusing the military of detaining thousands of Pashtuns in internment camps for months or even years without charges and intimidating residents at the dozens of checkpoints scattered throughout the tribal regions.

Residents, he said, were scared silent, too afraid to criticize the army tactics.

"Punishment is all about sending a message to keep silent," Pashteen told The Associated Press in an interview in Peshawar, the capital of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and home to the majority of the country's ethnic Pashtuns. "When we began we were fed up with life, treated like we were not human. One thousand percent we were sure we would be killed."

Even his father pleaded with him to end his campaign against the military. "He told me that it would be trouble not just for me, but for my family," Pashteen said.

Yet, as his small group of followers took their grievances from the tribal regions to Peshawar and eventually to the capital, Islamabad, "people joined us," he said. "For many years our people have wanted to do something. They were looking for a leader."

Wearing his signature red embroidered cap and a dark, well-kept beard, Pashteen seems an unlikely leader.

Trained as a doctor, he is a pacifist, who refuses  despite prodding from family and friends  to carry a weapon in his car for protection in an area where guns proliferate and are considered a birthright. His protests are peaceful, he said, adding he has just two demands: The establishment of a peace and reconciliation commission to address the grievances of Pashtuns, including extrajudicial killings, and that the thousands of people in detention centres be brought to trial if they are accused of a crime or be released.

"The military has become a state within a state," Pashteen said.

Considered the most powerful institution in Pakistan, public criticism of the army is risky and rarely tolerated. At the same time, the ascendency of the Pashtun Protection Movement poses a public relations nightmare for the army at a time when it is ramping up its effort to project success in the tribal areas, claiming to have defeated extremism and boasting that terrorist hideouts have been wiped out.

"The protesters aren't just politely critiquing the military. They're relentlessly assailing it and linking it to terror in ways rarely done before," said Michael Kugleman, deputy director of the Asia Center at the Washington-based Wilson Center. "The protesters, with their focus on indignities and injustices in the tribal areas, are undercutting a narrative the military is trying to project about peace and normalcy returning to the tribal belt after many years of war."

Infuriated by Pashteen's outspoken criticism, the army has accused him of being backed by "foreign powers," a term usually used to refer to neighbouring Afghanistan or rival India. The army has also turned its intimidation tactics against his movement, pressuring news organizations throughout the country to ignore it and setting intelligence agents on university professors to try to force them to identify students attending protests. One political analyst was told his weekly column, in which he urged dialogue with Pashteen's movement, could not be published because the newspaper was "under pressure" to remove it.

"The military believes that (if) these protests get any air, they can turn from small fires into massive political conflagrations, so the best tactic is to deprive them of oxygen from the start," said Daniel Markey, director of the Global Policy Program at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies. "And, to be sure, they are operating in a challenging and contentious political climate."

Political chaos has marred much of the last year in Pakistan. Its prime minister was unseated on corruption charges, and handed a lifetime ban from participating in politics. Pashteen's attacks on the military come as Pakistanis prepare to go to the polls later this year and could undermine the army's traditional ability to influence the elections.

"The army tends  also something we've seen before  to want to control or manage political outcomes as much as possible," Markey said.

The journalists' advocacy group, Reporters without Borders, issued a statement last week complaining about the military's efforts to muzzle Pakistan's media and nearly 100 Pakistani journalists signed a petition condemning censorship.

"After a week with several cases of overt press censorship in Pakistan, Reporters Without Borders ... reiterates its solidarity with the country's journalists and deplores the way the military continues to impose its diktat on the media," the statement said. "The latest subject to be placed off limits is the Pashtun (Protection) Movement, which has been organizing protests in defence of Pakistan's Pashtun minority and denouncing human rights violations by the military targeting Pashtuns."

Mosharraf Zaidi, whose column was pulled by a local English language newspaper, said the supporters of Pashteen's movement are mostly young and educated. They have known only war and chaos, he said, and most know or are related to someone who has been killed or taken either by militants or the military.

Zaidi said he had hoped Pashteen's movement "would prompt an honest discussion about our (decades-old) relationship with violent extremism."Vous etes confrontes a une infestation par la puce, la punaise de lit ? Voici plusieurs actions qui sont a mettre en uvre pour faire []The foreign ministers of Russia, Iran and Turkey were set to hold talks on Syria on Monday in the wake of an alleged chemical attack that has exposed differences between the three powers

Moscow: The foreign ministers of Russia, Iran and Turkey were set to hold talks on Syria on Monday in the wake of an alleged chemical attack that has exposed differences between the three powers.

The three nations have been attempting to find a political solution to the Syrian conflict at talks that started in 2017 in Astana, Kazakhstan, in competition with the US and UN-backed Geneva initiative.

The latest talks in Moscow between two of Assad's key supporters, Moscow and Tehran, and rebel-backer Ankara come as the alleged chemical attack in the Syrian town of Douma on April 7 has prompted sharply differing responses from Turkey and Russia.

"I curse those who carried out this massacre," President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, adding that he welcomed Western air strikes in retaliation as "appropriate".

Meanwhile Russia says the attack was staged to discredit its ally President Bashar-al Assad and this week brought a group of Syrians to the global chemical arms watchdog to back its claims.

French president Emmanuel Macron this month suggested the air strikes had driven a wedge between Ankara and Moscow as they have been building increasingly close ties.

This prompted an angry denial from Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, who said the countries' relations "are not so weak that the French president can break them".

Alexander Shumilin, a West Asia expert at the Institute for US and Canadian Studies in Moscow, however, said Douma fallout had "caused a crack in the alliance of three countries".

He added: "If the trio falls apart entirely, the ensuing events could be really bad." Turkey has a "completely different attitude" to resolving the conflict and Assad's fate, he said, while Iran is seeking to destabilise the region to hurt Israel and Russia wants to "stabilise and leave".

Alexey Malashenko, a specialist in the Syria conflict, was sceptical the meeting would achieve much beyond a show of unity, saying the trio have a "very shaky" alliance.

Their positions on the suspected chemical attack are irreconcilable, he said.

"Turkey has an absolutely honest position: it is against Bashar al-Assad and here there's no way they can reach an agreement." Nevertheless, the limited nature of US-led strikes suggests the "peak of tensions has passed", he said.

The Turkish foreign ministry said Saturday's meeting "will focus on all aspects" of cooperation and "elaborate on the steps that could be taken from now on", while the Russian foreign ministry said talks would focus on the humanitarian situation.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov will also hold bilateral talks, including on the "escalating situation" around the Iran nuclear deal, spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

The most recent Syria talks attended by the foreign ministers in Astana were held on 16 March. The next are set for 14 May.

EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini on Tuesday urged the three powers to do more, saying they "have not only a responsibility but also an interest in making the ceasefire work".

Eight rounds of talks under United Nations auspices in Geneva have made little headway, with Assad's government taking little interest.

Both Tehran and Moscow have deployed military forces to Syria to back up Assad in his now seven-year-old war against anti-government rebels.

Ankara has called for Assad's removal throughout the war, but has worked increasingly closely with Moscow and Tehran in recent months in an attempt to find a solution to the conflict.

In January, Russia held a showpiece conference in the Black Sea resort of Sochi with largely pro-regime delegates, which saw boycotts by rebels and made little progress.

Russian president Vladimir Putin hosted a summit on Syria with the Iranian and Turkish presidents in November. They then met again in Ankara in April.A Taliban suicide bomber attacked an army base in southern Helmand province Saturday killing four civilians and two soldiers, officials said.

Kabul: A Taliban suicide bomber attacked an army base in southern Helmand province Saturday killing four civilians and two soldiers, officials said.

Omar Zwak, spokesman for the provincial governor in Helmand, said three civilians and two soldiers were wounded in the attack in Nad Ali district. He said the bomber was a Taliban fighter who targeted the base using a mini-van, said Zwak.

Major Abdul Qadeer Bahadorzai, the army corps commander's spokesman in the south, confirmed the attack. He said the death toll could change.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but Taliban insurgents announced the start of their annual spring offensive on Wednesday even as insurgents are already regularly launching attacks and battling security forces.

In another report, in eastern Nangarhar province five people were killed and 15 others wounded in separate attacks, said Attahullah Khogyani, spokesman for the provincial governor.

Khogyani said among five dead there are three women; militants fired mortar shells striking a home in Goshta district. Three others, including two females and a small child, were wounded in the attack late Friday night.

Meanwhile, 12 people were wounded in an explosion in Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar, said Khogyani. He said the victims were two traffic police and 10 civilians.

"Two wounded civilians are in critical condition," he said.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks in Nangarhar, but the Taliban and Islamic State group are both active in eastern Afghanistan, particularly Nangarhar province.

The Taliban issued a statement Wednesday saying the "Al-Khandaq" offensive would make use of "new and intricate tactics" aimed at "crushing, killing and capturing American invaders and their supporters."

The onset of spring has traditionally brought an increase in violence in Afghanistan, as melting snows allow fighters to more easily traverse the mountainous terrain.

But in recent years the Taliban and an Islamic State group affiliate have carried out near-daily attacks year-round. The Taliban have seized control of districts across the country and regularly target Kabul, the capital.

The U.S. formally ended its combat mission in Afghanistan in 2014, but thousands of American troops remain in the country in a counterterrorism and support role. The Trump administration has sent thousands of additional troops to try to change the course of America's longest war.The United Nations has said that lives of tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees hang in the balance as monsoon and cyclone seasons threaten their makeshift camps in Bangladesh.

United Nations: The United Nations has said that lives of tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees hang in the balance as monsoon and cyclone seasons threaten their makeshift camps in Bangladesh.

According to the United Nations estimates, nearly 700,000 minority Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh to escape violence in Myanmar's Rakhine State since 25 August 2016 when the army launched a military crackdown.

Myanmar does not recognise Rohingya as an ethnic group and insists that they are Bangladeshi migrants living illegally in the country.

The United Nations migration agency  the International Organisation for Migration (IOM)  appealed for urgent financial support to prepare the area in southern Bangladesh against floods and landslides.

Without new funding, tens of thousands of people in the camps, fleeing violence triggered in Myanmar in August 2017, will be at risk, the IOM said.

"We cannot wait for funding to come in after the Emergency is over and possibly preventable tragedies have occurred," said John McCue, IOM's Senior Operations Coordinator in Cox's Bazar.

"We need to be able to act now if lives are to be saved," he said.

Almost a million Rohingya refugees live in Cox's Bazar under tarpaulins, on steep, sandy slopes  25,000 of whom are said to be at the highest risk of landslides.

Without aid, numerous refugees will have to remain in these hazardous locations and hundreds of thousands of others will also be at risk if roads become impassible, blocking access to aid supplies and medical services.

"Tarp stocks are also rapidly running out and the IOM, which oversees shelter distribution, reports that by mid-May supplies will fall below critical levels," McCue said.

He said that without more funding, neither new shelters nor replacements would be available to those who lost homes during storms.

He also pointed out that other risks included safe water supply systems, which if collapsed could put hundreds of thousands of refugees in jeopardy of waterborne diseases.

Only nine percent of a $ 951 million joint agency response plan has been secured. Of that, $ 182 million allocated to provide Cox's Bazar with assistance through December 2018 is facing a shortfall of almost $ 151 million.

Aid staff on the ground are working to improve shelters, secure key access roads and have emergency response services ready should the worst happens, "but the harsh truth is that we cannot keep doing that if we do not have the funds," McCue said.

The IOM, the World Food Programme and the United Nations refugee agency are working alongside the Bangladesh government and others to manage the scale of the response in Cox's Bazar  the world's biggest refugee settlement.

"If significant funding is not secured in the next few weeks to keep operations running, there is a high likelihood that many children, women and men may die, when they could have otherwise been saved," McCue said.

The Security Council members are making their way to the region.

United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the overall population of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh is currently estimated to be over one million.

New refugees are still arriving, with some 8,000 new arrivals since January 2018, he said.

The latest round of food distribution reached over 470,000 people and humanitarian partners on the ground also conduct protection monitoring missions to support survivors of sexual and gender-based violence, Dujarric said.

To date, the joint response plan for the Rohingya humanitarian crisis, launched in mid-March, is only nine per cent funded.

It requests $ 951 million to help respond to the needs of some 1.3 million people, both Rohingya refugees and vulnerable members of the host community, until December 2018.

The United Nations described the atrocities by the Myanmar military on Rohingya refugees as a textbook example of ethnic cleansing while the rights groups called it a genocide.

Buddhist-majority Myanmar, however, rejects the charge, saying its security forces launched a counter-insurgency operation on 25 August in response to Rohingya militant attacks.US Secretary of Defence James Mattis said Washington will discuss with allies and Pyongyang the need to retain American troops on the Korean Peninsula

Washington: US Secretary of Defence James Mattis said Washington will discuss with allies and Pyongyang the need to retain American troops on the Korean Peninsula.

The issue is among those Washington will discuss first with its allies and then with North Korea, Mattis said on Friday while meeting his Polish counterpart Mariusz Blaszczak at the Pentagon.

He added that the US "will build, through confidence-building measures, a degree of trust if it's going to go forward," referring to the dialogue with North Korea on the denuclearisation issue, reports Xinhua news agency.

US president Donald Trump in March threatened to withdraw troops from the Korean Peninsula in an attempt widely seen to pressure Seoul to make concessions in bilateral trade dialogues.

The US troops have remained in South Korea ever since the signing of an armistice treaty at the end of 1950-1953 Korean War.

Bilateral relations have been strained over issues like defence burden sharing, the US Army's harassment of South Korean civilians and Seoul's initiative to take back the war-time command control from Washington, among others.Not sure if folks have been following the sequence of buy-outs. Truck Camper Magazine caught the attention of RVDA when they complained slide-ins were getting short shift, which I guess caught the attention of bigger money. First Northern Lite, than Lance, and next Four Wheel were bought by equity firms. I dont know what the impact will be, but I worry about how it might change things.As some one folks discovered, I have always been available via PM, and I have been following four different truck camper forums.Then I sorta er, um, I guess you would call it unretired. A small used dealer I did work for called and I agreed to do his work, but entirely on my own schedule.So now we are in Destin, FL. Then back home for a couple of months before we head to who-knows-where in the SW for a few months. We kept our fifth wheel so whether our RV rides on the truck or gets dragged behind it depends on where and how long.FWIW a few years ago I tried to price out a ESP warranty against Floods and I wasn't able to get to their pricing as a commercial account manager. I asked Ford if Flood got some sort of leverage and they told me no. To this day I never figured out how they could undercut me. It wasn't by much, but it was below my dealer cost. I had the sheets directly from Ford and even cracked their excel spreadsheet to look into the formula and couldn't figure it out. I know for a fact it wasn't any markup on our end.



Florida does have some laws preventing getting warranties for different pricing. It's price fixing by the state. Not saying someone wouldn't sell you the warranty, but I don't think it's legal. Does it matter and could it get you into trouble? IDK. I don't believe Flood will sell to you if you live in Florida, but you may well find a dealer that doesn't know about such laws, or perhaps they've changed since I looked a few years ago.



To the OP, yeah, most vehicle warranties are based on time in service. Also, not all 3rd party warranties are crap (though some sure are!) IMO the biggest red flag is a warranty that has to be serviced at specific dealers. The dealer I worked at before used Resource Automotive warranties, and they've been around since the 1960s I think. I've seen them cover things that the factory Ford warranty declined, so it's not even a waste to have them overlap for the first few years. The dealer I'm applying too is all ESP, so less questions and I'll be glad for that, but I seriously was always happy with Resource and have it myself.



ESP is cheaper to buy on a new vehicle. So if you know you're keeping the vehicle beyond the factory warranty it makes more sense to buy new. Also remember you can get a refund on some of the unused part of your warranty if you trade in, or total the vehicle. But since your'e getting 6 years from date of service, and it's cheaper when new, you're ahead getting it then rather than waiting until the factory warranty runs out.Nico Hulkenberg has started the last six Grands Prix from seventh on the grid. But that streak will almost certainly end in Baku this weekend thanks to an impending gearbox penalty.

Hulkenberg headed into the pits late on in FP3 with a technical issue, and it has since been confirmed that Renault have changed the gearbox on his car.

As the previous box had not completed the required six events, the German will drop five grid places from wherever he qualifies for Sundays race in Azerbaijan.

That means Hulkenberg would have to qualify second later on today to maintain his run of P7 grid spots  an outcome that looks highly unlikely despite his recent strong form on Saturday afternoonsThe presidents statement will touch upon a memorandum of understanding between Kuwait and the Philippines centred on guarantees for 252,000 Filipinos working in the Gulf nation. The Church will send a priest to Kuwait to help migrants and provide them with pastoral assistance.

Manila (AsiaNews/Agencies)  President Rodrigo Duterte is set to announce in the coming days the governments course of action on the diplomatic crisis caused by Kuwaits expulsion of Philippines Ambassador to Kuwait Renato Pedro Villa, two days ago, Labour Secretary Silvestre Bello III said on Friday. The latest development concerns the treatment of Filipino migrants in the Gulf State.

Duterte, who arrived last night in Singapore for the 32nd summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), discussed possible actions in a meeting with Bello, Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez and Special Assistant to President Christopher "Bong" Go.

The Labour Secretary said that Duterte's announcement will partly refer to a memorandum of understanding (MOU) currently under discussions between Kuwait and the Philippines.

Both nations had previously tried to reach a deal in Manila, in the presence of the president, ahead of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which begins on May 15.

A few hours before Bello's declarations, Manila asked Kuwait City to explain the expulsion of his ambassador.

The two nations are working on solving differences caused by the murder of a Filipina domestic worker whose body was found in the freezer of her employer in Kuwait at the start of this year.

Talks suffered a sharp setback last week after the Filipino government released a video showing embassy staff helping Filipino workers flee from abusive employers (videos). The latter provoked a harsh reaction by Kuwait, which called it a violation of its sovereignty.

As a result, Kuwait announced the expulsion of ambassador Renato Villa, the detention of four Filipino citizens hired by the Philippines embassy and the issuance of arrest warrants against three members of the embassys diplomatic staff.

Earlier this month Duterte had announced plans to visit Kuwait to seal an agreement on workplace safety guarantees for the 252,000 Filipinos working in the Gulf nation. The proposed deal sets terms for holiday leaves, food and custody of passports.

Some 10 million Filipinos work abroad, many in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, Kuwait and Qatar. The money they remit back is a lifeline of the Philippine economy. In recent years, remittances saved the Philippines from financial crisis and remain one of the major sources of revenue for the national economy.

According to the Philippines central bank, Filipinos abroad sent home at least 1,400 billion pesos (US$ 2.6 billion) between January and November last year.

The Filipino Catholic Church has also been concerned about the situation of overseas Filipinos and their families, left in their native country.

Mgr Ruperto Santos, president of the Episcopal Commission for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People (ECMI), expressed regrets over the renewed tensions with Kuwait. It is our prayers and hope that everything will be arranged peacefully in an amicably and diplomatically, the bishop said.

Two days ago, the prelate announced that the Church was sending a priest to Kuwait to help Filipinos working in the Gulf State and provide them with pastoral care.

To assist, be of service, and help our Filipino priests there in Kuwait for our OFWs (overseas Filipino workers), our ECMI executive secretary will go there this May 1 to 31, the bishop said. The ECMI executive secretary is Fr Restituto Ogsimer who has been working with commission since 2015.

Currently, there are three Filipino priests  Fr Ruben Barrameda, and Franciscan Fathers Ramon Atanacio and Alfredo Nicua  assigned to different churches in Kuwait: the Holy Family Cathedral in Kuwait City, St Therese in Salmiya, and Our Lady of Arabia in Almadhi.

They also celebrate Masses at the Philippine embassy and in shelter homes, hear confessions, and do counselling, said Bishop Santos.The blueprint: Timothy Ray Brown

Petersons work is part of the Hutch-based defeatHIV, a consortium headed by Kiem and virologist Dr. Keith Jerome that was first funded in 2011 by the National Institutes of Health as one of three public-private research groups investigating different HIV cure strategies. (Funded again in 2016, it is now one of six such groups.) Under its first round of funding, defeatHIV focused on autologous transplantation using genetically modified stem cells as a safer, more scalable way to cure HIV based on the only known case of HIV cure to date: that of Timothy Ray Brown.

Browns case, first widely reported in 2009, has energized HIV-cure research. He had received an allogeneic bone marrow transplant  using matched donor cells  in 2007 to treat life-threatening leukemia. Because Brown also had HIV, his doctor in Berlin, where he was living at the time, sought out a donor with two copies of a mutation on the CCR5 gene, which results in natural HIV resistance. This is the mutation that Peterson mimicked using ZFNs.

In 2008, Browns cancer returned and he required a second transplant. But he had stopped taking antiretroviral medicine for his HIV after the first transplant, and scientists have not detected the virus since. (His leukemia also remains in remission.)

A high-risk bone marrow transplant  Brown barely survived his second one  is no way to try to cure the vast majority of people with HIV who do not also face a deadly blood cancer. But until Browns case, no one believed HIV could be cured at all because of those reservoirs of latently infected cells.

Researchers are pretty sure that the donors HIV-resistant cells played a role in Browns cure; in at least two cases, people with both cancer and HIV who underwent transplants without HIV-resistant donors relapsed after being HIV-free for months. But theyre less sure about the role played by the rest of the transplant process. What about Browns intensive pre-transplant conditioning  a chemotherapy and radiation regimen that destroys the immune system to make room for transplanted cells to grow  or the graft-vs.-host disease he developed after the second transplant?

Even for a cancer patient, he went through an extraordinarily intensive treatment, with two transplants and the chemotherapy, Peterson said. He went through a lot.

The goal of defeatHIV is to not put anyone who is otherwise healthy through such a harsh treatment, which Brown himself thoroughly endorses. So although some conditioning is needed to make room for new stem cells to grow, Peterson is using a far less harsh version. Also, autologous transplantation avoids the potentially lethal graft-vs.-host disease that can arise when a donor immune system sees and attacks its new host as foreign.

At the same time, it also loses a potential graft-vs.-reservoir effect, similar to the graft-vs.-leukemia effect that researchers learned is part of a leukemia cure. (That is, the donors immune cells attack and kill leukemia cells missed by chemotherapy or radiation.) For that reason, Peterson and other defeatHIV researchers believe that a second step may be needed beyond making stem cells resistant to HIV.

Next steps

In a study published in December, also in PLOS Pathogens, Peterson and collaborators at the University of California, Los Angeles modified stem cells by adding a chimeric antigen receptor, or CAR, programmed to kill HIV-infected cells, a process similar to a type of gene therapy being tested against cancer.

Most of the still-experimental cancer therapies genetically reprogram a patients own T cells  a type of immune cell that searches out and destroys abnormal or infected cells. Fred Hutch HIV cure researchers are working instead to reprogram stem cells, which give rise to T cells.

Why stem cells?

Long story short: Theyre going to persist for the lifetime of the individual, Peterson said. In the earlier CAR study published in December, the researchers noted that the stem cells appeared to produce anti-HIV T cells when needed.

The interesting thing there is we could see that the CAR cells come and go as the virus comes and goes, he said. When we put the animals on antiretroviral therapy, the CAR cells go down. When we take them off, they go back up. They act as sentinels, going to sleep and waking back up as needed.

Ideally, treatment would combine the CCR5 and CAR gene modifications  marrying a defense against HIV infection with an offense against already-infected cells.

We think that by enabling a cell thats CCR5-edited and infection-resistant to also seek out infected cells using a CAR molecule, we can enhance the ability to reduce or eliminate reservoirs even more, Peterson said. It would be more of an active approach rather than a passive approach.

Peterson and his colleagues, along with collaborators at UCLA, continue to refine techniques to boost the proportion of gene-edited cells as well as to plan a study combining the protective CCR5 mutation with a CAR to play offense.

In the meantime, City of Hope Medical Center in California and ZFN creator and defeatHIV member Sangamo Therapeutics have opened a small human clinical trial testing a CCR5-edited autologous transplant, which is similar to Petersons animal studies but uses a different conditioning regimen.

Were excited to see where they go, Peterson said.The best Kentucky Derby wagering solution on the market allows for an assortment of prop bets in addition to the usual winner, exacta and trifecta bets.

KENTUCKY DERBY PROP BETS

These typically include such things as the length of win with pricing that varies but pays quite well. There are also bets on the winning jockey, saddle cloth number (even/odds), and more.

CUSTOMIZED ODDS

A race book solution like AcePerHead.com offers customized odds for their bookies and agents to provide clients based on demand though regional biases are not the norm with the Kentucky Derby race. AcePerHead.com, however, has expanded into other countries and this is where independent bookmakers may find themselves exposed.

Mendelssohn, an early favorite in the 2018 Kentucky Derby, could see more lopsided action from Ireland and the United Kingdom, having raced there with training from big name Irish trainer Aidan O'Brien. Mendelssohn was born in the United States but shipped across the Atlantic to launch his career.

Customized odds are not just about regional biases, however. Heavy lopsided action on a particular horse could force local bookies to drastically reduce the odds beyond that of Churchill Downs official line.

LOOKING BEYOND THE KENTUCKY DERBY

AcePerHead will offer odds on another elusive Triple Crown occurring.

They allow betting on over 150 race tracks.

Some of the more famous and most popular tracks that are available to bet on are, Arlington Park, Australia  B, Australia-A, Belmont Park, Cal Expo, Churchill Downs, Derby Lane Eve, Derby Lane Mat, Emerald Downs, Evangeline Downs, Fairmount Park, Finger Lakes, Freehold Raceway, Golden Gate, Gulfstream, Harrahs Philadelphia, Hastings Park, Hawthorne Harness, Hoosier Park, Indiana Downs, Jacksonville Mat, Jacksonville Night, Laurel Park, Lone Star Park, Los Alamitos, Meadows, Meadowlands Harness, Mohawk Raceway, Mountaineer Park, Northfield Park, Northville Downs, Palm Beach, Palm Beach Eve, Parx Racing, Penn National, Pocono Downs, Prairie Meadows, Remington Park, Santa Anita Park, Saratoga Harness, Tampa Bay Downs, Thistledown, Tucson, Turf Paradise, Wheeling D Eve, Wheeling D Mat, Woodbine, Yonkers Raceway, and many more. Not only do players have the option to bet on the traditional Thoroughbred races, but there are also track options to wager on Harness Racing and Greyhound Dog races.

AcePerHead.com charges per customer per week starting at around $10. Without a Pay Per Head, one customer on average would cost quite a bit more due to the enormous overhead and time consumption involved.

- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.comNokia X with notched display to launch on May 16 News oi-Chandrika As far as specifications are concerned, the Nokia X or Nokia X6 is expected to sport a 5.8-inch FHD+ display.

HMD Global was expected to launch the Nokia X6 on April 27, but the company didn't make any announcements yesterday. It now seems like the smartphone will be launched in about two weeks. The Finnish firm took to Weibo to post a picture of the upcoming device. What's interesting is that the Nokia X6 will be called Nokia X.

According to the two posts by HMD Global, the Nokia X will be launched at an event slated for May 16. The photo with one those posts shows the smartphone featuring an edge-to-edge display with a notch at the top. The device also has a narrow chin on the bottom that features the Nokia branding.

As far as specifications are concerned, the Nokia X or Nokia X6 is expected to sport a 5.8-inch FHD+ display with a screen resolution of 22801080 pixels and aspect ratio of 19:9. Under the hood, the smartphone is tipped to be powered by two different processors depending on the variant.

If previous reports are to be believed, one variant will feature a 1.8GHz octa-core Snapdragon 636 chipset, clubbed with Adreno 509 GPU, 4GB of RAM and 64 GB of onboard storage.

Another will come with an octa-core MediaTek Helio P60 processor, clubbed with ARM Mali-G72 MP3 GPU, 6GB of RAM and 128GB of inbuilt storage. The storage space on both the variants is further expandable using a microSD card.

In terms of optics, the Nokia X is tipped to feature a Zeiss-branded dual camera setup on the rear with a combination of 12MP primary sensor and a 13 MP secondary sensor, dual-tone LED flash. On the front, the smartphone is likely to feature a Zeiss camera as well, but the resolution of the sensor is unknown.

The smartphone is rumored to be priced at 1599 yuan (Rs. 16,839 approx) for the 4GB RAM + 64GB storage version and the 6GB RAM with 128GB storage Snapdragon 636 version is priced at 1799 yuan (Rs. 18,946 approx).

Nokia 8 Sirocco, Nokia 7 Plus and Nokia 6 First Impressions

HMD Global is also expected to introduce a modernized version of the Nokia N8-00 phone in the coming days.

Best Mobiles in IndiaSmartphone shipments in China suffer biggest ever decline in Q1 2018 News oi-Priyanka Huawei (including Honor) managed to grow shipments by a modest 2 percent, maintaining its lead and consolidating its market share to about 24 percent by shipping over 21 million smartphones.

Smartphone shipments in China suffered their biggest ever decline in Q1 2018, down by more than 21 percent annually to 91 million units, a number first passed some four years ago in Q4 2013, as per the latest data shared by market analyst firm Canalys.

According to a report, eight of the top 10 smartphone vendors were hit by annual declines, with Gionee, Meizu, and Samsung shrinking to less than half of their respective Q1 2017 numbers.

Meanwhile, Huawei (including Honor) managed to grow shipments by a modest 2 percent, maintaining its lead and consolidating its market share to about 24 percent by shipping over 21 million smartphones. Second-placed Oppo and third-placed Vivo bore the brunt of the overall decline, with shipments falling by about 10 percent to 18 million and 15 million respectively. Xiaomi was the only company to buck the trend, growing shipments by 37 percent to 12 million units, and overtaking Apple to take fourth place.

"The level of competition has forced every vendor to imitate the others' product portfolios and go-to-market strategies," said Canalys Research Analyst Mo Jia.

Jio said that "But the costs of marketing and channel management in a country as big as China are huge, and only vendors that have reached a certain size can cope. While Huawei, Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi must contend with a shrinking Chinese market, they can take comfort from the fact that it will continue to consolidate, and that their size will help them last longer than other smaller players."

Furthermore, the firm said Xiaomi once again grew against the market, owing in part to a lackluster 2017.

"Xiaomi is the only vendor in the top-5 that is focused on the sub-RMB1,000 (about $160) price segment and it owes close to 90 percent of its shipments to Redmi. But the vendor is struggling to shed its low-cost image," said Canalys Research Analyst Hattie He.

"The launch of the Mi Mix 2S in Paris and the very recent Mi 6X in Wuhan are clear efforts by the company to change customers' perception of the brand, especially in China, where Xiaomi needs to tempt those looking at Honor, Oppo or Vivo to buy its products," He added.

However, the firm expects that after successive falls in the last two quarters, China is expected to return to growth in Q2, as Oppo, Vivo, and Huawei launch new flagship devices and hope to excite the market once again.

"The inventory issues that Oppo and Vivo suffered in Q4 and Q1 are now behind them," said Jia.

Belkin Boost Up Wireless Charging Pad Quick Look

"New smartphones will definitely entice people to upgrade, but vendors are more careful of avoiding oversupply in the channel. China's smartphone market may see a short period of stagnancy as vendors refocus on research and development, relying on new use cases to excite refreshes rather than spending heavily on the channel and marketing," Jia further added.

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Fuchsia OS could soon include native support for Android apps News oi-Sandeep Sarkar Google might be making Fuchsia as an operating system that would be specifically available for the products that are manufactured by Google.

Google, the tech giant has been working on a new operating system which is called as Fuchsia OS. The Fuchsia OS comes in news every now and then in the past few months. It was earlier this year in January that the reports related to the Google Fuchsia OS have revealed that the tech giant was testing new operating systems on the Pixelbooks.

A basic version of the Fuchsia OS was released as a web-based third-party demo, which is said to have allowed the users to test the newly developed OS on their devices. Now as per some sources from the web, a recent tweet from XDA Mishaal Rahman, Google may include native Android app support for Fuchsia.

Twitter Ads info and privacy

In his tweet, Rahman has revealed that the Fuchsia OS was recently spotted in AOSP (Android Open Source Project) and that too within the ART (Android Runtime). This gives a hint that Google is building Fuchsia along with the native support for Android apps. This further solidifies the claim that Fuchsia will replace Android and Chrome OS in the near future.

Belkin Boost Up Wireless Charging Pad Quick Look

Further, a report from SlashGear on the matter reveals that it could be a possibility that Google might be making Fuchsia as an operating system that would be specifically available for the products that are manufactured by Google. If the reports are to be believed then we might soon get a glimpse of a new lineup of Google product that would be running on Fuchsia OS and would feature hardware developed by the company itself in the coming future.

Also in one of our recent articles related to Google, we covered that, Google is slowly becoming an important aspect for users when it comes to commuting and transportation. With regular updates that are being rolled out for its Maps, Search and other applications that a user uses to reach their destination or explore new locations be it in any part of the world. With its tie-up with India's Ministry of Tourism, Google aims to make the virtual travelling a better experience. Google is said to be in works with India's Ministry of tourism to make a VR video related to India's tourism, read the complete story here.

Best Mobiles in IndiaUbuntu releases 18.04 LTS Bionic Beaver News oi-Sandeep Sarkar With the new version of Ubuntu which 18.04, Canonical will start collecting system usage data which will include information regarding the device manufacturer, the CPU model and the system time zone.

Canonical Ltd. which is a UK-based computer software company has released the Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 'Bionic Beaver' after months of alpha and beta testing. The LTS (Long Term Support version) of the Ubuntu operating system, and is said to be a more refined version of the Ubuntu 17.10 for the most part. The latest version still makes use of GNOME desktop environment in place of Unity. There are also a number of changes made under the hood which makes this latest release different from its previous versions.

Like the earlier alpha/beta tests which the company did on its platform has already shown that the Ubuntu 18.04 doesn't be any user-end changes, unlike its previous version. However, there is one major under-the-hood tweak which the users need to note. The Ubuntu 18.04 is the first version of the distro which is based on Linux Kernel 4.15, which was released earlier this year after a delay after a long delay for which Linus Torvalds has blamed Intel for failing to provide a proper fix for the Meltdown/ Spectre vulnerabilities.

Some of the other changes in the latest version of the Linux include fast and improved boot process and enhanced security. The new update also brings Xorg back to the platform and it will be serving as the default server after the introduction of Wayland on Ubuntu 17.10. It is also worth noting the fact that even though Wayland is available still as an option, however, it is not default anymore. There is some good news for the emoji lovers as Canonical is now promising native support for colour emojis, that means the inconsistent emoji support which we have seen in the previous iterations of Ubuntu will no longer be visible.

With the latest version of Ubuntu which is 18.04, Canonical will start collecting system usage data which will include information regarding the device manufacturer, the CPU model, the system time zone and installed packages. The users will be allowed to opt-out of the data collection, however, it will not be turned on by default, so the users who are not comfortable with sharing information will have to turn it off manually before getting connected to the internet, which is similar to that of Windows.

Amazon Echo Spot First Impressions

This being an LTS release, Ubuntu 18.04 will receive updates till 2023. As per Canonical, the other two LTS versions that are supported currently will receive updates until April 2019 (Ubuntu 14.04) and April 2021 (Ubuntu 16.04). Further, the company will end the support for Ubuntu 17.0 by end of July 2018, so users need to upgrade their devices to the latest version 18.04

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Singapore Airlines to Launch World's Longest Non-Stop Flight Business oi-Olga Robert

By the end of this year, Singapore Airlines plans to launch a 19-hour long non-stop flight between Singapore and New York, The Sun reported.

This flight will beat the current record of the 18-hour non-stop flight between Doha and Auckland by Qatar Airways.

The current Singapore to New York flight provided by the airlines makes a stop in Frankfurt or London. Singapore Airlines has reportedly ordered seven Airbus A350-900ULR (ultra long range) planes to facilitate the same. These planes are able to go the full 9,500 miles (15, 289 km) but will require carrying the additional weight of the extra fuel needed.

The airlines said that it will make the journey comfortable on board with special lighting and air management system to ease jet lag and regulate cabin temperature.NEW HAVEN, Conn  If we know one thing from living in New Haven, it's that our pizza is the best.

We will argue to the end of days (or pizza) whether the true king of the pie is one of the big three  Pepe's, Sally's or Modern  but when someone tries to tell us that New York, Chicago or another city has the best 'za, we get defensive.

And that's exactly what happened this week  times 1,000  because a U.S. senator, a U.S. representative and even state Comptroller Kevin Lembo weighed in.

It all started when Sen. Chris Murphy wished the Elm City a happy 380th birthday on Tuesday, April 24, including in his tweet, "the best pizza in America."

Then a couple of reporters from "Roll Call" chimed in.

First, Eric Michael Garcia told Murphy that he was "slandering" Dick Durbin's, D-Ill., "state's wonderful pizza."

Garcia's colleague, Alex Gangitano, backed New Haven by replying, ".@EricMGarcia, do people ACTUALLY think Chicago pizza is better than New Haven pizza?"

And things started to get heated when Murphy replied, "Pizza from anywhere other than CT, NY, and NJ is not real pizza. Everyone knows this."

Here comes the real fun.

Jon Lovett, President Barack Obama's speech writer and current podcast host of Pod Save America, among others, picked a fight he didn't know would include Lembo, U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3, television producer Michael Schur (a.k.a. Ken Tremendous on Twitter), "Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me" host Peter Sagal and the Connecticut ACLU.

The tweet that started the storm was simple, but brutal:

"NY > NJ > Chicago >>> forget other pizzas exist >>> forget pizza exists >>> CT"

To which Lembo responded, "This is offensive."

Lovett then referred to the comptroller as the "STATE NERD" and said he was digging in.

It got good.

Lovett used a map of New York to respond to DeLauro. The longtime representative used a GIF to punch back, but the clever host and liberal voice always had a response, even taking a jab at former U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., and Wesleyan University in Middletown.

One final pizza emoji marked the end of the cyberspace scuffle.

It's all fun and games until someone insults your pizza.

Click through the slideshow above to see the entire Twitter event take place.Friendships play a big part in the music of Joseph Russo.

The Weston-based classical composer and musician is a prolific writer, whose body of work from over four decades of composing includes numerous chamber and orchestral works. Two of those pieces, including his third symphony, are having world premieres this year by Orchestra New England, and three others are having their world premiere performances at the Wilton Library this weekend.

As Russo explained in a recent interview, quite a few of his compositions directly connect to musical friendships hes made in his career.

I very much enjoy composing music for my friends and often think about them, as I create new music, said Russo, who studied composition and music theory at Juilliard School and Yale University. Soon after showing my compositions to my friends, some of them asked me to compose music for them or their ensembles.

One such request  a recent one  forms the genesis for a concert entitled Woodwind Music of Joseph Russo, with Harmonia V and Friends taking place at the Wilton Library at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, April 29, as part of its Connecticuts Own series.

In May 2017, my friends in the Harmonia V Woodwind Quintet asked me to compose a woodwind quintet for them, which I did in June 2017, explained Russo. In August of that year, I attended their rehearsal of this new work, and at that rehearsal my friends in the quintet suggested I organize a concert of my woodwind music, especially since I have composed so much music for woodwinds over the years.

That piece, Woodwind Quintet, will have its world premiere on Sunday, performed by the ensemble it was written for, the Harmonia V Woodwind Quintet, consisting of Jennifer Berman on flute, Janet Rosen, who teaches in the New Canaan Public School System, on oboe, Jim Forgey, who is on the music staff of Westport Public Schools, on clarinet, Bob Hoyle on French horn, and Sue Zoellner-Cross on bassoon.

Other guest performers for the concert include pianist Bill Braun and flutist Celinda Anne Levno, who performs another world premier piece Romanze & Joyful. Levno also performs with pianist Elizabeth Waln in world premiers of Russos River and Mountain from his Christmas work.

For the composer, melodies are a constant, and hes developed his writing technique into a fine science.

I begin each piece I compose with a seed, a melodic line, a tune so to speak, said Russo, who began writing music when he was 10 years old. Then I grow this seed, or melody, throughout the composition, giving it to various instruments and letting it evolve into a musical tree, shrub or flower. I believe the creative process starts small and grows and evolves into something much larger.

Russo studied composing in the classroom. However, concert performance experience provides the most influential learning environment for him.

Studying composing at school involves learning the grammar of composing  chords, harmony, melody, orchestration, for instance, he said. My most influential composing education has occurred and continues to occur when I perform in orchestras, both at the orchestra rehearsals and also concerts. Listening to the tone colors, the counterpoint and how great composers utilize various instruments, melodies and harmonies is a profound and meaningful education in composition.

Russo considers himself fortunate to be where he is with his music.

I am fortunate to be able to channel my creativity by composing music, he said. I believe every person has the ability to be creative, sometimes through music, art, writing, or in other ways. I hope that each person finds his or her creative path and travels it as long as possible.

The Connecticuts Own concert series is free. Registration is strongly recommended. For information, directions and registration, visit wiltonlibrary.org, or call 203-762-6334. Wilton Library is located at 137 Old Ridgefield Road in the heart of Wilton Center. For information on Joseph Russo, visit JosephMRusso.org, which includes samples of his music.

Mike Horyczuns Sound Surfing column appears every Saturday in The Hour. Mike can be reached at news2mh@gmail.com.November 11 is Veterans Day, and while Connecticut hosts a number of events to honor those who served, it turns out it's not a great state for them to live.

A recent study by financial site WalletHub analyzed each state and Washington DC to find the best and worst states for military retirees; Connecticut is number 46 out of 51.

Click through the slideshow to see the best and worst states for military retirees. Visit WalletHub for the full report.

The site looked at data ranging from veterans per capita to number of VA health facilities to job opportunities for veterans. One of Connecticut's lowest ranks is in the category of VA health facilities; the state is 47 out of 51 for number of VA health facilities per number of veterans.

RELATED: Veterans Day deals 2017

RELATED: What's open, closed on Veterans Day

While retirement in general is a hot subject and important for all Americans, veterans in particular have a lot riding on these years as they retire at a much earlier age than most civilians. The average age of military retirement is about 45.

RELATED: Veterans Day by the numbers

RELATED: Most, least patriotic states

Ironically, the worst state for military retirees is our nation's capitol, Washington DC. But the best state is its next door neighbor Virginia.

Veterans Day originated as "Armistice Day" on Nov. 11, 1919, the first anniversary marking the end of World War I.

According to the U.S. Census, Congress passed a resolution in 1926 for an annual observance, and Nov. 11 became a national holiday beginning in 1938. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed legislation in 1954 to change the name to Veterans Day as a way to honor those who served in all American wars.State police recently hosted the Department of Homeland Security regional explosives detection dog initiative.

Thursday morning, state police K9 Whim, one of the agencys explosives detection dogs, was joined by 24 other K9 teams at Rentschler Field in Hartford. Participating agencies included Stamford police, New Haven police, various Massachusetts police departments and Vermont State Police.

The training, facilitated by DHS Science and Technology Directorate, is an outreach effort to state and local law enforcement to improve explosive detection canine team training efficiency and effectiveness, state police officials said.

The 25 K9 teams participated in classroom and experiential training. It challenged the K9 teams with a variety of real world scenarios  including a simulated motorcade that state police provided pictures of.Every seat was taken Thursday night for the Zero Waste 2018 Dinner at the St. Catherine of Siena Church in the Riverside section of Greenwich.

We have three hundred and ten people in attendance, said Betsy Parker, chair of the Social Justice Committee at the church that put on the fund-raising dinner with a cause. Parker said about the event that brought together the sustainable food community, "we want to make a huge statement that zero food waste is possible."A little over a year ago, Xiaomi officially showcased its in-house developed, custom Surge S1 chipset. At the time, it came off as a rather bold step in a territory, typically only traversed by big-name players, the likes of Samsung and Huawei. Unfortunately, the whole endeavour dies out quickly. Still, it seems Xiaomi hasn't given up on the idea yet. With its increased popularity, market expansion and, consequently, order and supply chain volume hikes, it seems the Chinese OEM is now confident enough to take another stab at a custom SoC.

According to industry sources, Xiaomi has been throwing increasingly bigger orders at many Taiwanese manufacturers and players in the IT supply chain, including Foxconn Electronics, Inventec, Largan Precision and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). An alleged secret contract with the latter, details the Surge S2 chipset, that was rumoured around this year's MWC event, but is yet to see the light of day.

As per the scoop, it will be based on TSMC's 16nm process and employ an octa-core design - four Cortex-A73 units, running at 2.2GHz and four Cortex-A53 ones, clocked at 1.8GHz. The processors should be accompanied by a Mali G71MP8 and compatibility with UFS 2.1 storage and LPDDR4 memory. Oddly enough, the source claims there is no CDMA support in the Surge S2 specs sheet. Although, it might not even be finalized yet.

All things considered, this is clearly not a flagship chipset proposition, but with a suggested performance rating somewhere in the Kirin 960 ballpark, the Surge S2 could prove to be a very successful mass-marketable platform. It all seems to come down to how far Xiaomi can continue ramping up its price to performance ratios. Which is definitely tied to the scale and quality of its manufacturer and supplier relations.

And things seem to be clearly looking up. As per other industry sources, Xiaomi president Lin Bin recently called on Largan Precision to secure more production capacity for multi-lens modules to use in its high-end devices, throughout the second half of 2018. Xiaomi's relations with Foxconn are also strengthening overall. The two recently set up a PCB lamination plant in India. Xiaomi might also be considering an IPO issue to raise funds for an even more rapid expansion and research and development investments.

Source 1 (in Chinese) | Source 2Published on 2008/11/25 | Source

Korean actress Kang Jung-hwa (a.k.a Judy Kang) has been cast in a new Hollywood action film, "The Legend of the Dancing Ninja". The action comedy movie is directed by Mitchell Klebanoff and stars David Hasselhoff and newcomer Lucas Grabeel. Kang will play a character named Kimi, who helps the main character learn martial arts.Kang has gone to study in Australia by herself in 9th grade and graduated from college there. Her experiences in Australia and English proficiency have helped her land the role of Kimi. She has not been a high-profile star in Korea, having played only minor roles in a few movies. This is why this opportunity to work in "The Legend of the Dancing Ninja" has come as a big surprise for her. But she is determined to work hard and make names for herself in the bigger stage.Co-produced by a Korean film company, the movie is shot in Jeju Island and Los Angeles. Kang has finished shooting her portion in Jeju Island and is getting ready to fly out to Los Angeles later this month.

AdvertisementPublished on 2018/04/28 | Source

"Monkey and Dog Romance" sounds a teensy bit like the start of "101 Dalmations" where the two dalmations endeavor to get their owner's romantically involved. It works and they marry. In this web-drama, a dog and a monkey are wrenched apart in a break up and plot to reunite their heartbroken humans.

-Yours, Lisa

"Monkey and Dog Romance" (2018)

Advertisement

With Chae Dong-hyun, Shin Won-ho-I,...

Synopsis

A pre-produced web-drama about a man who can communicate with animals. He breaks up with his girlfriend and therefore their animal friends, a dog and a monkey, must also break up. The animals endeavor to bring their masters back together.

Broadcast starting date in Korea : 2018The Havre Police Department asks that people report any suspicious vehicles seen approaching unaccompanied children, after receiving a report Thursday that an unidentified man offered a child a ride home.

A press release from the Havre Police says they received a report a young man was approached Tuesday during after school hours near 13 Street and Saddle Butte Drive by a man driving a white four-door pickup truck with a topper and blue Montana plates.

The driver-described as an older white male with brown hair, a brown groomed beard and wearing a long-sleeve shirt-offered to give the child a ride, the press release says.

The child said no and walked away, the release says.

The driver then left the scene and did not make any further contact with the child.The incident is under investigation, the release says.

Havre Police urge parents to speak to their children about the danger of talking to strangers and what to do if approached by a stranger.

The release says parents should make sure their child knows how to give their name, address and home phone number to a police officer.

Children should run in the opposite direction if someone follows them or tries to force them into a vehicle.

Children should also use the buddy system as much a possible when they play outside or walk home from school whenever possible, the release says.

People with information are urged to contact Havre Police at 265-4361.Leanne Murphy waived her right to anonymity so that Christopher Redmond could be named

A Dublin grandfather was jailed for five years yesterday for the repeated rape of his young granddaughter over a two-year period.

The judge in the case described the lack of sentencing guidelines in rape cases here as "somewhat bizarre".

Ms Justice Una Ni Raifeartaigh made her comments during the sentencing of Christopher Redmond.

She imposed a five-year prison sentence on Redmond (74) after noting he has a profound cognitive impairment that is slowly worsening.

Redmond, of Rathvilly Drive, Finglas, was convicted by a jury at the Central Criminal Court of four counts of rape and five counts of sexual assault against Leanne Murphy on dates between January 2002 and May 2004.

The attacks all took place at the Tolka Valley pitch-and-putt club on Ballyboggan Road, Finglas, where Redmond worked.

The victim, now 23, was between seven and nine at the time and had waived her right to anonymity so her abuser could be named.

She went to gardai in 2012. Redmond denied all the charges, but was convicted after a trial last February.

Ms Justice Ni Raifeartaigh set a headline sentence of 15 years but reduced this to 10 on the basis of an absence of previous offences and his age.

She further reduced this to five years after considering his progressive cognitive impairments.

The impairment does not go back to the time of offending or his time of arrest.

Redmond was assessed by a consultant forensic psychiatrist from the Central Mental Hospital, who concluded it was unlikely he was pretending.

He added that the cognitive decline could leave Redmond vulnerable to other prisoners.

The judge said the Supreme Court has said that rape offending should be punished with an "immediate and substantial" custodial sentence, but there was no information about sentencing in past cases.

Bizarre

She noted "this may seem astonishing", and said that while there was a lot of authority as to general sentencing principles, there was very little in the way of actual figures.

"One judge's substantial could be four years and another's could be 14 years. It's somewhat bizarre that an area that is so sensitive has so little in the way of guidance for a trial judge," she said.

She added that sentencing of rape offences was "highly unregulated" and this was a policy matter that had been much discussed.

She said it was remarkable that nothing was said or given to a judge in these cases in the way of figures and that the current case was typical in this regard.

The court previously heard that, as a child, the victim would go to help her grandfather at the club. During what the child thought was a game involving coins, he would molest her and make her touch his own genitals.

He promised her money for sweets and told her the abuse was their little secret.

The woman said she felt excruciating pain during the rapes and described her "soul leaving my body each time".

She would ask Redmond to "stop, don't do it" but he would tell the child "everything would be ok".

She said she grew up feeling scared, confused and vulnerable. She began self-harming at the age of 10.

"I've turned into such an angry person. I'll never know the person I could have been. My anxiety and depression destroyed me," she said. "I thought he loved me. It took years to realise he brainwashed me."

She added that her parents had trusted her grandfather and he had betrayed them.

She said that on a regular basis she has felt she wanted to die, adding that "the trauma overshadowed the good childhood they [her parents] had worked to give me".

"If you could see the pain on my skin it would be scars, that's how it feels," she said.The charge has been dismissed against a 23-year-old Dublin mother who was accused of the murder of her boyfriend.

Yasmin Stephens, of Albert College Avenue, Glasnevin, was due to go on trial at the Central Criminal Court on Tuesday, charged with murdering her 33-year-old boyfriend Kieran Farrelly in the capital three-and-a-half years ago.

She pleaded not guilty to the murder at Killarney Court, Killarney Street, near Portland Row, on October 26, 2014.

A jury of eight men and four women had been sworn in to hear her trial, but a matter arose before it was put in charge of the case.

The jury was later discharged after her legal team succeeded in having the murder charge dropped.

Mr Justice Michael White made an order, pursuant to Section 4E of the Criminal Justice Act, dismissing the charge of murder against Stephens.

She was subsequently arraigned on the second count on the indictment, which concerned the robbery of a homeless man in the early hours of the following morning.

She pleaded guilty to robbing Hugh Gildea of a mobile phone, wristwatch, and 520 in cash on Mabbot Lane, Dublin, where he was sleeping rough.

The judge was shown CCTV footage of the attack, which lasted more than 20 minutes, and heard the statements of Mr Gildea and of two other witnesses.

Another man, Sean Ducque, had inflicted all of the violence, while Stephens had searched the victim's pockets and his bags between the beatings. She had also threatened him and demanded the pin for his bank cards.

Garnet Orange, for Stephens, said his client had been 19 and a heroin addict at the time.

She had been living on the streets with her boyfriend and was involved in the aimless existence of spending her days sourcing drugs.

Psychopath

He said that Ducque did not come across well in any view of the circumstances.

"I don't think any reasonable person would consider 'psychopath' an unreasonable description of him," he said.

He said that Stephens came from a good family, lived with her mother and grandparents and now had an 11-month-old son.

He asked for a probation report.

Mr Justice White remanded her on continuing bail until Friday, June 29, for preparation of that report.

It is expected that she will be sentenced on that date.An anguished Vicky Phelan has revealed her concern for 206 other women who also have cervical cancer and said she does not know how senior doctors in CervicalCheck can sleep at night.

Ms Phelan (43), from Annacotty, Co Limerick, has terminal cervical cancer after her smear test failed to pick up abnormalities.

She said her heart goes out to other women who are also victims of misdiagnosis and are now being alerted to an internal report on their medical case.

Ms Phelan, who waited three years to learn CervicalCheck had an internal report on her misdiagnosis, said: "The fact the head of the national screening programme could not say this morning that these women had been communicated with to me is absolutely disgraceful.

"I just don't know how she can sleep at night. If it was me and I thought people's lives were at stake, I would have been up all night sending out letters."

She was responding to comments by CervicalCheck clinical director Dr Grainne Flannelly, who said she could not be sure all of the women have yet been told about their reports.

The 206 women whose smear tests were misread should have been referred on for further investigation, including an invasive diagnostic procedure or repeat smear, which could have picked up their cancer and led to earlier treatment.

Ms Phelan spoke movingly of the impact the dramatic revelations of the last week and her powerful speech outside the High Court has had on her family.

Ms Phelan, who settled her case for 2.5m, said her daughter Amelia (12) has been badly affected by the case, realising her mother may die.

Supportive

Meanwhile, Health Minister Simon Harris has sent a new management team into CervicalCheck after expressing no confidence in the current management.

He said that while he was fully supportive of the screening service, he could "truthfully" say this did not extend to the people running the service.

Fianna Fail health spokesman Stephen Donnelly said the Government still has many questions to answer over the handling "of a litany of errors relating to the cervical cancer screening programme".Age of Vikings comes to Pleasant Grove

A new city event celebrating Pleasant Groves Viking heritage will be happening on Oct. 9  and organizers hope this is the start of an annual tradition. The citys first ever Viking Day will be held in the Downtown Park, at 200 S. Main, from 1-5 p.m. When I moved to Pleasant Grove, I said, Do we have anything to celebrate Leif Erikson Day? You are the Vikings. One of the neighborhoods in the city was called Little Denmark because of the large Danish population that settled there, said Kasey F. Jackson, the event's organizer. Erikson was an explorer from Iceland who is ...13 die from COVID in Franklin County. Here are numbers from the region

The number of deaths in the Tri-State region are tracking with the number of coronavirus infections, but vaccinations remain basically flat.09:27

Accusing Iran of fuelling bloodshed in West Asia, President Donald Trump today said the United States would not let 'murderous regime' in Tehran acquire nuclear weapons.



"We must ensure that this murderous regime does not even get close to a nuclear weapon, and that Iran ends its proliferation of dangerous missiles, and its support for terrorism. No matter where you go in the Middle East, wherever there's a problem, Iran is right there," he said.



Trump was addressing a joint White House news conference with the visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The two leaders had discussed the current situation in Iran and its alleged 'destabilisng behavior'.



"In our meetings today, the Chancellor and I discussed Iran, the Iranian regime that fuels violence, bloodshed and chaos all across the Middle East," Trump said.



He said it was not 'appropriate' to talk on whether the US may consider the use of military force against Iran. "But, I can tell you this, they will not be doing nuclear weapons; that, I can tell you. They're not going to be doing nuclear weapons, you can bank on it," Trump said.



He said as the US-led international alliance is about to eradicates the Islamic State in Syria, it must be ensured that 'Iran does not profit from this success'.



"To prevent this outcome, it is essential that our coalition and regional partners step up their financial and military contributions to the anti-ISIS efforts. Some of these countries are immensely wealthy; and they're going to start paying for it, and paying for this tremendous help that we've given them," the US President said.



Merkel said the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as a first step, has contributed to slowing down Iran's activities with regard to acquiring nuclear weapons.



"But we also think, from a German point of perspective, that this is not sufficient in order to see to it that Iran's ambitions are curbed and are contained. It is most important to see that Iran, after all is trying to insert a geopolitical influence in Syria, in Lebanon," she asserted.



Merkel acknowledged that the Iranian nuclear deal is unlikely to resolve problems.



"Obviously, this agreement is anything but perfect. It will not solve all the problems with Iran," she said.



"It is one piece of the mosaic, one building block, if you like, on which we can build up this structure; and that when the United Kingdom, France and Germany work together with the American colleagues, this was brought about, and then we will now see what sort of decisions are made by American partners," Merkel said. -- PTITwo women in hijab walk alongside a Jewish man with his furry hat. The air is redolent with the familiar smell of curry as I walk on a street with Raj-era street lamps. I suddenly catch sight of Bengali street signs and blink. Surely I have made a mistake?

Ben, my local guide, laughs. The signs are in Bengali, and thats because, in the late 20th century, Bangladeshis comprised the major group of immigrants and gradually predominated the area.

Whitechapel in Londons East End was the scene of the murdering spree of Jack the Ripper in 1888

I am in scruffy Brick Lane, in the East End in London, famous today as the curry capital of the UK. The street took its name from the clay pits just north of Bethnal Green Road, from where a brick manufacturing business began to develop. There are about 70 Indian restaurants in and around Brick Lane, the largest concentration of curry houses in the world.

I browse through a large vintage store housed in a warehouse, filled to the brim with crazily patterned shirts, old military boots and funky shades. What really catches my eye is the colourful street art everywhere  on the shutters of shops, on walls and even on roofs. In the past, Brick Lane was a thriving Jewish neighbourhood and even today, you can see remnants of it in queues outside small eateries with Jewish food. Before the start of World War II, the East End had as many as 150 synagogues!

Ripping ahead

The East End got its name because the area lay just to the east of the medieval walled city of London. From the Huguenots to the Bengalis, the area has been the destination of choice for immigrants over the years, which helped shaped its unique character. Thousands of immigrants landed here and faced discrimination and hardship, working in sweatshop industries. Today, the locality reflects the melting-pot of nationalities and cultures that makes up this capital city. Historically, it has been one of the poorest areas of London, but ironically it is also the hub of much of the citys profits and industry, explains Ben.

Brick Lane took its name from the clay pits just north of Bethnal Green Road, from where a brick manufacturing business began to develop (Kalpana Sunder )

The area has also always been the non-conformist quarter of the city, as well as a hub of creativity, I learn, as I walk past dozens of art galleries with bright canvasses stacked against their walls. But ironically, its the home of the most traditional Londoner  the cockney who speaks in rhyming slang, a kind of local dialect in which words are substituted for other words that they rhyme with. For example, apples and pears is cockney slang for stairs, and money is described as bread and honey.

The area has loads of history. For example, Whitechapel in the East End was the scene of the murdering spree of Jack the Ripper, probably the most notorious serial killer the UK has ever known. His career was given a name: 1888s Autumn of Terror, and his identity has never been proved. Today you can take a Jack the Ripper tour: a mock manhunt through the neighbourhood. Tracing the steps of this killer and looking for clues in dark alleys will send shivers down your spine!

As London started to become more industrialised, the East End became a hub of early industries such as tanning, rope making, lead making, slaughter houses, breweries, and gunpowder production, which could not be located inside the city.

Street artist Wrdsmths work is generally accompanied by a vintage typewriter stencil and contains a quote or a thought (Kalpana Sunder )

In the 17th century, it became the home of Huguenot refugees who fled from persecution in France. Weavers by trade, they worked in Spitalfields, the home of Londons master weavers. Over the years, the homes of the Huguenots became slum housing for the ever-growing East End population.

Due to overcrowding and bad civic conditions, the East End developed a reputation for extreme poverty, gang rule, violence and crime, a reputation that still scares visitors off today. Much of the area was destroyed by German bombing raids during World War II, and in the 1960s, gangsters ruled the East End with a mixture of brutality and glamour.

This area re-invented itself once again as a hub of London life only in the 1980s, says Ben, and it was truly born again during the 2012 London Olympics.

On the walls

We stroll through Petticoat Lane Market that has its history in the local textile industry. The market derives its name from the second hand clothes sold there from as early as the 16th century. Another interpretation of the name is that unscrupulous traders would steal your petticoat from you at one end of the market and sell it back to you at the other end.

In the 1830s, the street was renamed Middlesex Street because Victorian sensibilities couldnt cope with a word referring to undergarments!

I have a Colombian vegan lunch at Spitalsfield Market, one of the best and oldest markets in London. It was once home to a priory and a hospital for lepers. After almost two decades of careful restoration and regeneration, the market now houses a new collection of artisans, restaurants and vintage clothing stalls.

Brick Lane is full of curry houses, interesting buildings, popular culture and more (Kalpana Sunder )

An omnipresent motif while exploring the East End is its vibrant and sometimes controversial street art. The brick walls and barricades in the area are an ever-evolving canvas. I see works by well-known street artists like Eine, known for his alphabet lettering on shop shutters, and Gregos, who makes face moulds and uses 3D printing. I detour to Hanbury Street to see a stunning piece: a giant work from Belgian artist ROA, famous for his black-and-white images of animals and birds, featuring a black- and-white crane. The piece is well regarded by the local community, as cranes are revered in the region of Bangladesh from where many of the East Ends inhabitants come from.

On Princelet Street which is lined with intriguing Huguenot housing from the 1700s, I see the trademark stick figures of famous artist Stik who deals a lot with racial tensions: a Muslim woman holding the hand of a white man. On Fashion street is a beautiful mural of a man with his grandchild by artist Jimmy C, who has a signature pointillist style.

One of the many walls covered completely with street art (Kalpana Sunder )

I explore Fournier Street, one of the streets founded by the Huguenot settlers. Stickers decorate lamp posts; the pavement, walls and windows are alive in a riot of paint, ink and stencilled creativity. As I walk along the street, Ben points out the bobbins that hang from doorways. These were placed there by the council to denote homes known to have been lived in by Huguenot Families.

At the end of Fournier Street is a unique building: the Great London Mosque, once a Huguenot chapel, later a Jewish synagogue, and now a mosque for the expanding Bangladeshi community.

Drinking in the sights

Brewing played an important part in the history of the area. Despite the dreadful poverty and squalor in the East End, the water for brewing must have been of the highest quality. Many of the streets are named after people associated with brewing.

The corner of Brick Lane and Buxton Street has many small striking artworks (Kalpana Sunder )

In the mid-1800s, the brewery of Truman, Hanbury, Buxton and Co became one of the largest in London. It now houses art workshops and exhibition spaces. I end my walk at the baroque Christ Church near Spitalsfield, consecrated in 1729 and designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor who gave it a heavenward sweep and commanding presence.

The church has been used for burials, baptisms, weddings and even been a shelter for homeless alcoholic men. After a multi-million dollar restoration, it is magnificent again. I stand inside, while an unknown guitar player sends notes soaring to the high ceiling.

A fitting requiem to my East End visit.

A hedgehog on Chance Street, painted by ROA, a street artist from Belgium, who paints animals and birds in black and white (Kalpana Sunder )

From HT Brunch, April 29, 2018

Follow us on twitter.com/HTBrunch

Connect with us on facebook.com/hindustantimesbrunchGovernment snubs Supreme Court, said a headline last week, and one cannot call it a distortion. The fate of Justice KM Joseph will now depend on what the collegium does this week (and let us hope it does meet). If the five judges, including the Chief Justice of India, Dipak Misra, reiterate their recommendation, the government will have no option but to appoint him. If the government still dithers, it will be another big challenge. But even if one member of the collegium changes his mind, the recommendation will fall through, in accordance with the Third Judges case of 1998, in which the SC responded to a question of law regarding the collegium system.

The real reasons for the governments reservations about him are too obvious to be stated again. In an earlier NDA dispensation, the elevation of Justice BN Srikrishna to the Supreme Court went through with great difficulty (the Srikrishna Commission report on the Mumbai riots was unpalatable to an NDA constituent). Unfortunately, the inconsistent policies followed by different collegiums over the years on matters such as seniority, merit and due representation to different high courts and sections of society have made it easy for the government to raise plausible-sounding objections.

But this is also the occasion to ask the SC and the collegium some troubling questions. At the beginning of this year, the number of judges of the SC, including the CJI, was 25, which meant that there were six vacancies. Yet on January 10, the collegium recommended only two names: Justices Indu Malhotra and KM Joseph. Justice Kurian Josephs letter of April 9 to the CJI indicates that it was decided to send the names in a phased manner, citing past practice to avoid any administrative or other difficulty.

This doesnt sound convincing since several recommendations and appointments have been made in one go, the most recent instances being of four appointments made together in mid-2016 (Justices AM Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and LN Rao) and five in early 2017 (Justices SK Kaul, MM Shantanagoudar, SA Nazeer, Navin Sinha and Deepak Gupta). When judges of the Supreme Court have chambers, bungalows, cars, transit accommodation and staff, this is puzzling. For a court weighed down with arrears like every other court in the country, the collegium needs to give us a better answer.

Having made its recommendation, matters were allowed to linger though the government was unresponsive. The fact that the government had reservations on the name of Justice KM Joseph was reported in the media in early February, and yet there was inaction. Justice Malhotra, who had suspended her practice in deference to a hoary tradition, was left with no option but to return to it. And now, a fait accompli is presented to the court with the appointment of Justice Malhotra and the return of the name of Justice KM Joseph.

The question here is not whether the government has the right or the power to segregate names sent in a single recommendation. Justice Chandrachud gave the good example of a recommendation to a large High Court like Allahabad, where 30 names can be sent together. The question is the need for inter-institutional courtesy in doing so. That is the point which former Chief Justice RM Lodha made when the name of Gopal Subramaniam was segregated without his knowledge and consent. The consent of the collegium ought to have been sought to process one name while returning the other for reconsideration.

And this is where the lack of harmony in the court has led to the present unhappy situation. The request of Justice Kurian Joseph on April 9 to take up this matter on the judicial side, namely the recommendation of these two names, was itself somewhat belated since the recommendation was already three months old.

If this request had been acted upon by the court taking up the matter suo motu, the government would have been compelled to disclose its stand. It was at that stage that the court could have judicially granted or refused permission to segregate the names. If only this had been done, the court would not look as diminished as it does today.

Raju Ramachandran is a senior advocate, Supreme Court of India

The views expressed are personalActor Akshay Kumar has put his naval officer costume from his 2016 hit Rustom, up for auctioning. The proceeds will go to the NGO Janices Trust, which works for animal rescue. The auction is fetching interesting amount and will be on for a month. Akshay had shared the news through a tweet on April 26, which his wife actor-turned-author Twinkle Khanna retweeted, to encourage people to donate for the cause.

Hi all  I'm thrilled to announce that you can bid to win the actual naval officer uniform I wore in Rustom! Auction's proceeds will support the cause of animal rescue and welfare. Place your bid at https://t.co/6Qr0LRnTFm! pic.twitter.com/FF23tlogs1  Akshay Kumar (@akshaykumar) April 26, 2018

While some are criticising the fact that a uniform is being auctioned, this is what Akshay has to say, I am really happy that something so close to my heart  the costume I wore as Rustom Pavri, the character that got me the honour of the National Award  is being used for such a noble cause. Someone asked me why I would want to give up the costume, but my only answer was, what good is it to have it lying in the wardrobe? If it can give life to animals in need of treatment, there cant be a bigger joy for me.

Trade experts agree with the National -award winning actor Akshay.

Trade analyst Atul Mohan says, Its a great thing that a costume can be used for raising money that can be helpful to someone. There are Bollywood fans everywhere around the world, and Akshay has established himself as a star around the globe. If he can use his celebrity status for a noble cause, then why not.

Moneycontrol.com quoted Komal Hiranandani, founder of the auctioning site SaltScout.com as saying, Interestingly most queries and highest bids came from smaller cities like Bharatpur and others.

Meanwhile, actors such as Hrithik Roshan and Sonam Kapoor and filmmaker Karan Johar have also been approached to auction their outfits that they wore as iconic characters in their films, for the cause.

Follow @htshowbiz for moreActor Ali Fazal says he is excited to be passing on the baton to actors Sonakshi Sinha and Jassi Gill to take forward the Happy Bhag Jayegi story. At the moment, Ali is busy shooting for the sequel Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi in Malaysia.

This is my first time in Malaysia. It was quite the start with my flight losing one engine almost seconds before take off from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur and then losing my bags which arrived three days later, Ali said in a statement to IANS.

I guess the chaos of Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi infected the air traffic. I am excited to be passing the baton to Sonakshi and Jassi in part two.

Happy Bhag Jayegi, featuring Diana Penty, Ali Fazal and Abhay Deol, was released in 2016. The romantic comedy narrated the story of a girl named Happy, who runs away from her wedding and reaches Pakistan by mistake.

Talking about Malaysia shooting schedule, Ali said: We are shooting on outdoor locations and there are lots of action sequences and chases. And this time, its a greater ensemble than before. Apart from Diana, it was lovely to reunite with Jimmy and Piyush Mishra.

They are the heart of this film. Mudassar is a gifted writer and director and I hope our bond delivers more films together, he said.

Diana features in the sequel too. She is joined by Sonakshi Sinha, whose character also runs away from her wedding. Mudassar Aziz, who helmed the first part, is back in the directors chair for the sequel.

Made under the banner Eros International and Aanand L Rais Colour Yellow Productions, the film will also feature Abhay Deol and Jimmy Shergill. Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi is set to release on August 24.

Follow @htshowbiz for moreEarlier this month, the Marriott chain opened its 100th hotel in India  Sheraton Grand Bengaluru Whitefield Hotel & Convention Center. The significance of the 100th opening had Arne Sorenson, President and Chief Executive Officer, Marriott International, flying down to India from the US to do the honours.

Over the last two decades, Marriott has become a truly international group

While the Sheraton Grand, Whitefield, is nice enough, the Sorenson visit helped re-emphasise what few people outside of the hotel industry realise: Marriott is now the biggest hotel chain in India. Bigger than Taj, Oberoi, ITC, ITDC or any of the familiar names we grew up with.

Sheraton Grand Bengaluru Whitefield Hotel & Convention Center is the 100th hotel of the Marriott group in India

Whats more, Marriott is also the largest chain in the world with 6,500 hotels in 127 countries and over 30 brands. Nearly every global hotel brand that you have heard of is now owned by Marriott: Sheraton, Westin, JW Marriott, Le Meridien, Renaissance, Courtyard by Marriott, Fairfield by Marriott, Ritz Carlton, St. Regis, Bulgari Hotels and Resorts, Luxury Collection, Edition, W and many many more.

As head of Marriott International, Sorenson is the worlds leading hotelier, leading a company with a strong presence in nearly every country in the world.

And yet, when Sorenson has been in the news in recent years, it has been because of the positions he has taken on important political and social issues.

In 2016, Sorenson wrote an open letter to Donald Trump asking him to take a collaborative approach to governing, to give equal rights to LGBT persons, to not adopt a needlessly hostile approach to illegal immigrants to the US and to make America safe without rudely shutting out those who want to visit it. At other times, he has publicly opposed Trumps Muslim ban.

The Westin Kolkata Rajarhat is ideal for business and leisure

American executives are more outspoken on political issues than Indian businessmen. But even by the standards of US business, these were brave and honourable things for the head of one of Americas best known corporations to do and say.

I asked Sorenson about the political positions he had taken when I met him in Delhi. He answered carefully that while he was a registered Democrat, he had voted for candidates from both parties. So his positions had nothing to do with party politics.

So why, I asked, was he so ready to publicly take stands that were so directly opposed to what the US President appears to believe in?

Sorenson is especially enthused by Shaadi By Marriott, which has been a grand success

The reason he said, had to do with greater human values and not with adversarial politics. As a global company, Marriott embraces diversity and opposes any kind of discrimination. For instance, the company has LGBT employees whom it regards as full partners in the business. It was his duty as CEO to speak up for their rights.

The same was true of his stands on immigration, the so-called Muslim ban and other such issues. If Marriott operated in so many different countries then, almost by definition, it embraced diversity. And the values he spoke up for  an end to narrow-minded divisions and a more global approach  were the values that Marriott embodied in its operations around the world.

It was a good answer: logical, reasoned and studiously apolitical. But it also seemed to me to be the truth. You cant really run the worlds largest hotel chain unless you follow an international agenda, oppose and eschew narrow-mindedness and openly celebrate diversity.

At the same time, Sorensons remarks reflected a break from the traditional attitudes of large American hotel companies. In many ways, Marriott is the most American of these companies. It was almost the last to spread its footprint around the world and focussed originally on its massive US operations. While Hilton and Intercontinental were opening five-star hotels all over the globe, Marriott was still building senior citizen residences, theme parks and institutional catering facilities along with hotels at all price points in America.

It is only over the last two decades or so that Marriott has spread its wings and become a truly international group. It entered the premium space with the acquisition of 49 per cent of Ritz Carlton in 1995 (it bought a majority of the company three years later). And the big change came in 2015 when Marriott acquired the Starwood hotel group.

Starwood hotel group, which the Marriott acquired, created the upmarket The St. Regis Mumbai

Starwood was a 1990s phenomenon, a corporate giant that took over existing hotel companies with their own histories (Sheraton, Westin, Le Meridien, etc.) and also created its own brands including the upmarket St. Regis and the trendy W hotels.

The moment Marriott International acquired Starwood, it not only became the worlds largest chain but it also took over a diverse collection of international hotel brands. The good thing about the takeover is that Sorenson values diversity and respects the heritage of the Starwood brands.

The bad thing is this: can any hotel company really handle 30 brands? Its good to be big in this business but even so, isnt Marriott International now just too big?

It is another measure of how much the hotel industry is changing that Sorenson answers the question by using tech parallels. Assume you went on Expedia, he says, to look for a hotel. You would see various hotels at different price points for each destination you selected. The one you finally chose would be a hotel that gave you the rate you wanted, had a location that met your needs and was run by a company (or brand) that you liked.

Marriott International, Sorenson says, is now in the same sort of position as Expedia. Because it has so many hotels at so many different price points at so many locations, it lets you find a hotel that meets your requirements within the Marriott system. Moreover, no matter which Marriott hotel you choose, you will get loyalty points.

In todays age, he argues, that is a huge advantage.

He is right, of course. But for the model to work, each brand must have a distinctive identity and add value to the range of options.While Marriott has always tightly controlled its own branding, it has now inherited Starwoods branding problems.

Too many Starwood brands have no real identity. Even since Air France sold Le Meridien, the hotels have moved away from their French identity without finding anything new to put in its place. Sheraton, Starwoods bread-and-butter brand, stands for nothing. And it is hard to see Westin as much more than a health club with rooms attached.

Another problem is that because Starwood was so keen to show growth, it did not deflag hotels where owners were not respecting brand standards. It also signed up nearly every hotel owner who approached it, without worrying too much about the calibre of the property.

Sorenson is unwilling to badmouth Starwood but he concedes that some work will have to go into refocusing the brands and that perhaps some hotels will have to shape up or leave the system.

He is less worried, he says, by the apparent conflicts between the old Starwood brands and their Marriott equivalents. For instance Ritz-Carlton competes in the same space as St. Regis but he thinks both can co-exist.

Nor is he concerned about the irony of the W acquisition. W was created by Starwood as a cookie-cutter, self-conscious, corporate rip-off of the hip hotels that Ian Schrager pioneered. Marriott signed Schrager up a few years ago to jointly launch a new range called Edition and those hotels continue to open all over the world as 21st Century reimaginings of the hip hotels that Schrager invented.

So how does Sorenson feel about heading the company that has both Schrager and W, the brand that is the corporate rip-off of Schragers vision?

He responds that while W now has its own massively successful formula, the Editions will be different. Perhaps they will be smaller and more sophisticated.

Which brings us, finally, to India. One consequence of Marriotts growth has been that the Taj, which never included Ginger hotels within the group, has now suddenly started counting Ginger as Taj hotels to seem bigger than Marriott. That doesnt worry anybody at Marriott too much where they continue to emphasise quality over number. (Unlike Starwood, I am guessing that Marriott will deflag hotels that dont meet brand standards even if that brings down the total number of properties.)

Sorenson is pleased (obviously) with Marriotts success in India but he seems specially enthused by the Indian companys recent initiatives. Shaadi by Marriott has been a grand success and in the months ahead, Marriott will tackle the one area where (so far, at least) it has no great reputation: food and beverage. This is difficult to do because unlike say ITC, The Oberoi or the Taj, Marriott does not replicate restaurants across its Indian properties. So hundreds of individual restaurants have to be configured to fit into a single campaign.

Sorenson is optimistic that in this area too, Marriott will make progress. But he is not underestimating the competition. One of the great things about India he says, is that you have such great hotel companies like the Taj and the Oberoi and of course ITC, which we treat as part of the family because of Luxury Collection.

So does it feel strange that an American company is Indias leading hotel chain?

Probably not. Sorenson is a proud American. But at Marriott, these days, the focus is less on its American origins and more on diversity and internationalism, whether in the hotels themselves or in the stands that Sorenson has taken.

From HT Brunch, April 29, 2018

Follow us on twitter.com/HTBrunch

Connect with us on facebook.com/hindustantimesbrunchA city comes of age when people start writing memoirs set in its nooks and crannies and this is happening to our Chandigarh. Of course, memoirs are about people because just as the old saying, Clothes maketh a man goes, its the people who make the city.

The past few years have seen a surge of memoirs on yesteryear writers, both living and gone. Last week I got two books by post: one in Hindi and another in Punjabi in which the authors choose to reminiscence over their youthful years in the young city, covering some two decades from the 1960s to 1980s. The idols of those times were poets, writers and scholars and more so those with quirky talents. Smrition ke Byscope (A Byscope of Memories) in Hindi is by Delhi-based poet Shailendra Shail who moved from Jalandhar to do his masters in Hindi Literature in 1961 when the much venerated writer-scholar Acharya Hazariprasad Dwivedi was the head.

Shail paints vivid portraits of Dwivedi and his successor Indra Nath Madan seeing them at close quarters and knowing minute details like Dwivedi used to add some tobacco to his paan and Madan would take a swig of gin in his washroom even when he was hosting and offering wine to his younger guests in the drawing room. Many others move in and out of the narrative like Ramesh Kuntal Megh who is the first ever to get the last Sahitya Akademi award on his encyclopaedia of aesthetics.

The fondest remembrance of Shail is of his dear friend, the Hindi poet of the city called Kumar Vikal, who was quite a legend in his lifetime too. Looking back, Shail writes: Those days Chandigarh was witnessing a literary upsurge and following Banaras, Allahabad and Delhi, this young city too was making its place on the literary map of India. It was at this time that Vikals poetry got recognition. When Shail returned to the city once more after a gap of some years, he would recall his long discussions with Vikal which started mid-morning in the Coffee House and often move in the evening to the tavern.

Punjabi poet Lok Nath who moved to Chandigarh a decade and a half after Shail, brings to us tales in his book Shookde Dariya (Shrieking Rivers) of the next generation of poets and writers who made their presence felt in the 1970s. He was closest perhaps to Punjabi poet Amitoj, being his junior in the department of Punjabi (Punjab university?) and he describes him and rightly the superstar of Punjabi poetry. After Batalvi, it was Amitoj who enjoyed a fanfare as a poet and perhaps female adoration too. Lok Nath quotes an early poem by Amitoj in which a village boys alienation is experienced in a modern city; where he has no name but a roll number, no place but a room number, with his identity reduced to the back bench in a classroom (his identity comparable to a back bench in the classroom?). Of course, Vikal features here too as the literary warrior of Punjab!

Thank heavens for the bright Punjabi poet Manjit Tiwana for breaking the glass ceiling and making space for a woman poet in those times and that too with poetry of resistance against patriarchal norms. In fond remembrance, hinting at the lost romance with Amitoj, he reproduces her two immortal poems of the 70s: Pati(Husband) and Window Shopping. In the first the sparkling Manjit calls a husband a hungry wolf who will save you from other wolves but devour you in the end. The second is a tender poem of girls in the university going out in the evenings to window shop friendship.

Both memoirs make for good reading and are not just nostalgic but a document of the curvaceous literary mood in the city of straight linesThe ubiquitous flu sometimes has unpredictable outcomes. Each year, many millions get infected and recover within days, but some get hospitalised with complications that can kill them. Despite advances in science since the 1918 flu pandemic that killed an estimated 50 million worldwide, seasonal flu continues to infect and kill, largely because of the flu viruses ability to mutate to evade the bodys immune defence.

Of the three types of seasonal influenza viruses, Influenza B and C infect humans predominantly, while Influenza A infects many animal species, including birds, pigs, horses, seals, whales, anteaters, cats and dogs. Influenza A and B cause seasonal flu, sickening 10% to 15% of the worlds population each year.

Influenza A, which affects birds most, is a bigger concern because its genetic material can mutate to create new flu viruses that spread between humans.

Novel viruses cause pandemics because humans have no immunity against them. The last big flu pandemic was caused by the novel H1N1 virus, which killed close to 300,000 people in 2009-10.

Type A viruses are divided into subtypes based on the specific variety and combinations of two surface proteins, haemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N). There are 18 types of H proteins and 11 of N in flu viruses, and the human antibodies that attack one do not recognise another, allowing the latter to circumvent the immune system. The only Influenza A viruses that have adapted to spread easily between humans are H1N1, H2N2 and H3N2.

By the letter

In 2018-19, H1N1 and H3N2 are set to be the dominant Influenza A strains causing infection, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), along with two type B viruses named after the areas where they were first identified  Victoria (in Australia) and Yamagata (in Japan).

Type C flu viruses cause milder infections and localised outbreaks, which makes them less of a public health threat. Bird flu strains that dont spread from person to person, such as H5N6, are also easy to contain.

The most deadly strains are the ones that are highly contagious and cause mild to acute respiratory illness, usually affecting the upper respiratory tract (including the nose, throat and bronchi). Symptoms include sudden onset of fever, muscle pain, headache and body ache, together with a dry cough, sore throat and a stuffy nose.

Flu kills directly when it causes pneumonia in the lower respiratory tract, including the lungs.

The virus replicates faster in people with weakened immunity, including pregnant women and people over 65. Those with chronic diseases such as heart conditions, diabetes and obesity are at higher risk of complications because flu causes inflammation, which is the bodys broad immune defence against disease.

The immune challenge

Unlike other infections like chicken pox and the measles, having the flu once doesnt provide immunity against future encounters with the disease. The surface H proteins mutate constantly, making it impossible for antibodies against the last flu infection to recognise and fight the new one. The strains that evolve most efficiently to circumvent prior immunity become the dominant circulating strains in the next season.

With dominant strains changing ever so often, the WHO tracks flu outbreaks and recommends a new vaccine in February each year against the dominant strains. For 2018-19, the recommended quadrivalent vaccines offer protection against A/Michigan H1N1; A/Singapore H3N2; B/Colorado (B/Victoria lineage); and B/Phuket (B/Yamagata lineage).

This season is expected to have a higher death rate. Our strongest immunity is against the first flu virus that infected us. Since H3N2 did not circulate between 1918 and 1968, people born before 1968 have lower immunity against it. As a result, four times more deaths are recorded in flu seasons where the dominant strain is H3N2, with older people the worst affected.

Vaccines protect, but not completely. Compared to 97% protection offered by two doses of the MMR vaccine against measles (one dose is about 93% effective), the highest protection offered by a flu vaccine has been 60%. This years flu vaccine is only 36% effective, according to the USs Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but lowers the severity of symptoms, infection-related complications and death in everyone vaccinated.

Protection kicks in two weeks after vaccination. Other factors, such as age, co-existing health conditions and earlier flu infections and vaccinations, also affect vaccines efficacy.

Scientists are working to develop a universal vaccine that would protect against all flu strains by inducing an immune response against a part of the influenza virus that stays the same over time and between strains. This would allow the world to use the same vaccine every year and stockpile it to prevent outbreaks.According to a news report, the British press, despite knowing only the time of birth and the birth weight, instantly wrote 80 pages of comment and speculation on the new baby born to the UKs line of royal heirs.

Many sympathised with Kate for having had to appear in public within hours of the birth. Others sneered that it was easy enough to do so if you had money and hordes of trained aides. Personally, I thought it was admirable discipline and commitment on her part, to what is evidently perceived as a core duty.

After all, if an actor carries on acting despite setbacks, we admire him or her for being committed to stage dharma, to the principle of the show must go on. Similarly, doctors and soldiers are expected to bash on regardless, as are sanitation workers, who, as the guardians of civil societys health, are soldiers too. Isnt it a good example if a future queen also shows discipline?

I dont know too many princesses of royal blood. Rather, I seem to encounter a number of young women, daughters of new money and old bureaucracy, who qualify as princesses in the cliched sense of being spoilt and bratty. However, a real ex-princess from a former kingdom in central India has stayed in my mind as having been properly princessy.

I wanted to style a fashion shoot for an important anniversary of Independence Day with her as the model, wearing saris designed by her ancestress, a famous and much-loved queen. I was set on having her model this for the sheer harmony of the idea on so many levels. Luckily, through the good offices of a colleague who was her friend, she agreed, although she had never modelled before.

A good fashion photographer and stylist were brought on board, too. My budget was absurdly low, typical of those days, but it was a fun challenge to try and deliver the moon for sixpence.

Compelled by deadlines and clashing schedules, we set off for our location on a blazing June day from the New Delhi railway station, in a second-class compartment. En route, some of our group grumbled non-stop about the heat and dust; the princess, all of eighteen, went quietly to sleep on a top berth.

We endured another hot, tiring journey by road the following day, to her ancestral riverside home. The princess took us out on the river to cool off with a pre-sunset swim, followed by orange squash and biscuits on the boat. We were now free until dinner. But the princess was on duty. Since her parents were away, she was required to represent her family at a state-sponsored cultural festival on the ghats.

Wearing one of her mothers saris, she did a namaste to the evening lamp, exchanged greetings with the public and sat with a straight back through the two-hour programme. As young and tired as she was, she did her duty with absolute grace. There are universal dharmic points here, dont you think, both from Kate and the young Indian?

shebaba09@gmail.com

The views expressed are personal.That the world has fixation for royalty is old hat. When Britains royalty got thrice blessed with an heir fifth in line to the throne, Twitterati, naturally, were second to none bestirring hysteria across cyberia.

British Royalty can do to Twitterverse what Trump or Theresa Mary May may not be able to  uniting Tweeple in hysteria cutting across party lines. Party lines here being in the spirit of eat drink and be merry jollifications or its customisations  eat, drink and be Harry, relatively speaking, or tweet, drink and be Mary, politically speaking.

For better or curse, at the opposite end of the hysteria were frenzied voices of sanity  polite name for party poopers  who uncorked upon Tweeple their brand of sobriety-ism by the name of Stockholm Syndrome.

Whether its Tweeple going gaga over the baby or critics cacophonously crazy parading parodies, the bottomline is  love them or abhor them, you cant ignore #RoyalBaby, #RoyalBabyName, etc.

But when it comes to breaking Twitter over baby name, Indians beat the Brits at their own game, errr meme.

Stockholm Syndrome

That the Duke and Duchess of Cambridges third baby shares his birthday with the Bard imbued immense import to William Shakespeares words, Whats in a name ?

When the Shakespearean speculation over the newborns nomenclature ended, with a scramble for fresh hashtags and gags, #PrinceLouis merrily overtook #RoyalBabyNameOdds. Prince Louis Arthur Charles arrived on Twitter, Stockholm Syndrome be damned.

Twitter trilled into a tizzy again, parodying the Queen: Look, I know its a bit strange naming the #RoyalBaby after well-known paedophile Louis Mountbatten. But Louis was such a roll model for Charles, we just had to!

If Britain boasts of royalty, can Indians be far behind? Bollywood be blessed. We can brag of our Indian edition of hysteria over a baby name: #TaimurAliKhan.

Nobody breaks Twitter better than Indian trolls when it comes to baby name. While Prince Louis only invited memes of the Mountbatten kind, Saifeena progeny Taimur made history by turning topsy turvy history, his names memes perhaps bestirring in their graves not only Mongol Timur, but even Hitler, Aurangzeb & Co.

A classic case of the Brits playing safe than sorry, but Indians doing it better by being Saif than sorry.

Mock Mom Syndrome

Not only did the royal birth throw up the Stockholm Syndrome, it also tossed a phenomenon that could be called its lyrical cousin, Mock Mom Syndrome. Viral footage of Kate Middleton preening publicly within hours of childbirth  minus hangover of labour, as fresh as a daisy as if she were primping on the red carpet, not a hospitals pebbled pathway  propelled much of British mommy-hood into regurgitating mock.

Even when it comes to the Mock Mom Syndrome, the Indians do it better. Remember Aishwarya Rai inviting mock worse for factors converse  piling on the pounds post childbirth? While the Brits spew mock meme a dozen at mommy-hood size zero and lean, motherhoods zero girth control is what drives Indian trolls virtually mean.

Shashi-Meme Syndrome

Last but not least, the Brits may boast of Stockholm Syndrome and Queens English. But Indians have something even Brits dont  Shashism for Stockholm Syndrome!

Stockholm Syndrome in Queens English is a psychological phenomenon in which hostages express empathy and have positive feelings towards their captors...

Our Shashism for Stockholm Syndrome, which could spell an upgrade for the Queen in English, is: A subliminal situation that sees distasteful detainee-hood emitting emotions suffused with subterranean currents of camaraderie and chaddi-buddy-ship towards proponents of insidious incarceration

(Disclaimer: Any resemblance to royal fixation, zeal or overzeal, is purely incidental!)

The author can be contacted at chetnabanerjee@gmail.com

Views expressed are personalResident doctors at AIIMS who were protesting the assault on one of their colleagues by a senior doctor on Saturday called off their strike following several rounds of meetings with the administration.

The strike has been called off. We request the director to declare Monday a working day so that the surgeries which were cancelled due to the strike can be conducted. We, resident doctors, want to compensate in every possible way, a member of the Resident Doctors Association said.

The protest was called off following several rounds of meeting between the AIIMS administration and the protesting doctors.

The strike affected health care services at the premiere hospital for three days.

The resident doctors had been demanding that the administration suspend the senior doctor who had allegedly slapped one of their colleagues in front of patients and other staffers.

Routine surgeries were cancelled, out-patient clinics functioned in a restricted manner and patients seeking OPD consultation were sent back due to the strike.

Only the emergency and ICU services functioned.

The senior doctor, who heads a department at the premier institute, had on Friday tendered a written apology for assaulting the resident doctor and proceeded on leave on the directions of an internal probe panel.

Another senior doctor from the department has been made the acting chief of the centre pending an inquiry.

A doctor said thirty of his colleagues have submitted complaints against the senior doctor. Some of them are very serious in nature. He has been accused of misbehaving with female resident doctors. Some cases of 2013 have also come to the fore.

AIIMS Nurses Union also condemned the incident and sought an early action into the matter.

In a letter to Guleria, the Resident Doctors Association had alleged that the senior doctor slapped a senior resident in front of attendees, nursing staff and colleagues, and that the resident doctor was in depression.

The RDA said an atmosphere of fear existed in the department headed by the senior doctor, and that nobody protested as the chief threatened to fail the junior doctors.

The RDA has written to Union health minister JP Nadda, who is also the president of AIIMS, seeking revocation of Padmashree and Dr BC Roy awards to the senior doctor.

We reprimand all his actions and request you to consider revoking his BC Roy and Padmashree awards, as we believe that he is not worthy of holding such prestigious awards, they said in their letter.A long-standing property dispute may have led to two brothers not seeing eye-to-eye for years, but for a family that owned nine cars, it was a quarrel over parking space that proved to be the final trigger to a confrontation that claimed three lives.

At the centre of this property dispute was Toofan Kothi a sprawling bungalow spread across 500 square yards and three floors where the two brothers  Jaspal Singh and Gurjeet Singh  lived with their families. The property served as a local landmark of sorts, said a neighbour.

Over the years, both families not just had frequent public arguments but were also allegedly involved in cases of violence. Each side wanted the other to live elsewhere, relatives and neighbours said.

Since Harnam Singh alias Toofan, the late father of the brothers after whom the building was named, passed away in 2011, the fights intensified. The eldest of the three siblings had started living separately in another area of Model Town before their fathers death, which meant the family house was left for the two brothers to share thereafter, said a neighbour who did not wish to be identified.

The families of Jaspal and Gurjeet had run-ins with each other at repeated intervals. Each wanted the other to vacate the property, said Ravinder Singh Kohli, their cousin.

After Toofans death, the house was divided between the two brothers. The arrangement was such that Jaspal was to live on the ground floor and Gurjeet got the first floor. Each of these floors had similar constructions, said Kohli.

Kohli added that the space on the buildings top floor was to be shared between the sons of Gurjeet and Jaspal. After repeated counselling from relatives and family members, the two sides had reached an arrangement that had temporarily settled the dispute. However, the truce was short lived.

The brothers soon started quarrelling again. Though the area within the bungalow was divided, the dispute then started about the parking space. They could not come to a settlement on that, said a police officer investigating the case.

According to Kohli, Jaspal and Gurjeets families owned nine expensive cars but had a limited amount of space alongside the boundary of the property.

The fights intensified and they started registered criminal cases against each other. In one case, one side was accused of molesting a female member of the other. In another case, Jaspals son Kanwar was booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder after he allegedly tried to run over someone from Gurjeets family, said the officer.

Another such arguments over parking space started on Thursday night and by the end of it, both Jaspal and Gurjeet were killed along with Jaspals wife Prabhjot.Brick by brick, Indias first war memorial to celebrate soldiers who have sacrificed their lives since 1947 is being built around the national capitals India Gate.

Coming up on the lawns just behind the canopy, or chatri, the open memorial is expected to be ready by Independence Day, senior government officials involved in the project said.

The project, which will be in line with the central axis of India Gate that commemorates Indian soldiers who died in World War I, is being implemented by the defence ministry.

Designed in concentric circles, the memorial will be spread over approximately 40 acres, and have a 15-metre-high obelisk at its centre. The national emblem will be placed on top of the obelisk, which will also carry the eternal flame, symbolising that sacrifices by soldiers are never forgotten, one of the officials cited above said. A national war museum is also coming up in the adjoining Princess Park, which will be connected through a tunnel to the war memorial. The union government earmarked Rs 500 crore for both projects in the 2015 budget. The museum, however, will be completed much after the memorial.

The central congregation space at the war memorial will be below the ground level in order to conform to the height limit of the surrounding iconic structures on the central vista.

After the obelisk, there will be four more landscaped concentric circles, depicting the journey of a soldier from birth to martyrdom. The second circle will have a shaded open gallery with a wall on one side. This will be called the Veer Chakra, or the circle of bravery. It will have bronze murals depicting some of the major battles such as Longewala, Rezang La and Karachi harbour,  said a second official.

The third and fourth circle will be called Tyag Chakra, or the circle of sacrifice. These will have precast walls on which the names of about 26,000 martyrs from the army, navy and airforce will be inscribed on the granite tablets with golden letters. The circular pattern of the wall is inspired by the ancient Indian war formation called chakravyuh, the official said. Each of the soldiers, the official added, has been given a separate granite tablet.

There are 4,000 blank tablets, which will take care of battle casualties in the next 40 years. On an average, India suffers 100 casualties a year, the official said. The fifth and the final circle will be called the Rakshak Chakra or the circle of protection. It will have trees planted in a circular formation, with each tree symbolising a soldier who ensures territorial control and safety of the citizens of the country, the same official said.

Once its ready, standing at Vijay Chowk, one will be able to see India Gate, the canopy and the obelisk.

Yogesh Chandrahasan, 31, the Chennai-based architect whose company WeBe Design Lab was selected for the project, said, The whole concept is based on the thought that the war memorial should be a place where we dont mourn death, but celebrate the life of the soldiers and pay respect to the sacrifices made by them.

Chandrahasan said it is for the first time that his company is executing a project of this scale. We got selected through a global open design competition. Its a proud moment for us, he said. Nagarjuna Construction Company is the project developer.

There are five lawns around India Gate. While the memorial is coming up on two lawns behind the canopy, a third lawn  the existing August Kranti Maidan  will be developed into the Paramyoddha sthal where busts of 21 soldiers who were awarded the Paramvir Chakra will be erected. Each bust will have a citation.The Andhra Pradesh SSC or Class 10 results 2018 will be announced on Sunday, April 29, at the state SSC boards official website:bseap.org

A notification on the website of Directorate of Government Examinations Andhra Pradesh (popularly known as the SSC board) says The SSC Public Examination, March 2018 results will be released at 11am on 29-04-2018 (Sunday).

The state examination board has launched an android app to view SSC March 2018 results from 11am onwards on Sunday. Click here to download the app.

Students who have appeared in AP Class 10th exam 2018 can register here for receiving alerts on their mobile and email address as soon as the results are announced.

The SSC 2018 examination started on March 15 and ended on March 29.From the Punjab DGPs daughter to the daughter of Haryana village sarpanch, HT profiles five candidates from the region who have cracked the UPSC exam.

Megha Arora, 26, Masters in Foreign Affairs from University of London

Megha is daughter of Punjab DGP Suresh Arora, who is a 1982 cadre IPS officer. An alumna of Carmel Convent School, Sector 9, she studied International Relations from Emory University, US and went ahead to do her Masters in Foreign Affairs from the University of London. She came back to India in 2013. This was third attempt. Megha had joined the Young Indian fellowship programme at Ashoka University.

Vikram Aditya Malik, 29, Lawyer, has practised in Supreme Court

An alumnus of St Johns High School, Sector 26, and Bhavan Vidyalaya School, Sector 27, he is the son of Haryana cadre IAS officer Yudhvir Singh Malik.

Working with a private law firm, this was his fourth attempt. His sister Surbhi Malik is a 2012 batch Punjab cadre IAS officer.

(From left to right) Ritu, Shruti Arora, Vikram Aditya Malik and Juhi Jalota.

Shruti Arora, 25, Engineer

Shruti is an alumna of Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School, Sector 26, and an engineering graduate from the University Institute of Engineering and Technology (UIET). This was her third attempt. She is a daughter of Haryana-cadre IAS officer Keshni Anand Arora, who is posted as additional chief secretary to the Haryana government. Keshni is sister of former Haryana chief secretaries, Urvashi Gulati and Meenakshi Anand Chaudhary.

Ritu, 24, MSc Mathematics from Kurukshetra University

Ritu is the daughter of a farmer Tara Chand and Sunita Devi. Both are former sarpanchs of Bhadar village in Panipat. This was her first attempt. She completed Class-10 from her village and Class 12 from Panipat. She is a gold medallist in M Sc Mathematics from Kurukshetra University in 2016.

Juhi Jalota, 27, Engineer

Ludhiana Model Gram resident, she is married to a city-based businessman, and aspires to join the Indian Police Service. A Gwalior native, she was in Solan, when the results were declared. Her mother-in-law heads the Geography department at Government College for Girls, Ludhiana.Abhishek Sharma, one of the 15 candidates from Jammu and Kashmir who qualified the prestigious civil services 2017 examination has a word of advice for the states stone-pelting youths: give peace a chance.

Sharma, who secured 69th rank in the coveted examination whose results were announced on Friday, appealed to the youth to shun violence and work for betterment of the state and the country.

My request to the stone-pelting youth is to bring positivity in their lives...We are second to none and given a peaceful atmosphere, we can take the state and the country to new heights, Sharma said.

Hailing from Kishtwar district, Sharma arrived here from Delhi this morning and left for his home to celebrate the success.

Destruction is easy but construction takes a lot of effort. Our goal should be to take the state to new heights of peace and prosperity and secure the future of coming generations otherwise they too will get impacted by this (stone-pelting), he said.

Sharma said the youth of the state should focus on their goals to make the state prosperous.

He said focus, perseverance, hard work and patience are the keys to success.

One can get distracted easily without a focused mind and if you are able to fix a goal for yourself, you have to work for that. Make your plans and divide them into sub-plans and work accordingly to achieve your goal, he said.

He said the news of the result came as a big relief for him because he was trying my best for the past two years.

I am feeling relieved, he said.

His father Suresh Sharma gave credit to his family and the prayers of the poor for the success of his son.

I have been working for the betterment of the poor and want my son to work for the underprivileged and ensure zero tolerance to corruption, he said.

Another candidate, Aamir Bashir, qualified with 843rd rank. Bashir, who hails from Mendhar area of Poonch district, asked the youth to stay away from drugs and channelise their energies in making the lives of the people and their families happy.

This is second time I have qualified the examination in as many years... I appeared again to improve my ranking to get the desired service. I have a vision and a dream and hopefully I can fulfil it now with a better ranking, he said.

Aamir lost his father in 2006 and credits his success to his mother and teachers.

My mother, who is posted as section officer in the state agriculture department, guided me and played an important role in my life, he said.

At least 15 candidates from Jammu and Kashmir have qualified the prestigious civil services 2017, with three candidates from Kashmir making it to the top 100.UP Board Results 2018 for high school or Class 10 and intermediate or Class 12 board examinations is likely to be declared on Sunday, April 29. There were 664,000 candidates, including 366,000 for high school and 298,000 for intermediate exams, who registered for the exams conducted by the UP Board High School from February 6 to March 12.

However, more than 11,27,800 students dropped out of the exams due to strict anti-copying measures and 1,146 were caught using unfair means.

Here are 10 things you should know ahead of the declaration of results:

1) UP Board High School and Intermediate results to be declared on Sunday at Boards headquarters in Allahabad.

2) UP Board director Awadh Naresh Sharma to arrive from Lucknow at 9 am while secretary Neena Srivastava will arrive from Delhi with results at 7am.

3) Officials to hold a brief meeting at Board headquarters before heading for the press briefing to declare results.

4) The results of high school and Intermediate will be declared jointly for the fourth time after the trend commenced in 2015. Joint declaration of results saves funds and time of the Board.

5) Preparations for declaration of results at Boards headquarters have been completed, said senior officials of the Board who reviewed arrangements on Saturday.

6) This year 664,000 candidates, including 366,000 for high school and 298,000 for intermediate exams, registered for the exams conducted by the UP Board High School from February 6 to March 12.

7) However, more than 11,27,800 (17%) students dropped out of the exams due to strict anti-copying measures and 1,146 were caught for using unfair means. Police lodged 136 complaints against students for indulging in unfair means as well as invigilators and centre superintendents for helping them to cheat.

8) The exams were held under closed-circuit television or CCTV cameras for the first time this year and state polices special task force was also roped in to check copying.

9) Evaluation of over 5,00,00,000 answer sheets began on March 17 at 248 centres in the state by around 140,000 teachers under CCTV with personnel of the special task force and Local Intelligence Unit (LIU) keeping a watch in different parts of the state.

10) The intermediate or Class 12 board results are expected at 12.30pm, while the high school or Class 10 board results are expected at 1.30pm.

You can click here and register for receiving alerts on your mobile and email as soon as the results are announced and to check it after they are declared.With the countdown on for the UP Boards High School and Intermediate results on Sunday, students are a nervous lot.

On Saturday, some of the examinees in Allahabad visited temples or prayed at home while some tried to beat the anxiety pangs with an outing with friends and family members.

I have done well in exams, but I am nervous. I went with my mother to the temple and prayed from the heart. Hope I will repeat my performance of class 10 where I secured 72% marks, said Jigyasa Mishra, a student of class 12th at St. DB Inter College, Allahabad.

Devendra Kumar, another student from the same institution who appeared in High School examination, preferred to chill out before the results, refusing to even think about the outcome.

What is destined for me cannot be changed. I studied hard and have done well, except in Physics. I will get what I deserve. So why think about it? It wont help me a bit. I have planned to watch two movies back to back before going to sleep tonight, he said.

Principal of St DB Inter College, Allahabad, Sabrina Coutinho said students have been counselled to keep calm.

Students in Lucknow looked a touch nervous while a few other students said that they were simultaneously excited because this year exams were conducted under CCTV vigil.

Divyanshi Singh, a Class 10 student of SKD Academy, said, I am not at all worried about the result. Because of strictness in board exams, we prepared very well throughout the year.

Abhishek Yadav, a class 12 student of the same school, sounded quite confident as he said only after board results he will determine whether he will study science stream or humanities.

Poonam an Intermediate student, is looking forward to their higher education in university.

Ahead of UP Board results, students of SKD Academy were seen discussing about upcoming board results 2018 to be declared on Sunday. The students of high school and Intermediate had discussion and counselling session with principal and vice principal. (HT photo)

Ajar Singh Patel, a class 12 student at Rani Reoti Devi Inter College, also offered prayers at Hanuman Temple in Civil Lines area of Allahabad city early Saturday morning. He says the wait for the next 24 hours would be hard to bear.

I have done well but am nervous and anxious too. The long wait will be unbearable and I will not be able to sleep well tonight, he said.

Anushka Mishra, a class 10 student of Rani Reoti Devi Inter College, is also nervous as she feels that strict evaluation this time will affect grades. The long wait for results is torturous. I am praying hard and have been going to the temple every day after the exams, she said.

Ramji Singh, principal of Rani Reoti Devi Inter College, said students of his institution had done well and he is hoping for the best on Sunday.

Some students sounded very optimistic because they said that they had full faith in their hard work.

Dheeraj Kumar, a high school student, said students must learn how to cope with the pressure.

Director of SKD Academy, Manish Singh interacted with students ahead of the result to ease their pressure. It was my duty and responsibility to make all boys and girls comfortable.

The UP Board High School and Intermediate results will be declared tomorrow afternoon at the Boards headquarters in Allahabad by its director Awadh Narain Sharma.

Around 17% (11.27 lakh) of the 66.4 lakh candidates dropped out of the examination midway after the government strictly implemented several anti-copying measures.

The Board had not only increased its supply of coded answer sheets to 50 districts this year from 31 districts last year but had also installed CCTV camera network at a whopping 8,057 examination centers in 75 districts of state.

The state government had also roped in Special Task Force (STF) to thwart the copying mafia in board examinations which had been tarnishing the board and the states image for the past few decades.

You can click here and register for receiving alerts on your mobile and email as soon as the results are announced.UP Board Results 2018 for Class 10 and Class 12 board examinations were declared on Sunday. Officials said 75.16% students cleared the Class 10 exam while 72.43% cleared the Class 12 exam.

Click here to check the results.

The results declared show that girls performed better than boys in Class 10 and Class 12 board examinations in terms of pass percentage.

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath congratulated students who passed the exams saying, I am really happy that such a good result has come. I want to congratulate everyone who has passed in these examinations. This time all the exams were held without any complaints of cheating coming from anywhere.

Toppers

Anjali Verma of Brij Behari Sahai Intercollege in Allahabad was the topper in Class 10 with 96.35 percentage.

Rajneesh Shukla of Sarvodaya Intercollege in Fatehpur and Akash Maurya of Shri Sai Intercollege, Barabanki, were the joint toppers in Class 12 with 93.2 percentage. Read more

Happy with her results, Anjali Verma said she wanted to become an engineer.

I am very happy to top the exam. I was confident of scoring good marks. Our school teachers helped us to prepare well. I want to become an engineer. My father is farmer who has always supported me: Anjali Verma, Class 10th topper (UP Board) pic.twitter.com/8ezYSxtJX9  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) April 29, 2018

UP Board Results 2018: In Numbers Class 10 Total students appeared 30,28,767 Boys 16,89,877 Girls 13,38,890 Total students Passed 22,76,445 (75.16%) Boys 12,21,202 (72.27%) Girls 10,55,243 (78.81%) Toppers: Rank 1: Anjali Varma; 96.35%

(Brij Behari Sahai Intercollege , Allahabad) Rank 2: Yashasvi; 94.5%

(Vikas VMIC College, Fatehpur) Rank 3: Vinay Kumar Varma; 94.17%

(Sitapal VMIC, Fatehpur) Rank 3: Sunny Varma; 94.17%

(MPS Intercollege, Gonda)



Class 12 Total students appeared 26,04,093, Boys 14, 12, 519 Girls 11,91,574 Total students passed: 18,86,050 (72.43%) Boys 9,51,406 (67.36%) Girls 9,34, 644 (78.44%) Toppers: Rank 1: Rajneesh Shukla; 93.2%

(Sarvodaya Intercollege, Fatehpur) Rank 1: Akash Maurya; 93.2%

(Shri Sai Intercollege, Barabanki) Rank 2: Ananya Rai; 92.31%

(Model Convent, Ghazipur) Rank 3: Abhishek Kumar; 92.20%

(DPS intercollege, Muradabad) Rank 3: Ajeet Patel; 92.20%

(Shri Sai intercollege, Barabanki)

Steps to check the results:

1) Visit the official website of UP Board results

2) Click on link for result

3) Key in the desired details and submit

4) Results will be displayed on the screen

Earlier:

#The examination committee meeting is underway. Both Class 10 and 12 results will be simultaneously.

#The examination committee meeting is to discuss details of the results to be declared, comparison of pass percentage of previous years, the reasons behind the rise or fall per centre, errors if any in preparation of results to be addressed at the last minute before declaration etc.

#Officials have arrived at the Board headquarters to attend the mandatory examination committee meeting, from 11am onwards, before heading for the press briefing to declare the results.

# UP Board director Awadh Naresh Sharma arrived from Lucknow at 9 am while secretary Neena Srivastava arrived from Delhi with results at 7am.

# Preparations for declaration of results at Boards headquarters have been completed, said senior officials of the Board who reviewed arrangements on Saturday.

# Some of the examinees in Allahabad visited temples or prayed at home while some tried to beat the anxiety pangs with an outing with friends and family members on Saturday.

# Students in Lucknow looked a touch nervous while a few other students said that they were simultaneously excited because this year exams were conducted under CCTV vigil.

# Divyanshi Singh, a Class 10 student of SKD Academy, said, I am not at all worried about the result. Because of strictness in board exams, we prepared very well throughout the year.

# Poonam an Intermediate student, is looking forward to their higher education in university.

# Anushka Mishra, a class 10 student of Rani Reoti Devi Inter College, is also nervous as she feels that strict evaluation this time will affect grades. The long wait for results is torturous. I am praying hard and have been going to the temple every day after the exams, she said.

# UP Board High School and Intermediate results to be declared on Sunday at Boards headquarters in Allahabad.

#Officials to hold a brief meeting at Board headquarters before heading for the press briefing to declare results.

#The results of high school and Intermediate will be declared jointly for the fourth time after the trend commenced in 2015. Joint declaration of results saves funds and time of the Board.

Students who have appeared in the examination can also check their results (after they are declared) by visiting the official website of UP board results at upresults.nic.in

(With inputs from Rajeev Mullick in Lucknow and Kenneth John in Allahabad)Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Landing the latest legal blow to President Donald Trumps former campaign chairman, a federal judge Friday threw out Paul Manaforts civil suit against the Department of Justice, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and the special counsel Robert Mueller.



Manafort had used the civil suit to challenge the criminal case against him by arguing that Rosenstein and Mueller had exceeded their authority to investigate and charge him.



Manafort, 69, has been indicted in two criminal cases by the special counsel related to charges of money laundering and tax evasion, among other things.



In her memorandum opinion, filed Friday morning, Judge Amy Berman Jackson wrote that a civil case is not the appropriate vehicle for taking issue with what a prosecutor has done in the past or where he might be headed in the future.



Therefore, the Court finds that this civil complaint must be dismissed, Jackson said.



Manaforts lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., earlier this year, alleged that Rosensteins order appointing Mueller exceeded his authority under Justice Department regulations and was therefore arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion and otherwise not in accordance with the law.



The suit accused Mueller of exceeding his authority by ignoring the boundaries of the jurisdiction granted to the Special Counsel in the Appointment Order and asked the court to set aside the actions of the special counsel and declare Mueller outside of his legal authority.



The Justice Department and special counsels office declined to comment.



Manaforts jury trial before Jackson is set to begin Sept. 17; his trial in a federal court in Virginia is on track to start in just three months.



Manafort, who has pleaded not guilty to all charges, faces the possibility of spending the rest of his life in prison if convicted in either case.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.by Sumon Corraya

The mother of ten died last year. Although she widowed young and lived in poverty, she was able to send all of her children to school. An outstanding woman, a loving and caring mother, for some who knew her, There is no other layperson except for her who deserves to become a saint". One woman claims that she was healed by Josephine.

Gazipur (AsiaNews)  Catholics in Bangladesh want to see the opening of the cause of canonisation of Josephine Corraya. The mother of ten, six of whom were consecrated to Christ, died last November at the age of 83.

Everyone, both those who had the pleasure of knowing her and those who only heard about her, remembers her for her kindness, humility and great love for the Catholic Church.

For thousands of Catholics, Josephine is an inspiration. Widowed when she was young, she lived in poverty, yet managed to give an education to all her children. Three of her sons became priests and daughters became nuns.

In June 2016 she received the Ratnagarva Maa (Jewel Mother) Award from the speaker of the Bangladeshi parliament, for being an outstanding woman, a loving and caring mother who was able to raise her many children, ensuring that everyone got a good education.

She is so well known and appreciated that many in the country have begun to ask for her intercession and are willing to testify in her beatification process.

In many homes, her picture is placed next to those of Jesus and the Virgin (picture 3). Roza Gomes, 94, an elder in Josephines own village of Rangamatia (Gazipur), told AsiaNews that "She was my neighbour. I've never seen anything negative in her. She was an honest, kind and devoted woman.

She had great faith and love for God, the neighbour added. Her character was clear and holy. Although she herself was in need, if a beggar knocked on her door, she would never let him go away empty-handed. I think that Josephine was a living saint. The Church must investigate her and declare her a saint."

After her husband's death, Josephine continued to pass on her spiritual and moral teachings to her children. She encouraged the vocation of those who eventually chose to dedicate their lives to serving Christ.

Last year, speaking with the AsiaNews correspondent, she said that her greatest wish as a child was to be a nun. In the end though, "It was my children who fulfilled my desire".

The old woman spent the last years of her life in the convent in Bhadun parish where one of her daughters lives. "She was a pious woman, said Fr Parimal Ignatius Rozario, the local parish priest. She sacrificed so much in her life, giving her children to the Lord. She had great faith and was very active as a Catholic."

China Gomes, a 32-year-old housewife mother of two daughters, remembers that "whenever I had a problem and went to her for advice, she told me to pray. She always kept a rosary in her hand and prayed."

For Shipra Costa, "There is no other layperson except for her who deserves to become a saint". When "I came to the convent to be treated, I was introduced to Josephine. At that time, I was sick, but just before she died, she told me I would never be sick again."

Now she says she has been healed for about six months and believes that her recovery is a miracle by Josephine.If high blood pressure related ailments are keeping you sick, your doctor may have suggested yoghurt to you. It has many benefits, from the probiotic effect it has that helps healthy bacteria to flourish in your digestive system, or the abundance of calcium and vitamin B5 and D which strengthens your bones and keep your skin glowing. But a lesser-known but equally beneficial drink that helps lower blood pressure is kefir  a fermented probiotic milk known to maintain the balance of good bacteria in the digestive system.

A recent study done on rats at Auburn University in Alabama, USA, shows that kefir can also have a positive effect on blood pressure by promoting communication between the gut and brain. Previous research has shown that an imbalance in the guts colony of bacteria (microbiota) may cause high blood pressure in some people. Similarly, probiotics  live bacteria supplements that are beneficial to the digestive system  have also been found to lower blood pressure, but the mechanisms by which this occurs are unclear.

Kefir also strengthens the immune system, prevents urinary tract infections, allergies and cold. It is also rich in lactobacilli and bifidus bacteria that are good for the gut.

What the study shows

The study shows that after nine weeks of kefir supplementation, the rats had lower levels of endotoxins  which are toxic substances that disrupt cell functioning  as well as lower blood pressure and improved intestinal permeability.

In addition, kefir supplementation restored the balance of four different gut bacteria and of an enzyme in the brain essential for the normal functioning of the nervous system, suggesting that the nervous and digestive systems work together to reduce hypertension, the results showed.

The findings will be presented at the American Physiological Societys (APS) annual meeting at Experimental Biology 2018 in San Diego.

5 other fermented products that you should have:

Kombucha is a fermented, probiotic tea thats tart, lightly sweetened, and slightly effervescent. (Shutterstock)

Kombucha

Hollywood actors Cameron Diaz, Lindsay Lohan and Halle Berry swear by this fermented beverage. Much like yogurt, kombucha is loaded with beneficial bacteria. It can ease digestive issues, restore good bacteria in the body, and boost your immunity and mood, says a report in Health.

Fermented cabbage sauerkraut. (iStock)

Sauerkraut

Sauerkraut is made from fermented cabbage and is rich in fibre, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin K and B vitamins. Its also a great source of iron, copper, calcium, sodium, manganese and magnesium. It boosts digestion, fights inflammation, and strengthens bones.

Kimchi is a Korean dish. (Shutterstock)

Kimchi

This traditional fermented Korean dish includes various vegetables and improves your heart health and digestion. It has high levels of antioxidants that protect you from diseases like diabetes and obesity.

Pickles are filled with several enzymes and active bacterial cultures. (Shutterstock)

Pickles

Pickles are as beneficial as kimchi and are filled with active bacterial cultures and enzymes which are good for your gut. Opt for pickles not made with vinegar.

Yoghurt contains probiotics that increases the number of good bacteria in the gut. (Shutterstock)

Yoghurt

Studies have shown that yoghurt can help reduce risk of cardiovascular problems. It contains probiotics that help in increasing the number of good bacteria in the gut for a healthy stomach, aiding in digestion and reducing the uncomfortable feeling of being bloated.

(Inputs from IANS)

Follow @htlifeandstyle for moreThis post contains spoilers for Avengers: Infinity War

New set pictures from Brie Larson filming the upcoming Captain Marvel have made their way online. Following the hugely anticipated arrival of Avengers: Infinity War, fans who stayed till the end credits saw the first official indication of Captain Marvel in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After the Battle of Wakanda, and the villainous Thanos plan coming to a conclusion, Nick Fury sends a message out into space seeking Captain Marvels help.

The new pictures from the sets of the upcoming superhero movie, scheduled to arrive in 2019, before the fourth Avengers film, tease Brie Larsons character engaged in an action scene on the streets of Los Angeles. She wears her green and grey costume as she sprints down a street with a steely expression on her face.

NEW: Brie Larson on set of #CaptainMarvel (April 26) pic.twitter.com/5vbfDFRBs4  Brie Larson Archives (@brielarsoncom) April 27, 2018

Heres the premise for Captain Marvel: Set in the 1990s, Captain Marvel follows Carol Danvers as she turns into one of the galaxys mightiest heroes after the Earth is caught in the centre of an intergalactic conflict between two alien worlds.

It is being rumoured that Carol Danvers (Captain Marvel) will take over the Avengers as the new leader after the current phase of movies ends with the fourth Avengers movie.

READ | Avengers Infinity War movie review: The God of all Marvel films, an epic tragedy

Brie is an Oscar-winning actor, who most recently appeared in the India-set musical, Basmati Blues. Captain Marvel, the film, will also feature a young Nick Fury, and actors such as Jude Law and Ben Mendelsohn. The film, directed by Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck, will feature returning MCU actors such as Lee Pace (Ronan the Accuser) and Djimon Hounsou (Korath).

Follow @htshowbiz for moreA 14-year-old girl was gang-raped repeatedly by five people for more than two months in the Gorakhpur area in Madhya Pradeshs Jabalpur, a senior police official said on Saturday.

The girls parents approached the police last night alleging that five people, aged between 18 and 21, gang-raped their daughter, Gorakhpur Superintendent of Police Arjun Uike said.

The parents approached the police after the news spread that the girl underwent an abortion two days ago, the official said.

Three accused, identified as Saurabh Chakravarty, Pramod Chakravarty and Honey Chakravarty, have been arrested, he said.

Two others, Rahul Chakravarty and Bantu Sonker, are on the run, Uike said.

The SP said two of the accused would allegedly ask the minor to cook food at their residence for a nominal sum.

The five would take her home and gangrape her repeatedly, the official alleged.

The SP said the family lives in a slum, and the girls parents and her brother work as daily wagers.

The police were also trying to locate the doctor who carried out the abortion.

Terminating pregnancy of a rape victim without the courts sanction is illegal.

We are going to arrest the doctor, the official said.

He said that a case had been registered against the accused under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.Two more Maoists were killed by security forces in Sukma in south Bastar on Saturday, taking the numbers of rebels gunned down in the past week to 49. Chhattisgarh police has killed 10 Maoists in the last two days in south and west Bastar, while Maharashtra police had gunned down 39 in Gadchiroli on Sunday and Monday.

Police officials familiar with the matter said that Maoists are re-grouping in the Bastar region after the Gadchiroli encounter for an assault on security forces. A red alert has been issued in the districts of Chhattisgarh adjoining Maharashtra and Telangana. Forces are conducting operations in Bijapur and Sukma, from where they got inputs of the Maoists regrouping and planning an attack.

We have information that three Maoists escaped after the Gadhchiroli encounter and the Maoists of the nearby areas are heading towards Bijapur and Kanker districts of Chhattisgarh, said a Bastar-based Indian Police Service officer, who was not willing to be identified.

The IPS officer said the security forces are not giving any space for Maoists to counter-attack and special operations are underway in several districts of Bastar region, known to be a hotbed of the Maoists.

Currently we are fighting a straight battle in both Bijapur and Sukma because we have information that Maoists are trying to congregate at several places after Gandhchiroli attack. Hence, engaging them is the best tactic and we have so far been successful, said special director general (anti-Naxal operations), DM Awasthi.

As part of operations, the security forces killed two Maoists in Duled area of south Sukma in a two-hour operation on Saturday morning. So far, the bodies of two Maoists, including a woman, have been recovered along with 11 weapons, said Sundarraj P, deputy inspector general of police (south Bastar range).

Separate teams of the District Reserve Guard (DRG), the Special Task Force (STF) and the Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA), an elite unit of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), were carrying out combing operations in Sukma, located around 400 km from the state capital Raipur, for the past couple of days, he said.

Police officers familiar with the matter said intelligence-based operations have been launched at many places in Bijapur and south Sukma districts and that Saturdays operation was a result of that.

In Sukma, the Maoist battalion is headed by Mandvi Hidma, who in March was said to be behind the deadly attack in which nine CRPF personnel were killed. The regional command committee of the Maoists in Bijapur is headed by Harishankar and Damodar.

Both these armed battalion comprises more than 400 heavily armed Maoist cadre. During any major attack on security forces, they work together, a police officer said.A multi-pronged approach dictates the governments strategy against Maoist rebels, which includes coordinated counter-insurgency measures, backed by choking of rebel funding sources and development of rural areas that have been their support bases traditionally, said officials familiar with the plan.

These measures apparently complement security operations, which became evident when police commandos killed 40 Maoists in the jungles of Maharashtras Gadchiroli district this April in what is said to be the biggest successful drive against the insurgents in the state.

Multi-disciplinary groups comprising officers from central agencies as well as from the state police have been formed at the Centre and state levels to choke their finances and to ensure seizure and confiscation of properties of the Maoist leadership, said a government official, requesting not be identified.

Besides, a process has been initiated to create a separate vertical in the NIA (National Investigation Agency) to investigate important cases related to left-wing extremism, the official added.

The Communist Party of India (Maoist) and its splinter groups run their finances through an extensive extortion network, levying what they call protection tax to contractors of government projects, kendu leave traders, timber merchants, miners and stone quarry operators.

A Jharkhand police special branch report said in 2016 that the CPI (Maoist) and fringe groups collected about Rs 200 crore annually from their extortion sources.

In order to choke the Maoist finances, the government needs to ensure that the contractors are not exploited by the rebels, said Arun Chaudhary, former chief of the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), a paramilitary force operating in Maoist-hit areas.

The government has already pressed the NIA, the countrys anti-terrorism agency, to find out the funding sources of Maoists active Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Telangana.

Besides, the enforcement directorate (ED) has started the process to attach properties allegedly owned by Maoist leaders Sandeep Yadav and Pradyuman Sharma of the Bihar-Jharkhand belt, an official said.

Another approach to break the support base of Maoists is financial inclusion of people from districts affected by insurgency.

As part of the drive the government has set up 428 bank branches and 1,045 ATM kiosks in select districts. Besides, 15 industrial training institutes (ITIs) and 43 skill development centers have been established.

More such instates are in the pipeline.

In 32 of 35 most-affected districts, 565 post offices have been set up too, the official said.

The government will also spend Rs 970 crore under a special scheme in 35 Maoist-affected districts to provide solar power for homes and irrigation.

After erecting 2,329 mobile phone towers, the government is now installing 4,072 more to improve connectivity in Maoist-hit areas, the official said.

According to former SSB chief Chaudhary, the security forces will have to watch out for retaliatory strikes after successful operations against Maoists in the past one month.

The morale of Maoists must have weakened. They may retaliate to lift the morale of their cadre. The security forces will have to ensure the Maoists remained cornered in their core zone bordering Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Odisha, he said.An air strike on Yemens capital by a Saudi-led military coalition has killed dozens of Huthi rebels including at least two commanders, Saudi television reported Saturday.

Saudi Arabias official Al-Ekhbariya television said two high-ranking insurgents were among more than 50 Huthi militiamen killed in Sanaa on Friday evening, without giving further details.

Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya television said a total of 38 rebels were killed in the strike on a Huthi interior ministry building.

The Huthis confirmed an air strike on Sanaa but gave no details.

The raid came hours ahead of a public funeral of the Huthis political head Saleh al-Sammad, killed last week in a Saudi-led coalition strike.

It also came as newly-appointed US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was scheduled to land in Riyadh for meetings including talks on the Yemen conflict.

The Iran-backed rebels have been locked in a war with the Saudi-led military alliance, which since 2015 has fought to restore the internationally-recognised Yemeni government to power.

The Yemen conflict is widely seen as a proxy war between regional titans Iran and Saudi Arabia.

The Huthis control Yemens capital, Sanaa, as well as much of the countrys north -- which borders Saudi Arabia -- and the key Hodeida port on Yemens Red Sea coast.

Nearly 10,000 people have been killed since the Saudi-led alliance joined the Yemen conflict, triggering what the United Nations has called the worlds worst humanitarian crisis.

Yemen now stands at the brink of famine.

The Saudi-led coalition imposed a total blockade on Yemens ports in November in retaliation for cross-border Huthi missile attacks on Saudi Arabia.

The blockade has since been partially lifted, but access to the impoverished country remains limited.As part of the bi-annual Darbar Move, under which the Jammu and Kashmir government functions for six months each in the twin capitals, all move offices closed in Jammu on Saturday and will reopen in Srinagar on May 7.

While the civil secretariat  the seat of Jammu and Kashmir government  along with other offices in the winter capital closed after office hours on Friday, the move offices were closed this evening.

Finance minister Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari on Saturday visited the civil secretariat to oversee the arrangements of the shifting of official records which were being loaded in State Road Transport Corporation (SRTC) trucks. The trucks would leave for Srinagar on Sunday.

All necessary arrangements are in place to ensure smooth reopening of the move offices in Srinagar, Bukhari told reporters here.

Responding to a question about challenges faced due to the prevailing law and order situation in the valley, he said, the situation in the valley has been like that since the past 30 years. It has not deteriorated abnormally and everything will be okay.

The minister expressed hope that the situation would remain normal and register improvement during the summer.

The government will continue with its priorities to ensure good governance, overall improvement in security situation and development of all the three regions of the state, he added.

Voices have been raised against the Darbar move, a practice started by the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, Gulab Singh, in 1872 to escape the extreme weather conditions of Jammu in summer and that of Kashmir in winter.

The state government spends crores of rupees to shift between the two capital cities twice a year, besides paying similar amount as allowance for the several thousand employees who shift base with the government.

A senior government official said all necessary arrangement for lodging and boarding of move employees had been taken care of well in advance to ensure smooth functioning of the government there.

Meanwhile, only Srinagar-bound vehicles were allowed to ply on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway in accordance with a traffic advisory issued by the government earlier.

Traffic movement on the highway, the only all-weather road connecting Kashmir with the rest of the country, is restricted to one way - from Jammu to Srinagar - for two days beginning today to facilitate move employees and shifting of official records.

Similarly, in order to facilitate smooth movement of vehicles carrying Jammu-based employees, only Srinagar-bound vehicles would be allowed to move on the highway again on May 5 and 6.BJP leaders in Bengal have decided to move court against the May 14 single day schedule for panchayat polls announced by State Election Commission (SEC).

CPI(M) and Party for Democratic Socialism have already challenged the polling schedule in Calcutta high court.

On Monday, we will appeal to the court against the decision of the SEC to hold elections on a single day without adequate security arrangements. The SEC notified a three-phase polling earlier, but suddenly switched to a single day after the state government insisted on it, alleged BJP national secretary and former president of the Bengal unit, Rahul Sinha.

The case moved by CPI(M) and PDS will be heard by justice Subrata Talukdar, who earlier ordered the SEC to allow filing of nomination for an additional day  on April 23.

Sinha pointed out that if the Supreme Court upheld the decision to hold all five phases during the Ramzan month in 2013, SEC had no reason to avoid polling during the Ramzan month this time.

Incidentally, chief minister Mamata Banerjee insisted that the polling should not be held during the Ramzan month (likely to begin on May 16), the heights of summer and after the onset of rains.

The Mamata Banerjee administration has also requested five states  Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Punjab and Telangana  for armed police for the rural polls.

The government has asked for 45 companies of forces from each state.

On Friday, DGP Surajit Kar Purakayastha had promised adequate security in all polling stations in the state.

Why does the Mamata Banerjee administration want to avoid the central forces? asked BJP state president Dilip Ghosh in a public meeting.

On Saturday, election commissioner A K Singh met representatives of 10 political parties to discuss the security aspects during the polls.

The commissioner has no idea about the deployment of security forces. He was only asking us what we would do, alleged Pratap Banerjee, general secretary of Bengal unit of BJP after his meeting with poll panel chief A K Singh.

Violence continues in Bengal

Saturday was the last day for withdrawal of nomination. In Raiganj of North DInajpur and Daulatabad of Murshidabad district, ruling party leaders allegedly attacked houses of opposition candidates.

In Bhatar of East Burdwan district, Ramjan Mollah, 56, was killed when a crude bomb was hurled during a clash allegedly between two factions of the ruling party. Mollah was returning from a shop and he was killed.

Amiya Patra, Bankura district secretary of the CPI(M), alleged that a group of 5060 men came and damaged his house in Taldangra of Bankura district on Friday night.

Trinamool supporters allegedly attacked a BJP leader in Chandrakona Road of West Midnapore district.China president Xi Jinping hosted Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a two-day informal summit in the central Chinese city of Wuhan on Friday and Saturday. Though no official statement was released, Indias foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale on Saturday said the two leaders discussed a range of issues that were important to both India and China, and agreed that they would work on maintaining peaceful ties.

The summit is significant as it comes after months of acrimony over several issues between the two countries, including a 73-day military standoff in Doklam.

Modi, who arrived in Wuhan on Friday, said cooperation between the two countries is essential to maintain peace and stability around the world and offered to host the next informal summit between leaders of the two Asian giants, an invitation Xi accepted.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi shake hands as they visit the Hubei Provincial Museum in Wuhan, on Friday. The tour of the museum marked the start of the informal talks between the leaders. (Reuters)

In his media briefing, Gokhale said the two leaders were trying a different way of communicating to build more stable ties, and agreed that their militaries needed to build trust too.

As the two large economies in Asia, the two leaders also acknowledged each others role in helping the global economy, and even in maintaining peace.

The two days of talks were interspersed between several cultural activities and held at picturesque, if not significant, locations.

President Xi hosted Modi at Mao Zedongs private villa by the East Lake.

The leaders toured the Hubei Provincial Museum that hosts artefacts, were audience to a traditional folk dance, took a boat ride on the East Lake, and even took part in a tea ceremony.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping pose with folk dancers at the Hubei Provincial Museum, in Wuhan on Friday. (PTI)

The informal talks between Modi and Xi were restricted to just the two leaders and their interpreters, seen walking behind them. R Madhu Sudan, the first secretary (political) at the Indian embassy in Beijing was Modis interpreter. (Reuters)

In this photo shared by the Prime Minister, Modi and Chinese president Xi Jinping have tea by the banks of the East Lake after their walk. Productive discussions over tea. Strong India-China friendship is beneficial for the people of our nations and the entire world, the PM captioned the image. (Narendra Modi/Twitter)

PM Modi and President Xi look out on to the East Lake in Wuhan from a boat. The lake is the second largest urban lake in China, and is where Mao Zedongs private villa is located. Xi had hosted Modi at the villa. (PIB/Twitter)

Indian foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed that the informal talks had given them a chance to candidly discuss issues concerning both countries. The leaders took a boat ride on the lake, one that Modi said was  memorable. (PIB/Twitter)

A dancer strikes a pose during a folk dance performance welcoming PM Modi and President Xi at the Hubei Provincial Museum in Wuhan, China, on Friday. (MEA/Twitter)

Folk dancers performing in traditional costume at the Hubei Provincial Museum in Wuhan on Friday. Modi and Xi kick started their two-day summit at the museum. (MEA/Twitter)

PM Modi and President Xi look at an artefact on display at the Hubei Provincial Museum in Wuhan on Saturday. Modi on Twitter thanked President Xi Jinping for the wonderful gesture of personally accompanying him. The Museum is home to great facets of Chinese history and culture, he said of his visit. (Narendra Modi/Twitter)

At the museum, Prime Minister Narendra Modi saw an exhibition of the Marquis Yi of Zeng Cultural Relics and Treasure. (PTI)

Modis trip ended on Saturday afternoon when he flew back to New Delhi.Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda is 84. He has not been in power since 2007, when his Janata Dal (Secular), or JD (S) was part of the ruling coalition with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka. Deve Gowdas son HD Kumaraswamy refused to keep a promise to transfer the chief ministers post to BJPs BS Yeddyurappa, a situation that forced fresh elections and brought the BJP to power on its own for the first time in a southern Indian state.

Deve Gowda and Kumaraswamy have become more isolated and the JD (S) more marginalised since. The BJP ruled Karnataka between 2008 and 2013 and the Congress has held power for five years. The JD(S) could not find a place in the ruling coalition at the centre, too. Losses in many by-elections held in the last 10 years has pushed it further against the wall.

Click here for full coverage on Karnataka elections 2018

The crucial battle

The Magadi assembly constituency is part of Ramnagara district on the outskirts of Bangalore and a stronghold of JD (S). It chose a JD(S) candidate, HS Balakrishna, in the 2013 election, when the Congress won Karnataka. Balakrishna has crossed over to the Congress and the latters candidate in the previous election, Manju, joined ranks with the JD(S). The political summersault by the two candidates, however, doesnt bother Deve Gowda loyalists. They vow to vote for Manju, who was a rival last time.

Deve Gowda and his son are our leader. We vote for them, said Ramanuja, a farmer in Magadi. The JD(S) government a decade ago ensured development of this region.

The Congress is JD(S)s main rival and the BJP is not even in the reckoning for electors here. In Krishnarajpet assembly constituency, currently held by Narayan Gowda of the JD(S), voters are dismissive of the BJP, and divided between the Congress and the JD(S).

The caste divide is sharp and vertical. The Vokkaligas  the influential land-owning community to which Deve Gowda belongs  outnumber other communities. The scheduled castes are sizeable in number and divided between the JD(S) and the Congress. The Muslims favour the Congress over the JD(S).

Deve Gowda is fighting his last battle as an active politician. We cannot ditch him, said Somesh, resident of a village in Krishnarajpet. His companion Raju agreed with him as they waited for an auto-rickshaw. Congress is not bad. But, Deve Gowda is our leader.

Deve Gowda is a father figure for the Vokkaligas in the old Mysore region, and his 58-year-old son Kumaraswamy a leader who remains connected to his people. The message that Deve Gowda may not be as active as he is today in the next assembly election has an emotional appeal among his loyalists, who are in a majority in most of the constituencies. That is an advantage for JD(S) in the old Mysore region.

The calculation

Kumaraswamy was the runner-up in the previous assembly election. His JD(S) fielded candidates in 222 out of Karnatakas 224 constituencies, won 40, stood second in 50 and third in 63 other seats. The JD(S) polled about 6.4 million votes, most of which came from the old Mysore region, comprising districts such as Bangalore, Bangalore Rural, Ramnagara, Hasan, Mysore, Mandya and Charajanagar.

The JD(S) won two out of three seats in Ramnagara and four out of seven seats in Mandya district in the 2013. The Congress could pick up just three seats in these two districts. The BJP drew a blank. Three out of 11 seats of Mysore went to the JD(S) and eight to the Congress. The JD(S) drew nil in Chamrajnagar and won two out of five in Bangalore Rural. Hasan was a near sweep for the JD(S) with a tally of five out of seven seats.

The stronger the JD(S) is, the weaker the Congress gets in this region. Kumaraswamy has tied up with Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) of Mayawati. The move is aimed at gaining some traction for the JD(S) among the Scheduled Castes, a community to which the Uttar Pradesh leader belongs. Even a marginal swing of the SC votes towards the JD(S) improves chances of it doing better than the last time.The governments decision to hand over Delhis historic Red Fort to a leading corporate group for its upkeep under the Adopt a Heritage scheme has kicked up a political storm.

While the Congress has accused the government of bartering away the symbol of freedom, the government responded by saying that the Congress too had engaged private actors in tourism. According to the terms of the MoU signed between Dalmia Bharat and Union ministry of tourism, the former will spend Rs 5 crore annually for five years to make available certain basic amenities.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government are now bartering away the symbol of freedom movement such as Red Fort to his corporate friends for maintenance, Randeep Singh Surjewala, chief spokesperson of the Congress party, said on Saturday.

Responding to the allegations, KJ Alphons, minister of state for tourism, said, Why did Manmohan Singh engage the Aga Khan Foundation, a foreign agency, for restoration of Humayuns Tomb? Not only Singh praised their work, he had also said that such public-private partnership was needed to restore our heritage.

Clarifying governments stand, Alphons said the government is not handing over any heritage building to anybody as private companies will only do cleaning work, construct toilets, provide drinking water and parking among other things by spending their own money.

Adopt a Heritage scheme was launched by President Ram Nath Kovind on the World Tourism Day on September 27, 2017.

The private companies are expected to pay for the upkeep of the monument or site from their CSR (corporate social responsibility) budget. The site or monument will remain under the purview of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). Indian law requires companies to spend 2% of their profit on CSR activities.Sixty-year-old Thayamma cant believe that Mayawatis Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has tied up with the Janata Dal (Secular), JD(S), of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda.

No, no, youre mistaken. Mayawati has aligned with the Congress and not the JD (S), she insisted, before finally being convinced by neighbours that the BSP-JD (S) alliance for the May 12 Karnataka assembly election is indeed a fact.

The reason for her incredulity is that BSP claims to be a staunchly pro-Dalit party and the JD (S), perceived by Dalits in Hassan district, of which Holenarasipura is a part, to be representing the interests of the powerful, dominant, land owning, upper caste Vokkaligas.

Dont people know what happened here just two years ago? If not for the police, we would have been killed that day, said Thayamma, standing in the centre of a Dalit settlement in Sigaranahalli village, in Hassan.

On April 1, 2016, a meeting between district officials, Dalits and the Vokkaligas of the village over allowing Dalits to offer prayers at the local Basaveshwara temple turned acrimonious.

Suddenly, the Vokkaligas began attacking us, and they even pelted stones at the police, injuring the superintendent of police. Would this have been possible without the support of the MLA? Thayamma asked. After that incident, the Vokkaligas boycotted the temple, Thayamma said. They have even ostracised God.

The alliance between JD(S) and BSP has been hailed elsewhere in Karnataka, but the two parties are seen to be strange bedfellows by Dalits in Hassan, where caste identity is a strong factor.

Sigaranahalli is located about 2km from Haradanahalli, where JD(S) chief Deve Gowda was born. And the district has been a stronghold of the Vokkaligas in general, and the JD(S) under Deve Gowda in particular.

Sigaranahalli is part of the Holenarsipura constituency, whose sitting legislator is Deve Gowdas elder son HD Revanna. In 2013, the JD(S) won five of the seven seats in the district.

Last year, Hindustan Times reported that four Dalit men were tied to a tree trunk using metallic hooks drilled into their backs and were made to rotate as part of the Sidi ritual during the biennial fair of Hariharpur village. Raju, a local Dalit activist, said a memorandum had been submitted to the district administration. But the Vokkaligas would have none of that. They pressured the Dalit men to give their consent to take part in the Sidi, he said.

This, Raju said, was a result of the success scored by Dalits in Sigaranahalli.

We had clearly put them on the back foot because we had entered the temple against their wishes and we held out. So, the Hariharpur fair was used as a signal to us that they are the ones who still have power, Raju said.

Chief minister Siddaramaiah has selected the former president of the government employees union, BP Manjegowda, to contest the seat. Manjegowdas campaign plank is to stop discrimination against Dalits.

To be sure, among followers of the JD(S), loyalty to the party remains strong. Thimmegowda, a local JD(S) worker in Sigaranahalli, said there was no question of voting for anybody else.

I will not betray the JD(S) just because of some complaints. I have always stood behind the party and will continue to do so, no matter whoever is the JD(S) candidate, he said.India has signed deals with eight countries, the United States, Canada, Chile, Ecuador, South Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan and Iran for agricultural exports and is scouting for more markets, as it seeks to liberalize trade in farm products, and grow its farm exports.

India has also filed market access requests for 35 agricultural products with over a dozen countries, an official familiar with the development said on condition of anonymity.

The country has concluded discussion on phytosanitary certification for Indian mangoes with Iran.

Phytosanitary certification is a formal declaration by an exporting country guaranteeing that shipments are free of pests and plant diseases, and meet the requirements of the importing country.

Similar deals have been signed with Taiwan, which will allow exports of Indian lily bulbs.

Canada has cleared Indian mangoes, grapes, pomegranate, banana, litchi, papaya, custard apple and okra for export. Chile has approved coconut fibre and walnut. South Korea and Malaysia too have agreed to buy Indian mangoes. Equador is the latest country to clear Indian rice.

Read | IMD forecast of normal monsoon may temper economic, political risks

According to a new farm export framework thats in the works, the government is looking to moderate its strategy of placing frequent restrictions on agri-exports to tame domestic consumer prices.

The plan is to curb commodity exports only in extreme situations and to boost farm income from trade. The government has promised to double farm incomes by 2022.

Agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh recently tweeted about increasing the value of agricultural exports to $100 billion by 2022-23. The Dalwai Committee Report on doubling farmers incomes also talks about freeing up farm exports.

Indias agricultural exports grew five times from about $8.7 billion in 2004-05 to $42.6 billion during 2013-14. This however fell to $33 billion in 2016-17. The countrys net exports (i.e. exports minus imports or the agricultural trade surplus) fell to $7.8 billion in 2016-17.

Read | Why a normal monsoon is crucial for Indian economy, 2019 general election

In 2016-17, marine products, meat and rice together made up 52% of Indias agri-export basket. India also exports spices, cotton, fresh fruits and vegetables, sugar, coffee, groundnut, oilmeals and cashews, which together with marine items, rice and meat comprised over 80% of the agri-export basket in 2016-17. According to farm economist Ashok Gulati, in farm exports, the biggest hurdle comes from uncertain domestic marketing and trade policies which he says must be addressed.

New export hubs for horticultural produce  fresh fruits and vegetables  are being opened in smaller cities as part of the strategy to provide direct global access to local farmers. Trial shipments were recently sent from Varanasi and Guwahati. The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority, in association with our ministry, has identified 70 districts as potential export hubs, agriculture secretary SK Pattanayak said.

Shipments to Dubai from Varanasi contained chilli from Uttar Pradesh. Pineapples were sent from Guwahati and oranges from Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh. Both Varanasi and Guwahati now have complete infrastructure for exports, including phytosanitary certification.

In a boost for mango exports, the US has agreed to transfer requirements of pre-shipment inspection to Indian plant quarantine authorities starting in 2019. The US has also agreed to bear the cost of inspection of mango shipments by US personnel, which will bring down the cost of exports, an agriculture ministry official said.Keshav Suri, 33, executive director of The Lalit Suri Hospitality Group, which owns The Lalit hotel, filed a petition in the Supreme Court last week against Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which criminalises all forms of non-penile vaginal intercourse.

On April 23, the court directed the Centre to respond to Suris plea to tackle discrimination against LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) and intersex people within a week. The Lalit is one of the 83 global firms that support the United Nations Standards of Conduct for Business, released in October 2017. In an interview with Dhamini Ratnam, Suri said the discrimination brought about by Section 377 does not only threaten the dignity of LGBTQ people but also hurts the country economically.

At what point did you decide to file a petition seeking to challenge Section 377?

I was born gay and there was never a moment in my life where I doubted it. Of course there was family drama when I came out to them, but I have been able to file this petition only due to my mothers support.

It was the shooting at Pulse in Orlando [a nightclub in Florida where a shooting in June 2016 left 49 people dead, many of whom were gay] that hit me. You could say it was my personal awakening. There were so many people who grieved for [the victims] openly in the US, and I wondered, what if something like that were to happen here? Would people say we deserved to be shot because they are gay? Were that segment of society that has no rights. It was also my professional awakening to bring about change in my own company. I wanted to create safe spaces for the LGBTQ community.

Apart from arguing for dignity, your writ also focuses on the socioeconomic impact of discrimination brought about by Section 377.

As per World Bank estimates, discrimination against LGBTQ community costs the country billions of dollars [a 2014 interim report estimated the Indian economy lost the equivalent of anywhere between 0.1 and 1.7% of its GDP.] Its time to stop ignoring this. At the same time, there is also a high spending community that does not come to the country because of Section 377. The tourism of this country is taking a big hit. Its a matter of the pink dollar.Lithuanian tourist Liga Skromene, whose decomposed body was found from a deserted mangrove forest in Kerala, died following blunt injuries in the neck, police said.

This was stated in the post-mortem report handed over to the Investigating Officer on Saturday evening, they said.

The cause of death is blunt injuries in the neck, a senior police official told PTI.

Asked if it was a case of murder, he said it could be.

The forensic report was yet to be received, he said.

Ligas body, with her head severed, was found on April 21 from Thiruvallam near Kovalam.

On Friday, city police commissioner P Prakash had said that one reason for her death could be manual strangulation.

Thirty three-year-old Liga, who had come to Kerala for ayurvedic treatment for depression, had gone missing from Kovalam on March 14.

Ilze, the victims sister, told a Malayalam television channel that Liga may have been taken to the deserted spot from where her body was recovered by somebody using drugs.

Somebody using drugs, took her, she said.

Ilze also rubbished reports that Aswati Jwala, a social acivist who was helping her had taken money from her or raised money in Ligas name.

That is totally false, Ilze said.

Meanwhile, IGP Manoj Abraham visited the mangrove forest from where Ligas body was recovered and held discussions with police officials.A 25-year-old man was arrested for allegedly posting defamatory comments on social media linking a few state ministers with a professor held in connection with a sex scandal, police said on Saturday.

Santhosh, a resident of Keezh Iruppu village here, was arrested by the cyber crime branch on Friday for his social media posts linking the ministers to Nirmala Devi, assistant professor at the Devanga Arts College in Aruppukottai.

Police said they had studied his posts on Facebook and confirmed that they were defamatory in nature before arresting him.

Santhosh, a diploma holder, was taken to Chennai for further interrogation, officials said.

Nirmala Devi was arrested on April 16, a day after an audio clip went viral on the social media, in which she purportedly sought to persuade girls to consider extending sexual favours to senior officials of the MKU, to which the college is affiliated.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)Maoists set ablaze five vehicles engaged in a road construction work in Balrampur district of Chhattisgarh on Saturday, and allegedly abducted three persons, including a government sub-engineer from there, police said.

The incident took place between Bandarchua and Pundag villages under Samri police station limits, where the road construction work was going on under the Prime Minister Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), a local police officer told PTI.

A group of around two dozen ultras reached the construction site, located around 500 kms away from the state capital, and threatened workers to stop the work. Before fleeing from the spot, the ultras burnt one JCB machine, one road roller and three hyva trucks, he said.

One sub-engineer of PMGSY and two employees of a private construction company who were working at the site were reported to be missing from the spot. As of now it was not clear whether they were abducted by Naxals (or Maoists) or they themselves escaped into the forests after the ultras stormed in, the official said.

Soon after being alerted, a police team along with senior officials reached the spot and a search operation was launched in the area, he said.

Police personnel were also trying to find out the whereabouts of the three missing people, he added.India and China will for first time implement a joint economic project in war-torn Afghanistan, officials said on Saturday at the end of the two-day informal summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping.

Follow live updates here

No details were immediately available about the project but it was learnt from people familiar with the decision that the two leaders reached consensus on working together for the development of Afghanistan and its people.

This is probably the first time India and China will work together on a developmental project in a third country.

India has for long had a presence in the development sector of Afghanistan and has provided billions of dollars for building and refurbishing vital infrastructure such as dams and highways.

China is emerging as a key player in Afghanistan, largely because of Beijings security concerns linked to terror groups such as al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.

The path ahead for the India-China project will be diplomatically tricky as Beijing will have to convince its close ally Islamabad about it. Pakistan has always opposed any Indian presence in Afghanistan and has tried to position itself as the main player in any peace or reconciliation process.

China and Pakistan were part of a quadrilateral process along with the US and Afghanistan that was involved in trying to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table. Despite several promises by Islamabad, it was never able to get the Taliban leadership to commit to any sort of peace process.

While Indias leadership has never publicly spoken about involving the Taliban in a peace process, China has openly advocated a key role for the militants in talks.

China, for the first time, held a trilateral meet with the foreign ministers of Pakistan and Afghanistan in December 2017 to narrow down differences between the two countries. It has also announced plans to extend its controversial China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to Afghanistan.

In December, Pakistans proposal to establish working panels in politics, military, intelligence, economy and refugees with Afghanistan was supported by China.

The three countries reaffirmed their commitment to pushing forward the reconciliation process in Afghanistan, calling on the Taliban to join in the process. China and Pakistan expressed support for peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban, official Xinhua news agency reported after the foreign ministers of the three countries met in Beijing in December.

This is not the first time New Delhi and Beijing have mulled cooperating in Afghanistan. In 2010, the two countries discussed collaborating in projects and joint initiatives in the country ahead of then prime minister Manmohan Singhs visit to China.

Then national security advisor Shiv Shankar Menon and foreign minister Yang Jiechi had discussed launching joint projects in Afghanistan.

Even during former foreign secretary S Jaishankars visit to Beijing, for the restructured India-China Strategic Dialogue, Afghanistan had emerged as common ground in discussions. Jaishankar had discussed the possibility of joint projects with Chinese officials.

At the end of the strategic dialogue, Jaishankar was quoted as saying that on Afghanistan, Chinas policies were in tandem with Indias.Prime Minister Narendra Modi took an hour-long boat ride with his host Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday, the final day of an ice-breaking trip both are hoping will lead to better ties.

Modi is spending only about 24 hours in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, just months after Doklam standoff soured ties.

Billed by both sides as an informal meeting rather than a summit, with none of the pomp and ceremony of a state visit such as 21-gun salutes, the two men held talks on Friday.

Follow live updates here.

12:17pm: Informal summit concludes as PM Modi leaves for New Delhi.

10:30am: India and China to have a joint economic project in Afghanistan, according to sources.

10:10am: Briefing ends.

10:09am: The two leaders underscored that it is important to maintain peace along India-China border region and decided that they will issue strategic guidance to their respective militaries to strengthen communications and to build trust and understanding, ANI quotes Gokhlae as saying.

10:08am: Modi and Xi have agreed that greater efforts need be made to maintain peace and tranquility at the border, says Gokhale in response to a question.

10:07am: This is a new way of communication that the leaders are trying. President Xi Jinping hasnt hosted any foreign leader outside capital Beijing, says Gokhale.

10am: In their meetings, the two leaders agreed to maintain peace along the border, and also maintain a balance trade ties, said the Indian foreign secretary.

9:29am: The two leaders said the informal meeting was candid and helped in boosting strategic ties, says Gokhale

9:58am: Both leaders acknowledge the threat of terrorism and agreed on resolute opposition to terrorism, says Gokhale.

9:57am: Global issues discussed during the meetings included climate change, food security and sustainable development.

9:56am: In the purpose of economic stability, both countries acknowledged each others role in helping the global economy grow, says Gokhale.

9:55am: Gokhale says the leaders agreed there should be more strategic boost to communications.

9:54am: Gokhale says the leaders talked of sharing cultural ties, PM Modi said more movies could be shared. Leaders also discussed sharing expertise in sports.

9:50am: Indias foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale says the basic objective of the summit was to discuss overlapping issues between countries. The two leaders agreed they will proceed with peaceful bilateral relations.

9:49am: Briefing begins. India ambassador to China also present.

9:43am: A briefing by the Indian foreign secretary is expected soon.

9:19am: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping continue their discussions inside a house boat on Wuhans East Lake. The leaders are in private talks, with just two interpreters to help in clear communication.

9:10am: The leaders participate in a tea ceremony.

#WATCH China: Prime Minister Narendra Modi & Chinese President Xi Jinping have tea after a walk along East Lake in Wuhan. pic.twitter.com/5BuROg31Cg  ANI (@ANI) April 28, 2018

8:50am: Modi and Xi board a boat; the leaders will take a ride on the East Lake, the second largest urban lake in China.

8:15am: Day two of the informal summit begins with a walk around the famous East Lake in Wuhan.

Modi and Xi spent their first day of the informal summit touring the Hubei Provincial Museum, holding delegation-level talks and later meeting at a dinner hosted by the Chinese president at Maos villa.

The meetings over the two days is expected to set the stage for a more positive relationship between India and China after last years military standoff in Doklam soured ties, among other issues.

Prime Minister Modi said cooperation between two countries is essential to maintain peace and stability around the world and offered to host the next informal summit between leaders of the two Asian giants.

President Xi too said he believed they can have more summits in the same format.

We should look at the big picture of China-India relationship from the strategic angle and ensure our relationship continues forward in a positive direction. Friendship between the two countries should continue to grow like Yangtze and Ganges flowing forward forever, Xi was quoted as saying by state-run CCTV.A team of National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Chaibasa Muffasil police on Friday arrested absconding CPI (Maoist) rebel Sushil alias Buddhhu alias Chris alias Birendra Dange from Chaibasa in connection with the murder of former Jharkhand minister and JD (U) MLA from Tamar Ramesh Singh Munda.

NIA had earlier arrested former Tamar MLA and state minister Gopal Krishna Patar alias Raja Peter as the mastermind behind the murder and booked dreaded CPI (Maoist) commander Kundan Pahan who had surrendered under state governments surrender policy last year as the executioner of the murder plot.

Police sources told 15-year-old Sushil was a member of the Kundan Pahan squad  operating in Tamar-Khunti-Silli area  and was a member of the team that went to Tamar and murdered Munda in 2008. Hailing from Dau village under Sonua police station (PS) area of West Sunghbhum district, Sushil had shifted to Chennai and later to Punjab where he was working as a labourer.

NIA sleuths had raided Sushil alias Chriss village house two days ago on a tip-off that he has returned to his parental house but had failed to arrest him. Friday morning, NIA team along with district police team led by Chaibasa Muffasil PS officer-in-charge (OC) Digbijay Singh arrested him from near the police station itself.

We have arrested him and he has admitted of being a member of the team that murdered Munda. He, however, insisted that he didnt kill Munda. NIA team produced him in Chaibasa court and took him to Ranchi on transit remand, Singh told the HT, refusing to divulge any more detail.

Sources said Sushil alias Chris had left CPI (Maoist) squad after Kundan Pahans surrender and got himself a new Aadhaar card, on the basis of which he got jobs in Chennai and later in Punjab.

Pahan had admitted to have killed Munda for Rs 5 crore given to him by Raja Peter during interrogation by NIA. NIA is investigating how Raja Peter possessed such a huge amount and who were the sponsors.

According to sources, the deal was struck between the banned CPI (Maoist) Politburo and Raja Peter. Initially, Rs 3 crore was paid in advance and Rs 2 crore was paid after Munda was killed. The remaining Rs 2 crore could not reach to the politburo of the CPI-Maoist as Maoist commander Balram Sahu escaped with the money. Balram too was later arrested by police.

Raja Peter had created history by defeating the then Jharkhand chief minister and JMM chief Shibu Soren in January 2009 by-election for the Tamar seat, which fell vacant after the murder of Ramesh Singh Munda.

Apart from Raja Peter, NIA had also arrested Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) Sheshnath Singh in Mundas murder. Singh was Mundas bodyguard and he allegedly passed on information about the movement of Munda to Maoists.Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping were not expected to hug at their first meeting at the Hubei provincial museum on Friday afternoon. They didnt.

But the following 35 minutes at the museum set the tone for their informal summit, and the six times they met in less than 24 hours in warm, humid Wuhan.

All the interactions took place without the leaders having to stick to a written, structured agenda, though the officials who planned Modis visit had prepared outlines for topics to be discussed.

Chinese officials pointed out Xi had never hosted another world leader twice outside Beijing. Xi, they added, had first hosted Modi in Xian in May 2015.

At the museum, Xi took Modi on a personal tour during which the Indian leader was shown carefully selected artifacts excavated from various locations in Hubei province.

The next meeting between the two leaders  accompanied by six diplomats from each side  was supposed to last 30 minutes. Instead, it went on for two hours.

Keeping in the nature of the informal summit, it went beyond its budgeted time, foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale said on Saturday while talking about the meeting.

The scenic East Lake of Wuhan was the setting for most of the meetings. On Saturday, it was at the park next to the lake that the two leaders first went for a walk before taking a boat ride.

A special Chinese tea-making ceremony was arranged on the upper deck of the boat, where experts carefully explained the history and culture of tea drinking in China to Modi.

The topic of Indian movies performing well in China and the success of Aamir Khans Dangal was bound to come up. During one of the interactions, Xi told Modi he had seen a number of Bollywood and regional Indian movies.

Xi suggested more Indian movies should be screened in China and more Chinese movies shown in India, strengthening people-to-people contacts.

Commentaries in the Chinese media reflected a sense of optimism and noted the personal chemistry of the two leaders.

The beauty of the informal summit between Xi and Modi is that it comes with no baggage, only expectations. It is free of the usual diplomatic frills, somewhat beyond the global media limelight, state controlled China Daily newspaper said in an editorial.

As expected, the heart-to-heart communication between the two leaders reflected their deepened mutual chemistry, which, in turn, will be conducive to improving mutual trust between the neighbours and charting the course of long-term bilateral development, it added.

On Saturday morning, Modi posted two messages with photos on his account on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, sharing his thoughts on the visit.

Very glad to meet President Xi Jinping in Wuhan. We had broad and fruitful discussions and exchanged ideas on how to strengthen the India-China relationship and other international issues, he wrote.

He posted photos of his tour with Xi at the Hubei museum on Friday. Thanks President Xi Jinping for accompanying me on the tour at the Hubei Provincial Museum. This museum has significant historical relics of Chinese civilisation and history, he said.The Indian Air Force (IAF) has sought to dispel any notion about its so-called fondness for imported platforms, including fighter jets, at the cost of indigenisation.

IAF chief BS Dhanoa said that while many people pontificate about indigenisation, the air force has paid with the lives of its pilots and engineers to take homegrown projects further.

He was delivering a talk on The Role of IAF in the Changing Security Environment at Delhi-based think tank Vivekananda International Foundation on Thursday. The IAF operates 32 platforms sourced from nine countries.

Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa said since independence, 17 test pilots and engineers had lost their lives in air accidents during the testing and evaluation of indigenous planes such as Marut, Kiran, Ajeet, Saras and AWACS (airborne warning and control systems) prototype aircraft.

It is the IAFs endeavour to achieve self-sufficiency through focused, sustained and evolved indigenisation programmes, the air force chief said, making a mention of the locally produced Tejas light combat aircraft, Akash surface-to-air missiles and a string of advanced radars.

Dhanoa stressed that it was existing superiority in capability that afforded a country the luxury of time to pursue totally indigenous solutions. Military industry experts often argue that the navy has achieved a higher degree of indigenisation than the air force.

Its unfair to compare only an aircraft for its indigenous content versus an entire ship. Compare aircraft with a SAM (surface-to-air missile) system or carrier-borne airpower for indigenous content, the air force chief said. He said while a naval destroyer as a fighting unit had an indigenous capability of 55%, in the case of the IAF, if the air base, infrastructure, missiles and aircraft were counted, the figure would come to 52%.

Giving the example of Brazil, Dhanoa said if a country had a low external threat perception, it could wait longer for new platforms to be inducted. He said Brazil hammered out a contract for the development and production of 36 Gripen NG aircraft in October 2014 but deliveries to the Brazilian Air Force will run from 2019 to 2024. Some of these aircraft will be built with Brazils participation.

On the other hand, India signed an $8.7-billion deal with France for 36 Rafale jets in September 2016 as an emergency purchase and all planes will be delivered in a flyaway condition between 2019 and 2022.

The point that the chief is trying to make is that if India too had a low external threat perception, it could have waited longer for the new fighters that could have been made with Indian participation.

The IAF is struggling with a shortage of warplanes  compared to an optimum strength of 42-plus units required to fight a two-front war, the count of the IAFs fighter squadrons has shrunk to 31.An oil leak following burst in an underground pipeline near Kumbakonam was fixed promptly, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation said on Saturday while PMK demanded permanent closure of oil wells to avert deterioration of farm lands.

An oil spill which affected farm land in their area was noticed by Kathiramangalam villagers on Friday and they informed government authorities including police officials.

Action was immediately taken and the leak was set right at Kathiramangalam. The well (to which the pipeline was linked) has also been closed, an ONGC official told PTI.

On the cause of the leak, he said it cannot be spelt out at this stage.

The leak was noticed by 4 pm on Friday and it was fixed immediately, he said.

For over a decade, the ONGC has been extracting oil and natural gas from its wells in the Kathiramangalam region near the banks of Cauvery and the fuel is routed to its facility at nearby Kuthalam for processing.

Considering the safety of the people and to avert deterioration of farm lands, the oil wells should be shut and ONGC should quit (the region), PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss said.

The PMK leader, who is also the Dharmapuri Lok Sabha MP said the oil spill has damaged paddy crop in 3.5 acre land of a farmer.

Though the leak has been stopped temporarily, till now the pipelines have not been changed, he claimed.

Ever since oil extraction wells were established in and around Kathiramangalam in 2002 by the ONGC, it has affected the environment and led to deterioration of agriculture, he alleged.

Following Fridays leak, villagers, who have been staunchly opposing ONGCs operations for nearly a year stepped up their protest reiterating their demand and police personnel have been deployed for maintenance of law and order.

Since last May, villagers have been opposing oil and gas extraction alleging it would affect agriculture.

Also, they continue to oppose bid to extract methane.

It may be recalled that on June 30 (Kathiramangalam) and August 13 (Mathirimangalam) similar incidents of pipeline bursts had occurred in the Cauvery Delta region of Tamil Nadu.JKLF chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik was detained on Saturday while on his way to Jamia Masjid in Srinagar for a protest march, amid accusations that the police assaulted him.

The police have denied the charge, saying people travelling in Maliks car created a fracas when they were stopped at a check-point at Khanyar.

A police spokesman said Malik was lodged at Kothi Bagh police station.

A Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front spokesman said the march was against the use of force on students, illegal continuous arrest of leaders by National Investigation Agency and the Kathua rape and murder incident.

He alleged that Malik was assaulted by the police before being taken away.

The police stopped Maliks vehicle near Gousia Hospital in Khanyar andstraightaway a police officer started showering the choicest abuses on him, he said.

The JKLF chairman objected to the police officers misbehaviour and asked him to show some restraint, according to the JKLF version.

The policemen assaulted JKLF chairman, injured him, and virtually dragged him to police station Khanyar, the spokesman said.

Malik and another JKLF leader Bashir Kashmiri were then shifted to the Kothi Bagh police station, he said.

Moderate Hurriyat Conference leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has condemned the alleged police action.

However, a police spokesman refuted the charge.

The police said a team from Khanyar on routine naka duty stopped the car at 12.10 pm, and asked for the vehicles registration papers.

Instead of producing them, those in the car created obstruction in the lawful duty of the police, the spokesman said, rebutting allegations of any harassment of the JKLF leader.Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra is understood to have decided to urgently convene a meeting of the collegium to reconsider the name of the Uttarakhand high court Chief Justice KM Joseph for elevation as a judge of the Supreme Court.

The government had on Friday returned the file to the collegium, which had recommended on January 10 Justice Josephs name for his elevation as an apex court judge.

A Supreme Court official said it is but natural to hold the meeting of the collegium and it will be convened as soon as possible.

However, the only question that remains is the availability of all the five judges of the collegium as Justice Madan B Lokur, who is the member of the collegium, was away from work on April 26 and 27 due to medical reasons.

If the quorum is complete, the collegium meeting will be convened immediately, the official said.

Justice Joseph had headed the bench that had quashed the Narendra Modi governments decision to impose Presidents rule in 2016 when the Congress was in power in the hill state.

The government returned the collegiums recommendation to elevate Justice Joseph seeking its reconsideration, saying the proposal was not in accordance with the top courts parameters and there was adequate representation of Kerala in the higher judiciary from where he hails.

Justice Joseph, who will turn 60 this June, has been the chief justice of the Uttarakhand high court since July 2014. He was appointed as a permanent judge of the Kerala high court on October 14, 2004 and had assumed charge of the Uttarakhand HC on July 31, 2014.

His name was recommended by the collegium comprising Chief Justice Misra and justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B Lokur and Kurian Joseph.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text)Social acceptance of intimate homosexual relations remains low even as a clutch of petitions against Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which criminalises all forms of non-penile vaginal intercourse, lies before the Supreme Court.

A survey across eight Indian states, which sought to map opinions on a range of subjects from ease of accessing government schemes to perceptions on gender roles, has found that respondents are not forthcoming in stating their support of adult consensual same-sex relations.

The survey, conducted jointly by the Bengaluru-based Azim Premji University (APU) and Lok Niti at the Delhi-based Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), is the second of three annual surveys titled Politics and Society between Elections planned across 24 states and Union Territories to map social and political attitudes between elections.

It covered 15,222 respondents from eight states, including Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, and Maharashtra, and was conducted between December 2017 and January 2018. The report on the survey was released on Friday.

The participants were asked to respond to the following statement: Sexual relationships between two men or two women should be accepted in society. They were expected to answer with any one of the five options: Fully agree, Somewhat agree, Somewhat disagree, Fully disagree, and No opinion.

A total of 28% agreed with the statement while 46% disagreed (these numbers are a combination of fully and somewhat categories). The remaining  a significant 26%  had no opinion.

Bihar and Rajasthan registered the largest share of respondents who supported same-sex relationships  39% and 37% while Jharkhand, with 64% who chose to disagree with the statement, had the largest share of respondents who did not support same-sex relations. The southern states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana had the highest proportion of respondents who had no opinion  46% and 33% respectively.

Looking at the answers to other questions (in the survey) and, more broadly, we are seeing a growing trend towards cultural majoritarianism, whether through love jihad, or ghar wapsi. Is this attitude towards same-sex relations also following that trend? As the demographic pyramid changes, will this attitude grow, or decrease over time? asked Siddharth Swaminathan, a professor of policy and governance at APU, who is anchoring the project.

Love jihad is a term coined by fringe Hindu groups to describe what they claim is a conspiracy by Muslim men to lure Hindu women into marriage. Ghar wapsi (back home) is the campaign led by some groups for the conversion of non-Hindus to Hinduism.

Socially liberal

The survey asked questions to judge peoples attitude towards freedom of expression, displays of nationalism and patriarchal gender roles. For instance, they were asked to respond to the following statements: The government should punish those who do not stand during the national anthem; and Women should have the right to decide whether to get married or not.

Assuming that those who disagreed with the first statement and agreed with the second could be said to hold socially liberal views, Swaminathan cross-tabulated the data on these questions with responses on same-sex relationships. He found that many with socially liberal views did not come out strongly in support of same-sex relations.

For instance, nearly 76% of those who fully disagreed with the statement that the government should punish those who do not stand during the national anthem did not support the acceptance of same-sex relations in society.

Age was not a factor in expressing acceptance either: 21% of the youth surveyed (ages 18 to 35) did not have an opinion on same-sex relations, while 39% fully disagreed with the proposition. Only 11% fully agreed. Among the middle aged (36 to 59 years), approximately 37% fully disagreed and 29% did not have an opinion, while among the older respondents (60 years and above), a comparable 35% fully disagreed and 35% chose no opinion.

According to Bengaluru-based counsellor, Vinay Chandran, who has worked with the queer community for close to two decades, The findings indicate that gender and sexual identity experiences challenge the social norm at a very fundamental level, a challenge that most people in India are still uncomfortable with.

To wit, among those who had an opinion on the marriage question, 47% of those who agreed that women should have the right to decide to marry fully disagreed with the proposition that same-sex relations should be accepted in society.

Interestingly, a significant proportion of respondents  21%  among those who disagreed with the marriage question somewhat agreed that same-sex relations should be accepted. .

Chayanika Shah, a Mumbai-based academician and member of LABIA  a queer feminist LBT collective, which works with lesbian and bisexual women and transpersons  said, The consistency of those that partially agree or disagree across questions should also tell us that many people do not want to take a stand and we do not know what their actual stand is.

We have found time and again with different groups that acceptance in the abstract gets many more ayes than when you start making its connections with them and theirs. As soon as we ask people about the possibility of someone in their intimate circle in same-sex relationships then their reactions are more negative. The real question is: what does acceptance mean? Is it mere tolerance or is it standing up for equal rights irrespective of who is in the relationship? said Shah, who has been part of the queer rights movement for over two decades.

The cross-tabulated findings, shared exclusively with Hindustan Times, were first revealed at a conference on transgender rights and the law held in Bengaluru earlier this month. They do not form part of the survey.The lawyers strike in Calcutta high court will end on Monday, 71 days after more than 10,000 lawyers stopped work demanding filling of judges vacancies in the court.

The strike is the longest in the history of the countrys oldest high court.

The cease-work was launched on February 18 by three bodies of lawyers  the Bar Association, Bar Library and Incorporated Law Society.

We have decided to resume work from Monday. In our meeting on April 26, we had adopted a resolution that if our demands are met, we will resume work without waiting for another meeting and adopt another resolution, said Uttam Majumdar, the president of Bar Association, the largest body of lawyers.

On April 27, Rajinder Kashyap, joint secretary to the government of India, issued a notification announcing the appointment of Biswajit Basu, Amrita Sinha, Abhijit Gangopadhyay and Jay Sengupta as judges of Calcutta high court.

With them, the number of judges in the court will go up to 37, although the sanctioned strength of the court is 72 judges.

Moreover, with two of the judges being deputed at Port Blair circuit bench, the effective number comes down to 35.

On April 26, Kausik Chanda, additional solicitor general of India, wrote to the additional government advocate in-charge of the ministry of law in Kolkata, saying a number of important litigations where the government of India is a party are being moved ex-parte in person.

It is imperative that the Union of India should be represented through its counsel. All the learned advocates, empanelled under the ministry of law and justice, are requested to appear before the honourable court in the matter where he has been briefed, Chanda wrote.

More than 2.2 lakh cases are pending at the Calcutta high court.

Earlier, the Bar Association president alleged that except Karnataka high court, every high court in the country has more than 50-60% of the sanctioned strength of judges.

Only Calcutta high court is functioning with 45% strength, Majumdar said.

In 2004, lawyers did not work for 45 days to protest against steep rise in stamp duty, but that was a part of a state-wide stir.At least two Maoists, including a woman, were killed in an exchange of fire with security forces in Sukma district of Chhattisgarh on Saturday, a senior police official said.

Several other Maoists were injured in the encounter and the toll may rise. Firearms were also seized from the spot, he said.

The gunfight comes a day after eight Maoists, including six women, were killed in an encounter in Sukmas adjoining district Bijapur.

The fresh gun-battle took place in the forest near Metagudam village in Burkapal area of Sukma district this morning, Deputy Inspector General of Police (south Bastar range) Sundarraj P told PTI.

So far, the bodies of two Naxals, including a woman, have been recovered along with 11 weapons. A search operation following the encounter was still going on, he said.

Separate teams of the District Reserve Guard (DRG), the Special Task Force (STF) and the Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA), an elite unit of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), were carrying out combing operations in Sukma, located around 400 km from the state capital Raipur, for the last couple of days, Sundarraj said.

This morning, when a joint team of the DRG and the STF was cordoning off a forest area near Metagudam located deep inside Burkapal, an exchange of fire broke out between the squad and a group of Maoists present in the area, the DIG said.

The gun-battle lasted for about two hours following which the Maoists fled into the core forest area, he said, adding according to ground reports, several other Maoists were injured in the exchange of fire but their colleagues managed to drag them away.

The DIG said further details were waited.

Fridays operation in Bijapur was carried out jointly by the Chhattisgarh Police, the special anti-Maoist Greyhounds unit of their Telangana counterparts and the CRPF.When Mahindra launched the Mahindra XUV500 seven years ago, it took the market by storm. The car offered tonnes of value and fell in a price segment populated with sedans. Since then, the XUV500 has gone through many changes over the years, and, finally, its in this 2018 avatar that its premium appeal has gone up a few notches. The exteriors get some styling tweaks, interiors have been given an upmarket treatment and the engine gets a performance boost; all of this to keep the XUV500 fresh and competitive.

With this facelift, its the rear of the XUV500 thats received the maximum change. Its got a redefined tailgate, new tail-lamps and a new roof spoiler, all of which gives the XUV500 a tamer, MPV-like appearance.

Between the 2015 facelift and this update, exterior changes are minor yet distinctive. The most prominent change is in the front grille, which gets chrome-studded and surrounded with gloss black sides and thick chrome. While the headlamps retain their basic shape, and also the projectors for low beam, the elements inside are different. The new LED DRL strip sitting atop the headlamps looks like an after-market addition, and the chrome in the fog lamp housing has been reshaped; the rest of the bumper remains unchanged. New, smart dual-tone 18-inch alloy wheels feature on the top W11 (O) variant and these fill the wheel wells very nicely. Theres even a chrome strip on the doors and new roof rails, but these are far too subtle and can be easily missed. With this facelift, its the rear thats received the biggest change. Its got a redefined tailgate, new tail-lamps and a new roof spoiler, all of which gives the XUV500 a tamer, MPV-like appearance.

The centre console gets a new piano-black finish with brushed-silver highlights. Plastics on the dash and door sills now have a nice, soft feel to them, and there are faux-leather inserts with contrasting stitching on the dashboard top.

The interiors of the W11 (O) variant are all black with quilted tan-leather seat upholstery, which look very upmarket. While the seats look very nice, their fitting is shoddy and feel like an after-market fitment. It is also not very comfy to sit on as you can feel the three vertical foam strips (shaped below the quilting) against your back, quite distinctly. The centre console gets a new piano-black finish with brushed-silver highlights. Plastics on the dash and door sills now have a nice, soft feel to them, and there are faux-leather inserts with contrasting stitching on the dashboard top.

Whats nice is that the XUV500 is still well-equipped and comes with kit such as a sunroof, auto headlamps and wipers, touchscreen with navigation, Android Auto, reversing camera, six airbags and ESP. But, this time around, the audio experience is tweaked by Arkamys and the location of the tweeters has been changed. With the BlueSense app, users can sync the infotainment to an Android or Apple smartwatch, which allows them to control the audio, climate control and view information like tyre pressure. Given the screen size of a watch, this function seems more party trick than useful.

The interiors of the W11 (O) variant are all black with quilted tan-leather seat upholstery, which look very upmarket.

The XUV500 never lacked in terms of performance, but Mahindra has given the latest iteration a bump in power. The 2.2-litre diesel engine now makes 155hp and 360Nm of torque  an increase of 15hp and 30Nm over the previous version. The variable geometry turbocharger is now electronically controlled, whereas the earlier one was vacuum controlled. The engines response low down the rev range has improved a bit, and boost comes in gently at around 1,400rpm and builds nicely from 1,800rpm. This engine pulls very strongly until 4,000rpm, beyond which progress is slow. Mated to the engine is the six-speed manual gearbox, which, like before, is notchy with long throws and transmits power to the front wheels.

There havent been any noticeable changes to the suspension and it still rides like before, despite the large 18-inch wheels.

Whats nice is that, since the 2015 update, the XUV500 puts the power down to the front wheels much better now, and despite the increase in power, this 2018 facelift doesnt pull hither and thither under hard acceleration in lower gears. Theres also a six-speed automatic transmission on offer that can either drive the front wheels or all four wheels, and the initial response of this gearbox seems to have improved slightly. There havent been any noticeable changes to the suspension and it still rides like before, despite the large 18-inch wheels. Its a bit crashy over sharp bumps, but the 235/60 profile tyres smother smaller imperfections. Body roll is well-controlled too.

The updated XUV500 is now a much fresher package. The new W11 (O) MT variant is around Rs 4,000 cheaper than the previous W10 FWD MT variant. So, Mahindra has really upped its value game by offering more for less. However, at Rs 19.05 lakh, the range-topping W11 (O) AWD automatic is just too expensive. You now get a more luxurious experience on the inside, and even better performance. The Mahindra XUV500 may not match the Hyundai Cretas levels of sophistication, but look at it in isolation, and youll see that its laundry list of features and ability to seat seven makes it an appealing proposition.In one of my recent TEDx Talks, I referred casually to a hypothetical breakfast with Bollywood diva Deepika Padukone. Believe it or not, my innate intent in mentioning this unlikely possibility, was more to highlight the importance of breakfast than to enhance the prominence levels of the already much celebrated Ms Padukone!

At times I like to ask my audiences about the time they spend on breakfast every day. I give them multiple choices  zero to one minute, one to three minutes, three to five minutes, or more than five minutes. The answers I get seldom surprise me. Very rarely does a hand or two go up in response to the last option.

It is a malaise of our era that we do not spend enough time on the things that really matter. We will spend hours in traffic, travelling to and attending a wedding, gaping at others, unable to speak to anyone since the music is blaring and rather cacophonously at that. But we will not spend even ten minutes with our own family at meal time. We are too busy for that, too engrossed in work at lunch time, and too engrossed in the idiot box or the internet at supper time.

Meal times present opportunities for us to catch up with our loved ones, especially our children. The simultaneous viewing of television has to be a strict No, no. Unless a T-20 match is being beamed live - Just kidding!

Of course, if Ms Padukone were to actually accept an invitation to breakfast, we would surely pay much more attention to that event. We would take the day off, not wanting the thought of work to mar it. We would hope that it would be a long and leisurely occasion, with the conversation and laughter flowing endlessly. But the next morning we would go back to being our usual selves, rushing to work after having nibbled at a sandwich, after having gobbled up a banana. Milk would be gulped down in a trice and we would soon be in a car speeding to its destination.

In some ways, even our lives are speeding to destinations that are unclear and hazy. We need to enjoy the journey and not wait for 2024 to be happy!

Socrates, the great Greek philosopher who knew a thing or two about life, famously warned mankind to beware the barrenness of a busy life. Busy lives are meant to lead to happiness in some way, otherwise what is the point of living them? If one is forever occupied in work at the cost of spending quality time with self and family, something is missing.

Success undoubtedly comes from working hard. But what price is success if we forget to relish our wins and savour the sense of achievement that comes with it?

A Harvard Business Review (HBR) article on busyness by Silvia Bellezza, Neeru Paharia and Anat Keinan, mentions that phrases like crazy schedules and having no life are used by people seeking to influence perceptions of status in the eyes of others. So here we have another malady of our times. Even if one is not as occupied with work as others are, one seeks to create an impression of busyness.

Success, alas, does not come through such games that people play. It comes from being able to feel a bounce in the heart and being able to a sing a song of joy. And these happy moments do come from material success but they come even more from inner peace.

The ever charming actor, Richard Gere, who is something of a philosopher now, states that he would rather be loved than have money and all those sorts of things. Perhaps it takes years of ups and downs to come to such conclusions in life. Till then most of us love to remain busy or just pretend to be so.

Thus, it is dinner each day with the family that matters more in the ultimate analysis than that one-off dreamy breakfast with Deepika Padukone. Let us give it the attention it deserves. Ms Padukone has many other things on her plate anyway!

vivek.atray@gmail.comTata has boosted the appeal of its stylish Nexon by adding an automatic transmission option for both petrol and diesel versions. Unlike the segment leader, the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza, which has no automatic option at all, or the Ford EcoSport, which has an auto option only for the petrol variant, the Nexon is the first model in the compact SUV segment to offer an automatic for both petrol and diesel options in a bid to attract a wider set of customers. But unlike the EcoSport, which switched from a sophisticated twin-clutch auto to the more mainstream torque converter with the facelift, the Nexon gets the more basic automated manual transmission (AMT) that piggybacks on the six-speed manual gearbox (for the petrol and diesel).

Theres also a new colour option - the Etna Orange body colour with a Sonic Silver roof makes the Nexon stand out from the crowd but is available only in the top-end XZA+ variant. There are no changes on the inside, and the cabin continues to offer a premium ambience.

The Tata Nexon also has a new colour option - the Etna Orange body colour with a Sonic Silver roof. Available only in the top-end XZA+ variant, the colour makes the car stand out in the crowd.

The Nexon AMT variant gets the same Multi-Drive modes (Eco, City and Sport) from the manual variant and also a creep function, which is a boon in bumper-to-bumper traffic. We drove the diesel-AMT first, and the four-cylinder engine with 110hp and 260Nm of torque complements the six-speed AMT unit quite well. The diesel-AMT is smooth right from the moment you take off from standstill, and the consequent shifts are no different. With low to medium throttle inputs, the AMT behaves very similar to a conventional torque converter gearbox. The car stays in the power band and there is always enough power available on tap. On hard acceleration, the typical head nod or pause between shifts is present, but not to uncomfortable levels. The AMT unit is quick to drop down a gear (even two if needed) when you suddenly floor the accelerator and even shifts up when you ease on the throttle for a smoother transition.

The diesel-AMT is smooth right from the moment you take off from standstill, and the consequent shifts are no different.

Engage the Eco mode and you will see the shifts happening earlier and the transition between gears becoming much smoother as compared to the City mode. The Sport mode is what most drivers will prefer when in a hurry as the gearbox holds on to a gear much longer than in other modes. Move the gear lever to the left, to manual mode, and you can take control of shifting but this doesnt make gear shifting any quicker. Theres a slight delay in upshifts as well as downshifts when in manual mode and we found it best to leave the mode in Sport for spirited driving.

The AMT variants of the Tata Nexon has a hill-hold assist which eliminates the use of handbrake on inclines.

The three-cylinder turbo-petrol engine develops the same 110hp and 170Nm of torque, but the implementation of the AMT is not as good as in the diesel. The on-off throttle transition is a bit jerky and power delivery isnt very linear, though some of the flat spots have been ironed out. On part throttle, or when driving with a gentle foot, the gear shifts on the petrol-AMT are quite smooth, which makes it a nice city car. The difference in between the petrol-AMT and the diesel-AMT is quite drastic and you need to be more careful with the throttle input. The progressive shifts are well concealed with part-throttle input, which makes it quite nice to move around in the city. In overall terms, the shifts in the diesel-AMT are smoother and more progressive than in the petrol-AMT, which hesitates when asked to shift quickly.

The Tata Nexon is the ideal city car for someone who commutes long distances on bad city roads.

Differences between the three drive modes is quite substantial for both petrol and diesel variants, and they suit the different conditions they were designed for. As a result, we were switching between Eco, City and Sport modes constantly. Hill-hold assist is a welcome feature on the AMT variants and it eliminates the use of handbrake on inclines. This is the ideal city car for someone who commutes long distances on bad city roads.

The prices of the Nexon auto variants will be announced only at the time of the launch which is due in the first-half of May 2018. We expect Tata Motors to price it competitively, with prices likely to be around Rs 9.6-10.5 lakh or Rs 60,000 more than the equivalent manual variant. Although the petrol-AMT is a good variant on its own, the diesel-AMT is our pick amongst the two.Armed robbers shot dead a newly wed bride after looting her and her husband of cash and jewellery -- which they mistakenly thought was gold  and drove away their car near a village on National Highway 58 on Friday night in yet another reminder that highway travel at night in western Uttar Pradesh can be perilous.

Police said Shahzeb, a resident of Mimlana road in Muzaffarnagar, and his bride, Farhana of Nahal village in Ghaziabad ,were on their way home along with Shahzebs family members. They stopped for food at a roadside eatery near Partapur on NH 58. When they resumed their journey around 11 pm, four men in a car with fake number plates started chasing them and overtook their vehicle near village Mataur, barely a kilometre from Daurala police station.

An initial probe revealed that both the bride and the groom were from relatively poor families and the bride was wearing artificial jewellery, which the criminals thought was made of gold, the police said.

They held the victims at gunpoint and ordered them to hand over cash and jewellery. One of the robbers approached Farhana, who was sitting inside the car, and asked for her jewellery.

As the bride started screaming in fear, the robbers shot her to silence her, the police said. After dragging the injured woman outside, they drove away with the loot and the car.

Shahzeb and his family members informed their relatives, who were travelling in two more cars through a different route, about the incident. They arrived on the spot and took Farhana to the Muzaffarnagar medical college, about 25km away, where doctors declared her brought dead.

Police launched a manhunt for the robbers and examined CCTV footage at petrol pumps and Western UP toll roads to identify them.

Manzil Saini, senior superintendent of police, Meerut, said the police had identified the criminals car after examining the CCTV footage of the toll barrier on NH-58. Four criminals were seen travelling in a car. They used a fake number plate, she said. We have formed four teams to investigate and arrest the culprits, said Saini.

She said evidences gathered by the police showed the robbers intention was to rob jewellery and the car in which the wedding party was travelling. It was a new Swift Dzire car that the grooms family had hired to take the newly-weds home in Muzaffarnagar after the wedding in a Ghaziabad village, she said.

The incident has again raised questions about the safety and security of commuters on NH 58 which connects Delhi to Dehradun.Police had claimed that security on highways in Uttar Pradesh had been tightened after the rape of a mother and her minor daughter off the highway in Bulandshahr in July 2016. Friday nights robbery and murder have shown that night-time travel isnt entirely safe.At Seouls Nampo Myeonok noodle bar, the owner was rushed off her feet, shouting at a long queue of hungry punters that she was clean out of Pyongyang naengmyeon. Youll have to wait around 40 minutes for the broth to boil, she told the line snaking out of her door Saturday.

Demand for North Koreas signature dish peaked all over the Souths capital after it was featured on the menu at Fridays historic inter-Korean summit and became a surprise talking point. A cold noodle dish served in a cool mild broth, Pyongyang naengmyeon is usually garnished with pieces of meat and vegetables.

A waiter prepares to serve a 'Pyongyang naengmyeon' a cold noodle dish at the Nampo Myeonok noodle bar restaurant. (AFP)

The long buckwheat noodle strands are usually cut with a pair of scissors to simplify the eating process. The dish is already popular in the South but many saw the summit as a good excuse to indulge. Thousands posted photos of the noodles they slurped down for lunch on Instagram with hashtags including #summit and #peacenaengmyeon.

North Koreas leader Kim Jong Un provoked laughter at the summit and among South Korean journalists at a press centre when he cracked jokes about the dish, hoping that the Souths President Moon Jae-in will be able to enjoy the Pyongyang naengmyeon that has travelled far.

He laughed before adding: I shouldnt say far. The noodles -- a special request by Moon -- had been crafted by a leading chef from Okryu-gwan, a famed restaurant in Pyongyang. According to the Norths state news agency KCNA, the dish deeply impressed the participants. At Nampo Myeonok, the verdict was unanimous -- at least on the food.

Diners eat at the Nampo Myeonok noodle bar. (AFP)

I came to this restaurant especially to eat Pyongyang naengmyeon. This place has been around for a long time and its good, said diner Park Jae-chun. Bass guitar player Kim Tae-hun said the dish made him feel closer to those on the other side of the border because we also eat a lot of it.

But while the leaders made several references to unification of the two Koreas in their statement Friday, the culinary connections only went so far for some. Park told AFP: Personally I think its okay for both South and North Korea to co-exist rather than unify as long as its peaceful and we acknowledge each other.

Follow @htlifeandstyle for moreThe family of a 27-year-old comatose patient, who is admitted to the Hinduhridaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Trauma Care Municipal Hospital, Jogeshwari, has alleged that he was bitten by a rat, near his eye, in the hospitals general ward.

The hospital denied the allegations and said that the ophthalmology department and the doctor treating the patient  Parminder Gupta  have ruled out bite marks that could indicate that he was bitten by a rat.

Parminder has been in coma for over two months after he underwent a brain surgery at a private local hospital. He was shifted to the Jogeshwari-based hospital on April 14 as his family could not afford the treatment at the private hospital.

Guptas father Ram said that on Monday morning, he was sitting near Parminders bed, when he saw a rat near the bed.

I shooed the rat away twice, but after a while, I could not stay awake due to the overnight watch over my son and fell asleep for a minute. Within that time, the rat came and bit him inside the eye, said Ram.

He failed to confirm in which eye the rat had bitten Parminder. You cant see the injury, but the rat has bitten him, Ram said.

Hospital officials said that the patient was originally in the ICU, but was shifted to the general ward for two days due to maintenance work of the ICU room.

We have taken special ophthalmology opinion and I saw the patient personally. There is no injury or bite mark anywhere on the patients body, let alone the eye. All health parameters are also normal and the allegation is completely baseless, said Dr H Bhava, medical superintendent.Traffic on Mumbai-Pune Expressway and the Mumbai-Goa highway slowed to a crawl on Saturday, as hoards of people from Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Pune headed out for the long weekend, courtesy the public holidays on April 30 and May 1.

Many offices will be closed on Monday and Tuesday because of Buddha Purnima and Maharashtra Day, respectively. The two days, clubbed with Saturday and Sunday, and the summer vacations in schools and colleges have prompted many people to take a break and head to short-break destinations such as Goa, Alibaug, Lonavla, Mahabaleshwar, or their native places in Raigad, Satara and Ratnagiri. Pune residents also added to the traffic congestion, owing to the Indian Premier League (IPL) match at Gahunje stadium and a musical concert at the Balewadi stadium

At the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, traffic congestion started along the ghats section of the Expressway, as well as in some spots near Raigad and Pune, on Saturday.

Traffic is moving extremely slowly as more and more vehicles are hitting the roads. The stretch near Amrutanjan bridge in Lonavala is among the worst affected, said an official from the state highway traffic police, requesting anonymity. There is traffic congestion on both sides of the expressway, both towards Mumbai and Pune. The department has deployed additional manpower to tackle the problem.

There was a long queue near Amrutanjan bridge and according to police officials, measures were taken to prevent traffic jams but many unskilled drivers made it extremely difficult to control the situation.

Vijay Patil, superintendent of police of state highway traffic, said, The problem on these roads started at around 7.30am and continued till late evening. The traffic on both sides of the road was much higher than usual, and we had to use extra manpower to tackle it.

On the expressway, there was less traffic on the Pune-Mumbai lane. Therefore, we opened that lane five times for vehicles, each time for fifteen minute. Despite the congestion the vehicles did not come to a standstill at any point. Only the movement was extremely slow, Patil said.

Quite a few vehicles broke down on the road due to poor maintenance. This aggravated the scenario further. People should check their vehicles properly before playing on such roads, Patil added.

On the Mumbai-Goa highway, there were severe congestions near Pen, Mangaon, Vadkhal, and Indapur among others. The situation was further complicated by the ongoing work for road widening at several places.

Manoj Kumar Mhatre, police inspector of Raigad traffic said, At the Goa highway, the situation improved after 7.30pm. There is no divider at this highway, but for the convenience of the motorists, we placed poles and temporary barricades as dividers at various points.

According to Patil, other important road networks, such as the Nashik Phata road and Pune-Kolhapur, also experienced traffic congestions.

A senior officer from Raigad, requesting anonymity, said, Mumbai-Pune Expressway sees more traffic every Saturday and Sunday. This time,the situation is more complicated as people have a long weekend ahead.The police have registered a case against the owner and the supervisor of Alma Speciality Chemicals Pvt. Ltd. for the fire that broke out in the company, located in Navi Mumbais Khairne MIDC area, earlier this week and spread to four other neighbouring chemical units,critically injuring two workers and damaging property worth crores.

Police say that the fire was caused because of the companys negligence.

A case has been registered against owner Samitkumar Bhattacharya and supervisor Rajesh Misra for the blast in the firms reactor plant that started the high-intensity blaze.

The management did not appoint trained employees with expertise. The incident occurred as those handling inflammable material were not equipped to do so, said Amar Desai, senior police inspector of Turbhe MIDC police station, which is investigating the case. Also, instead of checking if the workers were doing their job properly, the supervisor went to sleep at work.

Desai said they have registered a case of negligence. Further investigations are on, and action will be taken based on our findings, he added.

The fire broke out in the wee hours of April 25 and burnt down five companies. Three workers were rushed to hospital with burn injuries, two of whom are in a critical condition.

The injured are Mohammed Aslam Hussain, 55, who suffered 80% burns, Manikchand Gautam, 25, who has 95% burns, and Rajendra Prasad Chavan, 40, who has 35% burns.

The affected include Alma Speciality Chemicals Pvt Ltd, Vaishnavi Ester Pvt Ltd, Narlabs, Excel Petroleum Pvt. Ltd. and Proton Bio Chem Pvt Ltd, all located along Thane-Belapur Road.While college principals and academicians gave a thumbs-up to the appointment of Suhas Pednekar, principal of Ramnarain Ruia Autonomous College, as the vice-chancellor of University of Mumbai (MU), they said exams would prove to be his real test.

The results for examinations held between March and May 2017 were announced by November 2017, while results for exams conducted between November 2017 and January 2018 are still pending. As the vice-chancellor, Pednekar will have to streamline the working of the examination department, clearing the mess that has plagued the university over the past one year.

Experts said the university needed someone with administrative as well as academic knowledge like Pednekar. After the chaos that ensued owing to the errors committed by the former vice-chancellor, the decision to appoint Pednekar as the new V-C is a welcome move. The new V-C will have to face several challenges. Considering the current situation, bringing the examination and result schedule back on track will be a priority, said Bhalchandra Mungekar, former V-C of MU. As the principal of a college, Pednekar is well-versed with the problems on ground level. He seems to be the right choice to bring about positive changes.

Important posts, including that of pro V-C, registrar, director of examinations and evaluation and director of academic planning and development have been vacant since August 2015. Filling up these posts will be important for Pednekar. All V-C hopefuls were asked to give a presentation on their plan of action for betterment of the university, and one of the main responsibilities also included filling up vacant posts. This will complete his team who can then implement all his policies, said a senior official from the university, on condition of anonymity.

Pednekar will also have to focus on improving the battered image of the university on national and global level. Many members of the senate had recently questioned the dismal performance of MU in the National Institute Ranking Framework (NIRF) for second year in a row.

Principals will unanimously stand by the new V-C, knowing that he can bring in positive changes in the system. He is part of our fraternity and has an excellent academic and research record. All this will help better the image of the university, said Naresh Chandra, principal of Birla College in Kalyan and former pro vice-chancellor of MU.

RUIA COLLEGE STUDENTS, ALUMNI CELEBRATE

Students and alumni of Ramnarain Ruia Autonomous College on Friday celebrated the appointment of their college principal Suhas Pednekar as the new vice-chancellor of University of Mumbai. Some even took to social media to share their joy, with hash tags like #prideruiaite and #oncearuiaitealwaysaruiaite on Twitter and Facebook.

Proud moment for a student whose then Chemistry Professor has been announced to be a Vice Chancellor of Mumbai University! No words to express the moment of Happiness, tweeted an alumnus. Many students recollected their experience with Dr Pednekar. Five years and a very happening life this college and principal Pednekar gave me in such a way that Ruia became a way of life, posted another student.

Many used Facebook to share their experience with their principal, who has also served as a professor of chemistry at the college for many years. His oratory skills and knowledge of the subject still stay with me, 15 years later. I wish him all the best as he takes over this important post at MU, tweeted another alumnus.

Teachers too shared their pride at being mentored by Pednekar. His constant support and encouragement has seen batches of students pass out of Ruia College with flying colours. Always supportive of the staff too, congratulations sir, tweeted a teacher of the college. Some also posted pictures of the new vice-chancellor on Facebook.The state government plans to generate 14,400 MW of renewable energy by December 2019, thus, providing over four lakh farmers access to electricity, informed Chandrashekhar Bawankule, state minister for energy, new and renewable energy, on Friday.

Farmers have been demanding access to electricity during the daytime since the past year and with this plan, 45 lakh farmers from the state would be provided power generated through solar projects by 2025. The regions where the solar power projects would be set up include Konkan-Mumbai, Aurangabad, Vidarbha and western Maharashtra, added Bawankule.

Speaking about solar power generation, Bawankule said, The cost of generation of solar power has come down from Rs 6 to Rs 3. Also, the cost of wind power has come down to Rs 2.65. We have a plan to cover all farmers under the solar energy project. This would satisfy the demand of farmers to get electricity during the daytime and will also reduce the financial load on commercial and industry power tariff.

Bawankule said that the government plans to give available vacant government land to private investors for setting up of solar power plants. Power from these solar plants will be bought by the` (MSEDCL) and will be supplied to farmers, he added.

He said that solar projects of 1,000 MW capacity have already been started and tenders have been floated for 500 MW production plants. Apart from this, 5,500 solar pumps have been set up for individual farmers while the target is to set up 7,000 more, he added.

Bawankule stated that soon all villages will also be provided electricity 24*7. He added that Shirdi will soon be electrified through solar power after the proposed 10MW project is set up.Air India on Saturday announced the introduction of a direct flight from Amritsar to Bangkok from May 14, as part of its efforts to increase and augment services on key routes.

Days after announcing increasing the frequency of flights from Delhi to Copenhagen and San Francisco, the airline on Saturday said the flight from Amritsar to Bangkok would operate on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

However, the service will remain in effect till May 30 and a decision on its extension will be taken based on the response it gets, an Air India spokesperson said.

Flight AI 336 will leave Bangkok at 1pm and arrive in Amritsar at 8.05pm. In the return flight, the flight will leave from Amritsar at 5.45am and arrive in Bangkok at 10am, the airline said in a statement.

The announcement comes a week after the disinvestment-bound national carrier announced increasing the frequency of services to Denmarks capital Copenhagen from Delhi to four days a week from May 11 and increasing flight frequency to Vienna too.

The frequency of the Delhi to San Francisco flight has also been increased to nine times a week from six days a week. The airline hopes to earn not less than Rs 90 crore a month from the Delhi-San Francisco route, considered one of the most profitable route for the airline.

Sources, however, said that though more services were in the offing, the airline has decided to go slow as the disinvestment process has kicked in.

Plans were afoot to start direct flights from Mumbai to Frankfurt and London, while the airline was also at an advance stage of finalising new services to the African continent, given the increased economic activity between India and the African nations.

But with some key posts lying vacant and with the disinvestment process on, any further decision to start new operations has been put on hold, the sources said.In a shocking incident, an ex-serviceman shot dead his father and left his brother injured over a petty dispute at Rahimabad village in Batala subdivision of Punjabs Gurdaspur district on Friday night.

Police said accused Lakhbir Singh, 36, a former havaldar, had an altercation with his father Jagir Singh, 60, and elder brother Harjeet Singh, 37, when the latter were going towards their field on a tractor. The tractor partially entered into Lakhbirs field and he got enraged over it.

Lakhbir, who was allegedly under the influence of liquor, brought out his licensed gun and fired at his father and brother. Jagir died on the spot while Harjeet was rushed to the Batala civil hospital, from where he was referred to a hospital in Amritsar.

On the statement of Harjeets son Baljinder Singh, the police registered a case under Section 302 of the IPC and the Arms Act against Lakhbir, who is now on the run.

Villagers said Lakhbir had a property dispute with his father.As Avengers: Infinity Wars hit the screens on April 27 in India, even the stars lined up to see what the Marvel Universe served up for fans this time. Telugu actor Allu Arjun went to watch the film with his family. His wife, Allu Sneha Reddy shared a snapshot from the outing and wrote, Ayaan #1st movie in a theatre.

Allu Arjuns son Ayaan had earlier charmed fans by dubbing for his uncle Ram Charans character, Chitti Babu, in Rangasthalam. Not only Rangasthalam, he also did his own version of Priya Varriers viral flying kiss shot with his dad.

On the work front, Allu Arjun is currently looking forward to the release of Naa Peru Surya, directed by Vakkantham Vamsi. The film is slated for release on May 4, and Allu Arjun plays the role of an army officer who is suspended from duty because of his anger issues.

He is paired opposite Anu Emmanuel in the film, produced by Ramalakshmi Cine Creations. The trailer for the film was released on social media on Saturday and has received good response from fans and the fraternity. The film also stars Arjun Sarja, Nadhiya and Sarath Kumar in pivotal roles and is the third big summer release of 2018.

READ | Avengers Infinity War stuns with biggest Hollywood debut in India, beats Dangal, PK

Avengers: Infinity War opened to Rs 40 crore on its first day in Indian theatres. The film was released in over 2000 screens in Hindi, English, Tamil and Telugu.

Follow @htshowbiz for more

ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktopSamantha Akkineni, who turns 31 today, has clearly carved her own niche in Tollywood. The current year started off with a bang for this much sought after heroine with Rangasthalam, in which she played the role of Rama Lakshmi, a village girl, to perfection. There is even a song in the film as an ode to her beauty.

Samantha has received immense love from fans for her talent and her expressions. They range from cute, adorable, sexy to strong, and she can wear them the way a queen wears her crown - with pride. Today she receives as much applause as any male star, sometimes even more.

While she debuted in the Tamil film industry, which happens to be her home industry as she was born and brought up in Chennai, it was the Telugu film industry where she made her mark starting with her debut film, Ye Maaya Chesava in 2010. In the film directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon , Samantha plays the role of Jessie in what was one of the most memorable romantic films of the year and one of the best films by Menon.

Read | Rangasthalam movie review: Ram Charan, Samantha Akkineni film beats the formula

Then, in 2012 came SS Rajamoulis Eega. A unique tale of love and revenge in which the hero reincarnates as a fly, became a huge hit. Samantha Akkineni, then Samantha Ruth Prabhu, was paired opposite Nani, initially and then a fly. While the Telugu filmdom welcomed Sam with open arms, she was still just a newbie in Tamil industry with two not very impressive movies.

Yet again, it was Gautham Menon who gave her a break in Tamil films with Neethane En Ponvasantham, in which she played the role of Nithya Vasudevan opposite actor Jeeva. The film was about high school sweethearts who mature with time even as they repeatedly break up. She reprised this role for her Telugu film Yeto Vellipoyindhi Manasu, in which she was cast opposite Nani.

But after this, Samantha started to sign big-budget projects. She was cast opposite Vijay in Kaththi, Suriya in Anjaan, Dhanush in Thanga Magan, Vikram in 10 Endrathukulle and Rana Daggubati in Bangalore Days in Tamil films and in Tollywood she was working alongside Naga Chaitanya whom she married in 2017. She also worked with Mahesh Babu, Allu Arjun, Nithiin, Jr NTR and Nagarjuna Akkineni.

Her films with Vijay (Kaththi, Their and Mersal) were huge hits. This commercial success has now given her space and opportunity to work on films that have more fleshed out characters. She is looking forward to the release of Mahanati in which she plays a journalist, Madhuravani. She stammers when she is anxious and works with Vijay Antony, played by Vijay Deverakonda.

She is also expected to be seen in Super Deluxe where Vijay Sethupathi plays the role of a woman. She is working on the remake of hit Kannada film U-Turn. Samantha is also looking forward to two commercial entertainers - Irumbu Thirai and Seema Raja. She has also broken the myth that women actors take a break after marriage.

She did not stick to stereotypes in films and neither did she openly rebel. Samantha went with the flow and she still does!

Author tweets @Priyanka_S_MCC

Follow @htshowbiz for more

ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktopAllu Arjuns film Naa Peru Surya is slated to release on May 4 and the trailer for the film was released by filmmakers on social media on Saturday. Allu Arjun plays an angry army man who is fired from his position because of his temperament.

For instance, he gets angry in the company of his girlfriend, played by Anu Emanuel and says, When I am angry, of course I am going to use cuss words, not words to pray.

Co-star Arjun play a counsellor who helps Allu control his anger. He also explains that it is important for a person to have a family and spend time with his loved ones, and it is also important to find love. And yet, this doesnt seem to help Alllus character much. The film also stars Sarathkumar in a pivotal role. Nadhiya plays the role of Allu Arjuns mother in the film.

Naa Peru Surya is produced by Sirisha Sridhar Lagadapati and Bunny Vas under the banner of Ramalakshmi Cine Creations. The music for the film is scored by Vishal-Shekar and the cinematography is by Rajeev Ravi.

Follow @htshowbiz for more

ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktopAlfie Evans, the 23-month-old British toddler whose grave illness drew international attention, died early on Saturday, his father said in a Facebook post.

Alfie had a rare, degenerative disease and had been in a semi-vegetative state for more than a year.

After a series of court cases Alder Hey Childrens Hospital in Liverpool, northern England, removed his life support on Monday, against his parents wishes.

He confounded expectations by continuing to breathe unaided.

Medical experts in Britain had agreed that more treatment would be futile, but his parents wanted to take him to Rome, where the Vaticans Bambino Gesu hospital had offered to care for him.

The case has provoked strong feelings over whether judges, doctors or parents have the right to decide on a childs life. Alfies parents have been backed by Pope Francis and Polands President Andrzej Duda.German Chancellor Angel Merkel became the second European ally of the US to return home this week after failing to convince President Donald Trump to change his mind on the Iran deal and trade. And tensions over Nato spending remained unresolved.

Merkel met Trump for more than three hours during a starkly understated White House visit in contrast to the pomp and show surrounding French President Emmanuel Macrons state visit earlier in the week. But the results were identical.

Trump has still not said he agreed with the Europeans to stay in the Iran deal. And Macron and Merkel received no significant assurances from him on exemption from tariffs on steel and aluminium that are slated to expire on May 1.

Trump and Merkel displayed new warmth though, eager perhaps to put behind the awkwardness of their previous encounter. Trump received Merkel with a handshake and kiss on each cheek and congratulated her on her recent re-election.

He told reporters, We have a really great relationship  right from the beginning, but some people didnt understand that.

But their remarks at a joint news briefing indicated there had been no significant progress on differences over Iran, trade and Nato. Asked about their discussion on the Iran deal, Merkel said its been her position that the deal is anything but perfect and that it is just one piece of a mosaic.

But she ended by revealing a continuing lack of agreement - we will now see what decisions are made by American partners.

Trump did not give away much at the news conference, but indicated he had not veered around to the view of his European allies. Theyre not going to be doing nuclear weapons. You can bank on it, Trump said when asked about the Iran deal, which faces a May 12 deadline for recertification by the president to keep the US in it for another 90 days, which he has signalled he wont give.

Earlier in the week, Macron suggested a comprehensive new deal with Iran to address Trumps concerns and prevent him from jeopardising the deal, which will most likely collapse if the US pulled out. Iran too has threatened to withdraw in retaliation.

Merkel revealed a similar lack of progress in discussions on trade. We had an exchange of views, she said. The decision lies with the president.

Trump, who spoke about the trade imbalance between the US and EU, had temporarily exempted the EU and a handful of countries from the new tariffs  25% on steel and 10& on aluminium  but it was not immediately clear if he would extend them in the coming days.

Trump also did not hesitate to re-litigate his case for Nato member countries to increase their spending on their own military up to the stipulated 2%, which he has persistently misstated as contribution to the alliance. Other countries should be paying more, and Im not saying Germany alone, he said.

Nato is wonderful, but it helps Europe more than it helps us, and why are we paying the vast majority of the costs?President Donald Trump has indicated he might travel to Jerusalem for the opening of the new US embassy, which would be the first to relocate to the disputed city from Tel Aviv, now home to all diplomatic missions, including Indias.

I may go, Trump told reporters at a joint news briefing with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Very proud of it.

The embassy is slated to open around Israels 70th anniversary on May 14.

On Friday, however, Trump seemed keener to talk about the costs of the new premises. The papers were put before me to sign, an application for more than $1 billion to build an embassy, he said. He added, half turning towards Merkel, I had my name half signed and I noticed the figure and I never got to the word Trump.

Merkel tried to not show her emotions.

Trump pressed on with his narration. He said he called US ambassador David Friedman, who, in the presidents telling, offered to have the new embassy up and running for only $150,000.

That was too low, according to Trump, a New York real estate tycoon before he entered the White House. So he suggested expenses could go up to $300,000.

But thats the way government works, he said. They were going to spend a billion dollars and were going to spend much less than half a million dollars.

Several presidents had promised to shift the US embassy to Jerusalem, the part of the old city controlled by Israel, but had baulked at pulling the trigger, fearing reaction from the Palestinians and the rest of world.

Trump went ahead and announced it in 2017.

But if there were still any doubts in his mind, he might feel compelled to go if the Israeli government named the new neighbourhood for relocating embassies after Trump, as proposed by a minister.

The Jerusalem Post reported on Friday that construction minister Yoav Gallant was considering naming the new enclave Trump Town. Other names he is weighing included Embassy Town.

Three other countries are reportedly relocating to Jerusalem  the Czech Republic, Romania and Honduras.The informal summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping will likely contribute to deepening communication between the leaders and different levels of the two governments, Chinese experts said at the end of the two-day meet.

The meeting, though unexpected, was necessary to reduce mistrust and suspicion following last years tense military standoff, the academics said.

Neither Indian nor Chinese officials directly talked about the standoff but it was evident the 73-day face-off at Doklam was weighing down ties.

I hope following the face-to-face informal exchange between the two top leaders, the two governments will focus on development. Development is the priority among priorities. Hopefully, the governments will now focus on developmental cooperation. Through more developmental cooperation, we can dilute the negative impact of differences, said Hu Shisheng, director of the Institute of South and Southeast Asian and Oceania Studies in Beijing.

Another academic said it was important that the two leaders focussed on broader issues.

Without dialogue there is no chance to improve relations. Exchanges on education and culture can foster better understanding. Focussing on these soft issues in the relations could help ties, said Lu Yang, South Asian scholar at the Institute of the Belt and Road Initiative at Tsinghua University.

Talking about the road ahead, Lu said: We cannot always look at the border and Tibet, they are only part of the relations, not the whole picture. Bilateral trade in 2017 hit $84.44 billion. Indian exports to China saw a nearly 40% rise in 2017. Strong impetus can come from trade and investment.

Hu said it was crucial for the governments to focus on convergences to create a broad platform for the future of the relationship.

Informal meetings have many advantages, such as not being arranged according to established institutional norms. Issues can be discussed more openly and communication is easier. Informal meetings are often necessary preparations for formal meetings, said Xu Liang from the Beijing International Studies University.

The Chinese president too said on Friday that informal summits could help take ties to the next level.

There was word of caution for India as well from academics.

Victor Shih, associate professor at the school of global policy and strategy at the University of California at San Diego, said India should be prepared for more challenges with Xi becoming more powerful after gaining much more power within the Communist Party.

After consolidating power, he will focus on his strategic vision of making China into a superpower both economically and strategically. The emergence of a leader with such a focus on superpower status at Indias doorstep will be a challenge to its government for years to come, Shih said.South Koreans on Saturday pored over every detail of a historic summit in the Demilitarized Zone, transfixed by an extraordinary charm offensive by the Norths leader Kim Jong Un.

Kims public appearance at the summit, beamed live to millions in the south, was for many the first prolonged exposure to an authoritarian figure revered in his secretive nation but shrouded in mystery.

South Koreans and the world have long viewed him with a mixture of ridicule and fear, becoming used to the sight of him presiding over missile launches and military parades, but it was a very different Kim that took to the world stage on Friday.

The 30-something leader was on his best behaviour, frequently flashing a smile, making humorous remarks and patting children as tenderly as any election-seeking politician in the West.

I heard Kim Jong Un making a joke and hearing that made me realise that he is also just a human being, Choi Hyun-ah, a 24-year-old events planner, told AFP.

Kim showed a few brief moments of human fallibility, appearing slightly out of puff at times and missing the soil when trying to plant his shovel during a tree-planting ceremony.

The reclusive North deifies Kim in a strict, scripted and controlled manner, noted the Korea Times, but everything about him -- including his facial expressions, walk, gesture, voice, black Mao suit and signature hairstyle -- was streamed live by global media outlets.

Kim was no longer a hermit, the paper said in the headline of its editorial, adding he had shown himself capable of showmanship with his impromptu invitation to the Souths President Moon Jae-in to hop briefly over the border to the North himself.

North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un (L) and his wife Ri Sol Ju (2R) walk with South Korea's President Moon Jae-in (2L) and his wife Kim Jung-sook (R) during a farewell ceremony at the end of their historic summit at the truce village of Panmunjom on April 27, 2018. (AFP)

Cartoon character

Kim rapidly got into his stride, reducing the South Korean delegation to giggles with banter about noodles from the North and seeming playful at times, deadly serious at others.

For 30 minutes, the cameras were trained on Kim as he chatted with Moon over al-fresco tea in woodlands in the Demilitarized Zone that divides their two countries.

Not a word could be heard -- just birdsong in the trees -- but it was compelling viewing nevertheless, Kim appearing to listen intently to his elder counterpart, nodding gently and occasionally making small gestures.

The Korea Herald even examined Kims inscription in a guestbook to analyse his handwriting -- which like many aspects of his public persona is modelled on that of his grandfather and predecessor, the Norths founder Kim Il Sung.

A graphologist pronounced he has a feisty and self-centred personality and was excited and highly elated when he wrote the message.

His gravelly tones -- he has often been photographed with a lit cigarette in hand -- -- were an object of fascination for many.

It was very, very weird to hear Kim Jong Uns voice on TV, said Kim Kyung-ah, a 32-year-old mother in Seoul.

I mean, I always knew that he existed. But today was the first time where I felt Oh my God, Kim Jong Un is a real person, she told the Korea Herald.

Up until today, it always felt like Kim was some sort of cartoon character. It was refreshing to see him talking about normal things like cold noodles, not nuclear weapons or wars.

A natural beauty

South Koreans were also fascinated by Kims wife Ri Sol Ju and his powerful sister Kim Yo Jong, who spent much of the day at her brothers side.

Kims sister - who acted as his envoy to the Souths Winter Olympics in February - broke into a broad grin while greeting Moon, with officials later revealing she had blushed when the president said she had become a celebrity.

At one point Ri was the top search topic on South Korean internet portals, with users describing her as a natural beauty, humble and well-mannered and graceful.

But by noon on Saturday the summit had been displaced as the top item by Korean film Delta Boys.

And others refused to be taken in by the smiles and hugs, with the North accused of a litany of state-sanctioned rights abuses.

Min Joong-hong, head of one of the anti-North Korea groups protesting against Fridays summit, told the Korea Herald that Seoul should not engage with Pyongyang, which continues to commit crimes against humanity, including murder, torture and imprisonment.It was one of the most notorious unsolved crime sprees in US history -- a decade-long series of sadistic rapes and murders that terrorized tranquil California neighborhoods.

They began in the summer of 1976 and ended abruptly in 1986 with the rape and murder of an 18-year-old girl.

Along the way, the meticulous masked assailant was given a number of nicknames: the East Area Rapist, the Original Nightstalker, the Golden State Killer.

After a 40-year search, California authorities on Wednesday announced that they had finally caught their man -- a 72-year-old named Joseph James DeAngelo. On Thursday, it was revealed that plugging DeAngelos DNA profile into a commercial geneaology website led investigators to the killer.

There were upwards of 50 rapes, 12 murders, crimes that spanned 10 years across at least 10 different counties, Sacramento County district attorney Anne Marie Schubert said in announcing the arrest.

DeAngelo was a former policeman, officials said, but they released little other information about him and how he was eventually tracked down.

Neighbors, co-workers and newspapers were filling in some of the details Thursday about a man who eluded law enforcement for more than four decades.

DeAngelo appears to have spent most of his life in and around Sacramento in central California apart from a stint in the US Navy during the Vietnam War.

He went to high school in a Sacramento suburb and obtained a bachelors degree in criminal justice from Sacramento State after serving in the navy, according to the Sacramento Bee newspaper.

Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones said that from 1973 to 1976 DeAngelo served as a policeman in Exeter, south of Sacramento.

Exeter is near the town of Visalia, and DeAngelo is suspected of being the Visalia Ransacker who was burglarizing homes in the area.

Dont scream

From 1976 to 1979, DeAngelo worked for the police department in Auburn, California, until he was fired for shoplifting a hammer and a can of dog repellent.

The first rape committed by the man who would come to be known as the Golden State Killer took place in June 1976, when he broke into the home of a young girl while she was sleeping and her father was away.

He had a ski mask on, the victim recounted years later in a tape recording released by the FBI two years ago in an effort to revive interest in the case.

(He) jumped on the bed and had a knife, she said.

I dont exactly remember what he said. Something to the effect of, you know, Dont scream, dont, you know, whatever. And tied my hands behind my back.

According to the Sacramento Bee, DeAngelo retired last year after working since 1989 as a truck mechanic at a warehouse for a grocery store chain.

Jason Calhoon, a co-worker for the past 27 years, told the newspaper DeAngelo was a regular Joe although he never smiled.

For more than 20 years, DeAngelo has lived in Citrus Heights, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northwest of Sacramento.

His tidy ranch house with a neatly manicured lawn in a suburban neighbourhood has been cordoned off by police and FBI agents carting away boxes of evidence.

According to the Bee, DeAngelo was married in 1973 and Jones, the sheriff, said he has adult children.

Jones said the authorities have interviewed some family members and they have been cooperative. Its quite a shock to them as you might expect, he said.

DeAngelos next door neighbour, Cory Harvey, told the Sacramento Bee that the man she knew as Joe was divorced and lived with a daughter and granddaughter. She said he was a good neighbour except for that quirkiness of getting mad and swearing out loud, after which he would apologize.

Joseph James Deangelo, 72 appears in a booking photo provided by the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department. (Sacramento County Sheriff's Department/Handout via REUTERS)

DNA was key

California authorities credited DNA technology with helping identify him.

The Sacramento Bee reported Thursday that investigators compared DNA from one of the crime scenes to profiles available on genealogical websites to which people curious about their family history submit samples.

By exploring family trees, investigators were led to DeAngelo via his distant relatives.

Sheriff Jones said DNA from the crime scenes was ultimately matched to a discarded item from DeAngelo recovered by law enforcement.

Over the last few days as information started to point towards this individual we started some surveillance, Jones said. We were able to get some discarded DNA and we were able to confirm what we thought we already knew, that we had our man.

The answer was, and always was going to be, in the DNA, Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert added.

We knew we could, and should, solve it using the most innovative DNA technology available at this time.

This was a true convergence of emerging technology and dogged determination by detectives, Jones said.

In this case justice was delayed, he said. It wasnt swift but I can assure you it will be sure.Villagers in Afghanistan say the Taliban have been telling them not to vote in elections planned later this year, threatening to burn down the house of anyone who does, in a bid to derail a vote seen as a major test of government credibility.

Parliament and district council elections scheduled for October represent an enormous challenge for a government which is under heavy pressure from its international backers to ensure a fair and credible vote.

But the Taliban, who launched their annual spring offensive this week, have already made it clear that they will not allow the process, seen as a dry run for next years presidential election, to go ahead unhindered.

They gathered us in the mosque and warned us that if we went to the registration centres and voted, they would burn down the village, said Kamal Uddin, a resident of Rahmat Abad village in the northern province of Balkh, after a visit to his area by Taliban fighters last week.

The complex process of registering voters at more than 7,000 centres around Afghanistan began this month in 34 provincial capitals, with district centres and villages due to begin next month.

With no room for hitches if some 14 million voters are to be registered by October, officials acknowledge that the process began slowly, with some 568,000 people signed up by Thursday, although they are hopeful it will gather pace.

There was a bloody reminder of the threats facing the process when a suicide attack claimed by the Islamic State group killed 60 people at a voter centre in Kabul this week. However, it is in the provinces that the difficulties may be greatest.

According to US estimates, the government has firm control over no more than around 56 percent of the country and vulnerability will increase as the process continues into district centres and rural areas.

An Afghan man digs a grave for one of the 57 victims of a bomb blast before the burial a day after the attack on a voter registration centre in Kabul, on April 23, 2018. (AFP)

A small punishment

Balkh, one of Afghanistans more stable provinces with valuable trade crossings into Central Asia, is a long way from the Taliban heartlands in the south and is considered far more secure than neighbouring Kunduz province, where the Taliban dominate many areas. But even here, the militants appear determined to lay down a marker.

Shams, a resident of Dowlat Abad district in the north of the province, said the most recent visit by Taliban tax collectors levying ushr (land tax) and zakat (an Islamic tax) included an explicit warning to stay away from the elections.

They came with a great show of force because the elections are coming up and they wanted the people to see, he said.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid denied the movement was issuing warnings about burning houses but said they were telling people to stay away from the election. However, other Taliban officials were more open.

Burning a house is a small punishment if they are caught in supporting this US operation to prolong their stay in Afghanistan, said one Taliban commander, who asked not to be identified.

Afghan security forces have launched operations to drive the Taliban back and promise people will be able to vote in safety.

We will not allow anyone to stop elections taking place in this province, said Balkhs provincial governor, Mohammad Isaaq Rahgozar. If the Taliban has issued warnings, thats one of their techniques to intimidate people, but we are trying to make sure that nobody suffers any harm through this.

However, many Afghans in the area, who over the years have seen repeated military clearance operations followed by the return of the Taliban, are sceptical.

The Taliban have had a presence in this area for a very long time, said Fazel Ahmad, a resident of Chemtal district in Balkh. The government and the security forces dont have the capacity to provide security. If we vote, well be killed.An Indian-origin man has been sentenced to prison in the US after being convicted for wire and visa fraud, under which he collected over USD 450,000 in illegal filing fees for H1B visas and green cards for workers from India.

Ramesh Venkata Pothuru, 44, a former owner and operator of Virgo Inc. and Isync Solutions, was sentenced to one year and one day in prison following convictions for wire and visa fraud, according to a statement from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The sentencing follows a joint investigation by US Immigration and Customs Enforcements (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Document and Benefit Fraud Task Force (DBFTF).

Pothuru collected over USD 450,000 in illegal filing fees and related expenses from more than 100 fraudulent visas and employer-sponsored green cards for nonimmigrant workers from his native India.

The investigation disclosed that between 2010 and 2013, Pothuru collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in filing fees from workers he was sponsoring under the H-1B nonimmigrant worker visa program.

Federal regulations prohibit employers from soliciting payments from H-1B non-immigrant workers to cover the costs associated with filing fees, which fees are required by law to be borne by the sponsoring US employer.

In addition, many of the H-1B non-immigrant workers were also recipients of employer-sponsored permanent foreign labor certification applications filed by Pothuru with the Department of Labor. Permanent foreign labor certification filings typically involve costs of over several thousand dollars in addition to the filing fees; Pothuru unlawfully collected both from the employees.

Pothuru collected these illegal fees and expenses from the employees he sponsored for H-1B visas and green cards through direct payments to his personal bank accounts. He subsequently submitted false applications in which he did not identify the fees that he collected from the non-immigrant workers and swore that he did not collect, the statement said.A day after the two Korean leaders met for a summit along their shared border, the emotional, memorable, even funny scenes from their time together are both a bitter reminder of the Koreas seven decades of division and an insight into the mysterious character of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Here are some of the scenes that South Koreans are talking about amid the afterglow of one of the most unusual moments in recent inter-Korean history:

Kim crossing the border

Kim became the first North Korean leader to set foot onto South Korean land since the 1950-53 Korean War when he stepped into the southern side of the border village of Panmunjom to meet with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Friday.

The image that lingers is of Kim stepping across the ankle-high concrete slab that forms the military demarcation line at Panmunjom, and shaking hands with Moon, both leaders broadly smiling. Kim then took Moons hand and led him back across the borderline into the North where they posed for a ceremonial photo together before returning to the South.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in cross the military demarcation line to the South side at the border village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone Friday, April 27, 2018. (AP)

Moon, whose parents were refugees from North Korea during the war, visited the Norths Diamond Mountain resort in 2004 to meet his aunt during a temporary reunion between war-separated families.

Kim short of breath

After their meeting at the borderline, Kim and Moon moved to a small plaza to inspect an honour guard before they walked together for a couple of minutes to the Peace House, the venue for the summit. Despite the relative short bout of exercise, live TV footage showed that an obese Kim was panting heavily through his mouth, his shoulders heaving a bit, as he signed a guestbook.

South Korean media quickly speculated that Kim, 34, is about 170 centimeters (5 feet 8 inches) tall and weighs 130 kilograms (nearly 290 pounds), and likely suffers from diabetes, high blood pressure and hyperlipidemia.

In 2014, Kim disappeared from the public eye for about five weeks, triggering a frenzy of speculation about his health. When he resumed his public activities, he walked with a cane. Kims father and grandfather both died of heart ailments.

Kims security

When Kim returned to the northern side of Panmunjom in a black Mercedes limousine for lunch after a morning meeting with Moon, a dozen bodyguards, all wearing black suits and blue ties, surrounded the vehicle and jogged beside it as it made its way to the North.

The men  all tall, their hair cropped short  are likely from the Norths secret service.

North Korean security persons run by a car carrying North Korean leader Kim Jong Un return to the North side for a lunch break after a morning meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the border village of Panmunjom in Demilitarized Zone. (AP File Photo)

Later Friday, as Kim returned to the South, the car moved at a faster speed and the men kept pace, running fast as they enveloped the leader. When Kim rolled back to the North after a farewell ceremony Friday night, the bodyguards reappeared and ran alongside his car again.

A North Korean security worker was also seen spraying disinfectant on the chair and table to be used by Kim at the Peace House while another used a headphone and a black, square-shaped piece of equipment to check for explosives, according to South Korean media reports.

Kims sister

Kims younger sister, Kim Yo Jong, took a prominent role in the summit. She handed her brother a pen when he signed the guestbook, took his gloves after he shoveled dirt on a ceremonial tree and a bouquet of flowers that hed been handed at the border. And she sat next to Kim, scribbling notes, during the summit with Moon.

Her proximity to her brother during most of the summit events Friday added credence to speculation that shes virtually the No.2 in the North. Kim sent her to South Korea in February to attend the opening ceremony of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, making her the first member of the Norths ruling family to visit the South since the end of the Korean War.

Kim Jong Un acknowledged her popularity in the South when he joked to Moon during their talks that his sister has become a star in the South, causing her face to turn red, according to Moons spokesman, Yoon Young-chan.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signs a guestbook next to his sister Kim Yo Jong, right, inside the Peace House at the border village of Panmunjom in Demilitarized Zone. (AP File Photo)

Silent talks

Another striking moment came when the two Korean leaders chatted while strolling slowly to a footbridge in Panmunjom, where a rusty signboard marking the military demarcation line stands. There they sat and had about 30 minutes of private conversation. No one knows what they talked to each other about. The chirping of birds was all that could be heard, according to the live TV footage.

When they returned to the Peace House, they chatted again but their conversation was largely inaudible.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in talk as they walk on a footbridge at the border village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone. (AP File Photo)

Joint announcement

The two leaders close body language was also on display. They held each others hands and raised them into the air and hugged each other after signing their names on what they called the Panmunjom Declaration, a joint statement following their summit. They also stood at a podium together outside the Peace House and jointly announced the deal in front of officials and pool reporters.

The declaration has lots of accords on improving inter-Korean ties and exchange programs but lacks any major progress in a US-led international effort to end the North Korean nuclear standoff.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in shakes hands with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as Kim leaves after a farewell ceremony at the truce village of Panmunjom inside the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, South Korea, April 27, 2018. (REUTERS)

Intoxicated Kim

During a dinner banquet, Kim appeared a little drunk, his face red, his eyes unfocused. He didnt wear his horn-rimmed glasses as what appeared to be champagne was placed on the table before him. Kims wife, Ri Sol Ju, and Moons wife, Kim Jung-sook, also joined the banquet.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, second from left, holds a glass with his wife Ri Sol Ju, left, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Moon's wife Kim Jung-sook, right, during a banquet at the border village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone. (AP File Photo)

Kim is a big fan of French wine and once drank 10 bottles of Bordeaux in one night, media reports said, citing the Kim familys former sushi chef.New York is hosting a tribute to Sikh culture in America, with a parade down the prime Madison Avenue capped by a sea of turbans.

The gathering of thousands of ethnic Sikhs, officially called a meditation celebration will be held on Saturday afternoon local time (around midnight in India).

But its mostly a boisterous walk to live music, with participants wearing the stylish, multi-coloured clothing of their culture. On the sidelines of the annual event, vendors offer homemade Indian food.

The Manhattan parade starts at 1 pm on Madison Avenue and East 26th Street and proceeds down to East 26th Street until 4 pm.Pakistan has allocated Rs 1.1 trillion (about $9.6bn) for defence in the next fiscal year, a whopping 18% increase over the Rs 920 billion provided to the military in the outgoing financial year.

The allocation represents the highest growth in the defence budget in more than a decade. Revised figures from budget documents presented by finance minister Miftah Ismail on Friday suggest military spending will hit Rs 1 trillion this year.

The proposed increase comes at a time when the PML-N governments relations with the armys top brass are under severe strain. PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif has alluded to the powerful army being behind his ouster in speeches ahead of the upcoming general elections.

The allocation for defence amounts to 21% of the total budget for the next fiscal and 3.2% of the gross domestic product. However, the allocation does not give the complete picture of the defence expenditure, as it does not include Rs 260 billion for pensions, which is 76% of the governments total pension bill, Rs 45 billion for security enhancement and the allocation for major weapon procurements.

In his budget speech, Ismail noted sacrifices made by the military and paramilitary forces, and their success in eliminating terrorist hideouts.

The government has allowed an average annual increase of 11% in the defence budget, except for its first budget for 2013-14, when military spending was hiked by 15%.

While there was no mention of expenditure on the nuclear and missile programmes, major planned military hardware acquisitions too are not part of the allocation of Rs 1.1 trillion.

The defence budgets details show that maximum growth (31%) has been recorded in employee-related expenses. This head covers salaries and allowances. Operating expenses, which cover transport, fuel, rations, medical treatment and training, has grown by 12.4%.

The ratio at which the outlay of the three services and the inter-services institutions will grow also makes for interesting reading. The army traditionally gets the lions share of the hike, but this time around, the navy has been given a 21.4% increase, followed by the army (19.7%), air force (19.5%) and inter-services institutions (18.6%).A Palestinian teenager has died of his wounds a day after being shot by Israeli forces in clashes along the Gaza border, the Hamas-controlled territorys health ministry said Saturday.

Azzam Oweida, 15, was hit in the head during protests in southern Gaza on Friday, the ministry said.

His death brought to four the number of people killed or fatally wounded during a fifth consecutive Friday of protests in which thousands of Gazans have gathered near the heavily-guarded border.

Most protesters were peaceful but some threw stones and burned tyres.

Forty-five Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the start of what organisers have dubbed the Great March of Return on March 30, with more than 1,500 wounded.

No Israelis have been reported hurt.

The Israeli army said around 10,000 people had taken part in riots along the border Friday, saying troops responded with riot dispersal means.

The army has accused Hamas, the Islamist group that runs Gaza and has fought three wars with Israel since 2008, of seeking to use the protests as cover to carry out attacks.

Marchers are demanding the right to return to their homes seized by Israel in 1948.

Israel says that would mean the end of the Jewish state, and accuses Gazas Islamist rulers Hamas of using the protests as a pretext for violence.

The Israeli military said that at one point on Friday protesters had used explosive devices, hand grenades and firebombs as they attempted a mass breach of the border fence.

Air strikes

In what the military said was a direct response, Israeli warplanes on Friday night attacked six military targets belonging to the Hamas terror organisations naval force in the Gaza Strip.

It did not give the location of the targets, but the Hamas interior ministry in Gaza said aircraft -- originally reported as drones -- hit Gazas main port, damaging two boats but causing no injuries.

Eyewitnesses at the port said the two boats were badly damaged. Hamas security forces prevented journalists from reaching the scene.

It is believed to have been the first time Israeli aircraft had targeted boats in Gaza since the 2014 war there between Israel and Hamas.

The protest movement is officially independent but has the backing of Hamas, which has fought three wars with Israel since 2008.

On Friday protesters again gathered at five sites near the border fence, though numbers were down on previous weeks.

Dozens of young men burned tyres and threw stones a few hundred metres from the border, with Israeli soldiers occasionally firing tear gas and live ammunition.

Three men were shot dead, according to Gazas health ministry, while the Gaza Centre for Media Freedom said three journalists were among those wounded.

Demonstrations are expected to spike again ahead of May 14, when the United States plans to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The decision has infuriated Palestinians, who see the annexed eastern half of the holy city as the capital of their future state.

US President Donald Trump, who tore up decades of policy by recognising Jerusalem as Israels capital, said Friday he may go to the city for the embassy opening.

That came as Amnesty International called for an arms embargo against Israel over its use of live fire in Gaza.

Israel has rejected calls for an independent investigation into deaths along Gazas border. The army says its troops only use live ammunition as a last resort.Suspected jihadists killed more than 30 Tuaregs, including women and children, on Malis northeastern border with Niger, several sources said Saturday as the second such attack in two days stoked fears of widespread unrest.

The former Tuareg rebel group MSA and tribal leaders said the massacre occurred Friday, a day after another attack by gunmen on motorbikes had left 12 people dead outside the town of Anderamboukane, which is also in the same area.

There have been 43 deaths in two days, all civilians, from the same community, tribal leader Sidigui Ag Hamadi told AFP from the regional capital Menaka.

Our fighters are destroying their bases and wiping them out. They are targeting innocent civilians, he added, saying he viewed the bloodletting as a reprisal for attacks on jihadists by armed Tuareg groups.

The MSA also put the death toll from the two attacks in the villages of Aklaz and Awakassa at 43, saying all the victims were from the Idaksahak pastoralist Berber group.

The group urged the governments of Mali and Niger to take steps to ensure that an immediate end is put to these abominable crimes and added that it would not give in to any intimidation.

Menaka governor Daouda Maiga urged caution regarding the death toll until official observers had arrived on the scene.

There are various versions, but I know there are women and children among the victims, as well as elderly, Maiga told AFP, while adding he would await the observers return to Bamako.

Fear of reprisals

Local people had been fearful of reprisals by jihadists who suffered major losses in recent attacks in the region over recent weeks, Menaka official Attaye Ag Ossadki told AFP.

But nobody imagined that they would kill civilians in this way, he said.

Two weeks ago, the UNs MINUSMA peacekeeping operation said they had received very serious information that summary executions of at least 95 people had occurred during anti-jihadist operations in the northeastern Menaka region carried out by a coalition of armed groups including MSA and Gatia.

Both groups flatly denied any involvement.

France intervened militarily in Mali in 2013 to help government forces drive al Qaeda-linked jihadists out of the north.

But large tracts of the country remain lawless despite a peace accord signed with ethnic Tuareg leaders in mid-2015 aimed at isolating the jihadists. The violence has also spilled over into both Burkina Faso and Niger.

French military sources announced 30 deaths in the troubled region after an April 1 confrontation near the Mali border between a French paratroop detachment fighting alongside Malian forces and some 60 jihadists.

The French military said the jihadist group Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) is using the border region as a haven.

The former Tuareg rebel group CMA on Saturday regretted the spiralling violence in the Menaka region (which) is generally affecting civilian populations and condemned what it called abominable and inhuman acts.

The CMA urged political and military groups in the region to take steps to ensure civilian safety.US President Donald Trump said Saturday that things are going very well after talking with South Koreas President Moon Jae-in about an upcoming summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Just had a long and very good talk with President Moon of South Korea. Things are going very well, time and location of meeting with North Korea is being set, Trump wrote on Twitter.

Also spoke to Prime Minister (Shinzo) Abe of Japan to inform him of the ongoing negotiations, he wrote.

Moon met with Kim in a historic summit, agreeing on Friday to pursue a permanent peace and the complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

An armistice brought the fighting on the Korean peninsula to an end in 1953, but 65 years later, a final peace agreement has still not been reached.

The Moon-Kim meeting has raised expectations for Trumps own planned summit with the North Korean leader, the date and location of which have not yet been finalized.

Mongolia and Singapore are the final two sites under consideration for the summit, CBS News reported, though Singapores Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Saturday that there had been no formal request for his city-state to host the meeting.

Last year, Pyongyang carried out its sixth nuclear test, by far its most powerful to date, and launched missiles capable of reaching the US mainland. Its actions sent tensions soaring as Kim and Trump traded personal insults and threats of war.

Trump has demanded the North give up its weapons, and Washington is pressing for it to do so in a complete, verifiable and irreversible way. Pyongyang is demanding as yet unspecified security guarantees to discuss its arsenal.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.)A top Islamic State group leader was killed and three others arrested in a government raid on Saturday in southern Yemen, police said.

Saleh Nasr Fadl al-Bakhshi, self-proclaimed emir of the radical groups branch in the Aden and Abyan regions, was killed in the raid on an IS hideout in government-held territory, a senior officer with Adens police force told AFP.

Islamist networks, including IS and al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, have exploited years of war in Yemen to expand their presence in the countrys south.

The government of Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi has been based in southern Yemen since 2015, after Shia Houthi rebels drove it from the capital Sanaa and much of the countrys north, prompting a Saudi-led military intervention.

Southern Yemen is the target of a US-backed operation against AQAP, led by the United Arab Emirates, as well as a long-running US drone campaign.

The Yemen war has claimed nearly 10,000 lives since Saudi Arabia and its military allies joined the conflict in March 2015, triggering what the United Nations has called the worlds worst humanitarian crisis.The final and the most informal rounds of between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping began on Saturday in the central Chinese city of Wuhan when the two leaders took a walk by the East Lake.

This is to be followed by a boat ride and a tea-making ceremony. (Live updates)

The interactions, part of the two-day summit, will be just between the two leaders, with only a translator from each side present.

Modi and Xi are expected to walk for about 30 minutes on the manicured lawns of the East Lake guest house. After that, the two will hop on to a two-decker boat on the East Lake for an hour-long ride.

On the top deck, the leaders will witness a classical Chinese tea-making ceremony while engaging on topics that touch international, regional and bilateral issues.

They will next catch up for a private lunch to be hosted by Xi at the guest house where, again, only the two leaders and their interpreters will be present.

By the time Modi is expected to fly out of Wuhan on Saturday afternoon, it is expected that the two leaders would have laid out  if nothing else  the broad contours of better communication channels between themselves to manage both the differences between the countries peacefully.

The final round of talks follow the exchanges on Friday where Modi invited Xi to another informal summit in India in 2019 and said they should continue to meet in the same format.

I hope such informal summits become a tradition between both the countries. Ill be happy if, in 2019, we can have such (an) informal summit in India, Modi had said.

Xi welcomed Modi to Xian, saying that in the past three years, he and Modi had established a good working relationship through mutual visits and meetings at multilateral events. The Chinese president said he expected their two-day informal meeting to open a new chapter in bilateral ties.

Xi added that via these meetings, the two of them have reached many important consensuses which have sent the world a positive signal on China-India friendship and reflected the strong will of the two emerging economies to enhance mutually beneficial cooperation and achieve common development goals.

Comments in the state media were also optimistic.

Two great countries should have great cooperation, said a commentary in Communist Party of Chinas mouthpiece, Peoples Dailys international edition.

Strategic similarities far outweigh specific differences, the need for cooperation far outweighs conflict in certain areas, it added.

The beauty of the informal summit between President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Wuhan, Hubei province, is that it comes with no baggage, only expectations, an editorial in the state-run China Daily said on Saturday.

It is free of the usual diplomatic frills, somewhat beyond the global media limelight...

And, if as expected, the heart-to-heart communication between the two leaders on Friday reflected their deepened mutual chemistry. Which, in turn, will be conducive to improving mutual trust between the neighbours and charting the course of long-term bilateral development, it added.

The editorial touched upon the differences between the two countries.

There is no denying, however, that mutual suspicion is keeping the two countries from deepening cooperation and working together on regional and international issues, from fighting climate change to improving global governance. The border incident last summer was just one example of what mutual suspicion could lead to, reminding both sides of the disruptive potential of distrust, it said, referring to the Doklam standoff.

Yet, the newspaper remained optimistic.

...Neither Beijing nor New Delhi calls the other an enemy, which means both expect bilateral ties to improve. Indeed, China and India are natural partners, and both realise they carry the hopes of the other developing countries to improve international relations, in order to make the world order more equitable, it said.When I was little, I used to constantly read. On car rides, during free time at school and as soon as I got home, I always sat down and opened up a book. Books were like what T.V. was to other kids to me; books were a fun distraction. In fact, I am proud to say that I have set the record forAppointment

27 April 2018

In his role as Regional Vice President, Egypt, Naboulsi will be responsible for supporting AccorHotels growing portfolio in Egypt. He will bring his ability to establish strategic direction and build business partnerships to manage over six of AccorHotels properties across Egypt while working with the hotels and regional teams to drive more success to the company.

Naboulsi started his career with the Fairmont Brand in 1991 as Regional Director of Sales & Marketing in Fairmont Banff Springs Hotels in Alberta, Canada. He then moved to become Hotel Manager and later General Manager in two other Fairmont properties in Canada between 1996 and 2001 before moving to Dallas, Texas as General Manager of Fairmont Dallas. Naboulsi joined Fairmont Nile City in 2007 and continued there ever since as General Manager & Regional Vice President, Egypt. Naboulsi has now been extended leadership over Sofitel Winter Palace Luxor, Sofitel Taba Heights, Sofitel Cairo El Gezirah, Sofitel Legend Old Cataract, and Sofitel Le Gabriel, in addition to managing Fairmont Nile City.

Naboulsi is a Certified Hospitality Administrator (CHA) by the American Hotel & Lodging Association, holding a Master's degree in Business Administration (MBA) and a Bachelor's degree in Management Administration from California South University as well as a Business Management degree from the University of Grant MacEwan in Canada. He received numerous awards including WHERE Dallas Magazine's Silver Plume Award for General Manager of the Year, Haute Grandeur's Best General Manager in Egypt Award, and Canadian Pacific Hotel Eagle Award for Outstanding Leadership among others.Appointment

28 April 2018

Anna Karas, the newly appointed Director of Marketing Communication & PR, has significant experience as a public relations and media professional. She will lead Kandima Maldives' PR practice.

In her role, Anna will be responsible for managing the Media Relations, Marketing, Advertising and Lifestyle Partnerships of the 272-villa resort.

Within over ten years of hospitality experience from the Maldives and Middle East, the Polish national brings with her extraordinary experience garnered from top hospitality brands, namely Waldorf Astoria, Anantara Hotels & Resorts, Warwick Hotels & Resorts and W Hotels. Anna likes diving, photography, graphic design and painting.Kanye West is back in action right now. It's been three years since he released his last album The Life Of Pablo and much as changed since then. For the past few years, the rapper's been focusing more on his Yeezy clothing brand but he's also been grinding heavily on his long-awaited eighth studio album. Earlier in the year, Travis Scott, Kid Cudi, Nas and more of his frequent collaborators were spotted in Wyoming working with 'Ye. He finally revealed that his album's coming on June 8th in the midst of his recent Twitter rants. Earlier today, he announced that he'll be dropping a new song called "Lift Yourself" that he said has "a verse that will bring Ebro the closure he's been seeking." A few hours later and it's finally arrived.

Kanye West has released his new song, "Lift Yourself." The song comes a few hours after he announced it. The rapper shared the song on his website. "Lift Yourself" highlights Kanye West's talent as a producer more than his actual rapping status although he does have a "verse" on there, kind of. For the time being, at least we have some new 'Ye to hold us over until his new album drops.

Check the song out on his website.$ILKMONEY, one of the rapping members of the group Divine Counsil, announced on Twitter a couple days ago that he had a new single dropping this week which was produced by Tyler The Creator. $ILKMONEY | MY FORTE | PRODUCED BY TYLER | THIS WEEK | RT THIS SHIT!" the Virginia rapper tweeted, and staying true to his word, Silk releases the single My Forte just in time for your weekend festivities.

Over production from Tyler The Creator, Silk shows off his aggressive delivery & unorthodox flow & wordplay, rapping about Filipino bitches being his forte, just as the title depicts. It's unclear at the moment if this will see life on his upcoming project, I Hate My Life And I Really Wish People Would Stop Telling Me Not To, or not, but we're here for it either way.

Take a listen to the new single and let us know what you think!

Quotable Lyrics:

I'm in the room with 7 titties, that's 4 bitches with one missin'

With 11 twisted up Sherbinskis, some bo dealers

Her 450, cookin' dope in a gold skillet

Bumpin' old 50, hit my robe with the gold stichin'

In my gold kitchen, gold bitches with painted toes tippin'

All these bitches taste like chicken, can't name a hoe different

Prolific, was zip flippin' and kickin' door hinges

P.O. done snitched on the boys, he said we all did itLA VERNIA  Driving south along County Road 539 below Seguin, through rolling spring-green pasture land softened by stands of oak, mesquite and hackberry, you come over a rise and notice off to the left a stately mansion of tan-colored sandstone trimmed in white. With a spacious front yard enclosed by a white picket fence and shaded by majestic oaks, with Texas and American flags flying out front, the old house is an attention-getter, to be sure.

Called Whitehall, the two-story structure was built in the late 1840s by a native New Yorker named Joseph Henry Polley, one of Stephen F. Austins Old 300. Robin and Keith Muschalek bought it in 2015. Keith, a retired Army colonel and native Texan, and Robin, a former teacher who lived in upstate New York as a youngster, are happily restoring their antebellum mansion to its former glory.

Ask Robin if its haunted, and shell cover her eyes, stifle a giggle and say she doesnt want to talk about ghosts, even though  or maybe because  she knows about Polley descendants alluding to haints in the house in correspondence more than a century old. She and Keith live in La Vernia but work on restoring the house at all hours of the day and night; theyve never received a visitation, they told me.

READ MORE: An early serial killer may have brought eternal moonlight to Austin

Lets say there is a Whitehall apparition, one who has enjoyed relaxing down through the decades in one of the comfortable rocking chairs on the spacious veranda. From that roadside vantage point, the ghostly shade would have a front-row seat on the cavalcade of Texas history, from the early days of statehood through cattle drives, the Civil War, Emancipation and Reconstruction, the discovery of oil  down through the decades to a recent tragedy nearby that horrified the nation. (The man who killed 25 members of the First Baptist Church of nearby Sutherland Springs met his end a few miles north of the house.)

Polley was born in Whitehall, N.Y., in 1795 and served as a 15-year-old army teamster in the War of 1812. He was one of the first 22 immigrants to follow Austin to Texas in 1821. He was the first sheriff of Austins colony, and in the Runaway Scrape in the spring of 1836, he was assigned to watch over women and children fleeing Santa Annas troops.

In 1847, Polley and his wife, Mary Augusta Bailey Polley, moved from their home in Brazoria County to a site on a knoll overlooking the Cibolo Valley, about two miles north of Sutherland Springs, in what was then Guadalupe County (now Wilson County). They were the first settlers in an area still raided by Indians.

While the Polleys lived in a temporary stake house on the property, a team of 20 slaves quarried hardened sandstone from nearby Elm Creek for the walls of the new house and crushed mussel shells from the creek for lime to mix mortar.

READ MORE: Joe Holley pens book about Astros' historic season

Joseph Polleys brother, John Polley, drew up the blueprints for the house, using the family home in Whitehall, N.Y., as inspiration. He also purchased doors, sashes, cabinetry, window panes and furnishings in New York for his brothers new home and had them shipped to the port at Indianola. Ox carts hauled the material to the frontier site.

The house contains eight high-ceilinged rooms, with two grand hallways. Both interior and exterior walls are of solid stone, 18 inches thick. Six open-pit fireplaces heated the home.

The woodwork is cypress timber hauled in ox-drawn wagons from sawmills near Bandera, about 90 miles to the west. In the attic, the Muschaleks showed me rafters joined together with square nails and cypress pins. The structure is as sturdy as when it was built.

The house was completed by 1854, and the large Polley family (11 children in all) moved in. By that time Joseph Polley was in the process of accumulating vast holdings of land and cattle. Shortly before the war he owned 150,000 head, more than any rancher in Texas with the exception of the King Ranch. Mary Polley managed the large household.

Despite being a slaveholder, Joseph Polley was a reluctant supporter of the Confederacy. His son, Joseph Benjamin Polley, became a corporal in Company F of the 4th Texas Infantry, which fought under Col. John Bell Hood and Gen. Robert E. Lee. The younger Polley saw action at Gaines Mill, Second Manassas, Antietam and Gettysburg and had to have a wounded foot amputated in 1864. He would go on to write A Soldiers Letters to Charming Nellie, published in 1908, and Hoods Texas Brigade, 1910.

Read More: An East Texas writer remembers a country newspaperman

In February, 1861, Lee may, or may not, have sat down at a desk in an upstairs bedroom and written his last letter from Texas. We do like to keep this story alive, Keith says, in case we come across evidence someday.

The war wrought financial ruin on the Polleys. Joseph Polley received a pardon from President Andrew Johnson but was unable to rebuild the familys fortunes before his death in 1869.

Mary Polley turned Whitehall into a boarding house after her husbands death, catering to the many visitors who came to nearby Sutherland Springs  the Saratoga of the South  to take the cure in the sulphur waters of Cibolo Creek. She lived until 1888.

The mansion stayed in the Polley family until 1907, when it was sold to a Wilson County commissioner. Patillo Higgins of Spindletop fame showed up in the area in 1923; oil was discovered on the property in 1955.

A succession of owners kept Whitehall in relatively good shape until the early 1990s, when an owner who had it for 25 years allowed it to fall into ruin. By the time the Muschaleks bought it in 2015, the roof had blown off, windows were broken out and what Keith calls an avalanche of barn swallows were living in the house.

Keith, who grew up in Pasadena, had passed by the mansion for years on family trips to his grandparents house in Yorktown. I didnt know what it was, he told me last week. I thought maybe it was an old dance hall.

Robin spent a portion of her childhood in upstate New York, not far from the original Whitehall. Weve always worked on our own houses, always loved history, she said. We liked the social part and wanted to be involved in something that gave back to the community. Were still trying to decide what to do with it.

Preservation and renovation will go on for years. Its all about money  that and finding people to do it, Keith said.

The Muschaleks are thinking theyll probably make the house available as a venue for weddings, parties and events related to its rich history. They thought about living in the house but decided not to. They know that Abner Hubbard Hub Polley, son of Joseph and Mary, refused to live in the family home because, he wrote, it was inhabited by haints.

His letter, they assured me, had nothing to do with their decision. I believed them  until they told me about the rocking chair on the veranda that started mysteriously rocking all by itself the other day.

djholley10@gmail.com

twitter.com/holleynewsA.J. Crabill knows what its like to close schools.

In 2010, Crabill, then a 30-year-old member of the Kansas City, Missouri, school board, cast a deciding vote to shutter nearly half of the districts schools, devastating some members of the community.

Eight years later, Crabill is the deputy commissioner of governance for the Texas Education Agency, and he and his boss, Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath, likely will face a similar quandary with Houston ISD. A new state law is expected to force the agency to shut down several chronically underperforming schools or replace the districts locally elected school board  with either choice inciting anger across Houston.

The question becomes: Which actions can be least disruptive to students? And which actions can create the most benefits for students? Crabill told a Houston gathering last month. To be clear, there are only hard choices that are left on the table.

Q&A: Could Texas take over Houston ISD? And why are people so upset?

Over the next several months, Morath, Crabill and other leaders in Austin likely will chart the future of HISD, selecting from a short menu of unpalatable options foisted on them by state legislators. Under a law passed in 2015, known as House Bill 1842, the TEA must close campuses or appoint a board of managers to govern HISD if any of the districts 10 longest-struggling schools fail to meet state academic standards this year  a likely outcome, HISD administrators have conceded.

HISD could have avoided potential sanctions if it surrendered control over the 10 schools to an outside organization, but the district dropped that idea last week following backlash over a plan to partner with charter school operator Energized For STEM Academy Inc., and a raucous school board meeting on Tuesday. Two people were arrested after the president of the board of trustees ordered police to clear the room amid jeers from some in the audience.

Shelby Webb / Houston Chronicle

District administrators spent several months searching for a partner willing to take over its 10 campuses ahead of a Monday deadline to submit plans, but HISD leaders could not find one that had support from the board of trustees. Several potential partners balked at taking over campuses ahead of the 2018-19 school year, a short time frame for implementing changes. The departure of Superintendent Richard Carranzara, who left to become chancellor of New York City public schools in March, also disrupted HISDs search.

Faced with the possibility of sanctions, vocal community members have opposed school closures, arguing in part that they unfairly target predominately black and Hispanic neighborhoods. In the past few decades, nearly all school closures in HISD have occurred in minority-majority parts of the city, fostering community distrust.

OPINION: Parents and citizens deserve HISD's respect  not threats and arrests

Closing schools is just very impactful to a neighborhood, said Jennifer Evans, whose son is a senior at Worthing High School, one of the 10 campuses. The best thing to do is to keep it open, to provide programs, to market the school and have the best opportunities so students are challenged.

Some advocates who oppose charter schools and conservative-aligned education policies also have expressed dismay that Morath, who was appointed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, would have authority to make major decisions impacting HISD.

In addition, several HISD trustees have argued that the district is making progress at its lowest-performing schools, citing its Achieve 180 plans that pump hundreds of thousands of dollars into each campus.

To date, TEA leaders have been relatively tight-lipped about what they will choose for HISD if the district becomes subject to sanctions this year. However, a review of recent TEA actions, comments by Crabill and statements by local leaders shed light on how the coming months could play out.

Crabill, Moraths top liaison in dealing with HISD the past few months, hinted at last months community meeting that school closures are not the best option for solving academic issues. Crabill said he had visited some of the 10 low-performing schools  all of which serve predominately black and Hispanic students in high-poverty neighborhoods  and found their struggles were not due to staff efforts.

We have to look beyond state-mandated closure as a panacea in this particular instance, Crabill said. I dont say that out of an unwillingness to use that as an option. I say that from someone whos gone to the campuses and doesnt see that it actually moves the ball forward for those students.

The 10 schools at risk of potential closure are Blackshear, Dogan, Highland Heights, Mading and Wesley elementary schools; Henry Middle School; Woodson PK-8; and Kashmere, Wheatley and Worthing high schools. They combine to serve nearly 7,000 students.

Now Playing: Kandice Webber speaks about her arrest at an HISD board meeting Video: Jon Shapley, Houston Chronicle

If Morath opts for a board of managers, HISD would join several other Texas school districts under state-appointed oversight. Under that option, Morath personally would select members of a temporary governing board, who gradually would be replaced by elected trustees as the district showed progress.

In recent years, the TEA has employed boards of managers to salvage several districts reeling from corruption or financial distress. It has also ordered the shutdown of a few foundering districts, including North Forest and La Marque ISDs in the Houston area. Houston ISD would become the first district with a board of managers stemming from the 2015 law, which seeks to address academic shortcomings.

TEXAS TAKE: Texas throwdowns starring Blake Fahrenthold, HISD and Congress

No district subject to state intervention has come close to the size of Houston ISD. In the two most prominent takeovers  El Paso ISD (59,400 students) and Beaumont ISD (19,200 students)  then-Texas Education Commissioner Michael L. Williams chose highly accomplished board members from the local community, though many had little to no background in education. They included former university presidents, prominent business leaders, government bureaucrats and a social service expert, among others. The boards closely mirrored racial and ethnic demographics in both communities.

Robert Turner, a Beaumont-area auto dealership owner who served on the local districts board of managers, said the governance group helped carry Beaumont through a tumultuous era.

State interventions The Texas Education Agency has intervened in several school districts over the past decade, though none served student populations nearly as large as Houston ISD. Among them: El Paso ISD (current enrollment: 59,400): When El Paso trustees failed to catch their superintendent engaged in a cheating scandal, the TEA commissioner replaced them in 2012. Elected trustees regained control of the district in 2015. Beaumont ISD (current enrollment: 19,200): Issues with finances, governance and special education services in Beaumont led to a state-appointed board of managers in 2014. The TEA has started transitioning elected trustees back onto the board, with plans to end its intervention in 2020. North Forest ISD (enrollment before closure: 6,900): Persistently low academic performance and debts totaling $8 million were among the reasons the TEA ordered North Forest ISD to shut down in 2013. The district was annexed into Houston ISD. Southside ISD (current enrollment: 5,900): The TEA commissioner replaced the Bexar County district's trustees in 2017 after determining the board was unable to govern and failed to comply with contract procurement requirements. The board of managers remains in place. See More Collapse

We trusted each other, we respected each other, there was no backbiting or infighting, Turner said. We had no agenda other than fixing the schools.

The El Paso and Beaumont takeovers stabilized both districts, though they were met with mixed reviews from community members.

Across the country, states have sought to get more involved in large, urban districts facing serious academic and financial issues. Gary Ritter, a professor of education policy at the University of Arkansas who has analyzed state takeover efforts, said intervention sometimes helps steady troubled districts, but theres not much evidence that, systematically, this can lead to clear academic benefits. He also noted Houston is unique from other districts nationwide because only 10 of its 284 schools have been labeled chronically underperforming.

That certainly seems like an unhelpful wrinkle in the takeover threat in Houston, Ritter said. For the most part, in places like Baltimore, Detroit, Newark, Cleveland (and) Philadelphia, they were done when the school district had been showing either poor performance or financial troubles for several years in a row.

For that reason, state Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, wants to see Morath show leniency to HISD. Coleman, whose district includes two of the 10 schools, said HB1842 carries a penalty that is not appropriate to the circumstance.

Coleman said he plans to introduce a bill during the 2019 legislative session that would change or repeal the sanctions listed under HB1842, which passed with 85 percent support in the Legislature. He said he believes many lawmakers were not aware of the implications of the bill when it passed.

OPINION: Bullying in the HISD boardroom

In the meantime, Coleman said he hopes Morath finds a method for avoiding any HISD sanctions.

I advocate that he makes good public policy by not implementing those provisions, with the understanding that members want to alter the law so that it works better than the two options that exist now, Coleman said.

Morath is expected to decide in June whether to issue academic accountability waivers to districts and schools impacted by Hurricane Harvey. TEA officials have not publicly committed to whether HB1842 sanctions would be implemented if all 10 HISD schools at risk of triggering the law received an accountability waiver.

A few HISD leaders have suggested seven of the 10 schools still could trigger sanctions even with a waiver this year because they have been rated improvement required for poor academic performance for five or more years.

jacob.carpenter@chron.com

twitter.com/chronjacobCity Secretary Anna Russell has one week to finish verifying a petition Houston firefighters submitted last summer seeking pay parity with police or risk being hauled into court, a state district judge said Friday.

Judge Dan Hinde had given Russell until Friday at 5 p.m. to verify whether the firefighters had reached the minimum threshold of 20,000 signatures needed for the item to appear before voters.

City attorneys asked the judge for an extension Friday morning, however, saying that, after a slow start, the count had reached 14,000 names and was proceeding briskly with the help of eight staffers who were assigned from other departments about two weeks ago and approved for overtime pay.

The judge denied the citys request. However, he asked only that the firefighters attorneys submit a draft writ for him to issue by May 4, indicating that if he got word the count had finished before then, he would leave the paperwork unsigned.

I understand the city has a variety of services and duties to its citizens. I dont discount those, Hinde said. But it was not apparent that the city secretary was emphasizing enough the importance of the electoral franchise and referendum power, the legislative power, the citizens are entitled to.

READ MORE: Judge sides with Houston firefighters, orders city secretary to validate pay parity petition

Firefighters submitted a petition last July asking for a ballot referendum that, if approved by voters, would grant firefighters the same pay as police officers of corresponding rank. Mayor Sylvester Turner has estimated the cost of implementing that proposal at about $60 million per year; the city faces projected deficits of more than $100 million in each of the next five years.

Russell did not validate the firefighters petition in time for the November or May elections, so leaders of the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association sued in December, leading to the deadline now in force.

Our intent is ensuring the petitions signed by the citizens are counted and that voters have an opportunity to weigh in, fire union president Marty Lancton, a plaintiff in the case, said after Fridays decision.

READ MORE: Firefighters, frustrated with contract talks, plan to ask voters for a raise

State law sets no timeline on which charter petitions must be validated. Russell received three petitions last year, one of which fell under a chapter of state law that forced her to count it within 30 days. After doing so, she returned to tallying a pension-related petition to amend the city charter that her office received in April. The firefighters petition, which also would amend the charter, was submitted in July.

Russell, who has served the city for 65 years, has expressed disappointment with the case, saying she was processing the petitions the way that Ive always handled them: The first one in, the first one out. After the judges decision Friday, she said, Ill just continue to do our work.

At the hearing Friday, Hinde asked why the count had not begun in earnest immediately after his March order was issued.

Why didnt she use the extra time I already gave her? he asked Assistant City Attorney Brian Amis.

Amis said the secretarys office began preparing the paperwork on which the formal count would be recorded on the day the judges order was issued, a process that includes individually numbering each signature line and stamping each page. Within a week of the order, Amis said, Russell asked Turner to approve money for overtime pay and to lend her additional staff.

Russell and her staff must verify that a sufficient number of the names on the petition are those of registered voters who live inside the city of Houston.

With the diversion of resources from other departments, along with the expenditure of unbudgeted overtime, the city believes it can finish counting the petitions by or before next Friday, mayoral spokeswoman Mary Benton said, adding it was unclear how much the effort would cost.

We see no need for an extension, said Troy Blakeney, an attorney for the firefighters. Were not standing before the court to ask that Ms. Russell be brought over here on a writ, but we think timing is really important.

It is unclear when the petition, if validated, would appear before voters.

City attorneys have indicated that Mayor Sylvester Turner intends to schedule a vote on the petition, if it is validated, during the next municipal election cycle in November 2019. Blakeney has said, he expects to wind up in court again to accelerate the vote.

READ MORE: Rancor between firefighters, mayor flares anew over petition count

City Attorney Ron Lewis, who had told the judge that a number of city employees had been required to neglect their regular duties in an effort to comply with the courts order, traded words with Blakeney in the hallway outside the courtroom after the hearing.

Both men seemed to agree that a 10-day extension would have been reasonable, but apparently had failed to make their positions clear to each other before the hearing, and so came away instead with effectively a six-day deadline. The City Hall Annex, which houses Russells office, will be without power Saturday for repairs, Amis said, removing one counting day.

The petition fight comes as the fire union is suing the city over stalled contract talks.

Firefighters have been without a contract for almost four years, have received just a 3 percent raise since 2010, and were irate over Turners successful push to reduce city workers pension benefits at the Texas Legislature last year.

mike.morris@chron.com

twitter.com/mmorris011A federal appeals court has upheld the latest version of the state's voter ID law.

In a 2 to 1 ruling released late Friday, a three judge panel with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said opponents of the revised voter ID requirements in Texas had failed to prove fixes the Legislature made to its original voter ID law had "discriminatory effect on indigent minority voters."

Opponents of the revised voter ID law known as SB 5, had argued that despite changes to the original statute passed in 2011, the law still presented a barrier to voting for people who did not have access to a photo identification.

The revised law, passed in 2017, still calls for one of seven acceptable forms of photo ID to cast a ballot. It lets people without one of those forms of ID vote, but they have to sign an affidavit and show a utility bill or paycheck that has the person's name and address.

Attorney General Ken Paxton was quick to applaud the decision.

"The court rightly recognized that when the Legislature passed Senate Bill 5 last session, it complied with every change the 5th Circuit ordered to the original voter ID law," Paxton said. "Safeguarding the integrity of our elections is essential to preserving our democracy. The revised voter ID law removes any burden on voters who cannot obtain a photo ID."

In August, Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos of U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas issued a permanent injuction against the revised voter ID law, calling it a "poll tax" on minority voters. In September, a federal appeals court blocked that ruling from going into full effect in order to hear the merits for and against the state's appeal.

Jeremy Wallace writes about state politics and government for the Chronicle. Follow him on Twitter at @JeremySWallace.Jason Hoekema, MBO / Associated Press

AUSTIN  The Texas Education Commissioner has the authority to shut down charter schools that fail to meet academic or financial accountability ratings for three years, according to a court ruling by the Texas Supreme Court issued Friday.

Several charter schools, based in Austin and North Texas, sued the Texas Education Agency when they were shut down in 2014 as a result of a law aimed at expanding charter schools in the state. As part of the 2013 law, the state would allow more schools to operate, but expedited closures for those that were not meeting standards.by Mathias Hariyadi

In recent years, the countrys religious orders have seen a sharp decline in vocations. Priests, nuns, men and women religious were welcomed in the homes of the faithful in the provinces of West Kalimantan, Central Java and Yogyakarta, sharing the story of their vocation and some aspects of the life they dedicate to Christ.

Jakarta (AsiaNews)  In different parts of Indonesia, members of the local clergy have been involved in promoting the consecrated life among young people and families of Catholic communities through initiatives and activities that raise awareness.

On 20-23 April, on the occasion of the week dedicated to the 55th World Day of Vocations, almost a hundred men and women religious, priests and nuns, from 23 local congregations, together with some diocesan seminarians, left their place of residence to spend some time with Catholics in the provinces of West Kalimantan, Central Java and Yogyakarta.

In recent years, religious orders have seen a sharp drop in local vocations. Compared to the late 1980s, when the number of novices could reach 20 people, getting more than seven would be a great surprise right now.

One of the main causes is Keluarga Berencana (KB), Indonesias birth-control programme, which was put in place under the late president Suharto (1967-1998).

The Church has been working to reverse the trend and has identified a possible solution in "direct communication" and "personal meetings" with the faithful, which is in fact, what took place at the Holy Family parish in Kota Baru, Pontianak (West Kalimantan), at the initiative of the parish office for the family apostolate.

On 22 April, local Catholic families welcomed 60 consecrated persons into their homes. The latter shared with them the story of their vocation and some aspects of life dedicated to Christ.

The meetings (pictured), which were very successful among the participants, were followed by a festive Eucharistic celebration in the parish church.

Fr Andreas Kurniawan (pictured), a Dominican priest and treasurer of the Archdiocese of Pontianak, "challenged" young people and children dressed like nuns and priests to follow their path.

During his homily, the clergyman highlighted some of the challenges of modern society, explaining how "Gods voice is increasingly ignored and dominated by louder voices."

"We are encouraged to have an intimate relationship with the Lord, through prayer and others, so that we can hear His delicate voice in our hearts," said Fr Andreas.

West Kalimantan has four dioceses (Pontianak, Ketapang, Sintang, and Sanggau). Here Catholics make up a larger proportion of the population than in other provinces of Indonesian Borneo.

However, the latest data show that in the Archdiocese of Pontianak, only 97 priests, 317 nuns and 48 men religious serve in 26 parishes the pastoral needs of some 683,000 local Catholics.

In Klaten, in the province of Central Java, 19 nuns of the Congregation of the Daughters of Mary and Joseph (DMJ) took part in a similar initiative on 20-22 April at the parish of St Theresia Jombor.

Sr Alfonsa DMJ told AsiaNews that the three-day meeting ended with a Mass. The sisters carried out various activities (pictured), including "open-heart" meetings with the younger participants.

In Yogyakarta, Brother Flavianus Ngardi MTB said that, to celebrate the 55th Week dedicated to Vocations, the parish of St Mary Assumpta Babarsari organised a solemn Mass, during which many consecrated persons spoke about their personal stories.

"I was asked to talk about my story in lieu of the homily", said Br Flavianus. Like many Sisters and Brothers, one of the initial motivations that drove Brother Flavianus to the consecrated life was the "interesting and out of the ordinary" robes priests wore during religious services and public occasions.

Some children dressed up as consecrated persons took part in the service (pictured).

(Sr Maria Seba SIFC, Sr Alfonsa DMJ and Br Flavianus Ngardi MTB contributed to this article)UN Security Council adopted resolution 2414 renewing the mandate of the UN mission to the Sahara, MINURSO, for another six months until October 31.

The resolution took note of the Moroccan proposal presented on 11 April 2007 to the Secretary-General (a reference to the autonomy initiative) and welcomed the credible Moroccan efforts to move the process forward.

The Security council also lauded Moroccos human rights steps and initiatives underscoring the role played by the National Council on Human Rights Commissions operating in Dakhla and Laayoune, and Moroccos interaction with Special Procedures of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

The resolution also called on the parties to engage in a new round of negotiations without pre-conditions and urged neighboring states, Algeria and Mauritania, to contribute to achieve progress towards a political solution.

The Security Council reiterated that the status-quo is untenable, noting that a political solution is conducive to regional integration in the Maghreb and to regional peace and stability.

A political solution to this long-standing dispute and enhanced cooperation between the Member States of the Maghreb Arab Union would contribute to stability and security, in turn leading to jobs, growth and opportunities for all the peoples in the Sahel region, said the resolution, drafted by the US and voted by 12 states for and 3 abstentions.Imperial Valley News Center

On the Occasion of the United Republic of Tanzania's Union Day

Washington, DC - Secretary of State Mike Pompeo: "On behalf of President Trump and the people of the United States, I congratulate the people of Tanzania as you celebrate the 54th anniversary of the United Republic of Tanzania.

"Over the past five decades, Tanzania and the United States have been good friends and partners, working closely with each other on many life-saving and life-changing programs and initiatives. By working collaboratively, we have made important progress, and we look forward to our continued efforts to meet the challenges of a new year.

"As Tanzanians gather to celebrate Union Day, I send my best wishes to the Tanzanian people that they will continue to reap the benefits of a nation working towards a more peaceful and prosperous world."Imperial Valley News Center

Big Changes in your Credit Card

Washington, DC - You may have noticed recently that some merchants are not requiring you to sign for chip-enabled credit or debit card purchases, no matter what the amount. Thats because the major card issuers recently announced that signatures will be optional for chip-card purchases at checkout starting this month.

It wont mean a complete end to the need for signing receipts. It will be up to the merchant to decide when a signature is needed. So, you can still expect to provide your John Hancock when asked and when engaging in some transactions such as renting a car or buying high-end items at stores. And, it is unlikely that many restaurants will put an end to signing for meals lest a diner forget to leave a tip. And, in some cases, local law requires a signature for card purchases.

However, Mark Horwedel, CEO of the Merchant Advisory Group [MAG], whose members account for some three trillion dollars in annual sales, says that 55% of its membership plans to drop signatures immediately. Others are still evaluating their options.

Purchases under $25 or $50, in certain cases, have not required buyers to sign card receipts for some time now as the industry prepared to ultimately phase out the need for all purchases.

Its not universal as yet. Some retailers are still asking you to sign your receipt. But the card industry is on track to phase out what many fraud experts believe is a useless practice, according to Dan Weber, president of the Association of Mature American Citizens.

The experts will tell you that signatures are no guarantee against in person retail fraud. The fact is that many card users have been illegibly scribbling or doodling instead of signing their receipts for almost as long as credit cards have been around. Its rare, at best, that a signature is challenged at stores and restaurants.

As Shakespeare so eloquently put it in Romeo and Juliet, Whats in a name? A rose would still smell as sweet. Apparently, signatures are no longer considered proof of identity in the technology-focused 21st Century, says Weber.

Unfortunately, the chip is not a bulletproof way to prevent fraud, he adds. Online thieves, Weber points out, will still use stolen credit card data to scam retailers in computer-based transactions.

The more organized thieves tend to hack into the computer data of big retailers, banks and other such establishments to gather credit card info on a big scale. But, some will go after credit details one on one. Such phishermen target individuals. Phishing is the term for crooks who try to lure you into giving up your credit card information via email. But you can avoid being the victim of such crimes, Weber explains.

For one thing, dont open email messages from individuals you dont know and never open a link they might contain, he warns. That goes for any suspicious messages from banks and credit card companies asking you to update your account info; log on to your account directly to see if your information needs updating.

Weber suggests that you also use strong password security in your dealings on the Web. Make up a password that contains at least eight characters including upper and lower case letters and numbers. There are some who use passwords that are so easy to crack that it would be funny if it werent so dangerous -- such as the word, password, itself, or the number sequence,123456.

Lastly, he advises that you make sure to use the best security software in your computer, systems that are recommended by experts to be able to thwart malicious intrusions that leave you and your computer vulnerable.Assistant Secretary Mitchell Travel to Brussels, Tbilisi, and Kyiv

Washington, DC - Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs A. Wess Mitchell will join U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Brussels, Belgium, on April 27, where the Secretary will lead the U.S. participation in the NATO Foreign Ministerial Meeting.

Following the NATO Foreign Ministerial, Assistant Secretary Mitchell will visit Tbilisi, Georgia, where he will provide the keynote address at the NATO-Georgia Public Diplomacy Forum and meet with senior government officials as well as with other political leaders, representatives of civil society, and the American Chamber of Commerce to reinforce U.S. support for Georgias aspirations to integrate into Euro-Atlantic institutions.

He will then travel to Kyiv, Ukraine, May 1-3. He will meet with senior government officials, other political leaders, and civil society representatives to underscore U.S. support for Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity and stress the importance of Ukraine implementing economic and anti-corruption reforms.On the Occasion of the Republic of Sierra Leone's National Day

Washington, DC - Secretary of State Mike Pompeo: "On behalf of President Trump and the people of the United States, I send my best wishes to Sierra Leoneans as they celebrate 57 years of independence on April 27.

"The United States and Sierra Leone share a deep friendship based on our commitment to sustainable development, democracy, human rights, peace, and good governance.

"On this historic occasion, we celebrate Sierra Leones progress and its promise for the future and offer congratulations on your recent free and fair democratic elections. I offer best wishes for a joyous and safe holiday, and I reaffirm the commitment of the United States to our enduring friendship."On the Occasion of the Republic of South Africa's National Day

Washington, DC - Secretary of State Mike Pompeo: "On behalf of President Trump and the American people, we send our best wishes to the people of the Republic of South Africa as you observe the 24th anniversary of Freedom Day.

"Our two countries enjoy a relationship based on shared democratic values and a commitment to peace and prosperity. Our trade and investment ties are strong, creating jobs in both countries. We are also working together to achieve progress in health, science, and technology. As we move forward, there will be many opportunities to expand our vital partnership to overcome todays many challenges.

"This year takes on special significance as we celebrate the 100th anniversary of Nelson Mandelas birth. Madibas leadership was instrumental in bringing about South Africas first democratic elections 24 years ago, and his legacy inspires South Africa to be a leader in Africa and in the world today.

"Sincere congratulations as you celebrate this momentous anniversary."On the Occasion of the Republic of Togo's National Day

Washington, DC - Secretary of State Mike Pompeo: "On behalf of President Trump and the American people, I am extending warm wishes to the people of Togo as you celebrate the 58th anniversary of your independence on April 27.

"The United States remains committed to a strong partnership with Togo and to supporting Togos efforts to strengthen its democracy, prosperity, and security.

"As you celebrate this historic day, the United States stands with Togo in honoring your independence as a nation rich in tradition and full of possibilities, and sends warm wishes to the government and people of Togo for a joyous independence celebration.""Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's Meeting With Turkish Foreign Minister Cavusoglu

Brussels, Belgium - Secretary Mike Pompeo met with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on April 27, on the margins of the NATO Foreign Ministerial Meeting in Brussels, Belgium, to discuss Syria and a range of bilateral issues.

The Secretary and Foreign Minister agreed on the value of U.S.-Turkish partnership in the region and of maintaining close communication. Secretary Pompeo conveyed the Administrations concern for U.S citizens and Mission Turkey local staff detained in Turkey. Building upon prior discussions on Manbij, the two reaffirmed their support for the established bilateral process to find a common way forward. They also discussed the United States commitment to supporting Turkeys national security concerns.Samantha Akkineni: Everything You Need to Know About the Actor Who Announced Separation from Naga ChaitanyaEvery few weeks, it seems, an asteroid approaches close enough to the Earth that people worry about an extinction-level impact. Ditto with nuclear war; if it's not Iran, it's North Korea, or Donald Trump. End of the world as we know it, right?

Well, yes, but maybe we have something even scarier to worry about.

In a 2015 TED Talk, Bill Gates explained that the biggest threat to human life today isn't asteroids or nuclear bombs but something smaller and more insidious: some not-yet-evolved strain of the common flu.

His warning then seems prescient this year, because the vaccine for the current flu season proved ineffective, resulting in more deaths that usual. That's worrying because a lethal strain of flu can kill millions, as it did in the 1918 pandemic.

Yes, today we have flu shots, but flu evolves more quickly than bacterial diseases. While scientists create a vaccine for each year's flu season, they guesstimate which strain will spread, making each year's vaccine hit or miss. Even then, flu vaccines are never 100% effective.

How big is the potential threat? According to a recent article in The Atlantic, while a nuclear bomb dropped on New York City might kill 10 million people, experts say a flu pandemic might kill as many as 33 million people in 250 days.

As usual, Gates is putting his money where his mouth is, by launching a $12 million challenge to scientists and researchers to find a universal flu vaccine. Absent such a vaccine, though, a widely lethal flu pandemic may currently be inevitable.

While the world hasn't suffered a pandemic for, well, for centuries, previous pandemics (like the 14th century plague) were horrible nearly beyond imagination, with death rates of up to 90%. There are areas of France that still haven't recovered.The family of Brittany Oswell recently filed a wrongful death lawsuit against American Airlines, alleging that American Airlines was negligent in its handling of a medical emergency suffered by Brittany on a 2016 flight from Hawaii to Dallas-Fort Worth.

Newlyweds Brittany and Corey Oswell were returning home from their honeymoon in Hawaii on American Flight 102 when Brittany became dizzy and disoriented, and then fainted. She regained consciousness and was examined by a doctor summoned by flight attendants who decided that Brittany had likely suffered a panic attack.

Brittany was discovered sometime after this first incident on the floor of one of the aircraft's restrooms where she had collapsed again, and according to the lawsuit, "vomited and defecated all over herself and the lavatory." Brittany was once again examined by doctor. According to the lawsuit, "the doctor directed the flight attendants to inform the flight crew that it needed to divert the plane from its scheduled arrival at Dallas-Fort Worth to the nearest airport, so Brittany could receive proper medical care."

Although at that time the airplane was close to Albuquerque, New Mexico where it could have safely landed, according to the lawsuit, "the captain elected to continue the flight to Dallas-Fort Worth airport after conferring with the physician on call."

Soon after that, Brittany's pulse and breathing stopped, and medical attention was rendered by the doctor and flight attendants. They attempted to use an automatic external defibrillator (AED) on Brittany, but the machine failed. She received CPR and a shot of epinephrine, but Brittany did not recover consciousness.

Brittany died a few days later at Baylor Medical Center where she was diagnosed with anoxic brain damage resulting from an acute embolism.

American Airlines is being sued after a bride returning from her honeymoon had a medical emergency during a flight and later died https://t.co/XqCUfZKdnY pic.twitter.com/KiY1DF3QR8 -- CNN (@CNN) April 28, 2018

In a statement to ABC News, a spokesperson for American Airlines said, "We take the safety of our passengers very seriously and we are looking into the details of the complaint."

Brad Cranshaw, the attorney for Brittany's family, asked, "The question is, why was no landing attempted and why did American choose to continue going on?"The UN Security Council has strongly condemned the recent Polisarios provocations including its plans to set up administrative facilities in Bir Lahlou, east of Moroccan-built security wall.

The Security Council, which adopted resolution 2414 renewing the mandate of the UN mission in Sahara until October 31, expresses concern with the presence of the Polisario Front in the buffer strip in Guerguarat and calls for its immediate withdrawal.

The Resolution also condemns the Polisario Fronts announcement of the planned relocation of administrative functions to Bir Lahlou, an action, which amounts to destabilizing actions it said.

The Security Council was also firm in blaming the Polisairo for these actions and stressed the need for a full respect of the military agreements reached with MINURSO.

On the other hand, the council commended the measured response of Morocco to most recent concerns regarding the buffer strip.

The resolution also rebuked the Polisario for hindering the MINURSO from carrying out its ceasefire-monitoring task. This came after Polisario militiamen stopped a MINURSO patrol east of the berm after firing warning shots.

The resolution was adopted with 12 votes for and three abstentions.Shutting down oil and gas operations in the North Sea is likely to cost double the governments current target, leaving younger generations with a hefty tax bill.

An analysis of current government figures suggests the goal of 39bn to dismantle the regions pipelines and wells is a significant underestimate.

Instead, a figure of over 80bn is cited as a far more realistic projection in the new report for the Intergenerational Foundation (IF).

The higher price tag will leave each child in the UK with a bill of up to 3,000 if the government allows companies drilling in the North Sea to avoid their decommissioning obligations.

As the UK transitions to a more sustainable economy in an effort to meet its climate targets, a transition away from fossil fuels is essential.

However, these new findings highlight the lasting cost oil and gas will have even after UK citizens are no longer receiving any benefits from them.

We think the target the government have set themselves for the cost of decommissioning flies in the face of what it knows itself to be the case, and what its own experts have told us, said Andrew Simms, report co-author and co-director of think tank the New Weather Institute.

Industry regulator the Oil and Gas Authority published estimates in 2017 for the cost of decommissioning the 250 fixed installations, 3,000 pipelines and 5,000 wells that make up the UKs North Sea fossil fuel infrastructure.

The figure they arrived at was around 60bn, with the goal of slashing this by 35 per cent.

This leaves a final target of 39bn, a figure that Mr Simms and his co-author David Boyle disputed in their report, entitled Rigged: How the UK oil and gas industry is undermining future generations.

They say OGAs own analysis of decommissioning costs, as well as that carried out by auditors KPMG, has found large-scale projects like dismantling the North Seas pipelines inevitably run into problems, and end up costing far more than planned.

Its far more common to see an overspend on initial estimates of costs for megaprojects in this sector of 35 per cent rather than a saving, explained Mr Simms.

So we think there has been a massaging down of the figures to make it seem more acceptable when in fact the likelihood is of a significant overspend.

Main findings from the Intergenerational Foundations report (Intergenerational Foundation)

In what Mr Simms refers to as a great mishandling, the government has not set aside any money from the industry to handle future decommissioning, meaning this burden will fall largely on future taxpayers.

By not having a dedicated pot of money, the idea that its falling on a younger generation does hold up, said Dr Jonathan Marshall, energy analyst at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit.

Dr Marshall points to the example of Norway, a country that has built up a big pool of money to shut down its oil and gas operations.

He said decommissioning offshore oil rigs is still a fledgling industry, but one that will become increasingly important in the coming years.

Recommended Renewable energy now makes up nearly third of all UK electricity

The ones we have are coming towards the end of their life and they are going to start building up relatively quickly  there are all these offshore oil rigs that need to be taken down, he said.

Ironically, some of the cost of dismantling North Sea fossil fuel infrastructure in the UK  part of the countrys efforts to meet its climate targets as set out by the Paris climate agreement  is set to come from the continued extraction of oil and gas.

You have this slightly perverse system where they are hoping to pay for it with maximum extraction, said Mr Simms.

Besides the monetary costs to younger people, the authors of the IF report argue this sustained exploitation of fossil fuel reserves will pass additional health and environmental costs their way.

Many climate scientists and environmental groups have emphasised the need to adopt a keep it in the ground approach when considering exploitation of remaining fossil fuels.

Mary Creagh, chair of the Environmental Audit Committee which has just launched an inquiry into sustainable seas, said it is vital that decommissioning in the North Sea is done in a way that protects the ocean for future generations.

Mr Simms said: We cannot by any means afford to burn even a majority of the known fossil fuel reserves that are in the ground, if we are to have a hope of meeting the targets we have signed up to under the climate accord.

10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Show all 10 1 /10 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A group of emperor penguins face a crack in the sea ice, near McMurdo Station, Antarctica Kira Morris 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Floods destroyed eight bridges and ruined crops such as wheat, maize and peas in the Karimabad valley in northern Pakistan, a mountainous region with many glaciers. In many parts of the world, glaciers have been in retreat, creating dangerously large lakes that can cause devastating flooding when the banks break. Climate change can also increase rainfall in some areas, while bringing drought to others. Hira Ali 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Smoke  filled with the carbon that is driving climate change  drifts across a field in Colombia. Sandra Rondon 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Amid a flood in Islampur, Jamalpur, Bangladesh, a woman on a raft searches for somewhere dry to take shelter. Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable places in the world to sea level rise, which is expected to make tens of millions of people homeless by 2050. Probal Rashid 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Sindh province in Pakistan has experienced a grim mix of two consequences of climate change. Because of climate change either we have floods or not enough water to irrigate our crop and feed our animals, says the photographer. Picture clearly indicates that the extreme drought makes wide cracks in clay. Crops are very difficult to grow. Rizwan Dharejo 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Hanna Petursdottir examines a cave inside the Svinafellsjokull glacier in Iceland, which she said had been growing rapidly. Since 2000, the size of glaciers on Iceland has reduced by 12 per cent. Tom Schifanella 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A river once flowed along the depression in the dry earth of this part of Bangladesh, but it has disappeared amid rising temperatures. Abrar Hossain 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A shepherd moves his herd as he looks for green pasture near the village of Sirohi in Rajasthan, northern India. The region has been badly affected by heatwaves and drought, making local people nervous about further predicted increases in temperature. Riddhima Singh Bhati 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A factory in China is shrouded by a haze of air pollution. The World Health Organisation has warned such pollution, much of which is from the fossil fuels that cause climate change, is a public health emergency. Leung Ka Wa 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Water levels in reservoirs, like this one in Gers, France, have been getting perilously low in areas across the world affected by drought, forcing authorities to introduce water restrictions. Mahtuf Ikhsan

Instead, he argues that the burden should be taken up by the fossil fuel companies themselves, under the so-called polluter pays principle.

As a rough rule of thumb, about half the cost of decommissioning as a burden falls upon the public purse, as opposed to the principle of the polluter paying, meaning those who have benefited in terms of the windfall profit from the industry bearing the full cost, said Mr Simms.

As it stands, IF claims the government is letting these companies bypass the principles of the Energy Act 2004  which states they must pay the costs of decommissioning  by offloading costs of decommissioning onto smaller contractors.

It is extraordinary that there is no proper mechanism in place to protect our children from having to pay the clean-up costs for oil and gas they didnt use, while the companies involved can essentially escape responsibility by offloading their North Sea holdings onto smaller contractors and retain just one quarter of the costs of decommissioning while benefiting from generous tax breaks, said IF co-founder Angus Hanton.

We should be moving towards a greener renewable future for energy. Instead, current government policy is about subsidising the extraction of more carbon.

In response to these claims, a spokesperson from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said: The law is clear that offshore oil and gas operators are required to decommission their infrastructure once a field reaches the end of its economic life.

This means that companies who have benefited from oil and gas production bear the cost and responsibility for decommissioning rather than the taxpayer.

The OGA is working with industry to ensure that decommissioning costs are minimised without compromising standards, and has set a target for industry to achieve a 35 per cent cost reduction.The worlds oldest spider, a subterranean trapdoor hunter, has died at the age of 43 after being subdued by a parasitic wasp, Australian scientists have reported.

Number 16, as the matriarch was known to researchers, outlived the previous Guinness world record holder  a pet tarantula in Mexico  by 15 years, thanks in large part to living her entire life in a single burrow.

A long-running population study of the trapdoor spiders of Western Australia has tracked the lives of Number 16 and her neighbours since 1974, and her death in October was reported this month in the journal Pacific Conservation Biology.

Israel's enchanted spider forest Show all 6 1 /6 Israel's enchanted spider forest Israel's enchanted spider forest Giant spider webs, spun by long-jawed spiders (Tetragnatha), cover sections of the vegetation along the Soreq creek bank, near Jerusalem Reuters Israel's enchanted spider forest Giant spider webs, spun by long-jawed spiders (Tetragnatha), cover sections of the vegetation along the Soreq creek bank, near Jerusalem Israel's enchanted spider forest Giant spider webs, spun by long-jawed spiders (Tetragnatha), cover sections of the vegetation along the Soreq creek bank, near Jerusalem Reuters Israel's enchanted spider forest Giant spider webs, spun by long-jawed spiders (Tetragnatha), cover sections of the vegetation along the Soreq creek bank, near Jerusalem Israel's enchanted spider forest A long-jawed spider (Tetragnatha) weaves a spider web over sections of the vegetation along the Soreq creek bank, near Jerusalem Israel's enchanted spider forest Igor Armicach, a doctoral student at Hebrew University's Arachnid Collection, looks onto giant spider webs, spun by long-jawed spiders (Tetragnatha), covering sections of the vegetation along the Soreq creek bank, near Jerusalem

The researchers say the long and settled life of Number 16 could provide lessons for humanity on how to live sustainably.

Trapdoor spiders are ambush predators, and burst from their burrows to snatch smaller prey that walk past.

This low-energy strategy allows them to weather harsh dry environments, and females can be particularly long-lived as they live entirely in their burrows, while males leave in search of a mate.

The population study was initiated by Barbara York Main, now 88, and she was the first to identify and record Number 16 shortly after the spiders birth.

To our knowledge this is the oldest spider ever recorded, and her significant life has allowed us to further investigate the trapdoor spiders behaviour and population dynamics, said Leanda Mason, a PhD student at Curtin University and the lead author of the study.

Through Barbaras detailed research, we were able to determine that the extensive life span of the trapdoor spider is due to their life-history traits, including how they live in uncleared, native bushland, their sedentary nature and low metabolisms.

Building on Ms York Mains findings, they hope to give Number 16s eight-legged kin the best odds of survival, as the research suggests scrub clearances and climate change could harm their chances of challenging the record.

The Telegraph reports Ms Mason and her team were left miserable upon discovering Number 16s demise, having hoped the spider would make it to 50.The UKs food safety regime is not working properly. It is failing to ensure an acceptably safe food supply. Food poisoning rates are too high; confirmed cases of the Campylobacter bacteria, for example, increased by about 46 per cent from 2008 to 2012.

The food supply is too dirty; since 2014 the Food Standards Agency (FSA) has said that poultry isnt clean enough that it can safely be washed without the risk of spreading infection. Meanwhile, consumer trust is understandably low, and the food industry is focused on the uncertainties arising from Brexit.

In these circumstances, for the UKs food regulator to be planning a major reorganisation is, at the very least, poor timing. We argue it is worse.

Recommended Food bank use in UK hits highest rate on record

The programme of change the FSA plans  known as Regulating Our Future  will do little or nothing to improve food safety or nutritional public health. But it will do a lot to weaken official oversight of food businesses and undermine public health.

Whats wrong with the plan?

The FSA plans to change who conducts food safety inspections in the UK. It proposes to transfer responsibility for many food safety inspections and audits from the public sector to private commercial assurance providers. But those commercial firms will not primarily serve the public interest. They will focus on their food industry clients interests, creating conflicts of interest between commercial inspectors and the consuming public.

This switch to commerce is precisely what the FSA was set up to end. We know, because we were heavily involved in the British debates over food scandals in the 1980s and 1990s, which culminated in the Labour Party (then, as now, in opposition) promising to set up an independent food agency. It would confirm academic Marver Bernsteins theory that agencies set up to regulate industries are often subverted by the industry they were created to oversee.

Last month, we published a detailed critique of the FSAs new plan. As well as creating irreconcilable conflicts of interest, we argue:

The changes will destabilise those currently responsible for enforcing food safety standards

The UK food supply will become less safe

To weaken already overstretched institutions responsible for ensuring food safety in the UK is particularly unwise in the context of Brexit

Brexit means the UK will need a stronger FSA, once reliance on the European Food Safety Authority and other food institutions has ended

We also argued that the source of the problems lay not with the FSA but with UK government ministers whose instructions it must follow. Yet the FSAs response was feeble at best and has largely dismissed these concerns.

Trouble in store

There are a number of reasons these changes matter for public health. First, food-related ill health is a major source of premature death in the UK. The FSA was created at the end of the 1990s to be a major force to prevent the kinds of harm that had occurred in the UK for over decade.

Seemingly endless problems over safety in the 1980s, culminating in the 1996 mad cow disease (BSE) crisis, exposed weakness in how food safety standards were set and enforced. Self-regulation had predominated. The FSA was created in 1999 to change all that.

Bogota's burgeoning food scene Show all 10 1 /10 Bogota's burgeoning food scene Bogota's burgeoning food scene The food markets are the place to try exotic ingredients and local dishes ProColombia Bogota's burgeoning food scene Leonor Espinosa is one of Bogota's best loved chefs Leo Bogota's burgeoning food scene Leonor Espinosa focuses on Colombian ingredients at Leo Leo Bogota's burgeoning food scene Bogota's burgeoning food scene Bogota's burgeoning food scene Scallop ceviche at El Cielo El Cielo Bogota's burgeoning food scene El Cielo is a full-on sensory immersion El Cielo Bogota's burgeoning food scene Criterion's 10-course taster menu is a work of art Bogota's burgeoning food scene Chef brothers Jorge and Mark Rasch Mario Inti Garcia Bogota's burgeoning food scene Criterion's Jorge Rausch cut his teeth at Raymond Blanc's Le Manoir Mario Inti Garcia

The proposed reforms also matter because of Brexit. Just when the public needs a stronger body to ensure that standards are not weakened in future trade deals, the FSA and local authorities enforcement services are being undermined. Knives are sharpening to remove what hardliners see as excessive EU food regulations.

Public health and food companies require public confidence in standards of traded foods. The UK has a yawning food trade gap, importing 22.5bn more food than it exports. Thirty-one per cent of UK food by value comes from within the EU. To disrupt this trade in the face of Brexit is risky.

Further, while ministers may believe their own rhetoric that markets protect consumers better than the state can, the history of food policy suggests otherwise. Of course, there are good companies that achieve high standards, but this is not true for all firms.

Ministers are accelerating a process of weakening the FSA, which began with Andrew Lansleys decision to deprive it of the responsibility for nutrition and labelling in 2010. This was compounded by the austerity regime that followed the 2008 financial crisis. The FSAs budget was cut by nearly 23 per cent in the period from 2011-12 to 2016-17, and the number of samples taken for testing by local authority environmental health officers in the UK fell by 22 per cent, and in England by almost 25 per cent.

Yet, with the FSAs responsibilities set to increase with Brexit, there are no plans to increase its budget accordingly.

What needs to happen?

A substantial reduction of independent food safety checks might be thought an arcane matter, only of interest to health obsessives or policy wonks. But regulatory changes have a clear track record of producing public outrage when things go wrong  not least because it affects everyone.

The whole purpose of independent food inspection goes back deep into UK food history. Public health inspections were created in the mid-19th century to address problems experienced by urbanising populations. So scrutinising the FSAs new plan is necessary and urgent.

The implementation of the FSAs plans should stop, while a parliamentary select committee, drawing together both the Health and Social, and Environment, Food and Rural Affairs committees, reviews the proposals.

We want to see a strengthened FSA and properly resourced local authorities. Ministers should be held accountable for the consequences of their decisions. Currently they try passing the blame onto the FSA. And food safety standards need to be enforced in the UK by a system that is not compromised by commercial conflicts of interest.

Erik P Millstone is a professor of science policy at University of Sussex and Tim Lang is a professor of food policy at City, University of London. This article was originally published on The Conversation (theconversation.com)Some chefs meditate. Some do yoga. Others do shots. But when it comes to finding calm amid the hectic whirl of the professional kitchen, Ruth Rogers, the chef and owner of The River Cafe in London, likes to stir risotto.

Risotto is such a relaxing thing to make because of the slowness of it, she says in a recent phone call. Its got a soothing rhythm thats good when youre anxious about something.

And I was anxious about something, which is why I called. I was anxious about the nettle and taleggio risotto in the recently released River Cafe London cookbook.

The book, a vibrantly designed celebration of the restaurants 30th anniversary, includes updated versions of recipes from the classic 1995 River Cafe Cook Book, along with new ones.

I would have probably passed right by the nettle risotto if it werent for the taleggio. Melty chunks of that funky, earthy cheese running all over the creamy rice had epic appeal, despite the nettles. Ive had an aversion to those ever since I was stung as a kid trampling through the English countryside one summer holiday. That includes cooking them. Any recipe that begins with instructions to don thick rubber gloves for protection is just not very inviting.

So I asked Rogers: could the risotto be made with a less ferocious green thats also easier to find if youre not running around British fields in your shorts?

Spinach, she says immediately, particularly mature, crinkly leaves with a rich mineral taste. Thats what she uses outside nettle season, which lasts only a few weeks in spring.

Earthy taleggio cheese has a delicious fruity tang (Getty)

Rogers then gave me a risotto reminder. Contrary to popular belief, you dont need to stir risotto continuously as it cooks. Once youre attuned to the rhythm of adding the broth, she tells me, you can stir intermittently; just stay close by.

Risotto has been a menu staple at The River Cafe ever since Rogers and her partner Rose Gray opened it in 1987. Three decades later, the restaurant is a different place  bigger and more ambitious, though sadly without Gray, who died of cancer in 2010.

In the past 30 years, weve seen ups and downs, but theres been a continuous ethos to use the best ingredients and to keep within a strong tradition, Rogers says. You have to keep growing. Thats what makes you timeless.

Spinach risotto with taleggio

Total time: 45 minutes

Serves 6

lb cold taleggio

625g spinach, any thick stems removed

6tbsp unsalted butter

1 medium red onion, finely diced

675g finely diced celery

2 garlic cloves, finely grated or minced

340g arborio rice

1tsp fine sea salt, more as needed

180ml dry white wine

830ml good vegetable or chicken stock

Cut the rind off the taleggio and discard. Dice the cheese into 1/2-inch pieces. Set aside at room temperature as you prepare the rice.

Line a colander with a clean dish towel and place spinach inside. Heat about 2l of water until boiling, then pour over spinach; the spinach will wilt. Let spinach sit until cool enough to handle, then use the dish towel to squeeze out the water. Transfer spinach to a food processor and blend with 1tbsp butter until smooth. Reserve.

Melt remaining 5tbsp butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in onion, celery and garlic; cook until translucent, about 7 minutes. Stir in rice and 1tsp salt, and cook until toasted and golden, about 5 minutes.

Stir in wine and cook until its absorbed, about 3 minutes. Stir in stock, about 120ml at a time, stirring often but not necessarily continuously, until the stock is finished and the rice is cooked through but not mushy, 15 to 20 minutes.

Stir in spinach puree, then taste and add more salt, if needed. Add taleggio and stir to melt. Serve immediately.

And to drink ...

With the creamy, earthy, assertive flavours in this risotto, you need an equally assertive white wine that penetrates the richness of the cheese with propulsive acidity. An Italian white like a good soave can do the job deliciously, but while pairing regional wines with local dishes is often a reflexive choice, Im thinking of several French wines as even better options. Good bourgogne aligote, Ive found, can be terrific with Italian pastas that need a jolt of lively acidity, and I think it will work well here, too. So would a vermentino from Corsica, where its usually labelled vermentinu, and often seems more stony and incisive than vermentinos from elsewhere. Sancerre and other Loire sauvignon blancs, especially those on the herbal side of the spectrum, will also go very well.

 New York TimesA newly-opened California restaurant selling Asian-inspired cuisine within a branch of Whole Foods has caused controversy for its name, Yellow Fever, which locals said was racist and had offensive sexual connotations.

The small Korean-owned chain has been operating in Los Angeles for several years and has two other outlets, but the owners say it only attracted criticism after opening a branch at organic and health food store.

Critics on social media said yellow fever was slang for the fetishisation of Asian women, and objected to the international grocery chain profiting from making light of that.

Recommended Couple holds dream wedding at Whole Foods supermarket

The opening was announced in a tweet that read: All ready for lunch? #YellowFeverEats has you covered with fresh, customised bowls at our brand-new #longbeach365 location - open now!

Shortly after the tweet, people began to criticise Whole Foods and the restaurant, calling the name racially insensitive.

Who thought this name was okay? asked one person on Twitter.

Another said: I cant believe thats real. How the hell did that make it out of a first pitch meeting? Gross

Others were quick to explain why the name Yellow Fever is problematic.

One woman tweeted: No one at the company even bothered Googling yellow fever? attached a photo which showed the term yellow fever is considered the same as an Asian fetish - where it is defined as: an interest, obsession, or preference for Asian people, culture, or things of Asian descent by those of non-Asian descent".

The term yellow is also considered offensive, as it has been used as a slur to refer to those of Asian descent.

And yellow fever originally referred to the name of a deadly disease spread by mosquitoes and commonly found in subtropical areas of Africa, South America, Central America, and the Caribbean.

The virus attacks the liver and kidneys resulting in jaundice, a yellowing of the skin and eyes which gives the disease its name.

Though it can be easily prevented with vaccines, a recent wave of anti-vaccination sentiment has fuelled one of the worst outbreaks in decades in Brazil, with more than 200 deaths already this season.

The restaurant is not owned by Whole Foods, and is instead part of an independent chain of restaurants co-founded by Kelly Kim.

Kim, who is from South Korea, has previously explained her reasoning behind the restaurants name.

In an interview with Next Shark, Kim said: When we finally came up with the concept, all the names we thought of just plain sucked. Buzzwords like traditional, bamboo, lotus, and golden werent memorable.

One night, we just said Yellow Fever! and it worked. Its tongue-in-cheek, kind of shocking, and its not exclusive  you can fit all Asian cultures under one roof with a name like this. We just decided to go for it, she said.

And according to Kim, who spoke to CBS News, she did not face a backlash until she partnered with Whole Foods, having been in business for four years.

What's on the shelves at 365 by Whole Foods Show all 8 1 /8 What's on the shelves at 365 by Whole Foods What's on the shelves at 365 by Whole Foods Kale is on sale (Tim Walker) What's on the shelves at 365 by Whole Foods Artisanal Chardonnay thyme turkey jerky (Tim Walker) What's on the shelves at 365 by Whole Foods Gourmet rosemary truffle popcorn (Tim Walker) What's on the shelves at 365 by Whole Foods Shoppers can order fresh-made quinoa bowls, banh mi hot-dogs and more from these in-store iPads (Getty Images) What's on the shelves at 365 by Whole Foods The world's first consumer-facing Teabot makes blended teas on the spot. Shoppers create their own custom cuppa on an iPad (Tim Walker) What's on the shelves at 365 by Whole Foods The supermarket's in-house vegan cafe, by CHLOE, serves cupcakes and organic peanut butter bones for dogs (Tim Walker) What's on the shelves at 365 by Whole Foods Free air guitars - and a custom-curated Spotify playlist (Tim Walker) What's on the shelves at 365 by Whole Foods The store has a well-stocked vitamins and supplements section, including these chewable papaya enzymes, which support "gastrointestinal wellness" (Tim Walker)

Bryn Inks, a Long Beach, California resident speaking to CBS Los Angeles outside the new store, said: I was shocked, I find it offensive. Its basically suggesting a sexual connotation towards Asians.

Aside from the obvious fetish thing, it's also still a fatal illness, said one person on Twitter.

The Independent contacted Whole Foods for comment.As a travel, motherhood and lifestyle blogger, Annmarie Bailey is used to sharing stories and adventures from her own life.

With their two daughters, Scarlett who is four and Savannah whos three, New Yorker Annmarie and her husband Don moved to Atlanta for work, which has provided the mother with lots of travel content for her blog, as the family explore more of the US.

But it wasnt until recently that Annmarie discovered an aspect of her family history and her DNA she never knew existed, which will soon give the blogger the opportunity to write posts from much further afield.

Annmarie, Don, Scarlett and Savannah (Annmarie Bailey)

A year ago, Annmarie, 26, signed up to Ancestry.com and took an AncestryDNA test with a view to retracing her roots in the hope that it could provide some exciting content for her blog.

Weve discovered so many details of the countries, cities and even the street of where my great great great grandfather lived in Ireland, Annmarie told The Independent. That was just awesome.

It was through a census that the mother was able to find the address of her ancestor - she tried looking on Google Maps but decided that what she really wanted to do was go there herself.

The address was in County Mayo on the west coast of Ireland.

Annmarie found the DNA discovery particularly interesting because her maiden name is Joyce and the family she traced was on her Joyce side. Im very interested in that because its my name, and the area in Ireland is also referred to as Joyce Country, which I think is really cool.

Supposedly about 80 per cent of all Joyces come from this area in Ireland, its very cool.

Annmarie doesnt know if she still has any relatives living there, but that wont stop her. I want to go to see where Im from, she says.

The Bailey family (Annmarie Bailey)

I want to see what my ancestors saw, I want to learn what their life was like, what their culture was like, and of course hopefully make new discoveries while Im there.

Annmarie did know she was Irish already and had been trying to find out more about her Irish ancestry by talking to her 92-year-old grandfather, Alan, but even he didnt know whereabouts in Ireland the family was from.

The blogger and her husband are yet to fix set dates for their trip but are hoping to fly across the ocean at the end of the year.

Alan and Scarlett (Annmarie Bailey)

Its very exciting, she says. Living in America, I kind of envy that culture of knowing where youre from. I feel like in other countries people have that, but we dont have that here. To teach my daughters where they come from, and I want to know it for myself Its very exciting to discover these things.

Annmarie is planning on making the DNA discovery trip into a series on her blog too.

I always wanted to visit Ireland but this discovery made the path a little bit clearer, she said. Now Im ready to go.

Where in the world will your DNA take you? Click here to buy AncestryDNAA couple who subjected three young children in their care to hours of near-daily abuse, including beating, biting and hair-pulling, have been jailed.

Yea Ping Chan, 42, and Foo Khong Heow, 49, also made the youngsters  a seven-year-old boy and two girls aged six and three  stand in stress positions, a technique sometimes used during torture.

The victims were found covered in bruises when police visited the couples home in Baring Road, Lewisham, London. An NSPCC spokeswoman called their treatment barbaric.

Chan was jailed for four years and two months at Woolwich Crown Court on Friday after pleading guilty to two counts of cruelty to a person under 16 and one count of assault by beating at an earlier hearing.

Heow was sentenced to three years and four months after pleading guilty to two counts of cruelty to a person under 16.

The children were rescued last September after a worried neighbour called the NSPCC expressing concern about the youngsters  one of who was adopted by the couple. CCTV footage installed by the couple at their home  and later seized by police  captured the assaults.

It revealed systematic attacks on all three children, but the main victim was the three-year-old.

Assaults included biting, sucking, hair-pulling, shaking and hitting with household objects and sticks. Chan would frequently drag her from her bed at night for more punishment. At one point Heow was filmed forcing his feet into the child's mouth.

Officers discovered the toddler's left arm was twice the size of her right arm after the NSPCC alerted police to the neighbour's concern.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 29 September 2021 A sign referring to the lack of fuel is placed at the entrance to a petrol station in London AP UK news in pictures 27 September 2021 Police officers detain a protester from Insulate Britain occupying a roundabout leading from the M25 motorway to Heathrow Airport in London PA UK news in pictures 26 September 2021 Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer watches the Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur match at The Font pub in Brighton PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2021 Scottish pro-independence supporters hold a march and rally outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, Scotland Getty Images UK news in pictures 24 September 2021 Police officers remove two protesters from the top of a tanker, as Insulate Britain block the A20 in Kent, which provides access to the Port of Dover in Kent. The environmental activists have moved location after been banned from campaigning on the M25 motorway in London PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2021 Gabriella, the seven year old daughter of imprisoned British-Iranian Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, joins in a game on a giant snakes and ladders board in Parliament Square, to show the ups and downs of her mothers case to mark the 2,000 days she has been detained in Iran AP UK news in pictures 22 September 2021 A new sign hangs on the Millicent Fawcett statue after it was altered by CrackTheCrises coalition activists to highlight the climate crisis as a feminist struggle in Parliament Square in London EPA UK news in pictures 21 September 2021 Gabriella Diment prepares a monumental bronze patinated fibreglass wall sculpture depicting household cavalry soldiers on horseback which is expected to be sold for 12,000-18,000 when it goes up for auction at Summers Place Auctions in Billinghurst, Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2021 Florist Judith Blacklock puts the finishing touches to a floral carousel installation in Halkin Arcade, which she has designed with Neill Strain for the Belgravia in Bloom festival, running from September 20-26, in London PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2021 Bubbles surround Manchester Uniteds Cristiano Ronaldo before the match against West Ham at London Stadium Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 18 September 2021 Children take part in the Settrington Cup Pedal Car Race as motoring enthusiasts attend the Goodwood Revival, a three-day historic car racing festival in Goodwood, Chichester, Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2021 Hugo, 7, from London rides past a 4x7 metre rainbow arch, made entirely of recycled aluminium cans, which has been installed by recycling initiative 'Every Can Counts', in partnership with The City of London Corporation in front of St Paul's Cathedral in London, to encourage members of the public to recycle their drinks cans ahead of recycling week, which starts on 20 September PA UK news in pictures 16 September 2021 Sheikeh MOhammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, leader of Abu Dhabi, leaves Downing Street after meeting with Boris Johnson PA UK news in pictures 15 September 2021 Children pose by ice sculptures depicting people collecting water by charity Water Aid to show the fragility of water and the threat posed by climate change in London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 14 September 2021 Heavy rain covers the A149 near Kings Lynn in Norfolk PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2021 Luke Jerram's 'Museum of the Moon' at Durham Cathedral PA UK news in pictures 12 September 2021 Inspirational young fundraiser Tobias Weller crosses the finish line, near his home in Sheffield, as he completes his latest epic feat where he swam and triked his way to the end of his awesome year-long Ironman Challenge. This is the third challenge Tobias, who has cerebral palsy and autism, has completed, raising more than 150,000 for his school and Sheffield Children Hospitals charity PA UK news in pictures 11 September 2021 British player Emma Raducanu, holds up the US Open championship trophy winning the women's singles final of the US Open in New York AP UK news in pictures 10 September 2021 People paddle board during a misty morning in Ullswater, the second largest lake in the Lake District, Cumbria PA UK news in pictures 9 September 2021 Troops from Wiltshire based 4 Armoured Close Support Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers during final inspection at Wellington Barracks in London, ahead of providing troops for the Queens Guard PA UK news in pictures 8 September 2021 Workers cross London Bridge during the morning rush hour in London Reuters UK news in pictures Mixing it up: Painting it up press view in London A gallery employee poses for photographers next to a painting entitled Prairie by British artist, Louise Giovanelli during the exhibition 'Mixing it up: Painting it up' at the Hayward Gallery in London EPA UK news in pictures 6 September 2021 Traders in the Ring at the London Metal Exchange, in the City of London, after open-outcry trading returned for the first time since March 2020, when the Ring was temporarily closed due to the pandemic PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2021 People enjoy the warm weather on Sandbanks beach, Poole PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2021 Demonstrators from Animal Rebellion and Nature Rebellion protest in Trafalgar Square in London. PA UK news in pictures 3 September 2021 South Africa's Ntando Mahlangu (centre) wins the Men's 200 metres T61 Final ahead of second placed Great Britain's Richard Whitehead at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games PA UK news in pictures 2 September 2021 A young common seal on the beach at Horsey Gap in Norfolk, as hundreds of pregnant grey seals come ashore ready for the start of the pupping season. PA UK news in pictures 1 September 2021 Goldfinches fighting over food in a garden in Strensham, Worcestershire PA UK news in pictures 31 August 2021 Gold Medallist Sarah Storey of Britain celebrates on the podium Reuters UK news in pictures 30 August 2021 Extinction Rebellion protesters hold a a tea party on Tower Bridge in London EPA UK news in pictures 29 August 2021 A police office tussles with a demonstrator on Cromwell Road outside the Natural History Museum during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion in London PA UK news in pictures 28 August 2021 Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade walk to the air terminal after disembarking a Royal Airforce Voyager aircraft at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire POOL/AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 27 August 2021 Fabio Quartararo crashes during a MotoGP practice session at the British Grand Prix, Silverstone Circuit Action Images via Reuters UK news in pictures 26 August 2021 An Extinction Rebellion activist holds a placard in a fountain surrounded by police officers, during a protest next to Buckingham Palace in London Reuters UK news in pictures 25 August 2021 Gold Medallist Great Britains cyclist, Sarah Storey, celebrates after winning the Womens C5 3000m Individual Pursuit Final at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. It was her 15th Paralympic gold Reuters UK news in pictures 24 August 2021 A demonstrator dressed as bee during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion on Whitehall, in central London PA UK news in pictures 23 August 2021 Former interpreters for the British forces in Afghanistan demonstrate outside the Home Office in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 22 August 2021 Police officers form a line in front of the entrance to the Guildhall, London, where protesters have climbed onto a ledge above the entrance during an Extinction Rebellion stage a protest PA UK news in pictures 21 August 2021 People take part in a demonstration in solidarity with people of Afghanistan, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 20 August 2021 People zip wire across the sea from Bournemouth pier towards the beach. PA UK news in pictures 19 August 2021 Supporters of Geronimo the alpaca gather outside Shepherds Close Farm in Wooton Under Edge, Gloucestershire PA UK news in pictures 18 August 2021 Former Afghan interpreters and veterans hold a demonstration outside Downing Street, calling for support and protection for Afghan interpreters and their families PA UK news in pictures 17 August 2021 Military personnel board the RAF Airbus A400M at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, where evacuation flights from Afghanistan have been landing Reuters UK news in pictures 16 August 2021 Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer takes part in a minute's silence at Wolverhampton police station for the victims of the Plymouth mass shooting last week PA UK news in pictures 15 August 2021 2Storm, a ten-metre tall puppet of a mythical goddess of the sea created by Edinburgh-based visual theatre company Vision Mechanics, makes its way alongside the seafront at North Berwick, East Lothian, during a performance at the Fringe By The Sea festival PA UK news in pictures 14 August 2021 A woman and two young girls look at floral tributes in Plymouth where six people, including the offender, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident PA UK news in pictures 13 August 2021 Forensic officers in the Keyham area of Plymouth where six people, including the shooter, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident on Thursday evening PA UK news in pictures 12 August 2021 Children ride horses in the River Eden in Appleby, Cumbria, during the annual gathering of travellers for the Appleby Horse Fair PA UK news in pictures 11 August 2021 Stella Moris (left) reacts after talking to the media outside the High Court in London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal, n London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal. The US government has won the latest round in its High Court bid to appeal against the decision not to extradite Julian Assange on espionage charges PA UK news in pictures 10 August 2021 Students react after they receive their A-Level results at the Ark Academy, in London Reuters

The youngster had bruises around her neck, as well as extreme bruising to her face. When asked how the little girl had received the marks, Chan told the officers she had been sucked on her face as part of a prayer ritual.

Both Heow and Chan were arrested, while the children were placed into foster care.

Investigating officer PC Alice Hammick-Smith, from the Metropolitan Polices child abuse and sexual offences command, said in a statement: "Both Chan and Heow carried out a despicable campaign of abuse on three young, defenceless children.

"These children should have been protected from harm by Chan and Heow, instead, they were subjected to extreme violence on an almost daily basis.

"The overwhelming level of evidence we gathered against them led to them having to plead guilty to these heinous crimes."

An NSPCC spokeswoman said: "Chan and Heow should have been looking out for the welfare of the three defenceless young children entrusted to their care. Instead they inflicted barbaric levels of abuse on them and made their lives a living hell.

"While this case demonstrates how the NSPCC and other agencies work together on a daily basis to protect children from abuse it also serves as a reminder that it is everyone's responsibility to look out for the welfare of children."

The spokeswoman urged anyone with any concerns about a child to contact the organisation.A City work who posted pictures of an intern to porn websites in a calculated and malicious campaign of harassment is expected to be jailed.

Davide Buccheri, 25, launched his perverted attack on the young womans reputation after she rejected his romantic advances while working at M&G investment firm.

He took photos of the victim, who was a university student at the time, from social media and uploaded them alongside pornographic images and then reported the page to the companys human resources department in a bid to stop her getting a permanent role.

Buccheri, of Bologna, Italy, was convicted at Westminster Magistrates Court on Friday of harassment between September 2016 and May 2017 and taken into custody for sentencing on Tuesday.

Police said this should serve as a warning to individuals seeking to commit crimes online that they would not go unpunished.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 3 October 2021 Margaret Thatcher-themed mugs for sale at the annual Conservative Party conference in Manchester EPA UK news in pictures 2 October 2021 A couple make their way through a flooded underpass in Bristol as a yellow weather warning for rain and wind is issued for parts of the UK Tom Wren/SWNS UK news in pictures 1 October 2021 A driver talks to members of the media after passing his HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicle) driving test at National Driving Centre in Croydon, south London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 30 September 2021 The centrepiece One Thousand Springs by Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota is seen ahead of the beginning of the Japan Festival, a celebration of the countrys plants, art and culture running from 2-31 October, at Kew Gardens in London PA UK news in pictures 29 September 2021 The family of Betty Campbell unveil the bronze sculpture of her during the unveiling of the statue in Central Square, Cardiff, of Betty Campbell, Wales' first black headteacher PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2021 A sign referring to the lack of fuel is placed at the entrance to a petrol station in London AP UK news in pictures 27 September 2021 Police officers detain a protester from Insulate Britain occupying a roundabout leading from the M25 motorway to Heathrow Airport in London PA UK news in pictures 26 September 2021 Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer watches the Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur match at The Font pub in Brighton PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2021 Scottish pro-independence supporters hold a march and rally outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, Scotland Getty Images UK news in pictures 24 September 2021 Police officers remove two protesters from the top of a tanker, as Insulate Britain block the A20 in Kent, which provides access to the Port of Dover in Kent. The environmental activists have moved location after been banned from campaigning on the M25 motorway in London PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2021 Gabriella, the seven year old daughter of imprisoned British-Iranian Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, joins in a game on a giant snakes and ladders board in Parliament Square, to show the ups and downs of her mothers case to mark the 2,000 days she has been detained in Iran AP UK news in pictures 22 September 2021 A new sign hangs on the Millicent Fawcett statue after it was altered by CrackTheCrises coalition activists to highlight the climate crisis as a feminist struggle in Parliament Square in London EPA UK news in pictures 21 September 2021 Gabriella Diment prepares a monumental bronze patinated fibreglass wall sculpture depicting household cavalry soldiers on horseback which is expected to be sold for 12,000-18,000 when it goes up for auction at Summers Place Auctions in Billinghurst, Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2021 Florist Judith Blacklock puts the finishing touches to a floral carousel installation in Halkin Arcade, which she has designed with Neill Strain for the Belgravia in Bloom festival, running from September 20-26, in London PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2021 Bubbles surround Manchester Uniteds Cristiano Ronaldo before the match against West Ham at London Stadium Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 18 September 2021 Children take part in the Settrington Cup Pedal Car Race as motoring enthusiasts attend the Goodwood Revival, a three-day historic car racing festival in Goodwood, Chichester, Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2021 Hugo, 7, from London rides past a 4x7 metre rainbow arch, made entirely of recycled aluminium cans, which has been installed by recycling initiative 'Every Can Counts', in partnership with The City of London Corporation in front of St Paul's Cathedral in London, to encourage members of the public to recycle their drinks cans ahead of recycling week, which starts on 20 September PA UK news in pictures 16 September 2021 Sheikeh MOhammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, leader of Abu Dhabi, leaves Downing Street after meeting with Boris Johnson PA UK news in pictures 15 September 2021 Children pose by ice sculptures depicting people collecting water by charity Water Aid to show the fragility of water and the threat posed by climate change in London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 14 September 2021 Heavy rain covers the A149 near Kings Lynn in Norfolk PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2021 Luke Jerram's 'Museum of the Moon' at Durham Cathedral PA UK news in pictures 12 September 2021 Inspirational young fundraiser Tobias Weller crosses the finish line, near his home in Sheffield, as he completes his latest epic feat where he swam and triked his way to the end of his awesome year-long Ironman Challenge. This is the third challenge Tobias, who has cerebral palsy and autism, has completed, raising more than 150,000 for his school and Sheffield Children Hospitals charity PA UK news in pictures 11 September 2021 British player Emma Raducanu, holds up the US Open championship trophy winning the women's singles final of the US Open in New York AP UK news in pictures 10 September 2021 People paddle board during a misty morning in Ullswater, the second largest lake in the Lake District, Cumbria PA UK news in pictures 9 September 2021 Troops from Wiltshire based 4 Armoured Close Support Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers during final inspection at Wellington Barracks in London, ahead of providing troops for the Queens Guard PA UK news in pictures 8 September 2021 Workers cross London Bridge during the morning rush hour in London Reuters UK news in pictures Mixing it up: Painting it up press view in London A gallery employee poses for photographers next to a painting entitled Prairie by British artist, Louise Giovanelli during the exhibition 'Mixing it up: Painting it up' at the Hayward Gallery in London EPA UK news in pictures 6 September 2021 Traders in the Ring at the London Metal Exchange, in the City of London, after open-outcry trading returned for the first time since March 2020, when the Ring was temporarily closed due to the pandemic PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2021 People enjoy the warm weather on Sandbanks beach, Poole PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2021 Demonstrators from Animal Rebellion and Nature Rebellion protest in Trafalgar Square in London. PA UK news in pictures 3 September 2021 South Africa's Ntando Mahlangu (centre) wins the Men's 200 metres T61 Final ahead of second placed Great Britain's Richard Whitehead at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games PA UK news in pictures 2 September 2021 A young common seal on the beach at Horsey Gap in Norfolk, as hundreds of pregnant grey seals come ashore ready for the start of the pupping season. PA UK news in pictures 1 September 2021 Goldfinches fighting over food in a garden in Strensham, Worcestershire PA UK news in pictures 31 August 2021 Gold Medallist Sarah Storey of Britain celebrates on the podium Reuters UK news in pictures 30 August 2021 Extinction Rebellion protesters hold a a tea party on Tower Bridge in London EPA UK news in pictures 29 August 2021 A police office tussles with a demonstrator on Cromwell Road outside the Natural History Museum during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion in London PA UK news in pictures 28 August 2021 Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade walk to the air terminal after disembarking a Royal Airforce Voyager aircraft at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire POOL/AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 27 August 2021 Fabio Quartararo crashes during a MotoGP practice session at the British Grand Prix, Silverstone Circuit Action Images via Reuters UK news in pictures 26 August 2021 An Extinction Rebellion activist holds a placard in a fountain surrounded by police officers, during a protest next to Buckingham Palace in London Reuters UK news in pictures 25 August 2021 Gold Medallist Great Britains cyclist, Sarah Storey, celebrates after winning the Womens C5 3000m Individual Pursuit Final at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. It was her 15th Paralympic gold Reuters UK news in pictures 24 August 2021 A demonstrator dressed as bee during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion on Whitehall, in central London PA UK news in pictures 23 August 2021 Former interpreters for the British forces in Afghanistan demonstrate outside the Home Office in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 22 August 2021 Police officers form a line in front of the entrance to the Guildhall, London, where protesters have climbed onto a ledge above the entrance during an Extinction Rebellion stage a protest PA UK news in pictures 21 August 2021 People take part in a demonstration in solidarity with people of Afghanistan, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 20 August 2021 People zip wire across the sea from Bournemouth pier towards the beach. PA UK news in pictures 19 August 2021 Supporters of Geronimo the alpaca gather outside Shepherds Close Farm in Wooton Under Edge, Gloucestershire PA UK news in pictures 18 August 2021 Former Afghan interpreters and veterans hold a demonstration outside Downing Street, calling for support and protection for Afghan interpreters and their families PA 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

District Judge Richard Blake described Buccheri as manipulative and obsessed, and said he had set about to destroy his victim and it was almost inevitable that he would face a custodial sentence.

You conducted a quite wicked, calculated campaign against this young woman, he said. It is shameful that I have not heard in evidence one expression of regret from you about what this young woman suffered.

She is going to have to live the rest of her professional life with the potential for the snigger by the water cooler or in the lift as she goes by.

She doesnt deserve that, this young woman did absolutely nothing to bring about your disgraceful behaviour.

You conducted a perverted campaign against her.

Buccheri admitted he was romantically interested in the victim but denied uploading the photos of her and said he was only looking at the images because he was concerned about the reputation of the company.

Aimee Emby from the Crown Prosecution Service said: Not only did Buccheris actions cause this victim considerable distress and anxiety, his denial of guilt forced her to relive her ordeal.

I hope this conviction provides the victim with some measure of comfort and gives other victims of harassment the confidence to come forward.

Detective Inspector Gary Robinson, City of London Police cybercrime unit, said: Many perpetrators believe they will not get caught when committing crimes from the safety of their own home online, he added. Today we have shown that it not the case.A man who rented his spare room to women and then raped them has been jailed for 18 years.

Mamun Rashid of Tower Hamlets was sentenced at Wood Green Crown Court. The 30-year-old will remain on the sex offenders register for life.

Rashid was found guilty at the same court on 10 March of five counts of rape, one count of attempted rape, one count of assault by penetration, one count of sexual assault, one count of actual bodily harm and one count of threatening to kill.

Carried out between August 2016 and May 2017, the offences relate to three female victims aged between 19 and 29 years old.

Rashid used houseshare website SpareRoom to advertise his spare bedroom, deliberately targeting women aged between 18 and 45 years old.

After the victims made contact with Rashid about renting his spare room then moved into his house, he offered them the room for free in return for sex. When they refused this, Rashid seriously sexually assaulted them.

On 6 May 2017, a 19-year-old woman made contact with Rashid via SpareRoom and arranged to meet him to view the flat. The following day, she moved into Rashids spare bedroom.

Later that evening he raped her, during which Rashid threatened to kill her if she tried to escape or call police. Rashid eventually let her go as she continued to scream for help and once safe in a friends house, she reported the incident to police.

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

Rashid was arrested the following day, before being charged and remanded in custody.

Following the initial allegation and with the assistance of SpareRoom, police contacted approximately 3,000 people who had been in contact with Rashid via the website since he first began posting adverts on there in 2014. As a result two further victims came forward.

On 7 August 2016, a 29-year-old woman was raped by Rashid in similar circumstances to the first report made to police. She reported it to police in August 2017.

Rashid was released from prison in September 2017 and arrested for the further allegations. He was charged and returned to prison.

Detectives later recovered messages on Rashids phone suggesting there was another victim. During house-to-house enquiries, officers were informed that the woman had been living with Rashid before suddenly moving out of his house.

Following this, police made contact with a 22-year-old woman in October 2017 and she made an allegation of sexual assault which occurred on 4 April 2017. She had been renting a room from Rashid, during which time he sexually touched her.

He denied all charges of offences against the three women but was convicted following a two-week trial where all three gave evidence at court.

Detective Constable Stav Georgiou-Moran, of the Metropolitan Polices Child Abuse and Sexual Offences Command, said: Rashids vicious sexual assaults of these three women were appalling and left them with not only physical injuries but also psychological trauma.

The women have shown great courage and bravery in giving evidence against Rashid, ensuring that he is made to answer for his actions.

I want to encourage any person who has been the victim of sexual assault to tell those close to you and inform the police.

SpareRoom spokesman Matt Hutchinson spokesman said: Were appalled by these incidents, and our thoughts go out to the victims. The safety of our users is SpareRooms top priority, and weve done everything we can to cooperate fully with the police, to help them bring this case to trial and ensure a conviction.

Police appealed for any other victims of Rashid to contact the forces sexual offences investigation team on 020 8733 5999, quoting Operation Montville, or call them on 101.A man who switched on his Teslas autopilot and sat in the passenger seat while travelling along a busy motorway has been banned from driving for 18 months.

Bhavesh Patel, 39, was driving his Tesla S 60 on the M1 at 7.40pm on 21 May last year when he switched on the supercars autopilot function.

He then moved across to the passenger seat, leaving the steering wheel and foot controls completely unmanned.

A witness noticed Patel, who had owned the car for a maximum of five months at the time of the incident, and filmed the reckless behaviour.

No one could be seen in the drivers seat and Patel appeared to have his hands behind his head.

The witness, who was a passenger in another car, filmed Patel as the car drove past.

Witness accounts stated that traffic was heavy due to congestion and the vehicle was estimated to be travelling at around 40mph at the time.

Footage of the incident was first posted on social media before being reported to police and a Notice of Intended Prosecution was then sent to Patel in the post.

He was later interviewed by officers at Stevenage Police Station.

He admitted that he knew what he had done was silly but the car was capable of something amazing and that he was just the unlucky one who got caught.

Recommended Taking hay fever tablets could land you a driving ban or in prison

In a statement to police, a Tesla engineer described autopilot as a suite of driver assistance features.

They stated that the feature was intended to provide assistance to a fully-attentive driver.

Traffic-Aware Cruise Control (TACC) assists with acceleration and deceleration of the vehicle whilst Autosteer provides assistance with steering of the vehicle.

Tesla said that drivers should never depend on TACC to adequately slow down model S, always watch the road in front of you and be prepared to take corrective action at all times. Failure to do so can result in serious injury or death.

Patel, of Alfreton Road, Nottingham, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving at St Albans Crown Court on Friday 20 April.

Investigating officer PC Kirk Caldicutt, from the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Road Policing Unit, said: What Patel did was grossly irresponsible and could have easily ended in tragedy.

He not only endangered his own life but the lives of other innocent people using the motorway on that day.

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

This case should serve as an example to all drivers who have access to autopilot controls and have thought about attempting something similar.

I want to stress that they are in no way a substitute for a competent motorist in the driving seat who can react appropriately to the road ahead.

I hope Patel uses his disqualification period to reflect on why he chose to make such a reckless decision on that day.

As well as his 18-month disqualification, Patel was given 100 hours unpaid work, ordered to carry out 10 days rehabilitation and pay 1,800 in costs to the Crown Prosecution Service.

SWNSMorocco welcomed resolution 2414 by the UN security council renewing the mandate of the MINURSO for six months and urging the polisairo to withdraw from the buffer strip, said Moroccos Ambassador Omar Hilale.

The Security Council resolution strengthens Moroccos position and resolve in responding to recent Polisario provocations east of the security wall and in the buffer strip in Guerguarat, Hilale told the press in New York after the adoption of the resolution.

The Security Council was uncompromising in condemning Polisarios ceasefire violations and urged the Algerian-backed militia to immediately withdraw from the buffer strip in Guerguarat, he said.

The Resolution also rebukes the Polisario for attempting to move administrative functions from its rear-base in Tindouf (southwestern Algeria) to Bir Lahlou, east of Moroccos security wall, he said adding that such maneuvers were described by the Security Council as destabilizing actions.

The Security council rejected in the strongest terms the attempts by the Polisario to alter reality on the ground, the diplomat said, adding that the Security Council deemed Polisario irresponsible actions as a violation of the ceasefire agreement and a serious threat to the political process which UN Secretary Generals Personal Envoy Horst Kohler is trying to launch.

Following this resolution, Polisario separatists were dealt a blow, he said. Now either they obey to the Security Council calls or they assume the serious repercussions that may result from their illegal actions, said the Moroccan Ambassador.

Hilale added that the Security Council recognized the Kingdoms restraint and measured response to the Polisario provocations. This clearly testifies to the degree of responsibility shown by Morocco in recent weeks, and shows the trust that the international community has in the far-sighted leadership of HM the King.

Morocco also welcomes the fact that the resolution calls on Algeria to contribute towards achieving a political solution to the regional dispute over the Sahara, Hilale said.

In Rabat, Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita hailed the content of the resolution as positive saying that it is the fruit of the firm and decisive action of King Mohammed VI to counter all insidious attempts aimed at harming the Kingdoms higher interests.

He said the positive content of the resolution is also the result of the strong mobilization, under the leadership of H.M. the King, of Moroccan diplomacy and all the forces of the nation to defend the territorial integrity and national unity.

Bourita underlined that the resolution is adopted in a context marked by the will of the international community to relaunch the political process under the leadership of the UN Secretary Generals Personal Envoy, Horst Kohler, on the basis of a new dynamic and a new spirit, while drawing lessons learned and constraints encountered in the past.Alfie Evans family say they have been left shattered by the toddlers death at the end of a long and bitter legal battle that has reverberated around the world.

The terminally ill toddler died at 2.30am on Saturday at Alder Hey Childrens Hospital in Liverpool, five days after life support was switched off.

Twelve hours later, more than 1,000 mourners and supporters of his parents gathered at a nearby park to release balloons in his memory.

Sarah Evans, his aunt, told the crowd: Our gorgeous little warrior took his last breath at 2.30 this morning.

Our hearts are broken. We are absolutely shattered as a family. Thomas just wants to thank you all for the support youve all shown.

She said the family had hoped to bring Alfie home on Saturday after he spent more than a year in hospital.

His mother, 20-year-old Kate James, said she was heartbroken and thanked people for their support.

Father Thomas Evans, 21, wrote on Facebook: My gladiator lay down his shield and gained his wings at 02:30. Absolutely heartbroken. I love you my guy.

Mourners released balloons to mark Alfies death (Getty)

Public figures and politicians from around the world paid tribute to the toddler as flowers, cards and toys were left outside the hospital.

We fell in love with a little boy we never knew, one card read. Alfie will be forever engraved in our heart. Fly high little man.

The Archbishop of Liverpool, Malcolm McMahon, appealed for well-wishers to give his parents space to grieve.

All who have been touched by the story of this little boys heroic struggle for life will feel this loss deeply, he added.

Although the past few weeks have been difficult with much activity on social media, we must recognise that all who have played a part in Alfies life have wanted to act for his good, as they see it.

Above all, we must thank Tom and Kate for their unstinting love of their son, and the staff at Alder Hey hospital for their professional care of Alfie.

Pope Francis, who met Mr Evans when he flew to Rome in a bid to transfer his son to Italy for alternative medical treatment, said: I am deeply moved by the death of little Alfie. Today I pray especially for his parents, as God the Father receives him in his tender embrace.

European Parliament president Antonio Tajani had also called for courts to allow Alfie to be taken to Italy, as well as Polish President Andrzej Duda and numerous American conservatives.

As several right-wing commentators accused the NHS of murdering Alfie, Mike Huckabee, the former Republican governor of Arkansas, said on Twitter: Maybe he would have died even if UK govt had allowed his parents to take their own child to Italy to seek other treatment, but well never know. Alfie is dead. Govt is not God.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures 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 UK news in pictures 10 August 2021 Students react after they receive their A-Level results at the Ark Academy, in London Reuters

The British government does not intervene in cases relating to medical ethics and was not party to several hearings where UK judges ruled that Alder Hey hospital was acting in Alfies best interests and banned him from leaving the country.

Doctors who gave evidence said a progressive neuro-degenerative disease had caused catastrophic degradation of his brain tissue and that further treatment would have been futile and inhumane.

Alfie started showing signs of development issues in the first seven months of his life and had been in hospital since December 2016 after suffering seizures.

Mr Evans questioned whether nerve cells in his brain could recover but experts testified that the tissue cannot regenerate.

Alfies parents lost several rounds of their legal battle in the High Court, Court of Appeal, Supreme Court and European Court of Human Rights before a one last chance challenge on Wednesday.

When it was rejected by Court of Appeal judges they pledged to work with doctors in the hope of taking him home and asked their supporters to return back to your everyday lives, but the case has made headlines worldwide and sparked angry responses on social media.

Alder Hey Childrens Hospital said staff had experienced unprecedented personal abuse as it found itself at the centre of a social media storm.

Merseyside Police is investigating allegations of intimidation against patients and staff and officers were stationed at the hospital after protesters attempted to storm inside and block a road.

A spokesman for Alder Hey said: We wish to express our heartfelt sympathy and condolences to Alfies family at this extremely distressing time.

All of us feel deeply for Alfie, Kate, Tom and his whole family and our thoughts are with them.

This has been a devastating journey for them and we would ask that their privacy and the privacy of staff at Alder Hey is respected.Police in Birmingham say a hit and run outside a mosque which left two teenagers injured was not terror-related, but was likely to have been a targeted attack.

Detectives are continuing to search for the silver car which did not stop at the scene after hitting the two young men on Ettington Road, Aston, at around 2.15pm on Friday.

West Midlands Police said both victims were in hospital being treated for their injuries.

A 19-year-old man was left with head and back injuries which are not believed to be life-threatening.

A 17-year-old boy was also taken to hospital with head and leg injuries which are not serious.

Detective Sergeant Adam Williams said: "We are still trying to establish the motive for the attack and we are looking at CCTV opportunities from the surrounding area.

"I'd really like to hear from anyone who has any information or CCTV of the incident or who may have dash cam footage."

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 4 October 2021 A delegate passes a street cleaner on the second day of the annual Conservative Party Conference being held at the Manchester Central convention centre AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2021 Margaret Thatcher-themed mugs for sale at the annual Conservative Party conference in Manchester EPA UK news in pictures 2 October 2021 A couple make their way through a flooded underpass in Bristol as a yellow weather warning for rain and wind is issued for parts of the UK Tom Wren/SWNS UK news in pictures 1 October 2021 A driver talks to members of the media after passing his HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicle) driving test at National Driving Centre in Croydon, south London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 30 September 2021 The centrepiece One Thousand Springs by Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota is seen ahead of the beginning of the Japan Festival, a celebration of the countrys plants, art and culture running from 2-31 October, at Kew Gardens in London PA UK news in pictures 29 September 2021 The family of Betty Campbell unveil the bronze sculpture of her during the unveiling of the statue in Central Square, Cardiff, of Betty Campbell, Wales' first black headteacher PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2021 A sign referring to the lack of fuel is placed at the entrance to a petrol station in London AP UK news in pictures 27 September 2021 Police officers detain a protester from Insulate Britain occupying a roundabout leading from the M25 motorway to Heathrow Airport in London PA UK news in pictures 26 September 2021 Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer watches the Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur match at The Font pub in Brighton PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2021 Scottish pro-independence supporters hold a march and rally outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, Scotland Getty Images UK news in pictures 24 September 2021 Police officers remove two protesters from the top of a tanker, as Insulate Britain block the A20 in Kent, which provides access to the Port of Dover in Kent. The environmental activists have moved location after been banned from campaigning on the M25 motorway in London PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2021 Gabriella, the seven year old daughter of imprisoned British-Iranian Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, joins in a game on a giant snakes and ladders board in Parliament Square, to show the ups and downs of her mothers case to mark the 2,000 days she has been detained in Iran AP UK news in pictures 22 September 2021 A new sign hangs on the Millicent Fawcett statue after it was altered by CrackTheCrises coalition activists to highlight the climate crisis as a feminist struggle in Parliament Square in London EPA UK news in pictures 21 September 2021 Gabriella Diment prepares a monumental bronze patinated fibreglass wall sculpture depicting household cavalry soldiers on horseback which is expected to be sold for 12,000-18,000 when it goes up for auction at Summers Place Auctions in Billinghurst, Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2021 Florist Judith Blacklock puts the finishing touches to a floral carousel installation in Halkin Arcade, which she has designed with Neill Strain for the Belgravia in Bloom festival, running from September 20-26, in London PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2021 Bubbles surround Manchester Uniteds Cristiano Ronaldo before the match against West Ham at London Stadium Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 18 September 2021 Children take part in the Settrington Cup Pedal Car Race as motoring enthusiasts attend the Goodwood Revival, a three-day historic car racing festival in Goodwood, Chichester, Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2021 Hugo, 7, from London rides past a 4x7 metre rainbow arch, made entirely of recycled aluminium cans, which has been installed by recycling initiative 'Every Can Counts', in partnership with The City of London Corporation in front of St Paul's Cathedral in London, to encourage members of the public to recycle their drinks cans ahead of recycling week, which starts on 20 September PA UK news in pictures 16 September 2021 Sheikeh MOhammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, leader of Abu Dhabi, leaves Downing Street after meeting with Boris Johnson PA UK news in pictures 15 September 2021 Children pose by ice sculptures depicting people collecting water by charity Water Aid to show the fragility of water and the threat posed by climate change in London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 14 September 2021 Heavy rain covers the A149 near Kings Lynn in Norfolk PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2021 Luke Jerram's 'Museum of the Moon' at Durham Cathedral PA UK news in pictures 12 September 2021 Inspirational young fundraiser Tobias Weller crosses the finish line, near his home in Sheffield, as he completes his latest epic feat where he swam and triked his way to the end of his awesome year-long Ironman Challenge. 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

Others within the community, including Shabana Mahmood, MP for Birmingham Ladywood and local activist Desmond Jaddoo urged anyone who may know anything to contact the police.

Mr Jaddoo also called for calm following the incident, which he said had caused a lot of tension within the community.

West Midlands Police have asked anyone with information can call police on 101 quoting log 1381 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.Two men have been injured after they were hit by a car outside a mosque.

Police say they have not ruled out the possibility the incident, close to the Shah Jalal mosque in Birmingham, may be terror-related.

The men  both in their twenties  were struck in Ettington Road in the Aston area of the city at 2.15pm on Friday.

One victim suffered head injuries while the other was described by police as walking wounded. Both were left covered in blood, witnesses said.

The car sped away after the incident.

Detective Inspector Greg Evans, of West Midlands Police, said: "The investigation is at an early stage and we're still trying to establish exactly what has happened.

"At this time we have not ruled in or out the potential that this could be terror-related but we're keeping an open mind until we have investigated further.

"I'd really like to hear from anyone who has any information or CCTV of the incident or who may have dash cam footage."

Onlookers said one victim was knocked on to the bonnet of a parked car during the incident.

A worshipper who was attending prayers at the mosque said: "It was shocking to see the guys afterwards. It was like something out of a movie and it was really, really shocking."

Community activist Desmond Jaddoo urged local people not to speculate about motives, amid rumours that it may actually be linked to a dispute between groups of youths.

He said: "It's concerning. Two young men have been injured quite badly and it's caused a lot of tension within the local community at present. Clearly there is a need for calm.

"The police need to be allowed to conduct their investigations and personally I would urge anyone who knows anything about what has happened to contact the police."

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

Shabana Mahmood, MP for Birmingham Ladywood, said: "Today's incident is shocking and has caused huge concern across the local community.

"I'd urge anyone with information to come forward and help the police."Amber Rudd has been summoned back to parliament after twice appearing to give MPs false information.

She is due to give a statement in the House of Commons on Monday, in which she is likely to apologise again for claims she made about the governments use of deportation targets.

Yvette Cooper, the chair of an influential parliamentary committee, said she had also asked the beleaguered home secretary to answer MPs questions amid serious concern over the accuracy of her previous statements.

Ms Rudd is facing continued calls to resign over her handling of the Windrush scandal.

Recommended Amber Rudd insists she was not aware of deportation targets

Ms Cooper said she had asked Ms Rudd to reappear in front of the Home Affairs Select Committee to explain why she had appeared to be unaware of her departments numerical targets for deportations.

Ms Rudd has initially told the committee the Home Office did not use targets for deportations, only for this to later be proved untrue. She then claimed she had been unaware of the targets, but this too prompted questions when a leaked memo revealed details of the policy had been sent to her office.

Ms Cooper told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: We have obviously been given inaccurate information in parliament twice now.

This is a serious concern, and I am calling Amber Rudd to come back and give further evidence to the committee.

I think we will also want to hear from the permanent secretary as well, because this raises some questions about the way the Home Office is operating.

As she fought to cling on to her job, Ms Rudd used a series of tweets to respond to the leaked memo  around nine hours after it was originally published.

She wrote: I will be making a statement in the House of Commons on Monday in response to legitimate questions that have arisen on targets and illegal migration.

I wasnt aware of specific removal targets. I should have been and Im sorry that I wasnt. I didnt see the leaked document, although it was copied to my office as many documents are.

As home secretary I will work to ensure that our immigration policy is fair and humane.

Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Show all 15 1 /15 Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK The ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush' arriving at Tilbury Docks from Jamaica, with 482 Jamaicans on board, emigrating to Britain. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Jamaican immigrants being welcomed by RAF officials from the Colonial Office after the ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush' landed them at Tilbury. PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Alford Gardner who arrived in Britain in 1948 on the first Windrush ship to dock in Tilbury, Essex, speaking at his home in Leeds PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Alford Gardner in Leeds shortly after he arrived in Britain in 1948 on the first Windrush ship to dock in Tilbury, Essex PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Gardner was 22 years old when he boarded the ship in Kingston, Jamaica, with his brother Gladstone before they and hundreds of Caribbean migrants called on to rebuild post-war Britain disembarked the ship in Tilbury Docks PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Alford Gardner (right), during his RAF service in 1947 PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK The son of Ruth Williams, a Windrush-generation immigrant, wants to the leave the country after threats of deportation. According to his mother, Mr Haynes applied for British citizenship in 2016 but was rejected, despite Ms Williams having lived in the UK almost permanently since arriving from St Vincent and the Grenadines in 1959. Ruth Williams, 75, said she felt "betrayed" by Britain after the Home Office twice turned down applications for her 35-year-old son, Mozi Haynes, to remain in the country. Ms Williams is understood to have cancer and said she relies heavily on her son for support. PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK The British liner 'Empire Windrush' at port in 1954. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Ruth Williams, 75, with her British passport. "I feel betrayed and a second class citizen in my own country," she said. "This makes me so sad and the Home Office must show some compassion. "I am unwell and almost 75, I live on my own and I need my son to stay here. I need my family around me and I cant face being alone. He has applied to the Home Office and been refused twice." PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK From the top, hopeful Jamaican boxers Charles Smith, Ten Ansel, Essi Reid, John Hazel, Boy Solas and manager Mortimer Martin arrive at Tilbury on the Empire Windrush in the hope of finding work in Britain. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Jamaicans reading a newspaper whilst on board the ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush' bound for Tilbury docks in Essex. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK After half a century in Britain, Anthony Bryan decided it was time to go abroad. But the decision set off a nightmare that saw him lose his job, detained twice and almost deported to Jamaica. AFP/Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Jamaica-born Anthony Bryan poses outside his home in Edmonton, north London. Now 60 and a grandfather, Bryan thought the issue could be resolved swiftly, as he legally moved to Britain with his family as part of the Windrush generation of Caribbean migrants after World War II. In 1948, the ship Windrush brought the first group of migrants from the West Indies to help rebuild post-war Britain, and many others followed from around the Commonwealth. A 1971 law gave them indefinite leave to remain, but many never formalised their status, often because they were children who came over on their parents' passports and then never applied for their own. AFP/Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Three Jamaican immigrants (left to right) John Hazel, a 21-year-old boxer, Harold Wilmot, 32, and John Richards, a 22-year-old carpenter, arriving at Tilbury on board the ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush', smartly dressed in zoot suits and trilby hats. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Newly arrived Jamaican immigrants on board the 'Empire Windrush' at Tilbury in 1948. Getty

Labour reiterated its calls for Ms Rudd to quit over the issue.

Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary, told Today: I am just surprised that she doesnt seem to take the issue seriously enough to offer her resignation.

Nobody, least of all the communities and the Windrush victims, is going to take the government seriously on this issue until Amber Rudd offers her resignation.

Ms Abbott added that the decision to set a broad numerical target could have been a factor behind the Windrush scandal, which saw people who have lived in the UK for decades losing jobs, pensions and healthcare and being threatened with deportation.

It wasnt saying, for instance, we have to have a target for deporting former criminals. The danger is that that very broad target put pressure on the Home Office officials to bundle Jamaican grandmothers into detention centres, she said.

 Amber Rudd admits deportation targets are used by Home Office after denying it

Ms Rudds cabinet colleagues rowed in behind her, suggesting the memo in question had not been put in the red box of documents that ministers are given to read each day.

Michael Gove, the environment secretary, said: When documents that should be placed in front of a home secretary arent then placed in front of a home secretary, that is sad, that is regrettable.

But she was very clear both in her apology and also in the fact that this specific document wasnt placed in her box, wasnt brought to her attention. It wasnt a matter for decision. It was specifically prepared for another minister. It was sent to his office. It was copied in to the home secretarys office.

Calling Ms Rudd a highly talented and highly effective minister, he added: There are hundreds of documents which are copied in to a secretary of states office every day and week. Some of those documents are not then brought to the secretary of states specific attention.

David Gauke, the justice secretary, told the Today programme: She has accepted that she made a mistake. She didnt knowingly mislead the House of Commons, but she accepted that she was inaccurate in her statements.

She is coming back to the House of Commons on Monday to correct the record.

I have worked closely with Amber. I think she is an excellent home secretary and I look forward to working with her in future.

Downing Street also insisted Theresa May had full confidence in Ms Rudd.

The PM has full confidence in the home secretary, and the hugely important work that she is carrying out at the Home Office, a spokesperson said.Britain is set to make an offer to the EU on future immigration which would see arrangements very similar to current free movement rules put in place after Brexit, The Independent has learned.

UK negotiators would like to put the proposal forward to coincide with a European Council summit in June, in a bid to break a deadlock in Brexit talks.

The plan would see a high level of access to the UK for EU citizens in the future, but would leave the British government power to halt it in certain circumstances.

But it is likely to enrage hardliners who would see anything even mildly like free movement as a betrayal of the 2016 referendum result  on Saturday cabinet minister David Davis, who has fought for a harder Brexit, was reported to be on the brink of resigning over the UKs apparently softening position on EU withdrawal.

It comes as a leaked legal experts report commissioned by politicians in Belfast concluded it will be impossible to stop people coming into the UK at will anyway, if Theresa May stays true to her commitment to avoid a hard border with Ireland.

The last week has also seen the government under heavy pressure to accept staying in an EU customs union  an arrangement which would align with the new offer on immigration rights.

News of the offer planned by British officials has been corroborated by sources in Whitehall and Brussels and would form a key part of the prime ministers efforts to lock the EU into a deal on future relations.

 Guy Verhofstadt: Ireland Brexit issue should be solved by June

A British government insider said: Civil servants have been looking at how to give talks some momentum and dealing with this issue is a way to do it.

The Independent understands that the offer would mean European citizens coming into the UK after Brexit would benefit from visa-free travel.

They would then be able to gain the right to work in the UK under a new status that would be distinct for people arriving from the EU.

These key elements would bring the new arrangements close to those enjoyed by EU citizens under current free movement rules, which Ms May has pledged to end.

But under the proposed system, the British government would retain the right to impose an emergency brake or enact restrictions on migration when it felt a need to in the national interest.

A source in Brussels said: The British have said that this idea could get things moving again, and that it looks very similar to free movement. We will see.

Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures An abandoned shop is seen in Mullan, Co Monaghan. The building was home to four families who left during the Troubles. The town was largely abandoned after the hard border was put in place during the conflict. Mullan has seen some regeneration in recent years, but faces an uncertain future with Brexit on the horizon Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures A defaced Welcome to Northern Ireland sign stands on the border in Middletown, Co Armagh Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Mervyn Johnson owns a garage in the border town of Pettigo, which straddles the counties of Donegal and Fermanagh. Ive been here since 1956, it was a bit of a problem for a few years. My premises has been blown up about six or seven times, we just kept building and starting again, Johnson said laughing. We just got used to it [the hard border] really but now that its gone, we wouldn't like it back again Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Farmer Gordon Crocketts Coshquin farm straddles both Derry/Londonderry in the North and Donegal in the Republic. At the minute there is no real problem, you can cross the border as free as you want. We could cross it six or eight times a day, said Crockett. If there was any sort of obstruction it would slow down our work every day Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures John Murphy flies the European flag outside his home near the border village of Forkhill, Co Armagh Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Potter Brenda McGinn stands outside her Mullan, Co Monaghan, studio  the former Jas Boylan shoe factory which was the main employer in the area until it shut down due to the Troubles. When I came back, this would have been somewhere you would have driven through and have been quite sad. It was a decrepit looking village, said McGinn, whose Busy Bee Ceramics is one of a handful of enterprises restoring life to the community. Now this is a revitalised, old hidden village Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Union Flag colours painted on kerbstones and bus-stops along the border village of Newbuildings, Co Derry/Londonderry Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Grass reflected in Lattone Lough, which is split by the border between Cavan and Fermanagh, seen from near Ballinacor, Northern Ireland Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Donegalman David McClintock sits in the Border Cafe in the village of Muff, which straddles Donegal and Derry/Londonderry Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures An old Irish phone box stands alongside a bus stop in the border town of Glaslough, Co Monaghan Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Billboards are viewed from inside a disused customs hut in Carrickcarnon, Co Down, on the border with Co Louth in the Republic Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Seamus McQuaid takes packages that locals on the Irish side of the border have delivered to his business, McQuaid Auto-Parts, to save money on postal fees, near the Co Fermanagh village of Newtownbutler. I live in the south but the business is in the North, said McQaid. "I wholesale into the Republic of Ireland so if theres duty, Ill have to set up a company 200 yards up the road to sell to my customers. Ill have to bring the same product in through Dublin instead of Belfast Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures A disused Great Northern Railway line and station that was for customs and excise on the border town of Glenfarne, Co Leitrim Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Alice Mullen, from Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland, does her shopping at a former customs post on the border in Middletown, Co Armagh. Id be very worried if it was a hard border, I remember when people were divided. I would be very afraid of the threat to the peace process, it was a dreadful time to live through. Even to go to mass on a Sunday, youd have to go through checkpoints. It is terribly stressful, said Mullen. All those barricades and boundaries were pulled down. I see it as a huge big exercise of trust and I do believe everyone breathed a sigh of relief Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures A bus stop and red post box stand in the border town of Jonesborough, Co Armagh Reuters

Earlier this week a cache of documents from the Northern Irish government were leaked, including a report on the Brexit negotiations written by two experts from Queens University Belfast.

It asked whether avoiding a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland  which the UK has committed to  would mean backdoor access for people into Britain.

The experts concluded that keeping the border open would indeed mean backdoor access  is inevitable, a reality which may be pushing UK negotiators to build better access for EU citizens into their offer anyway.

Avoiding a hard border in Ireland also has implications for customs arrangements between the EU and UK in the future, with Brussels adamant it must mean Northern Ireland, and possibly the whole UK, remaining in a customs union.

 Liam Fox says staying in a customs union would betray Brexit voters

Ms Mays publicly stated position, that she will take the UK out of any customs union, has been thrown into doubt after home secretary Amber Rudd said on Thursday that the cabinet was still deciding on the matter.

Ahead of a meeting at which key ministers will discuss it this Wednesday, cabinet office minister David Lidington said: Were very clear that when we leave the European Union we leave the single market and the customs union, but the prime minister has also said that she wants a customs agreement with the European Union.

Ten days ago the government failed to prevent the House of Lords passing a motion that seeks to keep the UK in a customs union, while on Thursday the Commons approved a similar motion without a vote.

During the debate, enough Conservative MPs backed the idea of a customs union to potentially defeat the government in a binding vote on the issue expected in coming weeks.

But while the new offer on immigration would correlate with the more open Irish border the UK is committed to, and the implicated customs arrangements, it is yet to be approved by the cabinet.

A Government spokesperson said news of the offer isnt true, and went on to say: People voted in the referendum to retake control of our borders, and that is the basis we are negotiating on.

Brexit so far: in pictures Show all 53 1 /53 Brexit so far: in pictures Brexit so far: in pictures Brexit campaign Boris Johnson led the VoteLeave campaign PA Brexit so far: in pictures Brexit campaign Boris Johnson MP, Labour MP Gisela Stuart and UKIP MP Douglas Carswell address the people of Stafford in Market Square during the Vote Leave Brexit Battle Bus tour on 17 May 2016. Their lead line on the tour was: We send the EU 350 million a week, let's fund our NHS instead. Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Voting day A man shelters from the rain as he arrives at a polling station in London on 23 June 2016. Millions of Britons voted in the referendum on whether to stay in or leave the European Union AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Referendum results Leader of Ukip, Nigel Farage, reacts at the Leave EU referendum party at Millbank Tower in central London as results indicated that it was likely the UK would leave the European Union AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Protesting the result A young couple painted as EU flags and a man with a sign reading Im not leaving protest outside Downing Street against the voters decision to leave the EU on 24 June 2016 Getty Brexit so far: in pictures David Cameron resigns British Prime Minister David Cameron resigns on the steps of 10 Downing Street on 24 June 2016 after the results of the EU referendum were declared and the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Theresa May Becomes the new Conservative Party leader Theresa May receives a kiss from her husband Philip, after becoming the new Conservative Party leader on 11 July 2016. May became Prime Minister two days later and although she voted to remain in the referendum was keen to lead Britains Brexit talks after her only rival in the race to succeed David Cameron pulled out unexpectedly. May was left as the only contender standing after the withdrawal from the leadership race of Andrea Leadsom, who faced criticism for suggesting she was more qualified to be prime minister because she had children AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Lancaster House keynote speech on Brexit British Prime Minister Theresa May delivers her keynote speech on Brexit at Lancaster House in London on 17 January 2017. Where she spoke about her offer to introduce a transition period after the UK formally leaves the European Union in March 2019. Despite repeating the pro-Brexit mantra of no deal is better than a bad deal, the Prime Minister claimed she wanted a tone of trust between the negotiators and said Britain was leaving the EU but not Europe. She said there should be a clear double lock needed for the transitional period to make sure businesses had time to prepare for changes to their trading relationships with the EU Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Triggering of Article 50 British Prime Minister Theresa May in the cabinet, sitting below a painting of Britain's first Prime Minister Robert Walpole, signs the official letter to European Council President Donald Tusk invoking Article 50 and the United Kingdom's intention to leave the EU on 29 March 2017 Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Gibraltar nonsense Tensions have risen over Brexit negotiations for the Rock of Gibraltar. The European Council has said Gibraltar would be included in a trade deal between London and Brussels only with the agreement of Spain. While former Conservative leader Michael Howard claimed that Theresa May would be prepared to go to war to protect the territory. Spain's foreign minister stepped in only to assert that there was no need for the dispute Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Shock snap election Soon after triggering Article 50, Theresa May called on 18 April 2017 for a snap general election. The election would be on 8 June and it came as a shock move to many, with her reasoning to try to bolster her position before tough talks on leaving the EU AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Dissolution of Parliament for General Election Campaign Prime Minister Theresa May makes a statement in Downing Street after returning from Buckingham Palace on 3 May 2017. The Prime Minister visited the Queen to ask for the dissolution of Parliament signalling the official start to the general election campaign Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Conservatives lose parliamentary majority An arrangement of British daily newspapers showing front page stories about the exit poll results of the snap general election. British Prime Minister Theresa May faced pressure to resign on 9 June 2017 after losing her parliamentary majority, plunging the country into uncertainty as Brexit talks loomed. The pound fell sharply amid fears the Conservative leader would be unable to form a government AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Labour gains Britains opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn gives a tumbs up as he arrives at Labour headquarters in central London on 9 June 2017 after the snap general election results showed a hung parliament with Labour gains and the Conservatives losing their majority AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Brexit negotiations begin Brexit Minister David Davis and European Commission member in charge of Brexit negotiations Michel Barnier address a press conference at the end of the first day of Brexit negotiations in Brussels on 19 June 2017 AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures May speaks in Florence British Prime Minister Theresa May speaks on 22 September 2017, in Florence. May sought to unlock Brexit talks after Brussels demanded more clarity on the crunch issues of budget payments and EU citizens' rights AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures EU council summit  insufficient progress German Chancellor Angela Merkel joins other EU leaders for a breakfast meeting during an EU summit in Brussels on 20 October 2017. The EU spoke about Brexit and announced that insufficient progress had been made AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures DUP derails settlement on the withdrawal part of Brexit DUP Deputy Leader Nigel Dodds walks off after speaking to members of the media as a protester holding flags shouts after him outside the Houses of Parliament on 5 December 2017. British Prime Minister Theresa May was forced to pull out of a deal with Brussels after the DUP said it would not accept terms which see Northern Ireland treated differently from the rest of the UK Getty Brexit so far: in pictures May suffers defeat over EU (Withdrawal) Bill Theresa May suffers defeat in parliament over EU (Withdrawal) Bill on 13 December 2017. The Government was defeated by Conservative rebels and Labour MPs in a vote on its key piece of Brexit legislation. MPs amended the EU (Withdrawal) Bill against Theresa May's will, guaranteeing Parliament a meaningful vote on any Brexit deal she agrees with Brussels. Ms May's whips applied pressure on Conservative rebels who remained defiant in the Commons throughout the day and in the end the Government was defeated by 309 votes to 305 Brexit so far: in pictures EU council summit  sufficient progress Britain's Prime minister Theresa May arrives to attend the first day of a European union summit in Brussels on 14 December 2017. European leaders discussed Brexit and announced there was finally sufficient progress at the end of the two days AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures The game moves to transition Brexit Secretary David Davis gives evidence on developments in European Union divorce talks to the Commons Exiting the EU Committee in Portcullis House, London, on 24 January 2018 PA Brexit so far: in pictures Trade deal is what May wants French President Emmanuel Macron gestures to Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May after they hold a press conference at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, on 18 January 2018. May and Macron agreed a new border security deal, through which the UK will pay more to France to stop migrants trying to reach British shores on 18 January 2018 AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Transition period agreed The UK and EU agree terms for Brexit transition period on 19 March, 2018 Reuters Brexit so far: in pictures No agreement on Irish border The EU and UK however failed to reach an agreement on the Irish border during the successful talks on other Brexit issues AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures EU attacks Mays fantasy strategy For months after the March deal is struck there is little significant progress in talks. One senior EU official tears into Britains fantasy negotiating strategy and accuses Theresa May of not even having a position on a variety of important issue Getty Brexit so far: in pictures UK releases Ireland plan Britain releases a new customs plan to solve the Northern Ireland border but Michel Barnier says it leaves unanswered questions and would not prevent a hard border EbS Brexit so far: in pictures Chequers plan agreed The cabinet agrees on a plan known as the "Chequers deal" on July 6 2018. The plan seeks regulatory alignment on goods and food, divergence on services, freedom from the European Courts of Justice and an end to free movement. Many were surprised that the hard Brexiteers of the cabinet would agree to this plan PA Brexit so far: in pictures Chequers plan sparks resignations Brexit Secretary David Davis and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and numerous ministers resign in the days following the Chequers agreement Reuters Brexit so far: in pictures Davis out, Raab in On 9 July, Dominic Raab replaces David Davis as Brexit Secretary. Raab is a keen Brexiteer and was a housing minister before taking over from Davis Reuters Brexit so far: in pictures Barnier's "deal like no other" EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier claims on August 29 2018 that they are prepared to offer Britain a trade deal like no other, though he stressed that they will not divide or change the single market to accommodate Britain AP Brexit so far: in pictures "My deal or no deal" In an interview on Panorama on September 17, the Prime Minister insists that any Brexit deal will be offered to the EU on her terms. She asserts this amongst continued attacks on her approach to Brexit by Boris Johnson and the European Research Group, headed by Jacob Rees Mogg BBC/Jeff Overs Brexit so far: in pictures EU leaders reject Chequers Quite the blow was dealt to the Prime Minister at a EU leaders summit in Salzburg on September 20. European Council President Donald Tusk stated that the Chequers deal "will not work" Reuters Brexit so far: in pictures May demands respect Following the rejection of her Chequers plan the day before, the Prime Minister voiced her anger that the EU had dismissed it without offering an alternative. She stated that throughout this process, I have treated the EU with nothing but respect. The UK expects the same. A good relationship at the end of this process depends on it." Getty Brexit so far: in pictures People's Vote march As the People's Vote campaign and The Independent's Final Say campaign gain traction, 700,000 people turn out in London to demand a final say on the UK's Brexit deal on October 20 2018 PA Brexit so far: in pictures More resignations As the Prime Minister settles on a Brexit deal, Brexit secretary Dominic Raab resigns along with Work and Pensions secretary Esther McVey and many other ministers Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Final Say petitions delivered to Downing Street People's Vote supporting MPs Chukka Umunna, Justine Greening and Caroline Lucas and The Independent editor Christian Broughton deliver over a million signatures in favour of a People's Vote to the Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street on December 3 2018 PA Brexit so far: in pictures May delays vote On December 10, the Prime Minister delayed the vote on her Brexit deal as it was near certain not to pass through the Commons due to Tory rebels and lack of DUP support AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures No confidence motion Tory MPs triggered a confidence vote in the Prime Minister on December 12. She won by 200 votes to 117 Reuters Brexit so far: in pictures Commons rejects the deal Following the delay, the Prime Minister's deal was rejected in the Commons by a historic 230 votes AFP Brexit so far: in pictures Corbyn tables a no confidence motion Following the rejection of the Prime Minister's deal, opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn tabled a motion of no confidence in the government, which the government won by a margin of 19 AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Plan B The Prime Minister won the support of the commons to return to Brussels to renegotiate the backstop on January 29. In the same sitting, MPs also voted against a no-deal Brexit in a non-legally binding motion PA Brexit so far: in pictures EU council president savages Brexit campaigners who failed to plan for departure: Special place in hell There is a special place in hell for pro-Brexit campaigners who demanded Britain leave the EU without explaining how it should happen, Donald Tusk has said. The European Council president launched the scathing attack as he accused anti-EU campaigners of pushing for Brexit without even a sketch of a plan how to carry it out safely. Mr Tusk also dismissed suggestions that the EU could reopen negotiations over the controversial Northern Ireland backstop, dealing a blow to Theresa Mays hopes of securing fresh concessions as she tries to get her exit deal through parliament. Speaking in Brussels alongside Irish taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Mr Tusk said: Ive been wondering what a special place in hell looks like for people who promoted Brexit without even a sketch of a plan how to carry it out safely. He also tweeted the accusation moments later Getty Brexit so far: in pictures EU and UK announce talks to restart after Theresa May visits Brussels Both have agreed to restart Brexit talks to find a way through the deadlock in Westminster, following a visit by Theresa May to Brussels. In a joint statement the British government and European Commission said Ms May had had a robust but constructive meeting with president Jean-Claude Juncker, and that the pair would meet again before the end of the month. But the EU again refused to reopen the withdrawal agreement and its controversial backstop  with any negotiations expected to focus on the future relationship between the UK and EU instead Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Brexit strategy lost MPs voted down May's Brext plans, with a majority of 45. The prime minister did not appear in parliament to see another defeat PA Brexit so far: in pictures Labour and Conservative MPs resign and create the Independent Group Back row of Chris Leslie, Gavin Shuker, Chuka Umunna and Mike Gapes, middle row of Angela Smith, Luciana Berger and Ann Coffey and front row of Sarah Wollaston, Heidi Allen, Anna Soubry and Joan Ryan PA Brexit so far: in pictures Non-biding votes on amendments to Brexit motion On February 27 he house held a series of votes, unanimously calling for the UK and EU to guarantee citizens rights in a no-deal scenario AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Attorney General publishes legal advice A hammer blow for May as Geoffrey Cox said her renegotiated deal can still leave UK in backstop against its will. Mr Cox did say the prime ministers efforts had reduced the risk of the UK being trapped in the backstop indefinitely. MPs went on to vote against her deal by 391 to 242 UK Parliament/PA Brexit so far: in pictures No-deal off the table MPs rejected a no-deal Brexit by 43 votes on March 13, with cabinet ministers rebelling in another humiliating defeat for Theresa May. A day later they voted in favour of the prime minister seeking an extension to Article 50 AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures House speaker bans May from third Commons vote on same Brexit deal John Bercow sensationally told Theresa May he would stop her making another attempt to pass her Brexit deal unless she has secured changes. The Speaker said a further meaningful vote would be ruled out of order if the motion was the same or substantially the same  under an ancient convention to stop the government bullying parliament on issues MPs have rejected Parliament Live Brexit so far: in pictures May writes to Tusk The prime minister wrote to Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, to ask for a three-month extension to give her more time to try to get her deal through parliament. However the European Commission advises the EU27 should offer a short extension to May 23 or a longer one meaning the UK would participate in European elections 10 Downing Street/AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures European Council summit Theresa Mays request to extend triggering Article 50 until the end of June was rejected by the EU, and instead offered a shorter time frame. She accepted the offer of a delay until May 22 if her withdrawal deal is approved by Parliament. If MPs rejected it for a third time, the EU said Britain must propose a new plan by April 12. Ms May said she will not support a long delay because it would mean Britain participating in elections for the European Parliament Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Brussels confirms preparations for a no-deal Brexit are completed They warned that it is increasingly likely the UK will crash out. In a statement the European Commission (EC) said preparedness and contingency work, which the EC has been conducting since December 2017, was now finished. The announcement came days after EU leaders agreed to a request by Theresa May to extend the UKs Brexit date AFP Brexit so far: in pictures May resigns Reuters

After we leave the EU, freedom of movement will end and we will be creating an immigration system that delivers control over who comes to the UK, but that welcomes the brightest and best who want to work hard and contribute.

Anything which allows a high level of access or preferential treatment for EU citizens is likely to be viewed dimly by Brexiteer ministers like Boris Johnson and Liam Fox, who are seeking a cleaner break from Brussels.

One source close to a cabinet minister told The Independent: This is the kind of thing that Olly Robbins [Ms Mays chief Brexit negotiator] and the civil servants will beaver away on before putting it to the cabinet.

When and if it is put, it looks like it will be very unpopular with some people.

Tory backbench Brexiteers already suspect Ms Mays enthusiasm for a clean-break Brexit is waning, but have yet to explicitly threaten her leadership.

Brexit secretary David Davis was said to be on the verge of quitting this weekend because of frustration over the prime ministers plans to strike a deal with the EU on a customs partnership.

According to reports the minister has felt cut out of the negotiations process since late last year and effectively replaced by Mr Robbins, who is based in Downing Street.Government plans to tighten voter identification measures appear to be a calculated effort by ministers to make voting harder for people from disadvantaged backgrounds, experts have warned.

In its first in-depth analysis of the plans, the Electoral Reform Society (ERS) said mandatory ID checks at polling stations would disenfranchise millions of voters who do not hold any form of photo ID  often due to financial reasons.

Based on research of voter ID checks in the US, the study found the policy, which will force members of the public to show ID before voting, mounts sizeable barriers to ethnic minority and lower socio-economic backgrounds wishing to vote.

Figures suggest 3.5 million people  7.5 per cent of the electorate  do not have access to any form of photo ID, while even more (11 million) do not have a passport or driving licence.

The report also suggests that a pilot study to be conducted in several areas of the country  most of which are in the south-east and have below-average unemployment rates  will provide insufficient data to assess the impact of a UK-wide roll-out.

Darren Hughes, chief executive of the ERS, said: Its hard not to see this as a calculated effort by the government to make voting harder for some citizens. As such its vital we think about the risks these changes pose to a free and fair franchise in the UK. We need policy based on hard facts  not rumour and innuendo.

With millions of people lacking the right photographic ID  and no government plans for a universal, free alternative  this can only mean another barrier for honest voters. The government know this, which makes this policy all the more concerning.

These deeply flawed trials must not be a fait accompli for the governments plan to roll out an ill-thought policy. Mandatory voter ID is a sledgehammer to crack a nut. Its time for an evidence-based approach instead.

The warning comes after a study by the Electoral Commission found just 28 allegations of someone having lied about their identity at a polling station in 2017, despite almost 45 million votes having been cast  suggesting concern about voter fraud is overblown.

Ciaran Price, spokesman for Migrants Resource Centre, which offers legal support to immigrants and asylum seekers, told The Independent that requiring photo ID to vote was a solution in search of a problem.

Fraud is a non-issue, it almost never happens. The current system is working exactly as it should  enabling people who are entitled to vote to do exactly that. The problem with UK elections is that not enough people are voting, he said.

Requiring photo ID means one thing  a significant number of people may be prevented from voting and having a voice because they dont have photo ID. This is especially true of people from migrant and BAME [black, Asian, and minority ethnic], as well as lower socio-economic backgrounds who stand to lose out most.

We need to encourage voting, not put up unnecessary barriers to people doing their civic duty.

Cat Smith MP, Labours shadow minister for voter engagement and youth affairs, said: The government has been warned time and time again that restrictive voter ID requirements will make it harder for people to vote.

By ignoring these concerns the Tories appear more determined to exclude people from the democratic process.

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

The trial taking place next month will see voters in Bromley, Gosport and Woking asked to show photo ID or several forms of non-photo ID in order to vote. A less stringent approach being tested in Swindon and Watford will force people to show their poll card before casting a ballot.

A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: We already ask that people prove who they are in order to collect a parcel from the post office, rent a car, or travel abroad  and we believe it is right to take the same approach to protect voting rights.

Local authorities are working with partners to ensure that everyone eligible to vote will be able to do so.Zimbabwe has made it legal to produce marijuana for medicinal and scientific uses.

It follows in the footsteps of Lesotho, the tiny nation which last year became the first in Africa to issue a license for medical marijuana.

Zimbabwe has been considering legalising the drug for a number of months, and will now become one of the few countries able to turn it into a source of revenue.

It is now possible to request a license to grow marijuana, according to a recently issued government notice that was released by the country's health minister. Both individuals and companies can apply.

Previously, production and possession of the drug could bring up to 12 years in prison, although recreational use remains illegal.

In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies Show all 26 1 /26 In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies A man wears a marijuana leaf mask during the annual 4/20 cannabis culture celebration at Sunset Beach in Vancouver, British Columbia AP In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies A lady smokes marijuana on Parliament Hill on 4/20 in Ottawa, Ontario Getty Images In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies James Reed smokes a joint during the Denver 420 Rally at Civic Center Park in Denver, Colorado Getty Images In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies People sign a 4/20 sign on Parliament Hill on in Ottawa, Ontario Getty Images In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies A woman smokes marijuana on Parliament Hill on 4/20 in Ottawa, Ontario. Polling released showed strong support in Canada for a government drive to legalise recreational use of marijuana, but many would like the proposed minimum age for consumption to be raised. Sixty-three percent of respondents told the Angus Reid Institute they support legalisation Getty Images In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies A man smokes marijuana during the annual 4/20 marijuana rally on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Reuters In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies Demonstrators smoke marijuana during the '4/20 Santiago' rally in favour of legalisation in front of the La Moneda presidential palace in Santiago, as part of the Global Marijuana March which is being held in hundreds of cities worldwide Getty Images In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies People play with a mock marijuana joint during a 4/20 party to demand legalisation and to celebrate marijuana culture outside the Senate building in Mexico City, Mexico Reuters In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies Adam Eidinger, co-founder of DCMJ, hands out free marijuana joints to DC residents who worked on Capitol Hill as part of the 1st Annual Joint Session to mark '4/20' day and promote legalising marijuana on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC Getty Images In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies Police arrest Rachel Ramone Donlan after she handed out free marijuana joints to DC residents who worked on Capitol Hill as part of the 1st Annual Joint Session to mark '4/20' day and promote legalising marijuana on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC AFP/Getty Images In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies Police arrest Rachel Ramone Donlan after she handed out free marijuana joints to DC residents who worked on Capitol Hill as part of the 1st Annual Joint Session to mark '4/20' day and promote legalising marijuana on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC Getty Images In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies Thousands of people gather to smoke marijuana during the '420 Santiago'rally in front of the La Moneda presidential palace in Santiago Getty Images In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies People attend the Denver 420 Rally at Civic Center Park in Denver, Colorado Getty Images In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies Kevin Barron and Lasean Moore of Raleigh, North Carolina, share a joint during the Denver 420 Rally at Civic Center Park in Denver, Colorado Getty Images In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies Nic Ruhl takes a pull on a giant hand rolled joint at precisely 4:20pm MDT during the Denver 420 Rally at Civic Center Park in Denver, Colorado Getty Images In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies Various cannabis paraphernalia on display at a vendor's stall during the Denver 420 Rally at Civic Center Park in Denver, Colorado Getty Images In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies Mo Banez, of Austin, Texas, lights a joint during the Denver 420 Rally at Civic Center Park in Denver, Colorado Getty Images In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies A man displays a large container of cannabis during the Denver 420 Rally at Civic Center Park in Denver, Colorado. The rally, held annually, is a celebration of both the legalisation of cannabis and cannabis culture. Colorado is one of twenty-six U.S. states along with the District of Columbia that has legalised the use of cannabis either recreationally or medically AFP/Getty Images In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies Sitting in small groups on mats shaded by trees in the Rose Garden just across from the Knesset, participants lit up as the clock struck 4:20 for the local version of the traditional worldwide April 20 pro-marijuana events, known as '420' rallies Getty Images In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies An Israeli smokes a marijuana joint in Jerusalem during a rally at the Rose garden Getty Images In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies Sitting in small groups on mats shaded by trees in the Rose Garden just across from the Knesset, participants lit up as the clock struck 4:20 for the local version of the traditional worldwide April 20 pro-marijuana events, known as '420' rallies Getty Images In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies An Israeli girl poses with a mock marijuana joint in Jerusalem during a rally at the Rose garden, to celebrate 420 and to express their defiance of current laws Getty Images In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies aelis pass around a marijuana joint in Jerusalem during a rally at the Rose garden, to celebrate 420 and to express their defiance of current laws Getty Images In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies An Israeli smokes a marijuana joint in Jerusalem during a rally at the Rose garden, to celebrate 420 and to express their defiance of current law Getty Images In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies An Israeli smokes a marijuana joint in Jerusalem on April 20, 2017 during a rally opposite the Knesset to celebrate 420 and express defiance of current laws AFP/Getty Images

The move is a step away from Zimbabwe's traditionally tough stance on drugs.

In the past, members of parliament in the largely conservative country who had advocated for legalisation were often mocked.

Much of Africa still criminalises the production and use of marijuana but countries including Malawi and Ghana are reportedly exploring ways they too can legalise it.

A South African court last year ruled that private use of marijuana was legal but the government appealed against the ruling at the constitutional court.

Africa comes second after the Americas in terms of production and consumption of cannabis, according to the United Nations' 2017 World Drug Report.

Additional reporting by APDetectives hunting the Golden State Killer used information from genealogy websites that led them to wrongly identify an elderly nursing home patient as a suspect in the case.

An Oregon police officer working at the request of California investigators persuaded a judge to order a 73-year-old man to provide a DNA sample in March 2017, according to newly-released court records.

The man was identified as a suspect after authorities found a rare genetic marker in 30-year-old samples of the killers DNA, before searches of a genealogy website led them to one of his relatives.

His daughter said police did not notify her before swabbing her ailing father for DNA from his bed at an Oregon City nursing home.

Recommended Use of website to catch Golden State Killer suspect prompts worries

She did however go on to help investigators eliminate people who could have conceivably been the killer once she understood the situation.

The case of mistaken identity has come to light after the use of DNA data on an ancestry website led to the arrest of former police officer Joseph James DeAngelo outside his house outside Sacramento.

The 72-year-old is accused of being the sadistic attacker who killed 13 people and raped at least 50 women in California between 1974 and 1986.

Handcuffed to a wheelchair, Mr DeAngelo made his first court appearance on Friday after being charged with eight counts of murder.

Appearing dazed, he spoke in a faint voice to acknowledge he was represented by a public defender without entering a plea.

"We have the law to suggest that he is innocent until he's proven guilty and that's what I'm going to ask everyone to remember," Mr DeAngelo's public defender Diane Howard said outside court.

"I feel like he's been tried in the press already."

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

Investigators were able to make the arrest this week after matching crime-scene DNA with genetic material stored in an online database by a distant relative.

They relied on a website named GEDmatch, a different genealogy service to the once used in the Oregon search and did not seek a warrant for Mr DeAngelo's DNA.

Instead, they waited for him discard items and then swabbed the objects for genetic material, which proved a conclusive match to evidence that had been preserved more than three decades.

Curtis Rogers, co-founder of GEDmatch, said its data had been used without the companys permission, expressing concern over law enforcements use of the site.

DNA was in the infancy of its use as an investigative tool in the mid-1980s when the Golden State Killer, also known as the East Area Rapist, carried out his final murder.

Experts believe as a police officer, Mr DeAngelo would have been aware the of new technique.

Wendell Phillips, a former Sacramento deputy who worked on the case, said police at the time suspected they were chasing either a fellow law enforcement officer or a member of the armed forces due to the methodical and meticulous nature of the crimes.

He revealed officers assigned to the task force were required to submit saliva samples to exclude anyone who shared a genetic trait identified in the attackers saliva found in around 15 per cent of the population.

"Obviously, you didn't want the East Area Rapist on the team," Mr Phillips said, "That turned out to be a pretty good concern."

Additional reporting by APOfficials in Seattle are taking a step to vacate every misdemeanour marijuana conviction in the past few decades in a major step for the city since the state legalised recreational marijuana.

The city says that the motion to vacate the marijuana convictions would impact more than 500 people.

Vacating charges for misdemeanour marijuana possession is a necessary step to correct the injustices of what was a failed war on drugs, which disproportionately affected communities of colour in Seattle, Mayor Jenny Durkan said in a statement.

The war on drugs in large part became a war on people who needed opportunity and treatment. While we cannot reverse all the harm that was done, we must do our part to give Seattle residents  including immigrants and refugees  a clean slate, she added.

Washington State voters approved the legalisation of recreational marijuana in 2012, following in the footsteps of states like Colorado that pioneered legalised marijuana laws.

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 the statement, Ms Durkan said that punitive marijuana policies adversely impact the undocumented immigrant community in Seattle more than other groups, and that those people deserve protections.

Non-citizens have also been unduly burdened by these convictions, which can provide a roadblock to gaining citizenship, or in the worst case, can initiate deportation proceedings, she said.

Seattle is not the only state to have pushed for more lenient marijuana policies.

In Philadelphia, Distract Attorney Larry Crasser instructed his staff in February to stop criminal prosecutions for marijuana possessions.

I did it because I felt it was the right thing to do, Mr Krasner said at the time. We could use those resources to solve homicides.A rapper and YouTube star has admitted dissolving the bodies of three missing students in acid, claiming he was under orders from one of Mexicos most feared drug cartels.

Christian Omar Palma Gutierrez  known as QBA - told investigators he disposed of the corpses after the film students were killed by the gang.

And the 24-year-old, whose YouTube channel has more than 125,000 subscribers, admitted being involved in three previous murders too

Salomon Aceves Gastelum, 25, Daniel Diaz, 20, and Marco Avalos, 20, were abducted after being mistaken for members of the rival Nueva Plaza cartel in the city of Guadalajara, according to the AFP news agency.

Prosecutors believe the kidnappers struck while the trio were filming a project near a former base of the rival outfit.

They beat Mr Gastelum to death while questioning him, and then decided to kill the surviving two. Their bodies were dumped in sulphuric acid to destroy evidence.

Gutierrez  whose songs glamorise violence, death and narcotics  is one of two people so far arrested in connection with the murders.

After more human remains were found at the same sites as the missing students, he told prosecutors he had also been involved in a trio of other murders since being recruited to work for the cartel three months ago. Though his music videos show luxury cars and designer clothes, Gutierrez told police he was being paid just 3,000 pesos  114 a week to work for the gang.

Chief investigator Lizette Torres told AFP that Gutierrezs videos were forming part of the investigation.

The productions tend to depict gang members Guadalajara and are filled with firearms and drugs.

Gutierrez and the second detained suspect will be charged with aggravated kidnapping. Police said they were still searching for at least five other suspects.

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

Almost 29,000 people were murdered in Mexico in 2017; the countrys deadliest year since records started 20 years ago. Another 33,000 people are currently listed as missing.

Much of the violence is down to Mexicos US-backed war on drugs which has seen the military deployed since 2006.

The violence will be a key issue in the upcoming presidential election which the current ruling party, the Institutional Revolutionary Partyled by President Enrique Pena Nietois expected to lose.Brace for more tweets. Photo: Melina Mara/The Washington Post/Getty Images

President Trump has zeroed in on a person to blame for Ronny Jacksons failed bid to become Veterans Affairs secretary, and it isnt Ronny Jackson, or, you know, himself. Instead, hes focusing his ire on Montana senator Jon Tester, a Democrat who faces a difficult reelection battle this fall in a state that voted for Trump by more than 20 points.

Allegations made by Senator Jon Tester against Admiral/Doctor Ron Jackson are proving false. The Secret Service is unable to confirm (in fact they deny) any of the phony Democrat charges which have absolutely devastated the wonderful Jackson family. Tester should resign. The.....  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 28, 2018

....great people of Montana will not stand for this kind of slander when talking of a great human being. Admiral Jackson is the kind of man that those in Montana would most respect and admire, and now, for no reason whatsoever, his reputation has been shattered. Not fair, Tester!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 28, 2018

Secret Service has just informed me that Senator Jon Testers statements on Admiral Jackson are not true. There were no such findings. A horrible thing that we in D.C. must live with, just like phony Russian Collusion. Tester should lose race in Montana. Very dishonest and sick!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 28, 2018

Election-year politics aside, this makes little logical sense. Tester is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs. As Jacksons confirmation hearings neared, Tester was approached by what he said were more than 20 people, who claimed that the doctor had engaged in inappropriate behavior in recent years, which ranged from handing out Ambien to staffers on a White House plane to creating a generally toxic work environment to crashing a car while under the influence of alcohol. Tester signed a statement with his Republican counterpart, Georgia senator Jonny Isaakson, demanding that the allegations be investigated.

In response, a spokeswoman for @JohnnyIsakson, GOP chair of VA committee: Senator Isakson has a great relationship with Senator Tester. He doesnt have a problem with how things were handled. I dont know for sure but highly doubt hes seen the presidents tweets this morning. https://t.co/8AGjhmLNdb  Jeff Zeleny (@jeffzeleny) April 28, 2018

Many of these accounts were also corroborated by media outlets.

Once the allegations became public, Jackson fell into deep trouble on both sides of the aisle. As it became clear that he lacked 50 votes to proceed, he announced on Thursday that he would be withdrawing from the confirmation process.

The White House said on Friday that after conducting a review, it had found no evidence that Jackson had ever crashed a car. This discrepancy is the basis for Trumps assertion that Jackson is innocent of all charges, or, as he put it on Friday, an American hero.

Allegations aside, Jackson was clearly not fit to lead a sprawling federal agency. His central qualification was having served as Trumps personal physician  a role he had played in three different White Houses  and raving about Trumps incredible health on TV, North Korean style. (The White House is keeping him on in his previous role.) As is not-atypical in the chaotic Trump White House, Jackson was not vetted in any real way. Yet theres a good chance he would have survived his confirmation hearings if not for the allegations of personal impropriety, which any other White House likely would have been aware of before selecting him.

In other words, the White House created an eminently avoidable problem, and now wants to pretend its nefarious, Trump-hating Democrats who caused it.

Tester, for his part, seems ready to face Trumps wrath.

If he thinks its my job to sweep his stuff under the table and ignore our military folks, hes wrong, he said on Thursday, after the president had already indicated his displeasure with the senator. If he thinks I should not be sticking up for veterans, hes wrong. I look forward to working with President Trump. Ive worked with him many times in the past, but we disagree.Around 60 per cent of Donald Trump voters said they did not hope to see a female US president in their lifetime, according to a new poll.

While 63 per cent of those who voted Republican in 2016 said they thought it was likely they would live to see a woman lead the country, only 40 per cent of them said they actually wanted this to happen.

The YouGov survey of 1,500 US adults looked into attitudes regarding female leaders, among a range of other political, social and issues.

It asked respondents whether they thought they would see a woman elected as President of the United States in their lifetime.

A total of 63 per cent thought they would either definitely or probably see a woman take office, 19 per cent thought they would definitely or probably not, while the rest were unsure.

Seventy-seven per cent of those who voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 compared to 63 per cent of Donald Trump voters felt it was likely they would see this happen.

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

But when the question was changed to look at their personal wishes, the results also changed.

A total of 66 per cent of people responded yes to the question: Do you personally hope that the United States elects a woman President of the United States in your lifetime, or not?

While 95 per cent of Clinton voters said yes to the question, only 40 per cent of Trump voters responded affirmatively.

Sixty per cent of Republicans said they did not hope to see a female president.

Ms Clinton was the closest woman to date to get near to the US presidency, having been nominated by a major party.

But in what some saw as a blow to female empowerment, she lost out to Donald Trump, who has been accused of inappropriate behaviour by multiple women - though he has denied allegations.

When survey responses were broken down by gender, it found that slightly more men than women thought they would live to see a female president, with 65 per cent of males voting favourably to the question, compared to 60 per cent of women.

Seventy one per cent of women said they personally hoped to see this happen, compared to 60 per cent of males.A passenger on a Southwest Airlines flight that made an emergency landing after an engine burst apart is suing the company, saying she has been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder sparked by the carriers alleged negligence.

Lilia Chavez was sitting three rows behind the window that was shattered by shrapnel from the exploding engine. She says she witnessed the horror that followed when the cabin depressurized and pulled fellow passenger Jennifer Riordan part of the way out of the aircraft.

Ms Riordan, a mother of two, later died.

Recommended US government orders engine inspections after Southwest plane failure

Ms Chavez, a California native, has argued in her federally filed lawsuit that she has been suffering from PTSD, depression and other personal injuries since the fateful flight.

Ms Chavez witnessed the horror as the force of the depressurization pulled an innocent passenger partially through the shattered window and she watched as passengers risked their lives to pull the passenger back into the aircraft and save her life, court documents read.

The court documents continue to say that Ms Chavez prayed for her life during the 20 minute ascent into the Philadelphia airport.

Southwest Airlines engine explosion: in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Southwest Airlines engine explosion: in pictures Southwest Airlines engine explosion: in pictures Jennifer Riordan died after being partially sucked out of a shattered plane window following an engine explosion. Reuters/AP Southwest Airlines engine explosion: in pictures Tammie Jo Shults, hero pilot of Southwest 1380, kept calm and saved her passengers. Kristopher Johnson via Reuters Southwest Airlines engine explosion: in pictures Marty Martinez, left, appears with other passengers after a jet engine blew out on the Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 plane. Marty Martinez via AP Southwest Airlines engine explosion: in pictures The window that was shattered after a jet engine of the Southwest Airlines airplane blew out at altitude Marty Martinez via AP Southwest Airlines engine explosion: in pictures A National Transportation Safety Board investigator examines damage to the engine. NTSB via AP Southwest Airlines engine explosion: in pictures Jennifer Riordan, a 43-year-old mother-of-two. Facebook/Jennifer Riordan via Reuters Southwest Airlines engine explosion: in pictures The Southwest Airlines jet sits on the runway at Philadelphia International Airport after it was forced to land with an engine failure. AFP/Getty Images Southwest Airlines engine explosion: in pictures Pennsylvania Game Commission employees recover a piece of the Southwest Airline engine covering that landed in Penn Township, Berks County. AP Southwest Airlines engine explosion: in pictures Tammie Jo Shults was hailed a hero by passengers. Southwest Airlines engine explosion: in pictures The window that was shattered. Marty Martinez via AP Southwest Airlines engine explosion: in pictures A National Transportation Safety Board investigator photographs a Southwest Airline engine covering that landed in Penn Township AP Southwest Airlines engine explosion: in pictures The exploded engine of Southwest Airlines flight 1380 during the flight from a passenger's window. Cassie Adams via Reuters Southwest Airlines engine explosion: in pictures US Navy Lieutenant Tammie Jo Shults in front of a Navy F/A-18A in 1992. US Navy/Handout via Reuters Southwest Airlines engine explosion: in pictures Damage to the Southwest Airlines plane after Jennifer Riordan died when the jet blew an engine at 32,000ft. PA Southwest Airlines engine explosion: in pictures Emergency personnel monitor the damaged engine. Reuters

She also contacted her children to tell them that she loved them and that she was preparing to die aboard the crippled aircraft, according to the court documents.

The lawsuit charged that Southwest Airlines failed to inform passengers about potential defects, and that it had put profits ahead of safety.

Rather than protect the safety of plaintiff and those who also were fare paying customers, the defendants' misconduct placed profits and business over the safety of its customers and continued to operate these engines, the court documents read.

Before the incident, Southwest was ranked as the safest airline in the world. Ms Riordans death was the first operational fatality of a passenger for the carrier.

The airline has told several news outlets that they do not comment on ongoing litigation. An airline spokesman has said that the engine was inspected days before the incident. An investigation has indicated that a fatigue fracture was the likely cause of the engine failure, and that it would have been difficult for a person to detect that issue by sight.A new report finds that Immigration and Customs Enforcement wrongfully and repeatedly targeted and arrested Americans for years, with as many as 1,480 US citizens being arrested since 2012.

The staggering number of wrongful arrests was made public by an investigation by the Los Angeles Times.

The newspaper also discovered that hundreds of US citizens during that time were forced to prove their identities to immigration courts, and would sometimes spend months or years of detention  even though ICE policy requires a legal review within 48 hours when someone in their custody claims to be an American citizen.

Recommended Trump tells DHS not to admit asylum seekers in migrant caravan

The immigration enforcement agency makes 100,000 arrests a year.

The wrongful arrests were largely attributed the use of inaccurate and incomplete databases, and also lax probes, according to the Los Angeles Times.

An ICE spokesman said that agents only make arrests when they have probable cause to do so. The spokesman also said that the agency relies on both electronic and paper databases to determine who to arrest.

People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Show all 16 1 /16 People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Demonstrators march during the "Day Without Immigrants" protest in Chicago, Illinois, February 16, 2017. Theopolis Waters/Reuters People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Demonstrators march during the "Day Without Immigrants" protest in Washington, DC, U.S., February 16, 2017. Aaron P. Bernstein/Reuters People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Protesters march in the streets outside the Texas State Capital on 'A Day Without Immigrants' February 16, 2017 in Austin, Texas. The crowd, which grew to well over a thousand participants, marched from the Austin City Hall to the Texas State Capital. Across the country hundreds of restaurants and eateries are closing for the day to protest President Trump's immigration policies and to highlight the contributions of immigrants to U.S. business and life. Drew Anthony Smith/Getty People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Protesters march in the streets outside the Texas State Capital on 'A Day Without Immigrants' February 16, 2017 in Austin, Texas. Drew Anthony Smith/Getty People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants AUSTIN, TX - FEBRUARY 16: Protesters march in the streets outside the Texas State Capital on 'A Day Without Immigrants' February 16, 2017 in Austin, Texas. Drew Anthony Smith/Getty People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Demonstrators march during the "Day Without Immigrants" protest in Chicago, Illinois, February 16, 2017. Theopolis Waters/Reuters People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Demonstrators march during the "Day Without Immigrants" protest in Chicago, Illinois, February 16, 2017. Aaron P. Bernstein/Reuters People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Protesters march in the streets outside the Texas State Capital on 'A Day Without Immigrants' February 16, 2017 in Austin, Texas. The crowd, which grew to well over a thousand participants, marched from the Austin City Hall to the Texas State Capital. Across the country hundreds of restaurants and eateries are closing for the day to protest President Trump's immigration policies and to highlight the contributions of immigrants to U.S. business and life. Drew Anthony Smith/Getty People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Protesters march in the streets outside the Texas State Capital on 'A Day Without Immigrants' February 16, 2017 in Austin, Texas. Drew Anthony Smith/Getty People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Protesters march in the streets outside the Texas State Capital on 'A Day Without Immigrants' February 16, 2017 in Austin, Texas. Drew Anthony Smith/Getty People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Protesters march in the streets outside the Texas State Capital on 'A Day Without Immigrants' February 16, 2017 in Austin, Texas. Drew Anthony Smith/Getty People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Protesters march in the streets outside the Texas State Capital on 'A Day Without Immigrants' February 16, 2017 in Austin, Texas. Drew Anthony Smith/Getty People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Protesters march in the streets outside the Texas State Capital on 'A Day Without Immigrants' February 16, 2017 in Austin, Texas. Drew Anthony Smith/Getty People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Protesters march in the streets outside the Texas State Capital on 'A Day Without Immigrants' February 16, 2017 in Austin, Texas. The crowd, which grew to well over a thousand participants marched from the Austin City Hall to the Texas State Capital. Across the country hundreds of restaurants and eateries are closing for the day to protest President Trump's immigration policies and to highlight the contributions of immigrants to U.S. business and life. Drew Anthony Smith/Getty People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants High school student Kathia Suarez holds up a sign as she protests with others outside the Grayson County courthouse in downtown Sherman, Texas, Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017. LM Otero/AP People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants High school senior Vicky Sosa holds a sign outside the Grayson County courthouse in downtown Sherman, Texas, Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017. In an action called "A Day Without Immigrants," immigrants across the country are expected to stay home from school, work and close businesses to show how critical they are to the U.S. economy and way of life. LM Otero/AP

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement takes very seriously any and all assertions that an individual detained in its custody may be a U.S. citizen, the spokesperson said.

The investigation  which covers a period of time that includes several years of the administration of President Barack Obama  comes as the Trump administration has cracked down on immigrants living in the country illegally.

That has included an up-tick in the number of people arrested who do not have criminal convictions.

The Obama administration had urged discretion among its agents not to use limited resources on undocumented immigrants who did not have criminal histories in the United States.First came Kuwait. Then Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Now it's the Philippines' turn.

It is the latest foreign government to book rooms or host events at the Trump International Hotel in Washington D.C., riling critics who say such bookings are nothing more than attempts to curry favour with President Donald Trump.

The Philippine Independence Day celebration set for June 12 comes as the country pushes for a free-trade agreement with the U.S. and amid international criticism of President Rodrigo Duterte for encouraging vigilante killings of drug suspects.

"The Trump hotel may have some political undertones because it is associated with the U.S. president," Jose Manuel Romualdez, the Philippine ambassador to the U.S., wrote in a column in The Philippine Star newspaper earlier this week. "But since several other embassies have also held their national day celebrations at the Trump hotel which were well attended  I decided  why not do it there, too."

The Philippine Embassy has sent out 300 invitations for the party to mark the 120th year since the country broke from Spanish rule. Guests, including U.S. senators and Congress members, will nosh on Filipino food and cocktails. The embassy didn't directly respond to questions on whether the booking was intended to influence the president, referring instead to the ambassador's column.

"The Philippines has found a way to pay tribute to our president," said Kathleen Clark, a government ethics lawyer and law professor at Washington University in St. Louis. "What's at risk is our foreign policy, that it will be influenced not by what matters  human rights, civil rights or legitimate economic interests  but by the Philippines' ability to get in the good graces of our president."

Coincidentally, the party comes a day after the next scheduled hearing in the federal court "emoluments" lawsuit by the state of Maryland and the District of Columbia. They are accusing Mr Trump of accepting unconstitutional gifts from foreign interests, specifically by throwing events and booking rooms at the Trump Washington hotel. Such bookings are tantamount to bribes, the plaintiffs argue, because Trump's refusal to divest himself from his businesses means the money paid for rooms, meeting spaces, food and drinks eventually finds its way into his pocket.

Mr Trump has sought to assuage concerns about foreign government spending at his properties by offering to donate profits from such business to the U.S. Treasury. But critics say the gesture has lacked transparency. A Trump Organisation payment of $151,470 last month was intended to cover such profits from 2017, but the company refused to provide details on how the figure was calculated and which foreign governments were involved.

Neither the White House nor the Trump Organisation responded to requests for comment.

The leader of the Philippines has reason to be plenty thankful to Mr Trump, and to continue to keep him happy.

Western countries and human rights groups have denounced Mr Duterte for an anti-drug campaign that has included more than 2,000 extrajudicial killings by masked gunmen on motorcycles and others. But Mr Trump has said Mr Duterte is doing a "great job" with his crackdown.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

There are economic concerns, too. With Mr Trump's decision to drop out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, Mr Duterte has to find another way to knock down barriers to an open exchange of goods and investment. He has been pushing for the kind bilateral free trade deal that 20 other countries enjoy with the U.S.

Just before Mr Trump's election in November 2016, Mr Duterte appointed Philippine real estate developer Jose E.B. Antonio as his trade envoy to Washington. Antonio's company is partnering with the Trump Organisation in a Trump-branded apartment complex in Manila in which Trump received between $1 million and $5 million in royalties, according to financial disclosure forms filed in June.

Since Mr Trump took office last year, Kuwait has twice held its annual "National Day" celebration at his Washington hotel. Bahrain also celebrated its own "National Day" at the hotel, and a public relations firm working for Saudi Arabia has used the hotel, too.

Two Turkish business organisations sponsored an event there in 2016. One of those groups had official ties to the government of Turkey. The Turkish group was previously headed by a businessman who hired former Trump administration national security adviser Michael Flynn and his consulting firm to perform work aiding Turkey. Flynn has since pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and is cooperating with the special counsel's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

Associated PressTV anchor Joy Reid has denied writing a series of homophobic blog posts describing gay sex as "gross", days after claiming her website had been hacked.

The MSNBC host, who is a vocal opponent of Donald Trump, responded to the controversy over her now-defunct website The Reid Report by offering an apology to the viewers of her Saturday morning show.

But while she appeared to backtrack on the claim that her blog had been hacked, she did not accept she made the comments dating back to 2006.

The posts - unearthed last week - appeared to show Ms Reid making gay jokes about celebrities and politicians and confessing she could not watch the film Broke Back Mountain because of the gay sex scene.

"Here's what I know. I genuinely do not believe I wrote those hateful things," Ms Reid said on AM Joy.

"But I can definitely understand based on things I have tweeted and I have written in the past why some people don't believe me.

"I am not exempt from being cruel or hurtful to the very people I want to advocate for. I own that. I get it. And for that I am truly, truly sorry."

The controversy first erupted in December last year when Joy Reid was accused of writing blog posts attacking former Florida governor Charlie Crist in 2007.

Ms Reid, then a reporter for the Miami Herald, claimed Mr Crist was covering up his homosexuality by marrying his second wife and nicknamed him "Miss Charlie".

She later apologised for her comments, describing them as "insensitive, tone deaf and dumb".

Then on 18 April further blog posts emerged when Twitter user Jamie_Maz said they were "far worse than first reported".

In a post referring to Broke Back Mountain, the blog read: "Does that make me homophobic? Probably. But part of the intrinsic nature of "straighness" is that the idea of homosexual sex is... well.. gross..."

Other posts attacked gay marriage and listed the top five "totally not gay celebrities of the year".

Ms Reid responded by claiming that the posts had been altered by "an unknown external party... to include offensive and hateful references that are fabricated and run counter to my personal beliefs and ideology".

Her lawyer claimed that the FBI had opened an investigation into "potential criminal activities surrounding several online accounts".

The Wayback Machine - a digital archive of the internet - said it "found nothing to indicate tampering or hacking of the Wayback Machine versions" and refused a request to remove the archived blog.

Ms Reid now appears to have withdrawn the claim, telling viewers on Saturday: "The reality is they have not been able to prove it."

People news in pictures Show all 18 1 /18 People news in pictures People news in pictures 7 October 2015 Russian President Vladimir Putin takes part in an ice hockey match between former NHL stars and officials at the Shayba Arena in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. Vladimir Putin spent his 63rd birthday on the ice, playing hockey with NHL stars against Russian officials and tycoons EPA People news in pictures 6 October 2015 German designer Karl Lagerfeld (R) and model Cara Delevingne (C) appear at the end of his Spring/Summer 2016 women's ready-to-wear collection for fashion house Chanel at the Grand Palais which is transformed into a Chanel airport during the Fashion Week in Paris, France Reuters People news in pictures 5 October 2015 Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne addresses the Conservative party conference in Manchester. The Chancellor argued that reducing the payments to people in low paid jobs would give them economic security by reducing the Governments spending deficit Getty Images People news in pictures 4 October 2015 Cowboys captain Johnathan Thurston takes a moment in the centre of the field with his daughter Frankie Thurston, holding dark-skinned doll, after winning the 2015 NRL Grand Final match between the Brisbane Broncos and the North Queensland Cowboys at ANZ Stadium in Sydney. The image quickly became the talking point of Australias National Rugby League Final and provoked a strong reaction on social media, with many praising Thurston for giving his child a toy that promotes inclusiveness and diversity Getty Images People news in pictures 3 October 2015 Pope Francis gives a thumbs-up as he greets people at the end of an audience to the participants of a meeting organized by the "Food Bank" at the Paul VI audience hall in Vatican Getty Images People news in pictures 2 October 2015 Britain's Finance Minister George Osborne (L) throws an American football as he meets with former American football players Dan Marino (2nd R) and Curtis Martin (not pictured) at 11 Downing Street in London, ahead of the New York Jets playing against the Miami Dolphins at London's Wembley Stadium on 4 October Getty Images People news in pictures 1 October 2015 An honor guard opens the door as Russian President Vladimir Putin enters a hall to attend a meeting with members of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia People news in pictures 30 September 2015 Former Mrs America Lisa Christie, who alleges misconduct by Bill Cosby, holds up photos of her younger self during a news conference at the law office of attorney Gloria Allred in Los Angeles People news in pictures 29 September 2015 Matt Damon has defended himself against claims that he instructed gay actors to remain in the closet. He had said I think youre a better actor the less people know about you and sexuality is a huge part of that. Whether youre straight or gay, people shouldnt know anything about your sexuality but an appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres show said, I was just trying to say actors are more effective when theyre a mystery. Right? Getty People news in pictures 29 September 2015 Actor Marion Cotillard has said that there is no place for feminism in Hollywood. Speaking to Porter magazine, she saidFilm-making is not about gender/ You cannot ask a president in a festival like Cannes to have, like, five movies directed by women and five by men. For me it doesnt create equality, it creates separation. I mean, I dont qualify myself as a feminist." Getty People news in pictures 29 September 2015 Actor Paul Walkers daughter, Meadow, is suing Porsche over her fathers death in a lawsuit that claims he was trapped in the burning car because of design flaws and the seat belt. The Fast and Furious star was killed when the Porsche Carrera GT he was a passenger in hit a pole in California in 2013. The driver, his friend Roger Rodas, also died when the vehicle burst into flames. AP People news in pictures 28 September 2015 Robert Mugabe waits to address the United Nations General Assembly. The leader of Zimbabwe reportedly exclaimed 'We are not gay!' as he criticised Western nation's "double standards and attempts to prescribe new rights that are contrary to our values, norms, traditions and beliefs. In 2013 he described homosexuals as worse than pigs, goats and birds. Reuters People news in pictures 28 September 2015 South African comedian Trevor Noah hosts the first 'Daily Show' since taking over from Jon Stewart as host. Stewart had presented the US satirical news show since 1999 and was described by Noah during the show as a 'Political father' 2015 Getty Images People news in pictures 25 September 2015 Sir Elton John may have received a phone call from the real Vladimir Putin. Mr Putin's spokesman announced he had made contact weeks after the singer was duped by pranksters pretending to be the Russian President. Getty People news in pictures 25 September 2015 Actor Leonardo DiCaprio was mistakenly declared as the artist who produced the Mona Lisa by Fox News anchor Shepard Smith. It was in fact Leonardo da Vinci. People news in pictures 24 September 2015 A new biography claims Donald Trump expected to be dead by 40 and never marry. The Guardian says the a new book also claims that in 1980, Mr Trump manufactured a fake vice-president of his real estate conglomerate, whom he called John Baron. People news in pictures 24 September 2015 The Dalai Lama has said that Britain's policy towards China is just about 'Money, money, money.' And asked 'Where is morality?' People news in pictures 24 September 2015 Puff Daddy secured the number-one spot on the Forbes Hip Hop Cash Kings list, with the publication calculating he made an estimated $60million (39m) between June 2014 and June 2015.

Ms Reid added: "I can only say that the person I am now is not the person I was then. I like to think Ive gotten better as a person over time, that Im still growing. That Im not the same person I was 10, or five, or even one year ago.

"Now, the reality is I have to own the things that I have written and tweeted and said."The Pakistani doctor jailed after allegedly helping American forces hunt down Osama bin Laden has been moved by prison authorities, prompting speculation he is to be released.

Shakil Afridi was accused of treason and locked up after running a fake vaccine programme which helped the CIA confirm the al-Qaeda leaders presence in the city of Abbottabad.

The samples paved the way for a US Navy Seal raid which killed the September 11 mastermind.

Dr Afridis continued imprisonment has long been a source of tension between Pakistan and the US, which says it is indicative of Islamabads reluctance in the fight against terror. Pakistan, for its part, claims the raid  carried out without forewarning  was a violation of sovereign territory.

Now, a jail official in the north western city of Peshawar has said Dr Afridi had been transferred to Adiala prison near the capital, according to Reuters.

The official  speaking under condition of anonymity  said it could simply be a security-related move but did not rule out a possible release.

Dr Afridis lawyer, Qamar Nadeem, confirmed the transfer but said he was not sure where his client had been taken.

Judicial officials could not be reached on Saturday. Neither could US embassy officials, who, nonetheless, seem certain to welcome the move.

Pakistani doctor Shakil Afridi is photographed in Pakistan's tribal area of Jamrud (AP)

Dr Afridi was arrested days after the US raid in 2011. He was sentenced to 23 years in jail for financing terrorism. That conviction was overturned in 2013, but he is still serving time for other terrorism-related convictions, his lawyer said.

He also faced a murder trial related to the death of a patient more than a decade ago.

However, Mr Nadeem said Dr Afridi had recently had his latest sentence reduced to seven years in a clemency action, and had served about that amount of time already.

"So I think he can be released very soon," he added.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

There were, however, no other immediate indications of his being freed.

Just last year, Pakistans then-law minister said the country would not release Dr Afridi under international pressure.

Zahid Hamilton said: Afridi worked against the law and our national interest, and the Pakistan government has repeatedly been telling the United States that under our law he committed a crime and was facing the law.Armenias ruling party will not put up a candidate for prime minister, it said on Saturday, in a bid to ease tensions after more than two weeks of street protests against the ruling elite.

Demonstrations against the party and official corruption forced Serzh Sarksyanm, a former president, to resign as prime minister last Monday and parliament is due to pick a new one on 1 May.

While its majority in parliament means it should be able to choose who that is, the Republican Party has decided not to put forward its own candidate.

By not putting forward a candidate, we will avoid confrontation and an increase in security risks, party spokesman Eduard Sharmazanov told reporters.

We are not putting anyone forward in the states interest.

Protest leader Nikol Pashinyan, a member of parliament who describes himself as the peoples choice, has said parliament should elect him prime minister next week.

He then wants snap parliamentary polls under a new election law.

On Saturday he called on supporters to continue protests and to organise big, non-violent demonstrations in the capital Yerevan on May 1.

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

All protest actions, actions of civil disobedience, should be renewed with new force. The victory of the people must be recognised, Mr Pashinyan, 42, told a rally in the town of Ijevan.

With the Republican Partys 58 seats in the 105-seat parliament, Mr Pashinyan is unlikely to be elected without their support.

However, the second biggest party in parliament, Prosperous Armenia, hinted it might support him.

My team and I will vote for a peoples candidate, whether its Nikol Pashinyan or anyone else nominated by the people, party leader Gagik Tsarukyan told Kentron TV.

Recommended Celebrations in Armenia as prime minister quits after days of protests

A junior coalition member, the Dashnaktsutyun Party, said this week it was quitting the government and favoured an early election, but it was unclear whether it would vote for Mr Pashinyan who has a history of political activism and opposition.

Although the demonstrations have been peaceful, the upheaval has threatened to destabilise Armenia, an ally of Russia, in a volatile region riven by Armenias decades-long, low-level conflict with neighbouring Azerbaijan.

The next parliamentary elections are not due until 2022.

But if parliament fails twice to elect a new prime minister with majority support, early elections must be held.

ReutersBloodless and quick, the success of Armenias velvet revolution surprised everyone. But the resignation of the countrys longtime leader Serzh Sargsyan on 13 April  accompanied, as it was, by a wild party in the streets of Yerevan  now looks like being but the first chapter of a much longer story.

And as the country falls into constitutional crisis, Russia seems to be monitoring the vacant steering wheel.

On 1 May, Armenias parliament will choose a new prime minister  and a general election will likely follow. The protest leader Nikol Pashinyan has insisted he should take charge for the interim, and has rejected any compromise with the government. More than that: he has refused to countenance any collaboration with members of Serzh Sargsyans Republican party, who he has characterised as corrupt and illegitimate.

After leading tens of thousands of Armenians onto the streets, there is little Mr Pashinyan lacks in the way of charisma, popular support or momentum. But the former journalist is behind on one key metric: the formal numbers game.

The constitutional balance of power remains with the ruling Republican Party of Armenia, returned with a large majority in last Aprils disputed elections. It is unlikely to hand the premiership over without a fight.

The Republican Party had hoped the quick appointment of a new acting prime minister, the former Gazprom official Karen Karapetyan, would be enough to calm the public mood. But Mr Pashinyan has continued to press home his popular advantage, and his supporters appear to be going nowhere. On Friday, he took the protest to Gyumri, Armenias second city.

For most of the past fortnight, the Kremlin has played an unusual role of relaxed bystander.

Speaking to journalists on Thursday, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov insisted that Russia was not in the least concerned by a revolution against corruption and authoritarian rule in Russias backyard.

The issue is exclusively a domestic Armenian affair, he said.

Recommended Political foes come together in Armenia to mark Ottoman massacre

But in recent days, Russia has hinted at a new activism. Secret delegations have scuttled in and out of Yerevan, rumoured to have included the presidential chief of staff Vaino. On Thursday, Armenias foreign minister was in Moscow. Later that day, Vladimir Putin spoke with acting prime minister Karen Karapetyan.

The readout of that high-level call appeared to be a game changer. The Armenian crisis should be resolved quickly, within the constitution, and on the basis of the results of the legitimate parliamentary elections held in April 2017, the Russian president told his counterpart. Mr Putins formulation implicitly favoured the old guard so despised by the protest movement.

Almost immediately, the government found new resolve in dealing with Mr Pashinyans hardline negotiation stance. On Friday, Mr Karapetyan rejected outright the possibility of talks with the protest leader  describing his absolutist terms as unacceptable.

The confluence of events has suggested to many that the Kremlin has shifted to openly embrace its man on the ground.

Karapetyan is now seen as a man on a mission, more committed to fulfilling Moscows demands than meeting popular Armenian expectations for change, says Richard Giragosian, director of the Regional Studies Centre, an independent think tank in Yerevan.

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 opposition leadership has been careful to distance itself from anti-Russian sentiment.

On various platforms, Mr Pashinyan said he supported economic and military collaboration with Russia, including retaining a Russian army base. He has also insisted the Armenian revolution had little in common with other, anti-Russian colour revolutions.

This is not a Euromaidan, he said, referencing the Ukrainian revolution four years ago. Not a single penny has been given from a foreign agency towards this movement.

But with Moscows bid to counter the protest ascendancy, that neutrality would appear now to be at risk  and with unpredictable consequences.

Putin and Karapetyan are recklessly misreading the mood on the Armenian street, says Mr Giragosian. They are missing the first lesson from the downfall of Serzh Sargsyan: it is dangerous to ignore popular demands for change.A controversial floating nuclear power plant built by Russia that environmentalist have dubbed a "nuclear Titanic" has set sail on its first sea voyage.

The plant, Akademik Lomonosov, was towed out of the St Petersburg shipyard where it was constructed on Saturday.

According to the Lomonosovs owner, state-controlled nuclear energy firm Rosatom, the craft will be towed through the Baltic Sea to a base in Murmansk.

The floating plant will then be loaded with nuclear fuel before being towed to the Arctic port of Pevek in the summer of 2019, where it will be put into service.

Rosatoms project has come under widespread criticism from environmental groups, including Greenpeace, which has branded it a "floating Chernobyl" and a "nuclear Titanic".

Greenpeace nuclear expert for central and Eastern Europe, Jan Haverkamp, said although initial plans to test the craft in St Petersburg had been scraped, the Lomonosov still posed a threat to the environment.

"To test a nuclear reactor in a densely populated area like the centre of St. Petersburg is irresponsible to say the least," he said.

"However, moving the testing of this nuclear Titanic away from the public eye will not make it less so.

Russia expects to begin construction on a second floating plant in 2019 (TASS)

"Nuclear reactors bobbing around the Arctic Ocean will pose a shockingly obvious threat to a fragile environment which is already under enormous pressure from climate change.

"This hazardous venture is not just a threat to the Arctic, but, potentially, to other densely populated or vulnerable natural regions too."

The Lomonosov is designed to produce power in remote regions of Russias extreme north and far east.

Rosatom says the reactor is capable of generating enough power for a town of up to 100,000 people.

Russia's floating 'nuclear Titanic': in pictures Show all 9 1 /9 Russia's floating 'nuclear Titanic': in pictures Russia's floating 'nuclear Titanic': in pictures The floating nuclear power plant, the 'Akademik Lomonosov', is towed out of the St. Petersburg shipyard. AP Russia's floating 'nuclear Titanic': in pictures Workers on the nuclear atomic icebreaker "Arktika" operated by Rosatomflot watch the floating nuclear power plant "Akademik Lomonosov" being towed . Reuters Russia's floating 'nuclear Titanic': in pictures The 'Akademik Lomonosov', the first in a series of floating nuclear plants planned, will be fuelled, tested and in 2019 towed 5,000 kilometres through the Northern Sea Route and put to use near Pevek, in the Chukotka Region. EPA Russia's floating 'nuclear Titanic': in pictures The Akademik Lomonosov is to be loaded with nuclear fuel in Murmansk. AP Russia's floating 'nuclear Titanic': in pictures The floating nuclear power plant. AP Russia's floating 'nuclear Titanic': in pictures Fishermen sail on a boat past the floating nuclear power plant "Akademik Lomonosov". Reuters Russia's floating 'nuclear Titanic': in pictures The floating nuclear power plant, the 'Akademik Lomonosov'. AP Russia's floating 'nuclear Titanic': in pictures The plant, owned and operated by Russian state controlled nuclear giant Rosatom, will pass through Estonian, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian waters towards Murmansk. EPA Russia's floating 'nuclear Titanic': in pictures The floating nuclear power plant "Akademik Lomonosov" Reuters

Construction of a second floating plant is expected to begin in 2019, with Russian state media reporting the crafts could also be marketed to other countries.

Officials in Scandinavian nations including Norway and Sweden have voiced concerns over the potential for an accident at sea involving the Lomonsov during its construction.

However, Rosatom insists precautions have been taken to prevent a nuclear disaster.

"[The Lomonosov] is designed with the great margin of safety that exceeds all possible threats and makes nuclear reactors invincible for tsunamis and other natural disasters," the company said in a statement.

"In addition, the nuclear processes at the floating power unit meet all requirements of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and do not pose any threat to the environment."Germany is set to ban arms sales to Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) amid fears they are being used to carry out human rights abuses.

Weapons exports to the three countries will be prevented if new legislation is approved.

The draft bill, proposed by the opposition social democratic party Die Linke, will also make it illegal to sell arms, expertise and related goods to any other government suspected of using the equipment to abuse human rights.

The bill mentions Saudi Arabia and the UAE for their role in the war in Yemen, and Turkey for its military bombardment of Kurdish forces fighting in in northern Syria.

It specifically refers to previous sales of patrol boats to Saudi Arabia  which have been used to blockade Yemeni ports  and of Leopard tanks to Turkey, which formed part of the countrys military action against the Kurdish YPG groups.

If approved, the law would not only prevent future transactions from being made with these countries, but also retroactively recall previously agreed deals.

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

But if waved through, the ban will not come cheap to Germanys economy: between 2013 and 2017, Saudi Arabia spent 870m on arms deals with the country.

In January, the German government announced it would halt all arms exports to countries involved in the ongoing war in Yemen, but this bill would tighten and expand on that legislation.

It comes after the UK government expressed sympathy with the victims of a Saudi bombing raid on a wedding in Yemen, but said it would not halt arm sales to to Riyadh.Never been wrong yet. Photo: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images

One of President Trumps most bedrock character traits is his refusal to truly reckon with any piece of information that reflects poorly on him. This self-aggrandizing, reality-denying flavor of egotism has defined Trump for decades, through his roller-coaster business career and into political life. In recent months, it has sometimes veered into the straight-up delusional, as when he reportedly claimed last year that it wasnt actually his voice on the Access Hollywood tape.

Trumps insistence that everything is going great was validated in unprecedented fashion when he won the presidency despite some of the strongest headwinds imaginable, shocking almost everyone  possibly including, on some deep level, himself.

But now, finally, the presidents unwavering confidence may finally be about to take a serious electoral toll.

The New York Times reported on Saturday that in the runup to the midterm elections this fall, President Trump is simply not listening to advisers and lawmakers who tell him what anyone can plainly see: Republicans are in deep trouble.

President Trump is privately rejecting the growing consensus among Republican leaders that they may lose the House and possibly the Senate in November, leaving party officials and the presidents advisers nervous that he does not grasp the gravity of the threat they face in the midterm elections.

Congressional and party leaders and even some Trump aides are concerned that the presidents boundless self-assurance about politics will cause him to ignore or undermine their midterm strategy. In battleground states like Arizona, Florida and Nevada, Mr. Trumps proclivity to be a loose cannon could endanger the Republican incumbents and challengers who are already facing ferocious Democratic headwinds.

In election after election over the last year and a half, Democrats have vastly overperformed their expected vote share, largely thanks to animus toward the president. They have triumphed in a Pennsylvania Congressional district where Trump won by more than 20 points, picked up a Senate seat in ruby-red Alabama, dominated state races in Virginia, and made close several contests that almost certainly would have been Republican landslides in previous years. Its true that Democratic polling on the generic ballot is not as overwhelming as it could be at this stage, but the bulk of evidence points to a very strong Democratic showing in November, and Republicans have been sounding the alarm for months.

Trumps reaction to all this: everything will be just fine.

If Mr. McConnells warning was not clear enough, Marc Short, the White Houses legislative liaison, used the dinner to offer an even starker assessment. The G.O.P.s House majority is all but doomed, he said.

But Mr. Trump was not moved. Thats not going to happen, he said at different points during the evening, shrugging off the grim prognoses, according to multiple officials briefed on the conversation.

The Times piece also reports that, as his fellow Republicans fret, Brad Parscale, the presidents pollster, is feeding him inaccurate, Trump-friendly poll numbers, which the president is more than happy to parade on Twitter.

Why does this matter? Most presidents, even if they claim not to be obsessed with polls the way Trump is, have a pretty good idea of their own political currency, and adjust their alignment with their parties accordingly. Sometimes, presidents realize that they are not welcome by members of their own party in certain areas; for example, a then-struggling Barack Obama avoided red states in 2014, and George W. Bush was not always welcomed with open arms on the stump, even in Republican-friendly districts, circa 2006.

Something different is going on this time around. President Trump remains enormously popular within the Republican Party; most Republican members of Congress have made the calculation that even if Trump is underwater in their state, defying the president would be a political loser, since it leave them without any reliable constituency.

The problem is not only that Trump refuses to believe that Republicans will lose, but that, even if he were sufficiently worried, he doesnt care enough about his own party to bother helping. He is connected enough to the GOP that he sees it as an extension of his own electoral prowess, but not so connected that he will muster the focus and energy needed to boost candidates who arent him. (Granted, this may be impossible for him on a cellular level.)

Establishment Republicans reportedly want Trump to flog the GOPs unpopular tax law on the campaign trail. The president is pushing back on this directive  which he is right to do, since the unpopular law probably isnt galvanizing anyone to vote.

But the presidents own, predictably unpredictable routine is unlikely to work much better. He might attack vulnerable Republican Senators he disagrees with; he might serve more as a distraction than a cheerleader, the way he did when he suddenly started complaining about Colin Kaepernick at a campaign rally for Luther Strange in Alabama; he might just ramble about himself. In other words, hell put on the Trump show, which is the only thing he knows how to do.

This routine wont turn off voters who already love the president. But its more likely to spark another Trump news cycle than rally much-needed enthusiasm for Republican candidates.

Sometimes, Republicans will get lucky when Trump stumbles upon a personal grievance, as he has with vulnerable Montana Senator Jon Tester, whom he blames for scuttling the Ronny Jackson Veteran Affairs appointment. The GOPs best hope may be to invent reasons that red-state Democrats are hurting Trump personally, then watch him go wild on Twitter and the campaign trail.

Republicans seem to have grasped the lesson that Trump needs to be personally invested in their election results. They are trying to make the stakes of the election startlingly personal, reportedly telling Trump that if he doesnt help them out this fall, they may not have his back if and when Democrats initiate impeachment proceedings next year. That stark warning may perk Trumps ears up, but its just as likely to be perceived as an unacceptable intramural threat, not as motivation to work for the party.

However Trump performs on the campaign trail, and however Republicans fare this fall, the president will continue living in a bubble of his own making. Because Trump was right to dismiss the concerns of the many, many people who insisted he couldnt win in 2016, he can now perennially point to that shocking election result as proof that his instincts, not some politico eggheads, are always correct. And if Republicans lose big this year, hell just say they didnt stick by him closely enough.

Its a dishonest, solipsitic approach to life. But its one that has worked shockingly well for Donald Trump.Sajid Javid as home secretary? The Westminster media pack in one of its frenzies is a wonder to behold. As the wait for a response from the Home Office to the leak of a memo stretched into its fourth hour yesterday, journalists were already gaming the next few moves.

If Amber Rudd resigned, who would replace her? And if it was Javid, as Paul Waugh of the Huffington Post suggested, who would replace him (possibly Liz Truss, he said). Would Rudd join the backbench rebels campaigning for a softer Brexit? What was the cause of the delay? Was there something else damning with which Rudd and the prime minister were wrestling?

Seven hours after The Guardian published the memo from June last year suggesting that Rudd should have known about the targets for immigration removals, the home secretary herself announced  on Twitter  that she would be staying in post. At least until Monday, when she would make another statement to the House of Commons.

Recommended The Conservatives have lost the British Caribbean vote for good

Instantly, we could see what had always been true: that, as long as there arent any further damning documents, and there still could be, it is very much in the prime ministers interest to keep Rudd where she is.

As Nick Watt of BBC 2s Newsnight reported last night, people who know Theresa Mays mind are absolutely scathing about Amber Rudds handling of the Home Office.

The home secretarys evidence to Yvette Cooper, my former colleague as a leader-writer on The Independent, now chair of the Home Affairs select committee, on Wednesday was certainly a remarkable moment. Cooper asked: Targets for removals: when were they set? Rudd replied: We do not have targets for removals.

The only credible explanations for her answer are that she thought her department did not have targets for removals, or that she thought the word targets meant something other than its plain English meaning.

I thought the birds in the trees knew that the Home Office had targets for removals. Coopers committee had just been discussing them at length with the head of the immigration services union. Rudd was told about the targets in the leaked memo, but says: I didnt see it.

She herself had sent a letter to the prime minister (also leaked, last week) in January 2017 saying: I will be reallocating 10m ... with the aim of increasing the number of enforced removals by more than 10 per cent over the next few years. In plain English, that is a target.

 Amber Rudd admits deportation targets are used by Home Office after denying it

But Rudd appears to think otherwise, and this is where ministerial accountability becomes a matter of epistemology, the theory of knowledge. The Ministerial Code, updated in January, says: Ministers who knowingly mislead parliament will be expected to offer their resignation to the prime minister.

She misled the select committee all right, but who can say she did so knowingly? Should have known is not the same thing. Her defence is incompetence, but philosophically it is watertight.

So May thinks Rudd lacks the iron grip of her predecessor at the Home Office, but Rudd is the prime ministers crumple zone. If Rudd werent there to absorb the impact of anger over the Windrush scandal, the full force of it would be felt by the architect of the hostile environment policy, namely May herself.

That puts the home secretary in a paradoxically strong position. It helps to explain her unexpected answer at the press gallery lunch on Thursday, when she refused to rule out Britain staying in a customs union with the EU after Brexit. This was at odds with government policy, which is not to be part of any kind of customs union, and the Kremlinologists of Brexit were surprised when the clarification, in a tweet an hour later, said only that we will, of course, be leaving the customs union.

This seemed  and who can make a window into Rudds heart and say what she meant by it?  to be a deliberate pitch for the leadership of the soft Brexit faction of her party. Rudd knows, or should know, even if some of the articles about it may not have been in her red box, that Theresa May faces defeat on the question of a customs union.

I think May will compromise in the end, knowing that the hard Brexiteers probably dont have the numbers to bring her down. But if we need an alternative prime minister who would take us out of the EU but keep us in a customs union, Rudd is, surprisingly, still available.America watches as one tornado after another rips at the fittings in the West Wing, aides and advisers clinging to the furniture for their lives. The Weather Channel cant compete for sheer drama.

But does the country care very much any more? Its starting to look like repeats season.

Whos really bothered that Donald Trumps latest cabinet choice got sucked into oblivion when it was alleged last week that his record was, well, patchy. That was Ronnie Jackson, a Rear Admiral, dashing in his uniform, who had been set to appear on the Hill for Senate confirmation hearings to become the next Veterans Affairs administrator. Then came reports of his crashing a government car while drunk, doling out pills without prescriptions and being a workplace bully.

Another week, another cast member crashes from the Washington stage amidst howls of fury from the leading man. Trump believers rally to his side and rehearse the notion that his every stumble is somehow the fault of the left-wing media. Trump haters are confirmed in their belief that he is a dolt and so the political needle shifts neither one way nor the other.

Not so fast. Some loud sonic booms rippled out from this latest disaster and nowhere were they more acutely felt than in Montana, a state as far removed from Washington as you could get. (It has valleys big enough to swallow it whole.) Thats because the top Democrat on the Veterans Affairs Committee is its senior senator, Jon Tester. And it was he who sunk Jackson by going public with all the bad things about him that people had been privately telling the committee.

Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Show all 30 1 /30 Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Threatening to shut down Twitter after being fact-checked After the president tweeted that voting by post would be "substantially fraudulent", Twitter attached a warning label to his tweet and referred readers to a site which explained how the claim was "unsubstantiated". Trump then said Twitter was "stifling free speech" and that he may have to shut it down, something which he would not have the power to do AFP/Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Flippantly dismissing a serious allegation of sexual assault When author E Jean Carroll accused Trump of raping her, the president responded: Number one, shes not my type. Number two, it never happened. It never happened, OK?" AFP/Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Insulting the Mayor of London as he landed in London Just before touching down at Stansted Airport for his state visit, Trump took time out to @ the London mayor Sadiq Khan on twitter. He said that Khan has done a "terrible job"as mayor and that he is a "stone cold loser" Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Taking plenty of "Executive Time" The president's official schedule sets aside the hours from 8 to 11am daily for "Executive Time". Further intermittent periods of "Executive Time" are scheduled throughout any given day, ranging from 15 minutes to 3 hours. His duties in these hours have not been officially disclosed, though Axios reports that he spends them watching TV, reading the newspapers and tweeting Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Shutdown the government for over a month in an effort to secure funding for his wall With Mexico declining to pay for the wall, the president has faced difficulty in raising the required $5bn at home. Due to his demand that the money for the wall be included in the budget, and Congress's refusal, the government partially shut down on 22 December 2018. It remained shut for over a month, the longest period in history Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Joking about the Nazi occupation of France to President Macron In this tweet from 13 November 2018, the president mocks Emmanuel Macron's suggestion of a "true, European army" by invoking the conflict between France and Germany in the world wars Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Railing against the Mueller investigation The president has repeatedly claimed that the Mueller investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, is a "rigged witch hunt" Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Contradicting a US intelligence report on Russian meddling in the presence of Vladimir Putin In the press conference that followed his landmark meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin, Trump stated that he saw no reason why Russia would have meddled in the 2016 US election. This contradicted a 2017 report by the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence that found evidence of Russian interference in favour of Trump Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Contradicting his contradiction of a US intelligence report on Russian meddling Following furious backlash in the US, the president claimed that he meant to say that he saw no reason why it would not have been Russia who meddled in the 2016 US election. As to why he would have intended to use such bizarre phrasing, he did not comment Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Colouring in the US flag wrong The president coloured in the US flag wrongly during a visit to a children's hospital in Columbus, Ohio. He added a blue stripe where in tradition, and statute, there have been only white and red stripes AFP/Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Firing a Secretary of State over Twitter The president announced on Twitter that he was appointing Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State, much to the surprise of then Secretary of State Rex Tillerson Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Quoting a catchphrase from a reality TV show when discussing police brutality While addressing the issue of black athletes not standing for the national anthem in protest of police brutality, the president made reference to his catchphrase from reality TV show "The Apprentice": you're fired! Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Calling African nations "S***hole Countries" Ever one for diplomacy, the president reportedly referred to African nations as "s***hole countries". Asked to confirm this when meeting with Nigeria's President Buhari, Trump stated that there are "some countries that are in very bad shape". Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Defending Russian President Vladimir Putin Trump appeared to equate US foreign actions to those of Russian president Vladimir Putin, saying: There are a lot of killers. You think our countrys so innocent? Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Asking for people to 'pray' for Arnold Schwarzenegger At the National Prayer Breakfast, Trump couldnt help but to ask for prayers for the ratings on Arnold Schwarzeneggers show to be good. Schwarzenegger took over as host of The Apprentice  which buoyed Trumps celebrity status years ago Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Hanging up on Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull Early in his presidency, Trump reportedly hung up the phone on Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull after the foreign leader angered him over refugee plans. Mr Trump later said that it was the worst call he had had so far Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... The 'Muslim ban' Perhaps one of his most controversial policies while acting as president, Trumps travel ban targeting predominantly Muslim countries has bought him a lot of criticism. The bans were immediately protested, and judges initially blocked their implementation. The Supreme Court later sided with the administrations argument that the ban was developed out of concern for US security Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Praising crowd size while touring Hurricane Harvey damage After Hurricane Harvey ravaged southeastern Texas, Trump paid the area a visit. While his response to the disaster in Houston was generally applauded, the president picked up some flack when he gave a speech outside Houston (he reportedly did not visit disaster zones), and praised the size of the crowds there AP Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... 'Little Rocket Man' During his first-ever speech to the United Nations General Assembly, Trump tried out a new nickname for North Korea leader Kim Jong-un: Rocket Man. He later tweaked it to be little Rocket Man as the two feuded, and threatened each other with nuclear war. During that speech, he also threatened to totally annihilate North Korea Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Attacking Sadiq Khan following London Bridge terror attack After the attack on the London Bridge, Trump lashed out at London Mayor Sadiq Khan, criticising Khan for saying there was no reason to be alarmed after the attack. Trump was taking the comments out of context, as Khan was simply saying that the police had everything under control Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Claiming presenter Mika Brezinkski was 'bleeding from the face' Never one not to mock his enemies, Trump mocked MSNBCs Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski, saying that she and co-host Joe Scarborough had approached him before his inauguration asking to join him. He noted that she was bleeding badly from a face-lift at the time, and that he said no MSNBC Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Claiming the blame for Charlottesville was on 'both sides' Trump refused to condemn far-right extremists involved in violence at 'the march for the right' protests in Charlottesville, even after the murder of counter protester Heather Heyer AP Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Retweeting cartoon of CNN being hit by a 'Trump train' Trump retweeted a cartoon showing a Trump-branded train running over a person whose body and head were replaced by a CNN avatar. He later deleted the retweet Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Tweeting about 'slamming' CNN Trump caught some flack when he tweeted a video showing him wrestling down an individual whose head had been replaced by a CNN avatar. Trump has singled CNN out in particular with his chants of fake news Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Firing head of the FBI, James Comey Trumps firing of former FBI Director James Comey landed him with a federal investigation into Russias meddling in the 2016 election that has caused many a headache for the White House. The White House initially said that the decision was made after consultation from the Justice Department. Then Mr Trump himself said that he had decided to fire him in part because he wanted the Russia investigation Mr Comey was conducting to stop Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Not realising being president would be 'hard' Just three months into his presidency, Trump admitted that being president is harder than he thought it would be. Though Trump insisted on the 2016 campaign trail that doing the job would be easy for him, he admitted in an interview that living in the White House is harder than running a business empire Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Accusing Obama of wiretapping him Trump accused former president Barack Obama of wire tapping him on twitter. The Justice Department later clarified: Obama had not, in fact, done so Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Claiming there had been 3 million 'illegal votes' Trump was never very happy about losing the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by 2.8 million ballots. So, he and White House voter-fraud commissioner Kris Kobach have claimed that anywhere between three and five million people voted illegally during the 2016 election. Conveniently, he says that all of those illegal votes went to Clinton. (There is no evidence to support that level of widespread voter fraud.) Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Leaving Jews out of the Holocaust memorial statement Just days after taking office, Trumps White House issued a statement on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, but didnt mention jews or even the word jewish in the written statement Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Anger over Inauguration crowd size Trumps inauguration crowd was visibly, and noticeably, smaller than that of his predecessor, Barack Obama. But, he really wanted to have had the largest crowd on record. So, he praised it as the biggest crowd ever. Relatedly, Trump also claimed that it stopped raining in Washington at the moment he was inaugurated. It didnt, the day was very dreary Reuters

Never one to miss an opportunity for political revenge, Trump swiftly reminded us that Tester is up for re-election this year in a state where one in 10 voters are veterans. I wanna tell you that Jon Tester, I think this is going to cause him a lot of problems in his state, Trump railed in the midst of a wild, 30-minute phoned-in interview with Fox News. Hell have a big price to pay.

Nationally, the Republicans now think the plain-spoken Tester has a giant target on his back. (And he is a big guy.) They argue he went too far airing the assorted charges made against Jackson and besmirching his name before having evidence to support them. Rather startlingly, he even shared his alleged nickname, Candyman, for being so free and easy with those pills.

The Billings Gazette front page in Montana (David Usborne)

They also imagine that if Trump wants revenge, he will surely get it and the first thing he will do is travel to Montana to slap the senator around a bit on his own turf. Jon poked the bear. Did you see the bear today? The bear was mad, John Cornyn, Republican senator of Texas, said.

If there was any doubt he was coming to Montana, it was removed today. He overreached.

Tester barely made re-election six years ago. Moreover, Trump, as he also reminded us, won the state by 20 points in 2016. So you might wonder if indeed Tester committed a giant blunder here for himself and for the Democratic Party, which, if it has any chance at all of regaining the majority in the US Senate in Novembers midterms, cannot afford to lose Montana.

So there is a new nervousness in Big Sky country. On Thursday, a small gaggle of veterans staged an impromptu news conference to insist that they and everybody else who has served are certain Tester did the country and them a favour.

Were here because we want to make it clear that Montana veterans stand with Jon Tester, just like hes fought for us, declared Andrew Person, a former state representative who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Not everyone is convinced, including Aaron Flint, a conservative news talk host here in Billings. On his Friday morning show on KBUL radio, he called the press conference staged and meaningless.

Talk about fake news; it was press-release journalism at its absolute worst, he contended, accusing the Montana mainstream media of being in bed with Tester. We know veterans across the state are outraged about how Tester treated Ronnie Jackson.

By Saturday morning, Trump was back on the attack, unleashing a new stream of tweets asserting that further investigation was proving that the allegations against Jackson were coming up empty. The point was not to revive Jacksons chances of joining the cabinet. It was to further destabilise Tester.

We will see. Republicans are conveniently forgetting that many among them had concerns about Jackson even before Tester came forward with the allegations against him because, as the private doctor to Trump and to Obama before him, he had no experience of running something as mammoth as the Veterans Affairs department, second only in size among government agencies to the Pentagon.

Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Show all 29 1 /29 Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Inauguration - 20 January 2017 US President Donald Trump acknowledges the audience after taking the oath of office as his wife Melania (L) and daughter Tiffany watch during inauguration ceremonies swearing in Trump as the 45th president of the United States on the West Front of the US capital in Washington on 20 January, 2017. Photographer Jim Bourg: "This photo was shot with one of two remote cameras. The cameras were monitored and triggered remotely and the pictures were transmitted to clients worldwide within minutes of being taken." Reuters/Jim Bourg Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Obama farewell address - 10 January 2017 US President Barack Obama wipes away tears as he delivers his farewell address in Chicago on 10 January, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "In his final days in office, Obama made a visit home to Chicago. As he spoke from the stage to his wife and daughter in the audience, he became emotional when he talked about what they had sacrificed during his time in office. I turned from photographing the Obama women embracing to find him onstage wiping away tears." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Inauguration - 20 January 2017 A combination of photos shows the crowds attending the inauguration ceremonies to swear in U.S. President Donald Trump at 12:01pm (left) on January 20, 2017 and President Barack Obama sometime between 12:07pm and 12:26pm on January 20, 2009. Reuters/ Lucas Jackson/Stelios Varias Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Liberty Ball - 20 January 2017 US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump attend the Liberty Ball in honour of his inauguration in Washington on 20 January, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "What I see when I look at this picture is the end of a very long day, not to mention weeks and months of preparation by many photographers, editors and network experts and the beginning of everything since." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Inaugural Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders Reception - 22 January 2017 US President Donald Trump greets Director of the FBI James Comey as Director of the Secret Service Joseph Clancy (L), watches during the Inaugural Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders Reception in the Blue Room of the White House on 22 January, 2017. Photographer Joshua Roberts: "I have covered the White House for 16 years and normally either the President or the pool is in position when an event starts. In this case the President was not where anyone expected him to be. In fact, he was almost blocking the door when the pool came in. We had to scramble to find a position without bumping him or the furniture as he greeted and thanked members of law enforcement for their security efforts during the inauguration. Luckily, he greeted FBI Director James Comey a few seconds after the pool had made its way into the room." Reuters/Joshua Roberts Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Private phone calls to world leaders - 28 January 2017 US President Donald Trump, is joined by his staff, as he speaks by phone with Russia's President Vladimir Putin in the Oval Office on 28 January, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "Very early in the Trump administration, weekends were as busy as weekdays. On Trump's second Saturday the official schedule said he would be making private phone calls to a number of world leaders including Russia's Vladimir Putin. I arrived early and, before sitting down at my desk walked up to Press Secretary Sean Spicer's office. He, too, was just taking his coat off. I gingerly made the suggestion that previous administrations had sometimes allowed photos of such phone calls through the Oval Office windows on the colonnade. To my mild shock, he didn't even think about it twice. "We'll do it!" he said. In truth, I really only expected the Putin call, but we were outside the windows multiple times throughout the day as the calls went on." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Senior advisor Kellyanne Conway - 27 February 2017 Senior advisor Kellyanne Conway (L) attends as US President Donald Trump welcomes the leaders of dozens of historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) in the Oval Office on 27 February, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "We're often asked how much access we have to the Trump administration, and the answer is we have an awful lot. President Trump himself is very comfortable in the spotlight, and his aides are similarly unfazed by cameras. In this instance, senior advisor Kellyanne Conway was so comfortable in our presence she seemed not to consider the optics of kneeling on a Oval Office sofa to take pictures with her phone." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Angela Merkel heads to Washington - 17 March 2017 Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and US President Donald Trump hold a joint news conference in the East Room of the White House on 17 March, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "Chancellor Merkel made one of the earliest important visits of any US allies to meet Trump in his first months in office. When world leaders give joint news conferences they don't always tend to give each other their full attention - but Merkel watched Trump intently at several key moments, and here seemed particularly rapt." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Trump welcomes truckers to the White House - 23 March 2017 President Trump reacts as he sits on a truck while he welcomes truckers and CEOs to attend a meeting regarding healthcare at the White House on 23 March, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "The White House organised a listening session with truckers and CEO's of major American companies, regarding healthcare reform. An 18-wheeler tow truck was parked on the South Lawn of the White House and as Trump welcomed the truckers someone invited the him to come and sit in the driver's seat. Trump jumped into the cab and started yelling and pretending to drive - creating one of the most memorable pictures of the year. A lesson learned, always be prepared for the unexpected." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Air Force One - 6 April 2017 US President Donald Trump talks to journalists members of the travel pool on board the Air Force One during his trip to Palm Beach, Florida on 6 April, 2017. Carlos Barria: "During the many trips to President Trump's residence in Florida it is usual to see the president coming to the back of the plane to chat with journalists. During one of the trips to the so called 'Winter White House', Trump had a long talk with reporters while the Air Force One entertainment system was playing one of the latest Star Wars movies. As I was listening to Trump talk I was also looking at the movie waiting for a part of the movie to frame the mood of the day. Of the many scenes, I choose the one with Darth Vader." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures 100 Days - 27 April 2017 US President Donald Trump speaks during an interview with Reuters in the Oval Office of the White House on 27 April, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "A day before President Trump's hundred days in office I was part of the team that interviewed the commander-in-chief in the Oval Office. I was only allowed to photograph Trump during the last five minutes of the interview. The time was very tight so I had to move fast as I had pictures in mind that I wanted to shoot. I walked into the Oval Office and saw that the President had printed maps of the country showing areas in red where he won. I raised my hands holding my camera as high as possible to get the best view of the scene using a 16mm wide angle lens." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures 100 Days - 27 April 2017 US President Donald Trump reacts as he arrives at Harrisburg international airport, before attending a rally marking his first 100 days in office in Pennsylvania on 29 April, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "President Trump travelled to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to celebrate his hundred days in office with a victory rally. He was in friendly territory as he won with a big difference over his opponent Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania, during the November elections. As usual when the commander-in-chief arrives local residents gather to greet him. This time a small group of military personnel attended the arrival. Surrounded by secret service agents Trump walked from the Air Force One and raised his hand in a sign of victory as the crowd cheered him on." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures White House staffers - 2 May 2017 White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer (L) and White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus watch as US President Donald Trump presents the U.S. Air Force Academy football team with the Commander-in-Chief trophy in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on 2 May, 2017. Photographer Joshua Roberts: "Covering the White House does not just mean covering the President. White House staffers are an important part of the story and their relationship with the President and each other is an indicator of how things are going in the West Wing. The tendency is to focus exclusively on the President once an event starts but I always try to look around to see how people are reacting as things unfold." Reuters/Joshua Roberts Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Secret Service - 4 May 2017 Secret Service agents use a presidential limousine as cover from spraying water as US President Donald Trump lands via Marine One helicopter in New York on 4 May, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "The best part of any trip to New York City with the sitting US President is the helicopter ride into Manhattan. The ride out at night can be stunning. Here, Secret Service agents protect themselves from the spray from the East River as Trump lands on the helipad." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures NATO Summit - 25 May 2017 US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump wait the arrival of French President Emmanuel Macron (unseen) before a lunch ahead of a NATO Summit in Brussels on 25 May, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "One of the best parts of travelling overseas for White House coverage is the chance to see the U.S. president in different environments and (literally) a different light. Here, Trump and his wife came out of the shadows to greet France's President Macron." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Trump meets Putin at G20 summit - 7 July 2017 US President Donald Trump meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin during their bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany on 7 July, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "On July 7, I witnessed one of the most important meetings of President Trump's first year in office. Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin during a bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in Germany. The world's eyes were on these two leaders after speculation about Russian interference during the 2016 US elections. We entered the room for less than two minutes, where I took dozens of pictures. But there was this very interesting moment when Trump extended his hand to Putin for a handshake. Putin paused for a second and looked at Trump's hand. That was the picture that I was looking for, a little moment that seemed to say a lot." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures First lady - 8 July 2017 First lady Melania Trump chats with US President Donald Trump during their return from Germany at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland on 8 July, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "After President Trump's trip to Germany he arrived back at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. First Lady Melania Trump said goodbye to Trump as she was heading off in a different direction that day. While chatting a breeze blew Melania's hair up in the air." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Made in America product showcase - 17 July 2017 Vice President Mike Pence laughs as President Donald Trump holds a baseball bat as they attend a Made in America product showcase event at the White House on 17 July, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "This summer the White House organized an event to showcase 'Made in America' products. All kinds of exhibitors brought their products as the President and Vice President toured the event. One of the companies was Marucci Sport, a manufacturer of baseball bats based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. As Trump approached a table full of baseball bats, photographers at the event, including me, rushed to get a good angle hoping that he would pick up a bat. As we predicted, he did. He took one and joked around as though he was hitting something hard. The only thing closer to him right there, was the media." Reuters Donald Trump's first year: in pictures White House staffers - 25 July 2017 Former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski says hello to reporters as he and White House advisors including Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci accompany President Trump for an event celebrating veterans at AMVETS Post 44 in Ohio, July 25, 2017. Jonathan Ernst: "The most visible person in any White House is naturally the President, followed by the press secretary. But there are also the staff who support them. For those of us covering the Trump administration, there seem to be more compelling figures in the West Wing than ever before. It's crucial to know who's who and why they're important. When I raised my camera and back-pedalled ahead of the group to take this image Lewandowski gave me a hello. I liked the photo, but had no idea it would go a little bit viral, especially since Scaramucci, who was the biggest mover and shaker that week, was hidden back in the pack. But I guess the image catches a glimpse of what it's like to be a West Wing staffer on the road." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Campaign rally - 3 August 2017 US President Donald Trump arrives at a rally in West Virginia on 3 August, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "President Trump travelled to Huntington for one of his usual campaign rallies. While members of his family spoke to the crowd he was waiting under a black curtain to be introduced. Suddenly he walked onto the stage, one of the first frames that I took was of his hand. I set my exposure for the light on the stage hoping to create this dark background and it worked." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Staring into the solar eclipse - 21 August 2017 Without his protective glasses on, US President Donald Trump looks up towards the solar eclipse while viewing with his wife Melania and son Barron at the White House on 21 August, 2017. Photographer Kevin Lamarque: "On a day when everyone, and I mean everyone, was told not to look at the eclipse without protective glasses, Trump, President of the United States, couldn't help himself." Reuters/Kevin Lamarque Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Hurricane Harvey - 2 September 2017 US President Donald Trump poses for a photo as he and first lady Melania Trump help volunteers hand out meals during a visit with flood survivors of Hurricane Harvey at a relief centre in Houston, Texas on 2 September, 2017. Photohrapher Kevin Lamarque: "Trump, eager to deliver the image of a hands-on response to Hurricane Harvey, made this visit to a relief centre and obliged this woman with a selfie as Melania continued to work." Reuters/Kevin Lamarque Donald Trump's first year: in pictures White House - 15 September 2017 Donald Trump welcomes 11-year-old Frank Giaccio as he cuts the Rose Garden grass at the White House on 15 September. Frank, who wrote a letter to Trump offering to mow the lawn, was invited to work for a day at the White House along the National Park Service staff. Frank was so focused on his task that he did not notice the President arrive to surprise him. He took his father jumping in to grab his attention and point Trump out. Photographer Carlos Barria said: The image of Trump shouting at a kid who is mowing his lawn might have many interpretations in today's politically polarized United States. But for me it was just a kid who loved what he was doing, to the point he almost appeared to ignore the President." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Take a knee - 27 September 2017 A man kneels with a folded U.S. flag as the motorcade of U.S. President Donald Trump passes him after an event at the state fairgrounds in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S., September 27, 2017. In September, soon after Trump had made comments condemning NFL players who kneel during the national anthem, he made a day trip to a rally in Indianapolis. Jonathan Ernst managed to capture a man on one knee with a tri-folded flag and was able to use a portion of the sign on the building he was kneeling in front of to track the man down and tell his story in full. US Army veteran Marvin Boatright wanted to send a message against social injustice. Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Hurricane Maria - 3 October 2017 President Donald Trump throws rolls of paper towels into a crowd of local residents affected by Hurricane Maria as he visits Calgary Chapel in San Juan, Puerto Rico on 3 October, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "During an afternoon visit to Puerto Rico for President Trump to survey damage from Hurricane Maria and greet some of its victims, Trump made a stop at a church where food and supplies were being distributed. Among the items were paper towels and Trump, apparently caught up in the moment, decided to distribute some of the rolls." Reuters Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Jared Kushner - 1 November 2017 White House Senior adviser Jared Kushner sits behind President Trump during a cabinet meeting in Washington on 1 November, 2017. Photographer Kevin Lamarque: "The role of Jared Kushner has gone through a series of changes. He began front and centre as a high profile adviser, but as time has passed and issues surrounding him have surfaced, he has become more of a background figure." Reuters/Kevin Lamarque Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Trump in China - 9 November 2017 Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping shake hands after making joint statements at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on 9 November, 2017. Photographer Damir Sagolj: "It's one of those "how to make a better or at least different shot when two presidents shake hands several times a day, several days in row". If I'm not mistaken in calculation, presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump shook their hands at least six times in events I covered during Trump's recent visit to China. I would imagine there were some more handshakes I haven't seen but other photographers did. And they all look similar - two big men, smiling and heartily greeting each other until everyone gets their shot. But then there is always something that can make it special - in this case the background made of US and Chinese flags. The first time it didn't work for me. The second time I positioned myself lower and centrally, and used the longest lens I have to capture only hands reaching for a handshake." Reuters/Damir Sagolj Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Air Force One - 10 November 2017 US President Donald Trump boards Air Force One to depart for Vietnam from Beijing Airport in Beijing, China, November 10, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "There is a Reuters photographer in the tight pool covering the US president for every appearance he makes 365 days a year. This was just one of 32 images of mine that were transmitted on the Reuters wire of President Trump visiting China and Vietnam that day. You never know when a sudden interaction, a gust of wind or a unique facial expression will lead to a striking image that grabs peoples' attention." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures ASEAN handshake - 13 November 2017 Donald Trump registers his surprise as he realises other leaders, including Russia's Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte and Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, are crossing their arms for the traditional "ASEAN handshake" as he participates in the opening ceremony of the summit in Manila on 13 November, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "Having covered a few ASEAN summits, I knew to expect the ASEAN handshake. Not everyone in the room knew to expect the ASEAN handshake. A lot was written about this unscripted moment, and what deeper meaning it might have. The simple truth is that sometimes in life there are unscripted moments." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst

Plus, Tester did this for a reason. A fight with Trump over this will galvanise his base. It may also attract more independents to his side, which will be critical.

If anything, this could be very easily framed in the context of, I am looking out for veterans and this guy would have be really awful as head of Veterans Affairs, notes David Parker, an associate professor of politics at Montana State University and author of Battle for the Big Sky: Representation and the Politics of Place in the Race for the US Senate. I think this helps Tester because it illuminates what he has been doing for veterans. I dont think its a negative.

So yes, Tester poked the bear and the bear is making scary. But Montanans know a real bear when they see one and, as Professor Parker noted, this bear looks more like a Chihuahua.Amber Rudd, the home secretary, has not handled the Windrush scandal well. When the select committee that monitors her department asked if pressure to meet targets for the removal of illegal immigrants might have exacerbated the problems of people trying to prove their right to be here, she said: We do not have targets for removals.

As this was patently untrue, she was forced to come to the House of Commons the next day and said: I have never agreed that there should be specific removal targets. She sought to minimise the importance of the targets that did exist, and said: The immigration arm of the Home Office has been using local targets for internal performance management. These were not published targets against which performance was assessed.

It would seem that this offended someone who knew that she had received a memo last June, telling her the Home Office had set a target of achieving 12,800 enforced returns in 2017-18. That memo was leaked yesterday, and there was a delay before Ms Rudd issued her response: she had not seen the memo; she should have been aware of the targets; she was sorry; and she would be making a further statement in the Commons on Monday.

This amounts to a defence of not having a basic grasp of what was going on in her dysfunctional department. This is not exactly reassuring, although it is politically more survivable than admitting to wilfully misleading parliament.

The prime minister was obviously persuaded that Ms Rudds resignation would be damaging to the previous home secretary  one Theresa May, originator of the policy of creating a hostile environment for illegal immigrants, which caused such heartbreaking problems for undocumented but legal immigrants.

Ms May would no doubt claim that her policy reflected public opinion, which wants to restrict immigration as much as possible and expects heavy-handed action against illegal immigration in particular.

Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Show all 15 1 /15 Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK The ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush' arriving at Tilbury Docks from Jamaica, with 482 Jamaicans on board, emigrating to Britain. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Jamaican immigrants being welcomed by RAF officials from the Colonial Office after the ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush' landed them at Tilbury. PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Alford Gardner who arrived in Britain in 1948 on the first Windrush ship to dock in Tilbury, Essex, speaking at his home in Leeds PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Alford Gardner in Leeds shortly after he arrived in Britain in 1948 on the first Windrush ship to dock in Tilbury, Essex PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Gardner was 22 years old when he boarded the ship in Kingston, Jamaica, with his brother Gladstone before they and hundreds of Caribbean migrants called on to rebuild post-war Britain disembarked the ship in Tilbury Docks PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Alford Gardner (right), during his RAF service in 1947 PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK The son of Ruth Williams, a Windrush-generation immigrant, wants to the leave the country after threats of deportation. According to his mother, Mr Haynes applied for British citizenship in 2016 but was rejected, despite Ms Williams having lived in the UK almost permanently since arriving from St Vincent and the Grenadines in 1959. Ruth Williams, 75, said she felt "betrayed" by Britain after the Home Office twice turned down applications for her 35-year-old son, Mozi Haynes, to remain in the country. Ms Williams is understood to have cancer and said she relies heavily on her son for support. PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK The British liner 'Empire Windrush' at port in 1954. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Ruth Williams, 75, with her British passport. "I feel betrayed and a second class citizen in my own country," she said. "This makes me so sad and the Home Office must show some compassion. "I am unwell and almost 75, I live on my own and I need my son to stay here. I need my family around me and I cant face being alone. He has applied to the Home Office and been refused twice." PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK From the top, hopeful Jamaican boxers Charles Smith, Ten Ansel, Essi Reid, John Hazel, Boy Solas and manager Mortimer Martin arrive at Tilbury on the Empire Windrush in the hope of finding work in Britain. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Jamaicans reading a newspaper whilst on board the ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush' bound for Tilbury docks in Essex. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK After half a century in Britain, Anthony Bryan decided it was time to go abroad. But the decision set off a nightmare that saw him lose his job, detained twice and almost deported to Jamaica. AFP/Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Jamaica-born Anthony Bryan poses outside his home in Edmonton, north London. Now 60 and a grandfather, Bryan thought the issue could be resolved swiftly, as he legally moved to Britain with his family as part of the Windrush generation of Caribbean migrants after World War II. In 1948, the ship Windrush brought the first group of migrants from the West Indies to help rebuild post-war Britain, and many others followed from around the Commonwealth. A 1971 law gave them indefinite leave to remain, but many never formalised their status, often because they were children who came over on their parents' passports and then never applied for their own. AFP/Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Three Jamaican immigrants (left to right) John Hazel, a 21-year-old boxer, Harold Wilmot, 32, and John Richards, a 22-year-old carpenter, arriving at Tilbury on board the ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush', smartly dressed in zoot suits and trilby hats. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Newly arrived Jamaican immigrants on board the 'Empire Windrush' at Tilbury in 1948. Getty

Not only that, but the prime minister has to bear in mind the balance in her cabinet on the European question, and she knows that Ms Rudd is one of the big guns on the side of those arguing for a softer Brexit.

Ms Rudd has also received some support from the opposition. John Woodcock, Labour MP for Barrow and Furness, said there was no question she had made a serious mistake, and there is now clearly a significant question mark over her competence. But, he went on, Labour has more common ground with her than so many of her potential successors  we should be careful what we wish for.

The Independent is sympathetic to this argument. Two days ago, we argued that Ms Rudd had shown some genuine intent to fix the mess, and that it would be unjust that she should have to carry the can for a policy that was overwhelmingly devised by Ms May.

Now that the evasions and omissions of her statement to the Commons on Thursday have become clearer, the question is whether the balance has been tipped in favour of resignation. Is it more important to punish her attempt to cover up and minimise her apparent ignorance, or to keep her on the pragmatic grounds that she would probably be a better home secretary than any of the likely alternatives?

In our view, the scales have not yet been tipped. Ms Rudd has not been entirely straight with parliament about her departments failings, but she is not guilty, as far as we know, of a flagrant breach of the Ministerial Code. She has decided  presumably having checked the paperwork to make sure her initials are not on incriminating documents  to tough it out, with the prime ministers support.

But there is a price to be paid, and both Ms May and Ms Rudd will find they have less capital in the bank of political credit next time.A bit like the buses, you wait ages for one - then suddenly two arrive almost at once.

On Monday the UK's Brexit Minister David Davis showed up on the Border, and then yesterday it was the turn of another minister from London, David Lidington, who spent a chunk of the day meeting people in Dundalk and Newry, hearing in some detail about how a return of the Border could smash business.

The affable Mr Lidington has a long job title, Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. He was good enough to say he is "Simon Coveney's opposite number", so just think deputy prime minister to the embattled Theresa May.

The presence of the pair suggests that London has suddenly but belatedly woken up to the realities of what will become the only land border between de facto UK jurisdiction and the European Union once Brexit happens in March of next year.

There is a definite change of tone from London - but the terms used by its politicians are not much altered.

Mr Lidington politely sketched things out yet again: the UK's departure from the EU includes leaving the customs union and single market. From the Brussels viewpoint, that means a "hard Border" and big changes to the terms of trade with a post-Brexit UK.

"We are working very energetically, with great determination, on making sure business does not face a hard Border," Mr Lidington told reporters in Newry.

So, London wants an EU-UK "customs agreement" after Brexit to avoid this hard Border. It would also avoid the loss of lucrative Irish-EU trade and commerce with the other member states.

So far, Brussels is not impressed by what London has to offer - and it is even less impressed with Theresa May's so-called "red lines". Mr Lidington tried to brush these aside, talking up how committed everyone was to negotiating.

And he was also sticking to the line from London that it may well take until October for the Irish Border issue to be resolved.

"I think we should aim to make specific progress by June," Mr Lidington said, indicating it will a job for October.

Countless observers, including the wily Bertie Ahern, a veteran of up 40 EU summits, some of which he chaired, has warned of the perils here.

Last Monday, while the UK Brexit minister was on his snap Border tour, Mr Ahern warned that a five-to-midnight October summit flurry could see Ireland pressured into caving in on the Border issue for the greater EU good. Better to have it sorted by the summit fixed for June 28 and 29 next.

Foreign Affairs Minister Mr Coveney has been putting about the June Border deal strongly again, after a slip by the Taoiseach last month when he suggested an October Border deal might do.

On Thursday last, Irish EU Commissioner Phil Hogan was on message with Dublin on the need for a Border deal in June and he laid it on the line for Mrs May.

"The deadline is set for June. No decision, no withdrawal treaty. No withdrawal treaty, no transition," the commissioner told Seanad Eireann.

Mr Hogan also took up the issue of UK red lines in the ongoing Brexit talks.

"There are so many red lines from the United Kingdom side. It narrows the scope considerably into a free trade agreement. That is not what the objective of the European Union is, but it seems to be the objective of the United Kingdom," he said.

That same theme was taken up by the Taoiseach in an address at the University of Leuven in Belgium on Thursday. London must lose at least some of those "red lines" and deal.

On Monday next, the EU's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, is due in Dundalk to renew his acquaintance with the area and the Border issues associated with Brexit.

From France's alpine region, he has a knowledge of Ireland gleaned as France's agriculture minister and as EU commissioner in charge of regional funds.

Despite Mr Barnier's hard-ball approach in public, and the UK side's apparent immovability, there are suggestions of change in the air. But it will take time.In the senior category the winners were Colm Dunne and Conor McCarthy, students from CBS Kilkenny with their project KAT Food; a compilation of healthy, easy recipes from our favourite hurling and camogie stars. Edward Daly, John O'Brien, Matthew O'Sullivan also from the CBS Kilkenny will represent Kilkenny in the Intermediate category with their innovative business Lift Arm Assist which makes the lives of farmers easier and safer. Image: Kilkenny Local Enterprise Office

A recent meeting with three young lads has bolstered my hope for their generation's ability to prosper in the Ireland they will inherit.

The boys are Edward Daly, John O'Brien and Matthew O'Sullivan, all aged 14 and second year pupils at CBS, Kilkenny. They have developed a device called Lift Arm Assist.

It is a hydraulic ram that replaces the lift arm stabiliser on the back of the tractor. The ram is controlled by a spool level in the cab so it makes attaching implements like a mower easier and safer.

Its invention came about as a Classroom Based Assessment (CBA) requirement of the revamped Junior Cert Business curriculum. It has won for them the local round of the Student Enterprise Awards, in the intermediate category.

Edward is from a mixed tillage, dairy and beef farm and he was the one who came up with the idea, there having been a serious farm accident in his own family.

Since Edward's friends would hardly know a tractor from a trough, he was teamed up with Matthew, who is always making things with his hands, and John, who is from a dairy farm.

Expand Close Lift Arm Assist / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Lift Arm Assist

In getting the enterprise off the ground since last October, they have been guided by their teacher, Pat Downey.

But they had to do all the footwork themselves, making phone calls, sourcing a ram and adapting it to fit their purpose, talking to the patent office, market research at Kilkenny mart, advertising, setting up a website, hands-on sales, etc.

The boys are on target to reach their projected sales of 22 units by the end of this month. Lift Arm Assist retails at 210 and can easily be found online.

In their report of the project, the boys quote a famous line attributed to car inventor Henry Ford, "If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses."

Pat Downey, who commutes from his home in Cashel, where he also farms part-time, believes this new element of the Business curriculum, if done well, will have, "a hell of a practical educational value, that ties in really well with the concept of promoting indigenous enterprise."

The school has a strong business department and Pat said that any of the other nine projects undertaken in the class could have reasonably been put forward for the competition.

Our education system and teachers cop a lot of flak but this is an example of what can be achieved with the proper conditions and attitude.

I have often wondered why we Irish seem to have less of the entrepreneurial spirit seen elsewhere. Wherever we go in the world, we are valued as excellent employees. Is it too simple to suggest that it is a legacy of our long history of oppression, that we are still lacking in confidence and courage?

On foot of their win, the boys have done a number of radio interviews and, though they initially dreaded them, found that their confidence has improved.

It is fantastic exposure to real life and, of course, a taste of success whets the appetite for more.

Indeed, everyone who participates in such events is a winner, because of what they will have got from the experience.

Edward says he has learned to listen and put across his point in a measured way while it has made Matthew even surer of pursuing his dream career of engineering.

John says that if he is lucky enough to inherit the family farm, he will be looking at finding ways of adding value to the enterprise rather than relying on world milk prices.

Run by the country's 31 Local Enterprise Offices and funded through Enterprise Ireland, the Student Enterprise Programme is the biggest education initiative of its kind, with 23,600 students from 480 second-level schools taking part every year.

So roll on the All-Irelands in Croke Park on May 2, which, as Pat says, will witness the rare event of a Tipperaryman shouting for Kilkenny at GAA headquarters.Aughinish Alumina owner Rusal will overhaul its board and management in a bid to get the US to take it off a sanctions list so it can restart shipments to its customers around the world, according to two sources.

Russian-based Rusal will be forced to quit the global aluminium market and focus on domestic consumers if the US does not lift sanctions once an independent board is in place, a source familiar with the matter said. That will have huge implications for the 450 employees at its huge Aughinish Alumina bauxite refinery in Co Limerick.

The US government this month imposed sanctions on Rusal's billionaire owner Oleg Deripaska and several companies in which he is a large shareholder, including Rusal, in response to what the United States called Russia's "malign activities".

The latest sanctions were triggered by the nerve gas poisoning in Britain of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal, along with his daughter and a British policeman which has been blamed on Russia.

Two sources told Reuters yesterday that Rusal planned sweeping board and management changes in a bid to escape sanctions.

The source familiar with the matter said Rusal was in close contact with US authorities.

"Rusal is now in a very close dialogue with OFAC (the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US Department of the Treasury).

It is very important for the company to comply with all their instructions to get out of the sanctions," the source said.

The steps were being discussed with other shareholders, the source added. Rusal's other shareholder, Viktor Vekselberg, was also put on the sanctions list. "If this (option) does not work out, then there will be the second option, which (Russian industry and trade minister Denis) Manturov talked about," the source said.

Manturov has previously said that Russia needs to develop deep processing of aluminium.

"It means that Rusal will turn into... a company, which will only look after the domestic market's ambitions. In other words, part of the aluminium will go to (the state repository) Gokhran and up to two million tonnes will be processed internally and meet the needs of the military-industrial complex," the source said.

"In this case, Rusal would leave the global market, and of course no one wants this to happen," the source added. (Reuters)Goodbody is currently owned by a combination of management and financial services group Fexco. Stock image

A takeover of Dublin-based stockbroker Merrion Capital by the Irish arm of US brokerage Cantor Fitzgerald is imminent, the Irish Independent has learned.

A deal will end years of will-they-won't-they speculation about the two firms. Terms of a deal are understood to have been circulated in recent days to Merrion shareholders and to value the business north of 13m. Neither Merrion nor Cantor Fitzgerald could be reached for comment.

US-owned Cantor Fitzgerald lost out four years ago in a takeover battle for Merrion.

Instead the stand-alone business was bought by a group of the firm's own management, led by Patrick O'Neill, with backing from Dublin-based private equity firm Tetrarch Capital - best known for its hotels and property investments.

Merrion has since rebranded its main customer arm as Merrion Private in a shift from pure stockbroking to wealth management, where it has around 2bn in assets under management.

In August last year, the Irish Independent reported that senior managers at Cantor Fitzgerald and Merrion had again discussed the potential for consolidation as a response to rising regulatory costs, but did not advance to detailed merger talks. The situation is understand to have moved on significantly this time around with an announcement now imminent, according to a source with inside knowledge of the situation.

A deal will require approval from the Central Bank, as regulator.

Cantor Fitzgerald is known to be targeting growth in Ireland, after the US brokerage acquired the former Dolmen Securities in 2012.

The chief executive of Cantor Fitzgerald Ireland, Ronan Reid, has previously warned that the increasingly tough regulatory environment would force firms, including his own, to scale up to carry the rising costs.

The Dublin-based business has completed a series of bolt-on deals, including of L&P Group, an advisory service for charities, trusts, not-for-profit organisations and religious orders.

It also took over administration of Rabo Direct's Irish managed funds last year after the Dutch bank exited the market.

The acquisition of Merrion is on a larger scale, however. That will create synergies but it's understood it will also likely see some senior exits from Merrion.

The tie-up comes amid a flurry of activity in Ireland's relatively small broker sector. Cantor Fitzgerald might have expected competition from Investec and Goodbody Stockbrokers in bidding for Merrion.

However, both larger firms are themselves the focus of takeover actions. Goodbody Stockbrokers is locked in negotiations to thrash out a sale to Chinese state-owned suitors, Zhong Ze Culture Investment Holdings, a subsidiary of the Aviation Industry Corporation of China.

Goodbody is currently owned by a combination of management and financial services group Fexco.

The proposed deal values Goodbody at 150m, but has so far failed to proceed as far as the contracts stage.

South Africa-headquartered Investec's Irish arm is also on the block. AIB was in the hunt for the business, with interest also from overseas financial institutions and private equity firms.

The wave of deals has followed last year's 137m sale of the Irish Stock Exchange, which delivered a windfall for the five stockbroking firms that owned the bourse.Jane Howard, a senior executive at parent RBS, will be installed as Ulster Banks new CEO

Ulster Bank says operating costs reduced sharply in the first three months of the year, but profits slumped by around two-thirds to 11m.

The bank said it set aside an additional 11m provision in relation to so-called "legacy issues" understood to be mainly costs linked to the tracker mortgage scandal.

The figures are included in results published by its UK parent, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).

A 192m tracker scandal provision in 2017 tipped the Irish bank to a loss.

Yesterday, the bank reported interest income of 120m for the first three months of the year.

Its net interest margin - the difference between the interest on lending and deposits - was 1.80pc, up from 1.76pc in the previous period, but that reflected a shrinking loan book. Total deposits also fell.

The results come at the end of a difficult week for Ulster Bank customers, some of whom suffered in a high profile outage when some current accounts failed to update with transactions.

The bank also admitted the number of its tracker mortgage accounts overcharged or put on incorrect rates could increase by 1,500 to 2,000 for a potential total of 5,500.

Last week the Irish Independent revealed that Jane Howard, a senior executive at RBS, will be installed as Ulster Bank's new chief executive.

She'll replace outgoing Ulster Bank CEO Gerry Mallon, who is due to take over as CEO of Tesco Bank in the UK in July. RBS reported an operating profit before tax of 1.2bn (1.4bn) for the three months to March 31.Communications Minister Denis Naughten sees no reason why he should step back from dealing with media mergers following the controversy over the proposed takeover of Celtic Media by Independent News & Media (INM).

The minister has batted away calls for him to be rescued from future decision-making in the area after he became embroiled in a political row over his contacts with a lobbyist for INM.

Speaking on Independent.ie's 'The Big Tech Show', Mr Naughten said: "I have dealt with 11 media mergers since I became minister. Not one of those has been appealed.

"In each one of those I took the advice of my officials in relation to it.

"This is something that will be ongoing into the future."

Asked whether he has concerns that his involvement in future mergers, including the proposed takeover of the 'Irish Examiner' by 'The Irish Times', could become a distraction, Mr Naughten said he didn't believe so.

He said the INM deal was dealt with appropriately and that his decision to have it reviewed by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) was the correct one.

"The reality is that the decision I made last January in terms of moving to Phase II was not beneficial in any way to Independent News & Media whatsoever," Mr Naughten said. "So I don't see why I should have to consider any sort of approach like that."

The minister spent much of the past fortnight dealing with the fallout of his name being mentioned in court papers filed by the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE) as part of a bid to have High Court inspectors appointed to investigate alleged corporate governance issues at INM.

It emerged that Eoghan O Neachtain, a lobbyist working for INM, in November 2016 contacted the minister to discuss the proposed merger.

During the short phone call, Mr Naughten confirmed he was likely to refer the deal to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) for review.

The ODCE has alleged that details of the conversation were passed on by Heneghan PR to then-INM chairman Leslie Buckley.

In turn, Mr Buckley is alleged to have emailed INM's largest shareholder Denis O'Brien, in a move the ODCE says may amount to "inside information" and potentially a breach of stock market rules.Prime Minister Narendra Modi today concluded his first ever two-day 'informal summit' at Wuhan in China. During the visit, PM Modi held multiple one-on-one meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping to strengthen the bilateral relationship. Here are the key issues that India-China discussed:



India-China economic project in Afghanistan

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping have agreed to undertake a joint India-China economic project in Afghanistan at their first informal summit at Wuhan, PTI reported citing a source. The understanding was reached between the two leaders during the two-day informal summit which concluded today. As per the understanding, officials of both sides will identify the project in following up discussions and work out modalities, the report said.



The talks with President Xi Jinping focussed on diverse areas of India-China cooperation. We discussed ways to give impetus to our economic ties as well as people-to-people relations. Other areas we spoke about include agriculture, technology, energy and tourism. pic.twitter.com/vgvUSjT1XX - Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 28, 2018

PM Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to push forward bilateral trade and investment in a balanced and sustainable manner by taking advantage of complementarities between the two Asian economies. Last year, India's bilateral trade with China reached a historic high of USD 84.44 billion. But, India's concern with China is its rising trade deficit. As per the latest data, India's trade deficit with China is close to USD 52 billion.PM Modi and Chinese President Xi expressed their support for the work of the Special Representatives on the India-China boundary question and urged them to intensify their efforts to seek a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable settlement. Both the leaders underscored the importance of maintaining peace and tranquility in all areas of the India-China border region in the larger interest of the overall development of bilateral relations. They also directed their militaries to implement various confidence building measures to prevent incidents in border regions.Prime Minister Modi and President Xi in their informal meet committed themselves to cooperate on counter-terrorism. In a statement issued today, the PMO said that both the leaders... 'recognized the common threat posed by terrorism, and reiterated their strong condemnation of and resolute opposition to terrorism in all its forms and manifestations'. India has been facing cross-border terrorism and wanted to designate Masood Azhar as a global terrorist in the United Nations. However, China has repeatedly blocked India's move, citing a lack of consensus among the members of the UN Security Council.Apart from these key issues, there were some other important things discussed during the visit. Those issues were: global economic order, poverty, inequality and climate change. The PMO in its statement said that both the leaders reiterated the importance of building an open, multipolar, pluralist and participatory global economic order which will enable all countries to pursue their development and contribute to the elimination of poverty and inequality in all regions of the world.Prime Minister Modi and President Xi agreed to jointly contribute in a positive and constructive way in facilitating sustainable solutions for global challenges including climate change, sustainable development, food security, the statement said.The Irish company behind the universal app that "talks" to all appliances in the kitchen believes it is on track for billion-dollar success.

Drop's smart kitchen ambition involves new partnerships with big brand manufacturers such as Bosch, GE Appliances and Kenwood in the area of connected kitchen appliances.

And after securing $8m (6.6m) in Series A funding last January, investors are recognising that the Dublin-based company is on the right trajectory.

"There's a vacuum right now when it comes to delivering the 'Kitchen OS' [kitchen operating system] ... because the large appliance manufacturers can't deliver the Kitchen OS as it can't be delivered by one single brand," Drop CEO Ben Harris told the Irish Independent.

"There is a market pull, a need from end consumers, and a technology push for this integrated smart kitchen to be delivered.

"Whoever delivers on being that Kitchen OS is a multi-billion dollar company. And we are better placed than anyone in the world to deliver on that."

Created by four like-minded techies with a passion for food in 2012, Drop's first foray into the market was with an interactive recipe app and measuring scales.

Still sticking with its ethos of empowering even the worst of cooks to create meals of restaurant standard at home, Drop had to pivot its output to meet the needs of the market.

Its smart solution now centres around its virtual recipe platform, which rewrites traditional recipes into a machine-readable format that can relay settings to appliances across the kitchen for an intuitive, interactive, step-by-step cooking experience.

"The scale is still out in the market but it's not a priority for us at all any more. It's really now a reference design for how well hardware and software can work together in a kitchen; it becomes not a scale or a recipe but an interactive cook book," said Ben. "But we're delivering that experience across the full kitchen and the Drop scale is now just one of the appliances that we support in the ecosystem."

Expand Close Drop started out with an interactive recipe app and synced measuring scales / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Drop started out with an interactive recipe app and synced measuring scales

Despite seeing that gap in the market and realising what direction to take the company in, Ben said it was an "incredibly hard decision" to make when a meaningful business and team is built around that hardware.

"To have to change and adapt that team to be a software platform and then get the validation from the market that large kitchen appliance manufacturers were wiling to work with us as well was tough," he said.

Drop's technology connects with the Bosch Series 8 oven, three GE ovens, and just this month, with Kenwood's kCook Multi cooking food processor. Its aim is to move beyond the large kitchen appliance manufacturers building siloed apps that 'talk' just to their own brands.

"What we are building is the one universal app that talks to all appliances in the kitchen.

"Whether you're making your Christmas dinner or even on an ordinary Tuesday night, you have multiple connected appliances that can be part of the experience," said Ben.

"You don't have to open up one Bosch app for your oven and one Kenwood app for your countertop appliance, it's a one-for-all. You can do all of your meal plans, ingredient delivery, nutritional information, control of appliances, storing of recipes all in the one place."

VC firm Alsop Louie Partners led the Series A investment, alongside Irish firm Frontline; the owner of Michelin-starred restaurant Chapter One, Ross Lewis; and Domini Kemp of Itsa, earlier this year.

The capital enables Drop to grow its 26-strong team and to introduce a new level of scalability to the platform infrastructure. In the future, users will also be able to buy the ingredients they need on a meal-by-meal (recipe-by-recipe) bases directly through the Drop platform.

"What's coming down the line is an integration into multiple brand, multiple categories. We (and our investors) understand that there's a cycle time for these products to get to market and then to be replaced in the home," said Ben.

"That's why we're adding support for non-connected appliances within the app also. That's really important so we can really cultivate a community. This all-singing, all-dancing kitchen is about five years away."

Drop has offices in three locations: San Francisco, for access to the market and where its sales & marketing, and leadership, teams are based; a small team in Zaragoza, Spain; and then a team of mainly product developers in Dublin.

Ben revealed plans for sustained growth (to over 40 employees) in the next 12 months, "not growing too quickly but not giving up any opportunity cost, that's a hard balance to strike".

"One of the things that I'm most proud of is the collection of employees that we've pulled together. We need to continue to ensure that we work hard but as smart as possible.

"There are a few companies globally that are focussing on the Kitchen OS platform so we've got to keep working to remain in such a good position."A union for gig economy workers has saved the jobs of cleaners at the London offices of accountancy giant EY.

A group of 65 workers contracted through outsourcing company ISS, were told last month that some would lose their jobs and others may be given reduced hours in reforms aimed at achieving operational effectiveness and financial efficiency.

ISS, which posted revenues of 9.4bn last year, said it had agreed these changes with EY.

Following action by the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB), ISS wrote to the workers last Monday telling them that it had cancelled the planned redundancies and reduction in hours.

The company also thanked the staff and their appointed representatives for their professionalism.

The u-turn came after IWGB staged two protests, the first of which took place inside the accountancy giants offices at More London Place near London Bridge. Protesters entered the building and distributed leaflets informing other employees at EY about the redundancies.

The second protest was at the Tate Modern where EY is sponsoring the Picasso exhibition.

If the workers werent unionised ISS could have just done this quietly and nobody would have known about it," said IWGB president Henry Chango Lopez. "This is the normal thing that companies do when workers are outsourced.

What was going to happen was that the workers that were left after the redundancies would have had to do the jobs that their colleagues were doing.

This victory shows that when workers get organised they can put pressure on employers to stop exploiting them and also send a clear message to other workers to join a union.

A spokesperson for ISS said: "Following a meaningful consultation process with our cleaning team, we are pleased to confirm that there is no longer a need for compulsory redundancies or a reduction in contracted hours. This was achieved in consultation with elected employee representatives."

It is the latest in a string of victories for IWGB. In February it became the first union in the UK to be recognised for the purposes of collective bargaining with a gig economy company.

The Central Arbitration Committee ruled that The Doctors Laboratory, which delivers blood supplies for the NHS should recognise the IWGB, meaning that it can bargain on behalf of couriers for the company.TANAISTE Simon Coveney admitted he was concerned that attempts would now be made to "frighten" undecided voters in the Eighth Referendum debate before the May 25 poll.

Mr Coveney acknowledged that undecided voters now hold the key to whether the controversial 1983 amendment to the Constitution is successfully repealed as sought by the Government and major political parties.

His warning came as it emerged undecided voters remain at stubbornly high levels of as much as 30pc in some opinion polls.

With a slippage in support for a 'Yes' vote and slight increases in 'No' support, Mr Coveney admitted that undecided voters clearly hold the key over the next 28 days.

His warning came as Fine Gael launched a major 'Yes' campaign in Cork attended by Mr Coveney, Minister Jim Daly, Ireland South MEP Deirdre Clune and Sen Jerry Buttimer.

Mr Daly said be believed it was only a matter of time before Ireland faced a tragedy involving someone using abortion pills purchased secretly over the internet.

He said Ireland had once been shocked by the death of 15 year old Ann Lovett, who died after giving birth alone in a Longford grotto.

"It is very likely that another girl called Ann will die alone - this time alone in her bed having taken an abortion pill (bought unsupervised over the Internet)," the west Cork TD said.

Read More

Leading medical experts also attended the launch.

Mr Coveney urged 'Yes' campaigners to use information, facts and the stories of the women and families who have fallen victim to the cruelty of the Eighth Referendum to win over doubters.

"I think there will be attempts to frighten people in this campaign," the Tanaiste said.

"(People will be told) If you don't know, vote 'No'. We need to counter that. Is the status quo OK? Of course it is not."

Mr Coveney said that the Eighth Amendment voted through by Ireland in 1983 is now acting as "a strait-jacket" on attempts by various Governments to compassionately and sensitively deal with "the biggest social issue of our generation."

"Are we simply pretending that abortion doesn't take place in Ireland. Because of the Constitution? Or are we willing to recognise that yes, it is happening."

"Whether we agree or disagree with the decisions that people make, are we seriously suggesting that we should send people abroad or allow them, in the privacy of their own homes, on advice that they get online, to end a pregnancy?"

Mr Coveney said it was unacceptable for a State to effectively export its problems to other counties.

It is believed 3,265 Irish women travel overseas each year for abortions.

Many involve fatal foetal abnormalities.

"This proposal, in my view, if we can legislate, and if people vote 'Yes', this proposed law will offer women a lot more support and care at home," Mr Coveney said.

"I strongly believe that the status quo was letting women down to a point where it was endangering them.

"I also knew that thousands of women were having abortions in secret and abroad, often on their own, away from home.

"Or, hidden in their own homes - purchasing drugs online and with no medical support or advice except from a Google search.

"As Tanaiste, I know I have a responsibility to change this ugly reality.

"Also to face up to some truths - that, as a country, we haven't been able to face up to for whatever reason.

"This Government had committed to a comprehensive process of consideration as to how best to do that, there have been no quick decisions here.

"This is about trying to bring about, over time, a national discussion that can lead people to more informed choices.

Read More

"A Citizens Assembly reported and they did a good job.

"But they pushed the boundaries. Not everything they said I was comfortable with - and others weren't either.

"But they successfully got a national conversation going.

"An Oireachtas committee examined the recommendations and produced their own report and they did a very fine job on a very divisive and difficult issue."

Ms Coveney continued to call for "respectful" debate from campaigners on both sides of the bate.

He said: "Now, we have a basis for an informed choice in a referendum. By and large, we are having respectful conversations."

"Of course there will be exceptions on the edges."

"We cannot get away from that on an issue like this."

The Tanaiste said he believed a 'Yes' vote would have to go hand-in-hand with increased efforts to help reduce unwanted pregnancies.

"We also have a responsibility - to make sure that we do everything possible to reduce the demand for abortion and termination of pregnanc."

"We are proposing free contraception, better sex education and more supports to prevent crisis pregnancies in the first place."A gay rights group that allowed charitable funds to be used to support its founder's political campaign also spent another 51,174 with credits cards "which was not adequately supported with itemised receipts or invoices", the charity watchdog has revealed.

An investigation by the Charities Regulator found funds were used to support an unsuccessful Seanad campaign by co-founder Kieran Rose that he ran from the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network's (Glen) office.

It emerged last year he used Glen's office space, printing and photocopying and has since repaid the cost.

The regulator, John Farrelly, also found inadequate and inappropriate controls were applied to the use of charity credit cards, including personal expenditure and cash withdrawals.

While personal expenditure on credit cards was repaid to Glen between January 2014 and May 2017, there was a further 51,174 which was spent using company credit cards that was not adequately supported by itemised receipts or invoices.

The regulator said visa receipts are not adequate for credit card expenses as it only proves payment and does not provide detail of what was paid for.

"This limited the ability to fully assess the underlying purpose of the expenditure incurred. For example, where expenditure was incurred via hotel stay, dinner, lunch, restaurant or bar an itemised receipt was not provided," he said.

"It was not possible to readily determine the purpose of the expenditure, the number of people in attendance, actual items purchased etc."

The inspectors found an organisational culture within Glen where charity trustees appeared to place relatively high levels of trust in staff members without adequate checks and balances being in place to provide necessary oversight of all financial transactions and financial reporting.

The trustees included Simon Nugent, the former chief executive of the Private Hospitals Association and Seamus Dooley, the current general secretary of the National Union of Journalists.

Brian Sheehan, the general secretary of the Social Democrats, was a former executive director of Glen.

The regulator said the weaknesses in the charity's financial reporting processes meant the board was unable to detect and mitigate the significant risks identified in this report in order to consistently safeguard the charity's assets and funds and ensure they were used to further the charitable purpose of the charity.

"There are key lessons for all Irish registered charities in ensuring there are financial controls in place and full disclosure by management to charity trustees so they can manage their organisation," Mr Farrelly said.

The inspectors also highlighted the need for continuous communication by the external auditor with the charity trustees where significant internal control issues were identified.

"Glen is currently in the process of being wound down," Mr Farrelly said.The family of tragic bachelor John O'Donoghue - who collapsed and died after disturbing two intruders at his home - are "pleased" the men's sentences have been almost doubled to six-and-a-half years.

Michael Casey (34), of Clonlong Halting Site, Co Limerick, and his cousin David Casey (23), of Carragh Park, Belcamp, Dublin 17, were given the increased jail terms by the Court of Appeal.

Expand Close Gardai search for evidence near the property. Photo: Press 22 / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Gardai search for evidence near the property. Photo: Press 22

They had previously been sentenced to four-and-a-half years' imprisonment with the final year suspended.

Speaking to the Irish Independent, a member of Mr O'Donoghue's heartbroken family said: "We are pleased the men's sentences have been increased.

"We'd also like to say that the Garda did fantastic work in relation to the case."

The Irish Independent has also learned that members of the community in Doon played a vital role in catching the criminals shortly after the fatal burglary on August 27, 2015.

Expand Close Michael Casey (pictured) and David Casey had their sentences increased / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Michael Casey (pictured) and David Casey had their sentences increased

Mr O'Donoghue (62) lay dying in his front yard as David and Michael Casey bolted past him, ignoring desperate pleas for help from his sister Christine.

Garda Bill Collins and Elaine O'Donovan arrested the cousins after they were "flushed out" by a group of local men.

Locals expressed satisfaction with the court's decision to increase David and Michael Casey's sentences.

Alerts

Expand Close David Casey / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp David Casey

State Solicitor for Co Limerick Aidan Judge, who brought the case on behalf of the State, said he too was "delighted" with the result.

"The sentences reflect the gravity of what was an appalling crime," Mr Judge added.

Locals said a community alert system also played a pivotal role in gardai arresting the two intruders.

"There are 153 people signed up to receive the mobile phone alerts, and there are 1,645 followers on the Facebook page," said Francis Cummins, chairman of Doon Community Alert System.'The court is deciding whether Ms FitzPatrick has a 6m beneficial interest in 18 assets' Stock photo: Getty Images/iStockphoto

Former Anglo Irish Bank chairman Sean FitzPatrick had a 22m pension fund from Anglo Irish Bank when he retired as CEO in 2005, he told the High Court.

He and his wife Catriona took 5m of that out in cash and used it to help fund investments, he said.

The court is deciding whether Ms FitzPatrick has a 6m beneficial interest in 18 assets.

Mr FitzPatrick began giving evidence yesterday in support of his wife's case against Chris Lehane, the official assignee (OA) in bankruptcy, claiming she has that 6m interest.

Mr Lehane has brought a separate related case against Ms FitzPatrick and the couple's three children, David, Jonathan and Sara.

IBRC, which took over Anglo, has brought separate related proceedings against Ms FitzPatrick, in which it denies she is entitled to claim monies loaned to fund asset investments.

Asked by the FitzPatrick counsel, Jacqueline O'Brien, to summarise his assets before he retired as CEO, he said there were the shares, the family home in Greystones, Co Wicklow, and a number of investments. "We were very, very comfortable," he said.

Between 2003 and 2009, he and his wife signed a number of loan facility letters whereby their loans eventually grew to 120m.

However, some of the later letters provided a number of items, including property and other investments, as additional security for the renewed loan facilities. By 2007 there were 29 items of additional security, none which was part of the disputed 18 assets before the court, he said.

The case resumes on Tuesday.Georgia is one of 19 states that allows corporal punishment. (stock photo)

New teachers are demanding that they get back an allowance worth over 1,000 that was axed, on top of pay rises at government talks.

Sources at talks on reversing a two-tier pay in the public service revealed their unions insisted the restoration of a 1,236 hDip allowance must be part of any final package.

They also sought a return to a practice in which recruits would start on the third point of the incremental pay scale, rather than the bottom.

The demands were made at discussions in the Department of Finance yesterday on the reversal of 200m in pay cuts suffered by over 60,000 recent recruits since 2011.

Unions are demanding that the government begin reversing the pay cuts in the next budget.

It is understood that the return of the hDip allowance would cost an extra 9m, as it has not been paid to around 8,000 recruits since it was abolished.

The allowance, which was axed when allowances were cut for new entrants during the recession, is counted towards their pensions. Unions are arguing it is essentially core pay.

But sources said government officials were adamant that only basic pay will be discussed at the talks.

Demand

If the teachers' demand was entertained, it would almost certainly trigger knock on claims by other unions for the restoration of other allowances.

Sources said officials from Minister Paschal Donohoe's department gave no indication there will be any concession on new entrants' pay in the next budget. But arriving for the talks, chief union negotiator Shay Cody said he was "optimistic" that the government will shift its position.

"We've no assurances," he said. "But the fact that we're talking gives grounds for some optimism."

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe's department has been urged to "stand firm" on the demands, even if it means damaging industrial unrest.

Employer group ISME warned the minister not to "repeat the mistakes of past".

The current wage agreement says the equal pay issue should not lead to any hike in costs beyond 889m allocated for pay increases until the end of 2020.

However, union sources said extra funds could be ring-fenced to address it in the next budget despite this clause.

They said this could happen once both sides agree to it.Former IRA woman Dolours Price has described the abduction, murder and secret burial of Jean McConville in unprecedented detail in a new documentary.

'I, Dolours', which premiers this weekend at the Hot Docs festival in Toronto, features a video-recorded interview that journalist Ed Moloney conducted with her. It includes new revelations about the 1972 murder of the Belfast mother-of-10.

In previous interviews, Price confessed her role in driving Ms McConville across the Border and handing her over to a Dundalk IRA unit.

Price also repeats claims that the mother-of-10 was an informer and details an alleged incident in a west Belfast barracks where she identified IRA members to the security forces.

Ms McConville's children last night dismissed Price's claims their mother was an informer but said they did accept parts of Price's testimony which were supported by other independent accounts. Price has previously alleged Gerry Adams ordered Ms McConville's murder, a claim ex-Sinn Fein president has strongly denied.

Price was found dead at her home in Malahide, Co Dublin, in 2013 from a toxic prescription drugs mix. The 61-year-old was the former wife of actor Stephen Rea.

Price claims under IRA interrogation, Ms McConville confessed to becoming an informer "for money". She says when she picked up Ms McConville, she wasn't frightened for her life because she had been told by the IRA she wouldn't be killed.

Price says the Dundalk IRA men had "a grave dug" but "couldn't bring themselves to execute" Ms McConville "probably because she was a woman".

So Price, Pat McClure, who died in the US in 1986, and a third member of the Unknowns took Ms McConville to the grave where she was "shot in the back of the head by one of the volunteers". There was one pistol but Price indicated the trio all fired it separately so they took shared responsibility for the execution.

She admitted being haunted by her role in the deaths.A young woman has shared the details of her ongoing recovery after sustaining a brain injury when she fell off her bike in Dublin's city centre.

Linda Collins (28) was on a morning commute on Camden Street on July 31, 2014 when a screw came loose on her mudguard, jamming her tyre, and sending her head first over the handlebars.

Speaking to Independent.ie, Linda said she now wants to share the details of her fall and the road to recovery to help other people in her situation.

"The fall was a bit of a blur, but I didn't have a scratch on me. The red light was on and I was slowing down when I fell off my bike," Linda said.

"The traffic was stopped at the time. I remember being on the ground and everything on top of me, I just got up. People were getting out of cars and asking was I okay.

"I felt like everyone was looking at me and I didn't understand, I felt fine.

"Then I was talking to colleagues when I got into work. I thought, 'I have no idea of what you're saying to me, I know you're talking to me, but I have no idea what the words mean'. My brain wasn't processing it, and I knew there was something wrong with me," she continued.

"I just felt weird. I remember staring at my hands and thinking there were no scratches or bruises. There was one crack on my helmet, probably a sign that it had got a good bang."

Linda was diagnosed with severe concussion and whiplash that afternoon, and she would later discover that she had also suffered a mild traumatic brain injury. Her symptoms for the next few years would include insomnia, headaches, fatigue, visual disturbances, poor attention or concentration, memory loss and irritability.

The University of Limerick business graduate had started a new job the month before her fall and moved in with new housemates in August.

"I didn't realise it at the time but all the changes weren't helping [my condition]," Linda said.

"At the time, I just felt like it was really bad timing. There was so much going on at the one time. I felt so guilty for not being at work. I was thinking, 'They all think I'm some big fake'.

"I had just moved in with new people while we were trying to figure out what was wrong with me as well. I felt like they thought I was absolutely bananas, because I looked fine but I didn't feel fine."

Linda has now decided to write about her experience, hoping her own road to recovery and the tips she has picked up along the way can help others who have suffered a mild traumatic brain injury or those who suffer from some of the injury's symptoms.

Her website, 'Patience Living With A Brain Injury', details her recovery journey and top tips for managing symptoms, as well as providing advice for family and friends of a loved one who has suffered a similar injury.

Writing about her experience, Linda said she remembers feeling "isolated" in the weeks after the accident.

"I couldnt work, I couldnt socialise  I felt isolated, alone and clueless if Im honest.

"Surely I didnt have a brain injury? Theyre just being overly cautious! I dont have one single bruise on my body  and I bruise like a peach! But yet, I knew something was different.

"Something had changed and I couldnt figure it out. There were too many Whys? to ignore."

Now four years later, through her hard work, resilience and patience in learning to manage her symptoms, Linda most certainly feels the good days outweigh the bad at this point. Working as an account manger in a busy marketing agency, Linda says she credits her doctor with giving her the push to start her website.

"I stopped and started writing a few times," she said.

"About two years into my recovery, my doctor said; 'You've such a positive attitude, you've tried everything to get better and I'd love you to put that resilience into something to help others'.

"Then I thought maybe I'll start writing about it. I did start and found it too emotional at the time and too difficult to relive the experiences I'd had.

"One day a few months later, in October last year, I just started writing. It all started coming out, I wasn't getting emotional."

Linda said she felt there weren't any sufficient online resources on recovering from a mild traumatic brain injury for her family or friends in the months after her fall.

"I found I was reading the more extreme stories, the really bad car accidents and people who had had strokes, really devastating incidents... I was reading those and felt, 'that's not me'. I felt there wasn't anything there for me.

"My family and friends were trying to help or advise me, but nobody had experienced something like this before. It's all well and good for me to write my story, but I knew if I put down all the tips I had picked up along the way, like what to do if you're not sleeping well, it could help people.

"The thing is, after my own accident I looked perfect. I walked away from it. I thought, 'I'm actually grand, I don't have a bruise or a scratch'."

Linda said she is now confident with her method of managing her symptoms, after a couple of years of trial and error.

"I find I start to slip if I don't practice mindfulness or if I don't get my eight hours sleep," she said.

"I definitely found my symptoms were a lot more severe around Christmas when I was socialising a lot more.

"Even when I was getting ready to launch the website, I had two episodes and a panic attack in the week before it went live. It seems ridiculous that all of these little things add to extra stress. I will always have to manage these symptoms but hopefully not as strictly.

"My family and friends have been great, I've spoken to them about everything. If I hadn't spoken to them, I don't know how my mental health would be. I'm so lucky to have them.

The young woman also credited the National Rehabilitation Centre in Dun Laoghaire, Headway and Acquired Brain Injury Ireland for their support in the past four years.

"The plan now is to keep adding content to the website, I just want to help other people and families who went through what I went through," Linda said.

"A lot of people have got in touch since I launched the website and it makes me want to keep on going.

"Some people are saying that even though they may not have had a brain injury, they have a lot of the same symptoms of stress or anxiety, and the tips on mindfulness are really helping them.

"Another person with chronic back pain said the tips are helping her."

Writing on her website, Linda concludes; "Im almost 4 years into my journey now and I certainly dont have it all figured out.

"But what I do know, is that Ive got to a point where I can live a normal life (the majority of the time anyway).

"My brain injury no longer defines me. So, I want to share with you all how I got to this point."

See more on Linda's website here; Patience Living With A Brain InjuryBird Rescue in the 1971 Tanker Spill

by Susan McCarthy

January 2014



On January 18 1971 the Oregon Standard and the Arizona Standard, tankers belonging, naturally, to Standard Oil, collided just outside the Golden Gate. The Oregon Standard was leaving the Bay with 106,000 barrels of bunker fuel oil for British Columbia. The Arizona Standard was bringing 115,000 barrels of crude to a refinery.

Foggy night, both ships going a bit too fast. Neither crew was sure where the center of the channel was, so neither ship followed correct practice of staying to the starboard side. Neither ship used its radar right. Bang. Locked together, they drifted into the Bay, the Oregon Standard gushing oil.

Borne on tides, oil contaminated beaches 40 miles south and 20 miles north of the Gate. Some drifted into the bay, hitting Angel Island, Alcatraz, Berkeley, Sausalito, and Tiburon.

Cleanup efforts in some places involved putting up booms. Oil-skimming boats were deployed. When oil hit beaches like Ocean Beach, people spread straw to soak it up, and then trucked the straw away.

There were oily birds on those beaches. When a water bird is oiled, even in just a spot, it makes a breach in the waterproof plumage. Water seeps in and soaks to the skin. The bird gets chilled, as you would be if I poured a few pitchers of ice water down the collar of your down jacket. The feathers get waterlogged, the bird gets heavy, and starts sinking. Desperate birds - species that may never set foot on land in their whole lives - head for shore to keep from drowning.

No government agencies and no private organizations seemed to feel it was their task to do anything about the stranding oiled seabirds. No one knew what to do. People wanted to help. They called state, county, and city agencies and humane societies. In many cases the advice they got was not to touch wild birds - dangerous, dirty, diseased.

Later it was claimed that state Fish and Game had had a plan - mostly "remove birds... from public view and... destroy those birds which... had no chance of survival." They would wash the rest with Polycomplex A-11, a dispersant which had been used in the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill. When they could get some. Public action beat them to the punch.

Twenty-six bird species were affected. About half the oiled birds picked up were Western Grebes, birds with long skinny necks, needle bills, and appropriately wild red eyes. A quarter were scoters, three species of gnarled black coastal ducks.

That was a golden era in local FM, before today's "Contemptible Monolith Radio." KSAN DJs began taking calls from outraged, grief-stricken people. People spontaneously organized rescue operations. They set up around 30 bird cleaning centers. KSAN became a communications center. "More birds are washing up on Ocean Beach..." "Ron in Pacifica says they have about 30 birds, they need towels, boxes...." "Does anyone have plywood and carpentry skills to make pens?"

One of the bird stations on the west side was Poor Richard's, variously referred to as Poor Richard's Sick Bird Place, Poor Richard's Ballroom, the People's Bird Hospital, and the Family Dog, the large 1884 landmark building at Great Highway and Balboa Street.

Another was at the San Francisco Zoo.

Personal account

I lived on the Peninsula. My mother kept KSAN on all day. Too young to drive, I persuaded my mother to drive me to San Francisco to help. At the Zoo gate on Sloat Boulevard, they sent me to the Lion House. I had been to the zoo, to the Lion House, but hadn't known there was an enormous basement below. There were tubs of water on tables, boxes of birds on the floor, and harried people. One volunteer compared scenes at a bird cleaning center to a Crimean War field hospital. (Minus guns, plus lions.)

It stank of lions and birds. The lions knew something unorthodox was happening below. They roared.

Someone asked if I knew how to handle birds, and I said yes. True. I had reared a duck. They gave two of us a scoter, and told us to rub it with cornmeal, to soak up the oil. The idea was to rub it in the direction of the feathers, not against.

Hours went by, bird after bird, and I was holding a loon, a bird I had heard of but never seen. I had read of them uttering unearthly cries on northern lakes. The bird I held looked around wildly and uttered soft calls, almost whimpers. It sounded anguished. What does a loon think when it finds itself half covered with clinging black oil, being mauled by apes in a cavern echoing with roars? I'm sure "I have to get out of here!" is a big part of it.

My mother took me to the Zoo several times to wash birds (What did she find to do in San Francisco in 1971? Oh, something.) and then the Zoo transferred its oiled birds to a bigger center in a Richmond paper warehouse that belonged to U.C. Berkeley. All surviving birds from the 30 centers were taken there. Later, the dwindling number of survivors were moved to a temporary facility on Tubbs Island, on Nature Conservancy.

In the end, I heard, 200-300 birds were released from that spill, out of around 8,000 captured. Most were the sturdy surly sea ducks - scoters and scaups. Only a few grebes. No loons made it.

Yesterday's papers

Recently I looked at 1971 newspapers, to check my memories. So huge! Page after page after society page. Herb Caen was going strong. The environmental movement was fairly new. People were obsessed with hippies. Hippies bad dirty lazy, or hippies cosmic loving tuned-in. The opposites of hippies were said to be "hardhats." And a theme threaded through the coverage in the Chronicle and the Examiner was that hardhats and hippies were working together to save the birds - incredible!

The "countless volunteers" were not exclusively hippies and hardhats (these hardhats being mostly Standard Oil employees).1 Some schools in Marin and Pacifica closed so kids - and teachers - could go to the beaches to gather birds or clean up oil. Others were "unquestionably cutting classes." There were "middle-aged women," "Navy men," "office girls," young suburban couples, welfare recipients, fraternity men, and "long haired types from nearby communes."

Governor Reagan praised the volunteers. The lieutenant governor visited volunteers cleaning beaches and washing birds at Poor Richard's. Presidential candidate Edmund Muskie visited the Zoo and was photographed holding a grebe.

People were inspired by the way everyone came together. A bartender who dropped everything to wash birds near the St. Francis Yacht Club praised the Army for using a helicopter to drop hay bales on oil slicks. "I was speeding in here with an oily bird, and an MP escorted me all the way," he said. "It's really beautiful the way people react." Police cars radioed locations where birds were stranded. A woman who called herself "a hardhat's wife" said, "After working with those longhairs, up to their necks in water and goo for 20 hours, we've gained nothing but respect for them." Caen praised "Little Old Ladies cooking soup for the hippies" at Poor Richard's.

Two days after the spill, a society page reporter lauded five prominent women for making sandwiches for clean-up workers, but demanded to know where the rest of the ecology-minded "top-drawer socialites" were. By the next day, he'd found them at the Zoo: "Society's slick chicks are the overnight saviours of our oily birds--along with everyone else." He called it "our finest hour."

On the Tuesday after the spill, 250 "kids" and hardhats were spreading hay at Bakers Beach. Seventy-five actual kids from Bolinas school were picking up birds. Surfers and skin divers in wetsuits swam out to collect oiled birds still floating.

Donations poured in. The Granny Goose plant sent cornmeal. Weyerhauser gave cardboard boxes. A pharmacy donated a 55-gallon drum of mineral oil. An insurance company raised cash. An answering service set up 24-hour phone lines. Sailors from the USS Neptune "liberated" medical supplies. Children's Hospital donated tetanus shots for "kids bitten by frightened birds." A laboratory sent eyedrops. Shakey's donated pizza. "The chicks brought pots of rice," a male hippie effused.

One hippie-struck reporter described listeners as being "plugged into the great electronic network, the local FM rock stations, these towncriers for the new young gypsies... which flashed the plight of the tarred birds and oiled beaches while the older society was still drawing up plans." The papers ran daily information on where to go, what to bring. KSAN printed leaflets on how to clean birds.

"Interested persons should bring mineral oil or baby oil, sawdust or corn meal, rags, heating lamps and washtubs," Friends of the Earth said. Newspapers told how to handle an oiled bird - put a sock over its head, keep it warm, soak it in light mineral oil or cooking oil "to keep the heavy mineral oil from solidifying." Watch out: "Birds may be hysterical."

The directions for cleaning sound disturbingly like directions for cooking. "[G]ently scrub the feathers and body with light oil and cover the bird with corn meal... If possible, scrub the bird in a tub of oil. Rinse... in warm water, rub dry, and repeat the oil-cornmeal-rinse routine until the goo is gone." I cringe at the memory of doing that.

Two days after the spill, Standard Oil called the state Department of Human Resources to hire 200 people to help with clean-up. But there were so many volunteers that the people who came to work were told they weren't needed - and had to pay their own way home.

Oakland Assemblywoman March Fong (later, as March Fong Eu, California Secretary of State for 32 years) was so insistent that Standard Oil pay for every bit of damage that she wrested from them the strange promise to "buy and import" replacement birds. Presumably she thought you could buy loons and grebes the way you can buy farm-reared ducks and quail.

Ignorance is widespread in the newspaper stories. At Poor Richard's they told Caen their mascot was Fat Albert, a 40-pound "Canadian spotted loon" rescued at Ocean Beach. They said Fat Albert put up a "wing-flapping squawk" when they tried to move him to the Zoo, so they let him stay.

Canadian spotted loon? No such bird. Of the three species of loons he might have been, Arctic Loon is the most likely, and the biggest, and if he weighed 18 pounds he'd have been a very large specimen. (A few days later Fat Albert did go to the Zoo, where he died.)

A news story described a grebe at Pillar Point Harbor "so soaked with oil that it could hardly walk," and quoted a heartbroken observer: "It would take about two steps and then flop in the sand." But even a clean spotless healthy grebe can hardly walk. Their shape, which has evolved beautifully for diving and swimming under water, is nearly useless for walking. Two steps is pretty good.

Outcome

Not many oiled birds survived. Some died from effects of oil and many more died from the effects of captivity. In those days, no one knew how anything about how to keep seabirds healthy in captivity. They died of fungal pneumonia, systemic infections from foot sores, and from the effects of fatal lesions over their keel bones.

A group of dedicated people who wanted to figure out better ways to clean oiled birds and to keep them alive until they could be freed formed an organization called the International Bird Rescue and Research Center (IBRRC). IBRRC is now called IBR or just Bird Rescue and is based in Fairfield and in San Pedro.

In 1976 there was a huge oil spill in the Delaware River when the tanker Olympic Games gashed her hull on a dock, and Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research, the east coast version of IBRRC was formed.

These two organizations are the main practitioners of oiled wildlife response. They have developed techniques for washing birds, for treating the injuries of oil toxicity, and best practices for avoiding the injuries of captivity. They organized the wildlife response to Deepwater Horizon, and have responded to oil spills around the world.

Many people think washing oiled birds is a pointless, conscience-salving gesture. African Penguins (Spheniscus demersus) are a counterexample. IBRRC helped respond to two major South African tanker spills (1994 and 2000) that fouled the penguins' nesting grounds. These birds are now endangered for various reasons, but they'd be in worse shape if not for bird-washing do-gooders. A 2009 analysis concluded that the population was 19% higher than it would have been without spill response efforts.

Some recent books on San Francisco's recent history make no mention of the 1971 spill. They miss the story of a significant international organization and a movement which had part of its beginnings in the western neighborhoods.

Contribute your own stories about western neighborhoods places!Detectives from the PSNI's Public Protection Branch are appealing to the public for information on the whereabouts of two men, James White and Alexis Guesto.

The two men are currently on the run and are believed to have recently travelled to Northern Ireland from the Republic of Ireland.

They have been sighted in the South Armagh and Newry areas.

Detective Chief Inspector Jill Duffie said: These two men are wanted in Northern Ireland for a range of offences, including breach of licence and warrants.

We believe these two individuals have recently travelled to Northern Ireland from the Republic as a result of a number of reports to police regarding sightings of these two men in the South Armagh/Newry areas.

We have been and continue to work closely with colleagues in An Garda Siochana to establish the whereabouts of these two men

Following a report of concern from a member of the public relating to a blue Peugeot parked in a car park on the Chancellors Road area of Mullaghbawn shortly after 1pm yesterday, Thursday 26 April, the vehicle was seized and the circumstances are being investigated by police.

Police are also aware of comments on social media regarding this vehicle and are appealing for anyone who observed the car in the local area or anyone who observed the occupant(s) of the car after it was parked to contact police.

I would urge anyone who knows where these two men are, or believes they may have seen them or come into contact with them in recent days to contact us on the non-emergency number 101 quoting reference 495 of 26/04/18.

Alternatively, information can also be provided to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 which is 100% anonymous and gives people the power to speak up and stop crime.A helpline set up for women concerned about their cervical screening result is now fully operational after a 'technical glitch' led to a delay this morning.

The service was due to start taking calls at 9am but a problem meant that the service, available on 1800 45 45 55, only began shortly after 10.30am.

Minister for Health Simon Harris called the problem a 'technical glitch' on Twitter adding that it was 'the last thing anyone needed, I know'.

Minister Harris, who said he has no confidence in the management of CervicalCheck, has also sent in a medical team to oversee the CervicalCheckservice.

He said that while he was fully supportive of the national screening service, he could truthfully say this did not extend to the people running CervicalCheck.

Last night, Mr Harris said that a senior medical team would investigate all patient files and ensure that all women who were patients were informed of their review.

The aim is to ensure that by early next week the 206 women who developed cancer after getting the wrong test result will be aware of any CervicalCheck reports into their case.

The team will report to Dr Colm Henry, who is a senior HSE clinical lead.

It is yet another crisis to emerge under the tenure of Mr Harris amid concerns of how it was allowed to escalate with potentially long-term implications for the faith women have in the service, which is aimed at preventing cervical cancer.

Mr Harris, who along with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, was opening a new 15m, 36-bedroom specialist palliative care unit in Our Ladys Hospice in Harolds Cross, Dublin, yesterday, was speaking after it emerged 206 women were wrongly given the all-clear by CervicalCheck and went on to develop cancer.

Fianna Fail spokesman on health Stephen Donnelly said the Government still had many questions to answer over the handling of a litany of errors relating to the cervical cancer screening programme.

He said he would be quizzing the minister in the Dail on Tuesday about his handling of the crisis.

Its completely unacceptable that women affected by these screening errors continue to be left in the dark, said Mr Donnelly.

Minister Harris must set out in detail what steps he is taking to ensure all affected women are informed immediately.

He has to ensure that they will get priority follow up from the HSE, especially with the scheduling of urgent follow-up appointments.

People must have full trust in our national screening programmes.

Sinn Fein health spokesperson Louise OReilly said the emerging story around the misdiagnosis of cervical cancer smear tests and the response from CervicalCheck is completely unacceptable.

The story of Vicky Phelans missed cancer diagnosis and its subsequent escalation to terminal cervical cancer is extremely upsetting and worrying.

For Ms Phelans misdiagnosis to be known for almost three years is unacceptable, she said.Liga Skromane was on a holistic treatment retreat in Kerala, India when she disappeared

Liga Skromane was stranguled to death, an autopsy has confirmed.

In a major breakthrough in the investigation into death, the post-mortem report has revealed that Liga (33) - who had been living in Dublin for five years - was strangled.

According to the forensic experts, there were blood clots in her brain that confirmed the possibility of strangulation. They also pointed out that there were bruises on her neck and legs.

Liga, who was originally from Latvia, travelled alongside her sister Ilze to India take part in a holistic treatment retreat on February 4.

She disappeared on March 14 and was her remains were found by a local fisherman on April 21.

Read More

A highly-placed Kerala police official said that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) are likely to arrest suspects in two days once they build a strong evidence-backed case against them.

Expand Close Liga Skromane (33) / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Liga Skromane (33)

On Saturday, Inspector General of Police Manoj Abraham also inspected the crime scene.

The police has seized a fiber boat that was suspected to have been used to ferry Liga toa secluded place at Vazhamuttom, where her remains were discovered. Two women also confirmed to the authorities that they witnessed Liga going into the mangrove forest alone.

Yesterday, police questioned up to 40 people and reportedly took several of them into custody initially, after which five more arrests were made.

According to a boatman, the area is frequented by drug peddlers who are disguised as anglers.

Read More

According to sources, Liga's family is planning to cremate her body in Thiruvananthapuram itself as her body is badly decomposed and cannot be flown to Dublin.

Her heartbroken partner Andrew Jordan has previously urged anyone with information about Liga's death to come forward.

Expand Close Liga Skromane lived in Dublin / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Liga Skromane lived in Dublin

The Dubliner said: "I plead with the people of Kerala to come forward with the information, if they have any idea about what had happened to my wife."A woman who travelled to the UK for an abortion following a fatal foetal abnormality diagnosis has written a powerful poem in response to a comment by a public representative.

Carmel Brennan spoke to Marian Finucane on RTE Radio 1 this morning to tell her story of travelling to the UK for an abortion after a diagnosis of anencephaly during her pregnancy with the daughter she would call Kate.

Ms Brennan and her husband Kevin went through a procedure in Guy's hospital in London to stop her baby's heartbeat before returning to Ireland to give birth.

Anencephaly is a condition where the large part of the brain and skull does not form and Ms Brennan's doctors told her and her husband that the child would not survive outside the womb.

After a consultant confirmed the diagnosis the couple researched others who had decided to go full-term with the pregnancy but Ms Brennan and her husband decided it wasn't the right choice for them.

The couple went to London in October 2017 and spent their last night with Kate, which Ms Brennan describes as "extremely emotional, distressed and sad" before returning to Guy's the next day for "the saddest and most difficult day of our lives".

After a short period a doctor came and told them, "Your little poppet is asleep" and then they went to the airport to return home where Ms Brennan would give birth to Kate.

Their local hospital scheduled an induction for the next day and Kate was born.

"I was told there is no joy in stillbirths and that is not true," he told Ms Finucane. "We got to say goodbye to Kate in London but we got to say hello to her in birth. It was joyful."

Ms Brennan went on to say the the debate over the upcoming referendum made it difficult to grieve for Kate and that a 'soundbite' by a public representative had driven her to write a poem called ''He said they are not loved'

"I'm not a poet but I found myself writing my feelings on this," she said. "I needed to be able to park it and deal with it. I thought of writing a letter to the person who said it but I felt that wasn't the right thing to do so I just wrote this for myself."

Here is the full text of Ms Brennan's poem:

I placed my hand on my bump, to feel her kicking and tumbling

Give me your hand, I said, and smiled, our last days of innocence

How arrogant we were I sometimes think

No skull they said to our frightened faces

You can continue with the pregnancy or travel

I said the words first, that was important

I can't I told him

And so we flew, scared and fearful

Who would we meet, what would they do

There is no joy, we were told, with a stillbirth

They were wrong, there is joy, it's just different

You still hold and kiss and love

You marvel at fingers and toes

You kiss her little nose

And the pain is so great too, you feel it will consume you and crush you

It never leaves you

Loved beyond words, missed beyond measure

Carmel went on to say: "My experiences tell me that abortion is a required medical treatment and is compassionate".Women whose doctors feel they need further smear tests will have the procedure facilitated and paid for by CervicalCheck, it has been confirmed.

Health Minister Simon Harris said that women who may need re-tests will be "facilitated".

The Department of Health said in a statement this evening: "For any woman who has had a CervicalCheck smear test and where her GP feels she should have a further test as part of her reassurance, the Minister has asked CervicalCheck to make the necessary arrangements, including payment provision.

"These arrangements will be confirmed next week."

This comes hours after a helpline set up for women concerned about their cervical screening result is now fully operational after a 'technical glitch' led to a delay this morning.

The service was due to start taking calls at 9am but a problem meant that the service, available on 1800 45 45 55, only began shortly after 10.30am.

Minister called the problem a 'technical glitch' on Twitter adding that it was 'the last thing anyone needed, I know'.

Minister Harris, who said he has no confidence in the management of CervicalCheck, has also sent in a medical team to oversee the CervicalCheckservice.

He said that while he was fully supportive of the national screening service, he could truthfully say this did not extend to the people running CervicalCheck.

Last night, Mr Harris said that a senior medical team would investigate all patient files and ensure that all women who were patients were informed of their review.

The aim is to ensure that by early next week the 206 women who developed cancer after getting the wrong test result will be aware of any CervicalCheck reports into their case.

The team will report to Dr Colm Henry, who is a senior HSE clinical lead.

It is yet another crisis to emerge under the tenure of Mr Harris amid concerns of how it was allowed to escalate with potentially long-term implications for the faith women have in the service, which is aimed at preventing cervical cancer.

Mr Harris, who along with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, was opening a new 15m, 36-bedroom specialist palliative care unit in Our Ladys Hospice in Harolds Cross, Dublin, yesterday, was speaking after it emerged 206 women were wrongly given the all-clear by CervicalCheck and went on to develop cancer.

Fianna Fail spokesman on health Stephen Donnelly said the Government still had many questions to answer over the handling of a litany of errors relating to the cervical cancer screening programme.

He said he would be quizzing the minister in the Dail on Tuesday about his handling of the crisis.

Its completely unacceptable that women affected by these screening errors continue to be left in the dark, said Mr Donnelly.

Minister Harris must set out in detail what steps he is taking to ensure all affected women are informed immediately.

He has to ensure that they will get priority follow up from the HSE, especially with the scheduling of urgent follow-up appointments.

People must have full trust in our national screening programmes.

Sinn Fein health spokesperson Louise OReilly said the emerging story around the misdiagnosis of cervical cancer smear tests and the response from CervicalCheck is completely unacceptable.

The story of Vicky Phelans missed cancer diagnosis and its subsequent escalation to terminal cervical cancer is extremely upsetting and worrying.

For Ms Phelans misdiagnosis to be known for almost three years is unacceptable, she said.President Michael D Higgins has said he "absolutely" has the energy and capacity for a second term in Aras an Uachtarain.

In the clearest signal yet that he is gearing up for an election campaign this autumn, Mr Higgins moved to dispel any talk that his age might be a factor.

The President, who turned 77 earlier this month, said he "absolutely" has an interest in seeking re-election.

"Have I the energy, have I the capacity to do so? I believe yes. But of course ultimately that's for the people to decide, and that suits me too as a campaigner all my life," he said.

While he has still not officially said he will run in a potential election this year, Mr Higgins's remarks indicate he believes he could take on a gruelling presidential election race.

It comes after he earlier this week said he expects to make his intentions known by July and added: "I've never ran away from a contest in my life. Why should I?"

Read More

Mr Higgins was last night attending meetings with IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland client companies at the Irish consulate in New York.

He conducted interviews with the Irish diaspora media where he was asked if he had the interest and the energy for a second seven-year term. He responded "absolutely".

Earlier this week, Mr Higgins insisted his delay in announcing his intentions does not affect any other potential candidate. But he also said: "My decision will be my decision. I'm not standing in the way of anybody making a decision."

His five-day trip has been a chance for him to flex his presidential muscles, allowing him to show his credentials as a statesman, intellectual, and figurehead for the Irish community.

The visit has involved high-level diplomacy at the United Nations and meetings with the arts and business communities. He rounds it off this afternoon with a visit to Rockland GAA club, after he drops into St Barnabas' Church, the Bronx home of what is often described as the largest parish outside Ireland.

There have also been hints of the old firebrand, activist Mr Higgins. He has raised concerns about sexism in Donald Trump's America; the US plan to withdraw from the Paris climate change accord; and young people's views on the behaviour of the major powers at the United Nations Security Council.

Read More

Thursday's packed itinerary showed he retains the energy necessary for a busy schedule of engagements, and a battle for the Aras.Their stories were harrowing, their pain indescribable.

It was a week in which eight Irish women made headlines - more than one tragedy for every day.

Each narrative was different but with one devastating factor in common - each had been let down by the institutions of the State put in place to keep them safe.

As we learned about each case, this week stacked up as a particularly demoralising one for Irish women, now left with the anxious realisation that the safeguards they had assumed would serve them and their families in times of need are, at best, not to be relied upon - at worst, not fit for purpose.

There was Rachel Barry, 'Sarah' and 'Amy'. Three young girls left in the care of a foster family in the assumption that they would be safer there than they would have been at home.

Instead they were placed in the greatest of danger and endured horrific sexual abuse.

Expand Close Vicky Phelan. Photo: Collins Courts / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Vicky Phelan. Photo: Collins Courts

Vicky Phelan, a mother of two dragged through the courts in the search for justice because of a misdiagnosis of a smear test and who is now terminally ill as a result.

Elizabeth Loughlin - whose baby daughter died following a caesarean birth and who raised questions seven years later by pure chance, after watching a television programme about the death of four other babies at the same hospital.

Her birth records were allegedly altered and their High Court case was settled.

Roisin Molloy - who was informed that her baby son had been born stillborn but subsequently found out he had lived for 22 minutes after unsuccessful attempts to resuscitate him.

The doctor who had delivered the baby was found by a Medical Council hearing to have altered his notes.

Siobhan Phillips - who suffered a life-changing brain injury in the same incident that killed Gda Tony Golden, at the hands of her former partner, Adrian Crevan Mackin - a 'monster' who was out on bail at the time.

Fiona Tuomey - whose 11-year-old daughter Milly made a lethal attempt at self-harm on New Year's Day 2016 and died four days later at Our Lady's Hospital Crumlin. Her parents had made an urgent request for access to mental health services but got no immediate help.

Eight women failed by the State in a myriad of ways and in each case bar the Tuomeys, an official apology was given.

But an apology is not enough.

In the case of the three young women who were raped as children by Keith Burke (29) of Addergoolemore, Dunmore, Co Galway, the system failings saw them placed in the gravest of danger.

Placed in the care of Burke's parents, the girls were supposed to be safe - but how did our child care system fail them so badly?

Speaking on 'RTE Investigates', Rachel Barry waived her anonymity so that Burke could be named.

The impact on her of what happened has been devastating, she outlined.

"I don't go out, I have no friends, I don't do anything with my life... it's not a life, I'm doing the prison sentence," she said.

The girl known as 'Sarah' has now called for a full independent inquiry through her solicitor, saying the apology by the HSE in no way diminished their determination to secure it.

This should be a 'watershed moment' they said.

For Vicky Phelan, given the all-clear in 2011 after a cervical cancer check, the system failing has been catastrophic.

In 2014 she developed symptoms and it emerged that CervicalCheck had not disclosed the findings of a report which showed the error for three years after they knew of it.

The 43-year-old mother of two from Annacotty, Co Limerick, settled her High Court action for 2.5m - but is now terminally ill.

"I was in shock when I was told," she said. "I am angry, extremely angry."

Now it has emerged that 206 women went on to develop cervical cancer after having a misdiagnosed smear test.

The CervicalCheck programme will now be reviewed by experts from another jurisdiction.

For Elizabeth Loughlin and Roisin Molloy, the system tragically failed them at a time in their life when they had been expecting great joy.

Elizabeth and John Loughlin from Lough, Portarlington, Co Laois settled their action against the HSE for nervous shock over the death of their baby Ciara 11 years ago.

The couple had sought to discover what happened to their daughter who died after a caesarean birth at the Midland Regional Hospital in Portlaoise.

In an apology read out in court, the HSE offered "sincere apologies for the failings in relation to the care provided and accepted the medical records of Elizabeth Loughlin were altered in relation to the timing of her admission to the hospital on August 21, 2007, and it said it regretted that.

Roisin Molloy and her husband, Mark, whose baby died due to a lack of oxygen shortly after birth at Portlaoise Hospital on January 24, 2012, fought for years to secure accountability.

But they were left devastated after a doctor involved in the baby's care, was found guilty on two counts of professional misconduct but cleared on five others by the Medical Council.

Ms Molloy called for accountability at managerial level of the HSE.

At the inquest of Garda Tony Golden, the tragedy of the shooting was laid bare. Siobhan Phillips suffered catastrophic injuries at the hands of her former partner Adrian Crevan Mackin.

Her father Sean called for a full public inquiry into the shooting and asked why a full statement hadn't been taken from his daughter when she had been seriously assaulted by Mackin two nights before.

"Mackin was a monster. We want to know why he was out of jail," Sean said.

This week we also heard from Fiona and Tim Tuomey - whose daughter Milly (11) took her own life. They told how she had been let down by the lack of an urgent response from their local mental health services.

On December 8, her GP sent an urgent referral letter to the HSE's Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, saying Milly had talked to her mum about self-harm and suicide.

They got no help and on New Year's Day 2016, Milly self-harmed and passed away four days later.

The family said that youth mental health services in Ireland are in need of urgent change, especially in the area of crisis support. "We'll never blame anyone as much as ourselves but we needed help and I don't feel we got it," said Tim.

Failed by the state. Just as they all had been, in a dismal week for national confidence.Majella Babington, Siobhan Collins and Annemarie Hoey at the race night in The Lisdoo in aid of Kilkerley Playground.

On Friday night I headed for the Lisdoo where the Kilkerley Playground Association were coming to the final night of their endeavour to raise 100,000 to build a playground for the kids in the area, beside the Community Centre and were running a Race Night.

I was only in the door when I met up with Rose-Marie McEntegart and Geraldine Blackmore both from Lower Point Road who were there to support Orlaith Ryan on the organising committee and wanted to wish them all the best with their big night.

After this I caught up with Orlagh and Peter Kelleher from Kilkerley who told me they were looking forward to a great night with everyone there.

Next I got a word with Bronagh McGee from Kilkerley who was with husband Paddy, but was far too busy to talking because she wanted to make sure night was a big success.

Not too long later I headed over for a word with Siobhan Collins from Crossmaglen who was there to support her sister Majella Babington from Plaster and Ann Marie Hoey from Inniskeen who told me they were going to make it a real night to remember.

After this I headed for a table where I caught up with Regina Greene, Sheena Byrne, Vanessa and Barry Connolly all from Kilkerley who told me they were expecting loads of winners when the racing got going.

Next I met up with Ann and Con Shanahan from Kilkerley who were quietly confident they'd be able to pick a few winners from the night.

I then caught up with my old friend Liam Byrne from Kilkerley who was just heading in to see his wife Sheena and said there'd have to be a few winners with his name on them.

Meanwhile up near the bar I then got talking to Gerry Clarke, Niall and Jill McEnteggart who were in great form and said they were going to have a mad one no matter what.

One man who was mad busy on the night was chairperson of the committee Peter Kelleher from Kilkerley who said they were getting very close to their target and all going well, the night would bring them to figure needed for the playground. He also wanted to thank all the committee, the volunteers and everyone who donated and helped out financially with the drive.

Not too long later I met up with John and Michelle Mulholland from Kilkerley who were there to support the night and win loads of money.

Just arrived in were Pauline and Kevin Manning who were with Ciaran Carragher all from Kilkerley, Ciaran and Elaine Griffin from Hackballscross who were looking forward to a good laugh with all their neighbours.

After this I met up with Caroline Breen from Drogheda, Elizabeth Babington from Lennonstown Manor and Diane Dobson from Bay Estate who were there to support Kenneth Babington and told me they were going to have a fantastic night with plenty of winners.

Finally, before I departed I got a word with Rosaleen and Pat Scully, Maureen and Martin Holland, Kevin and Pauline Manning, Ciaran and Lisa Kelleher all from 'The Lane' who were with the latest arrivals to 'The Lane' Enda and Grainne Holland and they were going to have a mad one together.The death occurred on 19 March, 2018, of Joyce McCourt, late of The Manse, Castlebellingham, after a very long and full life. In a moving tribute her eldest son Kieran described her as a living incarnation of love and grace and Christian fortitude, with the greatest lesson of her generous life being: give and it will be given to you.

Joyces late husband Martin was one of Louths foremost industrialists of the 1960s. He was known to a generation as Managing Director of the AET/GEC factory in Dunleer which gave large scale employment in mid-Louth and from which other industries grew. He passed away in 1999.

Aged 94 years at her death, Joyce witnessed at first hand some of the great events in the tumultuous history of the last century and retained those indelible memories to the end of her long life.

She was born Joyce Forsey in Bristol in 1924, five years before the Wall Street crash.

Joyce was 16 years old in 1940 when she saw the bedraggled troops of the British Expeditionary Force stagger off the trains in Bristols Temple Meads Station, fresh from the beaches of Dunkirk.

Later her own family home was hit by a German incendiary bomb. The incident was remembered long into the 1960s when a fire bucket filled with sand still kept a vigil on the upstairs landing: in case, so the family joked, the Luftwaffe might come back to finish the job!

Towards the end of the Second World War, on the evening before D-Day in June 1944, she was privileged to see the great aerial armada of Operation Overlord passing overhead on its way to Normandy and the liberation of Europe.

Joyce met her future husband, Martin in her native city of Bristol. They married in 1945, when she was 21, and set up home in his native Castlebellingham, where she enjoyed the rest of her extraordinary life.

Speaking at the funeral mass in Saint Marys Church, Kilsaran, Kieran described his mothers later life as a roller-coaster. But through the highs and the lows of her husbands business career she had shown her extraordinary moral depth and steadiness. In the words of Rudyard Kipling, she had known how to meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two impostors just the same.

When she could have had anything that she wanted, all that she asked for was the love of family and friends and the means to make and mend her own clothes. She was, Kieran said, a wonderful mother and very special lady who radiated love from first to last.

Joyce was a woman of many talents but always hid her light under a bushel. Had the family decided to bring tokens of her life to the altar it would have been crowded with the knitting and sewing machines; the tapestries; the paintings; the Christmas decorations that she made from coat hangers; the model fort that she made for her son Martin from lollipop sticks; the books; the music; the piano; and, of course, the flowers. Ill have to ask you to imagine all these things, Kieran joked, because we just couldnt carry the piano.

As Joyces health declined, she took to reading, to crosswords and word puzzle books. She moved to Moorehall Lodge Nursing Home, Ardee, in 2016 at the age of 92 years. Characteristically, even at that stage in life she made new friends there among residents and staff.

Finally, and most particularly, Kieran expressed the familys thanks to Father Quinn and the Kilsaran Choir for celebrating the funeral Mass; to Fr. McGeough and Fr. Pentony who prayed with his mother and anointed her in Moorehall; to the staff there who filled his mothers final months with care and love and humour; and to all the congregation for coming along to pay their respects and to help the family through their loss.

Joyce is sadly missed by her children, Kieran, Helen, Martin and Paul; son-in-law Andre; daughters-in-law, Roisin, Valerie and Gabrielle; grandchildren, Natalie, Lydia, Stephanie, Blaise, Xavier and Killian; nephews nieces and other relatives; and her very many friends.

Joyce reposed at Moorehall Lodge on Wednesday 21 March and was removed the next day for funeral Mass in Saint Marys Church, Kilsaran. Burial followed in the adjoining cemetery. In Kierans words she lived the gospel and her goodness quietly touched everyone who knew her. May she rest in peace.Annie Haughey from Annies Newsagents in Ardee presents a cheque to Ardee Hospice. The funds were raised in the Easter Egg raffle in the shop.

Once again, congratulations to Annie Haughey and staff of Annie's News, Ardee, who recently presented Ardee Hospice with a cheque for 2,512- the proceeds of the shop's annual Easter Egg raffle.

For the past 17 years, the newsagent raffles an Easter Egg with tickets sold for just 1 each. This year, an amazing total of 2,035 tickets was sold with Anthony (Anto) Kenny selected as the winner.

"I would like to thank all of our loyal customers for their continued support in the business and towards Ardee Hospice Homecare," Annie told Drogheda Independent at the cheque presentation held in the Daycare Centre in Ardee town centre.

"As always, I have to thank everyone for their generosity in buying tickets for this wonderful local charity, and many thanks to everyone, especially Ciara Matthews and Emma Boylan for helping to sell tickets."

Ardee Hospice relies solely on fundraising and the goodwill of local people to ensure it can support and help the community.

'it is a fantastic organisation, set up by two local women, and it is sadly something most people will need at some stage in their life,' says Annie, who originally hails from Donegal, but has called Ardee her home for decades.

'There are many great causes in the town and county, but I make no apologies for supporting their amazing work every year.'

Stunning video to promote the best of Ardees people and places

A stunning video, highlighting all that's great about Ardee, has been produced by Lensmen.ie, a Dublin based photography and video company.

The man behind it is Sean Walsh, a local man, and of course, when he got the chance to show off everything positive about the town, he didn't need to be asked twice.

The drone took to the air above the town to record its key locations, from the rugby pitch to schools, businesses, open areas and St Brigid's.

It shows the roads that lead into and out of the town and its ideal location for big business.

Sean says he has gotten a good response already and is keen to drive the positive attributes of the Deeside.

'People from all over the world can see what Ardee has to offer now,' Sean stated.

He feels passionate about the town and wants to see industry move to the area and provide employment for people who'd rather work locally than commute.

'Ardee is affordable and accessible and has plenty of room to grow, yet it is still close to Dublin. It has the potential to be a vibrant town into the future.'

Cllr Dolores Minogue, who brought up such a video idea at a recent Ardee area council meeting, says she was delighted to see Ardee featured in this way.

'It's what we need to promote Ardee on the world stage, with the support of the IDA,' she stated.

The video can be viewed at https://vimeo.com/264096777.

Emergency homeless centre is needed for the mid Louth area

There was an excellent idea suggested at the Ardee district council meeting - an accommodation centre for people who find themselves homeless in the mid louth area.

Cllr Jim Tenanty brought up the subject after he was approached by a mother with two children who needed somewhere to go and he brought her to a homeless service in Dundalk. He said the staff were excellent but it was like a 'stable in Bethlehem' scenario.

He made the point that a centre of some kind should be available in the mid Louth area for people in a dire and urgent need of somewhere to go.

Cllr Dolores Minogue agreed that somewhere should be earmarked as the population was growing in the region and a housing centre was needed.

Director of Housing Joe McGuinness said that every homeless presentation was difficult but that the council hadn't too many instances from the mid Louth area.

He said it could be something the council would consider but they also had to look at a facility to suit such a project.

Road repairs were badly needed on the bog road

A point well made by Cllr Dolores Minogue at the recent area council meeting was a plea for repairs to be carried out on the bog road at Townparks (pictured).

The road, leading out to Ardee Celtic's ground and Coole, has suffered badly during the recent bad weather and there were a couple of real dangerous spots

By the very nature of a road through bogland, it will be bumpy, but at night time in particular it's an issue.

I'm glad to say that the council moved onto the stretch last week and completed a series of repairs which helps the road condition enormously.

Link road dumping will be tackled

Two different funding streams could be about to make a big impact on the area off the M1 roundabout at the Ardee Link Road.

The area has become a dumping ground - as well as a car park for workers who leave their vehicles there for the day and head north or south.

Funding has been secured for a clean up of the area, much to the delight of Cllr Dolores Minogue who has been working with Stabannon Tidy Towns on the project. 'The council will carry out the work due to health and safety there, but they gathered 50 bags of rubbish last time - but it was as bad again inside six weeks,' she stated.

She has also been working on funding for CCTV and wants to see that brought in as 'quickly as possible.'

She while there is no park and ride, people can't just dump at the location.Serious concerns regarding the British Government's plans for Northern Ireland post-Brexit, were raised this week.

Louth TD Declan Breathnach made the comments after the British Home Office recently posted advertisements for 21 Border Force Officer roles based in Belfast.

Deputy Breathnach said, 'This news is seriously concerning and spells trouble for Northern Ireland. The British Government are clearly putting in place preparations to enforce a hard-border on the island of Ireland should an agreement not be reached between the EU and British negotiation teams. There are fears that the British could renege on their commitments and are anticipating the need to implement a hard border.'

'These latest developments underscore the need for the Irish Government to redouble its efforts to prevent the imposition of a hard border. Such a move would be devastating to the social and economic fabric of Ireland, and would particularly impact on border communities.'

He added 'It is chilling that the British Government are putting in place detailed plans to deal with the one thing which they have promised to avoid.'

Meanwhile, the border, from Dundalk to Derry continues to prove a major stumbling block in the Brexit negotiations.

Donald Tusk, who is chairing a group of EU leaders said in the last few days that there will be no Brexit withdrawal agreement and no transition deal unless the Irish border issue is resolved.

'The UK's decision on Brexit has caused the problem and the UK will have to solve it. Without a solution there will be no withdrawal agreement and no transition,' said Mr. Tusk. 'The UK and EU agree there should be no hard border but differences remain on how to achieve that goal.'Louth MEP and First Vice President of the European Parliament Mairead McGuinness has called for electoral boundaries to be re-drawn ahead of the next European elections.

The next European elections will take place between May 23rd and 26th next year.

The elections will see Ireland gain two more seats with its representation of MEPs rising from 11 to 13 arising from the decision of the UK to leave the European Union.

Ardee native, MEP Mairead McGuinness, who is also currently the first vice-president of the parliament, called on the government to look at Ireland's electoral boundaries to accommodate the new seats.

'This arises from the decision of the UK to leave the EU, which means that no UK representatives will be elected to the European Parliament next year.

'In fact, UK members will leave the parliament on March 30th, 2019,' she said.

There are three European constituencies in the State: Dublin, which has three seats; Midlands North West, which has four seats; and South, which also has four seats.

Ms McGuinness said there were several possibilities for new constituency boundaries.

She said the work needed to be carried out by the Constituency Commission, which needs to be mandated to redraw boundaries.'Given the additional two seats, there will have to be boundary changes and it would be important that these new boundaries are drawn as soon as is practical.'Staff in McKenna Man didn't bat an eyelid last week when a customer brought in a gift voucher which had been purchased 23 years ago and were happy to honour it - once they worked out the conversion rate from punts to Euro.

'We've never had expiry dates on our vouchers,' said Conor McKenna, whose grandfather Peter founded the Earl Street shop in 1940.

'The lady came in and was buying a couple of shirts and she asked our assistant Ryan Markey who was serving her if it would be okay to pay with the voucher and he said it was no problem as we don't have expiry date for our vouchers.'

In fact, the only issue for Ryan, who was just two years old when the voucher was sold in 1995, was finding out its value.

Fortunately, David Sloan, who works in the accounts department, was able to work out the conversion rate 60 and the customer went home happy.

'Gift vouchers are a big part of our business,' said Conor. 'We are delighted to sell them and are delighted to redeem them. We've never had an expiry date on our vouchers because if we didn't honour them, customers wouldn't come back. It's always been this way,' he said.

This wasn't the first time that the shop has redeemed old vouchers, with staff recalling a customer coming in with an 18 year old voucher which had been found in a drawer a few years ago.

After they posted photos of the 23 year old voucher on social media, they were overwhelmed with positive comments praising them for honouring the voucher. The story was taken up by the national media. with Conor being interviewed by Morning Ireland on Monday proving that putting the customer first makes sense.Talented Dundalk student Ella Taylor (8) was a runner up at the national Sightsavers Junior Painter Awards held in Dublin last week.

The winners of the event were unveiled in The Science Gallery, Dublin on Tuesday last.

Competition was as strong as ever and this year's theme 'Put Us In The Picture' inspired creative entries from hundreds of primary schools across the country.

Second place went to Ella Taylor (age 8) from Scoil Mhuire na nGael, Dundalk, Co. Louth with her colourful painting 'Climate Controller Station Bringing Fairness to all Nations'

The overall winner was Patricia Poprawa (age 12) from Glenswilly National School, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal for her creation 'Draw me inI'm waiting' and Tobiasz Rogolski from Scoil Mhuire Naofa, Carrigtwohill, Co. Cork was awarded third place.

The winners were thrilled to be presented with their awards by Sightsavers CEO Charlie Lamson.

Alice O'Shaughnessy Larkin (age 6) from Scoil Mhuire na nGael and Chloe Crosby (age 10) from St. Joseph's National School both in Dundalk were also highly commended at the awards ceremony for their artistic paintings.

The annual Junior Painter Awards competition was devised by Sightsavers to inspire Irish children to express their artistic talent through painting, whilst developing an appreciation of the importance and value of their sight and the additional challenges facing those living with visual impairment in developing countries.

Principal of Scoil Mhuire na nGael, Ms. Martina Rafferty paid tribute to the students who were successful in the national competition aims to get primary school pupils to demonstate their artistic talent while also displaying a level of empathy and awareness of disability inclusion.

Ms. Rafferty explained that Ella Taylor's painting ' Climate Controller Station Bringing Fairness to All Nations' represented Ella's hope for the future where scientists could control the weather extremes experienced by nations across the globe. Many children in the developing world are the victims of flooding or indeed drought and infections spread more rapidly in these environments.

With over 3,500 entries received for the competition Ms Rafferty was understandably delighted to have two pupils in her school commended by the judges. While Ella was declared as one of 3 overall national winners receiving an art set for herself, an art workshop for her class and a 200 book voucher for the school, six year old Alice O'Shaughnessy Larkin a senior infant pupil in the school was one of just seven other pupils nationwide who received a special commendation by the judges and Alice also received a fabulous art set for herself.

Ms Rafferty added 'Through participation in this competition the children have gained a greater insight into the invaluable work undertaken by Sightsavers in the developing world and our second class pupils making their First Holy Communion at the end of the month will make a donation to Sightsavers who provide essential treatment for children suffering from blindness or partial blindness. It is good for our children to appreciate how fortunate they are and to think of others.'

The top three schools receive a cash prize for their schools, sponsored by The Book Centre and Barker and Jones bookshop, and memberships and 'toolboxes' full of arts and craft materials from ReCreate Ireland. The finalist and highly commended paintings will be exhibited in the Dun Laoghaire LexIcon Library throughout the Summer.

The paintings will also be displayed in Powerscourt Town Centre in August.Organisers are looking for volunteers to help out with the Irish Maritime Festival, taking place on 16-17th June.

The Festival, in association with Virgin Media, is a huge riverside festival at Drogheda Port. Over 40,000 visitors attend the two-day event each year.

"Our volunteer team are the lifeblood of the Irish Maritime Festival, we couldn't do it without them. They are the face of the Festival, greeting guests on arrival, helping parents and children to discover all the fun of the Festival and making sure people stay safe. Lots of our volunteers come back year after year because they enjoy it so much,' volunteer co-ordinator Karen Devine stated.

"The Irish Maritime Festival is a great opportunity to get involved in volunteering" continues Grainne Berrill, Louth Volunteer Centre manager.

"Often people come to us saying that they would like to try volunteering but don't know where to start. We always tell them that volunteering at events, such as the Irish Maritime Festival in June, is a great way to try it out."

Volunteers give a minimum of 4 hours over the weekend, but many volunteer for more because they love being part of the team for the full weekend.

Grainne continues "If you think you'd like to be part of this fun-filled weekend of Tall Ships, Music, Food and family-friendly fun please do get in touch.

'We'd love to hear from you. You'll be invited to a volunteer briefing to learn all about the event and to meet the team. We're really looking forward to meeting lots of new volunteers for the Irish Maritime Festival 2018."

Karen concludes "To volunteer contact: www.maritimefestival.ie/volunteer or call me on 041 9830142. Alternatively, pop in and have a chat with the team in Louth Volunteer Centre's office on Bolton Street."

The Irish Maritime Festival is proudly hosted by Louth County Council, in association with Virgin Media and supported by Flogas, Glanbia and Failte Ireland.Garda Superintendent Gerard Curley speaking at the official launch of Operation Enable in The Oriel Centre.

John Morgan and Cllr. Maeve Yore at the official launch of Operation Enable in The Oriel Centre.

Louth gardai pledged 'zero tolerance' on the abuse of disabled parking bays across the county at the launch of the new multi agency Operation Enable.

The operation was launched in Dundalk last week with Gardai from across Louth warning motorists that the rules governing disabled parking bays will be 'rigidly enforced' throughout the county.

Speaking at the launch, Chief Superintendant of the Louth Garda Division, Christy Mangan explained that Operation Enable is a multi-agency initiative between An Garda Siochana, Louth County Council, the Disabled Drivers Association of Ireland and the Irish Wheelchair Association.

'The objective of Operation Enable is to remind motorists to respect the wheelchair accessible parking bays in County Louth and prompt disabled parking permit holders to respect the conditions attached to the parking permit.'

Both Chief Supt. Mangan and Superintendent Gerry Curley insisted there would be 'zero-tolerance' exercised by Gardai in the approach of those use the disabled parking spots without a permit or abuse the spots by using without the permit holder in the vehicle.

'We won't be using much discretion in this, and we will enforce the rules rigidly, we make no apologies about that,' said Chief Supt. Mangan.

'What we will be trying to do is educate people, reminding them of their obligations with regards to disabled parking bays.'

He explained that Operation Enable was rolled out in Dublin early last year, but Louth is the first county where it is being launched outside the capital.

The operation has already led to, 3,149 fixed charge penalties being issued to drivers or owners of vehicles found parked in disabled pays without the proper permit or in cases where the permit was being used by someone other than the permit holder. Another 148 fixed charge notices have been issued to drivers stopped in disabled parking bays.

He highlighted the recent significant increase in the fixed charge fine for parking in a disabled parking bay without displaying a valid permit increased from 80 to 150. If the fee is not paid within 28 days, the fine then increases to 225. If the fine remains unpaid 56 days after the offence is committed, a court summons is issued.

He paid tribute to local disability rights campaigner, John Morgan, who he said had contacted him about shortly after his appointment to the Louth division to raise a number of concerns including disabled bays.

Speaking at the launch, John said that the responsibility lay not simply with Gardai or disability lobbyists but also with businesses and retailers who should improve access.

'There is 13.5% of the population registered with a disability. We have money to spend as much as anyone else. One in eight people, we can't get access to the shop - we're not going to go into it.' He added that disabled people who hold permits should also respect it by not allowing others to use it unless they are present in the car.

Louth councillor Maeve Yore appealed to supermarkets and shopping centres across Louth to 'also exercise zero tolerance' towards the abuse of parking bays in their car parks.A quilt by all the residents in the class.

Residents of Kinvara Nursing Home are presenting their exhibition 'A Day in the Life' at Signal Arts Centre.

The collection of art portrays the vast and exciting talents of the artists and is under way until Sunday, April 29.

This group of artworks captures significant memories that each individual resident has come to experience growing up in Ireland.

The inspiration reminisces on moments such as climbing Nelson's Pillar, long evenings strolling through Delgany woods, screaming to their hearts content on the dodgems, ploughing season in Wexford, ladies at the flower stalls in Dublin city, James Joyce and the hustle and bustle along Bray promenade - these are among the many happy recollections.

Once a week the residents attend art classes where they engage in a multitude of exciting and creative exercises, some familiar, majority not, which brings elements of enthusiasm and curiosity that can be seen in the pieces in this exhibition.

The work evokes a sense of nostalgia while accompanying contemporary ideas and methods through a variety of mediums.

An opening reception took place at the gallery last Sunday afternoon.Rathdrum lost a real stalwart of the local community with the passing on Tuesday of Dominic Ryan.

The respect in which Dominic was held locally was evident from the huge attendance at his funeral service held in St Mary's and Michael's Church. Guards of honours were formed by members of Avondale GAA Club and the walkers who participate in the Thursday evening walks in the grounds of Avondale Forest Park - a venture started by Dominic back in 2003.

Staff at St Colman's Hospital, where he had been cared for prior to his passing, also formed a guard of honour as Dominic was being removed from the hospital on Saturday morning. He was buried in Rathdrum Cemetery.

Dominic lived on Rathdrum's Main Street and was originally from Toomevara in County Tipperary.

While he always remaining a proud Tipperary man, Dominic quickly settled into life in County Wicklow once he moved to Rathdrum over 50 years ago and he wasted no time in becoming a vital part of the local community.

He worked for Irish Forest Products and, as a keen GAA man, was soon involved with Avondale GAA Club, for whom he played hurling in his younger years.

He was heavily involved in the Rathdrum conference of St Vincent de Paul and was an active board member of Rathdrum Development Association (RDA), which is dedicated to the development and heritage of the local community. He held the position of PRO for the RDA for a long time. He will also be fondly remembered by the regulars at Friday night Bingo.

Dominic played a pivotal role in the ongoing development of Parnell Memorial Park and regularly helped fundraise for St Colman's. He helped instigate the popular whitsun walks held on behalf of the hospital and was also heavily involved in the candlelight walks held in the grounds of Avondale Forest Park.

He also wrote and compiled the Rathdrum notes in the Wicklow People for a long number of years.

Dominic was renowned for his generous spirit and was constantly behind the scenes assisting people who needed help, without ever looking for any credit for his efforts.

On Thursday, 68 walkers celebrated Dominic's memory, including his daughters and grandchildren, as they embarked on the Jubilee Loop.

The RDA committee meeting which had been scheduled for last Tuesday was cancelled as a mark of respect, while RDA Chairman Jimmy Olohan paid tribute to Dominic at last Friday night's bingo.

A kind, soft spoken man, Dominic will be sadly missed by his wife Joan, son John, daughters Sinead and Susanna, daughter-in-law, sons-in-law, grandchildren, nieces, relatives and a large circle of friends.Members of Bray Municipal District agreed to provide funding for a number of projects at their most recent meeting.

They were deciding how to allocate a sum of 780,0000, relating to lands rented at the Southern Cross.

The agreed projects are: Bray Harbour improvements, 200,000; seafront enhancement scheme, 135,000; 17 acres report (old par 3), 10,000; wayfinding, 36,000; Peoples Park improvements, 50,0000; analysis of sporting needs, 20,000; Albert Walk improvements, 30,000; Dargle/Swan River walks, 60,000; North Wicklow walkways, 30,000; clock tower Enniskerry works, 30,000; crash barrier Anna Curra, 5,000; Bray and Enniskerry Tidy Towns, 30,000; Springfield pedestrian crossing, 5,000; civic awareness project, 10,000; Kilmac pedestrian crossing and paths, 30,000; roundabout project, 30,000; Fassaroe pitches, 10,000; Quinsboro Road public realm, 57,000; and site specific graffiti project, 2,000.

The members had previously agreed to use the money for public realm projects. It was Cllr John Ryan and Cllr Pat Vance who proposed that the money and arrears come to Bray.

In January, Cllr Joe Behan had asked that the officials prepare a programme of expenditure of the arrears of rent received from Nechouka/Starwood for the lands.

The district engineer was examining proposals for expenditure at that time.

Wicklow County Council received 14.4m in 2008 after Nechouka purchased 2.29 acres at Southern Cross as they wanted to locate a Superquinn on the area.

They were granted planning permission for a mixed use development on a combined site including the 2.29 acres and another nine acres.

As part of the lease agreement, a clause was included to impose penalties if construction on site did not commence within year one as agreed, at a cost of 100,000 per annum.

However, no construction works took place because of the 2008 recession.

In 2016, Nechouka wanted to vary the lease agreement to facilitate the sale of the site. They proposed to pay the full 778,000 owed to the local authority in penalties, on the condition that the lease agreement would be reduced to 1 per year from 2017 to 2022. This would allow for a purchaser of the site to prepare a fresh planning application, allow for any potential appeals to An Bord Pleanala and also allow time to secure the necessary funding. If the development isn't completed in that time, then a further 500,000 will be accrued.

International vulture fund Starwood Property Trust Inc later became involved with the lease.

Other projects suggested by the members included clubhouse facilities at Fergal Ogs, a dog walking park in Ballywaltrim, allotments for Oldcourt and Deer Park, and the upgrading of road surfaces in Seacrest, Sugarloaf Crescent, Mountainview Drive, Glenwood, Herbert Park and Charnwood.Evan Kearney from Bray, who came second in the 16-18 years category, with his sister Kim (11), brother Owen (18), mother Michelle and sister Shannon.

A Bray teenager has come second in his age category in the 64th Texaco Children's Art Competition - one of five Co Wicklow students to have won top prizes in the popular competition.

Evan Kearney (18) will be awared 1,000 for his second place finish in the 16-18 years category for his untitled portrait work.

Four other students will receive Special Merit Awards, namely Eimear Carvill (14) from Loreto Bray Secondary School, eight-year-old Dahlia Tansey from Lacken National School, and Emma Seckington from Gaelscoil an Inbhir Mhoir in Arklow and William O'Riordan from Wicklow Montessori Primary School in Wicklow town, who are both aged eleven.

Prizes will be presented at an awards ceremony in Dublin next month, when all of the 126 top prize-winners will be in attendance.Critically acclaimed trad crossover group Beoga will play an eagerly anticipated gig amid the intimate surroundings for cork's Cyprus Avenue next Thursday evening (May 3).

Over their more than 15-year career the five-piece have been widely praised for their self styled 'new wave' take on Irish traditional music, with the New York Irish Echo describing their sound as "a heady, virtually head-spinning sonic blend stamping Beoga as perhaps the most audacious Irish band rooted in trad today."

Consistently eager to challenge the perception of Irish music, the band blend various different genres into their sound, including bluesy riffs and Astor Piazzola-style jazz, to produce a refreshingly fresh and eclectic twist on trad Irish music.

While the band may be a new name to some, Beoga has earned a steadily growing cult audience among music fans and music industry insiders, with Ed Sheeran inviting them to join him on stage during his 2017 Glastonbury headline set to perform the track Nancy Mulligan'.

The performance followed on from a previous collaboration between Sheeran and the band, during the recording sessions for his smash hit album 'Divide' after being introduced to their music by mutual friend Foy Vance.

Two of their collaborations 'Galway Girl' ( based on the original Beoga track Minute 5) and 'Nancy Mulligan' made it onto the album, with both tracks going to be streamed more than 600 million times on Spotify alone.

The band themselves have released five critically acclaimed albums, been short-listed for a Grammy award, performed with the Ulster Orchestra at the BBC Proms and been presented with certificate of Congressional Recognition from the US House of Representatives.

This year promises to be a be busy one for Beoga, with the band set to release a new album with Foy Vance and Johnny McDaid of Snow Patrol in addition to a hectic touring schedule.

Tickets for what promises to be an exciting night of top quality music in the company of the band described by The Wall Street Journal as "the most exciting new traditional band to emerge from Ireland this century", are available from www.eventbrite.ie priced at 15 (plus booking fee).Having sold out their gig in Cork last year The Beat, arguably one of the most influential bands of the British Two-Tone movement of the 1980's, will return to the city on June 6 when they play the Cork Opera House.

When they rushed on to the UK music scene in 1979, it was a time of social, political and musical upheaval and The Beat sought to calm the water with their simple message of "love and unity" set to a great dance beat.

The original band consisted of Dave Wakeling on vocals and guitar, Andy Cox on guitar, David Steele on bass, and Everett Morton on drums - later additions Ranking Roger (toasting) and foundational First Wave Ska legend Saxa (saxophone) completed the outfit.

The band crossed over fluidly between soul, reggae, pop and punk creating an infectious dance rhythm. Along with their contemporaries The Specials, The Selecter, and Madness, the band became an overnight sensation and one of the most popular and influential bands of the British Two-Tone Ska movement.

By Christmas of 1979, The Beat were riding high in the UK charts with their first single, a cover of Smokey Robinson's 'Tears of a Clown'. Over the course of the next five years they released three studio albums - 'I Just Can't Stop It', 'Wh'appen' and 'Special Beat Service' and singles including 'Mirror in the Bathroom', 'Save it for Later', 'I Confess', 'Stand Down Margaret' and the Andy William penned 'Can't Get Used To Losing You', ensuing they were rarely out of the charts.

They also toured the globe with acts such as David Bowie, The Police, REM, The Clash, The Talking Heads, The Pretenders and The Specials. After four glorious years The Beat decided to call it a day, with Wakeling and Roger forming General Public, Andy Cox and David Steele tasted success with Fine Young Cannibals and Morton founding the International Beat.

In February 2003, a dream came true for Beat fans with the band reuniting for a UK tour, culminating in a sold out command performance at prestigious Royal Festival Hall in London.

Consummate showman that he is, Wakeling has continued to keep The Beat alive and strong. Touring as The Beat starring Dave Wakeling with an amazing all-star ska backing band playing all the hits of The Beat, General Public and his new songs.

Tickets for the concert on June 6 from www.ticketmaster.ie and www.corrkoperahouse.ie priced at 25. Immediate booking is advised as only a limited number of tickets remain unsold.A heartfelt rendition of the beautiful song 'Dragon Fly' saw Kilbrin's Nora Mary O'Riordan win the hearts of the judges in the North Cork heat of the Over 60s Talent Contest in Kilbrin Community Centre last Friday night.

Nora Mary represented the local Tir na nOg Active Retired Group at the contest which was in aid of the Irish Heart Foundation.

Other contestants who threw their hats in the ring included Collie Cloran, Knocknagree; Mary Guiney, Castlecor; Dan Joe Mullane, Donoughmore; Ger O'Brien, Castlemagner; Pat Flaherty, Kilbrin and Jim Lyons, Knocknagoshel.

The event was kicked off in great style by Kanturk's own Timmy Lynch, who was a guest performer for the night. Superb accompaniment was provided by Neil Moylan, while Paddy O'Brien and Steve Roche were on MC duty for the evening.

The Over 60s Talent Contest was established by Paddy O'Brien in 1977 to help combat isolation among the elderly while simultaneously raising funds for the Irish Heart Foundation. Paddy remarked that the contest has evolved over the 42 years into one of the most popular and well attended events in the musical social calendar.

Winning contestant Nora Mary will again step into the spotlight on June 17th in City Hall, Cork, when she will compete against various heat winners from all around the County in the final.On Saturday, May 5, Castlemagner Sinsir Club will host their annual dawn chorus Walk.

This well established special Bealtaine event will begin at 5am in Cecilstown village and will incorporate the scenic views of Ballyhass Lakes and the surrounding countryside.

The route is approximately three miles in length and the walk will be led by Fr Michael Dorgan PP and ornithologist and bird watching expert Vivian O'Gorman.

The registration cost for adults is 10 and 5 for children. This will include the traditional hearty full Irish barbecued breakfast which will be served at Castlemagner Community Centre on completion of the walk.

An optional novelty quiz with simple prizes will take place during the breakfast, based on information given by the speakers during the walk.

Walkers are advised to wear appropriate footwear and clothing, including a high visibility vest. For registration and further details contact 086 8521808.

Mallow Art Club demo

Mallow Art Club will hold its next demonstration on Thursday, May 3 in the Mercy Centre commencing at 7.30pm.

The very talented artist Paul Quaine will paint a costal scene which includes figures.

All are welcome to attend the demonstration.A heifer named in honour of an award-winning Irish gin made on the grounds of Ballyvolane House in Castleyons is set to make a huge difference to the lives of people in a Rwandan village.

Bertha, who takes her name from Bertha's Revenge a milk gin produced by the Ballyvolane House Spirits Company, was among a consignment of 20 in-calf heifers that recently made the 7,000-mile journey to Rwanda under an initiative organised by the Irish charity Bothar.

Bertha will be homed with a family in need in the village of Rwamagana in eastern Rwanda and was waved off on her journey by proud sponsors and Bertha's Revenge producers Anthony Jackson and Justin Greene. Both said they were delighted to be part of the initiative and that 'Bothar Bertha' will make a real and lasting difference to the lives of so many people.

"We are delighted to be able to honour our gin's namesake in this way. Bothar has been sending cows for the past 27 years and we are thrilled that Bertha's Revenge can play a part in making a difference to a community who really need our help," said Anthony.

Justin joked that, just like making gin, earning an income from a dairy cow can be a bit of a slow process. "We know that this cow will take a little bit of time before she starts earning an income for her new family, but the results will be very positive. We can't wait to track her progress in the years to come," he said.

To put the value of the initiative into perspective, Irish cows can yield up to 20-litres of milk per day, compared to just a single litre from an indigenous Rwandan cow. The income earned from the sale of surplus milk can mean better health, a better standard of living and better education prospects.

"It's a lovely thought that life will hopefully become far less of a struggle for at least one family thanks to a single Irish cow," said Anthony.The Fermoy branch of the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Ireland (MSI) is seeking volunteers to help marshal their annual Galtee Walk fundraising event.

Held each year on the third Sunday in June (Fathers Day), the walk is the group's main fundraiser, offering people the chance to enjoy some of the stunning scenery the region has to offer under the guidance of experienced hill walkers.

This, according to branch chairperson Joe Tobin, makes the event accessible for groups and families seeking to enjoy a fun day out exploring "the splendour of the Galtees in all their breathtaking majesty."

He said that in addition to enjoying a great day out, the Galtee Walk raises much-needed funds that "enable and empower people affected by Multiple Sclerosis to live the life of their choice to its full potential".

"This is our main fundraiser of the year, so having the support of the public means that we can reach out to more members of the community and offer them the support and services they need," said Joe.

"By taking part in the walk people will also be helping to fund scientific research into the causes of MS, its management and a cure for the condition," he added.

Now in its 37th year, the Galtee Walk, which will take place on Sunday, June 18, will get underway at the foot of the Galtee Mountains at the car park on the Black Road. The estimated 1,000 participants will cover a course of approximately four miles before returning to the start-point where refreshments will be available.

"We are looking for volunteers, preferably with hill-walking experience, to assist our stewards on the mountain and on traffic-management duties between 8am and 5pm on the day of the walk," said Joe.

Anyone who may be interested in volunteering to help ensure the smooth running of the event can contact Mary Lonergan on 087 668 2834. For more details about the 2017 Galtee Walk visit the event's dedicated Facebook page.'An Act of Hospitality can only be Poetic' is the title of Highlanes Gallery's exhibition, which will open on Wednesday 2 May. The exhibition presents works that respond to the themes of hospitality, identity, friendship and the multitude of journeys and conflicts encountered to achieve them.

Connecting with this exhibition as part of the Bealtaine Festival, celebrating age, arts and creativity in the community, Highlanes Gallery are hosting two special events in May, and wish to extend informal invitations to individuals and organisations.

The first event 'Be our Guest' is an opportunity for members of the community to share their stories in a friendly relaxed environment, an inclusive event involving all sections of the community, responding to the theme above. Organisations that the gallery are currently working with include Culture Connect, Drogheda Homeless Aid, but we want the conversation and the connection to continue, and in a meaningful way.

The event date for Be Our Guest will be Thursday 17th of May from 11.30-1pm with tea/coffee and cake. If you would like to tell your story contact Hilary at the gallery on 9803311 or email reception@highlanes.ie

Do you remember the 'Guest Tea'? Our second Bealtaine or Maytime event at the gallery is 'A Guest Tea', but with a difference. In the spirit of hospitality, friendship and identity, it offers an opportunity to engage with the many cultures in our community today. Through the old format of a traditional 'Guest Tea' you can share the typical food, song, dance, music and dress of your culture.

If you would like to be part of the 'Guest Tea' on Thursday 31st of May from 10.30-12.30pm, please contact Hilary at Highlanes Gallery on 9803311 or email reception@highlanes.ieinfo@conynghamarms.ie.Darkness Into Light - Pieta House's flagship fundraising awareness event - celebrates its tenth year this May in over 150 venues in Ireland and across the world.

Darkness Into Light has blossomed into a global movement against suicide and self-harm, with over 200,000 expected to take part on Saturday, May 12th this year. This unique event begins at 4.15am as participants walk 5km routes around the world and finish as the dawn is breaking, journeying together from Darkness Into Light.

The Committee of Darkness Into Light Drogheda are encouraging the local community to attend this the 5th year the event has been held in the town. Martha McCabe said, "The people of Drogheda have been incredibly supportive of the event since our first year in 2014. Last year, over 3,500 people took part from the local community, and we would love to see that number increase this year. Suicide and self-harm are serious problems in our area and we need to face them together."

Speaking on the importance of the event, Pieta House CEO, Brian Higgins, said, "I want to ask everybody to wake up and join us in support of families and friends affected by suicide and self-harm. All of our services are free, but the demand for them is ever-increasing.'

Registration for this year's event is now open and will be exclusively online at www.darknessintolight.ie.The spring of 1918 would be very different for the three canal villages of Cayuga County. No longer would water fill the canal that had helped to shape the villages 98 years prior. No longer would the citizens hear the sound of tin horns blown by the passing boatmen. No longer would the kids have a place to swim, fish and maybe tease the mule drivers. No longer would old men be able to stand on the bridges and watch the boats pass by, speculating on where they were coming from or where they were going. Although the canal was officially closed in the fall of 1917, it was likely that the realization that it was gone forever didnt hit people until the spring of 1918, when the canal stayed dry. The old canal was closed. The new, larger and better Barge Canal was in use.

Certainly, this was no surprise. The Barge Canal had been voted on as part of the elections of 1903 and although the canal villages of Montezuma, Port Byron and Weedsport had voted against this course of action, the legislation had passed and the work started in 1905. The project was a radical redesign of the canal system, all paid for by the state taxpayers. In contrast to the 48-mile Panama Canal being constructed by the federal government, the people of New York took on an even larger task of rebuilding nearly 500 miles of four canals. Over the course of 12 years, New Yorks canals would be made wider and deeper, and the locks would be three times the size of the older ones. The natural rivers and lakes would be canalized by building locks and dams. In places where there were no rivers or lakes, the old canal might be enlarged or a totally new canal would be constructed. The new canal would pass around the cities of Schenectady, Syracuse and Rochester, along with many of the small villages it had helped to create. In Cayuga County, the new canal used the Seneca River; this meant that the canal would be shifted north, away from the villages and most of the settlements. Interestingly, in 1817, it was recognized that the land around the river was swampy and not suited to building. And that condition never really changed, so when the canal was moved into the river, it was largely inaccessible to everyone in Cayuga County. Boats that had once stopped at stores and bars would now pass by without notice.Information Minister, Mustapha Hamid in recent times has been the subject of intense criticisms regarding his efficiency as a government spokesperson, leading to calls from the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and some critics on President Akufo-Addo to replace him with a more competent person.



The critics who argue that the Minister was not defending and espousing the works of government well enough, want Dr. Hamid to be reshuffled and the Information Ministerial position given to Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Guide newspaper, Abdul Malik Kweku Baako Jnr.



They believe Kweku Baako is more suited for the job of an Information Minister due to his indebt knowledge in governance issues.



Kweku Baako, a regular panellist on JoyNews Newsfile which airs every Saturday is an outspoken social commentator who is always in possession of a wide range of rare and credible documents that he uses to back his claims during talk shows either on radio or on television.



However, the Information Minister believes people need to come to terms with the fact that he puts in lots of efforts to satisfy the demands of his job which he insists requires him to attend to issues all over the country and not just in the nation's capital, Accra.



Mustapha Hamid's statement goes to buttress an earlier response to the similar criticism on the Hard Truth programme that his job is demanding and goes beyond sitting on Newsfile every Saturday, hence no one should compare Kweku Baako to him as the veteran journalist has not been a minister before.



This comments by the minister did not sit well with a section of Ghanaians as they felt the reply was too harsh and unfounded.



But speaking to GhanaWebs Editor, Kwabena Kyenkyenhene Boateng on 21 Minutes with KKB, Mustapha Hamid debunked reports suggesting he threw a jab at Kweku Baako, indicating that he only answered the question faithfully without malice.



I didnt throw him a jab... I answered a question faithfully that being a Minister for Information is not the same as being a media person whose duty on a daily basis is to do research on certain topical issues and espouse them. But he himself has come out to say that my answer was correct...that it is true that his job is not like mine and Im putting it to you that if you are made minister of information today, you will not be on Newsfile every Saturday of your life. You simply cannot, it is not possible, its not, he said.



He explained that the job of a minister is not as easy as it seems because he is always gathering information from all angles and travelling across the country just to serve Ghanaians well, therefore, it is unfair for people to expect him to sit on Newsfile every Saturday to show off his competence.



These two past Saturdays Ive been in Upper East Region and Northern Region. This weekend I will be in Central Region so what time am I going to find to be sitting on Newsfile every Saturday. How am I going to do that? So the two cannot be the same and he appreciates that they are not the same. And he researches on specific topics; Im researching on every other topic that concerns our national life as Ghanaians, he said.



When asked by the host if he will resign or apologise to Ghanaians as the Minority Caucus in Parliament are demanding, Mustapha Hamid retorted, Well, they are entitled to their opinion.

Source: Ghanaweb.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured VideoThe Drogheda City Status Group has expressed serious concerns that the Coalition Fine Gael/Independent Alliance Government and Louth Co.Council officials are actively downgrading Drogheda to deny Ireland's largest town becoming the Regional Capital for the North East and delay its designation as Ireland's next city.

The City Status group discovered that unlike Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford, no population projections were calculated for Drogheda out to 2040 and they believe this was a deliberate decision

"The word 'Drogheda' didn't appear once in the draft National Planning Framework," said Vincent Hoey, Chairman of the group, adding "it was only through intensive campaigning by the Drogheda City Status Group and many other concerned Business and Community groups and individuals that we got mentioned in Ireland 2040.'

Whilst Vincent acknowledged that Drogheda got mentioned in the final Ireland 2040 document, he said it was designated alongside smaller towns such as Letterkenny, Sligo, Athlone and Dundalk. "It's no big deal that Ireland's largest and fastest growing town should feature - rather, it was an affront to the people of the Greater Drogheda Area - including East Meath - to be excluded from the draft plan, as has happened in the past," said Vincent.Parents who park on the footpath and block the road outside Whitecross National School in Julianstown are facing the wrath of the law.

It being proposed that 'enforcement' of the parking laws will begin at the school after it was revealed there is 'ample parking' in the nearby church car park.

Acting on complaints, Meath Road Safety Officer Michael Finnegan says that action is needed.

'There were problems and I went to the parish priest and asked could the church car park be used for the school traffic and he agreed,' he told a meeting of the area council.

A route into the school from the car park was also developed, meaning nobody had to walk on the paths or road.

But many parents are now ignoring the opportunity, saying it takes too long to get out of the car park.

'They are blocking the footpath and there is going to have to be enforcement,' he said. 'A school warden would create even more problems here.'Ardee woman Mary Dunne (76) is inspiring members of the local active retirement to get logged on!

Mary was crowned the winner of the IT Enthusiast Award at the 2018 open eir Silver Surfer Awards. She was presented with her award at a ceremony in eir's Head Office by well-known fashion designer, TV and radio personality Brendan Courtney. The ceremony was officially opened by Minister of State at the Department of Health with special responsibility for Mental Health and Older People Jim Daly T.D.

Mary is regarded as a role model for her friends at the Ardee Active Retirement Group, which now boasts of 80% internet usage amongst members.

Mary is the driving force behind this uptake since learning how to use a computer in her late 60s. She books adventures online for her fellow pensioners throughout Ireland and across Europe and uses Pinterest to get inspiration for decorating the church.

She has set up a WhatsApp group to stay in touch with her six children and 16 grandchildren and has been known to give out tips for the Galway Races using the BetFinder app! Mary is an active promoter of internet safety and seeks to alleviate fears held by some older people around using the internet.

John Church, CEO of Age Action, said they were delighted to honour Mary and those like her.

'These Silver Surfers are challenging ageist stereotypes that the internet, social media and new technologies are only for young people. They're not just doing so to improve their own lives but, in many cases, to assist their neighbours, support their communities and reach out to people who need help.'

Minister Daly highlighted the benefits of older people engaging with technology, saying: "Developing technological skills is a great benefit as it can help nourish a sense of independence and in turn give older people increased confidence that they can take forward into all the other aspects of their lives."A capacity crowd arrived at St Mary's Church of Ireland recently for a musical treat in aid of the Church Organ Restoration fund. Organised by lead soloist in St Aidan's Cathedral, Ms Lorna Mahon and supported by Enniscorthy Lions Club, the concert brought together some of the county's best known talent for one night only, raising a significant amount of money in the process.

Among those performing on the night were the Kinsella Sisters, Eric Hayes, George Lawlor, The Castlebridge Community Choir, Ciara Cullinan and Colm and Marie O'Tiarnagh while in the audience were esteemed guests Bishop Denis Brennan, TDs Paul Kehoe and James Browne, Chairman of the Municipal District Cllr Keith Doyle and District Manager Liz Hore.

Welcoming the large crowd, Rev. Nicola Halford, Rector at St Mary's, said she was 'overwhelmed' by the response received to date for the organ restoration project.

'Your attendance here this evening is a clear indication of your desire to see the organ restored to full working order,' she said.

'And it is my earnest wish that this be done.' She went on to give a brief history of the musical instrument, saying it had been in St. Mary's Church since the late 1800s, having been brought there from Dublin Castle. It was built in 1815 by William Gray of London, she said, and is one of his few remaining organs in existence today.

Mr. Eric Barron, President of Enniscorthy Lions Club, spoke of the pleasure it was for him and his colleagues in the Lions Club to assist in the fund raising effort to restore the organ to full working order.

He hoped the figure required for the restoration work to be completed would be reached and he assured Rev. Halford and her community of the Lions Club continued support for all future fund raising efforts.

The exact figure raised from last Sunday night's concert has still to be determined but the organisers are satisfied the sum will surpass the target set when the concert was first announced.Historically and geographically speaking, Enniscorthy is often regarded as being the centre of County Wexford. All roads certainly led to the Cathedral Town last week as author, musician and cultural critic Blindboy Boatclub arrived at the Presentation Centre for the latest sold-out instalment of his live podcast.

While the proud Limerick native would be the first to admit that wearing a plastic bag on your head can have an impact over how seriously you are taken as an artist and commentator, those who are familiar with Blindboy's work will be in no doubt that this is one very intelligent and talented man. Although he has previously admitted to suffering from a certain amount of social anxiety when it comes to live shows, he seemed completely at ease as he took to the Presentation Centre stage, sitting in front of a microphone and laptop and periodically taking drags from a vape pen.

He got the evening underway by reading two short stories from his book 'The Gospel According to Blindboy', both of which were dark and involved a certain amount of grim torture. The first focused on a spurned lover using an ancient Persian method of torture on his wife's new partner, while the other focused on two Cork boys and their plan to skin Rory Gallagher alive. When you separate yourself from the bizarre topics of the stories and focus on the words on the page, you'll see the magic that Blindboy weaves. He has a wonderful penchant for the descriptive and using all four senses to put you in the room where the action is taking place. In the first story 'Scaphism' his description of walking lonely country roads on a dark winter's evening is something which you could argue wouldn't look out of place among the work of the country's modern literary heavyweights. Not bad for a man with a plastic bag on his head.

Following his readings, Blindboy welcomed his guest Cathy Keane of Heritage Tours Wexford and they plunged head-first into the rich history of Enniscorthy and notably, Vinegar Hill. Cathy proved a great advocate of Wexford history and tourism and did a fine job in pointing out just how much history exists on our doorsteps. Blindboy learned the reverence with which Fr Murphy is held in these parts and took great interest in Cathy's tales of him running cattle towards the crown forces before engaging them. 'He f**king weaponised cattle!' the Limerick man proclaimed, amazed.

Cathy also discussed some of the findings from the recent archaeological studies of Vinegar Hill, along with tidbits such as the use of exploding musket balls which claimed the limbs of so many women and children on the hill. Blindboy seemed genuinely fascinated by the history of Wexford and it's bloody reputation of resisting imperial rule, but he was also enthralled by cultural aspects such as the Yola language and how certain phrases, such as 'quare', have been passed down to this very day.

With the live podcast set to be broadcast to people all over the country and, indeed the world, at some point over the coming weeks, there's no doubt that Cathy helped to capture the living, breathing history that's here in the county for all to see. A fascinating evening, the event proved a wonderful success for The Presentation Centre and no doubt they'll be hoping to welcome the bonafide Limerick legend back again soon to delve even further into our plentiful tales of the past.For fans of the hit show Love/Hate, a familiar face will be taking to the stage at The Presentation Centre next week in a riveting one-woman show. Mary Murray, best-known for playing the role of Janet in the RTE crime drama series, will star in 'No Smoke Without Fire' - a play written by Paddy Murray and directed by Jimmy Smallhorne.

Murray has gained massive critical acclaim for her role in the play and it has been described as a 'one-woman tour-de-force'. The plot surrounds 60,000 in post office robbery money which is up for grabs and scandal knows no bounds as six women gossip intermittently in the smoking area of a Dublin pub.

As they do, they leak a trail of personal information behind them. As the innocent along with the guilty suffer the strings of innuendo and the lashes of sharp tongues, a hilarious tale of crime and its consequences unfolds.

The critically acclaimed show makes its way to The Presentation Centre for one night only on Friday, May 4, at 8 p.m. Tickets are priced at 16/14 and are now on sale from The Presentation Centre on 053 9233000 or www.presentationcentre.ie.Award winning Fingal band Delorentos will release their fifth album on Friday.

The band were in rural Spain over two years ago recording an album but did not like the results so they ripped the songs up and started over again, this time in Donegal.

While on tour in the autumn of 2015 the band were lent a small studio in a Vineyard in Northern Spain and set about recording the bones of a new album. They recorded 15 songs but, on returning home, weren't happy that the songs reflected the band's current creative space - they were too close to what the band had done before and not a true reflection of the band's collective feeling.

They started again and True Surrender was written, arranged, recorded, mixed and honed over a chaotic three year period of bilocation, the birth of children and a heightened level of personal and professional anxiety. Songs were written, stripped back to their core and rebuilt.

Now the band are ready to hit the road again to play the new songs. The forthcoming fifth album is titled 'True Surrender' and as part of the promotion the band played two sold out gigs in Whelan's last week in addition to gigs in Cork, Limerick and Galway plus an appearance at the BEO Festival in Merrion Square.

Recent appearances on the Ray D'Arcy Show and the Six O'Clock Show on TV3, will lead on to a number of in-store shows this week where they will perform live and sign copies of the album..

They start in Tower Records, Dublin on the 27th, launch day. Then in MusicZone, Cork and Rollercoaster, Kilkenny both on the 28th and in Golden Discs, Dundrum on the 29th.

Already the band are lined up for a number of Summer gigs in Ireland and Spain and will culminate with a headline gigin The Olympia in November. Delorentos are made up of Kieran Mcguinness from Skerries, Ronan Yourell from Malahide and Ross Mccormack and Neal Conlan from Portrane.Members of Fingallians donned their colours and joined in at a city centre celebration of the Irish language.

The local club members joined the BEO! Irish Language Celebration held in Dublin.

This family event is a highlight of Bliain na Gaeilge and involved a parade from Parnell Square to Merrion Square, with free concerts featuring Fingal band, Delorentos along with the likes of Kila and others.

There was also an address from President Michael D Higgins at the event where Fingallians members were encouraged to attend and wear their club colours

Saturday, April 14 saw thousands of Irish language supporters gather in Dublin's city centre where they paraded from Parnell Square to Merrion Square. The event was a celebration of the language and part of 'Bliain na Gaeilge'. The day was organised by Conradh na Gaeilge and the Gaelic League and groups from all over the country were represented.

Gardai estimate that upwards of 6,000 were in attendance. The participants were entertained with music from Scannal, Delerentos and Kila.

Uachtaran na hEireann, Michael D. Higgins, addressed the crowd and asked the Government for additional funding for the Irish language. He also called for everyone to use the Irish they have, be it little or lots.

The Fingal region was represented by Fingallians GAA from Swords.A stunning design by a two Malahide students has won two major honours at the annual Bank of Ireland Junk Kouture final which took place at the 3Arena.

The creation by Alex Mangan and Cliodhna Cole-Rigney entitled 'Inbhuanaitheacht' has been named the Dublin Regional Winner. The entry was made from Flax-hemp, which is a pure natural hemp fibre product that is made of the long fine fibre that comes from the stem of the flax plant.

It was also awarded the Griffith College Scholarship Prize.The highest award in scouting in Ireland has been bestowed on a Malahide leader who has given 40 years service to the movement.

The Chief Scout of Ireland Christy McCann was on hand to make the very special presentation.

The Order of Cuchullain is the highest award that Scouting Ireland can bestow on a leader in the movement and the Chief Scout was there to present the award to Gerry Hickey who has been a member of the Group since 1971 and has been a Sea Scout Leader since 1977.

He was also in a position to present Gerry with his 40 years service award.

Gerry was totally taken by surprise and did not even notice many Scouting friends from much further afield who had been sneaked into the audience to celebrate his award on the night.

Otherwise on the night the Chief Scout presented a total of 265 years of Leader Service awards at Malahide Sea Scouts AGM and awards night.

Two 20 year service awards were presented to Pat Moyne and Ivan Barrett, two 15 year awards to Joann Butterly and Gillian Ford. There were also five 10 year Awards to Rob McGrath, Ed O'Donnell, Greg Veneer, Emer Somers, Colm Colgan and 24 five-year awards to other leaders.

Chief Scouts Commendations for Services to Scouting were awarded to Jorden Killen, Evan Hopkins and Derek Eason

Giving the Group Leaders Report the Deputy Group Leader Kevin Rowan outlined the highlights of the past year including the first full year in the refurbished Scout Den the addition of three new Programme Sections A Beaver Team, a Cub Pack and a Scout Group.

All Sections had an annual Camp in Ireland and are looking forward to the Irish National Jamboree later this year.

Looking forward to 2019 the Group will celebrate its centenary and plans of a programme of events for this are well underway.

In the summer a substantial number of Scouts who will travel to Virginia in the United States as part of the Irish National Contingent to participate in the World Scout Jamboree.

Annual launching of the Boats on the May Bank Holiday weekend is fast approaching and this just needs someone to switch the sun on so that the Outdoor Summer Boating Programme can begin.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.A mobile blood donor clinic is taking place in St Maur's GAA Club in Rush on Monday, April 30. The clinic will be open from 4.30pm to 8pm.

A second clinic will be heading to Skerries Community Centre on Thursday, May 3 from 4.30pm to 8.30pm.

New and former donors are always welcome.

If you are fit and healthy, aged 18 to 65 (between 65 and 70 years if you have donated in the last 10 years), over 7st.12 lbs (50kg) and have not donated in the last 90 days, please make a special effort to come along. Every week 3,000 donations are needed in Ireland. A total of 5,714 units were required in Beaumont Hospital, Dublin during 2017.

For further details, contact our lo-call Donor Information Line 1850 - 73 11 37 or Finbar Gethins, Area Manager at our Ardee Regional Office, 041 - 685 9994 or www.giveblood.ieDublin Airport staff had a very special welcome for the first baby born in Terminal 1 when she arrived back to the place of her birth, 10 years later.

The now 10-year-old Carey Ingwell made a surprise appearance into the world on February 25, 2008 when her mother went into labour and gave birth in a bathroom on the Departures Floor in Terminal 1 and she is still the only baby born at Dublin Airport.

'I had no idea I was expecting,' said her mum, Catherine.

She added: 'I was returning home to Bristol with my family after a weekend in Dublin city celebrating my father-in-law's 70th birthday, I felt very unwell and to my complete surprise I proceeded to give birth to a baby girl in the cubicle on my own.

'My mother-in-law came looking for me and gave me her coat to wrap around Carey, she then called for help from airport staff. I really want to thank the airport's emergency services for looking after us so well and getting us to the hospital quickly.'

Dublin Airport Fire Officer, Ciaran Foster was part of the team assisting with the birth.

He said: 'We have attended to women who have unexpectedly gone into labour but this was the first birth we attended to.

'It was important for us to move very quickly to get mum and baby to hospital. I remember the look of shock on Carey's father's face when we told him he had a new baby daughter.

'We often wondered how Catherine and Carey were doing, so it was fantastic to meet them both again to personally recount the story of her birth,'

'Carey's birth is something that's still remembered at Dublin Airport' said Dublin Airport Spokesperson, Siobhan O'Donnell.

She added: 'We see most of life's events happening at the airport, as people are travelling for a variety of happy and sad occasion, but this was our first birth at the airport and that was a very special event.'

Carey was presented with a special cake to mark her arrival back to Terminal 1 and a voucher to spend at The Loop.Darragh O'Brien TD and Senator Lorraine Clifford-Lee have both been selected to represent Fianna Fail in the next General Election in the constituency of Dublin Fingal.

Members and supporters gathered on Tuesday night in the Carnegie Court Hotel, Swords for the selection convention which was chaired by the Party's Deputy Leader, Dara Calleary TD.

Speaking following the convention, Deputy Darragh O'Brien said: 'I am absolutely honoured to have been unanimously selected to contest the next General Election as a candidate in Dublin Fingal along with my colleague Senator Lorraine Clifford-Lee.'

Laying out his platform for the next election, Deputy O'Brien who is his party's Spokesperson for Housing, said: 'Born and bred in Dublin, there are a number of serious matters that I strongly believe require attention in our county. In my new role as the party's Housing Spokesperson I consider it crucially important to address the current crisis.

'House prices are being driven higher and higher while 10,000 people in Fingal remain in need of social housing under this Government. Its policies must change to better reflect the needs of ordinary people.'

Deputy O'Brien added: 'The issues which remain in effectively policing Fingal and protecting our community are in urgent need of resolution - I will be maintaining pressure the Minister to reverse these cuts to Garda resources which are neglecting the safety of residents.

'I look forward to the work ahead and continuing to represent the people of Dublin Fingal.'

Senator Clifford Lee. who joined Deputy O'Brien on the party's General Election ticket in Dublin Fingal for the second time, said: 'I'm delighted to have been selected along with Darragh O'Brien TD to contest the next General Election for Fianna Fail,'

Laying out her priorities for the next election, Senator Clifford Lee said: 'I hear from young parents in Fingal all too often regarding the difficulties in childcare, school places and housing costs in our area.

'Raising a family can be a struggle and this Government don't appear to recognise that. I aim to take a seat in Dail Eireann to represent the hard working families in our community; those that are crying out for support but are continually neglected.'

Turning to some specific local issues, she said: 'Protecting the biodiversity of the unique peninsula in the North County and our local environment more generally is something I am particularly conscious of and that I believe warrants more political influence in maintaining.'

'I believe that I can inject a new energy and freshness into politics by playing my part in securing the two seats necessary to achieve a fair and positive vision for the future of our country.'With the electrification of the northern line to Balbriggan and on to Drogheda unlikely to be completed until 2027, an interim solution is on the way that will see 'hybrid' trains run north of Malahide and on to Balbriggan by 2022 or 2023, it has been revealed.

In correspondence with local Labour TD, Brendan Ryan, the National Transport Authority revealed that it is acquiring 'hybrid' trains to run on 'un-electrified' parts of the commuter line, north of Malahide.

A dart expansion programme in the Government's National Development Plan (2018-2027) allocates 2 billion in funding for the extension of Dart services northwards.

This will involve the electrification of the northern line as far as Drogheda but while that process goes on, the NTA are acquiring a 'bi-mode Dart fleet' that will use electricity on the electrified part of the line as far as Malahide and diesel fuel, on the 'non-electrified sections of the commuter rail network'.

The NTA told Deputy Ryan in a letter seen by the Fingal Independent that: 'This fleet type will allow the introduction of Dart services north of Malhaide in advance of completion of the full electrification of the line.'

The NTA expect the fleet acquisition tender process to start by the end of this year but warned: 'However, the process of having rail fleet built is a lengthy one and it will take three and four years after the award of the contract before the new fleet will start to be delivered, in either 2022 or 2023. However, we will then be in a position of being able to extend Dart service northward to serve locations such as Balbriggan.

Deputy Ryan criticised the move and said: 'I was surprised by this response and furthermore, instead of this being a quick solution to increasing the capacity on the Northern Line, I was informed by the NTAT that the sourcing and procurement of a new fleet could take up to five years with an expectation that it will be delivered in 2022 or 2023.

'Only then will the NTA be in a position to extend the Dart services as far north as Balbriggan and Drogheda.'

He concluded: 'The ever-increasing population of North County Dublin has led to increased pressure on our transport infrastructure including massive pressure on our train services and bumper-to-bumber car traffic on the M1 corridor. We need faster solutions to the commuter chaos in Fingal.Fingal company, Keogh's Crisps as secured a major contract with Emirates, the largest international airline in the world, which will see an estimated one million bags being served on board annually.

The premium Irish brand which is made in Oldtown using potatoes grown on the farm, will be available to First Class passengers and was selected by the Emirates Group following a blind tasting of 15 different brands, of which Keogh's came out top.

The Irish-made crisps will be served on board Emirates flights around the world as part of the airline's First Class Hot Sandwiches and Snacks service and as an accompaniment to drinks.

The announcement was made at Marketplace International, Bord Bia's annual food buyer event in Dublin, where the two brands were first introduced in 2015.

Keogh's Crisp flavours selected by the Emirates Group include Shamrock & Sour Cream, Cheese & Onion and Lightly Salted with seasonal variations such as Turkey and Stuffing being introduced on board for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

According to Tom Keogh, Managing Director of Keogh's Crisps: 'Bord Bia's Marketplace is an invaluable platform for Irish producers to gain access to overseas markets. We have designed an innovative new 25g pack in the popular lightly salted flavour for First Class passengers to accompany their drinks.

'Quality and consistency is what first class demands, so we are delighted that our crisps will be flying premium all over the world.'

Enda Corneille, country manager for Emirates in Ireland said: 'Keogh's joins other fantastic Irish products on board selected flights including Gahan meats, Killowen Yogurts, Jameson Whiskey, Bailey's and VOYA beauty products.

'Emirates is very particular about the origin and quality of the food served onboard and caters to the palates and preferences of its passengers.

'Having Keogh's served to our First Class customers is testament to the quality and taste of the crisps being produced at the North Dublin farm.'

Emirates carries up to 1,500 tonnes of cargo from Dublin eastbound every week so that international audiences can enjoy a flavour of Ireland that now included Keogh's Crisps, helping the Irish success story go global.

Emirates has continuously demonstrated its strong commitment to the Irish export market since it launched its inaugural flight between Dublin and Dubai in January 2012.

2017 saw Keogh's secure 8pc of the overall Irish crisp market, while exports are now set to grow substantially with the announcement of the Emirates deal.

The 400-acre farm in Oldtown will be increasing potato production to fuel growth to meet its current three-year expansion plan, which aims to increase productivity by 50pc.

Marketplace International gives Irish producers a unique opportunity to propel their products onto a world stage with almost 550 buyers flying to Dublin from 50 countries. Bord Bia expects in the region of 40 million worth of new business to be generated as a direct result of this event.Planning permission has been granted on appeal for a huge solar energy project on 154 acres of land in Ballyboughal after An Bord Pleanala overturned an earlier decision by Fingal County Council to deny permission for the development.

The Gaelectric Renewable Energy Development at Mainscourt in Ballyboughal has won a 10-year planning permission for what is described as a 'solar photovoltaic ('PV') energy development to include a single storey 38kv electrical substation building and electrical equipment compound, electrical inverter and transformer stations, electrical string inverters and marshalling cabinets, solar PV panels, mounted on metal frames, upgraded and new access, tracks, underground cabling, perimeter fencing with infrared CCTV and access gates, temporary construction compound, 2 no. spare parts containers, weather station, an upgraded operation access point from the L1075, an upgraded temporary construction access point from the R129, and all ancillary infrastructure and associated works within a total site area of up to 154.84 acres'.

The 25 Megawatt Fingal solar energy project on 154 acres in Ballyboughal should be welcomed, according to Cllr Tom O'Leary (FG).

He said: 'That's enough clean sustainable power for the combined towns of Skerries and Lusk (or approx 85% of the population of Balbriggan.' He said the facility would provide 'sustainable energy for approximately 7,500 homes'.

Cllr O'Leary explained: 'Ireland faces substantial fines of at least 75 million per annum from 2020 if it does not meet its agreed sustainable energy targets.

'Each area and each local authority is mandated to achieve those targets.

'Fingal continues to diversify to sustainable energy production and that is welcome and should be encouraged in appropriate locations.'

The Fine Gael councillor added that the county should not stop with this project, saying: 'We need to continue to press forward in Fingal with a variety of sustainable clean energy production located in appropriate areas, subject to planning assessment.'

Dealing with some of the concerns around the development, he said: 'Food Wise 2025, (a Government National Policy) seeks to increase the value of agri-food, fisheries and wood production sector by 70% and the value of food exports by 85%.

'There is no evidence to suggest that the development of this solar farm on 62 hectares in County Dublin would compromise the value of agri-food or the value of food exports at a national level. It is noted the site can continue to be utilised for sheep grazing.'

The site, is 62.66 hectares, or 154 acres, is located 1km east of Ballyboughal village and c. 4.2km west of Lusk,

Planning permission is for a period of 10 years and the Planning and Environmental Report (PER) states that the development would have an operational lifespan of 30 years.Fingal jewellery designer Tracy Gilbert has created a distinctive capsule jewellery collection to be made available at the prestigious venue that is the British Museum and inspired by Newgrange.

The new collection entitled 'Circle of Light' will be available in the Grenville Room shop and online at the London museum which houses a vast collection of world art and artefacts.

These elegant 'Circle of Light' pieces are inspired by Irish architecture, design and the importance of the sun to Ireland's Celtic past, and will appeal to any woman who wants to celebrate the rich history and culture of the Celts. Tracy Gilbert commented: 'It is an honour for my jewellery to have been chosen as part of the Celtic jewellery collection at the British Museum, the meanings, looks and historic designs, and how Celtic art has evolved to become a part of modern jewellery design.'

Tracy was educated through the Irish language and was always interested in Irish & Celtic history, culture and heritage. Her Irish heritage was always an inspiration.

She said: 'I remember reading about Newgrange and how on the shortest day of the year, everything aligned so that the sunlight could illuminate the millennia old burial chamber to spectacular effect.

'I found it absolutely fascinating and love the idea of light playing a part in jewellery design. That inspired me to create collections that allow the light to shine through translucent materials and to have the sun as the focal point.

'In my Circle of Light collection, the sun is at the very centre of the pieces represented by a beautiful golden citrine gemstone and each of the eight spirals represents a Celtic festival.'

Career highlights for this Fingal-based designer so far include a thank you note from President and Mrs Obama for a pair of cuff-links and a pendant from Tracy's 'Growing Home' collection. Being featured in the British Museum stands to become another personal highlight.

The British Museum was founded in 1753, the first national public museum in the world. From the beginning it granted free admission to all 'studious and curious persons'. Visitor numbers have grown from around 5,000 a year in the eighteenth century to nearly 6 million today.

Today, Celtic design continues to have a powerful resonance both home and abroad. Irish designers are producing contemporary interpretations of millennia old symbolism and appealing to the Irish diaspora.

Tracy made a radical life change following a successful career as an actuary. Having commissioned a necklace for a family friend, Tracy followed her heart and embarked on a career as a jewellery designer.Callum Leonard from Bunscoil Loreto Gorey with parents Tanya and Brian and brother Riley

Four Wexford students have won top prizes in this year's 64th Texaco Children's Art Competition.

In the 6-years and under age category, first prize of 150 went to 6-year-old Callum Leonard, a pupil at Bunscoil Loreto Gorey, for his work entitled 'Boy On Skateboard'.

Other winners from Wexford, all of whom will receive a Special Merit Award are ten-year-old Maya Rubin-Rahn from Gorey Educate Together, seven-year-old Jamie Dunne from Bunscoil Loreto Gorey and five-year-old Jack Bates from Artmakers, Kilmore.

Prizes will be presented at an awards ceremony in Dublin next month when all of the 126 top prize-winners will be in attendance.At the launch at Wexford Library: Denis Collins, who launched the book, authors Rosemary Palmeria and Deirdre McGarry, and Alice McIntyre, who supplied some music for the event

A new book by two friends, one who lives locally and the other who lives in East Yorkshire, was launched recently by Denis Collins at Wexford town library.

'Causeway' is a new book of poetry by Deirdre McGarry and Rosemary Palmeira. It is a collaboration based on writing they had completed on the same themes. The two women have been close friends for many years.

Deirdre moved to Wexford four years ago having spent most of her adult life in England. She has been writing since she was a teenager but began to take it seriously in the last 15 years, following early retirement from a role as a criminal solicitor in the UK. She has appeared in numerous anthologies, co-edited a book for Amnesty International in the UK and was the writer-in-residence at Bridlington's Christ Church which resulted in two anthologies of Christian poetry.

Rosemary lives in East Yorkshire. She recently retired from a lengthy career as a psychotherapist, helping refugees and asylum seekers recover from the effects of torture, stress and exile. She has written for many years and will publish a solo collection later this year.

Both women also enjoy painting and Deirdre is currently working on her first solo exhibition, due to feature in Enniscorthy's Presentation Centre in November/December of this year.

'Causeway' is on sale in the Book Centre and in Wexford Arts Centre.There was great excitement in Gorey School of Art on Monday as student Aoife O'Callaghan was offered a place in the prestigious Goldsmiths College of Art and Design in London.

Aoife will be following in the footsteps of artists such as Damien Hirst and Anthony Gormley.

'It hasn't quite hit me yet, I am both surprised and delighted to be offered the place,' said Aoife. 'Art has always been an area I had hoped to return to but was nervous to take it up full-time as making art was a very personal thing to me.'

After submitting her portfolio online, Aoife was selected to attend an interview at the college in London. She is currently studying the one year Advanced Portfolio Course at Gorey School of Art. The 24-year old student just returned from education after two years working as a radiographer in England.

'I have really enjoyed the course in Gorey and exploring the opportunities available to me after I finish the year,' said Aoife.

Tutor Andrea Mc Corry said she is really proud of all the students achievements this year as results from all the colleges have been excellent. 'But it is lovely to see the work being recognised by Goldsmiths College in London,' added Andrea.

Principal of Gorey Community School said they are delighted to see students from Gorey School of Art continue to achieve at such a high level.The proceeds from a Wishing Well in the Amber Springs Hotel have been donated to Seal Rescue Ireland in Courtown.

Manager of Amber Park Paul Gorby donated 600 to the organisation for a third year. He said Amber Park, situated behind Amber Springs Hotel, has a little village inside which contains a wishing well.

'When children hop aboard the Easter or Halloween train, I tell them to make a wish and throw the money in,' said Paul. 'The money is then taken out once a year and divided up to donate to local animal welfare charities.'

The money will be used for the day-to-day running of the Seal Centre.

The centre always needs donations of cash to help with food and medical bills and other costs. Equipment such as towels, bushes, and hose pipe taps and connections are also needed. See www.sealrescueireland.org for more information.The councillors were told at last week's Gorey Municipal District meeting that all refurbishment works on the North Pier in Courtown and draining and dredging of the harbour is finally completed, according to engineer George Colfer from Wexford County Council.

Mr Colfer said 20,000 tonnes of material was taken from the harbour after it was drained and moved to the Burrow side of Courtown.

'The material has since been covered up with sand, and the rocks that were on the beach have been placed back to where they belong,' said Mr Colfer.

The main issue the contractor for the harbour faced was the extreme bad weather Wexford faced in March. Mr Colfer said the rainfall was twice the average of what it normally is in March.

Cllr Pip Breen congratulated the completed work on both the pier and the harbour.

'I noticed there was a vast amount of tyres in the harbour, which is worrying,' said Cllr Breen.

Cllr Malcolm Byrne said he agrees with his fellow councillor, but asked did the contractor find anything interesting in the harbour?

'We did have archaeologists on site during the process, but they found nothing,' said Mr Colfer.

Cllr Robbie Ireton requested Mr Colfer do something about the increase swell at the harbour entrance for the fishermen.

'It is way more dangerous to come into the harbour, than it is to leave,' added Cllr Ireton.

Mr Colfer said a report is currently being done.At the launch of the Ballycanew Ballyoughter Community Development Association launch of their history trail and tourism map in the Ramble Inn were, back row: Aislinn Dunn, secretary; James Browne TD; Mick Doyle, BBCDA chairperson and Peggy Byrne, committee. Front: Tony McDonnell and Paul Swaine, committee

The first ever caricature history trail map in county Wexford has been created by the Ballycanew/Ballyoughter Community Development Association.

The 'Ballycanew History Trail Map' brochure was launched last week by the association to help ensure the viability of historic features such as Ballymore House, Oulart Hill and the 1798 Centre in Enniscorthy.

Secretary Aislinn Dunne said the map is centred in Ballycanew, but directs people out of the village towards historic places around the district. The map has been numbered one to 14 to correspond to signs that have been placed around Ballycanew and surrounding area.

'We wanted to support villages who put in a lot of effort into history, but do not get any recognition for it,' said Aislinn.

Chairman of the Ballycanew/Ballyoughter Development Association Mick Doyle welcomed everyone to the launch of the Trail Map and gave a special thanks to everyone who supported them.

The map and brochure includes historical information about Ballycanew, dating back to 1247 when the first reordered mention of Ballycanew was given to Theodore De Neville.

Aislinn said they have received great feedback, especially from Tourism Ireland and local businesses. The leaflets will be available at Market House design and in Ballycanew village.

The Association has made it through to the Wexford Business Awards 2018 interview stage, which is being held today (Tuesday), for the Wexford Social Enterprise Outstanding Achievement Award.Under pressure: Wexford GPs have an average of 1,118 patients each, the highest total outside of Dublin

On average, GPs in Wexford have the second highest number of patients outside of Dublin and even in the capital it's only Dublin West where the figure is marginally higher.

According to the Irish Patients Association the 72 GPs practicing in Wexford have, on average, 1,118 patients each. The organisation also revealed that 65,647 people here have medical cards with a further 14,876 having GP-only cards. The total number of cards in the county is 80,523 and these are in relation to 49,636 families. Wexford is also well above the national average of 861 patients per GP.

The average payment per patient in Wexford is 195.80 while the average support payment provided, per patient, is 45.80.

The figures were recorded by the IPA as part of a review of medical cards, GP only cards, and fees for 2016.

The averages appear very high especially in view of the fact that the Irish Medical Organisation estimates that 26 per cent of GPs in Wexford will retire within the next seven years.

In a statement issued to this newspaper, Dr Stephen McMahon, from the IPA, said the addition of [free] visits for Under-6s has added greatly to the work load of many practices. In Wexford the average number of children under 6-years-of-age visiting their GP is 7,189 with 2,486 people over 70 visiting. They represent averages, per GP, of 100 (under-6s) and 35 (over 70s).

Dr McMahon also referred to Government plans to introduce free GP care on a phased basis to those aged under 18 and said: 'This is certain to increase the number of GP consultations per year.

According to the IPA, it's anticipated that 1,310 new GPs will be needed to keep pace with expected rises in consultations. The organisation also revealed that approximately 10m was paid to GPs in 2016 from training initiatives for trainee GPs.

Dr McMahon said the IPA is recommending that a national call centre be established to administer bookings for GPs and their referrals to consultants.

The organisation also highlighted there is no 'hard evidence of what is being delivered for the spend' and it recommends any new contract must have patient outcome performance as a measure for reimbursement.

In compiling its figures the IPA used HSE payment schedules for 2016 and merged them with official GMS medical card and doctor-only visiting cards for January, this year, as the base for its report.

The report was compiled in advance of a new national GP contract and Dr McMahon said it was the first in a series of analytical pieces on primary care.

'As the state begins the process on one of the largest contracts it will sign on behalf of its citizens, amounting to [between] 6.8bn over a 10-year period, we must be confident that it will deliver timely, high-quality, value-for-money health outcomes,' he said.

Dr McMahon went on to comment that his organisation is now calling for the 2017 report on the overall spending on medical and doctor-only visiting cards to be completed as a matter of urgency in preparation for the GP contract negotiations.Next month sees the inaugural May the Fourth Be With You Festival come to Kerry.

This four-day Star Wars-themed event capitalising on the global success of the county's association with the franchise is a timely reminder of the formidable reputation that the region has formed within the film industry.

Famously Kerry has gained global attention throughout cinema history with its scenic beauty acting as a backdrop to such famous films as Ryans Daughter, Far and Away. More recently The Lobster as well as Star Wars: The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi continue to shine a strong light on the county as the ideal film location.

What is also apparent, is the high volume of talent we are now supplying within the industry. Proud Kerry man Michael Fassbender is one of Hollywood's most reputable actors and Jessie Buckley star of the upcoming feature film Beast is also carving out quite a formidable career and is a name we are sure to hear a lot more of in the coming years.

Behind the camera, Killarney native Fodhla Cronin O'Reilly was just last year BAFTA nominated for her work as producer on the chilling Lady MacBeth and the directorial works of Gerard Barrett have earned him critical acclaim on the film festival circuit and strengthened his reputation within the industry.

Kerry also boasts no less than three films festivals : the Dingle International Film Festival, The Charlie Chaplin Film Festival in Waterville and the Kerry Film Festival with all three not only showcasing the best of local, national and international produced film but also the welcome and hospitality that only this county can provide.

Local support for the industry is also evident through the establishment of a new steering group made up of various agencies and experts with a view to promoting Kerry both as a film destination and encouraging development within the sector.

In addition, a 15,000 Bursary co funded by Kerry County Council and Arts Council Ireland is currently on offer for any film maker that chooses to shoot a short film in Kerry, which is further proof of the investment in film within the region.

The magnificent work of the Kerry ETB Training Centre has become the foundation for the long and successful careers of the creative film making talent being produced in Kerry, and is also another factor in the region's success.

The healthy appetite and support for film within the viewing public throughout the county is also evident through the success of three independent cinemas in Killarney, Waterville and Listowel as well as the Omniplex in Tralee all enjoying huge audiences on a regular basis.

What is clear to all, is that the monumental success of film in Kerry runs a lot deeper than the influential attention that an iconic franchise like Star Wars can attract. It is the passion, talent and unmistakable scenic beauty within this county that will ensure that this golden era of film in Kerry continues for many years to come.The Force is set to be very strong in Kerry next week as south and west Kerry prepare to celebrate their role in the latest episode of the blockbuster Star Wars franchise.

Much of the latest Star Wars film 'The Last Jedi' was filmed on Skellig Michael and at Ceann Sibeal - which doubled for the Skelligs - and west and south Kerry have enjoyed a surge in tourism as a result with film fans from across the globe arriving to get a closer look at the locations.

May the fourth has become known across the world as Star Wars day and to celebrate the occasion the communities in Portmagee, Valentia and Ballyferriter - working in conjunction with Failte Ireland - have organised a galaxy worth of events planned over the May Bank Holiday weekend.

A highlight of the weekend's events in both areas will be open-air drive-in screenings of The Last Jedi - at Bray Head car park in Valentia and at Beal Ban beach near Ballyferriter - set against the very backdrop on which it was filmed.

In south Kerry visitors will also be able to enjoy boat trips around the Skelligs; stargazing; a Jedi-inspired ceili at The Moorings Bar in Portmagee and a Star Wars-themed family fun day at the Royal Hotel in Valentia.

Over in west Kerry there'll also be plenty for Star Wars fans to enjoy.

Events there include an exhibition of behind the scenes photos from the film shoot; tours of beehive huts like those inhabited by hermit Jedi Luke Skywalker in the film; guided tours of the filming location at Ceann Sibeal; and boat trips along the stunning coastline that drew the film makers to the Kingdom.

There's lots more going on in both areas from May 4 to May 6 and for the full details of the 'May the Fourth Be With You' weekend log on to the www.wildatlanticway.com.Microplastics, collapsing bird populations, mounting litter on land and shore, and a warming climate - it gets heavy, fast, thinking about the damage we're doing to our precious planet and our fellow creatures.

But one community campaigning brilliantly to re-connect us with Mother Earth is laying on a festival set to blow minds in an explosion of film, music, outdoor activity and much, much more.

Wild Mind Nature Festival takes place in Fenit over four days from Thursday, April 26 to Sunday 29 - following the success of a biodiversity event held in the stunning port in recent years.

"The festival is about getting a positive message across on the very serious issue of the environment and the damage we're causing to it," organiser Mike O'Neill said.

"We can't keep pretending everything is fine with the impact of human behaviour on our planet.

"The way we're treating it at the moment it's not going to last very long for us, but there are so many positive things we can start doing now. It is never too late and Wild Mind is all about emphasising the positives," Mike said.

The range of expert speakers on the way to Fenit alone is staggering with the man behind upcoming doc Ireland's Deep Atlantic film-maker Ken O'Sullivan - whose family hail from Fenit Island - first on the programme in a talk at the Community centre.

Champion surfer Easkey Britton will meanwhile arrive to Fenit to discuss our many connections to the sea at Mike's own Beach Cafe on Saturday at 12noon.

"Niall Hatch of Birdwatch Ireland is also coming for a Q&A session around the screening of a US film called The Messenger focusing on our relationships with songbirds and the drastic impact of human behaviour on their numbers.

"Niall will also lead a free birdwatching tour the following morning, Saturday, from 10am," Mike said.

Film is a huge part of the programme - with two gems screening for school pupils at the Tralee Omniplex on Friday 27: 'A Plastic Ocean' narrated by David Attenborough (10am) and 'Eire Fhiain' at 12noon.

"Eire Fhiain is a stunning piece made by Eoin Warner that actually beat the BBC's Blue Planet 2 to win Best Natural History Documentary in the Grierson Awards, which tells you how good it is.

"There are two versions, English and Irish but we're screening the Irish one as we are very keen to promote the native language in Wild Mind too."

There's simply too much going on to offer a comprehensive synopsis of what promises to be an incredible celebration of nature right in the heart of one of the wildest coastlines in Europe, with so much for all the family.

Check it out on www.wildmind.ie or get your hands on a brochure.Caitriona Perry, RTE Six-One co-anchor, pictured with Kerryman journalist Sinead Kelleher, the sixth annual Women in Media Conference held in Kilcoolys Restaurant Ballybunion. Photo By Domnick Walsh

Nell McCafferty Pictured at the sixth Annual Women in Media Conference held in Kilcoolys Restaurant. Photos by Domnick Walsh

Michelle shares a funny memory of life behind the lens during the INM chaired panel discussion on Sunday afternoon

Photographer with The Kerryman Michelle Cooper Galvin says that her role as a photographer involves capturing perfect local moments across the county.

Michelle joined a panel of photographers for the final discussion at this year's Women in Media Conference in Kilcooley's House in Ballybunion at the weekend.

The conference closed on Sunday with a discussion on photography 'A picture paints a thousand words' chaired by INM's head of news and visuals, Jane Last, and featuring Michelle, Stockbyte founder Jerry Kennelly, a leading stock photography agency, and INM award-winning photographer, Gerry Mooney.

Mr Kennelly told the conference that photojournalists have a huge role to play in society and that they must be allowed to do their work without censure.

The hugely successful Women in Media Conference once again bought together leading Irish women journalists, campaigners and politicians including RTE's Miriam O'Callaghan and Katie Hannon, Mary Minihan from the Irish Times, campaigner and journalist Nell McCafferty, Former Tanaiste Mary O'Rourke, and Senator Alice Mary Higgins.

Mrs O'Rourke joined Nell McCafferty, Senator Higgins and Mary Minihan for a discussion on 'Celebrating 100 years of the Vote for Irish women: Would the Irish Suffragettes be happy with the progress to date in securing equality?'.

Ms McCafferty also told the conference that she would voting yes in the Repeal the 8th referendum next month because she believes that abortion is necessary when it comes to non-consensual sex.

'Rebuilding Trust in a Post Truth Era' was another Saturday morning session which included speakers from across the media - including RTE's Caitriona Perry, and Editor of the Journal Susan Daly, along with RTE Prime Time reporters - Katie Hannon and Miriam O'Callaghan, 96fm's Deirdre O'Shaughnessy, and Ellen Coyne of The Times Ireland.

Two leading women journalists were honoured on the weekend, with Justine McCarthy of the The Sunday Times being presented with the Mary Cummins Award for Women of Outstanding Achievement in the Media and Ardfert's Sinead Kissane from TV3 the inaugural Joan Kennelly Award.

The topic for discussion on Sunday morning was 'Growing up in the 21st Century: The challenges it brings to today's adolescents' - a topic introduced by a local teenager, Briannagh O'Connor from Ballybunion who suffered bullying in her own life.

CEO of the Irish Society for the prevention of cruelty to children (ISPCC), Grainia Long, called for a similar body to the Road Safety Authority to be set up, for digital safety.

The social media ban in Blennerville National School, which made headlines in The Kerryman, was also discussed and Ms Long said that it was a difficult decision for a principal to make but that children should be involved in making that decision.

This year marked the sixth year of the Women in Media conference and organisers are already planning a packed agenda for next year.

In the final conclusion of proceedings organiser Joan O'Connor summed it up simply as a 'terrific' weekend.Australian and Canadian military aircraft will soon head to a U.S. base in Japan to monitor "illicit" ship-to-ship transfers involving North Korean vessels, the ABC has confirmed.

An Australian military plane is being sent to Japan to help monitor North Korean ships.

"Japan welcomes these activities from the viewpoint of upholding maximum pressure on North Korea", the ministry said in a statement. The announcements came a day after the leaders of North and South Korea pledged at an historic summit to work for the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

The British Royal Navy has already announced it will deploy its frigate Sutherland to waters around Japan to monitor maritime smuggling.

Raptors recupera ventaja en su serie

La ultima vez que el equipo de Toronto perdio tres juegos consecutivos de temporada regular fue del 8 al 14 de febrero de 2017. Kyle Lowry sumo 17 unidades y 10 asistencias por Toronto , que revivio en la serie tras perder el tercer y el cuarto partido.

Athletics' Manaea sets new Oakland record for consecutive no-hit innings

The win was the ninth in the past 11 games for the Athletics, who started the season 5-10 and now are 14-12. Right-hander Daniel Gossett and left-hander Brett Anderson remain the top two options to replace Graveman.

Microsoft's Windows 10 April Update is probably coming in, er, May

The next big Windows 10 update is nearly here, but the Fall Creators Update is continuing its upward surge in the meantime. The aim was to create a quick exploit which could be used to elevate privileges during an assessment.

It is understood the United States will play a leading role in coordinating the operations out of its Kadena Air Base.

Security experts believe North Korea has been engaging in illicit activities at sea due to it being in dire need of fuel and other goods due to United Nations -led sanctions.

It is extremely rare for multiple non-Japanese forces to operate from Japan.Dingle Camphill Community staging their final performance of Dance in My Shoes on Dun Sion beach on Friday. Photo by Declan Malone

Visitors to the beach on Dun Sion on Friday were in for a surprise as members of Camphill Community performed "A Walk in My Shoes".

A gathering of family, friends and supporters of the dancers and the Dingle Camphill community watched the 20 minute performance, which was the third and final outing of a dance which has been documented by Camerman Michael Keyy.

If you want ot catch up on this performance, a 20-minute film of the project will be shown on Friday, May 4, at 3pm in the Phoenix Cinema and an exhibition of protraits of the dancers will be on display in Grey's Lane Bistro during Feile na Bealtaine, which runs from May 3 to May 7.

The performance was choreographed by Zoe Ui Fhaolain under the Artist in the Community Scheme award managed by Create.

Planners find a lot to learn in Maharees

A meeting that brought together the knowledge and experience of scientists, locals and planners in the Maharees before the weekend could play an important part in future decisions on where people can and cannot live in rural Ireland.

The meeting came about after Dr Eugene Farrell of UCG, who is studying coastal erosion in the Maharees, was invited to host a field trip by a group of planners who were attending an Irish Planning Institute conference in Tralee last Thursday and Friday.

Dr Farrell showed the planners the serious impact of erosion on the Maharees and explained how locals are working with Kerry County Council, official bodies and other interests to save the sandy peninsula from the encroaching sea.

He also conducted a workshop in Spillane's pub, which provided a unique opportunity for scientists and the local community to sit down with the people who implement planning policies.

The workshop in Spillane's focused on the National Adaptation Framework (NAF), which was published in January, setting out the national strategy for coping with climate change. This strategy could have a huge influence on decisions to grant planning permission in the Maharees and elsewhere.

It emerged from the workshop that while planners know a lot planning policy, they need to learn more about climate change if they are to effectively implement the planning policies contained within the National adaptation Framework in areas like the Maharees, which Dr Farrell described as "a good example of the impact of climate change".

Another important outcome from the workshop was that it gave the planners an insight into the work being done by locals in the Maharees to combat coastal erosion and how this could be integrated into planning policies. "The planners were incredibly excited seeing the cooperation between the community in the Maharees and official bodies," he added.

In the Maharees the local community, spearheaded by the Maharees Conservation Association, is looking for solutions to the challenges of climate change and coastal erosion. According to Dr Farrell, the work being done there could be a template for communication between communities and planners on dealing with these issues.

"Long term planning solutions have to be based on scientific evidence We need to change the way we approach planning and we need to work with nature," he said. "Planners working with communities at local level is critical in this."

Meanwhile, one very positive result of ongoing co-operation between Maharees locals and official bodies on the problem of erosion is that the OPW announced in March funding of 150,000 for a coastal erosion and flood risk management study in the Maharees. "This is the first major step in coming up with a long term strategy and it came out of the community working with scientists to understand and work together on the problem," Dr Farrell said.

Holy walk to help fund church renovation

Rev. Phyllis Jones is taking the first steps in a journey that she hopes and prays will conclude with the renovation of St. James's Church in Dingle.

On May 1, Reverend Phyllis (pictured right) will leave from Dublin to undertake the last 116km leg of the Camino to Santiago de Compostela, completing the walk to the famous church, which shares its name with the St. James's church in Dingle. The fundraising effort is for the renovation of the iconic church which, apart from Church of Ireland services, is used widely by the West Kerry Community during festivals.

The cost of the renovations, which will include bringing water to the church, installing a disabled toilet and underfloor heating are in the region of 500,000. Details of the planned renovations are displayed in the church on the wall beside the sacristy.

The Church of Ireland church, dedicated to St. James, is the place of worship for the Anglican community in West Kerry and over the past 16 years it has been the home to the internationally famous 'Other Voices' series. To support the fundraising effort visit their crowd funding page at www.ifundraise.ie/stjameschurch.

Wild Atlantic cycle blows into Dingle

Breathless participants in Failte Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way Cycle Sportif will wheel their way into Dingle next Monday with the Dingle Percussion Band providing a pumping rhythm for the pedal pushers.

The cycle, which starts in Kinsale and finishes in Donegal, is expected in the Skellig Hotel between 3.30pm and 4pm on Monday next, although the time of their arrival could be delayed by weather the rigours of the road.

The cyclists will have a two-night stop in West Kerry and to keep them entertained Dingle Peninsula Tourism Alliance will provide information on all the area has to offer, including guided electric bike tours of the 'Ventry Way'. Electric bikes mightn't seem like an obvious choice for hardened cyclists but it'd give them a chance to see rest their legs while touring the west.

The WAW Cycle Sportif will leave Dingle on Wednesday with the Percussion Band again providing the rhythm as they face the Conor Pass road to Tralee.

Breandan replaces Derry on B&B board

At the recent AGM of B&B Ireland Breandan Fitzgerald from Dingle was selected to replace Derry Murphy as the Wild Atlantic Way Kerry Director on the Board of B&B Ireland.

Following a very successful term, which saw the national representative body of B&B's in Ireland grow its market share and increase its membership, Derry Murphy had completed his term on the board.

Also at the B&B Ireland AGM, Philomena and Michael Brosnan of Imeall na Mara B&B in Baile na nGall were nominated as 2018 B&B Host of the year finalists.

Dingle makes a clean sweep on plastic

Dingle is leading the way in a campaign to cut back on the single-use plastic cups, cartons and packaging that litters our streets and pollutes our seas.

The Glan environmental initiative, which was officially launched in Dingle on Friday, aims to encourage businesses to cut down on single-use plastic and to use more environmentally friendly alternatives. Take-away coffee cups are a prime example, but the same thinking also applies to food packaging and even plastic drink straws - one billion of which are used and then dumped globally each year.

The initiative grew out of a conversation between Louise Overy of Dingle Oceanworld, Joe Lynch of Dingle Tidy Towns and Susan Vickers of Clean Coasts about litter and the environment. The conversation developed into the Glan (Green Local Area Network) initiative, which is already receiving a very positive reaction from Dingle businesses, according to Susan Vickers.

The initiative has been taken up by the Maharees Conservation Association who are now putting it into action and next week it will also be launched in Tralee. After that it is planned to extend the initiative throughout the country.

The primary aim of GLAN is to help businesses and individuals make small changes that will help reverse some of our over-dependency on plastic. This is done in the form of pledges, so businesses are given a list of pledges from which they choose three or more that they will carry out. Participating businesses will have a Glan sticker on their window and people are being encouraged to support their efforts.

In conjunction with the Glan project, Dingle is also piloting a 'two minute street clean' which encourages frequent small scale litter-picks. Kerry County Council is supporting this initiative, which is the first of its kind in the country.

"We are very excited about the possibilities Glan opens up for people who want to take positive action right now to tackle the growing tidal wave of plastic pollution that seems to be engulfing us. It allows locals to take ownership of their own consumption and set a good example to others. 'Think local, act global' is a bit of a cliche these days but this initiative is a perfect example," said An Taisce's National Spring Clean Manager, Emlyn Cullen.Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Brendan Griffin TD launching Irelands first Marine Tourism Strategy with Caroline Boland Dingle Peninsula Tourism Alliance, Kevin Flannery FLAG, Vera ODonovan BIM and Tom OLeary of OLeary Associates in The Anvil Bar, Boolteens on Saturday

The development of village blueways is among the key actions highlighted in a marine tourism strategy launched, described as the first of its kind for Ireland, for the Dingle Peninsula in recent days.

The strategy has zoned in on a number of areas such as developing blueway trails at the peninsula's coastal villages, water-based activities, and promoting the peninsula as a destination for marine-based activities. It also hopes to develop onshore activities such as greenways, heritage trails, seafood trails, and art and culture-related matters in conjunction with its marine strategies.

Also among potential opportunities identified is the development of holiday and activity packages, and encouraging experiences highlighting the Gaeltacht-links of the region. The strategy was developed over the course of a six-week consultation process and takes in all of the peninsula's communities.

It is hoped village blueways will highlight the characters of these communities and achieve a number of objectives such as increasing the number of bed nights in these villages, extending the tourism season locally, and spreading tourism throughout the peninsula and beyond the region's main hub, Dingle town.

It has placed particular attention on some of the region's smaller communities in identifying eight locations. "Blueways would basically be a loop trail with a starting point and a finish point. We've identified eight locations. We'd be looking to pilot some in Castlegregory, the Maharees, and Dingle Marina," Tom O'Leary explained.

"We're going to pilot them where there's already infrastructure in place such as piers, car-parking facilities, and providers for activities such as kayaking, as there is in Dingle and Castlegregory. In Inch, you'd already have a lot of surfing in place. Basically, it's where there is infrastructure, shelter and service providers in place.

"A blue way trail is a kayaking or stand up paddle board trail on the water and is usually a looped trail." It is subject to national guidelines.

The blueways, which also include locations such as Ce Bhreanainn, Feothanach, Wine Strand, Cuan Pier, and Minn Aird Castle. FLAG (fisheries local action groups) South West supported Dingle Peninsula Tourism in developing the marine tourism strategy ahead of its recent launch by Minister Brendan Griffin TD.

FLAG is a community-led local development initiative for fisheries and aquaculture-dependent communities, run in conjunction with Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM), with funding from the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund. Grant aid of almost 23,750, bringing total investments to just shy of 30,000. As well as seeking out new opportunities to stimulate the local economies, the DPTA hopes to support existing businesses and help them develop.

"The Dingle Peninsula has some of the best beaches in the country if not Europe for water based activities," a Dingle Peninsula Tourism Alliance's [DPTA] Caroline Boland said.

"The coastline has spectacular scenery and is enriched with heritage, culture, the Irish language and history. There is a long tradition of fishing and maritime culture on the peninsula and this will be showcased in a more connected way as the strategy is implemented."A Fianna Fail TD in Kerry has called on the Minister of Health Simon Harris to map out a pathway to reverse Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (FEMPI) cuts to GPs in the county.

The party's spokesperson on Primary Care John Brassil TD made the calls recently and said that Ireland could be facing into a major shortage of GPs in the coming years.

He added that GP services across the country are already facing a tipping point due to the high age profile of those currently serving as GPs.

"It is vital that the Government provides a clear pathway to achieve the full reversal of FEMPI cuts for Kerry GPs, with that process to begin immediately," the TD said.

"A new GP contract could take several years to negotiate. It is not appropriate that the reversal of these cuts is used as leverage.

"FEMPI is already being reversed across the public sector, and indeed in the public health service. GPs are being left out in the cold in this process," he added in outlining his feelings on the issue.

In explaining his concerns, Brassil TD said that two in five GPs are approaching retirement age, meaning Ireland could be facing a shortage of up to 1,400 GPs by 2025.

He described this conundrum as a tipping point that must be immediately addressed by the Department of Health.

"The strain under which GPs are currently operating means that this cannot wait," he said.

"GP services across the country have now reached a tipping point. 36 per cent of GPs are aged over 55 years according to the Irish College of General Practitioners.

"By the HSE's own estimate, Ireland is facing a shortage of between 493 and 1,380 GPs by 2025 unless urgent steps are taken to address the shortfall. This needs to be resolved as a matter of urgency.

"Rather than struggling to keep practices open, GPs should be treating patents and helping to establish an exciting new model of community-based care in which they are future leaders."May 19 is going to be a big day for the British royal family - but no less so for Killarney girl Cele Brits will marry the love of her life Lawrence Mason just 20 minutes away from where Prince Harry and Megan Markle will tie the knot.

When Cele, who grew up in Aghadoe, Killarney, chose her wedding date last September she never once thought that it would clash with a British royal wedding. And the clash is turning out to be a royal pain.

"Cele is getting married in Burnham while Prince Harry is getting married in Windsor. They are in the same district. We don't know what to expect but we know that where we are staying is a crucial road," says mother-of-the-bride, Jeanne.

Jeanne and her husband, Stephan, will be among a party of 12 from Killarney who are travelling to London for the nuptials. This includes four out of the five bridesmaids.

The family contacted local police to find out if they need to make any special arrangements and have been told that they may need permits to go to their own family wedding.

"It is very stressful. My biggest fear is that Cele may have to wait for us and the guests to arrive," said Jeanne.

"We will be travelling the same route [as the royal family] and our predicament is that the roads will be closed. We weren't expecting this crowd around London for the day. The police are telling us that permits might be needed."

Although the bride is remaining calm about the situation, Jeanne is fretting and last week wrote to the Queen of England to ask her advice on what to do.

Cele attended Mercy National School in Killarney and later the Intermediate School in Killorglin. The family moved from South Africa when Cele was six and she is currently working in London as a theatre nurse.There will be no CCTV in Killarney until an issue is sorted out with the Data Protection Commissioner regarding access to the information recorded on CCTV.

The Government has announced that funding will be available for CCTV schemes across the country and it is hoped to roll out three schemes in Kerry - including one in Killarney.

The funding was to come from the Department of Justice but it has now emerged that all schemes across the country have been halted following a complaint to the Data Protection Commissioner. The complaint, by a group in county Meath, centres on concerns about the day-to-day operators of CCTV systems and the controls placed on them.

A decision on this complaint is due in the third quarter of this year and the Government has informed local authorities to halt all CCTV schemes until this decision.

The introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation also raises issues for CCTV schemes and the implications of this will also have to be examined.

Chairman of the Joint Policing Committee, Niall Kelleher, asked that a letter be sent from the committee to the Data Protection Commissioner about the importance of community CCTV.

The Killarney scheme was to be put in place in the town centre and outlying areas, including Ballyspillane.An accountant who pleaded guilty to four counts of theft at Wexford Circuit Criminal Court in 2015 has been excluded from membership of Chartered Accountants Ireland (CAI) following a disciplinary tribunal relating to a separate matter.

A formal allegation against Nicholas O'Connor, formerly of Reddy O'Connor & Company with an address at Troon Lodge, Ballycrane, Wexford, was heard at a hearing before a Disciplinary Tribunal of CAI earlier this year.

The tribunal found that Mr O'Connor acted in breach of the Institute's Code of Ethics for Members (2014): Fundamental Principles: a. integrity, c. professional competence and due care, and e. professional behaviour.

The tribunal heard that Mr O'Connor had: issued 34 audit opinions in breach of a hot file review restriction imposed on his firm's audit registration, and; had issued an audit opinion when he no longer held a practicing certificate and his firm no longer held audit registration.

The tribunal made an order that Mr O'Connor be excluded from membership of CAI and that he make a contribution of 7,572 towards the costs of CAI.

Both Mr O'Connor and Reddy O'Connor had been reprimanded in 2017 for issues relating to audit regulations. The company was prohibited from describing itself as 'Chartered Accountants' for five years and fined 4,500.

Mr O'Connor, who was found to have failed to provide information in relation to his cessation from practice, was excluded from membership of CAI and fined a total of 2,250. The accountant and company were ordered to jointly pay 11,010 towards the costs of CAI, an order which did not relate exclusively to the findings of that tribunal.

In 2016, CAI examined Mr O'Connor's 2015 court convictions. This action, the tribunal said, made him liable to disciplinary action in accordance with the Institute's Disciplinary Bye-Laws and Regulations.

On that occasion, he was severely reprimanded and fined 2,500 as well as being ordered to pay 10,172 towards the costs of the Chartered Accountants Regulatory Board (CARB).The fifth annual Living Arts exhibition will run at Wexford Arts Centre until May 5 and features works from four primary schools and two secondary schools.

The exhibition was officially opened by artist Arno Kramer recently.

This year saw Orla Bates paired with Scoil Mhuire, Horeswood; David Begley teaming up with St Senan's National School, Enniscorthy; Clare Breen with St Ibar's National School, Castlebridge; and John Busher working with St Mary's National School, Ballygarrett.

Over the course of a 15-week programme, each artist brought their own unique styles, talents and disciplines to the participating schools, encouraging them to think beyond the classroom and respond visually to the world around them. The project challenged both pupils and teachers through the medium of film-making, mixed media sculpture, print-making, painting and drawing processes.

In addition to the primary school works, this year also saw artists taking up residencies in Ramsgrange Community School and Selskar College, supported by the Creative Ireland programme. The students enjoyed a ten-week programme, developed by artists Oonagh Latchford and Els Dievorst, which focused on promoting artistic and interpersonal skills, and integrating cross curricular subjects.

The Living Arts Project was established in 2013, as a long term visual arts education scheme, aiming to provide kids with an understanding and appreciation of contemporary visual art, as well as offering pupils the chance to see their work in a professional gallery. The programme is coordinated by the Arts Department of Wexford County Council and Wexford Arts Centre.

The exhibition runs at Wexford Arts Centre until Saturday, May 5.Over recent months an estimated 10,000 worth of vandalism has taken place in Ballintogher village community playground. The playground which cost over 120,000 is less than 6 years old.

Finbar Diamond, Chairperson of the Committee, said "we are very proud of our playground and what we have achieved, it took a big community effort, a lot of time and dedication.

"Today, many units in the playground are unsafe and need to be repaired. The committee are currently working on a CLAR application to access much needed funding".

Thomas Walsh, Local Community Activist has hit out at what he has described as "a total disrespect of the facility by a small number of young people."

He continued: "This cannot be permitted and steps to stop antisocial behaviour such as young people socialising in the area after playground closing times have now been taken.

"I have met with the committee now on a number of occasion and we have put a strategy in place for the future of the facility".

It is hoped the playground committee can access funding under the CLAR Programme 2018 to ensure the facility will remain open.There's been a "huge rise" in the number of cattle and sheep being picked up by local dead animal collectors this year.

Jim Matthews' knackery in Tubbercurry has seen business up by 25-30 per cent this year, mostly he believes, due to the poor weather and the fodder crisis.

"We've seen a big increase in the number of emaciated arrivals as well," Jim told The Sligo Champion.

He said he's heard anecdotal evidence from vets that "they're seeing an awful lot of thin animals on farms" but he's keen to stress this is in "no way the fault of farmers."

"It's been raining since last July. The scarcity of fodder and poor quality fodder since last year (are to blame)," he said.

"Last autumn was very, very wet. When you're making silage you need good dry weather and the silage in turn is more nutritious," he said.

Jim also said at this point in April, cows are at the tail end of calving. If cows are in poor condition, the calf will be taken out by c-section and the cow put down.

"The cattle are thinner this year than they were this time last year, purely due to the poor quality fodder and the weather.

"An animal is like a human, we all like to feel the sun on our backs," he added.

Fergus Moran of Ballisodare Dead Animal Collection has seen an increase in the number of sheep dying all around Sligo, Leitrim and Donegal this year.

"Sheep are outdoors. There's no cover and no sunshine. The minerals are not in the ground. The sheep are under pressure and it's down to the weather, the shortage of fodder and the amount of fluke in them," he told this newspaper.

He's seen "a wee bit" of an increase in cattle but "not as much as sheep." Farmers he's met are "low."

"There's going to be less cattle in the country. The winters are just too long, from October to May - it's a long time for cattle to be in. Farmers are facing savage bills," said Fergus.

He feels the Department of Agriculture will have to introduce a subsidy for suckler cows "or there's going to be a big decline in suckler herds. It's just not paying."Mountain Rescue Team Leader Iain Mounsey has described the rescue of a severely injured young female climber from the Diarmuid and Grainne cave in the Gleniff Horseshoe on Saturday evening last as "very fortuitous."

"We received a callout request from the Coastguard service at 1900 hours last Saturday evening," explained Mr Mounsey.

"Initial reports indicated that a party of two female climbers were descending the steep ground beneath the Diarmuid and Grainne cave in the Gleniff Horseshoe, one had fallen and sustained potentially very serious injuries.

"Due to falling light, the steep terrain and the potential medical complications an immediate response was vital and in very fortuitous coincidence a Mountain Rescue member was in the vicinity, with equipment, giving a talk to Scouts camping on an adjacent mountain."

"In unprecedented time we were able to reach the casualty with medical and technical equipment.

"Ambulance crew paramedics were also dispatched along with the Coastguard Rescue 118 helicopter based at Sligo Airport in Strandhill.

"Our primary assessment indicated that the casualty had sustained potentially very serious injuries in a substantial fall onto a rocky unstable ledge.

"Working together Ambulance and Mountain Rescue personnel were able to stabilise the casualty and prepare her for evacuation by helicopter.

"A second mountain rescue member was on site at this stage and, working closely with the Winch man from the helicopter, was able to load the casualty onto a stretcher and winch her safely up to the helicopter.

"This was achieved in challenging circumstances due to the steep and unstable terrain.

"All the emergency services personnel returned safely to the road.

"The injured female was transferred directly to the Emergency Department of Sligo University Hospital by rescue helicopter and we wish her a speedy and full recovery," concluded Mr. Mounsey.

Diarmuid and Grainne's cave is located above the cliffs of Annacuna at the back of the Gleniff Horseshoe, the spectacular glacial valley behind Benwisken and is one of the highest caves in Ireland.

The cave is about 400 metres from the old national school and is a very steep climb to get to.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The village of Curry was left in shock after the tragic death of a young man during a tree felling accident last week.

Gerard Greene, of Gortnagoyne Dunmore Co Galway was killed instantly when a branch of a tree struck him while he was working for S & S Tree Services at a private house in Drumbaun townland, Curry on Monday 16th April.

The Health and Safety Authority are investigating the incident.

A spokesperson told The Sligo Champion that the accident happened around midday while three men were working on cutting down a tree.

One man was in a raised teleporter while two men were below him.

The spokesperson said from their preliminary findings, it appeared a branch came loose and struck one of the men at the bottom.

"He died at the scene," they said.

HSA inspectors quickly attended the scene, along with the emergency services.

"This is a criminal investigation. It will continue for a good while now, depending on the incident and number of witnesses," they told this newspaper.

The HSA investigation may take up to a year after which a file will be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The spokesperson also said: "It doesn't appear there was any issue with the machinery."

A spokesperson for S&S Tree Services declined to comment on the matter.

The Dunmore community in Galway was also left reeling after the sudden death of Gerard Greene.

A Garda spokesperson said: "A male in his 30s has been fatally injured on Monday the 16th of April at 11am in Drumbaun, Curry Co Sligo.

"The HSA and Gardai are investigating this incident. The HSA have been notified. The body was taken to Sligo University Hospital for post-mortem."

Mr Greene is survived by his parents Michael and Ursula, his girlfriend Sarah, his sisters Orlagh, Eimer and Amber, his brothers Ethan and J.P, his wider family and a wide circle of friends and work colleagues.

He reposed at his home in Dunmore last Wednesday and Thursday evening with removal on Friday afternoon to St Patrick's Church Garrafrauns for funeral mass at 1 pm.

Gerard Greene was laid to rest afterwards in Addergoole Cemetery.

Dunmore McHale's GAA club paid tribute to him and sympathised with his two brothers who are members of the club.New Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald is "acutely aware" that Sligo is not feeling an economic sense of recovery.

Speaking to The Sligo Champion on her first visit to the town as leader of the party last Friday, the Dublin Central TD said she would not be a "Dublin-centric" leader.

"I'm acutely aware that in Sligo that sense of recovery has not come to town.

"I think it is important for the Dublin system to look beyond itself and not to assume that because the figures statewide say that we're in recovery, that employment is so huge, that that's the case (everywhere)," she said.

She said she had "a good enough awareness" of the challenges facing Sligo and wanted to reach out to rural Ireland:

"I'm a Dubliner but I'm consistently outside the city and I move around. My mother is from Tipperary so I'm a Dubliner with very deep rural roots.

"I'm unique in political leaders in this respect - I represent an all-Ireland party. So not alone am I not Dublin-centric, I have a I have a national view on matters. I'm nine weeks in this job. Of course I have things to learn.

"I have it as my ambition to get right across the country. If I could meet every single person in Sligo that's what I would do.

"I'm going to out and talk to people. More importantly I'm going to listen to people and politics is very much a piece of work where you are constantly learning.

"You are constantly being challenged and if you come to a day where you're not learning something new, you should really hang up your gloves and go home," she said.

Deputy McDonald said infrastructure for the North West such as the Western Rail Corridor was "necessary not just for this region but for the whole island."

"Connectivity on the island, access to ports is going to be critical with Brexit looming for direct access to the continent. We need to think on a national level," she said.

The Dublin Central TD was speaking in the local Money Advice and Budgeting Services (MABS) office on Fish Quay where she met with staff and board members.

Some of the issues pointed out to her by MABS centred around house repossession, rent and it's affordability.

"Trying to make ends meet on very small budgets or in circumstances such as insecure work from short term contracts or zero hours- contracts.

"One of the differences here we've discussed is the need for housing associations to take a greater interest in this region.

"They seem to have a bigger appetite to acquire properties in the bigger urban centres. The housing associations have to be proactive," she said.

There are not that many housing associations in Sligo. "The question is why?" said Deputy McDonald. "I found that interesting. Of course we discussed the changes in governance and structure around MABS and Citizens Information and what that's going to mean.

The priority has to be to keep MABS here in Sligo, to protect it's very deep community roots. I have said here to staff and board members our absolute commitment is to fight for the retention of community services which maximises public confidence.

Deputy McDonald also visited IT Sligo and attended the re-naming ceremony of Ballisodare Bridge as Martin Savage Bridge by President Michael D Higgins on Friday afternoon, something she was looking forward to "enormously."

"I know the Savage family very, very well for a long time. We have an annual commemoration in Ashtown, West Dublin and the family come so I know Rita and Mick very well," she said.

"I'm absolutely delighted for the family. I'm delighted for volunteer Martin Savage and his memory. I'm delighted for Ballisodare and for Sligo and fair play to Michael D Higgins for officiating."There are growing concerns over the future of Sligo's retail sector with a number of businesses set to close in the town centre.

Gerry McGuire's on Grattan Street is the latest shop to announce its closure, adding to the number of vacant premises in the Grattan Street/Castle Street area of Sligo town.

Next is also due to shut its doors in June, adding to concerns over the number of vacant commercial units in town.

"Shop closures and the growing level of retail and commercial properties in Sligo which have been lying vacant for years is clearly a matter of concern," said Councillor Declan Bree, who has been vocal about the issue for some time now.

Figures from CBRE, the international commercial real estate firm indicate that more than one in five retail outlets in Sligo town centre is vacant.

He continued: "However I come across people regularly who are interested in starting up new small retail businesses in Sligo and they tell me that when they approach property owners or agents they are quoted rental figures which they are unable to afford, particularly as they start off their business. Other property owners, including banks and insurance companies will not even consider renting out properties they own.

"Numerous properties on our main streets have remained vacant for years because their owners have no interest in renting them. This is a scandal and it is undermining the status of Sligo as a retail shopping centre.

"A major premises at the top of O' Connell street for example, owned by a bank has been lying vacant for years.

"When these retail properties remain vacant there are knock on consequences for existing retail outlets in the street because new businesses cannot open up and the visual impact discourages shoppers. In addition the Council and the local economy lose out on potential income."

Bree has previously called for Sligo County Council to impose rates or vary rates refunds on vacant properties. Again, he has reiterated those wishes.

"What really angers me is the fact that the owners of these vacant properties don't pay any rates.

"In 2014 legislation was enacted to give discretion to Councils to impose rates or vary rates refunds on vacant properties. This allows Councils to collect the rates on vacant properties and at its discretion then refund a percentage of the money while retaining the balance in the Councils budget.

"I firmly believe that if the owners of vacant properties were obliged to pay the rates, or even a portion of the rates, it would encourage them to rent out the properties. In addition it would also provide the Council with a significant increase in income.

"If the Council was to retain even 25% of the rates on vacant properties it would give us an additional income of 600,000 a year which we could use on improving services.

"At our last budget meeting when I proposed that we implement such a policy, the Council executive recommended against such a move. Cllr Gino O'Boyle was the only councillor to support my proposal. I was very disappointed that the other councillors either voted against or abstained on the issue.

"Other councils around the country impose such a policy and I am at a loss to understand why Sligo is failing to do so.

In addition I would point out that if the rates were collected from vacant properties it would also allow the Council to introduce the Long Term Vacant Property Incentive Scheme, as other councils have done.

"This is a very good scheme to encourage people to set up new businesses in vacant commercial properties and it essentially provides an incentive by way of a grant for using retail premises that have been vacant for over two years or more."

He feels that such a scheme would in-turn encourage more businesses to open up in the region: "In my view the successful implementation of the scheme would help reduce the negative visual impact of empty commercial properties. In addition it would promote job creation and employment and I believe it would also help generate and support new commercial outlets to attract increased footfall which would benefit the town.

"However again I was disappointed that Cllr O'Boyle was the only councillor to support the implementation of this scheme when I proposed it at the Council's budget meeting."

Fine Gael member and local publican Blaine Gaffney has echoed the sentiments of Cllr. Bree.

"Unemployment levels are down by over 25% in Sligo, consumer sentiment is up, new jobs are being announced here yet our town is continually getting worse. It does not make sense and it is clear there is something wrong.

"I agree that we have too many retail units for our population and that online is playing a major role. However, I can't understand how Sligo town largely survived the darkest economic days in our history over the past decade. Yet since 2016 Sligo has been getting progressively worse as public spending has increased. I look at Westport, Letterkenny and Carrick all taking off and I get very angry. Who is fighting for Sligo?"

Gaffney, Parliamentary Assistant to Tony McLoughlin TD, feels Sligo town itself is 'deteriorating', although the growth of Sligo Retail Park is to be applauded.

"Our town centre is deteriorating before our eyes at the minute and no action is forthcoming from any of our local authorities who have the power to make changes.

"The continued growth of our out of town retail park developments is welcomed, but it is ultimately not helping with the problems which the town centre is facing. Don't get me wrong, it is great to see a new business open up in Carraroe this week and I believe that a number of other new large scale businesses will also open there shortly. But my fear is that this will have an even worse effect on Sligo town centre."

The cost of parking in Sligo is one issue, says Gaffney.

"On a daily basis I hear people saying that parking is too expensive in Sligo or that the reason why people won't come into town is because the meters don't take mobile payments, cards or bank notes or because it is to hard to get parking.

"As of today Sligo is more expensive to park in than Limerick City, Ballybofey, Castlebar, Westport, Carrick and Letterkenny. Resolve the parking issue once and for all, reduce the overall charges and make it easier for people to pay for it. Show the people of Sligo that you are willing to listen and address their concerns."

He continued: "Secondly, I ask myself should the Council be doing more to try and attract more businesses into the town centre? Yes.

"They should be going out of their way to try and entice new business into our town. Why can't they consider introducing a new progressive rates system for new start up business in the urban town centre for say their first two years of business? This could be implemented as follows, the first six months of trading they would only pay 50% rates, the second six months 75%, and after 1 and 1/2 years in business and as it is established they would be in a position to pay 100% rates. I am sure this is just one small measure that could help to attract new businesses to set up in town.

"In a nut shell, I believe that Sligo County Council and other local groups need to do more to stop this trend and urgently. It really is at an alarming stage. Talking is one thing, but new ideas and action are needed and fast!"

Dympna Mannion, owner of fashion boutique 'The Style Emporium' has been left devastated by the retail closures.

"Seeing businesses close - it's like a death in the family. So much work goes into a business. Nobody opens a business to fail. You open a business with so much enthusiasm and hope and then to have that all taken away by outside factors, it's very sad," she told The Sligo Champion.

Dympna wants to see a bigger push on tourism in Sligo.

"I am appealing to an angel investor in relation to tourism here. If someone was willing to invest I would love to help promote tourism here. "I love Sligo. We have it all here. It is a magic town, with beautiful buildings, businesses, scenery to die for, beaches, fishing, sailing, horse-racing, walks - everything. I just feel that we have nobody joining the dots here. We need positive signs in Sligo telling people to enjoy their experience, and maybe that people can have the first two hours of parking for free. We need a can-do attitude."

Dympna praised the work of Eddie Walsh and Constance Cassidy in their promotion of the area.

"The Leonard Cohen concert brought a great vibrancy to the town. Events that close off the town don't work for most businesses.

"We need to make it more accessible and inviting. Parking charges are too high. Sligo is the most beautiful place in the world. I would love to promote it myself," she continued. "If you have no tourism, you have no tax, no rates, no VAT, no PAYE, no PRSI and no Universal Social Charge, if you have no shops and the town is closing down - you have no soul," said Dympna.

Sligo Chamber has been on the receiving end of criticism regarding the retail sector in Sligo: "We represent 300 companies so that's around 7,000-8,000 employees. Our function includes organising networking events, and lobbying - that is our fundamental function," explained Aidan Doyle, CEO of Sligo Chamber.

"We are not involved in legislation or rates or any of that. We have no input. We do work closely with Sligo County Council, the IDA and Enterprise Ireland. And we have collaborated with them successfully. Our main aim is to get investment into the region. We do represent some retailers. It is also a blow to us when businesses close because we lose members and in turn there is a loss of income for us. We work hard to enhance Sligo town. We are always trying to encourage investment. We don't want to see places close, some businesses do find it difficult."

Fiona Candon, President of Sligo Chamber said: "We all have a responsibility to shop local and to support each other."

Aidan added: "Businesses will close for commercial reasons. Retail outlets survived through the recession and are still here today,"

He added: "We were at a recruitment drive in the Building Block and these were high-end jobs. Sligo is competitive. There is a great 'tech-life balance'."

Sligo Chamber will be in London this week for an event to encourage the diaspora to come back to Ireland to work. Over 200 people are expected at the event where the Chamber will promote Sligo.The discount offered by Irish Water to businesses affected by the Lough Talt 'boil water' notice is not enough.

That's according to Councillor Keith Henry.

The Leas Cathaoirleach of Sligo County Council, Councillor Keith Henry says that the 40% discount offered to businesses does not cover the additional costs.

The Ballymote Fianna Fail Councillor proposed a motion asking for the rationale behind the figure and for an increase at the April meeting of the Council.

Speaking at the meeting Cllr Henry said "We are now entering the third month of the boil water notice. Businesses in the food, pub and hospitality industry have been severely impacted by this notice.

"Everyone wants to see a quick resolution to this matter in the form of an upgraded treatment plant".

Several businesses in South Sligo have contacted Cllr Henry about the matter asking for support.

"These businesses have significant increased costs in the purchasing of water and ice plus the cost of disposing additional plastic".

In response to his motion the Council wrote to Irish Water and their reply stated that the Commission for Regulation of Utilities asked them to apply a discount. Irish Water stated that the 40% figure is a countrywide one.

Cllr Henry said while a "40% discount may be enough to businesses in more populated and urban area, the additional costs are not offset in a rural area like South Sligo where new business in these sectors is difficult to generate and is often seasonal".

"I'm asking for Irish Water to review this percentage until such a time as the issue is resolved.

"I also want to pay tribute to and thank the businesses out there who have not passed on the additional cost to their customers, many of whom have additional household costs as a result of this boil notice also" Cllr Henry concluded.The cast in rehearsals for Colaiste Chill Mhantains production of All Shook Up, which takes to the stage tomorrow (Thursday) night

The students of Colaiste Chill Mhantain will be channelling the king of rock and roll as they take to the stage this week to present 'All Shook Up'.

The musical love story will hit the stage in the school gym this Thursday, Friday and Saturday night (April 26 to 28) at 8 p.m. each evening with a matinee show for primary school pupils also taking place on Friday.

The musical is set in 1955 in a small mid-Western American town and a hip-swivelling, guitar-playing young man called Chad (played by David Mulvey) and Natalie, a young mechanic who is dreaming of love and adventure (played by Katie McAulay).

When Chad stops to ask Natalie to fix his bike he introduces his wild rebel music to the townsfolk, breathes new life into the town and awakens the spirit of romance. Thus begins a chain of events that leads to mis-matched couples, mistaken identities, star-crossed lovers and unrequited passions.

The musical features 24 classic Elvis songs, including 'Blue Suede Shoes' and Jailhouse Rock'.

Doors open at 7.30 p.m. with the show starting at 8 p.m. Tickets cost 10 for adults and 8 for students and are available from the school office, Centra Rathnew, Earls Newsagents and at the door.Lap of the Map runner Mary Nolan Hickey has joined volunteers from Arklow RNLI to launch this year's annual Mayday appeal.

Mary, who recently completed a coastal running lap of Ireland, joined the Arklow members in Glendalough to launch the initiative which is asking people to 'do your bit - fund our kit' and help to supply essential kit to volunteer lifeboat crews across the country.

The RNLI's Mayday event begins on 1 May and will run for the month, with fundraisers taking place across Ireland.

People can support by the RNLI by buying a crew pin badge, holding their own fundraiser event or supporting one of the many events taking place across the country.

Speaking at the launch and wearing the RNLI's new all-weather kit that lifeboat volunteers will receive later this year, Mary Nolan Hickey, said: 'As a long distance runner, I appreciate the value of having and wearing the right clothing for performance. For RNLI volunteers, their specialist kit protects them against extreme conditions, giving them a firm footing on unsteady surfaces, allowing them to carry out their lifesaving work.'

'This Mayday campaign is the volunteers own call for help, as they rely on the generosity of the public to fund this vital kit that helps keep the crews safe when they help others. On my travels, some days were great and everything went right and some days were hell and everything went wrong but all along the way I saw first-hand how the RNLI works in communities and I'm so touched that people supported me in my fundraising. It really doesn't matter how far you go or how much you raise, the RNLI appreciates every single cent, so get going,' she said.

Arklow RNLI mechanic Michael Fitzgerald is one of many crew members across Ireland who will be receiving the new lifeboat kit.

'The volunteers at Arklow are looking forward to receiving the new kit. When we are on a callout, sometimes for many hours in all weathers, the kit will allow for easier movement and will help with the heat or cold, depending on the weather. It means we can focus on the job at hand and not be restricted in our movements - something that is especially important when trying to get a casualty onboard in extreme sea conditions,' he said.

It currently costs 1,862 to provide one all-weather crew member with the kit they need when responding to the call for help.

To get involved by organising a fundraiser, visit RNLI.org/mayday to register for a free Mayday fundraising pack.

The charity is also encouraging people to show support on their social media, joining the conversation using the hashtag #MaydayEveryDay, or by donating online or buying a yellow crew member pin badge.A new countywide Animal Welfare Committee has been established with a multi-agency approach being taken by a number of animal welfare organisations throughout the county.

Superintendent Paul Hogan outlined at a meeting of Wicklow Joint Policing Committee last Wednesday that, for a long time, different organisations were working in their own areas, without full knowledge of what others were working on. Now that a new committee has been formed, it makes for a more efficient service countywide with better cooperation, he said.

Representatives meet a few times every year and the initiative is said to be working well.

Members include the Garda Wildlife Crime Officer, the Wicklow County Council dog warden and representatives from the Irish Horse Welfare Trust, Department of Agriculture, National Parks and Wildlife Service, Irish Farmers' Association and the ISPCA and WSPCA.A West Wicklow family run butcher shop celebrated a milestone 75 years in business recently.

Patterson's Butchers in Baltinglass hosted an event for family, friends, customers and suppliers for a social evening at their shop.

Representatives of the Associated Craft Butchers of Ireland who made a presentation to the Patterson family congratulating them on over 75 years serving their community.

This was very special for proprietors Anne and Michael and their sons Derek and Damian, as Patterson's were the first Certified Craft Butchers in Co Wicklow and it's a badge they wear with pride. Anne and Michael and their team were delighted to see so many friends and neighbours on the night.

Patterson's has welcomed generations of local families in through the doors over the years. It is very important to them to remain at the heart of the community and they are proud supports of the local GAA, both as a lotto vendor and a place where the jerseys and orders from the GAA shop are left in to be collected.

When Michael Snr opened his shop in the 1940s, little did he imagine it would still be a thriving business at the same location 75 years later.

When Michael died in 1958, his two sons Michael and Denis took over the shop and continued to run it for many years.

Today, the business continues in the family with a third generation of Patterson's at the helm in Derek and Damian and both men are proud of the generations that went before them.

The business has seen many changes over the years but the ethos has remained the same. Patterson's has stayed loyal to local farms that produce top quality beef and lamb for the shop.

At the celebration, the family was delighted to showcase their new shop refit as well as new products. They place great value in offering products that are sourced locally and, if they are from Co Wicklow, all the better.

Patterson's Butchers extends its sincere thanks to all the customers who have supported it over the past 75 years, and looks forward to many more years trading in Baltinglass.ERIN McGregor, the sister of UFC star Conor, is still proud of her brother despite his violent rampage in New York.

Earlier this month, McGregor was charged with three counts of assault and one count of criminal mischief.

The charges were brought against him following a fracas that took place at the UFC 223 media day.

Video footage emerged of McGregor throwing an industrial trolley at a parked bus.

The incident made headlines around the world and McGregor arrived back in Ireland last week after being released on 41,000 bail.

Last night, his sister Erin told the Herald she would always be proud of her brother.

At the end of the day I love my brother, she said. And thats really all. And what my opinions are on that? I dont need to talk about that to the press. Thats between me and my brother and he knows how I feel about it. I wasnt surprised how big the story washes Conor McGregor.

He is an amazing person and there are some amazing stories of things hes done. I will always be proud of my brother.

Erin was speaking at the 17th annual Peter Mark VIP Style Awards, which took place last night in the Marker Hotel, Dublin.

Model turned businesswoman Pippa OConnor wore an off-the-shoulder, leaf-print gown and had plenty to smile about, as she took home the nights big prize  Most Stylish Woman  for the second time.

Video of the Day

The foyer of the hotel was filled with sheer and see-through ensembles as guests arrived at the Champagne reception.

Model Aoife Walsh arrived in a completely transparent Don ONeill dress.

It is a bit daunting wearing something so risque, she said.

Dancing With The Stars pro Karen Byrne also opted for a see-through guna and arrived in a mesh CP London LBD.

Lottie, Morah, Babette, and Bonnie Ryan all arrived in matching white ensembles.

We come for the people-watching and the Champagne, Lottie said.

It wasnt all froth and glasses of fizz, there were some politically charged moments on the red carpet.

Designer Helen Steele arrived in one of her own custom-made creations, emblazoned with the phrase Fashion Is Repealing.

I will be voting Yes because I have two daughters, she said proudly of the forthcoming referendum.

The dress will be up for auction on May 10, and all proceeds from the sales will go towards the Together For Yes Campaign.

While many of the guests were enjoying a girls night out at the awards bash, presenter Nicky Byrne proudly posed on the red carpet with wife Georgina  winner of the Look of the Year.

News anchor Caitriona Perry wore a Don ONeill dress that the designer lent her when she was in Washington for St Patricks Day.

I am really excited to be nominated. Its been an amazing six months being back in the newsroom, she said.

Dancing With The Stars Julian Benson had taken his style inspiration from a peacock.

Pregnant Aoibhin Garrihy arrived with her sisters Doireann and Ailbhe  who took home the prize for Most Stylish Newcomer  in a dress made by Beauty and the Bump.

After all the awards, guests went to the official after party in Copper Face Jacks.'Brigitte Macron makes a splash the moment she arrives in the US," gushed the headline in Le Figaro. And indeed she did. The First Lady of France landed in Maryland on Monday in an eye-catching pink coat by Louis Vuitton, the Frenchness of which label was not lost on observers. It has not been the only thing to turn heads, however.

The wife of President Emmanuel Macron accompanied her husband on a state visit to America this week, meaning all eyes were on the two power couples: the Macrons, with their Gallic style and panache, and the Trumps, with their conspicuous wealth and - in Melania's case, anyway - beauty.

The trip has given Macron the opportunity to exhibit his country's special relationship with America in a series of photo calls destined to give Ireland the sinking feeling that its erstwhile best pal across the pond has found an exciting new friend.

But Macron and Trump make for an odd pairing: the young French reformer with his ardent Europhilia is hardly an obvious bedfellow for the populist, America First isolationist. And if the unexpected 'bromance' between President Trump and his French counterpart is intriguing, the Franco-American First Lady romance - or 'flomance,' if we may - is no less so.

Standing side-by-side outside the White House, Brigitte and Melania both dazzled in white, cutting a resplendent vision of First Lady soft power at its finest for all the world to see.

Never mind the Iran nuclear deal or the merits and demerits of involvement in Syria. No: we want to know all about the flomance of their wives. Here's how it works, and why it fascinates us so.

1. Brigitte's soft power

According to the most recent Soft Power 30 index - which ranks the ability of nations to achieve foreign policy objectives through attraction and persuasion - France is now number one in the world: "a four-place jump... due in no small part to the global frenzy around Emmanuel Macron's victory over the far-right Front National". The country's ascendancy in the rankings is no doubt helped by the First Lady at the president's side. Brigitte continues to make a positive impression on the world stage with her ageless elegance and evident adoration of her husband. "Emmanuel's only fault is to be younger than me," she said touchingly last year.

2. Melania's soft power

The menu for their state dinner was thoughtfully curated by Melania to reflect the ties - gastronomic and otherwise - between the US and France. The goat's cheese gateau coupled with buttermilk biscuit crumble, followed by spring lamb served with Carolina gold rice jambalaya, cooked in a style from New Orleans, (a city well known for its historic connections with France) was the culinary equivalent of a friendly handshake between two heads of state.

Video of the Day

3. First Ladies of fashion

This was not the first meeting of Brigitte and Melania. Last summer, they were thrown together when the Trumps visited Paris, a trip that saw the wives hailed as the "First Ladies of fashion". It's easy to dismiss the importance of sartorial choices on these visits, or decry the excessive focus on what the two wives are wearing. But like the food selected for the state dinner, the clothes will have been chosen with equal care, and inevitably send out a message. On the French trip, Melania stepped out in a scarlet Dior skirt suit, a subtle gesture of solidarity with her French hosts. The other night she chose a sleeveless Chanel gown, again opting for a French label.

4. The Trumps' marriage

Melania (47) is married to someone very much her senior: a man who, some reports have suggested, sleeps in a separate bedroom; a man who has strongly denied rumours of an affair with an adult film star. Other Trump-watchers have observed Melania's apparent reluctance to hold her husband's hand in public, in contrast to the Macrons' notorious Public Displays of Affection. We can probably assume such things will not be discussed by the two First Ladies this week, however.

5. Common ground?

At first glance, Brigitte and Melania might seem unlikely to enjoy one another's company. And yet, last year Brigitte had this to say of America's First Lady: "She is a woman who is very concerned about education, about doing things well. It's touching." Given that Brigitte is a former teacher, Melania's passion for education will surely help endear her.

6. Franco-American relations

In the American War of Independence, France fought with the colonies against the British. The Franco-US friendship since then, however, has hit a few bumps in the road, one of which has been the negative perception of Americans in certain sections of French society.

There has been hostility among some of the French to what they see as American encroachment into their way of life - 'le hamburger', though popular in modern France, has not been to everyone's taste.

If Brigitte has ever been influenced by such open hostility, her inscrutable, stateswoman-like demeanour with the Trumps gives no sign of it. Realpolitik demands that her husband play nicely with The Donald, and therefore his wife must do likewise with Melania. As John Kerry once told Boris Johnson: "It's called diplomacy."Archaeologists in northern Peru have said they have found evidence of what could be the worlds largest single case of child sacrifice.

The pre-Columbian burial site, known as Las Llamas, contains the skeletons of 140 children who were between the ages of five and 14 when they were ritually sacrificed during a ceremony about 550 years ago, experts said.

The site, located near the modern day city of Trujillo, also contained the remains of 200 young llamas apparently sacrificed on the same day.

The burial site was apparently built by the ancient Chimu empire. It is thought the children were sacrificed as floods caused by the El Nino weather pattern ravaged the Peruvian coastline.

Expand Close The site in Peru (Gabriel Prieto/National Geographic via AP) / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp The site in Peru (Gabriel Prieto/National Geographic via AP)

They were possibly offering the gods the most important thing they had as a society, and the most important thing is children because they represent the future, said Gabriel Prieto.

The archaeology professor at Perus National University of Trujillo led the excavation along with John Verano of Tulane University.

Llamas were also very important because these people had no other beasts of burden, they were a fundamental part of the economy, Prof Prieto said, adding that the children were buried facing the sea, while the llamas faced the Andes Mountains to the east.

Excavation work at the burial site started in 2011, but news of the findings was first published on Thursday by National Geographic, which helped finance the investigation.

Prof Prieto said that besides the bones, researchers also found footprints that have survived rain and erosion.

"When people hear about what happened and the scale of it, the first thing they always ask is why," says archaeologist Gabriel Prieto, who's investigating the sacrificial site with fellow Explorer John Verano. https://t.co/gx65kC2b8u  Nat Geo Explorers (@NatGeoExplorers) April 26, 2018

The small footprints indicate the children were marched to their deaths from Chan Chan, an ancient city a mile away from Las Llamas, he said.

Verano said the childrens skeletons contained lesions on their breastbones, which were probably made by a ceremonial knife.

Dislocated ribcages suggest that whoever was performing the sacrifices may have been trying to extract the childrens hearts.

Jeffrey Quilter, the director of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology at Harvard University, described it as a remarkable discovery.

Mr Quilter said the site provides concrete evidence that large scale sacrifices of children occurred in ancient Peru.

Reports of very large sacrifices are known from other parts of the world, but it is difficult to know if the numbers are exaggerated or not, he said.

Mr Quilter is heading a team of scientists who will analyse DNA samples from the childrens remains to see if they were related and figure out which areas of the Chimu empire the sacrificed youth came from.

Several ancient cultures in the Americas practised human sacrifices including the Mayans, the Aztecs and the Incas, who conquered the Chimu empire in the late 15th century.

But the mass sacrifice of children is something that has rarely been documented.

The Las Llamas site is located in a shantytown, and has been fenced off to stop illegal developers from building homes on it.

Prof Prieto says the site shows how in Peru history can be just around the corner.

This site surrounded by houses in a working class neighborhood can tell us a lot about a macabre event that is perhaps one of the darkest moments in our history, Prieto said. But this is also part of our cultural heritage.The death toll from a stabbing attack outside a middle school in northwestern China has risen to nine.

The killings were allegedly carried out by a former pupil seeking revenge for having been bullied.

The Mizhi county government in Shaanxi province reported that another 10 people had been taken to hospital with injuries resulting from the rampage.

It took place outside the No3 Middle School in the rural area as classes were being dismissed for the evening.

Police have arrested a 28-year-old suspect identified by the surname Zhao who had been a student at the school.

The suspect was apparently seeking revenge for having been picked on, the Mizhi government's official microblog said on Saturday.

China tightly restricts private gun ownership, making knives and homemade explosives the most common weapons in violent crimes.

Many schools have beefed up security at access points following violence against students and family members.

In 2010, nearly 20 children were killed in knife attacks outside school gates, casting light on the medical system's ability to diagnose and treat mental illness.

In June last year, a 22-year-old man made a bomb that exploded at the front gate of a kindergarten in eastern China, killing eight people, including himself.A year ago he was an international pariah, feared by the world, and accused of pushing the Korean Peninsula to the brink of war, but Kim Jong-un now appears to be on a global charm offensive perfectly stage-managed for the cameras.

Yesterday morning, as he walked towards the border with South Korea, a smiling Kim exuded warmth and an altogether more human side compared to the stern, dictatorial images normally fed through the tightly controlled North Korean state media.

Wearing his trademark black Chairman Mao suit, he at first appeared slightly nervous as he gripped President Moon Jae-in's hand for the first time and stepped over the cracked slab of concrete marking the military demarcation line (MDL), becoming the only North Korean leader to do so.

But with the eyes of the world upon him, the media-savvy millennial immediately shattered the South's meticulously scripted diplomatic pageantry with a seemingly spontaneous invitation to Mr Moon to hop back across.

"When will I be able to come to the North?" asked Mr Moon. "Maybe now is the right time," quipped Kim, grabbing his hand again in a prolonged clasp to guide his initially hesitant southern counterpart back over the divide.

South Koreans were enthralled as the extraordinary scene of their beaming, tactile leaders unfolded. Audible gasps, laughter and clapping broke out among Korean journalists packed into a crowded press room to watch the emotionally charged footage live.

It immediately set the tone for the cheerful and convivial interactions of the morning. But it was a canny move that also subconsciously redressed the balance of power.

He was not only coming to the South, but the South was coming to him.

"Kim Jong-un has played it brilliantly so far. Saying that it was so easy to cross the MDL and pulling President Moon over. It's as if he's taken a course in strategic communications and signalling," said Dr William Choong, a senior fellow at the International Institute of Strategic Studies in London.

Cha Du-Hyeogn, who served as secretary to former South Korean president Lee Myung-bak, described the dance across the border line as "positive", adding "it shows that the MDL can be crossed over by any leader".

The summit is also shaping up to be something of a PR coup for Kim, softening his public image.

Although both men have smiled throughout the publicly broadcasted sections of the summit, it has been Kim who has displayed the most charisma, with off-the-cuff jokes to relax the atmosphere.

As talks began he even verged on teasing the elder statesman about his lack of sleep, promising that he would no longer interrupt the South Korean president's shuteye with early morning missile tests.

However, ahead of the summit, defectors campaigning against ongoing human rights abuses in North Korea warned the world not to be fooled by the carefully staged images coming out of the summit. ( Daily Telegraph, London)Kim Jong-un (left) and Moon Jae-in (right) at the meeting. Photo: AP

Hailing a "new era of peace", North Korea leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in sealed their talks yesterday with a joint declaration and a bear hug, reaffirming their commitment to complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.

The historic summit also agreed to push for three or four-way talks involving the US and China to replace the Korean armistice with a peace treaty.

In his first ever speech to the world, standing outside the Peace House on the demilitarised border zone, Kim Jong-un first thanked Mr Moon and the South Korean people for their warm welcome.

"It took a long time for the two Koreas to come together and to hold hands and we have long waited for this moment to happen, all of us," he said.

Expand Close South Koreas first lady Kim Jung-sook (left) shakes hands with North Koreas Ri Sol-ju at the Peace House in Panmunjom. Photo: Getty Images / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp South Koreas first lady Kim Jung-sook (left) shakes hands with North Koreas Ri Sol-ju at the Peace House in Panmunjom. Photo: Getty Images

"As I stand here I can see that South and North Koreans are the same people, they cannot be separated. We are compatriots...

"We should not be confronting each other, we are the same people and should live in unity. I hope we will be able to live very peacefully in the future, as soon as possible."

He pledged his support for "permanent peace", adding "we will adopt the Panmunjom declarations while the whole world is watching us.

"I believe the declarationwill never let us repeat our past mistakes."

Mr Kim expressed hope that one day South and North Korean citizens would be able to use the same road he had to reach the summit.

"Panmunjom is a symbol of pain and suffering and division but it will turn into a symbol of peace. Using one language, one culture, one history South and North Korea will be reunited as one country, thus enjoying everlasting peace and prosperity," he said.

President Moon praised the "precious" agreement and declared a "new era of peace", pledging "there will be no more war on the Korean Peninsula."

"Chairman Kim and I have decided that complete denuclearisation will be achieved and that is our common goal," he said.

In the official declaration the two leaders vowed "they will not use any form of force against each other" and agreed to strictly abide by the agreement.

The South and the North also agreed to "gradually realise arms reduction when their military tension is removed and trust is practically established".

The two sides also agreed to set up a liaison office, continue future talks and reintroduce the long-stalled reunions of families separated by the division of the two Koreas.

After announcing their declaration, Mr Kim and Mr Moon joined their wives, Ri Sol-ju and Kim Jung-sook, for a banquet.

"I'm happy to hear from my husband that the summit was a success," said Ms Ri.

Both Mr Kim and Mr Moon will seek meetings with the United States and possibly China - both of them parties to the ceasefire - "with a view to declaring an end to the war and establishing a permanent and solid peace regime", the statement said.

Mr Moon would visit Pyongyang in the autumn, the two leaders said, agreeing also to hold "regular meetings and direct telephone conversations".

There would also be a reunion of families left divided when the Korean War ended, one of the most emotive issues for the people of the two countries.

World leaders reacted positively to the summit, with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe calling it "good news".

US President Donald Trump also reacted positively to the meeting, saying: "After a furious year of missile launches and nuclear testing, a historic meeting between North and South Korea is now taking place. Good things are happening, but only time will tell."

In typical fashion, he followed it up with a Tweet that read: "KOREAN WAR TO END! The United States, and all of its GREAT people, should be very proud of what is now taking place in Korea!"

The two men shook hands as they met for the first time at 9.30am local time, and Mr Kim became the first North Korean leader to cross over to the southern side of the Demilitarised Zone since the Korean War ended in 1953.

Mr Kim emerged from the Panmungak, the North's symbolic building 80 metres north of border, with a large entourage including his younger sister, Kim Yo-jong.

Having embraced his counterpart on the border, which is marked out with slabs, the pair set about solving world peace.

After initial talks on Friday morning, they broke for lunch in their respective countries before re-emerging for a ceremonial tree-planting ceremony, which was laden with symbolism.

Mr Kim and Mr Moon planted a pine tree - standing for peace and prosperity - with soil and water from both countries.

The tree is said to have been seeded in 1953 - the year the Korean War ended.

They sat around an oval table to symbolise there should be no distance between the two countries, and it measured 2,018mm to mark the year.

Other symbolic gestures included custom-made furniture, a walk over a footbridge and the careful selection of food on the menu at Friday night's banquet - attended by the leaders' wives. (Daily Telegraph, London)

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021]The royal baby has been named in honour of Lord Louis Mountbatten, who was killed by an IRA bomb in 1979 at Mullaghmore, Co Sligo.

Prince William and his wife Kate named their newborn son Louis Arthur Charles, Kensington Palace confirmed yesterday.

The name Louis is a nod to both his grandfather and heir to the British throne and one of Prince Charles's most beloved mentors.

Lord Louis Mountbatten, who was known as 'Dickie' by close friends, was the uncle of Prince Philip (96), Queen Elizabeth's husband.

Charles once said Mountbatten was "the grandfather I never had". The pair called each other "honorary grandfather" and "honorary grandson".

Mountbatten (78) was assassinated by the IRA, who detonated a bomb on his leisure boat on August 27, 1979.

He was killed along with one of his twin grandsons, Nicholas (14) and Paul Maxwell (15), a local employed as a boat boy.

Another passenger, Baroness Brabourne (82), died the day after the attack. The bombing was followed only hours later by the massacre of 17 British soldiers near Warrenpoint, Co Down.

Kensington Palace declined to speculate on the significance of the name but Louis is also William's fourth name.

The infant, fifth in line to the British throne, was born at 10.01am on Monday, April 23, weighing 8 lbs 7oz.

William told photographers on the day the couple were "very delighted" with the new addition to the family.

"Thrice the worry now," William told reporters, holding up three fingers with a smile.

The baby will be known as His Royal Highness Prince Louis of Cambridge. His second name, Arthur, is steeped in historical meaning and is also Prince William's middle name. But Princess Diana wasn't too fond it, telling Andrew Morton in his book 'Diana': "I chose the names William and Harry because the alternative was Arthur and Albert. No, thank you."

His third name Charles, of course, is the given name of the baby's grandfather, Prince Charles of Wales, who would be the third Charles to take the throne and is second in line.

Louis joins siblings Charlotte (2) and George (4) in the growing family. The queen, Philip, Charles and his wife Camilla have all expressed delighted with the birth of the sixth great-grandchild.

"It is a great joy to have another grandchild, the only trouble is I don't know how I am going to keep up with them," Charles said.

Such was the excitement at the arrival of a new royal baby that Blackpool Zoo named a newly born double-humped camel calf in honour of the new prince. A zoo spokeswoman said the camel was simply Louis, though some were already calling the camel "Prince Louis".The man accused of being the Golden State Killer did not enter a plea during his first court appearance.

Joseph James DeAngelo was formally charged on Friday in Sacramento County Superior Court on two counts of murder.

He was handcuffed in a wheelchair and five police officers surrounded him as he listened to the judge with his eyes barely open.

East Area Rapist/Golden State Killer Identified and in custody: Joseph James Deangelo (72) pic.twitter.com/9fBdiziaaJ  Sacramento Sheriff (@sacsheriff) April 25, 2018

A court official read the details of the charges that DeAngelo is facing and a judge asked if he had a lawyer.

In a frail voice, DeAngelo responded: I have a lawyer.

An attorney from the public defenders office was with him in court.

DeAngelo appeared in a wheelchair and was wearing an orange jumpsuit. He has been denied bail.

Court record s also showed that investigators hunting the Golden State Killer used information from genetic websites last year that led to the wrong man.

An Oregon police officer working at the request of California investigators persuaded a judge in March 2017 to order a 73-year-old man in a nursing home to provide a DNA sample.

It is not clear if officers collected the sample and ran further tests.

The Oregon City man is in declining health and was unable to answer questions about the case.

Expand Close A crime scene investigator for the Sacramento Sheriffs office, places evidence gathered from the home of murder suspect Joseph DeAngelo into a large container (Rich Pedroncelli/AP) / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp A crime scene investigator for the Sacramento Sheriffs office, places evidence gathered from the home of murder suspect Joseph DeAngelo into a large container (Rich Pedroncelli/AP)

His daughter said authorities never notified her before swabbing her father for DNA in his bed a rehabilitation centre, but once they told her afterwards she understood and worked with them to eliminate people who conceivably could be the killer.

The case of mistaken identity was discovered as authorities hailed a novel use of DNA technology that led to the arrest of former police officer DeAngelo at his house outside Sacramento.

Critics of the investigative approach, however, warned it could jeopardise privacy rights.

DeAngelo is suspected of being the sadistic attacker who killed 13 people and raped nearly 50 women during the 1970s and 80s.

We have the law to suggest that he is innocent until hes proven guilty and thats what Im going to ask everyone to remember, DeAngelos public defender Diane Howard said outside court.

I feel like hes been tried in the press already.

Investigators were able to make the arrest this week after matching crime-scene DNA with genetic material stored in an online database by a distant relative.

They relied on a different website than they had in the Oregon search, and they did not seek a warrant for DeAngelos DNA.

Instead, they waited for him to discard items and then swabbed the objects for DNA, which proved a conclusive match to evidence that had been preserved more than 30 years.Adult-film star Stormy Daniels' lawsuit against U.S. President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, will be paused for 90 days, the federal judge in the case ordered on Friday, saying that Cohen's constitutional rights could be endangered if the lawsuit proceeds while he is under criminal investigation.

"The court finds that there is a large potential factual overlap between the civil and criminal proceedings that would heavily implicate Mr Cohen's Fifth Amendment rights," District Judge James Otero wrote in the order, referring to the Constitution's protection against self-incrimination.

Cohen has admitted paying $130,000 to Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, to secure her silence about having sex with Trump, which he denies. Cohen said the payment was legal, and Daniels has sued to end her nondisclosure agreement.

Daniels' lawyer Michael Avenatti promptly pledged to fight the stay, writing on Twitter he would file an immediate appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in California, which could ultimately lead the Supreme Court to weigh in.

Cohen said earlier this week he would invoke the Fifth Amendment and refuse to answer questions in the lawsuit after the FBI raided his home, office and hotel room two weeks ago. The amendment states no individual can be "compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself."

Cohen and the federal government have indicated the criminal investigation and some seized documents relate to the hush-money payment at the heart of the lawsuit, even though the probe's precise subject has not been publicly disclosed, Otero wrote.

He added Cohen will probably be indicted.

"This is no simple criminal investigation; it is an investigation into the personal attorney of a sitting President regarding documents that might be subject to the attorney-client privilege," Otero wrote. "Whether or not an indictment is forthcoming, and the court thinks it likely based on these facts alone, these unique circumstances counsel in favor of stay.

Daniels had argued the lawsuit should proceed, with Cohen invoking the Fifth Amendment only for specific questions that might lead to self-incrimination.

But Otero wrote that approach could lead to Cohen not answering any questions, rendering a deposition useless.US President Donald Trump will meet Britain's Queen Elizabeth and go to Chequers when he visits Britain in July - but he will largely avoid London amid fears of mass protests.

The US leader's long-delayed trip will take place on July 13 but last just 24 hours, including talks with British Prime Minister Theresa May and an overnight stay. Boris Johnson, the British foreign secretary, said the news was "fantastic" but senior Labour figures warned that critics will not hold their tongues during the trip.

The White House press secretary let slip the date on Thursday in a press conference for journalists' children to mark America's 'Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day'. Mr Trump is understood to have personally approved the visit after weeks of careful negotiations between his staff, 10 Downing Street and the UK embassy in Washington.

The visit triggered renewed fears of mass protests - one of the reasons Mr Trump has delayed going to Britain for so long, according to US and UK sources.

It also offers a chance for Mrs May to improve her personal relationship with the US president, which figures close to both leaders privately acknowledge is not especially warm.

Emmanuel Macron's three-day state visit to America this week, where the French and US leaders heralded a new "special relationship", has cast the May-Trump relationship in a harsh light.

Friday, July 13, has been chosen as the date because Mr Trump, who is known not to enjoy long-distance travel, is in Brussels for a Nato meeting on July 11 and 12.

A Downing Street spokesman said: "He will hold bilateral talks with the prime minister during his visit. Further details will be set out in due course."

While the exact details of the trip remain under discussion, Mr Trump is set to meet the queen. He has repeatedly said how much his Scottish mother admired her. He is also expected to hold talks with Mrs May at Chequers, her countryside residence. UK aides believe that pomp and ceremony will help foster a warmer relationship with the US president.

Mr Trump is expected largely to avoid the British capital, however, in a move that would minimise his exposure to the protests that are expected.

Mr Trump pulled out of a "working visit" in February to open the new US embassy in London, saying he was not a "big fan" of the deal Barack Obama struck for the building.

However, US and UK sources have suggested concerns over protests in London and continued hostility to a visit from the Labour leadership was a bigger reason for the cancellation.

Mr Johnson tweeted: "FANTASTIC news that President Donald Trump will at last come to Britain on 13 July. Looking forward to seeing our closest ally and friend on the GREATest visit ever."

There are concerns in the UK government that Mrs May's clashes with Mr Trump have helped Mr Macron develop a closer relationship with the US president. A Downing Street Cabinet source said: "There is genuine concern that May has mishandled the special relationship and allowed Macron to get ahead of us."

Nigel Farage, the Ukip leader, said: "One of the reasons that we are way behind the French is because we have got senior Labour figures who want to have mass street protests in London." ( Daily Telegraph, London)

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021]Investigators hunting for the Golden State Killer turned to searching genetic websites in 2017 but misidentified a man as a potential suspect.

A year later, after using a similar technique, they are confident they have caught the serial rapist and killer who eluded capture for four decades.

In March 2017, an Oregon City police officer, working at the request of investigators in California, convinced a judge to order a 73-year-old man in a nursing home to provide a DNA sample.

Expand Close Joseph James DeAngelo appeared in court (Rich Pedroncelli/AP) / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Joseph James DeAngelo appeared in court (Rich Pedroncelli/AP)

Court documents obtained by The Associated Press said detectives used a genetic profile based on DNA from crime scenes linked to the serial killer and compared it to information on a free online genealogical site.

Investigators cited a rare genetic marker, which the Oregon man shared with the killer, to get the judge to issue the order.

The Oregon City man is in extremely poor health in a rehabilitation facility and was unable to answer questions on Friday.

His daughter said his family was not aware that authorities took a DNA sample from him while he was lying in bed at the rehabilitation centre until she was contacted by the FBI in April 2017.

She was asked to help expand the familys genetic tree in the search for suspects.

Expand Close Joseph James DeAngelo (Rich Pedroncelli/AP) / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Joseph James DeAngelo (Rich Pedroncelli/AP)

The woman, an amateur genealogist, cooperated but ultimately investigators determined none of her relatives were viable suspects, she said.

I dont like that they thought that my dad was the bad guy, but the truth is they were able to rule out people in my dads (family) tree, she said. They didnt have to look at those people anymore.

I mean, they go from California to Oregon to get my dads DNA? They clearly thought he was the bad guy, she said. I think DNA is amazing and if youve done something wrong you dont deserve to be protected.

Ultimately investigators turned to a different genealogical site and arrested a man now accused of being one of Californias most feared and elusive serial killers.

Expand Close A detective carries bags of evidence from the home of murder suspect Joseph DeAngelo (Rich Pedroncelli/AP) / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp A detective carries bags of evidence from the home of murder suspect Joseph DeAngelo (Rich Pedroncelli/AP)

On Friday, Joseph James DeAngelo appeared in court to face murder charges.

Handcuffed to a wheelchair in orange jail scrubs, the 72-year-old looked dazed and spoke in a faint voice to acknowledge he was represented by a public defender. He did not enter a plea.

DeAngelo, a former police officer, has been charged with eight counts of murder and additional charges are expected, authorities said.

We have the law to suggest that he is innocent until hes proven guilty, said his lawyer, Diane Howard.

Investigators arrested DeAngelo on Tuesday after matching crime-scene DNA with genetic material stored in an online database by a distant relative.

They relied on a different website than for the Oregon search and did not seek a warrant for his DNA.

Expand Close Authorities probe the home of murder suspect Joseph James DeAngelo (Rich Pedroncelli/AP) / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Authorities probe the home of murder suspect Joseph James DeAngelo (Rich Pedroncelli/AP)

Instead, they waited for him to discard items and swabbed them for DNA, which proved a conclusive match to evidence from crimes more than 30 years ago, they said.

The co-founder of the genealogy website used by authorities to help identify DeAngelo said he had no idea it was used by law enforcement.

The free genealogy website, which pools DNA profiles that people upload and share publicly to find relatives, said it has always informed users its database can be used for other purposes.

But co-founder Curtis Rogers said the search was done without our knowledge and the company does not hand out data.

Officials did not need a court order to access GEDmatchs large database of genetic blueprints, lead investigator Paul Holes told the Mercury News in San Jose, California.Russias foreign minister has said the United States is trying to divide Syria.

During a meeting with his counterparts from Iran and Turkey, Sergey Lavrov said the recent US-led missile strikes on Syria seriously aggravated the situation.

He added that statements about supporting the territorial integrity of Syria are only words that, apparently, cover plans for reformatting the Middle East and plans for dividing Syria into parts.

Mr Lavrov met Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.

Russia, Iran and Turkey are the guarantor states in the so-called Astana process aimed at ending the violence in Syria.

The three agreed to intensify efforts to provide humanitarian aid in Syria.

Expand Close Mohammad Javad Zarif, Sergey Lavrov and Mevlut Cavusoglu met in Moscow (Pavel Golovkin/AP) / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Mohammad Javad Zarif, Sergey Lavrov and Mevlut Cavusoglu met in Moscow (Pavel Golovkin/AP)

We will ensure that this aid is provided in the most effective way. We will be cooperating with the government, the opposition and of course with our counterparts at the United Nations, the International Red Cross, the Syrian Red Crescent and other international organisations, Mr Lavrov said.

International aid groups have repeatedly accused the Syrian government, which is closely allied with Russia and Iran, of preventing the delivery of aid to besieged rebel-held areas.

Mr Lavrov also reiterated Russias contention that the alleged chemical weapons attack on the town of Douma earlier this month was an artificial pretext for the missile strikes by the US, Britain and France.

Mr Cavusoglu criticised the United States for supporting Syrias main Kurdish militia, which played a key role in rolling back the Islamic State group and now controls much of northern and eastern Syria.

Turkey views the Kurdish fighters as an extension of the Kurdish insurgency raging in its south east.

Today, the US supports terrorist organisations and this has to stop, he said.Thousands of Yemenis have attended a funeral for a top Shiite rebel official in the capital, Sanaa.

The Houthis Supreme Political Council chief and acting head of state Saleh al-Samad was killed along with six others in a Saudi-led coalition airstrike over a week ago in the coastal province of Hodeida.

Top Houthi officials including al-Samads successor Mahdi al-Mashat, a former Houthi fighter, attended the funeral which was held in al-Sabeen square.

Expand Close Yemeni honour guards carry the coffin (Hani Mohammed/AP) / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Yemeni honour guards carry the coffin (Hani Mohammed/AP)

Houthi rebel leader Abdul-Malek al-Houthi vowed to avenge al-Samads death.

The Saudi-led coalition has been at war with Iran-backed Houthis since March 2015 with the aim of defeating them and bringing an internationally recognised government back to power.President Donald Trump shakes hands with German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a news conference in the East Room of the White House (Evan Vucci/AP)

US President Donald Trump called German Chancellor Angela Merkel an extraordinary woman and disputed any idea that their rapport was frosty as he welcomed her to the White House.

We have a really great relationship. We actually have had a great relationship from the beginning, he said.

Though her visit will be short on pomp, Ms Merkels message was similar to French president Emmanuel Macrons  that America and Europe need to bury the hatchet on key issues, from global trade to international security.

In a joint press conference on Friday afternoon, it was apparent that despite the back-to-back visits, Mr Trumps divisions with Europe are still substantial.

"Today I am honored to welcome Chancellor Angela Merkel back to the White House... We are also pleased to have our newly confirmed United States Ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell." pic.twitter.com/vgNEFJ6mU6  The White House 45 Archived (@WhiteHouse45) April 27, 2018

He is widely expected to withdraw the US from the Iran nuclear accord next month, despite pleas from Mr Macron earlier this week and Ms Merkel on Friday.

Ms Merkel used her meeting with Mr Trump to try to paper over the differences, calling the Obama-era agreement a first step towards curtailing and containing Irans regional ambitions and suggesting openness to a side agreement.

Mr Trump has said he was open to new negotiations with Iran, but has not said whether he would heed European calls for the US to stay in the deal, which aims to restrict Irans nuclear efforts, while those talks are under way. His decision is expected by May 12.

On trade, Ms Merkel said there was little progress on seeking permanent exemptions for the EU from Mr Trumps steel and aluminium tariffs.

The decision lies with the president, she said.

Expand Close President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the East Room of the White House in Washington (Susan Walsh/AP) / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the East Room of the White House in Washington (Susan Walsh/AP)

Mr Trump implicitly scolded Germany for not meeting its defence spending obligations to Nato, saying it is essential that our Nato allies increase their financial contribution to the pact.

Ms Merkel said Germanys latest budget will take defence spending to 1.3% of GDP. She acknowledged thats far short of the 2% goal but said Germany is still aiming for that over time.

In the hours before Ms Merkels arrival at the White House, Mr Trump himself took note of their limited schedule, which was to include a 30-minute Oval Office meeting, followed by a working lunch and joint news conference.

Look forward to meeting with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany today, he tweeted. So much to discuss, so little time! It will be good for both of our great countries!

While Mr Macron and Mr Trump went to great lengths to display their affection through hearty handshakes, hugs  and, at times, air kisses  the president has not displayed the same chemistry with Ms Merkel.

In their first White House meeting last spring, Mr Trump seemed to ignore photographers prompts to give Ms Merkel the traditional photo-op handshake.

The relationship between the German people and the United States predates Americas independence and extends to the deep bond the two countries share today. More: https://t.co/tSWOqpC2S1  The White House 45 Archived (@WhiteHouse45) April 27, 2018

And the German chancellor looked on unhappily when Mr Trump upbraided Nato nations last summer for not spending enough on defence as he stood in Natos gleaming new Brussels headquarters.

This time, the two exchanged a handshake in the Oval Office.

Kellyanne Conway, a senior counsellor to Mr Trump, said that the presidents relationships with Ms Merkel and Mr Macron do not need to be compared.

France and Germany are great allies. I think every leader is different, every relationship is different, she said at the White House.

Were very happy that Chancellor Merkel is making another trip here.Rohingya women and children who fled from Burma (Oinam Anand/AP)

A UN Security Council delegation has arrived in Bangladesh to visit Rohingya refugee camps and discuss the crisis with local officials.

The visit comes amid the delayed repatriation of some 700,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees who fled to Bangladesh from Burma to escape military-led violence.

The team arrived in the coastal town of Coxs Bazar on Saturday.

As the @UN Security Council members make their way to Bangladesh and Myanmar for a five-day visit, @UN_DPA takes a closer look at how and why the Council embarks on such field missions: https://t.co/14qsqIlMRP pic.twitter.com/BZxBWfBT37  UN Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (@UNDPPA) April 27, 2018

Bangladeshs acting foreign secretary, M Khurshed Alam, said the visit is very significant as international pressure on Burma continues to mount to ensure the safe and voluntary return of the refugees, who are seeking protection from the United Nations.

Mr Alam said the team will meet the refugees on Sunday.

Bangladesh and Burma agreed in December to begin repatriating the refugees in January, but the process has been delayed.New Delhi, Apr 28 (IBNS): The Union Environment ministry has banned plastics in all protected areas around the country and declared them as plastic free zones, according to media reports on Saturday.

The announcement was made ahead of the World Environment Day, which will be observed on June 5.

Dr Harsh Vardhan said he has asked the states and Union Territories to hold awareness campaigns on the subject.

He also said that protected areas in Bengal and Odisha are already plastic-free zones.

Tweeted Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Science & Technology, Earth Sciences, Environment, Forests and Climate Change, ".@moefcc bans plastic in any form in all protected areas and declare them Plastic Free Zones ahead of #WorldEnvironmentDay2018. Directs states & UTs to organise awareness campaigns to sensitise people. Protected areas in Bengal and Odisha are already plastic free zones."

The Minister also said that the RPF personnel who were being sensitized about Prevention of Wildlife Crime were also made aware of plastic pollution.

He tweeteed, "In another tweet he said "Wildlife Crime Control Bureau conducts sensitization program on Prevention of #WildlifeCrime; Trafficking/ Smuggling of Wildlife Products, for RPF personnel in Mumbai. They were also sensitised on plastic pollution, the theme of this years #WorldEnvironmentDay."

The media quoted Union Environment Secretary C K Mishra as saying, Non-recyclable plastics have been banned. Various steps will be taken so that plastic is not allowed inside the protected areas."

The theme for UN World Environment Day this year is 'Beat Plastic Pollution'.

India is the host country for World Environment this year.



Image: Dr Harsh Vardhan/TwitterNew York, Apr 28 (IBNS): The blue light emitted by street lights including LEDs, and commercial outdoor lighting such as advertising, is linked to a significant increase in the risk of breast and prostate cancer, innovative new research has concluded.

A study led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) and involving the University of Exeter found that participants living in large cities with heavy exposure to blue lights at night had double the risk of prostate cancer and 1.5 times higher risk of breast cancer. This was compared to populations with less exposure to blue light.

Older lighting schemes emit a glow within the orange spectrum, but new modern lighting creates a bright blue light emission. The researchers found the bluer the light emission that people in large cities were exposed to, the higher the risk of cancer. The study also found that people who lived in homes with darker rooms, by using window shutters for example, had lower risk than those who did not.

The study, published in Environmental Health Perspectives includes medical and epidemiological data of more than 4,000 people between 20 and 85 years of age in 11 Spanish regions.

It particularly examined Madrid and Barcelona. Indoor exposure to artificial light was determined through personal questionnaires. In the first study of its kind, outdoor levels of artificial light were evaluated based on night-time images taken by astronauts aboard the International Space Station.

Dr Alejandro Sanchez de Miguel, of the University of Exeter, said: Humans have evolved to need light during the day and darkness at night. As towns and cities replace older lighting, were all exposed to higher levels of blue lights, which can disrupt our biological clocks. Its imperative that we know for sure whether this increases our risk of cancer. Scientists have long suspected this may be the case  now our innovative findings indicate a strong link. We must also investigate whether night-time exposure to the blue light emitted by smartphones and tablets increases our risk of cancer. We must now improve our research methods to ensure this is robust so we can advise on how best to protect human health. Currently, the images taken by astronauts on the International Space Station are our only way of determining the spread of blue light-emitting white LEDs in our cities.

Little is known about how environmental factors affect breast and prostate cancer. The researchers hypothesise that LED lights may disrupt the bodys 24-hour cycle known as the circadian rhythm, in turn affecting hormones. Both breast and prostate cancer are hormone-related.

Previous research has shown an increased risk between prostate cancer and night shift work. It is also known that artificial light, particularly in the blue spectrum, can decrease the bodys production and secretion of the hormone melatonin. Melatonin plays a key role in regulating the day-night cycles and has several other key functions, for example it is a powerful anti-oxidant and has also an anti-inflammatory function. However, its role in breast and prostate cancer is not yet understood.

Manolis Kogevinas, ISGlobal researcher and coordinator of the study, said: The World Health Organisations International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified night shift work as probably carcinogenic to humans. There is evidence pointing to an association between exposure to artificial light at night, disruption of the circadian rhythm, and breast and prostate cancers.

With this study we sought to determine whether night exposure to light in cities can affect the development of these two types of cancer.

Martin Aube, physics professor at CEGEP in Sherbrooke, Canada and study co-author, said: We know that depending on its intensity and wave length, artificial light, particularly in the blue spectrum, can decrease melatonin production and secretion.

The study was conducted within the framework of the MCC-Spain project cofunded by the Consorcio de Investigacion Biomedica en Red de Epidemiologia y Salud Publica (CIBERESP).

Ariadna Garcia, ISGlobal researcher and first author of the study, says: Given the ubiquity of artificial light at night, determining whether or not it increases the risk of cancer is a public health issue.

At this point, further studies should include more individual data using for instance light sensors that allow measuring indoor light levels. It would also be important to do this kind of research in young people that extensively use blue light emitting screens.

Image: University of Exeter websiteMumbai, Apr 28 (IBNS): Former Miss World Diana Hayden has hit out at Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Deb for making controversial comments on the former's looks, media reports said.

Deb said he didn't understand the beauty of Hayden, who won the Miss World competition in 1997.

Reacting to the comment, Hayden said Deb's comment is "shameful". The former Miss World even said she is proud of her "exotic brown skin colour".

Hayden has been quoted by NDTV, "With regards to me winning the Miss World, it's a pity and shame, that when you win the biggest and most respected beauty pageant in the world, you get criticised and put down as opposed to being appreciated and respected for bringing more accolades back home and further appreciation of our Indian brown exotic beauty."

Deb regarded Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan as the Indian beauty.

The CM has been quoted by NDTV, "We see women as goddess Laxmi, Saraswati. Aishwarya Rai represents the Indian women. She became the Miss World and that's all right. But I do not understand the beauty of Diana Hayden."

However, this is not the first time Deb triggered a row after assumption of power in 2018.

Earlier Deb claimed internet services were available even during the period of the fictional epic Mahabharata.

Deb had said: "India has been using internet since ages. In Mahabharata, Sanjay was blind but he narrated what was happening in the battlefield to Dhritarashtra anyway."

"This was due to internet and technology. Satellite also existed during that period."Beijing, Apr 28 (IBNS): In a rare instance of praise, the Chinese media have said that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent informal meeting with Xi Jinping reflected their deepened mutual chemistry.

The meeting between the respective leaders of South Asia's two most important nations have been very well received by media outlets in the Chinese mainland.

According to the state sponsored Global Times, such a meet was the need of the hour.

The paper, which has been critical of Mr Modi and his policies in the recent past, wrote: "Conflicts between China and India have kept accumulating, which exposed the fragility of Sino-Indian relations and prompted both sides to recognize that confrontation between China and India does not fit their interests."

In an opinion piece, China Daily argue that the best part of Modi's visit has been its 'no baggage' facet.

"The beauty of the informal summit is that it comes with no baggage, only expectations. It is free of the usual diplomatic frills, somewhat beyond the global media limelight," it said.

The outlet also reminded New Delhi about the Dokalam standoff last year and the implications such a situation could have on the diplomacy of two nations.

"The border incident last summer was just one example of what mutual suspicion could lead to, reminding both sides of the disruptive potential of distrust. Yet neither Beijing nor New Delhi calls the other an enemy, which means both expect bilateral ties to improve," it said.

As Mr Modi's visit entered the second day, reports and images from the first day suggested that a little, yet significant developments between the two nations have taken place.

"Both China and India have a glorious history and culture, and the cultures of both countries have lots of connections and the two countries should expand communication and be dedicated to the revitalization of Oriental civilization," Xi was quoted as saying by People's Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party.

As per reports, Mr. Modi has also invited Mr. Xi to visit New Delhi for more informal talks.



Image: twitter.com/MEAIndiaNew Delhi, Apr 28 (IBNS): After completing his China visit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi left for Delhi on Saturday.

Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi and President of People's Republic of China Xi Jinping held their first Informal Summit in Wuhan on Apr 27-28, 2018, to exchange views on overarching issues of bilateral and global importance, and to elaborate their respective visions and priorities for national development in the context of the current and future international situation.

"They believe that the simultaneous emergence of India and China as two large economies and major powers with strategic and decisional autonomy, has implications of regional and global significance. They shared the view that peaceful, stable and balanced relations between India and China will be a positive factor for stability amidst current global uncertainties. They also agreed that proper management of the bilateral relationship will be conducive for the development and prosperity of the region, and will create the conditions for the Asian Century. To this end, they decided to strengthen the Closer Development Partnership in a mutually beneficial and sustainable manner, in pursuit of national modernization and greater prosperity for their peoples," read a statement issued by the MEA.

Prime Minister Modi and President Xi reviewed developments in India-China relations from the strategic and long-term perspective.

They agreed to significantly enhance efforts to build on the convergences through the established mechanisms in order to create the broadest possible platform for the future relationship.

They also agreed that both sides have the maturity and wisdom to handle the differences through peaceful discussion within the context of the overall relationship, bearing in mind the importance of respecting each other's sensitivities, concerns and aspirations, read the statement.

The two leaders expressed their support for the work of the Special Representatives on the India China Boundary Question and urged them to intensify their efforts to seek a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable settlement.

The two leaders underscored the importance of maintaining peace and tranquility in all areas of the India-China border region in the larger interest of the overall development of bilateral relations.

To this end, they issued strategic guidance to their respective militaries to strengthen communication in order to build trust and mutual understanding and enhance predictability and effectiveness in the management of border affairs.

The two leaders further directed their militaries to earnestly implement various confidence building measures agreed upon between the two sides, including the principle of mutual and equal security, and strengthen existing institutional arrangements and information sharing mechanisms to prevent incidents in border regions.

The two leaders agreed to push forward bilateral trade and investment in a balanced and sustainable manner by taking advantage of complementarities between their two economies.

They also discussed ways to promote greater cultural and people-to-people exchanges and agreed to explore establishing new mechanisms in this direction.

Prime Minister Modi and President Xi underlined that as two major countries India and China have wider and overlapping regional and global interests.

They agreed on their need to strengthen strategic communication through greater consultation on all matters of common interest.

They believe that such strategic communication will have a positive influence on enhancing mutual understanding and will contribute to regional and global stability.

The two leaders agreed that India and China have separately made major contributions to global peace and prosperity through their respective growth and economic development, and would continue to act as engines for global growth in the future.

They reiterated the importance of building an open, multipolar, pluralist and participatory global economic order which will enable all countries to pursue their development and contribute to the elimination of poverty and inequality in all regions of the world.

They spoke of their respective efforts to contribute to the regional and global economic development.

"The two leaders also shared views on their respective foreign policy visions of achieving global prosperity and security.

They agreed to jointly contribute in a positive and constructive way in facilitating sustainable solutions for global challenges including climate change, sustainable development, food security etc," read the government statement.

They underscored the importance of reform of multilateral financial and political institutions to make them representative and responsive to the needs of developing countries.

The two leaders agreed that as two major countries and emerging economies, India and China, given their vast developmental experiences and national capacities, should join hands to take lead in offering innovative and sustainable solutions to challenges faced by humankind in the 21st century.

These include combating diseases, coordinating action for disaster risk reduction and mitigation, addressing climate change and ushering digital empowerment.

They agreed to pool together their expertise and resources in these areas and create a global network dedicated to these challenges for the larger benefit of humanity.

Prime Minister Modi and President Xi recognized the common threat posed by terrorism, and reiterated their strong condemnation of and resolute opposition to terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.

They committed themselves to cooperate on counter-terrorism.

The two leaders highly assessed the opportunity for direct, free and candid exchange of views offered by the Informal Summit and agreed on the utility of holding more such dialogues in the future.

The forward-looking dialogue raised the level of strategic communication about the perspective, priorities and vision that guide their respective policy choices domestically, regionally and globally.

It also helped them in forging a common understanding of the future direction of India-China relations built upon mutual respect for each other's developmental aspirations and prudent management of differences with mutual sensitivity.



New Delhi, Apr 28 (IBNS): President of India Ram Nath Kovind, graced and addressed the 27th convocation of the Dr Harisingh Gour Vishwavidyalaya, Sagar, Madhya Pradesh on Saturday.

Addressing the gathering, the President said the Dr Harisingh Gour Vishwavidyalaya is an important centre for higher education in Madhya Pradesh and particularly in the Bundelkhand region.

Due to a large presence of SCs and STs in this region, the role of the University in building capacities in society and contributing to development becomes even more important.

The President said he saw the University as a source of social and economic empowerment.

The President said education was not merely a mechanism to gain knowledge and employment. Education also makes a person self-reliant and enhances the individuals capacities.

This helps an educated person in creating opportunities for others, and to become a job provider instead of a job seeker.

In this context, he was happy to note that an Entrepreneurship Cell has been set up at the Dr Harisingh Gour Vishwavidyala.

It is assisting students to transform ideas into business ventures.

He appreciated the Universitys efforts in promoting modern techniques to increase mushroom production in nearby villages.

Later in the day, the President graced the Satguru Kabir Saheb Mahotsav in Sagar. It has been organised to commemorate the 620th Pragatosav of Satguru Kabir.

Speaking on the occasion, the President said that in the times of Sant Kabir the voice of the underprivileged and of the weaker sections was not adequately heard. In such a backdrop, Sant Kabir spread the message of humanity and equality, and gave voice to the voiceless.Image: Wikimedia Commons

New Delhi, Apr 28 (IBNS): Opposition parties attacked the Centre after a controversy erupted following the Dalmia Bharat Limited's move of signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Ministry of Tourism for the adoption of Red Fort monument under the 'Adopt a Heritage' project.

The Congress slammed the government over the issue and asked people a question on their Twitter handle.

"After handing over the Red Fort to the Dalmia group, which is the next distinguished location that the BJP government will lease out to a private entity? #IndiaSpeaks," the Congress asked.

TMC MP Derek O' Brien also slammed the government over the issue and tweeted:"Wah! So here is acche din. Red Fort being 'sold '? Now other national treasures ready to be auctioned to highest bidder. As Chairman Parliament Cmtee of Transport Tourism & Culture, can say matter was still being "discussed". Pledge to stop this."

The scheme Adopt a Heritage: Apni Dharohar, Apni Pehchaan was originally launched on Sept 27, 2017 to preserve the rich cultural and natural heritage and to promote tourism across the length and breadth of our country.

The Project began with selected ASI ticketed monuments and the scope has now been expanded to include other natural and cultural sites across the country.

It was strongly emphasised that tourist experience is the prime parameter to evaluate our performance in the sector.

"As on date, the project has received very encouraging response with over 195 registrations as per the project website," read a government statement.

Various agencies that have come forward for adoption include not only public and private industry, but also schools and individuals.

"So far, 31 prospective monument mitras have been shortlisted by the Oversight & Vision committee for developing tourist friendly amenities at 95 monuments, heritage and other tourist sites including major heritage sites like Red Fort, Qutub Minar, Hampi, Sun Temple, Ajanta Caves, Char Minar, Kaziranga National Park. Earlier, two MoUs were been signed between Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of Jammu & Kashmir, Govt. of Uttarakhand and Adventure Tour Operators Association of India(ATOAI) for Mt. Stok Kangri, Ladakh, Jammu & Kashmir and for Gangotri Temple Area & Trail to Gaumukh in Uttarakhand. Further, two MoUs were also signed for Red Fort, Delhi and Gandikota fort, Andhra Pradesh between Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Culture, Archaeological Survey of India and Dalmia Bharat Limited," read a government statement.Image: Bihar Tourism/website

New Delhi, Apr 28 (IBNS): The Union Ministry of Culture, on Saturday, said in a release that it will organise an event in collaboration with International Buddhist Confederation (IBC) to celebrate Buddha Jayanti-2018, which falls on Monday, April 30.

The programme, to be held at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, New Delhi, will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Minister of State for Culture (I/C), Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State for Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju and Dr. Dhammapiya, Secretary General, IBC will also be present.

PM Modi and other guests will pay their respects to the sacred relics, which will be specially brought for the occasion from the National Museum, New Delhi, to the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium.

The Prime Minister will also be performing the offering of Sangha Dana (Cheevar Vastram and Sacred Leaf of Bodhi Tree) to the venerated Sangha, the release said.

The event will also house an exhibition gallery- Buddham Sarnam Gacchami with murals, photographs and artifacts.

The United Nation has also officially recognized the importance of this auspicious day in 1999, considering the contemporary relevance of Buddhas teachings of compassion and humanism in these modem times.



Images: PIB

New Delhi, Apr 28 (IBNS): Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived at New Delhi, on Saturday, after the completion of his informal Summit, in Wuhan, China, according to media reports.

He was welcomed at the airport by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.

Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi and President of People's Republic of China Xi Jinping held their first Informal Summit in Wuhan on Apr 27-28, 2018, to exchange views on overarching issues of bilateral and global importance, and to elaborate their respective visions and priorities for national development in the context of the current and future international situation.

Images: PIB

While in China, Prime Minister Modi tweeted, "The talks with President Xi Jinping focussed on diverse areas of India-China cooperation. We discussed ways to give impetus to our economic ties as well as people-to-people relations. Other areas we spoke about include agriculture, technology, energy and tourism."

Both leaders also reiterated the importance of building an open, multipolar, pluralist and participatory global economic order which will enable all countries to pursue their development and contribute to the elimination of poverty and inequality in all regions of the world.



New Delhi, Apr 28 (IBNS): Union minister Piyush Goyal has been caught in the midst of a controversy as he has been alleged to selling a privately-owned company after becoming the coal minister in 2014.

According to The Wire, Goyal, who is now the Railway minister, sold his owned company to a private firm at Rs. 48 cr, four months after becoming the minister in 2014.

The company, which was sold to Piramal Group, was jointly owned by Goyal and his wife.

However, Goyal has reportedly did not mention the company in the declaration which was filed in the PM's office in 2014.

The report by The Wire states Goyal and his wife started Flashnet Info Solutions (India) in 2000 and had owned 99.9% of its stocks.

Hitting out at Goyal and PM Modi over the allegations, Congress President Rahul Gandhi tweeted, "Its no secret that CA Piyush Goyal, the BJP Treasurer, has pried open the doors of every major corporate house for PM Modi. How then will the PM act against this Minister, caught red handed, misusing his power for 48 Cr. of personal gain?"

Its no secret that CA Piyush Goyal, the BJP Treasurer, has pried open the doors of every major corporate house for PM Modi.



How then will the PM act against this Minister, caught red handed, misusing his power for 48 Cr. of personal gain?#GoyalMustResign  Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) April 28, 2018

The BJP has dismissed all the allegations brought against Goyal.Kolkata, Apr 28 (IBNS): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has attacked the central government for leasing out the Red Fort monument to Dalmia Group.

In a tweet, Banerjee said: "Why cant the Government even take care of our historic Lal Qila ? Red Fort is a symbol of our nation. It is where Indias flag is hoisted on Independence Day. Why should it be leased out ? Sad and dark day in our history"

Why cant the Government even take care of our historic Lal Qila ? Red Fort is a symbol of our nation. It is where Indias flag is hoisted on Independence Day. Why should it be leased out ? Sad and dark day in our history  Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) April 28, 2018

The Dalmia Bharat Limited has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Ministry of Tourism for the adoption of Red Fort monument under the 'Adopt a Heritage' project.

The scheme Adopt a Heritage: Apni Dharohar, Apni Pehchaan was originally launched on Sept 27, 2017 to preserve the rich cultural and natural heritage and to promote tourism across the length and breadth of our country.

The Project began with selected ASI ticketed monuments and the scope has now been expanded to include other natural and cultural sites across the country.

It had strongly emphasised that tourist experience is the prime parameter to evaluate our performance in the sector.

"As on date, the project has received very encouraging response with over 195 registrations as per the project website," read a government statement.

Various agencies that have come forward for adoption include not only public and private industry, but also schools and individuals.

"So far, 31 prospective monument mitras have been shortlisted by the Oversight & Vision committee for developing tourist friendly amenities at 95 monuments, heritage and other tourist sites including major heritage sites like Red Fort, Qutub Minar, Hampi, Sun Temple, Ajanta Caves, Char Minar, Kaziranga National Park. Earlier, two MoUs were been signed between Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of Jammu & Kashmir, Govt. of Uttarakhand and Adventure Tour Operators Association of India(ATOAI) for Mt. Stok Kangri, Ladakh, Jammu & Kashmir and for Gangotri Temple Area & Trail to Gaumukh in Uttarakhand. Further, two MoUs were also signed for Red Fort, Delhi and Gandikota fort, Andhra Pradesh between Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Culture, Archaeological Survey of India and Dalmia Bharat Limited," read a government statement.Image: UN website

New York, Apr 28 (IBNS): United Nations human rights experts have expressed serious concerns about racism rooted in the fabric of the United Kingdoms society, given the disproportionate number of people of African descent and of ethnic minorities dying due to excessive use of force by State security.

The deaths reinforce the experiences of structural racism, over-policing and criminalisation of people of African descent and other minorities in the UK, they said.

The UK Government last month responded to the concerns of the experts, recognising that further improvements were needed to develop solutions on healthcare in police custody, inquests and legal aid and support to families.

Data disclosed by the Metropolitan Police in August 2017 found that people of African descent and those belonging to ethnic minority groups, in particular young African and Caribbean men were twice as likely to die after the use of force by police officers and the subsequent lack or insufficiency of access to appropriate healthcare.

According to the experts, these deaths occurred in many circumstances, following the use of force involving firearms, tear gas agents, long handed batons, electroshock weapons; physical restraint resulting in the inhibition of the respiratory system and asphyxia; restraint equipment; and denial of appropriate healthcare.

Failure to properly investigate and prosecute such deaths results in a lack of accountability for those individuals and State agencies responsible, as well as in the denial of adequate remedies and reparation for the families of the victims, they said.

The Government said it had commissioned the Ministerial Council on Deaths in Custody to implement the recommendations set out in the Report of the Independent Review of Deaths and Serious Incidents in Police Custody, the experts said.

The UN experts include E. Tendayi Achiume, Special Rapporteur on racism, who will visit the UK from 30 April to 11 May at the invitation of the Government; Michal Balcerzak, Chairperson of the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent; and Fernand de Varennes, Special Rapporteur on minority issues.

Special Rapporteurs and independent experts are appointed by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a specific human rights theme or a country situation. The positions are honorary and the experts are not UN staff, nor are they paid for their work.New York, Apr 28 (IBNS): Following Fridays summit between the leaders of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the Republic of Korea, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and other top officials expressed hope that the two countries would swiftly implement all agreed actions, including ridding the Peninsula of nuclear weapons.

The Secretary-General applauds todays truly historic summit, said Guterres Spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, in a statement. Many around the world were moved by the powerful imagery of the two leaders coming together to advance harmony and peace on the Korean Peninsula.

According to the declaration signed by both leaders and released after the summit, the two nations agreed on a number of measures, including realizing the common goal of complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, and pursuing phased military arms reduction and talks to declare an official end to the Korean War, which devastated the Peninsula from 1950 to 1953.

An armistice brought about a ceasefire to the Korean War in 1953, but the conflict never officially ended because the parties could not agree to a formal peace treaty.

The Secretary-General salutes the courage and leadership that resulted in the important commitments and agreed actions outlined in the Panmunjom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity and Unification of the Korean Peninsula, noted the Spokesman.

The UN chief counts on the parties to build on their first meeting and swiftly implement all agreed actions to further inter-Korean trust-building and reconciliation; sincere dialogue; and progress towards sustainable peace and verifiable denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula, Dujarric said, adding: The Secretary-General looks forward to these gains being consolidated and advanced at the US-DPRK summit expected to take place soon.

Echoing that sentiment, Miroslav LajAak, the President of the UN General Assembly welcomed the historic summit and recalled the spirit of collaboration that he saw at the Pyeongchang 2018 Olympics, as demonstrated by the unified Korean team. Todays Summit is the continuation of a positive trend.

The Assembly President encouraged the two leaders to implement the agreed-upon measures to advance inter-Korean relations and ease military tensions. It is in the interests of all Member States to work towards achieving peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, he said.

Separately, Lassina Zerbo, Executive Secretary of the UN-partner Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), applauded the commitment to complete denuclearization as pledged in the Panmunjom Declaration.

He especially noted the agreement by the two countries to actively seek the support and cooperation of the international community in the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

In this spirit, Zerbo expressed the CTBTOs readiness to provide all possible assistance.



Inter-Korean Summit Press Corps



New York, Apr 28 (IBNS): The United Nations emergency food relief agency has issued an urgent appeal for nearly $46 million to feed some 350,000 impoverished migrants who crossed the border from Venezuela into Colombia, as well as host communities with pre-existing vulnerabilities.

We urgently need funds so that we can bring vital aid to migrant families who have left their homes behind, and dont know where their next meal is coming from, said Miguel Barreto, the Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean at the UN World Food Programme (WFP).

We also need to support host communities, many of them already poor, who have shown great generosity as they bear the brunt of this crisis, he added, referring to the deepening socio-economic turmoil inside Venezuela.

In a news release Thursday, WFP announced that as part of an eight-month response, it will provide food assistance to migrants  especially women and children  living in temporary shelters; emergency support for school meals; as well as help Venezuelan families trying to integrate.

These efforts are part of a larger integrated response plan, drawn up by UN agencies in Colombia  at the request of the Government  to help address the crisis.

Support will be extended to vulnerable indigenous communities coping with the influx, where in some areas migrants now make up more than half of the population, said WFP.

At present, the UN agency is working with temporary shelters or community kitchens run by religious organizations and other partners, purchasing the food needed to prepare hot meals for newly arrived migrants.



UNHCR/Paul Smith



New York, Apr 28 (IBNS): Students from around the world joined United Nations and Government officials in New York on Friday to celebrate the contributions made by the people of African descent, beginning from the time they were taken from their countries and forced into generations of servitude.

Speaking to UN News prior to the event, Missouri Sherman-Peter, the Permanent Observer for the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to the UN, highlighted the importance of recognizing the heritage of those compelled into slavery, and informing the younger generation of what happened centuries ago.

Knowledge is power, and you cant begin to resolve problems, address them or recognize and be proud of what you are unless you have the knowledge, she said.

When you bring students to think that way, the problems and differences [among people] become less when everyone understands what happened [] was horrific. But we are moving on and we can only move on with the young people with us.

For over 400 years, more than 15 million men, women and children have been victims of the tragic transatlantic slave trade, one of the darkest chapters in human history.

Christian Crouch, an Associate Professor of History and Director of American Studies, Bard College outlined the ordeals they faced.

Five years is the number of years a slave survived in a sugar plantation that was nothing more than a factory in a field, she told young people at the commemorative event.

Responding to a question from schoolchildren in Tanzania, Crouch explained that the consequences of the transatlantic slave trade continue to reverberate.

Slavery still flourishes in many places and not only on the African continent. It exists in different forms on every continent of the world, she said.

The student conference, held as part of the UN Remember Slavery Programme, is organized every year in spring to mark the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade.

It will be followed by educational activities throughout the year, including roundtable discussions, film screenings, an exhibition and tours, including to the Ark of Return, the Permanent Memorial to Honour the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade.

Commemorative events are also organized around the world by UN offices and Information Centres to raise awareness on the causes, consequences, lessons and legacy of the transatlantic slave trade.

UN News/Maria MoreraIslamabad, Apr 28 (IBNS): In a suspected target attack, two people were shot dead in Pakistan's Quetta area on Saturday, media reports said.

Identities of those who attacked the deceased people are not known.

According to the police, Jaffar Ali and his nephew Mohammad Ali were at the formers shop on Jamaluddin Afghani Road in the area when unidentified persons opened fire at them and fled the site, reported Geo News.

The bodies were shifted by the police to Civil Hospital Quetta, reports said.

Police told Geo News initial investigation revealed that the firing was a targetted attack.Rape, molestation, abduction, sexual harassment - not a day goes by without reading these unholy words, especially in the context of women. What's even worse is that we have been repeatedly told that rape is a womans fault, by our very leaders.

"Rapes take place in cities and not in villages. Such incidents happen due to the influence of western culture and women wearing less clothes," - Mohan Bhagwat, Chief, Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS)

"Just because the country attained independence at midnight, is it proper for women moving at midnight?" - Botsa Satyanarayana, Andhra Pradesh Congress leader, on the Delhi gang rape.

It's not just politicians who think this way, a good chunk of the population agrees.

So, women from Indian Ladies in the United Kingdom (ILUK), proposed something to PM Modi during his bilateral visit to the UK last week.

Facebook

They brought in a fundamental change to the Modi government's popular scheme 'Beti Padhao, Beti Bahchao'.

They call it 'Beta Padhao, Beti Bachao', meaning educate the boys and save the girls.

PM Modi was also presented with a box full of messages from Indian women that reflected the groups initiative, reports NDTV .

Modi who was mighty impressed with the idea, spoke about it during his election rally in Madhya Pradesh, requesting families to better educate their sons about treating women with respect.

Poonam Joshi, who is the leader of ILUK, said, "As Indians, we take a great deal of pride in our Prime Minister and the importance that he merits here in the UK. And we have been hugely encouraged by the work that he has carried out in India, whether it is with his 'Swachh Bharat' initiative or his measures to improve the circumstances of the girl child."

"The challenges are many as we have seen in recent days. So it is vital that we support Prime Minister Modi and work with him to bring about change and create a modern, progressive India," she added.

The group shared the pictures on Facebook with the message:Amidst incident of suicide attempt by yet another debt -ridden farmer in drought- hit Damoh on Friday, the minister of state for agriculture said that suicide is a "world problem". Madhya Pradesh is third in terms of farm suicide in India.

Farmers' organisations have also condemned the minister for his "insensitive" remark.

Resident of Sookha village in Damoh, Laxman Kachi about 45-years of age, consumed poison on Friday. He was under debt of Rs 50,000, his family persons claimed.

afp/representational image

His kharif crops had failed in the last season and he was not able to sow rabi crops because of drought, they said.

Narayan Kachi, his son said, "My father was under tremendous pressure. We had already given money lender Rs 90,000 when the principal amount of loan was Rs 50,000. The money lender would take money in every six month.

He alleged that the money lender was harassing him for repayment of loan.

afp/representational image

KS Karoliya, investigating officer said, "Narayan was brought to the district hospital after he allegedly consumed poison. Money lender issue has also cropped up. Things will be cleared only after investigations."

As Kachi battles for life, minister of state for agriculture Balkrishna Patidar termed incidents of suicide as "a world problem". When asked by reporters in Indore that Madhya Pradesh stands third in the number of farmer suicides, he said, "businessmen, IAS,IPS officials, police officials . People from all the sections of the society commit suicide. It happens all over the world."

State general secretary of Bhartiya Kisan Union Anil Yadav condemned the minster for his remarks and said this was the "real face" of the BJP which claimed to be "kisan friendly".

afp/representational image

Shivkumar Sharma alias Kakka ji, national president of Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Sangh also criticised the minister for his "callous" remarks.

On March 20 this year, Union agriculture minister Purshottam Rupla informed the Lok Sabha that Madhya Pradesh was third in terms of farm suicides in the country.

There has seen a 21% jump in farm suicides since 2013. The state, which claims double-digit agricultural growth for five years and was recently given its fifth Krishi Karman Award, reported a horrifying 6,071 farmer suicides between 2011 and 2016.Armed robbers shot dead a bride and looted jewellery worth lakhs after intercepting a marriage party on the Delhi-Dehradun National Highway (NH-58) in Meerut district, police said.

The incident occurred near Matore village, under the Daurala police station area, of Meerut last night, they said, adding that the groom and four others were injured in the attack.

Representational Image

The victims were returning to the district after the wedding ceremony in Ghaziabad district, officials said.

Six armed men, in two cars, intercepted the marriage party while it was on its way back. Farhana was killed after she resisted the robbers, Senior Superintendent of Police Manjil Saini said.

Jewellery worth lakhs and a car was looted from them, he said.

Police have started a search operation to nab the perpetrators, Saini said, adding that the bride was rushed to the Muzaffarnagar Medical College, where she declared dead.Cautioning that Delhi could face the fate of Cape Town, where taps are drying up, in the next 15 years, Niti Aayog vice-chairman Rajiv Kumar said on Thursday while proposing to set up Yamuna River Authority to take necessary steps to avoid water crisis in the capital.

There could be a situation and I am not exaggerating, that we could be in the next 15 years and so, completely bereft of water. We may face Cape Town-like situation. We will try and set up Yamuna River Authority which will combine work of different departments, Kumar said at an event chaired by river development minister Nitin Gadkari.

bccl/representational image

He said immediate measures needed to be taken to prevent the crisis. Cape Town, a coastal city in South Africa, has been facing a severe water shortage since 2015.

Gadkari said there are 27 departments and agencies that are dealing with issues relating to Yamuna river.

DDA is reponsisble for river front development, DJB for discharging treated water to rivers and the ministry for providing funds for cleaning of the river. We will work with Niti Aayog to explore this possibility to revive the river, the minister said.

afp/representational image

Bringing all activities under the control of one agency will help expedite the work. There has to be major participation of people in cleaning the river and sustain it, said Rajiv Singh convenor of Yamuna Swachhta Manch, an entity under the drinking water and sanitation ministry.The Delhi Police have arrested a 34-year-old Muslim cleric in connection with the rape of a girl inside a Madrassa.

The cleric, identified as Ghulam Shahid, was taken into custody on Friday, since, he was aware of the crime committed by the juvenile inside the madrassas premises in Sahibabad.

PTI

A 17-year-old youth, the alleged rapist was earlier apprehended by the police for the crime.

The cleric has, however, maintained that he was unaware of the crime and that he was't at the madrassa at the time.

The 11-year-old girl was rescued on April 22 from the madrasa by a Delhi Police team after her father made a complaint that his daughter had gone missing after she went to market.

PTI

She was lying wrapped in a floor mat on the first floor of the madrassa during the rescue operation.

Police have also recovered CCTV visuals from the area where the victim and the accused are seen together.Cement manufacturer Dalmia Bharat Group has adopted the 17th century monument for 5 years at a cost of Rs 25 crore (Rs 5 crore a year).

The Dalmia Bharat Group has become the first Indian corporate company to adopt a historic monument under the government's Adopt A Heritage scheme. Read more

No Free Rice From Puducherry Govt If Villages Are Not Open Defecation Free, Says Kiran Bedi

In an absurd move, the Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi has announced that no free rice will be distributed in the Union Territory till villages are not free of open-defecation and garbage.

The former IPS officer's bizarre dickta goes on to say that the free rice scheme that affects nearly half of the UT's population will be provided only after the local administration and the MLAs issue a certificate that the village is open defecation free. Read more

Rat Nibbles On 27-Year-Old Patient's Eye At A Government Hospital In Mumbai

The family of a 27-year-old comatose patient from Thane has alleged that his right eye was nibbled by a rat at the civic-run Bal Thackeray Trauma Care Hospital, Jogeshwari, early on Monday.

The hospital has denied the incident, claiming the fictitious complaint was made at the behest of a doctor. Read more

UK Court Accepts All CBI Evidence Against Liquor Tycoon Vijay Mallya, Except Lawyer-Client Emails

Embattled liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya was back in a UK court on Friday for a hearing in his ongoing extradition trial.

The 62-year-old, who is wanted in India to face charges of fraud and money laundering amounting to around Rs 9,000 crore, is currently on a 650,000 pounds bail since his arrest on an extradition warrant by Scotland Yard in April last year. Read more

Armed Robbers Kill Bride, Loot Newly-Wed Couple Near NH-58 In Meerut

Armed robbers shot dead a bride and looted jewellery worth lakhs after intercepting a marriage party on the Delhi-Dehradun National Highway (NH-58) in Meerut district, police said.

The incident occurred near Matore village, under the Daurala police station area, of Meerut last night, they said, adding that the groom and four others were injured in the attack. Read more

Maulvi Arrested In Ghaziabad For Rape Of Minor Girl Inside Madrassa Premises

The Delhi Police have arrested a 34-year-old Muslim cleric in connection with the rape of a girl inside a Madrassa.

The cleric, identified as Ghulam Shahid, was taken into custody on Friday, since, he was aware of the crime committed by the juvenile inside the madrassas premises in Sahibabad. Read moreWhen Prime Minister Narendra Modi tours the world, he always trends for things other than the essential leaders' meet. For instance, his latest visit to Wuhan in China saw him enjoying a special performance of a hit 1982 Bollywood song.

ani

Also read: Google Makes A Boo-Boo, Shows Modi's Photo When People Search For 'India First PM'

Modi was welcomed by Chinese President Xi Jinping to a host of events planned in his welcome ceremony at the Hubei Provincial Museum in Wuhan.

It was during one of these events that Modi and Xi Jinping were seen enjoying an instrumental rendition of the hit song, 'Tu, tu hai wahi dil ne jise apna kaha'.

Watch it here.

#WATCH: Prime Minister Narendra Modi & Chinese President XI Jinping enjoy an instrumental rendition of 1982 Bollywood song 'Tu, tu hai wahi dil ne jise apna kaha,' at an event in China's Wuhan. (27.04.2018) pic.twitter.com/KjGRcHbl38  ANI (@ANI) April 28, 2018

The following day, the two leaders took a stroll around the East Lake and went for a ride in a double-decker boat. Modi is now on his way back to India.

reuters

Also read: Narendra Modi Lookalike To Play PM In A Kannada Film Based On Demonetisation

His smiles though said it all. His love for faraway lands is no secret but his love for anything Indian surpasses all things foreign.Will The Relief Rally Continue? Blue Line Futures - 5 minutes ago Cattle futures were sharply higher to start the week as shorts covered positions. Was this just a blip on the radar or will the relief rally continue?

Seven Year High. The Energy Report 10/05/2021 The PRICE Futures Group - 15 minutes ago Global crude oil prices surged to a seven-year high as warnings about the coming energy crisis to global elites fell on deaf ears. Now we all have to pay the price. OPEC Plus is laughing all the way to...

Time To Buy Soybeans? Blue Line Futures - 27 minutes ago Everyone seems to be as bearish now as they were bullish over $1.00 higher. Now that everyone is on the side of the boat, is it time to look long?

Corn, Fibonacci and Gann ONE44 Analytics - 49 minutes ago Each level can be used as support and then resistance once taken out and the reverse when starting as resistance ZCZ21 : 537-6 (-0.55%)

Corn Lower in Early Tuesday Trade Barchart - 1 hour ago Overnight corn trading has futures 3 to 4 cents lower to start the Tuesday session. Preliminary OI data shows yesterdays action was predominantly rolling of positions from December to March, with open... ZCZ21 : 537-6 (-0.55%) ZCPAUS.CM : 5.1748 (-0.17%) ZCH22 : 546-0 (-0.68%) ZCZ21 : 537-6 (-0.55%)

Emini S&P futures premarket analysis TradeGuidance - 1 hour ago We analyze the broad market futures for an easy to read one-page summaryWhat Is Double Dipping?

Double dipping is an unethical practice. It describes a broker that places commissioned products into a fee-based account to earn money from both sources. In this context, double dipping is rare and can lead to fines or suspensions from regulators for the offending broker or their firm. The practice is usually done covertly, aided by a disengaged or otherwise unaware client.

Double dipping may take other forms, such as when employees covered by a state or municipal pension retire, which triggers the start of pension payments, and then are rehired in the same role from which they retired a few days later with little more than a slight title change.

Key Takeaways: Double dipping is an unethical practice whereby a broker places commissioned products into a fee-based account to earn money from both sources.

Double dipping can lead to fines or suspensions from regulators for the offending broker or firm.

Double dipping also occurs when employees covered by a state or municipal pension retire, begin to receive pension payments, and then are rehired a few days later with a slight title change.

Understanding Double Dipping

Double dipping by a broker can take place in managed accounts or wrap accounts, in which a broker manages a client's account in exchange for a flat quarterly or annual fee, usually around 1% to 3% of assets under management. The fee covers the cost of managing a portfolio, such as administrative costs and commissions.

An example of double dipping would be when a broker or financial adviser buys a front-end-load mutual fund that earns them a commission and then places it in a fee-based account where it will increase the fees they are paid. The ethical way to handle such a situation would be to credit the client's account by the amount of the commission. Not doing so is double dipping.

Double dipping, such as in the example above, are actionable by regulators such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). Either can bar a broker or advisor and fine them or their firm. In the case of a brokerage firm, they can be fined for a lack of supervision.

Double Dipping: How to Avoid It

There are a few red flags that investors should watch out for to avoid double dipping. For example, clients should be alarmed if a broker charges a management fee but suggests buying mutual funds from the firm that employs the broker.

Brokers tend to receive a commission for selling proprietary products, which could equate to double dipping. Clients should also pay close attention to statements regarding fees and commissions. When in doubt, or when a client feels a broker or advisor is not being entirely forthcoming, a lawyer should be enlisted to review any communications or disclosures.

Double Dipping and Pensions

Double dipping involving public employees and pensions is a legal but frowned upon practice that exploits legal loopholes. In effect, it involves retirement that is on paper only. It allows public employeessuch as police officers, state attorneys, firemen, school superintendents, and legislatorsto retire from their jobs and start collecting retirement after serving enough years to earn full retirement benefits. Double dipping then allows them to be rehired into their public service jobs.

The end result is that the double dipping individual collects a pension check and a paycheck simultaneously. Double dipping occurs in several states, notably New Jersey, New York, and California. One New Jersey law enforcement officer simultaneously collected $138,000 per year in pay for his duties as a county sheriff and $130,000 in pension payments from his previous employer, a municipality.What Is Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act?

Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 authorizes the President of the United States, through tariffs or other means, to adjust the imports of goods or materials from other countries if it deems the quantity or circumstances surrounding those imports to threaten national security.

The Trade Expansion Act of 1962 was signed by President John F. Kennedy, who called it, the most important piece of legislation, I think, affecting economies since the passage of the Marshall Plan.

Key Takeaways The Trade Expansion Act of 1962 was passed to promote the general welfare, foreign policy, and security of the United States through international trade agreements.Section 232 of the Act allows the president of the United States to impose tariffs through executive action, bypassingcongress under certain circumstances.  

 President Trump famously utilized Section 232 to begin a series of tit-for-tat tariffs with global exporters leading to trade wars with nations around the world, and in particular China.  

How Does Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act Work?

To investigate Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, the Secretary of Commerce may self-initiate the investigation, or an interested party may initiate an investigation through an application. Any investigation initiated must be reported to the Secretary of Defense, who can also be consulted for information and advice should any policy questions that arise during the investigation.The Department of Commerce reports its findings to the President within 270 days of initiating any investigation, with an emphasis on whether or not certain imports threaten to impair the country's national security. The President has 90 days to concur formally or not with the report received from the Commerce Department. If they concur, their statutory authority under Section 232 allows them to modify or adjust the imports as necessary through tariffs or quotas. In effect, following the report submitted, the President of the country may take a range of actions, or no action, based on the Secretary's recommendations provided in the reports.

Section 232 and Free Trade Agreements

Since 1980, the Department of Commerce has conducted fourteen Section 232 investigations. In 2018, during the presidential term of Donald Trump, the Department found that the quantities and circumstances of steel and aluminum imports threaten to impair the national security, as defined by Section 232. Donald Trump had campaigned on the promise to renegotiate international trade deals on more favorable terms for the United States. During his term as President, he took particular aim at the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

Following the report received from the Dept. of Commerce on January 11, 2018, President Trump announced tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. Wilbur Ross, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, reported that the excess production of steel and the present quantities of steel imports were, weakening our internal economy and shrinking [of our] ability to meet national security production requirements in a national emergency The department's report also stated that United States steel imports were nearly four times our exports and that aluminum imports had risen to 90% of total demand for primary aluminum. Thus, imports in this industry threatened to impair the national security of the U.S.

Section 232 and the Trump Administration

On March 8, 2018, Trump exercised his presidential authority under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 to impose a 25% tariff on steel imports and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum imports citing national security concerns. Ross had recommended in the investigation report:

a global tariff of at least 24% on steel imports from all countries, or

a minimum 53% tariff on steel imports from 12 countries including Brazil, China, Costa Rica, Egypt, India, Malaysia, Republic of Korea, Russia, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, and Vietnam, or

a quota on steel products from all countries equal to 63% of each country's 2017 exports to the U.S.

Canada and Mexico were granted exemptions from the tariffs, although those countries are facing additional tariffs on other goods and materials. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency began collecting the tariffs on March 23, 2018.

The United States is the largest importer of steel in the world. In 2017, the U.S. imported 34.6 million metric tons of steel, a 15% increase from 2016, according to the U.S. Commerce Dept. Those imports were worth nearly $30 billion. Canada represented 17 percent of those imports, and Brazil accounted for 14 percent. China accounted for 2 percent and threatened to levy tariffs on hundreds of goods and materials that it imports from the U.S. in retaliation.Update - 8.25am, April 28: David Stepka and Sebastian Rowley have been found safe and well.

7.52am, April 27: Two boys missing from West Cork

Gardai are looking for the public's help to find two missing teens from Cork.

David Stepka and Sebastian Rowley, both 13, are missing from the Bantry area.

The boys were last seen in Bantry at about 10am-11am yesterday morning.

Davis Stepka was wearing a navy pants, black jacket and brown walking boots.

Sebastian Rowley was wearing a red jacket, school uniform and was carrying a blue rucksack.

The boys are believed to be in the Dublin area.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Bantry Garda Station on 027 20860 or the Garda Confidential Line 0n 1800 666 111.

Digital DeskShe stole the show in Derry Girls as Sister Michael. Now Siobhan McSweeney returns to her native Cork to reprise her role as May in Kevin Barrys dark comedy Autumn Royal at the Everyman Theatre, writes Aileen Lee.

Last year was a big year for Siobhan McSweeney  the Cork woman kicked off 2017 playing the female role, May, in Autumn Royal, the debut play by award-winning writer Kevin Barry. She then got a part in the Channel 4 comedy, Derry Girls, playing Sr Michael, the principal of the main characters secondary school. Once that wrapped up, she was straight into rehearsal for Katie Roche, which saw her take her first spin on the Abbey Theatre stage.

Happily, history seems to be repeating itself in 2018. Next week, McSweeney will reprise her role in Autumn Royal, as it embarks on a national tour, and fans of Derry Girls will know that it has been commissioned for a second series. Given that McSweeneys character gathered her own large following of fans, we can presume that she will be another funny force to be reckoned with in season two. Not that McSweeney is giving anything away, she has been sworn to secrecy.

McSweeney knew the writer of Derry Girls, Lisa McGee, through the show London Irish (Channel 4), which McGee wrote and which McSweeney also appeared in. It featured Peter Campion as one of the leads. He and McSweeney both worked together on Derry Girls  he played the girls crush, Fr Peter  and in a lovely twist of fate, he will play the character of Timothy, Mays brother, in Autumn Royal for its second run.

Siobhan McSweeney on the set of Kevin Barrys Autumn Royal, which returns to the Everyman and will tour nationwide this May. Picture: Darragh Kane

McSweeney says of McGee: Shed always been thinking about this other sitcom that she wanted to write about growing up in Derry in the 90s, and she said, there might be something in it for you. I naturally thought it would be one of the girls, because I dont see myself as anything beyond being a 16-year-old. No matter how much older I get, I am still at heart 16 years of age in the 1990s.

Viewers loved McSweeneys depiction of Sr Michael  she has impeccable comic timing in the show. Interestingly, for all the flashbacks to convent school days professed by female viewers of Derry Girls, it was an experience that McSweeney had not lived herself: Im probably the only person in the cast that had no interactions with nuns at all. I didnt have that idea of her as a nun necessarily, that was secondary to her attitude. I think shes a nun because perhaps she wants more authority or perhaps its a way to get away from people.

Siobhan McSweeney was a hit with TV audiences for her role as Sister Michael in the Channel 4 comedy series Derry Girls.

Lack of vocation aside, one can only imagine that it was a lot of fun shooting the series, which McSweeney confirms: It was the best fun that Ive had on a job in a long time. Its such a cliche but we all got on very well. There was a great buzz on set. There was fierce naughtiness and trying not to laugh and trying not to corpse and trying not to make other people corpse [break character].

Despite the feeling that they were working on something special with Derry Girls, McSweeney said that everyone hoped more that viewers would feel the same rather than expecting it to be the case. As luck would have it, the show received a rapturous reception when it aired on our screens early this year. McSweeney says: Timing is really important, whats happening out in the real world at the time; what the mood is; what people want to see; what time of the year it is  all of these variables  so it was a perfect storm with Lisas script.

We may have wait a while to see Sr Michael on our screens again, but in the meantime, McSweeney looks forward to her return to the stage next week with Autumn Royal. She says: It was great having Shane [Casey] in the first incarnation of it. Im really looking forward to doing it again. Peter is bringing something different, as any actor would to the role, so the play is changing. Its a great chance to make it a bit richer and investigate the characters and their world a bit more. So many things in this world are confined by budget and to have the luxury to be able to go back to something a second time is very rare.

She recalls her experience of its first run: I was very excited for the opportunity to work in Cork, Ive been working for over a decade now and very few, if no, opportunities have arisen for me to return to Ireland, let alone Cork, unfortunately. Its also nerve-wracking, because you do feel this pressure, oh, shes been away for 10 years, what can she do? and with a new piece of work, even though its somebody as amazing as Kevin Barry, you can never tell what the reception is going to be like. Im back in Cork for family at least once a month, so I dont feel a huge distance from Cork necessarily but its different when youre working there.

Kevin Barrys Autumn Royal stars Siobhan McSweeney and Peter Campion. Picture: Darragh Kane

Autumn Royal peeks inside the lives of May (McSweeney) and Timothy (Campion) who are looking after their father, a man who has long since taken to the bed. A dark comedy, set on the northside of Cork city, it looks at how their role as carers has resulted in their lives being severely curtailed.

McSweeney loves her character in the play: Primarily what I love about May is that I havent seen her  she isnt a heroine, she isnt noble, she isnt a girlfriend, she isnt a wife, she isnt a mother, she is experiencing a situation which we can all relate to. Kevin has placed this in a heightened circumstance but the reality of caring for our parents is a very real one.

Not only is it a prime area to explore within theatre itself, but I think that as a society we need to look at how we are at caring for our old people and how are we caring for our carers. Its not a political piece, but by even playing a woman who isnt heard of or seen in society, thats what I love most about her.

McSweeney recalls how audience members approached her after the shows run last year, because Mays experience resonated with their own experiences as carers. She says: I dont think it exists as much now, or I certainly hope it doesnt exist as much now, but there is a tradition of the daughter going home to mind the mammy and daddy. Carers dont have a choice quite often, either financially or emotionally, and especially as a woman, those choices are even fewer, so I think its a powerful play for many reasons. May, shes of our time. Its not some far away ye olde worlde, this is something that is a lot of peoples reality.

McSweeney has also appeared on our screens in The Fall (BBC Two/ RTE One), Collateral (BBC Two) and No Offence (Channel 4), and her theatre credits include The Alchemist in the Royal Shakespeare Company, as well as many appearances at the Royal Court in London, and other venues in the UK. Having worked both on stage and before the camera over the years, does she prefer one over the other? She says: The aim of any actor, I think, is to have a healthy dose of both. Derry Girls was the biggest part that I ever had in front of a camera, so I was able to properly learn, and I grew to love the craft and the art of camera work, but my heart still lies in theatre.

McSweeney loves the sense of community that she feels when working in the theatre: That feeling of comradery is second-to-none, and the live aspect, the feeling of the audience differing every night, the energy that comes from them. The theatre is perhaps one of the few places of communication left open to us. Its no accident that its a place where we have to turn off our phones, turn off the superficiality of social media and of other ways of communicating, and that it is actually the true way to communicate with each others humanity.

- Autumn Royal by Kevin Barry, which was recently shortlisted for the Stewart Park Award, will run at the Everyman Theatre in Cork from May 1 to May 5. It then tours to Dublin, Longford, Newbridge, Bray, Limerick, Cavan and Roscommon. For more details, see www.everymantheatre.com.Galways Harbour Hotel is ideally positioned just a few minutes walk to the city centre. Better still, its just had an extensive refurbishment, Susan OShea checks in.

We timed the journey badly. Very badly in fact. Kick-off in the Ireland V Wales Six Nations game was about to begin as we pulled out of our drive heading for Galway. This meant the only voices in the car for the entire trip were Michael Corcoran, detailing the action, and my better half roaring his advice as he frantically gripped the steering wheel.

Despite only a passing interest in rugby, I got totally caught up in the thrilling encounter, so when we pulled into the carpark of Galways Harbour Hotel with five minutes to go before the final whistle, we tore through the lobby and straight to the bar like a couple of thirsty pilgrims about to end a Lenten fast.

We were just in time to witness Jacob Stockdale surge past the Welsh defence to keep Irelands Grand Slam hopes alive (and we all know how that wonderful story ends) and the bar erupted into chants and cheers. As a result, the atmosphere in the hotel, as in the city as a whole, was electric, on what was an otherwise bitterly cold and overcast Saturday. Indeed, Galway always has a good vibe to it, despite its often dismal weather, making it a great weekend destination.

The Harbour Hotel, unfortunately, doesnt offer panoramic views of Galway Bay as its name might suggest, but is ideally located on the citys docks, just a two-minute walk from the hustle and bustle of Eyre square, and with secure, on-site parking.

Built in 2001, the hotel is part of the the MHL Hotel Collection, and keeps good company with the 5-star Glenlo Abbey, Limerick Strand, The InterContinental, The Westin, Hilton Hotel Charlemont, and Trinity Hotel, Dublin. Its just had 30 of its bedrooms revamped along a nautical theme, giving them that spanking new, never-slept-in-before feel. Bright and comfortable, the rooms offer plush king-size beds, Nespresso machines, super-fast wifi, USB ports to charge your phone or tablet, flat-screen smart TVs, and an unexpectedly spacious and powerful walk-in shower.

Given its central location, the hotel is targeting the 30-40 age group (which we fit into by virtue of outlook, even if our birth certs say otherwise), professional couples looking for a weekend, or midweek break.

The fact it doesnt have a swimming pool means its less likely to attract the family market, a plus for us as there were no noisy kids screeching in the corridors, or grabbing the best bits at breakfast. With our two left at home in the care of granny, we were like a couple of 20-year-olds let loose and keen to sample what the city has to offer.

After our frenetic drive and the excitement of the rugby, we wrapped up well and headed out for a stroll. The place was literally hopping, with fans clearly intent on making a day and a night of it, and a surprising amount of tourists soaking up the atmosphere. No trip to Galway would be complete without a visit to the iconic Quays pub. Id never been before and was wowed by its interior, with fabulous stained glass, carved wood, Gothic arches and pews, but a bit put off by the heaving throngs. Next stop was the less crowded Dail bar, which has a real old Irish pub feel to it without being cliched. Imagine our surprise when we discovered its only been in existence for a number of years.

Galway, like Kilkenny, has managed to retain a healthy and eclectic mix of local shops and independent cafes holding their own against the high-street usuals, which lends it much of its charm. Restaurants were keen to advertise their locally caught and locally sourced produce, and at prices that wouldnt break the bank and talented buskers on almost every street corner added to the festive atmosphere.

We headed back to the hotel, and after a quick wardrobe change, enjoyed a pre-dinner drink in the bar. At this stage, many of the rugby revellers had thankfully departed, and the bar had taken on a relaxed, comfortable vibe, perfect for enjoying a refreshing Hendricks over ice (I know, since when did a simple G&T become so complex?). Theres also a wide selection of cocktails on offer which had me tempted.

Dillisk on the Docks restaurant was revamped a year ago, and if the night we stayed is anything to go by, is a popular spot for both hotel residents and locals. My heart did sink a bit when I spotted the large hen party but they were remarkably low-key and well behaved; I wonder was the same true at 2am?

As the name suggests, the menu embraces the best the west coast has to offer, and I was swayed by delicious pan-fried prawns with chili and garlic to start, and a quinoa-coated fish burger, served with sweet potato fries and a lime coriander spiced creme fraiche, making me feel very virtuous. My better half went for the more traditional offering of a Hereford prime 8oz steak, with home cut chips and sauteed onion with mushroom and asparagus. And keeping a bit of room, he managed to squeeze in a lime creme fraiche cheesecake, with ginger nut base.

On the a la carte menu starters range from 6 to 12 (for the seared scallops), while mains go from 15 to 25, with plenty of choice to keep the carnivores, vegetarians and pescatarians satisfied. For the sweet-toothed, dessert will set you back 6-7, and there is also a table dhote menu.

The wine list nicely mixes the old and the new, and ranges from 24 for the likes of a Chilean Sauvignon Blanc to 45 for a heavy-hitting Valpolicella. Being French fans (except on the rugby pitch), we opted for an Organic Muscadet de Sevre et Maine, deliciously refreshing (32).

Theres live music in the bar but well sated and in need of a bit of fresh air we (bravely) headed back out into Galways nightlife. Based on a recommendation we tried Tribeton, one of the citys newest additions and an impressive spot to behold, but the place was literally packed to the rafters.

Instead we headed for the more sedate surroundings of the Hotel Meyrick on Eyre Square, which I was last in when it was the Great Southern (God, were getting old). We called it a night just before the witching hour, which meant we were up bright and early to enjoy the buffet breakfast at the Harbour Hotel, where the pancakes went down a treat.

We gave a (very) fleeting thought to availing of the hotels fitness suit, before instead wisely opting for a bit of last-minute shopping, a warming cup of coffee in the very charming An Cupan Tae, before a much more sedate journey back to Cork.Figures released by Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan show that 594,968 was paid out to prisoners for a range of injuries and exposures to hazards. That was a decrease of 8.2% from 2016.

The figures, which were provided in response to a parliamentary question from Social Democrats co-leader, Catherine Murphy, did not provide any information on the number of claimants, nor on the level of awards made to individual prisoners.

The majority of cases are dealt with by the State Claims Agency, on behalf of the Irish Prison Service.

The biggest type of award last year was for injuries suffered as a result of violence. These totalled 247,500, while 51,736 was paid out to prisoners who had experienced self-injurious behaviour.

There was a sharp reduction in compensation paid out for prisoners suffering slips, trips, or falls, down to 36,750, from 160,000 in 2016.

In contrast, while there were no payouts for prisoners suffering exposure to bacteria or hazardous chemicals in 2016, claims of this nature last year resulted in payouts of 92,000 and 40,000, respectively.

Injuries arising from clinical procedures and medication resulted in awards to prisoners of 15,000.

Unlike in 2016, when 28,500 was awarded, no prisoner last year successfully made a compensation claim for psychological stress from a wrongful arrest or unlawful detention.

Separate figures, also published by the Department of Justice, show there was a slight increase last year in the number of assaults on prisoner officers by inmates, with an average of two staff being attacked each week.

A total of 104 attacks on prison staff were recorded in 2017, up six on the previous year.

Mountjoy was the prison with the most number of attacks  18 in 2017  overtaking the Dochas Centre, the female prison on the Mountjoy campus, where 14 assaults were recorded, and the Midlands Prison in Portlaoise, where there were 13.The Galway East TD is in negotiations with Taoiseach Leo Varadkars office about securing an alternative government-linked role if he quits the Alliance.

This would potentially secure his support for important Dail votes for the minority Government.

The dispute centres on an alleged agreement to rotate the position of OPW minister between Mr Canney and Mr Moran. Originally, the decision on who took up the post first was decided on with the toss of a coin.

Alliance sources were not optimistic about the row being resolved last night and a decision was still awaited from Mr Canney on whether he will remain in the group or not.

Relations between Mr Canney and Alliance de facto leader, Transport Minister Shane Ross, are also strained with the latter said to be angry that the TD opposed Government road safety legislation during the week.

It is understood that Mr Canney, who is a deputy chief whip, was told by the Government not to go back into the Dail chamber on Wednesday evening and vote against the anti-drink driving bill.

Government figures are waiting on the Galway politicians response. This comes after a quasi-offer from the Taoiseach for the TD to get an alternative type of junior ministerial role, which would not include extra pay.

This would be in Housing and could mirror the position of Joe McHugh, who is Government chief whip but also looks after the Gaeltacht.

However, Government sources do not think the position for Mr Canney, who is a qualified chartered quantity surveyor, would be an actual ministerial post.

It is thought the deal would allow Mr Canney leave the Alliance but retain his role as deputy Government whip which also comes with an 15,000 annual allowance.

Mr Canney could not be contacted yesterday or this week despite numerous attempts.

Speaking to the Irish Examiner, Mr Moran said it would be best if the row was put to bed: Myself and Sean spoke during the week about flooding and other issues.

"I hope this comes to a conclusion fast. It is not what I went into Government for. It would be better for it to come to a conclusion quick.

Fellow Alliance member, junior minister John Halligan, said he does not know whether or not the group would lose Mr Canney.

Speaking on Today with Sean ORourke on RTE radio, he said: Im not going to bullshit you, I dont know.

He said there are no terms agreed for Mr Canney and Mr Moran when sharing the junior ministry.

He said the Alliance is happy to have Mr Moran as minister: The decision we have made is Boxer remains as minister, hes a good minister, we dont want him to move. Hes doing the job and hes doing it quite well as it is.

Alliance sources said last night they expected Mr Canney was unlikely to make a statement or decision on the row until early next week.

One Government source also said that the bottom line coming from Mr Varadkars people is he is disgruntled because he has no job.At Cork Circuit Criminal Court, Leeside Cut & Core Contractors, of Blackhill, Fivemile Bridge, Ballinhassig, Co Cork, pleaded guilty to two charges.

The first was that between January 21 and February 6, 2015, at an office building at Goulds Hill, Mallow, Co Cork, it failed to ensure the safety, health, and welfare at work of employees.

This was because it failed to manage the demolition work at the premises in circumstances where there were asbestos-containing materials present and that demolition work was being carried out in an uncontrolled fashion causing damage to the asbestos-containing ceiling tiles and floor tiles on the premises, thereby exposing employees to the risk of inhaling asbestos fibres.

The second plea of guilty was to the related charge of failing to carry out a risk assessment.

Leeside Cut & Core Contractors pleaded guilty to two counts related to the asbestos and was fined at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.

Judge Sean O Donnabhain said: This is quite an alarming case. There is nobody  be that judge or labourer  who is not aware of the dangers of being exposed to or working with asbestos.

Yet this company in a cut and core job carried on nonchalantly in the presence of asbestos. Asbestos dust is known about.

"It is not one of these hidden dangers. It is on the ceiling [marked asbestos tiles] and all this dust is on the floor and they started driving diggers on it.

Cian Cotter, defending, accepted employees and directors of the company stayed on site after being alerted to the presence of asbestos but said they only did so to make the site safe for those commissioned to remove the asbestos.

The judge said he found the level of disregard mind-boggling.

HSA inspector, Tom OSullivan, testified that the agency received confidential information about work taking place at the office building.

He said it was built in the 1970s and that a building of that vintage would have asbestos.

He said there was a considerable amount of debris and it should have been apparent to workers there that there was asbestos as the ceiling tiles had an identifying asbestos marking.

Once they became aware of asbestos, they should have stopped their work, Mr OSullivan said.

Mr Cotter said their job was to remove partition walls and not to interfere with ceiling tiles.

He said employees were informed about the presence of asbestos; they were directed not to interfere with the ceiling tiles and were given gloves and masks.

He said when the HSA told them it was a high-risk premises, the defendant company fully co-operated in every way and complied with all requirements of them.

The judge said if 5,000 was paid within a year, an application could be made to pay the remainder of the fine on an annual basis over 10 years.Aaron Hannon, of 10 Liam Healy Road, Fairhill, Cork, pleaded guilty in October at Cork Circuit Criminal Court to a charge of assault causing harm to a man and a woman at St Oliver Plunkett St, Cork, on October 16, 2016.

Hannon has, with the help of 1,500 from family members, raised 4,000 in compensation.

The experience of being in prison for two months has been an eye opener, a chastening experience, Donal OSullivan, defending, told the court.

Judge Sean O Donnabhain said: Given what you tell me, I will release him to enable him to gather further compensation.

I will adjourn it for 12 months.

Sergeant Kevin Joyce accepted that Hannon did not intend to hit the woman on the night and would have been unaware that he had done so.

Mr OSullivan said there was evidence that the male injured party head-butted Hannon and would not stop tackling him on the street having mistakenly believed that Hannon had assaulted a woman earlier.

Mr OSullivan said there were witnesses in the book of evidence who gave this evidence in relation to the injured party.

The defence barrister said Hannon accepted that he was guilty of assault causing harm.

Sgt Joyce said of the involvement of the injured party and the defendant in the lead-up to the assault by Hannon: I would say it was 50-50.

Sgt Joyce said there were several interactions between the two men before the eventual assault by Hannon on the injured party.

Hannon said the other man was blaming him in the wrong for an alleged assault on a woman earlier.

Mr Hannon  in the space of one and a half minutes  assaulted the injured party and caused extensive injuries to his cheekbone and eye socket.

A lady  the second injured party  happened to be standing in front of him, Sgt Joyce said.

In the course of assaulting the man, Mr Hannon struck her once with his forearm and once with his knee, knocking the young lady to the ground.

She was unconscious for a short period of time. I dont think Mr Hannon was aware he assaulted her, the sergeant added.

Hannon played inter-county hurling for Cork at intermediate level.It emerged yesterday that 206 cytology reviews were conducted where the cytology suggested a different result, which would have recommended an investigation to occur at an earlier stage.

In other words, there were cancer warning signs that were not followed up on at the time because the initial analysis incorrectly found nothing wrong.

A review subsequently identified that there was a problem in the case of 206 women.

When asked if errors in the smear test results were all linked to the same laboratory, the HSE said there is no breakdown in relation to the laboratories.

Earlier this week it emerged that abnormalities were not picked up in a 2011 cervical screen of Limerick woman, Vicky Phelan, who is now dying of cancer.

The lab that supplied the results was identified as Clinical Pathology Laboratories Inc in Austin, Texas.

The HSE said last night that CervicalCheck contracts three principal laboratories to process screenings: Quest Diagnostics Inc, Teterboro, New Jersey; MedLab Pathology Ltd, Dublin; and Coombe Women and Infants University Hospital, Dublin.

Separately, the Irish Patients Association (IPA) has welcomed the Government move towards the introduction of mandatory open disclosure.

The Department of Health said it is currently making preparations for a new Patient Safety Bill which will ensure mandatory open disclosure to patients of serious incidents.

Stephen McMahon, Irish Patients Association. Pic: Gareth Chaney Collins

IPA chair Stephen McMahon said it had been disappointed when the joint committee on health, in its report on the pre-legislative scrutiny on the open disclosure provisions, to be included in the Civil Liability (Amendment) Bill (now an act), had essentially kicked the introduction of mandatory open disclosure down the line.

Mr McMahon said what is now unfolding  the move towards mandatory disclosure  is a seismic shift.

At the time we appeared before the committee, we had patient advocates with no agenda other than the collective good of other patients. But their voice was not heard.

The committee and the medical profession were not in favour of mandatory open disclosure and thats how the recommendation went, said Mr McMahon.

You have to ask whose interests are being served when information is withheld from patients.

Its only ever in the face of tragedy that we start moving.

If we are saying we have a patient-centred service, then the patient should be central to everything we do.

Mr McMahon said he hoped the new legislation wouldnt be too restrictive in its definition of a serious incident.

He said the IPA was reiterating its call for managers to be held accountable for the decisions they make and the actions they take, just as health professionals are held to account by their regulatory bodies.Q. Whats Open Disclosure?

A. The HSE uses the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Cares definition: Open Disclosure is an open, consistent approach to communicating with patients when things go wrong in healthcare. This includes expressing regret for what has happened, keeping the patient informed, feedback on investigations and the steps taken to prevent a recurrence.

Q. Sounds serious. Is it treated as such?

A. From the point of view of patients and families affected by things going wrong, its not only serious but essential. Time and again, we hear families tell of their despair and anger at facing a wall of silence from health care managers when they need answers as to why things went wrong.

Q. Where do we hear this?

A. All too often in the High Court after people spend years looking for answers.

Q. But doesnt the HSE have an Open Disclosure policy that would negate the need for this?

A. They do have a policy, and training sessions, and even a national project lead for open disclosure  Angela Tysall, whos based at the HSE Quality Improvement Division in Donegal. They also have the influence of the State Claims Agency which says it is: committed with the HSE in ensuring that open disclosure remains a pivotal part of good business within our health services.

Then theres the ombudsman who has spoken often of the need for a duty of candour. And last but not least, theres the Taoiseach who, when minister for health in 2015, told this newspaper: When something goes wrong, its OK to say that youre sorry about what happened. It does not mean youre accepting liability. There is a never a good reason to conceal the truth from a patient or their family once the facts are known. Aside from making sense for a human point of view, its the right thing to do financially.

Q. Why financially?

A.The experience internationally is that where patients are dealt with honestly, they are less likely to want to sue or to have to sue to get information.

Q. And yet Open Disclosure is in the news. At a guess, thats not because of the great savings it has been making for the HSE?

A. Good guess. We have learnt this week that women who had cervical smear tests that came up clear but later, on review, were found to be cancerous or at least suspect and in need of further checks, were not told this.

Q. We found this out how?

A. In the High Court, again, where a terminally ill mother of two had to go to get answers as to how she was passed as clear in a routine test but had advanced cervical cancer on her next test. And shes not alone. Under disclosure rules, documents lodged by the HSE show there were more than 200 women in this situation with no obligation or pressure exerted to tell them there were concerns over their tests.

Q. Which disclosure rules?

A. The ones that the courts impose. Disclosure is obligatory in courts  its an optional extra elsewhere.

Q. But shouldnt it be mandatory so as to reduce the need for people to go to court in the first place?

A. That idea was considered when a bill on the issue was under Oireachtas scrutiny in 2016 and 2017, but the resulting legislation, the Civil Liability (Amendment) Act 2017 only set out the safeguards for people making disclosures, ensuring the information they gave and expressions of regret cannot be used against them in any subsequent court case.

Q. So it is about protections for practitioners, not patients?

A. Correct.

Q. Who tipped the balance in that way?

A. Doctors, nurses and consultants all lobbied hard to keep open disclosure voluntary. The State Claims Agency also came down against making it mandatory. And its worth noting the code of conduct of the Medical Council, the doctors regulatory body. While it says doctors have a duty to support a culture of candour, it also states: Patients and their families, where appropriate, are entitled to honest, open and prompt communication about adverse events. Its the where appropriate bit that stands out.

Q. Any chance the current scandal might change things?

A. Health Minister Simon Harris says hell bring new legislation before the Oireachtas making open disclosure mandatory.

Q. But wont the same lobbying go on again?

A. Undoubtedly. But therell most likely be a new government so it probably wont be his problem.

Q. Why would practitioners not be open to being open anyway?

A. Fear of being scapegoated would be one reason. Its notable that healthcare managers who are responsible for the conditions in which medics work  and therefore must share responsibility when things go wrong  are not subject to sanction by any regulatory body. Fear of damage to career, fear of the reaction of patients or their families and, ironically, fear of adverse publicity are all mentioned as reasons too.

Q. Thats a lot of fear  must be a fearful condition to manage.

A. It seems so. It even has a name  veritaphobia.

Q. Is that true?

A. Ill think about telling you, if I deem it appropriate.The exit snapshot carried out by Defence Forces HR comes as military veterans announced they are planning to march on the Dail to highlight the fact that 84.12% of serving personnel earn below the average public service wage.

These personnel have normally undergone specialist and costly training and must pay back a specified amount to break their contract. The exit survey showed that at least one person was so anxious to get out, they paid 10,000.

In total, 65 of those who paid the discharge purchase indicated that they are going to jobs in some type of civilian employment.

A further 14 didnt say where they are going, but pointed out they were leaving because of conditions and low pay.

The gardai have far better pay and conditions than the majority of enlisted members of the Defence Forces and it was therefore unsurprising that a further 13 soldiers said they were joining them.

Military representative organisations were angered when they were left out of the Governments side deals with gardai, fire brigades, prison officers, and the like.

These deals included rent allowances. Dublin Fire Brigade was the preferred destination for three military personnel, while another 11 said they had had offers of apprenticeships. A further nine cited family or personal reasons.

There were eight who indicated they are emigrating and 10 are taking up further education courses.

Seven members of the Naval Service cited conditions at sea as being their reason for jumping ship.

Long working hours and cramped conditions onboard ships are believed to be some of the reasons for enlisted personnel exiting the force.

However, the Naval Service HR found that the main reason officers are leaving is financial  and they could enjoy better rates of pay in the merchant navy.

One soldier said they could not afford the cost of travel to their base and that was why they were leaving.

Since one battalion was scrapped in 2012, many soldiers have had to travel long distances to new bases.

The exit figures are contained in a document, seen by the Irish Examiner, which was written by senior military officers as part of a submission to the Department of Defence.

The department is compiling a submission for better wages to the Public Service Pay Commission.

Senior officers say the Defence Forces cannot recruit its way out of the present situation and retention has to be the main focus.The aeronautical engineer has just completed two programmes, back-to-back, with Project Possum, an organisation preparing citizens and scientists for commercial space travel.

Project Possum is based in the US but it accepts international participants. Unlike Nasa, you dont have to be a US citizen to be accepted. I have just completed their aviation egress training, egress is basically how you exit a situation, so we learned about how you would ditch if you landed on water, said Norah.

We were set up in a helicopter unit and strapped in and then dunked into a body of water, you then get used to being upside-down in water, find your reference point, learn not to panic and then unstrap yourself.

My second training was spacecraft egress, where we were in a mock-up space-craft capsule and wearing Final Frontier Design space suits. We were moved into water and again had to egress, adds the UL graduate.

There are several Nasa astronauts on Project Possums board of advisers and during training, Norah was taught by a former Nasa astronaut trainer.

Now 34 years of age, Norah has wanted to travel to space since the age of 11, but much like Canadian astronaut, Chris Hadfield, she was not sure how she could get there, without being an American citizen.

I remember hearing Chris Hadfield saying he thought it was impossible for him and I felt like that too. I went to Nasa when I was 11 and it was only when I was there and inside, I thought this is really what I wanted to do, Norah said.

A number of her fathers relatives live in America so she returned to Nasa several times during her teenage years. Norah credits these return trips with keeping her dream alive and so when it came to her Leaving Cert and CAO form she knew what to do.

I started looking at career choices and I saw I could do aeronautical engineering in UL. I knew a lot of astronauts had studied aeronautical engineering. I loved it.

"I would do my assignments in advance and Id say I only missed two or three lectures over the whole four years there.

"But I was lucky too, because I knew what I wanted to do, so many people doing their Leaving Cert do not know what they want to do yet, said Norah.

After her first-class honours degree Norah went on to complete a PhD in aeronautical engineering also at UL.

While she continued to work in the area, it was only in recent times that Norah realised she could actually make it into space as an Irish citizen.

Nothing in life is a straight line. Sometimes I would sit back and think: What am I doing? Its actually been more recently that I realised if I put my head down that this could happen. Before it didnt seem possible.

With the whole area of commercial space travel, opportunities are now opening up that werent here five years ago. Project Possum, which wasnt around five years ago, is a big step forward for me.

"Project Possum is very unique and I will continue with them. Next October I will be doing zero-gravity simulated flights in space suits, said Norah.

Norah Patten receives letters of support from children that spur her on in her training.

These commercial companies, such as Space X and Virgin Galactic, will need astronauts and we are now at the cusp of them making flights.

Norah draws inspiration from Eileen Collins, who was the first female space shuttle commander and pilot, and whose fathers family emigrated from Cork to the US.

When she decided she wanted to be an astronaut she didnt tell anyone at first, she was looking for her opportunity to become one. You have to keep your goal in your head. It took me a while to realise it wasnt going to be a straight path, explained Norah.

As a scientist she plans to carry out Irish-focused research in space, seeing how materials and various pharmaceutical compounds behave in a zero-gravity environment.

As Norah has completed her recent training programmes, her biggest sources of encouragement in the last six months have been the children and teenagers she meets at talks in schools and universities: I have kids telling me they want to be astronauts too  boys and girls.

"I suppose its giving them a sense of whats possible. I receive letters as well from children and that really spurs me on.

With commercial space travel now on the horizon, Norah is preparing as best she can, but it will not just be for her as an individual, but for Irish people as a whole.

The more I progress in training the more I can see it happening. Could you imagine an Irish person up there? Its incredible the impact it would have. How amazing would that be?Trade unions met with Government officials yesterday in the latest attempt to close the gap for workers hired after 2011 who were put on lower rates.

Forsas Shay Cody said that while the Government had not given unions any guarantee that they may change their position on any cash restoration before 2021, the fact that they were talking showed that they could make progress.

Teachers, gardai, and health workers are among those on different rates for those entering jobs after 2011.

The unions are seeking restoration of equal pay rates and estimate that changes could benefit up to 60,000 people.

The Government previously agreed to a review and to hold talks. The review concluded that restoring pay grades in line with those of existing workers could cost up to 200m.

Forsa and other unions to meet DPER on new entrant pay today https://t.co/jsMIesgJ75 pic.twitter.com/rIdz7xLiys  Forsa trade union (@forsa_union_ie) April 27, 2018

There has since been no agreement and the Department of Public Expenditure was among groups that met with the unions yesterday.

Unions are also pushing for changes to be introduced in Octobers Budget to start the pay restoration process.

But the Government says this would breach the scheduled pay agreement, if alterations were made to rates for public service workers in some areas before 2021.

Small and medium business groups are also pushing back against the trade union efforts, warning of possible knock-on impacts or costs to the private sector.

Private businesses point out that public service workers have more secure pension and employment benefits.

Those businesses also want Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe to stand firm against union pressure and say taxpayers would have to foot the bill for any pay restoration agreements.

Speaking after the meeting yesterday in Dublin, Siptus Adrian Kane said: Following initial discussions today the two sides have agreed to a further meeting on the issue of pay for public servants in June.

"The period before that meeting will be used by both sides to establish the full extent of the issues which are to be discussed.

It is imperative that the two-speed pay scale issue in the public service is resolved in a timely manner. Public servants took a massive hit in their pay during the financial crisis. This was largely done without agreement, through the introduction of the draconian FEMPI legislation.

Details provided by Government during the talks are also encouraging, union figures said.

Siptu Health Division organiser Paul Bell, said: The data provided by Government today certainly gives us food for thought.

Government officials confirmed that over 25,000 health workers have been employed in the health service since 2011. Almost 8,000 are Siptu members working in support grades.

"It is now necessary to urgently proceed to analysing the incremental points of each new entrant since 2011.

We believe that todays engagement with the Government confirms that a positive environment exists and that with the right political will, a just and satisfactory outcome for all parties to the talks process can be achieved.

No commitment was given by Government yesterday.Veterans want to force the Government to address the significant numbers of highly trained personnel who are leaving the Defence Forces for better pay and conditions in the private sector.

They are to hold their Respect & Loyalty Parade outside the Dail on September 19 and in the meantime have started significant lobbying of politicians.

The veterans are expected to be joined on the march by members of the lobby group, Wives & Partners of Defence Forces (WPDF).

A recent report compiled by senior military officers, which has been seen by the Irish Examiner, said failure to address the exodus will increase the risk to the Defences Forces capability, operations and reputation.

Noel OCallaghan, a retired regimental sergeant major, who is organising the parade, said members of the Defence Forces have shown absolute loyalty to the State but were being treated disgracefully by the Department of Defence.

If we dont challenge the departments behaviour then were effectively endorsing it, he said.

Mr OCallaghan, who retired last December after 43 years military service, said he loved his job but would not recommend it to young people now.

He said he recently spoke to two men who had left the Naval Service to become prison officers.

They were only on a five-year contract so they couldnt get a mortgage and their pay wasnt fit for purpose anyway, he said.

Mr OCallaghan said poor pay and short-term contracts had resulted in the Defence Forces haemorrhaging serious expertise and experience and recruitment would not solve that problem.

It can take at least five years to get new recruits properly trained.

He said the Army was spread so thinly on the ground that troops had to be drafted in for duties in Dublin from Donegal, Athlone and Dundalk.

Mr OCallaghan said he has already lobbied a number of TDs, pointing out to them that pay and conditions need to be significantly improved or else the Defence Forces will not be able to maintain the stability and security of the State which is vital to attracting foreign direct investment.

He said the veterans parade is designed to remind the political system that we were not just soldiers, we were taxpayers and are voters.

A damning report compiled by Defence Forces senior officers shows their concerns at the number of personnel who are leaving the Army, Naval Service and Air Corps for better pay elsewhere.

Military chiefs point out that between 2013 and last year a total of 2,831 left the forces. Around three quarters of them left before retirement age and just under half of that cohort had served less than five years.

The report has been submitted to the Department of Defence for the Public Service Pay Commission.Earlier this week the mother of two settled a High Court action for 2.5m against a US lab over her smear test results, which were incorrectly reported as clear. She was diagnosed with cancer three years later.

Damien Tansey, medical negligence lawyer at Tansey Solicitors in Sligo, has urged women who fear their cases may be outside the statute of limitations to seek legal advice, as they may still have time to lodge proceedings.

He said that on Wednesday alone, his office had 11 calls from concerned women who had tests done under the cervical screening programme and who have now discovered that the tests taken showed borderline nuclear changes that were not adequately and sufficiently followed up.

Obviously when we get a call like that we arrange to meet the client immediately. Instructions in a medical negligence action cant be done over the phone.

"Its a very exacting and demanding science and we will arrange to meet all of those, we will travel to meet them sometimes. The calls came from all over the country, Mr Tansey told the Today show on RTE Radio 1.

We now know that a further 206 women are affected by cervical test failures. @DamienTanseySlr Medical Negligence Lawyer at Tansey Solicitors in Sligo speaks to @TodaySOR now  RTE Radio 1 (@RTERadio1) April 27, 2018

[There were] a number from Dublin numbers, from the south, and a number from surrounding counties here in Sligo. We will arrange to meet all of those and fully investigate them but on the basis of what we learned yesterday, we expect that we will be instituting proceedings in some of them.

He said some of the cases were historic.

Concern was expressed by some of them that they were out of time, and of course theyre not because in medical negligence, the clock in relation to the statute of limitations only started to run when you make the discovery.

"So in all of those cases, we have reassured them that though their positions are historical theyre not out of time.

He said he hoped for greater transparency.

Im practising medical negligence for 34 years, and Im listening to discussions at all levels, at ministerial level, at department level, about the desirability of having a regime of candour and transparency in relation to medical adverse events and it has never happened.

"Hopefully if legislation is introduced underpinning that regime and creating a situation where the doctor or the hospital or the institution is obliged under sanction to disclose [serious reportable events], hopefully we might get there this time.Reddit Email 411 Shares

Middle East Monitor |  

Some ten million Syrian refugees are at risk of permanently losing their homes following the announcement of a new law that would allow the Assad regime to confiscate vacated property.

Law Ten, that came into effect earlier this month, gives Syrian home owners until 10 May to prove ownership of their properties to their local council or face the liquidation of their titles and the seizure of their homes.

With over six million Syrians living outside the country and a further seven million internally displaced, the likelihood of families being able or willing to venture into conflict zones to present their documentation within such a tight timeframe is low.

Many left without title deeds, some lived in informal settlements, therefore without legally recognised proof of ownership and for others  mainly refugees  going back to Syria to provide such proof is tantamount to a suicide mission

Maha Yahya, director of the Carnegie Middle East Centre in Beirut, told the Guardian.

The new legislation has increased fears that many Syrians may face permanent exile, particularly those who opposed Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, whilst those perceived as loyalists may be given access to certain neighbourhoods instead.

Analysts further suspect that the law has been designed as an instrument of demographic change and social engineering, comparing it to the absentee property law implemented by Israel in 1950 allowing occupation forces to seize Palestinian land.

Read: The right of return for Syrians

From the regimes perspective, the law will serve three purposes: it gives them an additional vetting instrument over returnees and a way to strip political opponents of their assets  It will allow the regime to consolidate its power base by repopulating strategic areas with regime loyalists, Yahya concluded.

The EU slammed the plans at a donor conference co-hosted with the UN in Brussels earlier this week as the nail in the coffin for millions of refugees in Europe.

This is blatant power consolidation by Assad. It is punitive, not regulatory. Make no mistake. On the one hand, it is normal to do something like this after a natural disaster like an earthquake. But not now. And not like this. The war is still raging and metastasising. Its not anywhere near over, a senior EU official said.

Donors at the conference pledged $4.4 billion in humanitarian aid for Syria and neighbouring countries refugee programmes; significantly less than the $7 billion the UN was seeking. The World Bank has estimated that the country requires some $250 billion to rebuild its infrastructure, with many of the largest cities lying in ruins.

The proposed plan comes amid numerous new offensives by the Assad regime on opposition strongholds in the north and south of the country. Yesterday the UN condemned government shelling on the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp, where 20 people were killed this week. Syrian forces have also continued their campaign against opposition groups in the provinces of Homs and Hama.

Via Middle East Monitor

This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.



Bonus video added by Informed Comment:

AP: Syrian refugees in Lebanon gather at border to prepare for return homeReddit Email 16 Shares

Dubai (AFP)  An air strike on Yemens capital by a Saudi-led military coalition has killed dozens of Huthi rebels including at least two commanders, Saudi television reported Saturday.

Saudi Arabias official Al-Ekhbariya television said two high-ranking insurgents were among more than 50 Huthi militiamen killed in Sanaa on Friday evening, without giving further details.



AFP. Huthi rebel supporters protest in Sanaa on April 26, 2018, against the killing of the insurgents top political leader, Saleh al-Sammad, in a Saudi-led coalition strike the week before.

Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya television said a total of 38 rebels were killed in the strike on a Huthi interior ministry building.

The Huthis confirmed an air strike on Sanaa but gave no details.

The raid came hours ahead of a public funeral of the Huthis political head Saleh al-Sammad, killed last week in a Saudi-led coalition strike.

It also came as newly-appointed US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was scheduled to land in Riyadh for meetings including talks on the Yemen conflict.

The Iran-backed rebels have been locked in a war with the Saudi-led military alliance, which since 2015 has fought to restore the internationally-recognised Yemeni government to power.

The Yemen conflict is widely seen as a proxy war between regional titans Iran and Saudi Arabia.

The Huthis control Yemens capital, Sanaa, as well as much of the countrys north  which borders Saudi Arabia  and the key Hodeida port on Yemens Red Sea coast.

Nearly 10,000 people have been killed since the Saudi-led alliance joined the Yemen conflict, triggering what the United Nations has called the worlds worst humanitarian crisis.

Yemen now stands at the brink of famine.

The Saudi-led coalition imposed a total blockade on Yemens ports in November in retaliation for cross-border Huthi missile attacks on Saudi Arabia.

The blockade has since been partially lifted, but access to the impoverished country remains limited.Reddit Email 148 Shares

Immediately on being narrowly confirmed as Secretary of State by the Senate, former CIA director Mike Pompeo flew off to Brussels.

Pompeo appears to have had three main messages for NATO. The first is that Germany and other members have to pay a bigger share of its costs, a constant refrain of his boss, President Donald Trump.

The second, however, departed from Trumps idiosyncratic presidential stance in reaffirming the importance of NATO, especially in the face of what Pompeo called Russian aggression (presumably in the Ukraine).

Trump in contrast has questioned the continued utility of NATO, and said at a press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday that NATO is wonderful but better for Europe than for the US.

Trump also distinctly does not see Russia as an aggressor or a threat, and is not interested in mobilizing other countries against Moscow. He says it would be wonderful if Russo-American relations improved, and he almost never has unkind words for Russian president Vladimir Putin.

The same disconnect over Russia had been visible between Trump and his former secretary of state Rex Tillerson, though Tillersons past oil deals with Russia made him less vociferous against Moscow than Pompeo is.

The third message of Pompeo to Brussels is that Trump will very likely pull out of the Iran deal of 2015 next month unless major changes are made to it. Since major changes are not going to be made to it, Pompeo is actually saying that the US withdrawal from the 7-nation accord is virtually a done deal.

When Trump fired Tillerson by Twitter, he gave a news conference in which he explained it was because Tillerson seemed to be all right with the Iran deal.

Trump brought Pompeo over to State as an organized crime boss brings a capo into a new neighborhood, as an enforcer and breaker of legs. Pompeos charge is to break the legs of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which vastly curtailed Irans nuclear enrichment program and capabilities. Irans program was civilian, for making fuel to run nuclear power plants to produce electricity. But uranium enrichment is inescapably potentially dual use, and the UN Security Council imposed crippling economic sanctions on Iran to gain the sort of inspection regime and control over allowable Iranian activities that would forestall any move by Iran to make a bomb. Irans clerical Leader, Ali Khamenei, has given formal religious ruling against nuclear weapons as a tool of the devil, but Europeans and Americans are skeptical of his sincerity.

As proof that the Iran deal is Pompeos primary target and first priority, his itinerary now takes him to Israel, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

After the US far right, exemplified by Pompeo, manages to destroy the Iran deal, they likely will attempt unilaterally to use Treasury Department sanctions to prevent European trade with Iran, and then will attempt to maneuver Iran into a position where the US can find a way to destroy it militarily as their predecessors did with Iraq.



Bonus video:

Straits Times: Mike Pompeo says no Trump decision yet on Iran nuclear dealGermany and France on Saturday pledged to deliver a joint proposal to reform the eurozone in time for a leaders summit in June, despite their big differences on the future of the bloc.

We strongly believe that we should be able to find a compromise between France and Germany for the next council of June, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said at a joint press conference with his German counterpart Olaf Scholz.

It is absolutely important that France and Germany agree on questions, said Scholz as he confirmed the joint plan for reforms despite widespread talk that divisions between the EU powerhouses were too great.

Le Maire will visit me in Berlin and this will be a very hard working meeting, the former mayor of Hamburg said after talks in the Bulgarian capital.

He added: If you look at the schedule you see that (the meeting) is desperately needed to get this success in the end.

Under the impetus of French President Emmanuel Macron, EU leaders have pledged to table a set of reforms at the summit in June that France says are necessary to reboot Europe after the setbacks of Brexit.

The renewed promise of a Franco-German plan comes despite resistance by Germany to follow through on Macrons ideas amid resistance by political allies of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Eurozone finance ministers have for months discussed the proposals, but discussions have gone nowhere.

Macrons grand ambitions for the single currency bloc have already been significantly watered down, with ideas for the creation of a eurozone finance minister or joint borrowing by member states dropped.

Instead officials are mainly focused on deepening the blocs banking union, with hopes to formally launch a European-wide deposit-insurance scheme that would be implemented over the long-term.

Negotiators are also trying to draw up a plan for an EU rainy day fund as well as aid to help countries adopt economic reforms.

The truth is, we are starting to run out of time, European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said on Saturday, urging for compromise.An insurgent group in Darfur claimed Saturday to have repelled government forces in fresh clashes in the war-torn region of western Sudan that the US says have displaced thousands of civilians.

The new fighting, in the Jebel Marra mountains, comes despite a ceasefire unilaterally announced by Khartoum in early March, applying to Darfur and another conflict in Blue Nile and South Kordofan states.

The regimes military tried to take our positions but we repulsed them, Noureddine Kouki, a spokesman for the Sudan Liberation Army-Abdul Wahid rebel group, told AFP.

Washington confirmed on Friday fresh clashes have taken place in recent days, saying it was deeply concerned by the violence.

There are credible reports that villages were targeted for attack  resulting in thousands of newly displaced civilians, US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement on Friday.

The fighting is between the SLA/AW group and Sudanese government forces in the Jebel Marra mountains and it has sent villagers fleeing into mountain hideouts and caves, the rebels say.

An insurgency began in Darfur in 2003, as rebels rose up against Sudans government, accusing it of marginalisation.

Khartoum responded by using militias to crack down on rebels and since then, insurgent groups have fragmented, with fighting punctuated by periods of relative calm.

We call on all sides  the government of Sudan forces, SLA/AW and armed tribal groups  to immediately halt their provocative actions and violent responses, said Nauert.

She also urged Khartoum to allow immediate and unhindered access to peacekeepers and aid agencies to enable them to deliver humanitarian aid to those displaced by violence.

Khartoum restricts international media access to Darfur, an area about the size of France, so it is not possible to independently verify the details of fighting there. Sudanese authorities could not be reached for comment.

The United Nations says that over the years the conflict has killed about 300,000 people and displaced more than 2.5 million, with many having set up home over the last decade and a half in sprawling semi-permanent camps.

Sudans President Omar al-Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide related to the conflict in Darfur. He denies the charges.

Khartoum insists the conflict has ended in Darfur. A joint UN-African Union peacekeeping force is being downscaled, now standing at around 10,000 uniformed personnel, from a peak of about 27,000.

A separate conflict erupted in South Kordofan and Blue Nile, both bordering South Sudan, in 2011.A military court in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Saturday sentenced a warlord to 20 years in prison after finding him guilty of sexual slavery a decade ago, an aid group said.

Lieutenant colonel Maro Ntumwa, know as The Moroccan, was convicted of several crimes committed in DR Congos restive South Kivu province between 2005 and 2007.

He was found guilty of war crimes including sexual slavery, pillaging and attacks against civilians, and crimes against humanity including rape, said the NGO Trial International, which supports victims of international crimes.

The group said Ntumwa, who was partly responsible for the feared Mai Mai armed group, ran an especially cruel militia that persecuted hundreds of villagers with utter impunity During these attacks, men were killed or taken prisoner and women and girls were kept as sex slaves.

Trial International said the court ordered compensation of between $2000-5000 to be paid to each of his victims.

North and South Kivu provinces are the theatre of a wave of violence among militia groups, which often extort money from civilians or fight each other for control of mineral resources.University students at the forefront of anti-government unrest in Nicaragua on Saturday issued conditions for talks with the government of President Daniel Ortega.

The demands followed a week of protests and clashes with police that left at least 42 people dead, according to a leading human rights group.

In a bid to calm the situation, 72-year-old veteran leader Ortega has agreed to hold talks, but the framework has not yet been defined.

The students told a news conference in Managua that their demands must be met for them to take part.

The conditions included police involved in the repression being fired, an independent UN-backed body being established to investigate the violence, that relatives of those killed be included, and that the talks be held in public.

They also demanded a Truth Commission created by the government be disbanded, saying we dont accept that the murderers investigate themselves. And they wanted the talks to put off until mid-May so that student representatives not aligned with Ortegas ruling party are involved.

Managuas archbishop, Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes, has said he is ready to mediate any dialogue.

The countrys powerful private business lobby, which distanced itself from Ortega over the violence, has also signaled it is now ready to participate in the talks.

 Ortegas grip shaken 

The protests that erupted on April 18 were the worst faced by Ortega in his last 11 years in power, badly shaking his tight grip on power over the country, one of the poorest in Latin America.

The spark was reforms to the deficit-stricken social security system, but the unrest quickly swelled on the back of widespread resentment of Ortegas perceived authoritarianism.

The president, a former Sandinista rebel who has ruled Nicaragua for 22 of the past 39 years, made a series of concessions after sharp domestic and international criticism over the use of security forces to put down the protests, and curbs on independent media to report them.

The concessions included abandoning the social security reforms, freeing dozens of arrested protesters, lifting broadcast bans on private TV channels, and offering dialogue.

Many Nicaraguans, though, especially emboldened university students, want Ortega to step down.

A mass demonstration sponsored by the Catholic Church was to take place later Saturday in the Nicaraguan capital, with busloads of demonstrators being brought in from rural areas.The native Irish red squirrel is making a come back in Kilkenny city, easing worries about it's possible extinction.

A scurry of the beautiful little animals can be seen regularly along the Lacken Walk, opposite Kilkenny Castle by the banks of the River Nore.

It coincides with a rapid decrease in the numbers of the invasive, non-native species, the grey squirrel in the area.

This has come about because of the introduction of another Irish species to the popular walkway, the pine marten.

Because the grey squirrel is heavier and spends more time on the ground, it is easier to kill and eat than the smaller and lighter red squirrel and is a favourite of the predetatory pine marten.

For generations the grey squirrel had forced the Irish red squirrel out if its natural habitat and the grey squirrel also carries a disease which is not harmful to it but lethal for the red squirrel.Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content.

Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist.

If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider subscribing to our ePaper and/or free daily Newsletter .

Support our mission and join our community now.The Washington Post reports:

If Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. is the Golden State Killer, as police allege, then he spent his 30s in a nearly nonstop frenzy of sadistic violence  breaking into a house every few weeks in the late 1970s, raping dozens of women, and escalating to serial killings before the crime spree suddenly ended in 1986. And if DeAngelo is the killer  police say his DNA proves that he is  then he fit these 45 suspected rapes and 12 suspected murders into an astonishing double life. He was a Vietnam War veteran before the spree, a police officer during the spree, and then a husband, father and grandfather who lived quietly among the same communities that the Golden State Killer had terrorized.

Assuming they got the right person (and DNA is rarely wrong) this is an incredible achievement.

It seems how they did it was check the DNA at crime scenes with an genealogy company that has tens of thousands of DNA samples. He was not registered with the site, but a relative of his was. Once they got the DNA match to the relative, they then had a short list of a dozen suspects or so.

This may catch other criminals in future. They may never ever give a DNA sample themselves, but if even a fourth cousin does, that may be enough of a match to send the Police in the right direction.

Of course you would generally expect the genealogy company not to share your DNA, but some sites allow people to post their DNA publicly, and it seems this was one of those sites.

So we should be very thankful to the distant cousin whose interest in genealogy has led to this arrest.

Share this: Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

More

Reddit

Pinterest



Print

Tumblr



It was definitely not a pleasant surprise for Madagascar police and wildlife officials who evacuated a two-storey home in Toliara full of endangered tortoises. They were not few but more than ten thousands of them in every room of the two-storey house. From the kitchen to the bathroom, everywhere the floor was covered with critically endangered species and the rancid smell was unbearable. You cannot imagine. It was so awful, Soary Randrianjafizanaka, regional head of Madagascars environmental agency, told National Geographic. The officials are speculating a case of poaching.

Zoo Knoxville in Tennessee helped in the rescue. The officials counted a total of 10,068 poached radiated tortoises. These are critically endangered tortoises which can grow up to 40cm long and weigh up to 16kg as an adult, according to the Smithsonians National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute. These rare ones are found in the extreme southern and southwestern areas of Madagascar. The Turtle Survival Alliance assisted the experts for the medical care and treatment of the seized ones. But sadly a hundred of tortoises died from dehydration, malnutrition and illness.

Wildlife experts said that the tortoises were being prepared to be shipped for the pet trade. The striking star pattern on the shells of these tortoises gets them a high value in the trade market. The police have arrested 3 people in connection with the smuggling. They are being interviewed to get in touch with the higher accomplice who's involved.

At the time of rescue, almost 180 were found dead on the spot. The remaining rescued ones will be kept in quarantine and captivity until theyre treated and become healthy. The huge number in which the tortoises were found are scary and point to the problem of extinction of the species due to the rise in trade. This is an overwhelming situation the Turtle Survival Alliance is dealing with. Zoo Knoxville is committed to taking action against the illegal wildlife trade that is putting so many species on the verge of extinction. We will be actively involved in supporting the TSA for the duration of this crisis, Knoxville Zoo president and CEO Lisa New said in a statement online.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 26, 2018 06:47 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).Second electric Mini in the works?

Apr 28, 2018, 6:49am ET

The model will be designed exclusively for the Chinese market.

BMW's Mini division will introduce its first volume-produced electric car next year. The company will keep the momentum going by launching a second battery-powered model, according to a British report, but we might not see it in the United States.

Previewed by a concept (pictured), the brand's first EV will be based on the two-door Hardtop. Production will take place somewhere in Europe, which inevitably makes selling it in China an achingly expensive proposition. And yet, Mini badly needs to go electric on the Chinese market to comply with strict regulations looming on the horizon.

The brand's answer is to design a second electric car, according to British magazine Auto Express. The magazine adds the model will be completely different than what we'll see in America next year, meaning Mini won't simply play the copy-paste game. It might be based on an older model (like the second-generation Hardtop), it might be an electric variant of another car (like the Countryman), or it could be something else entirely.

Mini's yet-unnamed second electric car will allegedly be built locally through a joint-venture between BMW and Great Wall Motor. If the report is accurate, it sheds light into earlier rumors claiming Mini will build cars in China and suggests the EVs will trickle into the local market only, not Europe or North America.

BMW hasn't commented on the rumor.Volkswagen sticks to sedans

Apr 28, 2018, 7:01am ET

\"We are intending to be a full line manufacturer,\" said Volkswagen of America\'s boss.

Rivals aren't following Ford's shift away from traditional passenger cars. Volkswagen remains fully committed to the sedan, even in North America where crossovers reign supreme.

"We are intending to be a full line manufacturer," Hinrich Woebcken, the head of Volkswagen's American division, told Digital Trends.

Woebcken added electrification could give the sedan segment a boost. He pointed out a sedan normally has a lower drag coefficient than a crossover, so it slips through air and -- in theory, at least -- offers more driving range on the same amount of electricity.

Even non-electrified sedans have a future. Volkswagen recently introduced the all-new 2019 Jetta (pictured) and it's planning on launching a next-generation Passat in the coming years. Built on the MQB platform, the model will again be designed specifically for the United States market and built locally in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Though Volkswagen's sedans aren't going anywhere, Woebcken admits investing in crossovers, SUVs, and possibly even trucks makes a lot of sense.

"The shift from sedans to SUVs is a permanent one. In former times, when gas prices went up people moved back to sedans. We believe this will not happen anymore for two reasons. First, the difference in fuel economy between SUVs and sedans is not so big anymore. Second, customers do not want to give up the high seating position. I believe that trend will not reverse," he explained.

Photography by Ronan Glon.Lyme Disease patients from throughout Ireland, Leinster and Laois, converge on Dail Eireann on May day to highlight the plight of Irish suffers of Lyme and Tick borne co-infections.

The group will join with millions of others around the world on Tuesday, May 1 who will be marking International Lyme Disease Awareness Day by marching, rallying at government buildings and doing all they can to raise awareness of this dehbiliatating illness.

Lyme disease is a bacterial disease transmitted predominantly by the bite of an infected deer tick. In Ireland inaccurate testing and treatment make it impossible to know the correct number of cases, leaving many to travel abroad for diagnosis and treatment. The HSE's Dr Paul McKeown recently estimated that there are upward of 200 cases in Ireland each year.

Over 300,000 people are diagnosed with Lyme Disease in the US every year, making it more highly diagnosed than HIV/AIDS. In Ireland inaccurate testing and treatment make it impossible to know the correct number of cases, leaving many to travel abroad for diagnosis and treatment. The HSEs Dr Paul McKeown recently estimated that there are upward of 200 cases in Ireland each year.

Lyme Disease and Tick Borne Co-Infections are often misdiagnosed as M.E. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, M.S., Fibromyalgia, Lupus, Parkinson's Disease, Alzheimers Disease, Early Onset Dementia, Depression or Arthritis. Early diagnosis and treatment is vital if a patient is to recover.

On Sunday, May 6 a patient lead meeting will be held at the Rivercourt Hotel in Kilkenny for people in the South East, who are affected by Lyme Disease and Tick borne infections.

Information on testing and treatment options will be available on the day. It will be an opportunity for both patients and their family and friends to connect with others dealing with this debilitating condition.Ireland is getting older, faster. The number of people in Ireland aged 65 and over has increased by 32.8 per cent since 2007, a faster rate of growth than other EU countries.

By any measure, increased life expectancy is a good yardstick of how far we have progressed as a society, with better social conditions and an enhanced standard of living aiding people's longevity.

The Central Statistics Office estimates that by 2046, Ireland will be home to just over 5.6 million people, with an elderly population accounting for a considerable portion of this.

And this will present significant challenges to us as a society, not least in the area of healthcare.

As the trolley crisis and the shortage of hospital beds demonstrates, our infrastructure is struggling to keep pace even as it is with the influx of greater numbers of people trying to access it every year. The evidence also suggests that there are growing waiting lists for even basic health services.

Healthcare professionals have sounded the warning bells, highlighting that at least 325 new hospital beds will be needed every year for the next two decades to keep pace.

The figures are phenomenal in themselves with hugh increases in the age groups of over 65 and 85.

It's an unprecedented situation, one which represents a huge challenge for policy and those who craft it.

The National Positive Ageing Strategy, which was produced by the government in 2013, sought to address one of the most significant demographic and social developments that Irish society has encountered.

Amongst its aims are the prevention and reduction of chronic disease and the provision of affordable, accessible, high quality and age friendly health and social services.

The stated government policy seeks to support older people living in their own homes and communities with the aid of home care packages.

However, its never as simple as this, as the cyclical pressure on our health system demonstrates time and again.

We should rejoice in having an older populations, but we should also be concerned with having an instrastructure which can cater to this population.

Demand will only increase every year, and that demand must be met.Kildare needs more places for its traditional musical talent, the launch of the Fleadh Cheoil Chill Dara of the county Kildare festival of traditional music was told on Thursday night last, April 19.

One of the speakers at the event, Tom Dillon, said that there was plenty of talent in the county and they needed to provide more platforms for that musical talent.

One of the countys most talented traditional musicians, Ciaran Fitzgerald, agrees.

An 11 time All-Ireland Champion and the current Senior All-Ireland Champion on Concertina and Flute Slow Airs, he is now doing a masters in pharmacy at the Royal College of Surgeons, and sitting exams this week.

Ciaran said that there was a time when top musicians were brought into Kildare. There are plenty here now and they need a platform, he said.

His sister, Aine, a first year pharmacy student, is also a holder of many All Ireland titles.

Both went to Scoil Ui Dhalaigh gaelscoil in Leixlip and to Colaiste Cois Life in Lucan.

Aine told us: We always make time to play music.

Welcome

Launching the Fleadh, Millie Fitzpatrick welcomed everyone to Clane.

She said she hoped that Ciaran and Aine would be standing here in twenty years time launching a Festival and helping run traditional music events.

John Fitzgerald, Celbridge based spokesperson, said they had an increase in the number of competitiors this year.

SEE ALSO: OBITUARY: Padraig Fitzgerald of Clane/Edenderry - a loyal Edenderry RFC clubmanBrendan Duane has been one of the driving forces behind the promotion of science in second level education in the country.

The Newbridge mans dedication was recently acknowledged when he won a lifetime achievement award for his contribution to science education, in particular Chemistry.

Voted Irish Science Educator of the Year 2018 on March 24 at the Sheraton Hotel in Athlone by 13 regional branches of ISTA (Irish Science Teachers Association) and past recipients, the announcement came as a shock.

I was sitting there and they were describing the winner and all the things they were saying sounded like me, he said.

I was delighted. I was so thrilled.

His wife, Deirdre couldnt be there on the night so he phoned to tell her the good news.

We are so proud of him. We really are, she said.

Teaching for 41 years at the Holy Family, where he is assistant principal, Brendan was also a member of the first board of management. He recalls how Sr Catherine gave him his first job. In fact, he is in effect a past pupil as he studied Chemistry and Irish there for his Leaving Cert, due to the co-operation between the Patricians and Holy Family.

Most teachers head home from work and forget about the classroom, but Brendan has a whole other life to lead.

It all started back in 1998 when he was asked by the Teachers Education Sections (TES) Chief Inspector, Sean ODonnabhain to introduce Chemistry to St Marys Secondary School in Edenderry. Since then he has held various positions of the Kildare branch of the Irish Science Teachers Association of Ireland, and kept the branch going when things got tough during the recession.

Over the years, Brendan has travelled the length and breadth of the country on evenings and weekends helping to train young Science teachers, giving lectures, and workshops  all while holding down his job at the Holy Family. There were periods over the years where he had special leave for these tasks.

He helped form the new Leaving Cert Chemistry curriculum, and as Chemistry examiner, he also advised on the new pilot practical assessment in Chemistry. He was seconded out for eight years as National Co-ordinator of Chemistry responsible for all Chemistry inservice throughout Ireland.

For Hibernia, he was the author and lead tutor of Science Pillar and Chemistry Methodology modules in their professional Master of Education in Post Primary Education from 2013 to 2015.

Having lectured in all the main universities, he also hosts his own website, iChemistry for teachers and is author of an ebook for Leaving Cert Chemistry. He has also represented Irish Science teachers at various conferences in Europe such as Grenoble, Brussels and England.

Aaron, Deirdre, Brendan and Ashley Duane

To say science runs in the family would be an understatement, however both Brendan and Deirdre point out they never pushed their sons into doing the subjects.

Ashley is a pharmacist, having graduated from Trinity and is now completing his registration year with the Royal College of Surgeons, while Aaron is in his final year of his PhD in DCU on Human-Computer interaction in Virtual Reality.

Growing up in Piercetown, Brendan was one of four children. He played for Newbridge Town along with his brothers Philip and Joe. His mum, Kathleen is 92 years of age, but his dad, Christopher passed away at the age of 63 after being diagnosed with Motor Neuron Disease three years previously.

Brendan believes interest is growing in Science subjects.

In 2002 we had about 8% of pupils doing Chemistry for Leaving Cert but that is now up to 14%. There has been a huge surge in interest in the subject, he said.

He also points out the number of girls taking on the subject has also increased.

SEE ALSO: Newbridge's Dunnes Stores multi-million euro revamp gets underwayJust how complex the whole issue of lobbying is with regard to our democracy was underlined to me in recent weeks with news of the difficulties faced by Minister Denis Naughten over the now famous phone call.

He was accused of speaking to someone he should not have about a proposed media merger.

In parts of Kildare, however, they just wish he had spoken to them.

Read on.

In some respects, I have sympathy for the Minister. There is an increasing body of regulation and compliance, which, for all its useful aspects, will lead to law abiding people in deep trouble over very or, relatively, little.

The Minister took a phone call, which by most accounts will not make any difference to the process for which the call was made, a media merger.

Some have now argued that despite the fire he came under for the breach of protocol, he would have been forced to resign had not a lot of elected members in Dail Eireann decided that this was not a good time for an election.

How ethical is this decision by the election calling powers? But that is another story.

Back to the Minister.

On a personal level, the Minister is deemed to be a decent individual.

Irish Times columnist, Miriam Lord, put it thus. People like him too. He is approachable and straight. He made his own luck there.

I might agree with her.

But if others disagreed that he was approachable, you could not argue with them either.

Minister Naughten is the Minister responsible for the Bord na Mona Drehid waste facility.

Over the past two years or so, the Firmount Millicent Action group have tried to meet the Minister to discuss various issues at the site.

These include the performance of the EPA in monitoring the site and traffic safety issues.

They said the Minister declined to meet them for whatever reason.

You can argue that every Minister cannot meet every village lobby group in the State.

Perhaps?

But what is at stake here is a national, not a local, waste site in the area.

The Minister told the Firmount Millicent group (FMG) in late December 2016 that he was precluded from exercising any power or control in relation to the performance, in specific cases, by the EPA but that the EPAs Office of Environmental Enforcement (OEE), supervises the implementation of waste licences and any complaint may be made to the OEE.

The FMG made strenuous efforts to meet the Minister but to no avail. So it must have been with some irony, perhaps anger, that they followed the story of the phone call.

SEE ALSO: PHOTO GALLERY: Newbridge Educate Together Fun RunIt was an English monarch who purportedly said, "No news is better than evil news," and thereby launched an enduring (though now somewhat less wordy) maxim. Unless, King James I should have added, it's news about his successors.

From the time Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, entered the maternity hospital until she and her husband, Prince William, emerged with their newborn boy 12 hours later, the minutiae of the royal birth on Monday dominated the news in Britain  and not only there. The arrival of the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in Washington was no competition for the suspense in London, broken shortly after 11 a.m. not by the traditional notice in a wooden frame posted by the gates of Buckingham Palace (that came later, carried out by two women in morning coats, black ties and bright red waistcoats) but by a tweet from Kensington Palace that the duchess "was safely delivered of a son."Law enforcement authorities look for evidence at the home of suspected "Golden State Killer" Joseph James DeAngelo in Citrus Heights, California, on Wednesday, April 25, 2018.

Thirty-two years after his last murder, the Golden State Killer may be behind bars, according to California authorities.

Local and federal law enforcement arrested Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. on Tuesday, saying that DNA evidence shows him to be responsible for 10 murders and at least 46 rapes from the 1970s to 1986. According to the Los Angeles Times, DeAngelo, now 72, has been married since 1973. He and his wife have three children.

DeAngelo's apparent quiet suburban life may not be unusual for serial killers, experts say. There is no foolproof estimate for how many such criminals are living in communities, uncaptured, but Thomas Hargrove, the founder of the Murder Accountability Project, argued that there are as many as 2,000 serial killers at large  and that financial woes affecting city services could be making the problem worse. [Mistaken Identity? 10 Contested Death Penalty Cases]

"We are becoming less likely to solve murders," Hargrove told Live Science.

Unsolved mysteries

The FBI defines a "serial killer" as someone who murders two or more victims, with a cooling-off period between crimes.

Hargrove, a retired investigative journalist, arrived at his estimate of about 2,000 at-large serial killers by asking some contacts at the FBI to calculate how many unsolved murders linked to at least one other murder through DNA were in their database, he explained to The New Yorker last year. Those officials determined that about 1,400 murders, or 2 percent of those in the database, met that classification.

However, not all murder cases involve DNA evidence, and not all cases are reported to the FBI, so that 2 percent is a low estimate, Hargrove said. Two thousand is a ballpark figure, but the numbers shouldn't be a surprise, he said.

"There are more than 220,000 unsolved murders since 1980, so when you put that in perspective, how shocking is it that there are at least 2,000 unrecognized series of homicides?" he said.

The most prolific serial killer of the modern era was probably Harold Shipman, an English doctor who may have murdered as many as 250 patients with fatal doses of painkillers. The 2,000 theoretical killers don't have to meet such a staggering standard, considering that killing a minimum of two victims in separate incidents meets the FBI definition of serial killer.

By a far more conservative method of accounting, there are about 115 serial killers dating back to the 1970s in the United States whose crimes have never been solved. That estimate comes from Kenna Quinet, a criminologist at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. It's based on linkages between cases made by journalists or law enforcement, and includes a slightly different metric than Hargrove's estimate: The killer had to have murdered at least three victims, not two.

In the same time period as Quinet's estimate for unsolved serial murders, there were roughly 625 solved serial murder cases, she told Live Science. There aren't many differences between unsolved and solved cases, geographically or in terms of factors like the type of victims, Quinet said. But her database doesnt include cases where no one has ever made the link between murders. If a serial killer killed a person in one state and then drifted off to the next to kill two more, for example, the crimes might have never been flagged by anyone as related and thus wouldn't appear in Quinet's count.

"Somewhere in between my number and Thomas Hargrove's number is probably the right number," she said.

According to research by psychology professor Mike Aamodt at Radford University in Virginia, there were likely about 30 active serial killers operating in the United States as of 2015.

Serial killings peaked in the 1980s, Quinet said. Aamodt estimates that an average of 145 serial killers (under the two-victim minimum definition) were active in the 1980s each year, compared with an average of 54 each year between 2010 and 2015. There doesn't seem to be any single reason for serial killings' decline, Quinet said. People engage in fewer behaviors today that make them a target  hitchhiking is far rarer now than 30 years ago, for example  but the decline has largely tracked with an overall drop in the homicide rate since the early 1990s, a drop that criminologists cannot fully explain.

Why serial killers avoid capture

The biggest reason that killers of two or more people can still live free is the problem of "linkage blindness," Hargrove said. Homicide detectives are assigned single cases, and unless one happens to chat with a colleague who has a very similar case on his or her docket, those cases are unlikely to be linked, he said.

"If the murders occur at separate jurisdictions, such conversations never happen," Hargrove said.

Despite an advent of forensic DNA databases, there is still no central clearinghouse for homicide cases or serial killer cases, said retired FBI profiler Mary Ellen O'Toole, who worked on several serial killing cases during her career.The FBI collects data through the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program (ViCAP), O'Toole said, but it is not mandatory for local law enforcement to report their cases to that program. If it were, she said, it might be easier to connect homicide cases.

In the Golden State Killer case, proper storage of forensic evidence plus advances in technology seem to be the key to cracking the murders. It's possible to process very old forensic evidence with new methods, O'Toole told Live Science.

"The case itself may be cold, but forensic evidence doesn't die," she said.

Unfortunately, if technology opens new doors for solving serial murders, a lack of money may slam them shut. Insufficient funding for detectives and technicians keeps police from solving many murders, Hargrove said. According to FBI estimates, only 59 percent of homicide investigations in the U.S. have resulted in an arrest, much less a conviction. The numbers are even worse for rape (36.5 percent) and robbery (29.6 percent).

The rate for cleared homicide cases is "the lowest in the Western world," Hargrove said.

Other reasons may also explain the low rate of arrests, including a high bar for making an arrest as well as what some call an increasing no-snitch culture, especially among some minority groups who are reluctant to come forward as witnesses, according to experts interviewed by NPR.

"The problem is," Hargrove said, "everything's going the wrong way."

Original article on Live Science.SACRAMENTO  Joseph James DeAngelo hunched in his wheelchair, his 72-year-old body looking pale and feeble in an orange jumpsuit inside the courtroom.

In a barely audible voice, the man police say was a prolific serial killer and rapist who terrorized California in the 1970s and 80s, spoke just briefly, his eyes hanging heavily, his wrists handcuffed to his wheelchair.

The brief arraignment on Friday in a courtroom at the Sacramento County Jail gave the public its first look at the person accused in the Golden State Killer case since police revealed the stunning news of the suspects arrest Wednesday. DeAngelo looked confused at times as television and news cameras focused in on him.

Is Joseph James DeAngelo your true and correct legal name? asked Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Michael Sweet in the first-floor courtroom tucked inside the citys downtown jail.

Yes, DeAngelo answered in a voice just above a whisper.

DeAngelos court-appointed public defender, Diane Howard, at times placed her hand on her clients shoulder and appeared to try to help him understand what the judge was saying.

Later, after the court proceeding, Howard said DeAngelo is depressed and fragile.

There has been a media firestorm up in Sacramento, and it seems like he has already been convicted in the press, Howard said.

DeAngelo, who sat stone-faced in the courtroom, said little else during the minutes-long proceeding other than to confirm that he wanted to be represented by a public defender.

His weakened appearance took some by surprise, particularly since investigators who had tailed DeAngelo prior to his arrest described him as active. Neighbors described him as high-strung and always talking or yelling.

DeAngelo is on suicide watch at the county jail, but not because he has exhibited any particularly behavior, said Sacramento County sheriffs Sgt. Shaun Hampton. Suicide watch indicates an inmate is being held in a private area of the jail where there is medical, psychiatric and other staff on hand.

In this kind of situation and for a crime of this magnitude we do it for his safety and as a precaution, Hampton said.

The courtroom was packed with reporters, victims and their families, Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert and people with no other reason to be there than sheer interest.

Several, including Renee Voelker of Sacramento, said they came to see the boogeyman that haunted their communities brought to justice.

Not everyone trying to get into Courtroom 61, on the ground floor of the Sacramento County Jail building in which DeAngelo is being held, made it inside. It was too full.

After a follow-up court date was scheduled for May 14, he was wheeled out. He did not enter a plea to the two murder charges he faces in Sacramento County, which stem from the shooting deaths of a young couple near their Rancho Cordova home in 1978 as they walked their dog.

That couple  Mather Air Force Base Sgt. Brian Maggiore and Katie Maggiore  were shot and killed seemingly at random, detectives said.

Prosecutors in several other counties said they plan to file additional charges attributed to the suspect also called the East Area Rapist and the Original Night Stalker.

The ex-police officer allegedly committed 12 murders and dozens of rapes  some during the time he was a cop  from 1976 to 1986.

But it wasnt until a DNA profile was produced with evidence nearly 20 years ago that so many of the crimes were connected to one suspect. Prior to the ability to use DNA evidence, only some of the crimes had been linked by the suspects unusual method of toying with and torturing his victims and the calling card shoelace bindings he left behind.

The long-sought capture of a suspect in the case came after detectives used DNA evidence found at a murder scene and plugged it into an open-sourced genealogy website to identify relatives. Investigators then narrowed the possible suspects based on the presumed age and geography of the suspect they were hunting.

DeAngelo had been a police officer in Placer and Tulare counties at the time some of the crimes were committed.

Melody Gutierrez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mgutierrez@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @MelodyGutierrezMONTREAL -- As Nigerian asylum seekers flood into Canada across a ditch in Upstate New York, Canadian authorities are asking the United States for help -- but not with managing the influx at the border.

Instead, they want U.S. immigration officials to reduce the foot traffic by screening Nigerians more stringently before granting them U.S. visas.

It is a ripple effect that few expected last summer when people, mostly Haitians, began to walk into Quebec via an "irregular" border crossing north of Plattsburgh, N.Y., and seek refugee status.

With the coming of spring, the flow has picked up again. But recently, the asylum seekers have been mostly Nigerian, and their route to the border is more problematic, Canadian officials say.

Many Haitians had lived in the United States for years before suddenly learning they would lose their protected status and fleeing north. But many of the Nigerian asylum seekers are arriving in Quebec with recently issued U.S. visitor visas, said Mathieu Genest, a spokesman for Canada's immigration minister.

"They're not using the visa for the reason it was intended for," he said.

Canada is not asking U.S. officials to refuse entry to Nigerians, Genest said. It is seeking stricter screening to ensure that Nigerians who are granted U.S. visitor visas truly intend to return home.

The request is an unsurprising one between two countries that have collaborated for decades on migration-related matters. But it also is a sign that Canada is feeling new pressure on its borders as U.S. immigration and refugee policies shift.

"Instead of Trump throwing us back to Nigeria, we appreciate Canada right now for accepting people," said one Nigerian man who walked into Quebec in March.

The man, who gave his name only as Isaac, carried a single duffel bag as he prepared last week to move with his family into an apartment in Montreal. Many Nigerian claimants in Montreal will not speak to reporters for fear of jeopardizing their status.

For six weeks, Isaac and his family have stayed at a shelter on the city's outskirts, a onetime youth detention center that was converted last year into emergency housing for refugee claimants.

"I don't want to go back to Nigeria," he said. "Nobody's safe."

He arrived in Texas early last year on a visitor visa, he said, with plans to get another kind of visa when it expired or else claim U.S. refugee status for himself, his wife and their two young children.

But the election of Donald Trump changed his mind. "He doesn't want immigrants," he said. "Canada is open for an immigrant."

The Canadian government has been trying to tone down its welcoming image -- or, rather, to provide accurate information about how it processes refugee claims. Ethnic communities in the United States have been warned that actually winning refugee status here is hard.

But the campaign has been ineffective. As of mid-April, nearly 6,000 people had entered Quebec unofficially, three times as many as during the same period in 2017. And in 2017, claims across the country had doubled from the year before.

A complicated web of factors explains why most of the new claimants are Nigerian.

For years before Trump's election, the number of Nigerian refugee claims was already climbing worldwide, driven by the violence of the Islamist militant group Boko Haram and other problems, including persecution related to sexual orientation and religion. In Canada, Nigerians were the biggest group of claimants in 2016.

Mary Chukwuwuekezie, who walked into Quebec with her three children in November after staying in the United States for 11 months on a visitor visa, said conditions in Nigeria are worsening.

"They kidnap," she said. "They burn houses. They'll even burn a church."

But it has never been easy for Nigerians -- or many other asylum seekers -- to enter Canada to lodge a claim in the first place, partly because of its geography. Most foreigners need a visa to board a flight to North America, and the United States grants visitor visas more freely, said Benn Proctor, a researcher at the Wilson Center's Canada Institute.

No one can officially enter Canada from the United States as a refugee claimant because of the Safe Third Country Agreement, which forces people arriving in either country to make their claim where they first land. Last year, however, a way around that became apparent, when news organizations and past border-crossers on social media publicized the locations of Canada's unofficial land crossings, opening an opportunity for Nigerians.

"If your final [destination] is Canada, you'll want to walk across the border," Proctor said.

The State Department says that it has "strong working relationships" with Canadian colleagues and that screening is constantly improving, but it isn't planning any bigger changes to its visa program.

"National security is our top priority when adjudicating visa applications," a department representative said in a statement. "At this time, we have no changes to our visa application process to announce."

The United States has also become less appealing to Nigerians as a place to stay rather than to pass through, they say. Many took personally two comments reportedly made by Trump -- one last June about Nigerian immigrants going "back to their huts" and another in January about African "s---hole" countries.

Winning U.S. asylum claims has become much harder, as well. The approval rate dropped 26 percent from 2016 to 2017, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services statistics compiled by Human Rights First.

Eleanor Acer, the Washington-based group's director of refugee protection, said Canada is well aware that, for many people, the only way to claim asylum in any country is to get a visitor visa first.

"It's shocking and disappointing that they are trying to encourage another country to deny visas to people who are, in some cases, legitimately seeking protection from persecution," she said.

As a signatory to international conventions, Acer said, Canada should open its doors further and "actually terminate its Safe Third Country Agreement . . . if the United States is simply not meeting that standard, given its harsh treatment of asylum seekers."

Canadian officials have said they are not looking to abandon the agreement, although last week, they struck a slightly different tone.

Given the current numbers of asylum seekers, "we have contingency plans," Genest said. "That being said, we are constantly in conversation with the U.S., making sure that the Safe Third Country Agreement is working for both countries."

Many of Canada's new asylum seekers may end up disappointed. Of asylum claims processed last year -- a minority of the total awaiting adjudication -- more than half of the Nigerians were rejected, a significant jump from the previous three years, and nearly three-quarters of the Haitians were rejected, up from about half.

Their likely fate: deportation.One morning last April, in the 16th month of a grueling hostage negotiation, a top Qatari diplomat sent a text message to his boss to complain about a brazen robbery being perpetrated against his own country.

Qatar had entered secret talks to free 25 of its citizens from Iraqi kidnappers, yet the bargaining had turned into a kind of group shakedown, the official said, with a half-dozen militias and foreign governments jostling to squeeze cash from the wealthy Persian Gulf state.

"The Syrians, Hezbollah-Lebanon, Kata'ib Hezbollah, Iraq -- all want money, and this is their chance," Zayed bin Saeed al-Khayareen, Qatar's ambassador to Iraq and chief negotiator in the hostage affair, wrote in the message. "All of them are thieves."

And yet, the Qataris were willing to pay, and pay they did, confidential documents confirm.

In the April text message and in scores of other private exchanges spanning 11/2 years, Qatari officials fret and grouse, but then appear to consent to payments totaling at least $275 million to free nine members of the royal family and 16 other Qatari nationals kidnapped during a hunting trip in southern Iraq, according to copies of the intercepted communications obtained by The Washington Post.

The secret records reveal for the first time that the payment plan allocated an additional $150 million in cash for individuals and groups acting as intermediaries, although they have long been regarded by U.S. officials as sponsors of international terrorism. These include Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Kata'ib Hezbollah, an Iraqi paramilitary group linked to numerous lethal attacks on American troops during the Iraq War, the records show.

The payments were part of a larger deal that would involve the Iranian, Iraqi and Turkish governments as well as Lebanon's Hezbollah militia and at least two Syrian opposition groups, including al-Nusra Front, the notorious Sunni rebel faction linked to al-Qaeda. The total sum demanded for the return of the hostages at times climbed as high as $1 billion, although it is not clear from the documents exactly how much money ultimately changed hands.

Qatar, which acknowledged receiving help from multiple countries in securing the hostages' release last year, has consistently denied reports that it paid terrorist organizations as part of the deal. In a letter last month denouncing a published account of the events in the New York Times, Qatar's ambassador to the United States asserted flatly that "Qatar did not pay a ransom."

"The idea that Qatar would undertake activities that support terrorism is false," the ambassador, Sheikh Meshal bin Hamad al-Thani, wrote. The letter does not deny that Qatar paid money to end the crisis, but suggests that the recipients were government officials, citing vaguely a Qatari initiative with Iraq to "strengthen bilateral relations and ensure the safe release of the abductees."

But the conversations and text messages obtained by The Post paint a more complex portrait. They show senior Qatari diplomats appearing to sign off on a series of side payments ranging from $5 to $50 million to Iranian and Iraqi officials and paramilitary leaders, with $25 million earmarked for a Kata'ib Hezbollah boss and $50 million set aside for "Qassem," an apparent reference to Qassem Soleimani, the leader of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and a key participant in the hostage deal.

"You will get your money after we take our people," Khayareen writes in an April 2017 text message, recounting his conversation with a top official of Kata'ib Hezbollah.

The text exchanges are part of a trove of private communications about the hostage ordeal that were surreptitiously recorded by a foreign government and provided to The Post. The intercepted communications also include cellphone conversations and voice-mail messages in Arabic that were played for Post reporters for authentication purposes, on the condition that the name of the foreign government that provided the materials not be revealed.

Qatari officials declined to comment on specific issues raised in the text exchanges. But one senior Middle Eastern official knowledgeable about the communications said the sums mentioned in the texts referred to proposals that were floated by negotiators but ultimately rejected. The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a diplomatically sensitive subject, also asserted that some of the texts appeared to have been edited or repackaged to give a misleading impression, but he did not offer specifics. The official did not dispute reports that hundreds of millions of dollars of Qatar's money were flown to Baghdad in April 2017, just days before the release of the hostages. Iraqi officials confiscated the cash, which has not been returned.

Other governments, including some in the West, have paid ransoms to known terrorist organizations to win the release of kidnapped citizens. For example, France and Spain paid cash to kidnappers -- either directly or through state-owned companies -- to free French and Spanish nationals captured by the Islamic State or al-Qaeda affiliates in separate incidents between 2010 and 2014.

But Qatar's bargaining with militants over the hostage affair would become a flash point in a larger feud between the country and its Arab neighbors, some of whom have repeatedly criticized Qatari leaders over what they say are the country's cordial ties with Iran and support for the Muslim Brotherhood and other groups identified with political Islam. Weeks after the hostages were freed, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates joined three other Arab states in severing relations with Qatar, triggering a diplomatic crisis that quickly escalated into a virtual blockade on shipping and air travel in and out of Qatar.

The rift has occasionally prompted the Trump administration to take sides. Last June, President Trump voiced support for the blockade and blasted Qatar as a "funder of terrorism at a very high level." But Trump lavished praise on Qatar's emir, Sheikh Tamim al-Thani, when he visited Washington this month, calling him a "big advocate" for combating terrorism financing.

_ _ _

It started with a simple hunting trip, albeit one that was marred from the outset by bad luck and questionable decisions about the excursion's timing and locale.

Iraq in late 2015 was an extraordinarily dangerous place. A third of the country was occupied by the Islamic State, while elsewhere, bands of Kurdish and Shiite militiamen roamed towns and villages as Iraqi leaders mobilized for an all-out assault against the Islamist extremists. Yet, in November 2015, a large party of Qataris entered southern Iraq's Muthanna province to enjoy a pastime favored by well-to-do Arabs since antiquity: using trained falcons to hunt a desert game bird called the houbara bustard.

The outing was nearing its end on Dec. 15, 2015, when heavily armed fighters rolled into the foreigners' camp in trucks. Twenty-eight members of the hunting party -- 25 Qataris, two Saudis and a Pakistani -- were taken hostage, the starting point in a confusing, politically charged drama that lasted for 17 months.

Who, exactly, was behind the kidnapping was initially unclear, but Qatari officials quickly came to suspect that Iraqis had leaked information about the hunting party to the kidnappers. The Qatari hunters had given the precise coordinates of their camp to Iraq's Interior Ministry as part of their permit application, and Iraqi government employees had made a surprise visit to the camp just hours before the men were captured, according to the senior Middle Eastern official familiar with the events, who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

In any case, Qatari officials quickly sought help from the Iraqi government and Iraqi Shiite leaders in initiating contact with the kidnappers.

Qatar soon learned that the hostages were being held by Kata'ib al-Imam Ali, an obscure Iraqi Shiite militant group affiliated with Kata'ib Hezbollah. Both organizations receive funding and weapons from Iran, and the latter is officially designated by the United States a foreign terrorist group. Kata'ib Hezbollah was linked to scores of roadside bomb and sniper attacks against U.S. personnel in Iraq in the last decade, and since 2013, it has waged war against the Islamic State in Iraq, while also joining other Shiite militias in defending embattled dictator Bashar al-Assad inside Syria.

In response to the kidnappings, Qatar set up a crisis team that included by Khayareen and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, as well as Hamad bin Khalifa al-Attiyah, a personal adviser to the emir. Once it became clear that the captors were an Iranian-backed militia group, the officials began working through an array of influential intermediaries to gain the hostages' freedom.

Of the complex deal that ultimately emerged, key elements have been documented by other publications. The Financial Times last year described how the release of Qatar's hostages became tied to an Iranian-engineered plan, supported by Turkey and Lebanon's Hezbollah, to evacuate four Syrian villages -- two Sunni and two Shiite -- that had been under siege for months by different militant groups. Last month, an article in the New York Times Magazine recounted the seizure of $360 million in Qatari cash -- money apparently intended in part to pay off the Syrian fighters and implement the evacuations -- by Iraqi officials at Baghdad's international airport as the hostage-release plan was being implemented.

But what was unknown until now was that key conversations about the hostage affair were monitored by outsiders.

In the recorded communications between diplomats and mediators, Qatari officials complain about the prospect of paying millions of dollars to reward violent organizations that engage in kidnapping. But then they are seen to approve a plan to do exactly that.

_ _ _

At the outset, Qatari diplomats appeared to struggle to understand what the kidnappers wanted. After a perplexing silence in the early weeks of the ordeal, Kata'ib Hezbollah officials spoke directly to Khayareen to discuss the possibility of releasing two of the captives, while also issuing confusing demands.

Khayareen, recounting the phone conversations with Kata'ib Hezbollah's negotiator, told Qatar's foreign minister that the militants asked him to "bring the money" in exchange for the two hostages. But later, through an Iraqi intermediary, the kidnappers asked for other concessions that appeared intended to benefit Iran: Qatar's complete withdrawal from the Saudi-led coalition fighting Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen, and a promise to release Iranian soldiers held by Qatari-backed Sunni rebels in Syria.

"Your requests are not logical at all," the kidnappers were told, Khayareen wrote in a March 2016 text.

But soon afterward, money becomes a primary focus. In the text exchanges and phone conversations, Qatari officials initially discuss a payment of $150 million to Kata'ib Hezbollah if all the hostages are released, with an additional fee of $10 million to an Iraqi mediator for the group identified as Abu Mohammed al-Sa'adi. It was the first of many discussions of possible side payments for militia officials and mediators, some of whom demanded additional money from the Qataris while simultaneously asking for discretion so that their militia brethren would not discover that they were receiving bonuses.

"Al-Sa'adi asked me, 'What's in it for me?' " Khayareen told the Qatari foreign minister in a voice-mail message played for The Post. "The man told me frankly, 'I want ten [million dollars]. I told him, 'Ten? I am not giving you ten. Only in one case: If you get my guys done, 100 percent, I will give you the $150 [million] and then I will give you the ten."

As the dickering continued through the spring of 2016, wildly differing figures were thrown around as the cast of interlocutors grew to include Soleimani and other senior Iranian officials. In May, Khayareen tells his boss that negotiators have arrived at a figure of $275 million, with the transaction set to take place in Iraq's Sulaymaniyah province. At several points, the figure $1 billion is suggested as the price of a comprehensive deal involving the Iranians and the four-village evacuation plan. Soleimani had been seeking to implement the village plan for nearly two years, and Iranian officials apparently viewed the Qatari hostages as leverage, since Qatari-backed rebels groups were besieging two Shiite villages and their cooperation was essential to making the plan work.

"Qassem was pressuring the kidnappers and is very upset with them," Khayareen says in an April 2016 text message. Later, his texts describe trips by Soleimani to meet with the Kata'ib group in Iraq, as well as meetings between Qatari negotiators and representatives of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the office of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

In May 2016, Qatar appears to balk at the Iranian plan, sending word through an intermediary that the fate of the Syrian villages was a United Nations affair, and Qatari officials "don't cooperate or open a channel" with terrorist groups. At several points, the messages reflect Qatari anxiety over the safety of the hostages, the escalating demands for payments and the political pressure placed on Doha to use its wealth to end the ordeal.

The negotiations dragged on fruitlessly for months until late 2016, when the militants finally appear to grow weary of talking.

"The Kata'ib told the [mediator] that they are fed up with the case and want any solution to end it, so [they] get some money out of it," Khayareen writes in November of that year. "It seems that the group is bankrupt."

By April 2017, after additional meetings with Iranians, the outlines of a comprehensive deal are in place. In a carefully choreographed chain of events, buses arrived at the four Syrian villages to begin the evacuations, and the Qatari hostages are taken to Baghdad and released. Senior Qatari officials are present to help oversee both events, the documents show.

How much money the Qataris ultimately doled out to close the deal is not spelled out in the documents obtained by The Post. But the Qataris in the intercepted communications are explicit about the amounts earmarked for individuals who assisted in delivering the hostages. Just days after the captives' release, on April 25, 2017, Khayareen picks up his cellphone once more to give Qatar's foreign minister the breakdown. He lists five recipients who would divvy up $150 million in Qatari cash:

"Qassem, 50. Sulaymaniyah [provincial government official who facilitated the negotiations], 50. Abu Hussain, leader of Kata'ib, 25. Banhai [Iranian official involved in the talks], 20."

The final person on the list is Abu Mohammed al-Sa'adi, the negotiator for Kata'ib Hezbollah who had asked for an extra $10 million. He is rewarded with $5 million.

Khayareen follows up with a seven-second voice-mail message to his boss confirming that all the payments have been made.

"They are done and distributed," he is heard to say.

- The Post's Azhar AlFadl Miranda contributed to this report.U.S. prosecutors charged 10 people, including four Chinese nationals, with selling large quantities of fentanyl to Americans as part of an alleged international money-laundering conspiracy, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Friday.

It was a five-year conspiracy that involved 30 aliases, such as "Phantom Pharma" and "Toxic Storm," according to an indictment.

The suspects used encrypted communications, cryptocurrency, laundered funds and offshore accounts, Sessions said.

Separately, the Treasury Department froze U.S. assets belonging to the conspiracy's alleged leader, Jian Zhang, 38, also known as "Hong Kong Zaron," who was previously indicted, along with the assets of four other Chinese nationals charged with crimes by the Justice Department. It marked the first time the United States has taken such steps against alleged fentanyl traffickers.

Treasury also sanctioned Zhang's Chinese biotechnology company, which means that any of the company's assets in the United States or in the possession of an American must be blocked and reported to the federal authorities.

The Chinese-based network moved more than 400 grams of fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid, and more than 100 grams of a fentanyl analogue in the United States and Canada, according to two federal indictments filed in North Dakota.

"Fentanyl and its analogues killed more Americans than any other drug in 2016, and the vast majority of it comes from China," Sessions said in a speech to law enforcement officials at the Quentin N. Burdick U.S. Courthouse in Fargo, North Dakota. "Synthetic opioids like fentanyl killed 20,000 Americans in 2016."

Sessions said the defendants allegedly trafficked fentanyl from China to 11 states, a pipeline stretching from Oregon to Ohio to Florida. The investigation began in Grand Forks, North Dakota, with the fentanyl overdose death of 18-year-old Bailey Henke in January 2015, Justice Department officials said.

"This was an elaborate and sophisticated conspiracy," Sessions said. "It killed people in North Carolina, New Jersey, Oregon and Grand Forks.

"This office opened an investigation and traced the source of the fentanyl all the way back to China," Sessions said of acting U.S. attorney Christopher Myers' office. The defendants allegedly shipped fentanyl and its analogues through the mail.

Prosecutors identified the Chinese nationals charged in the case as Na Chu, 37; Yeyou Chu, 36; Cuiying Liu, 62; and Keping Zhang, 62. The United States considers them fugitives, and it is unclear whether they could ever be extradited to face charges.

The indictments Friday are part of a case announced by Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein last October when he revealed the names of the first Chinese-based fentanyl manufacturers and distributors to be charged as "consolidated priority organization targets," a label used for those who control the largest international drug-trafficking and money-laundering organizations.

So far, 32 people have been charged in the case. Steven Barros Pinto, 36, was arrested in Illinois; Keveen Odair Nobre, 28, was arrested in Rhode Island; and Robinson Andres Gomez, 25, was arrested in North Carolina.

The two leaders of the network in Canada operated from a medium-security prison where they were incarcerated in Quebec, according to the indictment.

In his speech, Sessions urged Americans to dispose of unwanted prescription drugs on Saturday by participating in the Drug Enforcement Administration's National Prescription Drug Take Back Day. The DEA program allows people to get rid of prescription drugs with no questions asked, he said. The past two DEA Take Back days pulled in 900 tons of drugs, he said.

"I have no doubt that saved lives and kept these drugs from getting into the wrong hands," Sessions said. "We are not just talking about numbers. We are talking about moms, dads, daughters, spouses, friends and neighbors."Washington

Facing imminent deadlines, President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel largely papered over their differences on trade and the Iran nuclear accord Friday, stressing instead ties between the allies and their shared goal of a nuclear-free North Korea.

Still, Merkel's brief visit, coupled with French President Emmanuel Macron's lavish stopover earlier in the week, made clear that the U.S. president's divisions with European allies remain substantial.

Trump and Merkel's three-hour visit at the White House contained little of the back-slapping geniality that defined Macron's three-day trip. While Trump and Macron complimented and embraced each other, the German chancellor kept her public statements brief and handshakes formal.

Trump is widely expected to withdraw the U.S. from the international Iran agreement next month, despite pleas from Macron earlier in the week and Merkel on Friday. Yet Merkel used her public comments after her meeting with Trump to try to gloss over that disagreement, calling the Obama-era accord a "first step" toward curtailing and containing Iran's ambitions and suggesting openness to a side agreement.

Trump has said he, too, is open to new negotiations with Iran. But he has not said he will heed European calls for the U.S. to stay in the deal, which aims to restrict Iran's nuclear efforts, while any further talks are underway. His decision on whether to exit the deal is expected by May 12.

On trade, Merkel saw little progress on obtaining permanent exemptions for the European Union from Trump's steel and aluminum tariffs.

Trump implicitly scolded Germany for not meeting NATO military spending obligations.Merkel said Germany's latest budget will take defense spending to 1.3 percent of GDP and the country is aiming for more over time.

Merkel made a point of flattering Trump, declaring that U.S. pressure against North Korea deserved the lion's share of the credit for the historic summit between the leaders of North and South Korea.T-Mobile and Sprint are reportedly nearing a merger deal that would combine the nation's third- and fourth-largest wireless carriers, respectively - adding to a whirlwind of consolidation in the communications industry.

The proposed merger, which was first reported by Reuters, would give the resulting company control over roughly 100 million customers, edging out AT&T's 93 million and putting it within striking distance of Verizon's roughly 116 million wireless customers. And it would reduce the number of national wireless operators from four to three at a time when Washington officials have voiced greater concern about corporate concentration.

Sprint and T-Mobile declined to comment.

T-Mobile has competed aggressively with its much larger rivals, peeling away customers with industry-changing business practices such as the elimination of long-term contracts. But analysts say T-Mobile needs to get bigger if it wants to be competitive in a world of next-generation 5G data, which will cost billions to deploy.

The combined company could spread out its costs and get the additional funding it needs to keep upgrading its network. But the merger would require persuading antitrust regulators that a deal that eliminates a competitor is good for consumers.

Thus far, the government has been skeptical. In 2011, AT&T dropped an attempted merger with T-Mobile after running into resistance from the Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission. Three years later, Sprint called off its own merger negotiations with T-Mobile over the same concerns.

Despite the change in administration since then, many staffers at the two agencies remain the same, said Blair Levin, a former FCC official who now advises Wall Street on telecom issues. Still, he said, the Justice Department's antitrust chief, Makan Delrahim, and FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, could be convinced.

"I do think it's possible that both Ajit and Makan come to believe that they should allow the deal," Levin said.

To bolster its case before regulators, T-Mobile is also expected to argue that competition is rising - from the cable industry.

Cable companies such as Comcast and Charter Communications have leapt into the wireless sector with fledgling cellular carriers of their own. Unlike pure cellular networks like T-Mobile's, these services mix wireless service from traditional providers such as Verizon with the cable companies' existing WiFi hotspots.

Comcast's Xfinity Mobile has 577,000 customers so far after launching last year, Comcast executives said this week on an earnings call.

It is unclear whether regulators will agree that the cable industry represents a credible threat to the traditional wireless industry.

Another wildcard factor may be Sprint and T-Mobile's foreign ownership. In 2013, the Japanese conglomerate Softbank invested $21.6 billion for a 72 percent stake in Sprint. Its chief executive, Masayoshi Son, has since increased Softbank's stake to roughly 85 percent. Meanwhile, T-Mobile's parent is the German firm Deutsche Telekom.

The White House has frequently weighed in on proposed mergers, particularly those involving foreign companies. Broadcom - a chip manufacturer that was based in Singapore until this month when it relocated to Delaware - was forced to abandon its takeover of the U.S.-based chip maker Qualcomm, over concerns that it could give China an edge in the development of 5G networks.

President Donald Trump has also opined on other companies in the telecom and media industries that are seeking deals. He famously attacked AT&T's proposed purchase of Time Warner during the 2016 campaign, for example, citing the deal as an example of too much power "in the hands of too few."

The Justice Department is wrapping up its trial to block the $85 billion merger, and a court decision is expected in the coming weeks.Rocket is a turtle with some spunk and a bit of attitude. She loves to be the center of attention. She is on public display for the more than 4,000 students who visit the nonprofit Mitchell Lake Audubon Center each year.

But shortly after 6 p.m. Wednesday, someone stole Rocket from her padlocked outdoor wetlands area. Security cameras captured images of a group of teens carrying away the beloved red-eared slider. She hasnt been seen since.

Its pretty devastating, center director Sara Beesley said Friday. We were immediately worried that she had been harmed.

The staff felt some relief when security footage revealed young trespassers had actually carried 6-year-old Rocket off the grounds because it gave them hope that she wasnt injured. But they are pleading for her return.

Our primary concern is to have her back and have her safe, Beesley said. If she magically appears in her habitat overnight, we would welcome it.

The center is on the South Side on rural property leased from the San Antonio Water System. The grounds are enclosed by fences topped with barbed wire and sit next door to the San Antonio Police Department Training Academy.

The intruders may have cut through a portion of fence near the road, Beesley said. They approached Rockets outdoor habitat  a small wetlands area enclosed by chicken wire and wood  and broke off one of two padlocks securing the top of her abode.

Staff arrived Thursday morning to discover Rocket gone. They unlocked her enclosed habitat, looked through the grasses and even dug underneath a sunken water tub searching for her.

Finally, we saw there was a crack in the top lid of her area, her habitat. Someone had broken the lock to open it and take her out, Beesley said.

The security footage captured by SAWS cameras showed a group of young boys and girls, Beesley said. She didnt know the exact number of trespassers.

SAWS gave that video to police.

Were working with them to bring resolution to this as soon as possible, said Gavino Ramos, SAWS vice president of communications, external affairs and conservation.

Rocket wouldnt be startled by people approaching her because she is so used to interacting with children, Beesley said.

Shes definitely a queen, she said. She likes being in charge and the center of attention. She loves kids.  Shes very easy to handle.

Beesley is asking the public to take pictures of any roaming turtles they see around the Audubon Center in case Rocket was set loose. The turtle has several distinctive markers that staff would be able to identify. The center can be reached at 210-628-1639 or mlac@audubon.org.

The challenge is there are also a lot of turtles out and about on the streets right now since its breeding season, Beesley said. And theyre all looking for a lady friend or gentleman friend.

Peggy OHare is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of her stories here. | pohare@express-news.net | @Peggy_OHareLt. Gov. Dan Patrick likes to say Texas dedicates 52 percent of its budget to education, but ... not only is that a meaningless number, its also a historic low.

Adequately funding education costs whatever it costs. But historically, Texas has allocated much more of its budget to education. Back in 1998-99, Texas dedicated 61 percent of its budget to education, according to PolitiFact Texas, which crunched the numbers.

This is for K-12 and public colleges and universities.

RELATED: Editorial: Texas' war on public education felt at major San Antonio school district

Education funding was also 61 percent in 2010-11, but it has steadily dropped since then, hitting that 52 percent mark in 2018.

In other words, sure, Texas spends more on education than anything else, as Patrick likes to say. But as a percentage of the budget, Texas has never spent less. At least, not over the last 20 years.

The point here is many of Patricks comments about education require some kind of qualifying context. Theres almost always a but ... that needs to be tacked onto his sentences.

For example, Patrick has said hes ensured the Foundation School Program in Texas is more than fully funded, but ... this is not the same as adequately funded. And besides, the system is broken, and last legislative session, Patrick torpedoed a chance to at least partly fix it.

The Patrick-led Texas Senate killed a bill that would have added up to $1.9 billion to public education. It would have also reduced payments from property-wealthy districts to poorer districts, boosted funding for English language learners and students with dyslexia, and modified outdated parts of the school funding formula.

RELATED: NEISD must pay 'Robin Hood' and cut teaching positions amid shortfall

The Republican-dominated Texas House overwhelmingly approved the legislation. More than 1,000 school board members and superintendents supported it.

For Northeast ISD, it would have increased student funding by $104 per student, House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, said in an interview.

But Patrick hijacked that bill, adding a controversial voucher plan for students with disabilities and reducing the proposed funding increase for districts. He then expressed surprise (feigned, some might say) that the maneuver tanked the bill.

I simply did not believe they would vote against both disabled children and a substantial increase for public schools, Patrick said in May of 2017. I was wrong.

As is so often the case with Patrick and education.

The vote wasnt that surprising, really. Not only would Patricks voucher plan have pulled money from public schools, it wouldnt have adequately served Texas families who couldnt afford private schools. Its not even clear it would have helped since many private schools arent equipped to serve disabled students.

So, instead of seeing an increase in per-student spending, NEISD is reckoning with a two-year budget shortfall of $29 million, phasing out teaching positions and considering a property tax election.

READ MORE: Dan Patrick fires back at Express-News editorial: State committed to funding education

You have to want to fund schools before you find a way to do it, Straus said.

The states share of education spending has fallen from 52 percent in 1985 to a projected 38 percent in 2019. Local spending has filled the gap.

Patrick has dismissed that 38 percent figure as a myth that continues to be repeated over and over, but ... the 38 percent figure keeps getting repeated because its real.

Its from the state Legislative Budget Board, which does not author heroic epics. It does produce many charts, though. And in this case, the LBB has produced a chart (again, thanks PolitiFact Texas) that compares local and state spending on education between 1985 to 2016, and offers projections through 2019.

This is why school districts have become the driving force behind property tax increases.

Just look at your tax bill. Then again, its probably more fun for readers to consider mine. Here are the big three: Northeast ISD leads the way at $2,264. The city of San Antonio is next at $1,065. Bexar County is third at $556.

Patrick has said he is concerned about rising property taxes, but ... he has focused on cities and counties and the bathrooms transgender people use.

Maybe he believes the state is adequately funding schools. After all, education is 52 percent of the states budget, which sounds like a real achievement. It is the states biggest expense. But ... wait, we know better, right?

jbrodesky@express-news.netMany people in the United States, painting with a broad brush, look upon Mexican-Americans with a jaundiced view.

This view has been fueled by real and imagined immigration issues in the past and most recently by President Donald Trumps perverted views of immigrants, including his attacks on those trying to get into this country from the shitholes  his word  of the world.

Trump and those who agree with him have obsessed over the wall, DACA, and the so-called criminals and rapists flocking into the U. S. illegally.

As an example, the Trump administration has targeted a transnational gang known as MS-13. The president seizes upon the gangs violence as symbolic of the effects of illegal immigration when, in fact, not all MS-13 members are here without documents. Moreover, most law enforcement agencies at all levels consider Trumps campaign against MS-13 clearly out of proportion to its national threat.

Trumps focus is nothing less than racial prejudice in its purest form, even though at times it is more subtle than flagrant. To correct this misconception, one first needs to know an important part of our countrys history.

Ive been surprised, as well as disappointed, at how many U.S. citizens know so little about this part of American history. And despite the numerous physical landmarks that serve as reminders, many Americans dont realize how Spain and Mexico once occupied a major part of our 50 states.

These landmark reminders are pervasive. Consider cities: Los Angeles (The Angels); San Francisco (St. Francis); Sacramento (the sacrament); Santa Fe (holy faith); San Antonio (St. Anthony); El Dorado (the golden or gilded one) in Arkansas. Consider states: Florida (flowery); Nevada (snowfall); Colorado (red). Even the name California originates from the conquistadors and is derived from the word Califia, a mythical island paradise described in a Spanish book written in 1510.

More than 100 years before the Pilgrims set foot in this country, explorers from Spain, led by Ponce de Leon, in 1513 disembarked on the northeast coast of what was to become Florida. Other conquistadors followed throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, encountering the Mayans and Aztecs in Mexico (New Spain), and the Apache, Comanche, Pueblo, Navajo and other indigenous tribes to the north.

Spaniards explored and claimed all the lands that were to become the southwestern United States, including Texas. Some of these lands were designated the Territory of New Mexico and were later divided into the states of Nevada, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico. These explorers also traveled westward into lands that became California and ventured into what is now Texas and beyond, through lands now known as the U.S. South.

In 1536, Cabeza de Vaca was the first European to cross the North American continent  some 84 years before the Pilgrims landed. Then came Fray Marcos de Niza, a priest, in 1539, Coronado in 1540, and Juan de Onate in 1598. Many others followed. Almost 100 years later, in 1692, Don Diego de Vargas peacefully reoccupied the city of Santa Fe, which had been captured by the Pueblo tribes during the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, when Native Americans first succeeded in retaking the lands seized from them many years before by the Spanish government.

Spain didnt lose control of its lands in the western United States until 1821, after the Mexican War of Independence. The newly formed Mexican government took over.

As a military general, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna helped gain Mexicos independence from Spain. Later, as president of Mexico, he led the fight to retain Mexicos territory, much of which was lost during the Texas Revolution of 1836.

For many years before the revolution, Santa Anna not only allowed but encouraged Americans from southern and eastern states to migrate and settle in Texas. Santa Annas policy was guided by two factors: increase in trade to help Mexicos economy and defense against Comanche attacks.

The Texans mounted a strong, armed resistance to the centralist government of Mexico, which was preceded by a number of political and cultural clashes between the Mexican government and the increasingly large immigrant population of American settlers entering Mexico.

Texas didnt exist as an independent republic for long. It was annexed as the 28th state of the United States in 1845, which led to the Mexican-American War. That war ended with the Mexican Cession of 1848, in which defeated Mexico ceded its huge land holdings to the United States.

Once Mexico lost control of its territories in the southwestern United States and in California, the influx of American settlers increased. This gave rise to additional demographic changes that, in turn, led to economic and social interactions, mounting tensions and physical conflicts among three groups: Mexican-Americans, Native Americans and Euro-Americans migrating from the eastern part of the United States in growing numbers.

In 1875, Colorado was elevated to statehood, but New Mexico was turned down. Race figured prominently in Congress vote against New Mexicos bid.

During congressional debates, some legislators strongly opposed to statehood referred to Mexican-Americans, as well as Native Americans, as savages, barbarians, and illiterate and inferior races unfit for self-government and therefore unworthy of citizenship.

Even the newspapers of the time weighed in with biases against New Mexicos statehood, the New York Times asserting that its people are not us.

It took 37 years for New Mexico and Arizona to be accepted into statehood; this happened in 1912.

Such prejudice isnt as open or flagrant today as in the past, but mere toleration falls far short of acceptance and respect.

Its time we become more aware of our inner prejudices and unfounded dislikes that have persisted far too long. Its time to genuinely accept equal justice under law, the words etched in large bold letters above the entrance to the highest court in the land  the United States Supreme Court.

Those four, simple words stand for what distinguishes us from so many other nations  the rule of law, which we should honor and respect. We can begin by taking a good look at how we treat others, citizens and noncitizens alike. We should value what we have in common, rather than focus on our differences, including skin color or beliefs.

Yet most Mexican-Americans born here, like my parents, and their parents before them  and me  havent escaped prejudices.

Its true that a small percentage of illegal immigrants over the years have been arrested, charged and in some cases convicted of crimes after they arrived in this country. But in this respect, Mexican nationals are no different from non-Hispanic citizens and recent immigrants.

These presumptions about criminality ignore that most immigrants, including so-called illegals from Mexico, are good, hardworking and law-abiding individuals. They come to this country with hopes of improving their lives and contributing to this nation. To consider them unworthy of our concern, understanding and fair treatment is to ignore our countrys history and our own ancestries.

From the beginning of our nation, and even during colonization before  except for people with American Indian ancestry  this is a land of immigrants. Let those without immigrant origins cast the first stone.

The histories of all of us with immigrant origins should be a curriculum requirement in secondary and college education. That would enlighten all of us and warn us against falsely stereotyping new arrivals as them.

Rudy Apodaca, a former chief judge of the New Mexico Court of Appeals, is an Austin attorney/writer. He may be reached at www.rudyapodaca.com.There is sweeping the nation exuberant talk of a blue wave that will flip the U.S. House this year for Democrats  a hope more mutely uttered about the Senate.

This hope springs from the purely democratic  small d  notion that if a majority of a states residents vote a particular way, that side wins. Also, that House district lines should be drawn to reflect, as much as possible, how people popularly vote, while compactly including communities of interest in these districts.

In too many states, thats not happening. U.S. House elections are to democratic voting what the Black Sox scandal of 1919 was to World Series sportsmanship.

The same sort of game rigging is at play in politics today  in Texas included.

A recent report by the Brennan Center for Justice posits a harsh reality. It essentially says that, absent a wave of tsunami proportions, rigged systems of partisan and racial gerrymandering in the states could act as highly effective sea walls, with only minimal spillage lapping over the top.

In other words, even if the popular votes for the parties in these states surpass modern highs, there could be little difference in which party wins the majority of these states congressional delegations in the November election.

And Texas, of course, figures prominently, its redistricting discriminatory  a feature noticed, by the way, by the courts but vehemently denied by those who control how the lines are drawn (even as they acknowledge they are drawn that way to keep their party in power).

Both parties play  looking at you, Maryland Democrats  but it has become clear that this is more a Republican pursuit owing to how many state legislatures the party now controls.

Except for the relatively few states that have independent redistricting commissions, state legislatures are tasked with redistricting every 10 years  to reflect population changes revealed by the U.S. census. The gerrymandering has worsened in the past decade only because more sophisticated technology exists to make cheating easier.

The report says that for Democrats to obtain a bare majority in the U.S. House, they will have to win the national popular vote by 11 points nationally.

Neither Democrats nor Republicans have won by such an overwhelming margin in decades, the report says. Even a strong blue wave would crash against a wall of gerrymandered maps.

Implicit in this calculation: Congressional district lines should be drawn at least making an effort to comport to how people popularly vote  not always possible with all districts owing to clustered residential patterns, but a valid rule of thumb. When these maps are drawn this way  which is to say, fairly  they are called responsive, when not, unresponsive.

And this is another way of saying that voters shouldnt be purposely fractured, certain of their numbers diminished in some districts or packed in others, rigged purely so one party maintains its legislative majority.

But thats precisely how it works in Texas and other states the Brennan Center for Justice studied for this report, Extreme Gerrymandering & the 2018 Midterm.

For instance, Democrats have 11 (or 30.5 percent) of Texas 36 congressional seats, though in 2016 they won 42.29 percent of the popular vote.

This year, because of gerrymandering, they will have to win 41.07 percent of the vote to compete for an additional seat and wont have a chance at a 13th seat unless they get 51.15 percent of the vote. Democrats have to win 53.62 percent of the vote for a chance to compete for a majority of the states congressional seats.

So, according to the report, Putting even a few seats in play would require Democrats to win a larger share of the vote than they have all decade. The same applies to North Carolina.

The report looks at the history of Texas most recent redistricting.

Between 2000 and 2010, Texas grew faster than any state in the country, adding nearly 4.3 million people and gaining four congressional seats as a result.  Latinos and African Americans collectively (made) up 89 percent of the growth and Latinos themselves (accounted) for nearly two-thirds.

Redistricting ensued, then groups representing minority groups sued because the Legislature failed to create even one additional district where minorities could elect a candidate of their choosing. That legal challenge continues (the U.S. Supreme Court hearing arguments on Tuesday), though there already was one redrawing by a federal court that improved matters slightly.

Under that original plan, however, For Democrats to win more than one-third of seats  they would need to win close to half the vote.

That, and even the slightly improved map, fit the textbook definition of rigged. And in Texas, also the textbook definition of institutional racism.

In Texas (and North Carolina), the gerrymandering is obviously done to suppress minority representation  though GOP leaders say it is being done purely to disadvantage Democrats, as if this also werent blatantly unfair. But the former represents racial gerrymandering (always illegal when proven), the latter partisan gerrymandering, keeping one party or the other in power, which the courts so far have failed to rule is clearly illegal.

That could change.

The Supreme Court is considering cases, from Wisconsin and Maryland, that ask whether excessive partisan gerrymandering is also unconstitutional. But any such ruling, the experts say, will not likely change the 2018 maps.

Unless equal treatment under the law has ceased to have any meaning, the Supreme Court should, of course, find partisan gerrymandering to be illegal. I am not, however, taking any bets on this outcome.

In any case, the claim by Texas GOP leaders that they are targeting Democrats, not minorities, doesnt pass the smell test. In Texas, where voting is racially and ethnically polarized, it is a distinction without a difference. The fastest growing portion of the population  Latinos  tends to vote overwhelmingly Democratic, as do African-Americans.

And Republicans have simply come to the conclusion that instead of aggressively wooing and competing for these votes, they will suppress them. Redistricting is one way  voter ID laws and strict third-party voter registration rules are others.

Alas, erecting such obstacles has a long, sorry history in Texas, the methods just becoming a bit more sophisticated, though no less blunt.

In the meantime, if a blue wave in the popular vote happens this year and there is little to no change in Democratic representation, this will be a testament to how this process can, thanks to technological enhancements, be rendered democracy-proof.

There are too many scandals to count these days, but gerrymandering of any type is among the gravest of our age. That it isnt widely considered so is also scandalous. This acceptance is predicated on your groups ox is gored, but (because of that goring) my group  um, ox  thrives.

As the report also details, there is simply no need for this state of affairs.

California in 2008 adopted an independent commission to draw the states districts, staring with the 2010 election cycle. The result: When Democrats win half of the statewide vote, they are projected to win about half of the seats.

Perhaps, this is what our top elected leaders mean when they warn of the moral rot that comes if the dreaded Californization of Texas ever takes root.

Fairness in Texas elections? Oh, the horrors.

o.ricardo.pimentel@express-news.netIt has been a busy couple of weeks for Longford Cystic Fibrosis (CF) campaigner Jillian McNulty who admits thats a good thing because the distraction helps her to focus better.

Jillian was speaking to the Leader on Monday after the 2017 Longford Person of the Year was named as one of IMAGE Magazine's Seven Inspirational Role Models for young women in Ireland.

Events

The local CF campaigner was also a special guest of Dublin Lord Mayor Micheal Mac Donncha at the Mansion House recently where Cystic Fibrosis Ireland (CFI) honoured her for the efforts made during the Orkambi campaign.

And then to top it all off, Jillian found herself raising some much needed public awareness about organ donation and its importance after the matter was raised with her on the Ray Darcy Show.

Watch: #Watch: The moment Cystic Fibrosis campaigner Jillian McNulty is announced as Longford Person of the Year



Ah sure lookit, all of this is a bit surreal to be honest with you, she smiled in conversation with the Leader this week.

I couldnt believe it when I was told I had been chosen for an Inspirational Role Model award; I really am delighted and honoured.

Meanwhile, the event in the Mansion House was one she enjoyed very much.

CFI honoured me at an event hosted by the Lord Mayor of Dublin in the Mansion House recently and it was a wonderful occasion for me, the local CF campaigner continued.

The event was really about the work that I did during the Orkambi campaign, something that I am very proud of.

On the night, Jillian was presented with an award for her work by CF Ireland CEO Philip Watt.

Organ Donation

Most recently though its her public campaign to raise awareness around the whole issue of organ donation that has captured her appeal.

And, it all began quite simply, as she said herself, when the opportunity arose as she was chatting on the Ray Darcy Show last month.

I have been quite sick this year and I was discussing this fact on the Show, the Longford woman continued, before pointing out that April is in fact Organ Awareness Month.

Read Also: Longford campaigner spearheads Valentine's Ball in aid of Cystic Fibrosis

When I was sick earlier this year, my consultant sat down with me and said Jillian its time to consider a transplant.

Well, you could have blown me over with a feather; Im facing the possibility of a lung and kidney transplant, and at the moment my kidney function is just 28%.

When it reaches 15% I will need a transplant at that point and that is very daunting for me because there is a danger that I could go into kidney failure in the meantime.

And that is a concern.

Organ Donation suitability

Meanwhile Jillian has received an outpouring of support, so much so that seven people have already come forward and offered to donate an organ to her if they turn out to be suitable candidates.

Im in a situation now that I have to start looking for a live donor, so a plan of action will have to be put in place, she smiled, before acknowledging the seven candidates who will be tested for suitability in the coming weeks.

Listen: LISTEN: Longford Cystic Fibrosis sufferer Jillian McNulty humbled as four people offer to act as living kidney donors for her

Once they have been tested we will take it from there.

Jillian is currently organising a public talk in Longford town around the whole area of organ donation and further details in respect of that will appear in local media closer to the time.

But for now, the Longford CF campaigner remains focused and determined.

This past month or so has been a whirlwind, she added.

It has been great really.

Read Also: Hero Award for Longford Campaigner, Jillian McNultyA woman who appeared at Longford District Court charged under the Theft & Fraud Offences Act found herself close to serving time after the presiding judge convicted her in respect of the matters before him.

Mary Ann Nevin McDonagh (31), Lavender Cottage, Farnagh Hill, Longford appeared before Judge Seamus Hughes charged with stealing a jacket worth 39 from Heatons, Ballymahon Street, Longford on April 11 last.

She was also further charged with stealing groceries to the value of 41.50 from Aldi, Longford on April 13, 2018.

Outlining the evidence to the court, Sergeant Paddy McGirl said that on April 13 last, the defendant entered the Aldi Store on the outskirts of Longford town where she placed over 40 worth of groceries in a bag and proceeded then to leave the store without paying for the items.

She was later apprehended by the Gardai and made admissions, added the Sergeant, before pointing out to the court that all the items taken in the incident were subsequently recovered.

Stole a Jacket

The court then went on to hear that on April 11 last, the defendant entered Heatons Department Store in Longford town, took a jacket from a hanger and left the store without paying for it.

The jacket was never recovered, added Sargeant McGirl, who then pointed out that the defendant had 20 previous convictions, most of which were for theft.

Mitigation

In mitigation, the defendants solicitor John Quinn said that to date the court had been very indulgent towards his client.

He added; She is a widow living on low income and finds it difficult sometimes.

Meanwhile, the local solicitor went on to say that Ms Nevin McDonagh was on medication for depression and honestly couldnt remember going into the stores in the first instance.

During his deliberations on the matter before him, Judge Hughes pointed out to Mr Quinn that half the world is on medication and, therefore, if his client couldnt remember being in the shops, the fault lay with the medication the defendant was on.

The medication is having a negative effect on her, suggested Judge Hughes, before pointing out that when people were at their worst with depression, they most likely took to the bed and did not go around stealing from local shops.



No, Ms Nevin McDonagh though, sets off into Aldi and steals all around her.

The Judge then addressed the defendant and said he would send her to prison for her actions.

The last time you were in this court Ms Nevin McDonagh you told me that you would never steal again - you misled me.

'Under Pressure'

Meanwhile, the defendant told the Judge she was under pressure to pay her rent and if that wasnt forthcoming both she and her three children would be out of that house.

You have a propensity to do crime, continued Judge Hughes.

I have given you every opportunity; you promised me that you would not commit any further offence and now look!.

Judge Hughes subsequently imposed a three month prison sentence but suspended it for two years before concluding the matter before him.Entrepreneurs from Moyne and Granard secondary schools will represent Longford at the Student Enterprise Programme National Finals on Wednesday, May 2 in Croke Park.

Working under the guidance of Brid Nevin, Clip Bin from Ardscoil Phadraig, Granard - Ellie May Fitzsimons, Gerard Sheridan Ryan, Holly Smith, Kayla Brennan, and Roisin Cadden aged 12 and 13 - will be vying for success in the Junior Category.

Product

The students have developed a new product called Clip Bin which fits on top of a cupboard door and is used to collect crumbs etc from the counter-top.

While Reel Easy, Shane Grimes, Shane Dobson, Shane Hagan, Daniel Doherty and Luke Hurson, all 16 years of age from Moyne Community School, and under the guidance of Padraig Doherty and Declan Donnelly, will be Longfords standard bearers in the Senior Category.

These students have developed 'Reel Easy', a product designed to keep tension on electric fence polywire/tape when putting it on the reel for the first time. The aim of the product is to help farmers and others to transfer wire effortlessly from spool to reel.

Read Also: Late Late Show appearance for top young Longford entrepreneurs

Michael Nevin, Head of Enterprise with Local Enterprise Office Longford wished the students from County Longford the very best of luck on May 2. He thanked the participating schools and teachers involved.

Mr Nevin added, The Student Enterprise Programme links in with the school curriculum around enterprise in the classroom and really helps students gain skills and practical knowledge of running a real-life business.

The programme also encourages more students to consider entrepreneurship as a future career choice, with Local Enterprise Office Longford on hand to help.

You may also like to read:

Longford's budding entrepreneurs at the Student Enterprise ProgrammeFor centuries, the Silk Roads web of trading routes connected major civilizations in East Asia with the Middle East and the European continent. It facilitated not only commerce, but also the exchange of communication and thereby determined the development of the ancient world.





In 2013, Chinese President Xi Jingping proposed to revive the Silk Road by developing a transportation network that would link China to the rest of the world. This flagship project called the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) combines two main roadmaps. The first component is the Silk Road Economic Belt which is a land-based travel route that runs through six corridors and covers most of the nations in Asia and Europe.





Along these parameters, Beijing seeks to bolster infrastructure by constructing bridges, railways, roads, pipelines, hydroelectric dams, and much more. The second component is the Maritime Silk Road which seeks to diversify Chinas supply lines along its eastern coastline by constructing shipping ports, hydrocarbon refineries, and industrial parks. Thus far, over 1,700 projects are in place with a value of around $900 billion falling into the spectrum of the initiative.





So far as to say, reviving the Silk Road is an incredibly expensive endeavor. To fund the construction initiative and regulate the enormous cash flow, the Chinese Government has set up two financial institutions: the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the Silk Road Fund (SRF). The AIIB is a multilateral bank with an initial capital base of $100 billion and is committed to lending money for economic projects. Its organizational structure is similar to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. The SRF holds around $40 billion and falls under the supervision of Chinas Central Bank. It is a means to invest in projects rather than to extend loans for them. Yet, perhaps the biggest financial contributor to the Belt and Road is the China Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank of China. The China Development Bank has pledged over $800 billion spreading over the course of several years. Additional funds for the initiative could come from Chinas foreign exchange reserves and Beijings Sovereign Wealth Fund which holds around $3 trillion and $220 billion respectively.





However, the Belt and Road is more than just about physical connections, it serves Chinas foreign and domestic objectives because it helps to mitigate the countrys dependency on the existing sea lanes. Currently, around 90% of Chinas trade goes through the seas and beyond Beijings control. Nearby bodies of water such as the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea, and the South China Sea have a strong American presence while maritime points such as the Strait of Malacca, through which 80% of Chinas crude oil imports pass, are additional flash points for Beijing. As such, China relies on the U.S Navy for the security of the sea lanes.





Yet, as a geopolitical rival, Beijing cannot heavily rely on Washington to protect its shipping. In this context, the Belt and Road serves as a contingency plan that diversifies the trade routes between Chinese cities and global markets. For instance, as a part of the Belt and Road, China is constructing ports, railways, roads, and pipelines on the Indian Subcontinent which would allow for Beijing to bypass checkpoints in the South China Sea. The corridor in Pakistan known as the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and the ports in Sri Lanka allow China to do exactly this.





Another motive for the Belt and Road is the fact that Chinas monumental economic growth has created enormous disparity across its territory. The inconsistent wealth is noticeable between the rural western interior and the urban eastern coastline, but the divergence goes beyond finances. The abundance and lack of wealth affect living standards, life expectancy, and demographics. All of these social and economic factors are in favor of the fertile cosmopolitan coastline whereas the arid landlocked western interior is left behind. If China wants to secure its long-term stability, it must mitigate the disparity between the two territories by enhancing the inland regions access to foreign markets. This is bound to be a long and complex process, but for Beijing, the Belt and Road offers a start to strengthen the prospects of the interior.





Since its revelation in 2013, the constructive initiative has booked impressive results in the interior cities. For example, in the cities of Xian, Kunming, and Kashgar economic zones are being set up to facilitate cross border commerce between China, Central Asia, and the Middle East. Besides investments in the interior of China, Beijing is also financing projects in the volatile nations of Central Asia where President Xi tries to bring some sense of stability along the Chinese western borderlands which is necessary to suppress the Tibetan and Uighur separatist attitudes. In conflict-ridden Central Asia, an excess amount of capital is likely to contribute to more violence. Moreover, improved roads are likely to enhance the mobility of illicit goods into China itself. This is a particular issue for Chinese policymakers because of the long-standing separatist tendencies in western China. Therefore, in addition to funding, Beijing must combat transnational risks by assisting and cooperating with security groups in the Central Asian countries.





Yet, as China pours funds into the region and bolsters local defenses, it is bound to cross paths with another major stakeholder. Russia considers Central Asia as a crucial component of its sphere of influence and views any form of non-economic activity in the region as a threat to its national security. Although Russia welcomes Chinese investment in Central Asia and believes that economic stability will bring about much-needed political stability, Moscow is deeply suspicious of Beijing. Should Russia choose to do so, it could derail Chinas rail and energy projects in the region, so Beijing must tread carefully in Central Asia.





Another geopolitical rival that is suspicious of the Belt and Road is India. New Delhi fears that Chinese economic activities, namely CPEC in Pakistan will undermine Indian claims in the disputed Kashmir region. As such, India strongly opposes CPEC because it sees Beijings policy as a de facto hostile act in geopolitical terms. However, Indias options for retaliation are limited and the Belt and Road represents a front line in the China-India rivalry. The final geopolitical rival that is upset with the Belt and Road is the United States. Washington is concerned that Beijings diversification of its trading routes will undermine its naval leverage. In the long-run, this geopolitical shift will allow China to impose its will in the East Asian periphery.





In addition to developing the interior and diversifying trade, President Xis flagship initiative is his clearest break from Deng Xiaopings geopolitical philosophy of hide capacity, bide time, and never claim leadership. The Belt and Road Initiative is the opposite of what China has traditionally done. In the same way that the Bretton Woods system is the Washingtons global soft power policy, Beijing intends to replicate that soft power experience in Asia with the Belt and Road Initiative. China is already a major trade partner for many nations in Asia and Europe, but with the Belt and Road Initiative, Beijing is enhancing those business ties by extending favorable financing terms through its financial institutions. Chinese policymakers hope that these international and commercial ties will grant China with greater access to the Asian and European landmasses in the coming decades.





Beijings soft power is already showing signs of success in some areas. For instance, due to their growing economic ties to China, members of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN) find it increasingly difficult to maintain a unified policy in the South China Sea. The political behavior of the Philippines is a good example of the success of Chinas soft power policy. Moreover, the increasing presence of Chinese firms in the region adds to the credibility of Beijings territorial claims. By dividing regional coalitions and strengthening Chinas Sino-sphere of influence, soft power can overcome maritime and territorial disputes in the future.





Thus far, the Chinese Government has approached every nation differently to suit the specific political and cultural climate of its foreign partners. This shows great flexibility, but the Belt and Road is not without its drawbacks. The hundreds of bilateral agreements that come along with the initiative further the financial structure of Asia which is already a sea of bilateral trade deals and many companies lack the building capacity to navigate this maze of rules.



Advertisement

"Our group has been working with endothelial cells for a long time, focusing on how they are affected by changes in the TGF-beta signaling pathway from a basic research perspective", explains Dr. Francesc Vinals. The group was especially interested in a receptor for a TGF-beta factor called BMP9, the ALK1 receptor, which endothelial cells express exclusively; For years, mutations in ALK1 have been associated with HHT, a disease that causes arteriovenous malformations and unexpected bleeding. "Externally, HHT causes recurrent epistaxis (nosebleeds), which often require urgent attention; internal arteriovenous malformations can cause functional organic alterations and require interventional procedures, such as the embolization of pulmonary arteriovenous fistulas or liver transplantation."A first collaboration with the vascular signaling research group of Dr. Mariona Graupera, also at IDIBELL, allowed Dr. Vinals' team to develpop a model for the formation of blood vessels in the retina of mice that lacked the copy of the gene for the ALK1 receptor. The lack of this receptor gave rise to errors in the formation of blood vessels by excess of endothelial cells, which matched the researchers' theory: if members of the TGF-beta family usually act as a "brake" for cellular proliferation, mutations in one of its components should lead to uncontrolled proliferation. The results were replicated and confirmed in in vitro cultures.While trying to better understand this mechanism at the molecular signaling level, researchers singled out the PI3K pathway as one of the most affected. "We are lucky that Dr. Graupera's group specializes in this pathway in endothelial cells, which allowed us to start a closer collaboration immediately". This collaboration allowed them to use models where PI3K was mutated and did not work correctly.The stimulation of PI3K acts as an "accelerator" for the endothelial cell to proliferate. BMP9, (through ALK1) acts as a growth-limiting brake, as already demonstrated, and does so by suppressing the activity of PI3K. When ALK1 is mutated, there is no brake and the endothelium proliferates more thanks to the PI3K pathway. But in a model in which both PI3K and BMP9 are mutated, there is neither accelerator nor brake, and what the researchers could observe is a stabilization in the proliferation of these cells. "Following this line reasoning", explains Vinals, "we were facing a possible treatment for HHT: if we could genetically achieve cell growth normalization, why not try to pharmacologically inhibit PI3K to make up for the mutation of BMP9 and achieve the same result?"At the same time, Dr. Graupera's research on arteriovenous malformations put her in touch with Dr. Antoni Riera-Mestre, from the Internal Medicine Service and Coordinator of the HTT Unit of the Bellvitge University Hospital. This Unit receives patients from all over Catalonia and has so far treated 270 patients. Riera-Mestre is also the Coordinator of the RiTHHa registry (computerized registry of the HHT) that includes clinicians who treat patients with HHT throughout Spain.The collaboration between Vinals, Graupera and Riera-Mestre led to the association between the BMP9 mutation and the PI3K lack of control in patient samples, confirming the results observed in animal models. "Now, the next step is clear: we have to assess the effects of PI3K inhibitors in patients", Vinals states. "PI3K inhibitors are currently used in the treatment of patients with cancer or patients who require immunosuppression after organ transplantation, and it has been observed that in patients with these pathologies and HHT, treatment results in a reduction of the issues caused by HHT, which is a very encouraging fact". Dr. Riera-Mestre's team plans to follow this research path in the coming years.On the other hand, HHT caused by mutations of ALK1 represents only 35-40% of the total. Researchers want to "test samples of patients with other mutations associated with this disease, or without an identified mutation, to find out if PI3K is the common denominator among these diseases, which can help us identify new affected genes or establish new treatments". This line of research has received a FIS 2018 grant, which will strengthen the interaction between basic and clinical researchers at Bellvitge.Source: EurekalertOur country is rich in history, probably richer than most nations in terms of cultural heritage as well. The age-old temples, walls, and monuments in our country are living proof of a history that tells tales of warriors, conquests, and struggles of Indians in different eras. The Red Fort is one such iconic heritage monument in India, from where the Prime Minister addresses the nation on every Independence Day. If you have been to Old Delhi to witness this beauty, then you know how majestic it looks. However, things for the Red Fort and many other monuments in the country are now changing. The monument has now been 'adopted' by corporate giant Dalmia Group, who will pay 5 crores per year to the government under the newly released 'adopt a heritage scheme'.

 Twitter

The company signed an MoU with the Tourism ministry and the ASI, and has also taken the Gandikota Fort under its wing. This scheme was launched by the President last year on 'World Tourism Day' in September and the private sector was invited to undertake the task of protecting and uplifting these monuments as per their CSR norms. Surprised? Confused? Yes, it's natural. While we have no objections to our precious monuments being preserved, it feels unnatural that the ASI and the government are shifting a very major responsibility to the private sector.

Red Fort is now Dalmia Bharat Red Fort. Won't be surprised to see ITC Taj Mahal. Point is are we going to see the official stamp on India as Adani India before 2019? #ModiLolliPopshttps://t.co/kLw8uiXg2I  Aparna (@chhuti_is) April 27, 2018

So Modi just privatised Red Fort. Literally. Remember those stories where William Bentinck wanted to demolish the Taj and sell off the marble. Modi has allowed Dalmia to do it in name of "development". No questions asked.



https://t.co/sCcRHfaIyc  Anubhav Singh (@lucifer_damned) April 27, 2018

Is privatisation of monuments a legit thing now? People are certainly not happy with this move. Also, the company adding their name to the monument is downright insane! Since when can one start 'personalising' national heritage sites?

There must be better ways of maintaining a nation's greatest monuments than by auctioning them off to a corporate househttps://t.co/uO66Rr4Hu1  William Dalrymple (@DalrympleWill) April 27, 2018

Modi gave Red Fort to Dalmia group on the lease of 25 Cr/5 years.



Ek ek krke poora desh bech dega ye vyapari .



https://t.co/8owBCdQZmD  Md Asif Khan (@imMAK02) April 28, 2018

So we will now have a Dalmia Red Fort, and soon the Jaypee Taj Mahal and the Reliance Parliament House (no pun intended).

Kudos #ASI ,the dolts in the respective ministries, well done!  gavish george (@gavishgeorge) April 27, 2018

The government is also planning to get many more monuments in the country 'adopted' and needless to say, there is going to be a huge fight between giants over adopting the Taj Mahal, whenever it happens. We can't really put a finger on who is to blame, and what benefit will this adoption give to us as a country rich in historical lineage. It is flummoxing, it is weird and will definitely take us a while to address it as the 'Dalmia Red Fort'. Please take a moment to swallow this new reality, and if you are a history student, I feel your pain. The ASI should at least address the situation at length and give a legit explanation for this bizarre development.Ex-foreign secretary of India, Subramanyam Jaishankar, was recently appointed by the TATA group as the president for its global corporate affairs. The ex-Indian diplomat retired as the foreign secretary in January 2018. Although there's a cooling off period of at least one year for most high profile diplomats, S Jaishankar was given a reprieve by the government.

 Twitter

In his diplomatic career, Jaishankar served as India's ambassador to some of the most important geographies including the US, China and Singapore. Jaishankar is a 1977 batch Indian Foreign Service officer who started his career at the Moscow embassy in 1979. A graduate of St Stephens College and JNU, Jaishankar had extensive diplomatic experience in south-eastern territories as well along with Eastern Europe and Japan, considered TATA groups key potential markets.

In his new role he will be responsible for the Tata group's global corporate affairs and international strategy development, Tata Sons, the group's holding company, said in a statement. Dr Jaishankar will work with Tata companies to help them strengthen their business presence and positioning in their respective geographies globally.

 Reuters

While Jaishankar is fresh off the heals from his stint as the top Indian diplomat in the foreign ministry, his appointment will definitely help Tata sons to make key breakthroughs in markets that are proving to be a little too difficult in this ominous business environment. Moreover, how difficult can this stint really be for a man of the stature of Jaishankar whose critical handling of the Doklam standoff resulted in China retracing its steps back into its original territory?

 Twitter

Jaishankar's experience and skill at the highest level of government will definitely help Tata achieve a better footprint in the US and China. He is also known as a good negotiator, having negotiated the civil nuclear deal with the US on India's part. With a man of such prominence in the international community, a resource like Jaishankar is a steal for a conglomerate like Tata.At the invitation of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan and his Kazakh counterpart, Roman Vassilenko, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Terens Quick, is today attending the opening session of this years (26th) Assembly of the Peoples of Kazakhstan, which is taking place in Astana.

The ethnic communities of Kazakhstan including a Greek community numbering some 10,000 are represented at the Assembly, which is being held in the presence of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Mr. Quick will meet and collaborate with officials of the Greek community there, and will have a bilateral meeting with Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Vassilenko.HURON COUNTY -- Jeffery R. Krohn recently announced his candidacy for Huron County Commissioner for District 2, representing Grant, Sheridan, Bingham, Paris and Sherman townships and the Village of Ubly.

Krohn is a lifelong resident of Huron County, growing up on a fourth generation family farm near Elkton. In 2014, he moved to Grant Township.

"I would like to serve the residents of District 2 in order to keep Huron County moving in a positive direction," Krohn stated in a press release.

He has been married to his wife, Stephanie, for 26 years and they have two sons, Nathan and Brandon. His parents, Robert and Carolyn Krohn of Elkton, have been the Oliver Township clerk and deputy clerk for more than 30 years.

"They have given me my inspiration to be honest and serve the community as best as I can," he stated.

Krohn graduated from Laker High School in 1986 and then worked for a retail fertilizer company for 11 years. The company had many college courses available for all level employees, which he took full advantage of to further his education. He found it was a great learning experience dealing with the public and all of the day-to-day business operations.

In 1999, Krohn started his own consulting business called Northern Thumb Crop Consulting Inc., where he offers agronomic advice without selling any products.

In 2005, he was the second person in the state of Michigan to get certification to write Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plans for Confined Animal Feeding Operations. He has had experience working with the Michigan Department of Agriculture, Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

"Having a consulting business where I sell no products and only services, my knowledge and honesty is what I pride my business on," Krohn stated.

He has previously served on the Huron County Planning Commission for six years; the Oliver Township Board of Review; the Lake Township Planning Commission; the Pinnebog River Watershed Steering Committee; the Huron County Groundwater Stewardship Committee; the Thumb Ag Research and Education Committee; the Huron County Corn Growers Association Board of Directors; and as a member of the First United Methodist Church of Bad Axe; as well as many committees.

Krohn is currently the supervisor of Grant Township.

"With my background in farming, business management, and contact with the general public, I believe that I could give a great local representation as the Huron County, District 2 commissioner," Krohn stated.

"Having agriculture as our No. 1 resource in the county, it is imperative that current regulation is not only economically viable for agriculture, but all precautions must be observed to protect our environment and the social community," he added. "We need to stop having our number one export out of the county (be) our children, and strong leadership will help."HARBOR BEACH -- The Harbor Beach Lions Club showed their deep appreciation to one of the club's most devoted and productive members at its April 10 meeting.

During the meeting, the club honored member and former president Robert (Bob) Swartz for perfect attendance during his 25-year membership.

Swartz was surprised when Harbor Beach Lions Club members, club members from around the state, and Michigan State Sen. Phil Pavlov took time to honor him for the extraordinary feat.

One of the first to honor Swartz was District 11 Gov. Fred Sullivan.

Sullivan presented Swartz with a decorative plaque from the district. He said he knew about the Harbor Beach Lions Club for years and was pleased to be at the surprise reception. The district governor was followed by Pavlov.

Pavlov presented Swartz with a State of Michigan Special Tribute Award, which was framed and ready to be mounted. It was signed by himself, State Rep. Edward J. Canfield and Gov. Rick Snyder.

In part, the plaque reads, "Robert J. Swartz has set a premiere example for community commitment and volunteerism for us all during his tenure with the Harbor Beach Lions Club. Having served in a number of roles including Club President and Treasurer, his leadership, tenacity, and dedication have benefited countless within our community."

The award described some of his other involvements within the community, including being an active member of the city council, serving as mayor of Harbor Beach for two terms, being president of the Harbor Beach Community Hospital Foundation, and other accomplishments.

"Bob is the kind of guy you want as a friend, but not as an enemy. He is a true community service person," said Harbor Beach Lions Club President Lawrence Kroswek.

Kroswek was directly responsible for setting up the tribute, and kept it a secret until Swartz arrived at the meeting. Previously, Kroswek arranged a Lions Club Officers' meeting at Swartz's home the week before. Swartz recently had major back surgery and was bedridden at that time.

While at the meeting, several members of the club spoke highly of Swartz and his involvement with the community and the club. Lions Club member Dan Lemanski has known Swartz for more than 20 years.

"He is a very energetic person. He's a wonderful people person," he said. "Besides the Lions Club, he is active in many things including his church, the Knights of Columbus, the city council and he runs the local farmer's market. When he does something, it has to be perfect. He is a perfectionist."

"I've known him almost his entire life and about 10 years as a Lions Club member," added Thelma Duda. "I've always liked Bob. He's a good guy."

A Lions Club member who, likely, knows him best is Pat Emerick.

"Bob is a go-getter," she said. "He puts 110 percent into anything he does. I've known him my whole life. After all, he's my big brother."

After receiving the award, Swartz addressed the group. He thanked everyone for the honor and explained he did not expect this type of recognition.

"I didn't think I'd get teary-eyed, but I did," he said.

Due to his recent surgery, he was unable to stay after the meeting and discuss his many memories of the Lions Club.

"I had no intentions of joining (the Lions Club)," he later told the Tribune. "I had just joined the newly formed K of C."

He went on to say while looking for new K of C members he ran into friend Nelson Arsenau, who was looking for those interested in joining the Harbor Beach Lions Club. The pair made a pact to join each other's organization. Swartz has been a member of the Lions Club since April 1, 1993.

He said his long time involvement was directly related to how committed the club is to the community. They donate to a dozen and a half groups each year, which includes two scholarships to graduating Harbor Beach senior students.

"It's all in our annual budget," said.

He has held two major offices within the club. He was the president for a total of seven years and has been the treasurer for seven years. He has been the chair of the Christmas Raffle for 15 years and chair of the Maritime Raffle for the past four years. In addition, he has chaired the Lion's White Cane Drive for three to four years and has been the chair of the Easter Bunny Sales since it started 22 years ago.

His award was for perfect attendance at regular Lions Club meetings for the past 25 years. Few of the members know he also has perfect Officer Meeting Attendance during that time. He said it has not been easy making all of those meetings for the past quarter century.

He can remember coming back to Harbor Beach from vacations to attend meetings. He would leave his family and drive to the meeting, then return the next morning. This happened when he was in Petoskey, Traverse City, and Beulah. His longest trek to attend a meeting was when his family was vacationing in Freemont, Indiana.

Swartz has received one other prestigious award during his quarter century with the Lions. In 2008-09, he was awarded the Melvin Jones Fellow Award from the Lions Club International.

"I'm only the fourth one in our Harbor Beach Club to receive that award," he said, adding the award was given to him for dedication and humanities services.

Swartz has numerous relatives who are Lions Club members. His wife of nearly 50 years, Sherry (Goniwichea), is a member. Two of his five children are members, as well as five of his eight siblings.

The longtime member said he was anxious to have his wife join, and she has been a member for about 10 years. She would have joined sooner, but the local club did not accept women at that time.

"The women's group used to be called the Harbor Beach Lionesses Club," he explained. "At one time, they had nearly 65 members."

"Slowly, the group dwindled and dissolved. They gave a large donation to our club before dissolving," he added. "At that time, we opened our door and allowed any woman 18 years and older to join. There are now about 20 women members in the Harbor Beach Lions Club."HURON COUNTY  Michigan could be the first state in the Midwest with an adult-use cannabis law, if approved by voters in November.

The Michigan State Board of Canvassers, this week, approved the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohols petition to place an initiative on the states November ballot that would legalize marijuana possession and consumption for all adults 21 years and older.

In addition to allowing adults 21 and older to possess and consume limited amounts of marijuana, the initiative would:

 License marijuana businesses that cultivate, process, test, transport and sell marijuana.

 Legalize the cultivation of industrial hemp used to make textiles, biodegradable plastics, food, construction materials and even fuel.

 Protect consumers with proper testing and safety regulations for retail marijuana.

 Impose a 10 percent excise tax on marijuana sold at the retail level on top of the states 6 percent sales tax.

While local governments will have the option of whether they want to allow marijuana businesses in their community, there have been cities and townships in the Thumb to already say no.

In November, Bad Axe council members unanimously approved to repeal an ordinance that regulated the location and operation of primary caregivers operating medical marijuana dispensaries under the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act.

Caseville Township officials followed suit in December and opted out of granting licensure to any form of medical marijuana facility in the township.

This November, Michigan voters will finally get the chance to eliminate Michigans outdated marijuana laws, said Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol spokesperson John Truscott. Just like with alcohol, it is clear that prohibition doesnt work, and that regulation and taxation is a far better solution.

Voter initiated laws are required to collect 252,523 valid signatures to have an issue placed on the ballot. The Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol submitted more than 365,000 signatures to the state Elections Bureau in November last year. Elections Bureau staff estimate that more than 277,000 signatures were valid.

Other organizations supporting the coalition include the Marijuana Policy Project, the National Cannabis Industry Association, the ACLU of Michigan, the Drug Policy Alliance, the National Patients Rights Association and MILegalize.

For more information about the ballot initiative, including full language of the proposed law, visit www.RegulateMI.org.UPPER THUMB  The sale of packaged liquor on Sundays in Tuscola County will be an issue that will meet voters on the August primary ballot.

Currently, Tuscola County does not allow the sale of packaged liquor on Sundays in the county, but that could change.

During a recent Tuscola County Board of Commissioners meeting, Tuscola County Clerk Jodi Fetting notified commissioners she received petitions to place the issue on the Aug. 7 election ballot.

They needed 1,399 signatures on a petition (to do that), said Fetting. I have not seen the (exact) language on the petition as of yet so I am not sure how they have it worded (but that is the intent).

Fetting will be working with countys legal firm, Braun Kendrick, on the ballot wording.

The proposal will allow residents to keep the ban against Sunday liquor sales or to repeal it.

The local prohibition was an issue last year when both Christmas and New Years Eve fell on Mondays. Sales had to be done on the Saturday before to prepare for celebrations.

Blue Laws were designed to enforce religious standards. Some of the standard Blue Laws prohibited the sale of alcoholic beverages on Sundays, prohibited or limit retail activity on Sunday, and prohibited Sunday hunting.

Former Gov. Jennifer Granholm abolished the Blue Law that prohibited Sunday hunting in 2003. That was also one of Tuscola Countys regulations, and at that time, it didnt sit well with county commissioners that their local regulation could be overridden.

The issue resurfaced in December when some retailers asked commissioners to make the change. At that meeting, Tim Wingert, of Wingerts Food Center in Mayville, said he spoke with 14 other area businesses that sell spirits, and they were all in favor of having Sunday liquor sales.

Wingert estimated the loss of sales for just his store was around $300,000 because of the countys Sunday ban.

Tuscolas ban impacts businesses that are near the border with other counties  like Huron, Lapeer, and Sanilac counties, which allow Sunday liquor sales.

Although commissioners have the authority to make the change, they voted 3-2 in December opposing because of liability concerns.

The other option was collecting enough petition signatures to take the issue to a vote, which was done.

According to the Michigan Liquor Control Commission, Tuscola and Hillsdale counties are the only counties that prohibit Sunday package liquor sales, and there are few individual municipalities throughout the state that do also.

In 1994, a similar ballot issue was put before Tuscola voters. It was defeated 9,460 to 7,387.HARBOR BEACH  Michigan gubernatorial candidate Gretchen Whitmer made a stop on the campaign trail Friday morning in Harbor Beach.

She visited with 13 supporters at the Frank Murphy Museum, and discussion topics included education, infrastructure and energizing democratic voters.

I hear Democrats sometimes talk about the blue wave, and it makes me nervous, because I dont want anyone to get complacent, said Whitmer, a Democrat and former Michigan Senate minority leader. We have to do the work and fuel it  organize and educate people and make sure we turn out.

Whitmer, who grew up in Lansing and Grand Rapids, spent 14 years in the Michigan Legislature  the last four as leader of Senate Democrats.

Former State Rep. Terry Brown was among supporters who were present.

This county, and the Thumb Area, supported Trump very, very strongly, Brown said. I think a lot of folks that voted for him are not quite ready to give up on that.

I dont think, necessarily a blue wave is going to overwhelm us here, he said of the traditional Republican voters of the area.

What these folks are really good about in this county is understanding the right to independence. In fact, thats part of the reason they voted for Trump. They thought that he wasnt tied to either party, at least at that time, Brown added.

A streak of independence among Thumb Area voters is possible, according to Brown.

Weve proven that its possible here, he said.

Im willing to work with anyone who wants to solve a problem, Whitmer told the group.

(In Michigan), there really is less of an allegiance to a party, and more of an allegiance to getting things done, she added.

Whitmer asked the group how the area is doing in terms of access to broadband and clean water.

There really are haves and have-nots, Brown said, when it comes to broadband, noting that near woods and along the shore it can be hard to get service.

And it is expensive getting water from Port Austin to Bad Axe and from Caseville to Pigeon, he said.

Whitmer has been campaigning on her desire to improve roads in Michigan.

We drive on pretty good roads, Brown said.

Literacy is an important issue in Michgan, Whitmer said, since kids of color rank 48th, and Caucasian kids rank 46th in the nation for literacy.

Our leaders have demoralized and attacked, and really conducted an all-out war against educators in Michigan, she said. Taking money out of the schools has had a huge impact on our ability to make sure our kids have the skills they need.

Affordable two- and four-year college degrees are necessary, as well as an emphasis on skilled trades, Whitmer said.

She spoke of how there used to be a high quality of life and a lot of opportunity in Michigan.

Our standard of living is falling behind where the rest of the country is. So weve got a lot of work to do in our state, she added.

Im not a stranger to tough fights, she noted, referencing her time in the Michigan Legislature.

She said she was known there as an advocate for education, womens health and workers rights.

When Gov. Rick Syder embraced the Affordable Care Act, I knew there was no way he was going to be able to make it a reality without my help. His party controlled everything, Whitmer said.

She said she negotiated and helped put things together for that vote.

(Now) 680,000 people in the state have health care who didnt before. Im really proud of that," she said.

In an interview with the Tribune, Whitmer was asked if she supported increasing the state's renewable energy mandate.

"I know that there's the likelihood that we might have something on the ballot this fall," she answered. She added that she would review that language.

"I want to take a very hard look at it before I ... endorse (it) or not," she said.

Whitmer also commented on recent news regarding her opponent, Shri Thanedar, who is also seeking the Democratic nomination in August. Thanedar moved ahead of Whitmore slightly in a recent poll.

It was reported Thursday that an abandoned pharmaceutical lab in New Jersey was shuttered when a company Thanedar owned went bankrupt in 2010  leaving 170 dogs and monkeys behind.

Whitmer told the Tribune her campaign had no prior knowledge of the situation before it was reported.

"I'm surprised. I'm an animal lover. (It's) distressing," she added. "It's April and they (polls) are going to go up and down, and that's why I'm staying focused on making sure that we're building the grass roots, and that's why I'm here today."This article was first published on NerdWallet.com.

Southwest Airlines is known for flying to small airports near big destinations. Now, its about to do so in Hawaii.

In the airlines quarterly report on April 26, 2018, CEO Gary C. Kelly announced Southwests intent to begin service to these Hawaii airports:

Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Oahu (Honolulu; HNL)

Lihue Airport in Kauai (LIH)

Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Keahole in Hawaii (KOA)

Kahului Airport in Maui (OGG)

Of these airports, Honolulu is the largest, with 26 airlines. (By contrast, more than 70 airlines operate out of John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.) Eleven airlines operate out of KOA at Keahole, 10 operate out of OGG in Maui and just seven operate out of LIH in Kauai.

Southwest expects to begin selling tickets to Hawaii in 2018, according to Kelly. The airline first announced the upcoming service in October 2017.

What it means for you

Southwests announcement is good news for island-bound travelers. It means:

Youll have more options and, potentially, lower prices. For those heading to Hawaii in the future, Southwests impending service will mean youll have more flights to choose from. The added competition could put pressure on other airlines with similar routes to lower their prices on flights.

Companion Passes will probably get a lot more valuable soon. If you qualify for the Southwest Companion Pass, you may soon be able to go to Hawaii for essentially half-price. With a Companion Pass, you can choose one traveler to fly with you for just the cost of fees and taxes. The pass is valid for the remainder of the calendar year in which you qualify, plus the following year.

You must earn 110,000 qualifying points or fly 100 qualifying one-way Southwest flights in a calendar year to get this coveted status. The sign-up bonuses on the Southwest credit cards are an easy way to reach that requirement faster.

Claire Tsosie is a writer at NerdWallet. Email: claire@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @ideclaire7.

The article Southwest Announces Service to 4 Hawaii Airports originally appeared on NerdWallet.CROMWELL  Residents will be asked to decide the fate of the 2018-19 municipal budget Tuesday.

A referendum is being held on the proposed $49.74 million spending total, with polls open in the high school gymnasium from noon to 8 p.m. A total of 10,028 residents are eligible to vote in the referendum, according to the Democratic Registrar of Voters Alice Kelly.

There will be three questions on the ballot.

Residents will be asked to approve funding for education, general government and debt service. Education represents the largest share of the proposed budget. Debt service is the money that is paid for previously approved bond issues.

General government includes spending for all the noneducation functions of government: police and public safety, the highway department, and a myriad of other government functions, such as the health inspector, town clerk and building official.

In the proposed budget, education spending is set at $29.72 million, a 1.3 percent increase over the current years spending; general government spending is set at $16.33 million, a .64 percent increase; while debt service amounts to $3.7 million, a .01 percent decrease.

The proposed budget is .98 percent higher than the current years spending total.

Give the continuing uncertainty involving possible state funding for municipalities, officials set out this year to craft an austere budget. As they pursued that goal, town and school officials alike got an unwelcome surprise when health insurance costs suddenly ballooned up to 19 percent.

The towns insurer said the jump  which was nearly quadruples last years increase  was a result of the towns exposures, which means factors that open them up to a loss.

Town Manager Anthony J. Salvatore and Superintendent of Schools John Maloney and their staff got to work negotiating with the insurer, CT Connecticut. Their efforts were rewarded with a 4 percent reduction in costs.

That meant a savings of $120,014 for the Board of Education and $40,000 for general government.

The town still faces uncertainty with regards to state revenues, however. In compiling the budget, Salvatore said, We relied on the governors numbers.

The General Assembly is continuing to review the biennial budget. However, The legislature doesnt complete its session until May 9, so at this time, were using the governors numbers, Salvatore said.

Following a Board of Finance meeting Thursday evening, Board Chairman John A. Henehan said, Both the Board of Ed and the town did a very good job in crafting budgets that are lean, while continuing to provide the services the citizens have come to expect.

I believe all parties took a very realistic approach to the budget, Vice Chairman Julius C. Neto said.

Reporter Jeff Mill covers East Hampton, Cromwell and Portland for the Middletown Press. Contact him at jeff.mill@hearstmediact.com.MIDDLETOWN  Betsy Morgan, longtime former director of Oddfellows Playhouse, grew up in southwestern Virginia.

I started climbing trees long before I should have been doing so. And as I grew, I became a locally famous climber of trees  and only once fell out of a tree, she said during the citys Arbor Day ceremony Friday afternoon at the Wadsworth Mansion.

I was planning today to give you a demonstration of my tree-climbing skills, however, that will have to be deferred, she joked, gesturing to the rain outside.

Morgan was among four people honored at the city event sponsored by the Middletown Urban Forestry Commission. The city marked the occasion by planting four trees in honor of men and women who dedicated their lives to making Middletown a better place in a well-attended ceremony at Long Hill Estate.

A white dogwood was dedicated to Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce President Larry McHugh, and Eastern Redbuds to Morgan, also cofounder and executive director of the Middlesex Coalition for Children; retired longtime Russell Library head Arthur Meyers, and former Mayor Maria Holzberg.

The latter threes honorary saplings, which will soon burst with lavender blooms, are among those that line the entrance to the mansion off Wadsworth Street.

A Vanilla Strawberry Hydrangea now stands in memory of Linda Bettencourt, former Town Clerk, at City Hall. Her office overlooks the front lawn where it is planted. She died Jan. 30 at 63, after a battle with cancer.

Trees regulate the air people breathe, beautify the environment, clean the air, root themselves in the earth and are a mighty symbol of life and the ability to endure, said officials who gathered amid pouring rain that later dried up at the conclusion of the ceremony.

I want to thank whoever is responsible for the glorious rain, because, while its keeping us indoors, maybe not frolicking around the grounds as we may have been, looking at the trees, it is a marvelous thing for spring plantings, said Liz Holder, vice chairwoman of the commission.

I am also a transplant, Morgan said, echoing the sentiment of several others who spoke. Her tree is along her morning walking route. I will be keeping a close watch on it.

Assistant Tree Warden Rick Romano said Bettencourts sister, Cheryl Melkonian, and mother, Lucy, asked for a particular species for Linda Bettencourt.

Its actually a tree-form shrub, which grows to a maximum of 5 feet tall. It blooms in mid-summer, so it should have flowers starting in late May to early June, Romano said.

Its going to turn whitish to strawberry. Thats where you get the vanilla strawberry name. Its going to be really, really nice. It looks like an infant tree right now, because thats what it is, but when it blooms, its going to be spectacular.

Each year, the street committee plants trees in the spring and fall to compensate for those lost in the winter or through public safety cutting efforts, Holder said

New trees will soon be planted in several neighborhoods, at parks and during renovations being made at locations like Palmer Field and Woodrow Wilson playing fields, she added, as well the Wadsworth/Kerste deBoer Arboretum on Long Lane, where a young oak was planted to replace a 100-year-old blown down in a storm this winter. It was purchased by the Rockfall Foundation.

Holzberg pointed out she was a religion major. Frequently, we turn to the Bible for inspiration, and, like Ruth of the Old Testament, I followed my husband to his native land: Middletown, Connecticut, which elicited laughter all around.

Here, I was embraced by a community thats diverse, exciting and welcoming.

And, for the 28th year, Middletowns Tree City Award was renewed by the National Arbor Day Foundation. The first celebration was held in Nebraska in 1872.

Trees increase property values, enhance the economic vitality of business areas, and beautify our community and schools, read the proclamation given by Mayor Dan Drew.

New England Conservation Services contributes to a tree fund where a portion of the proceeds collected from conducting home energy audits are donated to the Urban Forestry Commission to be used to plant trees in the city. Owner John Greeno, also a transplant, has been living in the Middletown area since 1981. He donated a $1,075 check for the occasion.

Only one other municipality in Connecticut has held the title longer than Middletown: Fairfield, with 30 years. Danbury also has received the designation for the past 28 years. The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection awarded 18 Tree City USAs this year.

Forestry Commission staff member and city Environmental Resource Specialist James Sipperly, who organizes the event annually, said in order to qualify, a community must have qualified leadership for the municipal tree program, a tree ordinance, minimum of $2 per capita spent on trees annually, and an Arbor Day event.

Each qualifying community must also be nominated by the state forester.

Sipperly said McHugh has given him many letters of encouragement for his city work over the years. When someone rewards you, you want to continue to do a good job.

He then joked about Meyers, whom he called a longtime friend. He had a little trouble over there with bedbugs in the books. At a staff meeting, I said, What kind of place are you running here? Youre supposed to have bookworms, which drew a big grin from Meyers.

Maria is one of the smartest mayors weve had  she hired me 21 years ago, Sipperly said, then turned to Bettencourt.

I was down in her office asking for help a lot of times, and shed be around the corner: Hey, Sip, what can I do for you, babe? She was always there. She was like that for everybody  were going to miss her.

Managing Editor Cassandra Day can be reached at cassandra.day@hearst

mediact.com or Twitter @cassandrasdis.MIDDLETOWN  With Mothers Day right around the corner, it is natural to think fondly of our memories growing up or being fortunate enough to be parents ourselves. Being a new parent is one of the toughest challenges anyone can take on, and while it is extremely rewarding, it is often composed of sleepless nights and multitasking.

From diapers to day care, expenses add up quickly and often force parents to make some financial cuts just to get by. If this sounds like you or someone you may know, we are happy to share a bit of good news.

Since 2004, The Diaper Bank, a local nonprofit out of New Haven, has committed to helping provide struggling families with new, clean diapers. Diapers are not offered through services like WIC and SNAP benefits, but are crucial in bringing up a young child. The Diaper Bank is a centralized fundraiser that distributes free diapers through existing service providers, including local food pantries, soup kitchens, day-care centers, social service agencies and shelters.

When young children do not have consistent access to diapers, they are at an increased health risk, and their parents may face legal troubles for neglect. The diaper bank focuses on keeping the children in our community clean, happy and healthy.

Back in 2009, Middlesex United Way, along with other community partners, began the cooperative effort to bring the Diaper Bank to Middlesex County. We all worked together to advocate for funding, explain the importance of the program, and encouraged community members to give. We acted as The Diaper Banks local fundraising, public awareness and public advocacy partner, and worked together to collect diapers, organize volunteers, and spent hours sorting and disbursing diapers to local distribution centers.

Middlesex United Way provided $10,000 of the $25,000 needed to become a service area of The Diaper Bank. This is proof that when we work together and pool our resources, we can help a deserving cause get the jump start needed for success.

To date, the Diaper Bank has distributed statewide more than 20 million free diapers to limited income families through its extensive network of more than 60 agencies in New Haven, Hartford, Fairfield, Middlesex and Windham Counties.

Four of these diaper distributions locations are here in Middlesex County. In Middlesex County alone, over 125,000 diapers are collected and provided to individuals in need through Middlesex Hospital Early Head Start, Middlesex Hospital Family Advocacy, Middletown Adult Education, and Middletown Family Wellness Center each year.

Currently, the Diaper Bank is in need of size 5 and 6 diapers. If you would like to get involved or receive more information on donating or receiving help, please contact the Diaper Bank at 203-934-7009 or info@thediaperbank.org.

Kevin Wilhelm is the CEO and president of Middlesex United Way in Middletown.A pair of Air Force bombers flew over the South China Sea earlier this week, just days after Beijing showcased its military might in the region.

Two B-52H Stratofortresses from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, conducted the mission Tuesday while training in the area, Pacific Air Forces spokeswoman Lt. Col. Megan Schafer told Stars and Stripes in an email Friday.

The aircraft then flew to Okinawa, where they exercised with Air Force F-15C Strike Eagles before returning to Guam, she said. The bombers arrived there in January from Barksdale Air Force Base, La.

Aircraft Spots, a Twitter account that tracks military movements, reported that two bombers left Guam Tuesday headed for the South China Sea along with two KC-135R refueling aircraft. Taiwanese news outlets said they flew east of the disputed Pratas Islands and came within 150 miles of Guangdong Province's coastline in southern China.

Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Senior Col. Wu Qian told reporters Thursday that "the situation is under the control of the Chinese military. The [People's Liberation Army] will, as always, firmly safeguard its national sovereignty and territorial integrity."

Qian added that the Chinese air force had recently conducted combat drills near Taiwan to safeguard "China's national sovereignty" and warned of future exercises.

"The Taiwan independence secessionist activities pose the largest realistic threat to the peace and stability of the cross-strait relations and cause damage to the fundamental interests of the Taiwan compatriots," he said.

"The series of actions we have taken are targeting the Taiwan independence forces and their activities, and are to protect the well-being of the people in Taiwan from being undermined by the Taiwan independence conspiracy."

An editorial in China's state-run Global Times responded to reports of the B-52 drills, saying that "the Taiwan independence forces had better abandon their dream that the U.S. can protect them. Military competition between the mainland and the U.S. in the West Pacific is not all about Taiwan. The only way for Taiwan separatists to preserve their safety is to mind their words and deeds."

Schafer said U.S. Pacific Command's bomber missions, which have been happening routinely since March 2004, are "intended to maintain the readiness of U.S. forces" and are "in accordance with international law."

On Sunday a Chinese carrier group conducted a series of live-fire drills in the East China Sea, and last month a flotilla of nearly 40 Chinese ships was spotted in the South China Sea.

Beijing has laid claim to a huge swatch of the sea, and has spent the past several years building up islets and constructing military facilities, including airstrips, on them.

The Navy occasionally sails ships near the islands, which are also claimed by several neighboring countries, to reassert its right to transit freely through the region. China deems the so-called freedom-of-navigation operations illegal and provocative.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.This article originally appeared on Task & Purpose, a digital news and culture publication dedicated to military and veterans issues.

Here are 10 findings from a decade's worth of research on veterans' transitions.

Over the last 15 years, Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have been studied and dissected from innumerable angles. No group has spent more time studying their needs, habits, challenges and strengths than the nonprofit RAND Corporation, which focuses on developing public policy solutions to complex national problems.

RAND has released a new report  Ten Frequently Asked Questions About Veterans Transitions  that sifts through a wealth of studies it conducted over the last decade to highlight findings about veterans transition and reintegration.

Thanks to RANDs commitment to ask the right questions and exhaustively examine available data, the 10 findings, summarized below, remain valuable for current policy discussions.

1. Veterans succeed in the civilian workforce. Unemployment and labor force participation rates among post-9/11 veterans have remained on par with the comparable civilian population. While veterans ages 1824 do face more hurdles than comparable civilians immediately after leaving the military, the gap only exists for a short period of time. Overall, post-9/11 veterans are actually more likely to be employed full time than their civilian counterparts.

2. Service members and veterans earn more than civilians. Despite a common view inside and outside the military that service members make financial sacrifices, both current service members and veterans earn more than demographically comparable civilians. The earnings premium increases over the time of service and continues to exist upon separation, except for service members who do not complete their initial service commitment

3. Reservist deployments cause a spike in unemployment benefit claims. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan required the mobilization of large numbers of reservists for extended periods. This resulted in a sharp rise in claims for unemployment compensation for former service members. The caseload spike was largely caused by these reservist mobilizations, which broadened the eligibility pool and increased the number of claims.

4. Disabled vets are generally compensated for lost earnings. Mental and physical disabilities can be extraordinarily costly to veterans, reducing their earnings potential, increasing their healthcare costs and saddling them with a host of other burdens. On average, disabled veterans receive support that more than equals their lost earnings. Yet not all groups are as effectively compensated. Complicating the situation, RAND found that generous disability payments could create incentives for some veterans to not return to work.

5. Employer tax credits positively impact disabled veterans. The creation of tax credits that incentivized employers to hire disabled veterans led to an increase in hiring and aggregate earnings during a period of temporarily increased veteran unemployment. The tax credits, in the years studied, cost approximately $600 million while increasing disabled veterans overall income by more than $1 billion.

6. Not all veteran employment initiatives are created equal. RAND looked at a number of public and private sector programs to help veterans find jobs, and found large variations on their abilities to create and measure impact for veteran job-seekers. Good intentions only matter so much; execution is key in reaching veterans and facilitating their connections with potential employers.

7. Veterans like for-profit schools, but dont always benefit. For-profit schools have been popular with veterans because they are seen as being adult-oriented, career-focused, and flexible. Veterans also like the practical focus of the curriculums and the convenience of online courses and multiple campus locations. Yet as we have seen through recent news reports, for-profit schools are often bad choices for veterans. RAND found that for-profits deceptive practice, high dropout rates, and lower post graduation employment rates can diminish their effectiveness while costing the government more than not-for-profit institutions.

8. Mental health problems can be treated more cost effectively. Productivity losses from PTSD and serious depression cost the U.S. billions annually; despite efforts to provide more effective treatments, there are two problems to still confront. Many afflicted veterans do not receive adequate help from medical or mental health experts, while others do not seek help because of the enduring stigmas about about mental health issues. Adoption of evidence-based treatments could save more than $1,000 per returning veteran by increasing productivity and reducing suicides.

9. Military hasnt effectively pursued suicide prevention research. Despite rising more than 50% since 9/11, the military suicide rate (distinct from the veteran suicide rate) has remained lower than that of the comparable civilian population. The Department of Defense spends billions on prevention research, but much of the funding was focused on reinforcing the value of proven treatments, and not exploring new or untested treatments to expand treatment options. DoD efforts also suffered from a research-to-practice gap, often failing to respond when new evidence emerges, or to share and implement best practices.

10. More research is needed to better serve veterans. Researchers would benefit from mapping veterans employment paths in order to develop a better understanding of how veterans experience and military skills can apply to the civilian workplace. They should also study veterans educational outcomes to determine how veterans are faring and what their returns from education are. Finally, RAND calls for the creation of a new longitudinal study of veterans that follows a cohort through every phase of their life post-military to create a comprehensive system of data on the veteran experience.

This article originally appeared at Task & Purpose. Follow Task & Purpose on Twitter.

More articles from Task & Purpose:Mineral List

Rock Types Recorded

Note: this is a very new system on mindat.org and data is currently VERY limited. Please bear with us while we work towards adding this information!

Select Rock List Type Alphabetical List Tree Diagram

Regional Geology

Historic gold mine. Largest of at least eleven historic gold mines in the Matawai valley, a side tributary in the lower Waiau River valley. The prominent Castle Rock is found at the top of the range at the head of the Matawai Stream. The Matawai Mine was operational intermittently from the time of gold being discovered in 1869 here, until the 1930's. While some minor specimen stone was found in the upper levels, most was low grade ore, and no operation was overly successful. Coarse alluvial gold was found in red gravels of the Matawai Stream. Old overgrown adits may still remain, however the area is rugged, thickly vegetated, and not easily accessible.Pyrite, electrum, gold, stibnite, galena, sphalerite, and chalcopyrite is found in quartz veins, hosted by propylitic altered greywacke of the Manaia Hill Group.Gold was discovered here in 1869 by a party of prospectors consisting of George Cornish, William Mathie, Thomas Cull, W.B. Healey, and R.F. Girdis, who were allocated the Matawai reward claim.The Matawai Gold Mining and Quartz Crushing Company was formed in 1872. The first crushing in 1875, was described as 'unsatisfactory'.The Matawai Gold Mining Company Limited was formed in 1878, consisting of 17 acres, and the old Golden Belt, Queen of the Tiki, Niagara, and Matawai claims. They intend to repair the existing twelve stamp battery on the property into working order. Semi regular information for the mine was found between 1881 to 1884, mainly descriptions of development work, small crushings, and minor specimen stone. A new battery was erected in 1882. Little information was found for the company after 1884, although a meeting is held early 1896.Prospectors sent one tonne of ore in 1896 to the Thames School of Mines for testing. Shortly after the Progress Castle Rock Gold Mining Company is formed to undertake development work over several leases in the area including the Matawai. The Matawai section they let to tributers McInerney and party. A battery was erected in 1900. The first crushing by the company in 1900 was for 90 tonnes at 48 ounces, then a second crushing later in the year of 60 tonnes of ore yielded a miserable 9 ounces of gold, and operations were suspended. A further 47 ounces of gold from picked stone emanated from the mine in 1901. The lease was then abandoned, and the battery sold to the Big Beetle Company in 1903, and removed to Gumtown elsewhere on the Coromandel Peninsula.Prospectors Hovell and Barclay (surnames) found some minor specimen stone in 1925.7 valid minerals.

This geological map and associated information on rock units at or nearby to the coordinates given for this locality is based on relatively small scale geological maps provided by various national Geological Surveys. This does not necessarily represent the complete geology at this locality but it gives a background for the region in which it is found.

Click on geological units on the map for more information. Click here to view full-screen map on Macrostrat.org

Data and map coding provided by Macrostrat.org, used under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License

This page contains all mineral locality references listed on mindat.org. This does not claim to be a complete list. If you know of more minerals from this site, please register so you can add to our database. This locality information is for reference purposes only. You should never attempt to visit any sites listed in mindat.org without first ensuring that you have the permission of the land and/or mineral rights holders for access and that you are aware of all safety precautions necessary.

ReferencesMineral List

Rock Types Recorded

Note: this is a very new system on mindat.org and data is currently VERY limited. Please bear with us while we work towards adding this information!

Select Rock List Type Alphabetical List Tree Diagram

Regional Geology

The Kauri Timber Company owned vast tracks of land on the Coromandel peninsula in the late 19th Century, which it used to cut down Kauri trees. It was so successful few original trees remained, and recent decades have seen replantings in various parts of the district. While the company was focused on sawmilling, it also had to contend with various gold districts opening on its land. In 1896, it decided to get in on the action at Opitonui by developing a series of new gold mines in close proximity to each other in the Opitonui valley, inland from Whangapoua. A company was spun off called the Kauri Freehold Gold Estates.Financed from London during the 1890's gold bubble, the company was flush with money, it used to sink around six shafts on mines named Maiden, Carvill, Hilda, Lannigans. (Carvill has several spellings in the sources). An overly optimistic 40 stamp battery was erected, and a railway from the mines to Whangapoua. A town of several hundred formed to service the mines. Crushings began in 1899.The Maiden Mine supplied most of the ore to the battery, the reef 13 feet wide, which junctioned at right angles with the Carvill Reef. Lannigans Mine had a shaft down to 211 feet, with three levels, with a drive at the no. 3 level 405 feet east and 431 feet west. This junctioned with the large Opitonui Reef to the east, and the Hilda section to the west. The Hilda No. 2 adit was driven 1178 feet.It is reported the mine is on low grade ore in 1902, but are confident rich ore is within sight... or maybe not. The mine closed in 1903. The battery was sold shortly after to the Waihi Grand Junction Mine, and most was removed to this site. Proving little will remain when the human race ends, in 1926 it is reported only a lone chimney marks the town.The trustee for F.W. Peddle sold 16 250 acres of land to Harold C. Bull in 1915, and part of the property included the old Opitonui mines.In the 1930's, several companies were formed with the intention to explore and develop the old mines. The Opitonui Development Ltd sampled various areas it named the No. 1 cut, Turners leaders, Power of Paddys tunnel, Hilda West, Carvill, the tailings pit next to the old battery site, the tailings pit east of the roadway, and Maiden site. Au-Ag was found in electrum hosted by propylitic altered andesite. In 1935, an Australian mining group took an option over the leases from the company.The Opitonui Reefs Limited was formed in Christchurch in 1934, covering 10 000 acres of old Kauri Freehold Gold Estates land, although no further details are given. The Opitonui Consolidated Gold Mining Company was ordered to be wound up by the Supreme Court in 1943 at the request of shareholders. The company had initially refused claiming it could repay its debts to shareholders within a short period.It is assumed the mines border the Opitonui Stream, some 8 kilometres south of Whangapoua, however is unknown. The Mindat co-ordinates mark the battery site, which could be near the mines, or merely along the railway from the mines to the coast. The un-maintained site is opposite (west) of the Whangapoua and Te Rerenga-Kuaotunu road junction, bordering the eastern side of the Te Rerenga hamlet. Concrete foundations, the battery safe, and berdan, and minor elements remain that were not removed in 1903. A holiday park with cabins is open during summer across the road.2 valid minerals.

This geological map and associated information on rock units at or nearby to the coordinates given for this locality is based on relatively small scale geological maps provided by various national Geological Surveys. This does not necessarily represent the complete geology at this locality but it gives a background for the region in which it is found.

Click on geological units on the map for more information. Click here to view full-screen map on Macrostrat.org

Data and map coding provided by Macrostrat.org, used under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License

This page contains all mineral locality references listed on mindat.org. This does not claim to be a complete list. If you know of more minerals from this site, please register so you can add to our database. This locality information is for reference purposes only. You should never attempt to visit any sites listed in mindat.org without first ensuring that you have the permission of the land and/or mineral rights holders for access and that you are aware of all safety precautions necessary.

References

Sort by Year (asc) | by Year (desc) | by Author (A-Z) | by Author (Z-A) New Zealand Herald newspaper (1899) The Kauri Freehold Gold Estates. The Opitonui Mines. Interview with Mr. L. Welstead, Vol. XXXVI, issue 11228, 24 November 1899. Auckland Star newspaper (1902) The Goldfields, Vol. XXXIII, issue 182, 02 August 1902. Thames Star newspaper (1903) Mining News. Purchase of a Battery, Vol. XXXXI, issue 10482, 27 November 1903. New Zealand Herald newspaper (1915) Property Sales, Vol. LII, issue 15879, 27 March 1915. New Zealand Herald newspaper (1926) Forgotten Township. Fate of Opitonui, Vol. LXIII, issue 10613, 30 November 1926. Evening Post newspaper (1933) Opitonui Developments Ltd, Vol. CXVI, issue 31, 05 August 1933. New Zealand Herald newspaper (1934) Opitonui Field, Vol. LXXI, issue 21770, 09 April 1934. Evening Post newspaper (1935) Opitonui Developments, Vol. CXX, issue 72, 21 September 1935. Press newspaper (1943) Order to Wind Up Company, Vol. LXXVII, issue 23251, 11 February 1943. Christie, A.B., Simpson, M.P., Mauk, J.L., Brathwaite, R.L., Simmons, S.F. (2007) Epithermal Au-Ag and related deposits of the Hauraki Goldfield Coromandel Volcanic Zone New Zealand, Economic Geology, 102:5, 785-816.

External LinksThe Indian Express

The Madhya Pradesh (MP) government recently announced that Computer Baba, Bhayujji Maharaj, Narmada Nand, Hari Haranand Pandit and Yogendra Mahant will lead the initiative of cleaning the river Narmada as state ministers. Surprisingly, two of these newly-appointed state ministers had announced a Narmada Ghotala Yatra to expose the delay in cleaning the Narmada and protest the state governmentas failure to keep its promise of planting six crore samplings on the riveras banks. This co-option by the MP government has successfully defused the Narmada Ghotala Yatra.

Mixing of religion and politics is not new but the MP government seems to be scaling new heights in this respect. There is scarcely any need to dig deep to find out the credentials of these babas. Namdev Das Tyagi calls himself Computer Baba because of his love for computers and modern gadgets. He also claims that his memory is like that of a computer. By that logic, there can be millions of computer babas and amma in our country. Another self-proclaimed saint is Bhaiyujji Maharaj. He has enjoyed proximity to both the BJP and Congress in the past. Last year, he announced retirement from the spiritual field. He is known for his lavish lifestyle.

The Madhya Pradesh governmentas appointments are worrying in light of the recent large-scale scandals involving babas and ammas. On Wednesday, a Jodhpur court sentenced Asaram Bapu to life imprisonment in a rape case. The havoc created by the followers of Ram Rahim and Rampal is not a very distant memory. Allegations of sexual exploitation against Virendra Dev Dixit are well-known. By no stretch of the imagination do I want to claim that all babas and ammas are involved in fraudulent practises. But the way many of these cults are organised, and their proximity to political big wigs, make scrutiny of their deeds almost impossible a in fact, a potentially life-threatening proposition.

We have diverged from the principle of separation of politics and religion, enshrined in the Constitution. Jawaharlal Nehruas opposition to the then President of India Rajendra Prasadas decision to attend the renovation ceremony of the Somanth temple seems unimaginable in the current times. Nehru had said that a person holding a constitutional post should not betray any religious affiliation. B R Ambedkar was also a passionate advocate for the separation of religion and politics.

The principle of the secular state is one of the core principles of the Indian Constitution. This means that an individual has the right to choose his/her religion but the government should always keep its distance from religious affairs. It is not surprising that the BJP does not stick to secular principles, but the change in the Congressas outlook from Nehruas days signals a serious climbdown. Rahul Gandhi did rounds of temples as part of an election campaign in Gujarat. But this transition is not sudden. Several Congress leaders in the past were known to be followers of babas and ammas. Indira Gandhi was a keen follower of Dhirendra Brahmachari, P V Narasimha Rao was known for his proximity to Chandra Swami and some Congress leaders were followers of Satya Sai Baba.

Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare, M M Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh, who opposed fraudulent practices in the name of religion and demanded separation of state from religion, were murdered. The delay in investigating their murders raises difficult questions of the Congress and BJP.

In an era of populist politics, it is difficult to imagine that politicians will stop collaborating with the babas and ammas until people express displeasure at these so-called spiritual leaders. Though the Constitution has given citizens the right to practice their faith it is also their responsibility to inculcate scientific temperament, spirit of inquiry and humanism.

Hamid Dabholkar is a member of the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan SamitiThe aviation industry may have been surprised by the exit of Aditya Ghosh, who late Friday announced he was stepping down as IndiGo's President.

But many now point at the appointment of Wolfgang Prock-Schauer as Chief Operating Officer in January as the first sign of more leadership churn at the top of India's largest airline by market share.

An industry veteran of nearly 40 years, Prock-Schauer came with a mix of India and overseas experience with stints in Air Berlin, Jet Airways, Austrian Airlines and GoAir.

His experience was said to be crucial for IndiGo, which is preparing to launch long haul flights.

As of now the airline flies to West Asia and South-East Asia.

Now Rahul Bhatia, IndiGo's promoter, has added one more expat in the senior leadership.

Along with Ghosh's exit, Bhatia  who takes over as the interim CEO  also announced the appointment of Greg Taylor as Senior Advisor.

Taylor, who was IndiGo's Executive Vice President of Revenue Management & Network Planning during 2016-17, will later take over as President & CEO of the airline later this year.

As Bhatia mentioned in the letter to IndiGo employees - "Greg has more than 40 years of enormous and varied experience in large, World Class Airlines. This experience and his ability to understand the complexities of the airline industry will be invaluable to our future plans."

Sources told Moneycontrol that one more big addition is set to happen in IndiGo's leadership.

Willy Boulter, who was vice-president, commercial strategy at Etihad Airways and a senior executive at IATA - the trade association of world airlines, may join IndiGo as Chief Strategy Officer.

Till February this year, Boulter was Chief Commercial Officer of TAAG Angola Airlines. While at Etihad, he was Chief Commercial Officer for Jet Airways, subsequent to the investment by the Gulf airline in its Indian peer.

Interestingly, his Linkedin profile shows that since February, he is "in transition."

All the three  Prock-Schauer, Taylor and Boulter  come with considerable international exposure coupled with understanding of the Indian aviation market.

However, not everyone is convinced by Bhatia's move to induct such heavyweight expat executives at the top.

"It's debatable if we need expats to run the business. And bringing in different people in different areas may not be a cohesive team," a senior executive from the industry told Moneycontrol.

"But many hands-on owner managers seem to think so. (Naresh) Goyal also does the same thing," the executive added.

The Jet Airways Chairman is known for his preference for expats. The airline's present Group Executive Officer is Capt Hameed Ali, a Bahraini national.

Over the years, many expats like Nikos Kardassis, a Greek American, Victoriano Dungca, who was a veteran in Philippine Airlines, and Ali Ghandour, who founded Royal Jordanian, have been part of the senior management in Jet Airways.

Bhatia also depended on an expat - Bruce Ashby - to set up IndiGo. Ashby was the airline's founding President and CEO.

IndiGo is presently standing at a crucial juncture. It now operates 1,000 flights a day, will induct record number of aircraft into its fleet (including 50 ATRs) and will expand its wings nationally and internationally.

It's unclear what exactly led to Ghosh's exit. Bhatia's letter to the employees says that Ghosh is looking to start a business venture.

But surely, it was getting top heavy at IndiGo.Representative image

live bse live

nse live Volume Todays L/H More 

Two Indian renewable energy firms are set to unveil stock market listing plans in the coming weeks, giving investors a new way to gain exposure to the sector at a time when India is pushing to make renewable power a bigger part of its energy mix.

Adani Green Energy, a subsidiary of Indian trading firm Adani Enterprises Ltd, is expected to be spun out and listed on Indian stock exchanges within the next two weeks, said two bankers familiar with the company's plans.

Separately, ReNew Power, India's biggest company in terms of renewable energy assets, is expected to file papers with regulators for an initial public offering as early as next week, the two bankers said.

The two companies will be the first new pure-play renewable energy firms to list in India, since wind energy firm Orient Green Power's listing eight years ago.

The sector has in recent years drawn significant interest from large global sovereign funds and private equity firms including Warbug Pincus, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Singapore's GIC and Macquarie Capital.

The listings will help investors gauge market interest and set a bar on valuations for rivals that may also explore listings, say bankers.

Adding over 100 gigawatts of renewable capacity will require "significant capital and private markets alone can't fund all of it," said Alok Verma, Executive Director of Investment Banking at Kotak.

India will need over USD 125 billion to fund its plan to add 175 gigawatts of renewable power to its grid by 2022. The clean energy industry is looking beyond domestic banks, which account for most of the industry's financing.

To put the financing requirement in context, researcher Mercom estimates corporate funding for the global solar industry was USD 12.8 billion last year.

Investors are scrambling to raise money and capture market share in India's expanding green energy sector amid tight deadlines.

Another reason for firms seeking IPOs "may be also the promised exit to the investors," said Sunil Jain, chief executive of Hero Future Energies Ltd, referring to private equity investors who typically look to sell stakes after a certain number of years.

LIMITED INTEREST

"Adani Enterprises plans to offload around a quarter of its stake in Adani Green," one of the bankers said, adding this will be followed by Goldman Sachs-backed ReNew's IPO.

"Creation of a dedicated entity for our renewable energy portfolio reflects Adani Group's commitment for the green energy," said an Adani spokesperson in an emailed response.

"Soon-to-be-listed venture Adani Green Energy Limited will continue to add renewable energy generation capacity in India, Australia and other geographies determinedly," the spokesperson said.

With operating assets of 3.6 GW and 2 GW under construction, ReNew is seen as "big enough to raise substantial capital" from the market, another banker said.

The company, which counts Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and other big firms as investors, could raise up to $900 million.

ReNew Power did not respond to an email seeking comment.

The companies are expected to be followed by several other companies aiming to raise funds. Sembcorp India, a unit of Singapore's Sembcorp Industries, ACME Solar and Mytrah Energy India also have plans for listing.

The three companies did not reply to emails seeking comment.

While the Renew and Adani Green listings are expected to garner strong valuations given the size and scale of the assets they control, bankers warn listings by smaller rivals may fail to attract strong interest.

"We're not going to see six to nine successful IPOs in the next two years. We might see one or two successful ones," said Rahul Goswami, Managing Director, Greenstone Energy Advisors, noting small new players have undermined economics of some assets by bidding aggressively at very low tariffs.

In India, firms seeking to win rights to set-up renewable energy assets enter a bidding process with the company offering to supply power at the lowest possible tariff winning the auction process.live bse live

nse live Volume Todays L/H More 

Our best case scenario is not new highs for next two to three months but a range bound move with more certainty of a bottom in place around 9,950 which may not get violated, Mazhar Mohammad, Chief Strategist  Technical Research & Trading Advisory, Chartviewindia.in said in an exclusive interview with Moneycontrols Kshitij Anand.

Q) The Nifty50 rose above 1 percent for the week ended 27th April 2018 despite amid expiry jitters. The Nifty50 climbed above 10700 in intraday trade on Friday. What is the technical setup suggesting?

A) With this breakout technical set up is looking very bullish. As we have been suggesting for quite some time, post this breakout, Nifty should head towards 10900 levels which is going to dictate future trend for the index.

If new highs were to come then Nifty50 shall consistently trade above this level. Once we reach those levels we will able to asses with more certainty about new highs and to what extent we can rally beyond 11,171 levels.

As on today, long-term trends are shaping up well with bullish formations and things are looking like buy on dips rather than sell on rallies.

At this juncture, we are still reading this rally from 9,950 to 10,600 as a counter-trend rally. Our best case scenario is not new highs for the next two to three months but a range bound move with more certainty of the bottom in place around 9,950, which may not get violated.

Q) It looks like 11,000 strikes is attracting a considerable amount of open interest. Do you think Nifty could reclaim Mt 11K in May series?

A) It is very difficult to project new highs in the May series itself. For the last 5 consecutive weeks, we had decent bullish candle formations on the weekly charts.

Even in a strong upwardly trending market we have not seen such a positive close with a decent weekly range. All these 5 weekly candles are showing strength without any signs of weakness.

If the same strength continues in the next month as well then we may pause for some time on reaching critical resistance point of 10900. Consistent trade beyond 10900 can lead to new highs.

Q) Plenty of stocks hit fresh 52-week highs or record highs in April series. Do you think these are stocks which are carrying the momentum and investors should stick with them?

A) On one hand we have stocks hitting new highs but still, there are plenty of stocks which are trading below their 50-days moving averages. Unless they also register fresh breakouts and start contributing, more broad-based strength in the market cant be witnessed.

Hence, wherever there is momentum backed by fresh highs should be the natural choice of investors/traders and that is looking like a safe strategy to play this leg of an upswing.

Q) What is your call on smallcap and midcap stocks? Should investors stay away or just book profits on rallies?

A) Investors should remain invested in good quality small and midcaps. If markets were to hit new highs then more frenzy will develop in this pocket and it will be possible to make some quick buck out of this segment.

Q) Any worries on INR? How is the near-term technical picture looking like for INR?

A) There seems to be a considerable amount of weakness as INR breached its critical support placed in the gap zone of 66.24  66.54 registered on 13th of March 2017.

It almost tested 67 on 25th of April as it made a low of 66.97. But there seems to be a great amount of logical support around 66.71 and 67.75 levels where we expect INR to bottom out if weakness persists beyond 67. We are looking at 66.70  67.70 as a zone where one can buy into INR vis-a-vis USD with a stop of 68.10

Q) Top 3-5 positional call which could give handsome returns to investors in next 1 month?

A) Short term trading ideas:

ICICI Bank: BUY | Target Rs 315 | Stop Loss Rs 271 | Return 9.3%

This counter appears to have resumed its up move after posting a short-term bottom at recent lows of 275 levels. As momentum in broader markets is picking up with Bank Nifty also on the verge of a fresh breakout, this counter shall able to clear its immediate hurdle of 295 with ease.

Once that happens it can head towards its initial targets of 315. In anticipation of such a breakout positional traders are advised to buy into this counter for a target of 315 with a stop of 271.

JK Tyre: BUY | Target Rs 160| Stop Loss Rs 145| Return 4%

Tyre space once again appears to have caught the frenzy of investors/traders as the entire pack picked up the momentum in the last session.

JK Tyres appears to have posted a short-term bottom around 147 levels after retracing more than 62% of its last leg of the rally from the lows of 141  170. Hence, traders can make use of this opportunity to buy for an initial target of 160 with a stop of 145.

IOC: BUY| Target Rs 176| Stop Loss Rs 154| Return 8%

The recent price behavior of oil marketing companies (OMCs) is suggesting a short-term bottom in place from where a tradable bounce can be expected.

We like IOC from this space as it has nicely consolidated with 4 positive closes out of 5 sessions and hence a bottom may be in place around 156 levels. Traders should buy into this counter for a target of 176 with a stop of 154.

: The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts on moneycontrol.com are his own and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.By V K Sharma

The April series ended with a flourish at 10,618, marking the highest close since February 5, 2018. This is significant as this is the highest close since the Nifty began making lower tops and lower bottoms. Immediate resistance now comes at 10,705 for the index.

This level marks the 61.8% retracement of the Niftys 1,220 points fall from 11,171 mark to 9,951. A close above the mark of 10,705 should be seen as an end to the current bearishness.

There is a market myth, propagated by some of the talking heads on TV that you can safely sell in May and go away. Coupled with this is another fear that in the month of May we have had instances of lower circuits in our markets in May 2004.

We have the Karnataka election results on May 15, which could make the bulls think twice before building longs.

Plus, on the global front, the fear that U.S. may re-impose sanctions on Iraq as the deadline of May 12 nears, which could trouble the markets further.

But before you think of selling in May and going away, just remember that of the 30 individual May months we have studied since 1990, it has fallen in only 12 and risen in 18, giving an average return of 0.62 percent.

Additionally, the average return of the year from January to April, in all 12 instances when the markets fell in May, the markets had risen 14 percent on an average. The year to date returns of the Nifty, are a paltry 0.83%.

Dont fall into this trap

While selling in May and going away may be true for the U.S., it is certainly not a sound idea for India, no matter how fearful you may feel. Approach the month of May with an open mind.

Better Results

After a paltry average CAGR of 3% for the last 4 years, we are going to end FY 18 with an earnings growth of 10%. FY 19 promises even better, a very healthy 25% growth.

GST Numbers will only improve. For the month of March, the GST collections have been Rs 96,000 crore. The highest so far.

Along with better GST numbers, the E-way bill has been made compulsory from April. The number will only get better.

On the elections front, Karnataka is still a developing story. The markets are despondent on BJPs electoral performance in Karnataka, especially after the Congress played its Lingayat card well.

We think for a market which is just licking its wounds inflicted by LTCG and FII selling is ignoring the positives and reading too much in the negatives.

It may be better to approach the month of May with an open mind rather than with preconceived notions of selling in May and going away.

The author is Head-Private Client Group (PCG) at HDFC Securities. The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts on moneycontrol.com are his own and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.The week gone by, remained abuzz with the news of Anup Maheshwaris impending resignation from DSP BlackRock Mutual Fund  a Moneycontrol exclusive.

Sources told Moneycontrol that the senior management was trying to retain Maheshwari.

Maheshwari played an important role as he took over as CIO equities in 2017, after Naganath, then CIO and president of the fund house decided to leave the firm after 15 years.

The mutual fund industry was surprised with Naganath's exit with many thinking aloud if Naganaths resignation will affect the performance of the schemes.

Maheshwari took over the baton and held it strong. Almost all his funds are today present in the top quartile in their respective categories despite Naganath quitting the fund house.

Naganath launched the DSP BlackRock Equity Fund, in 1997 (then called DSP Merrill Lynch Equity Fund). It currently has assets close to Rs 2,522 crore has given a return of nearly 16 percent since inception. Maheshwari has managed to maintain consistency of returns in the fund in the last one year.

DSP BlackRock Equity Fund has delivered over 14 percent returns in the last one year despite volatile equity markets.

As of March, 2018, DSP BlackRock Mutual Fund's average assets under management stood at Rs 86,325 crore from Rs 64,200 crore a year ago.

If Maheshwari decides to move on, this would be the third senior level exit at DSP BlackRock AMC in under two years.

In 2017, S. Naganath, President and CIO, quit the fund house and joined Franklin Templeton Investments. The previous year, Dhawal Dalal, head-fixed income, quit and joined Edelweiss Mutual Fund.

An alumnus of IIM Lucknow, Maheshwari had joined DSP BlackRock Investment Managers Pvt. Ltd. (previously called DSP Merrill Lynch Fund Managers) in July 1997.

He was managing the domestic funds since May 2001 to June 30, 2012.

Maheshwari had also worked as a CIO at HSBC Asset Management between Dec 2005 and May 2006 before returning to DSP BlackRock Investment Managers.

Between 1997 and 2000, Maheshwari also managed an offshore fund, the Merrill Lynch India Fund which was registered in Mauritius and sold to Merrill Lynch's clientele outside India.

Prior to joining DSP BlackRock Investment Managers, he worked with Chescor, a British fund management firm that managed three offshore funds investing into Indian equities.

During this week, Association of Mutual Funds in India released assets under management data from small towns. The AMFI data revealed that the asset base from small towns rose 38 percent from a year ago to Rs 4.27 lakh crore in FY18.

Industry experts attributed this rise in assets base to investor awareness campaigns which led to strong participation from retail investors.

Mutual fund fund managers also said that the rise in asset base from smaller towns, called B15 locations could be because of the demonetisation effect and strong participation from retail investors.

Post demonetisation, most investors shifted from traditional asset classes such as real estate and gold to financial asset class.

B15 cities are those which are beyond the top 15 cities namely New Delhi (including NCR), Mumbai (including Thane and Navi Mumbai), Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Baroda, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kanpur, Lucknow, Panjim, Pune and Surat.

This week, we got an interview with UTI Mutual Fund's equity fund Manager Sanjay Dongre.

Dongre who manages UTI Infrastructure and UTI MEPUS Fund said FY19 is likely to witness higher volatility compared to last 3 years.

To read full interview, click UTI MF's Dongre sees higher volatility in FY19, expects 18-20% corporate earnings growthOn January 2, as we were recovering from the stupor of New Years eve, the Securities and Exchange Board of India, or SEBI, released its third consultation paper on mutual fund adviser guidelines. SEBIs aim was to draw a marker in the sand between advice and selling.

The regulators guidelines stated that a SEBI-registered investment adviser, or RIA, cannot offer mutual fund distribution services. Also, a distributor cannot offer investment advisory services. If this were to become the defacto norm, financial market intermediaries can perform only one role. They can choose to either provide advise to individual investors or distribute Mutual Fund schemes.

This step by SEBI is meant to address apprehensions of mis-selling by intermediaries. The intent is no doubt positive - protection of investors from commission-hungry entities and avoiding conflict of interest. But the pragmatist would be aware that implementing this could be, to put it mildly, difficult.

The Sebi (Investment Advisers) Regulations, 2013 have been in place since, well, 2013. An investment adviser or mutual fund distributor would typically render to you both services  advice on what to buy and when, and then help buy a mutual fund to act on the advice. From the adviser of course. No free advice here.

The 2013 guidelines had allowed distributors to set up a separate division to offer advisory services. You might have heard of them referred to SIDDs or separately identifiable departments. The two previous consultation papers, released in October 2016 and July 2017, advised mutual fund distributors to set up subsidiaries and offer investment advisory services through them. The 2018 consultation paper now instructs advisers and distributors to choose either become advisers or become distributors. They cant be both. No having your cake and eating it too. The new consultation paper gives financial institutions until 31st March 2019 to make that choice. But expect a final circular before that date.

But the market regulator left the door open just a sliver. While it laid down that distributors must not advice, it also said they could explain the features of the products sold. And advisers believe this is as good as any advice. Basically, like the difference between Advise and Advice. See what I mean? You could, if it came down to it, work around it.

These new guidelines are expected to change the business models of many financial institutions, not the least large banks like SBI, HDFC, ICICI, Kotak, which distribute as well as advise on investments. They will have to pick one of the two routes before March of next year. These organizations earn hundreds of crores in commissions so its not a particularly difficult guess which route theyll opt for.

Distributors and advisory lobbies - yes those exist  these lobbies sent suggestions to Sebi, but sources claimed this years consultation is the final one in the series of rules regulating how mutual funds are to be sold. More or less set in stone, said the sources.

But the January consultation is not bolt from the blue. Sebis push towards the advisory model began almost six years ago. Back in 2012, the agency had said every mutual fund house must ideally have two kinds of plans for every scheme it sold.

A regular plan that an investor could buy from a distributor, and a plan that he or she could buy directly from the Asset Management Company or AMC. There is a prevailing misconception that a mutual fund sold by a distributor is free. Probably because distributors dont charge their customers.

The earn commissions to the tune of 1.2% from the AMC. Which comes out of the investors pocket. SEBIs concern wad was that distributors were selling products that earned them the highest commissions instead of the right product. Well, where have we heard that before? A salesman selling whats good for him, not you. After many such stories came to light, Sebi declared mis-selling an offence in 2012.

According to the regulator, if AMCs sold the product directly, investors could save more as the AMCs would be spared the expense of the commission. Direct plans yield as much as 75 basis points to 1% higher saving on equity- based mutual funds.

Usually, only a few investors are equipped with the knowledge to know which direct plan to buy from the massive range of over 2,000 schemes that the market offers. This is where advisers can lend their expertise - on choosing the right product for the customer. And the customer could pay him or her for the professional advice. That is the only way advisers can make money, Sebi declared.

Now, under normal circumstances, youd expect a change in the functioning of the institutions. Maybe a bunch of new advisers? Considering the monies at play, maybe even a mini industry of advisers who offer investment advice. But, zilch. Nothing happened. Well, did investors move to buying direct plans? Again, no.

By the start of 2018, less than 800 entities were licensed as registered investment advisers or RIAs. Institutions and High Networth Individuals had moved to buying direct plans but less than 10% of the money invested by individual investors in mutual funds comes from direct plans. The smarter investors were buying plans directly from the AMC. Between 60% & 70% of AMC direct plan sales are through their own website, say industry experts.

To make matters worse for advisers, distributors claim their plans are free and go one step further  they share part a of their commissions with investors. As a consequence, investors not only see a mutual fund as free to purchase, they also receive something in return from the distributor as well.

Further, advisers could earn a trail fee from fund houses that paid distributors for the period that investor stays invested; the longer he or she stays invested, the more income by way of commission the distributor stood to earn. The new consultation will dismantle this, well, how shall I put itquid pro quo?

Expecting such customers to pay for advice is far-fetched, or at the very least, naive. Also, many advisers had segregated their advisory and distribution activities into separate divisions or companies, as per Sebi Guidelines of 2013, the SIDDS we spoke about earlier. And many such companies or divisions were headed by family members or people close to the advisers. Sebis new guidelines stipulate that if a persons immediate relative  like a spouse, parent, sibling, or child- runs either of the two businesses, the person cannot serve as the other. If an individual is an distributor, his or her spouse cannot be an adviser, and vice versa.

Advisers say the Indian market is still young, and it is impractical to charge a fee. They claim the larger distributors are audited by SEBI and have to follow the AMFI Code of Ethics. Moreover, they add, there is no way to prove mis-selling, which is highly subjective. For instance, only funds which do well receive inflows. Fund houses that performed badly have lost assets. Thats pretty goof proof, they claim, that distributors mostly act in the clients interest. They ask that SEBI be more practical and consult experienced advisers and distributors while formulating regulations.

And this regulation could run aground, legally speaking. Rohit Shah, registered adviser and founder & CEO of Getting You Rich, a financial planning firm, lays down a case  If my brotherwho is an independent personchooses to be a mutual fund distributor, why should that prevent me from being an adviser? Arent we living in a democratic country and allowed to follow the professions of our choice? Hmm, seems a pretty legit grievance.

The January guidelines also mention that banks must choose between the two. For instance, HDFC Bank would have to close down its investment advisory division and continue only the distribution business. Industry experts say off the record that banks will give up their RIA licenses because they have very few clients who are charged only fees. Most banks earn substantial income from commissions from the sale of third-party products. Looking through the data from the mandatory commission disclosures of Indias largest distributors, six of the 10 highest commission-earning distributors are banks. They netted an estimated 1,487 crore in FY17, according to Prime Databases mutual funds data. With that kind of money on the line, its not exactly a mystery that banks would surrender their RIA licences without much regret, should Sebis guideline become a law.

Some industry folk do not approve of this move by SEBI. Sadique Neelgund, the founder of Network FP which trains financial planners, said, For a financial planner to be charging fees from customers and, at the same time, earning commissions from mutual funds is ethically wrong. Ensuring that there are no common customers between advisory and distribution would have sufficed.

Another outcome of Sebis recommendation becoming a proper law would be direct plans getting a push. Advisers could simply switch to offering direct plans. Direct plans are basically meant for investors who invest directly with fund houses, bypassing distributors. Since sellers dont earn any commission from these, it makes more sense for advisers to offer direct plans to customers and provide both advice and execution services.

Some quarters of the industry say they are now recommending only direct plans to their clients. They have been gradually moving older clients to direct plans and charging them advisory fees. This shift was anyway happening and following Sebis latest consultation, the process will only gather pace. According to Prime Database, a large number of debt investments go through the direct channel but less than 10% of the industrys equity-oriented assets are in the form of direct plans.

And into this mess stepped PayTM. It announced an investment arm, Paytm Money, that wants to be an adviser and sell mutual funds for free. Bear in mind that the mutual funds industry has taken a long time to get to its current 15 million investors. The scale Paytm operates on could have a large impact on the industry. The first product PayTM Money is planning to launch is mutual funds. This came just days after the SEBI recommendation in January.

Paytm Moneywill focus on having all Sebi-regulated products like mutual funds, equities, futures, personal wealth management, announced Pravin Jadhav, SVP with Paytm Money. He added that the new company had applied for an RIA license and was awaiting approval from Sebi. PayTM Money was expected to launch before March 2018. As of the last week of April, the website home page still says Coming Soon and invites pre-registrations.

So what is PayTM up to? Paytm Money claims it will help investors purchase only direct plans and will not charge customers a fee. Initially, at least.

Kunal Bajaj, founder of Clearfunds, a firm that claims 30% of its customers as HNIs, says, Paytm money will be targeted at the first time, low-ticket investor. Larger investors will continue to need a focused adviser or financial planner to help them through their decisions.

Paytms entry into Mutual Funds could increase awareness around direct plans and disrupt the distributor model, according to industry insiders. They say the industry needs a big hitter to move the needle to direct plans. Following that, the transition could happen faster.

There are more companies like Paytm Money that offer only direct plansORO wealth, Clearfunds, Bharosa Advisor. They manage assets under management of between 100 and 400 crores. Their business happens digitally  from acquiring customers to offering advise. Until now though, they had no more than a few thousand investors. While these firms entered this market in the last couple of years, just as mutual funds were on the up, the share of direct funds from retail investors received no traction.

We took an RIA license at Bharosa Advisor thinking the mass market is moving to direct butPeople are unwilling to pay, laments Kamal Manocha, former CEO of Bharosa Advisor. He subsequently quit Bhaorsa to start an offline advisory aimed at HNIs. He also shares another reason RIAs saw minimal traction. Distributors sharing their commissions with investors has increased 100 times, claims Manocha.

For all the splash that PayTM Money is expected to make, mutual funds will not be a money-spinning business for the company. With 200 million customers  these are pre-KYC numbers. The company now claims over 100 million customer have completed their KYC - Paytm Money is looking to go after existing customers who do not invest in mutual funds. A conversion rate of even 10% of its customer would mean it would have doubled the number of people buying mutual funds.

The average amount people in India put into MFs is between Rs 35,000- 40,000 a year. We believe while the volume of people buying mutual funds will be higher, the average investment may be smaller to the tune of about Rs 3000, Jadhav says candidly. He is optimistic that once Paytm can get customers to buy mutual funds, more complex investment products like futures, equities etc, could be introduced, for which PayTM Money could charge fees. It must be noted here that Paytms payments bank comes under a different regulatorthe RBI.

PayTM Money emphasises that there will be no data shared between the different PayTM entities, but, as business, it only makes sense that the information from that data will help build related businesses.

Experts have noted that there are practical reasons why distributors control a large part of the mutual funds market and why direct plans have not seen traction. The number one reason is the penalty for the investor to move plans from regular to direct. Secondly, no AMC has ever marketed its direct plans to encourage potential customers to purchase directly from itself or an adviser. Why?

No AMC will do that because they dont want to upset their relationships with distributors, said a senior executive at an AMC under condition of anonymity.

Large distributors, like NJ India Invest, account for approx. 15% of the 15 million investors in mutual funds in India. Other big distributors are banks. In the last few years, online distributors like FundsIndia, Fisdom and Scripbox have made inroads as well. Most of these firms have an RIA license but very few sell direct plans for a simple reason  they are not economically viable. Plus, customers just arent interested. The cost of delivering advice is much higher because advice needs higher customer engagement, said another industry expert.

All these factors leave one wondering why Sebi has even allowed distributors more wiggle room. Another expert suggests this is Sebis balancing act. To avoid negative impact on the growth of mutual funds, and to also make sure the right product is sold, he says.Vandana Ramnani

FDI-funded real estate company Experion Developers, backed by Experion Holdings, Singapore, the real estate investing arm of USD 2.5 billion AT Holdings group of companies, is planning to foray into affordable housing and launch projects under the format in Delhi NCR, Lucknow, Bengaluru and Pune.

Experion Developers, which is currently developing two housing projects, a 100-acre township and one commercial project in Gurgaon, is in talks with other builders for the development of projects in joint venture in cities like Noida and Greater Noida.

It has also bought land parcels in Coimbatore, Nagpur and Goa and is looking at the Bengaluru and Pune markets. The company is also looking at the Noida market for opportunities in commercial real estate. Having substantial portfolio of residential, we are getting ourselves to take up more on the commercial development front  you will see more projects being added in the segment, CEO Rakesh Kaul tells Vandana Ramnani in an exclusive chat with Moneycontrol.

Can you tell us about the projects that you may have completed so far?

The projects that we have launched so far include Windchants, a project that is spread across 25 acres land parcel. This is about 3.5 mn sq ft of built-up space. The second project is a high-rise by the name of Heartsong that is on 15 acres of land. It comprises about 810 units and thereafter we had launched a township on 100 acres. All these projects are located around the Dwarka Expressway, very near to Delhi. We have also launched a commercial project on NH8 by the name of Milestone Experion Centre.

Where exactly is the project in Lucknow located and how big is it?

This project is close to 700,000 sq ft of space, mixed use out of which about 1 lakh sq ft will be commercial and the rest residential. This is located in Vibhuti Khand, Gomti Nagar, a happening place in Lucknow.

We are adjoining the Indira Gandhi Parishthan and the High Court. Some of the projects that are in the process of being handed are the ones that are in Delhi, Gurgaon, NCR region  the first one being Windchants whereby we have asked about a 100 people to come and take possession. We have invited 400 people to come and take possession in our Heartsong project in which 300 families have already got their homes registered and sale deeds executed. We have begun handing over possession in the township projects. That is quite substantial in terms of the development. We have been able to achieve roughly 7 million sq ft of space having been developed in a very short span of time.

Is Dwarka Expressway that connects your projects still a very big challenge?

It has been going slow for some time but I think that the difficult times are now over with the stretch being handed over to NHAI and thereafter the NHAI having handed over the construction of Dwarka Expressway and that too in an elevated manner to L & T whereby the contract or has been awarded and the amount of the contract have also been decided. It is just a matter of time for the work to get completed. It will be a big relief for many home owners who have bought on this stretch.

What about your expansion plans? Do you plan increasing the footprint across the country or take up more projects in Delhi NCR?

We do have some development rights in various other states as well. We have bought land parcels in Coimbatore, Nagpur and Goa. However, we are on the lookout for other projects in other areas as well. We have been actively looking at the Bengaluru and Pune markets and also trying to expand on our home turf which is NCR. We are also looking at the Noida market for opportunities in commercial real estate. Having substantial portfolio of residential, we are getting ourselves to take up more on the commercial development front  you will see more projects being added.

Any plans that have fructified?

We are in the advanced stages of closing some deals and very soon we will be making some announcements.

Are you planning to participate in any bids in the NCR, especially HSIIDC lands or for any international projects?

Internationally, at the group level, we have acquired a project in Amsterdam. Thats a downtown mixed-use project spread across 1.5 mn sq ft. It is landmark project in there.

We also did participate in last months bid of HSIIDC land parcel on NH8 and were in the fray with other developers. We went up to a substantial length in terms of giving a very respectable bid for the project.

Any plans to foray into affordable housing?

We have been studying the format very closely. We have already initiated a task force who is working into the design and the cost elements of doing affordable projects. We will definitely try to extend the same velocity of delivering quality yet within the affordable range for these projects and this will be achieved through our core philosophy of innovation both in terms of the design and the usage of material, technology used in the construction.

All this experience will be put together to explore affordable housing developments.

Which markets are you looking at in particular for affordable housing projects?

We are looking at NCR, Lucknow, Bengaluru and Pune. In fact, whenever there is an opportunity and wherever we feel there is consumption for affordable housing. We are not limited by any geographical constraints.

How soon do we expect launches in this format?

We are also on the look out for some opportunities out there. There is no timeframe fixed as of now but that will definitely be a focus area.

Will it be this year?

Cannot say because mobilizing a project takes time, especially if you have to go through the approval stages. Whenever we do take up a project, we ensure all the approvals and the licenses are in place and our design process is slightly prolonged. I wont be able to comment on the timeline but as I said that there is a huge focus on affordable and we are definitely exploring it.

How many units do you hope to deliver by the end of this year?

We have delivered close to about 400 units by the end of this year. By delivered I mean handed over, we have given possession to their respective owners and then there will be another pipeline created for another year across NCR.

Is this across India or across NCR?

Across NCR because across India the next projects and the next deliveries will be in Lucknow where we have initiated a project. That will take another two years to get completed and we will be adding more phases in that particular project. Right now we have launched just the first phase of that project. So, it is a continuous process as you keep on launching phases, you keep on handing over.Date: September 25 | Extent of loss: 504 points (1.29 percent)| Reason: Concerns over the health of the economy, news of impeachment inquiry against US President Donald Trump, tension in the Middle East and uncertainty over the US-China trade deal kept the market under pressure. (Image: Reuters)

live bse live

nse live Volume Todays L/H More 

Sumit Bilgaiyan

The Dalal Street could watch out for reactions of Q4 numbers of Nifty companies. HDFC, Kotak Mahindra Bank will announce Q4 earnings on April 30. Dabur and Hindustan Media Ventures will post their earnings the next day.

Market will be closed on Tuesday due to Maharashtra Day. So, we will have only four trading days in this week.

On the macros side, the market will continue to look at bond yields and crude prices. We believe these are two biggest factors which can dampen the Indian market rally.

In US and Europe, results season is still going on. Particularly post Caterpillar and GEs disappointing numbers we will closely watch for coming companies numbers, especially related to old economy.

In FANG stock, Facebook has posted very good set of numbers. We might see some relief rally in high beta US counters on back of this. So, in nutshell, next week's trend will be decided on the basis of quarterly earnings, trend in global markets.

Salasar Techno Engineering | Rating: Buy | Return: 15%

Salasar Techno Engineering enjoys 42% market share and all the major telecom operators are its customers having long term business relationship. The company has technical tie up with Rambol International for manufacturing and designing world class telecom towers of various qualities and range.

The current EBITDA margin is around 10%, which is expected to increase up to 11-11.5% on the back of huge order book, consistent demand and new projects for which the company has already submitted bid.

In FY17 Salasar Techno doubled its galvanizing capacity from 50,000 metric tons to 1,00,000 metric tons. Salasar Techno currently has an EV/EBIT of 9.72%.

At the current market price of Rs 387, company is trading at 11x multiple for FY19. We are recommending a buy with a target of Rs 445.

Vinyl Chemicals | Rating: Buy | Return: 9%

Vinyl Chemicals is a Pidilite group company. It is in the business of selling various speciality chemicals mainly to textile, paints and adhesive sectors. Vinyl Acetate Monomer (VAM) was manufactured in the plant located at Mahad in Raigad District, Maharashtra, India and was sold all over the world. Vinyl had major share of business of this product in India.

During 2007, the said plant was de-merged to resultant parent company Pidilite Industries for strategic reasons. However, the company's main focus remains in its product Vinyl Acetate Monomer" (VAM). The VAM is now imported/sourced from various Global suppliers and distributed / traded in India.

Vinyl Chemicals India will maintain its major presence in the field of trading of various Speciality Chemicals in future all over the world. Currently, the stock is trading at 20x which we think is quite an attractive level given the bright future prospects and pedigree of Pidilite group.

Vinyl Chemicals will yield maximum benefits from structural changes are happening in chemical industry. Be it a production cuts from Chinese companies or continuously rising demand from Asian conglomerates. Vinyl Chemicals has all the ingredients to outpace the industry growth. We recommend a buy with a target of Rs 131.

Archidply Industries | Return: 13%

Archidply Industries is the flagship company of the Archidply group. The company is a manufacturer of wood panel products and decorative surfacing products.

The promoters of the company have been associated with plywood manufacturing for more than 30 years under the brand Archidply.

The management was responsible for the turnaround of the Mysore based particle board and plywood manufacturing unit which was shut down for seven years, before being acquired by the Archidply group. The company also has a good track record in executing projects on time.

The company started out with a single plant in Assam and has expanded the business to three facilities in Uttar Pradesh, Assam and Karnataka. The organized plywood industry is growing at a rate of 30 percent per annum driven by increased demand from institutional clients. Retail stores, corporate spaces and hospitality sector have seen huge growth and are fuelling the demand for Interior Infrastructure.

Looking at management pedigree and industry growth we believe Archidply will yield maximum benefits in coming days. We are recommending Archidply with target of Rs 108.

The author is Founder of Equity99. The views and investment tips expressed by investment expert 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.Himachal Pradesh Industries Minister Bikram Singh today hailed the announcement of Industrial Development Scheme by the Centre for new and existing industrial units engaged in manufacturing and service sector in the state. In a statement issued here, Singh said this would be effective from April 1, 2017 to March 31, 2022 and all the units which have already commenced commercial production/ operation after April 1, 2017 can register under this scheme with the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Government of India, by September 30, 2018.

The scheme will also be applicable to bio-technology and hydel power generation units with capacity up to 10 MW.

The salient features of the scheme include central capital investment incentive for access to credit (CCIIAC) at the rate of 30 percent of the investment in plant and machinery with maximum limit of Rs 5 crores.

Besides, all eligible new and existing units are included in Fire Policy 'C' as per all India fire tariffs and would be eligible for reimbursement of 100 percent insurance premium on insurance of building and plant and machinery for a period of five years from the date of commencement of commercial production/operation.

The minister said in addition to this, the state government has also decided to waive 2 percent and 1 percent fees collected earlier on rental charges from industrial units. Limits of unearned increase which was earlier charged at the rate of 50, 30 and 20 percent have been substantially reduced to 20, 10 and 5 percent respectively.

He said the chief minister had also announced to give the incentive of partial reimbursement of SGST (State GST) as the incentives to industrial units pertaining to VAT/CST had ceased after enforcement of GST.Prime Minister Narendra Modi will take an hour-long boat ride with his host Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday, the final day of an ice-breaking trip both are hoping will lead to better ties after a year of strains.

Modi is spending only about 24 hours in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, just months after a dispute over a stretch of their high-altitude Himalayan border rekindled fears of war between the Asian nations.

Billed by both sides as an informal meeting rather than a summit, with none of the pomp and ceremony of a state visit such as 21-gun salutes, the two men held talks on Friday that lasted far longer than expected.

Modi will take a walk around a guesthouse with Xi on Saturday, then an hour-long boat trip on a lake followed by lunch, before the meeting ends, according to the Indian Foreign Ministry.

Both countries are expected to brief reporters at the end.

Chinese state media has praised the tone of the trip so far.

The overseas edition of the ruling Communist Party's official People's Daily said in a front page commentary on Saturday "two great countries ought to have great cooperation", and showed a large picture of the two leaders shaking hands.

"There is reason to believe that this Wuhan meeting will increase mutual trust, manage and control disputes, deepen cooperation and lead to a new phase in China-India relations," it said.

"It is quite clear that strategic agreement between the two countries far exceeds the specific differences, and the need for cooperation far exceeds local friction," it said.

The official China Daily said in an editorial that there was no denying mutual suspicion was keeping the two countries from working together.

"Yet neither Beijing nor New Delhi calls the other an enemy, which means both expect bilateral ties to improve. Indeed, China and India are natural partners," it said.

Despite the rhetoric, which on Friday included Modi inviting Xi to India for a similar informal summit next year, the nations' differences are significant.

As well as disputes over stretches of a 3,500 km (2,200 miles) border, they are bumping up against each other in the Indian Ocean and squabbling over Xi's signature Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.

India signalled as recently as Tuesday its opposition to the grand trade and transport plan because one of its branches runs through Pakistani-administered Kashmir, which India claims.

India has long been suspicious of China's traditionally close ties with Pakistan.

For its part, China has been concerned about U.S. efforts to draw India into a maritime "quad" of democracies, including Japan and Australia.

China is also suspicious of India's hosting of the Dalai Lama and other exiled Tibetans.Shah Jahans iconic Red Fort has been adopted by the Dalmia Bharat Group to revamp the 17th century monument. The contract stretches over a five year period and is worth Rs 25 crore.

We have to start work within 30 days and have to own it for five years initially. Then the contract can be extended on mutually agreeable terms. It will help us integrate the Dalmia brand with India, Mahendra Singhi, group CEO of Dalmia Bharat Cement, said.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between Dalmia Bharat, Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Culture and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) on April 9. The deal went public on April 25.

The move is part of the Narendra Modi government's plan to allow corporate control of some monuments and heritage sites, so that their maintenance and operations can be handled professionally.

As per the contract, the Dalmia Bharat Group will be tasked with carrying out a major facelift to Red Forts surroundings under deadlines that range from a few months to over two years.

Before Modis Red Fort speech on August 15, the group will have to finish off two tasks, the Business Standard reports.

The first task includes completion of front lighting, which involves facade lighting and structure illumination, by July. Illumination for the rest of the structure has to be completed within two years. In its second task, Dalmia Bharat will have to exhibit art installations during the Independence Day event every year.

It will also have to provide certain basic amenities within six months as per the contract. These include providing drinking water kiosks, street furniture like benches and shop signage.

Tasks that have to be completed within a year include putting up tactile maps, upgrading toilets, lighting up the Red Fort pathways and bollards, restoration work and landscaping, building a 1,000 square foot visitor facility centre, 3D projection mapping of the Red Forts interior and exterior, battery-operated vehicles and charging stations for such vehicles and a thematic cafeteria.

Setting up exhibitions in cells under the Asad Burj, virtual reality-based monument interpretation, building night trails and structural illumination of the entire Red Fort are tasks that need to be completed within two years. Certain basic amenities that have to be provided within two years include: installing turnstiles at checkpoints, fencing with sliding doors and tactile paving, which officials from Dalmia Bharat claim is an expensive job.

While members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are calling this a good move, there are many who are raising questions on privatising India's heritage. The Congress Party is asking the government to clarify that no profit activity will take place at the Red Fort.

"Wah! So here is acche din. Red Fort being 'sold '? Now other national treasures ready to be auctioned to highest bidder. As Chairman Parliament Cmtee of Transport Tourism & Culture, can say matter was still being "discussed". Pledge to stop this," Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brien tweeted.

Another opposition leader rued against the adoption bid. "The Parliamentary Committee that went into the issue of handing over heritage sites to private corporate had decided against this unanimously. The government should reverse its decision of privatising the Red Fort," CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury tweeted.

The government has clarified that the contract signed with Dalmia Bharat Group giving it access to the Red Fort does not entail any profit-making activity.Evening View of world Famous Dal lake in Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir on 7 September 2017. The urban lake, which is the second largest in the state, is integral to tourism and recreation in Kashmir. The lake is also an important source for commercial operations in fishing and water plant harvesting. (Photo by Nasir Kachroo/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

As part of the bi-annual 'Darbar Move', under which the Jammu and Kashmir government functions for six months each in the twin capitals, all move offices closed here today and will reopen in Srinagar on May 7. While the civil secretariat  the seat of Jammu and Kashmir government  along with other offices in the winter capital closed after office hours yesterday, the move offices were closed this evening.

Finance Minister Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari today visited the civil secretariat to oversee the arrangements of the shifting of official records which were being loaded in State Road Transport Corporation (SRTC) trucks. The trucks would leave for Srinagar tomorrow.

"All necessary arrangements are in place to ensure smooth reopening of the move offices in Srinagar," Bukhari told reporters.

Responding to a question about challenges faced due to the prevailing law and order situation in the valley, he said, "the situation in the valley has been like that since the past 30 years. It has not deteriorated abnormally and everything will be okay."

The minister expressed hope that the situation would remain normal and register improvement during the summer.

"The government will continue with its priorities to ensure good governance, overall improvement in security situation and development of all the three regions of the state," he added.

Voices have been raised against the 'Darbar move', a practice started by the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, Gulab Singh, in 1872 to escape the extreme weather conditions of Jammu in summer and that of Kashmir in winter.

The state government spends crores of rupees to shift between the two capital cities twice a year, besides paying similar amount as allowance for the several thousand employees who shift base with the government.

A senior government official said all necessary arrangement for lodging and boarding of move employees had been taken care of well in advance to ensure smooth functioning of the government there.

Meanwhile, only Srinagar-bound vehicles were allowed to ply on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway in accordance with a traffic advisory issued by the government earlier.

Traffic movement on the highway, the only all-weather road connecting Kashmir with the rest of the country, is restricted to one way - from Jammu to Srinagar - for two days beginning today to facilitate move employees and shifting of official records.

Similarly, in order to facilitate smooth movement of vehicles carrying Jammu-based employees, only Srinagar-bound vehicles would be allowed to move on the highway again on May 5 and 6.The UN has said that lives of tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees hang in the balance as monsoon and cyclone seasons threaten their makeshift camps in Bangladesh.

According to the UN estimates, nearly 700,000 minority Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh to escape violence in Myanmar's Rakhine State since August 25 last year when the army launched a military crackdown.

Myanmar does not recognise Rohingya as an ethnic group and insists that they are Bangladeshi migrants living illegally in the country.

The United Nations migration agency -- the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) -- appealed for urgent financial support to prepare the area in southern Bangladesh against floods and landslides.

Without new funding, tens of thousands of people in the camps, fleeing violence triggered in Myanmar last August, will be at risk, the IOM said.

"We cannot wait for funding to come in after the emergency is over and possibly preventable tragedies have occurred," said John McCue, IOM's Senior Operations Coordinator in Cox's Bazar.

"We need to be able to act now if lives are to be saved," he said.

Almost a million Rohingya refugees live in Cox's Bazar under tarpaulins, on steep, sandy slopes  25,000 of whom are said to be at the highest risk of landslides.

Without aid, numerous refugees will have to remain in these hazardous locations and hundreds of thousands of others will also be at risk if roads become impassible, blocking access to aid supplies and medical services.

"Tarp stocks are also rapidly running out and the IOM, which oversees shelter distribution, reports that by mid-May supplies will fall below critical levels," McCue said.

He said that without more funding, neither new shelters nor replacements would be available to those who lost homes during storms.

He also pointed out that other risks included safe water supply systems, which if collapsed could put hundreds of thousands of refugees in jeopardy of waterborne diseases.

Only nine per cent of a USD 951 million joint agency response plan has been secured. Of that, USD 182 million allocated to provide Cox's Bazar with assistance through December 2018 is facing a shortfall of almost USD 151 million.

Aid staff on the ground are working to improve shelters, secure key access roads and have emergency response services ready should the worst happens, "but the harsh truth is that we cannot keep doing that if we do not have the funds," McCue said.

The IOM, the World Food Programme and the UN refugee agency are working alongside the Bangladesh government and others to manage the scale of the response in Cox's Bazar  the world's biggest refugee settlement.

"If significant funding is not secured in the next few weeks to keep operations running, there is a high likelihood that many children, women and men may die, when they could have otherwise been saved," McCue said.

The Security Council members are making their way to the region.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the overall population of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh is currently estimated to be over one million.

New refugees are still arriving, with some 8,000 new arrivals since January 2018, he said.

The latest round of food distribution reached over 470,000 people and humanitarian partners on the ground also conduct protection monitoring missions to support survivors of sexual and gender-based violence, Dujarric said.

To date, the joint response plan for the Rohingya humanitarian crisis, launched in mid-March, is only nine per cent funded.

It requests USD 951 million to help respond to the needs of some 1.3 million people, both Rohingya refugees and vulnerable members of the host community, until December 2018.

The UN described the atrocities by the Myanmar military on Rohingya refugees as a textbook example of ethnic cleansing while the rights groups called it a genocide.

Buddhist-majority Myanmar, however, rejects the charge, saying its security forces launched a counter-insurgency operation on August 25 in response to Rohingya militant attacks.US President Donald Trump claimed credit on Friday for the historic meeting between the leaders of North Korea and South Korea. Trump declared that peace on the divided peninsula could be achieved and its people could live in harmony.

Trump spoke hours after Kim Jong Un became the first North Korean leader to visit south of the demarcation line between the two Koreas, meeting with President Moon Jae-in. They pledged in a joint statement to seek a formal end to the Korean War by year's end and to rid their peninsula of nuclear weapons, without specifying how it would be achieved.

"When I began, people were saying that was an impossibility," Trump said during an appearance with U.S. athletes who participated in this year's Winter Olympics in South Korea.

"They said there were two alternatives: Let them have what they have, or go to war. And now we have a much better alternative than anybody thought even possible." The Kim-Moon meeting was the culmination of a rapprochement that was inspired by the February games.

Responsibility for turning a bold vision for peace into reality will in large part rest with Trump, who has often vowed to succeed where his predecessors as president have failed in eliminating the North Korean nuclear threat to America.

Trump gave an unequivocal statement that he would sit down with Kim  a meeting that has been tentatively scheduled for May or early June  in what would be a first during six decades of hostility.

"I'll be meeting with Kim Jong Un in the coming weeks as we seek to denuclearise the North Korean area and the entire Korean Peninsula," Trump said. "Hopefully the day will come when Olympic athletes can compete on a Korean peninsula that is free of nuclear weapons and where all Koreans can live together and can share their dreams. It would be a wonderful thing to do."

Earlier, and with characteristic swagger, Trump had touted the outcome of Friday's summit between Kim and Moon as a breakthrough in the generational standoff. "KOREAN WAR TO END!" he tweeted. "The United States, and all of its GREAT people, should be very proud of what is now taking place in Korea!"

In a separate tweet sent minutes earlier, Trump said "good things are happening, but only time will tell." After a febrile year, when the US and North Korean leaders traded threats while Kim pushed his nation to the verge of being able to fire a nuclear-tipped missile at the US mainland, tensions have eased with Kim's sudden shift to international diplomacy.

Last month, Trump surprised the world by accepting an offer to negotiate with Kim, who has announced a halt to nuclear and long-range missile tests.

Trump also offered credit to China, North Korea's traditional ally and main trading partner, who has supported tough international sanctions against North Korea to pressure it to give up its nukes.

"Please do not forget the great help that my good friend, President Xi of China, has given to the United States, particularly at the Border of North Korea. Without him it would have been a much longer, tougher, process!" Trump tweeted.

Despite the optimistic rhetoric, major uncertainty still surrounds North Korea's commitment to "denuclearise" and what it would demand in return.

The North has spent decades building up an atomic arsenal as a deterrent against a US invasion and as a safeguard for the continuance of its totalitarian regime.The murder of journalist-turned-activist Gauri Lankesh in Bengaluru and other indicators such as hate speeches, trolling on social media and attacks on journalists has pushed India to the 138th spot on the World Press Freedom Index. Read on for a detailed view of how other countries rank on the list. (Image: Reuters)

North Korea | Kim Jong Un's country was ranked last at 180 in the index. (Image: Reuters)

China | The Xi Jinping-led country was ranked 176 with its extremely curtailed model of news. According to the report, such tightly controlled models that suppress dissent are influencing other South-Asian countries. (Image: Reuters)

Iraq | The country was ranked 160th and was termed a "media black hole" in the report. In the picture above, Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari seen addressing a press conference. (Image: Reuters)

Russia | Vladimir Putins country has been ranked at 148, courtesy media outlets such as RT and Sputnik that further the leader's propaganda. (Image: Reuters)

India | The country was ranked at the 135th spot in 2017, dropped to the 138th spot this year. The report mentions that at least four journalists have been gunned down in India in the previous year, with the Modi government at the helm of affairs. (Image: Reuters)

The Philippines | Under President Rodrigo Duterte, the country dropped six spots and occupied the 133rd sport as media persons are not only humiliated by him, but also threatened. He had earlier said that journalists are not exempted from assassination. (Image: Reuters)

Syria | The war-ravaged country was ranked at the 117th spot. The RSF attributed this to the perpetual state of conflict that the country is witnessing. (Image: Reuters)

US | The Donald Trump-led country has fallen two places to 45 after he assumed office and was seen brazenly bash the media, even referring to reporters as enemies of the people, a term used by Joseph Stalin once. (Image: Reuters)

Czech Republic | President Milos Zeman turned up at press conference with a fake Kalashnikov inscribed with the words for journalists. The country's press freedom index is down 11 spots at 34. (Image: Reuters)

Slovakia | Prime Minister Robert Fico called journalists filthy anti-Slovak prostitutes and idiotic hyenas, that pushed the country 10 spots to 25. Banners with portraits of Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico are seen on the fence of the building of the Government of the Slovak Republic during a march in honour of murdered Slovak investigative reporter Jan Kuciak and his girlfriend Martina Kusnirova. (Image: Reuters)The price of oil was down a half percent this week in anticipation of sanctions being imposed again on oil giant Iran, a decision the Trump administration will make within the next two weeks.

Newly installed secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday it is unlikely the U.S. will remain in its nuclear deal with Iran after the self-imposed May 12 deadline, according to the Tribune Washington Bureau. Absent a substantial fix, absent overcoming the flaws of the deal, he (Trump) is unlikely to stay in that deal, Pompeo said.

The news kept oil mostly flat Friday. West Texas Intermediate futures contracts for June delivery finished the week at $68.10 per barrel, down 9 cents (0.13 percent) on the day and down 28 cents (0.41 percent) for the week.

Monday marked the first day of June as the new near-month contract. The switchover brought with it a new year high of $68.64.

On Wednesday, the Energy Information Administration reported that U.S. crude oil imports averaged about 8.5 million barrels per day (bbl/d), an increase of 539,000 bbl/d. Over the past four weeks, imports averaged more than 8.2 million bbl/d. The reporting week was for the week ending April 20.

Commercial crude oil inventories increased by 2.2 million bbl to 429.7 million bbl.

Refinery inputs averaged more than 16.6 million bbl/d, a decrease of 328,000 bbl/d. Refineries operated at 90.8 percent of their operable capacity. Gasoline production was 9.9 million bbl/d, and distillate production was 5 million bbl/d.

The average price for a barrel of WTI after 81 trading days is $63.71. The price has fallen to as low as $59.19 this year.

Plains Marketing posted prices were down 25 cents both for Friday and for the week. The Reporter-Telegram tracks WTI all other areas and West Texas sour. WTI fetched $64.50 per barrel Friday, and sour was priced at $60.70. The $3.80 spread between the two has held at that mark for the past 18 trading days.

The price spread between WTI futures and WTI posted was $3.60 on Friday.

WTI posted has an average price of $60.20 per barrel this year. Sour is still below the $60 mark at $57.20. WTI and sour are up 13.6 percent and 10.82 percent this year, respectively.

In other futures trading Friday, July contracts fell by a dime to $67.98 per barrel, August decreased 11 cents to $67.63 and September dropped 11 cents to $67.10.A Midland man was arrested Wednesday after allegedly assaulting two deputies, according to court documents.

Ryan Matthew Hebert, 22, was being held Friday on two $50,000 bonds for two counts of first-degree felony charge of aggravated assault against a public servant and a $500 bond for a Class A misdemeanor of evading arrest.

Midland County deputies were dispatched Wednesday in reference to a man threatening to kill a woman.

The woman told deputies she went next door to give clothes to the kids at the residence when Hebert came out and threatened to kill her, according to the arrest affidavit.

Hebert, who had fled the scene, was located in an alley behind his residence. He picked up two stones and threatened to throw them at one of the deputies, according to the affidavit.

A deputy deployed his Taser but it didnt have any effect on Hebert, who then proceeded to throw a rock at the deputy, according to the affidavit.

As deputies attempted to place Hebert in custody, he charged toward them and threw the second stone, hitting one of the deputies on the face, according to the affidavit.

If convicted of the second-degree felony charge, Hebert could face up to 20 years imprisonment.Odessa Police Department

An Odessa man has been arrested in connection with a death that occurred Friday morning in North Odessa, according to a press release from the Odessa Police Department.

Jerome Nelson, 31, was being held Friday on a first-degree felony charge of murder in the shooting death of Rochel Zuniga, 28.President Donald Trump has invited members of the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, the site of the deadly mass shooting that claimed 26 lives in November, to the White House on Thursday.

Frank and Sherri Pomeroy, the churchs pastor and his wife, along with shooting survivor David Colbath, his son Morgan Colbath, and Sherri Pomeroys sister Sylvia Timmons, are to join the president for a prayer service at 11 a.m. for the National Day of Prayer.

We did not expect a personal invitation to the White House from the President, Sherri Pomeroy said by a text message. When I received that email, I confirmed the legitimacy of the invitation and accepted, of course!

RELATED: Some Sutherland Springs shooting victims question use of church donations

This will be her first time in the nations capital, much less at the White House and, later that evening, the U.S. Capitol.

The five Sutherland Springs visitors will be attending the National Day of Prayers evening services at the Capitols historic Statuary Hall. The Pomeroys will be interviewed by Pastor Ronnie Floyd, president of the National Day of Prayer Task Force, and Frank Pomeroy will lead a short prayer  all live-streamed across the country.

Theyll also attend a private banquet the night before hosted by the Task Force.

One of the 26 killed in the massacre was the Pomeroys 14-year-old daughter, Annabelle.

We are very honored that we are invited to the White House and asked to pray for our nation in this historic place, Sherri Pomeroy said. While this invitation is bittersweet because of the events that brought us to this place, may we never turn down a forum to share the gospel of Jesus Christ wherever it takes us.

Silvia Foster-Frau is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of her stories here. | sfosterfrau@express-news.net | @SilviaElenaFFIllinois School for the Deaf students gathered Friday to celebrate their language and culture.

ISDs annual American Sign Language (ASL) Celebration brought together students from kindergarten through 12th grade and featured skits, videos and musical presentations.

It is really about the importance of sign language, ISDs ASL coordinator, Craig Kuhn, said. We have been doing this program for more than 10 years. For the students and staff, we gather to recognize the importance of language and celebrate our language, which is American Sign Language. It gives the students an opportunity to perform on stage or on video as well as in front of their peers and staff. Those appearing on video will be on the ISD website soon so parents and others can view it.

The event, held in ISDs Marshall Gym, included the showing of several videos of ISD students using ASL to tell the story of books they had read and videos of students signing parts of books to encourage their fellow students to read the books.

Also, a video was shown that was written and produced by ISDs high school video production class. In that video, it showed what ISD would be like if a student was principal in the real principals absence.

Another video, narrated in ASL by current ISD students, showed the ISD campus and classrooms in 1939, the 100th anniversary of the schools founding.

During a skit, three students volunteered to help fellow student Kamren Johnson of Jacksonville perform in an impromptu program that emphasized the importance of facial expressions and body language when using ASL.

Music also was a part of the event. Students Estrella Gomez of Aurora and Shavon Tate of Jacksonville used ASL to perform The Climb by Miley Cyrus and Trashauna Tate and and Kyla Claybourn, both of Jacksonville, signed the song I Miss You by Kim McCoy.

ISD senior Michael Lapa of Palos Heights served as the events master of ceremonies.

I was excited to be the MC and to introduce the different ASL performances to the audience, Lapa said. I was willing to volunteer because I wanted to represent ASL history as well as represent my language  American Sign Language. I believe it is my duty to represent American Sign Language.

ASL classes at ISDs high school are taught by Carol Christensen, while ASL in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade are taught by Leslie Sutton.

During the celebration, the winners of the ASL art contest were announced. The pre-kindergarten through sixth grade winners were: Allicia Hallom of Red Bud and Catavia Griffin of Calumet City, first; Hayden Brown of Jacksonville, second; and Jadyn Roebuck of Savoy, third.

The ASL art contest winners in seventh grade through 12th grade were: Jazmine Carlson-Baylander of Rockford, first; Valerie Eyer of Jacksonville, second; and Jade Bryson of Carrollton, an Illinois School for the Visually Impaired student who takes an ASL class at ISD, third.

Kathryn Surbeck, who supervises ISDs ASL department, said the ASL Celebration is important in many ways.

Not only is this event a way of celebrating ASL, but its a way of helping students learn about their deaf culture and deaf heritage, Surbeck said. It was clear from the student response that they enjoyed participating and watching their peers perform.

Greg Olson can be reached at 217-245-6121, ext. 1224, or on Twitter @JCNews_Greg.A bipartisan group of lawmakers at the statehouse is pushing its fellow legislators to budget like many Illinois families by starting with how much money is expected to come in for the year and capping spending there.

House Minority Leader Jim Durkin offered up a revenue estimate for the coming budget year of $37.6 billion. He said, if passed, this would be the first revenue estimate in four years. The revenue estimate is required by the state constitution and state statute.

It aggravates me, [state Rep.] Keith Wheeler, everybody in our side of the chamber, when year in, year out that the Democrats decide that state law and the constitution are not binding and strictly advisory and thats wrong, Durkin, R-Western Springs, said at a Thursday morning news conference.

Durkins revenue number includes the income tax increase imposed over the governors veto last summer.

State Rep. David McSweeney, R-Barrington Hills, said a revenue estimate is required, but the only revenue estimate I will support, the only one, is one that repeals the Madigan-Rauner tax hike.

Democrats, with help from some Republicans, passed a $5 billion tax hike over Gov. Bruce Rauners veto in 2017. McSweeney estimated about $31 billion for the coming year if the tax increase was lowered back to the level before last summers income tax increase.

Gov. Rauner has made his priorities clear on behalf of the people of Illinois, we need a balanced, full-year budget with no tax increases, Rauner spokesperson Rachel Bold said in an email. The governor presented a balanced budget to the General Assembly. Its time for the General Assembly to work with us  acknowledge what revenue is available and control spending.

Durkin said if House Speaker Mike Madigan doesnt advance a revenue estimate resolution, his members will work to slow things down.

Weve shown this week and the last two weeks that when the Democrats are not going to be fair with us, that we could make the process not so easy, Durkin said. But the point of this is it is a damn state law that we do not follow.

Madigans office said it believed a revenue estimate can be passed if an agreement can be reached.

While the House hasnt passed a revenue estimate in years, the Senate has.

In a separate Thursday news conference, a bipartisan group of lawmakers continued to push to control Illinois spending with an amendment to the state constitution to cap spending.

Over the past 10 years, state government spending has grown 25 percent faster than taxpayer income, a Senate Democrat press release on the issue said.

Separate but identical measures in the House and Senate would ask voters if the state constitution should be changed to include a spending cap.

Senate Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment 21 would cap the growth in state government spending at the rate of growth in Illinois economy, as measured by the average annual growth of per capita gross domestic product over the preceding 10 years.

Illinois Policy Institutes Adam Schuster said changing the constitution to cap state spending to the rate of growth in Illinois economy is needed.

We see this from states ranging from California, to Texas, to Florida, so you could see that this is not a partisan measure, its not an ideological measure, Schuster said. Its a good government, common sense way to control the rate of spending.

Lawmakers have a May 6 deadline to pass constitutional amendment to make it on the November ballot for voters to make the call.

Schuster said if that doesnt happen, budgeteers could implement the policy in their appropriations policies, or they could codify it in state statute. But, Schuster said having it in the state constitution would make it ironclad.

State Sen. Michael Connelly, R-Naperville, said voters have asked for spending caps over and over again.

Lets cap spending, lets put in place something that will rein in out-of-control Springfield, is what theyll say, Connelly said. But this is something that I think would be an easy sell back home.

Lead Senate sponsor, state Sen. Tom Cullerton, D-Villa Park, said the cap could help the state get a reserve, which could be used to pay delinquent bills.

The measure would allow for emergency spending in instances of natural disasters or other disasters declared by legislators.

The House measure, House Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment 38, is sponsored by state Rep. Allen Skillicorn, R-East Dundee.

Lawmakers have a May 31 deadline to pass a budget for the coming fiscal year with simple majorities.During the first century of the states history, the natural habitats along the Illinois River helped spur fishing industries and had places for hunting.

The Illinois River was a habitat for bottom-feeding fish such as catfish, common carp and small-mouth buffalo as well as mussels. The abundance of fish led to a commercial fishing industry between Havana and Meredosia, according to the state museum. Towns had their own markets that processed and shipped fish to large Midwestern and Eastern cities from the 1890s to the 1950s.

Sport hunters formed clubs and bought land along the Illinois River to start duck hunting resorts managed by locals, according to the state museum.

However, there also was a demand to be able to transport goods, which changed life along the river.

Reports in the 1830s said the river wasnt navigable in 70 to 80 places during the low-water months. A canal was eventually built between LaSalle and Chicago.

The canal was instrumental in Chicagos growth, said Michael Wiant, the interim director for the Illinois State Museum. Theres a recognition there, navigability on the river would give vitality to the economy of Illinois.

Towns along the Illinois River, such as Naples, Grafton, Peoria and Beardstown, are the earliest communities in the region to be established. Ottawa had deposits of silica sand, that would be transported into Chicago for construction.

You could begin to see the river as an artery that literally feeds the heart of the city, Wiant said.

Levees eventually were built along waterways to keep the river in place, and maintain a channel. That infrastructure decision also eventually drained floodplains and backwater habitats, which led to those areas becoming land for row-crop agriculture.

The river is largely, by the early part of the 20th century, engineered to handle that transportation issue that is having vitality, Wiant said. But it comes at a price of not only the natural powerhouse of the backwater lakes, things like commercial fishing industries are affected negatively. It changes the character of the river profoundly.

Natural habitats for ducks, fish and mussels were negatively affected and populations crashed, Wiant said. Eventually there were wildlife refuges established to give habitat to ducks to try to keep those population.

To maintain navigation, you need stable water levels. To get stable water levels you need locks and dams. To keep the channel in place you need levees, Wiant said. Levees then cut off the backwater lakes from the natural hydrology of the river, and while youre producing agricultural commodities, which are good things to be sure, the price youre paying, the natural habitats are deteriorated.

Using the Illinois River, as well as the Mississippi River, as economic engines for the transportation of goods continues today.

In recent years, there has been an effort to increase the amount of commodities and goods that are moved down the Illinois and Mississippi rivers.

Americas Central Port has been awarded a $713,000 federal grant to help load containers on the Illinois River at Beardstown. The containers would be sent to Chicago to be loaded onto trains, or to St. Louis where containers would be placed on trains, or continue down the Mississippi River on barges to New Orleans. The project is still in the planning stages.

Cargill has grain elevators along the Illinois river, in locations such as Havana. Barges are loaded and then sent down the river and eventually connected to the Mississippi River where they head toward the Gulf of Mexico where they are then shipped around the world to places such as Europe and Japan.

Theres an immense amount of grain that is transported along the river today, Wiant said. So, if you look at Naples, and Beardstown, and Meredosia and Havana, the number of elevators of grain handling facilities in Havana is stunning. They do an incredible amount of transportation of grain from that point.

According to the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative, nearly $5 billion in annual revenue and 20,000 jobs are generated by commercial navigation on the Mississippi River.

In 2015, 35 million tons of goods moved on the Mississippi River through the St. Louis area, according to data provided by the St. Louis Regional Freightway, which is a freight district and comprehensive authority for freight operations and opportunities within eight counties that compose the St. Louis metropolitan area.

Its a combination that adds up to the St. Louis region having inexpensive barge freight rates for the handling of fertilizer, steel, manufactured goods, coal, petroleum products and agricultural commodities, said Mary Lamie, executive director of the freightway.

The St. Louis area, and the freightway district, has touted how one-third of all the river freight traffic from Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Cairo, Illinois, goes through the St. Louis region.

The St. Louis Regional Freightway is promoting the Mississippi River between Illinois and Missouri as the Ag Coast. Ports in the St. Louis area are the northernmost ice-free and lock-free access ports to and from the Gulf of Mexico.NEWTOWN - The high-profile parents who lost sons in the Sandy Hook massacre and went on to build one of the premier gun violence prevention groups in the country will not run for Congress in Connecticuts 5th District.

Nicole Hockley and Mark Barden said Friday afternoon considerations for their surviving children, who are still in school, helped sway their decision not to run.

Perhaps, one day, one of us will embrace this opportunity, Hockley and Barden wrote in a joint statement. Unfortunately, now is not the time.

Both Hockley and Barden had been urged to run by leading Democrats after U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty dropped her re-election bid because she mishandled a sexual abuse scandal in her Washington, D.C., office.

Hockley and Barden agreed that only one of them would decide to run, if that seemed like the right decision. Instead, they now want to continue their work at Sandy Hook Promise, a nonprofit that promotes school safety and gun violence prevention.

I respect their decision not to run for the seat and respect the thought they put into this decision, said Nick Balletto, Democratic State chairman.

The partys hopes are now pinned on former Simsbury First Selectman Mary Glassman, Balletto said.

Glassman, who is in the race for the 5th, is a great activist and has a wealth of knowledge and experience in the district, he said. I have no doubt that she will run a great race.

The two-time Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, was the first candidate to declare her candidacy for Congress in the wake of Estys decision not to run in early April.

Former Newtown Rabbi Shaul Marshall Praver also said he would run as a Democrat.

The two Democrats now in the race have three Republican challengers left after a bumpy week in which the candidate pool has grown and contracted day by day.

State Rep. William Petit, R-Plainville, the sole survivor of the 2007 Chesire home invasion, had been weighing a run for Estys seat as a Republican until Wednesday, when he said he would run for re-election to his seat in the state legislature instead.

The GOP had encouraged Petit to run hoping his high-profile could help them win in what has traditionally been Connecticuts only competitive Congressional seat.

Petits announcement prompted a political newcomer to throw her hat in Thursday. Republican Ruby ONeill, wife of state Rep. Arthur ONeill, R-Southbury, declared her intent with the support of House Republicans.

Vice chair of the Commission on Equity and Opportunity, ONeill has never before run for public office but she is counting on her academic background and Latino heritage to help her to victory in a district where Esty, a Democrat, won with wide margins.

Also vying for the seat is Republican Manny Santos, a former mayor of Meridan. In 2013, Santos defeated former Mayor Michael Rhode to become the first Republican mayor of Meriden since 1983.

Santos has raised about $15,000 in individual contributions for his campaign, according to federal filings.

Facing off with Santos and ONeill is Republican Craig Diangelo, a former information technology worker, who has raised about $7,500 and kicked in $5,500 from his own pocket.

In late March, Esty admitted to mishandling allegations against a former chief of staff, who she kept on board three months after learning he was accused of punching and threatening to kill a former aide in her D.C. office.

emunson@hearstmediact.com; Twitter: @emiliemunsonWASHINGTON - The Trump administration has drafted a proposal that would freeze fuel-efficiency standards for automobiles starting in 2021 and challenge California's ability to set efficiency rules of its own, a changes that would hobble one of the Obama administration's most significant initiatives to curb climate change.

The draft document, while not final, suggests the Trump administration is poised to make significant changes to planned auto standards over the next decade. A federal official, who has reviewed the document, described it in detail to The Washington Post.

Drafted in large part by the Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA), the plan outlines a preferred alternative where the federal government would freeze fuel efficiency standards for cars and light trucks at levels now set for Model Year 2021, keeping them there through 2026.

The draft offers seven other options that would also weaken the standards, though not to the same extent as the preferred alternative.

Under an agreement reached between the Obama administration, California officials and automakers several years ago, manufacturers' fleet of cars and light trucks in the U.S. are slated under current rules to average more than 50 miles per gallon by 2025 - well above the levels at which the Trump administration is proposing to freeze the standards.

If finalized, the Trump administration's proposal would set the stage for a major conflict with California, one of the nation's most progressive states on climate change and air pollution.

The Obama administration granted California a waiver under the Clean Air Act to set its own tailpipe emissions limits, and the state's higher standards have led automakers to build more fuel-efficient automobiles to maintain access to California's massive market. But the Trump administration document asserts that, despite the Clean Air Act waiver, a separate federal law preempts California from drafting its own emissions standards.

Earlier this month, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt announced he would revoke the Obama-era standards, but he did not specify what would take their place. Pruitt concluded they were "not appropriate" in light of new information, including automakers' input that consumer demand for sport-utility vehicles and pickup trucks far outweighed interest in electric and other low-emissions vehicles.

Pruitt has publicly hinted dissatisfaction with California's more stringent auto standards, though in other instances he has argued that states should have more discretion in crafting environmental rules.

"Federalism doesn't mean that one state can dictate to the rest of the country," Pruitt told members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in January.

When asked again on Thursday if the EPA intends to start proceedings to revoke California's waiver, Pruitt told the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on the environment: "Not at present. In fact, we've worked very closely with California officials on that issue."

Stanley Young, a spokesman for the California Air Resources Board, took exception to Pruitt's characterization of relations between the two government agencies. "Pruitt himself has never met with anyone from CARB - even when he was in California in March," Young wrote by email. He added that EPA and CARB officials have had three "nonsubstantive" meetings over the past four months. "This is not, by any stretch of the definition, 'working with California,' " Young said.

California's top prosecutor hinted Friday it may challenge the EPA's new auto standards in court, should they come to fruition.

"The Trump Administration's plan would rob Americans at the gas pump and risk our childrens' health by polluting the air we breathe," California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in a statement. "We'll closely monitor any developments and I'm ready to take any and all action necessary to defend our progress."

The current standards were set to avoid 6 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles sold between 2012 and 2025, according to the EPA. Since the rules were issued, the transportation sector has outstripped electric power to become the top source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States.

Some automakers such as Ford and Honda have publicly cautioned against a rollback of the current national tailpipe limits. Any proposal to reverse the existing limits would be subject to public comment before being finalized, and a protracted court battle could delay the change even further.

National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration officials Friday stressed in an emailed statement to the Post that the plan was not final, promising the upcoming review process would be "public, robust, and transparent."

"NHTSA and EPA continue to work together on Corporate Average Fuel Economy and tailpipe standards for future model year passenger cars and light trucks. NHTSA's top priority is safety and this Administration must also consider economic practicability when setting these Standards," they wrote. "The agencies intend to take comment on a broad range of options. Given that the work is ongoing, at this time there is nothing to announce until a proposal is actually released."

The Environmental Protection Agency has not signed off on the draft, and the plan has not yet been sent to the White House for review.

"The Agency is continuing to work with NHTSA to develop a joint proposed rule and is looking forward to the interagency process," EPA spokesman Liz Bowman said in an email.

Democrats immediately pushed back on the Trump administration proposal.

"Rather than pursuing a reasonable compromise, the Trump Administration is crafting a proposal that is dramatically weaker than any automobile manufacturer has requested and that also deliberately seeks to embark on a legal collision course with the State of California - a scenario that automakers, lawmakers and the State of California have all repeatedly urged the administration to avoid," Senator Tom Carper, D-Del., said of the new document in a statement.Despite an earlier than usual start, hundreds poured into downtown early Friday for the Battle of Flowers Parade.

This year, the annual event began at 9:30, about two hours earlier than normal.

San Antonio Fire Chief Charles Hood waved at the crowd from atop a fire truck adorned in colorful flowers and signs that paid tribute to Scott Deem, the SAFD firefighter who was killed in the line of duty at a blaze at a strip mall last year.

"Gone, but never forgotten," the sign read. "He was the best of us."

Alfred Martinez and his wife, Estela, had walked with their daughter, Lisa, to buy last-minute tickets, setting themselves up on Broadway near Josephine street, at the start of the route.

RELATED: College night puts a wild spin on NIOSA 2018

"We've been coming for 60 years," Estela Martinez said. Each said the floats are their favorite thing  "That, and everybody's just so happy," she said.

Yvonne Smith of Schertz, took her sons, Gilbert, 2, and R.J., 8, so they could experience their first Battle of Flowers. Smith grew up in San Antonio, and returned after being away for 10 years because her husband is in the military. "I'm excited to have them do what I did as a kid," she said.

A team from Keep San Antonio Green walked the route and handed out bags to people sitting in the chairs.

"Please use these for your trash," said one woman with an arm full of garbage bags. "Thank you!"

Beneath some of the gowns of various queens were not the usual bejeweled Fiesta royalty footwear, but cowboy boots and sneakers, including at least one pair of hand-painted Spurs canvas Converse. "Show us your shoes!" is the traditional shouted demand from parade-watchers, and those on the floats come prepared to oblige.

Some entries were a single giant balloon or a decorated vehicle; others were elaborate affairs that clearly took time and effort to create.

The yoked two-car float for Mi Tierra Cafe was one. It featured live music and was a crowd favorite, drawing cheers from onlookers. The detailed float sported a Day of the Dead theme, laden with multi-colored flowers, pinatas, ribbons and many portraits of ancestors. Bearers carried poles topped with papier mache characters, including an old man in a guayabera and a musician, among others. It was very much like a moving altar for the Cortez family, active community leaders who own Mi Tierra and several other area restaurants.

Many spectators milling in the crowd near the Alamo proudly displayed their collections of medals. Holli Bernal, 37, who wore hers on a scarf around her neck, said she's pretty selective  but still has acquired about 100 over the past three years.

"I'm kind of picky," she said. "I like for them to have a meaning."

Nearby, the Martinez family sat under a purple canopy, personalized with a white stenciling of their name. Lina Martinez, a mother of four, said her husband's family had been staking out the spot for generations, starting with his grandfather, who always enjoyed the parade from the shade of a tree across from Ripley's Believe It or Not! Odditorium.

"It's a family affair," she said. "We know we're going to have a good seat and not be smooshed."

In a very San Antonio moment, the 323rd Army Band, "Fort Sam's Own," marched past playing traditional Tejano polka tunes.

They were followed by Southwest High School's band, which played and danced the "Macarena" as they passed underneath the overpass on Broadway near The Pig Stand restaurant.

Kelly Cunningham and her 6-year-old daughter, Kynleigh, were matched from head to toe as they stood near rows of chairs in front of the Hotel Gibbs. They wore off-the-shoulder red dresses, flower tiaras, gold sandals and reflective aviator sunglasses. Cunningham, who is taking advantage of the "very small window in which she wants to match with me," carefully selected the outfit online and saved it for the parade.

Cunningham grew up in San Antonio, but her husband and daughter are new to the celebration. The family recently moved here after work-related moves  13 times in 30 months. She said she's enjoyed teaching them about "Fiesta culture."

"There is no place like San Antonio in Fiesta," Cunningham said.

Jessica Smith and her son, Jace Hough, 14, moved here from Springfield, Missouri three years ago to be closer to Smith's mom. The pair have made a tradition of attending at least two or three Fiesta events every year, and the Battle of Flowers Parade is always one of them.

On Friday they camped out at Santa Rosa and Martin streets and enjoyed breakfast tacos as they waited for the parade to arrive.

"In Missouri they don't have anything like this," Smith said. "I love it."

Jace said he loved the culture of the parade and how everyone comes together to celebrate. It shows, he says, the best of society: How everyone can unite despite their differences.John Milton Ivy had a passion for Western swing dance bands and the honky-tonks they played in.

Family-friendly dance halls were like a second home, said his daughter, Annette Ivy.

We went to John T. Floore (a Helotes honky-tonk) Sunday afternoons for family dance. So, I learned to dance at a very young age  dancing on my fathers toes, she said.

Ivy had his daughter memorize dance etiquette rules:

You should always buy a round of drinks for the table.

A gentleman asks every lady at the table to dance at least once.

And, a lady accepts every request as long as the man is not drunk or refuses to take off his hat, she recalled.

It still makes me laugh, she said.

Ivy was diagnosed with acute leukemia earlier this year. He died at home April 22 at 90.

More Information John Milton Ivy Born: March 14, 1928, Frost Died: April 22, 2018, San Antonio Preceded by: Parents John Marvin and Mabel Land Ivy; wives May Baird and Marilyn Hill Survived by: Daughter Annette Ivy, son Joel Ivy, and brother Billy Frank Ivy and sister-in-law Fannie Raye Ivy Services: Burial service 10 a.m. May 9 at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery with a reception to follow See More Collapse

Up until the last week of his life, he was still driving and singing karaoke, his daughter said. The Milk Cow Blues and He Stopped Loving Her Today were his favorites, she added.

Ivy attended the same school as his mother, Hubbard High School. At the time, the country was immersed in World War II. He wanted to quit school and enlist in the military, but his parents made him stay.

The day after graduation, Ivy and his best friend joined the Army.

By the time he got to Fort Sam Houston for medic training in 1945, the war was winding down.

Ivy went on to serve aboard the USS Hope, a hospital ship in the Pacific theater. Later he, escorted shell-shocked combat veterans by train to their hometowns, his daughter said.

Two years after the war ended, Ivy came home to Texas. He took classes at what was then called Hillsboro Junior College, just outside of Waco. But Ivy left to work at Kelly AFB as a draftsman. He continued his education by going to night school at St. Marys University.

During those years, he fell in love with Marilyn Hill. She also loved to dance. Their 25-year marriage started in 1954.

Ivy went on to complete his bachelors degree in political science at Trinity University in 1958, the year his daughter was born.

In all, they had two children, Annette Ivy and a son, Joel Ivy.

After getting divorced, Ivy married May Baird. Their 18-year marriage ended with her death in 2001.

Over the years, Ivy served as a Mason for 50 years and held two positions at the American Legion Veterans Lodge 1177  chaplain and vice commander.

iwilgen@express-news.netOne person is dead after a driver speed through an intersection on the South Side hitting that person's vehicle, according to San Antonio police.

Officers say a driver was traveling south at a high rate of speed on South Hackberry Street about 4:30 a.m., Saturday, when he ran a red light and T-boned another vehicle at the Iowa Street intersection.A number of business owners around the mission World Heritage Sites on the South Side have expressed concerns about possible downzoning to their properties.

The downzoning is under consideration as an effort to better control development around San Antonios missions, which achieved World Heritage status in 2015. There is a plethora of auto shops and motels along Roosevelt Avenue and Presa Street  legitimate existing businesses that are arguably incompatible with the World Heritage designation.

Well return to that point in a bit. But first, lets focus on the zoning saga.

RELATED: Google shows San Antonio missions in 3D, 360-degree glory

Zoning discussions are generally thorny. In this case, the city has to balance the historical significance of the missions, property rights concerns from area businesses and support from nearby neighborhood associations, whose members would like to see new development and low-density housing come to the area.

Many of the businesses affected by the downzoning have been on the South Side for years, if not decades. Theyve been operating under one set of rules and now are being asked to operate under another. No small issue.

A number of owners have expressed concern that going from a C-2 designation, which allows for unlimited building sizes and a variety of uses, to a C-1 designation, which is much narrower, would limit their ability to expand their businesses and could harm future property sales.

These are legitimate concerns, but we think a few deep breaths are in order. We realize thats easy to say when its not your property, but hear us out. First, the downzoning will grandfather in existing businesses. Auto shops will continue to be auto shops. Car lots will remain car lots. Motels will remain motels.

RELATED: Sheryl Sculley approves a controversial project near San Antonio landmark, with conditions

Yes, the downzoning could limit expansion plans for the affected businesses. But not necessarily. In an interview, Assistant City Manager Roderick Sanchez said some businesses could qualify for conditional use, allowing for certain expansion plans.

As for concerns about resale, the city has provided and continues to provide numerous incentives to the area that will likely increase property values. These include matching grants for facade and other exterior improvements, and millions of dollars in street renovations, said Colleen Swain, director of the citys World Heritage Office.

We would also argue the $300 million Mission Reach hike-and-bike trail along the San Antonio River is another significant incentive to the area.

The underlying issue here is that the World Heritage designation has forced this community to reckon with mistakes of the past.

The missions are a historical jewel, and auto shops and low-rate motels should never have been allowed to proliferate so close to them. This is not unlike the carnival-like businesses directly across from the Alamo. They are legitimate businesses, but their nature undermines the sanctity of that hallowed ground.

FOR OUR SUBSCRIBERS: Controversial missions-area 'downzoning' gets delayed

For this reason, District 3 City Councilwoman Rebecca Viagran, who represents the area, said she thinks of this as right zoning.

I see it as an opportunity to set some things right that have been difficult and set wrong in the past, she said in an interview.

The zoning commission will consider the downzoning proposal in June. We encourage the commission to recommend support, just as the city should identify any businesses that merit conditional use exceptions.

Regardless of the zoning commissions recommendation, the City Council should embrace this zoning change around our missions.

Preserving and honoring San Antonios history requires it.Re: Looking forward to meeting Korean; Trump says hell leave summit if not fruitful, Nation & World, April 19:

After decades of U.S. presidents essentially playing ostrich while North Korea has been developing nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them, we finally have a president who is seeking to rein in that menace to world peace, but Robert Mueller, James Comey, Andrew McCabe, Rod Rosenstein and others are trying to stop President Donald Trump from performing his activities and carrying out his agenda.

I think that a special counsel is needed to investigate those individuals for collusion with North Korea.

Hugh Caddess

Open-and-shut case

Re: Copies of Comey memos reflect what he has said, From the Cover, April 20:

James Comey has made it perfectly clear in his book that President Donald Trump is shorter than Comey thought he was, that his ties are too long, that his hands are small and that he has white outlines around his eyes from the goggles he wears under sunlamps.

What more evidence do we need? It is time to impeach the president!

Cole Johnson

Sure he does

President Donald Trump has stated on numerous occasions that he looks forward to answering questions from special counsel Robert Mueller.

I predict hell schedule a meeting with Mueller right after he releases his tax returns.

Ken Phelps

Rule of law

Re The collusion lie, Your Turn, April 19:

The letter writer asks, What is the underlying suspected crime that launched the investigation? Robert Mueller was appointed special counsel to do three things:

1. Investigate Russian government efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.

2. Investigate any links or coordination between Russia and the Trump presidential campaign.

3. Investigate any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation.

Mueller is not investigating Trump unless it is determined that Donald Trump or members of his team worked with the Russians to affect and/or change the results of the election.

As to how I would feel if this type of investigation happened to a candidate I supported? If my candidate worked with a foreign government to affect the election outcome, then he/she would be unfit to serve as president.

Mueller is not using the tactics of a banana republic. Rather, this investigation is the very definition of the rule of law, which is one of the things that set us apart from banana republics.

Stephen Carter, New Braunfels

Stepford anchors

I was not surprised to see WOAI and KABB anchors selling the fake news storyline spewed by Sinclair Broadcast Group. They dutifully became part of the Sinclair Stepford anchors, droning out a hypocritical fake news warning.

KABB is a Fox affiliate, so no one should be surprised by that. I finally stopped watching when it instituted its Terror Desk, segments that are right out of the GOP lets all be afraid playbook. And they are noteworthy for their omissions.

One thing a military town like San Antonio should find disturbing is that the WOAI Terror Desk never once mentioned that Donald Trumps pal Vladimir Putin sent Russian mercenaries to attack U.S. soldiers in Syria (200 Russians were killed in this Feb. 7 attack, according to Voice of America). It does not mention the terrorism by the Russian mercenaries in its invasion of Eastern Ukraine. It does not mention the civilian airliner blown out of the air by a Russian missile. It does not mention the dangerous buzzing of U.S. military aircraft and ships by Russian fighters.

Were these incidents examples of the fake news that Randy Beamer was referring to as he mouthed Sinclairs corporate line?

Ronald Reagan would be horrified by the pro-Russian stance taken by todays GOP. No one should overlook the fact that Sinclair has become the Trump/GOP Pravda.

Stephen Van Gaasbeck, Helotes

Only one is treason

Re: Also treason? Your Turn, April 12:

The letter writer drew a false equivalency between President Barack Obamas congratulatory call to Vladimir Putin in 2012 and President Donald Trumps call in 2018.

The difference between the calls concerns Putins actions before and after 2012, and those before 2018. When Obama congratulated Putin, the Russian had yet to illegally annex the Crimea, invade Ukraine, allow a Russian missile to shoot down a civilian airliner in Ukraine, and conduct an attempted murder on British soil with an internationally banned nerve agent. He also had not enabled and protected the Syrian dictator Bashar Assad as he used chemical weapons against civilians.

So, yes, both Obama and Trump congratulated Putin, but only one could be described as treasonous. To this day, Trump has failed to protect the U.S. against interference from Putin in our future elections. Instead, he offers praise and congratulations to a foreign dictator.

What do you consider treason?

Timothy J. Witt

Healthy growth

Re: Commission denies foggy zoning request, Brian Chasnoff, April 28:

Congratulations to the zoning commissioners for their clear-sighted decision. This was a case of an owner wanting a blank check for use on his property to make it more salable.

Thank you to the residents who came to express your concerns. The voices of the community have been heard and heeded. It is these checks and balances that keep San Antonios growth healthy.

Sue SnyderExiled and fallen Ethiopian autarch, Mengistu Haile Mariam, who is thought to have had an invisible hand in last Novembers Operation Restore Legacy, which was launched by the military to oust former leader, Robert Mugabe, has had his secret kingmaker powers in Zimbabwe increased following his alleged closet appointment and promotion as Vice President Rtd General Constantino Chiwengas special advisor, Spotlight Zimbabwe, can exclusively reveal.

It remains to be seen what will happen to him now that his host, Robert Mugabe, has been removed from power.

This publication can also report that, the military intervention, which is the brainchild of Chiwenga was in fact reportedly first mooted by Mengistu, who is an unofficial member of the countrys powerful Joint Operations Command (JOC) and a hired Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) consultant, as first reported by this reporter in our news site edition on 21 June 2016, in April of the same year by urging the ZDF to step in and resolve Mugabes cumbersome succession gridlock, amid fears at the time of a possible government shut-down and civil unrest owing to the deteriorating economic situation that prevailed, and that the nonagenarians succession race itself had become a threat to national security.

JOC is a shadowy quasi military organ, bringing together the countrys military-security complex which includes the army, and its military intelligence wing and Presidential Guard, Air Force, Police, Prisons and the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) to manage homeland security affairs.

Mengistu fled to Zimbabwe in 1991 following his ouster by rebel forces in a country he ruled with an iron grip for 17 years after the 1974 assassination of Emperor Haile Sellassie. Mugabe immediately granted him asylum together with his family, and they now all have Zimbabwean citizenship.

According to a former minister in Mugabes yesteryear cabinet who held a security portfolio, the Ethiopian autocrat is being rewarded for his genius in giving Chiwenga helping advise, for his crossover from the barracks into the presidium.

Mengistu is one of those silent but influential kingmakers in the so called new dispensation, the former minister said by phone last week. Your paper managed to crack his involvement in pushing for Chiwenga to become vice president since 2008, after the ruling party was forced to share power with the opposition. So as we speak, Mengistu has received a closet promotion as the Generals (Chiwenga) special advisor. He now advises Chiwenga on an array of issues, especially how to synchronise his new civilian roles with his military doctrine.

The former cabinet minister also said it was Mengistu who had also suggested to Chiwenga not to completely retire from the ZDF, but to retain power and control of the military by running the ministry of defence, and taking care of the liberation war veterans to consolidate influence and position himself for ultimate takeover of the presidency when the time comes.

Although hell be 81 years next month, Mengistu still has a sharp military mind. Mnangagwa supported his idea for Chiwenga to remain de facto boss of the military as defence minister, which has been made possible by the fact that the vice president enjoys good chemistry with the new ZDF chief General Sibanda. Mengistu is very close to Chiwenga and Mnangagwa, that is why he is very safe in this country and going nowhere. Look at him as their military think-tank and strategist, because what he advises is usually implemented. He is the one who recommended that both the president and his vice use military bodyguards, instead of the normal secret service guys.

We first reported on 18 March 2016, that Chiwenga was on his way to become the first highest ranking military chief in the countrys history, to assume the second most powerful office in the land, after his predecessor, the late General Vitalis Zvinavashe, came within a whisker of taking up the same office in 2004 following the death of VP Simon Muzenda, in a thrilling grand political plan with Mengistus DNA. Chiwenga indeed became vice president together with his counterpart, Kembo Mohadi, in December 2017 after Mnangagwa appointed them to become his deputies.

Mengistu is also behind and instrumental in many past government war-like operations on civilians to quash possible popular uprising, such as Operation Murambatsvina, a brutal 2005 urban clean-up campaign blitz, that left nearly a million people without a roof above their heads.

CIO operatives at the time leaked to the media revelations, that Mengistu who was then Mugabes security adviser warned the former president, that swelling slum and backyard population in Zimbabwe was creating a fertile ground for mass revolts. In light of the collapsing economic situation and a discontented population growing in numbers, Mengistu reportedly told Mugabe that the only way to pre-empt any mass protests and uprising was by depopulating the countrys cities via an scorched-earth slum-clearance exercise.

At least 700 000 people became homeless and about 2,4 million citizens were affected by the swath of destruction left by the campaign, according to a report by then United Nations special envoy Anna Tibaijuka. Another military campaign, which has been linked with Mengistus input, is Operation Maguta, also launched around 2005 to resuscitate agriculture that had been ruined by Mugabes chaotic land reform programme. Maguta, was fronted as an initiative by JOC, driven by the old regimes fear of food riots stemming from widespread hunger.

Chiwenga ordered then central bank governor, Gideon Gono, to make sure that there was enough food production to prevent riots, as he did not want to command his troops to turn our guns on hungry Zimbabweans protesting against food shortages.

There have been calls by the opposition to have Mengistu extradited back to Ethiopia to face justice, after Mugabe was forced out of power last year, but Mnangagwa is not interested and is determined to keep him in the country for safety.

Mengistu who was given the nickname the Butcher of Addis Ababa was convicted of genocide in absentia in December 2006 and sentenced to life in prison. However, after an appeal, he was sentenced to death in absentia by the Ethiopian High Court, which overturned his life sentence.

 Spotlight

Breaking News via Email

Loading...

Related Zimbabwe Latest NewsControversial new airline Zimbabwe Airways recently received Boeing 777 has already cost hard-pressed taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars even as the wide-bodied aeroplane remains grounded at Robert Mugabe International Airport, the Daily News can report.

Well-placed sources said last night that the plane  whose operator Zim Airways is linked to the family of former president Robert Mugabe  has raked up a bill of more than $100 000 in parking, maintenance fees and crew hire alone in the short two weeks that it has been parked at the airport.

The government took delivery of the plane on April 11 as part one of the opaque deal that will see a total of four wide-bodied planes eventually being sourced from Air Malaysia for Zim Airways.

The purchase of the aircraft has attracted widespread criticism as the company which supposedly owns them, the Zimbabwe Aviation Leasing Company (ZALC)  which all along was said to be fronted by Zimbabweans living in the Diaspora  is now said to be a government entity.

Aviation sources also told the Daily News last night that the 20-year-old jetliner that has already been received is yet to be certified to fly, causing it to remain grounded  and costing the government nearly $60 000 to date in parking fees alone.

Although officials from the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (Caaz), which operates the countrys airports, refused to comment on the issue yesterday, it was learnt that the plane was likely to cost the fiscus much more in the coming weeks and months as there was no ready plan to fast-track its going into service.

According to the Caaz website, a plane of this size pays $130 in parking fees in the first hour that it docks, after which it attracts an extra charge of $40 for every $15 minutes thereafter.

A commercial plane is designed to constantly keep flying  due to the high costs associated with in its lease or purchase, as well as maintenance.

Indeed, for every minute a plane is on the ground, it loses money. Therefore, when a plane does get grounded for whatever reason, the costs it incurs by not flying are enormous, as is the case with this plane, one of the sources told the Daily News.

The delay in flying the new plane has apparently been partly caused by the fact that Zim Airways has no qualified captains to fly it, and will thus have to fork out even more money to hire expatriate pilots.

Unfortunately, if the delay in organising everything continues, the costs of maintaining it will keep ballooning, especially considering the fact that it is not making any money  which all raises more questions as to how we have ended where we are, another source said.

In the meantime, the government is set to bring in five more planes  encompassing the other three Boeing 777s and two Embraer jets  raising more concerns about the Air Malaysian deal and the governments seeming lack of preparedness for the planes.

Firstly, no one wanted those old planes and so they should have cost us much, much less. Secondly, Zim Airways clearly has no capacity to operate those aircraft, as they have no trained pilots and engineers for them.

This means that we will need to hire expatriates to fly the planes, and the going rate for a B777 captain is at least $20 000 per month which is unaffordable in this market, where you dont even have the passengers to justify the investment.

You require at least three sets of pilots per aircraft, although you can even go up to five if you have 15-hour flights and above, another aviation expert told the Daily News on the day the government received the 777 jetliner which was flown by a set of five Malaysian pilots when it landed at the Robert Mugabe International Airport.

Investigations by the Daily News have also revealed that the Malaysian planes are part of the 12 which were manufactured on order by Boeing in 1994, and which were delivered to Malaysian Airways three years later in 1997  where they have been operating until they were retired.

The purchase of the aircraft has torched a storm, especially after the government claimed to be the owners of ZALC, which it insisted was formed to bust the punitive sanctions which were slapped on Mugabe and his administration.

Speaking in an interview, Transport minister Joram Gumbo has claimed among other things that the government had kept the deal to register Zim Airways under wraps to evade the seizure of the planes by former commercial farmers whose land was seized during the 2000 agrarian reforms.

As a result, Gumbo and Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa have been hauled over the coals on the Zim Airways deal, with the public accusing them of misrepresenting facts to conceal crucial information pertaining to ownership and the full cost of the aircraft.

Gumbo has maintained that everything was done above board, claiming further that international audit firm Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC) had advised them that it was unwise to reveal who was buying the planes as they would be attached in Malaysia once the former white farmers learnt of the purchase.

That was a very straightforward deal. I dont know why you should be having problems with us there. We have come out clearly to say that they are government planes. We never took any cent from it. We actually did not get enough money to buy the planes that we want.

When we started negotiating for the Boeing 777ER planes from Malaysia, we were doing it for Air Zimbabwe and in the process, when we were about to pay for the first aircraft, we were then advised by the PWC who were the negotiators with Air Malaysia that if these planes are bought for Air Zimbabwe, they were going to be impounded by some former commercial white farmers whose land was acquired by government under the land reform programme, Gumbo told the Daily News.

Asked why the government was now claiming ownership of the planes when it still owed the former commercial white farmers compensation, Gumbo said the new dispensation had nothing to hide.

President Mnangagwa has pledged to compensate those farmers, and in line with the current thrust to re-engage with the world, we realised that there is nothing to hide anymore and we are setting the record straight, he said.

He also absolved the Mugabes of any wrongdoing, saying the nonagenarians son-in-law Simba Chikore was only carrying out a task given to him by government as he helped Zim Airways.

There is nothing amiss about his involvement in this deal. We asked him to resign from Air Zimbabwe in order to concentrate on Zimbabwe Airways and we are really grateful for the job he has done. We needed his knowledge and his connections in the aviation industry and that has really helped us, Gumbo said.

 DailyNews

Breaking News via Email

Loading...

Related Zimbabwe Latest News- Nigerian male barbie Bobrisky has been busy showering his favourite BBNaija housemate, Nina with love

- Bobrisky has been showing his support to the ivory finalist since day one

- A fan recently suggested he date her since he loved her so much and his response has many social media users abuzz with laughter

Nigerian bleaching cream expert and cross-dresser, Bobrisky has strengthened his unyielding love for BBNaija ex-housemate, Nina. From day one, Bob has shown the ivory finalist support from inside the house and now, he's her number one sponsor.

As Nina joins the rest of the four finalists to do media rounds around Lagos, Bob has been her number sponsor in looking and slaying right. His publicly displayed love for the housemate has gained the attention of many social media users.

So much so that one recently suggested that he should date the petite ex-housemate, his response has got many social media users abuzz with laughter.

READ ALSO: I might have been part of herdsmen/farmers clashes - Buhari

Bobrisky shared a post showing off his role in the glam look of Nina and someone commented saying: "Bob you can date Nina na. Are you not a fine man? Stop all these nonsense and date a babe na. Your matter is tiring."

In response, the male barbie said: "I'm a girl, we can't pratice lesbianism."

I'm a girl, I can't date her - Bobrisky replies to an IG user who asked him to date BBNaija housemate Nina

Meanwhile, Tonto Dikeh and Bobrisky recently teamed up to tackle Tunde Ednut over BBNaijas Nina.

PAY ATTENTION: Read best news on Nigeria's #1 news app

BBNaija Finale 2018: Nigerians share their thoughts on Cee-C, Miracle on Legit.ng TV:

Source: LegitAfter the success of its first two editions of Food and Drink Fair, one of Nigeria's leading financial institutions, GTBank, will be holding the 2018 edition of the event from Sunday, April 29 till Tuesday, May 1, 2018.

Nigeria's foremost commercial bank, Guaranty Trust bank, has said it will be holding the third edition of GTBank Food and Drink Fair.

This was disclosed by the bank's head of corporate affairs and external communication, Oyinade Adegbite, during a press briefing as its head office in Victoria Island, Lagos, on Friday, April 27.

READ ALSO: Stakeholders of Nigerias ICT sector turn up for CloudCover Abuja unveiling

Adegbite said: "The vision behind the initiative remains the same. It is to provide a free business platform for small businesses. It's about creating consumer platform that creates and draws consumers and allows small businesses to showcase their abilities.

"This year, we have an interesting lineup of chefs both local and international. And we also have about 150 small businesses, from farmers to people doing food processing."

Legit.ng notes that small businesses in the country's food sector and thousands of food lovers will be brought together through this initiative.

GTBank's head of corporate affairs and external communication, Oyinade Adegbite, addresses newsmen at the press briefing on Friday, April 27. (Photo credit: Legit.ng)

The 2018 edition of GTBank Food and Drink Fair will commence on Sunday, April 29 till Tuesday, April 1. (Photo credit: Legit.ng)

The participants at the press briefing were bestselling author and food network personality, Sunny Anderson, Raphael Duntoye and Chef Benedict, amongst others

Adegbite stated that two headliner chefs, Sunny Anderson and Raphael Duntoye, will grace the 3-day event, which will hold at plot 1-3, Water Corporation Drive, Oniru, Lagos.

Sunny Anderson at the press briefing on Friday, April 27. (Photo credit: Legit.ng)

From left to right, Chef Benedict and Raphael Duntoye at the press briefing on Friday, April 27. (Photo credit: Legit.ng)

According to GTBank, this year's fair will offer the best culinary experience in Lagos and beyond. The bank added that there will be a space for street food, which will offer the best of local delicacies, as well as farmer's market where SMEs involved in agriculture will sell fresh and organic farm produce.

PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app

The bank said that the fair is free for all to attend, adding that it will provide small businesses with a free and vibrant platform to connect with a wider segment of their target markets as well as experts in the business fields.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that Guaranty Trust Bank expressed its gratitude to the chefs, over 140 small businesses and all the guests for contributing to the overwhelming success of the 2017 GTBank Food and Drink Fair.

The bank said: "Beyond its ability to bring people together, food and drink possesses an immense potential to be the major source of economic upliftment for our customers and the country at large. That is why, at GTBank, we are delighted that you came to support our effort to create an unparalleled food experience and provide free business platforms for small businesses to thrive.

Nigeria News: Offa bank robbery - The untold story (NAIJ EXCLUSIVE) | Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit Nigeria- The special adviser to the Lagos state governor on civic engagement, Benjamin Olabinjo, decries the number of uncollected PVCs in the state

- He says his office would continue to intensify efforts at enlightening residents to seize the opportunity of the ongoing CVR to obtain their PVCs

- Nasarawa REC, Usman Ajidagba, says 1,148,740 eligible voters have registered in the state since the last election in 2015

The Lagos state government on Friday, April 27, emphasised the need for residents to take advantage of the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) to obtain their Permanent Voter Cards (PVC).

The special adviser on civic engagement, Benjamin Olabinjo, at the ongoing ministerial briefing on Governor Akinwunmi Ambodes third year in office in Alausa, also decried the number of uncollected PVCs in the state.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Lagos state has the highest number of uncollected PVCs, with no fewer than 1.4 million yet to be collected by residents.

READ ALSO: Those against Buharis re-election behind attacks in the country

Let me emphasise here that to remain apathetic to this exercise is a self-denial of the inalienable right to vote for candidates of your choice when it is time to do so.

I want to seize this opportunity to enjoin those who have yet to register to take advantage of the ongoing exercise to do so now.

It is important for all adults of voting age to participate in the political process that will produce those that will be at the helm of affairs in the polity, Olabinjo said.

He said that the office would continue to intensify efforts at enlightening residents to seize the opportunity of the ongoing CVR to obtain their PVCs.

According to him, the enlightenment would particularly be for those who have attained voting age and others who have relocated from their previous abode.

He also said that in the course of the year, the office would ensure enlightenment of residents on the need for peaceful electioneering in the state.

Olabinjo said that in the last three years, the office had engendered cordial working relationship between the legislative and the executive arms of government.

The special adviser said that 27 bills passed by the House Assembly were assented to by Governor Ambode during the period under review.

He said the office simplified and translated eight laws into Pidgin, Yoruba and Egun languages, to facilitate easy understanding and voluntary compliance.

PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app

Olabinjo, who said the office was in the process of embarking on sensitising residents on more laws of the state, promised that other bills would also be looked into for translation and simplification.

Let me use this opportunity to enjoin all to always respect public laws so as to maintain peace and order in the state, he said.

Olabinjo said the office attended to 119 issues arising from petitions and complaints from individuals, groups and communities.

In support of the needy, Olabinjo said that N254.750 million was disbursed to 2,046 beneficiaries by the office in the last three years.

He said that 108 communities were engaged while their requests include provision of facilities such as roads,street lights, drainage, health centres and schools.

Meanwhile, Usman Ajidagba, Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in charge of Nasarawa state, has said that 102,556 Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) have yet to be collected.

Ajidagba made this known on Thursday, April 26, in Lafia while interacting with newsmen on assumption of office as the new REC in charge of the state, The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

He said that 1,148,740 eligible voters had registered in the state since the last election in 2015, adding that the state had fared better than other states in the country in terms of collection of PVCs.

President Buhari on 2019 presidential election: will you vote for him? | Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit- 5000 members of the APC have decamped to PDP

- The members are the same people who left the PDP for APC in January 2018

- They cited confusion, lack of focus and no desirable agenda for the Ijaw people as the reason for decamping back to PDP

About 5000 members including 59 chieftains of the All Progressive Congress (APC) from the eight local government councils of Bayelsa State have on Friday, April 27, defected back to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) barely four months after leaving.

The Sun reports that the 5000 members were received by Governor Henry Seriake Dickson and leaders of the PDP in Yenagoa.

The returnees said they were deceived to join the APC but they have since realised that the party lacks focus and no desirable agenda for the Ijaw people.

READ ALSO: PDP directs members to vote against Senator Melayes recall

Dickson, while addressing the returnees, said: The PDP government in Bayelsa state under my watch has placed the state on the path of peace, prosperity, and development. Bayelsans are happy with the party. The PDP is the only party that has a developmental agenda for the Ijaw people.

What we do in PDP is to strategise to win elections and after elections we work for the development of our people because we are politics to serve our people. The other party comes to kill our people because they lack vision; they have no agenda for our people expect to destroy what our founding fathers have built and what our government is consolidating. Any person who is deceived to contest election in 2019 on another platform other than the PDP will still lose because only PDP can win election in Bayelsa state

The chairman of Bayelsa state chapter of the PDP, Honourable Moses Cloepas, while addressing the crowd also said only the party has the capacity to defeat federal might as it did in 2016 when Governor Henry Seriake Dickson was re-elected against all odds.

PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app

Recall that Legit.ng earlier reported that PDP lost five thousand members to the APC.

The members were led by a top grassroots politician Chief Morris Idamikposi Igaki on Friday, January 18.

According to the defectors, they participated in the campaign and politics of Governor Seriake Dickson but he abandoned them. They described his administration as dictatorial, oppressive and selfish.

2019 Presidency: Nigerians reveal why they prefer Atiku to President Buhari - on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit- The recall process of embattled senator, Dino Melaye, is still ongoing in his home state of Kogi

- Melaye is the current senator representing Kogi West Senatorial District in the Nigerian Senate

- His constituents kick-started the process of recalling him last year

Civil society observers duly accredited by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has given their verdict on the recall process of the embattled Senator Dino Melaye.

Melaye, 44, is the current senator representing Kogi West Senatorial District in the Nigerian Senate.

His constituents kick-started the process of recalling him last year, after accusing him of abandoning them after he was elected.

Senator Melaye's constituents kick-started the process of recalling him last year

READ ALSO: 4 major reasons we want Dino Melaye recalled - Kogi West constituents

The observers are Northern Patriotic Front, Global Development Centre, African Initiative for Sustainable and Positive Development and Centre for Credible Citizens Awareness.

In a statement sent to Legit.ng today, Friday, April 27, the groups stated that:

Having keenly observed the process leading to the April 28 verification of signatures of legible voters calling for the recall of the said senator, we wish to make our position and findings thus far clear as thus:

1. The demand by the electorates and citizens in Kogi West Senatorial District to recall their senator is in order and constitutional, hence should not be interrupted.

2. INEC in line with our relevant enabling laws as a democratic nation have so far shown transparency, fair-play and credibility in the entire process

3. Distribution of sensitive materials for Saturdays verification exercise is strictly ongoing without any hitch.

4. In showing transparency, INEC accredited ten (10) reputable civil society organizations as observers for the exercise with the mandate for them to observe the entire process and report accordingly without bias.

Based on the fact that the Kogi West Senatorial District Recall is one of its kind and will also help in strengthening our democratic values and promote credible, accountable and quality representation, we therefore make the following demands:

a. Every eligible electorate in Kogi West Senatorial District should come out en-mass to participate in this exercise without fear.

b. The electorate in the district should as well conduct themselves in an orderly and peaceful matter.

c. INEC, having commenced well, given cognizance to the rule of law, electoral process and constitutional rights of citizens should also finish well without blame.

d. Security agents in the state should ensure a peaceful atmosphere while the exercise last.

We the INEC duly accredited Civil Society Observer Groups are seriously monitoring the recall process across the seven local government areas in Kogi West Senatorial District, as it will help in shaping further our democratic principles by giving back constitutional powers to the electorates to both elect and recall their representative as the case may be.

Finally, we state that the Kogi West Senatorial Recall has clearly demonstrated that in democracy, power ultimately belongs to the electorate. Politicians and elected representatives of the people should take note.

READ ALSO: Dino Melaye recall: 4 politicians that might save him

Last year, INEC received 188,588 signatures out of the 360,098 registered voters for the recall of Dino Melaye from the Senate.

The commission received six bags, which contained the signatures of 52.3% of the electorates from the zone and other petitions.

Kogi West senatorial district to recall senator Dino Melaye from the Nigerian Senate - on Legit.ng TV

Source: LegitThe federal government has declared Tuesday, May 1, 2018, as a public holiday to celebrate the 2018 Workers Day.

The minister of interior, Lt Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau (retd.) who disclosed this in Abuja on Friday, April 27, congratulated Nigerian workers on their loyalty, strength of character, hard work, sacrifice and dedication to building a greater Nigeria, Punch reports.

READ ALSO: Lai Mohammed reveals those allegedly sponsoring attacks in parts of the country

The minister in a statement by the permanent secretary in the ministry, Dr M. Umar, appreciated the central role workers play in government activities and decisions, and for keeping faith with the present administration in its resolve to build a better Nigeria.

Dambazau solicited the continuous support of Nigerian workers in governments effort to re-position the economy and uphold the shared legacy of all Nigerians.

The minister wishes all Nigerian workers a successful May Day celebration, the statement said.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that the minister for labour and productivity, Chris Ngige, on Monday, March 5, assured Nigerian workers that implementation of a new minimum wage in the country would be done.

PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app

He said the committee set up for that purpose by the federal government had already started work.

Ngige gave the assurance while speaking with journalists shortly after witnessing the swearing in of newly-elected chairmen of the 18 local government councils in Edo at the Government House, Benin.

Who should get higher salary - doctors or teachers? - on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit- Nigerian Army said it arrested a key Boko Haram suspect named Aminu Yaminu

- The suspect is believed to be responsible for most of the recent killings in Benue

- The Army restated its commitment to ensure that all the perpetrators of killings in Benue are brought to book

The Nigerian Army said that it has arrested a key Boko Haram suspect behind the recent killings in Benue state.

In a statement issued on Friday, April 27, by the Assistant Director, Army Public Relations, Major Olabisi Ayeni said that the arrest was made possible through combined troops of 707 Special Forces Brigade, Nigeria Police and the Department of State Services in Makurdi, Punch reports.

Legit.ng gathered that Ayeni identified the arrested Boko Haram as Aminu Yaminu aka Tarshaku.

READ ALSO: Court grants EFCC permanent forfeiture of N1.4bn Paris club fraud' money allegedly linked to Saraki

Ayeni stated: Nigerian troops have arrested the key Boko Haram suspect known as Aminu Yaminu nicknamed Tashaku who is believed to have masterminded most of the recent attacks in Benue state.

He added that Aminu had concluded plans with his cohorts in Bauchi, Borno, Yobe and Nasarawa states to launch a major attack on innocent citizens in Benue state.

As earlier reinstated, Nigerian Army will ensure enemies of peace in the state are brought to justice.

Nigerian Army encourages all law abiding citizens to go about their lawful businesses without fear.

PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app

They should also oblige the Nigerian Army and other security agencies with timely information that could lead to the arrests of criminal elements in our society, Ayeni said in the statement.

Legit.ng previously reported that Reverend Tor Uja, the executive secretary of Nigerian Christian Pilgrim Commission (NCPC) called on all Christians to still show love and commitment and not to embark on reprisal attacks to the killings in the country.

Uja made this call during the pilgrimage leaders meeting comprising the state chairmen and secretaries, held at the headquarters on Friday, April 27, in Abuja.

He advised that Christians should not go back to the primordial level to descend on perpetrators, adding that they should stand up to a Christian character, which was love.

Nigerian herdsmen vs Nigerian farmers - on Legit.ng TV

Source: LegitEditor's note: Public affairs analyst, Ekele Sunday based in Lokoja, the capital of Kogi state, writes on the recent political situation in the north-central state, which has kept the state in turmoil for a while now.

Read below:

More facts are beginning to unravel about the level some political figures in Kogi State are ready to go in order to capture power and regain their political relevance.

Following the shocking revelation by police spokesperson, Jimoh Moshood, about the culpable involvement of the senator representing Kogi West at the red chamber of the National Assembly, Senator Dino Maleye, in the case of two nabbed suspected armed criminals there has been a fresh insight implicating a member of the Kogi state House of Assembly and other politicians of having a stained notorious history in Kogi state.

The suspects had alleged while being interrogated by the police that they were on the payroll of the embattled senator.

Investigations have also found out that a sitting lawmaker in the Kogi state House of Assembly, Honourable Friday Abdul Sani who is wanted by the long arm of the law for countless criminal acts in Kogi state since 2007 has also been fingered.

READ ALSO: Recall of Senator Dino Melaye by INEC in order - Observer groups

It would be recalled that between 2003 through 2012, based on the official documents that emanated from the Department of State Service (DSS), Friday Abdul Sani was a man who was entangled in diverse act of criminality while he tormented every persons that crossed his path. The honourable member back then together with his gang popularly called Ajana Mopol were known within the states terrain for wreaking havoc and causing mayhem. From the landslide of evidence available, Friday Abdul Sanis era was a reign of terror in Kogi state that many visit with fear and would otherwise, want to forget too soon.

Although the criminality of Friday Abdul Sani has been downplayed by the local media in the state out of the fear that the media outlet that would be brave enough to do so might be visited with tragedy, including physical attacks that can lead to death of prominent figures in such organizations or the particular journalist who dares the devil. It is also shocking to learn that even the diverse security agencies in the state were handicapped in handling this situation, even while they acknowledged the existence of a terrorist of Friday Abdul Sanis pedigree, they yet remained calm and allow a popular crime perpetrator to hold a public office.

Be reminded/informed that between 2004 and 2007, it was documented that Abdul Sani committed atrocities and deadly attacks across Kogi state, for which, unfortunately, he received a lot of accolades from some political players. One worthy to note was the alleged murder of Samaila Ejima on December 14, 2004. Although the police made some arrests at the beginning of the case, there were suspected foul play as enquiries by the concerned Odolu community members from the then commissioner of police revealed that the case was transferred to the Force Headquarters in Abuja and that the suspect arrested, Mohammed Omolayo, A.k.a Lessgo, escaped from police custody. That was the shocking end of that episode.

As at 2007, the group had become dreaded terror group and had spread their tentacles in different part of the state with smaller terror affiliates hiding under the canopy of positive youths and Aluta youths. These smaller groups were said get their financing from ransoms, extortions and illegal collection of revenue from timber contractors from part of Enugu state.

When the 2007 election drew near, the dreaded pro-government militia group embarked on a violent operation as they engaged in an overhauling clearance operation for persons in politics. Activities they engaged in ranged from murder, attempted murder, intimidation, abduction, extortion and repeated threats of prominent oppositions to the then power in government. Their activity was general knowledge to persons in the political terrain of the state who were not in shock while the so called political thug bagged a political appointment during the administration of Governor Idris Wada.

In the months of May and November 2008, residents of Okanwili, Ofodo, Agbokete and Ogbogbo communities were attacked and sacked by Friday Abdul Sani led militants. Properties belonging to a former commissioner for health, Honourable Martin Onu Idakwo and Alhaji Yakubu Abuh were vandalized. During this period, Dekina local government council was attacked and an innocent Pre-National Diploma student of the Federal Polytechnic Idah was gunned down while coming out from the mosque. Also, cars belonging to Honourable Ernest Abah and Jacob Edime were burnt. In Agbokete community, an 80 year old man, Adebo Abutu was beaten to death.

As far as the people of Igalamela/Odolu constituency and entire Kogi state are concerned, the supreme law of Karma has caught up with Friday Sani. Honourable Friday Sani used other four members out of the 24 members of the Assembly to impeach Rt Hon Momoh Jimoh Lawal in 2016. He defended his action in all forums because he was picking from the table of men at the Luguard House. Having been identified as a man who has reputation of feeding fat from crisis, Bellos executive discarded him immediately. Adding salt to injuries, he is also a forerunner of the fugitive group named Save Kogi initiatives a group which is aimed at offering salvation to Kogi state.

Another leading figure in the ill-fated Save Kogi Group is the senator representing Kogi East, Attai Aidoko Ali; the most fortunate but regrettably the worst politician the senatorial district has ever had. Aidoko has been in the National Assembly close to two decades but his performance can best be described simply as colourless as he has failed his people woefully. There was a viral video showing how the people in Aidokos community trek over 4km before they can access water from a stream for their domestic and economic activities. The most heinous aspect of his poor leadership is in the fact after 12 years as member of the countrys House of Representative and eight years as Senator, Attai Aidoko cannot sink a single borehole in his ancestral home.

On January 38 2016, his co-traveler and Senator Dino Melaye told an Assembly Of over 30, 000 people who gathered at the Confluence Stadium in Lokoja during inauguration of Yahaya Bello as governor of Kogi state that, while the people of Kogi state voted for late Prince Abubakar Audu, God Almighty elected Yahaya Bello. He further stated that whoever fights Yahaya Bello should know he is fighting God Almighty and thousands of people chorused Amen. The same Dino today has declared Kogi state as Gaza where there shall be no peace for the government and the people.

There is no doubt that actions and inactions of the characters identified in this piece are nothing but individuals desperate for take over power using whatever means necessary, including the use of violence. Little wonder there is a surge in the number attacks on locals in several parts of Kogi state just as the general elections draw near.

The need for security agents to make all necessary efforts to bring these characters to justice by interrogating them with the sole objectives of getting to the bottom of their nefarious activities cannot be downplayed here. It is okay for politicians to want to gain power through convincing campaigns using their antecedents, but it becomes overstretched when it begins to involve acts that endanger the lives of ordinary citizens of the state.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Legit.ng.

Your own opinion articles are welcome at info@corp.legit.ng drop an email telling us what you want to write about and why. More details in Legit.ngs step-by-step guide for guest contributors.

Were ready to trade your news for our money: submit news and photo reports from your area using our Citizen Journalism App.

Contact us if you have any feedback, suggestions, complaints or compliments. We are also available on Twitter.

Kogi West senatorial district to recall senator Dino Melaye from the Nigerian Senate - on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit.ng- Social Democratic Party (SDP) has suspeded its Adamawa state chapter chairman

- Ibrahim Bebetu was suspended for gross disrespect to the constituted authority

- According to the party, Bebetu's suspension will take effect from Thursday, April 19

The chairman of the Adamawa state chapter Social Democratic Party (SDP), Ibrahim Bebetu has been suspended.

Bebetu suspension was announced by the national working committee of the party on Friday, April 27.

In a press statement released by the party, the Adamawa chapter chairman's suspension will take effect from Thursday, April 19.

READ ALSO: Breaking: FG declares Tuesday public holiday

The statement signed by SDP's national deputy secretary, Simon Adesina, said the state's vice chairman Adamawa north, Danjuma Chikale, will act as the chairman of the party in the state.

Chikale said Bebetu's suspension followed due process after issues of gross disrespect to the constituted authority was committed by the past chairman.

He said accused Bebetu of making unauthorised public announcement cancelling a rally in Yola Adamawa State which has caused embarrassment to the national leadership of the party.

READ ALSO: Nigerian Army arrests key Boko Haram suspect allegedly behind Benue killings

Following the suspension, Bebetu has also been directed to ensure law and order is maintained within the party during and after investigations on the matter.

Chikale said the investigation will enable the party have a fair resolution of the crisis and also ensure proper handover of party's property to the acting chairman.

However, reacting to the news, Bebetu told Daily Trust that he was not aware of the suspension.

PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app

Meanwhile, Legit.ng earlier reported that a faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), former president Olusegun Obasanjo's Coalition for Nigeria Movement (CNM), Olu Falae and some leaders from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) were set to form the SDP.

It was gathered members of these groups, parties and individuals were in talks on how to push the new party in alignment with their political agenda for the forthcoming 2019 election.

The SDP, Legit.ng gathered, was designed to wrestle power from the ruling APC in the next general election.

Nigerians want PDP back in 2019 - Goodluck Jonathan declares at PDP Caucus Meeting on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit.ng News- Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara has stated that maximum security cannot be guaranteed by state governors in their respective domains because they do not control security agencies

- He pointed out that governors are not in control of either the soldiers or the police or any other security men

- Yari said the best the governors can do is support the security agencies in their respective states with logistics; which is what they are doing

Chairman of Nigerias Governors Forum (NGF), Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara, says state governors cannot enforce maximum security in their domains because they are not in control of security agencies, NAN reports.

Yari told newsmen in Abuja at the end of an NGF meeting on Thursday, April 27, that the governors were working energetically with the federal government to tackle the lingering security challenges across the nation.

READ ALSO: Killings and 2019: At this rate, would there be anyone left to preside over?

Legit.ng learnt that the NGF meeting, the third of its type this year, was convened to address critical issues facing the governors in their states in relation with the federal government.

He said: We are not in control of either the soldiers or the police or any other security men, but what we can do is to sit down with security men in our respective states to support security agencies.

In terms of logistics, we are doing our best and we will continue to support the federal government in this regard.

The NGF chairman also told newsmen that the security challenge facing the nation was a global phenomenon which governments all over the world are striving to contain.

He stated: The security situation in the country is a global issue and everywhere people are dealing with the security problem.

The problem of security is what was inherited before the administration of today and before some of our governors emerged as governors; and so as governors, we are working to put in our best to support the security agencies in our respective states with logistics. That is what we can only do.

PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app

Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that Governor Yari declared on Tuesday, April 25, that Nigeria is now ripe for state police in order to effectively tackle the internal security problems facing the country.

He made this known in his country home in Talata area of the state.

Yari said in part: I think we are matured for state police because in 2014 when we were doing constitutional amendments, we came up with the issue of state police. Many Nigerians did not support the issue then, because of the nature of some state executives.

What does Nigeria need right now? (Nigerian Street Interview) - on Legit.ng TV:

Source: Legit.ngThe pictorial image of the Boko Haram member said to be the mastermind of most of the recent attacks in Benue, Aminu Yaminu aka Tarshaku, has been revealed.

Aminu Yaminu aka Tarshaku, is believed to have masterminded the recent deadly attacks in Benue (Photo credit: NAN)

Recall that Legit.ng previously reported that the Nigerian Army said that it had arrested a key Boko Haram suspect behind the recent killings in Benue state.

READ ALSO: Why governors cannot enforce maximum security in states - Yari

In a statement issued on Friday, April 27, Assistant Director, Army Public Relations, Major Olabisi Ayeni, said that the arrest was made possible through combined troops of 707 Special Forces Brigade, Nigeria Police and the Department of State Services in Makurdi.

He stated: Nigerian troops have arrested the key Boko Haram suspect known as Aminu Yaminu nicknamed Tashaku who is believed to have masterminded most of the recent attacks in Benue state.

He added: Following an intelligence report, it was gathered that Aminu has concluded plans with his cohorts in Bauchi, Borno, Yobe and Nasarawa states to launch a major attack on innocent citizens in Benue state.

PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app

Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that the recent killings of some worshipers including two priests after suspected herdsmen attacked Ayar Mbalom village in Gwer east local government area of Benue state, led the Senate to call on the federal government to declare a state of emergency in the state, and other parts of the country facing deadly violence.

The call was made, following a deliberation of a motion on the Continued killings in Benue state, sponsored by Senator George Akume (Benue-North West).

The senators also condemned the inefficiency of security chiefs and agencies, adding that declaring a state of emergency was the best way to drive out perpetrators of such attacks.

Victims of herdsmen killings buried in Benue state - on Legit.ng TV:

Source: Legit- The police has revealed why many people were killed in the recent Offa robbery incidence

- Kwara state commissioner of police said there was a break down of intelligence report in Offa prior to the robbery attack

- According to Amiun Saleh, the robbers overwhelmed the police officers in the area

The newly appointed commissioner of police in Kwara state, Aminu Saleh, has explained why many deaths were recorded in the robbery incident which took place in Offa, Kwara state.

Saleh said the large number of robbers who invaded commercial banks in the city overwhelmed the few policemen on ground at the time.

Speaking with journalists on Thursday, April 26, in Ilorin, Saleh said there was a break down of intelligence report in Offa prior to the robbery attack.

READ ALSO: Benue killings: Face of key suspect arrested by Army, revealed (photo)

Adding that the police had low connectivity with members of the community, Saleh said the police had no knowledge of the attack beforehand.

We had an intelligence break down. We had many criminals attacking a few policemen. We had little information on the attack before it happened," Saleh said.

He said the police is currently re-strategising and re-positioning its officers to work on the community and ensure that those lapses observed are addressed.

READ ALSO: 2019: What candidates/party Christians and Nigerians should vote for in 2019 - CAN reveals

What essentially went wrong is our response capacity. Were going to correct all those anomalies and get our men to be more responsive.

Were on the trail of the suspects and a lot of successes have been recorded. It is true that we have deficit of APC in the state; in fact we have two moribund ones. But there is already an arrangement on the ground by the state government to intervene and assist in this manner," Saleh added.

Legit.ng earlier reported that a mobile police officer was, on Thursday, April 19, killed during a bank robbery at First Bank in Ifaki-Ekiti, Ekiti state.

PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app

The robbers during the attack, carted away an undisclosed amount of money before the arrival of security operatives.

The incident which was made known in the pictures that surfaced online showed some residents gathered at the bank premises.

Robbers return firearms to Nigerian Police | Legit.ng TV - Latest Crime News in Nigeria - on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit- Olumba Olumba Obu has revealed how Nigeria can be saved

- The leader of the Brotherhood of the Cross and Star urged Nigerians to run to God for intervention

- According to Obu, God would intervene in the social, economic and political challenges of Nigeria should citizens call upon Him

The spiritual head of the Brotherhood of the Cross and Star, Olumba Olumba Obu has called on Nigerians to turn to God with fervent prayers and He would intervene in her social, economic, and political challenges of our nation.

Obu who was represented by Christ Ambassador Samuel Inok made this known at the Churchs 100th anniversary celebration in Surulere, Lagos.

He said that when Nigerians embrace God, He would intervene in the social, economic and political challenges of our nation.

If the nation will turn to God, and turn from their wicked ways, He will heal our land.

READ ALSO: 2019: What candidates/party Christians and Nigerians should vote for in 2019 - CAN reveals

We have been talking about peace, how can you give peace if you dont have it, it is only God that have peace and can give peace.

If we confess our sins, worship God in spirit and in truth which should be at all times.

READ ALSO: Nigerian Army arrests key Boko Haram suspect allegedly behind Benue killings

Nigerians should turn a new leaf and worship God and not visit the house of God only; we should not wear God as masquerade.

We should not turn religion into cultism, where people create factions to fight against themselves, it is not what our God said, he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that on December 30, 1918, the Brotherhood of the Cross and Star was inaugurated.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng earlier reported that the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) had urged the federal government to take decisive steps in dismantling Boko Haram and herdsmen in the country.

The general secretary of the association said the menace of the two entities was becoming unbearable in the country.

Musa Asake said CAN strongly condemned the killings in the country and urged the government to immediately halt the murderous activities of insurgents in the country.

Source: NAN

Nigerian youths reply to President Buhari over 'lazy' comment trailer.| Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit- New Zealand has added skilled sex worker to its list of employment skills for those hoping to migrate there

- The migrants would also be expected to have at least three years of work experience in the relevant industry

- The country is currently known for offering the best working conditions for prostitutes

Under a new plan, potential migrants hoping to begin a new life in New Zealand can now add skilled sex worker and escort as skills on their visa applications.

According to reports, the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) list regard such skills as providing social companionship.

READ ALSO: Stop complaining, pray for Buhari - CAC leader to Christians

Legit.ng learnt that potential migrants will be expected to have ANZSCO skill level 5, in order to meet the criteria of a highly qualified sex worker.

They would also be expected to have at least three years of work experience in the relevant industry or relevant recognized qualifications.

However, the New Zealand Association of Migration and Investment agency (NZAMI) disclosed that it would still be extremely difficult to apply for a resident visa as a sex worker, even though prostitution is listed as skilled employment.

In a tumultuous vote, New Zealands parliament passed the legislation to decriminalize sex work in 2003; and it was welcomed by many in the country.

The decision to transform prostitution into a legal occupation was intended to protect sex workers from exploitation and safeguard their human rights.

New Zealand is currently known for offering the best working conditions for prostitutes. Despite this however, the social stigma surrounding being involved in such line of work still persists.

PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app

Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that Lagos prostitutes called on the federal government to operate an economic policy that will favour their business. They also urged the president to legalise prostitution in Nigeria.

One of the prostitutes, a 24-year-old call girl who gave her name as, Esther, said she does not earn as much as she earned before.

She said: Before, some customers will dash you money after the service, but we no longer have that. These days, some will even come and tell you they want to sleep with you overnight for just N1500.

I don't want to do ASHAWO, 60-year-old woman cries - on Legit.ng TV:

Source: Legit- Activities to mark the 54th anniversary of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has started

- A special Juma'at prayer is the first in the series of activities lined up for this year's NAF day celebration

- The theme of this years celebration is Enhancing Nigerian Air Force Operational Capability for Timely Employment of Air Power in Response to Contemporary Security Challenges.

A special Jumaat prayer was held on Friday, April 27, at the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Mosque in Abuja, as part of activities earmarked to commemorate the 54th anniversary celebration of the NAF.

The Juma'at prayer is the first in the series of activities lined up for this year's NAF day celebration, scheduled to take place from Thursday, May 3 to Saturday, May 5.

Muslim officers, airmen/airwomen and other civilian staff of the NAF offered prayers for the service, the rest of the armed forces and the nation at large. Photo credit: NAF

READ ALSO: NAF commences medical outreach for IDPs in Rann, over 3,350 to benefit

The theme of this years celebration is Enhancing Nigerian Air Force Operational Capability for Timely Employment of Air Power in Response to Contemporary Security Challenges.

The Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, represented at the occasion by the Chief of Training and Operation, Air Vice Marshal Nurudeen Balogun, led other Muslim officers, airmen/airwomen and civilian staff of the NAF to offer prayers for the service, the rest of the armed forces and the nation at large.

The special Juma'at prayer is in commemoration of the Nigerian Air Force 54th anniversary. Photo credit: NAF

In his sermon during the Jumaat prayers, the Chief Imam who is also the Deputy Director of Islamic Affairs of the NAF, Group Captain Lukeman Lawal, urged all Muslim faithful in the country to continue maintaining peace and building trust irrespective of ethnic or religious differences.

He also used the occasion to remind all Nigerians that the country is a trust bestowed by the Almighty Allah and must thus be jealously guarded through harmonious coexistence, appealing to Nigerians to be mindful of their conduct and utterances noting that there is no other nation we could call our own.

The cleric urged all to constantly pray for the Nigerian Air Force and the nation at all times. Photo credit: NAF

He therefore urged all to constantly pray for the nation and its leadership at all times. The cleric thereafter offered prayers for the leadership of the NAF and other personnel especially those deployed to internal security operations across the country.

Speaking to journalists afterwards, the cleric said: Today, we are commemorating the anniversary of the Nigerian Air Force, this year is not different from the previous ones, we normally celebrate it with prayers, for the leadership of this nation, and of course the leadership of the Nigerian Air Force and the officers and men of the force.

The NAF day celebration is an annual event to commemorate the establishment of the service while reflecting on achievements, challenges and future prospect of the NAF.

Other activities lined up for the celebration include, interdenominational church service, medical outreach, historical photo gallery display, gala night, ceremonial parade, aerial/static display, commissioning of some helicopters and presentation of colours to the newly established Air Training and Ground Training Commands.

READ ALSO: Youth empowerment: NAF flags off planting season for agriculture programme in Port Harcourt

Meanwhile, a newly constructed 261 Nigerian Air Force Reference Hospital in Bauchi was commissioned by President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday, April 26.

Legit.ng gathered that the medical facility was built to specially provide additional medical support for members of the armed forces involved in counter insurgency operations in the northeast.

Nigerian Air Force operations against Boko Haram on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit.ng News- Tinubu and Akande met with the aspirants in Lagos to discuss how to challenge other parties in the Ekiti election

- Tinubu said the party wants to ensure a free and fair primary election to pick its candidate in the race

- Mines and Steel minister Fayemi, who is on leave, was also present at the event

Top chieftains of the All Progressives Congress (APC) met behind closed doors with all the party's aspirants for the Ekiti state governorship election.

The meeting was held at the old State House, Marina in Lagos on Friday, April .27.

The Punch reports that some of those present were Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi; and about 24 other aspirants who are hoping to win APC's ticket for the Ekiti election on July 14.

READ ALSO: Senator Urhoghide denies calling for President Buhari's impeachment

Party chieftains in attendance were national leader Bola Tinubu and for interim National Chairman of the APC Bisi Akande.

We invited them; they came over and they have been here for hours. For what purpose? Free and fair primary that is transparent, that is not tainted, that is incorruptible, that is indisputable and they said that is what they demanded of us.

We have, therefore, agreed to guarantee that there will not be interference in the political situation and to pledge our support for them, Tinubu told media men after the meeting.

PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android and read best news on Nigerias #1 news app

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that ahead of the July 14 Ekiti state governorship election, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Tuesday, April 10 accused the APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission of plotting to rig the election.

The national chairman of the PDP Prince Uche Secondus, made this known while receiving the German Ambassador to Nigeria, Bernhard Schlagheck, who was on a courtesy call to him in Abuja.

Secondus urged the international community to prevail on the incumbent administration to ensure free and fair election.

Governor Fayose warns Nigerian youths ahead of 2019, tells them what to do - on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit- The political turmoil in Togo is still ongoing at the moment

- This has prompted the Togolese Civil League to intervene through advocacy

- The league wants Nigeria and regional body, ECOWAS to intervene in the lingering political crisis in the small West African nation

The Togolese Civil League has called for the intervention of Nigeria and regional body, ECOWAS, in the lingering political crisis in Togo.

The call was made during a press briefing by the group on Friday, April 27, in Abuja, the Nigerian capital.

The group stated that ECOWAS member countries should be concerned about the Togolese political crisis, because Togo is experiencing an unprecedented sociopolitical crisis marked by street protests, strikes and a slowdown in economic activities.

Nabourema called for intervention of Nigeria and ECOWAS as a body in the Togo's political crisis. Photo credit: YIAGA

READ ALSO: New Zealand adds prostitution to list of employment skills for migrants

Speaking on behalf of the group, its Executive Director, Farida Bemba Nabourema, said in the aftermath of the violent government response to the protests, dozens of people lost their lives, hundreds were injured or thrown in jail and many more are displaced.

Her words: In addition, the Togolese government led by Faure Gnassingbe has organized a methodical campaign to shut down its opposition, reduce freedom of expression and silence the civil society.

Nevertheless, the people of Togo continue to relentlessly protest the government and are demanding political reforms that can lead to a democratic political transition.

She lamented that unlike all the other countries in West Africa, Togo has yet to experience a democratic transition.

The country has been under the rule of the Gnassingbe family since 1967. The absence of term limits and the total control of the government over the judicial and electoral systems have virtually made any transfer of power impossible.

The people of Togo are yearning for a democratic transition that would foster social progress and economic growth. Past elections have been tainted with violence and, without meaningful reforms, future electoral processes are likely to escalate, she said.

She noted that a sustained political crisis in Togo is a factor of instability in the regions, stressing that there are currently hundreds of displaced Togolese citizens in Ghana because of the recent government repressions.

In addition, Togo constitute a peculiar example of government in the region as it is reminiscent of the 1980s. The rule of law across the region is a factor of integration and peace, both essential to create a serene climate for business, she added.

On the current prospects for resolution of the crisis, Nabourema said there has been no meaningful progress in talks between the government and the opposition, adding that this is due to the Togolese governments refusal to meet the basic demands of freeing political prisoners.

The continued repression, the denial of basic rights including freedom of expression and freedom of assembly are creating conditions for violent confrontation in the country. Prospects for a peaceful resolution are grim unless the ECOWAS community takes swift action to pressure the Togolese government, she said.

She urged the Nigerian government to exercise its influence as a regional power to insist that the Togolese government respond to the will of the people.

She also counseled ECOWAS to consider economic sanctions and targeted restrictions against Togolese officials due to their alleged ongoing violation of human rights.

In 2007, Togolese president, Faure Gnassingbe (who succeeded his deceased father through a bloody ascent to power) entered into an agreement with the opposition parties to conduct a set of political reforms including terms limits.

Ten years after the agreement, the promises have never been fulfilled, prompting the people of Togo to hit the streets demanding simply the reinstatement of the original 1992 constitution that was unilaterally modified.

Through political maneuvering and violent repression, the senior Eyadema and his ruling party managed to modify the constitution in 2002. The session of the National Assembly modifying the constitution was solely composed on members of the ruling party.

These modifications removed terms limits and instituted a single round ballot along with giving more power to the president and weakening the legislative and the judiciary .

The Nigerian government has remained largely silent on the crisis in Togo.

Founded in April 2017, the Togolese Civil League through its Faure Must Go Campaign, aims to demonstrate the illegitimacy and nefarious nature of the current Togolese government and encourage civil resistance to overcome more than half a century of dictatorship.

READ ALSO: Wellbeing Foundation Africa tackles cancer; releases rapid assessment report

Meanwhile, digital rights experts have called for the replication of Nigerias Digital Rights and Freedom Bill by other African countries.

The bill which was recently passed by the National Assembly was praised by experts as a step in the good direction in strengthening digital rights on the continent.

The experts made the call at the 6th Internet Freedom Forum, an international conference organised by Paradigm Initiative, which was held in Abuja.

Young talented artist paints prominent Nigerians on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit- President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday, April 28, met face-to-face with senate president Bukola Saraki and speaker of House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara

- The trio met at the reception of the daughter of secretary to the government of the federation, Boss Mustapha

- That was the first time that president Buhari is said to meet with Saraki and Dogara days after some lawmakers threatened to impeach the president

President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday, April 28, met one-on-one with senate president Bukola Saraki and speaker of House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara at the reception of the daughter of secretary to the government of the federation, Boss Mustapha, held inside the Banquet Hall of the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja.

Daily Trust reports that there was their first meeting after some members of the National Assembly threatened to impeach Buhari over the withdrawal of $496 million from the Excess Crude Account for the purchase of fighter jets.

Other dignitaries at the event were national chairman of the All Progressives Congress, John Odigie-Oyegun; a national leader of the party, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu as well as the governors of Adamawa, Kaduna and Ogun states and many more.

READ ALSO: Melaye recall boycott verdict on the APC - PDP

Mustapha described the wedding of his daughter, Amanda and her husband, Telema, from Rivers state, as a symbol of national unity.

He said: "I am married to somebody from a different state all together. I come from Adamawa State, while my wife comes from Osun state. So, Amanda is not the first. It is a marriage of unity. Whenever I hear people talking about Nigeria breaking up, I just laugh.

"The foundations are deep. I have a brother-in-law who is Igbo, I have a brother-in-law who is Urobo. So, our home has always been a small Nigeria whenever we congregate."

PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android and read best news on Nigerias #1 news app

SGF who expressed his happiness at the event, said, "It's a pride of a father that at one point in time you'll be giving out your children in marriage or receiving brides into your home. And that is what has precisely happened to us today as a family.

"If they have doubts about things happening around them, let them go back to the author of marriage Himself, which is God. So, my advice to them is let them remain together through thick and thin. They should not take each other for granted."

The SGF advised the couple to respect each other, remain friends and make God the centrepeace of their home.

Meanwhile, NAIJ..com had reported that Senator Matthew Urhoghide denied calling for President Buharis impeachment.

The lawmaker representing Edo South senatorial district in the Nigerian Senate, who moved the motion question the legality of President Buhari's withdrawal of $496m from the Excess Crude Account to by military aircraft from the United, said he was misquoted.

The Edo lawmaker said this in a chat with pressmen at the Benin Airport in Edo state.

Urhoghide said he never called for President Buhari's impeachment but only urged the Senate to invoke the relevant section of the Constitution so that President Buhari could explain why he took the decision to purchase the 12 aircrafts.

Street gist: Should the Nigerian senate be scrapped? - on Legit.ng TV:

Source: Legit.ngFrom an interview by Harold Crooks of the LES-based cultural and political online magazine, The Gathering of The Tribes

One of the most compelling sequences in the Oscar-winning Inside Job, Charles Fergusons indictment of Wall Streets role in the 2008 global financial meltdown, involved not the banker culprits but their supporting cast. These were the Ivy League accomplices. Ferguson mightily skewered these economists for the cover they gave the sub-prime Hamptons dwelling wise guys whose rescue turned out to be a pretext for one of the largest reverse-Robin Hood wealth transfers in history. Though for the foreseeable future they enjoy their tenured posts, control prestigious academic journals and continue to prey on the unformed minds of students, the speculative financial implosion has shaken confidence in the economics academy. And through those cracks (to borrow from Leonard Cohen) shards of light are getting in. Economists once on the academic fringes  in university outposts like the University of Missouri Kansas City and Bards Levy Institute  are being looked to not only for understanding how to prevent bankers from setting the economy on fire again, but on how to build a social system that works for the majority.

Among the most brilliant of these heterodox economists is Michael Hudson. Coming to New York City in the 60s to study under a renowned classical music conductor, Michael switched to economics when he became beguiled by an accidental acquaintance with what he saw as the aesthetical flows inter-connecting natural and financial cycles and public debt. His biography contains elements of an epic novel: growing up the son of a jailed Trotskyist labor leader in whose Milwaukee home he met Rosa Luxembourg and Karl Liebknechts colleagues; serving as a young balance of payments analyst for David Rockefeller whose Chase Bank was calculating how much interest the bank could extract on loans to South American countries; touring America on Vatican-sponsored economics lectures; turning after a riot at a UN Third World debt meeting in Mexico to the study of ancient debt cancellation practices through Harvards Babylonian Archeology department; authoring many books about finance from Super Imperialism: The Economic Strategy of American Empire [1972] to J is For Junk Economics: A Guide to Reality in an Age of Deception [2017]; and lately, among many other ventures, commuting from his Queens home to lecture at Peking University in Beijing where he hopes to convince the Chinese to avoid the debt-fuelled economic model off which Western big bankers feast and apply lessons he and his colleagues have learned about the debt relief practices of the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia.

I talked to Michael about his forthcoming book Forgive Them Their Debts: Credit and Redemption that comes with an astounding re-reading of the Bible and the true meaning of the life and persecution of Jesus. Based on scholarly breakthroughs in decoding ancient languages, it places a debt cancellation message inherited from Babylonian times at the center of Mosaic law and the Jewish Bible. And when it comes to Jesus, his message is revealed to be a social justice message. Through the lens of this reinterpretation, Jesus was actually an activist

advocating for debt cancellation. He died not for the sins of the people but for their debts.

My interview began with a question about the subject of his new book. I knew Michael has a following well beyond the professional classes. Some years ago on exiting the fancy Park Avenue apartment we borrowed to interview him for our film Surviving Progress [co-directed with Mathieu Roy], I was astonished to witness the Puerto Rican door man rush up to shake his hand and thank him for his appearances on progressive cable shows. It made me wonder if his book re-interpreting the Bible was designed to reach a working class audience, possibly even Trump voters.

Michael: Not at all. I originally wrote the book Forgive Them Their Debts: Credit and Redemption as an extension of the archeological and the Assyriology work that Ive been doing at Harvard University at the Peabody Museum since 1984. I originally called the book Bronze Age Finance, because I wanted to undertake a study of the origin of debt, and how societies dealt with debt that grew so large that it forced populations into debt bondage, and dependency .

And I wanted to study the background of Clean Slates, debt cancellations, and I found out that they begin in Sumer, and Babylonia, around 2500 B.C., and every new ruler, when they would take the throne, would start his reign by canceling the debts. In Sumer, the word for that was amargi, in Babylonian the word during Hammurabis dynasty was andurarum. Well, I then, after translating many of these debt cancellations from Hammurabis dynasty, and from neighboring near Eastern countries I realized that this affected the interpretation of the Bible because the Jubilee year in the Bible, Hebrew deror, is a cognate to Babylonian andurarum, and the Jubilee year was word-for-word exactly the same debt cancellation and freeing of the bond servants and restoration of land that you had occured for 1,000 years in the Near East, and was still occurring in the first millennium BC.

So my aim was not at a religious audience. The initial writing of the book was for economic historians and archeologists and Assyriologists who were part of the group at Harvard that has done the five volumes that Ive co-edited on the origins of economic practices in the ancient Near East.

Tribes: That said, somewhere in the back of your mind, were you anticipating that what you discovered in antiquity would have application in the present?

Michael: Well, from the very beginning, after working on Wall Street, I realized something that should be mathematically obvious. That the debts now today are too large to be paid without bankrupting society and polarizing it in much the way that occurred again and again in history. It occurred in Rome, it occurred earlier in Sparta. You have a constant historical movement here. So my focus was to trace the history of debt cancellations, primarily.

What I realized is that when Luke 4 reports the first speech of Jesus, when he goes to the temple and gives a speech, his first sermon, he unrolls the Scroll of Isaiah, and said he has come to essentially proclaim the Jubilee year . The word he used, and that Isaiah used, the deror, was this Babylonian, Near Eastern long tradition that was common throughout the whole Near East.

Now most of the Biblical translations miss this point because, one they were translated in the 17th and 16th century, people didnt know cuneiform, they had no idea what these words meant and what the background of the Jubilee year was. And maybe 50 years ago, there was almost a universal idea that the Jubilee year was something idealistic, utopian, and could never actually be applied in practice, but we know that in Babylonia, Sumer, Near Eastern regions, it was applied in practice. Because not only do we have the royal proclamations, we have the lawsuits by debtors saying This creditor didnt forgive me the debt, and the judgments for that. We have each member of Hammurabis dynasty after him ending up with this great grandson Ammi-Saduqa had more and more detailed anderarum acts, debt cancellations, to close all the loopholes that creditors tried to resort to.

So what Jesus was referring to was a very tangible fight. And in his time, this was the fight throughout Greece, it was the fight throughout the whole ancient world, the fight to promote debt cancellation. And the Dead Sea Scrolls show this. For instance, Melchizedek 12 is a huge Dead Sea Midrash of all of the Biblical citations of the jubilee year, tying them together. And we now understand that the Dead Sea Scrolls were not a sectarian Essene product, but they were basically the library of the Temple of Jerusalem, that was sent and put in these caves for safe-keeping during the civil wars.

So what Jesus was referring to was a very widespread argument in what was really a class war between creditors and debtors that swept throughout the whole period, including Rome itself. And this has not been clear to most people who think theyre taking a literal version of the Bible. And its very funny that the people who call themselves fundamentalist Christians will have dioramas of dinosaurs and human beings all sharing the same landscape, literally. But what they ignore is, if you take the Bible literally, its the fight in almost all of the early books of the Old Testament, the Jewish Bible, all about the fight over indebtedness and debt cancellation.

Tribes: Thats extraordinary. Elsewhere youve made the point  Youve made the point that it is important to understand the Bible was rewritten after the Jews returned from their Babylonian exile. Whats the significance of this in terms of your reading of Old Testament texts?

Michael: I wouldnt say that the Bible was re-written after the exile, it was really codified and put together after the exile. This has been the normal view of the Bible for the last 60 or 70 years in Biblical scholarship that realizes when it was put together and under what circumstances. And it was put together logically to weave the tradition of debt cancellation into the whole Jewish history. To make it really the history of how the debt crises had disrupted Jewish and Judean/Israelite society for hundreds of years.

Tribes: What are the textual sources that give you confidence in your reading of the Bible?

Michael: Well the first textual sources are the Laws of Hammurabi, the debt cancellations of the Sumerians, Enmetena, Urukagina  In my book I go epoch by epoch. Sumerian, the neo-Sumerian, Ur III period, the intermediate period, the Babylonian period, right down to the Egyptian Rosetta Stone, which is a similar debt cancellation. So there are hundreds of documented, official debt cancellations in great detail. Because these were inscribed publicly on bricks in the temples, or on statues that were put in the temples, or buried in the temple foundations. The central act of a ruler coming to power in the Near East was a debt amnesty. Forgiveness of money or taxes or duties owed to the palace, and debts owed to the palace. And by extension, debts owed to royal collectors, and to creditors in general, most of whom had some relationship to the palace.

Business debts were not forgiven. The debts that were forgiven were personal debts, agrarian debts, and the idea was to liberate the bond servants so that they could be available to perform the corvee labor, which was the main kind of taxation in the Bronze Age, and serve in the army. If you were a debtor and you were a bond servant to a creditor, you wouldnt be available for corvee labor, youd be working (for) the creditor, you wouldnt be available for the army. And you have this very clearly in Sparta in Greece, for instance, by the third century BC, the ranks of the army were depleted because the citizenry had lost its land tenure, and thats what led kings Aegis and Cleomenes and Agis to push for a debt cancellation to restore the land ownership.

So what we find is something that occurs not only in the Biblical lands, but in Greece, Rome, Egypt, the rest of the Near East. It was universal at that time, and theres been almost no economic history of this. Either in the Bronze Age, or in Classical Antiquity. And when I began to write this book in the 1980s, it was generally believed that these debt cancellations were simply utopian statements as I said, there was no idea that they were actually enforced. And the idea seemed radical at the time, and now after the five volumes that my group has published through Harvard, now these ideas are generally accepted by Assyriologists and archeologists, but they havent spread to the public at large yet, because of cognitive dissonance. People cant believe that the debts actually were canceled. But this is what revolutions were all about in Greece and Rome for hundreds of years.

Tribes: And Im assuming that there was sufficiently sophisticated knowledge of economics to explain that Clean slates, debt cancellation, Jubilees, were more than a self-serving interest of the nobility or the aristocracy, the monarch to have soldiers to go to war, that there was some larger purpose than merely freeing up peasants so that they could serve in military campaigns, that there was some knowledge that this was necessary for a sustainable economic system.

Michael: Bronze Age rulers, Sumer and Babylonia, never explained the reason or the logic behind their acts. Later, Egyptians in the first century BC explained to Roman historians what the logic was. But the early Egyptian Pharaohs, nobody would explain, all we have are the records, Here is the ruling. There was no abstract economic logic as such, there was no discussion of abstract principles. That only occurred in the first millennium BC, and its in the first millennium that Egyptians explained it to the Roman historians, that if you didn;t cancel the debts you wouldnt have anyone to fight in the army, and to perform the corvee labor that Egypt and other countries depended on to build their basic infrastructure.

The reason there wasnt an abstract discussion was there was no Milton Friedman or Margaret Thatcher to even advocate libertarian, free-enterprise economy. Their economy was what seemed natural to them, and it never occurred to them to try to develop economics and an individualistic explanation of things. It seemed this is how a fair world works.

Tribes: Did promulgating these Clean Slates that youre describing occur in relatively primitive societies of their era, or even in more complex ones?

Michael: I dont like the word primitive. The societies were not complex at all. The palatial economies of Sumer, Babylonia, other Near Eastern regions, Egypt, were by no means primitive. Were not talking about tribal societies basically, or anthropological type societies, were talking about complex urban cultures, and really the origins of Western civilization are to be found not in Greece and Rome, or even in Judah and Israel, but in Sumer and Babylonia, where almost all of the techniques of economic enterprise, the charging of interest, weights and measures, monetary coinage, all begin.

Tribes: Youve touched on this, but just so that I have it, whose debts got canceled in antiquity, and by whom were they canceled?

Michael: You begin with by whom they were canceled. Rulers canceled the debts. And it was very easy for them to (do) that without opposition, because in the beginning most of the debts that were owed were owed to the palace itself. Both in fees for services the palace provided, or the temple provided, the temple was part of the palace economy, or for land rent by sharecroppers or for the provision of water and agricultural services to the land. So most of the debts were owed to the rulers themselves, or to their palace (tax) collectors who gradually became independent creditors by the wealth that they made. So they were essentially debts owed to wealthy people who could afford not to collect it.

And if the debts had been collected, then the rulers would be undercutting their ability to obtain the labor of debtors, the agrarian debtors, for as I said, corvee services and for the army. The debts that were canceled were personal, agrarian debts. They were called barley debts. Silver debts, among merchants, were not canceled. Business debts were not canceled. Only debts by subsistence farmers were canceled so that they would not be subjected to bondage to the creditors, and so they would not forfeit their lands to monopolists who wanted to acquire the land and would essentially disenfranchise the population.

Tribes: Okay, so moving forward to the time of the Jesus figure and the New Testament, was debt forgiveness still an important practice under the Romans?

Michael: No. The Romans were the first society not to cancel the debts, and there was civil war over that. A century of civil war from 133 BC, when the Gracchi Brothers were killed by supporting the population, to 29 BC when Augustus was crowned. There was a civil war where the advocates of debt cancellation were put to death. Just as Cleomenes in Sparta, in the late third century, was put to death, and Agis, his predecessor earlier in the third century BC, were put to death for advocating debt cancellation. So there was three centuries of constant civil war over this, and ultimately the creditors won, largely by political assassination of the advocates of debt cancellation, who almost all came from the upper class. They were upper class reformers, they were not lower-class particularly. They were the scholars, just as Jesus was a rabbi.

So there was essentially not only personal assassination of advocates of debtors interests, advocates of pro-debtor laws and debt cancellation, but Sparta as a backer of oligarchy would attack democracies that sought to cancel the debts.

Tribes: You touched on that very effectively, and we used you talking about this time period, (in our documentary film) Surviving Progress. But Ive seen it suggested that some scholars dispute the fact that debt cancellation couldve been a reality at the time of Jesus, that the idea of a Jubilee makes no sense, because if debts could be canceled, who would lend money?

Michael: Well thats the big fallacy. Most debts did not occur from lending money. Its easier today to figure if you have a debt, you must have borrowed it. But three quarters of the debts in Babylonia, for instance, where we have records because they were on clay, cuneiform records that were baked and have survived, most debts were simply unpaid bills. The debts were unpaid taxes, unpaid debts, unpaid rent, and unpaid obligation for services that had been supplied. There was no initial lending of money, necessarily. Maybe one quarter of the circumstances were that.

So the people who say lenders wouldnt have lent miss the point that most debts were  its like if somebody at the end of the spring doesnt have enough money to pay the income tax thats due, nobodys lent them this money, but the income tax is due. So its an obligation that is mounted up in the normal course of life that theyve fallen into arrears on it. Its a payment arrears, not the result of a loan, except in some cases.

Tribes: Fascinating. This leads you to what for many readers of this interview and I assume of your book will come as an astonishing assertion: that Jesus was crucified for his views on debt. Who exactly in your reading of the Christ story are the powerful creditors that were so threatened by Jesus?

Michael: Well, just as the Bible said, they described the Pharisees as having greed and representing what they called the greedy class. And of course the main opponent of Jesus was Hillel. And it was Hillel that devised the Prosbul, P-R- O-S- B-U- L, which was an addendum to a debt note whereby the borrower would promise not to avail himself of his rights under the Jubilee year. So essentially the debtor would waive the rights under the Jubilee year, so that the creditor could collect even if the Jubilee year were done. And Jesus quite correctly said, Look, every single book of the Bible from Kings onwards to Isaiah and the books of the prophet, this is the center of Mosaic law.

And the Bible, the Mosaic law, realized that by the first millennium, the kings not only in Israel and Judea, but in Persia and elsewhere, were basically representing the ruling class, the wealthy class. And the Bible is sort of unique in historical documents for showing that most of the kings were not good kings. The whole Jewish Bible is about bad kings. And so Judaism took the debt cancellation out of the hand of kings, where it had been in the Near East, and put in the very center of their religion. In Leviticus 25, again and again the prophets would say, Weve freed you from bondage, and if youre going to maintain Judaism, you have to respect the debt cancellation. And the Biblical prophets warned, if you dont cancel the debts, youre gonna be canceled. By Assyria, by Babylonia. And they blamed the capture and destruction of Judea and Israel on the fact that they had veered away from the law of God and did not cancel the debts.

Tribes: Did Jesus have any defenders amongst the elite?

Michael: He must have. I think many of his followers were from the elite. We know that he must have, because there was a whole Melchizedek sect, apparently, there was a whole group we know from the Dead Sea Scrolls that all of these different groups were producing these Midrashes, which is a collection of the Biblical statements of debt cancellation. It was very widespread as part of the war between debtors and creditors that was occurring throughout the entire region.

Tribes: So this wouldve been, in terms of todays parlance, this wouldve been the kind of liberal, progressive elite of the era?

Michael: Yes. But a progressive elite that also had grounding in traditional Judaism, saying, Wait a minute, this is what the center of our Bible is all about.

Tribes: If Jesus was an activist, as you argue, was he part of a social movement to cancel debts?

Michael: Well he was obviously trying to create his own social movement. We dont know if there were other social movements there, and we dont really know much about the jubilee year in between the return of the exiles to Judah and the time of Jesus. Because they didnt write on clay tablets, they wrote on perishable materials, so we dont have the family wills, the legal records, the dowries, and all of the credit transactions that we have in the ancient Near East where they wrote on clay.

Tribes: When does the concept of a general debt cancellation disappear historically?

Michael: I guess in about the second or third century AD, that was downplayed in the Bible. And you had, after Jesus died, you had first of all St Paul taking over, and basically Christianity was created by one of the most evil men in history, the anti-Semite Cyril of Alexandria. Who decided to gain power by murdering his rivals, the Nestorians, by convening a congress of bishops and killing all of his enemies. Cyril was really the Stalin figure of Christianity, killing everybody who was an enemy, organizing pogroms against the Jews in Alexandria where he ruled.

And it was Cyril that really introduced into Christianity the whole idea of the Trinity. Thats what the whole fight was about in the third and fourth centuries AD. Was Jesus a human, was he a god? And essentially you had the Isis-Osiris, ISIS figure from Egypt, put into Christianity  The Christians were still trying to drive the Jews out of Christianity. And Cyril knew the one thing the Jewish population were not going to accept would be the Isis figure and the Mariolatry that the church became. And as soon as the Christian church became the establishment rulership church, the last thing it wanted in the West was debt cancellation.

You had a continuation of the original Christianity in the Greek Orthodox Church, or the Orthodox Church, all the way through Byzantium. And in my book And Forgive Them Their Debts, the last two chapters are on the Byzantine echo of the original debt cancellations, where one ruler after another would cancel the debts. And they gave very explicit reason for it: if we dont cancel the debts, were not going to be able to field an army, were not going to be able to collect taxes, because the oligarchy is going to take over. And they were very explicit, with references to the Bible, references to the jubilee year.

So you had Christianity survive in the Byzantine Empire. But in the West it ended in Margaret Thatcher. And Father Coughlin.

Tribes: He was the 30s figure here in the States.

Michael: Yes. The anti-Semite, right-wing, pro-war, anti-labor. So the irony is that you have the people who call themselves fundamentalist Christians being against everything that Jesus was fighting for, and everything that original Christianity was all about.

Tribes: Has any modern society declared a Jubilee without a revolt of the creditor class?

Michael: Yes. There was a wonderful debt cancellation, the major debt cancellation of the modern era was in 1947 and 48, the German monetary reform, called the German economic miracle. The Allies canceled all German debts, except for debts owed by employers to their employees for the previous month, and except for minimum bank balances. It was easy for the Allies to cancel the debts, because in Germany most of the debts were owed to people who had been Nazis, and you were canceling the debts owed to the Nazis, the Nazis were the creditors at that time. And that freeing Germany from debt was the root of its economic miracle. So that is the prime example of a debt cancellation in modern times that worked.

Tribes: Okay, now were coming up into the present. One in three Americans are reported to have a debt thats been turned over to a private collection agency, and the ACLU found cases of court warrants being issued over almost every kind of consumer and medical debt. What forms of debt relief would you propose in the current circumstances?

Michael: Well the guiding principle is that debts that cant be paid, wont be. The default rates are rising, many people simply cant pay their debt, unless they lose their home, unless they lose their job, or in some cases now, unless they lose their freedom and are put into debtors prisons down south. As you privatize prisons, they need someone else to put in the prisons besides blacks, and debtors are the people who are keeping the privatized prison business going these days.

So basically, you need, every few years, a start-over.

Tribes: Absent a world war or some such catastrophe, what might it take for debt cancellations to be adopted today as economic policy, given the power of Wall Street and the creditor class?

Michael: The first way to achieve this is by simply showing how large debt tends to grow at compound interest, that its growing and growing, and that all of the growth in American GDP, Gross Domestic Product, since 2008, all of the growth has been to the financial sector to pay for the rising debt overhead. The tragedy was that when President Obama took office, he broke every promise that hed made. Hed promised to write down the junk mortgage debts to the amount that could be paid. 

Tribes: Thats the subprime-

Michael: Yeah. - He essentially appointed Wall Street lobbyists to all of the key positions, as Ive outlined in (my book) Killing The Host, and the result is that the debts were not written down when they couldve been. And that means that the debts have been growing and growing and growing, and were in a chronic crisis, there has been no recovery. We are still in the 2008 debt crisis, and it cannot be resolved until the debts are written down. Therell just be more and more poverty and more and more economic polarization.

Tribes: Were very close to the end, Michael. Practically speaking, if for some unbelievably sci-fi circumstances, you found yourself as the President of the United States, in terms of debt cancellation, what would you focus on in terms of leading us back to a kind of sustainable future?

Michael: The issue of debt cannot be segregated from the overall organization of society.

Now just imagine if instead of banks and their bondholders holding student loans and profiting from it, if the government had made all these loans, the government could easily forgive these loans, because it would be forgiving money owed to itself. But when you privatize not only education, but also student loans, that is what has led to the student loan crisis. It was completely unnecessary, but Joe Biden, as senator for the credit card companies, pushed it through, saying, Weve got to make education a profit center for the banks. Our purpose is not to educate the population, its to create a situation where in order to get a job, in order to get a union card, they have to go into a lifetime of debt to the banks that cannot be wiped out by bankruptcy. Thats the Democratic Party policy. And its whats tearing the country apart.

And its unnecessary, its Thatcherism. So Obama was really the American Margaret Thatcher in pushing forth this privatization. And to do it, of course, he realized you have to put in place a huge prison system that you also privatize to give himself another constituency, especially in the southern states. And I dont think Americans have realized that it doesnt have to be this way. That there was an alternative, and the alternative was spelled out throughout the 19th century by nearly all the classical economists. And the alternative has worked before for thousands of years in history. And thats why I wrote the history of the ancient Near Eastern and Judaic economies.

Tribes: Heres a question drawn from this mornings news, I got it right out of the Times. Steve Bannon is quoted as saying the following: The new politics is not left versus right, its globalist versus nationalist. Comment?

Michael: I think hes quite right. The globalists are the neoliberals. They want to prevent any government from having the power to check their own oligarchic power. This is the same fight that occurred in Greece and Rome and Babylonia. For the last 5,000 years youve had a fight by people who wanna be wealthy breaking free of taxes, breaking free of regulations, breaking free of privatization. They want to privatize what normally would be the public sector. And you have the neoliberals, just as in antiquity, todays neoliberals use violence, and they call themselves free marketers, but they realize that you cannot have neoliberalism unless youre willing to murder and assassinate everyone who promotes an alternative. Thats why the first thing that the Chicago Boys did in Chile, after the murder of President-

Tribes: Thats Milton Friedman?

Michael: Yeah, Friedmans gang. Was to close every university department, except for the Catholic University that used the Chicago textbooks. And then that was followed by a decade of political assassination throughout Latin America, leading to the oligarchy in Brazil that has just put its presidential candidate Lula in jail. So youre having the neoliberals use violence essentially to privatize, to turn the whole world economy into Margaret Thatchers England. A privatized set of monopolies by an elite class, essentially reducing the population at large to something very close to neo-feudalism.

Tribes: When I read the Steve Bannon quote to you, you immediately said hes right, but I assume you wouldnt go so far as his program to, in his words, deconstruct the administrative state; you wouldnt be on board with that?

Michael: No. You asked what is the fight about? The fight is whether the state will be taken over, essentially be an extension of Wall Street. If you do not have government planning  Every economy is planned. Ever since the Neolithic (era), youve had to have (a form of) planning. If you dont have a public authority doing the planning, then the financial authority becomes the planners. So globalism is the financial interests, Wall Street and the City of London, doing the planning, not governments. And they will do the planning in their own interests.

So neoliberalism is the fight of finance to subdue society at large and to make the bankers and creditors today in the position that the landlords were under feudalism.

Tribes: John Maynard Keynes famously quipped about policymakers being slaves to defunct economic theories. If orthodox economics is bankrupt, and our politics are slaves to defunct economic theories, where are we too look today for schools of economic thought with more to offer?

Michael: I think the classical economic thought, from Adam Smith, culminating in Marx, who was the last great political economist in the classical British/French tradition, discussed all the problems we have. The inability, the fight between finance capital and industrial capital is all discussed in Volume 3 of Marxs Capital. People imagine that were in industrial capitalism, but were really not. Industrial corporations have been taken over, and financialized, and run for financial gains, not for profit. So the problem is now not simply the exploitation of wage labor, its that the financial system tries to operate without labor at all. It tries to depopulate instead of build up the population. It tends to impoverish the population instead of making money on a growing internal market. So an understanding of the distinction between what the 19th century classical economists hoped would be industrial capitalism and the tragedy of the finance capitalism thats emerged since World War I, if people are aware of that, essentially thats the best guide to the future. Thats what I described in my early book, Killing The Host, and Ive tried to provide a basic vocabulary in J Is For Junk Economics. If you have a vocabulary that can pierce through the euphemisms that you get in the mass media for economics, a vocabulary itself will organize your thoughts into a logical way of coping. So in addition to my book And Forgive Them Their Debts, are these other two books are everything I have to say about how to structure an economy.

Tribes: So it comes down to empowering people with a vocabulary that pierces what?

Michael: That pierces the fog of the euphemism of the mass media discourse that make it appear as if when GDP goes everybody is getting rich. When all the growth in GDP is only for the 1%, only for the financial sector, and the 99% are more and more impoverished.

Tribes: So one illustration of what youre talking about in terms of the difference between finance and industrial capitalism would be explained by how such a huge proportion of available capital in our society today is going into stock buy-backs, for instance?

Michael: 92% of corporate revenue in the last five years has either gone into stock buy-backs or higher dividend payouts. That means only 8% has gone into new investment to expand production or employ more labor. So the financial business plan is one of asset stripping and shrinkage, not growth. Nobody in the 19th century imagined that industrial capitalism would evolve along these self-destructive lines. They all believed that the most technologically efficient system would win out in a kind of Darwinian or Spencerian struggle of the fittest. But instead, youve had a covert, parasitic financial counter-revolution, as the rentier class, land rent, monopoly rent, and high finance, have fought back and created a fallacious vocabulary whose objective is to deceive the population into thinking that giving more money to the wealthy 1% will trickle down to the 99%, instead of seeing this 1% income as extractive, not productive.

Tribes: Ive been reading a lot recently about the dissolution of the nation-state in the face of these forces, globalization, financialization. Given that the nation-state is associated with the most prosperous and egalitarian periods in modern history, in terms of income and wealth distribution et cetera, et cetera,  under what circumstances do you imagine that finance capital can be overthrown?

Michael: It can only be overthrown democratically. It cant be overthrown by force, because finance capital in control of the state has a monopoly on force. It can only be achieved, probably in one country after another, by having policies and essentially an understanding of what a viable economic constitution would be. And to realize that politics is basically economics.And again, the alternative to government and the nation-state is Wall Street and the financial interest, the City of England, Frankfurt. And that the question is, who do you want to run the economy? The 1% and the financial sector, or the 99% through politics? The fight has to be in the political sphere, because theres no other sphere that the financial interests cannot crush you on.

Tribes: Yeah, good. Okay, thanks, Michael.

Michael: Yeah, thank you.(Natural News) Researchers have been forced to backtrack on what little they thought they understood about the enigmatic substance called dark matter. The 180-degree turn came in the wake of a new study that suggested dark matter may not really be interacting with forces outside of gravity, according to a ScienceDaily article.

In 2015, an international research group announced what appeared to be a big break in their investigation of dark matter. They were using the Hubble Space Telescope to observe a galaxy in the Abell 3827 cluster, situated around 1.3 billion light-years away from Earth. The galaxy appeared to have broken free from the dark matter that enveloped it.

This could only happen if dark matter is able to interact with other forces other than gravity. The cosmic happenstance promised to provide clues regarding the properties of dark matter.

Astronomers were able to perform in-depth measurements of the dark matter around that galaxy because the Abell 3827 cluster is oriented towards Earth. Their newest findings, however, showed that the dark matter is still attached to the galaxy after all and not detached as they previously thought.

Dark matter doesnt play by normal matters rules

According to Dr. Richard Massey, the lead author of the study, dark matter refuses to interact with the observable parts of the Universe. This makes it very frustrating to investigate.

Normal matter makes up just five percent of the Universe. This includes planets and stars. In contrast, dark matter is matter that is invisible to the electromagnetic spectrum. It constitutes 27 percent of the Universe. Most of the rest of the remainder is made of dark energy, which is just as mysterious. (Related: Scientists now claim dark energy  which makes up 68% of the entire cosmos  may be totally imaginary.)

No one knows what dark matter really is. But it plays a significant role in shaping the Universe.

Like normal matter, dark matter possesses mass. Since there is more than five times as much dark matter as there is normal matter, it exerts a lot of gravity. This extra gravity holds together rotating galaxies such as our own Milky Way. Without dark matter, galaxies would tear themselves apart.

Dr. Masseys research team studied the Abell 3827 cluster with the ALMA radio telescope array in Chile, South America. ALMA offered superior resolution over even the Hubble Space Telescope.

While dark matter is normally invisible, its gravity can distort light. ALMA was able to detect such a distortion of infrared light from another galaxy in the background, allowing it to indirectly detect the dark matter.

Researchers are looking for better angles to observe dark matter

Their new findings showed that dark matter remained inside its galaxy, disproving their earlier report that it could be affected by non-gravity forces. But the researchers are sticking to their guns. They theorize that dark matter might have minimal interaction instead of zero, or that they could not see its sideways displacement because the galaxy could be moving in the direction of Earth.

Study co-author Dr. Andrew Robertson says that different properties of dark matter have distinct signatures. He and his colleagues at Durham University (Durham) will continue looking for such signs.

One especially interesting test is that dark matter interactions make clumps of dark matter more spherical. Thats the next thing were going to look for, he remarked.

Durham has been leading research on dark matter for years. Its supercomputers have run simulations of several theories regarding non-standard behavior of the mysterious matter. Its newest tool is the SuperBIT telescope, a powerful array that is mounted beneath a helium balloon. From its intended operating altitudes, SuperBIT will be able to observe the dark matter in galaxy clusters.

Find out more about the mysteries of our Universe at Space.news.

Sources include:

Metro.co.uk

ScienceDaily.com(Natural News) Consumer DNA testing became a mainstream thing a few years ago, and many people have done it ever since. Essentially, it lets people conduct do-it-yourself (DIY) genetic testing that will give them answers to some questions they might have, mostly pertaining to their ancestry, but also regarding any genetic diseases they might have so they could best prepare for them.

Now a new study, conducted by scientists from a medical laboratory called Ambry Genetics in Aliso Viejo, California, shows that results given by such DIY tests may be largely untrue. And in fact, instead of helping consumers, they are more likely to end up hurting them in the long run. Whats worse is that consumer genetic testing has blossomed into a full-blown industry with major actors, namely Ancestry.com, MyHeritage, and 23andMe, and they are profiting from this whole ordeal.

The results obtained by the researchers were detailed in a paper titled, False-positive results released by direct-to-consumer genetic tests highlight the importance of clinical confirmation testing for appropriate patient care, which was published recently in the journal Genetics in Medicine.

Such companies have become popular on the backbone of such direct-to-consumer genetic tests, which typically use a technique that is referred to as genotyping. This technique is used to gather information about an individuals ancestry, risk of developing certain diseases, and status as a carrier of certain diseases as well. In many cases, the raw genotyping data can be made available to customers upon request. And then its up to them to bring the data to third-party companies that can interpret them for a specified price.

What Ambry Genetics did was simply take a look at the data from these consumer DNA tests. Indeed, they went through a total of 49 samples containing raw genotyping data, and what they found was quite alarming. The researchers said that 40 percent of all the variants found in the raw data were nothing but so-called false positives  mistakes  which means that they could lead people to believe things that arent really true. There have been many cases of such genetic tests resulting in surprises to people, such as when one Germany family found out that they were Scottish, but it turns out that this kind of occurrence could be nothing but an error in the data.

Whats even more problematic is that most of the false positive results were related to cancer-linked genes. This means that those who encountered such false positives likely suffered from cancer scares even though the data was flat out wrong. The researchers also noted that there were a number of instances where third-party DNA interpretation services simply misunderstood what they were looking at. It sounds like a sad affair all around. (Related: DNA testing a waste? Even after people find out their disease risks, they dont do anything to change their health habits.)

DIY genetic testing is different from clinical genetic testing in that the latter requires the sign-off of an actual licensed physician. Instead of going down the DIY route, consumers are instead advised to always seek out the help of doctors that can confirm any and all results. That way, they can avoid dealing with false positives that could send them down the wrong path with regards to their own well-being.

Using only doctor-ordered genetic tests could also help in making sure that individuals know exactly the type of conditions or diseases they might have  or could likely have in the future  and therefore do whats necessary to prevent them. There are some diseases, especially congenital ones, where you would need all the help you can get.

Find out more news related to human genetics in GeneticLunacy.news. Also check out FakeScience.news for more coverage of fake science.

Sources include:

TechnologyReview.com

Nature.com

Futurism.comA young San Francisco Giants fan will receive a big honor Saturday.

Mason Ferrulli, 11, was originally diagnosed over a year ago and had surgery for an inoperable brain tumor. His road to recovery recently hit a wall.

Non-profit California Brain Tumors Association and the Giants are now teaming up to help lift Mason's spirits by inviting him to Saturday's game, where the boy will "steal second base" after the third inning.AC Transit bus operators are calling for changes to an emergency call system they believe wastes valuable minutes, putting everyones safety at risk. In February, the NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit found a steady increase in the number of reported assaults against bus drivers in the East Bay. Now operators tell the Investigative Unit the recent rise in incidents underscores the need for drivers to have a direct line to law enforcement.

NO DIRECT LINE TO CALL FOR HELP

Danny Marshall is the assistant business agent for Amalgamated Transit Union Local 192, the union that represents more than 1,300 bus operators. Any time a driver is attacked, he gets a call.

Marshall explained the current procedure for drivers to call for help when caught in the snarl of an angry passenger.

There's not a direct line that goes directly to the sheriff, Marshall told NBC Bay Area. Instead, drivers must call AC Transits Operation Control Center (OCC), which handles everything from mechanical problems to emergencies.

When we call OCC, which is our dispatcher, realize that OCC has to take that information and then call the [Alameda County] Sheriffs dispatch. Then once they call the Sheriffs dispatch, that dispatch has to notify the officer, Marshall said.

NBC Bay Area reviewed more than 200 videos since 2014 showing drivers call for help after an alleged assault. In those tense moments after the initial call, we observed drivers getting punched, bitten, kicked, and choked in melees that often forced other passengers to get involved.

Montgomery County Police Department

NO RESPONSE

Video also showed some drivers had trouble getting any response at all.

I hit the button, they dont never answer the freaking phone, one driver complained after trying to report a passenger for making repeated sexual advances.

Some responses were so slow, even the passengers noticed.

The response is slow, one passenger told the operator as they waited to report an attack on the operator and other passengers.

I hit this button, I hit that button, dont nobody call, nobody asks no questions, the driver complained to passengers as they waited for help.

However not all responses were delayed. Video we reviewed showed quick responses can make a big difference.

In one instance, a sheriffs deputy sprinted on scene one minute after the drivers call for help. He was able to stop the attack.

But situations like that are rare, according ATU Local 192 Safety Committee Chair Nathaniel Arnold.

I myself have been a victim. I've been spat on and I've actually had a gun held out to me, Arnold said.

To combat slow response times, Arnold and other drivers have started riding each others buses on certain routes to help in case of an emergency.

TIMELINE OF REPORTED ASSAULTS

SAFETY AND SECURITY AT AC TRANSIT

In February AC Transit Chief Operating Officer Salvador Llamas told NBC Bay Area his agency contracts with at least 34 Alameda County Sheriff Deputies to respond to emergencies. However the district does not keep track of those response times.

NBC Bay Area asked whether operators have the ability to contact police directly during an assault.

The only way they can talk to our dispatch is through the radio system inside the bus, Llamas said.

We do not have a cell phone for them to use. The reason why we want them to use the radio is because that is a central hub that gives a location of the bus, the routes, the bus number, they can get an immediate idea where the vehicle is at so they can convey that to our road supervision and to our law enforcement, Llamas explained.

AC Transit security briefings presented to the public cite a decline in assaults on drivers, but the NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit reviewed hours of surveillance videos from AC Transit and found a sharp increase in reports of assaults on drivers, sometimes putting riders in the middle of dangerous incidents. Senior investigative reporter Vicky Nguyen reports in a story that first aired February 23, 2018.

Buses are also equipped with a panic button that alerts the control center theres an emergency and allows dispatch to locate the bus and listen to whats happening. However drivers told NBC Bay Area they rarely use it because it cuts off their ability to talk to dispatch or give a suspect description.

Operators say they want management to hear their concerns and help improve response times because when drivers arent safe, passengers arent safe.

In the meantime, following questions from NBC Bay Area in February, AC Transit is in the process of installing a prototype shield around the driver seat on certain bus to test whether it will provide any additional protection.

If you have a tip for Vicky Nguyen about this or any other story, you can email her directly at vicky@nbcbayarea.com or you can email theunit@nbcbayarea.com or call 888-996-TIPS.

Follow Vicky Nguyen on Twitter www.twitter.com/VickyNguyenTV and Facebookwww.facebook.com/VickyNguyenTV

 Click here to submit tips onlineA four-day manhunt for a man accused of fatally shooting a Maine police officer ended Saturday, with a seven-man capture team arresting the suspect using the slain officer's handcuffs.

Sheriff Dale Lancaster told reporters Saturday that using Somerset County Cpl. Eugene Cole's handcuffs to arrest 29-year-old John Williams felt "fitting."

"He killed my deputy and he was brought to justice using Cole's handcuffs," he said during a 4 p.m. press conference providing details on the capture.

Cpl. Cole's brother, Tom Cole, said it made him smile when he heard of the symbolic gesture.

Exclusive video from WCHS shows 29-year-old John Williams, who allegedly shot and killed Somerset County Cpl. Eugene Cole, being taken into custody on the fourth day of the manhunt.

"Today is a very good day," Lancaster said to start the press conference. "Today at 12:43 p.m., John Williams was taken into custody at a camp located off of Route 139 in Norridgewock."

State Police Lt. Col. John Cote added that Williams offered "limited resistance" to his arrest. A photo taken by the capture team shows Williams with his head being lifted up by authorities.

The State Police Lt. Col. said they needed to take a facial picture to confirm the suspect's identity and that he would not cooperate to raise his head to the camera, forcing them to physically pull his head up.

Sheriff Dale Lancaster and State Police Lt. Col. John Cote held a 4 p.m. press conference Saturday to provide updates on the capture of 29-year-old John Williams, who allegedly shot and killed Somerset County Cpl. Eugene Cole.

Williams was transported to the Waterville Police Department after being checked out by EMS. He was transferred to the Maine State Prison in Warren around 5:30 p.m. Saturday where he was screened by medical staff and placed into secure housing.

Police interviewed Williams after his arrest, which may help them answer their biggest question: why?

Williams is being held at the Maine State Prison at the request of the Somerset County Jail, a process routinely utilized when an inmate requires additional security precautions while awaiting trial or sentencing. He is expected to make his initial court appearance early in the week.

The suspected cop killer was captured during the fourth day of the manhunt in the area of 807 Norridgewock Road.

Lancaster said his first call was to the Cole family to personally notify them of the arrest.

"They were relieved, thankful and very grateful," Lancaster said.

Tom Cole says he is feeling relieved and is offering forgiveness to his brother's accused killer.

"I would tell him that I forgive him, and I would like to have him say he was sorry, and see sincere remorse for what he has done," Tom Cole said of Williams.

Lancaster said he is also extremely relieved and cannot express in words his gratitude to everyone who has helped in some way.

The multi-day manhunt for Williams included helicopters, armored vehicles, and police cruisers. Local schools had been in lockdown as federal, state and local law enforcement poured into the region to help.

"Tonight, the citizens of Somerset County can sleep well knowing a dangerous man has been taken off the streets," Sheriff Lancaster said Saturday afternoon.

Cote said starting with their initial response on Wednesday, they were confident they had contained the suspect to a large wooded area.

"Each day we assembled teams to slowly and methodically search the difficult terrain," he said.

Teams encountered critical evidence and signs of activity several times which gave them confidence Williams was still contained in the area. Throughout the multi-day hunt, law enforcement found fresh tracks that led to the area Williams was found, in a camp outside the area of Lost Brook.

Maine Gov. Paul LePage thanked law enforcement in a Tweet Saturday for their "outstanding teamwork."

Thank you to all law enforcement from federal, state, county & local agencies & those from neighboring states for bringing this manhunt to an end. Outstanding teamwork. I thank Mainers for their support. Now its time to ensure justice is served on behalf of Cpl Cole & his family  Paul R. LePage (@Governor_LePage) April 28, 2018

LePage had said Friday that all hunting was to be suspended in portions of Norridgewock, Skowhegan and Fairfield. That included the start of youth wild turkey season Saturday.

The shooting of Cole on Wednesday in Norridgewock triggered an intensive search for Williams in and around the heavily wooded rural community about 60 miles west of Bangor. He was considered armed and dangerous. Police urged the community to keep homes and cars locked.

Cole was gunned down between 1 and 2 a.m. Wednesday on Route 2 in Norridgewock. Williams then allegedly stole Cole's marked cruiser and robbed a Cumberland Farms store on Waterville Road. He was last seen fleeing in the stolen cruiser.

The cruiser was found abandoned around 5 a.m. off of Martin Stream Road in Norridgewock. Investigators believe Williams then fled on foot, sparking the manhunt.



Cole was 62 and a 13-year veteran of the department. Sheriff Lancaster called him an "outstanding employee, one of the finest deputies."

Kimberly Sirois told NBC10 Boston she found Cole's body on Wednesday morning. She said Williams was like a son to her and lived with at her Norridgewock home from 2003 until last Christmas, when she kicked him out for doing drugs. He moved in when he was in high school after a falling out with his parents.

"He was certainly struggling with addiction and it seemed to have gotten progressively worse since September," Sirois said.

Sirois, an education technician at Mill Stream Elementary School in Norridgewock, said the last few days have been a nightmare.

She said she woke up to the sound of helicopters overhead around 7 a.m. Wednesday and when she went outside she found Cole's body in her backyard and alerted police.

"As I lowered my eyes, I saw him," she said. "I asked him, 'Officer, are you OK?' and didn't get a response."

"I'm screaming, yelling, crying. I started screaming and waving my arms, and when I caught their attention, I said, 'I found your officer. He's in my yard.' They all came running over."

She said police later searched her property and found body armor and a gun in her car. They don't belong to her, and she said she's not sure if they belonged to Williams.

Sirois said she doesn't know what brought Cole to her property, and police have not commented on a motive.

"We have no idea what transpired," she said.

With the manhunt now over, Lancaster said the Somerset County Sheriff's Office now has the opportunity to pause and grieve the loss of their friend and colleague.

"We can now focus on the important task of respectfully laying our fallen brother to rest," he said. "He was an outstanding officer, paid attention to detail. He really epitomized community policing before there was community policing."

A viewing for Cole will be held May 6. A funeral is planned for May 7.Two Waterbury firefighters have been fired after failing random drug and alcohol tests, and one was driving a fire truck while drunk, according to an internal investigation.

Both men served the Waterbury Fire Department for over 20 years before their careers were cut short by failing these tests. Both are fighting to get their jobs back.

Investigation reports obtained by NBC Connecticut show Fire Lieutenant Thomas Eccleston was terminated after testing positive for marijuana use. Eccleston told investigators he had a state-issued medical marijuana card. But he was on whats called a last chance agreement with the department after two prior disciplinary actions. It required him to pass the drug test regardless of a state-issued medical marijuana card.

According to another report, Fire Driver Greg Keane blew a point .083 on a breathalyzer test, which is over the legal limit. According to that report, he drove a fire truck to an emergency call at Driggs Elementary School just hours before that test.

Keane told superiors hed been struggling with alcohol for years, and opened four bottles of wine in the 24 hours before his shift.

NBC Connecticut was unsuccessful in reaching Keane and Eccleston for comment. Both are appealing their terminations.

Keane went before the State Department of Labors Board of Mediation and Arbitration Friday, but it could be more than a month before a decision is reached.

In a statement to NBC Connecticut, Waterbury Fire Chief David Martin said Keane and Ecclestons behavior isnt representative of their department.

The members of the Waterbury Fire Department are dedicated professionals. These are isolated instances and should not be deemed to represent the culture and character of the entire department, Martin told NBC Connecticut.

Chief Martin also said these are the only two positive test results his departments seen since starting random monthly drug and alcohol tests about a year ago.Tracy Mazerolle was excited to get her new bright orange Subaru. But her excitement quickly turned to disappointment after driving her brand new vehicle off the lot and soon discovering a defect.

Mazerolle said shes owned Subaru vehicles in the past and wanted an upgrade.

I was very, very happy with that Forester. So, I knew the next vehicle was probably going to be a Subaru, said Mazerolle.

The Middletown resident spent $31,000 on a 2018 Subaru Crosstrek.

Before I made my first payment on it, I noticed some chips on the rear passenger side door, said Mazerolle.

Mazerolle didnt think much of it, until she started noticing more paint chips.

Ive never seen this before on anyones vehicle before and I figured this has to be a defect in the paint, she said.

Mazerolle returned the car to the dealership and a sales associate told her about the paint protection on her warranty with Subaru of America.

They advised her to contact the company. She did so right away.

They asked me to bring it back to my dealership and have the body shop specialist take some photos and submit it for the claim with Subaru of America, said Mazerolle.

Mazerolle said Subaru of America denied her claim stating the chipping is the result of outside debris and offered to pay the comprehensive deductible on her car insurance.

I was not willing to do that. Thats not what that coverage is for, said Mazerolle.

A Subaru representative instructed her to take the vehicle to an authorized Subaru body shop of her choice.

The specialist there confirmed to me, it is bad paint. Its a manufacturer defect and he said he seen that before, said Mazerolle.

Mazerolle said the tech told her it would take tens of thousands of dollars to repair it. If not, the car would start to rust over time.

I never expected to run into this with a brand new vehicle, added Mazerolle.

Having exhausted all of her options, Mazerolle called NBC Connecticut Responds in hopes of not losing the $31,000 she paid for the vehicle.

We reached out to Subaru of America on Mazerolles behalf.

The end result - a brand new 2018 Subaru Crosstrek!

Subaru of America told us in a statement:

We are pleased that we were able to find a solution for the customer in this situation. While we believe that the paint issues were caused by outside influences such as road debris, we wanted to make sure the customer was satisfied with their new Subaru vehicle.

So, rather than trying to fix the paint problem, Mazerolle got a new car.

NBCs involvement definitely made a big difference. It made them realize I wasnt going to give up on this issue. So, it was very helpful to have the Responds team respond, Mazerolle said.Tuition at all of Connecticuts state colleges universities and community colleges could be going up in a big way if state lawmakers in Hartford dont step in, according to the college systems president.

A plan floated late last year by Connecticut State Colleges & Universities President Mark Ojakian would have merged all of Connecticut community colleges into one large school, a plan Ojakian said would save more than $20 million. But that plan has been rejected by the accreditation board, and now Ojakian says its up to state lawmakers to make sure tuition does not skyrocket.

Most of us come here because it is affordable, said Capital Community College student Natalie Langlaise.

Langlaise said part of the reason shell earn an associates degree from Capital Community College this spring is because her tuition here was never too high. Shes deeply disturbed by the possibility of tuition soon soaring at schools like her own.

It would affect my entire life, I would say, she told NBC Connecticut. The idea that the cost of education is going up, it just doesnt sit well with the students, she added.

In a letter to lawmakers, President Ojakian said tuition at Capital and all of Connecticuts community colleges could more than double from about $4,000 a year to $10,000, and four-year colleges could increase by 50 percent if state lawmakers dont act to help close budget shortfalls with something other than tuition increases.

In two years were going to be even further in the whole than we had projected, Oakian said.

Ojakian said he sent the letter to make it clear to the state that now that the proposal to save money by merging schools is stalled, leaders have to act to keep the states colleges afloat.

It was meant to say to them, if you want to have a public higher education system, thats affordable and accessible and doesnt leave any student behind, then we need your help, Ojakian said.

Despite the failure of the consolidation plan, Ojakian said keeping all of Connecticuts community colleges open is a priority, But while they continue to push lawmakers for more funding, theyll also circle back with the accreditors to see if theres an acceptable way to consolidate.A wanted man was captured in Hartford after a wild crash that ended with the suspect's car hitting a house.

Police and firefighters responded to New Britain Avenue near Zion Street just after 7:30 a.m. Saturday for a call of a person possibly in medical distress in a parked minivan.

When officers arrived, the person woke up and then took off, hitting a fire truck as he sped away, according to police.

The driver crashed the minivan into a utility pole and a tow truck and eventually crashed into a house by New Britain Avenue and Nepaug Street.

"I got hit. The truck rolled over. Thank God I'm alive," Christian Veres, the tow truck's driver, said. "He was right in front of me. Cops went up to him drawing their guns and I didn't do anything. I let the cops handle it."

Police took the driver into custody and identified him as 24-year-old Joseph Barreto.

Barreto was wanted for a fatal hit-and-run crash at Ward Street and Zion Street that occurred on February 19. He was also wanted for a shooting incident on Tuesday.

The minivan Barreto crashed on Saturday was stolen, according to police. Officers also found a loaded weapon in the vehicle, they said.

The minivan with Barreto inside had been there since early morning, according to Darnell Tinsley, the man who called 911 to alert police.

"I'm happy I called. It's good to get the guy off the streets because that's not somebody we want to have in our community," Tinsley said.Humboldt County pot farmer JD grew weed for decades before the once-illicit plant became legal in California, but ironically, legalization could spell the end of JDs farming days.

Hes still growing illegally, without having obtained the necessary local and state licenses, but just until he saves enough money to make his escape and start a new life somewhere else, he says.

Count him among the majority of Emerald Triangle growers who watched legalization come to California but decided not to step out of the shadows. Its also the reason he asked NBC Bay Area to call him by a nickname.

JD wanted to go legit, he says, but scrapped those plans when he realized the hefty price of complying with state and county regulations.

I looked forward to doing it, but it ended up being a lot more expensive than you would think, JD said.

On top of new fees and taxes levied by state and local agencies on growers opting to join the regulated market, it can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars for growers like JD to bring their land up to code. With weed currently being sold at rock-bottom prices, running a small pot farm simply doesnt pencil out anymore for a lot of growers in JDs shoes.

I grew because I love the plant, JD said. I make the best plants. Thats what I do, and theres not a lot of money in that anymore. Theres a lot of money in making a lot of plants.

JD is among the vast majority of California cannabis farmers who are still operating illegally or giving up their farms altogether. The California Growers Association estimates there are about 68,000 cannabis cultivators in the state. But data from the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), the agency responsible for licensing cultivators, shows only 8 percent of those estimated growers have even applied for temporary state licenses. Just 5 percent of growers have actually been granted one.

Some growers blame this on regulators, saying they havent done enough to ensure small farmers can survive in the new era of legal weed, leaving them no choice but to fold or take their chances on the black market. Others call it the price of regulation, an unfortunate but necessary consequence of bringing legitimacy to an industry thats spent decades operating with the threat of criminal prosecution looming overhead. With regulation come taxes, fees and red tape  no different than what any small business owner in America has to deal with, they say.

County to county, its tough to pin down the percentage of growers who have opted to go the legal route. In Sonoma County, data show only about 4 percent of growers have initiated the process. Just to the North, in Mendocino County, roughly 18 percent of growers have submitted applications to the county. Thats using the low-end estimate of 5,000 growers in the county, but officials say the true number is probably closer to 10,000.

In Humboldt County, which has done comparatively well in bringing its growers into the fold, roughly 30 percent have at least begun the permitting process. Thats according to Humboldt County officials, who estimate the total number of growers in the county to be roughly 6,000. But some believe there are significantly more grow sites in the county, perhaps upwards of 15,000, which would mean considerably more pot farmers are operating illegally.

There are some people who are rightly panicking right now because they recognize that the world they know is going to be different, and it may not work for them, and its unsettling, said John Ford, planning director for Humboldt County.

Policing the black market is now largely out of the hands of law enforcement in Humboldt County and handled by Ford and his team, who use aerial images to spot illicit grows. Getting caught means significant penalties of $10,000 per day for each violation. Ford says the system has had more success at shutting down illegal grows than the law enforcement raids of old.

The Sheriffs Office could hit 15 to 20 sites in a year, Ford said. Now we can do that in a week. When aerial photography is so available, and you can look down and see exactly where theyre at and just send a letter from a desktop, it changes the engagement significantly.

Fords team has already sent out about 100 letters to properties with illicit grows and expects to send out more than 500 by the end of the summer. He knows many growers in the county will struggle to survive on the regulated market, and he says the county is making every effort to engage small farmers in the process. But he believes removing the black market from the equation is whats best for the county.

We do want the cannabis industry to be successful, and the way its successful is that it has a level playing field and that everyone is complying with the same requirements, Ford said.

Humboldt County grower Scott Davies gives Ford a lot of credit for his work trying to bring cannabis cultivators into the regulated market. Davies came to Humboldt County in the 1980s. He fell in love and hasnt left since. Now, he runs Winterbourne Farms, tucked up against the Mattole River in a remote part of the county. Hes a fierce advocate of regulating the industry and moving beyond prohibition and was among the first growers in county to begin the permitting process.

Davies says he spent years looking for the perfect property for growing cannabis on the regulated market, believing legalization was all but inevitable.

We made the decision to focus our cultivation on a piece of property that would be perfect for any type of agriculture endeavor, he said. Flat, the ability to store water, good access to sunshine for the plants, but also for the solar system that powers the farm.

Davies, who also co-owns the Humboldt Legends distribution company, understands the majority of growers in the county, many of whom have been growing for decades, are simply not going to make it. He feels for them but says a bit more foresight could have likely saved some growers from the precarious positions they now find themselves in.

I think some of the people didnt prepare as well as they should have, and now they are suffering, he said.

But Davies said it also comes down to size. Davies said Winterbourne Farms is about the smallest size operation that can make it on the regulated market without a lot of additional stress.

I think 20,000 square feet is just over the kind of cutoff that makes the most economic sense for people to go into the permit path, he said.

By comparison, JDs grow is just a fraction of the size of Winterbourne Farms.

Davies acknowledges the steep price of coming into compliance for growers, but chooses to view the cost as a long-term investment in his business. He says the process has cost him upwards of half a million dollars so far.

Thats significant, it really is, Davies said. But that money comes back in increased property value and in the business that can continue on into the future. So its a thoughtful investment for the future for a long-term play.

He understands hell now be competing with some of his neighbors who choose to remain on the black market but isnt overly concerned as long as their illicit weed is only being sold out of state.

My expectation is that the black market wont go away but that I wont have to compete with the black market in the retail, regulated channel, he said.

Keeping black market pot out of the regulated market is now up to state regulators like Lori Ajax, Chief of the Bureau of Cannabis Control.

She says they are trying to balance the needs of farmers while still maintaining the regulations she says are in the best interests of the industry, consumers, and the environment.

I think its our job, along with local jurisdictions, to not create a situation where the black market is thriving, Ajax said.

Its still early in the process, and Ajax says she expects more growers to come onboard in the coming months. She says the bureau, along with the states public health department  and CDFA, which regulates cultivators  are fine-tuning the rules right now.

Were working on our final regulations that all three licensing authorities will be releasing in the next couple months to address these issues that arent working and to find ways we can make sure cultivators, manufacturers, distributors and retailers will be successful.

Growers committed to going legit tell NBC Bay Area they look forward to ending cannabis prohibition and ushering in a new era of legitimacy and stability to the industry, despite any potential challenges and growing pains. Regulation, they say, helps protect the environment from degradation, lets consumers know where their pot was grown and that its free from mold and pesticides, and ends the criminalization of those in the industry.

But no matter how hard regulators work to bring cultivators into the legal market, state data show the California market simply cant support everybody. According to a recent report by the California Department of Finance, Californians consumes only about 20 percent of the 13.5 million pounds of pot the states growers produce each year. The report estimates about 11 million pounds is shipped out of state, which is still currently illegal under state and federal law.

So, by all accounts, the states illicit cannabis market is here to stay. But the reasons growers remain in the shadows can be quite different.

For some farmers, like JD, the decision to grow on the black market comes down to economics. It can be too costly to come into compliance without access to a boatload of capital. Larger growers, often backed by investors with deep pockets, can afford to hire consultants and lawyers to help them navigate the licensing process. They can also withstand the new fees and taxes that growers have to hand over to a handful of different government agencies.

Another faction of growers never intended to join the legal market at all, some Emerald Triangle cultivators say. Some dont trust the government and have significant doubts about handing over their personal information to local and state authorities. Many others will be tempted by the significantly higher prices California weed sells for out of state.

Many of the illicit growers are addicted to the cash, and thats something thats hard to give up, JD said.

And then there are growers who find themselves on the black market simply because of geography. Despite being legal at the state level, local control provisions allow cities and counties to ban cannabis cultivation, so anyone growing in those areas is operating illicitly.

Just five months into Californias legal pot journey, its probably too soon to say for sure just how many of the states cannabis farmers are going to survive. The coming months should be telling. In the meantime, growers face a lot of uncertainty, both on the legal market, and the illicit one.

Theres a lot of us that are giving it a last ditch effort, JD said. And then there are those of us that are getting out.

If you have a tip for the Investigative Unit email theunit@nbcbayarea.com. Follow Liz on Facebook and Twitter.What to Know The FBI said the "Golden State Killer" is responsible for approximately 45 rapes, 12 homicides, and multiple residential burglaries

Investigators used information gleaned from an online DNA-testing site to narrow down their search

This week, police arrested their suspect: a 72-year-old former police officer, who was arraigned on 2 murder charges Friday

The man accused of being the Golden State Killer, who terrorized suburban California neighborhoods in a spate of brutal rapes and slayings in the 1970s and '80s before leaving a cold trail that baffled investigators for decades, was arraigned in Sacramento court Friday.

Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, made his first court appearance Friday. Handcuffed to a wheelchair in orange jail scrubs, he looked dazed and spoke in a faint voice to acknowledge he was represented by a public defender. He did not enter a plea.

Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones has said DeAngelo was in a psychiatric ward of the county jail and has said little. Jones says there's been "quiet reflection" and mumbling.



DeAngelo was charged with eight counts of murder in three counties after being linked to the crimes through his DNA. The Sacramento County District Attorney's Office on Thursday confirmed a relative's DNA on genealogy websites helped them track down DeAngelo.

Lead investigator Paul Holes told the Mercury News that one of his team's biggest tools was GEDMatch, a Florida-based website that pools DNA profiles that people upload and share publicly.

GEDMatch is a free site where users who have DNA profiles from commercial companies such as Ancestry.com and 23andMe, but the free site doesn't require a court order to access the genetic database like the commercial sites do.



Most of the crimes, predominantly sex assaults but also two slayings, occurred in the three years he was an Auburn police officer in the Sierra foothills outside Sacramento.

DeAngelo's six-year career as a cop came swiftly to an end after being busted for shoplifting a can of dog repellant and a hammer from a Pay N' Save store in a Sacramento suburb in 1979.

Authorities are now wondering if the items he snatched were intended as tools for the sinister rash of crimes he's suspected of carrying out.

Until a week ago, DeAngelo, who lived in a neatly kept home in the Citrus Heights suburb where many of the attacks went down and where he was caught stealing, was not in their sights.

For 27 years, he worked in a cavernous Save Mart Supermarkets distribution warehouse in Roseville, a Sacramento suburb, before retiring last year, company spokeswoman Victoria Castro said.

"None of his actions in the workplace would have led us to suspect any connection to crimes being attributed to him," she said in a statement.

DeAngelo built remote-controlled model airplanes and took meticulous care of his house and manicured lawn, neighbors said.

Natalia Bedes-Correnti said DeAngelo appeared to be a "nice old grandpa" who lived with an adult daughter and granddaughter. But he also had penchant for cussing loudly when he was frustrated.

"He liked the 'F-word' a lot," Bedes-Correnti said.

Deputies kept watch on the house and his comings and goings for several days and took him by surprise Tuesday afternoon as he walked outside.

As he was being arrested, he told officers he had a roast in the oven. They said they would take care of it.Vice President Mike Pence inspected construction of the border fence in Calexico Monday.

The vice president first visited the El Centro Border Station control center and met with agents. He thanked them for their hard work in securing the country.



Construction began last month in San Diego to replace 14 miles of an outdated steel plate barrier with a structure made out of hollow steel beams filled with concrete and steel rods. DHS said the new structure will give agents visibility into Mexico.

In Calexico, two miles of a 30-foot border fence will replace two miles of pedestrian barrier. The area for the construction is west of the Calexico Port of Entry beyond a nearby outlet mall shopping center. Construction should be completed by October 2018.

Vice President Pence and Second Lady Karen Pence deboarded Air Force Two in El Centro, California at about 10:30 a.m. Monday.

The construction site was visited by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen in mid-April. Nielsen called the construction of the replacement fence as one of the highest priorities to improve border security in the region.

"We will work with the National Guard until we can look each other in the eyes and say we have operational control of the border," Nielsen said. "We need additional funding. We need the wall system."

The construction is not part of the design standard that will be developed from a prototype project underway near the San Ysidro Port of Entry. The eight prototypes that stand about 30 feet tall and 25 feet wide are made from a variety of materials. The CBP has not yet said which prototype will be used for President Donald Trump's proposed border wall.

President Trump visited the prototypes in March, touting them as a way to stop "99 percent, maybe more" of border crossings.

The vice president is scheduled to tour a NASA propulsion laboratory in Pasadena  one week before NASAs next mission to Mars.

On Sunday, Pence headlined a $10,000 per couple fundraiser in Malibu. Monday afternoon, he will be back in LA for a roundtable discussion at an undisclosed location in Beverly Hills.What to Know The I-Team has uncovered videos and links for child sex dolls on the biggest social media sites

NY congressman Dan Donovan has introduced a bill to make them illegal in the U.S.

One social media expert says the platforms are enabling the sellers on their platforms and it's not something that should be on the internet

From YouTube to Instagram, and Twitter to Pinterest, videos and links to online markets for child sex dolls are being posted on the biggest social media sites, the I-Team has found.

On one YouTube channel called Pretty Dolls, which has since been removed, videos about life-sized dolls that look like children and are sold for a dark purpose have been watched more than 100,000 times.

"This should disgust every human being," said Rep. Dan Donovan (R-NY).

A prosecutor for 20 years, he's on a crusade to outlaw child sex dolls and has introduced a bill to make them illegal in the U.S., like they are in the United Kingdom and Australia. But even he was surprised by what the I-Team found.

In addition to the social media listings, Google Shopping also offered child sex dolls -- and there were listings even on Amazon.

"To see how widespread this is shows you how widespread of a problem it is," said Donovan.

Donovan says he's locked up the type of people who buy them: "After [the doll] is no longer satisfying, you prey upon a child... that's the fear."

Dr. Marie Helen Maras, a professor at John Jay College, is among the few people in the world who have researched the topic.

"The risk is that eventually, the child sex doll will not be enough," she said.

She rejects arguments the dolls can help pedophiles who are in therapy.

"Cognitive behavioral therapy seeks to show these offenders that their behavior is wrong," she said. "How are you going to do that when you're promoting these dolls that are rewarding them?"

But it raises the question of what roles social media companies play in the market. Sree Sreenivasan, a renowned social and digital media consultant who's a former technology professor at Columbia and chief digital officer for New York City, says, "This is something that should not be on the internet... You're not doing something bad yourself, but you're enabling it on your platform, and that is totally unacceptable."

Social media companies said they agree. In response to I-Team inquiries, YouTube shut down the Pretty Dolls page, citing "multiple or severe violations of YouTube's policy on nudity or sexual content."

"YouTube does not allow content involving the sexualization of minors and we deploy technology and people to fight this abhorrent content," said a spokesman for Google, which owns YouTube. "When we are made aware of behavior such as uploading, commenting, or engaging in any type of activity that sexualizes minors we immediately take action, including terminating accounts. Our systems are designed so that once a video that violates our policies is removed, it cannot be reuploaded."



Twitter also shut down what the I-Team found, saying it has "zero tolerance for child sexual exploitation." Instagram did, too, saying, "We have zero tolerance when it comes to content or behavior that puts the safety of our community at risk." And Pinterest said it's removed the flagged content and suspended the account.

Amazon has moved aggressively to pull child sex dolls off its site that have been listed by third-party sellers, telling Donovan it has a "strong policy preventing the sale of offensive products."

But the I-Team found others have surfaced. It's an example, Sreenivasan says, of why ongoing monitoring is critical.

"When you're dealing with this stuff, it can feel like whack-a-mole, and companies will tell you, 'We're going to do whatever is in the law or what the law requires us to do,'" he said. "But my question to any senior executive is, is it only what the law requires, or do you want to be a better company? Do you want to be a better organization?"

In the U.S., there are currently no restrictions on importing, manufacturing, buying or possessing child sex dolls. Donovan's bill currently has 32 sponsors. Senator Chuck Grassley makes full-throated case for Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act | Main | "Punishment and Human Dignity: Sentencing Principles for Twenty-First Century America" 

The title of this post is the title of this new paper authored by Mona Lynch and Craig Haney now available via SSRN. Here is its abstract:

Death qualification has been shown to have a number of biasing effects that appear to undermine a capital defendant's Sixth Amendment right to a fair jury. Attitudes toward the death penalty have shifted modestly but consistently over the last several decades in ways that may have changed the overall impact of death qualification. Specifically, the very large gap between black and white Americans' current support for capital punishment raises the question of whether death qualification procedures disproportionately exclude African Americans from capital jury participation.

In order to examine this possibility, we conducted two countywide death penalty attitude surveys in the California county that has the highest percentage of African American residents in the state. Results show that death qualification continues to have a number of serious biasing effects  including disproportionately excluding death penalty opponents  which result in the significant underrepresentation of African Americans. This creates a deathqualified jury pool with the potential to be significantly more likely to ignore and even misuse mitigating factors and to rely more heavily on aggravating factors in their death penalty decision making. The implications of these findings for the fair administration of capital punishment are discussed.Update: Police have made an arrest. New details here.

Police are searching for a teen boy accused of groping several people in separate incidents in the Ardmore area.

Police say the unidentified suspect groped a group of women along the bus route near St. Marys Road in Ardmore, Pennsylvania Sunday. He also matches the same description of a suspect involved in at least four similar incidents in the same area within the past year and a half, police said.

The victim and witnesses described the suspect as a skinny male in his mid- to late-teens, standing between 5-foot, 11 inches and 6 foot tall. A witness also said he was riding a larger than normal skateboard with green wheels. He was also wearing ear buds and a ball-cap, according to police.

If you have any information on the suspect, please call Detective Hufnal at 610-853-1298.

Embroiled in a sexual harassment scandal that had him planning to leave Congress, Rep. Pat Meehan abruptly resigned Friday and said he would repay the government money used in his settlement.

"With the knowledge I would not be standing for another term, I have decided that stepping down now is in the interest of the constituents I have been honored to serve," the Pennsylvania Republican said in a prepared statement posted to his website Friday afternoon.

Meehan has represented Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District covering communities in the Philadelphia suburbs since 2011. He announced earlier this year that he would not seek re-election.



The complaint, made by a former aide, against the married lawmaker was revealed by news reports in January. The accuser's lawyer had called the allegations a "serious sexual harassment claim."

Meehan had described the woman in an interview as a "soulmate" and acknowledged that he became angry when she began dating another man, but he said he'd never sought a romantic relationship with her.



"While I do believe I would be exonerated of any wrongdoing, I also did not want to put my staff through the rigors of an Ethics Committee investigation and believed it was best for them to have a head start on new employment rather than being caught up in an inquiry," Meehan said upon his resignation. "And since I have chosen to resign, the inquiry will not become a burden to taxpayers and committee staff."

The 62-year-old married father eventually settled the case with taxpayer money while serving as a member of the House Ethics Committee. The case was bound by a non-disclosure agreement, which the accuser's attorney claimed Meehan violated by speaking publicly.

"I will pay $39,000 to the U.S. Treasury to reimburse for the severance payment that was made from my office account," Meehan said Friday "That payment will be made within 30 days of my resignation from the House of Representatives. I did not want to leave with any question of violating the trust of taxpayers."

Top Pennsylvania Democrats, including Gov. Tom Wolf, had called for Meehan to resign from office immediately. On Friday, Wolf's spokesman said a final decision about a special election to serve out Meehan's term would be announced in the near future.A man who police say has been driving around Philadelphia, luring boys into his car with the prospect of earning money pumping gas only to sexually assault them, has struck for a fifth time.

This latest incident happened at 8:15 a.m. Thursday at 58th Street and Baltimore Avenue in Southwest Philadelphia as the boy headed to school.

Philadelphia Police Capt. Mark Burgman, head of the Special Victims Unit, said Friday that the victim, a 12-year-old boy, was standing at a bus stop when the man pulled his vehicle up to the curb. The man, who called himself Malik, asked the boy if he wanted to make some cash pumping gas, and when he agreed, told him to get in the car.

The two then drove away, Burgman said, with the man pulling up porn on his smartphone and then sexually assaulting the boy. When the assault was over, the man dropped the boy off near where he picked him up.

The assault follows a pattern that has been cast upon at least five other boys ranging in age from 12 to 16 years old since last May. The assaults have been spread across the city happening in Strawberry Mansion, East Mount Airy, West Oak Lane and now Southwest Philly.

In the first-reported incidents, police said the man sexually assaulted a pair of brothers separately and minutes apart.

"This guy's a predator. He's not going to stop. He's made that clear," Burgman said.

"It's important for parents to let their kids know that going to, coming from school...if somebody approaches you in a vehicle, do not get into the vehicle under any circumstances if you don't know that person."



Police describe the man as 25-30 years old with light skin, a thin build, long hair and a mustache or beard. The molester is said to be driving three styles of car: a silver Nissan or Dodge four-door sedan, a black sedan and a burgundy Subaru Outback.



Anyone with information is asked to call Philadelphia Police at 215-686-TIPS.California Gov. Jerry Brown has declared Saturday as Workers Memorial Day to honor workers who have lost their lives on the job.

In Brown's issued proclamation, he said the day is to honor those "who grow our food, catch our fish, transport our goods, maintain our roads and extract raw materials from the earth."

"Today is a day to remember those who have lost life or health as a result of their work in any occupation," Brown said. "Today, let us express our gratitude to the workers who have made the ultimate sacrifice."

The governor also said it is important to establish and maintain safeguards against workplace illness and injury.

In California, 376 workers lost their lives in 2016, according to the Occupation Safety and Health Administration. Over 21 percent of workers who died in 2016 in private industry were in construction, OSHA said.

The leading causes of those deaths are from what the OSHA calls the "Fatal Four": falls, struck by object, electrocution and caught-in/between.



The declartion of Workers Memerial Day comes one month before the federal holiday Memorial Day which honors those who died serving in the military.

The Bay City News contributed to this report.A judge ruled this week a local moving company accused of ripping off customers violated law.

Marylands attorney general filed civil charges against Swift Van Lines LLC after a News4 consumer investigation last year. A viewer said he had been ripped off by the moving company, and News4 found out he wasnt the only customer with a complaint.

The attorney general said Swift would provide low estimates to customers and drastically increased its prices after loading the customers items onto trucks. The charges filed are based on the Maryland Consumer Protection Act and the Maryland Household Goods Movers Act.

Swift owner Juan Carlos Martinez appeared before a judge at a hearing in January, where six former customers testified.

The judge ruled this week that Martinez violated the law by charging customers more than 125 percent of their estimates and holding their goods hostage.

"Swift engaged in a pattern of conduct specifically designed to deceive consumers," the judge said.

In January, Martinez represented himself and pleaded the Fifth Amendment.

The judge noted Martinez's behavior, saying his "demeanor displayed a troubling indifference as to how his actions affected Swift's customers."

The consumer protection division of the attorney general's office will issue its final decision in the case in the coming weeks, determining any civil fines and customer restitution.Pressure is mounting for change in Massachusetts when it comes to criminals released on bail who go on to kill police officers. It's an issue the NBC10 Boston Investigators first told you about last week.

Three Massachusetts officers have been murdered since 2010, with three career criminals accused. And just this week, a Maine sheriff's deputy was gunned down by a suspect who was free on twice-lowered bail following an arrest in Massachusetts last month.

Reaction has been swift and strong to NBC10 Boston's report, which came on the heels of the April 12 shooting death of Yarmouth police Sgt. Sean Gannon. His accused killer, Thomas Latanowich, was out on probation after serving four years for gun and heroin charges. Over the past 15 years, he has racked up 125 criminal charges.

[[479657623, C]]

Four influential police unions are now putting pressure on Gov. Charlie Baker, calling for change.

The Massachusetts Coalition of Police, the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association, the National Association of Police Organizations and the United Coalition of Public Safety all sent letters to the governor this week.

"There is clearly a flaw in the system when the most dangerous continue to walk the streets," Mass C.O.P. said in its letter. "It wasn't a matter of if, it was a matter of when these tragedies were going to strike.

"We understand there has to be varying degrees of punishment for different offenses," the letter continued. "But when you have 125 offenses on your record, many of them being violent, you should not be walking around waiting to victimize again. People should not have to suffer because some miscreant cannot be rehabilitated."

[[481092541, C]]

The Boston patrolmen's union's sternly worded letter said it is "angered by the continued leniency granted by our Judicial System to violent, repeat offenders and the tragedies that ultimately happen because of that leniency."

Calling it a "disturbing pattern," the union questions why "there has never been any accountability... for those responsible for allowing habitual, dangerous criminals to roam free, wreak havoc and murder brave men." [[481094071, C]]

The union implored Baker to take a leadership role, saying the officers' deaths "are directly due in part to Massachusetts judicial leniency," calling it "unacceptable."

"This tragedy compels us to examine how this could happen and how to prevent it from happening again," the United Coalition of Public Safety letter reads. "It has exposed serious flaws in a judicial system that allowed a repeat violent criminal to remain on the street, posing a serious threat to both law enforcement and citizens."

A fifth union, the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association, said Friday it was working with chiefs who have experienced line-of-duty deaths in their departments to formulate a plan moving forward. Monday, MCOPA sent a letter to the state's Senate thanking them for creating a $2 surcharge for vehicle rental contracts to fund the training of police officers.

[[481285841, C]]

Baker called Thursday for a review of the courts.The son of a New Hampshire police chief has been indicted on federal child pornography charges.

Court papers filed in the United States District Court of New Hampshire in Concord charge now-21-year-old Tyler LaVoie, son of Hudson Police Chief Jason LaVoie, with two counts of possessing and receiving child pornography.

An investigation of nearly four years by FBI agents found that in 2014, the file storage website DropBox reported 90 images and videos of child porn to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

The images were traced to an account under the name "Ty Jackson," belonging to Tyler LaVoie.

Two years later, in 2016, DropBox reported a second set of images that included child pornographers to the NCMEC linked to the same user name.

Court papers say a year later in 2017, the FBI seized an iPhone with pictures and videos from a Londonderry home.

NBC10 Boston knocked on the door of the Londonderry home, but a family relative offered no comment.

Court papers say that the younger LaVoie said his relationship with child porn started as a "cyber vigilante" who was responsible for the removal of child pornography from DropBox.

Investigators say he later admitted to enjoying it and that it spiraled out of control.

NBC10 Boston reached out to Hudson's police chief, but he remained unavailable to speak with us. We also reached out to Tyler LaVoie's attorney, Charles Keefe. His office said he was in court and unavailable to speak.The Maine Department of Public Safety has announced that the manhunt for 29-year-old John Williams, who allegedly shot and killed Somerset County Cpl. Eugene Cole, is over.

The suspect was reportedly captured alive and is in custody.

The shooting of Somerset County Cpl. Eugene Cole on Wednesday in Norridgewock triggered an intensive search for 29-year-old John Williams in and around the heavily wooded rural community about 60 miles west of Bangor. He was considered armed and dangerous. Police urged the community to keep homes and cars locked.

Cole was gunned down between 1 and 2 a.m. Wednesday on Route 2 in Norridgewock. Williams then allegedly stole Cole's marked cruiser and robbed a Cumberland Farms store on Waterville Road. He was last seen fleeing in the stolen cruiser.

The cruiser was found abandoned around 5 a.m. off of Martin Stream Road in Norridgewock. Investigators believe Williams then fled on foot, and has been at large ever since.

A viewing for the slain officer will be held May 6. A funeral is planned for May 7.Addressing the event, Mexican Ambassador to Vietnam Sara Valdes Bolano said that both Mexico and Vietnam are well-known for agricultural products. Mexico can supply Vietnam with high quality products at reasonable prices, she said.



Mexico is now the worlds 15th biggest food exporter and the biggest avocado producer, she noted, adding that Mexico is also famous for strawberry, banana and beef. The countrys food production growth reached 13 percent in 2017, the ambassador noted.



The Sagarpa and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam have worked together to finalise a memorandum of understanding on plant protection and food products, and another on researching and importing fresh products, she said.



The signing of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) is expected to promote the trading of agricultural products between the two countries, said the ambassador.



A Sagarpa representative said that Mexico has exported food products to 160 countries in the world with more than 290 agricultural products, such as avocado, potato, lemon, strawberry, mango and watermelon.



At the event, Mexican businesses introduced their strong products. Meanwhile, many Vietnamese firms held that the event is a good chance for them to explore the Mexican market and seek partnership with their Mexican peers.



According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Mexico is the third biggest trade partner of Vietnam in the Latin America region, with two-way trade growing rapidly. Vietnam has enjoyed trade surplus in the market for years.



In the first nine months of 2017, trade between Vietnam and Mexico reached 2.2 billion USD, including 1.8 billion USD worth of Vietnamese exports and 405.3 million USD worth of imports.



The two countries shared favourable conditions for boosting economic cooperation as they both are members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum and CPTPP.



Vietnam is keen on fostering cooperation with Mexico in rice and aquaculture, along with science, technology, pharmaceuticals, education-training, and climate change response.

VietnamplusMore than seven and a half years after the killing of a senior citizen in Vermonts Northeast Kingdom, the third defendant in the case changed his plea Friday.

Keith Baird pled no contest to burglary and kidnapping charges related to the September, 2010 shooting death of Mary Pat OHagan.

OHagan, 78, had retired from Chelmsford, Massachusetts to quiet Sheffield with her late husband. The grandmother became popular in the community, and was an active volunteer.

Investigators said Baird, along with his half-brother Richard Fletcher and a buddy, Michael Norrie, got high and broke into OHagans home looking to steal prescription medications and money.

Norrie already pled guilty to murder for shooting OHagan during the break-in, and is serving more than 20 years in prison.

Fletcher previously pled guilty to kidnapping and burglary and is awaiting sentencing.

Bairds new plea deal on the burglary and kidnapping charges calls for a sentence of 15 to 30 years, with credit for time served.

However, that punishment isnt enough for OHagans children, given Bairds lengthy criminal record and their view that the three men shared responsibility equally for crafting the ill-fated plot that turned violent.

To walk out with what he walked out withits terrible, said Mark OHagan of Bolton, Massachusetts. Its a tragedy.

Im not happy, added Shawn OHagan of Manchester, New Hampshire. I feel we let my mother down. I cant fathom it right now.

In addition to the no contest pleas on the burglary and kidnapping charges, Baird also pled guilty to several violations of his conditions of release.

Sentences on those convictions will be served concurrently with the others, under the plea deal.

Prosecutors acknowledged the plea agreement isnt necessarily what the family wanted, but the lawyers know trials arent always slam-dunks.

Caledonia County States Attorney Lisa Warren told Judge Michael Kupersmith that she and her deputy weighed the risk of non-conviction at trial.

In the past, Warren described challenges with evidence in the case, because the three men cleaned the crime scene well, then told conflicting, confusing stories.

No sentence under Vermont law could even start to bring closure to the OHagan family members, Warren said in court Friday, adding that the 15-30 year sentence should in no way minimize the value of Pat OHagans life.

Baird will be formally sentenced for the kidnapping in late May, when the victims family plans to tell the court about how long and painful this ordeal has been for them.

Judge Kupersmith said from the bench Friday that he will reserve his remarks on the case until that kidnapping sentencing.NEW FAIRFIELD  A hot tub, patios, stairways and portions of a fireplace at celebrity chef Donatella Arpaias home overlooking Candlewood Lake must be dismantled, according to a ruling Friday by the state Supreme Court.

The justices upheld lower court rulings that Arpaia and her husband, Mount Sinai heart surgeon Allan Stewart, built structures on land owned by the FirstLight Hydro Generating Company, which owns the lake.

The couple had argued that the boundary line between their property and that belonging to First Light was uncertain, and that the company failed to clarify it until the outdoor amenities were built. But the utility countered that the construction work was done in violation of permits and that the couple essentially trespassed on its property.

According to court filings by the company, permits were taken out to build a stone planter, a set of stairs and a stone patio that was to replace a worn-out deck left by the previous owner. But the company claims the project went far beyond the scope of the permit to include additional patios as well as a hot tub, a fireplace and several staircases.

Officials also took issue with water intake lines and drainage lines into the lake, which were also ordered removed, according to court documents.

During a segment on Open House, a television show on NBC about home renovations and design, Arpaia described the work on the house, including an outdoor kitchen and water fountain.

We bought the house six years ago, and I immediately fell in love with the view, she said during the segment that aired in November. As important as it is to have an amazing indoor kitchen, I live on a lake and I wanted to create the ultimate outdoor kitchen.

The Connecticut Supreme Court made the right decision in this case, said John Shue, the president and CEO of FirstLight said in a prepared statement. FirstLight works diligently with our neighbors to accommodate requests to build structures within our federal property boundary, but there are strict rules that govern what we can permit and what we cant. In this case the defendants blatantly ignored our repeated requests to halt construction, and now theyll rightly be required to remove what theyve built.

Arpaia and her husband, however, argued during a trial in Danbury Superior Court several years ago that the boundary line - often referred to as the 440 line - was vague.

In a brief filed with the court, the couple claimed that they were building the structures above the 440 line and that the company never told them otherwise. A representative of the company even told them where to locate the fireplace, the brief states.In the wake of a growing sexual harassment scandal that has been roiling UNAIDS and civil society, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest AIDS organization that provides and supports HIV care to more than 889,000 patients in 39 countries globally, including Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America & the Caribbean and the United States, is calling on the United Nations to outsource and appoint an independent third-party to investigate the case, which many believe was grossly mishandled by UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe and his superiors at the UN. In light of the scandal and the bungled initial investigation, AHF recently called for Sidibe to step down or be fired and for a highly qualified woman to be appointed in his place.

CNN & others report today that the United Nations has reopened an investigation into the case, reporting that, "The new investigation will be conducted by the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services, and 'no UNAIDS officials will be involved in this case going forward' Sophie Barton-Knott, a UNAIDS spokesperson said in a statement Friday."

However, AHF and othersnotably Paula Donovan and Stephen Lewis, Co-Directors of AIDS-Free World and its Code Blue Campaign to end impunity for sexual exploitation and abuse by UN personneldecried the news that the investigation will remain under UN auspices and each organization is calling for an independent body outside the UN to take over the reopened investigation, with Code Blue proposing a Temporary Independent Oversight Panel.

"It is crucial as a matter of justice as well as for the reputation of both UNAIDSand the UNthat an investigation of sexual harassment allegations at the highest echelons of UNAIDS has been reopened; however, it is fallacy to think that the UN itself can credibly or fairly conduct such an investigation," said Michael Weinstein, President, AIDS Healthcare Foundation. "Since the debacle of the first investigation, several more women have come forward with similar allegations against Dr. Loures. Sadly, everything about this new investigation appears to suggest 'optics' rather than a genuine desire for a true and transparent investigation: the fox-in-the-henhouse fact that a UN body will conduct the investigation, that UNAIDS buried the announcement of this new investigation in the media graveyard of a Friday afternoonand has yet to post any statement on its website. The United Nations must arrange for a truly independent third-party to be appointed to conduct a robust, transparent and impartial investigation of this sexual harassment case."Twenty-three non-commissioned officers from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps have been given the opportunity to follow their dreams of becoming physicians thanks to the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences' (USU) Enlisted to Medical Degree Preparatory Program, or EMDP2.

Nine Air Force, seven Army, six Navy, and one Marine Corps members were selected from hundreds of applicants for the Department of Defense program, which is entering its fifth year.

The EMDP2 is a 24-month program for promising enlisted service members interested in a career as a military doctor. Candidates attend school full-time at the George Mason University-Prince William (GMU-PW) campus in Manassas, Va., to prepare them to apply to medical school, while remaining on active duty. They must already possess a baccalaureate degree from an accredited academic institution with a minimum of a 3.2 grade point average and meet their respective military Service requirements for commissioning.

The students will report to USU at the end of July to begin the program, which will include full-time medical school preparatory coursework in a traditional classroom setting at GMU-PW, structured pre-health advising, formal Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) preparation, dedicated faculty and peer mentoring at USU, and integrated clinical exposure. Students who complete the program successfully will qualify to apply to most U.S. medical schools.

The new class includes:

Staff Sgt. Zakary Bailey, 29, Army medic, Fort Bragg, North Carolina

Staff Sgt. Austin Barton, 29, Marine Corps intelligence analyst, McDill Air Force Base, Tampa, Fla.

Staff Sgt. Shane Berger, 31, Air Force intelligence analyst, Davis Monthan Air Base, Tucson, Ariz.

Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Danielle Cain, 34, Navy hospital corpsman, Walter Reed National

Military Medical Center, Bethesda, Md.

Sgt. Anthony Caskey, 28, Army combat medic, Fort Benning, Ga.

Hospital Corpsman 1st Class Ka Chan, 28, Navy hospital corpsman, Naval Medical Research

Center, Silver Spring, Md.

Sgt. 1st Class Devin Defeo, 39, Army medic, Fort Bragg, North Carolina

Senior Airman Leslie Gore, 29, Air Force emergency actions controller, Joint Base Andrews, Md.

Senior Airman Ashley Halverson, 28, Air Force medical technician, Travis Air Force Base,

Fairfield, Calif.

Tech Sgt. Almaz Jamankulov, 32, Air Force linguist, Fort Belvoir, Va.

Sgt. Santosh Kachhepati, 31, Army combat medic, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.

Hospital Corpsman 1st Class Dawid Karapuda, 31, Navy hospital corpsman, Naval Health Clinic

New England, Newport, Rhode Island

Staff Sgt. Judith Mathess, 29, Air Force cryptologic linguist, Goodfellow Air Force Base, Texas

Hospital Corpsman 1st Class Alejandro Matias, 31, Navy hospital corpsman, Naval Medical

Center, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina

Staff Sgt. Verity Oltjenbruns, 27, Air Force public health technician, Joint Base McGuire-Dix, New

Jersey

Sgt. Sandra Peprah, 26, Army medical laboratory technician, Yongsan, Korea

Staff Sgt. Amber Powell, 29, Air Force data systems operator, Beale Air Force Base, Calif.

Tech Sgt. Sean Smith, 32, Air Force special/network systems administrator, Chantilly, Va.

Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Jon Solomon, 33, Navy hospital corpsman, Navy Bureau of Medicine

and Surgery, Falls Church, Va.

Machinist Mate (Nuclear) 1st Class Robert Trent, 27, Navy nuclear machinist mate, Navy Power

Training Unit, Ballston Spa, New York

Staff Sgt. Gabriel Vargas, 30, Army medic, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.

Staff Sgt. Erinne Vest, 28, Air Force cryptologic language analyst, Joint Base Elmendorf-

Richardson, Alaska

More than 22 students have successfully completed the EMDP2 program since its inception and are currently enrolled in medical school. Seventeen are attending USU's Hebert School of Medicine and two are enrolled in medical school at other universities through the military's Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship Program. On May 16, 2018, 15 additional EMDP2 students will graduate from the program and begin their medical school studies in the fall.

Source: https://www.usuhs.edu/The Delta Dental Community Care Foundation recently awarded Bayou Dental Health a $193,000 grant to purchase a multi-operatory mobile dental unit to provide much needed care to underserved residents in the Greater New Orleans region.

Bayou Dental Health is a non-profit dental health organization serving low-income children and adults in New Orleans. The new mobile dental unit will support Bayou Dental Health's current school-based and community dental care programs, which reach thousands of children and adults by bringing oral health care services directly into schools, community centers, nursing homes, and assisted living facilities.

In 2017, the Delta Dental Community Care Foundation awarded more than $9.6 million in grants to various types of dental clinics serving children and adults, dental student scholarships, disaster relief, and oral health education and scientific research programs across the foundation's 15-state service area plus Washington, DC. Since its inception, the foundation has awarded more than $1.4 million in grants to dental clinics in the state of Louisiana.

"We're thrilled to partner with Bayou Dental Health to make good oral health a reality for many who have gone without it because of financial or mobility barriers," said Karen L. Robinson, vice president of Corporate Affairs for Delta Dental Insurance Company and acting executive director of the Delta Dental Community Care Foundation. "Getting to the dentist is challenging for those living in underserved areas, and we need to fix that."

"Our goal is to provide dental care to at least 4,600 children and adults in the first year of operating our mobile dental clinic in the greater New Orleans region," said Mosanda Mvula, MD, MPH, Chair of the Board of Directors of Bayou Dental Health. "We're so grateful to Delta Dental for its help in increasing access to care for underserved New Orleans residents."The Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) today announced programming information for gene editing and synthetic biology at the 2018 World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology. Programming around these topics will kick off on Tuesday, July 17, with a plenary panel of experts to discuss how gene editing tools like CRISPR are revolutionizing the production of everyday products. Programming will continue with breakout sessions throughout the week, featuring executives from biotechnology companies, consumer goods producers and the government to explore the various applications for gene editing and synthetic biology in the field of industrial biotechnology.

The 2018 World Congress will be held July 16-19, 2018 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia.

"From biobased consumer goods to renewable chemicals and fuels, gene editing and synthetic biology are innovations that hold tremendous promise in the field of industrial biotechnology," said Brent Erickson, Executive Vice President, Industrial and Environmental at BIO. "The plenary program and breakout sessions will feature experts from across the industry to discuss how gene editing and synthetic biology will advance the biobased economy and what challenges may lie ahead."

The plenary panel will feature welcoming remarks from Jim Greenwood, President and CEO of BIO. Additional details include:

CRISPR and Gene Editing Tools to Advance Industrial Biotechnology

Tuesday, July 17, 2018

11:30 am - 1 pm

Moderator: Roger Wyse, PhD, Managing Partner, Spruce Capital Partners

Speakers:

Neal Gutterson, PhD, Chief Technology Officer, Corteva Agriscience (agriculture division of DowDuPont)

Stephan Herrera, Vice President, Strategy and Public Affairs, Evolva

John Melo, President and Chief Executive Officer, Amyris, Inc.

Sylvia Rowe, President, SR Strategy, LLC

Breakout sessions in the gene editing and synthetic biology track include:

The Intersection of Biology, Robotics, And Deep (Machine) Learning

Wednesday, July 18, 2018

1:30 pm - 2:45 pm

Moderator: James Barber, President, Barber Advisors LLC

Speakers:

Jason Kelly, Founder and CEO, Ginkgo Bioworks

Alexandre Zanghellini, Co-Founder and CEO, Arzeda, Inc.

Jim Lalonde, Senior Vice President, R&D, Codexis

Biofoundries and Industrial Production

Wednesday, July 18, 2018

2:45 pm - 4 pm

Moderator: Michael Koepke, Head of Synthetic Biology, LanzaTech

Speakers:

Emily Leproust, CEO, Twist Bioscience

Jay Fitzgerald, Program Manager, U.S. Department of Energy

Michael Fero, CEO, TeselaGen

Biotechnology: Enabling the Biobased Economy

Thursday, July 19, 2018

8:30 am - 9:45 am

Moderator: Kevin Jarrell, CEO, Modular Genetics

Speakers:

Neil Parry, R&D Program Director, Unilever

Alex Dehgan, CEO, Conservation X Labs

The Innovators Dilemma: The Convergence of Renewable Chemicals and Synthetic Biology

Thursday, July 19, 2018

10:15 am - 11:30 am

Moderator: Joel Stone, President, ConVergInce Advisors LLC

Speakers:

Eric Steen, CEO, Lygos

Gihan Hewage, Research Associate, Lux Research Inc.

Bryan Tracy, CEO, White Dog Labs

All programs at the World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology are open to attendance by members of the media. Complimentary media registration is available to editors and reporters working full time in print, broadcast or web publications with valid press credentials.Physician scientist and Hollings Cancer Center immunologist Zihai Li, M.D., Ph.D., was inducted into the Association of American Physicians (AAP).

The prestigious honorary medical society, founded in 1885, serves as one of the nation's leading professional organizations for physician scientists. Each year, nominees for membership undergo rigorous review and a competitive selection process.

An expert in the field, Li is recognized by AAP for his work in cancer immunology and immunotherapy. He and his research team have made pivotal contributions to understanding the immunological properties of heat shock proteins in cancer immunotherapy and immune tolerance. He was specifically cited for establishing the roles of GP96/GRP94 in immunity and cancer. He also uncovered the roles of TGFbeta-GARP axis on platelets in immuno-tolerance as well as discovered CNPY2 as a key initiator of the unfolded protein response.

Li serves as chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Medical University of South Carolina and is co-leader of the Cancer Immunology Research Program at Hollings Cancer Center, South Carolina's only NCI-designated Cancer Center. A board-certified medical oncologist specializing in bone marrow and blood stem cell transplantation, Li is the South Carolina SmartState Center of Economic Excellence Sally Abney Rose Chair in Stem Cell Biology & Therapy.

"I am excited and honored to be a member of the Association for American Physicians and to have the opportunity to learn from the best and brightest physician scientists in the world," he said.

Nominations which are only accepted from AAP members, are determined by the nominee's advancement of medical knowledge through translational science. Inductees were recognized at the annual joint meeting for physician scientists April 20 through 22 in Chicago.At a dinner he hosted for his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Xuan Phuc, who has been on a three-day official visit to Singapore ahead of the 32nd ASEAN Summit, PM Lee said he was very impressed with the cities rapid urban development, adding that their inclusion in the smart cities network will add to ASEAN's vibrancy.The smart cities network, which aims to better connect digital infrastructure and services like e-payments across the region, is Singapore's flagship initiative as the chair of ASEAN this year.Singapore is keen to strengthen ASEAN's resilience and innovation by developing e-commerce regulation and technology infrastructure, and boosting cyber security in the region. ASEAN's digital economy is forecast to hit 200 billion USD by 2025, according to a report by Temasek and Google last year.The proposal on the smart cities network is scheduled to be approved by ASEAN leaders at the 32nd ASEAN Summit on April 28 and will be launched within the framework of the next ASEAN Summit hosted by Singapore in November.ASEAN now groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

VietnamplusThe Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity recently approved the expansion of a state enterprise zone, designed to stimulate economic growth and community revitalization at the local level, to include North Chicago, IL-based

Economic incentives offered to operating companies within the Waukegan-North Chicago Enterprise Zone will help the university attract investment in its new

"The research park will help our university move its science and intellectual property out of the lab and into the marketplace to improve human health, including the health of our local populations burdened with significant health disparities," said RFU President and CEO Dr. K. Michael Welch. "It will also improve the health of our local and regional economy and bring opportunities to nearby low-income neighborhoods that are struggling to recover from the loss of industry and decades of economic decline."

Nonprofit Lake County Partners estimates that the four-story building, which could be part of a multiphase development, will create an estimated 500 direct and related jobs and a total economic regional impact of $117 million per year.

The expansion is rooted in a public-private partnership that in addition to Rosalind Franklin University includes the City of North Chicago, Lake County, Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and developer not-for-profit TUFF, which worked with Gateway Development to complete the $53 million financing for the project.

"It's an important project for the university and Lake County," said Lake County Board Chair Aaron Lawlor. "Investments in cutting-edge facilities like this help us build on the county's strength in the life sciences and provide greater opportunities for collaboration, innovation and economic development."

"Working together, we're placing the science park on solid financial footing so that it can benefit RFU, its local communities and region for generations to come," said RFU Executive Vice President of Research Ronald Kaplan. "We feel particularly driven to study diseases that affect our local population, including cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer's. We can't move our science forward and leave our community behind."

Strong support from local, state and federal elected officials and industry leaders has helped fuel the project. North Chicago Mayor Leon Rockingham Jr. said the city and RFU maintain a productive partnership.

"Our support for the expansion of our enterprise zone demonstrates our commitment to the university, its scientific research and the economic growth and development of our community," Rockingham said.

The new building, to be completed by summer 2019, will feature state-of-the-art laboratories meeting and office space for faculty and commercial startups and national and international biotech and healthcare firms. It will include the Brain Science Institute and its three disease-focused research centers, in addition to three centers dedicated to genetic diseases, cancer cell biology and proteomics and molecular therapeutics. Industry collaborators will work in dedicated space on each floor of the building.

Chicago-based brokerage firm

"The life sciences are a core part of our history and our economy," said Kevin Considine, Lake County Partners president and CEO. "Pharmaceuticals, medical products, technology and health care are in Lake County's DNA and we're ready to assist businesses in these industries through our strong network of stakeholders, which includes Rosalind Franklin University.

Source: https://www.rosalindfranklin.edu/news/public-private-partnership-fuels-development-of-new-research-park/Kourtney Kardashian on Wednesday appeared before Congress to voice her support of the Personal Care Products Safety Act, a bill introduced by Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) that would require cosmetic companies to ensure that their products are safe before marketing them to consumers.

Dr. Steve Xu, a resident physician in dermatology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine who has studied product complaints in the cosmetic industry, is available to comment on the bill. He can be reached by e-mail at [email protected] or (mobile) 909-964-7006. Read more about his research on cosmetic complaints and mislabeled moisturizers.

Dr. Xu on the Personal Care Products Safety Act:

"FDA regulation for cosmetics has largely remained unchanged over the last 80 years. It's absolutely time to modernize it. The core tenets of the bill -- the ability for the FDA to mandate recalls for unsafe products, registrations for manufacturers and mandatory forwarding of adverse events -- are highly reasonable.

"Cosmetics are a safe product class, but there have been a lot of new developments in the space, including more products, that are blurring the line between a drug and a cosmetic. This grey area is one that needs particular attention."Consumers consider online reviews important for choosing physicians, but they should be wary of using those ratings to choose plastic surgeons. The reviews tend to be polarized, and some are written by people whom consulted with the doctor but never had surgery, reports a new Northwestern Medicine study.

The study examined online ratings of doctors who performed cosmetic breast augmentation in six major U.S. cities.

In reviews by patients who had cosmetic breast augmentation, patients' treatment by the surgeon's staff was nearly as important to them as the outcome of the surgery.

The online platforms for patient reviews in the study analysis were RealSelf, Yelp and Google. The study assessed 1,077 reviews across the platforms, comprising 935 positive and 142 negative reviews.

"We found the people who write these review are either very happy or unhappy, so it's difficult for the consumer to get balanced information," said senior study author Dr. John Kim, a professor of plastic surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a Northwestern Medicine plastic surgeon.

The study was published April 26 in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Journal.

The finding most surprising to Dr. Kim is the importance of interactions with the doctor's support staff.

"The important thing used to be how the surgery turned out," Kim said. "Our study shows what's almost equally important are things we wouldn't have thought of like how quickly we answer the phone, how nice the staff is in their interactions, the wait time and bedside manner. Service is becoming paramount and almost as important as tangible results and outcomes."

The cost of the elective cosmetic surgery procedures, which are generally not covered by insurance, is at the bottom of patient concerns, Kim said.

The data was obtained in December of 2016 and January of 2017 from New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia and Miami. The first five of these cities were included because they represent the five most populous metropolitan areas in the U.S., based on 2015 U.S. Census data. Miami was included because it has the most plastic surgeons per capita of any metropolitan area in the U.S.

Other study findings:

There were significantly more 1 star and 5 star reviews than 2, 3 or 4 star reviews. Patients with more extreme views (1 star: worst surgeon ever, or 5 star: best surgeon ever) are more likely to write a review online than those with more moderate views.

"Unhappy patients take up more screen 'real estate' than happy patients, posting longer reviews, which creates a bias of dissatisfaction in online ratings," said first study author Rob Dorfman, a fourth-year student at Feinberg.

Doctors are not allowed to respond to negative reviews online due to HIPPA (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act).

"That is an important point for people to understand," Kim said.

As a result of the findings, Kim has begun implementing changes, including office training for personnel to enhance the service aspect of patient care.

Google reviews were more favorable than reviews on Yelp in each major city studied. The difference was most evident in Houston, where the average Google rating was 4.7 and the average Yelp rating was 3.8 despite 60 percent overlap in surgeons reviewed.

There are many more reviews of plastic surgeons for consumers to evaluate. The number of online reviews on plastic surgeons on Yelp and Google have shot up at an average rate of 42.6 percent per year since 2011, driven predominantly by a 51.4 percent annual growth rate among Yelp reviews.

Kim cautions that online exposure can become a surrogate for experience.

"You could have been practicing quietly and humbly for 20 years, but patients think someone with 1,000 reviews, even though they have much less experience, must be better," Kim said. "So the ubiquity and quality of online reviews may increasingly substitute for experience and ability."

Kim suggests consumers do the following when vetting a plastic surgeon: 1) determine if they are board certified, 2) ask your primary care doctor, trusted friends and family for a referral, 3) meet with the surgeon and determine your comfort and confidence in them.Results of the AVIATOR 2 international registry are being presented as late-breaking clinical science at the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) 2018 Scientific Sessions. The AVIATOR 2 is a multicenter prospective observational study of patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in 11 international sites. The use of a novel smartphone-based survey was used to capture physician and patient perspectives regarding antithrombotic therapies (ATT) after PCI.

AF is one of the most common abnormal heart arrhythmias that affects more than 2.7 million adults in the United States (CDC). PCI is a nonsurgical procedure that improves blood flow to the heart by using a stent to open up blood vessels. Patients with AF undergoing PCI present a particular challenge for ATT selection. Finding the right balance that minimizes bleeding risk and maintains anti-ischemic efficacy remains a complex situation in these unique patients. In the era of novel antithrombotic therapy, the optimal ATT for patients with AF undergoing PCI is undetermined.

The choice of ATT was made by the physician. After PCI, physicians were asked to complete a survey to rate subjective stroke, ischemic risk and bleeding risk in patients. The survey was completed via a smartphone app called AVIATOR, which was developed at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. The calculated risk scores including CHA2DS2/VASc/ST/HASBLED were compared against physician rated risks.

A total of 515 patients with AF undergoing PCI were enrolled with a mean age of 7310 years including 25.8 percent females. Safety (93.8 percent) and efficacy (89.9 percent) were the top two factors physicians reported as the most important factors when making the medication selection. In less than half (49.1 percent) of patients, the physician assessment showed an underestimation of risk in 26.9 percent and overestimation in 22.2 percent of patients when compared to the CHA2DS2VASc score. Physician assessment showed an overestimation of ischemic risk for ST in 71.5 percent and an underestimation in 4.6 percent for calculated ST scores. Overall, the assessment between the subjective physician assessed and objective risk scores for stroke, ischemic risk and bleeding varied.

"It is the first time we are collecting subjective risk assessment and comparing it with empiric calculations based on baseline characteristics and known risk calculators," said lead author Roxana Mehran, MD, Director of Interventional Cardiovascular Research and Clinical Trials at the Zena and Michael A. Weiner Cardiovascular Institute at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, NY. "It is also the first time we used a smartphone application to gain perspective from both the physicians and the patients. In today's technological landscape, this type of accessible technology allows for the integration of the patient in decision-making and solidify the notion that patient concerns matter."

The authors note that longitudinal follow-up will provide further insights on the correlation between risk estimation and cardiovascular events. The study was conducted by physicians from around the world including Jaya Chandrasekhar, MBBS, MS, Usman Baber, MD, MS, Melissa Aquino, MS, Birgit Vogel, MD, Clayton Snyder, BS Samantha Sartori, PhD, Annapoorna Kini, MD, George Dangas, MD, PhD, Davide Capodanno, MD.The release dated March 23, 2018 is replaced with the following corrected version due to multiple revisions.

The corrected release reads:

SAMSUNG RECEIVES FDA CLEARANCE FOR PREMIUM ULTRASOUND SYSTEM RS85

The Samsung RS85 premium ultrasound system combines exceptional image quality with advanced ergonomics

NeuroLogica, a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., announced that the Samsung RS85 ultrasound system has received FDA 510(k) clearance. The RS85 is the latest expansion of Samsung's revolutionary ultrasound portfolio.

"We are pleased to launch the RS85, a new premium general imaging ultrasound system with superior image quality and usability based on Samsung's advanced ultrasound and radiology technologies," said Philip Sullivan, President and CEO of NeuroLogica. "The RS85 embodies Samsung's commitment to providing leading technologies to healthcare providers by combining our key values of access, accuracy and efficiency."

The release of the RS85 is the latest demonstration of Samsung's leadership in ultrasound. It features an array of improvements, including:

MV-Flow: Allows for visualization of slow-flow micro vascularized structures, which can be difficult to assess with conventional power Doppler ultrasound. It also provides clinicians an additional way to check lesions for indications of cancer or inflammation.

Allows for visualization of slow-flow micro vascularized structures, which can be difficult to assess with conventional power Doppler ultrasound. It also provides clinicians an additional way to check lesions for indications of cancer or inflammation. S-Shearwave Imaging: Provides new indicators for clinical diagnosis by quantifying the elasticity of tissue or lesions via shearwave elastography, which may help increase the accuracy of diagnosis for breast and liver diseases.

Provides new indicators for clinical diagnosis by quantifying the elasticity of tissue or lesions via shearwave elastography, which may help increase the accuracy of diagnosis for breast and liver diseases. CEUS+: Diagnoses and characterizes lesions in the liver using a contrast agent in adult and pediatric populations.

Diagnoses and characterizes lesions in the liver using a contrast agent in adult and pediatric populations. S-Fusion: Enables simultaneous localization of a lesion using real-time ultrasound in conjunction with other volumetric imaging modalities such as an MRI or a CT, while expanding its capabilities to the prostate gland for precise, targeted biopsy guidance.

The RS85 was also developed to help decrease user-fatigue and repetitive motions with an enhanced monitor arm and increased range of motion and tilt. These improvements allow the user to position the monitor for optimal viewing and control. Additionally, multi-step actions have been combined into a single step to help reduce keystrokes and repetitive user interface interactions.

"Samsung has built innovative and cutting-edge diagnostic ultrasound products for more than 30 years," said David Legg, Vice President of Sales at NeuroLogica. "We are so confident that our RS85 ultrasound system will perform reliably and be the system that you can depend on for years to come, that we are proud to offer a 5-year warranty standard, at no additional cost."Cocaine and other drugs of abuse hijack the natural reward circuits in the brain. In part, that's why it's so hard to quit using these substances. Moreover, relapse rates hover between 40 and 60 percent, similar to rates for other chronic conditions like hypertension and Type 1 diabetes.

University of Pennsylvania behavioral pharmacologist and neuroscientist Heath Schmidt studies how long-term exposure to drugs such as cocaine, nicotine, and prescription opioids affects the brain and how these changes promote relapse in someone who has kicked the habit. A recent paper, published in the Nature journal Neuropsychopharmacology, investigated a novel treatment for cocaine addiction, something that touches 900,000 people in the United States annually.

"As a basic scientist I'm interested in how the brain functions during periods of abstinence from cocaine and other drugs and how neuro-adaptations in the brain promote relapse back to chronic drug taking," he explains. "From the clinicians' perspective, they're looking for medications to try to prevent relapse. Our goal as basic scientists is to use animal models of relapse to identify novel medications to treat cocaine addiction."

Schmidt and colleagues from Penn Nursing and Penn Medicine had hypothesized that the neural mechanisms and neural circuits in the brain that play a role in food-seeking might overlap with those key to drug-taking. Through several experiments, they discovered that drugs that activate receptors for glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1), a hormone that reduces food intake and blood glucose levels, could actually decrease the desire to seek out cocaine. What's more, there are several FDA-approved medications used to treat diabetes and obesity that already target GLP-1 receptors.

"One of the first questions we had--and we were really just kind of curious--was, does cocaine at all affect circulating levels of metabolic factors like leptin, insulin, GLP-1 that have been shown to regulate food intake?" says Schmidt, whose primary appointment is in Penn's School of Nursing.

The research team got its answer from a simple experiment with a rat animal model: Blood drawn after 21 days of cocaine intake revealed decreased levels of the GLP-1 hormone. Though the primary cells that synthesize and release this hormone are found in the small intestine, there's also a source in the brain called the nucleus tractus solitarius.

"Knowing all of this got us interested in GLP-1," Schmidt says. "Does it actually play a role in modulating cocaine-mediated behaviors?"

From there, the research team homed in on GLP-1 receptors and the drugs that activate them, what are known as receptor agonists. To test the efficacy of the medications in question, Schmidt and colleagues used an animal model of relapse with rats. For a three-week period, the rats could press a lever for intravenous infusions of cocaine as frequently as they desired. On average, the animals self-administered 28 infusions of cocaine each day.

The scientists then swapped out the cocaine for saline, leading to a period of withdrawal. Lever-pressing rates dropped significantly.

"At that point, we considered drug-taking to be extinguished," Schmidt says. "We then reinstated drug-seeking by re-exposing the rats to the drug itself or to cues paired with the drug during the self-administration phase, like a light that comes on when the lever gets pressed."

Once again rats depressed the lever at high rates, an indication that they were seeking the drug--akin to relapse in a human who is addicted.

The researchers next pretreated the animals with one of the FDA-approved drugs intended for diabetes and obesity treatment, Exendin-4, to determine whether it might reduce or altogether block cocaine-seeking. Results showed a significant decrease in drug-craving and -seeking, both after an acute injection of cocaine and from re-exposure to environmental cues during withdrawal.

"This tells us Exendin-4 can block the effects of cocaine itself but also condition stimuli previously paired with cocaine," Schmidt notes. "This was really exciting because it's the first demonstration that the GLP-1 system, and the drugs that target this system, could potentially play an important role in cocaine seeking and relapse. The other really interesting aspect of these studies are the doses."

GLP-1 receptor agonists are known to cause nausea and vomiting at pretty high rates in diabetic and obese patients who use them, so Schmidt and colleagues wanted to ensure that the reason for a decrease in cocaine-seeking wasn't from animals being sick. They identified doses that both reduced cocaine-seeking and did not produce adverse effects. A follow-up experiment that infused the GLP-1 agonist directly into the brain replicated the findings. Taken together, these findings indicate that low doses of a GLP-1 receptor agonist can selectively reduce cocaine-seeking without causing nausea.

As a final step, the researchers isolated the brain pathway able to boost GLP-1 signaling, by using a fluorescent dye to track where the drugs actually went in the body after they were administered.

"We've shown for the first time that central GLP-1 signaling plays an important role in cocaine-seeking," Schmidt explains. "We've identified systematic and intra-cranial doses of GLP-1 receptor agonists that reduce cocaine-seeking and don't produce adverse effects, and we think that if you increase GLP-1 signaling in the brain in general, you can reduce cocaine-seeking in rats and, potentially, craving-induced relapse in humans." To begin testing this, Schmidt's team is collaborating with researchers at Yale University to screen the efficacy of these drugs in a population of humans addicted to cocaine.

Beyond that, Schmidt says he's hopeful these results have potential for drugs of abuse beyond cocaine, too. However, he adds, much more research is needed before this can be stated conclusively. "There is a lot we don't know about the GLP-1 system in the brain," he says. "What is the exact circuitry in the brain? Is this signaling the same as what mediates food intake or is it slightly different? Does cocaine change it in any way? We're working on that."Students from Montana and Vermont will talk with astronauts on the International Space Station next week as part of NASA's Year of Education on Station.

NASA astronauts Drew Feustel and Scott Tingle will answer questions about life aboard the space station, NASA's deep space exploration plans and conducting science in space during two opportunities. The Expedition 55 astronauts are living, working and researching aboard the International Space Station. The 20-minute, Earth-to-space calls will air live on NASA Television and the agency's website.

The first event, at 11:55 a.m. EDT Tuesday, May 1, will allow Laurel Public School students in Laurel, Montana, to speak with Feustel. The students are part of a NASA program, High School Students United with NASA to Create Hardware, that has used the city's strong aviation and technology background to build a relationship with the space station for 13 years. Media interested in attending the event should contact Dr. Linda Filpula at [email protected] or 406-628-3356. The event will take place at 203 East 8th St., Laurel, Montana.

The second event, at 12:20 p.m. Wednesday, May 2, will allow students from Champlain Valley School District in Hinesburg, Vermont, to speak with both Feustel and Tingle. Media interested in attending should contact Jen Roth at [email protected] or 802-425-2771. The event will take place at Charlotte Central School 408 Hinesburg Rd., Charlotte, Vermont.

Linking teachers directly to astronauts aboard the space station provides unique, authentic experiences designed to enhance student learning, performance and interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). This in-flight education downlink is an integral component of NASA's Year of Education on Station, which provides extensive space station-related resources and opportunities to students and educators. Astronauts living in space on the orbiting laboratory communicate with the Mission Control Center on Earth 24 hours a day through the Space Network's Tracking and Data Relay Satellites (TDRS).

In addition to the student connection, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Norishige Kanai will connect with a technical exposition at 7:20 a.m. Wednesday, May 2, at the Makuhari New City, Chiba Prefecture, in Japan. This event will also air live on NASA Television and the agency's website.Ahmedabad: Dalit families of Mota Samdhiya village in Una taluka of Gujarat will convert to Buddhism on Sunday to protest against discrimination against the Dalit community.

They are likely to be joined by around 300 Dalits from across the region, who will also embrace Buddhism. Those who will convert include people who were flogged and paraded half-naked through Una town in July 2016 by cow vigilantes, allegedly for skinning dead cattle.

About 300 forms, having the details of persons and their consent to convert to Buddhism, have already been collected and handed over to the district administration, but Dalits say that the numbers will go much higher as others will give their consent at a function that has been organised at Mota Samdhiya village on Sunday to mark Budh Purnima.

Buddhist monks from Porbander have been invited to preside over the function and invitations have been given to local political leaders as well.

Ramesh Sarvaiya, one of the victims of the Una Dalit flogging incident, told News 18, We got beaten and insulted in full public view almost two years ago. Several promises were made by the government, including Anandiben Patel, who was then the chief minister of Gujarat. None of those promises have been fulfilled by this government. What is the point of being a part of the religion that does not accept us as its own. After a lot of consideration, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar had chosen Buddhism as the religion where there is no discrimination. I along with others will convert to Buddhism on Sunday.

The flogging incident had sparked off nationwide outrage in 2016 even as Dalits took to the streets to demand justice. The Dalits were accused of killing cows, but investigations later revealed that they were skinning a dead bovine that was possibly killed by some wild animal on the outskirts of the Gir sanctuary.

A couple of days ago, Ramesh and his cousin were returning to their village on a motorcycle, when one of the accused in the flogging case stopped him and allegedly attacked him with a spade.

Our motorcycle was stopped and accused Kiranbha Darbar attempted to strike me with a spade. I caught hold of it and saved myself, Ramesh claimed. He told News18 that Kiranbha and others threatened them to withdraw the case that has been filed against them.

They also abused me because we had announced plans to convert from Hinduism to Buddhism, Ramesh said.

Vasram Sarvaiya, another youth who was flogged and paraded through Una, said that the incident sparked off anger and protests across Gujarat, but it also highlighted the plight of Dalits and the atrocities that they face almost every day.

Our leader Dr Ambedkar has shown us the path to be freed from discrimination and we are embracing Buddhism to send out a message that this discrimination against Dalits should end, Vasram said.

A pamphlet about the event that has been distributed in the region. (Image: News18)

Jitu Sarvaiya, a Dalit leader and youth from Una, said that despite the outrage and tall claims made by the government, nothing has changed on the ground for the Dalit families. They continued to be discriminated against and many of the accused in the flogging incident are out on bail and continue to threaten the victims.

All the culprits in the case are out on bail and continue to threaten us even today. It has been close to two years since the incident and there has not been any justice for us. And then, the permanent issues of untouchability and discrimination are rampant against Dalits. We have informed the administration that we will convert to Buddhism on Sunday, Jitu told News18.

Over the past decade or so, there have been at least a dozen instances where Dalits have threatened to abandon Hinduism and convert to either Buddhism or Islam. In some of these instances, applications have also been given to the respective district administrations, but no follow up action has been taken by the applicants.

It is necessary to get an approval from the district administration if a person wishes to convert from one religion to another. The process often takes months, with the administration required to verify and ascertain.

When contacted, Gir Gadhada mamlatdar C M Dangi said that applications have been received from a few people, but the District Magistrate, in association with the police, do a verification, before taking a decision to grant permission or not to persons who want to convert to another religion.New Delhi: The strike called by the Resident Doctors Association at AIIMS continues as the doctors are unhappy with the faculty member, who assaulted one of their own, going on leave. The demand by the RDA is for Dr. Atul Kumar to be removed as the chief of the Dr. Rajendra Prasad Centre for Opthalmic Sciences, after he hit a senior resident on April 25.

In a statement on Friday night, AIIMS said that the inquiry committee constituted by the Director had met at 1:30 PM on Friday. Kumar had appeared before it with a written apology. The committee also heard a number of "representations that are being taken seriously".

Kumar has gone on leave "in compliance with the directions of the inquiry committee,till the inquiry proceedings are completed it further directions."

However, in a meeting with the Director last night, the RDA informed the former they were unhappy with this decision. "We want him to step down as chief,not go on leave just when summer vacations are about to start," said RDA president Dr. Harjit Singh Bhatti.

He said the Director expressed an inability to take such an action till the inquiry committee proceedings are over. However, the RDA wants AIIMS to at least temporarily remove Kumar from the position of authority till the committee decided. "We told him you have prima facie evidence so do something based on that," said Bhatti.

For now, the strike by the resident doctors has entered day two.Guwahati: The Assam Police on Saturday filed a charge sheet against the prime accused and seven others in connection with the gang rape and killing of an 11-year-old girl in Nagaon district in March which had led to widespread protests across the state.

Nineteen-year old Zakir Hussain and two minors, along with five others who helped them evade the law and destroy evidence, were named in the charge sheet filed in a Nagaon court, Nagaon Superintendent of Police Shankar Brata Raimedhi said.

The girl was gang raped and set ablaze when she was alone at home in Dhaniabheti Lalung Gaon in Nagaon district on March 23.

The youths escaped after the crime and the girl was rushed to the Guwahati Medical College Hospital but succumbed to her injuries the next day.

A case was filed in the Batadrava Police Station and the accused were later arrested on charges of rape, house trespass, causing disappearance of evidence and murder under the Indian Penal Code.

Five others chargesheeted for harbouring the offenders and destruction of evidence were Abdul Rajek, Zubeda Khatun, Muklesur Rahman, Abdul Rashid and Fakruddin.

Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal had launched a toll free helpline '181-Sakhi' for women in distress after the incident.

The Gauhati High Court had also approved a state government proposal for setting up exclusive fast track courts for trial of cases related to rape and murder of women and children in Assam.New Delhi: Tripura CM Biplab Deb is back with another bizarre comment. Days after courting a major controversy over his remarks against Diana Hayden, Deb said on Saturday civil engineers would be better suited for civil services over mechanical engineers.

This is the third consecutive statement of Deb that has failed to impress his critics. After his 'Internet in the Mahabharata era' remark, his latest offering is about the civil engineers. He said, Civil engineers should join civil services as they have the prior experience to build the society.

According to the local media, Deb was attending an event in Agartala to mark the Civil Service Day when he said, If a civil engineer becomes an Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer, he can give inputs in construction projects, which mechanical engineers cannot.

He didnt stop at that and added, One should not opt for civil services after studying mechanical engineering. Civil engineers have the experience and knowledge to help build administration and society. Civil engineering gives that kind of knowledge.

Earlier, arts graduates use to appear for the civil services examination and now, medical and engineering graduates are also joining the services, he said.

Deb said civil service officers should be all-rounders as "people who are expert in all disciplines have the highest demand".

To drive his point home, he cited the examples of Sachin Tendulkar and Kapil Dev.

"People take names of special players such as Sachin Tendulkar and Kapil Dev. Dev's bowling was good, but batting was also excellent. This is the age of speciality. All-rounders are accorded highest priority," Deb said.

He also touched upon the medical profession and said, Doctors also have an added benefit of utilizing their skills in a civil service post. According to Tripura Infoway, he said, If someone is a doctor, then the knowledge can be immediately applied to treat the sick.

Two days ago, Deb grabbed the headlines for questioning Diana Haydens Miss World title won 20 years ago and compared her with Aishwarya Rai. He had said, Indian beauty should ideally look like Goddesses Lakshmi and Saraswati. Diana Hayden did not deserve to win the Miss World crown. Actually, it was part of a fixed plan, which was hatched keeping in mind the interests of the international market. Aishwarya Rais victory was well deserved as she represents the quintessential Indian woman. He later apologised for his remarks.

This came soon after his Internet comment in which Deb claimed that the Internet technology is nothing new to India as something on similar lines existed even in the Mahabharata era when Sanjaya would share updates about the Kurukshetra battle with Dhritarashtra.New Delhi: In a unique initiative, the 77-year-old Dalmia Bharat group has adopted the Red Fort for a period of five years, making it the first corporate house to adopt a historical monument.

The Dalmia Bharat group bagged the contract for Rs 25 crore after beating IndiGo Airlines and the GMR group, a report in Business Standard said. The company will now be responsible for maintaining and revamping the 17th century monument built by fifth Mughal emperor Shah Jahan.

The Adopt a Heritage (Apni Dharohar Apni Pehchan Project) scheme was launched by the president on September 17 last year, following which various companies volunteered to adopt the monument. The deal was signed with Dalmia Bharat group on April 24.

Opposition parties on Saturday took potshots at the BJP over the move. While Congress posted a poll on Twitter, asking which monuments the saffron party would lease out to a private entity next, it was joined by CPI(M) and Trinamool Congress in slamming the government's decision.

After handing over the Red Fort to the Dalmia group, which is the next distinguished location that the BJP government will lease out to a private entity? #IndiaSpeaks  Congress (@INCIndia) April 28, 2018

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi is preparing to mortgage India's symbol of Independence, the Red Fort to corporates. Does Modiji or BJP even understand the importance of Lal Quila?" Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said on Saturday.

"Is it not true that the private company will now issue tickets to see the Red Fort? Is it not true that if anyone wants to do any commercial activity there, or any fucntion, the private party has to be paid... Can you barter out the symbol of freedom movement like the Red Fort to his corporate friends for maintenance," Surjewala asked.

The move was questioned by noted author and historian William Dalrymple.

There must be better ways of maintaining a nation's greatest monuments than by auctioning them off to a corporate househttps://t.co/uO66Rr4Hu1  William Dalrymple (@DalrympleWill) April 27, 2018

Under the contract, the Dalmia Bharat group will provide drinking water kiosks, street furniture-like benches and shop signage within six months. It will then have to put up upgrade toilets, light up the Red Fort pathways and bollards, tactile maps, restore work and landscaping, build a 1,000-square-foot visitor facility centre, 3-D projection mapping of the Red Forts interior and exterior, battery-operated vehicles and charging stations for such vehicles and a thematic cafeteria within a year.

The conglomerate may also charge people visiting the Red Fort after getting clearances from the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Tourism. Any revenue generated through the activities planned will have to be used for the Fort's development and maintenance.

Sundeep Kumar, Executive Director, Dalmia Bharat said in a press release, We are grateful to the Ministry of Tourism for trusting us and giving us this opportunity. With our dedicated efforts we will endeavour to make Red Fort a world-class monument in terms of amenities and experience. Such initiatives will enhance the tourist experience, resulting in more footfall from both domestic and foreign tourists. With our efforts we will make Indian heritage sites a symbol of pride for all of us.

Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee tweeted, "Why can't the Government even take care of our historic Lal Qila ? Red Fort is a symbol of our nation. It is where India's flag is hoisted on Independence Day. Why should it be leased out ? Sad and dark day in our history."

Deploring the move, the CPI(M) said that the government has virtually handed over the Red Fort to the Dalmia group.

"The Dalmia group in its own press release has said that they will have to own it for five years initially' and the agreement gives them the freedom to make the Dalmia brand prominently visible.

"It has the right to use its brand name on all kinds of publicity material to be displayed during events organised at the site and also on all signages. In fact, it will be allowed to proclaim in a prominently displayed sign that the Red Fort has been adopted by Dalmia Bharat Limited", the Left party said.

Dalmia Bharat will also introduce other key amenities for the visitors like App based Multi lingual Audio-Guide, Digital Interactive Kiosk, Digital (LED) screening, free Wi-Fi and cafeteria along with souvenir shop which will help in promoting local art and craftsmanship. Keeping in mind easy accessibility to the differently-abled visitors, there will be construction of ramps & differently-abled friendly toilets.

The heritage monuments taken up for 'adoption' by private groups include Delhi's Qutub Minar, Jantar Mantar, Purana Qila, Safdarjung's Tomb and Agrasen ki Baoli, Odisha's Sun Temple, Ratnagiri monuments and the Rajarani temple, the ruins of Hampi in Karnataka, the Leh Palace and Stok Kangri in Jammu & Kashmir, Anjanta and Ellora caves in Maharashtra, Mattancherry Place in Kochi, Gangotri Temple and the Gomukh trail in Uttarakhand. The government had last year given letter of intent to seven private companies to adopt the sites.New Delhi: Citing the Facebook and Cambridge Analytica data breach scandals, the menace of fake news and use of money power as challenges to world democracy, the Election Commission has called a meeting of all its former chiefs next month in Delhi.

We have been informally consulting former Chief Election Commissioners in the past as well. Now we are formally attempting to use their experience in the context of challenges to democracies across the world in the context of use of Facebook, Cambridge Analytica (CA), social media and use of money power, Chief Election Commissioner OP Rawat told News18 in an exclusive interview.

The recent controversy over British analytics firm Cambridge Analytica and its alleged use of big data to influence electoral outcomes in western democracies has evoked sharp response in India as well.

Both the BJP and the Congress have accused each other of using the services of the firm to supplement campaign strategies.

CEC Rawat told News18 that the Commission is continually working to clear peoples percept on any doubts about the election processes. It is our endeavour to assure people that the Commission is holding elections in a free, fair and un-biased manner, Rawat said.

Political parties are important stake holders in the process. And we continue to take their concerns into account, Rawat added.

This would the first time the Election Commission would be hold a formal consultation with all former CECs on challenges to democracy.New Delhi: A film screening at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) here on the contentious issue of 'love jihad' was disrupted on Saturday by a few students' groups, who alleged that a hate campaign was being propagated in the guise of showing the movie.

The screening of the film, titled In the name of love - melancholy of God's own country, was organised by the Global Indian Foundation and Vivekanand Vichar Manch of JNU.

Members of the Jawaharlal Nehru Students Union (JNUSU) and Gender Sensitisation Committee Against Sexual Harassment (GSCASH) disrupted the screening, alleging that a hate campaign was being propagated in the guise of the film screening.

According to the organisers of the programme, the film focused on religious conversion of girls in Kerala and the issue of love jihad.

However, the students opposing the screening assembled at Sabarmati dhaba to protest against the "hate propaganda in the name of love jihad".

The students breached the security cordons and disrupted the screening by holding placards in front of the screen.

"Why is the ABVP/RSS hiding behind Vivekanand Vichar Manch? We won't let the RSS's venomous 'Love Jihad' myth be propagated," said a statement issued by the protesters.

"No more Dhanyashree will die because of their hate campaign. No more Hadiya will be imprisoned because of their hate campaign. No girl from Meerut will be forced to suffer because she loved," it said.

Minor scuffles also ensued between the protesters and ABVP members.

Former JNUSU president Geeta Kumari said the movie "spreading communal venom and bigotry" has been screened by the Vivekananda Vichar Mach, a frontal organisation of the ABVP.

"JNU students standing up for gender justice and against politics of hate in the name of Love Jihad protested against such politics. The peaceful demonstrators were showered with eggs and stones to create a situation of chaos," she said.

"The JNUSU condemns these anti-social elements that have vitiated the university's atmosphere. It is reminiscent of Ramjas College where the ABVP beat up university students," she added.

Meanwhile, the police said they have received complaints from both the sides over the scuffle and were looking into the matter.

"Those who have suffered injuries will be sent for medical examination following which appropriate action will be initiated by us," a senior police officer said.Thiruvananthapuram: Postmortem reports of Latvian tourist Liga Skromane have confirmed that she had died of a blunt injury on her neck, which indicates that she could have been murdered. Her decomposed body was recovered from a mangrove forest here on April 21.

Police said that according to the autopsy report, the cause of death has been established as a blunt force exerted on the neck, which could either have been caused by strangulation, or stamping during an assault. There were a few minor injuries on other parts of the body, too, which were not serious enough to cause the demise.

According to police, the autopsy did not establish any sexual assault on Skromane. Police are still awaiting the chemical analysis tests done on the internal organs of the deceased.

Thirty-three-year-old Liga had come to Thiruvananthapuram along with her sister ILze on February 21 for an Ayurvedic treatment for post-traumatic depression. They were putting up at a centre in Pothencode in rural Thiruvananthapuram. Without informing ILze, on March 14, Liga went to the Kovalam beach after which she went missing.

Ligas body was found hanging upside down in the bushes in an isolated area near the river, with her head severed.

Ilze and her husband Andrew had earlier said that they believe that Liga was not suicidalKota: Alleging harassment by police, a 25-year-old man committed suicide by consuming some poisonous substance in the Mahaveer Nagar extension area here, police said on Saturday.

In a suicide note found in his possession, deceased Virendra Nagar, alias Vikki, alleged that he was being harassed by an ASI of the Anta police station of Baran district of Rajasthan, they said.

The body was handed over to the family members this morning after a post-mortem and an investigation initiated in this regard, officials added. Nagar, a resident of Koteri area in Anta town of Baran, killed himself late last evening at a park near a relative's home, where he had been staying for sometime, Mahavirnagar police station Circle In charge (CI) Madan Lal Khateek said.

The youth was rushed to a private hospital, where he died during treatment last night, he added. In the suicide note handed over to the police by the relative who reportedly recovered it from his possession, the deceased accused ASI Bhanwar Singh, posted at the Anta police station, of harassment by fabricating a false case against him under various sections of IPC, the CI said.

The ASI had fabricated a false case of physically abusing a married woman against him under sections 308, 341 and 324 of IPC, the deceased said in the note, and added that he was in no way involved in the case.

He demanded strict action against those who forced him to commit suicide and also apologised to his family, police said. Nagar had cleared the REET exam and was about to get a job as a teacher.

A case under section 174 of CrPC was lodged in this connection, Khateek said. The investigation into the reliability of suicide note and other aspects was underway, he added. When contacted, Anta police station ASI Bhanwar Singh refuted the allegations levelled against him, and said a case under sections 341, 323, 324, 325, 308, 504 and 143 was lodged against Virendra Nagar and four others on March 23.

The evidences against the accused, including Virendra, were proven in a routine investigation and two of the accused, Bablu and Pritibai, were arrested and sent to judicial custody, ASI Singh said, adding that Virendra was absconding.New Delhi: Batting for value education, Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar has said that the government is in the process of introducing creative and experiential learning.

Speaking at the Virat Gurukul Sammelan in Madhya Pradeshs Ujjain, Javadekar said, "The mind is not a hard disk to be filled with data alone. We need value education, experiential learning, skill education and physical education. These are equally important aspects of education. We need time to have such kind of education. We are in the process of deciding what part of syllabus can be dropped to encourage creative, physical and value education."

Attending the event alongside MoS HRD Satyapal Singh and Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Thawar Chand Gehlot, Javadekar said, "Vedas talk about Gurukul education. Vedas touch every aspect of life"

On our website, we got 34,000 suggestions from people on reducing the syllabus. We will be working on these suggestions, Javadekar said. We are working on the New Education Policy. In a month, we will be ready with the draft and in three months, the Education Policy will be available for all to see.

More than 900 Gurukuls from India and Nepal participated in the event, discussing the possibilities of mainstreaming the Gurukul way of learning.

Javadekar said the government wants to have a subject on Bharat Bodh for Class 11 and Class 12 students, which can look at how ancient India contributed to astronomy, science, aeronautics etc. It will be such an interesting subject that every student would want to study it," he said.

MoS Satyapal Singh, too, pitched for changes in the learning system. "Do we need the current model of education? The current system has failed in addressing rising crime and uncertainty in our society. Lord Macaulay had said that in this country people will be Indian only in colour but their soul will be English."New Delhi: Government think-tank NITI Aayog and global tech giant Microsoft are set to join hands for a project wherein artificial intelligence will be used to identify students who are likely to drop out of schools.

The project is part of a vision document to provide a roadmap for identifying areas where assistive artificial intelligence can be used. The central think-tank has identified five sectors  education, agriculture, health, smart cities and skilling  to implement the idea.

We are in talks with Microsoft to identify school dropouts as part of the national strategy on artificial intelligence. However, we dont want to just leave it at predicting dropouts, we also want to follow it up and see what other things can be attached to it. The discussions are on, said a senior official at NITI Aayog.

Microsoft officials had met NITI Aayog officials in 2017 and made a presentation on how they have implemented a pilot programme in Andhra Pradesh. So presently, what we are doing is using only those tools that have received validation and have been used before, said the NITI Aayog official.

The vision document will be out for internal discussion in May. The document will only be out for public consumption once all stakeholders sign off, said the official.

HRD minister Prakash Javadekar, while replying to a question in the Lok Sabha, had stated that the annual average dropout rate at primary level in the country was 4.13 percent in 2014-15. The dropout rate for boys at primary level during this period was 4.36 percent and 3.88 percent for girls.

According to the data provided by Javadekar, the dropout rate for secondary level was 17.06 percent.

Many cases of children dropping out of schools are reported in Class 9 due to the no-detention policy, said Javadekar.

Informed Farming

NITI Aayog has also partnered with IBM and ISRO to provide real-time advice to farmers.

Our basic motive is to increase crop yield. We will do it through satellite and sensor images, real-time weather data, drone images if any, soil health data among others. This will be our second proof of concept, said another official in the NITI Aayog.

The government is also working on using artificial intelligence in providing information on types of seeds and fertilizers to be used. There are plans to provide detailed long-term information to farmers on monsoon timings and patterns. The plan also encompasses market price information so that farmers dont sell at a loss.

The PoC will be tested in 25 aspirational districts.

Detection of diseases

NITI Aayog, in close collaboration with various health experts, is working in early detection of cardiac arrests and diabetic retinopathy using artificial intelligence. The pilot for this will be rolled out within the next 15 days in 25 aspirational districts.

We are seeing whether we can help in strengthening the wellness centres or public health centres. We are seeing if we can deploy some of the developed and tested tools in early detection and also in areas where professionals may not be there, said the NITI Aayog official.

Under the same plan the team is also working on creating a bio bank which will have images of retinopathy-affected eyes and help computer systems differentiate healthy eyes from the diseased ones.

Using Blockchain

NITI Aayog is also planning to use blockchain to improve delivery mechanism of and plug pilferage in government schemes.

Talking to News18, the official listed three avenues where use of blockchain has been proposed  payment of fertilizer subsidy, pharmaceutical supply chain to identify fake drugs and land registry in Chandigarh.

The think-tank is also in talks with Google for promotion of artificial intelligence in the country.

We have prepared a statement of intent with Google. We will be organising events like hackathon. With Google, we have drawn a very attractive action plan where NITI Aayog and Google work together to promote AI in the country, added the official.Lucknow: Situation remained tense in Saraimeer of Azamgarh district in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday after police lathicharged local protesters demanding arrest of a youth under the National Security Act (NSA). The protesters accused one Amit Sahu of spreading 'religious hatred'.

Locals gathered in huge numbers at Saraimeer and sought immediate arrest of Sahu for his alleged involvement in posting derogatory comments against Prophet Mohammed on Facebook.

Delay in police action led the protesters to pelt stones, which injured Nizamabad SDM, Bagheesh Kumar Shukla. As a result, police resorted to lathicharge to disperse the violent mob and bring the situation under control. Sources said, more than a dozen people, including media personnel, sustained injuries as a result of police action. The crowd was dispersed only after tear-gas shells were fired by the police.

According to sources, problem started on Friday when some locals complained to the police against Sahu and demanded stringent action against him but the police did not pay heed to their demand.

SHO Ram Naresh Yadav allegedly refused to register a formal complaint against Sahu as representatives of right wing groups also reached the Saraimeer Police Station. However, the SHO was forced to register the complaint as the crowd started growing at the police station.

Not satisfied with the SHOs conduct, locals started demanding NSA to be invoked against the accused and even staged a protest outside the Saraimeer police station. The protests for invoking NSA continued on Saturday as well, which eventually led to stone pelting on the police station and arrest of the accused.New Delhi: In an attempt to reaffirm Indias historical connection with Buddhism, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to award the UP and Bihar Tibetan studies institutes for preserving and promoting Buddhist studies on the occasion of Gautama Buddha's birth anniversary. PM Modi will also offer Sangha Dana (Cheevar Vastram and Sacred Leaf of Bodhi Tree) to the monastic community on Monday.

The Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies in Uttar Pradeshs Sarnath and Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies in Bihars Bodhgaya will be presented Vaishakh Samman Prashasti Patra for preserving and promoting Indian arts and culture and dissemination of Buddhist studies.

Nearly 40 prestigious Buddhist organizations from different parts of the country and 10,000 Buddhist monks, nuns and followers are expected to assemble in Delhi to celebrate Budh Purnima or Vesak.

The Ministry of Culture has proposed to celebrate Budh Jayanti Divas at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Delhi on Monday.

An organising Committee has been set up under the chairmanship of the Minister of State for Culture, Dr Mahesh Sharma, with the Minister of State for Home, Kiren Rijiju as co-chairperson to oversee the organization of the celebration.

Dr Dhammapiya, Secretary General, International Buddhist Confederation (IBC), a global umbrella Buddhist body headquartered in New Delhi, is the Convener of the Organizing Community.

The festival is recognized as the third most sacred day that marks the birth enlightenment and parinirvana of Lord Buddha. The government has been celebrating the occasion to reaffirm Indias historical status as the land of origin of the Buddha Dharma - the land of Buddhas sambodhiprapti, dharmachakra pravartana and his mahaparinirvana.

In order to celebrate these historic occasions that changed the religious and spiritual discourse of human civilization, it is important that we celebrate Budh Purnima in befitting manner, said the source in the ministry.

Recently, on her trip to Mongolia, the Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj established Buddhist connect in Mongolia too. There she said that the two countries are more spiritual in their bond than strategic.

On the birth centenary celebrations of Kushok Bakula Rinpoche, a highly revered Buddhist leader and monk from Ladakh and a former Ambassador of India to Mongolia Swaraj said, Buddhism has been a great connector of civilizations since millennia. Even though Buddhism originated in India, it spread across the mighty Himalayas to East Asia and across the seas in south-east Asia. Eventually, it also made its way to the vast steppes of Mongolia where it has found a permanent abode for over two millennia.

While Buddha was born in Lumbini in present day Nepal, he attained sambodhiprapti in Bodhgaya in Bihar. In Sarnath, he set in motion the wheel of the Dharma, and finally attained mahaparinirvana in Kushinagar.

There will be recital of Prraner Pradip, a traditional dance drama based on Gurudev Rabindra Nath Tagores thoughts on the essence of Buddhism. The performance will be rendered by Boudha Dharmankur Sabha (Bengal Buddhist Association), West Bengal  the oldest Buddhist organization of India since 1892.New Delhi: As the debate over one nation, one poll continues, the Election Commission says that it will be capable of holding simultaneous elections within a few months of legal changes made to existing framework.

Chief Election Commissioner OP Rawat has, however, ruled out early Lok Sabha polls in December this year with four other states citing paucity of time in getting first level checks in the EVM machines to be used in all future polls.

Machines have to be supplied till September end. It would not be possible to get first level check in such a short time, Rawat told News18 in an exclusive interview.

Elections to four state assemblies, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Mizoram and Chattisgarh will vote to elect a new government later this year for which VVPATS are to be deployed. The ECE, however, made it clear that the commission would be prepared to hold five state assembly elections with Lok Sabha polls slated for May 2019.

"Once the necessary changes are made in the Representation of Peoples Act, not much time is required to hold simultaneous elections. We will then need to make arrangements for adequate EVMs and Central Paramilitary Forces for the purpose," Rawat added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has on numerous occasions underscored the need to hold simultaneous polls in the country to cut down on repeated election expenditure. The issue also found mention in President Ramnath Kovinds address to the joint session of parliament earlier this year.

This month the Law commission of India has also deliberated on the issue in its last meeting in Delhi.New Delhi: In building a case against the elevation of Justice KM Joseph to the Supreme Court, the government has cited all-India seniority norm, but it might have lost sight of the fact that at least two future Chief Justices of India, including the next in line, were picked against the same standard.

Justice Ranjan Gogoi, who is slated to take charge in October after incumbent CJI Dipak Misra demits office, was elevated to the apex court, bypassing more senior chief justices and judges in high courts.

Justice Gogoi was elevated as a Supreme Court judge in April 2012 from the Punjab and Haryana High Court where he had been serving as the Chief Justice since February 2011.

At the time of his elevation, there were other chief justices who were much senior to Justice Gogoi, but the Collegium had recommended his name and the government accepted it.

The same is true for Justice Kurian Joseph. When Justice Joseph was appointed as a judge in the apex court in March 2013, the Collegium's recommendation meant superseding several other senior High Court judges.

When Justice AK Sikri was appointed as a Supreme Court judge in 2013, his appointment also came in after bypassing several other senior judges in the high courts.

Another Supreme Court judge, in line to become the CJI, Justice SA Bobde was also elevated to the top court against the latest standard cited by the government in the case of Justice KM Joseph. Justice Bobde was appointed along with Justice Sikri in 2013.

Justice Adarsh K Goel also falls into the category of judges in the top court who jumped the queue to be elevated. Justice Goel was appointed as an SC judge in July 2014 and he is set to retire in July this year after a relatively short tenure of four years.

Similarly, Justice Deepak Gupta, who was appointed as an SC judge last year, was way down in the all-India seniority list of High Court judges, and this is true also for Justice SA Nazeer.

Sources in the Collegium told CNN-News18 that all-India seniority norm has never been the only consideration while picking a judge for the top court since there are several other factors that also require to be taken into account while making the selection.

"What usually weighs with the Collegium is the fact whether the judge concerned is senior in that particular High Court or not. Here we have Justice KM Joseph who will complete four years as a Chief Justice of a High Court in a few months," a source said.

They added that when the Collegium recommended his name, it stated unequivocally that although Justice KM Joseph was not at the top in the senior list, he was being picked up because he was found to be more deserving and suitable.

"Where is the question now of the government getting back with an objection that has already been dealt with at the time of making the recommendation? The government cannot sit in appeal over the Collegium's recommendation," a source said.

They further said that the Collegium is likely to meet next week and a decision will be taken on reiteration of Justice KM Joseph's name to the government.New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinpings informal two-day summit in Wuhan, capital of Chinas Hubei Province, has been peppered with light moments and cultural symbolism.

On Saturday, the PM was accorded a grand reception by Xi at the Hubei Provincial Museum, where the two leaders held the first of their six meetings during the unprecedented heart-to-heart summit. A traditional performance depicting the music of Hubei was the highlight of the red carper welcome accorded to the PM.

PM @narendramodi was welcomed at the Hubei Provincial Museum with an impressive cultural performance. India and China cultural connect go back many centuries and is reflected in present times through the popularity of Bollywood, Yoga and other aspects of Indian culture. pic.twitter.com/UfdYQPQknw Raveesh Kumar (@MEAIndia) April 27, 2018

Following an informal chat, Modi was taken on a guided tour of the museum, which has a large number of state-level historic and cultural relics.

During the tour, the PM was treated to an instrumental rendition of 1982 song Tu, Tu Hai Wohi from the movie Yeh Vaada Raha.

#WATCH: Prime Minister Narendra Modi & Chinese President XI Jinping enjoy an instrumental rendition of 1982 Bollywood song 'Tu, tu hai wahi dil ne jise apna kaha,' at an event in China's Wuhan. (27.04.2018) pic.twitter.com/KjGRcHbl38 ANI (@ANI) April 28, 2018

Following their museum visit, PM Modi presented to Xi the reprints of two paintings made by Xu Beihong, a famous Chinese artist during his stay at Santiniketan between 1939 and 1940.

Xu was known for his Chinese ink paintings of horses and birds. He was one of the first Chinese artists to articulate the need for artistic expressions that reflected a modern China at the beginning of the 20th century. The paintings depicted a horse and sparrows on grass.Wuhan: China on Saturday said there is no fundamental difference with India on the issue of "inter-connectivity" and Beijing will "not be too hard" with New Delhi on the issue of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

The BRI, a multi-billion-dollar initiative launched by President Xi Jinping when he came to power in 2013, has become a major sticking point in the bilateral ties. The BRI also includes the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which India opposes as it goes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

At the end of the two-day informal summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi in the central Chinese city, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou said, "we feel that there is no fundamental difference between China and India on the issue of supporting inter-connectivity."

"The Indian side does not exclude this cooperation. It is also continuing to advance on interconnection. India is also a founding member of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). It is the second largest shareholder of our region," Kong said.

"As for whether India accepts the expression Belt and Road, I think it is not important and China will not be too hard on it," he said.

India had boycotted last year's Belt and Road Forum organised by China.

The BRI, a pet initiative of President Xi, is aimed at promoting network of roads, ports and rail networks all over the world to spread China's influence.

Kong said both China and India seek a fair settlement of their border dispute.

The two countries will also enhance military and security communication mechanisms, Kong said, referring to the India-China boundary issue.

Leaders of the two countries believe that China and India are friends and the development of China-India relations is trend of the times, he said.

Regarding the bilateral cooperation, the two sides agreed to sort out the existing mechanisms between the two countries to make communication between the two countries more effective, start bilateral negotiations as soon as possible, further expand bilateral trade, promote cultural cooperation and exchanges between the two countries as a whole, seeking fair and reasonable solution of border issues, he added.

To a question on Tibet, Kong said "the position of the Indian government is that Tibet is an inalienable part of China. This has not changed. In the process of promoting mutual political development, it is also an important political consensus reached by both sides."

He said there was no disagreement between the two leaders at the meeting. "The two sides can handle these issues on the consensus reached," he said.

China and India are both major global powers in this region. In the process of contact between the leaders of the two countries, it is inevitable to talk about the relationship between the two countries, and it is also a question that will inevitably be touched upon, Kong said.

To another question, he said both China and India pursue the idea of sharing and building a global governance.

"China-India relations are are not targeted at third parties. They will never engage in obsolete and out-of-date zero-sum games. They will not engage in closed and exclusive circles," he said.

"Sino-Indian relations will not be affected by other factors, either China or India. Both are major powers with great influence. Positive communication among great powers has injected positive factors into regional and world peace and stability," he said.

Terming the informal meeting between Xi and Modi "a success and a milestone", Kong said, this meeting was not intended to solve specific problems, but the main aim was to strengthen communication exchanges, provide strategic guidance to the relations, and increase mutual trust between the leaders.

Kong, who was part of interactions between Xi and Modi, said that in the past two days, the two leaders had six meetings, conversations, walks, one-on-one exchanges, dinners, and luncheons in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere.

The minister said that Xi emphasised that the problems between China and India were "temporary" but the cooperation would be "everlasting".

"Before these issues and differences are resolved, the two sides must... avoid creating new ones, and promote mutual exchanges and cooperation to resolve contradictions and differences," Kong said.

He said Prime Minister Modi fully agreed to that the two sides should resolve their difference in a proper way.

"Both the leaders believe that the world order is rapidly changing, and China and India must shoulder important responsibilities in the future by jointly raising the voice of developing countries, supporting the multilateral trading system, and making positive contributions to prosperity in Asia.

"The two leaders, based on correct understanding, outlined a blueprint for future of China-India relations," he said.

"The informal meeting between the leaders of China and India is an important new milestone in the relations between the two countries and clarion call for the future of bilateral relations," he said, adding that China and India do need (to develop) mutual trust and "how to enhance it between the leaders of the two countries is an important issue this time".

During the summit, the two leaders did not shy away or negotiate with each other but set the tone for addressing issues at macro level, he said.Lucknow: The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh was left red-faced when one of its cabinet ministers, Om Prakash Rajbhar, claimed that that people from Yadav and Chauhan communities consume more alcohol than those from any other caste.

Rajbhar, who was speaking to the media in Varanasi on Friday, said, People from Yadav and Rajput communities consume more liquor than any other caste and it is their family business. People from Rajbhar community along with Chauhan, Kumhar, Lohar, consume liquor. If you want to know the pain, ask the mothers, sisters or wives of people who come home drunk."

I have been demanding a liquor ban for the last 15 years, he added.

He further said that a grand protest will be held on May 16 in Varanasi against the sale of liquor and more than 50,000 people are expected to participate in the protest with most of them being women.

Meanwhile, members of the Yadav community staged protests against Rajbhars controversial remark while some of them hurled tomatoes and eggs at his residence in Hazratganj.

Reacting sharply to the allegations made by Yogis minister against the Yadav community, former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav tweeted, Why just protest against liquor, there should also be agitation against weed, chillam, taadi, tobacco, opium and arrogance. People consume liquor, not any community.

Known for his controversial remarks, Rajbhar has embarrassed the BJP even recently he said that people might choose someone else over Modi in the next election as nothing great has been done by his government so far.Karwar (Uttar Kannada): The smell of fish hits you as you mingle with the ladies selling it on the beaches of Karwar, which the Karnataka government has been trying to develop and pitch as a counter to Goa.

The calm of the beautiful coastal stretch of Karnataka is occasionally shattered by drum beats of party workers. Some of them approach the ladies selling fish, trying to beat the intense competition. The women are visibly irritated as they see political intrusions as a waste of time and money.

Congress and BJP workers chat nearby as Rahul Gandhi gears up to hit the coastal belt or Uttar Kannada as its called.

This is also the area of Anantkumar Hegde who has been one of the most vitriolic campaigners for the BJP. His supporters say its important for the BJP to do well if Hegdes reign is to continue in this region.

In 2013, the BJP faced a drubbing and the Congress is in no mood to relent and give way. Hegde has played the Hindu card to the hilt in this area, even asking party chief Amit shah to visit homes of Hindu activists killed in communal violence. Uttar Kannada has eight seats up for grabs and hence quite crucial to all stakeholders for the battle ahead.

The Congress, too, is wasting no opportunity to play the Hindu card as is evident by Rahul Gandhis tour schedule, which included the influential and venerated Dharmasthala and the Murudeshwara temples.

Locals say that as always, politicians dont feel the pulse. We want uninterrupted power supply. We want Karwar to be developed as a hub so there are more jobs for locals. We dont care for temples or Hindu-Muslim issues. Each communal fight robs us of our livelihood, says a local.

The sleepy town of Bhatkal, which had hogged headlines over Yaseen Bhatkal, the brain behind the Indian Mujahideen, wants more. There are several schools and small businesses coming up, but this is not enough. There is little time for religious matters.

This rejection of the polarising strategies of both the Congress and BJP has left the parties worried. And Hegdes team says its not easy.

As Rahul Gandhi hit Uttar Kannada, criss-crossing through Hegdes territory, the latter flew down to Delhi to meet with his party bosses. Sources say he is facing criticism from the leadership and that a change in strategy is likely.

Whats worse is that Hegde faces open rebellion from local BJP leaders over ticket distribution. Sitting in his office in the temple town of Murudeshwara, a leader says, I hoped for a ticket. I have been working for years here. Delhi told me Hegde will take care of me. But his men have been favoured. We have been asked to counter Rahuls temple visits. Is that all we are meant to do?

The party has some hope from Prime Minister Narendra Modis upcoming visit. They hope his stress on development and governance would change the narrative from the Hindu-Muslim issues that find little resonance on ground.

Uttar Kannada, which has seen much communal strife, is now clearly looking for change.

The Congress is not immune to anger in the region. In Bhatkal, the largely Muslim population has a grudge too. Though Rahuls rally here was well-attended, locals say the Hindu push makes them feel unwanted. Let him visit as many temples as he wants, but give us jobs. The Congress manifesto does promise this, but there is little trust left.

Ishwar Naik, a BJP leader and close aide of Hegde, says, We dont want to play this Hindu thing, but then we are Hindus and thats what people want.

The problem is that the BJP has put up with Hegdes rants for long and even when they disapproved of it, they hoped it would work for them. Hegdes growing unpopularity is a matter of concern in a region which is now turning out to be a prestige battle.

Sources say that as the PMs visit nears, Hegde has been asked to go slow and keep a low profile. The BJP hopes the PMs charm would work here. The Congress hopes that Chief Minister Siddaramaiahs work in these areas would be the answer.

Unfortunately for these politicians, this is no longer what people seem to want from the political parties and they are asking for better facilities.

With the clock ticking, the netas have a lot of catching up to do.Bhopal: While senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh refuses to provide fodder to the media  especially after completing his Narmada Parikrama ahead of the Assembly elections  his brother Laxman Singh seems to be making up for his silence with multiple attacks on his party over its election strategy.

Five-time MP Lakshman Singh took to Twitter recently to mock his own partys decision to appoint four working presidents to assist the newly-appointed MP president Kamal Nath, something which has been done for the first time in the state Congress.

The party had taken similar steps by opting for four working presidents in Gujarat last year and two working presidents in Chhattisgarh.

The decision, however, has not gone down well with Singh junior who said in a tweet from an unverified Twitter handle, If congress gets strong with five presidents in MP, then we should immediately appoint few more presidents in AICC to make Congress strong in the country and defeat Modi government. (sic)

On Wednesday, Singh issued an advice for his own party asking it to focus on the party workers instead of taking excessive care of the leaders in order to ensure victory.

On April 16, amid reports of the partys central leadership opting for veteran leader Kamal Nath as the party state head, Singh tweeted, Kamal Nath leading m.p. in polls is like playing "HMV record in an age of bluetooth technology. (sic)

Kamal nath leading https://t.co/LzNdR2ziJx polls is like playing "HMV record in an age of bluetooth technology". lakshman singh (@laxmanragho) April 16, 2018

With his stinging tweets, Singh has time and again put his party in trouble in the past. He vocally criticized Congress over the National Herald case and removal of brother Digvijay as the party in-charge in Goa and Karnataka.

If congress gets strong with 5 presidents in m.p.than we should immediately appoint few more presidents in AICC to make congress strong in the country and defeat modi govt.!!!! lakshman singh (@laxmanragho) April 26, 2018

After Congress ouster from the power in Madhya Pradesh in 2003, Singh had switched over to BJP and won two Lok Sabha elections on a BJP ticket, but in 2010, the saffron party showed him the door for speaking against then party president Nitin Gadkari.

The former MP then returned to the Congress in 2013 but could not regain his lost position in the party.

On the contrary, his elder brother Digvijaya Singh, said in Indore, I would no longer offer bytes to the news reporters and would let the partys official spokespersons air the partys views when needed.Voters pose outside a polling booth in Karnataka.



People were seen standing in queues to cast their votes in the early hours itself, factoring in that the temperature may go up later in the day. Also, it has been raining in different parts of south interior Karnataka for the last couple of days during the evening hours.



Senior citizens were seen in good numbers standing in queues at various polling stations to cast their votes early.



State BJP chief and party's chief ministerial candidate B S Yeddyurappa, and Pradesh Congress Committee G Parameshwara were among the first to cast votes in Shikaripura in Shivamogga and Yaggere in Tumakuru respectively.



Former prime minister HD Deve Gowda along with wife Chennamma cast their votes at Paduvalahippe in Hassan district. Film actors Ramesh Arvind, Ravichandran, also scion of Mysuru royal family Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar were among the prominent personalities to cast their votes early today.



There are reports about delay in polling due to some technical issues with the electronic voting machines (EVMs) from different parts of the state.



Election for the Jayanagara seat in Bengaluru has been countermanded following the death of BJP candidate and sitting MLA BN Vijaykumar.



The Election Commission has also deferred the polls for Rajarajeswari Nagar constituency to May 28 after a massive row erupted over a large number of voter ID cards being found in an apartment.



Suspecting something fishy, both Congress and BJP have pointed accusing fingers at each other in the matter. "Today people of Karnataka are standing in queues to create history & show the nation the way to liberal, progressive, peaceful & compassionate politics & governance. I thank them for their support & wish them well," Chief Minister Siddaramaiah tweeted.



Over 2,600 candidates are in the fray-- more than 2400 men and and over 200 women. The total voters including service electors according to the 2018 final rolls are 5,06,90,538, of whom 2,56,75,579 male voters, 2,50,09,904 female and 5,055 transgender voters.



Officials said 58,008 polling stations have been set up across the state, of which 12002 have been designated as "critical", with over 3,50,000 polling personnel on duty. Police have made elaborate security arrangements for the smooth conduct of polls that will go on till 6 pm.



"82,157 people have been deployed for poll duty that includes DSPs, home guards and civil defence, and forest guards and watchers," Karnataka DGP Neelamani N Raju said. This also includes about 7,500 personnel from states like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Chattisgarh, Kerala and Goa, she said, adding, central forces have been deployed.



One among the interesting aspects of this election is that four candidates who have served as Chief Minister of Karnataka are in the fray-- Chief Minister Siddaramaiah (Chamundeshwari and Badami), B S Yeddyurappa (Shikaripura), H D Kumaraswamy (Chennapatna and Ramanagara) and Jagadish Shettar (Hubli-Dharwad Central.)Chandigarh: The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in Punjab on Saturday claimed that chapters on Sikh Gurus have been "expunged" from Class 12 history books of the state education board, but Chief Minister Amarinder Singh dismissed as "malicious" the opposition party's allegation.

SAD spokesman and former education minister Daljit Singh Cheema demanded a high-level probe and stern action against the alleged development in the Punjab School Education Board's Class 12 history books.

"It is shocking that the state's own school board has expunged the history makers of Punjab from the history books of Punjab," said Cheema in a statement.

There were 23 chapters carrying information about Sikh Gurus, Sikh warriors and historical facts about Punjab in the Class 12 history book, the SAD leader said, claiming the content has been replaced with a half-page description about the glorious period of the Sikh history.

Lambasting SAD leaders for trying to spread "misinformation" on a sensitive religious issue, Chief Minister Singh said the Opposition party had shown "gross irresponsibility" by making a "baseless" public statement without bothering to check the facts.

The fact was that the courses had merely been realigned with the NCERT syllabus to enable the students from Punjab to compete at the national level, he said, making it clear that "not a single chapter, nor a word, had been deleted by the Board".

The history chapters had been now spread across Classes 11 and 12, on the recommendation of an Expert Committee, of which a SGPC representative was also a member, he added.

As per the Committee's recommendations, the Board had earlier restructured the Physics and Chemistry courses, and had now realigned the History books to make the course more relevant, in line with the NCERT syllabus.

Since the Committee had felt that the students should be exposed to Sikh history from Class 11 itself, the chapters on Punjab and Sikh history had been shifted to Class 11, while India and Modern History as well as Modern Sikh History had been moved to the Class 12 syllabus, the chief minister said.

Far from removing any chapter on the Sikh Gurus, the Board, under his directives, had in fact incorporated chapters on the lives of the four Sahibzadas in the school text books to ensure that the youngsters also learn of their sacrifices, along with the history of the Sikh Gurus, he said.

Urging the Akalis to refrain from indulging in cheap politics over an issue related to the religious sentiments of the people of Punjab, he said it was extremely unfortunate that SAD, which claims to be a guardian of the Sikh religious ethos, was repeatedly resorting to abusing religion to further their political interests.Bengaluru: As Congress President Rahul Gandhi tours the state ahead of the upcoming assembly elections in Karnataka, eminent technocrat and a friend of the Gandhi family, Sam Pitroda said that the former has grown as a politician and is absolutely ready for the 2019 battle. He also issued a warning for the party asking it to reach out to its people and not take things for granted.

"Of course he has grown. Everybody grows. When you spend more time, you definitely learn more," he told CNN-News18, after releasing the highlights of the Congress manifesto in Bengaluru on Saturday.

Pitroda feels that Rahul Gandhi is absolutely ready for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as well. However, he has warned his party friends that the Karnataka election is not going to be an easy one for the party.

"It is very important for us to win this election. Don't take it lightly. I would like to tell my friends in the party that we haven't won until we have won," he said addressing a hall full of voters and several Congress leaders on the dais.

For the party, challenges are galore  from beating the anti-incumbency factor to fighting "false propaganda".

Speaking on the use of money in elections, Pitroda added, "Money power works everywhere. The golden rule is whoever has gold rules but people will see through it and the Congress is relying on those people.

"Lies sell very well during elections and social media amplifies these lies. People hide behind the cyber walls so that you don't know who they are. So it is important for all of us to reach out to people through personal contacts, open communication and meetings," he said.

But most importantly, Pitroda said, there is a need for Congress workers to put efforts at the booth level.

"If we can really do a good job at the booth level, is what matters. Whether Congress workers help and support people, whether they are able to get them to come out and vote in large numbers  these are things that will matter; not the lies or gossips," said Pitroda.London: Terminally-ill British toddler Alfie Evans died in hospital on Saturday after doctors withdrew life support, the child's parents said, following a protracted legal battle and a campaign that drew support from Pope Francis.

"Our baby grew his wings tonight at 2:30am (0130 GMT). We are heartbroken. Thank you everyone for all your support," Kate James and Thomas Evans said in a statement on Facebook.

The parents had fought to take their son, who had a degenerative medical condition, from a hospital in Liverpool in northwest England to a clinic in Rome but lost a final court appeal on Wednesday.

Doctors had already removed life support on Monday after the parents lost a previous appeal to keep him alive despite doctors' recommendations.

Pope Francis intervened several times in a case that attracted worldwide attention, particularly in Italy and Poland.

Earlier this week the pontiff wrote on Twitter that he hoped the parents' "desire to seek new forms of treatment may be granted".

Tom Evans had met the pope in the Vatican and asked him to "save our son".

Italy had also granted citizenship to the toddler in the hope of facilitating his transfer to the Bamino Gesu (Baby Jesus) paediatric hospital in Rome.

The case is the latest in a series of high-profile battles between parents of ill children and the British authorities.

British law states that parents "cannot demand a particular treatment to be continued where the burdens of the treatment clearly outweigh the benefits for the child".

If agreement cannot be reached between the parents and the healthcare professionals, "a court should be asked to make a declaration about whether the provision of life-sustaining treatment would benefit the child".

The most recent example was that of Charlie Gard, who was born in August 2016 with a rare form of mitochondrial disease.

He died last year, one week short of his first birthday, after doctors withdrew life support treatment.

Gard's parents fought a five-month legal battle for him to be taken to the United States for experimental treatment.

The parents of Ashya King defied professionals in 2014 when they snatched their cancer-stricken son from a British hospital and took him to Prague for proton beam therapy.

King, now eight years old, has since been declared clear of the disease.Washington: US President Donald Trump on Saturday said that he may travel to Israel for the inauguration of the new American embassy in Jerusalem.

"I may go (to Jerusalem).. very proud of it. Jerusalem has been a subject that's been promised for many years, as you know, the embassy in Jerusalem. It's been promised for many, many years by presidents. They all made campaign promises, and they never had the courage to carry it out. I carried it out," Trump told reporters at a joint White House news conference with the visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

He said, "It's getting ready to open, and I do want to tell that story though, because there are a couple of people that got to see it, but others, where literally, they were going to spend a billion dollars, and we're spending a tiny, tiny fraction of that, in the hundreds of thousands of dollars instead. And it will be very nice. Maybe it'll be nicer than a billion-dollar building."

Trump said he reduced the construction of new embassy in Jerusalem from USD 1 billion to a "fraction of the cost". He also gave an insight into the internal White House deliberations on the new US embassy in Jerusalem.

"Somebody said, 'Could I tell this story?' And they came to me with a proposal for a USD 1 billion embassy in Jerusalem, and the papers (Vice President) Mike Pence can tell you -- the papers were put before me to sign an application for more than USD1 billion to build an embassy," Trump said.

"I said, 'What are you talking about, USD1 billion?' You know, most embassies are like a single story. And they said, 'Yes, sir. It's USD1 billion'. And I had my name half-signed, then I noticed the figure, and I just didn't -- I never got to the word 'Trump". I had "Donald" signed, but I never got to the word "Trump."

Trump said, thereafter, he told his ambassador to Israel. "I said, 'What's this $ 1 billion?' He said, 'I can build it for USD 150,000'. I said, 'What?' He said, 'I can build it for USD 150,000, the embassy.

We have a building. We have the site. We already own the site. We own the building. I can take a corner of the building, and for USD 150,000, we can fix it up, make it beautiful, open our embassy. Instead of in 10 years from now, we can open it up in three months.' And that's what we did".

Trump said he then told the ambassador that they should not go from USD 1 billion to USD 150,000.

"Let's go to USD3-USD400,000". And that's what we did. It's going to be beautiful, and it'll be somewhat temporary, but it could be for many years, because by the time they build it the other way, it's going to be many, many years. They were looking for sites. We already have a site, and we have a great site. The site's better than anything you could imagine," he said.

"But that's the way government works. They were going to spend USD 1 billion, and we're going to spend much less than a half a million. Could have done it for much less than that, but I said, 'Let's make it really nice'. So that's what it is," Trump said.New York: The former head of HSBC Bank's foreign exchange cash trading was sentenced on Thursday to two years in prison on charges he traded ahead of his customers to make millions of dollars in a scheme known as "front running."

"Mark Johnson exploited confidential information and betrayed a client in order to generate profits for HSBC and enrich himself," said U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue.

"Johnson has been held accountable for his crimes and today's sentence should serve as a deterrent to fraudsters seeking to cheat their victims." Johnson, 51, a United Kingdom citizen, was sentenced in Brooklyn federal court after being convicted in October 2017 of wire fraud conspiracy and wire fraud. He also must pay a USD 300,000 fine.

Johnson and a co-defendant misused confidential information given to them by a client who wanted the bank to execute a foreign exchange transaction related to the planned sale of part of its ownership interest in an Indian subsidiary in 2011, according to authorities.

Prosecutors say Johnson and other traders they directed bought British Pound Sterling for HSBC's "proprietary" accounts prior to converting about $3.5 billion in sales proceeds on behalf of the client into British Pound Sterling, knowing the large transaction would boost the price of the pound.

This enabled them to generate roughly USD 7.3 million, some of it illegally, to the benefit of HSBC and at the expense of their client, authorities said.

During the trial, Johnson insisted the client got a fair price and that HSBC was only "pre-hedging" the trade. Johnson's lawyer, Mark Wohl, said they intend to appeal.

The bank wasn't accused of any wrongdoing. The co-defendant is in the U.K. fighting extradition.Lilongwe: Former Malawi president Joyce Banda returned home on Saturday to a rousing welcome by supporters and vowed to prove her innocence after more than three years in self-imposed exile amid graft allegations.

The so-called "Cashgate" scandal in which senior government officials were accused of siphoning millions of dollars from state coffers was uncovered in 2013 while she was president. Donor countries cut off aid, hampered development in Malawi, one of the world's poorest and most aid-dependent countries.

Banda, Malawi's first female president, lost elections to Peter Mutharika a year later and immediately faced allegations of abuse of office and money laundering, which she denied before leaving the country.

As far as I am concerned I never did anything wrong and there has never been a warrant of arrest and I am back to prove that, Banda told media at the airport.

Last July, police issued an arrest warrant against Banda, saying her alleged offences were part of Cashgate. But early this year, the Anti-Corruption Bureau said it had no solid evidence against her, partly clearing her of wrongdoing.

Police have not publicly said whether charges had been dropped. A police spokesman said on Monday the police would make no comment on the matter until Banda was back in the country.

A former justice minister and attorney general were convicted over Cashgate, along with a number of former high-ranking government officials and business people.

Banda was non-committal on whether she would actively engage in politics as the southern African country prepares for next years presidential and parliamentary elections.

I have been away for four years now so I need to see whats going on before I can commit to politics, Banda said when asked whether she would be running in the May elections.Washington: Adult-film star Stormy Daniels' lawsuit against U.S. President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, will be paused for 90 days, the federal judge in the case ordered on Friday, saying that Cohen's constitutional rights could be endangered if the lawsuit proceeds while he is under criminal investigation.

"The court finds that there is a large potential factual overlap between the civil and criminal proceedings that would heavily implicate Mr Cohen's Fifth Amendment rights," District Judge James Otero wrote in the order, referring to the Constitution's protection against self-incrimination.

Cohen has admitted paying $130,000 to Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, to secure her silence about having sex with Trump, which he denies. Cohen said the payment was legal, and Daniels has sued to end her nondisclosure agreement.

Daniels' lawyer Michael Avenatti promptly pledged to fight the stay, writing on Twitter he would file an immediate appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in California, which could ultimately lead the Supreme Court to weigh in.

Cohen said earlier this week he would invoke the Fifth Amendment and refuse to answer questions in the lawsuit after the FBI raided his home, office and hotel room two weeks ago. The amendment states no individual can be "compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself."

Cohen and the federal government have indicated the criminal investigation and some seized documents relate to the hush-money payment at the heart of the lawsuit, even though the probe's precise subject has not been publicly disclosed, Otero wrote.

He added Cohen will probably be indicted.

"This is no simple criminal investigation; it is an investigation into the personal attorney of a sitting President regarding documents that might be subject to the attorney-client privilege," Otero wrote. "Whether or not an indictment is forthcoming, and the court thinks it likely based on these facts alone, these unique circumstances counsel in favour of stay.

Daniels had argued the lawsuit should proceed, with Cohen invoking the Fifth Amendment only for specific questions that might lead to self-incrimination.

But Otero wrote that approach could lead to Cohen not answering any questions, rendering a deposition useless.Seoul: The leaders of North and South Korea declared at a summit on Friday they had a "common goal of realising, through complete denuclearisation, a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula".

Exactly what that means remains unclear ahead of a much-anticipated summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump.

The White House has urged "the denuclearisation of North Korea", but the distinction is crucial  that is an explicit reference to only one country, while the broader term is open to interpretation on both sides.

The North  which invaded its neighbour in 1950  is the only one of the two Koreas to possess nuclear weapons, but the South has a security alliance with the most powerful nation on the planet.

What weapons does North Korea have?

Estimates of Pyongyang's arsenal vary.

Monitoring groups put the size of Pyongyang's sixth and last atomic blast in September at 250 kilotons  16 times the size of the US bomb that destroyed Hiroshima in 1945 and the kind of yield generated by a hydrogen bomb.

Seoul's 2016 defence white paper  the most recent available  estimated the North had 50 kilograms of plutonium  reportedly enough for about 10 bombs  and a "considerable" but unquantified ability to produce uranium weapons.

Last year, the Washington Post reported a US intelligence assessment that the North had up to 60 nuclear devices.

Where the North keeps its missiles is not publicly known, but it has extensive experience in tunnelling and it is believed they are stored at underground facilities scattered around the country.

They are also mobile  it has put transporters on show at military parades.

What does the US have?

US President Donald Trump says his nuclear button is bigger than Kim's  and it works.

According to the State Department, as of September 1, the US has a total of 1,393 deployed nuclear warheads, deliverable by land- and submarine-based missiles and heavy bombers.

It has thousands more in stockpiles and awaiting dismantlement, campaign groups say, with the Arms Control Association putting the total at 6,550 last year.

The US withdrew tactical nuclear weapons from the South in the 1990s and Seoul does not have any itself.

But the US has an unparallelled ability to project power around the world and can reach targets anywhere with conventional or nuclear munitions.

It has long-range bombers, mid-air refuelling capabilities, and a fleet of nuclear submarines constantly at sea, each armed with phenomenal destructive power.

What Has Pyongyang Promised?

According to Trump "they have agreed to denuclearisation". Asked what he meant by the term, he told reporters earlier this month: "It means they get rid of their nukes  very simple."

But North Korea itself has made no explicit pledge to do so during the current rapprochement.

According to Seoul, it has offered to consider giving them up in exchange for unspecified security guarantees.

When Kim visited key backer China last month in only his first foreign trip as leader, China's state media cited him saying that the issue could be resolved if Seoul and Washington take "progressive and synchronous measures for the realisation of peace"  implying some form of quid pro quo.

What Does That Imply?

Pyongyang says it needs nuclear weapons to defend itself against the United States, and interprets threats against it widely  it has regularly condemned US-South Korean joint military exercises as preparations for invasion.

Under the 1953 Mutual Defence Treaty between South Korea and the US, Washington is duty-bound to come to its ally's aid if attacked.

In the past Pyongyang has demanded the end of the alliance and the withdrawal of US troops from the South.

The US has 28,500 troops stationed in the country to defend it from its neighbour, and Washington's nuclear arsenal is a key part of its defence capabilities  it does not have a "no first use" policy.

What has the North promised before?

Friday's declaration was the first time the word "denuclearisation" has appeared in an inter-Korean summit communique.

There was no reference to the subject in the declaration after their first summit in Pyongyang in 2000, and seven years later they said they would work together to implement two existing agreements on "the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula".

But one of those documents, the Joint Statement of the Fourth Round of the Six-Party Talks issued in Beijing in September 2005, is unequivocal.

"The DPRK committed to abandoning all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programmes," it said, using the North's official name.

But it carried out its first nuclear test the very next year. Another agreement followed before Pyongyang walked out of the six-party process  which brought together the two Koreas, China, the US, Russia and Japan  in 2009, detonating its second atomic blast months later.Washington: First came Kuwait. Then Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Now it's the Philippines' turn.

It is the latest foreign government to book rooms or host events at the Trump International Hotel in Washington D.C., riling critics who say such bookings are nothing more than attempts to curry favor with President Donald Trump.

The Philippine Independence Day celebration set for June 12 comes as the country pushes for a free-trade agreement with the U.S. and amid international criticism of President Rodrigo Duterte for encouraging vigilante killings of drug suspects.

"The Trump hotel may have some political undertones because it is associated with the U.S. president," Jose Manuel Romualdez, the Philippine ambassador to the U.S., wrote in a column in The Philippine Star newspaper earlier this week. "But since several other embassies have also held their national day celebrations at the Trump hotel which were well attended  I decided  why not do it there, too."

The Philippine Embassy has sent out 300 invitations for the party to mark the 120th year since the country broke from Spanish rule. Guests, including U.S. senators and Congress members, will nosh on Filipino food and cocktails. The embassy didn't directly respond to questions on whether the booking was intended to influence the president, referring instead to the ambassador's column.

"The Philippines has found a way to pay tribute to our president," said Kathleen Clark, a government ethics lawyer and law professor at Washington University in St. Louis. "What's at risk is our foreign policy, that it will be influenced not by what matters  human rights, civil rights or legitimate economic interests  but by the Philippines' ability to get in the good graces of our president."

Coincidentally, the party comes a day after the next scheduled hearing in the federal court "emoluments" lawsuit by the state of Maryland and the District of Columbia. They are accusing Trump of accepting unconstitutional gifts from foreign interests, specifically by throwing events and booking rooms at the Trump Washington hotel. Such bookings are tantamount to bribes, the plaintiffs argue, because Trump's refusal to divest himself from his businesses means the money paid for rooms, meeting spaces, food and drinks eventually finds its way into his pocket.

Trump has sought to assuage concerns about foreign government spending at his properties by offering to donate profits from such business to the U.S. Treasury. But critics say the gesture has lacked transparency. A Trump Organization payment of $151,470 last month was intended to cover such profits from 2017, but the company refused to provide details on how the figure was calculated and which foreign governments were involved.

Neither the White House nor the Trump Organization responded to requests for comment.

The leader of the Philippines has reason to be plenty thankful to Trump, and to continue to keep him happy.

Western countries and human rights groups have denounced Duterte for an anti-drug campaign that has included more than 2,000 extrajudicial killings by masked gunmen on motorcycles and others. But Trump has said Duterte is doing a "great job" with his crackdown.

There are economic concerns, too. With Trump's decision to drop out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, Duterte has to find another way to knock down barriers to an open exchange of goods and investment. He has been pushing for the kind bilateral free trade deal that 20 other countries enjoy with the U.S.

Just before Trump's election in November 2016, Duterte appointed Philippine real estate developer Jose E.B. Antonio as his trade envoy to Washington. Antonio's company is partnering with the Trump Organization in a Trump-branded apartment complex in Manila in which Trump received between $1 million and $5 million in royalties, according to financial disclosure forms filed in June.

Since Trump took office last year, Kuwait has twice held its annual "National Day" celebration at his Washington hotel. Bahrain also celebrated its own "National Day" at the hotel, and a public relations firm working for Saudi Arabia has used the hotel, too.

Two Turkish business organizations sponsored an event there in 2016. One of those groups had official ties to the government of Turkey. The Turkish group was previously headed by a businessman who hired former Trump administration national security adviser Michael Flynn and his consulting firm to perform work aiding Turkey. Flynn has since pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and is cooperating with the special counsel's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.Sanaa: A Saudi-led airstrike targeting a high-level meeting of Shiite rebels in Yemen's capital killed two of the group's leaders and dozens of their militiamen, the kingdom's state media reported today. The Shiite rebels known as Houthis did not immediately acknowledge the strike.

Saudi state-run television offered the report, saying the strike Friday killed more than 50 militiamen, including the two leaders. It did not elaborate.

That dispatch followed a far more detailed report on the strike by Al-Arabiya, a Dubai-based satellite news network now believed to be majority-owned by Saudi Arabia.

Al-Arabiya, without offering a source, said the strike hit a building belonging to Yemen's Interior Ministry in the country's rebel-held capital, Sanaa. It said more than 38 Houthi fighters including the two leaders were killed in the strike targeting a high-level meeting.

Al-Masirah, a Houthi-run satellite news channel, acknowledged that Houthi leaders met Friday to discuss Saturday's funeral of Saleh al-Samad, a Houthi political leader killed over a week ago in a Saudi airstrike on the coastal city of Hodeida. However, the only airstrike Friday night in Sanaa the outlet reported on involved wounded civilians.

Later, Al-Masirah reported that Houthi forces fired eight ballistic missiles at "economic and vital" targets in Saudi Arabia's southern city of Jizan and hit the targets with "high accuracy." The Saudi-led coalition said in statement, carried by state news agency SPA, that the kingdom's air defense forces intercepted four of the missiles fired toward Jizan.

The Directorate of Saudi Civil Defense said it received reports that shrapnel killed one civilian and damaged two houses and three vehicles.

Houthis held al-Samad's funeral in the capital, bringing together thousands of Yemenis in Sabeen square to pay tribute to the slain head of the rebels' Supreme Political Council, which runs rebel-held areas in Yemen.

Top Houthi officials including al-Samad's successor Mahdi al-Mashat, a former Houthi fighter, attended. Houthi leader Abdul-Malek al-Houthi vowed to avenge al-Samad's death.

The Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, have previously fired missiles targeting the Saudi mainland, including the capital, Riyadh. They see themselves as retaliating against heavy Saudi-led airstrikes in parts of Yemen. Earlier this month, Saudi Arabia said the rebels had fired at least 116 missiles at the kingdom since it went to war in Yemen in 2015.

Yemen's three-year stalemated war has killed more than 10,000 people, displaced 3 million and helped spawn a devastating cholera epidemic in the Arab world's poorest country.

It began after the Houthis swept through Sanaa and farther south, sparking a Saudi-led military intervention on behalf of the country's internationally recognized government.

The kingdom's devastating air campaign repeatedly has struck markets, medical facilities and civilian targets, drawing international criticism.

The coalition's blockade on ports under Houthi control has been a main factor pushing the country into near starvation, according to United Nations agencies and rights groups.

Meanwhile, the Iranian-backed Houthis face criticism for laying mines that have killed and maimed civilians, while allegedly diverting humanitarian aid to their own cadres and conducting mass roundups of their perceived enemies.Tampa: In a move that shocked lunar scientists, NASA has cancelled the only robotic vehicle under development to explore the surface of the Moon, despite President Donald Trump's vow to return people there.

Scientists working on the Resource Prospector (RP) mission, a robotic rover that had been in development for about a decade to explore a polar region of the Moon, expressed astonishment at the decision.

"We now understand RP was cancelled on 23 April 2018 and the project has been asked to close down by the end of May," said the letter dated April 26 by the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group, addressed to NASA chief Jim Bridenstine and posted on the website NASAWatch.com.

"This action is viewed with both incredulity and dismay by our community," particularly because Trump's space policy "directs NASA to go to the lunar surface," the letter said.

The robotic rover was being built as the world's only vehicle aimed at exploring the polar region of the Moon, and was expected to undergo a design review next year ahead of launching in 2022.

It would have been the first US lunar lander since Apollo 17 in 1972, and the first ever US robotic rover on the surface of the Moon.

RP was intended to be the first mission to mine the surface of the Moon, in search of volatile compounds like hydrogen, oxygen and water.

NASA responded with a statement posted online on Friday which said some of the instruments aboard RP would be flown on future missions.

"NASA is developing an exploration strategy to meet the agency's expanded lunar exploration goals," said the statement.

"Consistent with this strategy, NASA is planning a series of progressive robotic missions to the lunar surface."

It did not specifically refer to any plans to cancel RP, but said the space agency is seeking "to evolve progressively larger landers leading to an eventual human lander capability," as part of a broader strategy to return people to the Moon for long-term exploration.

"As part of this expanded campaign, selected instruments from Resource Prospector will be landed and flown on the Moon," it said.

Bridenstine, who was confirmed this week as the new head of NASA, insisted on Twitter that the US space agency is "committed to lunar exploration."

"Resource Prospector instruments will go forward in an expanded lunar surface campaign. More landers. More science. More exploration. More prospectors. More commercial partners," he wrote.

In December 2017, Trump formally directed NASA to focus its efforts on returning people to the Moon as a foundation for an eventual mission to Mars.Washington: US President Donald Trump said Saturday that "things are going very well" after talking with South Korea's President Moon Jae-in about an upcoming summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

"Just had a long and very good talk with President Moon of South Korea. Things are going very well, time and location of meeting with North Korea is being set," Trump wrote on Twitter.

"Also spoke to Prime Minister (Shinzo) Abe of Japan to inform him of the ongoing negotiations," he wrote.

Moon met with Kim in a historic summit, agreeing on Friday to pursue a permanent peace and the complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

An armistice brought the fighting on the Korean peninsula to an end in 1953, but 65 years later, a final peace agreement has still not been reached.

The Moon-Kim meeting has raised expectations for Trump's own planned summit with the North Korean leader, the date and location of which have not yet been finalized.

Mongolia and Singapore are the final two sites under consideration for the summit, CBS News reported, though Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Saturday that there had been no formal request for his city-state to host the meeting.

Last year, Pyongyang carried out its sixth nuclear test, by far its most powerful to date, and launched missiles capable of reaching the US mainland.

Its actions sent tensions soaring as Kim and Trump traded personal insults and threats of war.

Trump has demanded the North give up its weapons, and Washington is pressing for it to do so in a complete, verifiable and irreversible way.

Pyongyang is demanding as yet unspecified security guarantees to discuss its arsenal.The best horror comics for the Halloween season

From zombies and vampires to devilspawn, here are the best horror comics to read right now

Alan Kalter, longtime voice of the 'Late Show with David Letterman,' dies at 78 Alan Kalter, the longtime voice of the "Late Show with David Letterman," has died at age 78. Letterman dubbed him "the best announcer in television."







Criminal inquiry into Trumps Georgia election interference gathers steam The disgraced former president faces a range of possible charges  including conspiracy and election fraud







A look at world leaders named in the Pandora Papers A global investigation has revealed how the rich and powerful have being hiding their investments in mansions, exclusive beachfront...







Ontario's chief medical officer of health to make announcement on rapid tests and schools The Canadian Press reports that a government source with knowledge of the announcement, but who was not authorized to speak publicly about it, said it will be...







12,000 women could be living with undiagnosed breast cancer as pandemic hits NHS services There has been a 50% rise in UK women who were not screened since services restarted last summer







Former British soldier arrested by Taliban as it seized control is flown out of Afghanistan A former British soldier who was arrested by the Taliban has been flown out of Afghanistan with a visiting UK delegation, Sky News understands.







Fiona Hill, former Russia advisor to Trump and a staunch critic, dismisses the idea that Putin has compromising material on him Fiona Hill told the Daily Beast that Putin was almost certainly playing on Trump's weaknesses, but using public rather than secret information.







NFL power rankings after Week 4 Here is how the 32 NFL teams stand after Week 4 of the 2021 season.







Raiders coach Jon Gruden wants explanation for 'bizarre' locker room at SoFi Stadium Raiders coach Jon Gruden said the locker room at SoFi Stadium "is the most bizarre thing I've ever seen" after Chargers beat the Raiders Monday night.







Taliban Accused of Killing 13 Ethnic Hazara Afghans The international rights advocacy group Amnesty International has accused Afghanistans ruling Taliban of unlawfully killing 13 members of the ethnic Hazara...







Opinion: Ravens coach John Harbaugh was out of line with last-second ploy for record The Ravens tied a longstanding Steelers rushing record after John Harbaugh;s eyebrow-raising call on the final play of a win over the Broncos.







Police competence and adequacy focus of inquests into Stephen Port victims The long-awaited inquests into the deaths of serial killer Stephen Ports victims will focus on whether police missed opportunities to stop him sooner, a...







New Japan PM Kishida confirms strong alliance with US in talks with Biden TOKYO (Reuters) -New Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Tuesday that he received a "strong" message from President Joe Biden...







Taiwan president warns of 'catastrophic' consequences if it falls to China Taiwan falling to China would trigger "catastrophic" consequences for peace in Asia, President Tsai Ing-wen wrote in a piece for Foreign...







One winning ticket sold for $699.8 million Powerball jackpot It was bought in Morro Bay, California. The winning numbers were white balls of 12, 22, 54, 66, and 69 and a Powerball number of 15.







Hollywood production crews vote to authorise first ever strike Union calls for industry leaders to grant workers human necessities such as adequate sleep and breaks







Direct Line and Churchill remove some Covid restrictions on travel insurance Direct Line and Churchill have removed some restrictions to travel cancellation cover which were put in place last year amid the coronavirus pandemic.







Road-blocking injunction served to 111 Insulate Britain protesters, court told More than 100 Insulate Britain protesters have been served with an injunction against road-blocking demonstrations, the High Court has heard.







Heavy rain moving northwards following flash floods in London Heavy rain is set to hit northern areas of England on Tuesday following flash flooding in the south overnight.







Ticket sold in California wins 699.8m Powerball jackpot After nearly four months without a winner, a single ticket sold in California has won the Powerball jackpot worth $699.8m (514m), officials have said.







UK service sector hikes prices and sees supply chain hit to new orders UK service sector firms hiked prices at a record pace last month as they battled against surging cost pressures and a slump in new orders due to supply and staff...







Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine effectiveness wanes to 47% against COVID-19 infection after six months Two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine are 90% effective against COVID-19 hospitalisation for at least six months but only 47% effective against infection...







Student completes London Marathon with man who saved her life The medical student and physiotherapist ran the marathon in support of Anthony Nolan.







Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole faces first caucus meeting after election loss Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole will face his caucus today for the first time since his party's disappointing election defeat two weeks ago.







SIU investigating the death of a man at Devil's Punchbowl in Hamilton Ontario's police watchdog is investigating the death of a man at Hamilton's Devil's Punchbowl conservation area Monday afternoon.







Get back to the office to stop colleagues gossiping about you, PM tells workers Boris Johnson has said young people should get back to the office to stop their colleagues gossiping about them.







Three men arrested in Lyra McKee murder probe A further three men have been arrested by detectives investigating the murder of journalist Lyra McKee.







Johnson defends Universal Credit cut, arguing that firms should pay higher wages Boris Johnson has defended the 20 a week cut to Universal Credit, arguing that the taxpayer should not subsidise low wages through the benefits system.



Brick and mortar stores have been suffering for some time now, leading to increasing store closings around the country. This year, will likely be no exception according to Retail Dive.

Using information from CreditRiskMonitor, which estimates the risk of a company going bankrupt within 12 months, the site predicted which stores are most likely to go bankrupt in 2018.RIDGEFIELD  The Board of Education announced that it will first look for an interim superintendent before beginning the process of finding a permanent replacement for Superintendent Karen Baldwin, whose resignation will become official on June 30.

Acting Superintendent Robert Miller, also the districts technology and operations director, was appointed to serve until June 30 last month when resignation negotiations began with Baldwin. The school board then formed a superintendent search committee, which includes all board members.SpaceX will make a massive network of literally thousands of low earth orbit satellites to provide high-bandwidth, low-cost internet connection to every square foot of planet earth. (This is at 9:38 to 10:37 in the TED talk video)

Gwynne Shotwell: We actually dont chat very much about this particular project, not because were hiding anything, but this is probably one of the most challenging if not the most challenging project weve undertaken. No one has been successful deploying a huge constellation for internet broadband, or basically for satellite internet, and I dont think physics is the difficulty here. I think we can come up with the right technology solution, but we need to make a business out of it, and itll cost the company about 10 billion dollars or more to deploy this system. And so were marching steadily along but were certainly not claiming victory yet.

Theres no question itll change the world.

BFR can take the satellites that were currently taking to orbit to many orbits. It allows for even a new class of satellites to be delivered to orbit. Basically, the width, the diameter of the fairing is eight meters, so you can think about what giant telescopes you can put in that fairing, in that cargo bay, and see really incredible things and discover incredible things in space. But then there are some residual capabilities that we have out of BFR as well.



space travel for earthlings. I cant wait for this residual capability. Basically, what were going to do is were going to fly BFR like an aircraft and do point-to-point travel on earth, so you can take off from New York City or Vancouver and fly halfway across the globe. Youll be on the BFR for roughly half an hour or 40 minutes, and the longest part  yeah, its so awesome.

The longest part of that flight is actually the boat out and back.

The first BFR is going to have roughly a hundred passengers. And lets talk a little bit about the business. Everyone thinks rockets are really expensive, and to a large degree they are, and how could we possibly compete with airline tickets here? But if you think about it, if I can do this trip in half an hour to an hour, I can do dozens of these a day, right? And yet, a long-haul aircraft can only make one of those flights a day. So even if my rocket was slightly more expensive and the fuel is a little bit more expensive, I can run 10x at least what theyre running in a day, and really make the revenue that I need to out of that system.

So within 10 years, an economy price ticket, or, like, a couple thousand dollars per person to fly New York to Shanghai.

But basically, youre going to lift off from a pad, youve got a booster as well as the BFS, the Big Falcon Spaceship. Its going to take off. The booster is going to drop the spaceship off in orbit, low earth orbit, and then return just like were returning boosters right now. So it sounds incredible, but were working on the pieces, and you can see us achieve these pieces. So booster comes back. The new thing here is that were going to actually land on the pad that we launched from. Currently, we land on a separate pad, or we land out on a boat. Fast, quick connect. You take a cargo ship full of fuel, or a fuel depot, put it on that booster, get that in orbit, do a docking maneuver, refuel the spaceship, and head on to your destination, and this one is Mars.

CA: So, like, a hundred people go to Mars at one time, taking, what, six months? Two months?

GS: It ends up depending on how big the rocket is. I think this first version, and well continue to make even bigger BFRs, I think its a three-month trip. Right now, the average is six to eight, but were going to try to do it faster.

CA: When do you believe SpaceX will land the first human on Mars?

GS: Its a very similar time frame from the point-to-point. Its the same capability. It will be within a decade  not this decade.

[SpaceX] got to construct the vehicle design[s] from, really, a clean sheet of paper, and we got to make decisions that we wanted to make. The tank architecture  its a common dome design. Basically its like two beer cans stacked together, one full of liquid oxygen, one full of RP, and that basically saved weight. It allowed us to basically take more payload for the same design. One of the other elements of the vehicle that were flying right now is we do use densified liquid oxygen and densified RP, so its ultracold, and it allows you to pack more propellent into the vehicle. It is done elsewhere, probably not to the degree that we do it, but it adds a lot of margin to the vehicle, which obviously adds reliability.

The launch escape system for the SpaceX Dragon is pretty unique. Its an integrated launch escape system. Its basically a pusher, so the propellant system and the thrusters are integrated into the capsule, and so if it detects a rocket problem, it pushes the capsule away. Capsule safety systems in the past have been like tractor pullers, and the reason we didnt want to do that is that puller needs to come off before you can safely reenter that capsule, so we wanted to eliminate, in design, that possibility of failure.Global business value derived from artificial intelligence (AI) is projected to total $1.2 trillion in 2018, an increase of 70 percent from 2017, according to Gartner, Inc. AI-derived business value is forecast to reach $3.9 trillion in 2022.

The Gartner AI-derived business value forecast assesses the total business value of AI across all the enterprise vertical sectors covered by Gartner. There are three different sources of AI business value: customer experience, new revenue, and cost reduction.

* Customer experience: The positive or negative effects on indirect cost. Customer experience is a necessary precondition for widespread adoption of AI technology to both unlock its full potential and enable value.

* New revenue: Increasing sales of existing products and services, and/or creating new product or service opportunity beyond the existing situation.

* Cost reduction: Reduced costs incurred in producing and delivering those new or existing products and services.

AI promises to be the most disruptive class of technologies during the next 10 years due to advances in computational power, volume, velocity and variety of data, as well as advances in deep neural networks (DNNs), said John-David Lovelock, research vice president at Gartner. One of the biggest aggregate sources for AI-enhanced products and services acquired by enterprises between 2017 and 2022 will be niche solutions that address one need very well. Business executives will drive investment in these products, sourced from thousands of narrowly focused, specialist suppliers with specific AI-enhanced applications.

In the early years of AI, customer experience (CX) is the primary source of derived business value, as organizations see value in using AI techniques to improve every customer interaction, with the goal of increasing customer growth and retention. CX is followed closely by cost reduction, as organizations look for ways to use AI to increase process efficiency to improve decision making and automate more tasks, said Mr. Lovelock. However, in 2021, new revenue will become the dominant source, as companies uncover business value in using AI to increase sales of existing products and services, as well as to discover opportunities for new products and services. Thus, in the long run, the business value of AI will be about new revenue possibilities.

Breaking out the global business value derived by AI type, decision support/augmentation (such as DNNs) will represent 36 percent of the global AI-derived business value in 2018. By 2022, decision support/augmentation will have surpassed all other types of AI initiatives to account for 44 percent of global AI-derived business value.

DNNs allow organizations to perform data mining and pattern recognition across huge datasets not otherwise readily quantified or classified, creating tools that classify complex inputs that then feed traditional programming systems. This enables algorithms for decision support/augmentation to work directly with information that formerly required a human classifier, said Mr. Lovelock. Such capabilities have a huge impact on the ability of organizations to automate decision and interaction processes. This new level of automation reduces costs and risks, and enables, for example, increased revenue through better microtargeting, segmentation, marketing and selling.

Virtual agents allow corporate organizations to reduce labor costs as they take over simple requests and tasks from a call center, help desk and other service human agents, while handing over the more complex questions to their human counterparts. They can also provide uplift to revenue, as in the case of roboadvisors in financial services or upselling in call centers. As virtual employee assistants, virtual agents can help with calendaring, scheduling and other administrative tasks, freeing up employees time for higher value-add work and/or reducing the need for human assistants. Agents account for 46 percent of the global AI-derived business value in 2018 and 26 percent by 2022, as other AI types mature and contribute to business value.

Decision automation systems use AI to automate tasks or optimize business processes. They are particularly helpful in tasks such as translating voice to text and vice versa, processing handwritten forms or images, and classifying other rich data content not readily accessible to conventional systems. As unstructured data and ambiguity are the staple of the corporate world, decision automation  as it matures  will bring tremendous business value to organizations. For now, decision automation accounts for just 2 percent of the global AI-derived business value in 2018, but it will grow to 16 percent by 2022.

Smart products account for 18 percent of global AI-derived business value in 2018, but will shrink to 14 percent by 2022 as other DNN-based system types mature and overtake smart products in their contribution to business value. Smart products have AI embedded in them, usually in the form of cloud systems that can integrate data about the users preferences from multiple systems and interactions. They learn about their users and their preferences to hyperpersonalize the experience and drive engagement.

Gartner clients can read more in the report Forecast: The Business Value of Artificial Intelligence, Worldwide, 2017-2025. This research is part of the Gartner Special Reports The Future of Work and Talent: Culture, Diversity, Technology and Deliver Artificial Intelligence Business Value.Poor countries tend to have out one-tenth of the crop yield per hectare compared to the yield from rich countries. Farmers in rich countries are more productive than those in poor countries because they use better technology and infrastructure, and are subject to better government policies.

If all the worlds farmers extracted the maximum potential output from their fields, the gap in yields between rich and poor countries would vanish almost entirely.

So what would it take for the developing world to catch up?

1. Improving the mix of crops grown by farmers in poor countries, the authors reckon, would shrink the productivity gap by 20%.

2. Improving efficiencyby adopting modern technologies and eliminating wasteful government policies, for examplewould cover the remaining 80%.

Such dramatic improvements have already been achieved in many places: according to the World Bank, todays cereal-crop yields in lower-middle-income countries are three times higher than their historical level.

If farming practices were the same around the world then land quality would not be a constraint on farmers in poor countries. Instead we trace the problem to what crops are produced, where they are produced within the country, and most importantly how efficiently they are produced.

The analysis illustrates that there are large gaps between actual and potential yields in poor countries, much larger than in rich countries. The implication is that using existing technologies and improving allocations can increase agricultural productivity by 5-fold. These seem like sizeable unrealized gains in productivity. One possibility is that the technologies agronomists treat as easily localized (in the calculation of potential yields) cannot be profitably implemented everywhere in the developing world. The other possibility is that there are constraints that prevent the adoption of modern technologies and frictions that prevent markets from efficiently allocating resources in developing countries. More work is needed to understand the importance of each one of these explanations. While a large body of recent work has been studying the constraints and frictions that impact agricultural productivity, with mounting evidence of their importance, much less work has

been done on understanding the localization of agricultural technologies in developing countries.

Working Paper  Geography and Agricultural Productivity: Cross-Country Evidence from Micro Plot-Level Data, by Tasso Adamopoulos, Diego Restuccia, NBER Working Paper No. 24532, Issued in April 2018 (44 pages)

Why is agricultural productivity so low in poor countries relative to the rest of the world? Is it due to geography or constrained economic choices? We assess the quantitative role of geography and land quality for agricultural productivity differences across countries using high-resolution micro-geography data and a spatial accounting framework. Our rich spatial data provide in each cell of land covering the entire globe actual yields of cultivated crops and potential yields for 18 crops, which measure the maximum attainable output for each crop given soil quality, climate conditions, terrain topography, and a level of cultivation inputs. While there is considerable heterogeneity in land quality across space, even within narrow geographic regions, we find that low agricultural productivity in poor countries is not due to poor land endowments. If countries produced current crops in each cell according to potential yields, the rich-poor agricultural yield gap would virtually disappear, from more than 200 percent to less than 5 percent. We also find evidence of additional productivity gains attainable through the spatial reallocation of production and changes in crop choices.Finding a good doctor is only part of achieving good health. You also need to be vigilant about what you eat, focusing on foods and drinks that fuel a healthy lifestyle, not inhibit it. But, let's be honest, so-called "health food" doesn't have the best reputation when it comes to taste. You want nutritious foods that also please the palate. Here we offer dining locations around the state where the food is both good and good for you. Just remember: You are what you eat.

A post shared by Three Girls Vegan Creamery (@threegirlsvegan) on Aug 27, 2017 at 4:55pm PDT

So big was the buzz behind this maker of nut-derived vegan "cheese" that when it opened a shop in a small plaza in Guilford last summer, people waited for more than an hour to have at the vegan selection. Some of the cheese-but-not-cheese varieties include mozzarella "di Bufala" pearls and nacho cheese sauce, both made from cashews, as well as almond ricotta. Simply put, this is the place for people who love cheese, but can't or won't eat the real thing. Meat lovers, too, likely will find something to their liking, with products such as maple bacon made from coconuts, and smoked pastrami made from beets and mushrooms. Three Girls also offers an array of prepared options such as a meatball grinder, lasagna and biscuits and gravy. In addition to their Guilford space, Three Girls products can also be found at several Connecticut food stores and online. 203-896-0411

New Morning Market, Woodbury

A post shared by New Morning Market (@newmorningmarket1971) on Mar 8, 2018 at 8:53am PST

New Morning Market has been fighting the good-food fight since way back in 1971, long before local and organic was hip. Its current location is a 32,000-square-foot space that serves as an inviting hub of local and sustainable food and culture. The market is also home to The Provender, an award-winning, fresh-food counter, and a full coffee bar that also offers fresh organic juices and smoothies, as well as kombucha tea. A vitality center on the second floor offers yoga classes, hosts special events and provides guests the option of scheduling appointments with a nutritionist, massage therapist and other wellness professionals. 203-263-4868

Bloodroot, Bridgeport

Ned Gerard

Housed in a converted machine shop on the water in Bridgeport, this is a classic Connecticut restaurant with a healthy vibe all its own. Billed as a feminist vegetarian restaurant, Bloodroot has no waitstaff; everyone orders at the counter and clears their own tables. The ultra-political spot is also a bookstore, but its the wide variety of salads and nut-and-seed meat substitutes that make this a must-try for the health conscious. Eating vegetarian food isnt always healthier, but eating more vegetables generally is. 203-576-9168

A post shared by Nature's Temptations (@naturestempt) on Dec 14, 2017 at 7:01am PST

On a wooden sign, just inside the door at Natures Temptation, the words local, sustainable and organic are written in large, bold letters. These words act as the mantra for the natural grocery store, deli and juice bar. In the shop youll find items such as 100-percent grass-fed beef, local milk and a variety of herbs, spices, oils and vinegar all unrefined and organic. These ingredients also power the full-service deli and the juice and smoothie bar. Theres even a naturopathic doctor on staff to help answer nutrition questions customers might have. 203-438-5443

Photo courtesy of Jeff Skerik

Nestled in the crook of East Main and Chestnut streets, G-Zen is a vegan beacon for health-focused and environmentally friendly folks with a taste for award-winning fine dining. But the philosophy of husband-and-wife chefs and owners Mark Shadle and Ami Beach Shadle is that their job isnt over when the meal is finished. Sustainability is of the utmost importance. Their solar-powered family farm in Durham provides organic ingredients for the restaurant and their Gmonkey food truck, and the waste material becomes compost for the next crops. The menu changes daily, but the mission remains the same. 203-208-0443

Catch a Healthy Habit Cafe, Fairfield

Ned Gerard

Specializing in raw (rawking) foods, Catch a Healthy Habit offers fruit- and vegetable-forward dishes with an array of vegetarian and gluten-free options. Superfoods  nutrient-rich foods that are particularly good for us  power many of the smoothies and dishes. Regardless of whether health is your main concern when deciding where to eat, its hard not to have your stomach rumble when you see descriptions of foods such as chia and chocolate pudding, carrot ginger soup and the popular nut-and-seed veggie burger. 203-292-8190

Heirloom Food Company, Danielson

A post shared by Heirloom Food Co (@heirloomfoodco) on Mar 8, 2018 at 8:19am PST

One way to tell if an eatery serves up healthy fare: food with vibrant color. And no, were not talking about the unnatural orange of cheese snacks. One look at the Instagram page of this spot in Connecticuts rural East provides a kaleidoscope of colors. While many dishes at Heirloom are vegetarian or vegan, its this organic cafe and juice bars dedication to local sourcing that should appeal to all tastes. With a chalkboard menu and a website that list the ingredient-supplying local farms, Heirloom offers an array of mostly vegan and gluten-free items (aside from tuna and turkey options). Standouts include the Beta Burger, featuring a patty of lentils, beets, brown rice and almonds, and the Avocado Detox salad with mixed greens, chopped apples and sliced avocado topped with sesame seeds, walnuts, cranberries and lemon juice. 860-7793373

Claires Corner Copia, New Haven

Catherine Avalone

Another institution on this list, Claires has been serving up vegetarian and vegan food to Yale kids and other New Haven residents for 40 years. Claires offers vegetarian dishes with a sort of Tex-Mex twist, from burritos to quesadillas. Tofu abounds. Its also located on one of the nicest street corners in New Haven, diagonally across from the Green at the corner of Chapel and College streets. Big windows offer great people-watching opportunities. 203-562-3888

ION Restaurant, Middletown

Catherine Avalone

Its Only Natural has been on Middletowns Main Street for over a generation, serving up vegetarian and vegan cuisine long before it was cool or in vogue. Perhaps thanks to cohort after cohort of environmentally conscious and hip kids up the hill at Wesleyan, ION has grown and expanded over the years, and is now affiliated with a natural foods grocery store, also on Main Street. A lot of vegetarian and vegan places have fairly limited offerings  some combination of rice, beans and lentils to supplement the veggies and make the dish something other than a salad. But IONs menu is full of adventurous concoctions. Theyve been doing it for some 30 years, so you can bet they have figured out how to keep people coming back. 860-346-9210

The Sweet Beet, Granby

A post shared by @thesweetbeet on Apr 5, 2018 at 7:26am PDT

While not every item on the menu here contains beets, everything at The Sweet Beet is vegan and gluten free. And those with food allergies will be happy to know that neither soy nor peanuts are used. Its all part of a clean eating philosophy that has gained a loyal following at this cafe and bakery near the Massachusetts line. Primarily a takeout spot with a cooler of prepared foods, The Sweet Beet offers a few sandwich options (No Egg Salad with chickpeas, onions, dill and seasonings), made-to-order salads (The Sweet Beet Salad with greens, carrot, shredded beet, cucumber, tomato, pea shoots and house-made shallot vinaigrette), soups such as bean chili, several creative juices (Beetlejuice with beet, cucumber, apple and ginger), and baked goods such as mini cupcakes. 860-653-2338

This article appeared in the April 2018 issue of Connecticut Magazine.After a crash that state police called chilling, the agency has issued a reminder about highway safety.

Shortly after midnight on Tuesday, state police Troop G in Bridgeport and West Haven fire units and emergency medical services responded to a crash on Interstate 95 northbound near exit 43 in West Haven.

The call reported a crash involving two tractor trailers. But when troopers arrived at the scene, they found a more serious crash and closed the highway.

The crash involved four tractor trailers and a Toyota Corolla.

Troopers, firefighters and EMS immediately checked on the crash victims and, despite what you see in the photos, thankfully there were no fatalities, state police said.

Two operators suffered serious injuries, but were still able to recount the crash to troopers.

State police said three of the tractor trailers and the Toyota were traveling in the right lane when traffic started to slow for a construction zone ahead. The four vehicles safely slowed, state police said.

The fourth TT (tractor trailer) did not slow down in time and struck the Toyota from behind, pushing it into the TT in front of it, state police said. The Toyota became sandwiched between the two TTs before being dislodged by the force of impact.

Three of the tractor trailers and the Toyota were heavily damaged. The tractor trailer driver at fault was issued an infraction for traveling too fast for conditions and failure to maintain a reasonable distance/following too closely.

After this crash, state police provided drivers some tips about being a safe driver and what to do if they end up in an accident.

State police said drivers should always pay attention to highway signs, reduce speed when approaching construction zones or first responders working, keep a safe distance for other vehicles, check traffic in all mirrors and give full attention to the road.

Anyone who gets in a crash should call 911 and give the dispatcher the location and reason for the call, move the vehicle to the right shoulder or right side of the road if it can safely be done and stay inside the vehicle while waiting for first responders.Bridgeport isn't often thought of as the safest place in Connecticut, but according to ADT, University of Bridgeport is the safest college campus in the state.

The home security company conducted a study of campuses across the country with at least 1,000 enrolled students and compared their Campus Safety data from the U.S. Department of Education and FBI crime data.(Want to get The Week in Good News by email? Sign up here.)

Sometimes it seems as if were living under a constant barrage of heavy news. But it isnt all bad out there. This feature is meant to send you into the weekend with a smile, or at least a lighter heart.

Here are seven great things we wrote about this week:

Have you met James? James saved a lot of lives.

That was how a trauma surgeon introduced James Shaw Jr., who was visiting two survivors of the Sunday morning attack. He spoke quietly to each of them for a few minutes, deflecting any talk of his bravery.

I acted in a blink of a second, he said in an interview on Monday. When he reloaded his clip, that felt like 30 minutes. I looked at him, and he wasnt looking at me. He just had the barrel down. It was like, Do it now. Go now. I just took off.

Mr. Shaw suffered a graze from a gunshot and a second-degree burn on his right hand when he grabbed the barrel of the rifle. He threw the weapon out of reach after a scuffle with the gunman.Tom Brokaw, the longtime NBC News anchor, issued a pointed rebuke on Friday to a former colleague who has accused him of groping and harassing her during the 1990s, describing himself as angry, hurt and unmoored from what I thought would be the final passage of my life and career.

In a lengthy email message  written, by his account, at 4 a.m.  Mr. Brokaw angrily rejected the claims of the woman, Linda Vester, a former correspondent at NBC News and Fox News. I was ambushed and then perp walked across the pages of The Washington Post and Variety, Mr. Brokaw wrote, referring to the news organizations that on Thursday night published Ms. Vesters account.

He added, of his accuser, Hard to believe it wasnt much more Look At Me than Me:Too.

In the news reports, Ms. Vester described Mr. Brokaw tickling her in a conference room, asking her to drinks and, on two occasions in New York and London, inviting himself to her hotel room. There, she said, he grabbed her and tried to force her to kiss him.

She said that the encounters had left her feeling humiliated and isolated, and that she had been scared to report Mr. Brokaws behavior, fearful it could wreck her career. At the time, Ms. Vester was among the youngest correspondents at NBC News, and Mr. Brokaw, who has been married since 1962, was the most powerful figure in the news division.Genetic testing services have become enormously popular with people looking for long-lost relatives or clues to hereditary diseases. Most never imagined that one day intimate pieces of their DNA could be mined to assist police detectives in criminal cases.

Even as scientific experts applauded this weeks arrest of the Golden State Killer suspect, Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, some expressed unease on Friday at reports that detectives in California had used a public genealogy database to identify him. Privacy and ethical issues glossed over in the publics rush to embrace DNA databases are now glaringly apparent, they said.

This is really tough, said Malia Fullerton, an ethicist at the University of Washington who studies DNA forensics. He was a horrible man and it is good that he was identified, but does the end justify the means?

Coming so quickly on the heels of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which Facebook data on more than 70 million users was shared without their permission, it is beginning to dawn on consumers that even their most intimate digital data  their genetic profiles  may be passed around in ways they never intended.Mr. Miltenberg suggested that Dr. Jaworski was being targeted because the cultural leftists are intolerant of traditional morality. The professor had intended to teach a course on sexuality and morality from a traditionalist perspective, his lawyer said.

We are confident that upon review, the allegations will be determined to have been unfounded, Mr. Miltenberg said.

Bob Howe, a spokesman for Fordham, said the university could not comment on any actions against Dr. Jaworski or the disciplinary proceedings against the students. I cant address the specifics directly, but I can say that we took and are taking appropriate action in these cases, he said.

Kent Y. Hirozawa, a former member of the National Labor Relations Board and the lawyer representing Ms. Norman and Ms. Putnam, said the womens experience speaks to a dangerous pressure to keep quiet about potential abuse. Former employers called as a reference might not share their concerns for fear of being sued. Co-workers might keep quiet for fear of opening themselves up to threats or legal action. And predators are able to continue, unimpeded.

The conspiracy of silence about sexual abuse deprives future victims of the opportunity to protect themselves, Mr. Hirozawa said. What these students did to try to break the cycle was generous and courageous, and what they told their fellow students was true. It is ironic that Fordham should punish them for dishonesty. The only dishonesty here is Fordhams attempt to silence them and hide the truth.

Ms. Norman, a philosophy major, had been a student in Dr. Jaworskis Philosophy of Human Nature class as a freshman, and she said first heard about the allegations against him only after it was too late to drop the class. She said she never had a personal experience in class that made her uncomfortable, but she said she went out of her way to keep her distance from him. She said that several of the students in the two classes she and Ms. Putnam visited were freshman and transfer students, unlikely to have heard about the allegations against Dr. Jaworski.

Ms. Norman and Ms. Putnam visited one class together, and Ms. Putnam went to another class by herself. Ivoryona Williams, a sophomore, was in the class Ms. Putnam visited. She said that after she heard what Ms. Putnam had to say, she dropped the class.In recent years, the State Senate has been at the center of an epic  and often convoluted  struggle between Democrats and Republicans.

With the Assembly and governors office in Democratic hands, the Senate has been under Republican control, as a result of a power-sharing arrangement between eight breakaway Democrats, known as the Independent Democratic Conference, and the Republicans. A ninth Democratic senator, Simcha Felder of Brooklyn, also caucused with Republicans.

But with Cynthia Nixons energetic primary challenge of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, and the emergence of anti-Trump activists targeting state and local politicians in New York, the pressure had mounted on the I.D.C. to return to the mainstream Democrats. In early April, Mr. Cuomo helped broker a reconciliation between the two factions.

On Tuesday, Democrats in New York won special elections for two vacated Senate seats, giving them, in theory, a one-vote majority in the 63-seat body. But hours before polls closed that day, Mr. Felder declared that he was going to continue to sit with the Republicans  keeping that party in power.A state judge has ordered a new parole hearing for Judith Clark, a former left-wing militant who took part in a 1981 armored car robbery that left three dead, saying the State Board of Paroles decision last year to deny her parole was arbitrary and capricious.

The judge, John J. Kelley of State Supreme Court in Manhattan, said the three-member board had focused too heavily on the severity of the crime and had given too little weight to Ms. Clarks long record of good works in prison as well as to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomos decision in December 2016 to reduce her sentence. The judge ordered that a new parole hearing be held within 60 days.

Ms. Clark has undergone a remarkable transformation over the three decades during which she has been incarcerated, Justice Kelley wrote in a decision made public on Friday. Ms. Clark has taken responsibility for her actions, expressed remorse and tried to improve the lives of her fellow prisoners, as well as many others.

Ms. Clark, 68, drove a getaway car during the attempted robbery of a Brinks armored car in Rockland County in 1981. The heist was part of a scheme by the May 19th Communist movement and a revolutionary black group to steal $1.6 million for financing a guerrilla uprising. Two police officers and a security guard were shot and killed during the robbery.In an article about the collective sentiment among Special Forces soldiers in 1969, Henry Kamm of The New York Times wrote: The feeling is widespread that the Army hypocritically turned against the men actually involved in the death, which they think was ordered by the C.I.A., and charged them with murder, and that Colonel Rheault then said that actions taken by his men were his responsibility and challenged the Army to charge him with them.

Col. Alexander Lemberes, who was not a Green Beret or a paratrooper, was appointed to replace Colonel Rheault as the units commander, but his brief tenure did little to bolster morale.

That began to change, however, after Colonel Lemberes broke a bone in a parachute jump and was replaced by General Healy, who was a colonel at the time.

Col. Jack Tobin, who at the time was a Special Forces sergeant in the coastal city of Nha Trang in South Vietnam, said in a telephone interview on Friday that he had known almost immediately that General Healy would be a good leader for the Green Berets in Vietnam.

He said, Im giving you a direct order: You are not allowed to die,  Colonel Tobin recalled. And one of the guys said, What if we die? And he said, Then Ill be very disappointed in you. 

General Healy made sure his soldiers were adequately supplied and supported by higher-ups in Saigon, and even though Special Forces work was deadly by definition, he did all he could to protect his troops, Colonel Tobin said. As a result, he said, the Green Berets had more success.

He made us so invaluable to Abrams that Abrams had to back off, he said.

General Healy commanded Special Forces for nearly 20 months, receiving a Distinguished Service Medal. He spent some months as an assistant division commander with the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C., before General Abrams asked him to return to Vietnam once again. He stayed until American combat forces were ordered out of the country in 1973.Four hours of movies, from 1 to 5, he said, and this went on for years. We saw all the films considered today to be the great classics of the time.

Those were mostly Hollywood films  Laurel and Hardy, Charlie Chaplin  and infected young Nelson with the movie bug. In high school he also became sensitized to Brazils economic troubles, and in 1945 he joined the Brazilian Communist Party. He also began reading Brazilian writers like Jorge Amado and Mr. Ramos, whose novel Vidas Secas (Barren Lives), about a family in Brazils poverty-stricken northeast, he would adapt into a movie in 1963.

Mr. dos Santos was headed for a career in law but instead went to Paris to study film. His parents, he said, never got over the switch.

Even when I had decided to be a filmmaker my father would ask me when I was going to get a real job, he recalled in a 1996 interview with The Globe and Mail in Canada.

He worked as an assistant director on several films before making Rio 40 Graus on a slim budget.

He and other Cinema Novo directors were influenced by Italian neorealism and the French New Wave. Their films emphasized folklore and gritty, naturalistic stories  Rio 40 Graus was shot in a documentary style  and eschewed elaborate sets in favor of hand-held cameras, natural lighting and real landscapes. Another Cinema Novo director, Glauber Rocha, called it a cinema of hunger for its focus on poverty and hardship.

The military coup in Brazil in 1964 proved crippling for Cinema Novo, with its populist and Marxist leanings.

My films were prohibited by the military because they showed the reality of Brazil, Mr. dos Santos said. But he kept making movies by changing his style.Phil Hoff forever changed the state of Vermont, said Stephen C. Terry, a former journalist who, with Anthony Marro and Samuel B. Hand, wrote the biography Philip Hoff: How Red Turned Blue in the Green Mountain State (2011). His influence in the 1960s has molded and created the Vermont many of us know today.

The governors office has largely alternated between Democratic and Republican governors since Mr. Hoff was elected.

His breaking of the Republican lock on Vermont politics also paved the way for the election of his protege Patrick J. Leahy to the United States Senate, the states first Democrat to win a seat in that chamber.

Mr. Leahy had joined Mr. Hoffs Burlington law firm after graduating from law school in 1964. Two years later, Mr. Hoff appointed him states attorney for northern Chittenden County, which embraces Burlington. He held the post for eight years until his election to the Senate in 1974.

Philip Henderson Hoff was born on June 29, 1924, in Turners Falls, Mass. He took time off from his studies at Williams College to serve in the Navy during World War II and returned to Williams after the war. After graduating, he went on to law school at Cornell University. He moved to Burlington in 1951.

Mr. Hoff first ran for office in 1958, for a seat on the Burlington Board of Aldermen. He was defeated. Two years later, he was elected to the Vermont House after running what Mr. Terry called a minimalist campaign. He had no campaign literature of his own and instead handed out brochures promoting the presidential candidacy of Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts.

Mr. Hoff won the race for governor in 1962 after one term in the Legislature.

A handsome and energetic campaigner, Hoff found himself being compared to John Kennedy and did nothing to discourage the comparison, his biographers wrote.The current problems for the Windrush-era migrants began in 2012 when the government, with Theresa May as home secretary, cracked down on illegal immigrants, making it necessary for them to document their right to government benefits, including health services. Many people born in Caribbean countries arrived as children on their parents passports and had never applied for their own travel or immigration documents; many others took their status for granted.

The Home Office did not keep records that would have confirmed their status, and a Home Office whistle-blower revealed that thousands of landing cards from the 1950s and 60s, which would have confirmed the migrants arrival dates, had been destroyed during a move. As The Guardian chronicled in a series of articles, the callousness of the bureaucracy led many to be threatened with deportation, denied health services, fired or left homeless.

Mrs. May, now Britains prime minister, recently apologized to the many thousands of people affected, but she deserves little credit. As home secretary she set the stage for the scandal by pledging to create a really hostile environment for illegal immigrants, and it was only when public outrage soared, and leaders of former British colonies had gathered in London for a Commonwealth meeting, that she said, We are genuinely sorry.

The British government has now set up a special team to urgently affirm the legal rights of these migrants and reimburse them for their losses. That is the least it should do.

Nothing can really compensate them for the hell many went through. Nor do the apology or belated fixes change the fact that this was due to the governments hostility to immigrants, and especially immigrants of color. The same official hostility can be found in many parts of Europe toward Middle Eastern refugees and in the Trump administrations policy toward immigrants from Central America.Even President Trump was caught up in the euphoria. KOREAN WAR TO END! he exultantly tweeted. The United States, and all of its GREAT people, should be very proud of what is now taking place in Korea!

Yes, Mr. Kim is still a murderous ruler of a brutally isolated state who will do anything to retain absolute control, and most experts suspect that, in the end, nothing will change since he will not surrender a lever his family spent years and millions of dollars developing.

The denuclearization he has in mind is progressive and synchronous, which seems to mean it will move forward in partial steps, in exchange for economic benefits and security guarantees, and that the United States would withdraw its nuclear umbrella from South Korea. Those would be major challenges to deal with in negotiations and not at all what the Trump administration has in mind.

At the same time, Mr. Kim is evidently serious about trying to raise the living standards of his impoverished country and is prepared to use his nuclear weapons as barter to lift onerous economic sanctions and obtain American assurances that would allow his regime to continue.

Not long before he was brought in as the new national security adviser, John Bolton, told an interviewer that a Trump-Kim summit meeting would inevitably fail, which, he said, would clear the way to the next phase  presumably a pre-emptive strike.Representative Mark Walker, a conservative Republican who is co-chairman of the Congressional Prayer Caucus, stirred up a squall when he suggested the next chaplain should be a family man, with a wife and adult children. Clearly, thats going to eliminate any new Jesuits. (Asked for comment, Walkers office said he was not excluding any faith or denomination.)

House members staged a very short uprising on Friday, with a passel of Democrats and a couple of Republicans calling for an investigation. Those of you who are aware of the way the House of Representatives functions will not be stunned to hear that the motion was rather quickly snuffed out by a mostly party-line vote.

Representative Connolly is now going around quoting Henry II, who, legend tells us, asked Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest? just before some of his loyal soldiers ran off and murdered the politically difficult archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket. Henry II is possibly the most often cited man in Washington these days  James Comey said that line was just what he thought of when Donald Trump asked him to do something about that irritating Michael Flynn investigation.

It cannot possibly be a good sign that an ancient invitation to homicide is coming up so frequently. But you have to admit this time the quote works pretty well, what with the actual priest and all.

Ryan, whos been vague about his motives, apparently did complain about the tax prayer. (Conroy says he told him, Padre, you just got to stay out of politics.) But that was last year. Why do you think this is all happening now, when the 115th Congress is nearly over?

Possibly theres a growing Republican hysteria around that tax bill. They were so proud of it, and its virtually the only thing Republicans have accomplished. Now, theyre going back to their districts to run for re-election and discovering that most voters are unenthralled.Shakespeare worried  or pretended to worry  about whether the wooden O of the Globe Theater could house a pivotal battle. The director Robert OHara has only 12 square feet of carpet to work with in his swift, sometimes stumbling production of Henry V for the Public Theaters Mobile Unit.

The Mobile Unit travels around to underserved populations, performing for the homeless, the elderly, the incarcerated, before rolling back up to the Public Theater. If the history play Henry V hasnt insinuated itself into popular culture as easily as some plays  hi, Hamlet!  it lends itself to carting around, however small the carpet swatch. Its a brisk and straightforward history play with a plot that doesnt do the twist. Following the Henry IV plays, it describes Henrys rash but ultimately successful invasion of France. Though the play isnt as on-the-nose jingoistic as some interpretations insist, its still a provocative choice in a volatile political moment.

Well, Mr. OHara, who is also a playwright (Bootycandy, Barbecue), doesnt mind provoking, but while he complicates the script in several ways, it takes a long time to figure out what he wants to do with it. The nine actors speak the prologue as a chorus, then spend the next 100 minutes running from one side of the room to the other, tugging on red accessories when theyre playing the English and blue ones for the French. (Only a few costume pieces and props are used, and theres no set except for that carpet and a throne.)

Having the same actors play opposing sides undercuts our desire to cheer for the English, subverting the plays nationalism. If the exaggerated accents are a privilege of the French roles, almost all the parts are played as caricature. The verse is usually clear  sometimes those snooty accents muddy it  but theres not much interiority on display. Color-coding aside, it can be tough to suss out whos who. An exception is Patrice Johnsons shade-throwing, scarf-wielding Mountjoy.Armed with two rifles, a handgun and ample ammunition, John Hubert Highnote left his home in northern Florida on April 19 with the ability and apparent intent to kill people, Sheriff Bobby Schultz of Gilchrist County said on Friday.

But the sheriff said that no clear motive had been established as to why Mr. Highnote  a bearded, balding 59-year-old described by the few who knew him as a loner and a recluse  walked into a Chinese restaurant in nearby Trenton, Fla., that day, fatally shot two deputies who were having lunch, and then went out to his car and killed himself.

To date, no clear motive has been established, Sheriff Schultz said at an emotional news conference on Friday morning in which he praised the two deputies  Sgt. Noel Ramirez, 29, and Deputy Taylor Lindsey, 25  and called Mr. Highnote a coward. The violence, the sheriff added, will never be explained.The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced bipartisan legislation on Thursday that would protect special counsels, like Robert S. Mueller III, who is leading the Russia investigation. And while Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, has said he will not allow the bill to reach the floor for a vote, the bipartisan support in the committee sends a warning message to Mr. Trump about the consequences of firing Mr. Mueller.

It was also revealed Friday that the Russian lawyer who met with Trump campaign officials in Trump Tower in June 2016 has recanted her earlier denials of Russian government ties and admitted that she was a source of information for a top Kremlin official. The revelation came hours before Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee announced they had found no evidence that the Trump campaign aided Russias meddling in the 2016 election.

Rudolph W. Giuliani, the latest high-profile addition to the presidents legal team, is said to be working to reopen negotiations on a possible interview between the president and the special counsel.

Mr. Trump continued to distance himself from Michael D. Cohen, his personal lawyer who is under investigation from the Justice Department. Attorney General Jeff Sessions also declined to say whether he had recused himself from the inquiry into Mr. Cohen, given his recusal from the special counsels investigation. He also declined to answer when asked if he would quit if Rod J. Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, was fired.

Additional ReadingRaj Shah, a deputy White House press secretary, said Friday that after Mr. Testers accusations, officials searched all of the government databases that contain records of accidents involving government vehicles, including at the General Services Administration. He called it a comprehensive search for any crashes involving Dr. Jackson and a government vehicle.

Mr. Shah said that the search revealed three episodes, none of which resembled the crash described by Mr. Tester.

In one episode, Mr. Shah said that Dr. Jackson was rear-ended, resulting in a fender bender. In another, a bus sideswiped a side mirror on Dr. Jacksons car, according to Mr. Shah. The third case was an episode of road rage, Mr. Shah said, in which another person punched through a window on Dr. Jacksons car.

None sounded like the accusation contained in the document distributed by Mr. Tester: At a Secret Service going-away party, Jackson got drunk and wrecked a government vehicle. That allegation was widely reported by news organizations at the time as lawmakers from both parties expressed concern and indefinitely delayed Dr. Jacksons confirmation hearing.

A spokeswoman for Mr. Tester declined to comment on Friday night.

It was not clear whether the White Houses records search might have missed an episode like the one on Mr. Testers list of accusations, or if such an episode might have gone unreported. But White House officials said it would be inconceivable for serious damage to a government vehicle to escape notice and not be recorded.A federal judge in California on Friday ordered a three-month delay in the lawsuit brought by the pornographic film star Stephanie Clifford against President Trump, citing what he called the likelihood that Michael D. Cohen, Mr. Trumps longtime personal lawyer, will be indicted.

In granting a defense request for the postponement, the judge, S. James Otero of United States District Court in Los Angeles, sided with the presidents legal team that the unusual circumstances of the case warranted the stay of action. Judge Otero acknowledged in his order that complications might arise from an overlap with a criminal investigation into Mr. Cohen.

This is no simple criminal investigation, Judge Otero wrote. It is an investigation into the personal attorney of a sitting president regarding documents that might be subject to the attorney-client privilege. Whether or not an indictment is forthcoming, and the court thinks it likely based on these facts alone, these unique circumstances counsel in favor of stay.

On Wednesday, Mr. Cohen, whose New York office, apartment and hotel room were raided this month by the F.B.I., invoked his Fifth Amendment rights in Ms. Cliffords lawsuit, citing the ongoing criminal investigation in New York.HOUSTON  A federal appeals court upheld Texas voter identification law on Friday, saying that it does not discriminate against black and Hispanic voters.

The decision by a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in New Orleans, overturned a lower-court ruling that had struck down the law. It was the latest milestone in a yearslong legal battle over the states efforts to require voters to show government-issued identification in order to cast a ballot.

The panels decision, by a vote of 2 to 1, was the first time a federal court had upheld the law, a revamped version of one of the toughest voter ID restrictions in the country.

The original law, which was known as Senate Bill 14 and was passed by the Republican-dominated Texas Legislature in 2011, required voters to show a drivers license, passport or other government-issued photo ID before casting a ballot. The law took effect in 2013, and it was found by the same federal appellate court to have a discriminatory effect on black and Hispanic voters, many of whom lack government-issued photo ID.TORONTO  Women accounted for eight of the 10 people killed when a van plowed through pedestrians along Torontos main street this week, officials said on Friday, a toll that included two young university students and a 94-year-old woman who had stopped to feed the birds.

The police would not say whether they believed that Alek Minassian, the man identified as the vans driver, had singled out women in Mondays deadly rampage. But Bryan Bott, a Toronto homicide inspector, said investigators were examining a Facebook message hostile to women they said Mr. Minassian had posted minutes before the attack, along with testimony from 170 witnesses and evidence gathered from the suspects home.

In the Facebook post, Mr. Minassian had praised incels, or involuntary celibates, a term used in a Reddit group where men vented frustrations that tipped into misogyny. Mr. Minassians Facebook account has been suspended, but the company confirmed in an email the authenticity of the posting.

Inspector Bott reiterated that the police did not believe that the crime constituted terrorism, nor did they think more than one person was involved.The stand-up comic Michelle Wolf takes on the risky role of hosting the White House Correspondents dinner. And the documentary 78/52 arrives on Hulu.

Whats on TV

WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS DINNER 9:30 p.m. on CNN and C-Span. For the second year in a row, President Trump will skip the annual White House Correspondents Association dinner, a ritual in which a host roasts the president in front of a tough crowd of politicians, celebrities and journalists before the president does the same to the press. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, will represent the administration at the head table instead. Even in Mr. Trumps absence, its unlikely that he will be spared by this years host, the comedian Michelle Wolf. In an interview with The New York Times, Ms. Wolf said she was relieved when she learned that Mr. Trump wouldnt be attending. I thought, oh, thank God, I dont have to hear him eat.

THE BEACH HOUSE (2018) 9 p.m. on Hallmark. With her life in shambles, Cara (Minka Kelly of Friday Night Lights) returns to the Lowcountry of South Carolina to visit her mother (Andie MacDowell) and help repair the family beach house in this adaptation of Mary Alice Monroes novel. This feel-good homecoming story wouldnt be complete without a rekindling of old flames: Chad Michael Murray co-stars as Caras former beau.Two of Britains grocers are in talks to merge, potentially creating the countrys biggest supermarket operator amid continued upheaval in the retail industry.

In a statement on Saturday, the chain J Sainsbury confirmed news reports about its talks to combine with Walmarts Asda supermarket business in Britain, adding that it planned to make an announcement on Monday morning. It is unclear how much of a stake Walmart would retain in a potential transaction.

The move reflects how retailers have been forced to cast about for ways to deal with a rapidly changing retail industry. In Britain alone, chains like the electronics store Maplin and the department store BHS have filed for bankruptcy in recent years.

Amazon remains a huge threat, through both its online operations and its growing brick-and-mortar presence, with Whole Foods Market. And in the grocery sector, low-cost chains like Aldi and Lidl have lured British customers away from traditional competitors like Sainsbury, Tesco, Asda and Morrisons.Musicians and booze have long gone together, and in the last few years acts from the Pogues to Drake have put their names on whiskey bottles. This year, Bob Dylan joins them with his own brand, Heavens Door, beginning with a seven-year-old bourbon, a double-barreled American whiskey and a rye finished in French Vosges oak barrels.

Mr. Dylan and his team dont make the whiskey; they buy it from undisclosed producers and add their own twists before bottling. When I recently sampled the three variations of Heavens Door, I was curious about what, if anything, set it apart from other notable whiskeys. Heres what I found.

Straight Tennessee Bourbon

$49.99

750 milliliters

90 proof

On the nose, this is a classic, no-fuss bourbon, though with more oak-derived notes  think caramel, vanilla and wood char  than youd expect from a seven-year-old. I also smelled sandalwood, leather and linseed oil. And theres a creamy cola note that suggests a good bit of rye in the mash bill. (Mr. Dylan and his team say they use just 70 percent corn, leaving a lot of room for other grains to show their influence.) The palate opens with a soft cocoa and buttercream note, then sharpens toward black pepper and cigar tobacco. The finish is slightly bitter, with the sweet spiciness of an Atomic Fireball. My favorite of the bunch.

Double Barrel Whiskey

$49.99

750 milliliters

100 proof

More restrained than its stable mates, the Double Barrel  in which different whiskeys have been blended and further aged together in another cask  smells of cake batter, fresh berries and childrens cough syrup; as it develops in the glass, its nose turns darker and woodier, with a hint of sweet fortified wine lurking in the background. It tastes surprisingly astringent and medicinal, given the nose, with a thin mouthfeel and notes of tobacco, allspice and wood smoke, resolving in ground pepper. The wood influence on this one is strong, perhaps too much, but it would make a nice substitute for a rye in a manhattan.In late 2015, an unexpected name popped up in the liquor industry press: Bob Dylan.

A trademark application for the term bootleg whiskey had been filed under Mr. Dylans name. Among those who noticed the news was Marc Bushala, 52, a lifelong fan and a liquor entrepreneur whose bourbon brand, Angels Envy, had just been sold for $150 million. Mr. Bushala said he immediately spent weeks obsessing over this concept of what a Dylan whiskey could be.

So he reached out, and after being vetted by Mr. Dylans representatives, Mr. Bushala  who speaks branding jargon like flavor profile and name exploration in an earnest Midwestern accent  talked to Mr. Dylan by phone, and proposed working together on a portfolio of small-batch whiskeys. As he saw it, there was just one problem: The name bootleg, while an apt Dylanological pun, wasnt quite right for a top-shelf liquor. Might Mr. Dylan, Nobel laureate, be open to some name exploration?

It was a little bit daunting, Mr. Bushala said of his pitch.

But it worked. Next month, he and Mr. Dylan will introduce Heavens Door, a collection of three whiskeys  a straight rye, a straight bourbon and a double-barreled whiskey. They are Mr. Dylans entry into the booming celebrity-branded spirits market, the latest career twist for an artist who has spent five decades confounding expectations.

Mr. Dylan is not simply licensing his name. He is a full partner in the business, Heavens Door Spirits, which Mr. Bushala said had raised $35 million from investors.There are bans that are still up at the Supreme Court right now to keep Muslims out of America, she added, as well as efforts to kick patriotic trans people out of the military. And thats coming from the Oval Office right now.

Ms. Reids posts emerged on social media this month via the Twitter user @Jamie_Maz. In December, the same account shared posts in which Ms. Reid taunted Charlie Crist, the Democratic former Florida governor, as a closeted gay man whose heterosexual marriage was a political front. Late last year, she apologized and Mr. Crist responded, Long forgotten, but thank you, Joy. I appreciate you.

Its not the first time Ms. Reids words have stoked controversy.

On Saturday she apologized for some of her past tweets, including ones in which she mocked the conservative commentator Ann Coulter by using transgender stereotypes. Ms. Reid grew up in a household that had conservative values on L.G.B.T. issues, she said, but those tweets were wrong and horrible.

I look back today at some of the ways Ive talked casually about people and gender identity and sexual orientation and I wonder who that even was, she added. But the reality is that like a lot of people in this country, that person was me.

She did not take ownership of the most recently surfaced blog posts, however. In a statement this week to Mediaite, Ms. Reid said that her website had been breached and that the posts were fabricated by hackers intending to defame her.

She said in the statement that an unknown, external party accessed and manipulated material from my now-defunct blog, and that she had retained an online security expert to investigate. I can state unequivocally, she wrote, that the resurfaced posts do not represent the original entries.

Ms. Reids former blog posts were discovered via the Wayback Machine, an archive of more than two decades of web history. On Tuesday, the Internet Archive, which runs the Wayback Machine, responded to Ms. Reids claim that her posts had been hacked, saying in a statement that it had found no evidence of hacking in the archived versions of her site.Allison Delores McCracken and Raed Jarrar were married April 28 at the District of Columbias War Memorial, in Washington. Sarah R. Novick was authorized by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia as a temporary officiant.

The bride and groom both work in the Washington office of Amnesty International, the human rights organization. She is the campaigner for North America, and operates as the liaison between the Amnesty branches in the United States and Canada and the rest of the organization. He works in the American branch of Amnesty as the advocacy director, and as a lobbyist, for Middle East and North African issues. They also both volunteer for the refugee resettlement program in Hyattsville, Md., of Lutheran Social Services.

Mrs. Jarrar, 29, graduated from Hobart and William Smith Colleges.

She is a daughter of Rebecca J. McCracken and Douglas S. McCracken of Old Saybrook, Conn. Her father, an electrical engineer, is an operations director in Berlin, Conn., for Eversource Energy, a gas and electric utility. Her mother is an optometric assistant at Professional Eyecare in Waterford, Conn.

Mr. Jarrar, 40, graduated from the University of Baghdad and received a masters degree in architectural engineering with an emphasis on postwar reconstruction from the University of Jordan. He successfully sued JetBlue Airways and the Transportation Security Authority after being told in 2006 that he wouldnt be allowed to board his flight unless he covered a T-shirt he was wearing that said, We Will Not Be Silent, in both Arabic and English.At a news conference on April 16, Bryan Stirling, the director of the South Carolina Department of Corrections, tried to explain why seven men had been stabbed to death and many more had been severely injured by their fellow prisoners at the Lee Correctional Institution. A fight had broken out the night before between rival gangs over territory, contraband and cellphones, Mr. Stirling said, and the priority now was to jam all illegal cellphones in the states prison system.

According to the many emails, calls and texts I have received this week from inside South Carolinas prisons, however, this account is misleading, and to clamp down even harder on the men inside would be a terrible mistake.

Yes, it was a gang fight, prisoners tell me, but it was corrections officials who had decided to house rival gangs in the same dormitory, and it was the officials increasingly punitive policies that exacerbated tensions on the inside. The fact that the rioting went on for seven hours, and that so many died and were injured  22 were taken to the hospital  was, they say, in no small part because corrections officers were AWOL.

Notably, it is contraband cellphones that make it possible for these prisoners to get their own accounts of the riot to the public, as well as to document their claim that corrections officials could have prevented the high death toll.She asked me whether I thought Id be where I am now if Id made a different decision.

I honestly dont know. Where I am now is the Midwest, a newly tenured professor at a Big Ten school. My best friend from high school, who graduated second in our class and was supposed to be my Gator roommate, went to the University of Florida and loved it. She has a fulfilling career, rewarding friendships and a gorgeous house in a South Florida neighborhood wed both always dreamed of living in: There is no but to alter these facts.

At Cornell, I had a hallmate from Iowa whose family worked in pig ranching; the school shed almost attended instead was the University of Iowa. She eventually chose to transfer back home. The way she put it, she realized she just didnt need to be in upstate New York spending so much money for what she wanted to do with her future, though Im sure there was more to it than that. The girls in my hall  myself included, all of us from the East Coast  teased her about her pig-ranching background, a fact of which Im now very much ashamed.

I dont know why the University of Florida didnt feel like the right place for me, but that feeling was strong enough to make me sign on for some major financial commitments at a school far from home at the ripe old age of 18 and head to a school that may not have been right for me either.

I want to be clear here: Im not trying to encourage people to take on debt. It would probably be even harder for me today to make the same decision I made in 1999, with the debt feeling even more insurmountable and new fears about what the job market would look like when I finished.

But was it worth it? Did I need to go to the more expensive school?

Here is my answer: When I started high school, my mother took me to an orthodontist. I had inherited my parents jacked-up teeth, and at the time when most of my friends were getting their braces removed, we were there potentially to start the whole ordeal, having waited until we were in a good enough financial position to do so. After poking around in my mouth and taking impressions of my teeth, the orthodontist declared that I did not need braces  my bite was mostly fine, so braces werent necessary and would be primarily for cosmetic reasons. Because wed already identified ourselves as the kind of people who would need help affording orthodontics, the doctor thought this news would come as a relief to my mother. It did not: She started crying.

If she needed them, in my head that would make it easier to pay for it, she said. Everyone is getting braces. Someday theyll all be people with straight teeth. I dont want her to not have that.The second edition of Our Bodies, Ourselves, published in 1976 by Simon & Schuster, featured on Page 229 something Id never seen before, and I dont believe Ive seen it anywhere else since: a photograph of a woman having an abortion.

The caption, like the inclusion of the photograph itself, is matter-of-fact, informative and free from sentiment: Vacuum suction abortion at Preterm Institute in Washington, D.C. Note that the woman getting the abortion is wearing her street clothing.

I first came across this photo several years ago, while doing research on radical feminist groups. Even in that context, it was arresting, perhaps because it was presented without fanfare. There was no sense that showing a woman having an abortion was, for a text on womens health, anything other than par for the course. When I learned recently that Our Bodies, Ourselves, now in its ninth edition, would no longer be updated after September, I thought immediately of this image  and of the fact that it was not, after all, par for the course for any book.

Image Women and Their Bodies (1970) was stapled pages, distributed by hand. Credit... Our Bodies, Ourselves

Our Bodies, Ourselves was originally a booklet titled Women and Their Bodies: A Course, self-published in 1970 by the Boston Womens Health Collective. The collective had grown out of a sexual health workshop at a womens liberation conference, and the booklet the members published was forthright and frankly political.Given the high standards set by the local dogs, we immediately put Nutella in puppy class, hoping to also meet other owners. Every week, the other puppies mastered commands while Nutella ran around, defying all efforts to be civilized. My husband took it upon himself to defend her. She knows her commands but prefers not to show that she knows them, he said.

Maybe shes just not smart, I suggested.

She was traumatized the first four months of her life. Thats why she prefers to do her own thing, my husband explained.

Maybe shes just not smart, I suggested.

We soon found out that members of our puppy class were getting together socially outside of class with their dogs. We were never invited. Its because we dont speak German, my husband said.

Its because everyone hates our dog, I told him.

After a couple of weeks, our trainer suggested that we purchase a special dog whistle and combine that with dog treats. Desperate to have a trained dog, and maybe even a few friends, we immediately did as we were told. Nutella was totally indifferent to the whistle, although many other dogs in Munich responded.

The trainer then suggested we purchase pricey liver treats that come in a tube. Dogs will do anything for those, she assured us. Given the choice of performing a simple command and getting liver treats, or running around like an escapee, Nutella always chose the latter. This dog has dignity, my husband said. You cant buy her with liver in a tube.

We gave up after four trainers, all of them declared not that good by my husband. Nutella would never be an off-leash city dog. This did not matter to my husband and daughter, who were in love with her.

I was not in love with her. At our neighborhood park, Nutella had earned the nickname der wilde Hund, the wild dog. I learned enough German to explain that Nutella was simply enthusiastic and wanted to play. But Nutellas approach was the problem. She would run full speed toward unsuspecting dogs. By the time she arrived to sniff, the dog and his owner had fled the park.All the participants were asked to rate how unethical it was to tell the falsehoods. But half the participants were first invited to imagine how the falsehood could have been true if circumstances had been different. For example, they were asked to consider whether the inauguration would have been bigger if the weather had been nicer, or whether Mr. Trump would have removed the bust if he could have gotten away with it.

The results of the experiments, published recently in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, show that reflecting on how a falsehood could have been true did cause people to rate it as less unethical to tell  but only when the falsehoods seemed to confirm their political views. Trump supporters and opponents both showed this effect.

Again, the problem wasnt that people confused fact and fiction; virtually everyone recognized the claims as false. But when a falsehood resonated with peoples politics, asking them to imagine counterfactual situations in which it could have been true softened their moral judgments. A little imagination can apparently make a lie feel truthy enough to give the liar a bit of a pass.

These results reveal a subtle hypocrisy in how we maintain our political views. We use different standards of honesty to judge falsehoods we find politically appealing versus unappealing. When judging a falsehood that maligns a favored politician, we ask, Was it true? and then condemn it if the answer is no.

In contrast, when judging a falsehood that makes a favored politician look good, we are willing to ask, Could it have been true? and then weaken our condemnation if we can imagine the answer is yes. By using a lower ethical standard for lies we like, we leave ourselves vulnerable to influence by pundits and spin doctors.

In this time of fake news and alternative facts, commentators worry that people with different political orientations base their judgments of right and wrong on entirely different perceptions of reality. My research suggests an additional concern: Even when partisans agree on the facts, they can come to different moral conclusions about the dishonesty of deviating from those facts. The result is more disagreement in an already politically polarized world.

Blame the human ability to imagine what might have been.Typecasting aspirations of wealth has not helped diversify the three-comma club. According to Forbess annual tally, less than 12 percent of the worlds billionaires are women, and almost three-quarters of that dismal stat inherited their fortunes.

If we want to close the wealth gap, we have to come at it from every angle. We have to stop paying women 80 cents to a mans dollar and women of color substantially less than that. We have to start raising girls the way we raise boys. A T. Rowe Price survey shows that in 2017, parents of only boys still save more and pay more for their sons educations than parents who have only girls do.

This trickles down to the way we socialize kids  girls are expected to be caretakers, boys the ones who will deliver a return. If you want to create your own wealth, the confidence to take calculated risks is a necessary skill. Placing the needs of others above your own is not.

I have always wrestled with what has been expected of me as a woman versus what I expect of myself. The conflicting messages of millennial womanhood: to be ambitious but never bossy, strong but skinny, honest but polite, supportive of my fellow sisters success while the culture gets off on girl fights. Only in fiction have I been able to create women who aggressively seek money and power the way men seek money and power. Women who will kill to protect their measly slice of the pie.

I often commiserate with other female authors about the catch-22 of publicity campaigns. We must talk ourselves up despite knowing that women who do so are disliked. Researchers have found that women are actually punished when they succeed at traditionally masculine endeavors. Meanwhile male authors on our panels monopolize the mic to the great delight of the crowd.

Self-promotion, for us, is a complicated dance with steps men will never have to learn. Oh, to be Daniel Mallory, who wrote The Woman in the Window under the gender-ambiguous pen name A. J. Finn. Mr. Mallory told a reporter that his foreign sales  in 37 territories, at the time  might be a record for a debut novel. It wasnt a record. I knew it wasnt because my first book sold to 38.Mart Crowley, the author of the groundbreaking gay play The Boys in the Band, lives in a Manhattan apartment building that he used to visit frequently, for parties, in the late 1960s, when Boys had its theatrical debut. Its on East 54th Street, No. 405, and its nickname, he told me, used to be four of five, because that was supposedly the ratio of gay residents.

That is not the ratio now. Its all yuppies and kids in strollers and all of that  and a few old codgers, Crowley, 82, said over a recent lunch. The gays have scattered, not just from that building but from others, and weve distributed ourselves throughout the city  and throughout society. Gay sanctuaries are vanishing.

Is that true of gay culture and gay identity, too? I increasingly get the sense that gayness itself has scattered, becoming something more various and harder to define. Gay tells you about a persons lusts and loves, but it used to tell you more  about his or her boldness, irreverence, independence. It connoted a particular journey and pronounced struggle, and had its own soundtrack, sartorial flourishes and short list of celebrity icons. Not so anymore.

These thoughts came to mind as Boys comes back into view. For its 50th anniversary, its getting its first-ever Broadway production, with an all-gay, all-star cast including Jim Parsons, Matt Bomer and Zachary Quinto. Previews begin Monday; the show opens May 31. Ill be fascinated to see what audiences make of this campy, catty portrait of a group of gay men who talk in code, traffic in secrecy and have carved out something separate that is not exactly peace.Maca Buritica was born in Bogota, Colombia, and moved to Florida when she was 10. There, she learned how to play guitar at age 15 and was involved in several left-wing punk bands. After years spent singing about animal rights and womens liberation down South, she moved to New York City in 2014, picked up a bass and joined the Queens black metal band Nite Rite as a bassist in 2017.

The bands music is heavily atmospheric, melodic and monochromatic, with occult overtones (audience members can expect to behold death, darkness, chaos and the void at a typical show) and a frosty Scandinavian mien that belies its progenitors South American origin.

Latinx clubs and shows booked by Latinx metal promoters are more likely to draw a Latinx crowd, Ms. Buritica said, but the music itself comes before any linguistic or cultural considerations. Metal is definitely a universal language, she said. We personally sing in English with some songs in Spanish. However, our fluency in Spanish allows us to greatly connect to the Latinx metal scene.Hung like artwork, 26 white doors decorate the dining room of Las Puertas, Victor Parra Gonzalezs tiny nouveau-Mexican restaurant in a gray gabled house on Buffalos West Side.

Every one represents a person of major importance who told me I would not open this restaurant, the chef said. Seeing those doors every day tells me we accomplished something.

The doubters had a point. Mr. Gonzalezs first restaurant, the ambitious Jaguar at the Bistro near Niagara Falls, closed in 2015. As a follow-up, a deeply personal food venture in Buffalos emerging Five Points neighborhood seemed audacious.

A year after Las Puertas debut, though, the Acapulco-born chef is having the last laugh. Marrying the earthy cuisine of his birthplace with rigorous French technique, the 29-year-old earned a 2018 James Beard Awards semifinalist as Best Chef/Northeast. His highly photogenic plates  luscious duck breast in subtle pipian verde, translucent scallop aguachile, rich chicken confit in mole rojo  make fond allusions to his homeland while showcasing his precision and wit.Rates

From about 1,350 Swedish kronor , or about 161 U.S. dollars.

Basics

The most promising property to emerge from Stockholms recent hotel boom is At Six, a 343-room hotel in a high-rise Brutalist building that formerly housed a bank. Opened in March 2017, the ambitious hotel is part of an urban renewal project aimed at transforming Brunkebergstorg, a once-dreary square in the city center, into a lively gathering point for visitors and locals alike. Polished and modern, the hotels monochrome gray interiors were designed by the London-based Universal Design Studio. An in-house curator chose artworks, including Sol LeWitt prints in the restaurant and an eight-foot-tall marble bust by the Catalan sculptor Jaume Plensa that sits on the lobbys grandiose white-granite staircase.

Image At Six hotel in Stockholm. Credit... Andy Liffner

Location

As central as it gets in Stockholm, Brunkebergstorg is within walking distance of most city sights. Its a 10-minute walk to the central train station, and five minutes to the nearest subway station.PROVIDENCE, R.I.  The next national census is coming in 2020, and here in Rhode Islands state capital, the Census Bureau is conducting its sole dry run before the big head count of America.

In an immigrant-rich neighborhood not far from the statehouse, a laptop computer at the public library offers residents a direct link to an online census form, a major change from past counts that have been conducted by mail.

But three weeks after the library set up the laptop, only one person had used it.

The 2020 census, which will determine a range of functions from federal funding to congressional representation, has already drawn controversy after the Trump administrations last-minute decision to ask respondents whether they are United States citizens. Six former Census Bureau directors have warned that the move would depress responses among minorities who fear that the government would use that information against them.

But that is just one of the challenges ahead.

The Providence census was supposed to be one of four that would test a wealth of new digital equipment and counting methodologies under starkly different conditions  in urban Rhode Island, rural West Virginia, Spanish-speaking Puerto Rico and tribal lands in Washington State. But budget problems, largely rooted in Congresss refusal to fully fund the bureau, forced the cancellation of three tests. That has left Providence County as a make-or-break trial of the reimagined head count  the statistical equivalent of staging a Broadway musical after a single rehearsal in New Haven.SACRAMENTO  Throughout 1977, the terrified residents of Sacramento County wanted to know when their horror movie of an existence would end. In packed community forums, they expressed their fears about the sadistic predator who was committing sexual assaults in their previously tranquil neighborhoods every few days  someone nicknamed the East Area Rapist.

At one gathering, in a school cafeteria, a Sacramento sheriffs detective named Carol Daly gave a brief tutorial about defending oneself against the attacker. But before the few hundred audience members dispersed into the California night, a man questioned how anyone could possibly get away with raping a woman in the presence of her husband, who would do everything in his power to prevent an assault.

A few months later, the East Area Rapist targeted that very man and his wife, in one of the more brutal attacks of the dozens he had committed. Ms. Daly, now retired, said on Friday that she has no doubt:

The rapist was there at that meeting.

The horrifying moment reflected how the meticulous criminal  whom investigators strongly suspected had law enforcement connections  taunted his pursuers with catch-me-if-you-can brio. He was flaunting his power, it seemed, as well as his belief that he could elude accountability forever.Bad experiences with police as a black man growing up in Savannah are somewhat of a rite of passage, he said.

Ms. Smiley, 36, said that the Georgia Bureau of Investigation showed her and other family members the body-camera video a few days after Mr. Boyd was shot. That day, she said, a state detective told her that her son had been armed, and had wanted to die.

Ms. Smiley said the video shows Mr. Boyd taking a few steps out of his front door, then falling as the officers shoot. But she and others who have seen the video said they could not make out any weapon in Mr. Boyds hands.

I said, This is the crap yall brought me up here to see?  Ms. Smiley recalled in a recent interview. Her anger turned to tears. They didnt have to kill my son, she said.

The Chatham County district attorney, Meg Heap, who is white, calls that description of the video inaccurate, and said that a grand jury will rely on the results of the bureaus investigation to determine whether charges are warranted against the officers.

Police and city officials, citing the continuing investigation, declined to comment.

Mr. Boyds family said he had dreamed of joining the Marines  an idea his mother disapproved of  or of becoming a police detective. Records show that he was arrested in November 2016 for fleeing the police after riding in a stolen truck with a friend. At the time, Mr. Boyd told the police he did not know the truck was stolen. So an officer asked him why he ran.WASHINGTON  President Trump is privately rejecting the growing consensus among Republican leaders that they may lose the House and possibly the Senate in November, leaving party officials and the presidents advisers nervous that he does not grasp the gravity of the threat they face in the midterm elections.

Congressional and party leaders and even some Trump aides are concerned that the presidents boundless self-assurance about politics will cause him to ignore or undermine their midterm strategy. In battleground states like Arizona, Florida and Nevada, Mr. Trumps proclivity to be a loose cannon could endanger the Republican incumbents and challengers who are already facing ferocious Democratic headwinds.

Republicans in Washington and Trump aides have largely given up assuming the president will ever stick to a teleprompter, but they have joined together to impress upon him just how bruising this November could be for Republicans  and how high the stakes are for Mr. Trump personally, given that a Democratic-controlled Congress could pursue aggressive investigations and even impeachment.

Over dinner with the president and other Republican congressional leaders this month, Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, phrased his advice for the president in the form of a reminder: Mr. Trump should never forget his central role in the 2018 campaign, Mr. McConnell said, explaining that Republicans prospects are linked to what he says and does and underscoring that their one-seat advantage in the Senate was in jeopardy.On Saturday, Mr. Trump said he had a very good talk with Mr. Moon. Things are going well, he tweeted. Time and location of meeting with North Korea is being set. Later, at a rally in Michigan, Mr. Trump told supporters that he deserved virtually all the credit for the success of the meeting between the North and the South.

The price of failure would be high for Mr. Trump. The United States could face a split with its ally South Korea, which is deeply invested in ending its estrangement from the North. Tensions could flare with China, North Koreas main trading partner, which only grudgingly signed on to the sanctions and would be likely to balk at keeping them in place if Mr. Kim is talking about peace.

Mr. Trump is also moving on other fronts that could undercut his negotiations with Mr. Kim. He appears more likely than ever to rip up the Iran nuclear deal as he faces his next deadline of May 12 to decide whether to reimpose sanctions on Tehran.

Walking away from one nuclear disarmament deal while trying to strike another would be a trick, even for a self-proclaimed dealmaker like Mr. Trump.

There is little question, senior officials and analysts said, that the American-led sanctions, combined with Mr. Trumps bellicose vows to rain fire and fury on North Korea if it threatened the American homeland, helped bring Mr. Kim to the table.

But Mr. Trump is only one of three actors in this drama, and perhaps not the most crucial one. Mr. Moon, a progressive former human rights lawyer, ran for office on a platform of conciliation with the North and has moved aggressively to deliver on that promise. He, not Mr. Trump, has set the pace and terms of the negotiation with the North, though American officials say that Seoul is closely coordinating with Washington.

Mr. Kim, for his part, made a bold bet on diplomacy. His motives for seeking a rapprochement are open to debate. Skeptical analysts said the advancements in North Koreas intercontinental ballistic missile program  as much as sanctions or threatened military strikes  made the timing right for an overture. Others say he is replaying the cycle of provocation and conciliation pioneered by his father and grandfather.Dr. Jackson called the allegations false and had the support not just of Mr. Trump but also of some former aides to President Barack Obama who said they had never observed the alleged behavior while they worked in the White House. But Dr. Jackson pulled his nomination on Thursday, when it became clear he was unlikely to be confirmed.

Allegations made by Senator Jon Tester against Admiral/Doctor Ron Jackson are proving false, Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter on Saturday morning. The Secret Service is unable to confirm (in fact they deny) any of the phony Democrat charges which have absolutely devastated the wonderful Jackson family. Tester should resign.

He added: The great people of Montana will not stand for this kind of slander when talking of a great human being. Admiral Jackson is the kind of man that those in Montana would most respect and admire, and now, for no reason whatsoever, his reputation has been shattered. Not fair, Tester!

Mr. Tester fired back a few hours later with a statement noting that Mr. Trump had signed eight of the senators bills to make the Department of Veterans Affairs more accountable and responsive to veterans. Its my duty to make sure Montana veterans get what they need and have earned, and Ill never stop fighting for them as their senator, he said.

The White House sought on Friday to refute one of the allegations, that he got drunk and wrecked a government vehicle, as Mr. Testers list put it. A search of government databases turned up no incident that matched that description, the White House said.

Three cases were found involving Dr. Jackson and a government vehicle, according to the White House: In one, he was rear-ended. In another, a bus sideswiped a mirror on his car. And in a third, a road rage episode, a driver punched through a window on Dr. Jacksons car.

Secret Service has just informed me that Senator Jon Testers statements on Admiral Jackson are not true, Mr. Trump wrote on Saturday afternoon. There were no such findings. A horrible thing that we in D.C. must live with, just like phony Russian Collusion. Tester should lose race in Montana. Very dishonest and sick!Although many of the victims of the attacks this year have been Hema, experts say this new wave of violence does not follow the usual pattern of ethnic killings and reprisals.

Its not an ethnic conflict in the sense that these are not people who have always hated each other and are just going to kill and maim and rape each other because one of them is Lendu and one of them is Hema, Ms. Autesserre said.

In some cases, the attackers are men who survivors say were speaking languages from other regions. In other cases, the attackers are Lendu, but no one knows what their motives are  and no one knows who is supporting them.

Many of the attacks were coordinated and carried out with new weapons and expensive communications equipment, suggesting the fighters have powerful backers who may be looking to exploit the animosity between the two ethnic groups for their own purposes.MOSCOW  A fire broke out on Saturday in a high-rise that until recently had been called Trump Tower in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, engulfing much of the building in flames by early evening.

Footage on social media showed flames shooting out of the windows and smoke billowing from the 33-floor building, which is still under construction and had been labeled Donald Trumps Worst Deal by The New Yorker magazine.

The blaze, which broke out on the top floor of the building, burned down through about 20 stories before firefighters extinguished the flames by midafternoon, the news agency Interfax reported.

The fire rekindled in the evening, burning through much of the building, a video posted by the Russian news portal Lenta.ru showed.SEOUL, South Korea  China, Japan and Russia  North Koreas neighbors  while offering praise for the summit meeting with South Korea that riveted the world this week, appeared to acknowledge one thing: Now comes the hard part.

Some analysts and media commentators expressed skepticism about the lack of specifics in the accord struck on Friday by the two countries to work toward nuclear disarmament and a peace treaty.

They also warned that the agreement between the two Koreas would not amount to much unless the United States gave its approval at the coming meeting between President Trump and the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un.

Others were more encouraging, suggesting that the agreement to work toward the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula could be achieved in time.History is made as Kim Jong-un crosses the border. Its the first time a North Korean leader has set foot in the South. This step is the latest chapter in Kims head-spinning makeover from a stern-faced despot into a smiling diplomat. Somebody President Trump ridiculed as Little Rocket Man  Rocket Man is on a suicide mission for himself  has suddenly become very honorable. He really has been very open, very honorable. Here is how Kim did it. Kim may have felt that he had the leverage to turn a diplomatic corner once he was able to show that his country could be a nuclear power. Kim kicks off his charm offensive by dispatching his so-called army of beauties to the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. He also sends his sister Kim Yo-jong  the first time a member of the Kim family visited South Korea since the Korean War. She becomes an overnight sensation in the South. Kim hosts a delegation of high-level South Korean officials in Pyongyang. The officials from the South deliver a bombshell to the White House: Kim wants to meet Trump, and Trump, shocking the world, says yes. Trump responded saying yes. Surprise, praise, skepticism. This was indeed a shocker. Kim secretly leaves the country for the first time since taking power. His destination: Beijing, where he visits with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Its Kims first meeting with another head of state. Kim hosts the International Olympic Committee in Pyongyang to thank them for their support and to say that North Korea will take part in the Tokyo and Beijing Olympics. Kim loosens North Koreas iron grip on pop culture as he and his wife rock out at a two-hour K-pop concert in Pyongyang. He even poses for a photo with a popular South Korean girl band, Red Velvet. Kim secretly meets and has a photo op with then-C.I.A. director Mike Pompeo, signaling planning is underway for a summit. North Korea announces a new pledge to end nuclear and missile testing and close a nuclear test site. Kim takes his historic stroll and calls for an age of peace. It may mark the beginning of a historic thaw. Whatever happens, its clearly the start of a new Kim Jong-un.Ireland plans to hold a landmark referendum on abortion at the end of May.

Voters will be asked to consider a repeal of Article 40.3.3 of the Irish Constitution, known as the Eighth Amendment, which gives an unborn fetus a right to life equal to that of its mother.

The referendum comes as voters in the traditionally Roman Catholic and socially conservative country have shown increasingly liberal attitudes. But the campaign has been highly divisive and accompanied by fears of foreign influence.

The Times asked readers in Ireland to reflect on the coming referendum. Here is a selection of responses, edited for length and clarity.

Irish Society Is Starting to Listen

When I was 17, I got pregnant three months before I was to sit my major state exam which would see me to college. My mum ordered pills from Women on Web and I took them after school on Wednesday, told my friends I was sick on Thursday and was back at school on Friday. I believe Irish society is starting to listen to the voices and needs of women and ignore the propaganda pumped into us by the Catholic Church that no longer has any kind of foothold in the minds of Irish people today. Its time.

Annie Forrester, 27, an illustrator in Cork

Fundamentally, this is a class issue. Those who can afford to travel to the U.K., which includes related expenses like taking time off work or post-procedure counseling services, have full access to safe abortions. The Eighth Amendment to our constitution merely penalizes the poor rather than protecting life in any meaningful sense. It offers choice to the few, not the many. It dictates morality to the many, not the few.

Paul Bruun-Nielsen, 22, a student at Trinity College in DublinVATICAN CITY  Five years ago, Pope Francis was elected to be an agent of change within a church shaken by scandals and the historic resignation of Benedict XVI. He quickly became a global force in geopolitics, setting the agenda on climate change and care for migrants. World leaders wanted to be near him. Even non-Catholics adored him.

Today, Francis is increasingly embattled. The political climate has shifted abruptly around the world, empowering populists and nationalists who oppose much of what he stands for. Conservative forces arrayed against him within the Vatican have been emboldened, seeking to thwart him on multiple fronts.

Yet a close look at his record since becoming pope and the strong reactions he has engendered also shows that Francis continues to get his way in reorienting the church. And his supporters say that the backlash against his views has only made his voice more vital in the debate inside and outside the church over the issues he has chosen to highlight, like migrants, economic inequality and the environment.

But even they concede that Francis message has fallen decidedly out of sync with the prevailing political times, in contrast to, say, Pope John Paul II, who provided the spiritual dimension for Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatchers battle against communism.At best, you can get contact dermatitis. At worst, you can die, said Jason J. Dombroskie, manager of the Cornell University Insect Collection and coordinator of the Insect Diagnostic Lab in Ithaca, N.Y. You can go into anaphylactic shock and have your airways close up. The airborne hairs set up a whole different ballgame.

British officials have issued similar warnings in years past as they have battled to stop the spread of the insect. This year, the Forestry Commission began treating trees in a control zone around the infected area with biopesticides, which use viruses or bacteria that mostly harm the target pest. The treatment is expected to continue through late May or early June, with trees at more than 600 sites expected to be targeted, the agency said.

We advise people not to pick up the caterpillar or pick up the nest, a spokeswoman for Britains Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said, adding that there have been no reports of serious illness because of contact with the caterpillar.

Dr. Robert Glatter, an emergency doctor at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan, said the speed of the reaction after contact is typically slower than that of a bee sting.

He said each caterpillar has more than 62,000 toxic hairs, which after release can stay active for up to five years. This is where the true toxicity of the caterpillar arises, he said, adding, Word to the wise  its best to observe their beauty from a distance.RIYADH, Saudi Arabi  As Saudi Arabia considers digging a moat along its border with Qatar and dumping nuclear waste nearby, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Riyadh on his first overseas trip as the nations top diplomat with a simple message: Enough is enough.

Patience with what is viewed in Washington as a petulant spat within the Gulf Cooperation Council has worn thin, and Mr. Pompeo told the Saudi Foreign Minister, Adel al-Jubeir, that the dispute needs to end, according to a senior State Department official who briefed reporters on the meetings but who was not authorized to be named.

Last June, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates led an embargo by four Arab nations of Qatar, accusing the tiny, gas-rich nation of funding terrorism, cozying up to Iran and welcoming dissidents. Years of perceived slights on both sides of the conflict added to the bitterness.

Mr. Pompeos predecessor, Rex W. Tillerson, spent much of his tenure trying to mediate the dispute, which also involved Egypt and Bahrain, but without success. The Saudis, keen observers of Washingtons power dynamics, knew that Mr. Tillerson had a strained relationship with President Trump and so ignored him, particularly because Mr. Trump sided with the Saudis in the early days of the dispute.Uttar Pradesh: Armed robbers kill bride for resisting, loot marriage party

India

pti-PTI

Muzaffarnagar, April 28: Armed robbers intercepted a marriage party on the Delhi-Dehradun National Highway and shot dead a bride and looted jewellery worth lakhs in Meerut district. The incident occurred near Matore village, under the Dorala police station area, of Meerut last night, police said, adding that the groom and four others were injured in the attack.

The victims were returning to the district after the wedding ceremony in Ghaziabad district, officials said. Six armed men, in two cars, intercepted the marriage party while it was on its way back.

"Farhana was killed after she resisted the robbers", Senior Superintendent of Police Manjil Saini said. "Jewellery worth lakhs and a car were looted from them", he said.

Police have started a search operation to nab the perpetrators, Saini said, adding that the bride was rushed to the Muzaffarnagar Medical College, where she declared dead.

PTIBad memories of abuse haunt children, cause hurdles in emotional growth: Delhi court

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Oneindia Staff

New Delhi, April 28: At a time when the nation is witnessing one horrific incident after another pertaining to rapes of children, a Delhi court on Friday made some detailed observations regarding how sexual abuse destroys a child's life forever.

The Delhi court, while sending a man to jail for five years for molesting an eight-year-old in 2016, said that the scars and bad memories of sexual abuse continue to haunt a child and are a hurdle in her emotional and psychological growth.

Additional Sessions Judge Seema Maini awarded five years of rigorous imprisonment to a factory worker Mohan Kumar from Nepal, along with a fine of Rs 20,000 and said he had outraged the girl's modesty, robbed her dignity and nipped her confidence.

"Modesty is to a woman what fragrance is to flower. If you rob a flower of its fragrance, the flower loses its worth, so unto a woman. Outraging a woman's modesty, not just hurts her bodily self, but her whole persona and very existence.

"Outraging a woman's modesty robs her of her dignity, nips her confidence and cripples her existence. This is what the convict is guilty of, and therefore the offence committed by him cannot be treated lightly, and he deserves no leniency," the judge said.

It also asked the Delhi State Legal Services Authority to grant a compensation of Rs one lakh to the victim. "As the scars and bad memories, which have and shall continue to haunt the child and be a hurdle in her emotional and psychological growth, resorting to the provisions under section 33 (8) of POCSO Act, the victim is granted a further compensation of Rs one lakh only," the court said.

According to the complaint filed by the girl's mother, on May 25, 2016, Kumar had caught hold of the girl's hand, dragged her to a corner near her house and tried to molest her. The complaint said that the girl's mother, on hearing her scream, came out of the house and apprehended the convict.

Kumar, during the trial, claimed innocence and said he was being framed in the case due to some previous enmity. He also claimed in the court that he had merely asked for the phone in the girl's hand. However, the court rejected all his claims saying his statement has established his presence at the spot.

In the recent times, the nation witnessed several protests following the horrific rape incidents in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua and Uttar Pradesh's Unnao. The main trigger for protests was how a section of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) tried to shield the culprits in both the cases. Since then several cases of child sexual assaults were reported from various parts of the country.

After its "studied silence" over crimes against women, especially minor girls, the Narendra Modi government approved the ordinance to allow courts to award death penalty to those convicted of raping girls under 12 recently. The ordinance has got mixed reactions as many feel that laws hold no meaning if the authorities do not bring cases of rape to justice.Why the arrest, capture or killing of Madvi Hidma would weaken the naxal movement further

Chhattisgarh: Woman Naxal killed in encounter with security forces

India

pti-PTI

Raipur, April 28: A woman Naxal was killed in an exchange of fire with security forces in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district on Saturday, a senior police official said. The latest gunfight, which was still continuing, comes a day after eight ultras, six of them women, were killed in an encounter in Sukma's adjoining district Bijapur district.

"So far, one woman Naxal has been killed in the gunfight which is still continuing in a forest in Burkapal area of Sukma district," the official told PTI.

Separate teams of the District Reserve Guard (DRG), the Special Task Force (STF) and the Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA), a unit of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), were carrying out combing operations in Sukma, located around 400km from the state capital Raipur, for the last couple of days, he said.

This morning, when a joint team of the DRG and the STF was cordoning off a forest located deep inside Burkapal, exchange of fire broke out between the squad and a group of ultras present in the area, the official said.

"Preliminary information states that the body of a woman Naxal has been recovered. More details are awaited as exchange of fire was going on intermittently," he said.

Yesterday's operation was carried out jointly by the Chhattisgarh police, the special anti-Naxal Greyhounds unit of their Telangana counterparts and the CRPF.

PTICJI is master of roster, or else there will be chaos: Attorney General

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

There would be a chaotic situation if the Chief Justice of India is not the master of the roster, Attorney General of India, K K Venugopal said. The submission was made on a plea filed by senior lawyer and ex-law minister, Shanti Bhushan who challenged the existing roster practice of allocation of cases by the CJI.

The plea was countered by the AG stating that matters related to the roster can be done by the CJI only. If a number of judges are involved in the process, it could lead to chaos, he also said. The court has reserved orders in the matter.

Shanti Bhushan in April had filed the petition seeking clarification on the administrative authority of the CJI as the master of the roster. He also sought for laying down the principles and procedure to be followed in preparing it for allocation of cases. He had also named the CJI, Dipak Misra and registrar of the Supreme Court as respondents.

He said that the master of the 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.D-company aide held for plotting to kill Shia Waqf Board chief Waseem Rizvi

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar

By Chennabasaveshwar

The special cell of Delhi Police on Saturday arrested one more aide of D-company, identified as Mujeer Jilani Sheikh, in connection with plotting to kill Shia waqf board chairman Wasim Rizvi.

According to reports, Sheikh was arrested following a tip-off. three accused, identified as Arif, Abrar and Saleem, was already arrested from Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh.

The police had information that the trio was in touch with Dawood's right-hand man Chhota Shakeel's men from Dubai, and had been paid in advance to eliminate Rizvi in Lucknow.

In January, Rizvi had written letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, in which he claimed that madrassas bred terrorists and demanded that the Islamic institutions should be shut.

In the letter to the prime minister, Rizvi had demanded that madrassas be replaced by schools affiliated to the CBSE or the ICSE which will offer students an optional subject of Islamic education.

Rizvi also said that the arrest of three people who were conspiring to kill him clearly shows that he is on target of extremists due to his pro-Ram Mandir stand.Gorakhpur infant deaths: Kafeel Khan walks out of jail

India

pti-PTI

Kafeel Khan, who was booked in connection with the death of infants at a state-run hospital here last year, walked out of jail on Saturday.

Khan, who worked as nodal officer at the Baba Raghav Das Medical College, was granted bail by the Allahabad High Court on Wednesday.His wife Shabistan Khan, daughter and other family members welcomed him.

"Kafeel Khan was freed from jail this evening. Although he was granted bail by the Allahabad High Court on April 25, the delay was due to some other procedures," jail superintendent Ramdhani said.

Various organisations, including members of 'Adhikar Morcha' wearing saffron scarves came in support of Khan. They also carried banners and posters with 'Dr Kafeel hamara hero' (Dr Kafeel is our hero) and 'congratulations' written on them.

After coming out of jail, Kafeel hugged his wife and daughter and said, "The honourable high court has clearly said that there is no evidence against me. You know what my family went through in the last eight months. I do not know what my fault is".

PTIIshrat Jahan encounter: 'Evidence concocted', says former cop, Vanzara

India

oi-Staff

By Oneindia Staff Writer

The evidence against me is concocted in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case said former Gujarat police officer, D G Vanzara. Vanzara, a former Deputy Inspector General of Ahmedabad Crime Branch, has also sought relief on the ground of parity with former in-charge DGP of Gujarat, P P Pandey, who was recently discharged from the case.

There was no prima facie evidence to prove the conspiracy allegedly hatched at his chamber, as mentioned in the charge sheet, Vanzara's plea said.

Ishrat, a 19-year-old college girl from Mumbra near Mumbai, her friend Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amzad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in an alleged encounter by Ahmedabad police on the outskirts of the city in June 2004.

The police had claimed that these four were terrorists affiliated to the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, while the CBI later said it was a fake encounter.

The CBI, however, opposed the discharge pleas of former Gujarat Police officers D G Vanzara and NK Amin. In its reply before the special CBI court in Ahmedabad, the agency said it had sufficient evidence to establish the charges against the two. After taking the CBI's reply on record, judge J K Pandya adjourned the hearing to May 5.

Amin, who was working under Vanzara when the alleged fake encounter took place, has raised multiple grounds, including that the CBI didn't follow the legal procedure while making certain accused persons prosecution witnesses or 'approvers'.Former Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah in Delhi; All set to meet Gandhis

A Look back at CMs who completed full 5-year term in history of Karnataka

'It is his second option', say voters on Siddaramaiah choosing Badami

India

oi-Staff

By Oneindia Staff Writer

Badami, a historic town known for its cave temples has turned into a hotbed of political activity. The battle is between the top Congressman, Siddaramaiah and the BJP number 2 man, B Sriramulu.

Forty-year-old Kamanna Heggri, an army havildar, has taken a month's leave to visit his village near this historical town in northern Karnataka.

His mission now is to vote for Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who is contesting the Assembly election from Badami, a constituency with a sizeable population of Kurubas, a community to which he belongs.

The constituency also has a significant presence of scheduled castes, scheduled tribes Muslims and other backward castes - the bedrock of Siddaramaiah's support base.

However, a section of the voters is not going gaga over Siddaramaiah's decision to enter the fray from Badami, largely because he opted for the seat as his second choice, amid reports that he was on a sticky wicket in Chamundeshwari in Mysore district.

"I have come to vote for Siddaramaiah. Is it not a matter of pride that a sitting CM is seeking election from our place," asked Heggri.

"How can we let him down? His election will certainly lead to the development of the area," he said.

He claims dozens like him in the army hailing from Badami in Bagalakote district are now home-bound just to vote for Siddaramaiah.

However, not all in this nondescript town, which came under media spotlight after Siddaramaiah threw his hat into the ring, share Heggri's enthusiasm.

"Is he (Siddaramaiah) not an outsider? What has he done for Badami in the last five years? According to some media reports, he is contesting from Badami as he is not confident of victory in Chamundeshwari," said Veeresh, a Badami voter.

Another voter felt the chief minister's decision to contest from Badami was "opportunistic".

"How many times did Siddaramaiah visit Badami in the last five years? If he wins from Badami and Chamundeshwari, he will certainly give up this seat," a resident, in his 50s, said.

Siddaramaiah government's schemes like "Anna Bhagya"- a flagship project to make foodgrains available to common people at affordable prices - have made people lazy and ensured that they get benefits easily without having to do anything, said another Badami resident.

Instead, he should have attempted to empower them, said the man who did not wish to be identified.

There hasn't been any development in Badami, where there is tremendous potential for tourism," he said.

As Siddaramaiah's decision to contest from two places sparked a debate, with people seen involved in animated discussions over the move, the BJP and the JD(S) claimed the fear of an imminent defeat in Chamundeshwari prompted him to also contest from Badami, the capital of Chalukya dynasty between the 6th and the 12th centuries.

The Congress and Siddaramaiah have rejected the imputations and insisted that people of this region wanted him to contest from Badami also.

A political analyst said the Congress is hoping that the chief minister's presence in the fray here would infuse fresh energy into the party's campaign in north Karnataka.

The BJP considers the area its stronghold, especially the districts of Bagalakote, Vijayapura, Dharwad and Gadag. Congress leaders feel that Siddaramaiah's presence would encourage the fence-sitters to vote for the party.

Former minister and five-time Badami Congress MLA, BB Chimmanakatti, who is ailing, was reluctant to give up his seat initially but eventually fell in line.

The BJP has fielded Ballari Lok Sabha member and influential tribal leader of the region, B Sriramulu, for the seat. With Sriramulu, a confidant of the resourceful and controversial Reddy brothers, joining the fray, the contest for Badami has become a big-ticket battle.

For Sriramulu too, Badami is the second constituency he is contesting apart from Molakalmuru in Chitradurga district.

JD(S) candidate Hanumantha Mavinamarada, who is a local, is also putting up a spirited fight.

"Both Siddaramaiah and Sriramulu are outsiders. I will win with a good margin," said Mavinamarada, exuding confidence.

He said he had released his election manifesto a year ago with details about what he will do for the constituency.

"One person (Siddaramaiah) wants to win from here and go (later resign), and another person (Sriramulu) wants to defeat him. That"s their aim," Mavinamarada said.

As he entered the battle, Siddaramaiah lost no opportunity to invoke the "Kannada pride".

"Badami (or ancient Vatapi) was the seat of power of the Chalukyas. Let us revive the memories of the glorious Kannada dynasty," Siddaramaiah tweeted after filing the nominations amid fanfare.

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 elections: Bihar CM Nitish Kumar to campaign for JD (U) on May 6

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Oneindia Staff

Bengaluru, April 28: Of late, Karnataka has become the favourite "tourist" destination for all the who's who of Indian politics. As the elections are just two weeks away, the poll-bound state is bracing up to welcome some of the biggest names from the firmament of Indian politics in the coming days.

If Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the biggest star campaigner of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is all set to start his whirlpool campaign in Karnataka from May 1, others like Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati has already paid their visit to the state recently.

When we are talking about star political campaigners from the north in the southern state, we can't afford to miss mentioning the names of Congress president Rahul Gandhi and his BJP counterpart Amit Shah, who has almost made Karnataka their second home.

Now, reports say that Bihar chief minister and chief of Janata Dal (United) (JD(U)) Nitish Kumar too will visit Karnataka on May 6. He will be campaigning for his party which is contesting 34 seats in the upcoming state elections. The elections to the 224-member Karnataka Assembly will take place on May 12. The results of the high-stake elections will be out on May 15.

"Bihar CM will address an election rally on May 6 in Channagiri assembly constituency from where Karnataka state unit president Mahima J Patel is contesting," stated a report by The Times of India. On April 11, Kumar was in Karnataka to launch his party's campaign in the state.

When asked if Kumar will be campaigning against the BJP, the party with which the JD(U) is running a coalition government in Bihar, JD(U)'s national general secretary and in-charge for Delhi and Karnataka states Sanjay Jha told The Times of India, "We had earlier contested against the BJP in Gujarat and Nagaland assembly elections."

On Friday, Rahul released the Congress' election manifesto in Mangaluru. The manifesto made several big promises to the people of Karnataka. As per the manifesto, if the party once again comes to power in Karnataka, then it will create 15 to 20 lakh jobs a year, set up 50-bed Ayush hospitals, free the state from malnutrition, create 65 lakh tourism jobs and spend 125 thousand crore rupees on irrigation, to name a few. The opposition BJP is yet to release its manifesto.Mumbai schools reopening: Classes to begin for students from this date

Navratri 2021: BMC caps height of Durga idols, says no garba events in Mumbai

Mumbai: Public toilet collapses in Bhandup, 2 dead

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar

By Chennabasaveshwar

Two dead after a large portion of a public toilet collapsed on Saturday morning in Mumbai's Bhandup area. The NDRF and the fire brigade are carrying out rescue and search operations.

This mishap occurred at around 6 am. The public toilets structure on the Tank Road collapsed in Patilwadi area. The collapse created a big pit on the spot.

The fire brigade and the police were immediately called on the spot after two women and two men were trapped under the debris.

The fire brigade has recovered two bodies from the location so far. The deceased include a woman and a man, and they are identified as Nagubai and Babu Lal.

Search is on for two others still trapped in the debris. Meanwhile, a team of municipal Disaster Management Department also reached the spot.

More details awaited.Politicisation of Ayodhya dispute no ground to refer it to larger Bench

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

It is a political dispute and political or religious sensitivities cannot be a ground to refer the Ayodhya dispute to a larger Bench of the Supreme Court, Hindu religious bodies said.

A Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices Ashok Bhushan and S Abdul Nazeer was told by senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for original plaintiff Gopal Singh Visharad who was among the first to file a civil suit in the case way back in 1950, that there was no need to refer the matter to a larger bench since a three-judge bench was already seized of it.

"This country has moved forward from the event of 1992 and today we are left with purely a land dispute. The court will decide this on the evidence placed before it. This will be decided strictly in accordance with the law," Salve said.

He questioned the manner in which senior advocates Rajeev Dhavan and Raju Ramachandran, appearing for petitioner M Siddiq, was projecting the case as "sensitive".

Gopal Singh Visharad and M Siddiq, both original litigants in Ram Janambhoomi- Babri Masjid case, have died and are being represented by legal heirs.

Ramachandran had said the matter should be referred to a larger bench due to its "sheer importance". He had said that it had been dealt with by the full bench of the high court, not because of a substantial question of law, but due to the fact that it would have wide ramifications on the social fabric of the country.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had said it would decide on whether to refer to a larger bench the issue of reconsideration of the entire 1994 verdict dealing with the acquisition of the disputed land in Ayodhya or parts of it.

However, Salve maintained that factors like "politically sensitive, religiously sensitive" should be kept out of the court room. "These (issues) are all those things which should be kept outside the gate of the court," he said, adding that the matter was a title suit which would be adjudicated on whether the property belongs to 'A' or 'B'.

Referring to the apex court traditions and said if an order is passed by the full court of a high court, the appeal in the apex court would be heard by a three-judge bench.

Salve referred to the 'triple talaq' case which was heard by a five-judge constitution bench and said a larger bench had adjudicated the issue as it related to the important aspect of gender justice.

Questioning the approach of Dhavan and Ramachandran in saying that this was a matter of "sheer importance", he said, "the cases which were sent to a five-judge or seven-judge bench have raised very serious questions."

Maintaining that the issue of constitutional importance was involved in those matters, he said the argument that there is a dispute between two community does not hold in this case, as it is "purely a property dispute". "When there is a substantial question of constitutional importance, then the larger Bench can hear it," he said.

Former Attorney General and senior advocate K Parasaran, appearing for the deity, Ram Lalla Virajman, supported Salve's arguments and said the matter should be heard by a three-judge bench only.

He too said the court should not send the matter to a five-judge bench as several evidence and documents will be needed to be examined and the larger bench should not do it as it is a property dispute.

"The five-judge constitution bench can only deal with a substantial question of law and not a property dispute, which is a civil matter. This is not a complicated or that sensitive matter which needs to be heard by a larger bench," he said.

At the outset, Ramachandran said the matter needed to be referred to a larger bench as it is a matter of "sheer importance". He said that considering the importance of the matter, the arguments of the state government, a full bench of the high court had dealt with the matter.

"This case in the High Court was dealt by the full bench not because there was a substantial question of law or there was a conflict of opinion among judges, but only due to the sheer importance of the matter, the background and the parties involved", he said.

This court is hearing the first appeal and when a case of such importance or magnitude in which the high court has constituted an extraordinary bench to adjudicate it, then a five-judge bench should hear it," Ramachandran said, adding that only a larger bench can give the matter a "judicial quietus" by an authoritative pronouncement.

The hearing on the matter remained inconclusive and would continue on May 15.

The Special Bench of the court is seized of a total of 14 appeals filed against the high court judgement delivered in four civil suits. A three-judge bench of the Allahabad High Court, in a 2:1 majority ruling, had in 2010 ordered that the land is partitioned equally among three parties -- the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and deity Ram Lalla.Rahul questions Modis silence on Reddy brothers, Doklam

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Rahul Gandhi took several swipes at the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and also questioned the silence on issues such as Doklam and corruption. He sought to know why Modi was silent on the Dokalm issue during his visit to China.

He also slammed Modi over his silence on alleged corruption by the BJP leaders, including its chief Amit Shah's son and for declaring B S Yeddyurappa as the chief ministerial candidate, despite him spending time in jail.

"I have heard that he (Modi) is visiting China. You just see, take it in writing from me. China's army is sitting in Doklam and he will not utter a word on Doklam in China, you just watch. He (Modi) won't utter a word, this is a 56-inch chest. Only hollow words, false promises," Rahul said during his Karnataka tour.

Rahul who is on a two-day tour to Karnataka also released the party's manifesto and said that it was the 'mann ki baat,' of the people of the state.

The Congress president spoke of how Modi had hosted Xi in his home state Gujarat and the Chinese troops made an incursion into Indian territory.

"In Gujarat, on the banks of a river, Narendra Modiji" sits on a swing with the Chinese president. Chinese president goes"back home and puts Chinese army in Doklam.

I don't know where his (Modi's) 56-inch chest had gone, Narendra Modi ji did not utter a word," he said. Chinese soldiers had intruded into Indian territory in Chumar area of Ladakh in September 2014 during Xi's India visit

He further said, "Modiji, wherever he goes, speaks his 'mann ki baat, but our manifesto is "not our mann ki baat.... it is the mann ki baat of Karnataka's youth, women and poor".

He said the manifesto was not prepared by two or three Congress leaders in a closed room, and that people of every district and region were consulted.Gandhi also said, "Modi ji folds his hands in front of (12th-century social reformer) Basavanna's statue, garlands it, and then he gives eight tickets to Reddy brothers."

"He says he stands against corruption.... but then he stands with Yeddyurappa (the BJP's chief ministerial nominee), who has spent time in jail, on one side, and four MLAs who have savoured jail food on the other," he added.

Reddy brothers:

Taking a jibe at the Prime Minister over BJP allotting party tickets to the Reddy brothers and their supporters, he said, "Modi ji likes changing names. Earlier it was "Planning Commission. He changed it to NITI Ayog. Now he has changed the CBI's name to Central Bureau of Illegal mining." The influential Reddy brothers of Ballari were accused of involvement in illegal iron ore mining in several states, and two of them have been fielded by the BJP in the polls.

"It (CBI) is an agency that gives a clean chit to"Reddy brothers, it does whatever Modiji asks it to do. If you want theft to happen from Karnataka, Modi ji will get it done. Amit Shah and Modi ji will give them (Reddy brothers and their men) eight tickets and then they will give speeches that they are against corruption," he said. He alleged the Reddy brothers had looted Rs 33,000 crore from Karnataka by way of the mining scam.The Congress president also accused the prime minister of keeping quiet over atrocities against women.

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'Siddaramaiah will be last Congress CM in Karnataka', says Yeddyurappa

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

B S Yeddyurappa has said that the party will win 10 to 15 seats with the help of Janardhan Reddy. He told reporters that the BJP president Amit Shah had told them that they could seek the help of anyone if it is beneficial to the party.

He further clarified that Reddy never sought a ticket for himself to contest the Karnataka assembly elections. On the contest at Badami, Yeddyurappa said that there was no doubt that Sriramulu will beat Siddaramaiah.

"Siddaramaiah has no shame and will be the last chief minister of the Congress party in Karnataka. He is contesting from Badami out of the fear of losing Chamundeshwari", he further added.

On the party's prospects, he said that there was no doubt that the BJP would win 150 seats. He also clarified that there would be no alliance with the JD(S).

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India will no longer be "helpless" in fighting terror, says PM Modi

Tamil Nadu: Pastors manhandled in Kanyakumari temple

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar

By Chennabasaveshwar

Two pastors were allegedly manhandled by a group of men in Muthaaramman temple in Kanyakumari. The incident took place on April 22 came to light on Saturday. According to reports, the Holy ash was also forcefully applied to their faces.

Tamil organisation condemned the attack on the pastors. According to reports, the police has not filed FIR in this case so far. Police say that there has been a reconciliation between the two sides.

While the holy ash was applied on the face of the pastors, other people present there reportedly raised slogans 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai'.

JG Raj,Tamil Maiya Organisation said, " Atrocities against the Christian community in Tamil Nadu, attack on Christian preachers and threatening of Christian population by RSS and affiliated organisations, we'll resist forces of violence by strength of the non-violence."Three BJP ads against Congress banned in poll bound Karnataka

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

The Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC) has banned three video advertisements of the BJP against Congress in Karnataka which goes to polls on May 12.

The committee restrained the media from airing or sharing the advertisements on the ground that they were violative of Election Commission guidelines. Karnataka is going for assembly elections on May 12.

It was acting on a complaint filed by MLC V S Ugrappa, on behalf the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, who had contended that the advertisements violated the election code of conduct. The Commissioner of the department of information and public" relations Harsha P S, in his order, banned airing of 'Jana Virodhi Sarkara' (anti-people government), Viphala Sarkara (failed government), both of 35 seconds duration, and 'Mooru Bhagya' (three fortunes) of 50 seconds.

The order said the video advertisements violated the Election Commission guidelines. The permission for these three visual advertisements was given to Ganesh Yaji, state office secretary of the BJP on April 22. Ugrappa in his complaint said the advertisements were also contrary to the provisions of Indian Penal Code as well as the Representation of People's Act. The complaint said, "Series of television advertisements" have also been published and broadcast across various TV" channels in Karnataka, which are absolutely false and" unverified claims amounting to further attacks on the" integrity and personal image of the chief minister."

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Congress seeks dismissal of MoS Ajay Mishra, arrest of his son for Lakhimpur violence

Not farmers, but people from various political parties behind Lakhimpur violence: BKS

Killing Raj going on in UP: Mamata on Lakhimpur Kheri violence

Vikas Shakya - A new dazzle in the realm of buzz world

Uttar Pradesh: 9 killed as van rams parked truck in Lakhimpur Kheri

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar

By Chennabasaveshwar

At least nine people were killed after a vehicle carrying 17 people rammed into a parked truck in Lakhimpur Kheri on Saturday. The police sent the bodies to the post-mortem. The incident took place on the National Highway 24 in Uchauliya, Pasgawan police station limits.

The injured have been rushed to a nearby hospital in Shahjahanpur, police said.

The driver of the Tata Magic van and the helper are among the nine people killed. The incident took place at around 6 AM. According to the police, driver Anup Awasthi, 25, and his helper Kishan, 23, died on the spot.

Efforts were underway to identify the deceased.

(With PTI inputs)Why Karnataka election is a battle between Modi, Siddaramaiah

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Oneindia Staff

Bengaluru, April 28: The upcoming Karnataka Assembly election is the "trailer" before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. As the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress have jumped into the battleground Karnataka--it is Prime Minister Narendra Modi and incumbent chief minister Siddaramaiah who are actually calling the shots.

As far as the roles of Congress president Rahul Gandhi and his BJP counterpart Amit Shah are concerned, both are the "deputy commanders" aptly assisting their "kings" in the upcoming elections. Now, where does BS Yeddyurappa, the BJP's chief ministerial candidate, fit into the whole game plan? If BJP sources are to be believed he is just the "face" which the party high command can replace anytime.

The elections to the 224-member Assembly in Karnataka are scheduled on May 12. The results will be declared on May 15.

PM Modi last visited the state in February. He is all set to be back in Karnataka with a "bang". Modi will start his campaign from May 1. Reports say he will be attending as many as 20 election rallies in a period of a few days in the southern state. Poll pundits believe that the BJP has deliberately kept Modi away from Karnataka in the past few weeks to have a greater impact of his presence and speeches among the voters. Modi is the trump card of the BJP and they want to use his time and energy judiciously during the campaign, said a political columnist.

There is a general belief that it is just a few days ahead of any elections when actually a lot of undecided voters could be influenced. The PM, known for his oratory skills, has in the past managed to change the decision of voters in favour of the BJP. A political analyst told us that Modi is expected to have a very high-voltage poll campaign where he will indulge in a no-holds-barred attack against the Congress.

Coming to Siddaramaiah, in spite of not being officially declared as the Congress' CM candidate, he is holding his fort strongly. While the opposition BJP and the Janata Dal (Secular) (JD(S)) are attacking the incumbent CM for contesting elections from two seats--Chamundeshwari and Badami--supporters of Siddaramaiah brush aside any predictions suggesting that he is going to lose in both the places.

"Rather it will help the Congress to gain votes as people in Badami, where the population of Dalits, tribals and backward castes are in good numbers, are happy that CM Siddaramaiah has chosen the constituency," claimed a Congress leader.

When asked if the Congress national leadership is playing safe by not naming Siddaramaiah as the CM candidate as it might lead to a strong backlash from other senior party leaders like G Parameshwara, the Congress leader said that it was futile to say what is "obvious".

"We are going to win the elections under the leadership of Siddaramaiah. All know Siddaramaiah will become the CM again. Do we need to say the obvious?" asked the Siddaramaiah loyalist.

Although there are camps within the Congress too, they are not as staunch as we get to see in the BJP, where most big leaders are fighting among each other and further diminishing Yeddyurappa's chances of becoming the CM again.

People close to Parameshwara, the chief of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), feel that the Dalit leader stands a fair amount of chances to become the CM if the Congress comes to power, he wins his seat from Koratagere constituency and Siddaramaiah loses at least one of his seats.

Apart from Parameshwara, there is hardly anyone in the Congress to stake claim to the CM's post (if the party wins). The leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha and Congress Member of Parliament Mallikarjun Kharge is unlikely to be back in Karnataka as he enjoys a good amount of clout in Delhi.

However, whether Siddaramaiah will become the next CM or not depends on the Congress' win in the elections.

On the other hand, PM Modi, whose government is facing a great deal of flak over multiple issues across the country, is looking at Karnataka for his redemption before the 2019 electoral battle.

All the troubling questions haunting both Modi and Siddaramaiah will be answered once the results will be declared. Till then, they will be extensively campaigning in Karnataka.After Macron, Merkel also touches upon Iran deal with Trump

International

oi-Shubham

By Shubham

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the second European leader to visit the US this week after France's Emmanuel Macron, said she would be in close touch with US President Donald Trump on the nuclear Iran deal which the latter has slammed and could scrap, reigniting the Tehran problem before the world, BBC reported.

The brief visit of Merkel that lasted a few hours did not have the star quotient of that of Macron, but Trump nevertheless termed her as an "extraordinary women" and congratulated her on her win in the recent German election. He also rubbished the reports that his relation with Merkel was low although it was for everybody to see that the two allies fell short of the expectations in renewing their relations after Barack Obama gave way to Trump at the Oval Office last year.

Merkel although said the 2015 accord on Iran was a "first step" towards preventing it from prossessing nuclear weapons, she also added that the deal was not sufficient to curb Tehran's nuclear ambitions completely. She said Europe and the US needed to be together on the issue.

May 12 is an important date on the issue since it is the deadline after which Trump would decide on resuming US sanctions on the West Asian country. Iran has also counter warned on its part, saying it could come up with expected and unexpected reactions if the US quit the deal. It even threatened to withdraw from the Non-Proliferation Treaty and come up with disastrous consequences.

An analysis in the BBC said neither Macron nor Merkel made visible progress on the Iran deal during their visits to the US. It said both the high-profile leaders conveyed to Trump the same message that the N-deal on Iran was working but not without flaws and it should be used as the stepping stone to contain Tehran's ambitions.

The analysis said the European allies of the US were buying time to persist with the ongoing negotiations to address Trump's grievances, many of which they also harbour.

Trade differences became evident

Merkel's visit to the US, however, brought to the fore the differences over trade. The chancellor hoped to convince Trump not to go ahead and impose tariffs on European steel and aluminum products - a move which could rattle Europe's top performing economy, as experts indicated recently.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Saturday, April 28, 2018, 13:07 [IST]Me too: No proof to prosecute Nana Patekar in Tanushree Dutta molestation case, say cops

Arrested J&K cop says was working on plan to eliminate terrorists: No evidence say officials

Mallya extradition: UK court admits all evidence given by CBI

International

oi-Staff

By Oneindia Staff Writer

A UK court has admitted the documentation filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation which is seeking the extradition of former liquor baron, Vijay Mallya. The documentation also details the facilities at the Arthur Road jail that would be provided to Mallya. Hearing in the case would resume on July 11.

Indian officials expressed happiness over the speed at which the case was progressing. They cited earlier cases that dragged for years and were eventually unsuccessful.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had discussed with UK Prime Minister Theresa May extradition cases of individuals sought by both countries during the former's visit to London earlier this in April month, with Modi mainly mentioning those of economic offenders such as Mallya.

Chief magistrate Emma Arbuthnot, who has described the Mallya case as a 'jigsaw puzzle', gave a ruling on the admissibility of over 150 pages of documents submitted by Indian agencies, setting out bank officials' statements on loans to Mallya.Modi-Xi meeting: India and China agree on cooperation on Afghanistan; can they?

International

oi-Shubham

By Shubham

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Wuhan in China's Hubei province on Saturday, April 28, saw them agreeing on undertaking a joint India-China economic project in Afghanistan, official sources said.

It was learnt that officials from both sides will identify the project following discussions. If the plan works out, it will be first such project in the war-ravaged South Asian country.

But how far can an India-China cooperation be successful in Afghanistan even if the two countries have been playing a major role in the uplift of the landlocked country which has virtually been politically and militarily bombed back to the Stone Age?

Afghanistan is home to what analysts say the new great game where a number of powers have found themselves increasingly involved with the West's failure to revive the country from the chaos which started with its 2001 invasion in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. As the US has gone on missing deadlines to see a complete pull-out from the country by transferring the responsibility of the security to its local forces, White House has only turned impatient and the result has been a steady deterioration of relations between the US and Pakistan - the country that matters most for giving peace a chance in Afghanistan.

West's debacle; US-Pak divide and China & Russia's interest in Afghanistan

The West's policy debacle in Afghanistan, its growing divide with Pakistan and also the rising influence of the Islamic State (IS) in Afghanistan have seen countries like India, China and Russia getting a bigger role to play. As the US has turned displeased with Pakistan over its failure to rein in terrorists taking shelter in its territory, the Donald Trump administration has sought India's bigger role in Afghanistan - almost to the extent of getting New Delhi as an alternative player to Islamabad.

This naturally angered Pakistan and made China, an ally of Pakistan which is trying to influence Afghanistan decisively, more relevant in the country's politics. Meanwhile, Pakistan also backed Russia, another power which is tacitly aiding the Taliban to keep the IS under check, in Afghanistan, completing the anti-West camp.

In this backdrop where India and China belong to two contradictory positions over Afghanistan, can a cooperative project between them really be achievable?

Indian & Chinese roles in Afghanistan

The roles of India and China in Afghanistan are as complicated as is their bilateral relations. China eyes to make Afghanistan a key component of its game-changing Belt & Road Initiative to fulfil global aspirations but India is among the vocal critics of the scheme for its China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) runs through the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir which makes New Delhi upset. India was also left out in some key multilateral meetings over Afghanistan where China and Pakistan were present though one can't deny the fact that India is one of those non-neighbours of Afghanistan who has made massive efforts for the reconstruction of the country through soft aid.

From the economic perspective, China cannot execute its plans in Afghanistan without taking India into confidence because New Delhi has been an integral member of the process of Afghanistan's revival. On the question of terrorism, too, the two economies have more common grounds than not.

But the real obstacle to a possible China-India cooperation in Afghanistan comes from the political point of view. The Taliban and Pakistan factors will not let the idea breathe easy. China has struggled to make Pakistan and Afghanistan, who also do not share good relations, repair their ties and put up a joint defence against the terror elements. The Quadrilateral Coordination Group comprising China, Afghanistan, Pakistan and the US hasn't made any.

China's contradictory stands on terror

Moreover, as Siegfried O Wolf, a researcher at University of Heidelberg's South Asia Institute told Germany-based Deutsche Welle media, China only wants to contain the Afghan crisis and not resolve it.

He said China indirectly encourages Pakistan to continue its backing for cross-border terrorism while at the same time, it also backs Islamabad's policy of fighting militants who could pose a threat to the CPEC. Also, Beijing's support for talks between Afghanistan government and Taliban makes it challenging for sides like the US and India to readily engage themselves in the peace process.

India, though softened its stand from 'zero support for Afghan government's talks with Taliban' in 2007 to 'support Afghan government's talks with Taliban but without compromise with terrorism' in 2018, yet the Modi government would be uncomfortable in finding itself in a direct link with the terrorist group.

Can India and China still cooperate in Afghanistan?Modi-Xi meeting in Wuhan: It is not about whether Modi succeeded or failed

International

oi-Shubham

By Shubham

A lot is being said and written about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ongoing informal talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the picturesque Wuhan city in central-eastern China's Hubei province. There is clearly no fence-sitting over this summit-level meeting as an equal number of people and establishments are against the thinking that it helps the two countries' strained relations much as those who consider it as a ground-breaking occasion.

The problem with the perception of India-China ties, particularly in India, is that people look it through the prisms of either good or bad. Analysts feel Modi is weakened after four years of rule and to regather his "56-inch chest", the prime minister needed to reassert his friendship with the Chinese. There are of course others who are of the viewpoint that Modi did great in handling China after the serious standoff the two countries' militaries had in Doklam Plateau last year.

Not individuals but contexts

The issue is not an individual here but the context in which India-China relations need to be seen. Our perception towards China is centred around the personality cult perhaps because we have still not overcome the devastating defeat Jawaharlal Nehru had suffered in the hands of Chinese in 1962. The situation today has no glimpse of similarity with that which existed 56 years ago but still in our public discourse, that narrative gets reconstructed again and again whenever an Indian leader meets with his Chinese counterpart anywhere on this planet.

India needs infrastructure, investment; China needs market

The crux of the matter is both India and China need each other. While India has a huge market to offer, it requires infrastructure and investment. China, on the other hand, needs markets to absorb its overgrown infrastructure and industries. There is a huge scope for the two big economies that also lie next to each other to heighten their cooperation and gain from it mutually. If India is looking east for its economic development, China is also aiming west for its own benefit.

Of all the land or maritime neighbours that China has, none equals India's economy (with the exception of Japan with which too China doesn't share a great tie) and this automatically makes India the foremost preference for the Chinese investors and industries to engage with.

For India, too, there is little point in going to countries in South-east Asia that are doing less well economically in the name of 'Act East Policy'. The only country which can help India benefit economically and especially its backward north-eastern parts in China. The stage is hence set for an unprecedented cooperation between the two Asian giants for years to come.

Economics doesn't find a space because of politics

But it doesn't happen. Why? Because our politics, which is more fed by geographical concerns that the economic possibilities, don't allow it to. Ever since the 1962 disaster, India's political elite has assumed a 'critical but cautious' role on China and the country's gradually growing hyper-nationalist media also found a suitable opponent in Beijing to boost their own commerce. The sum total of this meaningless demonisation of China (Vajpayee's defence minister George Fernandes had reportedly said once that not Pakistan but China is India's No.1 enemy) hasn't helped India and today, PM Modi has to mend the fences with Jinping to serve his own interests ahead of the litmus test of 2019.

Modi is a leader of a noisy democracy; Jinping of a 'stable' authoritarian regime

Before passing a judgment on whether Modi showed his weaker face in the Wuhan talks, we need to understand a basic reality. Modi leads a noisy and chaotic democracy wherein he has to earn electoral victories to extend his stay in power. He has to win wrist wars against a 'deaf' opposition and a 'blind' media and the 'inadequately informed' common man while aspiring for a long stay in power and take the relationship with China forward.

Jinping, on the other hand, is a lifetime leader of an authoritarian system where only one party exists with zero resistance from any quarter. This non-democracy makes China's policies more solid and stable and they would be pursued over a long time. China is little concerned over the fact whether the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) runs through India's territory or not because it is only concerned about its economic interests. For India, this question of the transgression of its sovereignty is sensitive - all the more because it is a democracy. We have heard Congress chief Rahul Gandhi mocking a "tense-looking Modi" in Wuhan in the wake of Doklam and CPEC which suggests how difficult it can be for Modi in determining his course of foreign policy-making, especially against China which the Indian political establishment perceives as an enemy and not a frenemy as many analysts see it. This 'democracy vis-a-vis a non-democracy' thing undeniably makes Modi the weaker opponent.

It is good to see Modi and Jinping meeting each other regularly despite the odd problems at the borders. It gives enough hints that China is interested in India and doesn't really write us off as an unworthy rival. This consideration comes from the fact that Beijing sees things today through the prism of the economy and not the 1962 war which India still does.

India's political leadership might continue to meet its Chinese counterpart on more occasions in the near future but to change the scenario of buying small peace to one of sustainable friendship marked by whole-hearted economic cooperation, the perception towards China has to change.

Our leaders need not rush to China to save their election days but continue to cultivate the age-old relation with the northern neighbour for all-weather returns. Individual leadership doesn't matter but the continuity though it is a far difficult task to accomplish in a democracy than in an authoritarian regime.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.



This mosaic of cloud-free images from the Copernicus Sentinel-3A satellite spans the entire continent of Europe, and more.

The view stretches from Iceland in the northwest across to Scandinavia and Russia in the northeast, and from the northern tips of Norway and Finland to as far south as Algeria, Libya and Egypt.

While the satellite's ocean and land colour instrument depicts the green of summer in many parts of Europe, the dryness that summer brings, particularly to the south, can also be seen in parts of Spain, Italy and Turkey, for example.

This week, aerospace fans have had their eyes firmly set on the ILA Berlin Air Show in Germany. Berlin lies in the centre of the image. Here, participants have been learning about new space technologies as well as being treated to latest results from satellite missions such as ESA's Gaia, which has been used to chart the position, brightness and motion of more than a billion stars. With the second Sentinel-3 satellite, Sentinel-3B, lifting off from Russia this week, the focus has also been this latest Copernicus mission.

Like Gaia maps stars thousands of light-years away to understand the Universe, the Sentinel-3 mission observes our home planet to understand large-scale environmental dynamics. Based on a constellation of two identical satellites, the Sentinel-3 mission carries a suite of instruments to measure our oceans, land and ice.

Over land, this innovative mission is being used to map the way land is used, provide indices of vegetation, monitor wildfires and measure the height of rivers and lakes. Over oceans it measures the temperature, colour and height of the sea surface as well as the thickness of sea ice.

The image, which is made up of scenes captured between 1 March 2017 and 30 July 2017, is also featured on the Earth from Space video programme.

- Download the full high-resolution image.

Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook.The six Expedition 55 crew members are not only space scientists but also space plumbers who periodically work on the International Space Station's toilet.

Aside from today's science and bathroom work, the crew also installed computer networking gear and inspected spacewalk equipment.

Drew Feustel, who began his career as an auto mechanic, studied to become a geophysicist and finally trained as a NASA astronaut, became a space plumber this morning. U.S. Navy Captain Scott Tingle of NASA brought Feustel up to speed on maintenance operations inside the bathroom, also known as the Waste and Hygiene Compartment, before updating its software and firmware.

NASA astronaut Ricky Arnold, who is on his second space mission, first as a space shuttle mission specialist and now as a station flight engineer, replaced a failed device inside the Human Research Facility-2 (HRF-2) today. The spare Rack Interface Controller controls various systems inside the HRF-2 which evaluates the physiological, behavioral, and chemical changes that take place in humans living in space.

Next, Feustel moved on to the Protein Crystal Growth-9 experiment with assistance from Japanese astronaut Norishige Kanai. The duo photographed and videotaped crystal samples grown for the middle and high school student-based research.

Feustel wrapped up his day installing firewalls, power supplies and cables providing additional computer security aboard the orbital lab. Kanai inspected spacewalk tethers and tools for damage before wearing an arm monitor that will analyze how microgravity has altered his circadian rhythms.

On-Orbit Status Report

Human Research Facility-2 (HRF-2) B-Rack Interface Controller Install: Today the crew installed the new BRIC into the HRF-2 rack to resolve Rack Interface Controller (RIC) issues that started back on March 25th. Following the installation, the ground attempted activation but was not able to establish communication with the High Rate Link Card (HRLC) within the BRIC. A power cycle of the rack and a restart of the bootloader were performed in an attempt to establish communication with the HRLC card, but were unsuccessful. The crew reconnected the HRF1 and HRF2 Portable Computers (PC)s back into the previous configuration to aid in further troubleshooting. Two subsequent reboots of the RIC bootloader recovered the HRLC, and HRF has been recovered to a normal state and software loads are in process. The next planned operations for the HRF2 rack are on May 14th.

Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) Protein Crystal Growth (PCG)-9: The crew removed PCG-9 sample bags containing Copper Sulfate from a Minus Eighty Degree Celsius Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) and checked them for crystal growth. Since one of the bags contained no crystal growth the crew reprocessed that bag and returned all of the sample bags to the MELFI for additional growth time. These were the same sample bags that previously had shown no observed crystal growth. If crystals are observed today in the sample bags, they will be photographed and water extracted prior to the samples being returned to the MELFI. The Wisconsin Crystal Growing Contest-Wisconsin Space Crystal Mission (CASIS PCG 9) investigation provides student researchers the opportunity to explore crystal growth in the microgravity environment of the ISS. Crystals grown without the influence of gravity have shown to contain fewer imperfections and grow to larger sizes. Middle and high school students compete to grow the most perfect ground-based crystal, as judged by experts in the crystallography field. The students who present the crystals with the fewest imperfections have the opportunity to fly their experiments to the space station.

Circadian Rhythms: Today, a crewmember began a Circadian Rhythms experiment session by configuring the armband monitor and donning the watch and Thermolab double sensors, which will be worn for the next 36 hours. The objective of the experiment is to get a better understanding of any alterations in circadian rhythms in humans during long-term space flights. Such knowledge will not only provide important insights into the adaptations of the human autonomic nervous system in space over time, but also has significant practical implications by helping to improve physical exercise, rest- and work shifts as well as fostering adequate workplace illumination in the sense of occupational healthcare in future space missions.

Waste and Hygiene Compartment (WHC) Pre-Treat Tank [E-K] Remove and Replace (R&R): As part of USOS crew handover, a 53S crewmember familiarized a 54S crewmember with this regularly scheduled maintenance activity. The crew routinely R&Rs the E-K tank as part of nominal WHC preventative maintenance. Each tank contains five liters of pre-treat solution, a mix of acid, chromium oxide, and water, used for toilet flushing and required for nominal WHC operation.

Joint Station LAN (JSL) Firewall Install in NODE 2 (N2): Today the crew installed the second set of hardware JSL firewalls, power supplies, and networking cabling in N2 in preparation for the upcoming JSLv11 transition. These firewalls will provide additional security to ISS computer assets and facilitate smoother integration of Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) hardware into the ISS JSL network.

Regen Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) 6.3 Software Update: Today the crew deployed a Space Station Computer (SSC) and prepared the UPA for a ground commanded upload of new software and firmware. Following the update, the UPA was powered-up and controllers updated necessary software parameters. UPA was confirmed operational after the update.

Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Tether and Bag Inspection: Today the crew inspected for damaged cords on equipment tethers and tools with integral tethers. They also inspected rivets on all EVA bags required for the upcoming EVAs. Each tether and bag must be inspected prior to EVA use in order to prevent loss of hardware and liberation of Foreign Object Debris (FOD).

Today's Planned Activities

All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.

Hematocrit Test

FAZOPEREKHOD. Preparation steps and starting the experiment

ISL Ethernel Cable swap of the AstroPi Vis in COL

Configuration following Water Processing Assembly (WPA) Activation

24-hour ECG Recording (start)

Powering up of AstroPi Vis in Columbus

SPHERES Rechargeable Battery Install

Waste and Hygiene Compartment (WHC) Pre-Treat Tank Remove &

HRF2 BRIC Retrieve

24-hour Blood Pressure Recording (start)

Cleanup HRF-2 rotation path

Verification of -1 Flow Sensor Position

High Definition (HD) Config LAB Setup

HRF2 Troubleshoot Disconnect

IMS Update

Replacement of - in -2

Crew Prep for PAO

COL1A4 HRF2 Rack Rotate Down

TV-Conference with the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation (Ku + S-band)

Retrieval of PCG-9 Hardware from MELFI

SPHERES Rechargeable Battery Charge and Stow

Second Inspection of Sample Bags for Crystal Growth - Rerun of GMT 108

HRF2 BRIC Change

FAZOPEREKHOD. Closeout Ops

Extraction of Liquid from Sample Bags and Association Photos - Rerun of GMT 108 [Deferred]

Interest Photos and Recorded Video for Downlink

ABOUT GAGARIN FROM SPACE. HAM Radio Session with the Artek tour campers

Regen Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) 6.3 Setup

DAN. Experiment Session

Lab Light Connector Capping

COL1A4 HRF2 Rack Rotate Up

Medical Consumables Tracking Battery Change-out

MATRYOSHKA-R. Replacing Personal Hygiene Items () in the Bottom Store of the Protective Screen Experimental Hardware (middle left, middle right, and upper) and photography in the starboard crew quarters

Recovery of Condensate Feed Unit ()

MERLIN Desiccant Swap

Regen Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) 6.3 Initiation

Columbus Bay 4 Restore

Public Affairs Office (PAO) Event in High Definition (HD) - Lab

Filling (separation) of  () for Elektron or -

Multi-use Variable-g Platform Desiccant Replace

SPHERES Rechargeable Battery Charge and Stow

Regen Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) 6.3 Teardown

 Maintenance

US Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Tether Inspection

Oxygen Generation System (OGS) Oxygen ORU Flight Support Equipment (FSE) Removal

US Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Tether and CL Bag Inspection

Joint Station Lan (JSL) Firewall Install in NODE 2

SPHERES Rechargeable Battery Charge and Stow

Checking -2 treadmill carriage position

Downlink via RSPI of audio files recorded by acoustic logger during Soyuz 738 flight

Circadian Rhythms Instrumentation with Armband

SPHERES Rechargeable Battery Charge and Stow

Completed Task List Activities

Vacuum Debris Bag R&R Label Attachment

Ground Activities

All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.

N2 Atmospheric Control System (ACS) nitrogen leak check

UPA 6.3 Software update

PVTCS Pump swaps on all channels

HRF2 RICS Load update commanding [Deferred]

Three-Day Look Ahead:

Wednesday, 04/25: Veggie Ponds Exp, Dragon cargo ops, ETVCG teardown, Mouse Stress Defense

Thursday, 04/26: Node 3 LTL PPA R&R, SM 8.10 TBM and  SW loads, WRM water balance, EVA preps (EMU swap, EMU water dump), locker reconfig, Dragon Cargo Ops, Dragon LiOH install, Meteor hard drive swap, Mouse Stress Defense, Circadian Rhythms.

Friday, 04/27: N3 EWCS installation, Dragon cargo ops, N3 MCA Maintenance, CUCU checkout, MISSE MTT removal and stow, JEM camera robot checkout, JEMAL Ops: MISSE-TT Removal 7 JEM active mechanism install, Dust sample collection, Crew Qtrs RAM retrieval, Tango Lab-1 card 1 removal.

QUICK ISS Status - Environmental Control Group:

Component - Status

Elektron - On

Vozdukh - Manual

[] 1 - SM Air Conditioner System ("SKV1") - Off

[] 2 - SM Air Conditioner System ("SKV2") - Off

Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Lab - Operate

Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Node 3 - Standby

Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Lab - Operate

Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Node 3 - Standby

Oxygen Generation Assembly (OGA) - Process

Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) - Process

Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab - Full Up

Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3 - Off

Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook.NASA astronauts Drew Feustel and Scott Tingle are at work inside the U.S. Destiny laboratory module. Feustel works on routing and installing ethernet cables throughout the International Space Station. Tingle conducts research for the Metabolic Tracking experiment inside the lab module's Microgravity Science Glovebox. Credit: NASA.

A wide variety of life science is being explored today aboard the International Space Station as Expedition 55 crew members prepare for a spacewalk planned for next month.

The space residents also continued the upkeep of the orbital lab while robotics controllers set up an external experiment.

Japanese astronaut Norishige Kanai split his time today between tending mice and removing sensors attached to his arm. The rodents are being observed to detect the chemical signals that lead to muscle and bone loss in space and to provide therapies to keep astronauts healthy. Kanai also removed an armband monitor and sensors he wore for 36 hours that recorded alterations in his circadian rhythm caused by living in space.

Flight Engineers Ricky Arnold and Drew Feustel are getting ready for a May 16 spacewalk to swap out thermal control gear that circulates ammonia to keep station systems cool. The duo readied their spacewalk tools today then dumped water and purged gases from a pair of U.S. spacesuits.

Scott Tingle of NASA worked inside the Harmony module today to replace a deteriorating Pump Package Assembly (PPA) with a spare device. The PPA is a thermal control system that provides water cooling to station payloads and critical systems avionics.

Science is also taking place outside the space station and robotics controllers are working to transfer a tray for the materials exposure experiment (MISSE-FF) outside of the Kibo lab module through the lab's airlock for reconfiguration tomorrow. The complex robotic maneuvers are remotely controlled from the ground and use not only the Canadarm2 robotic arm but also the fine-tuning robotic hand known as Dextre. MISSE-FF will test materials, coatings, and components in the harsh environment of space.

Also, overnight, Russian flight controllers sent commands to deorbit the unpiloted ISS Progress 68 cargo craft that had been orbiting for the past month for engineering test following its undocking from the station March 28. It burned up harmlessly in the Earth's atmosphere over the southern Pacific.

On-Orbit Status Report

NanoRacks Module-66: The crew removed NanoRacks Module-66 from the NanoRacks Platform-1 today for return on the SpaceX-14 vehicle. This investigation examines fibril formation and beta amyloid peptides in microgravity using a fluorescence spectrometer. Alzheimer's disease, an irreversible neurodegenerative process, is characterized by formation of neurofibrillary tangles of tau protein and plaques, or clumps of amyloid beta peptide, that kill brain cells. Research suggests that an intermediate stage in fibril formation is ten times more toxic and may play a greater role in cell death and development of Alzheimer's disease. Results from this investigation could help identify a means to slow down the rate at which Alzheimer's disease affects the brain or to eliminate toxic effects of the beta amyloid peptides.

Vascular Echo Mobil-O-Graph (MOG): The crew configured the MOG with the European Physiology Modules (EPM) laptop to prepare for future use of the MOG during 24-hour Vascular Echo blood pressure monitoring sessions. The MOG is an ambulatory blood pressure and pulse wave analysis monitoring and recording system that doesn't interfere with other crew activities or sleep. The aim is to measure and quantify cardiac and vascular structural and functional changes during 6 months of spaceflight and up to one year of recovery. At the start of a session, the crewmember will connect the MOG to the EPM laptop, set up the MOG, and don the device for 24 hours.

Circadian Rhythms: A crewmember completed a Circadian Rhythms experiment session today and removed the armband monitor, watch and Thermolab double sensors, which were worn for 36 hours. The objective of the experiment is to get a better understanding of any alterations in circadian rhythms in humans during long-term space flights. Such knowledge will not only provide important insights into the adaptations of the human autonomic nervous system in space over time, but also has significant practical implications by helping to improve physical exercise, rest- and work shifts as well as fostering adequate workplace illumination in the sense of occupational healthcare in future space missions.

Meteor: The crew replacde the hard drive in the Meteor laptop today. The Meteor payload is a visible spectroscopy instrument used to observe meteors in Earth orbit. Meteor uses image analysis to provide information on the physical and chemical properties of the meteoroid dust, such as size, density, and chemical composition. Since the parent comets or asteroids for most of the meteor showers are identified, the study of the meteoroid dust on orbit provides information about the parent comets and asteroids.

TangoLab-1: The crew removed a card containing experiment cubes from the TangoLab-1 facility today. The TangoLab-1 locker is a reconfigurable general research facility designed for microgravity research and development and pilot manufacturing on the ISS.

Service Module Release 8.10 (SM 8.10): Overnight ground specialists in Moscow performed a update to the Russian Segment Service Module (SM) software. This update will allow for the integration of the new Russian Ku-band radio system called  (Broadband Communication System). The update also integrates the new US crew vehicles and adds the capability for performing Optimal Propellant attitude Maneuvers (OPM) under Russian segment control.

Node 3 Low Temperature Loop (LTL) Pump Package Assembly (PPA) R&R: Today the crew completed an R&R of the Node 3 Low Temperature Loop (LTL) Pump Package Assembly (PPA). This PPA was experiencing sudden drops in impeller speed when set to the higher speed needed to support an Internal Active Thermal Control System (IATCS) single loop configuration. Engineering teams determined that the PPA was deteriorating and needed to be replaced with an available spare. There are two of these pumps installed in the US Lab, Node 2 and Node 3 modules which provide water cooling to payloads and critical systems avionics.

Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Preparations: Today the crew swapped out Extravehicular Mobility Units (EMU) on the EMU Don/Doff Assembly (EDDA) to perform an annual dump and fill of the Portable Life Support System (PLSS) water tank with iodinated water. This is required to protect the EMU water systems which are sensitive to contamination. The crew also gathered and configured tools and equipment required for the upcoming US EVA PFCS Relocate currently planned on 16-May.

Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) operations: Today ground robotics controllers used the SSRMS to install the Materials Transfer Tray (MTT) onto the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) ORU Transfer Interface (JOTI). JOTI was retracted into the JEM Airlock where it will remain until tomorrow morning for thermal conditioning. The crew is scheduled to remove the MTT from the slide table tomorrow.

Today's Planned Activities

All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.

Mouse Stress Defense Item Gathering

TangoLab-1 Card Cube Remove

Activation of Vozdukh Atmosphere Purification System [] (mode 3)

Circadian Rhythms Deinstrumentation w. Armband

Video Recording of Greetings

Meteor Hard Drive Swapout

XF305 Camcorder Setup

Mouse Stress Defense Cage Maintenance

Regenerative Environmental Control and Life Support System (RGN) Wastewater Storage Tank Assembly (WSTA) Fill [Aborted]

SPLANKH. Termination of EGEG Recording and Closeout Ops(Stow kits Splankh-1.Device and Splankh-1. Consumables in 1_2_224_1, 0.5 CTB No.1299 (010480J))

Nikon still camera sync with station time

ISS HAM Service Module Pass

Node 3 Endcone Stowage Cleanout in prep for the Node 3 Low Temperature Loop (LTL) Pump Package Assembly (PPA) R&R

Mouse Stress Defense Transportation Cage Unit Spare Cage Replace [Aborted]

COSMOCARD. Preparing for and Starting 24-hr ECG Recording

NanoRacks Platform-1 Modules Removal

FAZOPEREKHOD. Preparation steps and starting the experiment

Airlock Rack Topology

Public Affairs Office (PAO) High Definition (HD) Config JEM Setup

PAO Preparation

Removal of Gamma-1M, Setup of KMA-01 Medical Hardware Facility and KMA-TM telemetry adapter. -01 Test Activation

VIZIR.  Battery Charge

Public Affairs Office (PAO) Event in High Definition (HD) - JEM

 Reconfiguration in MRM1

SEPARATION. Activation of the 3rd distillation

JEM Ethernet Extender Internal Activation

SM air sampling for CO using  samplers

JEM Ethernet Extender Internal Deactivation

Node 3 Camcorder Setup

 Air Sample Collection for Ammonia in SM

Node 3 Low Temperature Loop (LTL) Pump Package Assembly (PPA) Removal

Collecting SM and FGB Air Samples Using -1 Sampler

SM Air Sampling for FREON Using -1 Sampler

 Maintenance

Lab Rack Topology

Node 2 Rack Topology

Circadian Rhythms Deinstrumentation w. Armband

SEPARATION. Activation of the 4th distillation

Transferring Node 3 Pump Package Assemblies (PPAs) to Node 2 Maintenance Work Area (MWA)

Node 3 Pump Package Assembly (PPA) Gas Trap Assembly Removal and Replacement (R&R)

FAZOPEREKHOD. Closeout Ops

Circadian Rhythms Downlink

Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Tool Configuration

Microgravity Measurement Apparatus (MMA) Laptop Terminal 2 (MLT2) Hard Disk Drive (HDD) Exchange 2

Node 3 Pump Package Assembly (PPA) Fine Filter Removal and Replacement (R&R)

Transferring Node 3 Pump Package Assembly (PPA) to Node 3 Port Alcove

Node 3 Low Temperature Loop (LTL) Pump Package Assembly (PPA) Installation

IMS Update

Circadian Rhythms Armband Stow

CONTENT. Experiment Ops

Dragon Lithium Hydroxide (LiOH) Filter Bag Installation

FAZOPEREKHOD. Preparation steps and starting the experiment

VIZIR.  Battery Charge

SEPARATION. Removal of - and Downlink of Zipped File

Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Swap

Node 3 Camcorder Deactivation

Stow hardware and tools for Node 3 Low Temperature Loop (LTL) Pump Package Assembly (PPA) remove and replace (R&R)

Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Full Water Tank Dump and Fill

Node 3 Endcone Stowage Replace post- Node 3 Low Temperature Loop (LTL) Pump Package Assembly (PPA) R&R.

SEPARATION. Sampling of collected water

Surface Pro 3 Stow

Comm reconfig for nominal ops

Mobil-O-Graph EPM Laptop Setup

Node 1 Rack Topology

EPM Laptop settings change

Dragon Locker Install

Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Swap [Deferred]

FAZOPEREKHOD. Closeout Ops

Completed Task List Activities

None

Ground Activities

All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.

Node 3 LTL PPA checkout post R&R

SSRMS MT Translate and install the MTT in the JOTI

Nominal Ground Commanding

Three-Day Look Ahead:

Friday, 04/27: N3 EWCS installation, Dragon Cargo Ops, N3 MCA ORU Removals, CUCU checkout, MISSE MTT Removal and Stow, JEM Camera Robot Checkout, Tangolab Card Swap, and RMCT/SPDM Stow for walkoff.

Saturday, 04/28: Housekeeping, DUST Sample Collection, SSRMS walkoff to Node 2 PDGF, Edge Router to BRI Troubleshooting, and Crew Off Duty

Sunday, 04/29: Crew Off Duty

QUICK ISS Status - Environmental Control Group:

Component - Status

Elektron - On

Vozdukh - Manual

[] 1 - SM Air Conditioner System ("SKV1") - Off

[] 2 - SM Air Conditioner System ("SKV2") - On

Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Lab - Operate

Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Node 3 - Standby

Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Lab - Operate

Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Node 3 - Standby

Oxygen Generation Assembly (OGA) - Process

Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) - Reprocess

Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab - Full Up

Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3 - Off

Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook.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 Greg Palast Website



Mom and journalist 1953

(Image by Greg Palast) Details DMCA



My mom died Monday night. 96 years old. She lived a fierce and happy life in a horrible century. She said, "I married the man I love and had two wonderful children. I'm ready." May we all be so blessed.

Mom was the first woman to enlist in the Coast Guard in World War II. She was a union rights activist (SEIU) and a teacher until the age of 80. In 1988, she led the San Diego Democratic Delegation to the party's convention -- and directed pickets around the Marriott Atlanta to stop delegates from breaking the janitor's strike.

In 2004, Mom and Dad (Gil Palast, 1921-2010) received Activist San Diego's "Lifetime Activist Achievement Award" at the People's Counter-Inaugural Ball.

On Friday at 11am, Mom will be memorialized at Miramar Military Cemetery. My father, who gave away his combat medals to protest the War in Vietnam, will have his ashes interred beside her; each will be received by a full military color guard.

Mom taught us how to make noise, make trouble and make a difference -- in our little tract home in San Fernando Valley, a home filled with extraordinary idealism, humor, confidence, caring and love.

In lieu of flowers, she requested donations to the Palast Fund to support our fellowships. However, if you live in the San Diego area, please send your donations to her organization and its radio station, KNSJ (the Network for Social Justice) at KNSJ.org.

There will be a remembrance of mom's life this Tuesday, May 1, at the San Diego premiere of my updated film, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy: The Case of the Stolen Election, in which mom and dad star (or at least, have the funniest cameo). It's a fundraiser for KNSJ.org. All are invited to The Joan B. Kroc Theater, 5998 Alcala Park, San Diego, CA 92110. Admission is FREE.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 Consortium News

After a video of the arrest of two African-American men sitting in Starbucks without buying anything went viral, Starbucks scheduled anti-racism training. But their inclusion of the Anti-Defamation League in the training provoked another outcry and Starbucks capitulated.

On April 12, Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson were arrested for trespassing at a Philadelphia Starbucks. A manager called the police because the men, who had been in the coffee shop for just a few minutes, hadn't bought anything.

Melissa DePino, a Starbucks customer who recorded the video of the arrest that went viral on social media, said, "These guys never raised their voices. They never did anything remotely aggressive ... I was sitting close to where they were. Very close. They were not doing anything. They weren't."

In an attempt to avert a public relations disaster after the racist incident became public, Starbucks announced it would close most of its 8,000 locations on May 29 for racial bias training.

But, adding insult to injury, Starbucks included the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), with its notorious history of racism, as a primary participant in the anti-racism training.

Community outrage at ADL's central role in the training was swift and strong. Starbucks demoted ADL to a consulting role, and named representatives of three prominent African-American-led civil rights organizations to lead the training.

ADL: "Anti-Muslim, Anti-Palestinian, Anti-Black and Anti-Activist"

After Starbucks had initially announced the composition of its anti-racism trainers, there was a powerful backlash in the civil rights community against ADL's leadership role.

Tamika Mallory, co-chair of the Women's March and Black Lives Matter, called for a boycott of Starbucks. Mallory, a nationally prominent organizer for gun control and women's rights, and against police violence, is the 2018 recipient of the Coretta Scott King Legacy Award.

Mallory tweeted that Starbucks "is NOT serious about doing right by BLACK people!" because of the prominent role it gave ADL, which "is CONSTANTLY attacking black and brown people."

Cat Brooks, co-founder of the Anti Police-Terror Project, said she agrees with Mallory. "You can't be a piece of an anti-bias training when you openly support a racist, oppressive and brutal colonization of Palestine."

Linda Sarsour, also co-chair of the Women's March, wrote on Facebook that ADL is "an anti-Arab, anti-Palestinian organization that peddles Islamophobia and attacks America's prominent Muslim orgs and activists and supports/sponsors US law enforcement agents to travel and get trained by Israeli military."

Palestinian-American comedian, activist and professor Amer Zahr grew up in Philadelphia. Zahr told this reporter that ADL and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) "were the architects of the anti-Arab and anti-Islamic industry in America for the last 50 to 60 years."

Next Page 1 | 2 | 3

(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).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 WSWS



Mike Pompeo ready to tackle Trump's agenda as new secretary of state

(Image by YouTube, Channel: CBS News) Details DMCA



Former Congressman and CIA Director Mike Pompeo was confirmed Thursday afternoon by the US Senate to be secretary of state. The former Army tank commander, a supporter of torture and unlimited domestic spying, will now hold the top position in the Trump cabinet, as well as being fourth in line of succession to the presidency.

The installation of Pompeo as head of the State Department in place of Rex Tillerson follows President Trump's replacement of Gen. H. R. McMaster with former Bush administration official and Iraq War conspirator John Bolton as national security adviser. Both Pompeo and Bolton have called for war against Iran and North Korea. They form a new foreign policy team that is even more reckless than the preceding one. Their installation signals an accelerated drive to a wider war in the Middle East and military conflict with Russia and China.

Pompeo embodies the link between imperialist war-mongering and political repression within the United States. He has defended waterboarding and the Bush administration's CIA torture program. In a speech last year he called WikiLeaks a "non-state hostile intelligence service." He has called for the trial and execution of whistleblower Edward Snowden and advocates an expansion of the National Security Agency's illegal mass surveillance program.

Pompeo was immediately sworn in by ultra-right Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito. The new secretary of state boarded a plane to fly overnight to Brussels, where he will represent the US government at a NATO foreign ministers conference. This assemblage will discuss actions against Russia over the false charges of poisoning a former British double agent, Sergei Skripal, as well as Russian support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose regime was the target of US, French and British missile strikes earlier this month.

Russia and Syria are only two of a series of impending confrontations in which Pompeo will play a central role:

On May 12, President Trump is expected to formally disavow the Iran nuclear agreement, putting the US on a collision course both with Iran and the five other countries that signed the deal, to which Iran has scrupulously adhered.

On May 14, the State Department, which Pompeo now heads, will officially transfer the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a deliberate provocation against the Palestinian population of the West Bank and Gaza, which regards East Jerusalem as its historical capital.

On May 20, Venezuela holds its presidential election. The State Department is expected to denounce the predicted victory of incumbent Nicholas Maduro and declare the election fraudulent, setting the stage for economic sanctions or even a boycott of Venezuela's oil exports by the US, its largest customer.

In late May or early June, Trump is to hold the summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, which was prepared by Pompeo's secret visit to Pyongyang earlier this month. In the event that the summit is called off, or breaks up without progress, the US government will accelerate its plans for a military strike against North Korean missile and nuclear test sites or an attack against the regime as a whole.

The Senate approved Pompeo's nomination by a vote of 57-42, with six Democrats and one independent who caucuses with the Democrats supporting him. But the role of the Democrats was far more important than these numbers might suggest. Without the support of Democrats at key moments, Pompeo's confirmation was in serious question.

After his appearance before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee April 12, where he adopted the posture of a "moderate," foreswearing his past record of warmongering against Iran and North Korea, Senate vote counters found that his nomination was in danger of being defeated.

With Republicans holding only a narrow 51-49 margin and Senator John McCain absent due to brain cancer, libertarian Rand Paul of Kentucky threatened to tip the balance against Pompeo, declaring he would oppose the CIA director because of his well-publicized defense of torture. If Paul joined 49 Democrats in opposing Pompeo, the nomination would fail by a vote of 50-49.

At this critical point, on Friday, April 20, Democratic Senator Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota announced that she would support Pompeo's nomination as secretary of state, thus assuring the 50 votes needed for confirmation. On Monday, April 23, two more right-wing Democrats, Joe Donnelly of Indiana and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, followed suit.

With the nomination assured, Rand Paul dropped his token opposition and announced that he too would vote to confirm. Pompeo actually won a slightly larger majority than his predecessor Tillerson, who was confirmed by a margin of 56 to 43.

Next Page 1 | 2

(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).Verizon IndyCars James Hinchcliffe and harness driver John DeLong won Hoosier Park Racing & Casinos first-ever IndyCar celebrity horse race for charity on Friday, April 27.

Hinchcliffe accepted a $1,500 cheque for his charity, International Waldenstroms Macroglobulinemia Foundation. A $500 cheque was presented to the remaining drivers charities.

The charity race, coined "Celebs in the Sulky," began at 6 p.m. and was sponsored by FLAT 12 Bierwerks. Four IndyCar and harness driver duos competed wire-to-wire on Hoosier Parks seven-eighths-mile track.

The race results are as follows:

First Place: James Hinchcliffe  with John DeLong for International Waldenstroms Macroglobulinemia Foundation

Second Place: Robert Wickens  with Ricky Macomber for Make A Wish America

Third Place: Alexander Rossi  with Sam Widger for Find Your Grind Foundation

Fourth Place: Zach Veach  with Trace Tetrick for Riley Childrens Foundation

Celebs in the Sulky charity race winner James Hinchcliffe with John DeLong. (Hoosier Park)

I have to compare it to a funny car, because in a funny car theres this giant explosive thing right in front of you. Its a little nerve-wracking, said Hinchcliffe.

I have to give a lot of respect for the animals, and what they feel. Ive watched a lot of horse races, but never harness. To see how their bodies move...it was pretty awesome, Rossi noted.

Celebs in the Sulky charity race participant Alexander Rossi with Sam Widger. (Hoosier Park)

The race was followed by a public autograph session with the drivers. Race fans all across Central Indiana came out for the event.

We are honoured to have these four world-famous Verizon IndyCar drivers compete for charity on Hoosier Parks oval of speed, said Rick Moore, Hoosier Parks vice president and general manager of racing. Along with being outstanding representatives of their sport, they are incredible advocates for their causes. We certainly hope to make this a tradition in celebration of the Indianapolis 500.

Each of the four celebrity drivers will compete in this years Indianapolis 500, held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 27. For more information about the Verizon IndyCar Series, visit indycar.com.

About the Verizon IndyCar Drivers:

Driver of the No. 5 Arrow Electronics Honda for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, James Hinchcliffe was paired with John DeLong, racing on behalf of International Waldenstroms Macroglobulinemia Foundation.

Robert Wickens, driver of the No. 6 Lucas Oil Honda for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports raced in the sulky with Ricky Macomber. Wickens supports the Make A Wish America organization.

Representing Find Your Grind Foundation, Alexander Rossi, driver of the No. 27 NAPA AUTO PARTS Honda for Andretti Autosport, was paired with sulky driver Sam Widger.

Indianapolis resident and driver of the No. 26 Group One Thousand One Honda for Andretti Autosport, Zach Veach raced for Riley Childrens Foundation, alongside Hoosier Parks Trace Tetrick.

(With files from Hoosier Park)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 Gush Shalom



Levi Eshkol served as the third Prime Minister of Israel from 1963 until his death from a heart attack in 1969.

(Image by YouTube, Channel: Audiopedia) Details DMCA



ON THE fifth day of the six-day war in 1967, I published an open letter to the Prime Minister, Levy Eshkol. The Israeli army had just conquered the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, and I proposed that Eshkol immediately offer the Palestinian people to establish the State of Palestine there, in return for peace with Israel.

I was a Member of the Knesset at the time. Two days after the end of the war, Eshkol asked me to meet him in his office in the Knesset building.

He listened to what I had to say, and then he answered with a fatherly smile: "Uri, what kind of a trader are you? In a negotiation, one offers the minimum and demands the maximum. Then one starts to negotiate, and in the end one reaches an agreement somewhere in the middle. And here you want to offer everything before the negotiation even starts?"

I objected feebly that this may be true about an ordinary deal, but not when the fate of nations is concerned.

(The Trade Minister, Haim Zadok, a very clever lawyer, soon gave me another lesson in the Zionist mentality. I asked him what part of the newly occupied territories the government was ready to give back. He replied: "Simple. If possible, we shall give back nothing. If they press us, we shall give back a small part. If they press us more, we shall give back a large part. If they press us very hard, we shall give back everything." At the time, giving back meant giving back to the King of Jordan.)

There was no effective pressure, so Israel kept everything.

I REMEMBERED this episode when I watched the second episode of Raviv Drucker's outstanding TV series about Israel's past Prime Ministers. After Ben-Gurion came Levy Eshkol.

Drucker portrays Eshkol as a nice and bumbling politician, a weak person who happened to be in office when the most fateful war broke out with results that have shaped our destiny to this very day. Little Israel became a regional power, with large occupied territories north, east and west. Eshkol was pushed around by his rebellious generals, made decisions against his will under duress. So Israel's present situation was shaped almost by accident.

All Drucker's facts are scrupulously correct, and like the chapter about Ben-Gurion, this one, too, is full of new disclosures, new even to me.

Yet I think that Drucker's characterization of Eshkol is not completely accurate. True, Eshkol was an amiable person, modest and moderate, but underneath it all there was a hard core, an obstinate belief in the Zionist ideology.

Before becoming Prime Minister by the general consent of the Labor Party, when Ben-Gurion had become intolerable and was kicked out, Eshkol was in charge of settlements. His determination to settle Jews on the land owned by Arabs was unshakable.

Between us a curious relationship developed. I was the enfant terrible of the Knesset, a one-man faction in extreme opposition, hated by the ruling Labor Party. I was seated in the Knesset hall just under the speaker's podium, an ideal place to interrupt the speaker.

Eshkol was an abominable speaker, the despair of the stenographers. His sentences had no beginning and no end. When I interrupted him with a remark, he forgot what he was going to say, turned towards me and answered in a friendly way, driving his party colleagues mad.

But I had no illusions. It was under his government that the Knesset enacted a law that was quite openly designed to close down my weekly magazine, which was detested by the ruling party (a fact that induced me to run for the Knesset).

Next Page 1 | 2 | 3

(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).Congress Switchboard: 202-224-3121

"Rob Kall's book, Bottom-Up points the way to a more caring and connected world. This stimulating book combines realistic facts with idealistic optimism at a time when both are so urgently needed."



Riane Eisler, author of The Real Wealth of Nations and The Chalice and the BladeQuicklink Not Found

Sometimes, authors delete their quicklinks after publishing them.



To see if the quicklink was renamed or re-published, please click here.Progressive Content Not Found

Sometimes, authors delete their progressive content after publishing.



To see if the progressive content was renamed or re-published, please click here.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 Share Blue

Nobody's ever fired the House chaplain. But Paul Ryan did.

Despite bipartisan outcry, Republican House members voted Friday to block the call for an investigation into the bizarre and unprecedented forced resignation of House chaplain Patrick Conroy by Speaker Paul Ryan.

Ryan's only vague reason for the move, which he offered after news of the forced resignation broke, is because, he says, some members felt their "pastoral needs" weren't being met. But there is widespread feeling within Congress that Conroy, a Jesuit priest who leads the chamber in prayer, is being removed because he has emphasized equity in his work during the age of Trump.

A senior Democratic leadership aide told Shareblue Media Conroy was "pushed out because he was praying for justice and fairness."

In a statement, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi disputed the claim that Conroy failed to meet the needs of House members.

"Father Pat Conroy's service for the last seven years has been a blessing of grace and dignity to the House of Representatives. He has ministered to the needs of Members of the Congress, regardless of party," she said.

"During Father Conroy's entire service, I've never received a complaint from our Members about him pastoring to the needs of the House."

On Friday, House Democratic Caucus Chairman Joseph Crowley offered up a privileged resolution to establish a six-person select committee to look into Conroy's firing. The resolution was defeated by a vote of 215-171 with three Republicans voting present.

Last November, when the House was voting on a GOP tax giveaway to billionaires and corporations, Conroy reportedly triggered Republican ire when he urged compassion.

"As legislation on taxes continues to be debated this week and next, may all Members be mindful that the institutions and structures of our great nation guarantee the opportunities that have allowed some to achieve great success, while others continue to struggle," Conroy said during the daily prayer.

Soon after that, "A [Ryan] staffer came down and said, 'We are upset with this prayer; you are getting too political,'" Conroy told the New York Times. The next time he saw Ryan, the speaker told him, "Padre, you just got to stay out of politics."

Click Here to Read Whole Article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.

A Quasi-Review of The Martyrdom of Thomas Merton by Hugh Turley & David Martin

By Edward Curtin



Prayer of Thomas Merton

(Image by CatholicArtist) Details DMCA



"Killing a man who says 'No!' is a risky business," the priest replied, "because even a corpse can go on whispering 'No! No! No! with a persistence and obstinacy that only certain corpses are capable of. And how can you silence a corpse?" Ignazio Silone, Bread and Wine

Fifty years have elapsed since Thomas Merton died under mysterious circumstances in a cottage at a Red Cross Conference Center outside Bangkok, Thailand where he was attending an international inter-faith monastic conference. The truth behind his death has been concealed until now through the lies and deceptions of a cast of characters, religious, secular, and U.S. governmental, whose actions chill one to the bone. But he has finally found his voice through Hugh Turley and David Martin, who tell the suppressed truth of Merton's last minutes on earth on December 10, 1968.

This is an extraordinary book in so many ways. First, because the authors prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Trappist monk and anti-war writer Thomas Merton was assassinated and did not die in a fabricated accident, as has been claimed for all these years.

Second, because it is so meticulously researched, sourced, documented, and logically argued that it puts to shame and the lie to so many works, including academic ones, that purport to be profound but fall apart once carefully inspected, especially all those that have been written about Merton and his alleged accidental death. These false accounts of his death, obviously presented purposely by the key players -- that he was electrocuted by a fan while wet from a shower -- have been repeated ad nauseam over fifty years as if curiosity were reserved for cats and a writer's job were to repeat commonplace absurdities. And of course the mainstream media, the prime organs of propaganda dissemination, have carried out their function by repeating these lies at every turn. The transparency of Turley and Martin's presentation is greatly enhanced by the presence of footnotes, not endnotes, which allow readers to easily check sources as they read. Most footnotes refer to primary documents -- letters, police reports, etc. -- that are reproduced in an appendix that is, however, in need of enlargement, but whose contents have, for some odd or not so odd reasons, escaped the thousands of writers who've penned words about Merton.

Third, because it greatly expands our understanding of that fateful year -- 1968 -- by adding the prophetic Merton's name to the list of well-known anti-war leaders -- MLK and RFK -- who were slain that year by U.S. government operatives intent on crushing the growing opposition to their genocidal war waged on Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. The links between these assassinations are made manifest as one follows the authors' brilliant analysis that allows an informed reader to see the template common to them all and one that clearly leads to intelligence agencies practiced in the arts of murder and cover-up.

Fourth, because it proves that in the long run the pen is mightier than the sword, and the spiritually powerful poetic words of a God-entranced man living in seclusion can rattle the cages of men who embrace the void of violence while rejecting the spiritual essence of all religions -- that non-violence and love are the laws of existence. Merton may be dead for his killers, but not for those who hear his voice whispering on every page: "The very thoughts of a person like me are crimes against the state. All I have to do is think: and immediately I become guilty," Merton wrote in "A Signed Confession of Crimes Against the State."

Lastly, because The Martyrdom of Thomas Merton markedly forces the reader to face its harsh truths and examine one's soul and complicity in evil as one learns of the perfidy and betrayal of Merton by friends, associates, and biographers whom a naive person might assume are beyond reproach, until, that is, one reads this book. It is a very hard lesson to accept and understand. But Hugh Turley and David Martin sequentially force the reader to contemplate such matters; to conjecture why some have conspired and abetted in Merton's murder and especially its fifty year cover-up.

Thomas Merton (Fr. Lewis) was a Catholic monk, poet, writer and theologian who became very well-known in 1948 with the publication of his autobiography, The Seven Story Mountain, which became a bestseller. Over the next dozen or so years, he published many books on religious themes, mainly avoiding social or political subjects. But although he lived in a monastery, and eventually by himself in a hermitage nearby, he corresponded widely and was tuned in to worldly events. He became a friend and mentor to religious/political activists such as Martin Luther King, Fathers Philip and Daniel Berrigan, James Douglass, among many others. He was a friend of Dorothy Day of the Catholic Worker. He corresponded with Boris Pasternak and Ethel Kennedy; wrote about Albert Camus and Eugene Ionesco. During the 1960s his writing turned more overtly political while remaining rooted in a deep mystical and contemplative spirituality. He became a major inspiration for radical activists who opposed nuclear weapons, the Vietnam War, and the materialist way of life fostered by capitalism that relied on the spread of the American empire through world-wide violence. Although living far away from the din and drama of day-to-day politics, his writing, encouragement, and influence were profound, and he became a major impediment to the propaganda and policies of the military-industrial-political-intelligence complex. He was an inspiration whose spirit disturbed church and state in the most radical way. Turley and Martin say of him:

Merton saw clearly that devotion to truth could not help but bring a person into

conflict with sinister special interests. The effectiveness of the truth-seeker would,

of course, be greater to the extent he could rally others to his cause, but ultimately,

he said, the truth seeker's strength lay in trust in God.

Merton died on the afternoon of December 10, 1968 when those sinister special interests snuck up on him. He had just given a talk, had lunch, and returned to his cottage shortly before 2 P.M., accompanied by Fr. Francois de Grunne, O.S.B. (Order of Saint Benedict) from Belgium, who shared the cottage with Merton and two others, Fr. Celestine Say, O.S.B. from the Philippines, whose room was across from Merton's on the first floor, and John Moffit, a journalist editor whose room was directly over Merton's on the second floor adjacent to de Grunne's. The walk from the dining hall to the cottage took 10-15 minutes. Say and Moffit were walking a good distance behind Merton and de Grunne and arrived at the cottage about 5-7 minutes after them. When they entered the unlocked building, they did not see Merton and de Grunne and presumed they had gone to their respective rooms.

Shortly after de Grunne and Merton entered the cottage, Merton was killed. The actions of de Grunne, a mysterious figure who, according to the authors, "seems to have fallen off the face of the earth" and whose "abbey will not even respond to our questions about him," clearly make him a prime suspect in the crime. His actions and story are not believable and are contradicted by the most reliable witness, Fr. Say, whose statements have been absolutely consistent.

Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).Congress Switchboard: 202-224-3121

"In this book, Rob Kall is fueling a discussion that is long overdue, one that can perhaps shake us out of our current herd mentality, back to true community and intertwined purpose. His bottom-up discourse may serve to turn us all upside down just long enough to view our current politic from a different perspective."



Dr. Mari K. Swingle, author of i-Minds: How Cell Phones, Computers, Gaming, and Social Media are Changing Our Brains, Our Behavior, and the Evolution of Our Species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 Consortium News

In the 1980's, Scott Ritter was a commissioned officer in the United States Marine Corps, specializing in intelligence. In 1987, Ritter was assigned to the On-Site Inspection Agency, which was put together to go into the Soviet Union and oversee the implementation of the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty. This was the first time that on-site inspection had been used as part of a disarmament verification process.

Ritter was one of the groundbreakers in developing on-site inspection techniques and methodologies. With this unique experience behind him, Ritter was asked in 1991, at the end of the Gulf War, to join the United Nations Special Commission, which was tasked by the Security Council to oversee the disarmament of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. From 1991 to 1998, Ritter served as a chief weapons inspector and led a number of teams into Iraq.

According to Ritter, in the following Flashpoints Radio interview with Dennis Bernstein conducted on April 23rd, US, British and French claims that the Syrian Government used chemical weapons against civilians last month appear to be totally bogus.

Dennis Bernstein: You have been speaking out recently about the use of chemical weapons in Syria. Could you outline your case?

Scott Ritter: There are a lot of similarities between the Syrian case and the Iraqi case. Both countries possess weapons of mass destruction. Syria had a very large chemical weapons program.

In 2013 there was an incident in a suburb of Damascus called Ghouta, the same suburb where the current controversy is taking place. The allegations were that the Syrian government used sarin nerve agent against the civilian population. The Syrian government denied that, but as a result of that incident the international community got together and compelled Syria into signing the Chemical Weapons Convention, declaring the totality of its chemical weapons holdings, and opening itself to be disarmed by inspections of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. Russia was chosen to be the guarantor of Syria's compliance. The bottom line is that Syria had the weapons but was verified by 2016 as being in 100% compliance. The totality of Syria's chemical weapons program was eliminated.

At the same time that this disarmament process was taking place, Syria was being engulfed in a civil war which has resulted in a humanitarian crisis. Over a half million people have died. It is a war that pits the Syrian government against a variety of anti-regime forces, many of which are Islamic in nature: the Islamic State, Al Nusra, Al Qaeda. Some of these Islamic factions have been in the vicinity of Ghouta since 2012.

Earlier this year, the Syrian government initiated an offensive to liberate that area of these factions. It was very heavy fighting, thousands of civilians were killed, with massive aerial bombardment. Government forces were prevailing and by April 6 it looked as if the militants were preparing to surrender.

Suddenly the allegations come out that there was this chemical weapons attack. It wasn't a massive chemical weapons attack, it was dropping one or two so-called "barrel bombs," improvised devices that contained chlorine gas canisters. According to the militants, between 40 and 70 people were killed and up to 500 people were made ill. The United States and other nations picked up on this, saying that this was proof positive that Syria has been lying about its chemical weapons program and that Russia has been behind Syria's retention of chemical weapons. This is the case the US made to launch its missile strike [on April 14].

There are a lot of problems with this scenario. Again, why would the Syrian government, at the moment of victory, use a pinprick chemical attack with zero military value? It added nothing to the military campaign and invited the wrath of the West at a critical time, when the rebels were begging for Western intervention.

Many, including the Russian government, believe that this was a staged event. There has been no hard evidence put forward by anyone that an attack took place. Shortly after allegations of the attack came out, the entire town of Douma was taken over by the Syrian Army while the rebels were evacuated.

The places that were alleged to have been attacked were inspected by Russian chemical weapons specialists, who found zero trace of any chemicals weapons activity. The same inspectors who oversaw the disarmament of Syria were mobilized to return to Syria and do an investigation. They were supposed to start their work this past weekend [April 21-22]. They arrived in Damascus the day after the missile strikes occurred but they still haven't been out to the sites. The United States, France and Great Britain have all admitted that the only evidence they have used to justify this attack were the photographs and videotapes sent to them by the rebel forces.

I have great concern about the United States carrying out an attack on a sovereign nation based on no hard evidence. The longer we wait, the longer it takes to get inspectors onto the site, the more claims we are going to get that the Russians have sanitized it. I believe that the last thing the United States wanted was inspectors to get on-site and carry out a forensic investigation that would have found that a chemical attack did not in fact take place.

DB: It is sort of like cleaning up a police crime scene before you check for evidence.

Next Page 1 | 2 | 3

(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).Dreamsteeler followed live cover down the backside, then brushed wide through the lane to capture Fridays feature at The Meadows, a $13,000 filly and mare conditioned trot.

Dreamsteeler was fourth when trainer/driver Tyler Stillings tipped her off the cones to follow the first-over Goodtogo Hanover. The seven-year-old daughter of Cash Hall-Dream Street collared Goodtogo Hanover in deep stretch and held off the rallying Homepage by a head in 1:56. Goodtogo Hanover saved show.

Rags To Riches Of PA campaigns Dreamsteeler, who soared over $300,000 in career earnings.

Dan Charlino, Dave Palone, Jim Pantaleano and Chris Shaw each collected a pair of wins on the 12-race card.

Live racing at The Meadows continues Saturday, first post 1:05 p.m.

(The Meadows)Automotive Relay Market 2027: Outlook, Insights, Trends, Size, Forecast,Opportunity, Demand Analysis

www.bonitoresearch.com/contact-us/

www.bonitoresearch.com

www.bonitoresearch.com

www.bonitoresearch.com

www.bonitoresearch.com

It has been anticipated that Hybrid Electric vehicle (HEV) segment is going to account largest market share of automotive relay market.Increasing vehicle safety and emission control norms and growing vehicle electrification are the key factors which are driving the growth of automotive relay market. It has been observed that there is continuous increase in the implementation of electronic content in vehicles which in turn supporting the growth of the automotive relay market.Asia pacific market offers highest opportunity for automotive relay.Research Scope:Historic year: 2014 to 2016Base year: 2016Forecast: 2017 to 2025Representation of revenue in USD MillionRepresentation of Volume in UnitsKey Question Automotive Relay Market Report Will Answer?AUTOMOTIVE RELAY MARKET COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPEA Comprehensive Mapping Of The Competitive Landscape And The Market Participants Behavior of Automotive Relay MarketMarket Structure: Market Share Of The Key Competitors In the Automotive Relay MarketWhat Are The Key Sustainability Strategies Adopted By Market Players? An In-depth Analysis Of These Strategies And Their Impact On Competition & GrowthComprehensive List of Key Market Participant of Automotive Relay MarketAUTOMOTIVE RELAY MARKET MARKET ANALYSIS AND OPPORTUNITY ASSESMENTWhat Was The Market Size In 2014 to 2016?What Will Be The Market Growth Till 2025 And What Will Be The Resultant Market Forecast In The Year?How Will The Market Drivers, Restraints & Future Opportunities Affect The Market Dynamics And a Subsequent Analysis Of The Associated Trends?Which Segment Will Drive or Lead Market Growth and Why?Request Report TOC:Market Share & ForecastBy Application Type (Powertrain Systems, Body & Chasis, Convineance, Safety & Security, Drivery Information System)By CompanyMarket LeadersMid-Level PlayersEmerging PlayersBy Region (North America, Europe, Asia Pacigic, Middle East & Africa, Latin AmericaBy Product Type (PCB Relay Vs. Plug-in-relay)Research MethodologyPrimary and secondary sources are used to obtain the information around the Germany tire market.Primary Research Includes: Interview with Tire Manufacturers of Germany, Interview with Tire Distributors of Germany, Interviews with Thought LeadersSecondary Research Includes: Company Annual Reports, Financial Reports, Research Databases, Industry Association Publications, Magazine, Articles, Online NewspapersOur advisory services are aimed at helping you with specific, customized insights that are relevant to your specific challenges. Let us know about your challenges and our trusted advisors will connect with you:www.bonitoresearch.com/automotive-relay-market/Popular Reports by Bonito Research:India airbag market:/india-airbag-market/India Hoist market:/india-hoist-market/India Smart Packaging:/india-smart-packaging/Bonito Research is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services which are personalized in nature. Bonito Research delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, technology inputs, valuable growth insights and an aerial view of the competitive framework and future market trends.Bonito Research (Market Research)Plot No 48, MD Marg, Saraswati Enclave,Gopal Nagar, Najafgarh, New DelhiIndiaT: 9654595876Sales: info@bonitoresearch.comWeb:Plot no 48, Sarswati Enclave,MD Marg, Gopal nagar, NajafgarhSmart Label Market CAGR of +17% BY 2023: Analysis, Industrial Growth, future Outlook, Supply, Market Demand, Market strategy, Cost Structure, and SWOT Analysis, Price Trend by major Companies players

http://qyreports.com/request-sample?report-id=17813

http://qyreports.com/ask-for-discount?report-id=17813

http://qyreports.com/enquiry-before-buying?report-id=17813

www.qyreports.com

A smart label refers to an item or product identification slip containing advanced technologies than conventional bar code data. Smart Labels enables the consumers to get equipped with additional details with regards to wide range of beverage, food, household, pet care, and personal care products. These smart labels are made up from paper, fabrics or plastics and used as, electronic labels, printed labels, or chip labels. These smart labels are generally used to detect theft in libraries, shops and retail stores.The research report analyzes the Global Smart Label Market in a thorough manner by clarifying the key characteristics of the market that are anticipated to have a measureable influence on its evolving prospects over the forecast period. The major growth drivers, challenges, and trends influencing the market are examined at length. A thorough qualitative and quantitative data pertaining to the projected impact of these factors on markets future growth prospects are presented in the report.Get a sample @:Companies Profiled in this report includes, Alien Technology Inc., Avery Dennison , CCL Industries Inc., Checkpoint Systems Inc., Intermec Inc., Invengo Information Technology Co. Ltd., Muhlbauer Holding AG & Co. KGaA., SATO Holdings Corp., SMARTRAC N.V., Thin Film Electronics ASA, Zebra Technologies, and others.Many industries in the developed countries have made a shift to smart labels from traditional paper labels. Approximately 67 million automotive, healthcare, and logistics companies around the world, primarily in Euro-America, Australia, Turkey, Japan, and Korea, are currently using smart labels in tracking of products. The smart label market is supported by several factors, and a key driver is the growth of its key customer segments. The demand for RFID smart labels from the retail industry, in particular, is expected to rise significantly in the next four years.Recent economic growth, rapid urbanization, and increasing per capita income in developing countries has propelled the demand in the recent past. However, the cost associated with installation of the smart label tracking systems is likely to hinder the market in growing economies. Furthermore, lack of uniformity in standardization system and low susceptibility is predicted to obstruct the market growth over the forecast period.Get Reasonable discount on this Report @:There is a lot of statistical surveying organizations out there, notwithstanding, only a couple are trusted and are productive in pulling in the trust of the customers. With It intelligence Markets, the primary statistical surveying group online, you can ensure a day in and day out customer service, high gauge administrations, high customer benefits, and innovative thoughts in data assembling, and research experts that are pros in the field. This great opportunity of helping diverse endeavors is what incites to finally launch their dynamic statistical surveying services, the online solution that every business must take the full favorable position of.To conclude, contemplation of the noteworthy enactment of the Global Smart Label Market is driven by various analysis tools and wide-ranging research reports. Citations are engaged to mount clear results and validate them.For More Information @:Table of ContentsGlobal Smart Label Market Research ReportChapter 1 Global Smart Label 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, ExportChapter 6 Global Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by TypeChapter 7 Global Market Analysis by ApplicationChapter 8 Manufacturing Cost AnalysisChapter 9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream BuyersChapter 10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/TradersChapter 11 Market Effect Factors AnalysisChapter 12 Global Market ForecastAbout 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Global Antimicrobial Additives Market By Size, Share, Trends and Growth Analysis by 2023

https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/antimicrobial-additives-market/report-sample

https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/antimicrobial-additives-market

https://www.psmarketresearch.com

The global antimicrobial additives market is growing due to the positive growth in the packaging industry worldwide. Such growth is expected to create huge demand for antimicrobial additives and bolstering the growth of the global market during the forecast period (2016-2022).Request sample copy of report here :These additives inhibit bacterial, algal, and fungal growth for those materials exposed to ultraviolet radiations, unsanitary conditions and moisture. Additionally, these additives find their application in various products such as paints and coatings, papers, inks, plastics, textiles, rubber, and fabric care to improve hygiene standards and durability of products.Silver is fueling the demand for adhesives due to its non-toxic, environmental friendliness, and high thermal stability properties. The advantages offered by anti-microbial products include quality enhancement in terms of resistance toward microbial growth, improved product performance and durability.Increase in vehicle production, rising consumer spending and investment in the manufacturing sector is expected to drive the demand for these additives in paints and coatings application. Moreover, rapid growth in the food and beverage sector will further aid the usage of these additives in packaging materials, and promote industry growth.The Asia-Pacific market for antimicrobial additives is expected to witness significant growth, over the forecast period, on account of healthcare development across the region. Government norms to develop healthcare facilities equipped with all safety and hygienic standards are expected to fuel the demand for antimicrobial additives in the region.Access Report Summary with Detailed TOC at :The key players operating in the global antimicrobial additives market are BASF SE, The Dow Chemical Company, Clariant AG, A. Schulman, Inc., Polyone Corporation, Sanitized AG, Microban International, Biocote Limited, King Plastic Corporation, and Steritouch Ltd.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:Proteomics Market Competitive Landscape, Changing Market Trends and Emerging Opportunities

https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/proteomics-market

https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/proteomics-market/report-sample

https://www.psmarketresearch.com/send-enquiry?enquiry-url=proteomics-market

https://www.psmarketresearch.com

Proteomes are an entire set of proteins which is expressed in genomes, and proteomics refers to the large-scale study of these proteomes, that include study of the functions and structure of proteins that can be used in diagnosis and treatment of various diseases, and in the process of drug discovery. Proteomics is used to analyze the interaction of proteins with each other, action of proteins in metabolic pathways, rate of the production of proteins, and the modification process of the proteins. Additionally, it is extensively applied in personalized medicine development, and marker identification for disease diagnosis. Global proteomics market is expected to grow significantly in the forecasted period due to the rising demand for personalized medicine and increasing investment in research and development activities, globally.Access Detailed Report Summary:Geographically, North America was the largest market for Proteomics in 2016, followed by Europe. The North American proteomics market is primarily driven by easily available funds from various institutions for proteomic research using innovative technologies.Request to Get the Sample Pages at:Due to the increased spending on healthcare in the developed market, various government and private institutions are funding on different projects which will drive the growth of the global proteomics market, Asia-Pacific is expected to witness the fastest in the period, 2017-2023, the improving infrastructure for research, and emerging markets is driving the growth of the regions proteomics market. Government and private players are increasingly investing in the Asia-Pacific, since the region constitutes many untapped countries having potential customers.Make Enquiry Before Buying the Report:Some of the key players in the global proteomics market are Agilent Technologies Inc., Bruker Corporation, GE Healthcare, Merck KGaA, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc., Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc., Waters Corporation, Danaher Corporation, Luminex Corporation, and PerkinElmer Inc.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 Electronic Signature Software Market 2018-2025 Right Signature, Docu Sign, Microsoft

Electronic Signature Software Market Forecast 2018

http://bit.ly/Electronic-Signature-Software-Market

http://www.9dimenresearchstore.com/report/global-electronic-signature-software-market-4774

http://9dimenresearchstore.com/

A market study "Global Electronic Signature Software Market" examines the performance of the Electronic Signature Software market 2018. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Electronic Signature Software market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Electronic Signature Software market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Electronic Signature Software Market 2018 report includes Electronic Signature Software market Revenue, market Share, Electronic Signature Software industry volume, market Trends, Electronic Signature Software Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. It shows manufacturing capacity, Electronic Signature Software Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Electronic Signature Software Market 2018 :1. Right Signature2. Hello Sign3. Docu Sign4. Adobe Document Cloud5. Microsoft6. SAP Ariba7. eSign Live8. eSign Genie9. inkdit10. Assure Sign11. Sertifi12. Sky Signature13. Sign Now (Barracuda)14. Panda Doc15. Sig Plus Pro16. Authenti signElectronic Signature Software Market : By ApplicationLarge EnterpriseMidsize BusinessPublic AdministrationSmall BusinessElectronic Signature Software Market : By TypeOn-Premises Electronic Signature SoftwareCloud Electronic Signature SoftwareFirstly, the report covers the top Electronic Signature Software manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Electronic Signature Software report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Electronic Signature Software industry, Electronic Signature Software industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Electronic Signature Software Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Electronic Signature Software research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Electronic Signature Software market revenue worldwide.Finally, Electronic Signature Software market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About Us9Dimen Research Store is a leading market intelligence team which making extensive reports that cover all the necessary details about the market assessments such as major technological improvement in the industry.Contact US:5001 Spring Valley Rd #400,Dallas,TX 75244, USAContact No. +1-214-661-1669Email: sales@9dimenresearchstore.comWeb:Global Titanium Slag Market 2018-2025 BaoTi Group, Zunyi Titanium, Timet, Vsmpo-Avisma

Titanium Slag Market Forecast 2018

http://bit.ly/Titanium-Slag-Market

http://www.9dimenresearchstore.com/report/global-titanium-slag-market-4769

http://9dimenresearchstore.com/

A market study "Global Titanium Slag Market" examines the performance of the Titanium Slag market 2018. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Titanium Slag market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Titanium Slag market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Titanium Slag Market 2018 report includes Titanium Slag market Revenue, market Share, Titanium Slag industry volume, market Trends, Titanium Slag Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. It shows manufacturing capacity, Titanium Slag Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Titanium Slag Market 2018 : Panzhihua Iron and Steel BaoTi Group Zunyi Titanium Timet Vsmpo-Avisma Tronox TiZir LimitedTitanium Slag Market : By ApplicationTitanium TetrachlorideTitanium DioxideSponge Titanium ProductsTitanium Slag Market : By TypeAcid Soluble SlagChlorination SlagFirstly, the report covers the top Titanium Slag manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Titanium Slag report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Titanium Slag industry, Titanium Slag industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Titanium Slag Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Titanium Slag research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Titanium Slag market revenue worldwide.Finally, Titanium Slag market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About Us9Dimen Research Store is a leading market intelligence team which making extensive reports that cover all the necessary details about the market assessments such as major technological improvement in the industry.Contact US:5001 Spring Valley Rd #400,Dallas,TX 75244, USAContact No. +1-214-661-1669Email: sales@9dimenresearchstore.comWeb:Global Wolfberry Extract Market 2018-2025 Swanson, Xiu Zheng, Piping Rock, Doctor's Best

Wolfberry Extract Market Trends 2018

http://bit.ly/Wolfberry-Extract-Market

http://www.9dimenresearchstore.com/report/global-wolfberry-extract-market-4775

http://9dimenresearchstore.com/

A market study "Global Wolfberry Extract Market" examines the performance of the Wolfberry Extract market 2018. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Wolfberry Extract market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Wolfberry Extract market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Wolfberry Extract Market 2018 report includes Wolfberry Extract market Revenue, market Share, Wolfberry Extract industry volume, market Trends, Wolfberry Extract Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. It shows manufacturing capacity, Wolfberry Extract Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Wolfberry Extract Market 2018 : Swanson Xiu Zheng Piping Rock Health Products Doctor's Best AyurishWolfberry Extract Market : By ApplicationHospitals and ClinicsIndividual HouseholdsWolfberry Extract Market : By TypeCapsulesPowderLiquidFirstly, the report covers the top Wolfberry Extract manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Wolfberry Extract report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Wolfberry Extract industry, Wolfberry Extract industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Wolfberry Extract Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Wolfberry Extract research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Wolfberry Extract market revenue worldwide.Finally, Wolfberry Extract market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About Us9Dimen Research Store is a leading market intelligence team which making extensive reports that cover all the necessary details about the market assessments such as major technological improvement in the industry.Contact US:5001 Spring Valley Rd #400,Dallas,TX 75244, USAContact No. +1-214-661-1669Email: sales@9dimenresearchstore.comWeb:Global Wireline Services Market Size, Status and Forecast 2025

Global Wireline Services Market Size, Status and Forecast 2025

http://www.qyresearchglobal.com/goods-1554527.html

http://www.qyresearcheurope.com/ or

http://www.qyresearch.com/

The Global Wireline Services Market Size, Status and Forecast 2025 is in-depth study of overall Wireline Services market including introduction of product, definition, scope, Wireline Services global sale, and forecast up to 2025.The Wireline Services industry report clarifies the past experience and trends, on the basis of these past experiences, it offers the future prediction considering other factors influencing the growth rate. This worldwide report offers the detailed analysis of the important factors such as market dynamics (DROT), PEST, and PORTER which assists the growth of the Wireline Services Industry. These past experience and factors assist to build the strategy and future planning of Wireline Services Market and hold a place in the competitive world.This report is the extensive analysis of the Wireline Services industry based on the primary and secondary in-depth research. The scope of the report includes the global and regional sale, product consumption in terms of volume and value. The Wireline Services market report offers a forecast of revenue, CAGR, and cumulative revenue. The gathered information about Wireline Services global business is represented in the figures, tables, pie chart, and graphs.The Wireline Services industry Market report offers the competitive scenario in the Wireline Services industry based on the type of product, applications, and the companies that are present in the Wireline Services market, and covers the company profiles, their development policies, lined up products and recent launched along with the SWOT analysis of companies.Get a complete report sample from this link:This report studies the global Wireline Services market size, industry status and forecast, competition landscape and growth opportunity. This research report categorizes the global Wireline Services market by companies, region, type and end-use industry.This report focuses on the global top players, coveredSchlumbergerHalliburtonBaker HughesWeatherfordSuperior Energy ServicesPioneer Energy ServicesC&J Energy ServicesExpro GroupArcherCOSLBasic Energy ServicesOilservWireline EngineeringSGS SACNPC/CPLEQT/QinterraMarket segment by Regions/Countries, this report coversUnited StatesEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaMarket segment by Type, the product can be split intoElectric LineSlick LineMarket segment by Application, Wireline Services can be split intoWireline LoggingWireline InterventionWireline CompletionThe study objectives of this report are:To study and analyze the global Wireline Services market size (value & volume) by company, key regions/countries, products and application, history data from 2013 to 2017, and forecast to 2025.To understand the structure of Wireline Services market by identifying its various subsegments.To share detailed information about the key factors influencing the growth of the market (growth potential, opportunities, drivers, industry-specific challenges and risks).Focuses on the key global Wireline Services manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the sales volume, value, market share, market competition landscape, SWOT analysis and development plans in next few years.To analyze the Wireline Services with respect to individual growth trends, future prospects, and their contribution to the total market.To project the value and volume of Wireline Services submarkets, with respect to key regions (along with their respective key countries).To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market.To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies.This research study focuses to product specifications, Wireline Services cost specifications, production capacity, distributors list, Wireline Services marketing channel, and detail analysis of the export/import of the product. The Wireline Services research document also offers raw material suppliers, cost, and downstream consumer list.All features mentioned above is included in the Wireline Services Market Report 2018 which can offer solution to the difficulties to the prominent members of the Wireline Services market.Additionally, the important terminologies, government policies, and regulations related to Wireline Services market product are added.Contact Details:Company Name: QYResearch CO.,LIMITED | focus on Market Survey and ResearchTina| Sales ManagersTel: 0086-20-22093278(CN)Email: sales@qyresearchglobal.com or tinaning@qyresearch.comWeb:QYResearch, established in 2007, focuses on custom research, management consulting, IPO consulting, industry chain research, and data base &seminar services. The company owns large basic databases (such as National Bureau of Statistics Database, Customs Import and Export Database, Industry Association Database, etc.), expert resources (including industry experts who own more than 10 years experiences on marketing or R&D in industries of energy, automotive, chemicals, medical ICT consumer goods, etc.), professional survey team (the team members obtained more than 3 years market survey experience and more than 2 years deep expert interview experience), and excellent data analysis team (SPSS statistics and PPT graphics process team).Room 2901 VILI International Building No.167 Linhe West RoadChatbots Market Growing at a CAGR of 36.5% - Global Top Key Players IBM, Nuance Communications, Inc., eGain Corporation., Creative Virtual Ltd., Artificial Solutions, Next IT Corp., [24]7.ai, Inc., CX Company, Speaktoit, Inc., iDAvatars

"Global Chatbots Market Industry Trends and Forecast to 2025"

http://databridgemarketresearch.com/request-a-sample/?dbmr=global-chatbots-market

http://databridgemarketresearch.com/inquire-before-buying/?dbmr=global-chatbots-market

http://databridgemarketresearch.com/reports/global-chatbots-market/

http://databridgemarketresearch.com/reports/global-data-center-interconnect-market/

The report covers the current scenario and the future growth prospects of the Chatbots Market for 2018-2025. To calculate the market size, the report presents a detailed picture of the market by way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources.Get Free Sample Report Visit @Global Chatbots Market, By Type (Software, Services), By Usage (Websites, Contact Centres, Social Media, Mobile Platform), By Industry Vertical (Financial Services, Healthcare, Communication, Retail, Travel and Hospitality, Government, Education, Utilities), By Deployment Type, By End User (Small and Medium Enterprises, Large Enterprises), By Geography Industry Trends and Forecast to 2025Global Chatbots Market is expected to reach USD 4125.3 Million by 2025, from USD 750.3 Million in 2017 growing at a CAGR of 36.5% during the forecast period of 2018 to 2025. The upcoming market report contains data for historic years 2014 & 2015, the base year of calculation is 2016 and the forecast period is 2018 to 2025.Report Definition:This market report defines the market trends and forecast the upcoming opportunities and threats of the chatbots market in the next 8 years. Chatbots is a computer program designed to simulate chat with human users, over the Internet. It conducts conversation via auditing and textual messages. These are the computer programs that imitate conversation with people using artificial intelligence. The chatbot ecosystem includes several cross-linking features that enable enhanced performance of chatbots in various applications. Many companies prefer in-built chatbots on their websites as they facilitate companies in providing immediate customer interaction. Mostly slack and twitter messaging platforms are preferred by businesses. Chatbots allows companies to engross in continuous communication with their customers. Chatbots installed by the companies offer information related to product and brand, which helps the company to increase brand awareness, and inspire customers to sign up for the companys account. There is a huge growth for chatbots because large enterprises widely employ chatbot for digital marketing applications and for easy communication. The Kik Bot Store is going to launch chatbot with 16 bots, which will include the Weather Channel, H&M, Vine and Funny or Die.The Global Chatbots Market report consists of below pages: No of pages: 350 No of Figures: 60 No of Tables: 220Competitive Analysis:The global chatbots market is highly fragmented and the major players have used various strategies such as new product launches, expansions, agreements, joint ventures, partnerships, acquisitions, and others to increase their footprints in this market. The report includes market shares of chatbots market for global, Europe, North America, Asia pacific and South America.Major Market Competitors/Players:Some of the major players operating in the global chatbots market are IBM, Nuance Communications, Inc., eGain Corporation., Creative Virtual Ltd., Artificial Solutions, Next IT Corp., [24]7.ai, Inc., CX Company, Speaktoit, Inc., iDAvatars, Baidu, Inc, Poncho, Kik., WeChat., Varo, Babylon, ReplyYes, SRI International, Inbenta Technologies Inc., Anboto, among others.Inquiry Before Buying Visit @Major Market Drivers and Restraints: Acceptance of cloud-based technology Increasing demand for automated patient management tools in the healthcare industry Penetration of websites and mobile applications are increased. Lack of awareness due to early presence in tech-adoption life cycle High deployment cost and system integration complexitiesScope of the Report:The global chatbots market is segmented into type, industry vertical, usage, deployment type, end user and by geography.Based on type, the global chatbots market is segmented into software and services. Services are further segmented into professional services and managed services.On the basis of usage, the global chatbots market is segmented into websites, contact centres, social media, and mobile platform.On the basis of industry vertical, the global chatbots market is segmented into financial services, healthcare, communication, retail, travel and hospitality, government, education, utilities and others.On the basis of deployment type, the global chatbots market is segmented into on-premises and on-cloud.On the basis of end user, the global chatbots market is segmented into small and medium enterprises, large enterprises.Based on geography, the global chatbots market report covers data points for 28 countries across multiple geographies namely north America & south America, Europe, Asia-Pacific And, Middle East & Africa. Some of the major countries covered in this report are U.S., Canada, Germany, France, U.K., Netherlands, Switzerland, Turkey, Russia, China, India, South Korea, Japan, Australia, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and, Brazil among others.Read more about the Global Chatbots Market Visit @Key Reasons to Purchase:To gain insightful analyses of the market and have comprehensive understanding of the Global Chatbots Market and its commercial landscape.Assess the Chatbots production processes, major issues, and solutions to mitigate the development risk.To understand the most affecting driving and restraining forces in the Chatbots Market and its impact in the Global market.Learn about the market strategies that are being adopted by leading respective organizations.To understand the future outlook and prospects for Global Chatbots Market.Related ReportGlobal Data Center Interconnect Market Industry Trends and Forecast to 2024Global Data Center Interconnect market, By Geography (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Europe, South America, Middle East and Africa), By Type {Product (Packet Switching Networking, Packet Optical Transport/Packet Optical Networking, Converged Packet Optical), Software, Services (Professional Services, Managed Services)}; By Application (Real-Time Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity, Shared Data and Resources/Server High-Availability Clusters (Geoclustering), Workload (VM) and Data (Storage) Mobility) By End-Users (Communication Service Providers, Carrier Neutral Providers/Internet Content Providers, Government, Enterprises)  Industry Trends and Forecast to 2024Report Access:About Data Bridge Market Research:Data Bridge Market Research set forth itself as an unconventional and neoteric Market research and consulting firm with unparalleled level of resilience and integrated approaches. We are determined to unearth the best market opportunities and foster efficient information for your business to thrive in the market. Data Bridge endeavors to provide appropriate solutions to the complex business challenges and initiates an effortless decision-making process.Data Bridge adepts in creating satisfied clients who reckon upon our services and rely on our hard work with certitude. Get 10% Discount on Report by emailing sopan.gedam@databridgemarketresearch.com . We are content with our glorious 99.9 % client satisfying rate.Contact:Vishal DixitData Bridge Market ResearchTel: +1-888-387-2818Email: sopan.gedam@databridgemarketresearch.comGlobal USB Cable Market 2018-2025 Adafruit, Mikro Elektronika, Amphenol PCD, Bulgin

USB Cable Market Forecast 2018

http://bit.ly/USB-Cable-Market

http://www.9dimenresearchstore.com/report/global-usb-cable-market-4778

http://9dimenresearchstore.com/

A market study "Global USB Cable Market" examines the performance of the USB Cable market 2018. It encloses an in-depth Research of the USB Cable market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of USB Cable market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global USB Cable Market 2018 report includes USB Cable market Revenue, market Share, USB Cable industry volume, market Trends, USB Cable Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. It shows manufacturing capacity, USB Cable Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global USB Cable Market 2018 :1. Adafruit Industries2. Cinch Connectivity Solutions AIM-Cambridge3. Delphi Connection Systems/Specialty Electronic4. MikroElektronika5. Amphenol PCD6. Bulgin7. Assmann WSW Components8. Cicoil9. Tripp Lite10. FCI11. GC Electronics12. Molex13. Omron Automation and Safety14. Harting15. 3M16. Hirose ElectricUSB Cable Market : By ApplicationComputersCell PhonesCamerasTVsUSB Cable Market : By TypeUSB Data CableUSB ChargersFirstly, the report covers the top USB Cable manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the USB Cable report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of USB Cable industry, USB Cable industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. USB Cable Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The USB Cable research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the USB Cable market revenue worldwide.Finally, USB Cable market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About Us9Dimen Research Store is a leading market intelligence team which making extensive reports that cover all the necessary details about the market assessments such as major technological improvement in the industry.Contact US:5001 Spring Valley Rd #400,Dallas,TX 75244, USAContact No. +1-214-661-1669Email: sales@9dimenresearchstore.comWeb:With the finishing touches being done in removing the passing lane, adding a new HDTV broadcasting system, a new food catering company, a revamped website and new post times, the Hippodrome 3R racetrack is ready to begin its live race season on Sunday.

The track will feature 40 dates of live harness racing this Spring, Summer and Fall, primarily on Sunday afternoons, Tuesday evenings (starting May 29) and one special Thursday night race program on August 9.

The new post time for Sundays will be 12:50 p.m. and Tuesday evenings (plus the one Thursday card) will be 6:30 p.m. Race fans can get a free program for the Hippodrome 3R race cards at the 3R website and wagering on the program can be done via most online wagering websites.

There are nine races scheduled for opening day, including both an Invitational-Handicapped Pace and Trot. The leading driver, Stephane Brosseau, and leading trainer, Francis Richard, from last season will both be in action Sunday, looking to defend their titles.

The seventh race co-feature top pace has nine starters headlined by the morning line favourite at 5-2, American Wiggle (post 8), who is eligible to the $200,000 Prix DEte at H3R on August 19. He will be driven by Stephane Brosseau.

Trained and co-owned by Daniel Martin of St Barnabe Nord with Gaston Bibeau of Sorel-Tracy, American Wiggle is a gelded four-year-old son of American Ideal with a record of 1:51 taken at Vernon Downs last year. In his first two starts of the year he has raced in the top class at Rideau Carleton with little success but was race timed last week in 1:53.4.

Second choice is Highpoint Chip, a local favourite and eight-time winner last year for trainer Isabelle Binet. He will be driven by Pascal Berube from post seven and was impressive in both his qualifying wins at H3R. Other contenders include Mister Big Top (post two), D J Power (post five) and Glass Shadow (post nine).

Binet also trains the favourite in the eighth race co-feature trot as Holiday Party heads the field from post seven and will be driven by Berube.

This five-year-old gelding by Holiday Road has but one victory last year for the Groupe Holiday Party Stable of Portneuf but has come back stronger in 2018. Racing at Woodbine, Holiday Road took his lifetime mark back in February with a 1:55.2 triumph.

Starting alongside in post six is one of the toughest trotting mares in Quebec, Torches Angel for driver Stephane Brosseau and trainer Yves Tessier. The eight-year-old mare by Angus Hall has a win, second and third in her last three starts at Rideau Carleton, the victory a 1:58.2 score.

Looking for the upset victory will be Rocky Boy (post one), R Rkadabra (post four) and Tuscans Memory (post two).

To view the entries for Sunday's card, click the following link: Sunday Entries - Hippodrome 3R.

Track Notes: Mother Nature is not cooperating with opening day Sunday. Weather forecast is for 80 percent chance of rain throughout the day. A total of 30 four-year-old pacers have remained eligible to the $200,000 Prix DEte, including Little Brown Jug winner, Filibuster Hanover and Breeders Crown winner, Beckhams Z Tam. The final nomination payment is due on May 15.

(with files from the Quebec Jockey Club)Global Metal Chelates Market 2018-2025 BASF SE, Akzo Nobel N.V, Syngenta AG, Nufarm

Metal Chelates Market Growth 2018

http://bit.ly/Metal-Chelates-Market

http://www.9dimenresearchstore.com/report/global-metal-chelates-market-4780

http://9dimenresearchstore.com/

A market study "Global Metal Chelates Market" examines the performance of the Metal Chelates market 2018. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Metal Chelates market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Metal Chelates market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Metal Chelates Market 2018 report includes Metal Chelates market Revenue, market Share, Metal Chelates industry volume, market Trends, Metal Chelates Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. It shows manufacturing capacity, Metal Chelates Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Metal Chelates Market 2018 :1. BASF SE2. Akzo Nobel N.V.3. Syngenta AG4. Nufarm Limited5. Haifa Chemicals Ltd.6. Aries Agro Limited7. Van Iperen International8. Valagro SPA9. Protex International10. Deretil AgronutritionalMetal Chelates Market : By ApplicationAgricultureWater TreatmentFeedMetal Chelates Market : By TypeIndustrial GradeFeed GradeFirstly, the report covers the top Metal Chelates manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Metal Chelates report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Metal Chelates industry, Metal Chelates industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Metal Chelates Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Metal Chelates research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Metal Chelates market revenue worldwide.Finally, Metal Chelates market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About Us9Dimen Research Store is a leading market intelligence team which making extensive reports that cover all the necessary details about the market assessments such as major technological improvement in the industry.Contact US:5001 Spring Valley Rd #400,Dallas,TX 75244, USAContact No. +1-214-661-1669Email: sales@9dimenresearchstore.comWeb:Global VR Handle Industry Analysis Sales Market Report 2018

Global VR Handle Industry Analysis Sales Market Report 2018

http://www.qyresearchglobal.com/goods-1554521.html

http://www.qyresearcheurope.com/ or

http://www.qyresearch.com/

The Global VR Handle Industry Analysis Sales Market Report 2018 is in-depth study of overall VR Handle market including introduction of product, definition, scope, VR Handle global sale, and forecast up to 2025.The VR Handle industry report clarifies the past experience and trends, on the basis of these past experiences, it offers the future prediction considering other factors influencing the growth rate. This worldwide report offers the detailed analysis of the important factors such as market dynamics (DROT), PEST, and PORTER which assists the growth of the VR Handle Industry. These past experience and factors assist to build the strategy and future planning of VR Handle Market and hold a place in the competitive world.This report is the extensive analysis of the VR Handle industry based on the primary and secondary in-depth research. The scope of the report includes the global and regional sale, product consumption in terms of volume and value. The VR Handle market report offers a forecast of revenue, CAGR, and cumulative revenue. The gathered information about VR Handle global business is represented in the figures, tables, pie chart, and graphs.The VR Handle industry Market report offers the competitive scenario in the VR Handle industry based on the type of product, applications, and the companies that are present in the VR Handle market, and covers the company profiles, their development policies, lined up products and recent launched along with the SWOT analysis of companies.Get a complete report sample from this link:This report studies the global VR Handle market status and forecast, categorizes the global VR Handle market size (value & volume) by key players, type, application, and region. This report focuses on the top players in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia India and Other regions (Middle East & Africa, Central & South America).In 2017, the global VR Handle market size was xx million US$ and it is expected to reach xx million US$ by the end of 2025, with a CAGR of xx.x % between 2018 and 2025.The major players covered in this reportVIVEOculusSonyAntvrDeepoonShineconMicrosoft...Geographically, this report studies the key regions, focuses on product sales, value, market share and growth opportunity in these regions, coveringUnited StatesEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaThe regional scope of the study is as follows:North AmericaUnited StatesCanadaMexicoAsia-PacificChinaIndiaJapanSouth KoreaAustraliaIndonesiaSingaporeRest of Asia-PacificEuropeGermanyFranceUKItalySpainRussiaRest of EuropeCentral & South AmericaBrazilArgentinaRest of South AmericaMiddle East & AfricaSaudi ArabiaTurkeyRest of Middle East & AfricaOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoSignal controllerGame controllersOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, sales volume, market share and growth rate for each application, includingGameTVOtherThe study objectives of this report are:To study and analyze the global VR Handle market size (value & volume) by company, key regions/countries, products and application, history data from 2013 to 2017, and forecast to 2025.To understand the structure of VR Handle market by identifying its various subsegments.To share detailed information about the key factors influencing the growth of the market (growth potential, opportunities, drivers, industry-specific challenges and risks).Focuses on the key global VR Handle manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the sales volume, value, market share, market competition landscape, SWOT analysis and development plans in next few years.To analyze the VR Handle with respect to individual growth trends, future prospects, and their contribution to the total market.To project the value and volume of VR Handle submarkets, with respect to key regions (along with their respective key countries).To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market.To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies.This research study focuses to product specifications, VR Handle cost specifications, production capacity, distributors list, VR Handle marketing channel, and detail analysis of the export/import of the product. The VR Handle research document also offers raw material suppliers, cost, and downstream consumer list.All features mentioned above is included in the VR Handle Market Report 2018 which can offer solution to the difficulties to the prominent members of the VR Handle market.Additionally, the important terminologies, government policies, and regulations related to VR Handle market product are added.Contact Details:Company Name: QYResearch CO.,LIMITED | focus on Market Survey and ResearchTina| Sales ManagersTel: 0086-20-22093278(CN)Email: sales@qyresearchglobal.com or tinaning@qyresearch.comWeb:QYResearch, established in 2007, focuses on custom research, management consulting, IPO consulting, industry chain research, and data base &seminar services. The company owns large basic databases (such as National Bureau of Statistics Database, Customs Import and Export Database, Industry Association Database, etc.), expert resources (including industry experts who own more than 10 years experiences on marketing or R&D in industries of energy, automotive, chemicals, medical ICT consumer goods, etc.), professional survey team (the team members obtained more than 3 years market survey experience and more than 2 years deep expert interview experience), and excellent data analysis team (SPSS statistics and PPT graphics process team).Room 2901 VILI International Building No.167 Linhe West RoadGlobal Injection Pen Market 2018-2025 Novo Nordisk, Sanofi, Merck, Ypsomed

Injection Pen Market Forecast 2018

http://bit.ly/Injection-Pen-Market

http://www.9dimenresearchstore.com/report/global-injection-pen-market-4781

http://9dimenresearchstore.com/

A market study "Global Injection Pen Market" examines the performance of the Injection Pen market 2018. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Injection Pen market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Injection Pen market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Injection Pen Market 2018 report includes Injection Pen market Revenue, market Share, Injection Pen industry volume, market Trends, Injection Pen Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. It shows manufacturing capacity, Injection Pen Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Injection Pen Market 2018 :1. Novo Nordisk2. Sanofi3. ELI Lilly and Company4. Merck5. Ypsomed6. Astrazeneca7. F.Hoffman-La Roche8. Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD)9. Owen Mumford10. Novartis11. Pfizer12. HaselmeierInjection Pen Market : By ApplicationHome CareHospital & ClinicsInjection Pen Market : By TypeDisposable Injection PensReusable Injection PensFirstly, the report covers the top Injection Pen manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Injection Pen report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Injection Pen industry, Injection Pen industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Injection Pen Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Injection Pen research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Injection Pen market revenue worldwide.Finally, Injection Pen market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About Us9Dimen Research Store is a leading market intelligence team which making extensive reports that cover all the necessary details about the market assessments such as major technological improvement in the industry.Contact US:5001 Spring Valley Rd #400,Dallas,TX 75244, USAContact No. +1-214-661-1669Email: sales@9dimenresearchstore.comWeb:New Industry Overview - Global Alcohol Enzymes Sales Market Report 2018

New Industry Overview - Global Alcohol Enzymes Sales Market Report 2018

http://www.qyresearchglobal.com/goods-1554558.html

http://www.qyresearcheurope.com/ or

http://www.qyresearch.com/

The Global Alcohol Enzymes Sales Market Report 2018 is in-depth study of overall Alcohol Enzymes market including introduction of product, definition, scope, Alcohol Enzymes global sale, and forecast up to 2025.The Alcohol Enzymes industry report clarifies the past experience and trends, on the basis of these past experiences, it offers the future prediction considering other factors influencing the growth rate. This worldwide report offers the detailed analysis of the important factors such as market dynamics (DROT), PEST, and PORTER which assists the growth of the Alcohol Enzymes Industry. These past experience and factors assist to build the strategy and future planning of Alcohol Enzymes Market and hold a place in the competitive world.This report is the extensive analysis of the Alcohol Enzymes industry based on the primary and secondary in-depth research. The scope of the report includes the global and regional sale, product consumption in terms of volume and value. The Alcohol Enzymes market report offers a forecast of revenue, CAGR, and cumulative revenue. The gathered information about Alcohol Enzymes global business is represented in the figures, tables, pie chart, and graphs.The Alcohol Enzymes industry Market report offers the competitive scenario in the Alcohol Enzymes industry based on the type of product, applications, and the companies that are present in the Alcohol Enzymes market, and covers the company profiles, their development policies, lined up products and recent launched along with the SWOT analysis of companies.Get a complete report sample from this link:This report studies the global Alcohol Enzymes market status and forecast, categorizes the global Alcohol Enzymes market size (value & volume) by key players, type, application, and region. This report focuses on the top players in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia India and Other regions (Middle East & Africa, Central & South America).The major players covered in this reportAdvanced Enzyme TechnologyABFAmano EnzymeNovozymes A/SDyadic InternationalThe Soufflet GroupRoqutte FreresShanghai Zheyang ChemicalOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoAmylaseProteaseCellulose and HemicellulaseOthersOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, sales volume, market share and growth rate for each application, includingFood & BeverageBio-Fuel ProductionCleaning AgentsAnimal FeedOthersThe study objectives of this report are:To study and analyze the global Alcohol Enzymes market size (value & volume) by company, key regions/countries, products and application, history data from 2013 to 2017, and forecast to 2025.To understand the structure of Alcohol Enzymes market by identifying its various subsegments.To share detailed information about the key factors influencing the growth of the market (growth potential, opportunities, drivers, industry-specific challenges and risks).Focuses on the key global Alcohol Enzymes manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the sales volume, value, market share, market competition landscape, SWOT analysis and development plans in next few years.To analyze the Alcohol Enzymes with respect to individual growth trends, future prospects, and their contribution to the total market.To project the value and volume of Alcohol Enzymes submarkets, with respect to key regions (along with their respective key countries).To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market.To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies.This research study focuses to product specifications, Alcohol Enzymes cost specifications, production capacity, distributors list, Alcohol Enzymes marketing channel, and detail analysis of the export/import of the product. The Alcohol Enzymes research document also offers raw material suppliers, cost, and downstream consumer list.All features mentioned above is included in the Alcohol Enzymes Market Report 2018 which can offer solution to the difficulties to the prominent members of the Alcohol Enzymes market.Additionally, the important terminologies, government policies, and regulations related to Alcohol Enzymes market product are added.Contact Details:Company Name: QYResearch CO.,LIMITED | focus on Market Survey and ResearchTina| Sales ManagersTel: 0086-20-22093278(CN)Email: sales@qyresearchglobal.com or tinaning@qyresearch.comWeb:QYResearch, established in 2007, focuses on custom research, management consulting, IPO consulting, industry chain research, and data base &seminar services. The company owns large basic databases (such as National Bureau of Statistics Database, Customs Import and Export Database, Industry Association Database, etc.), expert resources (including industry experts who own more than 10 years experiences on marketing or R&D in industries of energy, automotive, chemicals, medical ICT consumer goods, etc.), professional survey team (the team members obtained more than 3 years market survey experience and more than 2 years deep expert interview experience), and excellent data analysis team (SPSS statistics and PPT graphics process team).Room 2901 VILI International Building No.167 Linhe West RoadNew Industry Overview - Global 1-Dodecanamine,N,N-dimethyloxide(LDAO) Sales Market Report 2018

New Industry Overview - Global 1-Dodecanamine,N,N-dimethyloxide(LDAO) Sales Market Report 2018

http://www.qyresearchglobal.com/goods-1554551.html

http://www.qyresearcheurope.com/ or

http://www.qyresearch.com/

The Global 1-Dodecanamine,N,N-dimethyloxide(LDAO) Sales Market Report 2018 is in-depth study of overall 1-Dodecanamine,N,N-dimethyloxide(LDAO) market including introduction of product, definition, scope, 1-Dodecanamine,N,N-dimethyloxide(LDAO) global sale, and forecast up to 2025.The 1-Dodecanamine,N,N-dimethyloxide(LDAO) industry report clarifies the past experience and trends, on the basis of these past experiences, it offers the future prediction considering other factors influencing the growth rate. This worldwide report offers the detailed analysis of the important factors such as market dynamics (DROT), PEST, and PORTER which assists the growth of the 1-Dodecanamine,N,N-dimethyloxide(LDAO) Industry. These past experience and factors assist to build the strategy and future planning of 1-Dodecanamine,N,N-dimethyloxide(LDAO) Market and hold a place in the competitive world.This report is the extensive analysis of the 1-Dodecanamine,N,N-dimethyloxide(LDAO) industry based on the primary and secondary in-depth research. The scope of the report includes the global and regional sale, product consumption in terms of volume and value. The 1-Dodecanamine,N,N-dimethyloxide(LDAO) market report offers a forecast of revenue, CAGR, and cumulative revenue. The gathered information about 1-Dodecanamine,N,N-dimethyloxide(LDAO) global business is represented in the figures, tables, pie chart, and graphs.The 1-Dodecanamine,N,N-dimethyloxide(LDAO) industry Market report offers the competitive scenario in the 1-Dodecanamine,N,N-dimethyloxide(LDAO) industry based on the type of product, applications, and the companies that are present in the 1-Dodecanamine,N,N-dimethyloxide(LDAO) market, and covers the company profiles, their development policies, lined up products and recent launched along with the SWOT analysis of companies.Get a complete report sample from this link:This report studies the global 1-Dodecanamine,N,N-dimethyloxide(LDAO) market status and forecast, categorizes the global 1-Dodecanamine,N,N-dimethyloxide(LDAO) market size (value & volume) by key players, type, application, and region. This report focuses on the top players in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia India and Other regions (Middle East & Africa, Central & South America).The major players covered in this reportStepanAvanti Polar LipidsAnatraceHenan Tianfu Chemical......On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoGrade 99%Grade 95%Grade 30%OthersOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, sales volume, market share and growth rate for each application, includingFoam EnhancersConditionersThickenersAntistatic AgentsSurfactantsThe study objectives of this report are:To study and analyze the global 1-Dodecanamine,N,N-dimethyloxide(LDAO) market size (value & volume) by company, key regions/countries, products and application, history data from 2013 to 2017, and forecast to 2025.To understand the structure of 1-Dodecanamine,N,N-dimethyloxide(LDAO) market by identifying its various subsegments.To share detailed information about the key factors influencing the growth of the market (growth potential, opportunities, drivers, industry-specific challenges and risks).Focuses on the key global 1-Dodecanamine,N,N-dimethyloxide(LDAO) manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the sales volume, value, market share, market competition landscape, SWOT analysis and development plans in next few years.To analyze the 1-Dodecanamine,N,N-dimethyloxide(LDAO) with respect to individual growth trends, future prospects, and their contribution to the total market.To project the value and volume of 1-Dodecanamine,N,N-dimethyloxide(LDAO) submarkets, with respect to key regions (along with their respective key countries).To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market.To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies.This research study focuses to product specifications, 1-Dodecanamine,N,N-dimethyloxide(LDAO) cost specifications, production capacity, distributors list, 1-Dodecanamine,N,N-dimethyloxide(LDAO) marketing channel, and detail analysis of the export/import of the product. The 1-Dodecanamine,N,N-dimethyloxide(LDAO) research document also offers raw material suppliers, cost, and downstream consumer list.All features mentioned above is included in the 1-Dodecanamine,N,N-dimethyloxide(LDAO) Market Report 2018 which can offer solution to the difficulties to the prominent members of the 1-Dodecanamine,N,N-dimethyloxide(LDAO) market.Additionally, the important terminologies, government policies, and regulations related to 1-Dodecanamine,N,N-dimethyloxide(LDAO) market product are added.Contact Details:Company Name: QYResearch CO.,LIMITED | focus on Market Survey and ResearchTina| Sales ManagersTel: 0086-20-22093278(CN)Email: sales@qyresearchglobal.com or tinaning@qyresearch.comWeb:QYResearch, established in 2007, focuses on custom research, management consulting, IPO consulting, industry chain research, and data base &seminar services. The company owns large basic databases (such as National Bureau of Statistics Database, Customs Import and Export Database, Industry Association Database, etc.), expert resources (including industry experts who own more than 10 years experiences on marketing or R&D in industries of energy, automotive, chemicals, medical ICT consumer goods, etc.), professional survey team (the team members obtained more than 3 years market survey experience and more than 2 years deep expert interview experience), and excellent data analysis team (SPSS statistics and PPT graphics process team).Room 2901 VILI International Building No.167 Linhe West RoadNetwork Security Market | Top kEy players Cisco, IBM, GarrettCom, Siemens, CyberArk, Symantec, Honeywell, Cybercon, MAVERICK | Forecast till 2025

Network Security Market

https://www.businessindustryreports.com/sample-request/67604

https://www.businessindustryreports.com/buy-now/67604/single

https://www.businessindustryreports.com/check-discount/67604

BusinessIndustryReports.com has new research report on the global Network Security Market. The global Network Security market is growing continuously and expected to grow healthy CAGR by Forecast year 2025Network Security Market consists of the policies and practices adopted to prevent and monitor unauthorized access, misuse, modification, or denial of a computer network and network-accessible resources. Network security involves the authorization of access to data in a network, which is controlled by the network administrator. Users choose or are assigned an ID and password or other authenticating information that allows them access to information and programs within their authority.Network Security Market covers a variety of computer networks, both public and private, that are used in everyday jobs; conducting transactions and communications among businesses, government agencies and individuals. Networks can be private, such as within a company, and others which might be open to public access. Network Security Market is involved in organizations, enterprises, and other types of institutions. It does as its title explains: It secures the network, as well as protecting and overseeing operations being done. The most common and simple way of protecting a network resource is by assigning it a unique name and a corresponding password.Premium Sample Report Available atThis report studies the global Network Security market status and forecast, categorizes the global Network Security market size (value & volume) by manufacturers, type, application, and region. This report focuses on the top manufacturers in North America, Europe, Japan, China and other regions (India, Southeast Asia, Central & South America, and Middle East & Africa).The major manufacturers covered in this reportCiscoIBMGarrettComSiemensCyberArkSymantecHoneywellCyberconMAVERICKCheck PointWaterfallParsonsWurldtechWeinute TechnologyTOFINOHUACONNSFOCUSThe regional scope of the study is as follows:- North America, United States, Canada, Mexico, Asia-Pacific, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Indonesia, Singapore, Rest of Asia-Pacific, Europe, Germany, France, UK, Italy, Spain, Russia, Rest of Europe, Central & South America, Brazil, Argentina, Rest of South America, Middle East & Africa, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Rest of Middle East & Africa.On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoType IType IIOn the basis of the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate for each application, includingBankGovernmentEnterpriseOtherThe study objectives of this report are:To analyze and study the global Network Security capacity, production, value, consumption, status (2013-2017) and forecast (2018-2025);Focuses on the key Network Security manufacturers, to study the capacity, production, value, market share and development plans in future.Focuses on the global key manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the market competition landscape, SWOT analysis.To define, describe and forecast the market by type, application and region.To analyze the global and key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks.To identify significant trends and factors driving or inhibiting the market growth.To analyze the opportunities in the market for stakeholders by identifying the high growth segments.To strategically analyze each submarket with respect to individual growth trend and their contribution to the marketTo analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the marketTo strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies.Key StakeholdersNetwork Security ManufacturersNetwork Security Distributors/Traders/WholesalersNetwork Security Subcomponent ManufacturersIndustry AssociationDownstream VendorsComplete report on Global Network Security Market Size, Status and Forecast 2025 is spread across 114 pages and provides exclusive vital statistics, data, information, trends and landscape details in this niche sector. Get Direct Copy of this Research Report @Major Table of Content1 Global Network Security Market Research Report 20182 Global Network Security Market Competition by Manufacturers3 Global Network Security Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)4 Global Network Security Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2013-2018)5 Global Network Security Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type6 Global Network Security Market Analysis by Application7 Global Network Security Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis8 Network Security Manufacturing Cost Analysis9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders11 Market Effect Factors Analysis12 Global Network Security Market Forecast (2018-2025 )13 Research Findings and Conclusion14 AppendixKey questions answered in the report:What will the market growth rate of Network Security market in 2025 ?What are the key factors driving the global Network Security market?What are sales, revenue, and price analysis of top manufacturers of Network Security market?Who are the distributors, traders and dealers of Network Security market?Who are the key manufacturers in Network Security market space?What are the Network Security market opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in the global Network Security market?What are sales, revenue, and price analysis by types and applications of Network Security market?What are sales, revenue, and price analysis by regions of Network Security market?What are the market opportunities, market risk and market overview of the Network Security market?Get a Corporate Discount atAbout 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 Market ReportsPune  Indiasales@businessindustryreports.com+19376349940Asia-Pacific Accounted For the Largest Market of Industrial Control & Factory Automation

https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/industrial-control-and-factory-automation-market

https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/industrial-control-and-factory-automation-market/report-sample

https://www.psmarketresearch.com

The manufacturing industries are facing stiff government norms and regulation, towards the energy efficiency and reduction of carbon footprints to tackle the environment problems, including global warming. The green and smart are expected to be the future of industrial control & factory automation in the coming five to six years. Moreover, the lowering profit margin along with the increasing product homogeneity has also increased the demand of advanced control & factory automation in the manufacturing industries. Technology convergences along with the wireless automation are two of the trending developments in the global industrial control & factory automation market. The growth of industrial internet of things (IIoT), along with the growing penetration of M2M communication in the industrial application is driving the process automation in the manufacturing industries.Explore Full Report Description At:The lack of skilled labour, in addition to high installation and maintenance cost of the industrial control & factory automation equipment are hindering the growth of the market up to some extent, especially in the cost sensitive developing countries. Furthermore, the free-fall in the oil and gas prices has also affected the growth of the industrial control & factory automation market, since oil and gas industry is its major end user. However, the other processing industries including food and beverages processing has witnessed lucrative growth over the past few years, which in turn is driving the growth of the global industrial control automation market. Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) are expected to witness the fastest growth during the forecast period. The market of industrial control & factory automation in the developed countries of North America and Europe are expected to witness below average growth.Geographically, Asia-Pacific accounted for the largest market of industrial control & factory automation in 2014. The emergence of China as a global manufacturing hub, along with the increasing penetration of advanced automation technology in the processing industries of the region is the major growth driver of the market. The North American and European market of industrial control & factory automation are growing moderately. The growth in these regions is mainly anticipated from the replacement of existing automation technology with smart and more eco-friendly industrial automation technology. Country wise, Germany, the U.K., Italy, the U.S., and Canada are expected to be the major markets in the developed region.Download Free Report Sample At:Some of the competitors in the global industrial control & factory automation market are Emerson Electric Corporation, Schnieder Electric, General Electric, Johnson Controls Inc., Honeywell International Inc., Rockwell Automation Inc., and Siemens AG.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:New Industry Overview - Asia-Pacific Furan Resins Market Report 2018

New Industry Overview - Asia-Pacific Furan Resins Market Report 2018

http://www.qyresearchglobal.com/goods-1556617.html

http://www.qyresearcheurope.com/ or

http://www.qyresearch.com/

The Asia-Pacific Furan Resins Market Report 2018 is in-depth study of overall Furan Resins market including introduction of product, definition, scope, Furan Resins global sale, and forecast up to 2025.The Furan Resins industry report clarifies the past experience and trends, on the basis of these past experiences, it offers the future prediction considering other factors influencing the growth rate. This worldwide report offers the detailed analysis of the important factors such as market dynamics (DROT), PEST, and PORTER which assists the growth of the Furan Resins Industry. These past experience and factors assist to build the strategy and future planning of Furan Resins Market and hold a place in the competitive world.This report is the extensive analysis of the Furan Resins industry based on the primary and secondary in-depth research. The scope of the report includes the global and regional sale, product consumption in terms of volume and value. The Furan Resins market report offers a forecast of revenue, CAGR, and cumulative revenue. The gathered information about Furan Resins global business is represented in the figures, tables, pie chart, and graphs.The Furan Resins industry Market report offers the competitive scenario in the Furan Resins industry based on the type of product, applications, and the companies that are present in the Furan Resins market, and covers the company profiles, their development policies, lined up products and recent launched along with the SWOT analysis of companies.Get a complete report sample from this link:Geographically, this report split Asia-Pacific into several key Regions, with sales (K Units), revenue (Million USD), market share and growth rate of Furan Resins for these regions, from 2013 to 2025 (forecast), including China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, India, Southeast Asia and Australia.Asia-Pacific Furan Resins market competition by top manufacturers/players, with Furan Resins sales volume, price, revenue (Million USD) and market share for each manufacturer/player; the top players includingDynaChem Inc.The Chemical CompanyHongye Chemical Co. LtdPenn A Kem LLCNova Molecular technologiesContinetal Industries Group Inc.Shenzhen Shu Hang Industrial Development Co. Ltd.SolvChem Inc.NeuChem Inc.SweetLake Chemical Ltd.Ideal Chemical & Supply CompanyNovasynorganicsInternational Process PlantsCKEOn the basis of product, this report displays the sales volum, revenue, product price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoFurfuryl Alcohol ResinFurfural ResinBran Ketone ResinBranone - formaldehyde ResinOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, sales volume, market share and growth rate for each application, includingPaints & PlasticFoundry IndustryAutomotiveOthersThe study objectives of this report are:To study and analyze the global Furan Resins market size (value & volume) by company, key regions/countries, products and application, history data from 2013 to 2017, and forecast to 2025.To understand the structure of Furan Resins market by identifying its various subsegments.To share detailed information about the key factors influencing the growth of the market (growth potential, opportunities, drivers, industry-specific challenges and risks).Focuses on the key global Furan Resins manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the sales volume, value, market share, market competition landscape, SWOT analysis and development plans in next few years.To analyze the Furan Resins with respect to individual growth trends, future prospects, and their contribution to the total market.To project the value and volume of Furan Resins submarkets, with respect to key regions (along with their respective key countries).To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market.To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies.This research study focuses to product specifications, Furan Resins cost specifications, production capacity, distributors list, Furan Resins marketing channel, and detail analysis of the export/import of the product. The Furan Resins research document also offers raw material suppliers, cost, and downstream consumer list.All features mentioned above is included in the Furan Resins Market Report 2018 which can offer solution to the difficulties to the prominent members of the Furan Resins market.Additionally, the important terminologies, government policies, and regulations related to Furan Resins market product are added.Contact Details:Company Name: QYResearch CO.,LIMITED | focus on Market Survey and ResearchTina| Sales ManagersTel: 0086-20-22093278(CN)Email: sales@qyresearchglobal.com or tinaning@qyresearch.comWeb:QYResearch, established in 2007, focuses on custom research, management consulting, IPO consulting, industry chain research, and data base &seminar services. The company owns large basic databases (such as National Bureau of Statistics Database, Customs Import and Export Database, Industry Association Database, etc.), expert resources (including industry experts who own more than 10 years experiences on marketing or R&D in industries of energy, automotive, chemicals, medical ICT consumer goods, etc.), professional survey team (the team members obtained more than 3 years market survey experience and more than 2 years deep expert interview experience), and excellent data analysis team (SPSS statistics and PPT graphics process team).Room 2901 VILI International Building No.167 Linhe West RoadDeep Packet Inspection And Processing Market Growth Augmenting Due to Increasing Use Of Mobile Devices With Growing Mobile Broadband Data Demand

https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/deep-packet-inspection-and-processing-market

https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/deep-packet-inspection-and-processing-market/report-sample

https://www.psmarketresearch.com

Global deep packet inspection and processing market is driven by the growing demand of cyber security solutions. The key factors responsible for the persistent growth of the market include the increasing mobile network, less regulated internet infrastructure; increasing business complexities and growing adoption of BYOD (bring your own device). Deep packet inspection and processing is a special type of computer network packet filtering technology that inspects the data including the header of a data packet when it passes through inspection point. The advantages of deep packet inspection and processing include its function to prioritize the traffic and providing information about traffic. Several innovations have been witnessed in the deep packet inspection and processing market, including the development of Next-Generation Firewalls (NGFWs) that are capable of investigating the network packets up to 7 application layers of the OSI model. It also provides strong network traffic filtering capabilities depending on the contents of the packet.Explore Full Report Description At:Among the various applications of deep packet inspection and processing, intrusion detection system (IDS) and intrusion prevention system (IPS) generate highest revenue in the market, owing to rising demands for advanced cyber security solutions across all major industry verticals. The data loss/leak prevention and management is one of the fastest-growing application segments of deep packet inspection and processing technology. On the basis of industry verticals, government sector contributes highest to the market revenue. This is due to the increasing necessity of enhanced security measures which increases the usage of inspection platform for security and surveillance. In telecom and IT sector it helps in understanding the user behaviour, which is similar to business support system and operations support system and helps service providers for delivering the required services.Geographically, Asia-Pacific is expected to be the largest market for deep packet inspection and processing, due to the increasing number of telecom industries and mobile device users in the region. In China, the increasing cases of cyber-crimes and government regulations are some of the factors for the market growth. Due to the security issues, several high-ranking websites in China have been blocked. Moreover, the advancement in technologies and growing population in the countries such as China, India and Japan has increased the number of telecom and internet subscribers, which is further escalating the market.Download Free Report Sample At:Some of the key vendors of the global deep packet inspection and processing market are Cisco Systems, Inc., Intel Corporation, International Business Machine (IBM) Corporation, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE) Company, Palo Alto Networks, Inc., Check Point Software Technologies Ltd., Blue Coat Systems, Inc., Extreme Networks, Inc., Net Scout Systems, Inc. and Symantec Corporation.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:Golden State Coalition Little Saigon Rally

Contact: Chaplain Dr. Wiley S. Drake, Chairman, Congressional Prayer Conference of Washington D.C., 714-865-8132; Douglas V. Gibbs, Golden State Coalition Media Director, 951-219-3975; Golden State Coalition

WESTMINSTER, Calif., April 28, 2018 /Standard Newswire/ -- In a move to send a message of liberty to Sacramento and the voting public, the Golden State Coalition will be holding a rally at Sid Goldstein Freedom Park, 14199 All American Way in Westminster, California on Sunday, April 29, 2018 from 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm. The date coincides with Vietnam's "End of Country" Day (April 30), with a message to the Free Vietnamese in the United States that this year the date will also represent "Beginning of Liberty" Day.

We have a lot of work ahead of us. The damage to California committed by the Democrats in Sacramento has been epochal. We are at a crossroads.

It is time to take the threat of what the Democrats have done seriously. Our State is in shambles. We once ranked among the top in prosperity, and now rank as the State with the most people in poverty. We once ranked among the highest in education, but now we are cellar-dwellers in our educational ranking. It is time for a change in leadership, and the candidates of the Golden State Coalition are in place to take on that challenge.

The Golden State Coalition Candidates are Travis Allen (for Governor), Paul Taylor (for U.S. Senate), David Hernandez (for California Lt. Governor), Mark Meuser (for California Secretary of State), Judge Steven Bailey (for California Attorney General), Edwin Duterte (for U.S. Congress, 43rd District), Benito Bernal (for U.S. Congress, 29th District), and Jazmina Saavedra (for U.S. Congress, 44th District).Worldwide US$ 46.4 bn of Medical Device Connectivity Market Industry Analysis And Forecast 2017-2024| Witness +30.1% Increasing CAGR

Medical Device Connectivity Market Outlook 2024

http://databridgemarketresearch.com/request-a-sample/?dbmr=global-medical-device-connectivity-market

http://databridgemarketresearch.com/toc/?dbmr=global-medical-device-connectivity-market

http://databridgemarketresearch.com/reports/global-medical-device-connectivity-market/

Data Bridge Market Research added new trending report of "Medical Device Connectivity Market" Which provides market analysis, growth analysis, market share analysis and many more information about research.New Research Report of Global Medical Device Connectivity Market, It is expected to reach USD 46.4 billion by 2024 from USD 5.7 billion in 2016, growing at a CAGR of 30.1% in the forecast period 2017 to 2024. Market Segmented By Type (Integration Software, Connectivity Hardware (Wired, Wireless (Wi-Fi, WMTS, Bluetooth), By Applications (Electronic Medical Record, Patient Monitoring, Others), By End-User (Hospitals, Community Healthcare, Clinics, Others), By Geography (North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, South America, Middle East & Africa)  Industry Trends and Forecast to 2024Request a Free Sample Pages Report @:Important Topics Covered:1. Introduction2. Market Segmentation3. Executive Summary4. Market Overview5. Premium Insights6. Global Medical Device Connectivity Market: Regulatory Scenario7. Global Medical Device Connectivity Market, By Offering8. Global Medical Device Connectivity Market, By Type9. Global Medical Device Connectivity Market, By End User10. Global Medical Device Connectivity Market, By Geography11. Global Medical Device Connectivity Market, Company Landscape12. Company Profiles13. Related ReportsCustomize Report of Global Medical Device Connectivity Market Also Available On Request (As per Requirement)Market Overview:The market is segmented on the basis of type application, end user and geography.Based on end-user the medical device connectivity market is segmented into EP ablation catheters, EP diagnostic catheters, EP laboratory devices and access devices.On the basis of application the market is segmented into electronic medical record (EMR), patient monitoring and others.Based on geography the market is segmented into 5 geographical regions, North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America and rest of the world. The geographical regions are further segmented into 24 major countries such as U.S. Canada, Mexico, Germany, France, U.K., Belgium, Switzerland, Belgium, Turkey, Japan, China, Singapore, Brazil, India, Russia, South Africa and many others.Request for TOC Here:Top Companies/Players: Cerner Corporation, Koninklijke Philips N.V., Digi International Inc., McKesson Corporation, Cisco Systems Inc., Medtronic, Inc., Siemens Healthcare GmbH, Honeywell HomeMed LLC, Dragerwerk AG & Co. KGaA, eDevice Inc., Qualcomm Inc., Lantronix Inc., GE Healthcare Ltd., Silex Technology America, Inc., NantHealth, Among other companiesKey questions answered in this reportWhat will be the market size in 2024 and what will the growth rate?What are the key market trends?What is driving this market?What are the challenges to market growth?Who are the key vendors in this market space?Read more about the report:About Us:Data Bridge set forth itself as an unconventional and neoteric Market research and consulting firm with unparalleled level of resilience and integrated approaches. We are determined to unearth the best market opportunities and foster efficient information for your business to thrive in the market. Data Bridge endeavors to provide appropriate solutions to the complex business challenges and initiates an effortless decision-making process.Contact us:Data Bridge Market ResearchTel: +1-888-387-2818Email: sopan.gedam@databridgemarketresearch.comInvestor: investors@databridgemarketresearch.comTechnology Spending on Revenue Epinephrine Market - APAC Grows Stronger in Demand for market

https://www.futuregenicreports.com/Request-Sample/101158

https://www.futuregenicreports.com/Reports/Epinephrine-Market

Market Definition:Epinephrine or adrenaline is a hormone secreted by adrenal glands in the blood stream. It is one of the two common hormones (the other being glucagon) that is responsible for glycogen breakdown. Secretion of epinephrine is characterized by the presence of extreme emotions such as anxiety or anger thereby resulting in elevated levels of blood pressure along with increased muscle strength and high sugar metabolism. Under strenuous conditions signals are transmitted to brain and brain in turn sends nerve impulses to the adrenal glands in the kidneys and result in the release or secretion of epinephrine. The presence of this hormone is essential for the body to maintain cardiovascular homeostasis as epinephrine can divert blood to tissues under stress. Epinephrine is used as a vasoconstrictor in shock, as a stimulant during cardiac arrest and as an antispasmodic and bronchodilator in bronchial asthma.Get PDF with Technological trends atGlobal Epinephrine Auto-injector market has been growing rapidly. One major driver for this market growth has been the increasing ubiquity of allergies amongst people. Therefore, increase in number of patients allergic to dust, insect bites and venom, food and food additives, has driven the market growth. Furthermore, investments by vendors in Research & Development activities to develop Chlorofluorocarbon-free epinephrine auto-injector inhalers using hydrofluoroalkane propellant instead have also accelerated the market growth. Adverse side effects such as cardiac arrhythmia, pulmonary edema, vomiting, cerebral hemorrhage etc. as a result of excessive epinephrine usage can pose to be a challenge to the market.Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Epinephrine in global market, especially in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, types and applications.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report covers Mylan Inc Sanofi SA Impax ALK Abello Lincoln Medical Ltd AMPHASTARObtain Report Details with Technological advancement atMarket 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, covers Epinephrine Auto-injector Epinephrine Prefilled Syringe OthersMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided into Anaphylaxis OthersAbout 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:244, Madison AvenueNew York City, NY - 10016United StatesToll Free +1- 844-445-2861E-mail: sales@futuregenicreports.comE-Liquid and E-Juice Market - Global Industry Insights, Trends, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 2018 2024

https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/651

https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/toc/651

www.coherentchronicle.com

E-liquid and e-juice is a substitute for tobacco used in conventional cigarettes. This liquid content is filled in personal vaporizer and electronic cigarettes. These contain low quantity nicotine as compared to conventional tobacco smoke. The major ingredients used in the e-liquid are nicotine, glycerin, glycol, propylene, and flavorings. However, some e-liquid products do not contain nicotine, propylene glycol or flavors. Increasing adoption of e-cigarettes to reduce or quit tobacco smoking is increasing the demand for e-liquid and e-juice market. Moreover, increasing awareness about the advantages of e-liquid smoking as compared to tobacco smoking is increasing growth of the e-liquid and e-juice market over the forecast period. Additionally, changing lifestyle and increasing health awareness have increased the demand for e-cigarette devices, in turn fueling growth of the market for e-liquid or e-juice. The rising awareness about lung cancer cases, owing to tobacco smoking is increasing the demand for e-cigarette devices. According to American Cancer Society, around 222,500 new lung cancer cases were reported in the U.S. in 2015, of which 116,990 were men and 105,510 were women. Increasing incidence of lung cancer cases due to tobacco smoking, is inadvertently fueling demand for e-cigarette devices, and thus, fueling growth of the e-liquid and e-juice market globally.Request For Sample Copy of this Research Report :Increasing trend of quitting tobacco cigarette and increasing popularity of flavor e-liquid such as bubble gum, cola, chocolate, mint, menthol, and fusions of other fruits have increased the popularity of electronic cigarette devices. This trend is projected to provide continuous growth opportunities to market players in the global e-liquid and e-juice market.Global E-liquid and E-juice Market Outlook  Asia Pacific holds the largest market share of the global e-liquid and e-juice marketOn the basis of geography, the global e-liquid and e-juice market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East, and Africa. North America holds a dominant position in the global e-liquid and e-juice market in 2016 and is projected to retain its dominance throughout the forecast period. Increasing healthcare awareness is increasing growth of the market in this region. The U.S. and Canada are the major countries, driving major market growth in North America. Additionally, the market in Asia Pacific is expected to hold the largest share over the forecast period. South Korea, China and Malaysia are some of the major countries which drives the e-liquid and e-juice market in Asia Pacific region. Due to increasing disposable income, changing lifestyle, and rising awareness regarding health concerns among the populace in the region.Key Companies of the Global E-liquid and E-juice MarketSome of the key companies operating in the global e-liquid and e-juice market include Black Note, Breazy, Crystal Canyon Vapes LLC, eLiquid Factory, Halo, Henley, Highbrow Vapor, Mig Vapor LLC, Mt Baker Vapor, Strix Elixirs, Vape Dudes, VaporFi, Inc, Virgin Vapor, VistaVapors, Inc., VMR Products LLC, and ZampleBox, LLC. Increasing innovation of new flavored e-liquid products is a major marketing strategy deployed to increase foothold in the global e-liquid and e-juice market. For example, in October 2016, VaporFi, Inc. announced the successful launch of an apple pie e-liquid flavor.Request For Table of Content of this Report :About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.comVisit Our New Website:Digital Manufacturing Market - Global Industry Insights, Trends, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 2018202

https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/652

https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/toc/652

www.coherentchronicle.com

Digital manufacturing is a process of improving the manufacturing process of the product from virtual to physical world. Increasing adoption of cloud-based PLM software is projected to increase the demand for digital manufacturing specific applications. This will enable the manufacturing plants to access the PLM software from remote areas as well. Technomatix and Manufacturing 360 are applications that are used in the iOS and Android gadgets respectively. Furthermore, increasing adoption of internet of things in manufacturing industries fuels market growth globally. According to Coherent Market Insights, over 42 billon devices are projected to be connected to the internet by 2020. Moreover, the demand to reduce capital expenditure, shorten lead times, and high productivity is expected to increase the demand for digital manufacturing in various verticals.Request For Sample Copy of this Research Report :The increasing sales and R&D investment in automotive industry globally provide significant growth opportunity to the global digital manufacturing market. According to Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d'Automobiles, in 2016, around 98.8 million units of vehicles were sold worldwide up from 89.7 million in 2015. Moreover, according to Coherent Market Insights analysis, US$ 94.2 billion was spent on automotive R&D in 2016 up from US$ 91.5 billion in 2015. The implementation of digital manufacturing in the automotive production process smoothens the flow of plant and product data during various process. Furthermore, digital manufacturing authenticates automation and robotics programs and accelerates the factory manufacturing process. Also, the implementation of digital manufacturing provides real-time access to the product lifecycle information to the administration.Digital Manufacturing Market Outlook  North America holds the largest market shareOn the basis of geography, global digital manufacturing market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East, and Africa. North America held the dominant position in the global digital manufacturing market in 2016 and is projected to retain its dominance throughout the forecast period. The U.S., Mexico, and Canada are the three major economies, which contribute to the swift growth of market in the region. The increasing R&D investment in the aerospace & defense and automotive sectors in the U.S provides immense growth opportunity to the digital manufacturing market. In 2016, the U.S invested US$ 14.3 billion in R&D in aerospace & defense industry up from US$ 14.1 billion in 2015. Similarly, for R&D in automotive sector, the U.S. spent US$ 39.6 billion in 2016 up from US$ 37.5 billion in 2015. Moreover, the Asia Pacific digital manufacturing market is projected to grow the highest CAGR over the forecast period. Increasing demand for innovative products among end users segments boosted the growth of market in this region. India, China, and Japan are some of the major economies driving the growth of digital manufacturing market in this region.Digital Manufacturing Market PlayersSome of the key players operating in the global digital manufacturing market include Autodesk, Dassault Systemes, Mentor Graphics, PTC, and Siemens PLM Software. The new product launch is one of the major strategies for the market leaders to increase their market presence. For instance: Autodesk Inc. an America based software company have officially announced that they have launched a Netfabb 2017, a comprehensive toolkit for additive manufacturing professionalsRequest For Table of Content of this Report :About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.comVisit Our New Website:Wind Turbine Inspection Services Market - Global Industry Insights, Trends, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 20172025

https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/653

https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/toc/653

www.coherentchronicle.com

Hydroelectric power plants and wind energy are among the most widely used renewable forms of energy sources. Hydroelectric power generation, which is the largest used renewable power source, is limited owing to the inadequacy of the generating resources to meet the global demands. Wind energy is available abundantly and can be used to meet the global energy demands. Requirement to harness these resources consistently, and maintain the high energy efficiency of these through the turbine life cycle is expected to drive the demands for related inspection services through the forecast period.Request For Sample Copy of this Research Report :Increasing deployment for the energy source across the globe will drive the wind turbine inspection services market growthAccording to Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), the total installed capacities of these farms was over 485 GW is expected to surge significantly over the coming years. According to Coherent Market Insights analysis, the total installed capacities would increase over double the installed capacities in 2016, by 2025. Turbines are highly crucial components for the energy generation and comprise number of smaller components that includes gearbox and generator, which are necessitated to be serviced and inspected on regular intervals to safeguard the optimal efficiency and performance. Thus, to ensure longevity and accurate information regarding the energy generation, farm contractors and operators are expected to drive the service industry requirements.Inspection drones incorporated with advanced monitoring equipment and artificial intelligence is expected is among the key trend gaining traction in the industry applicationsWind turbine examination drones are small sized unmanned aerial vehicles that are utilized to accumulate information and images for the assessment, monitoring, mapping, and analysis of blades, towers and nacelles. Conventional methods for the examination includes the employment of specific teams suspended through cables and rope supports, using field telescopes and binoculars for the task. In conjunction with the human life risks, the method has several limitations such as difficulty to access some areas, exclusion of blade defects assessment invisible to the naked eye. Elimination of these drawbacks through utilization of these drones is expected to present considerable growth prospects for this market.Integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in these drones to reduce the workflow errors and enhance detailed analysis within few hours is among the key trends gaining traction in industry. However, stringent regulatory standards against the use of these drones in some major economies such as FAA regulations in the U.S., regulations regarding VLOS and BVLOS and other regionally distinct regulations will present considerable growth to the drone adoptions.Noise pollution and threat to wildlife, specifically flying creatures such as bats, birds, etc., are some of the major drawbacks that may hamper the industry growth rateThese energy sources cannot be used to meet the base load demands, without the additional investments for the energy storage. However, this may add up to the initial high investment required which is considerably higher in comparison to establishment of conventional energy plants. These factors are expected to consistently hinder the adoption of these means to generate the energy which will consequentially negatively impact the wind turbine inspection market growth.Asia Pacific is expected to dominate the overall industry growth through the forecast periodChina contributes to over 37% of the global installed units for the power generation accounting for over 168.73 MW in 2016, as per the GWEC. India contributed to the worlds fourth largest installed units. High deployments in these major emerging economies in the region is expected to attract significant investments in these economies. Other major attractive economies for the wind turbine inspection services include the U.S, Germany, Spain, UK, France, Canada, and Brazil.Chief industry participants include Intertek Group Plc., UpWind Solutions Inc., Technical Wind Services Ltd., INVISO Services Ltd., Cenergy International Services LLC, UL International GmbH, ASC Engineering Service, Advanced Cleaning Technology Ltd., MISTRAS Group Inc., Midwest Underground Technology Inc., and MFG Energy Services.Request For Table of Content of this Report :About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.comVisit Our New Website:Rep. Gary Glenn's cancer, which has been in remission for two years, has returned.

"My service in the state House of Representatives and candidacy for the (state Senate District 31) will continue uninterrupted despite the return of prostate cancer," Glenn stated in a media release.

Glenn, a Republican who recently moved from Midland to Williams Township, was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic prostate cancer in January 2016. After radiation and hormone therapy, the cancer went into remission five weeks after its discovery, and in the following months, a destroyed vertebrae regenerated and has fully healed.

The cancer remained undetectable until eight days ago, when a bone scan at Mid-Michigan Medical Center revealed two small tumors, one on Glenn's L-1 vertebrae and another on his hip bone.

At the recommendation Wednesday of doctors at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center in Ann Arbor, Glenn will undergo immunotherapy to boost his immune system, radiation to remove the identified tumors, and additional hormone therapy to treat any tumors that may be present but not large enough to be detected. The treatments are intended to send the cancer back into remission.

"I'm publicly disclosing this development, first, because my constituents have a right to know, but more importantly to me, so that I can once again ask people to pray for me and my family," Glenn said. "Throughout this challenge, my ultimate hope has been in the power of prayer and in the healing power of Jesus Christ."

Glenn said doctors have told him there are no side effects associated with his upcoming treatments that would in any way limit his continued service in the Legislature or his ability to pursue a state Senate seat.For Subscribers Where area football teams stand in playoff points after week six

Six weeks of the high school football season are in the books. Find out where each team stands for the postseason and who is leading stat wise in the area:This weekend at the Garda Festival Schwalbe revealed a complete re-working of their Hans Dampf tire. Introduced in 2011, it quickly became a mainstay for riders looking for an intermediate tire - something that didn't have the speed-sucking tread of a full DH or enduro tire, but with enough bite to have some fun. Yet throughout its life, it never settled with some consumers. It fell apart too quickly, certainly too quickly, considering the price tag a modern premium tire carries.



Half of that issue was addressed last year, when Schwalbe went back to the drawing board with their rubber and re-launched their entire range with their newly developed Addix compounds, and they

Hans Dampf 2018 Details

 All-purpose, multi-terrain, trail tire

 Aggressive reinforced edging blocks

 Addix rubber compound

 Non-directional tread pattern

 Available in Apex, Snakeskin, and Supergravity casings

 Sizes: 29 x 2.35, 29 x 2.6, 27.5 x 2.35, 27.5 x 2.6, 27.5 x 2.8, 26 x 2.35, 24 x 2.35

 MSRP: Current pricing

 Contact:  All-purpose, multi-terrain, trail tire Aggressive reinforced edging blocks Addix rubber compound Non-directional tread pattern Available in Apex, Snakeskin, and Supergravity casings Sizes: 29 x 2.35, 29 x 2.6, 27.5 x 2.35, 27.5 x 2.6, 27.5 x 2.8, 26 x 2.35, 24 x 2.35 MSRP: Current pricing Contact: Schwalbe Tires

The New Hans Dampf

New vs old, side-by-side. Both tyres are 2.9 x 2.35 Supergravity, mounted on 30mm internal width rims. The new tire, behind the old one - you can see the slight increase in overall height.

leveraged newer, more advanced production techniques to refine the balance between traction, speed and lifespan for every tire in their range. This newly unveiled Has Dampf re-vamp goes on not only to put any lifespan worries to bed, but also looking to make it a more capable all-round option.It is clear that the new Hans Dampf is more substantial than the old version. What grabs your attention immediately are the side blocks - they are much deeper and more square, arranged in an alternating pattern with much bigger blocks than before. That extra depth means that when you lean onto the side of your tire they should support you - where the smaller blocks on the old version degraded at their base relatively quickly under hard cornering. Schwalbe say this will make the tire a lot more fun to drift with and more predictable, as they believe it will break away more nicely than even the Magic Mary. On the top, the tread the profile is again much squarer, which Schwalbe say will offer more bite under braking, but should not detract from the overall rolling speed of the tire, thanks to their Addix compounds.Looking at the new tire alongside the old one, the overall width is very similar - something Schwalbe have worked on recently. In the past, their tires tended to come up very big for their given width, where now they are much closer to the stated numbers. One interesting difference is the overall height of the tire - comparing two 29 x 2.35, Supergravity tires mounted on 30mm internal width rims, there is a small height increase. This is a concept Vittoria have also been experimenting with recently as it is claimed it adds a little extra volume to the tire for added comfort. One nice touch is that the tread is still uni-directional, which means that less experienced riders and lazy mechanics can pretty much throw the tire at the wheel.The new tire will be available in a range of sizes that should offer something to even the most baked-in retro grouch, covering 29 x 2.35, 29 x 2.6, 27.5 x 2.35, 27.5 x 2.6, 27.5 x 2.8, 26 x 2.35 as well as 24 x 2.35. They will be available in all three of Schwlabe's casing options - Snakeskin (standard casing), Apex (reinforced) and Supergravity (heavy duty) - although some of the more aggressive options (read: 29 x 2.6 Supergravity) will be a little but further down the road as Schwalbe believe the market for a 1600g heavy duty tire may not be the core of their audience. Pricing will be consistent with Schwalbe's current pricing. We will have a set of these in to test very shortly, so we will let you know how they perform out on the trail as soon as we canPhoto by Andre Maurer

Photo By Mauel Lopez.

Photo by Andre Maurer

Photo by Simon Nieborak

Team Kang & Kodos, with riders from the USA and Canada, won the Team Battle at the 9th Annual Swatch Rocket Air. Today, Saturday, 28 April, 3000 the top rider will be crowned the Swatch Rocket Air champion. With Zurich local, Lucas Huppert making it through the pre-qualification, the Swiss has a strong chance at competing in the finals.Creativity, charisma, and cheers from the crowd were all required to take home the victory at the Swatch Rocket Air 3000 Team Battle on Friday evening at the Thun ice rink. This signature Swatch Rocket Air event is a fan and rider favorite. In the end, Team Kang & Kodos rocked the crowd with top-ranked riders from the US and Canada. The North Americans defeated Team Idiocracy with riders from the UK, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands in an epic finale showdown.Today, Saturday, April 28th the best dirt jump riders in the world meet each again. Among them is Lucas Huppert, from Zurich who placed second in the pre-qualification. The 17-year-old proved to the judges his ability to battle amongst the best and hopes to do so again for the finals.As always, the Swatch Rocket Air offers a spectacle for the entire family with side events throughout the day on Saturday. To celebrate, the legendary Big Baang Party will be hosted at Club Legacy again this year remaining true to the motto: "Party with the riders!"The Swatch Rocket Air will be broadcast live on rocketair.ch and Pinkbike on Saturday at 10:10am PST.Get the SC business stories that matter.

Our newsletter catches you up with all the business stories that are shaping Charleston and South Carolina every Monday and Thursday at noon. Get ahead with us - it's free.Abigail Darlington is a local government reporter focusing primarily on the City of Charleston. She previously covered local arts & entertainment, technology, innovation, tourism and retail for the Post and Courier.FILE - In this July 7, 2017 file photo German Chancellor Angela Merkel, front, looks on as U.S. President Donald Trump, center, pads the shoulder of France's President Emmanuel Macron prior to the first working session on the first day of the G-20 summit in Hamburg, northern Germany. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, file)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.U.S. Reps. Mark Sanford, left, and Joe Wilson, right, may be looking to climb the ranks in Congress next year on the oversight and foreign affairs committees respectively. File/SpecialPR-Inside.com: 2018-04-27 16:55:02

A.M. Best Affirms Credit Ratings of Al Ahleia Insurance Company S.A.K.P.

A.M. Best

Borja Cubillo, +44-20-7397-0306

Financial Analyst

borja.cubillo@ambest.com

or

Ghislain Le Cam, CFA, FRM, +44-20-7397-0268

Director, Analytics

ghislain.lecam@ambest.com

or

Christopher Sharkey, +1-908-439-2200, ext. 5159

Manager, Public Relations

christopher.sharkey@ambest.com

or

Jim Peavy, +1-908-439-2200, ext. 5644

Director, Public Relations

james.peavy@ambest.com

A.M. Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of a- of Al Ahleia Insurance Company S.A.K.P. (AAIC) (Kuwait). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) remains stable.

The ratings reflect AAICs balance sheet strength, which A.M. Best categorises as very strong, as well as its strong operating performance, neutral business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management (ERM).

AAICs balance sheet strength is underpinned by risk-adjusted capitalisation, which, as measured by Bests Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR), is considered at the strongest level, and good financial flexibility with the absence of financial leverage. An offsetting factor is the companys significant holdings of private equity and real estate funds, which exposes its capital base to potential volatility. A.M. Best expects investment risk to remain the main driver of consolidated capital requirements in the medium term, although managements strategy to de-risk the balance sheet should translate into a more balanced investment profile and as a result potentially strengthen risk-adjusted capitalisation. The balance sheet strength assessment also considers AAICs moderate dependence on reinsurance, as the high retention of reinsurance business written via Kuwait Reinsurance Company K.S.C.P. (Kuwait Re) partially dilutes the significant cession rate of AAICs direct portfolio.

AAIC has achieved a five-year average return on capital of 9.6%, which has been supported by solid technical performance and positive, albeit volatile, investment earnings. AAICs direct insurance portfolio has a track record of excellent underwriting performance, benefiting from favourable inward reinsurance commissions. On a consolidated basis, technical margins are reduced by the lower profitability of reinsurance business underwritten by Kuwait Re, although the results remain at a strong level, with a combined ratio of 88.8% in 2017. Prospective consolidated earnings are expected to be supported by the excellent performance of AAICs direct insurance operations, as well as benefiting from the strategic decisions implemented by Kuwait Re to rationalise its reinsurance portfolio.

AAICs profile was enhanced and diversified following the acquisition of Kuwait Re in the second half of 2015. The companys neutral business profile assessment is supported by its established position as a top four insurer in Kuwaits direct market, with robust market shares in the commercial segment, coupled with the international diversification brought through its reinsurance arm, Kuwait Re, which has operations spanning the Middle East and North Africa, Asia-Pacific and Central and Eastern Europe. On a consolidated basis, the AAIC group wrote gross written premium of KWD 72.5 million in 2017, with Kuwait Re contributing KWD 35.1 million.

Whilst AAIC and Kuwait Re have in place risk management frameworks considered appropriate for their specific risk profiles, a comprehensive group-wide ERM framework is still being developed by AAIC. As the groups risk profile continues to develop, it will become increasingly important for AAIC to enhance its ERM capabilities, particularly in areas such as capital management and market risk.

This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on A.M. Bests website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see A.M. Bests Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Understanding Bests Credit Ratings. For information on the proper media use of Bests Credit Ratings and A.M. Best press releases, please view Guide for Media - Proper [..].

A.M. Best is the worlds oldest and most authoritative insurance rating and information source. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

Copyright  2018 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180427005PR-Inside.com: 2018-04-27 17:10:01

A.M. Best Affirms Credit Ratings of Kuwait Reinsurance Company K.S.C.P.

A.M. Best

Borja Cubillo, +44 20 7397 0306

Financial Analyst

borja.cubillo@ambest.com

or

Ghislain Le Cam, CFA, FRM, +44 20 7397 0268

Director, Analytics

ghislain.lecam@ambest.com

or

Christopher Sharkey, +1 908 439 2200, ext. 5159

Manager, Public Relations

christopher.sharkey@ambest.com

or

Jim Peavy, +1 908 439 2200, ext. 5644

Director, Public Relations

james.peavy@ambest.com

A.M. Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of a- of Kuwait Reinsurance Company K.S.C.P. (Kuwait Re) (Kuwait). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) remains stable.

The ratings reflect Kuwait Res balance sheet strength, which A.M. Best categorises as very strong, as well as its adequate operating performance, neutral business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management.

Kuwait Res balance sheet strength is underpinned by risk-adjusted capitalisation, which, as measured by Bests Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR), is considered at the strongest level. The companys balance sheet strength also benefits from prudent reserving practices and good levels of liquidity, as evidenced by a ratio of liquid assets to net technical reserves of 110% at the end of 2017. Capital consumption is driven by underwriting risks, due to high premium retention, and investment risks, as a result of exposure to private equity and real estate. These investment holdings expose the companys capital base to volatility, which is considered an offsetting factor to the balance sheet strength assessment.

Kuwait Re benefits from a track record of adequate operating performance. The companys return on equity for 2017 stood at 6.9%, in excess of the five-year average (2013-2017) of 4.7%, chiefly reflecting the volatility stemming from the underwriting activities over recent years. Whilst the balance of earnings has traditionally been skewed toward investment income, the implementation of strategic decisions to rationalise Kuwait Res operations, including a shift to more profitable business, is expected to translate into improved technical performance, which should reduce volatility in prospective operating results.

Kuwait Res neutral business profile is supported by good geographical diversification, with operations spanning the Middle East and North Africa, Asia-Pacific and Central and Eastern Europe. The companys underwriting portfolio is also well-diversified by class of business, providing proportional, non-proportional and facultative solutions to its cedants. In 2017, Kuwait Re demonstrated significant progress in realigning its portfolio mix toward facultative and excess of loss business, with these two lines of business accounting for 58% of the KWD 35.1 million gross premium written during the year. In addition, whilst Kuwait Re has predominantly been a non-life reinsurer, increased diversification has arisen from the significant growth in the companys life reinsurance operations in 2017.

This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on A.M. Bests website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see A.M. Bests Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Understanding Bests Credit Ratings. For information on the proper media use of Bests Credit Ratings and A.M. Best press releases, please view Guide for Media - Proper [..].

A.M. Best is the worlds oldest and most authoritative insurance rating and information source. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

Copyright  2018 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180427005PR-Inside.com: 2018-04-27 17:04:02

Reference is made to the stock exchange announcement on 19 April by Akastor ASA, and the announcement today by Odfjell Drilling Ltd. (OSE ODL, "Odfjell") in which Odfjell announces that it has entered into an agreement with Samsung Heavy Industries to purchase the "Stena Midmax" rig. As part of the rig financing, an affiliate of Akastor ASA ("Akastor"), has today entered into a preference share investment agreement and a warrant investment agreement with Odfjell.

Please see details in the announcement enclosed.

Media contact:



Leif Borge

Chief Financial Officer

Mob: +47 917 86 291

E-mail: leif.borge@akastor.com

This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.





This announcement is distributed by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions on behalf of Nasdaq Corporate Solutions clients.

The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.

Source: Akastor ASA via Globenewswire

Disclaimer: If you have any questions regarding information in this press release please contact the company added in the press release. Please do not contact pr-inside. We will not be able to assist you. PR-inside disclaims the content included in this release.PR-Inside.com: 2018-04-27 16:21:01

Sveriges Riksbank

Bid procedure details Government Bonds, 2018-05-03

Maturity date Loan ISIN code Coupon Volume, SEK million 2023-11-13 1057 SE0004869071 1.50 % 500 +/- 250 2026-11-12 1059 SE0007125927 1.00 % 500 +/- 250

Settlement date 2018-05-07

Bids have to be entered by 10.00 on MAY 3, 2018

Highest permitted bid volume: 500 SEK million in issue SGB 1057 and 500 SEK million in issue SGB 1059

Lowest permitted bid volume: 50 SEK million

Bids only through counterparties approved by the Riksbank

RESULT OF AUCTION WILL BE PUBLISHED NO LATER THAN 10.10 (CEST)

ON MAY 3, 2018.

For more information, please contact:

Trading desk at the Riksbank

+ 46 8 696 6970

General and special terms and conditions can be retrieved at http://www.riksbank.sePR-Inside.com: 2018-04-28 04:38:29

FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for EVITRADE Health Systems Corp.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Vancouver, British Columbia (FSCWire) - EVITRADE Health Systems Corp. (CSE:EVA). has issued a press release with the following headline:EVITRADE Health Systems Corp Announces Definitive AgreementTo view this press release on the FSCwire website, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:If you would prefer, you can also view this press release as a PDF file, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:For more information on EVITRADE Health Systems Corp., or to see additional press releases issued by this company, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser: http://www.fscwire.com/public-company/EVITRADE Health Systems Corp.Source: EVITRADE Health Systems Corp. (CSE: EVA, OTCQB: AXHLF)Date: April 27, 2018Time: 10:38 PM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of EVITRADE Health Systems Corp. and disseminated through FSCwire.About FSCwireFSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.), is a global newswire dissemination, SEDAR, SEDI, and EDGAR / XBRL service provider.FSCwire is a full service global newswire dissemination company and is fully approved by all exchanges in Canada and the U.S. Press releases can be distributed for all sizes of public, private or not for profit companies and any other organization requiring news distribution. In addition to individual companies; public relations, communications and investor relations firms trust FSCwire to distribute press releases for their respective clients.In addition to newswire dissemination FSCwire also offers EDGAR, XBRL, SEDAR, SEDI, and additional services for publicly traded companies. For more information, please go to our website: http://www.fscwire.com Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. http://www.fscwire.com Copyright 2018 - FSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.)ADVERTISEMENT

Police in Uganda have rescued more than 100 hostages, including more than 90 children, from a mosque in the capital Kampala, said local police spokesman Emilio Kayima on Saturday.

Last night we rescued 94 children and 18 women who had been held captive in the Usafi mosque, said Kayim.

We have arrested 36 suspects and two were put out of action [killed] during the operation.

The kidnapped children included Ugandans, as well as some Burundians and Rwandans, added Kayima.

Over the past year, Uganda has been gripped by a string of kidnappings and killings, mostly involving young women and children, in which captors demanded ransom but, in some cases, still execute their captives.

Many of the hostages have been from prominent families in the east African nation.

A statement from local police also noted that the mosque had been utilized to facilitate the kidnapping.

Security forces take exception to the fact that such a place of worship could be used under the cover of sanctity and freedom of worship to plan and execute crime, police said.

(dpa/NAN)Shuaib Ahmed lives behind a local block-making workshop in Abuja.

Here, workers make blocks out of clay, the most common type of blocks used in building shanties and substandard houses in Dakibiu, a densely populated informal settlement in the nations capital.

There is a big waterhole, the size of swimming pool almost in the middle of the workshop situated at a valley adjacent to a waste dump site.

The waterhole, the workshops source of water, is thick green due to stagnation of water and formation of algae in it. It is paradise for mosquitoes.

Mr Shuaibs house and about 40 other decrepit houses are only a few feet from the waterhole.

The most common disease in this village is malaria and as you can see, our environment is the main cause of it, Mr Shuaib, a florist told PREMIUM TIMES. Even in broad daylight, big mosquitoes and sun flies are always biting us, he said.

There is no primary healthcare centre in the community. Me and my family rely on herbal medicine to treat malaria.

Abujas slums

Abuja is one of the most beautiful, better organised cities in Nigeria, but it has a long shadow. Beneath the shadow are the slum areas, which most of the residents consider the real Abuja.

Of all the many developmental challenges posed by the slum areas of the Federal Capital Territory, that of health is grave. According to the World Health Organisation, poorly planned or unplanned urbanisation patterns represent a major public health challenge.

A slum is typically a living space within an urban area that is overcrowded, with no permanent structures, little or no access to water, inadequate sanitation and no drainage or waste management system. This definition alone highlights the numerous health complications that can arise from living in a slum. There are many slums springing up across the FCT.

Dakibiu

Dakibiu, one of such slum areas, is located close to Jabi, one of the commercial nerve centres of the FCT. The crowded houses are decrepit, do not have toilets and are surrounded by stagnant water bodies in unchannelled pathways.

At almost every turn is a refuse dumpsite. All these make Dakibiu a stinking slum, and a breeding ground for mosquitoes.

Malaria: that was the first name mentioned by all 15 residents asked of the most common cause of illness in the community.

Like Dakibiu, almost all the slums in Abuja are bedevilled by closed spaces, lack of sanitation, insufficient or non-existent water supply, lack of drainage systems and improper waste disposal, features that make such communities an haven for mosquitoes.

In commemoration of the 2018 World Malaria Day, health advocates called on governments, health bodies, private sector companies and members of the public to renew their focus on eliminating malaria by 2030.

This may be a mirage if communities like Dukibiu where residents share territory with mosquitoes do not have primary healthcare centres, constant supply of malaria drugs, treated mosquito nets and clean environments.

Malaria, one of the oldest and deadliest diseases in human history

In 2016, over 216 million people around the world had malaria, five million more than the year before. Malaria-related death stood at 445,000, with 91 per cent of these in Africa.

Half the world is still at risk from malaria, a preventable, treatable disease, which kills a child every two minutes. Some countries also saw an increase of over 20 per cent in malaria cases between 2015 and 2016.

ADVERTISEMENT

Unfortunately, 15 countries carried the heaviest malaria burden in 2016, together accounting for 80 percent of global malaria cases and deaths.

Currently, Nigeria is the highest-burden country, accounting for 27 per cent of global malaria cases and the overall financial gap over the next three years to implement national malaria strategy is US$ 1.4 billion.

Nigeria has benefited from support from various partners for malaria control. Currently, the largest funding partners are the Global Fund, the U.S. Government, and United Kingdom Department for International Development (DfID).

Other key partners include the United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) and the WHO.

Despite these funds and concerted efforts geared towards the fight against malaria, Nigeria is yet to tackle 50 per cent of the problem posed by malaria, a disease threatening 97 per cent of its population.

As Nigeria recently marked the World Malaria Day 2018, with the theme Ready to beat malaria the coverage of the anti-malaria fight in Nigeria remains low even as slum dwellers continue to bear more of the brunt of the ailment.A Lagos Division of the Federal High Court Friday ordered the permanent forfeiture of N1,442,384,857 found in the bank accounts of three firms which allegedly impersonated the consultants engaged by the Nigeria Governors Forum to analyse the Paris/London Club loan refunds due to the states.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, which obtained the forfeiture order on behalf of the Nigerian government, claimed that the defendants obtained N3.5 billion from the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) by making false claims.

Listed as defendants in the final forfeiture application filed before the court were Melrose General Services Limited, WASP Networks Limited, and Thebe Wellness Services.

The firms were accused of impersonating a consortium of consulting firms engaged by the NGF for the verification, reconciliation and recovery of over-deductions on Paris and London Club loans on the accounts of states and local governments between 1995 and 2002.

In a PREMIUM TIMES exclusive story last year, Melrose General Services Limited was listed among the firms the EFCC was seeking an explanation from the NGF for questionable payments made, a demand that infuriated the forum led by the Zamfara State governor, Abdulaziz Yari.

According to EFCC investigators, Senate President, Bukola Saraki, enlisted the services of a consultant, Robert Mbonu of Melrose General Services Limited and Kathleen Erhimu, a staff of Access Bank, to liaise with his aides and associates to allegedly launder N3.5 billion traced to the Paris Club loan refund to states.

In the suit filed before the federal court, the EFCC said the original firms engaged by the NGF were GSCL Consulting and Bizplus Consulting Services Limited.

But according to Usman Zakari, an investigator with the EFCC, the alter ego of the first defendant, Melrose General Services Limited, Mr Mbonu, made a false representation to the NGF causing the forum to pay N3.5 billion to his company on December 14, 2016.

Mr Zakari said the money was credited into the Access Bank account of Melrose General Services Limited, adding that the respondents dissipated and laundered about N2.3bn out of the money between December 15, 2016, and January 20, 2017, leaving a balance of N1.2bn.

Mr Zakari said the anti-graft agency had recovered N220 million out of the laundered sum from the second and third respondents.

The EFCC had on October 13, 2017, obtained an interim order from the judge, Mojisola Olatoregun, placing a Post No Debit order on the accounts containing the N1.2bn and N220m.

The judge had made the order following a plea by counsel for the EFCC, Ekene Iheanacho, who said it would best serve the interest of justice for the respondents to be ordered to forfeit the N1.4 billion temporarily to prevent them from dissipating same.

The judge, after granting the interim freezing order last year, directed the EFCC to publish the order in a national daily.

She further gave anyone interested in the funds 14 days to appear before her to show cause why the funds should not be forfeited permanently.

Subsequently, one Godwin Maduka and Linas International Limited showed up before the court, praying separately that the funds should be forfeited to them.

Mr Maduka claimed that his firm, Udemgaba Maduka & Associates, had been engaged in 2011 as a consultant by Zamfara State Government to help the state recover some hanging funds, with an agreement that it would be paid 20 percent of the recovered funds.

He urged the court to forfeit the N1.4 billion to his company to cover Zamfara States alleged indebtedness to him.

But the EFCC opposed Mr Madukas claims, contending that the suit was not a debt recovery suit and that Zamfara State was not a party to the suit.

ADVERTISEMENT

In her ruling, Mrs Olatoregun upheld the EFCCs argument and dismissed Mr Madukas claims.

On its own part, Linas International Limited said it was entitled to the payment of $6 million from the NGF.

The judge also dismissed its claims on the same grounds: that the matter was not a debt recovery suit.

Having dismissed both claims, the judge ordered the permanent forfeiture of the N1.4 billion to the Federal Government.ADVERTISEMENT

The Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, has given reasons why he did not honour the summons of the Senate.

Mr Idris, in a statement by the police spokesperson, Jimoh Moshood, also cautioned the Senate not to trivialise the travails of one of its members, Dino Melaye.

The Senate asked Mr Idris to appear before it on Wednesday to explain the treatment of Dino Melaye, a senator who was arrested by the police.

Although the police chief did not appear, he sent a deputy inspector general police, who was however refused by the lawmakers from representing his boss.

Mr Melaye is currently in intensive care at the National Hospital after he allegedly jumped off a police vehicle while being taken to Kogi State after his arrest by the police.

The police accuse the senator of criminal conspiracy and funding criminals who allegedly confessed when arrested.

Mr Melaye has denied the allegations and says he wants to be tried in Abuja because he believes the police and the Kogi State Government have a plot to kill him in the state.

Although Mr Melaye, who represents Kogi West, is of the same party, APC, as the Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, both are political adversaries.

In his statement late on Friday, Mr Moshood said the police would always obey the laws.

The Nigeria Police Force is a law abiding organization and holds the Senate and its leadership in high esteem, he said. However the Force wishes to impress on the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria not to personalise or trivialise the criminal offenses (Criminal Conspiracy and Unlawful Possession of Prohibited Firearms and other sundry offenses) indicting Sen. Dino Melaye from confessions of two (2) suspected kidnappers and Armed Robbers namely: Kabiru Saidu a.k.a Osama and Nuhu Salisu a.k.a Small; but should allow the rule of law and justice to prevail.

Mr Moshood said Mr Idris was on an official assignment in Bauchi on the day he was summoned by the Senate; and, therefore, sent his deputy to represent him as stated in police laws.

Senator Dino Melaye [Photo: dinomelaye.com]

The functions, duties and responsibilities of the Inspector General of Police as listed in Section 215 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria can also be carried out as mentioned in section 312 (1) of the Police Act and Regulation by a senior officer of the Force of the Rank of Deputy Inspector General of Police and Assistant Inspector General of Police who if permitted by the Inspector General of Police to act on his behalf or represent him in official capacity at any function, event or programme within and outside Nigeria can do so in consonant with the provisions of the Police Act and Regulation.

It is on the basis of the above that while the Inspector General of Police is on an official assignment in Bauchi State that he delegated the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Department of Operations to represent him and honour the invitation of the Senate, Federal Republic of Nigeria in respect of the felonious offenses for which Sen. Dino Melaye was taken into Police custody, investigated and to be arraigned in the Federal High Court, Lokoja without further delay.

Consequently, the general public are hereby implored to note that the Inspector General of Police acted rightly in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Police Act and Regulation and other extant laws by delegating the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Department of Operations to represent him at the Senate, National Assembly today 26th April, 2018 to present the Police report, actions and findings in a case of Criminal Conspiracy and Unlawful Possession of Prohibited Firearms and other sundry offenses indicting Senator Dino Melaye.

The statement was silent on whether or not Mr Idris would appear before the Senate on May 2, the day the lawmakers fixed for him after rejecting his representative.Governor Samuel Ortom will allow the law take its course after the Nigerian Army arrested one of his aides for allegedly masterminding recent killings in Benue State, his top adviser has told PREMIUM TIMES.

Aliyu Teshaku, head of Benue Livestock Guards, was arrested on Friday by the the Armys 707 Special Forces Brigade in Makurdi on suspicion of his involvement in some of the deadly attacks recorded across the state since January 1.

The Army said Mr Teshaku was a Boko Haram suspect and his arrest had input from the police and the State Security Service (SSS).

Some of the allegations include his alleged involvement in the attack on a Catholic Church on Tuesday in which at least 15 worshipers were killed, including two Catholic priests.

But some Benue activists are seeing his arrest as a persecution for his fierce opposition to herdsmen activities in the state.

Leaders of Miyetti Allah have repeatedly called for Mr Teshakus arrest, accusing him of enforcing the anti-open grazing law and leading a militia allegedly raised by the governor.

While announcing the arrest, Olabisi Ayeni, spokesperson for the Nigerian Army in Makurdi, said security agents moved in in time to prevent attacks that were being hatched by Mr Teshaku and his cohorts in Bauchi, Borno and Yobe and Nasarawa States.

The Army described him as Aminu Yaminu (a.k.a.: Tashaku), but PREMIUM TIMES findings revealed that the suspects name is Aliyu Teshaku.

He was once detained at the Force Headquarters in June 2011 when he turned himself in after being declared wanted as a Boko Haram suspect. But he was later released by the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), then headed by Babagana Monguno, now the National Security Adviser, in September 2011.

The police said they released Mr Teshaku to the DIA in the spirit of inter-agency cooperation after the agency requested for him.

Mr Teshaku, however, denied the allegations in an interview with PREMIUM TIMES in March, saying the DIA released him because there was no evidence to establish his connection to Boko Haram.

The arrest is seen by some Benue officials as a setback for the Ortom administrations efforts against the activities of herdsmen in the state.

Mr Teshaku became the head of Civilian Joint Task Force tasked with checking herdsmen attacks in Benue and Nasarawa States in 2013. But his group later changed its name to Benue Livestock Guards following the introduction of anti-open grazing law in Benue State last year.

The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association in Benue State has long accused Mr Teshaku of terrorising herdsmen and other Benue residents of Hausa or Fulani origin.

File photo of Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom in the State House

Following the January 1 killings of over 100 people in Logo and Guma Local Government Areas of Benue, Mr Teshaku was accused of being the head of a militia allegedly raised by Mr Ortom.

In January, Nigerian soldiers arrested nine suspected killer herdsmen on the Benue border with Taraba State. They accused Mr Teshaku of providing arms to the suspects.

But in an interview with the Nigerian Tribune shortly after the allegations, Mr Teshaku accused the military of trying to frame him. He also said the military was carrying out the agenda of Miyetti Allah which remained vehemently opposed to the anti-open grazing law.

He added that Benue Livestock Guards had about 2,500 members and eight of them were killed in the January 1 attack in Guma because they were not armed.

ADVERTISEMENT

Mr Ortom also denied the allegations of raising any militia, saying the Nigerian security agencies should rise to their duty and end killings of his people. He inherited Mr Teshakus group from former Governor Gabriel Suswam and kept it in place because of continued attacks by suspected herdsmen.

No foul play

Paul Hembah, security adviser to Mr Ortom, said no ulterior motive was suspected on the part of federal government, even though he acknowledged the longstanding opposition of Miyetti Allah to Mr Teshaku.

The governor has said he will not support any criminality from anyone, no matter who the person may be, Mr Hembah, a retired colonel, told PREMIUM TIMES by telephone Saturday morning. The governor will not interfere in his arrest or his release.

The governor is working to end the killings so if anyone is caught, the law should take its cause, he added.

We dont suspect any foul play. We dont think the federal government or the army is doing this to persecute him. But he would be arraigned in court and I am sure the security agency will bring out any evidence they have against him, he said.

He indicated that the Benue Livestock Guards would not be disbanded as a result of the arrest.

Naturally, someone else would be appointed to replace him because the Benue Livestock Guards would not be disbanded, he said.

On why the governor did not take action despite all allegations against Mr Teshaku, Mr Hembah said Mr Ortom found it was inappropriate to act based on allegations in the media rather than established wrongdoing.

In the view of David Ogbole, a Pentecostal preacher and head of the Movement against Fulani Occupation in Benue State, Mr Teshaku is being arrested for constituting a major threat to the Miyetti Allah agenda in the state.

Mr Ogbole told PREMIUM TIMES that Mr Teshakus group had done more to check killings and anti-open grazing in the state than the security agencies.

When the Exercise Ayem Akpatuma soldiers were first deployed here in February, the first action they took was to arrest eight members of the Livestock Guards, Mr Ogbole said by telephone Saturday morning.

The pastor acknowledged that Mr Teshaku has a controversial history, but said he had since repented and his latest actions have been to the service of his people on Benue.

It is okay for the government to extract his nuisance value and he has been protecting the people of Benue from killers, he said. This is what the Nigerian security agencies could not do.

Mr Ogbole said herdsmen activities have gotten worse since military launched its exercise, saying soldiers and policemen have no directive to go after killers.

Hundreds of villages have now been taken over by herdsmen whose cows are barrelling towards farmlands and eating yams and cassava, Mr Ogbole said. This is because the killers had cleared the villages by killing people and sending hundreds of thousands others into the IDP camps.

The Nigerian people should know that the military did not arrest the actual militia but only carrying out the agenda of Miyetti Allah who had long demanded the arrest of a man who has been working to protect Benue people from invaders, the pastor added. They should go after the killers in their hideouts, not someone who poses a threat to the actual killers.

Mr Ogbole also condemned the military for obscuring Mr Teshaku to fool the public, saying the failure to identify him as the head of Benue Livestock Guards was calculated to deceive the public.

Mr Ayeni did not respond to PREMIUM TIMES requests for clarification about why Mr Teshaku was identified as Aminu Yaminu in a press statement even though official documents and long time news reports about him showed his real name is Aliyu Teshaku.Following the mace theft saga, the Senate was more about less talk and more action last week.

The lawmaker, obviously angered by the recent happenings in the country, tackled issues ranging from the killings in Benue State to the arrest as well as hospitalisation of one of their own, Dino Melaye.

Below are some major activities from the senate lad week:

Tuesday:

 The Senate began with an executive session which lasted for over two hours after which the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, announced that the security around the National Assembly has been tightened.

The decision was taken to ensure that incident of the preceding week does not repeat itself, Mr Saraki explained as he called for the full cooperation of the public.

Wednesday:

 President Muhammadu Buhari wrote a letter to the Senate explaining why he ordered the withdrawal of $496 million from public funds for the purchase of aircrafts from the United States, without permission.

Mr Buhari stated that he took the action because be believed the National Assembly will not object.

 After deliberating on a point of order regarding the ordeal surrounding fellow lawmaker, Dino Melaye, the Senate adjourned plenary and set up a delegation to visit him at the hospital.

The delegation, led by the Senate President arrived the National Assembly and only few lawmakers were allowed to see Mr Melaye.

 Prior to the visit, some APC senators, while deliberating, blamed the present administration for Mr Melayes ordeal.

The senators, Shehu Sani and Mohammed Shittu, explained that Mr Melaye is being punished because the aired his views openly, adding that they could be possible targets for speaking up.

 Also prior to the visitation, the Senate resolved to summon the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris for grilling on live TV.

Mr Idris was to answer questions ranging from the arrest of Mr Melaye to the insecurity across the country.

 Some constituents of Delta Central Senatorial district wrote to the Senate President to demand a reversal of the suspension of their senator, Ovie Omo-Agege.

In a letter addressed to President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice President Yemi Osibanjo, Attorney-General of the Federation, National Security Adviser, Inspector-General of Police, Director-General of the State Security Service, Commandant-General of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Chairman of National Human Rights Commission and the Commissioner of Police, FCT Command, the constituents threatened to resort to individual or collective representation if their demand is not acceded to.

The group submitted the letter to the Senate while staging a protest on Wednesday morning.

Thursday:

 The Senate resolved to invite Mr Buhari to appear before a joint session with the House of Representatives.

The President is to answer questions bordering on the the recent killings in Benue State as well as other states across the country.

ADVERTISEMENT

 While deliberating the Presidents letter from Tuesday, the lawmakers were somewhat divided as some called for the impeachment of the president while other objected.

The matter was later referred to the committee on judiciary to tackle and report back in Wednesday, May 2nd.

 The IGP was re-summoned on Thursday after he snubbed the Senates first invitation by sending the Deputy Inspector-General (DIG) Operations to represent him.

Lawmakers unanimously agreed that the IGP appear in person and a letter be written to him informing him of the second invitation.

-Meanwhile the Senate has asked the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to refund N216 billion paid by the commission as subsidy in 2017.

The lawmakers unanimously agreed that the money be repaid to the Consolidated Revenue Fund, saying the expenditure is illegal, a position which was part of recommendations of the Senate committee on public accounts adopted by the Senate on Thursday.ADVERTISEMENT

Three days after he was admitted at the hospital after reportedly jumping from a moving police vehicle, Dino Melaye has remained at the intensive care unit (ICU) at the National Hospital, Abuja, PREMIUM TIMES has learnt.

This implies that Mr Melaye, representing Kogi West Senatorial District, could still be in critical condition even though he had spent enough time at the hospital for him to be stabilised and moved out of the ICU.

PREMIUM TIMES visited the hospital Friday evening and gathered that he was still being treated at the ICU. The huge presence of the police made it extremely difficult to have access to the senator.

Hospital officials also declined comments when approached about Mr Melayes condition during the visit.

Mr Melaye, 44, was moved to the hospital by the police on Tuesday evening, hours after he escaped from a police team to avoid being taken to Lokoja, the Kogi State capital.

The police are charging Mr Melaye for a slew of criminal offences which ranged from armed robbery to murder. Mr Melaye denied the allegations, saying they were politically-motivated.

His media aide, Gideon Ayodele, decried his latest ordeal to PREMIUM TIMES Friday morning, saying everything was orchestrated to keep the senator preoccupied amidst ongoing efforts to recall him.

They planned everything, Mr Ayodele said. It was a plot to get him distracted and make it difficult for him to rally his base or verify signatures.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) plans to start verification of signatures on Saturday, with results expected to be in by Sunday.

The results were first collected last June, and Mr Melaye had initiated several legal steps to truncate the process. The senator was throwing the legal obstacles despite frequently reasserting his popularity amongst constituents.

Mr Ayodele said Mr Melaye being inactive could have an adverse effect on the outcome of the signature verification. But INEC said only observers would be allowed near the 552 units that the exercise would take place across the senatorial district.ADVERTISEMENT

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has said one of the reasons he parted ways with his former party, the All Progressive Congress (APC), was the inability of President Muhammadu Buhari to address the negative manner in which the party was being run.

Mr Abubakar stated this on Saturday in an interview with BBC Hausa Good Morning programme.

After 2015 general election, I met the president. I told him the activities of the party have been crippled and there is a need for restructure. Also I advised the president on issues concerning his administration. I said to him, if things continued like this, I will quit but Mr Buhari turned deaf ears and remained mum, he said.

When asked how he would battle corruption if elected in 2019, the presidential candidate said: If Nigerians can recall, we initiated the Economic and Financial (Crimes) Commission (EFCC). Im the person that sourced for the takeoff funds for the EFCC.

In this administration (Buharis), there are people that are untouchable, they are doing things that are not in order but they are being shielded by the government. If elected Nigerias president, my administration will not spare any personality. When I was in (at) the helm (of affairs), none of my relatives or friends were found wanting.

Mr Atiku, however, commended the present administration on security in the North-east but decried that the war is getting too long.

Eight years after, Nigerian government is still fighting Boko Haram that are not professionally trained. If elected Nigerias president, I will investigate how the government was unable to defeat Boko Haram for years, also I will investigate the procurement of arms bought by this administration, he said.

If elected Nigerias president, 40 per cent of my cabinet ministers will be youths, Mr Atiku added.

On the feud between the Nigerian government and Intels Nigeria Limited, in which he has a stake, Mr Atiku said he was not part of Intels management so cannot be bothered.

When they (Intels) got the contract, they signed an agreement with the government that the money (profit) should be shared into three. One part of the money will be given to Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), another part is meant to service bank loans while the remaining is for Intels. But when this administration came, they said all the money must be deposited in the Single Treasury Account (Treasury Single Account). That was where the issues began, Mr Abubakar said.

When asked on his perceived ban from travelling to the United States of America, the former vice president said he has no any grudges with the American authorities.

I requested for visa, they said it is under administrative process. Im not desperate to travel to America, I dont have any investment there. The house I bought for my wife years back, she sold the house, I dont have anything to do in America. Its my tradition, I buy houses for my wives but for me, I dont need house.

When asked whether the ban will affect his chances of becoming Nigerias president, Mr Abubakar said: Its not by going to America that qualifies one to be a president, its not in our Constitution.Voters in Kabba/Bunu/Ijumu Federal Constituency in Kogi have shunned the ongoing verification exercise organised by INEC to authenticate the signatures of voters seeking to recall Sen. Dino Melaye (APC/Kogi West).

Correspondents of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), monitoring the exercise in Mr Melayes Kogi West Senatorial District, observed that the polling units were empty, with many people claiming that they were not aware of it.

At some areas, youth protested against the move to recall the senator who they described as an excellent representative.

An NYSC member, Opemipo Solomon, the INEC officer at Akafe Lane polling unit, said that no one had showed up since they arrived the voting venue at 6.45 a.m.

No one has come to sign the recall papers; what we have had so far are threats from people asking us leave this place.

The people do not appear interested in what we are doing. Some youths have come to warn us against staying here, she said.

Another corps member, David Adah, INEC presiding officer at the Odo Akete polling unit also in Kabba, said that many youth were angry over the recall process.

So many youths from the community are angry; they have alleged that their signatures were forged to endorse the recall process.

Most of the youths, who saw their names among those that signed for the recall of Melaye, have disowned the signatures and insisted that they are happy with the Senator, he said.

At the embattled senators polling unit in Ayetoro Gbede, a traditional ruler, Ojo Adekunle, who led some youth to protest against the recall process, said they were not aware of Mr Melayes offence.

Melaye has done so well and we are happy with him; we have no reason to want to recall him, he said.

Mr Adekunle told NAN that Mr Melaye was the best Senator Kogi West had ever produced, and urged his people not to betray their representative at this trying period.

Vicoria Ajewole, APC Woman Leader in Kabba Local Government, expressed surprise at the recall process, and declared that it wont work.

Melaye is our son; there is no way anyone can recall him, she said.

At the central area of Kabba town, youth were seen chanting songs in praise of Mr Melaye.

They vowed to resist attempt to disgrace him.

Efforts to speak with INEC officials at the commissions office in Kabba proved abortive as they refused to comment on the exercise

Policemen keeping watch at the polling points also refused to comment on the exercise.

ADVERTISEMENT

(NAN)ADVERTISEMENT

The All Progressives Congress (APC) on Saturday pushed back against a PREMIUM TIMES story that exposed how the party asked its governors to contribute up to N6 billion for its upcoming congresses and convention, despite being behind on salaries and pensions of workers.

The humongous levy is expected to be settled, using public funds, by the partys 24 state governors at N250 million per head, PREMIUM TIMES learnt. The partys decision was conveyed to the governors during a meeting at its national secretariat in Abuja on Wednesday.

PREMIUM TIMES published exclusive details of the meeting on Friday, using the story to underscore the perennial suffering of thousands of state worker who have gone several months without pay.

On Saturday, Bolaji Abdullahi, national spokesperson for the APC, claimed the story misrepresented the party and offered clarification.

He said governors were asked to pay their outstanding party levies, but suggested some governors may be owing as much as N250 million.

At the meeting of the National Working Committee and the governors of the party held at the party secretariat on Thursday 26 April, it was pointed out that many of the governors have fallen behind in the payment of their party dues.

While some of the governors have been up-to-date with the payments, a few others have not paid at all. The governors were therefore requested to pay up, especially in view of upcoming party activities.

It is therefore possible that a governor that falls in the category of those that has not paid since inception could be owing up to N250 million, Mr Abdullahi said in a statement.

He continued: For avoidance of doubts, party dues are paid by all members of the party holding positions, either by election or appointment. Therefore, members of the National Assembly as well as cabinet ministers also remit a percentage of their earnings to the party.

But PREMIUM TIMES stands by its story based on the evidence already obtained from party insiders who disclosed details of the meeting under anonymity.

The N250 million governors are being asked to pay is a lump sum that party officials say would be needed for their upcoming activities, which also include the election of new state and national executives.

Some state governors had already paid, while several others are still sourcing for funds, PREMIUM TIMES learnt.ADVERTISEMENT

Members of the civil society and media practitioners in Borno State have expressed fears that the forthcoming 2019 elections might turn violent if relevant authorities fail to take preemptive steps.

This concern was raised at a media and CSO roundtable on citizens understanding and participation in the electoral process organised by the Partnership to Engage and the Reform and Learn (PERL), a non-governmental organisation.

Participants at the roundtable that held in Maiduguri comprised representatives of the media, Civil Society Organisations, National Orientation Agency (NOA), State House of Assembly, religious and faith based organisations, private sector, service delivery partners among others.

Danjuma Gambo, a professor at the Department of Mass Communication, University of Maiduguri, chaired the plenary during which concerned participants shared their past experiences on how elections were conducted in the state, and analysed the current political indicators concerning 2019 polls.

Analysing the salient issues which had direct bearing on the electoral process, as well as what various stakeholders could do to engender a credible election in the state, participants however expressed worries that recent happenings within the political circle in the state were indications that the coming polls might be marred by violence.

This uncomplimentary forecast arose from some of the key hypotheses raised by stakeholders while looking at how various persons or organisations could work harmoniously and make influence in the electoral process.

Participants cited a recent incident when a young man was stabbed to death by some armed persons during a political gathering in Maiduguri.

Though the convener of the political gathering has been declared wanted by the police after he fled, his relatives had been arrested and may still be in police custody

Mr Danjuma said, stakeholders have more work to do in the face of prevailing inadequacies in the electoral process especially the pre-election time so as to mitigate the potential dangers ahead of the election.

He said going by the discussions we have had, there is more work to be done concerning citizens engagement in the electoral process in Borno State.

It is therefore very important that all stakeholders in this hall must agree to step up their game for a more constructive engagement of the citizen on electoral processes in the state especially the pre-election time so that the expected outcomes will be favorable to all.

Earlier, the team leader for PERL, Elizabeth Sara, pointed out that citizens must always demand good leadership from public officers and refrain from making personal demands from politicians.

We must try to stop this trend of people going to politicians to make personal requests such as assistance for naming ceremony, assistance to marry. In order to drive development, persons should approach politicians with community issues that affecteveryone in that community so that such development, if carried out will change the lives of the entire people in the community instead of one individual, she said.

Meanwhile, the facilitator of the roundtable and PERLs representative in Borno state, Ase Taide, said the timing is very important and we cannot wait until election time to engage citizens on their rights.

The meeting also noted that NOA should strive to engage with relevant stakeholders like INEC, Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC), the media and others.Najeem Salaam, the Speaker of Osun House of Assembly, has described the death of his Oyo State counterpart, Michael Adeyemo, as shocking and devastating.

Mr Salaam, in a statement issued on Friday in Osogbo by his Chief Press Secretary, Goke Butika, commiserated with the family of the deceased, Oyo State Government and the State House of Assembly.

The Speaker said the late Mr Adeyemo was a great man who peacefully and harmoniously held members of the assembly together.

Mr Salaam, who described the late Mr Adeyemo as a kind hearted man with a good nature, said death is the ultimate end of all mortals.

The Speaker prayed God to grant the family, members of Oyo State House of Assembly and Oyo State Government the fortitude to bear the loss.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mr Adeyemo died on Friday, aged 47.

Also, the Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, said Mr Adeyemo was a peace-loving man who would be missed by the Conference of Speakers.

Mr Obasa said in a condolence message signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Musbau Rasak, on Friday said late Mr Adeyemo stood for peace, equity, justice and rule of law.

The news came as a shock, but it pleases Almighty God to take him away at this particular period. Who are we then to querry His authority?

We love Rt. Hon. Adeyemo but God loves him more.

He was such a peace-loving man. A man of wisdom who strived for the good of his fellow man as well as the progress, growth and development of his state and the country at large.

We will all miss him, particularly at the Conference of Speakers, the Obasa said.

He condoled with the Oyo State Government, the state House of Assembly, the entire members and leaders of the APC as well as members of late Adeyemos family.

I pray to Almighty God to give us all the fortitude to bear the huge loss.

I also pray to God to grant him eternal rest, the Lagos Speaker said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mr Adeyemo, who hailed from Lanlate area of Oyo State, was also a legal practitioner.

Mr Adeyemo made his foray into politics in 2007 and had been a member of the Oyo State House of Assembly from 2011 until his death.

He was the Deputy Chief Whip of the House in the seventh House of Assembly.

ADVERTISEMENT

The late Speaker was also the Vice-Chairman of the Nigerian Conference of Speakers and Chairman of the Constitution Review Committee of the forum.

The Oyo State Government has declared three-day mourning in honour of the late Speaker from April 30 to May 2.

(NAN)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.



NEW ORLEANS, April 27, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Former Attorney General of Louisiana, Charles C. Foti, Jr., Esq., a partner at the law firm of Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC ("KSF"), announces that KSF has commenced an investigation into Celadon Group Inc. (NYSE: CGI).

In April 2017, Prescience Point Research Group reported that Celadon had "used off-balance sheet entitiesand manipulative accounting practices to hide its insolvent condition from investors and creditors," and that it had received notice from the SEC that Celadon was under investigation. On May 1, 2017, the Company disclosed that "the Company's financial statements for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2016 and quarters ended September 30 and December 31, 2016, and related reports of [Celadon's auditor], should not be relied upon." Then, on April 2, 2018, the Company disclosed that it had identified errors necessitating adjustments to its 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 financial statements, that aspects of its financial results would be restated, and that the trading of its common stock was being halted by the New York Stock Exchange and its stock delisted.

The Company and certain of its executives have been sued in a securities class action lawsuit, charging them with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws, which is ongoing.

KSF's investigation is focusing on whether Celadon's officers and/or directors breached their fiduciary duties to Celadon's shareholders or otherwise violated state or federal laws.

If you have information that would assist KSF in its investigation, or have been a long-term holder of Celadon shares and would like to discuss your legal rights, you may, without obligation or cost to you, call toll-free at 1-877-515-1850 or email KSF Managing Partner Lewis Kahn ([email protected]), or visit https://www.ksfcounsel.com/cases/nyse-cgi/ to learn more.

About Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC

KSF, whose partners include Former Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti, Jr., is a law firm focused on securities, antitrust and consumer class actions, along with merger & acquisition and breach of fiduciary litigation against publicly traded companies on behalf of shareholders. The firm has offices in New York, California and Louisiana.

To learn more about KSF, you may visit www.ksfcounsel.com.

Contact:

Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC

Lewis Kahn, Managing Partner

[email protected]

1-877-515-1850

206 Covington St.

Madisonville, LA 70447

SOURCE Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC

Related Links

http://www.ksfcounsel.com

SAN FRANCISCO, April 27, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Flexport announced that it secured $100M in funding from SF Express, the leading courier company in China. The strategic partnership allows Flexport to expand its operations in China and around the world. SF Express joins existing investors including First Round Capital, Bloomberg Beta, Founders Fund, DST, and Y Combinator.

In just five years Flexport has distinguished itself as the leading software-powered freight forwarder, helping more than 15,000 companies deliver their goods to customers worldwide. In the past year Flexport shipped $3.8B worth of merchandise between 97 countries for companies including Warby Parker, Peloton, Ring, Bridgestone, and Georgia Pacific.

Flexport provides businesses with global logistics services including air freight, ocean freight, trucking, cargo insurance, and customs brokerage. The company plans to increase its investment in technology so it can continue to reduce transaction costs, improve the user experience, and empower supply chain managers to make more data-driven decisions.

"Our mission is to make global trade easy for everyone," said Flexport's CEO and founder Ryan Petersen. "The investment by SF Express, one of the world's top couriers, will let us create more value for businesses shipping freight internationally."

In 2017 Flexport tripled its revenue while opening new offices in Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Shenzhen. This rapid growth played a role in investors' enthusiasm for the company. In 2018 Flexport launched its private air freight service, a dedicated 747 that flies twice weekly from Hong Kong to Los Angeles carrying its customers' cargo. This year the company is expected to double its warehousing footprint, while opening new offices in Hamburg, Chicago, Taiwan, and Shanghai.

"Flexport is one of those companies that will not merely satisfy its market but grow it," said Flexport investor and founder of Y Combinator, Paul Graham. "There will be more international trade because of Flexport, and international trade is a very big thing for there to be more of."

About Flexport

Flexport is a technology platform for global trade. Founded in 2013, the company provides businesses with global logistics services including air freight, ocean freight, trucking, cargo insurance, customs brokerage, and inventory financing. Flexport's software unlocks efficiencies, improves user experiences, and enables more data-driven decision making for modern logistics teams. In 2017 more than 15,000 companies relied on Flexport to ship $3.8B worth of merchandise between 97 countries. By engineering new infrastructure for international shipping and commerce, Flexport is making global trade easy for everyone.

About SF Express

SF Holding (SZSE:002352) is a leading integrated logistics service provider and an intelligent logistics operator providing services in China and overseas based on its aviation network, ground network, and information network. Besides China, SF's international network covers more than 53 countries including the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and Thailand. Utilizing big data analytics and cloud computing technologies, SF provides its customers with integrated logistics services from transportation to warehousing management, sales forecasting and data analytics to settlement and financial management, and also extending to supply chain management. SF invests substantial resources in technology covering various fields including drones, autonomous vehicles, robotics, artificial intelligence, GIS, IoT and data analytics with a view to create a new business model combining logistics and artificial intelligence.

SOURCE FlexportWASHINGTON, April 27, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's next mission to Mars, Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight), is scheduled to launch Saturday, May 5, on a first-ever mission to study the heart of Mars. Coverage of prelaunch and launch activities begins Thursday, May 3, on NASA Television and the agency's website.

InSight, the first planetary mission to take off from the West Coast, is targeted to launch at 7:05 a.m. EDT (4:05 a.m. PDT) from Space Launch Complex-3 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket.

Launching on the same rocket is a separate NASA technology experiment known as Mars Cube One (MarCO). MarCO consists of two mini-spacecraft and will be the first test of CubeSat technology in deep space. They are designed to test new communications and navigation capabilities for future missions and may aid InSight communications.

NASA TV and online mission coverage is as follows (all times Eastern):

Thursday, May 3

4 p.m.  Prelaunch Briefing

Thomas Zurbuchen , associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters

, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters Bruce Banerdt , InSight principal investigator at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory

, InSight principal investigator at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory Tom Hoffman , InSight project manager at JPL

, InSight project manager at JPL Annick Sylvestre-Baron , deputy project manager for the InSight seismometer investigation at France's space agency, the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales

, deputy project manager for the InSight seismometer investigation at space agency, the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales Philippe Lognonne, InSight seismometer investigation lead at the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris in France

in Tilman Spohn , investigation lead at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) for the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Probe (HP3), an instrument on InSight

, investigation lead at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) for the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Probe (HP3), an instrument on InSight Andrew Klesh , MarCO chief engineer at JPL

, MarCO chief engineer at JPL Anne Marinan , MarCO systems engineer at JPL

, MarCO systems engineer at JPL Stu Spath , InSight program manager at Lockheed Martin Space

, InSight program manager at Lockheed Martin Space Tim Dunn , launch director with NASA's Launch Services Program

, launch director with NASA's Launch Services Program Scott Messer , ULA program manager for NASA launches

, ULA program manager for NASA launches Col. Michael Hough , commander of the 30th Space Wing at Vandenberg

, commander of the 30th Space Wing at Vandenberg 1st Lt. Kristina Williams , weather officer for the 30th Space Wing

Saturday, May 5

6:30 a.m.  Launch coverage begins.

7:05 a.m.  Launch time

Prelaunch Briefing Participation (all times Pacific)

The deadline for media to apply for accreditation for this launch has passed. However, media still may participate in the May 3 prelaunch briefing by phone by contacting JoAnna Wendel at [email protected] no later than noon on Thursday, May 3.

Media and the public also may ask questions during the event on social media using #askNASA.

Media who are accredited to attend the prelaunch briefing in person should confirm their participation with 2nd Lt. Amy Rasmussen of the 30th Space Wing Public Affairs Office at [email protected] no later than 10 a.m. on Monday, April 30.

Accredited media should arrive at the Hawk's Nest off Highway 1, about one mile south of the Santa Maria Gate at Vandenberg, by 11 a.m. to be escorted. Media must present a driver's license or passport to receive a base pass.

Public Launch Viewing

There are two official launch viewing sites for the public in Lompoc, California. For information on these sites, visit:

https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/mission/timeline/launch/watch-in-person/

InSight will be the first mission to peer deep beneath the Martian surface, studying the planet's interior by measuring its heat output and listening for marsquakes, which are seismic events similar to earthquakes on Earth. It will use the seismic waves generated by marsquakes to develop a map of the planet's deep interior. The resulting insight into Mars' formation will help us better understand how other rocky planets, including Earth, were and are created.

JPL manages the InSight mission for the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. InSight is part of NASA's Discovery Program, managed by the agency's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The spacecraft, including cruise stage and lander, was built and tested by Lockheed Martin Space in Denver.

Several European partners, including France's space agency, the Centre National d'Etude Spatiales, and Germany's DLR, are supporting the mission.

ULA, of Centennial, Colorado, is providing the Atlas V launch service. The Launch Services Program at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is responsible for launch management.

Media may get more information on the InSight mission, prelaunch and launch events, at:

https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/insight-briefings-and-events

Join the conversation on social media by following InSight at:

http://twitter.com/NASAInSight

or

http://www.facebook.com/NASAInSight/

SOURCE NASA

Related Links

http://www.nasa.gov

SHANGHAI, April 28, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The 20th China & Shanghai International Photographic Equipment & Digital Imaging Exhibition (P&I Shanghai 2018), jointly hosted by the Council for the Promotion of International Trade Shanghai and the Shanghai Photographer's Association, and organized by Shanghai International Exhibition, will be held in Hall 5.1 of the National Exhibition and Convention Center in Shanghai from July 11st to 14th.

20 years of innovation culminates in this latest Chinese digital imaging platform

P&I Shanghai 2018, in its 20th year, has become an annual industry event that the entire photographic business looks to. Based in Shanghai, it serves not only China but also the world in bringing together under one roof the five key features of business: product launch, product display, user experience, the business transaction itself, and cooperation and exchange, as it applies to professional imaging equipment and output solutions, and consumer imaging equipment and accessories.

P&I Shanghai 2018 takes place in a new venue, the National Exhibition and Convention Center (NECC) Shanghai, which boasts a more expansive exhibition area, more comprehensive support services and easier access to transportation, enabling the exhibition platform to build a world-class "professional image input-to-output" full-chain platform.

With a focus on what consumers want and expect, the sector's leading brands put their heads together to guide future development

With the transformation of the industry and growing consumer demand for better picture-taking quality, P&I Shanghai 2018 has made this the theme of the event, as well as called on industry players to work together to aggregate all available resources. Ancillary events to support the initiative include conferences and seminars where the latest ideas, innovative models and technological achievements of the industry will be showcased to attendees.

Following relocation, the event will, as before, cooperate with Chinese and foreign exhibitors to build market share, both in China and abroad, by leveraging the venue's prime location squarely in the hub of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, as well as Hongqiao Central Business District's easy access to all forms of transportation and Shanghai's role as an international trade center. At the same time, the event will focus on the multiple developmental opportunities made possible by advances in technology, mobile and video, including imaging services and cloud applications, utilizing photos' storytelling abilities to enhance advertising or marketing campaigns and help open up new horizons.

According to the latest information, nearly 200 exhibitors from ten countries and regions across the world have signed on to attend P&I Shanghai 2018. The exhibition will include image, film and television shooting equipment, image output equipment, products and solutions, photography and film accessories, a photographic exhibition auction, a secondhand camera exchange show and a photography hall, among other eye-catching exhibits, contributing to the transformation of the exhibition resource platform.

China Wedding Expo and Shanghai Baby Photo Expo 2018 to be held concurrently to build a comprehensive portfolio spanning the industry chain

The 34th China Wedding Expo will be held concurrently in Hall 2, 3 and 4.1. The event features four exhibition platforms: the China International Wedding Dress & Fashion Accessories Expo; the China Wedding Photo Album, Frame & Supplies Expo; the China Wedding Theme Photography Expo and the China Wedding Supplies and Honeymoon Photography Expo.

Concurrently, Shanghai International Baby Photo Expo will take place in the Hall 1.

Exhibition Overview:

Date: July 11 to July 14, 2018

Venue: Hall 5.1 within the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai)

Address: No.1888, Zhuguang Road (at the west gate of the exhibition center) and No.333, SongZe Ave., Qingpu District (at the north gate of the exhibition center)

Transportation: Take Subway Line 2 to East Xujing Station, then take Exit 4, 5 or 6 (for entry via the west gate) or take Subway Line 17 to Zhuguang Road Station (for entry via the north gate)

To schedule an appointment and for more information about the event, please contact:

Shanghai International Exhibition Co., Ltd.

Tel: (86) 21 6279 2828

Email: [email protected]

WeChat:

P&I Shanghai 2018 (WeChat account: interphoto)

SOURCE Shanghai International Exhibition Co., Ltd.

Related Links

http://www.siec-ccpit.com

In Southern California, the largest protest is in Los Angeles, a gathering that has typically drawn thousands of people. But demonstrations are planned throughout the region, from Orange County to the Inland Empire, from Redondo Beach to the San Gabriel...YONGKANG, China, April 28, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The 9th China (Yongkang) International Door Industry Expo will be held from May 26 to May 28, 2018 at the Yongkang International Convention and Exhibition Center, in Yongkang, the manufacturing hub for doors in central Zhejiang Province.

According to information provided by the expo's organizing committee, to date 1,186 Chinese companies, with the largest numbers from Shanghai as well as from Jiangsu, Shandong and Fujian provinces, have applied for 1,499 standard-issue booths, in addition to booths of various dimensions and customized to the exhibitor's specifications (called "special booths") spread over a 37,631-square meter space. Of these, 470 are local companies and 716 are from outside the Yongkang area. Following a review process, so far, 833 companies have been qualified to participate, and, among those, 257 companies have received approval for special booths totaling 27,965 square meters, while 576 have obtained approval for 1,060 standard booths.

Compared with previous events, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of companies from outside Yongkang, with more than 60 percent of the exhibitors hailing from outside the region. The proportion of non-local companies has grown from 26.55 percent in the first year of the event to 52.69 percent last year, before pushing past the 60 percent mark this year. The interest from firms well outside the local area reflects the increasing awareness of the expo across the whole of China as well as in international markets. The expo has become the recognized barometer for the direction of the door industry both in China and globally.

The door industry that is the lifeblood of Yongkang is well concentrated here, with manufacturers and suppliers covering the entire production chain coupled with the sector's most advanced technological innovations and brand building achievements, earning the city the moniker of the "Door Capital of China". Yongkang is home to more than 280 professional door producers, with an annual production of 25 million units, of which over 7 million are exported.

In recent years, Yongkang, as part of its goal to become the leading manufacturing base not only in China but also globally, has accelerated its efforts in industrial design, intelligent manufacturing and online/offline integration, while promoting the transformation of what has long been regarded as a highly traditional manufacturing sector, while, at the same time, moving the perception that the world has of the sector from one of it as a sideline within the broad home construction and home improvement industry to one of a leader that sets its tone and direction.

Quality is the benchmark for advanced manufacturing. Recently, Li Ming, a professional buyer from Xi'an, Shaanxi province, was able to view all the information concerning a door he was looking at, including product specifications, standards and availability of credit terms, in less than a minute by scanning the QR code when purchasing a security door made in Yongkang. The city has established a large database led by the quality supervision authorities, supported by industry associations and joined in by companies. As a result of establishing one QR code for each commodity, combined with features including the ability to query the traceability of an individual door, quality updates, integrity records and an easy process for filing complaints, the platform provides genuine information about the quality of each product, in a move to strengthen supervision by both the manufacturers and the oversight authorities, increase the number of channels through which consumers can protect their rights and give companies a true impetus to stay on top of the quality of their products.

With the application of AI spreading into every aspect of people's lives, intelligent doors are gradually become available to interior decorators and to families seeking to upgrade their homes. In Yongkang, technologies including facial recognition, the Internet of Things and cloud computing have already started to be applied in the manufacturing of doors. Intelligent manufacturing has allowed Yongkang's door industry to stay at the forefront, making the door that you are likely to buy truly representative of what the 21st century can offer.

To know more about the expo, please visit: http://chidf.com/english/index.html

SOURCE External Publicity Office of the Communist Party of China, YongkangThe photographers from the China Photographers Association and National Geographic Magazine visited a number of locations across China to see the changes brought by Hanergy Hantile, a thin-film rooftop solar product. These include Lijiang city in Southwest China's Yunnan province; Changde city and Anhua county in Central China's Hunan province; and Qixin Hope Primary School in Yangpotou, Xunyi county, Xianyang city, Northwest China's Shaanxi province.

Founded in 1994, Hanergy, a global leader of thin-film solar power generation, released its first innovative product Hanergy Hantile in July. Nine months later, the company launched the second generation of its flagship product Hantile in Beijing on Sunday.

Hantiles, which disrupt the traditional concept of tiles, perfectly combine solar energy and buildings. They turn each building into a zero-energy consumption power plant, producing the asset of green energy.

Hantiles can not only bring clients practical, investment and cultural value, but also social value. For a house installed with 100 square meters of Hantiles, the power produced is equivalent to that made by 123 tons of coal in 30 years. By not burning this coal, the house helps to avoid the emissions of 322 tons of carbon dioxide, 1,045 kilograms of sulfur dioxide and 910 kg of nitrogen oxide, which is also equivalent to planting 340 green trees.

In addition, these photographers visited Jin'anqiao Hydropower Station as well as Hanergy's R&D and manufacturing base in Southwest China's Shuangliu (Chengdu) and the base using Hanergy's solar power technologies in South China's Heyuan (Guangdong).

Jin'anqiao Hydropower Station, where Hanergy invested more than 20 billion yuan to build on a plateau with an altitude of 2,000 meters, is the largest privately owned hydropower station in the world. The total installed capacity of this station is 3 million kilowatts, 10 percent more than that of the Gezhouba Dam Hydropower Station, and its annual power generation is up to 13 billion kilowatt-hours.

The photographers also went to Wusongkou port in Shanghai to see how Hanergy's solar power technologies help upgrade the port, and visited Lingshui county in South China's Hainan province to see the role photovoltaic solar panels have played in poverty alleviation.

Photos in this release are selected from over 1,000 works, with each photo telling a story about Hanergy and Hantile, while showing the company's dedication to improving public well-being. More pictures and stories will be offered through China Daily and chinadaily.com.cn.

SOURCE China DailyIn Conan Doyle for the Defense: The True Story of a Sensational British Murder, a Quest for Justice, and the Worlds Most Famous Detective Writer (Random House, June), Fox revisits the real-life sleuthing of Arthur Conan Doyle.

What triggered your interest in this case?

Thirty years ago when I first moved to New York, I was reading John Dickson Carrs Conan Doyle biography on my way to work. Just in passing, he mentioned Conan Doyle helped right a wrongful conviction in a murder case. I almost dropped the book in the middle of the A train. I thought, the creator of Sherlock Holmes was involved in investigating a real murder? Why isnt this more widely known? I filed it away in the back of my brain.

Did you uncover anything that previous Conan Doyle biographers missed?

The whole case! Every Conan Doyle bioand there are dozenshas anywhere from a paragraph to a chapter on the Oscar Slater case, but there are no freestanding books, at least not on this side of the Atlantic. When I went to search archives in Edinburgh and Glasgow, I literally got thousands of pages of documents. It took me about a year and a half to go through all that material. Its a story that no existing biography has been able to tell because it really does occupy a book by itself.

Did focusing on a single episode in the life of Conan Doyle yield any surprising insight into the man himself?

I was absolutely thrilled and delighted to learn more about Conan Doyle the crusader. He was one of the most prominent men in public life in Britain in his day, and he lived till 1930. So he spent a long time doing what we now might call activism and for very humanist causes. Here he is championing a man he clearly found personally distasteful, because Conan Doyle conducted himself as an upright Victorian and truly lived by those values. But he also was so horrified by this gross miscarriage of justice and gross framing of an innocent man that he brought all his brain power and all of his renown to bear on getting Oscar Slater freed.

How does this story resonate today?

This is about one man being framed for a crime he didnt commit. The larger story is about the construction of the Other. Its a story about a society that took out its roiling, nebulous, subconscious fears and bound them up with ethnicity, religion, nationality. And, of course, all of the things that were done to Oscar Slater in the early decades of the 20th century, tarring him with the reputation of a criminal and framing him for a crime that literally within a week the police and prosecutors knew he was innocent of, all of that is done today. The only thing that has changed is that we now have a name for this phenomenonwe call it profiling.Hirschs historical thriller, The Devils Half Mile (Forge, June), mixes financial fraud and murder in 1799 New York City.

You originally planned to write a nonfiction book. What happened?

I wanted to write a follow-up to my financial markets explainer, Man vs. Markets, to describe how a system of rules was created around the markets from scratch, and I chose the New York Stock Exchange as my subject. I very quickly found myself bogged down in research. Moreover, the subject was incredibly dry. I had hoped that characters like Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr might bring the story to life, but I just couldnt make it work. Maybe I should have set it to music! I was bored and not writing. So I took some of the characters and wrote a murder into the narrative. This side project soon supplanted the original one.

How was the market scandal that affected late-18th-century New York similar to more recent market crashes?

The Great Panic of 1792 came about because the markets were essentially unregulated. The man who effectively caused the panic, William Duer, indulged in market manipulation, stock fraud, insider trading, and a whole bunch of other things that would have put him in the slammer today, but were entirely legalif not entirely acceptableback then. He did go to prison in the end, but only because he couldnt afford to pay his debts. Our financial crisis of 2008 came about in large part because of a move towards deregulation that began during the Clinton administration. The argument was that banks and other financial institutions were essentially good and could be trusted to police themselves. Does that sound familiar?

What else about New York in 1799 interested you?

It was the year the legislature passed the law for gradual abolition of slavery in the state. The result was an explosion of the black population in the city, which immediately became a destination for free blacks and runaway slaves. Weirdly, because slavery was only to be gradually abolished, there were still slaves in the city, which created all sorts of labor issues. Immigration from Europe was rising at the same time, and many of those incomers were from Ireland. Thanks to the brutal oppression of the Catholic Irish, the vast majority of the people coming from Ireland were unskilled laborers, which put them in direct competition with black workers. So it was a tense time.Talking about his new novel, Warlight (Knopf, May), author and poet Michael Ondaatje compares his writing method to archaeology. His work usually begins with a fragment or an image, which he uses to slowly uncover the story. For Warlight, Ondaatje began with a sentence that became the novels opening line: In 1945 our parents went away and left us in the care of two men who may have been criminals.

It seems ridiculous and a bit like a kind of fairy tale, Ondaatje says. I knew nothing more than that when I began the book. Even the post-WWII era came later. I sort of discovered that was the time. I wasnt setting out to write a war novel or a postwar novel; that became the landscape.

Ondaatje says he finds the story as he researches and writeslike an archaeologist carefully brushing dust and grit from an artifact. I think most of the energy spent on writing a book is used to discover what the story is, he adds. And, like archaeology, its painstaking work.

Ondaatje says it usually takes him about five years to write a novel, and he handwrites most drafts. I dont really know the characters before the book is writtentheyre not fully formed yet, he explains, saying that he needs to live with the possibilities of characters for a period of time.

In fact, Ondaatje continues, I really begin a book not knowing what it is going to be about, to be honest, though it sounds rather foolish, but thats the way Ive worked in the past. That past includes his best-known work, the 1992 novel The English Patient, which won the Man Booker prize, as well as six other novels; his most recent The Cats Table (2011). He has also written 15 books of poetry.

Ondaatje, 74, was born in Sri Lanka and spent his early childhood there. He lived in England from 1954 until he immigrated to Canada in 1962. He is a longtime resident of Toronto, a city that featured prominently in his historical novel In the Skin of a Lion (Knopf, 1987). But when I reached him by telephone, he and his partner, author Linda Spalding, and their family were escaping the last bluster of the long Canadian winter at a rented retreat north of San Francisco, a landscape that became part of the setting for his 2007 novel, Divisadero.

Warlight is set in England, where Ondaatje lived as a teen. After his initial idea for the story took hold, he says, the city of London materialized as he focused on what it must have been like there following WWII. (The title comes from the time of blackouts and curfews during the war, when lights had to be dimmed to hide the citys features from German bombers, but could metaphorically reflect the secrets and hidden history within the postwar plot and the characters lives.)

Ondaatjes research took him to many places along the Thames, but he says that character serves as his engine in writing a novel. And it is 14-year-old Nathaniel Williams who opens Warlight as he describes his parents leaving him and his sister, Rachel, who is nearly 16. The parents tell the children that theyre going to Singapore, where his father has accepted a new job. Separations of that kind werent unusual in wartime, Ondaatje says. But one of the childrens guardians, a man they call the Moth, later admits to Nathaniel that his mother, Rose, didnt go to Singapore. Nathaniels efforts to solve the mystery of where his mother has gone, as well as why she left, drive much of the novel.

It is also a bildungsroman following Nathaniel as he begins to explore the world beyond his family. A new sort of family begins to takes shape in the house, loosely led by the Moth and his friend, whom Rachel and Nathaniel name the Darter, and an odd assortment of guests dropping in.

The Moth guides Nathaniel into his first jobs, working in the laundry and then as a dishwasher in Londons grand Criterion Restaurant, where he learns to navigate the adult world. In the kitchen of another restaurant, he meets his first love. Later, the Darter recruits Nathaniel to help him transport illegal racing greyhoundsdogs with no racing pedigree that had been smuggled into the countryon barges on the Thames. We passed industrial buildings, Ondaatje writes, their lights muted, faint as stars, as if we were in a time capsule of the war years when blackouts and curfews had been in effect, when there was just warlight and only blind barges were allowed on this stretch of the river.

There is an abrupt and surprising shift into Nathaniels adult life in the second half of the novel. Rose has reappeared, and Nathaniel has learned that what took her away was some dangerous work for British intelligence. They now live a secluded life in the Suffolk countryside, far removed from the hustle and bustle of London. But Rose is secretive by necessity, and so the second half of the book also follows Nathaniels attempts to decipher his mother and her life and to make sense of his own.

Almost everyone in the book goes by pseudonyms. Rose nicknames Nathaniel and Rachel as Stitch and Wren, respectively. Even Nathaniels teenage lover asks him to call her Agnes, but it isnt her real name. Ondaatje says, That wasnt something I planned to do consciously, but two-thirds of the way through, I realized this was happening. Ondaatje recalls someone observing a similar phenomenon when he was writing In the Skin of a Lion, pointing out that nearly every character is an immigrant. He appreciates such accidents, speculating that if I planned it ahead of time, it might be too odd or too schematic.

Though Ondaatje says much of the book is a story about a family, the affairs of the world and political intrigue also rush into it when Rose reappears. She had been a radio operator during the war, and later she intercepted, altered, and re-sent German signals. The war is officially over when this story begins, but no wars end punctually, Ondaatje notes. Theres always a postwar period that is kind of scary because it is violent.

Rose tries to escape the violence, seeking anonymity in the Suffolk countryside where she grew up. It is a book about the human consequences more than the political and strategic things, Ondaatje says. I read a lot about that, but I was more interested in why Rose was away.

Rose demonstrates Ondaatjes skill in creating complicated and all-too-human characters. Rachel renounces Rose for abandoning her and Nathaniel. But holding Rose up to the light, readers may see a bad mother or a war hero, self-interest or self-sacrifice; it all depends on the perspective. Nathaniel has his own contradictions and questions to answer, as do so many of Ondaatjes characters.

I love them all, Ondaatje says, confessing that he cant help feeling nervous sending them out into the world. But they have been in good hands, and now his readers are, too.Rock legend Patti Smiths memoir of her friendship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, Just Kids (Ecco, 2010), resonated with critics and book buyers. It nabbed the National Book Award in nonfiction and has sold more than 517,000 copies in hardcover and trade paperback.

Sales have begun to taper in recent years, and in response, Ecco is doing something most publishers do: its creating a new opportunity for an older title.

We wanted to give the book a new life and make it more personal, says Ecco publisher Daniel Halpern. Smiths agent, Betsy Lerner, floated the idea of doing a new, more heavily illustrated edition to Ecco.

Patti keeps a lot of stuffnapkins, photos, all sorts of memorabilia, Halpern says. She sent in boxes and boxes of photographs of her and Robert and other material that no one has seen. Shes literally designing every page.

Just Kids: Illustrated Editionwith a larger trim size and a new cover photo, plus about 60 pages of newly published photos and memorabilia and a new introduction written by Smithwill be released in October.

Its just one of the many examples of how publishers invigorate their backlists. Whether its by refreshing covers, releasing new material, trying new formats, tuning into current trends, or various combinations of those and other methods, publishers use a number of strategies to keep backlist titles at the front of readers minds.

Forecasting New Readerships

At Grand Central, James Redfields The Celestine Prophecy, a novel that chronicles a mans spiritual awakening in Peru, is a backlist staple. Beth Guzman, v-p, digital and paperback publisher, says the publisher noticed that sales of the 1995 trade paper edition had been climbing steadilyfrom 10,000 print copies in 2014 to 21,000 in 2017and reached out to the author.

Hes been hearing from a younger generation, Guzman says. We realized there are new readers we can target.

A new edition of The Celestine Prophecy is planned for September and will include a new afterword by Redfield about how readers can undertake spiritual journeys mirroring the narrators. Marketing, Guzman says, will target millennials and focus on platforms that werent around when the book was first published, including Facebook Live events, hashtag campaigns, giveaways on social reading networks, and Instagram stories.

A starburst on the books cover will tout the new edition, but otherwise, the publisher opted against changing its look. There was a lot of back-and-forth with sales and marketing, but the cover is so recognizable, she says, that they decided to leave it alone.

By contrast, Lori Wildes western romance Addicted to Love, which Grand Centrals Forever imprint released in 2008, is getting a major face-lift. Wilde now publishes elsewhere and has been seeing strong sales at Avon for her cowboy romances, a subgenre Guzman says is really hot right now. Addicted to Love seemed ripe for a repackaging and rebranding, and in June, Forever will release the bookretitled Valentine, Texaswith an updated cover that emphasizes the cowboy lead and makes clear that its a previously published book. Guzman says the effort is about tapping into new readers of the author and [current] trends, not about fooling anyone.

One of Soho Presss top sellers is 2004s The Darkest Child by Delores Phillips, which has sold 51,000 copies in hardcover and trade paper and, like most older titles, had seen declining sales in recent years. In January, the publisher released a repackaged edition featuring a new introduction by Tayari Joneswhose An American Marriage was selected the following month for Oprahs Book Clubplus a cover blurb from Academy Awardwinner Octavia Spencer, a previously unpublished excerpt from the late authors unfinished sequel, and an updated discussion guide. In 2017, The Darkest Child sold 662 print copies; the new edition has moved 11,000 print copies in three months.

Building on a Brand

Start with Why, by motivational speaker Simon Sinek, was originally published by Portfolio in 2009. The publishers internal sales figures show an 85% jump in print and e-book sales in 2017 compared with 2016; BookScan shows an improvement in print sales from 131,000 to 200,000 units.

Tara Delaney Gilbride, v-p, publicity director, and associate director of marketing at Portfolio/Sentinel, attributes the spike mainly to a video posted early in 2017 featuring Sineks thoughts on Millennials in the Workforce, which was widely shared on Facebook and went viral. Hes done more than 400 speaking engagements since 2012, and sales of Start with Why increased each time Sinek published subsequent titles. His next book, The Infinite Game, is due out in October.

Strong branding is also the key to the Bragg health food and publishing business. Its most popular title, 2008s Apple Cider Vinegar by Paul C. Bragg and Patricia Bragg, has sold 274,000 print copies since 2008, with 27,000 sold so far in 2018.

The companys publishing director, Michael Bowker, looked at the flagship title with an eye toward increasing sales about six years ago. I decided to focus first on expanding points of sale, he says, which led to placement at Kroger, Sams Club, Walmart, and other major chains. The next phase of expansion involved overseas sales. The emphasis has since shifted to publicity, and the brand may be benefitting from the support of a seemingly unlikely source. Patricia Bragg has known Katy Perrys parents for years and bought the future pop star her first guitar when she was 13. Perry has talked up apple cider vinegar in the media and shared a visit with Bragg with her 69 million Instagram followers.

But the publisher knows that most of its customers are older than the average Perry fan, which influences marketing efforts, too. While we keep up a steady social media presence, we also focus on print media advertising, Bowker says. Our audience still reads newspapers and magazines.

Marking the Calendar

Publishing loves an anniversary, and milestone years present renewed opportunities to celebrate backlist mainstays.

One example is the Overlook Presss new treatment for one of its bestselling books. Overlook brought all five novels by the famously publicity-shy Charles Portis into paperback in the late 1990s, including 1968s True Grit. The author hasnt published a new book since 1991, but the second movie adaptation of True Grit, in 2010, sparked renewed interest in his work.

In May, Overlook is releasing a flapped paperback 50th-anniversary edition that includes new essays by Jacquelyn Mitchard and Jay Jennings, a new introduction by Roy Blount Jr., and an afterword by Donna Tartt that was published in an earlier edition. The trade paperback movie tie-in issued in conjunction with the Coen brothers film in 2010, which has sold 223,000 print copies to date, will also remain in print. Overlook added a young readers edition of the novel in 2016, with an afterword from childrens fiction scholar Leonard S. Marcus.

We like to have a classic novel like this available for different readers in different formats, says Tracy Carns, editor and associate publisher at Overlook. This anniversary edition is less about sales and more that we wanted to tip our hat to Charles Portis. Its a more gift-appropriate edition.

Also celebrating a 50th anniversary this year is Norman Mailers The Armies of the Night, which won a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award. Plume released an anniversary edition with a new cover and new introduction by Adam Gopnik in April.

Mailers Vietnam-era writings are having a moment, says Ben Lee, v-p and associate publisher of paperbacks and backlist overseeing several Penguin imprints. He points to the Library of Americas release of several Mailer books, including The Armies of the Night, in the Norman Mailer: The Sixties boxed set in March. This is a complete refresh for new generations of readers who need to understand why this book is important.

At Da Capo Lifelong, Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero, originally published in 2007, had grown into a vegan Joy of Cooking, says the books editor, Renee Sedliar, with hardcover sales topping 236,000 copies by the end of 2016. For its 10th anniversary, the publisher decided it was time for a makeover.

We looked at the sales track, all the things the authors are doing, and at the zeitgeist, Sedliar says. The authors have since collaborated on other vegan cookbooks and published solo titles, and Moskowitz opened popular restaurants in Omaha and Brooklyn. Veganism in general grew increasingly mainstream in the ensuing years. Knowing where veganism has gone, we asked how we can change the package up and bring it up to date so it can sell even more, Sedliar notes.

The anniversary hardcover features a new cover, color photos throughout, 25 new recipes, and updates to previously published recipes. Its sold 11,000 print copies since its September release.

The University of Michigan Press is also marking a 10th anniversary for a key title. Mardi Links true crime books have been steady sellers for the publisher and a favorite of booksellers in the region, and June sees the release of a new edition of Links first for the press: When Evil Came to Good Hart.

The book, which investigates the unsolved 1968 murders of a wealthy Detroit-area family, is among the presss top five trade titles, and its second bestselling e-book (behind Links Wicked Takes the Witness Stand, 2014). The paperback anniversary edition will feature a new foreword and afterword by the author and will be promoted with a podcast series starting in April, in the hope of capitalizing on the moment true crime and podcasts are having.

And in publishing, timing is everything. Backlist is more important than ever, Grand Centrals Guzman says, echoing the thoughts of many publishers that PW spoke with. If theres a media moment, we want to do as much as we can to tie in to that.

Gwenda Bond is the author of many books for young adults and children.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this article misstated 2014 print unit sales for The Celestine Prophecy. We've corrected the error.

Below, more on the subject of backlist books.

Ready for Their Close-ups: Backlist Backbones 2018

A successful repackaging can do wonders toward making a book look newly relevant.

Forever Young: Backlist Backbones 2018

In a category dominated by evergreen bestsellersSeuss and Sendak, LEngle and Rowlingit can be easy to forget how rich and varied the childrens backlist is.VINCE THANKS SAUDI ARABIA, BACKSTAGE NOTES AND MORE FROM GREATEST ROYAL RUMBLE

Vince McMahon thanked Saudi Arabia for the Greatest Royal Rumble:

Thank you to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for giving the Greatest Royal Rumble to the @WWE Universe, an event thats truly the first of its kind. #WWEGRR pic.twitter.com/0lJw4zP8y3  Vince McMahon (@VinceMcMahon) April 28, 2018

Since this seems to be the subject of a number of questions, that was indeed the planned finish to Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns.

The backstage interviews on the show were not broadcast live in the stadium as they were part of a break in the live show to give the audience a chance to pray. That's why the Chris Jericho lines didn't get a big reaction from the audience - they couldn't see or hear it.

Aiden English was OK after taking a tombstone from Undertaker that appeared to spike his head into the mat. We were told that when he was removed from the Casket, his selling was so good that fans watching actually thought he was legitimately injured.

The original plan for Hornswoggle was for him to work a singles match on the Kickoff Show against Robbie Araujo, who has worked in the past for WWE as Wee-BL. At some point in the last day, the decision was made to put Swoggle into the Rumble instead, so Araujo went all the way to Saudi Arabia but didn't wrestle. Hornswoggle commented on his return via Twitter:

Life is pretty crazy sometimes! Thanks @wwe for having me a part of the #WWEGRR ! Got to dust off the ol suit for the first time in almost 10 years! pic.twitter.com/X4w4DwpfMv  Dylan Postl (@wwehornswoggle) April 27, 2018

For those who asked about Drew McIntyre not being on the show, we are told that it was likely that McIntyre was brought to the main roster too close to the show for a work visa to be worked out.

Sami Zayn was not there, for those who have asked. I don't know that he was ever advertised for the show, either. When asked about Zayn not appearing, WWE stated, "WWE is committed to embracing individuals from all backgrounds while respecting local customs and cultural differences around the world." Zayn is of Syrian descent and there is a long history of cultural and political problems between Syria and Saudi Arabia.

As you might imagine, everyone backstage lost it when Titus O'Neil tripped running to the ring. Management immediately made the call to run the replay as live, the camera shot missed it and the commentators were cracking up. Nia Jax commented on Titus' trip:

Braun might have won the #WWEGRR but @TitusONeilWWE stole the damn show!!! ???????????????????????????????? bravo! Ill finally say it! TITUS....WORLDWIDE!!!!  Lina Fanene (@NiaJaxWWE) April 27, 2018

The most heat live at the show, by far, was for the Daivaris after they declared themselves as being from Iran. Ariya commented on the segment on Twitter:

It took 12 years for my brother and I to share a WWE stage together. To make it even sweeter, it was on the biggest show in WWE history. We always had the same hard work ethic when it came to wrestling, and tonight was the ultimate payoff. A moment I'll cherish forever. #WWEGRR pic.twitter.com/pIKjjdv5VE  Ariya Daivari (@AriyaDaivariWWE) April 27, 2018

We have been told by three readers who attended the show that security was seen confiscating any signs as fans entered the Stadium.

WWE released the following videos after the Greatest Royal Rumble:

Battered Daniel Bryan breaks Royal Rumble Match record: WWE Exclusive, April 27, 2018

Mojo Rawley says WWE and Saudi Arabia opened eyes with historic event: WWE Exclusive, April 27, 2018

Rey Mysterio surprises Saudi Arabian fans with his special ring gear: WWE Exclusive, April 27, 2018

Roderick Strong "shocks the system" in the 50-Man Greatest Royal Rumble Match: April 27, 2018

If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!BULLET CLUB VS. ROH TONIGHT IN LAKELAND, FLORIDA, EVENT STREAMING LIVE FOR HONORCLUB MEMBERS

ROH's return to Lakeland, Florida tonight will features a Bullet Club vs. ROH theme and will stream live for Honorclub members at www.ROHWrestling.com. Tonight's event will feature:

*ROH Champion Dalton Castle & ROH TV Champion Silas Young & ROH Tag Team Champions The Briscoes vs. Cody & Marty Scurll & The Young Bucks.

*Punishment Martinez vs. Adam Page.

*Coast 2 Coast vs, Motor City Machineguns.

*Jay Lethal vs. Josh Woods.

*The Kingdom vs. Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian.

*Shane Taylor vs. Matt Taven vs. Beer City Bruiser vs. Kenny King.

*Flip Gordon vs. Scorpio Sky.

*Also appearing are Bully Ray, The Dawgs, The Women of Honor in action and more.

For complete details or to become an Honorclub member, visit www.ROHWrestling.com.

If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!MediaTek Inc.today announced the appointmentof Anku Jain tothe role of chief representative of MediaTekIndia. Since joining MediaTek 14 years ago, Jain has played an important role in developing MediaTeks operations in India. He most recently served as senior director and head of MediaTeks officein Noida.Jainwill succeed Grant Kuo, who has announced his retirement after more than a decade atMediaTek India.

As one of the worlds fastest growing economies, India plays a critical role in global innovationand represents a huge market opportunity as MediaTek continues its vision to bring consumers affordable technology that enhances their lives, said Jain. I look forward to work closely with our customers and partners to develop next-generation technologies and products.

In his new role, Jain will oversee the operations of MediaTeks officein Noida and the companys domestic government relationsprograms. With more than 25 years of experience,Jain has held a variety of senior management, site operations and engineering rolesat Sprint, RiverRun, Network Programs and Pixtel Communications.He holds a Bachelor of Technology in computer science from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi.

@Technuter.com News ServiceMaligned as a bastion of extremism and a top terrorist safe haven, Pakistan's Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (FATA), along the country's northwestern border with Afghanistan, have endured a significant transformation in the last few years. Between June 2014 and May 2016, the Pakistani army launched operation Zarb-e-Azb, literally translated as swift and conclusive strike, which focused on clearing terrorist organizations such as Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Punjabi Taliban, East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and the Haqqani network from the seven administrative units that comprise FATA. According to Pakistani military officials, at the start of the operation, approximately one-third of the FATA had been under miscreant control with the North Waziristan district earmarked as the key terrorist stronghold.A pair of Air Force bombers flew over the South China Sea earlier this week, just days after Beijing showcased its military might in the region.

Two B-52H Stratofortresses from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, conducted the mission Tuesday while training in the area, Pacific Air Forces spokeswoman Lt. Col. Megan Schafer told Stars and Stripes in an email Friday.South Carolina is one of 15 states calling for the dismissal of a lawsuit against fossil fuel companies.

Wednesday Attorney General Alan Wilson announced his plans to fight a lawsuit filed by the cities of Oakland and San Francisco against various energy and manufacturing companies.

According to the lawsuit the companies are accused of contributing to climate change and should be declared a public nuisance. In a statement released Wednesday, Wilson said, we cannot let two California cities use the court system to set energy policy for the whole country and bypass our elected representatives in Congress.Benito Mussolini, dictator of Italy, was murdered by a mob on April 28, 1945, after 23 years of fascist governance in Italy. Mussolini, his mistress, and many of the fascist partys top leaders were murdered in cold blood without trial. Thats no way to bring down a government. Even Saddam Hussein, the Nazis and the Japanese were given trials. So, as bad as Mussolini was, his end was not fair in any sense of the word. It would be wise to remember that even tyrants and despots, along with murderers, rapists, terrorists, and pedophiles still have a right to a fair trial in free countries. This long-observed law is often misconstrued as a weakness by many non-Western observers, but make no mistake: A fair trial is a cornerstone of Western civilization.

Mussolinis vulgar end is the inspiration for this weekends Top 10 list: Fascist governments you may not know about. Fascism is a complicated system of governance and ideology, and one that, in part because its adherents lost World War II, is often used as pejorative by the victors of the same war (the liberals and the socialists). I mentioned some of the best contemporary essays on fascism at the Historiat last month, which you can read for yourself here . (Historiat, by the way, was relaunched after a three-year hiatus and features twice-weekly blog posts, one from myself, and one from the far more learned Richard Brownell, so be sure to stop on by and say hi.)

For this list I am focusing on aspects of fascist governance, rather than ideology, so anti-Semitism, for example, does not count, nor does anti-Bolshevism, or contempt for the messiness of the democratic system.

Fascist states are characterized by the following: One party governance; private property is tolerated so long as it serves the state and not the individual; corporations are tolerated so long as they serve the interests of the state and not shareholders; and economic nationalism is pursued not through free trade but via trading blocs based around a shared identity (mythical or not). This was Mussolinis vision for fascistic governance, and while the Nazis added a German twist to fascism, many other countries attempted to follow Mussolinis line of reasoning.

10. Argentina and the governments of Juan Peron. This is probably the most controversial name on the list. Juan Peron and his Peronist movement described, like fascists elsewhere, as neither left or right, and the Peronist movement got support from both sides of the aisle. Peron ruled Argentina for nine years before being overthrown in a coup d'etat, and was again installed in power from 1974 to his death in 1975. Peron and his party ruled Argentina with an iron fist, isolated its economy from the world at-large, and nationalized large swathes of the domestic economy in the name of equality. Peron and the movement he started is fascist in action, if not in name, though it should be noted that Peron was an admirer of Mussolini, and Argentina, under Perons watch, aligned itself more closely with the Axis Powers than the Allies during World War II.

9. Mexico and the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). From 1929-2000, Mexico was governed uninterrupted by a single party whose platform was autarky. PRI, when it came to power, nationalized most of Mexicos large, globally competitive industries, seized property owned by non-Mexicans, and began a national project to bring Mexicos standard of living to the echelons of its northern neighbors. It didnt work, of course. For over three-quarters of a century Mexicans suffered under single-party rule -- there was corruption, economic growth rates were dependent upon global oil markets, and there was plenty of electoral fraud. Mario Vargas Llosa, a Nobel laureate from Peru, called PRI the perfect dictatorship because of its uninterrupted rule in spite of such bad outcomes. NAFTA brought about an end to PRI, as competing parties were allowed to run for political office, and voters in Mexico finally, democratically, put an end to Mexicos nefarious corporatist regime.

8. France and the Parti Populaire Francais (PPF). The PPF was, like almost every other fascist organization in the world, made up almost entirely, at the top, of former communists and socialists. PPFs leadership decided that the communists and socialists of France (and elsewhere) had fallen under the sway of too many Jews and, because of this influence, were not interested in the French working class. When the Germans swiftly conquered France during the early stages of World War II, PPF became a proud collaborator with the occupying regime as part of Vichy France.

7. Romania and the Iron Guard. Sandwiched between the communist Soviet Union and the fascist Axis powers of central Europe, Romanian society struggled to find its footing after a comparatively wonderful campaign during World War I, but Bucharest eventually chose to side with Berlin and Rome instead of Moscow. Romanian fascism was known for including the Orthodox Church into its anti-communist, anti-Semitic, and anti-capitalist rhetoric. Romanias fascists almost made the Nazis look like boy scouts, especially when the Iron Guard organized and implemented one of Europes bloodiest pogroms, ever: the IaE?i pogrom. Just over 13,000 Jews, along with their liberal and Orthodox defenders in the city of IaE?i, were butchered on the streets where they once plied their trades. Romania, a member of the Axis for most of the war, was second only to Germany in the number of Jews it killed during World War II.

6. Greece and Metaxism. Another Balkan variant of fascism, Metaxism was much softer than the Romanian Iron Guard, especially in regards to Jews, but also aligned closely with the Orthodox Church in order to purge Greece of its Turkish and Albanian (Muslim) merchants. Metaxism was more interested in corporatism, economic development, and one-party rule (for stabilitys sake, of course) than it was in mass murdering Jews, so in this respect Greek fascism had much more in common with Latin American variants than European ones. Greece found itself allied with the West during World War II after Mussolinis Italy invaded Greece and forced it to surrender.

5. Serbia and the Government of National Salvation. Serbia was officially part of Yugoslavia when Germany invaded and occupied the latter country in April 1941. As a deft conquer-and-divide strategy, Berlin simply split Yugoslavia up into its former ethnic regions, and installed indigenous fascists in government posts. The Serbian collaborationist government oversaw 90 percent of Serbias Jewish population eliminated, and the Government of National Salvation played host to a number of German-run concentration camps. When the war ended, Serbia again became a part of Yugoslavia, but to your correspondents knowledge, nobody was ever held responsible for collaborating with foreign fascists (though Tito made sure to clamp down hard on domestic fascist movements). Perhaps I should add collaboration with foreign occupiers to the list of fascist tendencies in governance.

4. Algeria and the National Liberation Front (FLN). Leftists may give me a lot of flack for including an anti-colonial party on this list, but the FLN bore all the features of fascist governance that the others have. In addition to nationalizing the Algerian economy and heavily restricting property rights and corporate decision making, the FLN ruled as a single party from 1962-89. The FLN was responsible for many massacres of innocent civilians and had a vicious anti-Semitic streak of its own. In 1830, 20 percent of Algiers was estimated to be Jewish. Today, as you read this, according to the Jewish Virtual Library, only a few dozen Jews remain in the country, though it should be pointed out that Frances fascist parties played an important role in purging Algeria of its Jewish population.

3. Hungary and the Arrow Cross Party. One of the more interesting brands of fascism during the interwar period was Hungarian fascism. Hungarian fascism was a blend of Mussolinis fascist thought with Hungarian Turanism, which is a set of beliefs that places Hungarys past in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Ural Mountains: the mythical homes of the invading, unbeatable Huns. This is in obvious conflict with German fascist conceptions of the past, and the two countries never got along well during World War II. And unlike Hitler, the fascist Prime Minister of Hungary, Ferenc Szalasi, was never able to take full control of Hungarys government. In fact, the conservative regime that was forced to make Szalasi Prime Minister due to elections, led by Miklos Horthy, played an important role in saving hundreds of thousands of Jewish lives during the Holocaust. When the Germans removed Horthy themselves and played kingmaker for Szalasi, the Jews of Hungary started to die in droves.

2. Syria and the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP). In the earliest phase of the ongoing Syrian civil war, the SSNP fought on behalf of the Bashir government and against the various enemies of the Baathist regime. The SSNP and the Baathist are close ideological cousins, though the SSNP was one of the first fascist organizations to appear in the Levant. Founded in 1932, the SSNP was an anti-colonial fascist movement that called for attacks on capitalists, communists, and feudal landlords alike. The SSNP conceived of a Greater Syria that encompassed what is now Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Iraq, Kuwait, Jordan, Palestine, the Sinai, parts of Turkey, and Cyprus. Over the years, the party has waxed and waned as the regions geopolitics evolved, and it almost from everywhere in the region (save Lebanon) until the Syrian civil war erupted. It recently won seats in Syrias parliament for the first time since the 1950s. Oh, and it was founded by a Greek Orthodox Christian.

1. Portugals Estado Novo. From 1933-68, Portugal was governed by a mild-mannered economist named Antonio de Oliveira Salazar. Salazar suffered a stroke in 1968 and power was given to another fascist dictator, but he only lasted six years before a democratic revolution swept out the longest-lived fascist regime in modern world history. Portugals fascism has much in common with the Latin American variants listed above, with the exception of its dogged refusal to grant its overseas colonies independence when other colonial powers have already done so. In Salazars view, Portugals overseas colonies were not colonies per se, but rather integral extensions of Portugal itself. The bloody counter-insurgency wars Portugal fought in these colonies suggests Lisbons subjects didnt quite see eye-to-eye with the worlds longest-governing fascist.

Further thoughts: Populism versus fascism

Its worth noting that Donald Trump, nor Barack Obama, nor George W. Bush share any of the same traits as fascists. The most sensitive to popular appeal among them, Donald Trump, is as far removed from, say, Peronism or Metaxism as the two are from liberal democracy.

Todays punditocracy could use a little more history and a little less spotlight.Athens, GA (30605)

Today

Rain with a few thunderstorms during the morning, then cloudy with rain, heavy at times this afternoon. High 74F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected. Localized flooding is possible..

Tonight

Rain. Low 67F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall around a half an inch. Locally heavy rainfall possible.Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is busy transforming Washington, D.C.'s former Textile Museum into a sprawling 27,000-square-foot mansion that is giving one of the largest homes around Houston some serious competition.

Bezos has sunk $12 million into renovating the property, which rests in the U.S. Capitol's Kalorama neighborhood where the Obamas and Kushner-Trumps also have homes.

Bezos paid $23 million in cash for the building in 2016, the Washingtonian reported. The home boasts "191 doors (many either custom mahogany or bronze), 25 bathrooms, 11 bedrooms, five living rooms/lounges, five staircases, three kitchens, two libraries/studies, two workout rooms, two elevators  and a huge ballroom."

YOU DON'T HAVE ENOUGH MONEY: Take a look inside running back Adrian Peterson's Woodlands mansion

The Washingtonian filed a public-records request with the city's zoning to get blueprints of Bezos' home, prompting hilarious responses on Twitter like, "Not sure if Bezos is building a home or Amazon's second HQ in D.C.," from professor Ian Bremmer.

The chatter around Bezos' home also got us wondering how it compared to The Woodlands' 88 Grand Regency Circle which, for nearly a third of the cost, offers more than 30,000 square feet. The opulent French Renaissance estate has one bedroom alone that measures 3,000 square feet.

The Woodlands mansion has two one-bedroom apartments, a pool house, two grand marble spiral staircases, three elevators, and a third-floor gentleman's room and bar. There's also a '50s-inspired soda shop with a checkered dance floor and jukebox. The mansion recently sold for somewhere between $6.7 million and $7.8 million.

Fernando Alfonso III is a digital reporter at Chron.com. Follow him on Twitter at @fernalfonso.Add a 56-year-old London architect to the long list of experts who know what's best for Millennials.

Patrik Schumacher of prestigious Zaha Hadid Architects, which designed the London Aquatics Centre for the 2012 Olympics, has determined that 18- to 34-year-olds do not need living rooms in their apartments.

According to the Daily Telegraph, Schumacher said a hotel-sized room is enough for young professionals "out and about networking 24/7."

Schumacher wants to see "outdated" London regulations requiring 409 square feet of floorspace in new units revised downward. He argues they clash with the priorities of Millennials, many of whom, he says, would welcome smaller apartments.

Hotel-sized studios in central London would cost less to rent or buy, reduce commuting costs and enable more Millennials to enter the housing market. The Daily Telegraph quoted Schumacher as saying London Millennials now pay up to 80 percent of their income on housing in the central portion of the city.

California's space requirements are significantly less restrictive than London's. Even a 160-square-foot unit in San Francisco qualifies as legal. Turning a living room into a bedroom in order to house an extra roommate is nothing out of the ordinary.

But on social media, Schumacher's recommendations were mostly met with scorn by Millennial Brits.

Twitter user @CatoHeresy wrote, "How depressing. Just put us all into a pod at work with an IV drip overnight, that way we wont waste any more time or space for our elitist classes. I bet this architect would not dream of putting his son/daughter into a shoebox flat. ..."

Raiko Aasa tweeted, "Essentially a kennel."

Hannah Shaw-Williams saw a trend developing:

2018: "Millennials don't need living rooms."

2019: "Millennials don't need kitchens."

2020: "Millennials don't need bathrooms."

2021: "Come on, Millennials, do you really need a whole room just for your bed?"

2023: "Generations Z don't need coffin linings."

But Schumacher has his defenders as well.

Sophie Jarvis, a policy adviser at the Adam Smith Institute, said that relaxing sizing rules would ease the housing shortage forcing young people farther and farther out of the capital, according to The Week.

Schumacher, something of a lightning rod in urban planning circles, sees high property prices as a threat to cities' ability to attract the best and brightest.

"People are moving out of LA, out of the Bay Area. They have to create other tech clusters because of land prices," he told the Guardian. "Now that's a tough choice for a young startup  to swallow these huge prices or to pull away. But pulling away means being less connected, being less productive potentially.

"My staff here in the firm  young professionals  they know they have to be close. They can't afford to live miles away. They need to be in the pub afterwards debating issues. They need to slip over to the exhibition opening or that university lecture close by. ... They have to be in the center."A suicide bomber in a minivan has attacked an army base in Afghanistan's southern Helmand Province, killing four civilians and two soldiers, officials say.

Three civilians and two soldiers were also wounded in the April 28 attack in Nad Ali district, said Omar Zwak, spokesman for the provincial governor in Helmand.

Major Abdul Qadeer Bahadorzai, a spokesman for the local army commander, confirmed the attack.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. Taliban insurgents announced the start of their annual spring offensive on April 25.

In neighboring Pakistan, gunmen shot dead four people in the northwestern tribal region along the Afghan border, a local official said.

Ikhlaq Bangash, deputy administrator in South Waziristan, said three tourists from Dera Ismail Khan and their driver were killed in the attack on their camp in the Momi Karam area on April 27 in the evening.

Bangash said the attackers burned down the camp after shooting the tourists.

No group has claimed responsibility for the killings.

Islamic militants had sanctuaries in the tribal region until a 2009 Pakistani Army offensive, after which most militants escaped to Afghanistan but some sporadically strike back.

Based on reporting by AP, dpa, Tolo News, and DawnChip Somodevilla/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- With Adm. Ronny Jacksons decision to remove his name from consideration as the next secretary of Veterans Affairs, the Trump administration has had to return to the drawing board to find a replacement, and interest groups and lawmakers are making suggestions.



At a news conference Friday, Trump said he had a range of candidates to choose from.



"I have many people who want the position, if you can believe it, with all this being said," he asserted, alluding to allegations against Jackson about unethical behavior on the job. Trump also called Jackson an "American hero."



While he suggested on Friday that he had not yet narrowed down the list to one candidate, the president said Thursday that he already has someone in mind who has political capability  different from the career military physician Jackson.



But some veterans groups, like Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, have already said that the top requirements on their wish lists are simple.



Our veterans are simply looking for a competent, proven and dynamic leader with integrity that can lead our nation forward out of this storm of darkness and into a brighter future, IAVA CEO and founder Paul Rieckhoff said in a statement.



Competence was also a quality emphasized by American Legion national commander Denise Rohan.



We believe [the VA] is entirely manageable and effective when staffed with motivated, experienced and competent people. Our veterans deserve a properly led, efficient and transparent VA that delivers on the American peoples promises, she said.



So who fits the bill?



At least one member of the Senate Veterans Affairs committee, who will be responsible for holding the confirmation hearing for the next nominee, suggested the acting secretary, Robert Wilkie, should take over. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said Wilkie knows the situation and could complete the confirmation process in relatively short order given his current position.



Trump himself praised Wilkie at an event Thursday with the Wounded Warrior Project, saying Wilkie is "doing a great job at the VA."



Cassidy, himself a physician, also suggested Delos Toby Cosgrove, who until recently was the president and CEO of the Cleveland Clinic.



House Speaker Paul Ryan commented on two members of his conference who he said would both make fine VA secretaries, Rep. Phil Roe, R-Tenn., chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, and former congressman Jeff Miller, R-Fla.



He added that he had no idea who President Trump would ultimately pick, though both men would fit Trumps description of someone having a political background.



The White House might also circle back to some of the candidates it was considering before Trump nominated Jackson, like Pete Hegseth, a former military officer and former CEO of the conservative Concerned Veterans of America.



If picked, Hegseth, a Fox News contributor, would fit with the presidents recent trend of pulling favorite TV pundits into the White House. In the past few months, Trump has replaced key advisers with contributors who have spent years outside of government, Larry Kudlow as the chairman of the National Economic Council and John Bolton as his new national security adviser  both of whom have spent years as cable pundits for CNBC and FOX respectively.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.GOP-led House panel clears Trump campaign in Russia probe

Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, left, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, and Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee speak after closed meeting in Washington.

AP, Washington :

The Republican-led House intelligence committee on Friday released a lengthy report concluding it found no evidence that Donald Trump's campaign colluded with Russia in the 2016 presidential campaign, drawing praise from the president and rebuttals from Democrats.

The report caps an investigation that began with the promise of bipartisanship but quickly transformed into an acrimonious battle between Democrats and Republicans over Russia's meddling in the 2016 election and whether there were any connections with the Trump campaign.

Trump quickly claimed vindication Friday, calling the report "totally conclusive, strong, powerful, many things." "No collusion, which I knew anyway. No coordination, no nothing. It's a witch hunt, that's all it is," he told reporters in the Oval Office.

But the committee's Republicans didn't let the Trump campaign completely off the hook. They specifically cited the Trump campaign for "poor judgment" in taking a June 2016 meeting in Trump Tower that was described in emails to Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., as part of a Russian government effort to aide his father's presidential bid. The report also dubbed the campaign's praise of WikiLeaks "objectionable."

"While the committee found no evidence that the Trump campaign colluded, coordinated, or conspired with the Russian government, the investigation did find poor judgment and ill-considered actions by the Trump and Clinton campaigns," the House intelligence committee wrote.

The House investigation is the first of several inquiries probing Russian election interference to conclude. A separate investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller continues, as do probes led by the Senate intelligence and judiciary committees. In a Friday night tweet, Trump repeated his "witch hunt" claim and wrote, "There should never have been a Special Counsel appointed."

The House report's conclusion on collusion is fiercely opposed by committee Democrats, who accused their Republican colleagues of playing "defense counsel" for the White House throughout the investigation.

"Committee Republicans chose not to seriously investigate - or even see, when in plain sight - evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia," Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the committee, said in a statement. Schiff cited several "secret meetings and communication" between people linked to Russia and Trump campaign officials, including Trump Jr. and former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.

Schiff called on the committee to publicly release the transcripts from dozens of interviews with key witnesses, saying the public should be able to judge the evidence gathered by the committee. Democrats also released a 98-page rebuttal .European Council President Donald Tusk has praised Macedonia's efforts to reconcile with its neighbors as it accelerates its bid to join the European Union, saying such efforts are needed across the Western Balkans and are "important" for Europe.

Speaking at a regional summit in Skopje on April 27, Tusk singled out the festering dispute between Serbia and Kosovo over Pristina's declaration of independence 10 years ago, which Belgrade has never recognized.

Tusk compared that disagreement with a dispute over the name Macedonia between Macedonia and EU member Greece, which he said showed signs of progress toward settlement.

He said Macedonian leaders had shown "real political will" to resolve their dispute, while other regional leaders have as yet to make the "extra efforts" needed to overcome their disagreements.

"Reconciliation in this part of Europe is important for the whole continent, for our stability, peace, and prosperity," Tusk said.

"It is possible that the history of the Balkans, a kind of a never-ending horror movie, can turn into an Oscar-winning production with a happy end," he said.

This week, Tusk visited Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia, and Macedonia -- all former communist states and EU hopefuls.

Heads of state from all five countries, along with EU members Croatia, Slovenia, and Bulgaria, attended the summit meetings in Skopje.

Slovenian President Borut Pahor urged Balkan leaders to work harder to build good relations with their neighbors, noting that it was a precondition for EU membership.

"Brussels cannot do everything. Part of the job has to be done by Western Balkan leaders," Pahor said.

The EU has set the goal of admitting Serbia and Montenegro into the bloc as soon as 2025. The European Commission also recently recommended that Albania and Macedonia start accession talks.

Based on reporting by AP and ReutersIranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has said that demands by U.S. President Donald Trump to alter Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers are unacceptable.

Zarif made the remark on April 28 in Moscow, where he is attending talks on the conflict in Syria.

Trump has threatened to pull the United States out of the Iran nuclear deal unless European allies fix its "terrible flaws" by May 12.

The deal provides Tehran with relief from sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear program, but Trump has said the terms are not strict enough.

Germany, France, Russia, China, and Britain have also signed the accord and have urged Washington to remain a part of the deal, saying it is the best way to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

On April 27, Trump vowed that Iran would not acquire nuclear weapons, but declined to speak about what measures, if any, he would take to deter Iran should the deal collapse.

"I don't talk about whether or not I would use military force," Trump said at a joint news conference with visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

"But I can tell you this -- they will not be doing nuclear weapons. That I can tell you. OK? They are not going to be doing nuclear weapons. You can bank on it. "

Merkel said the accord was "anything but perfect," but she described it as "one building block" and a "first step" that has contributed to slowing down Tehran's nuclear activities.

Based on reporting by Interfax and ReutersMolotov cocktails were hurled at armored vehicles and NATO troops wore riot gear as part of an training exercise near Kosovo's capital, Pristina.

NATO soldiers in yellow shirts played the part of protesters in the April 27 mock riot.

The exercise wrapped up two days of training for a new rotation of troops who have been deployed to the NATO-led peacekeeping mission in Kosovo.

The Kosovo Force (KFOR) was established after the 1998-99 Kosovo War to bring stability to the region.

NATO officials said they are not expecting any major unrest during the next nine-month rotation.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008 and tensions remain between the country's ethnic Albanian majority and members of the ethnic Serbian minority.

A lawmaker from the ruling United Russia party is looking to turn back the clock at least a few decades.

State Duma Deputy Sergei Vostretsov has submitted a bill under which students graduating from state-funded institutions of higher education would be obligated upon graduation to accept a work assignment in a state organization or to repay the government for the cost of their education.

Under the bill, which is not expected to be considered by the Duma earlier than the autumn session, graduates would have to work for state structures for the same number of years that they spent getting their state-funded higher education. If they don't, they would be required to repay the government for the cost of their schooling.

Students who spoke to RFE/RL on the campus of Moscow State University expressed concern that the plan would restrict their freedom of choice, although some were attracted by the idea of guaranteed work.

"Everyone would have a job," one student said, "but on the other hand, it will be obligatory and that is a violation of one's personal freedom."

A student from Belarus, noting that her country already has such a practice in place and it's quite unpopular, said simply that "the idea is horrible."

None of the students thought they would be in a position to repay the state for the cost of their education.

'Bound To Fail'

Vostretsov's idea echoes a Soviet-era practice in which students moved relatively seamlessly from state-funded education into a planned economy where virtually everyone worked for the state.

In his explanatory note accompanying the bill, Vostretsov says he was motivated by his concern that inexperienced graduates have a hard time finding work. In addition, he cited the experience of the Defense Ministry, the Interior Ministry, and the Federal Security Service (FSB), which all run their own academies to train future officers.

The bill strikes many as a strange throwback to a discarded system.

"What difference does it make how a person contributes to the national budget?" asked Ivan Romanchuk, rector of Tyumen State University. "If he sets up his own business and hires people and pays taxes, why should he have to work in the state sector? He is already making his contribution to the development of our state."

Vladimir Gimpelson, head of the Center for Labor Studies at Moscow's Higher School of Economics, notes that in the Soviet era, the entire educational system was designed to meet the needs of the military-industrial complex. To the extent that Russia wants to expand its private sector, he argues, such a system as Vostretsov has proposed is bound to fail.

"The plan supposes that the employers and the employees are going to meet one another's needs, but life isn't like that," he tells RFE/RL. "Imagine a similar system for choosing couples to get married -- how many families would be happy? Employment is a sort of marriage. It has to be for love. Otherwise, employers and employees will quickly fall out and the economy will suffer as a result."

"What economic advantage will result if clinics and schools are assigned workers who don't want to work there?" Gimpelson asks. "If a person doesn't want to be a doctor, I wouldn't want to be their patient. I also wouldn't want to hand off my children to a teacher who is only working in a school because he was forced to."

Gimpelson notes as well that the money that pays for education belongs to the taxpayers, not to the state.

Even members of Vostretsov's own party have distanced themselves from his nostalgic initiative.

"This bill was not discussed by the [United Russia] faction and was introduced without the OK of the council on legislation," the United Russia faction's deputy leader, Andrei Isayev, was quoted as saying in an announcement on the party's website.

Written by Robert Coalson on the basis of reporting by RFE/RL's Russian Service correspondent Alina PinchukA floating nuclear power built in Russia and widely criticized by environmentalists has embarked on its first sea voyage.

The floating plant, the Akademik Lomonosov, on April 28 was towed out of the St. Petersburg shipyard where it was constructed, according to Interfax.

It is to be pulled across the Baltic Sea and around the northern tip of Norway to Murmansk in northeast Russia, where the nuclear reactors are to be fueled, Russian nuclear officials told TASS.

If all goes according to plan, the Akademik Lomonosov is to be put into service in 2019 in the Arctic off the coast of Chukotka in the Far East, providing power for a port town and for oil rigs.

The project has been criticized as risky by environmentalists. Greenpeace has dubbed it a "floating Chernobyl."

Analysts say the project is part of Russia's greater aims to secure the rich deposits of oil and gas in the North Pole region.

Due to climate change, new shipping routes are opening up in Russias north. As a result, Moscow is strengthening its military position in the region.

Based on reporting by AP and dpaRussian tycoon Oleg Deripaska's aluminum empire has taken up a U.S. offer for relief from sanctions and announced his resignation from the board and a reduction of his stock holdings to less than 50 percent.

The changes were announced on April 27 by Deripaska's En+ holding company, which owns 48 percent of Rusal, the largest aluminium producer in Russia and the second-largest worldwide.

The U.S. government imposed sanctions on Deripaska, En+, and Rusal along with dozens of other Russian business and political elites earlier this month, prompting a collapse in Russia's stock market and plunge in the ruble.

Rusal's stock fell by half after the sanctions were imposed, with investors fearing the company would be unable to stay in business. The sanctions bar Rusal from doing business in the United States or with U.S. nationals starting on October 23.

But the company's stock soared this week after the U.S. Treasury announced on April 23 that it would consider lifting the sanctions against Rusal if Deripaska gave up control of the company.

The Treasury said the sanctions were aimed at Deripaska and other people who have benefited from their close ties to the Kremlin and were not intended to hurt "the hardworking people who depend on Rusal."

"The path for the United States to provide sanctions relief is through divestment and relinquishment of control of Rusal by Oleg Deripaska," the Treasury said.

It was not immediately clear whether Deripaska's agreement to step down from En+'s board of directors and reduce his stock holdings to below 50 percent would satisfy the Treasury's demands for removing Rusal from the sanctions list.

A U.S. Treasury spokesperson said after the announcement that "a reduction in the percentage of ownership by a sanctioned individual is not necessarily in and of itself a basis for de-listing."

Treasury "conducts a thorough review of the facts and circumstances of each removal request in every individual case," the spokesperson said.

Reuters, citing sources "familiar with the matter," reported that Rusal was planning to go beyond the measures announced on April 27 and will soon appoint a fully independent board and new management team in hopes that the United States will remove it from the sanctions list.

"Rusal is in touch with U.S. authorities and hopes the measures will be enough for them to be removed from the sanctions list," one source told Reuters.

En+ also said that it had asked the United States to extend a May 7 deadline it has given banks to divest or transfer debt, equity, or other holdings in the company.

Without the extension, En+'s ability to maintain its listing on the London Stock Exchange will be affected, it said.

By adding Deripaska's businesses to its Specially Designated Nationals blacklist -- the first time Washington had done so with a publicly listed Russian firm -- the United States effectively choked off their access to the international financial system.

Rusal, the largest part of Deripaska's empire and the world's biggest aluminum producer outside China, has seen customers stop buying its aluminum and while the company's creditors have scrambled to offload its extensive debts.

Reuters reported that if Rusal does not succeed in its bid for sanctions relief, the company will be forced to sell all of its aluminum in Russia's domestic market, including selling up to 2 million tons to a state stockpile for building Russian weapons and military hardware.

Currently, Europe is Rusal's largest market, with 42 percent of the company's products sold there in 2017.

Reuters said Rusal had already stopped shipping aluminum outside of Russia and was awaiting word from the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) before it would resume exports.

"Rusal is now in a very close dialogue with OFAC. It is very important for the company to comply with all their instructions to get out of the sanctions," an unidentified source told Reuters.

With reporting by AFP and ReutersTurkey has largely dismissed a warning from the new U.S. secretary of state against buying Russia's S-400 missile defense system, saying the deal is largely done and will not be reversed.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on the sidelines of a NATO meeting in Brussels on April 27 told his Turkish counterpart that the United States was "seriously concerned" over Ankara's decision to buy Russian weapons that are not compatible with NATO's defense systems, U.S. officials said.

U.S. officials said Pompeo warned Turkey that countries that purchase military hardware from Russia risk running afoul of new sanctions the United States imposed last year on Russia's military and defense industries.

But Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu shortly afterward told Turkish broadcasters that the $2.5 billion purchase of S-400s was signed in December and was "a done deal."

He said Russia, in fact, was "speeding up the process" of delivering the missile systems at Turkey's request.

"We have completed the S-400 process. That is a done deal," he said, telling broadcasters that Turkey would not be deterred by the threat of sanctions.

"The 'I will impose sanctions if you buy' approach will not affect Turkey," he said. "Turkey will not accept this."

Cavusoglu said Turkey was open to purchasing other weapons from NATO members, however.

"We need more air defense. We can discuss what we can do for further purchases," he said. "If we are going to discuss what we can do together in the future, we are in."

Turkey's plans to purchase weapons from Russia has unnerved some NATO members, which have been building up forces on NATO's eastern flank because of what they perceive as a growing threat from Russia.

Turkey's stance risks triggering a backlash in the U.S. Congress, where many legislators are concerned about not only Erdogan's increasingly friendly stance toward Russia but his jailing of political opponents, journalists, and academics.

On April 26, three U.S. senators introduced a measure to block the sale of F-35 fighters to Turkey over what they said was Erdogan's "path of reckless governance and disregard for the rule of law."

Turkey plans to buy more than 100 of the F-35s. The bill would not only block the sales but would restrict Ankara's access to intellectual property and technical data needed to maintain and support the fighters.

Washington and Turkey are longstanding allies but tensions have risen recently over a number of matters, including U.S. support for Kurdish forces in Syria and Turkey's forays into Syria to attack those U.S.-allied forces.

Turkish leaders have said they are buying the Russian weapons system in part to counter "threats from Kurdish and Islamist militants at home and conflicts across its borders in Syria and Iraq."

With reporting by AFP and ReutersThe top U.S. commander in Afghanistan said there was "small-scale support being rendered to the Taliban," but it is "difficult to establish with the great certainty" that Russia is behind it. In an interview on April 27 in Brussels with Mustafa Sarwar of RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan, General John Nicholson said that the United States had "a shared interest with Russia in Afghanistan" in defeating Islamic State militants, in counternarcotics, and in peace and stability in Afghanistan.Australian living in Cancun deported

Cancun, Q.R.  An Australian man who was reportedly living in the city of Cancun has been deported by immigration authorities.

The National Institute of Migration (INM), in coordination with elements of the Gendarmerie of the Federal Police, has reported the deportation of an Austrian citizen from Mexico who was wanted on previous charges of fraud in Australia.

The Australian man, identified as Juergen N, was wanted by Australian authorities for fraud and document forgery. He was found living in Cancun where he was also engaged in the same crimes of fraud and document forgery of private properties.

In a statement, INM indicated that the Australian man was living in Cancun with an irregular immigration status. In his home, officials discovered multiple weapons of various caliber for exclusive use by the Army.

Officials say he had posted numerous photos of the weapons on his social media account.

The National Institute of Migration and the Federal Police, through the exchange of information with the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States (FBI) and the Austrian Police, obtained the legal requirements necessary to arrest Juergen.

Juergen N, who was also Red flagged with Interpol, was deported back to Australia where authorities will continue with the legal processes.Former Cancun police shot, killed watching television

Cancun, Q.R.  An ex-Cancun police officer was shot and killed in his home Friday as he sat watching television.

According to preliminary reports, the former municipal policeman was shot at least three times while sitting in a chair in his home watching television. Unverified reports say the victim was former municipal police Jose N, who was discharged from the corporation four years ago.

Investigators indicated that the shooting could be a drug-related matter since the former police officer was allegedly involved in the buying and selling of narcotics.

Witnesses reported seeing a parked vehicle from which a lone subject emerged where he entered the home and shot the former officer before fleeing the scene.

Arrests have yet to be made.Profits at Japan's ANA soar as JAL sinks further

AFP, Tokyo :

Japanese airline ANA on Friday posted record profits, while the bottom line worsened for rival JAL, and both carriers said they expected higher costs to eat into this year's earnings.

ANA Holdings reported its largest-ever net profit of 143.9 billion yen ($1.3 billion) for the year that ended in March, up 45.6 percent from the previous year.

It was the third consecutive year that ANA has posted record profits.

Strong earnings were "underpinned by robust demand, strong performance in international passenger services and international cargo services, and the addition of revenue from (budget carrier) Peach Aviation Ltd," ANA Holdings said in a statement.

Operating profit rose 13.0 percent to 164.5 billion yen as revenue grew 11.7 percent to 1.97 trillion yen.

For the current year to March 2019, however, ANA expects its net profit to slip 29 percent to 102 billion yen, and it forecast operating profit would stay almost flat at 165 billion yen, missing the lowest analyst estimate of 167 billion yen in a Bloomberg survey.

Revenue was projected to edge up three percent to two trillion yen.

But an ANA spokeswoman put a bullish spin on the forecast, dismissing views that the company's earnings are in descent.Road Accident

Chatra (Jharkhand): Four members of a marriage party were killed and 16 others injured when the pick up van they were travelling in hit a road-side tree in Chatra district, police said today.

Accident

Advertisement

The incident occurred last night when the driver of the vehicle who was in an inebriated state lost control over the vehicle on the Itkhori-Chatra national highway near Gandharia village and hit the tree about 12 km from here, the police said. Four persons were killed on the spot while the 11 others suffered serious injuries, the police said.

A police team led by the officer-in-charge of Chatra police station, Inspector Ram Awadh Singh rushed to the spot and shifted all the injured to the district hospital. The doctors of the hospital, referred all the seriously injured to Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences in Ranchi, where they are undergoing treatment, Singh said.

Raghubar Das

Advertisement

Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das has expressed grief over the incident and expressed condolence to the bereaved families. In a statement, he directed the officials to ensure proper treatment to the injured persons.Arrest

Srinagar: Police today arrested a man in Uri sector near the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir and seized 800 grams of brown sugar from him.

Arrest

Advertisement

Ahmad Teehkray was arrested from Jabla with the brown sugar which had been smuggled from Pakistan via the LoC, police said. "A case under section 8/20 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act has been registered against Teehkray and an investigation launched," a police spokesman said.

"In the last few months, police has apprehended number of such drug smugglers from the area and some of them have also been booked under the Public Safety Act," he said.

Case Registered

Advertisement

The spokesman said the police was determined to wipe out all gangs and modules smuggling drugs from Pakistan with active support of some elements from across the LoC.Capt. Amarinder Singh directs school education minister

Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh today directed newly appointed School Education Minister O P Soni to examine various pending demands of school teachers for their early resolution, an official release said.

Assuring a delegation of teachers of his government's commitment to redress their demands, the chief minister asked Soni to have detailed discussions with representatives of various teachers' associations on issues concerning them, including the transfer policy, rationalization policy, release of salaries on time besides regularization of services of employees in various societies, the release said.

Advertisement

Meeting

He also asked School Education Secretary Krishan Kumar to take up with the Centre the issue of exemption of school teachers from non-education duties, and delegate such duties to non-teaching staff so that the former could concentrate on education. The directives were issued by the chief minister while presiding over a meeting of 'Sanjha Adhyapak Morcha Punjab', the official statement said.

Singh assured of his personal intervention with regard to the various pending issues concerning the teachers belonging to various categories. He promised to hold another meeting with the morcha representatives in June, after their preliminary meeting with the school education minister.

Advertisement

Amarinder Singh

The chief minister, however, expressed concern over the poor pass percentage in Class 10 state board results and urged the teachers to work hard with dedication and commitment to raise the bar. The government on its part was committed to improving the standards of education in the state by ensuring full strength of teachers, besides upgrading the infrastructure in the schools, he added.Israel asked to avoid lethal force

Palestinians converged on the Gaza border with Israel for the fifth round of weekly protests today, some throwing stones and burning tires, as a top UN official urged Israel to refrain from using excessive force against them. Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, the UN high commissioner for human rights, said Israeli troops have not heeded warnings by the United Nations and others, repeatedly using lethal force against unarmed protesters over the past month. Since the Gaza marches began, 35 Palestinians have been killed and more than 1,500 wounded by Israeli soldiers firing from across the border fence, according to Gaza health officials. Among those killed were four minors, including a 14-year-old boy. "The loss of life is deplorable, and the staggering number of injuries caused by live ammunition only confirms the sense that excessive force has been used against demonstrators - not once, not twice, but repeatedly," the commissioner said. The marches, aimed in part at trying to break a decade-old border blockade, have been organized by Gaza's militant Hamas rulers but have also been driven by widespread despair in the coastal territory of 2 million people. Since late March, thousands have demonstrated every Friday in five protest tent camps, each set up several hundred meters (yards) from the border fence. Smaller groups have moved toward the fence, throwing stones, burning tires or hurling firebombs.

Gaza Protest

Advertisement

Israeli soldiers, including snipers taking cover behind sand berms, have fired tear gas, rubber-coated steel pellets and live rounds. This afternoon, hundreds of protesters gathered at a tent camp east of Gaza City. Some burned tires and threw stones near the fence. Israeli troops fired intensive volleys of tear gas, some canisters landing 300 meters inside Gaza. A few gunshots were heard. A similar scene played out in another camp in southeastern Gaza. Gaza's Health Ministry said 25 people were hurt but did not give a breakdown by types of injury. Israel's military has said troops are under orders to target "instigators," but has also warned that anyone approaching or trying to damage the fence risks his life. Israel has accused Hamas of using the protests as cover for attacks on the border, including planting explosives near the fence. Israel says it has the right to defend its border, including nearby communities. Rights groups have said such open-fire rules are unlawful because they allow soldiers to use potentially lethal force in situations where their lives are not in danger.

Palestinians killed by Israel Soldiers

The UN human rights commissioner said today that "it is difficult to see" how throwing stones, burning tires or even hurling firebombs from a distance at heavily protected security forces in defensive positions could be seen as life-threatening. Israel and Egypt imposed the Gaza blockade in 2007, in response to a violent takeover of the territory by Hamas, which had won Palestinian parliament elections a year earlier. The blockade has gutted Gaza's economy, driving up unemployment and leaving two-thirds of young people without jobs. Gaza organizers say that in addition to compelling an end to the blockade, the marches are meant to press for the "right of return" of refugees and their descendants to what is now Israel. Two-thirds of Gaza residents are descendants of refugees. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were driven from their homes in the 1948 war over Israel's creation, and march organizers see May 15, the anniversary of Israel's founding, as a key target day. They have made conflicting statements about whether they plan a mass border breach at some point.Wuhan Summit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping today held multiple meetings here as part of an unprecedented two-day informal summit to "solidify" the India-China relationship and exchanged views on how the two countries can work together for the benefit of their people and the world. The summit in Wuhan - the favorite holiday spot of revolutionary Chinese leader Mao Zedong - is being seen as an effort by India and China to rebuild trust and improve ties that were hit by the 73-day-long Dokalam standoff last year. Prime Minister Modi who arrived in the central Chinese city early today for the summit began talks soon after President Xi hosted a grand welcoming ceremony for him at the Hubei Provincial Museum here. "The two leaders had a one-on-one meeting during which they exchanged views on solidifying our bilateral relationship," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said. Modi and Xi shook hands, posed for photographs and witnessed a cultural programme at the museum before heading for one-on-one talks. Later, they held delegation-level talks accompanied by six top officials from each side. Xi also hosted a banquet for Modi at the state guest house by the famous East Lake. During the talks, Modi offered to host the next informal summit with Xi in India next year. "I'll be happy if, in 2019, we can have such informal summit in India," Modi told Xi.

PM Modi and China's President Xi Jinping

Advertisement

The Chinese president said he believes in future and they can meet in a format like this from time to time. "I believe in the future, we will meet in a format like this, from time to time. I look forward to in-depth communication with your Excellency, and ensure we can build common understanding and help to take the China-India relationship to the next level," Xi said. Modi hailed the centuries-old Sino-India ties and said the two sides have a "big opportunity" to work together for the benefit of their people and the world. He recalled that during the 2000 years of history, India and China together provided momentum and strength to the world economy and dominated it for around 1600 years. "The two countries together constituted for about 50 percent of the world economy and another 50 percent was shared by rest of the world for 1600 years," the prime minister said. Modi also said the people of India felt proud that President Xi has twice received him out of the capital. "I'm perhaps the first Prime Minister of India, for whom, you have come out of the capital (Beijing) twice to receive me," Modi said, referring to his visit to Xi'an - the hometown of President Xi - in 2015. Xi told Modi that their meeting opens a new chapter for bilateral ties.

Communication between PM Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping

He emphasized the two sides should look at the big picture of China-India relationship from a strategic angle and ensure their relationship continues to move forward in a positive direction. "The friendship between the two countries should continue to grow like the Yangtze and Ganges flowing forward forever," China's state-run CCTV quoted Xi as saying. "We see a fast pace and bright future for China-India cooperation," Xi told Modi, who is in China on his fourth visit after he came to power in 2014. "China and India need to maintain a strong focus on national development, deepening mutually beneficial cooperation, work together for our respective national revitalisation to build the stability, development, prosperity and make positive contributions for global peace and development," Xi said, adding that in the past five years China-India relations have maintained a good momentum.

Advertisement

China and India both are the important engines for global growth

He said the two countries have established a closer partnership and their exchanges and cooperation have made positive progress. "India and China have a combined population of 2.6 billion which provides enormous potential for development. Our two countries' influence in the world and region is steadily on the rise, looking ahead we see a fast pace and bright future for China-India cooperation," Xi told Modi. "As we meet, the international security is at a crucial period of adjustment. China and India are both important engines for global growth and we are central pillars for promoting a multi-polar and globalized world. A good China-India relationship is an important and positive factor for maintaining peace and stability in the world," he added.



Xi's comments assume significance as it came at a time when the US and other major economies have taken a number of protectionist measures. The Trump administration has recently announced hefty import tariffs on aluminum and steel besides about USD 50 billion worth of Chinese imports across 1,300 categories of products to counter China's trade practices. India maintains that protectionism in all its forms should be rejected and favors an economic globalization which is more open, inclusive and equitable. Modi and Xi also visited an exhibition of Marquis Yi of Zeng Cultural Relics & Treasure at the museum. The two leaders will resume their one-on-one interaction tomorrow with walks by the lakeside, boat ride and wind up their talks over lunch. The two leaders began their informal meetings way back in 2014 when Xi was hosted by Modi at the Sabarmati Ashram of Mahatma Gandhi in Gujarat. They have met and interacted with each other in about a dozen international meetings since then. But this will be their "heart-to-heart" informal summit. There will be no agreement signed or a joint statement issued.You've heard of "nature versus nurture," and philosophers argue about which is more important. But how does this work on the cellular level?

Although genes stay the same throughout the lifespan, genetic code isn't necessarily a person's destiny. In fact, genes can be switched on and off to regulate a number of activities within cells. The body does this naturally in response to internal needs or changes in the external environment, and now scientists are able to switch these processes on and off in the lab. In other words, researchers have created tools that would enable real-time activation of target genes in specific locations in the genome. This technology may help scientists to illuminate the gene function during different biological processes and hopefully be useful in regenerative medicine. Researchers at Texas A&M are creating a system to do this using two common elements: calcium and light.

Calcium -- capable of far more than building strong bones -- plays an important role in this system, as its signals regulate a number of activities within the cell, from growth and metabolism to homeostasis.

Turning on the flow of calcium ions

Yubin Zhou, PhD, associate professor at the Texas A&M Institute of Biosciences and Technology, leads the study developing what he calls the CaRROT system (for calcium-responsive transcriptional reprogramming tool). This system can control the transcription of genes within the body with high precision -- in other words, it can dictate how, when and where genes create proteins that perform various cellular functions.

CaRROT uses a simple pulse of light or chemicals that can induce the flow of calcium ions into cells. The researchers described their technique in a recent article published in the journal ACS Synthetic Biology. "This technology should allow scientists to turn on or off a diverse array of genes at any location by simply switching the light or adding or withdrawing activating compounds," Zhou said.

advertisement

The researchers designed CaRROT to hijack the calcium signals generated by light (with Opto-CRAC, another technology Zhou and his team developed) to deliver the genome-engineering tool derived from the CRISPR/Cas9 system to turn on genes. "When the light is switched on, the gates controlling calcium ions open to allow the flow of calcium from the external space into the cytoplasm of the cell," said Nhung Nguyen, a graduate student in Zhou's lab who led this work. "This process ultimately turns on the expression of specific genes." The turning on of gene expression then leads to changes in the function of the cell.

"We have screened dozens of engineered proteins and undergone numerous rounds of optimization to make the CaRROT system strictly responsive to light," added Lian He, PhD, a graduate student in Zhou's lab and a co-first author of the study. To evaluate how effective CaRROT really is in mammalian cells, the team will test it on genes that control the differentiation of neuron and skeletal muscle. They hope that they can use CaRROT in regenerative medicine to drive the precise differentiation of stem cells into whatever type of organ is required, just by illuminating the cells with light.

"The improvement of light penetration in deep tissue gives us the optimism that we could use CaRROT to reprogram cells in damaged organs," said Yun Huang, PhD, a collaborative senior author of the study. "It is possible that one day, by just exposing the tissues to light, we can heal the wound or accelerate the regeneration of injured tissues by photo-tuning coordinated gene expression."

Turning calcium influx off

In a second study recently published in the journal Angewandte Chemie as a cover story, Zhou and his team invented a new optogenetic tool that can do the opposite trick. With light shining upon cells in the 'excitable' tissues such as the nervous and cardiovascular systems, calcium influx through gateways on the membrane of the cell, called voltage-gated calcium channels, can be turned off. These channels, which constitute the major route of calcium entry into the cell, regulate a series of physiological processes. Because their dysfunction is involved in many diseases, they are considered an important therapeutic target for cardiovascular and neuropsychiatric disorders.

advertisement

Traditional calcium-channel blockers approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration have been widely used to treat cardiovascular disorders including high blood pressure, arrhythmia and coronary artery disease. However, these drugs tend to cause side effects -- including headache, edema, dangerously low blood pressure and palpitations -- due to their cytotoxicity and off-target effects. "Because of these side effects, generating new interventional approaches to complement the traditional calcium-channel blockers is much needed in the clinic," Zhou said. "Our new optogenetic tool provides a non-conventional method to interrogate physiological and pathophysiological processes medicated by these voltage-gated calcium channels."

Zhou and his collaborators combined genetic strategies with optical techniques to engineer a novel class of genetically encoded inhibitors for these voltage-gated calcium channels. "After tremendous efforts of optimization, we developed an ideal photoswitchable inhibitor, which we're calling optoRGK. OptoRGK exhibited excellent light-inducible inhibition of calcium ion entry in excitable cells," said Guolin Ma, PhD, an assistant project scientist in Zhou's lab, who spearheaded the project.

The team tested this tool in cardiac muscle cells, which showed rhythmic oscillations of calcium in the dark that matched the heart beating rhythm. "However, upon blue light illumination, the rhythmic oscillations can be substantially reduced or even terminated," Zhou said. "Notably, this process is totally reversible after removal of the light source."

With this method, researchers can regulate the activity of excitable cells in the nervous and cardiovascular systems. "Complementary to the photoactivatable Opto-CRAC system, the optoRGK toolkit provides a unique opportunity to switch off calcium signals in excitable cells," said Youjun Wang, PhD, a collaborator of this study from Beijing Normal University.

"Our novel optogenetic tools can be conveniently applied to control a wide range of physiological processes mediated by voltage-gated calcium channels in multiple biological systems," Zhou added. "While traditional voltage-gated calcium channel blockers lack reversibility, selectivity and tissue-specificity, optoRGK opens exciting opportunities to intervene in related physiological processes with unprecedented precision. We hope that these kinds of studies will eventually lead to new generation of optogenetic devices for curing cancer, cardiovascular and neurological diseases."Boston University researchers, Thomas Kepler, professor of microbiology; Stephanie Pavlovich, an MD/PhD student; and Elke Muhlberger, director, Biomolecule Production Core, National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL); in collaboration with the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Viral Special Pathogens Branch, today released new research about bats' ability to harbor and transmit deadly pathogens, like Marburg virus, without getting sick themselves.

Funded by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, the study examined the genome of Rousettus aegyptiacus, the Egyptian fruit bat, and found larger-than-expected families of genes related to the mammalian immune system. Specifically, researchers found large families of interferon and natural killer genes that differed dramatically from their counterparts in other mammals. The finding, published online and featured in the May 2018 print edition of Cell, may eventually lead to a deeper understanding of virus transmission, and better treatments for humans who become infected.

"What we learn from bats may help us in the development of pharmacological agents," says Thomas Kepler. "And more importantly, it may help us understand zoonotic transmission -- how animals host a virus without being symptomatic, and pass it to humans. Exactly what is going on in that transmission? What does an animal gain by hosting a virus for a very long time, for coevolving with the virus, so that when it's transferred, it's highly virulent in the spillover host?"

Bats are now known to carry several deadly pathogens, including Marburg and a SARS-like coronavirus, and transmit disease via bite or exposure to saliva, feces, or urine.

Jonathan Towner, a scientist with the CDC's Viral Special Pathogens Branch, decided to investigate a colony of Egyptian fruit bats implicated in a Marburg fatality in Uganda. Towner traveled to Uganda, captured uninfected bats and brought them back to the CDC. There, scientists extracted DNA from a single bat, and sent it to colleagues at USAMRIID for initial sequencing. The USAMRIID scientists sent their data to Stephanie Pavlovich, student in Thomas Kepler's lab at Boston University.

It took two years for Pavlovich, working with her colleague Sean Lovett at USAMRIID, to assemble the genome. Then they compared their Egyptian fruit bat genome to the genomes of other mammals, including a handful of other bats, humans, and guinea pigs. They looked broadly at first, and then focused specifically on areas known to be associated with the mammalian immune system.

"We were looking for gene families that had grown either much larger or much smaller than was expected, given the evolutionary history of this bat," says Pavlovich, who is lead author on the Cell paper. They also looked for genes with evidence of "positive selection," the evolutionary process that propels new, useful genetic variants throughout a population. "That allowed us to find a number of genes that were evolving at a faster rate in this bat, and then also a number of gene families that were much larger than we expected."

The two gene families near the top of the "larger than expected" list were type 1 interferon genes, which are often called "the first line of defense" against viruses and have been implicated in the disease course of filoviruses like Marburg and Ebola, and natural killer -- or "NK" -- cell receptors. Natural killer cells are a critical part of the human immune system, able to quickly recognize and respond to virus-infected cells.

Finding them in the Egyptian fruit bat was a surprise, says Pavlovich. "Folks had previously looked at a number of bat genomes and not been able to find any traditional NK cell receptors," she says. "And so, when we saw these genes, it turns out that actually, yes, bats do have NK cell receptors, and it's a specific unusual group." This prompted Pavlovich to take a second look at previously sequenced bat genomes, and, using different tools, she was able to find natural killer cell receptors there, too.

Kepler notes that these initial results point to the possibility of what he calls "soft protection" from the bat immune system. "Activation and inhibition are much more intermingled in the bat than they are in most other organisms," he says, regarding the NK cell receptors. "The bat may be assuaging the virus for a short period of time, trying to prevent the virus' growth without making a full-on attack. There's something really interesting going on here."

Pavlovich and Kepler note that the findings, while intriguing, are just a first step to better understanding bats' special immunity to deadly viruses. "The next step is figuring out: 'Do these extra genes actually do anything?'" asks Pavlovich, who is now doing follow-up work on cell lines in the lab of Elke Muhlberger. "I would like to know if there's an advantage to having so many, or if they just happen to be there."A new article in the journal Science provides guidance for those intending to study ancient human remains in the Americas. The paper, written by Indigenous scholars and scientists and those who collaborate with Indigenous communities on studies of ancient DNA, offers a clear directive to others contemplating such research: First, do no harm.

Scientists studying ancestral remains have similar obligations to those that bind researchers working with living human subjects, the authors wrote. The descendants or people affiliated with those who lived hundreds or thousands of years ago deserve to be consulted before their ancestors are disturbed. Even in cases where the remains were collected long ago and moved far from their original burial place, and even when the surviving lineages are in doubt, scientists ought to consult Indigenous groups living on the land or claiming ancestral ties to the region where the ancestors were found, the authors said.

"Right now, there are inconsistent or no regulations for working with ancient ancestors," said University of Illinois anthropology professor Ripan Malhi, a co-author of the report. "And there are no requirements for working with descendant or affiliated communities, even though new scientific findings relating to their ancestors can have serious implications for them."

Malhi partners with Indigenous communities to study ancient DNA from individuals found on lands their descendants still live on. Malhi, along with Indigenous scientists, scholars and other scientists who work with Native American and First Nations communities, worked to create the Summer internship for INdigenous Peoples in Genomics, which trains Indigenous scientists in genomics techniques and explores ethical concerns.

Not consulting Indigenous communities before analyzing ancient DNA potentially harms those groups, said Alyssa Bader, a co-author and graduate student at the University of Illinois.

"Genetic analyses can reveal information not just about the ancestors, but also their descendants. If genetic variants associated with specific diseases are identified in ancestors, for example, this can influence how we think about disease susceptibility in the descendant community -- and that community could be stigmatized," she said.

New findings also may interfere with ongoing treaty negotiations, she said.

"For Indigenous communities involved in negotiating land claims or repatriation, new genetic findings could either bolster or complicate those claims," she said.

Studying ancient DNA without consulting descendant communities is also a missed opportunity, said Concordia University professor Jessica Bardill, the lead author of the article.

"The engagements we highlight show that collaboration with communities not only strengthens the analysis but also can allow for better questions to be asked in the research, informed by community narratives about the ancestors, their lands and their relationships," she said.

For these and other ethical and practical reasons, Malhi said, it's in a scientist's interest to identify and locate potentially affected groups, consult with them about the research and invite them to join the effort, thereby improving the scientist's understanding of the context in which the ancient peoples lived. It also allows Indigenous communities to guide the science and ask research questions that are of interest to them.

"Engaging communities at the outset is critical for understanding their concerns or questions about research involving ancient relatives. Without feedback from the community, scientific interpretations remain one-sided and inherently biased," said Nanibaa' Garrison, a bioethics professor at Seattle Children's Research Institute and the University of Washington School of Medicine, and a co-author of the article.France ready to discuss 'future of WTO' with Trump

AFP, Sofia :

France is open to discussing the future of the Word Trade Organization if the United States drops its threat of a trade war with Europe, Finance Minister Bruno le Maire said Friday.

Le Maire spoke on the same day that German Chancellor Angela Merkel was expected at the White House to defuse an EU-US trade battle over President Donald Trump's threat to slap big tariffs on steel and aluminium on May 1.

The Geneva-based WTO is tasked with arbitrating trade rows between its 164-country membership, but has become a source of anger to Trump, who says the body is unfair to the US and soft on China.

"We are ready to open a discussion with our American friends on the future of the WTO, on the improvements of the WTO and the whole multilateral trade system," Le Maire said.

"But first of all we have to get rid of that question of new tariffs," he added as he arrived for talks in the Bulgarian capital Sofia with his eurozone counterparts.

Le Maire said French President Emmanuel Macron made the case to Trump earlier this week as the EU pushes hard to win a permanent exemption from the metals tariffs before next week's deadline.

Macron "made very clear that we are open to working on the future of the trade system because we have to build a new multilateral system as far as trade is concerned.Missing housewife found dead in B'baria

UNB, Brahmanbaria :

A housewife, who went missing on Monday, was found dead at a water body in Kahdurail village of Bijoynagar upazila on Wednesday night.

The deceased was identified as Parveen Akter, 25, wife of Nur Hossain of Chunarughat upazila in Habiganj district.

Locals spotted the body in the water body in the night and informed police, said Arshad Ali, officer-in-charge of Bijoynagar Police Station.

Later on Thursday morning, police recovered the body, he added.

Quoting family members, police said Parveen along with her husband went to her father's home at Khadurail village few days back.

On Monday, Parveen went missing from there and her husband Nur Hossain went into hiding after switching off his mobile phone, police said.

Later in the day, police arrested Nur Hossain from the area.San Francisco Supervisor London Breeds mayoral campaign has continued raising money at a breakneck pace since she announced her candidacy for the citys top job in January, making her the fundraising leader.

Campaign-finance documents filed late Thursday with the citys Ethics Commission show that Breed raised $867,921 in cash contributions of $500 or less between Jan. 1 and April 21. Both Breed and one of her chief rivals in the race, Supervisor Jane Kim, officially became candidates for mayor on Jan. 9.

Breeds campaign also has received $462,960 from the citys public-financing program, which helps candidates offset campaign costs. Thats helped provide a cushion against the campaigns $971,040 in reported expenditures. Candidates who qualify for public-financing dollars must abide by a $1.475 million spending cap.

But on Thursday, the Ethics Commission announced that cap would be raised slightly for Kim and former state Sen. Mark Leno because of the amount of money being spent on Breeds behalf by outside groups, called independent expenditure committees.

Breed has been by far the biggest beneficiary of independent expenditure committees, which can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money but are legally forbidden from coordinating directly with candidates. To keep things fair for candidates who arent backed by the same level of outside spending, the Ethics Commission raises the cap based in part on how much money flows in to support and oppose each candidate. Kim may now spend $1.675 million and Leno may spend $1.575 million. Kims cap was raised by the extra $100,000 because there has been more outside spending against her candidacy.

Leno is just behind Breed in fundraising, bringing in about $788,000 in donations to date. Leno reported raising $417,000 in his previous campaign-finance report for 2017. He reported bringing in $371,000 this year. He had a substantial head start in raising money because he was the first to announce his intent to run for mayor in May. His campaign made $848,635 in expenditures this year through April 21 and received $452,179 in public financing.

Kim is in third place, bringing in about $409,000 in cash from donors to date. In the last round of disclosures, Kim had recorded $51,000 in contributions. Through April 21, she brought in nearly $358,000. Kim announced her intent to run for mayor on Dec. 20, and her campaign has spent $464,974. Shes received $320,000 from the public-financing program.

Angela Alioto has applied for public-financing money but is still waiting to receive any after the Ethics Commission initially rejected her application documentation. To qualify, candidates must prove they have raised at least $50,000 in small contributions from San Francisco residents. The commission said it couldnt verify a sufficient number of qualified contributions, but gave Alioto the chance to reapply. The Ethics Commission has until Wednesday to determine if the campaign qualifies for public funding.

Aliotos campaign raised $190,571 and has spent $217,825.

Breed has received the most support from independent expenditure committees, but Kim and Leno benefited, too. The Service Employees International Union Local 1021 Candidate PAC has spent $196,000 on Web and television ads supporting Kim, according to an April 16 filing by the committee with the Ethics Commission. Through April 21, Tenants and Communities United, a committee backed by the San Francisco Tenants Union and Tenants Rights Organization, had also spent $6,417 on ads for both Kim and Leno. Leno also received $2,460 from the Alice B. Toklas Lesbian and Gay Democratic Club PAC.

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.

A committee called San Franciscans Against Domestic Violence, Opposing Jane Kim for Mayor 2018 has spent $129,500 in ads attacking Kim for joining three other progressive supervisors to reinstate then-Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi after he was convicted of misdemeanor false imprisonment in 2012. The ads have been funded by a $200,000 contribution from Gayle Conway, who is married to prominent tech investor Ron Conway, one of Breeds biggest backers.

Independent expenditure committees so far this year have spent more than $233,932 to support Breeds candidacy. Most of that money, almost $174,000 of it, was spent by a pro-Breed committee formed by the San Francisco Firefighters Local 798 union. The committee is still raising money. In addition to a $50,000 contribution from Evan Williams, a co-founder and former CEO of Twitter, it also received a $40,000 contribution from Progress San Francisco, a statewide political-donation committee with ties to Ron Conway.

Despite saying in March that he was too busy to get involved in the citys mayors race, in a redacted email reviewed by The Chronicle that Conway sent to business and political associates on April 10, he recommends a number of political efforts u can donate to ... Progress SF being the most (important).

In listing the PACs attributes, Conway said it accepts unlimited personal & corporate contributions and will contribute to other 100 percent positive independent expenditure committees in support of London Breed for mayor.

Dominic Fracassa is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dfracassa@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @dominicfracassaCindy Brandy Werlings monthly budget would make a miser wince. But if the Trump administrations proposals for housing help for the poor go through, that wince might instead be characterized as a scream.

The administrations plan could, if realized, pull $50 a month out of her meager budget  an amount that would nearly cripple Werlings new-found stability after years of living on the street.

Five months ago, Werling moved into the first apartment she could call her own after 24 years of homelessness and stints in supportive housing rooms, thanks to a federal housing voucher. Housing advocates say reforms in the national housing subsidy program proposed in Washington this week could eventually raise the 52-year-old womans rent so much she would have to cut back on food  and she eats cheap enough as it is.

Werling, who street counselors once called the queen of San Francisco panhandlers, pays 30 percent of her government disability check as rent, and the voucher  commonly called Section 8  picks up the rest. After paying for utilities, medical bills, laundry and other incidentals, shes left with about $200 a month for food, clothing and anything else that pops up. That could eventually drop to $150 under the reforms proposed this week by Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson.

I guess Id be eating a lot of beans, Werling said with a wry grin at her tidy studio apartment near the corner of Harrison and Fourth streets. Im used to not living fancy, but I do like eating hamburger now and then.

Photos by Jana Asenbrennerova / Special to The Chronicle

Section 8 changed my life, and it was a long, hard road to get to where I am now. Why would they want to change that?

Carson apparently sees things differently.

His reform proposal would require many of the nations Section 8 recipients to contribute 35 percent of their monthly income, instead of the current 30 percent, toward rent, and to work at least 15 hours a week for some periods of the year at minimum wage to qualify for their voucher. For the poorest of the nations poor, it would triple what they have to contribute  from a minimum of $50 a month to $150.

Now Playing: She used to panhandle in SF, but now lives clean and happy thanks to government programs. The Trump administration is proposing to cut and reform low income rental assistance. Video: SFChronicle

The goal, Carson told reporters, is to encourage self-sufficiency while spreading the governments limited money further to help more people.

Every year, it takes more money, millions of dollars more, to serve the same number of households, Carson said. Its clear from a budget perspective and a human point of view that the current system is unsustainable.

Carsons plan combined with the budget President Trump has proposed for the coming year, which would cut $1.5 billion from the national housing voucher program  gutting some segments, including one for military veterans, by three-quarters or more  would spell disaster for the poor who depend on government help, housing advocates say.

Despite claims that these harmful proposals will increase self-sufficiency, rent hikes, de facto time limits and arbitrary work requirements will only leave more people without stable housing, making it harder for them to climb the economic ladder, said Diane Yentel, president of the National Low Income Housing Coalition. Proposing these changes under the guise of saving the government money, just months after giving massive tax breaks to wealthy people and corporations, is the height of cruel hypocrisy.

The reforms initially propose leaving the rent contribution from recipients at 30 percent for disabled and elderly people, but that contribution could rise after six years  or during negotiations in Congress, where the reforms must now be debated before they can go to the president for his signature.

Bay Area congressional representatives and the states two senators have said they oppose Carsons proposal outright. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco said it showcases the utter cruelty and cravenness of the Republicans special-interest agenda.

Republicans in Congress have also proposed plans for rent increases and work requirements.

In San Francisco, about 20,000 low-income people pay rent with the help of Section 8 vouchers, and 25 to 50 households are added to that number every month, according to the city Housing Authority, which oversees the program.

If there was a severe decrease in funds, we would have to literally stop giving out new vouchers, said Dariush Kayhan, the authoritys deputy director. And that would have a direct impact on our ability to house the homeless.

Were not going to kick anyone out of housing, and the only way we can save money is to not issue those new vouchers.

He pointed out that 70 percent of Section 8 recipients are already working, or had recently worked.

Managers for the nonprofit Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corp., which uses federal subsidies to house about half of its 3,000 low-income-complex residents, say making poor people work to earn their rent help is destructive rather than helpful.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

There are a lot of myths about work, and we need to acknowledge that most low-income people are already working two jobs to just barely make ends meet, said Don Falk, head of the corporation.

When you have Section 8, you can afford education, child care, have better health. Take any of that away, and youll see the lowest-income people struggling even harder than before.

Jana Asenbrennerova / Special to The Chronicle

His associate director of supportive housing services, Delene Rankin, said increasing the rent contribution by five percentage points may not feel like a lot of money, but to a family having to make the choice between rent, food, transportation, diapers and the rest, every dollar matters.

One of the residents in the Tenderloin program, 60-year-old Debra Copes, said any rent increase could strain her budget to the breaking point.

Formerly homeless, Copes wrestles with bone deterioration, failing eyesight and difficulty walking, and after scoring her own apartment with a housing voucher four years ago, she took leadership training from the Tenderloin nonprofit and led voter registration efforts in her neighborhood.

Living the way I can now, with the help of TNDC and Section 8, has brought me back to my circle of a positive, healthy and better life, Copes said. What am I going to do if I have to pay more rent? Where is the human kindness?

Back in the mid-2000s, when Werling sat every day on the corner of Golden Gate and Van Ness avenues with a drunken grin and a giant stuffed teddy bear in her lap, street counselors called her the queen of the citys panhandlers because she was so gentle and beloved  in a mostly pitying way  as a colorful character.

She was known as Brandy Hazelett back then. But after she moved into a housing complex with counselors on site to help her clean up, she dropped that name from a former marriage, went back to her childhood name, and got herself free of booze and drugs.

The apartment came into her life in November through the citys Moving On program, which helps people leave supportive housing for independent living.

Ive never met those guys Trump or Carson, but I would just tell them to think a little harder about people like us, Werling said. I have an injured back and asthma and cant work, but I would if I could. Im just trying to be a good person in society. Sometimes we need help.

Kevin Fagan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kfagan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @KevinChronIt is one of those deals with the devil that make modern life so complex: You take a good-paying job in the city while opting for a good life in the country or the suburbs.

The suburbs are more affordable, the schools are better, and the grass is greener. But the devil demands his price: The dreaded morning and evening commutes.

Everyone knows traffic is impossible and BART is jammed. Thats one reason for a boom in commuting by ferry. Ridership on the San Francisco-Alameda-Oakland run is up 115 percent over what it was five years ago, and the San Francisco-Vallejo ferries are carrying 66 percent more passengers than they were back then.

On most weekday afternoons, the lines for the Vallejo and Oakland ferries snake back from the docks to the front of the San Francisco Ferry Building, and sometimes passengers have to be left behind. And at the Larkspur terminal of the Golden Gate ferries, a 2,000-car parking lot is now simply not big enough.

Its easy to see why people prefer ferries. I used to ride in a carpool, Keyla Jose said during a ride home to Vallejo the other afternoon. But carpools are very stressful, with the traffic and the accidents, and then you get to the Bay Bridge.

Jose spoke as if the bridge needed no further explanation. She was having a glass of wine on the ferry Mare Island, a good way to end a long day, she said. There are no bars in a carpool, she said, and no bathrooms, either.

The ferry trip is an hour each way, and its relaxed and social. When you are on the ferry, Jose said, you are bound to slow down.

Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle

Thats the added dimension that makes the difference for ferry commuters. Most of the regulars seem to know each other, which is not a surprise since they are in the same boat twice a day.

Some of the boats are more social than others. An informal survey puts the 5:30 p.m. run to Sausalito at the top of the list. The Sausalito boat is often crowded with tourists and bikes, especially in summer, but the afternoon commute belongs to the regulars, who are often greeted by name by the deckhands. You dont see that on your afternoon bus ride.

Some of the regulars stand in little knots by the bar, nursing drinks, exchanging news and talk. Like a club, one passenger said.

The afternoon runs to Alameda and Oakland are more subdued. The riders seem to be a serious lot. As soon as the boat pulls away from San Francisco, the main cabin is as quiet as a Christian Science reading room. Many riders are plugging away on laptops, working their way across the bay.

But still, there is something in the air on the ferries, especially in springtime. Relationships are formed on these ferry rides, Jose said. And sometimes, you know, they go bad, and you have a couple who split up still riding the same boat.

I could write a novel, she said.

I met my wife on the ferry, said Pat Murphy, who spent 20 years working the boats, 10 as a deckhand and 10 as a captain. Hes part of a bay tradition. His father, Roger Murphy, was a founder of the Blue and Gold Fleet. Pat Murphy worked his way up and is now CEO of the company.

Murphy remembers when ferries had only a bit part in the Bay Area transportation picture. The boats were slow and rarely crowded. On Fridays, passengers on the East Bay ferries used to run organized commute parties, complete with bands and even wine-tasting events. Some people would ride back and forth all afternoon, he said.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

Its all changed now, Murphy said. The boats are too crowded for a band on a Friday afternoon. The ferry is serious transportation now, less fun, more business.

The shift began when the Legislature created what is now the Water Emergency Transportation Authority and provided a pipeline into bridge-toll revenue.

The authority adopted a new name  San Francisco Bay Ferry  and began a major expansion. It is adding seven new boats over two years  four on the East Bay run and three Vallejo boats.

But all this comes at a price. Ferries are expensive to run, and fares pay only about 60 percent of the cost of operation. The rest comes from bridge tolls and other government sources.

San Francisco Bay Ferry has big plans for further growth  new routes and more boats. But that depends on Regional Measure 3 on the June ballot, which would raise $4.6 billion in road and transit improvements. The ferries would get $335 million of this. The price: a $3 increase in bridge tolls, spaced out over six years.

Carl Nolte is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. His column appears every Sunday. Email: cnolte@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @carlnoltesfA law that requires public companies to disclose the median pay of their employees and compare it with their CEOs compensation is producing some eye-popping numbers that spotlight income inequality in America.

Among the 40 largest Bay Area companies that have reported, median employee pay last year ranged from $5,375 at Gap to $240,430 at Facebook.

The median is the midpoint at which half of workers make more and half make less. Gap said its median-paid employee, a real person, was a part-time sales associate in Alabama who worked a partial year and whose pay was not annualized. If you were instead to compare senior software engineers at Facebook and Gap, their pay disparity would be much less startling. But thats not what the law requires.

The CEO-to-worker pay ratios at these two companies were also extreme.

Gap CEO Arthur Peck took home $15.6 million, or 2,900 times more than the median employee.

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg made 32 times what the median Facebook worker earned. Zuckerberg took a $1 salary last year and got no new stock grants (on top of the $70 billion in Facebook stock he already owns). His $8.8 million in compensation last year was mainly for his personal security detail and private aircraft use.

Google parent Alphabet said its median employee made $197,274 last year; its CEO and co-founder Larry Page took home his usual $1, producing a pay ratio near zero.

Congress required this disclosure in the Dodd-Frank Act, passed in 2010 in the wake of the financial crisis and growing outrage over the wealth of the richest 1 percent. The goal was to name and shame companies that are perceived to be bad actors, said Jessica Schieder, a research assistant at the Economic Policy Institute.

Whether it helps shrink the pay gap remains to be seen.

Companies whose fiscal year ended Dec. 31 have until Monday to report this information in their proxy statements. Companies with other year-ends, of which there are many, will report later this year. Some smaller public companies are exempt.

Alex Brandon/Associated Press

Nationwide, the average CEO-to-worker pay ratio for almost 1,600 companies that have reported is about 150 to 1, which is lower than expected, said Deborah Lifshey, a managing director with compensation consulting firm Pearl Meyer. Everyone was talking about 250, she said.

Using other data last year, the Economic Policy Institute estimated that the average CEO made 271 times more than the median worker in 2016, down from 299 times higher in 2014 but still light-years beyond the 20-to-1 ratio in 1965 and the 59-to-1 ratio in 1989.

It will take several years of data to see what impact the new disclosure is having, said Mark Borges, a principal with Compensia, a compensation consulting firm.

In 1992, largely in response to rising CEO compensation amid a recession, the Securities and Exchange Commission ordered public companies to start disclosing compensation packages for their top executives in a table understandable to shareholders.

But instead of reining in compensation, CEOs got pay envy when they saw what peers were making, and their pay skyrocketed, said Broc Romanek, editor of TheCorporateCounsel website. Now, he said, companies are bracing for employee-morale backlash when workers find out theyre earning less than the median.

Now Playing: Facebook's stocks are plummeting and some people are calling for users to delete their accounts on the social media site. What's the scandal all about? Here's an explanation of Cambridge Analytica's misuse of Facebook data. Video: Alix Martichoux / SFGATE

The problem for employers is that you could raise everybodys pay, and still half the people will be below the median, said Barbara Baksa, executive director of the National Association of Stock Plan Professionals.

Companies have some leeway when it comes to identifying their median employee.

At first, experts thought they would try to maximize the median to minimize the CEO pay ratio. Over time the (human resources) community said maybe this is not your goal, because a higher minimum could result in more disgruntled employees, Lifshey said.

Posting a higher median pay also could make it easier to poach employees. But experts warn that its hard to make an apples-to-apples comparison among companies because pay packages vary widely, as do the natures of their workforces.

To determine median pay, companies first have to come up with a reasonable way to measure compensation, then apply it consistently to all employees (except the CEO) to find the man or woman in the middle. Companies can choose which components of pay to include and exclude, within reason.

Most companies are including base salary, overtime, bonus and commissions, but excluding health insurance and 401(k) contributions, Lifshey said.

Companies that award restricted stock or stock options to most employees are generally including it, but they can choose from several different ways to value it for this purpose. Companies that are less generous with stock compensation may or may not include it.

To find the median employee, companies must include all full- and part-time workers as of a certain date.

They may annualize pay for workers who worked a partial year, but cant convert a part-time workers pay to a full-time equivalent. They cannot include independent contractors who do work for them. They can exclude a limited portion of their overseas workers.

Once they have identified the median worker, all companies must calculate his or her annual compensation the same way, using the same formula they must use to calculate the CEOs compensation. In many cases this is different than the formula they used to identify the median employee. At this stage, they must all value stock compensation the same way.

Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes

This helps explain the radically different median pay numbers at Facebook and Gap.

Given the composition of our workforce, we do not believe the pay ratio calculation required by the SEC provides a complete picture of our compensation practices, nor the value it places on employees, Gap spokeswoman Trina Somera said in an email. Of our approximate 135,000 employees, about 100,000 of them are sales associates. Of that number, 97 percent are part-time, about 55 percent are younger than 23 and 72 percent are paid at or above the market rate for their area.

At Facebook, spokesman Anthony Harrison said $240,430 is absolutely representative of employee pay. It includes restricted stock units, which almost all employees get. It does not include the pay of shuttle drivers, security guards, janitors or other outsourced workers that handle services that are not core to our business.

Nationwide, retailers and other consumer discretionary companies are posting the highest CEO pay ratios, 434-to-1 on average, according to Pearl Meyers website.

Among Bay Area retailers, Ross Stores said its CEO made $12.4 million compared with $9,437 for the median worker, a ratio of 1,314 to 1.

Williams Sonoma reported a ratio of 1,477 to 1. Its median employee was a part-time sales associate in New Jersey. If it excluded permanent part-time, temporary and seasonal employees, the retailer said, its median pay would increase to $38,776 from $9,771 and its pay ratio would drop to 372-to-1.

Utilities and financial companies (including banks) are reporting the lowest ratios  64 to 1 and 68 to 1, respectively  nationwide.

Wells Fargo posted a much higher ratio, 291 to 1, but other Bay Area financial companies were lower: 146 to 1 at Charles Schwab, 66 to 1 at First Republic Bank and 46 to 1 at Silicon Valley Bank.

Ratios at technology companies nationwide are running around 151 to 1, in line with the all-industry average. But pay varies widely, depending on how generous tech companies are with stock options and where their workers are employed. The same is true in other sectors.

Align Technology of San Jose, which makes the popular Invisalign teeth straighteners, said its median employee is a technician in Costa Rica making $12,764, which is competitive pay for a technician position in Costa Rica.

Its CEO made 920 times that.

Kathleen Pender is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: kpender@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kathpenderA crowd of more than 200 swarmed police officers at a Morgan Hill middle school carnival Friday night after the cops arrested a teenager who had given a knife to another student, officials said.

Several police officers suffered minor injuries in the melee, drawing paramedics and nearly 60 law officers from surrounding cities, the Santa Clara County Sheriffs Office and the California Highway Patrol. By the end of the night, eight male juveniles had been arrested and jailed.

The trouble started earlier in the day at Britton Middle School, which was holding a carnival with rides, games, food and free admission, according to the listing on Facebook. School employees told two Morgan Hill police officers stationed at the carnival that a teen there had a knife. He was arrested without any trouble around 6 p.m., police said.

Now Playing: The incident happened at a carnival for Britton Middle School. The kids range in age from 13-17. The charges include inciting a riot, trying to take a person from lawful custody, possession of a knife, assaulting an officer and threatening to kill an officer. Video: KSBW

School officials identified the teen who had given him the knife and told police that the same juvenile had been kicked off campus earlier in the day after causing a disturbance.

When police attempted to contact him, he responded in an aggressive manner, took a fighting stance and threatened officers with bodily harm, Morgan Hill police said in a statement. Additional units responded, and the subject was taken into custody. During the arrest, Morgan Hill officers were attacked and assaulted by the suspect and two other juveniles, resulting in minor injuries to the officers.

One officer was punched in the face, and several of the teen attackers jumped on another officers back while they were attempting to take their friend into custody, said Sgt. Troy Hoefling, a Morgan Hill police spokesman.

A crowd of people descended on the action, many of whom confronted police and refused to disperse, according to the Police Department, which called it a hostile environment. Some displayed gang signs, shouted gang slogans and wore clothing affiliated with gangs, police said.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

Eight males, ages 13 to 17, were arrested. They were booked at Santa Clara County Juvenile Hall on various charges: possession of a knife on school grounds, assault on officers, threatening officers, inciting a riot and resisting, delaying or obstructing officers.

Morgan Hill school officials canceled the carnival, which had been scheduled to continue Saturday and Sunday.

Kimberly Veklerov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kveklerov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kveklerovWe need to get back to the priority of attention, said Denise Bradley, when asked what statement her white sequined dress was making. The occasion was the San Francisco Museum of Modern Arts Modern Ball, and it had been suggested that attendees wear clothes making statements. She looked beautiful, but the statement, made upon demand, was a bit impenetrable. In keeping with that, I hate the confusion was on the back of Jane Mudges T-shirt. I love the confusion was on the front. Some statements were difficult to read. As Andrew Belschners shirt said, Dont Blame Me.

Willie Brown was in a pale-pink vest, a lavender sport coat and hot-pink shoes, an outfit in keeping with his high sartorial standards. He said hed bought the footwear a year ago in Atlanta, hoping that his shoes would stop people in their tracks. Senior curator Gary Garrels, in a blue suit, was less ambitious. Ive got a tie on, he said. Its a special occasion.

The party on Wednesday, April 25, which honored Charles Schwab for his 10 years as chairman of the museums board, had about 1,000 guests for two tiers of dinner and an additional 1,000 or so to dance and nosh afterward. But, of course, its purpose was fundraising, a mission fulfilled. In the auction alone, almost $3 million was raised, $200,000 each for two dinners for 26 at the museum, prepared by Dominique Crenn, and $2.5 million for Ellsworth Kellys painting Red-Orange Relief, bought by a telephone bidder.

The visual themes, by Stanlee Gatti, were botanical: the gala dinner on the first-floor site of the parking lot in a tent lined with hot pink daisies, inspired, said the program, by the work of Marimekko designer Maija Isola; the Supper Club an homage to tropical leaf prints of the 1940s and 50s.

The beneficiary of all this, of course, is an art museum celebrating imagination and vision, expressed by Gattis attention to detail: The tents elegant flat gray ceiling established it visually as room rather than tent; the bandstand carpeting of the Supper Club on the second floor was in the same print as the banana-leafed upholstery of the sofas and chairs. The dinner music was jazz by the Marcus Shelby Trio, and the dinner itself was by McCalls, served by an indefatigable army of waitstaff.

Party co-chairs were Nancy Bechtle and Charlotte Shultz. Asked about her statement, Bechtle, who was wearing a Valentino dress printed with images of planets in the cosmos, declared she was out of this world. But the answer was impromptu; what was really on her mind was more down home.

At the start of the evening, she was horrified to discover shed torn a hole in the sleeve of her dress. But since Valentino was a sponsor, there were Valentino staffers at the party. Joachim Bechtle, Nancys husband, mentioned the mishap to one of them, a quick call was made, and a seamstress (a lovely lady, said Bechtle) was dispatched from the mother store for emergency rescue. Hiding in the ladies room, Madame Co-Chair stripped down to her underwear, and the dress was repaired.

At the end of the evening, after many raised arm gestures  handshakes, hugs, waves, expressions of joy  the dress was intact, the emergency repairs having held up. Maybe thats what Bradley meant by priority of attention.

 Problems of Marinites: Eugene Schoenfeld forwards the plea from his NextDoor listings for a neighborhood in San Rafael. If you like leaving old bread, muffins, rolls, waffles, etc., out for the birds, please place a container with water in it nearby. The crows are bringing all your leftovers to my bird baths for soaking. It is quite a mess to clean up daily. But it seems to me the providers of food should not be asked to provide beverages, too. Lady, send the request to the avian version of NextDoor.

 Andrew Sean Greer, whose novel Less won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction a few weeks ago, revealed in an interview in Esquire magazine that in the dramatic tale of his learning about the award, The Chronicle had a supporting role. He has been working at an artist residency in Italy, and a friend of mine was there. He showed me his phone, which was a picture of The San Francisco Chronicle saying that I had won the Pulitzer Prize.

Leah Garchik is open for business in San Francisco, (415) 777-8426. Email: lgarchik@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @leahgarchik

Public Eavesdropping

A Folgers cappuccino is the jackalope of coffee.

Woman to man, overheard at Bar Cesar in OaklandNorth Koreas leader, Kim Jong Un, pulled off a stunning feat of diplomacy this week. Not only did he step across the border of his isolated, impoverished nation into its historic enemy, South Korea  Kim is the first North Korean leader to do so  but he reportedly charmed South Koreas president, Moon Jae-in.

The two leaders shook hands, walked together, and even planted a tree before signing a joint statement pledging to work toward a common goal of denuclearization. The three-page Panmunjom Declaration, named after the village the leaders visited, sets the stage for Kim to meet with President Trump this summer.

Trump has hailed the historic summit by tweeting, KOREAN WAR TO END! and floating the idea that he should win the Nobel Peace Prize.

While the outcome of this summit is good news indeed  Kim was threatening to strike Moons residence with missiles in 2016  the truth is considerably more complicated.

Kim made major advances in developing and testing nuclear weapons last year, and despite this weeks pledge, few experts believe he will genuinely hand over the countrys arsenal. After watching violent regime change in Libya and Iraq  countries without nuclear deterrents  Kim believes that North Korea would be foolish to make the same mistake.

But he doesnt seem to want a headlong rush into war, either. Thats where his diplomacy with South Korea  and soon, his diplomacy with China and the United States  gets interesting.

By signing this pledge for denuclearization, Kim seems to be betting that hell be able to avert the threat of war, that future pledge details wont be fully implemented and, in the meantime, his country may be able to wiggle out of some sanctions.

Its an audacious bet, and it just might work.

Both South Korea and China are determined to lower the global temperature on potential war with Kim. In exchange for some North Korean concessions  like a halt to nuclear testing  these countries could very well ease sanctions.

As for Trump, its not hard to see how the savvy Kim could outmaneuver him. At their upcoming summit, Kim could offer him the opportunity to present himself as a historic peacemaker by signing another denuclearization declaration. Thats an opportunity that will certainly appeal to Trumps ego.

All of this is good news, despite the fact that North Korea remains unlikely to abandon its nuclear program. The summit takes the world further away from a dangerous and destabilizing war.

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.BETAGI(Barguna): Students of Bashanda Adarsha Primary School at Betagi Upazila attending examination under the open sky as the main school compound has been declared abandoned. This picture was taken yesterday.On Thursday evening, San Franciscos Civic Center BART Station was in its usual squalid condition: obviously high people roaming the platforms, drug dealers congregating near the entrance at U.N. Plaza, a man sitting on a stairwell with a scale, weighing marijuana.

By Friday morning at 9, the station was sparkling clean, its tiled corridors empty. But by 11 a.m., it had reverted back to chaos. A woman was shooting up near the exit at Market and Eighth streets. Another sat brandishing a needle outside the fare gates as a cleaning machine swept around her.

These scenes have become routine for commuters who use the busy downtown station to get to City Hall, the Main Library or the arts institutions that freckle Mid-Market and the Civic Center. On Wednesday night, KPIX-TV aired footage of a morning walk through the station that showed people injecting drugs or sitting limp and unresponsive in the halls.

It came just a week after BART spokeswoman Alicia Trost sent an email to several of her colleagues, with the subject line Civic looks amazing.

I stopped through on my way to a meeting and it was spotless! Trost wrote in the email. I saw two people cleaning. All hallways were clear. ... Simply amazing.

Trost had toured the station at about 10:30 that morning, right after a janitor ran a floor-buffing machine through the station  something that BART does every half hour at Civic Center.

Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle

Its part of a cleanup effort that began last year, when the agency set aside money for four new janitors and four community service officers to patrol Powell and Civic Center stations. Additionally, the transit agency hired 21 new cleaners, most of them targeted at downtown San Francisco stations.

But the transit system is playing a cat-and-mouse game as it struggles to keep the floors clean and remove hard drug users, only to see them return hours later.

This is not a crisis that a transit agency can solve alone, said Nick Josefowitz, one of San Franciscos three BART directors. We need the Public Health Department, the Police Department, the sheriff, the social service agencies.

Whats frustrating, Trost said, is that we can make it look beautiful and clean, and then the next day the hallway is full again. And then we just do another sweep.

BARTs next budget proposal includes $1.6 million for elevator attendants, homeless outreach teams, restrooms at four downtown stations and heightened security to discourage encampments on BART properties.

Roughly 23,000 people come through the Civic Center fare gates each day, a number thats remained steady since 2016. Those who ride in the early mornings encounter the most transients, according to the agencys monthly counts. On Jan. 9  the most recent date for which data are available  BART officials counted 79 homeless people in the four downtown stations between 5 and 7 a.m., and 40 in the afternoon and evening, for a total of 159 that day.

While homeless people generated 534 complaints on BART last year, riders who spoke with The Chronicle this week were generally more appalled by drug use in the stations, which has become increasingly blatant, especially at Civic Center.

Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle

Last time we were here we saw someone shooting up, said Jackie McBride, who rode BART from Livermore with a group of friends on Thursday to attend the San Francisco Symphony.

She noted that on that particular afternoon  the day after the KPIX segment was broadcast  the station looked better than usual. Minutes earlier, two police officers had strolled through the concourse, shooing out loiterers.

The increased scrutiny by BART comes as the city steps up efforts to clean up Civic Center and U.N. Plaza. Last year, former Mayor Ed Lee and City Administrator Naomi Kelly began a pilot program to crack down on drug trafficking, add street sweepers and bring services to homeless people hanging out in the area. As part of that effort, the city closed off the BART entrance near the Burger King at Market and Hyde streets, which had been a magnet for illegal activity.

Trost said that drug trafficking, like filth, is a never-ending cycle for BART. Dealers ride in from Alameda and Contra Costa counties, she said, and as soon as the police arrest them, someone else takes their place.

The issue is that we could send seven officers to stand at U.N. Plaza or the Eighth and Market street exits, and seven of them would make an arrest  and then seven more dealers would come in, Trost said, speaking on behalf of BART police. And they dont stay in the criminal justice system that long.

BART is tackling the problem by trying to cut off demand, instead of supply. In October, it joined San Franciscos Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion program  known as LEAD  a partnership among several nonprofits and city agencies that directs low-level drug offenders into services, instead of throwing them in jail.

At the same time, BART Police Chief Carlos Rojas has reshuffled officers within the system, putting more foot patrols at Civic Center and the two Mission Street stations.

Even so, drug sales persist at the Civic Center exits, and people injecting drugs is a common sight in the stairwells and subterranean corridors.

On Friday morning, dealers were selling bags of pills at the top of the BART stairwell on Eighth and Market. Another group typically lingers at the top of the escalator in U.N. Plaza, where injection drug use is more rampant. Several people were shooting up along the Market Street side of the entrance on Friday.

Last week, a station agent chided a man for apparently free-basing crack cocaine on the Civic Center Station platform, right before he boarded a train. Then on Thursday afternoon, a man snorted white powder from a rail atop the escalator at U.N. Plaza, leaving a trail of residue behind.

Riders say they have become numb to the sight of hard drug use, or people slumped over in obvious despair.

Its just normalcy, said Nora Spalholz, who was climbing the stairs to U.N. Plaza on Thursday afternoon. She commutes to Civic Center twice a week from Pacifica.

Another rider, Chris Nicholson, said BARTs sober patrons have formed a silent truce with the drug users and dealers that they encounter at Civic Center Station each day and who seem to always elude the police.

They are pretty successful at not being where the cops are, Nicholson said.

Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswanSantiago Mejia/The Chronicle

A nonpartisan fact-checker says part of gubernatorial candidate Gavin Newsoms new TV ad, currently in heavy rotation, is false.

The 30-second ad, titled First, touts a series of issues where Newsom staked out a position that was ahead of the political curve. The ad included the claim that Newsom was the first to take on the National Rifle Association and win.Larry Harvey, an Oregon farm boy who lit a wooden skeleton on Baker Beach in San Francisco, igniting the cultural force that is Burning Man, died Saturday.

A messianic figure known for wearing a felt Stetson and smoking Marlboro Lights, Harvey was the founder and guiding light of the annual Burning Man bacchanalia in the Nevada desert, which attracts 70,000 campers the week before Labor Day.

Harvey, who last appeared in public March 29 at the opening of a Burning Man art exhibition at the Smithsonian in Washington, died after suffering a massive stroke on April 4. He was 70.

We resolutely held out for a miracle, Marian Goodell, CEO of the Burning Man Project, said in a statement. If there was anyone tenacious, strong-willed and stubborn enough to come back from this challenge, it was Larry.

He was surrounded by family members in San Francisco when he died peacefully Saturday morning, Goodell said.

What started on the Summer Solstice, 1986, with maybe a dozen people torching a 9-foot effigy at the beach, has grown into a year-round $30 million-a-year enterprise with 70 full-time employees at its San Francisco headquarters and satellite art events everywhere.

As chief philosophic officer and Burning Man Project president, Harvey was plainspoken and good-humored about the spiritual command he held over his disciples, who call themselves burners.

To the end, he designed and scripted the annual art theme, and when he gave his keynote address on the playa each year, he was listened to with deep rapture.

People out here build whole worlds out of nothing, through cooperating, Harvey said in 1988, during a speech in which he encouraged the burners after an early Burning Man festival to go back out into the mainstream and live each day as if they were still in the desert.

Weve been civilized from the beginning, he said. In the desert, its a baroque city like Paris or Rome.

Burning Man takes place the week leading up to Labor Day, in a mystical and completely temporary metropolis called Black Rock City, which probably functions better than Paris or Rome. There is a street grid, neighborhoods, a police force, competing daily newspapers and radio stations, cocktail parties, dinner dances and high opera.

As the event has gotten more mainstream and ticket prices more expensive, an unavoidable class system has evolved. Silicon Valley millionaires are the middle class, just like in San Francisco, and billionaires at the top of the heap are in luxurious motor homes with generators cranking out the air conditioning.

Harveys own camp, named First Camp, was original and understated, with 70s-style RVs. The toughest invitation to score at Burning Man is for the nightly dinner there. The meal is prepared by a celebrated chef and guests sit at long tables, with Harvey in his hat usually at one end. Everybody is expected to pitch in. Google co-founder Sergey Brin was supposedly spotted there last year washing dishes.

It is all part of being a participant. There are no spectators at Burning Man. For the price of a ticket, which ranges from about $200 to $1,200, you are expected to be part of the show. If you need an introduction to Burning Man, the San Francisco Public Library carries 18 nonfiction titles and five documentary films on it.

Larry could be lovable and ornery all in the same sentence, said Chip Conley, founder of the Joie de Vivre hotel chain and a Burning Man board member. Often, his brilliance was more subliminal and profound than most people could fathom.

Harvey was born Jan. 28, 1948. In a 2011 interview with The Chronicle, he said he and his brother Stewart were adopted by parents who moved West from the Great Plains during the Dust Bowl. They settled on a farm outside Portland, Ore.

In some sense, I was raised in the 19th century, he told The Chronicle. As a child, I craved sophistication and culture. My parents didnt know what to make of me.

Harvey served in the Army during the Vietnam War, stationed in Germany doing clerical work. After his discharge, he briefly attended Portland State University on the GI Bill before moving to San Francisco in the 1970s.

He married Patricia Johnson and they had a son. Harvey supported them by working a series of jobs he described as romantically menial, while pursuing performance art projects with groups like the Cacophony Society.

In the early 1980s, Johnson and Harvey separated and he moved into a rent-controlled apartment on the first floor of a mid-rise unit on Alamo Square. It was here that Harvey, who had worked as a cabdriver and bike messenger, got the inspiration to call up a friend, Jerry James, and state simply: Im tired of this. Lets burn a man, Jerry.

They built the effigy in a Noe Valley shop and trucked it down to Baker Beach. With a crowd of about a dozen friends, they doused it with gasoline and torched it.

When it flamed up, it was like a second sun brought down to this Earth, Harvey said, in a 1997 speech. It was just ... it transfixed us, but ... thats where the story begins, in fact.

Within two years, the Man was 40 feet, nearly as tall as it is now. They posted flyers, and Harvey officially named the effigy and the event Burning Man.

We didnt worry about getting a venue or asking permission. We started out guerrilla. We were illegal, going down to the beach to burn this thing, Harvey later said in a lecture at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.

The event grew year by year until, in 1990, 350 people came to the beach to watch the 40-foot sculpture burn. Also on hand was a park ranger who refused to let the torching happen. The sculpture was loaded back onto a truck and driven out to the Black Rock Desert, a dry lake bed northeast of Reno, where the first burn happened over Labor Day weekend.

Harvey designed the effigy and wrote blueprints from which the Man has been designed and built every year, before it burns to the ground on Saturday night. Once it goes, everything else that will burn is also torched, and the festival finally ends on Labor Day.

Harvey always enjoyed the flames, the chaos, the anarchy, the noise, even the heat and wind and rain on the playa. Once he described how a roller rink operated until 3 a.m. and the disco music had just died down when an artist started work on an ice sculpture.

I was trying to get some sleep at 4:30 in the morning, and the chain saw woke me up, he said. I wouldnt exchange that for the world.

According to a recent tax return, Harvey was paid about $200,000 a year, but he still kept the rent-controlled apartment on Alamo Square, where he lived alone. He was always of the people, friendly and talkative with his neighbors. His only visible change was when he finally retired the Stetson Open Road. It had been the style of hat his father wore.

Im in territory today I could never have imagined, he said in 2011. Im 63, and I finally dont have to justify my existence to my father.

Harveys survivors include his son, Tristan, and his brother, Stewart.

Sam Whiting is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: swhiting@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SamWhitingSF Instagram: @sfchronicle_artFinancial companies have worked to diminish the Consumer Financial Protection Bureaus powers since the day the agency was created. Now theyre on the brink of having one of their top demands granted: an end to the regulators public database of complaints about their products and services.

Since 2011, the bureau has maintained an open, searchable record of more than 1 million consumer reports about inaccurate debt collections, illegal fees, improper overdraft charges, mistakes on loans and other problems. By law, the consumer bureau has to collect those complaints. But it is not legally required to share them online.

Mick Mulvaney, the bureaus acting director, hinted last week that he would like to end that public access.

I dont see anything in here that says I have to run a Yelp for financial services sponsored by the federal government, he said at a banking industry conference in Washington. I dont see anything in here that says that I have to make all of those public.

Consumer groups argue that taking the database offline would neuter one of its core purposes: pushing companies to take complaints more seriously. The move would also prevent outsiders, including academic researchers, from using its data.

Making complaints public gives companies a stronger incentive to treat people right, said Lauren Saunders, associate director of the National Consumer Law Center. It also helps people stay away from companies with bad track records. It lets the free market help steer us in the direction of consumer protection.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau asks the subjects of complaints to respond within 15 days. Complaints are later posted online, regardless of a companys response. The bureau has used the complaints to spot patterns of bad behavior. A wave of complaints about Wells Fargo helped spur the agencys investigation and exposure of the San Francisco banks sham accounts. Complaints have also prompted actions against student loan servicers, debt collectors, mortgage lenders and credit card companies.

More than 185,000 complaints to the bureau have been resolved with some form of compensation or relief, often with financial institutions changing their practices or making customers whole.

David Perry was one of the beneficiaries.

Last year, he filed a complaint against Midland Credit Management, a collection firm, over an inaccurate entry on his credit reports. Years earlier, a thief had fraudulently opened credit card accounts in his and his wifes names, Perry said. Most of the accounts were shut down, but one slipped through and was referred to Midland. Perry only learned of it in June when he applied for a mortgage and discovered that his credit score was far lower than he expected.

When he contacted Midland, a representative suggested he simply pay off the balance owed, Perry said. So he filed a complaint with the consumer bureau.

Thirteen days later, Midland sent Perry a letter: Midland Credit apologizes for the inconvenience caused to you. The collection firm agreed to close the disputed account, end collection efforts on it and instruct the credit bureaus to delete the record from their files.

I dont spend a lot of time feeling grateful to the federal government, but I was really grateful to the CFPB at that moment, Perry said. We need more accountability and transparency from our financial institutions, not less.

Financial institutions, however, say the database can be misleading because the agency publishes a record of all the complaints that it receives, without vetting them. The companies also argue that they already have channels for resolving customer disputes.

Publishing unverified complaints  or worse, using those complaints to paint a picture of guilt in the public domain  is irresponsible, said Richard Hunt, chief executive of the Consumer Bankers Association.

Mulvaneys disdain for the complaints database has already lessened its use. The New Economy Project, a community organization, has shifted its focus to reporting disputes to other regulators, including New Yorks attorney general and the states Department of Financial Services.

When Mulvaney stepped in, we saw the writing on the wall and stopped advising our clients to file CFPB complaints, which anyone paying attention to whats going on at the agency can see would be an exercise in futility, said Sarah Ludwig, the New Economy Projects founder and co-director.

A bureau spokesman declined to comment further about the agencys plans for the complaints database. Last week, the agency put out a public call for feedback on its complaint process  a standard precursor to making changes.

Stacy Cowley is a New York Times writer.A Facebook notification on Gary Bernhardts phone woke him up one night in November with incredible news: a message from CEO Mark Zuckerberg himself, saying that he had won $750,000 in the Facebook lottery.

I got all excited. Wouldnt you? said Bernhardt, 67, a retired forklift driver and Army veteran in Ham Lake, Minn. He stayed up until dawn trading messages with the person on the other end. To obtain his winnings, he was told, he first needed to send $200 in iTunes gift cards.

Hours later, Bernhardt bought the gift cards at a gas station and sent the redemption codes to the account that said it was Zuckerberg. But the requests for money didnt stop. By January, Bernhardt had wired an additional $1,310 in cash, or about a third of his Social Security checks over three months.

Bernhardt eventually realized that he had been the unwitting victim of a scam that has thrived on Facebook and Instagram by using the sites own brands  and its top executives  to lure people in. At a time when the real Zuckerberg has vowed to clean up Facebook, the Menlo Park company has failed to eliminate impostor accounts masquerading as him and his chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, to swindle Facebook users out of thousands of dollars.

An examination by the New York Times found 205 accounts impersonating Zuckerberg and Sandberg on Facebook and its photo-sharing site Instagram, not including fan pages or satire accounts, which are permitted under the companys rules. At least 51 of the impostor accounts, including 43 on Instagram, were lottery scams like the one that fooled Bernhardt.

The fake Zuckerbergs and faux Sandbergs have proliferated on Facebook and Instagram, despite the presence of Facebook groups that track the scams and complaints about the trick dating to at least 2010.

A day after the Times informed Facebook of its findings, the company removed all 96 impostor Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg accounts on its Facebook site. It had left up all but one of the 109 fakes on Instagram, but removed them after this article was published.

Thank you so much for reporting this, said Pete Voss, a Facebook spokesman. He could not say why Facebook had not spotted the accounts posing as its top executives, including several that appeared to have existed for more than eight years. Its not easy, he said. We want to get better.

Facebook requires people to use their authentic name and identity. Yet the company has estimated that perhaps 3 percent of its users  as many as 60 million accounts  are fake. Some of those accounts are disguised as ordinary people; some pretend to be celebrities such as Justin Bieber.

In congressional testimony this month, Zuckerberg said Facebook is improving its software to automatically detect and remove such accounts. Facebook officials have said the company blocks millions of fake accounts trying to register each day and analysts said the social network has improved its efforts to remove the accounts.

Fake accounts, overall, are a big issue, because thats how a lot of the other issues that we see around fake news and foreign election interference are happening as well, Zuckerberg told lawmakers, adding that Facebook is hiring more people to work on reviewing content.

But major holes remain. Interviews with a half-dozen recent victims  and online conversations with nine impostor accounts  showed that the Facebook lottery deception is alive and well, preying particularly on older, less educated and low-income people.

The Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg impostor accounts typically use the executives pictures as profile photos and list their Facebook titles. Some post manipulated images of people holding oversize checks. The names of Zuckerberg and Sandberg are sometimes misspelled, or use parentheses and middle names (Elliot for Zuckerberg and Kara for Sandberg) to evade Facebooks software.

Many of the impersonators had dozens to hundreds of followers; several had thousands. They are aided by a network of other sham accounts with generic names, such as Jim Towey and Mary Gilbert, which purported to be Facebook claim agents.

The scammers seek victims who, based on their Facebook and Instagram profiles, seem vulnerable, said Robin Alexander van der Kieft, who manages several Facebook groups that track the scams. The various fake accounts share information about successful shakedowns and continue pouncing on those victims, he said. He has traced many of the Internet Protocol addresses of these fake accounts to Nigeria and Ghana.

The pitch often begins with an unsolicited Hello. How are you doing? on Facebook or Instagram. The fake accounts then proceed, sometimes in broken English, to inform people of their enormous Facebook lottery prize.

After several messages between the Times and a fake Sheryl Sandberg account on Instagram last week, the impostor offered $950,000 and a new car via the Facebook splash promotion 2018.

When asked for proof the account was Sandberg, the scammer sent a Photoshopped identification. I want you to know that this Promo is 100% Real and Legitimate and the Government are aware of this Promo you dont have to be skeptical all you just have to do is to follow all instruction giving to you okay, the account added.

Three days later, the account said it needed a $100 iTunes gift card to process and activate the winning ATM card. (The gift cards can quickly be redeemed and traded on the black market for cash.)

After initially resisting, the sham Sandberg agreed to a phone call, adding Im not the one that will be speaking to you OK. Seconds later, a call arrived from a number with a 650 area code  the same as Menlo Park.

You have to be careful, there are lots of scam artists, a man said in accented English after he was informed that he was speaking with the Times. He added, All Im trying to do is get your winning package.

The Times reached out to more than 50 impostor accounts. Most messages went unreturned. None that replied broke character.

The charade has ensnared people like Donna Keithley, 50, a stay-at-home mom with four children in Martinsburg, Pa. In March 2016, an account with the name Linda Ritchey messaged Keithley on behalf of the Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to pass on word of her good fortune: $650,000 in lottery winnings. Keithley wired $350  a delivery fee  the next day.

That began a monthlong saga. According to a 28,000-word transcript of a Facebook Messenger conversation between Keithley and the account, the scammer repeatedly played on Keithleys Christian faith to get her to send more money.

Are you good Christian with god fears? the Linda Ritchey account asked. Can you trust me and also have believe in me?

Over the next month, Keithley received not only Facebook messages but also a call from a Zuckerberg impostor who assured her the lottery was real. She even heard from a Facebook account masquerading as Eileen Decker, the former U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, asking for $205 to process her winnings.

The Times found at least five Facebook accounts posing as Decker and advertising government grants, another known scam. Decker told the Times that she has tried to get Facebook to remove the accounts, but the site wanted a picture of her government-issued identification to do so. She refused. To me, theyre not a trusted source, she said. She added that she had contacted the FBI and hired a lawyer.

Keithleys scammer ordered her to open new credit card and bank accounts, and even to get a loan using her husbands 2001 Ford Taurus as collateral. Midway through the month, she said, she had a minor stroke from the stress.

By April 2016, she had used her familys tax refund and loans from relatives to pay the scammer $5,306.43  much of it in money transfers to the name Ben Amos in Lagos, Nigeria.

It just devastated the whole household, said her husband, Tim Keithley, a security guard who was making $10 an hour at the time.

The ordeal was so costly, Donna Keithley said, the familys telephone service was shut off. They also had to go to a food bank.

While Keithley still gets messages from accounts claiming to work for Facebook, she said she is now wiser. Lord as my witness, no ones getting any more money from me, she said.

After they are duped, victims may struggle with what to do next. Bernhardt, the retired forklift driver, said he didnt know how to report the scammers to Facebook. Keithley said she had called a number for Facebook she had found online, though she was not sure the number was authentic. She also reported the scam to local police, who said they couldnt help, and the Pennsylvania attorney general. A spokesman for the Pennsylvania attorney general said the office did not have a record of Keithleys report, but that it planned to contact her.

Others said they regularly report scammers to Facebook, but the company can be slow to act.

Kathryn Schwartz, 55, from Lodi, N.J., said she has been in credit card debt since she lost $1,742 trying to claim bogus Facebook lottery winnings in 2016. She said she has since been barraged by scammers and regularly reports them, including in messages to the real Zuckerberg.

One Facebook account named Mary Williams recently messaged Schwartz, saying it would help her claim her winnings. A review of the account showed that in March it had renamed itself, purporting to be a Boise, Idaho, native who works at Facebook. Years of posts before that depicted a man in Nigeria.

When Schwartz posted on Facebook last week that Mary Williams was a con artist, the account left a comment: You think you are smart but you are not. If you were smart why were you scammed. The emojis tacked at the end of the message were crying with laughter.

Bernhardt said that since he wired his last payment to the Zuckerberg masquerader in January, he has heard from two other Mark Zuckerbergs, one Sheryl Sandberg and other accounts promising him winnings in return for more cash.

No conversations have gone as deep as with his original scammer. I thought we were getting real close, Bernhardt said. He started calling me Mr. Gary and I started calling him Mr. Mark.

He said he had told his scammer about growing up in a foster home and his dream of owning a house on a lake.

They sucked me in because they knew my dreams, he said.

Jack Nicas is a New York Times writer.In Europe and the United States, the conventional wisdom is that regulation is needed to force Silicon Valleys digital giants to respect peoples online privacy.

But new rules may instead serve to strengthen Facebooks and Googles hegemony and extend their lead on the Internet.

That could begin playing out next month, when Europe enacts sweeping regulations that prioritize peoples data privacy. The new laws, which require tech companies to ask for users consent for their data, are likely to hand Mountain Views Google and Menlo Parks Facebook an advantage. Thats because wary consumers are more prone to trust recognized names with their information than unfamiliar newcomers. And the laws may deter startups that do not have the resources to comply with the rules from competing with the big companies.

Other regulatory attempts at strengthening online privacy rules have also had little effect at chipping away at the power of the largest tech companies, ultimately aiding Internet giants rather than hurting them.

Regulations help incumbents, said Avi Goldfarb, a marketing professor at the University of Toronto who has studied the effect of privacy regulations on competition. Goldfarb was the co-author of a 2013 report that said privacy regulation could be anticompetitive because the cost of getting permission from users for their data was typically much higher for a younger company than for an established firm.

That Facebook and Google may emerge stronger from all of this can seem like a distant prospect. The companies have been under scrutiny for months for the way they collect and use peoples data, with Facebook reeling from revelations that political research firm Cambridge Analytica harvested the personal information of up to 87 million of its users. That led Congress to drag Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to Washington this month for a grilling.

Google, too, has grappled with questions about its online video service YouTube as it tries to duck lawmakers who fear that the search giants data-collection machinery is as strong as Facebooks, if not more so.

Countries like Brazil and Argentina are exploring European-style privacy regulations that will further test the companies advertising-based business models. U.S. lawmakers also showed more openness to regulating tech companies during Zuckerbergs testimony this month.

Yet past attempts at privacy regulation have done little to mitigate the power of tech firms. Consider what happened in Europe after earlier attempts at checking the power of Facebook, Google and others.

In 2014, Europes highest court ruled that people had the right to be forgotten online, meaning they could ask Google and other digital companies to delete search results about them. Since then, Google has instead become a chief arbiter of what information is kept online in Europe because the company itself is responsible for determining the fate of each deletion request.

A 2011 European law requiring websites to alert visitors to cookie trackers that collect data on browsing history has largely turned into a distracting annoyance rather than changing how companies operate. People often accept the tracking to get rid of the pop-up warning without reading details about the tracking.

The uproar over data privacy has also done little to diminish the businesses or use of Facebook and Google. Spokeswomen for both companies declined to comment.

In Europe, the coming data privacy laws are known as the General Data Protection Regulation. These rules will restrict how tech companies collect, store and use personal data from people across the region. The laws, which take effect May 25, require companies to explain how they plan to use peoples personal information in simple, unambiguous language and detail what other entities will gain access to that data. Companies can no longer hide behind convoluted and often ignored user agreements, but must obtain consent with a full understanding of the user about where their data may go.

Lawyers, consultants and businesses preparing for the privacy laws said that reining in the large technology companies was not the primary goal of the European legislation.

Some privacy advocates also bristle at the idea that these new restrictions would help already powerful Internet companies, noting that is a well-worn argument employed by tech giants to try to prevent future regulation.

But Nicolas Colin, a co-founder and director at the Family, a Paris startup accelerator, argued that people tend to give that permission to companies they trust. He said that stricter rules strengthen companies because they have that key asset that is trust.

The European privacy laws may crimp tailored advertising by limiting the flow of personal data, but firms like Google and Facebook still have an advantage because advertisers will turn to services with reach and enormous audiences  akin to buying an ad during the Super Bowl. Facebook has more than 2.2 billion monthly users, and YouTube has 1.5 billion monthly users.

Giovanni Buttarelli, the European data protection supervisor who was involved in the creation of privacy rules, said much of the impact would be determined by regulators who enact the law and who will be up against well-funded teams of lobbyists and lawyers. Google and Facebook will be overseen by the Irish data authority because their European headquarters are in Ireland. Buttarelli noted that Europe had staff of about 2,500 across all the countries working on the issue.

Thats peanuts compared to the lobbyists in Brussels and Strasbourg, he said, referring to the cities where the European Commission and European Parliament operate.

He said large technology companies have advantages but would also be under a microscope. Enforcement of the law is skewed to companies that handle the most personal data.

There are pros and cons to being a tech giant, he said. We want to treat small and medium-size businesses differently.

Yonatan Zunger, a former Google privacy engineer now working at a human resources startup, Humu, said Europe is holding Google and Facebook to a much higher bar for gaining consent from users. These companies now cannot make data-sharing a condition of using their products because consent needs to be freely given, whereas smaller companies are not held to that same standard, he said.

Still, there are already signs the big companies are adjusting to the new privacy norms.

Facebook has introduced a consent form asking users globally  not just Europeans  to accept the tailored advertising and to allow features like face recognition. It has also limited access to data brokers such as Acxiom, in a concession to privacy advocates.

Google, which spent years preparing for the new rules, has stopped scanning Gmail messages for keywords used to allow advertisers to market their products to users. And it recently introduced a tool for publishers that shows ads based on the context of other articles or content on a website, instead of relying on personal information.

Privacy critics have challenged Facebooks new consent forms, saying they are intended to continue encouraging users to share information widely. And Google came under fire for an updated European user consent policy that has open-ended language, which critics said violated a tenet of European privacy rules that requires companies to ask for user consent in specific and explicit ways.

Im worried that a lot of people have invested a lot of hope in (the new data-protection rule), and Im not sure its going to deliver, said Ben Scott, a senior adviser to the Open Technology Institute at New America, a Washington think tank. It will all depend on how its going to be enforced.

Daisuke Wakabayashi and Adam Satariano are New York Times writers.OSTERILD, Denmark  At the northern end of Denmarks Jutland peninsula, the wind blows so hard that rows of trees grow in one direction, like gnarled flags.

The relentless weather over this long strip of farmland, bogs and mud flats  and the real-world laboratory it provides  has given the country a leading role in transforming wind power into a viable source of clean energy.

After energy prices spiked during the 1973 oil crisis, entrepreneurs began building small turbines to sell here.

It started out as an interest in providing power for my parents farm, said Henrik Stiesdal, who designed and built early prototypes with a blacksmith partner.

The initial windmills made by small operations had quality problems. Blades  then just 15 feet in length  would break or fall apart.

Now, they are giants, made by global players pulling off enormous feats of engineering.

The biggest turbines in Osterild stretch more than 600 feet high. The largest rotor blades can reach 270 feet in length, comparable to the wingspan of an Airbus A380, the worlds largest commercial plane. The price tag: More than $12 million.

The monstrous scale has helped turn wind into a mainstream form of power.

Larger turbines harness more wind, creating more energy. The biggest modern offshore turbines produce nearly 20 times as much power as ones developed three decades ago.

The larger the size, the lower the cost of generating energy. In parts of northern Europe, wind is now a major power source. It accounts for 4 percent of overall global energy supply, according to the International Energy Agency.

From those early Danish innovators, the industry has grown to be dominated by companies like Vestas Wind Systems and Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy.

The heart of the Siemens Gamesa business lies in Brande, a small Jutland town. It was there in the early 1980s that Peter Sorensen founded a wind business called Bonus with a couple of workers from his fathers irrigation company.

Siemens bought Bonus in 2004, and today Brande is home to large engineering, training and maintenance hubs.

Workers sitting at consoles there can monitor wind farms around the globe. Often, when a problem shuts a turbine down, they can restart it electronically without needing to send a maintenance team.

At a cavernous workshop, technicians build custom turbine models and facilities for testing whether components are robust enough to last two decades or more. Inside, the towers are so big that elevators haul engineers up and down. Passengers must wear a climbing harness in case they fail.

The rotors are connected to the windmill tower by a nacelle  a large enclosure the size of a trailer, with plenty of room inside to walk around.

Looming over the top deck outside are the rotors. When they whirl, the whole column sways like a ship at sea.

Making these blades is difficult and labor-intensive.

Teams of workers gradually fill a mold with strips of fiberglass interlaced with balsa wood for strength. They then inject resins and other chemicals into the container to form the hardened structure.

The size of the blades, and the complexity of the process, mean completely automating it does not make economic sense. Around 1,300 people work in the factory, and making a single blade can take about three days.

Its a difficult balance for manufacturers to achieve both size and efficiency.

The largest blades already weigh around 30 metric tons, and making them longer adds to their weight, fast. Overweight blades might lead to turbines being worn down faster and would put enormous stress on other components.

Designers are testing tweaks to the shape and size of a blade, experimenting with the changes in wind tunnels or on computers. They have found that gluing various add-ons to the blades can substantially boost performance.

One fix  a combination of serrated teeth and combs that reduced the sound of the blades  was inspired by the wing feathers of owls.

Many of the big turbines that are designed at the facility will eventually make their way to the open water, where there is more space and the wind is more powerful.

Their huge components, difficult to transport on roadways, can be loaded at ports onto special boats, which take them to sprawling wind farms in the sea.

The first offshore wind farm was built using a barge that had a crane mounted on a truck. Companies today have developed specialized vessels to carry these offshore turbines to their floating platforms.

They must contend with a variety of challenges, including the corrosive impact of saltwater. To service wind farms far from the shore, maintenance crews sometimes live on special ships.

Its a complicated calculus.

In the early years, building an offshore wind farm was fantastically expensive and governments offered generous subsidies to help the industry develop. But prices have been falling, and government support has melted away, according to Andreas Nauen, chief executive of Siemens Gamesas offshore wind division.

Lower costs, though, have also made wind power more appealing elsewhere. It once mostly was concentrated in northern Europe, but Nauen is optimistic that new markets will emerge in Asia and the United States.

This is real, he said.

Stanley Reed is a New York Times writer.DETROIT  A car that once was Americas top-seller is about to die  for a second time.

Ford Taurus, may you rest in peace at the salvage yard.

Blame the full-size sedans slow demise on the national obsession with SUVs and Ford Motor Co.s need to slash costs and remake itself for a new era of self-driving cars and shuttles.

Ford announced the cars passing this week as part of major restructuring plan aimed at focusing capital spending on more popular sport utility vehicles and technology needed to morph Ford into a mobility company.

The 114-year-old automaker said it would stop selling all car models in North America but two: the Mustang muscle car and a version of the compact Focus called Active. That means Fords Chicago plant will stop making Tauruses in March. North American production of the Focus compact car and Fiesta subcompact will halt in May, while the midsize Fusion lives a few more years before it departs.

Theyll be replaced by five new SUVs, all to deal with a market that has shifted dramatically in five years. Last month, trucks and SUVs were two-thirds of U.S. new vehicle sales. They were less than half in March of 2013.

We will focus on products and markets where we know we can win, new CEO Jim Hackett said in making the announcement.

That means the end of the line for the Taurus, which was completely remade as a new car for a third time in the 2010 model year. The timing couldnt have been worse. It came out as high gas prices were sending families to more efficient midsize sedans like the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord. Then the SUV boom hit.

It had everything going against it, said Karl Brauer, executive publisher for Kelley Blue Book and Autotrader.

The Taurus was built on heavy, older underpinnings, limiting Fords ability to create more interior space or make the car more efficient, Brauer said. At the same time, midsize competitors used newer technology for better ride and handling and to expand inside space.

As a result, sales of the latest Taurus peaked in 2013 at nearly 80,000, falling to just over 41,000 last year.

The latest Taurus did develop a bit of a cult following, though, especially the 365-horsepower turbocharged performance version called SHO for Super High Output.

Its really a sad thing to see a good car like that go, mused Corey Aaron of Buford, Ga., who owns a metallic gray 2013 SHO that he loves because it can out-accelerate many other cars yet looks like a sleepy family sedan.

Aaron, a member of an SHO enthusiast club, says Ford is shortsighted for getting rid of a car with a loyal following. Before the Taurus, Aaron bought only foreign-brand vehicles, which he considered to have better performance and quality.

After getting behind the wheel, it totally changed my perspective on domestic manufacturers, he said.

The Taurus debuted in late 1985, at a time when Ford was in financial trouble and needed a big hit. The company had found that American tastes were changing away from big, boxy sedans to more nimble and efficient European cars.

So more than 1,000 Ford staffers came up with a sleek-looking, roomy car with a smooth ride that was efficient and handled like a smaller car. Derisively called a flying potato by a competitor, the Taurus was so futuristic that it became the template for all modern sedans.

By the 1990s, the cars were everywhere. The Taurus became the best-selling car in America in 1992 with sales of nearly 410,000, just as Japanese imports were starting to take hold. It kept the top spot for five years until being supplanted by the Toyota Camry in 1997.

Sales remained strong until the Taurus got a makeover in 1996. Although the second generation sold well, it never matched the original cars numbers.

In the late 1990s, Ford began focusing more on higher-profit trucks and SUVs and let the Taurus languish. The last one rolled off the assembly line in 2006. By then, Ford had sold over 7 million of them, many going to rental car companies toward the end.

Shortly after production stopped, Ford again was caught off-guard by spiking gas prices and had little to offer consumers. It got into financial trouble again before a new CEO came in. He realized the value of the Taurus brand, resurrected the name and relabeled what was then the Five Hundred sedan.

Tom Krisher is an Associated Press writer.Entrepreneurial Economics Program at DSE

Campus Report :

Class of Master of Economics (Entrepreneurship Economics) program of Dhaka School of Economics (DSE), a constituent Institution of University of Dhaka, was started on Saturday.

Chairman of the Governing Council of Dhaka School of Economics Dr Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad expressed view that this program will motivate to entrepreneurial ability and visionary leadership to develop the economy. He hoped that business incubator would be established in due course of time. Coordinator of the program Prof Dr Muhammad Mahboob Ali commented that this program is designed to putting emphasis on developing industry need based and pro people centric development of the economy of Bangladesh with bench marking of global exposure. In future at undergraduate level the program may start for youth entrepreneurs, employment opportunity and giving soft skill emphasis.

The length of the program is 1.6 years and total 13 courses related to entrepreneurial economics.

Among others, Faculty Member Rehena Parvin also attended the program.LOS ANGELES  Add cigarettes to the list of things that the family-friendly Walt Disney Co. has to figure out as it prepares to integrate the sharper-edged 20th Century Fox movie and television studio.

CEO Bob Iger announced at a shareholder meeting in 2015 that Walt Disney Studios would prohibit smoking in movies across the board: Marvel, Lucas, Pixar and Disney films. He said the policy, which put Disney at the forefront of antismoking efforts in Hollywood, was the right thing for us to do. The decision brought cheers from activists concerned about the power of movies to promote tobacco use.

Now antismoking advocates want Iger to extend that rule to all future youth-rated films (G, PG, PG-13) made by Fox and its Fox Searchlight specialty label, which are among the assets that Disney is buying from Rupert Murdoch for $54.2 billion. Among other things, activists want graphic health warnings added to youth-rated films in the Fox library that depict smoking  like Avatar and X-Men: Days of Future Past  before selling them on DVD or streaming services.

The requests were made in a Feb. 20 letter to Iger that was signed by 46 activists and faith-based shareholders. Boiled down, the dispatch raises a broader question shared by some people in Hollywood: How accepting will the Magic Kingdom be of the button-pushing content offered by Fox, the home of the R-rated Deadpool superhero franchise, the violent Planet of the Apes movies and The Simpsons, the show that once produced an episode featuring a nicotine-laced variety of tomato called tomacco.

Activists are continuously pressuring studios over one cause or another, but Murdoch has frequently dismissed such efforts as political correctness run amok. Disney, on the other hand, pays extraordinary attention to its brand perception, which activists often try to use to their advantage.

We ask you now to follow your convictions, common sense and experience in keeping kids safe, the antismoking activists wrote in their letter, a copy of which was given to the New York Times by Jono Polansky, a policy consultant for Smoke Free Movies, an initiative at UCSF. Amid the myriad details involved in a corporate acquisition of this size and complexity, Disney cannot afford to leave young peoples health and lives unprotected.

Tom McCaney, associate director of corporate social responsibility for Sisters of St. Francis, an activist order helping to lead the antismoking effort, said Disneys response was unsatisfactory. Disney told us it wasnt appropriate to discuss until the Fox deal goes through, McCaney said. We disagree.

Disney declined to comment.

The last Disney-produced movies to include smoking were Ant-Man and Iron Man 3, both of which were released in 2015, according to the Smoke Free Movies database. (In truth, Disney does not have an outright ban on tobacco imagery; its official policy allows for depictions of historical figures who may have smoked or to portray cigarette smoking in an unfavorable light or emphasize the negative consequences.)

Foxs approach to smoking has been much more permissive over the same time span. Since 2015, Fox has released more than a dozen PG-13 movies with tobacco imagery, including X-Men: Apocalypse, Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children, Murder on the Orient Express and Love, Simon.

Antitrust regulators are studying Disneys agreement with Murdoch to buy most of his 21st Century Fox empire, including the FX cable network, Hulu and pieces of two overseas TV providers, Sky of Britain and Star of India. Barring any dramatic developments  like an effort by Comcast to scuttle the deal in a renewed attempt to buy the 21st Century Fox assets itself  the Disney acquisition is expected to be completed by the middle of next year. Comcast, which bid against Disney for the assets in the fall but was spurned by the 21st Century Fox board, on Wednesday made an offer to buy Sky alone.

Disney has not laid out its plans for integrating 20th Century Fox. Iger has indicated that Disney intends to manage the Fox movie labels as their own entities  much as it did in the past with divisions that specialized in more mature content, like Miramax Films, Hollywood Pictures and Touchstone. Miramax, founded by Harvey and Bob Weinstein, was a headache for Disney and Iger sold it in 2010. Hollywood Pictures, known for The Sixth Sense, was folded in 2007. Touchstone was most recently used to distribute DreamWorks Studios films, including Bridge of Spies. That arrangement has ended.

In December, when Disney unveiled its agreement with 21st Century Fox, Iger told reporters that he foresaw no challenges with Fox content because of Disneys history of managing brands in a compartmentalized way.

He added: Were in the business of managing brands that are very different in nature. Marvel is certainly far afield from Disney.

The Marvel movies that Disney has released since Ant-Man has skipped the tobacco.

Government studies have long shown that depictions of smoking in movies and television shows can lead to youth tobacco use. Under pressure, the Motion Picture Association of America said in 2007 that it would for the first time consider portrayals of smoking alongside sex and violence when assessing the suitability of movies for young viewers. Critics have since labeled the move ineffective, in part because the MPAA does not consider an image related to smoking  in and of itself  enough to warrant an R rating.

At that time, the American Legacy Foundation, an antismoking organization now known as the Truth Initiative, found that 90 percent of all films depicted smoking. Three-quarters of movies rated G, PG or PG-13 included tobacco use.

Most studios responded by putting pressure on filmmakers to kick the habit, which reduced tobacco imagery. But Hollywood, citing the need for artistic license, has resisted calls to give an automatic R rating to any movie that depicts smoking. The Motion Picture Association fought off a smoking-related lawsuit last year with a First Amendment defense. It also argued that automatic R ratings for smoking could result in similar demands for anything deemed socially unacceptable, including high-speed driving.

Concerns about smoking were rekindled last year by a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which found that depictions or suggestions of tobacco use in top-grossing movies were on the rise again. Truth Initiative took aim at Netflix in March with a study showing there was pervasive smoking in popular shows like Stranger Things and Fuller House.

Studios also face pressure overseas from the World Health Organization, which has called for governments to implement more aggressive regulation of movies that contain tobacco imagery. India, France and Britain are among the countries where action has been taken or is being discussed.

Polansky, the Smoke Free Movies consultant, vowed to continue pressuring studios beyond Disney and Fox. To quote the Hollywood cliche, We can do this the easy way or the hard way, he said. But it will happen.

Brooks Barnes is a New York Times writer.MINNEAPOLIS  A student loan services company recently notified 16,500 borrowers that files containing personal data were released to a business that wasnt authorized to receive them.

Access Group Education Lending said in a letter to those affected that the data breach happened on March 23 when one of its vendors sent out files  including borrowers names, drivers license numbers and Social Security numbers  to another business. The business was not identified, but has been described as a student loan lender.

Access Group said in the letter that it learned of the release on March 28 and it was assured that the vendor who received the files deleted them and didnt retain copies. The company did not begin notifying borrowers until three weeks later.

In response to questions from the Associated Press, Access Group said in a statement that exposure to personal information was limited and has been terminated. Those who were affected are being offered free credit monitoring services for a year.

Access Group values the trust our student loan borrowers and co-signers have placed in us, and we hold the privacy of our customers personal information in the highest regard, the company said. We regret any concern this incident may have caused our borrowers and we feel confident that we have minimized any threat to their personal information.

Access Group said the information was inadvertently released by Nelnet, which processes student loans for Access Group. To prevent something similar in the future, Access Group will continue to monitor its vendors and require written data transfer protocols.

Nelnet spokesman Ben Kiser said in a statement that security of customer information is of the upmost importance and the company regrets that a file was inadvertently sent to the wrong student loan lender, which he described as a trusted business partner.

Nelnet has no reason to believe the information has been used inappropriately. The data file was sent through an encrypted channel, he said, adding that the lender that got the information recognized the mistake and destroyed the data.

According to information on its website, Access Group stopped making loans in 2010, due to legislation that eliminated the federally guaranteed student loan program.

Access Group Education Lending is the servicing, loan portfolio management and default division of AccessLex Institute. AccessLex Institute is a nonprofit company, based in West Chester, Pa., that focuses on serving law students. The company works to make legal education accessible to people from all backgrounds and has programs to help law students manage their personal finances, its website says.

Amy Forliti is an Associated Press writer.In route news, JetBlue plans a number of changes to its California service; Delta and Korean expand code-sharing; United starts a seasonal SFO-Europe route next week; Iberia comes to SFO and Icelandair expands there; Air Canada adds a SFO route; Qantas changes aircraft on some U.S. routes next winter; and a new low-cost transatlantic competitor starts flying to the East Coast.

JetBlue has unveiled plans for some schedule changes later this year, many of them involving California  including the introduction of new transcontinental routes from Ontario and Hollywood Burbank Airport, but also a reduction in service at Long Beach.

On September 5, JetBlue will add Ontario as its tenth California airport, launching a daily flight to its New York JFK base (the eastbound leg will be a red-eye, departing just before midnight). At Burbank, the airline will kick off new daily service to Boston, also starting September 5 (with an 8:08 p.m. departure from BUR and a 4:40 a.m. (!) arrival in Beantown). And JetBlue will add a second daily Burbank-JFK flight on September 5, providing a daytime option (departing BUR at 11:41 a.m.) to its existing eastbound redeye.

Apparently in response to Long Beach Airports decision not to allow international flights, JetBlue will trim its schedules there effective September 5, reducing its daily flights from 35 to 23. That will mostly involve reducing flight frequencies in existing markets  e.g., JetBlues schedule from Long Beach will be reduced to two flights a day to San Francisco, two to San Jose, two to Oakland, three to Las Vegas, one each to Seattle and Portland, and up to three a day to Salt Lake City. Schedules from Long Beach to JFK, Ft. Lauderdale, Austin, Reno and Sacramento will not be affected.

JetBlue said it will add a second daily flight from Long Beach to Boston, with a 9:58 a.m. eastbound departure. And it will introduce winter ski service in mid-December, with twice-weekly flights from Long Beach to Steamboat Springs/Hayden, Colorado, and to Bozeman, Montana. In other markets, JetBlue plans to add a second daily roundtrip between JFK and Salt Lake City starting December 20, revive seasonal JFK-Palm Springs daily service on October 10, and start weekly or twice-weekly seasonal flights from Boston and Ft. Lauderdale to Steamboat/Hayden as of December 15.

As the latest step in their joint venture, Delta and Korean Air said they have expanded their code-sharing partnership to the Seattle-Seoul Incheon route, putting both carriers codes on their two daily flights in the market  a Delta 767-300ER that departs SEA at 11:50 a.m. and Koreans 777-300ER flight, with a 2:15 p.m. SEA departure. At Incheon, customers can connect to 18 cities in Asia. Korean and Delta recently moved their operations at Incheon into the airports new Terminal 2, making for easier connections.

In other Delta route news, the carrier said it will expand service from New York JFK to the Caribbean later this year, adding a second daily flight to Nassau, Bahamas on October 1; new daily flights to Kingston, Jamaica starting December 20; and Saturday-only service to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, as of December 22.

Supplementing the existing non-stop service offered by its Star Alliance partner Lufthansa, United will begin its own seasonal flights between San Francisco International and Munich on May 4, continuing through October 26. United will use a 787-9 on the route, which offers a 1:55 p.m. departure from SFO. In other developments at SFO, Iberia Airlines just kicked off A330-200 flights three days a week to Madrid, as we noted on Friday; and Icelandair, which begins SFO-Reykjavik flights on June 1, has decided to extend that service to year-round operation, offering up to four flights a week through January 8. And on May 1, Air Canada is due to launch new daily flights from SFO to Edmonton, using 76-seat, two-class CRJ-705/900s.

Qantas is making some changes in its U.S. schedules next winter. At San Francisco, the Australian carrier will add a seventh weekly frequency to Sydney effective December 17, using a 747. At Los Angeles International, Qantas will end 747 flights effective December 3, replacing them with A380s or 787-9s. An A380 will replace the remaining 747 flights on the Los Angeles-Sydney route, giving the carrier all-A380 service from LAX to both Sydney and Melbourne. And at Dallas/Ft. Worth, Qantas will trim its schedule to six A380 flights a week effective February 4.

Another low-cost airline has invaded the transatlantic market. Primera Air, which is based in Riga, Latvia, but with corporate connections to Iceland and Scandinavia, started flying this month between Newark and Londons Stansted Airport  initially with a leased 757, but switching to an Airbus A321neo in early May. The schedule will vary from three to six flights a week until August when it goes daily. Primera is due to roll out more new U.S. routes over the next several weeks as its takes delivery of new A321neos, including daily Newark-Paris CDG, daily Newark-Birmingham and four weekly Boston-Stansted flights starting May 18. Those will be followed in late June by three weekly Boston-Paris and four weekly Boston-Birmingham flights. Primera's website was promoting one-way fares from the U.S. as low as $99, but when we searched for Newark-London flights during May, the best we could find was $372 roundtrip.

Read all recent TravelSkills posts here

Get twice-per-week updates from TravelSkills via email! Sign up here

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.A crowd of more than 200 swarmed police officers at a Morgan Hill middle school carnival Friday night after the cops arrested a teenager who had given a knife to another student, officials said.

Several police officers suffered minor injuries in the melee, drawing paramedics and nearly 60 law officers from surrounding cities, the Santa Clara County Sheriffs Office and the California Highway Patrol. By the end of the night, eight male juveniles had been arrested and jailed.

The trouble started earlier in the day at Britton Middle School, which was holding a carnival with rides, games, food and free admission, according to the listing on Facebook. School employees told two Morgan Hill police officers stationed at the carnival that a teen there had a knife. He was arrested without any trouble around 6 p.m., police said.

School officials identified the teen who had given him the knife and told police that the same juvenile had been kicked off campus earlier in the day after causing a disturbance.

When police attempted to contact him, he responded in an aggressive manner, took a fighting stance and threatened officers with bodily harm, Morgan Hill police said in a statement. Additional units responded, and the subject was taken into custody. During the arrest, Morgan Hill officers were attacked and assaulted by the suspect and two other juveniles, resulting in minor injuries to the officers.

One officer was punched in the face, and several of the teen attackers jumped on another officers back while they were attempting to take their friend into custody, said Sgt. Troy Hoefling, a Morgan Hill police spokesman.

A crowd of people descended on the action, many of whom confronted police and refused to disperse, according to the Police Department, which called it a hostile environment. Some displayed gang signs, shouted gang slogans and wore clothing affiliated with gangs, police said.

Eight males, ages 13 to 17, were arrested. They were booked at Santa Clara County Juvenile Hall on various charges: possession of a knife on school grounds, assault on officers, threatening officers, inciting a riot and resisting, delaying or obstructing officers.

Morgan Hill school officials canceled the carnival, which had been scheduled to continue Saturday and Sunday.

Kimberly Veklerov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kveklerov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kveklerovA state appeals court upheld a ruling that millionaire tech mogul Gurbaksh Chahal violated his probation when he attacked a woman a year after his domestic violence conviction for beating a different girlfriend in his San Francisco penthouse.

The First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco rejected Chahals claims that San Francisco Superior Court Judge Tracie Brown made multiple errors in revoking his probation in a 2016 decision.

Chahal pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges of battery and domestic violence in 2014, after initially facing 47 counts of felony domestic violence and assault for the attack on his then-girlfriend inside his Rincon Hill penthouse on Aug. 5, 2013.

While on probation, Chahal allegedly kicked a different woman he was dating a dozen times on Sept. 17, 2014. Prosecutors said he threatened the woman, a South Korean citizen, dissuading her from talking to the police by saying he would report her to immigration authorities.

Brown also allowed prosecutors to show surveillance footage of the attack on the first victim, which had originally been ruled inadmissable in the first trial. Prosecutors said the video helped demonstrate a pattern of abuse.

The alleged victim returned to South Korea and did not testify, and part of Chahals appeal argued that the court did not do enough to get her to testify.

In his appeal, Chahal argued that the judge who revoked his probation was wrong to allow testimony from a physicians assistant who treated the second victim, calling it hearsay. The appeal also disputed the use of video footage depicting the first attack.

The appellate court ruled all of Chahals claims without merit.

Chahal was previously the CEO of the online advertising company RadiumOne, before he was ousted by the board after his conviction. He appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show in 2008 as a fresh multimillionaire, having sold two companies for more that $300 million by age 23.

Annie Ma is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: ama@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @anniema15New details are coming to light about the man accused of being the notorious serial killer, the East Area Rapist.

Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of two counts of murder in the case of Brian and Katie Maggiore, who were killed in February 1978, Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert said.Yellow Dog Productions/Getty Image

A San Ramon driving school owner pleaded guilty to working with California Department of Motor Vehicles employees to obtain commercial drivers licenses for his students who did not pass the tests, officials said.

Mangal Gill, 58, pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit bribery and identity fraud in federal court in Sacramento, officials said. Gill was the owner of Central Truck Driving School, according to court documents, which had locations in Fremont, Lathrop, Fresno and Salinas.This Sunday, Stanford University grads will walk the stage that many distinguished alums have crossed in years past.

Its no surprise that the Bay Area has attracted top-notch talent to its local colleges and universities, but when it comes to attracting the famous, Stanford takes the cake.DIU Sr Assistant Director, BUFT Head PR get award

Campus Report :

Md. Anowar Habib Kazal, Senior Assistant Director (Public Relations) of Daffodil International University (DIU) has been awarded by "Education Watch", an education based monthly magazine for his outstanding contribution to the field of higher education as Public Relations and communication personnel. Besides, Md. Atikur Rahman, Head Public Relations Officer, BGMEA University of Fashion and Technology (BUFT) received Special Award 2018 as a PR Specialties.

Fortnightly `Education Watch Magazine' handed over 'Special Award 2018' to some professionals for their special contribution in PR Management and Higher Education. The award giving ceremony was held recently as a part their "10 years celebration of Education Watch Magazine" at Bangladesh National Museum's poet Sufia Kamal Auditorium in the city. Prof Dr Md. Akhtaruzzaman, Vice Chancellor of Dhaka University was the chief guest at the event. The Program chaired by KM Khairul Bashar, Chairman Education Watch Magazine. Vice Chancellor of South East University, Prof Dr ANM Meshkat Uddin; Senate Member of Dhaka University and Chairman of NRB Global Bank Ltd Nizam Chowdhury; Shabnam Shehenaj Chowdhury, Vice President of Evans Group were also present in the occasion.

Md. Anowar Habib Kazal started his career as Bexibarta Executive - an in-house publication of Beximco Group in 1996. He joined the Daffodil Multimedia Ltd in 2001 as the Managing Editor of country's first digital magazine "DigiBangla" originated from Digital Bangladesh. Later on in 2007, he joined Daffodil International University as the coordinator of Department of Journalism and Mass Communication. Md. Anowar Habib Kazal hailed from Chandpur is an honorary member of Chandpur Press Club and Joint Secretary of Private University Public Relations Officers Association.

When Gini Rothenberger of Hallsville, Texas gave birth to her second child in 2015, she never imaged it would lead to viral status, but after her photographer started promoting old images in 2018, she found herself on the receiving end of sudden internet fame.

After a traumatic hospital experience with the birth of her first child, Rothenberger and her husband were apprehensive to have any more children.

However, after watching a documentary called "The Business of Being Born" the couple decided that if they had any more kids, they would have a home birth. About a year later they were expecting again.

TOO CUTE: Texas parents throw their son the most gangster 'YOLO' first birthday party

"I went on a hunt for a midwife, " Rothenberger told Chron.com. "We thoroughly enjoyed every meeting we had. It was so relieving... to decide what was best alongside our midwife, instead of just being told what to do with no rhyme or reason."

With her September 2015 due date quickly approaching, Rothenberger asked her midwife if she could put the birth pool outside expecting a firm no, but was pleasantly surprised when the midwife agreed.

She was even a little shocked when the midwife suggested hiring a photographer.

"All I could think was 'Why in the world would anyone want pictures of that,'" said Rothenberger. "My only visions of birth were what I had experienced with my first and didn't know how peaceful and beautiful birth was really intended to be. "

However, she agreed to hire Callynth Photography per the midwife's suggestion, and when it came time for the baby to be born, everything was in place and Rothenberger could not have been more at peace.

"I watched the sunset and the deer graze in the field...and I had a conversation with our Heavenly Father," Rothenberger said. "It was the most intimate, peaceful moment when I realized this birth was going to be different. Things got intense, but my birth team was right there and did exactly what I needed them to do."

The process, though "intense" was so peaceful that Rothenberger's midwife was concerned the baby wasn't breathing at first but after gentle stimulation, everyone was able to fully relax.

"[Our daughter] not only picked her head up but pushed herself up on her elbows to take a good look at me and her daddy," said Rothenberger. "It was love at first sight and the bonding was so emotional!"

The moment resulted in photos that, according to Rothenberger, show what birth is supposed to be like.

"The photos we have of these moments are priceless," Rothenberger said, "Since then we had another baby at home with some of the same birth team and close friends who helped with the older two. Birth is a normal and natural process, not a medical emergency that needs to be coerced into a downward spiral of fear-based interventions. Evidence-based care along with an understanding of the natural birth process can make a world of difference in the birth experience. A little outdoor exposure is a bonus."

Despite how smoothly Rothenberger's birth went, home birth can be dangerous.

According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), home/water birth is a viable option for the first stages of labor for women with normal, uncomplicated pregnancies of 37 to 45 weeks, but there is insufficient data on both the risks and benefits going through the second stages of labor in water so women should give birth out of the water.

"Concerns have been expressed that immersion in water during delivery may predispose the infant to potentially serious neonatal complications, such as infection, water aspiration (fresh-water drowning), and umbilical cord avulsion (or 'cord snapping')," the study read. "[However, ACOG] recognizes that despite the opinions expressed in this document, a woman may request immersion during the second stage of labor, including giving birth while submerged. This decision should represent an informed choice; a woman who requests to give birth while submerged in water should be informed that the maternal and perinatal benefits and risks of this choice have not been studied sufficiently to either support or discourage her request. She also should be informed of the rare but serious neonatal complications associated with this choice."

Rothenberger's new-found viral status has helped her have a platform to advocate for home births.

"Homebirth is controversial because people don't understand it," Rothenberger said. "I'm excited that my story is reaching women who may not know that they have choices in their prenatal, birth, and postnatal care! I hope my story helps encourage those who want more for themselves and their precious babies to seek out evidence-based care, whether in a hospital or at home."

Take a look through the gallery above to see photos from Rothenberger's home birth.

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.LAS VEGAS  Police in Las Vegas say they wont immediately release records that include officer body camera videos, 911 recordings, evidence logs and interview reports about the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

A meeting is planned Monday, nearly seven months after the shooting, to determine how and when documents and electronic records will be distributed, said Carla Alston, spokeswoman to Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo.

The development came after the Nevada Supreme Court rejected a bid by police to delay the release of records about the Oct. 1 shooting that killed 58 people and injured hundreds at an outdoor concert on the Las Vegas Strip.

Five of seven justices upheld a February ruling by a state court judge in Las Vegas who said the records are public and should be released  after redaction of identifiable information including names, Social Security numbers and portions of videos in which people could be easily recognized.

Clark County District Court Judge Richard Scotti also ruled in March that police can recoup from media some costs of producing paper and electronic records.

Scotti noted that police said there are almost 750 hours of body camera recordings from the incident, and volumes of 911 audio recordings.

Reporters have sought to learn what police and the FBI discovered about the shooter, Stephen Paddock, a 64-year-old high-stakes video poker player who killed himself before police reached him. Police and the FBI have said they believe Paddock acted alone but have not disclosed his motive.

Media attorneys argued the documents also could shed light on the response by public agencies, emergency workers and hotel officials while gunfire rained for more than 10 minutes from 32nd-story windows of the Mandalay Bay resort.

Eight media organizations including the Associated Press and the Las Vegas Review-Journal sought police records including dash-cam footage, closed-circuit television video, evidence logs, dispatch information, interview reports and police purchase orders and no-bid contracts related to the investigation.

Ken Ritter is an Associated Press writer.Sam Hamill, who gave up a wayward life to become an accomplished poet and founder of Copper Canyon Press, a leading nonprofit poetry publisher, and whose impromptu protest before the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 became a cause for artists nationwide, died April 14 at his home in Anacortes, Wash. He was 74.

His daughter, Eron Hamill, said the cause was complications of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Hamill was a former Marine-turned-pacifist who beat a heroin habit before helping to found Copper Canyon Press in 1972 with a $500 prize he had won for editing the literary magazine Spectrum at UC Santa Barbara. After buying a printing press, he and three partners  Tree Swenson, Jim Gautney and William ODaly  set up shop in Denver.

The company released its first book, Badlands, a collection of verse by Gerald Costanzo, in 1973. The next year, Hamill and Swenson moved Copper Canyon to Port Townsend, Wash.

Hamill served as Copper Canyons editor for the next three decades, and his refined taste and painstaking translations of Asian poets like Du Fu, Wang Wei and Matsuo Basho helped ensure the companys success.

Copper Canyon has since released hundreds of new books or fresh translations of work by, among others, the Nobel laureates Pablo Neruda, Rabindranath Tagore and Octavio Paz and the Pulitzer Prize winners Carolyn Kizer, Ted Kooser and W.S. Merwin.

Hamill was a prolific writer himself. He published several books of prose and 17 collections of lyric poetry. His work could be autobiographical and naturalistic, but he believed that verse should engage with the world.

He grappled with political and social issues in poems like True Peace, about the Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc, who burned himself to death in 1963 in a busy Saigon intersection to protest the persecution of Buddhists by the South Vietnamese government.

The master did not move, did not squirm, he did not scream in pain as his body was consumed. Neither child nor yet a man, I wondered to my Okinawan friend, what can it possibly mean to make such a sacrifice, to give ones life with such horror, but with dignity and conviction. How can any man endure such pain and never cry and never blink. And my friend said simply, Thich Quang Duc had achieved true peace. And I knew that night true peace for me would never come. Not for me, Nirvana. This suffering world is mine, mine to suffer in its grief

Hamill felt obligated to take action when he received an invitation in January 2003 to a White House symposium to be held by the first lady, Laura Bush, on the work of Emily Dickinson, Langston Hughes and Walt Whitman. Outraged by the Bush administrations proposed military campaign in Iraq, he sent an email to 50 friends and colleagues rejecting the invitation and asking them to submit protest poems to him.

The only legitimate response to such a morally bankrupt and unconscionable idea is to reconstitute a Poets Against the War movement like the one organized to speak out against the war in Vietnam, he wrote in the email.

Hamills correspondents shared his call to action, and within a few days he received more than 1,500 responses. He built a website to present the poems he received, and the White House eventually canceled the symposium.

More than 135 poetry readings and other protests were held around the country Feb. 12, the day the symposium was supposed to begin. More than 13,000 poets submitted work to Hamills website, some of which, including poems by John Balaban, Ursula K. Le Guin and Adrienne Rich, were collected in an anthology, Poets Against the War.

It was almost as if they were waiting breathlessly for someone to step forward and say, Enough is enough, Hamill told the Progressive magazine in an interview that April. We became a chorus.

Hamills anti-war activity left him with less time for Copper Canyon, and he stepped down as editor at the start of 2005 over creative differences with the board. Later that year, the American Poetry Review praised his diligent and imaginative guidance, which it said had helped make Copper Canyon one of the most important publishers of contemporary American poetry.

Sam Patrick Hamill was born, by his account, in Northern California to an illiterate carnival fry cook. His date of birth is listed in records as May 9, 1943, his daughter said.

As a toddler he was adopted by Samuel Hamill, a poultry farmer, and the former Freeda Empey, a schoolteacher; the couple lived in Holladay, Utah, just outside Salt Lake City.

Hamill said that his adoptive parents had been abusive and that as a teenager he ran away from home, making it to San Francisco, where he began using heroin.

He met poet Kenneth Rexroth outside the City Lights bookstore and the two became friends. Rexroth fed Hamill, helped him give up drugs and taught him about poetry  kindnesses that Hamill said changed his life.

Poetry gave me a reason for being, he said. And Im not exaggerating when I say that. My ethics, my sense of morality, my work ethic, my sense of compassion for suffering humanity, all of that comes directly out of the practice of poetry.

He joined the Marine Corps before he turned 20 and was stationed in Okinawa, Japan, where he began studying Zen Buddhism. He became a pacifist, which did not endear him to his commanding officers, and he was honorably discharged in 1965.

In the mid-1960s he married Nancy Harmon, and they moved to Marin County. They divorced in the late 1960s as Hamill began studying poetry at UC Santa Barbara, where he became involved with the civil rights and anti-war movements.

Hamill married Swenson soon after they started Copper Canyon. Their marriage ended in divorce in the early 1990s, and a few years later he married Gray Foster, a painter. She died in 2011. His daughter is his only immediate survivor.

Hamills honors include fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation. His last collection, After Morning Rain, is to be published this year by Tiger Bark Press.

Daniel E. Slotnik is a New York Times writer.The Burning Man art festival has always been an inspiration for creative personalities. Many of the residents of Black Rock City express themselves through the fashion they wear at the event.

A mix of practical and fantastical, you never know what or who you will see in the Nevada desert.Dr Jafar Ahmed Khan, Senior Secretary, Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives addressing a workshop on water resource potential of Ukhiya and Teknaf Upazilas as Chief Guest on Thursday.1 Helicopter crash: Three people died in the crash of a medical helicopter in northern Wisconsin, authorities said Friday. The crash involved an Ascension Wisconsin Spirit helicopter. All three were flight crew members. The helicopter was reported missing late Thursday. The wreckage was found near Hazelhurst, about 150 miles northwest of Green Bay. A witness who drove search crews to the scene said the chopper went down in a heavily wooded area with high ridges. The cause of the crash is under investigation.

2 School plot: A Vermont teenager accused of plotting a shooting attack against his former high school in Fair Haven was released Friday into the custody of his father. Jack Sawyer, 18, was released after posting $10,000 bail. The states defender general said he was being placed in a treatment facility. Sawyer was arrested the day after the Feb. 14 Parkland, Fla., shootings that killed 17 people after a friend reported him to authorities. He was charged in a plot prosecutors say was outlined in his diary. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of criminal threatening and carrying a dangerous weapon.Success of legal aid prog depends on public awareness: Minister



Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Anisul Huq on Saturday said the success of the government's legal assistance programme depends on public awareness.

"A part of the country's population is still poor and illiterate. They are not that much aware about their legal rights. So, we have to create public awareness about the matter through extensive publicity. Apart from this, all the judges, lawyers, NGO officials and civil society have to express solidarity with the government's legal assistance program," he said.

The minister was speaking as chief guest at the inaugural session of a function held on the occasion of National Legal Services Day-2018 at the capital's Osmani Memorial Auditorium.

Presided over by Law and Justice Division Secretary ASSM Zahirul Haque, the function was also addressed by Senior Secretary of Legislative and Parliamentary Division Mohammad Shahidul Haque and National Legal Aid Services Organization Director Md Zafrul Hasan, among others.

"The Awami League government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina formulated the National Legal Aid Services Act in 2000 to provide legal aid at government's cost to people unable to pay legal expenses and established the National Legal Aid Services Organization (NLASO) in the same year to conduct the government's legal assistance program," the law minister said.

"After coming to power again in 2009, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina again took initiatives to expedite the implementation of the National Legal Aid Services Act, 2000, which remained neglected during the tenure of BNP-Jamaat alliance government. Legal aid committees were formed in all 64 districts led by district and session judges. Apart from districts, legal aid committees are working in upazila and union levels. We have legal an aid committee at the apex court too," he added.

The Law Minister further said any citizen, especially acid attack victims, widows or those abandoned by husband, people languishing in jail without trial, differently abled, victims of human trafficking, or people who are unable to get justice, are being given legal assistance at the government's cost.SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)

The California State Transportation Agency on Thursday announced it would give out more than $2.6 billion to 28 transit agencies statewide, including the San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency, Caltrain and BART, as well as several other Bay Area agencies.

The grant funding is part of the Transit and Intercity Rail Capacity Program and will go toward expanding rail capacity and reducing congestion, according to CalSTA officials.

In addition to the $2.6 billion, which will be used for the 2018/2019 fiscal year to the 2022/2023 fiscal year, CalSTA will also provide additional funds for some critical projects between the 2023/2024 fiscal year and the 2027/2028 fiscal year, totaling more than $4.3 billion, CalSTA officials said.

As part of the funding, $318,600,000 will go toward Bart's Transbay Corridor Core Capacity Program to fund the purchase of new BART cars and to modernize BART's control system.

Also, $164,522,000 will go toward the Peninsula Corridor Joint Power Board's Peninsula Corridor Electrification Expansion Project, which covers Santa Clara, San Mateo and San Francisco counties. The funding will help support all-electric passenger service on the Caltrain system.

Additionally, $26,867,000 will help SFMTA's Transit Core Capacity Expansion Program purchase more Muni light-rail vehicles.

"This is great news for San Francisco and Bay Area residents who want more public transportation and less congestion. With this funding, we can expand capacity on our regional and local rail lines, so that we can get more people onto trains and off our grid-locked streets," State Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, said in a statement.

"When the legislature stepped up and passed Senate Bill 1 and extended Cap and Trade last year, these are exactly the kinds of public transportation projects I wanted to see fund," Wiener said, referring to the Road and Repair Accountability Act of 2017.

Other Bay Area transit agencies receiving funding include:

--The Alameda Contra Costa Transit District with $14 million toward the purchase of 45 zero-emission buses.

--The Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority with $80,340,000 for rail projects that would increase ridership, such as moving Capitol Corridor trains to a faster Oakland to San Jose corridor and statewide service and ticket integration that help riders purchase tickets for different rail and transit systems in single transaction.

--The Livermore Amador Valley Transit Authority with $20,500,000 for the construction of a new multi-level parking structure at the Dublin-Pleasanton BART station.

--The San Mateo County Transit District, with $15 million for the creation of four limited stop express routes using zero-emission vehicles along U.S. Highway 101 in Santa Clara, San Mateo and San Francisco counties.

--The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority with $75 million toward extending BART into downtown San Jose and the city of Santa Clara, creating four new stations.

--The Solano Transportation Authority with $10,788,000 for increasing frequency and reducing travel time, using zero-emission vehicles, on the SolanoExpress system.

--The Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit District with $21 million for completing critical rail segments and extending service into Larkspur to the south and Healdsburg and Cloverdale to the north.

The Transit and Intercity Rail Capacity Program is funded by revenue from SB 1 and proceeds from the Cap and Trade program, CalSTA officials said.

###OAKLAND (BCN)

City of Oakland officials launched a new website this week that they believe will be easier to navigate and search than their previous site.

The city said moving to a "dot gov" domain name restricted to government entities adds legitimacy and credibility to an official government site and will yield more accurate results on search engines.

The previous site was oaklandnet.com and the new site is oaklandca.gov.

City officials said oaklandnet.com was more like a map of the city's bureaucracy but oaklandca.gov focuses on delivering services at the click of a button, regardless of which department is responsible for that service.

To design the site, Oakland's digital services team conducted significant research and testing and drew inspiration from positive user experiences in other cities such as Boston, Philadelphia and Orlando.

City officials said many users hated drilling down 10 clicks to find information on oaklandnet.com, so the new site has lighter navigation with a heavier emphasis on search.

The city said it won't talk like a bureaucracy but instead is striving to communicate at a fifth-grade to eighth-grade reading level so it's easier to understand information.

The city also said the new website will work better on smartphones and tablets and it will be easier to access events, classes and meetings.

###MORGAN HILL (BCN)

A family-themed afternoon at a Britton Middle School carnival in Morgan Hill turned violent Friday when several juveniles clashed with police, resulting in several arrests and the cancellation of the carnival.

In all, eight juveniles were arrested in connection with crimes including possession of a knife on school grounds, assault on an officer, felonious threats on officers, inciting a riot, resisting, delaying and obstructing a police officer, police said.

Officers with the Morgan Hill Police Department were assigned to the Home and School Club Carnival at Britton Middle School when they were notified at 5:48 p.m. by school staff a male juvenile had a knife that had been given to him by another juvenile.

The juvenile with the knife was located waiting in line for a carnival ride and was taken into custody without incident.

School officials told police the identity of the juvenile who reportedly gave the knife to the other juvenile and notified police the juvenile had caused a disturbance on campus earlier in the day and had previously been asked to leave.

When officers located the second juvenile and tried to contact him, he responded aggressively, took a fighting stance and threatened the officers, police said.

Additional officers responded to the scene, and the juvenile was taken into custody, but as he was being arrested, other juveniles attacked and assaulted the officers, police said.

Some of the officers suffered minor injuries in the incident.

A crowd of more than 200 individuals formed, and several people confronted police and refused to disperse.

Several other law enforcement agencies responded to the scene to help gain control of the situation.

During the incident, several people, including some of the juveniles who were arrested, displayed gang sings, shouted gang slogans and were wearing gang clothing, police said.

In all, 59 law enforcement officers responded to the incident.

Following the incident, the Morgan Hill Unified School District agreed to shutdown the carnival Friday night and cancel the remaining days of the event.Elementary schools in five different Bay Area counties have captured exemplary awards from the California Department of Education.

The schools already had been selected as distinguished schools, and applied separately for these honors, education officials said. Three Bay Area schools got awards for exemplary arts education, and two got awards for exemplary physical activity and nutrition.Gov. Jerry Brown declared today Workers Memorial Day, honoring those "who grow our food, catch our fish, transport our goods, maintain our roads and extract raw materials from the earth."

In his proclamation, the governor noted that more than two million people die each year from work-related accidents and illnesses. Worker's Memorial Day is being held in California to honor them.Russia, Turkey, Iran hold Syria talks

AFP :

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Saturday hosted his Iranian and Turkey counterparts for talks on Syria in the wake of an alleged chemical attack that has exposed differences between the three powers.

The three nations have been attempting to find a political solution to the Syrian conflict at talks that started last year in Astana, Kazakhstan, in competition with the US and UN-backed Geneva initiative.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held separate bilateral talks with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu and then Iran's Mohammad Javad Zarif, who stressed the warmth of their relationship in opening comments. These were to be followed by three-sided talks. Meeting his Turkish counterpart, the Russian diplomat stressed the "great importance" both Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attach to improving relations.

Cavusoglu, in translated comments, praised the "atmosphere of trust that has grown up between us" and said the countries had "seriously moved forward on questions of Syria settlement." He said Saturday's meeting would discuss "what further steps can be taken."

Lavrov also held a bilateral meeting with Iran's Zarif, who hailed the three countries' work together in

the Astana process as a success, saying it led to "the defeat of the Islamic State group."

Zarif said this was the only aspect of joint cooperation with "our Turkish friends" and it was "bearing fruit."

Yet the latest talks in Moscow between two of Assad's key supporters, Moscow and Tehran, and rebel-backer Ankara come as the alleged chemical attack in the Syrian town of Douma on April 7 has prompted sharply differing responses from Turkey and Russia.

"I curse those who carried out this massacre," Erdogan said, adding that he welcomed Western air strikes in retaliation as "appropriate". Meanwhile Russia says the attack was staged to discredit its ally President Bashar-al Assad and this week brought a group of Syrians to the global chemical arms watchdog to back its claims.After 11 days of not ordering food or canteens from the commissary, Santa Clara County jail inmates have concluded the third hunger strike in county facilities since 2016, according to an advocacy group organizer.

Jose Valle of Silicon Valley De-Bug announced today that the hunger strike at the Santa Clara County Main Jail in San Jose and the Elmwood Correctional Facility in Milpitas has concluded after lieutenants from the jail met with strikers on Wednesday.

Authorities agreed to meet demands made by a coalition of detainees known as Prisoners United of Silicon Valley that requested more time out of cells and guaranteed time and supplies to maintain a clean environment.

The other three demands set out by Prisoners United of Silicon Valley were not yet addressed because of their presence under litigation with the Berkeley-based firm Prison Law Office's federal lawsuit Chavez vs. Santa Clara County, Valle said.

Those demands were related to improvements on the county's classification system, solitary confinement restrictions and the inmate grievance system.

Valle said that Prisoners United of Silicon Valley suspended the hunger strike, "as a good faith effort to honor the lieutenant's agreement and to allow the Prison Law Office to carry on their voice in a court of law."

On Monday, family members and friends of the inmates taking part in the hunger strike rallied out of support and concern for their loved ones, as some were reporting serious health effects like weight loss and dizzy spells.

The most weight reported lost during the strike was 22 pounds. Others mentioned experiencing massive headaches and stomach cramps as well, according to Valle.

Prisoners previously alleged that they were not being monitored properly under the conditions of a hunger strike. One inmate recorded in a call that was posted to Silicon Valley De-Bug's YouTube channel stated that he was not being weighed or checked for dehydration during the first week.

That same inmate claimed that Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith was at fault for the strike, stating she was responsible for its inception.

Santa Clara County sheriff's officials have not commented since last Tuesday, stating that the strike was "an unproductive negotiating tactic for change."

They also said that a select few individuals instigated the strike.

Valle said that the public should focus on the statement detainees were making about the demands and their importance because the hunger strike was the last straw.

Sheriff's officials were not immediately available for an updated comment.

###SANTA ROSA (BCN)

Police arrested a man after he barricaded himself inside his Santa Rosa home for 40 minutes this morning.

Officers responded to the 2100 block of Humboldt Street for a compliance check at 9:10 a.m. When police arrived, they saw a man in the backyard of the home.

They identified the man as Brad James Adams, a 23-year-old Santa Rosa man. Police said he fled into the house and refused to come out.

Police set up a perimeter around the home and blocked off Humboldt Street. A hostage negotiator then arrived to the home to talk to Adams, and a family member who was sleeping inside the home came out of the back door to talk with police officers.

The family member told police that Adams was in the master bedroom hiding with two large dogs.

Police negotiated with Adams for 40 minutes before he came out of the back door.

He was arrested without incident for violation of probation, resisting or delaying arrest and booked in Sonoma County Jail.

###A one-alarm fire that burned in a building just outside the Silver Terrace neighborhood in San Francisco has displaced one and injured none, according to the San Francisco Fire Department.

Fire officials tweeted at 9:56 p.m. that a fire at 1265 Phelps St. was reported at 9:12 p.m. and contained by 9:43 p.m.NEWARK (BCN)

Newark police believe that alcohol impairment was the reason for a solo-vehicle crash that closed part of Newark Boulevard for over an hour this morning.

Captain Chomnan Loth said that one vehicle hit a retaining wall on the overpass and rolled over, trapping three occupants inside around 5:20 a.m.

Police were able to rescue all those in the car, Loth said. All three people suffered minor injuries and were transported to Bay Area hospitals.

The road was reopened around 6:30 a.m., Loth said. The city of Newark is working on fixing the retaining wall.

Investigation of the incident is ongoing.

###Police in Berkeley early this morning asked residents to avoid Ashby Avenue from Acton to Mabel streets due to a traffic incident.

Police said a large power pole has been sheared near the 1400 block of Ashby Avenue, and the pole could potentially fall over.

A section of Ashby Avenue has been closed and will remain closed until further notice, police said.

The Berkeley Police Department sent out the advisory at 5:55 a.m.

No other details about the incident were immediately available.

A family-themed afternoon at a Britton Middle School carnival in Morgan Hill turned violent Friday when several juveniles clashed with police, resulting in several arrests and the complete cancellation of the carnival.

In all, eight juveniles were arrested in connection with crimes including possession of a knife on school grounds, assault on an officer, felonious threats on officers, inciting a riot, resisting, delaying and obstructing a police officer, police said.

Following the incident, the Morgan Hill Unified School District shut down the carnival Friday night and canceled the remaining days of the event.

Officers with the Morgan Hill Police Department were assigned to the Home and School Club Carnival at Britton Middle School when they were notified at 5:48 p.m. by school staff a male juvenile had a knife that had been given to him by another juvenile.

The juvenile with the knife was located waiting in line for a carnival ride and was taken into custody without incident.

School officials told police the identity of the juvenile who reportedly gave the knife to the other juvenile and notified police the juvenile had caused a disturbance on campus earlier in the day and had previously been asked to leave.

When officers located the second juvenile and tried to contact him, he responded aggressively, took a fighting stance and threatened the officers, police said.

Additional officers responded to the scene, and the juvenile was taken into custody, but as he was being arrested, other juveniles attacked and assaulted the officers, police said.

Some of the officers suffered minor injuries in the incident.

A crowd of more than 200 individuals formed, and several people confronted police and refused to disperse.

Several other law enforcement agencies responded to the scene to help gain control of the situation.

During the incident, several people, including some of the juveniles who were arrested, displayed gang sings, shouted gang slogans and were wearing gang clothing, police said.

In all, 59 law enforcement officers responded to the incident.

A one-alarm fire that burned in a building just outside the Silver Terrace neighborhood in San Francisco Friday displaced one person and injured none, according to the San Francisco Fire Department.

Fire officials tweeted at 9:56 p.m. that a fire at 1265 Phelps St. was reported at 9:12 p.m. and contained by 9:43 p.m.

The American Red Cross will assist the person displaced, the fire department said.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Newark police believe that alcohol impairment was the reason for a solo-vehicle crash that closed part of Newark Boulevard for over an hour Friday morning.

Captain Chomnan Loth said that one vehicle hit a retaining wall on the overpass and rolled over, trapping three occupants inside around 5:20 a.m.

Police were able to rescue all those in the car, Loth said. All three people suffered minor injuries and were transported to Bay Area hospitals.

The road was reopened around 6:30 a.m., Loth said. The city of Newark is working on fixing the retaining wall.

Investigation of the incident is ongoing.

The California State Transportation Agency announced it would give out more than $2.6 billion to 28 transit agencies statewide, including the San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency, Caltrain and BART, as well as several other Bay Area agencies.

The grant funding is part of the Transit and Intercity Rail Capacity Program and will go toward expanding rail capacity and reducing congestion, according to CalSTA officials.

In addition to the $2.6 billion, which will be used for the 2018/2019 fiscal year to the 2022/2023 fiscal year, CalSTA will also provide additional funds for some critical projects between the 2023/2024 fiscal year and the 2027/2028 fiscal year, totaling more than $4.3 billion, CalSTA officials said.

As part of the funding, $318,600,000 will go toward Bart's Transbay Corridor Core Capacity Program to fund the purchase of new BART cars and to modernize BART's control system.

Also, $164,522,000 will go toward the Peninsula Corridor Joint Power Board's Peninsula Corridor Electrification Expansion Project, which covers Santa Clara, San Mateo and San Francisco counties. The funding will help support all-electric passenger service on the Caltrain system.

Additionally, $26,867,000 will help SFMTA's Transit Core Capacity Expansion Program purchase more Muni light-rail vehicles.

"This is great news for San Francisco and Bay Area residents who want more public transportation and less congestion. With this funding, we can expand capacity on our regional and local rail lines, so that we can get more people onto trains and off our grid-locked streets," State Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, said in a statement.

"When the legislature stepped up and passed Senate Bill 1 and extended Cap and Trade last year, these are exactly the kinds of public transportation projects I wanted to see fund," Wiener said, referring to the Road and Repair Accountability Act of 2017.

Other Bay Area transit agencies receiving funding include:

--The Alameda Contra Costa Transit District with $14 million toward the purchase of 45 zero-emission buses.

--The Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority with $80,340,000 for rail projects that would increase ridership, such as moving Capitol Corridor trains to a faster Oakland to San Jose corridor and statewide service and ticket integration that help riders purchase tickets for different rail and transit systems in single transaction.

--The Livermore Amador Valley Transit Authority with $20,500,000 for the construction of a new multi-level parking structure at the Dublin-Pleasanton BART station.

--The San Mateo County Transit District, with $15 million for the creation of four limited stop express routes using zero-emission vehicles along U.S. Highway 101 in Santa Clara, San Mateo and San Francisco counties.

--The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority with $75 million toward extending BART into downtown San Jose and the city of Santa Clara, creating four new stations.

--The Solano Transportation Authority with $10,788,000 for increasing frequency and reducing travel time, using zero-emission vehicles, on the SolanoExpress system.

--The Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit District with $21 million for completing critical rail segments and extending service into Larkspur to the south and Healdsburg and Cloverdale to the north.

The Transit and Intercity Rail Capacity Program is funded by revenue from SB 1 and proceeds from the Cap and Trade program, CalSTA officials said.

A hunger strike by Santa Clara County jail inmates has ended, an advocacy group organizer said.

After 11 days of not ordering food or canteens from the commissary, Santa Clara County jail inmates have concluded the third hunger strike in county facilities since 2016, Jose Valle of Silicon Valley De-Bug said Friday.

The hunger strike at the Santa Clara County Main Jail in San Jose and the Elmwood Correctional Facility in Milpitas concluded after lieutenants from the jail met with strikers on Wednesday.

Authorities agreed to meet demands made by a coalition of detainees known as Prisoners United of Silicon Valley that requested more time out of cells and guaranteed time and supplies to maintain a clean environment.

The other three demands set out by Prisoners United of Silicon Valley were not yet addressed because they are under litigation in a federal lawsuit, Valle said.

Those demands were related to improvements of the county's classification system, solitary confinement restrictions and the inmate grievance system.

Valle said that Prisoners United of Silicon Valley suspended the hunger strike "as a good faith effort to honor the lieutenant's agreement and to allow the Prison Law Office to carry on their voice in a court of law."

On Monday, family members and friends of the inmates taking part in the hunger strike rallied out of support and concern for their loved ones, as some were reporting serious health effects like weight loss and dizzy spells.

The most weight reported lost during the strike was 22 pounds. Others mentioned experiencing massive headaches and stomach cramps as well, according to Valle.

Prisoners previously alleged that they were not being monitored properly under the conditions of a hunger strike. One inmate recorded in a call that was posted to Silicon Valley De-Bug's YouTube channel stated that he was not being weighed or checked for dehydration during the first week.

That same inmate claimed that Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith was at fault for the strike, stating she was responsible for its inception.

Santa Clara County sheriff's officials have not commented since last Tuesday, stating that the strike was "an unproductive negotiating tactic for change."

They also said that a select few individuals instigated the strike.

Sheriff's officials were not immediately available for an updated comment.

Police arrested a man after he barricaded himself inside his Santa Rosa home for 40 minutes Friday morning.

Officers responded to the 2100 block of Humboldt Street for a compliance check at 9:10 a.m. When police arrived, they saw a man in the backyard of the home.

They identified the man as Brad James Adams, a 23-year-old Santa Rosa man. Police said he fled into the house and refused to come out.

Police set up a perimeter around the home and blocked off Humboldt Street. A hostage negotiator then arrived to the home to talk to Adams, and a family member came out of the back door to talk with police officers.

The family member told police that Adams was in the master bedroom hiding with two large dogs.

Police negotiated with Adams for 40 minutes before he came out the back door.

He was arrested without incident for violation of probation, resisting or delaying arrest and booked in Sonoma County Jail.

A judge has drastically reduced the compensatory and punitive damages a jury awarded to former Black Panther Party leader Elaine Brown in her lawsuit against Oakland City Councilwoman Desley Brooks for an incident in which Brooks pushed Brown down at an Oakland nightclub.

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Paul Herbert said he understands why the jury was upset at Brooks for "testifying falsely" and "lying about the events under oath" in discussing the incident at the Everett & Jones BBQ restaurant near Jack London Square at about 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 30, 2015.

The confrontation between Brown, 74, and Brooks, 56, occurred when they got into an argument about a public housing project in West Oakland.

But Herbert said the jury's awards of $3.75 million in compensatory damages on Dec. 21 and $550,000 in punitive damages on Jan. 8 were "plainly excessive" and weren't based on the evidence in the case.

In a ruling issued on Thursday, Herbert reduced the compensatory damages award to $1.2 million in compensatory damages and $75,000 in punitive damages.

Herbert gave Brown until May 8 to accept the smaller amounts or have the case go to trial again.

Technically, Herbert denied a motion by Brooks and the city of Oakland for a new trial but only if Brown accepts the smaller amounts.

In a separate ruling on March 23, Herbert awarded Brown $1 million in attorneys' fees and costs for her case. That amount will stand if Brown accepts the lesser damage awards.

During the trial Brown's attorney Charles Bonner alleged that Brooks, who was elected to the City Council in 2002 and represents District 6 in East Oakland, punched Brown in the chest with two fists and sent her crashing backwards head over heels over a stack of folding chairs.

Bonner said Brown landed hard, hitting the back of her head on a chair, and suffered a rotator cuff injury that required surgery and will affect her the rest of her life.

In its verdict in the compensatory damages phase of the case, the jury found that Brooks attacked Brown without justification, that Brown had never threatened her, that Brooks was acting within the scope of her employment with the city and that her assault on Brown was an act of elder abuse.

Bonner said the city of Oakland's liability insurance likely will pay the $3.75 million in compensatory damages but Brooks will personally have to pay the punitive damages award.

It is expected that the city's insurance policy will also pay for the attorneys' fees and other costs.

In his ruling, Herbert said he agrees with the jury's conclusion that "Ms. Brooks testified falsely many times under oath about the key events pertinent to determining whether she had any reasonable basis whatsoever in claim lawful self-defense" and that Brooks "exhibited no genuine remorse."

But Herbert said he believes, "the jury allowed their feelings of anger and disbelief toward Ms. Brooks to unduly influence their determination of the damage amounts to be awarded for both compensatory and punitive damages."

Bonner didn't respond to a request for comment on whether Brown would accept the smaller damage awards.

Dan Siegel, one of Brooks' attorneys, said Herbert's ruling "definitely is a step in the right direction" but he would have liked to have the damages reduced to zero.

Oakland City Attorney Office spokesman Alex Katz said the office couldn't comment because it's still an ongoing legal proceeding.

Brown headed the Black Panther Party from 1974 to 1977 and served as an aide to Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson at the time of the incident in 2015.

###Jonathan Curiel

Police in Berkeley this morning are asking residents to avoid Ashby Avenue from Action to Mabel streets due to a traffic incident.

Police said a large power pole has been sheared near the 1400 block of Ashby Avenue, and the pole could potentially fall over.Santa Clara County Supervisor Dave Cortese will spearhead the county's first summit to discuss firearm safety on Saturday on topics like gang violence prevention and school safety, according to the supervisor's office.

The County of Santa Clara Community Summit on Firearms and Safety will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. in an effort to "bring together a diverse array of participants, viewpoints and ideas in order to have a balanced dialogue," county staff said.

The topics of suicide prevention and the legal duties of residents regardless of their political stance will also be addressed during the summit, Cortese's office said.

The plans for the summit were unanimously approved on Feb. 27 after the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, that killed 17 people, including students and faculty at Stoneman Douglas High School.

The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors directed the County Executive's Office and the county's Behavioral Health Department to work with them to convene the summit within the next 60 days.

The summit is just one of many recommendations, such as the county's formal endorsement of the March For Our Lives movement which took place across the country on March 24, to address gun violence, Cortese said.

This motion also called upon County Counsel to provide legal analysis on how the county could use police power and land use authority to require mental health information be flagged in background checks for firearm purchases and transfers.

The summit garnered positive and negative responses from the community, which were vocalized during the Feb. 27 meeting's public comment before the item was discussed.

Many of those who opposed the idea of the summit were concerned with the proposed original title, "Gun Violence and Mental Health Summit," which some felt alluded a connection between the two subjects.

Cortese apologized for any misunderstanding and opened up discussion for a new name that was fitting of what he truly wanted: a forum to discuss the problem of gun violence itself, not a stigmatization of the mentally ill.

Entry and parking to the event at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds' Fiesta Hall, located at 344 Tully Road in San Jose, is free to the public. A continental breakfast and boxed lunch will be provided to each participant.

Spokespeople said that the summit is not going to be modeled after that of a town hall meeting.

"Participants will be expected to roll up their sleeves and begin working together in professionally facilitated roundtable discussions from beginning to end," county staff said in a statement.

Those who wish to participate should visit https://www.sccgov.org/sites/d3/events/firarms-saftey-summit/Pages/home.aspx.

###VALLEJO (BCN)

It's hard out here for a pinniped, but two sea lions and a seal just got lucky with a move to Vallejo's Six Flags Discovery Kingdom after their home at a central coast aquarium was marked for closure.

Maggie, a 32-year-old sea lion, Hera, a seven-year-old female sea lion, and Smoky, an eight-year-old female Pacific harbor seal, have found new homes at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. Their original home, the Morro Bay Aquarium, is scheduled to close in September.

"We are an experienced pinniped rehabilitation facility with the ability to provide permanent homes for non-releasable animals," said Dianne Cameron, the animal care director at the Six Flags park.

Anyone who has experienced a recent move can empathize with Maggie, Hera and Smoky, who came a long way from the central coast. Luckily, they had a team of animal care specialists from the park, as well as the Marine Mammal Center, to help with the move.

"We wanted to ensure these three have a safe and secure future in a place where they can experience living in an outdoor environment for the first time in their lives," Cameron said.

After a mandatory 30-day quarantine period, the trio will move to the park's Seal Cove exhibit, where they will be able to socialize with other marine mammals, according to Cameron.

###Both lanes of eastbound Interstate Highway 80 in San Francisco closed due to police activity have reopened, the California Highway Patrol said.

A Sig-Alert was issued at 5:19 p.m. and later cancelled at 6:34 p.m. when the stretch between the 4th and 1st Street exits had been cleared.Black market thrives with OMS goods

SUBSIDIZED rice and flour meant for Open Market Sale (OMS) among poor groups have been reported to be sold in the black markets because of zero monitoring by the government. This resulted in virtual collapse of the OMS introduced by the government to protect financially vulnerable groups when essential prices become expensive for them. Moreover, OMS dealers adopted various tactics to discourage poor groups from buying rice and flour from their trucks; so that they could sell most of the supplies in the black market.

Can we simply ask where would the poor people go to procure rice, flour or any other commodity if such rampant corruption riddles the OMS scheme?

Irregularities in the OMS system challenge the government's target to ensure food security for all. Additionally, according to a local daily report, two poor men were bullet-hit on April 12 by a dealer while buying rice from a OMS shop at Kurigram - an area known for its stark poverty. And that's not all; Dhaka's Rationing Chief Controller has reported that an employee of the food department was assigned to inspect two OMS outlets in addition to his or her normal duty. At Badda, Tejgaon and Mohammadpur, reporters of the same newspaper found three government supervisors doing their duty only on three days and they were not available in the rest of the two weeks. Isn't there any one to monitor the supervisors?

Markedly the entire OMS functioning chain has been corrupted by government officials and only their remedial measures can bring back discipline. We expect our law enforcement agencies to get involved to deter corrupt practices while identify the culprit officials. The poor and needy people of the country should not be deprived of their lawful citizen rights to procure rice or any food items at a cheaper rate.

The government should carefully investigate into the matter and transparently deal with its findings. It will definitely create pressure on the earnings of poor section, if the OMS system totally fails. And taking this opportunity, the dishonest traders could take an effort to hike the prices of essentials.





Khaleda may get crippled, lose eyesight personal physicians fear

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia's three personal physicians on Saturday feared that she can be crippled and lose her eyesight if she is not given proper treatment immediately in any specialised hospital.

BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, however, alleged that their 'critically ill' chairperson cannot be taken to a specialised hospital for better treatment as a file in this regard remains stuck at the Prime Minister's Office. "We've come to know that the jail authorities in consultation with doctors recommended sending her (Khaleda) to a specialised hospital. What we've heard that this file remains stuck at the Prime Minister's Office," Fakhrul said.

He came up with the allegation at a press conference at BNP's Nayapaltan central office. Khaleda's three physicians also spoke at the press conference about her physical condition.

The BNP secretary general said their chairperson's health condition is gradually falling for lack of proper treatment only because of the government's delay in taking a decision to send her whether to United Hospital or Apollo Hospitals.

Referring to the BNP chairperson's doctors' opinions about her health condition, he said her health condition can seriously be deteriorated if the government does not immediately allow her to receive proper treatment. "We once again urge the government to send our leader to a specialised hospital without any delay."

Otherwise, Fakhrul warned, the government will be held responsible if anything bad happens to Khaleda, and it will have to be accountable to people. "We hope the good sense will prevail upon the government to ensure proper treatment of our leader as per the recommendations by the Home Ministry and the jail authorities.

He recalled that current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was taken to Square Hospital from jail for her eye problem during the 1/11 government in 2007.

The BNP leader alleged that the government is not providing Khaleda with proper treatment as part of its 'evil' motive to keep her away from politics and election.

Speaking at the programme, BNP standing committee member Nazrul Islam Khan said the Home Minister and the IG Prison during a meeting with him on April 22 assured that Khaleda will be taken for treatment wherever it is necessary as per doctors' recommendation. "But no step has so far been taken in this regard."

Nazrul said, the government's negligence towards a 73-year-old sick former Prime Minister is not only inhuman but also a bad-political manner.

Khaleda Zia's personal physician and neuro medicine expert Dr Syed Wahidur Rahman said Khaleda Zia now does not get strength in her left hand and feels pain in her neck as she has been suffering from 'cervical spondylosis'. Besides, he said her fingers in her hands has got swollen, causing huge pain for her 'rheumatoid arthritis' problem. "She can't walk due to degeneration of bones in her west and problem in her spinal code."

"She (Khaleda) may get weaker, suffer from paralysis and can lose control on urine and stool. She needs proper treatment, examination, healthy environment and physiotherapy right now. These are not possible to ensure in jail," he added. Her another doctor and orthopedic expert Prof Sirajuddin Ahmed said Khaleda cannot properly move her hands and knees due to 'rheumatoid arthritis' and some other physical problems.

"She now needs to receive treatment in a ventilated room and healthy atmosphere. Her condition will deteriorate further if she stays inside the old and unhealthy room in the jail. Madam can become crippled and lose her working ability and the energy of life if she doesn't receive proper treatment for a long time," he viewed. Eye specialist Dr Abdul Quddus said Khaleda has been suffering from various eye-related problems. "We've heard her eyes got turned red. Once her cornea gets dried, it won't be possible to restore it even in 15 years, and she may become blind anytime."

The three doctors suggested ensuring treatment of Khaleda in any specialised hospital without further delay.Car driver loses leg as bus driver runs amok

A private car driver: Russell (right) lost his leg as Green Line bus ran over him when he tried to stop the bus for hitting his car from behind at Postalgola area on Saturday. Police, however chased the bus driver Kabir Hossain and arrested him near the

Staff Reporter :

A private car driver lost his leg as a speedy bus of Green Line Paribahan ran over him on Mayor Hanif flyover in Dhaka's Jatrabari on Saturday afternoon.

The victim was identified as Rasel Sarker, 23, son of Shafiqul Islam in Palashbari upazila of Gaibandha district.

Locals rescued Rasel and rushed him to the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) round 4:00pm.

Rasel worked in a 'Rent a Car' institute in city's Adabar area.

Police chased the bus down, arrested the driver and seized the bus from near the National Press Club.

According to witnesses and police, while Rasel was driving his car it was rammed by a bus on the slopes of Jatrabari flyover. He got out of the car and tried to stop the bus, but the driver first hit him and ran over his leg.

Baccu Mia, In-Charge of DMCH Police Outpost, said, pedestrians and locals rushed Rasel to DMCH. His left leg was amputated. Later, he was shifted to Square Hospital in the city's Panthapath for better treatment.

Abul Hasan, Offcer-in-Cahrge of Shahbagh Police Station, said, "Rasel went to Karaniganj along with some passengers and he was returning from there. A bus of the Green Line Paribahan rammed his car near the flyover at Dholappar under Jatrabari around 3:00pm."

Rasel stopped his car and asked the bus driver for the reason of the incident. Centering a squeal of quarrel between them, the driver became angry and ran the bus on Rasel that caused separation of his left leg, the police official said. Earlier on April 20, a young woman lost a leg after being hit by a bus in the capital's Banani, while Rajib Hossain lost his arm in a race between two buses in Dhaka's Karwan Bazar on April 3.

Photo for The Washington Post by Mark Makela

A Houston teen who made national news for getting accepted to 20 different universities has decided which school he's going to attend.

Michael Brown tweeted "#stanford2022" on Thursday. The 17-year-old Lamar High senior is from Houston's Third Ward. Brown was offered a full ride to each school he applied to, which mounted to more than $260,000 in scholarships.

OUTRAGE: Fox anchors call Houston teen accepted to 20 colleges 'obnoxious'

Other than Stanford, Brown was considering Northwestern, Georgetown, Princeton, Yale, the University on Pennsylvania and Harvard.

Brown's other full-ride schools included Amherst, Vanderbilt, Johns Hopkins University and the University of Texas at Austin.

Brown made national headlines a second time after two news hosts on Fox 5 DC called him "obnoxious" for being accepted to 20 different colleges.

FIRED: University of North Texas student-cook fired for racist message on receipt

"It's a little ridiculous that this kid applied to 20 (colleges), taking away a spot and basically wait-listing another kid," said contributor Sarah Fraser in early April.

"It's a little obnoxious because you can only go to one. You can only take one full ride, and you are taking a spot from someone who worked really hard," said anchor Holly Morris.

Fraser eventually apologized to Brown. Morris did not apologize for her comments.

Scroll through the gallery above to see which colleges are the hardest to get into.

Will Axford is a digital reporter for Chron.com and HoustonChronicle.com. Follow him on Twitter.Tabligh, Jamaat factions clash in Kakrail Mosque

A scuffle took place between the followers of Indian Tabligh Jamaat leader Maulana Saad and their rivals in city\'s Kakrail Mosque on Saturday. Photo shows police being deployed around the area to quell the violence.

Two factions of the Tabligh Jamaat have clashed over an previous conflict at Dhaka's Kakrail Mosque-the headquarters of the religious group's Bangladesh chapter.

The conflict resurfaced on Saturday morning between them as they gathered at the mosque to attend a meeting.

Police rushed to the spot, calmed the feuding factions and urged the leaders of both factions to leave the area for security reasons, said DMP Deputy Commissioner Maruf Hossain Sardar of Ramna Zone.

The conflict between the two factions continued from the last Tabligh Jamaat's annual event Biswa Ijtema, the largest Muslim congregation after the hajj.

The conflict originally stemmed from the controversial appointment of Saad Kandhalvi as the chief of its Delhi-based Supreme Council. A group of Tabligh Jamaat members protesting the arrival of Central Sura member Maulana Mohammad Saad Kandalavi in Dhaka brings the traffic at the airport road to a halt on Wednesday.

"The tension has been running high between the two factions since morning. Later, police brought the situation under control," said Maruf.

Kandhalvi, earlier announced himself as the chief of the body, which created a rift among the senior members of the Tabligh Jamaat's Bangladesh chapter. Because of the conflict, he had to leave Bangladesh without attending the last ijtema. Earlier this year, a scuffle broke out between the two groups on the premises of the mosque. Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan mediated between the two factions.

Against this backdrop, the two factions again ended up in the conflict over a meeting on the day.

Akram Hossain, a follower of Saad, said: "We were barred from attending the meeting and a scuffle started when we protested it. Later, police came and asked us to leave the area."

He claimed that students of Qawmi madrasa were the obstructers.

In an effort to avoid such untoward incidents in future, a five-member advisory council was formed by the 'senior leaders'. The council's member Abdul Quddus, who serves as the acting secretary general of Qawmi Madrasa Education Board, told bdnews24.com: "I am out of Dhaka now. We are trying to solve the problem by ourselves." Tabligh Jamaat is the largest organisation of Sunni Muslims in the Indian subcontinent. Its headquarters, referred to as the Markaz, is based in New Delhi. Its operations are conducted through 13-member central council.President Donald Trump drew criticism from pundits and onlookers on Twitter on Friday when he described the Paralympics as "a little tough to watch too much."

Trump made the comments during a White House reception with the Olympians and Paralympians from Team U.S.A., an event that is held annually to celebrate the teams.

"What happened with the Paralympics was so incredible and so inspiring to me," Trump said. "And I watched  it's a little tough to watch too much, but I watched as much as I could."

He went on to thank the athletes for doing a fantastic job.

Click through the gallery above for reactions to Trump's comments.

The comments immediately drew ire from some onlookers who felt that describing the Paralympics as hard to watch was insulting to the athletes and the uplifting spirit of the event.

California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom was among those who took to Twitter to blast Trump's characterization of the Paralympics.

ALSO: Trump says for first time that lawyer represented him in Stormy Daniels case

"Spent my day meeting with CA's Disability Community  some of the most inspiring and thoughtful people I've ever met," Newsom wrote. "Left to see our President proclaiming the Paralympics are 'a little tough to watch too much of.' Hey, @realDonaldTrump - You're an absolute disgrace."

Filipa Ioannou is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at fioannou@sfchronicle.com and follow her on TwitterMortgage adviser: Dominique Stevens

Property type:

Single-family home in San Francisco.

Loan amount: $1.35 million.

Loan terms: 30-year fixed.

Loan rate: 4.75 percent.

Backstory: With more and more buyers searching for that first dream property in San Francisco, its often difficult to find one under the million dollar mark.

Dominique Stevens clients were both tech engineers who had just had a baby. Living in a rental with the new addition to their family was getting pretty tight. The couple had ample income to support a $1.5 million mortgage, however scraping together 20 percent for the down payment was the issue they couldnt overcome.

They were referred by their Realtor to Stevens, who works with several lenders. One of Stevens lenders offers jumbo loans with only a 10 percent down payment and no mortgage insurance, instead of the standard 20 percent down payment requirement.

The couple were excited to finally be able to go out and make offers on a home in their price range. They found a property in the Sunset District for $1.5 million and made their offer. Their offer was accepted, and Stevens was able to close their loan within 15 days.

Dominique Stevens,

Mayfair Mortgage,

(415) 250-8908, dstevens@mayfairmtg.com.Vizio SB3621

Cnet rating: 5 stars out of 5

The good: The Vizio offers excellent performance for an ultra-budget sound bar with great movie sound and toe-tapping music playback. The sound bar offers a decent selection of inputs, including Bluetooth, and will decode both Dolby and DTS. The sound bar and wireless sub feature excellent build quality and a seamless setup.

The bad: The LED display is not very helpful, and the WAV-file-only USB port is a little weird.

The cost: $115 to $148

The bottom line: Its the best sound bar under $300 we have ever heard. Its the new budget benchmark.

Yamaha YAS-207

Cnet rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

The good: The Yamaha offers excellent sound quality that is a step up from other budget systems. It offers a bevy of useful features for an affordable price. Build quality is excellent and includes a subwoofer made from MDF and not plastic. The simulated surround modes eclipse anything else available at the same price or less.

The bad: It doesnt have an onscreen display for your TV.

The cost: $300

The bottom line: The Yamaha is an excellent sound bar package which offers sound quality that soars above others at the price.

Samsung HW-K950

Cnet rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

The good: The Samsung is one of the best sound bars weve ever heard for both movies and music. The dedicated rear speakers deliver increased immersion compared to single-speaker designs. Its cheaper than buying a Dolby Atmos receiver and speakers.

The bad: Its expensive for a sound bar, and DTS support is limited. Dolby Atmos is available only on a limited number of titles compared with other surround formats.

The cost: $1,200

The bottom line: The Samsung combines the discreet looks and simple setup of a sound bar with truly impressive sound for both movies and music.

Pioneer SP-SB23W

Cnet rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

The good: The Pioneer offers outstanding sound quality for a sound bar, particularly when it comes to the blend between the sub and the main cabinet. Performance is even more impressive considering the size of the tiny wireless subwoofer, which is easy to hide in the room. And theres also built-in Bluetooth for wireless audio streaming.

The bad: The systems style wont wow you, and the sound bars relatively chunky size might block your televisions remote sensor. The included remote is mediocre, and theres no front-panel display for visual feedback while making adjustments.

The cost: $340 to $399

The bottom line: The Pioneer is the best affordable sound bar if you care about sound quality, with its outstanding sonics making up for some of its design limitations.

Steve Guttenberg, Matthew Moskovciak, Ty Pendlebury and Laura K. Cucullu contributed to this report. For more reviews of personal technology products, visit www.cnet.com.LONDON  Alfie Evans, a British toddler with a degenerative brain condition whose parents lost a legal battle to keep him on life support at a Vatican hospital, was mourned with balloons set free in the sky and prayers from the pope after he died Saturday weeks shy of his second birthday.

Kate James and Tom Evans said their sons death overnight in Liverpool had left them heartbroken. Alfies condition left him with almost no brain function, and multiple courts ruled that keeping him alive was not in his best interests before doctors removed his ventilator five days ago.

My gladiator lay down his shield and gained his wings at 02:30, Evans, 21, wrote in a Facebook post decorated with a broken heart and crying emoji.

As news spread in the community, dozens of people laid flowers and mementos in a park near Alder Hey Childrens Hospital in Liverpool, where Alfie was treated.

About 1,000 people gathered hours after the boy died to release blue and purple balloons in solidarity with the grieving mother and father who had struggled to come to terms with their childs terminal illness.

James, 20, posted a message on social media thanking everyone who supported the family through Alfies illness and court fight.

Alfies case sparked a medical ethics debate that resonated far beyond Britain.

Doctors overseeing his care said further treatment was futile and he should be allowed to die. But his parents fought for months to try to persuade judges to allow them to take him to the Vaticans childrens hospital, where life support would have been maintained.

Under British law, courts are asked to intervene when parents and doctors disagree on the right course of treatment for a child. In such cases, the rights of the child take primacy over the parents right to decide whats best for their daughters and sons.

Pope Francis, who met with Evans and publicly supported the parents campaign to bring Alfie to Bambino Gesu Hospital, wrote condolences that were posted Saturday on Twitter.

I am deeply moved by the death of little Alfie, Francis said. Today I pray especially for his parents, as God the Father receives him in his tender embrace.

Italy granted Alfie citizenship and put a military plane on standby to transport him to Rome, if the courts allowed it.

Tensions between the toddlers parents and the hospital had eased in recent days. Evans, who earlier said doctors were wrong about Alfies prognosis and threatened to resume the court battle over his care, pledged to work with hospital staff to give his son dignity and comfort in his final days.

Our lives have been turned upside down by the intense focus on Alfie and his situation, Evans said Thursday outside the Liverpool hospital.

He thanked the hospital staff for their dignity and professionalism during what must be an incredibly difficult time for them too.

Alder Hey issued a statement to express heartfelt sympathy and condolences to Alfies family.

Danica Kirka and Sylvia Hui are Associated Press writers.Suu Kyi seeks new ties with UN over Rohingya crisis

AFP :

Aung San Suu Kyi hopes to restore her battered reputation by allowing UN human rights and development organisations to enter Myanmar to prepare the ground for the large-scale return of Rohingya Muslims.

Her aides hope the offer, linked to internal political changes strengthening her position and the appointment of a UN special envoy for the crisis, can mark a turning point in her relations with the international community.

Nearly 700,000 Rohingya have fled violence in Myanmar since a military crackdown began last August, joining an estimated 200,000 who have sought shelter in Bangladesh over the past few decades.

In a highly unusual move, senior diplomats from each of the 15 UN security council member states will travel to Bangladesh and Myanmar, starting on Saturday. The ambassadors will visit refugee camps in Bangladesh before meeting Aung San Suu Kyi and going by helicopter to Rakhine state, the centre of what the UN has described as ethnic cleansing.

Aung San Suu Kyi's allies are hoping she can convince the diplomats that an agreement on the introduction of UN organisations into Rakhine can help speed up the safe, voluntary return of thousands of internally displaced people and refugees in the Bangladeshi camps.

'I fear Myanmar, I don't want to go home': Rohingya in Bangladesh - in pictures

The UN bodies could also monitor the situation and prevent a repeat of the violence that prompted the exodus.

Repatriation is becoming a matter of urgency, Aung San Suu Kyi's allies concede, due to the imminent monsoon season. But the UN high commissioner for refugees has recently said conditions in Myanmar are not yet "conducive for the voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable return of refugees", and said the responsibility remains with the government to change this.

The refugees say they need assurances from Myanmar about concrete progress over their legal status, citizenship and security in Rakhine.

A first step would be to ease restrictions on movement for the internally displaced people encamped in the central townships of Rakhine, which would also help build confidence among refugees in Bangladesh.

Another urgent step is to repatriate the 6,000 or so refugees caught in the no man's land of the "zero line", a buffer zone between Myanmar and Bangladesh.

The visiting ambassadors are likely to press Aung San Suu Kyi on the progress she is making in implementing the reforms proposed by the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State, a body she established and which was chaired by the former UN secretary general Kofi Annan.

The commission's report called for a review of Myanmar's 1982 citizenship law, which prevents the Rohingya from becoming citizens, and an end to restrictions on the minority group to prevent further violence.

The ambassadors, including the UK envoy to the UN, Karen Pierce, will visit Rakhine. They are likely to push for progress on the approximately 8,000 refugees who have said they want to return to northern Rakhine but have so far been prevented from doing so by the government.

Pierce said it was "incredibly important" for the council to see the situation on the ground as it considered "what needs to be done next to help Myanmar develop as a modern political and economic entity".

The election last month of Win Myint, a close ally of Aung San Suu Kyi, as president is seen as having strengthened her position. Myanmar's constitution prevents Aung San Suu Kyi from being president as her children are foreign nationals, but she has been appointed state counsellor, a position above that of president. Win is seen as a much more assertive figure than his predecessor.

Peter Maurer, the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, which is providing aid to those affected by the violence in Rakhine, said the Myanmar government was rebuilding villages and taking steps to allow the Rohingya to return.

"But what we see is that people don't yet trust that this will give them safety and security," he said. "We are at the beginning of such a confidence-building process. It's a very long way to go."

Aung San Suu Kyi has privately welcomed the decision of the UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres, to appoint Switzerland's ambassador to Germany, Christine Schraner Burgener, as special envoy on Myanmar.PESHAWAR, Pakistan  A Pakistani human rights group that has accused the military of widespread abuses as it battles Islamist militants in Pakistans rugged border region with neighboring Afghanistan has emerged as a force among the countrys Pashtun minority, drawing tens of thousands to rallies to protest what it contends is a campaign of intimidation that includes extrajudicial killings and thousands of disappearances and detentions.

The groups charismatic leader, Manzoor Pashteen, 25, has become the face of the countrys oppressed Pashtun, charging that in the name of its war on terror the military has used indiscriminate force as it hunts for Taliban hideouts in the tribal regions where the Pashtun dominate, imposing collective punishments like bulldozing the homes of family members of suspected militants and punishing entire villages for extremist attacks.

The catalyst for the groups creation was the police killing in January of Naqueebullah Mehsud, a 27-year-old ethnic Pashtun and aspiring model who was shot dead in the southern port city of Karachi, where many Pashtuns have relocated after being displaced by the military operations in the tribal regions. The authorities originally said Mehsud fired first during a raid by security forces on a militant hideout, but later acknowledged he was unarmed and had been targeted simply because he was Pashtun.

His death ignited protests by Pashtuns, who accused Pakistans security forces of racial profiling, seeing all Pashtuns as Taliban simply because many insurgents in Afghanistan and Pakistan are recruited from among Pashtun tribesmen.

Within weeks what began as a small group of about two dozen had morphed into a popular movement. Known as the Pashtun Protection Movement, it has drawn huge crowds to rallies where Pashteen leads the charge, accusing the military of detaining thousands of Pashtuns in internment camps for months or even years without charges and intimidating residents at the dozens of checkpoints scattered throughout the tribal regions.

Residents, he said, were scared silent, too afraid to criticize the army tactics.

Punishment is all about sending a message to keep silent, Pashteen said in an interview in Peshawar. When we began we were fed up with life, treated like we were not human. One thousand percent we were sure we would be killed.

Pashteen says he has just two demands: The establishment of a peace and reconciliation commission to address the grievances of Pashtuns, and that the thousands of people in detention centers be brought to trial if they are accused of a crime or be released.

Kathy Gannon is an Associated Press writer.SANAA, Yemen  A Saudi-led air strike targeting a high-level meeting of Shiite rebels in Yemens capital killed two of the groups leaders and dozens of their militiamen, the kingdoms state media reported Saturday.

The Shiite rebels known as Houthis did not immediately acknowledge the strike.

Saudi state-run television offered the report, saying the strike Friday killed more than 50 militiamen, including the two leaders. It did not elaborate.

The dispatch followed a more detailed report by Al-Arabiya, a Dubai-based satellite news network now believed to be majority-owned by Saudi Arabia. Al-Arabiya said the strike hit a building belonging to Yemens Interior Ministry in the countrys rebel-held capital, Sanaa. It said more than 38 Houthi fighters including the two leaders were killed.

Yemens three-year stalemated war has killed more than 10,000 people and displaced 3 million. It began after the Houthis swept through Sanaa and farther south, sparking a Saudi-led military intervention on behalf of the countrys internationally recognized government.

The kingdoms devastating air campaign repeatedly has struck markets, medical facilities and civilian targets, drawing international criticism. The coalitions blockade on ports under Houthi control has been a main factor pushing the country into near starvation, according to United Nations agencies and rights groups.

Meanwhile, the Iranian-backed Houthis face criticism for laying mines that have killed and maimed civilians, while allegedly diverting humanitarian aid to their own cadres.

Ahmed Al-Haj is an Associated Press writer.COXS BAZAR, Bangladesh  A U.N. Security Council delegation arrived in Bangladesh on Saturday to get a firsthand look at the plight of some 700,000 Rohingya Muslims who have fled Myanmar to escape military-led violence.

The team will visit camps housing the refugees and discuss the crisis with local officials. The delegation will also visit Myanmar.

Representatives from the five permanent Security Council members  China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States  and 10 non-permanent member states have joined the delegation, which arrived in the coastal town of Coxs Bazar where the camps are located.

The refugee surge began when Rohingya insurgents staged a series of attacks on Aug. 25 on about 30 security outposts and other targets in Myanmar. In a subsequent crackdown described by the United Nations and the U.S. as ethnic cleansing, Myanmar security forces have been accused of rape, killing, torture and the burning of Rohingya villagers homes.

Bangladeshs acting foreign secretary, M. Khurshed Alam, said the delegations visit is very significant, with international pressure on Myanmar continuing to mount to ensure the safe and voluntary return of the refugees, who are seeking protection from the United Nations.

Bangladesh and Myanmar agreed in December to begin repatriating the refugees in January, but there were concerns among aid workers and Rohingya that they would be forced to return and face unsafe conditions in Myanmar.

The U.N. refugee agency and Bangladesh recently finalized a memorandum of understanding that said the repatriation process must be safe, voluntary and dignified ... in line with international standards.

Julhas Alam is an Associated Press writer.No more minus people election for minus people govt: Mainul Hosein

Staff Reporter :

Speakers at a function have emphasized an inclusive election to overcome the ongoing crisis in the country where all political parties will get equal right of campaign in favour of their candidates and mass gathering with a free and fair atmosphere.

They said this at a seminar on Saturday afternoon titled "Election for Democracy and Democratic Leadership" organized by Dhaka Dialogue at hotel Asia Pacific in Baridhara Diplomatic Zone.

Former adviser to the caretaker government Barrister Mainul Hosein speaking at the seminar said nothing is more ignominious than to live in a situation where the country is ours but the government is theirs. The demand of free election is the people's demand for accountable governance as required under the Constitution.

"Our democratic Constitution is our people's vision about the form of government, and the kind of society they wish to organise for them," he said.

Subverting free election is violation of a basic structure of the Constitution and grabbing power through such no election is manifestly unconstitutional with consequences grave for an uncertain future. (Articles 7, 21 and 65)

But to our great pain and frustration, we have been watching the annihilating process of all the democratic institutions. The scheme is to demolish, with a show of arrogance, the checks and balances of a democratic government for turning the clock back to the past autocracy of unchecked power so dreadfully rejected by the people, Barrister Mainul said.

"It is clear to us and clear to the world outside that the country is heading dangerously towards one-party autocracy. Only difference is our autocracy, if it succeeds, is not to be a one-person autocracy, but a group autocracy in the service of group interests," he said.

The challenge is to establish the sovereign dominance of the people in public affairs. The minus people election for minus people government must be ended, he mentioned.

He said, "We must talk the talk and walk the walk to prove to ourselves and the world that we are not incapable of challenging leadership or unworthy of freedom."

Barrister Mainul suggested a revised formula of the caretaker/interim election time government for arranging the next general election free and fair:

a)The constitutional structure of election time caretaker government as jointly agreed by all parties should be taken as the basis but with necessary changes;

b)The parliament must be dissolved before the election as is done everywhere under the parliamentary system;

c)The President in consultation with major political parties will form the election time interim or caretaker government. In case no consensus can be reach then the President will be vested with the authority to form the caretaker/interim government from among non-party eminent persons. [Full text on page- 5]

Dr. Saleahuddin Ahmed, a former Bangladesh Bank governor, said, "The government is soughing development, development. But the development is a fake. Without good governance there is no importance of development. Without good governance the development won't sustain."

He said, the impact of lack of good governance affects every sector.

Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, a BNP standing committee member, said the people of Bangladesh are hoping a fair election but they don't have expectation for a free and fair election. "Bangladesh is going on an uncertain situation. The ruling party is fearing to hold a free and fair election."

Amir Khasru claimed that the ruling party destroyed the democracy. They have also stolen the people's right to vote, freedom of media and, independence of judiciary.

He said, Awami League is not giving any political space to BNP. And before election they will continue it.

He suggested four steps for holding a free and fair election. Firstly, need to political space, secondly electoral space, thirdly, level playing field and finally, election.

Mahmudur Rahman Manna, convener of Nagorik Oikyo, said, without battle no fair election will be held. There is no alternative to a free and fair election. If a fair election is held in the country the ruling party will feel crisis for their existence.

Manna mentioned the recent quota movement and said, such type of movement will happen again and the ruling party won't get path to escape.

"There is no chance that a free and fair election will be organized. But the agitating people are mounting high. If they get change, they will throw the government out of power," he added.

He further said, no autocratic government can stay in power longer. The study of history is that their final ending is so pathetic.

Veteran journalist Mahfuj Ullah questioned whether the next election will be inclusive or it will be like a January 5 type. But there is a possibility of holding the January 5 type election.

He also said, the ruling party's ministers are speaking recklessly and their first and foremost agenda is to attack BNP.

Local government specialist Dr. Tofail Ahmed said, nobody believe that a free and fair election will be held in the present situation.

He said, people want a change but who will hold the steer and come foreword. The feeling of mass fear and mass indifference are going on.

Former diplomat Brigadier Gias Uddin said, there is no democracy in the county's political parties. If there is no democracy in the party, how can we expect democracy for the nation? If democracy is weak than other organs of the state will be weak.

Mohammad Munirruzaman presided over the seminar and Rieta Rahman moderated it.

Professor Mazharul Haque, among others, also spoke on the occasion.



To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.

We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.

A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means youre helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!One night, when I was in year 9, my mother attended a parent-teacher meeting and came home fuming. It was my maths teacher, she explained. Asked about my progress hed cheerfully replied, Oh, shes hopeless, and switched the conversation to Hungarian sporting legends.

For me, the teachers assessment was sweet relief, vindicating my plans to drop maths at the earliest opportunity and end the torment of pi and everything else I failed to grasp. He was being realistic and strategic; persisting with the subject would just hobble me in VCE.

Our school education system is a zero-sum game played on an increasingly uneven field.

But for mum, a doctor who adored poetry, an unnervingly capable individual wedded to the ideal of a balanced education, his words were incendiary. She saw sexism. She saw, at the least, a dereliction of duty.

Anyway, I dropped maths, blitzed VCE, got accepted into law school and Im assuming none of this comes as a surprise, because we tend to talk about a words-versus-numbers, humanities-versus-sciences divide, with people falling on one side or the other. Plus, were acclimatised to a system that encourages high school students to play to their strengths, cut their losses and focus on the raw figurecurrently the anodyne sounding, Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank, the ATAR that after 13 years of schooling determines their career path.The overall cost of building, operating and moving the Powerhouse Museum to western Sydney will top $1 billion, the government's own economic analysis states, as the fate of the Ultimo site continues to remain uncertain.

Outlining the government's plans for a new dedicated museum with a domed planetarium and an exhibition space for travelling international blockbusters, the NSW Minister for Arts, Don Harwin, said there were no plans to demolish the heritage-listed buildings of the Museum of Applied Arts and Science's inner-city museum.

The member for Parramatta, Geoff Lee, takes a selfie with NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian at an announcement of the site of the Powerhouse Museum in Parramatta on Saturday. Credit:Cole Bennetts

But he did not rule out the sale of airspace rights nor partial sale and residential redevelopment on the 2.6-hectare site along Harris Street. A masterplan had yet to be started and a final business case was still to be completed setting out the government's financial investment options at Ultimo.

Once the building is decommissioned at the end of 2019, Mr Harwin said he supported the development of a creative industries precinct similar to New York's Meatpacking District with a lyric theatre and a design and fashion museum. It is believed the Powerhouse Museum's Boiler and Turbine Halls have been appraised for conversion into commercially tenanted performance spaces.Q: I am 36, single, and very sexually active, having a number of casual hook-ups. I never allow penetrative sex without a condom, and get a sexual health check up every four months. The other day I was freaked out when someone told me that throat cancer can be caused by a wart virus. I often perform oral sex without a condom because they taste so awful. Am I taking a risk?

A: The reality is that no sexual contact is completely risk-free. It is for this reason that we now talk about "safer" sex practices, rather than "safe sex". By following certain protocols, such as using condoms, we can minimise, but not eliminate, risk.

Illustration: Dionne Gain

The Human B-Papillomavirus (HPV) has many strains. The two that cause genital warts do not cause cancer, but a number of the other types do. The Gardasil inoculation is being given to girls and boys before they become sexually active, to protect them from this common cancer. A generation is coming through who will not need to worry about HPV, but the rest of us need to be aware of this risk. Many of us may have been exposed to one strain or other of HPV in our lifetime but unfortunately there is not a test that can accurately determine this. Whether or not you are being exposed to one of the dangerous strains is a matter of chance.

Although condoms are widely used for sexual intercourse, they are less commonly used for oral sex, and research has shown that increasing numbers of heterosexuals are engaging in oral, and anal, sex.High profile UN mission now in Cox`s Bazar, visits camps today

M M Jasim :

A high level 15-member delegation from the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) will visit Rohingya camps in Cox's Bazar district today (Sunday).

The UNSC team will stay about three hours at Rohingya camp from 9:20am to 12:45pm today for talks with the Rohingya people and to observe the overall situation, according to an official of the Foreign Ministry.

The delegation will leave for Kutupalong Rohingya camp at 8:20am. They will first go to no man's land on the Bangladesh-Myanmar border.

They will talk with Rohingyas in various blocks of Kutupalong camp and then will brief the media at 12:45pm.

The UNSC team is scheduled to leave Cox's Bazar for Dhaka at 3:30pm on Sunday.

They are programmed to meet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the Gonobhaban at 9:30am on Monday and will leave Dhaka at 10:30am for Myanmar.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh will describe the brutalities the Rohingyas faced in Rakhine State and steps taken by the government here.

The government hopes the UNSC visit, which is rare in the region, will pave the way for a sustainable solution to the decade old Rohingya crisis.

Earlier, Bangladesh also urged the UN Security Council to undertake visits to Myanmar and Bangladesh to witness the humanitarian situation of the Rohingya amid continuous influx of the refugees.

The UNSC delegation comprising envoys from five permanent members (China, France, Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States) and 10 non-permanent members reached Cox's Bazar on Sunday afternoon.

State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam and acting Foreign Secretary Rear Admiral (retd) M Khurshed Alam received the UNSC delegation in Cox's Bazar.

About 10 lakh Rohingyas sought refuge in Bangladesh since Myanmar military began its crackdown on the minority community living in northern Maungdaw of Rakhine province last October.

Access to the area has been restricted ever since.The ambulances officers were so afraid they locked themselves in the room, grabbing anything they could to protect themselves before police arrived. They could hear the man "screaming like a crazed animal outside". Then he punched the glass at the back of the ambulance with such force that shards flew metres forward into the dashboard. It took four ambulance officers and two police officers to subdue the patient. He pled guilty and was sentenced to two years in jail for destruction of property, assault, assault occasioning bodily harm, assaulting an officer in the course of duty, resisting arrest and intimidation. "It is like the zombie apocalypse and the walking dead. This is what they are like. There is nothing going on in their brain that you can reason with," Ms O'Dea said of uncontrollable patients. A career paramedic, Ms O'Dea recalled being attacked within days of starting the job 34 years ago. Now 55, Ms O'Dea says the violence is more frequent and vicious than during the worst of gang wars in Cabramatta 20 years ago when she won an award for bravery.

Ms O'Dea's experience is not an isolated case. New national research has found there is no other occupational group at higher risk of injury or fatality than paramedics. Safety measures set to be announced This week, NSW Ambulance Commissioner Dominic Morgan will announce a package of safety initiatives to reduce violence following a strategic review into occupational violence. There have been 60 assaults - around three a week - against NSW paramedics this calendar year, the commissioner said.

"It is just not on for members of our community to attack paramedics who are simply trying to administer medical assistance and care in some of the most intimidating situations," he said. "There is no other workplace where it would be acceptable for three people a week to be assaulted." There are already stand-off procedures in place - where paramedics may refuse to enter a scene which is dangerous. "I do not expect paramedics to risk their lives or incur injury in the course of their duty to the public. We will continue to do anything in our power to get to any person in a medical emergency, but first and foremost my priority is that paramedics go home to their families safely," Commissioner Morgan said. Biting the hand that helps you

In the past year paramedics have been bitten, punched and thrown across a room, according to Gerard Hayes, the national secretary of the Health Services Union. Nearly every paramedic is abused regularly. On Saturday, a man stole a motorised stretcher from an ambulance as paramedics prepared to render assistance. A North Coast paramedic told Fairfax Media it was routine to get abuse such as: "If you don't help me now I am going to punch you." Mr Hayes said: "paramedics are not punching bags. Their job is to keep people alive and get them to hospital." Loading He attributed the rise in violence to drugs, such as ice, and alcohol. The bigger issue is understaffing, which is why the union recently enforced a ban on paramedics working alone.

No other occupational group had a higher injury or fatality rate, found research by Central Queensland University academic Professor Brian Maguire, who was a paramedic in the United States for 20 years. His research - specialising in this area - finds that Australian paramedics have the nation's highest rate of occupational injury and assaults. The injury rate is twice as high as that of police officers, he told Fairfax in an interview from the United States where he is now based. His review of 300 cases of paramedics who had been seriously injuried, using SafeWork Australia figures from 2001 to 2014, found the rate of violence against paramedics and ambulance officers had increased from five to 40 per year. The study also found female paramedics have a disproportionately higher risk than men. A 2017 survey by Professor Maguire of nearly 1800 paramedics from around the world found 65 per cent had been physically attacked while on duty.Six-year-old Georgia Hotz was asleep when it happened. The first thing she remembers after the 1.52am take-off was waking up  half an hour later  with a blanket covering her head. Her parents had placed it there in a feeble effort to protect her.

As she peeled it away, she took in a scene from most peoples worst nightmares.

Paul and Susan Hotz and their daughter Georgia Meyerson with a copy of a story from 1989 detailing their miraculous escape. Credit:Cole Bennetts

Georgia was on United Airlines flight 811 from Honolulu to Sydney on February 24, 1989, with her parents Paul and Susan. As the plane climbed to cruising altitude, the locks on its cargo door failed, blowing it open with such force it smashed a massive hole, 10 metres across, in the fuselage.

Nine passengers sitting in the downstairs business class section near the Hotz family were sucked out of the plane to their deaths. The overhead lockers were also pulled from the plane. The cabin plunged into darkness.A teenage L-plater who was killed in a crash in Sydney's north-west was learning to drive with her father when their vehicle and another car collided.

The young female driver was being supervised by her father when their red Suzuki Swift and a Falcon sedan collided at the intersection of Old Northern Road and Cockatoo Place, in Glenorie, just before 5pm on Friday.

The L-Plate driver died at the scene. Credit:Seven News

Members of the public, who saw the crash, rushed to help the young woman but she died at the scene. Her father, believed to be aged in his 50s, was critically injured and was flown to Royal North Shore Hospital.

Channel Ten reported the woman killed was 19-year-old Jodie Gillett; however, this could not be confirmed.A major NSW government agency has refused to explain how a repeat drink-driver convicted of assaulting a woman obtained a relatively senior position in its workforce before he molested a heavily intoxicated woman in the toilets of a Sydney bar.

A man has been jailed over the sexual assault of a woman at a Transport NSW/Sydney Trains function. Credit:Rob Homer

William Nhan - a man who then went on to wound his partner in an episode of domestic violence - has been jailed over the sexual assault, which happened in the toilet cubicle of a Surry Hills bar at a Sydney Trains/Transport NSW work function.

Nhan was imprisoned for at least two years and 10 months, with a maximum term of five years and four months, on December 15 last year. The incident on June 10, 2016, began with him attending to help the sick woman.

In sentencing Nhan, NSW District Court judge Stephen Norrish QC described how that once in the cubicle, the intoxicated man then removed the womans underwear and tried to have sex with her while she was vomiting.General anaesthetic might be bad for children's brains - but poverty, poor nutrition or delaying life-saving surgery is much worse, say experts.

An alarming new Australian study published this week linked a dose of 'general' anaesthetic with a small but significant dip in school performance and brain development for thousands of NSW schoolkids.

The findings, if confirmed, are concerning. But they shouldn't change the way children are treated; childhood surgery is almost never optional, say experts.

What the study really does is add a serious note of urgency in the quest to understand how anaesthesia works  and to the search for a non-toxic alternative.

If these findings were true, this would really worry paediatric anaesthesia researchers - let alone anyone else, says Professor Paul Myles, director of anaesthesia at Melbourne's The Alfred hospital.Memes, influencers, user-generated content. Social media is changing the way the alcohol industry is pushing its products into the minds and mouths of young people. For the most part its an unregulated space, almost impossible to monitor and the alcohol industry is taking full advantage.

The underside of alcohol advertising was thrown into the spotlight recently when cider company Little Fat Lamb was exposed for promoting their alco-pop style cider to young people with cheap prices  as low as $4 for eight standard drinks  and distasteful social media content.

Little Fat Lamb.

Little Fat Lambs Facebook page is built of memes and user-generated content that celebrate and encourage dangerous drinking. Regardless of whether its a fan or an official page, theres no denying that the cider brand is benefiting from the promotion.

One post with about a thousand likes shows someone passed out with vomit on their pants. Its captioned, "when the Little Fat Lamb hits / Give us a like if you can relate". Another is captioned, "Tag a mate who carnt [sic] even handle one bottle of fat!!" One bottle contains a whopping eight standard drinks  which is double the limit set by guidelines to reduce the risk of acute harm from drinking.McMaster  whose firm, the royal commission heard, had employed several planners who had been terminated by other financial institutions for misconduct  was but the latest in a bewildered bevy of bankers and money managers who have demonstrated beyond any doubt that the royal commission is necessary. Little wonder the bloke was under such pressure.

It was a raw, terrible moment in only the third week of the hearings, presided over by former High Court Justice Kenneth Hayne, who had just made one of his scrupulous interpolations by warning the witness against breaking the law by, well, bullshitting. Terry McMaster collapsed in the witness box. He was taken away in an ambulance and is hopefully recovering fully. The head of a financial advice outfit called Dover Financial, McMaster had been agonisingly floundering  and becoming increasingly grey (in colour and terminology)  under questioning by one of Commissioner Haynes terrifyingly forensic assisting counsel, silk Mark Costello.

Having proposed and penned The Ages editorial back in August 2016 calling for a banking royal commission amid scathing rejection of such a scurrilous notion by the Coalition government, some of the highest-profile media commentators and, funnily enough, pretty much the entire finance industry, I was dutifully watching the webcast of the Coalition governments Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry last Thursday afternoon when the live feed suddenly stopped.

Hes not alone. The big four banks  ANZ, Westpac, Commonwealth Bank, NAB  knew the royal commission was coming and had set up legal teams that are being paid many millions of dollars defending the indefensible. They knew that Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull (a former banker), Treasurer Scott Morrison (a former lobbyist), Finance Minister Mathias Cormann (a former acting general manager of an insurance company) and Financial Services Minister Kelly ODwyer (a former NAB executive) were going to have to cave to pressure; the evidence, much of which was the result of investigations led by The Ages Adele Ferguson, was clearly reaching a tipping point.

Our unimpeachable political leaders held out until the end of 2017, only humiliatingly capitulating when they were hours from an even more humiliating revolt by members of their own government. Now they are claiming credit for the inquiry. That is similarly breathtaking as the widely reported fraud, lying and deceit the commission has already uncovered, much of it as a result of the probing of one of Costellos colleagues, Rowena "Shock and" Orr QC, who has been utterly shredding witnesses. The government limited the royal commission to one year, but may well have to again capitulate, this time to an extension of the probe.

Greed and conflict of interest are, of course, at the core of the problem. Banks and other financial firms insidiously reward staff for flogging internal products. Client interest is unethically, disgustingly subordinated. Much has been and will be written about this and the royal commission will lead to profound changes. To be sure, some of the victims are the honest financial planners, the people who help clients prudently divide their savings among various assets  stocks, bonds, cash, property etc.

But there is a massive deception behind much of the financial services industry: arrogant parasites are convincing people to pay them to invest in, say, the stock market on the basis that they, the money managers, are smarter than everyone else. Theyre not. One of the safest, simplest way to invest in shares is to buy an indexed fund  to spread your money across the market.Joondalup Detectives have charged a man and a 15-year-old boy after an armed robbery at Lakelands Shopping Centre.

WA Police will allege that just after midday on Friday a group entered a store, taking items of clothing.

When approached by an employee, police allege the 15-year-old produced a knife and made threats, before the youths left the store taking items of property.

A boy and man have been charged.

Police said the employee had her clothing sliced by the knife as the youth turned to leave the store.Ever well-presented in a blue and white pinstriped shirt, Gerges had pressed the need for a new, ponytail-styled driver to clean up his junkie image lest he scare off daintier clientele. To fly under the radar, you needed a clean car, an eastern suburbs number plate and an expensive appearance. Gerges was not happy with the appearance of Jeremy Nightingale. Credit:Facebook. Tell him, listen bro, if he wants to keep working for us youve gotta cut your hair and you gotta wear like a f---in like a nice collared shirt when you work (sic), Gerges is recorded as saying during a tapped phone call with syndicate member Andrew Hadi. Sentencing judge Paul Conlon would later single out this conversation as telling of how Gerges approached the criminal venture.

Mere minutes after that conversation he was arrested with 40 bags of cocaine stuffed in his undies. The syndicate had been under police surveillance. According to a statement of agreed facts, customers would text one of four phone numbers used by Hadi and fellow dealer Beau Greentree, asking for rock show tickets, tickets or beers. After receiving the customers address, either Hadi or Greentree would dispatch one of the drivers to deliver the cocaine. Syndicate director Beau Greentree. Credit:Facebook Aside from Gerges, the lackeys included Michael Bishop, Pania Leger, Wilson Leger, Jeremy Nightingale and Kyle Hedington.

Each week Hadi and Greentree would arrange for the drivers to visit the Dulwich Hill home of Anslem Lee to top up their supplies. Gerges delivered drugs to undercover officers in Circular Quay, Star City Casino, and the CBD, remonstrating one for making him drive out to Mascot to deliver just one bag. Anslem Lee was arrested at his Dulwich Hill unit in 2015. Credit:Police Media I just cant come here bro, like Ive missed four people now, he said. At one point Gerges admonished Lee over the quality of the powder being sold, telling Hadi customers were complaining of how rubbish it is.

A guy just got in my car and I swear to God he goes, he goes to me, I wouldnt lie to you, he goes I had three lines and there was no effect. It was just like I was having sugar, he said in another intercepted call. Police also listened in on other conversations that included the pair talking about how much cocaine they sold on a weekly basis, and another young driver who had been done because he stashed his money in his back pocket. Loading In August 2017, Lee was sentenced in the District Court to seven years in jail, with a five-year non-parole period, for supplying a large commercial quantity of cocaine, dealing with proceeds of crime, participating in group criminal activity and using his home as a drug premises. Greentree was sentenced to five years in jail with a non-parole period of three years for supplying a commercial quantity of cocaine, possessing a prohibited firearm and ammunition, and other offences.

Hadi was sentenced to four-and-a-half years, with a non-parole-period of two-and-a-half years for supplying a commercial quantity of cocaine. Bishop received a two-year intensive supervision order for the ongoing supply of prohibited drugs. Wilson and Pania Leger both received jail-terms of 32 months, with minimum terms of 12 months. Hedington was sentenced to 37 months behind bars, with a non-parole period of 15 months. Gerges was the last of nine players to be convicted over the cocaine syndicate. Credit:Facebook

Most recently, on April 19 this year, the ponytail-clad Nightingale, who starting delivering cocaine because his son was critically injured in a car crash, was sentenced to 15 months in prison, with a non-parole period of seven months. In sentencing Gerges on Thursday, Judge Conlon described the syndicate as a well organised group that had been operating undetected for some time. Loading Following his arrest, Gerges turned his hand to labouring for his father. But it wasnt long before he was back doing what he did best: sales.

Gerges had secured a position working for the Mens Health Institute of Australia, and was then offered a share of it. In a letter to the court, Managing Director Matthew Denneny said Gerges had become an indispensable part of the organisation, that his professional and sales skills were pivotal to the companys success. In a previous hearing, Gerges said he was disgusted with the person he became. "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, he said in April. Judge Conlon expressed regret at having to jail Gerges, who he said had taken control of his rehabilitation and mentored others about his failings.Beijing: A man wielding a knife killed nine children and injured 10 others outside a middle school in central China on Friday, authorities said, in one of the worst attacks at a Chinese school in recent years.

The incident took place shortly after 6pm, officials said, as students were being dismissed at the Mizhi County No. 3 Middle School in Shaanxi province, about 800 km southwest of Beijing.

The police said they had taken into custody a suspect, a man with the name Zhao, born in 1990. They said that the man was a graduate of the middle school and that he had told police he was seeking revenge because he had been bullied during his time there.

"He attacked students because he hated the students there," said a statement by the Mizhi County police posted on Weibo, a popular microblogging site.London: Fake videos claiming to be BBC News reports are part of a "state-backed disinformation" campaign by foreign powers, according to the director of the corporation's World Service Group.

Last week, a clip reporting the outbreak of nuclear war between Russian and Nato forces was circulated on social media. Featuring "footage" of Russia launching cruise missiles, it was stamped with the BBC News logo and appeared to be set in a BBC studio.

Victim of fake news: the BBC in London. Credit:AP

The corporation was forced to release a statement saying the video was false. Jamie Angus, who heads the World Service and BBC World News, said combating "fake news" was "an increasingly large part of my world".London: A lawyer affiliated to NATO has called into question the legal justification for the US, UK and France bombing Syrias chemical weapons infrastructure earlier this month, saying it did not have a basis in accepted international law.

He adds to other experts who have publicly criticised the allies stated reasons why the military strike was within the law. This is the first time such a voice has come from a military official inside the allies own defence pact.

Lieutenant Colonel Kris van der Meij is a Dutch lawyer working at the Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence in Estonia, as part of a team working out how international law applies to the new realm of cyber conflict. The cooperative is an accredited NATO Centre of Excellence although it is not funded directly by NATO. Van der Meij has previously worked as legal adviser at 1st German-Netherlands Corps, one of NATOs High Readiness Forces headquarters.

The Damascus sky lights up missile fire as the US or France or the UK launches an attack on Syria targeting different parts of the capital in April 14. Credit:AP

He said neither he nor his colleagues at the CCDCOE accepted the so-called humanitarian intervention principle as a reason to act aggressively against another country.London: Alfie Evans, the terminally ill boy at the heart of a long-running legal battle, died in the early hours of Saturday, his parents have said.

Tom Evans, the father of the 23-month-old child, announced the news on Facebook, saying he passed away at 2.30am.

"My gladiator lay down his shield and gained his wings at 02:30," he wrote. "I love you my guy."

Kate James, Alfie's mother, wrote: "Our baby boy grew his wings tonight at 2.30 am. We are heart broken. Thank you everyone for all your support."Cairo: Smiling and looking hale, Libyan strongman General Khalifa Haftar flew home on Thursday to Benghazi and delivered a spirited televised address, seemingly dispelling for now reports that health problems could imperil his grip on power.

Haftar's assured return offered a dramatic counterpoint to the storm of speculation that gripped Libya after he vanished into a Paris hospital for medical treatment more than two weeks ago, setting off rumours that he was gravely ill, incapacitated or even dead.

Libyan militia commander General Khalifa Haftar. Credit:AP

"I assure you that I am in good health," said Haftar, 75, who saluted and shook hands with well-wishers as he walked unaided from his plane. He declined to give further details about any ailments.

His bullish homecoming offered a soap opera-like twist to Libya's complex power struggle. One of Libya's most powerful if polarising figures, Haftar is a former military officer who served under Muammar GaddafiWashington: US President Donald Trump says a meeting with North Korea could happen within weeks.

"I think we will have a meeting over the next three or four weeks," Trump said at a campaign rally in Washington, Michigan on Saturday.

"It's going be a very important meeting, the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula."

Trump said details of his potential summit with North Korea's Kim Jong-un are being ironed out, and that he'd spoken with the leaders of South Korea and Japan about preparations for the historic meeting.

"Things are going very well, time and location of meeting with North Korea is being set," the president said on Twitter. The call early on Saturday with South Korean President Moon Jae-in was "a long and very good talk", Trump said.ICU-Domain: .ICU is for people near you

Posted by Publisher Telecommunication

\I see you

I see you

Walking through a dream I see you

My light in darkness

Now I live through you and you through me, enchanting

I pray in my heart that this dream never ends \

Leona Lewis

\I see you!\ That\-\-s what the ICU-Domains stand for. \I see you\ is positive  positive like the song of the same name by Leona Lewis. \I see you\  that may be the date between friends or maybe lovers for some time in the future: \I\-\-ll see you later\. Even \I see\ is positive, because it also means \I understand\. So \I see you\ could perhaps also be interpreted as \I understand you\. And what could be better than being understood by a human being?

What does the registry tell?

\Our three distinct letters give users the flexibility to choose the best name to the left of the dot while using a generic extension to the right.\

The Icu-domain is the domain for websites, targeting people, who are near you:

 friends

 followers

 customers

 readers

\?I See You? is present, online and live with your customers, readers and followers 24/7.\

A website address like https://www.facebook.com/hanspeter.oswald.7 is hard to be remembered, but if you register a domain like hans.icu and re-direct it to your facebook site, you will own a facebook page with a memorable name.

Hans-Peter Oswald

http://www.domainregistry.de/icu-domain.html (English)

http://www.domainregistry.de/icu-domains.html (Deutsch)Full-Scale Lynx Mockup

Douglas Messier/Space.com

Build A Plane Founder Lyn Freeman with a full-scale mockup of the Lynx, a space plane designed by the now bankrupt XCOR Aerospace for suborbital spaceflight. Build A Plane bought XCOR's assets and plans to use them to help teach kids about aerospace technology. Read the full story here.

Unfinished Lynx Prototype

Douglas Messier/Space.com

Freeman with an unfinished Lynx prototype.

The Trunnel

Douglas Messier/Space.com

A modified Ford F-250 truck known as the trunnel, which was designed to allow XCOR to test a 1/3 scale model of its Lynx suborbital space plane on the runway at California's Mojave Air and Space Port.

Trunnel Interior

Douglas Messier/Space.com

A look inside the trunnel.

Interior of Lynx Mockup

Douglas Messier/Space.com

A full-scale Lynx mockup interior.

Lynx Mockup Interior (2)

Douglas Messier/Space.com

The Lynx interior mockup: another view.

Rocket Part

Douglas Messier/Space.com

Part of an EX-Rocket.

Rocket and Lynx

Douglas Messier/Space.com

An EZ-Rocket and a full-scale Lynx mockup.

Sign Your Work

Douglas Messier/Space.com

Signatures on the Lynx prototype fuselage.

XCOR Test Stand

Douglas Messier/Space.com

A test stand with the Lynx fuselage and engine.

XCOR Test Stand (2)

Douglas Messier/Space.com

Another view of the test stand.



So, Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital is in a crisis. The hospital is swarming with reporters, Meredith is on her way to give back her and her mothers Harper Avery Awards, and Catherine is very seriously considering taking the fall for Harpers action since there is no way in hell that they will blame the victims.



However, Catherines plan does not sit well with Jackson after all why should she take the fall for the actions of a rich white man. But Jackson doesnt have much time to change her mind because of his newest patient; a boy from Venezuela with a very large tumour on his face. Along with Meredith he takes on his case. However, only Meredith really wants to help because unlike Avery, who is doing this for good publicity, she genuinely cares. The two fight over whether they will remove the full tumour or just remove part of it. Jackson chooses the safer option to only remove the majority of it and overrules Meredith in the decision. That is until they get into surgery and Jackson changes his mind; he removes all of it. I really, really enjoyed the surgery sequence, it is by far one of my favourite ones from this season.

Whilst all of this was going on Alex had to deal with Olivia, who worked as a nurse at the hospital when Alex was an intern. If you remember back to the very start Alex gave her syphilis and so lets just say she has a huge dislike for him. Olivia has come in with her son who swallowed a toy. As soon as Alex walks into the room to have a look at his new patient she recognises him straight away. They bicker quite a bit since Olivia hasnt seen how much Alex has changed since she last seen him. However, they seem to end on good terms. I thought Greys bringing back Olivia was a little bit random, but I enjoyed seeing her and her scenes with Jo and Alex were interesting and funny.

The other bigger storyline going on was Owen and his foster baby. Owen goes into the hospital for a check up with the baby to which the babys mum also comes. The girl is very young and seems very nervous. Quickly, Amelia realises that the girl is also an addict just like her. So, obviously Amelia wants to help. She asks her to move in so that she can help her. The girl agrees, and Amelia sets some ground rules. Im very interest in this storyline. I think seeing Amelia trying to help someone with addiction will be very interesting and it will definitely give us some more insight into her addict past.



So, the surgery is over, and Jackson and Meredith have come up with a plan to stop Catherine from taking the fall. The Harper Avery Foundation will now become the Catherine Fox Foundation which will help the victims. Catherine is touched by what the two have come up with and agrees to go with their plan.



The episode finished with something I definitely was not expecting. If you remember back to last weeks episode, Roy was fired for being irresponsible and not telling anyone that he did eat the weed cookie. As Bailey leaves the hospital she is met with a Roys lawyer who informs Bailey that he will be suing the hospital. It almost seems as though the hospital doesnt already have enough problems with the Harper Avery scandal. This will definitely be an interesting storyline because Roy seemed very serious. I dont think he will back down anytime soon.



Other Notes



I definitely think that the constant mention of Sofias unhappiness will link to Arizonas exit.



I think having DeLuca still be so upset over Sam is unnecessary has been taken too far. However, I did love seeing Carina come into sort Andrew out at the end of the episode; I wish we could get to see more of them together.



I love the idea of April planning Jo and Alexs wedding however I still havent seen any clues as to how April will be written out.



Id like to see more of Meredith and Arizona working together before the end of the season. Seeing them talking to each other this episode made me realises how little scenes they have together.



Im excited to see Alexs mum in the upcoming episodes and Im excited to see how this will affect Alex and the wedding planning.



Overall, a very interesting and great episode. Let me know what you thought of the episode in the comments below!







Previously on Shadowhunters, Heidi, fixated on Simon, attacked Izzy thinking the two of them were more than friends, The Owl/Jace came closer to fulfilling Lilith's plan, the Lightwoods had a family dinner, and Magnus and Clary discovered that Jace had been lying to everyone which lead to the discovery of the identity of The Owl.





'Salt In The Wound' hastens the plot and closes in on several of the main threats quicker than expected. It makes me wonder if this season will actually end again on a new threat who will be even more powerful than Lilith herself (and I have my guesses as to who that may be). This could definitely be considered as the point of no return for more than one character, but the idea of redemption is also an option to be contemplated. Remember to tune in Tuesday at 8.00 on Freeform.

In, following the reveal at the end of the last episode that Jace is The Owl, Clary and Magnus relay this information back to Alec, Izzy and Simon, who may take the information in unexpected ways. It means coming clean about The Owl, Lilith, and what happened on that fateful night that caused the parabatai rune to disappear. Jace, now completely under Lilith's control, won't let anybody stand in his way, and that includes Clary. As everyone rallies round to try to find a way to reverse the elixir or otherwise get rid of Lilith's influence on Jace, it is someone's professional ties that allow them to find the solution in this episode. Whether it will actually work may not be known straight away, but a visit to Alicante along the way could further provide some answers.This week, we also see the inevitable reunion of Maia and Jordan, and the reveal that Simon is actually living with Maia's ex-boyfriend. This leads to both Maia and Jordan reminiscing about the past, which treats the audience to flashbacks of how they first met, falling in love, falling apart, and the events leading up to Maia being turned. As in any story, there are two sides, andtries to let both Maia and Jordan say their piece about what happened the last time they saw each other. The tensions between them may jeopardise figuring out what is happening with Simon and his mark, but will Maia be willing to put aside what Jordan did to her in order to help her boyfriend?Speaking of Simon, this week he's helping Luke as a sort of stand-in bodyguard as they search for Ollie, who was obviously attacked by The Owl at the end of last week's episode. Luke, being the great detective he is, quickly manages to track down Ollie, but being under the control of Lilith means it may not be as easy to bring her home to an understandably worried Sam as he hoped. With mundanes' lives on the line, he warns Simon not to misuse his mark, but Simon, still not being entirely sure of how his mark works or how to stop it from activating, may not have much of a choice on when it decides to protect him.And with that I'm going to leave you with a few teasers to tide you over until Tuesday:- There is a fight scene that is very very real and very very painful.- There is a minor character death.- Keeping secrets may once again have disastrous consequences.- Jonathan's return may be imminent.New York, 27 April, 2018 (SPS) - Today the UN Security Council voted to extend the mandate of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) for a period of six months.



The Frente POLISARIO takes note of this development and in particular the short renewal period which reflects the need for an urgent resumption of the UN political process. The POLISARIO reiterates its commitment to enter into a time-bound process of direct negotiations with Morocco to finally allow for the exercise by our People of our inalienable right to self-determination and independence in accordance with the United Nations doctrine on Decolonization.



The FrentePolisario notes that through this resolution, the Security Council is insisting on the resumption of the negotiations without any precondition and in good faith. It is a clear and strong message to Morocco which has always subjected any engagement in the negotiations to preconditions, and has always put obstacles to alter any progress toward a political solution that guarantees our right to self-determination, as it was underlined three times in the current resolution.



We hope that the six-month mandate renewal will be used as a lever to ensure a swift return to the negotiating table; and we wish to reiterate, on behalf of the people of Western Sahara, that we will accept nothing less than the full respect of our right to self-determination and independence.



We remain hopeful about the efforts of Personal Envoy for Western Sahara Mr. Horst Kohler, but the Security Council must stand up to Moroccan bullying through firm action to make real progress and put an end to Moroccan permanent blackmail.



However, the POLISARIO regrets that this years Security Council resolution on Western Sahara has given undue credence to Moroccos fabrications, although it was crystal clear, to all that such baseless allegations are an obvious and predictable tactic that is designed to distract attention away from the political process.



It should also be recalled that, as reaffirmed by the spokesman of the Secretary-General on 19 April 2018, the locality of BirLehlou  where the UN has a team site  is not located in the buffer strip nor in the restricted areas as defined by the ceasefire and the Military Agreement No. 1, signed by both parties under UN auspices.



Frente POLISARIO administrative functions and military forces have always been present in BirLahlou and other parts of the liberated area of our country. This presence is not in contravention of the terms of the ceasefire or the Military Agreement No. 1.



Furthermore, it is the Frente POLISARIO institutions that ensure the security and water supply of the MINURSO team sites in these areas.



We urge the Security Council and the International Community to call on Morocco to stop its violations of the United Nations resolutions and the agreement we both signed with UN and to refrain from its actions aimed at changing the status quo in the occupied territories west of the berm of shame. The Security Council needs to address the Moroccan threat to resort to force communicated to it officially. This is indeed the destabilizing action the whole international community need to stand against.



MINURSO Coordinator MhamedKhadad



Frente POLISARIO (SPS)



062/SPSSTAMFORD  Lillian Wallas Westover home is sprinkled with artifacts from her rich history.

In front of her fireplace is a large picture of her late husband, Al, who she met in France while the two helped with post-World War II rebuilding efforts. Nearby is an orange slate with her maiden name, Lillian Catalanello, painted on it, a gift from a patient she treated during the war. Wander to her kitchen and youll find an old photo of herself in her nursing corps uniform, looking serious, from seven decades ago.

Walla, 95, is one of the last surviving veterans from the group she served with during World War II. Shes been honored for her work in the Army Nurse Corps from the City of Stamford and will soon receive the highest French order of merit, the Chevalier of the Legion of Honor, which acknowledges excellent military or civil service.

Guy Wildenstein, president of the American Society of the French Legion, will present Walla with the award, which was established by Napoleon in 1802, at a ceremony May 11 at the Consulate General of France in New York.

For Walla, her work abroad in the service is nothing out of the ordinary.

Everybody was so good about everything," she said. "It was a good experience except it was a war. It was just natural...I was one of many. We all did what we had to do."

Walla is involved with the local Veterans of Foreign War and visits Westhill High School and the Academy of Information Technology and Engineering to share her experience.

When I was a little girl, World War I was ending," she said. We never heard anybody talk about it. It was over and it seemed like no one was interested. Now we have more stories.

Walla grew up on Long Island, the product of pharmacist parents. When she finished high school, her father enrolled her in St. Marys Nursing School in Brooklyn in 1939.

When Walla had been in school, she talked to a nurse who served in the Philippines about joining the Army.

We all were talking about it," Walla said.

Walla was 20 when she graduated nursing school and you had to be 21 to join the Army Nurse Corps. When she finished school in 1942, she began working at the U.S. Marine Hospital on Staten Island. However, talk of drafting nurses to go overseas prompted her to enlist in February 1944.

I didnt let my father know until I signed, she said. "But he couldnt have been prouder."

Walla completed basic training in Atlantic City, N.J. In December 1944, she left from Boston for Marseille, France, where shed help wounded and sick soldiers, as well as German prisoners of war.

We went by ship and had to zig zag across the Atlantic because of Nazi submarines, she said. It took days.

When Walla arrived, she worked 12 hours a day, seven days a week at a hospital in Aix-en-Provence.

Everybody was very cheerful because they were off the front lines," she said. "They were very happy to be with us."

When she wasnt working in the hospital, Walla spent her free time in the officers club where she became a master ping pong player. She even won a trophy, fashioned from half a mortar shell. Through her schoolgirl French, she was also able to communicate with locals.

She also went to USO dances, where she met her husband who was an engineer reconstructing bombed bridges and roads. The two got engaged in France.

Walla also had the opportunity to travel during her time abroad. However, even during liberation, signs of the war lingered. On a trip to Cannes, she couldnt go in the water because of possible exploding mines. She said she also went to nightclubs where it was like the movies where people held each other, dancing to sad music.

In Paris, she went to the opera but was unable to go to the Louvre because the art hidden from the Nazis hadn't been returned to the museum yet. She didnt see the Mona Lisa until she went on a trip with her daughter 10 years ago.

Walla returned home to Long Island in 1946. A year later, she and her husband reunited after he spent 18 months serving in the Pacific. The couple was apart for more than a year, corresponding through letters that arrived months after they were sent.

I was worried because I thought hed be in danger," she said. But you just stayed busy.

The two married on Long Island in 1947 and returned to his home state of Nebraska. Walla worked in a hospital nursery there while her husband finished school. The family later moved to Delaware where Walla again worked in a nursery, this time at Wilmington General Hospital. In 1968, the two moved with their five children to Stamford in the home where Walla still lives.

Despite the excitement of her early career, Walla only spent a total of about 10 years in nursing. Much of that work was part-time shifts at night after her children were born. Shes kept her nursing skills alive by volunteering with the American Red Cross blood drive.

Walla continued to keep in touch with the nurses and other officers she worked with in France, holding reunions through the years.

However, Walla is now one of the last from her rank.

erin.kayata@stamfordadvocate.com; (203) 964-2265; @erin_kayataState police posted a flyer on social media Thursday, depicting a man wanted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for an incident in Connecticut.

Stefan Alexandru Barabas, 32, a native of Iasi, Romania, has an active federal warrant for his arrest on the charges of attempt to interfere with commerce by extortion, conspiracy to interfere with commerce by extortion and possession of a stolen vehicle.

Barabas is described in the FBI wanted flyer as 6 feet tall, weighing about 280 pounds. It says he has brown eyes and black hair. Possible aliases are Alex and Greu.

A reward of up to $10,000 is being offered by the FBI for information leading to the arrest of Barabas.

In the flyer, the FBI said, Barabas is accused of being involved in a home invasion and attempted extortion.

On April 15, 2007, Barabas and two accomplices  who have since been arrested  entered a residence in South Kent and hid in a closet until house staff left for the day.

Later on, the three emerged with guns and knives, confronting the victim and her friend and tied them up.

Over the course of the night, Barabas and the other allegedly injected each victim with a supposedly deadly virus and demanded money in exchange for the antidote, the flyer reads. After several hours of trying and failing to obtain the money, the victims were forced to drink a sleeping agent.

They stole a car belonging to the victim and fled the scene.

The flyer said the three were trying to extort $8.5 million from the victim.

On Nov. 15, 2012, the arrest warrant for Barabas was issued.

The FBI said Barabas was known to have left the county in Sept. 2012 with his girlfriend  who they said was not a fugitive. He could be in the U.S. or in Hungary, the FBI said.

Anyone with information regarding Barabas whereabouts should contact FBI New Haven at 203-777-6311.WESTPORT  A 30-year-old man from Freeport, Maine has been arrested in connection to an April 2017 accident that killed a 9-year-old boy, police said.

Police determined that Jesse Zorski, 30, was at fault for an accident that killed Casey Savage, of Kitteredge, Maine.

On Friday, April 27, Zorski turned himself to Connecticut State Police Troop G to face charges of misconduct with a motor vehicle, following too closely, speeding and distracted driving. He was held on a $100,000 cash bond and given a court date of May 9.

Police said the accident resulted from Zorski failing to stop and rear-ending a car driven by Anjelica Fontanez-Ordonnez, 28, of Kitterly, Maine. Savage was inside the vehicle that was rear-ended.

Savage suffered a severe head injury as a result of the accident and was transported to Norwalk Hospital, but later moved to Yale-New Haven Hospital, police said. A day later, Savage was pronounced dead.

The rear-end collision also left two people with minor injuries, state police said.

According to the accident summary report, traffic in the left lane slowed suddenly, causing two vehicles to come to an abrupt stop south of Exit 17.

The force of impact pushed Fontanez-Ordonnezs Toyota Camry into the rear of a vehicle driven by Taylor Brown, 26, of Hamilton Avenue in Stamford.

Troopers say Fontanez-Ordonnez and Zorski were taken to Norwalk Hospital for minor injures. Brown was not injured.M ichael Gove has accused the Labour Party of "weaponising" the Windrush scandal as a means of distracting the public from their own anti-Semitism row.

The environment secretary defended Cabinet colleague Amber Rudd in a Today programme appearance on Saturday morning, saying she had not seen a leaked memo which showed Home Office officials boasting about exceeding immigration targets.

Ms Rudd has faced calls to resign after the document fell into the hands of the press - just days after she told MPs she had not agreed to specific targets.

Mr Gove said: "What we are witnessing an example of government not functioning as it should have done, and that's something for which the home secretary has taken responsibility.

Emily Thornberry calls for Amber Rudd to quit over the Windrush scandal

"There does seem to be a series of leaks...that is designed to serve a particular agenda...There's a campaign against the government and against the home secretary.

"What's not surprising is that this happens at the same time as the Labour Party are mired in allegations of its failure to deal with anti-Semitism.

Windrush generation arrive in Britain 1 /14 Windrush generation arrive in Britain Some of the pioneering Windrush generation arrive at Tilbury Docks, from Jamaica Getty Images The journey to the UK cost 28 Getty Images They arrived on June 22, 1948 Getty Images The ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush' arriving at Tilbury Docks from Jamaica, with 482 Jamaicans on board, emigrating to Britain SSPL via Getty Images The group were the first of the Windrush generation to emigrate to Britain Getty Images Arrivals scrutinise a map of the London Underground Getty Images The Windrush generation helped to rebuild post-war Britain Getty Images Members of the 55 Independent Squadron wait to board the Empire Windrush at Southampton, to fight in the Korean War Getty Images A black man walks past graffiti stating 'Powell For PM', referring to Enoch Powell who caused controversy with his outspoken attitude to black immigration and racial integration Getty Images Three Jamaicans (left to right) John Hazel, a 21-year-old boxer, Harold Wilmot, 32, and John Richards, a 22-year-old carpenter, arriving at Tilbury Docks Getty Images Nearly 1000 West Indian immigrants arrive in three boats trains at Waterloo Station. Many brought with them packing cases containing treasured possessions, 15th October 1961 Mirrorpix/Getty Images West Indian immigrants arriving in the United Kingdom, 19th May 1962 Mirrorpix/Getty Images Nearly 1000 West Indian immigrants arrive in three boats trains at Waterloo Station. Many brought with them packing cases containing treasured possessions, 15th October 1961 Mirrorpix/Getty Images 27th May 1956: Immigrants to Britain from the West Indies queuing up on arrival at Southampton holding documents Getty Images

"The focus on whether or not a particular document was cc'd to a particular address was then put in a particular box at a particular time...is intended to distract from the difficulties Labour faces with handling prejudice in its own ranks.

"Labour are attempting to weaponise this. I think that is quite wrong."

Labour is currently investigating 90 separate reports of anti-Semitism within the party, making up around 0.02 per cent of its 500,000 membership.P ope Francis has issued a statement saying he has been deeply moved by the death of the toddler at the centre of a legal battle over his care.

The toddler  who was days away from his second birthday  had been diagnosed with a degenerative neurological condition and was cast into the worlds media spotlight after his parents fought to defy doctors and transfer their son to Italy for treatment.

Kate James and Tom Evans, both aged in their early twenties, had enlisted the support of the Pope in their legal battle but ultimately lost when High Court judges ruled in favour of medical staff at Alder Hey Childrens Hospital in Liverpool.

They announced the news on Saturday saying that they were "heartbroken" to say that their son had "gained his wings at 2.30am".

Following the tragic news of the tots death, the Pope tweeted saying: "I am deeply moved by the death of little Alfie.

Tom Evans kisses the hand of the Pope / Facebook

Today I pray especially for his parents, as God the Father receives him in his tender embrace."

During the ongoing legal battle, in which Mr Evans and Ms James argued that doctors were preventing their son from getting possible treatment, Alfies father travelled to Rome to meet the Pope and ask for his help.

At one stage it was reported that the child had been offered Italian citizenship and that an emergency air ambulance had been put on standby to transport him to Italy.

Grieving: Alfie pictured in his mother's arms days before he died / Facebook

His comments came as more than 1,000 mourners gathered in a park next to the hospital where the little boy was cared for in order to take place in a balloon release.

Scores of purple and blue balloons filled the skies as emotional supporters of the family paid tribute to the little boy.

Balloons released outside Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool, following the death of the tot / PA

Mr Evans and Ms James did not attend. Mr Evans's sister Sarah told the crowd: "I just want to thank you all for coming today.

"Our gorgeous little warrior took his last breath at 2.30 this morning. "Our hearts are broken. We are absolutely shattered as a family.

More than 1,000 people gathered at the park by the hospital / Getty Images

"Thomas just wants to thank you all for the support you've all shown.

"There's only one Alfie Evans."

The infant was at the centre of a legal battle over his care / Alfies Army Official

Archbishop of Liverpool Malcolm McMahon also expressed his deepest sympathy at this moment of loss to Tom and Kate as we hold little Alfie in our prayers.

"All who have been touched by the story of this little boy's heroic struggle for life will feel this loss deeply. But as a Christian Alfie has the promises of God, who is love, to welcome him into his heavenly home.

RIP Alfie: floral tributes were brought to the hospital on Saturday / Getty Images

"Although the past few weeks have been difficult with much activity on social media, we must recognise that all who have played a part in Alfie's life have wanted to act for his good, as they see it.

"Above all, we must thank Tom and Kate for their unstinting love of their son, and the staff at Alder Hey Hospital for their professional care of Alfie.

Sick: Alfie was diagnosed with a degenerative condition / PA

"Now it is time for us to give Tom and Kate space to grieve their son's death and offer our prayers for him and consolation for all."

During the legal challenges, tensions grew very high between supporters of Alfie and medical staff at the hospital reported that they had been threatened.

Tom Evans and Kate James, the parents of Alfie Evans / PA

Protesters, at one time, attempted to storm the hospital  sparking warnings from Merseyside Police over their behaviour.

After Alfies parents announced his death in a social media post, the police issued a statement saying: We'd like to pass on our sincere thoughts and condolences to Tom, Kate and their families for their sad loss following the death of their son Alfie Evans.

Alfie Evans 2016-2018

"We also pass our thoughts to those at the hospital who supported the family in caring for Alfie. May Alfie rest peacefully."

The hospital has asked people to leave tributes to Alfie in Springfield Park, next to the hospital.

A statement posted on the hospital website said: "We feel sure people will wish to place tributes to Alfie along with messages of support for Kate and Tom.

"To ensure there is sufficient space for these and to ensure the safety of all those who wish to visit, we have secured a suitable place in Springfield Park situated next to Alder Hey Hospital. This is on the advice of Merseyside Police.

Alfie Evans protesters try to storm hospital 23/04/2018 1 /6 Alfie Evans protesters try to storm hospital 23/04/2018 Police block protesters from the entrance to Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool PA Police block protesters from the entrance to Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool PA Protesters gather outside Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool PA Police block protesters from the entrance to Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool PA Police block the entrance to Alder Hey Children's Hospital PA Police block protesters from the entrance to Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool PADecember 2017



Hospital applies to High Court to remove parental rights and withdraw ventilation

Alder Hey says continuing life-support would not be in Alfie's best interest, but parents disagree and seek permission to fly him to Italy

Mr Justice Hayden begins overseeing the case at a public hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London

February 2018

Mr Justice Hayden rules in favour of hospital, who say there is 'no hope' for the youngster

March 2018

Court of Appeal upholds the decision of Mr Justice Hayden

Supreme Court justices refuse to give the couple permission to mount another appeal

European Court of Human Rights reject a bid by Alfie's parents to examine the case, saying they find no appearance of any human rights violation

April 2018

Mr Justice Hayden endorses end of life plan for Alfie

Judges of Court of Appeal uphold Mr Justice Hayden's decision and Supreme Court rules against Alfie's parents for the second time

European Court of Human Rights refuses application by Alfie's parents to take the boy to Rome for treatment" Ive had situations where I felt like I couldnt speak out and I think marches and protests provide people with a voice."

These are the words of a street photographer moved by the power of protest across the capital.

From Justice for Grenfell to a Women's March against Donald Trump, Angela Christofilou, 35, has pictured poignant images of crowds standing up for what they believe in.

Speaking to the Standard she said she began photographing protests two years ago to capture everyday people fighting for what empowers them.

Two protesters communicate during the Justice For Grenfell march (Angela Christofilou) / Angela Christofilou

I got really into how empowering it can be when people come together Ive had situations where I felt like I couldnt speak out and I think marches and protests provide people with a voice, she said.

Ms Christofilou said when she takes photos she aims to celebrate the protestors and their efforts to make a change.

Woman holds her sign high during the Women's March (Angela Christofilou) / Angela Christofilou

I wanted to take pictures of everyday people as heroes, she said.

Ms Christofilou said she became interested in protests when she was growing up in Athens, Greece.

Thousands of women took to the streets to march for women's rights in January 2018 (Angela Christofilou) / Angela Christofilou

In Greece the youth are very politically minded, she explained.

I was surrounded by protests when I was growing up, she said.

I began thinking about how in this day and age, with social media, it is almost at the point where if you dont document it, it never happened, she said.

Ms Christofilou hailed January's Women's March as the most poignant she has covered.

Two girls hold up signs demanding justice for the Grenfell tower victims / Angela Christofilou

I wanted to capture the women as warriors, she said. They were shouting out and it was something that at the time I felt like I wasnt able to do.

She said the Justice for Grenfell march in June last year was one of the most emotional she had attended.

Demonstrators called for justice for 71 victims killed when deadly flames ripped through a tower block in west London.

I think it was because it was so close to people, she said.

People could see what had happened with their own eyes and understood why people were angry."

Ms Christofilou said she is keen to see how the form of protest develops over time.

She anticipated with continuous developments in technology more and more people will be inclined to speak out.U p to three million Brits will put the kettle on after watching Prince Harry and Meghan Markles wedding ceremony on TV, new research has revealed.

Leading wedding planning app Bridebook.co.uk has released a statistical report of the Royal wedding by numbers ahead of the big day at St Georges Chapel in Windsor Castle on May 19.

It claims that the party of over 4,000 guests will be treated to 28,000 canapes and billions of champagne bubbles.

The flowers used to decorate the venues will be made up of eight million flower petals, according to the statistics.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will wed on May 19 / AFP/Getty Images

There will be one million handfuls of confetti thrown in Windsor to rejoice the newlyweds, Bridebook.co.uk claimed. It has crunched the numbers based on database of 170,000 weddings and a review of more than 70,000 wedding industry suppliers.

Royal wedding 2018 in numbers 28,000 canapes

16,000 glasses of champagne

8 million flower petals

35,000 on luxury toilets

3 million kettles boiling

And the British public are set to head straight for the kitchen following the wedding ceremony for a relaxing cup of tea.

Three million kettles are expected to be boiled to celebrate the newlywed couple, the report states, adding that the National Grid will see a staggeringly high demand for power.

It also uncovered that Ms Markle is getting 42 per cent more search traffic than Brexit on peak days and 32 per cent more than Jesus.

Royal wedding countdown: Harry asks William to be best man

The former Suits actress, 36, is also being searched 12 times more than British Prime Minister Theresa May.

Hamish Shephard, founder of Bridebook, told the Standard: Meghan is kindly giving the UK a rest from Brexit for the next month, which for many will be the greatest gift the couple can give the nation.

He added that the calculations were based on traffic data from Google and tourist data from Office of National Statistics.

The figures are estimates calculated not only using the figures from Pippa Middleton and Kate and William's weddings but also the data from Bridebooks site and suppliers.

More stats reveal that 90,000 will be spent on 20 silver-plated fanfare trumpets stamped with the Royal Coat of Arms which are set to play before the ceremony.

Performers announced for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Wedding 1 /6 Performers announced for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Wedding Karen Gibson and The Kingdom Choir PA Cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason PA James Vivian, Organist and Director of Music at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle PA Welsh soprano Elin Manahan Thomas PA Christopher Warren Green who will be conducting the orchestra PA David Blackadder PA

And with over 2,600 members of the public attending the wedding in the grounds of Windsor Castle, 26,000 are expected to be spent on sausage rolls.

Mr Shephard said: They've invited 2,640 members of the public who will each be given a cup of tea and a sausage roll. If you're assuming that's 10 a head, that's 26,000 on sausage rolls alone.

On a less glamorous note, 35,000 is predicted to be spent on luxury toilets for the wedding party.

The report stated: If this wedding lives up to Pippa Middletons, there will be luxury mobile toilets for the guests at the 3 different events. With a guest list this big, it comes down to at least 40 super luxury mobile units with a likely price tag of 35,000.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in first public appearance together 1 /7 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in first public appearance together The couple could be seen laughing and smiling Getty Images for the Invictus Ga attend a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games Getty Images They were both at this weekend's opening ceremony of the Paralympics-style event for wounded and injured servicemen and women Reuters It is the couple's first public appearance together Reuters Royal watchers are viewing it as a milestone in their relationship Getty Images for the Invictus Ga Harry and Meghan were both casually dressed AP They could be seen holding hands Getty Images

An estimated 52,750 pubs across the UK are extending their curfew to 1am for the Royal wedding celebrations, meaning two more hours of toasting to Harry and Ms Markle.

After 5,500 street parties were thrown for William and Kate on a Thursday in April 2011, there are expected to be a lot more for Harry and Ms Markle. Councils will be busy managing the requests to allow over 8,000 street parties all over the UK.

The British public will likely munch through over 1.4 million sandwiches at their street parties alone  with Marks & Spencers already stocking up in preparation.

Aside from the estimated cost of the wedding being 32 million, mainly due to security, the greatest number of all is for the mega boost to the British economy.

After 350,000 tourists came to the UK for William and Kates wedding, Britain is expecting 450,000 flying over to see the Ms Markle get married to Prince Harry.M embers of the Windrush generation and leading lawyers have lamented the immigration system which is forcing people who have lived in Britain for half a century to prove their legal status.

Nearly 100 people attended a public meeting at the Black Cultural Archives on Windrush Square, Brixton, on Saturday, where lawyers sat down for clinics with people who may be affected by the Windrush fiasco.

Louis Smart came to Britain on the Windrush ship as a child in 1963, travelling on his mother's passport.

He did not register for citizenship at the time, and has now found it difficult to prove his status as a legal citizen.

Ms Rudd dodged calls for her resignation / NurPhoto via Getty Images

"I went to school here, grew up here, I've got a national insurance number but I have tried to get a passport, and every time I lose the fee because you have to have certain documents," he said.

"The school isn't there any more and the archive doesn't go back that far. I was left in limbo. I haven't left the UK since I arrived here.

Windrush generation arrive in Britain 1 /14 Windrush generation arrive in Britain Some of the pioneering Windrush generation arrive at Tilbury Docks, from Jamaica Getty Images The journey to the UK cost 28 Getty Images They arrived on June 22, 1948 Getty Images The ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush' arriving at Tilbury Docks from Jamaica, with 482 Jamaicans on board, emigrating to Britain SSPL via Getty Images The group were the first of the Windrush generation to emigrate to Britain Getty Images Arrivals scrutinise a map of the London Underground Getty Images The Windrush generation helped to rebuild post-war Britain Getty Images Members of the 55 Independent Squadron wait to board the Empire Windrush at Southampton, to fight in the Korean War Getty Images A black man walks past graffiti stating 'Powell For PM', referring to Enoch Powell who caused controversy with his outspoken attitude to black immigration and racial integration Getty Images Three Jamaicans (left to right) John Hazel, a 21-year-old boxer, Harold Wilmot, 32, and John Richards, a 22-year-old carpenter, arriving at Tilbury Docks Getty Images Nearly 1000 West Indian immigrants arrive in three boats trains at Waterloo Station. Many brought with them packing cases containing treasured possessions, 15th October 1961 Mirrorpix/Getty Images West Indian immigrants arriving in the United Kingdom, 19th May 1962 Mirrorpix/Getty Images Nearly 1000 West Indian immigrants arrive in three boats trains at Waterloo Station. Many brought with them packing cases containing treasured possessions, 15th October 1961 Mirrorpix/Getty Images 27th May 1956: Immigrants to Britain from the West Indies queuing up on arrival at Southampton holding documents Getty Images

"When I came here, I was too young to have a passport. It was September 23rd 1963. On the boat. On the Windrush.

"I think the Home Secretary should resign. This is deliberate. The Government knows what they are doing."

Danny Barnes arrived in the UK from Jamaica in 1972. He now runs a barristers' chambers and was here to help people caught up in the Windrush situation.

He said: "I can sense a lot of anger and a lot of disappointment.

"This is supposed to be a government that protects its citizens and it has let them down terribly."

Another lawyer Jacqueline McKenzie said: "I'm not a politician and my problem in making any call on Amber Rudd is that it's the system at fault.

"Whoever is there has got a huge job to do, and somebody with the determination to sort this out should do so.

"That's all people want," she added. "They want evidence that they are British and then they can move on with their lives."

Ms Rudd resisted calls to resign on Friday as she faced accusations she misled Parliament.

A leaked memo suggested Ms Rudd was aware of Home Office targets for immigration removals - just a day after she told MPs she had not agree to specific targets.

Ms Rudd had initially told MPs investigating the Windrush scandal that there were no immigration removal targets. She then said she was not aware of them.

On Friday night, Ms Rudd admitted the memo was copied to her office, but said she "didn't see" it.N orth Korea's state news agency has hailed a historic inter-Korean summit as a turning point for the two countries after leaders Kim Jong Un and Moon Jae-in met.

After the first summit between the two leaders in more than a decade North Korean leader Kim South Korean President Moon pledged to work for "complete denuclearisation" of the Korean peninsula.

Meanwhile US President Donald Trump said he would maintain sanctions pressure on Pyongyang ahead of his own unprecedented meeting with Kim.

"At the talks both sides had a candid and open-hearted exchange of views on the matters of mutual concern including the issues of improving the north-south relations, ensuring peace on the Korean Peninsula and the denuclearisation of the peninsula," KCNA said.

Meeting: Kim Jong-Un walks with South Korean President Moon Jae-In at the Joint Security Area (JSA) on the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) / EPA

It reported that the night wrapped up with a dinner with an "amicable atmosphere overflowing with feelings of blood relatives."

A woman reads a newspaper with a front page story about the inter-Korean summit / REUTERS

A day after the meeting between Kim and Moon produced dramatic images and a sweeping declaration of goodwill, South Korean media were replaying striking scenes of the two leaders and North Korea's main state newspaper published a multi-page spread with photos from the visit.

A man walks past a newspaper featuring a front page story about the summit on a sidewalk in Seoul / AFP/Getty Images

In their coverage of the summit, North Korean state media made rare mentions of the denuclearisation discussion, but did not go into specifics, instead highlighting the broad themes of peace, prosperity, and Korean unity.

North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un (2nd L) and his wife Ri Sol Ju (L) toast with South Korea's President Moon Jae-in (2nd R) and his wife Kim Jung-sook (R) during the official dinner / AFP/Getty Images

The declaration earned guarded but optimistic praise from world leaders, including Mr Trump, who said that only time would tell, but that he did not think Kim was "playing."

"It's never gone this far. This enthusiasm for them wanting to make a deal ... We are going to hopefully make a deal."

'KOREAN WAR TO END' he added in a Twitter post.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Minister of National Defence Mihai Fifor is going to pay an official visit to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan over April 28 - May 2, to participate in the "Aqaba Process" reunion, reads a release on Saturday remitted to AGERPRES by the Defence Ministry's press office.

On this occasion, Fifor will be received by King Abdullah II bin al-Hussein, at the Royal Palace in Aqaba, and also by the Jordanian Armed Forces Chief of Joint Staff, Lieutenant-General Mahmoud Freihat.

The "Aqaba Process" is a strategic dialogue platform launched upon the initiative of Abdullah II bin al-Hussein in 2015, to coordinate international community operations against terrorism and extremism, reads the same source.So far, there took place four such transregional reunions, with the participating countries sharing the same concerns for strengthening stability and security, regardless of the geopolitical and geostrategic context they belong to (there participated representatives of the states in the Middle East, North Africa, East, West, Southern Asia and and Balkans).The current round of discussions will be co-presided by King Abdullah II bin al-Hussein of Jordan and the Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Taro Kono, with high-level representatives expected to participate (foreign affairs, defence, justice ministers and high-level officials from the national security structures) from the US, Canada, UK< France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Romania and also high officials from the UN, NATO and EU, reads the same release.This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2018/04/27/5th-circuit-decision-texas-voter-id/. The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans  and engages with them  about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.In Alba Iulia on Friday, former Minister of Education Ecaterina Andronescu, a senator of the majority Social Democratic Party (PSD), said President Iohannis made haste when he urged Prime Minister Viorica Dancila to resign office, adding that the President's "slightly bellicose statement" is of no use to anyone.

PSD Deputy Secretary General Codrin Stefanescu argued after President Klaus Iohannis publicly demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Viorica Dancila that he had the impression that someone would have ordered Iohannis to make such statements.

Also on Friday, PSD lawmaker Eugen Nicolicea said that the head of state has no power to withdraw confidence from the prime minister or the Government, adding that the request for the resignation of the prime minister is "a propaganda issue."Leader of the Cluj branch of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE), minor at rule, lawmaker Steluta Cataniciu, said at a news conference on Friday that President Klaus Iohannis cannot withdraw the government's confidence either morally or legally.MP Adrian Oros, a deputy chairman of the opposition National Liberal Party (PNL), told a news conference in Cluj on Friday that Prime Minister Viorica Dancila cannot cope with any smaller prerogatives than those of the prime minister and that the possibility of filing a motion of censure against the Dancila Cabinet will be considered.Former Prime Minister Victor Ponta , a former PSD national leader, said on Friday that the statement by current PSD national leader Liviu Dragnea that President Klaus Iohannis' statements on Israel's visit had "a certain dose of anti-Semitism" is "serious."The opposition Save Romania Union (USR) will initiate consultations to table a censure motion after President Klaus Iohannis announced the withdrawal of political support from Prime Minister Viorica Dancila, said USR national leader Dan Barna on Friday.The opposition People's Movement Party (PMP) will support a no-confidence vote against the Dancila Cabinet, PMP Executive Chairman Eugen Tomac said on Friday. He also argued that "President Iohannis is right."Political analyst Bogdan Chirieac says President Klaus Iohannis' statements on the prime minister are "stupefying" and have noting to do with the law, adding that the head of state is "very ill advised during this period."Political analyst Cristian Parvulescu argues that President Klaus Iohannis's statement, calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Viorica Dancila, "is in a conflictual logic of a harshly divided government" and that a possible scenario would be a "decisive" confrontation between the head of state and PSD for taking over the parliamentary majority and the presidency.Finally, journalist Cristian Tudor Popescu told AGERPRES that the request by the President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, for the resignation of Prime Minister Viorica Dancila is "an offensive political statement to gain political capital, and absolutely justified by the prime minister's performance."Patrick COCKBURN

A crisis in relations between the US and Iran  which has the potential to produce a military confrontation in the Middle East  is building rapidly in the expectation that President Donald Trump will withdraw the US from the Iran nuclear deal in just over two weeks time.

Mr Trump is demanding that Iran effectively renegotiate the terms of the agreement which traded the suspension of US economic sanctions for a stop to Irans nuclear programme.

The White House sounds as if it has already decided to exit the agreement, which Mr Trump persistently denounced before and after his election as the worst deal in the world.

But he has put forward no alternative to what was successfully negotiated by President Barack Obama in 2015 other than a series of demands with which Iran is unlikely to comply, and appear designed to put the blame for the US action on Iran.

US officials admit that Iran has so far abided by the terms of the 2015 accord.

A more openly confrontational posture by the US towards Iran would achieve very little, unless Washington replaces the attempt to achieve its ends by diplomacy with sustained military action. Iran is already on the winning side in the wars that have raged in Iraq since 2003 and in Syria since 2011.

It is closely allied to the Iraqi and Syrian governments and to reverse the balance of power in the region, the US would have revert to sustained military intervention on the scale of the Iraq War, something Mr Trump has always opposed.

Iran may have already decided that the deal cannot be saved. Iranian president Hassan Rouhani warned Mr Trump on Tuesday that the US must stay within its terms which Tehran signed with other great powers or face severe consequences.

Mr Rouhani said in a live broadcast on state television that: I am telling those in the White House that if they do not live up to their commitments, the Iranian government will firmly react.

The Iranian leader did not say what this reaction would be, but the Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said at the weekend that it was highly unlikely that Iran would remain in the agreement  to which Russia, China, France, Germany and Britain are also signatories  if the US pulled out.

He added that Iran might immediately begin enriching uranium, but it would not develop a nuclear device.

European leaders are trying to save the deal which Mr Trump has denounced as full of terrible flaws, but this will prove difficult without radical concessions which Iran has rejected. These include stopping Irans ballistic missile programme, extending the terminal date of the agreement, and more intrusive inspections by nuclear inspectors.

No decision in Washington is final until it is announced by Mr Trump himself  and often not even then  but the promotion of officials with a record of hostility to the agreement suggests that it cannot be rescued. Mr Trump has said publicly that he sacked his secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, because he wanted to stay with the Iran agreement negotiated by President Obama.

His replacement, Mike Pompeo, is a long-term foe of the accord, once claiming that 2,000 bombing sorties would be enough to eliminate Irans nuclear capability. This is not an insurmountable task for the coalition forces, he said.

President Emanuel Macron is in Washington on a state visit, trying to save the agreement by making it more palatable to the White House. He will be followed in the US at the end of the week by the German chancellor Angela Merkel, while Theresa May will probably express her views by telephone.

All three leaders will try to reconcile Mr Trump to not leaving the accord and their arguments will revolve around supplementary sanctions and other measures targeting the Iranian ballistic missile programme and Irans allies abroad such as Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The European leaders mission may not be entirely hopeless: in confrontations over Syria and North Korea, Mr Trumps belligerent rhetoric has been followed by more carefully calculated action.

His opening stance is normally bombastic and uncompromising in order to intimidate the other side into making concessions. It does not necessarily have to be taken at face value. But this periodic moderation may not come into play in the case of Iran, towards which he has been uncompromisingly hostile, claiming that it is the hidden power behind terrorist activity in the Middle East.

The White House is in a position to hurt Iran economically by re-imposing economic sanctions, not that these were ever really lifted after 2015, but US political options are more limited. It may talk about regime change in Tehran, but is not in a position to do much about it.

There is a further US weakness: the US, often prompted by Israel, and Saudi Arabia, has a track record of underestimating the extent to which Iran, as the largest Shia Muslim power, plays a leading role in a coalition of states  Iraq, Syria and Lebanon  because of the predominant influence of the Shia in these countries. It is very difficult to defeat Iran there  the northern tier of the Middle East  but it is in this region that the US has chosen over the years to try to roll back Iranian influence.

The balance of power between Iran and its enemies is going to be difficult to shift whatever Mr Trump decides about the fate of the Iran nuclear deal.

counterpunch.orgThey did it again. On April 25, US inspectors broke into the Russian consulate in Seattle, which had been shuttered and vacated at the order of the American government, in a response to the Skripal case. The inspection was actually a break-in, since the locks had to be forced. The Russian staff had closed the mansion on April 24 but kept the keys, as the house is still the property of the Russian government. Officially, the Russian Federation (RF) still owns the mansion and its flag still flies from the roof, but the US owns the land and consular activities will no longer be authorized on that site.

The forced entry into the consulate was a flagrant violation of international law. True, the US government has the right to declare that the mission has been stripped of its diplomatic immunity. But it takes two to tango, and Russia never agreed to lift that immunity. That declaration has no validity without Russias consent.

The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961 protects embassy and consulate property abroad by bestowing upon it the status of inviolability (Article 22). No unauthorized entry is allowed. Moreover, the host country is responsible for protecting all foreign missions from intrusions, damage, and similar events. Diplomatic sites cannot be searched. No document or property can be seized.

The 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations states that consulates, along with their property, are always to be protected by their host, even during an armed conflict. No entrance without permission is allowed (Article 31).

According to the US-USSR Consular Convention of 1968, the diplomatic properties on each others soil are sacrosanct. The consulates enjoy diplomatic immunity. Like it or not, the US has just violated that document by entering the Seattle consulate.

As one can see, all the relevant international conventions state, by and large, the same thing  there is no entrance without permission. This is a hard-and-fast rule, but now all of these conventions have just been breached in broad daylight!

The question arises  whats the use of signing agreements with someone who flouts them? Today they enter foreign compounds, tomorrow they unilaterally pull out of the Iran deal, and then what? The US can walk away from any major arms-control agreement, just like it abandoned the 1972 ABM Treaty in 2002. Washington signs agreements in order to force others to comply with them, while the US enjoys the freedom to interpret them at will. Nothing is binding upon that shining city on a hill.

The relevant domestic law in the US, the 1982 Foreign Missions Act, states that the secretary of state may demand that any foreign mission be stripped of its property if such a move is needed to protect US interests. This can be done provided that one year has passed from the date on which that foreign mission ceased its diplomatic or consular functions. In this case, one year has not passed. Whats more, no clear explanation is offered as to what exactly is meant by US interests. And in fact, this act is contradicted by international law. Why should a foreign mission comply with it, if all the conventions listed above are very explicit about property rights and the US is a party to all of them? Anyway, the US law is not relevant in this case, unlike the binding accords America has signed.

It is true that the two nations are engaged in an ongoing diplomatic war. Thats a process thats easy to start and extremely difficult to end. It was not Moscow that started this folly. But even wars have their rules. The US actions are unprecedented and are doing serious damage to the countrys international image. The Seattle consulates closure has greatly complicated the lives of many people who have nothing to do with politics.

What about gains? There have been hardly any, especially taking into consideration that the US mission in St. Petersburg, which is going to be closed in response, is much more important for Americans than the consulate office in Seattle was for Russians. The expulsions and closures may go on until the ambassadors are the only ones left, but no one will win. Tit-for-tat expulsions are a game with no winners or losers. They are meaningless and doomed to ineffectuality

The ongoing Russian-US diplomatic war cannot continue forever. The day will inevitably come when Washington will have to reach some new agreements with Moscow about consulate offices. Its highly likely that Russia will demand additional guarantees of the safety of its property on American soil. Other nations may follow suit.

Gross violations of international law inflict great damage. The US will not be trusted. It will be viewed as a state that can reject its commitments at any time it chooses. From now on, all nations will know that their embassies and consulates in the US are not protected by the international agreements the American government flouts so easily.A major political ally of Congo President Joseph Kabila has openly suggested holding a referendum to change the constitution and let Kabila hold additional terms as president. Changing the constitution and allowing Kabila to retain the presidency is a very contentious issue and it could ignite another civil war. Donor nations and the UN have demanded that Kabila obey the constitution and over power after the November 2016 elections. If he decides to run for a third term he will violate the law. Kabila, however, does not care. He and his supporters continue to argue for delaying the election. The ostensible reasons are lack of money (budget issues) and logistical problems. The real reason is that Kabila supporters control key government offices and they have intentionally failed to meet election support deadlines. As president, Kabila controls the governments patronage system. He has insured that he has his supporters in positions to delay the election and prevent a new government to get elected and fire them (or worse) because of mismanagement and corruption. (Austin Bay)

June 3, 2016: Political tensions continue to increase in the Congo where opposition political leaders are now saying Congo needs a national unity government to replace Kabila. The constitutional limit on the number of presidential terms (no more than two) guaranteed all political parties that they would eventually have their chance to control the executive branch. Power would rotate, democratically. Limiting presidential terms was a key agreement that went a long way to ending the Great Congo War. The basic agreement was reached in December 2002. Now Kabila is undermining the constitution and violating the agreement. Many donor nations regard honoring presidential term limits as an indication of democratic progress and threaten to withhold aid if Kabila goes rouge.

June 2, 2016: The Congo government has agreed to register the former M23 rebel group as a legal political party. M23 has named itself the Alliance for the Salvation of the People.

June 1, 2016: Several towns and villages on the Congo-Uganda border have now been split between the countries. A joint border demarcation task force has re-drawn the border in an area where clashes have occurred frequently over land ownership. One area the new survey focused on was the border between Congos Oriental province and the Arua district in Uganda. Armed incidents occurred in these areas in 2009 and 2015. One Ugandan woman suddenly found her home in the Congo. She is a registered voter in Uganda and the rest of her family lives in Uganda. Apparently neither government has offered to help her move.

May 31, 2016: A federal court decision made on May 11 continues to cause political turmoil in Congo. Congolese security officials and international security advisers believe that the court decision will further radicalize Kabilas opponents. They expect opposition demonstrations throughout the summer and fall. The federal constitutional court ruled that current President Joseph Kabila could remain in office past November 2016 if the presidential election does not take place on time. Opponents are howling and contend Kabila supporters influenced the decision (they probably did). For over three years opposition activists have said that they will not accept any move by Kabila to have a third term.

May 30, 2016: Moise Katumbi, Congos chief opposition leader and Joseph Kabilas most powerful political opponent, has left South Africa and gone to Great Britain. Lets follow the events. On May 5 Katumbi announced he would run for president in the November 2016 elections. Then a government prosecutor indicted Katumbi for alleged involvement with hiring mercenaries. The prosecutor involved then agreed to let Katumbi leave the country to seek medical care. On May 20 Katumbi left the Congo claiming he needed medical treatment. It appears Katumbi has opted for exile over jail.

May 28, 2016: Seven major Congolese opposition parties -- the so called G7-- are trying to find a temporary leader. Announced presidential candidate Moise Katumbi had been the leader. However, he left Congo on May 20 as a result of government pressure.

May 27, 2016: Men armed with AK-47s murdered a Ugandan man who as fishing on Lake Albert. Locals believe the gunmen came from Congo. The gunmen also took several local men hostage and then murdered one of them. There have been disputes over fishing rights on the lake. However, investigators were not certain about the motive for the murder though it could be tied to the May 23 incident where Congolese troops allegedly killed four Ugandan policemen. Bandits also occasionally extort money from fishermen.

May 26, 2016: The government claimed that a joint Congolese Army-UN operation in North Kivu has killed 23 rebels from the Ugandan ADF/MDI (Allied Democratic Forces/Moslem Defense International). The operation began in early May. Five rebels have also been captured as well as several weapons, including rocket-propelled grenade launchers. Elements of the UNs Intervention Brigade (IBDE) are involved in the operation.

Congo opposition parties have called for more protests against President Joseph Kabilas attempts to secure an illegal third presidential term and many Congolese voters responded. A political protest in the North Kivu city of Goma turned violent. One protestor was killed in what observers called a running battle between protestors and security forces. Two protestors were wounded and at least 59 arrested. In the national capital security forces fired teargas grenades and broke up an opposition political march.

May 25, 2016: Armed gunmen kidnapped two aid workers in North Kivu province.

May 23, 2016: Uganda claim Congolese soldiers killed four Ugandan policemen who were patrolling the Ugandan side of Lake Albert. The Ugandan government has called on the Congolese government to arrest the soldiers who committed the crime.

European Union governments are responding to requests by Congolese opposition political parties that increased international pressure be brought on president Kabila to obey the law. EU foreign ministers issued a request to the Congolese government to revive the presidential election process. Revive suggests the EU officials think the election process is almost dead.

May 19, 2016: A government prosecutor issued an arrest warrant for Congos chief opposition leader, Moise Katumbi, who is also is a potential presidential candidate and one who could beat Kabila in a fair election. The prosecutor charged Katumbi with hiring foreign mercenaries. The charges are trumped up and intended to intimidate Katumbi and his supporters.

May 15, 2016: The security situation in Burundi remains unstable. Supporters of President Pierre Nkurunziza continue to physically threaten and intimidate the political opposition. Several UN Security Council members still support deploying a UN police force to Burundi to help stop outbreaks of violence.

May 14, 2016: The UN Security Council is debating what to do about what UN investigation teams found when they looked into destabilizing activities in Central Africa. Allegedly, a Congolese Army general, (Muhindo Akili Mundos), recruited and armed members the ASF (Allied Democratic Forces) terrorist group and had them kill civilians in an area his forces were supposed to be protecting. He also provided his terrorist hit team with Congolese Army uniforms. If true, this is an explosive charge. This report may be a follow-up on allegations made in February 2016 after a UN-sponsored investigation found evidence that 18 Burundian rebel operating in eastern Congo were recruited from a refugee camp in Rwanda and then trained by military instructors. Rwanda denied the allegations and noted that several western nations had concluded that Rwandan government support for Burundian rebels ceased in 2015.

May 13, 2016: Congolese opposition leader and presidential candidate Moise Katumbi has hired an American law firm to help secure U.S. support for free and fair presidential elections in the Congo. Katumbi announced he would run for president on May 5.

May 12, 2016: Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni was sworn-in for his fifth term in office. Opposition political parties still dispute the vote results of his recent re-election. Museveni came to power in 1986 after waging a successful guerrilla campaign.

May 11, 2016: Congo President Joseph Kabila got the court decision he wanted. Congos constitutional court has ruled that he can remain in office beyond November 2016 if the presidential election is delayed. The ruling sparked protests in the capital, Kinshasa. Political opposition leaders denounced the court ruling as a sham.

May 8, 2016: Congo authorities now believe ADF/MDI l terrorists killed 38 in the May 3 attack on a village in the Bukavu region.

May 7, 2016: Congolese security forces have arrested General Leopold Mujyambere, the former deputy commander of the FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda. He was traveling in a vehicle. Police arrested him in what was called a routine stop.

May 6, 2016: FDLR rebels in eastern Congo have freed three Red Cross workers they kidnapped on May 3. The Red Cross said the workers would return to the city of Goma (North Kivu province) within 24 hours.

May 5, 2016: Former Katanga province governor Moise Katumbi has announced that he will run for president in November. He will be a formidable candidate. However, on May 4 the government announced that it intended to arrest Katumbi.

May 3, 2016: An armed group attacked a village in the Bukavu area (North Kivu province). Local officials identified the attackers as members of the ADF, which now also calls itself the Moslem Defense International (MDI). The UN confirmed 17 people were murdered but the death toll could rise.The American campaign against ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) in Iraq and Syria continues, especially the intelligence collection and air strikes. American forces in Iraq work with their Iraqi counterparts to search for and attack remaining ISIL personnel and a lot of this action is taking place close to the Syrian border. There are several air strikes a day (in Iraq and Syria) and these are often against major targets. ISIL no longer controls any territory in Iraq but Syria is another matter with several remote areas in Syria known to be under ISIL control. The Americans work their own intelligence sources to find and attack targets. After that some data is shared with the Iraqi government (not too dependable), the SDF Kurds in Syria (more reliable) and some Western allies.

The West has not given up on Iraq but is being cautious. NATO nations are increasing the number of military trainers and advisors being sent to Iraq. Most of these will work with Kurdish forces but a growing number will try to work with Iraqi forces. Iraqi special operations forces have a good relationship with the NATO advisors but the bulk of the Iraqi military, especially the pro-Iran PMF groups are less receptive to Western military help.

Iraqi officials admit that the Americans are justified increasing security around their bases to deal with Iranian threats. These come in the form of continued calls by Iran-backed PMF militia leaders to drive all American forces out of Iraq using force if necessary. The problem is that most Iraqis want the Americans to stay because of Iranian attempts at domination and the continued ISIL threat. Meanwhile, the American government has implied that it will pull its U.S. troops out Syria and leave it to Arab states in the region to take over. No Arabs are willing to step up and do this and the Americans are making it clear that the United States cannot be taken for granted and most Americans back that attitude.

Iraqi leaders, including the current prime minister, are admitting that the withdrawal of all U.S. troops in 2011 was a mistake they do not want to repeat. While pro-Iranian PMF leaders are still calling for violence against American forces they agreed to hold off until after the May 12th national elections (which will indicate how much popular support the pro-Iran groups have.) The results of those elections will send a message, but no one is sure what the message will be. It will definitely be anti-corruption. Shia religious leaders are urging their followers to vote against any politician, especially local ones, who are seeking re-election but have not accomplished anything in the past. In many Shia majority areas, especially in the south (Basra), the voters are fed up with electing Shia politicians who do nothing to improve the lives of those who elected them. Shia religious leaders are getting a lot of attention for their no votes for ineffective politicians. That includes politicians who claim to be pro-Iran, anti-Iran, secular or whatever. If they did not deliver (and that is easy to measure) do not vote for them again. This has got a lot of popular (for other reasons) politicians worried because most have not improved the lives of their constituents. At best they have made excuses and promised change in the future. The religious leaders point out that this has not worked.

The Turkish Threat

Turkey continues its operations against the PKK (Kurdish separatists) in southeast Turkey and northern Iraq. This year the Turkish attacks (usually via airstrikes) in northern (Kurdish controlled) Iraq have left 10-20 dead a month, at least until April. The Turks are usually pretty careful about hitting only PKK targets and the PKK do not try and use local Kurdish civilians as human shields. So it is rare for civilians to be hurt by these attacks although it has happened at least once so far in 2018. Until recently about 80 percent of the operations against the PKK (and their Syrian PYD associates) took place in eastern Turkey and northwest Syria. But for the last few weeks Turkish operations in northwest Syria have been stalled and operations, especially airstrikes, have increased against PKK in northern Iraq and just across the border in southeast Turkey. That has led to more complaints from Iraqi Kurds living in the remote areas where the PKK operate that the increased Turkish airstrikes have hit targets close to Kurdish towns and villages and this has caused 5-10 civilians killed or wounded each week of the increased airstrikes.

Currently, Turkey has openly said that it will pursue PKK and PYD Kurds into Syria or Iraq without asking permission from the governments of either country. This annoys the Iraqi government but at the moment it is considered preferable not to oppose the Turks. In some cases, Iraqi borders are officially open for some groups and vice versa. Such is the case with Iraqi forces chasing ISIL forces into Jordan. That can work the other way around but there is a lot more ISIL action on the Iraqi side of the border and the two countries have agreed to share intel on ISIL activities in their territory and tolerate cross border operations. There is still no Assad government control on the Syrian side of the border. That degree of control is coming but currently, independent factions (SDF in northern Syria, Iranian mercenaries further south) more or less control the Syrian side. But the Assads can still grant permission to Iraqi forces to cross the border when it comes to dealing with mutual foes like ISIL.

Consequences In Kirkuk

ISIL leaders and propagandists make no secret of the fact that they consider Kirkuk province, which was under Kurdish control from mid-2014 until October 2017, a major opportunity for ISIL. The Iraqi government had long been deadlocked in their disputes with the Kurds over control of Kirkuk province. The Kurds gained control in late 2014 because the Kurds had troops who could stop ISIL and keep them out of Kirkuk while the Iraqi government didnt until, with Kurdish help, ISIL was driven from Mosul and most of the Iraqi territory ISIL had held since mid-2014. Encouraged by Iran, and growing corruption and political divisions in Kurdish controlled northern Iraq in October 2017 the Iraqi government launched a surprise attack on Kurdish forces in Kirkuk province. The Kurds, noting that some of their politicians had suddenly sided with Iran and the Iraqi government over this issue, withdrew from Kirkuk without much of a fight. As expected the Iraqis could not deal with ISIL threats as effectively as the Kurds had and Kirkuk province has become a major operating area for over a dozen ISIL gangs who are terrorizing the population and making a lot of money from kidnapping and other criminal activities.

Iraqi leaders admit that the October 2017 attack that drove Kurdish forces from Kirkuk province and other areas of the north (except in the autonomous, since the early 1990s, Kurdish provinces) has created less security in areas taken over by Iraqi forces. This admission comes as Iraqi and Kurdish forces have increasingly worked together to find and eliminate ISIL forces now trying to use the formerly Kurdish territory as a base area. That cooperation is not as effective as the Kurds being back in charge of all security. The American advisors working with the Kurds and some Iraqi army units encourage cooperation. But it isnt enough as the Iranian controlled PMF (Popular Mobilization Force) forces will not cooperate. The situation in Kirkuk is seen as a defeat for Iran, which saw to it that pro-Iran PMF led the October 2017 offensive and now dominate the occupation force in the north. The PMF is not as effective as the Kurds and ISIL quickly took advantage of that. Now ISIL groups are operating freely in rural parts of Kirkuk province, something they were unable to do for years while the Kurds controlled the province.

The main problem with the PMF is that its members are less well trained and disciplined than soldiers and police while also being more loyal to their tribe and religious faction than they are to the Iraqi state. Most (about 65 percent) of PMF members belong to 66 Shia militias. Most of these are political. That is, they were formed with the assistance of a Shia political party. Half the Shia militias have some degree of loyalty to Iranian Shia clerics or Iran itself. Some of these militias openly back killing American soldiers and defying the Iraqi government over issues involving Iran. About a quarter of the PMF force is Sunni, organized into about 40 militias. These tend to be territorial and loyal to a particular tribe. The Sunni militias, like the other minority ones (mainly about a dozen Turkmen, Christian and Yazidi) are mainly interested in protecting their people. Another problem with PMF is a greater incidence of corruption and resistance to government efforts to eliminate or limit the corrupt practices. Making the PMF part of the military in March was an attempt to impose some control but it did not work and now the PMF have access to more cash and weapons.

Another side effect of Kurds losing control of Kirkuk province is non-Kurd groups in Kirkuk are now demanding that the Kurds release most of the 5,000 people Kurdish forces arrested and imprisoned over the last 14 years. The actual number of prisoners is not known because of these men were actually killed during battles with Kurdish security forces or died while in captivity. These prisoners are one reason there was a lot less Islamic terrorist violence in Kurdish controlled territory and the Kurds are not inclined to let these prisoners go as it is obvious that many of them would return to Islamic terrorism. The Kurds have offered to send their forces back into Kirkuk province but the Iraqi government, and especially Iran, is not willing to accept defeat and hand security control back to the Kurds.

A Diplomatic Tank Purchase

Iraq has made deals to buy weapons from a wide range of countries, often for reasons other than military. Usually, its because it is easier to solicit bribes. But another reason is diplomatic or obtaining military tech or agreements to help Iraq rebuild its weapons industries. Iran has offered to get involved with that. Russia has offered help as well, in order to access to a wide variety of modern weapons. Iraq has ordered billions of dollars worth of weapons from Russia, especially since mid-2014 when ISIL grabbed Mosul and much more. One of the recent purchases was the 73 Russian T-90 tanks ordered in mid-2017. The first 36 arrived in February. The rest are supposed to arrive by the end of April. This could be timely because the Americans have cut off support for Iraqi M1 tanks until Iraq can get two M1s back from a pro-Iran PMF group. With politicians distracted by the approaching (May 12) national elections nothing is being done to retrieve the missing M1s and the T-90s may become the majority of operational Iraqi Army tanks as more and more M1s are sidelined with maintenance issues that can only be handled by the now absent American tech support people.

The T-90 is one of many upgraded T-72s available on the market. Until 2003 the Iraqi Army operated hundreds of older T-72s, which proved no competition for the American M-1. The T-90 has been produced in large quantities since the 1990s but not for Russia. It is mostly an export item. The T-90 was a late 1980s project that was to incorporate T-80 features into many upgrades of the T-72. Originally it was designated the T-72BU but when Russia finally began production in 1993 it was renamed the T-90. That succeeded in making the tank an export success with most (nearly 90 percent) of those produced going to export customers. In fact India and Algeria each have more T-90s in service than Russia. Worse Russia has quietly put over a third of its 550 newly built T-90s into reserve. While the T-90 was loudly proclaimed to be the next big thing the Russian army preferred the refurbished T-72s in the form of the T-72B3. These proved to be cheaper and more reliable than T-90s, something that got little publicity. While all the upgrades (new engine, gun, fire control and protection) made it nearly as expensive as the T-90 it was preferred by the troops and the older officers quietly agreed that it was a better tank than the new T-90/T-72BUs.

This apparently has something to do with the design of the T-72BU (trying to merge T-80 elements into the T-72 design) and the decline in manufacturing quality in Russian the defense industry after the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991. Since the T-72B3 was introduced in 2013 it has been produced in far greater numbers than any other tank and that continues. Especially telling was how T-90s began to be taken out of service (and put in reserve) as soon as enough T-72B3s became available. At the same time, the most popular Russian tank for export customers is the T-72B (a B3 with fewer of the upgrades) and these cost nearly two million each but can be delivered in a few months after the contract is signed. The T-72B3 has been so popular with Russian troops that the government is giving it more publicity in the state-controlled mass media. The Iraqis dont really care about the superiority of the T-72B3 because the T-90s are easier to obtain, do the job (usually fighting irregulars) and have large profits built in that allow for generous bribes to Iraqi officials who approve the purchase orders.

April 26, 2018: Iraq offered eleven areas for oil and gas exploration to foreign firms. This was a typical auction and none of the major oil companies, especially the Western ones, made bids. The major Russian and Chinese firms also declined. All considered eleven areas too risky to invest in. In some cases, the areas were much fought over and still contained a lot of unexploded bombs and shells. Some areas in the north were suffering from growing ISIL violence while other areas were near the Iranian border and the chance of the Americans reviving sanctions on Iran made those areas unattractive for oil exploration. The main problem here is that the major oil companies are expected to invest billions of dollars and send in hundreds of the technical people to explore for oil and gas and then build wells and pipelines to make it all profitable. None of the major companies were willing to take on the degree of risk involved, especially not in a nation as corrupt and violence prone as Iraq.

April 25, 2018: The government agreed to pay for the recruitment, equipping, training and maintenance of 2,400 additional Sunni Arab tribal militiamen in Anbar province. These militiamen will be organized into four Rapid Intervention Regiments of about 600 men each and will be used to reinforce local militias in areas where ISIL shows up and attempts to set up bases. These four units will answer to the national government.

April 24, 2018: Iran is openly pressuring the Iraqi government to stop taxing Iranian goods exported to Iraq and instead tax similar goods coming from Saudi Arabia. The problem is that many Iraqis feel more comfortable increasing trade with Saudi Arabia, which does not seek to control Iraq like Iran does.

April 22, 2018: For the first time since October 2017 ISIL issued an official statement via the Internet. This one informed members and supporters of what the new ISIL strategy was. No surprises in that as the message repeated the call for ISIL members to return home, if possible, and organize terror attacks there. The primary ISIL targets are the apostate governments of Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Egypt, Gaza (Hamas) and the West Bank (Fatah). In addition, the Taliban of Afghanistan is the main target in Afghanistan because the local ISIL branch competes with the Taliban to control drug smuggling routes that provide large amounts of cash that ISIL in Afghanistan needs to survive.

ISIL considers itself strongest in Iraq and Syria where there are still a lot of Sunni Arabs who feel oppressed by the local government (in both cases governments dominated by Shia Arabs). ISIL also declared victory over the Americans because the United States has announced (more than once) that it is leaving Iraq and Syria once ISIL is eliminated. ISIL interprets that to mean the Americans are declaring victory and running away no matter how many ISIL are still active in Iraq and Syria.

The main ISIL message is that once ISIL has overthrown the apostate governments in the Middle East it will go after Israel. So for the moment, ISIL is admitting that Israel is not worth the effort (without saying carrying out attacks in Israel has proved to be nearly impossible). ISIL leaders have already quietly told local ISIL groups to concentrate on fundraising and recruiting by carrying out operations that terrorize and raise money. That means lots of kidnapping, extortion, drug smuggling and grand larceny. ISIL managed to get as much as half a billion dollars out of Syria and Iraq before they lost control of their caliphate in late 2017. The money is being sought both in the West and in Middle Eastern countries with increased vigor. After close encounters with ISIL more Middle Eastern nations are willing to go after local financial corruption that helped manage ISIL finances during the ISIL occupation of eastern Syria and a third of Iraq from 2014 to 2017. In Iraq, it was discovered that a lot of Iraqis with technical and financial skills worked with and for ISIL during the occupation. The defeat of ISIL included the capture of many documents detailing this collusion and who was involved. Some of those involved were arrested and provided more details. There is no longer any doubt about how savage ISIL is against anyone who does not support them and for once ISIL is dealing with a lot more Arabs who actively oppose ISIL and are not so easily bribed or intimidated. Yet there is still a minority of Sunni Moslems willing to join ISIL and do the dirty work of trying to conquer the world for their version of Islam. So the thousand year old internal struggle between violent Islamic conservatives and the more moderate majority continues.

April 20, 2018: In the northwest (Nineveh province) Iraqi troops stationed west of Mosul at the Syrian border were attacked by a large group of ISIL gunmen. The attack was repulsed and 18 ISIL men were killed. Iraqi troops on the border have to be particularly careful at night because large groups of ISIL gunmen try to sneak across the border (going either way) and are ready to fight their way through if necessary. In this case, the Iraqi troops were ready when ISIL launched what they thought was a surprise attack. This part of the Syrian border is most heavily used by remaining ISIL forces, some of them based in Syria less than ten kilometers from the border. Iraqi troops have orders to shoot anyone who tries to cross the border illegally at night. Despite the active defense of the border ISIL continues to cross the in both directions and tolerating the losses. Apparently, most of the crossings are not detected because ISIL personnel are arrested in Mosul who report they crossed the border several times recently.

Iraq resumed paying Kuwait reparations for damage done to Kuwait oil fields during the 1990-91 occupation. Payments had been resumed earlier but were suspended in 2014 because of the ISIL invasion and the consequent cash shortage the Iraqi government experienced. If Iraq continues making payments it should be finished paying the debt by 2021.

April 19, 2018: In the northeast (Diyala province) an Iraqi airstrike killed a known ISIL leader and an associate. An examination of the building hit by the airstrike revealed that this was an ISIL base for controlling smaller groups of ISIL members throughout the province.

Iraqi warplanes carried out airstrikes against ISIL targets in Syria in coordination with the Assad government. These airstrikes continue but Iraq refuses to allow any ground forces (especially pro-Iran PMF units) to enter Syria.

.April 18, 2018: Iran and Iraq signed an agreement whereby Iran will assist Iraq in rebuilding its military industries and production facilities.

April 15, 2018: In Baghdad Shia followers of Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr demonstrated against the United States because of the recent American led missile strikes on Syrian chemical warfare facilities. The day before the Iraqi government criticized the attacks on the Assad government chemical warfare operations. The Iraqi government argued that the American led attacks could lead to an increase in Islamic terrorist activity.

April 10, 2018: In the north (Kirkuk province) ISIL attacked two remote villages, took control and announced via the speaker systems in local mosques (used to call Moslems to prayer five times a day) ISIL was going to maintain control for as long as they could and anyone who disagreed with that should leave while they could. These temporary takeovers are becoming more frequent even though none of them last long. The ISIL occupiers come with escape plans already in place and vacate quickly when security forces approach.

April 9, 2018: In the north (Kirkuk province) troops patrolling outside Kirkuk city encountered a group of armed men and opened fire. One of those killed turned out to be Abu Walid al Checheni, the ISIL leader in charge of organizing terror attacks in the province. Kirkuk province has become a battleground between the security forces and the scattered, but substantial, ISIL forces still in the province. In the last month, the security forces have found and killed several hundred ISIL men but many more remain.

In the west (Anbar province) security forces obtained intel about a large force of ISIL men crossing the border from Syria at night. The ambush was a success and the entire ISIL force (65 gunmen) was killed. Because of the risk that some of the Islamic terrorists might be wearing explosive vests, or simply being armed and suicidal, the best policy is to keep shooting, especially at night, until you are certain they are all dead and then check out the bodies carefully when the sun comes up. When that was done it was discovered and at least six of the dead were not Arab and efforts were underway to identify where the foreign Islamic terrorists were from.

April 2, 2018: In March 104 civilians and policemen died due to Islamic terrorist violence. This is up a bit from the 91 killed during February and 19 percent of the dead were police. About a third of the deaths occurred in Baghdad. Terror related civilian deaths in Iraq were higher in January (115 dead). Most (78 percent) of the January deaths occurred in Baghdad. The increased casualties are disappointing because the deaths hit a new low (69) in December 2017. With 35 percent of the deaths in Baghdad, an old pattern continued. In October when 114 civilians were killed. Most (63 percent) of this violence was equally split between Baghdad (long a Sunni Islamic terrorist target) and Anbar province. The government has still not resumed reporting casualties among the security forces (military and militias). Civilian deaths were higher (at 196) in September and declined steadily for most of 2017. During the last three months, most of the civilian deaths occurred because the victims were near an unexpected suicide bomber attack. Soldiers and police usually can spot and stop suicide bombers but this often means the suicide bomber will set off his explosives before he can be shot dead or captured alive. At that point, the bomber is often near civilians who became the casualties instead of the security forces. The government says the January Anbar casualty data will be released once all the data can be collected. With the decline in Islamic terror related deaths other forms of violence are now getting more, long overdue, attention. At the top of the list is tribal feuds. Tribal politics has long been a major factor in Iraqi society, especially the largely Sunni tribes of Anbar and the six major Shia tribes of Basra (the southern province).Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Saqib Nisar summoned on Saturday Federal Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique during the suo motu hearing of alleged Rs60 billion corruption in the department.

A two-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Nisar, resumed hearing the case at apex courts Lahore Registry.

During the court proceedings, the CJP enquired where the railways minister was. To which the railway secretary, replied that the minister had not been summoned to appear before the court for today's hearing.

"Please call Railway minister, we will speak in front of him," the top judge said.

On April 14, the apex court had ordered the complete audit of Pakistan Railways during the case hearing.

Moreover, the CJP had also reprimanded Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique for his statements defending his department.

The CJP observed that the time when institutions were disrespected has passed. You should have seen what your body language was like. If you don't respect the institutions, then no one will respect you, chief justice remarked while speaking to the railways minister.

Reasoning his behaviour, Rafique said that the statements made by him at different locations were against his political opponents. There is a misunderstanding which I want to clear. I can leave if you dont want to hear me out, he said.

Responding to this, the Chief Justice remarked: We are well-aware of your intentions. If you leave the court then contempt proceedings will be initiated against you.



Supreme Court orders complete audit of Pakistan Railways

Rafique also shared that the revenue of railways department is Rs50 billion with a deficit of Rs35 billion. There are many reasons behind the losses. If you conduct an audit then you will become content with our performance, he said.

On April 7, the top judge had taken suo motu notice of alleged Rs60 billion corruption in the Pakistan Railways. The top judge had also summoned railways minister, secretary and board members along with the audit report.

He had observed that Indian former railways minister Lalu Prasad was not well-educated yet he made the Indian Railways very profitable. Today, the reforms brought about by Lalu Prasad are being taught at Harvard University, he added.

On the other hand, in Pakistan, the railways is only said to be profitable only in rallies. But the claims are far from reality, he remarked, asserting This is not a kingdom where people are free to do as they please.At least four Palestinians have been killed and hundreds more injured during clashes between Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli military forces near the border between the besieged Gaza Strip and occupied territories.

Eyewitnesses said the protesters walked closer to the border fence, where dozens of Israeli soldiers and snipers had been deployed at the other side.

The demonstrators threw stones at the Israeli armed forces, who fired back tear gas canisters as well as live and rubber-coated metal bullets.

The spokesman for the Gaza Ministry of Health, Ashraf al-Qidra, said in a statement that four Palestinians lost their lives and more than 880 others sustained injuries during the anti-occupation protest on the fifth Friday of a six-week protest, known as the Great March of Return.

He identified one of the deceased as 29-year-old Abdelsalam Bakr, adding that he was a resident of Khuza'a town east of Khan Yunis. The identities of the two other victims have not been determined yet.

Qidra further noted that four protesters are in a critical condition at al-Shifa Hospital in the centre of Gaza City.

Protests along the Gaza border since March 30 have led to clashes with Israeli forces in which at least 38 Palestinians have lost their lives and hundreds of others sustained injuries.

The Palestinian rally will last until May 15, which coincides with the 70th anniversary of Nakba Day (Day of Catastrophe) on which Israel was created.

Every year on May 15, Palestinians all over the world hold demonstrations to commemorate Nakba Day, which marks the anniversary of the forcible eviction of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homeland by Israelis in 1948.

More than 760,000 Palestinians - now estimated to number nearly five million with their descendants - were driven out of their homes on May 14, 1948.

Since 1948, the Israeli regime has denied Palestinian refugees the right to return, despite UN resolutions and international law that uphold peoples right to return to their homelands.

This year's Land Day demonstrations appear especially combustible as Palestinian anger is already high over Trump's decision in December 2017 to recognize Jerusalem al-Quds as Israel's "capital."

Israel occupied the West Bank, East Jerusalem al-Quds and parts of Syrias Golan Heights during the Six-Day War in 1967. It later annexed East Jerusalem al-Quds in a move not recognized by the international community.

Israel is required to withdraw from all the territories seized in the war under UN Security Council Resolution 242, adopted months after the Six-Day War, in November 1967, but the Tel Aviv regime has defied that piece of international law ever since.The former president and army chief Pervez Musharraf once again vowed on Saturday that he would return Pakistan to face the cases registered against him.

Addressing to lawyers community via video link, the head of All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) said that court, constitution and law must be respected as the lawyers is the only community, which can play vital role to bring the change in Pakistan.I have no issue to face courts and will soon return to Pakistan to face cases as most of them registered against him are already being removed, he reiterated his stance.

He alleged that present rulers have looted the Pakistan.

He claimed that during his tenure in 2007, the country was heading to its peak and even dollar was under government control and I assure if people trust in me, I can run the country in much better way.Dr Shakil Afridi was shifted from Peshawar Jail to an undisclosed prison in another city, jail sources informed.

Dr Afridi is sentenced to 33 years for involvement in anti-state activities by a tribal court in 2012. The tribal court alleged that Afridi paid two million rupees to a militant group and helped to provide medical assistance to militant commanders in Khyber.

Afridi was arrested after US troops killed Al Qaeda chief bin Laden in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad in May 2011. Islamabad branded the raid a violation of sovereignty, and Pakistan's relations with the US fell to an all-time low.Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar on Saturday visited Punjab Institute of Mental Health and met with patients.

During the visit, CJP inspected health facilities in different wards including emergency and discussed the problems of the patients. He also barred everyone from calling the hospital as mental asylum.

The emergency incharge briefed the CJP about the facilities after which, the top judge assured the patients to not get worried about anything.

Mian Saqib Nisar further asked to show him the kitchen so that he can inspect the arrangements there.

I will visit every ward of every department in the hospital, he said to Medical Superintendent of the hospital.Yes, the decision belongs on the local level

No, no one should be able to dictate whether people wear masks

Vote

View ResultsAn air strike on Yemen's capital by a Saudi-led military coalition has killed dozens of Houthi rebels including two commanders, according to a Saudi TV station.

Saudi state-owned news channel Al Ekhbariya said on Saturday that two high-ranking rebels were killed in the raid in Sanaa on Friday evening.

Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television said a total of 38 rebels were killed in the attack on a Houthi interior ministry building. A police building adjacent to the Houthi-controlled ministry was also struck.

The Houthis confirmed an air raid on Sanaa but gave no details.

On Saturday, Houthis staged a large-scale funeral for the two commanders in Sanaa, in a display of military strength.

Six pick-up trucks bearing the bodies of the leaders, and other Houthis killed in the attack, were escorted by soldiers in dress uniform towards a square where a crowd of thousands awaited.

In a separate development on Saturday, Saudi air defences reportedly intercepted four missiles fired by Houthi rebels at Saudi's southern Jazan province near the border with Yemen.

The rebels launched eight ballistic missiles towards Jazan, aimed at "economic and vital targets", the Houthi-run state news agency Saba reported.

Colonel Yahya Abdullah Al-Qahtani, a spokesperson for Jazan's Civil Defence Directorate, said shrapnel from the projectile resulted in the death of a Saudi national.

The war in Yemen has entered its fourth year.

Houthi rebels and the Yemeni government have battled on and off since 2004, but much of the fighting was confined to the impoverished northern Saada province, a Houthi stronghold.

In September 2014, the Houthis took control of Sanaa and proceeded to push southwards towards the country's second-biggest city, Aden.

In response to the Houthi advances, a coalition of Arab states led by Saudi Arabia launched a military campaign in 2015 to defeat the Houthis and restore Yemen's government.

The campaign by the coalition against the Houthis has seen more than 16,000 air raids launched across the country since March 26, 2015.

The attacks have devastated Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the Middle East.

A third of air raids have targeted non-military sites, with at least 1,400 such attacks targeting residential areas.

More than 10,000 people have been killed. With at least 1,600 schools damaged or destroyed in the attacks, more than four million Yemeni children have been unable to attend school.

Yemen now stands at the brink of famine. The Saudi-led coalition imposed a total blockade on Yemen's ports in November in retaliation for cross-border Houthi missile attacks on Saudi Arabia.

The blockade has since been partially lifted, but access to the impoverished country remains limited.Theres less than two weeks to go until every gamebird hunters favourite weekend of the year, so its time to break out the camo, ammo, and get your ducks in a row.

Its a given the 2018 Game Bird Season brings endless amounts of recreational fun  but what many dont realise is the quiet ways the hobby is helping to conserve native flora and fauna.

From a farmer creating wetlands for their own duck-hunting posse, to assisting with population control, there are many ways duck hunters establish themselves as quiet conservationists, says Fish & Game New Zealand communication manager Don Rood.

A wetland has major benefits for native wildlife, particularly birds and fish, and they play such a vital part of the environment. They filter and clean water and they provide breeding spots and food for bird life.

Don says in some areas throughout New Zealand the loss of wetlands has been major  so when you think of the role duck hunters play in rebuilding those areas, its very positive.

As well as building wetlands, duck hunters contribute to the environment by helping with population control  both with predators and with gamebirds themselves.

Hunters mount predator control programs by trapping stoats and weasels. This has a benefit for gamebirds and all wetland creatures.

Some gamebird species can create problems at times. Take, for example, when there are lovely new fields of grass or crops which the birds feast on  so harvesting birds can help farmers.

Another part of the reason for the hunting season is to keep a cap on populations. Fish & Game conducts studies every year to assess how many birds live in a certain area, and the information tells them how many birds are able to be sustainably harvested.

A hunters role is not to wipe ducks out, but to sustain populations and encourage them to grow. Its all very carefully managed, which is why the limits vary widely between Fish & Games 12 regions in New Zealand.

The 2018 Game Bird Season opens on Saturday, May 5. For more information visit www.fishandgame.org.nzBay of Plenty

Our Client is looking for an Assembler for their finishing department. This role is based in Tauranga and will be an immediate...



View or Apply on GoodWork.co.nzTesla shareholders will hold their annual meeting in June to vote on several key decisions for the company. One of those decisions is whether or not to keep Elon Musk as Chairman of the Board. The proposal is extremely unlikely to pass, but still highlights Tesla's mounting pressure to produce for its shareholders.

The idea was put forward by Mr. Jing Zhao of Concord, CA, a shareholder activist who has created similar proposals for Apple and IBM. His concern is that with Musk also involved at SolarCity and SpaceX, he may not be able to serve as an independent chairman.

Tesla was under pressure recently to add some independent members to its board, but this is the first call to remove Musk entirely. Part of the proposal reads as follows:

An independent chairman of the board of directors is the prevailing practice in the international market, such as in the United Kingdom. In the United States too, many big companies already have or began to have an independent Board Chairman. Tesla should not be exception.

This vote certainly doesn't mean Musk could be kicked out of his own company though; his contract as CEO was recently renewed for another 10 years. Tesla's statement on the issue unsurprisingly urges shareholders to vote against the proposal.

The Board believes that the Companys success to date would not have been possible if the Board was led by another director lacking Elon Musks day-to-day exposure to the Companys business. In light of the significant future opportunities for growth and the careful execution needed in order for the Company to achieve it, the Board believes that the Company is still best served by Mr. Musk continuing to serve as Chairman. Moreover, the role of the Lead Independent Director protects the Company against any potential governance issues arising from a non-independent director serving as Chairman. This position is vested with broad authority to lead the actions of the independent directors and communicate regularly with the Chief Executive Officer. Additionally, the Company now has seven independent directors following the addition of two additional independent directors in July 2017.

As CEO and Chairman of the Board, Musk has led Tesla along an impressive set of milestones, but not without some missteps. Their stock has tripled in the last 5 years but is down recently due to poor Model 3 production numbers and a tanking credit rating. Musk has since been sleeping on the factory floor ahead of their next milestone in June.

Although Musk's removal from the board seems unlikely, if Tesla misses the June production numbers, we may be seeing more and more proposals like this.So far, 26,733 Venezuelans have returned through the return to the homeland program funded by President Nicolas Maduro's administration. | Read MoreThat she will not survive her full term at the helm of AMP is a given but how and when she stage manages the exit unclear. "She has done her reputation already. People dont want to be associated with Catherine. There is no way trying to stay on the board would be worthwhile," says a supporter who still holds her in high regard. Others are not so generous. One who has shared a board with Brenner has a different take: "There is an air of superiority about her and a sense of entitlement - like someone from the ruling class. I am not surprised she hasnt stepped down from the AMP board." Another board member who worked with Brenner thinks she will hang on as long as possible.

"She wont leave gracefully because the non executive director role is what dominates her professional career," the board member says. "She is taking a long time to announce her departure because she sees her entire professional life collapsing very quickly." Not just her ethics but her judgement and ability are being openly questioned. A fellow member of the from Brenner's time on the Takeovers Panel, recalled: "I cant remember anything she said of any significance." Another director describes an eye for detail but little nose for commerce.

"(She is) good at crossing the Ts and dotting the Is. She reads every word of the documents before the board and picks up spelling mistakes just to make sure you know she has read it. She is not a business person and I dont know if I would put her in charge of the corner store. She sees herself as the David Gonski of her gender." This is a reference to Brenner's artful networking and skillful employment of corporate mentors - most particularly ANZ chairman David Gonski - but also former chairman of Boral, the late Ken Moss, and former AMP director, Richard Grellman. Despite her fairly ordinary beginnings - a graduate from Jetty High School in Coffs Harbour - Brenner studied law at Macquarie University, and after a stint at law firm Phillips Fox moved into investment banking at ABN Amro. But it was her marriage to well-connected urologist, Phillip Brenner that gave her entree to Sydneys rarified wealthy elite power circle. Philip Brenner, a former boyfriend of the late Kerry Packers only daughter Gretel is also the nephew of legendary property developer, rich lister, Robert Whyte who himself was a longtime close friend of Packer. Phillips sister Maxine Brenner - also a well known company director and former lawyer - is married to entrepreneur and founder of failed OneTel, Jodee Rich.

How power duo Catherine and Phillip, now fare in the ruthless eastern suburbs social pecking order is unclear. In 2015 Phillip Brenner had his medical practitioners authority to supply, possess or issue prescriptions for addictive drugs withdrawn by NSW authorities. Soon after he hung up his stethoscope and began a second career as a property developer. It was through Whyte that Catherine Brenner met an early corporate mentor, Richard Grellman, a high profile insolvency guru from KPMG who later become a prized member of the club of top-tier corporate directors and a director of AMP. Brenner served her board apprenticeships on a couple of smaller boards in which Grellman also served - including biotech hopeful, Cyrosite and Centennial Coal and Trafalgar Group. Centennial Coal, was no resources giant but boasted Ken Moss as its chairman - a far bigger fish in the director pool. Brenner joined the Boral board in 2010. But Brenners Queenmaker was undoubtedly ANZ chairman, David Gonksi - a man whose influence in corporate, government and the arts in Australia is almost unmatched.

"Gonksi is very important to her and thinks highly of her - its a strong relationship," says one of Brenners friends. As chairman of Coca Cola Amatil board, Gonski appointed Brenner as a director and their paths intersect at an array of additional institutions from the Art Gallery of NSW, to charitable organisation Adara. Brenner still sits on the Coca Cola board and chairman Ilana Atlas was willing to say publicly this week she retained confidence in Brenner. She is not responsible for the culture that exists within AMP - this has taken decades to develop - but she has made several crucial mistakes in her near-two year stint as chairman. The most startling of these was allegedly being complicit in AMPs alleged cover up of a fee-for-no-service scandal involving the production of a so-called independent report by the law firm Clayton Utz.Health checks will be rolled out to every prep student and 3000 more children will have access to speech pathologists as part of a health and wellbeing boost for Victorian schools.

Education will be a major focus of this weeks state budget, which will include a $65.5 million package for health and wellbeing initiatives in schools.

Victorian Education Minister James Merlino said the funding would ensure every child received the attention and support they needed to succeed.

More health professionals in school will mean the kids who need extra help will get it, and wont be left behind, he said.

The package includes $16.3 million to expand speech pathologists in schools, which will mean an extra 3000 students receive 11 hours of speech pathology every year.Family violence has become a much more widely publicised issue in Victoria in recent years, but among the state's South Sudanese community it's still a problem that remains largely unspoken.

That's why South Sudanese women from Melbourne's south-eastern suburbs gathered on Saturday for the area's inaugural Family Wellbeing Conference in Mulgrave, where many of the women in the audience were educated about family violence for the first time.

Nyajany Deiwal and Mary Nyawang Lul at the first family well-being conference for South Sudanese community in Melbourne's south-east. Credit:Chris Hopkins

The day was about empowering and informing women in the South Sudanese community so that they knew how to get help, or assist others in doing so.

"This community haven't talked about it very much," African Women And Families Network (AWAFN) chairperson and conference organiser Theresa Sengaaga Ssali said. "We want to look at prevention and also how to deal with young people struggling to communicate in their family."The Turnbull government will deliver the largest single environmental protection package in Australian history by committing half a billion dollars to protect the Great Barrier Reef from climate change and pollution.

The investment, to be detailed in the May budget, will aim to shore up support in key Queensland seats ahead of an election in the next year, as the Coalition tries to balance environmental concerns with its pro-mining jobs focus through the Adani coal mine.

A diver on the outer Great Barrier Reef near Port Douglas. Credit:Jason South

The significant funding boost comes days after internal government figures obtained by Fairfax Media showed that Commonwealth funding to arrest declining water quality on the reef had dropped by more than $11 million a year.

The reef  a World Heritage area and the largest living structure on the planet  has been decimated by coral bleaching and pollution, losing up to half of its coral cover in the past 30 years.The royal family has undergone such a successful refresh - as marketing types might put it - we were almost able to overlook the fact that last week Prince Charles was "elected" chief of the Commonwealth, in a unanimous decision by the United Kingdom and its former colonies. Such voterly unanimity is the envy of many a dictator, although British Prime Minister Theresa May tried to save our colonial egos by insisting that the decision was not a foregone conclusion, a total lie which was deferentially forgiven. Loading The truth is, its tough times to be a republican. All resistance seems futile in the face of Kate and Meghan, with their healthy hair and their fashion iconism.

They have enchanted the world and broadened the scope of the monarchy. The Americans have always been obsessed by the royal family, despite, or perhaps, because of their republic status. Now one of their own is about to join its ranks, they have a fully defensible excuse to gawk and photograph, to report and to pry. Australian republicans look to be in for a long wait. Their former fearless leader has become a rather more cautious Prime Minister. Malcolm Turnbull has shelved his former passion. He voted, on behalf of all Australians, for Prince Charles ascension as Commonwealth chief, and sat cosily next to him at the Villers-Bretonneux Anzac Day memorial. That was serious business, the business of war, and the men were handling it. There was a lack of commentary on what our next king was wearing at the dawn service. I am not even sure which designer dressed him. Loading Meanwhile, back in Britain, Kate was presumably re-acquainting herself with breast-feeding and the bodily fallout from labour, all of which was invisible in the stunning photographs of her on the steps of the hospital as she left for home, clutching her (undeniably lovely) baby boy.

Is the hyper-grooming an attempt at privacy? When you go into labour and the whole world is informed via a media statement, maybe a post-birth blow-dry and a discreet visit from your personal make-up artist is necessary armour against a public that thinks it has a right to know the specifics of such a personal moment. Maybe looking good is the best strategy to get people to look away again as quickly as possible, and leave you alone. Much had been made of the unrealistic standards Kate projected for all new mothers, by looking so pretty and together, but who can really blame her? Because lets not pretend to ourselves it wouldnt have been bigger, and much worse, news if she had appeared outside the hospital looking like women usually do after birth: joyful (most of the time), but also ravaged, lumpy, tired, possibly anaemic, and coming off drugs.

Kate put a royal, magazine sheen over what is one of the most confronting physical experiences life offers. There are no breast leaks, laxatives or maternity pads in her version. No drugs either: as with her older children, the duchess is hoping for a natural birth, we were told, as though it was any of our business. Imagine the column inches if Kate had raised her hand to wave at her well-wishers and hairy under-arms had been exposed? Or if grey regrowth had shown at the roots of her hair? Or if she had turned up in ugg boots instead of heels, all the better to hide her swollen ankles? These young women may be saving the royal family by making it likeable and beautiful, and somehow softer, a much-needed service after decades of bad news stories of how toxic it can be to live inside the Firm.

But the price they pay is a total loss of privacy in their most personal moments, and an erasure of identity. Kate is producing heirs, and its not her DNA that makes them so. Meghan, who has been lauded as a modern royal because she had a real job and is a divorcee, has had to ditch the job and delete herself from social media as her price of entry. Both women freely chose their marriages, unlike so many princesses from history. Both women seem smart and strong. Women should feel free to enjoy the way the royal wives dress, and to take interest in the births and marriages they generate. But lets not pretend they are role models. They are too inhibited to be anything close to it. Follow Jacqueline Maley on FacebookThe federal government will spend $15 million in the May budget on providing humanitarian assistance for the Rohingya crisis.

The commitment comes after Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull met Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh in Sydney on Saturday to discuss a solution to a situation that has caused 900,000 Rohingya to flee into her country.

More than 680,000 mostly women and children have fled from Myanmar since August 2017 alone after a string of crackdowns on the Muslim religious minority by military in the Buddhist country.

The refugees now face a cyclone season in the notoriously flood-prone region of Cox's Bazar, where most are sleeping in slums and makeshift tents in one of Asia's poorest countries.Opposition Leader Matthew Guy has pledged to party faithful to "make Victoria safe" as he unveiled a suite of new law-and-order policies on Saturday, including a crackdown on gangs.

Among the promises in Mr Guy's speech to the Liberal Party state council on Saturday was a pledge to provide children whose parents were murdered up to $42,000 a year.

Yet he provided no detail about how many children would be eligible for the payments.

Victorian Liberal Party leader Matthew Guy enters the state council meeting. Credit:Daniel Pockett

This is fair, this is just and its the least the state can do, he told party members gathered at Melbourne Park.It is crucial to refer to facts and data when determining how to best to deal with crime. Polling shows law and order is the biggest issue ahead of the November state election.

Given the blanket publicity the worst crimes  murder, rape, assault and aggravated burglary  attract, people are understandably fearful of being attacked in their homes and communities. That corrodes confidence and wellbeing; the perceived threat of a crime is harmful in itself. Lawmakers thus have a particular responsibility to be accurate, to maintain perspective and to avoid unduly fuelling fears or misconceptions.

It is unfortunate, for example, that a perception has grown that Melburnians are in imminent danger of being attacked by rampaging gangs of immigrant African youths. Yes, there have been some incidents, and the perpetrators, most of whom are known to the police, deserve and receive the measured force of our already robust laws and criminal justice system. That must and will continue whether or not there is a change in government later this year.

Credit:Illustration: Matt Davidson

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton was ill-advised to state as he recently did that people are scared to go out at restaurants of a night time because theyre followed home by these gangs, home invasions, and cars are stolen.The state propaganda arm said Kim's "immortal achievement will be brightly engraved in the history of the Korean nation's unification."

The North's official Korean Central News Agency, in typically fawning language, reported that the leaders exchanged "honest and heartfelt talks" at a summit that "was a realisation of the supreme leader's blazing love for the nation and unyielding will for self-reliance."

Despite the bold declarations, the leaders failed to provide any new measures on a nuclear standoff that has captivated and terrified millions, and analysts expressed doubts on whether the summit represented a real breakthrough.

Goyang, South Korea: North Korea's state media on Saturday trumpeted leader Kim Jong-un's "immortal achievement" a day after he met South Korean President Moon Jae-in and repeated past vows to remove nuclear weapons from the peninsula and work toward a formal end to the Korean War.

Even if the substance on nuclear matters was light, the images Friday at Panmunjom were striking: Kim and Moon set aside a year that saw them seemingly on the verge of war, grasped hands and strode together across the cracked concrete slab that marks the Koreas' border.

The sight, inconceivable just months ago, allowed the leaders to step forward toward the possibility of a cooperative future even as they acknowledged a fraught past and the widespread skepticism that, after decades of failed diplomacy, things will be any different this time.

Meanwhile, military planes from Australia and Canada were being sent to Japan to help monitor North Korean ships suspected of conducting ship-to-ship transfers contravening UN sanctions over Pyongyang's nuclear program.

On the nuclear issue, the leaders merely repeated a previous vow to rid their peninsula of nuclear weapons, saying they will achieve a "nuclear-free Korean Peninsula through complete denuclearization." This kicks one of the world's most pressing issues down the road to a much-anticipated summit between Kim and President Donald Trump in coming weeks.

"There is no reference to verification, timetables, or an attempt to define the word 'complete.' It does not reiterate or advance Pyongyang's unilateral offer to halt nuclear and ICBM tests," said Adam Mount, a senior defence analyst at the Federation of American Scientists. "In practice, this statement should enable a US-North Korea summit to detail specifics about what, when, and how denuclearisation would occur, but it has not offered a head start on that process. All of the negotiation is left to a US team that is understaffed and has little time to prepare."In July 2015, 35 of Bill Cosbys accusers spoke to New York Magazine about their allegations of being assaulted, drugged, and raped by the man who had built his reputation as Americas Dad. While multiple women had already come forward to the press, when photographed together, the magnitude of their accusations was shocking  together, as one described it at the time, they formed a sorrowful sisterhood. Over the last three years, those women have waited to see if Cosby would ever be brought to justice, and on Thursday, after a near three-week long trial and 14 hours of jury deliberations, he was finally found guilty of three counts of sexual assault.

While the statute of limitations had expired for many of the women who had accused Cosby of sexual assault, Andrea Constand, a former Temple University employee, reopened a criminal case against Cosby for a 2004 incident. Last years trial ended in a hung jury, and many feared that justice would not be served this time around  or ever. But much has changed since then, as the #MeToo movement picked up steam and several powerful men were taken down by sexual-assault allegations. Now, Cosby faces up to ten years in prison for each of his three convictions.

After the verdict, the Cut returned to the women who spoke out in 2015 about what it feels like to see justice served. (A few could not comment because of ongoing litigation with Cosby.) Some of them have been waiting decades to see this day, and they expressed tearful elation, relief, and solidarity with their fellow sister survivors.

Sunni Welles: Its a historic day.

Sunni Welles. Photo: Amanda Demme

Alleged assault: mid-1960s

Im a nanny, I was with my baby charge. She was taking a nap, so I turned on the news and I saw it and just immediately started crying. I couldnt be more thrilled that the 62 of us survivors are vindicated.

I have PTSD and bipolar, and even though I cant say his name without getting flashbacks, I watched everything I could on the trial because I had to know. Even though Ive had a significant amount of flashbacks and terror dreams since the trial began, I fought through that. Id be happy if he just got two to three years to be in an eight-by-ten cell. I hope he doesnt leave prison. Its hard for me to say that about another human being, but I know how significantly I was hurt by him doing what he did to me. He did it to me, and my mother was one of his agents. He knew our family, he was always very courteous to my mother, and they were friends. If he could do that to her daughter, he could do that to anyone. Hes a very ill and sick man and I hope he reflects on it as he sits in that little cell.

Ill probably go out  I dont drink, but Im going to go out and have a beer and some sushi. Its a historic day.

Lili Bernard: Im feeling, in a sense, reborn.

Lili Bernard. Photo: Amanda Demme

Alleged assault: early 1990s

I could see the whites of Cosbys eyes when I heard the verdict  I was in the courtroom, seated just a few feet behind Andrea Costand. We were sobbing. We were astonished at the positive verdict. The legal system is no longer light years behind modern culture. These three guilty verdicts are an indication that society is now more enlightened about rape myths. My heart is full of gratitude for the prosecution, the six victims who testified, especially Andrea Constand, and the jury. Im feeling, in a sense, reborn, that I can return to normalcy, my life with my six children, and my advocacy for other rape survivors. Im hopeful that the judge will render a sentence which reflects the lasting damage and havoc that this man has wreaked upon the lives of dozens of women, over decades, with impunity.

Helen Hayes: Put him in a womans prison, theyll deal with him.

Alleged assault: 1973

Helen Hayes. Photo: Amanda Demme

Its a strange day for me. I was just going to spend the weekend planting some flowers and thinking about my daughters suicide. It was two years ago that my daughter hung herself, so I was feeling sad about that. My phone is just broken up  its just hot: hes guilty, hes guilty. I was in Michaels and I told a couple of people in Michaels and they looked at me like, well, whos Cosby? and I said, dont worry, Trump will be next. I just wanted to cry for all the women. Im just so happy for all of them, this might be their closure. It was a long hard road  Im 83, reverse those numbers to 38, was when I had my encounter with Cosby. Hes younger than I am, he gets ten years, what is that? One month for all of us. I hope he gets 150 years and he just dies in jail. Put him in a womans prison, theyll deal with him.

Carla Ferrigno: We got to see who he really is.

Carla Ferrigno. Photo: Amanda Demme

Alleged assault: 1967

I was all worried for a long time that they were going to give him everything he needed and wanted. Consequences! Im so happy for all the women involved. I was at my desk at home when I found out. Suddenly, the phone started ringing. My first thought was that justice came, and it worked. Its a wonderful day. I feel like something was finally accomplished. The day I was on Dateline was one of the hardest days ever. There were 29 of us, and we cried all day. Those women had never even met me, but they all came up and thanked me and hugged me for being a part of what was happening. Its so sad that what was done has lasted a lifetime. Everybodys excited. Its finally happened. I heard that he yelled out, is that true? [Yes!] Oh good! We get to see who he really is.

Victoria Valentino: We are seeing justice at work at last.

Victoria Valentino. Photo: Amanda Demme

Alleged assault: 1969

I never believed this day would come, but we are seeing justice at work at last, and I am overwhelmed with gratitude. I hope by our example, more women will have the courage to confront their perpetrators and find freedom in that, and become empowered.

Chelan Lasha: I dreamt about this day years ago.

Chelan Lasha. Photo: Amanda Demme

Alleged Assault: 1986

I just started screaming when I heard the verdict. My husband ran into the room and he was like whats going on? I was like, We did it, hes guilty! Thank you Jesus! It was the most happy, emotional day. I would have to compare that with giving birth. I dreamt about this day years ago and I always knew that, one day, I would see him again  and I knew it would be in a courtroom. That hes going to look at me again and remember what he did to me.

I was very nervous to testify. I had a lot of mixed emotions: I was angry, happy. I wanted to tell the truth and stand up for all women. And stand up for myself, finally. Everything just went out the window. I forgave him all at one time, I could look at him and tell he could remember the things I was saying. I plan at being at the sentencing  I pray that Im there  and Im looking forward to telling him bye-bye!

Marcella Tate: Its like a light bulb has gone on.

Marcella Tate. Photo: Amanda Demme

Alleged assault: 1975

I was pensive when I heard that the verdict was coming back in. I wasnt sure that  even with the momentum now, all of this kind of information coming forward  people were really ready to take on these kinds of subjects. I feel comforted in this verdict. Im hoping that those thinking of behaving that way will not do so in the future.

Im really proud. I know the women who have testified, who have come forward, and Im going to tell you something: As a group, these are intelligent and really grounded women. I have been very, very impressed. Three years ago no, I probably didnt think this day would come. The mountain was so high, because he was still touring. I was following the trial very closely. I know the tactics of defense attorneys, and nobody likes seeing their friends attacked, so that was very difficult.

Its like a light bulb has gone on, people are just so supportive and encouraging. The tide has changed in a lot of ways.

Louisa Moritz

Louisa Moritz. Photo: Amanda Demme

Alleged assault: 1971

It is hard to celebrate something I have known for over 40 years. His strategy of defaming and lying about our true accusations will cost him further as my defamation case will now be going forward. I congratulate and support the other raped victims. I hope that others will still come forward to experience this vindication. Looking forward to the sentencing and the images of Cosby in handcuffs on his way to prison.

Patricia Steuer: I never expected any of this to occur in my lifetime.

Alleged assaults: 1978, 1980

Patricia Steuer. Photo: Amanda Demme

I did not think this day would come. I was preparing for either an acquittal or another hung jury, so when my husband showed me his phone that had the news on it that Cosby was guilty, I didnt believe it at first. And in the next few moments, I started to cry, and he put his arms around me  we were both in a pharmacy picking up prescriptions when this happened  and he started to cry too. I never expected any of this to occur in my lifetime  or the #MeToo movement, by the way  and I certainly didnt expect this outcome. Im so happy for Andrea because she has carried the major load and done the heavy lifting on this. Weve all contributed to the story and been of service to the story by coming forward with our own experiences with Cosby, but shes done the heavy lifting and Im so grateful to her and Im so happy for her.

I want women to know they dont have to be silent anymore. There has been enough of us now who have come forward to tell our story, and some of us have been met with disbelief and have not been treated very well, but we paved the paths for them. They dont need quite as much courage as we needed to come forward, because weve done it.

Lise-Lotte Lublin: Ive won already.

Lise-Lotte Lublin. Photo: Amanda Demme

Alleged assault: 1989

My husband Benjamin called me, it was about a quarter till 11, and I had a classroom full of 6th-grade students. He said, They have a verdict, and I said, Are you messing with me? Dont call me until 11:05 when Im on my lunch break, and then not even three or four minutes later, he calls me back and says, guilty, and I swear the air just pulled from my lungs. Guilty, on all three accounts. My body just started to shake, my stomach was turning in knots. All my kids were working diligently, and I thought, Im about to lose it, I need to get out of this room. I just sat there at the phone for a minute and started to well up, and the shaking was so uncontrollable. I had to stop and remember I had a classroom. I walked back to my desk and collected my sub papers, printed them out, and went into slow motion. I looked at all the kids, and I looked at the clock, and then they got out. I sent them out the door and I started shaking again, and was like, You gotta get behind the wheel of a car and drive home. The whole time I was like, Do I have everything? Do I know what Im doing? I drove a little bit slower and I called my friend. When I pulled up, my husband was standing outside and videoing me driving into the driveway. Its surreal. This opens such a huge door to helping victims to come forward, to letting perpetrators know that theyre not going to get off because they have money in the bank. Its not going to be that easy anymore. Its time for this to go down. I am elated and all I can think is, I gotta talk to the girls, I gotta know whats going on. My husband and I are bouncing off each other. Steele called me personally, and you could hear the emotion in his voice. He was emotional and that was so beautiful. I know how important it is to him.

Its remarkable that its finally here, and it went the right way. I dont think I ever truly felt defeated. I know that with my pain, I went after a change, and with that change, there was no defeat. If I change or help one persons life, I know that thats more important and more valuable, and theres no defeat in that. I know what this man has done, and people know, and they believe it. The #MeToo movement really tipped the scales on that. Ive won already. I have control and I have the power over myself and what I get to say and do and change. And he will never have power over me again.

PJ Masten: Its gonna be an avalanche.

PJ Masten. Photo: Amanda Demme

Alleged assault: 1979

When I heard the news, I let out a primal scream. I fell to my knees and started crying. Finally, all of us 62 brave women ripped his mask off and exposed him for what he is: a prolific, serial rapist. Ive been crying all afternoon. I was anticipating it, its long overdue. Women are equal, were not to be used as chattel, and we have a voice. We survivors were the first to come out, and we were the first to get justice. We set it in motion, so its gonna be an avalanche.

The hardest part for me personally were the attacks from his supporters against us. The attacks and the threats, and well sue you  it was very difficult. But, perseverance  women are multitaskers, we took it, we handled it.

Im gonna have a glass of wine, Im gonna to have a nice dinner, Im gonna to have a nice evening with my puppy and just lay low and enjoy the fact that he is going to be behind bars, finally.

Beth Ferrier: It hasnt been a party, but hopefully we will get to celebrate together soon.

Beth Ferrier. Photo: Amanda Demme

Alleged assault: Circa 1984

I was getting ready to take a shower when I heard the news. I was, every hour, just watching. My gut told me, this time, it was solid  like it was supposed to be, like it has been. Ive been watching the trial very closely. I have not been able to comfortably enjoy much because of every moment of this trial and the last trial. I was personally invested in it. I wish I could be there, wish I could be hugging them, giving my total support. Im beyond proud to know these women, these 62, to be a part of this. Im hoping that all of us will have a chance to go before him for sentencing. You remember me, dont you Cosby? Its a victorious day, a glorious day: Andrea Constand holiday day! Its outstanding to be a part of it. It hasnt been a party, but hopefully we will get to celebrate together soon.

Heidi Thomas: David can win and beat Goliath.

Heidi Thomas. Photo: Amanda Demme

Alleged assault: 1984

Im still a little bit in a state of shock. I was in a meeting, I didnt know anything until about 1 oclock, I come out, Im getting into my car and I turn on my phone and it blew up. My phone was dinging for four minutes straight, and Im reading all of this stuff, and I just sat there in my car just going oh  my goodness. Im not even sure quite possibly that Ive processed it yet.

I am hopeful that this shows all of us normal, everyday people that David can win and beat Goliath. Im hopeful that what this verdict does is take all the momentum of this issue and allow people to feel like they can be empowered to speak up and to take action  to go in and take a rape kit if youve been attacked, and to pursue it, to take it to the courts. It can work. We hear so often, our justice system is a mess, and this is proof that it does work. It doesnt matter who you are, how rich and powerful you are, how famous you are. When you are guilty, the justice system is gonna figure it out.

Jewel Allison

Jewel Allison. Photo: Amanda Demme

Alleged assault: Circa 1990

I am overjoyed.

Kelly Johnson (Kacey): Its been a long, long road.

Kelly Johnson. Photo: Amanda Demme

Alleged assault: 1996

I was a part of the first trial last year, and I was the only other accuser allowed to testify. After that came back with a hung jury, it was devastating. You just called me Kacey, because that is the pseudonym Id gone by for a long time. I was thinking about it this afternoon, after I heard the verdict. At the beginning [of last trial], I was the first witness called, and I had to state my full name for the record, and I said Kelly Johnson. I heard my voice go through that microphone and me saying my name out loud for the first time and I felt a sense of strength and courage for saying my name out loud. I feel like Ive been one of the least outspoken of all of the brave women, and no longer have to go by that pseudonym. I am able and proud to say that my name is Kelly Johnson, I was a victim of Bill Cosbys, I am now a survivor, and hes been found guilty of all three charges.

I really didnt think Id see this day. After the devastation of it being a mistrial last year, I didnt want to get my hopes up. Last years trial had such a different feel and tone and tenor  but of course, that was before #MeToo and everything else. That made me cry a little bit too, because I felt like my testimony wasnt enough to assist Andrea. I understand now that it took more than one other witness to make it happen.

My mother would like for me to feel happy now. I think she feels that all these years, my happy meter has been lowered. I also spoke to my son, [crying] hes 24, hes very happy too.

Im thrilled, when you hear the tears  its been a long, long road, but here we are.

Kathy McKee

Kathy McKee. Photo: Amanda Demme

Alleged assault: between 1973 and 1974

Im relieved. A load has been lifted. Victims are victorious!

Linda Kirkpatrick: The battle has been won but the war wages on.

Linda Kirkpatrick. Photo: Amanda Demme

Alleged assault: 1981

I was at work when all this chaos started happening. I needed to go home. I was FaceTiming with one of my survivor sisters, and getting texts from survivors, so in real time I could see the news. I had already been receiving tweets from reporters at the courthouse. I was just overwhelmed with gratitude, for the strength that Andrea Costand showed; the prosecutor, Kevin Steele, who wouldnt let it go; the detectives who were so kind and compassionate; and all the courthouse staff. Im just so grateful, more than anybody, for the jury. They were sequestered from their family and their lives for so long. Without a jury to do that, we wouldnt have any justice.

Its been a long and risky journey. Weve been blamed, shamed, revictimized, and I myself have received death threats over the last three-and-a-half to four years. At least 60 brave women stood up and fought these adversaries. I needed to renew my sense that the war wasnt over. I knew that the defense was going to attack all of us. Were still being dragged by our hair into the cave, were just wearing better shoes. Bill Cosby for me was just a battle. This battle has been won but the war wages on. We showed [other victims] the way. Thats our responsibility, to show them that its okay to come out into the light. We have to stick together. To hear Gloria Allred say that in 42 years of being attorney, this was her most joyous verdict ever? That this is her proudest day? Do you know how that makes me feel?

Today, I have to go back to work. Im looking at these young men, high-school kids, and college kids that I try to mentor along at my bakery, and they are just as excited. Im getting texts from high-school kids saying, It was all worth it. That for me is my proudest moment, showing my daughter the way, whos 28, and my daughter-in-law. Im wearing a button that says We Stand in Truth. I guarantee you that we, the unknowns, the not A-list actresses, primed the pump, and then we stepped back. We got it ready.

Autumn Burns: We were the first Me Toos, werent we?

Autumn Burns. Photo: Amanda Demme

Alleged assault: 1970

At first I started crying. I never cry! I was listening to the news, and seeing how fast he was walking out with his cane  at first he hobbled in. Truthfully, I was shocked that it finally came full circle. Its a joy. Its been a thing Ive carried around for so many years. When I did speak up, they called us whores and liars. I thought, who would lie about something like that? Its joyous. Im very happy. Im happy I finally got to cry a little. We were the first Me Toos, werent we? I thought, I thought it was us! Im going to have a great day, me and my little service dog, all three pounds of him. We got em!

Janice Baker-Kinney: This victory is just the beginning.

Janice Baker-Kinney. Photo: Amanda Demme

Alleged assault: 1982

I am overwhelmed with joy, relief, and gratitude. Joy that finally, justice has been served. Relief that the years of this toxic chain of silence has been broken and we can now move forward with our heads held high as survivors and not victims. And gratitude; so much gratitude for our fierce and steadfast supporters, my fellow sister survivors, Kevin Steele and the entire District Attorneys office and to the men and women on this jury. I am so grateful that this jury was able to distinguish the facts and really hear our pain versus the defenses shameful fictional nonsense, their vitriol and their stereotypical victim blaming. I would also like to thank my attorney, Ms. Gloria Allred, for her compassion and relentless fight to represent those of us who otherwise may not have been heard. Her tenacity has inspired many of us to continue our mission of eliminating the Statute of Limitations for sexual assault nationwide. This may be the end for Mr. Cosby but this victory is just the beginning for many of us, to fight for justice, to do the right thing, and to support every person who has ever been shamed and humiliated and blamed. May this verdict open the floodgates to those who have been hiding their shame for far too long and give them the courage to come forward. You are not alone. We hear you and we believe you. Thank you.Brokaw. Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

After a former NBC employee accused Tom Brokaw of sexual harassment this week, the veteran anchor has responded, calling the allegations a drive-by shooting. In a thousand-word email sent to select NBC News colleagues and obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, Brokaw denied the allegations and defended himself. I am facing a long list of grievances from a former colleague who left NBC News angry that she had failed in her pursuit of stardom. She has unleashed a torrent of unsubstantiated criticism and attacks on me more than twenty years after I opened the door for her and a new job at Fox news, Brokaw wrote in the email.

Former NBC reporter Linda Vester told the Washington Post that in 1994, Brokaw allegedly showed up uninvited to her hotel room and tried to kiss her. An anonymous second accuser said Brokaw also allegedly sexually harassed her. In his email, Brokaw recounts his memory of his encounters with Vester, and suggests that she is a character assassin, leveling a false accusation that is much more Look At Me than Me:Too. See the full email below:

It is 4:00 am on the first day of my new life as an accused predator in the universe of American journalism. I was ambushed and then perp walked across the pages of The Washington Post and Variety as an avatar of male misogyny, taken to the guillotine and stripped of any honor and achievement I had earned in more than a half century of journalism and citizenship.

I am angry, hurt and unmoored from what I thought would be the final passage of my life and career, a mix of written and broadcast journalism, philanthropy and participation in environmental and social causes that have always given extra meaning to my life.

Instead I am facing a long list of grievances from a former colleague who left NBC News angry that she had failed in her pursuit of stardom. She has unleashed a torrent of unsubstantiated criticism and attacks on me more than twenty years after I opened the door for her and a new job at Fox news.

Linda Vester was given the run of the Washington Post and Varietyto vent her grievances, to complain that I tickled her without permission (you read that right), that I invaded her hotel room, accepted an invitation to her apartment under false pretenses and in general was given a free hand to try to destroy all that I have achieved with my family, my NBC career, my writing and my citizenship.

My family and friends are stunned and supportive. My NBC colleagues are bewildered that Vester, who had limited success at NBC News, a modest career at Fox and a reputation as a colleague who had trouble with the truth was suddenly the keeper of the flame of journalistic integrity.

Her big charge: that on two occasions more than 20 years ago I made inappropriate and uninvited appearances in her apartment and in a hotel room. As an eager beginner, Vester, like others in that category, was eager for advice and camaraderie with senior colleagues. She often sought me out for informal meetings, including the one she describes in her New York hotel room. I should not have gone but I emphatically did not verbally and physically attack her and suggest an affair in language right out of pulp fiction.

She was coy, not frightened, filled with office gossip including a recent rumor of an affair. As that discussion advanced she often reminded me she was a Catholic and that she was uncomfortable with my presence. So I left, 23 years later to be stunned by her melodramatic description of the meeting. A year or so later, as I passed through London after covering end of WWII ceremonies in Moscow, I saw her in the office, chatted and agreed to a drink later. (If NY was so traumatic, why a reunion?) She knew a bar but by that late hour it was closed so she suggested her nearby apartment (not, Well, no where to go. See you tomorrow).

Again, her hospitality was straight forward with lots of pride in her reporting in the Congo and more questions about NY opportunities.

As I remember, she was at one end of a sofa, I was at the other. It was late and I had been up for 24 hours. As I got up to leave I may have leaned over for a perfunctory goodnight kiss but my memory is that it happened at the door  on the cheek. No clenching her neck. That move she so vividly describes is NOT WHO I AM. Not in high school, college or thereafter.

She came to NY and had mixed success on the overnight news. As I remember her try out on TODAY did not go well. Her contract was not renewed.

Here is a part of her story she somehow left out. I think I saw her in the hallways and asked how it was going. She was interested in cable start up and I said I didnt think that was going anywhere. What about Fox, which was just building up? She was interested and followed me to my office where, while she listened in, I called Roger Ailes. He said, send her over.

She got the job. I never heard from her or saw her again. I was aware that she became a big fan of Ailes, often praising his considerable broadcasting instincts in public. But when he got in trouble on sexual matters, not a peep from this woman who now describes her self as the keeper of the flame for Me:Too.

I am not a perfect person. Ive made mistakes, personally and professionally. But as I write this at dawn on the morning after a drive by shooting by Vester, the Washington Post and Variety, I am stunned by the free ride given a woman with a grudge against NBC News, no distinctive credentials or issue passions while at FOX.

As a private citizen who married a wealthy man she has been active in social causes but she came to Me:Too late, portraying herself as a den mother. In the intervening years since we met on those two occasions, she had no reason to worry I could affect her career.

Some of her relatives by marriage are very close friends. She couldnt pick up the phone and say, Id like to talk. I have issues from those two meetings 20 years ago? Instead she became a character assassin. Strip away all of the hyperbole and what has she achieved? What was her goal? Hard to believe it wasnt much more Look At Me than Me:Too.

I deeply resent the pain and anger she inflicted on my wife, daughters and granddaughters - all women of considerable success and passion about womens rights which they personify in their daily lives and professions. Well go on as a family that pursues social justice in medical emergency rooms, corporate offices, social therapy, African womens empowerment and journalism. And no one womans assault can take that away.

I am proud of who I am as a husband, father, grandfather, journalist and citizen. Vester, the Washington Post and Variety cannot diminish that. But in this one woman piece of sensational claims they are trying.

Tom BrokawAlfie Evans, Terminally Ill Boy at Center of Court Fight, Dies

Alfie Evans, the 23-month-old British toddler whose parents struggle with hospital authorities has drawn international attention, has died.

Family members broke the news that Alfie passed away early on Saturday, April 28, with his father Tom Evans saying he was absolutely heartbroken.

My gladiator lay down his shield and gained his wings at 02:30 absolutely heartbroken, the boys father Tom Evans wrote on Facebook.

Alfie had a rare, degenerative disease and had been in a semi-vegetative state for more than a year.

After a series of court cases, doctors at Alder Hey Childrens Hospital in Liverpool removed his life support on Monday, April 23, against his parents wishes.

This evening the High Court again ruled that it is in Alfies best interests to continue with the end of life care plan developed by the clinical team who have cared for him throughout, reads a statement published by the hospital on April 24.

In an earlier statement published on April 12, Alfies mother Kate James wrote, How sad is it that someone can tell you where and when your child is going to die?

I know the date and time my child is going to die and we havent even had time as a family to come to terms with this.

After his life support was switched off, however, Alfie confounded expectations by continuing to breathe unaided for days.

Explaining the decision to discontinue treatment, Professor Russell Viner, President of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health undersigned a statement issued by the institution.

The Alfie Evans case is extremely difficult for all involved; heartbreaking for his parents and emotionally challenging for the doctors and nurses involved in treating and caring for him, Viner wrote.

He said that while no comment could be made on the specifics of the case, citing patient confidentiality, a clear and compassionate framework to guide such decisions was applied in Alfies case.

Viner added that, in general, withdrawing life-sustaining treatment may be decided upon if treatment is unable or unlikely to result in the child living much longer or where treatment may prolong life but will cause the child unacceptable pain and suffering.

Alfies parents wanted to take him to Rome, where the Vaticans Bambino Gesu hospital had offered to care for him.

A British court rejected an appeal by the parents on Wednesday to take their son to Italy.

The case has stirred up the issue of whether judges, doctors or parents have the right to decide on a childs life.

Alfies parents have been backed by Pope Francis and Polands President Andrzej Duda.

I wish to repeat and strongly confirm that the only master of life from the beginning until the natural end is God. It is our duty, it is our duty to do everything to care for life, Pope Francis said.

Alfie died in the early hours of Saturday, his parents said.

Our baby boy grew his wings tonight  Thank you everyone for all your support, his mother Kate James wrote.

Prior to Alfies passing, his father thanked everyone for their support and requested privacy to facilitate reconciliation with the hospital authorities.

We would now ask you all to return back to your everyday lives and allow myself, Kate and Alder Hey to form a relationship, build a bridge and walk across it. We also wish to thank Alder Hey staff at every level of their dignity and professionalism during what must have been an incredibly difficult time for them too.

Recommended Video:

Toddler With Rare Heart Condition Gets to Go Home After 402 Days in the HospitalPresident Donald Trump steps off Air Force One upon arrival at Palm Beach International in West Palm Beach, Florida on April 18, 2018. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)

Calls Mount to Award Trump Nobel Peace Prize for Breakthrough With North Korea

Calls poured in on Friday, April 27, to award the Nobel Peace Prize to President Donald Trump for his efforts in bringing about the historic meeting and peace agreement between South Korea and North Korea.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean communist leader Kim Jong Un met for the first time in seven decades on Thursday and agreed to work on a peace deal and complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

Leaders in South Korea and Japan have credited Trump for the progress. Moon gave Trump credit in January. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe did the same earlier this month. South Koreas Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha told CNN the same shortly before Thursdays meeting.

Clearly, credit goes to President Trump, Kang told CNN. Hes been determined to come to grips with this from day one.

Now calls are mounting to award the Nobel Peace Prize to Trump.

It wouldnt have happened without Trump. It may not happen, but its the biggest change since the end of the hostilities, Rep. Lindsey Graham, (R-S.C.) told Fox News. What happened? Donald Trump convinced North Korea and China he was serious about bringing about change.

Were not there yet, but if this happens, President Trump deserves the Nobel Peace Prize, he added.

Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee called the peace agreement historic and also wondered if Trump should get the Nobel Prize. Rep. Luke Messer (R-Ind.) has been advocating for Trump to receive the Nobel Prize since March.

Fox News host Laura Ingraham chimed in with a call for the prize on Twitter. So did Carl Higbie, a former Navy SEAL and spokesman for the Great America Super PAC.

The stunning progress with North Korea is causing even Trumps critics to admit that he deserves the prize.

Ive been critical of Trump foreign policy missteps in past year, Ian Bremmer, a political scientist, wrote on Twitter. But todays historic North/South Korea breakthrough does not happen without priority & pressure from US President. Trump, Xi, Moon and Kim together get my vote for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Bookies say Trump leads the odds race to win the peace prize, according to Ladbrokes. But Trumps son, Donald Trump Jr., thinks his fathers chances are slim since Nobel prizes are overwhelmingly awarded to left-wing figures.

Best short ever! Remember who decides this stuff. Noting to do with merit as we have all seen, Trump Jr. wrote. The globalist elite would never give him that win.

Trumps aides, in the meantime, are optimistic and believe the president deserves the prize, according to Bloomberg.

Recommended video:

I Was a Communist SlaveMad Monk Swept the Qins Out of a Temple

There is a clay statue of a mad monk in the 500 Arhats Hall at Xiyuan Temple in the city of Suzhou. The monk has ten defects: a crooked mouth, a hunchback, crossed eyes, bat ears, ringworm of the scalp, uneven legs, scrawny hands, slanted shoulders, a pigeon chest, and a wonky nose. He is thus known as the Monk With Ten Imperfections.

His looks are special, but not ugly. The belt around his waist looks as real as a cloth belt.

It is said that the mad monk used to be a poor scholar who often criticized the imperial court and condemned major national issues. He sat the imperial exams a few times, and his essays were always full of scorn and derision. For that reason, he did not even pass his exams at the county level in his thirties, despite being a man of letters.

It then dawned on him that society was losing its moral compass. He decided to take the monastic vow and became a cooking monk at a temple. He behaved in a deranged manner and eventually came to be known as the mad monk.

Jin Wuzhu, a prince and military general of the Jurchens, invaded Southern China in 1140 during the Song Dynasty (9601279). In his attack, he employed the Crutched Horse Formation (a formation that encircled the enemy) and the Iron Pagoda Horsemen (in which the cavalry and their horses were in armour from head to toe). Nonetheless, his troops were crushed by Yue Fei.

As Chancellor Qin Hui of the Song was working in collusion with Jin Wuzhu, he convinced the Song Emperor to issue twelve golden plates to bring Yue Fei back from the battlefront. But Yue Fei refused to plead guilty to the trumped up charges, even after two months of torture.

Qin Hui was at the east window of his drawing room trying to think of a way to kill Yue Fei when his wife, Lady Wang, came up with the plan of slipping a phony execution order inside an orange to give to the presiding judge.

On the morning of the first day of the lunar new year, Qin Hui and his wife were offering prayers at a temple when Qin Hui spotted a piece of yellow paper on the wall with a poem written on it at a slant: Subduing the tiger is easy, but letting it go will be difficult. The plot hatched before the east window beats the series of stratagems. The evil woman is wicked to wag her tongue. It petrifies and distresses an old monk like me.

Qin Hui was dumbfounded. His wife looked in the direction he was looking. To their horror, they realized the poem was talking about Fengbo Pavilion, where Yue Fei was killed. The couple stared at each other. It took quite a while for Qin Hui to recover from the shock. This is outrageous! he said.

The abbot of the temple happened to come along. Qin Hui barked at him: Who wrote this poem? Track him down!

The abbot could tell Qin Hui was someone of authority and he could not afford to offend him. He trembled and replied, I will check it out.

The abbot soon returned with another monk who had a stick and a bamboo broom in his hands and was limping. Qin Hui and his wife recognized him. He was the monk who ate dog meat. They exclaimed, I see, its a filthy monk who wrote the poem!

The mad monk retaliated in an aloof manner, I see, its an ingrate whos making all the noise.

Qin Hui flew into a rage. All the dog meat you ate has gone to your head! Go down on your knees and show your respect to me!

The mad monk limped and pointed to his knees. I cant. My knees are suffering from burning frostbite.

Qin Hui realized the mad monk was no fool. He decided to pick on the monks tattered cassock instead. How dare you come to me dressed in rags! Do monks not behave with propriety?

The monk sniggered. Why do you talk like that when youre well-clothed and well-educated? Do not judge me by my clothes. My appearance may be ugly, but I have nothing on my conscience. Likewise, some officials may look respectable, but theyre wicked and their conscience is constantly bugging them.U.S. President Barack Obama (R) makes a statement in response to the attack at the U.S. Consulate in Libya as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (L) looks at the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on Sept. 12, 2012. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Obama Official Tried to Terminate Clinton Foundation Probe During 2016 Election, Report Says

A high-ranking official at the Department of Justice under President Barack Obama attempted to shut down the FBI investigation on the Clinton Foundation while Hillary Clinton was running for president in 2016, according to a report by the Justice Departments Office of Inspector General.

The revelation is part of a report on former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe that led to his firing in March. McCabe told investigators that on Aug. 12, 2016, he received a call from the principal associate deputy attorney general, who expressed concerns about FBI agents taking overt steps in the Clinton Foundation investigation during the presidential campaign.

Are you telling me that I need to shut down a validly predicated investigation? McCabe fired back.

McCabe described the conversation as very dramatic and told the inspector generals office that he never had a similar confrontation in his entire FBI career.

Are you telling me that I need to shut down a validly predicated investigation?  Andrew McCabe, former deputy director, FBI

Although he is not named in the OIG report, Matthew Axelrod was the principal associate deputy attorney general at the time. Axelrod was fired along with his boss, Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, shortly after President Donald Trump assumed office.

Axelrod was one of DOJs highest-ranking officials and a member of the senior leadership team, according to his profile at the Linklaters law firm, where he is a partner.

Matt also took the lead in advising on crisis management within DOJ, working closely with the White House, Congress, the FBI, and the media on DOJs most sensitive and high-profile matters, the profile says.

McCabe authorized a leak to The Wall Street Journal about his conversation with Axelrod. In the resulting article, Axelrod was described as being very pissed off when asking why the FBI was still chasing a matter the department considered dormant.

When McCabe asked if he is being told to shut down the investigation, Axelrod replied, Of course not.

The two senior FBI officials whom McCabe authorized to leak to the Journal were Peter Strzok and Lisa Page. Text messages sent between Strzok and Page revealed that they were extremely biased against Trump. Strzok was the top investigator in the Clinton email case and was later part of the special counsel probe into allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Strzok was removed when the texts became public.

On April 18, 11 congressmen referred McCabes case to the FBI and DOJ for criminal investigation. The lawmakers say that there is evidence that McCabe lied to his boss and investigators about the leak.

McCabes boss at the time, former FBI Director James Comey, is himself under investigation for leaking classified information to The New York Times via a friend.

Recommended Video: President Donald Trumps Weekly Address, April 13, 2018Soros and Tech Moguls Paid $50 Million to Fund Private Russia Probe

Billionaire George Soros and a group of wealthy donors from New York and California have paid $50 million to sustain an ongoing private Russia investigation conducted by former British spy Christopher Steele, research firm Fusion GPS, and a former staffer for Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

The revelation is part of the final report on Russian interference in the 2016 election released on April 27 by the House intelligence committee. The report concluded that there is no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

A footnote in the report states that Daniel Jones, the former Feinstein staffer who runs the Penn Quarter Group (PQG), told the FBI in March 2017 that he is working on a project with Fusion GPS that was being funded by 7 to 10 wealthy donors located primarily in New York and California, who provided approximately $50 million.

[Redacted] further stated that PQG had secured the services of Steele, his associate [redacted], and Fusion GPS to continue exposing Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. Presidential election, the report continues, adding that Jones planned to share the information he obtained with policymakers  and with the press.

Jones also offered PQGs entire holdings to the FBI.

Though Soros is not named in the House report, his name was linked to Joness efforts in testimony by lawyer Adam Waldman to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in November.

Waldman told senators that Jones relayed information to him in March last year that Jones was working with Fusion GPS and that the work was funded by a group of Silicon Valley billionaires and George Soros. Soros is notorious for funding far-left causes around the world.

Soros is notorious for funding far-left causes around the world.

Jones also told Waldman that his group passed stories to Reuters and McClatchy. The Reuters story on the amount of real estate in Trump properties owned by Russians found no wrongdoing by Trump. The McClatchy story on Trumps personal lawyer traveling to Prague has not been corroborated.

The names of Jones and Waldman first emerged as part of the Russia probe in February, when Fox News published text messages between Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Waldman. The messages revealed that Warner connected with Waldman in order to meet with Steele. Warner was on the Senate intelligence panel that was investigating Russia at the time.

Steele compiled the infamous anti-Trump dossier for Fusion GPS. The Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee hired Fusion GPS through a law firm to conduct the research.

The resulting dossier was shared with the FBI. Despite the dossier containing unverified claims, the FBI used it to apply for a secret-court warrant to spy on the Trump campaign. Four top Obama administration officials have been referred for criminal investigation in April for their roles in obtaining the warrant. Steele was referred for criminal investigation in January for making false statements.Cloudy hands to the right, cloudy hands to the left, he tells them, referring to the move traditionally known as cloud hands. Now were going to open your arms, grab the wheels and 180-degree turn.

The participants swivel about-face and continue to the next pose. Guo modified the ancient Chinese martial art to work from a seated position. Even though many of those in his class dont rely on wheelchairs for mobility, using the mobile chairs makes it easier for them to get through a half-hour of movement.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has given $120,000 in grant money to Guo to spread his special wheelchair tai chi course. He started in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and has expanded his classes to Murfreesboro.

This idea of going beyond prescriptionsand especially beyond opioid painkillershas been a key focus of Veterans Affairs nationally.

In Tennessee, nearly a quarter of all VA patients with an active medical prescription were on opioids in 2012. That number has dropped to 15 percent, but thats still higher than in most other parts of the country.

According to a national survey from 2015, nearly every VA hospital now offers some kind of alternative health treatmentlike yoga, mindfulness, or art therapy.

Guo is teaching people from a half-dozen VA hospitals in Florida, Texas, Utah, and Arizona to use his version of tai chi. He believes the focus on breathing and mindfulnesspaired with manageable physical activitycan help ease a variety of ailments.

When you have a good amount of body harmony, people tend to engage in proactive life, he said. That helps with all kinds of symptoms.

While wheelchair tai chi would provide activity for those whove lost some use of their legs, the exercise program is also geared toward helping vets who have mental health issues, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Thomas Sales of Nashville recalls his most recent panic attack: Night before last, when we had the thunderstorm, he said. The thunder is a big trigger for some people.

Sales still has panic attacks regularly, 25 years after he fought in the first Gulf War with the Navy Special Warfare Command.

Youll find yourself flashing back to being out there with the fellas, and youll just kind of snap, he said. And I found myself, for some reason, thinking about doing the breathing techniques [from tai chi], and doing the heaven and earth, and then breathing deep and slow.

Sales said he knows it must look crazy to some people when he reaches to the sky and then sweeps his arms to the ground. There was a time when he would have agreed. Most of the patients in this class had some skepticism going into the tai chi program. But Vietnam veteran Jim Berry of Spring Hill, Tennessee, said hes now convinced.

My daughter sent me a T-shirt that sums it up, he said. Tai chi is more than old folks chasing trees.

Berry credits meditation and tai chi with helping him quit smoking. No cigarettes for three months now, he said.

Zarita Croney, a veteran with the National Guard, said tai chi has helped her with chemical dependence. She now makes the nearly two-hour drive from Hopkinsville, Kentucky, to Murfreesboro each week, and has reduced her use of opioids for pain.

My whole life  revolved around, Oh shoot, when can I take my next pill? When can I take my next pill? Croney recalled. Ive gone from about 90 percent of my day being on my bed to being able to come out and be social.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has been aggressively trying to wean vets from reliance on strong narcoticspartly by using prescription data as a key measurement to judge VA hospitals across the countrywhile trying to make sure alternatives dont cause their own harmful side effects.

The VA acknowledges that theres very little evidence at this point that tai chi or mindfulness therapy or acupuncture will do any good for PTSD or addiction, though recently there has been research into the quality of life benefits of tai chi among older adults.

But these alternative therapies have been in use by the department long enough that the VA aims to more closely track the treatments effectiveness. It is especially targeting people for alternative treatment who have only recently completed their military service.

The goal, proponents said, is to have veterans incorporate these techniques into their weekly routine, not just rely on a drug prescription to ease pain or anxiety.

Whole health, along with how many opiates are being prescribedwere going to look at how does this impact that, said Aaron Grobengieser, who oversees alternative medicine for VA hospitals in Tennessee.

I believe this is going to be an avenue, he said, to really help address that group of folks that are really looking for ways to manage those types of conditions without popping another pill.

Blake Farmer is Nashville Public Radios senior health care reporter. This story is part of a partnership that includes Nashville Public Radio, NPR, and Kaiser Health News.L: Senator Jon Tester on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on Jan. 28, 2014. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images): R: President Donald Trump in the East Room of the White House in Washington on April 3, 2018. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

Trump Calls for Resignation of Senator Who Spread Unproven Allegations Against White House Doctor

President Donald Trump has called for the resignation of Senator Jon Tester (D-Mont.), who circulated a list of anonymous unproven allegations against Dr. Ronny Jackson, the White House physician.

Trump nominated Jackson, a Navy Rear Admiral, to lead the Veterans Affairs Department, but after the allegations emerged, Jackson withdrew.

The allegations against me are completely false and fabricated, Jackson said. Unfortunately, because of how Washington works, these false allegations have become a distraction for this President and the important issue we must be addressinghow we give the best care to our nations heroes.

The allegations surfaced on Wednesday, April 25, and included claims that Jackson created a hostile work environment and in some instances behaved unprofessionally. Tester said the allegations came from Jacksons current and former colleagues. All were made anonymously though.

It is my Constitutional responsibility to make sure the veterans of this nation get a strong, thoroughly vetted leader who will fight for them, Tester said in a statement on Jacksons withdrawal.

Trump has criticized Tester for smearing the physician.

Allegations made by Senator Jon Tester against Admiral/Doctor Ron Jackson are proving false. The Secret Service is unable to confirm (in fact they deny) any of the phony Democrat charges which have absolutely devastated the wonderful Jackson family. Tester should resign, Trump tweeted on Saturday morning, April 28.

Allegations made by Senator Jon Tester against Admiral/Doctor Ron Jackson are proving false. The Secret Service is unable to confirm (in fact they deny) any of the phony Democrat charges which have absolutely devastated the wonderful Jackson family. Tester should resign. The..  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 28, 2018

The great people of Montana will not stand for this kind of slander when talking of a great human being. Admiral Jackson is the kind of man that those in Montana would most respect and admire, and now, for no reason whatsoever, his reputation has been shattered. Not fair, Tester!

.great people of Montana will not stand for this kind of slander when talking of a great human being. Admiral Jackson is the kind of man that those in Montana would most respect and admire, and now, for no reason whatsoever, his reputation has been shattered. Not fair, Tester!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 28, 2018

In the afternoon, Trump added: Secret Service has just informed me that Senator Jon Testers statements on Admiral Jackson are not true. There were no such findings. A horrible thing that we in D.C. must live with, just like phony Russian Collusion. Tester should lose race in Montana. Very dishonest and sick!

Secret Service has just informed me that Senator Jon Testers statements on Admiral Jackson are not true. There were no such findings. A horrible thing that we in D.C. must live with, just like phony Russian Collusion. Tester should lose race in Montana. Very dishonest and sick!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 28, 2018

Testers seat will be contested in the Nov. 6 midterms. Trump carried Montana in the 2016 elections with over 56 percent, compared to Hillary Clintons less than 36 percent (pdf).

Trump told Fox & Friends over the phone on Thursday that he liked Jackson as a candidate in part because he isnt a politician. After this experience, however, he said his new candidate, yet to be announced, has political capabilities.

Jackson, 50, has worked as a presidential physician since the George W. Bush administration and has been the lead doctor for Trump as well as former President Barack Obama. He is well-liked by both Republican and Democratic administration officials.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said Jackson was on the job at the White House on Thursday but it was not immediately clear whether he would resume his post as the top White House physician.

The Iraq war veteran took on a higher profile when he gave a long and glowing account of Trumps health at a news conference in January after his first presidential medical exam.

The Veterans Affairs Department has long been under fire for the quality of healthcare it provides veterans. During his election campaign, Trump vowed to clean it up.

Trump fired former Veteran Affairs Secretary David Shulkin in March after concerns about unauthorized travel expenses.

Epoch Times staff member Ivan Petchoukov and Reuters contributed to this report.

Recommended Video:

19 Years Later, New Yorkers Remember Historic April 25 Appeal in ChinaThis annotated photo shows the head table of a gala celebrating the tenth anniversary of Russia Today in December of 2015 with its participants. Vladimir Putin actually did not attend the dinner. (Sreenshot via NBC News and Max Keiser, original: Mikhail Klimentyev / Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Witness: Michael Flynn Never Spoke to Putin at Infamous RT Dinner

Things have been going from bad to worse for President Trumps former national security adviser Michael Flynn, but one allegation made against the general turns out not to be true, according to two eye-witnesses.

Last week, Flynn declined to comply with a subpoena from the Senate Intelligence Committee as it investigates possible Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election, invoking his Fifth Amendment constitutional protection against self-incrimination.

Flynn, an early supporter of Trump, served as national security adviser from Jan. 20 until he was forced to resign on Feb. 13 after he had misinformed Vice President Mike Pence about a phone call he had with the Russian ambassador in December of 2016.

On March 8, acting Attorney General Sally Yates testified before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee that she had warned the White House that Flynn had not been truthful, based on an FBI investigation.

Flynn, a lifelong Democrat, who was also fired from the post of director of the Defense Intelligence Agency by President Obama in 2014, apparently misled Pentagon investigators about his foreign connections when he sought to renew his security clearance in early 2016, according to a document obtained by congressional Democrats and released in part.

He has also been criticized for having received $45,000 from the Russian state-backed television company Russia Today for a speech at a public event in 2015 in Moscow and not disclosing the sum.

No Putin Exchange

However, there is one thing that Michael Flynn did not do, he did not speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin at the 2015 event, although most commentary written about him make it look as though that was the case.

It is not coincidence that Flynn was placed next to President Putin, Michael McFaul, U.S. ambassador in Moscow from 2012 to 2014 and now an NBC News analyst is quoted in an article by NBC News. Flynn was considered a close Trump adviser. Why else would they want him there?

[Flynn] received about $45,000 (36,000) for attending RTs gala dinner in Moscow, where he sat next to Putin, states an article by The Guardian.

Indeed, in this photo, Flynn sat right next to Putin, but only for a couple of minutes and not for the dinner section of the event, as Putin did not even attend the dinner, according to eye witnesses. Stacy Herbert and Max Keiser, who host the Keiser Report on RT and attended the event, said Putin only said hi to Flynn, and the two did not have a meaningful conversation.

Putin was not at the dinner, and you can see even in that photo he has no plates in front of him, everyone else does, there is no food in front of him. There was a dinner, then there was an event, where the head of RT, Margarita Simonyan  gave a presentation and they showed a little film, Stacy Herbert told The Epoch Times.

Putin only arrived about a minute before that, sat down, nodded to [Flynn], nodded to Jill Stein  and then just said hi and then watched this event. And then he went up on stage, and actually imitated Max, and then he left right after, went off-stage and left, she said.

Herbert thought it was very strange that this particular event and the photo were so widely publicized since Flynn and Putin did not talk, although Flynn did have conversations with Putin aides during the dinner.

Its strange to have observed a situation that then starts becoming bigger and bigger. When it first was announced, I thought oh this is going to blow over because I saw what happened, said Herbert.With or without consolidation, the states 12 community colleges faced a 2018-19 fiscal year living $35 million beyond their means.

As it is, a decision Tuesday by the body that accredits colleges to reject the so-called Students First plan has the state system, which supports some 55,000 students, scrambling to find another pathway to solvency.

I am not convinced all is lost, but we have to face reality, system President Mark Ojakian said, as he was still coming to grips with a decision by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges that turned one year of planning on its head.

We will provide (the Board of Regents) with some options for future sustainability, Ojakian said. In the process, unfortunately, it could mean that affordability may disappear and access may become more difficult.

Ojakian wont say which colleges might be lost. But he didnt mince words while warning the Legislature in a letter on Thursday that yearly tuition could more than double from its current $4,276 by 2021, if students alone bear the brunt of the shortfall.

Officials from the NEASC, meanwhile, said Ojakians plan to merge the states two-year colleges into one, with 12 campuses, was unrealistic.

When the commission finally dug into the plan, it found the change more substantial than anticipated in terms of can they actually do this?  said Barbara Brittingham, president of NEASCs higher education commission.

NEASC, which determines whether an institution is accredited and thus can hand out degrees, felt the planning needed to make sure students werent put at undue risk was just not there, according to Brittingham, who added, They just felt it was too risky.

Brittingham, who had been guiding the state through the process for creating the largest higher-education institution in New England, makes no apologies for the decision.

Instead of changing Connecticuts system of community colleges, NEASC ruled the state was proposing an entirely new one.

I know it is disappointing to the people in Connecticut, Brittingham said. We understand (the state has) financial problems ... (but) if this is the path it wants, then here are the concerns that need to be addressed and here is the pathway to follow.

Agreement from some

Faculty members who opposed the plan reacted not with disappointment, but with relief.

(Ojakian) should now do what he should have done initially, which is speak to all of us, said Lois Aime, a Norwalk Community College professor.

Elena Tapia, president of the Connecticut State University American Association of University Professors, said her union has advocated for months for a more measured, thoughtful and research-based approach that consulted with those who have on-the-ground experience.

It would behoove the Board of Regents to find the political will to push for greater investment in public higher education, Tapia said.

The Central Connecticut State Faculty Senate went further, saying it intends to vote Monday on a resolution calling for Ojakians resignation and for him not to be replaced until the November election for governor. It also plans to call upon the Legislature to fully fund public higher education in the state.

Despite talk among Democrats of a free college tuition plan, that seems unlikely. The state is still trying to plug a $365 million budget hole in the current fiscal year and deficits in the billions by 2020.

The Board of Regents, which also oversees regional public universities in the state, has been cut by $61 million, or 17 percent, since 2015.

Without the savings from the community college consolidation, the colleges will be financially insolvent by FY20, Ojakian warned lawmakers.

A number of lawmakers expressed dismay with the NEASC decision.

Sen. Beth Bye, D-West Hartford, co-chairwoman of the legislatures Higher Education Committee, called the decision extremely shortsighted and harmful.

It has put the Board of Regents and our community college students in an untenable position: completely close several college campuses, raise tuition rates substantially, demand tens of millions of dollars more every year from state government, or some combination of all of the above, Bye said.

State Sen. Toni Walker, D-New Haven, the house chair of the Appropriations Committee, continues to maintain the merger was a good plan that would have helped students who live in one town, work in another and attend school in a third to better maneuver the system.

I have faith that we are going to figure it out, but I am just not sure how, Walker said.

Others welcomed the denial.

Sen. Mae Flexer, D-Danielson, a vice chairwoman of the legislatures Higher Education Committee, said the proposal would have destroyed our community college system.

I hope that the leadership of the Board of Regents will now go back and talk with all stakeholders ... on how to restructure the administration of the system and our colleges to achieve the savings necessary to avoid substantial tuition increases, Flexer said.

Louise Blakeney Williams, a history professor at Central Connecticut State University, said the Legislature is to blame for lessening state support.

The only way to solve the troubles of our colleges and universities is for political leaders to make a commitment to our young people and to the future of Connecticut by investing more in higher education, rather than cutting it, she said.

But Senate Republican President Pro Tempore Len Fasano, R-North Haven, said the real culprit is a labor agreement reached by the governor and Democratic lawmakers which he said has boxed the state into a no-win situation.

Fringe benefits and the State Employee Bargaining Agent Coalition wage increases translate into an additional $29 million next year that the system must absorb.

Our state cannot consolidate services within our community college system now because of the limitations of the SEBAC agreement, which ties our hands significantly, Fasano said.

Business as usual

Community college campuses, gearing up for finals week, were quiet on Friday.

Paul Broadie, president of two community colleges  Housatonic in Bridgeport and Gateway in New Haven  would not comment publicly on the NEASC decision. But he sent out a statement saying good has come from the partnership between the two colleges.

As we navigate these difficult fiscal times we will remain mission driven and continue to serve as a valuable resource in delivering knowledge, promoting economic mobility, and developing our future workforce, Broadie wrote.

Evelyn Gard, a spokeswoman for both colleges, said on the campuses, staff and faculty are staying focused on their jobs.

I am not letting down the students, she said. This is just another curve. ... We just have got to find another way.

Ojakian said collaborations can continue, but that without consolidation, the system wont achieve the savings it was banking on.

He admitted losing a bit of confidence in the NEASC process, but said the system would file its attention to appeal.

We deserve an opportunity to present our case, as opposed to starting all over, Ojakian said, at the same time vowing to be realistic.

Brittingham is expected to travel to Connecticut to meet with Ojakian to offer the best advice she can.HARTFORD  When her union representative asked to meet her at a nearby restaurant after work, Amanda was wary.

The single mother had never met this man before. But the school bus company that she drove for had not paid her on a few days she worked. She needed his help, so she agreed.

At the dinner, conversation between Amanda and the rep remained work-related. They met one more time to discuss her wage issue - at his insistence. After that, the inappropriate texts started.

At first, it was comments on her beauty. Then, the man sent her a picture of his penis. He wanted to have sex with her, he said, again and again. When Amanda blocked his phone number, he sent her emails and showed up and her house. When she told him to stop, he told her how influential he was in the union.

He was too powerful for me to stop, Amanda said in a recent interview.

Stories like Amandas are not an anomaly. When sexual harassment accusations against Harvey Weinstein sparked the national #MeToo movement, the nation was blanketed with stories of indecency, sexism and abuses of power.

Among those actively listening are lawmakers. In Connecticut, two bills now before the General Assembly would dramatically expand sexual harassment training requirements for private companies in the state, bringing sweeping changes to local businesses.

With the media spotlight focused on sexual harassment reports, many victims finally feel they have a voice and  after a guilty verdict Thursday in the high-profile case of sexual assaulter Bill Cosby  increasing access to justice.

Senate Democrats have made it our mission to declare Times Up on sexual harassment and sexual assault, said Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney, D-New Haven.

While most legislators agree that workplace sexual harassment needs to be addressed, concerns about scaring off companies with costly regulations  particularly at time when Connecticuts economy is struggling  has some lawmakers hesitant to pass the protections.

It is so business unfriendly, said Sen. Mike McLachlan, R-Danbury. Its just over the top and needs to be dialed back.

Broad category of behaviors

At present, only supervisors must be trained on handling workplace sexual harassment. Both bills now before the General Assembly would require all Connecticut employees to be trained on sexual harassment.

They would also mandate smaller companies hold sexual harassment trainings. Only businesses with 50 or more employees now must conduct trainings.

A bill from Gov. Dannel P. Malloy would force businesses with 15 or more employees to train. And a more dramatic proposal from Looney would drop the number to three employees or more - along with a host of other changes to help victims.

We dont see this as a burdensome requirement, said Looney. The training doesnt take all that long. Its just important for people to know what the rules are.

Whether either of these bills pass will be decided in the next week and a half. If one becomes law, the changes would take effect as soon as October.

There are hundreds of small businesses that are hoping these proposals fail, said Bridgeport Regional Business Councils President and CEO Mickey Herbert.

Its the government being too invasive in our struggling small businesses, he said.

David Lewis heads the largest human resources company in Connecticut, Norwalk-based Operations Inc., which conducts sexual harassment trainings. His business could profit greatly from the passage of these bills. But  noting that some will call him an idiot for saying this  Lewis said hes against the proposed laws, calling them too onerous for companies.

There are even some business leaders who are still wondering if sexual harassment is pervasive.

Is it really that prevalent? asked Jack Condlin, Stamford Chamber of Commerce head.

The high rates of under-reporting and broad category of behaviors that constitute sexual harassment -ranging from lewd jokes to sexist comments to unwanted touching - can make getting accurate numbers difficult. In research cited by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 40 to 75 percent of respondents said they had experienced sexual harassment when given examples.

Weighing the price

Herbert, Lewis and others in the business community say their opposition is not because they dont see sexual harassment as a problem. Some companies already voluntarily train all their employees on sexual harassment because they want to stop it.

Instead, its the expense of the trainings for smaller companies that typically comes up as the biggest problem.

The states Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities provides multiple free sexual harassment trainings a month, but many companies end up turning to other providers. The CBIA charges $950 for a three hour session and other companies frequently collect $25 to $100 per person, said Mark Soycher, human resource counsel for CBIA.

Connecticut is one of only three states, along with California and Maine, to require private sector employers to conduct sexual harassment, the National Womens Law Center said, although that could soon change as many states consider amending their laws.

The CBIA said that unlike Maines law for example, Connecticuts training requirements are more robust: simply popping in a video will not do; instead a two-hour classroom experience is necessary.

You are asking us to provide this costly training to 1.3 million employees, while at the same time incurring the cost of millions of hours of lost productivity, said Eric Gjede, CBIA counsel.

If cost is the issue, consider the price tag of a sexual harassment lawsuit, the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities said. Trainings and clear policies on sexual harassment can help prevent expensive suits.

A recent EEOC report also said sexual harassment can also have indirect costs to employers like decreased productivity, increased turnover and reputational damage.

Its too costly for us to not take steps in this direction, said Laura Cordes, executive director of Connecticut Alliance to End Sexual Violence.

Modernizing the law

Amanda, the school bus driver, never received any training on sexual harassment from her employer.

The policy on sexual harassment in her employee handbook was vague and did not give examples of what harassment really looks like. So when her union representative harassed her, she did not know what she was experiencing or what to do.

If I had training before, that would never happen to me because I would know what to say, she said.

Later when she received help from a nonprofit and tried to file a complaint with CHRO, it was too late. A 180-day window to file had already passed. Looneys bill would extend that window to three years.

The same man is still her union rep, and his harassment  which started four years ago  has not ceased.

Both Looneys bill and the governors are a strong step toward modernizing Connecticut sexual harassment law, which hasnt been touched since the early 1990s, said Kate Farrar, executive director of the Connecticut Womens Education and Legal Fund.

Meanwhile, business advocates said the Governors bill was more reasonable, but Looneys - requiring businesses with only three employees to do training - went too far.

Earlier votes on the bill show bipartisan support for acting on sexual harassment in some way.

The Appropriations Committee last week gave the Governors bill unanimous approval, after unanimous yes vote from the Labor Committee in March. Looneys bill was approved by the Judiciary Committee, by a vote of 25 to 16. All 16 voting against were Republicans but some GOP senators crossed over to support the bill.

Sexual assault and violence has no place anywhere, said Sen. Tony Hwang, R-Fairfield, who voted for Looneys bill. When you start hearing the stories of the incredible, courageous survivors who have come forth, its a change in our norm that is so needed to raise the awareness.

Hwang said he would vote for Looneys bill regardless of his partys position on it. His support may help Democrats push the bill through the Senate, which is tied 18-18. Democrats already have a majority in the House.

Senate Republican Leader Len Fasano, R-North Haven, said some negotiations may bring the bill to a point where both parties can support it.

emunson@hearstmediact.com; Twitter: @emiliemunsonNORWALK  When sisters Heather and Jennifer Bellizza first moved into a house on the Stamford shore in 2003, they were careful venturing out with their inflatable rafts  they didnt want to pop one on the spiky, armored creatures that have roamed the shores for 450 million years.

Horseshoe crabs thrived on Connecticuts beaches, sometimes in such numbers that it was hard to pick your way through them.

There were two weekends when you couldnt get in the water  it was just horseshoe crabs, Heather Bellizza said.

By the time they moved a decade later, the numbers had dipped, and on Thursday night, the Bellizzas gathered at the Maritime Aquarium with five dozen citizen scientists of all ages to help professional scientists look into what has been going on.

Over the upcoming months, the group will go out to Calf Pasture Beach to tag the prehistoric crabs swarming the shores for mating season. The data will be logged as part of Project Limulus, a Connecticut horseshoe crab census (unfortunately, registration for the remaining training is already filled, but other citizen scientist opportunities are listed on the Maritime Aquariums website).

Its the most wonderful time of the year! said Bridget Cervero, the aquarium educator supervisor, as she readied to guide the citizen scientists through the process of tagging the crabs.

Horseshoe crab eggs are essential for the Sounds ecosystem  This is essentially the Powerbar of these migratory birds  and the crabs themselves support the fishing industry  Theyre used as bait for eels and whelks  and their milky blue blood is invaluable in medicine  Its a major way we prevent cases of meningitis  explained Staff Scientist David Hudson.

As horseshoe crabs grow, they reach a point where they outgrow their exoskeletons and shed them, leaving behind a complete shell of what they once were. The trick, staff explained, to distinguishing a dead crab from a shell is the smell  either way, if you find one with a plastic tag, follow its instructions to report the finding.

The crabs are thought to live up to four decades and reach sexual maturity around 10 years old. However, adolescent crabs have become a rare site in the state.

Were not seeing this size, Hudson said, referring to crabs smaller than the palm of ones hand. Theyre really prevalent on the Cape, theyre really prevalent in Rhode Island  we want to know whats going on in Connecticut.

In their quest to gather data that could solve that question, volunteers learned how to record the tag number and date, how to hold a crab while measuring its width, and how to differentiate a male from a female (the secret is the shape of their front claws). In addition, horseshoe crabs can form chains while mating, so citizen scientists were asked to record the number of crabs in the chain they were measuring (Cervero assured those worried about disrupting that they come right back together). For the actual tagging, an awl was used to pierce the shell of the horseshoe crab, made of the same material as human fingernails.

When staff came around to each table with live horseshoe crabs, they flipped them over and cradled the crabs shell like a bowl, so the undulating legs pointed toward the ceiling. Where the legs came together was a bristling hole, the crabs mouth, which eats what is underneath it. While the animals are called crabs, theyre actually more closely related to spiders or scorpions  like arachnids, the horseshoe crab has multiple sets of eyes that detect different things, and just as a spider has lungs that resemble the pages of a book, the horseshoe crab has what are known as book gills, overlapping plates beneath its tail.

Jennifers daughter, Francesca Bellizza, a dinosaur fan and the owner of a fossilized specimen of the horseshoe crabs ancestor, the trilobite, peered closely at the horseshoe crab brought to her table. Im excited, she said of the prospect of searching for the living remnants of the Paleozoic Era at 11 p.m. on a weekday (horseshoe crab breeding is more active at high tide and at night).

David DaSilva, whose family drove in from upstate New York for the training, felt the shell of a horseshoe crab as it flexed its prong-like tail  a telson  up and down.

It felt like sometimes when you touch a snail  smooth and slightly wet, he said.

As the training wrapped up, Hudson thanked the volunteers for helping with the census.

The work you do today will be seen a decade from now, he said.

rschuetz@hearstmediact.com; @raschuetzNORWALK  From the outside, Ganga Duleeps building at 45 Wall St. looks unchanged  save for scaffolding  since a fire struck in August 2010.

The problem is the facade will be the last thing that we do and, unfortunately, thats all people see so they dont see whats being done inside, Duleep said. It is a historical building so its going to be restored the way it was a hundred years ago and that (the facade) will be the very last thing we do.

Inside, by contrast, the historic redbrick walls have been restored and fresh wooden framework is in place for new apartments and retail space.

New interior construction throughout

Isa Shala, owner of In-Vision Builders of Riverside, the general contractor for the project, said the project entails 95 percent new construction. Work is now focused on installing a floor on the first level.

Entirely new floors, the structural engineer did the plans so we have to get rid of the old floors, said Shala, pointing at new wooden joists that will carry the floor, before turning to the second and third floors. Done, we are ready for a sprinkler system. By the end of August, I believe were going to complete the project.

Shala points out first-floor areas that will house retail space and two restaurants. The latter have room for a bar, two bathrooms and kitchen at the back. New landscaping will go in behind the building. The second and third floors will house 10 apartments, five on each floor, under the plans prepared by architect Phase Zero Design.

Its wired up, plumbing and HVAC, too, said Shala, pointed to completed work on the second and third floors. Very soon, the sprinkler system and fire alarm are going to go in, as soon as Im done with the floor downstairs.

Pace a little slow

In August 2010, a fire gutted the building owned by Duleep and Wall Street Associates, LLC. Debris removal and abatement work began in 2013, but the work stopped for long periods of time, according to neighbors.

For nearly eight years, the fire-gutted building has been an eyesore in a part of Norwalk where expectations are running high. Wall Street suffered a mighty blow from the 1955 flood and efforts to redevelop the citys historic downtown are finally getting under way as evidenced by restoration of the Wall Street Theater and new apartment construction.

Shala said the restoration didnt stall but instead suffered delays to accommodate changes.

We do a lot of change orders, because the building was exposed to the weather for years, Shala said.

Norwalk Chief Building Official William Ireland described the workmanship as good and the pace as steady if also a little slow.

But that has to do with the toughness of the site and how all the work had been done manually, such as demolition and excavation, Ireland said.

In fall 2016, Ireland sent Duleep a certified letter, warning her that the building had blight conditions in violation of city code. Of concern to him was the building exterior, including missing, broken or boarded windows and graffiti.

While some neighbors maintain restoration work has slowed to minimal activity, Shala said workers are working six days a week inside the building.

Get the scaffolding down

Josh Glasser, owner of Ink-Side-Out next door, looks forward to the project being completed.

From everything Ive been told, hes good at what he does  the contractor Isa  and theyve been working a lot, so Im kind of impressed, Glasser said. I saw the first floor and I can obviously see out the back how they redid it. It looks great. I just cant wait to get the scaffolding down.

Shala said he hopes to have the scaffolding down in June and the project done by the end of summer.

The facade will be among the final stages of the restoration project and may require a sign-off from the Norwalk Redevelopment Agency given the buildings location in a historic part of the city.

If there are any exterior improvements that are being anticipated, then it would have to come in for design review, said agency Executive Director Timothy Sheehan. Weve been anticipating that something would be submitted for quite some time, but it has yet to be submitted.

Shala said he did submit plans for the facade and intends to deliver requested revisions shortly.

For years, Duleep maintained that her bank would not release insurance money to begin the restoration. Shes now looks to the future.

Im already talking to people about renting, Duleep said. Its been eight long years and people dont realize that I was the victim here. There was a fire, my money had been held up for years.NORWALK  A Stamford man allegedly punched and choked his ex-girlfriend after a New Years Eve dispute over alcohol, police said.

Police said Patrick Moreau, 26, and his then-girlfriend were having a gathering at their Norwalk residence on New Years Eve when an allegedly-intoxicated Moreau grew angry that there was no more alcohol left.

When his girlfriend told him it was too late to go to the liquor stores, Moreau grew even more agitated, at which police said he grabbed her by both of her biceps from behind and began to squeeze her arms tightly.

According to the now ex-girlfriends statement, when she struggled to get loose of Moreaus grip, he punched her twice  once in the chest and again in the mouth  and strangled her until she nearly lost consciousness.

Following the assault, Moreau allegedly threatened to kill the victim if she went to police.

The victim, who emigrated from Mexico, told police that the next morning, as Moreau packed up his items to move out of the house, he also stole her Mexican passport, her birth certificate and other identification papers and threatened to turn her into immigration services if she went to police.

Over the course of the next week, Moreau, who worked at the same business as the victim, continued to repeatedly threaten her, police said.

On Jan. 6, the victim went to the Norwalk Hospital and reported the domestic incident to police. As the victim filed her report with officers, police said Moreau turned up at the hospital and was placed under arrest for second-degree threatening charges stemming from death threats he had sent to her earlier that day.

Based on the victims testimony later that day and corroborating evidence, police filed for and received another warrant for Moreaus arrest.

On Friday, April 27, police served that warrant as Moreau attended court for an unrelated charge.

Moreau was charged with third-degree assault, second-degree strangulation and sixth-degree larceny. He was held on a $25,000 bond and given a court date of April 30 for those charges.EDWARDSVILLE  Some local doctors are partnering with local high schools to offer a medical Explorer troop.

"We are Post 9080," said Dr. Morris Kugler. He is one of the doctors working with the Explorer troop.

The Explorers are part of the Boy Scouts, but Explorers welcome boys and girls. "We modeled our program on one in Cincinnati," Kugler said.

He said that forming an Explorer troop has advantages. "They are very well-organized on adult training. Every adult involved has gone through their training. They are also fully insured, which helps the hospital where the program is run."

The troop is currently made up of students from Edwardsville and Collinsville high schools. Next year, they plan to expand to all 16 high schools in Madison and St. Clair counties.

"We have a doctor crisis in the United State," Kugler said. "By 2020, we'll be short 90,000 physicians according to the American College of Surgeons. The Madison and St. Clair Medical Society decided to take seniors in high school with an interest in medicine and work with them."

The Medical Society reached out to Jennifer Weller, a counselor at EHS and Carla Elliff, a counselor at Collinsville High School. "Jennifer Weller runs a program at EHS for students interested in medicine and has 240 in her group," Kugler said.

"We took the first group of students up to Springfield to the medical school last summer," Kugler said. "The dean and some medical students talked to them, and they got to go to labs."

The Medical Society is working with St. Elizabeth in O'Fallon. They will take the troop there one Saturday a month to experience different aspects of being a doctor.

"For our first session, we'll talk about the Emergency Department," Kugler said. "We're staging a re-enactment of a cardiac arrest and some traumas. They'll learn how to suture and how to splint and wrap ankles. In May, we're recreating a cardiac catheter lab. They'll learn about EKGs, ultrasounds, and pacemakers."

In addition to offering the facilities for the session, St. Elizabeth bought five laparoscopic training kits for the group. "The training kits are $1,500, but the real ones are $5,000," Kugler said.

Students interested in the program should talk to their counselors, Kugler said. They must have a 3.4 GPA or above, and be recommended by the counselor. "We're going for serious students," Kugler said.

Kugler said they want students who already wanted to be doctors. They are hoping that the experience will encourage them to continue that career path.

There are four Explorer advisors from Madison County and four from St. Clair County. From Madison County, they are Dr. Mike Mulligan, Dr. Michelle Mulligan, Dr. Max Aiken, and Dr. Pat Zimmermann. From St. Clair County, they are Kugler, Dr. Steve Kappel, Dr. Ann Stewart, and Dr. Eldon Traume.

The HSHS Medical group, which has several physicians at St. Elizabeth Hospital, is also helping.

Kugler said that he hopes the students enjoy the hands-on learning they will get to do as members of the Explorer troop and continue on the path to becoming a doctor.

Then, he said, "we hope that some will stay in the area."EDWARDSVILLE - In 1988, when John Lynn first began shooting small-town Illinois, the process went much quicker for him than it does today.

It was an era before digital cameraswere attached to phones, and film needed to take the photos was expensive not only to buy but also to develop.

"I'd take pictures of towns as I passed through," said Lynn who will be at the Edwardsville Public Library at 7 p.m. Tuesday to give a PowerPoint presentation titled "Main Street, Illinois."

The program is free and open to the public.

"This was back in the film era where you had 36 shots to a roll and it was real expensive. I had to take enough to prove I'd been there  if there were an interesting historical marker or cafe or tavern I'd take that."

But not so many that he broke the bank.

Lynn, who is from Peoria, has taken photographs in all 2,400 cities, towns and villages in Illinois. "Main Street, Illinois" is a 30-year continuing project to capture the many ways Illinois towns offer roots, a hometown, and a slice of Little America for its residents. It took eight years for him to get photos in each of the 2,400 places on the state road map. That turned into a program that he first called "Cities and Towns of Illinois" but later changed to "Main Street, Illinois."

It was an entertaining show for libraries and other venues, he recalls, but before long he felt a need to hit the road again and make a second run through each of those places. He's in the process of making the second run this spring. But the digital age has given him the freedom to take as many photos as he wants.

"Whereas I could only take a handful of pictures in each town before, I could do that in five minutes and cover a lot of towns," he said. "But now I'm spending hours and hours on places that used to take me minutes."

On a recent Wednesday afternoon, Lynn was resting at a park in Alsip, a village in suburban Chicago. The village was settled in the 1830s by German and Dutch farmers. It was named for Frank Alsip, the owner of a brickyard that opened there in 1885. That's the sort of background that fascinates Lynn and keeps him going. Each town has a story to tell, and Lynn says he enjoys boring in on that story: Where did the name come from? Anyone famous born there? Was the town ever host to a famous trial, a devastating fire, a famous train wreck?

Lynn planned to spend the afternoon shooting photos and then drive back to Peoria.

Generally, though, he disdains the traffic congestion and cookie-cutter neighborhoods of the suburbs.

"I'm a small town kind of guy," he says. "I lean heavily towards small, downstate towns."

Of the 2,400 cities and towns in Illinois, three-fourths have a population under 1,000. Many of those, he said, have less than 250 people.

Still, they're the kinds of places he enjoys photographing.

"As you drive down the road you can see in the distance a water tower, a church steeple, a grain elevator or a cluster of trees, and as you get closer you start seeing houses," Lynn says. "So taken individually a downstate town has more going for it in the way of individuality than anything up in the suburbs. And I don't have to fight the traffic. And there won't be 200 or 300 interesting restaurants and taverns; there will be one or two, at most. It's just a whole lot of easier to work with."

One of his favorite towns is Geneseo, near Rock Island, in the northwest corner of the state. It's a nice, prosperous town, he says, with "beautiful, well-painted, nicely trimmed churches."

He also loves the Prairie du Rocher area, in the southwestern corner of the state.

What Lynn hopes people will take away from Tuesday's presentation is "a little better sense of pride in Illinois and their hometown."

He will show plenty of photographs and tell plenty of stories, and he hints that perhaps there will be some humor as well. Towns in Illinois are probably no more special than towns in Iowa or Missouri, he acknowledges. Still, it's Illinois that we live in, and every once in a while we should take time to see what's special about it. "And sometimes what's special is just very ordinary, simple things," he says, "and every once in a while something extraordinary."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The following companies are subsidiares of Ingersoll Rand: 211 E. Russell Road LLC, Air-Relief, Belliss & Morcom Brasil, Belliss and Morcom, Boardwalk Enterprises, Charm Merger Sub Inc., CompAir, CompAir (Hankook) Korea Co. Ltd., CompAir Acquisition (No. 2) Ltd., CompAir Acquisition Ltd., CompAir BroomWade Ltd., CompAir Canada, CompAir Finance Ltd., CompAir GmbH, CompAir Holdings Limited, CompAir Holman Ltd, CompAir International Trading (Shanghai) Co Ltd, CompAir Korea Ltd, CompAir South Africa (SA) (Pty) Ltd., CompAir UK Ltd, CompAir USA, Consolidated Distribution Holdings Ltd., DV Systems Inc., Emco Wheaton, Emco Wheaton GmbH Branch, Emco Wheaton Gmbh, Emco Wheaton UK, Emco Wheaton USA Inc, Enza Air Propriety Limited (South Africa), GD Aria Holdings #2 Limited, GD Aria Holdings Limited, GD Aria Investments Limited, GD First UK Ltd, GD German Holdings GmbH, GD German Holdings I Gmbh, GD German Holdings II GmbH, GD German Investments GmbH, GD Global Holdings, GD Global Holdings II, GD Global Holdings UK II Ltd., GD Global Ventures I B.V., GD Global Ventures II B.V., GD Global Ventures III B.V., GD Industrial Products Malaysia SDN. BHD., GD Investment KY, GD UK Finance Ltd., Gardner Denver (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Gardner Denver Austria GmbH, Gardner Denver Bad Neustadt Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Gardner Denver Belgium NV, Gardner Denver Brasil Industria E Comercio de Maquinas Ltda., Gardner Denver CZ + SK sro, Gardner Denver Canada Corp, Gardner Denver Cyprus Investments II Ltd., Gardner Denver Cyprus Investments II Ltd. - US Branch, Gardner Denver Cyprus Investments Ltd., Gardner Denver Cyprus Investments Ltd. - US Branch, Gardner Denver Deutschland GmbH, Gardner Denver Engineered Products India Private Limited, Gardner Denver FZE, Gardner Denver Finance II LLC, Gardner Denver Finance Inc & Co KG, Gardner Denver France SA, Gardner Denver France SAS, Gardner Denver Group Services Ltd, Gardner Denver Group Svcs Ltd, Gardner Denver Hoffman, Gardner Denver Holdings, Gardner Denver Holdings Limited, Gardner Denver Hong Kong Investments Limited, Gardner Denver Hong Kong Ltd, Gardner Denver Iberica, Gardner Denver Industries Ltd., Gardner Denver Industries Pty Ltd., Gardner Denver Industries Pty Ltd. Branch, Gardner Denver International, Gardner Denver International Ltd., Gardner Denver Intl Ltd Middle East Regional Rep Office, Gardner Denver Investments, Gardner Denver Italy Holdings S.r.L., Gardner Denver Japan, Gardner Denver Kirchhain Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Gardner Denver Korea, Gardner Denver Korea Ltd, Gardner Denver Ltd, Gardner Denver Ltd South Africa, Gardner Denver Ltd., Gardner Denver Ltd. Branch (Ireland), Gardner Denver Machinery (Shanghai) Co, Gardner Denver Machinery (Shanghai) Co., Gardner Denver Nash Brasil Industria E Comercio De Bombas Ltda, Gardner Denver Nash Deutschland GmbH, Gardner Denver Nash LLC, Gardner Denver Nash Machinery Ltd, Gardner Denver Nash Machinery Ltd., Gardner Denver Nederland BV, Gardner Denver Nederland Investments B.V., Gardner Denver Oberdorfer Pumps, Gardner Denver Oy, Gardner Denver Petroleum Pumps, Gardner Denver Polska Sp z.o.o., Gardner Denver Pte Ltd., Gardner Denver S.r.l., Gardner Denver Schopfheim GmbH, Gardner Denver Schopfheim Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Gardner Denver Schweiz AG, Gardner Denver Slovakia, Gardner Denver SudAmerica S.r.l., Gardner Denver Sweden AB, Gardner Denver Taiwan Ltd., Gardner Denver Thomas, Gardner Denver Thomas GmbH, Gardner Denver Thomas Pneumatic Systems (Wuxi) Co., Gardner Denver Thomas Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Gardner Denver UK, Gardner Denver Water Jetting Systems, Garo Dott. Ing. Roberto Gabbioneta S.r.l., Hamworthy Belliss & Morcom, ILMVAC (UK) Ltd., ILS Innovative Labor Systeme, ILS Inovative Laborsysteme GmbH, Indonesia Foreign Trade Representative Office, LeROI, LeRoi International Inc, MP Pumps Inc., Mako Compressors, Nash, Nash Elmo, Oina VV, Oina VV Aktiebolag, Robuschi, Rotary Compression Technologies, Runtech Systems, Runtech Systems (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Runtech Systems Inc., Runtech Systems OY, Shanghai CompAir Compressors Co Ltd, Shanghai Compressors & Blowers Ltd., Syltone, TCM Investments, TIWR Real Estate GmbH & Co. KG, TODO AB, Tamrotor Marine Compressors AS, Thomas Industries, Thomas Industries Inc., Tri-Continent Scientific, Welch Vacuum Equipment (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Zinsser Analytic, Zinsser Analytik GmbH, and Zinsser NA.3 hours ago

Most People Who Achieve Their Retirement Goals Are Good at These 6 Things

What does it take to save enough for retirement? Does it take Buffett-level knowledge of the markets? An uncanny ability to understand dividend income? Not necessarily. It takes just some basic knowledge and dedication (and a little bit of know-how) to successfully save for retirement. You might wonder where you fall on the grand spectrum of those who save for retirement.

Read ArticleIn order to maintain this blog I have to pay for its upkeep including a hosting company, support services, virus and other malicious hackers. If you appreciate what I write please make a donation.Users of Facebook, Google and other popular technology platforms are likely to benefit from stricter privacy regulations that, beginning next month, will require new disclosures, new forms of consent and new power to limit how personal data is stored and utilized.

The changes are being announced in emails, blog posts and new on-screen messages that many consumers are already beginning to see from Apple, Twitter, Airbnb, GoDaddy and others. Facebook users will receive new privacy prompts in the coming weeks.

Dont bother thanking Washington, which remains mired in gridlock despite rising public concerns about data privacy. Rather the changes emanate from the EU, which is imposing a host of new regulations that are forcing global changes, including for hundreds of millions of tech consumers in the U.S.

Read more:

Facebook profits soar despite multiple scandals

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg: Social media regulation 'inevitable'

Privacy was never the issue with Facebooks data | Opinion

Privacy advocates warn that these changes wont fundamentally change the relationship between consumers and tech companies, many of which make their profits by collecting data on users, building individual profiles and selling advertising based on the resulting troves of data.

I dont know that these companies are making radical differences in what theyre doing, said Justin Brookman, director of consumer privacy and technology policy for Consumers Union.

But the changes do mark a rare shift toward greater user control and transparency as companies scramble to comply with the European regulations. Those that fail to do so could face fines of up to 4 per cent of global profits.

The new laws, known as GDPR, for General Data Protection Regulation, take effect May 25 in the EU. They require that tech companies use plain language to explain how their data will be used and that users give explicit consent for these uses. As companies create new ways of using data, they must ask again for permission.

Under GDPR, users also are gaining new rights to download their data and move it to other platforms. And there are new restrictions on data collection on users under the age of 16, unless parents or guardians consent.

Companies are not required to apply these same regulations outside the EU. Some, such as Twitter, said they will implement privacy rules differently in the U.S. and Europe. WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook, announced this week that it was raising the minimum user age to 16 in Europe but leaving it at 13 for users in the rest of the world, including the U.S.

Many others, however, are choosing to adopt a single global standard because of the logistical challenges of maintaining two sets of privacy regimes and also to avoid the potential political and public-relations backlash for giving protections to one set of consumers and not others. Companies say there may be minor variations between privacy standards in the EU and the U.S. but not to a degree most users would notice.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, during congressional testimony this month, said his company would apply the European standards to U.S. users. A company blog post later elaborated, Everyone  no matter where they live  will be asked to review important information about how Facebook uses data and make choices about their privacy on Facebook.

Facebook users in the U.S. are scheduled in coming weeks to see a series of new consent screens explaining how the company collects and uses personal data and asking permission for these uses.

There will be questions specifically seeking consent for facial recognition technology, which Facebook for years has employed to identify people in photos uploaded to the platform. (The technology will be new, however, in the EU and Canada and people there will be asked to consent to its use for the first time.)

Google says that it too is applying the same privacy standards globally across its many online services, though, as with Facebook, there may be minor variations in how these standards are applied.

Apple, which relies less on the collection of personal data than some other big tech companies, last month added new privacy protections in updates of its operating systems to comply with GDPR. Those updates applied to users worldwide, the company said, and created new alerts to signal when Apple collects user data. The company is also allowing all users to request their data, seek corrections and demand that any account be deleted.

One outlier is Twitter, which said that it is adopting a single, unified privacy policy for users throughout the world but implementing it differently outside of Europe, meaning users in the U.S. will see different explanations and requests for consent.

Our first priority is to meet the EU requirements to comply with GDPR on May 25, the company said in a statement. People around the world use our service in different ways and therefore how we present features must be customized by region.

The uneven responses among the companies are frustrating privacy advocates, who argue that the arrival of GDPR offers an opportunity for fundamental change  beyond just a series of new explanations and consent boxes that users are asked to check.

Theyre just trying to get away with business as usual, said Jeff Chester of the Center for Digital Democracy, a consumer advocacy group.

Read more about:CALGARY  When the price of oil dropped in 2014, it took a lot of things with it in our city.

Peoples jobs. Long-time businesses. The ability to put food on the table.

Four years on from that brutal downturn, the economy is slowly perking up, but the issue of food insecurity is a still a reality for many Calgarians.

In fact, Dolores Coutts with the Calgary Food Bank said the agency is seeing the highest number of people using its services in its 36-year history.

Coutts said that in 2010 recession, the Calgary Food Bank helped about 104,000 people. But between September 2016 and August 2017, she says 184,548 people reached out to her organization.

Coutts said the group is also noticing a rise in Calgarians aged 24 to 55 asking for help.

Were seeing people who are skilled, who have worked their whole lives, but things shifted and nobody expected (the recession) to last this long or be this deep.

In Alberta, one in 10 individuals experiences food insecurity, with 17 per cent of children living in food-insecure households. In Calgary, 47 per cent of Calgary Food Bank clients are families with children.

The food bank isnt the only organization in the city thats reporting more appeals for help. Calgarys Meals on Wheels is feeling the need, too.

We have a sliding scale to address food insecurity. We have people who pay nothing for food support all the way up to the full price of $14, said spokesman Chris Mattock. Although, he said, 75 per cent of clients cant afford to spend $14.

Mattock said 2017 was the organizations busiest on record, providing 572,976 meals  a 20 per cent increase in production.

And its an issue that cant be ignored, said Coutts.

When people dont have enough food to eat, it makes life so much more difficult. Weve all been hungry, we all know what it feels like.

If you imagine hitting that wall a few times a year and having your children face that, thats not only physically challenging, but emotionally challenging.

Corporate Calgary is also trying to fill the food gap.

As part of its Fight Hunger, Spark Change campaign, Walmart Canada has partnered with food banks across the country to generate millions of meals for Canadians.

In its second year, the campaign has expanded, Walmarts Felicia Fefer said in an email to StarMetro.

The goal of the campaign was to secure 10 million meals, which is an increase over last year. Ten million meals will feed millions of Canadians.

So far, the initiative  which ends May 2  has generated more than 12 million meals for Food Banks Canada through local store food drives and matching donations from big-name brands.

Mary Getaneh is a Calgary-based reporter covering arts, culture and diversity. Follow her on Twitter: @marygetaneh

Read more about:EDMONTON  Edmontons Korean community woke up Friday morning to news that could alter the course of history on the Korean Peninsula.

On Friday, North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un became the first ruler of his country to set foot on South Korean soil since the Korean War.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in greeted Kim at the demilitarized zone, before the two attended the first summit between the two Koreas in more than a decade.

We can all probably sleep a little bit better after tonight, said Jake Lee, a restaurateur of Korean descent in Edmonton.

Lee, who was born in South Korea but moved to Canada as a child, said older generations of Koreans see the news as a sign of peace to come and has prompted  prematurely, in his opinion  talks of possible reunification of the two Koreas.

I think we still have to be very cautious, he said, noting the summit was but a small step forward in diplomacy between the two nations that signed an armistice, but technically remain at war.

Moon and Kim held talks at Panmunjom  the area where the 1953 armistice agreement was signed. Its one of the most heavily militarized zones in the world and the site of several defections, including one last year when a North Korean soldier dramatically escaped into South Korean territory under a hail of bullets from North Korean troops.

Both leaders affirmed their hopes this week of achieving peace by agreeing to formally end the war and voicing their support of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.

Yeseul Jung, a South Korean student who came to Edmonton to study two years ago, said she couldnt believe her eyes when she saw footage of the two leaders embracing and talking.

Seeing the leaders cross a border which is perceived as impenetrable by the Korean people was incredible, she said.

I look forward to a better and more prosperous future for the next generation.

On Friday, several employees of Seoul Fried Chicken  a popular Korean-style fried chicken restaurant owned by Lee  spent the day discussing what the future may hold for the region. Lee pointed out nearly a third of his restaurants employees are young South Koreans who are enlisted in the South Korean military and will have to return to serve if war breaks out.

There are around 20,000 South Koreans in Edmonton, according to James Youm, president of the Edmonton Korean Canadian Association.

Though several South Korean youths at Seoul Fried Chicken pointed out they do not support outright reunification because they worry about the South having to pick up the economic burden of the less-developed North, Youm said most people of Korean descent in Edmonton do support reunification.

Reunification would allow families separated by the war a chance to reunite and could help establish trade between Canada and North Korea, he added.

While leaders of North Korea and South Korea have held summits before, this weeks summit was the first one held in South Korea.

While most of the trip was carefully scripted, there appeared to be a moment of improvisation when Kim and Moon stepped across the concrete slab that marks the border between the two Koreas into North Korean territory  just for a few seconds.

That was a nice spontaneous gesture, said Brian Gold, a University of Alberta professor who focuses on modern Korean history.

To see the North Korean leader just stroll over that barrier like its nothing was just really a wonderful sign for whats hopefully a lasting peace, he added. That was a great sign of barriers being crossed.

While its too early to have a party, said Youm, there were a few surprising outcomes of the summit.

I was also surprised that theyre looking for denuclearization, he said. Thats something I didnt expect would happen.

Though the two leaders still need to make concrete plans to move forward, Brian said, this summit felt different.

This summit and the whole move to, we can say detente between the North and the South, is really an effort of the Koreans, and Im not making a distinction here, he said. The Koreans themselves are trying to control of whats going to happen.

Read more about:If you tell people youre going to Las Vegas for a week, the reaction tends to be either a raised eyebrow, implying thats a long time to spend there, or an overly excited and equally presumptuous Vegas baby! Sometimes its easier to just tell people youre headed out West to avoid the backstory.

Heres mine. Las Vegas is one of my hometowns, a place where, in my 20s and 30s, I very much grew up. I met some of the most amazing friends in the town that tourists  and only tourists  call Sin City. Since moving to Chicago in 2009, Ive seldom been back. But last Oct. 2, I felt an urgent need to visit.

That was the day after the shooting at the Route 91 Harvest festival, when I awoke to a stream of alerts on Facebook saying this friend and that friend had marked themselves safe in the Violent Incident in Las Vegas, Nevada. The shooter killed 58 people and wounded 546 in the deadliest mass shooting in modern history.

Within days, I booked a plane ticket, eager to hug my people and to show my husband, Neil, whom Id met in Chicago, the desert surroundings I suddenly missed desperately. Just a week to re-experience a big part of my life.

For most of my nine years in Vegas, I worked as a journalist and guidebook writer, hopscotching between tourist Las Vegas and real Las Vegas. That means that a sight such as, say, a gondolier rowing through blue, chlorinated waters under sky-blue ceilings at the Grand Canal Shoppes at the Venetian carries some nostalgia. To get our tourist fill, we stay at the Venice-themed hotel, with its Renaissance-inspired ceiling frescoes and a near-quarrys worth of marble for the first two nights. We dont even need to leave the enormous property to eat decadent pastries from Bouchon Bakery and share a Crazyshake (an over-the-top milkshake with chocolate acting as an adhesive for more chocolate dotting the glass) at Black Tap Craft Burgers & Beer. When were not consuming calories, we get turned around weaving through the gaming floor trying to find the elevator to get to our room  and wait, there are Ellen DeGeneres-themed slot machines?

The restaurant Im most eager to return to is away from the neon and crowds of Las Vegas Boulevard. To get there, we take a meandering walk, past the bronze statue of Siegfried and Roy near the Mirage, around the lush bird habitat at the Flamingo and through that familiar gauntlet of handbillers fwap-fwapping their pamphlets about women available to visit our room.

Then we veer off-Strip, taking E. Flamingo Road about two kilometres east to meet friends at Lotus of Siam. In 2000, Gourmet Magazine named this Thai restaurant the best in North America. We feast on sumptuous beef jerky, duck curry and spicy catfish. The location we visit is new (the old one flooded and is closed for renovations) but the food is even more remarkable than I remember.

The wide-open spaces, the red-rock vistas, the mountain silhouettes framing the valley, the Dr. Seuss-ish Joshua trees, the way its so easy to breathe out here with all that hardy desert beauty  that, too, is my Nevada. Shaking off the frenetic tourist energy, Neil and I head out to Lake Mead, which is about 48 kilometres east of the Strip, for a morning hike on the Historic Railroad Trail. The path was constructed to transport materials to Hoover Dam beginning in 1931, and over the course of about two miles, it goes through five long, cool, eerie, dark tunnels, all while hugging the lake formed by the dam. Its especially beautiful today, under a cloud-stippled blue sky.

Having earned an appetite, we stop for breakfast in downtown Boulder City, which, as one of two cities in the state that bans gambling, is a kind of Nevada Mayberry. At a postcard-worthy diner called the Coffee Cup, we wolf down an omelette with green chile, avocado and cheddar (me) and hash browns smothered in pork chile verde (Neil) before driving back to Vegas to reunite with a group of friends who have also moved away. Were renting a house together in the McNeil Estates neighbourhood, a cool community of swanky ranch-style homes with midcentury modern trappings about a mile and a half west of Las Vegas Boulevard.

While musing over some Vegas vagaries  You can still smoke indoors?; Oxygen bars are still a thing?; Glen Lerner (a personal-injury attorney with billboards everywhere) hasnt aged?  we admire some of the developments downtown. Fremont East, a strip of bars and restaurants just past a cluster of old-school casinos and the touristy Fremont Street Experience light show, has picked up momentum and density since weve all left. Once associated with seedy hotels and a Wild West, anything-goes ambience  I met with a self-described hit man in a hotel here in the early 2000s for a story  theres now a walkable district that includes the Downtown Container Park outdoor mall made of the stacked steel shipping boxes, as well as funky sculptures and a fabulous little book shop, the Writers Block. We happen upon Market in the Alley, which is a far cry from the unsanctioned dealings that once took place in surrounding passageways. People are buying crafts from vendors and sipping expensive cups of pour-over coffee. We run into an old friend and ask if theres anything else we should check out farther east. Nooo, he warns, and gestures to a nearby business. You dont want to go past murder mart. We nod. Change comes in increments.

My happy place lies deep in the Mojave Desert, about 90 minutes west of Vegas, in the tiny, hardscrabble town of Tecopa, Calif. The latest U.S. census data puts its population at about 150, but locals will tell you its probably much lower. Some people come here for the hot springs. (There are a number of them.) Others come for the date milkshakes, served in a shop at a working date farm called China Ranch. I come for the profound quiet and the teepees at Cynthias.

Twenty-some years ago, Cynthia Kienitz started visiting Tecopa. The more time she spent in the desert, the more she felt shaped by it, much the way the sun bakes the loping mud hills here just outside of Death Valley and the Amargosa River carves a tumbling waterfall near the date farm. Kienitz, an interior designer, likes to say she got tired of the rat race and traded it all in to become a desert rat. She opened a small bed-and-breakfast in a home on the date farm, but then decided she wanted her guests to be immersed in the desert. So she set up three enormous teepees  each sleeps four in comfy beds  that look out on the date palm trees and surrounding bald hills. And then she added a half-dozen guest rooms in repurposed, well-appointed trailers so more visitors could live like locals. (Trailers are de rigueur out in these parts.)

Ive stayed in both, finding solace in the stark landscape and the bejeweled night sky. Cellphones dont work out here, and locals wear headlamps at night. It all adds to the charm.

During the day, Neil and I hike along a sandy path near China Ranch, past a couple of abandoned cars turned brown and crisp by the overbearing sun, toward earthy mounds that look like sleeping giants. Later, Kienitz, whom Ive gotten to know over the years, takes us out on ATVs to tour an old mine and rudimentary cemetery, where the grave markers are simple crosses fashioned with two sticks. She briefs us on the history of the area, explaining that it was an active mining community from the 1870s to the 1950s.

At night, we head to Steaks and Beer, a tiny restaurant with two indoor tables and four bar seats, all of which are full. Its too cold to take advantage of the outdoor tables. We walk a few yards away to wait at Death Valley Brewing, one of two breweries in town (Probably the most per capita anywhere, the man who pours our beer tells us), and over a red nitro and a coffee porter, we gaze at a man at the bar whos toting a white bucket of homegrown persimmons, cutting slices with a large knife and handing them to anyone within arms length.

When seats open up at the restaurant, its clear why the place does a bang-up business: The $36 filet mignon, served with vegetables and mashed potatoes, is perfectly seasoned and finished with a combination of red wine butter and reduced balsamic vinegar. Its as good as any Ive had in a Chicago steak house.

Stuffed, we use a flashlight to find our way back to our teepee for the night.

Temperatures are below 5C, and were grateful for heated mattress pads. Only our noses get chilly, and we sleep soundly until the coyotes rise with the sun, their high-pitched howls sounding more human than canine.

We take one more desert detour, winding a couple of hours north of Tecopa through the sun-baked Death Valley National Park to the Goldwell Open Air Museum, where artists  mostly from Europe  have created sculptures against the barren backdrop. Theres a bronze miner standing next to a penguin, and eerily cloaked figures called The Last Supper. A short drive beyond are the crumbling buildings of Rhyolite, the remaining ghost of a Gold Rush boom town. At its peak, there were about 50 saloons, 19 lodges, 16 restaurants, a newspaper, bathhouse and more. You can still see Tom Kellys Bottle House  a well-preserved structure made of about 50,000 beer bottles.

By the time we return to Vegas and fly out of McCarran International Airport, both of us energized by the fresh air and sunshine and time with good friends, I think back to the places on my original to do list (China Mama for soup dumplings, Peppermill Fireside Lounge for a Blue Hawaiian, Dinos Lounge for a karaoke rendition of Leather and Lace) and realize how many I didnt check off. A week might sound like a lot of time to someone who hasnt lived in Las Vegas. But for me, it wasnt nearly enough.

IF YOU GO

Where to stay:

The Venetian, venetian.com: Frescoes line the ceilings and gondoliers serenade passengers in the neighbouring Grand Canal Shoppes at this hotel and casino in a prime location on Las Vegas Boulevard. Rooms from $169 per night.

Cynthias, discovercynthias.com: Choose to sleep in a teepee on a date farm or in a well-appointed trailer in this tiny desert town about 90 minutes from Vegas. Tepees start at $165 and trailers start at $98.

Where to eat:

Lotus of Siam, lotusofsiamlv.com: The menu of Northern and Southern Thai offerings is as thick as a book at this off-Strip favourite of locals. Be sure to make a reservation well in advance. Entrees start at around $15.

Steaks and Beer, 9 Old Spanish Trail Hwy., Tecopa, Calif., 442-261-1414: The steaks served here would stand out anywhere  but theyre especially remarkable in this tiny restaurant in a hardscrabble desert outpost. Entrees start at $16.

What to do

Historic Railroad Trail, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Boulder City, Nev., nps.gov/lake/planyourvisit/hikerr.htm: Pass through five dark tunnels on this easy out-and-back hike along a former rail trail that was used to transport materials to Hoover Dam from the 1930s through the early 1960s. You can turn around at the fifth tunnel (3.5 kilometres) or continue on to the Hoover Dam parking garage (6 kilometeres). Free.

Goldwell Open Air Museum, Beatty, Nev., goldwellmuseum.org: Towering art in the middle of the desert, bordering a dilapidated ghost town? Why not! The bizarre sculpture park, founded by Belgian artists, is on the outskirts of Death Valley, 190 kilometres northwest of Las Vegas. A tiny, on-site visitors centre provides a good history on Rhyolite, the ghost town of Nye County. Free.

Information: visitlasvegas.comVANCOUVER  British Columbia has unveiled its plan for regulating recreational marijuana, but the enforcement and testing for drug-impaired driving remain hazy.

Solicitor General Mike Farnworth said the provinces need to hear ASAP from the federal government about what technology might be approved in testing for drug-impairment, while some experts say existing testing techniques are as good as it gets, even if they arent perfect.

Currently, specially trained drug recognition officers conduct field sobriety tests based largely on visual assessments, rather than testing of bodily fluids.

Read more:

B.C. set to introduce pot laws, but years of fine tuning likely: minister

Opinion | Cannabis debate: Not enough is being planned to protect youth from effects of marijuana

Opinion | Cannabis debate: Legal pot is far safer for youth than relying on black market marijuana

Right now, there are laws in place to deal with impairment, whether its drug impairment or alcohol impairment, Farnworth said Thursday. So those laws are still there, those laws apply today and they will apply tomorrow.

He said British Columbia is still waiting to see whether technology will be approved through federal legislation on marijuana legalization, and what that technology might look like.

The feds have told us there is technology they are confident in, but we still have yet to hear exactly what it is.

No one from Public Safety Canada was available for comment on the issue.

Farnworth has proposed amendments to the Motor Vehicle Act that would create a 90-day driving prohibition for drivers found under the influence of drugs, and a ban on any new drivers in the graduated licensing system from operating a vehicle with any THC in their systems.

It does not set a specific THC limit on drivers, but a limit of two nanograms per millilitre of blood has been proposed at the federal level.

Former police officer Steven Maxwell, who has trained drug-recognition officers in Ontario and Quebec, said in an interview Friday that he believes existing observational tests are very accurate, when conducted properly.

There are three roadside tests, which are the same for identifying both alcohol and drug impairment, he said Friday.

If an officer reasonably suspects a driver is impaired, the driver will be taken back to a police station for further testing that might include blood pressure, pulse rate and pupil-reaction testing.

The drug influence evaluation is very, very reliable, when the tests are conducted properly. This is where sometimes we run into problems because people tend to cut corners or they dont do the tests according to their training, he said.

Maxwell said he believes drug recognition officers will be more effective than any technology in detecting impairment.

He gave the example of a driver who is pulled over with an open can of beer next to him. Alcohol may be strong on his breath, but after only half a beer, hes not impaired, Maxwell said.

Even if a saliva test is introduced, Maxwell said he believes drug recognition officers will continue to play a strong role.

Criminal defence lawyer Kirk Tousaw, who specializes in cannabis policy, said trying to determine impairment through bodily-fluid testing is impossible and invasive.

Trained officers are a better judge of impairment than an arbitrary measure of THC compounds, he said, referring to the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana.

Tousaw said he has been a medical marijuana user for 20 years and is a safe driver, but wouldnt likely pass a an impairment test based on proposed limits of two nanograms of THC per millilitre of blood.

Weve picked this sort of arbitrary number thats going to criminalize basically every cannabis consumer in this country and make them criminals every time they get behind the wheel of a car, Tousaw said.

The federal legislation, which proposes driving limits for drugs and new roadside testing devices, is under review by a parliamentary senate committee.

Read more about:In a historic case, alleged Ndrangheta crime boss Giuseppe (Pino) Ursino of Bradford, Ont., showed little emotion as a Toronto jury found him guilty on several charges related to cocaine trafficking for a criminal organization Friday.

The jury also found Cosmin (Chris) Dracea, 41, of Toronto guilty of charges related to cocaine trafficking, but not guilty on a charge of trafficking the drug for a criminal organization.

The prosecution marked the first time in Canada the Ndrangheta has been targeted as an organized crime group since the offence of criminal organization came into effect in 1997, senior federal prosecutor Tom Andreopoulos said earlier in an interview.

Read more:

Accused tells court he only posed as a cocaine trafficker for money scam

Accused crime boss admits at trial he talked to agent about cocaine trafficking  but didnt mean it

Accused in criminal organization trial says hes no boss  not even in my family

Upon hearing the verdict, Draceas shoulders slumped; Ursino maintained a stoic expression, in sharp contrast to his time on the witness stand when he sometimes appeared angry or lost in grief.

There were no family members or friends for either man in the courtroom.

The jury took 1  days to reach its decision. Sentencing by Judge Brian OMarra is scheduled for Sept. 21.

Ursino, 65, was found guilty of trafficking cocaine, trafficking cocaine related to a criminal organization, possession of property directly or indirectly related to an indictable offence, conspiracy to import cocaine and conspiracy to import cocaine related to a criminal organization.

Dracea was found not guilty of trafficking cocaine related to a criminal organization; he was found guilty of trafficking cocaine, possession of $60,000 directly or indirectly related to an indictable offence, conspiracy to import cocaine, and conspiracy to import cocaine related to a criminal organization.

Dracea pled guilty to trafficking a kilo of cocaine at the outset of the trial.

Ursino is a grandfather who runs a small food distributing company.

Do you have any knowledge of the Ndrangheta in the Greater Toronto area?, his lawyer Dragi Zekavica asked him during the trial.

No, Ursino replied through an interpreter, even though he has lived in Canada since the 1970s.

Im not a boss, not even in my own family, Ursino later said.

Ursino described his financial situation as a disaster but surviving and said a daughter has to give him gas money for his car. He admitted talking about cocaine importing and other crimes such as extortion with Guido but said he didnt really mean it.

The stupid words come out of my mouth, Ursino testified under cross-examination from federal prosecutor James Clark.

What Im talking is one thing, Ursino said in often-emotional testimony. What I mean is another.

Court heard of characters with nicknames such as The Chosen One for a senior boss, and Frank Crutches for a lesser boss whose legs were crushed in a car accident as a teenager. Another member was just called the guy with the coffee truck by star Crown witness Carmine Guido.

Staff Sgt. Brad Trainor told court the project originally targeted four GTA men: Ursino, Cosimo Commisso, Diego Serrano and Carmine Verduci.

Commisso was not charged. Verduci was murdered in April 2014 outside the Regina Cafe at 140 Regina Rd., in an industrial and retail plaza near Highway 7 and Martin Grove Rd. The murder remains unsolved.

Serrano was sentenced to four years, six months in prison in January for two counts of drugs conspiracy and one count of possession of proceeds of crime.

Guido, 47, is a self-described Ndrangheta associate and wise guy who agreed to work as a police agent for $2.4 million in a operation between 2013 and 2015 called Project OPhoenix.

Guido, who was once a construction executive, told the court he was heavily involved in fraud, drug trafficking, debt collection and enforcement before agreeing to work for police. He testified he could have made far more money if he had continued life as a criminal.

Court heard more than 40 secretly recorded conversations involving Guido in which the word respect came up at least 33 times.

On the witness stand, Guido described Ursino as his boss in the local Ndrangheta.

Ursino appeared angry at the Crown when he said he doesnt know about drug importing, debt collection, money laundering and Ndrangheta structure beyond what he has learned through gossip, news reports and school in Italy.

When Clark pressed Ursino to explain why he appeared to have a strong understanding of Ndrangheta history and structure, Ursino said he studied it in Grade 5, his last year of formal schooling in his birthplace of Calabria in southern Italy.

I think I was still working on spelling my name in Grade 4, Clark replied.

Dracea, a Romanian born father of two and restaurant manager, made the worst mistake of his life when he became involved with Caputo and Guido, his lawyer Kathryn Wells told the jury.

Dracea said he was only posing as a cocaine trafficker so that he could scam Guido out of $80,000 by getting him to invest in a bogus drug importation scheme.

Dracea said he was recruited by a man named Gianfranco Caputo to scam Guido out of $80,000 in a bogus drug importation scheme.

Caputo was not charged in the case.

The jury also heard an introduction to the Ndrangheta from an Italian police expert, who described it as a highly structured international organization, which uses extortion, loan sharking, theft, electoral crimes, crimes of violence and drug trafficking, among other things, to sustain itself and make members feel respected.The bell tower rings out over Mel Lastman Square at 11 a.m., cutting through the soft pitter-patter of Saturday morning rain and the sound of tires zooming past on wet pavement along Yonge St.

Just south of the square, a street sweeper collects a white coffee cup off the ground, and other workers set up portable toilet stalls nearby. Police had already taped up signs on street metres, prohibiting parking to make way for emergency vehicles as the city gears up preparations for Sunday nights #TorontoStrong vigil.

But while those in fluorescent vests and other uniforms purposefully buzzed around the square, an air of solace hung around many visiting the memorial for 10 people killed and 16 injured in Mondays van rampage.

I was drawn here. I felt a need to come and pay my respects, and reclaim the streets and the space, said Gavin Leeb, who lives on the Danforth and grew up in Toronto. Its changed forever.

The bed of sympathy flowers, notes, and other heartfelt belongings has been growing over the pavement by day, inching closer to the large water fountain in the square as Torontonians stop by. A man cries while talking to an on-site crisis worker. Not far away a few moments later, another makes the sign of a cross over his chest as he approaches the memorial. An older woman from Maple, Ont., declined to be interviewed, tears in her eyes.

Theres a lot of the whys and what do we change and all of those types of things, but theyre resilient, theyre strong, said Janet Voth, who has been at the square nearly every day, and calls herself a concerned community member.

Though theres a prominent city presence in trailers, trucks, workers, and the odd police cruiser out and around the stretch between Sheppard to Finch Aves., the sense that its business as usual on Yonge St. is far from being a reality.

Its fresh, its the first week. Everybody comes in at first and they say, So where were you, are you ok? said Patrice Alexander, owner of The Forum Barber Parlour. While he wasnt at work  the salon is closed Mondays  hes reminded of the carnage when he looks outside the second-storey window facing Yonge St. Its where two people were killed, near the Shoppers Drug Mart at Tolman St.

And hes not alone.

One of my customers was here yesterday, and he said thathe has a hard time walking on that side of the street, said Alexander, referring to the west side of Yonge St.

Read more:

The day Yonge St. became a war zone: How the van rampage unfolded moment by moment

Ontario investigating leaked jail story about accused van killer

None of us will ever be the same: A first responder returns to Yonge St.

Reminders can be found in small heaps of flowers along Yonge St., away from the two large memorials. On this spot died on (sic) of the greatest men that ever lived. I love you grandfather, is inked in green marker on a post at Yonge St. and Parkview Ave., a pile of bouquets and messages at its base.

Munir Najjar, 85, was killed during his visit to Canada from Jordan. He and his wife, Lillian, came to see his son, daughter, and three grandsons.

The sound of emergency vehicles also doesnt feel quite the same.

Were used to hearing all these things all the time, now it takes on a differentIt just rings your alarm bells, said a woman who requested to be identified only as Ruth. She was visiting the second memorial at Olive Square, near Yonge St. and Finch Ave., after finding out on Friday that an 83-year-old woman shes very well acquainted with, was killed.

Geraldine Brady, 83, was identified on Friday by Ontarios chief coroner as one of the deceased.

I just thought, what a terrible way for her life to end. And all of them...I feel just as bad for all the young people who were just starting out in life.A man in his 50s was rushed to hospital with second- to third-degree burns after his tent caught on fire Friday night.

Emergency services were called to the scene on Rosedale Valley Rd. near Mount Pleasant Rd. around 6:30 where they found a man suffering from extreme burns.

He is now in hospital in life-threatening condition.

Toronto police say the man occupied the tent at the time of the fire.

Fifty-three division is still investing the incident, and Ontarios Office of the Fire Marshal has been notified.Denying journalists access to Ontario tribunal records is an unconstitutional infringement of Canadas Charter of Rights and Freedoms that the Attorney General of Ontario has failed to justify, a sweeping court decision prompted by a Toronto Star challenge has concluded.

Ontario Superior Court Justice Edward M. Morgan declared as invalid provisions of Ontarios Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) that delay or block public access to tribunal records, and gave the province a year to consider how to make its tribunal system more open and accessible to journalists and the public.

The provinces various administrative tribunals make decisions on everything from landlord and tenant disputes to human rights complaints. The Stars legal challenge sought easier and more complete access to records and documents related to their public hearings.

Tribunal hearings are usually open to the public, but some tribunals have required members of the public, including the media, to file formal freedom of information requests for access to documents related to those hearings. The Star argued that the rules of open courts should apply to the tribunals.

In fashioning a regime that prohibits the disclosure of personal information unless the press can establish its justification, FIPPA has it the wrong way around, Justice Morgan concluded. Emphasizing privacy over openness not only has a negative impact on the press  Problematic landlords, police, and other actors, including repeat human rights offenders, vexatious litigants and the like cannot be discovered by members of the public who have to engage with them.

Toronto Star lawyer Paul Schabas, who argued the case against the Attorney General of Ontario, called the ruling a major victory.

The court confirms that these tribunals are not just agents of government, but courts, and need to operate openly, like courts, he said. This decision will have broad ramifications for all judicial tribunals.

The attorney generals office said Friday that the government always strives to find the right balance between openness and protecting the privacy of its citizens.  As the matter is still in the appeal period it would be inappropriate to comment further.

A senior source in the ministry told the Star late Friday that the attorney general is very unlikely to appeal the decision but will be taking more time to review it.

The Stars constitutional challenge was prompted by a 2014 case when reporters requested  and obtained  records from the Ontario Labour Relations Board hearings involving the Labourers International Union of North America (Local 183) that detailed unproven allegations of high public interest: union links to organized crime, secret surveiallance of its members and employees, exploitation of undocumented foreign workers and fraudulently obtained pension credits.

A few weeks after releasing the records to the Star, the OLRB contacted the newspaper to say the records may have been released in error and that the Board had inadvertently disclosed personal information that is presumed to constitute an unjustified invasion of personal privacy.

The OLRB told the Star it should return and not use any of the information released.

The Star refused. Its appeal of that decision to the Information and Privacy Commissioner was later dropped and replaced with a broad-based constitutional challenge to the use of FIPPA by Ontario tribunals.

The newspapers submissions argued there are vast discrepencies in the way individual tribunals in Ontario release records to journalists and the public.

Some tribunals post many of their records online for easy access. For example, the Ontario Securities Commission, Ontario Municipal Board and Financial Services Tribunal post docket lists and decisions on their websites and allow public access to hearing records (sometimes anonymized) without requiring any FIPPA request.

But many others require journalists and the public to file formal freedom of information requests that can take weeks or months to process, often with large fees that render the documents financially inaccessible or worthless.

Newsgathering inherently requires timeliness, Morgan wrote. Any newspaper reader would find it difficult to refute this observation  Just as justice delayed can be justice denied, so reportage delayed can be reportage denied.

Examples of FOI requests filed by Star reporters to a range of other Ontario tribunals  contained in the Stars submissions  showed delays of between 10 days and more than eight months to obtain a final decision, the ruling says.

Investigative reporter Robert Cribb reveals the story behind the court decision today which will ensure the Ontario Labour Relations Board is a more open, accountable and timely system for the public and journalists.

Morgan identified one provision of FIPPA in particular as being a serious obstacle to disclosure and so broad as to swallow up the initial mandate to disclose records.

The evidence collected by the Toronto Star and, indeed, the reported decisions by the (Information and Privacy Commissioner)  suggests that the personal information exemption is so widely invoked that it has become the rule rather than an exemption to the rule.

Ontario Information commissioner Brian Beamish, who administers Ontario's FIPPA law, declined comment Friday, saying he needed more time to review the ruling.

The existence of personal information in records has been used by the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, the Landlord and Tenant Board and other tribunals to refuse most if not all requests for production of records, Morgans decision reads.

The attorney general argued there is no evidence that those delays hampered the reporting on those cases. The Star countered that the newsworthiness of many of these cases had been lost by the time documents were obtained.

In his ruling, Morgan ruled that some sections of the FIPPA law significantly frustrate access, defeat the publics right to know and would not survive a charter analysis.

It may be difficult to calculate how many article ideas faded away as the days and weeks passed and the writer waited for a decision, the ruling says. There is a sense that the Toronto Star is perhaps frustrated by having to deal with a cumbersome, bureaucratic system which can sometimes seem neither user-friendly nor prone to make document requests easy. I sympathize with the desire of journalists and others who make FIPPA applications on a regular basis to cut through the red tape. 

The ruling also rejected arguments of the attorney generals office that Ontarians who wish to come before tribunals  tenants, human rights complainants, employers and others  would be dissuaded by the possibility their identities would be disclosed.

Morgan did not go as far as scrapping the freedom of information requirements used by some tribunals. But he told the legislature it needs to revamp the process to make it charter compliant based on a presumption of openness rather than a presumption of confidentiality.

Schabas said the ruling effectively establishes open courts rules in which records are presumptively open and there is a strong onus on the part of tribunals to justify any limits on that transparency.

While it is disappointing that the judge didnt get rid of FIPPA completely from the process, the reality is that this decision tells any tribunals that may wish to continue to follow that process that their practices must change, he said. Openness, not privacy, takes primacy  This is what we wanted.Andrea Constand, the woman whose sexual assault complaint against the television icon Bill Cosby led to his conviction, broke her long public silence with a short Twitter message Friday thanking the local community.

A very profound and heartfelt thank you to the Commonwealth of PA, Montgomery County, for their service and sacrifices, she wrote, seemingly addressing the district attorneys office and the jury that on Thursday convicted Cosby of drugging and sexually assaulting Constand.

Congratulations, she added. Truth prevails.

Read more:

Bill Cosby found guilty in sexual assault retrial

Comic who called Bill Cosby a rapist credited after his conviction

I just could not fight him off: Toronto native Andrea Constand confronts Cosby in court for second time

Following a high-profile trial like Cosbys, the vindicated party traditionally makes the media rounds, appearing to discuss the case on the Today show or Good Morning America. Constand has not yet done so.

Outside the courtroom, where Constand testified that Cosby had drugged and molested her at his home in 2004, she has been reluctant to speak about the case. That may be due, in part, to the nondisclosure agreement she signed as part of her $3.38 million (U.S.) settlement she reached with Cosby in 2006.

Last year, a judge ruled that Cosby could pursue a lawsuit against Constand based on two Twitter posts she wrote in 2014. (I wont go away, there is a lot more I will say, she wrote in one.) But as the #MeToo movement against sexual abuse has gained influence, women who have agreed to settlements with powerful men  including Harvey Weinstein, Bill OReilly and Donald Trump  have broken their nondisclosure agreements, arguing that speaking out was more important.

Constands lawyer, Delores Troiani, said by phone on Friday that she and her client were evaluating their options and the enforceability of the contract with Cosby.

Obviously everyone in the world has sent me an email or text, but were just stepping back and seeing where were going to go, Troiani said, referring to the extensive media requests for interviews with Constand. I think were taking a breather, for one.

At a news conference after the verdict on Thursday, Constand stood by, letting the Montgomery County district attorney, Kevin Steele, and Kristen Gibbons Feden, the special prosecutor on the case, speak about its importance.

Steele commended Constand for fighting through two trials. She has been a major factor in a movement that has gone in the right direction, finally, he said.

Read more about:Frances first lady Brigitte Macron said Melania Trump is charming but is very constrained and cant even seem to go outside due to her role in Washington.

Macron opened up about the three-day Washington visit with her husband, French President Emmanuel Macron, and her time spent with her U.S. counterpart in an interview with Le Monde.

Macron said Melania is actually really fun. We have the same sense of humour. We laugh a lot together. But, she added, Melania, who has kept a relatively low-profile becoming first lady, cannot do anything.

Read more:

Its obvious that Melania doesnt seem to like Donald Trump. Why dont they just call it quits?

Ex-Playboy model shares elaborate details on alleged 10-month love affair with Trump

Melania Trumps parents are legal permanent residents. Experts say that means they likely relied on chain migration, which Donald Trump has condemned

Macron noted the strict security leaves her without much freedom.

She cant even open a window at the White House, she said. She cant go outside. Shes much more constrained than I am. I go out every day in Paris.

Macron said Melania has a strong personality but is someone who works hard to hide it, and her stern and sometimes sad appearances in public is over-interpreted.

The French first lady said there is pressure all the time and she also has to be careful what I say. I have the impression that every word is a word too many, Im constantly holding myself back.

She said theres never a time when you can just relax as first lady or when you can be completely calm. But, she added, she tries to live normally and doesnt feel like shes changed much.

Im still the wife of Emmanuel Macron, not of the president. I dont feel like a first lady, she said.

During the three-day trip, she and Melania visited the National Gallery of Art and toured the paintings of French artist Paul Cezanne.

Meanwhile, Emmanuel Macron held closed-door negotiations with President Trump over everything from the U.S. involvement in Syria to the fate of the Iran nuclear accord, which he believes Trump will pull out from.

He also spoke at a joint session of Congress and appealed to politicians to reject the presidents America-first policies and construct a new breed of multilateralism equipped to confront urgent global threats  from climate change to terrorism.

The White House also hosted a state dinner Tuesday where Macron applauded the bonds between the U.S. and France.

May our friendship grow even deeper, may our kinship grow even stronger and may our sacred liberty never die, he said during the event.

Read more about:NIAMEY, NigerUnder the watchful eyes of U.S. authorities, an elite group of local police officers in Nigers capital slipped into a home, rescued a hostage, detained an extremist and pretended to kill another.

The police training in one of Africas most remote, impoverished countries is crucial as extremists linked to Daesh and Al Qaeda carry out increasingly bold attacks in West Africas vast Sahel region. In October, four U.S. soldiers and five Nigeriens were killed in an ambush claimed by Islamic State group-linked fighters in rural Niger.

Amid questions over the role of the U.S. military in this part of the world, there is a renewed focus on training local law enforcement officers in the hopes that extremism can be better countered at the community level and along borders. The challenges are great in Niger, where residents of its vast, largely ungoverned spaces say they are losing confidence in authorities.

Read more:

SEAL Team 6 members under investigation in killing of Army Green Beret

Mattis says military addressing problems uncovered in deadly Niger attack

Mali arrests 2 men after terrorist attack at luxury hotel

As extremism grows its important not to lose sight of the issues at the core of their proliferation and recruitment success, notably bad and often abusive governance, said Corinne Dufka, Human Rights Watchs West Africa director. The Islamist groups are cleverly exploiting local grievances to make inroads with local populations.

That includes abusive practices by local security forces, she said, calling efforts to professionalize them key.

The U.S. ambassador to Niger, Eric P. Whitaker, said the U.S. is addressing the factors that create an environment for extremism by investing more than $500 million (U.S.) over the next few years into local programs for better governance, education, health, agriculture, security and more.

The State Departments Antiterrorism Assistance Program also is addressing such concerns by training local security forces in everything from border control and investigations to human rights and justice.

After an attack killed 20 people at a luxury hotel in Malis capital in November 2015, the U.S. invested $15 million in training nearly 100 local police in crisis response. They also were given the necessary equipment to respond to further attacks, according to Samuel L. Pineda, director in the office of programs with the departments Bureau of Counterterrorism.

The program has paid off, he said. Several of the trained officers responded during the March 2016 attack on the European Union military training missions headquarters in Bamako. And during the June 2017 attack on a resort popular with foreigners outside the capital they helped to kill attackers and rescue victims.

We want to create transparent forces and we want the people to trust those forces, Pineda said. Nobody wants their local market blown up  so if they have the trust of the population, the information comes back in.

In 2018, the Bureau of Counterterrorism will invest an estimated $106 million in sub-Saharan Africa.

About $50 million of that is dedicated to State Department counterterrorism programs in West and Central Africa, including ones in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Nigeria and Mauritania.

The crisis response program in Mali eventually will be replicated in Niger, where the Antiterrorism Assistance Program has dedicated roughly $10 million to training and equipment this year.

During the U.S. militarys annual Flintlock counterterrorism exercises this month in Niger, local officers put their training to the test, collaborating with Nigers gendarmerie and military as well as security forces from other West African nations.

The officers who participated in the raid in the capital, Niamey, are part of the Special Program for Embassy Augmentation and Response, known as SPEAR, which was created after the 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, to train and equip host-nation police units designated as first responders to U.S. diplomatic facilities in crisis. They also can respond to other attacks.

We train them for an eventuality, said Diplomatic Security Service Special Agent Kent Miller, who manages the Antiterrorism Assistance Program in Niger. In the current year and last year there has been a focus on rural environments.

The goal is to disrupt extremists at borders so they dont make it into more populated areas, he said.

In cities, the hope is that crisis response units and SPEAR officers will respond. They are provided with arms, ammunition, equipment, facilities for practicing raids, a gun range and mentorship.

The importance of training is that it puts the elements of knowledge for reaction in our hands, and we can then apply them in real-world situations, said Djibril Ousmane, an assistant police commander in the capital.

The challenge, however, is that extremists also are giving money to communities to win them over, he said.

Its difficult to fight poverty, Ousmane said. With the right means, more can be done.

Read more about:The search for answers, Editorial, April 25

In seeking answers, your editorial reminds us that even terrorists are human. It also notes that loneliness and alienation may have played a key role in fostering such anti-social violence, and that the heinous act may have been inspired by Elliot Rodger, who in 2014 rebelled against his involuntary celibacy  incel. Since this attack, in turn, may inspire others to follow suit, it is important to learn from this event.

Perhaps this helps explain why the U.K. created a Ministry of Loneliness  in recognition of the fact that alienation is a sickness we ignore at our peril. Its role in suicide rates was first studied by Emil Durkheim more than a century ago, but it seems we have learned little since.

The moral of this tale is not simply for us to be kinder to one another, as Premier Kathleen Wynne suggests, but for Ontario to double down on the vision of a fully inclusive society. Since no-one can be secure until everyone belongs, the best antidote to alienation is inclusion.

Salvatore Amenta, Stouffville

My respect for the police has waned in the past few years with the open aggressive behaviour and criminal activity of many officers, not only in Toronto but in the rest of Canada and the U.S.

Const. Ken Lam, the police officer who single-handedly arrested the man accused in Mondays tragedy in north Toronto, is truly a hero for his actions. No one would have blamed the officer for shooting the suspect, considering he was pointing an object at him, but he remained calm under a very stressful situation.

It is unfortunate Const. Lam wasnt called to the street car incident in July 2013. I have no doubt the outcome would have had a peaceful result.

There are plenty of videos of Const. Lams actions and they should be used to help train all officers how to defuse a dangerous situation and bring respect back to this public service.

Ken Robertson, Barrie, Ont.

You are doing a great job reporting on the terribly sad and horrific events of Monday. As journalists, it is your duty to report all angles of the story and I appreciate this one has many complicated dimensions.

However, why do we have to continue to see the accused mans face and story? He doesnt deserve it. Why is his face and story as prominent as those who fell victim and those who rose to immense strength to stop him and help the ones he killed and hurt?

I understand that we need to learn and heal and perhaps avoid something like this in the future. But please dont let his face be the thing we remember. Please dont let my children remember his name and face over the victims.

Tori Laurence, Toronto

You are doing a fine job under these terrible circumstances. I am sorry that all of you have to face this hateful, heartbreaking job. Thank you for your factual reporting.

I am Toronto born, Scarborough raised, but have lived in Alberta since 1986. The Star and CBC have been my constant connections to family and friends in Ontario. I really appreciate everything you do.

Terry McMahon, Alberta

This most tragic and deadly rampage will forever remain a horrific nightmare for all those who lost loved ones, those seriously injured and everyone who witnessed the carnage and assisted the victims.

I cant remember a time when so many first responders (police, EMS, fire, transit police and security) responded in such numbers and so very quickly to the scene to tend to the injured, transport them to emergency centres and generally get the situation under control. This terrible event clearly demonstrated how very lucky we are to have an army of first responders in this city who are second to none in North America.

Marty Fruchtman, Toronto

Toronto city council should call for submissions from sculptors to submit designs to create a lasting memorial to the dead and injured following Mondays shocking incident on Yonge Street. The memorial should be unveiled on April 23, 2019 so we never forget this tragedy.

Grahame Woods, Cobourg, Ont.

There was an unsung hero at the Maple Leafs game Monday night. Following the horror Toronto experienced that day, I was moved by the singing of our national anthem. The lovely lady with her fabulous voice started to sing, realized the entire audience was singing along and pointed her microphone to the audience. She let the audience sing. It brought the audience and our city together. Such a small gesture spoke volumes.

Kathy Citrullo, Toronto

I want to compliment the Toronto Stars coverage of this horrific tragedy. Your reporting has been thorough and sensitive to all involved.

Also, I wish to acknowledge and commend the brave Toronto police officer who risked his life arresting the accused murderer. He is truly a hero.

Jennifer Taylor, Toronto

The heinous slaughter of innocent people on Yonge St. was tragic beyond words. Oddly, while I was watching TV coverage of various groups from different religions praying for the victims and their families, it struck me how beautiful Canada is. Where else would you see a multi-cultural multi-religious country freely praying together for unknown victims?

Lillian Shery, Toronto

If Mondays horrific attack had occurred in any American city, the van driver would be dead. That, no doubt, is what the Toronto driver was counting on. The police officer showed remarkable restraint as the man taunted him with hand motions that made it look like he had a gun. That restraint may deter other attackers.

Joe Spence, Ottawa

I wish to commend the extraordinary bravery and discipline of Const. Ken Lam. In the face of brazen provocation, he made a cool assessment of a very dangerous situation, contained the threat to the public and subdued the perpetrator of a horrific crime.

Such a resolution is almost impossible to imagine here in the U.S., where the concept of de-escalation appears all but unheard of among American police forces. Const. Lams tremendous courage and remarkable regard for human life should receive the highest commendation.

Let me add my sincere condolences to those victims and family members affected by Mondays tragedy. As former residents of Toronto, our family is especially saddened by this appalling event in a city we had grown to love.

Francis Guinan, Elmhurst, Ill.

As the city and the world mourn another horrendous murder of innocent civilians, there is a renewed respect for our police force. Const. Ken Lam, the officer accredited with the skilful and non-violent arrest of the accused murderer, is rightly being praised for his heroic performance in the line of duty. He represents the superb training of our police force. It is time to celebrate our police force, starting with the community insisting on the right of uniformed police officers to march in this years Pride parade.

Lawrence B. Cohen, TorontoReport says more discussion needed on EQAO change, April 24

In my experiences as a parent, teacher, teacher of teachers, university administrator, school trustee and executive director of an Ontario school board association, if there is anything I have learned it is that the socio-economic background of a schools student population is the major determination of whether or not the school will achieve well in the EQAO tests.

This information is readily available in census data. The Ontario government does not need to spend large amounts of money researching the obvious and creating huge amounts of anxiety among our school children, especially those with educational disabilities. What needs to be done is for the Ontario government to invest additional funds in schools in lower socio-economic areas and for high-needs students.

Where could the Ontario government get this additional money? It could cut out financing the useless EQAO testing and merge the public and Catholic school boards to free up huge amounts of money to actually improve education in Ontario.

William Phillips, Toronto

All careers face performance testing, Letters, April 25

Abolishing standardized tests like the EQAO would not allow individual employees  to decide if they are doing a good job. Teachers are not employed by the government, they are employed by school boards. As school board employees, they are evaluated regularly by their supervisors to ensure that their competencies are up to date.

The fact is that teachers performance is scrutinized like no other, as their conduct and performance can, and often is, investigated by administration due to a report from a parent, other education workers or even a student.

Standardized test results are recognized by most school administrators as not being a useful indicator of professional competency and therefore are not, to my knowledge, a component of any teacher evaluation process.

Teachers do not object to EQAO out of fear of having their competencies judged. As front-line workers in the education system, they see them for what they are: A vast misallocation of scarce education dollars, and a massive waste of time and energy that could be better used to educate our youth.

Max Williams, Brampton

In the controversy around the education ministers musings about EQAO testing, some pieces of context are in order.

First, we are heavily influenced by the American experience. Second, I would prefer we refer to the areas tested as literacy and numeracy, since they are both broader and more easily connected to real-world learning.

Finally, if the tests were done at the beginning of a school year, the data could return to the schools in time for teachers and students to work on weak areas to improve learning, not just audit it.

John J.C. Myers, curriculum and assessment instructor, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, TorontoVANCOUVERVancouver city council is set to vote on a motion next week that could return part of a historical burial site to the Musqueam First Nation.

The parcel of land represents a small portion of csnam, a large village site located on the banks of the Fraser River, at the southern end of Granville Street. It is now known as the Marpole Midden. Private landowners control much of that area, but the Musqueam have started to consolidate some of it in the past decade.

The City of Vancouver owns one lot (8902 Milton St.) in the vicinity and Mayor Gregor Robertson plans to move a motion next week that, if approved, would start the process of selling the lot back to the Musqueam First Nation for $1.

The Musqueam have always fought to protect that land, said band member Wade Grant.

For me, its about being able to pass on my tradition and culture, so that its a place where I can bring my children to and say, this is where your great-great-great-great grandparents lived, he told StarMetro recently as he picked his daughter up from school.

When a developer started excavating 500-metres away from the city-owned plot in 2012, they found human bones. The Musqueam community rallied and successfully negotiated to buy the land from the developer.

The territory is not considered reserve land  meaning the Musqueam can technically develop it  but the band will never excavate there as long as it remains in their hands, said Grant, who is seeking an NPA nomination for Vancouver city council.

The Musqueam reserve near Point Grey is 340 acres, which is very small considering the bands relatively large population, said legal historian Douglas Harris. Much of his research as a law professor at the University of British Columbia focuses on the relationship between Indigenous peoples and varying levels of government.

In the 19th century when the reserves were being allotted, the Musqueam ended up with this tiny reserve, he said.

The city bought 8902 Milton St. in 1938 for what would amount to $8,600 in todays dollars but it wouldnt be appropriate to recoup that money, Robertson said in an interview.

Theres been a strong standing request (from the Musqueam First Nation) and given all of the work and partnership we have done together, I feel this is an important step in reconciliation, he said. Im hopeful to have unanimous council support for that.

Wanyee Li is a Vancouver-based reporter covering urban affairs. Follow her on Twitter: @wanyeelii

Read more about:When I moved here, I promised myself to try to go to St. Louis with some regularity, as I had lived in a rural area for years. Recently, we visited the Free Fridays at the St. Louis Art Museum to visit the new Egyptian exhibit.

The backstory alone captures attention. Only recently have archaeologists explored the sea floor near the Nile Delta. There they have found artifacts of a sunken port city, Thonis, later Heracleion when the Greeks arrived with Alexander.

Most of the exhibit is from underwater retrieval of items large and small. My genius son-in-law, Aren, reads all ancient Near East languages and has interest in the interplay between Egypt and ancient Israel, so that was another reason to go.

I would suggest doing a little research on Egypt before you go, on the gods Osiris, and Isis. Look up the rite of the ascension of kings to the throne, and maybe a bit on Egyptian worship practices.

You will encounter yet again, the stark beauty of Egyptian aesthetic sense. The sheer care that was taken in religion and its effects may give a hint to why idolatry was so seductive for the ancient Israelites and their relatively austere faith.

Here is a fine ritual for gratitude as a spiritual exercise: look at your hand and specifically think of five things for which you are grateful every day. Like many ancient faiths, the Egyptians sought balance and realized that gratitude helped balance our easy resentments and general heaviness toward the gift of life itself.

Ancient Israel shared a border with Egypt and lived under its shadow. Most of us with a bare familiarity with the Bible know that the Joseph story is centered in Egypt. Mosess story starts there, and even his name is Egyptian. A little more technical, one can find an oracle on Egypt in Is. 19 and Jeremiah is to spend his last days there.

Somewhat more surprising, some Scripture bears striking resemblance to Egyptian material, notably Prov. 22:-24. Ps. 104, one of the great creation psalms, has clear echoes to an Egyptian hymn. I admire the religious confidence of the Scriptures that they are willing to draw on, or reflect, the religious writings of others, if they serve their particular purpose.

One of the themes for religion is the transition between life and death. Hebrew and Egyptian share the same word for death. Religion is often a vehicle for seeking healing. While Hebrew belief about an underworld is scant, the Egyptians filled it with ritual and reconstruction, as one can see easily from the pyramids and mummies.

Monarchical societies have rites for royal ascension. Both Egypt and Israel saw the king as a regent for the divine on earth. Both emphasized justice and right relations as part of royal administration. Both required religious ceremony for the king to possess the stamp of legitimacy to the throne.

I found a noteworthy moment when looking at a relatively plain box from a temple. The box was thought to be a point of presence for divinity in the temple. I recalled that a box is an ark in the bible, Noahs, the basket/ark that saved Moses, and of course the detailed ark of the covenant from Exodus. I dont wish to go into too much speculation, but look at the care that was taken in the temples of Egypt in making offerings. It may give insight to the care that was taken in the temple of Jerusalem for the sacrifices there.

The exhibit is a mirror into the past and religious thought. Please consider taking some time to view it with some care.

David Crowley is pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Alton.Agnetha, Bjorn, Benny and Anni-Frid are all set to make a comeback after a 35-year hiatus.

ABBA, the Swedish pop group, took to Instagram and wrote, "The decision to go ahead with the exciting ABBA avatar tour project had an unexpected consequence. We all four felt that, after some 35 years, it could be fun to join forces again and go into the recording studio. So we did. And it was like time had stood still and that we only had been away on a short holiday. An extremely joyful experience! It resulted in two new songs and one of them "I still have faith in you" will be performed by our digital selves in a TV special produced by NBC and the BBC aimed for broadcasting in December. We may have come of age, but the song is new. And it feels good."

The group, which sold more than 400 million albums, have not sung together publicly since 1986. The band has given major hits like Dancing Queen, Mamma Mia, The Winner Takes It All and many others.

The group, which split in 1982, reportedly turned down a $1 billion offer to reunite in 2000.Actor Shakti Kapoor says his daughter and actress Shraddha Kapoor will marry a man of her own choice.

Shakti spoke to the media at a teaser and poster launch of his upcoming film The Journey of Karma here on Thursday.

Asked about Shraddha's wedding plans, Shakti said: "Every father wants that his daughter to get married in a good and respected family. I wish that she grows in her personal and professional life, but I think as a parent, you have to give some kind of liberty to your children because now that period is gone when parents used to marry their children (to a person) of their choice.

"Now, we have to ask them about their choices in terms of everything, including their life partners. She is right now very busy in her career, but whenever she will tell us about her marriage plans, she will marry a man of her own choice and we don't have any objection with that."

As a father, Shakti is happy that Shraddha, who will next be seen in Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal's biopic, is working hard to take on challenging roles.

"In today's time, every actor is taking challenges in his career. If you see actors right from Ranbir Kapoor and Farhan Akhtar, all are doing really good in biopics in which they have worked. Every actor is working hard in the film industry.

"Now Shraddha will play the character of Saina Nehwal. She has trained with Saina in Hyderabad and now, she is continuing her training. Apart from that, she will also head to Abu Dhabi to shoot for Saaho along with Prabhas. She is also working with Rajkummar Rao in Stree and Batti Gul Meter Chalu... So, I am really happy that she is working in every genre of films at this point in her career."

On his own journey in the film industry, Shakti said: "My journey in film industry has been really good and children are also doing really well in their life. I think God has been really kind and it is also blessing of the audience."

Shakti, who is also close to the Dutt family, is happy to see the teaser of Rajkumar Hirani's Sanju, starring Ranbir.

He said: "I think the teaser of Sanju is extraordinary. I think it's one of the finest teasers that I have seen. Ranbir Kapoor is looking and acting crazily close to Sanjay Dutt in the teaser. My real name is Sunil Kapoor but Mr. Sunil Dutt named me Shakti Kapoor. So, I am close to Dutt family."The Swedish Academy, plunged into crisis over allegations of rape and sexual assault by the husband of one its members, may postpone the 2018 Nobel Literature Prize, Swedish Radio reported today.

"We're thinking about it. We'll let you know soon," said Anders Olsson, the Academy's interim permanent secretary.

According to Swedish Radio, several members of the Academy have suggested reserving this year's prize, and awarding it alongside the 2019 prize next year.

"Given the situation the Academy currently finds itself in, and given the best interests of the prize, it might be best to postpone it for a year," said Peter Englund.

Englund is one of five Academy members who have stepped down in recent weeks over the scandal, including permanent secretary Sara Danius.

But another member, Goran Malmqvist, rejected the notion, telling news agency TT it would go ahead as planned this year.

Technically, the Academy's 18 members are appointed for life and cannot resign, but they can choose not to participate in its meetings and decisions. Currently, a total of seven are no longer active members which poses a real headache: according to its statutes, 12 members are needed in order to vote in a new member.

Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf, who is the patron of the Academy founded in 1786, has agreed to change the statutes to allow members to resign and be replaced, thereby ensuring the institution's survival.

The scandal centres on allegations by 18 women in November -- in the wake of the #MeToo campaign -- that they had been subject to sexual harassment and assault by Jean-Claude Arnault, the French husband of Academy member and poet Katarina Frostenson.

Arnault denies the allegations.

After the women spoke out in the media, the Academy cut all ties with Arnault's cultural club Forum in Stockholm, which it had subsidised for years and which was a key meeting point for the country's cultural elite.

But the affair divided the Academy, with disagreement on how to draw a line under the row, and on what measures to take after a report it commissioned revealed conflicts of interest and the fact that Academy members leaked Nobel winners' names.Elevating Justice K.M. Joseph, chief justice of the Uttarakhand High Court, to the Supreme Court is a legal inevitability in the present circumstances. This is also an inevitability considering the rule of law. Though the Collegium had asked the central government to appoint Indu Malhotra, advocate in the Supreme Court, and Justice Joseph as judges in the top court, the government approved only Malhotras name. This is highly condemnable.

Senior advocate Indira Jaisingh has already presented the concern of the advocates of the Supreme Court in this regard before the division bench headed by the Chief Justice of India Deepak Mishra. Justice Chandrachud, based on his experiences in the Allahabad High Court, has pointed out that there have been instances of the central government approving only some names out of the names suggested by the Collegium. CJI Mishra opined that the issue is a serious one and that the Supreme Court is constitutionally bound to examine the issue only after it comes before the Collegium for re-examination. What the chief justice said is both legally and technically correct.

However, beyond technicality, the stand taken by the central government needs to be questioned legally and politically. The governments averment that there are High Court judges who are senior to Justice Joseph is indeed absurd. Chief justices to the high courts are usually appointed from among high court judges based on seniority, but the criteria for elevating chief justices of the high courts to the Supreme Court are different. A nine-judge bench of the Supreme Court had clearly ruled, following a presidential reference, that the chief criterion for being appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court is merit and not seniority. (In re-presidential reference case  1998  7, Supreme Court cases 739). This being the law of the country, it is amply clear that there is no obstacle to appointing Justice Joseph as a judge of the Supreme Court. Justice Josephs merit becomes doubtful only when his earlier act of quashing the Centres imposition of presidents rule in Uttarakhand (based on the S.R. Bommai case, 1994) is seen through the eyes of the politics of power.

The central governments arguments in favour of seniority do not have the backing of precedence. It must be noted that there are 45 high court judges in the country who are senior to Justice Deepak Gupta, who was appointed to the Supreme Court recently. Similarly, there are 39 judges in various high courts who are senior to Justice Mohan Shantana Gowder and Justice Abdul Naseer of the Supreme Court. These judges include chief justices and acting chief justices of various high courts. Also, there are 14 high court judges who are senior to Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul of the Supreme Court. There have been a number of instances in which merit was considered over seniority. And, this has been a natural continuation of the ruling given by the nine-judge bench of the Supreme Court, which was mentioned earlier.

The discrimination against Justice Joseph could be seen only as the latest in a serious of interventions, of various kinds, made by the central government in the freedom of the judicial system. There are those who believe that Justice Jayant Patel of the Karnataka High Court has had to resign only because the judgments he wrote were factual, legal and truthful. The questions over Justice Loyas mysterious death remain unanswered even after the Supreme Courts verdict. The country is going through a strange and indirect kind of Emergency. The central government is taking away, one by one, the citizens financial and social security as also their political and democratic rights.

The present system of appointing judges is not error-free, but when even the existing laws are being disregarded, the rule of law disappears even from courts of law. If this is so, where else can law and the Constitution exist?

The writer is a lawyer in the Supreme Court and High Court. This article was originally published in the Malayala Manorama on April 27, 2018.A private travel company bus with 42 passengers on board was hijacked by four men posing as Central Crime Branch police officers, allegedly to recover the money lent to the vehicle owner, police said today.

The men who were later detained RPT detained, claimed they were from the recovery team of a finance company which had lent money to the company to purchase the bus.

Since the owner of the bus was irregular in paying his "equated monthly instalments of his loan, they were left with" no other choice than taking control of the vehicle, police said.

The bus was on the way to Kannur in Kerala last night when the motorcycle-borne youth stopped it on the Mysuru Road under the limits of Rajarajeshwari Nagar police station in Bengaluru.

The four men said they were from the CCB Bengaluru and "then directed the bus driver to take it to a warehouse in" Pattanagere, leaving the passengers in jitters.

One passenger contacted the police control room.

Soon more than 30 armed police personnel rushed to the spot and surrounded the godown.

While one was nabbed instantaneously, three others on the run were caught after a massive hunt, police said. "Our investigations are on. At this stage of investigation, there are four people involved in the crime," police added.The existence of the holy river Ganga in the ancient city of Varanasi is again at stake, experts confirmed on Friday.

With the water level dropping to a drastically low level, the river is drying up at a rapid pace.

Experts have expressed concern and claim several contributory factors have led to the decline of the river.

In view of this plight of the Ganga, the district magistrate of Varanasi has written a letter to the Uttar Pradesh chief secretary to release water from the Naraura Dam or the Kanpur Barrage.

Yogeshwar Ram Mishra, DM Varanasi, said, "The water level of Ganga in Varanasi has gone down. We have requested to let off the water from Kanpur Dehat. The authorities have taken cognisance of this and they are doing what is needed."

"The plight of the Ganga has left people disappointed even after Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised to cure the river," said Hira Nand Pandey, purohit of the Dashashwamedh Ghat in Varanasi.

"Due to the shortage of water, Ganga's pollution has come to the surface. This season, it has remained less than 400 meters," he added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who represents the Varanasi constituency in the Lok Sabha, had announced in June 2014 that Rs 20,000 crore would be allocated for cleaning up and revitalising the Ganga over five years. However, the Ganga clean-up project has been criticised for poor implementation.Prime Minister Narendra Modi had taken a keen interest in highlighting the cultural significance of Buddhism, as a part of diplomatic engagement with India's neighbours. On Monday, Modi will be part of a special function to celebrate Buddha Jayanti. He will pay his respects to relics of Buddha preserved in the National Museum.

This years celebrations assume greater significance as the government is keen to reach out to dalits after a series of violent protests across the country. Many of the dalits, following in the footsteps of Ambedkar, had followed the tradition of converting to Buddhism in protest against the caste system.

The prime minister, along with other dignitaries, will pay their respects to the sacred relics specially brought for the occasion from the National Museum, New Delhi, to the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium. Modi will also perform the offering of Sangha Dana (Cheevar Vastram and Sacred Leaf of Bodhi Tree) to the venerated Sangha. The event would also house an exhibition gallery with murals, photographs and artefacts.

In a bid to engage with the dalits, who are electorally significant in several states, Modi is expected to highlight the role played by Buddhism in the cultural integration of the country. The prime minister, during the month, had inaugurated a special museum for Ambedkar. The moves have been seen largely as part of a strategy to placate the anger brewing in the dalit community for several reasons, including incidents of atrocities in the BJP ruled states.

Buddha Purnima is the third such event this year; Modi had announced that the day would be commemorated and celebrated as an annual event. Accordingly, a separate organising committee was set up under the chairpersonship of the Minister of State for Culture Mahesh Sharma, with the Minister of State for Home, Kiren Rijiju, as co-chairperson. Dr Dhammapiya, secretary general of International Buddhist Confederation (IBC), a global umbrella Buddhist body headquartered in New Delhi, is the convener of the organising committee in India. The committee also includes dalit leaders like Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale

, Udit Raj MP and Sunil Gaikwad MP.With roughly one year to go before the next Lok Sabha elections, Congress president Rahul Gandhi will on Sunday sound the poll bugle by addressing a 'Jan Aakrosh' rally in the national capital, the aim of the event being to set the tone for the party's campaign against the Narendra Modi government.

True to the title of the rally, the Congress wants to emphasise upon the failures of the NDA government and give voice to the public anger against the ruling dispensation.

Gandhi is expected to attack Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP for allegedly practising divisive politics and raise the issue of the alleged targeting of the members of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes and the minorities.

Among the issues to be highlighted in the rally are unemployment, farmers' crisis, the impact of demonetisation and Goods and Services Tax on businesses and bank scams as well as the alleged weakening of Constitutional institutions such as the judiciary, Parliament and the Election Commission.

After four years of the Modi government, no section of society feels that Achche Din has arrived for them. Rather, every section is unhappy and also feels scared, said Ashok Gehlot, AICC general secretary in-charge of the organisation, elaborating on the reasons for the party deciding to hold the rally.

The event at the iconic Ramlila Grounds will be Rahul's first national rally since he took over as Congress president. Its aim is to pitch the Congress leader as Modi's main challenger, with one year left for the Lok Sabha polls that are scheduled to be held in 2019.

The big ticket event, which will be attended by all state unit presidents, chief ministers, leaders of Congress Legislature Party from the states, former chief ministers and Members of Parliament, is expected to be attended by around two lakh party workers.

A historical clarion call will be given by Rahul Gandhi, which will lead to the uprooting of the BJP in Karnataka and in ensuring victory in Assembly elections in other states, finally culminating in the uprooting of the misrule of Modiji in 2019, said Randeep Surjewala, head of the AICC Media Department.

Rahul is expected to attack PM Modi and the BJP for allegedly practising divisive politics, raising the issue of alleged targeting of the members of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and the minorities.

Among the other issues to be highlighted in the rally are unemployment, farmers' crisis, the impact of demonetisation and Goods and Services Tax on businesses, bank scams and also the alleged weakening of Constitutional institutions such as the judiciary, Parliament and the Election Commission.

The principal opposition party has been trying to bring into circulation a counter-narrative that overturns the dominant narrative provided by the Modi government and the BJP. Its efforts are aimed at highlighting the alleged failure of Modi to live up to the promises that he had made in the run-up to the previous Lok Sabha elections. The Congress' assessment is that there is widespread anger and frustration in the public with regard to the Modi government, and the party is attempting to reach out to the voters on the issues that it feels are giving rise to this feeling.In what could be called a setback for actor and BJP functionary S. Ve. Shekher, the Madras High Court on Saturday refused to pass interim orders preventing Greater Chennai police from arresting him for sharing a derogatory Facebook post against women journalists. The High Court has permitted him to move any of the vacation court and seek anticipatory bail if required.

Shekher had approached the court seeking advance bail in a case booked against him by the Cyber Crime Cell of the Central Crime Branch, Chennai. He had shared a derogatory post saying women journalists, sleep around to get top posts, on his Facebook page on April 19. Calling his post as, Madurai University, Governor and virgin womans cheeks, Shekhar wrote a three-page derogatory post against women in media. Following the post, the journalists union and THE WEEKs correspondent had lodged separate complaints against Shekher with Central Crime Branch, Chennai on April 20. The CCB registered an FIR against Shekher under women harassment act.

On April 23, Shekher approached the court, seeking advance bail. In an affidavit filed he claimed to have shared the Facebook post inadvertently without reading it. It has put me to mental anguish and I am totally upset. I dont endorse the views expressed in the said message since I am also from a family that respects women and women journalists, he said.Given the weakened position of the CPI(M) at the national level, the uneasy truce between its two factions led, respectively, by the present and former general secretary, will be of interest mainly to the party faithful.

Even then, what the other political parties will be looking at is the kind of 'understanding', as mandated by the party congress, which the CPI(M) will be able to reach with the Congress and whether the opponents of this lineformer general secretary Prakash Karat and his factional comradeswill accept the formulation or wreck it.

The tussle between Karat and the present general secretary, Sitaram Yechury, will be at its most intense in the three states where the CPI(M) still has some influenceKerala, West Bengal and Tripura.

Of these states, it is in Kerala that the Yechury-Karat confrontation will be most fierce since the state is the home ground of Karat and the CPI(M)'s only chief minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, both of whom are against any deal with the Congress.

Since communist "discipline" stipulates that once a political line has been accepted, everyone, including its critics, has to abide by it, the Kerala scene will be enlivened by the CPI(M)'s pursuit at the ground level of an "understanding" with the party's main rival, the Congress.

True, the arrangement will be only for the Lok Sabha elections when the two parties are expected to work together against the BJP, which is known to be rather weak in the state.

Had there been a stronger opponent, there might have been a possibility, however faint, of the red flag and the tricolour fluttering together. In the present context, the distance between the CPI(M) and the Congress is unlikely to be bridged, whatever the party line. All that can be expected is that their mutual recriminations will be put on hold.

Unlike Kerala, where the CPI(M) and the Congress are evenly matched as can be seen from the way the two parties come out on top in alternate Assembly elections, both are quite weak in West Bengal at present.

It is perhaps for this reason that the animus between them is not as strong as in Kerala, which is why they were able to fight the last Assembly election jointly against the Trinamool Congress, although to no avail.

The two parties will also know that they are losing ground to the BJP in West Bengal, which has pushed the CPI(M) down to the third position in recent elections and the Congress to the fourth. The Trinamool Congress, of course, remains at the top. For the two 'losers', however, the setbacks may facilitate their coming together in a rescue act.

From this standpoint, there is unlikely to be any difficulty in the CPI(M) and the Congress reaching an understanding, except for the fact that it is not known what the ties will be between the Congress and the Trinamool Congress.

If the projected joint platform against the BJP advocated by Mamata Banerjee takes shape, then a threesome comprising the Trinamool Congress, the CPI(M) and the Congress cannot be ruled out, although such a combination will be a rerun of the hodge-podge anti-Congress Janata conglomerate of 1977 and may prove to be equally fragile.

In Tripura, the scene will be rather weird because the Congress has been politically assimilated by the BJP as the reversal of the vote shares of the two parties show. While the polling percentage of the Congress dropped precipitously from 36.5 per cent in 2013 to 1.8 this year, the BJP's vote share rose from 1.5 per cent to 43, showing a wholesale migration of the Congress's base of support to the BJP.

The CPI(M), on the other hand, managed to hold on to its base by securing 42.6 per cent of the votes compared with 48 per cent in 2013. But, given the virtual disappearance of the Congress, the Marxists are unlikely to be interested in an understanding with a non-existent party. In Tripura, therefore, the CPI(M) will be taking on the BJP on its own.

Of the other states, the CPI(M)'s impressive performance in organising the week-long, 180km "long march" of the farmers from Nashik to Mumbai last month has shown that the communists have retained some of their influence in Maharashtra although it is nowhere near what it was in the 1950s and 60s.

If there is a Congress-Nationalist Congress Party tie-up in the state, the CPI(M) will not have any difficulty in joining the two. It is in cementing an alliance (the word is anathema to Karat) of this nature in Maharashtra and elsewhere that the amiable Yechury can play a crucial role even if the Marxists will have no option but to play second fiddle.

Even then, there is little doubt that as the electoral race gathers momentum, Yechury can be expected to be engaged in stitching the loose ends of the anti-BJP combination together, thereby gaining stature which his party's position does not warrant. If he succeeds, it will put the final seal on his "victory" over Karat.

-IANS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Philadelphia

It is difficult to overstate the pride, admiration and sense of ownership many black Americans felt watching Bill Cosby at the height of his career in the 1980s and '90s.

As Dr. Cliff Huxtable, Cosby starred in a top-rated network sitcom about a loving, successful black couple and their wholesome children. "The Cosby Show" shifted the paradigm for millions of viewers for what a black family could look like. And it made Cosby an idol to many African-Americans in an era long before the country would see a black family living in the White House.

All of which explains why the comedian's downfall Thursday was met with pain, disappointment and conflicted feelings in the black community. For many black people, news of Cosby's sexual-assault conviction was hard to hear, even for fans who believed his accusers.

"We have been split from Day One about his innocence because of our need to have a hero that looks like us," said Tarana Burke, the black woman who created the (hash)MeToo hashtag in 2006 and recalled growing up listening to albums of Cosby's comedy routines and later watching him as "America's Dad."

She warned against confusing Cosby with the roles he played.

"Cliff Huxtable was a good person, but that character doesn't reflect the character of (Cosby's) life," Burke said. "Fat Albert is not a serial rapist. Bill Cosby is."

Cosby carefully crafted his persona over half a century in public life and on the big and small screen. In the 1960s, he became the first black actor to star in a network show, "I Spy." He later created the children's cartoon program "Fat Albert," based on childhood friends, and then "The Cosby Show."

He would go on to win the 2002 Presidential Medal of Freedom and made it his role to admonish blacks to take personal responsibility, his stinging commentary hitting home because of the man, husband and father many believed Cosby to be.

When word of some of the allegations against Cosby broke in 2014, in part because of a stand-up routine by black comedian Hannibal Buress, many African-Americans who had long admired the TV star were hurt. All told, more than 60 women would accuse Cosby of sexual assault.

Some black people who grew up watching shows like "The Cosby Show" and the Cosby-created spinoff "A Different World" were conflicted about continuing to watch.

Rutgers University women's studies professor Brittney Cooper said it's time for black people to drop their support for the entertainer and his work.

"There's an ongoing conversation about can we love the art and dismiss or disavow the artist," said Cooper, author of the recent book "Eloquent Rage," which explores the Cosby allegations. But "we have to stop deciding that art is a reasonable spoil of war, that we will ignore all the casualties. We can't separate Cosby from his art."

For some, this is easier said than done.Miguel Fabian

Background: Born and raised in the Dominican Republic, he immigrated to the U.S. more than 20 years ago, living in New York City and later Albany and now Clifton Park. He and his wife have three children and a large extended family in the Capital Region. He's a chaplain at a state correctional facility and a deacon at the Shrine Church of Our Lady of the Americas at 273 Central Ave. in Albany, where he gives the homily in Spanish at Mass on Sunday.

Was your religion a big part of your early life in the Dominican Republic?

Most of the people there were Catholic and my family was involved in church. But it was the example set by my godfather and a church retreat I went on as a 21-year-old that pushed me to take the next step. My godfather had to walk seven miles to church, and he didn't question that. I never had to do that. I now only have to go out, put my kid in my car and go.

What does a deacon do?

One of the major responsibilities is to try to conduct your life the best you can because you become like a role model for others. That's big. According to the tradition of the church, the deacon serves the needs of the community. You are usually assigned to a parish and you don't necessarily get a salary.

Offering a service in Spanish is important to you.

It's especially important for the elderly people. Most of those people would not be able to speak and understand the language properly and follow their faith through the language. It's also to keep the culture alive for the new generation. If you don't know the background of your people, it's difficult to identify who you are. We've been losing so much in this country: the identity of who you are, where you come from and where you're going.

Have you seen attendance increase in recent years?

The noon Mass has grown from 20-30 people to more than 150 on average. People from the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Peru, El Salvador and many other countries attend the service.

The Latino community in Albany is growing, and people are searching for a Spanish-speaking church. When they find one, they feel welcome and they're able to integrate into the community.

The congregation is home to many different cultures. How do you incorporate all of them in worship?

Sign up for The Knick  Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter.

We've identified celebrations in different places, and what we try to incorporate most is all different traditions. For example, in Mexico, Our Lady of Guadalupe is one of the biggest celebrations. Puerto Rico has the celebration of Divine Providence. In the Dominican Republic, we celebrate Our Lady of High Grace. When they see we are celebrating what they've been celebrating for life, they feel more welcome. They feel like, 'I'm part of this, I'm here,' and that makes a big difference. We speak the same language, but there are many different cultures.

Does recognizing these traditions help young people to stay involved in church and connected to the past?

Yes. Nine years ago we moved from Albany to Clifton Park and my daughter told me something that made me think about it. She told me, 'I don't mind if we move, but I don't want to go so far away we have to change church.' That showed me what's important to her.

I'm Presbyterian, and when I told you that you said, "We're all behind the cross."

We believe in Jesus. That's the way I look at it: Any Christian denomination, we're all behind the cross.

 Madison IszlerIn early April, with hundreds of New York City's elite gathered at a power breakfast at Cipriani Wall Street, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo extolled the merits of the state's new sexual harassment policies, calling them a model that would be "binding on every government in the state of New York."

But while Cuomo and other lawmakers have lavished praise upon the new reforms, little has been said about a less glamorous question: Who, exactly, will enforce them?

There is no single investigative body or agency charged with hearing complaints of sexual harassment or abuse by state officials. Nor is there a uniform statewide definition of sexual harassment.

What exists is a tangle of commissions, offices and agencies, many with overlapping jurisdictions but different procedures and enforcement powers  and no clear framework for reconciling them.

In three recent harassment complaints against top state officials, no fewer than six groups conducted investigations, an examination by The New York Times shows. All the cases were reviewed at least three times, sometimes with conflicting results.

In one case, an allegation went from the state's Justice Center for the Protection of People with Special Needs to the Governor's Office of Employee Relations and then to the state inspector general.

In another, an allegation was handled by the inspector general's office, then by the Division of Criminal Justice Services, and then by the Joint Commission on Public Ethics. In the third, it went from the Office of General Services to the governor's employee relations office to the inspector general, and finally to the public ethics commission.

The cases show that bringing a complaint in New York state government can be a clunky, unpredictable process. What policies do exist are not always followed. And for all the sleek uniformity that officials have promised in recent weeks, none of the new policies fully address how, in practice, it will be achieved.

Cuomo's aides say the multiple reviews of each of the three complaints demonstrate how seriously they were treated.

"Complainants should have as many options as possible," Alphonso David, the governor's counsel, said in a recent interview. "If I'm a victim of discrimination, I want to have as many options available to me to seek redress."

But ethics experts said the lack of clarity around procedure could undermine accountability and public trust.

"When jurisdiction becomes so bifurcated or attenuated that the ball just keeps bouncing from one agency to the next, that can become a tool for delay," said Paula Franzese, a professor at Seton Hall Law School and former chair of New Jersey's state ethics commission. "That can promote delay and studied inaction and certainly inefficiency."

'He should just watch it'

In 2016, Patricia Gunning had been at the Justice Center for the Protection of People with Special Needs for three years. As the agency's special prosecutor, she was one of its highest-ranking officials, and after months of feeling that the agency's acting director had created a "frat-house culture," including having an inappropriate relationship with a staffer, she confronted him.

The retaliation was immediate, according to Gunning. In June of that year, after the director, Jay Kiyonaga, shouted at her so loudly that several colleagues sent her emails afterward asking if she was all right, she reported him to the Justice Center's general counsel.

The subsequent inquiry found that "everyone confirmed" Gunning's account of Kiyonaga "raising his voice and swearing at you," according to a recording of a conversation, obtained by The Times, between Gunning and the counsel, Robin Forshaw.

But the incident "didn't raise with us the idea" that it needed to be reported further, Forshaw said.

"We've told him he should just watch it, and not do that kind of thing," she said.

The agency had written a memo about the incident, but it would not go in Kiyonaga's file. If Gunning wanted to continue pursuing the complaint, Forshaw said, she could "make a report of discrimination or retaliation with our affirmative action officer, the Division of Human Rights, the EEOC.

"You could also, I guess, potentially make a workplace violence complaint, if that's what your concern is," Forshaw added.

Under a 10-step procedure devised by the governor's office for state agencies, internal complaints are supposed to be investigated by an affirmative action officer. But Gunning said she did not speak to the Justice Center's affirmative action liaison until after Forshaw's call.

Gunning contacted the liaison herself, and the liaison referred the complaint to the Governor's Office on Employee Relations. Investigators there, working with the Office of General Services, determined the complaint was "without merit," according to Christine Buttigieg, a Justice Center spokeswoman. (Gunning said she was never informed of the results of that investigation.)

Gunning then approached the governor's office directly. In an Oct. 26, 2017, letter to David and the governor's secretary, Melissa DeRosa, she asked them to review her complaint, and offering to share the recorded conversation. David replied to say he had referred her inquiry to the inspector general.

That investigation is still open. Gunning said she had heard from the inspector general's office only twice since October.

"Here you have the governor talking about all this stuff, but you don't see many state employees coming forward, right, because why would you?" Gunning said. "Given that I was at the top of my agency  if you witnessed what happened to me, why would you ever come forward?"

Two inquiries, two findings

At the Division of Criminal Justice Services, after complaints surfaced against a senior official there, the referral order was reversed.

In December, the state inspector general, Catherine Leahy Scott, wrote a letter informing the criminal justice agency's deputy commissioner that the official, Brian J. Gestring, had created an environment "rife with incidents of sexual harassment, ageism, racism, and threats of retaliation and physical violence."

But while the inspector general's office was conducting its inquiry, the agency had been conducting its own.

The agency's conclusions contrasted starkly with the inspector general's. The inspector general's office found that Gestring, director of the agency's Office of Forensic Science, had told employees they needed to "hump more" and had threatened to hurt a female employee. It recommended that the agency "take action as you deem appropriate" against Gestring, according to the letter, which was first reported by The Albany Times Union.

Sign up for The Knick  Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter.

The criminal justice division's investigation, in contrast, concluded that the allegations were unsubstantiated, according to an agency spokeswoman, Janine Kava.

One employee who had testified against Gestring, Kimberly Schiavone, was transferred to another office within the agency, and another, Gina Bianchi, was fired and then reinstated to a demoted position. Gestring remained in his position.

After the women announced their intention to sue the state for retaliation and equal protection violations, David said he referred the retaliation claims to the Governor's Office of Employee Relations; the harassment claims, as well as the conflicting findings of the two previous investigations, went to the Joint Commission on Public Ethics. Both of those probes remain unresolved.

John W. Bailey, a lawyer for the women, said the inspector general's findings should have stood.

"It is clear that certain people are not happy with the inspector general's report," he said. "They want someone else to say, 'We've taken a look at this, and we don't agree.'"

David said that in the case of concurrent complaints, one agency might postpone its investigation until another's had finished. But he acknowledged the potential for conflict.

"It may create confusion for an agency to do the same investigation where it's interviewing the same people, reviewing the same documents, soliciting the same information," he said.

And despite its investigative muscle, which includes subpoena power, the inspector general's office has no enforcement authority; it can only recommend action. The public ethics commission can issue fines, but only for specific violations, such as improper financial disclosures. For others, including conduct that might "raise suspicion," it too makes recommendations.

Turning a blind eye

In the third case, Lisa Marie Cater, an employee of the state's Department of Motor Vehicles, dealt with multiple authorities after accusing Sam Hoyt, a regional president of the Empire State Development Corp., New York's main economic development arm, of sexual harassment and abuse. Cater filed a federal lawsuit against Hoyt and Cuomo in November, alleging the governor's office had turned a blind eye to her complaint.

Hoyt, a former assemblyman from Buffalo, had previously been sanctioned after having an affair with an intern.

According to the lawsuit, Cater tried several times to report Hoyt's harassment to the governor's office but was consistently ignored.

Eventually, she was contacted by a lawyer with the Office of General Services, Noreen VanDoren. VanDoren, the lawsuit said, referred Cater to the inspector general's office. From there, she was put in touch with the Joint Commission on Public Ethics.

The lawsuit is still active. The other complaints, too, remain unresolved.

Gunning resigned from the justice center in August. Schiavone and Bianchi remain in their demoted or transferred positions at the Division of Criminal Justice Services. Cater is on unpaid sick leave from the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Kiyonaga is now executive deputy commissioner of the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities, the state's second-largest agency. Hoyt resigned from the state development corporation; after he announced his departure, top state officials, including the lieutenant governor, praised his work record.

Gestring, at the Division of Criminal Justice Services, was fired on March 22  but not because of the inspector general's findings, according to an agency spokeswoman.

He was fired, she said, for a separate set of "inappropriate remarks."COLONIE  Always a crowd draw, the Albany Police Mounted Unit joined other members of the law enforcement community for the Blue Friday program at the Hannaford Plaza Friday.

Blue Friday is the last Friday in April, set aside by the state Legislature since 2005 to honor law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty as well as current officers.SCHENECTADY  A federal probation officer on Friday tied reputed hitman Joevany "Moon" Luna to a cell phone that prosecutors say was used in the contract killing of Charles Dembrosky.

The officer, Carol Sain, took the stand in Schenectady County Court on the second day of testimony in the first-degree murder trial of Luna, 43, and Kyshaan Moore, 27, both of Wilmington, Del.

On Nov. 19, 2016, when the 49-year-old Dembrosky was found shot once in the neck on the steps of his Campbell Avenue home, city police found three recent calls from the cell phone on the victim's phone.

Investigators traced the cell phone number, which had a Philadelphia-area "484" area code, to Luna and Tarchand Lall, the man who allegedly recruited Luna to kill Dembrosky in a scheme to collect $150,000 in life insurance money.

But in order to prove the phone was used by Luna, 43, prosecutors needed to tie it to the defendant, a native of Panama who has no ties to the Capital Region.

That happened Friday, when Sain testified that Luna listed the cell phone as his contact number in August 2016. That month, Luna had been released from prison after serving time for a 2011 federal gun conviction.

Sain did not reveal the identity of her job because doing so would reveal Luna's criminal past.

In 2011, Luna pleaded guilty to possessing a weapon as a convicted felon after police arrested him as a fugitive in Newark, Del., where he possessed a loaded 9mm handgun. Federal prosecutors said Luna shot a man in the stomach and buttocks at a motel in Perryville, Md., on Oct. 14, 2009. He also pleaded guilty to first-degree assault in Maryland and served the prison time concurrently.

Also testifying Friday was Schenectady Lt. Erik Gandrow, who said police spoke to Lall more than once after seeing that he and Luna had been in contact on the cell phone.

"He wasn't really a suspect at the time," Gandrow testified. He said police were trying to figure out who had the "484" area code.

Sign up for The Knick  Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter.

In opening statements Thursday, Assistant District Attorney Peter Willis said Lall, a supposed friend of the victim, paid Luna and Moore $10,000 to kill Dembrosky. Lall, who goes to trial next month, had taken the $150,000 life insurance policy out on Dembrosky.

Prosecutors' evidence includes cell phone tower records that allegedly show the defendants were traveling from Delaware to Schenectady around the time of the slaying, as well as recorded conversations between the men.

Mark Juda, the attorney for Luna, and Michael Mansion, the lawyer for Moore, told jurors the burden is all on prosecutors and have questioned the prosecutors' evidence.

The defendants face life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted of first-degree murder, conspiracy and weapon possession.

The trial, before Judge Matthew Sypniewski, resumes Monday.3 1 of 3 Columbia County Sheriff's Office Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Columbia County Sheriff's Office Show More Show Less 3 of 3





AUSTERLITZ  Two people suffered minor injuries Friday afternoon after their car drove off the road and into a creek, the Columbia County Sheriff's Office said.

Reports of a one-car crash at 4:15 p.m. brought deputies to County Route 7, just south of State Route 203, in Austerlitz.The two million people marching for gun control last month were heartened by a suggestion made by retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens that the Second Amendment's protection of the "right to bear arms" be repealed. President Donald Trump, a strong defender of the Second Amendment, tweeted that a repeal of that amendment would never happen. The president is correct  The Second Amendment will not be repealed, nor should it be.

However, that does not mean that responsible gun laws are constitutionally prohibited.

Otto Van Bismarck once said: "Politics is the art of the possible, the attainable  the art of the next best." For those who are looking for the repeal of the Second Amendment, I would urge them to abandon that hope and look to the "the next best:" the imposition of a national ban on assault weapons.

When I trained in the military, the combat weapon of choice was the Garand M1. It was a semi-automatic rifle capable of carrying an eight-round clip. The M1 had to be aimed from the shoulder, and fired one round at a time. Too slow, too heavy, not tactically suited to modern warfare and unable to kill the enemy in large numbers. Ultimately, the military weapons of choice were derived from prototypes of the Armalite rifle (that's what the AR in AR-15 comes from). It is an excellent weapon which should be used in combat, but it should not be in the hands of civilians.

AR-15s and variants are the weapons which were used in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, the 2012 Aurora shooting, the 2015 San Bernardino attack, the 2016 Orlando night club attack, the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, and the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. It is a weapon which has proven itself as an effective killing machine and, with adaptation as in the Las Vegas shooting, can be capable of firing more than a thousand rounds in six minutes.

There is no question that the Supreme Court in its Heller decision expanded the rights of gun owners against restrictive gun laws. However, the Supreme Court has never held, as the NRA contends, that because the Second Amendment applies to common semi-automatic firearms and magazines, they cannot be banned. In fact, the Supreme Court in the Heller case specifically held that "the right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited ... we think that limitation is fairly supported by the historical tradition of prohibiting the carrying of 'dangerous and unusual weapons.'" It also suggested that "weapons that are most useful in military service  M-16 rifles and the like  may be banned."

After an assault weapon was used in the Sandy Hook school massacre, the state of Connecticut passed an Assault Weapon Ban Law outlawing the sale of over 100 named firearms, including semi-automatic weapons holding more than 10 rounds. The Connecticut law went further to define any part of a firearm designed or intended to convert a firearm into an "assault weapon" as an "assault weapon." Several states, including New York, followed Connecticut's lead. The fight to declare these laws unconstitutional and violative of the Second Amendment failed and in June 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court let those gun laws stand. Other challenges to state laws banning the sale of assault weapons also failed.

The Supreme Court tacitly took note of these laws when it rejected a challenge to a similar law in Illinois that banned "the sale, purchase, or possession of semi-automatic weapons that can hold more than ten rounds in a single ammunition clip or magazine..." Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in dissent "that such weapons are legally owned and used by millions of Americans and should not be banned for the purpose of creating a sense of security." Justice Antonin Scalia agreed with him, but the other justices did not.

Sign up for The Knick  Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter.

In 2016, the San Francisco-based U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld California's law, which imposed a 10-day waiting period before a licensed weapon of any sort could be sold. The waiting period would allow officials time to run background checks to be certain that weapons would not be sold to someone prohibited from gun ownership. Again, the NRA joined in a lawsuit, declaring the California law as violating the Second Amendment. Within a week after the Parkland shooting, on February 20, the Supreme Court declined to take up the California waiting period law. Thomas again dissented, bemoaning the "general failure to afford the 2nd Amendment the respect due an enumerated constitutional right."

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said that if someone wants to commit mass murder, he can always find a way to get an assault weapon. I suppose the same thing can be said of opioids, but we should not stop trying to end the abuse and proliferation of those drugs simply because an addict "can always find a way" to get them.

Of course there are other matters concerning guns and their use which should be considered, but none are as basic as the need to ban the sale of assault weapons. Congress can pass those laws without doing damage to the Second Amendment, and save thousands of innocent lives.

Sol Wachtler, a former chief judge of the New York State Court of Appeals, is a distinguished adjunct professor at Touro law School.For as lovely as Lake George is, its reality can sometimes be bracing. Days of warm summer sun that shimmers on the gentle waves of the lake can quickly turn to damp evenings, where even the gentlest breeze can rapidly cool the water and release frosty mist into the air. Bathing suits and tank tops give way to jeans and sweatshirts, and the nubby, thick beach towels that could dry and warm any swimmer's skin do little to defend against the brisk lakeside air.

"We have a home in the Adirondacks and spend the whole summer in Lake George in our 'pretty boat,' " said Tracy Slocum Arakelian, a North Greenbush woman who was frustrated with the day-to-night situation and was not satisfied with how her desire for aesthetic pleasure was forced to yield to the practicality (and lack of beauty) in the warmest weather-proof blankets. "The air gets chilly and the seats get dewy. There was never as pretty of a blanket as I wanted," Slocum Arakelian said.

Her solution was to found Pretty Rugged Gear, a company based on Slocum Arakelian's ideal boating blanket. The blanket embraces her motto of "luxury in any element," marrying the soft feel of faux fur with the durable waterproof function of RuggedTex, a material she registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The backing comes in four colors (navy, gray, brown and white) and the fur mimics velvety mink or supple fox or sable.

Sized at about four feet-by-six feet, the blankets are priced at $269 each and are available for sale online at www.prettyruggedgear.com.

The blanket was never intended as a means for starting a new company, Slocum Arakelian said. She made her first blanket just for herself, with help from her husband, a third-generation clothing manufacturer. Realizing she wanted a few more to offer friends on the boat, she stitched together additional blankets, but they were all intended for personal use and not for sale. When others began to comment on the blankets  which she took beyond the boat to sporting events and concerts  "I realized I had something," she said.

"I knew how to sell," she said. Before having children, Slocum Arakelian  the mother to two boys, ages 16 and 13  was a pharmaceutical sales representative and she had also worked as a business manager for Positano, the Italian deli in Latham that her family operated. That background helped her to turn her personal project into a business. Pretty Rugged Gear officially launched in November 2017 and quickly sold out of its first round of inventory. Most of the sales came from ladies luncheons and holiday markets, with the option to add monograms to the blankets, a big selling point for her customers.

In February, Slocum Arakelian brought her blanket to the 2018 NY NOW wholesale product and innovation trade show. "It was a launching pad to see what the big guys thought of it," she said. The blanket quickly became a favorite of buyers and retailers present at the show and was honored with the Best New Product award and Best in Market award. Among the panel of judges was Maxwell Ryan, the founder and CEO of Apartment Therapy, a lifestyle and home decor website that is a behemoth in the online design inspiration space.

"Judging NY NOW has gotten tougher each of the last few years and the nominees are all super creative and smart with regard to market fir. The Pretty Rugged Blanket, however, nudged ahead for the victory because it doubles down on the popularity of faux fur blankets (which we've been watching closely) and takes them one step further. The Pretty Rugged Blanket uses the broad appeal of faux fur with a tough, breathable waterproof lining to solve a common outdoor problem, creating a great use extension. It's simple, but super smart and useful and it should be a runaway success," said Ryan in a press release provided by NY NOW.

The unseen element of the blanket might be the most compelling. Slocum Arakelian is a direct descendant of Joshua Slocum, the first man to circumnavigate the globe by sailboat, solo. "It was in his spirit that I created this blanket. He used things like this on his boat, though they were likely pelts," she said. In 1900, Joshua Slocum published an international bestseller with "Sailing Alone Around the World," and nine years later, he lost his life at sea.

More than a century after his voyage, the blanket that was designed with him in mind sells from Malibu to Palm Beach, Slocum Arakelian cited, and the company employs six people. Slocum Arakelian had tried to resurrect Joshua's memory before with her company J. Slocum, a foul-weather technical gear company that she ultimately ended because it was an industry, "I didn't know anything about."

Like Captain Slocum, his great-great granddaughter faces her own struggles with Pretty Rugged Gear's voyage. "It's hard to find the right people. I don't even know what channels to use. Nobody knows this blanket. No one goes and searches, 'waterproof fur blanket,' " she said. Still, she pushes forward. She is planning to expand the line of Pretty Rugged Gear products to include new renditions of the blanket (like baby blankets) and accessories and will be at a San Francisco boating show later this year.

"I've tried so many different things," Slocum Arakelian said. But past hardships in business didn't deter her from trying again. "I'm happy. I could have not done anything," she said, and it seems like something as simple as a well-designed blanket might be the trick to reviving her ancestor's seafaring memory while being stylish as she does it.You have reached a premium content area of TOL. To read this entire article please login if you are already a TOL subscriber.



Not a subscriber?



Annual membership costs only $55 per year for individuals ($33 for students) and organizational subscriptions start at $141 per year.

Subscribe today for access to:

Full access to the website, including premium articles videos, country reports and searchable archives (containing over 25,000 articles).

Although Google doesn't have the most popular digital assistant on the market (yet), its smart speakers  Google Home, Google Home Max and Google Home Mini  are quickly gaining market share and impressing users with a growing number of skills and abilities.

The Google Home and Google Home Mini.

If you're new to Google Assistant, you may not know how these devices collect and store your information, nor how they relate to your existing Google accounts.

Because you have to use your Google credentials to set up and use Google Home and many Google Assistant functions, a significant amount of your personal information falls under the umbrella of just one company. This may be preferable to scattering your data among dozens or hundreds of third-party apps, but centralization does present some challenges.

"If you trust Google to take good care of your data in general, having it in one place versus all over the place is good," said Jeff Wilbur, director of the nonprofit Online Trust Alliance. "The danger, when it's all centralized, is if someone, somehow, gets access to your Google account, they have a rich set of stuff to look at  your voice queries, payment history and search history."

MORE: 5 Ways to Secure Your Alexa Device

As with any smart technology, there are a few general best practices when it comes to securing your network and devices. For example, you should change your default passwords, use a Wi-Fi Protected Access II (WPA2) protocol on your router, regularly update your device's firmware  which may not happen automatically, as it does with your smartphone apps  and set up a separate network and firewall for your smart-home products if your router allows it.

Once you have a strong and secure home network, take the following steps to further protect your Google Assistant-enabled devices.

Experts suggest that the biggest concern with Google Home is not the product itself, but which devices (smart-home gadgets) and accounts (banking) you connect to it, how many Google services you use and how vulnerable Google's servers might be to a attack.

"Data sent from Google Home to Google is encrypted, so from that perspective, Google Home does not really introduce new security risks," said Craig Young, a computer security researcher with Tripwire's Vulnerability Research and Exposures Team. "Instead, the risks come from the possibility that Google's data centers would get compromised, and from the fact that Google Home users are encouraged to link their account with other services."

One option might be to create a new Google account specifically for use with your Google Home device, and to keep that new account separate from the credentials you use for Gmail and other Google products. If you can, avoid linking banking, credit card and other payment accounts to your device.

If you do connect your other smart devices or personal accounts (Netflix, for example) to your Google Home, understand which commands enable or disable those devices' and accounts' functions and whether any additional measures are available to secure individual devices. For example, Google Assistant can lock Schlage's smart deadbolt, but it cannot unlock it by voice command.

Enable Voice Match

Use Google Home's Voice Match function to get to know your voice, personalize your device's answers and prevent strangers from accessing sensitive information. If you and your family members enable Voice Match, Google Assistant will provide personalized music playlists, commute times, routines, news briefings and payment histories. The device will give you personal results only if it identifies your specific voice.

To set up Voice Match, open your Google Home app, click on your device, and tap "Multi user is now available," "Link your account" or "Get personal results with Voice Match" (depending on whether you are the primary user). You'll have to say, "Hey Google" and "OK Google" several times to train your device to recognize your voice, and each individual will have to follow the same steps from his or her own Google account.

MORE: How to Set Up Multiple Users on Google Home

If you don't enable Voice Match, and your Personal results feature happens to be on, then anyone can ask for and receive your personalized answers, which Online Trust Alliance's Wilbur said will make your device vulnerable. You can disable Personal results entirely in your app under Menu > More Settings > Devices.

Even if you use Voice Match, your friends or kids can still engage with your device; they just won't be able to get certain sensitive information. Google Home will support only six unique Voice Match users. It also isn't perfect, as similar-sounding voices may trigger your device.

Manage and delete your old recordings

Google stores your conversation history with your Google Assistant on its servers until you delete the recordings. Although simple functions like setting a timer and asking for the weather report are unlikely to compromise your personal details, questions about your commute, your bank balance and your health concerns could present risks  and hackers, as well as anyone with your Google account credentials, could find and use this information.

Listen to and delete your voice recordings on the My Activity section of your Google account. This is available in the Google Home app as well as on the web at myactivity.google.com. (The latter also shows your search and browsing history.)

MORE: How to Delete Recordings from Google Home

In your app, open the hamburger menu at the top left corner, click on My Activity and then manage individual recordings or sort by date to delete multiple files at once. If you are using a web browser, click "Filter by date & product" underneath the search bar and toggle the "Voice & Audio" option. From here, you can delete individual recordings, batches of files by day, or your entire history.

Deleting old recordings can degrade your Google Home's performance because the service uses this history to improve its responses. But at the very least, go through your queries on a regular basis and remove recordings that you wouldn't want a stranger to hear.

Use two-factor authentication for your Google account(s)

Two-factor authentication (2FA) creates another layer of security between malicious actors and your personal data. Your Google Home is connected to your Google account  which contains your Drive, Photos, Gmail, Music, search history and more  so if a hacker cracks your Google password, they'll have access not only to your device and voice recordings, but also much of what you do on the internet.

Although it's a bit of a process to set up, 2FA protects your data by making it nearly impossible for a cybercriminal, or even a prank-loving friend who has your password but lacks access to your smartphone, to log in to your Google account, listen to your recordings, or gain control of your Google Home.

Mute your device when you aren't using it

Google Home hasn't gone on any creepy laughing streaks triggered by misheard commands  ahem, Alexa  but that doesn't mean that your device can't or won't accidentally pick up and record sensitive conversations. Phrases that you think sound nothing like "Ok Google" and "Hey Google" may still wake your device, so mute the microphone if you don't want your voice recorded.

For now, the Google Assistant only recognizes "OK Google" and "Hey Google," but consumers may soon be able to customize their devices' wake words, which could reduce false positives.

Google Home has a microphone mute button on the back of the device, while both Google Home Mini and Google Home Max have an on/off toggle switch that turns orange when the microphone has been disabled. Remember that once you mute your speaker, it won't respond to any voice commands until you re-enable the mike.

Another option to guarantee that your device isn't listening is to turn it off completely. To do this on any Google Home, simply unplug the power cord  there is no power button. Experts recommend either muting or turning off the device when you don't need its assistance or know you'll be having a private conversation.

"Don't murder anyone, and if you're doing something considered 'intimate,' unplug it," said Steve Shillingford, a security expert and founder of Anonyome Labs.

Before you set up your digital assistant and connect it with personal accounts or other hackable devices, do your research about potential security vulnerabilities and decide if any known risks are worth taking.

"Be as aware as you can be," Wilbur said. "Everyone has a different tolerance around what is acceptable and not acceptable. Search around to say, 'Is this device known to have a problem?', and you will quickly find out if any concerns have surfaced."

For more Google Assistant-related tips, tricks, and how-tos, check out our complete guide to Google Assistant.

Credit: Tom's GuideBMW has become the latest automaker to announce plans of scaling back its auto show expenses. According to a report from Handelsblatt , BMW is slashing its funding for trade fair appearances to around 5 to 6 million, a significant drop from its usual auto show funds of 25 million. The move is seen as an attempt to veer away from the traditional auto show setup and focus more on rising trade fairs in China, as well as dedicated technology fairs like CES and the Mobile World Congress.

This is not at all surprising considering how many automakers have made similar decisions in recent months.

This is not at all surprising considering how many automakers have made similar decisions in recent months. Companies like Porsche, Volvo, Mazda, Jaguar, and Mercedes-Benz have all withdrawn from the Detroit Auto Show. A few weeks ago, BMW also announced plans to skip the NAIAS beginning in 2019. Others have followed suit with regards to other auto shows. Technically, BMW isnt leaving the Frankfurt Motor Show; its still going to have a prominent presence in the event. Its the same story with the Geneva Motor Show, considered as the most important show in the calendar.

BMW will still be present at those events. The only difference is that it wont have as big of a presence as it used to. For those who have been to the event, the German automaker typically has a massive presence at the show. It uses an entire hall for itself, covering a space of around 11,000 square meters. Moving forward, the German automaker is reportedly happy with having only 3,000 square meters at its disposal. This move cuts both ways for Bimmer. On the one hand, its going to have far less space to show off its new products. On the other hand, the lesser space means that it can concentrate on showcasing its most important models at a far less cost than what theyre used to spending.

The auto industry, as a whole, is now adapting to the changing trends of the industry

You can expect more moves like this happen in the future. The auto industry, as a whole, is now adapting to the changing trends of the industry. Tech shows like CES and the Mobile World Congress have become more prominent places for automakers to showcase their latest technologies, a lot of whom are being developed by big-time tech firms in collaboration with automakers.

Not only do these brands help save money for these companies  dont sleep on the millions of marketing dollars that are being saved here  but it also gives them more room to engage in other promotional events. Thats also why were seeing more and more companies engage in personalized events to unveil their new products.

Auto shows are still important, but with more options on the table, together with the rise of the 24-hour social media landscape, it makes less sense for companies like BMW to put their whole marketing dollars on the auto show basket when there are now better ways to spend them.

References

Read more BMW news.

Read more Frankfurt Motor Show news.

Source: Bimmer TodayLand Rover is one of the few brands in the auto industry that abides by its identity unflinchingly. Its known for building some of the finest SUVs in the world, and it stays in its own lane. When was the last time you heard Land Rover consider a sedan as part of its lineup? Never? That said, the automaker has shown its willingness to stretch its identity a bit. We saw it when it launched the Range Rover Evoque earlier this decade. Now, we could be seeing it again in the form of a single-cab pickup that will be based on the upcoming Defender.

Raise your hands if this is something you want to see from Land Rover

On the surface, a Land Rover Defender single-cab pickup sounds interesting

On the surface, a Land Rover Defender single-cab pickup sounds interesting. But its also something thats been thrown around by Land Rover in the last few years. This isnt a light-bulb moment, folks. A Defender pick-up was already being discussed as far back as six years ago.

According to Autocar, Land Rover lead designer Jerry McGovern showed what it described as outline drawings for five-seat and seven-seat new Defenders, as well as a crew-cab pickup. Its still unclear how Land Rover plans to present the model, but we do know that its going to be based on the next-generation Defender, which is expected to be previewed in concept form sometime this year. If its true, it would be an interesting new strategy that would effectively put the next-gen Defender into a lot of different utility markets.

Wed be interested to see how Land Rover packages it, too. Is it going to be a luxury-style pickup, or is the company going to approach it more from a utilitarian perspective? More importantly, what kind of powertrain is it going to get? Autocar reports that the most likely engine option would be 2.0-liter gas and diesel engines from Jaguar Land Rovers Ingenium range. That could mean power outputs in the vicinity of 296 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque for the gas unit and 178 horsepower and 317 pound-feet of torque for the diesel unit. Whatever option would present different forms of opportunities and challenges, though Autocar reported that for the pickup to cater to a lot of markets, it could also be offered in a number of different specifications, ranging from a completely utilitarian version to a luxurious offering that could compete against the Mercedes X-Class.

Speaking of possible markets, it appears that Land Rover wants the pickup to establish a presence in as many markets as it can

Speaking of possible markets, it appears that Land Rover wants the pickup to establish a presence in as many markets as it can. It would certainly be an intriguing option in the U.S. and Europe where pickups remain popular even in the face of the crossover and SUV boom. Other markets like South America and Africa could also be appealing destinations, largely because the model could serve as a legitimate competitor to models like the Toyota Hilux.

A lots been said, sure, but at the end of the day, this report will only gain traction if we hear anything concrete from the British automaker. Itd be nice, though, to see a Land Rover pickup. Its not every day the British automaker is put in a position where it has to prove itself.

References

Read our full review on the 2017 Land Rover Defender.

Read our full review on the 2018 Mercedes-Benz X-Class.

Read our full review on the 2018 Toyota Hilux.

Read more Land Rover news.

Source: AutocarTeslas Latest Update Makes Autopilot Nag You More than an Unhappy Wife

There shouldnt be any compromises when it comes to safety so its a good move on Teslas partIf you are looking for the new Immoral Minority posts, you should know that they can be found here at our new home Please stop by to get caught up on politics, join the conversations, or simply check out the new digs.IN ITS second pandemic budget, the Government will focus on agriculture and diversification and will seek more private sector engagement in the economy.

In an interview with the Sunday Express on Friday,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When you say Darwin,do you mean Kakadu NP and the surrounding areas? Or literally the Darwin city? If it is the later then Uluru wins. If you are going to Kakadu then it will depend on your interest. With PD and I'm assuming you are going to GBR and Daintree then Uluru is a complete change from FNQ.

The flip side is if you like nature then why the double dose of resort islands? You could skip one of them them you can add more sightseeing.If tossing up between GC and Uluru etc there is no comparison.

While the hinterlands and areas surrounding the GC and some areas south are lovely similar places can still be found elsewhere in the world (South America and some parts of Africa and areas in Asia ) And especially as you requirement is stature I would make that part of the trip just a small part. tBH many of the areas in the north of the state with raged to rainforest are actually very similar. Byron is a tourist town and to be honest can be skipped unless your parents are more of the be seen latte set. It can be done as a drive down to B.B. then back via Mt warning loop

IMO the Farm is missable (sorry SB)it s great attraction with kids but not necessarily a must do Aussie thing... it really came about as a desire to cash in on tourism $$ which is now B.B. major earner.

Every one is gong to have different opinions, Id do 2-3 days max on the GC, day 1 your parents may be very tired and just a few hours near the beach would be ample. A nice laid back place for accom not far from the airport and commute friendly with a car is Nirvana by The Sea at Kirra

Cairns region needs 4-5 days and if nature really is a key point and $are there Id recommend staying at Silky oaks for at least a night as it is in the rainforest and def8ntiely meets the nature  criteria. You can walk along Mossman gorge on the ppposite side without the gazillion tourists.

The time of year is when the outback is really nights minimum there tooI think I have a really good itinerary that can be flexible enough.

1. Hanoi

2. Sapa Express to Sapa

3. Sapa - trek

4. Sapa trek

5. Sapa - Trek

6. Bus to Bac Ha (Saturday)

7 Bac Ha to Sapa to Hanoi. Or Lao Cai to Hanoi

8 Hanoi

9 Halong Bay

10 Halong Bay

11 Halong Bay

12 Hanoi

13 To Ninh Binh (to experience the countryside)

14 Ninh Binh (Bike around the area to explore Trang An, etc.)

15 Hanoi

16 Hanoi

17 Hanoi

18 Hanoi

19 Hanoi

For the days in Hanoi, I can explore the city and maybe do a couple of day trips. Thank you for your tips on not over extending myself. It's easy to do when you first dream up a trip! I want to be able to relax and take in the Vietnamese culture. I will have to come back to explore the central and Southern areas. After researching, Ninh Binh really fascinates me! And it's close to Hanoi. Heck maybe I'll want to stay there another day as I love exploring around by bicycle, do it at home all the time! This sounds like it will be a fantastic trip!-:- Message from Tripadvisor staff -:-

This topic has been closed to new posts due to inactivity. We hope you'll join the conversation by posting to an open topic or starting a new one.

To review the Tripadvisor Forums Posting Guidelines, please follow this link: http://www.tripadvisor.com/pages/forums_posting_guidelines.html

We remove posts that do not follow our posting guidelines, and we reserve the right to remove any post for any reason.1. Planning to reach nagano day before for an early start next day on alpine route. However, the first bus from nagano to ogizawa express departs at 08:15 AM only. But in the official website first trolley bus from ogizawa departs at 07:30 AM. How can one reach from nagano to ogizawa in this case to start early??

2. We have backpacks need bag tansfer. Opening hours of baggage transfer facility in nagano?. Or bag drop facility will be at Shinano Omachi Station.

read must collect the baggage from toyama side before5:30Pm. What will happen if we are late for the pickup??

3. Is it possible to buy Tateyama Kurobe Option Ticket online for foreigners?. Saw an option in official site?

4. Is it better to book time slots for Bottelenecks areas like Kurobe cable car and Tateyama rope way. Any link for doing the same.? Incase if we are not able to reach there in time do we need to reschedule the slots??My hubby and I will be traveling to Japan by November 2018 from 10th to 19th. Am in the process of doing research on to what to expect when we get there, especially the trains confuse me. We are planning to visit Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, and Kanazawa (to visit my sis-in-law). Please help me decide which city to stay? Our airport is KIX.

Does Buying the JP rail pass saves me money? The hotels are expensive since we are arriving on a weekend, (forgot to take that into consideration).

We are not considering to visit Tokyo at this time.

Thank you!Egypt Today, by Jehad El-Sayed

CAIRO  28 April 2018: Having the potential to aid food security in the 21st century in the context of climate change, a national campaign to expand the cultivation of quinoa, a natural food resource of high nutritive value, has been launched by the Ministry of Agriculture.



The quinoa grain can be roasted and then made to flour in order to make different types of breads and pastas. It also can be added to soups or used as a cereal.



The underutilized grain is found to be high in protein, zinc and calcium, and thus can be used in the baby food industries.



Quinoa reduces dependence on other staples like wheat and rice



The quinoa seed is one of the alternatives that the Ministry of Agriculture has set to reduce dependence on other staples like wheat and rice.



Quinoa is a water-conscious crop, as it needs much less water to cultivate than rice and wheat. While rice, on average, requires 6,000 cubic meters of water per feddan (1 feddan = 1.038 acres), quinoa only needs less than 500 cubic meters.



Lately, Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Mohamed Abdel-Ati decided to reduce the agriculture area of rice in Egypt from 1.7 million feddans to 724,200 feddans. According to the ministry, this decline will save three billion cubic meters of water.

Moreover, quinoa is incredibly resilient and can grow in poor or salty soils, and it also has the ability to be grown well in very harsh circumstances, unlike most grains.



Egypt is the worlds largest wheat importer; the country imports half of the wheat consumed annually. Quinoa would serve to reduce the countrys wheat imports.



Quinoa health benefits



Quinoa is highly nutritious, gluten-free and packed with essential amino acids, fiber, vitamins and minerals.



For celiac patients, quinoa also stands as an alternative to wheat, as it is proven to be gluten-free.



It also scores lower than other crops on the glycemic index, a measure of how quickly foods raise blood sugar levels, and thus it can be used for diabetics.







Quinoa cultivation, high economic return



Minister of Agriculture Abd El-Moneim El Banna asserted that expanding the cultivation of quinoa will provide job opportunities for youth, especially in new industrial-agricultural areas and new reclamation zones.



According to the Agricultural Research Center (ARC), the average yield of quinoa grown in salty soil is reported to be 1 ton per feddan. The studies also revealed that quinoa is a cost-efficient and promising crop for the domestic grain markets demands. It is also expected to be a valued crop for export, providing the state another means to bring more hard currency into the country.



Quinoa cultivation areas



Quinoa was first introduced in Egypt in 2005, being first cultivated in Nubie City, South Sinai to test its response to the harsh weather conditions; the crop showed exceptional adaptability to the well-drained soils.



Mahmoud Madani, head of the Agricultural Research Center, has said that the cultivated area of quinoa has reached more than 80 feddans in the period since 2010, being grown in 20 governorates, including South Sinai and Alexandria.







Warning. The dishonest company Exotic Holidays Fiji (represented by Kalo B. Baravilala) residing in Lautoka embezzled/stole our money and we are currently taking legal actions as well as having lodged a report to the police here in the Fiji. We can provide all the documents, money transfers and email communication to prove our claims if needed.

We are not some rookies and we even have worked in the tourism for many years. We contacted this company by email earlier this year from our country to provide transport to Koroyanitu NP to our group of 16 people (friends and family). They offered us a resonable price and responsive manner, so we agreed on the deal. They also got good reviews on Google, Tripadvisor and the Facebook. Mrs.Kalo Baravilala is even mentioned in an edition of Lonely Planet guide book on Fiji as a contact person for Koroyanitu tours.

Later, we extended our inquiry and booking also to providing a bus transport around Viti levu and the Seaspray tour organized by South Seas Cruise company. They seemed very attentive and responsive at first, but between the times also a bit pushy as, they said, quick booking was required otherwise it would have been too late. We paid an amount over 5.000 FJD.

After they received our money they changed the attitude slightly, and it took them a longer time to reply to our emails. We were not suspicious until the South Seas Cruise Company could not confirm the subject company had booked and paid the Sespray boat tour on our behalf as was agreed upon. The SSC company also informed us the subject company does not communicate, and if so they are are evasive as for the payment. We pressed the subject company to make the payment as SSC company's tour was being sold fast.

The subject company eventually admitted to not paying for the Sespray tour but at the same time made numerours lame excuses why they could not pay for it ranging from not having enough cash to its colleague who can authorize the payment being out on another island etc.

We ended up paying for the Seaspray tour again, this time directly to the SSC company, since we could not afford to ruin our whole tour to Fiji (and Samoa) and because we were quite on a tight itinerary. The subject company was aware of that and one again agreed to pay the excess and damages directly to us in perosn on a specific day and time as soon as we land in Fiji. Until recently we also thought if the company had paid us the excess, we would have gone ahead with the other part of our ageement which was providing us the bus transportation around the island.

Here we are in Fiji being played by the company. After several false pretenses, misleadings, delays from their side and even our travel to Lautoka for meeting, they evaded us and did not catch up with us even in their home country. We gave them an ultimatum to pay all the debts by today's morning, but their only response from them was the same lame excuses and eventually blocking our phone calls and facebook communication (we were connected on the Facebook).a, & b, look like the same plane initially with just a longer stopover in JRO to get a later flight that might not stop in DAR. Guessing but I think a means changing at JRO and b, at DAR instead but check this.

As you say a 26.30 arrival is more civilised and gives a daylight transfer to your chosen Hotel.

Luggage should go right through to DAR at least on b. Again ask. I would go for this one.

As to the Red eye with KQ this is shorter travel time than I thought. The plus is gaining a day in ZNZ the minus is the lack of sleep and changing planes at 5 am.Hi all,

I'm turning 21 in January, and want to plan my first trip to NYC, and the USA in general. It'll be me and my friend, visiting for 7 nights, and hoping to see all the touristy sites, as well as doing some shopping and seeing a broadway show.

I'm just wondering whether it's worth getting the cheaper prices and visiting in January. I'm from the UK, so not at all unfamiliar with the cold, but would obviously prefer the warmer weather. Flights are slightly cheaper in may, only by a bit, but have heard May hotel prices are a lot more expensive than January?

My budget isn't massive, maybe $275 a night (without taxes), but have noticed I can get good rated hotels more around $180 (without taxes) in January. So, would you recommend braving the cold/unpredictable weather and getting better deals and having more money for spending, or spending more for hotel the first week of May 2019, and pulling back a bit on spending money?

Hope this all makes sense, I'd really appreciate any feedback.

Thank you!!I don't think the sound of the planes will be as much of an issue as the sound of the cars and traffic on the Belt Parkway and its surrounding service roads (any street with Conduit in its name).

I really do not think any of the hotels near the airport have balconies. Most are high-rise buildings overlooking, well-nothing much. Some industry and the highway.

Only a handful of hotels near the airport are recommended. Come back and post again if you have questions.- Stranded tourists and staff were airlifted from 10 tourist camps after they flooded

- This was after Galana River burst its banks following the ongoing rains

- A number of the camps were completely washed off

- It was feared the water was infested by crocodiles endangering the tourists' lives

Exclusive tourists safari camps in Tsavo National Park were on Thursday, April 27, washed away by raging floods following heavy rainfall currently pounding the region.

Nine tent camps were flooded after Galana river broke its banks, destroying property worth millions of shillings.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

In a Facebook post by Kenya News Agency and seen by TUKO.co.ke, stranded tourists and staff were airlifted by Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) personnel.

READ ALSO: Ex-IEBC commissioner Paul Kurgats bodyguard shot dead

Doa Doa Safari camp in Tsavo East National Park after waters from Galana River flooded the area. Photo: Kenya News Agency/ Facebook

Most of the camps were located deep in the heart of the national park, near the Galana River.

The raging waters destroyed roads making the area inaccessible with the threat of crocodiles floating in the waters after the banks burst.

READ ALSO: Stop bleaching your skin, it will cause you a lot of trouble - Uganda President advises women

Doa Doa is one of the nine safari camps destroyed by raging floods. Photo: Kenya News Agency/ Facebook.

Among the camps hardest hit by the floods include Doa Doa, Kulalu, Kiboko, Swara, Bufallo and Shoroa safari camps.

Doa Doa camp and crocodile camps were reportedly washed away completely.

READ ALSO: 4 killed, scores injured as landslide sweeps Murang'a village

Stranded tourists and staff were airlifted by Kenya Wildlife Services personnel. Photo: Kenya News Agency/ Facebook.

Others affected included Galdessa Lodge and Bigi Camp which border Galana River.

The camps are now a flooded zone. Its a big lose to tourism industry, said Alex Njai, a tour driver.

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.

Willy Paul Interview for Tuko Buzz: Willy Paul Reveals it All - on TUKO TV

Source: Kenya Breaking News Today- Mbadi said party procedures must be followed in picking the flagbearer

- ODM will accept names of party members willing to be presidential candidates

- Governors Joho and Oparanya declared their presidential bid on ODMs ticket

Governors Hassan Joho and Wycliffe Oparanya must first seek the approval of the Orange Democratic (ODM) members before they can challenge Raila Odinga for the 2022 presidential ticket.

ODM chairman John Mbadi said the two deputy party leaders and any other member are free to express their desire to fly the partys flag.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

However, the interested parties shall have to first present their names and voice their aspirations to fellow party members at a delegates conference to seek formal approval.

READ ALSO: Raila Odinga in real catch-2022 as his loyalists Grow horns

The basis for encouraging such an exercise is to strengthen internal democracy and fortify ODM's unity as a party. Photo: Governor Hassan Joho/Twitter

"Traditionally, its the people who elect the party flag bearer. Those with interests cleared at party level, will seek their nod,'' Mbadi said.

The basis for encouraging such an exercise is to strengthen internal democracy and fortify ODM's unity as a party, he said.

Mbadi also reiterated the need for party members to play a role in selecting their leader and respect each othes's rights to have their chance at the top seat.

READ ALSO: Waititu suspends Kiambu County minister addicted to Facebook

It is very doubtful that any ambitious leader including Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya, would bother challenging Raila if he did choose to run come 2022. Photo: Governor Wycliffe Oparanya/Twitter

''As a party we believe in one another including involving party members in the decision making and deliberation within the party structure,'' the ODM Chairman said.

As much as Joho has seemingly set his eyes on the Presidency, he is an avid admirer of his boss and would only venture for the position with blessings from Raila himself.

Following Raila's return to the inner circle of power, it is very doubtful that any ambitious leader including Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya, would bother challenging him if he did choose to run come 2022.

READ ALSO: Bungoma politicians clash over leader of gang terrorising Mt Elgon residents

Joho is an avid admirer of his boss Raila Odinga and would only venture for the position with blessings from Raila. Photo: Raila Odinga/Twitter

As TUKO.co.ke had previously reported, Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi has also thrown his hat into the 2022 presidential ring, further complicating the succession battle in the opposition ranks.

Raila's monumental handshake with President Uhuru Kenyatta has already shown its ripple effects in reshaping the face of politics in Kenya.

The ex-prime minister has successfully re-positioned himself close to the helm of power.

READ ALSO: Raila, why havent you been arrested if I swore you in illegally - Miguna Miguna

Furthermore, the President looks keen on keeping his reincarnated relationship in good terms, having openly voiced his serious commitment to doing so on several occasions.

It however still remains to be known whether or not the ODM leader has set his eyes on the 2022 election.

However it is not forgotten to Kenyans that Raila clearly stated he would not run in 2022.

Yet, we certainly cannot put it past him, having always been known to be relentless in pursuing his ambition.

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.

Rejected for naming son Uhuru Kenyatta | Untold stories - on TUKO TV

Source: Tuko- A driver of Busia bound bus enraged Kenyans for his careless and reckless driving

- The bus was filmed dangerously overtaking other motorists at high speed

-Kenyans called on authorities to arrest the driver of the bus for risking the lives of motorists and passengers

A driver of a Busia bound bus left Kenyans seething with rage for his astoundingly reckless driving.

The bus was seen overtaking dangerously oblivious of oncoming vehicles putting the lives of passengers in grave danger on the Nairobi- Nakuru Highway.

In a viral video posted on Facebook by one Austin Ombija and seen by TUKO.co.ke on Saturday, April 28, the arrogant and careless driver was seen dangerously overtaking and driving at high speed even after realising he was being recorded.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

READ ALSO: Waititu suspends Kiambu County minister addicted to Facebook

The driver of the Kawere Connection bus sparked outrage for his recless driving. Photo: Austin Ombija/ Facebook

"I will champion for safe driving along our Highways and make sure drivers like this one from Kawere Connection should not get a chance to be on our roads what so ever. Share," said Ombija who did the recording.

The horrifying video showed the bus with plate number KCF 670U christened Kawere trailing a motorist impatiently before abruptly overtaking despite the oncoming vehicles.

The sudden impact caught oncoming drivers off guard forcing them to veer off the road to avoid a deadly collission which could have resulted into a fatal accident involvig multiple vehicles.

Interestingly, it seemed like the Kawere Connection bus wanted to live upto to its name which means 'it's over' in the Luhya dialect.

Watch the horrifying video below:

The reckless move saw Kenyans flood Social Media to express their displeasure and upbraid the driver for his disregard for life.

READ ALSO: Maina Kageni pens emotional tribute to his cousin, Citizen TV owner's son, Macharia

The shocking incident comes in the wake of public outcry due to increased cases of road accidents due to careless driving and blatant disregard of traffic rules and regulations.

Recently, as reported by TUKO.co.ke, a bold Kenyan became the internet sensation after stopping an MP's car which was being driven inappropriately.

Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news.

Source: Tuko.co.ke- The strange manner in which Kiba greeted Diamond fueled speculations

- Diamond has been going out of his way to reconcile with Kiba who has remained uninterested

- Kiba reportedly didn't invite Diamond to his wedding expected on Sunday, Apri 29 in Tanzania

The feud between celebrated bongo superstars Ali Saleh Kiba and Diamond Platinumz is far from over judging from their recent encounter that left tongues wagging.

The two popular Tanzanian crooners met recently during the send off of Video Queen Agnes Gerald 'Masogange.'

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

Reports by Global Publishers seen by TUKO.co.ke, on Saturday, April, 28, showed that despite Diamond humbling himself and offering Kiba a handshake, Kiba snubbed him publicly and offered him his hand curled in a fist instead.

READ ALSO: Otile Brown melts over new found love Vera Sidika as they step out for the first time

Kiba snubbed Diamond publicly by offering him a semi clenched fist instead of his palm for handshake. Photo: Meymar Ally

Kiba also remained seated instead of standing like other people fueling speculations of bad blood between them.

The awkward incident at Leaders Club, Kinondoni Dar es salaam sent tongues wagging with fans flooding the internet wondering why Kiba decided to treat his fellow musician that way.

Following the strange gesture, a series of speculations emerged with some bordering superstitions.

READ ALSO: Woman Rep defends Kirinyaga Deputy governor after he was found in bed with married woman

Diamond has been going out of his way to reconcile with Kiba. Photo Diamond Platinumz/ Facebook

Some argued it was just a style of greetings same as others while others associated the gesture with astronomical signs.

Kiba offering his fist can have its interpretation. Most Muslims do that but I once heard if you have a shining star, if someone who has been instructed by an astronomist how to steal a star, they can pick your star once they touch your hands. Kiba might have done that to protect his star," Jafari a resident in Magomeni opined.

Sued Kessy, an astronomist said there is a huge relationship between a palm and someone's star.

READ ALSO: Rapper Khaligraph Jones parts ways with pregnant girlfriend

There is a close relationship between a palm and stars. If you look at a palm there are patterns and each strand has its meaning such as health, marriage, prosperity among others.

Kiba might have offered normal greetings but maybe he did that to protect his star," said Kessy.

Despite tension between the duo, Diamond has been going out of his way to make amends to an extent of wishing his nemesis the best during his wedding and even his station Wasafi TV which was opened recently, playing Kiba's songs.

READ ALSO: UPDATE: 5 killed after landslides sweep homes in Murang'a

Diamond's mother, Sanura Kassim 'Sandra' has also tried as recently she took to Instagram to congratulate Kiba on his wedding just to be hurled insults by the crooner's followers, Team Kiba.

In a move seemed to fuel enmity between the two, Kiba allegedly ignored Diamond by not inviting him to his wedding anticipated on Sunday, April at Serena Hotel Dar es salaam after his colorful wedding in Mombasa Kenya.

Kiba and Diamond have been long time rivals

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.

Willy Paul Interview for Tuko Buzz: Willy Paul Reveals it All | Tuko TV

Source: Kenyan Breaking News- American rapper Rick Ross was given a Kenyan name by NRG Radio presenter Mwalimu Rachael

- The rapper was given the name Tajiri, to complement his status

- Rozay said he loved the name and promised to inform Kenyans about it during his performance at the NRG Wave concert

America's hip hop creme de la creme Rick Ross arrived in Kenya on Friday, April 27, ahead of his performance at the NRG Wave on Saturday, April 28, at the Carnivore restaurant in style.

As reported by TUKO.co.ke earlier, the star and business man was accorded a welcoming befitting his status.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

His arrival excited throngs of Kenyans, especially hip hop lovers who couldn't wait to see him in person.

READ ALSO: American rapper Rick Ross arrives in Kenya ahead of much awaited show

Rick Ross given a Kenyan name by fans. Photo: NRG Radio/Instagram

However, things almost went south upon his arrival at the JKIA as Kenyans took to Social Media to pick issue with the organisers of the NRG Wave for flying in a 'fake' Rick Ross.

According to most Kenyans, the person who landed at JKIA was way leaner and totally different from the Rozay they are used to seeing on TV.

The melee was put to rest hours later after it became apparent that whoever landed in Kenya was indeed the real Rozay.

READ ALSO: Kenyans are convinced a fake Rick Ross turned up after all the hype and here is why

Following the development, Kenyans became easy and embraced him fully and even going ahead to baptise him by giving him a Swahili name.

TUKO.co.ke has learnt that Rick Ross was given the name Tajiri.

Tajiri is a Swahili name for rich, which the rapper is.

READ ALSO: American rapper and entrepreneur Rick Ross set to arrive in Kenya tomorrow ahead of much anticipated show

READ ALSO: Mombasa road, Langata road could be closed for 3 days during American rapper Rick Ross's concert

Rozay was even taught how to pronounce it and promised to inform Kenyans about it during his performance.

The name was given to him by Mwalimu Rachael, a presenter at NRG Radio, who are the main sponsors of the event.

All this happened during a radio interview with the rapper at the station on Friday, April 27, evening.

The rapper is expected to thrill his fans at the NRG Wave concert which is scheduled for Saturday, April 28, night.

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.

Willy Paul Interview for Tuko Buzz: Willy Paul Reveals it All | Tuko TV

Source: TukoThree Ukrainian soldiers were wounded in the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) area in eastern Ukraine over the past day.

Ukrainian Defense Ministry's Spokesperson Maksym Prauta said this at a press briefing on Saturday, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

"Three Ukrainian servicepersons were wounded in enemy shelling. The soldiers were immediately taken to medical institutions, where they were provided with medical assistance. They all are in good condition, he said.

Prauta added that Russian-backed militants launched 53 attacks on positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) area in Donbas over the past day.

ishThe United States expects that Ukraine will continue to make efforts towards NATO membership.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said this in Brussels on Friday, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

"There was discussion today about Ukraine, Ukraines potential entry to be a NATO partner, that theres much work to do along the way to achieve that," the U.S. Secretary of State said, answering the question when Ukraine could get an action plan for NATO membership.

As Ukrinform reported, newly appointed U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo first participated in the NATO ministerial meeting.

ishUkraine has offered the Czech Republic to intensify a political dialogue at the level of prime ministers and resume an interparliamentary cooperation.

This issue was discussed during political consultations between Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Vasyl Bodnar and Deputy Foreign Minister of the Czech Republic Jakub Durr. The diplomats discussed a full range of the Ukrainian-Czech bilateral relations, the press service of the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine reported.

"The Czech side was propesed to intensify a political dialogue at the level of prime ministers, resume the interparliamentary cooperation and consider an invitation to Foreign Minister of the Czech Republic Martin Stropnicky to visit Kyiv and Donbas areas close to the line of demarcation," the report reads.

The Ukrainian side expressed gratitude to the Czech colleagues for supporting the territorial integrity of Ukraine. At the same time, it drew attention to the fact of violation by some Czech MPs of Ukrainian legislation and UNGA Resolution 68/262 of March 27, 2014 regarding illegal visits to the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.

ishGermany has welcomed an active participation of the United States in the settlement of the situation in Ukraine.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said this at a press conference with U.S. President Donald Trump after their talks at the White House on Friday, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

"Of course, we talked about Ukraine. We work very closely together on issues of Russia's actions, its occupation of Crimea and the situation in eastern Ukraine," Merkel said.

She is glad that the U.S. Administration works very closely on these issues with partners, which broadens the format of the Minsk agreements.

Germany is interested in good relationships with Russia, but it will continue protecting the democratic values along with the USA, ignored by Russia, Germanys Chancellor stressed.

ishDuring a visit to Azerbaijan, President of the Ukrainian World Congress Eugene Czolij has called on Baku authorities to recognize Holodomor as an act of genocide.

This is reported by the press service of the Ukrainian World Congress.

"The UWC president called upon Azerbaijan to recognize the Holodomor as genocide of the Ukrainian people and to introduce this topic into the education curriculum," the report reads.

Czolij also appealed to the government authorities of Azerbaijan to participate in resolving important issues related to Ukrainian religious and cultural-educational life, including the provision of premises for the work and events of the Ukrainian community.

The UWC president called on Azerbaijan to include Ukraine in the building of new gas supply systems. Czolij also presented the positive results of reforming main areas of Ukraine.

The meetings in Baku offered an opportunity for constructive discussion on the continued support by Azerbaijan for the defence of the territorial integrity of Ukraine and the strengthening of Azerbaijani-Ukrainian relations, the UWC president stated.

ishAmbassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Ukraine Shigeki Sumi will take part in a campaign to plant cherry blossom trees in Bakhmut, Donetsk region, on May 2.

This was reported by the Bakhmut City Council on Friday.

"In order to strengthen friendly relations and cooperation between the countries, cherry blossom trees will be planted in the central part of our city with the participation of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Ukraine Shigeki Sumi, representatives of regional and local authorities, public and residents of Bakhmut town," the report reads.

In 2017, as part of the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, as well as the celebration of the Year of Japan in Ukraine, the Embassy of Japan, with the support of JTI, launched a campaign of sakura planting. In general, more than 1,500 sakura trees were planted in Ukrainian cities.

ishBiometric monitoring systems are operating at 157 international border crossing points with the EU countries, including airports.

Some 490,000 Ukrainians have taken advantage of visa-free regime with the European Union since its launch on June 11, 2017.

Read alsoJapan liberalizes visa regime for Ukraine from Jan 1

A total of 17.6 million Ukrainian citizens have crossed the border with the EU countries since June last year, including 4.2 million citizens who used biometric passports, according to the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine.

In the first months of the visa-free regime, almost 80,000 Ukrainians crossed the border per months on average. In November 2017, some 32,500 people took advantage of visa-free travel. As reported, about 26,000 Ukrainian citizens have crossed the border since April 2018.

Traveling to the European countries, Ukrainians mostly cross the border with Poland, while least often through checkpoints at the border with Slovakia.

Biometric monitoring systems are operating at 157 international border crossing points with the EU countries, including airports.

UNIAN memo. On June 11, 2017, a visa free travel across the EU (excluding UK and Ireland, and including four Schengen states  Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland) was introduced for Ukrainian citizens.The militants continue to use weapons banned by the Minsk agreements.

Russia's hybrid military forces attacked Ukrainian army positions in Donbas 53 times in the past 24 hours, with three Ukrainian soldiers reported as wounded in action (WIA).

Read alsoOSCE SMM's Chief Monitor: Protection of civilians in Donbas must be paramount

In the Donetsk sector, the occupiers used proscribed 120mm and 82mm mortars, grenade launchers, heavy machine guns and small arms to attack the defenders of the village of Vodiane, while 120m mortars were used outside the village of Lebedynske. In addition, the enemy repeatedly resorted to grenade launchers, heavy machine guns and small arms to fire at Ukrainian positions near Butivka coal mine, the town of Maryinka, and the villages of Nevelske, Hnutove, Kamianka and Pesky, the press center of the headquarters of Ukraine's military operations reported on Facebook on Saturday morning.

The aggressor also used an anti-tank missile system and infantry fighting vehicles to shell the defenders of the village of Talakivka; grenade launches were used near the town of Avdiyivka and the village of Bohdanivka, as well as heavy machine guns near the villages of Opytne, Verkhniotoretske, Shyrokyne, Pavlopil and Pyshevyk. An enemy sniper was active near Maryinka.

In the Luhansk sector, the enemy opened fire from 120mm and 82 mm mortars, grenade launchers, infantry fighting vehicles, and large-caliber machine guns at Ukrainian fortified positions outside the village of Krymske. Moreover, the aggressor used 120 mm mortars and infantry fighting vehicles to attack the defenders of the town of Svitlodarsk.In the Luhansk sector, the occupiers opened fire from mortars of various calibers four times at Ukrainian positions near the villages of Luhanske and Novotoshkivske.

Russia's hybrid military forces on Saturday morning attacked Ukrainian army positions in Donbas 10 times with one Ukrainian soldiers reported as wounded in action.

"From midnight until 9:00 on April 28, a total of 10 attacks mounted by Russian-backed militants were recorded," a speaker for the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Maksym Prauta told a Kyiv briefing Saturday, according to an UNIAN correspondent.

Read alsoFive Ukrainian soldiers wounded amid 52 attacks in Donbas in past day

In the Luhansk sector, the occupiers opened fire from mortars of various calibers four times at Ukrainian positions near the villages of Luhanske and Novotoshkivske.

"In total, the enemy has fired forty 120mm and 82 mm mortar rounds on our positions as of 9:00," Prauta added.

The enemy also resorted to armed provocations, using mortars of various types, heavy machine guns and small arms near the villages of Talakivka, Hnutove, Shyrokyne, and Butivka coal mine, the speaker said.

"As a result of enemy shelling, one Ukrainian soldier was wounded. He was rushed to a hospital and provided with medical assistance," Prauta said.

As UNIAN reported earlier, on April 27, Russia's occupation forces in eastern Ukraine mounted 53 attacks on Ukrainian army positions with three Ukrainian soldiers reported as wounded in action.Veselnitskaya said she was working for Yuri Chaika at the time of the meeting, the prosecutor general of Russia and a "top Kremlin official."

Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya was a Russian government informant when she met with Trump campaign officials at Trump Tower in 2016, she admitted in an interview with NBC News slated to air Friday. She had previously denied she had any ties to the Russian government.

Read alsoHouse Intel Committee releases report on Russia election meddling, clears Trump

"I am a lawyer, and I am an informant," she told NBC News. "Since 2013, I have been actively communicating with the office of the Russian prosecutor general," according to Newsweek.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe of ties between the Russian government and the Trump campaign has been investigating the 2016 meeting, which emails show was scheduled by the Trump camp in hopes of obtaining damaging information on Hillary Clinton. The meeting was attended by Donald Trump Jr., senior White House adviser Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chief who Mueller charged with a litany of offenses, including money laundering and charges.

Veselnitskaya said she was working for Yuri Chaika at the time of the meeting, the prosecutor general of Russia and a "top Kremlin official," according to the New York Times. In November, Veselnitskaya told the Senate Judiciary Committee that she had "no relationship with Mr. Chaika, his representatives and his institutions other than those related to my professional functions as a lawyer."

Read alsoU.S. State Department compares Russia with 'a beast from the deep sea'

But emails obtained by a former oil tycoon and vocal critic of President Vladimir Putin show Veselnitskaya worked closely with Chaika's office to help defend a real estate firm owned by a Russian businessman against Justice Department civil fraud charges, even though she said she was acting independently as an attorney on behalf of the firm, Prevezon Holdings. The Justice Department eventually settled with the firm for $6 million, but Prevezon has yet to pay.

Donald Trump Jr. has said the meeting with Veselnitskaya did not result in the damaging information he was hoping for.

"It quickly became clear that she had no meaningful information," the president's son said in a statement last year, adding that Veselnitskaya wanted to discuss adoption policy. "It became clear to me that this was the true agenda all along and that the claims of potentially helpful information were a pretext for the meeting."U.S. Secretary of State also noted that the nature of the threat from Russia has changed since the Cold War.

The newly-appointed U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says there were a lot of discussions about the ways to push back against Russia at Foreign Ministers' NATO summit in Brussels.

Read alsoPompeo dives into NATO diplomacy as allies confront Russia

"We had a lot of discussions about ways to put  push back against Russia. President Trump has made very clear, and so the choice is really up to Vladimir Putin and the Russians. We would love nothing more than them to rejoin, right, the democratic world and behave in ways that they're not doing today. So very much prepared to have that dialogue; it's their choice if they want to be part of that or not," he told journalists on April 27, according to Voice of America's Ukrainian language service.

Pompeo also noted that the nature of the threat from Russia has changed since the Cold War.

"We talked a lot about that, the changing nature of the threat from Russia," the Secretary said. "When I was a young soldier it was T-72 tanks and T-60 tanks rolling across the then East German plain. This today is different. And we collectively, each nation individually, and NATO together, must come up with solutions to address that. There were lots of ideas. There was enormous consensus of the risk that it poses to the West, those hybrid war activities pose to the West, and there is a real commitment to work together to mitigate those risks and to deter them from taking place in the first instance," he added.

After attending NATO talks in Brussels, Mike Pompeo traveled to the Middle East, where he would meet with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Israel and Jordan.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

About 2,000 policemen would be deployed to provide foolproof security cover to the public gathering of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf to be held on April 29 (tomorrow) at Greater Iqbal Park

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 28th Apr, 2018 ) :About 2,000 policemen would be deployed to provide foolproof security cover to the public gathering of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf to be held on April 29 (tomorrow) at Greater Iqbal Park.

As per the security plan, 2,000 policemen, under the supervision of SPs, would perform security duties, whereas 700 traffic wardens, 12 traffic DSPs and two SPs have been assigned the task of maintaining traffic flow on all important roads of the city.

A spokesman for police said that a three-layered security plan has been finalised for the public meeting of PTI, adding that senior police officers would monitor the security arrangements.

Walkthrough gates have been installed at the entry points so that no one enters the venue without being checked for security, whereas a separate entry point has been made for women, where female security personnel would be present.

In addition, Dolphin Force, Police Response Unit (PRU), Elite Force and personnel from various police stations have been directed to conduct the patrolling all routes and nearby Greater Iqbal Park in order to maintain law and order in city. However, the police officials have also been directed to conduct search and sweep operations in various areas of city.(@FahadShabbir)

An accountability court on Friday handed over four officials of Lahore Parking Company (LPC) and another to National Accountability Bureau on 15 days physical remand in a corruption case.

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 28th Apr, 2018 ) :An accountability court on Friday handed over four officials of Lahore Parking Company (LPC) and another to National Accountability Bureau on 15 days physical remand in a corruption case.

Earlier, the NAB officials produced company's officials including chief executive officer Taseer Ahmed, chief financial officer Usman Qayyum, general manager Faizan Wali and accounts manager Saad Rafique and National Technology Group (NTG) CEO Faisal Rao before Accountability Court Judge Syed Najamul Hassan.

The NAB officials submitted that the accused officials violated PPRA rules and illegally awarded contract to the NTG and Green Park, causing loss of millions of rupees to the national exchequer.

They requested the court to grant physical remand of the accused for investigation. At this, the court handed over the accused to NAB on 15 days physical and directed to produce them again on expiry of the remand term.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

President Mamnoon Hussain has said that the thinkers and researchers need to promote harmony and unity in the society through their academic pursuits and by finding out solutions to the complex worldly issues

Karachi, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 28th Apr, 2018) : President Mamnoon Hussain has said that the thinkers and researchers need to promote harmony and unity in the society through their academic pursuits and by finding out solutions to the complex worldly issues.

He expressed these views while addressing a special ceremony after laying the foundation stone of "Seerat Chair" at the University of Karachi on Saturday. President Mamnoon Hussain noted that in the present times, human beings had excelled in different fields of life, including science, technology, finance and sociology but the mundane excellence had put them in confrontation with the principles of nature.

The misconception in research and knowledge could give rise to problems faced by humanity. Such challenges, he said, cropped up various complexities. The scenes of war and carnage in different parts of the globe continued which indicated results of unbridled thoughts, he added.

President Mamnoon said certain quarters in the society had also adopted such approach which caused disunity but those behaviours were not allowed in the light of the teachings of Holy Quran or Sunnah.

The life of Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) was a beacon of light and guidance for the whole humanity, he added. He said the objective of establishment of Seerat Chairs in the universities was to promote a culture of research and analysis so that the solution to the issues emanating from the worldly changes could be sorted out.

President Mamnoon expressed the hope that the Karachi University would work on the same lines. The ceremony was also addressed by Vice Chancellor Dr Ajmal Khan and Dean Faculty of Arts Dr Muhammad Ahmed Qadri.The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) arrested three terrorists of a banned outfit during a raid in the metropolis on Saturday. The CTD spokesman said that on an intelligence tip-off, the CTD conducted operation near Cantt Station in Karachi

Karachi, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 28th Apr, 2018) : The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) arrested three terrorists of a banned outfit during a raid in the metropolis on Saturday. The CTD spokesman said that on an intelligence tip-off, the CTD conducted operation near Cantt Station in Karachi.

He said that during crackdown, three terrorists of a banned outfit were arrested. Two among the detainees belonged to Karachi and one hailed from Jhang. The nabbed terrorists have been involved in target killings, other terror activities and fund raising for the banned organization. The detainees were shifted to an undisclosed location for further investigation.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Vienna, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 28th Apr, 2018 ) :Austria said Saturday it is probing a 2012 incident in which its UN peacekeepers in the Golan Heights reportedly let Syrian policemen drive into a fatal ambush.

A video made by the Austrian peacekeepers and published online by the Falter weekly on Friday shows what the paper says are Syrian smugglers setting up behind rocks. An hour later a white jeep with the Syrian police arrive and the Austrian peacekeepers allow them to pass, according to Falter.

The footage then shows the Syrians coming being shot at and killed. Discussions among the peacekeepers heard in the clip show that they knew that they were letting the Syrian police into a trap, Falter said.

"Really you should tell them," one of the peacekeepers is heard to tell another in Austrian dialect. The Austrian defence ministry said that a special commission of enquiry began its work on Saturday.

"As a first step all reports, orders, laws and regulations that could be relevant for the enquiry are being collected, examined and evaluated," spokesman Michael Bauer said on Twitter.

"The UN is invited to work with us," he said on Twitter.

The Austria Press Agency quoted a spokesman for the United Nations as calling the video "disturbing" and that the world body would cooperate with the Austrian authorities to look into what happened.

The spokesman added that the incident, which left nine members of the Syrian security forces killed by 13 members of the armed opposition, was reported to the UN Security Council and included in a UN report.

The Salzburger Nachrichten daily quoted on Saturday an Austrian soldier who served as a UN peacekeeper in the Golan Heights as saying that the peacekeepers' actions were "100-percent correct according to our mandate".

"The order is: don't get involved," Markus H., who was not present during the incident concerned, told the paper's online edition. The armistice line on the sector of the Golan Heights, seized by Israel from Syria in 1967, was largely quiet for decades until the Syrian civil war broke out in 2011. Austria withdrew its peacekeepers in 2013 because of worsening security.(@rukhshanmir)

BUCHAREST, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 28th Apr, 2018 ) :China will deepen bilateral cooperation with Romania on law enforcement and security, as well as pragmatic cooperation under the Belt and Road (B&R) Initiative, said visiting Chinese senior official Guo Shengkun.

During the visit from Friday to Saturday, Guo, Chinese President Xi Jinping's special envoy, has met with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Liviu Dragnea and Prime Minister Viorica Dancila respectively.

Guo, who is also a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and head of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of CPC Central Committee, briefed Romanian leaders on the 19th CPC National Congress held last October.

He said Xi's proposal to build a new type of international relations and a community with a shared future for humanity will provide new opportunities for deepening China-Romania friendly cooperative partnership.

Guo pointed out that bilateral relations between the two countries have seen rapid progress since the establishment of diplomatic ties 69 years ago.

It is hoped that through the visit, the two countries will implement important consensus reached by their leaders, consolidate political mutual trust, strengthen strategic communications, and deepen bilateral cooperation on law enforcement and security as well as pragmatic cooperation under the B&R Initiative.

Iohannis said China is an important cooperative partner of Romania, and the two countries enjoy far-reaching traditional friendship. He said he hopes that the two countries will achieve more results under the comprehensive partnership of friendship and cooperation.

Dragnea and Dancila said in their turn that Romania attaches great importance to enhancing the overall level of bilateral relations with China and deepening cooperation in various fields. The Romanian parliament firmly supports all-round bilateral cooperation and is willing to strengthen exchanges between parliaments of the two countries.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani rejected any hopes of rewriting a nuclear deal with world powers Wednesday

Tehran, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Apr, 2018 ) :Iran's President Hassan Rouhani rejected any hopes of rewriting a nuclear deal with world powers Wednesday, after the leaders of the United States and France suggested a new pact covering Tehran's missile programme and regional interventions.

"We have an agreement called the JCPOA," said Rouhani in a fiery speech, using the technical name for the 2015 deal that curbed Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief. "It will either last or not.

If the JCPOA stays, it stays in full." He was responding to statements in Washington by French President Emmanuel Macron and his US counterpart Donald Trump, in which they proposed a new deal with tougher restrictions on Iran.

Trump called the existing accord "insane" and "ridiculous", despite European pleas for him not to walk away, and demanded fresh curbs on Iran's ballistic missile programme and support for militant groups across the middle East.

Macron said a new agreement should include a settlement on Syria, where Iran backs President Bashar al-Assad. In Iran, Rouhani responded by ridiculing Trump, saying: "You have no expertise in politics, nor in law, nor in international accords.

"A trader, a businessman, a high-rise builder, how can he judge about global issues?" Iran has the support of all other parties to the accord, who say it is working and Tehran has stuck to its commitments.

On Wednesday, EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini insisted the deal must be maintained. "On what can happen in the future we'll see in the future, but there is one deal existing, it's working, it needs to be preserved," the former Italian foreign minister said as she arrived for a donor conference on Syria in Brussels.

Moscow also reiterated its support, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov telling reporters: "We believe that no alternative exists so far" and demanding that Iran be involved in any further discussions.

- Looming decision - Macron, who has built a warm rapport with Trump, has positioned himself as an emissary for European officials seeking a compromise that allows the mercurial US president to claim a public victory, while keeping the deal intact.

The Europeans appear to be hoping they can sell Trump on the idea of broader regional settlement with Iran that would complement, rather than replace, the existing nuclear deal. "The biggest priority is maintaining the existing nuclear accord.

It was negotiated by seven countries and the EU and can't be renegotiated by one or other party," said German foreign spokesman Rainer Breul. "President Macron... spoke of the need for supplementary agreements.

The question is whether, and in what circumstances, Iran would be ready to enter into such a process," he added. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is expected to press the European case again when she visits Washington on Friday.

For now, Macron admitted he could still not read whether Trump would simply walk away from the existing deal when it comes up for renewal on May 12, as he has threatened. True to his background in reality tv, Trump has kept everyone guessing.

"This is a deal with decayed foundations," he said. "We're going to see what happens on the 12th." Iran has warned it will ramp up enrichment if Trump scraps the accord, prompting a blunt warning from the US leader.

"They're not going to be restarting anything. If they restart it, they're going to have big problems, bigger than they ever had before. And you can mark it down," Trump said. - Oliver Stone 'shocked' - The French president's pomp-filled, three-day visit was not welcomed by one long-time critic of US foreign policy, Oliver Stone, who happened to be in Tehran for a film festival on Wednesday.

The director told AFP he was "particularly shocked" to see Macron standing alongside President Donald Trump, calling for a revision of the nuclear deal. "To see this young man, who doesn't have much of a sense of history or memory of the great traditions of France...

was very depressing," Stone said. Hawkish American officials take the opposite view -- that the Europeans, particularly Germany, oppose a tougher stance against Iran to safeguard their business interests there.

That is sharply rejected by European officials, who are increasingly frustrated at spending time handling Trump's complaints rather than focusing on the deepening crises of the Middle East. The disagreement threatens to plunge transatlantic relations to their lowest point since the Iraq War, despite the lavish welcome Trump put on for Macron's state visit.

And meanwhile, Western countries have found themselves increasingly sidelined from issues such as the Syrian war -- underlined again on Wednesday when Iran, Russia and Turkey announced a new summit to discuss the conflict this Saturday in Moscow. burs-er/mm(@FahadShabbir)

Washington, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 28th Apr, 2018 ) :US Vice President Mike Pence will address the Organization of American States on May 7, aides told AFP Friday, a bid to ramp up the pressure on the Venezuelan regime ahead of crunch elections.

Pence has accepted an invitation to address the bloc in Washington, when the focus will, in part, be on holding "undemocratic actors" accountable. The organization, and the region, has been deadlocked between members keen to hold Venezuela accountable for democratic backsliding and long-standing allies of President Nicolas Maduro.

The address will come two weeks before a divisive presidential poll in Venezuela on May 20 which is being boycotted by the opposition and branded illegitimate by much of the international community.

"The Vice President will reaffirm our commitment to increasing economic prosperity and joint security cooperation with our friends and allies in the Western Hemisphere," said spokeswoman Alyssa Farah.

Pence will also "hold undemocratic actors in the region accountable for their actions," she added. The speech comes as lawmakers are calling on the Trump administration to take a harder line on Maduro's regime.

US Senator Marco Rubio has gone as far as calling for Washington to press for regime change. "It is time for the region's democratic nations to work together and hasten Maduro's exit from power," he wrote in a recent opinion article.

He called specifically for additional sanctions against the government, coordination to ease the humanitarian crisis and begin work on a "Marshall Plan" to rebuild the country have Maduro is ousted.(@FahadShabbir)

Romania's President Klaus Iohannis called Friday for the resignation of Prime Minister Viorica Dancila amid a row sparked by the possible move of the country's embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

Bucharest, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 28th Apr, 2018 ) :Romania's President Klaus Iohannis called Friday for the resignation of Prime Minister Viorica Dancila amid a row sparked by the possible move of the country's embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

"Mrs Dancila is not up to the job of prime minister of Romania and as a result the government is becoming a liability for Romania. That is why I am publicly calling for Mrs Dancila's resignation," Iohannis said in a short statement.

Iohannis pointed to a secret memorandum adopted by the government last week with the aim of moving the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. He is opposed to the move and says he was not informed beforehand.

"This was a big error, because in foreign policy, if we're talking about secret documents, the president should have been consulted," Iohannis said. Dancila, however, said she "categorically" rejected the president's call for her to step down and told Romanian television there was "no reason to do so.

" She added that moves to have her leave her post "risk weakening Romania's international standing." Iohannis has no constitutional power to sack the prime minister, who would have to be removed by parliament.

Dancila is the third prime minister in less than a year after power struggles within the ruling Social Democrat party (PSD) saw her two predecessors ousted. The spat over the embassy is the latest in a serious of clashes between Iohannis, who is from the centre-right, and the left-wing government.

If the embassy move went ahead, Romania would be the first EU country to follow the lead of US President Donald Trump, who in December controversially recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital. However, on a two-day visit to Israel this week following the surprise embassy announcement, Dancila said that at this stage she did not have "support of all parties as we would wish" to carry out the move.(@FahadShabbir)

Bamako, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 28th Apr, 2018 ) :Suspected jihadists killed more than 30 Tuaregs on Mali's northeastern border with Niger, informed sources said Saturday, in the second such attack in two days.

The former Tuareg rebel group MSA and tribal leaders said the massacre occurred Friday, a day after another attack by gunmen on motorbikes had left 12 people dead outside the town of Anderamboukane, which is also in the same area.

"There have been 43 deaths in two days, all civilians, from the same community," tribal leader Sidigui Ag Hamadi told AFP from the regional capital Menaka. "Our fighters are destroying their bases and wiping them out.

They are targeting innocent civilians," he added seeing the bloodletting as reprisals for attacks on jihadists by armed Tuarag groups.

The MSA also put the death toll from the two attacks in the vilages of Aklaz and Awakassa at 43, saying all the victims were from the Idaksahak pastoralist berber group.

The group urged the governments of Mali and Niger to take steps to ensure that "an immediate end is put to these abominable crimes" and added that it would "not give in to any intimidation." Menaka governor Daouda Maiga urged caution regarding the death toll until official observers had arrived on the scene.

"There are various versions, but I know there are women and childen among the victims, as well as elderly," Maiga told AFP, while adding he would await the observers' return to Bamako.:Syrian regime air strikes and shelling killed 17 civilians including seven children on Friday in the Palestinian camp of Yarmuk in southern Damascus, a Britain-based monitor said.

Beirut, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 27th Apr, 2018 ) :Syrian regime air strikes and shelling killed 17 civilians including seven children on Friday in the Palestinian camp of Yarmuk in southern Damascus, a Britain-based monitor said.

Regime forces have pounded southern districts of the capital since April 19 to try to expel the Islamic State group from the area, after the jihadists refused to leave under an evacuation deal. That bombardment intensified on Friday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said, as regime forces advanced against IS inside the districts.

"Army units backed by the air force and artillery have advanced on numerous axes" in southern Damascus, including the district of Hajar al-Aswad, "after breaking through terrorist defences", state news agency SANA said.

The advance "inflicted great human and material losses" on the jihadists, it said. Syrian state television said the army has seized control of buildings and a "network of trenches and tunnels" from IS in Hajar al-Aswad.

In the adjacent neighbourhood of Qadam, two children were killed in "mortar rounds fired by terrorist groups", it said. The Observatory said pro-government forces took control of "buildings and streets in Hajar al-Aswad and Qadam after attacking the districts at dawn".Kampala, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 28th Apr, 2018 ) :Ugandan police said Saturday they had stumbled upon a "radicalisation centre" at a Kampala mosque, shooting dead two people, arresting dozens and releasing over 100 women and children.

A security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said officers had found what appeared to be an Islamist radicalisation centre inside the mosque. The discovery came Friday evening as police offices followed a suspect, believed to have been involved in a high-profile kidnapping and murder earlier this year, into the ramshackle Usafi mosque.

During an ensuing shoot-out, police said one officer was wounded, two men were shot dead and 36 arrested and accused of hoarding weapons. Also inside the mosque were 18 women and 94 children that police said were being held against their will.

"A number of children and women, suspected to either have been kidnapped or held hostage, were rescued," police spokesman Emilian Kayima told a news conference on Saturday. "Two of the hostage-takers were shot dead after violently attacking and severely injuring one of the security officers," Kayima said, adding that the man who police had followed into the mosque was taken into custody.

Investigations into the connection between the original suspect and those found inside the mosque were continuing. At the scene, in a particularly poor part of the city, bullet holes pocked the collection of corrugated tin lean-tos and tarpaulin sheets that constitute the mosque, situated in a low-lying area between a bus station and a shipping container park.

Police had cordoned the area, blocking curious residents and passersby.

- 'Scared and traumatised' - Local council official Hassan Kiberu heard the gunshots that ripped through the neighbourhood on Friday evening.

"I've never been in that mosque before. The people who went there didn't allow anyone in," he said. Kiberu said the mosque's leader was arrested a month ago, after complaints from neighbours who suspected him of disseminating extremist messages.

"I think they were grooming those kids in there for something," he said. The men arrested Friday -- who police said were found with 23 machetes, 60 bullets and a bow and arrow -- are suspected of involvement in the kidnapping and illegal detention of the women and children who come from various East African countries.

In February, the body of Susan Magara -- a member of an influential Ugandan family -- was found three weeks after her abduction and a string of ransom demands. The crime shocked Ugandans and president Yoweri Museveni ordered intelligence agencies to lead an investigation.

Security forces believe that a key suspect who they had under surveillance realised he was being followed and bolted into the mosque. Interior Minister Jeje Odong said officers chased the suspect into the mosque and that the subsequent discovery of weapons, women and children was not "planned or intended".

"If the suspect had not gone into the mosque we would have had no reason to enter," Odong said. "We take strong exception to places of worship being used to commit crime." Odong said the children discovered inside "looked scared and traumatised" and appeared to be from Burundi, Rwanda and Kenya as well as Uganda.The President of the Philippines Catholic Bishops Conference appeals to the government regarding the expulsion order of Sr Patricia Fox.

By Sr Bernadette Mary Reis, fsp

On April 27, the President of the Philippines Conference of Bishops, Bishop Romulo Valles, issued an appeal to that countrys government, asking for a revocation of the expulsion order against Sr Patricia Fox.

Sr Patricia Foxs Visa revoked

On April 23, Sr Patricia Foxs visa was revoked by the Bureau of Immigration. Deemed an undesirable alien, she has 30 days to leave or face deportation. The Bureau claims that Sr Fox has been involved in political activities, and her visa is strictly limited to missionary work. On April 16, prior to the revocation order, the Bureau had detained Sr Patricia. They had to released her after 22 hours due to the strong outcry from various sources.



Sr Patricia Fox is moved by the Love of Christ

We sincerely make an appeal that the authorities may make a reconsideration of their order for Sr. Patricia Fox to leave the country, Bishop Valles said. We believe further that she is moved to serve our people by the love of Christ.



Legal followup

Sr Foxs lawyer, Jobert Pahilga, has criticized how quickly the order was issued as well as the lack of due process. Antonette Mangrobang, spokesperson for the Bureau, says that there was no need that Sr Patricia be heard because revoking a foreigners visa remains within the discretion of the Bureau. The issuance and grant of a visa is a privilege, not a right, hence a hearing is not necessary in visa forfeiture proceedings, Mangrobang said in a text message. The foreigner may file his or her motion for reconsideration.



Mr Pahilga intends to submit such a motion within the week. They are prepared to take the case all the way to the Supreme Court if need be.

Sr Patricias work in the Philippines

According to Sr Patricia, and many others, she has not done anything to merit the Bureaus action. At 71, Australian-born Sr Fox has served in the Philippines for 27 years. According to her own words, she has been helping uplift the livelihood of farmers and advocates with them for their rights to land, livelihood, peace, justice and security. Others have characterized Sister as dedicated to the oppressed and marginalized.



Her arrest by the immigration bureau came soon after she took part in a human rights fact-finding mission in the south of the country.At least four dead, over 950 injured in clashes at Gaza border (ANSA)

Gaza officials said Israeli forces on Saturday shot dead four Palestinians in continuing protests on the border.

By Nathan Morley

This protest is now entering its fifth consecutive week. Protesters throwing stones and setting tires alight near the border with Israel approached the fence and tried to break through it.

Israel responded with tear gas, rubber bullets and live rounds.

Over 950 people were left wounded.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights condemned Israel's use of excessive force, whilst Amnesty International called for governments worldwide to slap an arms embargo on the Jewish state.

At the beginning of this demonstration last month, thousands of Palestinians marched to the border, with sixteen of them being killed after being shot by Israeli soldiers on the first day of the protest.

Since then, dozens of tent encampments have sprung up along the perimeter with Israel. The protest has been dubbed the March of Return and is supported by the Hamas rulers in Gaza. It calls for the right of return of Palestinian refugees to their homes.

The Israeli Defence Minister warned that any Palestinians from Gaza approaching the border fence were risking their own lives. The Israeli military described the protests as being "riots."South Korean President Moon Jae-in says goodbye to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at the end of their summit on Friday (ANSA)

Leaders of the two countries, still technically at war with each other, agree to work for denuclearisation, economic cooperation and reunification of families on the divided peninsula

By Alastair Wanklyn

There are new hopes for peace on the Korean Peninsula, after the leaders of North and South agreed to pursue complete denuclearisation and work towards a definitive peace treaty.

The breakthrough came on Friday at a summit on the heavily militarized border between the two countries. It marked the first meeting between the leaders of north and south Korea in over a decade.

Listen and download our report

The meeting appeared to go better than planned, when North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in shook hands across the border, and then stepped into each other's territory.

It was the first time for a North Korean leader to visit the South and Kim said he wants to end a history of confrontation.

Statement on denuclearisation

In a joint statement, the leaders said they will work towards getting rid of nuclear weapons, apparently including the arms that North Korea has shown off in nuclear tests and missile launches. They set no timetable for this but said they would call on other nations to help.

Kim and Moon spent several hours together, and for about 30 minutes talked privately. They spoke of reuniting families separated by the Korean War and resuming economic cooperation. Kim appeared to refer to the poor state of roads in the North, and said his officials envy the South's railways.

Bishops welcome 'miracle' summit

The Catholic Bishops Conference of Korea welcomed the summit. In a statement prior to the meeting, the bishops said it was "a precious opportunity" that God has given the Korean people in answer to their prayers. For months, the Church in South Korea has been praying every evening for peace. Because of that, the bishops said, "something miraculous is happening in this land."

As recently as last year, the summit seemed all but impossible, when Pyongyang and the President of the United States taunted each other with nuclear threats. Then, in January, Kim said he was open to talks. Within weeks, Korean athletes marched under one flag at the Winter Olympics.

Friday's summit was closely watched in part because U.S. President Donald Trump plans to meet Kim by early summer. If that takes place, observers say it will mark a sharp rehabilitation for North Korea in the international community.Host Carol Castiel sits down for a wide-ranging interview with U.S. Congressman Brad Schneider, a Democrat from the state of Illinois and member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Schneider reacts to French President Emmanuel Macrons address to a joint session of Congress. He also weighs in on President Trumps travel ban currently under debate at the Supreme Court, DACA, gun safety legislation and the ongoing investigation of Special Counsel Robert Mueller.Afghanistan's president, Ashraf Ghani, has slammed the Taliban for pushing ahead with its so-called annual spring offensive, despite his "most generous" offer of peace talks.



The Taliban on Wednesday unleashed its new military campaign, code named "Al Khandaq" or the Trench.



The action has since led to scores of coordinated guerrilla-style raids and bombings against Afghan security forces.



On Saturday, the Taliban overran a district center in the troubled northern province of Kunduz, where a major insurgent attack two days ago killed 14 Afghan soldiers.



Separately, a Taliban suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden vehicle in the early morning Saturday near an Afghan army base in southern Helmand province, killing at least six people and wounding many more.



Speaking in Kabul just hours after the latest insurgent activities, Ghani denounced the Taliban for inflicting violence on their own Muslim nation in the name of a centuries-sacred Islamic battle. He was referring to the title insurgents have chosen for their current spring offensive.



Ghani announced his unconditional offer for peace talks two months ago in a bid to deter the Taliban from intensifying hostilities this year. His initiative included incentives such as allowing the Taliban to open an office in Kabul and to issue travel documents to insurgent negotiators. The offer received support from domestic and international stakeholders.



The Taliban justified launching its new military campaign, saying U.S.-led foreign "occupation" forces were still in control of Afghanistan's "land and air space" and until their withdrawal from the country, no peace talks would be possible with the government.



The Afghan president defended the presence of foreign forces, citing the new insurgent offensive and the Taliban's alleged links with international terrorists.



Ghani, in his address toa gathering of officials, politicians and religious leaders at the presidential palace, said his security forces are resolved to defend the country against the Taliban onslaught.



"If you [Taliban] want war, then we will respond with more power. You must know that our nation stands in front of you," Ghani said to the Taliban.



He went on to urge Afghans to join him in denouncing the insurgents for hurting innocent civilians in the name of religion.



"I call on the entire [Afghan] nation, especially our respectable jihadi personalities, religious scholars and national leaders, to declare through a fatwa [edict] that this [Taliban] war is against Islamic Sharia," Ghani said.



President Ghani said his government is not giving up on efforts to peacefully resolve the Afghan conflict. He reiterated his determinationto undertake political reforms to ensure this year'sparliamentary and district council elections, as well as next year's presidential polls, are held in a fair and transparent manner.



The spike in Taliban attacks is being seen as a major security challenge for the upcoming elections in Afghanistan.



Meanwhile, aTaliban rocket attack in eastern Nangarhar province on Saturdaykilled five civilians and wounded three others.



A provincial government spokesman, Attaullah Khogyani, said three women were among those killed.Can the Europeans save the Iran nuclear deal? It's an accord U.S. President Donald Trump has excoriated repeatedly and threatened to scrap.



Europeans were heartened midweek by indications from the U.S. leader that he's willing to consider French President Emmanuel Macron's plan to augment an accord he considers "insane" by negotiating a side deal with Iran to address Trump's concerns about Iran's ballistic missile development and its expanding military presence across the Middle East.



Nonetheless, the nuclear deal signed in 2015 by the Obama administration hangs in the balance, despite the back-slapping, hand-pumping "bromance" between Macron and Trump in Washington. The two leaders continued to forge a personal entente cordiale, but as Macron highlighted in a speech to Congress, the pair is far apart on Iran and Syria, climate change and trade.



Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has dismissed talk of a re-negotiation, saying midweek he had warned Macron several times of Tehran's refusal to "add anything to the deal or remove anything from it, even one sentence."



The nuclear deal has no fans in the White House. Trump's new national security adviser John Bolton has long argued in favor of scraping the deal, which he believes has thrown an economic lifeline to a regime he'd like to change. Three years ago Bolton advocated in a newspaper editorial that to stop Iran from developing a bomb, Iran would have to be bombed.



High-profile visits



And the visits in the past week to Washington by Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel inthemost high-profile European push to date to try to convince Trump to preserve the nuclear accord with Iran may not be enough to save it, say political observers.



Even Macron, on his departure from the U.S. capital, suggested he'd failed to persuade Trump to continue with the nuclear deal. "My view  I don't know what your president will decide  is that he will get rid of this deal on his own, for domestic reasons," he told reporters.



On Friday, U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis said no decision had yet been made by Trump.



By May 12, President Trump has to decide whether to renew sanctions relief for Iran, a key step in keeping the deal. Even if he does renew the relief this time, possibly out of respect for Macron, that will be no guarantee against him subsequently scrapping the accord. European officials admit they are skeptical of being up to conjure up a diplomatic solution that will stop him from doing so later.



If Trump does rip up the accord, where would that leave a transatlantic partnership between the U.S. and Europe that won the Cold War against the Soviet Union, and now appears to be at the onset of another one with Vladimir Putin's Russia?



Will it mark the beginning of the end for a transatlantic alliance that has been roiled since Trump entered the White House?



Pessimists, among them former U.S. officials and analysts, as well as European politicians, warn that the U.S. and Europe are drifting quickly toward a fracture  and not just over Iran.



Growing divide?



A former political director of the British Foreign Office, Simon Gass, has warned that a U.S. revocation of the Iran deal will push the Europeans into the uncomfortable position of being aligned with Russia and China when it comes to Tehran. "Such a division between the U.S. and some of its closest allies would cause as much dismay in European capitals as it would glee in some others," he said.



America and Europe's foes have been gleeful following other recent sharp divergences between Washington and the Europeans  including over the Paris climate accord, Trump's criticism of what he sees as low defense spending by the Europeans as a percentage of gross domestic product, the imposition of trade tariffs and the threat of a transatlantic trade war. There have been differences over policy toward Russia and China, the conflict in Syria, and abrasive tweet clashes between British and German politicians on one side and Trump over refugee policies and Islam.



Trump foes blame him for the differences and disagreements, arguing he's driving a wedge between America and Europe and that scrapping the Iran deal will lead to a breakdown in the transatlantic alliance.



Optimists point out that America and Europe have been at serious odds before  including over Vietnam, Ronald Reagan's hardline "evil empire" confrontation with the Soviet Union, and the Balkans war. The transatlantic alliance weathered those because ultimately, for all the disputes, American and European interests, more often than not, overlapped.



But will they in the future? Analyst Xenia Wickett says there are several factors shaping the new era in transatlantic relations. In a report she authored earlier this year for Britain's Chatham House research group, Wickett argued Trump may cause "real and meaningful shorter-term disruptions" in transatlantic relations, but heposes "less of a long-term threat to the relationship between the U.S. and Europe" than key structural factors affecting the alliance.



"While his policies may have reverberations beyond his time in office, there is no reason to believe that the consequences are likely to be profound and long-lasting for the fundamental interests of the transatlantic relationship," she wrote.



She cautioned, however, there will be changes in that relationship thanks to migration patterns. "The increase in Latin American and Asian groups in the U.S., and to a lesser extent, Middle Eastern populations in Europe, is likely to cause the U.S. and Europe to continue to diverge in terms of their regional interests and attention," she said.



Inherent affinity



But for all of the sharp disagreement in recent months there are clear indications that both Washington and the Europeans value the alliance. Trump may have been more iconoclastic than many fervent Atlanticists may like  especially rhetorically  but despite his declaring NATO obsolete and accusing European allies of "ripping the U.S. off," his administration has devoted more U.S. resources for European security, notes Jeffrey Rathke of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based policy institute.



Likewise, Trump temporarily exempted the European Union from recent tariffs imposed on aluminum and steel imports. Rathke dubs all of this a "political zig and zag," and worries that "the United States' alliance relationships are no longer Washington's foreign policy lodestar, as they were for the past 70 years," arguing that the U.S. and the EU are stronger when working together and are more vulnerable when they aren't.



"Confrontation, just like friction, can generate heat and rancor, but it is also necessary to challenge and refine, to hone and polish," Rathke argued in a midweek CSIS commentary. "Now is the time for the United States' closest friends to adapt to these undiplomatic times with a more robust, and if necessary, confrontational diplomacy," he said.



That more confrontational diplomacy by the Europeans was on display this week. In Macron's case it was accompanied by a warmth  and a personal chemistry between the French and U.S. leaders that partly overshadowed their disagreements. Merkel's much more understated visit  three hours compared to three days  was accompanied by a greater chill, but was more cordial than their previous encounters, say analysts.



But that might be the new normal in transatlantic relations, and it could well remain so after Trump leaves the White House, with allies not trying to disguise divergences or cover up disagreements, but talking openly and frankly even abrasively, maybe as only friends can do.Southeast Asian countries will work more closely with new powers China and India to counter the pressure of protectionism and ensure continued growth, Singapore prime minister said Saturday.

Addressing the summit of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that regional economic growth was under threat because the political mood in many countries had turned against free trade. He said recent trade tensions between the U.S. and China in particular are worrying.

The U.S. and China are entangled in their most consequential trade dispute since World War II. Both countries have proposed tariffs of $50 billion on each others products; President Donald Trump is looking to impose tariffs of up to $100 billion more on Chinese goods.

Regional, global balances shifting

The global strategic balance is shifting, and so is the regional balance, Lee said. New powers, including China and India, are growing in strength and influence. This has opened up new opportunities for ASEAN member states as we expand our cooperation with them.

He said that the group faces challenges closer to home as well, such as the Islamic State group, cybersecurity and strengthening a regional economic community.

In a statement on Saturday, ASEAN leaders affirmed the need for peace in the South China Sea, where the bloc is negotiating a set of rules with China to avoid conflict arising from a bitter territorial dispute pitting some members against Beijings vast claims to the strategic waterway.

Myanmar and Rohingya

They also encouraged Myanmar and Bangladesh to press on with their shared commitment to carry out the voluntary return of about 700,000 Rohingya Muslims who have fled Myanmars Rakhine state, Lee said.

Myanmars military has been accused of instigating the persecution of the ethnic minority, which has been denied citizenship in the majority Buddhist country.

Lee said the leaders agreed that the refugees return must be carried out in a safe, secure and dignified way, without undue delay.

North Korea progress

The leaders also welcomed a historic summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Koreas President Moon Jae-in as a first step toward reducing tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Its a positive step, its better than firing missiles and testing bombs, but how does it go? Thats something which we will wait and see and which we can only hope for the best, Lee said.

To fight protectionism, Lee said that ASEAN was keen to conclude Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership negotiations this year. It is a proposed free trade agreement between ASEAN members and Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand.

In addition to Singapore, the ASEAN members are Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei and the Philippines.The 4-year-old Cote dIvoire boy couldnt walk, speak or feed himself. He was so unlike most other kids that his grandparents hesitated to accept him. The slightly older Kenyan boy was so restless that his primary-school teachers beat him, until they discovered he was a star pupil.

The two children reveal different faces of autism  and how society sometimes reacts to the condition.

Videos of the boys appear in Autism: Breaking the Silence, a special edition of VOAs weekly Straight Talk Africa TV program. It was recorded Wednesday before a small studio audience of people who live with the condition or deal with it professionally.

The programs goal: to help demystify and deepen understanding of autism spectrum disorder. It affects the brains normal development, often compromising an individuals ability to communicate, interact socially or control behavior. The condition can range from mild to severe.

About 45 minutes into the program, Benie Blandine Yao of Cote dIvoire holds her 4-year-old son, who has autism.

New CDC findings

New findings released this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate an increase in autisms prevalence in the United States.

The agency estimates it affects 1 in 59 children, up from 1 in 68 several years ago and 1 in 150 almost two decades ago. The research is based on studies of more than 300,000 8-year-olds in 11 U.S. states.

Globally, one out of every 160 children has an autism spectrum disorder, the World Health Organization reports. Rates of autism are harder to determine in low- and middle-income countries, including those in sub-Saharan Africa with limited access to clinicians.

Everywhere, "poor people get diagnosed later," Scott Badesch, president of the Autism Society of America, said in a video overview that set the stage for discussion. " Theres more services today than ever before but theres nowhere near the services needed for all who need help."

A complex condition

Stigma and superstition can heighten the challenges.

In parts of Africa, youngsters with autism "are labeled as devils and theyre not diagnosed and they are not given treatment," Bernadette Kamara, a native of Sierra Leone who runs BK Behavioral Health Center in a Washington suburb, commented from the audience.

Some people believe the disorder is punishment for a parents bad behavior or an affliction that can be prayed away, said Mary Amoah, featured with 15-year-old daughter Renata in a related VOA video.

They dont understand this is purely a medical condition. It can happen to anyone regardless of your background, said Amoah, coordinator at a treatment center in Accra, Ghana, for children with disabilities. A lot needs to be done in our part of the world in terms of education, acceptance and understanding.

Causes

Researchers havent determined the exact cause of autism, though they cite genetic and environmental factors.

Panelist Susan Daniels, who directs the Office of Autism Research Coordination for the National Institute of Mental Health, part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, stressed that research supported by the NIH and CDC shows no link to childhood vaccines.

Though the condition has no cure, early intervention can improve the quality of life for people with autism and their families.

Parents need to observe their children closely from infancy, advised Dr. Usifo Edward Asikhia, clinical director of the International Training Center for Applied Behavior Analysis in Lagos, Nigeria.

"When you have a baby at the age of 12 [months] that cannot babble, thats a signal," he said. Another is an inability to grasp objects, a sign of low muscle tone common in autism.

Other hallmarks include lack of eye contact or sensitivity to sounds, Daniels said. She added that a definitive diagnosis "cant really be done accurately until age 2. But most kids arent diagnosed by then."

"Children with autism in Africa tend to be diagnosed around age 8, about four years later, on average, than their American counterparts," the Spectrum Autism Research News site reported in December.

Call for cultural sensitivity

Some of those indicators could mislead when assessing African children, said panelist Morenike Giwa Onaiwu, a Texas-based member of the Autism Womens Network.

"In a lot of African cultures, its customary not to make direct eye contact. Thats not a red flag," said Onaiwu, whose parents came from Nigeria and who learned she was autistic only when two of her own six kids were positively identified with autism. "In terms of not babbling? We speak when we have something to say.  Certain things culturally may be missed because of the way diagnostic criteria are viewed through Western standards."

While autism generally is associated with low IQ, the condition also affects people with high mental abilities.

If they can "express themselves in some way, theyre actually geniuses," said panelist Tracy Freeman, a Washington-area physician who has an autistic child. "Their challenge is neurodiversity and getting people to recognize their intelligence."

At one point in the discussion, moderator Linord Moudou noticed Onaiwu twisting a metal coil in her hands. Onaiwu explained that the repurposed Christmas ornament is a "stimming" device for repetitive motion that provides relaxing sensory stimulation.

"It helps to calm me," Onaiwu said. She has other strategies: "Sometimes you might see me rocking.  This kind of helps me to navigate in the neurotypical world."

Growing role for governments?

Asikhia said families dealing with autism had few public supports in Nigeria or elsewhere in Africa. Most schools lack training in developmental delays that should be flagged for physicians, he said.

"Those teachers just dont know what to do," he added.

Many African countries lack laws ensuring public education or health interventions for youngsters with autism or other developmental disorders.

But Chiara Servili, a child neuropsychiatrist and WHO technical adviser on mental health, sees rising interest. Representatives of more than 60 countries supported a 2014 WHO resolution urging member nations to develop policies and laws to ease "the global burden of mental disorders" and to devote "sufficient human, financial and technical resources."

Many governments once focused just on improving child mortality rates, she said in a phone interview. Now, theres "much more awareness not only that they survive but thrive. There is a new focus on early childhood development."

The WHO is trying to improve supports for family caregivers as well as for teachers, social workers and other professionals in positions to encourage clinical evaluation, Servili said.

With international partners, the organization has developed a guide for caregivers, usually parents, to nurture children with developmental issues. For instance, "we teach them strategies so they can better engage children in play. Sit down at the level of the child. Provide some toys or some object from the house, observe what the child is doing and try to follow the lead," Servili said. " Reinforce any attempt to communicate."

For a copy of the WHO Caregiver Skills Training program, contact Servili at servilic@who.org.

Deirdre Murray-McIntosh of VOA's English to Africa Service contributed to this report.Terminally ill British toddler Alfie Evans died Saturday after a protracted legal fight waged by his parents to determine whether their child should remain on life support.

Doctors took the 23-month-old off life support systems against his parents' wishes, saying more treatment was futile. Alfie suffered from a condition that caused irreversible brain damage.

The parents tried for months to convince the courts to allow them to relocate Alfie to the Vatican's children's hospital so he could remain on life support. But after a series of court rulings that blocked more medical treatment, doctors at Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool removed him from life support on Monday.

The efforts of parents Kate James and Tom Evans were supported by Pope Frances and other Christian groups, which helped bring international attention to the case.

"My gladiator lay down his shield and gained his wings at 02:30, absolutely heartbroken," Evans wrote on Facebook.

The case rekindled intense global debate over whether parents, doctors or the courts have the right to decide the fate of a child's life.

The hospital said, "All of us feel deeply for Alfie, Kate, Tom and his whole family and our thoughts are with them."Investigators hunting down the so-called Golden State Killer used information from genetic websites last year that led to the wrong man, court records obtained Friday by The Associated Press showed.

An Oregon police officer working at the request of California investigators persuaded a judge to order a 73-year-old man in a nursing home to provide a DNA sample.

Its not clear if officers collected the sample and ran further tests, but it was not the man arrested this week outside Sacramento in one of the states most notorious string of serial rapes and killings. The Oregon City man was unable to answer questions Friday about the case.

The case of mistaken identity was discovered as authorities hailed a novel use of DNA technology that led this week to the arrest of former police officer Joseph DeAngelo at his house outside Sacramento on murder charges. Critics of the investigative approach, however, warned it could jeopardize privacy rights.

Court appearance

DeAngelo is suspected of being the sadistic attacker who killed 13 people and raped nearly 50 women during the 1970s and 80s.

Handcuffed to a wheelchair in orange jail scrubs, DeAngelo made his first court appearance Friday. The 72-year-old looked dazed and spoke in a faint voice to acknowledge he was represented by a public defender. He did not enter a plea.

He has been charged with eight counts of murder, and additional charges are expected, authorities said.

We have the law to suggest that he is innocent until hes proven guilty and thats what Im going to ask everyone to remember, DeAngelos public defender Diane Howard said outside court. I feel like hes been tried in the press already.

DNA database

Investigators were able to make the arrest this week after matching crime-scene DNA with genetic material stored in an online database by a distant relative. They relied on a different website than they had in the Oregon search, and they did not seek a warrant for DeAngelos DNA.

Instead, they waited for him to discard items and then swabbed the objects for DNA, which proved a conclusive match to evidence that had been preserved more than 30 years.

Also Friday, the co-founder of the genealogy website used by authorities to help identify DeAngelo said he had no idea its database was tapped in pursuit of the suspect who eluded law enforcement for four decades.

Authorities never approached Florida-based GEDmatch about the investigation that led to DeAngelo, and co-founder Curtis Rogers said law enforcements use of the site raised privacy concerns that were echoed by civil liberties groups.

The free genealogy website, which pools DNA profiles that people upload and share publicly to find relatives, said it has always informed users its database can be used for other purposes. But Rogers said the company does not hand out data.

This was done without our knowledge, and its been overwhelming, he told The Associated Press.

Privacy questions

For the team of investigators, GEDmatch was one of the best tools, lead investigator Paul Holes told the Mercury News in San Jose.

Officials did not need a court order to access GEDmatchs large database of genetic blueprints, Holes said. Major commercial DNA companies say they do not give law enforcement access to their genetic data without a court order.

Civil libertarians said the practice raises legal and privacy concerns for the millions of people who submit their DNA to such sites to discover their heritage.

Privacy laws arent strong enough to keep police from accessing ancestry sites, which have fewer protections than regulated databanks of convicts DNA, said Steve Mercer, chief attorney for the forensic division of the Maryland Office of the Public Defender.

People who submit DNA for ancestors testing are unwittingly becoming genetic informants on their innocent family, Mercer said.

While people may not realize police can use public genealogy websites to solve crimes, it is probably legal, said Erin Murphy, a DNA expert and professor at New York University School of Law.

It seems crazy to say a police officer investigating a very serious crime cant do something your cousin can do, Murphy said. If an ordinary person can do this, why cant a cop? On the other hand, if an ordinary person had done this, we might think they shouldnt.

While most consumers would submit DNA to a commercial company such as Ancestry.com and 23andMe to create a genetic profile, the FBI did so for investigators, Holes told The New York Times.

The profile was then uploaded to GEDmatch using a fake profile and pseudonym, the Times reported. The site allows users to remain anonymous.

Rare genetic marker

A year earlier, Holes had identified a rare genetic marker in the assailants DNA. He entered the information among 189,000 profiles at the genealogy website, YSearch.org, and the results led to a relative of the Oregon man.

A spokeswoman for YSearch.org, which is provided by FamilyTreeDNA.com, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Sacramento District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert told AP she was unaware of the Oregon misfire and didnt believe genealogical sites were used before DeAngelo was identified.

DNA was just coming into use as a criminal investigative tool in 1986 when the predator also known as the East Area Rapist apparently ended his decade-long wave of attacks.

As a former police officer, DeAngelo probably would have known about the new method, experts said.Stepped up police enforcement is planned this weekend in Detroit to quell a social media-publicized citywide paintball war that  so far  has resulted in six arrests and left an unmarked patrol car splattered.

Chief James Craig referred Friday to the running battle along city streets as Paint Up, Guns Down, and said organizers are pitching it as an alternative to gun and other violence.

If you want to work with us and stop the violence, there are a number of things we can do together, but having paintball wars across the city is not the way to do it, said Craig said during a news conference.

On Wednesday night, Davon Williams, 22, was arrested when nearly a dozen paintballs struck Capt. Darrell Pattersons vehicle. The paintballs rained on the unmarked car after Patterson turned on its emergency lights when he saw about 50 people with paintball guns shooting at each other.

Williams was arraigned Friday on assault and propelling an object at a vehicle charges, both misdemeanors. He faces a May 10 pretrial hearing. Court records did not list an attorney Friday for Williams.

Five other people were arrested, with four being ticketed for disorderly conduct. No injuries were reported.

Craig said hes more concerned about what could have happened.

Im calling them replica firearms, because when you look at some of these paint guns they look just like an actual firearm, he said. With armed citizens, police officers when confronted with someone with a replica weapon  or in this case a paint gun  they may make the mistake of thinking its a real firearm and feel threatened.Ethiopia's new prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, began his first trip outside his country Saturday to Djibouti, a small but strategic country on the Red Sea.

During Ahmed's 48-hour stay in Djibouti, he was scheduled to participate in talks on security, trade and improving the neighboring countries' strategic interests, Djibouti officials said.

Ahmed was sworn in as Ethiopia's prime minister at the beginning of April, replacing Hailemariam Desalegn, who resigned unexpectedly in February.

Leading a large delegation that included ministers, Ahmed was received by Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh at Ambouli International Airport.

A VOA reporter at the scene said Ethiopia's foreign minister, Workneh Gebeyehu, and the Ethiopian Somali Region president, Abdi Mahamud Omar, were among the delegates at the airport.

The leaders went to the statehouse for a dinner following the arrival.

Challenging situation

Ahmed's visit comes amid a host of challenges inside Ethiopia, where he inherited a country riven by years of protests by people who feel marginalized and a government accused of gross human rights violations.

On the positive side, he has taken the reins of a nation with one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.

Djibouti, close to restive regions in Africa and the Middle East, is home to several foreign military bases, including those run by the U.S., France and Japan. China also is constructing its first overseas military base there, just a few miles from Camp Lemonnier, one of the Pentagon's largest and most important foreign installations.

Beyond Ethiopia's strategic interests with Djibouti, the two countries have shown great interest in fostering regional economic integration. They are highly interdependent.The Port of Djibouti is the only maritime facility for the landlocked country of Ethiopia.

Those interests have been boosted by the establishment of a Chinese-built, 756-kilometer electrified rail project, which officially started operations this year.As representatives from more than 70 countries met this week to strengthen efforts to fight terror financing, experts told U.S. lawmakers that resolving a crisis among the Arab Gulf states could be an effective tool to reduce such funding.

The event Wednesday and Thursday in Paris included Gulf states that have accused each other of funding terrorism.

Tensions in the Gulf region emerged last June when Qatar faced an abrupt diplomatic embargo from fellow Gulf Cooperation Council members Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, joined by Egypt, over allegations that Doha was courting Iran and supporting Islamist extremist groups in the region.

"The rift is a distraction from the many pressing issues that face all parties involved," Katherine Bauer, an expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a former U.S. Treasury official, told lawmakers at a joint hearing of two House Foreign Affairs subcommittees.

"The United States should continue to work to alleviate the impact of the rift on counterterrorism and other security cooperation," Bauer added.

The U.S. has thousands of military personnel at over a dozen bases in the Gulf region and works closely with the GCC countries to counter Iranian influence and fight different terror groups, particularly al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.

But officials in Washington have often complained that the region remains a hotbed where terrorists obtain millions of dollars from sympathizing donors.

Bauer said the blame, which should be shared by all GCC members, is put solely on Qatar, singling out Doha for its counterterror financing deficiencies while letting other states, particularly Kuwait, have a free pass.

At the beginning of the dispute, U.S. President Donald Trump sided with Saudi Arabia and other Arab states, denouncing Qatar as a "funder of terror."

"Kuwait's role as mediator in the rift risks crowding out U.S. efforts to push Kuwait to remedy its own counterterror financing deficiencies," said Bauer, adding the blockade had pushed Qatar closer to Iran.

Targeting center



The U.S. and GCC members established the Terrorist Financing Targeting Center (TFTC) last May to disrupt terror financing actions and provide support in building the required capacity to tackle terror financing networks in the region. That effort was followed by a memorandum of understanding in June between the U.S. and Qatar to help strengthen the Gulf states' fight against terror financing.

The two initiatives have helped the U.S. work with the GCC states to impose sanctions on dozens of individuals and entities accused of providing financial support to terror groups in the region  including the Islamic State and al-Qaida  particularly in Yemen.

Earlier this month, Trump welcomed Qatar's emir, Sheikh Tamim al-Thani, to the White House and praised him as "big advocate" of combating terror financing.

"We're making sure that terrorism funding is stopped in the countries that we are really related to," Trump said. "But those countries are stopping the funding of terrorism, and that includes UAE and it includes Saudi Arabia, it includes Qatar and others. A lot of countries were funding terrorism and we're stopping it."

Lingering standoff

But experts warned U.S. lawmakers that those efforts could be undermined as the standoff among the GCC members lingers.

David Weinberg, an expert with the Anti-Defamation League, told lawmakers that the dispute had also opened the door to the politicization of the terror financing list. He said some Gulf states were using the terror financing issue as a pretext to target their rivals, particularly in the case of Qatar.

"The U.S. should review the designations of individual terror financiers issued by the anti-Qatar quartet over the last year to assess whether any of those individuals not under U.S. sanctions should also be designated by the United States," said Weinberg.

"Although some of the more politicized entries on this list certainly do not meet U.S. legal standards for designation, some other entries might," he added.Thousands of Yemenis attended a funeral Saturday for a top Houthi rebel official killed more than a week ago in a Saudi-led coalition airstrike in the coastal province of Hodeida.

Saleh al-Samad, chief of the Houthis' Supreme Political Council, was killed in that airstrike along with six others. Al-Samad's successor, Mahdi al-Mashat, was among the mourners who attended the funeral in Sanaa's al-Sabeen Square.

Rebel leader Abdul-Malek al-Houthi has vowed to avenge the death of al-Samad.

Shortly after the funeral started, the Houthis said they had launched eight ballistic missiles into Sunni territory. The Saudi-led coalition said it had intercepted four of the missiles, which were headed for the coastal city of Jizan.

The coalition also said one man had been killed by flying debris from the attack.

Also Saturday, a Saudi-led coalition airstrike in Yemen's capital killed two Houthi leaders.

It was not immediately clear how many other people were killed or injured in the attack in Sanaa. Saudi Arabia's state-run television put the death toll at more than 50, while al-Arabia television said at least 38 rebels had been killed in the strike on the Houthis' interior ministry building.

More than 2 million people have become internally displaced in Yemen since March 2015. That is when the Saudi-led coalition, in support of Yemen's government, began a bombing campaign against Houthi rebels.

Yemen, the site of the world's largest humanitarian crisis, has more than 22 million people in need of assistance. Aid agencies warn needs are increasing, fueled by the ongoing conflict, collapsing economy, and lack of social services and livelihoods.Iranian authorities have released an anti-hijab activist two days after detaining her as she attended a gathering near Tehran in tribute to the nations former ruler, Reza Shah Pahlavi.

Family members of Maryam Shariatmadari informed Masih Alinejad, the freelance host of VOA Persians Tablet program, that she was released Friday.

A sister of Shariatmadari earlier sent Alinejad an audio message in which she said her sibling and their mother had been beaten by unknown individuals who detained them Wednesday in the southern Tehran district of Shahr Rey.

The mother and daughter had joined a public gathering in tribute to Reza Shah after authorities said construction workers may have unearthed his missing remains near a local shrine Monday. The monarch, who founded the Pahlavi dynasty and ruled from 1925 to 1941, is admired by many Iranians for helping to modernize the country.

Prominent Iranian lawyer and human rights defender Nasrin Sotoudeh, who represents Shariatmadari, identified the people who beat her client and her clients mother as intelligence agents of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

In comments to DWs Farsi service published Friday, Sotoudeh said the agents freed the mother hours after the beatings, but kept Shariatmadari in detention while they seized the anti-hijab activists computer and other personal belongings.

Shariatmadari, who is in her early 30s, rose to prominence earlier this year for standing on a utility box on a Tehran street and waving her hijab in a February 23 protest against Iranian laws requiring women to cover their hair in public. A policeman pushed her off the box and caused her to fall and injure herself. A video of the incident went viral on social media. That protest also marked her first arrest. She was sentenced in March to one year in prison before being released on bail.

In a related development, an Iranian woman who was wrestled to the ground by morality policewomen last week on suspicion of not wearing her hijab properly has enlisted the help of another prominent Iranian lawyer who represents victims of alleged rights abuses. A mobile phone video of the April 18 incident in a Tehran park also went viral on social media.

Editor's note: Some viewers may find this video disturbing:

In a Skype video interview on VOA Persians Early News program Friday, Tehran-based lawyer Mohammad Hossein Aghasi said he planned to file several complaints with the authorities on behalf of the woman, whom he described as a graduate student but declined to name. He said one complaint was in response to accusations by some Iranian officials that his client and her friends had staged or deliberately provoked the confrontation in order to tarnish the image of Irans morality police.

This was not orchestrated, it was a reality  my client was beaten, Aghasi said. She and the friends who came to her rescue had no intention to harm the morality polices reputation.

Aghasi also said his client had been wearing her hijab properly and would file a complaint against the morality policewomen who accosted her. He said a third complaint would be lodged against the person who filmed and posted the video clip, an action that he said had upset his client greatly.

The sharing of the video clip prompted a social media backlash against the morality policewomen who assaulted the woman. Several women in the Iranian government also posted tweets criticizing the assault and calling for change in how authorities enforce hijab regulations.

This report was produced in collaboration with VOAs Persian service.Authorities in China said a man with a knife killed seven middle school children Friday at a school in the country's north.

Officials said the 28-year-old attacker, who was a former student at the school, attacked the children as they were leaving the Mizhi County No. 3 Middle School in Shaanxi province.

They said 12 other students were injured and were receiving care at a nearby hospital. Officials did not give the ages of the victims, but middle school students in China are typically between 12 and 15 years old.

Officials said the suspect had been arrested.

China's public security bureau said the alleged attacker was bullied when he attended the same school as a child and held a grudge.

China tightly restricts private gun ownership, making knives and explosives the most common weapons for criminals.

Knife attacks have made headlines in China in recent years, including an attack in February in which a knife-wielding man killed a woman and injured 12 others at a Beijing shopping center.

Similar attacks have also targeted schoolchildren in the past, including several stabbings in recent years.It was another landmark week in the presidency of Donald Trump. He hosted key U.S. allies Emmanuel Macron of France and Angela Merkel of Germany; but, he also had to weather more turmoil in his Cabinet as well as the ongoing Russia investigation and intensifying scrutiny of his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen.

What might be an extraordinary week for another president has quickly become situation normal for the man elected as the nations 45th chief executive.

Trump wound up his chaotic week Friday by meeting with German Chancellor Merkel. During an Oval Office photo opportunity, Trump was eager to embrace a report from Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee that found no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

No collusion

It was a great report. No collusion, which I knew anyway. No coordination, no nothing, said Trump with Merkel looking on. It is a witch hunt. That is all it is. No collusion with Russia, if you can believe this one.

Representative Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, issued a statement criticizing the Republican conclusions. Schiff asserted the committee did find evidence of collusion in secret meetings and communications between Trump campaign officials and others with links to the Russian government. The matter remains the focus of the investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller.

Earlier in the week, Trump bonded with French President Macron during a formal state visit that was noted for the warm physical interactions between the two leaders.

He is going to be an outstanding president. One of your great presidents and it is an honor to call you my friend. Thank you, Trump told Macron at the end of their joint news conference.

Trump also received more good news this week when his choice for secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, finally won Senate confirmation.

Cabinet turmoil

There were, however, some significant setbacks as well, including the withdrawal of Ronny Jackson as the next head of the Department of Veterans Affairs and intense congressional scrutiny of embattled EPA chief Scott Pruitt, under fire for allegedly misspending government funds.

It was yet another week of dramatic ups and downs that have become a regular feature of the Trump White House.

I dont think it is that he thrives on chaos. He creates chaos and this is what the White House has been about and what Washington has been about, said analyst Jim Kessler with the centrist Democratic group Third Way.

WATCHL Merkel, Macron and Cabinet Turmoil  Just Another Week at the Trump White House

Legal shadow

In addition to the Russia probe, the legal problems confronting Trumps personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, continue to cast a shadow over the administration, according to John Fortier with the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington.

Its an up and down week. Its always a very exciting time with Donald Trump, but certainly the circus atmosphere of the appointments and the scandal is often coming back into play.

Both Fortier and Kessler are the guests this week on VOAs Encounter radio program.

Kessler said Trump is hoping that the good news about improving relations between North Korea and South Korea and his close friendship with Macron will overshadow the setbacks.

Trump felt good about bonding with Macron and Macron elevated himself on the world stage. So in that way, this was a good week for Donald Trump despite all the bad things that happened to him, Kessler said.

At a joint news conference Friday with Merkel, Trump congratulated the leaders of North Korea and South Korea after their summit. He also said the U.S. will continue to exert maximum pressure on North Korea until denuclearization takes place.

A new Quinnipiac University poll this week found that U.S. voters approve of Trumps handling of the North Korea issue by a margin of 52 percent to 42 percent. Trumps overall approval rating in the same poll was 39 percent favorable, 54 percent unfavorable.

Ever the showman, Trump found time late in the week to lead a tour for the children of White House reporters.It was another landmark week in the presidency of Donald Trump. Trump hosted key U.S. allies Emmanuel Macron of France and Angela Merkel of Germany. But he also had to weather more turmoil in his Cabinet as well as the ongoing Russia investigation and intensifying scrutiny of his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen. VOA National correspondent Jim Malone has more from Washington.India and China have agreed to improve communication between their militaries to maintain peace at the border, Indias foreign secretary said Saturday at the end of an ice-breaking trip to China by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Modi has spent the past 24 hours in the central Chinese city of Wuhan for informal meetings with President Xi Jinping, months after a dispute over a stretch of their high-altitude Himalayan border rekindled fears of war between the Asian nations.

Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale told reporters after Modi and Xi wrapped up their talks that both leaders had agreed their two countries had the maturity and wisdom to handle all their differences peacefully through talks.

On the issue of the India-China boundary question, the two leaders endorsed the work of the special representatives in their efforts to find a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable settlement, he said.

And the two leaders also underscored that in the meantime it is important to maintain peace and tranquility in all areas of the India-China border region, Gokhale said.

Informal meeting

Billed by both sides as an informal meeting rather than a summit, with none of the pomp and ceremony of a state visit such as 21-gun salutes, the two men held talks Friday that lasted far longer than expected. It also included a personal tour of a major museum by Xi.

Chinese state media has praised the tone of the trip.

The overseas edition of the ruling Communist Partys official Peoples Daily said in a front page commentary on Saturday two great countries ought to have great cooperation, and showed a large picture of the two leaders shaking hands.

There is reason to believe that this Wuhan meeting will increase mutual trust, manage and control disputes, deepen cooperation and lead to a new phase in China-India relations, it said.

It is quite clear that strategic agreement between the two countries far exceeds the specific differences, and the need for cooperation far exceeds local friction, it said.

Mutual suspicion

The official China Daily said in an editorial there was no denying mutual suspicion was keeping the two countries from working together.

Yet neither Beijing nor New Delhi calls the other an enemy, which means both expect bilateral ties to improve. Indeed, China and India are natural partners, it said.

Despite the upbeat statements, which Friday included Modi inviting Xi to India for a similar informal summit next year, the nations differences are significant.

As well as disputes over stretches of a 3,500 km (2,200 miles) border, they are bumping up against each other in the Indian Ocean and squabbling over Xis signature Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.

India signaled as recently as Tuesday its opposition to the grand trade and transport plan because one of its branches runs through Pakistani-administered Kashmir, which India claims.

India has long been suspicious of Chinas traditionally close ties with Pakistan.

For its part, China has been concerned about U.S. efforts to draw India into a maritime quad of democracies, including Japan and Australia.

China is also suspicious of Indias hosting of the Dalai Lama and other exiled Tibetans.Firefighters in Myanmar scrambled to put out a fire in a massive garbage dump on the edge of its largest city, Yangon, as foul-smelling smoke from the burning trash that injured dozens extended into its second week Saturday.

The fire has generated a haze blanketing parts of Myanmars commercial hub and raised concerns about public health. It has spread across nearly a third of the 300-acre landfill in Yangons northern township of Hlaing Thar Yar.

Some 600 firefighters and members of security forces have been fighting the blaze since April 21. Authorities have imported fire suppression bio-foam from neighboring Thailand and tried to create artificial rain to contain the spread of the flames in the peak of the hot season.

Cause of fire unknown

While authorities have brought the fire under control, deputy director of Myanmar Fire Service Department Win Naing told Reuters it was difficult to estimate when it would be extinguished. The cause of the fire had yet to be determined, Win Naing said.

Twenty-six people have been hospitalized, many suffering smoke inhalation. Myanmar has sought medical help from the World Health Organization and other aid agencies, state-run newspaper Global New Light of Myanmar reported Saturday.

Myanmar media have criticized the governments slow response in tackling what Yangon Region Chief Minister Phyo Min Thein called a national problem.

Garbage problem

It also highlights the growing waste problem in Yangon, a city of more than 5 million people without a long-term waste management solution. The 17-year-old landfill takes about half of the citys daily trash of more than 2,500 tons.

We have been throwing trash for ages that way. Old trash produces methane and it causes fires, Phyo Min Thein told reporters.

Firefighters described challenges battling the flames and smoke under scorching heat without adequate protective equipment.

We cant even see each other due to the smoke, said Zaw Naing Myint, a fire station leader who was hospitalized for smoke inhalation. Zaw Naing Myint broke down in tears as he described climbing trash piled up like mountains.

Among the worst affected were residents of Hlaing Thar Yar, one of Yangons poorest neighborhoods. Tens of thousands of people live in shanty towns there built from bamboo and plastic sheets and lack access to electricity, running water and drainage systems.

I feel terrible because I cant breathe and my feet were swollen and still swelling a bit, said 65-year-old Tin Ohn, a Hlaing Thar Yar resident who suffers diabetes and was also hospitalized for smoke inhalation.Navajo Nation leaders say a Utah county is trying to keep a Native candidate off the ballot during the first election since a federal judge ruled voting districts were drawn based on race.

Navajo Nation Vice President Jonathan Nez said in statement the threat of possible criminal charges is an example of the countys bad-faith attempt to undermine Navajo candidates and disenfranchise voters.

San Juan County, though, maintained Friday that the investigation into whether a county commission candidate, Democrat Willie Grayeyes, lives on the Utah side of the nearby Arizona border is aimed at ensuring fair elections and isnt related to politics or race.

Court-ordered voting districts

The dust-up comes as the largely Republican-led county fights back in court against new voting districts that they say unfairly carve up San Juan Countys largest city of Blanding, about 300 miles (482 kilometers) south of Salt Lake City.

A federal judge ordered the districts be redrawn after finding they minimized the voices of Navajo residents who make up half the countys voters. They tend to lean Democratic, and the newly drawn districts could give local candidates like Grayeyes a better shot at winning races during the upcoming election that will be the first under the new boundaries.

The voting-rights lawsuit came amid similar legal clashes over early voting access in Nevada, Native language assistance in Alaska and voter ID laws in North Dakota. Advocates hope greater access to the ballot box could ultimately improve conditions in populations with huge disparities in health, education and economics.

County investigators looking into Grayeyes candidacy in Utah want to see proof of residency like a utility bill, said San Juan County spokeswoman Natalie Callahan.

Theyre really looking for anything that would qualify where he lived, she said.

Candidate provides proof

His lawyers counter that theyve provided multiple documents, including satellite images of the remote Utah home where hes lived for 20 years while holding local leadership positions and an affidavit saying hes been registered to vote in San Juan County since he was 18. Many homes in the rural area dont have utility hookups and the lack of a local post office means many residents collect their mail from nearby Arizona.

Grayeyes did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

He lives on the Navajo Nation, which overlaps with San Juan County and stretches into Arizona and New Mexico. The county says it opened the investigation after a citizen complaint questioned whether Grayeyes lives in Utah. Callahan said theyve also found other evidence supporting the claim, though she didnt specify, citing the ongoing investigation.

Grayeyes also serves on the board of Utah Dine Bikeyah, a group that supported the creation of the Bears Ears National Monument to protect land that tribes consider sacred and is home to ancient cliff dwellings and petroglyphs.

The land protections were fiercely opposed by largely Republican leaders in San Juan County and statewide. President Donald Trump ordered the monument downsized last year.The Trump administration has abandoned plans to appoint a new ambassador to Australia, 18 months after the last U.S. envoy finished his assignment.

The last permanent U.S. ambassador to Canberra was John Berry, who left the post in 2016. The position is seen as a desirable appointment, given Canberras leafy surroundings and the relative calm of Australian politics.

Many in Australia see the move as a snub, although the government in Canberra says it is not offended.

The Trump administration had planned to nominate Admiral Harry Harris from the U.S. Pacific Command as the next United States ambassador to Australia. That decision has been reversed, and Harris, a high-ranking Japanese-American naval officer, will instead become Washingtons envoy in South Korea.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he was disappointed his good friend would not be taking up a senior diplomatic role in Canberra, but that he understood the decision given the admirals expertise and experience.

Allies feel snubbed

But there is disquiet in other quarters.

Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says President Trump is in danger of taking Australia, a long-standing ally, for granted.

I think the bottom line is the administration has decided that South Korea, demonstrably, is strategically more important. Given whats happening with the inter-Korean summit, you can understand that reasoning, Rudd said.

But for Australia, I think, it does indicate that, at least from the view of the Trump administration, we are seen as something as a second-rate ally. President Trump is not a popular figure within Australia, for a whole range of reasons on the right and the left of politics. But the bottom line is all Australians expect any administration in the United States to take our alliance seriously, he added.

Most important alliance

Australia signed a formal security treaty with the United States in the early 1950s. The agreement has underpinned Australias national security ever since. While it has close trading ties with China, and a historic relationship with its former colonial masters in Britain, Australia considers its alliance with the United States to be its most important.

Every year since 2012, U.S. Marines have been routinely stationed in Australias Northern Territory. The next contingent, almost 2,000 strong, is scheduled to arrive in Darwin next month.

Announced in 2011, the so-called Force Posture Agreement between Canberra and Washington is designed to enhance military cooperation.

The English-speaking nations have fought on the same side in various conflicts for a century, including Vietnam and Iraq.After making his diplomatic debut in Brussels at the NATO foreign ministers meeting, new U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived Saturday in Saudi Arabia on the first stop of a swing through the Middle East.

Pompeo's senior policy adviser, Brian Hook, who is accompanying Pompeo, called on European allies and other countries to impose sanctions on Iran to weaken its missile program.

"We are urging nations around the world to sanction any individuals and entities associated with Iran's missile program, and it has also been a big part of discussions with Europeans," Hook told reporters in Riyadh.

The three-day trip, during which the secretary is expected to brief U.S. allies on administration policy toward Iran, will also include stops in Israel and Jordan.

Friday, Pompeo said no decision had been made on whether President Donald Trump would withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal, adding that negotiations were ongoing.

At his first news conference in his new job, Pompeo said, "Absent a substantial fix, absent overcoming the shortcomings, the flaws of the deal, he [Trump] is unlikely to stay in that deal past this May."

Pompeo said he had discussed the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, with his NATO counterparts. The top U.S. diplomat said this issue most likely would be high on the agenda when he traveled to the Middle East after leaving Brussels.

Pompeo also fielded questions on countering Russian attacks on Western democracy, Ukraine, his visit to North Korea and morale at the State Department. Asked about a demoralized workforce in Washington, Pompeo said he had met with State Department officers at the NATO mission in Brussels. He said they might have been demoralized but seemed in good spirits.

"They are hopeful that the State Department will get its swagger back, that we will be out doing the things that they came on board at the State Department to do, to be professional, to deliver American diplomacy around the world. That is my mission set," he said.

Pompeo indicated he would meet with State Department employees Tuesday after returning to Washington.

Asked about his recent meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Pompeo declined to say whether Kim was stable. Pompeo did say he believed Kim was serious about a planned summit with Trump. Pompeo congratulated South Korea and North Korea on a historic meeting and the Korean people's aspirations for peace and prosperity.

"Let there be no doubt, we would not be where we are today without President Trump's maximum-pressure campaign, and the work that has been done all around the world to apply pressure to North Korea," he said.

Making his first trip hours after he was confirmed sent a strong signal of U.S. support to its NATO allies, Pompeo said.

"I hopped straight on a plane and came straight here," he told NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. "There's good reason for that. The work that's being done here today is invaluable and our objectives are important and this mission means a lot to the United States of America."

Pompeo said Trump "very much wanted me to get here."

Stoltenberg and other leaders in Brussels said they appreciated Pompeo's quick action to attend Friday's talks.

"I feel that that's a great expression of the importance of the alliance and the importance we attach to the alliance, and I very much look forward to talking with you on the need to adapt NATO to a more demanding security environment," the NATO secretary-general told Pompeo.

Stoltenberg added, "Your valued and long experience will make you a perfect person to be the top diplomat of the United States."

International leaders and foreign policy experts will most likely observe Pompeo closely in his first weeks on the job to get a read on where the United States stands, as North Korea, Syria and Iran dominate headlines.

Pompeo is said to be more hawkish on the Iranian government than his predecessor, Rex Tillerson, who wanted the U.S. to stay in the Iran nuclear agreement.

Trump abruptly fired Tillerson last month, hours after the then-secretary had returned from a trip to Africa. Trump said he and Pompeo were much more "on the same wavelength" on Iran and other issues.

During Pompeo's confirmation hearing, a number of Democratic senators expressed concern that he was too close to Trump and might not stand up to the president when the two disagreed on policy.

Republican lawmakers said Pompeo's close relationship with Trump would be a great asset on the world stage.Fats Domino was a New Orleans musical legend when he died last year so it's only fitting that his death - and his music - receive a special send-off this year during the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.

Organizers Saturday will mark the occasion with a jazz funeral as well as a special tribute performance in his honor.

Festival producer Quint Davis says there are two New Orleans musicians who "changed the music of the whole world." One was Louis Armstrong and the other was Fats Domino.

The tribute concert Saturday will feature various members of Domino's band who played with him. Special musical guests include Bonnie Raitt and Jon Batiste.Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Saturday that airstrikes on Syria, conducted by the U.S., Britain, and France on April 14, were a violation of international law and indicated that the Western powers were trying to destroy the peace process.

Lavrov, speaking after meeting in Moscow with his Turkish and Iranian counterparts, said such "attempts to ... destabilize the situation" encourage the extremists in Syria to go on with their armed struggle.

Lavrov and his counterparts said they agreed that Syria's territorial integrity should be preserved, while accusing the United States of plans to "reformat" the Middle East and divide Syria into parts.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javid Zarif said there was no military solution to the Syrian crisis. He also said that Iran condemned the use of chemical weapons and hoped that the investigation of an alleged Syrian attack on its own people would uncover the truth. He also said anyone who supported Iraq when it used chemical weapons against Iran in the 1980s had no right to criticize Syria today.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said his country, too, supported Syrian territorial integrity and, with allies Iran and Russia, hoped ultimately to find a political solution to the crisis. He said "some groups" had tried to undermine that work, and he urged all parties to contribute to the peace process instead.A Saudi-led airstrike targeting a high-level meeting of Shiite rebels in Yemens capital killed two of the groups leaders and dozens of their militiamen, the kingdoms state media reported early Saturday. The Shiite rebels known as Houthis did not immediately acknowledge the strike.



Saudi state-run television offered the report, saying the strike Friday killed more than 50 militiamen, including the two leaders. It did not elaborate.



That dispatch followed a far more detailed report on the strike by Al-Arabiya, a Dubai-based satellite news network now believed to be majority-owned by Saudi Arabia.



Al-Arabiya, without offering a source for its information, said the strike hit a building belonging to Yemens Interior Ministry in the countrys rebel-held capital, Sanaa. It said more than 38 Houthi fighters including the two leaders were killed in the strike targeting a high-level meeting.



Al-Masirah, a Houthi-run satellite news channel, acknowledged Houthi leaders met Friday to discuss Saturdays funeral of Saleh al-Sammad, a Houthi political leader earlier killed in a Saudi airstrike. However, Al-Masirah only reported an airstrike Friday night in Sanaa it said wounded civilians.



Yemens 3-year-old war has killed more than 10,000 people, displaced 2 million and helped spawn a devastating cholera epidemic in the Arab worlds poorest country. It began after the Houthis swept through Sanaa and farther south, sparking a Saudi-led military intervention on behalf of the countrys internationally recognized government.



The kingdoms devastating air campaign repeatedly has struck markets, medical facilities and civilian targets, drawing international criticism. The coalitions blockade on ports under Houthi control has been a main factor pushing the country into near starvation, according to United Nations agencies and rights groups.



Meanwhile, the Iranian-backed Houthis face criticism for laying mines that have killed and maimed civilians, while allegedly diverting humanitarian aid to their own cadres and conducting mass roundups of their perceived enemies.The Syrian civil war's death toll is staggering, and civilians have increasingly borne its brunt, particularly children.

The U.N. International Children's Fund (UNICEF) issued a blank statement in February 2018 as a response to reports of mass casualties among children in Eastern Ghouta and Damascus. The statement was preceded with the message, "No words will do justice to the children killed, their mothers, their fathers and their loved ones."

In the midst of the violence and destruction, a number of Syrian children use social media to tell the tales of war to the outside world and provide a window into life and death in Syria.

Muhammed Najem, 15, uses his mobile phone to capture videos and images of Eastern Ghouta, his hometown.

His biggest hope is to be able to sit in a classroom one day and live a peaceful life.

"I want to travel, continue my study, and work on my English and my journalism skills," Najem told VOA.

When the Syrian government escalated its airstrikes as it pushed into Eastern Ghouta, Najem captured moments of the suffering as the city was besieged and the regime forces bombarded it with nonstop airstrikes.

Eastern Ghouta

Those inside the city were struggling for basic living needs.

Eastern Ghouta, a rebel stronghold, saw countless attacks over the years, but in February, the attacks took a new turn as the city was targeted by the bloodiest bombing campaign by the Bashar al-Assad regime in years.

Najem decided that the world needed to see the war through his eyes.

"He spoke in English because he thought he would reach more people," Najem's sister, Hiba, told VOA.

"He stopped going to school after it was destroyed in an airstrike. He used English words he learned when he was in school to deliver his message," she said.

Loss of father

Najem lost his father during a shelling in Eastern Ghouta. The war also claimed the life of his best friend, who was killed in an airstrike.

His experiences and losses forced him to act more like an adult, undertaking responsibilities children in his age normally don't even have to think about.

He began cutting and collecting wood for heat and bringing water from nearby wells to his family.

He also used his social media skills to tweet about everyday life.

"The [humanitarian] and [medical] situation in Eastern Ghouta is difficult to describe with words. What is happening now is genocide," Najem said in one a Twitter video earlier this year.

Najem was evacuated from Eastern Ghouta just days before the regime's chemical attack that killed and injured scores of civilians in the area.

As Najem and thousands of other civilians were bused to refugee camps in the north, he documented his journey.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights estimates about 46,000 civilians and fighters were evacuated from the rebel enclave.

Najem still tweets from his refugee camp, and he has a message for the outside world:

"My message to the world is that our right as children is to live in peace and be able to go to school and play like any other child in this world."

Nour and Alaa

Nour and Alaa, 12 and 8 years old, respectively, caught the world's attention when the sisters started tweeting details of their daily lives under siege and bombardment in Eastern Ghouta.

Shams, their mother, created a joint Twitter account for them to provide a window of communication to the outside world and to appeal to the international community for help as living conditions deteriorated.

"Children in Eastern Ghouta were deprived from everything, food, water, school, home," Shams told VOA.

"Ghouta was ignored by the world, so I decided with my daughters to open a Twitter account to show the world what is going on," she said.

Nour and Alaa told VOA that at one point they lived underground for two months because of continued airstrikes.

"Many hundred civilians have been killed and injured," tweeted Nour and Alaa. "Yesterday there was a meeting [in the U.N. Security Council] but without result."

That meant, they said, that "there is no truce, no cease-fire and no hope, as warplanes and helicopters still target us."

Nour and Alaa told VOA the sky was never clear from warplanes and helicopters, striking their area day and night when they were in Eastern Ghouta.

Like Najem, Nour and Alaa stopped going to school after it was destroyed by a regime airstrike.

"Memories from #Ghouta / #Syria. This is a #school in #Jobar, they destroyed the schools and hospitals and mosques and all buildings, no building left [without] being hit by two or three missiles," the girls tweeted.



Children can't recall peace

The civil war has entered its eighth year and many Syrian children do not remember peace, because they were either born during war or were too young when the conflict began in 2011 to remember life before the conflict.

"Seeing my girls grow up in this war was very hard; seeing my children sleep hungry and terrified was painful. But hope springs eternally. We hope one day to return back to our homes in peace," Shams said.

Like Najem, the two sisters were also evacuated from Eastern Ghouta to northern Syria. While Najem is still in Syria, Nour and Alaa crossed into neighboring Turkey and live there as refugees.

But they have not forgotten about Syria.

"Please help the children of Syria. They deserve to live like other children in this world," Nour and Alaa told VOA.At least four Somali government soldiers have been killed and six wounded by a suicide bomber who attacked a tea restaurant in the divided town of Galkayo in central Somalia, witnesses and officials said Saturday. The attack happened on the northern side of the town controlled by the Puntland semi-autonomous region.



"A young man wearing a suicide vest rushed toward the restaurant where government security officials and their guards gathered and blew himself up," a witnesses told VOA.



Government officials in the region have confirmed that two senior military commanders were among those killed in the attack.



Col. Abdi Hukun Abdullahi Mohamed, the commander of the town's security patrol teams, senior Somali military official Abdikani Ahmed Geyre, another army colonel and one of their guards died in the attack, Somali security officials told VOA.



Galkayo is the provincial capital of the divided Mudug region of Somalia. The northern part of the town is controlled by the Puntland regional state, while the south is controlled by Galmudug regional state.



No one claimed immediate responsibility for the attack, but it had the hallmarks of an al-Shabab strike. That militant group has attacked dozens of government buildings, hotels, restaurants and other targets in Mogadishu in recent years.



The town's mayor, Hirsi Yusuf Barre, told reporters they are investigating the attack.

The commanders targeted in this latest attack were in charge of hundreds of military officers from Galmudug and Puntland states, and they carry out joint patrols in the divided town as part of a cease-fire agreement brokered with help of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), United Nations and other partners in 2017.



Somalia has been gripped by conflict since the downfall of Mohamed Siad Barre in early 1991, when repeated and deadly inter-clan fighting claimed the lives of many innocent civilians. But for the major cities, including capital city, Mogadishu, the armed al-Shabab group has been one of the main causes of unrest in the past two decades.A governor in Mali said Saturday that suspected jihadists had killed at least 40 civilians in two attacks near the country's border with Niger, where attacks have increased in the past year.

Menaka Gov. Daouda Maiga said gunmen on motorbikes staged the assaults Thursday and Friday. He said Fulani members of Islamic State Greater Sahara most likely attacked in retaliation for military actions supported by Tuaregs in the region.

In recent months Tuareg civilian defense groups, supported by French soldiers, have fought against jihadists in northeastern Mali.

The jihadist attacks may also be an attempt to further exploit tensions between Tuaregs and Fulani herdsmen over land.

In early April, the head of the U.N. mission in Mali's human rights division, Guillaume Ngefa, said Tuaregs had killed 95 Fulani civilians in the region.The Syrian government is set to seize the property of millions of Syrians who fled their homes, unless they return to claim them by presenting ownership deeds to local authorities.

Under a law introduced in April, the 6 million Syrians who fled their homes to escape the carnage and 7 million displaced to other parts of the war-torn country have until May 10 to register their properties or forfeit their homes. The remaining plots will be auctioned, according to legislation known as Law No. 10.

Government-connected investors from President Bashar al-Assads minority Alawite Muslim sect are likely to reap massive profits.

European officials at a donor conference this week described the law as punitive. The German foreign ministry Friday issued a statement saying

it saw the law as an attempt to change property ownership to the benefit of the regime and its supporters and hinder the return of a huge number

of Syrians.

At a recent conference in Brussels, donors, mainly from Western and Gulf countries, pledged $4.4 billion in humanitarian aid for Syria and neighboring Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon, which are sheltering the bulk of the Syrians who fled over the borders to escape vicious fighting.

The collective pledges fall far short of the $7 billion that U.N. officials say is needed. And with the increasing likelihood that refugees will be afraid to return, or will have nothing to return to because of the new law, the international community is likely to need far more funding to shelter millions of Syrians for the foreseeable future.

U.N. officials say only a small fraction of the refugees and displaced will even have the necessary documentation. Many Syrian land registries have been destroyed, often purposely to help depopulate Sunni areas and put into effect population transfers, they say.

For the past year, many Syrians have been debating whether to risk returning home. They sought safety in neighboring states and Europe, either to maintain resistance against Assad or to escape the airstrikes and barrel bombs, as well as fighting in their war-torn country.

With the balance of battlefield power swinging in favor of the Assad government, they have been asking what the future holds for them.

Rebel fighters and opposition activists and politicians say they can only picture a "Syria-less" future for themselves. They and their families face the prospect of long-term, even permanent exile, they say, because they won't ever be able to return as long as Assad remains in power.

Syrian NGOs and relief workers, too, say theres no future for them while Assad is in Damascus or his Baath party is in control.

In my case, if Assad remains in power, I would either be thrown into prison for the rest of my life or would become another name on the international lists of victims and the disappeared, said Mohammad Noor, who has been studying in Turkey.

In dozens of interviews VOA has conducted in the past few weeks with Syrians based outside their country, those active in rebel militias or the political opposition and civil society organizations, or who have relatives connected to such groups, are the most adamant in saying they wont be able to return.

Aside from the risks, many in the opposition say they couldnt contemplate living in a country ruled by Assad on moral grounds  a conviction thats only deepened with time during a conflict that has seen scorched-earth bombing of rebel-held towns and alleged chemical warfare use.

How could I live in a country ruled by Bashar al-Assad? Hes responsible for destroying more than half of Aleppo, killing half a million Syrians and forcing millions of others to flee the country or their homes? queried an activist who uses the name Khudur. I cant return and live in a country ruled by a criminal."

Others unconnected with political or military activity, though, have started to return, but in small numbers, pushed to go because of harsh conditions in neighboring countries, say NGOs working with refugees. The returns result from unsafe and precarious living conditions in asylum and are not a sign that the situation in Syria has improved, according to the Durable Solutions Platform, an NGO-led research initiative.

Increasing vulnerability, poverty and desperation are driving the few who are returning to do so, despite the danger and hazards they court back in their home country, six NGOs warned in a report, Dangerous Ground  Syria's Refugees Face an Uncertain Future.

Push factors are mounting, the NGOs say, on Syrians to return against a backdrop of increased anti-refugee rhetoric and policies, with governments openly contemplating the return of refugees to the country.

The prevailing interest in securing the return of refugees is undermining their safety and dignity in neighboring countries, creating push factors and increasing the likelihood of forced returns in 2018. It also threatens to limit the options for making a life beyond the region through resettlement or other safe and legal routes, the NGOs, including the Danish Refugee Council and Save the Children, warned in the report, published in February.

The governments of neighboring countries had planned for  or at least hoped for  a brief Syrian war and refugee crisis, with most of the refugees returning to their homes. It has been only in the past 18 months that the Turks have started to develop plans for what to do with the 2 million Syrians in Turkey.

In Lebanon, Prime Minister Saad Hariri has promised there will be no forced returns, but theres mounting political pressure for that to happen.

Refugees have become a key issue in current election campaigning in Lebanon. Christian and Shiite politicians, including Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, say it is time all Syrian refugees return home, arguing that the overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim Syrian refugee population threatens Lebanon's national identity and sectarian mix.

U.N. officials warn that Syrian refugees are facing increasing harassment and mistreatment in efforts to pressure them to go home. According to the U.N.'s refugee agency, UNHCR, 1,300 Syrian families were evicted from settlements in the Bekaa Valley last year, with most evictions ordered by Lebanese military intelligence.

Opinion is divided about whether most Syrian refugees will return or try to stay put in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Iraq, or further afield. Syrian activists had predicted that "ordinary" Syrians in Europe or the United States would not return, but those living in camps and refugees in countries surrounding Syria would be more tempted to return because of a lack of options, if the shelling and airstrikes stop.

If their homes and property are confiscated, however, then a major pull factor will have been eliminated. They won't go back, unless the host countries start deporting them, activists predict.

Facing mounting social and economic difficulties, refugees feel trapped between host countries that do not want them and a Syria to which they cannot return, according to a study released last week by the Carnegie Middle East Center, a research institution.U.S. President Donald Trump expressed optimism about a planned meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un following conversations Saturday with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.



Trump tweeted he had a "very good talk" with Moon and updated Abe on plans for his anticipated summit with Kim.



Key U.S. leaders are expressing growing optimism that decades of hostility on the Korean Peninsula are closer than ever to coming to an end.



Trump said at a White House news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel Friday "I don't think he's playing" when asked about the historic summit between North and South Korea.

Trump added a meeting would be scheduled "very shortly" but didn't specify a timeline, saying up to three possible sites are being considered for the much-anticipated summit in late May or early June.



Earlier Friday, Kim became the first North Korean leader to set foot in South Korea, when he crossed the border to shake the hand of South Korean President Moon Jae-in.



The two leaders agreed to work toward removing all nuclear weapons from the Korean peninsula and vowed to pursue talks that would bring a formal end to the Korean war.



North Korea has in the past made similar commitments about its nuclear program, but failed to follow through. Asked whether Pyongyang's commitment is real this time, Trump said "we're not going to get played."



"This isn't like past administrations. We don't play games," said Trump, adding that previous administrations had been "played like a fiddle."



"We will come up with a solution, and if we don't we will leave the room," he said.



U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis also expressed hope Friday that talks with North Korea will bear fruit.

"I can tell you that we are optimistic right now that there's opportunity here that we have never enjoyed since 1950," Mattis said before a meeting at the Pentagon with the Polish defense minister.



"I don't have a crystal ball," he added. "So, we're going to have to see what they produce."



The White House and the Pentagon see the diplomatic progress as the result of Washington's "maximum pressure" campaign, which included heavy sanctions and frequent threats of military force. Trump had said he was prepared to "totally destroy" North Korea if necessary.



"Things have changed very rapidly from a few months ago - you know, the name calling and a lot of other things," Trump said Friday.



For now, the threats have faded. But it's not clear how much North Korea is willing to offer at the talks or what it will demand in return.Nor is it clear how much the U.S. is willing to give.



Mattis Friday did not rule out the possibility U.S. troops could come home from South Korea if a Seoul and Pyongyang are able to reach an agreement.



"That's part of the issues we'll be discussing in the negotiations with our allies first and, of course, with North Korea," he told reporters. "Right now we have to go along with the process, have the negotiations, not try to make preconditions or presumptions of how it's going to go."

On Friday, Moon and Kim's statement said the two leaders "confirmed the common goal of realizing, through complete denuclearization, a nuclear-free peninsula."



After the meeting, Trump tweeted his support for the talks, saying "good things are happening, but only time will tell!"



Fifteen minutes later, Trump tweeted: "KOREAN WAR TO END! The United States, and all of its GREAT people, should be very proud of what is now taking place in Korea!"



"I think the responsibility has fallen on the shoulders of the president of the United States," Trump said alongside Merkel. "I think I have a responsibility to see if I can do it."A historic summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in ended with a joint commitment toward denuclearization and peace in the Korean Peninsula. While the inter-Korean talks set the stage for the upcoming summit between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump, experts tell VOA's Korean service the United States would be wise to proceed with caution. VOA's Jesusemen Oni reports.HARARE (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - An avocado tree stands just outside the gate of Silibaziso Mangenas home in Westlea, a suburb of Harare, Zimbabwes capital.

The tree, hanging with fruit, is the tallest in a row of four avocado trees.

Mangena says she planted the first tree in 2010 after the death of her oldest child. The others were planted together later, after she lost her three remaining children in a car accident.

The 66-year-old widow said that on each occasion she was given the avocado seedlings by Nyaradzo Funeral Assurance Company, the countrys largest funeral home business, with which she had taken out a policy.

People from Nyaradzo told me they were sorry I had lost my firstborn son, saying they were also sorry that his death dented the environment as they would bury him in a coffin carved from a tree, and therefore they had to replace the tree, Mangena said in an interview.

They did the same at the deaths of my three other children, and that is why you see these avocado trees here.

Nyaradzo is just one of several Zimbabwe funeral companies trying to ensure that as the dead are put in their graves  usually in wooden coffins  trees are planted to mark their lives and to help fight deforestation.

The companies, supporting an old tradition of planting a tree to mark a death, are distributing free seedlings and promoting planting in cemeteries and at homes as a way to help restore a parched country  and offset their own use of timber.

With both deforestation and drought creating worsening problems in Zimbabwe, the memorial seedlings could play a small but highly symbolic role in mitigating the effects of climate change, funeral company officials say.

Zimbabwe may become a desert if deforestation continues, said Patience Fusire, a manager at Nyaradzo. As users of wood products, we said we should be replacing the wood we use through planting trees.

Three smaller, locally owned funeral companies  Farewell, Homebound, and Vimbo & Rutendo  also are now planting trees when they preside over burials.

A HALF BILLION TREES?

Nyaradzo carries out between 17,000 and 20,000 burials each year, and since 2013 has given each grieving family a tree seedling, which they can plant at home or where they like, including at the cemetery, Fusire said.

Altogether, the company aims to plant 500 million trees around the country by 2026, working primarily with schools and households. It says it has overseen planting of 5.8 million trees since launching the programme seven years ago.

Justin Bakare, a Ministry of Agriculture extension officer based in Harare, said the government was working with Nyaradzo to support the fight against deforestation.

Bakare said that even if some bereaved customers do not plant the trees they receive, Nyaradzos overall impact is significant.

The firm now also plants trees even in schools and villages, even when there are no funerals, but just doing it for the sake of building up more forests, he said in an interview.

Residents of Harare who live near Glen Forest cemetery say they can see the results.

Now there are much taller gum trees, pine trees and even mango trees within Glen Forest Memorial Park because of trees that Nyaradzo has planted at burials, Chamunorwa Rukweza, who lives a stones throw from the cemetery, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

The trees are giving shade to mourners in the midst of the heat.

To try to reach its half-billion tree goal, Nyaradzo offers prizes, from wheelbarrows to watering cans, to people who participate in the initiative and plant the largest number of trees.

GROWING GREEN CONCERN

Apart from the campaign by funeral companies, villagers in other areas of Zimbabwe  such as Mwenezi district in Masvingo Province  also have taken to planting trees in community cemeteries.

When we cut down trees, clearing land to bury our dead, officials from the Forestry Commission here told us we were endangering our environment and urged us to replant trees inside village graveyards, said Elison Moyo, one of the village heads in Mwenezi.

We dont wait for burials in order to plant trees, but we do it regularly as community members, he said.

The climate change coordinator in the Ministry of Environment, Water and Climate sees the cemetery planting push as symbolic of growing environmental concern by many Zimbabweans, who have been hit by increasingly extreme weather.

When trees are planted at burials, it shows the rise in environmental consciousness which has engulfed the nation and how environmental issues and climate change have been embraced by various sectors, said Elisha Moyo, who is not related to Elison.

Gertrude Pswarayi-Jabson, the county coordinator for PELUM Zimbabwe  a network of organisations working on Participatory Ecological Land Use Management  said adding trees in cemeteries, in particular, is in some ways simply returning the land to its origins.

Most burial sites were once forests and were cleared to pave the way for humans to bury their dead, she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

A wide diversity of trees, plants, herbs, wildlife, grass and insects were destroyed to create these burial sites and planting trees could be a way of bringing back lost biodiversity.

Reporting by Jeffrey Moyo; editing by James Baer and Laurie Goering.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.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Abu Dhabis Al Hilal Bank PJSC uncovered internal fraud worth more than Dh500 million ($136 million), reported Bloomberg citing people with knowledge of the matter.

Some employees at the Abu Dhabi state-owned Islamic lender allegedly withdrew funds from dormant customer accounts, said the people, asking not to be identified because the details arent public.

Money was then transferred from the Al Hilal accounts to bogus accounts before being withdrawn, stated the report.

A total of 38 people from Asian and European backgrounds were arrested last summer for the "unlawful confiscation" of Dh635 million from a UAE bank, said the Bloomberg citing a statement from Abu Dhabis Judicial Department without identifying the lender.

The case is being heard in court and those being tried include some bank employees and others who arent. Police and the central bank were able to retrieve Dh625 million of the money taken, according to the statement.

Al Hilal has total assets worth Dh42.7 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The bank hired Emirates NBD, First Abu Dhabi Bank, HSBC Holdings, JPMorgan Chase & Company and Nomura Holdings to manage sale of dollar-denominated Islamic bonds in the second quarter, it stated.Expo 2020 Dubai has become the first World Expo and the second ever mega-event to secure a Procurement Excellence award from the highly respected Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS) organisation, a major vote of confidence for the next World Expos procurement practices.

Designed and delivered by the worlds leading procurement experts, the CIPS Procurement Excellence Programme is the only independent and comprehensive assessment of its kind.

This recognition makes Expo 2020 the first major global event outside the UK, after the London 2012 Summer Olympics, to receive the award from CIPS, a global body that works with organisations involved in procurement and supply chain management.

The stamp of approval was awarded as part of the CIPS Procurement Excellence Programme following a thorough review of Expo 2020 Dubais procurement practices. The programme assesses organisations on five key areas: leadership and organisation, strategy and policy, people, processes and systems, and performance management.

Expo 2020s CIPS award recognises the high quality of its procurement operation, meaning that vendors and participating nations can be confident that they will benefit from a seamless process.

Reem Al Hashimy, UAE Minister of State for International Cooperation and Director General, Dubai Expo 2020 Bureau, said: "We have designed our procurement processes around simplicity, transparency and inclusivity to allow anyone, anywhere, to tender as easily and competitively as possible."

"Expo 2020 will leave a lasting economic legacy and contribute to new business generation, GDP growth and job creation in the UAE and across the region. The CIPS award is testament to all of our planning and hard work, which will help to ensure the delivery of an exceptional Expo," he noted.

Headquartered in the UK, CIPS is the globally recognised prodessional body for the procurement profession and is a not-for-profit organisation.

It promotes and develops high standards of professional skill, ability and integrity among all those engaged in procurement and supply chain management, helping individuals, organisations and the procurement profession as a whole to achieve all-round excellence.

Gerry Walsh, the chief executive of CIPS Group, said: "Expo 2020 Dubai have embarked on a journey of continuous improvement and we have seen through the assessment process, their hard work, dedication and tenacity to make improvements and achieve results."

"The value the team has placed on excellence in procurement practice should be applauded and we congratulate everyone involved on their success," he noted.

In 2017, Expo 2020 Dubai awarded more than Dh11 billion of contracts, and this years opportunities span the fields of design, logistics, health and safety, construction and materials, said the organisers.

The total value and number of contracts expected to be awarded in 2018 will be announced in the coming months, they added.-TradeArabia News ServiceBill Curry could claim an unofficial distinction if he decides to step into the race for the 5th U.S. House District: Longest time between campaigns for the same seat in Congress.

The Farmington writer, lawyer and political commentator won a three-way Democratic primary as he ran for what was then the 6th District seat in 1982  with significant overlap to todays 5th District. Thirty-six years later, he said, I am thinking about it.

In between, Curry, 66, was state comptroller from 1991 to 1994 when Lowell P. Weicker Jr. was in office. Curry won the nomination for governor in 1994  beating John B. Larson in a primary  and again in 2002, losing both times to former Gov. John G,. Rowland.

Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim  who served a 7-year prison term for corruption and is once again city mayor and a 2018 gubernatorial candidate  was Currys running mate in the 1994 campaign. Curry, as it happens, has been working under a multi-year grant studying political corruption.

In September of 2002, Curry outlined some of the same allegations that led to the Republican governors indictment and 2004 resignation, but didnt make political traction with it.

Curry said hes been making and receiving a few calls about a possible run for the seat Rep. Elizabeth Esty is vacating after the Democratic incumbent botched a harassment investigation in her office, and will probably decide over the weekend. Its a personal decision more than a political decision, he said.

Among Democrats, the declared candidates are Mary Glassman, former longtime Simsbury first selectman and attorney and chief of staff for Democratic caucuses at the state Capitol, now an administrator at the Capitol Region Education Council; also, as of Friday, Shaul Praver, a rabbi who lives outside the district, in Fairfield, but served in a Newtown synagogue for 13 years.

Middletown Mayor Dan Drew, who was a candidate for governor in 2017 and dropped out of the race in January, also said Friday hes considering a run in the 5th District. Like Praver, Drew os not a resident of the district.

The U.S. Constitution requires members of Congress to live in the state where they serve, but not the district.

Curry well knows hes viewed as wonkish and neither agrees nor shies away from that.

I really believe that people are hungry for content out there, he said. Youre thinking about the problems in peoples lives and how to solve them.

He supported Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton in 2016 but unlike other Sanders backers, moved strongly into the Clinton camp.

As for President Donald Trump, who any Democrat running for Congress hopes to keep under control, he said, If I do run for this office Ill do everything in my power to talk about him as little as possible...They want to hear what were for, not who were against.GREENWICH  Greenwich High Schools highly celebrated, though controversial band director, John Yoon has been placed on leave by the district, though school officials on Friday would not say why.

GHS Headmaster Christopher Winters confirmed Yoon and fellow band teacher Ben Walker have been put on paid leave but did not provide information about what had happened to spur the action.

A notice was sent home to parents on Thursday. It indicated Yoon and Walker were expected to return to work.

Kyle Camerato will be filling in during their absence, the notice said. With the guidance and support of Ms. Laura White, the District Coordinator for the Arts, we are looking for a second teacher as well. The students will be in good hands until such time as Mr. Yoon and Mr. Walker return from their leave. We will keep you informed of Mr. Yoons and Mr. Walkers status as appropriate.

On Friday, Winters sent a second message to parents that said Yoon would return to work on Monday.

On Friday, Greenwich Public Schools Director of Communications Kim Eves said the reasons for the leaves were personnel matters.

We will handle it with the utmost discretion and do not publicly comment, she said.

Yoon had been suspended from his job in April 2015 by former Superintendent of Schools William McKersie after two of his students and their families filed complaints that he had allegedly bullied them. McKersie moved for Yoon to be terminated but Yoon appealed and, following a series of contentious hearings, the Board of Education decided unanimously that the band director should get his job back.

Throughout his suspension many parents and high school students lobbied for his return with Bring Back Mr. Yoon signs at school board meetings.

Yoon previously had had several conflicts with administrators and colleagues in the high schools music department. He signed a last-chance agreement during the 2014-15 school year after getting into a verbal altercation with another music teacher, which also resulted in a suspension.

Yoon has led the Greenwich High band since 1992. GHS bands under his direction have performed in China, Cuba, Virginia Beach, Orlando, San Francisco and other places, and have frequently brought home first-place trophies from prestigious competitions.

School Band and Orchestra Magazine last year named him one of 50 Directors Who Make a Difference.

Band and Orchestra Magazine was blown away by the heartfelt, inspired stories all candidates received, but John stood out, White, the arts coordinator for the district, said following the honor. Multiple parents and students submitted information that supported the apparent impact of his instruction to the program, students and to the community.

kborsuk@greenwichtime.comSTAMFORD  A Greenwich attorney has been added to the legal team representing Stephanie Clifford, the pornographic film star also known as Stormy Daniels, in her federal suit against President Donald Trumps lawyer Michael Cohen.

Catherine Keenan was appointed local counsel and filed her appearance Thursday on behalf of Cliffords lawyer, Newport Beach, Calif. attorney Michael Avenatti, according to court documents sent to the Stamford Advocate from the Greenwich law offices of Philip Russell, where Keenan has practiced since 2012.

Clifford, who was paid $130,000 in hush money by Cohen to keep quiet about her alleged affair with Trump in 2006, has sued Cohen in hopes of throwing out the confidentiality agreement that prevents her from talking about the affair. Clifford is also suing Cohen for defamation.

Keenan, a Quinnipiac University School of Law graduate, practices in the areas of civil and commercial litigation. Keenan is admitted to practice law in Connecticut and New York as well as the Southern District of New York, where the case against Cohen was filed.

Early last week the FBI raided Cohens office, hotel room, seizing records related to several cases, including payments to Clifford.

Keenan said that Clifford is concerned that some of those papers may contain privileged communications between her and her former attorney Keith Davidson, who helped work out the hush payment with Cohen.

The purpose of our involvement ... is not to challenge the governments raid of Cohens documents, but rather to ensure that Cliffords attorney-client-privileged and highly sensitive documents are not improperly disclosed, tampered with or destroyed and that they be turned over to her for her use, Keenan said during a telephone interview Friday afternoon.

Keenan, 43, said she has worked on big cases before in the Southern District, but not on a case with such national interest.

Keenan said she has not yet met Clifford and has spoken with Avenatti a couple of times. Russell, who knows Avenatti, made the connection for her.

Keenan said that because Avenatti has not been admitted to practice law in the Southern District of New York, she will be filing motions for him and working with the government with respect to the potential disclosure and protection of Cliffords communications with her former attorney.

This is a very worthy cause. Everybody has a right to have their privileged communications stay that way and it is important to ensure that right is protected, she said.

jnickerson@stamfordadvocate.comWESTPORT  It appears most of the 160 Westport teachers handed pink slips will get to keep their jobs after a last-minute deal was reached between the district and teachers union.

The Board of Education and Westport Education Association (WEA) have agreed to terms that would switch the teachers over to the state health plan, saving the school board more than a $1 million in this years budget.

Superintendent of Schools Colleen Palmer announced at a Friday special meeting that the teachers union  the last and largest of the seven unions representing Westport Public School employees to join the state plan  had agreed to the boards terms, only a week after more than 160 pink slips were given to non-tenured employees as a supposed cost-saving measure.

In recognition of the fiscal challenges that the Board of Education faces for the 2018-19 school year, and in the spirit of collaboration, the Westport Education Association has agreed that the district may seek to move health insurance to the state partnership plan 2.0 effective Sept. 1, 2018, Palmer read from a joint Board of Education-WEA statement at the start of the meeting.

Though the WEA had sought to lower the total amount its members contributed to their premiums  and increase the schools contribution  from 21 percent to 18 percent, they ultimately settled on 19.5 percent over the next two years.

The decision came two days after the Board of Finance reinstated $1.13 million  the anticipated savings realized by the board as a result of the WEA switching insurance  out of a total $2.05 million cut into the Board of Education budget, assuming that a deal would be reached with the WEA. Palmer said she expects that money will be returned to the Board of Finance as soon as Monday.

WEA representatives were critical of Palmers decision to send out the pink slips, calling the move disrespectful and suggesting it was a dirty negotiating tactic. Even with the agreement, the board must still come up with $750,000 in cuts as mandated by the Board of Finance. Options laid out include reducing one elementary school teacher, two Coleytown Middle School full-time teachers and two associated half-time special teachers and one Staples teacher, among others. But Palmer said after meeting that the board would try to find non-personnel related cuts.

The board did vote unanimously to send pink slips to long-term and permanent building substitutes, though Palmer and Westport Public Schools Director of Human Services John Bayers said that is done every year.

I cant tell you how relieved I am. One of my teachers was on the list and I am so grateful that the negotiations worked out and were able to keep all the wonderful teachers we have, said Coleytown Elementary School parent Youn Su Chao.

justin.papp@scni.com; @justinjpapp1Kind and caring Breda was always thinking of othersDubai's Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has announced the opening of three new bridges as part of the Airport Street Improvement Project on Friday.

By opening these bridges, the RTA completes the opening of all bridges on the Airport Street; which considerably contributes to easing the traffic flow. A two-lane tunnel will be opened to serve the traffic inbound from the Airport Street heading towards Marrakech Street in July this year, said a statement from RTA.

Bridges to be opened include a two-lane bridge to serve the traffic from Nad Al Hamar Street to the Airport Street. This bridge will ease the snarls resulting from the overlapping traffic at Nad Al Hamar Interchange between the first circular slope heading leftward from Nad Al Hamar to the Airport Street, and the second circular slope heading leftward from the Airport Street to Nad Al Hamar Street.

The traffic on the first circular slope will be limited to U-turns in the direction of Nad Al Hamar Street, it stated.

Upgrading Marrakech-Aiport Streets Junction includes the opening of a ramp leading to Terminal 3 of Dubai International Airport; which enables motorists access to the building without waiting at the junction.

RTA will also open the bridge leading to the premises of the Dubai Aviation Engineering Projects (Ex location of the Dubai Airshow), said the RTA in its statement.

The opening of all bridges at the four junctions of the Airport Street increases the intake of the Airport Street by as much as 5,000 vehicles per hour. It will also step up the traffic safety and flow,, it added.

The project is needed to cope with the sharp growth rate in the number of passengers using Dubai International Airport; which is expected to hit 92 million passengers by 2020.

The Airport Improvement Project comprises upgrading four junctions. The first was Rashidiya junction; which included the construction of two bridges on the Airport Street of three lanes in each direction.

The second included upgrading the Airport-Nad Al Hamar Streets Junction through constructing a two-lane ramp to serve the traffic from Nad Al Hamar Street to the Airport Street.

The third junction included upgrading Marrakech junction through the construction of two bridges of three lanes in each direction along with a ramp leading to Terminal 3 of Dubai International Airport without waiting at the light signal, said the RTA statement.

It also included the construction of another bridge leading to the premises of the Dubai Aviation Engineering Projects (Ex Dubai Airshow) and a two-lane underpass to serve the traffic heading leftward from the Airport Street in the direction of Marrakech Street.

The fourth junction covered upgrading Casablanca Street junction through the construction of an additional single-lane ramp to serve the traffic from the Airport Street in the direction of Casablanca Street, thus eliminating the waiting time at the light signal, it stated.

RTA said the scope of work included the construction of an alternative route for traffic inbound from Al Garhoud enabling direct access to Terminal 1 and 3 of the Dubai International Airport, besides increasing the number of lanes of Casablanca Street in the direction of Al Garhoud from 3 to 4 lanes.

The project considerably reduces the total waiting time at Casablanca Intersection and eases the tailbacks generated by the overlapping traffic between vehicles heading towards Casablanca junction and others coming from Terminal 1 heading leftwards to Casablanca Street, it added.-TradeArabia News ServiceOTTAWA  One of the Pallister governments closest allies in child-welfare reform said he hopes suing the province will bring them closer.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 27/4/2018 (1256 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA  One of the Pallister governments closest allies in child-welfare reform said he hopes suing the province will bring them closer.

"Im hoping that the lawsuit will start a dialogue that I think this government wants to have," said Richard De La Ronde, executive director of the Sandy Bay Child and Family Services.

The agency is one of the plaintiffs in a $266-million application, which was filed Thursday, seeking the removal of a clawback of all federal funds for children under the provinces care.

Commonly known as a "baby bonus," Ottawa administers the Childrens Special Allowance (CSA) for children in CFS care, at the same amount that as parents who receive the Canada Child Benefit. But Manitoba takes that money from all CFS agencies in the province.

It amounts to $39 million of the $523 million allocated for CFS in this springs budget.

Manitoba has one of the worlds highest rates of child-welfare cases, jumping by three-quarters in the past decade to more than 11,300 children. As of spring 2016, 87 per cent of them were Indigenous.

Families Minister Scott Fielding told reporters Thursday CFS is undergoing a "massive amount" of reforms, including to the CSA. But the plaintiffs in this weeks lawsuit say its not happening fast enough.

Manitobas former NDP government started the clawback in 2010, and collected funds going back to 2006. At the time, the province said these funds were meant for looking after children in care, which is a CFS responsibility.

"Indigenous children in care should not be a source of revenue for the provincial government," said lawyer Harold Cochrane, whose plaintiffs want the money taken from 2006 to the present returned.

The Childrens Special Allowances Act says that funding can only be used for caring after and educating the children associated with the funding. Lawyers involved in the lawsuit pointed out that money has been transferred into general revenue.

Fielding told reporters general revenue pays for CFS, and that the clawback accounts for just seven per cent of that cost.

The exiting CSA policy also compels agencies to provide the funding; those who hold it back have their provincial funding drop by one-fifth. Thursdays notice of application claims that makes the funding "forcibly and illegally obtained."

Fielding stressed his government "inherited" the policy from the NDP, and has said since January that it is part of an ongoing, in-depth review of CFS policies. He hasnt explained why the clawback continues during that review.

Three months before the suit, Fielding took De La Ronde to Ottawa for a national "emergency meeting" aimed at curbing the jarring number of Indigenous kids apprehended by social workers.

De La Ronde caught the governments attention for bending the rules at Sandy Bay. He purchased an air-conditioner for a few hundred dollars instead of taking a child away from a home that was uncomfortably hot.

Existing CFS laws allow more funding to kick in when a child is apprehended, leaving little to prevent children from being apprehended. The Pallister government says it wants to restructure the rules.

Thats worsened by a funding gap for First Nations children that only started closing in February. First Nations CFS agencies in Manitoba estimated an annual shortfall of $104 million a year, half of which Ottawa says it has fixed after a decade-long case at the federal human-rights tribunal.

De La Ronde believes CFS needs to make its bureaucratic structure more efficient instead of simply providing more funding. That falls in line with the Pallister governments view.

But De La Ronde said maintaining the clawback puts children behind at the start of their lives. He also said it makes the system untenable.

For example, because money is remitted differently for children on reserve, Sandy Bay CFS thought about moving its Winnipeg children onto reserve land, or even transferring those children into the general child-welfare system, which has no First Nations control.

De La Ronde said he realizes a government cant suddenly "walk away from $40 million overnight." But he said seeing no change to the policy in Marchs budget is what drove his agency to join the lawsuit.

"Those conversations are now forced to happen, rather than us being at the mercy of the government when they decide theyre ready."

The suit includes no agencies in Manitobas north. Cochrane said some agencies support the suit but "dont want the possible retribution from the province."

Before the Progressive Conservatives took power two years ago, its MLAs decried the CSA.

For example, current Education Minister Ian Wishart chided the NDP for "not thinking about the children," and leaving First Nation agencies "at risk of financial failure," in February 2016. In December 2015, he said putting the money into general revenue was like putting it into "a black hole."

Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.

Federal Indigenous Services Minister Jane Philpott, who has made CFS reform a key plank of her job, hadnt read the court documents, but said federal tax credits and grants are meant to support children and keep them out of CFS care.

"Its something thats an important issue and we expect it to be properly addressed," Philpott said. "Anything that is intended for children should go to children."

Earlier this year, she said Manitoba could consider emulating other provinces that store baby bonuses in a trust that can be used for education and training.

The Manitoba Metis Federation is part of the suit. At the January summit, federation president David Chartrand said he was considering a lawsuit over the roughly $5 million the Metis CFS Authority loses each year.

The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs has long been critical of the clawback, calling it a commodification of First Nations children.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.caWhat was once an oft-avoided eyesore is now poised to be a main community hub in the North End.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 28/4/2018 (1255 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

What was once an oft-avoided eyesore is now poised to be a main community hub in the North End.

Hundreds of people packed into 541 Selkirk Ave. on Saturday morning for the grand opening of Merchants Corner Inc.

The mixed-use development will host the University of Winnipeg's department of urban and inner-city studies, the Pathways to Education program for high school students put on by Community Education Development Association (CEDA), 30 affordable housing units and plenty of neighbourhood gathering space, including a cafe and commercial kitchen.

Groups like Meet Me at the Belltower and Aboriginal Youth Opportunities (AYO) already plan to meet at the new Merch on Fridays.

The foyer of Merchants Corner on Selkirk Avenue was crowded during the opening day celebrations Saturday. (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press)

AYO member Mark Head said that, in an ideal world, the building will be a safe space for people to come socialize and learn in the North End.

"A new place like this is like a plant, right? You dont know how its going to grow. Is it going to have a lot of leaves? Is it going to have a lot of blooms?" he said. "We tend to start knowing kind of within a year, this is what its going to look like."

Rob Neufeld, the board chair for Merchants Corner, said the next steps of development will involve scheduling programming that will bring the building to life and ensure it's a welcoming place.

"I think one of the main aspects of the whole project is connecting people," he said.

Board member Kathy Mallet echoed the sentiment.

Elder Stan McKay gives an opening prayer. (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press)

"A building is a building, right? The people are the heart of the building," Mallet said.

She expects hundreds, most of them students, will pass through the Merch on any given day.

Reinaldo Contreras, a U of W grad now working as an associate researcher with the urban and inner-city studies department, will be one of them.

"This will give a new dynamic to the community and it will certainly attract different traffic to the area and I bet you there will be more economic activity here in the area," he said.

Community builders, politicians and neighbours mingled in the new and improved digs, formerly home to the Merchants Hotel. That space was gutted and made over starting in 2015. The hotel was widely seen as dangerous and people actively veered away from it before its closure in 2012.

Walking Wolf Singers, Drummers and Dancers perform in the crowded foyer. (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press)

Kelly Taylor, a North End resident of 30 years, called the former hotel "a black hole." She swung by Saturday to take in the building with fresh eyes.

Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.

"It is good. Any movement is good for the community. The North End is really a great place, it's the best-kept secret in Winnipeg," she said.

Elder Stan McKay led the grand opening with a prayer and spoke highly of the Merch concept in an interview beforehand.

"When I was going to the University of Winnipeg and living on Selkirk, this was not a good place. So its great that weve been able to take it and make it part of the community," he said.

"Weve had a vision for this place for a long, long time and this is an amazing day."

jessica.botelho@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @_jessbuEmirates Intellectual Property Association has joined hands with Dubai Courts to celebrate the first graduates of Intellectual Property (IP) diploma course.

The Diploma of the Intellectual Property Expert was held under the supervision of a group of academics and experts accredited by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

The program, a first-of-its-kind in the Arab World conducted in co--operation with the Dhahi Khalfan Intellectual Property Center and Dubai Courts, qualifies the skills of UAE nationals working in the field as part of the EIPAs efforts to help strengthen the UAE's leading position in intellectual property globally, said a statement from EIPA.

It was administered into four sections, including the IP System Entry and International Conventions; Diploma of an Expert in Patents and Trade Secrets; Diploma of an Authorized Expert in Literary Property; and Diploma of an Expert in Trademarks and Illegal Competition. Earning the diploma qualifies the applicant to register in the Dubai Courts Expert Panel.

The initiative seeks to develop a group of experts accredited in patenting, registered trademarks, copyrights and intellectual property rights, which will take the leadership in enforcing intellectual property laws in accordance with international best practices, following the rapid developments in the UAE, it stated.

The association recently celebrated the first batch of Intellectual Property Expert Diploma graduates in the presence of Lt General Dhahi Khalfan Tamim, Deputy Chairman of Police and Public Security in Dubai, and Honorary Chairman of the EIPA.

The ceremony, led by Taresh Eid Al Mansouri, Director General of Dubai Courts, and Major General Dr Abdul Quddoos A.R. Al Obaidli, Assistant Commander for Excellence & Pioneering, Chairman of EIPA, was held at the InterContinental Dubai - Festival City, together with attended several government figures, decision-makers and officials.

Dr Al Obaidli dubbed the programme as a step forward in enhancing the capabilities of the countrys human resources which is a high priority in the UAE and is valued by the countrys wise leadership as the true wealth of the nation.

He pointed out that the success of the first diploma course was a result of strong collaboration with the Dubai Courts to provide trainees with the necessary knowledge and experience to enhance the UAE's strengths in enforcing intellectual property protection laws, which ranked 23rd globally in the Global Intellectual Property Index 2018.

"We are proud to present the graduates of the first batch of IP experts which opens new horizons for building a generation of experts capable to protect the creative works of talents," he added.

Al Mansouri said the diploma had proved to be a pioneering step towards advancing the UAE's efforts in the field of IP rights and pave the way for a generation of qualified experts which will enforce the country's stringent laws and legislation.

"We have witnessed the countrys remarkable development and ability to cope with the rapid changes and align with the principles of international agreements in field of intellectual property, including registered trademarks, patents and copyrights. Today, we are proud to witness the graduation of a group of experts," he added.-TradeArabia News ServiceThe citys top bureaucrat sent an email to councillors that appears to prove he must have been aware of the controversial Sterling Lyon Parkway extension as early as the summer of 2017, if not earlier  contrary to his repeated denials.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 27/4/2018 (1256 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The citys top bureaucrat sent an email to councillors that appears to prove he must have been aware of the controversial Sterling Lyon Parkway extension as early as the summer of 2017, if not earlier  contrary to his repeated denials.

CAO Doug McNeil informed council members in an email Thursday that city hall had not been successful in securing federal funding for the Kenaston/Route 90 project.

However, the email includes information that was never disclosed that the Clement Parkway extension project had been one of three transportation projects subjected to a detailed cost-benefit analysis review in July-August 2017 to determine which one would be chosen for submission to receive federal funding.

The detailed cost-benefit analysis would have required a thorough scrutiny of all aspects of each project, including the preferred route for the east-west corridor through south Charleswood.

The email adds to a growing list of documents that critics say undermine claims McNeil and area Coun. Marty Morantz, who is also the public works chairman, were unaware of the controversial east-west corridor route through south Charleswood until confronted by angry residents in early October.

The information in Thursdays email prompted one councillor to call for McNeil to step down.

"McNeil should resign," Coun. Janice Lukes said.

"How can any member of executive policy committee and council have confidence in the CAO any longer?"

McNeil and Morantz have said repeatedly they were unaware the Sterling Lyon Parkway extension had been chosen as the preferred route for an east-west corridor through south Charleswood, claiming the decision was made by a consulting firm and planning engineers from the public works department who never informed them.

McNeil and Morantz said they learned about the decision only after being confronted in October by residents who had just been informed of the decision and feared their properties would be expropriated or demolished.

The Thursday email also questions claims by McNeil and Morantz that the Clement Parkway extension project was not a city priority and homeowners properties were never in immediate danger of expropriation or demolition.

The email states the federal eligibility criteria included a provision that the chosen project had to have a completion date prior to Dec. 31, 2028.

"Only a few projects would meet the criteria of the (federal funding program): Route 90/Kenaston, Chief Peguis Trail west extension, and William Clement Parkway extension," the email states.

McNeils Thursday email states the three transportation projects were reviewed by the citys infrastructure planning office, headed by Georges Chartier  who reports directly to McNeil.

Lukes said McNeils Thursday email undermines his and Morantzs repeated denials. She believes Mayor Brian Bowman must have known about the inclusion of the SLP route long before it became public.

"The mayor clearly knows what roadway projects are being considered and are submitted for federal funding, as does the CAO and area councillor," Lukes said.

Lukes said she doesnt understand why the Clement Parkway project was chosen for consideration for federal funding, because council didnt view it as a priority and had never approved it to be considered.

David Ames, president of the South Wilkes Residents Association, said he believes the Thursday email is proof McNeil and Morantz were aware of all the details in the south Charleswood project even while they told residents otherwise.

"This email contradicts everything (McNeil) told me for the last seven months," said Ames, who led a neighbourhood lobby against the south Charleswood project. "Obviously, McNeil was aware of the route long before he admitted knowing about it."

Ames said the Thursday email confirms his suspicions that the administration was trying to rush planning for the Clement Parkway to completion so it would qualify for federal funding.

"I was brought to a meeting with the mayor, McNeil, Morantz and others from the public works department and I asked them point-blank if this project had ever been considered for federal funding, and McNeil told me I was being paranoid," Ames said.

Morantz declined to comment on the implications of McNeils email because the issue is the subject of a review by the city auditor. A request for an interview with McNeil was denied.

Felicia Wiltshire, the citys director of communications, denied McNeils email is an admission he was aware the public works department had chosen the controversial east-west corridor as the preferred route before October 2017.

"We do not require a final functional design in order for a cost/benefit points ratio to be determined," Wiltshire wrote in an email to the Free Press.

McNeil and Morantz had publicly criticized public works department staff for failing to inform them and the residents about the decision to choose the Sterling Lyon Parkway extension  dubbed the "rogue route"  and two senior engineering planners subsequently quit after being singled out by McNeil and Morantz for blame.

Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.

McNeil met with councillors in a closed-door session in mid-December but several, including Lukes, were dissatisfied with his explanations.

Subsequently, council approved a proposal from Morantz to have the city auditor review the matter, including examining all emails and reports sent to and from councillors and public works staff and senior administration on the project.

The city auditor report was due at Thursdays council meeting but an extension was given to June.

A request for a copy of the package of information (reports, studies etc.) about the Clement Parkway extension project that was used to determine the subject of the cost-benefit analysis conducted in the July-August 2017 period was denied.

"We will not be releasing any information while the audit on that project is still underway," Wiltshire said.

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.caOTTAWA  Amid fears about the future of North American free trade, and a pipeline spat thats pitted premiers against each other, Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister is rallying his colleagues to break down taxes and regulations that impede trade within Canada.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 27/4/2018 (1256 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA  Amid fears about the future of North American free trade, and a pipeline spat thats pitted premiers against each other, Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister is rallying his colleagues to break down taxes and regulations that impede trade within Canada.

"We are a federation, but were (also) a family," Pallister said Friday between meetings in Ottawa.

"This is too important not to get right."

The premier revealed hes been quietly pushing fellow premiers to fully implement an interprovincial deal signed a year ago, which is aimed at eliminating taxes and harmonizing regulations for everything from food safety to corporate securities.

He was in Ottawa to meet with federal ministers and to drum up support for his idea by talking to national media.

Last April, premiers inked the Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA), which came into force last July. Since then, there have been 23 negotiating sessions in which senior bureaucrats have been sorting out how to implement the agreement.

Pallister wants that process sped up.

"We need our premiers to push forward on the actual implementation of what it is weve agreed to in theory, and make it happen in reality," he said.

Pallister claimed CFTA could increase GDP by billions, and amount to $1,500 per family per year. He said 40 per cent of Manitobas exports go to other provinces.

In late July, the premiers will meet in New Brunswick. "Ill be contacting all of the other premiers, to urge them to get this item at the top of the (agenda)," he said.

Pallister has had mixed success convincing fellow premiers to seek his point of view.

At a July meeting of finance ministers, Manitoba was the only province asking Ottawa to delay marijuana legalization by a year.

Later that month, when the premiers met, they outlined five conditions Ottawa would have to fulfil in order to meet the summer 2018 deadline.

Within the past year, Manitoba has been the sole holdout on issues such as health funding and marijuana taxation, and was second-last to agree to a climate framework.

"Being in the majority all the time doesnt make you right," Pallister said.

"Sometimes you have to be a little tugboat, pulling the biggest ship behind you."

Pallisters free-trade crusade comes as Alberta and British Columbia are clashing over the Trans Mountain pipeline extension.

"Lets take these examples were seeing of delay, deferral, postponement and outright stalling tactics and lets move ahead on these other issues," Pallister said.

Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court upheld provincial laws that prohibited a New Brunswick man from taking cases of Quebec beer to his home province.

Pallister wouldnt comment on the ruling, but said those who support it are not thinking clearly.

"We have an opportunity to respond to the illogical nature of, and the danger of, these types of obstructions to our ability to do business with each other," he said.

He compared that mindset to those who want the North American Free Trade Agreement to collapse.

Its a message Pallister will be pushing this weekend as he heads to New York to meet with investors alongside provincial Finance Minister Cameron Friesen.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.caHey there, time traveller!

This article was published 28/4/2018 (1256 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Opinion

What does Kim Jon-un want? One thing: security.

He doesnt want to conquer the world. Its impractical: only one out of every 300 people in the world is North Korean. He doesnt even want to conquer South Korea. Its twice as populous as North Korea and 10 times richer; eliminate the border and Kims regime would crumble in months. And he certainly doesnt want to attack the United States.

King Kim III (as we would have called him a couple of centuries ago) declared this month that North Korea has completed the task of building a nuclear deterrent to ward off a possible American attack. It will return to the task of building its economy and prosperity instead. Indeed, it will "stop nuclear tests and launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles" and even shut down a nuclear weapons test site.

Hes obviously laying out his negotiating position for the summit meetings planned for this month with South Koreas President Moon Jae-in and for next month with U.S. President Donald Trump. He clearly wants a deal, but he has long been afraid of an American attack. There could be a deal, but only if Washington and Seoul acknowledge that his fear is real.

A little story from the Cold War. I only realized how deeply I had been affected by the propaganda I had heard all my young life when I attended my first NATO military exercise in Europe as a journalist. It was the same exercise scenario as always, with Russian tanks surging forward to overrun Western Europe and outnumbered NATO troops struggling to halt the attack.

Then one day, I was interviewing a senior British army officer and, for some reason, I asked the obvious question I had never bothered to ask before. What scenario did the Russians use when they ran their military exercises?

Oh, he said airily, their scenarios imagine that we have invaded East Germany, but after a few days they manage to turn it around and start pushing us back west. When their tanks are breaking through the Fulda Gap we use nukes to stop them and the whole thing rapidly escalates into a general nuclear exchange.

Well, of course. Would the Russians tell their troops that they were launching a deliberate attack on the West that would end in a full-scale nuclear war? No. As the weaker side in the long confrontation, would they ever even consider doing that? Probably not. But I had never considered the fact that the Russians were afraid of us.

Maybe we were "the good guys" in that confrontation, in the sense that our countries were democracies and their countries were dictatorships, but in terms of threat perception and over-reaction, the two sides were identical. The situation in the Korean peninsula is the same story, in microcosm.

Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.

The Kim dynasty inherited a devastated country at the end of the Korean War in 1953. Its cities were levelled and at least a million people had been killed. The Chinese troops who had helped North Korea went home after the war, but the American troops stayed in South Korea. Moreover, the Americans had nuclear weapons and would not promise not to use them  and there was no peace treaty, just an armistice.

The Kims built a very big army as a partial and unsatisfactory counter-threat to U.S. nuclear weapons and started working on their own nukes as soon as the economy had been rebuilt to the required level. However, that big army created a threat perception in the U.S. and South Korea as real and acute as North Koreas own fears.

So how might you negotiate your way out of this futile and dangerous confrontation? Pyongyang wont give up the nuclear deterrent it has worked so long and hard to build  theres not enough trust for that. But Kim is saying he is willing to leave it at its current small and technologically primitive level. Its no real threat to the U.S. in its present form.

Concentrate instead on a peace treaty that gives North Korea a sense of security at last. Demand as a quid pro quo that Pyongyang reduce its ridiculously large army to the same size as South Koreas. And promise that once those cuts have been made, the U.S. troops in South Korea will go home.

It might work. Its certainly worth a try.

Gwynne Dyers new book, Growing Pains: The Future of Democracy (and Work), is published this month by Scribe in Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.It is the burned and blackened bus that I remember most. Perched and overturned atop a pile of concrete rubble, it was a stark signal of what lay ahead.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 28/4/2018 (1256 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Opinion

It is the burned and blackened bus that I remember most. Perched and overturned atop a pile of concrete rubble, it was a stark signal of what lay ahead.

I had seen similar mountains of debris  the remains of houses and shops  in other places in Syria. But in this location, the rubble had been bulldozed into a long, low line that snaked along the road on the edge of Damascus.

Our host, riding in the front seat, told us this was the demarcation line, the line that divided the Syrian forces zone from the armed groups they are fighting.

"Our driver says it is the safest place when there is shelling," he informed us. "Soldiers could be near the line and no one wants to harm their own. So, no one shells near the demarcation line."

I was part of a Mennonite Central Committee delegation visiting the Christian and Muslim organizations we work with in Syria; through these partnerships, in the middle of a conflict zone, MCC has been able to carry out our largest humanitarian response since the Second World War.

Our pleasant visit with Syrian Orthodox Church partners had ended abruptly when exploding shells rattled windows and doors. Even now, two months after my visit to Syria in February, my spouse is still incredulous that I wasnt more fearful on that high-speed ride near the demarcation line on the way back to our hotel.

Likely, I simply did not understand all of what was going on around me. And I start from a trusting assumption that the world I live in will turn out fine for me, as it has most of the time, for most of my 58 years.

My privilege, as much as anything, was what kept the fears at bay.

There is no such assurance for the people in east Ghouta, this zone just outside Damascus where for weeks earlier this year there were daily images of horror. Dying children carried by wounded parents from crumbled homes. No privilege here to protect from a conflict that grinds on into its eighth year.

Our delegation travelled to Syria to support and encourage our Syrian neighbours, to be a small sign of hope that they are not forgotten. Community after community of internally displaced people thanked us for making the journey and for remembering them in their time of sorrow.

But it is hard to avoid the deeper reality underlying the crisis. MCC is not responding to the victims of localized violence. Syrians are not hungry and displaced simply because of disputes and conflicts with other Syrians. If that was ever the case, they are now caught up in a conflict that involves multiple international players with interests that have nothing to do with the safety and well-being of Syrian families.

Over and over, our partners in Syria lamented how foreign players fed this war with troops and weapons and misinformation. Canada has not been above the fray, having joined the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS that was formed in 2014.

Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.

As we visited displaced families, community leaders and oh, so many widows, our new friends often encouraged us to use our privilege, especially the privilege of access to our governments, to call for an end to this war that is so clearly not their own. They are inviting us to call on our government  and all parts of the international community who are involved in the conflict  to immediately cease military involvement in Syria, including troop presence, arms sales and other support for armed actors.

And, upon our return, they asked us, would we also call on our governments to support comprehensive, inclusive diplomatic efforts to bring an end to the conflict and provide generous humanitarian assistance for those in need.

On our last evening in Damascus, we met with a group of young adults heavily engaged in providing humanitarian assistance to displaced families. When asked why they interrupted their studies and professions to care for newly arrived people they had never met, their answer was simple: "We were once displaced and strangers welcomed us. We are tired, but we can do no less!"

I am inspired by their commitment. I am inspired to continue the work that MCC is doing with its partners; providing food, blankets, basic hygiene supplies and essential medication for thousands of displaced Syrian families.

And I am inspired to invite all of us to speak wisely and boldly for an end to the violence that forces Syrians to flood across demarcation zones in search of safety. They are asking for nothing more than a return to their previous lives, their peace, their beautiful Syria.

Rick Cober Bauman is the executive director of Mennonite Central Committee Canada.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C&J Energy Services, Inc. provides well construction, well completion, well support, and other complementary oilfield services and technologies to oil and gas exploration and production companies throughout the continental United States. It operates through Completion Services and Well Support Services segments. The Completion Services segment provides hydraulic fracturing; cased-hole solutions comprising cased-hole wireline, pumpdown, wireline logging, perforating, pressure pumping, well site make-up and pressure testing, and other complementary services; and well construction and intervention services, which include cementing, coiled tubing, rig services, fluids management, and other completion and well support services. This segment also engages in the engineering and production of various parts and components, such as perforating guns and addressable switches, which are used in the completion process. The Well Support Services segment offers rig services, such as providing workover and well servicing rigs that are primarily used for the routine repair and maintenance of oil and gas wells, re-drilling operations, and plugging and abandonment operations; fluids management services, including storage, transportation, and disposal services for fluids used in the drilling, completion, and workover of oil and gas wells; and other special well site services, such as fishing, contract labor, and tool rental services for the completion and workover of oil and gas wells. The company was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

Read MoreArab Bank Group has announced its results for the first quarter of 2018 reporting a net profit after tax of $220.3 million as compared to $218.2 million in 2017.

Announcing the Q1 results, the Jordan-based bank said its net operating income before provisions and taxes hit $335 million, thus registering a double digit growth of 15 per cent.



Loans and advances grew by 5 per cent to reach $25.5 billion, whilst customer deposits stood at $33.4 billion, it stated.



Sabih Masri, the chairman of the Board of Directors stated that the performance of Arab Bank confirms the success of the Group in generating strong results despite the backdrop of a challenging operating environment.



CEO Nemeh Sabbagh said the underlying performance of the group continues on its growth path with first quarter results recording a solid 15 per cent increase in net operating income.



He added that the strong performance was driven by growth in core banking income with net interest income increasing by 12 per cent.



Sabbagh said Arab Bank Group enjoys high liquidity and strong and robust capitalization.



"Groups capital adequacy ratio stood at 15.1 per cent as of March 31, 2018," he added.



The asset quality of the group remains high and that credit provisions held against non-performing loans continue to exceed 100 per cent, he added.-TradeArabia News ServiceWall Street analysts have given VanEck Vectors Russia ETF 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 VanEck Vectors Russia ETF wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys.

View MarketBeat's top stock picks here.Arizona teachers continued the first statewide teachers strike on Friday, filling the capitol plaza. Amidst widespread support for an expanded struggle, including mass protests in Colorado, the unions are doing everything they can to shut the strike down as quickly as possible.

The number of protesters was down to less than 10,000 Friday, from the 75,000 who marched on Thursday, as the Arizona Education Association did nothing to mobilize teachers. The AEA and the union-aligned Arizona Educators United Facebook page called the rally off after only two hours, telling teachers to return Monday when the state legislature resumes its session.

The Senate had adjourned Thursday at noon in a clear statement that it had no intention of addressing the teachers demands. The unions ended Thursdays rally shortly thereafter.

Striking Arizona teachers

The unions are above all determined to prevent the unification of the struggles of teachers in Arizona and Colorado, as this would threaten to develop into a much broader movement that would challenge the Democratic and Republican parties. Republicans control the state government in Arizona, while Democrats control it in Colorado. As Will, an Arizona special education teacher, told World Socialist Web Site reporters: The Democrats are even worse than the Republicans. Theyve both been cutting education.

On Friday, close to 10,000 teachers from Colorados largest metropolitan areas showed up at the state capitol to protest a lack of school funding, the nations lowest pay for teachers, and the decrepit state of school infrastructure. The protests involved teachers from the states 10 largest school districts, with about 500,000 students affected by school shutdowns due to the walkouts.

In Arizona, the AEA has outlined a plan to call the strike off after Monday and focus teacher energy on a ballot initiative to direct a new state income tax towards education.

AEA President Joe Thomas addressed the crowd, stating pathetically: We have to work with [legislators] over the weekend. We have to work with them on Monday, when they have to be here and they dont get to adjourn for the week We have to push them as hard as we can to get them to listen to us on Monday and give them one more remedial opportunity to listen and act.

In the afternoon, Republican Governor Doug Ducey tweeted that he had reached a deal with state legislators for a 20 percent raise with no new taxes. His proposal ostensibly includes $100 million more in school funding, which rises to $371 million over five years, less than half of the funding deficit teachers are demanding be bridged.

Despite touring news stations to promote his plan, however, he presented no details on where the money will come from. If a plan even exists, the funding will certainly not come from increases in business taxes, but rather will be paid for through cuts to programs that benefit the working class.

Throughout the teachers struggle, Ducey has premised a pay raise on hopes that the economy will improve, but legislators have demanded explicit funding sources. Without new taxes, that money would inevitably come from other social services.

Thomas issued a joint response with Noah Karvelis, the administrator of the Arizona Educators United Facebook page, where initial protests were organized, stating: We have no bill. We have no deal. The devil is in the details. The AEA has not yet issued a clear statement about planned protests for Monday, other than Thomass declaration in the morning that the union would direct the teachers' efforts to campaigning for a funding ballot initiative.

The same day, a union official filed paperwork for an initiative to raise state taxes on incomes over $250,000. To get on the ballot, a petition with over 150,000 signatures needs to be submitted by July 5. The union hopes by this measure to defuse the teachers strike and avoid a political fight with the state government.

Without a political fight against the bipartisan drive to dismantle public education, school funding remains at the whim of hostile politicians.

A case in point are recent comments by an Oklahoma state senator on teacher pay. In order to stave off a teachers strike, legislators in that state approved a $6,100 pay increase, far short of the $10,000 teachers demanded. The day the Oklahoma Education Association called off the ensuing 10-day strike without any new gains, legislators began talking of rescinding the pay raise.

State Senator Greg McCortney told a crowd: I absolutely believe were not going to give your school the money to pay for that pay raise. So, I think... we will have to repeal the increase in the minimum salary schedule.

The struggle of Arizona teachers hangs in the balance. The AEA president has clearly stated that after Monday he will divert the teachers' struggle into a dead-end ballot initiative and campaigning for Democrats in November. The AEA has already endorsed Democrat David Garcia for governor.

If the struggle is left in the hands of the unions and the AEU, it will be betrayed, like the West Virginia and Oklahoma strikes.

To take the struggle forward, teachers must make a decisive break with the unions by electing rank-and-file committees in every school and community. Rather than appealing to Democrats and Republicans, who speak for a different class, democratically controlled committees will reach out to every section of workers, public- and private-sector, who face the same attacks on their jobs, living standards and essential services.For the fifth consecutive week, the Israeli military rained live ammunition on thousands of unarmed Palestinian protesters in Gaza yesterday, killing three and wounding between 600 and 900 people.

Fridays bloodletting brings the total number of Palestinians killed by the Israeli army over the past five weeks to 45, including four children, with more than 6,000 wounded. They have been shot down for participating in March of Return protests at the Israeli border fence that have drawn tens of thousands each Friday since March 30. The demonstrators are demanding the right, protected under international law, to return to their historical homeland.

The protests are continuing until May 16, which marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of Israel through the forced expulsion of three quarters of a million Palestinians from their homes in 1948.

All of the three men killed yesterday died of gunshot wounds. One has been identified as 21-year-old Mohammad al-Maqeed, who was gunned down at the border near Gaza City. Abdel-Salam Baker, 29, was killed to the east of Khan Younis city, in the south of the Gaza strip. The identity of the third victim has not yet been released.

Among the wounded, 178 suffered gunshot injuries, according to Gaza health officials, and two remain in critical condition. Hundreds more were hit by rubber-encased steel bullets or are suffering tear gas exposure, after Israeli forces showered the area with tear gas canisters from behind their heavily fortified positions.

Al Jazeera cited Ashraf al-Qidra, a Gaza health official, who said that Israeli forces targeted medical service points twice with unidentified gas, triggering convulsions, severe vomiting and suffocation among a number of victims.

The flood of new casualties has pushed Gazas already overwhelmed hospitals beyond the breaking point. Already two days ago, the director of hospitals in Gaza, Abdul Latif al-Haj, told the Chinese news agency Xinhua that medicines at hospital stocks could run out within a few days due to the high number of injuries we received. Since 2007, the Israeli and Egyptian governments have maintained a blockade on medical supplies and equipment to the seaside territory.

The ongoing murder of civilians and children in Gaza is proceeding under the approving eye of the American government and an utterly corrupt corporate media. The day before yesterdays protests, the Trump administrations ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, gave the green light for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus government to kill protesters with impunity, declaring at a UN Security Council debate on the Middle East that anyone who truly cares about children in Gaza must demand that the bourgeois Islamist movement Hamas immediately stop using children as cannon fodder in its conflict with Israel.

Israels ambassador to the UN, Danny Dann, told the Security Council meeting that terrorists are hiding while allowing, even hoping, for their people to die. He added, This is evil in its purest form. Anticipating yesterdays attack, he declared, Israel has an obligation to protect our citizens, and we will do so while minimizing civilian casualties to the other side, but let me be clear: Israel will never apologize for defending our country.

No Israeli soldiers have been injured or killed during this years protests.

Reports by journalists in Gaza yesterday claimed that even after Israeli soldiers began shooting into the crowd, many protesters continued to run forward toward the border. The increasing desperation of broad layers of Gaza youth is a product of both the unbearable conditions facing the more than 1.9 million Palestinians blockaded in what is the largest open-air prison on earth, and the lack of any viable perspective provided by a supposed two-state solution.

In line with the total support of the American government for Israels assault on the protests, the media has either remained silent about yesterdays killings or explicitly defended them.

An article published yesterday by the New York Times, written by Iyad Abuheweila and David M. Halfbinger, is particularly filthy.

The authors begin by presenting an image of an Israeli state, equipped with the most advanced military equipment on the planet, besieged on all sides by a virtually unarmed population, who, like locusts, have conjured up the idea of swarming across the barrier. The authors write: Israelis have been worrying aloud about what their soldiers would do in response.

Citing protesters armed with wire cutters, hooks and winches, the Times quotes Lt. Colonel Jonathon Conricus, an Israeli military spokesman, who describes the peaceful protests as the first time weve seen this kind of synchronized and focused attack on the fence. He adds that theyre trying to infiltrate into Israel, damage our infrastructure and kill Israelis. Conricus declares that it doesnt matter if someone is carrying flowers if hes tearing down a fence. Thats a violent threat.

In evidence of the supposed defensive actions of Israeli snipers, the Times authors claim Palestinian protesters threw firebombs and rolled burning tires at the fence to try to melt it, and refer to the placing of burning cans of kerosene on kites that are routinely sailed over the fence, setting fires to Israeli farmland.

This is the same newspaper whose columnists routinely crack out denunciations of atrocities by foreign governmentsso long as the offending parties are not allied with Washington. One can only imagine the moral indignation of the Times if it was the Russian, Syrian or Iranian governments shooting at unarmed protesters.

The US corporate media treats the murder of unarmed Palestinians as a non-event.Yesterdays meeting between US President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel appeared superficially friendly. Neither held back with compliments. But on the fundamental issues discussed, the nuclear agreement with Iran and the imposition by the US of trade tariffs on the European Union, Trump made no concessions. Instead, Merkel endorsed Trumps confrontational policy towards Iran, which threatens to culminate in yet another major war in the Middle East and a direct military clash with the nuclear power Russia.

Even though the tariffs imposed by Trump on steel and aluminium are set to take effect on May 1, he was not prepared to grant a delay, let alone withdraw them. Like French President Emmanuel Macron before her, Merkel was firmly rebuffed on this issue, which threatens to escalate into an all-out trade war.

Responding to a journalists question on where things stood with the tariffs, Merkel merely answered, The President will decide. During the press conference, Trump repeatedly complained about the US trade deficit with the EU, which amounts to 150 billion. This is unfair and a great injustice that has to be put right, he said.

Trump also gave no ground on his possible decision to abandon the nuclear deal with Iran, with a final decision due May 12. At the press conference, Trump launched into a vicious tirade against Tehran and threatened it with war. He described the Iranian government as a murderous regime which encouraged violence, bloodletting and chaos throughout the Middle East.

Responding to a question from a journalist on whether he would go to war with Iran after leaving the nuclear deal if Tehran resumed its nuclear programme, Trump said he had no comment.

But you can be sure of one thing, Iran will not obtain nuclear weapons, he added menacingly.

Merkel made no attempt to reject this war-mongering, but instead backed up Trump. While in the past she defended the nuclear agreement, which Germany played a large part in negotiating, she now declares that it was merely a first step that helped to slow down and better monitor Irans nuclear activities.

Although the International Atomic Energy Agency, which oversees the deal, has confirmed that Iran is fulfilling all of its obligations, Merkel demanded that more must be done. Irans ballistic missile programme and influence in Syria are objects of great concern, she added. Iran must be additionally prevented from resuming nuclear activity after the agreement expires. She called on Europe and the US to restrict Iranian influence and bring the bloodletting in Syria to an end.

Considering that the terrible bloodletting in Syria is continuing principally because the US, the European powers and their Arab allies are financing Islamist groups to target the Assad regime, this can only be understood as a threat of war.

Merkel also left no doubt about the fact that Germany intends to intervene more forcefully in the region. At the press conference, she repeatedly noted that the government remains determined to increase military spending to 2 percent of GDP, which amounts to a doubling of defence spending.

Asked by a German journalist about her statement from last year that the times in which it was possible to rely on the US are to some extent over, Merkel sought to present this as a concession to Washingtons demand that Germany assume more responsibility in NATO. She also highlighted the close cooperation between the US and Germany in Ukraine directed against Russia.

Merkels attempt to ingratiate herself with the right-wing occupant of the White House, coming just days after French President Macrons visit, cannot conceal the fact that the divisions between Washington and Berlin, and Berlin and Paris, are rising. France and Germany are jumping on the US bandwagon in the Middle East primarily because they do not want to be left empty-handed following the re-division of the region.

As history has shown, imperialist alliances are alliances living on borrowed time. The looming trade war underscores how sharp the divergence of interests and the associated tensions really are.

Behind the staged friendship, Trump treated Merkel with barely-concealed hostility. He spoke for several minutes at the press conference about the immanent moving of the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, while Merkel, who has opposed this step to date, looked on stone-faced.Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) plans to promote the Indian state as the preferred destination for medical and wellness tourism as well showcase its touristic attractions at this years Arabian Travel Market (ATM).



Taking place from April 22-25 at the Dubai World Trade Centre, ATM will see close to 2,500 exhibitors from 153 countries and over 28,000 influential visitors attend the three-day event.



Speaking about the state government plans, Jaykumar Rawal, Minister of Tourism & Employment Guarantee Scheme, Government of Maharashtra said: I am delighted to be a part of the Arabian Travel Market 2018 that will provide MTDC a platform to showcase the potential of medical tourism in Maharashtra. While the segment is largely untapped and caters to a niche segment of travellers, we have seen a steady growth in this sector due to the quality and economically friendly services the state has to offer. Our goal is to position Maharashtra as a medical and wellness tourism hub. We are in the process of signing a MoU with the Indo-Arab Chambers of Commerce and Industries to highlight lucrative investment prospects within the sector.



Home to the financial capital of the country, Mumbai, Maharashtra sees one of the highest numbers of tourists in the country. With world-class infrastructure, Maharashtra also has tourism attractions with magnificent coastline and beaches, breath-taking wildlife, hill stations, pilgrimage centres, adventure tourism, experiential attractions and rich cultural heritage.



Speaking on their participation, Vijay Waghmare, managing director, MTDC, said: We are witnessing tourism as one of the fastest growing industries worldwide. Maharashtra has one of the best qualified professionals in each field and this holds true in the domain of medical and wellness as well. Maharashtra has the most competent doctors and world class medical facilities with most competitive charges for treatment of most health problems. We are now looking to create a unique identity by offering best health services for the world and establish ourselves as the best Medical tourism destination. At ATM 2018, we will be promoting various activities ranging from yoga, meditation to natural therapies to name some which are provided in the state.



MTDC will be exhibiting at Stand AS2335 at ATM 2018. Together with Tribal Development Department, Government of Maharashtra, MTDC will promote experiential tourism, artefacts from the tribal villages including paintings, handicrafts, forest produce and agricultural/food items. Also, at the stand will be the luxury train - Deccan Odyssey and the authentic Ayurveda wellness centre - Ayurveda Village. - TradeArabia News ServiceFifteen years ago, in the run-up to the US-British invasion of Iraq, the US media was ferociously denouncing Germany and, in particular, France for failing to line up behind the US war drive. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld excoriated Old Europe, the French were painted as cowards and back-stabbers, and media pundits called for changing the name of French fries to freedom fries.

In an article titled How to deal with America? The European dilemma, the World Socialist Web Site observed,

Officials in the Bush administration have become increasingly blunt in laying out the consequences of a European refusal to fall into line behind the United States. As one official told the New York Times on Thursday, Our goal is to rub their nose in reality, and then proceed to discuss what we do about it. And what is this reality? The Bush administration has indicated not all too subtly that French and German companies will be excluded from participating in the carve-up of Iraqs oil industry in the aftermath of war. Even more serious, there have been suggestions that the United States, after occupying Iraq, will exert pressure on Iran, which is a critical supplier of oil to Western Europe. From the standpoint of France and Germany, the behavior of the United States is utterly reckless and raises the danger of a complete breakdown of whatever remains of the entire legal and institutional framework that regulated the affairs of world capitalism. For the Western Europeans to submit to the diktats of the United States would mean to accept their relegation, in the words of the conservative French daily Le Figaro, into a simple protectorate of the United States.

Fifteen years later, French President Emmanuel Macron presented himself in Washington as a junior partner in Washingtons renewed offensive in the Middle East. The French president received a full state dinner, the first of Trumps administration, and was hailed by the American press as a champion of democracy.

Macrons state dinner served as a victory lap for the joint US-French-British missile strike on Syria on April 14. It underscored the fact that the powers of Old Europe have abandoned their pretenses of pacifism and are rushing to rearm and remilitarize. They are either directly participating in or supporting the US intervention in Syria so as to stake their claim in the new imperialist carve-up of the Middle East.

It would appear that much has changed from 15 years ago. But despite outward appearances and Macrons attempt to employ what was described as Gallic charm on the cantankerous American president, behind the scenes similar tensions prevailed between Paris and Washington as were reflected more openly in the rather grumpy exchange between Merkel and Trump just two days later.

While Macron was treated to a dazzling state dinner featuring a rack of spring lamb, goat cheese gateau, and cipollini soubise, Merkel got a brief working lunch. And if one were to judge from the leaders countenances after they emerged, one would conclude that it consisted of soggy tuna fish sandwiches.

No doubt the vast difference between the reception for Merkel and that for Macron expressed the more intense rivalry between the United States and Germany, the European powerhouse, and the attempt to wean France away from European influence.

But for all Macrons genuflections and Merkels tight-lipped deference to Trumps bullying bluster, the same issues exist today that were in play 15 years ago. There are major divisions between the European powers and the United States over all aspects of trade and foreign policy, from Trumps imminent plan to impose tariffs on German and French steel and aluminum exports to his threat to rip up the Iran nuclear deal, which would cut across the economic interests of the European powers.

With a new round of tariffs on steel and aluminium set to take effect on May 1, Trump made clear at the joint press conference following his meeting with the German chancellor that he was not prepared to grant a delay, let alone withdraw the threat of trade war measures. Merkel frowned as Trump declared the European Unions trade surplus with the United States to be a great injustice, and in response to a journalists question on where things stood with the tariffs, the German chancellor grudgingly declared, The president will decide.

Nor did Trump give any ground at the press conference on his possible decision to abandon the nuclear deal with Iran. Instead, he launched into a vicious tirade against Tehran and threatened it with war.

There can be no doubt that the European powers are immensely fearful of the recklessness of the United States and deeply skeptical of their own ability to restrain it.

Over the past week, European officials repeatedly stressed that the Trump administrations nationalist economic policies threatened to provoke a breakdown of international relations with potentially incalculable consequences. Trade war halting commerce between the worlds largest economies and military conflict between nuclear-armed states are real possibilities. French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire warned of Europe being collateral damage of a possible trade war between the US and China.

A group of top officials of Germanys ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the German Green Party warned of war with Russia. Many Western Europeans are alarmed and fear a war, they wrote in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, We are watching with enormous concern the rising conflict between Russia and the West.

But despite such concerns, one factor is dominant: French and German imperialism want their share of the spoils to be gained from Washingtons new-carve up of the Middle East and the neo-colonial re-division of the world.AccorHotels has appointed Frank Naboulsi as the new regional vice president, Luxury & Upper Upscale Brands, Egypt which includes Fairmont Nile City, Sofitel Winter Palace Luxor, Sofitel Taba Heights, Sofitel Cairo El Gezirah, Sofitel Legend Old Cataract Aswan, and Sofitel Le Gabriel.



In his new role, Naboulsi will be responsible for supporting AccorHotels growing portfolio in Egypt. He will bring his ability to establish strategic direction and build business partnerships to manage over six of AccorHotels properties across Egypt while working with the hotels and regional teams to drive more success to the company.



Naboulsi started his career with the Fairmont Brand in 1991 as regional director of sales and marketing in Fairmont Banff Springs Hotels in Alberta, Canada. He then moved to become hotel manager and later general manager in two other Fairmont properties in Canada between 1996 and 2001 before moving to Dallas, Texas as general manager of Fairmont Dallas. Naboulsi joined Fairmont Nile City in 2007 and continued there ever since as general manager and regional vice president, Egypt. Naboulsi has now been extended leadership over Sofitel Winter Palace Luxor, Sofitel Taba Heights, Sofitel Cairo El Gezirah, Sofitel Legend Old Cataract, and Sofitel Le Gabriel, in addition to managing Fairmont Nile City.



Naboulsi is a Certified Hospitality Administrator (CHA) by the American Hotel & Lodging Association, holding a Masters degree in Business Administration (MBA) and a Bachelors degree in Management Administration from California South University as well as a Business Management degree from the University of Grant MacEwan in Canada. He received numerous awards including Where Dallas Magazines Silver Plume Award for General Manager of the Year, Haute Grandeurs Best General Manager in Egypt Award, and Canadian Pacific Hotel Eagle Award for Outstanding Leadership among others. - TradeArabia News ServiceAlfie Evans, the terminally ill British child who gained international attention due to a series of court cases surrounding his removal from life support, has died, according to his family.

Thomas Evans, the father of 23-month-old Alfie, announced his son had died in a Facebook post at about 6 a.m. British time.

The post already had over 41,000 interactions and 23,000 shares within an hour of Thomas Evans' posting the news. Thomas wrote, "My gladiator lay down his shield and gained his wings at 02:30."

Alfie suffered from a neurodegenerative disease that ravaged his brain and left him hospitalized in a neonatal intensive care unit in Liverpool since December 2016. The hospital decided in December 2017 there was no chance for recovery and moved to remove Alfie from life support -- a decision challenged in court by his parents. The court sided with the hospital.

Despite objections from his parents, Thomas and Kate, doctors at Alder Hey Childrens Hospital removed Alfie from life support on Monday. The boy continued to breathe on his own, but his parents and their supporters worried the decision would end his life.

Terminally-ill British boy Alfie Evans becomes rallying point for US conservatives

The case drew the attention of Pope Francis, who offered to fly the child to Rome and care for him at a hospital in the Vatican. They even went as far as to grant Alfie Italian citizenship so he could remain in the country.

Moved by the prayers and immense solidarity shown little Alfie Evans, I renew my appeal that the suffering of his parents may be heard and that their desire to seek new forms of treatment may be granted.  Pope Francis (@Pontifex) April 23, 2018

A court ruled on Tuesday that Alfie was too sick to be taken to hospital at the Vatican and nothing had changed since the previous ruling. High Court Justice Anthony Hayden dismissed the parents' case, saying his ruling was "the final chapter in the life of this extraordinary little boy."

Story continues

Protesters, nicknamed "Alfie's Army," had taken up the boy's case, and even tried to rush the hospital after he was taken off life support.

PHOTO: Tom Evans speaks to the media outside Alder Hey Children's Hospital where his 23-month-old son Alfie has been at the center of a life-support treatment dispute, in Liverpool, England, April 26, 2018. (Peter Byrne/PA via AP)

Alfie had even gathered supporters in the United States, including many prominent conservatives.

It is a sad irony that while the people of the UK are busy celebrating a royal birth, its government is brushing off a commoners right to life, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, tweeted earlier this week in reference to the birth of the Princess Kate and William's baby and Alfie's removal from life support.

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich took up support for Alfie's parents as well, tweeting, "The British governments decisions to allow two critically ill babies to die in two years is a natural reflection of the culture of death and the steady increase in totalitarian tendencies among Western governments."

Gingrich was referring to the death Charlie Gard, who died in July 2017, in a similar case to Alfie's.A police officer in Arizona is dead and a suspect is in custody after stealing three cars in a violent series of incidents Friday in Nogales.

According to Nogales police, officer Jesus Cordova was shot multiple times and killed after pulling over a driver following an armed carjacking at about 2:40 p.m.

The suspect exited the car and shot at Cordova after being pulled over, police said. He then allegedly stole two more cars during a police chase, authorities said.

The suspect was identified by police as David Ernesto Murillo, 28, who was later arrested in a trailer park after police located the stolen car.

David Ernesto Murillo, 28, was arrested in the shooting death of a police officer in Tucson, Arizona, on April 27, 2018. (Nogales Police Department)

"We come here today with a heavy heart as we mourn the loss of one of our officers," Nogales Police Department Police Chief Roy Bermudez said in an emotional press conference Friday. "We ask for prayers for his family, friends, members of the Nogales Police Department and the community as a whole."

Cordova, 44, was engaged and the father of three children. His fiancee is 5 months pregnant with their fourth child.

The Arizona Department of Public Safety will take over investigation, Bermudez said. The investigation will be complicated, with seven different crime scenes, due to the carjackings, shooting and eventual capture, police said.

Why 2018 could be an especially deadly year for cops

Dallas police officer dies 1 day after shooting that injured 2 others: Officials

'Last call': Fallen FBI agent honored in heartbreaking law enforcement ritual

Bermudez refused to give any information about Murillo during the press conference, saying, "I'm not going to give him the time of day to talk about him on television."

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey said flags would fly at half staff on Monday to honor Cordova.

"My prayers and condolences go out to Officer Cordova's family and loved ones and the entire Nogales community," Ducey said in a statement. "This tragedy is a solemn reminder of the sacrifices that police officers make daily to keep our communities safe."

Cordova had worked for the Nogales Police Department for just one year after joining the department from the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office. Nogales is located in Santa Cruz County in the southern-most part of Arizona.

"He was an exemplary police officer, sir," Bermudez said. "I was glad to take him in because of the reputation he had."Photo: Getty Images

Almost half of Adam Bells fellow high school students in Greenville, S.C., voted to crown him prom king last week. The openly gay senior, who loves fashion and makeup, knew his classmates and teachers wouldnt be surprised to see him show up to the dance in a cropped Victorias Secret bustier and a green velvet skirt.

Did he expect any extra attention because of his choice of prom wear? I didnt because my school has been so supportive the whole time, Bell told Fox Carolina. Theyve seen it on a daily basis from me, so it was nothing new to them.

In photos, you can see him posing happily with Powdersville High School administrators and teachers, the prom queen, and fellow students. He dances in his crown with a boy.

The photo has been deleted. (Photo: Facebook/PowdersvilleHighSchool)

Wearing a dress is like my version of dressing up, like most guys version is wearing a tux and mine is more feminine, he told the local CBS affiliate WSPA.

This is not a story about a prom dress-code violation  his outfit didnt violate any rules. It isnt about his peers or the school system failing to support his fashion choices or even his sexuality. Its about what happened after they all did support him. When the school posted photos from prom to its official Facebook page, the negative comments came flooding in. From parents.

This young man/woman/it should be ashamed of this ludicrous behavior, one comment said, according to North Carolinas WCNC.

My question to admin is he going to be allowed to use the restroom with these young girls, wrote another woman.

There must have been worse comments too, but we dont know what they were because the school district opted to take down the entire Powdersville High School Facebook page.

This weekend Powdersville High School hosted its annual junior-senior prom, Jane Harrison with Anderson District One told CBS affiliate WSPA. Consistent with the schools long-standing tradition, the students nominated and elected a prom king and queen. This year, the king and queen elected were Aston Irby and Adam Bell.

Story continues

Bell told WSPA that his classmates have stood by him through this social media storm. [T]he kids were actually the ones standing up to the adults and being more supportive than ever, Bell said. I greatly appreciate all my friends and even people I havent even talked to at the school who were standing up to the adults and even their own parents who would comment.

Bell follows in the footsteps of other high school students breaking down gender norms at prom. Last year, Adrian Santiago of Cidra, Puerto Rico, made headlines with his dazzling pink blazer-dress. This weekend, a gay couple in Georgia will attend their high schools prom as part of the royal court after petitioning the school to make the honor gender neutral.

With prom behind him, Bell doesnt intend to stop expressing himself freely at school events. He told Fox Carolina that hell be attending graduation in a dress too.

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.



Israel flooding

Ten teenagers have been killed in a flash flood in southern Israel. The nine girls and one boy, all aged 18, were swept away during a school-organized hike to the Nahal Tzafit seasonal riverbed just south of the Dead Sea. Four other people also died in separate incidents across Israel and the West Bank.

Nine of the students' bodies had already been found on Thursday and the tenth was discovered early on Friday, The Times of Israel reported. Two other students from the group suffered hypothermia and were taken for treatment at a local hospital. Another 13 students were rescued unharmed.

Trending: Anderson Cooper Blasts Trump's 'Fox & Friends' Interview: President Is Like 'a Crazy Person on a Park Bench'

According to Haaretz, Israeli police have launched an investigation into the deaths and have already made arrests after questioning staff members that organized the excursion. Two people have been detained and a third placed under house arrest. It is believed they are being investigated on suspicion of negligence homicide, a conviction for which carries a three-year prison sentence.

A day before the trip, one of the girls who died told friends she did not think the activity was safe. I can't believe I'm actually going hiking in weather like this. It doesn't make sense to go to a place that's completely flooded, she said in WhatsApp messages. It's tempting fate. We're going to dieI'm serious.

Israel flooding

REUTERS/Amir Cohen

Don't miss: Mars: NASA to Partner With Europeans to Bring a Piece of Red Planet to Earth

Even small amounts of rainfall in desert areas can lead to rapid flooding. The Israel Meteorological Service had issued flood warnings for the Dead Sea region but the hike went ahead regardless.

Story continues

Nadav Eylon, head of emergency and security at the Central Arava Regional Council, spoke to reporters from the scene of the flooding on Thursday, explaining that volunteers were brought in to help rescuers. He said the Israeli air force also sent helicopters to assist in the search and rescue effort. This area is very flood prone, Eylon explained.

The victims had been studying at the Bnei Zion Academy in Tel Aviv, which offers students a one-year course ahead of compulsory military draft. Israeli parliament member Yehuda Glick (Likud) met with officials at the school, and told reporters, Everybody [at the school] is in shock theyre broken. Its just an impossible situation.

Most popular: Mystery Surrounds Human Bones Found in Vanished Graves at Texas Construction Site

Israel flooding

REUTERS/Amir Cohen

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered his condolences to the families of those killed, saying: Israel grieves the promising young lives that were cut off by this tragedy.

President Reuven Rivlin said: Our thoughts and prayers go to our brothers, children, our loved ones, and those in danger, noting the government was following the situation in the south closely and assisting those working to find, rescue and treat other victims.

Two Palestinian children were also killed in flooding in the West Bank. Nine and 10 years old, they were found in a flooded reservoir in the El Fuwar refugee camp south of Hebron.

Two other teenagers were killed in separate incidents on Wednesday as Israel withered under the first day of hail and thunderstorms. A 17-year old Bedouin boy drowned in the Negev desert, while a woman was swept away near the West Bank city of Bethlehem.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekBy Hasmik Mkrtchyan YEREVAN (Reuters) - Armenia's acting prime minister, Karen Karapetyan, rejected a proposal by opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan to hold talks on Friday to defuse a political crisis engulfing the small south Caucasus nation. Armenia, a close ally of Russia, has been rocked by two weeks of anti-government protests against the ruling elite which led on Monday to the resignation of Serzh Sarksyan as prime minister. Sarksyan had previously been president for a decade. The protesters have not stopped at Sarksyan's resignation, making clear they consider the whole government tainted by his drive to shift power to the prime minister from the president. "The acting prime minister considers taking part in 'talks' that have no chance of finding a solution to be useless," Karapetyan's press service said in a statement. Karapetyan is an ally of Sarksyan and a member of his ruling Republican Party. Pashinyan, who has led the daily street protests, said Karapetyan was repeating Sarksyan's mistakes and said the demonstrations would continue. "The (ruling) Republican Party is seeking to deepen the crisis," Pashinyan told a news conference. Protesters plan to hold rallies outside the capital, in two other big cities, on Friday and Saturday and then to continue in Yerevan from Sunday. Pashinyan, a former journalist turned lawmaker, said the opposition would probably boycott any snap parliamentary election unless parliament made him the interim prime minister. "We want a guarantee that such an election would be really free, really transparent and really democratic," Pashinyan said. "Otherwise this vote would not have any meaning." "I'm calling on the citizens of Armenia to go out to the streets from early morning on May 1 and to flood all streets and squares, including around the National Assembly (parliament)," Pashinyan added. Parliament is due to pick a new prime minister on May 1. RUSSIA WATCHING Although the anti-government demonstrations have been peaceful, the upheaval has threatened to destabilise Armenia in a volatile region riven by the country's decades-long, low-level conflict with neighbouring Azerbaijan. Pashinyan has not questioned Armenia's geopolitical alignment with Russia under Sarksyan and his criticism has focused on domestic issues such as corruption and poverty. On Friday, the Kremlin said it hoped the political crisis in Armenia could be resolved as promptly as possible and with the consensus of all parties involved. Moscow has two military bases in the ex-Soviet republic. Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke on Thursday to Karapetyan, a former executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom, and made clear that Moscow was watching events closely and did not want mob rule in Armenia, the Kremlin said. The Kremlin statement appeared to suggest that Putin wanted Armenia's next prime minister to come from the ruling party, which has been the focus of popular anger, saying he thought the crisis needed to be addressed on the basis of what he said were legitimate parliamentary elections in 2017. One Yerevan-based political analyst said the Kremlin had clearly endorsed Karapetyan as its preferred candidate to head the next government. "It is a direct challenge to the opposition and a move to safeguard the position of the embattled and deeply unpopular ruling elite. It is also a flagrant rejection of the new political reality in Armenia," Richard Giragosian, director at Yereban-based Regional Studies Centre, told Reuters Separately on Friday Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov discussed by telephone the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Azerbaijan's foreign minister. Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous part of Azerbaijan, is run by ethnic Armenians who declared independence during a conflict that broke out as the Soviet Union crumbled in 1991. (Additional reporting by Margarita Antidze; Writing by Gabrielle Tetrault-Farber and Margarita Antidze; Editing by Gareth Jones)Adam Rippon has been an outspoken critic of President Donald Trumps adminstration. (AP Photo)

President Donald Trump honored the Team USA Olympic and Paralympic athletes to the White House on Friday, but with some notable absences. Adam Rippon, Lindsey Vonn, Shaun White, Chloe Kim and more opted not to visit Washington for various reasons.

Rippon stated he wouldnt accept the invitation because he will not stand with people who discriminate against those that they perceive as different. Even though Rippon was not in attendance, he definitely saw at least one part of the ceremony: Trumps speech, and a particular line that left him with no regrets for skipping the visit.

Its a little tough to watch too much, said the President of the United States about the Paralympics. https://t.co/obPkNtV8jn  Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) April 27, 2018

Current mood: Having no regrets about missing this trip. https://t.co/xxcKxKz6NL  Adam Rippon (@Adaripp) April 28, 2018

The full quote from Trump read as follows:

So today, on behalf of the United States, I want to thank every Olympian and Paralympian and  that was just incredible, what what happened with the Paralympics was so incredible and so inspiring to me. And I watched  its a little tough to watch too much, but I watched as much as I could.It was really fantastic, and I want to thank you.

To give Trump the benefit of the doubt, the full context of the tough to watch remark makes it seem quite possible that the line was actually a reference to his schedule being too full to give him enough time to watch the events. Its notable that Trump has had arguments in the past over his TV viewing habits.

MSNBC host Chris Hayes came to that conclusion after initially responding along similar lines as Rippon.

Story continues

So I've listened to this way more than I should've, and I *think* I've come to conclude he means it's tough to watch too much because he's so busy being president. https://t.co/ZtYl2aJSP9  Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) April 28, 2018

However Trump meant his remarks, its clear that the rift between him and Rippon, as well as many of the other Olympians who opted not to attend, isnt going to get better anytime soon.

More from Yahoo Sports:

 NFL draft grades for Round 1

 Report: Cowboys star moving on to big new career

 Dan Devine: Warriors vs. Pelicans series preview

 Report: Chargers to cut team icon Antonio Gates

Antananarivo (AFP) - More than 1,000 opposition activists rallied in Madagascar's capital on Saturday demanding the resignation of the president on the eighth straight day of anti-government protests in which at least two people have died, AFP reporters said.

Seven months ahead of presidential and legislative elections, the opposition accuses the government of trying to elbow them out of the race through new electoral laws they claim benefit the incumbent.

They allege that the new laws could bar some candidates from standing in the presidential election.

Crowds gathered at a square in front of the capital Antananarivo's town hall, calling on President Hery Rajaonarimampianina to quit.

"Get lost, Rajao, murderer, dangerous 'killer'," read one banner.

"We should actually drop the term 'president' from our banners, because for us Rajao is no longer the president of the republic," said opposition MP, Lanto Rakotomanga to applause from the crowd.

Opposition lawmakers have asked the country's constitutional court to examine the new electoral laws and to dismiss Rajaonarimampianina.

Two people were killed and at least 16 people wounded on the first day of the protests last week, which the president denounced as an attempted coup.

Authorities had declared that protest illegal, but about 1,000 opposition activists defied the order and security forces used tear gas to break up the gathering.

The large Indian Ocean island, which has been beset by decades of political instability, is due to hold polls in late November or December.

Elected in 2013, Rajaonarimampianina has not yet announced whether he will stand for re-election.

But two former heads of state have already said they would contest: Marc Ravalomanana, who was president from 2002 to 2009, and Andry Rajoelina, who removed Ravalomanana during a coup.

Both were barred from running in 2013 and their parties have been involved in the demonstrations.

Representatives of both the president's party and of the opposition had met on Wednesday to try to find a solution to the crisis, but to no avail.Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge announced their new royal babys name is officially Louis Arthur Charles, but how should royal fans pronounce the new royal baby name when theyre breathlessly talking about him? Over in France, Louis is pronounced Lou-EE. The American way: Lou-ISS.

According to People, the s in His Royal Highness Prince Louis of Cambridges royal baby name is silent, and we should all be saying his name the French way.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are delighted to announce that they have named their son Louis Arthur Charles.



The baby will be known as His Royal Highness Prince Louis of Cambridge. pic.twitter.com/4DUwsLv5JQ  Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) April 27, 2018

The name Louis runs in the family. Its Prince Williams middle name, and Prince Georges too.

But his moniker likely pays tribute to Lord Mountbatten, Prince Charles great-uncle who was assassinated by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in 1979. Theres more. Prince Philip, the newborns great-grandfather, had a grandfather named Prince Louis of Battenberg.

And theres ties to old French royal family history too. This little Louis follows in the illustrious footsteps of other famous royals. Theres Marie Antoinettes husband, Louis XVI, and King Louis XIV, a.k.a. the Sun King who built the Palace of Versailles.

Get it right, its the French way. And carry on.[caption id="attachment_18875" align="alignnone" width="620"]

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, Atlanta[/caption]

With time running out, a federal appeals court sided with Florida in an escalating battle over the state's process for restoring voting rights to former prisoners.

U.S. District Judge Mark Walker in Tallahassee gave Florida until Thursday to create a new process after ruling in February that the state's current system is unconstitutional and arbitrary, with decisions possibly swayed by politics and racial factors.

But a split three-judge panel of the Atlanta-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit blocked Walker's ruling from taking effect while it considers an appeal from Gov. Rick Scott and other Florida Republican officials. "We are glad that the Elevetnth Circuit Court of Appeals has stayed the lower court's reckless ruling," said John Tupps, a spokesman for Scott. "Judges should interpret the law, not create it. Gov. Scott will never stop fighting for victims of crime and their families." The decision by the appellate court came less than two hours before Scott and GOP officials were scheduled to hold an extraordinary late-night meeting of the state's clemency board Wednesday where they were poised to adopt new rules. The meeting was scrapped after the panel sided with Florida 2-1. Judge Stanley Marcus wrote the opinion, with Judge William Pryor concurring. Judge Beverly Martin wrote a dissent. Florida's clash over voting rights comes as Scott campaigns for the U.S. Senate seat of Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson in a state where as many as 1.5 million felons remain disenfranchised by the state's ban in the Florida Constitution. Walker's ruling kept the ban intact, but he challenged the current system that requires a former prisoner to wait five to seven years before they can even ask to have their voting rights back. The governor and the three elected Cabinet members decide each request individually, subject to the governor's unilateral veto, and the waiting list has grown long. It wasn't always this way. Shortly after taking office in 2007, then-Republican Gov. Charlie Crist persuaded two of the state's three Cabinet members to approve rules allowing the parole commission to restore voting rights for nonviolent felons without hearings, and ultimately more than 100,000 felons were allowed to vote again. Scott and state officials changed the process in 2011, and since then fewer than 3,000 have had their rights restored. The governor has defended the change, saying former prisoners should have to demonstrate they can remain out of trouble before their voting rights are returned. Last year, however, a group of former prisoners whose applications were turned down sued the state. In its split ruling, the federal appeals court concluded Florida has a good chance of prevailing in its appeal and questioned Walker's decision to order a new process. Marcus wrote there should not be a "rushed decision-making process created on an artificial deadline." "There is wisdom in preserving the status quo ante until a panel of this court, on an expedited basis, has had an opportunity on full briefing to come to grips with the many constitutional and equitable issues that have been raised," Marcus wrote. Walker first ruled in February the process was unconstitutional and then in late March ordered changes must be put in place by this week. The clemency board  without holding a public meeting to discuss the ruling  appealed. While the governor's office has said the decision to appeal was handled properly, Barbara Petersen of the First Amendment Foundation has questioned whether Scott and GOP officials sidestepped the state's open meetings law. She said it "doesn't pass the sniff test to my way of thinking." Scott and the Cabinet were sued for open meeting violations in 2015 and ultimately settled the case without admitting wrongdoing. The legal battle over voting rights for former prisoners is occurring just months before Florida voters will be asked to alter the current ban. Backers of a constitutional amendment won a place on the November ballot. If 60 percent of voters approve, most former prisoners would have their rights automatically restored when they are released. Gary Fineout reports for the Associated Press.Thousands of teachers and their supporters marched to the Arizona capitol in Phoenix on Thursday, April 26, seeking increases in school spending and on teacher salaries.

More than 1,000 public schools in over 100 school districts, as well as charter schools, were closed Thursday as teachers staged the walkout, a news report said. More than 850,000 students were affected by the walkout.

Gov. Doug Ducey has proposed a 20 percent pay increase by 2020, and he urged parents during an interview to call state lawmakers to show their support for the plan.

Police estimated 30,000 people took part in the march, which stretched more than a mile. A rally was planned for the afternoon at the capitol.

Colorado teachers held a similar protest on Thursday.

This video shows teachers and their supporters on a light-rail train in Mesa headed to Phoenix. Credit: Jesse Paulk via StoryfulBy Hasmik Mkrtchyan YEREVAN (Reuters) - Armenia's acting prime minister, Karen Karapetyan, rejected a proposal by opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan to hold talks on Friday to defuse a political crisis engulfing the small South Caucasus nation. Armenia, a close ally of Russia, has been rocked by two weeks of anti-government protests against the ruling elite which led on Monday to the resignation of Serzh Sarksyan as prime minister. Sarksyan had previously been president for a decade. His resignation has failed to halt the protesters, who say they consider the whole government tainted by Sarksyan's drive to shift power to the prime minister from the president. They want Pashinyan installed as interim premier and then for early parliamentary polls to take place under a new election law. "The acting prime minister considers taking part in 'talks' that have no chance of finding a solution to be useless," Karapetyan's press service said in a statement. Karapetyan is an ally of Sarksyan and a member of his ruling Republican Party. Karapetyan later accused the opposition of "monopolising the political process" and said only genuine dialogue and an acknowledgement of mistakes could defuse the crisis. "We should understand which political force or forces will lead the country to a better future," Karapetyan told independent television channel Shant TV. "We should support a program rather than just elect a personality." Pashinyan, who has led the daily street protests, said Karapetyan was repeating Sarksyan's mistakes and said the demonstrations would continue. Protesters held a rally on Friday in Gyumri, Armenia's second biggest city, and plan to hold another outside the capital on Saturday before resuming protests in Yerevan from Sunday. Thousands of people greeted Pashinyan's cortege and chanted his name along the road from Yerevan to Gyumri. In some villages he met local residents who hugged and kissed the former journalist turned lawmaker. Pashinyan said the opposition would probably boycott any snap parliamentary election unless parliament made him the interim prime minister. "We want a guarantee that such an election would be really free, really transparent and really democratic," Pashinyan said. "Otherwise this vote would not have any meaning." "I'm calling on the citizens of Armenia to go out to the streets from early morning on May 1 and to flood all streets and squares, including around the National Assembly (parliament)," Pashinyan added. Parliament is due to pick a new prime minister on May 1. RUSSIA WATCHING Although the anti-government demonstrations have been peaceful, the upheaval has threatened to destabilize Armenia in a volatile region riven by the country's decades-long, low-level conflict with neighboring Azerbaijan. Pashinyan has not questioned Armenia's geopolitical alignment with Russia under Sarksyan and his criticism has focused on domestic issues such as corruption and poverty. On Friday, the Kremlin said it hoped the political crisis in Armenia could be resolved as promptly as possible and with the consensus of all parties involved. Moscow has two military bases in the ex-Soviet republic. Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke on Thursday to Karapetyan, a former executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom, and made clear that Moscow was watching events closely and did not want mob rule in Armenia, the Kremlin said. The Kremlin statement appeared to suggest that Putin wanted Armenia's next prime minister to come from the ruling party, which has been the focus of popular anger, saying he thought the crisis needed to be addressed on the basis of what he said were legitimate parliamentary elections in 2017. One Yerevan-based political analyst said the Kremlin had clearly endorsed Karapetyan as its preferred candidate to head the next government. "It is a direct challenge to the opposition and a move to safeguard the position of the embattled and deeply unpopular ruling elite. It is also a flagrant rejection of the new political reality in Armenia," Richard Giragosian, director at Yereban-based Regional Studies Centre, told Reuters. (Additional reporting by Margarita Antidze; Writing by Gabrielle Tetrault-Farber and Margarita Antidze; Editing by Gareth Jones)Yerevan (AFP) - Armenia's ruling party on Saturday refused to nominate a new candidate for premier after veteran ruler Serzh Sarkisian stepped down following mass protests, as support for leading opposition figure Nikol Pashinyan gathered pace.

Ex-Soviet Armenia has been in the grip of a severe political crisis for the past two weeks with the protest movement charging that Sarkisian and his ruling Republican party were making a power grab.

"The Republican Party has decided not to nominate its candidate," said Eduard Sharmazanov, vice speaker of parliament and the ruling party's spokesman, citing the interests of the people.

The party will wait until all candidates are nominated by April 30 and then decide who to back.

It was not immediately clear whether the ruling party -- which has a majority of seats in parliament -- would back the head of the protest movement, Nikol Pashinyan, or another candidate.

Sharmazanov said earlier he personally doubted Pashinyan was a suitable candidate for the top job.

The ruling party said earlier it would announce its position on a May 1 vote to elect the country's next prime minister on Monday.

The Prosperous Armenia Party, which holds 31 seats in the 105-member chamber, said Saturday it was backing Pashinyan.

The party "won't present a candidate and will support the candidate of the people, which is what he (Pashinyan) is," its chief Gagik Tsarukyan told the Kentron television channel.

- Still in the game -

Observers fear the turmoil could destabilise the Moscow-allied nation which has for decades been locked in a territorial dispute with Azerbaijan.

Sarkisian resigned this week as the country's new prime minister after serving as president for a decade.

Pashinyan has issued an ultimatum to the authorities, saying that he should be elected the next prime minister -- who holds the country's top job under a parliamentary system of government.

He however does not have enough votes to get elected.

Story continues

Moscow has urged compromise and Russian President Vladimir Putin this week spoke by phone with the interim head of government, stressing the importance of the upcoming election.

On Friday, acting head of government Karen Karapetyan refused to hold talks with the protest leader, accusing him of promoting his own agenda and worsening the crisis in the poor country of 2.9 million people.

The United States urged "good faith" in negotiations, with a State Department statement calling for "a resolution that reflects the interests of all Armenians."

- 'Equal rights' -

Addressing supporters in his birthplace Ijevan in Armenia's bucolic north earlier Saturday, Pashinyan pledged equal rights and opportunities for all, saying the country had turned a new page after Sarkisian quit power.

"Every citizen will have equal rights and opportunities," he told supporters. "From now on people will not be judged by who their acquaintances, friends and relatives are."

He also said he was ready to meet with members of the ruling party to discuss a "peaceful transfer of power."

Over the past two days, the 42-year-old has received a hero's welcome in a number of towns and villages outside the capital Yerevan, driving around the landlocked South Caucasus country with his supporters in a convoy.

In the small northern town of Dilijan earlier in the day, several hundred locals greeted Pashinyan, holding flags and beating drums.

"We want change in Armenia and Pashinyan to be elected prime minister right away," said Arman Ovsepyan, a 43-year-old musician.

"If the Republicans refuse to leave power, we will force them to do so peacefully."

After a brief halt to two weeks of nearly non-stop rallies, protesters were expected to return to the streets of the capital on Sunday.

They also planned to stage a major rally on election day.

Police said there was a "potential threat" of provocations by radical groups on May 1, urging protesters to be vigilant.

The opposition says only its candidate should become the country's next leader to oversee free and fair parliamentary elections and clean up the political system of corruption and the influence of oligarchs.

mkh-ir-am-as/pgThe Daily Beast

Clodagh Kilcoyne via ReutersROMEMarie was placed in a French Catholic boarding school for young girls from good families when she was in the fifth grade. She remembers a nun who would come to her class every day to choose a student to help her with Mass. But the nun wasnt looking for someone to help her. She was looking for a victim.I was 11 and looked 9. She would choose me once every two or three times, she recalls. She would take me to her office, lock the door, and then draw the curBy Alison Bevege SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Saturday the country will send a military patrol aircraft to monitor North Korean vessels suspected of transferring prohibited goods in defiance of United Nations sanctions. Canada also plans to deploy patrol aircraft for such activities, and surveillance planes from both countries will be based in the U.S. military's Kadena air base on Japan's southern island of Okinawa, the Japanese government said in a separate statement. The announcements came a day after the leaders of North and South Korea pledged at an historic summit to work for the complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. However, U.S. President Donald Trump, who is also set to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said he would maintain pressure on Pyongyang through sanctions that were imposed in a bid to rein in the North's missile and nuclear programs. Australia, a staunch U.S. ally, also promised to keep up economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea. "We do have a P-8A surveillance aircraft that is going to be working in the region to monitor compliance with sanctions, and that is part of our collaboration with our partners in that exercise to enforce those U.N. sanctions," Turnbull said, speaking during a televised news conference. "What has been occurring is that sanctions have been evaded by transferring materials from ship to ship...to add to the surveillance of the area enables that to be identified and then, of course, those who are a party to that to be held responsible and brought to account." Turnbull and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said pressure had to be kept on North Korea to ensure the Korean peninsula was denuclearized. The move by Australia and Canada to deploy patrol aircraft comes after a British warship arrived in Japan this month to join efforts to police U.N. sanctions imposed on North Korea over its nuclear and missile programs. "Japan welcomes these (surveillance) activities from the view point of upholding the maximum pressure on North Korea while maintaining the solidarity of the international community," the Japanese government said in a statement, referring to the moves by Australia, Canada and Britain. Senior U.S. officials said in February the Trump administration and key Asian allies were preparing to expand interceptions of ships suspected of violating the sanctions on North Korea. The strategy called for closer tracking of ships suspected of carrying banned weapons components and other prohibited cargo to and from North Korea. (Reporting by Alison Bevege; Additional reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka in TOKYO; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)Vienna (AFP) - Austria said Saturday it is probing a 2012 incident in which its UN peacekeepers in the Golan Heights reportedly let Syrian policemen drive into a fatal ambush.

A video made by the Austrian peacekeepers and published online by the Falter weekly on Friday shows what the paper says are Syrian smugglers setting up their ambush behind rocks.

An hour later a white jeep with the Syrian police arrive and the Austrian peacekeepers allow them to pass, according to Falter. The footage then shows the Syrians being shot at and killed.

Discussions among the peacekeepers heard in the clip show that they knew that they were letting the Syrian police into a trap, Falter said.

"Really you should tell them," one of the peacekeepers is heard to tell another in Austrian dialect. "It's about to start, you'll see," says another as the vehicle nears the ambush.

The Austrian defence ministry said that a special commission of enquiry began its work on Saturday.

"As a first step all reports, orders, laws and regulations that could be relevant for the enquiry are being collected, examined and evaluated," spokesman Michael Bauer said on Twitter.

"The UN is invited to work with us," he said on Twitter.

The Austria Press Agency quoted a spokesman for the United Nations as calling the video "disturbing".

The world body would follow up actively on this issue in cooperation with the Austrian authorities, the spokesman says.

The spokesman added that the incident, which left nine members of the Syrian security forces killed by 13 members of the armed opposition, was reported to the UN Security Council and included in a UN report.

The Salzburger Nachrichten daily quoted on Saturday an Austrian soldier who served as a UN peacekeeper in the Golan Heights as saying that the peacekeepers' actions were "100-percent correct according to our mandate".

"The order is: don't get involved," Markus H., who was not present during the incident concerned, told the paper's online edition.

The armistice line on the sector of the Golan Heights, seized by Israel from Syria in 1967, was largely quiet for decades until the Syrian civil war broke out in 2011.

Austria withdrew its peacekeepers in 2013 because of worsening security.Bill Cosby was found guilty Thursday of three felony counts of aggravated indecent assault against Andrea Constand  a significant development following dozens of allegations of sexual assault against the comedian.

Constand accused Cosby of drugging and sexually assaulting her at his home in 2004, and he now faces up to 30 years in state prison. Cosbys lawyers have already said they will appeal the verdict.

But Cosby has been accused of sexual assault by dozens of other women, and his legal fight is far from over. Even though Constands accusation led to the only criminal case against Cosby  because the statute of limitations had lapsed for many of the other claims  there are still several civil lawsuits pending against him.

These are the legal battles still to come:

Bill Cosby is still facing several civil lawsuits

At least 10 women have pending civil suits against Cosby  three in California and seven in Massachusetts. The suits accuse Cosby of sexual assault or defamation in cases where Cosby called women liars after they claimed he assaulted them. Cosby has denied all of the accusations against him.

Chloe Goins filed a suit in California in 2016 accusing Cosby of sexual battery during a party at the Playboy Mansion in 2008. Spencer Kuvin, who is representing Goins, said there was a stay placed on the case pending the outcome of the criminal trial. Kuvin said he now plans to move to lift the stay and request a trial date as well as a deposition of Cosby. Kuvin said Goins was ecstatic about Thursdays verdict.

Its fantastic, he said. For all of the women who have come forward I think it was vindication for what theyve been saying all along.

Judy Huth accused Cosby of giving her alcohol and molesting her at the Playboy Mansion in 1974, when she was 15. Cosby has been deposed in the case, and a status conference has been scheduled for May 23, at which time Huths attorney, Gloria Allred, said she will request a trial date. Allred, who represents more than 30 of Cosbys accusers, praised the outcome of the criminal trial on Thursday.

Story continues

Former model Janice Dickinson also filed a suit in California in 2015, accusing Cosby of defamation. Dickinson accused Cosby of drugging and raping her in 1982.

Whats next? My defamation case on behalf of Janice Dickinson against Bill Cosby, which weve been fighting and WINNING for 3+ years, goes on, attorney Lisa Bloom tweeted Thursday. Mr. Cosby, Im looking forward to taking your deposition.

What's next?

My defamation case on behalf of Janice Dickinson against Bill Cosby, which we've been fighting and WINNING for 3+ years, goes on.

Mr. Cosby, I'm looking forward to taking your deposition.  Lisa Bloom (@LisaBloom) April 26, 2018

Seven women in Massachusetts  where Cosby owns a home  have also sued him for defamation. The plaintiffs in that suit are Tamara Green, Therese Serignese, Linda Traitz, Louisa Moritz, Barbara Bowman, Joan Tarshis and Angela Leslie. There was a stay placed on the case, pending the conclusion of the criminal trial.

Heres how the guilty verdict could affect the civil suits

Every case is different, and the criminal conviction does not necessarily foreshadow a similar outcome for the civil cases, which involve different plaintiffs and different sets of evidence. While its difficult to predict how judges will handle each of the civil suits, legal experts say a criminal conviction could undercut Cosbys credibility in the future.

It adds momentum to the defamation cases, said Rod Smolla, a First Amendment expert and dean of Widener University Delaware Law School. The existence of the conviction just automatically pushes everything more in favor of the plaintiffs of those civil cases.

What will matter is the extent to which, in the civil cases, the judges presiding allow any of that other crime evidence to be entered in, Smolla added. Thats a minefield. Thats one of the most complicated and unpredictable areas of trials.

A criminal conviction requires a higher burden of proof  beyond a reasonable doubt  than a civil case, which requires just a preponderance of the evidence. According to legal experts, the fact that a jury found Cosby guilty under a higher burden of proof could bode well for civil plaintiffs, who arent required to meet that standard. The outcome of the criminal case could also influence public perception.

Whenever people bring civil claims or criminal claims alleging sexual assault, the truthfulness of the accuser is brought into a question more often than not, said Julie Goldscheid, a City University of New York law professor who focuses on civil litigation and gender-based violence.

This verdict might not technically impact those others cases, but it should, I think, help shift public perception. And to the extent that jurors or judges harbor biases that tend to discredit and discount the accusers, one can hope that this verdict helps to shatter those biases.One of the mightiest falls of grace to confront the world of Hollywood and celebrity has been finally cemented after the actor and comedian Bill Cosby - once one of the most popular entertainers in the nation  was convicted by a jury of sexual assault.

The 80-year-old former star of the The Cosby Show, and a man whose success as a black entertainer was in some ways as significant as that represented by Barack Obama in the sphere of politics, was found guilty by a jury near Philadelphia of all three counts of sexual assault. As the decision was announced, there were shrieks in the court from some of the women who had accused him of molesting or assaulting them and whose voices had for years been ignored or disbelieved.

During a trial that lasted 17 days, the court heard how he had drugged and sexually assaulted former Temple University employee Andrea Constand at his Philadelphia home in 2004. The jury took 14 hours to return its verdict.

The decision came after a two-week retrial in which prosecutors put five other women on the stand who testified that Cosby, married for 54 years, drugged and violated them as well. One of those women who spoke brushed back tears as she said to him: You remember, dont you, Mr Cosby?

The panel of seven men and five women, reached a verdict after a previous jury delivered a mistrial one year ago. Afterwards, activists and other women who had accused the star of assaulting them, said the verdict vindicated the decision by prosecutors to try him again.

The charges on which the comedian was convicted, each carry a sentence of ten years in jail, although his legal team indicated it would appeal the result. For now, he will need to register as a sex offender and will undergo an assessment to determine if he is a sexual predator.

To the disappointment of many of the womens supporters, Cosby, who did not appear in his own defence, was allowed to leave the court in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, having been permitted to remain on bail of $1m. As the downcast and sombre celebrity waited for a vehicle to take him away, his lawyer, Thomas Mesereau, told reporters: We are very disappointed with the verdict.

Story continues

The jury deliberated for over 52 hours in six days during Cosbys first trial on 17 June 2017 and were unable to reach a decision.

During the initial trial, Ms Constand testified that the actor slipped her three pills he dubbed as your friends.

At the time she thought they were stress-relieving herbal supplements, but they caused her to fall asleep, the court was told.

When she came woke up, Ms Constand said, Cosby was assaulting her. Cosby insisted he gave Ms Constand the cold medicine Benadryl and that she consented to sexual relations with him.

Ms Constands testimony in the latest trial was crucial to prosecutors seeking to charge Cosby. The Associated Press said that while more than 60 women had accused the entertainer or molesting or assaulting them over a period of five decades, her claim remained inside the statute of limitations for prosecutors to make use of.

The time for the defendant to escape justice is over, prosecutor Stewart Ryan said in his closing argument. Its finally time for the defendant to dine on the banquet of his own consequences.

Another prosecutor, Kristen Feden, said Cosby was known to millions of Americans and people around the world as the sweater-wearing father of five, Dr Cliff Huxtable on The Cosby Show. In truth, she said, Cosby was nothing like the image that he played on TV.

Cosbys retrial took place against the backdrop of #MeToo, the movement against sexual misconduct that has taken down a succession of powerful men in rapid succession, among them Harvey Weinstein, Matt Lauer, Kevin Spacey and Senator Al Franken.

Justice has been done, attorney Gloria Allred, who represented some of Cosbys accusers, said on the steps of the courthouse in Norristown, Pennsylvania. We are so happy that finally we can say women are believed.There has been a change in the world, and more people believe womens stories today, one women's advocate said. (Photo: Illustration: Damon Dahlen/HuffPost Photos: Getty)

I feel like Im dreaming, can you pinch me? Lili Bernard, one of the more than 60 women to have publicly accused Bill Cosby of sexual assault, told MSNBC through tears outside the Pennsylvania courthouse where the comedian was found guilty on three felony counts of aggravated indecent assault against Andrea Constand on Thursday. I feel like my faith in humanity is restored.

After facing public accusations of sexual assault for 18 years  allegations that spanned five decades  an actor and comedian who was previously thought to be untouchable learned there would be legal consequences for his actions. And with that verdict, a message was sent to survivors across the nation: Justice, even when the deck is stacked against you, even when youve been belittled, discredited and ignored for years, is still possible. Not certain, but at least possible.

"I feel like I'm dreaming, Can you pinch me? ... I feel like my faith in humanity is restored."



Bill Cosby accuser Lili Bernard reacts to guilty verdict pic.twitter.com/F7ne0xOyU8  MSNBC (@MSNBC) April 26, 2018

Many online were quick to connect the guilty verdict to the Me Too movement, which began in earnest last October, just four months after a jury failed to reach a unanimous decision on the Cosby charges and the judge declared a mistrial.

And certainly, things feel different in April 2018 than they did in June 2017. Over the last seven months, the nation has engaged in a long, nuanced and difficult conversation about sexual assault, harassment and the abuse of power. Dozens of powerful men have lost their jobs over allegations of assault and harassment. And now two, Larry Nassar and Bill Cosby, have been found guilty in courts of law.

There has been a change in the world, and more people believe womens stories today, said Emily Martin, general counsel and vice president for education and workplace justice at the National Womens Law Center. More people understand why the trauma of these events might lead to some period of time passing before individuals are willing to stand up and say, This happened to me. And more people understand that individuals we like and admire have the capacity to do terrible things.

Story continues

It certainly feels as if something has shifted. But by how much? And for how long? And can this one guilty verdict even be connected to other sexual assault cases  especially given the unique aspects of the Cosby case? (For example, Cosby had already essentially admitted to all of the elements of the crimes for which he was standing trial. In a 2005 deposition, Cosby said he had given Benadryl pills to Constand without telling her what they were, and had digitally penetrated her and sucked on her breast, though he maintained the encounter was consensual.)

Kristen Houser, chief public affairs officer at the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, cautioned against drawing a direct line between Me Too and this or any verdict. Its not like Me Too brought the verdict, and the verdicts gonna buoy Me Too, she said. Those jurors arrived at the verdict based on the legal instructions they were given to interpret the evidence they were shown.

And yet maybe there were hints in the verdict of a changing moral climate. Houser pointed out that this jury was not duped by the myths about rape culture and women that are often used to win sexual assault cases. Cosbys defense team painted Constand as a con artist out for money, money and lots more money.

Youre dealing with a pathological liar, members of the jury, Cosby lawyer Tom Mesereau declared during the defenses closing argument. You are.

The defense returned to a decades-old playbook, but this time the results were new.

The jurors ability to not let the truth be obscured by the age-old lies, thats something that should bolster faith in [the Me Too] movement, Houser told HuffPost.

The Cosby verdict doesnt mean other men will face justice in the courtroom. It doesnt mean other women wont be called liars or money-grubbing opportunists when they seek justice. It doesnt mean that the work of Me Too is done  not even close. But it might give hope and energy to survivors and activists who do the difficult, often painful work of trying to create a world where victims voices are valued instead of being written off.

As Bernard put it: This is a victory ... not just for the victim in the case, Andrea Constand, not just for the 62 of us publicly known survivors of Bill Cosbys drug-facilitated sexual crimes against women, but its also a victory for all sexual assault survivors, female and male. Its a victory for womanhood.

After the verdict came down on Thursday, I looked up at the TV. Instead of seeing image after image of Cosby, the perpetrator, the cameras were now focused on the women, his victims. The story had finally become about them. Too often we focus on the Very Bad Men, the heights from which theyve fallen, the depths from which we have already decided they will climb, that we forget to check in with the people they harmed  the people whose careers and lives were derailed, who risked public ridicule to come forward and speak about their experiences.

When the allegations against Cosby first resurfaced and then snowballed in late 2014, Therese Serignese contacted HuffPost through Facebook. She wanted to talk about how Cosby had drugged and raped her in 1976. She wanted to tell her story publicly for the first time.

When I asked why she had come forward so many years later, her answer was simple: I just wanted someone to hear me. On Thursday, she was not only heard but heeded.

Related Coverage

Bill Cosby Found Guilty In Sexual Assault Retrial

Bill Cosby Yells At Prosecutor After Guilty Verdict: 'You A**hole!'

Cosby Accusers Leave Courtroom In Tears

Need help? Visit RAINNs National Sexual Assault Online Hotline or the National Sexual Violence Resource Centers website.

Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.By Ola Lanre and Ahmed Kingimi MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) - At least four people were killed in an attack by Boko Haram militants in northeastern Nigeria late on Thursday, the national emergency agency said, the second such clash in Maiduguri city in a month. Five suicide bombers were also killed in the attack, which Nigeria's military said had been repelled by troops. Blasts and gunfire were heard by residents in the city which is the capital of Borno, the state worst hit by an insurgency which has killed more than 34,000 people since 2009. President Muhammadu Buhari, who took office in 2015 vowing to end Boko Haram's push to create an Islamic caliphate in the northeast, has made it a priority to improve security in Africa's most populous country. The issue has become politically charged in the run-up to an election next year which Buhari said he wants to contest. "There are five suicide bombers who died while trying to detonate IEDs (improvised explosive devices), there are also innocent citizens, four of them, that lost their lives," Bashir Idris Garga, the northeast Nigeria coordinator for the National Emergency Management Agency, said on Friday. Boko Haram militants attempted to enter Maiduguri earlier this month, fighting soldiers in an attack in which at least 15 people were killed and 83 injured.. In the course of fighting the latest attack, the military said troops had been supported by the air force, police and other security agencies. Witnesses had reported a heavy military presence and crowded streets as people attempted to flee to safety. Hundreds of residents who fled the area Thursday night were returning home by the following morning, according to a Reuters journalist at the scene. The signs of battle were still clear, with the charred body of a man among the tents in a camp for people displaced by the conflict, and an unexploded bomb dropped by the Nigerian air force lying nearby. The government has been saying since December 2015 that the jihadist group has been defeated but high profile attacks in the last few months - including the kidnap of 111 schoolgirls from the town of Dapchi and a strike in the town of Rann that killed three aid workers - has shown the jihadists remain active. Nigeria's government last month said it was in talks with Boko Haram, which split into two main factions in 2016, with the aim of securing a permanent ceasefire.. The government has not disclosed which elements of Boko Haram it is in discussions with and it was also not clear which faction carried out the latest attack. (Reporting by Ola Lanre and Ahmed Kingimi; Additional reporting by Paul Carsten in Abuja and Tife Owolabi in Yenagoa; writing by Alexis Akwagyiram; editing by Larry King, Grant McCool, William Maclean)SAUL LOEB /AFP/Getty Images

Brigitte Macron, wife of French President Emmanuel Macron, said though she is "really fun" her US counterpart First Lady Melania Trump "cant go outside. Shes much more constrained than I am".

The pair first met met last summer in Paris and met again this week during the official state visit in Washington DC. Ms Macron told French newspaper Le Monde the two "have the same sense of humour. We laugh a lot together". But, she said, Ms Trump's life of constant security and scrutiny meant she "cannot do anything...She cant even open a window at the White House...I go out every day in Paris".

Ms Trump is often seen as a quiet, perhaps even stern or cold partner to the bombastic Donald Trump, but Ms Macron said the First Lady is quite kind, charming, intelligent and very open.

She said Ms Trump perhaps is just more reserved in public because for the media and American public everything is interpreted, over-interpreted. Shes someone who has a strong personality, but works hard to hide it. She laughs very easily, at everything, but shows it less than I do".

The former drama teacher has seen her fair share of media and public scrutiny as well in her home country. Ms Macron, at 65, is a quarter century older than her husband and used to be his teacher in school when he fell in love with her.

"I have the impression that every word is a word too many, Im constantly holding myself back. Thats the hardest part: theres never really any time off, never a moment when you can be completely calm," she told the newspaper.

She said she tried to not be a "vase of flowers" next to her husband, but that has been challenging, as it often is for the spouses of world leaders.

Ms Trump, for her part, has been photographed often at events with children, more animated and smiling than she generally is when photographed with the president.

Story continues

She has also chosen online bullying as her main focus while Mr Trump is in office, despite her husband's propensity to attack people via his Twitter account.

Largely though, the roles of these two women are unwritten and change depending on who fills them.

"In my head, I'm Emmanuel Macron's wife, not the president's wife. I don't feel like a first lady even though I'm aware of my responsibilities," Ms Macron said.Will Smith, Jennifer Garner, and Tiffany Haddish are some of the celebs sharing their early headshots. (Photos: Getty Images)

Before they were stars, Jennifer Garner, Will Smith, Tiffany Haddish, and other recognizable names in Hollywood were just actors looking for their big break. They were armed with big dreams and, of course, the all-important headshot they gave out to get cast in what they hoped was the next critically acclaimed blockbuster.

Over the weekend, as actors reminisced on the early days of their careers with the hashtag #oldheadshotday, some of the faces that turned up looked familiar.

Jennifer Garner

The 13 Going on 30 star is rarely without a smile these days, but that wasnt so when she first came on the scene.

Will Smith

Smith was the epitome of 80s cool in so many ways in the photo he shared. Has anyone ever looked fresher?

Katie Holmes

If Holmes used this pic, its no wonder she was cast as Joey Potter on Dawsons Creek.

#oldheadshot #fbf A post shared by Katie Holmes (@katieholmes212) on Apr 27, 2018 at 7:55pm PDT

Tiffany Haddish

The Girls Trip star managed to keep herself from laughing long enough to snap a few serious photos for her first jobs.

#oldheadshotday A post shared by Tiffany Haddish (@tiffanyhaddish) on Apr 27, 2018 at 11:20pm PDT

Natalie Portman

Before she starred in movies such as Black Swan, Portman was just a pouty, photogenic little lady.

Baby me #OldHeadshotDay A post shared by Natalie Portman (@natalieportman) on Apr 28, 2018 at 10:57am PDT

Matt Damon

Since Damon isnt on Instagram, his best buddy Ben Affleck kindly posted pics of his friends early headshots, which looked strikingly similar to a GQ photo shoot. Of course, Affleck didnt share any of his own vintage snapshots.

Ben Stiller

Story continues

Do you even recognize the star of Theres Something About Mary in this photo? Neither do we.

Naomi Watts

The Aussie star noted her many freckles and thicker eyebrows in her headshot pic.

Bushy eyebrows and freckle faced #oldheadshotday xx A post shared by Naomi Watts (@naomiwatts) on Apr 27, 2018 at 7:36pm PDT

Ian Ziering

Seriously, this guy was born to play Steve Sanders on Beverly Hills, 90210.

Leslie Jones

The Saturday Night Live comedian admitted that she had attempted to look a lot like a certain Ghost star in her first acting photos.

Leah Remini

Before Remini shook things up on Whos the Boss and Saved by the Bell, she posed for this sweet photo.

Tiffani Thiessen

Another Saved by the Bell alum shared a snapshot from one of her first modeling shoots, which appears to have taken place around the time she enrolled at Bayside High.

Tori Spelling

Even though her dad was mega-producer Aaron Spelling, she still had to submit a photo at auditions. The 90210 alum looks so different with darker hair!

Emma Watson

Who knew the future Hermione Granger had a thing for pink  and for baking? Ha.

Billy Eichner

The jokester posted a photo of his awkward years with the hashtag for old headshots.

#oldheadshotday A post shared by Billy Eichner (@billyeichner) on Apr 27, 2018 at 2:54pm PDT

Viola Davis

If youre wondering why Davis looked so happy in this vintage photo, its simple: She was totally feeling herself!

Rebecca Romijn

When the model began acting in the late 90s, she was married to actor John Stamos. In case you forgot that theyre no longer together and that she married actor Jerry OConnell in 2007, someone helpfully crossed out the last name she used during the marriage.

#oldheadshot @thestevewillis A post shared by Rebecca Romijn (@rebeccaromijn) on Apr 27, 2018 at 5:49pm PDT

Mayim Bialik

Before she starred on Blossom, Bialik was just a blue-eyed, blonde-haired gal  without a floppy hat!  looking for a job.

#oldheadshotday A post shared by mayim bialik (@missmayim) on Apr 27, 2018 at 5:15pm PDT

Kelly Ripa

The talk show hosts 80s look helped her swing a role on All My Children that lasted 20 years.

Is this really a thing? #oldheadshotday A post shared by Kelly Ripa (@kellyripa) on Apr 27, 2018 at 7:56pm PDT

Kim Cattrall

Pre-Samantha Jones, Cattrall was a brunette.

Drew Barrymore

The offspring of the famous Barrymore family began acting as an infant, partly thanks to this cute snapshot.

Molly Shannon

Shannon, a future SNL star, was willing to get dramatic for her big break.

Anthony Anderson

Black-ish star Anderson began his journey into stardom with a too-cool-for-school look to remember.

Octavia Spencer

The generous Oscar winner used her old headshot to pay tribute to all those who helped her as a struggling actress.

Nick Jonas

Apparently, you even need a professional photo to be in a band with your brothers. Joe and Kevin had one too.

So theres this #oldheadshotday A post shared by Nick Jonas (@nickjonas) on Apr 28, 2018 at 2:54pm PDT

Wow A post shared by Kevin Jonas (@kevinjonas) on Apr 28, 2018 at 3:14pm PDT

Jessica Biel

Check out that scrunchie in the future Mrs. Timberlakes hair!

Just going to leave this here #OldHeadshotDay A post shared by Jessica Biel (@jessicabiel) on Apr 28, 2018 at 4:20pm PDT

Kathy Griffin

Notice anything different about Griffins face? According to the funny lady, you should.

Penelope Cruz

We now know definitively that, yes, Cruz always looked perfect.

Gabrielle Union

Unions cute snapshot helped earn her early roles as the unnamed Mall Girl on Family Matters and Ashli on Moesha.

Kristen Bell

Baby Bell could really bring the drama!

Russell Crowe

Crowe felt compelled to point out that he was more than just another pretty face.

Vanessa Hudgens

The crew behind High School Musical liked what they saw in Hudgenss angelic photos so much that they cast her as high schooler Gabriella Montez in the Disney hit.

Amy Schumer

Leave it to Schumer to crack a joke, even when shes recovering from a kidney infection that put her in the hospital.

#oldheadshotday #kidney #balmain A post shared by @ amyschumer on Apr 27, 2018 at 8:51pm PDT

Joe Manganiello

Its understandable if you didnt recognize Sofia Vergaras hubby at first glance. In the headshot he shared from nearly 20 years ago, Manganiello looked a lot different than he did in Magic Mike or Justice League, although the hairstyle was similar to what he has going on today.

Reese Witherspoon

Witherspoon poked fun at her early snapshots, but the truth is that they worked. Two years after they were taken, she nabbed her first role, in the movie The Man in the Moon, which earned her rave reviews.

Melissa McCarthy

Pretty sure McCarthy was making people laugh long before Bridesmaids, thanks to her tiny cowboy hat and tiny cowboy boots.

Gabourey Sidibe

Seriously? Sidibes homemade snapshot rivaled the quality of the others.

Sarah Michelle Gellar

Gellar began acting when she was 4, so, yeah, her headshots are pretty dated. Theyre also adorable and sent her on a career thats lasted decades.

Busy Philipps

Philipps might not have gotten any jobs with her headshots, but theyre fantastic fodder for her beloved Instagram feed.

Peter Facinelli

#oldheadshot day. #fbf A post shared by Peter Facinelli (@peterfacinelli) on Apr 27, 2018 at 1:17pm PDT

Do you think it was this shot that helped Facinelli earn his role as the popular jock in Cant Hardly Wait a few years into his career?

Eric Stonestreet

The Modern Family actor rocked an English professor look in his early days.

Ali Larter

Actually, Larter looked pretty similar to the way she looks now in the vintage headshot she posted.

Brittany Snow

Snow was acting by the time she was 8, and by the time she was a teenager, she was a regular on Guiding Light. The Pitch Perfect actress must have several headshots in old photo albums, but she chose to highlight a painting of herself as a little girl. While Snow referred to it as terrifying, she can take comfort in the fact that everyone who was alive in the 90s will totally get it.

Check out more early headshots of the stars here.

Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:What a time to be alive. (Photo: Illustration: Damon Dahlen/HuffPost Photos: Getty)

Chance the Rapper clarified Friday that he does not support Donald Trump after the president praised him for his support.

It all began Wednesday when rapper Kanye West went on a Twitter rant expressing his support for Trump, causing an immediate backlash from critics who argue Trump doesnt actually care all that much about the plight of black Americans.

So many people who love you feel so betrayed right now because they know the harm that Trumps policies cause, especially to people of color, John Legend texted West, in an exchange West later shared on Twitter.

Chance, who like West was raised in Chicago, posted a tweet in defense of his friend, saying not all black people are Democrats.

Black people dont have to be democrats.  Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) April 25, 2018

Chance likely did not expect Trump to then thank him for what the president perceived as support.

Thank you also to Chance and Dr. Darrell Scott, they really get it, Trump said in a Friday morning tweet.

Kanye West has performed a great service to the Black Community - Big things are happening and eyes are being opened for the first time in Decades - Legacy Stuff! Thank you also to Chance and Dr. Darrell Scott, they really get it (lowest Black & Hispanic unemployment in history).  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 27, 2018

In his response to Trump, Chance didnt mince words. He posted a statement on Twitter titled My fault yo and said he made a mistake in the way he went about defending West.

Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.

Story continues

My fault yo pic.twitter.com/TIWhG8o1ST  Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) April 27, 2018

Unfortunately, my attempt to support Kanye is being used to discredit my brothers and sisters in the movement and I cant sit by and let that happen either, Chance said.

So does he support Trump? Hell no.

Id never support anyone who has made a career out of hatred, racism and discrimination. Id never support someone whod talk about Chicago as if its a hell on earth and then take steps to make life harder here for the most disenfranchised among us. I understand why people are disappointed with my words, but I was raised to believe actions speak louder than words, he said.

Chance, who has used his fame to help out underprivileged communities time and time again, said his real apology will come in the form of his future actions.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.Santiago (AFP) - A Chilean court on Friday offered a lifeline to a controversial billion-dollar mining project which had been put on hold over its planned location near a reserve which is home to a rare species of penguin.

The project to build a huge open-cast mine and port near the National Humboldt Penguin Reserve had been shut down in August 2017 by a ministerial panel over the risk it posed to the local environment.

Andes Iron, a Chilean company, wanted to extract millions of tonnes of iron in Coquimbo, a region about 450 kilometers (280 miles) north of Santiago.

But the area comprises a nature reserve encompassing three islands which are home to 80 percent of the world's Humboldt penguins as well as whales, sea lions and otters.

Following the ruling, Andes Iron appealed, filing a claim which on Friday was accepted by a court in the northern port city of Antofagasta.

In its decision, the court annulled the ministerial decision and ordered that a new assessment be made on its environmental impact to decide whether it can go ahead or not.

Should it be approved, the $2.5 billion project would involve the extraction of 12 million tonnes (tons) of iron ore a year along with 150,000 tonnes of copper, making it the biggest such venture in Chile.

It would also involve the construction of a port, with the sprawling project sparking a bitter national debate over economic development versus environmental conservation.

Environmentalists have vigorously opposed the plans, saying it would sound the death knell for an area of Chile rich in natural resources which is known for its environmental diversity.

Following Friday's ruling, conservation group Oceana said it would appeal to the Supreme Court, warning that the project would endanger "one of the world's most important marine ecosystems, which has been recognized by national and international scientists as a hotspot of biodiversity which must be protected."

Oceana has said the mine and the increased shipping traffic it would generate would do untold harm to a known cetacean migrant route whose pristine waters provide a rich food source to several vulnerable species.Asia Times

Security, Asia

Carrier killer missiles are now operational along China's coastal provinces and possibly on South China Sea atolls.

China's Guam Killer (and Aircraft Carrier Killer) Missile Is Ready for War

Chinese military observers have also been hailing the DF-26s anti-ship capabilities against US aircraft carriers and amphibious assault vessels.

Chinas defense ministry confirmed on Thursday that high-tech DF-26 intermediate-range ballistic missiles have been deployed with the Peoples Liberation Army Rocket Force.

The DF-26 is tailor-made for precision offensives as well as swift nuclear counter-attacks  with its nuclear-tipped variant  against land- and sea-based targets.

The new missiles, with a hit range of 3,000-4,000km, are also known as the Guam Express among Chinese military buffs. They are the PLAs first conventionally-armed missiles capable of reaching the US outpost of Guam if fired from Chinas southeastern coastline.

Recommended: This Is How China Would Invade Taiwan (And How to Stop It)

Recommended: North Koreas Most Lethal Weapon Isnt Nukes

Recommended: 5 Worst Guns Ever Made

But reports by the PLA Daily and Global Times on Friday seem to emphasis that the DF-26s primary target would be Taiwan secessionists.

Chinese defense ministry spokesperson Wu Qian confirmed during a press conference on Thursday that the DF-26 had joined the combat sequence of the PLA rocket force after tests, adding that the deployment aimed to beef up deterrence against anyone seeking to split Taiwan from China.

Chinese military observers have also been hailing the DF-26s anti-ship capabilities against US aircraft carriers and amphibious assault vessels.

The DF-26 is deployed on a transporter-erector-launcher and the US Air Force National Air and Space Intelligence Center estimates that as of June 2017, more than 16 launchers were operationally deployed along a number of coastal provinces from Zhejiang and Fujian all the way to Guangdong.

Story continues

There have also been rumors that the DF-26 may also have been installed on the Beijing-controlled Scarborough Shoal, also known as Huangyan Island, in the eastern portion of the South China Sea.

Information on the DF-26 since its media debut at a 2015 military parade show that the versatile missiles can look for and lock onto moving targets onshore and offshore, such as an aircraft carrier, while cruising at a top speed of up to 18 times the speed of sound after re-entry into the atmosphere.

This is a feat, apart than the DF-26s range, that is being trumpeted by Chinese state media, as hitting a moving target in the vast expanses of the open oceans is by no means easy.

But there are still doubts among Western analysts about the capabilities of the seemingly intimidating Chinese missiles.

No other country has successfully deployed such a weapon. Launching such missiles from hundreds, if not thousands of miles away, and hitting a target moving at 20 knots plus that is doing all it can to avoid destruction, is not mean feat, noted Harry Kazianis, executive editor of The National Interest.

Its has been reported that a PLA Rocket Force brigade is equipped with 18 such missiles.

This article originally appeared on Asia Times.

Image: Reuters

Read full articlePresident Xi Jinping sought to open a "new chapter" in relations between China and India as he hosted Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday for a summit aimed at mending ties strained by a border dispute.

Xi greeted Modi at a Hubei province museum in the city of Wuhan for what has been billed as an "informal" meeting that will continue on Saturday.

While last year's high-altitude standoff in the Himalayas has been resolved, the world's most populous countries have a long history of mistrust.

New Delhi has also raised concerns about Beijing's Belt and Road initiative, a global trade infrastructure programme that includes a major project through Pakistan-administered Kashmir, disputed territory that New Delhi claims is illegally occupied.

Friday's meeting included the museum tour, a meeting and dinner. On Saturday, they will walk along the East Lake, ride a boat and have lunch together, according to the Indian leader's official agenda.

"I hope that the prime minister and I can open a new chapter in Sino-Indian relations during this meeting," Xi said, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

The Chinese leader said the two sides have established a good working relationship and Beijing was willing to build a closer partnership and cooperation in all fields.

"I want to make our countries' friendly relations ceaselessly grow stronger, to make them rush forward without pause like the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, eternally moving forward," Xi said.

Modi thanked Xi for meeting him twice outside Beijing, telling the Chinese leader: "This in itself shows love and affection towards India."

With 40 percent of the world's population, India and China have a responsibility to fix the world's many problems, Modi said, adding that the meeting was a "great opportunity" to do so.

Invoking Xi's political slogan and his own, Modi said: "Together your 'new era' dream and our 'new India' effort will be the right step for the benefit of the world."

Story continues

But neither leader directly mentioned the border row or other sources of tension in their remarks.

- Disputed border -

The summit "is New Delhi's well-intentioned attempt to reach out to Beijing to see if the past can be put behind and if the relationship can be reset," Harsh Pant, a professor of international relations at King's College in London, told AFP.

Both nations say they are committed to solving long-standing border disagreements through dialogue, but progress has been glacial.

India and China went to war in 1962 over Arunachal Pradesh, with Chinese troops temporarily capturing part of the Himalayan territory.

The dispute remains unresolved: India considers Arunachal Pradesh one of its northeastern states, while China stakes claim to about 90,000 square kilometres (35,000 square miles) of the area.

In February, Beijing lodged an angry protest with New Delhi over a trip by Modi to the state.

Last year, Indian and Chinese troops faced off on the Doklam plateau, an area high in the Himalayas claimed both by China and by India's ally Bhutan.

The dispute began in June when Chinese troops started building a road on the plateau and India deployed troops to stop the project.

A crisis was averted in August when the two nuclear-armed nations pulled back.

"We have to step out of the shadows of the 1962 war," said Wang Dehua, a South and Central Asia expert at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

"The meeting will focus on avoiding the unhappy events we saw in Doklam last year," Wang said.

Modi is expected to return to China in June for the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a security bloc led by Beijing and Moscow.

Indian analysts point to a pragmatic reason for Modi to want better relations with China: he faces national elections next year, and he would be better off with stable ties with the world's second-largest economy.

"I don't think he would like to go into an election with the kind of relationship, the low point it had reached over the last year," Pant said.

With China facing a potential tariff war with the United States, Beijing and New Delhi could find common ground on international trade, Pant added.

"It is one of the issues where India and China have worked together on the global stage in the past," he said.J15 fighter jets on China's sole operational aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, during a drill at sea - AFP

China has renewed its threat of using military force against Taiwan to prevent it declaring full independence, after Beijing conducted live fire drills and flew fighter planes close to the island this week.

Chinese defence ministry spokesperson Wu Qian said that Beijing would not shy away from unifying the mainland and the island of Taiwan through force.

The threat, which came as Chinas first domestically made aircraft carrier was being prepared for its maiden voyage, was the latest escalation of tensions between China and self-governing Taiwan.

Beijing considers Taiwan a renegade province it will eventually reincorporate into China, having separated from it in 1949 during the Chinese civil war.

We will try our best for the prospect of peaceful reunification, but I have to point out that to engage in 'Taiwan independence' is a dead end, and there is no way to win an armed confrontation, Mr Wu said.

"If the secession efforts grow indefinitely, the PLA [Chinas Peoples Liberation Army] has no choice but to unify Taiwan through force.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, left, speaks after he reviewed the Chinese fleet in the South China Sea Credit: Li Gang/Xinhua via AP

Beijing has been showcasing its military muscle over the past year near democratic Taiwan, which has its own military and President, Tsai Ing-wen.

Earlier this month Chinese helicopters conducted live fire drills off Chinas southeast coast, and Taiwan said that two Chinese bombers circled the island.

Yesterday more Chinese bombers circled Taiwan, according to Chinese state media, and on Tuesday Taiwan announced that in June its forces will conduct live fire drills simulating an invasion from China.

President Tsai took office in 2016, and the Chinese government suspects she will attempt to formally declare Taiwanese independence, a red line for Beijing.

Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen inspected navy exercises at Suao naval station, northeast of Taiwan Credit: AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying

One particularly strong show of Chinese military force earlier this month in the South China Sea saw Chinas President Xi Jinping donning army fatigues to preside over drills involving 48 ships and 76 aircraft vehicles.

Story continues

Beijing was also angered by Donald Trump, the US president, signing a deal with Taiwan in March that would allow US ships to enter Taiwanese waters.

On Tuesday the US Air Force flew bombers in the vicinity of the South China Sea, saying the move was to maintain the readiness of US forces there. Chinese government-controlled newspaper Global Times said: The US cannot prevent the mainland exerting military pressure on Taiwan.

Mr Wu added: "The Taiwan separatists are becoming more arrogant recently. The Chinese mainland has exercised the utmost sincerity and restraint, but its patience is not limitless."By Jonathan Landay

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's choice for CIA chief is privately assuring senators that she will not reinstitute a detention and interrogation programme and will make the pledge publicly at her May 9 confirmation hearing, two sources said on Friday.

Deputy CIA Director Gina Haspel plans to give the commitment in her "opening statement and she has been telling members that as well," a congressional aide told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Word of the pledge comes as Haspel's nomination encounters opposition over her role in a now-defunct programme in which the agency detained and interrogated al Qaeda suspects in secret prisons overseas using techniques widely condemned as torture.

An administration official confirmed that Haspel has been pledging in private interviews with senators that she will never allow the CIA to revive a detention and interrogation programme.

She also is telling them that all U.S. government agencies involved in interrogations should observe the standards set in a U.S. Army field manual on interrogations, said the administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Daniel Hoffman, a former senior CIA official who knows Haspel well, said he believed she has learnt valuable lessons from the aftermath of the harsh interrogation programme.

"She has an extraordinary level of expertise in counterterrorism programs, including this chapter in our history," Hoffman said. "She has absorbed the lessons learnt."

Trump named Haspel, the first woman tapped to head the agency, to succeed Mike Pompeo, who became secretary of state on Thursday. She faces a Senate Intelligence Committee confirmation hearing on May 9.

Rachel Cohen, a spokeswoman for the top Democrat on the panel, Senator Mark Warner, said: "As far as Senator Warner is concerned, a commitment to following the law is not a cause for celebration, but a prerequisite for consideration."

Story continues

A public vow by Haspel not to reinstitute a detention and interrogation programme would be significant, especially since Trump said last year that torture "absolutely" works and he would be open to its use if recommended by top aides.

Her public commitment also could help ease some senators' reservations prompted by her oversight in 2002 of a secret "black site" in Thailand where detainees underwent waterboarding, sleep deprivation and other brutal techniques.

Then-President George W. Bush authorized the so-called Rendition, Detention and Interrogation Program after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

Haspel, who served as an undercover intelligence officer for more than 30 years, has won the support of dozens of former senior U.S. officials.

Last week, the CIA released a 2011 memo showing that the agency's then-deputy director, Michael Morell, had cleared Haspel of wrongdoing in the destruction of videotapes depicting the harsh interrogation of an al Qaeda suspect.

Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein and several other Democrats have questioned her suitability to be director, and they were angered last week by the CIA's refusal to declassify more details of her career.

The CIA said that it would work with the committee to make materials that still are classified available to senators in a secure facility and that it is committed to transparency "with the full Senate."

(Reporting by Jonathan Landay; editing by Jonathan Oatis and James Dalgleish)North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been full of surprises recently. Last week he announced he would close his nuclear test site and stop testing both nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. On Thursday, he stepped over the border into South Korea to conduct an historic summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-In. Amid the jokes and smiles, the two leaders confirmed their common goal of realizinga nuclear-free Korean Peninsula.

The rhetoric is impressive and laudable, but denuclearization itself could take a long time. However, theres still an opportunity to lock in progress along the way. The quickest route would be for North Korea to sign an existing treaty that bans all nuclear tests.

Although the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) hasnt fully entered into force, it has been functioning as if it has: It has sophisticated monitoring stations around the globe and an inspectorate ready to help North Korea verify its commitments. The treaty will remain in legal limbo until eight states ratify it (several havent due to regional competition), including North Korea, the U.S., and China. Getting these three to sign on could provide enough momentum to end nuclear tests forever.

Since the treaty opened for signature in 1996, three states have tested nuclear weapons: India, Pakistan, and North Korea. India and Pakistan conducted tests in 1998 and have adhered since then to a test moratorium. North Korea tested in 2006, 2009, 2013, 2016 (twice), and 2017. The last nuclear test suggested that North Korea had achieved a thermonuclear capability (also known as a hydrogen bomb), a considerable advancement over previous tests.

It is very possible that the testing halt is Kims carrot for negotiations. If he does not obtain what he wants, he can reverse it. However, reading between the lines of the resolutions adopted at the Central Committees meeting on April 20, Kim has all but said he would join the test ban treaty. He called for transparent dismantlement of the test site and for the DPRK to join the internationalefforts for the total halt to the nuclear test[s].

Story continues

Joining the test ban treaty is important because denuclearization will not happen quickly, and possibly not at all. With actual weapons involved, monitoring of denuclearization will be much more comprehensive than it was in the case of Iran, and the chances of getting hung up on one of 1,000 details are high. Signing onto an international test ban would make Kims moratorium permanent and break the pattern thus far of taking two steps forward only to fall five steps back.

The U.S. signed the treaty in 1996 but failed to get Senate consent. Offering to ratify the treaty along with China as a trilateral confidence-building measure could make this move irresistible to North Korea. Kim would see himself joining the the big boys while China could use its much-vaunted leverage to get North Korea to come along. China has little incentive to ratify the CTBT without U.S. action, but a big incentive to see North Korean tests end because of their environmental damage. And the acceptance of non-discriminatory obligations would satisfy Kims rhetoric of joining international disarmament efforts without any impact on U.S. or Chinese national security. After all, neither country has tested for decades, nor has a need to.

President Trump may be an unlikely champion for a nuclear test ban. In speeches and tweets, he has made barely veiled threats to unleash U.S. nuclear weapons. Through a strange quirk of fate, he is in position to reduce nuclear risks in a fundamental way. Unlike former presidents Bill Clinton or Barack Obama, he has enough votes among Republican and Democratic senators to push the treaty through. Even the anti-Russian sentiment in Congress poses no obstacle here since Russia is already a party to the treaty.

Some may argue that securing binding limits on ballistic missile testing should take priority over limits on nuclear tests. North Koreans have had nuclear weapons for over 10 years, but the real threat is their ability to deliver them to American soil. Binding limits on both are desirable, but no ready-made treaty exists to restrict missiles. This is one reason why it was so difficult to get Iran to curtail its ballistic missile program.

A test ban triple-play will require considerable diplomatic skill as well as a broader focus than U.S.-DPRK negotiations. It would be a tall order for the United States to implement if it was already a policy objective. It is entirely possible that President Trump could view all previous commitments of the United States conducted by his predecessors as bad deals, including the signing of the test ban treaty.

Still, asking North Korea to join the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty has never been a requirement in previous multilateral talks. For this reason alone, it might appeal to President Trump. It shouldnt be added on top of what is likely a long list of requirements for nuclear disarmament, but instead, constitute its own simple, yet big, diplomatic gesture. It could be accomplished without a cadre of diplomats, but at the heads-of-state level. Keeping it apart from the other negotiations could force the North Koreans to consider it on its own merits.

For the U.S., submitting the test ban treaty to the Senate would reverse a recent decision not to seek Senate ratification of the treaty. The policy, which appeared in the Nuclear Posture Review released to the public in February, also expressed support for the monitoring system and the maintenance of a nuclear testing moratorium by all states with nuclear weapons. A policy reversal isnt out of the question for a president who is not afraid to reverse course for a good reason: Securing a verified end to North Koreas nuclear tests is a win for Americas security that only he can engineer.

Sharon Squassoni is a professor at GWs Elliott School of International Affairs.Rep. Patrick Meehan (R-Pa.), who came under scrutiny after it was revealed he used taxpayer dollars to settle a sexual harassment case, announced his resignation Friday from the House of Representatives, effective immediately.

Though I wish my time in Congress would have finished in a more satisfying manner, I am proud of our accomplishments and thank the residents of my District for their confidence in me over the last eight years, he said in a statement. I recognize that there are constituents who are disappointed in the manner in which I handled the situation that lead to my decision not to seek re-election and wish I had done better by them.

The New York Times reported in January that the congressman used thousands of taxpayer dollars to settle a claim of sexual misconduct. Meehans accuser, a former aide, alleged that he had professed romantic feelings for her, the Times reported, and he grew hostile when she did not respond in kind.

Following that report, Meehan, who is currently serving his fourth term in Congress for Pennsylvanias 7th district had announced he would not seek reelection. With the knowledge I would not be standing for another term, I have decided that stepping down now is in the interest of the constituents I have been honored to serve, he said Friday.

At the time of the Times report, Meehan was on the House ethics committee, investigating other allegations of sexual misconduct in the chamber. House Speaker Paul Ryan promptly removed him from his position.

Meehan said Friday that he would give $39,000 to the U.S. treasury as reimbursement to tax payers for the severance payment, a payment he said would be made within a month his resignation.I did not want to leave with any question of violating the trust of taxpayers, he said.

Under Pennsylvania law, Governor Tom Wolfe will announce the date for a special election within ten days after Meehans resignation. In February, Pennsylvanias Supreme Court reworked the Congressional map following a gerrymandering lawsuit which experts say favor Democrats, rendering it unlikely that Meehans seat will remain in Republican hands.Washington (AFP) - Key US trading partners face a looming deadline on Tuesday when crippling tariffs on steel and aluminum are set to take effect -- and they are urging the White House to exempt them permanently.

The major suppliers, including Canada, Mexico, South Korea and the European Union, were granted a temporary reprieve when President Donald Trump imposed the tariffs in March.

The measures were largely aimed at overcapacity in China but the scattershot approach hit many allies and key suppliers and governments in those countries have threatened to retaliate if they are not exempted.

That threat of escalating trade war has halted the steady upswing in global stock markets while companies around the United States are reporting that rising costs are already hitting their bottom line.

And many economists say the tactics are likely to be counterproductive and undermine cooperation at a time when allied Asian and Western nations seek a united front on Iran, North Korea and China's violations of intellectual property rights.

They worry that Trump will focus on a short-term win, rather than more important longer-term changes. That is especially true if Trump continues to concentrate on forcing a reduction in the US trade deficit, which economists agree is not the right way to gauge a healthy trading relationship.

"If that's the sole metric and that's done by purchasing a few more Boeings...that doesn't actually get at more medium term structural issues in China that will make a difference in the long run," said economist Stephanie Segal of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"I fear if we declare victory with a one-off from China, we've broken a lot of eggs and without actually making the omelet," she told AFP.

- Retaliation -

Trump met last week with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel but he gave no indication of whether he would extend or make permanent the tariff exemption for the EU, which exported over $7.7 billion of steel and aluminum to the US market last year.

Story continues

Macron in an address to the US Congress urged Washington to reject protectionism.

"We need a free and fair trade, for sure," Macron said. "A commercial war opposing allies is not consistent with our mission, with our history, with our current commitments for global security."

Merkel, whose visit was briefer and who has had more chilly relations with Trump, steered clear of any tough talk.

"We had an exchange of views on the current state of affairs on the negotiations...and the decision lies with the president," she said at a White House press conference.

But Brussels has vowed to retaliate if it faces tariffs by putting punitive duties on American products ranging from industrial and agricultural items to flagship products such as jeans and motorbikes, peanut butter and bourbon.

Meanwhile, trade ministers from the US, Canada and Mexico met during the week to advance talks on revising the 24-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement and made enough progress that they have set their next ministerial meeting for May 7.

That would seem to bode well for continued tariff exemptions for the two NAFTA partners. Canada exported over $12 billion of steel and aluminum to the US in 2017, with another $3 billion from Mexico.

- Letting the genie out -

What is not clear is what concessions would be enough to satisfy Washington. The tariffs were imposed on the grounds that the glut of steel imports hurt US industry and therefore threatened national security.

But White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow suggested last week that EU concessions on auto imports might be sufficient to win an exemption -- though that has no links to national security concerns.

And economists warn that using national security as a justification for trade measures opens the door for other countries to do the same.

"This is a really slippery slope in a bazillion ways," said Mary Lovely, professor of economics at Syracuse University. "This could be a blank check for using these kinds of tools."

Segal agreed: "Once you've let the genie out of the bottle, it's hard to complain about other countries."

Gregory Daco of Oxford Economics said if the exemptions were not extended, tariffs would move from hitting just 30 percent of US imports to the main US suppliers.

"The risk is that we could see a major supply chain shock with negative spillovers to financial markets," which dropped precipitously when the tariffs were announced, he said.Phoenix, Ariz. Teacher Taylor Dutro listens as protest organizers announce Arizona teachers intentions to go back to work if lawmakers pass a school funding plan, during the fourth day of the statewide teachers strike at the Arizona Capitol Tuesday, May 1, 2018, in Phoenix. (Photo: Ross D. Franklin/AP)

Arizona teachers have pledged to end a strike and return to work if the legislature approves a proposed budget deal between the governor and state lawmakers to raise their pay, despite saying the spending measure does not go far enough.

Arizona Governor Doug Ducey could sign the agreement as early as Wednesday and end a walkout that kept most of Arizonas 1.1 million public school students out of class since last Thursday.

The war is not over but weve won an important battle, to move the legislature this far, Noah Karvelis, a union organizer and music teacher, said at a news conference.

The walkout in Arizona, where teacher salaries rank among the lowest in the country, followed similar actions by teachers in West Virginia, Kentucky and Oklahoma, which were the first statewide U.S. teacher work stoppages since the 1990s. All four states have Republican governors and Republican-dominated legislatures.

Teachers have demanded that states reverse salary and funding constraints imposed when tax revenues ran short during the 18-month U.S. recession that ended in June 2009.

Teachers in Colorado also walked out of classrooms on April 27 for a second day over the same issues, but little progress was made there on Friday. (Reuters)

See more news-related photo galleries and follow us on Yahoo News Photo Twitter and Tumblr.(WASHINGTON)  House Speaker Paul Ryan has forced out the House chaplain, Reverend Patrick Conroy.

Conroy had served as the chambers chaplain since 2011 but offered his resignation last week at Ryans urging.

Conroys resignation letter said he was offering to step down at Ryans request, calling his seven years of House service one of the great privileges of my life.

Ryan spokeswoman Ashlee Strong would not reveal the speakers reasons for forcing Conroy out. A top Democrat, Rep. Joe Crowley of New York, said he believes it was because of a prayer Conroy gave during last falls tax debate urging that lawmakers not pick winners and losers but spread its benefits equitably.

Strong said that was not the reason.

Lawmakers such as Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., said they were in the dark as to why Father Pat was eased out. Boyle, a Catholic, said he did not know that Conroy was ousted until hearing it from media accounts.

Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., penned a letter to Ryan asking for more information.

The sensitive nature of this situation requires a description of the process followed to arrive at the decision and a justification for that decision, Connolly wrote.

The offices of Ryan and top House Democrat Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., offered differing accounts. Ryan spokeswoman Strong said Ryan consulted with Pelosi.

Pelosis office said that she made it clear that she disagreed with the decision and said she only heard positive comments from lawmakers about Conroy. Pelosi would not comment as she walked to the House floor Thursday afternoon.

The chaplain is responsible for opening the House each day with a prayer and offering counseling to lawmakers and aides on the House side of the Capitol.

Conroy is a Roman Catholic priest from the Jesuit order.(Reuters) - Detroit police called for an end to a citywide paintball war they say has led to six arrests in a supposed campaign against gun violence that has spread to other U.S. cities.

The so-called "paintballs up, guns down" wars have also popped up in Atlanta and Greensboro, North Carolina, with organizers touting them as a way to halt gun violence.

Among the six arrested in Detroit's paintball war was a 22-year-old man accused of spraying a police commander's unmarked car on Wednesday night during a battle involving about 50 people, CBS News reported.

Detroit Police Chief James Craig urged people at a news conference on Friday not to get involved, saying the paintball campaigns were misguided even if well-intentioned.

"If you want to work with us to stop the violence, there are a number of things we can work on together," he said. "But having paintball wars across the city is not the way to do it."

The Detroit police department had received 95 complaints about paintball weapons and shootings that had strained its capacities, Davis said. "The big concern I have is what if someone mistakes that replica paint ball gun for a real weapon. They look like a real weapon, especially from a distance."

In November 2014, police in Cleveland, Ohio shot dead 12-year-old Tamir Rice after a 911 caller reported a man with a gun in a park. It turned out that Rice was holding a toy gun.

Police in Greensboro said on Friday a local paintball war may have led to the shooting death of a 19-year-old man on April 20, local media reported. In Atlanta, local rapper 21 Savage has encouraged residents to engage in paintball wars instead of using real weapons, a local CBS affiliate reported.

Atlanta police seized about 7,500 paintballs and arrested four people on April 2 after a paintball battle damaged property, the department said on Facebook.

(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Mark Heinrich)Police this week arrested a man suspected to be the notorious Golden State Killer with the help of a resource they could only have dreamed of in the 1970s, when a gruesome spree of rapes and murders began terrorizing California: databases filled with individuals genetic data.

Genetic information listed in a largely unknown, open-source genetic database called GEDmatch proved instrumental in cracking the case, the Mercury News reports. Investigators used genetic databases to find relatives who matched genetic material taken from an old crime scene, the Sacramento Bee reports. They then cross-referenced family data from GEDmatch, potentially bolstered by that from other databases, with evidence gathered by investigators, eventually pinpointing and arresting a suspect: 72-year-old former police officer Joseph James DeAngelo.

Investigators were able to use GEDmatch, which says it has between 900,000 and a million users, so easily because  unlike with commercial companies such as 23andMe, which in comparison boasts more than 5 million users  individuals upload and share their information for free, making it accessible to law enforcement, researchers and private citizens alike. Nonetheless, the case has thrust the issue of genetic privacy into the spotlight, particularly as direct-to-consumer tests become both increasingly popular and increasingly extensive in their insights. Millions of Americans have spit into tubes and pricked their fingers and swabbed their cheeks in pursuit of knowledge about their health and family history  but how many have considered what happens to that data next? And how important is it that they do?

I would say consumers should not be worried, but they should be aware, says Dr. Robert Green, a medical geneticist at Brigham and Womens Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Its not necessarily a reason for concern, because we havent seen, to my knowledge, abuses of these databases. We have seen appropriate uses by law enforcement. I think were all glad a serial killer was caught.

Story continues

While the circumstances may not have been as high-profile, most of the big-name genetic testing companies have previously been called upon to cooperate with legal investigations. Not all requests are honored  many arent, as STAT reports  but most companies clearly warn customers that its a possibility.

A representative for 23andMe, probably the biggest player in the space, tells TIME that, Broadly speaking, its our policy to resist all law enforcement inquiries to protect customer privacy. 23andMe has never given customer information to law enforcement officials.

Even still, a post on the companys website warns customers that, Under certain circumstances, your information may be subject to disclosure pursuant to a judicial or other government subpoena, warrant or order, or in coordination with regulatory authorities. Competitors such as Ancestry, Helix, MyHeritage, Family Tree DNA and Orig3n all have similar advisories readily available on their websites, and many allow users to control where their data goes, consenting to sharing it for research, with third parties or with other consumers.

The equation is different when it comes to open-source platforms such as GEDmatch. Sharon Zehe, an attorney for the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at Mayo Clinic and a genetic privacy expert, urges caution when it comes to these sites. A DNA sequence is the biometric equivalent of a fingerprint, Zehe says. Would they load their fingerprints onto a publicly available database? Probably not.

GEDmatch, for its part, told TIME that, Although we were not approached by law enforcement or anyone else about this case or about the DNA, it has always been GEDmatchs policy to inform users that the database could be used for other uses, as set forth in the Site Policy. While the database was created for genealogical research, it is important that GEDmatch participants understand the possible uses of their DNA, including identification of relatives that have committed crimes or were victims of crimes. If you are concerned about non-genealogical uses of your DNA, you should not upload your DNA to the database and/or you should remove DNA that has already been uploaded.

Whether customers read these warnings, of course, is another matter. Zehe says shes seen them become clearer and easier to understand as privacy concerns mount, but stresses that consumers should be thoughtful about reading privacy policies and understanding how genetic data is shared with third parties.

Even if people dont read the privacy policies, Green says the situation isnt so different from using search engines or social media  two actions that have certainly been plagued by data scandals of their own, but that most people still continue to do on a daily basis.

Genetics is a particularly sensitive arena for people to think about and talk about, but I dont think all of this is exclusive to genetics, Green says. If youre going to live in this society, youre going to take part in search engines, youre going to take part with credit cards, its very hard to stay off the grid. I think that applies now genomically.

Thats particularly true as more and more people use genetic testing and sharing services, allowing them to accumulate more robust databases, Green says.

If your relatives have contributed and then you are part of even a family tree that appears online in one of these shared resources, you can be indirectly tracked through the combination of their DNA and the publicly available family history, Green says. If youve never participated in one of these services but someone else lists you as a family member because theyre doing genealogy and they have participated, now someone can find you, even though youve never participated.

Green allows that this makes the privacy issue significantly murkier  terms of service dont apply if you havent voluntarily submitted your DNA, after all  but again says its not all that unique. Any time a doctor asks for your family history, for example, youre essentially exposing someone elses sensitive personal data. But while this information is protected by medical privacy laws, internet genealogies are not.

The bottom line, Green says, is that the potential for abuse of genetic material exists  he offers as examples insurance companies refusing coverage based on genetic data found online, or genomic information being used to smear opponents in legal disputes such as divorces  but the systems in place to prevent this misuse appear to be working. One is the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, a federal law known as GINA, which was passed in 2008 specifically to protect consumers from issues such as these. And as long as thats the case, he says, the good seems to outweigh the bad.

Absent examples of abuse, or clear-cut potential for abuse, or loopholes that would allow abuse, Green says, I think we ought to be very careful about jumping to the notion that we should restrict it.

Zehe takes a slightly more cautious approach.

Genealogy services can be fun, but make sure you are using a reputable organization that has robust privacy policies in place, she says. When in doubt, dont consent to other uses, or potentially dont use the direct-to-consumer service at all.Members of the US Naval Academy mark the anniversary of John F Kennedy's assassination in Dallas, Texas: REUTERS/Jim Bourg

Documents detailing the governments investigation of John F Kennedys assassination could be kept secret for years, Donald Trump announced.

At the Mr Trumps directive, the National Archives have steadily been releasing batches of documents that illuminate the governments activity around the Mr Kennedys 1963 death. More than 19,000 more have been made public - but another chunk will remain under wraps.

The continued withholdings are necessary to protect against identifiable harm to national security, law enforcement, or foreign affairs that is of such gravity that it outweighs the public interest in immediate disclosure, Mr Trump said in a memo.

While the remaining documents are set to be revealed by October of 2021, national security agencies could still continue to postpone their release.

The thousands of documents released so far have not contained explosive revelations about Mr Kennedys death in Dallas, Texas.

But they do furnish a portrait of the era, depicting both both the sprawling investigation into Mr Kennedys death and efforts to company communism and surveil suspects.

One document in the latest batch recounts activists associated with black and antiwar movements being put on a government watch list in 1967.

Other files have illuminated the governments concerted efforts to kill Cuban leader Fidel Castro, including by handing a Cuban asset a poison-tipped pen on the day of Mr Kennedys death.US President Donald Trump has taken some credit for the peace agreement between North Korea and South Korea, but experts have said he deserves little of it.

In a historic and opulent ceremony, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in met in the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) to sign the Panmunjom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity and Unification of the Korean Peninsula during the Inter-Korean Summit and officially ended the war that began when the north and south split in a battle over communism and democracy that began on 25 June 1950.

After the summit on Friday morning, the US president immediately tweeted: KOREAN WAR TO END! The United States, and all of its GREAT people, should be very proud of what is now taking place in Korea! implying that he played an important part in it.

When I began, people were saying that was an impossibility, Mr Trump said meeting with US Winter Olympics athletes who participated in this years games in South Korea. They said there were two alternatives: Let them have what they have, or go to war. And now we have a much better alternative than anybody thought even possible.

Dr TJ Pempel, a professor at the University of California-Berkeley told The Independent while Mr Trump deserves some credit but not as much as hes taking. While the United Nations sanctions on Pyongyang involved the US push from Ambassador Nikki Haley, that is hardly the whole story, Mr Pempel said.

Chinas agreement to the sanctions was far more important, he noted. The important point to note, he said, was that North Korea developed its nuclear programme considerably after Mr Trump took office. The North is convinced that it has the upper hand in negotiations because of its nuclear and missile testing successes; the US thinks it has the upper hand because it believes Kim is negotiating because of the sanctions. Its the combination that has triggered the Norths willingness to sit down.

Story continues

In a sign that perhaps Mr Trump recognises he was not the catalyst for the agreement, he also tweeted on Friday: Please do not forget the great help that my good friend, President Xi [Jinping] of China...particularly at the Border of North Korea. Without him it would have been a much longer, tougher, process!

Mr Pempel said Pyongyang will not fully denuclearise given the trajectory of other world leaders after they gave up nuclear weapons and development programmes. They are looking towards Iraq and Libya, whose leaders Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi were both killed as a result of western military intervention.

Several experts have noted that North Korea also sees Iran as a key example of how Pyongyang could be treated as well. Mr trump has repeatedly said he is considering ditching the Iran nuclear deal  formally known as the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). It was a key foreign policy achievement of former President Barack Obama.

Earlier this week, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel both met with Mr Trump to urge him not to leave the historic agreement which involves France, Germany, the UK, Russia, China, and the US.

Though the Trump administration agreed Irans nuclear programme is a major threat, the president announced in October 2017 he would not re-certify a nuclear deal signed by Iran and six world powers. Despite the evidence provided by the United Nations on Tehrans compliance with the deal, Mr Trump said it was too lenient on Iran. Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has backed Mr Macrons stance on the deal.

The administration continues to say the country has violated portions of it. Not re-certifying the deal or abandoning it will open the door for harsher economic sanctions to be placed on the country, the mitigation of which was a key inducement for Iran to comply with the historic deal. What concerns many Washington insiders is that Mr Trumps newest hire as National Security Adviser John Bolton is quite hawkish on pulling out of the deal as is his newly-appointed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who has called the agreement disastrous.

Why should Kim think North Korea without nukes would be treated differently?, Mr Pempel asked, adding that the the US is a definite player in this drama and any deal brokered without a US sign-off will not work, but it remains to be seen if Mr Trumps personal presence will detract or foster better relations and an actual agreement of some kind.

Alison Evans, Deputy Head of Asia Pacific Country Risk, at the research firm IHS Markit said her assessment is that Trump should receive minimal, if any, credit.

Ms Evans said that the presidents high-pressure tactics only confirmed to North Korea that they were on the right course...developing {and now maintaining) nuclear weapons for their safety. However, she said that the meeting between Mr Moon and Mr Kim was a positive indicator that the planned meeting between the North Korean leader and Mr Trump next month is more than likely to go ahead.

She said that like the Kim-Moon joint statement calling for denuclearisation of peninsula, it is probable that North Korea will agree to some language referring to nuclear weapons in a statement after the Kim-Moon or planned Kim-Trump summit but that they may want it to apply to the whole peninsula, not just Pyongyang.America watches as one tornado after another rips at the fittings in the West Wing, aides and advisers clinging to the furniture for their lives. The Weather Channel cant compete for sheer drama.

But does the country care very much any more? Its starting to look like repeats season.

Whos really bothered that Donald Trumps latest cabinet choice got sucked into oblivion when it was alleged last week that his record was, well, patchy. That was Ronnie Jackson, a Rear Admiral, dashing in his uniform, who had been set to appear on the Hill for Senate confirmation hearings to become the next Veterans Affairs administrator. Then came reports of his crashing a government car while drunk, doling out pills without prescriptions and being a workplace bully.

Another week, another cast member crashes from the Washington stage amidst howls of fury from the leading man. Trump believers rally to his side and rehearse the notion that his every stumble is somehow the fault of the left-wing media. Trump haters are confirmed in their belief that he is a dolt and so the political needle shifts neither one way nor the other.

Not so fast. Some loud sonic booms rippled out from this latest disaster and nowhere were they more acutely felt than in Montana, a state as far removed from Washington as you could get. (It has valleys big enough to swallow it whole.) Thats because the top Democrat on the Veterans Affairs Committee is its senior senator, Jon Tester. And it was he who sunk Jackson by going public with all the bad things about him that people had been privately telling the committee.

Never one to miss an opportunity for political revenge, Trump swiftly reminded us that Tester is up for re-election this year in a state where one in 10 voters are veterans. I wanna tell you that Jon Tester, I think this is going to cause him a lot of problems in his state, Trump railed in the midst of a wild, 30-minute phoned-in interview with Fox News. Hell have a big price to pay.

Story continues

Nationally, the Republicans now think the plain-spoken Tester has a giant target on his back. (And he is a big guy.) They argue he went too far airing the assorted charges made against Jackson and besmirching his name before having evidence to support them. Rather startlingly, he even shared his alleged nickname, Candyman, for being so free and easy with those pills.

The Billings Gazette front page in Montana (David Usborne)

They also imagine that if Trump wants revenge, he will surely get it and the first thing he will do is travel to Montana to slap the senator around a bit on his own turf. Jon poked the bear. Did you see the bear today? The bear was mad, John Cornyn, Republican senator of Texas, said.

If there was any doubt he was coming to Montana, it was removed today. He overreached.

Tester barely made re-election six years ago. Moreover, Trump, as he also reminded us, won the state by 20 points in 2016. So you might wonder if indeed Tester committed a giant blunder here for himself and for the Democratic Party, which, if it has any chance at all of regaining the majority in the US Senate in Novembers midterms, cannot afford to lose Montana.

So there is a new nervousness in Big Sky country. On Thursday, a small gaggle of veterans staged an impromptu news conference to insist that they and everybody else who has served are certain Tester did the country and them a favour.

Were here because we want to make it clear that Montana veterans stand with Jon Tester, just like hes fought for us, declared Andrew Person, a former state representative who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Allegations made by Senator Jon Tester against Admiral/Doctor Ron Jackson are proving false. The Secret Service is unable to confirm (in fact they deny) any of the phony Democrat charges which have absolutely devastated the wonderful Jackson family. Tester should resign. The.....  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 28, 2018

Not everyone is convinced, including Aaron Flint, a conservative news talk host here in Billings. On his Friday morning show on KBUL radio, he called the press conference staged and meaningless.

Talk about fake news; it was press-release journalism at its absolute worst, he contended, accusing the Montana mainstream media of being in bed with Tester. We know veterans across the state are outraged about how Tester treated Ronnie Jackson.

By Saturday morning, Trump was back on the attack, unleashing a new stream of tweets asserting that further investigation was proving that the allegations against Jackson were coming up empty. The point was not to revive Jacksons chances of joining the cabinet. It was to further destabilise Tester.

We will see. Republicans are conveniently forgetting that many among them had concerns about Jackson even before Tester came forward with the allegations against him because, as the private doctor to Trump and to Obama before him, he had no experience of running something as mammoth as the Veterans Affairs department, second only in size among government agencies to the Pentagon.

Plus, Tester did this for a reason. A fight with Trump over this will galvanise his base. It may also attract more independents to his side, which will be critical.

If anything, this could be very easily framed in the context of, I am looking out for veterans and this guy would have be really awful as head of Veterans Affairs, notes David Parker, an associate professor of politics at Montana State University and author of Battle for the Big Sky: Representation and the Politics of Place in the Race for the US Senate. I think this helps Tester because it illuminates what he has been doing for veterans. I dont think its a negative.

So yes, Tester poked the bear and the bear is making scary. But Montanans know a real bear when they see one and, as Professor Parker noted, this bear looks more like a Chihuahua.Cairo (AFP) - Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi promised on Saturday to end military operations against jihadists in the Sinai Peninsula "as soon as possible".

More than 200 jihadists and at least 33 government troops have been killed since February 9, when Egypt launched operation "Sinai 2018" against an affiliate of the Islamic State group, according to official figures.

Sisi, speaking to Sinai residents at a military event broadcast on state TV, promised to "finish the mission as soon as possible".

He also said that a social and economic development plan for the area, launched in 2014, would be completed by 2022.

The country has been hit by significant militant attacks in recent years, especially after the army toppled Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 following mass protests against his government.

Jihadists have killed hundreds of soldiers, policemen and civilians, mainly in the northern Sinai, but also elsewhere in Egypt.

"All Egyptians know that their Egyptian brothers in Sinai are not responsible for the evil people," Sisi said, referring to jihadists.

"We don't hold our people in Sinai responsible in any way" for the attacks carried out by jihadists, said Sisi, stressing that "terrorism is present in all the republic's provinces".

Sisi thanked "every honourable Egyptian in the Sinai... this is a trying time but if we had not taken these measures (against jihadists), we would be losing Sinai".

New York-based Human Rights Watch said on Monday that the offensive has "left up to 420,000 residents in four northeastern cities in urgent need of humanitarian aid" in the northen Sinai.

The Egyptian army denounced the report, saying it was based on "undocumented and unreliable sources".

"We are distributing food rations to people, including in areas where military operations are taking place," army spokesman Tamer al-Rifai told AFP.Aden (AFP) - A top Islamic State group leader was killed and three others arrested in a government raid on Saturday in southern Yemen, police said.

Saleh Nasr Fadl al-Bakhshi, self-proclaimed "emir" of the radical group's branch in the Aden and Abyan regions, was killed in the raid on an IS hideout in government-held territory, a senior officer with Aden's police force told AFP.

Islamist networks, including IS and Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, have exploited years of war in Yemen to expand their presence in the country's south.

The government of Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi has been based in southern Yemen since 2015, after Shiite Huthi rebels drove it from the capital Sanaa and much of the country's north, prompting a Saudi-led military intervention.

Southern Yemen is the target of a US-backed operation against AQAP, led by the United Arab Emirates, as well as a long-running US drone campaign.

The Yemen war has claimed nearly 10,000 lives since Saudi Arabia and its military allies joined the conflict in March 2015, triggering what the United Nations has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis.San Jose (AFP) - Costa Rica's new assembly will formally begin work on Tuesday, with 14 of its 57 new deputies evangelical Christians, making up one of the main groups in opposition to the center-left government of president-elect Carlos Alvarado.

The evangelicals, half of whom are pastors or preachers, were voted in by the National Restoration party -- which challenged the result of the April 1 presidential election won by Carlos Alvarado with 61 percent of the vote.

His rival, Fabricio Alvarado, a 43-year-old preacher who surged from obscurity by harshly criticizing moves to recognize gay marriage, came a distant second with 39 percent. Despite having the same last name, the two are not related.

Despite Alvarado's resounding victory, his Citizens' Action Party only holds 10 seats in the Legislative Assembly, with the list including Costa Rica's first openly-homosexual legislator, journalist Enrique Sanchez.

"There are differences over certain issues linked to the rights of women and human rights. We will stick to our positions and we will strengthen and defend them," Sanchez told AFP.

The former presidential candidate has taken a belligerent posture towards Carlos Alvarado's new government, sharply criticizing it even before it takes power on May 8.

"We cannot grant legitimacy to a corrupt, irresponsible government, which tramples on religious freedoms, and promotes a secular state and the death and destruction of the family," Fabricio Alvarado wrote on Twitter on Thursday, saying his deputies would be vigilant in their "defense of the family."

When it begins work on Tuesday, the assembly will have to urgently approve a tax reform to keep the public deficit at 6.2 percent of gross domestic product -- a move which the four previous governments had been unable to pass.

The incoming president, a 38-year-old former journalist, had on Thursday unveiled a national unity government made up of 25 ministers, including 14 women and 11 men, who represent the main parties in parliament.

None of them are evangelicals.Richard Grenell, who is the first openly gay Trump appointee, faced opposition from Democrats over controversial remarks

The appointment comes a day before Angela Merkel is due to arrive in Washington. Photograph: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

The US Senate confirmed Richard Grenell, a former United Nations spokesperson and Fox News contributor, as Donald Trumps ambassador to Germany.



Grenell, whose nomination had been in limbo since last year, was confirmed in a vote of 56 to 42, a day before German chancellor Angela Merkel is due to arrive in Washington for a much-anticipated visit with Trump.

The Berlin post had been vacant for 15 months  the longest such period in postwar German history  amid opposition from Democrats to Grenells often controversial remarks on Twitter.

Grenells confirmation made him the first openly gay appointee of the Trump administration. He previously served under former UN ambassador John Bolton, who was recently named the presidents national security adviser.

An often polarizing figure, Grenell has a history of sparring with reporters on Twitter and has come under scrutiny for making derogatory comments about prominent women.

In tweets he later deleted, Grenell stated that MSNBC host Rachel Maddow needs to take a breath and put on a necklace and suggested former first lady Michelle Obama, a fitness devotee, was sweating on the East Room carpet. Grenell also criticized the appearances of Hillary Clinton and Callista Gingrich.

Democrats in the Senate held up Grenells nomination for months, criticizing his prior comments as misogynistic and incendiary. Grenell expressed regret at what he said were attempts at humor gone wrong.

Grenell was an early and vocal supporter of Trumps campaign, even as other prominent foreign policy figures in the Republican party issued sharp warnings about the former reality TV stars unpredictable candidacy. He continues to share a personal rapport with Trump and was spotted at the presidents Mar-a-Lago resort over the weekend.



In recent months he has frequently used his Twitter account to comment on German affairs  most recently admonishing the country for not joining American, British and French forces in airstrikes on Syria earlier this month.

Story continues

French and British forces join the U.S. in striking Syria for a heinous chemical weapons attack on civilians. Germany should have joined this P3 group, too.  Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) April 14, 2018

Hours after a van drove into a crowd of people in Munster on 7 April, Grenell joined speculation that two assailants had fled the scene. It later emerged that the attacker, a German citizen named Jens Alexander Ruther, had carried out the attack on his own, and police criticized those who spread unconfirmed rumors.

Grenell has expressed his admiration for Austrias young conservative chancellor Sebastian Kurz, describing him as a real leader in Europe, and cheered the appointment of the German health minister, Jens Spahn, the leading challenger to Merkels liberalising course within the ruling CDU party.

James D Bindenagel, a career diplomat who was charge daffaires ad interim at the US embassy in Berlin in the mid-1990s, said that Grenell needed to remember that an ambassador was more than just a communicator for the president.

Ambassadors traditionally have a two-way function: they have to explain America to the Germans, and they have to explain Germanys position back to the president. I think we can be confident that [Grenell] can communicate Trumps position to the Germans. The question, can he also do the other half of the job?

Jan Techau, a senior fellow of the Europe Program at The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF), said that the appointment confirmed a wider trend.

Grenell will be at least the fourth political appointee in a row  a trend that continued under Obama. For me, thats a sign that the diplomatic value of that post is not worth what it used to.

While many German politicians view Grenells appointment with skepticism, there is also hope that the new arrival could help to establish a transatlantic dialogue that is currently nonexistent.



With Grenell, Germany could at last have someone in its capital who has the presidents ear, said Metin Hakverdi, a Social Democrat delegate and member of the Bundestags American-German parliamentary group. Given the trouble that German politicians have had gaining some kind of inroad to Trumps inner circle, that has to be an advantage.The Texas government, led by Gov. Greg Abbott (R), wins the latest round in a long battle over voter ID rules. (Photo: Tim Warner via Getty Images)

A federal appeals court on Friday reversed a lower courts decision to block Texas from implementing its revised voter ID law.

The decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit will allow Texas to enforce the voter ID law called SB 5, passed in 2017. The measure aimed to fix the flaws in an earlier version of the law, SB 14, that had been blocked by federal courts because it discriminated against black and Latino voters.

Texas officials argued the new law was an adequate fix because it allowed voters without acceptable identification to present a range of documents to prove their identity as well as signing a declaration swearing that they didnt have photo ID. But in August last year, U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos said the new law was still discriminatory because those who lacked ID are subjected to separate voting obstacles and procedures.

In a split decision, the 5th Circuit ruled that Ramos had incorrectly blocked the law on the basis that it continued the discrimination of the prior legislation. The lower court decision, the 5th Circuit wrote, should have been more deferential to the judgment of Texas officials.

Under the circumstances of this case, the court had no legal or factual basis to invalidate SB 5, Judge Edith Jones wrote for the 5th Circuit. She added, [U]ntil a plaintiff pleads and proves some constitutional or statutory infirmity in SB 5, that law must be reinstated, and it affords a generous, tailored remedy for the actual violations found [in SB 14].

Further, Jones wrote, the district court overlooked SB 5s improvements for disadvantaged minority voters and made no finding that the state legislature intentionally discriminated in passing SB 5.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) praised the appellate courts decision on Friday, saying the states revised law removes any burden on voters who cannot obtain a photo ID.

The court rightly recognized that when the Legislature passed Senate Bill 5 last session, it complied with every change the 5th Circuit ordered to the original voter ID law, Paxton said in a statement.

Story continues

Danielle Lang, an attorney at the Campaign Legal Center who represented the plaintiffs in the case, expressed disappointment in the 5th Circuits ruling, but noted that the litigation itself had made voting easier in Texas.

Because of our brave clients and this litigation, voters statewide can never be turned away from the polls simply for lacking a certain type of photo ID, she said in a statement. With respect to the revised law, we are exploring all legal options. We will also work with our partners to ensure that voters are well-educated about their options and not deterred from exercising their right to vote by any confusion around the photo ID rules.

In his dissent, Circuit Judge James Graves argued that the new law should remain blocked. He noted that SB 5 did not significantly expand the list of acceptable photo IDs and didnt address the discriminatory issues with voter education that the courts had found with the original law.

S.B. 14 is legislation borne out of a discriminatory purpose, Graves wrote. Even if S.B. 5 were, as Texas and the majority both claim, ostensibly to remove or otherwise lessen the discriminatory impacts of S.B. 14, it still does not change the reason  the discriminatory reason  why the State enacted a voter ID law in the first place. Should S.B. 5 be allowed to govern, its congenital defect would persist.

The case, Veasey v. Abbott, was originally filed in 2013. It argued that SB 14s photo ID requirements had been passed in 2011 with the intent to discriminate against minority voters and that the law violated the federal Voting Rights Act as well as the 14th and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. In 2014, Ramos found that the law was discriminatory, and Texas appealed to the 5th Circuit.

At the time, the circuit court upheld Ramos ruling that the law had a discriminatory effect, but sent the case back to her to reconsider whether it was passed with the intent to discriminate. In April 2017, she ruled that it was. That decision led some to speculate that Texas could be put back under the heightened supervision of the Voting Rights Act, which would mean the federal government would have to sign off on changes to the states election laws.

Richard Hasen, an election law professor at the University of California, Irvine, noted that Jones wrote in her opinion that Texas adoption of SB 5 meant that the state shouldnt be put back under federal supervision. In a blog post, Hasen called that argument disingenuous.

Even if Texass enactment of SB5 later on was not done with racially discriminatory intent, SB 14 was, and that alone could be the basis for the imposition of preclearance, he wrote in a blog post. Judge Jones just ignores all that and [throws] out the right of plaintiffs in the first instance to seek Section 3 relief before the district court.

In the 2016 election, while the case was still moving through the courts, Texas implemented a voter ID measure that allowed people to present alternative forms of identification while swearing they did not have any of SB 14s acceptable forms of ID. That measure became the basis for SB 5 last year.

While were disappointed that the majority of the panel is letting Texas continue to use its new ID law, the ruling did not disturb the courts findings that the original photo ID law was discriminatory, said Ezra Rosenberg, co-director of the voting rights project at the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Texans deserve laws that make it easier, not harder, to vote.

This story has been updated with comment from Richard Hasen.

Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.Fracking may have led to one of the most powerful earthquakes to strike South Korea since records began, scientists believe. On November 15, 2017, a 5.5 magnitude earthquake rocked the city of Pohang. The quake and its aftershocks injured at least 82 people and damaged thousands of buildings at a cost in the tens of millions of dollars.

If this link is borne out by further research, researchers write in a paper published this week in Science, the earthquake could be a game-changer for the geothermal energy industry.

Frackinga popular term for hydraulic fracturinginvolves drilling deep boreholes into the ground and injecting large volumes of highly pressurized liquid. Its a process often used to crack into rocks containing natural gas, but in this case, fracking was used to harness geothermal energy. Liquid is pumped into hot rocks deep underground that already contain water. This increased flow forces out searing fluid and steam, which companies use to generate geothermal energy.

Trending: Severed Heads Found 150 Miles Apart in Texas And Louisiana Confound Authorities

Earthquake Was Close to the Fracking Site

In this case, engineers injected hundreds of thousands of cubic feet of liquid into boreholes some 2.5 miles deep. Fracking took place from early 2016 to September 2017. Two months later, the major Pohang earthquake struck. The main quake and its largest aftershocks all took place within 1.2 miles of the fracking site. They were also less than a mile shy of an induced earthquake that took place in April 2017 during an underground stimulation operation.

Earthquakesnatural and inducedproduce seismic waves that researchers can track with monitoring stations at the Earth's surface or buried deep underground. In this study, researchers used publically available seismic data to understand the Pohang quake. The data show that the main quake and 46 aftershocks that struck over the next two weeks all occurred between 2 and 4 miles underground. Natural seismic events are usuallybut not alwaysdeeper. The Pohang shocks were grouped around the depth of the fracking injections.

Story continues

4_26_Fracking protesters

Scott Audette/Reuters

Satellite evidence adds to the picture, showing that the main shock moved the surface of the earth upward by almost 2 inches. The faultwhich was unknown by the team before the quakeis called a reverse fault, meaning that it dips into the Earth at a steep angle, the crustal block on its upper side moving upward. This is the first time a reverse-faulting earthquake has been recorded in this area, which was not previously known for its seismic activity.

Injections can lead to earthquakes for two main reasons, study co-author Rob Westaway, a senior research fellow at the University of Glasgow, told Newsweek. First, he said, the injected liquid can act as a lubricant to a geological fault, making it more likely to slip. This process can take time to result in seismic activity as liquid seeps through the rock. Second, extra fluid can add more load on one side of a fault, increasing the force and pushing the two sides in opposite directions.

Don't miss: Los Angeles Police Officer Arrested For Allegedly Smuggling Undocumented Immigrants Into U.S.

In 1993, U.S. seismologists Scott Davis and Cliff Frohlich published a number of criteria for assessing whether an earthquake was natural or induced. The Pohang earthquake, Westaway said, meets four of the six criteria. The epicenter and the depths of the quakes are near the injection boreholes, for example.

"An Extraordinary Coincidence"

4_26_Oklahoma earthquake

Lenzy Krehbiel-Burton/Reuters

The results, however, are not conclusive. Two criteria have yet to be met. One is a solid explanation for the two-month time delay between the end of injections and the earthquake. Westaway and colleagues are investigating the possibility that chemical reactions between the injected liquid and minerals in the rock caused it to dissolve. This might weaken the fault, making it more likely to slip.

Although the link remains unproven, the close proximity of the fracking sitein both depth and horizontal separationwould make a natural earthquake at this time and place an extraordinary coincidence, Westaway added.

In the U.S., Oklahoma has seen thousands of induced earthquakes linked to fracking activity by the oil and gas industry. Although these have transformed the region into something of a seismic hotspot, the earthquakes have largely occurred in areas with a low population density, Westaway explained. Pohang, on the other hand, is a lively city home to some half a million people. The damage caused by a major earthquake in a country without earthquake-ready architecture and where earthquake insurance is uncommon is potentially extreme.

Most popular: Marijuana and Autism: Researchers Explore How CBD May Help Children with Severe Cases of the Disorder

Fracking Practices Can Be Improved

But, in spite of this, its not a simple case, that geothermal fracking is definitively bad and should be halted immediately, Westaway argued. Choosing better spots to inject liquid, for example, might help reduce the risks of the procedure.

If you try injecting at a particular pressure and nothing happens, then youve either got to inject at a higher pressure or give up, Westaway explained. In this case, the engineers chose the former option, and this may have led to the earthquake, he added. Instead, companies could be more selective with their injections. Think of it like pinning a poster to a wall. If you cant get a pin in the right place by hand, its probably best to find a new bit of wall. If you stick with the first place, get a huge hammer and whack the drawing pin really hard, you may put the poster up, Westaway added. But in the process you might damage the wall.

Technology to help contain rock fracturing might also improve safety. Companies fracking shale rock for natural gas have developed tech to seal off parts of boreholes, Westaway explained. This kind of technology could reduce unwanted rock fracturing, but its not easy to transfer from the shale field. The temperatures needed for geothermal fracking, he said, would damage the shale technology.

A better understanding of the effects of fracking is also crucial. A standard formula predicts the potential amount of energy that fracking might release, according to the volume of liquid injected and other variables. Pohangif fracking is the causeblows that equation out of the water. The earthquake released something like 1,000 times the energy experts would expect from the volume injected.

This latest research is just one piece of the Pohang 2017 puzzle. A number of papers are set to be released this year addressing the question of the earthquakes cause. Another paper published simultaneously in Science draws similar conclusions from geophysical and geological evidence.

It makes sense to presume, for now at least, that fracking was behind the Pohang earthquake, Westaway told Newsweek. The implications definitive proof could have for the industry, on the other hand, are harder to predict.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekMadrid (AFP) - Spain's feminist movement is pushing for changes to the law after a court acquitted five men of gang raping an 18-year-old woman at Pamplona's bull-running festival.

Protesters have filled streets across the country in response to appeals from women's groups, leading Spain's conservative government to announce it will consider changing rape laws.

An online petition calling for the disqualification of the judges who acquitted the men had gathered more than 1.2 million signatures by Saturday.

The issue also hogged the headlines of newspapers all around the country and an order of Carmelite nuns added their voices to the wave of condemnation of the court judgement.

The current law is founded "on a concept of violence based on a male experience", said Mariam Martinez Bascunan, a political science professor at Madrid's Autonomous University.

Under Spain's criminal code, evidence of violence or intimidation must exist for the offence of rape to be proved.

"This legal nuance, which is not always easy to establish, leads to the painful question of just how much a person needs to fight to avoid being raped without risking getting killed, and still get recognised as a victim of a serious attack against sexual freedom while ensuring that the perpetrators do not enjoy impunity," top-selling daily El Pais wrote in an editorial.

Spain's rape laws were thrust into the spotlight after a Pamplona court on Thursday acquitted the five men of sexual assault, which includes rape, but found them guilty of the lesser offence of "sexual abuse". They were jailed for nine years.

The men, aged 27 to 29, had been accused of raping the woman at the entrance to an apartment building in Pamplona on July 7, 2016, at the start of the week-long San Fermin festival, which draws tens of thousands of visitors.

The five, all from the southern city of Seville, filmed the incident with their smartphones and then bragged about it on a WhatsApp messaging group where they referred to themselves as "La Manada", or "The Pack" in English.

Story continues

"It is indisputable that the plaintiff suddenly found herself in a narrow and hidden place, surrounded by five older, thick-bodied males who left her overwhelmed and unresponsive," the judges said in their ruling.

"The videos show the plaintiff surrounded and stuck against the wall by two of the accused... she has an absent grimace, and keeps her eyes closed," they added.

- 'Macho culture' -

Large crowds of mainly women marched in cities across Spain, including Madrid and Barcelona, on Thursday night after the court sentenced the men. In the northern city of Santander protesters blocked roads, public television TVE reported.

On Friday thousands of people demonstrated outside the Pamplona court where the judgement was made for the second day in a row, shouting "it's not sexual abuse, it's rape". Some held banners reading "sister, I believe you".

A petition launched by a 38-year-old Spanish woman calling for the disqualification of the judges gained more than 1.2 million signatures in just two days.

And a community of 16 Carmelite nuns in the Hondarribia monastery in the Basque country condemned the court ruling on Facebook.

"We live cloistered away, wearing a habit that reaches down to our ankles, we don't go out in the evening, we don't go to parties, we don't drink alcohol and we've undertaken a vow of chastity," the nuns said.

"And because that's our free choice, we will defend with all the means at our disposal ... the right of all woman to FREELY do the opposite, without them being judged, raped, threatened, killed or humiliated," they wrote.

State prosecutors said they would appeal the ruling.

Adriana Lastra, a top official with Spain's main opposition Socialist party, said the court ruling was "disgraceful".

"It's the product of a patriarchal and macho culture," she added.

The case was cited in signs carried by many women during massive demonstrations held in cities across Spain to mark International Women's Day in March, which were among the largest in Europe.

"Spain was a pioneer in terms of equality," Soledad Murillo, Spain's former Socialist secretary of state for equality between 2004 and 2008, told AFP when asked about the huge turnout at the demonstrations.

- Authorisation to work -

Spain in 2004 passed a landmark law against gender violence and women's groups mobilised strongly against a proposed law which would have restricted access to abortion, prompting the resignation in 2014 of the justice minister at the time, Alberto Ruiz Gallardon, who had tabled the reform.

"Younger women became aware of what their grandmothers lost," said Murillo.

She cited as an example the fact that during General Francisco Franco's 1939-75 dictatorship, women needed the authorisation of their husbands to work, as well as special authorisations "to leave the country or drive".

Spain's women's movement has as a result fully embraced the causes of so-called "fourth-wave feminism" such as the fight against street and workplace harassment and rape that has been popularised worldwide as part of the #MeToo movement, said Murillo.

The movement has also been boosted by Spain's tradition of protests, which has manifested itself in recent years most visibly with the Indignados movement against economic inequality and corruption which occupied public squares in 2011, said Bascunan.Was the accused Golden State Killer driven by hatred for his former fiancee?

Police say the serial killer screamed "I hate you, Bonnie! I hate you, Bonnie!" while carrying out a terrifying attack in the 1970s.

Suspect James Joseph DeAngelo was once engaged to a woman named Bonnie Lee Colwell. In an engagement announcement that appeared in a local California newspaper at the time, she was described as a lab assistant at Sierra College.

The wedding, however, never took place.

DeAngelo later married another woman, Sharon Huddle.

The "I hate you, Bonnie" rant was one of the many pieces of evidence that rant helped lead cops to DeAngelo.

Detective Paul Holes has spent his career looking for the Golden State Killer.

"Now that we have identified him, and we see that there is a Bonnie, that is very significant," he told Inside Edition.

But perhaps no piece of evidence was more crucial than DNA left by the killer, which was entered into an online database called GEDmatch.

A distant relative of the accused Golden State Killer had submitted his DNA to the same database in an effort to find other relatives, but he never could have expected that one of those relatives would allegedly be one of California's most prolific serial killers.

Information from GEDmatch led detectives to a family member of DeAngelo. They then used other information they had amassed about the Golden State Killer to close in on DeAngelo.

Forty-four years and he was unknown, it took us four months once we started using this technology," Holes told Inside Edition.

Meanwhile, the youngest of the Golden State Killer's rape victims tells Inside Edition her memories of the attack are still vivid.

Margaret Wardlow was just 13 years old when she was sexually assaulted in 1977.

"I remember being woken up with a flashlight in my face," she told Inside Edition.

She said she refused to show her attacker she was afraid.

"In a very harsh whisper he would say, 'Do you wanna die? Do you want me to kill your mother? Do you want me to slit your throat? I answered him immediately, I don't care! And he'd say, Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!'" Wardlow said.

Story continues

She says she hopes she will one day have the opportunity to confront her attacker.

Wardlow said: "Id love to tell him, 'I wasn't afraid of you then. Im not afraid of you now. All those years you were at large I was never afraid of you! Ever!'"

RELATED STORIES

Golden State Killer Case: Genetic Material on DNA Website Led Cops to Joseph James DeAngelo: Report

Golden State Suspect Was Hiding in Plain Sight Before Arrest, Cops Say

Golden State Killer Case: Surviving Victim Reacts to Arrest of Suspect

Related Articles:Washington (AFP) - It was one of the most notorious unsolved crime sprees in US history -- a decade-long series of sadistic rapes and murders that terrorized tranquil California neighborhoods.

They began in the summer of 1976 and ended abruptly in 1986 with the rape and murder of an 18-year-old girl.

Along the way, the meticulous masked assailant was given a number of nicknames: the East Area Rapist, the Original Nightstalker, the Golden State Killer...

After a 40-year search, California authorities on Wednesday announced that they had finally caught their man -- a 72-year-old named Joseph James DeAngelo. On Thursday, it was revealed that plugging DeAngelo's DNA profile into a commercial geneaology website led investigators to the killer.

"There were upwards of 50 rapes, 12 murders, crimes that spanned 10 years across at least 10 different counties," Sacramento County district attorney Anne Marie Schubert said in announcing the arrest.

DeAngelo was a former policeman, officials said, but they released little other information about him and how he was eventually tracked down.

Neighbors, co-workers and newspapers were filling in some of the details Thursday about a man who eluded law enforcement for more than four decades.

DeAngelo appears to have spent most of his life in and around Sacramento in central California apart from a stint in the US Navy during the Vietnam War.

He went to high school in a Sacramento suburb and obtained a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from Sacramento State after serving in the navy, according to the Sacramento Bee newspaper.

Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones said that from 1973 to 1976 DeAngelo served as a policeman in Exeter, south of Sacramento.

Exeter is near the town of Visalia, and DeAngelo is suspected of being the "Visalia Ransacker" who was burglarizing homes in the area.

- 'Don't scream' -

From 1976 to 1979, DeAngelo worked for the police department in Auburn, California, until he was fired for shoplifting a hammer and a can of dog repellent.

Story continues

The first rape committed by the man who would come to be known as the Golden State Killer took place in June 1976, when he broke into the home of a young girl while she was sleeping and her father was away.

"He had a ski mask on," the victim recounted years later in a tape recording released by the FBI two years ago in an effort to revive interest in the case.

"(He) jumped on the bed and had a knife," she said.

"I don't exactly remember what he said. Something to the effect of, you know, 'Don't scream,' don't, you know, whatever. And tied my hands behind my back."

According to the Sacramento Bee, DeAngelo retired last year after working since 1989 as a truck mechanic at a warehouse for a grocery store chain.

Jason Calhoon, a co-worker for the past 27 years, told the newspaper DeAngelo was a "regular Joe" although he never smiled.

For more than 20 years, DeAngelo has lived in Citrus Heights, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northwest of Sacramento.

His tidy ranch house with a neatly manicured lawn in a suburban neighborhood has been cordoned off by police and FBI agents carting away boxes of evidence.

According to the Bee, DeAngelo was married in 1973 and Jones, the sheriff, said he has "adult children."

Jones said the authorities have interviewed some family members and they have been "cooperative." "It's quite a shock to them as you might expect," he said.

DeAngelo's next door neighbor, Cory Harvey, told the Sacramento Bee that the man she knew as "Joe" was divorced and lived with a daughter and granddaughter.

She said he was a good neighbor "except for that quirkiness of getting mad" and swearing out loud, after which he would apologize.

- DNA was key -

California authorities credited DNA technology with helping identify him.

The Sacramento Bee reported Thursday that investigators compared DNA from one of the crime scenes to profiles available on genealogical websites to which people curious about their family history submit samples.

By exploring family trees, investigators were led to DiAngelo via his distant relatives.

Sheriff Jones said DNA from the crime scenes was ultimately matched to a "discarded item" from DeAngelo recovered by law enforcement.

"Over the last few days as information started to point towards this individual we started some surveillance," Jones said. "We were able to get some discarded DNA and we were able to confirm what we thought we already knew, that we had our man."

"The answer was, and always was going to be, in the DNA," Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert added.

"We knew we could, and should, solve it using the most innovative DNA technology available at this time."

"This was a true convergence of emerging technology and dogged determination by detectives," Jones said.

"In this case justice was delayed," he said. "It wasn't swift but I can assure you it will be sure."Ottawa (AFP) - Eight women were among the 10 pedestrians killed when a Canadian man with an apparent grudge against women drove a rented van onto a Toronto sidewalk earlier this week, police said Friday.

The deceased ranged in age from 22 to 94 years, and included a Jordanian man visiting his son in Toronto and a South Korean student, Inspector Bryan Bott, of the homicide squad, told a news conference.

He also said the confirmed number of people injured has risen to 16, and that two additional attempted murder charges would soon be laid to reflect that number.

The pair of newly identified injured -- a 21-year-old man and a 67-year-old woman -- had left the scene of the attack before emergency responders arrived but subsequently went to police, officials explained.

Alek Minassian, 25, was arrested on Monday near the scene of the rampage.

In a Facebook post just prior to the killing spree, he praised mass killer Elliot Rodger, a 22-year-old American who murdered six people and then killed himself in California in 2014.

Rodger had professed frustration over his virginity and women rejecting him.

The suspect's post also referred to the "Incel Rebellion," an abbreviation for "involuntarily celibate," often used in connection with online groups of sexually frustrated men who are known to rant against women.

"We will overthrow all the Chads and Stacys!" the post read, referring to monikers used in the community to describe people who have no trouble finding sexual partners.

He has been charged with 10 counts of premeditated murder, as well as attempted murder charges related to the injured survivors.Athens (AFP) - Greece on Saturday announced an upgrade for part of its US-made F-16 warplane fleet, a programme pending over the past six months owing to cost concerns.

An emergency meeting by the government council of foreign affairs and defence chaired by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras approved the decision, the PM's office said.

"The council unanimously approved the implementation of the 85-plane upgrade programme," Tsipras' office said.

It added that the decision was based on "preliminary approval" by the US of a "revised Greek proposal taking into account the country's fiscal obligations over the coming years."

Defence Minister Panos Kammenos said the planes would be upgraded to F-16 Viper level.

No details on the cost or delivery dates of the programme were given.

Greece operates a fleet of some 150 F-16s in all.

The deal had originally been announced in October during a visit by Tsipras to Washington.

But the government came under immediate criticism over the price tag, estimated at $2.4 billion at the time over 10 years.

Athens had insisted the cost would not exceed $1.3 billion and would not destabilise its precarious budget.

Ta Nea daily on Saturday said the programme runs to 2028, with annual payments until 2021 set at a maximum of 120 million euros owing to Greece's bailout obligations.

The first plane will be delivered by 2020 at the earliest, with most of the work undertaken by Greek state defence contractor EAV, Ta Nea said.

Tsipras has said the planes, some of them dating from 1989, risked being rendered inoperable without the upgrade.

Greece spends two percent of its budget on defence, one of only five NATO members to meet this alliance target.

Greek fighter planes see extensive action in the Aegean Sea.

They are regularly scrambled to intercept Turkish jets entering what Athens considers Greek airspace over the Aegean, occasionally engaging in mock dogfights.

The move comes amid increased tension with NATO ally Turkey.

In a barrage of recent statements, Ankara officials have disputed Greek sovereignty of a number of islets close to Turkey's Aegean shores.

Athens officials have attributed such talk to Turkey's upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections in June.Photo credit: Getty Images

From Esquire

As if we needed more hilarity in our politics, the House Intelligence Committee-surely one of the most oxymoronic names ever to come slinking onto the main stage-on Friday released the majority report of its investigation into the Russian ratfcking of the 2016 presidential election and what connection to and/or involvement in it the Trump campaign might have had. To the surprise of absolutely nobody, the Republican majority absolves the president* and his campaign of any involvement whatsoever.

Neither Patton nor Greg Louganis ever went into the tank so readily as Devin Nunes did. Tom Sawyers friends werent as good with whitewash. And, as is now customary, Nunes and his merry band of obfuscators found a whole herd of scapegoats with which to raise dust. From The New York Times:

They trained their fire more sharply on Democrats and other perceived opponents of Mr. Trump. Republicans criticized the Obama administration for a slow and inconsistent response to Russias active measures. They faulted the F.B.I. for its largely inadequate notification of victims of Russian hacking and for its surveillance of a former Trump campaign adviser, Carter Page, long a source of conservative complaints.

Photo credit: Getty Images





The Republicans accused American intelligence agencies of failing to use proper analytic tradecraft in deducing in their January 2017 assessment President Vladimir V. Putins strategic objectives for the interference campaign. The report does not specify what those intentions are, but an earlier version disputed that Mr. Putin had been working to harm Hillary Clinton and aid Mr. Trumps campaign. And they admonished Mrs. Clintons campaign and the Democratic National Committee for hiring Fusion GPS, a research firm, to investigate ties between Trump associates and Russia. The firm in turn hired Christopher Steele, a former British spy, who produced a salacious dossier outlining a conspiracy between the campaign and the Russians.

Story continues

This is a farce and any honest person would recognize it as such. It is riddled with redactions, many of them curious. The indomitable Marcy Wheelers Twitter feed goes through the redactions, as well as explaining the context for them, in admirable detail. Wheeler is particularly fond of this passage:

We reviewed every piece of relevant evidence provided to IJS and interviewed every witness we assessed would substantively contribute to the agreed-upon bipartisan scope of the investigation. We acknowledge that Investigations by other committees, the Special Counsel, the media, or interest groups will continue and may find facts that were not readily accessible to the Committee or outside the scope of our investigation.

As Wheeler points out, not readily accessible likely translates from congressional weaselspeak into, the questions we chose not to ask.

This is pretty much the view of the Democratic minority on the committee, which issued its own rebuttal. Congressman Adam Schiff and his colleagues went to town on the majoritys conclusions. From Mother Jones:

A majority of the reports findings are misleading and unsupported by the facts and the investigative record. They have been crafted to advance a political narrative that exonerates the President, downplays Russias preference and support for then-candidate Trump, explains away repeated contacts by Trump associates with Russia-aligned actors, and seeks to shift suspicion towards President Trumps political opponents and the prior administration Despite repeated entreaties, the Majority refused follow-up document requests informed by new information and leads. For instance, the Committee has not received from the Trump campaign and transition all correspondence to and from George Papadopoulos, Carter Page, and other key persons of interest, thereby making it impossible to determine whether the Committee has reviewed the complete universe of relevant correspondence.

The hell you guys want? Cant you read? That stuff is Not Readily Accessible.

Photo credit: Getty Images

And, while joy appeared unrefined down at Camp Runamuck-the president* pronounced himself honored at the seven layers of whitewash the Republicans laid down for him-the incredibly inconvenient Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Russian lawyer who attended the now-infamous June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower, was preparing to tell NBC that she was a Kremlin plant. From the NYT:

But newly released emails show that in at least one instance two years earlier, the lawyer, Natalia V. Veselnitskaya, worked hand in glove with Russias chief legal office to thwart a Justice Department civil fraud case against a well-connected Russian firm. Ms. Veselnitskaya also appears to have recanted her earlier denials of Russian government ties. During an interview to be broadcast Friday by NBC News, she acknowledged that she was not merely a private lawyer but a source of information for a top Kremlin official, Yuri Y. Chaika, the prosecutor general. I am a lawyer, and I am an informant, she said. Since 2013, I have been actively communicating with the office of the Russian prosecutor general.

The previously undisclosed details about Ms. Veselnitskaya rekindle questions about who she was representing when she met with Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort and others at Trump Tower in Manhattan during the campaign. The meeting, one focus of the special counsel investigation into Russias election interference, was organized after an intermediary promised that Ms. Veselnitskaya would deliver documents that would incriminate Mrs. Clinton.

So, no, youll forgive me if I decline to recognize Congressman Nuness little puppet show as dispositive of anything except the thoroughgoing hackery of the House Republican caucus.

However, the chortling and tweeting makes me wonder if the White House is delusional enough to use this report as an excuse to make a move on Robert Mueller, especially now that Mitch McConnell has said that hes not going to schedule a vote on a bipartisan Mueller-protection bill thats already been passed out of committee. Id say firing Mueller wouldnt make sense, but sense hasnt been readily accessible for quite some time now.

Respond to this post on the Esquire Politics Facebook page here.

You Might Also LikeHundred of students protested in Armenias capital, Yerevan, on April 16, the same day the countrys parliament announced elections for the Prime Minister would be held on May 1.

The election comes after the resignation under pressure of former Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan on April 23.

Opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan urged demonstrations to resume after a meeting with the acting Prime Minister, Karen Karapetyan, was cancelled late on April 24. Credit: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty via StoryfulBy Sue-Lin Wong WUHAN, China (Reuters) - The leaders of China and India agreed to open a new chapter in their relationship on Saturday after an informal summit, just months after a dispute over a stretch of their high-altitude Himalayan border rekindled fears of war. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi spent around 24 hours in the central Chinese city of Wuhan for meetings with President Xi Jinping, an ice-breaking trip both hoped would allow candour and nurture trust. Billed as an informal get-together rather than a summit, the two men held talks on Friday that lasted far longer than expected, and on Saturday chatted over tea on a boat trip round a scenic lake. "President Xi stressed that the issues between China and India are of a limited, temporary nature but the relationship between the two countries is extensive and ongoing," Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou told reporters in Wuhan. Their differences are significant: as well as disputes over stretches of a 3,500 km (2,200 miles) border - the two fought a brief border war in 1962 - the Asian giants have squabbled over Xi's signature Belt and Road infrastructure initiative. India signalled as recently as Tuesday its opposition to the grand trade and transport plan because one of its branches runs through Pakistani-administered Kashmir, which India claims. Xi and Modi agreed their problems would be resolved with time. China's Foreign Ministry, in a separate statement, cited Xi as telling Modi their nations were major drivers of world economic growth and a good relationship would be positive for global stability. Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said both leaders had agreed they could handle their differences peacefully. "On the issue of the India-China boundary question, the two leaders endorsed the work of the special representatives in their efforts to find a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable settlement," he said. "And the two leaders also underscored that in the meantime it is important to maintain peace and tranquility in all areas of the India-China border region," Gokhale said. Kong said Modi and Xi did not discuss last summer's border flare-up, although they agreed to seek a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable settlement to the boundary problem. "The biggest takeaway was that we have to increase mutual trust," he said. "The reason that we had this dispute was because we were both mistrustful of each other." SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES Chinese state media praised the tone of the trip. The overseas edition of the ruling Communist Party's official People's Daily said in a front page commentary on Saturday "two great countries ought to have great co-operation". It published a large photo of the two leaders shaking hands. The official China Daily said in an editorial there was no denying mutual suspicion was keeping the two countries from working together. "Yet neither Beijing nor New Delhi calls the other an enemy, which means both expect bilateral ties to improve. Indeed, China and India are natural partners," it said. Despite the upbeat statements, which on Friday included Modi inviting Xi to India for a similar informal summit next year, there were no concrete agreements reached. Still, Kong said there are a number of projects China and India can cooperate on in the spirit of Belt and Road. "We won't force them to do something they don't want to do," he said. India has long been apprehensive about China's traditionally close ties with Pakistan. For its part, China has been concerned about U.S. efforts to draw India into a maritime "quad" of democracies, including Japan and Australia. China is also suspicious of India's hosting of the Dalai Lama and other exiled Tibetans. Kong said China did not believe India had changed its official position that Tibet is part of China. Modi and Xi are set to meet again soon, when Modi visits China in June for a summit of the China and Russia-led Shanghai Cooperation Organisation security bloc. (Additional reporting by Neha Dasgupta in NEW DELHI; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Paul Tait and Neil Fullick)Peace in our time? The historic meeting of North and South Korea between Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in was sealed with a bear hug - AFP

In the end it was sealed with an extraordinary bear hug. The leaders of two countries on the brink of catastrophic conflict last year, embraced warmly for the cameras as they committed to work towards removing nuclear weapons from the Korean Peninsula and to pursue a final end to the Korean War.

It was a historic day with astonishing, at times overwhelming, visual displays of unity, prolonged hand-holding and stage-managed intimate moments mingled with sweeping grandiose statements.

As the leaders of South and North Korea met in the village of Panmunjom on the demilitarised border zone for the first time in over a decade, their much anticipated summit was top-heavy on symbolism and light on substance.

A joint statement signed by both sides announced a push for three or four-way talks involving the US and China to replace the armistice agreed at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War with a peace treaty, to re-introduce reunifications for families torn apart by the division of the peninsula and to establish a permanent liaison office.

Announcing the precious agreement as the sun set on a long day of pomp and spectacle, President Moon was enthused, declaring a new era of peace and pledging there will be no more war.

Peace in our time? The historic meeting of North and South Korea between Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in was sealed with a bear hug Credit: AFP

He was followed by the once reclusive Kim, who had beamed as he transformed his public image from stern dictator to jovial young leader throughout the day.

In his first ever speech to the world, he omitted to mention his nuclear weapons but promised to support permanent peace. South and North Koreans are the same people he declared. We should not be confronting each other ... we should live in unity.

It had been a PR coup for Kim and Mr Moon from the get-go, with the leaders working their way through a series of highly symbolic gestures reflected in every part of the carefully planned schedule, starting with the location of the meetings.

Panmunjom

If the Korean War had not come to a standstill on a line that runs through Panmunjom in 1953, then this insignificant village would have remained completely unknown. As it is, the village became synonymous with the Joint Security Area and the only point on the frontier where the North could come face-to-face with the South and the United Nations Command.

Story continues

The armistice was signed in Panmunjom on July 27, 1953, to bring the three-year war to an uneasy truce and the simple blue-painted huts that precisely straddle the line have subsequently seen interminable discussions that made negligible progress on the question of replacing the armistice with a peace treaty.

In a fitting gesture, Mr Moon and Kim chose to hold their first face-to-face discussions after simply stepping across the divide to demonstrate what can be achieved if there is sufficient will.

The Honour Guard

On a day of firsts, Kim became the first North Korean leader to review a South Korean honour guard.

Credit: Korea Summit Press Pool/Getty Images

Immediately after crossing the frontier, Kim walked a red carpet in front of representatives of the South Korean armed forces, including representatives of the army, navy and air force in full ceremonial uniform.

The South Korean presidential Blue House said it had decided to greet Kim with the guard after former South Korean presidents Kim Dae-Jung and Roh Moo-hyun were given a similar reception during their summit visits to Pyongyang in 2000 and 2007.

Conservatives in the South have expressed their anger, however, claiming that the guard is disrespectful to military personnel who have faced North Korean troops across the Demilitarised Zone for the last 65 years.

The handshake

Mr Kim shed his entourage at the bottom of the steps that lead from Panmon Hall, in the North, towards the border. And as he strode forward, he broke out into a broad smile. Mr Moon, waiting on the other side of the concrete slabs that mark the exact line dividing North from South, waited for him with his arm outstretched.

Standing on their respective sides, the two leaders shook hands directly above the border in an instant that was caught on camera and is likely to go down as a defining moment in Korean history.

Still smiling, the two men spoke briefly before Kim stepped over the concrete blocks into the South, becoming the first North Korean leader to set foot in the South for more than 65 years.

Dance across the border

No sooner had Mr Kim crossed into the South, however, than a completely unscripted part of the encounter played out.

Credit: KOREA SUMMIT PRESS POOL/AFP/Getty Images

Mr Moon reportedly asked the North Korean leader when he might be able to visit the North. Sensing the symbolic opportunity, Kim turned on his heel and grasped the presidents hand before stepping back into North Korea with Mr Moon.

Wearing grins that would have been appropriate on mischievous boys, Mr Moon and Kim posed shaking hands again for a barrage of photos before stepping back into the South to begin the more serious business of discussing peace.

Planting of the tree

After the morning session of the days discussions, Kim and Mr Moon donned ceremonial white gloves and hefted spades to heap soil around a new pine tree close to the Military Demarcation Line.

The idea for planting the tree - a symbol of strength and wisdom in Korea - had been put forward by Seoul to demonstrate the two sides hopes for peace. A tree that had originally sprouted in 1953, the year of the armistice, was selected in order to underline that commitment.

The two leaders shovelled soil that had been brought from Mount Halla in the South and Mount Baekdu in the North onto roots of the tree before watering it with water from the Han River, which flows through Seoul, and Pyongyangs Daedong River. Lets make sure that just like this pine tree, our future will grow together, Mr Kim said.

The unveiling of the stone

Alongside the pine tree, the two leaders unveiled a smoothed stone monument bearing the inscription Planting peace and prosperity, above their names and official titles and the date of their meeting.

Credit: Pool via Bloomberg

Addressing Mr Kim and the two delegations, Mr Moon said, We will be able to grow together and enjoy co-prosperity together.

Crossing of the bridge

Later in the day, the two leaders emerged - without their advisers - for a stroll across the blue-painted footbridge that was built within the Joint Security Area shortly after the armistice was signed.

Credit: Korea Summit Press Pool/Reuters

Gesticulating and apparently locked in earnest conversation, Mr Moon and Mr Kim paused at one point to continue their discussions before sitting down facing each other on benches on the 160-foot bridge, originally constructed to provide access for the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission that was tasked with overseeing the implementation of the armistice.

Oval table

A great deal of thought has gone into every element of the first meeting between the leaders of North and South Korea for 11 years, right down to the burnished oval table specially commissioned for the occasion.

Credit: Korea Summit Press Pool via AP

When Mr Kim and Mr Moon sat down at precisely 10:30 am to open their first session of their talks, they were exactly 2,018 mm (79.45 inches) apart, a symbolic reminder of the year of their meeting. The table also had legs that had been designed to resemble two bridges merging.

Custom made furniture

The furniture and decorations further reflected the significance of the discussions, with the back rests of the two leaders carved wooden chairs bearing maps of the Korean Peninsula in relief.

Credit: Korea Summit Press Pool via AP

The Peace House had undergone significant renovations in the days leading up to the momentous meeting, with Mr Kim and Mr Moon pausing to admire a large painting of Mount Bukhansan.

It was at this point that Mr Kim reportedly said, As I walked over here, I thought why was it so difficult to get here?

The separating line was not even that high to cross, he said. It was too easy to walk over that line and it took us 11 years to get here.

The menu for the banquet

Even the menu for the banquet that wrapped up the days discussions was rich with symbolism.

Credit: Korea Summit Press Pool/Pool via Reuters

A Korean reinterpretation of the Swiss fried potato dish rosti was being served at the occasion, a firm nod to the years that Mr Kim spent as a student in Switzerland. Other items on the menu include baked John Dory, apparently a favourite of Mr Moon, who grew up in the South Korean port city of Busan.

The Norths delegation arrived with a chef skilled in the preparation of naengmyeon cold noodles that are a speciality of Pyongyang, while the leaders and their wives will also be served grilled beef and a traditional cold salad with octopus.

Whats on the menu at the Korean summit | Symbolism explained

For their desert, the two leaders will tuck into a mango mousse topped with a miniature map of the Korean Peninsula in pale blue on a white background - identical to the unification flags that are being flown in South Korea.

The evenings toasts will be made with myeoncheon dugyeonju, a liquor that is traditionally crafted from azalea flowers and rice, and munbaesool, a distilled spirit from the North.The "Me Too" movement has come to California's judiciary. The branch's response so far has been "Not us." After the Judicial Council revealed in March that it has spent $600,000 to investigate and settle sexual misconduct claims, but refused to identify any of the judges, court employees or details involved, The Recorder asked every trial and appellate court in the state for related documents under the judiciary's open records rule. The Recorder sought three things: the waiver of any asserted privilege a court might claim to block the release of complaints against judges; any documents, including settlements, related to complaints of discrimination or harassment against judges dating back to 1998; and any records indicating the cost of investigating workplace misconduct by judges over the same time frame. No court agreed to waive any asserted privilege. A majority of the courts that responded said they had no responsive records related to sexual harassment complaints or investigation costs related to judges. At best, the courts' replies provide an incomplete picture of how pervasive the problem of sexual harassment might be in California's courthouses. At worst, the response point to shortcomings in Rule of Court 10.500 in one of the first large-scale, publicly visible tests of the eight-year-old public access law that judges wrote themselves. That may indicate that workplace misconduct involving judges is incredibly rare. Or it may suggest that courts are invoking one of several rule exemptions, including a provision that does not require them "to create any record or to compile or assemble data in response to a request for judicial administrative records." Lassen County Superior Court, for example, said it had "no responsive records." And yet in 2016 the court's then-executive officer Andi Barone filed a federal discrimination lawsuit against the court, alleging that Judge Tony Mallery yelled, ranted and raised his fists at her and belittled female staff. The suit settled in 2017 with Barone receiving $100,000 and $84,800 in legal fees. Placer County Superior Court, too, reported having no records related to judges and harassment. But executive Jake Chatters also noted in an April 16 response that former Placer Judge J. Jackson Willoughby was censured by the Commission on Judicial Performance in 2000 for engaging in "a pattern of inappropriate conduct in the workplace toward female employees," including "the improper and unwanted touching of his bailiffs breasts." Willoughby retired in 2002. A handful of courts, some of the biggest in the state, said they would not provide any requested records because court rules exempt disclosure of complaints about judges. Two courts did not respond at all. The responses may not reflect everything going on in courthouses, said Barbara Lawless, a employment attorney with Lawless & Lawless in San Francisco. She spoke of an informal network of lawyers and court workers who share stories of misbehaving jurists. Lawless said a judge threw her out of a court nearly 40 years ago for being pregnant. "He said, 'You're in a family way,'" she recalled. "He said, 'You tell your husband [also an attorney] to come down here and do this hearing.'" Lawless said the courtroom atmosphere has improved with more women in the legal ranks and the current "huge focus on sexual harassment." But the problems haven't gone away, she said. Judges "are just people in robes, and they make the same mistakes as other people," Lawless said. Lawless has not sued a court over a judge's sexual harassment. The dynamics of litigating in or against a court where an employee worked and where she practices would be tricky, Lawless said. "I wouldn't hesitate to take one in a county where I don't practice," she said. "But would I do it in a county nearby? I don't know." A proposed rule change that would disclose judges' names in settlement agreements is hurtling toward approval by the Judicial Council on May 24. A public comment period on the changes closes Tuesday. Although the changes may reveal some of the judges tied to the settlement figures released by the judicial branch in March, they would not appear to shed light on settlements that do not explicitly name the judge or substantiated claims that do not result in any compensation for victims. Representatives of the California Supreme Court and five of the six courts of appeal said their courts had no responsive records to disclose. Danny Potter, clerk of the Sixth District Court of Appeal in San Jose, said Friday that his court has "no records of any settlement documents, or records indicating the cost of investigations arising from complaints" relating to judges accused of harassment or discrimination. "To the extent that your request seeks nondisclosable judicial administrative records, such records are exempt from disclosure," Potter added. The Mercury News reported in December that a confidential report concluded that then-Sixth District Justice Conrad Rushing engaged in sexual misconduct in the courthouse, including looking at nude photos of women while in his chambers and regularly commenting on the appearances of women on his staff. The court has refused to release the report. For responses The Recorder received from California's 58 trial courts, click the counties on the map below: [falcon-embed src="embed_1"]

Read more: Judicial Council Paid $500K-Plus to Settle Sexual Harassment Claims New Rules Would Disclose Judges' Names in Settlement Agreements Harassment Records Involving California Judges Must Be Public, Chief Justice Says California Court Leaders Mum on Judiciary Harassment Settlements Misconduct Claims Against Appellate Judge Raise Novel Workplace QuestionsDonald Trumps only friend among the leaders in Western Europe, French President Emmanuel Macron, left Washington, D.C., Thursday, apparently having failed to persuade Trump to remain in the Iran nuclear deal. The subject had dominated most of the French presidents state visit, but Macron said before he left that he suspected Trump would pull out of the agreement, despite his own efforts to keep the U.S. from walking away by offering an amended deal. Administration officials cautioned that nothing is yet finalized. Were not there yet, said Brian Hook, the State Department negotiator on Iran with the European allies.

Decision day is May 12the artificial deadline Trump set for himself and the allied countries (France, Germany and the U.K.) that are party to the agreement along with two non-allies, China and Russia. His charge to them had been to toughen key aspects of the deal including the so-called sunset clauses which, critics say, put Tehran on an internationally sanctioned glide path to nukes in about 10 years. Failing that, the U.S. would walk away from the deal which, during the campaign, Trump repeatedly called the worst ever.

As Macron left, another supporter of the deal, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, arrived in Washington for her turn to try to persuade Trump not to blow up the deal. She is likely to fail. Trump and Macron love to play up their bromance, with lengthy handshakes and kisses on the cheek. Merkel, by contrast, loathes Trumpand the feeling is entirely mutual.

Trending: Fortnite Season 4 Teaser Adds New Skin for Aquaman, Villain or Hanzo

Trump Macron

REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Trumps decision to revisit the dealand to pressure the allies to help fix ithas had some effect. Macron came to Washington touting his intention to broaden the deal by including Irans ballistic missile program, which continues apace, and which the original Iran deal didnt touch; to seek a tougher inspections regime for suspected Iranian nuclear sites; and he was also willing to join with the U.S. to push back harder against Irans support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, as well its backing of rebels waging a civil war in Yemen. Hook, the U.S. State Department official, had been in Brussels negotiating with his three European partners and said they had made progress on all three issues.

Story continues

But for Trump, by all accounts, that was not sufficient. The issue he is most concerned with, his aides have said, is the so-called sunset clauses, which allow restrictions negotiated by Team Obama on Irans nuclear activity to phase out over time. This, from the beginning, has been Israels major concern as well.

Don't miss: Hillary Clinton Backs First-Time Female Candidate's Request to Use Campaign Funds for Child Care

Merkel and her fellow European leaders are unwilling to revisit the deal, saying that any push to renegotiate those clauses will prompt Tehran to walk away entirelyand then sprint toward a bomb. European negotiators have proposed supplementing the sunset clauses with more specific descriptions of the civilian nuclear program (which the agreement allows Iran to pursue), as well as heavy new economic sanctions if the International Atomic Energy Agency believes Tehran is deviating from a civilian course. Diplomatic sources have said Germany is resisting even that, so it is not clear Trump will get anywhere with Merkel on the issue during their meeting in Washington.

A U.S. decision to leave will have huge consequences. It means Trump will ask Congress to reimpose economic sanctions on Iran that had been lifted in the 2015 agreement negotiated by the Obama administration. Those sanctions will almost certainly include secondary penalties on any companies doing business with Iran. That puts at risk any number of European companies who are eagerly pursuing deals in Iranwith the Germans front and center. German exports to Iran in 2017 totaled $4.2 billion, up more than one third from the previous year.

The nuclear deals opponents in Washington believe it is this economic aspect that drives Merkel, not the fear that Iran will bolt and develop a bomb even sooner (a concern they believe is exaggerated). In advance of her arrival, Merkels critics pointed out that a German company appeared to have supplied parts to one of the Iranian-made missiles that Assad used to deliver chemical weapons earlier this month. They played the history card: Given the trajectory of German-Iranian commerce, Merkels determination to keep Trump in the Iran deal might make sense in a vacuum, wrote Richard Goldberg, a senior adviser at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a Washington think tank. But we dont live in a vacuum. Iran is the worlds leading state sponsor of terror, and Germany has a unique responsibility to oppose atrocities.

Most popular: Pakistan May be About to Free the Doctor Who Helped the U.S. Track Down Bin Laden: Lawyer

Merkel and her European partners might be more swayed by that rhetoric if they didnt know that the Trump administration itself remains divided on the Iran deal. Newly confirmed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has been an outspoken critic, and new national security adviser John Bolton, before taking that job, had called the deal unsalvageable. But Defense Secretary James Mattis begs to differ. Asked in Senate testimony on April 21 whether he still thought staying in the deal was in the U.S. national interest, Mattis replied, Yes, Senator, I do.

Kim Jong Un and Moon Jae-In

Korea Summit Press Pool/Getty Images

There is another, new concern those arguing to remain in the deal are making: The North Koreans are watching. Trumpand the rest of the worldsaw North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in meet and call for the eventual denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. In late May or early June, Trump is to meet Kim one-on-one to discuss exactly that.

The president would love to leave that summit with a dramatic agreement. But American deals with North Korea have failed before: The nuclear deal negotiated by the Clinton administration in 1994 ultimately fell apart, and nothing came of the so called "six party" nuclear talks under George W. Bush.

Still, the question is obvious: If the U.S. pulls out of the Iran nuclear deal, can Kim Jong Un trust that it will abide by whatever Donald Trump negotiates? Pyongyang is watching. And Bolton knows that as well as anyone. In his memoir of his time as United Nations ambassador, he writes of his frustration with the Bush administration for allowing the U.N. to water down sanctions on Iran, in part because North Korea immediately soughtand receivedrelief for itself. If Donald the dealmaker really wants a historic agreement with Pyongyang, he may have to swallow what the Europeans are now offering him on Iran.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekTehran (AFP) - Iran on Saturday welcomed steps towards detente between North and South Korea but warned that the United States was unqualified to play a role since it did not "respect its commitments".

The foreign ministry said the meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and the South's President Moon Jae-in was "a responsible and effective step towards regional and global stability".

But ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said the "historic new page for detente on the Korean peninsula" should be worked out between the two principal parties, without the "interference of foreign countries".

"Iran's experience over 40 years, in particular with regard to the nuclear deal, is that the American government is not a dignified, trustworthy actor and does not respect its international commitments," Ghasemi said in a statement.

Iran signed a deal in 2015 with the United States and five other world powers, curbing its nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.

But Tehran argues the US has continued to block its trade with the outside world -- in breach of the deal -- and US President Donald Trump has threatened to abandon the agreement entirely when it comes up for renewal on May 12.

"As a result, (the US) is not qualified to play a role to determine the arrangements between countries, which has again been reinforced in recent years by Trump," Ghasemi said.

The leaders of North and South Korea held a historic meeting along their border on Friday, vowing to pursue a peace treaty and the complete denuclearisation of their divided peninsula.

In the coming weeks, Kim is due to hold a much-anticipated meeting with Trump, who has demanded Pyongyang give up its nuclear arsenal.Ive not been exempt from being dumb or cruel or hurtful to the very people I want to advocate for, MSNBC host Joy Reid said. I own that. I get it. And for that I am truly, truly sorry. (Photo: Bennett Raglin/Getty Images)

MSNBCs Joy Reid said she doesnt believe she wrote the anti-LGBTQ statements she has previously alleged were the result of a cyberattack on her now-defunct blog.

Reid addressed the alleged posts Saturday on her show, MSNBCs AM Joy, amid mounting scrutiny over her claims that her old blog, The Reid Report, had been hacked.

I genuinely do not believe I wrote those hateful things because they are completely alien to me, Reid said, but I can definitely understand based on things I have tweeted and I have written in the past why some people dont believe me.

.@MSNBC's Joy Reid addresses homophobic blog posts:



"I genuinely do not believe I wrote those hateful things ... But I can definitely understand, based on things I have tweeted and have written in the past, why some people don't believe me." pic.twitter.com/PWjdPfs5KB  MSNBC (@MSNBC) April 28, 2018

Reid added that the cybersecurity experts she hired to investigate the alleged cyberattack have not been able to prove that her blog had been hacked.

Ive not been exempt from being dumb or cruel or hurtful to the very people I want to advocate for, Reid said. I own that. I get it. And for that I am truly, truly sorry.

Reid already apologized in December for writing homophobic posts about former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (D) between 2007 and 2009 after Twitter user @Jamie_Maz shared screenshots of the posts.

Last week, @Jamie_Maz tweeted dozens more screenshots, also allegedly from Reids old blog, that included statements such as most straight people cringe at the sight of two men kissing and adult gay men tend to be attracted to very young, post-pubescent types.

Yet this time around, Reid had steadfastly denied writing the posts, claiming on Monday her blog was hacked and that a cybersecurity expert had identified unauthorized activity. This appears to contradict with her Saturday comments alleging the outside experts were unable to prove she was hacked.

Story continues

Reid did not address on Saturday her seemingly contradictory statements about the alleged hacking or detail whether cybersecurity experts were continuing to investigate the matter.

A representative for MSNBC did not immediately respond to HuffPosts request for comment about Reids differing statements.

Jonathan Nichols, Reids hired cybersecurity consultant, said in a statement Tuesday that he found evidence Joy Reids now-defunct blog, The Reid Report, was breached after a review of suspicious activity. He did not immediately respond to HuffPosts request for comment on Reids comments Saturday that appeared to state otherwise.

As HuffPost and other outlets have reported, only a pretty bizarre course of events would have led to those allegedly fraudulent homophobic blog posts.

Reid, who has been noticeably silent on social media since claiming her blog was hacked, shared a post on Instagram about heading back to work.

Back to work...! A post shared by Joy-Ann Reid (@joyannreid) on Apr 28, 2018 at 4:13am PDT

Reid opened her show Saturday  the first episode since news broke on Mediaite of the screenshots on Monday  by addressing the scandal and apologizing for past homophobic and transphobic comments on her blog and in her tweets.

She then dedicated the next 30 minutes or so of her two-hour show to discussing how hurtful speech affects marginalized communities with a panel of LGTBQ activists.

I can only say that the person I am now is not the person I was then, Reid said. I like to think Ive gotten better as a person over time  that Im still growing.

Her attorney, John H. Reichman, said in a statement Wednesday that her team had received confirmation the FBI has opened an investigation into potential criminal activities surrounding several online accounts, including personal email and blog accounts, belonging to Joy-Ann Reid.

The FBI would neither confirm nor deny the existence of such an investigation when asked by HuffPost.

Related...

Joy Reids Hacking Claims Look Increasingly Unlikely

Daily Beast Suspends Joy Reid Column Amid Scrutiny Over Her Hacking Claims

Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.Adult film actress Stormy Daniels exits the United States District Court Southern District of New York for a hearing related to Michael Cohen: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

A judge has agreed to delay proceedings in Stormy Daniels lawsuit against President Donald Trump and his lawyer, Michael Cohen, saying it was likely that the latter would soon be indicted in a criminal investigation.

Ms Daniels, real name Stephanie Clifford, has sued Mr Trump and Mr Cohen in an attempt to invalidate a non-disclosure agreement she signed shortly before the election. She says the agreement was meant to silence her claims of an affair with the president.

US District Court Judge James Otero said on Friday that he would put the case on hold for 90 days, in light of an FBI raid of Mr Cohens office and apartment earlier this month. The FBI, tipped off by special counsel Robert Mueller, was said to be looking for evidence of payments to Ms Daniels and other women.

Mr Cohen said on Wednesday that he intended to plead the fifth in the civil proceedings, due to the ongoing criminal investigation. He also requested a three-month stay in the case.

Given the context and significance of the criminal proceedings, the Court agrees with Defendants that a temporary stay is warranted, Mr Otero responded in a court filing on Friday.

He added that, as the alleged mastermind of the agreement, Mr Cohens testimony would be indispensable to the disposition of this action.

Ms Daniels lawyer, Michael Avenatti, said on Twitter that he planned to appeal the ruling.

While we certainly respect Judge Oteros 90 day stay order based on Mr Cohens pleading of the 5th, we do not agree with it, he wrote. We will likely be filing an immediate appeal to the Ninth Circuit early next week. Justice delayed is justice denied.

The ruling is the latest twist in a legal saga that has transfixed the country, pitting Ms Daniels and her media-savvy lawyer against Mr Trump and his legal fixer of more than a decade.

Ms Daniels claims she engaged in an affair with Mr Trump in 2006, just months after the birth of his son Barron. She says a stranger later threatened her to stay quiet about the affair, and Mr Cohen ultimately paid her $130,000 in hush money.

Story continues

Mr Cohen has acknowledged making the payment, but contested the hush money characterisation. Mr Trump, who has previously denied any knowledge of the payment, said earlier this week that Mr Cohen had represented him in the matter.

"He represents me like with this crazy Stormy Daniels deal, he represented me, the president said in a phone interview on Fox and Friends. And from what I see, he did absolutely nothing wrong."

Mr Trump has denied having an affair with Ms Daniels.Kanye West and John Legend appeared to put their differing opinions about President Donald Trump to the side at a baby shower for Legends wife, model Chrissy Teigen.

The longtime collaborating musicians came together at the surprise shindig reportedly thrown by Wests wife Kim Kardashian on Friday night, the day after Legend questioned Wests support of Trump in a private text message that West then shared to Twitter.

West tweeted a snap of the pair hanging out at the bash. We got love, he wrote. Agree to disagree.

We got love. Agree to disagree pic.twitter.com/kaTcPYH0zL  KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 28, 2018

Legend retweeted the post. West later shared footage of Legend playing the instrumental intro to his 2004 hit Ordinary People on a piano.

Lead with love, West captioned the brief clip:

Lead with love pic.twitter.com/tj2a9LFYKZ  KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 28, 2018

Teigen, meanwhile, shared this snap of herself, Kardashian and hairstylist Jen Atkin from the party  which appeared to show West and Legend together in the background.

a lot goin on at surprise baby shower  pic.twitter.com/Wg6jjsBaeh  christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) April 28, 2018

Teigen, who already has 2-year-old daughter Luna Simone with Legend, also gave some insight into what went down at the event:

Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.

honestly whats a baby shower if you dont faintly hear a passionate discussion about North Korea while opening gifts  christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) April 28, 2018

Legend has previously called Trump a terrible president who is manifestly unqualified, not curious, not good at legislating or doing anything that his job requires. Teigen has repeatedly used Twitter to take aim at POTUS  which culminated with him blocking her on the social media platform last year.

Story continues

Related Coverage

The Kanye West And Donald Trump Lovefest Becomes 2018's Funniest Meme

Trevor Noah Taunts Fox News Over Kanye West's Support Of Donald Trump

Donald Trump Was Too Busy Tweeting At Kanye West To Get Melania A Birthday Gift

Also on HuffPost

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.A historic summit Friday between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean president Moon Jae-in could be watched all over the worldexcept for North Korea.

Kim became the first North Korean leader to cross the heavily guarded demilitarized zone (DMZ) into South Korea, but the event was not broadcast in the North.

Instead of showing Moon and Kim discussing denuclearizing the peninsula, North Korean television displayed patriotic images and mountains, according to the BBC monitoring service. A documentary about Kim Jong Il, Kim Jong Un's father, was also aired.

Trending: Pakistan May be About to Free the Doctor Who Helped the U.S. Track Down Bin Laden: Lawyer

North Korea typically shies away from broadcasting live events both home and abroad. The countrys newscast did not broadcast information about the summit to its viewers, but the state-controlled newspapers did mention that Kim had traveled to Panmunjom, the Truce Village, for meetings, according to the BBC monitoring service.

It was at this site along the DMZ that the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed in 1953. The agreement ended the active fighting, but never officially ended the war. In their meeting Friday, the two leaders agreed to work toward ending the war.

Don't miss: White Customers Only: Black Woman Says She Wasnt Allowed To Eat at Waffle House in Alabama

A new history begins now. At the starting point of history and the era of peace, wrote Kim in a guest book at the site.

The two leaders signed a declaration that said they would work to de-escalate tensions between the two countries.

South and North Korea confirmed the common goal of realizing, through complete denuclearization, a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula, read part of the declaration.

Most popular: Sean Hannity Buys Apartment Complex, 61 Tenants Evicted

Kim last year tested a nuclear bomb and demonstrated the ability to strike almost anywhere in the world with a long-range ballistic missile. The leader has since executed a diplomatic about-face, beginning with participating in the Winter Olympics in South Korea. Kims overtures even extended to the U.S. despite a history of heated rhetoric with President Donald Trump. The two are expected to meet in the near future.

Story continues

Trump, as he often does, took to Twitter to celebrate the meeting.

KOREAN WAR TO END! The United States, and all of its GREAT people, should be very proud of what is now taking place in Korea!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 27, 2018

GettyImages-951943234

Korea Summit Press Pool/GETTY

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekBy Christine Kim, Josh Smith and Roberta Rampton

SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The leaders of North and South Korea pledged at a historic summit on Friday to work for "complete denuclearisation" of the Korean peninsula, but U.S. President Donald Trump said he would maintain pressure on Pyongyang through sanctions ahead of his own unprecedented meeting with North Korea's Kim Jong Un.

The meeting between Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in produced a day of dramatic images and a sweeping declaration of goodwill. But it was short on specific commitments and failed to clear up the question of whether Pyongyang is really willing to give up nuclear missiles that now threaten the United States.

Meeting at the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone that has divided the Koreas for more than six decades, Kim and Moon announced they would work with the United States and China this year to declare an official end to the 1950s Korean War, and establish a permanent peace agreement.

In an event marked by smiles, handshakes and embraces, they also promised to pursue phased arms reduction, cease hostile acts, transform their fortified border into a peace zone and seek talks involving other countries, including the United States."The two leaders declare before our people of 80 million and the entire world there will be no more war on the Korean peninsula and a new age of peace has begun," the two sides said.

But even as they agreed on a common goal of a "nuclear-free" peninsula, they stopped short of spelling out exactly what that meant or how it might come about.

Speaking at a news conference in Washington with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Trump, who has raised expectations that his own planned meeting with Kim in coming weeks will deliver tangible results, expressed hope it would be productive.

'NOT REPEAT MISTAKES'

But he added: "We will not repeat the mistakes of past administrations. Maximum pressure will continue until denuclearisation occurs."

Story continues

Trump has said Kim must completely abandon his nuclear missile programme and has credited his campaign of sanctions and military threats with bringing Kim to the negotiating table.

Earlier he told reporters would not allow himself to be "played like a fiddle" by North Korea like past U.S. administrations.

Many analysts say that while sanctions may be hurting North Korea, Kim may believe he has the upper hand and is unlikely to give up his full nuclear capability, considering it vital to the survival of his family dynasty.

In past negotiations, North Korea has demanded the United States withdraw its troops and remove its "nuclear umbrella" of support for the South.

The United States stations 28,500 troops in South Korea.

On Friday, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the United States would seek to build trust with North Korea through confidence building measures, but deferred to diplomats questions about the future U.S. military presence under any peace treaty.

Kim, widely regarded by many Americans and South Koreans as a brutal dictator, appeared to use the summit to soften his international image.

He became the first North Korean leader since the Korean War to set foot in South Korea after shaking hands with Moon over a concrete curb marking the border.

Scenes of Moon and Kim joking and walking together were a striking contrast to last year's barrage of North Korean missile tests and its largest ever nuclear test, which raised fears of war.

U.S. intelligence officials said it had been an impressive charm offensive by Kim, but their view of him and their belief in his desire to keep his nuclear weapons had not changed.

A U.S. administration official, who did not want to be identified, said Trump's aides were being briefed by South Korean officials and were looking for clarity on whether Kim made any meaningful commitment to nuclear disarmament.

In a statement, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said any North Korea promises would be "met with reservation, vigilance, and verification."

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who over the Easter weekend became the first U.S. official ever known to have met Kim, told a news conference after a NATO meeting in Brussels he believed Kim was serious about try reaching a deal.

"The economic pressure that has been put in place by this global effort that President Trump has led has led him to believe that its in his best interest to come to the table and talk about denuclearisation."

The Kim-Moon meeting was meant in part to lay some of the groundwork for a Trump-Kim summit, which would be the first encounter between sitting leaders of the two countries.

Trump, who has exchanged nuclear threats and personal insults with Kim in the past year, said only time would tell, but he did not think Kim was "playing."

"Its never gone this far. This enthusiasm for them wanting to make a deal ... We are going to hopefully make a deal."

Trump said two countries were under consideration as the site for his meeting with Kim, which he has said could be in late May or early June.

China, North Korea's main ally, welcomed Kim and Moon's statement and said it was willing to keep promoting political solutions. China is wary of being sidelined by a thaw between the two Koreas and by the Trump-Kim summit.

Russia said it was ready to facilitate cooperation between North and South Korea, including in railway transport and energy. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe welcomed the summit and said he expected North Korea to take concrete steps to carry out its promises.

As part of efforts to reduce tensions, North and South Korea agreed to open a liaison office, stop propaganda broadcasts and allow divided families to meet.

Days before the summit, Kim said North Korea would suspend nuclear and long-range missile tests and dismantle its only known nuclear test site.

But deep scepticism remains about Kim's intentions, and Daniel Russel, until recently the most senior U.S. diplomat for Asia, said that the joint declaration fell short of an explicit commitment to denuclearisation.

Jonathan Schanzer, an expert at Washington's Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank, said North Korea had made promises many times in the past. "The question now is whether Kim Jong Un is ready to deliver, or if this is a prelude to yet another deliberate effort to spurn the West," he said.

Former U.S. assistant secretary of defence for East Asia, Abraham Denmark, said that despite the warm images and friendly words, "there is still no trust and no clear way ahead."

"We must remember: North Korea is still North Korea. Kim is still the same person he was when he purged potential rivals, imprisoned thousands of his people, and had his relatives killed. This was a hopeful moment, but extreme caution is well warranted."

It is not the first time leaders of North and South Korea have declared hopes for peace. Two earlier summits, in Pyongyang in 2000 and 2007, failed to halt North Korea's weapons programmes or improve relations in a lasting way.

Kim alluded to past failures after the latest agreement was signed, saying: "We will make efforts to create good results by communicating closely, in order to make sure our agreement signed today before the entire world, will not end as just a beginning like previous agreements before today."

Moon agreed to visit Pyongyang this year, the leaders said.

FIRST ACROSS THE LINE

Moon greeted Kim at the military demarcation line where the men smiled and shook hands. In an unplanned moment of theatre, Kim invited Moon to step briefly across into North Korea, before the two leaders crossed back into South Korea holding hands.

"I was excited to meet at this historic place and it is really moving that you came all the way to the demarcation line to greet me in person," Kim said.

"A new history starts now. An age of peace, from the starting point of history," Kim wrote in Korean in a guest book in the South's Peace House before talks began.

In a private session, Kim told Moon he came to the summit to end the history of conflict and joked he was sorry for waking Moon up with his early morning missile tests, a senior South Korean presidential official said.

Moon and Kim continued their talks into a dinner banquet and later, with their wives, watched a music performance and held hands as they watched a montage of photos from their summit set to a K-pop song that included the words "be a family again."

(Reporting by the Inter-Korean Summit Press Corps, Christine Kim and Josh Smith in Seoul and by Roberta Rampton in WASHINGTON; Additional reporting by Hyonhee Shin in SEOUL, David Brunnstrom, Matt Spetalnick, Susan Heavey, Eric Beech, David Alexander, John Walcott, Phil Stewart, Idrees Ali and Jeff Mason in WASHINGTON and Lesley Wroughton in BRUSSELS; Writing by Matt Spetalnick and David Brunnstrom; editing by Lincoln Feast, Robert Birsel, Frances Kerry and Cynthia Osterman)A photograph that won an award in England has been disqualified after an investigation found that the image may not be what it seemed.

The Natural History Museum in London, which holds the Wildlife Photography of the Year competition each year, previously named photographer Marcio Cabral the winner of the 2017 Animals In Their Environment category for his photograph The Night Raider. The image shows an anteater in Brazils Emas National Park.

It's with great sadness we're letting you know that after a careful investigation into the image 'The night raider', we have disqualified the photograph. It was the winner of the 2017 Animals in Their Environment category. More info here: https://t.co/fsgHzUS83Q pic.twitter.com/dFPuiKZJzS  Wildlife Photographer of the Year (@NHM_WPY) April 27, 2018

A Friday press release from the museum announced that the image was disqualified because evidence presented to the Museum by third parties revealed that it is highly likely the animal in the awarded photograph is a taxidermy specimen.

The museum states the taxidermy animal breaches the competition rules, which state that entries must not deceive the viewer or attempt to misrepresent the reality of nature.

Also, taxidermied animals arent exactly animals in their environment.

Cabral strongly denies that the anteater in the photo is a taxidermy specimen, according to the museums statement. He did not respond to HuffPosts request for comment.

Roz Kidman, chair of the competitions jury, had some harsh words for the photographer.

I find it disheartening and surprising that a photographer would go to such lengths to deceive the competition and its worldwide following, Kidman told BuzzFeed. The competition places great store on honesty and integrity, and such a breach of the rules is disrespectful to the wildlife photography community, which is at the heart of the competition.

Story continues

The museum noted that Cabral complied fully with the investigation and supplied RAW image files of images he says were taken before and after he captured the anteater. Neither of those images include the anteater, though Cabral told the museum that he had an explanation why and that there was a witness who saw the live anteater with him.

The photo at the center of the scandal. (Photo: Marcio Cabral)

The team that investigated the image included two mammals experts and a taxidermy specialist at the Natural History Museum in London, along with a South American mammals expert and an expert anteater researcher. They all independently examined the high-resolution photographs of a taxidermied anteater on display in the Portao do Bandeira gate, an entrance to Emas National Park.

Each investigator found that the anteaters posture, morphology, the position of raised tufts of fur and in the patterning on the neck and the top of the head in Cabrals image were too similar to the one on display for them to be different creatures, according to the museums statement.

Many people on social media were incredulous at the news of the photographs alleged manufacturing:

I can't trust any pictures anymore  yammsh (@yammshh) April 27, 2018

Really very sad to read this   Pere Soler (@Pere_Soler) April 27, 2018

This is pretty diabolical. I feel sorry for the other photographers who can't be considered now. Also intriguingly I take pictures in JPEG never RAW so I couldn't enter this particular competition anyway. Interesting.  David Blanchflower BSc (@DavidBflower) April 27, 2018

Perhaps careful investigation should be done before making the award. Ask for the original RAW for a start   Tim Jones (@surfwagen) April 27, 2018

Outrageous! We saw the exhibition in Edinburgh and were confused as to how the anteater was captured so still.

BBC News - Wildlife photo competition disqualifies 'stuffed anteater' image https://t.co/RB0klMp7ve  Katie Grayson (@KTJGrayson) April 27, 2018

Somebody stuffed up...  The Count Christoph (@Count_Christoph) April 27, 2018

Cabrals photograph was previously featured on the museums website with the caption:

Marcio had been visiting the National Park for three years waiting for the right conditions to capture the glowing termite mounds. After days frustrated by rain, he was in for a surprise. A giant anteater ambled out of the darkness and stayed just long enough for Marcio to take a single picture, using a long exposure and flash to highlight his unexpected companion.

The image has since been taken down.

Due to the investigation, Cabrals photograph will also be removed from the museums exhibition and tour. A museum spokesperson told HuffPost that Cabral is no longer eligible to enter the competition and that the institution will not be taking any further action at this time.

Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.

Also on HuffPost

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

21.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.The heat shield that was supposed to protect NASA's next Mars rover during its hazardous landing on the red planet failed during testing, according to an announcement from the agency on Thursday. That failure, however, shouldn't delay the mission's 2020 launch.

The same type of shield is installed on another Mars mission, a lander called InSight due to take off on May 5, but that mission should be unaffected by the crack in the Mars 2020 heat shield, which was detected on April 12. The lander does use essentially the same shield, but its equipment has been double-checked and NASA personnel are confident it should hold up during the landing, scheduled for late November.

"[The failure] did cause a little bit of a fire drill a couple weeks ago when they did uncover that," Mars InSight primary investigator William "Bruce" Banerdt, a planetary scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, told Newsweek. "When something goes wrong on one of these other missions it always causes us to go back," to confirm the same problem won't occur again.

Trending: Hillary Clinton Backs First-Time Female Candidate's Request to Use Campaign Funds for Child Care

The same style of heat shield has been used to land the Curiosity rover currently on Mars, when it performed without any trouble.

"We do use a lot of the same techniques for landing on Mars," as the Mars 2020 mission does, Banerdt said of InSight. The landing process will take about six and a half minutes all told.

04_27_mars_insight_launch

Gene Blevins/Reuters

Don't miss: Pakistan May be About to Free the Doctor Who Helped the U.S. Track Down Bin Laden: Lawyer

Heat shields are a crucial component of the first stage of landing, when a spacecraft hurdles through a planet's atmosphere at speeds as high as 12,500 miles per hour. In the case of Mars InSight and 2020, the heat shield protects the science robot by essentially bearing the brunt of the fiery entry by itself, burning up in the process.

Story continues

According to NASA's statement about the Mars 2020 shield, the agency plans to build a replacement for the flawed part over the next year or so, using the cracked shield for further testing in the meantime.

InSight's shield is already safely installed on the spacecraft, which has been loaded onto a rocket in preparation for launch on or after May 5. Regardless of what day precisely the spacecraft launches, it will land on the surface of Mars on November 26the ultimate test of the heat shield.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekFrances first lady had a great time with the Trumps during her three-day visit to the U.S. with husband Emmanuel Macron, but she told a French newspaper that she felt sorry for Melania Trump because shes a virtual prisoner in the White House.

Melania cannot do anything, Brigitte Macron told Le Monde on Friday, apparently referring to security constraints, the newspaper reported. She cant even open a window at the White House. She cant stick her nose outside. Shes much more constrained than I am. Me, every day, Im out in Paris.

No wonder she appears to look so grim, Brigitte Macron said. Everything is interpreted, over-interpreted, she added, perhaps referring to scrutiny by the media and the public. Shes a woman with a lot of character but tries to hide it. She laughs very easily about everything but shows it less than I do.

The two first ladies got along swimmingly, said Macron. Melania was really fun, she said. We have the same sense of humor. We laugh a lot together. Macron called her kind, charming, intelligent and very open.

Frances first lady admitted that she has to deal with some of the same limitations as her American counterpart because she has to be careful what I say.

She added: I have the impression that every word is a word too many. Im constantly holding myself back. Thats the hardest part: Theres never really any time off, never a moment when you can be completely calm.

But she said she tries to live as normal a life as possible and goes out each day. She often visits her three children from a previous marriage, and she visits her grandchildren. Macron said she tries to be more than just a decorative flower pot in the shadow of her husband. But that was difficult to do on their trip to the U.S. Everything was very framed, she said. There were small labels on the ground. I put myself where I had to put myself.

Macron, 65, is 25 years older than her husband, who was once her student. Thats about the same age gap between Donald Trump, 71, and his wife, who just turned 48.

Story continues

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story indicated Brigitte Macron is 20 years older than her husband. She is 25 years older than him.

Also on HuffPost

Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.The current CIA directors first tasks will be the North Korea summit and Iran agreement: AP

The Senate confirmed Mike Pompeo to be Americas next secretary of state, rounding out a markedly more hawkish national security team for Donald Trump.

Currently the CIA director, Mr Pompeo has been one of the presidents closest allies and shares Mr Trumps aggressive stance towards Iran, echoing the presidents calls to shred a nuclear deal negotiated under Barack Obama.

In a statement praising Mr Pompeo's confirmation, Mr Trump said America's new head diplomat has my trust.

He will always put the interests of America first, the president said, using a phrase that has been a cornerstone of his foreign policy.

Mr Pompeo will join recently appointed national security adviser John Bolton, who has advocated military strikes on Iran and North Korea, in prominently shaping the Trump administrations foreign policy

Some Democrats objected to Mr Pompeos nomination, questioning his willingness to challenge the president and worrying that he would push Mr Trump towards military interventions.

While those concerns were nearly enough to deny Mr Pompeo a recommendation from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee  the panel narrowly backed him on a party line vote  his nomination cleared the full Senate on a comparatively easy 57-42 vote.

The president tabbed Mr Pompeo to replace former secretary of state Rex Tillerson, who Mr Trump fired in March following months of escalating tension

The confirmation of Mr Pompeo comes at a critical time, with an unprecedented meeting between the US president and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un potentially months away. In his capacity as head of the CIA, Mr Pompeo travelled to North Korea to lay the groundwork for the high-stakes summit.

While Mr Trump has heralded the opportunity for a deal to dismantle North Koreas nuclear weapons programme, both Mr Bolton and Mr Pompeo have evinced scepticism about the sincerity of North Koreas motives.

In addition to helping prepare the North Korea summit, Mr Pompeo will help the White House navigate a crucial and fast-approaching deadline for the Iran nuclear deal.

Story continues

Mr Trump must decide by mid-May whether to continue lifting sanctions on Iran, as dictated by the pact. Both the president and Mr Pompeo have heaped disdain on the agreement, and Mr Trump said in January that he was agreeing to waive some sanctions only in order to secure our European allies agreement to fix the terrible flaws of the Iran nuclear deal.

This is a last chance. In the absence of such an agreement, the United States will not again waive sanctions in order to stay in the Iran nuclear deal, Mr Trump said at the time.

During a visit to Washington this week, French president Emmanuel Macron worked to persuade Donald Trump to preserve the deal. But Mr Macron conceded he faced slim odds of succeeding.

My view  I dont know what your president will decide  is that he will get rid of this deal on his own, for domestic reasons, Mr Macron told reporters.Managua (AFP) - University students at the forefront of anti-government unrest in Nicaragua on Saturday issued conditions for talks with the government of President Daniel Ortega.

The demands followed a week of protests and clashes with police that left at least 43 people dead, according to a leading human rights group.

In a bid to calm the situation, 72-year-old veteran leader Ortega has agreed to hold talks, but the framework has not yet been defined.

The students told a news conference in Managua that their demands must be met for them to take part.

The conditions included police involved in the repression being fired, an independent UN-backed body being established to investigate the violence, that relatives of those killed be included, and that the talks be held in public.

Any body investigating the violence must be "independent and credible" and have international backing to carry out its work, which would involve "investigating, condemning and sanctioning all those responsible for both approving and committing" the violence, they said.

The call came a day after Human Rights Watch called for pressure to be put on Ortega's government to allow a visit by Inter-American Commission of Human Rights, the main rights body in the Americas, to investigate the allegations of abuse.

The students also demanded a "Truth Commission" created by the government be disbanded, saying "we don't accept that the murderers investigate themselves." Meanwhile, they wanted the talks to be put off until mid-May so that student representatives not aligned with Ortega's ruling party are involved.

Managua's archbishop, Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes, has said he is ready to mediate any dialogue.

The country's powerful private business lobby, which distanced itself from Ortega over the violence, has also signaled it is now ready to participate in the talks.

- Ortega's grip shaken -

The protests that erupted on April 18 were the worst faced by Ortega in his last 11 years in power, badly shaking his tight grip on power over the country, one of the poorest in Latin America.

Story continues

The spark was reforms to the deficit-stricken social security system, but the unrest quickly swelled on the back of widespread resentment of Ortega's perceived authoritarianism.

The president, a former Sandinista rebel who has ruled Nicaragua for 22 of the past 39 years, made a series of concessions after sharp domestic and international criticism over the use of security forces to put down the protests, and curbs on independent media to report them.

The concessions included abandoning the social security reforms, freeing dozens of arrested protesters, lifting broadcast bans on private TV channels, and offering dialogue.

Many Nicaraguans, though -- especially emboldened university students -- want Ortega to step down.

A mass demonstration sponsored by the Catholic Church was to take place later Saturday in the Nicaraguan capital, with busloads of demonstrators being brought in from rural areas.ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigerian lawmakers voted on Wednesday to invite President Muhammadu Buhari to the House of Representatives to discuss a spate of killings in central Nigeria. Hundreds of people have died in clashes this year between semi-nomadic herdsmen and settled farmers in central states, including 16 killed in an attack on a church in Benue on Tuesday. The violence has raised questions about the government's ability to maintain security in the country, putting pressure on Buhari less than a year before an election he wants to contest [nL8N1S18P7]. The motion in the lower house called for the president to appear to discuss the situation in Benue, where the highest-profile killings have taken place, and other states in the region, including Taraba, Nasarawa and Kaduna. No date was suggested for his appearance. Buhari's spokesmen did not respond to text messages and phone calls seeking comment. (Reporting by Camillus Eboh and Alexis Akwagyiram in Lagos, editing by Catherine Evans)By Bruno Federowski and Miguel Gutierrez BRASILIA/MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's threats to scrap the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) will soon be a distant memory, likely to be supplanted by only slight changes to the 24-year-old pact, a Reuters poll of economists suggested. None of the 80 forecasters - most based in Canada, the United States and Mexico - polled by Reuters April 16-24 expect NAFTA to be terminated. A large majority said the most likely outcome is a marginally different agreement, with only six expecting radical changes. The results, though mostly in line with a January poll, showcase growing conviction among economists and analysts that months of thorny conversations will deliver a good outcome for all parties. The findings come despite Trump's decision to deliver on some of his campaign trail protectionist threats by hiking tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. This suggests companies and policymakers may have convinced Trump to focus on China, instead of the pact underpinning over $1 trillion per year in trade between Mexico, the U.S. and Canada. "The U.S. government has acknowledged the strong economic ties between the three North American economies, a result of efforts by pressure groups signaling to Trump's administration the relevance of that treaty," said Jesus Lopez, an analyst at Banco BASE in Mexico City. His remarks underline a recent swing toward optimism in official communications around NAFTA as negotiators stepped up efforts to reach an agreement ahead of Mexico's July 1 presidential elections. Trump said this week that a new NAFTA could be agreed on quickly as Canada hailed progress on forging new rules for the auto industry, the main standing point in talks to revamp the trade pact. A preliminary agreement could be announced as soon as this month, respondents said. "May 1 seems to be a key date to watch, not only because it signals the expiration of the exemption of Canada and Mexico from the steel and aluminum tariffs announced last month, but also because we would be six months apart from the U.S. midterm election," JPMorgan economist Gabriel Lozano, based in Mexico City, wrote in a report. Auto rules of origin, as well an opt-in mechanism for conflict resolution, are likely to be the main area of change, said Barclays analyst Marco Oviedo in New York. "The rest is likely to amount to marginal updates." A new NAFTA is likely to push the region's automakers to source more parts from North America to create more jobs, but also raise costs for Detroit's main car manufacturers. Trump's negotiators initially demanded North American-built vehicles contain 85 percent content made in NAFTA countries by value, up from 62.5 percent now. But industry officials say that has been cut to about 75 percent, with certain components coming from areas with higher wages. Though a preliminary agreement would leave many details to be ironed out in coming months, it would ease uncertainty that has capped business investment in both Canada and Mexico. "NAFTA will not be gone as a topic of conversation going forward, but even some kind of preliminary announcement is likely to be seen as a strong positive signal and have some effect on growth," said Scotiabank deputy chief economist Brett House in Toronto. The optimism around North American trade negotiations contrasts with escalating tensions between the U.S. and China that have stoked fears of a trade war between the world's top two economies. Trump's administration proposed 25 percent tariffs on some 1,300 Chinese industrial, technology, transport and medical products, driving China to shoot back with a list of similar duties on major American imports including soybeans, planes, cars, beef and chemicals. (Reporting by Bruno Federowski and Miguel Gutierrez; Additional reporting by Reuters polls team in Bengaluru; Editing by Ross Finley and Chizu Nomiyama)Sao Paulo (AFP) - A man was seriously wounded early on Saturday when a gunman opened fire on a vigil in the southern Brazilian city of Curitiba, where former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is serving time for corruption, his party said.

In a statement, the Workers' Party (PT) said a dawn "shooting attack" left one man in serious condition after a bullet struck him in the neck, while a woman was lightly wounded by flying debris.

The vigil outside the federal police building began on April 7, when Lula, who is 72, entered the building to begin a 12-year sentence for corruption.

The PT, which Lula co-founded, has pledged to continue the vigil until his release. Although the protest began outside the police station, it was later ordered to move to a spot some 800 meters (yards) away.

"This is outrageous," tweeted PT president Gleisi Hoffmann, identifying the badly wounded man as an activist from Sao Paulo. "We are expecting tough measures from the security services."

Initial information indicated a passerby fired several shots, some of which struck a chemical toilet; flying debris struck a woman in the shoulder causing minor wounds, a security service statement said.

It said spent shells from a 9mm pistol were found at the scene.

Lula, who served as president from 2003-2010, was jailed earlier this month for accepting a seaside apartment as a bribe. The matter was uncovered during the operation known as "Car Wash," the sprawling Brazilian corruption probe that has engulfed Latin America.

Despite Lula's incarceration, polls show him remaining the front-runner for Brazil's October presidential election.

He claims he was framed to stop him from running, and the PT has insisted it will keep him as its candidate.Pakistani prison authorities have relocated the doctor believed to have helped the CIA hunt down Osama bin Laden, his attorney said on Saturday, speculating it could be a prelude to his release.

The continued imprisonment of Dr. Shakil Afridi has long been a source of tension between Pakistan and the United States. The U.S. cut military aid over accusations Pakistan continues to shelter Taliban militants fighting U.S. and Afghan soldiers across the border in Afghanistan.

Bin Laden

REUTERS/Stringer/Files JIR/DL

Trending: French Tree Planted By Emmanuel Macron, Trump Goes Missing From White House Lawn

A jail official in the northwestern city of Peshawar told Reuters on condition of anonymity that Afridi had been transferred to Adiala prison in Rawalpindi, near the capital Islamabad, but said the reasons were unclear and could simply be security-related.

Afridis lawyer, Qamar Nadeem, confirmed the transfer of his client but said he was not sure where he was now. Judicial officials could not be reached on Saturday, nor could embassy officials for the United States, which has for years called on Pakistan to release Afridi.

Afridi was accused of treason after word spread he had helped the CIA collect genetic samples of the bin Laden family, paving the way for a U.S. Navy Seal raid in 2011 in the town of Abbottabad that killed the al Qaeda leader responsible for plotting the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. Pakistan said the raid was a violation of its sovereignty

Afridi was arrested days after the U.S. operation and charged with aiding terrorists.

Don't miss: Will the Social Media Loopholes Be Closed Before the Midterm Elections? | Opinion

The doctor had taken part in a fake vaccination program set up by the CIA near the Abbottobad compound where bin Laden was in hiding and aimed at pinpointing the militant leader's whereabouts.

Story continues

Afridi was sentenced to 23 years jail for financing terrorism. That conviction was overturned in 2013, but he is still serving time for other terrorism-related convictions, his lawyer said.

He also faced a murder trial related to the death of a patient more than a decade ago.

However, the lawyer said Afridi had recently had his latest sentence reduced to seven years in a clemency action, and had served about that amount of time already.

Most popular: Georgia Doctor Arrested After Allegedly Threatening to Cut Off Employee's Head and 'Roll it Down a Hallway'

So I think he can be released very soon, Nadeem told Reuters.

There were no other immediate indications of any release in the works, however.

The doctor's brother, Jamil Afridi, told Al Jazeera that government officials informed him Afridi "has been moved to a safer place," amid reports that Taliban inmates at the Peshawar jail where he was held posed a threat to his life.

In January 2017, Pakistans then-justice minister said the country would not release Afridi under any U.S. pressure.

Afridi worked against the law and our national interest, and the Pakistan government has repeatedly been telling the United States that under our law he committed a crime and was facing the law, Zahid Hamid was quoted as saying at the time.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekGaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - A Palestinian teenager has died of his wounds a day after being shot by Israeli forces in clashes along the Gaza border, the Hamas-controlled territory's health ministry said Saturday.

Azzam Oweida, 15, was hit in the head during protests in southern Gaza on Friday, the ministry said.

His death brought to four the number of people killed or fatally wounded during a fifth consecutive Friday of protests in which thousands of Gazans have gathered near the heavily-guarded border.

Most protesters were peaceful but some threw stones and burned tyres.

Forty-five Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the start of what organisers have dubbed the Great March of Return on March 30, with more than 1,500 wounded.

No Israelis have been reported hurt.

The Israeli army said around 10,000 people had taken part in "riots" along the border Friday, saying troops responded with "riot dispersal means".

The army has accused Hamas, the Islamist group that runs Gaza and has fought three wars with Israel since 2008, of seeking to use the protests as cover to carry out attacks.

Marchers are demanding the right to return to their homes seized by Israel in 1948.

Israel says that would mean the end of the Jewish state, and accuses Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas of using the protests as a pretext for violence.

The Israeli military said that at one point on Friday protesters had used "explosive devices, hand grenades and firebombs" as they attempted a mass breach of the border fence.

- Air strikes -

In what the military said was a direct response, Israeli warplanes on Friday night attacked "six military targets belonging to the Hamas terror organisation's naval force in the Gaza Strip."

It did not give the location of the targets, but the Hamas interior ministry in Gaza said aircraft -- originally reported as drones -- hit Gaza's main port, damaging two boats but causing no injuries.

Story continues

Eyewitnesses at the port said the two boats were badly damaged. Hamas security forces prevented journalists from reaching the scene.

It is believed to have been the first time Israeli aircraft had targeted boats in Gaza since the 2014 war there between Israel and Hamas.

The protest movement is officially independent but has the backing of Hamas, which has fought three wars with Israel since 2008.

On Friday protesters again gathered at five sites near the border fence, though numbers were down on previous weeks.

Dozens of young men burned tyres and threw stones a few hundred metres from the border, with Israeli soldiers occasionally firing tear gas and live ammunition.

Three men were shot dead, according to Gaza's health ministry, while the Gaza Centre for Media Freedom said three journalists were among those wounded.

Demonstrations are expected to spike again ahead of May 14, when the United States plans to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The decision has infuriated Palestinians, who see the annexed eastern half of the holy city as the capital of their future state.

US President Donald Trump, who tore up decades of policy by recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital, said Friday he "may go" to the city for the embassy opening.

That came as Amnesty International called for an arms embargo against Israel over its use of live fire in Gaza.

Israel has rejected calls for an independent investigation into deaths along Gaza's border. The army says its troops only use live ammunition as a last resort.Vatican City (AFP) - Three victims of a Chilean paedophile priest on Friday began a visit to the Vatican with one having a private audience with Pope Francis.

Jose Andres Murillo was granted the first audience with the pontiff, while his fellow victims will meet with Francis over the weekend.

Murillo, who hoped the audiences would "bear fruit quickly" as to the extent of abuse within the church in Chile.

He added the trio were in the Vatican to speak out in the name of victims of disgraced paedophile priest Fernando Karadima.

"What happens in the future depends on many factors and on the pope" and his reaction to the issue, said James Hamilton, another victim.

"It is not easy to be here, despite receiving a very warm welcome" as the victims seek to highlight "a culture of abuse and concealment among church bishops," said Juan Carlos Cruz, a Chilean victim now based in the United States.

Cruz added the Chileans would name abusers, including a cardinal close to Francis.

The Vatican had said Wednesday that Francis would seek to "ask for their forgiveness, share their hurt and the shame they have suffered."

Francis earlier this month recognised that "serious mistakes" had been made regarding the extent of abuse after reading the conclusions of an investigation.

A former member of the Vatican's child protection panel revealed in February she had sent Pope Francis a written warning about a Chilean bishop accused of covering up for a paedophile priest, contradicting the pontiff's previous remarks on the issue.

During a January trip to Chile, Francis courted controversy by hugging Bishop Juan Barros and indicated he had not heard from victims in the case.

But Irish survivor of abuse Marie Collins, who quit the pope's commission on the protection of minors last year, said she travelled to Rome in 2015 with a letter written by Cruz.

That year, Francis appointed Barros the head of the southern diocese of Osorno despite accusations the prelate covered up for Karadima.

Story continues

In Chile, Francis had indicated that "there is not a single piece of proof" against Barros.

The pontiff later apologised to victims, acknowledging the word "proof" had hurt many people, but said he was "convinced" of the bishop's innocence.

Local Catholic groups in Barros's diocese have since demanded that Francis remove the bishop for his ties to Karadima, who the Vatican in 2011 convicted of abusing children in the 1980s and 1990s.Mike Pompeo and Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang at Easter - The White House

The White House has released pictures of Mike Pompeo meeting Kim Jong-un.

It came as Mr Pompeo, the former CIA Director, was confirmed as Donald Trump's new secretary of state.

Mr Pompeo visited Pyongyang over Easter weekend. He had been supposed to meet North Korean officials, but ended up meeting Kim to lay the foundations for a summit with Mr Trump in June.

Mr Trump said: "He wasn't supposed to meet with Kim Jong-un but he did. They arranged while he was there to say hello."

The president told Fox News that became "more than hello" as the "great meeting" lasted more than an hour, and there were "incredible" pictures.

The pictures released by the White House showed Mr Pompeo and Kim shaking hands.

Mr Pompeo and Kim Credit: Reuters

Mr Pompeo, 54, was sworn in as America's top diplomat on Thursday after a bruising battle with Democrats in the US Senate.

The West Point graduate ultimately won Senate confirmation in a 57-42 vote.

Just over an hour later he was sworn in as secretary of state by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito at the White House.

The State Department immediately announced Mr Pompeo would lead the US delegation to Nato foreign minister talks in Brussels on Friday, and follow that with stops in Israel, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

Mr Trump said: "Having a patriot of Mike's immense talent, energy and intellect leading the Department of State will be an incredible asset for our country at this critical time in history. He will always put the interests of America first. He has my trust. He has my support."BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday told his Turkish counterpart that the United States was seriously concerned over Ankara's decision to buy Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile batteries, which are not compatible with NATO's defenses. "The secretary underscored the seriousness of US concerns ... if they (Turkey) go ahead," a senior U.S. official said after a meeting between Pompeo and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on the sidelines of a NATO foreign ministers session. "He asked Cavusoglu to closely consider NATO interoperable systems," the official added. Hours after being confirmed as U.S. President Donald Trump's new secretary of state, Pompeo headed to Brussels to participate in the NATO meetings, which have focused on Russian aggression and ways to strengthen the alliance. During the meeting Pompeo also raised concerns about the detention of Pastor Andrew Brunson, who has been in jail since December 2016, and other Americans detained by Turkey. Turkey signed an agreement with Russia for S-400 missiles, reportedly worth $2.5 billion, in late December as part of Ankara's plans to boost its defense capabilities amid threats from Kurdish and Islamist militants at home and conflicts across its borders in Syria and Iraq. Cavusoglu told Turkish broadcasters after the meeting that the S-400 deal was completed but that Turkey would be open to purchasing other defense systems from its allies. We have completed the S-400 process. That is a done deal," he said. "But we need more air defense. We can discuss what we can do for further purchases. The system is incompatible with the alliance's systems, and their purchase by Turkey has unnerved NATO member countries, which are already wary of Moscow's military presence in the Middle East. NATO officials have warned Turkey about unspecified consequences of purchasing the S-400, but Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has said ties with NATO remain strong. On Thursday, three U.S. senators introduced a measure to block the transfer of Lockheed Martin's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to Turkey, over what they said was Erdogan's "path of reckless governance and disregard for the rule of law." Turkey plans to buy more than 100 of the F-35 aircraft. The bill would restrict the transfer of F-35s to Turkey and limit Ankara from receiving intellectual property or technical data needed to maintain and support the fighters. Cavusoglu said Turkey would not be deterred by possible sanctions. "The 'I will impose sanctions if you buy' approach will not affect Turkey. Turkey will not accept this. If we are going to discuss what we can do together in the future, we are in." (Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Additional reporting by Ali Kucukgocmen and Ezgi Erkoyun in Istanbul; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Richard Balmforth)Vatican City (AFP) - Pope Francis said Saturday he was "deeply moved" by the news that terminally-ill British toddler Alfie Evans had died after his parents lost a legal battle to seek medical help in Italy.

"I am deeply moved by the death of little Alfie. Today I pray especially for his parents, as God the Father receives him in his tender embrace," the pontiff wrote on his Twitter account.

Evans died on Saturday after doctors withdrew life support.

The parents had fought to take their son, who had a degenerative condition that caused irreversible brain damage, out of a hospital in Liverpool in northwest England to a clinic in Rome but lost a final court appeal on Wednesday.

Doctors had already removed life support on Monday after the parents lost a previous appeal to keep him alive.

Pope Francis intervened several times in the case that touched hearts around the world and prompted vigils in Italy and Poland.

Earlier this week the pontiff wrote on Twitter that he hoped the parents' "desire to seek new forms of treatment may be granted".

"The only master of life, from the beginning to its natural end, is God, and our duty is to do everything to protect life," he said.

Thomas Evans had also met with the pope in the Vatican last week and asked him to "save our son".For more than four decades, in business and now in politics, Donald Trump has thrived on spontaneity and disorder. But the perils of the Presidents improvisational style were on display Thursday, when the nomination of his White House doctor to run the Veterans Affairs Administration imploded and a rambling interview backfired with Trumps acknowledgement that his longtime personal lawyer Michael Cohen had represented him in this crazy Stormy Daniels deal.

The failure of Dr. Ronny Jacksons VA nomination, and Trumps haphazard handling of itfrom the announcement-by-tweet to the venting Fox & Friends interviewshow a President becoming unbound from the traditional confines of the office. The guard rails that Chief of Staff John Kelly brought to the White House last summer appear to have gotten loose, and increasingly Trump is making decisions without vetting or wide consultation with staff.

Trump is burning up political capital in the process. The White House is historically designed in order to limit the risk of embarrassment, says Timothy Naftali, a presidential historian at New York University. If he would use his staff better, he wouldnt find himself in these embarrassing positions.

The latest chapter came to a close on the morning of April 26, when Jackson withdrew his nomination to head the VA amid allegations of professional misconduct, almost four weeks to the day since Trump announced his nomination on Twitter. Only a tight circle of advisors had known Jacksons name was in the running to replace the beleaguered David Shulkin, and senior White House officials were caught off guard by the sudden announcement. Given his lack of experience leading a massive organization like the VA, Jacksons nomination was going to require carefully orchestrated outreach on Capitol Hill and a thorough analysis of his track record.

It didnt happen. In the intervening weeks, Democrats on the Hill smelled blood and launched an opposition research campaign that included anonymous attacks from former staff. (Jackson called the allegations, which include intoxication on the job and loose distribution of medication, completely false and fabricated.)

Story continues

Jackson is hardly the only Cabinet-level official or nominee to create an embarrassing spectacle in this young presidency. Andy Puzder withdrew from consideration to become Labor Secretary amid abuse allegations, while Tom Price was fired as Secretary of Health and Human Services over his use of taxpayer-funded charter flights. Multiple other officials remain in place but are weathering scandals of their own, including Scott Pruitt at the Environmental Protection Agency and Ben Carson at Housing and Urban Development.

The same morning Jackson withdrew his name, Trump gave a meandering telephone interview to Fox & Friendsan episode reminiscent of his campaign, and something his aides been trying to avoid for several months. He suggested, seemingly off-the-cuff, that his Administration release photos from now-Secretary of State Mike Pompeos trip to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un over Easter weekend. We have incredible pictures of the two talking and meeting which Id love to release, Trump said on the show. If we can Ill do that, actually. Its not a bad idea.

Less than twelve hours later, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders tweeted out the photos.

Great to have Secretary Pompeo confirmed. He will do an excellent job helping @POTUS lead our efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula. (photos from previously confirmed Easter weekend trip) pic.twitter.com/o4RNDKVmah  Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) April 26, 2018

But Trump may have inadvertently jammed himself by freelancing. His comments about lawyer Cohen on Fox are already being used by federal prosecutors in a court filing. Trump said Cohen handled just a tiny, tiny little fraction of his overall legal work, which is the exact argument the government is trying to advance in court to show that much of the documents retrieved from Cohens office dont deserve to be protected by attorney-client privilege, Vox reports.

Trumps leadership style hasnt changed since he ran the Trump Organization, says Naftali: He still believes he can wake up in the morning and say, Lets do this. When he was running his real-estate businesses, Trump would often decide to tear up his schedule because of something he saw on the news or read in the paper. He brought that habit to the White House, bucking the traditional constraints of the office.

This willingness to throw out conventional thinking, making decisions quickly and without broad discussion, is one of the things that attracted many supporters to him in the first place. Thats exactly what we were hoping for when he was a candidate  someone who acts less like a politician and more like a businessman, someone who sees the field and makes a decision, says Eric Bolling, a former Fox news anchor who regularly speaks to Trump. Bolling said Trumps tweets and unpredictable comments keep foreign leaders off guard and credits Trumps brash style for a potential breakthrough with North Korea and getting NATO allies to increase military spending.

World leaders see value in Trumps style, as well. On April 2, the President of Lithuania, Dalia Grybauskait?, visited the White House with the leaders of Baltic neighbors Estonia and Lativia and credited Trump for putting pressure on NATO allies to invest more in their military and showing more decisive leadership. Standing alongside Trump during a press conference in the White Houses East Room, Grybauskait? said she had joked with him that we need leadership sometimes for decision-making, even unpredictable leadership, to make enough leverage and pressure for the rivals to believe that we can make a decision.

She added: And thats, we think, this kind of leadership in President Trump.

Trump isnt the first president to make decisions spontaneously. President George H. W. Bush surprised his staff in 1990 when he made a memorable declaration to reporters on the South Lawn of the White House: This will not stand, this aggression against Kuwait. There was still ongoing debate within his administration over how to react to Saddam Husseins invasion of Kuwait, and Bushs words set the stage for the U.S. invasion of Kuwait to remove Saddams forces. President Richard Nixon unexpectedly created what is now a long-standing U.S. policy of not negotiating with terrorists; faced with questions from reporters about two U.S. diplomats and three others held hostage in Sudan in 1973, he said the U.S. will not pay blackmail. Nixons gut instinct set into motion a foreign-policy doctrine that has survived ever since.

But in previous administrations, these types of incidents were rare. This president is interacting on an hourly basis and there is no filter, Naftali says. There are no staffers between his impulses and his Twitter finger.

Still, there are those who love Trump for precisely his willingness to upend conventions. And its clear that the President feels increasingly empowered to do it. As Kanye Westwho says he relates to Trumps dragon energymight say: I no longer have a manager. I cant be managed.New York (AFP) - US television news giant NBC came under growing pressure Friday to take tougher action against sexual harassment after another former star was accused of inappropriate conduct by former colleagues.

Linda Vester -- a war correspondent for the network in the 1990s, who today runs a website for mothers -- came forward to accuse legendary newsman 78-year-old Tom Brokaw, who hosted "NBC Nightly News" for 22 years.

She told The Washington Post and Variety magazine that Brokaw, 26 years her elder, forcibly tried to kiss her twice in 1994 and 1995, while he was NBC's star anchor.

Brokaw says only that he met Vester twice, "both at her request" because she wanted career advice.

"The meetings were brief, cordial and appropriate, and despite Linda's allegations, I made no romantic overtures towards her at that time or any other," he said in a statement.

Another woman, a 24-year-old production assistant at the time, has also accused Brokaw of sexual harassment dating back to the same period, allegations he also denied.

US television networks have been rocked by a series of accusations as the United States grapples with the cultural shift of the #MeToo movement.

NBC sacked Matt Lauer, the host of its flagship "Today" program last November. CBS News fired Charlie Rose a few days earlier and Fox News dropped Bill O'Reilly in 2017.

Lauer was the biggest media scalp so far in the US watershed on sexual misconduct, and criticism has mounted against NBC for allegedly not doing enough to counter what some have called a culture of harassment.

"I am speaking out now because NBC has failed to hire outside counsel to investigate a genuine, long-standing problem of sexual misconduct in the news division," Vester was quoted as saying by The Washington Post.The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge showing their third child to the world outside the Lindo Wing on Monday - WireImage

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have named their new baby Prince Louis Arthur Charles.

The names honour both the Prince's grandfather, Prince Charles, and Louis Mountbatten, the Duke of Edinburgh's mentor who was killed by an IRA bomb in 1979.

Prince George and Prince William both have Louis as middle names, with the announcement confounding bookies and experts who had believed it would not be repeated for the third baby Cambridge.

Arthur had been the favourite predicted first name, eventually announced as a middle name. It is also one of the Duke of Cambridge's own middle names.

Kensington Palace said: "The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are delighted to announce that they have named their son Louis Arthur Charles.

"The baby will be known as His Royal Highness Prince Louis of Cambridge."

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge showing their third child to the world outside the Lindo Wing on Monday Credit: Karwai Tang /WireImage

The name is a significant tribute to the Royal Family, with the newborn Prince sharing names in common with his brother Prince George Alexander Louis, his father Prince William Arthur Philip Louis, and his grandfather Prince Charles Philip Arthur George.

Kensington Palace announced the name of the Royal couple's third child, who was born on Monday at 11.01am weighing 8lb 7oz.

The Duke and Duchess will have shared the name with the Queen and the rest of their family before making it public.

The announcement had been eagerly anticipated since the couple showed off their new son to the world on the steps of the exclusive maternity unit, the Lindo Wing, on Monday evening.

Popularity of the boys' name Louis since 1904

Since then, the Duke and Duchess have been kept busy settling in to life as a family of five at Kensington Palace.

Born fifth in line, the baby is the Queen and Philip's sixth great-grandchild and Kensington Palace said the couple, along with the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall, Prince Harry, and the Middletons, were delighted with the news of the new arrival.

Story continues

Royal baby name popularity interactive

Prince William: 'Sleeping's going reasonably well so far, so he's behaving himself'

The Duke of Cambridge joined his brother Prince Harry and soon-to-be sister-in-law Meghan Markle at Westminster Abbey for an Anzac Day service on Wednesday afternoon.

But the topic of conversation quickly turned to the new Prince.

It's a boy Celebrating the Royal baby - in pictures

Asked how the Duchess and the baby were doing, Prince William said: "They're very well thanks."

The now father of three said they are "in good form, luckily", and added: "Sleeping's going reasonably well so far, so he's behaving himself which is good news."

Prince William greets his brother Harry's fiancee Meghan Markle as they arrive for an Anzac Day service at Westminster Abbey Credit: HANNAH MCKAY /Reuters

'I don't know how I'll keep up with them', proud Prince of Wales jokes

A delighted Prince of Wales welcomed the birth of his third grandchild, saying it was a great joy.

Speaking for himself and the Duchess of Cornwall, presumably with a twinkle in his eye, he said: We are both so pleased at the news.

It is a great joy to have another grandchild, the only trouble is I dont know how I am going to keep up with them.

The Prince is now a grandfather to Prince George, four, Princess Charlotte, who will turn three on May 2, and the baby boy.

The Prince of Wales already has two grandchildren in Prince George and Princess Charlotte, pictured arriving at the Lindo Wing Credit: DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS /AFP

The Duchess of Cornwall also has five grandchildren who are regular visitors to their home, with the Prince said to delight in reading the youngsters stories.

Royal Baby | Read more

The Princes words chimed perfectly with those of his son the Duke, who had held up three fingers - one for each of his children - when departing from hospital and laughed that he had thrice the worry now.

The Duke of Cambridge holds up three fingers as he tells the media he has 'thrice the worry now' as he leaves the Lindo Wing Credit: BEN STANSALL /AFP

New baby Louis evokes memories of Charles' beloved uncle murdered by IRA

Louis was the first name of the Prince of Wales' beloved great-uncle Earl Mountbatten of Burma.

Charles will be touched that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge decided to pay tribute to Lord Mountbatten, who was murdered by the IRA in 1979, by naming their son Prince Louis.

The name, also one of Prince George's middle names, is French and German in origin and means "renowned warrior".

Louis was the 71st most popular name in England and Wales, according to the latest available figures from the Office for National Statistics.

In 2016, just 911 boys were given the name Louis in England and Wales.

It was more popular in the early 2000s when it ranked around 39th, but was not popular throughout the 20th century.

Louis has been the name of many rulers across the world, including 18 kings of France.

Lord Louis Mountbatten pictured in 1977, two years before he was murdered by the IRA Credit: PA

Famous people named Louis include pop star Louis Tomlinson from One Direction and jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong.

Lord Louis Mountbatten was also the Duke of Edinburgh's uncle and the brother of Philip's mother Princess Alice.

He was the last British Viceroy of India before independence in 1947.

He was very close to Charles but Uncle Dickie, as he was known in the family, was assassinated by the IRA in August 1979.

His boat was blown up on a fishing trip off the coast of County Sligo in the Republic of Ireland.

Meeting the family: Auntie Pippa one first visitors at Kensington Palace

Prince George and Princess Charlotte had already been introduced to the new baby at St Marys Hospital and were likely being eased into their new roles as big brother and middle sister in their own home on Tuesday.

Pippa Matthews, the first visitor seen driving into the Palace, spent several hours with her sister, the Duchess, and infant nephew before being photographed driving away.

Pippa Middleton pictured leaving Kensington Palace on Tuesday afternoon Credit: Paul Grover for The Telegraph

Parents Carole and Michael Middleton were unlikely to have been far away, famously supportive of the Duke and Duchess and their growing brood.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, too, could surely not have kept away from joining the first eager visitors, living just next door and both adoring children.

The Prince once called George and Charlotte the most amazing things ever.

The Queen, who was in Windsor, is unlikely to meet her sixth great-grandchild imminently, with further duties at the castle on Wednesday, while the Duke of Edinburgh is recuperating privately from a hip replacement operation.

The Queen horse riding at Windsor on Monday before the latest Royal baby was born Credit: Kelvin Bruce

The Prince of Wales, who was on Tuesday travelling to France in time for a dawn service to commemorate the Battle of Villers-Bretonneux on Anzac Day, will pay his first visit to hold the baby on his return from duty.

Other family members earlier remained tight-lipped about the baby's name. The Countess of Wessex, who was conducting a string of engagements near Truro, Cornwall, said during a visit to Tregolls School on Tuesday: Im thrilled for them all, its lovely - really good news.

Asked about the babys name, she added tactfully: The jurys out on that one. I dont know, were all just going to have to wait and see.

Sophie, Countess of Wessex meets pupils during a visit to a school in Truro on Tuesday Credit: Cornwall Live / SWNS.com

Video: New Prince of Cambridge's first public outing

Duke and Duchess settle into life as family of five

As the outside world clamoured for details, the Duke and Duchess appeared to simply get on with life: with two older children, even with the help of a nanny, they could hardly do less.

The Duke, sporting a light stubble, was seen driving out of Kensington Palace on Tuesday afternoon, on an unidentified errand.

Prince William leaves Kensington Palace by car on Tuesday afternoon Credit: Jack Taylor /Getty

Abbey bells and gun salutes mark Royal birth

Official celebrations were already under way, with the bells of Westminster Abbey ringing out from 1pm and gun salutes fired in London at 2pm.

The soldiers, horses and Guns of The King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery rode out from Wellington Barracks into Hyde Park for a 41 round salute, and the Honourable Artillery Company (HAC), the City of London's Army Reserve regiment, fired a 62-round Gun Salute from The Tower of London.

Video: Moment royal birth was marked by gun salutes

'Highlight of my career!' The young Pc who took centre stage at baby's first public outing

The baby joy extended not just to the Royal Family and avid monarchists.

A young Metropolitan Police constable, Tyler O'Hare, who took centre stage during the Royal baby's first public appearance outside the Lindo Wing was also celebrating.

Sharing pictures of himself sternly keeping them safe by standing guard, he wrote on Twitter: An honour and utter privilege to have been the Door Officer for the birth of Their Royal Highnesses new baby boy!

Today was an amazing day and a highlight of my career!

The Royal couple introduced two new members to the family today....



An honour and utter privilege to have been the Door Officer for the birth of Their Royal Highnesses new baby boy! Today was an amazing day and a highlight of my career! #RoyalBaby3#RoyalBaby3#RoyalBabypic.twitter.com/md6kMw3WSs  PC Tyler O'Hare (@TylerOHare) April 23, 2018

Royal Collection releases official souvenirs before baby's name announced

The official commemorative souvenirs marking the birth of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's baby son have gone on sale - before the new prince's name had been announced.

Featuring a lion cub and unicorn inspired by the Royal Arms, the Royal Collection china is decorated with gold ribbons, silver pompoms and a coronet-inspired pattern.

The pieces bear the words "Welcome to our new royal baby" and display William and Kate's coronet.

The range of official commemorative chinaware to celebrate the prince's birth Credit: Royal Collection Trust

The official range includes a pillbox costing 35, a tankard for 39 and a plate priced at 49.

Each item in the range is gilded with 22-carat gold and made in Stoke-on-Trent using traditional methods.

There is also a pram-shaped woven decoration, made with glistening threads, delicate pearl detail, and embroidered on the back with "Royal Baby 2018", for 14.95.London (AFP) - Britain's Prince William and his wife Kate have named their baby son Louis Arthur Charles, Kensington Palace announced on Friday.

"The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are delighted to announce that they have named their son Louis Arthur Charles," said a palace statement.

"The baby will be known as His Royal Highness Prince Louis of Cambridge."

The name pays tribute to William's great-great uncle Louis Mountbatten, who was killed by the IRA in 1979, while Charles is the name of William's father.

Arthur had been the bookmakers' favourite for the couple's third child.

Louis is currently the 71st most popular name for a baby boy in England and Wales.

He weighed eight pounds and seven ounces (3.8 kilogrammes) when he was born at 11:01 am (1001 GMT) on Monday with William, the Duke of Cambridge, present for the birth.

The couple stepped out of St. Mary's Hospital in central London to cheers from a crowd of supporters and global media outlets gathered outside.

Their two other children -- Prince George, aged four, and two-year-old Princess Charlotte -- had met the latest addition to the family earlier in the afternoon, before returning home to Kensington Palace.

- Sixth great-grandchild -

Louis is a sixth great-grandchild for Queen Elizabeth, who turned 92 on Saturday, and her husband Prince Philip.

He will hold the title of prince after the Queen changed the rules in 2012 to ensure that all of William's children would be entitled to the style, not just his eldest son.

Prince Louis is also the first male royal who will not overtake his sister in the line of succession after a reform that ends male primogeniture.

Louis Mountbatten was the beloved great-uncle of Prince Charles, and the uncle of the Duke of Edinburgh.

Known to Charles as "Uncle Dickie", Mountbatten was the last British Viceroy of India before independence in 1947.

He was assassinated by Irish republicans when his boat was blown up on a fishing trip off the coast of County Sligo in the Republic of Ireland.

Story continues

Louis is also a middle name of Prince George.

William, who is destined to become king after Charles, met Kate at St Andrews University in Scotland.

They tied the knot at Westminster Abbey in London on April 29, 2011, in a ceremony watched by up to two billion people worldwide, helping to breathe new life into Britain's monarchy after years of crisis.

The birth kicks off a busy summer of royal celebrations, with Prince Harry set to marry his US actress wife Meghan Markle on May 19.

William joked on Thursday that "revenge will be sweet" after being named as best man for the occasion, a role reversal of the 2011 wedding.

The Sun newspaper has reported that Kate's sister Pippa Middleton, 34, is pregnant with her first child, while William's cousin Zara is set to give birth towards the end of the summer.Japanese airline ANA on Friday posted record profits, while the bottom line worsened for rival JAL, and both carriers said they expected higher costs to eat into this year's earnings.

ANA Holdings reported its largest-ever net profit of 143.9 billion yen ($1.3 billion) for the year that ended in March, up 45.6 percent from the previous year.

It was the third consecutive year that ANA has posted record profits.

Strong earnings were "underpinned by robust demand, strong performance in international passenger services and international cargo services, and the addition of revenue from (budget carrier) Peach Aviation Ltd," ANA Holdings said in a statement.

Operating profit rose 13.0 percent to 164.5 billion yen as revenue grew 11.7 percent to 1.97 trillion yen.

For the current year to March 2019, however, ANA expects its net profit to slip 29 percent to 102 billion yen, and it forecast operating profit would stay almost flat at 165 billion yen, missing the lowest analyst estimate of 167 billion yen in a Bloomberg survey.

Revenue was projected to edge up three percent to two trillion yen.

But an ANA spokeswoman put a bullish spin on the forecast, dismissing views that the company's earnings are in descent.

The company is "stepping up investment for the future while maintaining a high level of profit," she said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

She said the firm was investing more in maintenance and safety measures, developing human resources, and introducing new aircraft.

Japan Airlines (JAL) meanwhile said net profit fell 17.5 percent to 135.4 billion yen, while sales rose 7.3 percent to 1.38 trillion yen in the latest year.

Net profit is forecast to fall nearly 19 percent to 110 billion yen for the current year despite a five percent increase in revenue to 1.46 trillion yen.

Fuel costs are likely to rise on higher oil prices while expenses related to newly introduced aircraft weigh, JAL said.Lima (AFP) - Bureaucratic delays on Friday held up the release from preventative detention of Peruvian ex-president Ollanta Humala and his wife, one day after the Constitutional Court said they can remain free while they await their corruption trial.

Humala, Peru's president from 2011 to 2016, protested via Twitter. Starting Friday he said that he and his wife Nadine Herrera were being "illegally deprived of our freedom", he wrote.

"We should already be with our children," he wrote, adding that Thursday's court ruling "must be complied with immediately, not in four days."

Humala and his wife will probably remain in custody until Monday, a lawyer for the couple earlier told AFP.

"This is absurd," said attorney Wilfredo Pedraza, noting that the court ruling "orders immediate freedom" for both of his clients.

The pair have been in prison since July awaiting trial on charges of money laundering. They allegedly received millions of dollars in illegal campaign donations from Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht ahead of the 2011 election.

In February 2017, Jorge Barata, Odebrecht's former Peru chief, told prosecutors he gave Humala $3 million in cash at the request of former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who was himself jailed for corruption earlier this month.

Several months later, Peruvian judge Richard Concepcion Carhuancho ordered that the couple be held in pre-trial detention on grounds there was a "high probability" they would try to evade justice.

Humala is being held at a police station east of Lima, while his wife is being held at the women's prison south of the capital.

Humala is one of four former Peruvian heads of state caught up in the vast Odebrecht corruption scandal that has engulfed Latin America -- although he is the only one who had been jailed so far.

The other three also implicated in the scandal are Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (2016-2018), Alan Garcia (2006-2011), and Alejandro Toledo (2001-2006), who is currently in the United States fighting off Peruvian efforts to have him extradited.

Also under investigation for receiving illegal Odebrecht money: top opposition leader Keiko Fujimori, daughter of ex-president Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000) and the key player in the political power move that ousted Kuczynski from office.Prince Louis, left and his namesake, Lord Mountbatten (PA/REX)

The name of the new prince has finally been revealed  and theres a touching story behind it.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have paid tribute to Prince Charles beloved great-uncle Lord Mountbatten, by naming their son Louis.

Also known as Earl Mountbatten of Burma, he was murdered by the IRA in 1979.

Uncle Dickie, as he was known in the family, was assassinated by the IRA in August 1979 (PA)

The name, also one of Prince Georges middle names, is French and German in origin and means renowned warrior.

Louis is the 71st most popular boys name in England and Wales, according to the latest available figures from the Office for National Statistics.

In 2016, just 911 boys were given the name Louis in England and Wales. It was more popular in the early 2000s when it ranked around 39th.



The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge pictured leaving the Lindo wing at St Marys Hospital with Prince Louis on Monday (AP)

Pronounced Lou-ee, rather than Lew-is, it has been the name of many rulers across the world, including 18 kings of France.

Famous people named Louis include former One Direction star Louis Tomlinson and jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong.

MORE: Nightmare neighbour given restraining order after shouting abuse at elderly couple over their daughters infertility

MORE: Man run over 300 times after Underground staff mistook body on tracks for fox

Lord Louis Mountbatten was the brother of Prince Philips mother Princess Alice (PA)

Lord Louis Mountbatten was also the Duke of Edinburghs uncle and the brother of Philips mother Princess Alice. He was the last British Viceroy of India before independence in 1947.

He was very close to Charles but Uncle Dickie, as he was known in the family, was assassinated by the IRA in August 1979.

His boat was blown up on a fishing trip off the coast of County Sligo in the Republic of Ireland.

Lord Mountbatten pictured in May 1979 (REX)

A bronze statue of Lord Mountbatten is located on Mountbatten Green, off Horse Guards Road, Whitehall (PA)

Arthur, Prince Louis second name, evokes the legend of King Arthur, the mythical leader of the knights of the Round Table.

Arthur has been a popular middle name for royal born sons during the Windsor era  but not a common first name.

One of Charles middle names, it is also one of Williams and was a middle name of the Queens father, George VI.

The royal couple also paid tribute to Williams father, naming their second son Louis Arthur Charles (AP)

The Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Louis (PA)

The babys third name Charles, of course, pays tribute to Williams father and the babys grandfather the Prince of Wales.

Its meaning is man and it is derived from the German name Karl.

It is considered an unlucky royal name for a king as Charles I was executed and Charles IIs reign featured the plague and the Great Fire of London.Bucharest (AFP) - Romania's President Klaus Iohannis called Friday for the resignation of Prime Minister Viorica Dancila amid a row sparked by the possible move of the country's embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

"Mrs Dancila is not up to the job of prime minister of Romania and as a result the government is becoming a liability for Romania. That is why I am publicly calling for Mrs Dancila's resignation," Iohannis said in a short statement.

Iohannis pointed to a secret memorandum adopted by the government last week with the aim of moving the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

He is opposed to the move and says he was not informed beforehand.

"This was a big error, because in foreign policy, if we're talking about secret documents, the president should have been consulted," Iohannis said.

Dancila, however, said she "categorically" rejected the president's call for her to step down and told Romanian television there was "no reason to do so."

She added that moves to have her leave her post "risk weakening Romania's international standing."

Iohannis has no constitutional power to sack the prime minister, who would have to be removed by parliament.

Dancila is the third prime minister in less than a year after power struggles within the ruling Social Democrat party (PSD) saw her two predecessors ousted.

The spat over the embassy is the latest in a serious of clashes between Iohannis, who is from the centre-right, and the left-wing government.

If the embassy move went ahead, Romania would be the first EU country to follow the lead of US President Donald Trump, who in December controversially recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

However, on a two-day visit to Israel this week following the surprise embassy announcement, Dancila said that at this stage she did not have "support of all parties as we would wish" to carry out the move.The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge Prince William and Kate Middleton have named their newborn son Prince Louis Arthur Charles, Kensington Palace announced on Friday, five days after their third child was born.

His Royal Highness Prince Louis of Cambridge came as something of a surprise to observers, as Louis had not been a favorite among bookmakers, despite the names resonance for the royal family. (Prince Charles great-uncle Lord Mountbatten was named Louis, and it pops up a few other times in the royal family tree, too.) The significance of Charles is clear, and Arthur  the name that had been a favorite  was a middle name of Queen Elizabeths late father King George VI.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are delighted to announce that they have named their son Louis Arthur Charles.



The baby will be known as His Royal Highness Prince Louis of Cambridge. pic.twitter.com/4DUwsLv5JQ  Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) April 27, 2018

But outside of the royal family, the name Arthur is likely to call a different bit of British history to mind: the story of King Arthur  even though experts say theres no evidence of any actual historical king behind the famous Arthurian legends of the sword in the stone and the Knights of the Round Table.

When King Arthur: Legend of the Sword hit theaters last year, experts on Arthurian legend told TIME that if an Arthur-type figure is based on any real historical leader, the inspiration would have probably come from a 5th or 6th century ruler. Some think the ruler could have been Riothamus (an honorific for supreme king) because he also crossed the English Channel to fight in France, as Arthur does in early texts. The Anglo-Saxons had invaded Britain, so perhaps people clung to stories about a benevolent king and military leader for reassurance.

Story continues

As Dorsey Armstrong, professor of Medieval Literature at Purdue University and the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Arthuriana, put it, No one was keeping good records because they were trying to survive.

Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter

However, centuries passed before the first biographies of King Arthur would emerge. It was during the era of courtly love and chivalry of the 12th century that books such as History of the Kings of Britain, written in 1136 in Latin by Geoffrey of Monmouth and billed as a translation of a lost book on British kings, appeared. The famous image of Arthur pulling a sword out of a stone comes from Thomas Malorys 15th century Le Morte dArthur.

The stories took off from there, thanks in part to their appeal among influential women in the courts of England and France.

Needless to say the newest member of the royal family wont have the mysterious past that King Arthur has because social media will track his every move as much as possible, but time will tell if he will do something that will inspire tall tales.Royal family fans and followers have been celebrating the announcement of Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridges new royal babys name  Prince Louis Arthur Charles  after five days of anticipation.

Kensington Palace announced on Twitter Friday that the baby son of Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, is to be called His Royal Highness Prince Louis of Cambridge.

But what is slightly less cheerful is the tragic backstory behind baby Louis name. It is likely that the infants name choice was influenced by Lord Mountbatten, Prince Charles great-uncle who was assassinated by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in 1979.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are delighted to announce that they have named their son Louis Arthur Charles.



The baby will be known as His Royal Highness Prince Louis of Cambridge. pic.twitter.com/4DUwsLv5JQ  Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) April 27, 2018

Lord Mountbatten, whose great-grandmother was Queen Victoria, was a distinguished British Royal Navy officer who fought at sea in World War One and World War Two. He was captaining the destroyer flotilla H.M.S. Kelly when it was torpedoed off the German coast and then sunk by German dive bombers in 1941, killing half the crew. Lord Mountbatten also graced the cover of TIME magazine in 1942.

The following year, he came under fire for leading the disastrous commando raid on Dieppe in northern France, who contributed to his reputation of being a reckless leader. However, he was still hand-picked by wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill as a integral planner for the bold and generally highly-regarded D-day invasion of June 1944.

Lord Mountbatten died aged 79 when the IRA detonated a bomb on board his boat in August 1979. Three others died in the attack, including his 14-year-old grandson Nicholas Knatchbull.

Story continues

Whether commanding a destroyer in the thick of battle in World War II or, later, presiding over Indias independence in the first shedding of empire, Mountbatten accumulated public triumphs with a seemingly magical ease, TIME wrote of the late Navy officer in his obituary.

Lord Mountbatten was recently brought to life in the Netflix television series The Crown, in which he was portrayed by the British actor Greg Wise, best known for movies including Sense and Sensibility, Effie Grey and Johnny English.

The name Louis has other royal connections. Prince Philip, the newborns great-grandfather, grandfather was Prince Louis of Battenberg. Louis is also the middle name of Prince George and Prince William. However, despite the names royal significance, it was given odds of just 33/1 on Monday following the babys birth.Louis was not the odds-on favorite for the royal babys name; in fact, bookies had it at 33 to 1, and its only the 71st most popular boy name in England. But the newly-named Prince Louis Arthur Charles of Cambridge already has at least one very famous namesake whos more than ready to be his friend and teach him the ways of the name of Louis.

Its Louis Tomlinson, fellow Brit and member of the superstar boy band One Direction. Young Louis welcome to the world, Tomlinson tweeted out gamely on Friday following the big name reveal. Ill take you under my wing lad. The Adidas tracksuit is in the post! (Tomlinsons signature look is, naturally, that Adidas tracksuit.) While One Direction is currently on hiatus, Tomlinson has released a few independent tracks in his solo career so far and is himself father to a two-year-old son, Freddie Reign.

Young Louis welcome to the world. Ill take you under my wing lad. The Adidas tracksuit is in the post!  Louis Tomlinson (@Louis_Tomlinson) April 27, 2018

While royal experts note that Prince William and Kate Middleton probably were inspired to name their new son after Louis Mountbatten, a lord who was Prince Charless great-uncle, Tomlinsons fans are pretty sure that they might just be secret One Direction fans after all.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are delighted to announce that they have named their son Louis Arthur Charles. I knew they were big One Direction fans!  Tony Shepherd (@tonysheps) April 27, 2018

Named after Louis from One Direction, I assume? https://t.co/sUhv2L5R3I  Sian (@sianreed93) April 27, 2018

There's a harry and now there's a Louis. ONE DIRECTION REUNION ????????????????  maya (@mssweetcreature) April 27, 2018

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, now its your move. Is a Prince Niall or Prince Liam in our future, perhaps?The Hague (AFP) - Russia came under fire Thursday accused of organising an "obscene masquerade" by bringing a group of Syrians to the OPCW to back claims that there was no chemical attack on Douma.

The group, including a young boy named Hassan Diab, testified to members of the global chemical arms watchdog in The Hague that the April 7 incident in the town had been staged.

Experts from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) are currently in Syria to probe the alleged chlorine or sarin gas attack on Douma.

The mission was launched after gruesome footage from the apparent attack horrified the world and prompted unprecedented Western strikes on Syrian military installations.

But Syria and Russia have accused Syrian volunteer rescue workers, known as the White Helmets, of staging the video footage at the behest of the United States and its allies.

In a mounting propaganda campaign, Hassan, who is seen in the footage being hosed down and shivering, told a press conference in a hotel in The Hague that he didn't know why people began pouring water on him in the hospital.

He was among a dozen people presented as victims or doctors or hospital workers, who all told similar stories -- that someone had shouted out "chemical weapons" as hospital staff were treating injured people from a missile bombardment and panic spread.

"Unknown people started creating chaos, and pouring water on people. We were specialists and we could see there were no symptoms of the use of chemical weapons," said physician Khalil, who said he was on duty in the emergency care unit.

He said "patients with choking symptoms" had begun coming to the hospital about 7:00pm, but it "was the result of people breathing in dust and smoke" from the bombardment.

Everyone was treated and sent home, Khalil added, denying reports from the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) and the White Helmets who jointly said dozens of people had died.

Story continues

Britain boycotted the group's earlier briefing at the OPCW, saying it was a stunt, in a move followed by France, the United States and EU countries.

"The OPCW is not a theatre. Russia's decision to misuse it is yet another Russian attempt to undermine the OPCW's work," said British ambassador to the OPCW Peter Wilson in a statement.

French ambassador Philippe Lalliot also denounced the briefing as an "obscene masquerade".

"This masquerade only betrays the huge nervousness of those who organised it and who have the most to fear from the OPCW investigation," Lalliot said.

"No-one is fooled. The truth will come out."

- 'We saw no poison' -

Hassan, who was said to be 11 years old, told dozens of journalists: "We were in the basement. We heard cries on the street that we should go to the hospital. We got scared."

"We went to the hospital through the tunnel. They started pouring water on me in the hospital I don't know why."

His father, Omar Diab, said: "The children were taken without explanation. After that we learnt it was fake. We never saw any poison or chemical agents. Neither I nor my family."

The OPCW has also criticised the meeting in its headquarters, saying it had recommended to Russia that it should wait until its inspectors had completed their work.

The White Helmets, a humanitarian organisation made up of some 3,000 volunteers, has regularly been the target of disinformation campaigns by the Syrian regime which has labelled them "terrorists".Moscow (AFP) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Saturday hosted his Iranian and Turkey counterparts for talks on Syria in the wake of an alleged chemical attack that has exposed differences between the three powers.

The three nations have been attempting to find a political solution to the Syrian conflict at talks that started last year in Astana, Kazakhstan, in competition with the US and UN-backed Geneva initiative.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held separate bilateral talks with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu and then Iran's Mohammad Javad Zarif, who stressed the warmth of their relationship in opening comments. These were to be followed by three-sided talks.

Meeting his Turkish counterpart, the Russian diplomat stressed the "great importance" both Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attach to improving relations.

Cavusoglu, in translated comments, praised the "atmosphere of trust that has grown up between us" and said the countries had "seriously moved forward on questions of Syria settlement." He said Saturday's meeting would discuss "what further steps can be taken."

Lavrov also held a bilateral meeting with Iran's Zarif, who hailed the three countries' work together in the Astana process as a success, saying it led to "the defeat of the Islamic State group."

Zarif said this was the only aspect of joint cooperation with "our Turkish friends" and it was "bearing fruit."

- 'Crack in the alliance' -

Yet the latest talks in Moscow between two of Assad's key supporters, Moscow and Tehran, and rebel-backer Ankara come as the alleged chemical attack in the Syrian town of Douma on April 7 has prompted sharply differing responses from Turkey and Russia.

"I curse those who carried out this massacre," Erdogan said, adding that he welcomed Western air strikes in retaliation as "appropriate".

Story continues

Meanwhile Russia says the attack was staged to discredit its ally President Bashar-al Assad and this week brought a group of Syrians to the global chemical arms watchdog to back its claims.

French President Emmanuel Macron this month suggested the air strikes had driven a wedge between Ankara and Moscow as they have been building increasingly close ties.

This prompted an angry denial from Cavusoglu, who said the countries' relations "are not so weak that the French president can break them".

Alexander Shumilin, a Middle East expert at the Institute for US and Canadian Studies in Moscow, however, said Douma fallout had "caused a crack in the alliance of three countries".

He added: "If the trio falls apart entirely, the ensuing events could be really bad."

Alexey Malashenko, a specialist in the Syria conflict, was sceptical the meeting would achieve much beyond a show of unity, saying the trio have a "very shaky" alliance.

Their positions on the suspected chemical attack are irreconcilable, he said.

"Turkey has an absolutely honest position: it is against Bashar al-Assad and here there's no way they can reach an agreement."

Nevertheless, the limited nature of US-led strikes suggests the "peak of tensions has passed", he said.

The most recent Syria talks attended by the foreign ministers in Astana were held on March 16. The next are set for May 14.

EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini on Tuesday urged the three powers to do more, saying they "have not only a responsibility but also an interest in making the ceasefire work".

Eight rounds of talks under United Nations auspices in Geneva have made little headway, with Assad's government taking little interest.

Both Tehran and Moscow have deployed military forces to Syria to back up Assad in his now seven-year-old war against anti-government rebels.

Ankara has called for Assad's removal throughout the war, but has worked increasingly closely with Moscow and Tehran in recent months in an attempt to find a solution to the conflict.

In January, Russia held a showpiece conference in the Black Sea resort of Sochi with largely pro-regime delegates, which saw boycotts by rebels and made little progress.

Putin hosted a summit on Syria with the Iranian and Turkish presidents in November. They then met again in Ankara this month.Moscow (AFP) - Russian, Iranian and Turkish foreign ministers on Saturday talked up their successes in brokering a political solution to the Syrian conflict at a meeting in Moscow.

The three nations have been attempting to resolve the Syrian conflict at talks that started last year in Astana, Kazakhstan, in competition with a US and UN-backed Geneva initiative.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the three countries "must help the Syrians finish cleansing their country of terrorists."

The ministers emphasised the success of their peace talks in Astana, which Lavrov said are "firmly standing on their feet."

The Russian diplomat praised the "unique" alliance between two of Syrian President Bashar-al Assad's key supporters, Moscow and Tehran, and rebel-backer Ankara.

"Thanks to it, it became possible to tackle the situation on the battlefield with the Islamic State group and the Al-Nusra Front," he said, as jihadists have lost most of the territory they controlled in Syria.

The conflict in Syria has lasted since 2011 and killed more than 350,000 people. Both Russia and Iran have deployed forces to Syria to back up Assad against anti-government rebels.

Critics of the Astana talks are "trying to show that they today decide all the affairs in our world, but fortunately their time has passed," Lavrov said.

Nevertheless he implicitly criticised Damascus after it blocked UN humanitarian aid to the town of Douma in Eastern Ghouta, saying Moscow was calling for the regime to be more "flexible."

The Russian foreign minister earlier held separate bilateral talks with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu and then Iran's Mohammad Javad Zarif.

Meeting his Turkish counterpart, the Russian diplomat stressed the "great importance" both Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attach to improving relations.

- 'Crack in the alliance' -

Story continues

Yet the latest talks in Moscow came as the alleged chemical attack in the Syrian town of Douma on April 7 has prompted sharply differing responses from Turkey and Russia.

"I curse those who carried out this massacre," Erdogan said, welcoming Western air strikes in retaliation as "appropriate".

Meanwhile Russia says the attack was staged to discredit Assad.

Iran and Russia on Saturday slammed Western strikes on Syria over the alleged chlorine or sarin gas attack.

Lavrov said they "set back efforts to promote the political process" and Zarif criticised Washington's "destructive role."

French President Emmanuel Macron this month suggested the air strikes had driven a wedge between Ankara and Moscow, prompting an angry denial from Cavusoglu.

Alexander Shumilin, a Middle East expert at the Institute for US and Canadian Studies in Moscow, however, said the Douma fallout had "caused a crack in the alliance of three countries".

Alexey Malashenko, a specialist in the Syria conflict, said the trio have a "very shaky" alliance and "there's no way they can reach an agreement" over the suspected chemical attack.

Nevertheless, the limited nature of US-led strikes suggests the "peak of tensions has passed", he said.

The next Syria talks in Astana are set for May 14.

Eight rounds of talks under United Nations auspices in Geneva have made little headway, with Assad's government taking little interest.

Ankara has called for Assad's removal throughout the war, but has worked increasingly closely with Moscow and Tehran in recent months in an attempt to find a solution to the conflict.

In January, Russia held a showpiece conference in the Black Sea resort of Sochi with largely pro-regime delegates, which saw boycotts by rebels and made little progress.

Lavrov on Saturday said it achieved "breakthrough results," however.

Putin hosted a summit on Syria with the Iranian and Turkish presidents in November. They then met again in Ankara this month.Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya speaks during an interview in Moscow: YURY MARTYANOV/AFP/Getty Images

The Russian lawyer who attended at a controversial meeting with Trump campaign members has reportedly called herself an informant who is in communication with Russia's chief prosecutor.

Attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya was one of eight people present at the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting, which was organised after an intermediary promised to give Donald Trump Jr incriminating information about his fathers election rival, Hillary Clinton.

Ms Veselnitskaya has previously claimed that she was acting independently during the meeting with Trump campaign officials. But her recent comments suggest she may have been more involved with the Russian government than she let on.

I am a lawyer, and I am an informant, she told NBC News in an interview set to air Friday night, according to the New York Times.

She added: Since 2013, I have been actively communicating with the office of the Russian prosecutor general.

The comments square with earlier New York Times reporting, which suggested Ms Veselnitskaya had spoken with Russias prosecutor general about the memos she intended to deliver to the Trump team.

The Times also reviewed emails which appear to show Ms Veselnitskaya working closely with the prosecutor general, Yuri Chaika, on a 2014 case involving the US Department of Justice.

According to emails obtained by former Russian tycoon Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky, and seen by the Times, Ms Veselnitskaya helped Mr Chaika respond to the USs request for help in a civil fraud case. The Russian government provided little help in the case, according to an American judge, and the Justice Department eventually agreed to settle.

The emails, and Ms Veselnitskayas recent comments, contrast with her statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee last year, in which she claimed to operate "independently of any governmental bodies.

I have no relationship with Mr Chaika, his representatives and his institutions other than those related to my professional functions as a lawyer, she told the committee in November.

Story continues

The Trump Tower meeting drew scrutiny last year, after the Times reported that Ms Veselnitskaya had attended the meeting with Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, as well as Mr Trump Jr and the presidents son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

Mr Trump Jr claimed the meeting  which friend and former business partner Rob Goldstone helped arrange  was nothing and "a wasted 20 minutes.

He later released emails revealing that Mr Goldstone had offered him official documents and information" that would incriminate Ms Clinton, from someone he referred to as the Crown prosecutor of Russia.

Russia does not have a crown prosecutor. The closest role is Mr Chaikas  the prosecutor general.

Mr Trump Jr and his father have both repeatedly denied colluding with Russia to win the 2016 election.Riyadh (AFP) - Saudi Arabia on Saturday intercepted four ballistic missiles fired by Yemeni rebels, the Saudi-led coalition against the insurgents said, with a local official reporting one man had been killed in the attack.

The missiles were headed towards the city of Jizan in southern Saudi Arabia, according to a coalition statement.

While the coalition said the attack claimed no casualties, Jizan's civil defence spokesman Colonel Yahya Abdullah al-Qahtani told Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya television that a Saudi Arabian citizen had been killed by falling shrapnel.

A coalition spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation.

The Huthi rebels' Al Masirah television reported Saturday they had fired eight missiles towards Jizan, a day after Saudi defence forces said they had downed a missile headed for the same area.

The latest attack came as the Huthis staged a public funeral for a slain commander in the Yemeni capital Sanaa.

Saleh al-Sammad, head of the rebels' supreme political council, was killed in an air raid by Saudi Arabia and its allies last week.

Saudi Arabia formed its military coalition in 2015 to battle the Huthi rebels in its southern neighbour and restore the internationally recognised Yemeni government to power.

The Huthis control Yemen's capital, Sanaa, as well as much of Yemen's north and the key Hodeida port on the country's western coastline.

Nearly 10,000 people have been killed since the Saudi-led alliance joined the Yemen conflict, triggering what the United Nations has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

The alliance imposed a total blockade on Yemen's ports in November in retaliation for the rebel missile attacks.

The blockade has since been partially lifted, but access remains limited and the impoverished country stands on the brink of famine.Sanaa (AFP) - A Saudi-led coalition air strike has killed dozens of Yemeni rebels including two commanders, state media said Saturday, in another blow to the insurgents following the assassination of their political chief.

The Huthi rebels staged a public funeral on Saturday for Saleh al-Sammad, head of their Supreme Political Council and effectively the insurgents' second-in-command, who was killed last week in an air raid claimed by Saudi Arabia and its allies.

His funeral came hours after Saudi Arabia's state-run Al-Ekhbariya television said two high-ranking insurgents were among more than 50 Huthis killed in a new strike overnight in the capital Sanaa.

In a speech eulogising Sammad on Saturday night, rebel chief Abdul Malik al-Huthi claimed Saudi Arabia and its allies had targeted the outskirts of Sabaeen Square as Huthi supporters gathered for Sammad's funeral.

The rebels' Al-Masirah television aired footage of black columns of smoke billowing outside the square, where Yemenis chanted slogans calling for the demise of Saudi Arabia and the United States. The date of the footage could not be immediately verified.

The rebels have been locked in a war since 2015 with a Saudi-led military alliance fighting to restore the internationally recognised Yemeni government to power.

Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya television said the overnight strike had targeted the interior ministry in Sanaa, which is controlled by the rebels.

The Huthis, backed by Saudi Arabia's regional arch-rival Iran, confirmed the air strike on Sanaa but gave no details.

The Huthi leader slammed Saudi Arabia and its allies, primarily the United Arab Emirates, for operating "under the umbrella" of the United States and Israel, saying Sammad's death was "added incentive" for the rebels.

The Huthis, who hail from northern Yemen, control Sanaa and much of the country's north -- which borders Saudi Arabia -- and the key Hodeida port on the Red Sea coast.

Story continues

- Huthi missiles -

Shortly after Sammad's funeral began, the Huthis said they had launched eight ballistic missiles into the Sunni kingdom.

The coalition confirmed it had intercepted four missiles headed for the southern Saudi coastal city of Jizan, one day after the kingdom's defence forces said they had downed a missile headed for the same area.

While the coalition statement said the attack claimed no casualties, Jizan's civil defence spokesman Colonel Yahya Abdullah al-Qahtani told Al-Arabiya that a Saudi Arabian citizen had been killed by falling shrapnel.

A coalition spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation.

The rebels have ramped up their missile attacks on Saudi Arabia this year. One person was reported killed by falling shrapnel in Riyadh last month.

Saturday's attacks came just ahead of the arrival of newly appointed US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who touched down in Riyadh for meetings set to including talks on the Yemen conflict.

Riyadh and its close ally Washington accuse Iran of arming the Huthis, which Iran denies.

Tehran blames Saudi Arabia for the devastating Yemen war, which has left millions struggling to secure food.

In Sanaa, Huthi supporters lined the streets Saturday for the funeral of Sammad and six others killed in the April 19 strike.

Rebels dressed in military fatigues marched ahead of his hearse, which included seven cars draped in the Yemeni flag and accompanied by a marching band.

Nearly 10,000 people have been killed since the Saudi-led alliance joined the Yemen conflict, triggering what the United Nations has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

Yemen now stands on the brink of famine.

The Saudi-led coalition imposed a total blockade on Yemen's ports in November in retaliation for cross-border Huthi missile attacks on Saudi Arabia.

The blockade has since been partially lifted, but access to the impoverished country remains limited.The European Union plans to help save the bees by banning the worlds most commonly used pesticides from all fields.

Theres already a ban in place dating back to 2013 restricting the use of other harmful pesticides, but the member nations voted to expand those restrictions. Three major neonicotinoidsclothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxamwill now no longer be allowed to be used anywhere, except for in greenhouses.

The new ban will be enforced by the end of 2018, The Guardian reports. Fridays vote came after a major report from the EU, which was published in February, that stated both honey bees and wild bees are put in great harm when chemicals are used on crops. The assessment, which included a survey of 1,500 studies, found that three neonics that were partially banned left a toxic layer on crops and left honey bees at high risk.

Trending: Drones Pose a Threat, and Congress Needs to Address It | Opinion

Another study from November 2017 revealed neonicotinoids contaminate honey samples around the globe.

4_28_bees

Chris Hondros/Getty Images

The commission had proposed these measures months ago, on the basis of the scientific advice from Efsa. Bee health remains of paramount importance for me since it concerns biodiversity, food production and the environment, Vytenis Andriukaitis, Commissioner for Health and Food Safety told The Guardian.

Don't miss: Irish Woman With a Heart Condition and One Lung Refused Abortion Because Life Deemed Not at Risk

Some groups, including sugar-beet growers have argued the ban could affect their ability to produce crops such as wheat and sugar beet, Bloomberg reports. But a majority of the public have applauded the ban.

Finally, our governments are listening to their citizens, the scientific evidence and farmers who know that bees cant live with these chemicals and we cant live without bees, Antonia Staats, of the online activist network Avaaz who created a petition to save the bees, told the Guardian.

Story continues

In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency continues to assess the risk of neonicotinoid pesticides. Public comment on the findings are expected to open up later this year, according to the agency's website.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekBy Lesley Wroughton RIYADH (Reuters) - Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Saudi Arabia on Saturday on a hastily-arranged visit to the Middle East as the United States aims to muster support for new sanctions against Iran. The visit to Riyadh, Jerusalem and Amman just two days after Pompeo was sworn-in comes as President Donald Trump is set to decide whether to pull out of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran that is still supported by European powers. "We are urging nations around the world to sanction any individuals and entities associated with Iran's missile program, and it has also been a big part of discussions with Europeans," Brian Hook, a senior policy advisor traveling with Pompeo, told reporters. Hook said a salvo of ballistic missiles fired into Saudi Arabia by Yemen's Iran-allied Houthi movement that killed a man earlier on Saturday had been provided by Tehran. "Iran's missiles prolong war and suffering in the Middle East, they threaten our security and economic interests and they especially threaten Saudi Arabia and Israel," he said. The 2015 deal that limits Iran's nuclear program in return for sanctions relief does not cover its missile program. Trump has called it the "worst deal ever" and threatened to re-impose sanctions unless Britain, France and Germany agree to fix it. Resuming sanctions would likely kill the deal. Russia, China, Germany, Britain and France, which all struck the accord with Iran and the United States, see the deal as the best way to stop Iran from developing a nuclear bomb. Speaking after a NATO foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels on Friday, Pompeo said Trump had not taken a decision on whether to abandon the deal but was not likely to stick to it without substantial changes. "There's been no decision, so the team is working and I am sure we will have lots of conversations to deliver what the president has made clear," Pompeo told a news conference. Earlier this week French President Emmanuel Macron called on Trump not to abandon the deal, although he later acknowledged he thought he would pull out. The Trump administration is also currently reviewing the U.S. role in fighting Islamic State in Syrias seven-year conflict. Trump has called on Gulf countries to provide funding and troops to stabilize areas once controlled by the group in Syria. Pompeo was one of the first Trump administration officials to visit Saudi Arabia early in his tenure as CIA director. In Riyadh, Pompeo was greeted on the tarmac by Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir. He is expected to meet Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and King Salman during the visit. (The story was refiled to fix a typo in the headline) (Editing By Noah Browning and Robin Pomeroy)Rota (Spain) (AFP) - With naval power Britain at the EU's exit door, Spain has gone on the offensive to be the next major player defending European shores.

Madrid's manoeuvring comes as the EU looks to deepen military cooperation to show unity in the wake of Brexit. The bloc's 27 remaining member states have already embarked on big plans to build what some see as the embryonic stage of an EU army.

Spain wants to be at the heart of that effort and has laid out the red carpet to assume command of Operation Atalanta, an anti-piracy mission along the Horn of Africa that Madrid says should be run from its Andalusian naval base in Rota.

But Spain is not just seeking the command centre, which is currently based in north London -- it also hopes to make Rota the EU's fifth operational headquarters, which Britain also holds.

"The Spanish offer is a headquarters for all types of missions," Admiral Antonio Martorell Lacave told AFP on board the Spanish amphibious assault ship 'Juan Carlos I'.

"With Brexit, the EU is left without a headquarters that is totally focused on Atalanta," he added.

Lacave is at the forefront of the MILEX18 military manoeuvres that took place at the base this week, during which Spain sought to convince the EU it was ready to swap places with Britain.

The EU launched Atalanta in 2008 to fight brazen acts of piracy off the coast of Somalia, including the spectacular hijacking of a Spanish tuna boat in 2009.

Although the pirates released the crew after receiving a ransom, two of them were detained days later by European military officers.

To demonstrate capability, the military exercise staged the rescue of a fishing boat hijacked by a group of mock pirates, in a "maritime scenario more complicated than Atalanta that covers all aspects of planning an operation at a strategic level", said Martorell.

- Rota v Rome -

Under a hot Mediterranean sun, Spain's armed forces also showcased their greatest assets to convince top officials from across the EU.

Story continues

Seen from the deck of 'Juan Carlos I', Chinook, Cougar and Tiger combat helicopters chuffed through the sky while Harrier jump jets lifted off.

The Spanish Defence Minister, Maria Dolores de Cospedal, defended Spain's ambitions for the Rota base.

"This would be an acknowledgement of Spain's commitment to the EU's security and defence policy," she said.

Spain participates in all of the EU's ongoing operations and missions, she underlined.

Operation Atalanta's headquarters will remain in Northwood until the UK leaves the EU in March 2019, a European Commission spokeswoman said. EU member states have until then to decide where the new command centre will be based.

Rota's bid for Atalanta is in association with France's historic naval base in Brest, on the tip of Brittany.

Rota would take over the command centre in Atalanta and Brest would win the Maritime Security Centre of the Horn of Africa (MSCHOA), also based in Northwood.

"The EU has become a global player in the Horn of Africa... We hope that our joint proposal will help to preserve this role," said Dolores de Cospedal and her French counterpart Florence Parly in a letter sent on 28 March to European diplomacy representative Federica Mogherini, a copy of which AFP obtained.

The Franco-Spanish project has a rival: the base in Rome, headquarters of Operation Sophia against smugglers of migrants in the central Mediterranean.

The Europeans must decide in the coming months whether or not to extend Operation Atalanta, whose mandate expires on December 31.

The number of attacks off the coast of Somalia in the Indian Ocean has fallen from a peak of 176 in 2011 to seven in 2017 and only one has been recorded since the beginning of 2018.Huthi rebel supporters protest in Sanaa on April 26, 2018, against the killing of the insurgents' top political leader, Saleh al-Sammad, in a Saudi-led coalition strike the week before (AFP Photo/)

Dubai (AFP) - An air strike on Yemen's capital by a Saudi-led military coalition has killed dozens of Huthi rebels including at least two commanders, Saudi television reported Saturday.

Saudi Arabia's official Al-Ekhbariya television said two high-ranking insurgents were among more than 50 Huthi militiamen killed in Sanaa on Friday evening, without giving further details.

Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya television said a total of 38 rebels were killed in the strike on a Huthi interior ministry building.

The Huthis confirmed an air strike on Sanaa but gave no details.

The raid came hours ahead of a public funeral of the Huthis' political head Saleh al-Sammad, killed last week in a Saudi-led coalition strike.

It also came as newly-appointed US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was scheduled to land in Riyadh for meetings including talks on the Yemen conflict.

The Iran-backed rebels have been locked in a war with the Saudi-led military alliance, which since 2015 has fought to restore the internationally-recognised Yemeni government to power.

The Yemen conflict is widely seen as a proxy war between regional titans Iran and Saudi Arabia.

The Huthis control Yemen's capital, Sanaa, as well as much of the country's north -- which borders Saudi Arabia -- and the key Hodeida port on Yemen's Red Sea coast.

Nearly 10,000 people have been killed since the Saudi-led alliance joined the Yemen conflict, triggering what the United Nations has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

Yemen now stands at the brink of famine.

The Saudi-led coalition imposed a total blockade on Yemen's ports in November in retaliation for cross-border Huthi missile attacks on Saudi Arabia.

The blockade has since been partially lifted, but access to the impoverished country remains limited.Zolee Griggs is probably used to people loving her photos. The 20-year-old fashion blogger, actress, model, and college student posts a lot of them online for the pleasure of her almost 60,000 Twitter followers and 162,000 Instagram followers. What she may not have expected was the Twitterverse going bananas over her parents.

Im so jealous of my parents living their best life in Hawaii rn, she tweeted on Friday night, along with photos of her mother, Sumiye Plaszewski, looking absolutely gorgeous in some quintessential Hawaii vacation shots  in a bikini on a black sand beach, drinking out of a coconut  and a surprising pose being held aloft in one arm by husband Sebastian Plaszewski.

They work very hard, so its long overdue! Griggs tells Yahoo Lifestyle via email of her 48-year-old mother and stepfather.

Im so jealous of my parents living their best life in Hawaii rn pic.twitter.com/Xa2UMcBYcr  Zolee (@Zoleeofficial) April 28, 2018

People think this couple look way too young and fit to be the parents of a 20-year-old. Twitter demands to know their secrets.

Whats your moms core routine? Asking for me, @sk1nnyy_ wanted to know.

Wow did your mom have you at 2? She looks really young and vibrant, @NikkiBklyn515 observed.

First of all your mom needs to drop her skincare routine and second your parents are adorable, said @isis_yum.

Griggs stepdad, a photographer, got plenty of love too: I dont know whos the real G. Your mom who can be carried with one [hand] or your dad who can carry an adult with one hand and still look chilled, @boldbolaya wrote.

How is your old man lifting up your moms with just one hand/arm, his left one at that & still smiling. what is dudes workout routine, @LexTheHand wondered.

Sumiye does happen to be an esthetician, so maybe well get to hear her skin care routine soon. Through Griggs, the couple would reveal only this to Yahoo about how they stay fit: We make healthy food choices, work out consistently in the gym, and go on hikes!

Story continues

Griggs tells Yahoo shes just as impressed by her parents as her followers. I posted the photos because I think I was shocked just as much as everyone else that my parents look so young, vibrant, and overall are just having a good time, so why not spread the joy!

Griggs parents have been pretty amused by the reactions to her tweet, which has 128 comments, 6,400 retweets, and 42,000 likes as of this posting.

Going viral is pretty funny, Sumiye told her daughter. I love the comments of the young people. Very appreciative of the comments. Its motivation to stay fit!

Griggs herself has been in the spotlight since she was a toddler, starting as a model at 2 and moving to acting at 4. She had a recurring role on the Disney series Cory in the House from 2007-2008.

Though her parents arent regular features on Griggs various sites, she referred to them in a video she made years ago discussing peoples mistaken assumption that she is mixed-race.

Biologically, my mom is black and my dad is black, she said in 2015 on her popular YouTube channel. A lot of you have seen from my social media my stepdad, who is white. So its easy to think that those are both my parents. Now, what I get a lot is, Oh, my god, Zolee, youre so beautiful. You must be mixed. Why do I have to be mixed to be beautiful? Hmmm.

Now, shes amused by all the attention her mom and stepdad are getting. I also think its hilarious to see people talking about my parents and seeing them as goals, she tells Yahoo. But I couldnt agree more. They have a great relationship!

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.By Abdiqani Hassan BOSASO, Somalia (Reuters) - A suicide bomber blew himself up in a military camp in the Somali town of Galkayo on Saturday, killing four officers, officials said, an attack claimed by the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab group. The dead included a military commander and two colonels, the town's mayor, Hirsi Yusuf Barre, told Reuters. The camp houses a force made up of soldiers from the country's semi-autonomous regions of Puntland and Galmudug who have been integrated into the federal army under efforts to unite the fractured country. "The death toll may rise," police officer Abdirahman Haji said. Al Shabaabs military operation spokesman, Abdiasis Abu Musab, said it killed five people in the attack. Al Shabaab is fighting to topple Somalia's central government and establish its own rule based on its interpretation of Islamic law. Since withdrawing from Mogadishu in 2011, the group has lost control of most of Somalia's cities and towns. But it still retains a strong presence in regions outside the capital. (Reporting by Abdiqani Hassan; additional reporting by Abdi Sheikh and Feisal Omar in Mogadishu; Editing by George Obulutsa and Andrew Heavens)By Tiemoko Diallo BAMAKO (Reuters) - Suspected jihadists killed 40 Tuaregs, mostly young men, in two attacks in northern Mali's Menaka region, which the local governor said seemed calculated to spark an ethnic conflict between Tuareg and Fulani herders. Menaka governor Daouda Maiga told Reuters by telephone that the attacks happened in the remote desert villages of Awakassa on Friday and in Anderanboucane, a day earlier. Jihadist groups are seen as the greatest threat to security across Africa's Sahel region. They have proved adept at exploiting local tensions between ethnic groups to sow discord -- such as those between mostly lighter-skinned Tuareg and black Fulani herdsmen over scarce watering points in the Sahara. Bajan Ag Hamatou, a local legislator, confirmed the attack, as did Menaka town's mayor, Nanout Kotia. Rising violence across Mali has cast doubt over the feasibility of elections scheduled for the end of July, in which President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita will seek a second term. Islamic State's Saharan affiliate is active in the Menaka region bordering Niger. It is led by an Arabic-speaking north African called Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi, but the majority of its fighters are Fulani. "The dead were mostly youths, no women or children, mostly of the age where they can carry arms," Maiga said. The victims included many members of the Tuareg militia National Movement for the Salvation of Azawad (MSA). "The MSA is fighting the Islamist groups, which are composed mostly of Fulani," Maiga said. "So these two attacks were reprisals against them. They want to transform the conflict into something inter-communal." Mali has been in chaos since Tuareg rebels and Islamists swept across its deserts in 2012, despite a French intervention to push them back the following year, and a large French military and U.N. peacekeeping presence. (Reporting by Tiemoko Diallo; Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Catherine Evans and Robin Pomeroy)Bamako (AFP) - Suspected jihadists killed more than 30 Tuaregs on Mali's northeastern border with Niger, informed sources said Saturday, in the second such attack in two days.

The former Tuareg rebel group MSA and tribal leaders said the massacre occurred Friday, a day after another attack by gunmen on motorbikes had left 12 people dead outside the town of Anderamboukane, which is also in the same area.

"There have been 43 deaths in two days, all civilians, from the same community," tribal leader Sidigui Ag Hamadi told AFP from the regional capital Menaka.

"Our fighters are destroying their bases and wiping them out. They are targeting innocent civilians," he added seeing the bloodletting as reprisals for attacks on jihadists by armed Tuarag groups.

The MSA also put the death toll from the two attacks in the vilages of Aklaz and Awakassa at 43, saying all the victims were from the Idaksahak pastoralist berber group.

The group urged the governments of Mali and Niger to take steps to ensure that "an immediate end is put to these abominable crimes" and added that it would "not give in to any intimidation."

Menaka governor Daouda Maiga urged caution regarding the death toll until official observers had arrived on the scene.

"There are various versions, but I know there are women and childen among the victims, as well as elderly," Maiga told AFP, while adding he would await the observers' return to Bamako.

Local people had been fearful of reprisals by jihadists who suffered major losses in recent attacks in the region over recent weeks, Menaka official Attaye Ag Ossadki told AFP.

"But nobody imagined that they would kill civilians in this way," he said.

Two weeks ago, the UN's MINUSMA peacekeeping operation said they had received "very serious" information that "summary executions of at least 95 people" had occurred during anti-jihadist operations in the northeastern Menaka region carried out by "a coalition of armed groups" including MSA and Gatia.

Story continues

Both groups flatly denied any involvement.

France intervened militarily in Mali in 2013 to help government forces drive Al-Qaeda-linked jihadists out of the north.

But large tracts of the country remain lawless despite a peace accord signed with ethnic Tuareg leaders in mid-2015 aimed at isolating the jihadists.Tehran (AFP) - Twenty-six alleged members of the Islamic State group went on trial in Iran on Saturday over attacks last year on parliament and the tomb of revolutionary leader Ruhollah Khomeini, local media reported.

Seventeen people were killed and dozens injured in the simultaneous attacks in Tehran on June 7 -- the first claimed by IS inside Iran.

The judiciary-linked Mizan news agency said several of the accused were Iranians who had left to join IS in neighbouring countries and returned for the attacks.

Five attackers were killed on the day, but police said at the time that five people had been arrested at the scenes of the attacks in central and south Tehran.

Dozens more arrests were reported in the following months -- many in operations along the borders with Iraq and Turkey.

There were few details from the first day of the trial, which was held in the presence of the victims' families.

Most of Iran's population is Shiite, and therefore considered heretics by the Sunni jihadists of IS, who have increasingly called for attacks on the country.

Iran has also supported the governments of Iraq and Syria against IS and other jihadist insurgents.Following Bill Cosbys conviction Thursday on sexual assault charges, an actress best known for her role bringing sex criminals to justice on television offered her support for Cosbys many accusers.

Mariska Hargitay, who portrays Lieutenant Olivia Benson on the NBC drama series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, reacted on Twitter to the guilty verdict, telling Cosbys accusers shes on their side.

To the survivors of his abuse, and to all survivors  whether you receive justice swiftly or many years down the road, know that we see you, we hear you, and we believe you, the 54-year-old actress wrote.

You matter and what happened to you matters.

To the survivors of his abuse, and to all survivors whether you receive justice swiftly or many years down the road, know that we see you, we hear you, and we believe you. You matter and what happened to you matters. https://t.co/hOb8QUH8ti  Mariska Hargitay (@Mariska) April 26, 2018

Cosby was convicted Thursday of drugging and sexually assaulting former Temple University employee Andrea Constand in January 2004. Montgomery County jurors deliberated for about 14 hours over two days before handing down the guilty verdict. Afterward, Cosby was freed on bond by the judge.

Cosby was convicted on three charges, each of which carries a prison sentence of up to 10 years: aggravated indecent assault: penetration with lack of consent; penetration while unconscious; and penetration after administrating an intoxicant.

Hargitay has no direct connection to the Cosby case.

Mariska Hargitay and Raul Esparza

 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.

Cosby assaulted Constand, 45, in his Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, mansion in January 2004. The defense claimed that the sexual contact was consensual. Both sides presented 12 days of testimony and evidence to the seven-man, five-woman jury. Cosby, who did not testify during his trial, denies similar allegations from more than 60 women.

Story continues

Hargitay is a staunch advocate for victims of sexual assaults.

This year, she produced a powerful documentary called I Am Evidence, which shines a light on the staggering number of untested rape kits in the United States today.

Hundreds of thousands of kits containing potentially crucial DNA evidence remain untested in police evidence storage rooms nationwide despite the power of DNA to solve and prevent crimes.

The documentary debuted last year at the Tribeca Film Festival, and is now airing on HBO.Beirut (AFP) - Rare clashes broke out on Sunday between Syrian regime forces and a US-backed alliance in the east of the country, killing a total of 15 combatants, a war monitor said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said the clashes in Deir Ezzor province killed nine pro-regime fighters and six members of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces.

State news agency SANA said the army seized control of four villages in the eastern province, where the Kurdish-led SDF alliance has been fighting the Islamic State jihadist group.

The alliance later recaptured three of the four villages, according to the Observatory.

The SDF and Russian-backed Syrian government forces are conducting parallel but separate offensives against IS in the oil-rich province.

But both sides have largely avoided running into each other and a deconfliction line exists to avoid such incidents.

The Kurdish-led alliance is present on the eastern side of the Euphrates River that cuts across Deir Ezzor province, while regime forces hold territory on the river's western bank, including the provincial capital of the same name.

Incidents between both sides have occurred in the past, but Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said it was the first time the regime had launched an operation to seize territory from the SDF.

"The regime's aim is to protect Deir Ezzor city by pushing back SDF fighters from the eastern bank" of the Euphrates, Abdel Rahman said.

SDF spokesman Mustefa Bali reported "exchange of gunfire" between both sides.

"The Syrian regime army along with its militias started to attack our forces in Deir Ezzor countryside along the Euphrates River," the alliance said in a statement.

In February, the US-led coalition backing the SDF carried out air strikes in Deir Ezzor province that killed at least 100 pro-regime fighters.

Washington said the strikes were in retaliation for an attack on its own personnel and SDF forces.

Story continues

In September last year, the SDF accused Russia of killing one of its fighters in strikes on a gas facility newly retaken from IS.

IS jihadists have lost most of the self-proclaimed "caliphate" they once controlled in large parts of Syria and neighbouring Iraq since 2014.

Today, the jihadists hold less than four percent of Syria, the Observatory says.

This includes desert pockets in Deir Ezzor province and parts of southern Damascus where they are under attack by regime forces.

More than 350,000 people have been killed in Syria's war since it started in 2011 with a brutal crackdown on anti-government protests.

It has since spiralled into a complex conflict involving world powers and foreign jihadists.Zachary Keck

Security, Asia

Taipei is training for war with Beijing.

How Taiwan Is Planning to Stop an Invasion by China

Taiwans military is scheduled to simulate defending the island from an invasion by mainland China.

The simulation will be part of Taiwans annual Han Kuang drills, which begin next week. Citing a statement by the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense, the Japan Times said that Taiwan will simulate repelling an invading force, emergency repairs of a major air base and using civilian-operated drones as part of military exercises starting next week. Although the exercise begins then, the Defense Ministry said that the main part of the drill will take place from June 4 to June 8. That part will consist of live-fire exercises practicing enemy elimination on beaches. The drills will also practice quickly repairing military air strips that would presumably be targeted by Chinese missile and aircraft early in a conflict.

Recommended: We Went Aboard the Most Powerful Aircraft Carrier Ever Built.

Recommended: This Is How China Would Invade Taiwan (And How to Stop It).

Recommended: North Koreas Most Lethal Weapon Isnt Nukes.

The statement did not explicitly mention China, according the Japan Times. However, a Taiwanese spokesperson was more direct. Simply put, the main goal of the drills is to make any Chinese communist military mission to invade Taiwan fail, said Chen Chung-ch, a spokesperson for the Defense Ministry. Chen added that the exercise will take account of the current capabilities of the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA), mainland Chinas military. It simulates this years situation and we are taking into consideration Chinas air and naval movements in the region, he said. Last year, the Han Kuang drills simulated a PLA attack in 2025, using F-35 fighters as a parameter in its computerized war games to simulate combat tactics and strategies.

Although Taiwan holds these drills every year, two things are different about the 2018 edition. First, the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense announced that civilian resources will also be integrated into this exercise to support military operations for the first time ever. For instance, civilian construction companies will help in the repair of military airstrips that are destroyed in Chinas initial attack. Telecommunications companies in Taiwan will also assist in maintaining command and control. Taipei is also enlisting civilian drone companies to help with surveillance and targeting. Its not just soldiers duties to protect the country. Everyone has the responsibility since our defense budget is limited, Chen, the Defense Ministry spokesperson, explained.

Story continues

The other important development surrounding this years drills is mainland China has been ramping up military pressure against the island nation, which it considers a rogue province. As previously discussed, the last year and a half or so has seen Beijing repeatedly conducting provocative overflights of Taiwan. More recently, China conducted its largest military drill in recent memory in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait.

These latest drills centered on Chinas first aircraft carrier, Liaoning, and, according to news reports, included forty-eight warships, seventy-six planes and over 10,000 military personnel. PLA newspapers hailed the drills as the biggest maritime military parade since the foundation of the new China and a heroic display of the PLA Navy in the new era. Chinese president Xi Jinping presided over part of the drills in the South China Sea.

To underscore the message, Song Zhongping, a frequent military commentator in Chinese state media, said the drills were directed at intimidating Taiwan. An aircraft carrier formation will play an important role in hypothetical future military operations against Taiwan," Song said. Noting that new drills were taking place east of Taiwan, Song added: The east side of the island, where the Taiwan army elaborately deploys its forces, will not be safe when confronted with the formation of aircraft carriers of the mainland.

At the same time, Chinese state media denounced Taiwans Han Kuang drills. Xu Guangyu, a retired major general of the People's Liberation Army, told China's Global Times that Tapei uses the drills to unite Taiwan-independence forces." Xu added: More importantly, Taiwan also wants to show its muscle to the mainland. But Taiwan's attempt to stack up against the mainland is like throwing an egg against a rock.

Despite the growing tensions, the Taiwanese people do not seem overly concerned about the prospect of an armed confrontation. A new survey by the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundationwhich admittedly was taken before the recent Chinese drillsfound that 64.5 percent of respondents do not believe China will invade Taiwan in the foreseeable future, compared to 25.7 percent who viewed that possibility as likely.

The poll also found that Taiwanese citizens have shockingly little faith in their militarys ability to fend off an invasion. According to a news article by Focus Taiwan, The poll found that 65.4 percent of Taiwanese have no confidence in the country's defense against an attack by China, while 27.1 percent think Taiwan forces can repel any such invasion. More respondents (47.4 percent) believe the United States will send troops to help defend Taiwan compared to those who view this as unlikely (41 percent).

Zachary Keck (@ZacharyKeck) is a former managing editor of the National Interest.

Image: Reuters

Read full articleTaiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen said Friday she would be willing to meet her Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping "for peace and stability" in the wake of a landmark summit between the leaders of the two Koreas.

Relations between Taiwan and China have deteriorated since Tsai came to power in May 2016. Beijing still sees the self-ruling island as part of its territory awaiting reunification, by force if necessary.

China is deeply suspicious of Tsai's traditionally pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, and has cut off official communications with Taipei as the Taiwanese president refuses to accept that the island is part of "one China".

When asked on Friday if she would consider meeting Xi given the way the inter-Korean summit unfolded, Tsai appeared to offer an olive branch to China and said her government "would be willing to do anything that is helpful for... peace and stability".

A meeting with the Chinese leader could take place "without any political pre-condition and on an equal footing", she added.

Under those principles, "I believe no Taiwanese leader would refuse," she told reporters.

Tsai said she hopes the summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and the North's leader Kim Jong Un is a step towards greater regional stability.

Commenting on the Koreas summit, the foreign ministry in Taipei said Taiwan "is willing to actively contribute to and work with the international community to promote the realisation of peace, stability and prosperity in the region."

Tsai's Beijing-friendly predecessor Ma Ying-jeou oversaw an unprecedented thaw in China-Taiwan relations during his 2008-2016 presidency, which culminated with a historic 2015 meeting with Xi in Singapore.

Ma's government acknowledged the so-called "1992 consensus" that there is only "one China" without specifying whether Beijing or Taipei is its rightful representative. China has repeatedly urged Tsai to adopt the same position.

Story continues

Beijing has recently stepped up pressure on her government with a string of air and naval exercises around the island, including live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait last week.

It has also used its clout to isolate the island, luring away its diplomatic allies and blocking it from attending major international events.

Chinese officials said the drills were conducted to safeguard China's territorial sovereignty and warned that they would take further action if Taiwan's "(pro) independence forces continue to wantonly take rash actions".By Fumbuka Ng'wanakilala DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - Tanzanians largely ignored on Thursday a U.S.-based activist's call to stage nationwide protests against President John Magufuli's government. Nine demonstrators marched in Tanzanias commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, on Thursday. They were quickly arrested. Mange Kimambi, a self-styled Tanzanian democracy activist based in the United States, tried to organize the demonstrations through social media to coincide with Thursdays anniversary of the union between mainland Tanzania and the Indian Ocean archipelago of Zanzibar. "As Tanzanians, we must defend our peace. We should not allow ourselves to be used by our enemies," Magufuli said in his Union Day speech to the nation, broadcast live on state television. "I will defend our union at all costs. We will not have mercy on anyone - inside or outside the country - who tries to destabilize us." Some shops were closed in several towns, but most of the country was peaceful, with no reports of street protests, according to witnesses. Heavily armed police have patrolled major towns and cities across the country over the past three days. One senior police officer warned on Wednesday that protesters would be "beaten like stray dogs". The main opposition party, CHADEMA, said several of its leaders were arrested by the police in various parts of the country on allegations of inciting Tanzanians to take to the streets. Police in Dar es Salaam on Thursday confirmed the arrest of a leader of CHADEMA's women's organization for mobilizing Tanzanians to march against the government. Tanzania's JamiiForums online platform said on Thursday it suffered from a cyberattack designed to disable it, forcing it offline temporarily. "We are back," JamiiForums tweeted. "We were offline due to a distributed denial of service attack. We apologize for the inconvenience this attack has caused and we are currently reviewing the incident to ensure any learning points are used to enhance our protection in future. JamiiForums did not say who was behind the attack, but its co-owners are facing criminal charges over a user privacy battle with the government. Authorities had accused website administrators of obstructing a police investigation by refusing to disclose the identity of some of its users. (Editing by George Obulutsa, Larry King)Washington (AFP) - US President Donald Trump said Saturday that "things are going very well" after talking with South Korea's President Moon Jae-in about an upcoming summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

"Just had a long and very good talk with President Moon of South Korea. Things are going very well, time and location of meeting with North Korea is being set," Trump wrote on Twitter.

"Also spoke to Prime Minister (Shinzo) Abe of Japan to inform him of the ongoing negotiations," he wrote.

Moon met with Kim in a historic summit, agreeing on Friday to pursue a permanent peace and the complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

An armistice brought the fighting on the Korean peninsula to an end in 1953, but 65 years later, a final peace agreement has still not been reached.

A later readout of the Trump-Moon call issued by the White House said the US and South Korea had closely coordinated ahead of Moon's meeting with Kim.

It added that Trump and Moon "agreed that the unprecedented pressure applied by the United States, the Republic of Korea, and the international community through the global Maximum Pressure Campaign has led to this significant moment."

A readout of Trump's call with Abe said the leaders "reiterated the need for North Korea to abandon all weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs" and that Trump noted "he will urge North Korea to promptly resolve its abductions of Japanese citizens."

While Trump talked with South Korea's president, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis spoke with that country's Minister of National Defense Song Young-moo about the recent summit.

"Secretary Mattis reaffirmed the ironclad US commitment to defend (South Korea) using the full spectrum of US capabilities," it said.

The Moon-Kim meeting has raised expectations for Trump's own planned summit with the North Korean leader, the date and location of which have not yet been finalized.

Story continues

Mongolia and Singapore are the final two sites under consideration for the summit, CBS News reported, though Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Saturday that there had been no formal request for his city-state to host the meeting.

Last year, Pyongyang carried out its sixth nuclear test, by far its most powerful to date, and launched missiles capable of reaching the US mainland.

Its actions sent tensions soaring as Kim and Trump traded personal insults and threats of war.

Trump has demanded the North give up its weapons, and Washington is pressing for it to do so in a complete, verifiable and irreversible way.

Pyongyang is demanding as yet unspecified security guarantees to discuss its arsenal.Thousands of people have fled renewed fighting between Myanmar's army and ethnic insurgents in the country's remote north, a United Nations official said, as a long-simmering conflict intensifies.

More than 4,000 people have been displaced in the country's northernmost state of Kachin near the border with China in the last three weeks, Mark Cutts, head of the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told AFP late Friday.

The numbers do not include some 15,000 people who have fled since the beginning of the year, and upwards of 90,000 residing in IDP (internally displaced persons) camps in both Kachin and Shan states since a ceasefire between the government and the powerful Kachin Independence Army broke down in 2011.

"We have received reports from local organisations saying that there are still many civilians who remain trapped in conflict-affected areas," Cutts said of the recent clashes.

"Our biggest concern is for the safety of civilians -- including pregnant women, the elderly, small children and people with disabilities. We must ensure that these people are protected."

OCHA has been unable to verify reports that civilians have been killed in the fighting. A Myanmar government spokesman could not be reached for comment.

In addition to the Rohingya Muslim crisis in the western part of mainly Buddhist Myanmar, the country's conflict-hit north has also played host to clashes involving other ethnic minorities, which rarely make headlines.

The Kachin, who mostly live in the country's northernmost state of the same name, make up some of the more than 6 percent of Christians in Myanmar, the second largest religious group after Buddhists, according to census figures.

Myanmar's border areas have been unstable since its independence from British colonial rule in 1948, hosting a dizzying array of insurgencies, local militias, and drug-running operations.

The country's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi said making peace was her priority when she took office in 2016 after decades of military rule but progress has been slow.

Story continues

Ethnic armed groups are demanding more autonomy and control from a country in which the Burmese hold major positions of power in politics and the armed forces.

Rights groups say the army has stepped up its campaign in remote areas of Myanmar amid the Rohingya crisis, which has seen some 700,000 people flee to Bangladesh.

The US and the UN have called the military crackdown ethnic cleansing, while Myanmar denies the claims and says it was defending itself against Rohingya insurgents.Managua (AFP) - There was a time Nicaragua's veteran leader Daniel Ortega -- a 72-year-old former leftist rebel whose Sandinistas chased a corrupt dynasty from power -- could count unreservedly on the support of his country's poor.

But no longer. Years of perceived autocracy by him and his wife Rosario Murillo, who is also his vice president, have bubbled over into a wave of anti-government resentment that manifested itself in protests that erupted last week.

The spark that caused it all was an aborted bid to reform Nicaragua's social security system, which is heading towards insolvency.

After violent clashes in which at least 38 people were killed, the protests have now dissipated. But the frustrations of those who once backed Ortega and now feel betrayed are still bitter-sharp.

"I'm a Sandinista but I don't like injustice," said Gilberto Castillo, a 61-year-old who fought with the rebels to oust the despised Samoza regime that ruled from 1936 to 1979.

Castillo now works odd jobs in Managua, despite his diabetes and hypertension, because his $175 monthly pension doesn't nearly provide enough to live on.

The social security reforms were going to reduce his pension by five percent -- "they were going to take away money that could but a sack of rice, sugar, it's money we can't afford to lose."

- 'No more!' -

Money is only part of the reason ordinary Nicaraguans are abandoning their support of Ortega, who was re-elected in 2016 and who has now been president for 11 consecutive years -- having previously led the country from 1979 to 1990.

His ditching of revolutionary principles that once made him the man of the people has proved more potent.

Ortega has steadily exerted control over the government, the military and the judiciary, while ensuring the opposition has been rendered toothless.

He and his wife use only state media to communicate, and independent TV stations were banned from broadcasting the worst of last week's protests.

Story continues

For a long time Nicaraguans accepted Ortega's authority because -- through a pact with the business elite -- he oversaw economic stability and guaranteed tight security that prevented gangs that prowl other parts of Central America from taking root.

The new generation, however, yearns for more than stability. University students led the protests and refused to be cowed by violent police repression.

"This was something we are used to. But this time we decided to rise up. This was the moment to say 'no more!'," explained Yoshua Guevara, a 19-year-old student from a modest background.

He was among those who took to the streets, leaving his house with the idea of defending his 67-year-old grandmother's pension. He wore a mask to avoid being identified.

The ensuing struggle was "difficult," he admitted. But "we want a more transparent Nicaragua."

- Talks mooted -

The mass protests and intensifying international criticism of the deadly security response eventually led Ortega to make concessions: withdrawing the contentious pension reform, freeing dozens of arrested protesters, and calling for dialogue.

The gestures have mollified the powerful private business sector, which had sided with the people and even organized a march of tens of thousands of people against the repression where participants yelled "Freedom!" and demanded Ortega's ouster.

Now, with the backing of Catholic bishops offering mediation, business leaders say the conditions are right for talks.

So far, no agenda, no date and no list of who will take part have emerged for the mooted discussions.

With the violence subsided, Ortega has retreated into the mutism that has defined his recent years as president, and Vice President Murillo has reverted to giving news and Christian-tinged moral platitudes via state broadcasters.

The implication appears to be that the ruling couple -- and the country's employers -- want to get back to business as usual.

But it is far from clear that Nicaragua's students, or indeed the pensioners who remembered the early days of the revolution, are willing to settle for the old complacency.

Fissures can be seen in Ortega's control, and the foundations that once held him up no longer look so solid.Warning: This post contains spoilers for Avengers: Infinity War.

Some fans may have been surprised to see tech genius Tony Stark using an old school flip phone in Avengers: Infinity War. Tony wears an Iron Man suit that can build itself and regenerate on his body. You would think he would carry an iPhone X. But that phone plays a special role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Early in Infinity War, Iron Man explains to Bruce Banner, a.k.a. The Hulk, that the Avengers broke up. Bruce is incredulous. Broke up like a band? he asks.

Indeed. Back in Captain America: Civil War, Tony and Steve Rogers (a.k.a. Captain America) had a falling out. The feud is rather complicated, but basically the government wanted to regulate superheroes. Tony was in favor of the regulation, and Steve against it. They argued with one another, and then punched one another, as superheroes do. The rest of the Avengers each take a side, half with Tony and half with Steve.

By the end of the film the two had all but resolved their dispute when Tony found out that Steves best friend, Bucky Barnes, murdered Tonys parents. To be fair, Bucky was brainwashed by the evil organization HYDRA at the time of the murder. This information doesnt exactly assuage Tony. He fights Steve and Bucky in a bruising battle. Finally, Steve has the chance to kill Tony but doesnt. He takes Bucky and leaves, leaving his Captain America shield behind.

The Avengers disband. Steve takes Bucky to Wakanda, where they fix Buckys brain so he cant be brainwashed by HYDRA anymore. Iron Man retires to the new Avengers compound in upstate New York. There, he gets a package in the mail. In it is a flip phone with one contact: Steve Rogers. Attached is a note: No matter what, I promise you, if you need us, if you need me, Ill be there.

Its that phone that Tony is so hesitant to use in Infinity War. And its that phone that Bruce ultimately uses to contact Steve.The Trump administration is looking to end regulations that work to prevent disastrous offshore oil spills like 2010s Deepwater Horizon disaster, which killed 11 workers and discharged 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico over 87 days. Cleanup efforts cost $62 billion.

The Department of Interior has proposed rolling back parts of 2016s Well Control Rule, which put safety standards in place for systems that prevent blowouts and enact emergency measures if offshore oil and gas drillers lose control of their rigs. The original rule was crafted by the Obama administration as a direct response to the BP oil spill.

But oil and gas companies and some Republican representatives fought back against parts of the rule, complaining that they were overly restrictive and cost prohibitive. The DOIs Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement estimates that the rollbacks will save energy companies about $946 million over 10 years.

Trending: Tesla Driver Banned After Turning On Autopilot, Then Moving To Passenger Seat

GettyImages-102611818

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

We believe that by focusing on safety without lessening safety or environmental safeguards, we have produced the kind of public policy that is good for America, is good for energy security and is good for economic security, Scott Angelle, Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement director, said Friday.

Angelle said that the changes to the rule still comply with outside safety recommendations made shortly after the BP oil spill. Under the proposed rules, companies would not need to have DOI verification in order to certify that companies have blowout prevention systems in place, would no longer have to shut down their wells when certain boats pass by, and standards for real-time well monitoring and underwater vehicle requirements would be eased.

Story continues

Don't miss: Who is Jon Tester? Trump Calls On Montana Senator To Resign After Ronny Jackson Allegations

After over $65 billion of damage and bipartisan Congressional oversight hearings on the Deepwater Horizon tragedy, new protections were put in place to make sure this type of disaster never happened again, said Senator Maria Cantwell, a Democrat who is the ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Today Interior is trying to ignore those protections. They are creating an unbelievable liability for taxpayers by ignoring safety.

"This administration wants to turn a blind eye to history just to help their friends in the oil industry," said Senator Bill Nelson, also a Democrat. "We can't let that happen. These rules were put in place to prevent another massive oil spill off our coasts. We can't allow this new administration to take us backwards in time and, once again, expose Florida's beautiful beaches and tourism-based economy to such an unnecessary risk."

The proposed rule changes will be open to public comment for 60 days before being finalized.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekAfter the French presidents warm visit, the frosty atmosphere was clear as the US and German leaders discussed Nato and Iran

Donald Trump and Angela Merkel worked hard to present a united front on Friday but could not mask deep differences in substance and style.

Although the two leaders stressed the US and Germanys close ties, their low-key meeting offered a stark contrast to the lavish state visit of French president Emmanuel Macron  and their body language was distinctly colder.

At a joint press conference at the White House, Trump bemoaned Americas $151bn trade deficit with the European Union, whose exemption from steel and aluminum tariffs expires on Tuesday unless the US grants an extension.

Merkel suggested little progress had been made on the issue. The president will decide  thats very clear, she told reporters. We had an exchange of views on the current state of affairs and the negotiations. The decision lies with the president.

Trump said: We need a reciprocal relationship, which we dont have. Were working on it and we want to make it more fair and the chancellor wants to make it more fair.

We need a reciprocal relationship, which we dont have. Were working on it and we want to make it more fair Donald Trump

But he added that he did not blame Merkel, Germany or the EU for the imbalance. I blame the people that preceded me for allowing this to happen, he said.

The US president also reiterated his criticism of Nato members that do not spend the mandatory 2% of GDP on defence; Merkel said Germanys latest budget would take defence spending to 1.3% of GDP. He said: Nato is wonderful but it helps Europe more than it helps us, and why are we paying a vast majority of the costs?

On her first visit to Washington since re-election, Merkel had been expected to back up Macrons case for defending the Iran nuclear deal, which Trump is threatening to scrap. The chancellor acknowledged that the deal is anything but perfect  it will not solve all the problems with Iran, but she described it as a building block. She said Trump must decide whether the US would withdraw.

Story continues

He offered no fresh clues to his thinking but said: They will not be doing nuclear weapons. That I can tell you. Theyre not going to be doing nuclear weapons. You can bank on it.

Merkel looked on bemused as Trump gave rambling answers about his plans for a new embassy in Jerusalem and the withdrawal of Ronny Jackson as nominee for veterans affairs (VA) secretary. Trump praised Jackson and said: I explained Washington can be a very mean place; you dont know about that, chancellor. A nasty place.

Listening via a translation device, Merkel frowned and grimaced. Moments later, Trump said about accountability reforms in the VA: When someone treats our veterans badly, we can fire them so fast  almost as fast as they fire people in Germany. Merkel raised her eyebrows and forced a smile.

When Merkel last visited, Trump was criticised for not shaking her hand in the Oval Office. This time, he greeted Merkel outside the West Wing with a handshake and a kiss on each cheek. He insisted: We have a really great relationship, and we actually have had a great relationship right from the beginning, but some people didnt understand that.Warships and fighter jets of Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy take part in a military display in the South China Sea April 12, 2018. Picture taken April 12, 2018. REUTERS/Stringer

J. Michael Cole

Security, Asia

Beijing is determined to rewrite the rules in the Asia-Pacific region. And Taipei will suffer.

Taiwan in Dead Center of Chinas Greater Territorial Ambitions

China on Monday accused the United States of playing psychological games and harming peace and stability after two U.S. Navy warships transited the Taiwan Strait over the weekend, the first such passage since July 2017.

The Japan-based USS Mustin and USS Benfold Arleigh Burke-class destroyers made the transit in international waters late on Saturday evening as part of routine freedom of navigation passages. U.S. Pacific Fleet spokesman Capt. Charlie Brown said that U.S. Navy ships transit between the South China Sea and East China Sea via the Taiwan Strait and have done so for many years.

Beijings response, as expected, was to decry the transitsnotwithstanding their routine nature and the fact that in the past Chinese authorities had remained silent when they occurredas provocative. On Sunday, Taiwan Affairs Office director Liu Jieyi accused Washington of playing the Taiwan card, while over at the foreign ministry, spokesperson Hua Chunying stated that the Taiwan issue is related to Chinese sovereignty and territorial integrity and urged the United States to at once scrupulously abide by the one-China principle . . . and avoid harming China-U.S. relations and peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. (Note: the United States abides by its one China policy, which merely acknowledges Beijings contention that there is only one China, as well as the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979, the Three Communiques and Six Assurances. The United States is under no obligation whatsoever to abide by Beijings one China principle. Saturdays passage in no way contravened any of those policies.)

The reason for Beijings ire, of course, is that it is now clearly on a mission to rewrite longstanding rules of engagement in the Asia-Pacific region and to alter the status quo in the Taiwan Strait. Therefore, what was acceptable in the past is now treated as an attack on Chinese sovereignty and interference in its near-abroad, which besides waters within the first island chain also includes the East China Sea and practically all of the South China Sea. Beijings aim is nothing less than to expel the United States from the region through denial of access and the erosion of its security agreements with countries like Taiwan, Japan and the Philippines.

Story continues

Beijing has invariably stated that Taipei and Washington have been undermining stability by tightening their relationship, and refuses to admit that this rapprochement is directly related to growing military activity by the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) near and around Taiwan, as well as in the East and South China Sea. The deepening of the U.S.-Taiwan relationship is therefore a consequence of Beijings military assertiveness and provides the reassurance, as per the Taiwan Relations Act, that Taiwan needs to hold the line against an encroaching China. The status quo in the Taiwan Strait can only be maintained if action is taken to balance against growing Chinese activity.

The Chinese leadership (as well as the opposition Kuomintang, or KMT, and many international media outlets) has also attributed rising tensions between Taipei and Beijing to the Tsai administrations refusal to acknowledge the so-called 1992 consensus and one China framework. This decision is largely due to two factors: the consensus is a fabrication, and Beijing no longer countenances, if it ever did, different interpretations of one China. In the past, this had given the KMT the linguistic flexibility it needed to make its case to the Taiwanese public. By doing all this, Beijing has created justification for its actions: its belligerence is merely defensive, in response to provocations by the democratically elected government in Taipei. Critics of the Tsai administration, including the opposition, have suggested that tensions would disappear if only she agreed to the 1992 consensus and one China, as her predecessor, Ma Ying-jeou of the KMT did between 2008 and 2016.

The problem with this logic is that it fails to take Beijings true aspirations into consideration. Agreeing to the consensus only bought Taiwan time and removed one variable which Beijing could exploit to pressure Taiwan. But for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the ultimate aim remains the same: the annexation of Taiwan and the eradication, once and for all, of the Republic of China (Taiwan). In fact, during the alleged period of rapprochement under President Ma, the PLA also encircled Taiwan and occasionally violated its ADIZ, it conducted exercises simulating invasions of Taiwan and deployed new ballistic missiles aimed at its opponent across the Taiwan Strait; and just as now, it expressed anger at any sign of U.S. assistance to Taiwan, from arms sales to the (emergency) landing of a pair of F-18s in Taiwan in April 2015.

The reason we are seeing more PLA activity now is not because President Tsai Ing-wen of the Taiwan-centric Democratic Progressive Party is in office; that uptick in activity is simply the natural progression of a modernized PLA that is flexing its muscles within the region and which seeks to habituate its neighbors to a regular Chinese military presence, all with the objective, finally, of expelling the United States from the region. Thus, it doesnt matter who holds office in Taipei (or Tokyo or Manila, for that matter): the Chinese are pushing outwards, beyond the first island chain and into the West Pacific. Taiwan is merely a casualty of geography, as it happens to be located smack in the middle of that expansion and between the East and South China Sea. Knowing Beijings ambitions, its difficult to imagine that the PLA would be any less active near Taiwan, or its activities any less threatening, if the KMT were back in power, as the PLA only has two direct pathways into the West Pacific: the Bashi Channel between Taiwan and the Philippines, and the Strait of Miyako between Taiwan and Japan.

In light of all this, policymakers with a stake in peace and stability in the Asia Pacific should recognize that Taiwan is merely one of several interconnected variables in Chinas accelerating effort to assume control of its near-abroad. They should also bear in mind that such ambitionsand related military activitywould not cease if a Beijing-friendly government assumed office in Taiwan. The KMT can vaunt its ability to engage the CCP all it wants, what with visits to Beijing and willingness to embrace the 1992 consensus, and can use this ostensible advantage for electoral purposes. But in the end, it too stands in the way of Beijings greater ambitions. A more pro-Beijing administration could assuage some of the pressure, perhaps, and buy Taiwan some time. But the idea that it could somehow convince Beijing to abandon its region-wide territorial ambitions is a dangerous one, as it would create a false sense of security in Taiwan.

In the end, were all in this together. Whether from the blue or green camp, the people of Taiwan, along with people from other nations in the Asia-Pacific, must learn to deal with a regime in Beijing that is dead set on altering the longstanding security architecture in the region and removing the security umbrella that has been in place since the end of World War II. For Taiwan, it would be to everyones advantage if they sought to meet this challenge together rather than perpetuate divisions that enfeeble the nations ability to stay afloat.

J. Michael Cole is a Taipei-based senior fellow with the China Policy Institute/Taiwan Studies Program at the University of Nottingham, UK, associate researcher with the French Centre for Research on Contemporary China and chief editor of Taiwan Sentinel. He is a former analyst with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service in Ottawa and has an M.A. in War Studies from the Royal Military College of Canada. His latest book, Convergence or Conflict in the Taiwan Strait, was published by Routledge in 2016.

Image: Warships and fighter jets of Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy take part in a military display in the South China Sea April 12, 2018. Picture taken April 12, 2018. REUTERS/Stringer

Read full articleDonald Trump has revealed the location for a forthcoming summit between himself and Kim Jong-un has been narrowed to just two or three locations.

Speaking just hours after the leaders of North and South Korea made history in their own meeting during which Mr Kim became the first North Korean leader to visit south of the demarcation line between the two Koreas, the US leader said he looking forward to his own planned summit.

I dont think hes playing, Mr Trump said of Mr Kim, speaking to reporters at the beginning of a meeting in the Oval Office with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. We will, I think, come up with a solution and if we dont we leave the room with great respect and we just keep it going.

He added: A lot of very positive things happened over the last 24 hours. Well be setting up a meeting very shortly. We have it broken down to probably two sites now, two or three sites, locations. And hopefully were going to have great success.

In scenes that could barely have been dreamed of just a few months ago when there were genuine fears about the prospect of fresh military conflict on the Korean peninsula, Mr Kim and his South Korean counterpart, Moon Jae-in, shook hands and laughed, before holding private talks.

They later pledged in a joint statement to seek a formal end to the Korean War by the end of the year and rid their peninsula of nuclear weapons, without specifying how it would be achieved.

Mr Trump, who many experts have given a degree of credit in helping persuade North Korea to return to the negotiating table with a combination of tough sanctions and equally tough sabre-rattling, was quick to wrap his arms around developments.

We have it broken down to probably two sites now -- two or three sites, locations. And hopefully, we are going to have great success. We will see what happens, President Trump says of potential meeting with North Korea https://t.co/izRLoAHP70 pic.twitter.com/XEaNgbquoF  CBS News (@CBSNews) April 27, 2018

When I began, people were saying that was an impossibility, Mr Trump said during an appearance with US athletes who participated in this years Winter Olympics in South Korea. They said there were two alternatives: Let them have what they have, or go to war. And now we have a much better alternative than anybody thought even possible.

Story continues

The Kim-Moon meeting was the culmination of a rapprochement that was inspired by the February games.

The Associated Press said Mr Trump gave an unequivocal statement that he would sit down with Mr Kim, a meeting that has been tentatively scheduled for May or early June and which would represent a first during six decades of hostility.

Ill be meeting with Kim Jong Un in the coming weeks as we seek to denuclearise the North Korean area and the entire Korean Peninsula, Mr Trump said.

Hopefully the day will come when Olympic athletes can compete on a Korean peninsula that is free of nuclear weapons and where all Koreans can live together and can share their dreams. It would be a wonderful thing to do.Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The US Congress House intelligence committee has found no evidence of collusion between President Donald Trump and Russian officials in its final investigative report about whether Moscow interfered with the 2016 US election.

The approximately 250-page report is the culmination of the committees year-long investigation. However, the results are likely to be contested by Democrats on the committee who felt Republicans ended the investigation too early in order to help Mr Trump and the party ahead of the November 2018 mid-term elections. Ranking Democrat Congressman Adam Schiff had the same objections to the committees release last month of the preliminary findings and today said the conclusions are superficial and [of a] political nature.

Though the full report has blacked out portions deemed classified by the US intelligence community, the summary stated that the committee agreed with the intelligence communitys findings except for one crucial point: Russian President Vladimir Putins supposed preference for candidate [Mr] Trump.

Republican Congressman Mike Conaway said in a statement that the reports release will give citizens the opportunity to access the information used to draw the conclusions found in last months findings and recommendations. However, he said he was extremely disappointed with the overzealous redactions made by the intelligence community.

When we started this investigation, we set out to give the American people the answers to the questions theyve been asking and we promised to be as transparent as possible in our final report. I dont believe the information were releasing today meets that standard, he said.

Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell claimed in a statement that though the report concluded that there was no collusion, "Republicans never allowed the investigation to look for collusion". He said they "ran a take them at their word investigation that showed no willingness to test witness testimony against their cell phone, bank, and travel records," adding that members have not followed through on their promise to release the transcripts so the public could "judge for itself".

Story continues

Mr Trump immediately seized on the conclusions in the report summary and tweeted the campaign of opponent Hillary Clinton paid for Opposition Research obtained from Russia- Wow! A total Witch Hunt! MUST END NOW!.

Just Out: House Intelligence Committee Report released. No evidence that the Trump Campaign colluded, coordinated or conspired with Russia. Clinton Campaign paid for Opposition Research obtained from Russia- Wow! A total Witch Hunt! MUST END NOW!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 27, 2018

The report also called for the end of the Logan Act, which stipulates that private citizens are not allowed to negotiate on behalf of the US unless authorised to do so. If repealed this could clear some Trump campaign members of possible violations of the act. Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn had pleaded guilty in December 2017 to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russian officials while he was only a member of the Trump transition team, not a government employee as yet. Former campaign aide George Papadopoulos had pleaded guilty to the same type of offence.

The report indicated that since the Logan Act was passed in 1799, no one has been convicted of violating it.

Despite Mr Schiff's comment that the results in the report are "political," there was at least one conclusion that appeared to criticise equally. The report stated that both campaigns used "poor judgement" at times, particularly former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort - who was indicted as part of the probe, the president's son Donald Trump Jr, and son-in-law Jared Kushner. The reported cited the trio's Trump Tower meeting with Kremlin-linked lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, who falsely purported to have damaging information on the Clinton campaign, demonstrated poor judgement".

The Committee also found that the Clinton campaign and the DNC, using a series of cutouts and intermediaries to obscure their roles, paid for opposition research on Trump obtained from Russian sources, including a litany of claims by high-ranking current and former Russian government officials, the report said. Some of that information was used to compile the now-infamous dossier written by former UK intelligence officer Christopher Steele, which detailed alleged acts by Mr Trump on trip to Moscow in 2013 that involved prostitutes.

House intelligence committee Democrats, the Senate intelligence committee, and the US Department of Justice - through the FBI and special counsel Robert Mueller - are all continuing to investigate the matter of alleged collusion. Mr Schiff said "to do otherwise would ignore our responsibility to conduct meaningful oversight and insure that the Russians do not possess leverage over the President of the United States".GENEVA (Reuters) - Israel must stop the excessive use of force by its security forces along the Gaza border and must hold to account those responsible for the many deaths and injuries sustained by Palestinians in the past month, the U.N. human rights chief said on Friday. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein said in a statement that in the past four weeks, 42 Palestinians had been killed and more than 5,500 wounded along the fence in Gaza, with no reports of Israeli casualties. "The loss of life is deplorable, and the staggering number of injuries caused by live ammunition only confirms the sense that excessive force has been used against demonstrators  not once, not twice, but repeatedly," Zeid said. Israel's Foreign Ministry said it did had no immediate comment on Zeid's statement. The government has said previously that it is doing what is necessary to stop the border fence being breached. International law permits the use of lethal force in cases of "extreme necessity", but it was hard to see how stones or Molotov cocktails thrown from a great distance at heavily protected security forces could constitute such a threat, Zeid said. The death toll includes 35 people killed during demonstrations as part of the "Great March of Return" - evoking a longtime call for refugees to regain ancestral homes in what is now Israel -- and appear to have been unarmed and no imminent threat to Israeli security forces, the statement said. The deaths could constitute wilful killings in the context of an occupation, a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention, Zeid said. Four children were shot dead by Israeli forces, three of them killed by a bullet to the head or neck, he said. Another 233 children were injured by live ammunition, some sustaining injuries causing lifelong disabilities including amputations. "It is difficult to see how children, even those throwing stones, can present a threat of imminent death or serious injury to heavily protected security force personnel," Zeid said. United Nations's warnings about excessive use of force appeared to have gone unheeded, with no change in Israeli tactics, and Israel only seemed to carry out serious investigations when there was independent video evidence, he said. Otherwise there was little or no effort to apply the rule of law. Zeid said he was extremely concerned that by the end of the day, and forthcoming Fridays, the traditional day of protest, more Palestinians would be killed, simply because they approached a fence while exercising their right to protest. "These trends call into question to what extent the ISFs rules of engagement, which are not public, are in line with international law, or at least to what degree the ISF abides by its own rules." (Reporting by Tom Miles, additional reporting by Stephane Farrell in Jerusalem, Editing by Alison Williams and Angus MacSwan)Kampala (AFP) - Ugandan police said Saturday they had stumbled upon a "radicalisation centre" at a Kampala mosque, shooting dead two people, arresting dozens and releasing over 100 women and children.

A security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said officers had found what appeared to be an Islamist radicalisation centre inside the mosque.

The discovery came Friday evening as police offices followed a suspect, believed to have been involved in a high-profile kidnapping and murder earlier this year, into the ramshackle Usafi mosque.

During an ensuing shoot-out, police said one officer was wounded, two men were shot dead and 36 arrested and accused of hoarding weapons.

Also inside the mosque were 18 women and 94 children that police said were being held against their will.

"A number of children and women, suspected to either have been kidnapped or held hostage, were rescued," police spokesman Emilian Kayima told a news conference on Saturday.

"Two of the hostage-takers were shot dead after violently attacking and severely injuring one of the security officers," Kayima said, adding that the man who police had followed into the mosque was taken into custody.

Investigations into the connection between the original suspect and those found inside the mosque were continuing.

At the scene, in a particularly poor part of the city, bullet holes pocked the collection of corrugated tin lean-tos and tarpaulin sheets that constitute the mosque, situated in a low-lying area between a bus station and a shipping container park.

Police had cordoned the area, blocking curious residents and passersby.

- 'Scared and traumatised' -

Local council official Hassan Kiberu heard the gunshots that ripped through the neighbourhood on Friday evening. "I've never been in that mosque before. The people who went there didn't allow anyone in," he said.

Kiberu said the mosque's leader was arrested a month ago, after complaints from neighbours who suspected him of disseminating extremist messages. "I think they were grooming those kids in there for something," he said.

Story continues

The men arrested Friday -- who police said were found with 23 machetes, 60 bullets and a bow and arrow -- are suspected of involvement in the kidnapping and illegal detention of the women and children who come from various East African countries.

In February, the body of Susan Magara -- a member of an influential Ugandan family -- was found three weeks after her abduction and a string of ransom demands.

The crime shocked Ugandans and president Yoweri Museveni ordered intelligence agencies to lead an investigation.

Security forces believe that a key suspect who they had under surveillance realised he was being followed and bolted into the mosque.

Interior Minister Jeje Odong said officers chased the suspect into the mosque and that the subsequent discovery of weapons, women and children was not "planned or intended".

"If the suspect had not gone into the mosque we would have had no reason to enter," Odong said. "We take strong exception to places of worship being used to commit crime."

Odong said the children discovered inside "looked scared and traumatised" and appeared to be from Burundi, Rwanda and Kenya as well as Uganda.During a joint press conference Friday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel appeared less than amused as President Donald Trump went off on a lengthy story about how he negotiated a lower price for the United States Embassy set to open in Jerusalem next month.

Related: Video: Trump Dusts Dandruff Off French President Emmanuel Macron to Make Him Perfect

Trump in the East Room of the White House said he half-signed an order to build a new embassy in Jerusalem, stopping after his first name, because he saw it would cost $1 billion. The president said he spoke with his ambassador and favored the option to open the embassy in a section of an existing building, for $150,000.

Trending: Fortnite Season 4 Teaser Adds New Skin for Aquaman, Villain or Hanzo

But not to be cheap, Trump said he suggested upping the retrofit to $300,000 or $400,000.

We have a great site. The site is better than anything you can imagine, but thats the way government works. They were going to spend a billion and were going to spend much less than a half a million, Trump said, going off on a tangent when responding to a question simply about whether he intended to attend the embassy's opening. Could have done it for much less than that but I said, Lets make it really nice, so thats what it is.

Meanwhile, Merkel, who has endured a frayed relationship with Trump, did not nod or show any signs of approval as the president bragged, even as he at one point turned directly in her direction seeking approval for his frugalness and negotiating sills. Instead, Merkel looked down at the podium and around the room, without smiling, and only occasionally looking across at Trump.

Don't miss: Hillary Clinton Backs First-Time Female Candidate's Request to Use Campaign Funds for Child Care

GettyImages-952166934

Alex Wong/Getty Images

Story continues

I may go, Trump said, addressing the question of whether he would be there for the opening. Very proud of it.

He added: As you know, the embassy in Jerusalem, its been promised for many, many years by presidents. They all make campaign promises and they never have the courage to carry it out. I carried it out.

Germany was one of many countries that urged the U.S. not to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from Newsweek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.The good news from the south is that the number of protestors in the March of Return is decreasing. Hamas is encouraging, calling, shouting, broadcasting, publishingbut the masses are staying away.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter



From one Friday to the next, the numbers are dropping. Tens of thousands in the first protest; only several thousand last Friday. In this sense, at least in the current stage, its a failure.

The bad news is that there is no need for hundreds or tens of thousands of protestors to succeed. Just one 15-year-old boy, whose death is being investigated, is excellent fuel for the anti-Israel propaganda. And if the moment he was hit was caught on camera, its double trouble. Its a great opportunity for Knesset Member Ahmad Tibi, and not just him, to turn IDF soldiers into murderers, and its an opportunity for the UN envoy and other functionaries and rights activists to use their arsenal of propaganda rockets against Israel.

Palestinian youth killed from IDF fire during Gaza border protest

The events on the Gaza border have stopped occupying a lot of space in the global press. But Natalie Portmans announcement, unintentionally, put Gaza back in the headlines, as did the UN envoys statement and the European Unions demand for an investigation into the incident. The IDF, in any event, intends on investigating.

Lets put things in order. First of all, any killing of an innocent person is unfortunate. Hamas gains, Israels enemies celebrate, and Israel is the only one that loses from the situation. No one has placed cameras on the US-Mexico border, although 412 infiltrators or work migrants were killed there in 2017, and 498 in 2016, including children. But the border between Israel and Gaza, as well as the points of friction in Hebron, seem to have the highest number of cameras in the world.

Something else was caught on camera: Many of the kites flown towards Israel were marked with a swastika, in addition to carrying explosives. The mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, was an ardent fan of the Nazis. He seems to have followers. Its not just the Hamas Covenant or the calls for Israels destruction, chanted by some of the protestors. Its also the kites carrying the Nazi symbol. And when these impassioned young people approach the fence, in an intentional provocation, with explosive kitesaccidents can happen, and its a pity that they happen.

We shouldnt make generalizations. Its not that all of the strips residents identify with the Nazi ideology. But Hamas and its supporters, and likely many of the protestors as well, carry a message of annihilation and anti-Semitism.

The moderate ones settle for spreading the message of Israels destruction. Thats what Gaza resident Rana Shubair did, for example, in an article published in Hebrew in the Sikha Mekomit (Local Call) website. She wrote there about the the Great Return March by the border with occupied Palestine, to show us that when they talk about an occupation and about Palestine, theyre talking about Israel.

A kite marked with a swastika, flown by Gaza protestors into Israel (Photo: Twitter)

The thing is that the global media, almost without exception, ignored the protestors message. The swastikas didnt appear in the New York Times or in Le Monde. But the Guardian published a letter by three members of the Breaking the Silence organization, accusing the IDF of instructing snipers to shoot to kill unarmed demonstrators.

Theyre lying. There are no such orders. They didnt bother, of course, to write a single word about the responsibility of Hamas and its supporters. On the contrary, they wrote that harming innocent people in Gaza is part of what is needed to maintain the regime of occupation. And if former soldiers publish a letter which leads to the conclusion that IDF soldiers are murderers, how can we complain about those newspapers editorials?

The lies produced by Breaking the Silence and the blind eye the global media has been turning to the protestors horrific messages dont reduce Israels responsibility. We could have done things differently. It was clear in advance that Hamas wanted casualties, and that its propagandists wouldintentionally and unintentionallypoint an accusing finger at Israel. It was clear that the battle wouldnt take place only in the border area, but also in the global media.

The damage could have been decreased by conveying a message of reaching out to the strips residents, who are suffering because of Hamas and not because of Israel. But nothing was done. Hamas may have failed, and the masses arent going out to protest, but Israelas expectedis being defeated once again.US President Donald Trump said Friday he rejected a plan to spend $1 billion on the new US Embassy in Jerusalem and plans to do it for less than half a million dollars instead.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter



He said he "may go" to the embassy opening May 14.

At a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Trump said he had started signing his name to a proposal when he noticed the eye-popping $1 billion figure. He says he called it off.

German Chancellor Merkel (L) and US President Trump (Photo: AFP)

Trump noted US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman told him it could be done for a mere $150,000, but added he didn't want to go that low and approved spending $300,000 or $400,000 instead.

The embassy is moving from Tel Aviv. Rather than build a new building, the US is retrofitting a small part of an existing American consular facility so the embassy can open quickly.

Aside from leading the move to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital and move its embassy there, the US has also taken Israel's stance on Iranemphasizing the importance of deterring the Islamic Republic away from seeking nuclear capabilities.

At the conference, the president was asked if he would use military force to reign in Iran's nuclear program, if the US drops out of the international nuclear deal with Iran.

Trump said he won't discuss the use of military force, but he says: "They are not going to be doing nuclear weapons. You can bank on it."

He then called on NATO allies to increase their defense spending, pressing European nations to spend at least two percent of their GDP on defenseas he has urged since his campaign.DUBAI - Saudi state media is reporting an airstrike by a kingdom-led coalition in Yemen's capital has killed two Shiite rebel leaders and dozens of their militiamen.

Saudi state-run television offered the report early Saturday, saying more than 50 were killed. The Shiite rebels known as Houthis did not immediately acknowledge the strike.

Al-Arabiya, a Dubai-based satellite news network now believed to be majority-owned by Saudi Arabia, reported the strike Friday hit a high-level meeting of the Houthis.

Al-Arabiya said the strike hit a building belonging to Yemen's Interior Ministry. It said over 38 Houthi fighters including the two leaders were killed.

Al-Masirah, a Houthi-run satellite news channel, acknowledged Houthi leaders met Friday to discuss Saturday's funeral of Saleh al-Sammad, a Houthi political leader earlier killed in a Saudi airstrike.Islamic State's Amaq News Agency released a video on Friday showing what they said was Islamic State militants shooting "two advocators" for next month's Iraqi parliamentary elections in the town of al-Tarmiyah, in the Salah al-Din governorate north of Baghdad.

In an audio message released on April 22, the militant group's spokesman accused Iraq's Shi'ite-led government of being a proxy of Iran and warned that anyone who runs or votes in the May 12 election would be targeted.The Israeli Air Force attacked six terror targets belonging to the Hamas naval force in the Gaza Strip late Friday night after a large-scale attempt by Palestinian rioters to breach the border fence and enter Israel earlier in the day.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter



According to Palestinian reports, IAF aircraft launched missiles at two boats at the Gaza port, as well as a Hamas post in Deir al-Balah, south of the port. No injuries were reported in the strikes, but the boats were damaged.

A 15-year-old Palestinian teenager hurt in the violent clashes on the border succumbed to his early Saturday, bringing the number of dead in clashes this Friday to four.

Rioting on the Gaza border (Photo: AFP)

Azzam Aweida, 15, was hit in the head during protests in southern Gaza on Friday, the Gaza health ministry said.

Hundreds of people gathered at his home in the southern town of Khan Younis to attend the funeral.

Mourners carried his body, wrapped in a Palestinian flag, to a nearby mosque for prayers before burial. "My son is a martyr and I am very proud of him," said his father, Helal Aweida.

According to Gaza's health ministry, more than 300 other people were hospitalized for gunshot wounds and tear gas inhalation.

Hundreds of Palestinian rioters tried to enter Israeli territory on Friday by attempting to burn the security fence near the Karni crossing. The rioters threw explosives, hand grenades, Molotov cocktails and stones at the fence and tried to set it on fire. IDF forces used crowd dispersal measures and live fire and were able to block the attempts.

"Attempts have been made to harm security infrastructure, roll burning tires, hurl rocks and fly kites with flaming objects attached to them," the IDF said.

"Troops have used riot dispersal means and have fired in accordance with the rules of engagement," it added.

The protests, which took place in five spots along the border, saw low turnout for the third week in a row, with only some 10,000 rioters attacking the fence.

Palestinians trying to breach border fence (:  ")

X

The Palestinian ambassador to the UN challenged Israel on Friday to agree to an independent commission to investigate events in Gaza and determine "who are the criminals, who are violating international law and to hold them responsible for these crimes."

Riyad Mansour demanded to know why Israel won't accept an independent and transparent investigation, as Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for.

He said the Palestinians are exploring ideas, including at the Geneva-based Human Rights Council and the International Criminal Court, to "stop this massacre and serve justice and to hold accountability."

Palestinian rioters on the Gaza border (Photo: EPA)

"We will not leave a stone unturned," he told reporters at UN headquarters in New York.

"Those cowards who are hiding behind the hills and armed to the teeth ... with high velocity rifles to use them as snipers against civilians -- shame on them. They are the cowards who are facing defenseless civilians and killing them, as one would go hunting in the open fields," Mansour said.

"If they are really a moral force," he said, "they would not conduct themselves in this matter. They would allow people to demonstrate peacefully without threatening their lives."

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein on Friday called the loss of life deplorable and said a "staggering number" of injuries had been caused by live ammunition.

Meanwhile, Amnesty International called for an arms embargo of Israel over the use of live fire.

"For four weeks the world has watched in horror as Israeli snipers and other soldiers, in full protective gear and behind the fence, have attacked Palestinian protesters with live ammunition and tear gas," the human rights organization said in a statement.Police closed roads in southern Israel on Saturday morning amid fears of flooding in the Jordan Valley, the Judea Desert and the Dead Sea area.

Parts of route 90 were closed between the Ha'Arava Junction and the Zohar Junction, as well as between Ein Bokek and Ein Gedi; route 40 was closed from Mitzpe Ramon to the Tsihor Junction; route 227 was closed from Oron Junction to the Ir Ovot Junction; route 224 was closed from the Tze'elim Bridge in both directions.German Chancellor Angela Merkel, standing alongside US President Donald Trump at the White House, said Friday that the existing international accord on Iran is not enough to curb the Islamic republic's nuclear ambitions.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter



The so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, signed by Tehran and six world powers including Germany and the United States, is a first step that has contributed to slowing down their activities in this particular respect, Merkel told reporters.

But we also think from a German perspective that this is not sufficient in order to see to it that Irans ambitions are curbed and contained.





Merkel and Trump meet at the White House (Photo: EPA)

Europe and the United States ought to be in lock step on this, she said.

Trump welcomed Merkel to the White House for a visit of less than three hours. He greeted Merkel outside the West Wing with a handshake and a kiss on each cheek, a traditional welcome but far short of the bountiful display of personal warmth that was seen earlier in the week when he played host to French President Emmanuel Macron for a lavish three-day state visit.

Merkel and Trump meet at the White House (Photo: EPA)

Trump, in brief remarks alongside Merkel in the Oval Office, called her an "extraordinary woman," congratulated her on her recent re-election and disputed any idea that their rapport was frosty.

"We have a really great relationship. We actually have had a great relationship from the beginning," Trump said.

Though her visit will be short on pomp, Merkel's message was similar to Macron's - that America and Europe need to bury the hatchet on key issues, from global trade to international security.

Merkel and Trump meet at the White House (Photo: AP)

In a joint press conference Friday afternoon, it was apparent that despite the back-to-back visits, Trump's divisions with Europe are still substantial.

Trump is widely expected to withdraw the US from the Iran nuclear accord next month, despite pleas from Macron earlier this week and Merkel Friday.

Trump has said he was open to new negotiations with Iran, but has not said whether he would heed European calls for the US to stay in the deal, which aims to restrict Iran's nuclear efforts, while those talks are underway. His decision is expected by May 12.NEW YORK - Friday's historic pledge by the leaders of the two Koreas to work to denuclearize the Korean peninsula should give US President Donald Trump a stronger hand to renegotiate the treaty curtailing Iran's nuclear program, Transportation and Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz told Reuters.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter



North Korea's Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in agreed to work for a "complete denuclearization" of the peninsula at a summit meeting in Seoul.

Such a development, should it come to fruition, could have a larger impact of minimizing the threat of a nuclear arms race in the Middle East, Katz said.

Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz (Photo: Reuters)

Trump has called the accord the worst deal ever negotiated and threatened to reimpose the US penalties unless Britain, France and Germany can fix its "flaws." The deal lifted economic sanctions on Iran in return for curbing its nuclear program.

"He (Trump) will have more power against Iran now and maybe to convince the European Union not to be the weak link in the coalition," Katz said.

US President Donald Trump (Photo: AP)

"I think it will be very good if the North Koreans will finish and go out of the nuclear business and capabilities. It will also be good to our region, because there is a connection," he said.

Katz said the connection between Iran and North Korea pertains to missile technology.

"Yes, I think there is cooperation as it belongs to developing the ballistic missiles. And we have the evidence," he said.

"We have a lot of evidence," Katz added, shrugging his shoulders without elaborating.

North Korea's Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in meet at the border between their countries (Photo: AP)

Russia, China, Germany, Britain and France, which all struck the accord with Iran and the United States, see the deal as the best way to stop Iran from developing a nuclear bomb.

During his state visit earlier this week with Trump in Washington, French President Emmanuel Macron called for the US not to abandon the deal and said a new package of terms was being prepared with Britain and Germany.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel held a one-day working visit with Trump on Friday, where she was careful to praise Trump's progress on North Korea.

"I think that now we have to be very tough with Iran," said Katz.

Regional conflicts

While Iran's nuclear capabilities are curtailed for the time being, Katz reiterated that Israel would remain vigilant in seeking to curb Tehran's increased activities in Syria.

On April 9, an air strike killed seven Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps members at a Syrian base. Tehran blamed Israel and vowed unspecified retaliation , drawing Israeli counter-threats to broaden attacks on Iranian military assets in Syria.

The Israelis have said their strikes aim to prevent Iran's garrison in Syria from entrenching itself deeper in support of President Bashar Assad and linking with Hezbollah in Lebanon to form a broad front against them.

Destruction at the T-4 base

"Iranians don't have to be in Syria. It is not to say we are going to attack every Iranian soldier in Syria, but bases, military bases, and munitions bases, and sophisticated missiles and other things like that? Yes," Katz said.

Russia, a key ally of Assad, has said it would provide advanced weapons to Syria . Israel is concerned that might include the S-300 surface-to-air missile system, which military analysts say would improve Russia's ability to control air space in Syria.

"They are talking about to supply advanced missiles, but they didn't say the words S-300," Katz said.

"Personally, it is hard for me to believe that Putin will give them the S-300," he said. "Because this is his main card that he is holding now in the discussions with Israel ... If he will give them the S-300, about what can he talk about with us afterward?"Seven of the ten teenagers who were killed on Thursday in the flash flood disaster at the Zafit Stream were laid to rest on Friday.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter



The remaining threeRomi Cohen, Adi Ra'anan and Gali Balelliwill be buried on Sunday.

Ela Or

, 18, from Maale Adumim, was an excelling high school student, opinionated and a born leader.

Ela Or

"You were a special child," her mother Sarit said at the funeral. "I didn't have time to see you when you were preparing your bag for the trip. I was delayed a bit at the school (where she works as a principaled.), and at first I didn't agree for you to sign the permission slip in my name. So I spoke to the guide and asked her, 'How can you go on a trip in such a stormy weather?' I never received answers. I was promised everything would be okay and secure, but nothing is okay."

Ela Or's funeral (Photo: Eli Mendelbaum)

Ela's father Itzik said he didn't realize just how special his daughter was until he heard her friends eulogize her. "We were privileged to have you for 18 years. God, may His name be a blessing, picks the special flowers fast, and you were a special flower," he said

Her grandfather Rafi Angel said that when he heard of the weather forecast, "We called the guide and begged her to cancel the trip. The answer was 'Don't worry, trust us.' And here are the results of this 'trust.'"

Hundreds of family and friends came to accompany Yael Sadan on her final journey at the Shamgar Funeral Home in Jerusalem.

Yael Sadan

"You were supreme joy, I just can't believe it, it's incomprehensible," said her father Kobi. "What didn't I do to make you happy? It's impossible to say goodbye to you. I can't say goodbye to you. You're etched into my heart forever."

Yael Sadan's funeral (Photo: Yoav Dudkevitch)

Yael's boyfriend Asaf added in tears, "Thanks to you, I am who I am today. You will always be the love of my youth, and I will never forget you. I thank you for allowing me to live by your side for six years."

Maayan Barhum looked forward to starting the pre-military academy. "Maayan couldn't wait to start studying, to get to know new people from different places and sectors, to travel and grow," said her high school homeroom teacher.

Maayan Barhum

Her mother Dorit lamented the loss of her daughter. "Maayan made me a mother. She gave me the most important job in the world. She taught me values and Zionism... you were helping everyone climb out, believing everything will be okay, that some angel was going to come and protect you," she said.

Her sister Orit said she "can't believe you were taken from me. I can't think of you not coming out of your room to give me a hug. I had the privilege of being your sister."

Orit said the last time she saw her sister was when the two went to the beach on Tuesday. "I kept you safe, so nothing would happen to you. I'm sorry I couldn't keep you safe this time. You'll be with me in every moment in life, forever and ever. I love you."

Her sister Chen said it "doesn't make sense that we're eulogizing you. Why do I need to bury my sister? This isn't right. But the Lord works in mysterious ways. You were an angel; He wanted you next to Him. Watch over us from above, keep us safe. I'll miss you so much. I'll think about you every day. I love you so much, my beautiful young sister."

Maayan Barhum's funeral (Photo: Rafi Kotz)

Maayan's close friend Dror Selah eulogized her, saying "She was one of those people you can't be sad around. Yesterday we were sitting here, the entire class, and talked and reminisced and everyone described her as a ray of light, and this is how she really is. She lights up our life and always radiates. She's my ray of sunshine."

Only three weeks ago, 17-year-old Tzur Alfi from Mazkeret Batya was starring in plays put on by the Rabin high school's theater class. He was supposed to start his studies at the pre-military academy next year.

"Tzur had strong values, was a humanist, friendly and aspired to be an educator," Meir Dahan, the head of the local regional council, told Ynet.

Tzur Alfi

"We don't feel any anger, we only feel love," said Tzur's father at the funeral. "We embrace the guys from this dear prep school. Our condolences to everyone at the school; keep going on trips and being good."

"My little brother, just the other day I helped you pack a bag for a trip you never came back from. I'm still waiting for someone to tell me it's not you," his sister Yael said. "You were like a twin brother to me, my best friend, a role model. I've never met a person as good as you."





Alfi's funeral (Photo: Yuval Chen)

He demonstrated these qualities during the flash flood that claimed his life. "I heard you tried to help your friends and save them," his grandmother Pnina said at his funeral. "This is the noble self-sacrifice of a born leader. It sounds like you. You loved everyone."

Tzur's friend said she was "angry at you. It could've ended differently. Why did you help everyone? In such moments, most people save themselves. But you're not most people. Why couldn't you, just once, have put yourself ahead of others?"

Agam Levy 's funeral was held at the Lev HaShaon cemetery. Her friends later gathered at the youth house in Moshav Herut and wept. Her friends spoke of an excelling student who loved physics and the Land of Israel. She was active in the Bnei HaMoshavim youth group and always helped anyone who needed it.

"She always looked for the good in people. This is a great loss to all of us," one of her friends said through the tears.

Agam Levy

Another friend, Asaf, was also supposed to go on the trip, but decided to stay home to study for an English test.

Her teacher, Ayelet Yagar, said Agam "had a massive heart with room for everyone. She radiated her goodness outwards."

Stones with messages for Agam placed on her grave (Photo: Yair Sagi)

Agam was supposed to start studying at the prep school next year, and her friends said she was excited for the trip.

Ilan Bar Shalom from Rishon LeZion was found hours after the others following extensive search efforts at the stream.

Ilan Bar Shalom

She was an excelling instructor in the city's Young Leaders program, and was supposed to start studying at the prep school next year.

Shani Shamir , 18, is the daughter of a veteran family in Shoham and attended the local high school. She was a coordinator for Scout leaders and served in the municipality's youth council.

Shani Shamir (Photo courtesy of the family)

Her mother Yael is an educator, while her father Arik was an Air Force pilot and now works as a businessman.

Three to be laid to rest on Sunday

The parents of Adi Raanan from Moshav Mikhmoret received the terrible news while they were abroad.

Her grandfather wrote on Facebook: "A terrible disaster has struck us, and we are still having a hard time comprehending the bitter news. The parents of our wonderful granddaughter are on their way back to Israel."

Adi Raanan

Psychologists from the regional council visited Adi's school to offer support and professional help to the students.

She will be laid to rest on Sunday at 6pm.

Romi Cohen , 17, from Moshav Maor, stood out in everything she did. "Dancing was very important to her. She participated in delegations of Jews and Arabs to the US and was active in the school students' council," a family friend said.

Romi Cohen (Photo courtesy of the family)

Romi's father said that "There was a large-scale disaster here. We'll seek answers when we finish the shiva (Jewish 7 days of mourninged.)."

Gali Balelli , 18, from Givatayim, was about to graduate from the Shimon Ben Zvi high school in the city and supposed attend the pre-military academy next year to prepare for a meaningful army service.

Her friends from school and from the Krembo Wings, a youth group for children and youth with and without disabilities, gathered to say goodbye.

Gali Balelli

"Gali was one of the leaders of the Givatayim branch and an inseparable part of the movement," Krembo Wings said. "We share in the pain of the Balelli family and embrace them."

"I only have good things to say about Gali," said her school principal. "She is a very special girl, filled with the desire to give to others. She recently received the Elad Riban Prize for excelling in her social activity and for her volunteer work with Krembo Wings. We can't even imagine carrying on without her."Opposition leader Isaac Herzog (Zionist Union) called on Saturday to pass legislation giving the Education Ministry full authority over the pre-military prep schools.

Herzog was speaking at a cultural event in Hedera in the wake of the death of ten teenagers from a prep-school in a flash flood.

"The State of Israel has experienced a disaster hard to comprehend. A whole country grieves for the splendor of youth, teenage girls and boys lovers of this land who lost their lives in a terrible disaster," Herzog said.The increasingly violent rioting of Palestinians on the Gaza border led the IDF to adopt a new policy of attacking Hamas targets in response , military officials said Saturday.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter



Some 1,000 Palestinians took part in the rioting at the Karni crossings on Friday, during which hundreds of them tried to sabotage the border fence by hurling explosives and hand grenades at it.

According to the Palestinians, IAF aircraft launched missiles at two boats at the Gaza port, as well as a Hamas post in Deir al-Balah, south of the port. No injuries were reported in the strikes, but the boats were damaged.

The main reason for the escalation in the response is the fact Nakba Day, which the Palestinians mark on May 15, draws near.

Palestinians commemorate what they call the Nakba or Catastrophe when hundreds of thousands fled or were driven out of their homes in 1948, when the state of Israel was created.

The new US Embassy in Jerusalem is also due to open on May 15, adding to the mounting tensions. The first Friday of the holy month of Ramadan will also take place on the same week.

Ahead of that week, Hamas is trying to inflame tensions on the ground, with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh saying terrorists will be crossing the fence to carry out attacks. The IDF has intelligence to back up that claim, making it a concrete threat.

The IDF is therefore trying to demonstrate to Hamas the price of such violence by escalating its response.

"We have all of the tools at our disposal, and we are attacking deep (inside the strip). We have no intention of continuing this game," an IDF official said Saturday.

(Photo: IDF Spokesman)

A 15-year-old Palestinian teenager hurt in the violent clashes on the border succumbed to his early Saturday, bringing the number of dead in clashes this Friday to four.WASHINGTON  US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he had spoken with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and preparations for a meeting with North Korea were being set.

"Just had a long and very good talk with President Moon of South Korea. Things are going very well, time and location of meeting with North Korea is being set," Trump said on Twitter.

Trump added that he had also spoken with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to inform him of ongoing negotiations.RIYADH  New US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Saudi Arabia on Saturday on the first stop of his hastily-arranged visit to the Middle East as decisions on the Iran nuclear deal and a review of the US role in Syria loom large.

A State Department official said the visit to Riyadh, Jerusalem and Amman just two days after Pompeo was sworn-in as America's top diplomat was also aimed at forging closer ties with important US allies in the Middle East.

Pompeo said on Friday he would discuss the future of the 2015 Iran deal in his talks.Nearly one hundred people are participating in the weekly march against "government corruption" in Tel Aviv's Rothschild Boulevard, opposite Independence Hall.

Among the protesters is former caretaker for the Prime Minister's Residence Meni Naftali. Protesters are carrying Israeli flags and signs saying, "Bibi only does damage" and "Demanding AG, not straw doll."

Another march is set to begin in the city at 8:30pm, headed by Eldad Yaniv, against harming the High Court of Justice and the enacting of an override power. The march will leave HaBima Square and terminate at Rabin Square.An instructor at the Bnei Zion pre-military academy school, initially arrested in the wake of the flash flood in Zafit Stream that claimed the lives of ten teens , was released to house arrest. The instructor was suspected of negligent homicide.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter



The instructor, 25, herself a former student of the academy school, claimed under interrogation that she warned authorities and asked for the trip to be canceled due to possible floods.

Extraction of one of the casualties from the Zafit Stream (:  )

X

She added she shared her concern with her father, deputy commander of the search and rescue unit that was rushed to scene after the disaster, and that he had also attempted to get the trip canceledbut his warnings went unheeded as well.





The instructor released to house arrest (R) along with fellow staff member Bardichev, who is still in police custody

The instructor was released to house arrest when investigators were satisfied her culpability for the scandal was lesser than those of another instructor and the school's principal, both of whom were arrested as well.

The special investigative team was put together by commander of the police's Southern District Motti Cohen and is led by an officer from the district's interrogation and intelligence division.

The instructor recently published a Facebook post in which she sought to find potential instructors for the academy, adding a photo of one of the instructors who were arrested. She said the position was a "dream job."

The instructor wrote regarding her own work at the school that, "I never thought I would work someplace that's a home, a family, where 40 students will enter my heart as deeply as they did, where I would do the most intensivebut also the most fun and fulfillingwork ever for a year."

Head of Bnei Zion Yuval Kahan was arrested as well

The arrest of the head of Bnei Zion Yuval Kahan and instructor Aviv Bardichev, 27, was extended by five additional days Friday. Judge Itay Gonen-Bresler of the Be'er Sheva Magistrates' Court determined that the remand extension stemmed from fear of possible tampering with the investigation.

Attorneys for Kahan said, "It should be remembered we are dealing with a 50 year enterprise of both secular and religious pre-army programs, an enterprise of great worth for the State of Israel."

"The incident is a harsh one," they added. "It is incumbent upon law enforcement authorities to investigate the matter in full and reach the truth, but it is improper to render any verdicts at this point. (Kahan) has spilled his soul under interrogation, and should not be judged at the town square."

Bardichev's attorney added his own comments, saying, "It's apparent (Bardichev) is a value-driven young man. There's immense grief here, and at midnight he said he didn't even understand why he needed legal counsel."

(Photo: Haim Horenstein)

Attorney Zion Amir added that his client said that people had died, and it was not something he should be busying himself with. "This is not someone who tampers with an investigation but who assists it. These are not people hiding behind the right to remain silent, or any other right," he protested the remand extension.

Accompanying the investigation into the disaster was buck-passing between the education and defense ministries regarding responsibility for similar trips. The Education Ministry thus announced Saturday it will form a joint committee with the Defense Ministry and the Joint Council of Pre-Military Academies with the intention of regulating the academies' outdoor activities.

Heading the committee will be Education Ministry Director-General Shmuel Abuav, and it will also be staffed by Defense Ministry and council representatives.

Teens killed in flash flood disaster

The nine girls and one boy killed in the disaster were identified as Ela Or from Ma'ale Adumim, Romi Cohen from Moshav Maor, Yael Sadan from Jerusalem, Maayan Barhum from Jerusalem, Agam Levy from Moshav Herut, Gali Balelli from Givatayim, Shani Shamir from Shoham, Adi Ra'anan from Moshav Mikhmoret, Tzur Alfi from Mazkeret Batya, also in central Israel, and Illan Bar Shalom from Rishon LeZion.

Thousands accompanied Ela Or, Maayan Barhum, Agam Levy, Shani Shamir, Illan Bar Shalom, Tzur Alfi and Yael Sadan to their final resting places Friday. Romi Cohen, Adi Ra'anan and Gali Balelli will be interred Sunday.France's Ambassador to Israel Helene Le Gal commented Thursday on the Iranian nuclear deal , whose future is now in jeopardy, saying, "If the United States withdraws from the deal, I think Iran will as well and will immediately resume its nuclear program."

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter



Speaking at a Ynet studio interview, the diplomat spoke on the matter on the backdrop of the Washington visit of French President Emmanuel Macron, where he lobbied US President Donald Trump to not withdraw from the deal signed by his predecessor Barack Obama and other world powers and Tehran.

In the interview, Le Gal equivocated as to whether Macron was successful in convincing Trump. "They have a very good relationship," she said. "They had a very long discussion about a number of issues, and the issue of Iran, of course, was very important."

Ambassador Le Gal iterated her country's belief that US withdrawal from the nuclear deal may lead to war

"What the president (of France) said to President Trump is that we are not naive about Iran. I don't know what President Trump will do in the weeks to come, but at least they had the occasion to discuss (these issues) very thoroughly," she added.

Speaking in broader terms, Ambassador Le Gal opined that, "The nuclear deal prevents Iran (from launching) a military program until 2025. If the nuclear deal is canceled, Iran will immediately restart its program. We need to prevent Iran from having nuclear weapons. We don't want Iran to have nuclear weaponsnot now or ever."

Asked what the consequences of such an American withdrawal could be, Le Gal said she feared "huge consequences. I don't think Iran will stay in the deal if the US goes out. The possibility of war exists."

On the possibility that the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) agreement may be too problematic, Le Gal replied, "We are working on implementing the deal very toughly," adding that all of the deal's conditions will be implemented to prevent the Islamic republic from attaining nuclear weapons even after the deal concludes.

President Macron (L) lobbies President Trump to stay in the deal (Photo: EPA)

Speaking on a different matter next, Le Gal was asked which concrete actions France should take to defend its Jewish population, in the wake of anti-Semitic attacks in the French republic recently and Macron's statements that the country will not be the same without its Jews.

Le Gal countered by saying, "We are taking a lot of actions, both in the field of the physical protection of places like synagogues or schools, but also improving our legislative system to punish those who (commit) anti-Semitic acts. We are very, very tough on this and are very concerned about the level of anti-Semitism in France and in the world in general."

The interviewer claimed anti-Semitism had been on the rise in France in the past few years, an assertion Le Gal unequivocally rejected. "No, it's not on the rise," she stated. "The last two years, we have been counting very precisely. It has gone down the last two years, but it's still too high and we have to work a lot on it."

Despite the anti-Semitic murder of 85-year-old Holocaust survivor Mirelle Knoll, the ambassador said anti-Semitism was not on the rise in France

"There has been a violent murder (referring to the murder of Holocaust survivor Mirelle Knoll last monthed), and the murderers have been arrested and will go to trial ," she added.

Ending on a happier subject, Israel and France will be celebrating the "France-Israel cross-cultural season" from June to November. The event is being held in honor of Israel's 70th Independence Day, the ambassador said, adding that it will be a cultural event that will also touch on economy and science.

All told, some 180 different events will be held in both France and Israel together in the aforementioned months, to present the "more modern, contemporary side of our culture," the ambassador concluded.Three Palestinians were arrested by the IDF after attempting to cross the Gaza Strip border fence in the center of the strip.

One of them was found in possession of a knife used to cut the fence.

The three were taken in for questioning.Director of the Joint Council of Pre-Military Academies Danny Zamir spoke to teens at a ceremony held in commemoration of the ten victims of flash flood in southern Israel Friday, and told them, "We feel the deaths of the ten young men and women, our best sons and daughters, along with the entire State of Israel."

"We embrace the families who have lost their loved ones and share their pain. The details of this calamity should be studied and action should be taken to prevent this tragedy from happening again," he stated.Searching for missing truck driver Ayman Jaber, of Tayibe, who has been missing since being swept away by Zin Stream floods two days ago, will resume Sunday morning.

Since authorities suspect Jaber may have been swept away into Jordan, Israel appealed to Jordanian authorities, which approved to use a drone in the Hashemite kingdom's territory to search for him.The United States called Saturday on Washington's allies in Europe and the rest of the world to levy sanctions on Iran in order to curb its nuclear program. A senior Washington official added Iran's missile program threatened the world's peace and security.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter



The officialBrian Hook, a senior policy adviser travelling with newly sworn-in US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke with reporters in the Saudi capital of Riyadh during Pompeo's Middle East tour, undertaken merely two days after assuming the position of the US's top diplomat.

"We are urging nations around the world to sanction any individuals and entities associated with Iran's missile program," Hook said, stressing the US was concerned not merely with the Islamic republic's nuclear program but also its ballistic missile program, hence the fact that it served "a big part of discussions with Europeans."

Newly sworn-in Sect. of State Pompeo's senior policy adviser appealed to other nations to hit Iran with sanctions (Photo: AFP)

"Iran's missiles prolong war and suffering in the Middle East, they threaten our security and economic interests and they especially threaten Saudi Arabia and Israel," he said.

US President Donald Trump set a May 12 deadline for his European allies to fix the landmark 2015 deal , and threatened that if it was not amended the US may withdraw.

Hook, one of the Americans in talks with Europe over prospective changes to the deal, said the missile program Iran continued to develop will play a key role in talks between Pompeo and Saudi and Israeli leaders.

The new secretary of state reached Saudi Arabia Saturday evening, the first stop of a hastily-assembled Mid-East tour that will take him to Israel and Jordan as well. A senior State Department official said Pompeo's visit was intended to preserve the US's close ties with its regional allies.

Pompeo (R) met with Saudi FM al-Jubeir on his first trip in the position (Photo: Reuters)

Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir greeted his American counterpart in Riyadh. During his Saudi visit, Pompeo is expected to meet Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, one of the key figures in the region.

Pompeo will then arrive to Israel Sunday, where he will meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The whistle-stop tour will conclude in Amman, Jordan.

Before taking off for Riyadh, Secretary of State Pompeo participated in a NATO foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels on Friday, where he said Trump had not taken a decision on whether to abandon the Iran deal but was not likely to stick to it without substantial changes.

Pompeo is considered a significant supporter of Israel, and to be adamantly opposed to the nuclear deal. In his previous role as director of the CIA, Pompeo made three clandestine visits to Israel. He is very close with Mossad Director Yossi Cohen.

US-Israel relations were not a significant component of Pompeo's predecessor Tillerson's work (Photo: EPA)

Pompeo's predecessor in the position, Rex Tillerson , who President Trump ousted , only visited Israel onceaccompanying the president on his own visit to the country in May, 2017. His contribution to US-Israel relations could be said to have been minor.

Pompeo's arrival to Israel, meanwhile, was intended to communicate the message of the importance he ascribes to relations with Israel on the one hand, and to examine whether the US can help dissipate regional tensions on the backdrop of Iran's entrenchment in Syria on the otherentrenchment Israel considers to be crossing a red line.News

Washington, DC - Acting Federal Trade Commission Chairman Maureen K. Ohlhausen issued the following statement regarding the U.S. Senates confirmation of Joseph Simons, who will become the new FTC Chairman, and of Noah Joshua Phillips, Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, Rohit Chopra and Christine Wilson to also become new FTC Commissioners.

I congratulate Joe, as well as Noah, Rebecca, and Rohit on their Senate confirmations. I look forward to welcoming them to the Commission once their appointments are made final by President Trump. I also congratulate Christine, who will take my seat if I am so fortunate as to be confirmed by the Senate as a Judge on the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), is a body mandated to oversee tax collection and processing in Ghana. Needles to say, this body is at the backbone of Ghanas government life. This is because it provides the necessary funds to allow the government run its business. It accomplishes this by integrating all internal revenue processes or services, services of value added tax into local or domestic operations through functional systems and lines. In addition to this, it fuses customs and domestic taxes into a single management unit. To make its roles more efficient, GRA constantly reviews its processes and systems, modernizing them to fit into the current conditions, through ICT and other relevant technologies. As an employer, it conducts Ghana revenue authority aptitude test, to ensure it gets the right individuals to perform specific roles.

Source:jobtestprep.co.uk

Getting a job in Ghana, is in itself, a job; some Ghanaians like to joke. Landing a formal job, like working for an employer such as GRA, might bring a big difference in how you live. Nonetheless, the hiring process in such bodies and institutions is not easy. GRA hires skilled individuals, with a minimum level of education and experience, which makes them effective when deploying their mandate. GRA is divided into three segments. These divisions are:

Customs Division (CD) Domestic Tax Revenue Division (DTRD) Support Services Division (SSD)

All these divisions work in perfect harmony to ensure that all the processes in GRA is flawless, and that the institution mobilizes funds for government development, in a transparent manner. They are, however, assigned different roles, with customs and domestic tax revenue divisions, dealing with collecting of tax, while support services division focusing on research, supporting management and customer care.

Getting employed for any role in one of GRAs division, you have to pass Ghana revenue authority aptitude test questions. These questions help the employer know about your abilities in relation to the job you are applying for. It is possible to think that these questions are challenging, but they are not. Nonetheless, like any interview, it is important for you to prepare before sitting for the aptitude test. This helps you gain confidence, which has a bearing on the correctness of your answers. Below is a discussion about Ghanas aptitude test questions that might have a positive impact in your interview.

READ ALSO: GRA unhappy with Ashanti regions tax contribution

Ghana revenue authority aptitude test sample

Like any test, Ghana Revenue Authority aptitude test needs to be handled with the seriousness it deserves. This is not to scare you, but to prepare you for the obvious. Every test shakes up your confidence and messes your mind, so as to confirm your grasp on the skill set that you claim to have. To the employer, it is always you against his or her job, thus putting in the effort to ensure his or her job ends the victor, by hiring the best person. Ghana Revenue Authority does this by giving an aptitude test.

Preparing for the test, prior applying for a GRA job, helps raise your awareness and confidence to a level that will allow you to answer all questions appropriately. If possible, you need to get a GRA aptitude test that was previously done, in yester years to get an idea of what to expect. Luckily, it is not hard to find yourself a sample of Ghana revenue authority aptitude test, with all the instructions and questions. Nonetheless, before getting an aptitude test sample, it would be wise for you to familiarize yourself with almost everything about GRA, right from their mandate, vision, to their goals. Below is a sample aptitude test Ghana revenue authority, gives to most of its potential candidates applying for recruitment or a job. Answers to the questions below have been provided. This is in an effort to allow you wrap your mind around how to answer correctly, allowing you to improve your chances of being right.

Sample Questions

Q: What is the GRA Motto?

A: Integrity, Fairness and Service

Q: When was the GRA established?

A: The Authority was established in 2009 as a merger of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS), Value Added Tax Service (VATS), and the Revenue Agencies Governing Board (RAGB) Secretariat.

Q: What are the functions of the GRA?

Integrate Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Value Added Tax Service (VATS) into domestic tax operations on functional lines.

Integrate the management of Domestic Tax and Customs

Modernize Domestic Tax and Customs operations through the review of processes and procedures with ICT as the backbone

Q: What are the envisaged benefits to taxpayers and the tax administration?

reduced administrative and tax compliance cost.

Better service delivery.

Improved departmental information flow.

Holistic approach to domestic tax and customs administration.

Enhanced revenue mobilization.

Q: What is the GRA vision?

A: To be a world class revenue administration recognized for professionalism, integrity and excellence.

Q: What is the GRA Mission?

A: To mobilize revenue for national development in a transparent, fair, effective and efficient manner.

It is important to note that GRA aptitude test is done following a syllabus that covers all the crucial components of Ghanas Revenue Authority. The syllabus covers several topics including a candidates mathematic skills, overall intellect, wealth and income tax, and English in general. Each of these syllabus is aimed at testing different skills including basic maths knowledge, reasoning; both non-verbal and verbal, and finally an applicants mastery of English language.

Ghana Revenue Authority aptitude test 2020

Getting a job with GRA is an advantage as it assures you of job security. At the same time, it helps any lucky Ghanaian, once employed, to improve their living standards through the monthly remunerations. This leads those who think are fully qualified scout for opportunities, sometimes waiting for years, before finally getting one. While at it, most potential candidates ask questions that are similar by all standards. Below are some of the most common question asked by those seeking GRA employment in 2020:

How can I find GRA application forms 2020?

Are GRA forms out, 2020?

When is the next GRA recruitment 2020?

What is the assurance of getting a job after excelling in GRA aptitude test?

How do you apply for GRA recruitment 2020?

Job recruitment process done by Ghana Revenue Authority is on a need basis. It is conducted through a rigorous process, which tests a candidates ability to deliver in a given capacity, which he or she applies. GRA aptitude test is one of the measures to ensure only the best candidates get the opportunity to work with GRA. To most, the idea of sitting for a test is a bitter pill to swallow. GRA aptitude test is nothing to worry about as it tests on things that you are already familiar with. It, therefore, pays to be updated, on everything about your area of specialty.

Source:hometownfocus.us

Ghana revenue authority aptitude test questions

Understanding aptitude test in isolation is important if you wish to give correct answers in GRA aptitude tests. Aptitude test and questions can be dissected into several sections, that is, abstract and diagrammatic reasoning; spatial and numeric ability; and in some instances work sample. Each of this sections, test a candidates ability to think in a specific pattern and come up with solutions that are helpful to the employer. Below is a discussion of each of the segments mentioned above;

Source:ghanawebsolutions.com

Spatial and numeric abilities

Numeric aptitude test measures a candidates ability to manipulate different mathematical functions, precise and accurately to come up with correct solutions that do not; quickly. It tests your skills on ratios, conversion of currencies, analysis, trends, and percentiles or percentages. Spatial reasoning on the other hand tests your ability to visualize and or manipulate different objects presented in one dimension into another dimension. Test of your numeric ability, is in most cases, included in all aptitude test, while evaluation of your number ability is not.

Abstract and diagrammatic reasoning

In simple terms, abstract test measures your ability to read between the lines and come up with effective solutions; or adopt a new system quickly. To excel in this test you need to show the ability to identify patterns, trends, and hidden sense behind a trend or pattern; and come up with the most appropriate way forward. Diagrammatic test of reasoning seeks, to understand your logical thinking attribute, by translating rules from a chart or other diagrammatic representation and using them in the prevailing situation.

When preparing for GRA job recruitment opportunity, it is wise for you to go through different aptitude test for Ghana revenue authority available in this article. GRA test questions above, combined with knowledge given in this article will help you prepare to pass your aptitude.

Source: YenAccounting profession is one of the basic positions applicable to any profit-making firm. It aids in the resourceful management of money and compiling of comprehensive bookkeeping records. The records act as a reference for predicting the future of the business; its growth trends and weak links. Its for this that interview questions for accountants tend to be intensive and carefully articulated to filter in only the best for the job. There are various accounting careers in Ghana, you should not be seriously worried about where you will land a job on. Be more concerned about your preparation for the interview when the opportunity comes knocking. Many people simply bury their heads in the sand and only imagine themselves working in that particular firm. Well, Its good to be optimistic but then again you need to be thoroughly prepared and equipped with skills.

Source:Youth Village Zimbabwe

Interview questions

You may be among the best accountants in Ghana with certificates and experiences on your resume, but without a meaningful presentation, the opportunity will just slip away. The first step in your preparation is basically to anticipate the kind of questions to be asked. This article will guide you through many of the typical challenging questions and how to answer them and also giving you a hint on where you can land an accounting job in Ghana

Interview questions for accountants with answers

Interview questions for accountant position are normally diverse in nature. In as much as many employers are interested in the skills and level of expertise, they may be also interested in your personality and work habits. No one wants to hire a troublesome employee who has poor team-work spirit!

Therefore, while presenting yourself to the interview panel, take into account that your first impression is the best impression interviewers will use to rate and assess you, make it worth their while. Check out the following interview questions for accounts executive position to give yourself an upper hand.

READ ALSO:The job interview tips every job seeker should know

In your opinion, what is the biggest challenge that accounting career is being faced with, in present times?

This question is meant to verify whether you are committed to your profession-well enough to experience the hurdles that come with it. Since it's based on your opinion, there is no right or wrong. You may give any contemporary challenge that accountants such as yourself are facing. All in all, it should be a reasonable and intelligent response to show acquainted you are with this profession.

Why did you choose accountancy?

This is also one of the common questions to expect. Its a plain question that deserves a straightforward answer. The best way to go about it is to talk about your accounting passion, goals and motivations. Do not give your narration about how you had no other degree career to pursue.

An example of a response would be like this;

Accounting is thrilling to me, I have always loved working with numbers. Identifying a cost-reducing technique for a company like this or undertaking a crucial analysis for revenue increment in future sales has always been my objective and motivation as a whole.

Source:Financial Times

What is the greatest accounting task that you have ever solved?

This yet another question meant to determine your level of expertise and how you go about solving problems. Its mostly in interview questions for accounting clerk, but still applicable in any other rank.

The last thing you may want to do shares a challenge that you experienced while in class, it may only prove how limited you are in dealing with real-world accounting issues. Try to focus it on a professional level, even if its curbed around internship.

Once you have indicated that particular task that you managed to solve, the next question is obviously how you went about it. Be confident and methodical an in giving your description. Never give them a chance to doubt your competency. They may not be really interested in that particular problem but in the manner in which you present it.

Source:nabametrodc.org

Why do you want to be part of our team?

While your obvious reason may be because the opportunity presented itself, and you were willing to grab it, its only safe to shift your mind from such a perspective. The best way to handle such a question is by giving the company some credit for having a firm ground in the market.

Many business owners believe that their company is unique and powerful in its own ways. They definitely have the vision to take it to even greater heights. As a prospective team member, assure them that you are the right candidate for that dream to be realized. You need to view the company as the best in the industry, even if it is not.

READ ALSO:Ghana Armed Forces recruitment questions

How good are you with creative accounting?

This is another twisted question that you should be very careful with when responding. Typically, a number of people limit their skills to suit various accountant jobs description and put much emphasis on the stipulations. But what employers really want, are the kind of candidates who are smart enough to use their skills in dealing with contemporary issues, such as new tax laws, cost-cutting measures and legal loopholes.

Source:pixabay.com

Its common interview question for accounts executive positions. Its meant for the kind of managers who have been in the field for long enough to employ new techniques beyond just the ordinary.

These are just among the few typical assessment questions that you need to be aware of, as they may come in handy. Remember the manner in which you answer these questions matter a lot as the answers themselves. Your confidence, composure, and body posture speak volume during interviews. You need to practice them as well.

There are certain essential aspects that you need to consider, during your preparation that may act as a guide.

Factors to consider during preparation

Getting a hint of the kind of questions to expect are just baby steps to becoming fully prepared. They may be useful but its the general presentation that matters the most. That means that on the day of the interview, instead of worrying about the answers to give, you need to spend time thinking about your chronological career journey up to date. When you know your own journey, giving examples and clarifications to about any question becomes easy and less tense.

Source:SlideShare

Your body language matters a lot. The only trick to go about it is to take a deep breath just before facing the panel, relax your shoulders and smile freely. You can practice about your posture and stance in prior so as not to be distracted or rather distracting during the interview. For instance, sitting with your arms and legs crossed basically means you are defensive. Being defensive is not a good trait, especially if the company is targeting a team player.

Get enough sleep. This may sound like a joke, but you will be surprised what a fresh mind can do in an interview. Whether answering interview questions for financial accountant or any other post, not only will you be alert but memories would also be flooding in just when you need them. A good mind-rest will make formulating your presentation way easier.

Aside from your psychological preparation, your dress code is also very crucial. Choosing a perfect interview outfit can be rather overwhelming-especially if the company has a business casual dress code and you have no idea how to go about it. Anyway, you can simply keep your look conservative and plain.

Choosing an outfit may be one thing, but having it cleaned and pressed is another. Make sure its clean and well-tailored to bring out the confidence in you. This also applies to your hair and fingernails. Having your hair trimmed or well combed and your fingernails short and manicured will add a glimpse of beauty in your presentation.

These are also some of the basic preparation tips that you need to have at your fingernails.

READ ALSO:Best weekend jobs in Ghana 2018

Accountant jobs in Ghana

Getting accounting jobs in Ghana has been easier than in this generation. The internet has made searching really simple. There are various jobs posted on very many websites ranging from accounting clerk duties to accounts office management and senior financial accountant. All of them seeking competent personnel, either freshly graduated or old with experience.

For instance, there is a vacancy at Jumia Ghana, an international online business franchise with outlets in over twenty African countries. It is seeking a Head of Accounting officer. He/she needs to have at least two years experience accompanied by relevant certifications. That is not the only site with a bucket full of goodies as JOBLISTGHANA' also posts a various vacancy for qualified and interested individuals. In overall, the internet provides a platform where job seekers can easily send in their CVs.

Source:inc

Accountant salary

Finally, after passing all the interview questions for accounts officer or any other post for that matter, the salary will not necessarily be same to a similar post in a different company. The weight of the paycheck depends on the size and intensity of the workload.This may vary from company to company. Although the expectation of an accountant's pay is reasonably high, it helps to note that you may have to be open minded and ready to discuss your remuneration first.

Source: Yen NewspaperOne of the most significant people in Africa, Nelson Mandela once said, Education is the most .powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. Ghana has recognized the importance of educating its citizens and this has made them embrace free SHS in Ghana. Through education, the country will manage to transform itself and meet the present economic and modern development. Free SHS is a great step towards seeing young talented Ghanaians achieving their dreams.

Source: GhanaMediaWorld

About free SHS policy in Ghana

The free SHS education in Ghana is an education flagship program introduced by the New Patriot Party. This concept was in agreement with the stipulation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) where Ghana is a signatory.

Some of the benefits the students will enjoy through free SHS policy are as follows:

Day students will get free meals at school

There will be no paying of fees in Technical, Agricultural, and Vocational institutions at the high school level.

There will be the provision of free meals, free textbooks, and free boarding facilities.

The fee for library books, admission, utility, science center, examination, and boarding will not be charged.

Instituting the free SHS policy in Ghana is critical to the development of the country as education is key in all aspects of life. In turn, the living standards of people will be improved, and there will also be immense wealth creation. Consequently Ghana will rank better in terms of literacy and development levels. The eligibility applies to all students who do well in their exams.

Source: adBays

Roles and Responsibilities for Free SHS Policy

Students are required to seek competitive advice when necessary and are also expected to share notes and form study groups.

Parents, on the other hand, are expected to support their kids by offering an accommodative and conducive learning environment at home.

Guardians can also contract a private tutor to help their children with the tough areas of study while they are at home.

READ ALSO: WAEC Ghana BECE grading system

Advantages of this program include:

Vocational and technical will be accessible and available in all forms.

Parents will be able to save money which they can use to pay for the fees in tertiary institutions.

Through investing in their disposal incomes, progressively free SHS in Ghana will be achieved quickly.

Source: myjoyonline.com

Source: UGC

Is SHS free in Ghana; those are the mind-boggling questions many people are dealing with? The program is free and available to top-performing students who could not raise enough school fees to further their high school education.

Free SHS comes with longterm benefits to the economy, its citizens and he country. The initiative will help the citizens to invest in an equity mutual fund, where they will enjoy capital gains and dividend payments.This way enterprises that depend on debt finance and equity will manage to expand their businesses. The money being saved will go into the creation of job opportunities and thus the rate of unemployment in the economy will lower.

After successfully attending and completing the free senior high school in Ghana,it is clear that we will have a generation of young people equipped to enable Ghana advance to the next level of development. Lower crime rates and more focused educated young minds simply means progress for the our country.

Source: Brytfmonline

By embracing introduction of free education, cost of free SHS in Ghana will no longer be an issue. Free SHS schools in Ghana could not happen at a better time, each person in Ghana has the opportunity to further their education.

READ ALSO: When will the ministry acknowledge the importance of education?

Source: Yen.com.gh- Politician, Charles Wereko Brobby has been criticized for asking Ghanaians to accept gay rights

- Anti-gay lawyer, Moses Foh-Amoaning says Charles Wereko Brobby needs help

- Despite calls by Britain for gay rights, the government insists the act will still remain illegal

Anti-gay lawyer, Moses Foh-Amoaning, has jabbed politician and former CEO of the Volta River Authority (VRA), Dr. Charles Wereko Brobby for calling on Ghanaians to support gay rights.

The lawyer in an interview with Joy FM argues that he is willing to help the former politician if only he is willing to get help as a "homosexual".

READ ALSO: Mother beats her daughter to death, buries her secretly

YEN.com.gh had earlier reported on how the politician argued on his Facebook page that homosexuals also have rights and are Ghanaians and human beings.Reacting to the argument by Dr. Charles Wereko-Brobby, lawyer Moses Foh-Amoaning said the argument was just wrong.

So Dr. Charles Wereko Brobby, I am an albino, my name is Moses Foh-Amoaning [and] I accept the problem that I have but God being so good and my father being a minister of the gospel, trained me to be able to cater for the weakness that I have, genetically. So if you are a homosexual let us help you out of it rather than using vestiges of colonialism to support this degenerate moral behavior, Foh-Amoaning revealed on Joy News.

It all happened when the UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Prof. Philip Alston, says the speaker of parliament does not know what is happening in Ghana when it comes to homosexuality.

The speaker of parliament had earlier revealed that homosexuality is not in Ghana and that it is a strange activity that will not be accepted in the country but the UN official says Ghana's speaker of parliament has no idea of what is happening in Ghana.

According to the UN official, the number of gays and lesbians in Ghana is overwhelming and that enforcing gay rights could help safeguard the interests of the community.

If you tell me that a man must sleep with a man so as to show his human rights for Ghana, I can assure you that our Parliament is a real micropause of the rule of Ghana. Ghanaians do not support gay rights and nobody is going to make any law that will support this kind of thing, he revealed to the media after the UN held a fact-finding visit to Ghana about human rights and administrative justice.

The criticism closely follows the speech by the British prime minister, Theresa May, who has pledged UK's resolve to help Ghana and other African countries legalize homosexuality.

READ ALSO: Gay rights: UK prime minister insulted Ghana - Apostle Opoku Onyinah

Theresa May, during the Commonwealth Heads of State conference in London, revealed that Britain introduced anti-gay laws in Ghana and therefore is prepared to reverse these laws.

Watch the trending news on YEN.com.gh this week:

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- Homosexuality is not only a human right issue. It is also a human existence and survival issue

- The debate over the decriminalization and the legalization of gay rights in Ghana

There are clear indications that the debate on homosexuality in Ghana is not going away any time soon.

The latest twist to the debate is that law lecturer, Moses Foh-Amoaning, has responded harshly to a Facebook post by former Chief Executive Officer of Volta River Authority (VRA), Dr. Charles Wereko Brobby.

Dr. Wereko Brobby is known to support the arguments that Ghana should recognise the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT).

Lawyer Moses Foh-Amoaning

READ ALSO: Use of vagina tightening gels on the rise in Ghana  Moesha Boduong

Whereas, law lecturer, Foh-Amoaning says Ghanas constitution abhors homosexuality and that is the position of Ghana which must be respected by all.

The arguments have degenerated to exchange of subtle invectives. An annoyed Moses Foh-Amoaning in an interview on Joy News suggested Dr. Charles Wereko Brobby should seek help if he is a homosexual.

So Dr. Charles Wereko Brobby, I am an albino, my name is Moses Foh-Amoaning [and] I accept the problem that I have but God being so good and my father being a minister of the gospel, trained me to be able to cater for the weakness that I have, genetically.

So if you are a homosexual let us help you out of it rather than using vestiges of colonialism to support this degenerate moral behavior, Foh-Amoaning said on Friday.

Dr. Charles Wereko Brobby

Join YEN on Instagram to be always informed and entertained!

An incensed Foh-Amoaning who is also National Coalition for Proper Human Sexual Rights, wondered if the Energy Expert who is also a native of the Ashanti Region will be accepted by his people if he openly declared this stance there.

And Dr. Charles Wereko Brobby, you say you belong to the Ashanti Kingdom; can you go there and say that you want to practice homosexuality or you want to support it? You will be rejected by the community that you come from.

Dr. Charles Wereko Brobby, you are more important than thisHow can a man have sex in the anus and you say it is a human right [so] we should respect it? You are wrong and Ghanaians dont believe in what you are saying, the lawyer opined.

Top 4 Scandal Quotes from Moesha Boduong CNN Interview ;

READ ALSO: Throat Cancer Alert! Use your fingers instead of tongue for sexual pleasure  Doctor advises

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Former Ghanaian leader and founder of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Jerry Rawlings has expressed concerns over what he calls reports of malpractices and abuse of process in the partys ongoing branch executive elections across various regions.

According to Citinewsroom.com report, as a result of the allegations, Mr Rawlings has invited NDC Chairman, Kofi Portuphy, General Secretary Asiedu Nketia and Vice Chairman of the Council of Elders, Alhaji Iddrisu Mahama to his office to discuss the development.

Jerry Rawlings

READ ALSO: Shatta Wale running away from Ghana to Wizkid's Nigeria

A statement released by the office of the former President, indicated that despite the urgency of the matter, Mr Portuphy could not attend the meeting while Alhaji Mahama did not show up either.

According to the statement, the former President Rawlings in the meeting brought the General Secretarys attention to the serious complaints and petitions emanating from the elections and the potential damage to the party if no action is taken to rectify the wrongs.

The statement further said, Mr Asiedu Nketia conceded that it was necessary to take due note of the several petitions and complaints by suspending or cancelling such elections so the allegations could be thoroughly investigated and elections re-conducted to instil sanity and confidence in the process.

READ ALSO: Pastor Majid puts banging Ferrari on display but with coded message

However, Mr Asiedu Nketia on the other hand confirmed at the meeting that he had already directed some elections to be cancelled and re-conducted in some of the areas he had toured.

READ ALSO: Pastor Majid Michel sends crucial message to all Christians

Yen.com.gh is building a platform where Ghanaians can share local news and own experiences with each other. Witnessing an incident? Want to tell about a local problem? Know someone who is extremely talented and needs recognition? Your stories and photos are always welcome. Message us on Facebook.

Source: Yen.com.ghOne of Ghanas top gospel artistes, Grace Ashly, has commented on the recent scandal that has hit her colleague musician, Ernest Opoku, after an actress came out that she forced her to abort her three-month pregnancy.

Reacting to the pregnancy drama on Accra FM when, Grace Ashly who is now a lady pastor and a queen mother disclosed, if you are a gospel musician dont be glad about someones trouble.

Why is she disgracing Ernest Opoku? what will she gain from it? For me, if you want me to die, will it help you, Grace Ashly said.

She further suggested better ways the lady could have handled the situation.

READ ALSO: Shatta Wale is just a 'village champion' - Musician

I will never condemn Ernest Opoku, the lady could have contacted pastors in the country to resolve such issues if the whole of Ghana listens they cant help you in any way,.

Advising the lady, Mrs. Ashly who is not excited about the development additionally added, if you use your mouth to get someone in trouble, it is not good.

She, however, emphasized that gospel musicians who get excited because their colleagues get into trouble must be careful.

Grace Ashly who is known for composing great tunes for the black stars further detailed, for the lady to bring such an issue to the general public it is unfortunate. She should rather protect her unborn baby instead of disgracing Ernest Opoku,

READ ALSO: VIDEO: Watch Shatta Wale's first music video from Zylofon Media

On Thursday morning Gladys Mensah Boaku, a.k.a NAYAS who is an actress accused gospel musician Ernest Opoku of impregnating her and forcing her to abort it.

There is an audio which is all over social media which the actress verbally assaulted the musician mercilessly. The lady claims she is pregnant with Ernest Opoku and he dumps her and the pregnancy.

According to the actress, she told Ernest Opoku about her 3 months pregnancy and he warned her to abort it.

Watch the trending news on YEN.com.gh this week:

Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish on YEN.com.gh? Please contact us on Facebook now.

Source: Yen.com.ghLegendary Ghanaian highlife musician, Jewel Ackah, passed on yesterday, April 27.

Jewel Ackah died at his home in Tema at about 7pm on Friday, according information reaching this medium. He was 73.

He had been battling stroke and other illnesses for over 10 years, YEN.com.gh understands

Before his death, Jewel Ackah who was a member of the National Democratic Congress has told the party that if they had any help to offer him, they should do so now while he is still alive.

The late Jewel Ackah

READ ALSO: Telling the whole Ghana won't solve the problem - Popular gospel musician jumps to Ernest Opoku's defense on 3-months pregnancy abortion saga

I want to remind them that they shouldnt let me die before they come and make Jewel Ackah. Jewel Ackah.

Jewel Ackah made this comment while addressing an NDC group who donated GHC2, 000 to cut down the cost of his medication after he had thanked the group for their kind gesture.

Jewel, who is known for the popular party anthem for the National Democratic Congress battled stroke and other sicknesses for about 10 years.

READ ALSO: Latest photos of Nana Aba Anamoah's handsome son get fans drooling

Watch the trending news on YEN.com.gh this week:

READ ALSO: Obinim is possessed  Kenyan-based pastor exposes 'fake' Obinims miracles

Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish on YEN.com.gh? Please contact us on Facebook now.

Source: Yen GhanaThe Ghanaian social media space has erupted in fury over a photo that some Ghanaians say depicts misconduct on the part of a pastor.

The photo which has been trending wildly on social media appears to show a pastor removing the undies of a church member in an apparent deliverance session.

The photo drew swift condemnation from social media, with many Ghanaians describing it out as the type of conduct that gives Christianity a bad name.

Social media users blasted the pastor as one of the false prophets Jesus spoke of in the Bible.

Others described him as an irresponsible citizen who did not deserve to be a citizen of Ghana.

YEN.com.gh cannot confirm that the photo depicts what social media users are complaining about or that it is even from Ghana. It is entirely possible that the picture is from a stage play or some other social event.

But that has not stopped social media users from going into full attack mode, condemning what many of them say is an attempt to discredit Christianity.

Here are other photos that recently caused outrage on the internet.

1. "Deliverance" time

2. A pastor "delivers" a woman with what appears to be a mosquito repellent.

3. Church members reportedly acting on their pastor's order to chew grass.

READ ALSO: Fans 'fight' over Nana Aba Anamoah's cute son after she posted photos of him

4. Several other pastors reportedly doing "deliverance"

What do you make of this? Share your views on this with us in the comments section.

Have a hot story or scandal to share with YEN.com.gh? Send it to us on Facebook now!

READ ALSO: Use your fingers instead of tongue for sexual pleasure  Doctor advises couples

Source: YenThe National Democratic Congress (NDC), on Saturday, successfully held their Unity Walk at Kumasi in the Ashanti Region.

A massive crowd attended the event, which aimed to help unify the opposition party ahead of their bid to recapture political power in 2020.

A stunning and unexpected defeat to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in 2018 left the NDC bitterly divided, with party members angrily trading blame for the party's loss.

The massive reception the NDC received at Kumasi, the "stronghold" of the ruling NPP, boosted the morale of NDC supporters, with many of them pointing out on social media that it was a positive sign for the party's fortunes in the next election.

The event was attended by several party dignitaries, including former president John Mahama.

Speaking at the event, Mahama refused to commit to contesting in the 2020 polls.

He said his immediate priority was to help reorganise the party and transform in into a formidable political machine ahead of the 2020 elections.

"As the immediate past leader who led the party into the elections of 2016 and we lost, I have a responsibility to make sure that the party is put back on its feet so that whoever leads it has a very good chance of taking us into victory. And that is my focus at the moment, Mahama said.

The former president said he was confident that God himself would select a good leader for the party, who he said would be capable of winning the elections in 2020.

The Unity Walk event comes barely a day after the founder of the NDC and former president of Ghana, Jerry Rawlings, alleged some irregularities and malpractices in the party's ongoing branch executive elections taking place nationwide.

READ ALSO: Shatta Wale's new 'girlfriend' 'scatters minds' as she releases wild twerking video

Jerry Rawlings

Rawlings also warned that party risked collapsing if such alleged corrupt practices continued.

The episode underscored the the lack of cohesion within the NDC makeup - something that the party would have to work on before the 2020 elections.

What do you make of this? Share your views on this with us in the comments section. Have a hot story or scandal to share with YEN.com.gh? Send it to us on Facebook now!

READ ALSO: Jackie Appiahs real beauty exposed as she runs to hide after camera captures her without wig

YEN News editor, Charles Ayitey, breaks down the latest trending in the video below.

Source: Yen NewsBugri Naabu, the Northern regional chairman of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), has been beaten at the just ended Northern Regional delegates congress held in Tamale.

Bugri Naabu

He lost to Mohammed A. Bantima Samba, a businessman, who secured 312 of the 492 votes cast.

Bugri Naabu who could only muster 116 votes has effectively been relieved of his position as NPP Northern Regional chairman.

The full results are as follows:

Mohammed A. Bantima Samba - 312

Alhaji Abdallah Hindu - 25

Alhaji Mugis Sibawey - 0

Daniel Bugri Naabu - 116

Amadu Inusah Dagomba Boy - 99

Spoilt ballot - 1

Bugri Naabu was involved in an accident ahead of the election and had hoped to get some sympathy votes to enable him retain his post.

Bugri Naabu towed his mangle accident car to the stadium where the election was held

To this end, he towed his mangled Land Cruiser vehicle to the venue of the election, hoping that the sight of it would draw sympathy from delegates and help to invigorate his faltering campaign.

The move drew swift condemnation from many Ghanaians on social media, and ultimately failed to pay off.

In the other results, Sule Sambian, a lawyer, won the reional secretary position, while Alhaji Rashid COP won the regional organiser position.

READ ALSO: 7 things Ghanaian girls say if they love a guy

Check out some of the trending news in Ghana in YEN.com.gh's video below:

Share your views on this with us in the comments section 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.

READ ALSO: 12 photos that explain why most pastors will go to hell

Source: YenBy Maskoor Ahmad Usmani for TwoCircles.net

1925 marks the birth year of the hateful and terror-breeding organisation Rastriya Swayam Sewak Sangh, founded by Dr. K. B. Hegdewar and VD Savarkar. The much-exaggerated Veer Savarkar was the same person who pleaded and begged to the British numerous times from jail for mercy and his release. Later, these fanatics shared by common ideology came under the banner of RSS. The tail of espionage and working hand in glove with the British is much known in the history of pre-independent India. From exchanging outfits and staging violence to spitting venom in public meetings there has been no stone left unturned by the RSS to break down the social fabric of India.

It was on 30th January, 1947 when MK Gandhi was gunned down by the Hindu fanatic and member of the RSS Nathuram Godse at Birla House, Delhi. Soon after the death of Gandhiji, in a letter to Golwalkar dated 11th September, 1948 Sardar Patel the then home minister of India pointed out Opposition turned more severe, when the RSS men expressed joy and distributed sweets after Gandhis death. What does this indicate? And why was RSS so happy that it had to distribute sweets after the killing of Gandhi?

Support TwoCircles



In a letter dated 14th March, 1948, Dr. Rajendra Prasad wrote to Sardar Patel:

I am told that RSS people have a plan of creating trouble. They have got a number of men dressed as Muslims and looking like Muslims who are to create trouble with the Hindus by attacking them and thus inciting the Hindus. Similarly, there will be some Hindus among them who will attack Muslims and thus incite Muslims. The result of this kind of trouble amongst the Hindus and Muslims will be to create conflagration.

Among RSSs ideological forefathers the so called Guru Golwalkar occupies a big space, in his book Bunch Of Thoughts M. S. Golwalkar spits out venom in the following words:

Even to this day there are so many who say, now there is no Muslim problem at all. All those riotous elements who supported Pakistan have gone away once for all. The remaining Muslims are devoted to our country. After all, they have no other place to go and they are bound to remain loyal It would be suicidal to delude ourselves into believing that they have turned patriots overnight after the creation of Pakistan on the contrary, the Muslim menace has increased a hundredfold by the creation of Pakistan which has become a springboard for all their future aggressive designs on our country.

How the narrative for Indian Muslims having nexus with Pakistan has come to fore in contemporary times we need to look back of how virulent this notion was treatisised by Golwalkar in his book, within the country there are so many Pakistans The conclusion is that, in practically every place, there are Muslims who are in constant touch with Pakistan over transmitter

There are some serious questions that need to be answered; it is a deep travesty for our country that the heads of incumbent dispensation are members of the same traitor organization.

RSS, which was responsible for pre and post-independence rioting, conspiring and spreading communal hatred, paradoxically in contemporary India claims itself to be nationalist and seek others patriotism for the nation. After seventy years of Independence it is bemoaning to see that elected BJP MPs like Sakshi Maharaj demands to declare Nathuram Godse as a national patriot.

Now coming to the recent row, it is highly bemoaning to see morons and ignorants like Aamir Rasheedi demand opening an RSS shakha in AMU. The students and faculties of Aligarh Muslim University are much educated and well aware of the fact of how RSS worked as puppets of the British and is responsible for spreading hatred, violence, communal rioting, pogroms, carnages and moreover killing of Gandhi. We the students of AMU will not let a traitor organization like RSS into the varsitys campus and strictly warn people like Rasheedi to keep their idiotic ideas outside. AMU is a diverse, inclusive, plural and democratic institution of whose character is totally hostile to the ideology of the Sangh. Do not dare even to keep an evil eye on AMU.

The author is President, Aligarh Muslim University Students UnionBy Manzar Imam for TwoCircles.net

With scarcity of good ulama, the passing away of Maulana Muhammad Salim Qasmi, rector of Al-Jamia Al-Islamia Darul Uloom Waqf, Deoband, has sent a sense of gloom across India. People have written obituaries describing his death as the loss of the last chain in the golden series of Khanwada-e-Qasmiyat, a metaphor used to describe the great legacy whose history got prominence with establishment of Darul Uloom in Deoband in 1867 against the backdrop of persistent British onslaught on Indians on the one hand and its ugly design to kill ulama in large numbers on the other hand, to mitigate the impact of resistance against the Colonial power.

Maulana Salim Qasmi was a witness to the British cruelty on Indians and the Indian ulama during the eventful years if Independence. He had lived those times as a young student of Indias most prominent madrasa that had been a great centre of anti-British movements like the Silk Letter Movement.

Support TwoCircles



Being the great-grandson of Maulana Muhammad Qasim Nanautwi, Salim Qasmi knew well the role he had to play to live up to the reputation and expectations both of his family and its followers and admirers spread over countries and continents. He rightly did so. His demise thus has rightly been described as the end of that golden chain. However, as there are others from the same family trying to carry forward both the academic and social and historical legacy, will they be able to do justice with that, only time will tell.

Muhammad Salim was born on 8 January, 1926 at Deoband and received primary education from many teachers. He completed his studies in 1948 from Darul Uloom Deoband where his teachers included great luminaries like Maulana Hussain Ahmad Madani, Maulana Aizaz Ali, Allama Ibrahim Balyawi, Maulana Syed Fakhrul Hasan Moradabadi. He is said to be the last surviving disciple of Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi from whom he studied Mizan, an important book of Arabic grammar. Soon after passing out, he was appointed a teacher there. However, later, due to a serious conflict and crisis then in Darul Uloom, he along with some other colleagues, decided to stay away from it and established Darul Uloom Waqf which he nurtured till his last breath. Besides looking after its administrative affairs as a rector, he also taught Bukhari Sharif, the well-known book of hadith. Earlier, he had taught Muslim Sharif, another important book of hadith.

Some of the key positions he held at the time of his death are as follows:

Chief Rector, Al-Jamia Al-Islamia Darul Uloom Waqf, Deoband,

Vice-President, All India Muslim Personal Law Board,

Member, Aligarh Muslim University Court,

Member of Advisory Board and Managing Committee, Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama,

Member of Advisory Board, Mazahir Uloom Waqf, Saharanpur,

Permanent Member of the Fiqh Council, Al-Azhar,Cairo,

President, All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat (before two fractions of it finally united),

Patron, Kul Hind Rabta-e-Masajid,

Patron, Islamic Fiqh Academy, India.

About his written contribution to the domain of knowledge, the website of Darul Uloom Waqf Deoband mentions that besides being:

 one of the top speakers of ulama, his articles and writings are also much admired. Some of the books are worthy to be mentioned here like (1) Mabaadi al-Tarbiyat al-Islami (Arabic), (2) Jaiza Tarjama Quran Karim, (3) Taajdar-e-Arz-e-Haram ka Paigham, (4) Mardaan-e-Ghaazi, (5) Ek Azeem Tarikhi Khidmat, (6) Safar Nama-e-Burma.

(7) The book Khutbat-e-Khatibul Islam (a collection of his speeches) has been published in 5 volumes. Moreover, there are many articles and scripts awaiting publication.

Formally, Maulana received baiat (a reformative and self-actualization method historically in vogue for quite long as an Islamic tradition in certain schools of thought) at the hand of Maulana Shah Abdul Qadir Raipuri. However, he received much of the training from his glorious father, Qari Muhammad Tayyib (d. 17 July, 1983)

A remarkable trait of his personality was to maintain the dignity of a true aalim (religious scholar) by not partaking in sectarian lines as is the wont of some Ulama. He was therefore respected among all sections of Muslims and his views were very well received. Maulana Salim did not create the binary division of education between religious and modern. He believed that the source of all streams of knowledge is one.

In recognition of his services to the domain of knowledge and ideas Maulana Salim was honoured with many awards, some of which are as follows:

Nishan-e-Imtiyaz (Mark of Distinction) from the Government of Egypt for being a distinguished aalim of the Indian Sub-Continent,

Imam Muhammad Qasim Nanotwi Award,

Shah Waliullah Award.

Prominent leaders and ulama from different countries have expressed grief over the demise of Maulana Salim Qasmi. In her telephonic message, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said that Maulana Salims love for education was amazing. Outside the country he worked as an exemplary ambassador of education. Congress President Rahul Gandhi said Maulana Salim Qasmi illuminated the world through education and he would touch people through simplicity. Samajwadi Party chief, Mulayam Singh Yadav said that Maulana never asked anything for himself. He was a crown prince of education whose absence would be felt long.

Former Justice of Pakistans Shariah Court, Mufti Taqi Usmani described Maulana Salim Qasmi as an ocean of knowledge. His death is a huge loss to the Islamic world. The simplicity with which he lived is rare, he said adding, His service in the field of education is a golden chapter. Member of Parliament and AIUDF President Maulana Badruddin Ajmal Qasmi termed the demise of Maulana Salim Qasmi as end of an era whose enumerable services are worth to be written in golden words. Senior leaders Ahmad Patel, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Syed Shahnawaz Hussain and others also sent their condolence messages.

Maulana Syed Rabey Hasani Nadwi, President of All India Muslim Personal Law Board, who had closely worked with Maulana Salim Qasmi and had also been his classmate at Darul Uloom Deoaband, wrote an article in which he stated that Maulana Salim Sahab had acquired many of the qualities of his father Qari Tayyib Sahab and his great grandfather Maulana Qasim Nanautwi. He worked in a similar way from whom different sections of ummah benefitted. His death therefore has caused concerns about the void in the ummah and in religious circles. Maulana Arshad Madani described Maulana Salim Qasmis death as a loss which does not seem to be filled in near future. Whenever there is a crisis he would be remembered he said. The responsibility to protect the institution that he established falls on all of us. Prof Humayun Murad said that Maulana knew well how to avoid confrontation and find peaceful and constructive ways. Darul Uloom Waqf Deoband is its living example.

Maulana Muhammad Sayeedi, nazim, Mazahir Uloom Waqf said, In the passing away of Maulana Salim Qasmi, Mazahir Uloom has been deprived of one of its true guide and patron. He was its member since 1988. Mufti Muzaffar Husain would trust him a lot and his suggestions were highly helpful.

As against the commonly held opinion of ulama who do not tire of speaking about the division of knowledge between religious and modern or worldly, Maulana Salim Qasmi, in June 2013, had in a public programme, very categorically said that all the available forms of knowledge are from Allah. There is nothing as religious and worldly knowledge.

Maulana Qasmi said that the division of knowledge (between religious and worldly) is a political creation because all streams of knowledge flow from God. He then asked heads of madrasas to invite people of other faiths to their madrasas and exchange views and, share their problems with them also.

As I write this obituary, his soft-spoken words remind me of the sincerity with which he would draw the attention of the people to real issues and to the approaches that need to be adopted to find their solution.

Maulana Salim Qasmi was among the important personalities who had set up the Darul Uloom Waqf. His colleagues Maulana Muhammad Nayeem Deobandi died a little over a decade ago on 23 August, 2007, Shaikhul Hadith Maulana Syed Anzar Shah Kashmiri died 10 years ago on 26 April, 2008, Mufti Khursheed Alam died on 7 February, 2012, while Maulana Salims younger brother Maulana Muhammad Aslam Qasmi, an outstanding orator, died about five months ago on 13 November, 2017. Finally, this great son of the great Khanwada-e-Qasmiyat passed away on 14 April, 2018. He is survived by four sons and two daughters.

May the Almighty grant him an exalted place in Jannah!

The author is a PhD Fellow at the Academy of International Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia and is also doing an online program Contending Modernities of the University of Notre Dame, USA.Attacks have become increasingly low-cost since the 9/11 atrocities in the

in 2001, particularly in recent years as followers of the

have used

and guns as their main weapon of choice.Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisis re-election enables Cairo to continue the same foreign policy toward Moscow. In a congratulatory cable to his Egyptian counterpart, Vladimir Putin expressed hopes for further cooperation, which is already rather comprehensive, between the two countries. Russia is seeing progress on its two mega projects in Egypt: the industrial zone underway east of Port Said, and a long-term collaboration on a nuclear power plant at El Dabaa. As Al-Monitor writes in an article "Egypt, Russia making most of collaboration prospects", in addition, the two nations are due to resume direct flights to popular resort destinations after a 2-year suspension prompted by the bombing of a Russian charter plane over the Sinai Peninsula in October 2015. Wilayat Sinai, an Islamic State affiliate, claimed responsibility for the bombing.

The countries are gradually restoring tourist flow despite the threat of terrorism. However, any surge in outbound Russian tourism may come at the expense of Russian resorts in Sochi and Crimea, so Moscow is likely to stick to a balanced policy on this matter.

Military-technical and even military-political partnerships still top the priority list for Russia and Egypt. In November, Egypt consented to a five-year reciprocal arrangement to allow Russian military planes to use Egyptian facilities and airspace as long as either side provides a five-day notice. The deal raised much speculation. On one hand, many people believe the agreement will merely streamline regulations concerning regular joint military exercises of Russian airborne forces and Egyptian armed forces paratroopers. On the other hand, some Russian pundits believe the decision would not only enable Russian naval aviation to carry out surveillance in the Mediterranean region, but it would also strengthen Russias positions in Libya should an unfavorable scenario unfold there.

For example, Egypt opened in July what it says is the largest military base in the Middle East to protect the countrys western border with Libya and oil fields. At the same time, facilities at Sidi Barrani  near the Egypt-Libya border  were being reconstructed to prevent extremists, illegal migrants and smugglers from infiltrating the country.

In recent years, Russian media have occasionally mentioned Russia might be thinking of leasing the former Soviet air base at Sidi Barrani. Russia was even reported to have deployed special forces and drones there. Russia and Egypt have strongly denied such reports, with Sisi himself rejecting the idea that there is any foreign military presence in his land. Yet Algerian sources stated that Russia has provided intelligence support from Egyptian territory to Libyan Gen. Khalifa Hifter, whom it backs in that countrys civil war. Also, French sources say experts from Russias Main Intelligence Directorate have trained Egyptian special forces. In general, Russian-Egyptian military and technical cooperation, which is increasingly becoming strategic, looks promising for both parties.

In the fall of 2015, Egypt signed a deal with Russia to purchase 46 Ka-52 Alligator attack helicopters. Cairo also reportedly placed an order for about 50 MiG-29M/MiG-29M2 fighter jets.

Also, in early June 2017, pictures  allegedly taken at the Port of Alexandria  surfaced showing S-300VM Antey-2500 anti-aircraft systems being unloaded.

There are other contracts that have been kept under wraps as well. For instance, photos of the multimode 3D-radar Protivnik-GE on social media were the only evidence that Russians had supplied the cutting-edge radar station to the Egyptian army.

In the summer of 2017, Russias machine-building company UralVagonZavod appeared to have leaked its 2016 annual report, which was later removed from the website. The report highlighted plans to start licensed production of Russian T-90S/SK battle tanks in Egypt. At the moment, Russia and Egypt are apparently close to finalizing a contract for the licensed assembly of about 400 T-90S/SK tanks  half in SKD format (simple installation), and half in CKD format (requiring installation and welding of hulls and towers).

Although the M1A1 Abrams tank manufacturing facility located outside Cairo in Helwan assembles tanks from US-supplied kits, Egyptian land forces need more, as the kits are shipped in small batches and every now and then the delivery is suspended for political reasons, Andrey Frolov, editor-in-chief of Arms Export magazine, told Al-Monitor. He said similar issues have come up with US Boeing AH-64D Apache helicopters.

Moscow has indeed secured some major contracts to supply weapons to Egypt against strong competition with the United States. However, the supplies of arms and equipment hardly improve Egypts security situation, especially in the Sinai Peninsula. A comprehensive approach to combating terrorism requires a flexible strategy and relevant political openness, however, its questionable whether the Egyptian president  a hard-liner  would agree.Its mission accomplished for OPEC in its battle against bulging global inventories of oil, thanks to the production cuts it has had in place for nearly 18 months. As Reuters writes in an article "Oil investment may prove a tricky target for OPEC", the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, which supplies a third of the worlds oil, agreed to curb output by 1.8 million barrels per day jointly with 10 other producers including Russia until stocks returned to more normal levels.

The overhang of unwanted crude and oil products has reached OPECs target, but the group now says it would rather see a pickup in investment, which fell by $1 trillion (719.01 billion pounds) in the three years of surplus and weak prices that started in June 2014. OPEC, which initially targeted the five-year average level of oil inventories in the worlds richest nations, has said it might consider using other data that is far harder to track, such as oil in floating storage or as commercial inventory in countries that provide no reliable storage information. OPEC has said it could come up with other metrics.

Khalid al-Falih, the energy minister for OPEC heavyweight Saudi Arabia, said in early April that output in a number of regions was declining and the only way to avoid a supply shortage in the longer term was for money to start flowing into new upstream projects.

Saudi Aramco Chief Executive Amin Nasser said in March the global oil and gas industry needs to invest more than $20 trillion over the next 25 years to meet growth in demand and compensate for the natural decline in developed fields.

Qatars Energy Minister Mohammed al-Sada told Reuters this month that the global oil investment purse of around $400 billion would not be enough.

Investment data from the International Energy Agency confirms OPEC is correct about the drop in spending, but it also shows the situation is not quite as dire as OPEC believes.

On aggregate, compared with the peak in investment of close to $800 billion in 2014, the data shows that spending did drop by some $1 trillion to 2017.

The IEA data suggests the decline amounted to around $340 billion between 2014 and 2017, but this slowed to $120 billion between 2015 and 2018, suggesting recovery is underway.

In fact, the IEA estimates that investment this year will rise for the first time since 2014 to $466 billion, 20 percent lower than in 2011, when the average oil price was above $100 a barrel.

However, what the numbers dont reflect is the huge gain in efficiency since 2014, when oil majors started to force service providers to slash costs. The majors began generating much bigger free cash flows at oil prices of $50 per barrel compared to what they generated when prices were double that level.

Oil has risen 35 percent to around $74 a barrel LCOc1, its highest since mid-2014, since the coordinated cuts took effect and sources have said Saudi Arabia could be targetting prices of $80 per barrel and even $100.

OPEC and its partners want a high enough price to balance their budgets, which were eroded by years of cheap oil, but not so high that it encourages output from rival producers, particularly in the United States.

The group has repeatedly said the market determines the value of a barrel of oil and its policies are aimed at ensuring a balance between supply and demand.The political crisis continues in Armenia, the outcome of which is becoming increasingly unpredictable. The destructive negotiating position taken by Nikol Pashinyan regarding the largest parliamentary faction of the RPA, only increases the likelihood of confrontation.

Pashinyan, in fact monopolizing the right to speak on behalf of the whole people, openly threatens the parliament with "public outrage" in case of a "wrong" decision, while urging all Armenians to gather in Yerevan and besiege the National Assembly on the day of discussing a candidature of the new prime minister. It is a rhetorical question whether the election taking place at gunpoint can be considered legitimate - and that is how one can define the uncompromising pressure of the crowd. According to Pashinyan, either he is elected prime minister or no one is. It is quite logical that acting prime minister Karen Karapetyan refused to negotiate in such conditions - the opposition's aim is not to launch dialogue, but to legalize an unconditional "capitulation act" under the pressure of a crowd taken to the streets.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, during a recent telephone conversation with Karen Karapetyan, made it clear that "resolving the political crisis in Armenia must take place exclusively through legal means in the framework of the current constitution and on the basis of the results of the legitimate parliamentary elections held in April 2017." "In this context, the leaders emphasized the importance of electing a new Armenian prime minister by the parliament on a planned date of May 1, 2018," the Armenian government said in a statement, which was not corrected or refuted by the Russian side. Pashinyan's response speaks for itself: "I think it's a wrong interpretation as Russia as well as other countries does not intervene in Armenia's internal affairs." Apparently, being in euphoria from popular support, Pashinyan is not fully aware of the realities of the region. Moscow's non-interference in the internal affairs of Armenia does not mean its consent to anarchy and lawlessness.

Particular attention should be given to another comment of Pashinyan. To the question of Radio Azatutyun of what task Karapetyan is resolving not attending negotiations, the oppositionist answered: "I think that Karen Karapetyan is simply not confident in his negotiating abilities, and if a person is not confident in his negotiating abilities in his homeland, how is he is going to hold talks on the Karabakh issue?". Thus, the native of Ijevan, Pashinyan, "let slip" that he does not consider Nagorno Karabakh an Armenian homeland - a symptomatic statement, which will be taken into account with satisfaction in Baku. I wonder how Armenia's representatives of the Karabakh clan will react to it.U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday revealed again his profound differences with German Chancellor Angela Merkel over defense burden, trade and the Iran nuke deal.

Merkel paid a working visit to the United States on Friday, following French President Emmanuel Macron's high-profile state visit to the country.

As China.org writes in the article Trump, Merkel clash over defense burden, trade, Iran, in a joint press briefing with the visiting German leader, Trump complained again that the United Sates has shouldered a "far greater burden than we should have" in the defense of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). "Other countries should be paying more," he said. "We're protecting Europe and, yet, we pay, by far, more than anybody else." "NATO is wonderful but it helps Europe more than it helps us. And why are we paying the vast majority of the costs?" Trump asked.

In response, Merkel said that Germany in 2019 will earmark 1.3 percent of its GDP for defense. "That has been an increase over the past few years. We haven't yet met the target where we should be, but we are getting closer to the target to the guideline that we've set up for ourselves," she added.

Trump has lashed out at NATO members, Germany in particular, for failing to increase their national defense budget to the threshold of 2 percent of their GDP, something they promised in 2014 to achieve in 10 years.

Trump also noted that the U.S. trade relations with Germany, and the European Union at large, were not "reciprocal." "We need a reciprocal relationship, which we don't have. The United States right now has a trade deficit with the European Union of 151 billion U.S. dollars ... it's been unfair," he said. The White House host further added that "there's no way we should have a trade deficit of 151 billion U.S. dollars. So we're going to make it reciprocal. We're going to make it a much more fair situation."

Trump also noted sarcastically the bad blood between the European leaders and himself. "I believe that -- you know, when I look at the numbers in Germany -- and some other countries, they may not like Donald Trump but you have to understand, that means I'm doing a good job because I'm representing the United States," he said.

The two sides also seemed to have failed to reach convergence over Trump's earlier threat to increase tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, as Merkel said it is up to Trump to decide whether to exempt the European Union from the tariffs before the May 1 deadline. She only said that "we had an exchange of views on the current state of affairs of the negotiations, and the respective assessments on where we stand on this. And the decision lies with the president," referring to Trump. She also defended the German trade stance, saying that her government is already taking actions to change the imbalance. "The president obviously is not satisfied with the trade surplus. We have already been able to reduce that, our trade surplus that is with the United States, but we still have a long way to go. But the United States, also due to the tax reform, again has become a very interesting place to invest for our companies," she said. "We can say with great pride that not only hundreds of thousands of cars are exported from Germany to the United States, but from the U.S. to the rest of the world, hundreds of thousands of cars that are built here in the states are exported to the rest of the world with creating American jobs, and I believe that the workers here have very good working conditions," she added.

As for the Iran nuclear deal, Trump vowed to ensure that Iran "does not even get close to a nuclear weapon, and that Iran ends its proliferation of dangerous missiles, and its support for terrorism." "We must also ensure that Iran does not profit from our success," he said, refusing to say whether to leave the deal, although his newly picked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said earlier on the same day that Trump is unlikely to remain in the deal. Merkel acknowledged that the current deal is not sufficient, but said that Berlin believes that the deal "is a first step" that has contributed to the slowing of the Iranian nuke activities.Yesterday's meeting between leaders of South Korea and North Korea in Panmunjom was called a significant step by Seoul and Pyongyang towards national reconciliation and establishment of strong relationship. The Russian Foreign Ministry positively assessed agreements that were reached in Panmunjom during the talks and expressed readiness to help establishment of practical cooperation between the DPRK and the Republic of Korea, including through development of trilateral cooperation in railway, electricity, gas and other sectors.

The Foreign Ministry felt that this meeting had confirmed desire of the parties to intensify political and diplomatic process, to resolve various problems of the Korean peninsula, including those associated with nuclear weapons. "We will continue to work in coordination with countries involved in this process in the frameworkd of the Russian-Chinese road map for the Korean settlement. This should lead to resumption of multilateral negotiations in the interests of shaping a system of peace and security in Northeast Asia," the Foreign Ministry said.

As Bloomberg writes in an article "What an End to the 68-Year Korean War Would Mean", some 65 years since open hostilities ended, North and South Korea are still technically at war. However, after a sudden warming of relations this year, Kim Jong Un became the first North Korean leader to visit South Korea on April 27. He held talks with his South Korean counterpart, Moon Jae-in, together reaching an agreement to put an end to hostilities this year.

1. Why is the Korean War still not over?

Because the parties involved in talks to end the war -- North and South Korea, China and the United Nations (representing the international community, including the U.S.) -- never were able to agree on a peace treaty. What was signed in 1953 was only an armistice, or truce, and only among three of the four parties, as South Korea held out. Thats why the border between the two nations has been one of the worlds tensest for decades.

2. What did Kim and Moon agree on?

They announced plans to formally declare a resolution to the war and turn the current armistice into a peace treaty by years end, as well as aiming for full denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

3. Have the two countries come close to peace before?

Its seemed that way. At a 2007 summit in Pyongyang, President Roh Moo-hyun and Kim Jong Il (Kim Jong Uns father) settled on dozens of agreements aimed at supporting North Koreas economy and recommitted to a declaration made at a summit in 2000 -- the first between leaders of North Korea and South Korea -- that the two sides would seek peaceful reunification.

4. What came of that peace effort?

Negotiations -- known as the six-party talks -- broke down in 2008 after North Korea refused to allow international inspectors to visit nuclear facilities. Around the same time, South Korea elected a conservative president, Lee Myung-bak, who favored a harder line and abandoned his predecessors so-called "Sunshine Policy" toward North Korea. The sinking of a South Korean corvette, killing 46 sailors, by a suspected North Korean torpedo prompted the newly elected president to cut off all ties.

5. Would peace lead to economic ties?

Not necessarily. South Korea would be unlikely to agree to economic aid until the U.S. agrees to relax sanctions in return for North Korea agreeing to denuclearize. Those figure to be among the major issues for U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim at their planned meeting in the next couple of months.

6. How far apart are the two Koreas economically?

The gap between the North Korea and South Korea today is far greater than that between East and West Germany when the Berlin Wall came down. A 2015 report from the National Assembly Budget Office estimated that even under a peaceful scenario in which Seoul expanded humanitarian support ahead of a hypothetical reunification in 2026, it could cost about $2.8 trillion to help bring North Koreas gross domestic product to two-thirds that of South Koreas. Thats almost 8 times South Koreas 2017 annual budget.Yesterday Moscow hosted a round table on the topic of social and political support of Syrian people. This event was held in the Russian Diplomatic Academy and was organized on the initiative of the Russian Committee for Solidarity and Cooperation with Peoples of Asia and Africa as well as by the Russian-Syrian Friendship and Cultural Relations Society. Participants in this roundtable adopted a draft declaration in support of Syria, in which they mentioned creation of an independent public solidarity platform for consolidation of efforts of all those who show interest and feel need to contribute to final cessation of destructive processes in the Middle East, initiated by the United States and their allies.

"Our entire country supports Syria and Syrian people. The Diplomatic Academy has been close friend of Syria and its people for a long time. Together we published books, held conferences, wrote theses, published monographs, gave lectures on Syria, trained diplomats. Most importantly, there are people here who dedicated their entire work to Syria for many years. Not only Russia supports Syria, but also many other countries. They support Syrian people, Syrian government in the Arab world, Iran, India and China. Even if their are on the side that officially vigorously opposes Syria and Syrian people," rector of the Diplomatic Academy Yevgeny Bazhanov said.

As an example, he mentioned interview of economist Jeffrey Sachs, who was an economic adviser to Gorbachev, Yeltsin, and now he works on serious projects at the UN. "Sachs is a great figure in American society. He said in his interview: "Stability in Syria ended seven years ago, when the Obama administration together with one Arab state decided to overthrow legitimate government of Syria. They failed, despite all operations carried out by the CIA and some other organizations. For 7 years Americans tried to suppress Syrian people through military means, they bombed Syria, killed Syrians. As a result of such actions 500 thousand people were killed and 10 million became refugees. The Daesh terrorist group appeared in Syria because of America's policy. Russia was forced to begin military operations in Syria with the support of Syrian authorities because of this policy. When Trump became president, instinct told him that it was time to stop this policy, but he was persuaded by newspapers, the Pentagon, the military-industrial complex, and by the Congress that it was necessary to continue this absolutely hopeless and catastrophic policy that led to very serious and dangerous confrontation with the Russian Federation." Sachs urged Trump to stop this insane policy, which is primarily aimed at ousting Russia and Iran from Syria. We strongly support this position. So not only our side, but also other side of this conflict has people who understand who's right and who commits crimes."

The Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Ilyas Umakhanov said that thanks to actions of Syrian people, with full support of the Russian Federation and some other countries, Syria was able to achieve major successes in the fight against international terrorism, which resulted in destruction of most of the Daesh forces. "Unfortunately, in this very important historical moment, when we almost reached peaceful settlement, a new threat to independence and territorial integrity of Syria appeared thanks to a number of Western countries. The US and their allies do everything they can to prevent victory of legitimate government led by President Bashar Assad, to cut off a number of territories from jurisdiction of legitimate authorities, primarily in the south and north of the country," Umakhanov said.

According to him, Washington shows contradictory signals regarding its plans, but broad military presence of America in Syrian territory is obvious. "At the same time we can see how another anti-Syrian plan is being set up - placing armed units of some Arab states that haven't given up attempts to interfere in internal affairs of Syria are being deployed instead of or together with American troops. They talk about fight against terrorism, but in reality they cynically support various terrorists. All of this shows that our friends, people of Syria, need political, moral, and humanitarian support, including support of public organizations," Ilyas Umakhanov belives.A round-table discussion was held yesterday in Moscow on public and political support of the Syrian people, after which a draft declaration in support of Syria was adopted, which refers to the creation of a public independent solidarity platform for the consolidation of all those who show interest and feel the need to contribute to permanent cessation of the destructive processes in the Middle East, initiated by the United States and its allies.

"Russia refers to the current situation in Syria with deep emotion and sincere empathy. The situation in Syria remains one of the most important topics on the international agenda. It is not only because of the scale of violence and bloodshed in this country, but also because what is happening there can negatively affect the modern world order system based on the principles of the UN Charter, as well as the role of this organization in conflict prevention," Russian president's special envoy for the Middle East and African countries and Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said during the round-table discussion.

"We are seriously worried by the tendency to aggravate the already complicated military and political situation in Syria in connection with the aggressive course taken by Washington and its closest allies." On April 14, a coalition of the United States, Britain and France staged an illegal action of intimidation, using military force against the sovereign SAR, the UN member state since the foundation of this international organization,in circumvention of the UN Security Council.

Thanks to the measures of political and military deterrence undertaken by Russia through various channels as well as the professional calculations of Syrian air defense, significant damage to the infrastructure of the Syrian Armed Forces, which have fought bravely against international terrorism for more than 7 years, was averted. In military terms, aggression has not produced significant dividends for its initiators. The references to the fact that the destroyed objects alleged to be linked to production of chemical weapons do not stand scrutiny," Mikhail Bogdanov said.

He recalled that the Syrian chemical program had long been curtailed, and the existing chemical weapons and precursors had been exported and destroyed, including with the direct participation of the United States: "By the way, the US is not rid of its stocks of chemical weapons. It is revealing that Washington did not want to wait for the results of the independent investigation. Moreover, the air strike of the coalition was carried out a day before the OPCW team was supposed to come to Damascus and start working.

The United States, Britain and France demonstrated that their humanitarian rhetoric, attempts to justify their military presence in Syria with the needs of defeating jihadists, with which, in fact, they side, aim to cover their plans for dismembering the country. It's absurd to bombard the place of development, production and storage of chemical weapon, because if poisonous substances were really present on the site destroyed by the western strikes, then the vast territories would be at risk of infection and thousands of civilians could be affected."

Mikhail Bogdanov also said: "Recently, we have repeatedly received signals that members of radical illegal armed groups can carry out a chemical provocation. It has been said several times at the highest level. Some representatives of the Syrian opposition said that, by doing this, they expect to force the United States and France to react in accordance with the red lines indicated in Syria by them.

We have repeatedly explained in the UN Security Council and in the OPCW the absurdity of the allegations about the Syrian government troops attacking Douma on April 7. At the same time, we did not call anyone to take our word of the word of the Syrians. On the contrary, we consistently demanded that an independent expert group be sent to understand the situation on the spot. But our calls were not heard, and two drafts resolutions submitted to the UN Security Council by Russia were blocked. And one of these drafts relied on those previously prepared by our Swedish partners.

It seems that now the main thing for the Western members of the UN Security Council is the constant pressure on Russia, and not concern about the settlement in Syria. In the current extremely difficult circumstances, humanitarian assistance in Syria is in demand as never before. It should be implemented on a depoliticized basis, because it is about saving human life, women, children, the elderly, the sick and the wounded."

Meanwhile, president of the Russian-Syrian Friendship and Cultural Relations Society Alexander Dzasokhov said that the unjust and destructive pressure on not just Syria, but on the entire international community, has been exerted for more than 7 years. "Russia, as the successor to the USSR, confirmed that our foreign policy remains consistent on principled strategic issues. There were periods when the adopted decisions were perceived with great concern, including among the political and expert community, but time has shown that taking the path of supporting the Syrian people in its struggle for independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity was historically the only right decision," Dzasokhov believes.

According to him, the round-table discussion on social and political support of the Syrian people was conceived as an opportunity to search for new forms and ideas aimed at expanding such support. "Today, the states and political forces of Europe, which until recently played a much greater role than the European troika in solving the most complicated problems in Indochina, in Latin America, in South Africa, were shifted to the periphery. I mean Sweden, Finland, Norway, Italy and Greece. Therefore, it is necessary to find ways of expanding the solidarity of the political parties and public associations of the countries mentioned above.Past week was difficult for Syria, Iran and Armenia. Syria still suffers from massive missile strikes, carried out by the United States, Great Britain and France on April 14. Iran anticipates revision of the nuclear deal, "velvet revolution" continues in Armenia. Russian senator Igor Morozov commented on these events in an interview with Vestnik Kavkaza.

- Tomorrow Moscow will host meeting of the foreign ministers of Russia, Iran and Turkey as guarantor countries of the Astana process, which mediates Syrian settlement. How do you evaluate current situation in Syria?

- Situation in Syria is pretty difficult. We know that the US and coalition will try to destabilize it. The fact is that they don't have initiative in the peaceful settlement. This means they can't bring puppet government to power in Syria, like they did in several countries with their "color revolutions". That' why they will lead situation in Syria to controlled chaos. That's why these staged chemical attacks, followed by massive air strikes, are happening in Syria. Civilians are dying in these attacks, which leads to destabilization of situation in Syria.

Of course, it's very difficult to restore Syria in these conditions, or at least conduct negotiation at the interstate level, at the level of multilateral formats, in order to attract foreign investments.

- Tomorrow ministers Lavrov and Zarif will have a separate conversation "on the sidelines" of trilateral ministerial meeting. Perhaps they will discuss future of the Iranian nuclear program. If the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) will be broken, just like Donald Trump wants, what consequences will it lead to?

- It's impossible to revise the JCPOA. Russia, Iran or China won't agree to that, and those are states that participated in formation of the negotiating platform that developed this agreement. I think that the US, no matter how much they try to make their Western allies bend to their will, can't change anything. Otherwise Iran will simply abandon all obligations it took and will begin to develop weapons.

It will jeopardize the JCPOA. There will be new countries that will try to develop nuclear weapons, missile weapons, capable of carrying nuclear warheads. Such situation would be extremely dangerous. We understand this, Americans don't. Or maybe they deliberately want to break the JCPOA.

- Yesterday Lavrov held a brief meeting with Armenian foreign minister Nalbandian, during which they discussed situation around Nagorno-Karabakh and how will events in Armenia affect it. How will processes taking place today in Yerevan affect the Karabakh conflict settlement?

- Any revolution, any protests that lead change of regime through violence, undoubtedly affect external unresolved conflicts. So if the government, acting prime minister, MPs are overthrown, a series of uncontrollable scenarios that will affect the Nagorno-Karabakh isssue may happen. And tensions in the South Caucasus will lead to new clashes, as well as to uncontrollable chaos.Turkey will take steps together with the United States in Syria's Manbij region, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said following his meeting with new US Secretary State Mike Pompeo in Brussels.

The US State Department released a statement following the meeting and said that Cavusoglu and Pompeo "reaffirmed their support for the established bilateral process to find a common way forward on Manbij and also discussed the United States' commitment to supporting Turkey's national security concerns."

Cavusoglu also said there was no French presence in Manbij and added Turkey could evaluate "good offers" for Patriot missiles or other air defense systems from allies, Daily Sabah reported.

The Turkish minister exchanged views on the current security environment and review preparations for the upcoming NATO summit to be held in Brussels" on July 11 and 12, according to a statement by Turkey's Foreign Ministry.Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan welcomed the historic Korea summit on April 27, saying he would talk to South Korean President Moon Jae-in about the issue on his May 2 visit.

"I welcome the meeting of South Korea's President Moon Jae-in and North Korea leader Kim Jong-un today at Panmunjom. I will address this important issue with President Moon during my upcoming visit to Seoul on May 2," Anadolu Agency cited Erdogan as saying.

The president also said he supported the "historic" step regarding the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and hoped it would be successful.

The leaders of North and South Korea agreed yesteray for a complete denuclearization and lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula, according to local media reports.

The deal followed a historic bilateral summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in the Joint Security Area of Panmunjom in the South.There is a direct correlation between Armenia's internal political situation and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council, a member of the Federation Council Committee on Science, Education and Culture, the representative of the executive body of the Republic of Dagestan, Ilyas Umakhanov told the correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza, answering the question of the influence of the current change of power in Armenia on the Karabakh problem. "It seems to me that any possible radicalization in Armenia will inevitably lead to the radicalization of this conflict," he explained.

At the same time, Ilyas Umakhanov expressed hope that the democratic processes in the republic will remain within the framework of the Constitution. "What is happening in Armenia is the issue of internal development. Today, a process of balancing the constructive forces that are set up to stabilize the country is under way in Armenia. So-called street democracy is undoubtedly a manifestation of the citizens' right to protest - but we should not expect that state decisions related to the state's future will be taken at rallies," the senator pointed out.

"I hope that the situation in Armenia will remain in the constitutional field and anyone who will be elected the head of state will continue to adhere to those international and bilateral agreements that exist between Russia and Armenia. I also hope that the new Prime Minister will contribute to strengthening of the bilateral agenda, and the wise Armenian people will make the right decision on May 1, when voting for the new prime minister will be held in the National Assembly of Armenia," Ilyas Umakhanov concluded.Israel has a lot of evidence that North Korea and Iran are cooperating on ballistic missile program, Israeli Intelligence and Transportation Minister Israel Katz said after North Koreas Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in agreed to work for a "complete denuclearization" of the peninsula at a summit meeting in Seoul.

Katz said that such a development, should it come to fruition, could have a larger impact of minimizing the threat of a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.

"He (US President Donald Trump) will have more power against Iran now and maybe to convince the European Union not to be the weak link in the coalition," he noted.

"I think it will be very good if the North Koreans will finish and go out of the nuclear business and capabilities. It will also be good to our region, because there is a connection," Reuters cited Katz as saying.

The minister said the connection between Iran and North Korea pertains to missile technology. "Yes, I think there is cooperation as it belongs to developing the ballistic missiles. And we have the evidence," he stressed.

"We have a lot of evidence," Katz added, shrugging his shoulders without elaborating.Moscow is concerned about calls to review the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

"Today, we have a good opportunity to look into the situation surrounding the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which causes us great concern so we would like to hold a thorough discussion," Lavrov said at a meeting with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif.

He pointed to active Russian-Iranian dialogue on bilateral cooperation, mentioning regular contacts between the two countries parliaments and the effective activities of the inter-governmental commission on trade and economic cooperation. "We hope that it will facilitate the growth of trade in the wake of a certain slowdown," TASS cited Lavrov as saying.Tbilisi Art Fair (TAF) will be held on May 17-20, the Georgian National Tourism Administration (GNTA) has announced. The event will take place at Expo Georgia.

As a part of the larger Check in Georgia project, which covers a series of cultural events with the support of the Georgian government, TAF will host more than 25 galleries and 35 independent artists from all over the world. Participants include Galeria Valid Foto BCN, the Rooster Gallery, ERTI Gallery and Project ArtBeat.

"TAF will be the place for collectors, curators, journalists and art professionals to discover under one roof selected artists and galleries from Georgia, Armenia, Iran, Turkey, Russia, Poland, Lithuania, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Romania, Belarus...and the World, " the project website says.

The works for Tbilisi Art Fair are being curated by a group of invited experts to ensure that they are of high quality, Agenda.ge reported.

Members of TAFs board include Rita Janssen, advisor for international cultural cooperation for BOZAR and Nicolas V. Iljine, who participated in the creation of museum projects such as Guggenheim Bilbao, Deutsche Guggenheim Berlin, Guggenheim-Hermitage in Las Vegas and the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.

The objective of TAF Tbilisi is to stimulate sales, networking, exhibition projects and institutional partnerships.Former Turkish President Abdullah Gul ruled out running for the presidency in June, dousing fevered speculation he would challenge President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"There is no longer the question of my candidacy," Gul said, blaming a lack of "wide consensus" between opposition parties.

Gul said the leader of the Saadet (Felicity) Party, Temel Karamollaoglu, had independently sought to rally supporters behind the former President.

"I had said that if there was a wide consensus, I would not shy away from doing my bit," Hurriyet Daily cited Gul as saying.

"We are too busy with reciprocal personal attacks and political manoeuvring rather than what is good for Turkey... Turkey unfortunately does not have a positive agenda. In this environment, we are heading for elections," Gul added.US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu that the United States was seriously concerned over Ankaras decision to buy Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile batteries, which are not compatible with NATOs defenses.

"The secretary underscored the seriousness of US concerns ... if they (Turkey) go ahead," a senior US official said after a meeting between Pompeo and Cavusoglu on the sidelines of a NATO foreign ministers session.

"He asked Cavusoglu to closely consider NATO interoperable systems," Reuters cited the official as saying.

Cavusoglu told Turkish broadcasters after the meeting that the S-400 deal was completed but that Turkey would be open to purchasing other defense systems from its allies.

"We have completed the S-400 process. That is a done deal. But we need more air defense. We can discuss what we can do for further purchases," the minister said.

Cavusoglu said Turkey would not be deterred by possible sanctions. "The I will impose sanctions if you buy approach will not affect Turkey. Turkey will not accept this. If we are going to discuss what we can do together in the future, we are in," he stressed.The underground nuclear test site that North Korea has pledged to dismantle remains usable in spite of damage from a previous blast, and its closure could easily be reversed, US intelligence officials said.

"There is no reason to conclude that the Punggye-ri test site is no longer functional," one US intelligence official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Pyongyang pledged in the run-up to Friday's historic summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in that it would dismantle Punggye-ri to "transparently guarantee" a pledge to discontinue nuclear and ballistic missile tests.

The US intelligence officials said that Punggye-ri remains usable, despite what a second official called "some minor geological disturbances" around Mount Mantap that could be natural or triggered by the September test.

The first official said that even if one test tunnel collapsed, others within the complex still can be used, Reuters reported.

The second US official concurred, saying that Punggye-ri could be reactivated "in a relatively short period of time" if it is closed.Today marks the 94th anniversary of the well-known Azerbaijani ophthalmologist, academician Zarifa Aliyeva.

Zarifa Aliyeva, an honorary scientist of the Republic of Azerbaijan, doctor of medical sciences and academician of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, was born on April 28, 1923 in the village of Shahtakhty, Sharur region.

Aliyeva graduated from the Treatment and Prophylaxis Faculty of the Azerbaijan State Medical Institute in 1947. Then she acquired the major in ophthalmology in Moscow after successfully completing a two-year advanced training course at the All-Union Central Doctors Improvement Institute.

Zarifa Aliyeva graduated from post-graduate courses in the Institute in 1953. In 1977 she was granted the academic degree of a doctor of medical sciences.

Zarifa Aliyeva dedicated her research to treatment of trachoma, more exactly, to studying more effective means in curing, and aggravation of trachoma, use of synthomycin, an antibiotic that was new at the time, which had an antichlamydial activity except wide antibacterial spectrums. She is the author of a number of valuable research papers, 12 monographs, textbooks and manuals, about 150 scientific works, one invention and 12 rationalization proposals. Mrs. Aliyeva is also one of the authors of unique scientific works like 'Therapeutic ophthalmology' and 'Fundamentals of iridodiagnostics'.

In 1981, Aliyeva was awarded the highest prize in the field of ophthalmology - the Prize named after Academician M.I.Averbakh of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR for her great contribution to the development of ophthalmology - the researches she had conducted in the field of professional pathology of vision. Professor Zarifa Aliyeva was the first woman to have received that prize.

She was awarded orders and medals, and the title of Honorary Figure of Science of Azerbaijan.

Aliyeva passed away on April 15, 1985 in Moscow.Cooperation between Tehran and Moscow led to the defeat of the ISIS terror group, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said.

"We are very pleased that Iran and Russia continue cooperation in strengthening peace and security, as it will bear fruit not only in the region but also on the international stage," he said at a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.

"Our cooperation in the fight against terrorism has been successful. The defeat of the ISIS is a result of our joint actions," TASS cited the Iranian foreign Minister as saying.

Zarif also stressed that cooperation between Russian, Iran and Turkey in the Astana process was producing results.HA NOI  A working delegation from the European Commissions (EC) Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries will visit Viet Nam from May 16 to 23.

The delegation will inspect the countrys implementation of the ECs nine recommendations related to the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) Nguyen Xuan Cuong have guided the Directorate of Fisheries and 28 coastal cities and provinces over receiving the EC delegation.

The Directorate of Fisheries has sent a document to urge and direct 28 localities, as well as associations and businesses to complete dossiers on the fight against IUU fishing before April 23.

After the inspection, the EU will give its final decision over whether it seeks to withdraw the yellow card from Vietnamese offshore seafood.

On October 23, 2017, the EC issued a "yellow card" warning to Viet Nam, after the country failed to demonstrate sufficient progress in the fight against fishing worldwide. Though the measure was considered a warning, which would not technically affect the EC trade policy, the Vietnamese fishing industry was concerned that the yellow card would seriously harm the reputation of Vietnamese seafood worldwide, thus weakening sales.

To address IUU fishing activities, the EC evaluates exporting countries. Countries that fail to meet the ECs standards are issued a warning ("yellow card"), followed by a "green card" if issues are resolved or a "red card" if they arent. A red card can lead to a trade ban on fishery products.

According to ECs requirement, the Vietnamese seafood sector had to implement nine recommendations in six months from October 23, 2017, to April 23, 2018.

Deputy Minister of MARD Ha Cong Tuan said the nine recommendations included revision of the legal framework to ensure compliance with international and regional rules applicable to the conservation and management of fisheries resources, ensuring the effective implementation and enforcement of the countrys revised laws, and strengthening the effective implementation of international rules and management measures.

The EC also wanted Viet Nam to issue sanctions and increase the level of sanctions against IUU fishing, which should be written in the revised Law on Fisheries, and give concrete evidence proving Viet Nams efforts in the fight against IUU fishing.

Nguyen Thi Trang Nhung, Deputy Director of the Department of Science, Technology and International Cooperation under MARD, said efforts of the entire political system of Viet Nam had resulted in noticeable advances in the certification of seafood origins and control of fishing boats activities.

Speaking at Seafood Expo Global in Belgium on Wednesday, which aimed to update the media and European seafood importers on measures Viet Nam was taking to combat IUU fishing, Nhung said as the yellow card can affect the prestige and trade of Vietnamese seafood in the European and global markets, the Viet Nam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) as well as businesses have made every effort over the last six months to co-operate with authorised agencies and with one another to fight IUU fishing.

Le Hang, a representative of VASEP, said the association had been regularly updating the list of fisheries businesses committed to IUU fishing prevention on its website in both English and Vietnamese, thus showing Vietnamese firms consensus and determination to EU importers and managerial agencies.

She noted that after the EU issued the yellow card warning, seafood exports to the Vietnamese market had declined as importers became more cautious and worried that tightened examination of imports could cost them more money and time.  VNSHA NOI  The party secretary of the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Nguyen Hong Linh, has proposed that the Ministry of Transport and the Government consider developing Cai Mep-Thi Vai Port complex and Long Thanh international airport into the economic centre of the south.

Linh was speaking at the meeting on Thursday between the Peoples Committee of Ba Ria-Vung Tau and a visiting delegation from the Transport Ministry, led by Minister Nguyen Van The.

The Long Thanh international airport project is still in preparation phase while the Cai Mep-Thi Vai port complex, located in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, already received significant investment and was to become one of the largest seaport centres in the country. However, according to the provincial Party Secretary, the port complex is currently using only a small part of its designed capacity, causing economic waste to national resources.

Therefore, provincial authorities have proposed that the Government and Ministry of Transport speed up the construction progress of traffic infrastructure projects such as the Bien Hoa-Vung Tau expressway and railway, provincial roads, ring roads and Phuoc An Bridge.

The ministry also asked to push forward the progress of dredging Cai Mep-Thi Vai Port, Ganh Rai Bay area, aiming at facilitating the transportation of goods.

In addition, the Government actively supports Ba Ria - Vung Tau Province authorities to set up Cai Mep  Thi Vai ports management board, and inspection-quarantine centre, that will create favourable conditions for enterprises.

Firms will find it more efficient to use Cai Mep-Thi Vai Port complex as a loading area, instead of Cat Lai (in HCM City), according to the provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Hong Linh.

This contributes to reducing both pressure on Cat Lai Port (the current volume of cargo passing through Cat Lai port consistently exceeds its designed capacity) and traffic congestion in HCM City.

He said that the province is preparing a plan to publicly auction five provincial land areas and use this money in conjunction with the government budget to carry out important projects, creating momentum for local development.

At the meeting, recognising the importance of the Bien Hoa-Vung Tau expressway, Transport Minister Nguyen Van The has proposed provincial authorities to be the project owner because local authorities will have more options and ideas in seeking funding.

The minister also proposed provincial authorities to be the investor of ring road 4s section passing through the province.

In addition, he said, the ministry will soon have a solution to the provincial authorities recommendations and proposals such as building a multi-use Vung Tau airport; upgrading Con Son Airport (Con ao island district); creating conditions for airlines to use new-generation aircraft; exempting maritime charges and fees for all container ships landing at Cai Mep-Thi Vai Port complex; implementing measures to ensure traffic safety and flood prevention for National Highway 51.VNSAfter mobile operators announced a temporary halt of scratchcard payments in the past few days, digital and online gaming businesses said they had been hit hard. Photo baogiaothong.vn

HA NOI  After mobile operators announced a temporary halt of scratchcard payments in the past few days, digital and online gaming businesses said they had been hit hard.

The sudden move without any warning put the businesses on the back foot, and saw a sharp drop in revenue.

Many enterprises said they might have to cut number of employees or even delay or stop projects in the future, online newspaper ICTnews reported.

Pham Quoc Thang, CEO of CMN Online, said by stopping scratchcard payment, the companys revenue has dropped 80 per cent in recent days.

Nguyen uc Kien, CEO of Deco Online, said that his revenue is down by 90 per cent because for small business like Deco, the main payment method is scratchcards as they do not have enough resources to develop a separate payment channel.

Many businesses in the field of digital content also said with the sudden announcement, revenue has dropped between 50 and 65 per cent and all of them worried about the future.

And now they face the prospect of no guidelines or regulations on new payment methods leaving many uncertain about what happens next.

As an alternative, many are looking at ways to connect with e-wallet businesses or set up their own payment channels.

Need a new legal payment method

Pham Quoc Thang, CEO of CMN Online, it is urgent to have a payment method which is protected by the State and suitable to the market, for businesses.

Sharing the same opinion, CEO of Deco Online also said that the businesses need a new payment method to support businesses, because products which are issued by the authorities need supports to develop.

He says if payment cards are no longer allowed, management agencies should have instructions to businesses.

If there are no new regulations, it is necessary to have a roadmap to stop payments, sudden cuts like this dont give businesses time to prepare, he added.

Many other businesses also want the regulators to come up with a more flexible payment system. In addition, the system needs to be fairer between domestic and foreign enterprises.

They also fear if the authorities do not act fast, the risk of money flowing abroad is huge as businesses will use foreign payment systems from application stores.  VNSHA NOI  Multi-channel shopping is on the rise, becoming a vital factor which will help retail businesses expand sales channels, thereby increasing their reach to customers and enhancing the competitive edge given the online shopping boom in Viet Nam.

Multi-channel shopping (sometimes referred to as omnichannel shopping) is the practice of offering customers a variety of platforms from which they are able to purchase products, both online and offline.

E-commerce in Viet Nam is growing at a rapid pace, with the presence of many e-marketplaces such as Tiki, Lazada, Shopee and Adayroi, as well as the strong development of social networks including Facebook, Zalo, Instagram, muare.vn, and lamchame.vn.

Utilising these platforms should be considered a vital factor in promoting products when more and more people are interested in shopping online and buying products through e-commerce sites.

Viet Nams e-commerce market is now valued at about US$5 billion, but according to the Viet Nam E-commerce Association (Vecom), the market will reach $10 billion in the next four years.

Retail businesses are moving from offline to online sales very fast. Many companies have selected the multi-channel shopping model. This is a trend that predicts the growth of retail sales through e-commerce, Nguyen Thanh Hung, Vecoms chairman, was quoted as saying in Dien an doanh nghiep (Business Forum) newspaper.

Core solution

The retail industry is changing dramatically in the world, including in Viet Nam.

Currently, shoppers use a variety of internet-connected devices such as mobile phones, computers and even gaming devices to purchase products. They can shop anywhere, on the e-commerce sites, Facebook, Zalo, or via the store website.

Therefore, the application of multi-channel shopping platforms is forecast to be the core focus for retail businesses, amplifying shopping experiences for customers that will become a brand differentiator for e-retailers.

The retail industry has seen a rapid change in its business model, from traditional retail to online retail, to serve higher demand from customers. Enterprises that are quick to employ the tools will significantly increase their sales efficiency, said Nguyen Bach iep, general director of FPT Retail.

Earlier this year, retail giant Amazon pioneered the unique multi-channel model with the launch of Amazon Go which is partially-automated, with customers able to purchase products without using a cashier or checkout station.

Challenge

Inventory management will become a challenge that retailers must face when selling on multiple channels.

All data, from product information, orders, and inventory numbers will usually be independent in each channel. Shop owners must promote their products several times on each channel, and make changes manually, which can cause confusion, mistakes, and create an unprofessional image.

A single negative experience can make the shop lose customers forever.

Many online shop owners have said that they need a solution that can manage their sales in the most concentrated way, overcome these weaknesses and enable them reach customers in a more convenient way.  VNSHA NOI  Viet Nam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Techcombank) raised about VN21 trillion ($922 million) in its initial public offering (IPO) on Friday.

All of more than 164 million ordinary shares were successfully sold to institutional investors at the final price of VN128,000 (US$5.62) per share, which valued the bank at $6.5 billion. The book was significantly oversubscribed at the time of pricing.

The trading of Techcombanks shares on the HCM Stock Exchange is expected to commence on June 4 under the stock code TCB.

We are thrilled with the positive response from the international investment community. Our decision to allocate a large portion of our offering to the cornerstone investors is a testament to the tremendous demand from a diverse and high quality set of investors. Just as important is that a number of these funds are investing in Viet Nam for the first time,  Nguyen Le Quoc Anh, CEO of Techcombank, said.

He said they believed investors were attracted to the strength of Techcombanks business model along with the broad background and experience of its management team. But most importantly, investors are very bullish on the growth of Viet Nams middle class as its young population enters the work force. Finally, the countrys slow financial inclusion rate makes banking a very attractive proposition.

Morgan Stanley, Viet Capital Securities JSC and Deutsche Bank AG are arranging the offering.  VNSThe Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Viet Nam (Vietcombank) plans to add 10 per cent to its tier-1 capital in 2018 through issuing shares for foreign investors. Photo cafef.vn

HA NOI  The Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Viet Nam (Vietcombank) plans to add 10 per cent to its tier-1 capital in 2018 through issuing shares for foreign investors.

According to the banks chairman Nghiem Xuan Thanh, the capital raise proposal was approved by the State Bank of Viet Nam and the Government in December 2017. The action aims to secure its capital adequacy ratio of nine per cent in accordance with Basel II standards.

The number of to-be-issued shares would not exceed 10 per cent of the banks total number of shares, which is now nearly 3.6 billion.

Vietcombank will issue additional shares to a maximum of 10 foreign investors, chairman Thanh said at the banks annual general shareholder meeting on Friday.

The lowest price level of the to-be-offered shares would be evaluated by an underwriting company and be the average price of the last 10 trading sessions prior to the issuance date, he said.

Such calculation would make sure banks shareholders, including the Government, secure their benefits and rights at the bank, Thanh said.

Vietcombank general director Pham Quang Dung said the Japanese bank Mizuho, one of the largest shareholders at Vietcombank, would purchase more shares to assure its ownership in the bank at 15 per cent.

Some foreign investors had expressed interests in buying Vietcombank shares, Dung said, adding that some of them had offered to purchase all of the banks additional shares.

If Vietcombank failed to raise its tier-1 capital to comply with the Basel II standards, the bank would have to issue VN5.8 trillion (US$257.8 million) worth of corporate bonds to increase its tier-2 capital.

Vietcombank had issued VN11.8 trillion worth of corporate bonds, including VN2 trillion for individual investors, thus leaving a large room for the bank to increase its tier-2 capital  which makes up its required reserves.

FPT chairman becomes Vietcombank board member

Truong Gia Binh, chairman of the technology-communications giant FPT Corporation, has become the newest management board member at Vietcombank.

Binh was voted by 91.73 per cent of the total voting shares, equal to three billion shares at the meeting, becoming one of the board members along with seven other people.

The total number of board members at Vietcombank was approved by shareholders to up to 11, meaning there are still three seats left empty at the bank.

In 2018, Vietcombank targets a yearly increase of 14 per cent in total asset, 15 per cent in both mobilised capital and credit. It also plans to cut non-performing loan ratio (NPL) to below 1.5 per cent.

The bank also projects its pre-tax profit will rise 14.6 per cent year on year to VN13 trillion from its record-high VN11.3 trillion made in 2017.

The bank plans to spend 8 per cent of its charter capital, equal to VN2.88 trillion, on dividend payout for its performance in 2017.  VNSVietnamese shares saw a rebound on Friday thanks to strong cash flow pouring into banking and securities sectors, but investors hesitation still makes the market momentum unsustainable.  Photo vietnamplus.vn

HA NOI  Vietnamese shares saw a rebound on Friday thanks to strong cash flow pouring into banking and securities sectors, but investors hesitation still makes the market momentum unsustainable.

The benchmark VN-Index on the HCM Stock Exchange (HOSE) gained 0.52 per cent to close at 1,050.26 points. It tumbled 3.32 per cent on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the HNX Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX) recouped 2.1 per cent to end at 122.64 points, recovering from the previous fall of 4.9 per cent.

More than 244 million shares, worth VN6.8 trillion (US$297 million), were traded on the two local exchanges,

The market breadth was positive, with 293 gaining stocks against 177 declining ones while 272 other stocks ended flat.

Large-cap stocks performed well, pulling the large-cap VN30 Index up 0.88 per cent to 1,027.97 points. Some pillar stocks, such as property developer Vingroup, PetroVietnam Gas and Bao Viet Holdings rose towards the last minutes, partly calming investors sentiment.

According to Bao Viet Securities (BVSC), the market continued to witness strong volatility after two previous bearish sessions.

Shares made some rebound sessions during this week but investors were quite cautious and concerned about the possibility of market bull traps, in which the market shows a false signal of increasing but continues to decline.

Banking and securities stocks were two drivers of the market, with some prominent performers such as Vietcombank (3 per cent), Vietinbank (3.7 per cent) and Military Bank (4.9 per cent), in addition to Saigon Securities Inc (3.5 per cent), Viet Capital Securities (5 per cent) and VNDirect Securities hitting the daily limit rice of 6.9 per cent.

BVSC said in its daily report that investors are pessimistic about heavy selling pressure in the low price range. However, the Friday session opened up a chance of a recovery for the VN-Index after the holiday period  Liberation Day (April 30) and International Labour Day (May 1).

According to BIDV Securities JSC (BSC), although there was this recovery session, the market is still very risky to determine the bottom. Investors should still lower their margins to safe levels.

On the Unlisted Public Company Market, the UPCOM Index rose1.6 per cent to end at 56.56 points.  VNSPens mean a lot to a doctor from Khanh Hoa Province.

When he was a poor boy, a teacher gave him a chance to have an education.

Nguyen Van Xang was also given a pen.

He has collected pens ever since and now has two and a half thousand of them in his collection.

by An Vu and Van Giang

Some people collect luxury cars, scooters, expensive purses or limited-edition sneakers. For Dr Nguyen Van Xang, the only thing worth collecting is something most of us take for granted in daily life: pens.

Born to a poor family with no opportunity to get a proper education, Xang has made a fortune out of adversity. He studied for free with a village teacher, and was even donated nib pens, ink and writing paper. This schooling opened the door to the rest of his life.

Xang is now a medical doctor and director of Khanh Hoa Province Hospital. To remember the teacher who gave him access to education, he keeps a nib as a treasure, which sparked his passion for pen collection.

To him, every pen carries a nice memory, an aspect of human life and aesthetic style.

Dr Xangs living room in My Gia town, Nha Trang City is evidence of his great admiration for pens.

Thousands of pens with different colours, shapes, sizes are displayed throughout the home. Some even have the shape of vegetables, fruits and injection needles.

All of them are pens. I have a dozen pens the size of my biceps and some as small as needles. They have different values, Xang said, taking out a nib pen from a cupboard. This is the pen which led me to the treasure of knowledge. Each time I look at it, its like I can come back to my childhood.

Because of my family circumstances, I was not able to receive a full education. But I was lucky enough to meet my first teacher, who was willing to open his home for a free class to children in the village. I was one of his students. Seeing me coming to class without pens and notebooks, he gave me a nib pen and a pot of ink.

Each day, we went to class with our pens, practising every pen stroke. Day by day, I became more skillful, and the pen became my first friend who taught me how to grow up, Xang said.

In 1995, when Xang went to Germany to study otorhinolaryngologycare of the ear, nose and throathe was given a gift from his German teacher: a pen and a medical lamp. Ever since, the gifts have remained with him as reminders of his duty to seek strong professional knowledge.

After getting back to Viet Nam and going to Nha Trang City for work, he spent his free time looking at the pens as treasures to recall his childhood memories.

Wherever he travelled, he would buy one or two rare, unique pens to remember the visit. He has collected over 2,000 pens; they reflect the special experiences of his business trips, scientific seminars, or just strange encounters.

In 2009, when Barack Obama became the 44th president of the US and the first African American to hold that position, Xang wanted to obtain a president-shaped pen for his own possession. Therefore, he contacted his friends in the US to tell them about his wishes.

The pen is a sign of linguistic culture, expressing the knowledge, inner feelings and affection when spoken words cannot. At the same time, the pen is an integral tool for our lives. It delivers the thoughts and mindset, acknowledging the creativity of people, and collecting bittersweet memories in life. Therefore, each time I pick up a pen, I remember the difficulty and events I have been through, Xang said.

Collecting pens is a refined, enjoyable hobby to fill spare time. People who are fond of collecting things find fun and thrills by obtaining the objects they like. To any collector, the joy of observing their favourite items is indescribable, especially the ones which are rare and unique.

Xang can be found standing for hours, gazing at his pens. He enjoys their bright colours, the diverse shapes of their bodies and the memories they represent.

After stressful work hours, Xang leisurely watches his collection. Painstakingly cleaning every single pen makes me young again, and acts as a remedy for releasing stress, he said.

Moreover, his pen collection is a tool to educate his children to treasure the small but important things in life.

Recently, he has been recognised by the Vietnamese Guinness book as the man who has collected the most pens in Viet Nam. To me, collecting pens is not for reward, only for passion and memory keeping. I will never stop doing it, he said. -- VNS

GLOSSARY

Some people collect luxury cars, scooters, expensive purses or limited-edition sneakers.

Sneakers are running shoes. If only a certain number of a type of sneakers is made, it would be a limited-edition pair of sneakers.

Born to a poor family with no opportunity to get a proper education, Xang has made a fortune out of adversity.

A fortune means a collection of wealth, usually money.

An adversity is something that keeps you from going forward in life.

He studied for free with a village teacher, and was even donated nib pens, ink and writing paper.

The nib of a pen is the pointed part at the end, which touches the paper when someone uses it to write.

To remember the teacher who gave him access to education, he keeps a nib as a treasure, which sparked his passion for pen collection.

To have access to education means to be able to have the chance to go to school.

If you have a passion for something, you love it so much you do not mind how much time or money you spend on it.

To him, every pen carries a nice memory, an aspect of human life and aesthetic style.

An aspect of human life means a side of human life. Different sides of human life may be loneliness, joy, romance, cruelty, kindness and so on.

Aesthetic means nice looking.

Dr Xangs living room in My Gia Town, Nha Trang City is evidence of his great admiration for pens.

Evidence means proof.

Some even have the shape of vegetables, fruits and injection needles.

An injection is a surgical procedure that involves putting medicine into the body using a needle and syringe.

All of them are pens. I have a dozen pens the size of my biceps and some as small as needles.

A dozen means some but, more exactly, it means twelve.

Biceps are muscles on the upper arm.

Because of my family circumstances, I was not able to receive a full education.

Family circumstances means the situation you find yourself in with regard to your familys situation.

Wherever he travelled, he would buy one or two rare, unique pens to remember the visit.

If something is rare there are not many of them.

If something is unique there is only one of it.

He has collected over 2,000 pens; they reflect the special experiences of his business trips, scientific seminars, or just strange encounters.

Reflect means show.

Encounters are happenings.

In 2009, when Barack Obama became the 44th president of the US and the first African American to hold that position, Xang wanted to obtain a president-shaped pen for his own possession.

Obtain means get.

If something is in your possession, you have it as a piece of your property.

The pen is a sign of linguistic culture, expressing the knowledge, inner feelings and affection when spoken words cannot.

Linguistic means to do with language.

At the same time, the pen is an integral tool for our lives.

Integral means essential.

It delivers the thoughts and mindset, acknowledging the creativity of people, and collecting bittersweet memories in life.

Bittersweet means pleasure that comes out of sadness.

Collecting pens is a refined, enjoyable hobby to fill spare time.

Refined means sophisticated.

A hobby is something you do in your spare time to keep yourself busy.

To any collector, the joy of observing their favourite items is indescribable, especially the ones which are rare and unique.

If something is indescribable, there are not enough words to explain it.

Xang can be found standing for hours, gazing at his pens.

Gazing means staring.

He enjoys their bright colours, the diverse shapes of their bodies and the memories they represent.

Diverse means different.

Painstakingly cleaning every single pen makes me young again, and acts as a remedy for releasing stress, he said.

Painstakingly means with great care.

Remedy means a treatment or a medicine.

Stress is the uncomfortable feeling of having too much in your life that is not under your control.

WORKSHEET

Find words that mean the following in the Word Search:

A two-wheeled vehicle some people keep many of in collections. The shape in which some of Nguyen Van Xangs pens appear. The country in Europe where Nguyen Van Xang studied. The last name of a former United States president. When Nguyen Van Xang will stop collecting pens.

.c i m o y r u f s g u d h t b s e l b r n f e n o b a m a p y u j o y e s a s i g e y i t l o v s i v b o e o t a r l e s c o o t e r s e e n r b s a g s r i m g e b p g f u b e b o o a a c m s w i t z e r l a n d m u r w c a p i t a l y r

ANSWERS:

 Duncan Guy/Learn the News/ Viet Nam News 2018

1. Scooters; 2. Fruits; 3. Germany; 4. Obama; 5. Never.The Viet Nam National Village for Ethnic Culture and Tourism in the western ouskirts of Ha Noi recently hosted Thanks Gods ritual of Co Tu ethnic minority group from A Luoi District, central province of Thua Thien-Hue.

The event was organised in a series of activities to celebrate the Viet Nam Ethnic Culture Day (April 19).

The ritual is always held in the second or third month of the lunar year, when locals finish harvesting crops and prepare for a new planting season. The traditional ritual, which is organised inside locals communal house, is called nha Guoi in Vietnamese, dedicated to gods of heaven, land, river, stream and forest.

The ritual aims to thank the gods for their protection for locals to harvest good crops, raise healthy poultry and wish for good health, good weather and good fortune.

The event is also a chance for locals to exchange, dance, sing and play folk games.

Co Tu people believe every object has a spirit and peoples fates belong to super natural powers. Thats why worshipping natures gods is a tradition in Co Tu groups spiritual life.

Co Tu group is also know as Ca Tu, Ha Phuong or Ca Tang group. They live mostly in central of Viet Nam and lower regions of Laos. At present, the group has population of around 76,000 people.  VNSNINH BINH  For a thousands years Ninh Binh was Viet Nams best kept secret.

Hidden away just a few hours from Ha Noi, the rural masterpiece may be small in size and population, but its rugged landscapes offer visitors a massive slice of heaven.

In the past 50 years, Ninh Binh has seen more economic development and world recognition more ever than before.

Hoa Lu of Ninh Binh became the capital of the Great Viet in the 10th century after inh Bo Linh conquered the stagnant warring situation between 12 factions, united them and declared himself Emperor of the Great Viet land.

Picture postcard: A zig-zag path leading to the mountain top brings more visitors to the Dance Cave.  VNS Photo Paul Kennedy

inh Tien Hoang became the first Emperor after one thousand years under occupation by the Han Chinese.

Hoa Lu is naturally surrounded by many mountain ranges, according to historical records. The mountains and rivers gracefully intertwine, making the region a convenient base camp for both land and river transportation. The forests rest behind Hoa Lu, it faces a large flatland in front, the sea is further out but within reach. This is a magnificent landscape with graceful natural fengshui, it is deserved to become the Emperors citadel.

Stairway to heaven: At the foot of Hang Mua staircase.  VNS Photo Paul Kennedy

Hoa Lu served as capital for 42 years and was home to the founding inh dynasty (968-980), the Early Le (980-1010) and Ly (1009-1225) dynasties.

After King Ly Thai To, also a native Hoa Lu resident, moved the capital to Ha Noi, he decided to build new residences and constructions in ai La and named them exactly the same as the sites in Hoa Lu.

King Ly Thai Tong, the second king of the Ly Dynasty was born and spent the first 10 years of his life in Hoa Lu. Later, he built One Pilar Pagoda, ong Co Temple, dug the Lam canal to build a fortress, following the military strategy of King Le ai Hanh.

Outstanding: Ranges of moutains make a natural protective walls for Hoa Lu, the citadel.  VNS Photo Paul Kennedy

In the early years of independence, self-defence was still top priority, so Hoa Lu was perfect for that purpose with natural high mountains scattered on a larger flatland to keep away the attackers. During the 40 year it was capital, it saw continuous war against the northern and southern neighbours.

The significance of Hoa Lu Citadel is that it was built as a self-defense fortress, which did not take any outline of any Chinese citadel. It used natural water flows as the routes to move from east side to the west side and in and out of the larger citadel area. Hoa Lu is a rare military structure set in the beautiful landscape.

In 2014, Hoa Lu together with the greater Trang An Landscape Complex became UNESCO World Heritage. It was the countrys first mixed heritage of historic and landscaping values. Trang An was recognised for "its global significance as an outstanding tropical tower-karst landscape in the final stages of geomorphic evolution.

River ritual: A water procession was held on Tuesdays early morning to wish for peace and happiness for the country and its people.  VNS Photo Hong Van

On UNESCO website, its written, "The area is unique in having been invaded by the sea several times in the recent geological past but is now emergent on land. The blend of towering mountains draped in natural rain forest, with large internal basins and narrow cave passages containing quietly flowing waters, creates an extraordinarily beautiful and tranquil landscape."

Other archaeological findings reveal the continuous human occupation dating back to more than 30,000 years.

Lots to see: Boat racing, wrestling, human chess and cock fighting are highlights of the Hoa Lu festival.  VNS Photo Hong Van

In 2017, Ninh Binh became known the world around after Hollywood blockbuster Kong, the Skull Island was filmed here. Kong Diretor Jordan Voigt-Roberts became Viet Nams Tourism Ambassador and he lived intermittently between Viet Nam and the US.

Now Ninh Binh has become a popular tourist destination. In the 7-day Lunar New Year holiday in February, the number of tourists visiting Ninh Binh soared to more than 736,000 people, marking a 30 per cent increase over the same period last year. By end of February 2018, the number of tourists set a new record of more than 2,3 million.

The sleeping beauty of Ninh Binh has woken up, to see itself surrounded by millions of admirers.  VNSHCM CITY  Authorities in HCM Citys District 5 on April 27 released travel guidebook Hello District 5 featuring historic relics, ancient architecture, cuisines, festivals, shopping, and leisure destinations in the district.

The bilingual guidebook, in Vietnamese and English, is the first for a district in the city.

A total of 10,000 copies will be distributed to tourist information and support centres, travel agents, hotels, and leisure destinations around the city.

District 5, close to the city downtown, is famous for its more than 300 years of cultural heritage and bustling business hub, Le Thi Loan, head of the district Peoples Committees economic office, said.

It is home to 50 tangible and intangible cultural heritages, a large number of traditional wholesale markets and specialised trade streets, and diverse ethnic cultures and cuisines, she said.

National architectural heritage sites such as the Lady Thien Hau Pagoda, On Lang Assembly Hall, Nghia An Assembly Hall, Nhi Phu Assembly Hall, and Ming Dynasty Assembly Hall are among its famous tourist attractions.

Beside 11 traditional wholesale markets, many special trade streets have also been developed for many years, including jewellery, goldsmith, silversmith, oriental medicine, and painting streets.

Many dazzling festivals are celebrated here, such as the Spring Lantern Festival in the first lunar month, Lady Thien Hau Worship Day in the third month, Mid-Autumn Festival in the eighth month, and Flower Lantern Festival at the end of the lunar year.

Some must-try dishes when visiting the district are dim sum, mi sui cao (shui jiao noodles), fish hotpot, vit quay Bac Kinh (Beijing roasted duck), ga va vit tiem (stewed sweet herbal chicken and duck soup), ca ri de (goat curry), nuoc sam (herbal tea), che au hu hanh nhan (almond tofu sweet soup).

There are 69 hotels ranging from one to five stars with a total of 2,555 rooms, Loan said.

Fashion Street

The district Peoples Committee on April 26 inaugurated the 2km Fashion Street along Nguyen Trai Street to offer tourists more shopping choices.

More than 200 fashion and accessory stores open here from 4pm to 11pm every day, including six recognised as meeting tourism standards.

The committee plans to set up an online market place by June and allow these stores to join it for free.  VNSHCM CITY  As many as 100 cultural experts, producers and directors are taking part in a seminar in HCM City today to seek ways to attract young audiences to cai luong (reformed opera).

The seminar was organised by the Voice of Viet Nam, the Viet Nam Theatre Artists Association and their partners as part of the countrys programme to mark the 100th anniversary of cai luong.

Nguyen Thi Truc Bach, of the Southern Institute of Social Sciences, said: Today, young people have more interest in pop music, foreign music and action movies than in cai luong.

A survey on cai luong conducted by the institute in HCM City in 2014 showed that nearly 74 per cent of people liked listening to pop music, but only 6.1 per cent liked cai luong.

More than 50 per cent enjoyed action movies, but only 4.3 per cent chose cai luong.

Cai luong should be shown in schools to stimulate students interest in the art, Bach said.

She suggested holding talk shows and performing excerpts from famous cai luong plays in schools to provide basic knowledge about the art to students.

Scriptwriter Vuong Huyen Co said: In todays society, the internet is the best way to approach young people. So cai luong theatres, radio and television stations, and artists should produce and upload cai luong videos on YouTube to attract young audiences.

Last November, Peoples Artist Bach Tuyet, a cai luong guru, made waves with the video Em Gai Mua (Rainy Girl), a cai luong version of a 2017 hit single of the same title by young pop star Huong Tram.

Her video received more than 400,000 views on YouTube.

Cai luong actress Linh Huyen attracted 2,000 viewers on YouTube with her video featuring a performance of the cai luong play Ba Chua Tho Nom (Queen of Nom Poetry) with English subtitles.

Speaking at the seminar, Huyen said that she created her own YouTube channel called Linh Huyen Vietnamese opera to introduce cai luong to both Vietnamese and foreigners. She said it was the best way to capture new audiences.

Seminar participants, especially producers, emphasised the need for co-operation between TV stations and cai luong theatres to bring good plays and performances to TV.

HCM City Television Station said that its key cai luong shows, including Vang Trang Co Nhac (Traditional Music), Chuong Vang Vong Co (Golden Bell) and Ngan Mai Chuong Vang (Ringing Bell), are broadcast every week.

The shows have been warmly welcomed from people in southern provinces, and have inspired many young artists.

However, some seminar participants complained that many cai luong plays on TV had poor quality scripts.

I have approached many scripts and many of them are poor quality. Unfortunately, poor quality scripts are still broadcast on TV, Co said

She said that television stations should broadcast only one play a month, but it must be an excellent one.

A quality script is one of the most important elements in capturing audiences for TV dramas, she said.

Meritorious Artist Tran Minh Ngoc agreed with Co, saying that cai luong plays are still focusing on historical events and characters. Cai luong plays need new topics, highlighting contemporary social issues.

Ngoc added: The Government should issue a long-term project on developing staff for cai luong, including scriptwriters, directors and performers.

Big cities like HCM City and Can Tho should also have new and modern cai luong theatres to attract more audiences, said the 82-year-old director.

Vo Van Thuong, head of the Party Central Committees Publicity and Education Commission, said at the seminar that cai luong was facing many challenges, including a decrease in the number of performances, theatres and audiences.

The Government, provincial authorities and cai luong artists need to work together to develop and promote the art, Thuong said.

Following the seminar today will be a premiere of Thay Ba oi (Master Ba oi), a play portraying the career of famous musician Nguyen Quang ai, a guru of cai luong who helped develop tai tu music, a genre of traditional music, and cai luong in the South.

The play, directed by young director Trieu Trung Kien, features 50 artists of the Viet Nam Cai Luong Theatre from Ha Noi and Tran Huu Trang Theatre from HCM City.

It will be staged at Ben Thanh Theatre in HCM City tonight and on May 1, and in Long An Province on April 29.  VNSNguyen Ngoc Thanh.  Photo baohaiquan.vn

Nguyen Ngoc Thanh, Vice Chairman of the Viet Nam Real Estate Association, talks to the Hai Quan (Customs) newspaper about the best ways to solve disputes between apartment owners and residents over the poor service.

In your opinion what are the main reasons residents protest against the building owners?

Recent surveys of apartment buildings have revealed some serious problems including the fact that the actual areas of certain apartments are smaller than what has been stated and some of the building rules have failed to meet legal requirements, particularly fire requirements.

However, in my opinion there are three main reasons;

First, it is the conflict of interest between the building owner and the residents;

Second, it is the conflict between what is written in the buying and selling contract between the project owner and the buyers;

And finally, some building rules are totally correct, but during their implementation, certain problems arise from both sides  the project owner and the residents.

Residential buildings have been introduced in Viet Nam more recently. Thats why some of the management rules of those buildings have not been able to cover everything that may have emerged. Thats why in my opinion, its the duty of functional government agencies to make their management rule work in practice.

But what has happened more recently in some residential areas with apartment owners protesting, in my opinion, was not appropriate.

Such behaviour has violated law and order in public places. Were now living in a society ruled by law, so if disputes occurred, we should resolve them in accordance with the law.

Many people have argued that both the project owners and the buyers should be blamed. How do you respond?

From the side of the residents, in my opinion, many of them have not carefully read what has been written in the contracts. For example, the contracts may include some future services, but the clients/buyers are not aware of it and simply sign the contracts. This is a very common problem in Viet Nam.

In my opinion problems that have arisen  either positively or negatively  affect the lives of the clients. The project owners should take that into consideration and analyse carefully in order to find out the most appropriate answers. This is a good way to avoid confrontation with their clients and to keep good law and order.

Relating to the apartment residents, I think as we live in a society ruled by law, they should uphold the law and follow all the required legal procedures in settling disputes, including taking the case to court.

Fire equipment in quite a few residential buildings in Viet Nam is either non functional or ill maintained, do you agree?

If the fire equipment in any residential area is non-functional or ill maintained, a wise building owner should have it repaired immediately. Its the building owners responsibility to make sure the fire equipment is always in good working order.

It is regrettable that when the building was put into commission, the fire equipment was good. But in the process of running the building, most of the building owners have not paid due attention to maintaining the fire equipment.

Under our law, residents will only move into their flats when the fire equipment of the building is well functioning. But in real life, sometimes the rule is only written on paper.

The second point I want to mention is that in all tall buildings, the fire equipment is properly installed. But equipment has an expiry date. It is the responsibility of the building owner to replace the fire equipment when the old one is expired. But, in real life many building owners dont want to spend their money on buying new equipment. What has happened recently has raised an alarm to concerned authorities on conducting frequent check on the fire equipment in tall buildings.

Whats the responsibility of project owners if disputes arise between them and building residents?

The project owners must uphold their responsibilities and commitments towards the residents.

To avoid conflicts, the project owners should honour their commitments and put the interest of their clients first. Thats the only way they can avoid conflicts with their clients or with the surrounding community.  VNSPrime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc meets with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte in Singapore yesterday on the sidelines of the 32nd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit. VNA/VNS Photo

HA NOI  Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc met Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte in Singapore yesterday on the sidelines of the 32nd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit.

At their meeting, the two leaders expressed their delight at the fruitful strategic partnership between Viet Nam and the Philippines as reflected through frequent meetings and exchanges, especially in security and defence, and improved economic-trade ties.

Bilateral trade surpassed US$4 billion in 2017, an annual increase of 25 percent, with the rice trade bringing about practical mutual benefits. Phuc suggested both sides continue their exchange of high-ranking delegations, and actively implement cooperation mechanisms, particularly in oil spill response, search & rescue at sea, sustainable marine management, fisheries and anti-terrorism.

Duterte stressed the Philippines values the friendship and collaboration it shares with Viet Nam, and is willing to work with Viet Nam in sectors that the two nations can supplement each other. He thanked the Vietnamese Government for creating conditions for Philippine citizens to live and do business in the country. Lauding the quality of Vietnamese rice, the President said he wants further bilateral cooperation in rice trade and Viet Nam to be a stable and long-time rice supplier for the Philippines.

The two leaders discussed regional and international affairs of common concern, including collaboration within ASEAN, the East Sea issue, and fight against marine crime.

Prime Minister Phuc took the occasion to congratulate the Philippines on its successful ASEAN chairmanship in 2017. Concerning the East Sea issue, both sides highlighted the importance of maintaining peace, stability, security, safety and freedom of navigation and overflight in the waters. They affirmed that disputes ought to be peacefully resolved in line with international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). They said they support the full and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of the Parties in the East Sea (DOC), and early conclusion of an effective and legally-binding Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC) between ASEAN and China. - VNSSINGAPORE  Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc attended a round-table discussion with 16 leaders of Singaporean-based conglomerates on April 28, as part of his official visit to Singapore.

Addressing the function, the PM gave an overview of the Vietnamese economy to the business executives.



Viet Nam posted a ten-year high growth rate in the first quarter of 2018, he said, adding that the countrys market has been increasing its openness, hence it is now a good time for foreign investment.



Average per capita income of the 93-million Vietnamese population is about US$2,400 with the middle class accounting for 13 percent, resulting in increasing purchasing power.



The PM also mentioned a report by the World Bank at the end of 2017, which ranked the Vietnamese business climate at 68th among 190 countries, up 30 places against 2012. Also in 2017, the World Economic Forum ranked Viet Nam 55th among 137 surveyed countries in terms of competitiveness. The country is a bright spot in FDI attraction in the region with $320 billion worth of foreign direct investment. Its foreign trade surpassed $425 billion last year. Viet Nam is now a member of 12 new-generation free trade agreements.



The PM said these results reflected the appeal of the Vietnamese market and international investors confidence in the market. He reiterated Viet Nams commitment to creating better conditions for foreign investors.



The Government leader unveiled Viet Nams plan to build three special administrative-economic zones with a host of incentives for investors, telling the round-tables participants that there are many opportunities for them. He also urged the multinational groups to speed up their projects in Vietnam in line with the law.



At the discussion, participating firms expressed their impression on Viet Nams economic achievement, particularly its efforts to reform and take part in international commitments.



They said they are interested in a range of fields, including health services, online education, and online payment for farmers. They asked the Vietnamese Government to remove policy bottlenecks, improve the capital market, enhance the linkages among economic sectors, and to simplify customs procedure via the single-window mechanism.



Also joining the discussion, officials of Vietnamese public agencies and sectors fielded questions and recommendations by the international business executives.



They stressed that Viet Nam is working to remove policy obstacles in sectors where the State used to hold the monopoly.



Also on April 28, the Vietnamese PM received Christian Cabrol, Senior Vice President of the multinational integrated oil and gas company Totals Marketing & Services for Asia Pacific & Middle East.



The PM suggested Total, which has become a popular brand in Viet Nam, expand its operation in the country.



Christian Cabrol said his company has operated in Viet Nam since 1990 and now employs about 1,000 locals to supply the market with oil and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).



He said the group is now paying attention to the production of LPG and electricity in Viet Namand is willing to collaborate with local partners, adding that the group is proposing the construction of a number of port infrastructure to receive LPG products.



Lauding Totals expansion plan, the PM said Viet Nam welcome Totals intention to work with Vietnamese partners to build infrastructure to receive LPG product. He encouraged the group to further engage in information exchanges with Vietnamese partners such as the PetroVietnam and Electricity of Vietnam.



He tasked the Ministry of Industry and Trade with studying Totals recommendations.  VNA/VNSSINGAPORE  Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc held bilateral meetings with Indonesian President Joko Widodo and Myanmar President Win Myint on April 28 on the sidelines of the 32nd ASEAN Summit in Singapore.

The Vietnamese PM and President Joko Widodo shared the joy over the mutual trust and close ties between the two countries in the framework of their strategic partnership. They welcomed the outcomes of the third session of the Viet Nam  Indonesia Bilateral Cooperation Committee at foreign ministerial level in Hanoi on April 17, which outlined the major directions for bilateral cooperation across the fields, including pushing for the completion by the end of this year of a plan of action for the bilateral strategic partnership in 2019-2023, so that it can be implemented at the beginning of 2019.



The two leaders stressed the need to work for the target of 10 billion USD in bilateral trade and assigned relevant agencies to conduct negotiations and sign agreements necessary for achieving the target as early as possible.



President Widodo welcomed measures suggested by PM Phuc to bolster bilateral cooperation, including the signing of agreements on trade, agro-fisheries, defence-security and anti-crime.



PM Phuc thanked Indonesia for its active cooperation with Viet Nam in returning Vietnamese fishermen, and asked Indonesia to continue handling the issue in line with the ASEAN spirit of friendship, humanitarianism and solidarity as well as the Vietnam-ASEAN strategic partnership.



The Indonesian President thanked Viet Nam for its support of Indonesias initiative on organizing a meeting of ASEAN leaders on the sidelines of the Annual Meetings 2018 of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) slated for October 11 this year in Bali, Indonesia. He repeated an invitation to PM Phuc to attend the Meetings.



The two leaders also discussed several international and regional issues of mutual concern, including mutual support regarding matters related to the regional architecture, non-conventional security issues, cooperation and security on the East Sea and regional waters, the fight against pirate and crime, and illegal fishing.



They agreed to continue coordinating stance at regional and international forums, especially in the ASEAN.



Talking to the Myanmar President, PM Phuc affirmed that Viet Nam supports the Myanmar Government in the process of national reconciliation and harmony.



The two leaders expressed satisfaction about the traditional friendship between the two countries during the past over 40 years since the establishment of diplomatic ties in 1975. They agreed that the elevation of bilateral ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership on the occasion of the State visit to Myanmar by General Secretary of the Communist Party of Viet Nam Nguyen Phu Trong had turned a new page in their cooperation.



They shared the view that bilateral political ties had grown closer through maintaining high-level exchanges and contact, while economic, trade and investment ties have deepened with Viet Nam having become the 7th biggest foreign investment in Myanmar and the 11th biggest trade partner of Myanmar.



Bilateral cooperation in security-defence has been strengthened, meeting the needs of both sides, and the expansion of cultural, sport, educational linkages and people-to-people exchange has contributed to enhancing mutual understanding and the traditional friendship between the two countries. ,



PM Phuc said the two sides should act to implement the outcomes achieved during the recent official visit to Viet Nam by Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi. He also asked the Myanmar Government to create favourable conditions for businesses of both countries to expand links and for Vietnamese firms to invest in Myanmar.



President Win Myint pledged that the Myanmar Government would adopt open policies to attract foreign investment, including investment from Viet Nam , and urged more Vietnamese companies to invest and do business in Myanmar.



Regarding regional and international issues, the two sides affirmed their intention to coordinate closely within ASEAN to consolidate intra-bloc solidarity and promote ASEANs central role. They agreed to continue cooperating closely with each other and with other countries in the framework of the Cambodia-Laos-Myanmar-Vietnam (CLMV) mechanism and the Ayeyarwady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS).



They shared the common stance of ASEAN on effectively implementing the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and striving for the early completion of an effective and legally-binding Code of Conduct (COC).



Later the same day, the PM and his entourage left Singapore, concluding his trip for an official visit to the country and to attend the 32nd ASEAN Summit at the invitation of Singaporean PM Lee Hsien Loong.  VNA/VNSAbout 80 per cent of students have problems that needed to be shared and want a private space in the school to seek help and talk about their problems. Photo vietnamnet.vn

HA NOI  Timely advice could help ease negative feelings and deal with problems related to school, experts said.

Nguyen Quy Thanh, Rector of the University of Education (UE) under the Vietnam National University said psychological consultation was important.

According to the Ministry of Education and Training, surveys conducted in the capital city of Ha Noi and the northern province of Hai Duong showed that about 80 per cent of students have problems that needed to be shared and want a private space in the school to seek help and talk about their problems.

Studies conducted in another seven northern provinces also found that 20 per cent of students suffered psychological problems that required intervention. In order to achieve a comprehensive education, it was necessary to take care of mental health to help students overcome their problems and enhance their learning, Thanh said at a workshop on training school psychological counsellors held by the UE this week.

However, he acknowledged school counselling was facing a lot of challenges particularly in human resources.

Most of schools dont have qualified school counsellors who have been trained in educational counselling, Thanh told the Voice of Vietnam.

"Teams of psychological counsellors in schools are teachers of Law, Literature, Psychology or History and Geography. Although they have undergone training, their expertise is still limited due to limited resources and capacity of consultant experts," he said.

Tran Thanh Nam, Head of Educational Sciences Faculty of the UE agreed, saying compared with developed countries, psychological consultation in schools here was disregarded.

Regarding to the school violence which has concerned the public recently, Nam said the situation could be minimised if each school had a psychological counseling team who could timely detect, support and provide solutions and referred them to experts in case of needing deeper intervention.

According to Bui Van Linh, deputy head of the Department of Political Affairs and Student Management under the MoET, a circular on psychological consultation, which took effect in February, stated that every school must establish a psychological consultation group to assist students in major issues relating to gender, reproductive health, anti-abuse, career orientation or problems arising in social relationship.

The group consists of between three and seven people led by a principal or a vice principal. All group members must have a certificate to show they have undergone training on psychological counselling.

It is expected there will be about 70,000 psychology counsellors who should be trained in the next three years.

Linh emphasised that much attention should be paid to physical and mental health of students.

Given huge pressure from daily life, students might suffer such consequences as boredom, poor score in learning or severe depression, even suicide if the problem wasnt spotted and treated.

"We have to draw experiences from South Korea and Japan where more and more younger people suffer depression and the suicide rate among youth is very high, Linh said.

He said the colleges specialising in school psychology training should offer more courses to help school counsellors. A network of psychology consultant centres, which could assist those dealing with serious cases, should also be established.

He also said the MoET had assigned the Vietnam Institute of Educational Sciences to set up training programmes for psychological teachers.

In the coming years, school counselling service will be reviewed to ensure physical and mental health for both teachers and students, and teachers who have psychological difficulties will be assisted while students will be empowered to cope with mental stress in general and psychology in particular.

Nguyen Tung Lam, Chairman of the Hanoi Association for Educational Psychology said that school counselling was a complex issue which requires high flexibility. School counsellors needed to have basic knowledge of skills on both psychology and career levels for students.

The most important issue in school counselling is to help students change their behaviour despite the fact it is time-consuming and requires staff to be creative, he said.

Lam said without proper psychological counselling, the educational sector would continue to have to cope with many problems relating to school violence.

Relating to the misbehaviours by students and teachers, inh Phuong Duy, Chairman of HCM City Association for Educational Psychology, said it was necessary to reform the educational sector, especially university enrollment.

Only those who really like teaching are encouraged to enrol in teacher training colleges, he told the Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

In the meantime, the teachers training programmes should concentrate on teaching methods and other skills needed in dealing with unexpected situations that might arise in school, he said.  VNSDeputy Cao Thanh Binh speaks at yesterdays question and answer session involving administration officials . Photo hcmcpv.org.vn

HCM City  The chief of the HCM City legislature has asked the city administration how it plans to raise resources to fund development.

Speaking at yesterdays question and answer session involving administration officials, Peoples Council chairwoman Nguyen Thi Quyet Tam said: The demand for resources for the citys development is huge and urgent. Members of the Peoples Council would like to know what the Peoples Committee and other relevant authorities are doing to address the issue, especially when the special financial mechanism for the city has been applied this year.

Several legislators raised questions related to the special mechanism, how the city can apply the mechanism to meet the resource need, and officials from relevant departments gave replies.

The Peoples Committee and relevant authorities are trying to review the efficiency of public investment and tweak it to improve it, Le Thanh Liem, deputy chairman of the city Peoples Committee, said.

He revealed that public investment had fallen from 9 per cent of gross capital formation in 2011 to 7 per cent last year.

Gross capital investment refers to all the investments in a particular year in an economy.

However, the low disbursement ratio at investment projects has stymied a breakthrough. Real estate still accounts for a big proportion while many industries and sectors have been waiting for assistance from the government and have not mobilised their strength to raise capital.

The city would need VN1,800 trillion ($80 billion) more for investment in 2018 - 2020 but can only raise a fifth of that, he admitted.

We must complete the public-private partnership (PPP) process and improve the investment procedures.

There is a task force for investment led by the chairman of the Peoples Committee, and soon the city plans to set up another for land, he said.

The city authorities will focus on 21 key projects related to the special financial mechanism, review the working of State offices, auction all public lands and assets and effectively mobilise and use foreign remittances.

Nguyen Thi Quyet Tam concluded the session by offering some suggestions.

City authorities must pay more attention to taxes by adopting solutions to increase tax revenues.

Tax collection must be done accurately, she said.

The tax department must reduce tax arrears and speed up reform of tax procedures to prevent graft.

She also stressed the importance of administrative reform.

Administrative reform has greatly affected the development of the city, especially in attracting resources and investments.

More transparency is required in State management.

She raised a sensitive problem.

The special financial mechanism for the city, approved recently by the National Assembly, is expected to provide a new development stimulus. But authorities must clearly show how locals will benefit from the mechanism since they only see that the city is allowed to collect more fees and charges.

Voters wonder how it would affect social welfare, efforts to mitigate flooding, pollution and traffic congestion, and education would get from the new mechanism, she said.

Local authorities have recognised the imbalance between economic investment and investment in arts and sports. That must be fixed.

The Peoples Committee and relevant authorities must strengthen management, improve the efficiency of public investment, sell public assets through bidding to raise more funds for development.

For the first time ever, last year gross capital formation in HCM City exceeded VN1,000 trillion ($44 billion).  VNSHA NOI  An individual who works in agriculture and is from a poor or near poor household will receive support of up to 90 per cent for agricultural insurance fees from the Government.

New resolution No.58, which will be valid from June 5, 2018, moreover, says that an individual who works in agriculture and does not belong to a poor or near poor household will be covered for up to 20 per cent of agricultural insurance fees.

Agricultural insurance aims to protect farmers against any loss of crops and livestock. It is expected to provide value to low-income households in rural areas by increasing farmers resilience against incidents as well as promoting investment in planting and breeding activities.

According to the new policy, an agricultural organisation may also be supported up to 20 per cent of agricultural insurance if it operates in the model of cooperative, cooperates with others and applies innovations in planting and manufacturing towards a clean, high-tech and eco-friendly agriculture.

The subjects covered by the resolution are divided into three categories, listed below:

Plants: rice, rubber tree, pepper, cashew, coffee, fruit trees and vegetables. Livestock: buffalo, cow and poultry Aquaculture: black tiger prawn, whiteleg shrimp and tra fish.

Risks against which farmers are protected by the insurance including natural risks and animal disease risks which have to be publicly announced or officially confirmed by responsible State agencies.

Provinces and cities which enjoy the assistance policy are the countrys main agricultural production areas. Moreover, the list of areas receiving the assistance policy in these provinces and cities will be decided by the Prime Minister. Therefore, local authorities can choose to implement the support on all chosen areas or on piloting communes and districts. The list of these localities has to be announced on mass media and reported to ministries of finance, agriculture and rural development.

The process of granting insurance fees will be conducted by insurance agencies, following the procedure regulated by the Government.

Insurance agents providing agricultural insurance have to meet the Governments requirement of capital, solvency, internal audit and management. They also have to have headquarters or branches at provinces or cities where the policy of agricultural insurance assistance is conducted.  VNSHA NOI  No mobile phone subscribers have been locked out of service yet, two days after a controversial new decree went into force that demands subscribers to submit real information  including portrait photos  to network carriers.

The decree originally aimed to scrub spam content, which users frequently complain about.

Pham Thi Lien, a user in Ba inh District of Ha Noi, said she bought a SIM from the military-run operator Viettel a few years ago, and she received a text message from the operator asking her to submit necessary information.

However, the registration office was so crowded that it never got to my turn. I can still make and receive calls as normal, Lien said.

According to the Authority of Telecommunications under the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC), one of the creators of the decree, April 24 is just the deadline for network carriers to have a complete database of its users information in line with the decree. After this deadline, the telecom authorities can arrive at anytime to inspect carriers compliance and those found to have insufficient information in their database will be fined.

Also according to the telecom authority, only subscribers that have received text messages from their carriers need to submit their information and portrait photos, or else they would face service suspension.

According to the decree, the network carrier would be required to block subscribers call-making capacity 15 days after the first notification is sent out, while two-direction block would take effect after the next 15 days if the subscriber still fails to submit their personal information to the carrier. After 60 days from the first notification, uncooperative subscribers would have their contracts terminated and SIM number recalled.

Most numbers that require information updates are prepaid users. Prior to 2017, Viet Nam had some 120 million phone subscribers, with 80 million being prepaid ones. Amongst these, only 25 per cent registered correctly while the remaining 75 per cent of the subscribers need to update their personal information.

According to telecom experts, in the early days of mobile service development, most telecom companies pulled out all the stops to attract subscribers, and avoided careful verification of registers information.

Many SIM retailers borrowed ID cards from other people to register and activate the SIM cards then sell them. Thats why there are currently so many phone numbers not registered under the names of the users, Quang Thai, a network engineer, said.

This once rampant practice leaves the doors open to annoying spam messages and scam calls, a prime justification for the decree.

Notably, the decree has allowed carriers with a one-year window to ensure compliance, but still at the moment, network carriers report that they mostly ask new subscribers (since 2017, April 24) to provide full personal information while the verification of previous subscribers remains slow.

Subscribers who have registered their SIMs using their own ID cards would not be required to update their information since the photo on their ID is sufficient for identification purposes.

Only close to the April 24 mark, when the media started carrying notices about the deadline, did many people scramble to get to their carriers offices to provide lacking information.

The irresponsible manner of the carriers in notifying users has led to serious crowding at their own offices, causing great public irritation

Currently, the three biggest carriers in Viet Nam  Vinaphone, MobiFone, and Viettel  have allowed their users to register online.  VNSTrigg Co. Man Charged with two counts of murder from July shootingDEA Opening Office in Paducah

Advertisement

By West Kentucky Star Staff

Apr. 27, 2018 | PADUCAH, KY

By West Kentucky Star Staff Apr. 27, 2018 | 03:19 PM | PADUCAH, KY

The Drug Enforcement Adminstration is opening an office in Paducah.



U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell announced Friday that the DEA will open a Post of Duty office in Paducah after he contacted DEA Administrator Robert Patterson to advocate for the facility. He said in a press release that it is great news for Paducah and the surrounding counties.



McConnell said, Additional federal resources in Paducah, in coordination with state and local narcotics enforcement agencies, can make a significant difference in combatting the recent spike in illicit drugs in Western Kentucky and in helping to better protect rural communities in that region. Over the years, a number of law enforcement officials, including Paducah Police Chief Brandon Barnhill, have expressed to me the need for the DEAs presence in Paducah. The city is well positioned to host substantial federal law enforcement responsibilities that would benefit the many rural communities in the area.



In a letter, the DEA told McConnell they took several factors into consideration in deciding to open the office. They include, "the tremendous upsurge in the amount of methamphetamine and synthetic cannabinoids imported and distributed in Western Kentucky, and the challenges of supporting the 22 counties in the region solely from DEAs Madisonville POD.



Paducah Police Chief Brandon Barnhill welcomed the office, saying the federal presence reaffirms the DEA's partnership with local police to battle the surge in illegal drug use. He thanked Senator McConnell for helping bring the office to the area.



By bringing our needs to the attention of the decision-makers in Washington, Senator McConnell helped bolster the safety of our community," Barnhill said. "The worsening opioid epidemic and the resurgence of methamphetamine abuse demand a strong law enforcement response, and this new DEA office, working in conjunction with our current federal partners already in Paducah, will help provide the needed resources to protect our area and to save lives.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 (3) May 12 (9) May 10 (3) May 09 (7) May 08 (4) May 07 (3) May 06 (5) May 05 (8) May 03 (9) May 02 (1) May 01 (5) Apr 30 (8) Apr 29 (5) Apr 28 (4) Apr 27 (7) Apr 26 (12) Apr 25 (4) Apr 24 (8) Apr 23 (7) Apr 22 (5) Apr 21 (3) Apr 20 (1) Apr 19 (5) Apr 18 (3) Apr 17 (6) Apr 16 (6) Apr 15 (5) Apr 14 (2) Apr 13 (4) Apr 12 (2) Apr 11 (4) Apr 10 (3) Apr 09 (3) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (5) Apr 06 (3) Apr 05 (10) Apr 04 (2) Apr 03 (3) Apr 02 (9) Apr 01 (7) Mar 31 (10) Mar 30 (6) Mar 29 (7) Mar 28 (5) Mar 27 (3) Mar 26 (10) Mar 25 (4) Mar 24 (5) Mar 23 (10) Mar 22 (6) Mar 21 (5) Mar 20 (11) Mar 19 (8) Mar 18 (5) Mar 17 (4) Mar 16 (11) Mar 15 (10) Mar 14 (7) Mar 13 (7) Mar 12 (5) Mar 11 (3) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (5) Mar 08 (6) Mar 07 (8) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (12) Mar 04 (6) Mar 03 (8) Mar 02 (6) Mar 01 (8) Feb 28 (7) Feb 27 (5) Feb 26 (6) Feb 25 (7) Feb 24 (3) Feb 23 (6) Feb 22 (4) Feb 21 (3) Feb 20 (1) Feb 19 (6) Feb 18 (4) Feb 17 (4) Feb 16 (2) Feb 15 (5) Feb 14 (3) Feb 13 (6) Feb 12 (6) Feb 11 (4) Feb 10 (6) Feb 09 (6) Feb 08 (4) Feb 07 (6) Feb 06 (4) Feb 05 (2) Feb 04 (3) Feb 03 (5) Feb 02 (1) Feb 01 (4) Jan 31 (8) Jan 30 (2) Jan 29 (4) Jan 28 (1) Jan 27 (4) Jan 26 (7) Jan 25 (4) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (8) Jan 21 (2) Jan 20 (2) Jan 19 (3) Jan 18 (4) Jan 17 (2) Jan 16 (7) Jan 15 (6) Jan 14 (4) Jan 13 (6) Jan 12 (5) Jan 11 (4) Jan 10 (5) Jan 09 (4) Jan 08 (5) Jan 07 (4) Jan 05 (5) Jan 04 (4) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (2) Jan 01 (1) Dec 31 (5) Dec 29 (4) Dec 28 (5) Dec 26 (3) Dec 25 (2) Dec 24 (3) Dec 23 (2) Dec 22 (4) Dec 21 (4) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (3) Dec 18 (2) Dec 17 (1) Dec 16 (4) Dec 15 (2) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (7) Dec 12 (5) Dec 11 (4) Dec 10 (3) Dec 09 (2) Dec 08 (2) Dec 07 (4) Dec 06 (4) Dec 05 (1) Dec 04 (5) Dec 03 (3) Dec 02 (5) Dec 01 (6) Nov 30 (5) Nov 29 (10) Nov 28 (6) Nov 27 (2) Nov 26 (3) Nov 24 (2) Nov 23 (5) Nov 22 (4) Nov 21 (3) Nov 20 (6) Nov 19 (2) Nov 18 (5) Nov 17 (5) Nov 16 (3) Nov 15 (2) Nov 14 (3) Nov 13 (3) Nov 12 (2) Nov 11 (4) Nov 10 (5) Nov 09 (4) Nov 08 (5) Nov 07 (5) Nov 06 (5) Nov 05 (4) Nov 04 (5) Nov 02 (4) Nov 01 (4) Oct 31 (9) Oct 30 (9) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (2) Oct 27 (6) Oct 26 (6) Oct 25 (6) Oct 24 (3) Oct 23 (6) Oct 22 (4) Oct 20 (3) Oct 19 (6) Oct 18 (5) Oct 17 (5) Oct 16 (4) Oct 15 (5) Oct 14 (2) Oct 13 (4) Oct 12 (7) Oct 11 (5) Oct 10 (4) Oct 09 (5) Oct 08 (10) Oct 07 (1) Oct 06 (10) Oct 05 (6) Oct 04 (8) Oct 03 (3) Oct 02 (4) Oct 01 (6) Sep 30 (5) Sep 29 (1) Sep 28 (6) Sep 27 (6) Sep 26 (5) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (6) Sep 23 (5) Sep 22 (7) Sep 21 (6) Sep 20 (6) Sep 19 (5) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (5) Sep 16 (5) Sep 15 (5) Sep 14 (6) Sep 13 (4) Sep 12 (5) Sep 11 (7) Sep 10 (6) Sep 09 (5) Sep 08 (3) Sep 07 (4) Sep 06 (8) Sep 05 (6) Sep 04 (7) Sep 03 (3) Sep 02 (4) Sep 01 (5) Aug 31 (8) Aug 30 (6) Aug 29 (6) Aug 28 (6) Aug 27 (1) Aug 26 (4) Aug 25 (3) Aug 24 (7) Aug 23 (4) Aug 22 (4) Aug 21 (4) Aug 20 (7) Aug 18 (5) Aug 17 (8) Aug 16 (8) Aug 15 (4) Aug 14 (6) Aug 13 (5) Aug 12 (4) Aug 11 (2) Aug 10 (5) Aug 09 (4) Aug 08 (8) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (3) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (4) Aug 03 (10) Aug 02 (9) Aug 01 (8) Jul 31 (1) Jul 30 (3) Jul 29 (2) Jul 28 (11) Jul 27 (10) Jul 26 (10) Jul 25 (7) Jul 24 (5) Jul 23 (3) Jul 22 (2) Jul 21 (7) Jul 20 (10) Jul 19 (8) Jul 18 (7) Jul 17 (1) Jul 16 (10) Jul 14 (7) Jul 13 (6) Jul 12 (11) Jul 11 (7) Jul 10 (5) Jul 09 (6) Jul 08 (5) Jul 07 (8) Jul 06 (4) Jul 05 (6) Jul 04 (6) Jul 03 (7) Jul 02 (6) Jul 01 (2) Jun 30 (7) Jun 29 (7) Jun 28 (5) Jun 27 (8) Jun 26 (5) Jun 25 (6) Jun 23 (4) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (8) Jun 18 (2) Jun 17 (3) Jun 16 (4) Jun 15 (3) Jun 14 (7) Jun 13 (4) Jun 12 (7) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (2) Jun 09 (8) Jun 08 (8) Jun 07 (8) Jun 06 (10) Jun 05 (14) Jun 04 (6) Jun 03 (6) Jun 02 (8) Jun 01 (6) May 31 (7) May 30 (2) May 29 (7) May 28 (7) May 27 (2) May 26 (4) May 25 (5) May 24 (4) May 23 (5) May 22 (5) May 21 (5) May 20 (3) May 19 (10) May 18 (6) May 17 (3) May 16 (6) May 15 (2) May 14 (3) May 13 (5) May 11 (1) May 10 (5) May 09 (3) May 08 (4) May 07 (2) May 06 (4) May 05 (6) May 04 (5) May 03 (5) May 02 (1) May 01 (6) Apr 30 (6) Apr 29 (7) Apr 28 (8) Apr 27 (9) Apr 26 (14) Apr 25 (6) Apr 24 (6) Apr 23 (7) Apr 22 (1) Apr 21 (8) Apr 20 (3) Apr 19 (6) Apr 18 (4) Apr 17 (7) Apr 16 (1) Apr 15 (8) Apr 14 (1) Apr 13 (7) Apr 12 (10) Apr 11 (7) Apr 10 (2) Apr 09 (2) Apr 08 (4) Apr 07 (3) Apr 06 (6) Apr 05 (6) Apr 04 (9) Apr 03 (4) Apr 02 (5) Apr 01 (2) Mar 31 (5) Mar 30 (4) Mar 29 (8) Mar 28 (5) Mar 27 (9) Mar 26 (4) Mar 25 (5) Mar 24 (11) Mar 23 (10) Mar 22 (9) Mar 21 (10) Mar 20 (11) Mar 19 (5) Mar 18 (7) Mar 17 (3) Mar 16 (7) Mar 15 (6) Mar 14 (6) Mar 13 (9) Mar 12 (6) Mar 11 (3) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (5) Mar 08 (6) Mar 07 (13) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (3) Mar 04 (7) Mar 03 (4) Mar 02 (5) Mar 01 (6) Feb 28 (6) Feb 27 (4) Feb 26 (5) Feb 25 (6) Feb 24 (6) Feb 23 (9) Feb 22 (6) Feb 21 (7) Feb 20 (8) Feb 19 (6) Feb 18 (3) Feb 17 (4) Feb 16 (6) Feb 15 (5) Feb 14 (7) Feb 13 (5) Feb 12 (3) Feb 11 (4) Feb 10 (5) Feb 09 (9) Feb 08 (8) Feb 07 (7) Feb 06 (10) Feb 05 (7) Feb 04 (2) Feb 03 (8) Feb 02 (7) Feb 01 (5) Jan 31 (4) Jan 30 (4) Jan 29 (7) Jan 28 (3) Jan 27 (7) Jan 26 (8) Jan 25 (6) Jan 24 (6) Jan 23 (5) Jan 22 (4) Jan 21 (6) Jan 20 (8) Jan 19 (6) Jan 18 (8) Jan 17 (12) Jan 16 (5) Jan 15 (4) Jan 14 (8) Jan 12 (6) Jan 11 (6) Jan 10 (7) Jan 09 (4) Jan 08 (6) Jan 07 (4) Jan 06 (6) Jan 05 (9) Jan 04 (9) Jan 03 (4) Jan 02 (6) Jan 01 (8) Dec 31 (2) Dec 30 (1) Dec 29 (5) Dec 28 (4) Dec 27 (8) Dec 26 (4) Dec 24 (5) Dec 23 (7) Dec 22 (12) Dec 21 (4) Dec 20 (7) Dec 19 (3) Dec 18 (5) Dec 17 (3) Dec 16 (1) Dec 15 (7) Dec 14 (10) Dec 13 (7) Dec 12 (12) Dec 10 (3) Dec 09 (6) Dec 08 (7) Dec 07 (12) Dec 06 (6) Dec 05 (13) Dec 04 (6) Dec 02 (8) Dec 01 (8) Nov 30 (6) Nov 29 (7) Nov 28 (7) Nov 27 (4) Nov 26 (8) Nov 24 (2) Nov 23 (5) Nov 22 (11) Nov 21 (7) Nov 20 (3) Nov 19 (10) Nov 18 (7) Nov 17 (6) Nov 16 (11) Nov 15 (10) Nov 14 (7) Nov 13 (3) Nov 12 (5) Nov 11 (12) Nov 10 (4) Nov 09 (14) Nov 08 (10) Nov 07 (11) Nov 06 (8) Nov 05 (5) Nov 04 (11) Nov 03 (9) Nov 02 (10) Nov 01 (8) Oct 31 (12) Oct 30 (5) Oct 29 (5) Oct 28 (5) Oct 27 (11) Oct 26 (13) Oct 25 (9) Oct 24 (10) Oct 23 (8) Oct 22 (5) Oct 21 (11) Oct 20 (8) Oct 19 (6) Oct 18 (5) Oct 17 (5) Oct 16 (6) Oct 15 (4) Oct 14 (9) Oct 13 (10) Oct 12 (11) Oct 11 (9) Oct 10 (10) Oct 09 (7) Oct 08 (5) Oct 07 (10) Oct 06 (9) Oct 05 (14) Oct 04 (9) Oct 03 (12) Oct 02 (4) Oct 01 (9) Sep 30 (5) Sep 29 (7) Sep 28 (13) Sep 27 (10) Sep 26 (11) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (9) Sep 23 (7) Sep 22 (10) Sep 21 (12) Sep 20 (12) Sep 19 (4) Sep 18 (5) Sep 17 (7) Sep 16 (11) Sep 15 (8) Sep 14 (5) Sep 13 (8) Sep 12 (8) Sep 11 (6) Sep 10 (10) Sep 09 (5) Sep 08 (9) Sep 07 (8) Sep 06 (11) Sep 05 (2) Sep 04 (8) Sep 03 (2) Sep 02 (6) Sep 01 (9) Aug 31 (9) Aug 30 (7) Aug 29 (9) Aug 28 (4) Aug 27 (8) Aug 26 (6) Aug 25 (5) Aug 24 (8) Aug 23 (4) Aug 22 (5) Aug 21 (2) Aug 20 (4) Aug 19 (6) Aug 18 (4) Aug 17 (4) Aug 16 (6) Aug 15 (3) Aug 14 (4) Aug 13 (7) Aug 12 (6) Aug 11 (3) Aug 10 (5) Aug 09 (8) Aug 08 (9) Aug 07 (7) Aug 06 (7) Aug 05 (7) Aug 04 (7) Aug 03 (11) Aug 02 (6) Aug 01 (9) Jul 31 (11) Jul 28 (7) Jul 27 (11) Jul 26 (5) Jul 25 (5) Jul 24 (1) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (2) Jul 20 (9) Jul 19 (8) Jul 18 (6) Jul 17 (7) Jul 15 (4) Jul 14 (2) Jul 13 (6) Jul 12 (10) Jul 11 (11) Jul 10 (2) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (5) Jul 07 (5) Jul 06 (6) Jul 05 (3) Jul 04 (6) Jul 03 (5) Jul 02 (3) Jun 30 (8) Jun 29 (5) Jun 28 (6) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (4) Jun 25 (1) Jun 24 (5) Jun 23 (11) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (5) Jun 19 (7) Jun 17 (4) Jun 16 (7) Jun 15 (4) Jun 14 (6) Jun 13 (4) Jun 12 (4) Jun 11 (6) Jun 10 (6) Jun 09 (8) Jun 08 (6) Jun 07 (8) Jun 06 (7) Jun 05 (5) Jun 04 (7) Jun 03 (1) Jun 02 (9) Jun 01 (5) May 31 (8) May 30 (7) May 29 (5) May 28 (5) May 27 (4) May 26 (4) May 25 (4) May 24 (3) May 23 (5) May 22 (2) May 21 (3) May 20 (7) May 19 (11) May 18 (1) May 17 (7) May 16 (3) May 15 (4) May 14 (3) May 13 (4) May 12 (4) May 11 (11) May 10 (2) May 09 (6) May 08 (6) May 07 (2) May 06 (3) May 05 (4) May 04 (5) May 03 (8) May 02 (4) May 01 (4) Apr 30 (6) Apr 29 (13) Apr 28 (5) Apr 27 (7) Apr 26 (5) Apr 25 (5) Apr 24 (2) Apr 23 (7) Apr 22 (9) Apr 21 (11) Apr 20 (2) Apr 19 (2) Apr 18 (5) Apr 17 (5) Apr 16 (6) Apr 14 (5) Apr 13 (2) Apr 12 (9) Apr 11 (10) Apr 10 (6) Apr 09 (5) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (10) Apr 06 (7) Apr 05 (7) Apr 04 (7) Apr 03 (9) Mar 31 (12) Mar 30 (9) Mar 29 (7) Mar 28 (4) Mar 27 (3) Mar 26 (6) Mar 25 (3) Mar 24 (8) Mar 23 (7) Mar 22 (4) Mar 21 (10) Mar 20 (6) Mar 19 (6) Mar 17 (7) Mar 16 (11) Mar 15 (6) Mar 14 (9) Mar 13 (4) Mar 12 (6) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (9) Mar 08 (10) Mar 07 (4) Mar 06 (5) Mar 05 (3) Mar 04 (2) Mar 03 (4) Mar 02 (5) Mar 01 (5) Feb 28 (3) Feb 27 (8) Feb 26 (9) Feb 24 (11) Feb 23 (8) Feb 22 (9) Feb 21 (8) Feb 20 (7) Feb 19 (4) Feb 18 (9) Feb 17 (6) Feb 16 (5) Feb 15 (7) Feb 14 (11) Feb 13 (2) Feb 12 (5) Feb 11 (5) Feb 10 (3) Feb 09 (10) Feb 08 (9) Feb 07 (9) Feb 06 (2) Feb 05 (9) Feb 03 (7) Feb 02 (5) Feb 01 (7) Jan 31 (4) Jan 30 (5) Jan 29 (6) Jan 28 (5) Jan 27 (2) Jan 26 (7) Jan 25 (7) Jan 24 (8) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (14) Jan 20 (8) Jan 19 (10) Jan 18 (11) Jan 17 (9) Jan 16 (5) Jan 15 (3) Jan 14 (9) Jan 13 (6) Jan 12 (7) Jan 11 (7) Jan 10 (2) Jan 09 (7) Jan 08 (6) Jan 07 (10) Jan 06 (8) Jan 05 (7) Jan 04 (9) Jan 03 (8) Jan 02 (5) Jan 01 (14) Dec 30 (13) Dec 29 (13) Dec 28 (9) Dec 27 (5) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (7) Dec 24 (4) Dec 23 (5) Dec 22 (4) Dec 21 (8) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (8) Dec 18 (9) Dec 16 (8) Dec 15 (5) Dec 14 (5) Dec 13 (8) Dec 12 (4) Dec 11 (17) Dec 09 (8) Dec 08 (5) Dec 07 (10) Dec 06 (12) Dec 05 (6) Dec 04 (8) Dec 02 (6) Dec 01 (7) Nov 30 (9) Nov 29 (6) Nov 28 (11) Nov 27 (6) Nov 26 (15) Nov 24 (7) Nov 23 (15) Nov 22 (9) Nov 21 (6) Nov 20 (11) Nov 18 (11) Nov 17 (13) Nov 16 (8) Nov 15 (13) Nov 14 (7) Nov 13 (7) Nov 12 (3) Nov 11 (13) Nov 10 (13) Nov 09 (6) Nov 08 (9) Nov 07 (6) Nov 06 (4) Nov 05 (12) Nov 04 (8) Nov 03 (9) Nov 02 (8) Nov 01 (6) Oct 31 (10) Oct 30 (8) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (8) Oct 27 (15) Oct 26 (10) Oct 25 (10) Oct 24 (13) Oct 23 (9) Oct 21 (8) Oct 20 (13) Oct 19 (6) Oct 18 (11) Oct 17 (8) Oct 16 (14) Oct 14 (9) Oct 13 (11) Oct 12 (9) Oct 11 (13) Oct 10 (7) Oct 09 (15) Oct 07 (7) Oct 06 (11) Oct 05 (18) Oct 04 (14) Oct 03 (1) Oct 02 (10) Sep 30 (11) Sep 29 (11) Sep 28 (11) Sep 27 (15) Sep 26 (7) Sep 24 (9) Sep 23 (11) Sep 22 (7) Sep 21 (17) Sep 20 (20) Sep 19 (4) Sep 18 (11) Sep 16 (10) Sep 15 (12) Sep 14 (9) Sep 13 (12) Sep 12 (14) Sep 11 (4) Sep 10 (8) Sep 09 (9) Sep 08 (5) Sep 07 (13) Sep 06 (15) Sep 05 (8) Sep 04 (11) Sep 03 (10) Sep 02 (12) Sep 01 (12) Aug 31 (14) Aug 30 (14) Aug 29 (8) Aug 28 (8) Aug 27 (9) Aug 26 (12) Aug 25 (6) Aug 24 (8) Aug 23 (12) Aug 22 (6) Aug 21 (5) Aug 20 (6) Aug 19 (9) Aug 18 (4) Aug 17 (7) Aug 16 (11) Aug 15 (2) Aug 14 (12) Aug 12 (15) Aug 11 (11) Aug 10 (6) Aug 09 (7) Aug 08 (3) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (5) Aug 05 (7) Aug 04 (7) Aug 03 (4) Aug 02 (5) Aug 01 (5) Jul 31 (7) Jul 30 (5) Jul 29 (9) Jul 28 (8) Jul 27 (8) Jul 26 (7) Jul 25 (6) Jul 23 (8) Jul 22 (6) Jul 21 (5) Jul 20 (9) Jul 19 (5) Jul 18 (15) Jul 15 (14) Jul 14 (5) Jul 13 (6) Jul 12 (12) Jul 11 (8) Jul 10 (3) Jul 09 (11) Jul 08 (8) Jul 07 (7) Jul 06 (10) Jul 05 (4) Jul 04 (4) Jul 03 (5) Jul 02 (7) Jul 01 (8) Jun 30 (7) Jun 29 (10) Jun 28 (8) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (5) Jun 25 (4) Jun 24 (2) Jun 23 (11) Jun 22 (5) Jun 21 (7) Jun 20 (3) Jun 19 (7) Jun 18 (10) Jun 17 (11) Jun 16 (5) Jun 15 (5) Jun 14 (7) Jun 13 (14) Jun 11 (6) Jun 10 (8) Jun 09 (9) Jun 08 (11) Jun 07 (14) Jun 06 (16) Jun 03 (8) Jun 02 (12) Jun 01 (5) May 31 (7) May 30 (15) May 28 (7) May 27 (5) May 26 (21) May 25 (14) May 24 (10) May 23 (7) May 22 (8) May 21 (11) May 20 (5) May 19 (4) May 18 (10) May 17 (11) May 16 (5) May 15 (6) May 14 (7) May 13 (12) May 12 (10) May 11 (7) May 10 (13) May 09 (4) May 08 (7) May 07 (3) May 06 (6) May 05 (9) May 04 (14) May 03 (7) May 02 (10) May 01 (10) Apr 30 (6) Apr 29 (9) Apr 28 (5) Apr 27 (9) Apr 26 (8) Apr 25 (8) Apr 24 (6) Apr 23 (14) Apr 22 (16) Apr 21 (11) Apr 20 (7) Apr 19 (16) Apr 18 (8) Apr 17 (7) Apr 16 (10) Apr 15 (8) Apr 14 (5) Apr 13 (11) Apr 12 (10) Apr 11 (8) Apr 10 (12) Apr 09 (5) Apr 08 (13) Apr 07 (9) Apr 06 (11) Apr 05 (15) Apr 04 (7) Apr 03 (15) Apr 02 (5) Apr 01 (11) Mar 31 (12) Mar 30 (10) Mar 29 (8) Mar 28 (7) Mar 27 (12) Mar 26 (8) Mar 25 (8) Mar 24 (7) Mar 23 (15) Mar 22 (17) Mar 21 (9) Mar 20 (8) Mar 19 (4) Mar 18 (16) Mar 17 (8) Mar 16 (19) Mar 15 (13) Mar 14 (7) Mar 13 (20) Mar 11 (5) Mar 10 (11) Mar 09 (13) Mar 08 (13) Mar 07 (7) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (9) Mar 04 (10) Mar 03 (16) Mar 02 (16) Mar 01 (13) Feb 29 (8) Feb 28 (6) Feb 27 (16) Feb 26 (10) Feb 25 (6) Feb 24 (12) Feb 23 (14) Feb 22 (9) Feb 21 (11) Feb 20 (8) Feb 19 (12) Feb 18 (12) Feb 17 (11) Feb 16 (8) Feb 15 (9) Feb 14 (7) Feb 13 (10) Feb 12 (11) Feb 11 (13) Feb 10 (5) Feb 09 (6) Feb 08 (4) Feb 07 (9) Feb 06 (13) Feb 05 (10) Feb 04 (11) Feb 03 (7) Feb 02 (19) Jan 31 (21) Jan 29 (11) Jan 28 (10) Jan 27 (13) Jan 26 (7) Jan 25 (5) Jan 24 (2) Jan 23 (8) Jan 22 (13) Jan 21 (11) Jan 20 (9) Jan 19 (13) Jan 18 (4) Jan 17 (11) Jan 15 (7) Jan 14 (13) Jan 13 (9) Jan 12 (9) Jan 11 (5) Jan 10 (8) Jan 09 (7) Jan 08 (7) Jan 07 (6) Jan 06 (11) Jan 05 (7) Jan 04 (7) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (8) Jan 01 (5) Dec 31 (10) Dec 30 (9) Dec 29 (7) Dec 28 (9) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (1) Dec 25 (5) Dec 24 (6) Dec 23 (6) Dec 22 (7) Dec 21 (6) Dec 20 (7) Dec 19 (13) Dec 18 (16) Dec 17 (10) Dec 16 (13) Dec 15 (11) Dec 14 (8) Dec 13 (4) Dec 12 (9) Dec 11 (10) Dec 10 (12) Dec 09 (10) Dec 08 (13) Dec 07 (7) Dec 06 (12) Dec 05 (8) Dec 04 (11) Dec 03 (12) Dec 02 (16) Dec 01 (14) Nov 30 (10) Nov 29 (11) Nov 28 (15) Nov 27 (16) Nov 26 (11) Nov 25 (9) Nov 24 (13) Nov 23 (10) Nov 22 (1) Nov 21 (7) Nov 20 (12) Nov 19 (10) Nov 18 (11) Nov 17 (11) Nov 16 (10) Nov 15 (3) Nov 14 (10) Nov 13 (14) Nov 12 (8) Nov 11 (13) Nov 10 (10) Nov 09 (6) Nov 08 (9) Nov 07 (11) Nov 06 (12) Nov 05 (17) Nov 04 (12) Nov 03 (11) Nov 02 (5) Nov 01 (12) Oct 31 (11) Oct 30 (11) Oct 29 (10) Oct 28 (18) Oct 27 (16) Oct 26 (11) Oct 25 (9) Oct 24 (12) Oct 23 (11) Oct 22 (14) Oct 21 (12) Oct 20 (17) Oct 19 (12) Oct 18 (13) Oct 17 (15) Oct 16 (14) Oct 15 (10) Oct 14 (16) Oct 13 (12) Oct 12 (13) Oct 11 (8) Oct 10 (12) Oct 09 (21) Oct 08 (22) Oct 07 (19) Oct 06 (18) Oct 05 (6) Oct 04 (17) Oct 03 (13) Oct 02 (14) Oct 01 (13) Sep 30 (14) Sep 29 (15) Sep 28 (12) Sep 27 (11) Sep 26 (15) Sep 25 (13) Sep 24 (9) Sep 23 (10) Sep 22 (12) Sep 21 (8) Sep 20 (4) Sep 19 (12) Sep 18 (12) Sep 17 (16) Sep 16 (21) Sep 15 (14) Sep 14 (7) Sep 13 (5) Sep 12 (10) Sep 11 (16) Sep 10 (7) Sep 09 (8) Sep 08 (10) Sep 07 (7) Sep 06 (5) Sep 05 (8) Sep 04 (9) Sep 03 (8) Sep 02 (11) Sep 01 (10) Aug 31 (4) Aug 30 (6) Aug 29 (1) Aug 28 (10) Aug 27 (8) Aug 26 (8) Aug 25 (14) Aug 24 (4) Aug 23 (3) Aug 22 (5) Aug 21 (13) Aug 20 (9) Aug 19 (13) Aug 18 (3) Aug 17 (3) Aug 16 (3) Aug 15 (6) Aug 14 (8) Aug 13 (7) Aug 12 (12) Aug 11 (9) Aug 10 (8) Aug 09 (14) Aug 08 (6) Aug 07 (1) Aug 06 (4) Aug 05 (8) Aug 04 (6) Aug 03 (6) Aug 02 (2) Aug 01 (6) Jul 31 (6) Jul 30 (3) Jul 29 (6) Jul 28 (8) Jul 27 (7) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (6) Jul 23 (5) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (7) Jul 20 (5) Jul 18 (6) Jul 17 (5) Jul 16 (4) Jul 15 (9) Jul 14 (2) Jul 13 (8) Jul 12 (1) Jul 11 (5) Jul 10 (8) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (3) Jul 07 (13) Jul 05 (2) Jul 04 (5) Jul 03 (6) Jul 02 (6) Jul 01 (7) Jun 30 (7) Jun 29 (3) Jun 28 (1) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (7) Jun 25 (4) Jun 24 (6) Jun 23 (9) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (3) Jun 19 (4) Jun 18 (7) Jun 17 (7) Jun 16 (7) Jun 15 (11) Jun 12 (6) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (10) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (3) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (2) Jun 05 (9) Jun 04 (8) Jun 03 (9) Jun 02 (6) Jun 01 (4) May 30 (7) May 29 (9) May 28 (13) May 26 (8) May 25 (5) May 24 (2) May 23 (8) May 22 (9) May 21 (7) May 20 (4) May 19 (6) May 18 (7) May 17 (8) May 15 (9) May 14 (5) May 13 (8) May 12 (6) May 11 (6) May 09 (7) May 08 (6) May 07 (11) May 06 (7) May 05 (4) May 04 (11) May 03 (5) May 02 (4) May 01 (9) Apr 30 (6) Apr 29 (4) Apr 28 (9) Apr 27 (4) Apr 26 (3) Apr 25 (5) Apr 24 (3) Apr 23 (10) Apr 22 (8) Apr 21 (9) Apr 20 (3) Apr 19 (4) Apr 18 (8) Apr 17 (7) Apr 16 (4) Apr 15 (6) Apr 14 (8) Apr 13 (3) Apr 12 (6) Apr 10 (2) Apr 09 (4) Apr 08 (5) Apr 07 (5) Apr 06 (2) Apr 05 (2) Apr 04 (5) Apr 03 (7) Apr 02 (7) Apr 01 (12) Mar 31 (12) Mar 30 (3) Mar 29 (1) Mar 28 (2) Mar 27 (6) Mar 26 (2) Mar 25 (5) Mar 24 (4) Mar 23 (7) Mar 22 (4) Mar 21 (6) Mar 20 (9) Mar 19 (9) Mar 18 (8) Mar 17 (9) Mar 16 (7) Mar 15 (11) Mar 13 (5) Mar 12 (12) Mar 11 (9) Mar 10 (12) Mar 09 (4) Mar 08 (5) Mar 07 (5) Mar 06 (5) Mar 05 (5) Mar 04 (6) Mar 03 (11) Mar 02 (5) Mar 01 (8) Feb 27 (9) Feb 26 (9) Feb 25 (8) Feb 24 (6) Feb 23 (4) Feb 22 (3) Feb 21 (6) Feb 20 (3) Feb 19 (10) Feb 18 (9) Feb 17 (7) Feb 16 (5) Feb 15 (2) Feb 14 (8) Feb 13 (12) Feb 12 (8) Feb 11 (10) Feb 10 (7) Feb 09 (6) Feb 08 (3) Feb 07 (2) Feb 06 (7) Feb 05 (4) Feb 04 (11) Feb 03 (5) Feb 02 (7) Feb 01 (4) Jan 31 (5) Jan 30 (8) Jan 29 (12) Jan 28 (6) Jan 27 (8) Jan 26 (13) Jan 24 (8) Jan 23 (12) Jan 22 (8) Jan 21 (10) Jan 20 (8) Jan 19 (6) Jan 18 (9) Jan 17 (6) Jan 16 (4) Jan 15 (11) Jan 14 (4) Jan 13 (6) Jan 12 (7) Jan 11 (6) Jan 10 (2) Jan 09 (6) Jan 08 (5) Jan 07 (6) Jan 06 (4) Jan 05 (4) Jan 04 (3) Jan 03 (6) Jan 02 (2) Jan 01 (3) Dec 31 (6) Dec 30 (4) Dec 29 (6) Dec 28 (4) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (2) Dec 25 (3) Dec 24 (5) Dec 23 (7) Dec 22 (5) Dec 21 (4) Dec 20 (4) Dec 19 (5) Dec 18 (8) Dec 17 (5) Dec 16 (9) Dec 15 (7) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (10) Dec 12 (10) Dec 11 (9) Dec 10 (10) Dec 09 (11) Dec 08 (5) Dec 07 (5) Dec 06 (6) Dec 05 (9) Dec 04 (3) Dec 03 (8) Dec 02 (10) Dec 01 (6) Nov 30 (1) Nov 29 (3) Nov 28 (9) Nov 27 (3) Nov 26 (7) Nov 25 (12) Nov 24 (3) Nov 23 (8) Nov 22 (4) Nov 21 (3) Nov 20 (12) Nov 19 (6) Nov 18 (10) Nov 17 (12) Nov 16 (5) Nov 15 (5) Nov 14 (12) Nov 13 (3) Nov 12 (7) Nov 11 (8) Nov 10 (7) Nov 09 (6) Nov 08 (5) Nov 07 (5) Nov 06 (6) Nov 05 (12) Nov 04 (9) Nov 03 (6) Nov 02 (14) Nov 01 (3) Oct 31 (6) Oct 30 (7) Oct 29 (9) Oct 28 (9) Oct 27 (3) Oct 26 (6) Oct 25 (9) Oct 24 (8) Oct 23 (4) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (4) Oct 20 (2) Oct 19 (11) Oct 17 (6) Oct 16 (7) Oct 15 (7) Oct 14 (8) Oct 13 (5) Oct 12 (8) Oct 11 (6) Oct 10 (5) Oct 09 (11) Oct 08 (10) Oct 07 (8) Oct 06 (3) Oct 05 (7) Oct 04 (8) Oct 03 (3) Oct 02 (10) Oct 01 (3) Sep 30 (7) Sep 29 (6) Sep 28 (5) Sep 27 (8) Sep 26 (11) Sep 25 (11) Sep 24 (15) Sep 23 (8) Sep 22 (9) Sep 21 (4) Sep 20 (8) Sep 19 (9) Sep 18 (10) Sep 17 (10) Sep 16 (5) Sep 15 (5) Sep 14 (7) Sep 13 (5) Sep 12 (5) Sep 11 (8) Sep 10 (6) Sep 09 (7) Sep 08 (5) Sep 07 (2) Sep 06 (4) Sep 05 (7) Sep 04 (11) Sep 03 (7) Sep 02 (7) Sep 01 (2) Aug 31 (3) Aug 30 (1) Aug 29 (10) Aug 28 (5) Aug 27 (4) Aug 26 (10) Aug 25 (6) Aug 24 (9) Aug 22 (11) Aug 21 (8) Aug 20 (12) Aug 19 (8) Aug 18 (4) Aug 17 (4) Aug 16 (3) Aug 15 (6) Aug 14 (4) Aug 13 (7) Aug 12 (8) Aug 11 (7) Aug 10 (12) Aug 08 (5) Aug 07 (6) Aug 06 (6) Aug 05 (8) Aug 04 (5) Aug 03 (4) Aug 01 (7) Jul 31 (6) Jul 30 (12) Jul 29 (4) Jul 28 (5) Jul 27 (7) Jul 25 (7) Jul 24 (8) Jul 23 (8) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (8) Jul 20 (6) Jul 19 (3) Jul 18 (8) Jul 17 (2) Jul 16 (7) Jul 15 (6) Jul 14 (9) Jul 13 (10) Jul 11 (9) Jul 10 (8) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (7) Jul 07 (7) Jul 06 (7) Jul 05 (10) Jul 04 (4) Jul 03 (6) Jul 02 (6) Jul 01 (8) Jun 30 (5) Jun 29 (6) Jun 28 (1) Jun 27 (15) Jun 26 (10) Jun 25 (9) Jun 24 (16) Jun 23 (6) Jun 22 (12) Jun 20 (6) Jun 19 (8) Jun 18 (10) Jun 17 (6) Jun 16 (7) Jun 15 (5) Jun 14 (5) Jun 13 (13) Jun 12 (7) Jun 11 (14) Jun 10 (3) Jun 09 (2) Jun 08 (2) Jun 07 (7) Jun 06 (16) Jun 05 (7) Jun 04 (18) Jun 03 (12) Jun 02 (8) May 31 (3) May 30 (6) May 29 (6) May 28 (7) May 27 (4) May 26 (4) May 25 (6) May 23 (4) May 22 (8) May 21 (5) May 20 (6) May 19 (2) May 18 (9) May 17 (1) May 16 (5) May 15 (5) May 14 (7) May 13 (7) May 12 (7) May 11 (4) May 10 (4) May 09 (5) May 08 (10) May 07 (4) May 06 (13) May 05 (4) May 04 (10) May 02 (2) May 01 (5) Apr 30 (9) Apr 29 (6) Apr 28 (3) Apr 27 (4) Apr 26 (9) Apr 25 (9) Apr 24 (7) Apr 23 (11) Apr 22 (7) Apr 21 (3) Apr 20 (10) Apr 19 (6) Apr 18 (5) Apr 17 (6) Apr 16 (6) Apr 15 (7) Apr 14 (11) Apr 13 (4) Apr 12 (5) Apr 11 (9) Apr 10 (4) Apr 09 (6) Apr 08 (6) Apr 07 (3) Apr 06 (6) Apr 05 (10) Apr 03 (9) Apr 02 (9) Apr 01 (12) Mar 31 (4) Mar 30 (9) Mar 29 (10) Mar 28 (7) Mar 27 (8) Mar 26 (8) Mar 25 (15) Mar 24 (11) Mar 23 (8) Mar 22 (7) Mar 21 (14) Mar 20 (6) Mar 19 (11) Mar 18 (11) Mar 17 (12) Mar 16 (8) Mar 15 (8) Mar 14 (13) Mar 13 (8) Mar 12 (10) Mar 11 (8) Mar 10 (7) Mar 09 (3) Mar 08 (12) Mar 07 (15) Mar 06 (16) Mar 05 (9) Mar 04 (6) Mar 03 (12) Mar 02 (20) Feb 28 (11) Feb 27 (8) Feb 26 (11) Feb 25 (6) Feb 24 (14) Feb 23 (5) Feb 22 (6) Feb 21 (8) Feb 20 (11) Feb 19 (7) Feb 18 (4) Feb 17 (8) Feb 16 (11) Feb 15 (3) Feb 14 (10) Feb 13 (4) Feb 12 (10) Feb 11 (7) Feb 10 (7) Feb 09 (4) Feb 08 (6) Feb 07 (5) Feb 06 (4) Feb 05 (10) Feb 04 (5) Feb 03 (4) Feb 02 (4) Feb 01 (3) Jan 31 (3) Jan 30 (5) Jan 29 (2) Jan 28 (6) Jan 27 (3) Jan 26 (2) Jan 25 (5) Jan 24 (7) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (4) Jan 21 (5) Jan 20 (5) Jan 19 (6) Jan 18 (7) Jan 17 (6) Jan 16 (4) Jan 15 (3) Jan 14 (5) Jan 13 (4) Jan 12 (5) Jan 11 (3) Jan 10 (5) Jan 09 (6) Jan 08 (6) Jan 07 (3) Jan 06 (1) Jan 05 (4) Jan 04 (5) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (6) Jan 01 (2) Dec 31 (6) Dec 30 (1) Dec 29 (5) Dec 27 (1) Dec 26 (2) Dec 25 (4) Dec 24 (8) Dec 23 (2) Dec 22 (1) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (8) Dec 18 (3) Dec 17 (4) Dec 16 (3) Dec 15 (3) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (4) Dec 11 (4) Dec 10 (7) Dec 09 (5) Dec 08 (2) Dec 07 (5) Dec 06 (6) Dec 05 (10) Dec 04 (9) Dec 03 (4) Dec 02 (2) Dec 01 (8) Nov 29 (5) Nov 28 (7) Nov 27 (5) Nov 26 (9) Nov 25 (3) Nov 24 (5) Nov 23 (6) Nov 22 (5) Nov 21 (12) Nov 20 (12) Nov 19 (10) Nov 18 (4) Nov 17 (3) Nov 16 (8) Nov 15 (7) Nov 14 (7) Nov 13 (6) Nov 12 (12) Nov 11 (6) Nov 10 (3) Nov 09 (4) Nov 08 (10) Nov 07 (5) Nov 06 (5) Nov 05 (9) Nov 04 (4) Nov 03 (4) Nov 02 (3) Nov 01 (3) Oct 31 (10) Oct 30 (4) Oct 29 (11) Oct 28 (3) Oct 27 (7) Oct 26 (7) Oct 25 (6) Oct 24 (7) Oct 23 (11) Oct 22 (2) Oct 21 (7) Oct 20 (4) Oct 19 (6) Oct 18 (7) Oct 17 (5) Oct 16 (8) Oct 15 (5) Oct 14 (5) Oct 13 (3) Oct 12 (7) Oct 11 (20) Oct 10 (2) Oct 09 (4) Oct 08 (21) Oct 07 (20) Oct 06 (34) Oct 04 (24) Oct 03 (21) Oct 02 (3) Oct 01 (7) Sep 30 (3) Sep 29 (5) Sep 28 (6) Sep 27 (5) Sep 26 (6) Sep 25 (5) Sep 24 (2) Sep 23 (8) Sep 22 (4) Sep 21 (3) Sep 20 (9) Sep 19 (11) Sep 18 (5) Sep 17 (7) Sep 16 (6) Sep 15 (3) Sep 14 (7) Sep 13 (8) Sep 12 (11) Sep 11 (7) Sep 10 (6) Sep 09 (5) Sep 08 (3) Sep 07 (6) Sep 06 (10) Sep 05 (7) Sep 04 (7) Sep 03 (5) Sep 02 (4) Sep 01 (8) Aug 31 (5) Aug 30 (7) Aug 29 (10) Aug 28 (7) Aug 27 (6) Aug 26 (6) Aug 25 (3) Aug 24 (8) Aug 23 (6) Aug 22 (6) Aug 21 (8) Aug 20 (8) Aug 19 (4) Aug 18 (2) Aug 17 (5) Aug 16 (7) Aug 15 (4) Aug 14 (3) Aug 13 (4) Aug 12 (6) Aug 11 (6) Aug 10 (4) Aug 09 (8) Aug 08 (6) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (6) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (12) Aug 03 (3) Aug 02 (4) Aug 01 (10) Jul 31 (3) Jul 30 (7) Jul 29 (3) Jul 28 (6) Jul 27 (4) Jul 26 (5) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (7) Jul 23 (10) Jul 22 (8) Jul 21 (5) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (7) Jul 18 (9) Jul 17 (10) Jul 16 (11) Jul 15 (5) Jul 13 (5) Jul 12 (9) Jul 11 (11) Jul 10 (12) Jul 09 (6) Jul 08 (5) Jul 07 (8) Jul 06 (9) Jul 05 (10) Jul 04 (8) Jul 03 (10) Jul 02 (12) Jul 01 (8) Jun 30 (5) Jun 29 (6) Jun 28 (23) Jun 27 (18) Jun 26 (12) Jun 25 (14) Jun 24 (15) Jun 23 (11) Jun 22 (11) Jun 21 (15) Jun 20 (9) Jun 19 (8) Jun 18 (11) Jun 17 (7) Jun 16 (6) Jun 15 (6) Jun 14 (6) Jun 13 (5) Jun 12 (6) Jun 11 (9) Jun 10 (10) Jun 09 (9) Jun 08 (6) Jun 07 (2) Jun 06 (6) Jun 05 (4) Jun 04 (3) Jun 03 (4) Jun 02 (3) Jun 01 (6) May 31 (3) May 30 (5) May 29 (8) May 28 (7) May 27 (2) May 26 (2) May 25 (8) May 24 (7) May 23 (6) May 22 (9) May 21 (6) May 20 (5) May 19 (6) May 18 (9) May 17 (10) May 16 (11) May 15 (5) May 14 (11) May 13 (6) May 12 (7) May 11 (7) May 10 (5) May 09 (3) May 08 (10) May 07 (8) May 06 (11) May 05 (5) May 04 (9) May 03 (3) May 02 (2) May 01 (5) Apr 30 (5) Apr 29 (8) Apr 28 (6) Apr 27 (4) Apr 26 (9) Apr 25 (11) Apr 24 (4) Apr 23 (11) Apr 22 (7) Apr 21 (5) Apr 20 (7) Apr 19 (10) Apr 18 (8) Apr 17 (10) Apr 16 (8) Apr 15 (4) Apr 14 (5) Apr 13 (7) Apr 12 (11) Apr 11 (6) Apr 10 (7) Apr 09 (6) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (3) Apr 06 (9) Apr 05 (10) Apr 04 (7) Apr 03 (2) Apr 02 (6) Apr 01 (4) Mar 31 (3) Mar 30 (4) Mar 29 (3) Mar 28 (5) Mar 27 (10) Mar 26 (5) Mar 25 (4) Mar 24 (5) Mar 23 (7) Mar 22 (6) Mar 21 (9) Mar 20 (5) Mar 19 (5) Mar 18 (9) Mar 17 (2) Mar 16 (8) Mar 15 (10) Mar 14 (9) Mar 13 (10) Mar 12 (10) Mar 11 (2) Mar 10 (1) Mar 09 (6) Mar 08 (4) Mar 07 (4) Mar 06 (3) Mar 05 (3) Mar 04 (7) Mar 03 (6) Mar 02 (8) Mar 01 (9) Feb 28 (6) Feb 27 (3) Feb 26 (8) Feb 25 (7) Feb 24 (3) Feb 23 (4) Feb 22 (4) Feb 21 (7) Feb 20 (4) Feb 19 (4) Feb 18 (2) Feb 17 (1) Feb 16 (6) Feb 15 (6) Feb 14 (5) Feb 13 (4) Feb 12 (7) Feb 11 (2) Feb 10 (2) Feb 09 (5) Feb 08 (5) Feb 07 (9) Feb 06 (4) Feb 05 (9) Feb 04 (3) Feb 03 (3) Feb 02 (10) Feb 01 (9) Jan 31 (5) Jan 30 (8) Jan 29 (5) Jan 28 (3) Jan 27 (4) Jan 26 (5) Jan 25 (6) Jan 24 (5) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (8) Jan 21 (3) Jan 20 (3) Jan 19 (7) Jan 18 (3) Jan 17 (6) Jan 16 (8) Jan 15 (7) Jan 14 (9) Jan 13 (1) Jan 12 (7) Jan 11 (1) Jan 10 (3) Jan 09 (3) Jan 08 (5) Jan 07 (4) Jan 06 (2) Jan 05 (3) Jan 04 (5) Jan 03 (4) Jan 02 (4) Jan 01 (4) Dec 31 (3) Dec 30 (4) Dec 29 (5) Dec 28 (8) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (2) Dec 24 (4) Dec 23 (4) Dec 22 (7) Dec 21 (5) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (4) Dec 18 (6) Dec 17 (4) Dec 16 (5) Dec 15 (5) Dec 14 (8) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (6) Dec 11 (8) Dec 10 (5) Dec 09 (4) Dec 08 (4) Dec 07 (7) Dec 06 (7) Dec 05 (6) Dec 04 (6) Dec 03 (7) Dec 02 (1) Dec 01 (6) Nov 30 (2) Nov 29 (8) Nov 28 (16) Nov 27 (7) Nov 26 (5) Nov 25 (2) Nov 24 (6) Nov 23 (5) Nov 22 (5) Nov 21 (5) Nov 20 (15) Nov 19 (8) Nov 18 (2) Nov 17 (3) Nov 16 (5) Nov 15 (7) Nov 14 (6) Nov 13 (9) Nov 12 (7) Nov 11 (8) Nov 10 (3) Nov 09 (5) Nov 08 (8) Nov 07 (9) Nov 06 (9) Nov 05 (1) Nov 04 (4) Nov 03 (8) Nov 02 (6) Nov 01 (3) Oct 31 (6) Oct 30 (7) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (3) Oct 27 (4) Oct 26 (4) Oct 25 (8) Oct 24 (4) Oct 23 (1) Oct 22 (6) Oct 21 (1) Oct 20 (8) Oct 19 (6) Oct 18 (10) Oct 17 (6) Oct 16 (15) Oct 15 (4) Oct 14 (5) Oct 13 (3) Oct 12 (9) Oct 11 (7) Oct 10 (1) Oct 09 (5) Oct 08 (7) Oct 07 (3) Oct 06 (8) Oct 05 (5) Oct 04 (3) Oct 03 (7) Oct 02 (6) Oct 01 (6) Sep 30 (8) Sep 29 (6) Sep 28 (13) Sep 27 (10) Sep 26 (8) Sep 25 (8) Sep 24 (8) Sep 23 (3) Sep 22 (7) Sep 21 (9) Sep 20 (7) Sep 19 (8) Sep 18 (4) Sep 17 (3) Sep 16 (4) Sep 15 (8) Sep 14 (5) Sep 13 (7) Sep 12 (7) Sep 11 (9) Sep 10 (4) Sep 09 (10) Sep 08 (4) Sep 07 (12) Sep 06 (13) Sep 05 (15) Sep 04 (5) Sep 03 (4) Sep 02 (6) Sep 01 (9) Aug 31 (7) Aug 30 (6) Aug 29 (8) Aug 28 (11) Aug 27 (2) Aug 26 (6) Aug 25 (15) Aug 24 (6) Aug 23 (8) Aug 22 (5) Aug 21 (6) Aug 20 (7) Aug 19 (2) Aug 18 (5) Aug 17 (5) Aug 16 (11) Aug 15 (4) Aug 14 (6) Aug 13 (9) Aug 12 (4) Aug 11 (5) Aug 10 (6) Aug 09 (5) Aug 08 (7) Aug 07 (9) Aug 06 (4) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (4) Aug 03 (8) Aug 02 (9) Aug 01 (10) Jul 31 (11) Jul 30 (4) Jul 29 (3) Jul 28 (11) Jul 27 (4) Jul 26 (7) Jul 25 (7) Jul 24 (4) Jul 23 (8) Jul 22 (5) Jul 21 (4) Jul 20 (10) Jul 19 (6) Jul 18 (9) Jul 17 (6) Jul 16 (7) Jul 15 (6) Jul 14 (4) Jul 13 (7) Jul 12 (8) Jul 11 (6) Jul 10 (14) Jul 09 (6) Jul 08 (5) Jul 07 (4) Jul 06 (9) Jul 05 (8) Jul 04 (5) Jul 03 (8) Jul 02 (5) Jul 01 (5) Jun 30 (6) Jun 29 (3) Jun 28 (3) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (8) Jun 25 (3) Jun 24 (5) Jun 23 (14) Jun 22 (11) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (8) Jun 19 (7) Jun 18 (4) Jun 17 (3) Jun 16 (12) Jun 15 (12) Jun 14 (10) Jun 13 (10) Jun 12 (9) Jun 11 (6) Jun 10 (12) Jun 09 (4) Jun 08 (3) Jun 07 (12) Jun 06 (6) Jun 05 (7) Jun 04 (6) Jun 03 (3) Jun 02 (4) Jun 01 (8) May 31 (4) May 30 (3) May 29 (8) May 28 (7) May 27 (4) May 26 (3) May 25 (5) May 24 (9) May 23 (16) May 22 (12) May 21 (11) May 20 (7) May 19 (10) May 18 (8) May 17 (8) May 16 (10) May 15 (8) May 14 (5) May 13 (1) May 12 (6) May 11 (9) May 10 (9) May 09 (10) May 08 (9) May 07 (6) May 06 (5) May 05 (7) May 04 (10) May 03 (7) May 02 (9) May 01 (10) Apr 30 (4) Apr 29 (9) Apr 28 (12) Apr 27 (9) Apr 26 (4) Apr 25 (5) Apr 24 (9) Apr 23 (4) Apr 22 (7) Apr 21 (8) Apr 20 (9) Apr 19 (6) Apr 18 (4) Apr 17 (2) Apr 16 (4) Apr 15 (10) Apr 14 (7) Apr 13 (5) Apr 12 (7) Apr 11 (7) Apr 10 (7) Apr 09 (6) Apr 08 (7) Apr 07 (10) Apr 06 (8) Apr 05 (8) Apr 04 (9) Apr 03 (6) Apr 02 (4) Apr 01 (4) Mar 31 (11) Mar 30 (12) Mar 29 (16) Mar 28 (8) Mar 27 (10) Mar 26 (12) Mar 25 (6) Mar 24 (9) Mar 23 (3) Mar 22 (12) Mar 21 (12) Mar 20 (14) Mar 19 (8) Mar 18 (7) Mar 17 (8) Mar 16 (4) Mar 15 (10) Mar 14 (9) Mar 13 (9) Mar 12 (6) Mar 11 (5) Mar 10 (13) Mar 09 (8) Mar 08 (10) Mar 07 (12) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (4) Mar 04 (2) Mar 03 (3) Mar 02 (12) Mar 01 (8) Feb 29 (11) Feb 28 (5) Feb 27 (3) Feb 26 (13) Feb 25 (10) Feb 24 (13) Feb 23 (10) Feb 22 (9) Feb 21 (18) Feb 20 (6) Feb 19 (7) Feb 18 (9) Feb 17 (5) Feb 16 (9) Feb 15 (7) Feb 14 (6) Feb 13 (5) Feb 12 (6) Feb 11 (4) Feb 10 (8) Feb 09 (5) Feb 08 (8) Feb 07 (10) Feb 06 (7) Feb 05 (7) Feb 04 (5) Feb 03 (11) Feb 02 (4) Feb 01 (3) Jan 31 (12) Jan 30 (7) Jan 29 (7) Jan 28 (7) Jan 27 (12) Jan 26 (7) Jan 25 (11) Jan 24 (4) Jan 23 (6) Jan 22 (8) Jan 21 (12) Jan 20 (11) Jan 19 (6) Jan 18 (6) Jan 17 (11) Jan 16 (9) Jan 15 (4) Jan 14 (3) Jan 13 (6) Jan 12 (9) Jan 11 (9) Jan 10 (10) Jan 09 (5) Jan 08 (10) Jan 07 (5) Jan 06 (6) Jan 05 (8) Jan 04 (5) Jan 03 (8) Jan 02 (7) Jan 01 (7) Dec 31 (10) Dec 30 (11) Dec 29 (6) Dec 28 (5) Dec 27 (10) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (5) Dec 24 (7) Dec 23 (2) Dec 22 (9) Dec 21 (8) Dec 20 (8) Dec 19 (5) Dec 18 (1) Dec 17 (5) Dec 16 (6) Dec 15 (5) Dec 14 (13) Dec 13 (8) Dec 12 (7) Dec 11 (9) Dec 10 (12) Dec 09 (7) Dec 08 (11) Dec 07 (9) Dec 06 (11) Dec 05 (10) Dec 04 (6) Dec 03 (8) Dec 02 (6) Dec 01 (14) Nov 30 (7) Nov 29 (8) Nov 28 (8) Nov 27 (6) Nov 26 (9) Nov 25 (10) Nov 24 (12) Nov 23 (10) Nov 22 (10) Nov 21 (10) Nov 20 (4) Nov 19 (4) Nov 18 (8) Nov 17 (9) Nov 16 (9) Nov 15 (12) Nov 14 (6) Nov 13 (9) Nov 12 (3) Nov 11 (9) Nov 10 (10) Nov 09 (10) Nov 08 (7) Nov 07 (8) Nov 06 (10) Nov 05 (8) Nov 04 (7) Nov 03 (10) Nov 02 (11) Nov 01 (10) Oct 31 (5) Oct 30 (8) Oct 29 (8) Oct 28 (8) Oct 27 (11) Oct 26 (6) Oct 25 (9) Oct 24 (10) Oct 23 (5) Oct 22 (14) Oct 21 (10) Oct 20 (8) Oct 19 (11) Oct 18 (13) Oct 17 (7) Oct 16 (6) Oct 15 (9) Oct 14 (7) Oct 13 (12) Oct 12 (13) Oct 11 (9) Oct 10 (8) Oct 09 (9) Oct 08 (7) Oct 07 (12) Oct 06 (8) Oct 05 (13) Oct 04 (11) Oct 03 (7) Oct 02 (5) Oct 01 (14) Sep 30 (12) Sep 29 (12) Sep 28 (11) Sep 27 (11) Sep 26 (7) Sep 25 (10) Sep 24 (3) Sep 23 (7) Sep 22 (8) Sep 21 (8) Sep 20 (8) Sep 19 (7) Sep 18 (5) Sep 17 (14) Sep 16 (7) Sep 15 (11) Sep 14 (13) Sep 13 (11) Sep 12 (9) Sep 11 (5) Sep 10 (4) Sep 09 (13) Sep 08 (11) Sep 07 (11) Sep 06 (16) Sep 05 (1) Sep 04 (10) Sep 03 (8) Sep 02 (8) Sep 01 (7) Aug 31 (1) Aug 30 (6) Aug 29 (2) Aug 28 (3) Aug 27 (6) Aug 26 (8) Aug 25 (5) Aug 24 (5) Aug 23 (6) Aug 22 (7) Aug 21 (6) Aug 20 (4) Aug 19 (9) Aug 18 (7) Aug 17 (7) Aug 16 (10) Aug 15 (2) Aug 14 (5) Aug 13 (5) Aug 12 (10) Aug 11 (5) Aug 10 (4) Aug 09 (8) Aug 08 (3) Aug 07 (5) Aug 06 (12) Aug 05 (5) Aug 04 (7) Aug 03 (6) Aug 02 (7) Aug 01 (14) Jul 31 (7) Jul 30 (7) Jul 29 (13) Jul 28 (10) Jul 27 (6) Jul 26 (7) Jul 25 (7) Jul 24 (4) Jul 23 (12) Jul 22 (14) Jul 21 (6) Jul 20 (9) Jul 19 (12) Jul 18 (9) Jul 17 (4) Jul 16 (6) Jul 15 (8) Jul 14 (15) Jul 13 (8) Jul 12 (10) Jul 11 (6) Jul 10 (6) Jul 09 (6) Jul 08 (6) Jul 07 (9) Jul 06 (15) Jul 05 (6) Jul 04 (10) Jul 03 (6) Jul 02 (6) Jul 01 (11) Jun 30 (7) Jun 29 (4) Jun 28 (8) Jun 27 (8) Jun 26 (5) Jun 25 (11) Jun 24 (9) Jun 23 (10) Jun 22 (8) Jun 21 (8) Jun 20 (6) Jun 19 (5) Jun 18 (15) Jun 17 (8) Jun 16 (13) Jun 15 (15) Jun 14 (11) Jun 13 (6) Jun 12 (15) Jun 11 (7) Jun 10 (7) Jun 09 (18) Jun 08 (20) Jun 07 (17) Jun 06 (9) Jun 05 (9) Jun 04 (12) Jun 03 (13) Jun 02 (14) Jun 01 (8) May 31 (13) May 30 (8) May 29 (6) May 28 (8) May 27 (17) May 26 (8) May 25 (13) May 24 (12) May 23 (9) May 22 (4) May 21 (4) May 20 (11) May 19 (14) May 18 (6) May 17 (10) May 16 (4) May 15 (5) May 14 (28) May 12 (9) May 11 (17) May 10 (15) May 09 (12) May 08 (5) May 07 (4) May 06 (10) May 05 (8) May 04 (10) May 03 (5) May 02 (6) May 01 (8) Apr 30 (8) Apr 29 (12) Apr 28 (6) Apr 27 (11) Apr 26 (12) Apr 25 (6) Apr 24 (3) Apr 23 (5) Apr 22 (10) Apr 21 (19) Apr 20 (13) Apr 19 (11) Apr 18 (11) Apr 17 (5) Apr 16 (12) Apr 15 (11) Apr 14 (17) Apr 13 (6) Apr 12 (16) Apr 11 (10) Apr 10 (1) Apr 09 (18) Apr 08 (14) Apr 07 (6) Apr 06 (10) Apr 05 (21) Apr 04 (12) Apr 03 (4) Apr 02 (13) Apr 01 (8) Mar 31 (10) Mar 30 (11) Mar 29 (10) Mar 28 (8) Mar 27 (6) Mar 26 (12) Mar 25 (15) Mar 24 (10) Mar 23 (12) Mar 22 (12) Mar 21 (8) Mar 20 (4) Mar 19 (11) Mar 18 (7) Mar 17 (7) Mar 16 (9) Mar 15 (10) Mar 14 (4) Mar 13 (2) Mar 12 (14) Mar 11 (13) Mar 10 (7) Mar 09 (9) Mar 08 (17) Mar 07 (5) Mar 06 (7) Mar 05 (13) Mar 04 (10) Mar 03 (14) Mar 02 (12) Mar 01 (18) Feb 28 (8) Feb 27 (2) Feb 26 (9) Feb 25 (13) Feb 24 (17) Feb 23 (13) Feb 22 (12) Feb 21 (11) Feb 20 (11) Feb 19 (16) Feb 18 (17) Feb 17 (15) Feb 16 (15) Feb 15 (15) Feb 14 (10) Feb 13 (8) Feb 12 (10) Feb 11 (15) Feb 10 (11) Feb 09 (13) Feb 08 (10) Feb 07 (9) Feb 06 (6) Feb 05 (15) Feb 04 (15) Feb 03 (11) Feb 02 (14) Feb 01 (15) Jan 31 (11) Jan 30 (9) Jan 29 (19) Jan 28 (9) Jan 27 (9) Jan 26 (16) Jan 25 (19) Jan 24 (17) Jan 23 (8) Jan 22 (15) Jan 21 (9) Jan 20 (11) Jan 19 (7) Jan 18 (9) Jan 17 (6) Jan 16 (7) Jan 15 (12) Jan 14 (9) Jan 13 (14) Jan 12 (11) Jan 11 (13) Jan 10 (8) Jan 09 (8) Jan 08 (20) Jan 07 (11) Jan 06 (11) Jan 05 (8) Jan 04 (14) Jan 03 (6) Jan 02 (7) Jan 01 (7) Dec 31 (14) Dec 30 (15) Dec 29 (7) Dec 28 (10) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (3) Dec 25 (11) Dec 24 (9) Dec 23 (9) Dec 22 (15) Dec 21 (12) Dec 20 (11) Dec 19 (4) Dec 18 (16) Dec 17 (6) Dec 16 (12) Dec 15 (14) Dec 14 (11) Dec 13 (10) Dec 12 (6) Dec 11 (10) Dec 10 (17) Dec 09 (11) Dec 08 (12) Dec 07 (16) Dec 06 (11) Dec 05 (5) Dec 04 (12) Dec 03 (15) Dec 02 (15) Dec 01 (12) Nov 30 (16) Nov 29 (7) Nov 28 (11) Nov 27 (13) Nov 26 (13) Nov 25 (16) Nov 24 (15) Nov 23 (10) Nov 22 (10) Nov 21 (4) Nov 20 (8) Nov 19 (9) Nov 18 (16) Nov 17 (11) Nov 16 (11) Nov 15 (10) Nov 14 (9) Nov 13 (6) Nov 12 (10) Nov 11 (12) Nov 10 (15) Nov 09 (9) Nov 08 (10) Nov 07 (6) Nov 06 (7) Nov 05 (12) Nov 04 (14) Nov 03 (10) Nov 02 (13) Nov 01 (9) Oct 31 (9) Oct 30 (11) Oct 29 (18) Oct 28 (13) Oct 27 (23) Oct 26 (12) Oct 25 (14) Oct 24 (20) Oct 22 (18) Oct 21 (18) Oct 20 (19) Oct 19 (12) Oct 18 (11) Oct 17 (5) Oct 16 (18) Oct 15 (8) Oct 14 (11) Oct 13 (9) Oct 12 (13) Oct 11 (6) Oct 10 (7) Oct 09 (27) Oct 08 (14) Oct 07 (10) Oct 06 (9) Oct 05 (7) Oct 04 (10) Oct 03 (6) Oct 02 (9) Oct 01 (13) Sep 30 (12) Sep 29 (13) Sep 28 (8) Sep 27 (9) Sep 26 (8) Sep 25 (14) Sep 24 (4) Sep 23 (14) Sep 22 (20) Sep 21 (11) Sep 20 (6) Sep 19 (9) Sep 18 (14) Sep 17 (8) Sep 16 (17) Sep 15 (6) Sep 14 (11) Sep 13 (9) Sep 12 (4) Sep 11 (7) Sep 10 (14) Sep 09 (12) Sep 08 (17) Sep 07 (12) Sep 06 (13) Sep 05 (9) Sep 04 (20) Sep 03 (16) Sep 02 (16) Sep 01 (10) Aug 31 (13) Aug 30 (4) Aug 29 (9) Aug 28 (6) Aug 27 (8) Aug 26 (11) Aug 25 (10) Aug 24 (14) Aug 23 (12) Aug 22 (13) Aug 21 (10) Aug 20 (13) Aug 19 (15) Aug 18 (8) Aug 17 (10) Aug 16 (8) Aug 15 (3) Aug 14 (11) Aug 13 (12) Aug 12 (15) Aug 11 (10) Aug 10 (17) Aug 09 (6) Aug 08 (13) Aug 07 (11) Aug 06 (13) Aug 05 (11) Aug 04 (11) Aug 03 (10) Aug 02 (7) Aug 01 (6) Jul 31 (10) Jul 30 (21) Jul 29 (14) Jul 28 (13) Jul 27 (16) Jul 26 (10) Jul 25 (15) Jul 24 (17) Jul 23 (15) Jul 22 (15) Jul 21 (19) Jul 20 (17) Jul 19 (9) Jul 18 (7) Jul 17 (26) Jul 16 (18) Jul 15 (20) Jul 14 (16) Jul 13 (19) Jul 12 (11) Jul 11 (5) Jul 10 (13) Jul 09 (11) Jul 08 (8) Jul 07 (12) Jul 06 (16) Jul 05 (9) Jul 04 (5) Jul 03 (15) Jul 02 (11) Jul 01 (14) Jun 30 (13) Jun 29 (19) Jun 28 (8) Jun 27 (9) Jun 26 (16) Jun 25 (22) Jun 24 (17) Jun 23 (11) Jun 22 (15) Jun 21 (14) Jun 20 (8) Jun 19 (17) Jun 18 (10) Jun 17 (10) Jun 16 (17) Jun 15 (13) Jun 14 (14) Jun 13 (4) Jun 12 (13) Jun 11 (15) Jun 10 (25) Jun 09 (10) Jun 08 (23) Jun 07 (14) Jun 06 (20) Jun 05 (10) Jun 04 (11) Jun 03 (12) Jun 02 (21) Jun 01 (14) May 31 (10) May 30 (14) May 29 (8) May 28 (23) May 27 (20) May 26 (16) May 25 (13) May 24 (12) May 23 (10) May 22 (18) May 21 (14) May 20 (12) May 19 (18) May 18 (14) May 17 (13) May 16 (4) May 15 (7) May 14 (16) May 13 (13) May 12 (8) May 11 (18) May 10 (8) May 09 (7) May 08 (13) May 07 (11) May 06 (15) May 05 (18) May 04 (17) May 03 (7) May 02 (5) May 01 (11) Apr 30 (19) Apr 29 (21) Apr 28 (18) Apr 27 (16) Apr 26 (8) Apr 25 (11) Apr 24 (9) Apr 23 (20) Apr 22 (23) Apr 21 (5) Apr 20 (16) Apr 19 (13) Apr 18 (6) Apr 17 (6) Apr 16 (16) Apr 15 (18) Apr 14 (13) Apr 13 (14) Apr 12 (9) Apr 11 (3) Apr 10 (16) Apr 09 (14) Apr 08 (12) Apr 07 (18) Apr 06 (7) Apr 05 (11) Apr 04 (9) Apr 03 (19) Apr 02 (17) Apr 01 (16) Mar 31 (16) Mar 30 (22) Mar 29 (16) Mar 28 (16) Mar 27 (19) Mar 26 (31) Mar 25 (25) Mar 24 (26) Mar 23 (27) Mar 22 (22) Mar 21 (22) Mar 20 (13) Mar 19 (21) Mar 18 (20) Mar 17 (24) Mar 16 (18) Mar 15 (9) Mar 14 (9) Mar 13 (29) Mar 12 (15) Mar 11 (11) Mar 10 (11) Mar 09 (20) Mar 08 (12) Mar 07 (6) Mar 06 (21) Mar 05 (22) Mar 04 (19) Mar 03 (9) Mar 02 (20) Mar 01 (11) Feb 28 (11) Feb 27 (27) Feb 26 (15) Feb 25 (18) Feb 24 (17) Feb 23 (19) Feb 22 (24) Feb 21 (10) Feb 20 (14) Feb 19 (25) Feb 18 (16) Feb 17 (19) Feb 16 (23) Feb 15 (8) Feb 14 (11) Feb 13 (25) Feb 12 (16) Feb 11 (12) Feb 10 (18) Feb 09 (12) Feb 08 (14) Feb 07 (8) Feb 06 (27) Feb 05 (28) Feb 04 (24) Feb 03 (17) Feb 02 (20) Feb 01 (23) Jan 31 (16) Jan 30 (20) Jan 29 (26) Jan 28 (17) Jan 27 (21) Jan 26 (24) Jan 25 (16) Jan 24 (14) Jan 23 (16) Jan 22 (17) Jan 21 (19) Jan 20 (21) Jan 19 (17) Jan 18 (13) Jan 17 (14) Jan 16 (10) Jan 15 (21) Jan 14 (16) Jan 13 (19) Jan 12 (30) Jan 11 (14) Jan 10 (11) Jan 09 (8) Jan 08 (23) Jan 07 (13) Jan 06 (21) Jan 05 (15) Jan 04 (18) Jan 03 (9) Jan 02 (12) Jan 01 (15) Dec 31 (18) Dec 30 (7) Dec 29 (13) Dec 28 (11) Dec 27 (8) Dec 26 (6) Dec 25 (8) Dec 24 (28) Dec 23 (12) Dec 22 (12) Dec 21 (17) Dec 20 (19) Dec 19 (19) Dec 18 (22) Dec 17 (24) Dec 16 (17) Dec 15 (29) Dec 14 (22) Dec 13 (12) Dec 12 (22) Dec 11 (24) Dec 10 (25) Dec 09 (18) Dec 08 (15) Dec 07 (21) Dec 06 (24) Dec 05 (30) Dec 04 (28) Dec 03 (26) Dec 02 (22) Dec 01 (33) Nov 30 (23) Nov 29 (9) Nov 28 (18) Nov 27 (25) Nov 26 (17) Nov 25 (23) Nov 24 (27) Nov 23 (12) Nov 22 (10) Nov 21 (15) Nov 20 (23) Nov 19 (23) Nov 18 (24) Nov 17 (21) Nov 16 (20) Nov 15 (13) Nov 14 (15) Nov 13 (27) Nov 12 (23) Nov 11 (19) Nov 10 (21) Nov 09 (13) Nov 08 (16) Nov 07 (16) Nov 06 (32) Nov 05 (24) Nov 04 (20) Nov 03 (29) Nov 02 (12) Nov 01 (15) Oct 31 (20) Oct 30 (22) Oct 29 (27) Oct 28 (20) Oct 27 (23) Oct 26 (21) Oct 25 (15) Oct 24 (23) Oct 23 (26) Oct 22 (27) Oct 21 (28) Oct 20 (24) Oct 19 (13) Oct 18 (9) Oct 17 (30) Oct 16 (8) Oct 15 (20) Oct 14 (14) Oct 13 (17) Oct 12 (16) Oct 11 (8) Oct 10 (19) Oct 09 (22) Oct 08 (16) Oct 07 (18) Oct 06 (23) Oct 05 (7) Oct 04 (15) Oct 03 (21) Oct 02 (17) Oct 01 (22) Sep 30 (25) Sep 29 (20) Sep 28 (17) Sep 27 (13) Sep 26 (20) Sep 25 (15) Sep 24 (24) Sep 23 (23) Sep 22 (18) Sep 21 (20) Sep 20 (11) Sep 19 (24) Sep 18 (25) Sep 17 (25) Sep 16 (19) Sep 15 (21) Sep 14 (15) Sep 13 (10) Sep 12 (23) Sep 11 (23) Sep 10 (25) Sep 09 (25) Sep 08 (17) Sep 07 (3) Sep 06 (17) Sep 05 (14) Sep 04 (24) Sep 03 (16) Sep 02 (11) Sep 01 (19) Aug 31 (20) Aug 30 (11) Aug 29 (24) Aug 28 (24) Aug 27 (16) Aug 26 (26) Aug 25 (21) Aug 24 (15) Aug 23 (19) Aug 22 (15) Aug 21 (25) Aug 20 (27) Aug 19 (19) Aug 18 (24) Aug 17 (14) Aug 16 (10) Aug 15 (15) Aug 14 (16) Aug 13 (21) Aug 12 (30) Aug 11 (19) Aug 10 (8) Aug 09 (12) Aug 08 (17) Aug 07 (21) Aug 06 (26) Aug 05 (23) Aug 04 (21) Aug 03 (12) Aug 02 (7) Aug 01 (19) Jul 31 (21) Jul 30 (25) Jul 29 (29) Jul 28 (23) Jul 27 (17) Jul 26 (11) Jul 25 (21) Jul 24 (14) Jul 23 (15) Jul 22 (19) Jul 21 (15) Jul 20 (9) Jul 19 (10) Jul 18 (15) Jul 17 (22) Jul 16 (18) Jul 15 (21) Jul 14 (20) Jul 13 (7) Jul 12 (9) Jul 11 (29) Jul 10 (19) Jul 09 (17) Jul 08 (26) Jul 07 (21) Jul 06 (18) Jul 05 (14) Jul 04 (20) Jul 03 (17) Jul 02 (24) Jul 01 (23) Jun 30 (23) Jun 29 (18) Jun 28 (16) Jun 27 (16) Jun 26 (17) Jun 25 (23) Jun 24 (32) Jun 23 (29) Jun 22 (8) Jun 21 (17) Jun 20 (25) Jun 19 (28) Jun 18 (19) Jun 17 (25) Jun 16 (23) Jun 15 (9) Jun 14 (11) Jun 13 (14) Jun 12 (22) Jun 11 (19) Jun 10 (17) Jun 09 (15) Jun 08 (16) Jun 07 (7) Jun 06 (29) Jun 05 (27) Jun 04 (24) Jun 03 (22) Jun 02 (22) Jun 01 (13) May 31 (9) May 30 (26) May 29 (19) May 28 (15) May 27 (15) May 26 (23) May 25 (13) May 24 (12) May 23 (24) May 22 (13) May 21 (21) May 20 (18) May 19 (16) May 18 (7) May 17 (12) May 16 (25) May 15 (24) May 14 (23) May 13 (19) May 12 (17) May 11 (8) May 10 (6) May 09 (14) May 08 (21) May 07 (26) May 06 (14) May 05 (14) May 04 (3) May 03 (3) May 02 (24) May 01 (13) Apr 30 (15) Apr 29 (24) Apr 28 (24) Apr 27 (11) Apr 26 (8) Apr 25 (13) Apr 24 (27) Apr 23 (15) Apr 22 (21) Apr 21 (19) Apr 20 (17) Apr 19 (8) Apr 18 (20) Apr 17 (27) Apr 16 (27) Apr 15 (21) Apr 14 (8) Apr 13 (8) Apr 12 (7) Apr 11 (7) Apr 10 (22) Apr 09 (15) Apr 08 (15) Apr 07 (17) Apr 06 (14) Apr 05 (5) Apr 04 (12) Apr 03 (19) Apr 02 (17) Apr 01 (19) Mar 31 (25) Mar 30 (13) Mar 29 (9) Mar 28 (16) Mar 27 (23) Mar 26 (22) Mar 25 (17) Mar 24 (25) Mar 23 (16) Mar 22 (13) Mar 21 (24) Mar 20 (27) Mar 19 (20) Mar 18 (24) Mar 17 (17) Mar 16 (11) Mar 15 (6) Mar 14 (20) Mar 13 (28) Mar 12 (30) Mar 11 (20) Mar 10 (21) Mar 09 (12) Mar 08 (8) Mar 07 (17) Mar 06 (20) Mar 05 (19) Mar 04 (15) Mar 03 (17) Mar 02 (8) Mar 01 (12) Feb 28 (16) Feb 27 (17) Feb 26 (8) Feb 25 (23) Feb 24 (15) Feb 23 (8) Feb 22 (10) Feb 21 (24) Feb 20 (14) Feb 19 (24) Feb 18 (19) Feb 17 (27) Feb 16 (13) Feb 15 (11) Feb 14 (15) Feb 13 (13) Feb 12 (13) Feb 11 (21) Feb 10 (16) Feb 09 (15) Feb 08 (10) Feb 07 (17) Feb 06 (21) Feb 05 (17) Feb 04 (14) Feb 03 (23) Feb 02 (5) Feb 01 (8) Jan 31 (17) Jan 30 (22) Jan 29 (23) Jan 28 (10) Jan 27 (24) Jan 26 (12) Jan 25 (9) Jan 24 (12) Jan 23 (19) Jan 22 (19) Jan 21 (14) Jan 20 (21) Jan 19 (12) Jan 18 (8) Jan 17 (20) Jan 16 (14) Jan 15 (23) Jan 14 (8) Jan 13 (20) Jan 12 (9) Jan 11 (7) Jan 10 (18) Jan 09 (11) Jan 08 (18) Jan 07 (13) Jan 06 (12) Jan 05 (12) Jan 04 (11) Jan 03 (10) Jan 02 (9) Jan 01 (9) Dec 31 (12) Dec 30 (11) Dec 29 (6) Dec 28 (9) Dec 27 (13) Dec 26 (15) Dec 25 (8) Dec 24 (6) Dec 23 (8) Dec 22 (5) Dec 21 (6) Dec 20 (14) Dec 19 (17) Dec 18 (14) Dec 17 (14) Dec 16 (13) Dec 15 (9) Dec 14 (9) Dec 13 (11) Dec 12 (16) Dec 11 (18) Dec 10 (4) Dec 09 (24) Dec 08 (11) Dec 07 (19) Dec 06 (6) Dec 05 (26) Dec 04 (15) Dec 03 (20) Dec 02 (17) Dec 01 (11) Nov 30 (10) Nov 29 (18) Nov 28 (21) Nov 27 (10) Nov 26 (22) Nov 25 (16) Nov 24 (12) Nov 23 (8) Nov 22 (18) Nov 21 (9) Nov 20 (17) Nov 19 (16) Nov 18 (16) Nov 17 (5) Nov 16 (9) Nov 15 (21) Nov 14 (17) Nov 13 (20) Nov 12 (16) Nov 11 (13) Nov 10 (9) Nov 09 (10) Nov 08 (16) Nov 07 (15) Nov 06 (18) Nov 05 (19) Nov 04 (16) Nov 03 (11) Nov 02 (5) Nov 01 (17) Oct 31 (17) Oct 30 (21) Oct 29 (9) Oct 28 (16) Oct 27 (6) Oct 26 (6) Oct 25 (16) Oct 24 (18) Oct 23 (14) Oct 22 (17) Oct 21 (10) Oct 20 (6) Oct 19 (8) Oct 18 (11) Oct 17 (12) Oct 16 (14) Oct 15 (19) Oct 14 (15) Oct 13 (11) Oct 12 (9) Oct 11 (10) Oct 10 (23) Oct 09 (13) Oct 08 (15) Oct 07 (20) Oct 06 (13) Oct 05 (4) Oct 04 (16) Oct 03 (17) Oct 02 (17) Oct 01 (20) Sep 30 (17) Sep 29 (9) Sep 28 (8) Sep 27 (14) Sep 26 (20) Sep 25 (19) Sep 24 (13) Sep 23 (11) Sep 22 (9) Sep 21 (5) Sep 20 (8) Sep 19 (21) Sep 18 (12) Sep 17 (20) Sep 16 (16) Sep 15 (10) Sep 14 (6) Sep 13 (18) Sep 12 (14) Sep 11 (24) Sep 10 (17) Sep 09 (16) Sep 08 (16) Sep 07 (10) Sep 06 (20) Sep 05 (13) Sep 04 (23) Sep 03 (14) Sep 02 (12) Sep 01 (11) Aug 31 (11) Aug 30 (13) Aug 29 (18) Aug 28 (14) Aug 27 (21) Aug 26 (10) Aug 25 (8) Aug 24 (10) Aug 23 (17) Aug 22 (15) Aug 21 (14) Aug 20 (20) Aug 19 (20) Aug 18 (7) Aug 17 (9) Aug 16 (11) Aug 15 (12) Aug 14 (14) Aug 13 (19) Aug 12 (14) Aug 11 (6) Aug 10 (12) Aug 09 (7) Aug 08 (18) Aug 07 (16) Aug 06 (16) Aug 05 (20) Aug 04 (12) Aug 03 (8) Aug 02 (12) Aug 01 (14) Jul 31 (16) Jul 30 (16) Jul 29 (11) Jul 28 (8) Jul 27 (9) Jul 26 (17) Jul 25 (20) Jul 24 (17) Jul 23 (11) Jul 22 (18) Jul 21 (7) Jul 20 (10) Jul 19 (14) Jul 18 (11) Jul 17 (15) Jul 16 (12) Jul 15 (10) Jul 14 (8) Jul 13 (8) Jul 12 (17) Jul 11 (18) Jul 10 (16) Jul 09 (13) Jul 08 (10) Jul 07 (12) Jul 06 (8) Jul 05 (16) Jul 04 (14) Jul 03 (17) Jul 02 (13) Jul 01 (16) Jun 30 (19) Jun 29 (7) Jun 28 (19) Jun 27 (21) Jun 26 (27) Jun 25 (23) Jun 24 (23) Jun 23 (12) Jun 22 (9) Jun 21 (18) Jun 20 (15) Jun 19 (24) Jun 18 (21) Jun 17 (13) Jun 16 (9) Jun 15 (9) Jun 14 (18) Jun 13 (24) Jun 12 (18) Jun 11 (23) Jun 10 (25) Jun 09 (24) Jun 08 (27) Jun 07 (5) Jun 06 (25) Jun 05 (30) Jun 04 (23) Jun 03 (22) Jun 02 (16) Jun 01 (17) May 31 (18) May 30 (19) May 29 (17) May 28 (23) May 27 (15) May 26 (10) May 25 (19) May 24 (16) May 23 (16) May 22 (27) May 21 (20) May 20 (26) May 19 (6) May 18 (8) May 17 (20) May 16 (8) May 15 (18) May 14 (5) May 13 (21) May 12 (9) May 11 (8) May 10 (12) May 09 (18) May 08 (11) May 07 (27) May 06 (12) May 05 (16) May 04 (19) May 03 (14) May 02 (18) May 01 (18) Apr 30 (25) Apr 29 (27) Apr 28 (11) Apr 27 (10) Apr 26 (18) Apr 25 (10) Apr 24 (29) Apr 23 (29) Apr 22 (14) Apr 21 (15) Apr 20 (20) Apr 19 (22) Apr 18 (16) Apr 17 (32) Apr 16 (12) Apr 15 (21) Apr 14 (21) Apr 13 (15) Apr 12 (13) Apr 11 (14) Apr 10 (16) Apr 09 (20) Apr 08 (36) Apr 07 (22) Apr 06 (11) Apr 05 (28) Apr 04 (20) Apr 03 (29) Apr 02 (32) Apr 01 (18) Mar 31 (12) Mar 30 (9) Mar 29 (15) Mar 28 (22) Mar 27 (24) Mar 26 (17) Mar 25 (17) Mar 24 (13) Mar 23 (5) Mar 22 (12) Mar 21 (15) Mar 20 (18) Mar 19 (19) Mar 18 (16) Mar 17 (10) Mar 16 (6) Mar 15 (18) Mar 14 (24) Mar 13 (18) Mar 12 (18) Mar 11 (17) Mar 10 (13) Mar 09 (12) Mar 08 (18) Mar 07 (25) Mar 06 (16) Mar 05 (16) Mar 04 (22) Mar 03 (17) Mar 02 (6) Mar 01 (23) Feb 29 (19) Feb 28 (25) Feb 27 (26) Feb 26 (23) Feb 25 (12) Feb 24 (13) Feb 23 (15) Feb 22 (26) Feb 21 (31) Feb 20 (12) Feb 19 (21) Feb 18 (15) Feb 17 (10) Feb 16 (15) Feb 15 (19) Feb 14 (15) Feb 13 (25) Feb 12 (20) Feb 11 (9) Feb 10 (7) Feb 09 (28) Feb 08 (20) Feb 07 (22) Feb 06 (20) Feb 05 (19) Feb 04 (14) Feb 03 (16) Feb 02 (28) Feb 01 (37) Jan 31 (27) Jan 30 (31) Jan 29 (18) Jan 28 (14) Jan 27 (10) Jan 26 (18) Jan 25 (26) Jan 24 (34) Jan 23 (21) Jan 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)Riding high after victories in Abu Dhabi and the Commonwealth Games, the one to beat in Bermuda had to be South African Henri Schoeman  but would he be able to keep the rest at bay and claim two WTS wins in a row?

Advertisement

The 50 elite men that made up the rest might not have included the Brownlees, but there was plenty of quality all the same with 2017 world champ Mario Mola, Schoemans team-mate Richard Murray, Norwegian Kristian Blummenfelt and the in-form Frenchman Vincent Luis fresh from a third place in Abu Dhabi, in the mix. But in the end it would prove to be a race no one could have predicted.

At 22C it would be a non-wetsuit swim in the North Atlantic, followed by a challenging hilly bike leg that would see 10 ascents of Corkscrew Hill. The four-lap 10km harbourside run then took place in Hamilton, the islands capital.

At the start Schoeman laid down his intent early in the swim, taking the lead after about 500m, and never relinquishing it. And in the beginning of the bike leg it all looked good for the South African. Part of the leading group of 12, it looked like the pack could work well and maintain a lead over the rest, but this lead was short-lived with the infamous Corkscrew Hill taking its toll on the riders. By the middle of the second lap the group had swelled to around 18 and more, with no one looking to make a breakaway.

Then on the hill at the start of the third lap 21-year-old Norwegian Casper Stornes saw his chance to break away and by the end of the lap he had managed to establish a lead of 30secs over the chasers, a lead he extended to 37secs by the end of lap 4.

Strong cyclist Andreas Schilling from Denmark then made his break on the fifth lap and for the next three laps the two would lead the race, albeit with a big gap between them, but then

on the eighth lap Norwegians Blummenfelt and Gustav Iden thought they would try and join their compatriot on the podium and made their move, and overtook the Dane on the way into T2, 01:18 behind Stornes.

The Norwegians would start the run leg in the top three places, but could they hold their positions?

At the halfway point they were still looking strong and despite Molas best efforts, which saw him finish fourth, they would ensure a clean sweep for Norway with Blummenfelt taking second, 21secs behind Stornes, and Iden taking third.

What a historic day for Norway and triathlon.

Advertisement

When I saw the group let me go I thought this was a once-in-a-lifetime chance and I took it, says Stornes.Philip Ball in New Statesman:

Researchers are now becoming confident enough to claim that the information available from sequencing a persons genome  the instructions encoded in our DNA that influence our physical and behavioural traits  can be used to make predictions about their potential to achieve academic success. The speed of this research has surprised me, says the psychologist Kathryn Asbury of the University of York, and I think that it is probable that pretty soon someone  probably a commercial company  will start to try to sell it in some way. Asbury believes it is vital that we have regulations in place for the use of genetic information in education and that we prepare legal, social and ethical cases for how it could and should be used. If that sounds frightening, however, it might be because of a wide misapprehension about what genes are and what they do.

Its sometimes said that the whole notion that intelligence has a genetic component is anathema to the liberals and left-wingers who dominate education. Young reliably depicts the extreme version here, saying liberal educationalists reject the idea that intelligence has a genetic basis [and] prefer to think of man as a tabula rasa, forged by society rather than nature. Hes not alone, though. The psychologist Jill Boucher of City, University of London has lambasted what she calls the unthinkingly self-righteous, hypocritical and ultimately damaging political correctness of those who deny that genetic inheritance contributes to academic achievement and hence social status. Teach Firsts suppression of Youngs article contributed to that impression: it was a clumsy and poorly motivated move. (The organisation has since apologised to Young.)

Despite this rhetoric, however, youd be hard pushed to find a teacher who would question that children arrive at school with differing intrinsic aptitudes and abilities. Some kids pick things up in a flash, others struggle with the basics. This doesnt mean its all in their genes: no one researching genes and intelligence denies that a childs environment can play a big role in educational attainment. Of course kids with supportive, stimulating families and motivated peers have an advantage, while in some extreme cases the effects of trauma or malnutrition can compromise brain development. But the idea of the child as tabula rasa seems to be something of a straw man.

More here.Leonardo Franceschini in Arcade:

Q: Recently Donald and Melania Trump requested a Vincent van Gogh painting from the Guggenheim, but the museum responded with a counteroffer, Maurizio Cattelans America, a gold toilet. I wonder if your book, which also features a work by the Italian artist in the cover, should also be interpreted as a move similar to Nancy Spectors (the museums chief curator), a provocation and intervention in the public sphere. After all, you call for existential interventions through art.

SZ: Im not certain whether Cattelan and Spector wanted to provoke or educate the Trump family. Either way, Cattelans America is a serious work of art that, as we can see, has managed to intervene in the public sphere. The sculpture on the cover of my book is called The NinthHour (1999) and depicts Pope John Paul II lying on the ground after being struck by a meteorite. Recently, Paolo Sorrentino used it in the opening credits of his TV series The Young Pope. The sculptures title alludes to the ninth hour of darkness that fell upon all the land when Christ cried out, Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?but the books title paraphrases Martin Heideggers famous response when he was asked whether we could still have any influence now that we are so overpowered by technology: only a God can still save us. My intention is to point out, now that God is dead and we are even more overpowered, perhaps it's arts time to save us. The intervention you refer to has to do with demands of art in the twenty-first century, which are linked to our continued existence, that is, our salvation.

More here.The curtain rises on an elaborately posed, heavily costumed tableau consisting of most of the cast, dressed in Elizabethan finery, and quickly they begin beating their chests and clapping their hands to the beat of The Go-Go's "We Got the Beat." It's a juxtaposition that calls to mind Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinetteroyalty from a distant era, bustles and all, paired with New Wave musiconly here they're singing and dancing along, and they seem to be in on the joke.

This was the first of many fun and dazzling moments in Head Over Heels, the new musical which opened at the Curran in San Francisco April 18th ahead of a Broadway engagement beginning in July.

Based loosely on a sixteenth century romance by Sir Philip Sidney called The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia, Head Over Heels tells the quirky story of a royal court in exile, a king trying to outrun a prophecy of his own demise, and his two daughters discovering their first loves. At home in Arcadia, with no hint of irony, the main characters talk about having the gift of "the beat," which here is a funny stand-in for an earlier, more religious notion of a blessing. This royal court is blessed, though, with the wealth and infectious 80s beat of the Go-Go's songbook, adapted and arranged with great imagination by Broadway vet Tom Kitt (Next to Normal, If/Then, American Idiot).

Kitt previously collaborated with director Michael Mayer on American Idiot, which similarly took a band's catalogue (Green Day's) and overlaid it on a new story  and which also had its pre-Broadway tryout in the Bay Area, at Berkeley Rep. The main difference here is time period, and the at times hilarious pairing of familiar hits like "Our Lips Are Sealed" and "Vacation" with the iambic pentameter in which all the characters speak.

At once surreal, modern, and Elizabethan goofy, it's aplay that gleefully blends Shakespearean verse, modern idiom, the gender-swapping antics of Shakespearean comedy, and the contemporary conversation about sexuality and gender itself, and those who exist in its middle spaces. But to their credit, book writer Jeff Whitty (Avenue Q) and adapter James Magruder have struck just the right balance between wink-wink raunchy asides with modern-day inflection and the formal rhythms and rhymes of the source material.

In what will be her Broadway debut, Rupaul's Drag Race star Peppermint plays Pythio, a non-binary oracle who is introduced to us early in the play as neither male nor female, and is subsequently referred to as "they." It's a funny bit of pandering, perhaps, to this hot topic of our cultural moment, but it's also very fitting that an oracle in this genre, from this era of magic-laden literature, is themselves a mysterious, indefinable being and is easily accepted as such by the other characters.

Broadway veterans Jeremy Kushnier and Rachel York do terrific work as the king and queen, Basilius and Gynecia, and in the main gender-swapping role of Musidorus, Andrew Durand is a marvelous physical comedian and Shakespearean fool, stealing scene after scene. Also very funny, though perhaps less polished, is Bonnie Milligan as Pamela, the princess who continues to turn away suitors because -- SPOILER -- she's not that into men.

As with any big show in its infancy, there are small hiccups in the movement of the plot, musical numbers that feel like they should be trimmed, and jokes that don't completely land. Two aspects of the production that feel flawless and Broadway ready are the sensational choreography by Spencer Liff  the rollicking opening number only lacks a similarly satisfying bookend at the end of Act 2, however  and the scenic design by Julian Crouch, who was Tony-nominated for his work on Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

Mayer's direction is spot on in its pacing and madcap energy, and whatever tweaks occur between now and the Broadway run are likely to be minor.

Fans of The Go-Go's will be delighted to be given a new context for these songs (as well as a couple of Belinda Carlisle solo hits like "Mad About You") and to hear Kitt's arrangements, and it's doubly cool when at the curtain call the backdrop rise to reveal the all-female band who has been performing the music. Go-Go's member Charlotte Caffey says that while the band never really wanted to tell the Go-Go's formation story in jukebox form, Head Over Heels came along and spoke to them. "There's the element of fun, which has always been part of who we are. And it's really smart and outside of the box and a little weird, and that's who we are too. That's why we gravitated toward this idea so quickly and happily."

No doubt Head Over Heels is a lot of fun, and smart, and it provides a timely foil to the intolerant, patriarchal despotism of the Trump era too. This team, and this terrific cast, may just have a hit on their hands  so long as audiences can get with the beat of iambic pentameter, and tap their feet along.

// Head Over Heels plays through May 6 at the Curran, 445 Geary St. (TenderNob), sfcurran.com.

This review was originally published on Opening Night SF.-Sleep disorders, including hypersomnia and narcolepsy In many cases, these symptoms impair learning and result in extreme fatigue and decreased motivation, having a negative impact on daily life and routines.

Joint Statement 2018 for the Victims of HPV Vaccines On behalf of the victims of HPV vaccine damage in the UK, Spain, Ireland, Colombia and Japan, an international symposium; "The Current Status of Worldwide Injuries from the HPV Vaccine" was held in Tokyo on the 24th March, 2018. The meeting was convened to clarify the actual conditions of HPV vaccine damage, explore ways to relieve symptoms and promote recovery and discuss measures to support the daily activity of victims. When first noted, the symptomatology of HPV vaccine damage was variously described as Complex Regional Pain syndrome (CRPS), Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and Postural Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), but clinical symptoms and the course of damage were soon found to be more complex. One of the main clinical features of the Adverse Events (AEs), reported after HPV vaccination, is the diversity of symptoms and symptom-development in a multi-layered manner, over an extended period of time. AEs include complex, multi-system symptoms such as;

The clinical features of these AEs are common to victims in all the five participating countries and also very similar to those of victims in other countries.

The number of AEs reported for HPV vaccines, in each country, are overwhelmingly higher than that for other vaccines.

Many studies now show how the components and design of the HPV vaccines are such that the symptoms of the victims are caused by the HPV vaccines.

Nevertheless, national health authorities and medical professionals continue to deny any causal relationship between HPV vaccines and AEs.



Proponents of the vaccine have shown no interest in correlating victims symptomatology and vaccine-induced AEs.

Studies of CRPS, CFS, and POTS which call into question the safety of HPV vaccines have been excluded on the grounds that the diagnosis is difficult and lacks specificity. On the other hand, the authorities argue that vaccine safety has been fully established through epidemiological analysis.

However, their epidemiological argument is fundamentally flawed;



Their epidemiological approach is not appropriately designed to detect the signals of HPV vaccine damage, characterized by diverse and multi-layered symptoms over a long period of time. They ignore the unusual mechanism of action of this vaccine, which keeps very high antibody titer up to as long as a decade.



With such long-acting vaccines, it is no wonder that victims experience various AEs with very late onset. However, according to their logic, AEs reported, with a long incubation period, are denied any connection with the vaccine, and the cases displaying diverse symptoms are diagnosed as separate known illnesses.



In general, AEs caused by vaccines are likely to occur in vulnerable people, susceptible to immunological interventions and this group is very small in comparison to the general population. Thus, a simple comparison of the incidence of autoimmune disease in the vaccinated group versus a control (unvaccinated) group, or the general population will show no significant difference.

Arguments that overlook this misapplication of epidemiological statistical analysis cannot possibly ensure the safety of the HPV vaccines. This kind of biased thinking is completely contrary to the fundamental principles of scientific inquiry and it undermines the role of medical professionals in public health.

Perhaps even more surprising, and deeply disturbing, is the social treatment experienced by the victims. Across all countries represented at the Symposium, the treatment of victims was found to be quite similar; Health Authorities and medical professionals in all participating countries deny any causal relationship with the vaccine and regard post-vaccination AEs as either psychogenic in nature, a form of functional disability, or malingering disorders. As a consequence, victims of the HPV vaccines have to endure not only physical suffering but also emotional distress, as they are often abandoned without recourse to adequate medical treatment.

International organizations such as the WHO and EMA, as well as national Health Authorities and policy makers, insist that safety of the HPV vaccines has been adequately established through epidemiological analysis and thus the complaints of victims are dismissed as having no scientific basis. The same neglect and discrimination is surprisingly similar across all countries where AEs have been reported.

We are aware that victims in other countries, not represented at this International Symposium, were also treated in the same way by their respective countries Health Authorities. Moreover, despite the fact that the victims and their parents consented to the HPV vaccine, based on their trust in the Health Authorities, they are now accused of being an "anti-vaccination group".

The history of drug-induced tragedies sadly contains too many examples of denying causation between a drug and its AEs, whilst ignoring and even discriminating against victims, until causation is finally established beyond a doubt.

Have we learned nothing from these historic tragedies?

Must we again repeat the same horrific mistakes?

In the face of this medical tragedy, which is now occurring on a global scale, we call on the media to raise awareness of the dire consequences of this critical social and healthcare issue, and we call upon governments, vaccine makers and healthcare experts to:

-Conduct a protracted follow-up study, by a neutral third party, of the health status of all those who received the HPV vaccines.

-Promote researches to develop effective therapies to treat the side effects of the HPV vaccines.

Provide treatment, and support HPV vaccine victims in daily activities, education, and employment.

-Disseminate information about ALL possible side effects, in the form of a Patient Information Leaflet to be given to children, adolescents, and parents so that they can make an informed decision regarding the HPV vaccination based on fundamental human rights to Informed Consent.

-Cease all advertisement campaigns which promote the HPV vaccination without highlighting the full risks.

-Suspend recommendation of HPV vaccines for routine immunization, until a safer system is established ensuring that serious side effects are avoided.



-Refrain from actions that discriminate against, or slander HPV vaccine victims.



April, 2018



Medwatcher Japan

Rebuilding Hope Association HPV Vaccine Victimsin Colombia

AAVP (Association of Affected People Due to the HPV Vaccine in Spain)

AHVID (UK Association of HPV Vaccine Injured Daughters)

REGRET (Reactions and Effects of Gardasil Resulting in Extreme Trauma, in Ireland

National Network of Cervical Cancer Vaccine Victims in Japan

National Plaintiffs Association for the HPV Vaccines Lawsuits in Japan

English and Spanish language presentations at the Japanese Conference are available here.California Recognizes Assyrian Genocide

Sabri Atman, second from right, with members of the California State Assembly. (AINA) -- Sabri Atman, the founder and the director of the Assyrian Genocide and Research Center, was invited to attend the 103rd Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide Remembrance at the California State Assembly in Sacramento California on April 23, 2018. Assembly Joint Resolution No. 37 was introduced by Assembly Member Friedman and coauthored with Assembly Member Nazarian.

The Turkish genocide claimed the lives of 750,000 Assyrians (75%), 1 million Greeks and 1.5 million Armenians.

AJR 37 designates "...the year 2018 as 'State of California Year of Commemoration of the Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide of 1915--1923,' would designate April 24, 2018, as 'State of California Day of Commemoration of the 103rd Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide of 1915--1923,' and would call upon the President of the United States and the United States Congress to formally and consistently reaffirm the historical truth that the atrocities committed against the Armenian people constituted genocide." AJR 37 also states "...1.5 million men, line 16 women, and children of Armenian descent, and hundreds of line 17 thousands of Assyrians, Greeks, and other Christians, lost their line 18 lives at the hands of the Ottoman Turkish Empire and the Republic line 19 of Turkey..."

AJR37 reaffirms, these crimes against humanity also had the consequence of permanently removing all traces of the Armenians and other targeted people (Assyrians, Greeks, other Christian minorities) from their historic homelands of more than four millennia, and enriching the perpetrators with the lands and property of the victims of these crimes, including the usurpation of several thousand churches.

Assembly member Heath Flora welcomed and recognized Mr. Sabri Atman and other members of the Assyrian community in his district. Mr. Sam David, president of the Assyrian American Civic Club of Turlock, invited Mr. Atman as a special guest to attend this special commemoration of the 103rd Anniversary of the 1915 Genocide.'Roman Runners' Seminarians to Cross Italy for Christians in Iraq, Syria

The team of U.S. seminarians living in Rome's North American College who will do a 150-mile relay across Italy to help Christians in Syria and Iraq. ( Aid to the Church in Need) "Run Forrest, Run!" is perhaps one of the most memorable lines of the 1994 classic "Forrest Gump" starring Tom Hanks. The line was used as encouragement for the protagonist to run from a group of bullies who wanted to beat him up. On Saturday, a group of U.S. seminarians studying in Rome's North American College (NAC) will be channeling Forrest Gump, taking part in a 150-mile relay run across Italy, but for a very different reason. They won't be running for their lives, but to raise awareness of millions of lives currently endangered by a different kind of bully.

Known as the "Roman Runners," the team of 12 seminarians will unite the east and west coasts of Italy in support of Christians in Iraq and Syria. Each runner will complete 15-mile intervals, and their hope is to raise at least $12,000 in donations being processed through the international papal charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). The money raised will be used "to help our suffering brothers and sisters in the faith in Iraq and Syria," according to the dedicated web page created for the occasion. "I will likely never meet the people I am running for, but I can still love them and help them through my actions," said seminarian Joseph Caraway. This is the fourth edition of the Roman Runners, and the second consecutive year the proceeds will go to Christians in Iraq and Syria. Speaking with Crux on Friday, the day before the run, the seminarian from the Diocese of Lake Charles, LA, also said that the decision to repeat this year's proceeds for the same beneficiaries as last year came to the group of runners in prayer. They had worked with ACN the year before, and the relationship was so good they decided to do the same this time around. "We asked them what was an important cause for this time around, and they gave us a list," he said. "Syria and Iraq were on it. I communicated the possibilities to the rest of the runners, we took them to prayer, and Syria and Iraq kept coming up. So we decided on it, a few months back. Now it all seems providential, with Syria being back in the news." Next week, Pope Francis will go to a Roman parish to pray the rosary calling for peace. According to a Vatican statement, peace in Syria will be his particular intention. In July, the pontiff will be going to the southern Italian city of Bari, where he'll host an ecumenical day of prayer and reflection for peace in the Middle East. "The Holy Spirit is at work in the Church, asking so many people to pray for the same intention," Caraway said. The seminarians who will participate in the event, 10 as runners and two as drivers, come "from all over the U.S.," including Washington, D.C., Louisiana, Iowa, and Arlington, Virginia. Throughout the year, these priests-to-be run around Rome, and according to Caraway, who's organizing the Roman Runners this year, they always pray for different intentions, offering their exercise "as a form of prayer." This weekend's relay is an extension of their usual exercise. The two teams will meet halfway through, "and since this is Italy, we'll celebrate sharing a pizza." "Loving your neighbor can come through a small act of charity, and these acts of charity unite the universal Church," Caraway said. "Something as simple as running has opened the door for individuals to give and support people they would never have had the opportunity to help otherwise." In Iraq, according to the United Nations and the U.S. State Department, Christians and other minorities have been victims of genocide at the hands of the Islamic extremist group known as ISIS. Tens of thousands of Christians have been displaced in recent years, mostly languishing in camps and cramped apartments, either in neighboring Lebanon or in Iraq's Kurdistan region. In 2014, the Islamic State pillaged the Nineveh Plains, a region in northeast Iraq that has historically been inhabited predominantly by Christian communities. While ISIS has now been driven out, the situation remains fragile, with many ethnic and religious minorities unsure whether they should risk returning and current residents wondering if the worst is still to come. Last March, Christian activists warned that Jihadists allied with Turkey are hunting down religious minorities to kill them in Syria's northwest. They claimed Turkey is using hardline jihadist proxies, including Islamic State and al-Qaida militants, to eliminate Kurds and other ethnic and religious minorities along its border. According to Aid to the Church in Need, thousands of Christian families remain trapped by the ongoing violence in Syria and Iraq, a conflict that has "resulted in chaos and despair," according to a statement on their site. Every day, Aid to the Church in Need reports, Christians in the region face violence, death, fear, and homelessness, with supplies running out and people lacking the most basic commodities such as food, milk, diapers, clothing, shelter and medical supplies.Assyrians in Syria -- an Ethnic Minority Resisting War

Assyrians celebrating Easter in Tal Arboush in Northern Syria -- April 1, 2018. ( AFP) Assyrians' roots date back to the Assyrian Empire that ruled Mesopotamia around 7000 years ago before the advent of Christianity.

Sutoro forces fighting with the Kurds against ISIS in al-Hasakah, 2015.

Map showing the distribution of Syriac churches that have been destroyed in Syria. Enab Baladi) Enab Baladi)

Assyrians are considered as one of the oldest populations which converted to Christianity since the first century AD and contributed to the spread of this religion in the areas of Central Asia, India and China, according to some historical references. Some historians note that the Assyrian Empire collapsed around 600 years BC. Over the past centuries the remaining members of the empire have been subjected to several massacres, and have struggled to preserve their cultural heritage and identity, relying on the Church which helped preserve their language and boost their sustainability.Assyrians live today as minorities in some Syrian and Iraqi areas, along with the Arabs and Kurds, and express themselves through some small political parties and cultural associations, which struggle to get the Assyrians out of a conflict in a region seething with war.In the 1920s, thousands of Assyrians escaped prosecution and fled from south-eastern Turkey to Upper Mesopotamia to seek refuge on the outskirts of their demolished villages, and close to the homeland of their ancient civilization.The French opened the north-eastern gate of Syria to the Syriac Assyrians and gave them lands to live and settle in. Thus, they become an ethnic minority and an addition to few other thousands of Syriacs who lived with the inhabitants of some Syrian areas. Informal sources estimate the number of Assyrians in Syria to be around 30,000 before the Syrian revolution out of about one and a half million Christians. This number is likely to have declined somewhat after the war, due to migrations and as a result of the several attacks of ISIS. However, thousands of them are still practicing their religious rituals and speak their Syriac language in their churches, which are mainly spread in al-Hasakah and some Syrian areas on a smaller scale. Assyrians title is often associated with Syriacs and this is justified by their national unity. The difference between them revolves around the religious sect. According to Syrian writer Taysir Khalaf, Syriacs are members of the Western Syriac Church and Assyrians are followers of the Eastern Syriac Church, also called Nestorian. Assyrian politicians seek to overcome these differences by adopting the name "Syriac Assyrians." However, some Syriacs object to this confusion, which is due to certain sectarian sensitivities. Assyrians have largely coexisted with the other Syrian components, despite their attempts to maintain their existence and not to compromise their integrity. Some Assyrian activists believe that the Ba'ath Party pursued an "aggressive" policy with them, fighting their culture and preventing them from political activism. Today, Assyrians are present in the political arena through some political parties, most notably the Assyrian Democratic Organization (ADO), which is affiliated with the Syrian opposition. Some of their children are also fighting within two military factions, one of which is loyal to the regime and the other is fighting next to the opposition. Some of them are relying on civil activity as a means of preserving rights and national identity. These internal divisions in the Assyrian population reflect to a certain extent a general state of division and confusion in Syria, but pose a greater threat to the Assyrians as a religious minority threatened by the flood of war in Syria. The launching of the first Kurdish party, called the Kurdistan Democratic Party, in Syria has been followed after about a month by the announcement of the first Assyrian party in the Syrian city of Qamishli, being influenced by the rise of nationalist movements in the region. This party emerged as an attempt to acquire some cultural rights and reinforce the identity of an ethnic and religious minority within a group which includes other components of the Syrian people. According to Abdul Ahad Astifou, the representative of the ADO in the Syrian National Coalition, "the Assyrian Democratic Organization (ADO) was established in 1957 to meet the need of Syriac Assyrians in Syria for a party that reflects their national calls for the need to recognize their existence and national identity, and to consider their Syriac language and culture as national, within the framework of the unity of Syrian land and people. During an interview with Enab Baladi, Astifou pointed out that the ADO was the first political organization to appear in the Syriac Assyrians' community, not only in Syria, but also in the countries of the Middle East." Despite the emergence of several Syriac Assyrian political parties in Syria and Iraq, "they did not differ from the vision and program of the ADO." Astifou added that since its establishment, the ADO has pursued "peaceful democratic means of action, linked its national struggle to patriotic struggle, and considered that the national demands of the Assyrians and other nationalities in Syria can only be achieved through a secular democratic system based on justice, equal citizenship and partnership between all Syrians."As a political party seeking democratic change, the Assyrian Democratic Organization has witnessed attempts of repression and exclusion amid the Ba'ath Socialist Party's control over politics since the 1970s. "Since its establishment, the Assyrian Democratic Organization has not been authorized or recognized. Only Arab nationalist parties have been recognized under the Ba'ath Party, so automatically the organization was considered to be among opposition," said Gabriel Moushe Gawrieh, the head of the Political Bureau of the ADO, in an interview with Enab Baladi. Gawrieh added: "We were living under a strict security system that was preoccupied with drying up politics, and we were trying to end the monopoly of one party. We have witnessed political repression and the organization's staff has been subjected to many arrests." As a result of these restrictions, the organization addressed the "national democratic forces with similar visions and ideas to work with them through frameworks and alliances aimed at bringing about real democratic change leading to the construction of a modern democratic state for all Syrians," according to the organization's representative in the coalition, Abdul Ahad Astifou. Astifou pointed out that "just like any political group, the organization has gone through dialogues and intellectual tensions between leftist, rightists and nationalist parties, and tried to be the centre of balance and moderation in their proposals. I think it is still maintaining this approach." Therefore, members of the organization distanced themselves from political life in Syria and were unable to take part in it or obtain political positions before the revolution. In contrast, the organization participated in the 2005 Damascus Declaration for National Democratic Change, which called for ending al- Assad regime.As a result of the severe repression the ADO has witnessed, it had to participate in the Syrian revolution in an attempt to cease this opportunity and achieve the goals for which it was founded. But, at the same time the organization sought to preserve its peaceful revolutionary approach and its central position among the various Syrian currents and parties. The organization has been involved in opposition frameworks ranging from the National Council to the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, and has participated in several rounds of Geneva talks. Abdul Ahad Astifou, the coordinator of the electoral commission in the delegation of the Syrian Negotiation Commission in Geneva, pointed out that this engagement is a cumulative result in view of the history of the party and its adoption of the objectives and demands of the revolution. This strong participation in the opposition has led to a very tight security situation imposed on its members. Several of them have been arrested and others were dismissed and prevented from travelling. The forces of the regime arrested engineer Gabriel Moushe Gawrieh, the head of the Political Bureau of the organization and member of the General Secretariat of the Damascus Declaration for two and a half years, on charges of terrorism and incitement to violence to overthrow the regime. Despite its support of the opposition, the relationship between the organization and the self-administration, which has been imposed by the Kurdish Democratic Union Party as a de facto authority in the Upper Mesopotamia region, was not characterized by "hostility." According to Astifou, "the organization is not a member of the self-administration, and has no representatives there. However, it maintains positive relations with many parties and figures belonging to it." "We consider self-administration as an embodiment of the will and approach of the parties involved in it, but does not stand for all the political expressions of the components of the Upper Mesopotamia. Honestly, this administration is open and receptive to the rights of all the components of the region, including the Syriac Assyrians, but it is based upon unilateral ideological tendencies and a tendency towards domination and monopoly by the influencing parties. This contradicts the principle of partnership and equal citizenship that we are calling for." It can be said that the Assyrian Organization moves cautiously in an attempt to avoid a complete break with the various political components on the Syrian arena, and is adopting an initial call for democracy and partnership.The official at the Assyrian Democratic Organization political bureau, Gabriel Moushe Gawrieh, said that "the federal system has multiple positive aspects, which are reflected in the experiences of developed countries such as the United States and Germany." He pointed out that "it is a means to prevent tyranny, and enhance the distribution of power and wealth and the development of all regions." "This experience has been distorted in some parts of our country. Such a change needs the consensus of all the people of Syria," he said. In the same context, Abdul Ahad Astifou claimed: "In principle, we are not against expanded decentralization, including federalism, which provides opportunities for the distribution of power and wealth and the achievement of balanced development for all the provinces and regions of Syria, and in such a way as to stop tyranny or any attempt to divide the country or separate a part of it." He added: "However, we see that any form or system of government cannot be imposed by one party on the other, as it requires a consensus in a free and democratic climate among all Syrians on the nature of appropriate management systems."Despite the organization's policy of peaceful struggle and non-violence, it believes that militarization at the beginning of the Syrian revolution carries understandable and justified motives. According to the same vision, the organization deals with the Syriac military wings that were formed after the revolution in the area of Mesopotamia under the name of "Sutoro" Forces, which are divided into two factions: one is affiliated with the National Defence pro-regime militias, and the other is affiliated with the "Syrian Democratic Forces" that the Kurdish fighters form its foundation.The organization representative in the coalition, Abdul Ahad Astifou, was not surprised about the division, as it "is not limited to the Assyrians or Syriacs only, there are similar cases among the Arabs and Kurds on the island and others." While he described the presence of these two wings as "being symbolic more than effective, since their primary role is limited to protect the neighbourhoods and villages of our people." He insisted: "For us, as an organization, we adopt a peaceful and political approach in our work, and we did not think about forming an armed faction, because we were not originally for the idea of armament and militarization."Many names were attributed to the Assyrians, which often leads to confusion in understanding the relationship between these names and their association with a single national and linguistic dimension. The representative of the Assyrian Democratic Organization in the Syrian National Coalition, Abdul Ahad Astifou, explained and referred this confusion to the "splits in the Christian Church, in its political and theological dimensions, from the early Gregorian centuries, which played the most prominent role in tearing this people into sects and communities; so it looked like labels for several people, as a result of the overwhelming influence of the religious faith and its occupation of the centre of identity in the culture of this people and the rest of the peoples of the region for long historical periods. Moreover, there was a suspicious role of Catholic and Protestant missionaries in the absence of sense of identity and culture, and the establishment of spiritual references, and then Western cultural trends that in turn contributed to deepening the division." This is in addition to "Ottoman politics in sustaining the "Millet" regime, which means (people) in the form and context of the community. Therefore, the labels that today are given to this people by many of its individuals are identical to the name of the church that it follows, such as Syriac, Assyrian or Chaldean," according to Astifou. As for the linguistic designations, he clarified: "Since the fourth century BC, all Mesopotamia and even to the shores of the Mediterranean were called Greece. They were subject to the Assyrian Empire according to the Greek word that does not contain the "Shin" letter, as ASSYRIA and its inhabitants ASSYRIAN. This new word was reinforced through the Aramaic language that was the language of the entire Assyrian Empire in (Soroyo) or (Suraya) according to the prevailing dialect in each region. The word "Syriac" has been established in the Arabic language, and many respected historians and scholars have confirmed this linguistic derivation between the Syriac and Assyrian names. "The word Assyrian is the Syriac word for the word Othoroyo. The word Assyrian is expressed in the Syriac language as (Othoroyo or Athuraya), which is the name adopted by the founders of the Assyrian Democratic Organization," said Astifou.After the start of the Syrian revolution in 2011 and the accompanying changes in the facts and events, military movements and formations of different names and affiliates emerged on the front, and initially took the task of protecting the areas where they were established. But later, its military activity expanded and reached the advanced stages of controlling regional countries. The cities of al-Hasakah and Qamishli were among the areas which witnessed the emergence of military formations. Along with al-Assad forces militias, the Kurdish "People's Protection Units" and the "Free Army" factions that were active at that time, a military formation emerged from the Christian minority under the name "Sutoro," which undertook the task of protecting Christian areas in Mesopotamia from the attacks committed against them. Media sources from Qamishli told Enab Baladi that the Sutoro Forces are deployed in the cities of al-Hasakah, Qamishli, al-Malikiyah and al-Qahtaniyah, as well as 30 villages located along the Khabur River, starting from the south of Ras al-Ayn in the north up to Mount Abdulaziz in the south. It includes young people from Syriac Christian parties such as the "Syriac Union Party" (the Dawronoye), the "Assyrian Democratic Organization, "the Syrian Youth Assembly", and "the Christian Civil Society."The Sutoro is divided into two groups, the first of which is affiliated with the Syrian regime. Its militants are members of the Orthodox Peace Council of the Syriac Orthodox. They directly receive money from the regime. Their duties are concentrated at the checkpoints deployed in the city of Qamishli, especially al-Wusta neighbourhood, the Christian majority quarter. The other group is affiliated with the PYD. Its militants are members of the Syriac Union Party. Its influence is concentrated in al-Malikiyah and al-Qahtaniyah north-east of Qamishli and in the city. Its militants receive their financial and military support from the Kurdish units. They are treated like the original "units" militants. The Syrian regime Sutoro military action is not limited to the Qamishli and surrounding areas only, but part of them participated in al-Assad force's battles in the eastern Homs countryside and the vicinity of the capital Damascus. In November 2015, part of the forces moved to the predominantly Christian city of Sadad, east of Homs, and participated in countering the "Islamic state." At the time, video recordings were published showing Father Gabriel Daoud, a Christian priest, on an inspection tour of the forces east of Homs. Sources familiar with the issue told Enab Baladi that the reasons for the affiliation of Christian youth in Qamishli to the regime Sutoro are to solve the problem of compulsory service, as they are not called to the reserve army and are not completely prosecuted.Sarkon Chamoun commands the forces' wing of the command regime, together with Gabriel Daoud in the supervision mission, who is originated from the city of al-Malikiyah (Derik). Whereas the leader Malki Rabo heads the military wing of the "PYD," and his work is mainly focused on the "Asayish" security apparatus. According to previous media reports, the Sutoro of the Democratic Union Party has become an integral part of it and has direct contact with Kandil. It has played a prominent role in the military operations against the Islamic State, especially in the southern al-Hasakah countryside. In addition to the support that forces receive from the regime and the PYD, researcher Asaad Hanna said in a lengthy research published last year that the forces rely on donations from businessmen and Christian business owners. The other side of the money comes from expatriate Christians in Europe. The researcher added that the parties that are affiliated to the Sutoro have clubs and associations in European countries, especially Sweden, the Netherlands and Belgium. Some of these associations collect donations and send them to Syria to support the military and service operations that are offered by the Christian forces.In November 2014, the Sutoro established the first Assyrian (Syriac) military academy, called the Martyr Agha Boutros Academy in the Corniche area in Qamishli, and was affiliated to the military wing which receives military support from al-Assad's forces. At that time, international news agencies quoted Assyrian sources as saying: "The fear of the Syriac / Assyrian community of changes in the security situation in northern Syria made them form military forces and centres to defend the Christian presence in the region." The combatants in the academy are receiving "practical and theoretical military" trainings, and the Christian religious centres provide them with lectures and doctrinal guidance. Syrian human rights organizations accused the regime of "trading" and targeting Christians between 2014 and 2015, confirmed that the regime have killed more than 100 Christian people, and accused it of seeking to "exploit minorities, especially Christians" since the beginning of the revolution.The civil movement of the Assyrians in al-Hasakah have developed during the last few years, as it has been the case with other society components. After the absence of the civil society activity in the past, it has started to develop since the beginning of 2012 in all Syrian regions. The civil work of the Assyrians is currently limited to a number of associations and centres, on top of which are Eridu Centre for Civil Society and Democracy and Ashur Foundation for Relief and Development. Enab Baladi has interviewed Ghandi Saado, Executive Director of Eridu Centre in Qamishli, who said that this centre's activities focus on three axes: raising awareness about the basics of civil society, developing youth skills and abilities, governance and institutions. The Centre's most prominent activities include four festivals in the name of "Spring," and campaigns, most notably "Do Not Be a Wound," against racial discrimination. According to its executive director, it does not only target the Assyrians, but also Arabs, Kurds, Syriac and Armenians, regardless of national and religious affiliation. The Centre is seeking to achieve equality among all, "which would ensure that all the society segments would have the opportunity to express themselves, in accordance with their cultural, national and religious vision," according to Saado. Some of the Centre's principles are the consolidation of the concepts of civil peace and coexistence and the introduction of civil ideas into society, according to the Executive Director. He pointed out that achieving these principles "is carried out through training workshops for some young people, media campaigns or cultural activities." Saado believes that civil work is important for the preservation of the cultural identity. He clarified that the Assyrians and Syrians as a whole were absent from this sector, as there were no real and effective civil institutions on the ground in the past. He added that "Assyrians in particular have been subjected to Arabization campaigns in the region at both geographical and cultural levels, because of the behaviour of Ba'ath Party and the ruling authority in Syria." From Saado's point of view, reviving the cultural specification "is important, but with the recognition of other cultures as we live in a diverse society." He pointed out to the need to "correctly and properly express ourselves." The Centre's Executive Director considered that the situation of civil action in al-Hasakah is still at low levels within the province that cannot be assessed, but it would be unfair because it has not yet exceeded five years and they are not enough to evaluate it." He stressed that the civil action is growing and developing, and added that "there are a lot of institutions which are standing out and others are still learning and developing." The Executive Director of Eridu Centre explained why Assyrian organizations have not been active in civil action, saying that the Syrian society in general "has not been effective at both civil and political levels. This is not limited to the Assyrians, as few other society segments were involved in political and civil action in a simple way." After the revolution, Syria has become open to political diversity and wider civil movement. Assyrian society has been always absent, and this has hindered the large and clear output within a short period of time, as Saado put it. According to Saado, the Centre and civil organizations in Al-Hasakah need learning and training at a greater level, to raise awareness and expertise in the civil field, and to stand against constraints and conditions that restrict the work such as the lack of financial support, customs and traditions. Eridu Centre is continuously seeking to develop the structure. It includes a general secretariat, a board of directors and offices, while the number of its members changes depending on volunteerism. There is an estimated number of between 20 and 25 employees at two centres in Qamishli and al-Malikiyah.Many Syriac churches are nowadays spread in different areas of Syria, some of which are archaeological, and some date back to less than a century.A number of these churches have been either partially or totally destroyed following the war in Syria. On the Syrian island and Raqqa, ISIS has targeted the Christian minority and intentionally destroyed or ruined some churches. The Syrian regime has targeted churches in Homs, Aleppo, Daraa and Deir ez-Zor.According to a report which was issued by the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) in 2015, the Syrian regime is responsible for the destruction of 63% of the total number of churches throughout Syria. Since then, other churches have been destroyed or ruined either by ISIS, al-Nusra Front, or by the raids of the International Coalition.Saint Mary Church of the Holy Belt of the Syriac Orthodox in al-Hamidiyah Quarter in Homs has been bombed four times, according to a report by the Syrian Network for Human Rights. This indicates that the regime's forces have deliberately targeted it. It is considered the headquarters of the Diocese of Homs and Hama for the Syriac Orthodox and one of the most well-known churches and landmarks of the city of Homs. The bombing of al-Hamidiyah in 2012 also caused damage in the building of the Archbishopric Syriac Catholic Church.The Saint Mary Church of the Syriac Orthodox (Church of Unity), located in al-Roshdeyah, has been targeted by the regime's forces three times in 2012 and 2013, which led to the damage of several parts of it.The New Archbishopric Syriac Orthodox Church in al-Sulaymaniyah, Aleppo, has been attacked three times by the Syrian opposition factions, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights. The opposition factions also targeted the Church of Our Lady of Transition for the Syriac Catholics and its Archbishopric Church in al-Aziziyah district of Aleppo in 2014.In 2015, ISIS blew up The Saint Mary Church in the village of Tell Nasri, which has an Assyrian majority in the western countryside of al-Hasakah. This led to the damage of parts of it. In the same year, ISIS also burned the Mor Augen Church in the village of Tel Hormuz, which is located on the Khabur River in the western countryside of al-Hasakah, and burned Saint George Church.State and local officials came to Tuscaloosa today for the opening of an auto supplier plant that could eventually employ 1,000 workers.

Samvardhana Motherson Peguform (SMP), a division of the global auto components manufacturing giant Samvardhana Motherson Group, today held a grand opening for its new plant at Cedar Cove Technology Park in Tuscaloosa County. The opening came more than two years after the company announced its coming to Alabama.

"This is an exciting moment for SMP, and a great day for Alabama and Tuscaloosa," Governor Kay Ivey said. "SMP is an industry leader with a global manufacturing footprint, and the growing workforce at its new Alabama location will help the company reach new levels of excellence."

The plant is located on a approximately 100 acre plot with a building area of approximately 700,000 square feet. The projected growth would make the companyone of the largest suppliers in the state's auto manufacturing sector, Commerce Secretary Greg Canfield said.

Vivek Chaand Sehgal, chairman of Samvardhana Motherson Group, SMP's parent company, expressed gratitude to Mercedes-Benz, and county and state officials for their support.

"For those that are willing to put in the work, the opportunities at Motherson are global not local, and we encourage the people of Alabama to join hands with us at making this plant successful," Sehgal said.Car and Driver is reporting that Hyundai has expanded a recall issued in February for Sonatas, increasing it to more than a half-million, due to the risk that a short circuit could keep the air bag from deploying.

Earlier this year, Hyundai recalled 154,753 of its 2011 Sonata models. Now in new documents, the recall encompasses 2012 and 2013 Sonatas, and 2011 and 2012 Sonata Hybrid sedans, adding another 425,305 to the recall.

Hyundai says the air bag control unit could short circuit, preventing the front air bags, seat belt pretensioners and side air bags from deploying. The company is aware of two deaths and four injuries related to the recall. A fatal crash is being investigated in Canada.

Owners can continue to drive the recalled Sonatas "as this issue has only been identified in an extremely small number of vehicles and ones that are in a very specific and rare type of accident," according to a spokesman.

The automaker said it expects to finalize a remedy soon, which will allow affected owners to get a solution.

To search active recalls, use the NHTSA's website to search your 17-character VIN at this link.This brother and sister have each other's back, even when one is stationed halfway around the world.

Army Capt. Jon Morrison flew 18 hours to surprise his younger sister, Nakea McDougal, at her graduation from the University of Alabama at Birmingham on Saturday.

McDougal hadn't seen her brother since August. He's serving in Kuwait on his third tour of duty with the U.S. Army 335th Signal Command.

"It is very special. I couldn't miss it for the world," Morrison said of Saturday's surprise.

UAB helped coordinate the surprise by disguising Morrison in a cap and gown and having him walk out in the processional ahead of his sister. University staff captured the moment on video.

When Morrison turns around to surprise his sister, McDougal appears to not instantly recognize her brother. When she does, she begins to cry and hugs him.

"Nobody told me," McDougal said later of the surprise. "It seemed like everyone knew but me."

In an interview following the commencement, Morrison said he is thankful to his supervisor and to UAB for arranging the surprise. "I wanted to be here for her special day," he said.

Morrison said he and his sister are very close and have been through a lot together.

He said he wanted to be a big brother and share this "special moment" with this sister.

Morrison is the second generation in his family to serve in the Army. McDougal said she decorated her graduation cap with an American flag in honor of their mother who served in the Army for 26 years.

McDougal graduated on Saturday with a bachelor's degree in biology from the UAB College of Arts and Sciences. She is looking forward to a career in the medical field.

For the remainder of the day, Morrison said the family planned to catch up and celebrate.

"I am happy to have a sister I can now call a graduate," he said.Former Vice President Al Gore brought his slides and global warming message to Montgomery today, telling a cheering crowd that a shortsighted view of capitalism that puts profits ahead of long-range consequences has helped foster a climate crisis.

"I'm a capitalist, I'm all in favor of it. But I'm in favor of reforming capitalism to get away from this short-term thinking which is killing us," Gore told an audience that filled the Montgomery Performing Arts Center.

Gore was in Montgomery for the Peace and Justice Summit, two days of panel discussions associated with the opening of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice and the Legacy Museum. Both are projects of the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal advocacy organization.

The memorial recognizes more than 4,400 African-American victims of lynching, while the museum examines the evils of slavery and its aftermath.

The Legacy Museum in downtown Montgomery, which opened on Thursday. (Mike Cason)

Gore said he was honored when EJI Executive Director Bryan Stevenson invited him to speak on environmental justice at the summit. He said he had been in Montgomery since Wednesday.

"It really is one of the most meaningful and dare I say magical events that I've ever been involved in," said Gore, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 and subject of the Oscar-winning documentary on climate change, "An Inconvenient Truth."

Gore was joined on stage and interviewed by the EJI's Catherine Coleman-Flowers, a Lowndes County native whose work has shed light on environmental problems in Alabama's poor and predominantly minority Black Belt.

Gore mixed humor and humility with his slides, graphs and statistics about global warming and its consequences. He said people from poor neighborhoods have led the fight for environmental justice, taking stands ahead of policy makers. He took some shots at the Trump administration and its embattled Environmental Protection Agency Administrator, Scott Pruitt.

When Flowers asked how long it would take to undo the environmental policies of the Trump administration after the 2020 election, Gore said he liked the premise of the question.

"We're only a little over a year into this experiment," Gore said. "In science and medicine some experiments are terminated early for ethical reasons."

Gore said there are encouraging global trends in reducing dependence on fossil fuels. He said production capacity for both wind and solar energy far exceeds what was projected about 15 years ago. He said the tools and technological solutions are available to address climate change. But he said it remains to be seen whether that will happen.

"The answer, I believe, is yes," Gore said. "But really, it's still to come."

Gore related his cause to civil rights and the recognition of leaders in that movement that came during EJI's opening ceremony for the memorial and museum on Thursday night.

Congressman John Lewis, civil rights attorney Fred Gray and the two surviving plaintiffs of the successful lawsuit associated with the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott -- Claudette Colvin and Mary Louise Smith -- were among many recognized by Stevenson at that event.

Gore said they persevered after being repeatedly held down during the era of Jim Crow laws. Gore said the same kind of resolve is needed for the climate change cause.

The stakes are high, he said.

"The climate crisis is in my opinion and in the opinion of most scientists, the most serious challenge humanity has ever faced," he said. "We're changing the relationship between our planet and our star. We're threatening to disrupt the conditions that have given rise to the flourishing of humanity for 10 millennia."

Gore said key factors that led to the crisis include a quadrupling of the world's population over 100 years, which he said has leveled off, and development of technologies far more powerful than a few generations ago.

"But the third factor that makes this dangerous is our way of thinking and specifically our focus on short-term objectives, quarterly reports, overnight opinion polls, overnight television ratings," Gore said.

"Whereas my grandparents, and I know yours, used to think ahead more. And they'd plant trees fully aware that they were not going to give their full benefit until a couple or three generations later.

"Along with fixing democracy, we've got to fix capitalism because we need sustainable capitalism."

Downtown Montgomery streets and sidewalks buzzed today with tour buses, food trucks and a steady flow of pedestrians in conjunction with the opening of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice and the Legacy Museum.

The activities continue Friday night with a concert at the downtown Riverwalk Amphitheater, featuring headline performers Brittany Howard of the Alabama Shakes, Usher, Dave Matthews, Common, the Roots, Gary Clark Jr., and Kirk Franklin.Alabama is one of 20 states that filed a motion in federal court this week seeking a preliminary injunction against the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare Attorney General Steve Marshall announced today.

"The so-called Affordable Care Act has been anything but affordable for both consumers and for states," Marshall said. "In 2012, Obamacare barely survived a legal challenge when the U.S. Supreme Court determined that the law's individual mandate was constitutional only because it qualified as a tax penalty for those who chose not to purchase health insurance."

Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017, which eliminated the ACA's tax penalty.

"Accordingly, Obamacare's costly individual mandate is no longer legally justifiable," Marshall continued. "This week, I joined a multi-state motion filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas seeking to halt Obamacare because of the tremendous cost of its individual mandate to individuals and to states."

Marshall said Obamacare transferred a majority of states' regulatory authority over health insurance to the federal government.

The motion filed this week includes a declaration from Alabama Department of Insurance Commissioner Jim Ridling citing Obamacare's negative impact on health insurance cost and choice for Alabama residents.

The federal government administers health exchanges in 38 states, including Alabama. Health insurance premiums have risen an average of more than 100 percent from 2013 to 2017, according to the AG's office.

Alabama joined the attorneys general of Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin, along with the governors of Maine and Mississippi, in filing the motion for a preliminary injunction against Obamacare on April 26.Alfie Evans, a terminally ill toddler whose medical case set off a high-profile legal battle and international debates about health care and parental rights, died early Saturday morning, his parents said on social media.

Pope Francis had been publicly praying and advocating for the 23-month-old boy, and the Italian government offered citizenship to the child and created a plan to take him to a Vatican hospital. But Alfie's doctors, who took him off life support against his parents' wishes, said he couldn't be healed and shouldn't make the trip. A judge earlier this week sided with his doctors, who said he suffered from a rare and incurable degenerative neurological condition. The court also ruled that the parents could not seek treatment for him elsewhere because further treatment would be against the child's best interests.

"Our baby boy grew his wings tonight at 2:30 a.m. We are heart broken," his mother, Kate James, posted on Facebook. His father, Thomas Evans, posted: "My gladiator lay down his shield and gained his wings at 02:30 absolutely heartbroken I LOVE YOU MY GUY."

Alfie, who was born in May 2016, was first admitted that year to Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool, England, after suffering seizures and had been a patient ever since in what the hospital considered a "semi-vegetative state." Earlier this month, Thomas Evans met with Pope Francis in Rome and asked the pontiff to see his son in Liverpool.

In a 2018 ruling, one judge wrote that the Evans family's Catholic faith should be as a factor in determining the child's best interests, quoting Pope Francis distinguishing euthanasia from the discontinuance of overzealous care, which the pope has said "can be legitimate," the Wall Street Journal reported. Catholic bishops in Britain distanced themselves from the Vatican hospital's offer of treatment and praised the Liverpool hospital, stating that "public criticism of their work is unfounded," the Journal reported.

British law states that parents "cannot demand a particular treatment to be continued where the burdens of the treatment clearly outweigh the benefits for the child," Agence France-Presse reported. If an agreement cannot be reached between the parents and doctors, "a court should be asked to make a declaration about whether the provision of life-sustaining treatment would benefit the child." In Alfie's cases, judges sided with doctors each time.

The pope's tweets about the boy drew significant attention, prompting comparisons to Charlie Gard, a British baby who died last year despite his parents' fight -- with the expressed support of Pope Francis and President Donald Trump -- to keep him on life support. Charlie's parents ultimately gave up their fight to take the baby to the U.S. for experimental therapy to prolong his life, saying there wasn't a realistic chance of saving him. Trump has not mentioned Alfie's case.

Francis has spoken repeatedly about Alfie. "Let us pray that every sick person might always be respected in their dignity and cared for in a manner adapted to their condition, with the concordant input of their families and loved ones, of the doctors and of other health-care workers, with great respect for life," he said during his Sunday remarks on April 15, after mentioning "little Alfie Evans."

On April 23, he tweeted, "Moved by the prayers and immense solidarity shown little Alfie Evans, I renew my appeal that the suffering of his parents may be heard and that their desire to seek new forms of treatment may be granted."

He also brought up Alfie's case during a Wednesday general audience. "The only author of life, from its beginning to its natural end, is God," he said. "It is our duty to do all that is possible to safeguard life."

Alfie's case, represented by the U.K-based Christian Legal Centre, has become a subject of fierce concern for many Christian activists in Britain and drew the attention of conservative media and activists in the U.S. British protesters clashed with police as they tried to force their way into the hospital, and local police issued a warning after staff were allegedly harassed, saying social media posts were being monitored.

The hospital where Alfie was treated said his scans showed "catastrophic degradation of his brain tissue" and that further treatment was not only "futile" but also "unkind and inhumane," according to the BBC. His parents waged a four-month-long battle in the British court system that went to the Court of Appeal, Supreme Court and European Court of Human Rights.

The hospital said in a statement that it consulted with outside doctors, including ones in Rome, who concluded that the child's condition was irreversible and untreatable. After his death on Saturday, the hospital released a statement offering its "heartfelt sympathy and condolences" to the family.

During the legal dispute, the couple had criticized the hospital fiercely, and Thomas Evans described his son as a "prisoner." On Thursday, however, he thanked the family's supporters but asked them to go home so the parents could build a relationship with the hospital to provide the toddler "with the dignity and comfort he needs." He thanked the hospital staff "at every level for their dignity and professionalism during what must be an incredibly difficult time for them too."Morgan County Sheriff Ana Franklin and three of her deputies are the subject of a scathing court order, issued today by a judge who called their actions deceitful and criminal.

Circuit Judge Glenn Thompson wrote in the order that the sheriff along with Blake Robinson, Robert "Bones" Wilson and Justin "JP" Powell had acted criminally during the investigation into the fired jail warden and a local blogger. The warden was arrested on a misdemeanor at the culmination of the investigation, but the judge has dismissed the charge.

The sheriff and her deputies "endeavored to hide or cover up their deception and criminal actions under the color of law," Thompson wrote.

Franklin couldn't be reached for comment. She and the deputies have vehemently denied any wrongdoing.

The judge's order comes just days after a hearing at which 11 witnesses testified about the sheriff's investigation into fired warden Leon Bradley and local blogger Glenda Lockhart. A central question of the hearing was whether Franklin and her office illegally obtained evidence to get Thompson to issue search warrants for Bradley's home and Lockhart's office in 2016.

Thompson wrote that Franklin and Robinson "deliberately misled" the court to get the warrants. Specifically, the judge wrote, the sheriff's office "intentionally withheld" the fact they paid and threatened their confidential informant.

Lockhart authors the Morgan County Whistleblower, a blog that's been critical of the sheriff and her office for years. Bradley was fired and came under investigation after the sheriff accused him of leaking law enforcement-sensitive information to the blog.

Lockhart's grandson, Daniel, was the informant who worked with the sheriff's office. Daniel Lockhart testified about the sheriff paying him $500 to gather information about his grandmother. Daniel Lockhart went into his grandmother's business after hours and installed a surveillance software, known as a keylogger, on his grandmother's computer, he testified. He spied on his grandmother at the request of Franklin, and deputies Robinson and Wilson. Daniel Lockhart also claimed Powell provided the keylogger and showed his how to install it on his grandmother's computers.

The judge wrote today that the sheriff's office provided the keylogger so it could be "unlawfully" installed on Lockhart's computer. The sheriff's office instructed Daniel Lockhart to "unlawfully" go into his grandmother's business, Straightline Drywall and Acoustical, Inc. in Falkville, to gather documents and other information, the judge wrote.

During testimony last week, Franklin vehemently denied knowing anything about the keylogger software.

Because of Bradley's former position as the warden, the Morgan County District Attorney's Office recused from prosecuting the case. The Alabama Attorney General's Office took over.

The sheriff also said she didn't want the situation to appear like a conflict of interest, so she brought in an outside law enforcement agency to bring charges against the warden.

Etowah County Sheriff Todd Entrekin sent Investigator Stephen McGlathery to probe the case for Morgan County. Using evidence gathered by Franklin's crew, McGlathery got a warrant for the fired warden's arrest.

McGlathery testified that Franklin and her deputies "lied" and provided "piecemeal" evidence.

The judge agreed, writing in his order that Franklin's office "lied" to get Etowah County's cooperation.

The sheriff had "shopped" or asked for assistance in the case from several other agencies that declined, including the DA's Office, Madison County sheriff's office, Limestone County sheriff's office and The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency.

The judge has suppressed the information gathered through the search warrants, saying the evidence was illegally obtained. However, the judge has declined to hold contempt hearings against Franklin and her deputies. He said he's leaving that up to prosecutors.

Asked today about the case, Morgan County DA Scott Anderson said he can't comment on "matters that may or may not be under investigation."

"It's very concerning," Anderson said.

The order and hearing come after Bradley's attorneys, Robert Tuten and Nick Heatherly, asked the judge to dismiss the charges, suppress the evidence and hold the sheriff in contempt.

Morgan Sheriff and Deputies Acted Criminally in Probe of Blogger and Warden, Judge Says by Ashley Remkus on ScribdPresident Donald Trump once said mobsters plead the Fifth and said of Hillary Clinton's associates "if you're innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?" But his lawyer Michael Cohen plans to invoke his Fifth Amendment right in the lawsuit filed against the president by porn star Stormy Daniels. Legal experts say pleading the Fifth is a totally legitimate legal tactic and says nothing about your guilt or innocence. Does pleading the Fifth mean you're guilty?

PERSPECTIVES

During the 2016 campaign, Trump criticized former Hillary Clinton staffers for invoking their Fifth Amendment rights in the case involving Clinton's private email server.

But now Cohen, Trump's lawyer, says he will plead the Fifth in his case involving the president and Stormy Daniels:

Many argue if you have nothing to hide, why would you silence yourself? If you're truly innocent, it won't be a problem. Pleading the Fifth is for those who are guilty. Self-incrimination is only an issue if you've done something wrong.

But legal experts say pleading the Fifth is a totally legitimate and rational legal tactic, and says nothing about an individual's innocence or guilt.

Whatever you think of Cohen or Trump, we shouldn't assume Cohen's invocation of his Fifth Amendment right makes him guilty.

The Tylt is focused on debates and conversations around news, current events and pop culture. We provide our community with the opportunity to share their opinions and vote on topics that matter most to them. We actively engage the community and present meaningful data on the debates and conversations as they progress. The Tylt is a place where your opinion counts, literally. The Tylt is an Advance Digital, Inc. property. Join us on Twitter @TheTylt or on Facebook, we'd love to hear what you have to say.OCEAN SPRINGS, Mississippi -- Despite a delay thanks to a late-arriving tour train, French explorer Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville once again made a successful landing on the shores of Ocean Springs -- 319 years after the original landing in 1699.

The centerpiece of Ocean Springs' annual "Weekend of Discovery" celebration, the landing recreates the French discovery of what is now Ocean Springs and making first contact with the Native Americans.

Mississippi Supreme Court Justices Michael Randolph and David Ishee portrayed d'Iberville and his brother, Jean Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, respectively. The two men led the party "ashore" -- arriving via a tour train borrowed from Biloxi.

"First of all, this is beautiful weather," said Ocean Springs Mayor Shea Dobson. "Everybody involved, from the chamber, the City, 1699 (Historical Committee), the Mary C., local businesses -- they've all pitched in. It's just a great community event. Excited to celebrate our history."

Dobson noted that even three centuries ago, peoples of different cultures -- in this case the French and Native Americans -- have come together in Ocean Springs.

"Ocean Springs has, since it's beginnings, welcomed different cultures. It's what Ocean Springs was founded upon. Welcoming others and those of other cultures is part of what makes Ocean Springs Ocean Springs."

State Rep. Hank Zuber, an Ocean Springs native, was also on hand and said the event is all about Ocean Springs' heritage.

"It's a great opportunity to reflect on our history, the heritage of Ocean Springs, where we came from," Zuber said, "but it's also a great time for the whole community."

Alderman Rob Blackman, whose company, Macado-Patano engineering firm, sponsored the VIP tent for local and state officials, along with other dignitaries, and who serves on the 1699 committee, was all smiles given the weather and great turnout for the event.

"What can you say? It's beautiful weather. You couldn't ask for a better day for this," Blackman said. "We've got great attendance. I'm proud to be a part of 1699 and to help out with the VIP tent sponsorship. It's always a great time."

After arriving, d'Iberville and his party made peace with the Native Americans, portrayed for the first time by the Vancleave Live Oak Choctaw tribe, with d'Iberville and Bienville capping the event with the traditional smoking of the peace pipe with the Indian chief.A statue of Stephen Foster, the American songwriter best known for classics such as "Oh! Susanna" and "Camptown Races," was removed from a Pittsburgh park this week over concerns it was racist.

The 118-year-old, 1,000-pound statue was removed from Schenley Plaza and taken to storage until it finds a new home. The move comes after critics said the statue was demeaning because it showed a slave playing a banjo sitting at Foster's feet.

The banjo player is based on "Uncle Ned," a fictional slave and subject of a song by the same name, NBC News reported. Critics of the statue had called it "the single most offensive display of public art in Pittsburgh, hands down."

"It permanently depicts the black man at the white man's feet," said activist Paradise Gray.

The Foster statue will be replaced with a statue honoring an African-American woman. The city is currently accepting nominees for who will be depicted by the new statue.

City officials said they'd like the Foster statue to be moved to private property with public access.

Foster was a Pittsburgh native and wrote a string of American classics in the 1800s. He died in New York in 1864 at age 37.The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals has ordered the circuit judge to hold another hearing on ToForest Onesha Johnson's claim that prosecutors withheld evidence that one of the prosecution's key witnesses' motivation for coming to police.

Johnson was convicted of the murder of Jefferson County Deputy Sheriff William G. Hardy on July 19, 1995 while Hardy was on duty working at his part-time security job at a Birmingham hotel. The jury, by a vote of 10-2, recommended Johnson be sentenced to death, according to court records. The trial judge accepted the jury's recommendation and sentenced Johnson to death.

The question presented by Johnson was whether a state court can enforce a rule that Brady v. Maryland - a rule that prosecutors must reveal potentially exculpatory evidence - does not apply to impeachment evidence when the Supreme Court has held otherwise, according to the Death Penalty Information Center website.

During Johnson's trial, Victoria Ellison testified she listened to a three-way phone call her daughter had made for Johnson while he was in jail waiting for trial. Ellison testified that during the call Johnson said, "I shot the f***** in the head and I saw his head go back and he fell."

Johnson claimed in the order that Ellison told her story to police because there was a large cash reward for information leading to Johnson's conviction. He also claimed in the order that the state never disclosed that information to the defense--preventing the defense from having the chance to challenge her credibility on cross-examination.

The circuit court shall enter specific written findings, including any ground of preclusion, as to that claim.

Return to remand should be made to this Court within 56 days of the release of this opinion.Every night for the past six years, Lina Colondres and her husband Ruben Flores Garcia have stayed up thinking of each other  1,681 miles apart.

In Guanajuato, Mexico, Flores lies awake wondering if his wife can feed their three sons and pay the bills. Colondres lies awake in Gainesville wondering if hes eating, if hes safe, if hes alive.

Theyve been separated by a border since March 26, 2012.

Courtesy to The Alligator Ruben Flores Garcia in Mexico in 2015

When Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officers detained Flores while he was working at a chicken plant in Albertville, Alabama, he was the familys sole provider. A week after his deportation, Colondres and their three sons were evicted from their trailer home and lived in a shelter before driving to and settling in Gainesville.

Their oldest son dropped out of high school and helps his mother around the house. The younger boys still wake up from nightmares, screaming for their father.

He was ripped out of our lives, Colondres said.

The memory of her husbands deportation still haunts her.

Ever since that day, I dont know how to smile the natural way, she said.

Colondres has been fighting to reunite her family for six years. The 46-year-old found an attorney who works for free. But she suffers from arthritis, diabetes, asthma and dislocated discs in her spine, and shes too sick to work. She said she needs help to put together the money for her husbands immigration application and travel fees  a total of $5,000. As her husband waits for immigration officials at the U.S. consulate in Mexico to schedule an appointment to possibly grant him re-entry, Gainesville residents are fundraising to help bring him home.

But the clock is ticking. Flores and his family have at least a couple of weeks to pull the funds together before the appointment is scheduled, Colondres said. If the money isnt raised, Flores will miss the meeting.

Karen Epple, a 64-year-old social worker, created a GoFundMe page April 16 with a goal of $5,000 to cover the expenses. As of press time, the page has raised $530.

Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now

Epple met Colondres and her sons about two years ago through a mutual friend, Annette Gilley. Epple said Gilley and their group of friends have helped the family by offering clothes, food and car rides.

If they wouldnt have been there, I dont know where I would be, Colondres said. Its been the biggest blessing of all.

The Flores-Colondres family is one of 3.3 million mixed-status families, who have both undocumented and citizen members, living in the United States, according to the Journal on Migration and Human Security.

Data on the amount of undocumented immigrants living in Alachua County is scarce. Pew Hispanic estimates 1.2 percent of Gainesvilles total population is undocumented.

Nearly two-thirds of undocumented immigrants have lived in the United States for at least a decade, according to a Pew Hispanic report. Almost half of those immigrants, including Flores, were parents.

In 2016, UF students helped Colondres raise money for the first round of Flores legal fees, according to Alligator archives.

Flores thinks about his deportation, his family and his chance of returning to the United States every day. He said he suffers without his wife and children.

Every day I wake up with the hope that Ill see them again, Flores said in Spanish. Thats why Im standing today. Without them, I wouldve fallen a long time ago.

In addition to Epple and her friends, Colondres found support in the Westminster Presbyterian Church, which is accepting donations for Flores fees. The Rev. Larry Green said church members have donated about $1,500 to the churchs fund in six months.

This is not a family that isnt willing to do it for themselves, Green said. This is a family thats so stuck in the system, they cant really get out of it.

Colondres was born and raised in Puerto Rico before moving to New York City in 1985. While living in the Bronx, Colondres had two children from a previous relationship: 23-year-old Kristina, who now lives in Orlando, and 21-year-old Felix Santana. Their father was not in their lives as they grew up, but Flores was.

Flores came to the U.S. from Mexico in 2000 to save money to send to his family after his father fell into a diabetic coma. But by the time he had enough extra cash to send home, his father died.

He moved to Gainesville that same year to work in construction and lived on the same block as Colondres.

They met on Mothers Day 2004 when he and his friend knocked on her door. His friends van needed a jump, Colondres said.

They say Prince Charming dont come knocking on your door, but mine did, she said.

They hit it off right away as they stood outside speaking in Spanish, Colondres said. She noticed Flores blushing.

Flores earned $500 a week before his deportation, Colondres said. Today the family survives on Colondres monthly $500 disability check and $200 in food stamps. She was diagnosed with breast cancer last year.

Rent and utilities deplete half of her funds, but she allocates enough for international phone service to call Flores twice a week. She struggles to feed and clothe her sons  21-year-old Santana, 10-year-old Ruben Jr. and 9-year-old Marcelo.

Flores absence has taken its toll on his children. U.S. citizen children who lose one or both parents to deportation are impacted emotionally, physically and mentally, according to a 2013 study by Human Impact Partners, a health policy research group.

The study found an increase in behavioral issues, poorer overall health, food insecurity, educational issues and poverty.

The day Flores was detained wasnt just another day  it was Marcelos third birthday. Flores left for work at 6:30 a.m., planning to pick up his sons birthday cake on the way home, Colondres said. The kids were excited to go to Cicis Pizza for dinner.

Marcelo sat for hours staring out the window waiting for his father to come home with a cake, a smile and a hug.

But he never came back.

As the days went on, the children started to feel the impact of losing their father.

Santana lost the only father figure he had in his life.

Ruben stopped eating.

Marcelo had to repeat the second grade.

Both Ruben and Marcelo struggle with anger-management issues.

Whats my citizenship worth if I couldnt keep my husband home? Colondres said.

Flores currently lives in an area swarmed by the Jalisco drug cartel in central Mexico. He hears gunshots every day. Three months ago, the 40-year-old said he was beat up by three thieves who broke into his car. They bruised his ribs and cracked his head with a wooden stick before running away. He couldnt afford to go to the hospital.

In San Luis de la Paz, a town where anyone roaming the streets after 10 p.m. is vulnerable to gang violence, Flores works from 6 p.m. to 10 a.m. as a factory worker. He told his wife he doesnt know if hell survive the year.

Flores said he prayed to the Virgin Mary to reunite his family. Hes amazed by the people donating money without knowing him. This is how the Virgin Mary is answering his prayers, he said.

Ill never get tired of thanking the people who are helping me for as long as I live, he said.

In 2010, the familys original immigration lawyer advised them to move from Gainesville to Alabama to find work, Colondres said. The couple paid the lawyer $2,000 to try Flores case in Alabama, but they never heard from her again. Flores files were never transferred, and he was unaware of a court hearing in Orlando.

Evan George, the familys current immigration lawyer, has provided the family free legal services since 2015. George said Flores is prepared to submit a waiver to allow himself re-entry due to his family living in poverty without him.

If you can prove his absence would cause extreme financial, medical and emotional hardship, the government can make an exception, George said.

Colondres is scared. She bites her nails and prays on her knees in anticipation. She watches as Ruben looks up at the sky before school, praying for his father to come home.

Ruben lines up his toy trains on the floor and drives them in circles. He said he misses watching Thomas the Tank Engine with his dad. When he sees him again, he wants to spend the day alone with him, plan a trip to the park and ride a train for the first time together.

He told me that he loves me from here to the moon, he said. I told him that I love him from here to the universe.

Flores thinks about his deportation, his family and his chance of returning to the United States every day. Although hes nervous to meet with the U.S. Consulate, he said he suffers without his family.

I hope to someday give them everything that I couldnt for the past six years, Flores said. Every hug, every kiss, all of that love that theyve been missing.

Staff writer Jimena Tavel contributed to this report.

Contact Amanda Rosa at arosa@alligator.org. Follow her on Twitter at @AmandaNicRosa.

The Flores-Colondres family poses for a photo at an Alabama church in 2010.This blog is looking for wisdom, to have and to share. it is also looking for other rare character traits like good humor, courage, and honor. It is not an easy road, because all of us fall short. But God is love, forgiveness and grace. Those who believe in Him and repent of their sins have the promise of His Holy Spirit to guide us and show us the Way.The Fight To Own Alfie Evans

Alfie Evans ( May 9 2016  April 28 2018) has died at Liverpools Alder Hey Hospital, where he has been since his parents took him there in December 2016. He succombed to a degenerative neurological condition.

But Who had control over Alfie Evans life? Who owned him? That was the news story. It wasnt his parents, Tom Evans and Kate James. It wasnt the Pope. And it certainly wasnt Alfie Evans, not since a judge said his brain had been wiped out [it] is almost entirely water.

On 1 February 2018 lawyers for the hospital told a court that it would be unkind and inhumane to continue treating Alfie. But  yep  his brain was wiped out, so what harm in trying  further treatment could cause him no physical pain? The law said Alfie was effectively no longer a person but also said that he was one and that he should be allowed to die. Confused?

On 20 February, Justice Hayden, who we just heard from, said there was no hope for Alfie and sided with the hospital. His treatment would stop. Alfies parents appealed. And lost. The Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights rejected their right to appeal.

Questions abounded. Who gets to decide the fate of children? What is in Alfies best interests? Is a judge best placed to empathise with Alfie? Medical opinion and parental rights were being weighed by the law. The legal assumption is not one of parental autonomy. That should change. The other legal assumption is not that life is always preferable.

Alarming details include claims that unauthorised doctors posed as family friends to examine both Alfie and Isaiah Haastrup. May the Evans now be allowed to escape the politicised tumult that people like Christine Broesamle drew them into and mourn in peace. pic.twitter.com/0bcCB0ZUEY  Archie Bland (@archiebland) April 28, 2018

The story went global. And it got nasty. On 6 April, Tom Evans voiced his intention to remove his son from the hospital. Police arrived to stop him. Hospital staff were abused by Alfies supporters. That was disgraceful. Pro-life Christians saw a cause to get stuck in to. American Evangelists tweeted furiously. The Pope wanted to help. Italy offered Alfie Italian citizenship, allowing him to be moved to the specialist private Bambino Gesu hospital in Rome.

But he never went. In the High Court, Hayden said that sending Alfie to Italy would be wrong and pointless. The Court of Appeal judges upheld his decision. The Supreme Court said every legal issue in this case is governed by Alfies best interests There is also no reason for further delay. The hospital must be free to do what has been determined to be in Alfies best interests. That is the law in this country.

But surely once the medics had debated and decided that they could do not more for Alfie, he should have been free to leave their care. His release should have been a viable option for the parents. But the hospital kept hold of him, turning a patient into a virtual prisoner. They and the courts placed themselves above the childs parents, the people who really did love and cherish him. The parents should have been allowed to decide what was best for their son. They did not ask the NHS to continue to fund their sons care. They wanted to know that they had tried everything.

To be denied that is cruel.

Anorak

Posted: 28th, April 2018 | In: Key Posts, News Comment | TrackBack | PermalinkPosted Friday, April 27, 2018 6:10 pm

CIRCUIT COURT ACTIONS

The following actions were taken last week in Polk County Circuit Court. Dollar amounts listed are for fines only; court costs are in addition to the fine. Amended charges were amended by the prosecutor.

Cases heard by Associate Circuit Judge John C. Porter:

Christopher James Thibodeaux, Branson; class C felony possession of controlled substance; six years in prison, suspended, five years supervised probation and $300 to county law enforcement restitution fund.

Cases heard by Associate Circuit Judge Elizabeth V. Rohrs:

William Dale Burk, 32, Bolivar; class D felony tampering with vehicle - first degree; two years in prison, concurrently with another sentence. Burk pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a stolen Dodge dually pickup on Oct. 31.

CRIMINAL CHARGES

The following new felony charges have been filed in Polk County Circuit Court:

Jenifer Lea Anderson, Humansville; class D felony possession of controlled substance; summons issued for May 16 court date. Anderson is accused of possessing methamphetamine found Aug. 30 on her person during a traffic stop at Rt. D and Division Street.

Jesse Francois Cardenas Jr., Monett; class D felony possession of controlled substance; summons issued for June 13 court date. Cardenas is accused of possessing methamphetamine found Oct. 28 in a vehicle in which he was a passenger on Mo. 83 north of Mo. 13.

Angela Marie Edwards, 47, Springfield; class D felony tampering with vehicle - first degree, class D felony possession of controlled substance, class E felony leaving scene of accident with property damage; held on $25,000 bond.

Sheena Nicole Gutierrez-Garcia, Verona; class D felony possession of controlled substance; summons issued for June 13 court date. Gutierrez-Garcia is accused of possessing meth found Oct. 28 during a traffic stop on Mo. 83 north of Mo. 13.

Seth M. Loehr, 22, Bolivar; class B felony assault - first degree and felony armed criminal action; held on $150,000 bond; due in court May 9. Loehr is accused of stabbing a male victim in the eyebrow and attempting to stab him in the hand and abdomen during an altercation at around 11 p.m. Saturday, April 21, in the 600 block of East Maupin Street.

CIVIL ACTIONS

The following civil suits have been disposed in Polk County Circuit Court with Associate Circuit Judge Elizabeth V. Rohrs (unless otherwise noted) presiding:

Stephen and Louise Barker, Bolivar, vs. Kylie J. Parsons, Bolivar; rent and possession; default judgment against Parsons for possession of premises in the 4500 block of South 131st Road.

Aaron Richard Husong, Buffalo, vs. Jennifer A. Attebury, Lake Ozark; motion to modify; dismissed by court without prejudice (Associate Judge Porter presiding).

Midland Funding LLC vs. Brett Shannon Curl, Bolivar; suit on account; dismissed by parties.

Portfolio Recovery Associates LLC vs. Merrill Stevens, Bolivar; suit on account; change of venue to Greene County.

Cavalry SPV I LLC vs. Nicole Palmer, Bolivar; suit on account; dismissed by parties.

Discover Bank vs. Samuel Robinson Andra, Humansville; contract - other; change of venue to Greene County.

Shawn Hayes, Bolivar, vs. Aaron Cummins, Bolivar; rent and possession; dismissed by parties.

US Bank Trust NA vs. Donald and Susan Gardner, Bolivar, and John Doe; unlawful detainer; case certified to Circuit Court.

Shawnna Adams, Stockton, vs. Gregory William Briggs, Edwards; personal injury - vehicular; dismissed by court with prejudice (Circuit Judge Michael Hendrickson presiding).

Douglas, Haun & Heidemann PC vs. Samantha C. Starke, Ozark; breach of contract; dismissed by court with prejudice.

Jessie Williamson; adult abuse; consent judgment against Williamson for full order of protection.

Jordan Himmelberg, Collins; adult abuse; default judgment against Himmelberg for full order of protection.

CIVIL PETITIONS

The following civil cases have been filed in Polk County Circuit Court:

Portfolio Recovery Associates LLC vs. Pamela Rice, Bolivar; breach of contract.

Portfolio Recovery Associates LLC vs. Sonya Brown, Bolivar; breach of contract.

Portfolio Recovery Associates LLC vs. Melissa Ward, Bolivar; breach of contract.

Portfolio Recovery Associates LLC vs. Keith R. Weigelt, Aldrich; breach of contract.

Portfolio Recovery Associates LLC vs. Susan Buckner, Aldrich; breach of contract.

Portfolio Recovery Associates LLC vs. Theresa A. Lurten, Bolivar; breach of contract.

Portfolio Recovery Associates LLC vs. Debra A. Price, Bolivar; breach of contract.

Capital One Bank (USA) NA vs. Lindsey R. Shepherd, Bolivar; suit on account.

Capital One Bank (USA) NA vs. Christopher K. Kuhn, Dunnegan; suit on account.

LVNV Funding LLC vs. Vanessa Naylor, Humansville; suit on account.

DISSOLUTIONS

The following couple has filed for dissolution of marriage in Polk County Circuit Court:

Joe Wilbur Usher and Angela Renee Usher.

The following dissolutions of marriage have been granted in Polk County Circuit Court:

Elisabeth Marie Degraff and Daniel Allen Degraff; joint legal and physical custody of one child.

Chandra L. Meyer and Michael E. Meyer; former name of Chandra Noteware restored.

Juris P. Simanis and Catherine L. Simanis.

The following dissolution of marriage has been dismissed by parties in Polk County Circuit Court:

Paula C. Lee and Terry K. Lee.

ASSOCIATE COURT

The following people pleaded guilty to traffic citations and misdemeanors in Polk County Circuit Court, Associate Judge John C. Porter presiding. Dollar amounts listed are for fines only; court costs are in addition to the fine. Amended charges were amended by the prosecutor.

Tess Elizabeth E. Abrams, Bolivar; speeding; $56; no seat belt; $10.

Andrew Pierson Chavarro, Bolivar; speeding; $31.

David Alan Douglas, Brighton; failure to transfer plates; $71.

Ethan Josiah Farr, Bolivar; no insurance; $61; no seat belt; $10.

Sara Sue Ford, Springfield; no insurance; $111; failure to register vehicle; $81.

City of Fair Play vs. Brian Christopher Foster, Warsaw; failure to stop at stop sign; $85.

Dawn Noelle Garis, Springfield; speeding; $31.

Michael Allen Moody, Phoenix, Ariz.; speeding; $131.

Jason Lee Rauh, Buffalo; no insurance; $111.

Frank Andrew Summa, Fair Grove; no seat belt; $10.

MUNICIPAL COURT

The following people were assessed fines April 16-20 in the Bolivar Municipal Division of Circuit Court of Polk County, Judge Randolph Blosch presiding. Dollar amounts listed are for fines and court costs.

Johnathan J. Alvarez, Bolivar; no seat belt; $10.

Summer Dawn Blakeley, Springfield; two counts driving while revoked/suspended; $400.

Dashia Breesawitz, Bolivar; failure to obey traffic control device; $130.

Harmony Daugherty, Springfield; amended defective equipment; $200.

Tyler Martin Green, Bolivar; possession of controlled substance; $200.

Tammy Lynn Jones, Osceola; no insurance; $150.

Kaleb R. McGinnis, Warrensburg; $110.

Jimmie R. Miller, Bolivar; no insurance; $100.

Troy Dale Pruett, Strafford; speeding; $180.

Devyn L. Ray, Lamar; improper lane usage/center lane; $204.

Parker C. Rozean, Springfield; failure to stop at intersection; $174.

Todd San Soucie, Hollister; no insurance; $150; following too closely; $81.

Marcus Malik Stewart, Springfield; speeding; $184.

Nicole R. Taylor, Kansas City; assault; $150.

Derrek A. Westlake, Halfway; failure to yield right of way; $174.

The following people paid fines for overtime parking. The number of tickets, if more than one, is after the name:

One to five tickets, $2 per ticket: Jose Aguilar-Barajas, Bolivar; Keith Emis, Little Rock, Arkansas; Sharon Genovese, Bolivar (2).

Eleven to 15 tickets, $10 per ticket: Sharon Genovese, Bolivar.

The following people failed to appear in court and were issued warrants:

Jayme Elizabeth Boyd, no address given; Ricky Ken Herbert, Norwood (2); Terrell Eugene Howell Jr., Stark City (2); Chadwick Johnson, Springfield; Jordan A. Mathiesen, Linn.

POLICE REPORT

The Bolivar Police Department released the following reports for:

Friday, April 13

 Theft was reported in the 2000 block of South Springfield Avenue.

 Theft was reported in the 700 block of East College Street.

Saturday, April 14

 Property damage was reported in the 200 block of East Broadway Street.

 Theft and property damage were reported in the 300 block of East Broadway Street.

 A subject was arrested on suspicion of shoplifting in the 700 block of East College Street.

 A 35-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of driving while revoked/suspended near the intersection of Mo. 83/13.

 A 26-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of driving while revoked/suspended on Mo. 83 near Walnut Street.

Sunday, April 15

 A domestic disturbance and assault intimidation were reported near Morrisville and Aldrich roads.

 A past burglary was reported in the 400 block of South Pike Avenue.

 Property damage was reported in the 1600 block of South Pike Avenue.

 A suicidal subject was reported in the 500 block of South Chicago Avenue. A female subject was later transported for a 96-hour hold.

 A 23-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of fourth-degree domestic assault in the 2000 block of South Morrisville Road.

Monday, April 16

 Theft was reported in the 200 block of West Austin Street.

 Vandalism was reported on South Pike Avenue.

 Trespassing was reported in the 2400 block of South Springfield Avenue.

 Robert Patrick Carnes, 39, was arrested on a warrant near Benton Avenue and Broadway Street.

Tuesday, April 17

 Billy Joe Morris, 28, was arrested on a warrant on South Lillian Avenue.

Wednesday, April 18

 Jason Lee Rauh, 24, was arrested in Buffalo on a warrant.

 Jeff Scott Trobee, 42, was arrested in Buffalo on a warrant.

 A 20-year-old woman and a 26-year-old man were arrested on suspicion of possession of marijuana in the 2000 block of West Northwood Street.

Thursday, April 19

 Damien Marcus Waits, 26, was arrested on a warrant on South Missouri Avenue near West College Street.

SHERIFFS REPORT

The Polk County Sheriffs Dept. released the following reports for:

Friday, April 20

 Sara Ford, 28, of Ash Grove was arrested on warrants for traffic violations.

 Michael Moody, 24, of Springfield was arrested on a warrant for speeding.

 Matthew Hensley, 23, of Walnut Grove was arrested on warrants for possession of controlled substance and receiving stolen property.

 Corey Sarnstrom, 23, of Bolivar was arrested on warrants for arson and stealing.

 Benjamin Amerpohl, 43, of Springfield was arrested on a warrant for possession of controlled substance.

 Christopher Pratt, 33, of Humansville was arrested on warrants for driving while intoxicated, leaving the scene of an accident, possession of marijuana, resisting arrest and traffic violations.

 Stealing was reported on South 12th Road, Humansville.

Saturday, April 21

 Zachary Meyer, 25, of Bolivar was arrested on a warrant for a seat belt violation.

 Brandi Hatcher, 37, of Bolivar was arrested on a warrant for possession of controlled substance.

 A 23-year-old Springfield man was arrested on suspicion of traffic violations.

 Seth Loehr, 21, of Bolivar was arrested on a warrant for assault and armed criminal action.

 A 24-year-old Bolivar woman was arrested on suspicion of domestic assault.

 Stealing was reported on Mo. 215, Brighton.

 Tampering with a vehicle was reported on East 480th Road, Bolivar.

Sunday, April 22

 Tricia Mott, 36, of Halfway was arrested on warrants for various traffic violations.

 Sydney Burney, 31, of Pittsburg was arrested on warrants for traffic violations.

 A 25-year-old Bolivar man was arrested on suspicion of delivery/possession of prohibited items in a county/private jail.

 Derek Frieben, 30, of Humansville was arrested on a warrant for trespassing.

 Trespassing was reported on South 50th Road, Humansville.

Monday, April 23

 Nicole Vogl, 36, of Bolivar was arrested on warrants for stealing, a traffic violation and unlawful use of a weapon.

 Raymond Brumfield, 50, of Flemington was arrested on a warrant for driving while intoxicated.

 Stealing was reported on East 505th Road, Bolivar.

 A stolen vehicle was recovered in the area of East 450th and South 150th roads near Bolivar.

MARRIAGE APPLICATIONS

The following marriage applications were filed in the Polk County recorders office:

John Devin Turner, 27, Morrisville, and Chelsea Marie Hoops, 25, Bolivar.

Jason Daniel McIntire, 30, Louisburg, and Julia Rose Simrell, 27, Walker.

Waylon Dean Bannister, 41, Pleasant Hope, and Katherine Pearl Dryer, 30, Pleasant Hope.

William Chase Price, 21, Aldrich, and Destani Makia Cloyd Smith, 21, Morrisville.

Nyle Jason Gaddy, 40, Northglenn, Colorado, and Michelle Lynn Knight, 46, Northglenn, Colorado.

FOOD INSPECTIONS

The following food service establishments were inspected by the Polk County Health Center on the dates shown, and the following violations were noted (critical violations involve handling of food; non-critical violations primarily involve housekeeping issues):

Monday, April 2

 The Well 4:14, 201 S. Main Ave., Bolivar; pre-opening; 0 critical; 1 non-critical (trash can not covered in womens restroom, corrected on site).

Tuesday, April 3

 Polk County Jail, 113 E. Jefferson St., Bolivar; routine; 2 critical (food items in refrigerator not date marked and food items not covered properly for storage, corrected on site); 1 non-critical (light shields dirty).

Friday, April 6

 Hayes Family Farm & Bakery, 4184 S. 169th Road, Halfway; routine; 0 critical; 1 non-critical (food utensils stored with handle down); education provided on sanitizing procedures.

Thursday, April 12

 Golden Plaza, 337 S. Springfield Ave., Bolivar; routine; 1 critical (food contact items stored under drain lines, corrected on site); 0 non-critical.

 Notcho Ordinary Taco, 793 E. 419th Road, Bolivar; routine; 0 critical; 1 non-critical (pipe under hand sink leaking).

Monday, April 16

 Sheris Shaved Ice, 1129 E. 400th Road, Bolivar; routine; 0 critical; 3 non-critical (caulking needs resealed; no soap at hand sink in prep room, corrected on site; no paper towels in prep room or trailer, corrected on site).

 Church House Banquets, 2104 Hwy. 32, Halfway; routine; 0 critical; 0 non-critical.

 Community Outreach Ministries food pantry, 320 S. Market Ave., Bolivar; routine; 0 critical; 1 non-critical (ceiling tiles in disrepair).

Tuesday, April 17

 Mays Station, 1301 N. Oakland Ave., Bolivar; routine; 2 critical (bottle housing chemical hung on bread rack, food storage bin cracked; both corrected on site); 2 non-critical (using utensil with no handle for food items; wiping cloths not in sanitizer, both corrected on site).

Wednesday, April 18

 Arbys, 1995 S. Springfield Ave., Bolivar; routine; 1 critical (fresh vegetable temperature, corrected on site); 1 non-critical (vent hood above vent dirty).

 Cut-Ups Bar & Grill, 1450 E. Mt. Gilead Road, Bolivar; routine; 1 critical (improper food storage, corrected on site); 1 non-critical (vent hood dirty).

 Dollar General, 113 Hwy. 215, Pleasant Hope; routine; 0 critical; 0 non-critical.

 Pleasant Hope Middle School, 515 W. McCurry St., Pleasant Hope; routine; 0 critical; 0 non-critical.

Friday, April 20

 The Red Door Diner, 111 W. Adams St., Pleasant Hope; routine; 1 critical (improper food storage); 1 non-critical (floor dirty under fryers).

 Pleasant Hope High School, 303 N. Main St., Pleasant Hope; routine; 0 critical; 0 non-critical.

 Pleasant Hope Elementary School, 311 W. McCurry St., Pleasant Hope; routine; 0 critical; 1 non-critical (floor in bathroom in disrepair, repeat violation).Ukrainian Company Zhytomyr Armored Plant, part of the State Company Ukroboronprom, continues to work for the development of the Duplet combat module, designed to modernize and increase fire power of armored vehicles. During the Arms and Security 2017, a defense Exhibition which was held in Ukraine, the Ukrainian Company Zhytomyr Armored Plant has unveiled a new fire support vehicle called Strazh, Sentinel in English fitted with the Duplet weapon station.



Duplet combat module mounted on Soviet-made BMP-1 chassis during firing tests at Zhytomyr region firing grounds in Ukraine. (Picture source Ukroboronprom)

The Strazh is based on the tracked chassis of the T-64 Main Battle Tank (MBT) that was designed in Kharkiv, Ukraine, as the next-generation main battle tank by Alexander A. Morozov, the designer of the T-54 (MBT).

The Strazh as the Russian BMPT offers more protection against modern threats as Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGMs) and Rocket-Propelled Grenades (RPGs), compared to standard BMP-1 or BMP-2 Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV). This type of vehicle can be used as fire support for tank and infantry units.

The Zhytomyr Armored Plant has added several improvements to the Duplet combat module including an advanced fire control system allows the turret weapon systems to track a target in automatic mode, independently calculate ballistics, and conduct accurate fire in all weather conditions, during day and night.

To increase its combat capability, the "Duplet" is now equipped with a new thermal imager, allowing to recognize targets throughout the range of fire with all "Duplet" armament, including ATGM (Anti-Tank Guided Missile) called "Barrier".

In April 2018, firing tests with the Duplet combat turret was performed at Zhytomyr region firing grounds in Ukraine. For these trials, the Duplet turret was mounted on a Soviet-made BMP-1 tracked armoured infantry fighting vehicle.The Strazh is based on the tracked chassis of the T-64 Main Battle Tank (MBT) that was designed in Kharkiv, Ukraine, as the next-generation main battle tank by Alexander A. Morozov, the designer of the T-54 Main Battle Tank (MBT).

The Zhytomyr Armored Plant has added several improvements to the Duplet combat module including an advanced fire control system allows the turret weapon systems to track a target in automatic mode, independently calculate ballistics, and conduct accurate fire in all weather conditions, during day and night.

To increase its combat capability, the "Duplet" is now equipped with a new thermal imager, allowing to recognize targets throughout the range of fire with all "Duplet" armament, including ATGM (Anti-Tank Guided Missile) called "Barrier".

In April 2018, firing tests with the Duplet combat turret was performed at Zhytomyr region firing grounds in Ukraine. For these trials, the Duplet turret was mounted on a Soviet-made BMP-1 tracked armoured infantry fighting vehicle.



Ukrainian BMPT with Duplet weapon station mounted on tracked chassis of T-64 main battle tank (Picture Army Recognition)The cancellation is an initial win for US hedge fund Elliott Management.

Hyundai Motor said on Friday it will cancel USD 890 million worth of treasury shares, its first stock cancellation in 14 years.

Seoul: Hyundai Motor (005380.KS) said on Friday it will cancel USD 890 million worth of treasury shares, its first stock cancellation in 14 years - a plan that comes amid shareholder pressure to improve returns, restructure and bounce back from dismal earnings.

The cancellation is an initial win for US hedge fund Elliott Management, the most prominent among the few activist shareholders to seek reforms at South Koreas powerful chaebol or family-run conglomerates. But whether Hyundai will cede to its other demands is less clear.

While this is a positive development, it falls well short of what shareholders require, Elliott spokesman Michael OLooney said.

Hyundais move shows the chaebol have become more responsive to calls for reform. They also face government pressure to improve governance as well as public anger over the perception that their growth has not sufficiently benefited smaller firms and ordinary people.

Elliott ramped up pressure on the South Korean automaker on Monday, calling for a holding company structure, the addition of three independent board members as well as a share cancellation.

Hyundai Motor seems to be trying to reach a compromise with Elliott by accepting part of its demands, said Kim Jin-woo, an analyst at Korea Investment & Securities.

Ahead of a shareholder vote on a reorganization plan for the wider group next month, Hyundai said it plans to cancel 560 billion won of existing treasury shares on July 27, and will buy back and cancel another 400 billion won worth of stock.

Hyundai Motor has and will continue to focus on improving shareholder value. Todays announcement is part of a long consideration process and displays our efforts to honor this commitment, it said in a statement.

The cancellation came on the heels of Hyundais quarterly profit halving to its lowest level in nearly six years, hurt by tepid sales in the United States and China.

The action, however, drew the ire of Hyundais labour union which said that at a time of a severe decline in earnings, management was seeking to appease just one shareholder with funds that had been earned by workers.

The union and 51,000 domestic workers could not be more disappointed by the companys humiliating action in yielding to Elliotts demand, it said.

Watchdog criticizes Elliott:

Elliott holds shares totaling more than USD 1 billion in Hyundai Motor, Kia Motors (000270.KS) and Hyundai Mobis (012330.KS), which is set to be de facto holding firm of group.

The wider Hyundai group last month unveiled some reform measures aimed at simplifying its complex ownership structure, but Elliott countered they were insufficient to address the discount in Hyundais shares compared to overseas automakers.

The share cancellation plan will help placate Elliott and other investors, and raise the chance of Hyundais reorganization plan getting shareholder approval in May, said Ko Tae-bong, an analyst at Hi Investment & Securities.

The pressure from Elliott has been criticized by South Koreas anti-trust watchdog which said on Thursday its proposal for the group to adopt a holding company structure was inappropriate and, if implemented, would be in violation of antitrust law.

Elliott said in a statement on Friday it expected to have dialogue with the antitrust watchdog over the restructuring plan. It did not comment on the share cancellation.

The U.S. hedge fund scored a partial victory against Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS) last year, which increased shareholder returns after pressure from Elliott, although its call for a holding company structure was rejected.

In 2015, Elliott narrowly lost a battle to block the merger of two of Samsung Group affiliates. The deal, however, later became the center of a corruption scandal involving Samsungs chief and leading to jail time for the countrys former president.

Hyundais shares ended up 1 per cent, giving the automaker a market value of USD 32 billion. Although its stock slumped nearly 5 per cent on earnings on Thursday, it has gained 10 per cent so far this month following its restructuring plan.Karnataka will go to polls on May 12 to elect representatives to the 225-member state assembly.

Shah claimed that Karnataka under the Siddaramaiah government had become one with widespread farmer suicides, atrocities against women and unemployment. (Photo: ANI/Twitter)

Koppal: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah accused Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah-led state government of "pocketing" the funds pumped into the state by the Centre.

"Under the 13th Finance Commission, Karnataka got Rs. 88,583 crore, which was increased to Rs 2, 19,506 crore under the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government. All the money sent by the Modi government has been pocketed by the Siddaramaiah government," Shah said while addressing a public rally at Koppal on Friday.

Highlighting corruption prevalent in the state, Shah claimed that Karnataka under the Siddaramaiah government had become one with widespread farmer suicides, atrocities against women and unemployment.

"The people of Karnataka do not have supply of electricity or enough jobs to sustain a livelihood, but their chief minister wears a watch worth Rs 40 lakh. This indicates how much corruption the government is involved in," he said.

Launching a scathing attack on the incumbent chief minister, Shah claimed that the former was 'running away' and looking for a safer seat to contest in the upcoming assembly polls.

"The Congress is dependent on Siddaramaiah in this election. However, he himself is running away from the Chamundeshwari to the Badami assembly constituency to escape to a safer seat. The only achievements of the Siddaramaiah governement in the state have been rapid increase in corruption, rapes and farmer suicides. After all this, Rahul Gandhi still thinks Siddaramaiah will win the election for him. How can anyone who has run away from his own seat win elections for his party," he quipped.

On the second day of his two-day visit to poll-bound Karnataka, the BJP Chief is expected to address public rallies in three different regions. He is also expected to visit the Basawesawara Aikya Sthala in Kudala Sangama, and Siddhesvara Temple in Haveri district.

Karnataka will go to polls on May 12 to elect representatives to the 225-member state assembly.

The results will be out on May 15.Posted 4/28/18

This week in Dallas County history, as recorded in the Buffalo Reflex.April 24, 1958The Dallas County Cancer Society and the Business and Professional Womens Club sponsored the showing of The I-T officials move in on multi-storey building worth Rs 3cr in Patnas Sheikhpura area.

Patna: After carrying out extensive searches to unearth a string of Benami properties owned by RJD chief Lalu Yadav, his wife Rabri Devi and son Tejashwi Yadav, the income-tax department has now started tightening the noose on his elder son Tej Pratap Yadav.

A multi-storey building worth Rs 3 crore in Patnas Sheikhpura area which is allegedly owned by a shell company, Fair Grow Holdings Private Limited, was attached by the income-tax department under the provisions of Benami Property Act.

Sources claim that Lalu Yadavs elder son Tej Pratap and his two sisters  Chanda and Ragini Yadav  were earlier directors of the company.

The action was initiated after several notices regarding the property were ignored by the family. Sources claim that the income-tax department suspects that the land where the building is constructed is Benami property.

According to reports, Fair Grow Holdings Private Limited, registered in Kolkata, was set up in the early nineties. The firm was later taken over by people close to the RJD chief when he was the railway minister.

Tej Pratap Yadav and his other siblings, including Tejashwi Yadav, were made directors of the company in 2014.

Sources claim that the income-tax department during extensive probe found that the firm didnt operate from its registered address: 130/1 Bakul Bagan, Bhawanipore, Kolkata.

The property has been attached provisionally, further action can only be initiated after the final hearing, a source told this newspaper.

The name of the company and shady Benami land deals involving Lalu Yadavs family had come to light for the first time in June 2017 when BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi who was in the opposition then had said that the Fair Grow holdings limited was the sixth shell company which is registered in Kolkata, but doesnt exist anymore.

Lalu Yadavs two daughters  Ragini and Chanda Yadav  were interrogated in New Delhi last week in connection with their involvement in Benami Land deals. Summon notices sent to Tej Pratap Yadav and Tejashwi Yadav to appear before the I-T officials for questioning were, however, ignored by both the brothers.

RJD insiders say that the entire family is busy with Tej Pratap Yadavs wedding preparations scheduled for May 12.

The I-T department had also provisionally attached two plots in Patna last year on suspicion that they were acquired through Benami transactions.

More than a dozen properties worth around `165 crores spread across Delhi and Patna belonging to Lalu Yadavs family were seized by the income-tax department on September 11, 2017.PM Modi also offered to host the next informal summit with Xi Jinping in India next year.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said he held "extensive and fruitful" talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping during their first round of two-day informal summit in Wuhan on Friday. (Photo: AP)

New Delhi/Wuhan: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping began their last round of one-on-one talks with a walk around the famous East Lake in Wuhan on Saturday. The two leaders also took an hour-long boat ride.

Modi and Xi are due to conclude the unprecedented informal summit over lunch.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said he held "extensive and fruitful" talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping during their first round of two-day informal summit in Wuhan on Friday.

"I am very pleased to meet with President Xi Jinping in Wuhan. We conducted extensive and fruitful talks and exchanged opinions on strengthening India-China relations and other international issues," Modi said in a post in the popular Chinese social media Weibo, where he has 1,83,112 followers.

"Thank you, President Xi Jinping, for the wonderful gesture of personally accompanying me in the Hubei Provincial Museum. The Museum is home to great facets of Chinese history and culture," he said.

Also Read: Will be happy to host informal meet in 2019: PM Modi invites Xi Jinping

Earlier on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Xi Jinping at Hubei Provincial Museum.

Billed as 'heart-to-heart', the informal summit aimed at evolving consensus between the two leaders to look for solutions to some of the most contentious issues including the border dispute bedevilling the two countries.

The summit is being seen as an effort by India and China to rebuild trust and improve ties that were hit by the 73-day-long Doklam standoff last year.

Attempting to bridge the differences between the two countries, Prime Minister Modi has also offered to host the next informal summit with Xi Jinping in India next year.

The two leaders began their informal meetings way back in 2014 when Xi was hosted by Modi at the Sabarmati Ashram of Mahatma Gandhi in Gujarat. They have met and interacted with each other in about a dozen international meetings since then.

(With PTI inputs)Three accused, identified as Saurabh Chakravarty, Pramod Chakravarty and Honey Chakravarty, have been arrested.

The girls parents approached the police last night alleging that five people, aged between 18 and 21, gang-raped their daughter, Gorakhpur Superintendent of Police Arjun Uike said. (Representational image)

Jabalpur: A 14-year-old girl was gang-raped repeatedly by five people for more than two months in the Gorakhpur area in Madhya Pradeshs Jabalpur, a senior police official said on Saturday.

The girls parents approached the police last night alleging that five people, aged between 18 and 21, gang-raped their daughter, Gorakhpur Superintendent of Police Arjun Uike said.

The parents approached the police after the news spread that the girl underwent an abortion two days ago, the official said.

Three accused, identified as Saurabh Chakravarty, Pramod Chakravarty and Honey Chakravarty, have been arrested, he said.

Two others, Rahul Chakravarty and Bantu Sonker, are on the run, Uike said.

The SP said two of the accused would allegedly ask the minor to cook food at their residence for a nominal sum.

The five would take her home and gangrape her repeatedly, the official alleged.

The SP said the family lives in a slum, and the girls parents and her brother work as daily wagers.

The police were also trying to locate the doctor who carried out the abortion.

Terminating pregnancy of a rape victim without the courts sanction is illegal.

We are going to arrest the doctor, the official said.

He said that a case had been registered against the accused under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.Amid tensions on the border, theres some quiet Indo-Pak diplomacy at work.

New Delhi: Amid tensions on the border, theres some quiet Indo-Pak diplomacy at work. Pakistan high commissioner Sohail Mahmood visited Punjab and Haryana earlier this week and met the chief ministers of the two states. He also visited the Golden Temple in Amritsar. Mr Mahmood is viewed as a moderate and has been extremely keen to work towards improvement in bilateral ties. The visit comes soon after India accused Pakistan of using the Khalistan bogey to instigate Indian Sikh pilgrims visiting Sikh religious shrines in Pakistani Punjab.

In a statement, the Pakistan high commission in New Delhi said, Pakistans high commissioner to India Sohail Mahmood paid an official visit to the Indian states of Haryana and Punjab from 23-25 April 2018. High commissioner Sohail Mahmood called on the chief minister of Punjab, Capt. Amarinder Singh, and had an extended exchange of views during the luncheon ... hosted by the latter at the chief ministers official residence. High commissioner Sohail Mahmood also visited the Golden Temple, the holiest Sikh shrine in Amritsar, to pay obeisance.

The high commission added, In the context of making progress on humanitarian issues, the High Commissioner underlined the importance of early repatriation of Pakistani prisoners who have completed their sentences... During these interactions, views were exchanged on myriad aspects of Pakistan-India relations. Among other things, the need for reducing bilateral tensions including on the LoC, implementing confi-dence-building measures, reviving the structured dialogue process, peacefully resolving outstanding disputes, and taking steps to promote socio-economic development at the regional level through the vehicle of Saarc was underscored.Supreme Court will hear the Centres plea seeking review of its March 20 judgment on May 3.

The March 20 judgment led to a nation-wide outrage by the Dalits and tribals resulting in loss of several lives. (Photo: File)

New Delhi: The Supreme Court will hear the Centres plea seeking review of its March 20 judgment on the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act (SC/ST Act) on May 3.

Attorney General KK Venugopal mentioned the matter for early hearing before a bench comprising Justices AK Goel and Deepak Gupta and said he had already filed his written submission in the matter.

The bench agreed to the urgent hearing and posted it for May 3.

The March 20 judgment did away with the provision of mandatory arrest under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The judgement led to a nation-wide outrage by the Dalits and tribals resulting in loss of several lives.

The Centre had moved the apex court on April 2 seeking review of its March 20 judgement.

The government, in its review petition, told the Supreme Court that its March 20 verdict will violate Article 21 of the Constitution for the SC/ST communities and sought restoration of the provisions of the Act.

The apex court had on March 20 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 the SC/ST Act.The Congress president is on a two-day visit to the state of Karnataka to canvass for his party for the May 12 assembly polls.

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to the Congress president Rahul Gandhi to enquire about his safety after an aircraft carrying the Congress president developed a snag before landing at Hubballi airport in poll-bound Karnataka. Sources say It was a private conversation between the two (over phone).

All the authorities concerned were informed about the plane developing snag. After that, the Prime Minister rang up Mr. Gandhi enquiring if he was fine, the informed sources added.

The Congress president is on a two-day visit to the state of Karnataka to canvass for his party for the May 12 assembly polls.

The Congress has demanded a thorough probe into the incident involving a technical snag in the aircraft carrying party chief Rahul Gandhi from the national capital to poll-bound Karnataka.

Alleging intentional tampering with aircraft, the Congress party had on Thursday demanded a probe into the suspicious and faulty performance of the 10-seater Falcon 2000. The plane had developed a technical snag mid-air, making it tilt heavily to one side and steep loss in altitude.

Aide of the Congress president, Kaushal Vidyarthee wrote in a letter to state director general of police Neelmani.N. Raju.

Later Mr. Vidyarthee also tweeted about the whole incident terming it as the most frightful experience of his life.

Congress's communications in-charge Mr. Randeep Surjewala described the incident the failure of the auto-pilot mode in the aircraft  as horrific and serious and demanded a probe to find out if there was any "foul play".

A DGCA official was earlier quoted by news agencies as saying, The operator has reported the incident to us. According to the report, it was a snag in the auto-pilot mode.

The pilot shifted to the manual (mode) and (the aircraft) landed safely. Shutdown of the auto-pilot (mode) is not uncommon. For a VIP flight, the DGCA examines it thoroughly. We shall do that in this case as well, he added.

Meanwhile the DGCA has setup a two member committee to probe the incident. The DGCA has set up a two member panel to investigate the incident,a senior DGCA official said.

While one member is from the Directorate of Air Safety, the other member is from the Directorate of Airworthiness, the official added. The panel has been asked to submit its report in the next two-three weeks, the official added. As part of the probe, the official said the panel would call cockpit crew and also engineers for questioning about the incident.Party sources said that Mr Shah has given the go-ahead for his programme which will be finalised after the Karnataka Assembly elections.

Lucknow: BJP president Amit Shah will now stay the night in villages in Uttar Pradesh and establish a direct contact with the voters.

UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath has already made a beginning with Pratapgarh, where he spent the night in a government school earlier this week.

Party sources said that Mr Shah has given the go-ahead for his programme which will be finalised after the Karnataka Assembly elections.

Mr Shah is likely to being his tour from western UP since the two byelections on Kairana Lok Sabha and Bijnore Assembly seat are scheduled to take place on May 28. Mr Shah, apparently, wants to get a first-hand feedback from the rural interiors of the state by spending time in villages and, particularly, in the homes of dalits and OBCs. The party's campaign for 2019 will be on a more personalised scale and after the BJP president, other senior leaders will also spend a night in villages and interact with the people, said a BJP functionary. Mr Amit Shah is said to be upset and somewhat confused over the contradictory reports he has been receiving from the party's network. While the party workers blame the ministers, MPs and legislators for not taking adequate interest, the ministers, MPs and legislators blame the bureaucracy and the government for not been responsive to the peoples issues.

Those in the government blame the party organisation for not carrying forward the achievements of the Central and state governments. The BJP president, according to sources, will spend two nights in each of the seven organisational regions known as prant, including Paschim, Avadh, Kashi, Kanpur, Gorakhpur, Bundelkhand, and Braj Prant. He will take feedback about the government's functioning and the involvement of party workers in solving problems of the people related to availability of power, water, fertiliser and law and order.Akhilesh Singhs popularity reflected in his vote share.

Lucknow: Rae Bareli, the constituency of former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, is witnessing a strange case of exit and entry. Days after Congress MLC Dinesh Singh walked out of the Congress and joined BJP, former MLA and his bete noire Akhilesh Singh has announced that he is ready to return to the Congress.

The five-term former legislator told reporters, If Mrs Sonia Gandhi or Priyanka Gandhi ask for my help, I am ready to campaign for the party in Amethi and Rae Bareli in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Mr Akhilesh Singh was MLA from 1993 to 2012. He left the Congress in 2003 after he was arrested on murder charges. A mafia don with a Robinhood image, Akhilesh Singh has remained invincible in his Sadar constituency. Owing to failing health, he did not contest the 2017 Assembly elections but his daughter Aditi Singh won her fathers seat on a Congress ticket.

Talking about Dinesh Singh quitting the Congress, Mr Akhilesh Singh said, He is a known turncoat. He betrayed Mulayam Singh and joined Bahujan Samaj Party but ditched Mayawati too. Thereafter, he joined Congress but could not remain loyal to the party and has now joined BJP. The people of Raebareli will never forgive this betrayal. Despite his not being an MLA, Akhilesh Singh remains the most popular leader in the constituency and his coming closer to the Congress is bound to strengthen the party in its own bastion.

Mr Akhilesh Singhs popularity reflected in his vote share. In 1993, when he contested the election for the first time, he secured 50 per cent of the total votes polled.

In 2002, his vote share swelled to 74 per cent. His vote share slipped to 50 per cent in 2007. The decline was attributed to departure of Congress voters.Born on April 23, royal baby weighed 8 pounds, 7 ounces at time of birth, more than any of his siblings.

Prince Louis Arthur Charles. All three of his names are a nod to family members. (Photo: AP)

Britain's Prince William and his wife Kate have named their baby son Louis Arthur Charles, Kensington Palace announced on Friday. Hes only 5 days old, but we already know quite a bit about Prince Louis.

Here is everything we know about the newborn royal so far.

He was born on April 23.

Its a very patriotic birthday, as its also St. Georges Day  Englands national day.

His name is Prince Louis Arthur Charles.

All three of his names are a nod to family members.

He weighed 8 pounds, 7 ounces at birth.

Thats more than either Prince George or Princess Charlotte weighed when they were born.

He was born at the Lindo Wing at St. Marys Hospital.

The hospital, located in Londons Paddington neighborhood, is where both his siblings were born as well as his dad.

He went home the same day he was born.

Mum Kate Middleton was nothing short of unbelievable when she stepped out holding little Louis just seven hours after giving birth.

Hes fifth in line to the throne.

Thats after grandpa Prince Charles, dad Prince William, big brother Prince George and big sister Princess Charlotte.

His name has family connections.

Not only is it one of his dads middle names, its also a nod to Louis Mountbatten, Prince Louiss great-grandpa Prince Philips uncle, who was a father figure for Charles and was assassinated in 1979. Arthur is one of William and Charless middle names, while Charles, of course, is his grandpas name.

Hes already had quite a few special visitors.

The list includes aunt Pippa Middleton (who is currently expecting her first child with husband James Matthews), uncle James Middleton, grandma Carole Middleton, and his fathers cousin, Princess Eugenie.

There are others yet to visit little prince.

Grandpa Charles, who returned home from an official visit to France on Thursday, and uncle Prince Harry and aunt-to-be Meghan Markle, who also live in Kensington Palace.

William and Kate waited four days to announce his name.

Thats likely so they could introduce Charles to his new grandson in person.

Hes already sleeping well.

Thats according to dad William, who said that Louis was behaving himself at an Anzac Day service. However, William was also caught nodding off during that same service!

Here are his famous fans.

Like Louis Tomlinson, who tweeted that hell take his fellow Louis under my wing. He also got a hello from former First Lady Michelle Obama, who tweeted that she cant wait for their Kensington Palace pajama party.According to a palace statement, the baby will be known as His Royal Highness Prince Louis of Cambridge.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge already had used the name when they named their first child. (Photo: AP)

Britain's Prince William and his wife Kate have named their baby son Louis Arthur Charles, Kensington Palace announced on Friday.

"The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are delighted to announce that they have named their son Louis Arthur Charles," said a palace statement. "The baby will be known as His Royal Highness Prince Louis of Cambridge." He is now fifth in line to the throne.

Here are 10 things we know about the name:

Not a popular name in England and Wales: According to the ONS data, over recent years Louis has been hovering between being the 70th and 80th most popular boys names for new babies.

Surprise choice: Most pundits and bookmakers had made Arthur or Albert the firm favourite to be picked  with Louis an outside bet.

Louis has borrowed it from his brother: The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge already had used the name when they named their first child. Prince George, third in line to the throne, has the full given name of George Alexander Louis.

Blackpool zoo names someone Louis as well: Blackpool zoo had a baby camel calf born on the same day as the new prince, and wasted no time giving it the same name. The animal is cute, so we can just about forgive them.

Its a French name and the French had 18 kings named Louis: The French monarchy were historically very keen on the name Louis, and ended up with 18 monarchs bearing that name. In fact, for 186 years between 1610 and 1798, every king was called Louis.

The 19th King Louis of France ruled for about 20 minutes before abdicating in 1830. His father, Charles X, had given up the throne that day during the Second French Revolution, and Louis Antoine, Duke of Angouleme, clearly saw which way the political wind was blowing.

Meaning in French: The Frankish roots of the name are said to derive from the words for fame and warrior, and its original form was Hlodowik. The English derivatives have become Louis and Lewis, with the name becoming Ludwig in the Germanic tongue.

The English did have a King Louis for a while: He doesnt feature in the Horrible Histories Kings and Queens song  but Louis VIII of France spent some time in England cavorting around as king, even having a proclamation of it at St Pauls Cathedral. He was being preferred as ruler by the barons who despised King John. However, having landed at Thanet in 1216, Louis was removed from the throne when King John died, and the barons decided it was easier to deal with making his nine-year-old son King Henry III than carry on working with the Frenchman.

In 1217 the treaty of Lambeth was signed, and Louis was paid 10,000 marks on the condition that he accepted he had never been the legitimate King of England.

It has a family tie for Prince William: Theres a closer personal link for the present-day royal family. The last prominent British royal names Louis was Louis Mountbatten, the great-grandson of Queen Victoria and uncle to Prince Philip.The strike gave a hard time to patients who had to return without treatment from the premier hospital.

Resident doctors of AIIMS leave after a sit in protest as part of their indefinite strike in New Delhi on Friday. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: Healthcare services at AIIMS were hit on Friday as routine surgeries were cancelled, out-patient clinics functioned partially and patients seeking OPD consultation were sent back due to a strike by resident doctors over an alleged assault on one of their colleagues by a senior doctor. Meanwhile, accused senior AIIMS doctor tendered a written apology, when he appeared before the inquiry committee and later proceeded on leave on the directions of an internal probe panel.

The doctor, who is heading a department at AIIMS, appeared before the inquiry committee which was constituted after the protesting resident doctors demanded his immediate suspension.

Only the emergency and ICU services functioned. Routine surgeries were cancelled and academic activities and exams were postponed indefinitely, an administration official said.

The Resident Doctors Association (RDA) has demanded that the senior doctor be not allowed to take in thesis candidates and conduct any verbal or written examination.

On Friday, the hospital administration put in place a contingency plan for patient-care services, as a part of which faculty-on-call in all clinical departments had to physically man the in-patient wards.

OPD services will function on restricted basis till such a time normalcy is restored. Only follow-up patients with prior appointments will be registered in OPD. New patients OPD registration will be done as per availability of faculty in respective OPDs as decided by Head of Department/Unit concerned. No walk-in registration will be done, the administration said in an order.

Routine surgeries will remain suspended and only emergency cases will be taken up. Diagnostic services will function on a restricted basis, it stated.

Head(s) of all clinical departments will make arrangements for round-the-clock availability of doctors of speciality concerned either from research staff or by the faculty members. Under no circumstances any inpatient ward will function without physical availability of doctors of speciality concerned, it stated.

The strike gave a hard time to patients who had to return without treatment from the premier hospital. Some of them were asked to visit the nearby Safdarjung hospital.

I have come from Darbhanga (Bihar) to get my son treated but it was only after reaching here that I got to know about the strike. We will now have to wait for the strike to end as we.cannot leave just like that, Pawan Choubey said.

In a statement late Thursday night, AIIMS said the incident over which the resident doctors called the strike happened on Wednesday, following which the senior doctor apologised.Choudhury sent text messages to men posing as woman to extort money

New Delhi: A 33-year-old commerce graduate disguised as a woman landed in police custody for creating fake profiles of women, upload pictures and alluring men into friendship so as to extort money.

The accused used fake profiles on social networking sites to promote luxury apparel and charged money from the companies with help of e-wallet accounts.

Akash Chaudhary, a tech-savvy conman, has one million followers in one fake Instagram account. He invited advertisements as promotionals of various brands.

One such fake account has more than one million followers and it was used to post advertisements of other brands for their promotion, said the cyber police.

It all began when a woman filed a complaint alleging that someone had created her fake Instagram accounts and illegally downloaded her photographs from her original account.

She said that her fake Instagram profile was used to promote branded clothes to earn money and her photographs were also upoloaded on escort and prostitution sites in order to defame her.

During investigation, the woman told the police she had come across a person on Facebook who claimed that the person, who had created her fake Instagram account, had also duped him by demanding money from him for Instagram chatting.

The complainant said that in 2017, when she came to know about her fake profile, she contacted the accused online to urged him to delete the fake profile and remove her photographs.

But instead of deleting the fake account and the photographs, the accused threatened the compolainant to give more photographs otherwise hell post them (the photographs he had with him) on escort services and prostitution sites.

Initially, the complainant gave a few photographs and went straight to the police to file a complaint in January 2018.

The police said that after detailed technical surveillance, the police team zeroed down on one Choudhary, a resident of Gurgaon, who was the owner of a meat shop, which was front to his actual business.

When asked about his role in this crime, he initially denied being involved in the crime. After his mobile phones, laptop and bank accounts were scrutinised, he confessed to his crime.

During sustained interrogation, he disclosed that he was aware about revenue generation from online-advertising on social networking sites.

In 2016, to earn quick buck, he planned to create fake profiles of young and beautiful women on social networking sites and increase his friends list by sending and accepting requests.

The accused confessed that he had downloaded mobile wallets and with the help of his other SIM number and fake e-mail IDs, he used to link these mobile wallets with genuine bank accounts in Gurgaon.

He used to send attractive texts to men on Instagram posing as a woman on the pretext of friendship and after meeting them asked for money, which was transferred in his e-wallet account.

From these e-wallets, he used to transfer the money to his bank account. So far, he has duped 10 to 12 men in this fashion.Crucial healthcare services remain affected for 3rd day.

AIIMS resident doctors during a protest as part of their strike after a junior doctor was assaulted by a senior doctor in New Delhi on Saturday. (Photo: Bunny smith)

New Delhi: The resident doctors ended their strike on Saturday night and requested the AIIMS director to keep Monday as a working day so that surgeries cancelled on Friday could be scheduled then.

However, crucial healthcare services at AIIMS remained affected for the third consecutive day on Saturday even as many other resident doctors reportedly submitted individual complaint letters against the chief of the ophthalmology department.

The strike, which called for the suspension of Dr Atul Kumar, the chief of Rajendra Prasad Centre (RPC) for Ophthalmic Sci-ences at AIIMS, who had slapped one of their colleagues in front of patients and other staffers, was called off after he was replaced by Dr Pradeep Sharma until such time as an enquiry into the incident is completed.

All routine surgeries remained cancelled and out-patient clinics functioned in a restricted manner. Many patients, who had come from far off places and from other states, were sent back from the hospital owing to the strike. Only emergency and ICU services remained functional.

Dr Kumar, who heads a department at the premier institute, has tendered a written apology for assaulting the resident doctor and proceeded on leave on the directions of an internal probe panel.

The resident doctors, who have been on the protest strike since Thursday evening, paid no heed to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) director Randeep Gulerias appeal to call off their strike and return to work.

The Resident Doctors Association (RDA) also claimed that on Friday afternoon, at least 35 complaint letters had been submitted to the enquiry committee urging it to probe the incident.

In a letter to the Faculty Association AIIMS (FAIIMS), the RDA alleged that Dr Kumar has been accused of groping female residents, passing derogatory remarks, and leaking questions of senior residency program to his favourite candidates.

The RDA has written to Union health minister J.P. Nadda, who is also the president of AIIMS, seeking revocation of Padmashree and Dr BC Roy awards to the senior doctor.

We reprimand all his actions and request you to consider revoking his BC Roy and Padmashree awards, as we believe that he is not worthy of holding such prestigious awards, they said in their letter.If the 2020 mission goes to plan it would be Europes first rover on Mars.

Built by Airbus Defence and Space just north of London in Stevenage, Britains unlikely Space City, the so-called Structural Thermal Model is being packed off to Toulouse, France, for a raft of tests to ensure the real ExoMars rover handles anything the red planet can throw at it.

The European Space Agencys mission to search for life on Mars has reached an important milestone with its six-wheeled surface rover prototype ready for its shake and bake.

Built by Airbus Defence and Space just north of London in Stevenage, Britains unlikely Space City, the so-called Structural Thermal Model is being packed off to Toulouse, France, for a raft of tests to ensure the real ExoMars rover handles anything the red planet can throw at it.

If the 2020 mission goes to plan it would be Europes first rover on Mars, following several successful NASA landings.

Europes last attempt to land a rover vehicle on the surface of Mars ended in disappointment in 2016 when Schiaparelli span out of control and slammed into the red sand.

The ESA rover will be more sophisticated though, featuring a two-meter exploration drill and an autonomous navigation system.

Thats the most exciting thing that hasnt been done before, weve got a huge two meter drill so it can go into the crust which is where we think life would be if it was still surviving, ExoMars Delivery Manager Abbie Hutty told Reuters.

At the surface the radiation is extreme and conditions too hostile. Down below different layers of rock, maybe in a fissure where there may be water deposits could be a nice place for life to still be surviving.

Hutty will keep a close eye on the prototype tests in Toulouse where the launch from a Russian rocket will be simulated as well as the massive temperature variations it will endure 54 million km away on Mars.

Data sent back from the ESAs Mars Express satellite are helping scientists choose the most suitable landing site.

The ExoMars Rovers autonomous navigation, which will enable it to steer itself rather than wait 24 minutes for instructions from Earth, has been undergoing testing at Airbuss Mars Yard.

The Stevenage center has a mock-up of the planets surface complete with specially dried sand, boulders and Mars-like light intensity, if not the radiation.

Its six wafer wheels made of thin strips of metal and unique suspension system means it can scale rocks and roll across the sandy landscape.

The cool thing about the wheels is that they are fully metallic and give us the traction and grip of a rubber wheel without taking anything organic from earth. They will be able climb over rocks and also dig through deep sand, Hutty said.

Once testing is completed in France, work will begin on building the finished rover as well as a twin that will stay in Stevenage.TechNet sent legislators a letter Friday calling the measure a license to discriminate.

Supporters contend the bill isn't designed to discriminate, but to keep faith-based agencies free to uphold their religious beliefs without fear from lawsuits.

Tech giants Google and Apple oppose adoption legislation in Kansas that many in the LGBTQ community consider discriminatory. An organization of more than 80 companies called TechNet sent legislators a letter Friday calling the measure a "license to discriminate." The organization includes Google and Apple.

The bill would prevent the state from denying grants and contracts to faith-based agencies for refusing to place children into homes that don't align with their religious beliefs.

Supporters contend the bill isn't designed to discriminate, but to keep faith-based agencies free to uphold their religious beliefs without fear from lawsuits. Backers include the state's Catholic bishops.

But TechNet's letter said enacting the legislation would have "dire" economic consequences for Kansas and companies nationwide would avoid a state perceived as unwelcoming toward LGBTQ people.The man collected over USD 450,000 in illegal filing fees and related expenses from more than 100 fraudulent visas.

Ramesh Venkata Pothuru, 44, a former owner and operator of Virgo Inc. and Isync Solutions, was sentenced to one year and one day in prison following convictions for wire and visa fraud. (Photo: File)

New York: An Indian-origin man has been sentenced to prison in the US after being convicted for wire and visa fraud, under which he collected over USD 450,000 in illegal filing fees for H-1B visas and green cards for workers from India.

Ramesh Venkata Pothuru, 44, a former owner and operator of Virgo Inc. and Isync Solutions, was sentenced to one year and one day in prison following convictions for wire and visa fraud, according to a statement from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The sentencing follows a joint investigation by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Document and Benefit Fraud Task Force (DBFTF).

Pothuru collected over USD 450,000 in illegal filing fees and related expenses from more than 100 fraudulent visas and employer-sponsored green cards for nonimmigrant workers from his native India.

The investigation disclosed that between 2010 and 2013, Pothuru collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in filing fees from workers he was sponsoring under the H-1B nonimmigrant worker visa program.

Federal regulations prohibit employers from soliciting payments from H-1B non-immigrant workers to cover the costs associated with filing fees, which fees are required by law to be borne by the sponsoring US employer.

In addition, many of the H-1B non-immigrant workers were also recipients of employer-sponsored permanent foreign labour certification applications filed by Pothuru with the Department of Labor.

Permanent foreign labour certification filings typically involve costs of over several thousand dollars in addition to the filing fees; Pothuru unlawfully collected both from the employees.

Pothuru collected these illegal fees and expenses from the employees he sponsored for H-1B visas and green cards through direct payments to his personal bank accounts.

He subsequently submitted false applications in which he did not identify the fees that he collected from the non-immigrant workers and swore that he did not collect, the statement said.Trump was addressing a joint White House news conference with the visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

President Donald Trump shakes hands with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the end of their news conference in the East Room of the White House, Friday. (Photo: AP)

Washington: Accusing Iran of fuelling bloodshed in the Middle East, President Donald Trump on Friday said the US would not let "murderous regime" in Tehran acquire nuclear weapons.

"We must ensure that this murderous regime does not even get close to a nuclear weapon, and that Iran ends its proliferation of dangerous missiles, and its support for terrorism. No matter where you go in the Middle East, wherever there's a problem, Iran is right there," he said.

Trump was addressing a joint White House news conference with the visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The two leaders had discussed the current situation in Iran and its alleged "destabilisng behavior".

"In our meetings today, the Chancellor and I discussed Iran, the Iranian regime that fuels violence, bloodshed and chaos all across the Middle East," Trump said.

He said it was not "appropriate" to talk on whether the US may consider the use of military force against Iran.

"But, I can tell you this, they will not be doing nuclear weapons; that, I can tell you. They're not going to be doing nuclear weapons, you can bank on it," Trump said.

He said as the US-led international alliance is about to eradicates ISIS in Syria, it must be ensured that "Iran does not profit from this success". "To prevent this outcome, it is essential that our coalition and regional partners step up their financial and military contributions to the anti-ISIS efforts. Some of these countries are immensely wealthy; and they're going to start paying for it, and paying for this tremendous help that we've given them," the US President said.

Merkel said the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as a first step, has contributed to slowing down Iran's activities with regard to acquiring nuclear weapons.

"But we also think, from a German point of perspective, that this is not sufficient in order to see to it that Iran's ambitions are curbed and are contained. It is most important to see that Iran, after all is trying to insert a geopolitical influence in Syria, in Lebanon," she asserted.

Merkel acknowledged that the Iranian nuclear deal is unlikely to resolve problems.

"Obviously, this agreement is anything but perfect. It will not solve all the problems with Iran," she said.

"It is one piece of the mosaic, one building block, if you like, on which we can build up this structure; and that when the United Kingdom, France and Germany work together with the American colleagues, this was brought about, and then we will now see what sort of decisions are made by American partners," Merkel said.Afridi was sentenced to 33 years in prison by a court for being involved in anti-state activities.

Afridi had ran a fake vaccination drive in Abbottabad city to help CIA agents track the former Al-Qaeda chief, who was later killed by US Navy Seals in a controversial raid on May 2, 2011. (Photo: Twitter | @faryaalshakeel)

Peshawar: Shakil Afridi, a doctor who helped the US' Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in tracking down Osama Bin Laden and serving jail term, has been shifted to unknown location from the central jail in Peshawar due to security reasons, a senior official said on Saturday.

Afridi had ran a fake vaccination drive in Abbottabad city to help CIA agents track the former Al-Qaeda chief, who was later killed by US Navy Seals in a controversial raid on May 2, 2011.

A year later, Afridi was sentenced to 33 years in prison by a court for being involved in anti-state activities. A senior prison official of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP), who did not want to identified, confirmed that Afridi was shifted from the Peshawar jail but said he was unaware about his new location.

The KP government had earlier informed the Federal government about threat to Afridi's life in the Peshawar prison, where militants of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan had also been kept.

According to a media report, the doctor had been shifted to Adiala Jail in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.Crack down on government officials: improve the life of the population or lose your job. Threats also to the district authorities of the capital: six months to attract foreign capital, or close your offices. "Unsatisfactory" mayor of Tashkent also replaced.

Tashkent (AsiaNews / RFE) - "70% of ministries and high-ranking officials, based in Tashkent, will now live in the provinces. I will not allow any of them to stay in Tashkent." This is what the Uzbek President Shavkat Mirzyoyev said at a government meeting on April 26th. The purpose of the move is to force ministers to experience "first hand" the difficulties that the common population experiences in everyday life.

"We see on television how people live in the province: without running water, gas, modern sewage systems, and electricity", Mirzyoyev denounced and recalled that "out of a population of 32 million, 2.5 million live in the capital, Tashkent, and the others live in the provinces ".

The president did not specify which ministries will be relocated, and for how long, but that "soon there will be a presidential decree".

Since coming to power in December 2016, Mirziyoyev has repeatedly accused government officials of being arrogant and not in touch with the reality of the country. Criticism that he addressed harshly during the meeting, also stating that the leaders of the 11 districts of the capital will have to take measures to improve the quality of life of people or lose their jobs. They have six months to attract foreign investment, or "close the offices of district governments". The meeting took place the same day that Jahongir Ortiqkhojaev, a successful businessman aged 43, was chosen as the interim mayor of the capital to replace the "unsatisfactory" Rahmonbek Usmonov, who occupied the post for six years.by Vladimir Rozanskij

The restitution of Catholic religious buildings continues to meet with resistance from the authorities. The "breaking down" of the wall of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. The re-consecration of a church in Ryazan and the pretexts for denying the restitution of the church of Kirov.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - For one church restored to the Catholics of Ryazan, Russian authorities continue to deny churches to other communities such as the faithful of Kirov, where the parish priest has even started a hunger strike. Indeed, 2018 marks a quarter of a century since, in 1993, the Catholic Church in Russia succeeded in obtaining the formal restitution of the first churches by the competent authorities.

In that year the statute of the parishes of St. Catherine in St. Petersburg was approved, the most important and prestigious, that of the Rosary in Vladimir, the center of the "Golden Ring" of the ancient Russian cities, and that of St. Louis of the French in Moscow, the only one left open all the time under communism together with the twin church of Our Lady of Lourdes in Leningrad. These were the two French "diplomatic" churches, and their activity served to demonstrate freedom of worship in the USSR, even though they were strictly controlled by the KGB.

The church of St. Louis was returned to the French government (not to the Catholic archbishop, Msgr Kondrusiewicz), and today Catholic communities of varying linguistic expression are hosted there (in addition to the French, there are functions in English, Italian, Hispanic -Portuguese, Korean, Filipino). One of the Sunday Masses, moreover, is entrusted to the parish priest of the Russian Church of Saints Peter and Paul, the main Catholic church in Moscow that stands 200 meters from St. Louis, but which has not yet been returned. Recently it seems that there are openings for partial restitution, if not the actual ecclesiastical building, at least one of the subsidiary buildings. The church was the base for very important schools and charitable works, such as those animated by the German physician J.F. Haass, the "holy doctor" of the early 1800 whose cause of beatification, followed by the curie of Moscow and Cologne, seems to be coming to fruition.

Other Russian Catholic churches were "reconquered" in the 1990s by the faithful together with the missionaries who came from different countries, in some cases even by striking interventions such as in 1994, when the seminarians and the faithful led by the rector Msgr. Bernardo Antonini "broke down" the wall of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Moscow, finally obtaining its return. Today it is the most solemn of the Russian Latin churches, and the seat of the archbishop "of the Mother of God" in Moscow, Msgr. Paolo Pezzi.

Just Msgr. Pezzi had the joy of re-consecrating a church on April 16th in Rjazan (pictured), a city just over 200 km from Moscow, whose restitution was pursued with great tenacity by the Slovak parish priest Fr. Josif Gunchaga, who arrived in Russia in 1991. The church is dedicated to the Immaculate Conception and was closed in 1935, then hosted an art school; now it will have to be entirely rebuilt, but the small group of faithful (a little over a hundred) will finally be able to gather for prayer, without looking for makeshift accommodations.

The parish priest of the Catholic community of Kirov, has not been so lucky. The city lies in the north of European Russia that took the name of the famous revolutionary killed by Stalin (formerly called Vjatka), when the period of "great terror" began. For 17 years Fr. Grigorij Zvolinskij (photo 3) has explored every possible avenue for the restitution of the building dedicated to the Sacred Heart, built in 1903 by the Polish exiled under Alexander III. After the umpteenth refusal, Fr. Grigorij decided to start a hunger strike and a 30-day continuous prayer for the restitution of the church.

The closure took place during the Stalinist purges, and the Catholics were accused of espionage and betrayal, even today they do not know where they were buried after the shooting. The church was used directly by the KGB as a transmission center to block foreign radio stations, with special antennas installed in place of the crosses where the so-called "white noise" was broadcast.

After communism, a concert hall was opened for organ and chamber music, allowing Catholics to celebrate Mass by paying an hourly rent, only in large parties. The repeated requests for complete restitution have always been opposed by a sharp refusal, the last on 5 April. The reason for the refusal is paradoxical: as other premises have been built in the building, the church must be guarded by the Superintendent as an artistic asset and cannot be used by Catholics, who should remove unnecessary additions.

In response to this latest mockery, the parish priest together with the faithful decided to hunger strike for a month of continuous adoration and rosary: the 5 official rejections are considered by Kirov Catholics as 5 wounds on the tortured body of the suffering Christ. Fr. Grigorij has already suffered thefts, assaults and death threats, so much so that he built a high wall around his house with video surveillance and three dogs. In the small room he now uses he celebrates daily Mass, with his small constituent of people descendants of Polish exiles, German prisoners and Africans from countries that were friends of the Soviet Union in the cold war years. The power of prayer can work miracles, even in times of austere reign of Putin, the Orthodox tsar.The Public Relations Society of America Lookout Chapter welcomes Autumn Witt Boyd of The Law Office of Autumn Witt Boyd PLLC as the Wednesday luncheon speaker. This event is open to anyone interested in learning best practices for negotiating contracts, navigating social media issues, using content the legal way, working with freelancers or understanding copyright and trademark issues.

With over a decade of experience as a lawyer in the intellectual property arena, Ms. Boyd is an expert in helping online and e-commerce companies understand, protect and enforce their copyright and trademark rights.

In her free time, Ms. Boyd hosts the Legal Road Map podcast, which teaches business owners about the legal issues they may face as they grow a profitable and sustainable business, why they are important, and how others in their shoes have handled them. She lives in Chattanooga with her husband Dave, twin boys Sam and Tyson, and daughter Vivian.

The luncheon will take place on Wednesday, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Mountain City Club. Membership in PRSA Lookout Chapter is not required to attend, but tickets are limited. Reserve online at https://bit.ly/2Hup8JM.

The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) is the trade association for public relations and communication professionals. The Lookout Chapter presents a luncheon once a month where members and non-members can network and learn from guest speakers. The meetings are open to non-members and are valuable not only to public relations specialists but also to all communication, advertising, marketing, media and business professionals interested in learning how to maintain their brand in the evolving marketing and communications landscape.China praises the "courage" of the two leaders and promises to continue to play a "positive role" for peace. Trump applauds summit with a tweet. The caution of Japan. Meanwhile, the two Koreas promise to start infrastructural projects that connect the peninsula.

Seoul (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The embrace between Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong-un at the signing of the "Panmunjom Declaration" has sparked global applause, as well as appeals for caution, amid signs of hope and warnings of the past (and failed) statements. First among them the powers that revolve around the two Koreas: China, United States, Japan and Russia.

China - North Korea's only ally - praises the "courage" of the two Korean leaders: yesterday a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, said that Beijing hope and look forward to them taking this opportunity to further open a new journey of long-term stability on the peninsula." She also cited a poem that reads: "We remain brothers after all the vicissitudes; let's forgo our old grudges, smiling we meet again." Lu Kang, another spokesman, reiterated the country's commitment to playing a "positive role" for peace in Korea. China, together with the United States, is one of the two countries mentioned in the Panmunjom Declaration for future multilateral dialogues.

In the United States, American President Donald Trump commented with a tweet, stating that "good things are happening, but only time will tell!".

Japan was also cautious. Premier Shinzo Abe said he would continue to "keep watch over" North Korea and push it towards concrete action. Abe also praised the South Korean president and his efforts that made the summit possible and added that he would call him to "hear" about the contents of the dialogue first hand.

Today, the Russian Foreign Ministry has called the declaration a positive development. There was also the reaction of the UN, released by the spokesperson of the secretary general Antonio Guterres, Stephane Dujarric: the UN applauds the "truly historic summit" and encourages the two Koreas to give a concrete follow-up to the commitments made yesterday.

Meanwhile, further elements emerge from the agreement, in particular the intention of the two parties to build road and railway infrastructures that connect the two Koreas and renew existing ones: it is the first step to resume the projects that the two countries had established during the 2007 summit, as foreseen by yesterday's declaration. The Korean authorities will discuss which projects are feasible in the context of the still existing sanctions on Pyongyang. Yesterday evening, at the dinner offered by South Korea at the Peace House, Moon raised his glass of sparkling wine, toasting "a day when the two Koreas can freely cross (each others territory)!"Hi,My mum got her visa granted 20 December 2012, she validated in April 2013, then moved permanently to Australia in April 2014.She boarded a plane to Canada to visit my brother and was told her visa expired 30 minutes from boarding. She didnt really get what she was being told and thought she could sort it out from Canada, she didnt have any charge on her phone otherwise I would have told her not to get on the plane! I believe her visa has now been cancelled (no resident return visa). I tried to check her grant number with VEVO (as we were never given any valid information) and they said no current visa...We dont have any cancellation notice from Immi, anyone know anything about the appeals process, and how you lodge appeals? She would have only been out of date for a few months....she is 69, I am a citizen of 13 years in Aus, and my brother is in Canada with his wife and children. No one is at home in England and all of her belongings are in Australia. This is turning out to be a complete nightmare.She was 9 mths into a citizenship application that it looks like we will lose as well now..so closeAny advice ofPhoto courtesy of the European Automobile Manufacturers Association.

Commercial vehicle registrations in the European Union fell 2.5% in March 2018, despite a strong first quarter in 2018, with demand falling in almost all commercial vehicle segments in the EU, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) said.

Commercial vehicle registrations fell to 260,810 units in the EU in March, other than in France where the market grew by 7.7%, according to a release from ACEA. Meanwhile, Germany posted the largest overall drop, falling 7.6%, followed by the U.K. (-5.9%), Italy (-3.5%), and Spain (-1.9%). Meanwhile, overall demand in the first quarter of the year grew by 2.6%, and registrations totaled 622,439 during this period. The countries with the strongest growth in the first quarter were Spain (9.2%), France (6.2%), Italy (4.8%), and Germany (0.4%). However, the U.K. saw a 4.6% decline in the first quarter.

Comparing March 2018 to last year, demand for vehicle registration for vans in the EU decreased 2.2%, and fell in Germany (-6.7%), the U.K. (-5.6%), Italy (4.7%), and Spain (-2.1%). Meanwhile, light commercial vehicle registrations grew only in France by 8.2%. However, despite this overall decline, the entire segment grew 2.8% in the first quarter of the year.

Meanwhile, registrations for new heavy commercial vehicles (over 17 tons) on the month fell 2.7% compared to the previous March, according to the ACEA., and new medium and heavy commercial vehicles (over 3.9 tons) were 3% lower than what was reported last year. Declines in major markets, such as the U.K., Spain, and Germany, contributed to the loss. Meanwhile, commercial registrations for France grew in both segments for March, with a combined percentage of 14.7%

Also, despite the overall decline in registrations for medium and heavy commercial vehicles in March, both segments saw an overall increase for the first three months into the year. New heavy commercial vehicles grew in the EU market by 2.9%, and 2.2% in the medium commercial segment.

Related: EU Commercial Vehicle Registration Up 5% for FebruaryPhoto of new Camden, N.J. headquarters courtesy of Subaru.

Subaru of America opened its new $118-million headquarters in Camden, N.J. today, and plans to move more than 550 employees into the location next month, the automaker announced.

The new facility provides 250,000 square feet of space plus an adjacent training center that will double the size of the automaker's operations. Subaru, which is leaving a site in suburban Cherry Hill, is consolidating four sites into one campus with the move.

The company has seen record growth in recent years as its sales have risen to 647,956 vehicles in 2017. In 2013, the company sold 424,683 vehicles.

Subaru will donate 50 cherry trees to the city of Camden. In Japanese culture, cherry blossoms represent both the fragility and the beauty of life and are symbolic of new beginnings.

Subaru has been selling vehicles in the U.S. since 1968, when the company opened its first headquarters in Philadelphia. The company moved to New Jersey in 1969 and Cherry Hill in 1986.

Related: Subaru Breaks Ground on New HQThe National Memorial for Peace and Justice opened this week on the site of a former slave pen in Montgomery, Alabama, where black people were once imprisoned before being sold at auction..The Museum is dedicated to the victims of American white supremacy. And it demands a reckoning with one of the nations least recognized atrocities: the lynching of thousands of black people in a decades-long campaign of racist terror.

Via The New York Times

At the center is a grim cloister, a walkway with 800 weathered steel columns, all hanging from a roof. Etched on each column is the name of an American county and the people who were lynched there, most listed by name, many simply as unknown. The columns meet you first at eye level, like the headstones that lynching victims were rarely given. But as you walk, the floor steadily descends; by the end, the columns are all dangling above, leaving you in the position of the callous spectators in old photographs of public lynchings. The magnitude of the killing is harrowing, all the more so when paired with the circumstances of individual lynchings, some described in brief summaries along the walk: Parks Banks, lynched in Mississippi in 1922 for carrying a photograph of a white woman; Caleb Gadly, hanged in Kentucky in 1894 for walking behind the wife of his white employer; Mary Turner, who after denouncing her husbands lynching by a rampaging white mob, was hung upside down, burned and then sliced open so that her unborn child fell to the ground.

The Tuskegee Institute records the lynching of 3,436 blacks between 1882 and 1950. This is probably a small percentage of these murders, which were seldom reported, and led to the creation of the NAACP in 1909, an organization dedicated to passing federal anti-lynching laws.A Delano man who spent more than two decades on death row was released from custody Thursday after all charges against him were dismissed.Contact The Californians Robert Price at 661-395-7399, rprice@bakersfield.com or on Twitter: @stubblebuzz. His column appears on Sundays, Wednesdays and Saturdays; the views expressed are his own.The Californian's Robert Price answers your questions and takes your complaints about our news coverage in this weekly feedback forum. Questions may be edited for space and clarity. To offer your input by phone, call 395-7649 and leave your comments in a voicemail message or email us at soundoff@bakersfield.com. Include your name and phone number; they wont be published.In just one week, the non-stop flight from Nashville to London will launch, giving Tennesseans the first direct connection to the UK since 1995.

Here are some current events and attractions in Great Britain:Jamale Porch, 30, was arrested after police said he set his parents house on fire while they were still inside the residence. He sustained burns in the process. Porch was arrested on Sunday and charged with aggravated arson following the early morning fire at his familys home in the 2400 block of Stuart Street. At 5:43 a.m. neighbors called 911 to report that the back porch ... (click for more)KISSIMMEE, Fla.  A special ceremony was held Saturday to celebrate the life of Give Kids the World founder Henri Landwirth.

Ceremony honors Give Kids the World founder

Henri Landwirth died April 16 at 91

GKTW provides all-expenses paid vacations for critically-ill children

RELATED: Henri Landwirth, founder of GKTW, dies at 91

Landwirth created Give Kids the World in 1986 for critically-ill children. A few years later, he opened the Give Kids the World Village in Kissimmee, Florida, where children and their families could enjoy all-expenses-paid vacations. The 84-acre resort features more than 160 villas and on-site amenities.

He wanted to make a difference, said Pamela Landwirth, president and CEO of Give Kids the World. And I think his legacy is that legacy of love and realizing that love conquers everything, and that the ties that bind us together are so much stronger than those that pull us apart. If everybody thought that way, what a wonderful world this would be.

Give Kids the World Village has hosted more than 160,000 families from 76 countries.

Landwirth, who was originally from Belguim, survived the Holocaust before coming to the U.S.

He arrived in New York City with only $20 and spoke very little English.

Landwirth spent decades working in the hospitality industry.

He died April 16 at the age of 91.In secret, behind locked gates, our Nation's Oldest City dumped a landfill in a lake (Old City Reservoir), while emitting sewage in our rivers and salt marsh. Organized citizens exposed and defeated pollution, racism and cronyism. We elected a new Mayor. We're transforming our City -- advanced citizenship. Ask questions. Make disclosures. Demand answers. Be involved. Expect democracy. Report and expose corruption. Smile! Help enact a St. Augustine National Park and Seashore. We shall overcome!The president has vocally opposed moving the Romanian embassy to Jerusalem, while government leaders are pushing for its relocation.

Romania's president has called for Prime Minister Viorica Dancila's resignation over her decision to relocate the country's embassy to Jerusalem without consulting him.

Dancila, however, said she "categorically" rejected the president's call for her to step down and told Romanian television there was "no reason to do so".

In a statement on Friday, President Klaus Iohannis charged that Dancila's government is a liability for Romania and that she is not fit to be prime minister, a post she assumed three months ago.

The final say on the embassy's relocation belongs to the president.

But Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, who is in charge of foreign policy, later downplayed the announcement. "Because in foreign policy matters, if we are talking about secret documents, which obviously are sensitive otherwise they should not be secrets, the president should have been consulted, which did not happen".

However, it appears that the prime minister has some backing from the government, as the foreign ministry last week issued a statement that "a process of analysis and evaluation with the aim of transferring the embassy has been launched".

Iohannis has no constitutional power to sack the prime minister, who would have to be removed by parliament. The current crisis appears to have been sparked by a dispute over the plans to move the embassy, which were announced literally overnight as a fait accompli without any consultation with the presidency.

Dancila has said the memorandum she approved was confidential and could not be made public yet.

It added Romania's position regarding the Israeli-Palestinian situation "has traditionally been a balanced one, including ... bilaterally recognizing the Palestinian state". Romania would be the first European Union country and one of very few countries in the world to relocate its embassy following U.S. President Donald Trump recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital in December. "During the talks, the important role of the Israeli community of Romanian ancestry in building the modern state of Israel, as well as in strengthening the relations between the two countries was highlighted", reads the release.

Israel claims all of Jerusalem as its eternal capital.Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 28)  After a vow of peace from the two Korean nations, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) said it seeks a "complete and irreversible" denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

In the 32nd ASEAN Chairman's Statement Saturday, the leaders welcomed the historic inter-Korean summit on Friday, where North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in committed to end the 65-year-old war.

"We also noted the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) reported commitment to denuclearization and its pledge to refrain from further nuclear and missile tests during this period," the statement read. "We reiterated our support for international efforts to bring about the complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner."

The ASEAN leaders also welcomed Kim's meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in April as well as his plans to meet U.S. President Donald Trump in their steps toward a nuke-free Korean peninsula.

The Korean leaders have issued a joint statement, saying they would hold talks on establishing a formal peace treaty.

READ: North and South Korea vow to end the Korean War in historic accord

During the 31st ASEAN Summit in 2017, where President Rodrigo Duterte was the chair, the leaders in a statement took note of "grave concerns" of the 10 member-states over the missile tests being conducted by the isolationist state. The ASEAN leaders said the tests threatened peace and stability in the region.

In an unprecedented change in policy, Kim announced on April 20 their country would discontinue nuclear tests.

The 10-member regional group is holding a summit from April 27 to 28, with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong as the chair.Sita Navami If you didnt know this, now you do. April 24 is Janaki (Sita) Navami  and guess the first state to declare it a public holiday ? Bihar. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is first off the block to announce a Sita Navami along the lines of Ram Navami. Thats not all.

Sita will now have a new refurbished temple all to her own. It will be located in Punaura Dham in Sitamarhi district of Bihar, supposedly the birthplace of Janaki. The reconstruction of the Sita temple has been inaugurated by Kumar. 20 acres of government land has been allotted for the temple. By ...The Delhi High Court on Saturday reinstated a dean and four chairpersons of different schools and centres of learning in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) after they agreed to follow the mandatory attendance requirement of 75 per cent decided by the varsity's academic council.

JNU had on March 14 replaced seven heads of the various schools and centres in the university for not following the mandatory attendance requirement a decision which the teachers challenged in the high court.

Those reinstated are Kavita Singh (School of Arts and Aesthetics), Uday Kumar (Centre for English Studies, School of Language, Literature and Cultural Studies), Dhir Sarangi (School of Language, Literature and Cultural Studies), Pradip Kumar Datta (School of International Studies) and Sucheta Mahajan (School of Social Sciences).

The decision came on the plea moved by the five of them.

Justice Rekha Palli, while ordering their reinstatement, also issued notice to the university and sought its reply on their plea which also challenged the legality of the 75 per cent attendance requirement, besides their replacement as deans and chairpersons.

The court will hear the matter next on May 11.

The order came after senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the five petitioner teachers, said that the attendance requirement would be followed by them till the matter is finally decided.

He also said that while agreeing to follow the attendance requirement, they have not given up their challenge to the legality of the procedure followed to bring the norms into effect.

Central government standing counsel Monika Arora, appearing for JNU, told the court that the varsity has no objection to the reinstatement of the teachers as deans and chairpersons so long as they follow the attendance norms.

She said the attendance norms were fixed according to the University Grants Commission (UGC) regulations.

She said the 75 per cent attendance was made mandatory in the wake of the dropout rate among students and the professors complaining of consistent absence by students.

The AC in its 144th meeting held on December 1 last year had made 75 per cent attendance mandatory for students.

In total, JNU has 13 deans and 38 chairpersons, besides five chairpersons of special centres.

(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.)Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 28)  Regional leaders expressed concern over the militarization of contested areas in the South China Sea, as the 32nd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Singapore drew to a close.

"We discussed the matters relating to the South China Sea and took note of the concerns expressed by some Leaders on the land reclamations and activities in the area, which have eroded trust and confidence, increased tensions and may undermine peace, security and stability in the region," the leaders said, in the ASEAN Chairman's statement issued Saturday.

Apart from the Philippines and China, ASEAN states Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand also have claims in parts of the South China Sea.

Last February, local news outfit Inquirer.net released photos of China's continued construction of air and naval structures in the contested Spratly group of islands.

READ: Vertical structures built on reefs in S. China Sea  Inquirer reporter

"We emphasized the importance of non-militarization and self-restraint in the conduct of all activities by claimants and all other states," the statement read.

ASEAN leaders stressed the need for the implementation of the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) in its entirety, for there to be mutual trust between parties and the pursuit of a peaceful resolution in the conflict in accordance to international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

The DOC is a 2002 document meant to facilitate a peaceful resolution to the maritime conflict in the disputed areas.

"We warmly welcomed the improving cooperation between ASEAN and China and were encouraged by the official commencement of the substantive negotiations toward the early conclusion of an effective Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (COC) on a mutually-agreed timeline," said the statement.

During the ASEAN meeting, President Rodrigo Duterte on the sidelines held bilateral talks with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

When the Vietnamese leader raised the South China Sea issue, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said Duterte told Phuc he is not "abandoning, ignoring, or setting aside" the landmark arbitral ruling that invalidated China's claims over most of South China Sea.

"He made it very clear to a head of state that he recognizes the gains of the arbitral award and that he will refer to the arbitral award in due course," Roque told reporters in Singapore, the summit's venue.

READ: Duterte talked about South China Sea arbitral ruling with Vietnam leader  Palace

The Chinese government, however, believes it has the right to build structures in the disputed areas.

READ: China asserts right to build military structures on Spratly Islands

"The Nansha Islands are China's territory," said Chinese Ministry of Defense Spokesperson Senior Colonel Ren Guoqiang in a statement on April 11. The Nansha Islands is the Chinese name for the Spratlys.